so freely offers to the washing in this spiritual Sea is nothing else but believing and exercising Faith in the Blood of Christ Do not object and say Alas I am defiled and unclean I answer Thou hast the more need of washing the greater thy defilements be thou hast the more need of Jesus Christ and of his Blood to cleanse thee and wash thee from thy sins Vse 4. Comfort to Believers that wash here for sin and for uncleanness see Isai 4.4 when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the Daughters of Sion and shall have purged the Blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof Here is a fourfold ground of comfort in this Crystal Sea 1. Here is enough of it here is a Sea to wash in there is Water enough in the Sea for any man to wash in though never so much defiled so there is vertue enough cleansing enough in the Blood of Jesus Christ Thou hast many sins many spots many defilements upon thee but here is a Sea to wash in this Type of a Sea speaks the plenty of it here are not a few drops of Soul-cleansing justifying Blood but here is an Ocean of it 2. It will take out the deepest stains the foulest spots though your sins be as Scarlet they shall be as white as Snow though they be red like Crimson they shall be as Wooll Isai 1.18 The Apostle instanceth in some of the foulest and blackest spots Adulterers Thieves Drunkards c. 1 Cor. 6.10 11. and such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God Your Robes are white if washed in this Blood Rev. 7.14 these are they that have washed their Robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb. Yea 3. Thou art as clean in respect of Justification as if those sins had never been committed You are perfectly justified though but imperfectly sanctified Therefore justified persons are said to have no more Conscience of sins Heb. 10.2 not as though they made no conscience to commit it No that were abominable but the Conscience is discharged and set free from guilt and can look God in the face comfortably and with holy boldness Men use to say when they have not committed such or such an evil my Conscience is clear yea but Conscience may be clear though thou hast committed it if washed and cleansed from it by the Blood of Christ 4. You should therefore draw nigh with full assurance of Faith being thus washed as Heb. 10.22 Let us draw neer with a true heart in full assurance of Faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our Bodies washed with pure Water When you stand upon this cleansing Sea you should take the Harps of God into your hand as Revel 15.2 you should triumph and sing Quest But how may I know that I am indeed washed in this Blood and accepted through this Righteousness of Jesus Christ Answ This Sea of Glass is mingled with Fire cap. 15.2 and here in the words before the Text here are seven Lamps of Fire burning before the Throne which are the seven Spirits of God ver 5. There is a Baptism of Fire as well as a Baptism of Water the meaning is this that Justification through the Blood of Christ is ever accompanied with Sanctification by his Spirit therefore if the Spirit of God be burning and working in thy heart fear not thou art washed in this Crystal Sea which is before the Throne if sanctified by the Spirit of Christ thou art justified by his Blood THE GOSPEL of the GOLDEN CANDLESTICKS in the TEMPLE Hebr. 9.1 2 3 4 5. Decemb. 6. 13 20. 1668. Then verily the first Covenant had also Ordinances of Divine Service and a worldly Sanctuary For there was a Tabernacle made the first wherein was the Candlestick and the Table and the Shew-bread which is called the Sanctuary And after the second Veil the Tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all which had the Golden Censer and the Ark of the Covenant overlaid round about with Gold wherein was the Golden Pot that had Manna and Aarons Rod that budded and the Tables of the Covenant and over it the Cherubims of Glory shadowing the Mercy-seat of which we cannot now speak particularly OF the two Courts of the House of the Lord and of the sacred Furniture and Utensils of the Inner Court we have spoken viz. the Brazen Altar of Burnt-offering signifying our Reconciliation unto God by the Death and Blood of Christ the molten Sea and Lavers signifying our Justification by the applying or washing in that Blood and the two Pillars Jachin and Boyas which signified our perseverance and Preservation through the Power and Faithfulness and Love of God till we be crowned with the Crown of Glory We are now to survey the House it self all the Furniture and Vessels wherof were of Gold And as to these I have pitch'd upon this Text because it gives us in a short compass of words the most full and compleat enumeration of them that doth occur to my remembrance any where in Scripture We may resolve the words into these five doctrinal Propositions 1. That the Old Testament had Ordinances of Divine Service and a worldly Sanctuary There was a Religion and a way of Worship ordained by God in those times as well as now though that Worship was not so spiritual and evangelical as is the Worship of the New Testament They had Ordinances of Worship and a Seat of Worship then but they were carnal Ordinances and a worldly Sanctuary comparatively carnal But the Ordinances now are spiritual and the Seat of Worship spiritual For then it was the material Temple to which God was pleased to tye and to annex the publick Church-worship and Ordinances of those times but now the Seat of Worship is the several Churches and Congregations of his People However a Worship Ordinances of Worship and a Seat of Worship they had Obs 2. There were two parts of that old legal Tabernacle one called the Sanctuary and the other called the Holy of Holies so it was in the Tabernacle and so in the Temple After the second Veil by the first Veil the Apostle intends the Curtains and Hangings that were hung about the Tabernacle of which you read Exod. 26. In the Temple there was but one Veil for instead of these Hangings were the Walls of the Temple Obs 3. That both these parts of the Tabernacle had their sacred Furniture of several holy Vessels and Vtensils belonging to them Obs 4. That the sacred Furniture or Vessels belonging to the Sanctuary were the Golden Candlestick and the Table of Shew-bread Obs 5. That the Furniture belonging to the Holy of Holies were the Golden vessels for the offering of Incense and the Ark with its appurtenances We are now to speak concerning the Furniture of the Sanctuary of which the Doctrine is this That the sacred Furniture or
