The Mankato free press., 1910-12-16

ssao tgM 1g2SsSLg telligent audiences
We report his ad-
dress from these words of Scripture:
And Isaac brought Rebecca into his
mother Sarah's tent. and she became his
wife and he loved her.'-Genesis xiv, c..
When we sometimes speak of Abra-
ham, Isaac and others as types we
should not be understood to mean that
they were merely types-that the Bi-
BILE stories respecting them are fc-
tionS. A person or thing is type
when. in addition 10 the actual expe-
riences, the Scriptures indicate that it
prehgures and illustrates on q small
scale some person or things vet sfu-
ture. AS, for instance. Adam in GER
tain respects, as the head of the race.
was Il TYPE Of Messiah, the Second
Adam.
The first Adam was the head Of our
race, but failed 70 give the eternal life
desired In Gods providence Messiah
Is 10 he the Second Adam, in the sense
that he will regenerate. as his chill
dren. all the posterity of the First
Adam. Messiah is thus declared in
prophecy TO be the Everlasting Fa-
ther Of mankind--the Father or Life
giVer, better than Adam, and who will
give to our race everlasting life. in
stead of heritage of weakness. imper-
fection and death
Similarly. Moses not only was real
character, the leader Of the nation Of
Israel, bur, additionally. he was type
OF greater Mediator-Messiah. As
Moses mediated the Law Covenant for
Israel. so Messiah. the Prophet like
unto Moses, or antitypical of him
(ActS iii. 23), is TO be the Mediator of
the Abrahamic blessings will reach
them and through them reach all the
families of the earth DER. XXI. 81.
Similarly. Aaron was type Of the
higher priesthood and its better sacri-
fees connected with the New Cove
nant So, also. the under-priests and
the Levites, additional to their own
experiences, served. in Gods provi
dence. as types of the higher institu-
tions by which the New Covenant will
he inaugurated shortly.
On this occasion we ask your atten-
ton to Abraham, known in the Scrip
lures aS the friend of God, as the
father of the faithful. and to his son
Isaac, the Son of Promise, born out of
the natural order, miraculously. when
his mother was old; also to Isaac's
wife. ncbccca, selected by Abraham
10 be the companion and joint-heir
with his son Isaac in his inheritance
These personages lived their lives
wholly unconscious Of the fact that
God was using them and over-ruling
their affairs so as to make of them
prophetic pictures of his own great
Plan of the Ages. These type pictures
are always to be read in full harmony
with the inspired writings OF the Bible
and never TO be understood in contra
diction Of the same.
Abraham Type of God.
Not everything that Abraham did.
however, is to be esteemed typical In
general way this grand man of the
past looms up before our minds as n
monument Of faith and integrity and
justice. The blessings promised to go
through him TO his Seed. which would
constitute him the father Of many ma
tons, made of him. as st. Paul points
out. Il type Of the Almighty, from
whom flows every good and every per-
feet gift-from whom proceeds the
blessing which ultimat tely is to flow
through Messiah, his Son, and through
Israel. his people, unto all the families
of the earth.
All Christians. presumably. are aware
of st. Paul's Interpretation Of Abra-
ham and his family as types. AS
Abraham typified God, so his wife
typified the Covenant through which
the vitality of the promise ultimately
develops the Seed of Promise-Isaac in
a type. and Messiah i'm the antitype.
ST. Paul also explains that Sarah's serv
ant. Hagar, at Sarah's wish. became
for Il time her representative with
Abraham and brought forth Ishmael. !
Hagar. ST. Paul explains, typified the
Law Covenant, vitaliZed by the gra-
ciouS arrangements of the same God
and Father. And Hagars son. lit
the Jewish nation, the first develop
ment under the Covenant.
AS Abraham loved Isaac and desired
a blessing upon him, SO God loved Is
rae and desired blessing upon Israel.
the offspring of the Law Covenant
Nevertheless. as Ishmael, the offspring
Of the bOnd-woman, was declared not
TO be the primary heir of the Abra-
hamic promise. but secondary one.
so the children of Israel, the offspring
of the Law Covenant. were not intend
ed to be the Spiritual Messiah through
whom the promise declared that the !
blessing should first proceed.
In the type we see that Sarah, Abra-
hams wife, who represented the Origi-
nal Abrahamic Covenant brought forth |