the Arrows of the Bow the Shield the Sword and the Battel Psal 76.2.3 It is spoken of temporal Deliverance and may be applied to the Church there is a protecting Presence of God there But it is true in an higher sense concerning Christ Christ is the true Sanctuary from whence all our strength and help cometh Thou therefore my Son be strong in the Grace that is in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 2.1 Nay in all these things we are more then conquerors through him that loved us Rom. 8.37 This is the reason you conquer not but Sin and Lust prevails and you are worsted by Corruption and Temptation from time to time There is a secret distance by unbelief from Jesus Christ did you come to the door of the Tabernacle the Lord would send you help from the Sanctuary and strengthen thee out of Sion but men are loth to leave their own home or loth to break through difficulties they faint and tire by the way before they get thither and so never come to receive those blessed influences those reviving Soul-strengthening Soul-refreshing influences See Psal 84.5 6 7. It is a description to the people in their journeys to the Temple They went through thick and thin as we use to say through drought and heat till they came before God in Sion and there they found what they went for They met with God there ver 10.11 better a day there than a thousand elsewhere for there the Lord will give Grace and Glory Instruct 3. Remember that there is a Church-worship As there was a moral Worship which they were to perform every where for it was personal and not meerly publick so they had their publick Church-worship viz. their Sacrifices and other Institutions which were limited to the Tabernacle as it was a Type of the Church As no Service is to be offered out of Christ so some Services are not to be offered out of the Church for the Tabernacle as you have heard was a Type of the Church And therefore as Gods end in this Institution was to lead out their thoughts and desires and expectations to Jesus Christ and so to prevent Idolatry and Unbelief in that respect so likewise to prevent Schism and to keep them in the unity of that Church which he had then instituted and appointed So now in Gospel-times look that you partake of the Ordidances in Gospel-Churches for these are the New Testament-Tabernacles wherein God dwells and vouchsafes his blessed Presence It is often noted as a great corruption of Worship among the Jews that they sacrificed in the high places yea though they did it to the Lord their God only So in Manasseh's time 2 Chron. 37.17 Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places after some beginnings and degrees of Reformation yet unto the Lord their God only And the reason they were not taken away is sometimes noted to be the perversness of the people so in Jehosaphats time 2 Chron. 20.33 howbeit the high places were not taken away for as yet the people had not prepared their hearts unto the God of their Fathers Yea there were some good people in those times who were unconvinced of this truth that they ought to sacrifice only at the Temple and Tabernacle though they were against the Worship of Baal yet they were not against the high places so we have some in our days that are against Popery but they are not against mixt Communions They are not convinced that they ought to present their Services and Sacrifices their publick Worship unto God in Gospel-Temples that is in pure Churches and not among profane people It is strange to see the supine carelesness and scepticism of some mens spirits in this particular they regard not they care not with whom they join whether it be a true Church or a false Church whether a pure or an impure Church whether a Church or no Church Search the Scriptures and you will find no instance that ever the Lords Supper was dispensed but in Churches Gospel-Churches pure Churches The first Institution of that Ordinance was in the first Gospel-Church sounded by Christ himself the chief Pastor who did dispense this Ordinance himself to the twelve Apostles who were the Foundation stones of the first Gospel-Church at Jerusalem then again Acts 2.42 they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and in breaking of Bread and in Prayers Breaking of Bread is there mentioned amongst other Ordinances and therefore not to be understood of common but sacred Bread Acts. 20.7 it is said of the Church of Troas that they came together on the first day of the week to break Bread The same Ordinance also was observed in the Church of Corinth 1. Cor. 11. and whereas corruptions and corrupt members were crept in the Apostle spends a whole Chapter in exhorting them to purge out the old Leven 5. ch of 1. Epistle Professors that lie amongst the Pots never joyning themselves as fixed members in any particular Church though they have opportunity for it do live in the neglect of a duty a known duty yea such a neglect as doth infer and carry along with it the neglect of many other duties also For how can Church-Discipline be exercised but in the Societies of Gods People therefore tnis neglect it exposeth the Ordinances of Christ to contempt and prostitution It is as great a sin to receive the Lords Supper in an Assembly of ignorant and profane people as it was to offer Sacrifices in the high places yea it is indeed the very same thing For let thy Conscience speak Are such Assemblies the Temples of the Holy Ghost Are they the Tabernacles of the most High Doth God dwell there Is this to go to the door of the Tabernacle with thy Sacrifice when thou knowest thou goest into a dunghill of Profaneness into a dungeon of Ignorance into an Assembly of wicked and ungodly men Art thou a Soul that desirest communion with Christ Then take his own direction for the obtaining of it Cant. 1.7 8. Go forth by the footsteps of the flock this is Church society Feed thy Kids by the Shepherds Tents Make use of the Ministry and Ministers of the Word who are set in particular Churches Instr 4. Labour every one that his own Soul may be an habitation for the Lord a Temple of the Holy Ghost For the Temple signified not only the whole Church in general but every Saint in particular as hath been shewed Let not thy own Soul be as it is said of Rome Rev. 18.2 It is become the habitation of Devils and the hold of every foul Spirit and a Cage for every unclean and hateful Bird. But let the Spirit of God dwell there be restless in thy self give God in Heaven no rest nor thy own Heart within thee any rest till thy Soul be an habitation of the Holy Spirit Say as it is said of David Psal 132.4 5. I will not give sleep to mine eyes nor slumber to
