menu_book Chapter 20

XX. The Resemblance Between the Old Testament and the New. This chapter consists of four parts. 1. The sum, utility, and necessity of this discussion, section 1. 2. A proof that, generally speaking, the old and new dispensations are in reality 1, although differently administered, three points in which the two dispensations entirely agree,

sections 2 through 4. 3. The Old Testament as well as the New had regard to the hope of immortality and a future life, whence two other resemblances or points of agreement follow, that is, that both were established by the free mercy of God and confirmed by the intercession of Christ. This proved by many arguments, passages of Scripture, and examples, sections 5 through 23.

4. Conclusion of the whole chapter, where, for fuller confirmation, certain passages of scripture are produced. Refutation of the cavils of the Sadducees and other Jews. Sections 1. Introduction, showing the necessity of proving the similarity of both dispensations in opposition to Servetus and the Anabaptists. 2. This similarity in general, both covenants truly one, though differently administered, three things in which they entirely agree.

3. First general similarity or agreement, that is, that the Old Testament, equally with the New, extended its promises beyond the present life and held out a sure hope of immortality. Reason for this resemblance, objection answered. 4. The other two points of resemblance, that is, that both covenants were established in the mercy of God and confirmed by the mediation of Christ. 5. The first of these points of resemblance being the foundation of the other two, a lengthened proof is given of it.

The first argument taken from a passage in which Paul, showing that the sacraments of both dispensations had the same meaning, proves that the condition of the ancient church was similar to ours. 6. An objection from John 6, verse 49, that is, that the Israelites ate manna in the wilderness and are dead,

whereas Christians eat the flesh of Christ and die not. Answer reconciling this passage of the evangelist with that of the apostle. 7. Another proof from the law and the prophets, that is, the power of the divine word in quickening souls before Christ was manifested. Hence the believing Jews were raised to the hope of eternal life.

8. Third proof from the form of the covenant, which shows that it was in reality one both before and after the manifestation of Christ in the flesh. 9. Confirmation of the former proof from the clear terms in which the form is expressed. Another confirmation derived from the former and from the nature of God. 10. Fourth proof from examples.

Adam, Abel, and Noah, when tried with various temptations, neglecting the present, aspired with living faith and invincible hope to a better life. They, therefore, had the same aim as believers under the gospel. 11. Continuation of the fourth proof from the example of Abraham, whose call and whole course of life shows that he ardently aspired to eternal felicity, objection disposed of.

12. Continuation of the fourth proof from the examples of Isaac and Jacob. 13. Conclusion of the fourth proof. Adam, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and others under the law looked for the fulfillment of the divine promises not on the earth but in heaven. Hence they termed this life an earthly pilgrimage, and desired to be buried in the land of Canaan,

which was a figure of eternal happiness. 14. A fifth proof from Jacob's earnestness to obtain the birthright. This shows a prevailing desire of future life. This perceived in some degree by Balaam. 15. A sixth proof from David, who expects such great things from the Lord,

and yet declares the present life to be mere vanity. 16. A seventh proof also from David. His descriptions of the happiness of believers could only be realized in a future state. 17. An eighth proof of the common feeling and confession of all the pious who sought by faith and hope to obtain in heaven what they did not see in the present shadowy life.

18. A continuation and confirmation of the former proof from the exaltation of the righteous, even amid the destruction of the world. 19. A ninth proof from Job, who spoke most distinctly of this hope, two objections disposed of. 20. A tenth proof from the later prophets, who taught that the happiness of the righteous was placed beyond the limits of the present life. 21. This clearly established by Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones and a passage in Isaiah. 22. Last proof from certain passages in the prophets,

which clearly show the future immortality of the righteous in the kingdom of heaven. 23. Conclusion of the whole discussion concerning the similarity of both dispensations. For fuller confirmation, four passages of scripture produced. refutation of the error of the Sadducees and other Jews who denied eternal salvation and the sure hope of the Church.

1. From what has been said above, it must now be clear that all whom, from the beginning of the world, God adopted as his peculiar people, were taken into covenant with him on the same conditions and under the same bond of doctrine as ourselves.