Christ and the Gospel in the Ceremonial Law How excellently doth the Apostle put them together The sprinkling of the Unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh The blood of Christ purgeth the Conscience from dead works to serve the living God If we cannot see these divine mysteries in the Text if we cannot see Gospel-Truths in these legal Ceremonies and how admirably they are adapted and fitted the one to the other the Type to instruct and teach us and inform us about the Anti-type it is because of our own darkness and dimsightedness in spiritual things Vse 4. Behold also the pre-eminence and excellency of Christ above Moses and the Gospel above the Law How much more shall the blood of Christ purge your Consciences from dead works How much more It hath a greater and an irresistible efficacy to cleanse the Soul Conscience And this is a Truth of clearer and higher evidence than the Ceremonial cleanness by those legal washings and purifications which were the means of that Ceremonial Cleanness The Apostle uses the like note of pre-eminence when he compares Adam and Christ Adam was a personal Type as this was a real Type Rom. 5.15 17. For if by one mans offence death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of Grace and of the gift of Righteousness shall reign in life by Christ Jesus So here Gods design is that in all things Christ might have the pre-eminence and be preferred above Moses Vse 5. Labor to see and find in your selves the experience of this spiritual cleansing whereof the Apostle speaks this cleansing by the blood of Christ and go thou thither have recourse to that blood for it Thou that hast an unclean heart and hast lived it may be an unclean life at least in secret though perhaps men have not seen it get thy Heart and Life and Conscience purified from dead works to serve the living God There is healing cleansing vertue enough in the blood of Christ And would you be cleansed indeed you see the way of it Hath the Lord discovered to thee thy defilement and convinced thee of thy own uncleanness then get this blood of Christ applied And as the Water of Purification was sprinkled on the Unclean under the Law so get this blood of Christ sprinkled on thy Soul and Conscience by the Gospel It is often called the Blood of sprinkling The reason is because that as they did apply it by sprinkling as a means of cleansing c. so is the blood of Christ applied to the Conscience It is applied by the Spirit in the Promise Under the Promise held forth we receive it by Faith and the Promise so received the blood of Christ is brought home and sprinkled on the Soul and this will cleanse thee though thou have been never so unclean there is healing purifying vertue in that blood though thy uncleanness be never so great and thy Conscience never so defiled yet there is cleansing by the blood of Christ Thy Case is not desperate there is vertue enough in the blood of Christ How much more will the blood of Christ cleanse thy Soul if the blood of Bulls and of Goats and the ashes of an Heyfer sprinkling the unclean could cleanse the body And remember this blood is offered all that thou hast to do is to receive it by Faith to beg a part in Christ and desire him to make it effectual to thee The reason of all the defilement that appears in men and that continues under the use of Ordinances is because they geâ— not the blood of Christ sprinkled on their Consciences they do not receive it And two things keep them off either there is a Spirit of security that they never seek after it neither pray not endeavour or mourn after it Or 2. There is a Spirit of discouragement they never fly to Christ and his blood they seek not to him but since he is offered do not refuse him thou canst not displease him more then by so doing but fly for refuge thither as a poor unclean guilty Creature venture all on the infinite cleansing power and virtue that is in the blood of Jesus Christ Vse 6. See the bondage and burdensomness of the legal Administration they could scarce be sick but they became unclean they could not touch so many Creatures but they were forthwith unclean and being unclean might not come into the Temple or publick society and in some cases were shut up They had Porters to keep them that were unclean in any thing 2 Chron. 23.19 that they should not enter in at the Gates of the house of the Lord. Let us bless God that we are delivered from this Yoke of bondage An ADVERTISEMENT to the READER THe attentive Reader will quickly observe that here is nothing upon that Head of Vncleanness by Issues which according to the Authors proposed method should have been here treated of But there is not any thing thereon to be found amongst his Papers nor to be recovered by the help of any that took in writing these Discourses from his mouth It is therefore not improbable that the Author did purposely pass over in silence that Head for reasons to him satisfactory which now can be but conjectured at Moreover the Reader is desired to bear in mind that the following Sermon on Levit. 