are so corrupted that Seth calls his Son Enos miserable man Well about three hundred years after as some conjecture for the particular time is not set down in the sacred History but it may be supposd to be thereabouts from Cains Defection and Ejection there is a new Reformation in the time of Enosh How long this reformed state continued is not certain but sure it is that when the World was but sixteen hundred fifty six years old there was such a general and universal Corruption of things that the Lord thought it necessary to cut them down with a Flood That as some have expressed it all mankind is sick of the Falling-sickness Or as the Lord himself complains Hos 11.7 My People are bent to backsliding from me though they called them to the most High yet none at all would exalt him though the Prophets called them to repent and turn to the Lord yet there was none found that would exalt and set up God in his heart and life There is a backsliding bent upon the Heart like the Byass upon the Bowl that turns it aside a departing disposition of spirit 3. Behold and see the free Grace of God in so many recovering Dispensations and renewed Discoveries and manifestations of himself Oh the Love of God to worthless Man he was loth to give up such a lost Creature This is that Divine Philanthropy whereof the Apostle speaks Tit. 3.4 4. These old things being past and vanished away do not sit down with attainments of such low Dispensations but labour for such degrees of Light and Grace and Communion with God as becometh Saints under the New Testament Administrations Beloved the Dispensation of the Age wherein we live is high and glorious But it may be thy particular Dispensation is low thy own personal attainments come very short Thou art but like a Believer that lived under Adams under Noahs under Abrahams Dispensation Signs of a Christian under a low Dispensation 1. When there is an inordinate affecting and a lusting after outward and visible and extraordinary Appearances and Operations such as they were Wont to have in those childish times Such may be Christians and may have the root of the matter in them but they are Christians of the lowest form There is a lusting in our hearts by nature after such things after extraordinary Operations which God is wont to cross as he did in Naaman 2 King 5.11 so when Christians linger much after and lay much weight upon Dreams and Visions and extraordinary Raptures and Ravishments of Spirit or it may be look'd after Miracles if they hear of any vain pretender thereunto I had rather have a little solid Comfort in that good old plain Scripture way of Faith and Repentance and labouring with my own Heart to apply the Promises and I value this more than if an Angel should appear to me out of Heaven to tell me that I am a Child of God For if an Angel should appear to me with such a Message I profess I should not know whether to believe him or not but I am sure that if I walk close with God if I exercise my self unto Godliness and unto Communion with him in Faith and Prayer and in seeking of him and humbling my self before him daily I am sure that in this way I cannot miscarry if the Gospel be true I am safe the Lord keeping me in that way I would not advise Believers utterly to reject all Evidences and Comforts where there is possibly something of Enthusiasm intermixt if there be a suitableness to their condition in the Promises brought to hand in such a way and if there be a spiritual Savour in the Heart and a relish of the Gospel and the Promises and Blessings of it I say then receive them which way soever they be brought to hand though it be by a Dream But I would exhort you not to rest in such a way but labour for an higher and more solid and spiritual way of Comfort and Communion with God 2. Art thou acted by a spirit of Light and Love or Darkness and fear hast thou a dark or clear Light It may be thy Candle gives but a dim Light and smokes in the socket as if it were going out Thou art dark as to the Light and Work of this age This is a sign thou art but low in thy attainments Art thou acted by Fear or Love If by Fear only this is low and legal if by love also this is Gospel-like The Law genders unto Bondage Gal. 4.24 It was delivered Heb. 12.18 with darkness and tempest But the spirit of the Gospel is a spirit of Faith and Love not of Fear and terror 3. Where there is an aptness to backslide and fall off from good beginnings and to fall again after recovering Dispensations This is but a weak and infant state as little Children when first they begin to go they catch many a fall 4. Consider of what standing thy Profession is at first all Believers are but low and weak but for an old Professor to be so this is sad It may be thou hast made a Profession of Religion ten or twenty years It is time for thee to put away childish things Heb. 5.10 you might have been for the time setled and established Christians assured of Gods Love but you are yet under the power of sinful corruptions of Pride and Peevishness and Passion yet under darkness and prevailing doubts about your Interest in God and this after many years Profession of Religion This might better become the Sons of God under those old Dispensations than one of thy years and standing We have briefly gone through the several pieces of Discovery the several Beams of Gospel-light that shone forth before the Law during that first Period from Adam to Moses The second grand Period is that under the Law from Moses to the Messiah This we are now to speak unto we may call it the Legal or the Mosaical Dispensation In this season there were further and clearer and more plentiful beamings forth of Gospel-light upon the Church above what had been before Now might the Spouse say The Voice of my Beloved behold he cometh leaping upon the Mountains skipping upon the Hills c. Cant. 2.8 9. The Worship of God and the true Religion and Church of God was now reduced to a better consistence and settlement in the world than ever before There were two things especially which were the peculiar advantages of this Dispensation under the Law wherein it did excel the former which was before the Law 1. That now the true Religion was preserved and propagated by Writing to Posterity which had been done before only or chiefly by Oral Tradition which might indeed be more easily done Willet in Gen. 9 28 when men lived so many hundred years For some have well observed that three Patriarchs for the space of two thousand years and more from the beginning of the World to Isaac might suffice to propagate
Ten Commandments Exod. 19.9 that the people might hear and cap. 20.22 he talked with you from Heaven and he wrote them in two Tables of Stone and in the five Books of Moses The Ceremonial and Judicial Laws were delivered in this last way viz. by Writing being left upon Record in the Books of Moses This is celebrated as a choice Mercy Psal 103.7 He made known his ways unto Moses his Acts unto the Children of Israel yea as a peculiar and distinguishing Mercy Psal 147.2 last v. He sheweth his Word unto Jacob his Statutes and Judgments unto Israel he hath not dealt so with any Nation And now seems to have been the first Invention of the Art of Writing The first mention we find of it is in Moses his time In Jacobs time it may seem they had no knowledg of it because in the Covenant between him and Laban instead of any Articles in Writing between them or signing or sealing of it they only erect an heap of Stones as Monuments of Remembrance of it Gen. 31.45 seq And the Invention is so admirable that it seems to transcend all humane Wit and Industry The reducing of all audible and articulate Sounds unto visible Marks and that in so familiar and short a way by twenty or thirty Letters without any further load to the Memory that we may well ascribe it unto God himself as the blessed Author and Inventor of it to help his poor people to and in the knowledg of himself according to that in Prov. 8.12 I Wisdom dwell with Prudence and find out knowledg of witty Inventions 3. The Lord accepted the whole Nation to be his own peculiar people erecting a glorious Frame and Fabrick of Church and Common-wealth amongst them wherein the Lord himself was King and did immediately preside and therefore it hath been fitly called a Theocracy so Gideon Judg. 8.23 The Lord shall rule over you Isai 51.16 that I may plant the