and answered See the blood upon the Horns of the Incense-Altar Would you see Heaven Gates opened and way made for you into the Holy of Holies an abundant entrance opened for you into Heaven See the blood sprinkled before the Vail See the blood of Jesus Christ influencing all the concernments of your Souls 4. The fourth Law of the Sin-Offering is concerning the burning of it vers 8 9 10 11 12. And again vers 19 20 21. The inward parts of it were to be burnt upon the Altar as in the Ordinance of the Peace-Offering All the rest the whole Bullock was to be burnt in a clean place without the Camp This Law is peculiar to the Sin-Offering of a Bullock whether for the Priest or for the whole Church But in the Sin-Offering of Goats or Sheep for the Ruler and for any individual of the common people this Ceremony of burning without the Camp was not required There is this reason given for burning the whole Sin Offering if it were a Bullock and not allowing any of it to be eaten namely because the blood of it was brought into the Tabernacle of the Congregation to reconcile withal in the holy place Lev. 6.30 You may see the practice of this Ceremony in the Sin Offering at the Consecration of the Priests Exod. 29.14 And as it was burnt without the Camp in their present unfixed posture so when the Temple was fixed at Jerusalem it was burnt without the Gates of the City The Apostle explains it at large Heb. 13.10 11 12 13 14. and educeth three great Gospel Truths and Mysteries out of it 1. That they which serve the Tabernacle have no right to eat of our Altar under the Gospel vers 10. Our New Testament Altar is Christ To eat of the Altar is to partake of the Offerings offered upon it They that serve the Tabernacle that is the old worldly Tabernacle such as serve that that is such as adhere still to legal ways and Observations have no right to Christ the Altar and to the Sacrifice he hath offered and to Salvation by him Such as cleave to their own Righteousness and to their own Wisdom in the things of God they deprive themselves of Communion with Christ 2. As the Sin Offering was burnt without the Camp where they did cast forth the Ashes so Christ suffered without the Gates of the City They carried him out of Jerusalem to Golgotha to the place of dead mens Sculls Mat. 27.33 And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha that is to say a place of a Skull which is called Luk. 23.33 Calvary That as it is said of the Sin-Offering in the place where they pour out the Ashes there shall it be burnt Lev. 4.12 So Christ suffered without the Gate Heb 13.12 3. This Ceremony teacheth also the mystery of our Communion with Christ in bearing his Reproach Heb. 13.13 For it was because sin was upon the Offering which carries shame along with it that it was carried forth Malefactors were to be put to death without the Camp so the Blasphemer Lev. 24.14 so the presumptuous Profaner of the Sabbaoth Numb 15.35 If you cannot be content to bear the disgraces and reproaches of the world to be accounted a simple Heretick a Fanatick no true Son of the Church but a Schismatick against the Church and a Rebel against the King an enemy to Caesar for so they said of Christ you refuse to go forth with him out of the Camp bearing his reproach The Apostles were accounted the very filth of the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 4.9 to 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as by sweeping is gathered together saith the marginal Note 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod detergere significat Beza Wo unto you when all men shall speak well of you for so did their Fathers to the false Prophets Luk. 6.26 To these add 4. Whereas he that did perform this Ministration about the Sin-Offering was to be unclean until the Even so in the Sin-Offering of the yearly Feast of Expiation Lev. 16.27 28. The same Law we find concerning the red Heifer whereof they made the water of separation Numb 18.9 And he that burneth her shall wash his Cloaths in water and bath his Flesh in water and shall be unclean until the Even Hereby was shadowed forth not only the imperfection of the legal Priesthood and Ministrations in that the Priests themselves which prepared the Means of Sanctification for the Church were themselves polluted in the preparing and doing of them so Ainsw in Numb 19.8 9. But it may instruct us also in a more general Truth concerning the Iniquity of our holy Offerings our best duties and services There is something of secret spiritual defilement cleaving to them even when we are making our Peace with God when we are atoneing or receiving the Atonement and acting about it Lava lachrymas meas Domine Lord wash even my tears 5. The last Law of the Sin-Offering is concerning the eating of it of this see Cap. 6. vers 24 to the end This did not concern those Sin Offerings whose blood was brought into the holy place and whose flesh was burnt without the Camp but only the Sin-Offerings of the Ruler and private persons as Lev. 6.30 There be three Ceremonial Laws and Ordinances about this 1. The Priests are to eat it in the holy place vers 26. Moses expostulates with Aaron for the neglect of this Lev. 10.19 20. And he there hinteth at some part of the mystery of it vers 17. The Priest by eating the Sinners Offering did typically bear the iniquity of the Sinner and so abolish it as in a figure It holds forth our Communion with Christ our Sin-Offering as the Food of our Souls whom by Faith we eat and feed upon Joh. 6.56 2. Whatsoever shall touch the flesh thereof shall be holy vers 27. This Rite was peculiar to the Sin-Offering and seeing the Sin-Offering was a Type of Christ who was made sin for us This teacheth us the holiness that should be in them who have any thing to do with Christ God reproves the Priests as Hos 4.8 they eat up the sin or the Sin Offering Chattaah of my people The old Note is this the Priests seek to eat the peoples Offerings and flatter them in their sins Every one of us should know how to possess our Vessels in holiness and honour 1 Thess 4.4 3. The Vessel wherein it is boyled must be cleansed by rinsing with Water or by breaking it in pieces Vers 27 28. The like Levit. 11.32 33. and 15.12 The earthen Vessels were to be broken in regard of the cheapness of them the loss would not be great the more costly to be scoured and rinsed The Apostle speaks of those Heb. 9.10 divers Washings and carnal Ordinances imposed on them till the time of Reformation The Pharisees in such Observations as these went beyond the Rule as Superstition is apt to do but Christ severely rebukes them for
