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
Sword should never depart from his House Solomon was left to the toleration of the publick exercise of Idolatry for which God rent away the Ten Tribes from his Posterity all which came to pass as for other causes so for the Sins of the People As it said in a lesser transgression of David 2 Sam. 24.1 And the Anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel and he moved David against them to say Go number Israel and Judah 2. The ten Tribes under Jeroboam forsook the Temple and the House of David which though as to Gods Providence it was a righteous Judgment yet on their part it was a grievous sin it was a complicated Sin many Sins involved in the bowels of it for it was both Rebellion and Schism and Heresie Rebellion against their lawful Prince Schism from the true Church and Worship yea fundamental Heresie For as they say Look to thy House O David so in rejecting Davids House they reject the Messiah who was to come of him 2 Chron. 10.16 3. There were continual Backslidings to Idolatry even in Judah as well as Israel yea when they saw the Ten Tribes carried away before their eyes for this Sin yet the other would not take warning and reform Ezek. 23.10 11 Aholah signifies a Tent this was the House of Israel who were a corrupt Church Aholibah signifies my Tent is in her this was Judah which were the true Church of God but they declined and departed from God so far that he sent them away to Babylon 3. And so we come to the third Dispensation under the Law namely the time of their Captivity and Bondage under the Yoke of Babylon There were three Deportations 1. Jehoiakims in whose time Daniel was carried captive 2. Jechoniahs in whose time Ezekiel was carried captive 3. Zedekiahs in whose time Jeremiah was carried captive They had now an experimental knowledg of the truth of all Gods Threatnings Yet during the time of this Affliction the Lord did not cast off his care of them but gave forth many Evidences of his unchangeable Love and Faithfulness toward them under this sad Dispensation 1. In that he did preserve them from utter Destruction yet not leave them altogether unpunished not make a full end of them Jer. 30.10 11. He restrained the Enemy from wholly rooting out the Nation Psal 106.46 gave them Favour in the sight of them that carried them captive 2. In that he did convince them and left an everlasting Conviction in the Heart of that people against the grosser sort of Idolatry such an indelible Conviction as hath never been blotted out to this day Insomuch that their great stumbling Block at this day against the Christian Religion is the Idolatry of the Popish Christians For the poor blind Jews consider the Christian Religion no otherwise but as corrupted with those Antichristian Abominations and Idolatries and therefore their Conversion and Return is not to be expected till Antichrist that great stumbling Block be removed out of the way Yea 3. The Lord gave them further and glorious Discoveries by raising up excellent Prophets to them as Ezekiel Daniel Jeremy some part of his Prophesies were after the beginning of their Captivity and Bondage to the Babylonians This sad afflictive Dispensation continued about seventy years Jer. 29.10 4. The fourth and last of all the Old Testament Dispensations is that of the second Temple from the time of their Return out of Babylon till the Messiahs coming And herein there are these remarkable passages 1. The Lord breaks the Yoke of Babylon that his people might be delivered by the Hand of Cyrus prophesied of by name some hundred years before his Birth Isai 44.28 And as they were carried away at several times so they returned also at several times and by degrees First Zerubbabel Ezra 1. and a great company with him afterwards Ezra Ezr. 7.1 after these things Lastly Nehemiah 2. They built the Temple and the City of God again Ezr. 3. Nehem. 1 and 2. They met with many Difficulties and Obstructions in the Work but yet at last it was done both begun and finished by Zerubbabel Zach. 4. in forty six years Joh. 2.20 Dan. 9.25 seven weeks that is forty nine years viz. from the Edict of Cyrus after which we may well allow one year of preparation for their Journy another year for their Journy and a third year for preparing Materials for the Temple wherein David and Solomon spent so many years And if we deduct three out of forty nine the remainder will be but forty six as Joh. 2.20 It wanted somewhat of its former Glory as to the Structure thereof the old men wept to see how much Zerubbabels Temple fell short of Solomons Temple in Ezr. 3.12 As to the Utensils belonging to it the Ark was wanting with the things contained in it the two Tables of Stone the Rod of Aaron the Pot of Manna also the extraordinary and miraculous tokens of Gods Presence as Fire from Heaven c. The Lord would have them now to be more spiritual to see his Presence by Faith when they could not see it with their eyes Yet Haggai saith it had a greater Glory that is in regard of the Messiahs bodily presence in it which Solomons Temple never had 3. They renewed their Covenant with God Nehem. 9. ult and cap. 10. you have the Articles of this solemn League and Covenant 4. The Lord guides them to the reforming of sundry Corruptions which had crept in amongst them and raiseth them up to an higher pitch of Reformation than ever Gross Idolatry they forsook that for ever of which we spake before The Preaching of the Word was restored and renewed among them Neh. 8 1-8 strengthened by the prophesying of Haggai and Zachary Ezr. 5.1 And the Histories of the Church in those times report also how there was great care to get true and perfect Copies of the Scripture and to review the Copies they had And hither as I suppose belongs that famous work of the Punctation of the Hebrew Consonants Much Dispute there is among learned men about it That it is of a Divine Original and Authority is unquestionable if we do but grant the Divine Authority of the Scripture For otherwise the Sense will be vagus incertus wandring and uncertain Some think it was as ancient as the first Invention of Letters which is referred to Moses But if we suppose that Writing as all other useful Arts are usually was brought to perfection by degrees and that the Consonants might suffice while it was a Mother tongue of so great a People and they in such a flourishing condition not oppressed nor mingled with other People and Languages yet possibly the Points might be added afterwards For when they fell under the Yoke of strangers this help became necessary to be added The Lord therefore did by Ezra and others who were divinely inspired now at least add them For to refer it to an humane Original is to overthrow
shall bite them and upon occasion of their ungrateful murmurings against the Manna Numb 21.5 The Instruction we may learn and see in it is this That God le ts loose those fiery Serpents Satan and their Lusts to sting the Consciences and torment the Souls of Men for contempt of Christ and Gospel mercies When Manna hath been slighted when Christ is offered and rejected then the Serpent stings Psal 81.11 12. Because Israel would none of me therefore I gave them up to their own hearts lusts Have you never felt the truth of this Type by woful experience how sin hath raged and gotten more strength when the Gospel hath been slighted and offers of Grace despised So much of the Disease the deadly sting of these fiery Serpents for their murmurings Now 2. for the Remedy The Brazen Serpent That Christ is this Brazen Serpent himself declares Joh. 3. 1. It was made of Brass and in the shape and form of a Serpent yet not a real Serpent It was not made of Gold but only of Brass which though it be a strong and bright Mettal yet was contemptible in outward appearance and most unlikely to have attained such an end to work such a cure So is Christ strong and mighty and bright and glorious Rev. 1.15 16. The brightness of his Fathers glory Heb. 1.3 Yet a man and the Son of man Therefore low and mean in his outward appearance and despised of the world Christ crucified is to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness but to them that are saved the wisdom of God and the power of God 1 Cor. 1.23 24. Yea he condescended to appear in the similitude of sinful flesh for so the Apostle most accurately expresseth it Rom. 8.3 He was counted a sinner but he was indeed without sin Heb. 4.15 As this brazen Serpent was like a Serpent yet had neither Venom nor Sting so Christ appeared like a sinner He came in the likeness of sinful flesh and yet knew no sin 2 Cor. 5.21 But though he was not sinful yet he was indeed under the curse due to sin as the Serpent was cursed Gen. 3. So Christ became a curse for us Gal. 3.13 2. This brazen Serpent was a Remedy and a Cure provided of God in meer Grace and sovereign Mercy for ungrateful and unworthy Rebels when some of them were stung to death and ready to perish for their contempt of Manna and others of them were dead and gone and past recovery for the same sin It was against the merit of their murmurings when they spake against him and against Moses in like manner doth God give his Son Jesus Christ of free and meer grace when we were enemies without and against our merit when so great a part of mankind perisheth without him in their own rebellions and especially for their contempt of the Gospel Joh. 3.16 God so loved the world it was a most intense love to give his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him might not perish but have eternal life 3. The Serpent must be lifted up upon a Pole Numb 21. That all Israel might see it whether near or further off so Christ was lifted up Joh. 3.14 As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness even so must the Son of man be lifted up that is upon the Cross Joh. 12.32 33. And I if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me This he spake signifying what death he should die And in the preaching of the Gospel in the sight of all men Gal. 3.1 Before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified among you Both to those that are near and farr of Ephes 2.17 4. This brazen Serpent must be also looked upon by the Israelites when stung Numb 21.8 So must Christ by the eye of Faith Joh. 3.15 Faith is often expressed unto us by that Metaphor of looking Look unto me all ye ends of the earth and be saved Isa 45.22 Isa 65.1 I said behold me behold me Faith looks with a fixed eye and with a mourning eye A mans Spirit is much seen and doth much discover it self by his eye 5. In this way it gave healing unto those that being stung did look upon it whom nothing else could heal Moses and his Law could not do it Numb 21.8 So Christ Mal. 4.2 Vnto you that fear my Name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing under his wings Psal 103 who healeth all thy diseases And none but he can do it Act. 4.12 There is no healing of a wounded Conscience but by Jesus Christ alone as lifted up upon the Cross and beheld by the eye of Faith The brazen Serpents being lifted up was not enough but it must be looked upon so Christ must be believed on or else the soul cannot be healed Ignorant Souls that see not Christ or that despise him shall not be saved by him as if any of the people had said what virtue can there be in such a brazen Serpent to health and so would not look up to it Such they deservedly perish so do Unbelievers and Despisers under the Gospel Though they were but weak and dim-eyed blear-eyed dim-sighted c. yet looking up to the brazen Serpent they were healed so though Faith be weak yet being sincere it saveth Though in the utmost parts of the Camp some say it took up twelve myles Yet look unto me all the ends of the earth and be saved Isa 45.22 6. The brazen Serpent retained this virtue only while instituted by God for that end and therefore when the sacred Stamp of Institution was taken off we read no more of any Miracles wrought by it and Hezekiah brake it in pieces 2. Kings 18.4 Now this part of the History cannot be fitly accommodated to Christ himself but to his Ordinances thus That the very same things and actions which are good and useful when God appoints them are useless yea abominable if there be no stamp of Institution upon them Thus we may fitly apply it because the Types as hath been said relate to all Gospel Truths and the same Truth shines forth in all the rest of those ancient Types and Shadows The Lord then appointed ministring Garments for his Priests and Ministers but for Ministers to use sacred Vestments now is unlawful and abominable The Lord then appointed a kind of legal Hierarchy and spiritual Supremacy of the High Priest over all the rest of the Priests and Levites they were to act by the appointment of Aaron and his Sons Numb 4.19 But for one Gospel Minister to claim a supremacy of Jurisdiction over another Gospel Minister within his own Charge or Congregation This is that for which we justly call the Pope Antichrist The Lord then appointed the Feast of Tabernacles and the Passover and Pentecost But for us to keep these Feasts now under the names of Christmas Easter or Whitsuntide or the like as the Pope hath taught us to do it is a farr