13. concerning uncleanness by the Leprosy was not preached in the Authors course as it fell in his way in going over the Types but sundry years before on occasion of dispensing the Censure of Excommunication in that Church whereof the Author had the Oversight This it was thought needful to advertise the Reader of partly because of the different method of this Sermon from his other discourses on the Types and partly because some Passages therein evidently refer to the Dispensation of that Ordinance on occasion whereof it was preached and partly to account for the date of this Sermon which the Reader will see is some years before those that go before it The like is to be observed also concerning the foregoing Sermon on Circumcision which in this Book is at Pag. 218. It was preached on occasion of the Administration of Baptism as appears by a Passage in it Pag. 219. And more then two years before it fell in the Authors way in his going over the Types yea sundry Months before he entred on this course and subject in his Ministry THE GOSPEL OF THE LEPROSIE Levit. 13. April 12 1665. BRethren and Beloved in the Lord If this Chapter seem to us at the first reading to be a dark and abstruse place and to have little edifying matter in it we must impute it to our own ignorance and unskilfulness in Scripture Truths and Mysteries It is true there is a dark shadow upon the words But there is much light and many useful Truths intended and held forth under these dark legal shadows The subject both of this and of sundry foregoing and following Chapters is concerning Ceremonial
〈◊〉 flayed and cut up Heb. 4.12 13. so all things are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before him with whom we have to do The Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God searcheth the heart as the sacrificeing Knife did the bowels of the Beast there is no Skin no cloke of Hypocrisy that can hide thee from the Lord. 4. The Skin of the Sacrifice went to the Priest it was part of his Maintenance see Cap. 7. 8. and the Priest that offereth any mans Burnt Offering even the Priest shall have to himself the Skin of the Burnt Offering which he hath offered As before the Law the Sacrificer had the Skin he enjoyed the benefit of that either to cloth him as Adam and Eve Gen. 3.21 the Lord God made them Coats of Skins and clothed them Or to buy cloathing with or what else he needed And under the Law there was hardly any Sacrifice of which the Priest had not his part It teacheth us that they that serve at the Altar should live of the Altar 1 Cor. 9.13 14. from whence the Apostle argues to the care that should be taken for the maintainance of Ministers under the Gospel So much for the fifth Ceremony about the Burnt-Offering namely the flaying it and cuting it in pieces 6. The Pieces were to be salted This indeed is not expressed in Cap 1. but you will find it in other places for as I said at first we must borrow Light from other Scriptures Lev. 2.13 Every Oblation of thy Meat-Offering shalt thou season with Salt neither shalt thou suffer the Salt of the Covenant of thy God to be lacking Ezek. 43.24 the Priests shall cast Salt upon them The Rule is general to all Sacrifices as well Burnt as Meat-Offerings Mark 9.49 every Sacrifice shall be salted with Salt I find by conference with other Scriptures a twofold Mystery hinted and aimed at in this 1. Salt doth preserve things and keep them from putrifaction this therefore signifies and shadows forth the Perpetuity of the Covenant of Grace Hence is that emphatical expression in the Text Lev. 2.13 the Salt of the Covenant of thy God So Salt is used Numb 18.19 It is a Covenant of Salt for ever before the Lord unto thee and to thy Seed with thee that is saith the Margin sure stable and incorruptible So 2 Chron. 13.5 Ought ye not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the Kingdom over Israel to David for ever even to him and to his Sons by a Covenant of Salt that is Perpetual because the thing that is salted is preserved from Corruption saith the Geneva Note upon the place 2. Salt makes things savoury and wholesome which without Salt would stink and putrify Col. 4.6 let your Speech be seasoned with Salt That is contrary to that corrupt Communication Ephes 4.29 wise and savoury and gracious Speech Mark 9.49 50. when there is no Salt no Savour in a mans words his Speech stinks and is corrupt the Sacrifice is unsalted and so it stinks 7. The Leggs and Inwards must be washed Vers 12. the Feet and the Inwards are the fowlest part of a Beast washing away the filth signifies spiritual washing and cleansing So the bodies of Believers are said to be washed with pure Water and their hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience Heb. 10.22 they are made clean both within and without and their filthiness washt away through Jesus Christ 8. The several parts of the Offering must be laid upon the Altar and burnt with Fire till it be consumed and burnt to ashes Seeing the Fire which once fell from Heaven Lev. 9.24 was to be continually kept and preserved upon the Altar Lev. 6.12 and the use of all other Fire forbidden in Sacrifices Lev. 10.1 putting of Fire upon the Altar in this place can signifie nothing but kindling of it Deodat in Lev. 1.7 See Lev. 6.9 the Fire burnt all night The Wrath of God is the Fire and Sin the Wood or Fuel that feeds it This is the Fire of the Justice and Wrath of God from Heaven which seized upon Christ and every part of him as all the parts of the Offering was burnt his Head crowned with Thornes his Side pierced with the Spear