Analogy doth appear for the Meat-Offering did consist of Bread and Wine as the Lords Supper doth And as the Meat was eaten by the Priests so is the Bread by Believers who are Gospel-Priests But yet as in all Similitudes and Types beside the Analogy there be also sundry disproportions and disparities between the Type and the thing typified so here for the Meat-Offering was both a Feast and a Sacrifice part of it being burnt upon the Altar But the Lords Supper is only a Feast and not a Sacrifice being wholly eaten by the Priests The Meat-Offering did refer to what was future the Lords Supper to what is past that was a prefiguration of the true Sacrifice the Lords Supper is a commemoration of it In the Meat-Offering the Wine was only poured forth before the Lord but in the Lords Supper the Communicants are to drink it Drink ye all of it Mat. 26.27 In a word that was a Type this a Sacrament 4. There is a fourth duty which the Sacrifice of the Meat-Offering may refer to and that is Almes bounty and liberality to the Saints and to the Poor this is a true Sacrifice and a Gospel Meat-Offering The Apostle seems to speak of it under such a notion Heb. 13.16 To do good and to communicate forget not for with such Sacrifices God is well pleased And Philip. 4.17 18. 4. The Meat-Offering shadowed forth the acceptation of our persons and services with the Lord so in the places before alledged Philip. 4.17 18. the Apostle calls what the Philippians sent unto him for his supply An Odour of a sweet smell a Sacrifice acceptable well pleasing unto God see Mal. 1.10 God rejects the Jews but accepts the Gentiles in their stead together with their prayers and services vers 11. Upon this account Frankincense was an Ingredient in the Meat-Offering to make a sweet smell Hos 9.4 They shall not offer Wine Offerings to the Lord neither shall they be pleasing unto him The Lord hath sometimes given signal evidence and testimony of his good acceptance of this Sacrifice and of his people therein see 2 King 3.9 10 20. So that look as our Reconciliation to God was in a special manner taught and held forth by the Burnt-Offering so our Sanctification and acceptation with him is in a peculiar manner taught and shadowed forth in the Meat-Offering which hath occasioned some to restrain it to this Scope only though that is a mistake as hath been shewed Thus you see the general Mysteries adumbrated and shadowed forth in the Meat-Offering namely Jesus Christ his atoning and reconciling us to God as also Believers their persons their services the acceptance of both before God 4. The fourth Enquiry touching the Meat-Offering is concerning the additions forbidden to be annexed to it which were two Leaven and Honey vers 11. The reason and intent of this is worthy to be considered and enquired into And first for the literal sense and meaning of the Prohibition it is concerning Fire-Offerings at the Brazen Altar Leaven and Honey might not come upon the Altar but yet Leaven was permitted and allowed in Thank Offerings Lev. 7.13 and in the Offerings of First Fruits Cap 23.17 So here in this second Chapter Vers 12. it is thought to be spoken by way of caution they might offer it leavened but not sacrificed at the Altar Honey also is numbered among the First-Fruits 2 Chron. 31.5 Though some understand that of Dates which are as sweet as Honey This 12. vers some explain it thus ye shall offer them to the Lord for a Wave-Offering but not for an Oblation at the Altar This is strictly forbidden both in this and in divers other Scriptures as in reference to the Passover and that very severely under the pain of Extermination or cutting off Exod. 12.19 And in Amos 4.5 they are sarcastically reproved for it for that Interpretation agrees best with the Scope Now for the Reasons of the Prohibition And first for Leaven Leaven you know hath a sower taste it hath its name one of its names in Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the sowerness of the taste Vinegar is a Conjugate from the same Root Numb 6.3 Chometz Jajin And it hath a sowring and a swelling quality and property and an infecting spreading quality when it is put into a Batch of Dough it ceaseth not till it hath made all the rest like unto it self as our Saviour speaks of it Mat. 13.33 Leaven which a Woman took and hid in three measures of Meal till the whole was leavened And so the Apostle Gal. 5.9 A little Leaven leaveneth the whole lump Aul. Gellius Lib. 8. Cap. 15. The Heathen did retain by blind Tradition some footsteps of this Ceremony for the flamen dialis or Roman Priest might not by their Canons touch any leavened Meal Plut. quest Rom. apud Aynsw in Exod. 12.15 Plutarch scanneth the reason of it thus because Leaven it self proceedeth from corruption and corrupteth also the Meal with which it is mixed And therefore by the way that Metaphor of Fermentation so much used by some late Philosophers it may be doubted whether it be always so congruous and so full of light to clear up the mysteries of nature as they suppose who make such continual use of it for it is but one kind or way of corruption But for the spiritual mystery of it Leaven argues Corruption and therefore unleavened is as much as to say uncorrupted I find Leaven applied in Scripture to sin and sinners and Corruptions of all sorts and particularly to these four 1. To false Doctrine Mat. 16.6 11 12. The Leaven of the Pharisees is the false Doctrine of the Pharisees 2. To scandalous and wicked practices 1 Cor. 5.6 7 8. Purge out the old Leaven that ye may be a â—ein lump as ye are unleavened Let us keep the Feast not with old Leaven neither with the Leaven of malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth Discontent Psal 73.21 thus my heart was grieved Or according to the Hebrew Metaphor thus was my heart leavened or sowred Ki Jithchametze lebaâ—i or rather leavened and sowred it self Malice and cruelty the Leaven of maliciousness Psal 71.4 Deliver me O my God out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man the leavened person Chometz So likewise Pride is fitly compared to Leaven because it puffs and swells the heart 3. To Hypocrisy and secret sins Luk. 12.1 2. the Leaven of the Pharisees which is Hypocrisy 4. To promiscuous Communion and carnal mixtures in Church society 1 Cor. 5.6 A little Leaven leaveneth the whole lump Some are apt to say their sin will do me no hurt but you may be deceived in this I tell thee their sins may infect and damn thee One Fornicator or profane person must not be allowed in the Church lest many be defiled Heb. 12.15 16. This is a Truth so clear throughout the whole Scripture that if I were to choose what
