Vindication of the Truth of the Christian Religion, Religious treatise · Section 4 · Subsection 10
X Portraiture of the Chriſtian Religion; Or, the Proportion it bears to the Jewiſh Religion.
THere is nothing truer than that the Jewiſh Religion is great, noble and divine; and we cannot reflect on the Greatneſs of its Miracles, the Sublimity of its Morality, the Purity of its Doctrin, the Holineſs of its Precepts, and the Completion of its Prophecies, without immediately acknowledging it to be ſtampt with Divine Characters. But yet we ſhall find it altogether defective, if we ſeparate it from Chriſtianity, ſince its Eſſence conſiſts in its relation to that.
We cannot conceive without it, how God can be the God of one Nation, and yet not be that too of other Nations alſo; that the Deity ſhould be contained in a material Ark, and being the Father of Spirits ſhould ſo carefully ſeek after an external and corporeal Purity; that unwilling to ſatisfy his Juſtice, he ſhould require Sacrifices of Men; or if willing to be appeaſed by Offerings and Oblations, he ſhould demand ſuch mean ones of them, which were unworthy the Majeſty of his God-head; that God who made Heaven and Earth, ſhould dwell in a Temple made with Hands; or that he who created all things viſible and inviſible, ſhould take pleaſure in an external Pomp; that he who made the Smelling, which he wants not himſelf, ſhould delight in the ſmell of Incenſe; or that his Voice, properly ſo called, ſhould be heard, to which Thunder it ſelf ſcarce bears the Reſemblance of an Echo: I ſay, we can never conceive any of theſe things, without the help of Chriſtian Religion.
For who can reconcile the Wiſdom ſeen in the Religion of Moſes, with the Imperfections diſcoverable in it? How could that Lawgiver prove ſo contrary to himſelf? And how could ſo many Characters of Divinity be attended with ſo many ſeemingly ſuperſtitious Cuſtoms and trivial Ceremonies? Conſult but the Chriſtian Religion, and you'll then no longer wonder at it; there you will find both the Reaſon and Wiſdom of every thing that ſurpris'd you in the Old Covenant.
All the Cuſtoms contained in the Books of the Old Teſtament are partly reducible to Three Heads. 1ſt. To a general Preparation of all things for the reception of the Meſſias who was to come. 2ly. To the Repreſentation of his Office and Oeconomy, by a Type or Shadow. 3dly. To the deſcribing of him after ſuch a manner, as to render it altogether impoſſible for the Elect Souls not to know him when he came. Whoſoever ſhall conſider the Books of the Old Teſtament under theſe Three Notions, will certainly diſcover nothing in them that can perplex his Faith; but he will find that every thing therein ſerves to increaſe his Knowledg, by diſcovering to him as it were the Scheme of God's Councels, and his great Plan and Deſign of Religion.
But ſince 'tis not our preſent Deſign to dive into the unfathomable Abyſs of the Juſtice, Wiſdom and Mercy of God, ſo neither ſhall we enquire into the Reaſons which induced him to permit Men to ſin; or why he was pleaſed to ſave ſome rather than others; or upon what account he made uſe of the Intervention of a Mediatour, rather than of any other Means; or whether there were any other way to expiate the ſins of Mankind, but the Death of Chriſt? I ſay we ſhall not trouble our ſelves about any of theſe vain and fruitleſs Enquiries: And ſince it is but juſt we ſhould freely own our Ignorance, I think we can never find a better opportunity to acknowledge it than when we are talking about the ſecret Methods and Councels of God, becauſe we can never diſcover the bottom of them, unleſs we ceaſe to be what we are, or he to be what he is.
Without attempting then to ſearch into the manner of theſe things, which is altogether incomprehenſible to us, and of which we are not able to ſpeak but imperfectly, we freely ſuppoſe the Truth of them. We do not in the leaſt queſtion but God permits Sin, becauſe we are all Sinners. We know that a ſmall Number of Men are ſanctified, to whom the Scripture makes ſeveral great and ſublime Promiſes. And we are alſo taught, that they are delivered from their Sins by the intervention of a Mediatour, and that God had reſolved to bring it to paſs by ſuch means even before the Foundation of the World. But let us now conſider how the Wiſdom of God prepared and diſpoſed Men for it.
