Tomline on Article VII: Of the Old Testament

This article was directed against the opinion of certain persons, who thought that the Old Testament, after the promulgation of the New, was no longer of any use ; and also against the Anabaptists and other enthusiasts, who, mis-

^ taking

ART. VII.] Thirty-nine Articles. 201

taking some expressions in the Epistles concern- ing justification by Christ without the works of the law, maintained that Christians were under no obligation to obey the moral precepts of the Mosaic dispensation.

It has been noticed in a former part of this work, that the promise of the Redemption of mankind from the fatal effects of sin, is re- corded in the beginning of the book of Genesis ; and we have also seen this promise confirmed by so many persons, and in so many ways, throughout the writings of the Old Testament, that we cannot but feel the force of our Lord’s appeal, ” Search the Scriptures, for they testify of me (a).” But in order to prove the former part of this article, I shall repeat and explain some of those prophecies and types, which refer to the offer or promise of everlasting life to mankind by Christ.

Immediately after the fall of our first parents from their state of innocence and happiness, God said to the serpent, ” I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel ( b) ;” in which words is inti- mated the future Saviour of the world, who was

to

(a) John, c. 5. v. 39. (h) Gen. c. 3. v. ig.

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Isaac

[…]

ART. vii] Thirty-nine Articks. 203

Isaac (e) and to Jacob (f). In Jeremiah, God says, ” This shall be the covenant that I will malte with the house of Israel ; after those days I will put my law in their invrd paii, and Tvte it in thehr heirts ; and I ;WB be then God, arid they shall be my peopte; for I will for- give their iniquity, and remember their sin no more (g)’ In the abovfe passage tlte nature of the Gospel covenant is explained, as designed to produce inward purity, and to procure par- don for sin ; and in Isaiah the benefits of thisf covenant are declared to extend to the Gentlkisr also : ” It is a light thing, saith the Lord, that thou shouldst be iny servilht to raise up the tribes of Jacob, arid to restore the presetted of Israel : I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth (h)” The atoriemrit alsb is clearly asserted in Isaiah, ” He was wounded for our transgressions ; he was bruised fbt 6Ut iniquities ; the chastisement of our peAce wai upon him, and with his stripes wie txe hei. All we, like sheep, have gone astray ; We hav* turned every one to his own ways, a!nd Hfe iJolA hath laid on him the iniquities of lis all ; for [% Was cut off out of die fand of the living; foJr

itib

(e) Gen. c. «6. v. 3. (f) Gen, c. 28. v. 13,

(g) Jerem. c.3i, v. 33^80 34. (h) It.H5. 49. v. 6.

204 Exposition of the [part iil

the transgressions of my people he was stricken* Thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin; for he shall bear their iniquities (i)” And the following passage in Hosea plainly states God s gracious intention of bestowing upon mankind everiasting life : ’^ I will ransom them from the power of the grave ; I will redeem them from death ; O death, I will be thy plagues ; O grave^ I will be thy destruction (k)”

To these positive declarations, relative to the redemption by Christ, we may add that the call of the Jews out of Egypt, where they suf- fered a severe bondage, into Canaan, a land flow- ing with milk and honey, w as a type of the call of mankind from tlie oppression and misery (A sin to ” the glorious liberty with which Christ hath made us free ;” that tlie law was prepara- tory to the Gospel ; that Moses, as a deliverer and lawgiver, was a type of Christ; that the temporal blessings of the law were typical of the eternal blessings of the Gospel ; that the paschal lamb was typical of the sacrifice of Christ ; the scape-goat of the atonement ; and the lifting up of the brazen serpent in the wilderness, of the crucifixion of our Saviour. Alany other pro- mises, predictions, and tyj)es, might be pro- duced out of the Old Testament concerning

redemption

(i) Is. c. 63. V. 5, &.C. (k) Hosea^ c. 13. v. 14,

ART. VII.] Thirty-nine Articles. 205

redemption through Christ, but these are amply sufficient to convince us that the old tes- tament IS NOT CONTRARY TO THE NEW ;

MANKIND BY CHRIST. Indeed there is not only the most perfect harmony and consistency, but the closest connexion and mutual ’ depen- dence between the Old and New Testament ; they are parts of the same system ; they explain and confirm each other. The great plan of universal redemption, announced and typified in the one, is perfected and completed in the other; it was declared to Adam; it was pro- mised to the patriarchs ; it was typified by the Law ; it was predicted by the prophets ; it was fulfilled in Christ. It was the eternal decree of God; it was gradually carried on through a long succession of ages, according to the dic- tates of his unerring wisdom, and was finally executed in his own good time : ” Known unto God are all his works from the beginning (l).’ — ” With him a thousand years are as one day (m)’ — In him there is no variableness or shadow of turning (n) […] says Justin Martyr, ” is the Law ? the Gospel predicted. What is

the

(I) Acts, c. 15. V. 18. (m) 2 Pet c. 3. v. 8. (n) James, c. 1. v. 17.