will not be toucht they will bear reproof As David when Abigail reproved him 1 Sam 25.32 33. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel which sent thee and blessed be thy advice and blessed be thou And so Psal 141.5 Let the Righteous smite me it shall be a kindness Others you cannot touch them but you must be fensed with Iron and the Staff of a Spear Mic. 2.6 and 2 Sam. 23.6 7. Such are the Sons of Belial that shall all of them as Thorns be thrust away and utterly burned with fire When a man cannot bear to be told of it but his quick raw flesh appears it is an ill sign he is a Leper indeed Such an one it seems Nabal was 1 Sam 25.27 But where this froward touchiness is wanting if a man will take a reproof well it is a good sign it is not the Plague of unregeneracy 4. If all be turned white a man is clean Vers 12 17 and 34. This seems to be the strangest Rule of all and the darkest Passage in all this Chapter there is some difficulty both concerning the natural reason and concerning the spiritual meaning of it The natural reason seems to be this because it is a sign of some inward strength of nature that it expells the Disease and sends it forth to the outward parts Whereas if there be raw spots among it it argues it is more inward and the Vitals not so strong as to drive it forth The spiritual meaning is by some thought to be this if all become white by true repentance and mortification then it is not deadly But this is too general therefore it seems to intend this further that if we think there be any sound part in our corrupt nature it is a sign of a Leprous sinner so Ainsw in loc If men have any confidence in themselves if they seek any life by the deeds of the Law then shall they be pronounced unclean But an humble acknowledgment of the overspreading corruption of our natures and flying to Christ for help under a thorough conviction and sense of our own total uncleanness and pollutedness this is a sign the Plague is healed and the Leper made clean The language of a Child of God is There is no soundness in my flesh Psal 38.7 And in me that is in my flesh there dwelleth no good thing Rom. 7.18 The Opinion of Free will is a very dangerous Opinion But if a man be throughly convinced of his own Corruption and soundly humbled under it it will make him look up earnestly and cleave firmly to Jesus Christ to make him clean It is the most dangerous thing in the world to take up high conceits of a mans self and of the power of corrupt nature This is a sure Rule if people think themselves clean and any part in them sound they are in a sad condition 5. In case the Leprosie be in the Head he is doubly unclean vers 44. The Head is the principal part of the body and the feat of Reason Therefore a Leprosie there must needs be very dangerous So in case men be corrupt in their Minde and Judgments they are unclean unclean Corrupt Opinions are a sign of a sinful condition such are far from the Kingdom of God Where sin has prevailed so far as to blind the very Mind and Understanding they are more uncapable of Conversion than others because so far from Conviction For Conversion begins in Illumination There may be failings in the lives of the people of God But they disown them they are not so corrupt in their Minds and Principles as to justifie themselves in them There be several other Rules in the Chapter some relating to the bodily Disease and so not necessary to seek out a Spiritual meaning of each particular expression And the same Rules in the first 17 Verses are repeated again in other cases of the Leprosie in Clothes in Skins c. Let us therefore proceed to a fourth Observation Obs 4. Note the duties imposed upon the Leper when thus detected they are five vers 45 46 47. 1. To rend his Clothes a sign of sorrow and lamentation so 2 Kings 6.30 The Kings Clothes were rent in that Famine 2. His Head must be bare For the same end this being another outward expression of sorrow usual in those times 3. He must cover his Lip Thus they were wont so to express their shame see Mica 3.7 Ezek. 24.17 He must keep silence before God as being under shame and confusion 4. He must cry unclean unclean He must give warning to others to shun him He may speak of his own Leprosie but otherwise he must be silent So a scandalous Sinner may speak in confession of his sin he must tell others he is unclean He must not charge others with their failings but load his own Conscience and take his guiltiness home to himself 5. He shall dwell alone They were to be put out of the Camp and excluded from the fellowship of Gods People The Priest must shut him out and he must submit So King Vzziah did 2 Chron. 26.20 This was a Type of Excommunication that great Gospel Ordinance which is the shutting of a sinner out of the Camp This brings me to speak of Excommunication which is suitable to the present Providence For this shutting out the Leper from the Camp of Israel signified shutting out of the Church This therefore I shall speak a little to both the Text and the present Providence of God leading and calling to it under these five heads 1. The nature of it 2. The cases wherein it must be done 3. The ends and uses of it 4. The manner of proceeding 5. To whom this work and power belongs 1. For the nature of Excommunication It is the putting of a Man out of the Church and delivering him unto Satan Put away from among you that wicked Persons 1 Cor. 5. ult So Diotrephes 3 Joh. 10. cast the Brethren out of the Church There is a going out of the Church when men rend themselves off by Apostasie Heresie or Schism 1 Joh. 2.19 they went out from us In which they are active and cut off themselves that is their own act but in this they are sufferers this is the Churches act by the power of Christ For as persons are united by consent into spiritual fellowship so by the Churches dissent to have him be of them any longer he is cut off or cast out upon which he falls into the hand of Satan unavoidably Delivering him unto Satan 1 Cor. 5.5 For the Church is the visible Kingdom of Christ in this World therefore when cast out of that they fall into the hand of Satan who is the God of this World if put out of Christs Kingdom and from under his gracious Scepter they must needs fall under the Kingdom and power of Satan Quest What power of Satan is this Ans Not a bodily Possession because the Apostle writes to the whole Church of Corinth to do it But it