of the Light that shines there and now in other respects by the Shew-bread The analogy to this appears in four things 1. In that as many Grains make up one Loaf so many Believers make up one Church 1 Cor. 10.17 for we being many are one Bread and one Body for we are all partakers of that one Bread One person is not a Church how few and how small a number the Church may be reduced unto we need not here dispute In Noahs time they were reduced to 8 persons The first Church and the beginning and foundation of the Church in all after times was when God himself preached the Gospel to our first Parents in Paradise and then Adam and Eve and their Seed were the Church of God There must be divers there must be more then one to make up a Church 2. The analogy appears in the number for as there were twelve Tribes of Israel so there were twelve Loaves These twelve Tribes were often and divers ways represented as by the twelve Stones in the Brest-plate of the High Priest Exod. 28.21 and by the twelve Stones which Joshua did pitch in Jordan and the other twelve which he took out of Jordan and pitched them in Gilgal for a memorial of the 12 Tribes passing thorough Josh 4.9 20. so Canaan was divided into twelve parts that people coming of twelve Patriarchs to which answers the twelve Apostles of the New Testament and the new Jerusalem is built upon those twelve Foundations Rev. 21.14 so in these twelve Loaves there is the like mystery they represented both the Old and the New-Testament-Israel 3. These Loaves were to stand before the Lord all the week upon the Golden Table This was the chief action about them and which holds forth the principal scope of the Institution therefore called Panis facierum or Propositionis Matth. 12.4 which our Translators have fitly rendred Shew-bread The Apostles phrase is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the meaning is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Lev. 24.6 thou shalt set them upon the pure Table before the Lord. This signified his continual eye and care over his people they are never out of his sight never out of mind his eye and his thoughts are continually upon them from one end of the week to another Isai 49.16 behold I have graven thee upon the Palms of mine Hands and thy Walls are continually before me Though he seems to forsake and forget them yet he remembers them still Jer. 31.20 for since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my Bowels are troubled for him 4. There is Frankincense set upon the Loaves and offered up for a memorial before the Lord Lev. 24 7. This speaks the Lords remembrance of them with acceptance for the Incense made a sweet smell a savour of rest A man may remember a thing with hatred and abhorrence but the Lords remembrance of his people is with dearest affection with everlasting loving kindness he hath a precious remembrance of them These twelve Loaves the twelve Tribes of Israel are by Faith in Christ a sweet odour to him as 2 Cor. 2.15 And as the Lords eye is over upon them so should theirs be to the Lord and that continually See Psal 123.1 2. As the Lord saith of the Angels Matth. 18.10 they do always behold the Face of my Father which is in Heaven so the Saints even here below they should set the Lord alway before them And this is Happiness and Heaven begun 1 Kings 10.8 happy are thy Men happy are thy Servants which stand continually before thee and that hear thy Wisdome The Lords eye upon them in a way of constant care and love and their eye upon him in a way of continual dependance This is a blessed condition Thus you see the first mystery of the Shew-bread how it was a Type of the Church 2. A second mystery of the Shew-bread is the Food and spiritual Provision that is in the Church of God that is Christ in the Word and Ordinances The Word is compared to Bread Amos 6.11 False Doctrine to leavened or sowred Bread Matth. 16.12 It hath the properties of Bread Psal 104.15 Bread which strengtheneth mans heart ver 16. the staff of Bread This Bread is Christ He is the Bread of Life as Joh. 6.48 Christ is typified also by the Manna and the Golden Pot thereof reserved in the Holy of Holies But some distinguish the mystery of these two Types thus That the Manna in the Oracle was the Type of Christ personal this Bread upon the Table in the Sanctuary was a Type of Christ doctrinal or Christ in the Word opened and applied to hungry Souls The analogy will appear further in these particulars 1. They were to set the Shew-bread upon the Golden Table in the Sanctuary every Sabbath Lev. 24.8 Every Sabbath shall he set it in order before the Lord continually that is in the Sanctuary which was a Type of the Church This then speaks thus much That the Ministers of the Gospel are to set Christ the Bread of Life as it were upon the Table every Lords day There is and ought to be a weekly provision of this Food in the House of God every Sabbath As every week there was new Bread so Christ is to be afresh held forth 2. The Priests were to feed upon this all the week after Lev. 24.9 And it shall be Aarons and his Sons and they shall eat it in the holy place so in the Church they that hear the Word and have Christ preached and held forth therein should live all the week long upon the Provision that is made upon the Sabbath Then the Bread is set before Lord but in the week time it is eaten It is a great neglect when the Bread is not eaten when the Word is not digested meditated fed upon But people think it is enough to come to some good Meeting and there to hear the Word But do you eat it and feed upon it all the week do you meditate and ruminate upon it 3. None but the Priests were to eat the Shew-bread It shall be Aarons and his Sons and they shall eat it Lev. 24.9 though in an extraordinary case others might as when David and his Men did to save their Lives in hunger 1 Sam. 21.6 which Christ allows and justifies Matth. 12.3 4. for ceremonial Rules must give place to Moral God will have mercy rather then Sacrifice But the ordinary Rule was none but Priests were to eat the Shew-bread And who are spiritual Priests under the Gospel All Believers they are a royal Priesthood 1 Pet. 2.9 This then teacheth us that none but Believers have a right unto Christ and to the Promises and do or can feed upon him Unbelievers do but intrude and usurp that which is none of theirs when they challenge a part in him They are but Dogs that snatch at Childrens Bread 4. It is the Priests that set this Bread in the Sanctuary and they eat it We may
1668. Coloss 2.16 17. Let no man therefore judge you in Meat or in Drink or in respect of an Holy day or of the New Moon or of the Sabbath-days Which are a shadow of things to come but the Body is of Christ THere are three Doctrines in the words 1. That the Jewish Holy days are of three sorts or may be referred to three general heads Feast days New Moons and Sabbaths 2. That these their holy seasons were shadows of things to come but the Body is of Christ 3. Therefore no Christian should suffer any man to judg him or condemn him for not observing these Jewish times and seasons We are endeavouring to open the substance of these shadows and what were those things to come those things about Jesus Christ and the Gospel which were shadowed forth in them We began first with their Holy days or their Feast days that is their annual Festivals whereof we heard they had five 1. The Passover 2. Pentecost 2. The Feast of Tabernacles 4. The Feast of Trumpets 5. The Feast of Expiation These three the Passover Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles were the three great Festivals which were more solemn then the rest because then all the Males of Israel were to assemble together out of the whole Nation and to appear before the Lord in the place that he should choose in a general Church Assembly We heard something that these things pointed to The Passover did point them to the Death and Sufferings of Jesus Christ as the true Paschal Lamb who fulfilled this Type even as to the very season and holy time it self for he suffered at the Passover The Pentecost pointed at the time of the effusion of the Holy Ghost after his Ascension The Feast of Tabernacles pointed them to the Birth and Nativity of Jesus Christ when he should come to tabernacle and pitch his Tent in our Nature We heard indeed that this was the time of Christs Birth and not as it is commonly computed to be in December in the depth of Winter It is not like the Shepherds would be watching their Flocks all night then and that Augustus would command his Subjects to travel to their own Cities to be taxed at such a time and that John would choose that time to baptize in There be two more of the Jewish Feasts to be spoken to which were great and solemn Feasts yet not so great as these three because the people were not all bound to come up to Jerusalem to the Temple namely the Feast of Trumpets and the Feast of Expiation they were both in the seventh month as was also the Feast of Tabernacles the Feast of Trumpets on the first day of it the Feast of Expiation on the tenth day and the Feast of Tabernales on the fifteenth day and from thence to the two and twentieth day which is therefore accounted the greatest of all their Feasts being in the seventh month which was also the first in their old account the chiefest of all the months in the year and called by some the Sabbath of months as the seventh day is the Sabbath of days 4. This month began with the Feast of Trumpets which was upon the first day of the seventh month The first Institution of it we have in Lev. 23.23 24 25. and the Lord spake unto Moses saying c. It was celebrated as a Sabbath they were to do no servile work therein This Feast also had its peculiar Sacrifices appointed for it as in Numb 29. the six first verses It was also solemnized with the blowing of Trumpets which being the special Rite of this Festivity it had its Name from thence Here therefore the old legal Musick may fitly be considered this being as it were their Feast of Musick The Institution of these Trumpets we read in Numb 10. the ten first verses mentioned long after as a very solemn Ordinance in Psal 81.3 4 The first mention we have of Musical instruments