But as it is of no small importance to establish this point, I will hear at it by way of appendix, and show, since the fathers were partakers with us in the same inheritance, and hoped for a common salvation through the grace of the same mediator, how far their condition in this respect was different from our own. For although the passages which we have collected from the law and the prophets for the purpose of proof make it plain

that there was never any other rule of piety and religion among the people of God, yet as many things are written on the subject of the difference between the Old and New Testaments, in a manner which may perplex ordinary readers, it will be proper here to devote a special place to the better and more exact discussion of this subject. This discussion, which would have been most useful at any rate, has been rendered necessary by that monstrous miscreant Servetus,

and some madmen of the sect of the Anabaptists, who think of the people Israel just as they would do of some herd of swine, absurdly imagining that the Lord gorged them with the temporal blessings here, and gave them no hope of a blessed immortality. Let us guard pious minds against this pestilential error, while we at the same time remove all the difficulties which are wont to start up when mention is made of the difference between the Old and New Testaments.

By the way also, let us consider what resemblance and what difference there is between the covenant which the lord made with the israelites before the advent of christ and that which he has made with us now that christ is manifested two it is possible indeed to explain both in one word the covenant made with all the fathers is so far from differing from ours in reality and substance that it is altogether one and the same still the administration differs but because this brief summary is insufficient to give any one a full understanding of the subject our explanation to be useful must extend to greater length it were superfluous however in showing the similarity or rather identity of the two dispensations again to treat of the particulars which have already been discussed as it were unseasonable to introduce those which are still to be considered elsewhere

what we propose to insist upon here may be reduced to three heads first that temporal opulence and felicity was not the goal to which the jews were invited to aspire but that they were admitted to the hope of immortality and that assurance of this adoption was given by immediate communications by the law and the prophets secondly that the covenant by which they were reconciled to the lord was founded on no merits of their own but solely on the mercy of god who called them and thirdly that they both had and knew christ the mediator by whom they were united to god and made capable of receiving his promises the second of these as it is not yet perhaps sufficiently understood will be fully considered in its own place for we will prove by many clear passages in the prophets that all which the lord has ever given or promised to his people is of mere goodness and indulgence

the third also has in various places been not obscurely demonstrated even the first has not been left unnoticed three as the first is the most pertinent to the present subject and is most controverted we shall enter more fully into the consideration of it taking care at the same time where any of the others requires explanations to supply it by the way or afterwards add it in its proper place the apostle indeed removes all doubt when he says that the gospel which god gave concerning his son jesus christ he had promised aforetime by the prophets in the holy scriptures romans one two and again that the righteousness of god without the law is manifested being witnessed by the law and the prophets romans three twenty one for the gospel does not confine the hearts of men to the enjoyment of the present life but raises them to the hope of immortality does not fix them down to earthly delights but announcing that there is a treasure laid up in heaven carries the heart thither also for in another place he thus explains

after that ye believed the gospel ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of the purchased possession ephesians one verses thirteen and fourteen again since we heard of your faith in christ jesus and of the love which ye have to all the saints for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel Colossians 1 verse 4. Again, whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 14. Whence also it is called the word of salvation and the power of God, with salvation to every one that believes, and the kingdom of heaven.

But if the doctrine of the gospel is spiritual, and gives access to the possession of incorruptible life, let us not suppose that those to whom it was promised and declared altogether neglected the care of the soul, and lived stupidly, like cattle, in the enjoyment of bodily pleasures. Let no one here quibble and say that the promises concerning the gospel, which are contained in the law and the prophets, were designed for a new people. For Paul, shortly after making that

statement concerning the gospel promised in the law, adds, that, whatsoever things the law saith, it saith to those that are under the law. I admit, indeed, he is here treating of a different subject, but when he said that everything contained in the law was directed to the Jews, he was not so oblivious as not to remember that he had said a few verses before of the gospel promised in the law. Most clearly, therefore, does the apostle demonstrate that the Old Testament

had special reference to a future life when he says that the promises of the gospel were comprehended under it. 4. In the same way, we infer that the Old Testament was both established by the free mercy of God and confirmed by the intercession of Christ. For the preaching of the gospel declares nothing more than that sinners, without any merit of their own, are justified by the paternal indulgence of God. It is wholly summed up in Christ. Who, then, will presume to

represent the Jews as destitute of Christ, when we know that they were parties to the gospel covenant, which has its only foundation in Christ? Who will presume to make them aliens to the benefit of gratuitous salvation when we know that they were instructed in the doctrine of justification by faith. And not to dwell on a point which is clear, we have the remarkable saying of our Lord, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. John 8 verse 56.

