and powerful intercession of Christ; whereby (as he words it, Matt. xi. 12.) "Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." Whence the name of Jacob was then turned to Israel, that is, one who prevails upon God, or has power over him; God representing himself here as overcome by us: and the name of Israel was ever after given to the church. But much more so when Christ came, as he said, Matt. xi. 12. "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence," &c. that is, from the first promulgation of Christ being come. Thenceforward the Gentiles began to press into the Gospel, and as by force to take it from the Jews. This was signified in the name Jacob, that is, a supplanter, for the Gentiles here supplanted their elder brother the Jews, and stole the blessing and heirship from them.

Joseph was sold by his brethren out of envy; but it proved the preservation of them and all their families and Christ was sold by his brethren out of envy, Mark xv. 10. which proved the means of their redemption: and Christ, as Joseph, became Lord over his brethren.

Moses calls Christ a Prophet like unto himself, Deut. xviii. 18. He represented Christ the great Lawgiver; and his delivering Israel out of Egypt, was a type of Christ's delivering his church from the bondage of sin and hell.

Joshua, called also Jesus, Heb. iv. 8. overcame all the enemies of Israel, and gave them possession of the Holy Land, which was a type of heaven: and Christ appeared to Joshua, as Captain of the Host of the Lord, Josh. v. 14. So that Joshua was his Lieutenant, representing him.

Samson, who, by his single valour and his own strength, overcame the Philistines, and slew more at his death than in all his life, was a representation of Christ, who "trod the wine-press alone, and of the people there was none with him, but his own arm brought him salvation," Isaiah lxiii. 3, 5. But his death completed his victory, whereby he overcame all the power of the enemy, "and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in his cross."

David, whose Son Christ is called, speaks frequently of him in his own person, and in events which cannot be applied to David, as Psal. xvi. 10. "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, nor suffer thine Holy One to see corruption;" for David has seen corruption. Christ is said to sit upon the throne of David, Isaiah ix. 7. And Christ is called by the name of David, Hos. iii. 5. and frequently in the Prophets. David from a shepherd became a King and a Prophet, denoting the threefold office of Christ, pastoral, regal, and prophetical.

Solomon, the wisest of men, his peaceable and magnificent reign represented the triumphal state of Christ's kingdom, which is described, Psal. lxxii. inscribed for Solomon, there called the king's son, but far exceeding the glory of his reign, or what can possibly be applied to him, as ver. 5, 8, 11, 17. But his reign came the nearest of any to that universal and glorious reign there described, particularly in his being chosen to build the temple, because he was a man of peace, and had shed no blood, like David his father, who conquered the enemies of Israel, but Solomon built the Church in full peace ;

and as it is particularly set down, 1 Kings vi. 7. and no doubt he was ordered by God so to do, that "the house, when it was building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron, heard in the house while it was building." Which did denote that the Church of Christ was to be built, not only in peace, but without noise or confusion, as Isaiah prophesied of him, chap. xlii. 2. "He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall be not break," &c. He was not to conquer with the sword, as the Israelites subdued Canaan, but to overcome by meekness, and doing good to his enemies, and patiently suffering all injuries from them. And so he taught his followers, as St. Paul says, 2 Tim. ii. 24. "The servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men.-In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves," &c.

And I cannot think but there was some imitation of this peaceable temple of Solomon, in the temple of Janus among the Romans; for that was never to be shut but in time of peace; which happened rarely among them, but three times in all their history. The last was in the reign of Augustus, in which time Christ came into the world, when there was a profound and universal peace: and so it became the Prince of Peace, whose birth was thus proclaimed by the angels, Luke ii. 14. "Glory to God on high, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

Jonah's being three days and nights in the belly of the whale, was a sign of Christ's being so long

in the heart of the earth. Christ himself makes the allusion, Matt. xii. 40.

But as there were several persons, at several times, representing and prefiguring several particulars of the life and death of Christ, so there was one standing and continual representation of him appointed in the person of the High Priest under the law; who, entering into the holy of holies once a year, with the blood of the great expiatory sacrifice, and he only, to make atonement for sin, did lively represent our great High Priest entering heaven, once for all, with his own blood, to expiate the sins of the whole world. This is largely insisted upon in the Epistle to the Hebrews, chap. vii. viii. ix. x.

And our deliverance by the death of Christ is represented, as in a picture, in that ordinance of the law, that the man-slayer, who fled to one of the cities of refuge, (which were all of the cities of the Levites) should not come out thence till the death of the high priest, and no satisfaction be taken till then, and then he should be acquitted and "return into the land of his possession," Numb. xxxv. 6,

25-28.

And I doubt not but the Gentiles had from hence their asyla, or temples of refuge for criminals.

D. There is a resemblance in these things; but I would not have admitted them as proof, if you had not supported them, at least most of them, with the authority of the New Testament. And it was not necessary that every one should be named in it; for those that are named are only occasionally; and I must take time to consider of the evidences you have brought for the authority of the New Testa

ment, which you have made full as great, if not greater, than the evidences for the Old Testament.

C. I may say greater upon this head of prophecies and types, because there are no proofs till they are fulfilled; though then they prove the truth of these prophecies and types; and so the one confirms the other: but the whole evidence of the law is not made apparent, till we see it fulfilled in the Gospel. For which reason I call the Gospel the strongest proof, not only as to itself, but likewise as to the law; and the Jews, as much as in them lies, have invalidated this strongest proof for the Old Testament, which is the fulfilling of it in the New. Nay, they have rendered these prophecies false, which, they say, were not fulfilled at the time they spake of, and never now can be fulfilled. And as no fact but that of our Christ alone ever had his evidence of prophecies and types from the beginning, so never can any other fact have it now, while the world lasts.

D. Why do you say, never can have it? For may not God make what fact he pleases, and give it what evidence he pleases?

C. But it cannot have the evidence that the fact of Christ has, unless at that distance of time hereafter, as from the beginning of the world to this day. Because God took care that the evidence of Christ should commence from the very beginning, in the promise of him made to Adam, and to be renewed by the prophets in all the after-ages, till he should come: and the evidence of him after his coming, (in which I have instanced,) and which continues to this day, before it can belong to any other,