in the Worship of God is in Exod. 15.20 21. where we read that Miriam used Timbrels and they praised God therewith and they sang the Song of Moses when they were delivered from Pharaoh And Miriam the Prophetess the Sister of Aaron took a Timbrel in her hand and all the Women went out after her with Timbrels and with Dances And Miriam answered them Sing ye to the Lord for he hath triumphed gloriously the Horse and his Rider hath he thrown into the Sea Moses afterwards by order from God appointed these Trumpets to be made and we read of a further increase of such Instruments in after times As to the use and signification of them there be many Gospel Instructions to be considered in this legal shadow we shall mention seven 1. The general scope of them was to signifie and shadow forth the sound of the Gospel the blessed sound of the Gospel which is called the joyful sound Psal 89.15 the Gospel is called glad tidings it is a joyful pleasant sound indeed Hence the Ministers of the Gospel are said to lift up their voice like a Trumpet Isai 58.1 the Tongue of the just is as choise Silver Prov. 10.20 these Trumpets were of Silver the faithful discharge and execution of their Office is expressed by blowing of the Trumpet Hos 8.1 Ezek. 33.3 4 5. it is said in the day when the Jews shall be converted in that day the great Trumpet shall be blown and they shall come which were ready to perish c. Isai 27. last when God shall gather them one by one ye shall be gathered one by one ver 12. in that day the great Trumpet shall be blown c that is saith Calvin the Silver Trumpet of the Gospel to the conviction and conversion of the Jews God will have his Church instructed not by sight only but by voice not by the eye only but by the ear Even under the Law the Lord would not have his people always to look for miraculous and immediate Guidance but they were to order themselves according to the sound of the Trumpet both in War Peace according to the rule of the Word so according to the rules of the Gospel according as that Trumpet sounds so are you to act This is the first namely the joyful sound of the Silver Trumpet of the Gospel 2. The Joys and Graces of the Spirit of God is another thing intimated by this Trumpet and instrument of Musick that spiritual melody of the Joys and Graces of the Holy Ghost in the hearts of Gods people Psal 98.6 with Trumpets and sound of Cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord the King Ephes 5.18 19. There is a melody and joyful voice in the Consciences of Believers the Spirit of God both sanctifying and comforting of them so the Apostle Col. 3.16 Grace and Joy the fruit of Grace so this Musick remains in the Antitype of it the heart-strings of Believers making melody suitable to the profession of their Lips and to the gracious and peaceable
3. The Priest must be free from gross deformities and blemishes though he was subject to common humane infirmities Lev. 21 17. Say unto Aaron whosoever it is that hath any blemish let him not approach to offer Sacrifice for whatsoever man it is that hath any blemish he shall not approach a blind or lame or broken-footed or broken-handed c. he shall not come to offer the Offering of the Lord made by fire he hath a blemish he shall not come nigh to offer the Bread of his God These natural infirmities which the Priests under the Law must be free from taught us the absolute freedom of Jesus Christ from moral infirmities there is no blemish no spot found in him He wants no parts no gifts or sufficiency to discharge his whole Office and Function For such an High Priest becomes us who is holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners and made higher then the Heavens Heb. 7.26 as they were to be free from those natural blemishes and defects so is Jesus Christ free from all sinful defects and blemishes That is a third Rule as to the qualifications of the Priests 4. They must be called unto this Office and must not intrude and thrust themselves into it The Lord said unto Moses take Aaron and his Sons with him from among the people that they may minister unto me in the Priests Office Exod. 28.1 The Apostle applies this also to Jesus Christ Heb. 5.4 5. he doth not take this honour to himself as no man should take the honour of the Priesthood to himself but he that was called as was Aaron so Jesus Christ was called of God the Father to this Office as the Priests were by Moses to their Levitical Ministry Christ glorified not himself to be made High Priest but he that said unto him Thou art my Son 5. The Priest must abstain from the use of Wine and Strong Drink when he is to do the Service of God in the Sanctuary and to minister before the Lord Lev. 10.9 And the Lord spake unto Aaron saying do not drink Wine nor Strong Drink thou nor thy Sons with thee when ye go into the Tabernacle of the Congregation lest he die c. so it is said in Ezek. 44.21 neither shall any Priest drink Wine when they enter into the inner Court The end of this was that they might be sure to administer and execute their Office aright lest they drink and forget the Law Prov. 31.5 lest they should err through Wine and be out of the way through Strong drink and stumble in Judgment Isai 28.7 Whoredom and Wine and new Wine take away the heart Hos 4.11 Thus they were to abstain from the use of Wine and Strong drink This represents that undisturbed Sobriety and Wisdom of Jesus Christ in the whole execution of his Office as the great High Priest of his Church He was never forgetful of or unready for any part of his Office but he had clearness of Judgment and Wisdom at all times So the Ministers of the Gospel there is a secondary application of these things to them though first and chiefly it is applied to Jesus Christ himself Whatsoever is set forth concerning Jesus Christ doth secondarily point at Ministers and Christians in whom the Graces and Excellencies of Jesus Christ appear The Ministers of the Gospell must be sober and not men given to Wine 1 Tim. 3.3 A Bishop must not be given to Wine no striker or given to filthy lucre c. and the Apostle requires it also in other places that they should take heed of that sin they must be sober and watchful in all things 2 Tim. 4.5 But watch thou in all things endure afflictions do the work of an Evangelist make full proof of thy Ministry So all Believers likewise for it belongs likewise to them they should be sober and watch to the discharge of their Christian duty Be ye therefore sober 1 Tim. 4.7 and watch unto Prayer 1 Pet. 5.8 be sober be vigilant because your adversary the Devil as a roaring Lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour It is a woful thing and a shameful thing when Ministers are given to Wine and Strong drink these are not Gods Ministers these are such as do not correspond with the Type And it is the fruit of the Wrath of God upon a people when he sets up such Ministers among them Mich. 2.11 If any man shall prophesie of Wine or of Strong drink he shall be the Prophet to this people Isai 56.10 11 12. his Watchmen are blind they are ignorant c. come say they we will fetch Wine and fill our selves with Strong drink and to morrow shall be as this day and much more abundantly It is usually the prologue and introduction to great Desolations or Land-devouring Judgments when they have Priests that love Wine and Strong drink it brings Land-devouring Judgments And that is a fifth Rule concerning these Levitical Priests that they must abstain from Wine and Strong drink when they were to minister before the Lord. 6. The Priest might not marry a Widow or a divorced Woman or a Harlot but a Virgin of his people This is another peculiar observation required of men in that Order under the Law Lev. 21.13 14. And he shall take a Wife in her Virginity a Widow or a divorced Woman or profane or an Harlot these shall he not take but he shall take a Virgin of his own people to Wife c. The same thing is spoken also in Ezek. 44.22 neither shall they take to wife a Widow c. What is the meaning of this it cannot be a moral precept It is not unlawful for a Minister to marry a Widow Therefore look at the High Priest herein The Spouse of Jesus Christ ought to be a Virgin chaste and undefiled whose first and best Love is to be bestowed on him 2 Cor. 11.2 I am jealous over you with godly Jealousie for I have espoused you to one Husband that I may present you as a chaste Virgin to Christ And in Matth. 25. we find that Professors in some respects they are all Virgins though there be foolish Virgins as well as wife but it is especially applied to the sincere to the wise Virgins Rev. 14.4 These are they that are not defiled with Women for they are Virgins these follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth Purity and Holiness is the property of true Believers an entire dedication of themselves to Jesus Christ alone The Virgins love thee Cant. 1.3 7. The seventh Rule and Observation about the Priesthood was this that he was not to mourn for the dead no not for his Father and Mother nor to attend their Funeral or to go out of the Sanctuary to intermit his Ministry Lev. 21.10 11 12. And he that is the High Priest among his Brethren he shall not uncover his head nor rent his clothes neither shall he go in to any dead body nor defile himself for his Father or for his
Exod. 28.4.30 So Joh. 9.39 For Judgment am I come into this world that they that see not might see this is no act of Punishment but of Mercy yet called Judgment so it is prophesied of Christ Isai 42.3 4. that he shall bring forth Judgment unto truth and shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set Judgment in the earth that is he shall not faint nor be discouraged till he hath gone through with the work of their Salvation and set in order all the concernments of it that wise and prudent and judicious administration of things by Jesus Christ whereby he rectifies repairs and sets in good order the confused and collapsed estate of his Church and people insomuch that all the concernments of their eternal good are set strait brought to their best constitution and carried on in a most exact and regular manner with admirable and infinite Wisdom That as they Mark 7. ult were beyond measure astonished and they said he hath done all things well so shall all the Saints say when they understand and review the ways that Christ hath walked in for their Salvation Aaron did here represent this typically in this Pectorale Judicii this Brest-plate of Judgment But Christ hath performed and done it really and indeed To unfold the mystery of these things a little more particularly 1. The Precious Stones with the Names of the Children of Israel signifie all the Saints the whole Church and people of God Israel was a typical people therefore the whole Church of God is called Israel Gal. 6.16 As many as walk according to this rule peace be on them and mercy and upon or even upon the Israel of God Hence the same Apostle distinguisheth of outward Jews and inward Jews Rom. 2. two last And Christ calls Nathaniel an Israelite indeed Joh. 1.47 And the Saints are fitly represented by Precious Stones because they are indeed precious and excellent with a spiritual excellency and that in the sight of God though despised of the world Isai 43.4 Since thou wast precious in my fight thou hast been honourable and I have loved thee therefore will I give men for thee and people for thy life Psal 16.3 the Saints ãâã that are on earth the excellent in whom is all my delight Lam. 4.7 Her Nazarites and that religious Order was typical as you have formerly heard were purer then Snow they were whiter then Milk they were more ruddy in body then Rubies their polishing was of Saphire As these