What Christ here declares of Abraham, an apostle, shows to be applicable to all believers, when he says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13, verse 8. For he is not there speaking merely of the eternal divinity of Christ, but of his power, of which believers had always full proof.

Hence both the Blessed Virgin and Zechariah, in their hymns, say that the salvation revealed in Christ was a fulfillment of the mercy promised, quote, to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever. If, by manifesting Christ, the Lord fulfilled his ancient oath,

it cannot be denied that the subject of that oath must ever have been Christ and eternal life. 5. Nay, the apostle makes the Israelites our equals, not only in the grace of the covenant, but also in the signification of the sacraments. for employing the example of those punishments which the scripture states to have been of old inflicted on the Jews

in order to deter the Corinthians from falling into similar wickedness he begins with premising that they have no ground to claim for themselves any privilege which can exempt them from the divine vengeance which overtook the Jews since the Lord not only visited them with the same mercies but also distinguished his grace among them by the same symbols

as if he had said, If you think you are out of danger because the baptism which you received and the supper which you daily partake have excellent promises, and if, in the meantime, despising the goodness of God, you indulge in licentiousness,

know that the Jews, on whom the Lord inflicted his severest judgments, possessed similar symbols. They were baptized in passing through the sea, and the cloud which protected them from the burning heat of the sun. It is said that this passage was a carnal baptism corresponding in some degree to our spiritual baptism.

But if so, there would be a want of conclusiveness in the argument of the apostle, whose object is to prevent Christians from imagining that they excelled the Jews in the matter of baptism. Besides, the Cavill cannot apply to what immediately follows, that is, that they did, quote, All eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink.

For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. 1 Corinthians 10, 3 and 4. 6. To take off the force of this passage of Paul, an objection is founded on the words of our Savior, Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever.

John 6, verses 49 and 51 There is no difficulty in reconciling the two passages. The Lord, as he was addressing hearers who only desired to be filled with earthly food, while they cared not for the true food of the soul, in some degree adapts his speech to their capacity,

and, in particular, to meet their carnal view, draws a comparison between manna and his own body. They called upon him to prove his authority by performing some miracle, such as Moses performed in the wilderness when he obtained manna from heaven. In this manna they saw nothing but a relief of the bodily hunger,

from which the people were then suffering. They did not penetrate to the sublimer mystery to which Paul refers. Christ, therefore, to demonstrate that the blessing which they ought to expect from him was more excellent than the lauded one which Moses had bestowed upon their fathers, draws this comparison.

If, in your opinion, it was a great and memorable miracle when the Lord, by Moses, supplied his people with heavenly food that they might be supported for a season, and not perish in the wilderness from famine, from this infer how much more excellent is the food which bestows immortality.

We see why our Lord omitted to mention what was of principal virtue in the manna, and mentioned only its meanest use. Since the Jews had, as it were by way of upbraiding, cast up Moses to him as one who had relieved the necessity of the people by means of manna, he answers that he was the minister of a much larger grace,

one compared with which the bodily nourishment of the people, on which they set so high a value, ought to be held worthless. Paul, again, knowing that the Lord, when he rained manna from heaven, had not merely supplied their bodies with food, but had also dispensed it as containing a spiritual mystery

to typify the spiritual quickening which is obtained in Christ, does not overlook that quality which was most deserving of consideration. Wherefore, it is surely and clearly proved that the same promises of celestial and eternal life, which the Lord now gives to us,

were not only communicated to the Jews, but also sealed by truly spiritual sacraments. This subject is copiously discussed by Augustine in his work against Faustus the Maniche. 7. But if my readers would rather have passages

quoted from the Law and the Prophets, from which they may see, as we have already done from Christ and the Apostles, that the spiritual covenant was common also to the fathers, I will yield to the wish, and the more willingly, because opponents will thus be more surely convinced that henceforth

