thirtieth year after the Creation of the World For probably Eves next Son was the next year after Abels Death and then Adam was one hundred and thirty years old Gen. 5. Moreover it is noted that in Enos his time there was a Reformation of things Gen. 4.26 then began men to call upon the Name of the Lord which seems to be meant of a Segregation of the precious from the vile 1. It cannot be meant that now men began to prophane the Name of the Lord. For the Apostacy began before in Cain and his Crew which was before the Birth of Enos one hundred and six years 2. Neither can it be meant that now there was the first Religious Worship of God For that had been long before by Abel and by Adam and Eve and others of the Godly in those times 3. Therefore it seems clearly to be meant of some new Reformation of Religion the wicked party being grown by this time very numerous the godly as it seemeth withdrew from them before when there was but one Cain that had fallen off Reformation might be attained by thrusting him out from among them 4. But now so great a number and perhaps the greater part being corrupted the Godly might not continue and mingle themselves with them nor could they cast them forth For this a minor part could not do to the greater part 5. Therefore they could do no more but withdraw and walk by themselves and so they came to be called the Sons of God that is Professors of the true Religion who were called by this Name and the other were but Sons of Men. From all which it is matter of admiration that there should be so much of opposition and aversion in the Minds of some unto all manner of Church-Government and Discipline at this day in this height of Gospel-Light the outward Signs and Ceremonies of Religion having been connected with Discipline in all Ages from the first Manifestation of the Gospel even until now 4. The Lord did in those days inspire and raise up some to be Prophets and Preachers of Righteousness besides the Instructions of all the godly Parents to the Children There were some persons peculiarly eminent amongst them as Enoch he prophesied that there was a day of Judgment coming Jude 14. which was partly fulfilled in Noahs Flood but shall be more fully and perfectly at the great Day The Name of his Son Methuselah was a Prediction of the Flood For it signifieth Mortis Gladius the Dart of Death or when he is dead God will send his sword his Dart and Arrows of Divine Wrath and Vengeance against a wicked World And lastly Noah himself a Preacher of Righteousness he lived amongst them six hundred years before the Flood and he preached and prophesied of the Flood for a hundred and twenty years before it came Of whom we shall speak further by and by Now this first Dispensation of the Lord unto his Church continued from first to last about sixteen hundred fifty six years For so long it was from Adam to the Flood as you will find if you compute and put together the Lives and Ages of those ten Antediluvian Patriarchs recorded in the fifth Chapter of Genesis But there was an Apostacy a falling away from God under this Dispensation It began in Cain and his Unbelief of the Gospel For by Faith Abel offered a more acceptable Sacrifice than he Heb. 11.4 therefore the others wanting Faith made his unacceptable At last he kills his Brother and being dealt with by God about it he repented not Gen. 4. But in time the Apostacy grew about it he repented not Gen. 4. But in time the Apostacy grew to its height that all Flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth Gen. 6.12 and there was a general Atheism and Prophaneness Job 22.16 17. The Apostacy under this Adamical Dispensation of the Gospel for I know not what fitter term to express it by consisted chiefly in three things 1. Sensuality and brutish Lusts they took their swinge in their Lusts This is mentioned in Gen. 6.2 and Matth. 24.38 The Sons of God saw the Daughters of Men and took them Wives Hence arose all the Heathenish Fables of the Adulteries and Whoredoms of their Gods For the old Pagan Gods were indeed no other but those old Gigantine Rebels and Sinners against the Lord in the first times and ages of the World 2. Violence and Oppression Gen. 6.11 The Earth also was corrupt before God and the Earth was filled with Violence Being men of great Strength and many of them no doubt Gyants they did whatsoever they list 3. Sinful Mixtures and Confusion between the Church and the World Gen. 6.2 The Sons of God that is the Professors of Religion married with the Daughters of Men that is Professors with such as were prophane The Sons of God cannot be meant of the Angels for they were not capable of bodily Lusts they could not fall in love with Women Hereupon the Lord brought in Desolation and cut them down with a Flood as Job 22.16 and so put this Adamical Dispensation to an end but brought in another and a new Dispensation of himself viz. 2. To Noah and his Posterity This was the Lords second Dispensation to his People For the Lord would not yet cast off his Care of wretched Man but recover him and set him up again once more Now unto all the former Discoveries there were several additions For that great Gospel-Promise that a Saviour should come and that the Seed of the Woman should break the Serpents Head they had that and did live upon it still they had also Sacrifices and Cloathing and Church-Discipline but new Discoveries were added The Lord spake something more of his Mind unto them There were some further Beams of Light appearing and shining forth upon them 1. He saved them by Water in the Ark the Story whereof you have in the 6 7 and 8. Chap. of Genesis remembred 1 Pet. 3. as a Type of Baptism And by the way this could not but be of great use to all Posterity For though Nature would teach men the use of Boats and lesser Vessels to pass the lesser Brooks and Rivers yet that they had any great Ships before the Flood is not probable So that here it seems was the beginning of the Art of Navigation and Shipping 2. He renews his Covenant With them with Noah and all his Seed even all mankind and gave them the Rainbow for an outward Sign and Pledge thereof Gen. 9.8 9 12. to 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the first instance where the word Covenant is used concerning the Transactions between God and Men. The Rainbow was the Sign thereof the horns downwards and the back upwards to Heaven intimating that the Lord will not shoot out of his Bow the Arrow of another Deluge which whether it were there before and now only made a Sign of the Covenant or that now it had its first Existence is
