What, then, are the particulars in which these acts in the Old and in the New Test, correspond ; or what are the points of resemblance implied in our Lord's words — as and even so? In our answer we must avoid the error of trying to reckon up a number of these re- semblances; and, indeed, we must look to essential cor- respondence, not to any fanciful likeness on the surface. This we must do in agreement with the principle that the relation is the same between the bitten Israelites and the serpent lifted up for them to look at as between perishing sinners and the crucified Saviour who is of- fered to them. There are three such correspondences : (1) There is "the serpent" which Moses lifted up in the wilderness, and there is "the Son of Man," lifted up in due time on the cross. It is in stating this point of re- semblance, however, that there have been most extrav- agance and error, which have disgusted some sober think- ers, and induced them to deny it altogether — a denial which we think unwarrantable, when we observe the manner in which the two objects are singled out and placed together. The reference is certainly not at all to heathenish notions of the serpent as possessed of a healing power. Nor even is it directly to the old ser- pent, on whom Christ has inflicted a fatal wound, and made a show of him openly, triumphing over him in his cross. It is better to say that the brazen serpent had the form indeed of the serpents that actually wrought the mischief, but yet a serpent destitute of venom and impotent for evil; and that so (iod sent his Son in the likeness of sinful tiesh, yet witliout sin. We prefer, however, to sa}' that the brazen serpent seemed a most improbable means of curing the serpents' bites ; and so he who was condemned and crucified as a male- factor seemed most unsuital)le to save condemned and perishing men. (2) There is the lifting-up of the ser- pent upon the pole, no doubt in such a way as to render it conspicuous to the farthest oxtreniilies of the camp, which would be the more easily effected on account of its metallic brilliancy. Corresponding to this there is the lifting-up of the Son of man, who says, "Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth" (Isa. xlv, 22) ; as the apostle says to those who have heard the Gospel, " Before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evi-
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dentlj' set forth, crucified among you" (Gal. iii, 1). It is impossible to overlook this comparison, except by misinterpreting the expression "the Son of Man must be lifted up ;" though there is no room for mistake when we have our Lord's own words, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me," by which phrase he signified the manner of his death, and was understood as doing so (John xii, 32-34). (3) There is the healing of the physical wound by the bodily eye looking to the serpent, and the corresponding spiritual healing by looking to the crucified Son of Man with the eye of faith — the natural life in the one case having ' that relation to the everlasting life in the other which | tlie type always bears to the antitype. — Fairbairn. I
Serpent-charming. There can be no question at all of the remarkable power which from time imme- j morial has been exercised by certain people in the East over poisonous serpents. The art is most distinctly men- tioned in the Bible [see Ciiakm], and probably alluded to by St. .James (iii, 7). The usual species operated upon, both in Africa and India, are the hooded snakes {Naja tripiidians, and Ndja haje) and the horned ce- rastes. The skill of the Italian inarsi and the Libyan psylli in taming serpents was celebrated throughout the world; and to this day, as we are told by Sir G.Wilkin- son (Rawlinson, Herodotus, iii, 124, note, ed. 1862), the snake-players of the coast of Barbary are worthy suc- cessors of the psylli (see Pliny, viii, 25 ; xi, 25; and espe- cially Lucan's accomit of the psylli \^Phursal. ix, 892]). See numerous references cited by Bochart {Hieroz. iii, 164, etc.) on the subject of serpent-taming. Multitudes of modern observers have described the practices of the snake-charmers in such terms as to leave no doubt of the fact. One instance may suffice for illustration. Mr. Gogerly, a missionary in India, says that some persons, being incredulous on the subject, after taking the most careful precautions against any trick or artifice being played, sent a charmer into the garden to prove his powers: "The man began to play upon his pipe, and, proceeding from one part of the garden to another for some minutes, stopped at a part of the wall much in- jured by age, and intimated that a serpent was within. He then played quicker, and his notes were louder, when almost immediately a large cobra-de-capello put forth its hooded head, and the man ran fearlessly to the spot, seized it by the throat, and drew it forth. He then showed the poison-fangs, and beat them out; after- wards it was taken to the room where his baskets were left and deposited among the rest, . . . The snake-charm- er," observes the same writer, "applies his pipe to his mouth and sends forth a few of his peculiar notes, and all the serpents stop as though enchanted; they tlien turn towards the musician, and, approaching him within two feet, raise their heads from the ground, and, bending backward and forward, keep time with the tune. When he ceases playing, thej' drop their heads and remain quiet on the ground." That the charmers frequently, and perhaps generally, take the i)recaution of extracting the poison-fangs before the snakes are sul)jected to their skill there is much probability for believing, l)ut that this operation is not always attended to is clear from the testimony of Bruce and numerous other writers. " Some people," says the traveller just mentioned, "have doubt- ed that it was a trick, and that the ainmals so handled liad been first trained and then disarmed of their power of hurting, and, fond of the discovery, tliey have rested themselves upon it without cxiieriment, in the face of all antiquity. But I will not hesitate to aver that I have seen at Cairo a man . . . who has taken a cerastes with his naked hand from a number of others lying at the bottom of the tub, has put it upon his bare head, covered it with the common red cap he wears, then taken it out, put it in his breast, and tied it about his neck like a necklace, after which it has l)een applied to a hen and bit it, which has died in a few minutes." Dr. Davy, in his Interior of Ceijlon. speaking of the snake- charmers, says on this subject: "Tlie ignorant vulgar