there will be no room for evasion. And I will begin with a proof which, though I know it will seem futile and almost ridiculous to supercilious Anabaptists, will have very great weight with the docile and sober-minded. I take it for granted that the word of God has such an inherent efficacy that it quickens the souls of all whom he is pleased to favor with the communication of it. Peter's statement has ever been true, that it is an incorruptible seed which liveth and abideth

forever, 1 Peter 1 verse 23, as he infers from the words of Isaiah, Isaiah 40 verse 6. Now when God, in ancient times, bound the Jews to him by this sacred bond, there cannot be a doubt that he separated them unto the hope of eternal life. When I say that they embraced the word which brought them nearer to God, I refer not to that general method of communication which is diffused through heaven and earth

and all creatures of the world, and which, though it quickens all things, each according to its nature, rescues none from the bondage of corruption, i refer to that special mode of communication by which the minds of the pious are both enlightened in the knowledge of god and in a manner linked to him adam abel noah abraham and the other patriarchs having been united to god by this illumination of the word i say there cannot be the least doubt that entrance was given them into the immortal kingdom of god they had that solid participation in god which cannot exist without the blessing of everlasting life eight if the point still seems somewhat involved let us pass to the form of the covenant which will not only satisfy calm thinkers but sufficiently establish the ignorance of gainsayers the covenant which god always made with his servants was this

i will walk among you and will be your god and ye shall be my people leviticus twenty six verse twelve these words even as the prophets are wont to expound them comprehend life and salvation and the whole sum of blessedness For David repeatedly declares, and with good reason, Happy is that people whose God is the Lord. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, and the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance.

Psalm 144, verse 15, and 33, verse 12. And this not merely in respect of earthly happiness, but because he rescues from death, constantly preserves, and with eternal mercy visits those whom he has adopted for his people. As is said in other prophets,

Art not thou from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? We shall not die. The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our King, he will save us. Happy art thou, O Israel, who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord.

Habakkuk 1 verse 12, Isaiah 33 verse 22, Deuteronomy 33 verse 29 But not to labor superfluously, the prophets are constantly reminding us that no good thing and, consequently, no assurance of salvation is wanting, provided the Lord is our God.

And justly, for if his face, the moment it hath shown upon us, is a perfect pledge of salvation, how can he manifest himself to anyone as his God without opening to him the treasures of salvation. The terms on which God makes himself ours is to dwell in the midst of us,

as he declared by Moses, Leviticus 26, verse 11. But such presence cannot be enjoyed without life being, at the same time, possessed along with it. And though nothing more had been expressed, they had a sufficiently clear promise of spiritual life in these words, I am your God, Exodus 6, verse 7.

For he declared that he would be a God not to their bodies only, but specially to their souls. Souls, however, if not united to God by righteousness, remain estranged from him in death. On the other hand, that union, wherever it exists, will bring perpetual salvation with it. 9. To this we may add that he not only declared he was, but also promised that he would be their God. By this their hope was extended beyond present good, and stretched forward into eternity.

Moreover, that this observance of the future had the effect, appears from the many passages in which the faithful console themselves, not only in their present evils, but also for the future, by calling to mind that God was never to desert them. Moreover, in regard to the second part of the promise,

that is, the blessing of God, its extending beyond the limits of the present life was still more clearly confirmed by the words, I will be the God of your seed after you. Genesis 17, verse 7.

If he was to manifest his favor to the dead by doing good to their posterity, much less would he deny his favor to themselves. God is not like men who transfer their love to the children of their friends because the opportunity of bestowing kind offices as they wished upon themselves is interrupted by death.

But God, whose kindness is not impeded by death, does not deprive the dead of the benefit of his mercy, which, on their account, he continues to a thousand generations. God, therefore, was pleased to give a striking proof of the abundance and greatness of his goodness, which they were to enjoy after death, when he described it as overflowing to all their posterity. Exodus 20, verse 6. The truth of this promise was sealed, and in a manner completed,

when, long after the death of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he called himself their God. Exodus 20, verse 6. And why? Was not the name absurd if they had perished? It would have been just the same as if he had said, I am the God of men who exist not. Accordingly, the evangelists relate that, by this very argument, our Savior refuted the Sadducees, Matthew 22, verse 23, and Luke 20, verse 32, who were, therefore, unable to deny that the resurrection of the dead was attested by