nature so there is a remedy and purification by Jesus Christ And as there is an Ordinance of Ejection of scandalous Sinners and Lepers out of the house of Israel So there is for re-admission of healed Lepers into the Church again This confutes the Novatians The 13. Chapter of Leviticus reproves promiscuous Communions This 14. reproves that Novatian Error of them who would not re-admit and receive repenting Sinners into the Church again The Scripture is clear for both Binding and Loosing Binding Impenitent sinners and loosing and restoring the Penitent THE GOSPEL OF THE HOLY PLACES Deut. 12.5 6. October 11. 18. 1668. But unto the place which the Lord your God shall chuse out of all your Tribes to put his Name there even unto his habitation shall you seek and thither thou shalt come And thither ye shall bring your Burnt Offerings and your Sacrifices c. WE have been endeavouring beloved to take off the Veyl from Moses face and to unfold and open to you the Types and Shadows of the Ceremonial Law they are dark Shadows but there are glorious Mysteries adumbrated and shadowed forth by them They are hard Shells but there are sweet Kernels within if the Lord help us to break the shell and to understand the mystery and meaning of them You have seen divers of these Shells broken and what precious Kernels of Gospel-truths are contained in them You may remember we did refer this Law of Ceremonies to five general heads 1. The Initiating Seal of Circumcision 2. The Legal Sacrifices and Purifications 3. The Tabernacle and Temple and other Holy places 4. The Priesthood with all the rest of the legal Ministry 5. Their Festivals or holy Times and Seasons We have formerly spoken to the two first of these to wit the Initiating Seal of Circumcision and their Legal Sacrifices and Purifications We are now to proceed in the help of Christ unto the third namely 3. Their Tabernacle and Temple and other Holy places of which this Text gives you this Doctrinal Assertion Doctrine That God was pleased to chuse out certain places to stand in a special relation of Holiness unto himself under the Old Testament See again in this Chapter ver 11 14 18 Psal 68.35 Thou art terrible oh God out of thine holy places And ver 17. As in Sinai in the holy place But it is needless and would be easie to multiply quotations For this phrase holy place and holy places doth occur in the Scripture above threescore times Let me explain and open a little to you the nature of this holiness of places that was under the Law You all know there is a two fold Holiness Inherent and Relative Holiness Inherent Holiness is nothing else but those saving Graces of Sanctification in the Souls of men Now this is only in persons it is a thing which places are no way capable of But the Holiness that is in places is a Relative holiness and it doth consist in a separation or setting them apart for God to be peculiarly his That this is the Scripture notion of Holiness and that particularly in reference to Holy places you may see in Deut. 19.2 7. compared with Joshua 20.7 That which in the one place is called Separation in the other is called Sanctification Thou shalt separate three Cities for Cities of Refuge saith the Lord by Moses And they sanctified Kedesh and Sechem saith the Text in Joshuah The contrary to Holiness is that which is Common or Unclean Acts 10.14 God hath a special propriety in that which is holy it belongs to God as his peculiar Exod. 13.2 Sanctifie unto me all the first-born it is mine Hence the neerer to God any place or thing is the more of Separation to his use the more holy Thus you see the general notion of it Now to descend to some particulars This Holiness of places was twofold either transient and meerly for the present time or else more permanent and abiding 1. The transient Holiness of places was where the Lord gave visible appearances of himself in his glorious Majesty to the eyes of his Servants such places were holy during the time of such divine appearances So when the Lord appeared to Moses in the burning Bush Exod. 3.5 the place whereon thou standest is holy ground and he saith the like to Joshuah cap. 5.15 So Mount Sinai was holy and therefore might not be touched Exod. 19. Upon the same account the Mount where Christ was transfigured is called the Holy Mount 2 Pet. 1.18 I call this a transient kind of Holiness because it continued no longer but while that extraordinary Presence continued There is no more Holiness in Mount Sinai or Mount Tabor now than in any other place The Apostle calls it the holy Mount from what it was not that it is so still Therefore it is but a superstitious thing in the Papists to go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem and to visit the holy Sepulchre and the like there is no Holiness in them now 2. But secondly there was also a more permanent and abiding Holiness of places under the Law during that whole legal Dispensation Quest What were these Places Answ I shall instance chiefly in four particulars 1. The Land of Canaan was an holy Land so called Zach. 2.12 the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy Land It was a Type of Heaven Heb. 11.14 16. they sought another Country a better Country that is an heavenly thine eyes shall see the Land that is very far off Isai 32.17 glimpses of Heaven and Glory And some special places in the Land were holy as 2. The Cities of Refuge whereof there were six three on this side and three on the other side Jordan The Institution and Ordinance for it you have in Deut. 19. the performance in Josh 20. where these Cities are said to be sanctified And that there was a Gospel Mystery in this Ordinance and what it was the Apostle insinuates Heb. 6.18 who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us The Souls flying to Jesus Christ and finding safety and shelter there when pursued by the Law as the avenger of Blood is the Gospel mystery of that Ordinance 3. The Tabernacle the Temple the Ark and all the places where they came 2 Chron 8.11 The places are holy whereunto the Ark of the Lord hath come The Ark did as it were consecrate them and so there was a reverence due to them The Tabernacle you know was made in the Wilderness by Moses and so was the Ark it marched before them to seek rest for them till they came into the Land of Canaan The first place where it was pitched there was at Gilgal Josh cap. 4.19 there it continued about six or seven years till Joshuah had conquered the Land and then it was set up at Shilo Josh 18.1 there it continued as some compute 300 years from Joshuah's time to Eli's and then the people in a carnal confidence carrying the Ark