[…]

the Gospel ? the Law fulfilled (o) :”— ” I have often asserted,” says Chrysostom, ” that two covenants, two handmaids, and two sisters, attend upon one Lord. Christ is announced by the pro- phets ; Christ is preached in the New Testamcfnt Ihe Old Testament declared beforehand the , New, and the New interpreted the Old (p). ’

Among the ’ many references in the New Tes-

. taipent to the Old, which might be enumerated,

I 3haU only mention the following declarations

of our Saviour, sufficient, indeed of themselves

I to prove the truth of this part of the article:

” Search the Scriptures, for in them ye ^think

ye have eternal life ; and they are they which

..testify. of me […] Had ye believed Moses,

. ye would have believed me ; for he wrote of

,,pae (r).” — ” Think not that I am ,come to

,. destroy the law or the propjhets ; I am.iiot coipt

.to dft^troy, .^ut to fulfil (s).”

The article proceeds to state that Christ is

MAN, BEING BOTH GOD AND MAN. It haS

been already proved that Christ partook ,hoth. of ,, the,:diyine and human nature : and. St., Paul .expressly says, ” There is one God, and ont

mediator

(o) Qusest. et Resp. loi. (p) Hom. ixi. . Ci^i John, c. fi. V. 39. (‘ft; John, c. 5. T, 46.

($) Matt, c. £• V. 1 7

ART,’ f 1 1.] ThiHy-nine Articles. a 07

itifediitor between- God and men, the man Christ

*Je^as (ty ’ Christ is represented, both in the

^Old arid’ New Testameftt, as the only Redeemer

•6f WaAkirid, as the orfy sacrifice for the sins of

[…]

who liv^ bfefore’ arid after the < promulgation of

the Gospel : ^ As- in Adam all die, even so in

” Chr&f^shaU aU […] He is

‘^e Lamb slain firom the foundation of Ae

’ Vbrid {xy

Wherefore THEY are-not to bbheabd^

Which’ FEIGN THAT THE OLD’ FATHERS DID LOOK ONLY FOR^‘rK^ft^xV.SITORY ‘PROMISES.

Though ‘we now perceive the […] ap-

[…]

’ in the Old^ Testament,^ concerning ’ the benefits

‘to be derived from* the incamMion imd sufferii^s

of Christ, yet we shoidd remeftiber that the

Mdct’ meaning of these passages was by no

’ means fidly understood - before the promulgation

of the Gospel, The belief; ho weverj of the pa-

■‘triarchs in the promise of a Redeemer, atd

‘their* expectation of a* future lifcj appear evi-

’ ‘dent frbm their history in the Old ^ Testa-

*‘tnent, and from the testimony to their fakh

*^given by the Apostle in the eleventh chapter of

Hebrews.

’ (t) 1 Tim. c. 2. V. 5, (u) 1 Cor. c. 15. v. 22. (x) Rev. c. 13. V. 8.

2o8 Exposition of the [part hi.

Hebrews. And it is certain that those who lived under the law, collected firom their Scrip- tures general ideas of God’s design to bestow upon mankind some signal blessings through the means ,of the Messiah, and therefore they were naturally led to extend their hopes and expecta- tions beyond the transitory promises of the Mo- . saic dispensation. Even Bishop Warburton ac- knowledges that the doctrine of a future state became a national doctrine among the Jews about 150 years before Christ; and it is well known that the opposite opinion was the distinguishing tenet of .the sect of the Sadducee in t&ie tkme tf our Saviouc. David Levi, the learned Jew of the isent time, contends, that the Jews were certainly well acquainted with the doctrine of the resurrection in the days of Isaiah, who lived about 800 years before the birth of Christ; ” nay,” says he, I am confident that the resurrection was taught by Moses himself;” and for this opi- mon we seem to have the authority of our Lord himself, when he attributes their want of faith in him to their not believing or not understand- ing the writings of their lawgiver : ” Had ye be- lieved Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me ; but if ye believe not his MTit- ings, how shall ye believe my word (jy) ?” Our