Dispensation others for another kind As for instance A New-Testament Saint will praise God that he caused him to live in the Noon-day and under the highest Meridian of Gospel-Light when the Earth was full of the Knowledg of the Lord. Oh what should I have been if my lot had fallen under former times of Ignorance and Darkness But another in those former darker times as for instance Abraham he will admire and wonder at Gods Mercy that when Darkness was round about him yet the Lord opened his eyes to spy the Sun of Righteousness peeping up and caused him then to rejoyce to see Christs Day that his Fleece was wet when the rest of the Earth was dry his Heart drawn after God and Christ when the means were so scant and small One Believer will bless God that the Lord was known to him by his Name Jehovah Another will admire that he did enable him to believe on God Almighty Some will bless him that they have seen the Accomplishment of his Promises and Predictions and not one thing hath failed of all the Good that God hath spoken as Josh 23.14 Another under former Dispensations will admire that his Heart was wrought to embrace the Promises afar off and that the Lord made Faith to him to be the substance of things not seen Beloved the Lord makes his Goodness special and peculiar by variety of Dispensations even to Believers living in the same age and in the same place that though in general they be all alike made partakers of the same common Salvation yet such variety there is in the Lords dealings with them in regard of Circumstances that in one respect or other in regard of one circumstance or other every one hath experience of peculiar loving Kindness singular strains of Mercy that he can say with Paul never such a pattern of Mercy I have more to bless God for than any other in all the world beside It is so much more in several ages so that look as that variety of Wisdom in so many several things before noted did declare the infiniteness of Gods Wisdom so in like manner these various kinds and ways of Goodness being all laid together will yield the lustre of infinite Goodness so far as finite Creatures can contain or conceive it I say when all the particulars are computed and put together in one sum total as they shall be when that general Assembly of all the Saints and Angels shall meet together at the great Day when they shall all compare Notes as it were It will then appear that there is no channel wherein Mercy hath not run no expression of loving Kindness that hath been omitted so manifold have his Dispensations been that every Age and every Person shall be able to bring in their several and peculiar portions into the common Treasury of Gods Mercies and Praises and they shall all say and sing together that Song of Praises in Psal 40.5 Many O Lord my God are thy wonderful Works which thou hast done and thy Thoughts which are to us-ward they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee if I would declare and speak of them they are more than can be numbred I shall conclude for the present with three words of Use both from what hath beeen said to day and in the last Discourse upon this Subject 1. We may gather some Chronological Light 2. We may see the rise of all the old Heathenish Superstitions And 3. See the Glory of the Mystery of the Gospel Vse 1. Here is some Instruction and Light may be gathered as to that Question which may easily arise in your thoughts namely how long this Old-Testament Administration lasted The Answer may be gathered from all that hath been said upon this Subject that it lasted precisely four thousand years This will appear if you compute and put those seven Old-Testament Dispensations together which were formerly spoken to The first Dispensation from Adam to Noah was sixteen hundred fifty six years The second from Noah to the Promise made to Abraham was four hundred twenty seven years The third from Abraham to the coming out of Egypt was four hundred and thirty years The fourth from the coming out of Egypt to the Dedication of the Temple was four hundred eighty seven years The fifth from the Temple to the Captivity was four hundred years The sixth namely from the Captivity to the Return was seventy years The last Old-Testament Dispensation from the Return to the Messiahs Death was four hundred and ninety years And from the Death of Christ to the Destruction of the Temple and City and Nation whereby the Lord did put all that old Dispensation to a full end was forty years All which Sums put together amounts exactly to four thousand years so long did that old Testament Dispensation last Vse 2. We may here see the rise of all the old Heathenish Superstitions They were the Corruption of Old-Testament Dispensations As Popery is nothing else but Christianity corrupted by a cursed mixture of Paganism and Judaism with it so in like manner Turcism is Vse 3. We may learn from hence to see the Glory of the Mystery yea the Riches of the Glory of the Mystery of the Gospel in that it was so long and with so great variety of Dispensation held forth to the Church of God of old Surely it was no small matter which the Lord made use of such various Providences and Dispensations to reveal for they did all tend to and aim at this Col. 1.26 The Mystery which hath been hid from Ages and from Generations ver 27. the Riches of the Glory of this Mystery Therefore learn to prize the Gospel according to this worth and this value that God hath put upon it To slight it is to slight all the Glory and glorious Dispensations of God from the beginning of the World to this day For this they did all look at A man acknowledges the Glory of the Mystery in two things 1. When he believes it for himself with application to himself in particular 2. When he walks worthy of it But to disbelieve the Promises and to disobey the Commands of it is to despise the Gospel 2 Thess 1.8 And to do so under such a clear Dispensation of it as in New Testament times certainly the deepest place in Hell will be their Portion Wo unto thee Chorazin wo unto thee Bethsaida For if the mighty Works that have been done in thee had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented in dust and ashes May we not say wo unto thee O London wo unto thee O Dublin For if the Preaching that hath been in thee had been in Rome they would have been convinced they would have repented before this day Vse 4. Let me repeat a little and reinculcate these things upon you which have been delivered as Reasons but might have been handled as Uses of the Point I beseech you give unto God the Glory due unto his Name in all his
Prophetick stile Luk. 3.23 he began his Ministry the thirtieth year of his age And there be four Passovers mentioned in the Gospel of John in the sacred Story of his Life and Death Or we may apply this circumstance more literally in reference to his Resurrection from the dead which is the 3. Third thing wherein Isaac was a Type of Christ thus that they were both delivered from Death the third day Look as Isaac was reputed among the dead in his Fathers thoughts and purpose for three days who had given him up unto the Lord but he received him again as from the dead after three days So Christ was in the state of Death three days but then rose again to dye no more so that as Isaac in three days was both alive and dead and revived in a figure Christ was so in truth In this respect the Apostle clearly makes him a Type of Christ Heb. 11.19 accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence also he received him in a Figure For Isaac's Death and Resurrection was not a real Death and Resurrection but a figurative Death and a figurative Resurrection The truth of which Figure is in Christ who both dyed and rose again really and indeed I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Amen and have the Keys of Hell and of Death Revel 1.18 3. Jacob he also was a Type of Christ and is intimated in the Scripture so to be in that Christ is called by his Name Isai 49.3 Thou art my Servant O Israel in whom I will be glorified they are the words of God the Father unto Jesus Christ Jacob was a Type of Christ 1. In his Sojourning 2. In his Wrestling 1. In his sojourning and travelling to and fro in an afflicted condition almost all his days For he seems to have been the most afflicted Saint that we read of in Scripture except Job He leaves his Fathers House and goes to Haran and lives there as a Servant for his two Wives Rachel and Leah Gen. 28.10 and 29.18 27. So Christ left the Bosom of his Father descended from the highest Heavens and sojourned here upon earth in the form of a Servant to purchase to himself a Spouse a Church of Jews and Gentiles Jacob also went down into Egypt by Gods direction and there Joseph fed him Gen. 46.3 So Christ was carried into Egypt by Joseph the Son of another Jacob being warned so to do by the Lord in a Dream and was there fed and provided for by Joseph his reputed Father Matth. 