J.P. 4743. he shall say unto you. V. Æ. 30. And it shall come to pass, that every 23 soul, which will not hear that Prophet, shall be destroyed from Jerusalem. among the people. Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and 24 came after him (a). It is sufficient for us to know, that even when taken collectively, they were not like unto him in so many points as Jesus of Nazareth (b). Jortin gives the following parallel: The resemblance between Moses and Christ is so great and striking, it is impossible to consider it fairly and carefully, without seeing and acknowledging that He must be foretold where He is so well described. First, and which is the principal of all, Moses was a lawgiver and the mediator of a covenant between God and man. So was Christ. Here the resemblance is the more considerable, because no other prophet beside them executed this high office. The other prophets were only interpreters and enforcers of the law, and in this respect were greatly inferior to Moses. The Messias could not be like to Moses in a strict sense, unless He were a legislator. He must give a law to men, consequently a more excellent law, and a better covenant than the first. For if the first had been perfect (as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews argues,) there could have been no room for a second. 2. Other prophets had revelations in dreams and visions, but Moses talked with God, with the Aoyos, face to face. So Christ spake that which he had seen with the Father, Num. xii. 6, 7, 8. All the prophets of the Old Testament saw visions and dreamed dreams-all the prophets of the New were in the same state. St. Peter had a vision; St. John saw visions; St. Paul had visions and dreams. But Christ neither saw visions, nor dreamed a dream, but had an intimate and immediate communication with the Father-He was in the Father's bosom-and He, and no man else, had seen the Father. Moses and Christ are the only two in all the sacred history who had this communication with God.-Bishop Sherlock, Disc. 6. 3. Moses in his infancy was wonderfully preserved from the cruelty of a tyrant-so was Christ. 4. Moses fled from his country to escape the hands of the king—so did Christ, when his parents carried Him into Egypt. Afterwards, “The Lord said to Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt; for all the men are dead which sought thy life," Exod. iv. 19. So the angel of the Lord said to Joseph in almost the same words, "Arise, and take the young child, and go into the land of Israel, for they are dead which sought the young child's life," Matt. ii. 20. pointing Him out, as it were, for that prophet which should arise like unto Moses. 5. Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction.Christ had all the kingdoms of the world offered him by Satan, and rejected them; and when the people would have made him a king, he hid himself, choosing rather to suffer affliction. 6. "Moses," says St. Stephen," was learned, maideú0ŋ, in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds ;" and Josephus, Ant. Jud. 2. 9. says, that he was a very forward and accomplished youth, and had wisdom and knowledge beyond his years; which is taken from Jewish tradition, and which of itself is highly probable. St. Luke observes of Christ, that “he increased (betimes) in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man ;" and his discourses in the temple with the doctors, when he was twelve years old, were a proof of it. The difference was, that Moses acquired his knowledge by human instruction, and Christ by a divine afflatus. To both of them might be applied what Callimachus elegantly feigns of Jupiter Οξὺ δ' ἀνηβήσας, ταχινοὶ δέ τοι ἦλθον ἴουλοι, ̓Αλλ ̓ ἔτι παιδνὸς ἐὼν ἐφράσσαν πάντα τέλεια. 7. Moses delivered his people from cruel oppression and heavy bondage-so did Christ from the worse tyranny of sin and Satan. 8. Moses contended with the magicians, and had the advantage over them so manifestly, that they could no longer withstand him, but were forced to acknowledge the divine power by which he was assisted-Christ ejected evil spirits, and received the same acknowledgments from them. 9. Moses assured the people whom he conducted, that if they would be obedient, they should enter into the happy land of promise; which land was usually understood, by the wiser Jews, to be an emblem and a figure of that eternal and celestial kingdom to which Christ first opened an entrance. 10. Moses reformed the nation, corrupted with Egyptian superstition and idolatry— Christ restored true religion. (a) Hunc locum quidam de Josua, alii de prophetis in genere enarrant. Sed prophetæ non erant Mosi per omnia similes. Nam Moses videbat Deum in speculari lucido; prophetæ, in non lucido. Præterea Moses videbat Deum facie ad faciem, loquebatur cum eo ore ad os: non sic reliqui prophetæ. Debet igitur peculiariter accipi de Christo, qui fuit scopus omnium prophetarum, &c.-Drusius in Deut, xviii. 15. Crit. Sacri, vol. ii. p. 131. (6) Jortin's Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, vol. i. p. 282, et seq. Ix.] PETER AGAIN ADDRESSES THE PEOPLE. 21 V. Æ. 30. those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise J. P 4743. 