Persian doctrines, that what had been long taught in the dimness of secret tradition, at that time came forth to the light, and perfecting itself through the Persian, served for the foundation of a new order of things which Christ brought in. This is to us the most probable genesis of these doctrines. They were according to the plan of providence disseminated just before the advent of Christ, so that he, who was to bring in the new spirit, and by it crush the hull of the law, but perfect the form of doctrine, should not be under necessity to give any new doctrine, but by his living and teaching announce this one great doctrine: That God has loved the world. The post-Babylonian doctrines were, however, so transformed by Jesus and the apostles, that they now in a pure and perfect form exhibit that spirit which has departed from the lifeless body of Rabbinic faith.

We now turn to the prophecies, the third point of connection between the Old and New Testaments. A distinction may be made between those which relate to the time of Christianity, (the kingdom of heaven on earth,) and those which treat only of the person of Christ. If anywhere a confused treatment of the sacred Scriptures has done injury to the faith, it has happened in the apprehension of the prophecies of the Old Testament. Without regard to the facts that the New Testament was written within a short period by the disciples of one teacher, but the Old during the lapse of eleven centuries by priests, kings, cowherds, and lawgivers of different characters, though excited by the same spirit; the commentator has explained the Old Testament in the same manner as the New, without distinguishing time from time. We who now stand at the point of nearly six thousand years from the commencement of the world, must, with a universal historical view, overlook the entire past, in order rightly to understand the plan of the Ancient of days in the history of the Jewish people. He, however, who measures the waters in his fist, and compasses the heaven with a span, hath also set limits to knowledge; and if the bucket fills itself only after thousands of years by drop succeeding drop, we must consider that a thousand years with him are as one dayand who is he that can give him understanding, or teach him what is right? We find that the idea of a kingdom of God, and the idea of a day of judgment, as well as that of a spiritual king of Israel, only gradually developed themselves among the people of

God. We propose not to be full on this topic, but to throw out the leading ideas. There are in the nature (mind) of man (as Jos. Scaliger calls them) the seeds of eternity, (semina æternitatis :) i. e., eternally existing ideas, which the rational belief of man seizes and holds fast in the whirlpool of ever-changing time. Such ideas were among the ancient heathens, and are still prevalent with many pagans of the present age. But in Europe many persons consider themselves too wise to acknowledge and entertain such ideas. O, that the words of a true philosopher (Solger) could be heartily accepted!, "The conviction is spreading itself, that the lately so called free-thinking rests upon a weak foundation, and that it requires a far freer and stronger mind to believe wonders without quibbling and false interpretation, than to get rid, by an insipid and timid denial of all that does not harmonize with the most common laws of experience. Among these seeds of eternity may be reckoned the ideas of God, freedom, and immortality, which the self-comprehending spirit apprehends and holds fast by means of a rational faith that overtops all knowledge-that does not prove, but refers to-that does not construct, but vindicates. On the same ground may be defended the idea of a former lost blessedness of the human race of an intimate union between the spiritual and material worlds of a revelation of God-of a Saviour of the world-and of future happiness. Among all races of the earth spake and speaks yet the feeling of these truths in the most varied manner. The same feeling dwelt with the Jews. With them this seed gradually waxed, and became a tree in whose shadow the fowls of heaven might rest. Two stars, a period of earthly prosperity and a Redeemer, gleamed upon their wise ones with uncertain light. And the nearer the time approached in which the two should appear united, the more brilliant became the light of these stars. Indeed, the hope of a Saviour in different forms was found among other people; the Chinese, the Thibetians, the Indians, the Persians, and the Greeks have their reports of a golden age, and of its returnwith the Indians, Krishna; with the Persians, Oshanderbami; with the Icelanders, Thor is the hero who shall establish the redemption of the world, but this fabulous glimmer shines with doubtful light: among the Jews, on the contrary, the Messiah is the confirmed and glowing centre of all hope;-at all times they believed him near, as the apostles the day of the Lord-the second advent of the VOL. I.-24