precious Stones in the Brest-plate were divers and various there were twelve of them yet all of them precious and excellent and useful so the Saints are indoed with varieties of Gifts and Graces yet all useful and excellent And as these Stones were set in exact and comely order in the Brest-plate of Aaron so there is an insition of the Saints into Christ and a comely order amongst themselves 2. Look as the High Priest did bear the names of the twelve Tribes of Israel in his Brest-plate for a memorial before the Lord so doth Jesus Christ bear the names and the concernments of his people upon his heart before the Lord that is in dearest Love and Heart-affection See Exod. 28.29 As he bore them upon the shoulders of his Power in the two Onyx-stones upon the shoulder-pieces of the Ephod of which before so now here he bears them upon his heart in dearest Love and Favour See Isai 49.15 16. Therefore the Church prays Cant. 8.6 set me as a Seal upon thine Heart as a Seal upon thine Arm. These Stones were engraven like the ingravings of a Seal or of a Signer 3. The fastening of this Brest-plate of Love to the shoulder-pieces of the Ephod speaks the inseparable Conjunction of the Love and Power and Righteousness of Christ in the great work of our Salvation For the Ephod being an holy and glorious Garment signifies as the rest do the glorious Righteousness of Christ the true High Priest as hath been formerly shewed The shoulders are strong to support the Pectoral betokens Love therefore that the Pectoral is fastened to the shoulders speaks that Love and Power are united together in Jesus Christ for our Salvation and all this upon the Ephod the Garments of his glorious Righteousness wherein he appears for us and bears our Names for a memorial before the Lord continually How should Faith triumph in this Is not our High Priest in the Sanctuary Is he not clothed with Garments of Salvation and Righteousness and doth he not bear the Names of his people upon his shoulders and upon his Brest before the Lord Thy particular concernments if thou art a Believer are written upon his heart with the Pen of a Diamond in such lasting Letters of loving kindness as shall never be blotted out 7. The seventh piece of these Sacerdotal Vestments was the Vrim and Thummim of which the Text saith Also he put in the Brest-plate the Vrim and Thummim and Exod. 28.30 and thou shalt put in the Brest-plate of Judgement the Vrim and the Thummim and they shall be upon Aarons heart c. There is more of Difficulty and Controversie upon this then upon any other piece of all the Pontifical attire I shall speak but briefly to it in these four heads 1. Whether they were any new Materials in the holy Garments 2. What kind of Materials they were 3. What was the end and use of them 4. What Gospel-mysteries were aimed at therein 1. Whether the Vrim and Thummim were visible and external materials in the holy Garments yea or no. For some think they are only an expression of the end and use of the Brest-plate and not another distinct piece of attire But there are these Reasons against this Reas 1. Because the Text seems to speak of them as Materials for it speaks of them in the same course and tenor of speech as it doth of other things As here in the Text for instance all the rest of these three verses are only enumerations of the holy Vestments He put on the Coat girded him with the Girdle put on him the Brest-plate all this is external material things therefore why not also the next clause and he put in the Brest-plate the Urim and Thummim Reas 2. Because we have an intimation of the loss of them in the Captivity of Babylon Ezra 2.63 Nehem. 7.65 If the Vrim and Thummim had been no other material but the Brest-plate it self with the Precious Stones therein as some think they might have consulted with God and received answers from God by it as formerly For the Ordinances of God are blest of God to such as use them sincerely for those ends for which they are appointed Therefore so would the Brest-plate have been for Counsel and Answers to them if that had been the Ordinance appointed for that end For they did not want the Brest-plate for they might and ought to make that according to the Rule in Exod. 28. but they having not the Vrim
Candlesticks are the Churches the seven Stars or Lights in the tops of the Candlesticks are the Angels or Ministers of the Churches Rev. 1.20 yet the Ministry considered barely in it self doth not enlighten but as illuminated by the Spirit Rev. 4.5 4. The Priest was to burn sweet Incense upon the Golden Altar when he dressed the Lamps Exod. 30.7 8. this is Prayer and Intercession and this is Christs work he prays and he perfumes the Prayers of his people with the sweet Incense of his own Merits and Mediation and as they are daily praying so Christ is daily interceding for them Rev. 8.3 4. 5. The Priest was to set the Shew-bread upon the Golden Table before the Lord every Sabbath Lev. 24.8 Every Sabbath shall he set it in order before the Lord continually so doth Jesus Christ present and set the whole number of his Elect before the Lord continually as the Shew-bread upon the Table where his favourable Eye and Face is always upon them 6. The Priest was to bless the people in the name of the Lord and well he might for blessed indeed are such a people who have such an Altar and Sanctuary and such a Sacrifice offered for them amongst whom the Lamp of God shines whose Prayers ascend and come up before him as Incense upon the Golden Altar out of the hand of the true High Priest the Angel of the Covenant and who stand before the Face of God and under the Eye and Care of God continually Numb 6.23 and so on to the end and accordingly they did so when they had performed their other Ministrations Lev. 9.22 23. and God ratified it For the Glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people so 2 Chron. 30.27 Then the Priests the Levites arose and blessed the people and their voice was heard and their Prayer came up to his dwelling place even unto Heaven so doth Jesus Christ bless his people Luke 24.50 and that most really and effectually Acts 3.26 These were the Priestly Ministrations Objct. But now it may be demanded wherein then differed the High Priest from the other ordinary Priests these Ministrations belonging to them as well as him Answ There were three things peculiar to the High Priest wherein he was advanced by God above his Brethren 1. He had a superiority of spiritual Power and Jurisdiction over all the Ministers of the Sanctuary both the Priests and Levites Numb 4.19 also ver 27. see Deut. 17.12 and so Aaron was the Archbishop or Primate as it were to oversee and order all so is Jesus Christ in the Church of God He is the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 1 Pet. 5.4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear ye shall receive a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away He only is the chief Shepherd 2. The High Priest was clothed with peculiar Garments of Glory and Beauty Exod 28. The inferior Priests the Sons of Aaron had but four Priestly Garments Linnen Drawers and Coats and Girdles and Bonnets Exod. 28.40 but Aaron the High Priest had a Brest-plate and an Ephod a Robe a broydered Coat a Mitre and a Girdle with the Urim and Thummim and precious Stones in his Brest-plate and on the shoulders of his Ephod and a Crown or Plate of Gold upon his Mitre Exod. 28. ver 4. and so is Jesus Christ fairer then the Sons of men more beautiful then any other Psal 45.2 3. The third Prerogative of the High Priest was in his glorious Ministration upon the great day of atonement when he went into the holiest of all to make atonement there before the Lord Lev. 16. which none but he might do Thus Jesus Christ is entred not into the holy places made with hands which are the Figures of the true but into Heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us Hebr. 9.24 Neither by the Blood of Goats and Calves but by his own Blood he entred in once into the holy place having obtained eternal Redemption for us ibid. ver 12. Here note as a Corollary the wickedness of the Bishop of Rome who calls himself the High Priest amongst Christians as Aaron was amongst the Jews His judaizing antichristian wickedness And all other such Archbishops and Primates and Prelates fall under the same condemnation who differ not specie but only gradâ not in kind but only in degree from the Usurpations of that Man of Sin I know no other High Priest no other Archbishop or chief Shepherd of our Souls under the Gospel but only Jesus Christ Some thus understand that of Paul Acts 23.5 I wist not that he was the High Priest I acknowledg not that there is an High Priest Vide Beza in 1 Pet. 5.4 Against this Primacy which the Pope usurps consider 1. The High Priest in this preeminence above his Brethren was an express Type of Jesus Christ of whom it is said that he was the first-born among many Brethren Rom. 8.29 2. This Ecclesiastical preeminence amongst Ministers is expresly forbidden under the Gospel How often doth Christ reprove his Disciples for it for striving who should be chiefest Matth. 18.1 2 3 4. and Matth. 23.8 10 11. and Matth. 20.25 and Luke 22.24 25 26. And it is the brand set upon Diotrephes 3 Joh. ver 9. that he did ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that he affected the Primacy 3. Thô the Priests Power was ecclesiastical yet the Pope exercises a temporal power and this not as a Commissioner from under the Civil Magistrate but distinct from the Civil Magistrate and without dependance on him yea indeed superior to him and so do the inferior Prelates too not only a Civil power derived from the King as other Barons of the Realm or Justices of the Peace or the like civil Dignities but they make the Clergy a Fountain of Power to themselves even of temporal Power wherein they intrench upon the Prerogative and just Rights of the Civil Magistrate as well as of Ecclesiastical Power having never received any such Primacy of Office from Jesus Christ but usurping it to themselves and so they do intrench both upon God and the King shewing themselves therein to be the true and natural Children of their Father the Pope the great Antichrist of Rome But you see how remote this is from the Spirit of the Gospel and that it is indeed a Judaizing for Ministers to assume a disparity superiority of Power and Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Jurisdiction over other Ministers So much of the Priests and of their Priestly Work and Ministrations 2. The second sort of Temple Officers were the Levites of whom four things are worthy to be considered 1. Who they were they were the whole Tribe of Levi excepting only Aarons Posterity who were preferred to an higher Office of Priesthood yet they were Levites but all Levites were not Priests The Priests were Levites in regard of their Birth and Extraction out of that Tibe but they were not Levites in regard of their Office nor were the Levites Priests
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