his Hands and Feet with Nails his whole body did sweat drops of Blood yea his Soul was heavy unto the Death yea burnt to Ashes as it were brought to the utmost extremity of misery his Saints also endure the fiery tryal 1 Pet. 4.12 Though theirs is not a fire of Expiation as Christs was Heb. 12.10 but only a fire of Purgation which they pass through in this Life to prepare and fit them for Heaven but after this Life there is no Purgatory as the Papists dream 9. The Ashes must be carried out of the Camp into a clean place Lev. 6.10 11. The contrary is said of the Rubbish of a leprous house that the dust and stones thereof should be poured forth into an unclean place Lev. 14.40 41. For they came from a polluted house But these from the Lords holy dwelling place and were the Reliques of an holy thing which the Lord here manifests that he hath a special regard of This Ceremony is applied by the Apostle to Christ Heb. 13.11 12 13. Look as the Ashes of the Sacrifice being burnt signified the dead Body of Christ so the carrying of the Ashes out of the Camp signified how his crucified Body should not be buried within the City but carried into a clean place into a new Sepulchre where never any man lay before Joh. 19.41 So the dead Bodies of all his Saints when they are spent and consumed to Ashes they are regarded and preserved in the dust by God as sacred Reliques and he will raise them up again unto eternal Life So much for the Burnt Offering of the Herd and the Ceremonies appertaining to it There were also some other Actions about it as that in Psal 118.27 of binding the Sacrifice with Cords even unto the Horns of the Altar But this as it is not mentioned in this Chapter so it seems rather to be an Action of natural necessity unto such a work as the slaying of a Beast then to have any special mystery in it Therefore let this suffice for the Burnt-Offering of the greater sort of Cattel Now the other two sorts that follow are the Burnt-Offering of the Flock that is lesser Cattel Sheep or Goats vers 10. And of Fowls viz. Turtle Doves and young Pigeons vers 14. Quest Why the Lord appointed these lesser Sacrifices Ans He did it that so none might be able to plead excuse to be exempted from his service for you know men are very apt to make excuses If the Lord had only appointed Oxen and Sheep some might have pretended Poverty and have said we would offer Sacrifice but we are not able Therefore these lesser Sacrifices were ordained that so both Rich and Poor might serve the Lord so that here is no room
in by degrees the first four Trumpets made way for the perfection of that Apostasie that came in by the fifth Among the Idolatrous Kings of Israel those in succeeding times were worse then their wicked Predecessors Jeroboam was bad enough but he only sets up the two Calves at Dan and Bethel but Omri went beyond him for it is said he did worse then all that went before him 1 King 16.25 We read of the Statutes of Omri Mic. 6.16 Idolatrous and persecuting Laws But his Son Ahab was worse then he For as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam he did set up the Worship of Baal and did more to provoke the God of Israel to anger then all the Kings of Israel that went before him 1 King 16.31 32 33. So that you see it is an increasing and an endless sin 4. All the honour men do or think they do to God by worship of their own invention doth redound indeed and in truth to the honour of the Devil which is a fearful thing to consider Superstition is a sin directly against the means of worship but it is ultimately against the Object of worship Strange worship sets up a strange God Ames Med. Theol. lib. 2. cap. 13. Thes 14 15 42. for it necessarily supposeth and feigneth to it self such an Object of worship as is well pleased with such manner of worship as Superstition offers up and to whose will soever we submit our Consciences as the Rule of our religious worship him we set up as our God Though it be not so in mens intentions yet it is so indeed and in Gods Interpretation The Lord so interprets false worship that a new God is devised for the Object of it so of the Heathenish Idolatry the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to Devils and not to God 1 Cor. 10.20 And so the Lord interprets the Jewish Idolatry Jeroboam ordained Priests for the Devils which he had made 2 Chron. 11.15 Lev. 17.7 Deut. 32.17 And he puts the same construction upon the Popish Idolatry they repented not of worshipping Devils Rev. 9.20 And their Factors and Emissaries are called Spirits of Devils Rev. 16.14 they think they worship St. Peter and the Virgin Mary yea God himself and Jesus Christ but it is indeed and in Gods account the Devil whom they worship It is true you cannot honour God too much his Name is above and beyond all praise but you may mistake and honour the Devil when you think you honour God A fearful mistake indeed it is but yet it is that which all those fall into who in their worship depart from the will of God revealed in his Word and turn aside to any of the Inventions of men THE GOSPEL OF THE CEREMONIAL UNCLEANNESSES and CLEANSINGS September 13 20. 