2.13 And as the Lord brought Jacob back again in his Posterity who carried his Bones with them Gen. 46.4 I will surely bring thee up again So he brought Christ out of Egypt in his own person And that this History had a typical respect to Christ you may see in Matth. 2.15 Hos 11.1 when Israel was a Child then I loved him and called my Son out of Egypt It is spoken there historically but not only so but prophetically also For that History of Israels going into Egypt and returning again was a typical History and did represent what was to be done in Christ the true Israel 2. Jacob was also a Type of Christ in regard of his wrestling and prevailing with the Lord When he was to meet Esau he betakes himself to Prayer that night and prevailed from whence he got the name of Israel Gen. 32.28 and he said thy Name shall be called no more Jacob but Israel For as a Prince thou hast power with God and with men and hast prevailed Hos 12.4 Yea he wept and made supplication unto him So Christ often and particularly the night before his Sufferings Heb. 5.7 who in the days of his Flesh when he had offered up Prayers and Supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from Death and was heard in that he feared for he had that which was equivalent You know his Agonies in Prayer that night when he said Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me nevertheless not my Will but thy Will be done Yea he lives for ever to intercede Heb. 7.25 4. The fourth and last personal Type that is now to be spoken to is Joseph The History of Joseph in the latter end of Genesis is a very admirable and an affecting History In Poems and Romances to please and affect the Mind men take liberty to feign yet they come far short of this which was a real History It is true Joseph is not so expresly mentioned in the New Testament as a Type of Christ as Abraham Isaac and Jacob are but the analogy is so clear and full that we cannot well omit him Joseph multis modis Figuram Christi gestavit vel potius viva fuit ejus Imago saith Calvin in Matth. 2. ult The Analogy is marvellous clear in sundry particulars I shall but instance in four things wherein he was as the Apostle speaks of another eminent Type made like unto the Son of God 1. In his personal qualifications and endowments of Wisdom and Holiness 2. In his Sufferings 3. In his Advancement 4. In his Carriage towards his Brethen 1. In regard of his personal Qualifications and endowments Joseph may be fitly numbred amongst the Types of Christ for he was very eminent both as to Wisdom and Holiness As for Wisdom he had a Prophetical Light shining in him from whence Pharaoh gave him that honourable name Zaphnath payaneah a clear Revealer of Secrets Gen. 41.45 the Egyptian Language though not the same with the Hebrew yet had some affinity with it The first word Tsopnath Secretum comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 recondidit The other payaneach is thought to be a compound of two words from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 claruit and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 duxit placide Joseph was eminent for leading by the hand into secret hidden mysteries It was said of him by Pharaoh Can we find such a man as this is in whom the Spirit of God is Gen. 41.38 and forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this there is none so discreet and wise as thou art So in Christ are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge Col. 2.3 He received the Spirit without measure Joh. 3.34 He is the wonderful Counsellor Isai 9.6 the wonderful Numberer Dan. 8.13 the true Palmoni or numberer of Secrets And as for Holiness Joseph was tempted by his Mistress to bodily Adultery but he resisted and overcame the temptation So Christ was tempted to Idolatry which is spiritual Adultery but overcame the Tempter Matth. 4. And Believers also are victorious through him Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 15.57 2. In regard of his Sufferings both from his Brethren and from Strangers also his Mistress and other Egyptians His Sufferings were very grievous the Archers sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated
of that man is peace This is the difference between Christs Peace and Satans Peace for they both give Peace to their subjects But Satans Peace is a Peace of freedom from trouble and of sinful security in sin Christs Peace is a Peace after and out of trouble by War and Victory over Sin and spiritual Enemies Isai 9.3 His Servants rejoyce as those that divide the spoil after the Victory Quest But how may I know that Peace will be the end of all my present Conflicts Answ Dost thou get the Victory then the end will be Peace Are there any beginnings of Victory whatever thou dost do not lay down thy Weapons but fight still this is the beginning of Victory and the end will be Triumph and Peace and Joy Sept. 19. 1667. Who is the Type or Figure of him that was to come Rom. 5.14 THe third Conjunction or Conglebation of typical Persons under the Law is those three Prophets Elijah Elisha and Jonah whom I put together because Elijah was a Type of Christs Ascension into Heaven and Elisha of the Continuance of his Presence and Spirit in his Apostles and Messengers ever since and Jonah of his Death and Sufferings the procuring cause of all 1. For Elijah that great Prophet I confess he is omitted by many that have written of the Types and indeed by all that I have seen I know not well how it comes to pass But that he was a Type is certain because John the Baptist is called by his Name therefore he was a Type 1. Of John Yea 2. Of Christ himself 1. He was a Type of the Messiahs Harbinger and Forerunner John the Baptist For the Types as hath been often hinted are not to be restrained always only to the Person of Christ himself but all the things of Christ were typified to them of old There were Types of all New Testament Dispensations therefore John is called Elijah Mal. 4.2 last v. and Christ himself explains it Matth. 11.14 But why is John called Elias Not that he was Elijah personally but mystically he rose up in the Spirit and Power of Elijah So Elijah was John in a Type or Figure John was Elijah in Spirit and Power as Luk. 1.17 There was something of Analogy in his very outward Garb and Deportment an hairy man 2 King 1.8 that is in regard of his Habit or Clothing in a rough hairy Garment So John Matth. 