can see but created Manifestations and Representations of his Glory he did appear in So Exod. 20.18 and 19.18 19 20 Jehovah descended symbolically in regard of the glorious tokens and symbols of his Presence But then they saw no similitude only Fire and Smoke and the Mountain shaking Deut. 4.12 Exod. 24.10 11. And they saw the God of Israel and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a Saphire stone also they saw God and did eat and drink Exod. 34.5 6. And the Lord descended in the Cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the Name of the Lord and the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed c. It seemeth by the expressions Deum humanâ effigie pertranfijsse that God passed by in an humane shape All the three Persons of the Trinity have appeared distinctly in visible Representations God the Father and the Son Dan. 7.9 13. I beheld till the Thrones were cast down and the ancient of days did sit I saw in the night Visions and behold one like the Son of Man came with the Clouds of Heaven to the ancient of days Revel 4.1 compared with Chap. 5.7 where we find that the Lamb took the Book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the Throne So that here be two of those glorious Persons distinctly appearing Ezek. 1.26 Above the Firmament there was the likeness of a Throne and upon it the likeness as the appearance of a Man about it It seems to be meant of God the Father because Ezek. 9.2 4. He is distinguished from the Man with a Writers Inkhorn by his side who is thought to be our only High Priest the Lord Jesus Christ The second Person Jesus Christ To Moses Exod. 3.2 4. For he is called the Angel which agrees not so well to the first Person And Moses prays for his Good will Deut. 33.16 Therefore it was not any created Angel but Jesus Christ the Angel of the Covenant of Grace as a praeludium to his Incarnation So to Isaiah 6.1 he saw the Lord. It is the Lord Jesus Christ so it is interpreted John 12.41 So Gen. 32.24 And Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a Man with him until the breaking of the day that is God in the form of a Man as the old Geneva Note hath it The Prophet Hosea saith it was God Hos 12.3 4. and Jacob wept and made supplication unto him and there he or God spake with us The third Person the Holy Ghost in the shape of a Dove at the Baptism of Jesus Christ Matth. 3. 2. Sometimes Angels have appeared sometimes in Bodies of humane shape provided for them by the Power of God either created of nothing and after the Apparition annihilated or compacted of the four Elements and especially of Air condensed and then resolved again after the Appearance was past into the matter of which they were compounded As to Lot Gen. 19.1 10. And there came two Angels to Sodom and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them and bowed himself with his Face to the ground These Angels vers 10. are called Men. To David 2. Sam. 24.17 And David spake unto the Lord when he saw the Angel that smote the People and said Lo I have sinned and I have done wickedly c. He saw the Angel Which is further explained 1 Chron. 21.16 And David lift up his eyes and saw the Angel of the Lord stand between the Earth and the Heaven with a drawn Sword in his hand At Christs Resurrection divers Angels appeared in the shapes of Men Matth. 28.2 3. An Angel rolled back the Stone from the door of the Sepulchre and sate upon it c. Luke 24.4 Behold two Men stood by them in shining Raiment So at his Ascension Acts 1.10 Behold two Men stood by them in white Apparel Sometimes the Angels did appear not only in humane shapes but with other Representations accompanying them as Horses and Chariots of Fire that is with Riders upon them 2 Kings 6.17 Behold the Mountain was full of Horses and Chariots of Fire round about Elisha Zach. 1.8 Behold a Man riding upon a red Horse and behind him there were red Horses speckled and white and 6.1 there came four Chariots out from between the two Mountains ver 5. These are the four Spirits of the Heavens 3. Sometimes other things were represented and shewn in Vision to them to signifie to them the Mind of God as Jerem. 1.11 13. The Prophet there seeth the Rod of an Almond tree and a seething pot with the face thereof toward the North So Amos cap. 7. ver 1 4 7 8. has several things presented in Vision to him And this is one of these divers manners of the Lords speaking viz. by Visions or Representations to the eye waking 2. Another manner was by Dreams that is by Representation of things to the Fancy in sleep and they had not only things presented but usually Words spoken to interpret them Sometimes the Lord gave divine Dreams to wicked men as to Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar but they knew not what they meant and so were not Prophets but the Lord sent the Interpretation by others who were his faithful Servants But the Prophets and Servants of God usually had both the Dream and some further light for the Perception and Interpretation of it As to Abraham Gen. 15.12 And when the Sun was going down a deep sleep fell upon Abram and lo an horrour of great Darkness fell upon him and he said unto Abram know of a surety c. ver 13. And to Jacob Gen. 28.12 13. the Dream of the Ladder ver 12. is interpreted to him by God in the following verses and 31.11 12. The Angel of the Lord appeared to Jacob in a Dream and speaks unto him and 46.2 God spake unto Israel in the Visions of the night So to Daniel cap. 7. 1 7 13. the divers night Visions he had there are afterwards interpreted to him ver 15 c. To Joseph Matth. 1.20 An Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a Dream saying fear not to take unto thee Mary thy Wife and Matth. 2.13 19. An Angel of the Lord appeareth in a Dream to him saying arise and take the young Child and his Mother and go into the Land of Israel This way and manner of speaking seems to have been very frequent and usual in those ancient times as those words of Elihu intimate Job 33.14 15 16. For God speaketh once yea twice in a Dream in a Vision of the night See Aynsworth on Gen. 20.3 and Gen. 37.5 when deep sleep falleth upon Men in slumbers upon the bed then he openeth the Ears of Men c. 3. A third manner was by Voices by an audible Voice uttered either by God himself immediately or the Angels And these audible Voices are accompanied sometimes with visible Appearances to the eye but sometimes the Voice alone without any visible apparition To our first Parents Gen. 3.3 It was the Voice of God
and not of an Angel For he saith the Tree which I commanded c. But the most famous Instance hereof was at the giving of the Law upon Mount Sinai Exod 19 and 20. where the Lord spake with an audible Voice from Heaven chap. 19. 9 20. so that the People might hear and chap. 20. 22. and see that the Lord talked with them from Heaven Deut. 5.22 23 24. These words the Lord spake unto all your Assembly in the Mount out of the midst of the Fire of the Cloud and of the thick Darkness with a great Voice And when ye heard the Voice Heb. 12.26 Whose Voice then shook the Earth So Matth. 17.5 A Voice out of the Cloud said this is my beloved Son But they saw no similitude Deut. 4.12 1 Kings 19.12 13. A still small Voice 4. By an inward Instinct by immediate Inspirations and Impulses of the Holy Ghost So to David 1 Chron. 28.12 19. though he had it in Writing also and left it to his Son But it was revealed to him by the Spirit of God So to Philip Acts 8.29 The Spirit said unto Philip To Peter Acts 10.19 The Spirit said unto him and Acts. 11 12. the Spirit bade me go with them To Paul and Silas Acts 16.7 Not to go into Bithynia but the Spirit suffered them not 5. By legal Types and Shadows These were speaking things And what did they speak They spake forth Gospel Truths and Mysteries The Ceremonial Law was the Gospel in Types and Shadows Heb. 10.1 The Law having a shadow of good things to come A Type is a legal shadow of Gospel Truths and Mysteries These were the standing Ordinances and Instructions of those times 6. By Signs and Wonders These had a Voice and did speak the Mind of God These were attestations to the Truth and Mind of God and to the Authority of the Messenger See Exod. 4.8 If they will not believe thee nor hearken to the Voice of the first Sign they will believe the Voice of the latter Sign Joh. 3.2 We know that thou art a Teacher come from God For no man can do these Miracles that thou doest except God be with him The Lord may work Miracles now But he doth not now send forth any person with a Commission to do it as he did of old 7. By a special and peculiar kind of intimacy and familiarity as it were mouth to mouth without Parable or Riddle without Obscurity with all possible familiarity And this was Moses his Priviledg Numb 12.8 with him will I speak mouth to mouth apparently and not in dark speeches Exod. 33.11 23. The Lord spake to him face to face as a man speaketh to his friend thou shalt see my back parts That phrase of speaking mouth to mouth notes the clearness and certainty and familiarity of it as when Joseph saith ye see it is my mouth that speaketh unto you Gen. 45.12 This was a priviledg peculiar unto Moses Deut. 34.10 There arose no Prophet like him since whom the Lord knew face to face That that comes nearest to it seems to be the ineffable things that Paul saw and heard in the third heaven 2 Cor. 12.1 2 3 4 and the Revelation given to the Apostle John in the Isle of Patmos which is the clearest and yet withal the deepest and most wonderful of all the Prophesies recorded in the Scripture There be two Questions may arise here which would be briefly spoken to Quest 1. Whether there were not counterfeits of these things and if there were how did they discern the Lords voice in these extraordinary dispensations from Satans voice in his delusions Answ It is true there were counterfeits of them there were Visons Dreams seeming Miracles Impulses from Satan as well as from God Diabolus est Dei simia Hence that Caution of Moses Deut. 13.1 And hence are those complaints of the Prophet Jeremy cap. 14. 13 14 15. 1 Kings 22.22 23. That famous Instance of a lying Spirit in the mouths of Ahabs Prophets Therefore to have a Vision to dream strange and supernatural Dreams to have a powerful Impetus and afflatus from a Spirit are not things simply peculiar to the true Prophets of God But though Satan did partly out of Craft to deceive thereby the more effectually and partly out of Blasphemy and Malice to put an affront as it were upon God use ways and means of deceiving that had some resemblance of Gods own ways and Ordinances yet there were manifest and palpable differences between them I shall name but these four 1. The Lord did not usually suffer Satan to transform himself so far into an Angel of Light as to come in these ways unto his own people unto such as were truly Godly Search the Scriptures and you will not find that Satan did appear to give Satanical Dreams and Visions and the like to such as were Godly It is true he did tempt them but in a more spiritual manner as he tempted David to number the people Or by other outward means As when the young Prophet that came from Bethel was deceived by the old one But when Satan did inspire any with Dreams and Visions c. it was done to wicked and ungodly men As to Saul when he raised up the Devil he and and the Witch saw the Gods that is Spirits infernal Spirits ascending up out of the Earth And to the false Prophets of Ahab those four hundred-Idolaters they spake as Prophets and were acted by a Spirit but it was a lying Spirit and they were lewd and wicked men so that there was a great difference in the Person or Subject recipient of Divine Revelations and of Satanical Delusions 2. In Divine Discoveries there was an holy Elevation of their Minds when they did receive them but in the Organs and Instruments of Satan there was only a stupefaction and depression of them As when John did receive the Revelation he was in the Spirit chap. 1. 10. Sometimes they were so far elevated and raised and acted by the Spirit that they did not attend to any other thing but were transported above Sense and sensible things to attend wholly to the Visions and Revelations of God So Peter fell into a Trance Acts. 10.10 Paul was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Acts 22.17 Hence oftentimes they fell upon their Faces being astonish'd at the Majesty and Glory of the Lord both gratious and natural Fear concurring Ezek 1.28 Dan 10.8 9. Matth. 17.6 7. But this Ravishment of Spirit was not a stupefaction but an holy Elevation of their Minds whereby they were taken off and lifted up above all these low things to the highest exercise of Faith and spiritual Reason and so better fitted and composed to receive those Divine Irradiations and Manifestations of God So Daniel 10.1 He understood the thing and had understanding of the Vision So Balaam when the Lord was pleased in an extraordinary case to act him after the manner of a true Prophet Numb 24.4 16. falling into a