Heavens and lay the foundations of the Earth and say unto Zion thou art my People 4. He gave them glorious and visible symbols and tokens of his Presence amongst them walking before them in a Pillar of Cloud and Fire Exod. 13.21 22. which Pillar rested upon the Tabernacle after that the Tabernacle was built Exod. ult ult which also was a symbol of his Presence with them and so was the Ark and the Manna from Heaven Exod. 16.14 15. with the Rock that followed them Exod. 17.6 1 Cor. 10.4 5. The Lord himself conducted and led them through the Desarts of Arabia by the Hand of Moses and into the Land of Promise by the Hand of Joshuah drying up Jordan for them subduing the Inhabitants before them raising up Judges and Rulers for them and finally training them up by many instructing Providences to fit them for the further Mercies he had yet in store for them One would think all things were now well setled but there were two or three things partly defects in this Dispensation it self and partly some provoking evils on their part under it by reason whereof the Lord brought in a further and an higher Dispensation afterwards 1. There had been strange Rebellions and Provocations in the Wilderness which have had an influence into all the sorrows and troubles that have befallen them ever since Murmuring against God Mutining against Moses and Aaron which the Lord took very hainously and therefore destroyed Corah Dathan and Abiram by miracle For to disobey the just Commands of a lawful Magistrate is to rebel against God himself And above all Idolatry Exod. 32.34 35 In the day when I visit I will visit their Sin upon them and the Lord plagued the people because they made the Calf which Aaron made From whence the Jews have a proverb that in every affliction in every calamity that comes upon them there be some grains of the Molten Calf in it 2. There were frequent Degeneracies and Oppressions under the Judges 3. The Tabernacle was unfixed Upon all which accounts the Lord had not yet satisfied himself in the expressions of his own Love towards them but his Heart was full and he was resolved to do yet more for them and so to try them to the utmost Therefore he was pleased to put a period unto this Dispensation which began about the year of the World two thousand five hundred and thirteen and lasted about four hundred eighty seven or eighty eight years 1 Kings 6.1 2. The Lords second Dispensation under the Law was from the Temple to the Captivity in Babylon In this Period the Glory of the Legal Dispensation rose up to the greatest height and splendor and that chiefly in two particulars the Glory of the Kingdom and Temple 1. The Kingdom was setled in the House of David as the Type and Progenitor of the Messiah And in his days and Solomons it extended to the utmost bounds that God had spoken of to Abraham though afterwards for their own sins they were cut short the neighbour Nations shaking off the yoke and the Kingdom it self divided into two parts two Tribes only left to Solomons Posterity The Lord had promised Abraham that his Seed should possess all the Land to the River Euphrates Gen. 15.18 And it was performed in Davids time and in Solomons 1 King 4.21 24. 2 Chron. 9.26 And this Kingdom was a Type of the Kingdom of Christ 2. The other piece of their Glory was the Temple Before God had dwelt in Tents but now he had an House built unto his Name The Lord turned his flitting Tabernacle into a fixed Temple for which David made plentiful Preparation Solomon did erect and set it up He did it in seven or eight years time or more precisely seven years and an half for he began it in the second month and finished it in the eighth 1 King 6.1 and ult and he began it in the fourth year of his Reign and finished it in the eleventh moreover he began it in the 480th year after the coming out of Egypt and dedicated it seven or eight years after which fell into the year of the World three thousand or three thousand and one as you will find if you take the pains to compute and put all the former Periods together And their Kingdom and Temple stood in some degree of outward Glory about four hundred years from the finishing and dedicating of it to the beginning of their Bondage under the Yoke of Babylon And now one would think they had been setled in such a condition as might have stood for ever But the Apostacies were very great which brought this high and prosperous Dispensation to an end to a sad end For 1. The peoples hearts being not so with God as became a people crowned with such Glory God left them and their Princes the first and wisest of them the very Founders of their Kingdom and Temple unto very great and enormous transgressions David committed Adultery and Murther a very unparallell'd case for which the Lord threatneth the
them that heard it THE scope of this Epistle is to perswade them to persevere in their Christian profession and not to fall off to Judaism from the Gospel to the Law To this end he sets before them the excellency of the Gospel above the Law the excellency of Christ above Moses In the prosecution whereof he inserts many wholesom exhortations and applications of those former truths and dispensations of old to us in Gospel times And having from Psalm the 95th spoken of their being shut out of Gods rest because of their Unbelief in cap. 3.18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest but to them that believed not he applies this cap. 4.1 Let us therefore fear least a promise being left us of entring into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it And inforceth this caution by paralelling their state with ours in the words of the Text. For unto us was the Gospel preached as well as unto them You see how the Text comes in as an inforcement of that exhortation take heed of falling short of entring into rest seeing the Gospel is preached unto us as it was unto them and it became unprofitable unto them because they did not take heed of that sin which is here dehorted from even the sin of Unbelief In the words are three Propositions 1. That the Gospel was preached both under the Old and New Testament to them as well as to us to us as well as them The Apostle joins these together unto us as well as unto them 2. That there be some who though they hear the Gospel yet do not profit by it they are but high-way ground stony ground thorny ground hearers as Matth. 13. The word may be preached to many that live under the clear and powerful dispensations of the Gospel yet they not profit by it There is but one sort of good ground of fruitful hearers many there are to whom the Gospel is preached but they hear it unfruitfully and unprofitably 3. That the main cause of this unprofitableness under the Gospel is because of their Unbelief The reason of unfruitfulness and barrenness under the preaching of the Gospel is for want of Faith in them that hear it The word did not profit them not being mixed with faith Unbelief is the cause of this unprofitableness Many complain of their own unprofitableness and many take no notice of the cause of it It is for want of Faith It is the first of these three that I design to speak unto the Lord assisting Doctr. 