There will be no room left to doubt respecting it, if we consider, that,
1 . It was " manifested " to be so by the Gospel —
[This truth had been obscurely intimated under the law; but " now" it was fully "manifested" by the Gospel. When Christ was just entering on his ministry, John Baptist pointed him out as " the Lamb of God that should take away the sins of the world e." Christ himself declared that he was about to " give his life a ransom for manyf," and that they were to receive the remission of sins as purchased by his blood g. St. Peter in his very first sermon exhorted the people to believe in Christ for the remission of their sins, and declared to them that there was no other name whereby they could be saved1'. St. Paul in numberless places insists upon our seeking justifi- cation solely by faith in Christ, without the smallest mixture of dependence on our own works1: and when St. Peter, through fear of the Jews, had given some reason to think that an obe- dience to the Mosaic ritual ought to be, or at least might be, added to the righteousness of Christ in order to render it more effectual, St. Paul reproved him publicly before all the Church, and reminded him that all, not excepting the Apostles themselves, must be justified solely by the righteousness of Christ, without any works of the lawk. Is not this a strong- confirmation of the point before us?]
2. It was "witnessed by the law and the prophets"- —
[The moral law may in some sense be considered as bear- ing testimony to the righteousness of Christ : for though it makes no express mention of it, yet, by condemning all without exception, it " shuts men up to the faith of Christ," and serves as " a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ1." The ceremonial law in all its ordinances pointed directly to Christ. It is not possible to contemplate the Paschal lamb, or the scape-goat, or indeed any of the sacrifices or ablutions, without seeing Christ prefigured by them, and confessing him to be " the end of the law for righteousness" to believing sinners"1.
If we consult the prophets, they are unanimous in directing us to Christ. The prophecies that preceded Moses, repre- sent Christ as the one conqueror of the serpent", and the one source of blessedness to man0. Moses himself spake of liim as the prophet, to whom all must look for instruction and
e John i. 29. f Matt. xx. 28. B Matt. xxvi. 28.
11 Acts ii. 38. and iv. 11, 12.
* Rom. iv. 3—5, 14. and v. 9, 1 .">— 18. k Gal. ii. 14— 1G. 1 Gal. hi. 22 — 24. m Rom. x. 4. n Gen. iii. 15.
° Gen. xii. 3. and xv. 6.