the Mountains of delights of Holiness as Dan. 11.45 No account can be given hereof but the good Pleasure of his Will 4. The Materials and Preparations of them there were the choicest Materials and the most plentiful Preparations for them the people contributed to the Tabernacle very liberally Exod. 35.21 29. Exod. 36.5 6 7. So that Proclamation was made for them to cease And for the Temple was prepared Gold Silver Brass Iron Wood Stone all in great abundance and vast Sums by David and Solomon 1. These rich and choice Materials instruct us that we must give God the best we have and give it plentifully and liberally 2. There must be a preparing time and work for the building of the Temple which to do is Gods free Gift therefore we must acknowledge and admire him for it as David did 1 Chron. 29.14 who or what am I or my people that we should offer so willingly And the way to continue this frame is to beg it of God as there David also doth ver 18. keep it for ever in the hearts of thy people 5. The Parts which I shall mention now but deferring the interpretation of them to another time they were three the House the Courts and the Vessels all these were parts of the Temple take it in the largest sense for all the holy Buildings and appertainances thereof 1. The House or Building the covered Temple Of this there are the common parts that belong to every House namely the Foundation the Walls the Doors the Windows the Floor the Roof The peculiar parts of this house as it was the house of the Lord were the Porch the Sanctuary and the Oracle with the side-chambers belonging to them These are the parts of the House it self or the covered Temple 2. The second general part of the Temple is the Courts about it for they were holy ground as well as the covered Building and they were two the outward and the inward Court or the Court of the People and the Court of the Priests 3. The Vessels they were many I shall instance only the chief and such as were significant of Gospel-mysteries and they are either belonging to the Sanctuary or to the Oracle 1. To the Sanctuary and that either sub dio or sub tecto without or within doors There were four without doors and three within without the Brazen Altar of Burnt-offering the molten Sea the Lavers and the Pillars of Brass within the Altar of Incense the Table of Shew-bread and the Candlesticks 2. To the Oracle wherein was the Ark and the appertainances thereof Heb. 9.1 to 5. Vse Exhortation unto Temple-work It is prophesied that even the Gentiles Zech. 6. ult they that are far off shall come and build in the Temple of the Lord. We are all by nature far off Ephes 2. but brought nigh by the Blood of Christ and built up into an holy Temple to the Lord as it there follows ver 13 17 19 c. to the end Take these Rules about Temple-work 1. Be sure you build according to the Pattern shown in the Mount to Moses Exod. 25.9 Heb. 8.5 It is eighteen times repeated in the two last Chapters of Exodus as the Lord commanded Moses so did he as the Lord commanded Moses And in like manner David and Solomon See the Geneva Note upon it 1 Chron. 28.11 12 19. they had both the Word and Spirit of God to direct them If you ask how may we know the Pattern These are the means of knowing it the Word and the Spirit Hag. 2.5 and they give light in this matter in the way of effectual Humiliation and Repentance especially repent and be humbled for Temple-sins Temple-defilements for your Church-sins Church-defilements sins against the Worship of God see Ezek. 43.10 11. so Rev. 11.1 a Reed is given at the restoring of the Churches and Worship of God from the Antichristian Apostacy to measure the Temple the Altar and the Worshippers Get this measuring Reed into your hands the Word of God Revel 21.15 2. Leave out the outer Court Rev 11.2 that is nominal Christians Look to the matter of the Church else it will be like rotten timber in the foundation of a Building Not that I do exhort you to rigour and severity I know there may be an extream on both hands but take heed of extreams and of admitting persons visibly unfit These two Directions are of that weight that I have thought they are enough as to Communion of Churches If they own the Scripture for their Rule of Worship and Discipline if they build by the golden Reed and if they leave out the outer Court if there be care taken to keep off promiscuous Administrations But if they slight the Scripture as the rule of their Walking or of their Worship and Administrations Or if they be not in a capacity to keep the Ordinances pure I do not see how we can have comfortable communion with them 3. Let there be no noise of Axes and Hammers in building the Temple It was built entirely of hewed and squared stones whereof every one was perfectly fitted for its place the length of the stones some say being the thickness of the Wall 1 Kin. 6.7 It is not to be too rigorously understood but the meaning is is as some express it no sound that was obstreperous to a publick disturbance no laborious sound from the hewing or squaring of timber but only a more cheerful yea melodious harmony from the conjunction and compacting of matter aforeâ—â—â—d fitted and prepared Doubtless this was not without a mystery it may be divers ways applied as that the matter of the Church should be well prepared before their admission as members and that the Saints are aforehand fitted and prepared unto Glory so that when they come to dye they have nothing else to do but to dye for the Temple was a Type of Heaven and of the Church triumphant But the Application that I would make of it is this There should be no noise of strife no contention no collision of mens spirits in Church-society And the means to avoid this is the well preparing of the matter when the Soul is well prepared by an humbling work in its first conversion when hewed and squared it will lye even in the building else not For by Pride only comes Contention 4 Build the House of the Lord before your own Houses so Solomon did The Lords House was finished in seven years but his own was not finished till thirteen years 1 Kings 6. ult with cap. 7. 1. not that he regarded his own House more but less and therefore finished the Lords House before his own And the Jews after their return from the Captivity are greatly reproved for this neglect Hag. 1.4 and 2.19 It is indeed the general scope of the whole book of Haggai It brings a Blessing upon all your concernments Matth. 6.33 Seek first the Kingdom of God and all other things shall be added But if this be
