to its typical character,
true lessons of instruction for all ages.

The declarations of Scripture in respect to the typical nature of the
_prophetical_ office are not so numerous and decisive as those which
relate to the kingly office. There is, however, a remarkable passage in
the book of Deuteronomy, from which we may legitimately infer that it
was truly typical of Christ. When God had addressed the people directly
from the midst of the cloud and fire on Sinai, unable to endure this
mode of communication between God and man, they besought God that he
would henceforth address them through the ministry of Moses: "Speak thou
with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die."
Exod. 20:19. With reference to this request, God said to Moses: "They
have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a
prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words
in his mouth: and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words
which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him." Deut.
18:17-19. The essential points of this promise are, that the promised
prophet shall be like Moses, one whose words shall be invested with
supreme authority; and, especially, that he shall be raised up from
among their brethren, and shall therefore be a man like themselves. The
promise was manifestly intended to meet the wants of the covenant people
_from that day and onward_. Yet the great Prophet in whom it was
fulfilled did not appear till after the lapse of fifteen centuries or
more. But in the mean time the promise was truly fulfilled to God's
people in a _typical_ way through the succession of prophets, who spake
in God's name, and who were men like their brethren to whom they were
sent. In these two essential particulars the prophetical office truly
prefigured Christ, its great Antitype.

The Old Testament contains not only typical _orders of men_, but
_typical transactions_ also; that is, transactions which, while they had
their own proper significance as a part of the history of God's church,
were yet so ordered by God as to shadow forth with remarkable clearness
and force the higher truths of Christ's kingdom. Such are the
transactions between Melchizedek and Abraham recorded in the fourteenth
chapter of Genesis. Considered simply in itself, Melchizedek's
priesthood belongs to the class of _ritual_ type