THE

BRAZEN SERPENT;

OR

LIFE COMING THROUGH DEATH.

BY

THOMAS ERSKINE, Esq. ADVOCATE;

AUTHOR OF "REMARKS ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE FOR THE
TRUTH OF REVEALED RELIGION.

Out of the eater came forth meat; out of the strong (the oppressor) came forth
sweetness.

JUDGES xiv. 15.

EDINBURGH: WAUGH & INNES;

M. OGLE, GLASGOW; R. M. TIMS AND W. CURRY, JUNIOR,
& CO. DUBLIN; AND WHITTAKER & CO. LONDON.

M.DCCC.XXXI.

BODL LIBR

19 MAY 1917 OXFORD

EDINBURGH: PRINTED BY A. BALFOUR AND CO. NIDDRY STREET.

CONTENTS.

That a Man must be born again-Not that he is to im-

prove his Old Nature, but get an entirely new principle

of Life-This is the great matter to which pardon is

subservient as a means to an end,

Page

4-8

The Israelites looked to the brazen serpent, not for pardon

but for life,

10-11

The difference between Pardon and Life-Pardon was

declared in the serpent as already past,-Pardon believ

ed is Life-unbelieved is not Life,

14-18

The difference to be noted between healing the body and

healing the soul,

22-24

The difference between Salvation by faith, and Salvation

by works. Looking, and fleeing into the city of refuge,

and the Prodigal returning to his Father's house-are

material types of believing in Christ, and used to show

that the thing to be believed can only be known by per-

sonal experience,

The gospel contained in the Serpent lifted up-1st, a gen-

eral forgiveness, seeing none died after its lifting up, by

the sentence of God, but by his own choice-2dly, a

demonstration that their sufferings did not proceed from

any lack of love in God, seeing the very infliction itself

by which sin was punished, was in the purpose of God,

to become the source of a new and higher life-These

two things at least must be contained in the Son of man

lifted up. In fact much more is contained-the type

being a dim foretelling of the antitype,

26-30

31-36

The Nature and Necessity of the Sufferings of Christ. Not that he suffered instead of men, to save them from suffering-but as their Head, their Leader and Com.. mander, opening a way for them through death, by which way he calls on them to follow him,

I may add, that the female victims appointed by the law
for burnt offerings, must represent the church, and thus
indicate that the members of Christ must rise into the
life of God, through the same fiery process which per-
fected their Head.

The three things that took place in connexion with the
death of Christ, to the end we might believe sin forgiv-
en in consequence of his sacrifice,
The resurrection of Christ the great proof that sin is put
away-He having died as the condemned Head of the
race, and having risen as the righteous Head of the race
-The dispensation of the Righteous Head is a dispen-
sation, during which sin is not imputed-It is also called
"The accepted time and day of Salvation." This dis-
pensation is appointed, not to give a toleration to sin,
but to give sinners the opportunity to turn to God and
live. It is a manifestation of God as the Fountain of life,
accessible to the chief of sinners-Pardon is not an ulti-
mate object-it is only a means to an end, and that end
is holiness or life-Men will be judged as having lived
under a dispensation of forgiveness-The dispensation of
Christ contrasted with the dispensation of Adam,
Man never was called on to make a provision for himself,
but to live by a provision of God's providing-those who
rejoice in this provision enter into rest,

Jesus has taken our flesh and become one flesh with us, in
order that we might become one spirit with Him-the
two bonds,—all men necessarily connected with him by
the first bond, viz. the flesh; and those who believe in
the love which made the first bond, become connected
with Him in the second-viz. the spirit-" Every spirit
that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is
of God"-compared with Paul's statement of the gospel,
"Christ in you the hope of glory,"-this the ground of
the future judgment,

Page

37-55

57-58-59

59-72

73-77

77-86-91

The difference between the Son of man lifted up, and the
brazen Serpent lifted up, explained.-The Serpent lifted
up is not the type of Christ-but the type of Christ's
victory. The Serpent is the devil-Christ is the bruiser
of his head-and the brazen Serpent prefigures the accom-
plishment of that promised bruising-Christ" through
death overcame him who had the power of death,"
How Christ suffered as our Pattern and Forerunner, the
Author and Finisher of our faith, not having been born
the Righteous Head, but having earned it by a life of
faith, through the power of the Spirit. He was in the
whole nature just as the new creature is in an individual
man-On the nature of punishment,

That the provision in Christ for us consists in two parts1st, a present possession of forgiving love; and 2d, a hope of the glorious appearing of Christ. None can make use of the second, who have not already made use of the first. None able to abide the day of Christ's appearing, but those who know the forgiving love of God to themselves. This principle illustrated by the 6th chapter of Isaiah-and by the introduction to the Apocalypse-and by the examples of Abraham and David, as applied in the epistle to the Romans, (see foot note especially of page 142).-The righteousness spoken of in that epistle, is the character which fits a man to meet the righteous Judge, and so to rejoice in his coming-it is not an outside thing-the true humanity of Jesus, The righteousness which is by faith is the same thing as the Life, a trusting in the character of God.—Job's righteousness-the importunate widow,

The character of the Life laid up for us in Jesus-a life coming through death-and only to be enjoyed in proportion as the flesh is dead,

The Kingship over the Earth, which Adam lost by his unfaithfulness, restored in Christ-the glorious establish. ment of that kingdom-the gospel preached by Jesus and his disciples-the contest now carried on by the Spirit of Jesus working in the body, against the Spirit of Satan-the preparing of the body-or making the bride ready—then he will come,

On prayer,

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91-100

100-119

120-149

149.152

153-160

160-171

171-173