previous Rules that may be of some use and give some general Light for your better understanding of them 1. They were all godly men No wicked man individually considered ever was or could be a Type of Christ How could Limbs of the Devil men in whom Satan dwelt be Pictures as it were and Looking-glasses in which to see the Shadow of the most high God who is Holiness it self A man personally wicked may be involved with others in a religious Order For the Order is holy though the man be wicked But if single persons be Types they must needs be holy men 2. Whereas these holy men had their failings They were not Types of Christ in regard of their sinful failings but only in their Graces and Excellencies For Sin cannot be a Type of Holiness Therein they were not like but unlike to Jesus Christ the Antitype 3. When Typical persons had real Types belonging to them as oftentimes they had we shall speak to both together at least where they cannot be better and more conveniently referred to some other place As for instance Noahs Ark was a Type as well as he himself Therefore we shall speak to that when we speak of Noah as being a Circumstance and a part of his History which was though a true and real yet withal a typical History 4. These typical persons the highest and most eminent of them were but partial Types Therefore together with the Analogy between them and the Antitype we shall sometimes where we see it needful note also the disparity and disproportion that was between them That you may see how far the Shadows fell short of the Substance and how the Antitype excels the Type And we shall not mention all but only some of the chief and most illustrious And because there be divers of them we shall rank them for method and memories sake into two Classes 1. The personal Types that were before the Law 2. Under the Law 1. Before the Law Here I shall instance only in eight Persons namely Adam Enoch Noah Melchizedek Abraham Isaac Jacob and Joseph 1. Adam He was the first Type of Christ in the world That he was a Type of Christ is clear from express Scriptures The Text Rom 5.14 Who is the Type of him that was to come and 1 Cor. 15.45 The first man Adam was made a living Soul the last Adam was made a quickening Spirit Now to shew you the Analogy wherein Adam did resemble and represent the Lord Jesus Christ It was chiefly in this In regard of his Headship and Influence Adam and Christ both stood instead of all that belonged to them Adam was the Head of the first Covenant Jesus Christ is the Head of the second Covenant Adam was the Covenant-root and Head of all Mankind a publick and common person representing them yea an undertaker for them What they say vainly of the Pope that he is the Church-Representative may be truly said of Adam He was the Representative of the whole World as a Parliament-man acting in the name of the Town or Country that chose him He sinning we sinned in him he being condemned we are condemned in him So Christ is the Head of the second Covenant and of his Elect who are involved and wrapt up therein He hath undertaken for them and presented them to the Father Ephes 2.16 in one body Therefore when he died we died with him when Christ was crucified our Sins were nailed to his Cross and crucified and buried as it were in his Grave If he arise we rise with him to die no more His Influence is to all his Seed For both Adams have a Seed As Adam so Christ Isai 53.10 He shall see his Seed He communicates to them what he hath so doth Christ what he hath Adam conveys and communicates Sin and Death But Christ Righteousness and Life Adam brought in these two great Intruders and Usurpers Sin and Death into the world And as Adam conveys Sin to those that had not sinned actually so doth Christ convey Righteousness to those that had not wrought Righteousness As in the Text Rom. 5.14 with Rom. 9.30 31. The Gentiles which followed not after Righteousness have attained to Righteousness As soon as there is an Union between Soul and Body Adams Sin is imputed to his Seed so as soon as there is a mystical Union between Christ and the Soul by the Spirit of Faith so soon is Christs Righteousness imputed There be some other Considerations may be added unto these 2. The Apostle seems to make his Dominion over the Creatures a shadow of Christs Dominion and Kingdom Gen. 2.19 20. Psal 8.6 compar'd with Heb. 2.6 7 8 9. 3. His Relation to Eve She was taken out of his Side while Adam was asleep and afterwards married to him Gen. 2.21 so the Church is taken out of Christs Side while he was in the sleep of Death and joyned to him as his Spouse by the Covenant of Grace 2 Cor. 11.2 I have espoused you to one Husband that I may present you as a chast Virgin to Christ Ephes 5.30 â—1 We are Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bones While Christ dies his Church receives Life and she which lives only by him her hath he espoused to himself in Truth Mercy and Righteousness Hos 2. The Church is both Effectum Objectum Redemptionis the Effect and the Object of Redemption The Effect He died to purchase to himself a Church a peculiar people Tit. 2.14 The Object He gave himself for the Church Ephes 5.25 But yet it follows not that Marriage is a Sacrament though Adams Marriage had such a sacramental or typical notion put upon it he being the common Root of all mankind But this will not suffice to make Marriage a Sacrament no more than the annexing a typical use to the Jewish Sabbath viz. to commemorate their Deliverance out of Egypt will make the fourth Commandment ceremonial And as Adam was a Type of Christ so we may carry the parallel a little further So Eve may be considered as a Type of the Church For the Godly are called her Seed I will put enmity between thy Seed that is the Serpents and her Seed Gen. 3.15 and Adam calls her the Mother of all living Gen. 3.20 So Jerusalem which is above that is the Church is the Mother of us all Gal. 4.26 4. And lastly as Adam was a Type himself so he had several Types belonging to him There were divers real Types belonging to the History of this personal Type As Paradise a Type of Heaven For Heaven is often called by that name 2 Cor. 12. that which in ver 2. is called the third Heaven is called in ver 4. Paradise so Luk. 23.43 this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Paradise was a Garden of Pleasure Eden from whence the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pleasure and the Heathenish Poems of the Gardens of Adonis But at thy right hand in Heaven are Pleasures
