tions,
all of which are false: (1) That there are but few types in the Bible.
(2) That types are _devised_ by _men_. (3) That types were "devised and
acted" by the same party. (4) That they were "devised and acted" by men
with the intention of typifying something future. (5) That this, in
order to their value as evidence of inspiration, should have been
"their sole object." This will do quite well for five lines. We would
suggest that _God_ devised types, not men. While men were the actors,
they were not the originators. While men may not have intended to
typify anything in the case, God did. While types were intended by God
to typify something future, this was not "their sole object." God had
in them a purpose for the actors in addition to their typical
significance. The purpose they then served detracts not from their
value as types. As to the comparative number, we prefer Paul as
authority. Speaking of the wilderness life of the Israelites, from
their baptism in the cloud and in the sea, he says: "Now these things
happened unto them by way of types [_tupoi_], and they were written for
our admonition." This history contains numerous types, Paul being
judge. Indeed, the patriarchal and Jewish religions were mainly
typical. When Noah built the ark to the saving of his house, it is not
probable that he thought of anything typical. Certainly that was not
the only purpose, nor the main purpose. But Peter says it was a type,
all the same.
The fact that God's people did not understand the full significance of
their worship, did not destroy its character or its value. The same is
true now. While God's oppressed people worshiped in types and symbols
which foreshadowed the perfection to come, they were taught by the
spirit of prophecy to look with longing anxiety to the coming of a
deliverer. While, in debate, we may not rely on a large number of
prophecies as Messianic, because the proof is not conclusive, it does
not effect the fact that many of them have that character.
To appreciate Christ as a deliverer one must realize his own
bondage--the slave of sin, and sold under its power. There is no
appreciation of the Deliverer till there is a longing for deliverance,
and no longing for deliverance till there is a hatred of bondage. Hence
one must have a just sense of the heinousness of sin before he can
appreciate Christ as a Saviour.
In coming to this world to deliver us, Christ had, in a sense, to come
within the domini
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