Theſe Preparations related in the Old Teſtament are manifold. For there are Preparations of Events, Preparations of Ceremonies, Preparations of Prophecies, Preparations of Precepts, and Preparations of Tenets.
As for the Events, they all relate to this great Center of Religion. Had Abraham always lived in Ʋr of the Chaldees, he muſt neceſſarily have fallen into Idolatry as well as the reſt of his Kindred, or he could never have preſerved to his Poſterity the Knowledge and Worſhip, of the true God; and his Seed conſequently could not have been a Seed of Bleſſing for all the Nations to come. It was then abſolutely requiſite he ſhould forſake his Country, as well as his Kindred. And had Jacob always lived with his Father Laban, the Poſterity of the latter would have corrupted that of the former; ſo that Eſau having already mixed himſelf with Strangers, the holy Race could by no means avoid being confounded with the profane, and ſo the Promiſe of the Meſſias would not have been entailed upon any particular Family or Nation, becauſe in Succeſſion of Time it would have been altogether impoſſible to diſtinguiſh it from the reſt. It was then neceſſary, that Jacob ſhould forſake his Father-in-Laws Houſe, and conſequently live apart from all other Nations. And had it not been for the protecting Providence of God, this People, who was honoured with his Covenants and intruſted with his Oracles, would have abſolutely periſhed in Egypt, and together with them the Hopes of a promiſed Redeemer. To preſerve therefore ſuch comfortable hopes, they were neceſſarily ſeparated from all other Nations; and the better to keep themſelves in that State, tho' they differed from them all in matters of Policy, Manners, Inclinations, and Religion, yet it was neceſſary they had God for their ſupream Magiſtrate, who gave them all thoſe wonderful Marks of his Protection we read of in the Old Teſtament. Tho' thev were carried away captives into Babylon for their Sins they were neceſſarily gathered together again from that Diſperſion Seventy years after, leſt a longer Bondage ſhould have made them for ever loſe the Marks of their Election.
'Tis no difficult matter to perceive that it was in behalf of the Meſſias only that God was pleaſed to make ſo many Diſtinctions: And the Promiſe of his coming could not be entailed upon every Nation of the World. He ſet apart one ſingle Nation from the reſt, purpoſely to intruſt them with ſo great a Salvation. And becauſe 'twas abſolutely requiſite this Diſtinction ſhould remain till the Birth of that Redeemer, ſo for that End he appointed five very remarkable Principles of that Separation. The firſt whereof was, the Knowledge of the true God, a divine Character of the Election of that People, and a Priviledge they could not chuſe but be infinitely jealous of, eſpecially when they conſidered, what profound Darkneſs, Ignorance and Superſtition was then diſperſed in the World. The ſecond was, the Circumciſion, that ſign of his Covenant, which God was pleaſed the Iſraelites ſhould bear in their Fleſh, to diſtinguiſh them the more effectually from all other Nations. For it was not by meer Chance, or out of any fantaſtical Humour that this Cuſtom was firſt ſettled among the Jews. 'Tis not to be ſuppoſed they could have received, without very powerful Motives to it, ſo painful and difficult a Cuſtom, ſo contrary to the natural Affection of Mothers, as appears by the Example of Zeporah; nay, which even ſeems at firſt view ſomewhat ſhameful and obſcene. As for Philo's and other Mens Reflexions on the Cuſtoms of the Circumciſion, they are very pitiful. The third Principle of that Diſtinction was the Land of Canaan, which God gave to the Patriarchs and their Poſterity after them, tho' he did not give them immediatly an actual poſſeſſion of it. He fixed the Hearts of that People upon that particular Land, leſt they ſhould have been inſenſibly diſperſed over the Face of the whole Earth. And the Patriarchs upon their Death-beds ſtrictly recommended the carrying of their Bones into it, the better to fix the Hopes and Affections of the whole Nation upon it. But leſt it ſhould have happened, that the Canaanites, the Periſites, the Jebuſites, &c. who were before in poſſeſſion of that Land, ſhould have intermixed themſelves