1. That the Gospel was preached to them under the Old Testament as well as to us under the New I put it so as best suiting with the scope I intend The Apostle here supposeth it as a known and granted truth that they had the Gospel and he adds that we have it too as well as they But that they had it he supposeth it as a thing beyond all question as a thing received and believed and understood amongst them and that needed no dispute For unto us was the Gospel preached as well as unto them As if he should say no doubt it was preach'd to them and so it is to us also Gal. 3.8 And the Scripture foreseeing that God would justifie the Heathen through Faith preached before the Gospel unto Abraham saying in thee shall all Nations be blessed The Gospel is the glad tidings of Man's Recovery by Jesus Christ out of the state of Sin and Death into which he was fallen into a state of Favour and Communion with God again into a state of Life and Happiness Now this was made known to them of old these glad tidings sounded in their ears as well as ours Psal 89.15 Blessed are the people that hear the joyful sound The Reasons for the proof of it may be such as these Reas 1. Because they had the same Gospel blessings and mercies promised preached and revealed unto them that we have now that are revealed and made known unto us and in the same way and upon the same account as we have them now There be two Branches of this Argument 1. That they had the same Gospel mercies preached and held forth and this 2. In the same way and upon the same account 1. They had the very same Gospel blessings and mercies that we have in these latter days This will be easily made out and appear if we enquire what the good things of the Gospel are we shall find that they were exhibited unto them as well as unto us And what are they In general That God would be their God How oft is this promise made to them and so he is to us Now this includes three things 1. Regeneration 2. Reconciliation and Remission of Sins 3. Everlasting Salvation I. Regeneration or the New Heart the Heart of Flesh the writing of Gods Law in the heart You know most of these are Old Testament phrases Jer. 31.33 I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people This was preached and held forth to them by that Seal of Circumcision Deut. 30.6 And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul that thou mayest live and by all their legal washings and purifications which signified their cleansing from sin from the filth and power as well as from the guilt of it Ezek. 36.25 26 27. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness and from all your Idols will I cleanse you A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and do them This includes the whole frame of Saving Grace a new disposition in the heart new principles new walkings This succeeds the Old man corrupt Nature this is one great Gospel blessing common to them with us II. A second great blessing of the Gospel is Reconciliation and Remission of sins Isai 1.18 Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wooll Jer. 33.34 I will forgive their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more And innumerable more promises they had of this throughout the Old Testament This part of the Gospel was preached and shadowed forth to them by all their Sacrifices and Oblations which are thefore said to make atonement for them It is a phrase often used in the nine first Chapters of Leviticus He that sinned shall bring such or such an Offering and the Priest shall
the Incense and sweet Odours offered up to God under the Law These related to the Prayers of Jesus Christ he offers Incense with the Prayers of the Saints Revel 8.3 4. And another Angel came and stood at the Altar having a Golden Censer and there was given unto him much Incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all Saints upon the Golden Altar which was before the Throne And the smoke of the Incense which came with the prayers of the Saints ascended up before God out of the Angels hand They had therefore both the same Gospel-blessings and upon the same Gospel account as we namely from the meer mercy of God through the Mediation of Jesus Christ through his Death and Intercession Reas 2. A second Argument might be taken from an Historical Induction of all those former times and the several Gospel Discoveries which the Lord vouchsafed to them all along from time to time As to Adam in Paradise after his Fall The Gospel was preached to him in that great and blessed Promise that the seed of the Woman should break the Serpents head This was the first Gospel Sermon that ever was preached Afterwards to Abraham the Gospel was preached Gal. 3.8 when it was promised that in thy seed shall all the Nations of the World be blessed and in Isaac shall thy seed be called To Moses and by Moses to Israel when the Lord said I am the Lord thy God that brought thee forth out of the Land of Egypt For he was a Typical Mediator There were yet further Discoveries in Davids time Christ is the true David Thus I might go through the whole Old Testament and shew you how the Lord from time to time made further and further discoveries of himself to his people in succeeding ages Reas 3. Either the Gospel was preached unto them of old or else it will follow that they were all damned or else that they were saved without Christ which to imagine were infinitely derogatory and dishonorable to the Lord Jesus Christ The Fathers before the coming of Christ were saved and went to Heaven But without Christ there is no salvation For there is no other name under heaven c. Acts 4.12 It is impossible that any Sinner should be saved without Christ Qui salutem cuiquam promittit sine Christo nescio an ille salutem habere potest in Christo Austin He that promiseth any man Salvation without Christ I know not whether he can have Salvation by Christ By the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified or saved Rom. 3.20 Gal. 2.16 Jesus Christ therefore is the same yesterday and to day and for ever Heb. 13.8 that is in all times and ages and so we may apply it thus Yesterday under the Law to day under the Gospel and for ever Jesus Christ is the only Saviour Therefore if the Old Testament Saints were saved it was by Christ and if by Christ they had the Gospel preached to them as well as we So we see the Truth of the Doctrine Obj. 1. But why do we call it the Old Testament if it was Gospel Answ This is only in regard of the manner of Dispensation we do not call the first part of the Bible or the times wherein it was written the Old Testament and the latter part of the Bible and the the times wherein it was written the new Testament as if the former were meer Law and the latter nothing but Gospel No therefore take heed of mistaking here For there is very much of the Gospel and the Grace of God in Christ revealed in the Old Testament many precious Gospel truths in the Old Testament And there is very much of the Law and threatnings thereof declared written down and left upon Record to us in the New Testament Yea there is more of Hell and Damnation there are more dreadful threatnings thereof in the Sermons of our Lord Jesus Christ recorded in the four Evangelists than is to be found in all the Old Testament But we call it the Old Testament because it was the first Dispensation of the Gospel And the Gospel we call the New Testament because it is the new Dispensation of the same everlasting Gospel therefore the reason is only in the way and manner of their Dispensation and not in the Subjects themselves Obj. 2. But there is a second Objection that the Apostle often speaks of That ancient Dispensation as if it was Law and not Gospel Some Scriptures call that Old Testament Administration Law the Ministration of Death as John 1.17 the Law came by Moses but Grace and Truth by Jesus Christ If it was Law may some say then it was not Gospel so 2 Cor. 3.7 the Ministration of Death Answ We must distinguish between the thing preached and the manner of Preaching between the Shell and the Kernel the Shadow and the Substance Now the thing preached was the Gospel though the manner of preaching it was legal the Kernel was Gospel though the Shell was Law The Spirit and Substance and Mystery of that Dispensation was Evangelical though it was involved in a legal Shell and outside and overshadowed with the Shades and Figures of the Law God never had but one way only to save men by but it had divers fashions and forms divers outward discoveries and manifestations in those times in a more legal manner but afterwards more like it self in a more evangelical manner This Legality of that Administration appears chiefly in five things which were the peculiar Properties and Characters of that Dispensation by which it is distinguished from the Gospel-dispensation as being much inferiour to it So we shall shew you two things at once both the differences of the two Administrations and withal the Preheminence and Excellencies of the New above the Old It was dark weak carnal burthensome and terrible 1. It was dark but the Gospel is clear all things were involved in thick and dark Shadows Though there was a Light in that Mosaical Paedagogy which did appear and shine forth into the minds of Gods Elect yet withal there was a cloud of Darkness as to the outward Administration especially if compared with the Dispensation of the Gospel since the coming of Christ There was and is a double use of Types and Parables and of that whole way of Argument by Similitude and Comparisons they do both darken and illustrate if explained and understood they do exceedingly enlighten and illustrate but if not explained they are like a Riddle they cast a dark mist and cloud upon the thing So was the Law of Moses to all those that were not instructed by the Spirit to understand the Mystery of it The Reason and Meaning of it was hidden to the most of them hence a Veil is said to be upon their Hearts that they could not see to the end of that which is abolished c. 2 Cor. 3.13 14 c. as the Apostle there discourseth it at large 2. It was weak but the