the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while as the first Tabernacle was yet standing There were dark shadows then of the mysteries of the Gospel 4. The rending of the Veil when Christ died represents his Sufferings in the Flesh or humane nature Matth. 27.51 the Veil of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom If the Veil be the Flesh or the Humane nature of Christ then the rending of the Veil must needs be the breaking of his Body and the sufferings of his Humane nature 5. As by this the Holy of holies was open to the view of all that came to the Temple so under the Gospel the mysteries of Salvation are made manifest Rev. 11.19 and the Temple of God was opened in Heaven and there was seen in his Temple the Ark of his Testament Clear discoveries of God in Christ 6. As the Priest entred into the holy place through the Veil so hath Christ into Heaven and made way for us all to enter after him and with him through his Sufferings Heb. 9.12 neither by the Blood of Bulls and Goats but by his own Blood he entred in once into the holy place having obtained eternal Redemption for us and Heb. 6.2 last which hope we have as an anchor of the Soul both sure and stedfast and which entred into that within the Veil that is into the Holy of holies whither the fore-runner is for us entred even Jesus This is the first accomodation of this Type even unto Jesus Christ himself 2. The Temple signified also the Church and the several parts of the Temple may be considered here also 1. We learn here that there is a threefold distinction of the Church into visible militant and triumphant The outer Court signified the visible Church into which all the people came that were clean according to the Law so into the visible Church come all that make a fair outward profession though they are not all sincere as all were not Israel that were of Israel The Sanctuary and the inner Court signified the Church militant of true Believers who are indeed spiritual Priests unto God And lastly the holiest of all was a Type of Heaven and of the Church triumphant there so the Apostle often Heb. 9.24 for Christ is not entred into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true but into Heaven it self 2. Whereas there was a Wall about the great Court to keep out the Gentiles for none but Jews were admitted the Apostle shews that Christ hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us Ephes 2.14 which he hath done by converting the Gentiles and repealing the Ceremonial Law 3. The outer Court must be left out in Church-reformation Rev. 11.1 2. that is when the matter of the visible Church is wholly corrupted these Gentiles must be cast out or left out 4. Whereas the Materials of the Sanctuary and of the Oracle were the same Cedar-boards and Gold and garnished with precious Stones c. as was shewed before when we spake of the Walls of the Temple hence we may learn this Instruction that Grace and Glory differ not in kind but only in degree Grace is Glory begun Glory is Grace perfected Heb. 12.23 the Spirits of just men made perfect A Believer hath eternal life begun in him in this world 1 Joh. 3.15 5. The side-chambers and all the buildings about the Chambers wherein the Priests and Levites had their several Lodgings and stations appointed them may instruct and mind us of those Mansions that are prepared for us in Heaven Joh. 14.2 in my Fathers House are many Mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you 6. Whereas in these Chambers were kept and laid up the Standards of all Weights and Measures for so some understand that place 1 Chron. 23.29 speaking of the Levites work in their several places and stations it is said their Office was to wait on the Sons of Aaron as for other things so for all manner of Measure and Size that is as some expound it that unto their Trust were committed the Standard measures of things and here laid up under their custody as in a most safe and sacred Repository and these were called the Measures of the Sanctuary as with us the Standards and Measures are laid up in the Tower We may here learn that God regards Justice amongst men next to his own Worship To unjust persons he saith as Isai 1.11 to what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices unto me who hath required this at your hands to tread my Courts v. 12. The reason is given v. 15. your hands are full of Blood And would you know that there are Mansions prepared in Heaven for you you may take this as one evidence of it Psal 15.1 Lord who shall abide in thy Tabernacle who shall dwell in thy holy hill He answers in the second verse He that walketh uprightly and worketh Righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart And let me add this further do not judge of your spiritual estate by your getting into the outer Court for hypocrites may get in there if they be but outwardly clean But art thou admitted as a spiritual Priest into the Sanctuary to enjoy true communion with God in his Ordinances and to worship God in the Spirit art thou a member of the Church militant as well as of the visible Church The Church militant shall be at last triumphant they shall pass from and through the Sanctuary into the Holy of holies even into Heaven it self whither Jesus our fore-runner is entred for us THE GOSPEL of the TWO BRAZEN PILLARS in the TEMPLE 1 Kings 7.21 22. Novemb. 8. 1668. And he set up the Pillars in the Porch of the Temple and he set up the right Pillar and called the name thereof Jachin and he set up the left Pillar and called the name thereof Boaz. And upon the top of the Pillars was Lillie-work so was the work of the Pillars finished SO much of the House and the Courts Now follows the Vessels or Utensils of the Temple the sacred Houshold stuff or Furniture of this House of God they were many We read in Ezra 1.11 all the Vessels of Gold and Silver were five thousand and four hundred We may distinguish the Vessels of the Temple into two sorts 1. Such as were of natural necessity and conveniency for the Worship that was there to be performed as Knives Pots Flesh-hooks c. which had not their particular mystical significations But yet thus much we may observe from them that the meanest instrument in the Church of God is of some use and therefore not to be despised And of this sort there were some larger Vessels as the Kings Scaffold 2 Chron. 6.13 on which he stood when he came into the Priests Court to present his Sacrifices before the Lord or upon any other occasion For you