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
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. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
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
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
out in a new dress given forth in a new manner The Lord adorns his Truths with new Ornaments as it were that men may be excited to Inquiries and Affections suitable Hence in every Age there be in one respect or other new Discoveries or new Dispensations and Dealings of God with his People Or if men be taken with Antiquity 1 Joh. 2.7 I write no new Commandment but an old Commandment for the substance of things The good old way of Faith and Holiness remains which all the Saints of God have gone to Heaven in Heb. 11. he shews the same Race which he sets before them had been run by all the Saints from Abel cap. 12.1 being compassed about with so great a Cloud of Witnesses let us run our race that is set before us as if he should say I exhort you to nothing but what all those Saints of old have done before you and yet ver 40. he professeth God hath better things for them an higher and better Dispensation and cap. 12.18 Ye are not come to Mount Sinai but ye are come to Mount Sion ver 22. here he fetches an argument from this variety of Dispensation and from the preheminence of that which they wore under above former times Reas 2. For his own greater Glory And under this head many things come in to be considered This various and gradual Dispensation tends to his greater Glory divers ways 1. That there may be an harmony between this and the other Works of God 2. To shew the inestimable Worth and Glory of the Mystery of the Gospel of his Son 3. To manifest the variety of his Wisdom 4. His absolute Liberty And 5. His peculiar Goodness 1. That there might be an harmony between this and the other Works of God It is so in other works of God as well as in his speaking and revealing of his Mind As in the Creation of the World he could have made it all at once but he chose rather to make it in six days and he made various and several kinds of Creatures Therefore this variety of Administration in the Discoveries of himself and his Gospel is suitable to all the rest of his Works wherein he ever delights with Unity to mix Variety with Identity Diversity and Disagreement in some respects with Consent in other So we see in the outward Lineaments of mens Faces so in the inward abilities and dispositions of their Minds both in the common and saving in natural and spiritual endowments what a wonderful Composition there is and how great variety and so indeed in every Creature and Work of God Though in conclusion Omnia fiunt ab uno ad unum God is the Author and the End of all So in the Church 1 Cor. 12.4 5 6. there are diversities of Gifts differences of Administrations diversities of Operations but from the same Author Calv. in loc Symmetria Ecclesiae multiplici ut ita loquar unitate constat the Symmetry of the Church consists as I may so say in a manifold Unity 2. To manifest the inestimable Worth and Glory of the Mystery of the Gospel of his Son which appears in this in that it is attended with such a multitude of means of divers kinds for the Dispensation of it That so many ordinances Providences Persons and things in several ages of the World should all be subservient to the Exhibition of this one Mystery of Christ and Redemption by him This shews the Glory of it Col. 1.27 3. To manifest the variety of his Wisdom that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã variegata sapientia It is like a party coloured Garment Ephes 3.10 As in the works of Creation and Providence so it is in the Dispensations of his Grace the Wisdom of God cannot be sufficiently manifested in any one or in a few things or in one manner of working And therefore it refracts it self into many parcels and scatters its Beams every manner of way that all put together may argue unto Man the inexhaustible depth and infinite largeness thereof Hence he hath found out many ways and means to convey the same Grace and every several manner hath some peculiar Beam of Wisdom and Worth in it This great variety and change of his Dispensations was not because in process of time God found out a better way and so relinquish'd the old as in the work of Creation he did not profit by Experience though he made Man last the most perfect Creature last For the Inequalities and Degrees of things came from the Wisdom of God as well as the divers kinds of them and every thing is best in its place and kind and proportion to the whole though not simply and in it self It is best that in a body there should be a Foot as well as an Head though simply and in it self the Head be more excellent The Wisdom of God appears not only in the individual natures of things but in their references and proportions to other things and to the whole whereof they are parts so it is better and the Wisdom of God appears more in that there was both a Legal and a Gospel Dispensation of Christ and his Benefits though the Gospel Dispensation be in it self far the more excellent Therefore this is a third Beam of his Glory that shines forth herein viz. his manifold Wisdom As there is infinite Wisdom in every thing God doth so he would have us see it 4. This variety of Dispensation manifests the Lords absolute Freedom and Liberty and Soveraignty in the use of Means and Instruments that he is not tyed to any of them He can work by little or by great means by few or many He can dispense the same Grace to his Church either in a Family-way or in a Nation or in all Nations For the Church of God was first a Family then in populo Israelitico and now in populo Catholico He can reveal himself either by ordinary or extraordinary persons either in a more immediate way or in a mediate way He hath not limited himself to one way or time or manner of speaking lest we should ascribe the Glory to the Means to the Tools rather than the blessed Workman and Author Therefore he is pleased ever and anon to change the Means to break his Tools as it were and throw them away and make new ones Hence if men begin to think that a Temple at Jerusalem hath any Salvation in it he will burn it up and be worshipped in spirit and truth in every Cottage as Joh. 4. pure Incense every where Mal. 1.11 5. The fifth Beam of Divine Glory that shines forth in this variety of Administration is this the Glory of peculiar Goodness which the Lord will receive by this means from every Saint of his according to his peculiar dealing with him Some will bless him for Multitude and Excellency of Means others will admire his Power and Grace in working by small and weak means some will praise him for one kind of
no reflection at all upon his Truth and Faithfulness if the Messiah had been quite another manner of Person than the Types held forth But to admit such a supposition to suppose that the Messiah might have been quite another manner of Person than the Types hold forth is to take away the Analogy between the Type and the Antitype and so by consequence to deny that they were Types or else to make them all Lyes and false Images Therefore if it be but granted that they were true Signs it follows even from thence that they were Seals or sure and certain Pledges of Christ and Gospel-Mysteries in him See Calvin in 1 Cor. 10.3 11. Beza in Col. 2.17 Erant enim vera pro ratione ac modo Sacramentorum efficacia ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ac etiam ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã They were both Signs and Seals and true and efficacious Signs and Seals after that manner of efficacy that is in Sacraments Rule 3. The Types relate not only to the Person of Christ but to his Benefits and to all Gospel Truths and Mysteries even to all New-Testament-Dispensations I mention this the rather because I have observed that it doth much darken the thoughts of many that they study to accommodate every Type directly to the Person of Christ because we commonly call them Types of Christ But that expression is not meant of his Person exclusively to his Benefits but of both together Christ and the good things of Christ the Types shadowed forth Christ and all the good that comes by him So the Apostle Heb. 10.1 they are a shodow of good things to come he doth not limit or restrain them to the Messiahs person only As the Cherubims were Types not directly of Christ but of the Angels that stand before the Lord and minister to him and to his People Hence before the Gospel there were no Gospel Types before the first Promulgation of it Genes 3. there could be no Types of Gospel Blessings There were some things extant before which were made Types afterwards but they had not that Schesis that habitude and relation to Christ and the Gospel till there was a Gospel or a Promise of Life by Christ that blessed Seed Yea as they had Types of Christs Person and of his spiritual and saving Benefits so they had Types even of all New-Testament Dispensations Our very Sacraments were shadowed forth by theirs As Baptism by Circumcision and by their passing thorough the Red Sea and the Lords Supper by their Passover Yea they had Types not only of the Blessings and Benefits of Christ but of our Miseries without him As they had their Ceremonial Uncleannesses as the Leprosie for instance was a Type Of what Neither of Christ nor of his Benefits but of our natural Pollution So they had a Type of the Covenant of Works viz. Hagar and Ishmael They had a Type of the Church of Rome viz. Babylon So Antiochus may pass for a Type of Antichrist Doeg and Achitophel of Judas Pharaoh for a Type of the Devil Sodom and Gomorrah for a Type of Hell For as the Types look chiefly and principally at Christ and his Benefits in the clear and full Exhibition and Communication of them under the Gospel so they represent other things also though not by way of Primacy and principal intention but by way of concomitancy and illustration of the Principal Therefore these Types of New-Testament-evils it will not be necessary always to handle them by themselves For the most of them will come in better under the several Types or Shadows of good things the further illustration whereof by the contrary was the thing chiefly aimed at in them Rule 4. As there is a Similitude a Resemblance and Analogy between the Type and the Antitype in some things so there is ever a dissimilitude and a disparity between them in other things It is so in all similitudes It is a Rule in Reason There is a mixture of Consentaneity and Dissentaneity or else instead of Similitude there would be Identity So here in these sacred Similies it is not to be expected that the Type and the Antitype should quadrare per omnia that they should agree in all things Therefore the Apostle though he makes Adam a Type of Christ whom he calls the second Adam yet he shews the disparity also and that the second Adam did infinitely transcend and excel the first 1 Cor. 15.47 the first man is of the Earth earthly the second man is the Lord from Heaven