true Religion Adam to Methuselah who lived with him two hundred forty two years Methuselah to Sem who lived almost an hundred years after Sem was born and then Sem to Isaac for Sem lived five hundred and two years after the Flood which reached to the fiftieth year of Isaac And then all the world had but one Language whereby they could speak and communicate their thoughts to whomsoever they would yet as to the generality of mankind the knowledg of God was quite lost and forgotten by some and by others corrupted with Fables and Superstitions Moreover the Lives of men came now to be much shortened For before the Flood they lived eight or nine hundred years after the Flood but four or five hundred years About the time of Peleg when the Tower of Babel was built there was a further decurtation of mens Lives unto two hundred years or thereabout And lastly in Moses his time unto threescore or thereabout and there it hath stood ever since Moreover there was a confusion of Languages which did much increase the Darkness and obstruct the Communication and Diffusion of Light among them The way of Oral Tradition is a very insufficient way and found by experience so to be as upon other accounts so upon these occurring at this time 1. In general Knowledg of God in a manner lost 2. The Decurtations of mens Lives 3. Through the Confusion of Tongues Upon all which Occurrences the Lord thought it fit to intrust his Truth no longer with the frail and careless Memories of men but to leave it upon Record in Writing a much safer and surer way for the Preservation and the Propagation of it There is a threefold advantage of this way 1. It is an help to the weakness of Memory For if a thing be written there it is and a man may recall it by reading when he doth not well remember it 2. For the further Propagation and Diffusion of the Light for there may be opportunity of writing to persons absent and and in after times who may read when they have not opportunity of hearing 3. To prevent Corruption In the way of Oral Tradition some may say one thing and some another 2. A second preheminence and advantage of this Dispensation above the former was this that now the Gospel and the true Religion and Worship of God was settled in a whole Nation and People by divine Promise and Institution whereas before it seems to have been only in Families and Congregations formed chiefly according to the Light of Nature wherein the Ordinances of Worship were celebrated by the Fathers and Heads of Families but now a whole Nation are made the Testes Custodes of it the Witnesses and the Keepers of it as a Depositum committed to their trust Rom. 3.2 As to the Occasions of introducing this new Dispensation they were partly the defections under the former but chiefly the Lords own Love and Goodness For he had engaged himself by his Promise and by his Oath wherein he had pawned his Truth and Faithfulness to Abraham Isaac and Jacob that he would do great things for their Posterity Therefore he is said to remember that Promise in the things he did for Israel See Psal 105.8 9 10. he shews that God remembred his Covenant with Abraham Isaac and Jacob. Then followeth a large Rehearsal of his Dispensations towards Israel And then he concludes again ver 42 43. For he remembred his holy Promise and Abraham his Servant and he brought forth his People with joy and his Chosen with gladness And there was need of some recovering Dispensation because of those defections that had been from under the Grace and Covenant made with Abraham If you look back a little unto Abrahams Dispensation you will find that some of his Seed fell off viz. Ishmael and Esau And the Seed of Jacob when they were in Egypt they learned too much of their manners It is thought their Calf in Exod. 32. Geneva Note on Exod. 32.4 was made in imitation of the Egyptian Idol Apis which was an Ox They smelled of the Leaven of Egypt where they saw Calves Oxen and Serpents worshipped See Ezek. 23.8 Neither left she her Whoredoms brought from Egypt And what is meant by this is more clearly and expresly held forth Ezek. 20.8 neither did they forsake the Idols of Egypt Josh 24.14 put away the Gods which your Fathers served on the other side of the Flood and in Egypt Hereupon it was time for God to work that he might not lose his People and to put things into some better way And so he brought in another great Dispensation viz. that which was under the Law And as we subdivided the former Dispensation before the Law into three lesser pieces and parcels namely Adams Noahs and Abrahams Dispensation so we must subdivide this also into some lesser pieces This whole Dispensation under the Law may be subdivided into four particulars under each of which there were remarkable Changes made by God in the state of Religion and of his Church and People 1. The Dispensation of the Tabernacle and the Judges 2. The Dispensation of the Temple and the Kingdom 3. That sad Dispensation of Captivity in Babylon 4. The Dispensation of the second Temple after their Return The first these was from Moses to the Temple The second from the Temple to the Captivity in Babylon The third from the Captivity to the Return The fourth from the Return to the Messiah 1. The first part of the Lords Dispensation to his people under the Law was from Moses to the building of the Temple most of which time they were under the Government of Judges What the Lord did for them and how and what he spake what further Discoveries of himself he gave them during this Period you may see in these five particulars 1. The Lord in remembrance of his ancient Promise delivered them out of Egypt with a high Hand and with an outstretched Arm with great Signs and Wonders and Plagues upon Pharaoh and all his Host and all his Land dividing the Sea before them the History of all which is recorded in the Book of Exodus in the first fifteen Chapters of that Book and so often celebrated with triumphing Praises in the Psalms and Prophets who often speak of all his Wonders in the Land of Egypt which it is thought were within two months before their departure and of his dividing the Sea of Edom that his redeemed might pass through upon dry ground All which was a Type of Spiritual Redemption also and therefore it was a Dispensation of much Mystery and Glory 2. He gave them his Law by Word of Mouth from Heaven and in Writing in the Tables of Stone and in the five Books of Moses Both the Moral Judicial and Ceremonial Law The Moral Law The Lord came down upon Mount Sinai in much Majesty and Terror with an Host of Angels and thundred forth with an audible voice from Heaven those