to be a multitude of little Stars Adam was a Type of Christ in regard of his Headship and Influence Enoch a Type of his Ascension into Heaven Noah of his Preaching and saving the Church by the Covenant and Water of Baptism Melchizedek was a Shadow of the Excellency and Eternity of his Person and of his Priesthood and Kingdom Know these things meditate and consider them more throughly and improve Christ in these Discoveries for your spiritual good Consider him as a common person standing in our stead as a Prophet Priest and King as ascended into Heaven as the Saviour of the Church which is his Body Use 2. Be exhorted to examine your selves and try which of the two Adams you are under For there are but two Men in the World the first and second Adam thou art a Member of one of them Adam and Christ divide the whole World Quest How may we know whether we be under the first or the second Adam Answ Take these Tryals 1. What Birth hast thou only the natural or spiritual Generation Art thou only born or new born For they that come only from Adam by natural Generation belong to him as the first Adam They that come of Christ by spiritual Regeneration are the Seed of Christ and belong to him as the second Adam What Experience hast thou had of this great work Nicodemus though a Doctor in Israel understood little of it 2. What Covenant doth thy Soul cleave to and act under the rule and influence of Works or Grace Works is the first Adams Covenant but Grace is the Covenant of the second Adam To go forth in a mans own Strength to expect acceptance in his own Worth this is a first Covenant Spirit a sign thou growest upon the old Stock upon the root of old Adam But to live in a continual dependance upon free Grace for every thing the free Grace of God in Christ this is the Spirit of the second Covenant and becomes the Sons and Branches of the second Adam Though a godly man may for a fit turn aside to the old Covenant as Abraham did to Hagar yet it is not his way it is not his Spirit to do so and thence he is never at rest till he return to have his dependance and rest on Christ again The Spirit of one under the Covenant of Grace is to have no confidence in the Flesh but to have his rest and rejoycing in Jesus Christ Phil. 3.3 3. What Communications whose Influences dost thou receive Every Branch receives from its Root the Stream from its Fountain Dost thou receive the Communications of the first or of the second Adam this will shew whose thou art and to whom thou dost belong You have heard what it is that each of them doth communicate That old Tree bears no good Fruit at all Art thou under the power of Sin and Death or under the power of Righteousness and Life Sin and Death reigns in the posterity of the first Adam But Righteousness reigns by Grace unto eternal Life in the posterity of the second Adam Rom. 5.21 2 Cor. 5.17 if any man be in Christ he is a new Creature Vse 3. Here is Comfort to the Seed of the second Adam against the present troubles they are under There be chiefly three complaints and troubles of Gods People under all which here is matter of support and relief 1. Thou art here upon Earth Christ the Head in Heaven but his poor Saints and Members here below But remember whither Jesus the Forerunner is entred for us As sure as Enochs Body is in Heaven or Elijahs by the virtue of his Ascension of whom they were Shadows so sure shall thine and mine ascend thither if we be his though we sleep in the dust for a time as Chirst himself also did 2. But while in this low valley the floods of great Waters are ready to overwhelm us the floods of Persecution Affliction Desertions the overflowing scourges of common calamities which puts many of Gods people to some cares and fears But as to this consider that true Noah the Lord provides an Ark of safety for his people that the floods of great Waters may not overwhelm them Psal 32.6 see Psal 124 1-5 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side if it had not been the Lord who was on our side when Men rose up against us then the Waters had overwhelmed us the Stream had gone over our Soul then the proud Waters had gone over our Soul But 3. Thou art a poor unworthy creature and God is angry or appears angry and how can I expect such Salvation from him who have sinned against him so as I have done To this remember what an High Priest you have even Jesus who is made an High Priest for ever after the Order of Melchizedek Therefore let us come with boldness to the Throne of Grace It is the Apostles Inference Heb. 4.15 16. the Apostle saith of Melchizedek Heb. 7.4 consider how great this man was It may be said much more of Christ consider how great your High Priest is How little soever thou art in thy own eyes how unworthy soever the Greatness and Glory of your Redeemer is enough to remove all discouragement Some entrance Beloved hath been made into the personal Types We are upon the individual persons that were Types before the Law whereof eight were named Adam Enoch Noah Melchizedek Abraham Isaac Jacob and Joseph whereof only two have been spoken to viz. first Adam secondly Enoch We shall now proceed to the rest 3. The third is Noah whom we did but touch upon the last time but shall endeavour now to clear it more fully The Story of Noah is written in the 6 7 8 and 9. Chapters of Genesis And so famous it was amongst his Posterity that the Heathen have some broken Remembrances and Traditions of it they had heard of a Flood as well as of the Creation of the World Ovid speaks of them both in his Metamorphosis And their Bacchus the very name with a little alteration of the Letters comes from Noah Noachus Boachus and Janus from the Hebrew Jajin vinum somewhat they had heard as it seemeth about his planting a Vinyard and making Wine That this History of Noah had a typical respect you may see in 1 Pet. 3.20 21. In what respect was he a Type In two things chiefly 1. In regard of his Preaching 2. His saving his Houshold in the Ark. 1. In regard of his Preaching he was a Preacher of Righteousness 2 Pet. 2.5 he gave warning to the secure World for a hundred and twenty years together both by his Word and Actions Every stroke in the building of the Ark had a voice and was an alarm to the World every day So Christ who did preach by his Spirit in the Ministry of Noah 1 Pet. 3.19 20. And when he came in the Flesh he did preach and bring in everlasting Righteousness Dan. 9.24 And he hath preached by
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
