error; that the gods whom they worshipped, were no gods.

Thus St. Paul and St. Barnabas said to the men of Lycaonia--" We are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein." But the arguments advanced by the Apostles towards the Jews were of a very different description. To these they did not represent themselves as promoting another religion: but the tenor of their language was, "Those things which have been hitherto shadowed in ceremonies, now receive their completion. Those things which the Prophets foretold, are now come to pass."

To understand this the better, it may be necessary to mention, that there have been two covenants between God and Man-the one of works, the other of grace. The former was made with Adam, who, had he obeyed the commandment of God, would have enjoyed eternal happiness: but, as he violated the commandment given him, he would never have escaped the eternal punishment due to his transgression, had not the mercy of God supplied the means of forgiveness, through

human race.

that Saviour who was then promised to the For to that salvation, which depends on faith, are to be referred the words addressed by the Almighty to the serpent"I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." The covenant of grace was established in consequence of the sin of our first parents. It was, however, at first, only obscurely intimated; and those sacrifices instituted, in the performance of which, every victim was a type of Christ. But, as the original intention of those sacrifices observed by Abel, Noah, and others, was gradually lost among mankind, it pleased the Almighty to select a particular people to be the depositories of his oracles: and, to keep them in his own worship, and free from the vices and idolatries of the surrounding nations, he bound them to the observance of those various ceremonies which constitute the Mosaic law. "The law was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made." (Gal. iii. 19.) But as this law was in itself deficient and imperfect, all the Prophets and holy men looked forward, by faith, to the arrival of that day, when all

the things which were shadowed by it, should be perfected and accomplished.

That part of the Scriptures in which the coming of Christ is foretold, is usually called the Old Testament; that part in which the accomplishment of those ceremonies by which he was foretold, are revealed, is called the New Testament. The latter, therefore, is not contrary to the former; but is the completion of it.

It has been urged, that the Old and New Testaments do not unite in the same plan, because the promises of the former were of a temporal, the latter of a spiritual nature; because the former promised to the faithful servants of God an earthly Canaan, and the latter promises a heavenly. But it will be evident that there is no inconsistency in this respect because the land of Canaan itself was a type of the kingdom of heaven, which is prepared for the righteous. Thus St. Paul, in reference to the typical nature of the country of Canaan, says, "If Jesus," i. e. "if Joshua had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day." It may, moreover, be observed, that had the Jews no object beyond an earthly possession, all the ceremonies of the Mosaic law, as they

would, in this case, terminate in temporal things, would be vain and unprofitable. But if all the ceremonial observances be referred to Christ, as the antitype; if they all be directed to that sacrifice which Christ made of himself for the sins of the world; and every purification of any corporeal pollution be considered as a shadow of that purification from sin which Christ has made by his own bloodthen, indeed, the Mosaic institutions will possess a considerable degree of importance. Then every ritual performance will be free from that obscurity with which it must otherwise necessarily be involved. Then, also, it will be evident that the grace of God towards the human race is the same, both under the Old and under the New Testament.

The Messiah was prefigured by various ways, partly by PERSONS, as Noah, Moses, David, and the High-priest; partly by THINGS, as the ark, the rock in the desert, the brazen serpent, the paschal lamb; partly by PLACES, as the land of Canaan, the cities of refuge, and the temple of Solomon.

These methods may not, in every particular, perfectly prefigure Christ: they had, however, indirectly, at least, a reference to that salvation which Christ would effect for man

kind. Thus, no one will deny that Moses, who was the leader, the legislator, and the intercessor for the people of Israel, was a type of the blessed Jesus, the captain of our salvation, our instructor in the most pure and exalted precepts of morality, and who intercedes for our forgiveness with his heavenly Father. It would be unnecessary to mention other instances; a due consideration of those which have been already stated will sufficiently shew that the ceremonial law was vain and useless, except so far as it prefigured the Saviour of the world. But, since he has suffered on the cross, and been offered up a sacrifice for us, the Mosaic law is fulfilled; and consequently is no longer necessary. "The sacrifices under the law could not make the comers thereunto perfect." They only availed to the purification of the body, but could not avail to the purification of the conscience. It is through the perfect sacrifice of Christ alone, that the pardon of sin is obtained. Thus, St. Paul says, "If the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God."