out of their mouths that is the Word of God denouncing the Wrath of God fiery indignation devours the adversaries Heb. 10.27 4. We read of fiery tryals and afflictions Luke 12.49 I am come to send fire on the earth 1 Pet. 4.12 Think it not strange concerning the fiery tryal the fiery tryal of Persecution by open enemies publickly opposing the fiery tryal of Contention by false brethren secretly undermining 6. The Fire of the Altar came from Heaven Lev. 9.24 2 Chronic 7.1 strange Fire is forbidden Lev. 10.1 1. Humane inventions which he had not commanded them Lev. 10.1 2. Carnal Wrath and Passion this is not the Fire of the Altar but strange Fire James 3.17 Wisdome from above is first pure then peaceable c. the wrath of man accomplishes not the Righteousness of God James 1.20 7. The use of the Altar in reference to the Sacrifice was to support and sanctifie it the Altar did two things both which Faith is to eye and look unto both as done in Christ and to be done in us 1. To support the Sacrifice and bear it up so Christ was born up by the power of his Deity 2. To make it acceptable so Christs Sufferings are so infinitely precious and acceptable with the Lord through the glory and excellency of his Person there is nothing else will bear up a Soul under sense of Guilt but this to consider who it was that died and suffered for us It was the Son of God And the reason of many fears and tremblings of unbelief is because the Soul looks at the Sacrifice without the Altar looks at the Death of Christ but considers not the Altar the Deity that sanctifies the Gift As to us we need both support and acceptance eye both these in Christ eye Christ for them to your own Souls 1. Support when the heart is ready to sink and to be overwhelmed with the difficulties that do occur thou art weak but here is strength 2. Acceptance Isai 56.7 their Burnt-offerings and their Sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine Altar thou art unworthy but leave thy Gift upon the Altar and it shall be accepted whatsoever toucheth the Altar shall be holy Vse 1. See the unlawfulness yea the abominableness of material Altars and Altar-worship under the New Testament For the Altar was a Type of Jesus Christ in his Deity and Priesthood therefore Altars are ceased For is not Jesus Christ the Son of God or hath God another Son to dye for us or do we look for another Gospel that we must build Altars to typifie the mysteries thereof Because it lies directly in my way and it is one of the worst and grossest of the Superstitions and Corruptions of Worship in our times I may not well pass it by consider but two things here 1. The Lords Table is not an Altar ought not to be so called or so accounted 2. The many other evils that are involved in this and go along with it 1. The Communion Table is not an Altar and ought not to be so called nor so accounted Take three arguments for the proof of this Reas 1. Because the Scripture calls it a Table but not an Altar and we must speak of God and of his Ordinances as God himself doth in his word So the Apostle 1 Cor. 10.21 ye cannot be partaker of the Lords Table and of the Table of Devils so Christ Luk 22.21 the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the Table Reas 2. An Altar implies a Sacrifice and sacrificing Priests for Priests Altar and Sacrifice are relatives and have a mutual and inseparable connexion and dependance upon one another But the Lords Supper is not a Sacrifice nor the Ministers of the Gospel Priests therefore the Lords Table is not an Altar The use of an Altar is to offer Sacrifice upon but when we come to the Lords Supper do we come to Sacrifice Christ again and to crucifie the Son of God afresh No but we come to celebrate the memory of his Death who dyed once for all Heb. 10.10 Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many Heb 9.28 and 7.27 To talk of a commemorative Sacrifice is meer non-sense and a contradiction for as the Picture of a man is no man so the commemoration of a Sacrifice is in truth no Sacrifice If it were a Sacrifice offered upon the Table as an Altar they should make four Horns upon the four corners of the Table and they should make a Grate for the Fire and they should put Fire to their Altars to burn the Sacrifice even the Bread and Wine Reas 3. If the Communion Table were an Altar then it should be greater and better then the Sacramental Bread and Wine then the Lords Supper it self and a means to consecrate them for the Altar sanctifies all the Gifts and Sacrifices that are offered upon it and is greater then the Gift Matth. 23.18 19. Hence it is said the Altar shall be holiness of Holinesses or most holy Exod. 40.10 But the Table is not greater then the Lords Supper Therefore the Table is not an Altar It is true some of the Antients have called it an Altar but unscripturally and improperly as they did also use other extravagant and wanton Metaphors calling it Solium Christi the Throne of Christ whereas Christ is not represented on the Table in his Majesty as upon a Throne but in his lowest humility and deepest abasement as broken crucified c. These expressions of the Fathers 1. They were unscriptural the Scripture doth not use such language nor speak of the Communion Table in such a strain 2. They have done much hurt in the Church unawares to those good men and have been inlets and occasions of much Superstition 3. When they used this phrase of speech the Sacrifice of the Mass and Priests and much other Idolatrous Popish trash was not known nor heard of in the world neither were there any to be scandalized with those phrases and to use them to such ill ends and purposes as the Papists and other superstitious persons have improved them therefore such language is worse now then it was then 4. Others of the Fathers have testified against Altars even in the primitive times O igen contra Gelsum l. 4. as Origen who lived about two hundred years after Christ Objicit nobis Celsus quod non habemus Imagines aut Aras aut Templa He that is Celsus chargeth the Christian Religion with this that we have neither Images nor Altars nor Temples Arnob. l. 6. apud Quench-cole p. 71 72. In answer to this Origen doth not deny the Charge but confesseth the matter of fact to be true and defends it from the very fundamental grounds of Religion and so doth Arnobius and others 2. Consider the many other evils that follow and flow from this and go along with it from this blind conceit that the Lords Table is an Altar hence follows 1. Calling it an high Altar and making steps to