place of Execration by making it the Stage of his Fury and the Field of his Vengeance in hideous Plagues and Judgments For here he destroyed Senacherib with the rest of that blaspheming Army that damning roaring Crew Here an hundred eighty five Thousand of them were slain miraculously and their Carcasses as it seemeth burnt with Fire to prevent annoyance and infection and putrefaction of the Air. Isa 30.31 33. For Tophet is prepared of old And in the same place again in another day of the Lords Fury when he did let loose the Chaldeans upon them the Jews were slain in so great numbers till there was no room left to bury them see Jer. 7.31 32 33. From all which this place came to be the name of Hell as being a place every way execrable and having been made by God the Gate of Hell as it were and the passage to eternal Destruction by so many remarkable Executions of his dreadful and direful displeasure in that place We do not find Gehinnom used in the Old Testament for the name of Hell as the Learned have observed But Hell got that name during the time of the second Temple the forementioned grounds and occasions of the name being not till about that time in being Mede Disc 7. pag. 41. and accordingly the name is to be found in the Jewish Writers of that time and was used by our Saviour as a name then vulgarly known among the Jews You see then what Types of Hell they had under the Old Testament namely the Deluge Sodom Egypt and Tophet You have heard also that they had five Types of Rome to wit Sodom Egypt Jericho Edom and Babylon These were typical presignifications of Gospel Enemies and Gospel Vengeance And now I have gone through these Occasional Types whether things or actions whether typical mercies or typical vengeance That which next remains is those perpetual standing Types which the Scripture calls everlasting Statutes For besides these Occasional Types which were exhibited in a transient way and did exist but for a time they had also other Types that were of a more enduring nature and did continue to the end of that Old Testament Dispensation namely the whole Ceremonial Law whereof we shall speak hereafter the Lord assisting THE GOSPEL OF THE PERPETUAL TYPES June 4 and 7 1668. Heb. 10.1 For the Law having a shadow of good things to come and not the very Image of the things c. SOme entrance and progress hath been made upon the Types You have heard Beloved what a Type is The nature of it hath been opened from Rom. 5.14 We have distributed them into two Sorts Personal and Real which distribution will carry us through this whole Subject The Personal Types we have gone through as briefly as we could instancing both in several individual Persons both before the Law and under the Law and in typical Ranks and Orders of men which were destined and ordained of God to represent and shadow forth him that was to come The Real Types we have also begun to speak unto and we distributed them into two sorts Occasional and Perpetual Occasional Types are such as God gave them upon special Occasions the most of them before the ordinary and perpetual ones were settled Such as the Pillar of Cloud and Fire Manna the Brazen Serpent their passing through the Red Sea and other such like occasional and extraordinary Dispensations of which we spoke from 1 Cor. 10.11 All these things happened unto them in Types By the perpetual Types we intend such as God by institution settled and stated in that Church to the end of that Age of that whole Old Testament Dispensation till the coming of Christ the Truth Substance and Scope of them Of these we are now to speak as the Lord shall enable us it is the Scripture Phrase it calleth them perpetual Statutes or everlasting Statutes The Phrase is first used as I remember in reference to Circumcision which is called Berith Yolam a perpetual Covenant Gen. 17.7 8. Afterwards we have it again concerning the Passover Exod. 12.14 17. which is there called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Statutum saeculi an everlasting Statute See likewise Exod. 27.21 and 28.43 A Statute for ever and 29.9 A perpetual Statute so Levit. 3.17 and 24.9 An everlasting Statute Levit. 16 34. And indeed this Phrase of Speech doth occur between twenty and thirty times in the Books of Moses It shall be a perpetual Statute or an everlasting Statute or a Statute for ever throughout your Generations that is a standing Type and not meerly transient and occasional Only there hath been some mistake and misunderstanding of this Phrase which must be cleared before we leave it The unbelieving Jews have seemed to interpret and understand it concerning an absolute Eternity which hath been one occasion or pretence alledged by them for their stumbling at Christ and at the Gospel because he hath removed and taken away the Law of Ceremonies But besides many other things that might be said to shew the weakness and folly of their pretence in this matter I shall but note these two things 1. That this word for ever is often used in Scripture for a limited duration As for instance it is used for duration till the year of Jubilee Exod. 21.6 He shall be a servant for ever that is only till the year of Jubilee in case he lived so long For then he was to go free by vertue of that Law Levit. 25.13 28 40 41. Sometimes it is used for a continuance during life As 1 Sam. 1.22 that he may appear before the Lord and there abide for ever Explained vers 28. Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord as long as he liveth Sometimes it is used for duration to the end of the Old Testament Dispensation For all the Land which thou seest to thee will I give it and to thy Seed for ever Gen. 13.15 The Land given to thy Seed for ever which cannot be Interpreted concerning an unlimited Eternity unless they will say that God hath broke his Promise for they have been Ejected and cast forth of that Land these sixteen hundred years 1 King 8.13 I have surely built thee an house to dwell in a settled place for thee to abide in for ever Psal 132.14 This is my rest for ever here will I dwell for I have desired it He doth not dwell nor manifest his presence there now but God hath given them up to invincible perversness and darkness and prejudice in this particular 2. There be manifest intimations in the Old Testament that these Ceremonial Laws were not to continue always but to cease and be abolished in the fulness of time Jer. 3. They shall say no more the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. Jer. 31. Not according to the Covenant that I made with their Fathers but this shall be the Covenant I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts c. But
so much for the explication of this Distinction of the Types into Occasional and Perpetual You see the true sense and meaning of it and what clear Scripture ground there is for it These perpetual Types or everlasting Statutes are no other but that which we call the Law of Moses or the Ceremonial Law whereof this Text speaks and lays down this Proposition Doct. That the Law hath a shadow of future good things but not the very Image of the things themselves The same thing is asserted and held forth though in other words but to the same scope and sense in other Scriptures As Rom. 10.4 Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth Joh. 1.17 The Law came by Moses that is the Law as opposed to Grace and Truth but Grace and Truth by Jesus Christ Truth here is not opposed to falshood for Moses spake no lyes but to Shadows and shadowy Promises and so the truth of them is the performance or accomplishment of them in opposition to the bare shadow and typical Promise of them And this is called Grace because there is so much of that in the Gospel and so little of it but on the contrary much of rigor and terror in the Law of Moses So the sense amounts to thus much That Moses delivered Law that is Shadows and Ceremonies which were but legal and dark and rigorous but Christ brought in Grace and Truth that is the real and sweet accomplishment and performance of all the good that Moses had promised in that dark and low and legal way which is consonant to that we have here in the Text that the Law hath the shadow but not the very Image of the things themselves Here be Four things to be cleared 1. What is meant by the Law 2. What by these future good things 3. What by the Shadow which the Law hath and the very Image of them which the Law wanted 4. What are the particular several parts of this Law of Ceremonies these perpetual or everlasting Statutes Quest 1. What is here meant by the Law Ans A Law is a rule of Acting given by a Superior who hath Authority and Power of commanding to his Inferior this is the general nature of a Law God therefore being the supreme Lord and absolute Sovereign over all his Creatures is the Great Law-giver James 4.12 There is one Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy All those to whom God commits Power over others may be said to give Laws to them except ordinary Officers in the Church whom he hath intrusted no further but only with the execution of his Laws promulgated and recorded by himself by his extraordinary Officers in the written Word But Magistrates may be said to be Legislators as to Civil Laws of whom Moses was the first that delivered Laws in Writing to the People under him which he received from the Mouth of God Now the Laws delivered by Moses are referred in the Scripture to three Heads Moral Ceremonial and Judicial which are expressed by three words Thorah or Mitsvah Chuquim and Mishpatim which words are sometimes used and put together in the Scripture