1668. Heb. 9.13 14. For if the blood of Bulls and of Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh How much more shall the blood of Christ c. IN the distribution I formerly gave of the Ceremonial Law you may remember I did put the Legal Sacrifices and Purifications together under one Head as partaking in the same general nature both of them tending to the purging away of sin and of uncleanness Moral uncleanness being taken away by Sacrifice Ceremonial uncleanness by Ceremonial Purifications whereof we are now to speak as the Lord shall enable us from this Text which speaks very fully and most divinely to this Point There be two things in the Text. 1. The Type vers 13. For if the blood of Bulls of Goats c. 2. The Antitype vers 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ c. Under each of which there be three particulars which are here set by the Apostle in a way of opposite correspondency the one to the other 1. He speaks of uncleanness in the Type To which answers dead works as the thing figured by it 2. He mentions Ceremonial cleansing to the purifying of the flesh To which answers the purging of the Conscience from dead Works to serve the living God 3. The Means of the one answers to the Means of the other The blood of Bulls and Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean which is the Means of legal cleansing To this answers the blood of Christ who by the eternal Spirit offered up himself without spot unto God which is the Means of spiritual cleansing Though withall the Apostle shews that these two answer not each other in a way of equal Analogy there being indeed a preeminent excellency of the one above the other of the Antitype above the Type therefore he expresseth it with an how much more If those legal Purifications attain the end of legal cleansing for which they were appointed how much more shall the blood of Christ cleanse the Conscience It hath a greater efficacy and is a Truth of clearer and higher Evidence These particulars of the Analogy between the Type and the Antitype we may cast them into three doctrinal Propositions thus 1. That they had a Ceremonial uncleanness under the Law which figured the Moral uncleanness of dead works 2. That they had also Ceremonial cleansings or purifyings of the flesh which signified the purging our Consciences from dead works to serve the living God 3. That the Means of Ceremonial putification by the blood of Bulls and Goats and by the ashes of an Heiser sprinkling the unclean signified the blood of Christ who by the eternal Spirit offered up himself without spot unto God 1. For the first namely that they had a Ceremonial uncleanness under the Law which did figure out the Moral uncleanness of dead works therefore he sets them one against the other so that those uncleannesses did signify dead works and what is meant by dead works we may see Heb. 6.1 not laying again the foundation of Repentance from dead works What do we repent of We repent of our sins These are therefore the dead works here spoken of and sin is called a dead work because it proceeds from death and is a part of spiritual death and tends to eternal death As good Actions tend to life so sin tends to death so then Ceremonial uncleanness signifies Moral uncleanness of sin and dead works There were two or three sorts of Ceremonial uncleanness 1. Unclean Touchings 2. Unclean Issues 3. That unclean Disease of the Leprosy 1. They had unclean Touchings and Tastings here was uncleanness from without 2. They had unclean Issues here was uncleanness from within a mans self 3. That Disease of the Leprosy was a Disease of Ceremonial uncleanness and here was both an inward and an outward uncleanness 1. There was a Ceremonial uncleanness by eating or touching any unclean thing Lev. 11. In that Chapter it is treated of which Chapter shews what Beasts what Fishes what Fowls and what creeping things might and what might not be eaten And it
unclean and corrupt Lives are unclean as to spiritual Communion but men of sound Judgments and good Lives are persons fit to converse with Under the Law they had unclean and clean Meats and they contracted uncleanness or not by touching or not touching 2. The second sort of Uncleanness was the unclean Issues 3. There was also the unclean Disease of Leprosy as in Lev. 13. and the cleansing of it Cap 14. See the Advertisement to the Reader before the next following Text. This indeed of the Leprosy was the worst of all the Ceremonial uncleannesses anâ—… hath been spoken to from Lev. 13. concerning the Leper and the signs of a leprous Soul All that we shall do now is to conclude with some general Uses by way of Inference from all that hath been said referring the further explication and prosecution thereof until the next opportunity and now for the Improvement of these things Vse 1. Here is a further discovery of some of the popish Superstitions you may here observe both the Rise and the evil of them Three things there be that are still retained amongst them and other superstitious Christians that retain some remnants of Baal popish Superstitions in the worship of God 1. The difference of Meats not to eat such and such Meats at least not at such or such times They borrowed this from the Ceremonial Law some things might be eaten some not 2. They have their Holy Water and this they had from the Water of Separation spoken of here the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the Unclean mentioned Numb 19. which Water was a Water of separation made of the ashes of an Heifer and with this they sprinkled the Unclean which sanctified them when they had eaten or touched any unclean thing which the Scripture calls Holy Water Numb 5.17 Now this device of Holy Water they had from thence a foolish and ridiculous device it is in them being wholly without any warrant from the word of God in New Testament times 3. The third is the Purification or Churching of Women after Child birth An apish Imitation of that old legal Ordinance of God in Lev. 12. for the Purification of Women In the Book of Common Prayer they have omitted some gross things but retain the Title Churching of Women and order the Woman to speak in the Church and say the 116 or 127. Psalm wherein too they leave the good and sound Translation which we have in our Bibles and follow a corrupt one