3.4 a Girdle of Hair but chiefly in regard of his Spririt and inward Endowments and of his Work and Office to convert and recall a backsliden Generation 2. Elijah was a Type of Christ himself And that he was so will be very evident if you do consider how great a Person this Elijah was in three respects 1. His eminent and heroick Spirit of Holiness and invincible Courage and Activity for God His very Name signifies God the Lord Elijah or Elijahu in the Hebrew Elias in the Greek in the New Testament He abode with God when almost all the world forsook him 1 King 19.10 he reduced and brought back the people cap. 18.39 he was a man mighty in Prayer Jam. 5.17 18. a man of an invincible Courage who feared not to stand himself alone against four hundred Prophets and against Ahab the King and Jezabel the Queen whose Chaplains these false Prophets were He is brought forth in the sacred History not unlike Melchizedek without Father or Mother without either Birth or Death 1 King 17. 2. The great and wonderful Miracles wrought by him there be twelve recorded in the History of him in the first and second Books of Kings 1. His shutting up the Windows of Heaven that there should be no Rain for three years and an half 1 King 17. whence some have called him Fraenum Caeli the Bridle of Heaven 2. His being fed by a Raven morning and evening at the Brook Cherith beside Jordan This was the effect of his Faith and Prayer and may be reckoned amongst his Miracles English Annot. not that it is likely that he did eat raw Flesh but rather that God by his Providence directed the Ravens to the places where they might have it as to some rich mens Kitchens or the like 3. His miraculous Supply of the Widow of Zarephath called Sarepta in Luke 4.26 that her Barrel of Meal wasted not nor did the Cruise of Oyl fail 4. His raising of her Son from the dead by stretching himself upon the Child This was the first person we read of in Scripture that was raised from the dead and Elijahs fourth Miracle All these are recorded in 1 King 17. 5. In fetching down Fire from Heaven upon his Sacrifice to confound the Priests of Baal 6. His opening the Windows of Heaven and fetching down Rain after he had done justice upon the Priests of Baal these two are in cap. 18. he did this also by Prayer and by persevering in Prayer cap. 18. ver 43. 7. His fasting forty days and forty nights cap. 19.8 In Mount Horeb and in his Journey thither and back again the place where God appeared to Moses Exod. 3.1 2. and where he gave the Law to Israel Deut. 4.10 14. Never any man fasted forty days besides this Elijah and Moses Exod. 34.28 and Christ Matth. 4.2 Herein both Moses and Elijah were manifest Prefigurations of the Lord Jesus Christ This was Elijahs seventh Miracle 8. His calling the Prophet Elisha and causing him to follow him by casting his Mantle upon him which had such an influence that he left all and followed him therefore this may be put into the Catalogue of his Miracles cap. 19. And in the like miraculous influence of the Spirit did Christ call his Apostles to leave all and follow him His ninth and tenth Miracles were the Destruction of the two Captains and their Fifties when Ahaziah sent to take him 2 King 1.1 they both perished alike For like Sins pull down like Judgments The 11th was the dividing of Jordan by his Mantle that he and Elisha might pass over 2 King 2. And the 12. was his Ascension into Heaven in a Chariot of Fire 2 King 2.11 a Prerogative that never any man had but himself and Enoch before the Law and Moses who gave the Law but Moses died first and was translated afterwards as hath been formerly shewed They were all three eminent Types herein of Christ his Ascension into Heaven They that are faithful and zealous for God in times of general Apostacy the Lord is wont to own them in a special manner and to put special Honour upon them one way or other 3. His commissionating Successors after him to carry on the Work of God when he was gone 1 Kings 19.15 16. Elisha to be Prophet Hazael King of Syria Jehu King of Israel So Christ sends forth his Apostles and Ministers Matth. 28. some that are godly and sometimes he imploys others that are not godly but only gifted and makes some use of them as he did of Jehu and of Judas
the Tent of the Congregation and the Glory of the Lord filled the Tabernalce so Numb 12.5 the Lord came down in the Pillar of Cloud and stood in the door of the Tabernacle So when Solomon had finished the Temple and placed the Ark in the holy place the Cloud filled the House of the Lord so that the Priests could not stand to minister because of the Cloud For the Glory of the Lord filled the House of the Lord 1 King 8.10 11. Isaiah likewise saw his Glory in the Temple Isai 6.1 I saw the Lord sitting upon a Throne high and lifted up and his Train filled the Temple 3. These places had their typical significations of Christ and Gospel Mysteries Therefore much of the Name of God was in them There were chiefly two great Mysteries in them Christ and the Church 1. The Temple was a Type of Christ Joh. 2.19 destroy this Temple and within three days I will raise it up But he spake of the Temple of his Body v. 21. Therefore the Apostle saith that in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily Col. 2.9 He was a Minister of the Sanctuary and of the true Tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man Heb. 9.11 2. It was a Type of the Church 1 Tim. 3.15 how thou oughtest to behave thy self in the House of God which is the Church of the living God Ephes 2.20 21 22. And it was a Type not only of the whole Church in general but of every Believer in particular 1 Cor. 6.19 what know you not that your Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost He dwells in their very Bodies much more in their Souls The manner how the Deity dwells in these Temples is very mysterious and glorious 4. These places were appointed of God to be parts yea principal and eminent parts of his Worship I say they were parts of his Worship or Ordinances they were such eminent parts of his Worship that they did sanctifie both the Worshipers and all the Worship performed in them The Altar sanctified the Gift the Temple sanctified the Gold Matth. 23.18 19. The Places did bring acceptance to the Worship so that the Places were principal and the Duties less principal as some express it There will I accept them Ezek. 20.40 Exod. 20.24 In all places where I record my Name I will come unto thee and I will bless thee 5. They were by Gods appointment the seat of all the publick Church-worship of those times They did perform the moral Worship of Prayer and reading and hearing the Law in all their Synagogues but their publick Church-worship was annexed and affixed to the Temple only There be three things in the Text as to this 1. Thither shalt thou seek that is for Answers and Oracles from the holy Place and from the Priest by Vrim and Thummim For so the Lord had appointed Exod. 25.22 there will I meet with thee and I will commune with thee from above the Mercy-seat from between the two Cherubims which are upon the Ark of the Testimony And accordingly so they did Numb 7.8 9. And they were to enquire by Vrim and Thummim Therefore it is said of Joshuah when he was to be chief Magistrate Numb 27.21 and he shall stand before Eleazar the Priest who shall ask counsel for him after the Judgment of Urim before the Lord at his Word shall they go out and at his Word that is at Eleazar the Priest answering from God shall they come in both he that is Joshuah and all the Children of Israel with him even all the Congregation All other places were forbidden for this use seek not Bethel enter not into Gilgal