to signifie these three sorts of Laws Deut. 6.1 Mitsvah Chuquim and Mishpatim the same words Deut. 26.17 see Ezra 7.10 Mal. 4.4 Thorah Asher Tsivithi the Law which I commanded The first sort of Laws viz. Moral respects them as Men the second as a Church the third as a Common-Wealth The first sort viz. the Moral Laws are still in force and binding unto all men in all Ages The third sort viz. Judicial Laws are of a mixt nature some being Hedges as it were and Fences to the Moral Law and some to the Ceremonial and so they participate of the nature of those Laws to whose defence they serve The Judicials that serve to the defence of the Moral Law have something of moral equity and reason in them and so are still in force As that he that sheds mans blood by man shall his blood be shed this is a Fence which God hath set about the sixth Commandment and so remains in force in all Nations to all times and Ages unto this day But others of these Judicials are set as Fences about the Ceremonial Law and so must needs be fallen together with it Now the Law of which the Text speaks it is not the Moral nor the Judicial as such but the Ceremonial Law of Moses called Ephes 2.15 the Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances and Col. 2.14 the Hand writing of Ordinances This Text cannot intend the Moral Law for that had no shadow of Gospel benefits nor the Judicial Law as such for part of it was an Appendix to the Moral Law and the other part was only for the defence of the Ceremonies But the Ceremonial Law is here intended for that was of a shadowy nature it had a shadow of good things to come Quest 2. What are these future good things Ans It is the good things of the Gospel which may be said to be future upon a double account 1. Future in respect of the Law and Old Testament times 2. Future in respect of this life So future good things is eternal good things Calvin in loc see 1 Joh. 3.2 It doth not yet appear what we shall be Though we have the foretastes and beginnings of them already yet the perfection of them is future reserved in Heaven for us Quest 3. What is meant by the shadow of these future benefits And what by the very image of the things themselves Ans In a word a Shadow here is a dark and weak resemblance and representation of things But the very Image of the things themselves is a clearer and better representation of them The Apostle useth this Metaphor of a shadow concerning the Mosaical Ceremonies Col. 2.17 In opposition to Christ the body and substance thereof Here he opposeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alluding as it seemeth to the rude draught and first delineation of a Picture by the Painter and to the full perfection thereof when drawn forth in all its Lineaments and Colours and whole Proportion So the Shadow is the first rude Draught The Image is a more lively and exact representation So the dark Shadow is ascribed to the Law The more lively Image to the Gospel The things themselves are in Heaven So some Interpreters carry it Vid. Mayer Calvin in loc And the Apostle hath some expressions looking that way in other Scriptures as when he saith that here we see but in a Glass darkly that is the Glass of Gospel Administrations wherein we see the lively Image and Picture as it were of Christ crucified Gal. 3.1 2. Cor. 3.18 see as in a Glass He is there comparing the Law and the Gospel But in heaven we shall see face to face see 1 Cor. 13.12 Under the Law they had no more but the Shadow but now under the Gospel we have the very Image we
way of Retribution for mercies received Lev. 7.11 12. of which Psal 107.22 And let them sacrifice the Sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoycing Heb. 13.15 By him therefore let us offer the Sacrifice of praise to God continually acknowledging Christ in all our mercies 2. Another end of the Peace-Offerings was for the impetration or obtaining of mercies wanted either in the way of a Vow or a Freewil-Offering Lev. 7.16 Judg. 20.26 The Tribes in their Fast for obtaining victory against the Benjamites offered Peace-Offerings in the way of a Freewil-Offering Psal 56.12 Thy Vows are upon me O God I will render praises unto thee Or I will pay confessions unto thee that is he would in a way of praise offer the Peace-Offerings that he had vowed So Jonah 2.9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving I will pay that I have vowed Salvation is of the Lord. Gen. 28.20 21 22. The tenth of all that God should give him Jacob vowed to give to God that is as a Peace-Offering The difference between a Vow and a Freewil-Offering was only this That in the Freewil-Offering they did present the thing it self unto the Lord but in a Vow they did first promise it being it may be not in a capacity to perform it at that time As Jonah in the Whales belly and then when the deliverance was bestowed and the Prayer heard and granted they paid their Vows unto the Lord. Hence some have thus referred and compared these three sorts of Offerings hitherto described and directed in this Book That as the Burnt-Offering Cap. 1. principally figured our Reconciliation to God by the death of Jesus Christ and the Meat-Offering Cap. 2. had a special respect to our Sanctification in him before God so this Peace-Offering signified both Christs Oblation of himself whereby he became our Peace and our Salvation and likewise our Oblation of Praise Thanksgiving and Prayer unto God in the midst of our troubles temptations and spiritual conflicts which we fight by Faith in this world so that in this Sacrifice we come boldly to the Throne of Grace that we may receive Mercy and find Grace to help in time of need as Heb. 4.16 Therefore some have noted that this Sacrifice of Peace-Offering was often added under the Law to other sorts of Sacrifices Because beside the expiation of sin by the Blood of Christ there must be an effectual application of the atonement in a way of actual communion with God in a way of grace and peace through Jesus Christ Christ doth not only procure peace for us but Communicate and apply it to us Here was an actual Participation and an exercise of mutual Communion between God and the Priest and the Offerers feasting together Quest What were the times and seasons when they offered and were to offer Peace Offerings Ans They were either Occasional or more stated The Occasional times were either 1. in thanksgiving or 2. as Vows or 3. as Freewil-Offerings which were formerly spoken to The more stated times are such as these 1. At the Consecration of the Priests One of the Rams is called a Peace Offering Exod. 29.28 And at the first Consecration of Aaron and his Family Lev. 9.4 Also a Bullock and a Ram for Peace Offerings to sacrifice before the Lord. 2. At the expiration of a Nazaretical Vow Numb 6.14 One Lamb without blemish for a Peace Offering 3. At the Dedication of the Tabernacle Each of the twelve Princes of the twelve Tribes of Israel brought for a Sacrifice of Peace Offerings two Oxen five Rams five Hee Goats of the first year Numb 7.17 So at the Dedication of the Temple by Solomon 1 King 8.62 63. Solomon offered a Sacrifice of Peace-Offerings which he offered unto the Lord two and twenty thousand Oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand Sheep 4. In the Feast of First Fruits Two Lambs of the first year for a Sacrifice of Peace-Offerings Lev. 23.19 As for the Offerings at the Purification of a Leper the two Birds Lev. 14. It differs so much from the ordinary Rule of the Peace-Offerings that it cannot well be annumerated to them but it was a peculiar Sacrifice of Purification of which we shall speak hereafter So likewise the Passover Lamb. Exod. 12. though Eucharistical yet cannot well be reduced to the Peace Offerings or to any of the six ordinary kinds but was indeed a peculiar Sacrifice having other Rites than what belonged to the Peace Offering 3. The matter of the Peace Offering it was either of the Herd or of the Flock either of the bigger or of the lesser sort of Cattel either Lambs or Goats There was no Peace-Offering of Fowls as there was of Turtle Doves and young Pigeons in the Burnt-Offering The reason whereof is thought to be because this was to be divided amongst so many to God and the Priest and the Offerers but in Birds being so small this division could not so conveniently be made Moreover it must be without blemish and