wherein they make the Woman talk of giving a reward unto the Lord and moreover they appoint absurd broken Responds and tossings of their Prayers like Tennis Balls as is common with them also in other of their Offices The Rise of these Superstitions is they are borrowed from those things which were once Ordinances but now are Superstitions because the Stamp of God is taken from them That Command is not now in force but is abrogated by sending the Substance Jesus Christ which is now come And as you see the Rise of them so also the abolishment of them under the Gospel For if they were Types and Shadows of spiritual uncleanness and spiritual cleansing by the blood of Christ as you see the Apostle here interprets them they must needs be ceased now that Christ is come therefore our Saviour saith that which entreth into a man cannot defile a man Mat. 15.11 17 18 19 20. Whatsoever entreth in at the mouth goeth into the belly and is cast out unto the draught but those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart and they defile the man How contrary are such words to the retaining of this difference of Meats Every Creature of God is good if it be received with thanksgiving for it is sanctified by the word of God and Prayer 1 Tim. 4.4 It is good that the heart be established with Grace and not with Meats which have not profited them that have been occupied therein Heb. 13.9 A man may eat any thing that is wholesome if it be not upon the account that there is some hurtfulness in it But these Popish Superstitions are borrowed from Moses and in the practice of them men implicitely deny that Christ is come and hath cleansed our Consciences by his own blood from dead works Vse 2. See here the miserable pollution of our hearts by nature This was the thing intended and aimed at in aâ— these legal Uncleannesses If the water of separation sprinkling the unclean sanctify to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the blood of Christ purge your Consciences from dead works There is a spiritual defilement on the hearts of sinners by nature and this was exhibited and shown by these legal Shadows Take notice then what unclean Creatures you are by nature There is a threefold degree of spiritual uncleanness upon us in an unregenerate estate 1. There is external infection and defilement from without every thing we touch defiles and is defiled by us in our natural condition the very ploughing of the wicked is sin his prayer is abomination to the Lord. If carnal men touch any Ordinance they defile it if they come into the house of God they pollute his Sanctuary There is a fearful defilement on the Souls and Consciences of men in this respect Every thing that a wicked man hath to do withal it defiles him and he defiles it To the pure everything is pure saith the Apostle but to the unclean every thing is unclean That is a wicked man every thing infects and hurts him he receives a secret spiritual impression as it were of hurt and defilement from it and doth also defile whatever he meddles with especially the persons they converse with A wicked man leaves a defilement on those he converses with and he is defiled by them One wicked man corrupts and infects another we see it in bad Company how they infect and are infected by one another mutually Therefore take heed lest there be any Fornicator or any profane person among you any root of bitterness springing up and so many be defiled Heb. 12. 2. There be unclean Issues running Sores Isaia 1.5 6. putrifying Sores no sound part And what is this but the out-breaking of Corruption in actual sins Original sin is like a corrupt Fountain and actual sins are unclean and evil and bitter streams that issue from it 3. There is an unclean Leprosie in the heart of every carnal man which Solomon speaks of and deplores in 1 Kings 8. Knowing every one the plague of his own heart or the leprosie of his own heart The same word that is vsed in Levit. 13. And hence it follows 4. that they are unworthy and uncapable to converse in holy things and to draw near to God in his Ordinances For the unclean person was to be separated during the time of his uncleanness till purified and made clean again Vse 3. See Christ in the Gospel in the Law of Moses labor to see Jesus
break Bread every Lords day And in the primitive times the Sacrament was the concluding Ordinance But Man did not eat of the Tree of Life for then he had been confirmed and lived for ever Gen. 3.22 therefore it is not likely that he stood in his integrity to the end of the Sabbath And as to the time of the day wherein he sinned it seems to have been about eating time at dinner about noon eating what they should not being the thing wherein they sinned And after his Fall it is said that God came and spake to them in the cool of the day Gen. 3. ver 8. This seems to have been about that time of the day which the Scripture calls the ninth hour which is after our reckoning about three a clock in the afternoon So long they were in darkness and under guilt of their Sin before the Promulgation of the Gospel to them Wherein some have observed a congruity in that Jesus Christ was under those his infinite Sufferings upon the Cross the same space of time from the sixth hour to the ninth Matth. 