"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." Matthew 5:17
There are not two Bibles in the one. The Old Testament and the New Testament are not two distinct books — but two parts of the same book. The New Testament does not set aside the Old Testament — but is simply the rich ripe harvest of which the Old was the sowing and the early growing. The gospel which we have in the New Testament, is not a different religion from that which we have in the Old Testament — but the same more fully developed, more clearly taught. In the Old Testament, Christ was foretold sometimes in prophetic promise, sometimes in picture and type; in the New Testament, these promises are fulfilled, these pictures and types find their realization, and we see the Son of God walking among men in the beauty and glory of His incarnation.
The blossoms are not destroyed when they fall off and the fruit comes in their place; the ripe fruit is but the fulfillment of the promise and prophecy of the blossom. The artist's outline sketch is not destroyed when the splendid picture covers the canvas, hiding the first light tracings — the finished work of are is but the completion, the filling out of the original drawing, until in every feature, life glows.
Christ destroyed nothing of past divine revelation when He came. He was the warm summer, wooing the slumbering buds, and dry roots, and waiting prophecies of life — into full, luxuriant growth. He was the great Master Artist, taking the dim sketches and shadows of the Old Testament, and filling them out in His own blessed life and death. So we ought not to lay away our Old Testament as an antiquated book, of no value to us since we have the gospel. The Old Testament is full of precious things. One of the strongest proofs of Christianity is the wonderful fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies — in the life, sufferings, and death of Jesus Christ. Let us love the whole Bible; not one word of it is obsolete!
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J.R. Miller (1840 - 1912)
Prolific author and pastor of Presbyterian churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois, Rev. James Russell Miller served the USCC as a field agent in the Army of the Potomac and Army of the Cumberland.J.R. Miller began contributing articles to religious papers while at Allegheny Seminary. This continued while he was at the First United, Bethany, and New Broadway churches. In 1875, Miller took over from Henry C. McCook, D.D. when the latter discontinued his weekly articles in The Presbyterian, which was published in Philadelphia. J.R. Miller D.D.'s lasting fame is through his over 50 books. Many are still in publication.
James Russell Miller (March 20, 1840 - July 2, 1912) was a popular Christian author, Editorial Superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, and pastor of several churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois.
In 1857, James entered Beaver Academy and in 1862 he progressed to Westminster College, Pennsylvania, which he graduated in June, 1862. Then in the autumn of that year he entered the theological seminary of the United Presbyterian Church at Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Mr. Miller resumed his interrupted studies at the Allegheny Theological Seminary in the fall of 1865 and completed them in the spring of 1867. That summer he accepted a call from the First United Presbyterian Church of New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. He was ordained and installed on September 11, 1867.
J.R. Miller began contributing articles to religious papers while at Allegheny Seminary. This continued while he was at the First United, Bethany, and New Broadway churches. In 1875, Miller took over from Henry C. McCook, D.D. when the latter discontinued his weekly articles in The Presbyterian, which was published in Philadelphia.
Five years later, in 1880, Dr. Miller became assistant to the Editorial Secretary at the The Presbyterian Board of Publication, also in Philadelphia.