Christ, and are to this day wandering, restless, and hopeless about the world; and every man will find himself in the like condition, till he discovers that the religion he is afraid of is his best friend, and that God has sent a Saviour before us to preserve life, not to destroy it. LECT. LECTURE IX. ON THE PERSONAL FIGURES, OR TYPES, OF THE SCRIPTURE. (A CONTINUATION OF THE FORMER.) OF F ment, none are so proper to answer the purpose of these lectures, as the two characters which St. Stephen proposed to the Jews, as figures and fore-runners of Jesus Christ; whom they would not have crucified if they had known him, and they could not have failed to know him, if they had looked to those saints of old who had foreshewed him in their lives and actions, more plainly than words could have described him. Notice had been given of this by Moses himself; so that they ought not to have been igno rant. rant. A prophet, said he, shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me: which words are cited by St. Stephen and marked out for special observation: This is that Moses, who said unto the children of Israel, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, like unto me: and from the use he has made of the history of Moses, in the 7th chapter of the Acts, it appears that this likeness extends to his whole character, from his birth to his death as we shall see when we come to examine the particulars. We are likewise taught by St. Paul, that Moses, as a minister and mediator, was faithful in his office, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after: when the Son himself, the great and final mediator, should take the direction of the house of God, and accomplish the ministry, which is now witnessed by the ministry of Moses, The circumstances fittest for our purpose in the history of Moses, and most remarkable in themselves, are already selected by St. Stephen: to these, therefore, I shall confine myself; and treat of them in the order in which he has laid them down. But that we may first have a distinct view of the particulars, which will come under consideration, it may be proper to ob 3 serve; serve; that the history of Moses, as here to be applied, comprehends 1. The circumstances of his birth. 2. His qualifications and endowments as the minister of God. 3. His office as the deliverer of his people. 4. The reception he met with from the people he came to deliver. Our blessed Saviour's birth in Judæa was rendered very remarkable by the circumstances that attended it, and the character of the time in which it happened. When the promises of God were about to be fulfilled by the redemption of mankind, and the time foretold by the prophets was drawing near; the nation of the Jews was fallen under bondage to the Roman power, and were subject to Herod, a strange king, jealous of the people he was set over, and apprehensive of a deliverer to be born among themselves. When the report of Christ's birth was brought by the wise men, Herod determined to cut him off; and with this view cruelly slaughtered all the infants in the neighbourhood of Bethlehem. With all this the birth of Moses agrees in every circum stance. For 1. The time of the promise drew nigh which God had sworn to Abraham. It had been foretold, that the seed of Abraham should continue four four hundred years in Egypt, and after that come out with great substance. When this time of redemption was approaching, the Hebrews were fallen into great affliction under a new king who knew not Joseph; who being probably an alien, had no respect to the merits or memory of him who had been a saviour to the land of Egypt; looking with a jealous eye upon all his people, as enemies, and treating them as captives and slaves. He had a suspicion that they would become more powerful, and get them up out of his land. To prevent which, he proceeded with subtilty, (as Herod did afterwards) and resolved upon a massacre of all the male infants of the Hebrews. He first commanded the midwives to kill them; but failing in this, Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, every son that is born ye shall cast into the river. At this time Moses was born: and a remarkable time it was: a strange new king kept the people of God in subjection, and murdered their infants, to prevent their deliverance. But Moses and Christ, under these wonderful circumstances, were both miraculously preserved, to accomplish the redemption for which they were raised up and they were both preserved in the land of Egypt. Moses was taken up by Pharaoh's daughter, and es caped |