So the Priests of old they were Types of Christ but Christ did infinitely excel them and his Priesthood was infinitely more glorious as the Apostle disputes at large in the 7 8 9 and 10. of the Hebrews see particularly chap. 7. v. 23 24 27. There is more in the Antitype than in the Type Hom. 61. in Genes Oportet figuram minus habere quam veritatem Chrysost For such is the Glory and Excellency of Christ the Antitype that no Type could reach it Hence that Distinction of Types partial and Types total must be understood with some limitation thus That some things or persons were only Types of Christ in some one particular thing others in many things but there never was any that did or could possibly resemble him perfectly in all things So Jonas is called a partial Type because he shadowed forth the Messiah in that one thing his abiding two or three days in the Grave and then rising again David some call him a total Type in regard that the whole History of his Life hath so great a shadow and representaton of Christ the true David But yet if we speak rigidly and properly David himself was but a partial Type For he was only a Prophet and a King he was not a Priest but Christ was both Prophet Priest and King Moses indeed was both a Prophet a Priest and a King but his Priesthood continued only till Aaron was consecrated then Moses laid it down And Moses did mediate between God and the People as a Prophet to interpret the Mind of God to them and as a King or a Judg to govern them and as an Intercessor to pray for them but not by giving himself a Sacrifice unto death for expiation of their sins He was a Mediator ob interpretandi docendi officium but not ob satisfaciendi beneficium as some express it Therefore Moses himself was but a partial Type a Type only ratione rei in regard of Redemption and Deliverance but not ratione modi he did not do it by shedding his Blood and laying down his Life as Christ did Hence we must take heed of straining the Types too far to make them agree in that wherein indeed there is a disparity or disagreement If the Type go with us one mile or rather with the Antitype one mile we must not constrain it to go twain 3. The third thing propounded to be spoken to was the Differences and Agreements between a Type and
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
that is an essential property of God Novitas essendi est de Essentia Creaturae And that Melchizedek was a Creature and not God was proved before because he was Priest and King of Salem and every Priest is taken from amongst men de Ratione Sacerdotis est ut sit verus Homo it is an essential requisite in a Priest that he be indeed a Man Melchizedek therefore was a Man but yet eternal typically and in a figure Christ is called a Priest for ever Psal 110.4 and of Melchizedek the Apostle saith he abideth a Priest continually Heb. 7.3 You shall never have cause to say My Friend alas my best Friend is dead For he hath an everlasting Priesthood and lives for ever to intercede and make mention of you to the Lord Heb. 7.25 4. In regard of his Preheminence and Excellency above all other men Vide My Notes of Christs Priestly Office wherein greater than Aaron Behold how great this man was Heb. 7.4 he was greater than Aaron the Priest of the Lord yea greater than Abraham the Forefather of Aaron He was greater than Abraham as in other respects so in these three 1. In that he blessed Abraham Gen. 14.19 Heb. 7.7 and without contradiction the less is blessed of the greater so Christ blesseth us Luke 24 50 51. All our Blessings are through him he is the Fountain of Blessing 2. In that Melchizedek did refresh Abraham and his Army Gen. 14.18 and Melchizedek King of Salem brought forth Bread and Wine that is as the old Note well explains it for Abraham and his Souldiers Refreshment and not to offer Sacrifice So Christ refresheth his Church with the Word and Sacraments Matth. 11. I will give you rest or I will refresh you Ego reficiam vos 3. In that Melchizedek did receive an homage and acknowledgment of Tythes from Abraham and from Levi and Aaron in his Loins Thus they paid their Respects to him Gen. 14.20 Heb. 7.9 whether of his Spoils or of his Goods it was the tenth part Some have gone so far from this as to infer that we ought to give unto Christ the Tenth part of our Goods as well as the Seventh part of our Time But to let that pass Certain it is that we ought to give some fit proportion of our Estates unto God for his use and service And as he was herein greater than Abraham so likewise greater than Aaron and the Aaronical Order Melchizedeks was an higher Order in many respects largely opened in that 7th to the Hebrews Vse This that hath been said concerning Melchizedek as a Shadow of Jesus Christ affords the greater encouragement to believe and comfort to them that do believe in the Lord Jesus Christ Encouragement having such an High Priest thou maist safely venture thy Soul upon him Comfort that so great a Person is thy Saviour True thou art unworthy but his Worth and Excellency is enough to preponderate and overballance all thine unworthiness He is both a King and a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchizedek and if thou dost accept of him as thy King to rule thee thou maist safely rely and rest upon him as thine High Priest to justifie and reconcile thee to his Father Aug 15. 1667. Of the individual Personal Types that were before the Law there be four yet remaining to be spoken to You have heard of Adam Enoch Noah Melchizedek how they were Types and Figures of him that was to come It remains to speak of Abraham Isaac Jacob and Joseph 1. Abraham As the Apostle saith of Melchizedek in other respects Heb. 7.4 so we may say of Abraham Consider how great this Man was in that so many Patriarchs so many righteous men so many Prophets Priests and Kings yea Jesus Christ himself were once in Abrahams Loyns I confess he is omitted by divers that have handled this Subject for what reason I know not unless it be from an aptness to restrain all the Types to the Person of Christ wherein perhaps they found the accommodation not so clear in respect of Abraham in whom nevertheless you will see some clearness I hope by and by even as to that though it is not always necessary in a Type that it point directly at the Messiahs Person but it is sufficient if there be an adumbration or shadowing a forth of any Gospel Truth or Mystery any way belonging to him But there were many of them shadowed forth in Abraham and the Scripture owns him for a typical Person as you will see in the particulars I shall but instance in five or six things 1. If we consider him together with Isaac and Jacob that proceeded from him we may observe that in these three persons Abraham Isaac and Jacob there is a weak and dark shadow of a very great Mystery even of those three glorious Persons God the Father Son and Spirit in the order of their Subsistence and Influences to our Salvation For Abraham was the Father and Original of both the other and in his Love to God he spared not his only Son Isaac but offered him up to Death for a Burnt-offering so God in his Love to Man spared not his only begotten Son but delivered him up for us Rom. 8.32 Isaac was sacrificed in a Figure Vide my Expos on Gen. 22. so was the Son of God the second Person of the Trinity in our Nature slain and sacrificed for us And Jacob you know came both of Abraham and Isaac and he is renowned for the Spirit of Prayer by which he had power with God and prevailed Gen. 32.28 He did not prevail by his own strength but by the Power of the Holy Ghost who did appear in him and acted him as a Spirit of Prayer and Supplication unto such invincible wrestlings with the Lord. From all which you see that there is some glimpse and shadow of the Fathers Love of the Sons Death and Sufferings and of the Spirit his breathings and workings in us Here is something of a low and weak representation of that glorious Mystery of the Trinity and the influences thereof to our eternal peace though it is but a low and weak and dark shadow of it as all Types are in comparison of the Antitype 2. If we consider Abraham with his two Wives Hagar and Sarah and their Posterities Ishmael and Isaac Here the two Covenants of Works and Grace legal and evangelical Professors are shadowed forth For this we have the Apostles Authority and the Testimony of the Holy Ghost himself the best Interpreter of his own meaning Gal. 4.22 23 24. 1. The Differences and Properties of the two Covenants are here held forth Hagar by the strength of Nature hath a Child but Sarah by the Faith in the Promise Gal. 4.23 So Works and Fruits brought forth in a mans own strength these are legal if by Faith in Christ this is evangelical The first Covenant-Spirit is a Spirit of bondage Gal. 4.24 25. bondage unto sin and death the
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
of that man is peace This is the difference between Christs Peace and Satans Peace for they both give Peace to their subjects But Satans Peace is a Peace of freedom from trouble and of sinful security in sin Christs Peace is a Peace after and out of trouble by War and Victory over Sin and spiritual Enemies Isai 9.3 His Servants rejoyce as those that divide the spoil after the Victory Quest But how may I know that Peace will be the end of all my present Conflicts Answ Dost thou get the Victory then the end will be Peace Are there any beginnings of Victory whatever thou dost do not lay down thy Weapons but fight still this is the beginning of Victory and the end will be Triumph and Peace and Joy Sept. 19. 1667. Who is the Type or Figure of him that was to come Rom. 5.14 THe third Conjunction or Conglebation of typical Persons under the Law is those three Prophets Elijah Elisha and Jonah whom I put together because Elijah was a Type of Christs Ascension into Heaven and Elisha of the Continuance of his Presence and Spirit in his Apostles and Messengers ever since and Jonah of his Death and Sufferings the procuring cause of all 1. For Elijah that great Prophet I confess he is omitted by many that have written of the Types and indeed by all that I have seen I know not well how it comes to pass But that he was a Type is certain because John the Baptist is called by his Name therefore he was a Type 1. Of John Yea 2. Of Christ himself 1. He was a Type of the Messiahs Harbinger and Forerunner John the Baptist For the Types as hath been often hinted are not to be restrained always only to the Person of Christ himself but all the things of Christ were typified to them of old There were Types of all New Testament Dispensations therefore John is called Elijah Mal. 4.2 last v. and Christ himself explains it Matth. 11.14 But why is John called Elias Not that he was Elijah personally but mystically he rose up in the Spirit and Power of Elijah So Elijah was John in a Type or Figure John was Elijah in Spirit and Power as Luk. 1.17 There was something of Analogy in his very outward Garb and Deportment an hairy man 2 King 1.8 that is in regard of his Habit or Clothing in a rough hairy Garment So John Matth. 3.4 a Girdle of Hair but chiefly in regard of his Spririt and inward Endowments and of his Work and Office to convert and recall a backsliden Generation 2. Elijah was a Type of Christ himself And that he was so will be very evident if you do consider how great a Person this Elijah was in three respects 1. His eminent and heroick Spirit of Holiness and invincible Courage and Activity for God His very Name signifies God the Lord Elijah or Elijahu in the Hebrew Elias in the Greek in the New Testament He abode with God when almost all the world forsook him 1 King 19.10 he reduced and brought back the people cap. 18.39 he was a man mighty in Prayer Jam. 5.17 18. a man of an invincible Courage who feared not to stand himself alone against four hundred Prophets and against Ahab the King and Jezabel the Queen whose Chaplains these false Prophets were He is brought forth in the sacred History not unlike Melchizedek without Father or Mother without either Birth or Death 1 King 17. 