their authoritative teachings, as contained in their epistles, follow as
a natural and even necessary sequel. Since, moreover, the universal rule
of God's government and works is, "first the blade, then the ear, after
that the full corn in the ear," (Mark 4:28,) it is most reasonable to
suppose that such a full and perfect revelation as that which God has
made to us by his Son, which is certainly "the full corn in the ear,"
must have been preceded by exactly such preparatory revelations as we
find recorded in the Old Testament. Now Jesus of Nazareth appeared among
the Jews, the very people that had the scriptures of the Old Testament,
and had been prepared for his advent by the events recorded in them as
no other nation was prepared. He came, too, as he and his apostles ever
taught, to carry out the plan of redemption begun in them. From the
position, then, of Christ's advent, as the grand central fact of
redemption, we look backward and forward with great advantage upon the
whole line of revelation.

IV. We cannot too earnestly inculcate upon the youthful inquirer the
necessity of thus looking at _revelation as a whole_. Strong as are the
evidences for the truth of the gospel narratives considered separately,
they gain new strength, on the one side, from the mighty revelations
that preceded them and prepared the way for the advent of the Son of
God; and on the other, from the mighty events that followed his advent
in the apostolic age, and have been following ever since in the history
of the Christian church. The divine origin of the Mosaic institutions
can be shown on solid grounds, independently of the New Testament; but
on how much broader and deeper a foundation are they seen to rest, when
we find (as will be shown hereafter, chap. 8) that they were preparatory
to the incarnation of Jesus Christ. As in a burning mass, the heat and
flame of each separate piece of fuel are increased by the surrounding
fire, so in the plan of redemption, each separate revelation receives