adumbrate and shadow forth the Covenant of Works But 2. We may consider Moses under an higher notion though in respect of the external Dispensation introduced by him he shadowed forth the Law yet in other respects if we consider him in his own Person he was a Type of Christ The Scripture is clear for this also Deut. 18.15 18. A Prophet shall the Lord thy God raise up unto thee of thy Brethren like unto me That this was spoken of Christ see Act. 3.22 Peter there applies it unto Christ he was like unto Moses There was a Similitude but yet there was not a Parity For Christ was far above Moses Heb. 3.3 For this man was counted worthy of more Glory than Moses inasmuch as he who builded the House hath more Glory than the House and again ver 5. Moses verily was faithful as a Servant but Christ as a Son over his own House v. 6. You may see it in these particulars 1. In regard of his Birth 2. In his personal Qualifications 3. In the whole course of his Life 4. In the close of it 1. Moses was a Type of Christ in regard of his Birth in that he was born but of mean Parents in the time of Israels Bondage in Egypt Exod. 2.1 persecuted in his Infancy by Pharaoh and wonderfully preserved Exod. 2.3 9. So Christ Isai 53.2 He shall grow up as a Root out of a dry ground When the House of David was brought very low and the Glory of it seemingly extinct they were of the poorest sort of people as appears by their Offering which was but a pair of Turtle Doves or two young Pigeons Luk. 2.24 when they taxed all the world that is when the Jews were under Bondage to the Romans Luk. 2.1 4. and you know Rome is spiritually called Egypt then and in this condition of Subjection to the Roman Power was Christ born And as soon as born he was persecuted by Herod Matth. 2. who sought his Death but wonderfully preserved and by means of his reputed Father as Moses by the Mother that adopted him both of them by wonderful Providences saved and delivered that they might be Saviours and Deliverers unto others 2. Moses was a Type of Christ in his personal Qualifications which were very eminent He was the most accomplish'd Person that ever was except Jesus Christ himself 1. In Learning and Knowledge Act. 7.22 He was learned in all the Wisdom of the Egyptians So Christ Isai 11.1 2 3. the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding the Spirit of Counsel and of Knowledge rested upon him to make him of quick Understanding in the Fear of the Lord insomuch that he disputed with the Doctors at twelve years of age Luke 2.42 46 47. Those Doctors were as too many are now adays eaten up with mens Traditions and ignorant of the Scripture The Jews acknowledged and admired it Joh. 7.15 And the Jews marvelled saying how knoweth this man Learning having never learned and ver 46. the Officers answered never man spake like this man 2. Clear and extraordinary Vision and Sight of God Numb 12.6 7 8. Face to Face Mouth to Mouth God spake to Moses even apparently and not in dark speeches and the similitude of the Lord did he behold expressions arguing unparallell'd Clearness in the Lords revealing himself and his Mind to Moses There was never the like vouchsafed to any other To others even Prophets the Lord made known himself in a Vision or spake to them in Dreams ver 6. but to Moses at another rate So Christ Joh. 1.18 no man hath seen God at any time but the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him 3. There was in Moses an admirable mixture of Meekness and Zeal eminent in meekness of Spirit and that seasoned and tempered with holy Zeal Numb 12.3 forty years he bare their manners in the Wilderness Acts 7.36 with 13.18 though murmuring and rebelling against God and himself with an invincible Patience So Christ Matth. 11. Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart When his Disciples tempted him he would not fetch down Fire from Heaven against his Despisers and Opposers yet he was angry at the Defilement of the Temple and whipt them out And so was Moses at the Golden Calf Meekness without Zeal is nothing else but Lukewarmness and Cowardise Zeal without Meekness degenerates into sinful Passion We should be meek in our own Cause but zealous in the Cause of God 4. Faithfulness to his Trust this was eminent in Moses but more eminent in Christ Heb. 3.5 6. Moses was but faithful as a Servant in his Lords House But Christ as a Son in his own House He will not lose one Soul of all those that the Father hath committed to him Joh. 6.39 40. In his last Prayer he professeth Joh. 17.12 those that thou givest me I have kept and none of them is lost but the Son of perdition not the least Believer can or shall miscarry If thou sayst How may I know whether I was committed to the trust and care of Jesus Christ by the Father The Answer is If thou dost commit thy self to him the Lord hath done it Thou couldst never trust thy self with him thou couldst not commit thy Soul to his keeping if the Lord had not first intrusted thee with him in his eternal Counsel and Covenant of Redemption But thou hast done it and it is thy daily work therefore thou maist safely conclude with Paul 2 Tim. 1.12 he will keep the thing I have committed to him He will be faithful to God and faithful to thee he never failed any that trusted in him 3. Moses was a Type of Christ in the whole course of his Life And here many things come to be considered 1. His Work and Office 2. His Sufferings and Conflicts in the Discharge thereof 3. The Lords owning and bearing witness to him by Miracles and Signs and Wonders in all which there was a manifest Prefiguration of the Lord Jesus Christ 1. In his Work and Office He was in general a Mediator between God and the People a typical Mediator All the good that God was pleased to confer upon that People it was by his Ministry and Interposition between God and then Gal. 3.19 the Law was ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator Deut. 5.5 I stood between the Lord and you at that time to shew you the Word of the Lord for ye were afraid by reason of the Fire and went not up into the Mount Exod 19.7 8. So Christ is the Mediator of the Covenant of Grace Heb. 9.15 and for this cause he is the Mediator of the New Testament But he hath the preheminence above Moses Heb. 8.6 but now hath he obtained a more excellent Ministry by how much also he is the Mediator of a better Covenant God was pleased to redeem his people Israel out of their Bondage in Egypt by Moses his Ministry God sent him and he left his
