A careful recollection of this point may save us much trouble. We must beware of making the experience of other believers the measure of our own. We must beware of denying another's grace, because he has not been led by the same way as ourselves. Has a man got the real grace of God ? This is the only question that concerns us. — Is he a penitent man ? Is he a believer ? Does he live a holy life ? — Provided these inquiries can be answered satisfactorily, we may well be content. It matters nothing by what path a man has been led, if he has only been led at last into the right way.
Let us observe, secondly, in these verses, how much of Christ there is in the Old Testament Scriptures, We read that when Philip described Christ to Nathanael, he says, " We have found Him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write."
Christ is the sum and substance of the Old Testament. To Him the earliest promises pointed in the days of Adam, and Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. To Him every sacrifice pointed in the ceremonial worship appointed at Mount Sinai. Of Him every high priest was a type, and every part of the tabernacle was a shadow, and every judge and deliverer of Israel was a figure. He was the prophet like unto Moses, whom the Lord God promised to send, and the King of the house of David, who came to be David's Lord as well as son. He was the Son of the virgin, and the Lamb, foretold by Isaiah, — the righteous Branch mentioned by Jeremiah, — the true Shep- herd, foreseen by Ezekiel, — the Messenger of the Cove- nant, promised by Malachi, — and the Messiah, who, accord- ing to Daniel, was to be cut off, though not for Himself. The further we read in the volume of the Old Testament, the clearer do we find the testimony about Christ. The ' light which the inspired writers enjoyed in ancient daya was, at best, but dim, compared to that of the Gospel.