in the afternoon and the evening of the night which began at Sun-set Josh 10.26 27. The Lord gave them so large a time because they had many other Services and Sacrifices to offer See Ainsworth in loc So Christ Matth. 27.46 50. he suffered death about the hour of three a clock and then the evening began for the sixth hour of the day is that which we call twelve a clock the ninth hour is that which we call three a clock in the afternoon for the Jews reckoned their hours from morning to evening and not as we do from midday to midnight Thus you see how the time of the Passover shewed forth divers circumstances of the time of Christs Sufferings 4. The Blood of the Lamb shadowed forth the Blood of Christ See the analogy in four things 1. The Blood of the slain Lamb was not to be spilt upon the ground or trodden under foot but kept in a Basin as a precious thing v. 22. What that typified we may gather from that of the Apostle Heb. 10.29 they have trodden under foot the Blood of the Covenant This was to hold forth the preciousness of the Blood of Jesus Christ it is called precious Blood 1 Pet. 1.19 Unbelief rejects and spills this Blood and makes it to be shed in vain 2. It was to be sprinkled upon the lintel and posts of their doors with a bunch of Hyssop v. 22. This shadowed forth the sprinkling of Christs Blood upon the Souls of his people that is the effectual application of it by the Promise Isai 52.15 He shall sprinkle many Nations 1 Pet. 1.2 the sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus Christ It was to be sprinkled with a bunch of Hyssop This intimates the means of the application of the Blood of Christ which are the Promises and Ordinances and Faith and the Spirit of Christ in them 3. This Blood of the Paschal Lamb it made atonement for them that is typically so Christs Blood doth it really Nothing we can do can expiate the least sin but there is atoning virtue in this Blood he hath expiated our sins and made Satisfaction for our offenses 4. Hence the destroying Angel passed over them v. 23. and the Israelites were spared when the Egyptians were cut off so Believers are saved through the Blood of Christ sprinkled upon their Consciences when Unbelievers are cut off and perish eternally Heb. 12. the Blood of Christ speaks better things then the Blood of Abel Thus you see how the Blood of the Paschal Lamb typified the Blood of Christ 5. Their eating the Lamb signified our spiritual seeding upon Christ by Faith especially in the Sacrament of the Supper We eat Christ spiritually by Faith and sacramentally in the Lords Supper The manner of eating was very significant to hold forth the manner of receiving Christ in the Supper not unworthily 1 Cor. 11. but in due order as 1 Chron. 15.13 1. They were to do it standing with their staves in their hands their shooes on their feet and their loins girt which was a posture of readiness for action and motion which seems to have been a peculiar circumstance of that first Passover but it was very significant shewing how we ought to behave our selves in the Egypt of this world and of a natural condition and of Anti-christian bondage that we should be upon a posture of motion and action bestirring our selves to get out of it Gird up the Loins of your minds 1 Pet. 1.13 saith the Apostle that is be at Christs dispose be ready to follow his Call to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth Rev. 14.4 Let us up and be going for we have a great journey before us and this is not our rest Mich. 2.11 here we have no continuing City but seek one to come Hebr. 13.14 2. They were to eat it with sowr or bitter Herbs Christ himself was a Man of Sorrows and must be fed upon with bitter and dolorous remembrance of our sins and of his Sufferings for them 1 Cor. 11.28 31. the grief we have put him to should be matter of grief to us Repentance and godly sorrow must go along with the exercise of Faith And as Christ suffered before he entred into Glory so all that will follow him must bear the Cross before they can wear the Crown We cannot reign with him except we suffer with him 3. They must eat it without Leaven and have no Leaven for seven days ver 15. Leaven is of an infecting sowring spreading nature It is put for false Doctrine Beware of the Leaven of the Scribes and Pharisees Matth. 16.6 12. and the Apostle interprets it as signifying also Hypocrisie 1 Cor. 5.7 8. Purge out the old Leaven and let us keep the Feast with the unleavened Bread of Sincerity and Truth So Christ interprets it to his Disciples Luk. 12.1 Beware ye of the Leaven of the Pharisees which is Hypocrisie And the Apostle 1 Cor. 5.8 applies it in particular to the sowring swelling lust of malice Let us keep the Feast not with old Leaven naither with the Leaven of Malice and Wickedness As they having eaten the Passover did presently abstain from all Leaven for seven days together so we having once laid hold on Christ and fed upon him by Faith must put away the old leaven of sin and corruption purging our hearts as they did their houses of it not a day but seven days serving the Lord in holiness and righteousness all the days of our lives Thus we are to keep the Feast under the Gospel 4. The whole Lamb was to be eaten and none of it left ver 9.10 so by Faith we must receive whole Christ and all his Benefits Joh. 1.12 1 Cor. 1.13 Is Christ divided every Believer hath whole Christ to himself Some are willing to feed upon Christ for pardon and to eat that part of the Lamb but to feed upon Christ for holiness and mortification this they desire not 5. It was to be eaten by the whole Family ver 3 and 4. and if the Family were too little they were to call in others this signified both the communion and enlargement of the Church It signified the spiritual communion of the Church as being one Body one spiritual Family 1 Cor. 12.12 13. the whole Church of Christ must eat and feed upon Christ jointly as well as severally and personally and exercise a spiritual and visible communion together It signified also the enlargement of the Church gathering in of others Luk. 14.23 compel them to come in But no uncircumcised person might eat thereof Exod. 12.48 so now none uncircumcised in the flesh no unbaptized person and none uncircumcised in heart none apparently unregenerate may be received to the Lords Supper See Ezek. 44.7 9. which speaks of New Testament days in Old Testament phrases Their second Feast was that of Penticost so called in the New Testament Act. 2.1 from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fiftieth because it was kept fifty days after the Passover