Saviour’s

(y) John, c. g. v. 46 and 47.

jlM. VI1.3 Thirttf-mne Articles. 2^9

Saviour’s answer also to the insidious question of the Sadducees concerning the seven brethren who had married one wife, Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures (x)f plainly implies that the doc- trine which they denied , namely, the resurrection of the dead, was contained in the Scriptures. Not to mention what mit be adduced in support of the supposition, that Adam and his imme- diate descendants received positive information concerning the nature of the benefit to be pro- cured by the promised ” Deliver” the trans- lation of the righteous Enoch must surely have been considered as very striking evidence 6f another and happier state of existence. It is ex- pressly said of Abraham, that he accounted God was able to raise up Isaac even from the dead (y) ;” and of Moses, that ” he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteem- ing the reproach of (or rather for) Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, far he had respect unto the recompence of the reward (z) And after enumerating various examples of faith, the Apostle adds in the same chapter, others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they

mig^t

. (s) Matt. c. fts. r. sg. (y) Heb. c \i’y. 19. (x) Heb. c. 1 1 . T. 25 8c a6.

aio Exposition of tfie [part iu.

might obtain a better resurrection (a).” Job comforts himself with the following reflectioQ, from which it is evident that he believed there would be another life, in which he should be re:warded for all his sufferings : I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the Iflitter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God : whom I shall see for my self, and mine eyes shall behold, and not an- other (b).” David says of himself, though the words, agreeably to the double sense of prophecy, were afterwards applied to Christ, ’ Thou shalt not- leave my soul in hell, neither shalt thou sjifier thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou st shew me the path of life ; in thy presence is the fulness of joy ; and at thy right hand there is pleasure for evermore (c) ;” from which it 4pears that David hoped to be restored to life after death, and to enjoy happiness in the pre- !ce of God. To the same purpose he says in another Psalm, ” God has delivered my soul from the place of hell, for he shall receive me (d);” and in the following passage he contrasts the success of the wicked in this world r with

(a} Heb* c. 1 1. V. 35. (b) Job^.iQ. V. fl5, 26 & 27. (c) Ps. 16. V. 11 & 12* (d) Bs. 49. V. 15.

Al^T. VII.] Thirljf-nine Articles. an

Tvith the cQmf(M:ts which he himself should enjoy m the next; he prays to be delivered from the wicked, * who have their portion in this life; whose bellies, thou, O Lord, iiUest with thy hid treasure : they have children at their desire, and leave the rest of their substance for their baizes. Bt as for me, I will behold thy presence in righteousnesa, and when I awake up after thy likeness I shall be satisfied with it (e)’ The raising of the Shunamite woman’s son to life (f) and the ascension of Elijah into heaven (g) must alo be allowed as proofs vouch- safed tQ the Jews of the resurrection, and of a state of happiness in heaven. The fcowing passages in Ecclesiastes refer ;to the future judgment: ’ Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thae in the dayB of thy youth ; and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes ; but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment (k) ;’ -T-” for God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil (i).” In Isaiah we read, ” Thy dead men shall live; together with my ded body shall they arise; awake and sing, ye that

dwell

(e) Ps, 17. V. 14. (f) 2 Kings, c. 4. v. 12, 8cc. (g) 2 Kings, c. 2, V. 1, &c. ^h) EccL c. 11. T. 9. (i) Ecal. «. 12, v. 14.

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ma Exposition of the [part in.

dwell in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead (k)” Daniel says, ” Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlast- ing life, and some to everlasting contempt (l)J* It has appeared fix>m various authorities, that the Jews in general believed in a future state in the time of our Saviour ; and if they believed that they were to exist in another life, they would of course consider themselves capable of happiness or misery in that existence, and would place their hopes and confidence in the Supreme Dis- poser of all events, whose interposition and mercy they had so often experienced, and who had giv^ them such strong and repeated intimations of still greater favours and blessings. And though the Jews in general, at the time of our Saviour’s a4>pearance upon earth, had very erroneous notions of the kingdom which the Messiah was to establish, yet we have no reason to think that those notions always prevailed, or that even then they looked for worldly grandeur and temporal benefits only ; on the contrary, it appears from an expression of our Saviour just now quoted, that they had some expectation of happiness in another world : ” Search the Scriptures,” said he to the unbelieving Jews, ” for in them ye

think

(k) Is. c. 26. V. 19, (I) Dan. c. 12. v.>ii.