Amos 5.5 And the Lord severely punish'd it in Ahaziah the Son of Ahab 2 Kings 1.16 Elijah said unto him for as much as thou hast sent Messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub the God of Ekron is it not because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his Word therefore thou shalt not come down off that bed on which thou art gone up but shalt surely dye The Devil in imitation and abuse of this Ordinance of God had his Oracles and gave Answers in the old Pagan times but his Answers were usually sophistical and ambiguous And after the Death of Christ God was pleased to chain him up therefore Plutarch an Heathen Philosopher in his Morals hath a Discourse upon it why the Oracles are ceased and he hath an expression for the resolving of it which hath more of truth in it than himself understood Amongst other things he gives this account of it that it was because the great God Pan was dead It was indeed because Jesus Christ who is the great God and the great Shepherd of the Sheep had sufferd Death and thereby conquered Satan and hath therefore stopt Devils mouth from giving answers in that way ever since 2. Thither shalt thou come that is at all their appointed Festivals three times a year Exod. 23.14 17. and whensoever they offered Sacrifice as afterwards ver 6. 3. Thither shall ye bring your Burnt-offerings and your Sacrifices c. ver 6. so Levit. 17.8 9. here is a particular induction and enumeration of their holy things Your Burnt-offerings mentioned first as being the first sort and all the rest depending much upon that Your Sacrifices this is a general word including all that belonged unto the Altar And your Tithes these were for the Maintenance of the Priests whereof Levit. 27.30 32. They had two sorts of Tithes the first went to the Priests and Levites then of that which remained they were to separate a second Tithe and this the Owners were to eat before the Lord in the place that he should chuse as infra ver 17 18. The Heave-offerings of thine Hand that is the First fruits which they were to bring in their hands before the Lord Deut. 26.2 thou shalt take of the first of all the Fruit of the Earth and shalt put it in a basket and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall chuse to place his Name there and thou shalt set it before the Lord thy God and worship before the Lord thy God Your Vows and voluntary Offerings of which see Levit. 7.16 Firstlings of you Herd and Flock often declared to be the Lords Numb 3.13 because all the First-born are mine For on the day that I smote all the First-born in the Land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the First-born in Israel both man and beast mine they shall be I am the Lord. For the Use of all there is a fourfold Instruction from all that hath been said concerning these holy Places under the Law 1. The first Instruction is concerning the Cessation of this Holiness of places under the New Testament For this being a part of the Ceremonial Law it must needs be ceased and vanished away now that Christ the thing signified is come The Papists have borrowed this as they do many other of their Superstitions from the
mine eye-lids until I find out a place for the Lord a habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. THE GOSPEL of SOLOMONS TEMPLE Octob. 25. 1668. 2 Sam. 7.13 He shall build an House for my Name and I will establish the throne of his Kingdom for ever OF their holy places under the Law the chief was the Tabernacle and the Temple The difference between which two was not in their typical use and signification wherein they were the same but only that the one was movable the other fixed The Tabernacle was a movable Temple the Temple was a fixed Tabernacle and accordingly they differed in their quantity and dimensions the Temple being double the quantity of the Tabernacle suitable to its fixed state but the Tabernacle was lesser and lighter because it was to be portable and fit for the shoulders of the Levites who were to carry it from place to place The Temple being the greater and more glorious of the two I have chosen to speak to that and in so doing shall speak of the Tabernacle also so far as is requisite to this end of opening the typical significations of these legal shadows The Text speaks of two things the Temple and the Kingdom it is the former of which I am to speak The Doctrinal Proposition in the words is this Doctr. That God appointed Solomon to build him a Temple or an House unto his Name A Temple is an House inhabited by a Deity As a man dwells in his House so God dwelt in the Temple or as Satan dwells in the Temples of Idols and in false Churches which are therefore called Synagogues of Satan and habitations of Devils so God dwells in the Temple and in the true Gospel-Churches I give these opposite instances because contraries put together do illustrate one another To dwell there is to vouchsafe his Presence there The Temple was a very great and glorious Type both the Temple and all the concernments of it were mystical and significant of Gospel-truths The general significations of the Temple were Christ and the Church and every individual Saint See the Sermon on Deut. 12.5 6. p. 409. where this is proved at large this in general But besides these significations of the Temple in general almost all the particulars about the Temple had their particular mysteries and instructions They may be referred to five heads 1. the Builders 2. the time 3. the Place 4. the Materials and Preparations for it 5. the Parts of the Temple 1. The Builders 1. of the Tabernacle 2. of the first Temple 3. of the second Temple 1. Of the Tabernacle Moses Bezaliel Aholiab The people contributed Exod 35. and every Princes Offering at the Dedication of it is set down particularly Numb 6.7 to shew that the Lord takes special notice of the Bounty and Liberality of his people to Work 2. Of the first Temple David and Solomon David made vast preparations for it appointed the place and gave the pattern of it in writing to his Son 2 Sam. 8.11 12 1 Chron. 29.2 3 4 5. and 1 Chron. 28.11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19. Solomon had an Army of Workmen that were employed about it 1 Kings 5.23 to the end One hundred and fifty thousand Bearers of burdens thirty thousand Israelites for plain work three thousand and three hundred Officers besides Hirams men 3. The second Temple Cyrus Isai 44. and 45. Ezra 1. Jehoshua and Zerubbabel Take these Instructions from this 1. The chief Builders were Types of Christ whose work and office it is to build the Temple of the Lord. Moses Solomon Zerubbabel were so and some think Cyrus also was a good man and a Type of Christ but concerning the other there is no controversie 2. Obs That all hands should help to carry on Church-work 3. Obs The Freedom and Soveraignty of God in the choice and use of Instruments to do his work He chose Cyrus who was by birth a Persian he singles out and chuses whom he will He chose Paul a Persecuter to be an instrument to plant and gather Churches Strangers of Tyre and Sidon Kings of Persia Gentiles as well as Jews shall be added to the Church Those that were once strangers to the Common-wealth of Israel they that are far off shall come and build in the Temple of the Lord Zech. 6. ult 2. The time the Tabernacle was built about the year of the World two thousand five hundred and thirteen the Temple