the disciples of John Cocceius, a celebrated Dutch divine,
born at Bremen, in 1608, where he was appointed professor of Hebrew, at
the age of twenty-seven, and afterward filled the theological chair at
Leyden, where he died in 1669. His works make ten volumes in folio. He
was a man of good learning, and a vivid imagination. He considered the
Old Testament as a mirror, which held forth figuratively the
transactions and events that were to happen in the church under the
dispensation of the New Testament, and unto the end of the world. He
maintained, that by far the greater part of the ancient prophecies
related to Christ’s ministry and mediation, and the rise, progress, and
revolutions of the church; not only under the figure of typical persons
and transactions, but in a more direct manner; and that Christ was,
indeed, as much the substance of the Old Testament as of the New.
Cocceius also taught, that the covenant made between God and the Jews
was of the same nature as the new covenant by Jesus Christ; that the law
was promulgated by Moses, not merely as a rule of obedience, but also as
a representation of the covenant of grace; that when the Jews had
provoked the Deity by their various transgressions, particularly by the
worship of the golden calf, the severe yoke of the ceremonial law was
added as a punishment; that this yoke, which was painful in itself,
became doubly so on account of its typical signification; since it
admonished the Israelites from day to day of the imperfection of their
state, filled them with anxiety, and was a perpetual proof that they had
merited the righteous judgment of God, and could not expect, before the
coming of the Messiah, the entire remission of their iniquities; that
indeed good men, under the Mosaic dispensation, were, after death, made
partakers of glory; but that, nevertheless, during the whole course of
their lives they were far removed from that assurance of salvation,
which rejoices the believer under the dispensation of the Gospel; and
that their anxiety flowed from this consideration, that their sins,
though they remained unpunished, were not yet pardoned; because Christ
had not as yet offered himself up to make an atonement for them.
Cocceius was also a millennarian, and expected a personal reign of
Christ on earth in the last days. Many of his opinions were afterward
adopted by the Hutchinsonians.
born at Bremen, in 1608, where he was appointed professor of Hebrew, at
the age of twenty-seven, and afterward filled the theological chair at
Leyden, where he died in 1669. His works make ten volumes in folio. He
was a man of good learning, and a vivid imagination. He considered the
Old Testament as a mirror, which held forth figuratively the
transactions and events that were to happen in the church under the
dispensation of the New Testament, and unto the end of the world. He
maintained, that by far the greater part of the ancient prophecies
related to Christ’s ministry and mediation, and the rise, progress, and
revolutions of the church; not only under the figure of typical persons
and transactions, but in a more direct manner; and that Christ was,
indeed, as much the substance of the Old Testament as of the New.
Cocceius also taught, that the covenant made between God and the Jews
was of the same nature as the new covenant by Jesus Christ; that the law
was promulgated by Moses, not merely as a rule of obedience, but also as
a representation of the covenant of grace; that when the Jews had
provoked the Deity by their various transgressions, particularly by the
worship of the golden calf, the severe yoke of the ceremonial law was
added as a punishment; that this yoke, which was painful in itself,
became doubly so on account of its typical signification; since it
admonished the Israelites from day to day of the imperfection of their
state, filled them with anxiety, and was a perpetual proof that they had
merited the righteous judgment of God, and could not expect, before the
coming of the Messiah, the entire remission of their iniquities; that
indeed good men, under the Mosaic dispensation, were, after death, made
partakers of glory; but that, nevertheless, during the whole course of
their lives they were far removed from that assurance of salvation,
which rejoices the believer under the dispensation of the Gospel; and
that their anxiety flowed from this consideration, that their sins,
though they remained unpunished, were not yet pardoned; because Christ
had not as yet offered himself up to make an atonement for them.
Cocceius was also a millennarian, and expected a personal reign of
Christ on earth in the last days. Many of his opinions were afterward
adopted by the Hutchinsonians.