27.45 46. And it being thus Man in his first sin and fall did break all the Commandments at once as he brake all the rest so he sinned upon the Sabbath day This seems by all the circumstances of the Story to have been the time of his Fall But to think that he fell on Tuesday the tenth day from the Creation there is nothing in the History to evince it Others think this Fast on the day of the seventh month was appointed in remembrance of the great Sin the Idolatry of the Golden Calf Exod. 32. But we may rest in that the Text mentioneth as the occasion of this Ordinance viz. the Sin and Death of Nadab and Abihu And there is a threefold Instruction we are here to learn Obs 1. Here we are taught first That there must be holy fear and reverence in approaching to God in his Ordinances an holy fear and dread of sinning in the manner of his Worship and that it is a dangerous thing to worship God otherwise then he hath appointed Men should take heed of it that they die not as Nadab and Abihu did for this sin they incur the danger of Death both Death temporal and eternal Though God doth not usually smite men with visible Judgments but when they are first in any transgression yet there is a spiritual fire and wrath upon their spirits for it which is worse then outward Judgments Obs 2. The Lord takes hold of the saddest occasions to bring in Dispensations of the greatest good and mercy to his people Light out of Darkness Heaven out of Hell good out of evil to those that he hath set his Love upon Obs 3. When some are slain and die in and for their sins the Lord provides for the Salvation of others that they die not Now to come to the thing it self Moses is to charge Aaron that he come not into the Holy of holies at all times nor in any manner but at Gods appointed times and in such manner as he requireth This manner is here described at large It consists chiefly in three things 1. His washing himself 2. His holy Garments And 3. His propitiatory Offerings 1. That the Priest must wash before he put on his Garments and before he present his Offering is an intimation of his Purity and Cleanness Hence that expression of the Apostle Heb. 10.22 Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our Bodies washed with pure water This is the first thing he is to do So Christ Matth. 3.16 was baptized before he entred upon his Ministry and he was perfectly holy and pure not having the least defilement of sin upon him though he had taken on him our Nature and all the other Infirmities of it Vid. On the Priests Consecration Exod. 29. 2. As to his Attire here be two sorts of holy Garments mentioned in the Services of this day the holy Garments ver 4. and other holy and most costly Garments ver 23.24 Some call the former his White Garments and the other his Golden Garments 1. This Priestly Attire was an emblem of spiritual clothing Psal 132.9 Let thy Priests be clothed with Righteousness and let thy Saints shout for joy and ver 16. I will also clothe her Priests with Salvation Job 29.14 I put on Righteousness and it clothed me my Judgment was as a Robe and a Diadem This then speaks the Grace and Holiness that was in Jesus Christ and ought to be in Ministers such Garments Ministers should be clothed with 2. Those two sorts of Attire the White and the Golden Garments signified the different estate and condition of Jesus Christ when he performed the great work of our Redemption and made atonement for us he did it in much meanness and abasement Isai 52.14 his Visage was marred he was without external Pomp and worldly Glory in the form of a Servant made himself of no Reputation Phil. 2.7 though with Holiness and Purity and Innocency He had white Garments on though they were but plain But as there is a clothing of Grace so there is a clothing of Glory 2 Cor. 5.2 4. And after his Resurrection when he had been in Heaven and returned again and arose and appeared from the dead he did change his Raiment He wore the garments of Holiness here but when he entred into the holy place even into Heaven he did put on garments of Glory These were the holy Garments on this day of Expiation Now the third thing is the Offerings of Atonement and they were of two sorts for the Priest and for the People 1. For the Priest himself and for his own House ver 3 6. This teacheth us the insufficiency and imperfection of the legal Priesthood Heb. 5.1 2.3 we need a better High Priest and we have one Heb. 7.26 27 28. The Priest was first to make atonement for himself and for his own sins that so he might be fit as a figure of Christ the true High Priest to make atonement for the people They that lie under unpardoned guilt themselves are not fit to be Mediators and Intercessors for others The Priest had three things to do in reference to his own Sacrifice 1. He was to kill it and so to make atonement with it v. 11. This was a Type of the Death of Christ the true Sacrifice 2. He was to offer Incense in the Holy of holies v. 12. This is a Type of the Prayers and Intercessions of Jesus Christ in the virtue of his Satisfaction Here are four particulars observable 1. As the High Priest did this before he sprinkled the Blood in the Holiest of all so Christ prepared his own way into Heaven by his Prayers and Intercessions Joh. 17. 2. The Incense was beaten small to intimate the anguish and contrition and brokenness of heart wherewith Christ prayed and interceded for us those agonies of spirit in his Prayers before his Death which he offered
