These instances are sufficient; at least, to remove all inconsistency from this figurative setting forth of Christ. But we do not stop here. "The foolishness of God is wiser than men." Taking all the circumstances of the case into consideration, it would be found no easy matter to devise a type more appropriate, impressive, and instructive than that which is placed before us. For let the following points be well observed :-As a serpent of brass, it was perfectly clear of the pain, disease, and death which were so rife in the camp; it had wounded no one, and had no venom wherewith to infect and destroy; it was INNOCENT, though lifted up among a guilty and dying people; and then, as being a serpent in form, and like the hurtful creatures that were spreading disease and death below, it seemed figuratively to indicate, that the same nature which brought the curse should bring the cure.

In these two particulars it was finely expressive in its relation to Christ. First, the innocence of the uplifted Victim; and next, His being partaker of that human nature which at first brought sin into the world, "and death by sin." And if the type in question seem to exhibit that human nature in its judicially stricken character, it only adumbrates the fact that "He wAS MADE SIN FOR US Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." As Lampe, though pushing his comparisons a little too far, yet further observes: "The figure of the serpent indicated, that Christ, although without sin, should come in the likeness of sinful flesh;' (Rom. viii. 3;) that he should stand in the stead of those who by nature were a generation of vipers;' (Matt. iii. 7; Gal. iii. 13; 2 Cor. v. 21;) and that, to the eyes of the Jews themselves, it should appear that he was under the malediction of Jehovah, and had a devil. (Isai. liii. 3-5; John viii.) Yet not unless it had been the mere

6

Ipse clar. Vitringa id concedit, (Isa. xiv. 29,) in illis verbis: E radice serpentis proveniet basiliscus, et fructus ejus chersydrus volans.-Lampe, en St. John's Gospel, vol. i., p. 604.

appearance of a serpent, could it be free from poison. Although Christ, in the judgment of God, had per sonated the sinner, yet he remained without sin. (2 Cor. v. 21; Heb. vii. 26.) The brass from which it was molten indicates humanity in its lower condition, and yet bright in perfect holiness; which emblem of shining brass also occurs Ezek. xl. 3; Rev. i. 15. The lifting up of the serpent on the pole first, indeed, designates the lifting up of Christ on the cross; yet so as that it may present an emblem of carrying on the preaching of the Gospel, by which Christ crucified is made known to the world; and whom Isaiah beholds particularly, (xi. 10,) where it is said, 'The Gentiles shall seek to the root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign.""*

It must be observed, that the principal point of comparison, in the whole case, is the lifting up of the object, and not the object lifted up; and many have gone so far as to deny that the brasen sign did in any respect represent the person of Christ; but it is impossible to avoid asking the question, Why did the divine wisdom adopt this form of representation, and not another? The only wise God does not operate blindly; and we humbly explain the reasons of his conduct in the manner which is detailed on this page. Christ was to die for lost and guilty man; and, therefore, to outward

Serpentis figura repræsentabat, quòd Christus, liect peccati expers, venturus tamen esset in similitudine carnis peccati; (Rom. viii. 3;) quod eorum vicem suscepturus, qui naturâ sunt pro

genies viperarum; (Matth. iii. 7; Gal. iii. 13; 2 Cor. v. 21;) quòdque oculis ipsorum Judæorum obversaturus sit, ut a Jehovah maledictus & dæmonium habens. (Ies. liii. 3—5; Joh. viii.) Sed nil nisi mera serpentis species illic erat absque veneno. Christus, licet peccatoris personam in judicio Dei susceperit, peccati tamen exsors mansit. (2 Cor. v. 21; Hebr. vii. 6) Es, ex quo conflatus, nobis designat humanitalem in viliori formd, sanctitate tamen perfec tissima fulgentem: quod emblema æris rutilantis etiam occurrit, Ezech. xl. 3; Apoc. i. 15. Eraltatio serpentis hujus in perticá primò quidem de signat exaltationem in cruce, ita tamen ut pertica simul possit emblema gerere præconii Evangelici, per quod Christus crucifixus mundo innotuit. Quò præcipue spectat Ies. xi. 10, ubi gentes dicuntur requisituræ radicem Isai, quæ erecta erit in vexillum.-Lampe, vol. iii., pp. 607, 608.

appearance, he seemed a lost and guilty man, upon whom the stroke of offended justice fell; but in order to be a sinless and sufficient sacrifice, he was, in truth, holy, glorious, and divine. This was all more or less exhibited in the type; and Justin Martyr expressed himself with striking propriety when, writing of it, he said, "Guiltless it is of iniquity!"*

The third leading doctrine exhibited in this action is the necessity of faith, in order to the personal reception of the atonement.

No bitten and perishing Israelite had a promise of salvation, except on condition of looking up to the appointed sign, and so confiding in God's method of showing mercy. Hundreds might turn away, in the pride of their reason, and refuse to look; and might say, that there was no rational connexion between the means and the end; (just as sceptics proudly turn from the Gospel now ;) but they would miserably and irretrievably perish.

It was true, indeed, there was no natural connexion between looking, and the life and health which followed; and hence obedience to the requirement implied faith. The connexion was of divine appointment. It was the hand of God that healed; but submission to his healing plan was that very obedience of faith which he has ever required from the miserable sinner who has sought mercy at his hands.