with the holy Generation, and conſequently corrupted them by their Superſtition; God himſelf conſented that thoſe Nations ſhould in this Life undergo an exemplary Puniſhment for their Sins which had been carried on to the utmoſt pitch of Exceſs, and for that end his Vengeance made uſe of Joſuah and his Armies as Inſtruments to deſtroy them utterly. The fourth was the Tabernacle, and afterwards the Temple, which God reſolved ſhould be the Center of the ceremonial Worſhip, he having ſolemnly declared that no Sacrifices, or any other material Oblations whatſoever could be acceptable to him, but what were offered in them, intending to prevent by that means the Iſraelites wandring from that place, which was to be as it were the Center of their Religion, and by conſequence to eſtabliſh their Separation from all other Nations upon a ſurer and ſtronger Foundation, which too was neceſſary to make one day their Meſſias known. Laſtly, the fifth Principle of that Diſtinction was the Worſhip of the Law it ſelf, which was of ſuch a Nature, that the obſervance of its Ordinances indiſpenſably obliged the Jews to abominate and deteſt all Commerce with other ſtrange Nations, or induced all other Nations to look upon the Jews with Horrour and Indignation. For it injoyned the Jews to ſacrifice the Creatures other Nations worſhipped as Deities, and the latter ſcrupled not to feed upon the Fleſh of thoſe Animals, which the Jews had in Execration, &c. In a word, the external and corporeal Purity the Law ſo carefully preſcribed them, prohibited the Jews all manner of Commerce with thoſe prophane and polluted Nations.
But God thought it not ſufficient to ſet apart unto himſelf one particular Nation from the reſt; he was further pleaſed to ſeperate alſo in that Nation one Tribe from all the reſt; viz. the Tribe of Judah, in particularly aſſigning to it thoſe Promiſes of the Meſſias which are contained in that excellent Prophecy uttered by the Mouth of an expiring Patriarch; The Scepter ſhall not depart from Judah, nor the Lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come; and unto him ſhall the gathering of the People be, Gen. 49. 10. God was alſo pleaſed to chuſe one ſingle Family in that Tribe, to aſcribe principally to it the Promiſe of the Meſſias: And that was the Family of David, to whom he promiſed that he would make his ſeed ſit upon the Throne as long as the Sun and Moon endureth; which Promiſe would have been manifeſtly falſe and abſurd, were it not exactly fulfilled in the perſon of the Meſſias. Laſtly, he choſe ſuch a Branch of the Family of David, as ſhot forth as it were out of a dry ground, and out of the root of Jeſſe, that is, a Branch of it that was fallen in a very mean and wretched Condition. All which Diſtinctions were deſigned only to make Men diſcern and know the true Meſſias, and to prevent the loſs of that Knowledge ſo neceſſary to their Salvation, in the Confuſion of Nations, Tribes, Families, and Generations.
But it was not only by meer Events that God diſpoſed the Hearts of the Iſraelites to receive the Meſſias; he impoſed upon them alſo an infinite number of Ceremonies to inſpire a more fervent Deſire in them of being freed from the Burthen of thoſe Rites. He revealed to them but in part many ſublime and important Tenets, that they might earneſtly deſire a clearer and fuller Revelation of them. He gave them a Law too, which wholly conſiſted in carnal Motives and Rewards, and was attended only with temporal Bleſſings and Threatnings, which Law was to diſpoſe them by its Inſufficiency to receive a better Covenant. The Law intervened, that Sin might abound; and God ſuffered it to abound by way of prevention, that Men at length being made ſenſible of their Guilt, might have recourſe to his Mercy, which was ready to be revealed unto them in Jeſus Chriſt. Thus it appears all things as it were prepared the Jews to a new Oeconomy and Diſpenſation.
We may alſo add, that there was nothing but what repreſented it. The Lawgiver and People, the Covenant it ſelf, the Mediatour, the Worſhip and State of the Faithful; in a word, every thing was ſhadowed in the Old Teſtament, as in a great and magnificent Picture, drawn by the hand of God himſelf, and expoſed to the publick view of Men in all Ages to come.