Messiah. I do not assert that Eve (Gen. iv, 1) already supposed that the Messiah had been born of her, but Jacob certainly believed his advent near, as also David, and hence, also, no objection can be made against Isaiah, chapter ix, as inappropriately giving the signs of a near event to what was veiled in the darkness of distant futurity; for to the Israelite it was the most certain matter that a Redeemer should at some time come, and while the prophet brings this most certain fact of redemption into his contemplation, and expands and confirms it, the nearness of the promise gains in certainty. So deeply had the idea of a Messiah penetrated into the conceptions of the Hebrew, that the prophet returns to it in the eleventh chapter, because he that was to come would supply all wants-bring peace on earth, and establish righteousness, holiness, the state, religion, and law. Without dispute, by the promise of a seed that should bruise the serpent's head, (Gen. iii,) the Messiah is designated. This the Christian asserts as confidently as the Indian asserts the snake whose head Krishna mashes with his heel, or the heathen Icelander asserts the dragon whose head Thor breaks, is the evil enemy. This great promise flew from race to race until He came who was to come. Zoroaster teaches: In the last age of the world, the holy man Oshanderbami will come to fight with the evil demon twenty years, that he will finally conquer, that righteousness will return, kings will obey him, and peace will be on earth. The next appearance of this joyful hope in the Old Testament is in Gen. xlix, 10, where the dying patriarch, fanned by the breath of eternity, pronounces it. That the Messiah in Deut. xviii, is meant, there is some doubt. David's Psalms this cheering light again shows itself. No sound interpretation can explain Psalms ii, and cx, of any other person but the Messiah. Up to this period, the expected Anointed appeared as a king-as a priestly king. His spiritual kingdom and character had not been described, which is first done by the prophets. Nearly all of them look upon Him that was to come, but as the sun-beam breaks itself into a thousand tints, so did this prophetic light of heaven, according to the disposition of each recipient spirit. He is a priestly king with most of the seers. With clearness Isaiah views him, and recognizes him as God-as the eternal Father, and points to the place of his appearance, Isa. ix, 1: "As in former time Zebulon and Naphtali suffered most, there

First, in

fore the way of the sea, this side Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles shall be glorified. The people that walked in darkness shall see a great light."* In Isaiah liii, the same Deliverer is seen in his suffering state; and Malachi, the last herald of God, views him that was to come as the covenant Angel of the Lord, who comes to his temple," Mal. iii, 4. This Angel of the covenant is, however, the same who led the Israelites in all their travels, and therefore completely the divine Revealer.

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Here the old covenant closes, and the stillness that precedes the storm now reigned for nearly four centuries, while the materials were collecting for the time when the foundations of the earth should quake. In this interim, the Angel of the covenant assumed the improved shape of Wisdom and the Word of God-and St. John avails himself of these to represent the person of the Saviour. The years from Malachi to the Baptist constitute a period of prime importance. The (semina æterna) religious ideas of all Asiatic. creeds were introduced into Western Asia;† what was valuable to enlighten and improve the world was brought to Judea, in order that that portion which should stand for all ages might be woven into the web of Jewish doctrine. How could John have depicted the worth of his Master, had not Providence directed the idea of the Logos to be generally known and disseminated? In the prophets, parallel with the doctrine of the Messiah, runs the anticipation of the kingdom of the Messiah. This point deserves extensive consideration, but we must now confine ourselves to the showing how the ideas of the seers at one time mounted to a high glory, and at another time remained in an inferior conception. The lowest representation of this kingdom is, that Israel shall enjoy perfect peace from without, shall be served by her enslaved enemies, shall quietly dedicate herself to God, and, under a ruler of the race of David, be happy. Luke i, 74. With this is united the idea of particular righteousness and holiness which each individual shall exhibit. Isa. lxi, 6-11: "Ye shall be named the priests of the Lord: men shall call you the ministers of our God”—* "For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will

*This passage is differently translated in both the English and German

versions.

Mostly by Alexander's Indian expedition.

cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations." Zech. xiii, 1: "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness." The Redeemer will come to the penitent and take away all sin: (Isa. lix, 20:) "And the Redeemer shall come to Zion and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord." Isa. xliv, 22: "I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee." United with this picture of the holiness and righteousness of Israel, is the anticipation of the healing that is also preparing for the Gentiles, and it is in this confident expectation that all nations shall acknowledge the God of Israel, that the divinity of the prophecies is particularly evident. Isa. lxv, 1: "I am sought of them that asked not for me: I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name." Isa. lx, 5: "Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thy heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee." Still higher mounts the prophecy in Isaiah lxvi, 18, 19, and to the conclusion of the book, where Judaism appears almost lost in the grand representation, when the prophet announces that the Lord will take of the heathen for priests and for Levites, and that missionaries of the Jews shall go into all lands to proclaim the Lord to the Gentiles. The prophet can, therefore, predict, "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea," Isa. xi, 9. Also, Zech. xiv, 9, "And the Lord shall be king over all the earth; in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one." As we cannot imagine beforehand the divine preparations, but must deduce the laws of God from events as they happen, we need not wonder that the annunciation of the coming salvation was made in ways so different and general. We remark too, with confidence, that whenever any thing divine is exhibited in time, it accommodates itself more perfectly to the state of things, than was anticipated by the understanding of man. Hence it is explicable, why the conceptions of the kingdom of God were so different among the Hebrews; and why the universal conversion to the Saviour Jesus Christ appeared as a conversion to the Israelitish Jehovah, and to the sanctuary at Jerusalem. As time was fulfilled, it was shown what the Spirit of God had