25 foretold of these days. Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying Jerusalem. 11. Moses wrought a variety of miracles-so did Christ; and in this the parallel is remarkable, since beside Christ "there arose not a prophet in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to do." 12. Moses was not only a lawgiver, a prophet, and a worker of miracles, but a king and a priest. He is called a king, Deut. xxxiii. 5. and he had indeed, though not the pomp, and the crown, and the sceptre, yet the authority of a king, and was the supreme magistrate; and the office of priest he often exercised: in all these offices the resemblance between Moses and Christ was singular. In the interpretation of Deut. xxxiii. 5. I prefer the sense of Grotius and Selden to Le Clerc's. The parallel between Moses and Christ requires it, and no objection can be made to it. The apostolical constitutions also, if their judgment be of any weight, call Moses "High Priest and King;" ròv άpxшρία καὶ βασιλέα, vi. 3. 13. Moses, says Theodoret, married an Ethiopian woman, at which his relations were much offended; and in this he was a type of Christ, who espoused the Church of the Gentiles, whom the Jews were very unwilling to admit to the same favours and privileges with themselves. But I should not choose to lay a great stress upon this typical similitude, though it be ingenious. 14. Moses fasted in the desert forty days and forty nights, before he gave the law: so did Elias, the restorer of the law-and so did Christ before he entered into his ministry. 15. Moses fed the people miraculously in the wilderness-so did Christ with bread, and with doctrine; and the manna which descended from heaven, and the loaves which Christ multiplied, were proper images of the spiritual food which the Saviour of the world bestowed upon his disciples. John vi. 31, &c. 16. Moses led the people through the sea-Christ walked upon it, and enabled Peter to do so. 17. Moses commanded the sea to retire and give way-Christ commanded the winds and waves to be still. 18. Moses brought darkness over the land-The sun withdrew its light at Christ's crucifixion. And as the darkness which was spread over Egypt was followed by the destruction of the first-born, and of Pharaoh and his host-so the darkness at Christ's death was the forerunner of the destruction of the Jews, when, in the metaphorical and prophetic style, and according to Christ's express prediction, “the sun was darkened, and the moon refused to give her light, and the stars fell from heaven," the ecclesiastical and the civil state of the Jews was overturned, and the rulers of both were destroyed. 19. The face of Moses shone when he descended from the mountain-the same happened to Christ at his transfiguration on the mountain. Moses and Elias appeared then with him; to show that the law and prophets bare witness to him; and the divine voice said, "This is my beloved Son, hear ye him;" alluding most evidently to the prediction of Moses, "unto him shall ye hearken." 20. Moses cleansed one leper-Christ many. 21. Moses foretold the calamities which would befal the nation for their disobedience-so did Christ. 22. Moses chose and appointed seventy elders to be over the people-Christ chose such a number of disciples. 23. The Spirit which was in Moses was conferred in some degree on the seventy elders, they prophesied and Christ conferred miraculous powers on his seventy disciples. 24. Moses sent twelve men to spy out the land which was to be conquered-Christ sent his Apostles into the world, to subdue it by a more glorious and miraculous couquest. 25. Moses was victorious over powerful kings and great nations-so was Christ, by the effects of his religion, and by the fall of those who persecuted the Church. 26. Moses conquered Amalek by lifting and holding up both his hands all the day-Christ overcame his and our enemies when his hands were fastened to the cross. This resemblance has been observed by some of the ancient Christians, and ridiculed by some of the moderns, but without sufficient reason, I think. 27. Moses interceded for transgressions, and caused an atonement to be made for them, and stopped the wrath of God-so did Christ. 28. Moses ratified a covenant between God and the people, by sprinkling them with bloodChrist with his own blood. 29. Moses desired to die for the people, and prayed that God would forgive them, or blot him out of his book-Christ did more, he died for sinners. 30. Moses instituted the Passover, when a lamb was sacrificed, none of whose bones were to be broken, and whose blood protected the people from destruction-Christ was that Paschal Lamb. V. Æ. 30. J. P. 4743. unto Abraham, PAnd in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his 26 Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities. Jerusalem. p Gen. xii. 3. 31. Moses lifted up the serpent, that they who looked upon him might be healed of their mortal wounds-Christ was that serpent. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." The serpent, being an emblem of Satan, may not be thought a fit emblem to represent Christ; but the serpents which bit the children of Israel are called fiery serpents, seraphim. Now "sunt boni angeli seraphim, sunt mali angeli seraphim, quos nulla figura melius quam prestere exprimas. Et tali usum primum humani generis seductorem putat Bachai." Grotius. Therefore Christ, as he was the great and good Angel, the angel of God's presence, the angel xar' ¿§oxǹv, might be represented as a kind of seraphim, a beneficent healing serpent, who should abolish the evil introduced by the seducing lying serpent; and who, like the serpent of Moses, should destroy the serpents of the magicians: as one of those gentle serpents who are friends to mankind. "Nunc quoque nec fugiunt hominem nec vulnere lædunt, Εἰσὶ δὲ περὶ Θήβας ἱροὶ ὄφιες, ἀνθρώπων οὐδαμῶς δηλήμονες. HERODOTUS, ii. 74. 32. All the affection which Moses showed towards the people, all the cares and toils which he underwent on their account, were repaid by them with ingratitude, murmuring, and rebellion, and sometimes they threatened to stone him-the same returns the Jews made to Christ for all his benefits. 33. Moses was ill used by his own family; his brother and sister rebelled against him—there was a time when Christ's own brethren believed not in him. 34. Moses had a very wicked and perverse generation committed to his care and conduct; and, to enable him to rule them, miraculous powers were given to him, and he used his utmost endeavour to make the people obedient to God, and to save them from ruin; but in vain: in the space of forty years they all fell in the wilderness except two-Christ was given to a generation not less wicked and perverse; his instructions and his miracles were lost upon them; and in about the same space of time, after they had rejected him, they were destroyed. 35. Moses was very meek, above all the men that were on the face of the earth-so was Christ. 36. The people could not enter into the land of promise until Moses was dead-by the death of Christ the kingdom of heaven was opened to all believers. 37. In the death of Moses and Christ there is also a resemblance of some circumstances. Moses died, in one sense, for the iniquities of the people; it was their rebellion which was the occasion of it, which drew down the displeasure of God upon them, and upon him (Deut. i. 37). Moses therefore went up, in the sight of the people, to the top of Mount Nebo, and there he died when he was in perfect vigour, when his eye was not dim, nor was his natural force abated-Christ suffered for the sins of men, and was led up, in the presence of the people, to Mount Calvary, where he died in the flower of his age, and when he was in his full natural strength. Neither Moses, nor Christ, as far as we can collect from sacred history, was ever sick, or felt any bodily decay or infirmities, which would have rendered them unfit for the toils they underwent; their sufferings were of another kind. 38. Moses was buried, and no man knew where his body lay-nor could the Jews find the body of Christ. 39. Lastly, as Moses, a little before his death, promised the people that God would raise them up a prophet like unto him'--so Christ, taking leave of his afflicted disciples, told them, "I will not leave you comfortless; I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter." It is only necessary to add, in the words of an eminent divine (see Clarke's Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion), that the correspondencies of types and antitypes, though they be not of themselves proper proofs of the truth of a doctrine, yet they may be very reasonable confirmations of the foreknowledge of God; of the uniform view of Providence under different dispensations; of the analogy, harmony, and agreement between the Old Testament and the New. The analogies cannot, without the force of strong prejudice, be conceived to have happened by mere chance, without any foresight or design. There are no such analogies, much less such series of analogies, found in the books of mere enthusiastic writers living in such remote ages from each other. It is much more credible and reasonable to suppose, what St. Paul affirms, that, in the uniform course of God's government of the world, "all these things happened unto them of old for examples, rúra, or types, I Cor. x. 11. and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." Ix.] PETER AND JOHN ARE IMPRISONED. 23 § 9. St. Peter and St. John are imprisoned by Order of the Sanhedrim. J. P. 4743. ACTS iv. 1-8. V. Æ. 30. Jerusalem. Luke xxii. 4. 1 And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the * cap- 5 Or, ruler, v. 24. And hence arises that aptness of similitude in the application of several legal performances to the morality of the Gospel, that it can very hardly be supposed not to have been originally intended. Bishop Horsley (c) has proposed a criticism, which may add another circumstance to the parallel between Christ and Moses. We read in Numb. xii. 3. "That the man Moses was very meek." With what truth this character might be ascribed to Moses, see Exod. xii. 11-14. v. 22. xi. 8. xxxii. 