Therein the Deity is repreſented under an humane Shape, to give us a Type of God manifeſted in the Fleſh. He is ſaid to have wreſtled with Jacob, as an Admonition to us, that Prayer is a ſort of Wreſtling wherewith God is well pleaſed. He charged Moſes not to come near the fiery Buſh where he manifeſted himſelf, till he had firſt put off his Shoes from his Feet, the better to make us underſtand, that without Holyneſs we neither ought, or can approach unto God. He ſhewed his Back-parts only to his Servant Moſes, to inform us, that the advantage of ſeeing him Face to Face, that is, of perfectly knowing his Will and his Councels, particularly belonged to a far greater Prophet than Moſes.
The Two Covenants are likewiſe repreſented to us by Abraham's Two Wives. The Covenant of the Goſpel by Sarah, the Mother of the free Children; and the Covenant of the Law, by Agar, the Mother of the Bond-men.
The faithful People, that is, the Church or the Congregation of thoſe Men who are choſen for eternal Life, are farther repreſented to us ſometimes by the People of Iſrael, ſometimes by the Aſſembly of the firſt-born, and ſometimes by the Multitude of the Levites and Prieſts. And the Conformity betwixt the People of Iſrael and the Chriſtian Church is very remarkable. The People of Iſrael were ſet apart from all other Nations, and ſo are the faithful from the reſt of Mankind. God was the Protector of Iſrael only, when at the ſame time he forſook all other People. In like manner none but that Holy Congregation of People we call the Church, however diſperſed in all Times and in all Places of the World, can juſtly boaſt of its being immediately protected by the Almighty. The People of Iſrael were abhorred and had in execration by all other Nations, and ſo is the Church hated by all the World. The People of Iſrael cried unto God for help in the midſt of their Oppreſſion, and their Cry came unto him; and juſt ſo has the Church had its Martyrs and afflicted Sufferers, continually crying out night and day, How long, Lord, &c. The People of Iſrael, had no other Guide but God; no other Light but his; no other Support to defend them but his Providence: They were fed for a long time with nothing but that Bread he miraculouſly gave them from Heaven for their Suſtenance, &c. The Church in like manner has no other Lights but what proceed from God; no other means of preſervation but his Providence; no other Support but his Strength, &c. God dwelt in Iſrael, and being willing to conform himſelf as it were to the Iſraelites, would have a Tabernacle erected him, when they themſelves dwelt in Tabernacles, and a Houſe when they alſo made their Abode in Houſes. So God is now in the midſt of his Church, and the Faithful themſelves are his Temple and his Sanctuary.
Further, the Divine Worſhip paid to God in Iſrael, was an excellent Figure and Type of that ſpiritual Worſhip that we Chriſtians are bound to give him. To the Temple that was divided into the Porch, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies, is anſwerable the World, the Church and the Heavens, the eternal Sanctuary of God; To the Levites, all the Faithful without Exception that are deſigned to ſerve God; to the White Cloathings of the Miniſters of the Tabernacle, the Innocence and Holyneſs of all thoſe who deſign to approach unto him; to the Purity of the Body, the Purity both of the Heart and Conſcience; to the Blood of Goats and of Lambs, which was a Confirmation of the Old Covenant, the Blood of Jeſus Chriſt which confirms the New Testament; to the Entrance of the High Prieſt into the Holy of Holies, wearing the Names of the Twelve Tribes written upon his Breaſt, and preſenting to God the Blood that was ſhed in the Porch, correſponds the Aſcention of Christ into Heaven, where he continually preſents us to God his Father, and intercedes for us by virtue of that Blood which he ſhed for the Expiation of our Sins; to the purifying Waters which waſhed away all the Pollutions of the Body, the Waters of Grace which ſanctify the Spirit; To Mount Sinai, Mount Zion, to the ſound of the Trumpet of Rams Horns, the Voice of the Goſpel; to Moſes himſelf the Mediatour of the Law, Jeſus Chriſt, the Mediatour of the New Covenant.