about four hundred eighty seven years after 1 Kings 6.1 ult which fell upon the year of the World three thousand according to that account The Temple stood from the Dedication of it by Solomon to the last Destruction of it by the Romans about a thousand years For to the Captivity in Babylon was about four hundred years the Captivity lasted seventy years From thence to the Death of the Messiah four hundred and ninety years which is Daniels seventy weeks cap. 9. After Christs Death it was destroyed by Vespasian about forty years after So that it was finished and dedicated about the year of the World three thousand and finally destroyed about the year of the World four thousand so it stood from first to last about a thousand years viz. the fourth millenary from the Creation of the World excepting the intercision of the Captivity in Babylon It lay wast about fifty years a whole Jubile some think seventy but the least is fifty supposing their bondage under the yoke of Babylon to begin about 20 years before the burning of the Temple In all this we see the vicissitudes and various revolutions that do befall the Church of God whereof the Temple was a Type and that the ingratitude and unprofitableness of a people may bring Desolation upon all their pleasant things The greatest glory of external Ordinances may by sin be laid in the dust as this Temple was twice And moreover the use of it was ended Christ the substance being come 3. The Place Mount Moriah was the place of the Temple there was a double designation of the place to this use 1. By Isaacs being offered there Gen. 22. get thee to the Land of Moriah c. 2. By the Angels staying there and commanding an Altar to be built there in Davids time and Gods answering David from Heaven by fire on that Altar 1 Chron. 21. with cap. 22.1 We may here learn the Soveraignty and unsearchable freedom of the Will and Grace of God in choosing one place to be the Seat of his Temple of his Church and Ordinances rather than another For it was said Psal 87.2 He loveth the Gates of Sion more then all the dwellings of Jacob. Why he chose this I know no reason can be given but the good Pleasure of his own Will So that the Lord should chuse England to have Gospel-Temples here to plant his Churches and Ordinances here rather than in Spain or Italy he hath reprobated them to be the seat of Antichrist but hath chosen these to be
was observed before 3. The third of their solemn Festivals was the Feast of Tabernacles which began upon the fifteenth day of the seventh month the fifteenth day of September and it lasted eight days the first and last whereof were holy Convocations or days sanctified and set apart for publik Worship The principal Rite and Ceremony of this Feast to distinguish it from the rest was their dwelling in Booths from whence it hath its demomination and is called the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles as you have the description of it at large in Lev. 23.34 to the end There was a threefold mystery in this Feast 1. To put them in mind of their dwelling in Tents when they travelled through the Wilderness into the Land of Canaan they dwelled forty years in Tents Lev. 23.42 43. that your Generations may know that I made the Children of Israel to dwell in Booths when I brought them out of the Land of Egypt That was one thing to keep the memorial of that great Dispensation of Providence towards their Fore-fathers 2. The second mystery was this to instruct them that they were but Pilgrims and Strangers here below Sojourners as it were in a strange Land passing through it to their own Country towards their own home I am a stranger with thee saith David and a Sojourner as all my Fathers were Psal 39.12 This Ceremony was strangely neglected and forgotten by them in their observation of this Feast for about a thousand years together till they were taught by their deportation into Babylon to keep it better as you find in Nehem. 8.13 to the end they went forth and fetched Olive-branches c. to make Booths as it is written c. For since the days of Joshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the Children of Israel done so a strange omission Some understand it only of the frame of Heart wherewith they kept it and not of this external Rite but it may include both Now they made Booths they had learnt now that they were but Sojourners indeed while they were here below and that the Land of Canaan was not the true rest nor their own Country but that they were to seek and look for another that is an heavenly Heb. 11.16 arise and depart for this is not your rest for it is polluted Mich. 2.10 Here then is a second mystery of this Feast of Tabernacles to put them in mind that they were but Sojourners while they were here and were to seek and expect another Countrey an everlasting abode and fixed habitation in the Heavens 3. This Feast of Tabernacles pointed them to the time when God himself would come to tabernacle and pitch his Tent amongst men Therefore the expression is in Joh. 1.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Word was made Flesh and he came and did pitch his Tent amongst us dwelled as in a Tent or Tabernacle amongst us Wherein he refers to this great Institution and Feast of Tents or Tabernacles and many other circumstances of this Feast fall in suitably to this scope and great Gospel-mystery of it For it cannot be imagined that this Feast should have no relation to Jesus Christ especially it being so great a Feast greater in some respects then either of the two former for it lasted eight days whereas the Feast of the Passover was but seven the eighth day pointing us to his Circumcision as the first to his Birth and it had a more wonderful and mysterious course of Sacrifices appointed for it then the other Feasts had as you may see Numb 29. from ver 12. to the 40. there must be thirteen Bullocks offered the first day and but twelve the second day and but eleven the third day and so to the end of the Feast every day less and less till upon the last day no more but only one which is thought to shadow forth the cessation and evanition at last of all the legal Sacrifices it intimates that all those legal external Sacrifices were to cease at last That Covenant and that Administration of it waxing old and growing weaker and weaker and decaying till it be vanished quite away as the Apostle speaks Heb. 8.13 Moreover this Feast had two other Feasts previous to it in the same month the Feast of Trumpets on the first day of the seventh month and the Feast of Expiation on the tenth day of it and then follows after such preparations and introductions this great Feast of Tabernacles from the fifteenth to the two and twentieth They had also a custome as the Jewish Writers report of singing certain Songs and Hymns of Praise to God when they were preparing and making these Booths and Tabernacles one whereof was the 118. Psalm ver 25. Hosanna save now I beseech thee O Lord and they would say necte Hosannam fold or prepare the Hosanna Insomuch that the whole Feast the Booths Tabernacles and the Feast and all came in process of time to be called Hosanna's Now this the people apply in their Acclamations and Songs of Praise to Jesus Christ Luk. 19. which though it was done at another time of the year yet as the people in those Acclamations seem to allude to the manner and custom at the Feast of Tabernacles so they do ascribe it to the Messiah Hosanna to the Son of David And well they might for the Birth of Christ was at the Feast of Tabernacles Christ did then tabernacle in the flesh Moreover at this Feast of Tabernacles was Solomons Temple dedicated and the Ark solemnly introduced into it 2 Chron. 