this was required before in the Burnt-Offering and indeed in all their Sacrifices And finally the Peace Offering it might be either Male or Female which was otherwise in the Law of the Burnt-Offering that was to be Males only Cap 1.3 This Interpreters do apply spiritually to the estate of the Church in Christ in whom there is neither Male nor Female Gal. 3.28 He that accepteth a Female in his Sacrifice doth not exclude Women from his Service they are not excluded from his Love and therefore should not count themselves freed from his Law It was a good speech of a Woman that was a Martyr Jesus Christ suffered as much for the redeeming of our Souls as he did for Men and therefore why should not we have as much courage as they to suffer for him God is no Respecter of persons 4. The Rites and Ceremonies of the Peace-Offering they were of two sorts 1. Common unto this with other Offerings 2. Peculiar to the Peace-Offerings As to the former sort there be five sacred Ceremonies required here which were mentioned before in the Burnt-Offering Cap. 1. and accordingly were there explained As 1. It must be brought to the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation 2. The Owner must lay his hands upon it 3. It must be killed 4. The blood shed and sprinkled upon the Altar round about 5. Burning it upon the Altar all which having been explained before when we were upon the Burnt-Offering We may now proceed to the second sort viz. 2. Such Rites as are here first mentioned as having some peculiar respect to the Sacrifice of Peace-Offerings Now these may be reduced to four Heads 1. The division of it into three parts namely between God and the Priest and the people 2. The limitation of time for eating the Priests and peoples part to wit upon the same day or the next 3. The addition of Leaven 4. The prohibition of fat and blood These are the sacred Rites
and Thummim therefore that way of Oracular Consultation was ceased Reas 3. If there was any mystery in the Vrim and Thummim they must needs be Materials for we must not separate and take away the outward sign from the thing signified in the Types no more then in the Sacraments This is the sin and error of the Papists in the Lords Supper whereby they do destroy the true nature of the Sacrament But those that seem to scruple whether the Urim and Thummim were any new Materials added to the Brest-plate do yet inquire and seek after the mystery and meaning of them therefore there was an outward part in this as in all other Types a visible and external sign as well as a spiritual mystery signified and shadowed forth thereby Quest 2. What kind of Materials they were Ans The Vrim and Thummim were not things prepared by the Workmen as the rest of the holy Garments were but some choise and secret Monuments given immediately unto Moses by God himself This appears by this consideration that there is no direction given for the making of them in Exod. 28.30 where all the other Garments are treated of but of these it is only said thou shalt put them in ver 30. and accordingly there is no mention of these in that other Chapter Exod. 39. ver 21 c. where the History of the making all the other Garments is recorded Therefore we may concur with those who say this Ornament was non humano artificio factum sed Divinitus Mosi datum As to any further inquiry we can no more determine the matter of them then we can define what kind of Stones those were on which the Law was written by the Finger of God or what substance the Manna was which was melted by the Sun and hardened by the Fire or of what substance the holy Fire was that came down from Heaven and consumed the Sacrifices Therefore we can go no further in determining the nature of the Vrim and Thummim but that it was some glorious thing given by God to Moses and put into the Pectoral Quest 3. What was the end and use of it Answ To consult with God by it and to receive answers from him about the affairs and concernments of his people Numb 27.21 Joshua must stand before Eleazar the Priest who must ask counsel for him after the Judgment of Vrim before the Lord. Magistrates and Rulers should depend on Christ for teaching and seek direction at his Mouth so David did 1 King 23.9 and again 1 King 30.6 And that this was no unusual thing but frequent and ordinary with him appears 1 King 22.15 where Ahimelechs Apology for himself is Did I now begin to ask of God for him implying that he was formerly wont to do it Quest But how was God wont to answer by it Answ It seems to have been sometimes by audible voice 1 Sam. 23.11 12. Will Saul come down and the Lord said he will will the men of Keilah deliver me into his hand and the Lord said they will Numb 7.89 God spake to Moses by an audible voice and it seems that this was the way that God was ordinarily wont to use with Moses Exod. 33.11 Numb 12.7 8. and Deut. 34.10 Some think Gods speaking by Vrim and Thummim was by the shining of the Stones which did appear bright if God would have them do the thing of which they inquired but did appear dark if the answer were negative But as there is nothing of this in the Scripture neither could this way answer all kinds of Questions that might be put so it is more probable that God answered by such ways and manners as the Scripture makes mention of either by speaking from off the Mercy-seat with an audible voice to the Priest appearing with Vrim and Thummim before him or else by immediate inspirations and irradiations upon his Spirit the Lord giving an inward revelation of his Will to the Mind of the High Priest thus inquiring of him Quest 4. Now if you ask what did this Oracular dispensation by the Vrim and Thummim signifie and represent Answ The words Vrim and Thummim signifie Lights and Perfections The mystery and meaning of them you may see in four particulars 1. Some interpret them thus Vrim or Lights that is clearness of Apprehension and Thummim Perfections that is exact and perfect Judgment Those two great parts of the Wisdom of God in the frame of Reason where there is a conjunction of both these excellencies in the height of them this is the highest degree of Reason This is Angelical and Seraphick Understanding Some men are slow and dull of Apprehension a man cannot beat things into them Luke 24.25 O slow and dull of heart to understand Some that have Wit enough and are apprehensive enough yet they cannot judge of what they see of what their mind sees and so they call Darkness Light and Light Darkness they call Error Truth and Truth Error Thus some apply it to the two parts of Reason and I would not exclude this as being partly intended because the Scripture speaks of Christ under these notions as quick in discerning and accurate in judging of things Isai 11.3 and Solomon speaks it of his own Sermons that he both sought out here is ready Invention or quick Apprehension and he took heed here is accurate and careful Judgement the other part of Solomons Logick and he set in order many Proverbs here is Method which is the issue and result of both the former as the Cream of the Milk Eccles 12.9 And he took some pains in the Rhetorick too as well as in the Logick in the Oratory as well as in the Reason of things ver 10. the Preacher sought to find out words of delight 2. It may be applied to the two faculties of the Soul in regard of the virtues belonging to the faculties as well as to the two parts of Reason thus That Vrim Lights imports a sound Faith and Thummim Perfections a perfect heart and life For as clear Apprehension and exact Judgment are the two parts of true Reason so Faith and Holiness are the two parts of true Religion You know Light is the excellency of the Mind of a Christian Holiness is the Perfection of his Will Of the former Paul speaks Ephes 1.17 18. that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory may give unto you the spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of him the eyes of your understanding being enlightened c. Of the other Hezekiah speaks Isai 38.3 I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart c. so when Moses prays for the Tribe of Levi and in them for all godly Ministers Deut. 33. Let thy Vrim and thy Thummim be with thy holy ones that is give sound Minds and holy Hearts sound Minds in a quick discerning and exact judging of things and holy Hearts appearing in a holy and good life and conversation 3.
