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    blances are alike pre-ordained , the doctrine of prophetical types falls at once to the ground . It is a doctrine of human invention , for no where do the Scriptures speak of types as prophetical , and if the p hrase be only examined it will be found destitute of meaning . Prophecy is a declaration of some future event in circumstances which make it impossible that human foresight should have anticipated , and thus he who makes the declaration proves

    himself possessed of some supernatural source of knowledge . But a type declares nothing at all , and even when the antitype comes , and we see the resemblance , we only learn that such a resemblance was decreed by the wisdom which orders all things , which is equally true of all others . Neither can any confirmation to the authority of one who claims a divine mission be derived from this source , since , as Mr . Chevallier distinctl y states , the authority of an inspired person is necessary to enable us to discriminate a real type

    from an imaginary one , be the resemblance ever so strong . Now it would be reasoning in a circle to prove inspiration by the fulfilment of types , and the existence of types by the inspiration of the expounder . This author calls Moses " a predicted historical type of some great prophet" ( Lect . V . ); how a person already in esse can be predicted we do not clearly see ; but he was to be made a type at all events , though the current of time were rolled backward to accomplish it . Admitting the usual interpretation of Deut . xviii . 15 ,

    the plain fact is , that Moses predicted that a great prophet should arise like unto himself ; that description was fulfilled in Christ , and thus Moses was shewn to be inspired with a knowledge of the future , and Christ to be entitled to the obedience of the Jews . Acts vii . 37 . All that typology has added to this simple argument only makes it obscure . No small part of the labour of one who would prove the truth of Christianity to reasoning men , is to clear away the rubbish of inconclusive arguments with which its injudicious advocates have hidden the adamantine basis on which it rests .

    In denying that either the degree of resemblance or the circumstance of that resemblance being designed can afford a criterion of a type , we may seem to give free scope to the fancy of commentators to turn every thing into types and antitypes in which they see or dream of resemblances . But though the nature and degree of resemblances constitute no such difference as can serve to define a class , they affect very materially the propriety and ability of bestowing pains in pointing them out . He who traces the

    resemblances between the remains of the animal and vegetable tribes encased in the solid strata of the earth , and the living tenants of the land and water , is usefully occupied , because he is in the way to discover analogies arising out of the laws of nature which may lead to a knowledge of its past and present operations ; while he who sees faces in the veins of marble , and forests in the frostwork of the windows , can at best only plead that he has found a harmless occupation . So it is in regard to those parallels of character and

    circumstances which are technically called types and antitypes . Wherever there is a real analogy , that is , where the same causes are in operation , it is instructive to mark the similarity of the effect , as well as the difference produced by a mixture of different causes ; it is especially useful to consider the personages of sacred history , in the truly scriptural sense of the word , as

    types to ourselves , examples of what we should do or not do , according to the analogy of our circumstances , duties , motives , and temptations , to theirs . But the perverse ingenuity of typologists is almost sure to leave real analogies to fasten upon superficial resemblances . We wish to acknowledge in the amplest manner the piety and worth of many who have bestowed their labour on this branch of theology , but this need not prevent us from de-

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    42 Review . —The Bampton and Hulsean Lectures *

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1828, page 42, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2556/page/42/