History of the Old Covenant. By J. H. Kurtz [pp. 451-486]

8K1urtz on the Old Covenant.
Solomon, clearly foreshadowed Christ, and the period of the
Exodus overflowed with typical references to him; while in
other men and other times the prediction was often faint.
The preparation which was going forward on Old Testament
ground for the coming down of God into the flesh, had both its
divine and its human factors. The plan was of God, the effi ciency was of God; yet its unfolding was to take place upon
the arena of human history, the product in a measure of the
free agency of man. Hence the possibility of an abnormal as
well as of a normal development. The plan being of God, could
not be endangered as to its ultimate success; yet for a season,
through the culpability of man, it might seem to stand still, or
even to go backward, and there be nothing to point to the destined
end. The men, to whom the process was confided, might betray
their trust; and for that season the type would go wholly out in
darkness. Only those who act the part assigned them, and in
some good measure correspond to the ideal pattern of what they
ought to be, are predictive, and only in so far as they do this
are they predictive. All the rest are excrescences on the plant,
not part of its natural healthy growth, not belonging properly
to it. Thus the kings of the theocracy, as a whole, are emblems
of Messiah the Prince; but among those kings, pious princes
such as David and Hezekiah are to be reckoned specific types
of Christ, while in wicked princes such as Ahaz and Jehoiachin,
the type is almost, if not quite obscured. Solomon reigning
righteously is predictive of Christ, but not Solomon building
high places for the abominations of the heathen.
That this development, which God is conducting amongst
men, may not be on the one hand as respects them a violent
or an unconscious one, but that they may be free, intelligent,
and responsible actors in it; and that it may on the other hand
be raised above all possibility of failure through their ignorance
or perverseness, two things were necessary-they must be enlightened, and they must be controlled.
In the first place, they amongst whom this plan is unfolding,
must be made acquainted with the end toward which all is tending, and with the place which each advance as it is made holds
in the general scheme. The plan did not originate with them.
The grace and wisdom of God projected it. It is not any thing
1851.]
461