former Employment and Place to do this Work Exod. 3.10 Come now therefore and I will send thee unto Pharaoh that thou maist bring forth my people the Children of Israel out of Egypt But by Jesus Christ he redeemeth us out of the spiritual Bondage of Sin and Satan which is worse than Egyptian Bondage and he was sent by his Father and was content to come down from Heaven and to leave his Glory to do this great Work wherein Christ hath the preheminence For Moses was a Mediator only of temporal and typical Redemption but Christ is the Mediator of spiritual and eternal Redemption By Moses his Mediation also the Law was delivered upon Mount Sinai Gal. 3.19 it was ordained in the hand of a Mediator or a middle person that stood and transacted between God and the people Act. 7.38 who received the lively Oracles to give unto us But by Jesus Christ the Gospel is published In this respect he is the Mediator of a better Testament Moses gave the moral judicial and ceremonial Laws But Christ reveals the Gospel and Gospel-Worship Moses appoints the Passover Sacrifices builds the Tabernacle made with hands But Christ gives the Lords Supper a most lively Representation of himself and his own Death the true Sacrifice And he is himself also the true Temple and Tabernacle which the Lord hath pitched and not Man so that Christ hath the preheminence in all things inasmuch as Gospel-worship excels Legal worship and Truth and Substance excels Figures and Shadows Lastly Moses did mediate between God and the people as an Intercessor by his Prayers and Supplications and did prevail for them for the Destruction of Amalek Exod. 17. And again when they murmured upon the evil Report of the Spies Numb 14.12 13 20 and when they made the molten Calf Exod. 32.10 11 14. then with much wrestling he prevailed with the Lord for them Psal 106.23 Moses stood in the breach So doth Christ intercede and pleads for us with the Father when we provoke him by our Sins 1 Joh. 2.1 2. yea he lives for ever to intercede Heb. 7.25 2. Moses his Sufferings and Conflicts in the Discharge of his Trust and Exercise of his Office had in them a Shadow of the like to be undergone by Christ Moses fasted forty days and forty nights in the Mount So did Christ in the Wilderness He suffered many Contradictions both from his Enemies and from his Friends professed Enemies Jannes and Jambres and the Magicians of Egypt 2 Tim. 3.8 His Friends the people to whom he was sent rejected him Exod. 2.14 often murmured at him forty years he bore their manners Acts 13.18 yea his neerest friends sometimes Aaron and Miriam So Christ he was rejected of the Builders Psal 118.22 came to his own and his own received him not Joh. 1.11 His own Disciples sometimes thought his Doctrines hard sayings as when he spake against Divorces they thought a man had better never be married than submit to such a yoke and all along how weak and wayward were they But the Scribes and Pharisees like Jannes and Jambres openly resisted and opposed his Doctrine and Miracles 3. The Lords owning and bearing witness to him by Miracles Signs and Wonders Deut. 34.10 11 12. So to Jesus Christ Acts 2.22 a man approved of God among you by Miracles Wonders and Signs some note in all about five and forty of them recorded by the four Evangelists and wrought in the three years and an half of his publik Ministry viz. three in his first year nineteen in his second year and thirteen in his third year and ten in his last half year before Judas betrayed him besides those at his Death and after his Resurrection Only there were these two differences between Moses his Miracles and Christs 1. That Moses his Miracles were wrought in Christs Name but Christs Miracles were wrought in his own Name 2. That Moses his Miracles had more of Terror and Majesty Christs more of Love and Sweetness Christ seldom wrought any Mirales for the hurt of his Enemies in a way of righteous Wrath and Judgment but ordinarily only for the help both of Friends and Enemies as for instance the healing of Malchus his Ear. I remember but two Miracles wrought by Jesus Christ in a way of Wrath and Punishment against his Enemies the suffering the Devil to enter into the Gadarenes Swine and causing his Enemies to fall backward when they came to apprehend him All the rest were Miracles of Mercy and Kindness But by the Hand of Moses there were no less than ten miraculous Plagues upon Egypt There were Thunderings and Lightnings at Mount Sinai The Earth opened her mouth upon Corah Dathan and Abiram and swallowed them up quick with other such dreadful and terrible things in righteousness The reason of this difference was because Moses was the Minister of the Law which is a voice of Words and Terror and Fear and genders unto Bondage but Jesus Christ is the Minister and Author of the Gospel which is Grace and Peace Therefore these two different kinds of Dispensations were attested with two different kinds of Miracles But as to the general the working of Miracles by Moses and so being owned by the Lord and born witness to by him herein there was a resemblance and prefiguration of what was done by Jesus Christ 4. And lastly Moses was a Type of Christ in the end and close of his Life viz. in his Death Resurrection and Ascention into Heaven He dyed willingly he went up to Mount Nebo which was a part of Mount Abarim and there surrendred up his Soul So Christ No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self no man taketh it from me see Joh. 10.18 I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again He went to Mount Golgotha and there gave up his Soul to his Father Moses after his Death and Burial rose again buried he was Deut. 34.6 and that he rose again and ascended into Heaven may be gathered from Matth. 17. For he did appear and talk with Christ at his Transfiguration together with Elias So you know Jesus Christ rose again from the dead and ascended into Heaven Thus Moses was a Type of Christ all along In his Birth in his personal Qualifications in the whole course of his Life his Office his Sufferings his Miracles and finally in his Death Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven But yet though there was such a full analogy and so great a resemblance between them yet there was a disparity Christ having the preheminence above Moses Heb. 3.5 6. Moses was faithful as a Servant in his Lords House but Christ as a Son in his own House Thus much as to Moses Now for Joshuah his Successor That he was a Type appears because Christ was called by that name in the Hebrew And Joshuah is called Jesus in the Greek in the New Testament Acts 7.45 Heb. 4.8 that is a Saviour though he be but