ART. VII,] Thiiiy-nine Articles. 213

think ye have eternal life (m)” […] says bishop Burnet, ’ thou the crfd Fathers had a conveyance of the hope of eternal life made to them with a resurrection of their bodies, and a confidence in the mercy of God for pardoning the most heinous sins, yet it cannot be denied, that it was as a light that shined in a dark place, till the day’-star did arise, and that Christ brought life and immortality to light (n)y by his Gospel, ving us fuller and clearer discoveries of it, both with relation to our souls and bodies; and that by him also God has declared his riteousness for the remission of sins throughr - the forbearance of God, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, and through faith in his blood (o)r

Although the law given from god to moses, as touching ceremonies and rites, do not bind christian men, nor the civil precepts thereof ought of necessity to be received in any common wealth, yet not- withstanding, no. christian man what- soever is free from the obedience of the commandments which are called moral. Tlie Mosaic dispensation was preparatory to the Christian, audits principal objects were to separate

the

.^ (m) John, c. 5. v. 39. (n) 2 Tim. c. 1. v. 10.

(0) Rom. c. 3. V. 24 & 25.

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$14 Exposition of the [part iii«

the Jews from other nations and to presre in the world a knowledge of the one true God, which would otherwise have been utterly lost before the coining of the Messiah. It con- sisted of three parts, the worship of God, the civfl polity of the Jews, ahd precepts for the regula- tion of their moral conduct. The religious cere monies and political regulations Were blended together, and were calculated to keep the Jewi united among themselves, and to prevent all int- course with the rest of the world. The coming of the Messiah, by cconpleting the use of these institutions, put an end to their obligation. *’ Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the houe of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not ac- cording to the covenant that I made with tfieir fathers in the day that I took them by the hand) to bring them out of the land of Egypt (p)” Agreeably to which St. Paul says, ” The law was our Schoolmaster, to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith: but after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster (q).” — ” For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before […] There are also many

hints

(p) Jer. c. 31 . V. 31 & 32. (q) Gal. c. 3. v. «4, 25. (r) Heb. c. 7. V. 18.

AKT. viij Thirty*nine Articles. 215

hints in the Old Testament, which shew that the precepts in the Mosaical law were to be altered ; many plain intimations are given of a time and state, in which the knowledge of God was to be spread over all the earth, and that God was every where to be worshipped. Now this was impossible to be done without a change in didr law and rituals, it being im- possible that all the world should go up thrice a year to worship at Jerusalem, or could be served by priests of the Aaronical family. Cnr- cumcision was a distinction of one particular race, which needed not to be continued after all were brought under one denomination, and withm.the same common privileges (sy The Apostles decreed that the ceremonial law was not binding upon those Gentiles who embraced the Gospel; and tfiat doctrine is futty explained and enforced in the Episdes to the Galatians and Hebrews ; but the Apostles and other Jewish Christians, although it was by no means re- quired by the Gospd, seem to have continued in the observance of several injuBctions of the Mosaical ritual, tiQ due temple at Jerusalem was destroyed : since that time, the Jews, aUfaou^ ▼ery numerous in di&rent parts of the worlds have no where existed as a nation; and the

2i6 Espoiitim of the [part lis.

performance of their religious worship, as di* reeled by the law of Moses, has been aKsolntelj impossible. The form of civil government established among the Jews was adapted to their peculiar destination; but it was tempo- rary even to them, and was obviously never intended for any other country or people. On the other hand, the moral precepts resting upon fixed and immutable principles, being founded in the essential difference between right and wrong, and being equally applicable to all per- &|ffts> at all times, will be binding upon every man, to all eternity. And this, which appears from the whole tenor of the New Testament, is expressly asserted by Christ himself, in his sermon upon the Mount : ^’ Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets : I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil; for verity I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one titde shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled (t) ; ” in which decla- ration our Saviour evidently refers to the moral law; and all the moral precepts contained in the Old Testament are not only separately con- firmed and enforced in the new, but many of them are extended to a greater degree of strict- ness and purity (u).

(t) Matt. c. 5. V. 17 & 18.

(u) Vide Sermon upon the Mount, Matt. c. 5, &c.

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