Ceremonies about these Goats are severally spoken to from ver 15 c. 1. He begins with the sacred actions about the slain Goat and then speaks 2. Of the scape Goat 1. The sacred Actions and Ceremonies about the slain Goat were such as these 1. The sprinkling of the Blood thereof upon the Mercy seat and before the Mercy-seat c. ver 15. This represents the Blood of Jesus Christ which made way for him and us into Heaven into the presence of God as the Blood of the Bullock for the Priest beforementioned was ver 14. where the meaning of this Rite was opened 2. The Priest hereby must make an atonement for the holy place for the Tabernacle because of the uncleanness of the Children of Israel ver 16. This teacheth us that the very Ordinances of God and our holy Services therein have a secret defilement cleaving to them through our being exercised in them If the Tabernacle be pitch'd in the midst of an unclean people the Tabernacle it self must be atoned How should this beat down our being proud of Ordinances and haughty because of Gods holy Mountain as the Prophets phrase is Zeph. 3.10 those carnal boastings that we are subject to such as those of theirs that said the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are these Jer. 7. If the Ordinances were not sprinkled with the Blood of Jesus Christ they could never be accepted they could be never be effectual for good unto us Not that Duties and Ordinances are unclean or impure in themselves but we defile them by the mixture of Corruption that is in us 3. The Priest must enter alone into the holy place when he doth this ver 17. So Jesus Christ was alone in the work of our Redemption and purging away of our sins Heb. 1.3 He by himself purged our sins It is an horrible and dreadful error of the Papists that joyn other Mediators with him this is to send others to go along with the High Priest when he atones the holy place 4. He must go out from the Brazen Altar of Offerings to the Golden Altar of Incense and atone it by putting the Blood of the Sin-offering upon the Horns thereof ver 18 19. There are many things here 1. That Christs Intercession is founded in his Oblation for the Golden Altar is a Type of his Intercession Now this must be sprinkled with Blood to teach us that by the virtue of Christs Death and Blood his Prayers and Intercessions are available and effectual with God And look whom he died for those he prayed for To separate his Death and Intercession is to divide what God hath joyned To think that he died for some for whom he doth not pray is as if the High Priest should neglect or forget one part of his Office which requires not only that he kill the Sacrifice but that he sprinkle the Blood of it upon the Altar of Incense Therefore if Christ hath shed his Blood for Reprobates he will not forget to sprinkle it upon the Golden Altar for them If he hath died for them he will pray for them But it is confessed he doth not pray for some and himself asserts it Joh. 17.9 therefore he did not die for them 2. This teacheth us how it is that our Prayers come to be accepted it is because sprinkled with the Blood of Christ they need cleansing and purging the Incense Altar must be atoned Lava lachrymas meas Domine Lord wash my tears 3. The Horns of the Altar of Incense sprinkled with Blood denotes the efficacy and strength of Prayer when sprinkled with the Blood of Christ both his Prayers for us and ours also in his name Hence Revel 9.13 we read of a Voice from the four Horns of the Golden Altar which is before God that is answers and returns of Prayers from the power of God awakened and improved by Prayer But this third particular belongs rather to the Altar of Incense as the proper place to which it should be referred 2. The Rites and Ceremonies of the scape-Goat whereto some other things also are annexed from ver 21 c. I shall put them altogether in seven particulars some concerning the scape Goat and some other Rules and Observations in this day of Expiation most of them mentioned in this Chapter 1. The Priest must confess their sins over the head of the scape Goat ver 21. This scape Goat was a Type of Christ God laid on him the iniquities of us all Isai 53.6 and we are to do it by Faith confessing our sins with an eye to him as being born by him in our stead Many of the damned have confessed their sins but not over the head of a dying Saviour 2. The scape Goat carries their sins afar off into the land of Oblivion ver 21.22 far from the sight and presence of God in the Temple A most lively shadow and representation this is of that great mystery of the Pardon and Forgiveness of Sin for so Christ carries our Sins away into the land of oblivion Psal 103.12 As far as the East is from the West so far hath he removed our transgressions from us that though they be sought for they cannot be found Jer. 50.20 If Conscience seek for them it cannot find them for Conscience is pacified when sprinkled with the Blood of Jesus Christ If Satan seek for them he cannot find them for they are gone and lost in the Wilderness Yea if Justice it self seek them yet they cannot be found for Justice is satisfied by the Death and Blood of Christ 3. The High Priest is now to go into the Tabernacle and there to change his Raiment and there to wash himself and to come forth and offer the Burnt-offering and burn the fat of the Sin-offering according to the Ordinance ver 23 24 25. I put all these together because they have all been formerly opened in the several places to which they appertain and therefore it may suffice now only thus to bind them up together as it were in one bundle for the help of memory and so pass on to the next The mystery of the Priests Attire was opend on ver 4 and 23 24. The Burnt-offering on Levit. 1. pag. 244. The burning of the Fat on Levit. 3. in the Peace-offering pag. 285. where this Rite is first mentioned It was there shewed how it signifies the giving unto God the best of our Spirits and Services and in another accommodation of the metaphor the consuming and burning up of sinful Corruption See p. 299 300. 4. He that carried away the scape Goat must wash his Clothes and so come into the Camp ver 26. And the like again ver 28. He that is the Minister of these holy actions must wash himself as having contracted guilt which denotes not only the imperfection of the Levitical Priesthood but also it may instruct us in the iniquity of all our most holy actions See of this upon the Sin-offering on Lev. 4. pag.