Israel was thus Conducted safe in the morning Watch Exod. 14.24 27. So Christ in the morning Watch of his Resurrection and in the morning of the general Resurrection and last Judgment triumphs over all the Enemies of his people Psal 49.14 Then his Church is fully passed from death to life eternal life then may Israel sing the Song of Moses and of the Lamb and say the Lord shall reign for ever and ever Exod. 15.18 Much Teaching and many other Instructions might be learned from all the Circumstances of this Dispensation The Egyptians here met with a punishment suitable to their sin They had drowned the Children of Israel and now fourscore years after they themselves are drowned in the Red Sea and from the sore distress that Israel was in the Sea before them their Enemies behind them the Mountains on either side insomuch that they had no other choice in the eye of reason but either to be drowned or slain We may here observe that the most glorious Deliverances of the Church are in their greatest straits and most desperate distresses we may also observe the invincible safety of the Church of God in all Tryals under all troubles The Fire cannot burn them as you have seen before in the burning Bush which burnt and was not consumed the Sea cannot drown them you have formerly heard of Noah floating upon the Waves in an Ark of safety when all the World was Sea and now you see Israel safe in the bottom of the Sea Oh! Trust God and follow the Lord fully when he leads you into dangers and difficulties as deep as the bottom of the Sea 2 Chron. 20.12 We know not what to do but our eyes are unto thee It was by Faith that Israel did this Heb. 11.29 Some make the Red Sea a Type of the blood of Christ That through his blood we pass to the Land of Promise 3. Their marching through the Wilderness those Deserts of Arabia with their God in the head of them Psal 68.7 The Wilderness of an unregenerate Condition so Burroughs of holy Courage on Heb. 11.27 Cap. 25 and 26. Interprets and applies this their Passage out of Egypt unto Canaan Herein was an eminent Prefiguration of three things 1. Troubles difficulties temptations in the way to Heaven that through many tribulations we must enter into the Kingdom of God Act. 14.22 This World is but a Wilderness an howling Wilderness full of Lyons and Leopards sins and troubles Cant. 4.8 full of fiery Serpents and Scorpions and Drought as those Arabian Deserts were 2. We may here see as in a Glass the Corruptions of our own hearts That this was a great part of the meaning of this Type the Apostle shews at large in many Verses of the Context v. 5. to 10. Look what Israel did and how they carried it in the Wilderness we are apt to do the like we are apt to think they were a very murmuring froward People but if thou hadst been in their Circumstances thou wouldst have done as bad as they 3. The perishing and miscarrying of many Souls under some preparative and initial Works is also here plainly held forth For many of them perished in the Wilderness while they were in transitu between Egypt and Canaan So doth many a Soul after some beginnings and motions heavenwards The Apostle applies it thus Heb. 4.1 11. lest any man fall short after the same example of unbelief and here 1 Cor. 10.5 many of them were destroyed in the Wilderness 4. Their passing through Jordan under Joshua's Conduct the Priests bearing the Ark going in before them and standing in the midst thereof till all the people were gone over Joshua 3.13 17. and 4.10 18. The signification of this was as the Dispensation it self was much after the same nature with their Passage through the Red Sea but accompanied with differing Circumstances In general it represented and held forth Christ going before his people and himself bearing their sorrows that would have sunk them he wafteth them safely through all their sorrows and miseries and through death it self over unto their eternal Rest It was at this place Bethabara 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 domus transitus the house of Passage from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 domus and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 transire Chytraeus in Josh 3. 4. The place that Jesus Christ was baptized at when he entred upon his Ministry Joh. 1.28 And as Israel of old did pass over on the tenth day of the first Month Josh 4.19 Paulus Eber. Pref. in Calend Hist Encamping in Gilgal where they kept the Passover Josh 5.10 So it seems that on the same tenth day of the first Month Christ rode into Jerusalem where he not only kept the Passover but presented himself the true Paschal Lamb to be slain for us and encountring with the swellings of Jordan the whole Confluence of the Wrath of God and the sins and sorrows of all his Elect he hath opened a Passage for them through the midst of Jordan as it were into the Land of their eternal Rest 5. And so this brings me to the Fifth typical Dispensation of Providence to them of old viz. Their Entrance into Canaan under the leading and conduct of the same Joshua who had led them through Jordan The History whereof is the main Subject of the Book of Joshua The Mystery of this Dispensation is plain and obvious Canaan was a Type of Heaven it shadowed forth another and a better Country that is an heavenly Heb. 11.16 Their Rest in the Promised Land shadowed forth another Rest remaining for the people of God Heb. 4.8 9. These things were partly spoken to when we were upon the Personal Types where we spake of Joshua as a Type of Christ the true Jesus or Joshua 6. The last typical Deliverance that I shall mention is their deliverance out of their Captivity in Babylon Their Bondage in Babylon was a Type of spiritual bondage their Deliverance a Type of spiritual deliverance by Christ and of his raising up his spiritual Kingdom Hence it is observable that the Prophets when speaking of that Recovery from Babylon they pass from that to Christ and our spiritual Restoration through him and they spake more magnificently of that than was fulfilled in the Letter and History and they often intermix Passages that are plainly and undeniably meant of Christ and of his spiritual Grace and Kingdom of which that temporal Deliverance was but a taste and Type See Jer. 32.36 37 40 41. also Jer. 33.15 16. and in very many other places See Calvin in loc the Prophets still lead the people from that to Christ in whom all the Promises and Prophecies are fully and perfectly accomplisht Moreover Babylon was a Type of Rome and consequently their deliverance out of Babylon a Type of the Churches deliverance in the New Testament from under the Yoke of Antichrist and the Circumstances also agree 1. That it was a gradual work for some came back with