5.2 3 7. which Temple was a Type of Christs humane nature Joh. 2.19 21. I know it is contrary to the common account to place the Birth of Christ here upon the fifteenth day of the seventh month But consider these arguments for it 1. From this Feast of Tabernacles which must needs point to some principal thing concerning the Messiah as well as the two former Feasts did And in how many particulars it suits this of his coming to tabernacle in our flesh you have heard 2. From the space of time that our Saviour did converse amongst us here upon earth As to his private life we find Luk. 3.23 that he was baptized and entred upon his Ministry as he began to be about thirty years old His publick Ministry was about three years and an half for we read of four Passovers in the Gospels at which he was present at the last whereof he suffered And the Angel faith to Daniel that in the midst of the week the Messiah shall be cut off Dan. 9.27 which is meant of a prophetical week containing seven years the half wherreof is three years and an half Moreover we read in all the Evangelists that the Death of Christ was at the Passover in the first month Now if we reckon three years and an half from thence it will carry us to the month of September for his Baptism so as the whole space and time of his conversing here
the next particular viz. 3. The Jubile There was also a third Sabbath beside the weekly Sabbath and the seventh year Sabbath they had likewise a Sabbath of seven times seven that is the Jubile This was their great Sabbatical year for they were to reckon seven times seven years and then to observe a Sabbatical year Lev. 25.9 This also was a Type of Christ as appears in three things that were done in this year of Jubile 1. There was Redemption and Release every one set at liberty every bondage released and every yoke broken Here is a shadow of the spiritual and true Redemption by Jesus Christ who of spiritual slaves by nature makes us the Lords Freemen by Grace Christ hath proclaimed Redemption to sinners and Deliverance to poor captive souls Isai 61.1 2. There was the Trumpet of the Jubile to proclaim it The Gospel is this great Trumpet the proclaiming of the Jubile is alluded to Isai 61.1 2 Isai 27. ult in that day the great Trumpet shall be blown The great Trumpet is the Gospel Calv. in loc 3. Some have observed further that the coming of Christ was at the Jubile that Christ came at the time of the Jubile I know there is some difference amongst Chronologers about it but sure it is it fell thereabout some placing the Jubile upon the preaching of John Baptist who did proclaim the Lords coming but others place it as seemeth more exactly upon the very year of Christs Death by which we were redeemed and set free indeed They began the account of their Jubiles from about anno mundi 2560. for they came out of Egypt about the year 2513. they were forty years in the Wilderness six or seven in conquering and dividing the Land of Canaan Then began their first Sabbatical year from thence to the Death of Christ there were eight and twenty Jubiles his Death being about the year of the world 3960. So you see something of the Gospel-mystery of these Sabbaths of the Jews the three sorts of Sabbaths every week every seventh year and every fiftieth year and thus also you see how these legal holy times and seasons were all shadows of good things to come Take some general Uses from the whole Vse 1. See and remember the unlawfulness and unwarrantableness of the Observation of these Jewish times and seasons under the Gospel for they were typical Amos 5.21 The Papists observe the Passover which they call Easter Pentecost commonly called Whitsuntide and instead of the Feast of Tabernacles they keep the five and twentieth of December for the time of Christs Birth all which we retain And they have also added a Jubile which because it is a profitable time to the Popes Purse he hath ordered it to be kept every five and twenty years instead of fifty These are Errors of dangerous consequence for they do implicitly deny that the Substance is come If these things were shadows of things to come the retaining of them now is an error of dangerous consequence For to retain any of these dark and legal shadows is an implicit denial that Christ the substance is come These things were more fully spoken to the last time Vse 2. See and observe the burthensomness of that old legal Dispensation as also our Christian liberty now under the Gospel The Lord requires no day of us but the Lords day and occasional days of Humiliation or of Thanksgiving upon emergencies of Providence calling thereunto Stand fast therefore in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free Gal. 5.1 and be not again intangled in the yoke of bondage Vse 3. And lastly see wat clear and plentiful evidence the Jews had concerning Jesus Christ that he was the true Messiah and how true this of the Apostle in the Text is that they are a shadow of things to come Put all these things together and you will see these Jewish days made up a rude draught or dark shadow of the good things that were to come under the Gospel in sundry particulars relating to the Body which is of Christ As for instance they lead to the time of his Conception by the Holy Ghost on the first day of the month To the time of his Birth and Nativity being born on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles and circumcised the eighth He suffered at the time of the Passover He lay and rested in the Grave on the Jewish Sabbath He poured forth his Spirit at their Feast of Pentecost The Jews might have found the Body by these shadows had they been attentive to mind the things belonging to their peace they might have thought when they saw such a conjunction surely this is he that comes speedily to redeem Israel And you though you have a conviction of the truth of the Gospel yet get a further and fuller conviction of it from this that Jesus Christ was so plainly shadowed forth to us by all these ancient Dispensations THE GOSPEL of the GREAT DAY of ATONEMENT Levit. 16. the whole Chapter Jan. 24 28. 1668. THis Chapter is wholy taken up in declaring the Feast of Expiation or Atonement upon the tenth day of the seventh month It is more properly and indeed a Fast but yet commonly called a Feast as taking the word in a more lax acceptation for any set or solemn time And though it was indeed a day of afflicting their Souls yet there was joy in the end of it for their peace was made with God and the Jubile proclaimed this day It was with all the Services and Administrations of it the most full and compleat shadow of the great work of our Redemption that we meet with under the Law the High Priest representing in all he did that which Jesus Christ the true High Priest was to do indeed in the fulness of time I shall endeavour to explain it a little to you as God shall enable me following the method of this Chapter and so you will be able to read it more understandingly and with edification Wherein the first thing that doth occur is the occasion of the Institution ver 1. viz. the Death of the two Sons of Aaron when they offered before the Lord and died which Story is recorded Lev. 10.1 2. Some add that Man fell upon this day but this is not likely It seems more probable from all the circumstances of the Story that he fell upon the seventh day For that he was not fallen upon the sixth day appears by this that in the close of the sixth day God approves all his Creatures that they were good Gen. 1. ult therefore sin had not yet spoiled them And if he had stood out the whole Sabbath day it is probable he had been confirmed by eating of the Tree of Life For it is probable that upon the Sabbath he should have enjoyed all the Ordinances of God and consequently that the Sacrament of that estate should have been the concluding Ordinance as under the New Testament they were wont to