The intelligent Hebrews of that period must have known that there was no sanative virtue in the object of sight; for it would appear incredible that God, who had solemnly prohibited the worship of graven images, would seem to trench upon his own commandment, by directing them to the brasen serpent as to some charm; and, indeed, the Hebrews of a later period distinctly recognised the immediate hand of God in the salvation of the people, as is evident from the following passage

• Quod diximus serpentem hunc aëneum in eo Christi gessisse imaginem, quòd alius erat quàm videbatur, notavit Justinus, de eo serpente sie loquens, Αναιτιος εστιν αδικιας.-Poli Synop. Crit, vol. iii., p. 1182.

in the Book of Wisdom: "For when the horrible fierceness of beasts came upon these," (the people,) "and they perished with the stings of crooked serpents, thy wrath endured not for ever: but they were troubled for a small season, that they might be admonished, having a sign of salvation, to put them in remembrance of the commandment of thy law. For he that turned himself toward it was not saved by the thing that he saw, but by thee that art the Saviour of all. And in

this thou madest thine enemies confess that it is thou who deliverest from all evil." (xvi. 5-8.)

The celebrated John Cocceius, although nearly as fanciful and allegorical as the Fathers, is cited by Lampe as speaking to the same effect; and his words will be found as well to bear against the Roman Catholic perversion of the ordinance we are now considering. "Neither by the pole, nor by the serpent form, nor by beholding it, was there any thing effective to the healing of the bite of the reptiles; and it is not the manner of the Almighty, but rather of the evil one, to tie himself by covenant to the sign and thing external; so that, that being established, he shall effect his wonders through the work wrought. Wherefore the little word so' is here to be understood, not simply implying the mode as regards similitude, but the mode as regards the original reason, as in John xii. 50; Luke xxiv. 46; inasmuch as to designate that, amongst the real prophecies, this type should also be taken with those things which ought to have their fulfilment in Christ." +

Thus early did it appear that "without faith it is impossible to please God." The Hebrew cast his

+ Optimè Cocceius, in Ultim. Mosis, sec. 1064: Neque in perticá, neque in serpentis formâ, neque in intuitu ejus, ulla res erat ad sanandum ictum serpentum: et Dei mos non est, sed diaboli potiùs, se obligare pacto ad signum et rem externam, ut ea extante ex opere operato ipse operetur mirabilia. Quare vocula ovтws hic non simpliciter per modum similitudinis, sed etiam per modum ætiologiæ intelligenda est, velut Joh. xii. 50; Luc. xxiv. 46; ad designandum, nempe, quòd inter prophetias reales, quæ implementum in Christo habere debuerunt, hic typus quoque sit referendus, -Ibid.

To the present age pertains the shame, and to individuals in the Protestant Establishment belongs the guilt, of reviving the Popish principle of reserve, as regards teaching the doctrine of the atonement. The deadly poison of sin is infecting the whole of the social community; and thousands are daily sinking and dying away, having first been fascinated, and then envenomed; and yet, forsooth, the pitying provision of Infinite Mercy is to be screened and kept out of view as an ecclesiastical arcanum; and the herald of the cross is to be transformed into a muttering hierophant! My YEVOLTO. "Never may it be!"

I confess, I know of no people or congregation to whom I would not, to the best of my ability, preach Christ crucified, Christ given for us, Christ to be believed in, and received by faith. The theme should be descanted on before a worldly and hardened congregation, in the hope that some one present would breathe out a prayer like the dying thief, or smite upon his breast like the Roman Centurion, and feel his heart melt like wax before the fire. Unto a congregation of contrite mourners should be preached the dignity of his person, the sufficiency of his atonement, the infinite reach of his compassion; not doubting but that, in many cases, the penitent soul, like the awakened eunuch, to whom Jesus was likewise preached, would go "on his way rejoicing." Unto the thirsty for holiness he should be lifted up, as exalted not only to give life, but to give it more abundantly; and unto the fallen as one "whom they had pierced," in order that they might bitterly mourn, and fall at his feet once more. Never should the strain die away. The ministry of reconciliation should never cease till all were reconciled.

Numerous churches have recently been erected in the Establishment; but to what avail, so long as they are served by Tractarian officiators? The hollow echoes of these places, which in many instances are half deserted, mournfully indicate that there is nothing there with which man's guilty and stricken heart can

sympathize.

Human wants and

woes are mocked, because the atonement is veiled, and its immediate application is arrested by the interposition of a priesthood which certainly, as a mere priesthood, was never consecrated by Aaron or by Christ.

When the brasen serpent which Moses set up no longer served as an aid to faith, and the embodying forth of a divine promise,—but had been made an idol, in the presence of which incense was burned,-then a pious King scorned it, and called it Nehushtan, "a brasen bauble," and brake it to pieces. So when the Gospel is deprived by these men of its spirit and power; and penitence, faith, and love, as exercised in reference to Christ and his living truth, are banished, in order to admit gestures and the multiform incense of a traditional externalism, there is nothing left for a poor man who comes in and inquires what he must do to be saved, but a glittering bauble.

Our Methodist church has been favoured to bear a testimony for God, during a century past, on the subject of Christ crucified; but our practice has fallen far short of our ability in the matter.

In large and populous towns, where tens of thousands are living and dying in sin; and in districts where there are either no ministrations at all, or where, through Tractarian error and folly, they are as little understood by the poor as the Eleusinian mysteries would be; the gin.shop, the Hall of Science, the news-room, the theatre, are commanding, spacious, and imposing,as though society from places like these derived its greatest benefits. In the mean time, the glorious Gospel, the balm of the world, its only hope, and none the less so as it is preached by Wesleyans,-is meanly compelled to hide its head in a few scanty, retired, and unknown buildings, as though begging for a mere existence. An upper-room is not to be despised when poverty on the one hand, and persecution on the other, shall compel the disciples of Christ to assemble there, if they