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
out of their mouths that is the Word of God denouncing the Wrath of God fiery indignation devours the adversaries Heb. 10.27 4. We read of fiery tryals and afflictions Luke 12.49 I am come to send fire on the earth 1 Pet. 4.12 Think it not strange concerning the fiery tryal the fiery tryal of Persecution by open enemies publickly opposing the fiery tryal of Contention by false brethren secretly undermining 6. The Fire of the Altar came from Heaven Lev. 9.24 2 Chronic 7.1 strange Fire is forbidden Lev. 10.1 1. Humane inventions which he had not commanded them Lev. 10.1 2. Carnal Wrath and Passion this is not the Fire of the Altar but strange Fire James 3.17 Wisdome from above is first pure then peaceable c. the wrath of man accomplishes not the Righteousness of God James 1.20 7. The use of the Altar in reference to the Sacrifice was to support and sanctifie it the Altar did two things both which Faith is to eye and look unto both as done in Christ and to be done in us 1. To support the Sacrifice and bear it up so Christ was born up by the power of his Deity 2. To make it acceptable so Christs Sufferings are so infinitely precious and acceptable with the Lord through the glory and excellency of his Person there is nothing else will bear up a Soul under sense of Guilt but this to consider who it was that died and suffered for us It was the Son of God And the reason of many fears and tremblings of unbelief is because the Soul looks at the Sacrifice without the Altar looks at the Death of Christ but considers not the Altar the Deity that sanctifies the Gift As to us we need both support and acceptance eye both these in Christ eye Christ for them to your own Souls 1. Support when the heart is ready to sink and to be overwhelmed with the difficulties that do occur thou art weak but here is strength 2. Acceptance Isai 56.7 their Burnt-offerings and their Sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine Altar thou art unworthy but leave thy Gift upon the Altar and it shall be accepted whatsoever toucheth the Altar shall be holy Vse 1. See the unlawfulness yea the abominableness of material Altars and Altar-worship under the New Testament For the Altar was a Type of Jesus Christ in his Deity and Priesthood therefore Altars are ceased For is not Jesus Christ the Son of God or hath God another Son to dye for us or do we look for another Gospel that we must build Altars to typifie the mysteries thereof Because it lies directly in my way and it is one of the worst and grossest of the Superstitions and Corruptions of Worship in our times I may not well pass it by consider but two things here 1. The Lords Table is not an Altar ought not to be so called or so accounted 2. The many other evils that are involved in this and go along with it 1. The Communion Table is not an Altar and ought not to be so called nor so accounted Take three arguments for the proof of this Reas 1. Because the Scripture calls it a Table but not an Altar and we must speak of God and of his Ordinances as God himself doth in his word So the Apostle 1 Cor. 10.21 ye cannot be partaker of the Lords Table and of the Table of Devils so Christ Luk 22.21 the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the Table Reas 2. An Altar implies a Sacrifice and sacrificing Priests for Priests Altar and Sacrifice are relatives and have a mutual and inseparable connexion and dependance upon one another But the Lords Supper is not a Sacrifice nor the Ministers of the Gospel Priests therefore the Lords Table is not an Altar The use of an Altar is to offer Sacrifice upon but when we come to the Lords Supper do we come to Sacrifice Christ again and to crucifie the Son of God afresh No but we come to celebrate the memory of his Death who dyed once for all Heb. 10.10 Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many Heb 9.28 and 7.27 To talk of a commemorative Sacrifice is meer non-sense and a contradiction for as the Picture of a man is no man so the commemoration of a Sacrifice is in truth no Sacrifice If it were a Sacrifice offered upon the Table as an Altar they should make four Horns upon the four corners of the Table and they should make a Grate for the Fire and they should put Fire to their Altars to burn the Sacrifice even the Bread and Wine Reas 3. If the Communion Table were an Altar then it should be greater and better then the Sacramental Bread and Wine then the Lords Supper it self and a means to consecrate them for the Altar sanctifies all the Gifts and Sacrifices that are offered upon it and is greater then the Gift Matth. 23.18 19. Hence it is said the Altar shall be holiness of Holinesses or most holy Exod. 40.10 But the Table is not greater then the Lords Supper Therefore the Table is not an Altar It is true some of the Antients have called it an Altar but unscripturally and improperly as they did also use other extravagant and wanton Metaphors calling it Solium Christi the Throne of Christ whereas Christ is not represented on the Table in his Majesty as upon a Throne but in his lowest humility and deepest abasement as broken crucified c. These expressions of the Fathers 1. They were unscriptural the Scripture doth not use such language nor speak of the Communion Table in such a strain 2. They have done much hurt in the Church unawares to those good men and have been inlets and occasions of much Superstition 3. When they used this phrase of speech the Sacrifice of the Mass and Priests and much other Idolatrous Popish trash was not known nor heard of in the world neither were there any to be scandalized with those phrases and to use them to such ill ends and purposes as the Papists and other superstitious persons have improved them therefore such language is worse now then it was then 4. Others of the Fathers have testified against Altars even in the primitive times O igen contra Gelsum l. 4. as Origen who lived about two hundred years after Christ Objicit nobis Celsus quod non habemus Imagines aut Aras aut Templa He that is Celsus chargeth the Christian Religion with this that we have neither Images nor Altars nor Temples Arnob. l. 6. apud Quench-cole p. 71 72. In answer to this Origen doth not deny the Charge but confesseth the matter of fact to be true and defends it from the very fundamental grounds of Religion and so doth Arnobius and others 2. Consider the many other evils that follow and flow from this and go along with it from this blind conceit that the Lords Table is an Altar hence follows 1. Calling it an high Altar and making steps to