The different ſtate and condition of the Church is is alſo further repreſented to us by the various condition of the People of Iſrael. Our ſpiritual Bondage is marked out by their temporal Slavery, our Deliverances by their Deliverances, our Enemies by their Enemies; and ſo juſt and reaſonable is the Conformity there is betwixt thoſe Images and their Original, that the Holy Scripture often makes little diſtinction betwixt them, and intermixes in one and the ſame Chapter that which concerns the temporal State of the Iſraelites, and that which concerns the Spiritual condition of the Faithful, as alſo the Events that attended the Jewiſh Oeconomy, and the Wonders of the New Covenant. Theſe things are worth our Obſervation, and he that does not duly conſider them, will never be able to underſtand any thing in the Prophecies contained in the Books of the Old Teſtament.
Laſtly, The Wiſdom of God was reſolved we ſhould not want a competent number of Types that might ſufficiently repreſent to us the Excellence, Offices, and Miniſtry of our Mediatour. Thus Iſaac conceived in the Womb of a barren Woman the Delight of his Father, the Foundation of all the Promiſes of God, offered up for a Sacrifice upon a Mount by the very hand of his Father, riſing as it were from the Dead, by being delivered from the Knife he had already lifted up againſt him, and having afterwards a Seed as numerous as the Stars of Heaven and the Sand of the Sea; this Iſaac, I ſay, was a lively Image of Jeſus Chriſt, who was conceived in the Virgins Womb, the Darling of his Father, in whom he was well-pleaſed, the Foundation of all his Promiſes, the Source of his Bleſſings, dying upon Mount Calvary, riſing again in a wonderful manner after his Death, and ſeeing his Seed after him when he had made his Soul an Offering for Sin. Thus again, Joſeph ſold by his Brethren, betrayed out of Envy, accuſed tho' Innocent, condemned becauſe he would not ſubmit to the immodeſt Deſires of a laſcivious Woman, delivered out of Priſon, appearing before Pharaoh, cloathed in Garments ſuitable to that Honour, and then ſitting at his Right Hand, was a wonderful Repreſentation of Jeſus Chriſt betrayed out of Envy, ſold by the Jews themſelves, who were his Brethren, condemned for refuſing to comply with the Synagogue, caſt down into the Darkneſs of Death, endued with heavenly Gifts, raiſed again to Heaven, and ſitting at length▪ at the Right Hand of God. Moſes defigned to be the Mediatour of the Legal Covenant, reſcued at his Nativity from a Deluge of Blood, expoſed to the Riverſide, and as it were given up to a ſure and infallible Death; but afterwards delivered by a kind of Miracle from the Fury of the Waters, and alſo delivering not long after his own Nation himſelf by a lucky Turn, when he ſeemed to be caſt away, was an exact Repreſentation of Jeſus Chriſt, who came into the World to be the Mediatour of the New Covenant, was delivered at his Birth from the Murder of Herod, and ſaved Men after his having ſuffered Death. Jonas who was caſt into the Sea to appeaſe the Tempeſt, and ſwallowed by a Whale, which three Days after caſt him again on the Shore, ſufficiently gives us to underſtand, who it was that calm'd by his Death that Storm our Sins had raiſed, that went down into the Grave, and afterwards roſe again the third Day. Laſtly, David being raiſed from the State of a Shepherd to that of a Monarch, was an excellent Type of Christ, who after his Humiliation inherited a Name that is above every Name.
And as for thoſe Prophecies which have deſcribed to us by ſuch notable Epochaes and ſignal Characters, both the Perſon, Coming, and the Time of the Coming of the Meſſias, we have already very largely ſpoke of them; ſo that what we have ſaid in that reſpect, is more than ſufficient to make us admire the exact Proportion there is betwixt the firſt and ſecond Covenant, as well as betwixt the Jewiſh and Chriſtian Religion. Moſes Illuſtrates Chriſt as we have proved in our firſt Part of this Treatiſe; and Chriſt again Illuſtrates Moſes as appears plainly by the Compariſon we juſt now made of them.