19–22. Numb. xi. 11–15. xvi. 15. and xx. 10-12. Schultens renders the passage; Now the man Moses gave forth more answers than, &c. &c., i. e. more oracular answers: " erat responsor eximius præ omni homine." If this remark is just, our Lord would be like unto Moses in this point also: Christ being himself the divine oracle by whom Moses had spoken to the people (d). 21 The names of the pastors here mentioned show us the powerful opposition against which the infant Church had to contend. The Sanhedrim-the aged Ananus, or Annas, who by his influence secretly directed every public measure, and as many as were of his kindred were gathered together against them. The John and Alexander here spoken of, appear to have been, next to Annas and Caiaphas, the principal and most eminent persons in Jerusalem. John, according to Lightfoot, is probably no other than Rabban Johanan, the son of Zaccai, frequently mentioned in the Talmuds. It is said of him, that he had been the scholar of Hillel, and was president of the council after Symeon, the son of Gamaliel, who perished in the destruction of the city, and that he lived to be a hundred and twenty-three years old. A remarkable saying of his, spoken by him not long before his assembling with the rulers and elders, mentioned Acts iv. is related in the Jerusalem Talmud thus: Forty years before the destruction of the city, when the gates of the temple flew open of their own accord, Rabban Johanan, the son of Zaccai, said, "O temple, temple, why dost thou disturb thyself? I know thy end, that thou shalt be destroyed; for so the prophet Zechariah has spoken concerning thee, 'Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars."" He lived to see the truth of what he had foretold (e). The Alexander here mentioned, is supposed by some learned men (f) to be Alexander the alabarch, or governor of the Jews who dwelt in Egypt: and were he at Jerusalem at the time, nothing would be more probable. For the assembly here spoken of does not seem to be the ordinary council of the seventy-one, but an extraordinary council, composed of all the chief men of the Jewish nation, from every part of the world, who happened then to be at Jerusalem; and several such, it is likely, there might be upon the account of some feast. Josephus says of this Alexander, that he was the noblest and richest of all the Jews in Alexandria of his time, and that he adorned the nine gates of the temple at Jerusalem with plates of gold and silver (g). (e) Horsley's Biblical Criticisms, vol. i. p. 166. He refers to Kennicott's Remarks, p. 57. (d) See the treatise on the passage in the 13th vol. of the Critici Sacri, p. 439, &c. to Fagius's Remarks, vol. ii. p. 123, and to the frequent notices of the same text in Limborch's amica collatio cum erud. Judæo. (e) Vid. Lightfoot, vol. i p. 209, and p. 277. 282. vol. ii. p. 652. (ƒ) Baron. Annal. xxxiv. p. 224. Lightfoot, vol. i. p. 277, and 760. (g) Antiq. 1. xviii. c. 7. §. 3. fin. 1. 19. c. 5. § 1. fin. 1. 20. c. 4. §. 2. and de Bell, 1. 5. c. 5. §. 3. See Biscoe on the Acts, and Schoetgen, vol. i. p. 420. J. P. 4743. § 10. St. Peter's Address to the assembled Sanhedrim. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye s rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, If we this day be 9 examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; be it known unto you all, and to all the 10 people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him 9 Ps. cxviii. doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone 11 which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there 12 is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. 22. Matt. xxi. 42. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and per- 13 ceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. And beholding the man which was healed stand- 14 ing with them, they could say nothing against it. But when 15 they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, saying, What shall we do to these 16 men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it. But that it spread no further among the people, let us 17 straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in Again, ch. this name. And they called them, and commanded them not 18 to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and 19 John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye 22 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen 20 and heard. So when they had further threatened them, they 21 let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which was done. For the man was above forty years old, on whom 22 this miracle of healing was shewed. v. 40. s Ps. ii. 1. § 11. The Prayer of the Church at the Liberation of St. Peter and St. John. ACTS iv. 23-32. And being let go, they went to their own company, and 23 reported all that the Chief Priests and elders had said unto them. And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice 24 to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did 25 the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The 26 22 See the dissertation on this text among the tracts bound up in the 13th vol. of the Critici Sacri. De limitibus Obsequii Humani. By Samuel Andreas, or Andre, or Andrews. p. 595–604. |