these two lay chiefly in this that under the former Dispensation the ordinary way of preserving the Knowledg of God was only by oral Tradition But from Moses his time it was committed to Writing In both these the Church of God was under years in a state of Childhood Gal. 4.1 3. But in the former viz. the time before the Law they were little Children it was the very Infancy and first and weak beginnings of the Church This Period of the Churches Infancy may be subdivided into three particulars 1. The Dispensation they were under from Adam to Noah 2. From Noah to Abraham 3. From Abraham to Moses 1. Adams Dispensation I mean after the Fall For it is the gradual breakings forth of Gospel-light whereof the Text speaks We are to consider how the Lord then spake and how far he revealed himself in that age and state of Mankind Besides what was common to all times viz. the Works of God and the Light implanted in mans heart there were several things that were the special Discoveries and Light of that Age I shall instance in four particulars 1. The Lord having convinced them of their Sin gave them that famous Promise that the Seed of the Woman should break the Serpents Head Gen. 3.15 This was the first Beam of Gospel-Light that ever brake forth unto lost and fallen Man A comprehensive Promise which includes the whole Gospel as you have formerly heard in many particulars upon that Text Gen. 3.15 This great and precious Promise they and all the Saints for almost four thousand years did believe and live upon waiting and longing for the coming of that blessed Seed that victorious Seed that should slay the Dragon and destroy the Works of the Devil as 1 Joh. 3.8 It is thought that Eve did hope to have seen him in her days and that she her self should have been the immediate Mother of the Messiah And thence she called her first Son Cain Possession thinking she had now got the Promise in possession and performance But afterwards perceiving her mistake and disappointment she called her next Son Abel Vanity As it is a common error that we are apt to run into in the exercise of Faith upon the Promises we are apt to antedate the time of performance which is from a secret mixture and working of unbelief for he that believeth shall not make haste Isai 28.16 2. To this Promise the Lord added some outward and visible Signs and Tokens for the further help of Faith In all times ever since God made Man he hath given him some outward and sensible things to be Signs and Representations of spiritual things as being suitable to the Nature of such a Creature Man consisting both of Soul and Body Even before the Fall there were two Sacramental Trees the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil and now under the Gospel we have two Sacraments Baptism and the Lords Supper So in these first times after the Fall they had something of the like nature The signal instance hereof is the Sacrifices or the slaying of clean Beasts and offering them and other things up to God to make atonement For it is expressed that Cain and Abel did it Gen. 4.3 4. and Noah afterwards Which to have done without Order from God had been detestable and abominable Therefore there is no doubt but as they were taught by their Parents so their Parents were instructed from the Lord about it And in Noahs time we find there was a distinction of Beasts into clean and unclean Gen. 7.2 that is clean for Sacrifice For it doth not appear that any of them were used for Food before the Flood What this aimed at the Scripture is plain Heb. 9.22 Without shedding of Blood there is no Remission of Sins and Christ is said to offer up himself a Sacrifice for us Ephes 5.2 therefore they did look at Christ Before Sin there was no need of any Sacrifice for Expiation of Sin Hence among the Gentiles they had a custom of sacrificing from some slender Fame remaining among them of such an Institution for it was no part of the Light of Nature though they were ignorant of the true God the true Object to whom to present their Sacrifices Hither also some refer that passage Gen. 3.21 Vnto Adam also and to his Wife did the Lord God make Coats of Skins and clothed them This is thought to have a further Mystery included and aimed at in it For there is a spiritual Clothing often spoken of in Scripture As they were under a double Nakedness both of Soul and Body their Souls divested of Gods Image and original Righteousness and their Bodies overspread with Shame so the Lord provided a double Clothing for them He did not clothe their Bodies and leave their Souls naked but he gave them both the upper Garment of Justification and imputed Righteousness and the inner Garment of Sanctification and Grace inherent This may be considered also under another Notion as one of the Favours of Providence unto those first times of fallen Mankind that now was the Invention of many useful Arts and Sciences Here God himself vouchsafes to teach them how to make Clothes We read also in Gen. 4. of sundry other Arts and Occupations as ver 20. Jabal was the Father of such as dwell in Tents and of such as have Cattel The meaning of it is well explained in the Margent the first Inventor of Tent making and of Pastorage and keeping Cattel And his Brothers Name was Jubal he was the Father of all such as handle the Harp and Organ ver 21. the first Inventor of Musick I mean Instrumental Musick For Vocal Musick Nature it self teacheth that And ver 22. The working of Mettals by Tubal-Cain an Instructer of every Artificer in Brass and Iron whence arose the Heathenish mistakes and fables of Vulcan These were great Mercies and gave some further Discoveries of God to those who had Eyes and Hearts to see him in his Works For all lawful Arts and Sciences and all the Rules thereof are Beams of Gods Wisdom and Gifts and Operations of his Spirit Prov. 8.12 I Wisdom dwell with Prudence and find out Knowledg of witty Inventors So Bezaleel and Aholiab Exod. 31.3 I have filled him with the Spirit of God in Wisdom and Vnderstanding and in Knowledg and in all manner of Workmanship and ver 6. I have given with him Aholiab Those mean Trades and Occupations Isai 28. are the Gifts of God The Lord teacheth the Husbandman how to thresh his Corn and to beat out the Cummin 3. There was something also of Church Discipline exercised in those first Ages of the Church A signal Instance hereof we have in Gain Gen. 4.12 A Fugitive and a Vagabond shalt thou be in the earth God himself pronounceth Sentence upon him ver 16. he is sent forth loaden with the Curse of God from the Fellowship of his people This is thought to have been about the hundred and