of the PERSON Of CHRIST. 55 CHAP. VIII: The Faith of the CHURCH under the Old Teffament in andconcerning the Perfon of CHRIST. per m Brief View of the faith of the church under the Old Teftament M,1. 5 courfes, the &vine way perfon or thofe that lat enfue, wherein our o n i ,j',lf 1 duty with refpeft thereunto (hall be declared. That the faith of all believers from the foundation ofthe world had a refpeft unto him, I Ihall afterwards demonftrate ; and todeny it, is to renounce both the Old Teftament and the New. But that this faith of theirs did principally refpeft his perfon, is what flail here be de- clared: Therein they knew was laid the foundation of the counfels of God for their deliderance, fan&ification and falvation. Otherwife it was but little they 'clearly underftood of his office, or the way whereby he would 'redeem the church. The apoftle Peter in the confeffion he made of him Matth. xvi. r$. exceeded the faith of the Old Teflament in this, that he applied the promife concerning the Me /ab, unto that individual perfon. Thou art ChrJ the Son ofthe living God: He that was to be the redeemer and Saviour of the Church. Howbeit Peter then knew little of the way and manner whereby he was principally fo to be. And therefore when he be- gan to declare them unto his difciples, namely that they fhould be by his death and fufferings, he in particular was not able to comply with it, but faith he, Mafler, that befar from thee, v. 22. As fiefs and blood, that is, his own reafon-and underftanding did not reveal or declarehim unto Peter to be the Chrift the Son of the living God; but the Father which is in heaven; fo he flood in needoffrefh afhftance from the fame almighty hand, to believe that he fhould redeem and fave his church by his death. And thereforehe did refute the external revelation and propofition of it, though made by Chrift himfelf, until he received internal aid from above. And to fuppofe that we have faith now in Chrift or his death, on any other terms, is an evidence that we have no faith at all Wherefore the faith of the faints under the Old Teftament did princì- pally refpeft the perfon of Chrift, both what it was, and what it was to be in the- fulnefsof timewhen he was to become the feed of the woman. What his efpecial work was to be, and the myftery of the redemption of the church thereby, they referred unto his own wifdom and grace; only they believed that by him they should be faved from the hand of all their enemies, or all the evil that - befell them on the account of the firft finand a-, poftafy from God. God gave them indeedreprefentations and prefiguration ofhis office and work alfo. He did fo by the High Pried of the law, the Tabernacle with all the facrifices and fervices thereunto belonging: All that Mofes did as a faithful fervant in the houle ofGod, was but a teJlilnonÿ of thofe things which wereafterwards to be declared, Heb. iii. g. Howbeit the apoftle tells us that all thofe things had but a jhadowof good things to come, and
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=