trance but having his eyes open But on the contrary such as were acted by Satan they had their extatical Furies wherein their Minds were so discomposed that they were not compotes sanae mentis As some have written of the Sybils that when after their Prophesyings they came to themselves again they had forgotten what they had said and so could not review and correct what was written from them But it was not so with the Prophets of God John wrote and had Order to write his Apocalypse and so the other Prophets And when those to whom and by whom the Devil spake were not discomposed to such a degree even to fury and Distraction yet they were always debased and brought down below themselves The Lords Prophets were raised above themselves These were depressed even below themselves by dealing with Satan 3. The Prophets and Servants of God had an inward Seal from God of the Truth of what they spake Not unlike that new Name in the white Stone which none could read but he that had it Revel 2.17 Jer. 11.18 They believed and therefore spake 2 Cor. 4.13 See Isai 52.6 My people shall know that I am he that doth speak behold it is I. The true Prophets were no Scepticks they were as sure of what they said that it was the Mind of God as Ministers are now when they preach the Gospel 1. Joh. 1.1 2. On the contrary those by whom Satan spake either knew that they were acted by the Devil as the Witch at Endor Or else were deluded by him to think it was God or else knew not but were uncertain in themselves 4. They had also some of those ordinary Rules of Tryal that we have now As for instance If God confute them by the event Deut. 18.21 22 or if it correspond with the event yet if it be contrary to the Fundamentals of Religion See Deut. 13.1 2 3. Or if they be wicked men on the one side and the Prophets of the Lord on the other This gave some glimmerings of Light to Jehosaphat 1 King 22.7 They were Baalites pretenders indeed to Jehovah but superstitious wretches therefore he could not acquiesce in what they had said Quest 2. Whether these ways of Discovery be now ceased yea or no Answ As to that the Text is plain enough That instead of all those divers manners used by God of old he hath now substituted instead thereof this one and only way of revealing himself viz. in and by his Son And his Son speaks by his Word and Ordinances as also by the Works of his Providence in all which his Spirit breaths Therefore there we are to meet with God and to hear his Voice and there only to expect it These old things are vanished away Some think there be some footsteps of them to this day See a notable Instance of Information by a Dream in the Life of Zuinglius Melch. Adam p. 43. And of a Vision in Melancthon on Daniel 10. 1 But first such things are altogether extraordinary the Lord goes out of his ordinary course when he doth such things they are not the standing ways that God hath appointed under the Gospel therefore they are not to be expected or trusted to 2. They are only to be regarded in the way of a Providence not in the way of an Ordinance and to be tryed and judged by the Matter of them as agreeing or disagreeing with the Scripture As if a man in a Dream have some Duty some Scripture-truth brought to him he is to observe and accept the Providence of God in it Or if he find a strong impulse or motion of the Spirit in his Heart whereby some Truth or Duty is strongly impress'd and set upon his Heart Let him examine it by the Scripture and if the Scripture say it is a Duty he is to look at that internal motion and impression as a motion of the Spirit of God else not Vse 1. See the variety of Gods Wisdom and Goodness to his people that he hath so many ways revealed himself to them Vse 2. We may see something of the lowness of that legal Dispensation from this which hath been said that the Lord spake in such divers manners Vse 3. Bless God for the days wherein we live and for the Dispensation we are under It is much clearer and better For it is by his Son speaking by his Word working and breathing by his Spirit The Light shines much clearer We see that which many Kings and Prophets and righteous men have desired to see and have not seen as Matth. 13.17 Luke 10.24 Christ spake it to his Disciples then but it holds true concerning all the Saints under the New Testament It is true there was a Cloud of Antichristian Darkness did arise which did exceedingly obscure Gospel-light But that Cloud was never so dark but that the Elect of God did see through it in some measure Moreover the Lord hath begun to dispel and scatter those Clouds of Antichristian Darkness and will in time scatter them from off the face of the earth 2. We are now to speak to the second Word these divers times Having shewed the divers Manners of the Lords speaking to his people of old we are now to shew the divers Times or seasons wherein he did it For he spake not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by piece-meal not all at once but here a little and there a little first one piece of his Mind was discovered at one time then another piece at another time first a little Light brake forth some darker hints and intimations then further and clearer Discoveries and Manifestations by degrees In the opening of this we shall have occasion to run through some general heads of the History of the Church throughout the Scripture till the coming of Jesus Christ And it is an Inquiry both useful and profitable and also pleasant and delightful to an inquisitive Mind to view the several states of Religion and of the Church of God in the several ages of the World Under every one of which we shall have occasion to take notice both of Gods Manifestations and of mens Departures from the Lord and from the Truth That we may see the occasion of every new Discovery they departed and destroyed themselves and then the Lord appeared again in recovering Dispensations Now these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these several pieces and parcels of the Lords Discoveries and Manifestations of himself may be referred to two general heads 1. Before the Law 2. Under the Law These were the two great pieces of it and the Scripture takes notice of them both Of that Dispensation that was before the Law from Adam to Moses as the Apostle speaks Rom. 5.14 Death reigned from Adam to Moses Of the Dispensation under the Law our Saviour speaks Matth. 11.13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John again Luk. 16.16 the Law and the Prophets were until John The difference between
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