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
Vid. Engl. Annot. in loc 4. Moses was to fill the hand of the Priests with some parts of the Sacrifices ver 23 24 25. This interprets and lets you see the reason of that expression why Consecration is called filling of the hand Lev. 7.37 so Exod. 28.41 and here cap. 29. ver 9. It is because some parts of the Sacrifices were put into his hands at his Consecration as a pledge or symbol of putting such a business and intrusting such a work in his hands No man can or ought to undertake this or any other Trust or Office till the Lord fill his hand with it and commit the work and business to his trust A man can take unto himself nothing except it be given him from Heaven Joh. 3.27 they are the words of John the Baptist and he saith of Christ that the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hand ver 35. of that 3d. of John Now the Use of all these Rites of Consecration lies in such things as these 1. They were an external sign and representation of the Dignity of the Office therefore there were so many solemn and sacred Ceremonies in setting them apart thereunto and yet these Priests were but shadows of Jesus Christ our great and true High Priest whose Office is of incomparably more surpassing excellency and Dignity See 1 Cor. 3.7 8 9 10 11. 2. All these Rites of Consecration had this use to the Priests themselves to be Monitors or Remembrances to the Priests themselves that they might remember how pure and holy to the Lord they ought to be And the like Instruction they hold out to Believers who all are made spiritual Priests unto God that they ought to be holy to the Lord. 3. From the people they bespeak reverence and regard to the Priests and that for their works sake they having such Honour and Dignity put upon them in such a solemn Consecration to their Office Thus the Apostle in the New Testament chargeth the Thessalonians that they should know them that laboured among them that were over them in the Lord and admonished them and to esteem them very highly in love for their works sake 1 Thess 5.12 13. 4. We may learn also this from these sacred Rites of the Consecration of the Priests that under the New Testament there should be no Gospel-Ministers but such as are called and consecrated by God to that work see Heb. 5.4 'T is set as a Brand upon that wicked Jeroboam that he made of the basest of the people Priests even whosever would he consecrated him but this thing became sin to the House of Jeroboam even to cut it off and to destroy it from off the face of the earth as the Holy Ghost expresly tells us 1 Kings 13.33 34. THE GOSPEL of the MINISTRATIONS of the LEGAL MINISTRY Feb. 28. 1668. Morning and Afternoon Numb chap. 18. THere were three sorts of Officers in the old Legal Ministry 1. The Priests 2. The Levites 3. The Nethinims Of the Priests you have heard four things propounded 1. The special Rites and Qualifications of that Order of Priesthood 2. Their Priestly Apparrel 3. Their Consecration 4. Their Priestly Ministrations in the House of God This last remains to be spoken to for which this Chapter may be the Text and foundation of our Discourse The Chapter consists of two parts 1. The Work of the Priests and Levites 2. Their Maintenance 1. Their Work and Office to ver 8. The several Work of the Priests and of the Levites is here exactly distinguished their several Offices bounded and disterminated by the Soveraign Wisdom and Authority of God setting each their limits which they might not on highest penalties transgress and violate The charge of the Sanctuary and the Altar with the things appertaining thereunto was committed to the Priests the charge of the Tabernacle to the Levites ver 7. 1. For the Priests their work was the charge of the Sanctuary and the Altar and the holy Vessels and Services thereof These they must look to and of these God would require and expect an account at their hands And the Lord said unto Aaron thou and thy Sons and thy Fathers House with thee shall bear the iniquity of the Sanctuary and of your Priesthood ver 1. that is the guilt and punishment of whatever is done amiss in these matters The Stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death ver 7. the Stranger here is not meant of other People and Nations only as in other places but any other Family beside the Family of Aaron the rest of Israel yea the Levites themselves were Strangers in this sense There are many particulars comprised under this general head of the Charge of the Altar and Sanctuary in each of which I shall but briefly shew how they had an eye to Jesus Christ the Priest and Minister of the true Sanctuary 1. First then this includes the holy Vessels and all the hallowed things thereof ver 7. so Numb 4 5-15 and ver 16. In like manner hath God committed the whole Church of God and all the mysteries of our Salvation to the trust and care and charge of Jesus Christ for the Tabernacle is the Church All the concernments of his people all their Graces and Duties and Comforts meet in him and are under his special care and trust therefore they are said to be given to him by the Father Joh. 3.35 2. The offering Sacrifice and ordering that whole matter is here also plainly included as being part of the Charge of the Altar the Priest was to kill and dress the Sacrifices and sprinkle the Blood thereof and to manage and dispose of that whole affair Lev. 1.5 and he that is the Priest shall kill the Bullock before the Lord and the Priests the Sons of Aaron shall sprinkle the Blood c. Heb. 5.1 Every High Priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God that he may offer both Gifts and Sacrifices for Sins and the same Apostle applies it expresly to Jesus Christ Heb. 8.3 For every High Priest is ordained to offer Gifts and Sacrifices wherefore it is of necessity that this man that is Christ have somewhat also to offer that is himself his own blessed Body and Humane nature This is the Sacrifice he offered And so he himself was both the Sacrifice and the Priest the Priest in regard of both his Natures and the Sacrifice in regard of his human nature see Heb. 10.10 11 12. No other can offer any expiatory Sacrifice to make atonement with the Lord but only he He trod the Wine-press alone in this respect and of the people there was none with him as Isai 63.3 3. The Priests were to light the seven sacred Lamps of the golden Candlestick Exod. 27.20 21. Lev. 24.2 3. This shadows forth Christ the true Light Joh. 1.9 shining forth and enlightening his Church by his Spirit in the Ministry of the Word For the Golden