Moses, inasmuch as he had taught them that all the saints are in his hand, Deuteronomy 33, verse 3. Whence it is easy to infer that death is not the extinction of those who are taken under the tutelage, guardianship, and protection of him who is the disposer of life and death. 10. Let us now see, and on this the controversy principally turns, whether or not believers themselves were so instructed by the Lord as to feel that they had elsewhere a better life, and to aspire to it while disregarding the present. First, the mode of life which heaven had imposed upon them made it a constant exercise by which they were reminded

that if in this world only they had hope, they were of all men the most miserable. Adam, most unhappy even in the mere remembrance of his lost felicity, with difficulty supplies his wants by anxious labors, and that the divine curse might not be restricted to bodily labor,

his only remaining solace becomes a source of the deepest grief. Of two sons, the one is torn from him by the parasital hand of his brother, while the other, who survives, causes detestation and horror by his very look. Abel, cruelly murdered in the very flower of his days, is an example of the calamity which had come upon man.

While the whole world are securely living in luxury, Noah, with much fatigue, spends a great part of his life in building an ark. He escapes death, but by greater troubles than a hundred deaths could have given. Besides his ten months' residence in the ark, as in a kind of sepulchre, nothing could have been more unpleasant than to have remained so long pent up among the filth of beasts.

After escaping these difficulties, he falls into a new cause of sorrow. He sees himself mocked by his own son, and is forced with his own mouth to curse one whom, by the great kindness of God, he had received safe from the deluge. 11. Abraham alone ought to be to us equal to tens of thousands, if we consider his faith, which is set before us as the best model of believing, to whose race also we must be held to belong, in order that we may be the children of God. What could be more absurd than that Abraham should be the father of all the faithful,

and not even occupy the meanest corner among them? He cannot be denied a place in the list. Nay, he cannot be denied one of the most honorable places in it, without the destruction of the whole church. Now, as regards his experience in life,

the moment he is called by the command of God, he is torn away from friends, parents, and country, objects in which the chief happiness of life is deemed to consist, as if it had been the fixed purpose of the Lord to deprive him of all the sources of enjoyment. No sooner does he enter the land in which he was ordered to dwell,

when he is driven from it by famine. In the country to which he retires to obtain relief, he is obliged, for his personal safety, to expose his wife to prostitution. This must have been more bitter than many deaths. After returning to the land of his habitation, he is again expelled by famine.

What is the happiness of inhabiting a land where you must so often suffer from hunger, nay, perish from famine, unless you flee from it? Then again with Abimelech, he is reduced to the same necessity of saving his head by the loss of his wife. Genesis 12, verse 12. While he wanders up and down, uncertain for many years,

he is compelled, by the constant quarrelling of servants, to part with his nephew, who was to him as a son. This departure must doubtless have cost him a pang, something like the cutting off of a limb. Shortly after, he learns that his nephew is carried off captive by the enemy.

Wherever he goes, he meets with savage-hearted neighbors, who will not even allow him to drink of the wells which he has dug with great labor. For he would not have purchased the use from the king of Gerar if he had not been previously prohibited. After he had reached the verge of life, he sees himself childless,

the bitterest and most unpleasant feeling to old age. Until, beyond expectation, Ishmael is born. And yet he pays dearly for his birth in the reproaches of Sarah, as if he was the cause of domestic disturbance by encouraging the contumacy of a female slave. At length Isaac is born, but in return the firstborn Ishmael is displaced

and almost hostilely driven forth and abandoned. Isaac remains alone, and the good man, now worn out with age, has his heart upon him, when shortly after he is ordered to offer him up in sacrifice. What can the human mind conceive more dreadful than for the father to be the murderer of his son? Had he been carried off by disease, who would not have thought the old man much to be pitied

in having a son given to him in mockery, and in having his grief for being childless doubled to him? Had he been slain by some stranger, this would indeed have been much worse than natural death. but all these calamities are little compared with the murder of him by his father's hand thus in fine during the whole course of his life he was harassed and tossed in such a way that any one desirous to give a picture of a calamitous life could not find one more appropriate let it not be said that he was not so very distressed because he at length escaped from all these tempests he is not said to enjoy a happy life who after infinite difficulties during a long period at last laboriously works out his escape but he who calmly enjoys present blessings without any alloy of suffering end of section twenty