2. The great and wonderful Miracles wrought by him there be twelve recorded in the History of him in the first and second Books of Kings 1. His shutting up the Windows of Heaven that there should be no Rain for three years and an half 1 King 17. whence some have called him Fraenum Caeli the Bridle of Heaven 2. His being fed by a Raven morning and evening at the Brook Cherith beside Jordan This was the effect of his Faith and Prayer and may be reckoned amongst his Miracles English Annot. not that it is likely that he did eat raw Flesh but rather that God by his Providence directed the Ravens to the places where they might have it as to some rich mens Kitchens or the like 3. His miraculous Supply of the Widow of Zarephath called Sarepta in Luke 4.26 that her Barrel of Meal wasted not nor did the Cruise of Oyl fail 4. His raising of her Son from the dead by stretching himself upon the Child This was the first person we read of in Scripture that was raised from the dead and Elijahs fourth Miracle All these are recorded in 1 King 17. 5. In fetching down Fire from Heaven upon his Sacrifice to confound the Priests of Baal 6. His opening the Windows of Heaven and fetching down Rain after he had done justice upon the Priests of Baal these two are in cap. 18. he did this also by Prayer and by persevering in Prayer cap. 18. ver 43. 7. His fasting forty days and forty nights cap. 19.8 In Mount Horeb and in his Journey thither and back again the place where God appeared to Moses Exod. 3.1 2. and where he gave the Law to Israel Deut. 4.10 14. Never any man fasted forty days besides this Elijah and Moses Exod. 34.28 and Christ Matth. 4.2 Herein both Moses and Elijah were manifest Prefigurations of the Lord Jesus Christ This was Elijahs seventh Miracle 8. His calling the Prophet Elisha and causing him to follow him by casting his Mantle upon him which had such an influence that he left all and followed him therefore this may be put into the Catalogue of his Miracles cap. 19. And in the like miraculous influence of the Spirit did Christ call his Apostles to leave all and follow him His ninth and tenth Miracles were the Destruction of the two Captains and their Fifties when Ahaziah sent to take him 2 King 1.1 they both perished alike For like Sins pull down like Judgments The 11th was the dividing of Jordan by his Mantle that he and Elisha might pass over 2 King 2. And the 12. was his Ascension into Heaven in a Chariot of Fire 2 King 2.11 a Prerogative that never any man had but himself and Enoch before the Law and Moses who gave the Law but Moses died first and was translated afterwards as hath been formerly shewed They were all three eminent Types herein of Christ his Ascension into Heaven They that are faithful and zealous for God in times of general Apostacy the Lord is wont to own them in a special manner and to put special Honour upon them one way or other 3. His commissionating Successors after him to carry on the Work of God when he was gone 1 Kings 19.15 16. Elisha to be Prophet Hazael King of Syria Jehu King of Israel So Christ sends forth his Apostles and Ministers Matth. 28. some that are godly and sometimes he imploys others that are not godly but only gifted and makes some use of them as he did of Jehu and of Judas
same space Matth. 12.40 3. In his Resurrection For look as Jonah overcame all the dangers he was in and came forth again alive out of the Whales Belly So did Christ out of the Grave within three days he overcame greater Enemies even the power of Satan Death and Hell and upon this sang Praise to God cap. 2. So did Christ triumph Oh Death where is thy Sting Oh Grave where is thy Victory Hos 13.14 and Psal 22.22 23 25. and Psal 18.48 49. 4. In his preaching after his Resurrection For look as Jonah after his Resurrection preached Repentance to the Ninevites and that with great success and efficacy for they did repent upon his preaching the whole body of them with an outward Repentance and many of them doubtless with a true and saving Repentance and so were saved both from that present temporal Destruction and from eternal Damnation and Jonah did preach to the Israelites also as well as to the Ninevites 2 Kings 14.25 but which was first the Scripture doth not express So Christ when risen from the dead sent his Spirit and preached by his Spirit in his Apostles and Ministers and not only to the Jews but to the Gentiles such as those Ninevites to the Conversion and Salvation of multitudes of them as was foretold of him Psal 22.22 and to the deeper Condemnation of Unbelievers Matth 12.41 because a greater than Jonas is here 4. The fourth and last Conjunction that I shall speak unto of typical Persons under the Law is Zerubbabel and Jehoshuah of whom the one was the chief Magistrate the other the chief Priest and both of them Rebuilders of the Temple and Restorers of the collapsed estate of the Church of God in those times in all which there was an eminent Praefiguration of Jesus Christ But what of Christ was shadowed forth by these two For I shall put them both together they being contemporaries and joint instruments in the Work and Service of God in that Generation There were three things of Christ typed and shadowed forth by them 1. Both his Offices of King and Priest Zerubbabel was the Prince of the People of God in those days and the chief person of the Line of David And Jehoshuah was at the same time High Priest And that there was something of peculiar Glory in his Priesthood relating to Jesus Christ our great High Priest is not improbable In Zach. 3. he is presented in Vision to the Prophet as standing before the Lord and resisted by Satan but Satan doth not prevail against him ver 1 2. for he is clothed with change of Raiment ver 4 and hath a fair Mitre set on his head ver 5. So Christ though opposed and resisted by Satan yet went through with his Work and had blessed acceptance with God and success therein 2. His building the Temple the Church of God For these two did build the Temple Ezra 4. conjunctly each of them in their several capacities being stirred up to it by the Prophet Haggai as you may see Hagg. 1.12 14. And it is said of Zerubbabel that as his Hands laid the Foundation of the Temple so his Hands should also finish it Zach. 4.9 and the building of the Altar is ascribed to them both conjunctly Ezra 3.2 So doth Christ spiritually as the Apostle tells us in that very metaphor of building the House of God Heb. 3.3 4. 3. His bringing back the Captivity of his People out of spiritual Bondage under Sin and Satan in their natural estate and out of antichristian Bondage under Rome which is mystical Babylon Thus Zerubbabel and Jehoshuah were the Conductors and Captains of the Salvation of that People from literal Babylon Ezra 1.5 8. and 2.2 and 5.14 But there will be occasion to speak further to these things when we come to the real Types Besides the personal Types that have been spoken to there be divers others also that are noted by learned men as of the first Classis before the Law some have noted Abel the Proto-martyr as also Seth Methuselah and Lamech Noaks Father and Heber the seventh from Enoch as Enoch was the seventh from Adam He was a pious man in his Seed the primitive Language and the true Religion and Church of God was preserved when the rest of the world was lost and fell into Idolatry and from him the Church had their Denomination Hebrews as Christians have from Jesus Christ And it was prophesied that Chittim should afflict Heber Numb 24.24 Chittim is the Romans Christ is the chiefest of Heber whom Italy or Chittim afflicted as in other respects so chiefly at his death for he was crucified under Tiberius the Roman Emperor Judah the Son of Jacob to whom it was said Thy Fathers Sons shall bow down unto thee Gen. 49.8 Also Job in his Sufferings and Patience both unparallel'd and his prevailing Intercessions for his offending Friends are by some looked on as Types of Christ And as to the second Classis viz. those under the Law some have added Aaron the Priest of the Lord but what might be said of him will come in when we come to handle the Office of the Priesthood Also Gideon and Jephtah Judges of Israel of old And Samuel the Prophet who was a Judge also and a Nazarite Hezekiah and Josiah those great reforming Kings Eliakim Isai 22.20 for the like phrase which is there used ver 22. of Eliakim is applyed to Christ Isai 9.5 Revel 3.7 Some have set Cyrus also among the Types of Christ the Founder of the Persian Monarchy who may be thought to have been a godly man much good and no evil being recorded of him in the Scripture and he did a very good work and a great and glorious work it was the breaking the Yoke of Babylon and setting the Israel of God at liberty and rebuilding the Temple and indeed the Elogies and Expressions of the Prophet Isaiah concerning him are very high and excellent Isai cap. 45. beginning and cap. 46.11 Daniel also a person of extraordinary Eminency in his Generation I do not omit these Persons as concluding they had no typical relation to Jesus Christ For indeed I think divers of them had But in some the Analogy is but weak and dark and in some few particulars and though in others it is more clear yet it would have been too large to go thorough every person I have thought it sufficient to my intended scope to instance only in some of the clearest and most eminent referring the rest to your own Meditations in the Scripture to observe and improve what you find written concerning them Vse 1. See the Glory of Jesus Christ the Antitype in that so many excellent persons do but weakly and imperfectly represent him as if all the Candles in the world were put together it would not equalize the Glory of the Sun But how bright then is the Sun it self which shines brighter than all the Candles of the world yea than all the Stars in the Firmament So
here how glorious is the Messiah of whom all these were but weak and dark Umbrages He is indeed the chiefest of ten thousands Cant. 5. Vse 2. Look whatever Glory was in any of these Persons by way of Prefiguration of Jesus Christ it is and should be found in every Believer by way of Participation from Christ and Imitation of him Therefore in these Examples we see our own Duty in their Attainments we see what should be our Endeavours our Endeavours did I say I may say also through Grace our Attainments For tho it is true we are not yet perfect neither have we already attained yet there is a time coming when thou and I if we be true Believers shall be more holy than ever Elijah or Elisha were in the days of their pilgrimage here below when we shall serve God better than Zerubbabel and Jehoshuah did when they restored and rebuilt his Temple namely when we come to Heaven Then there is not the least Saint but is more holy than ever the most eminent Saint was here upon Earth For the best of them had a Body of Sin and Death in them but in Heaven there shall be no Sin at all For as these eminent Persons had a typical relation unto Christ so every true Believer hath a mystical Union and Communion with him and by virtue thereof they do partake of his Spirit and Glory So that as we have here a motive unto what we ought to do so we have also Encouragement and Comfort as to what we shall attain We shall attain it then when Jesus Christ shall present all his Members to his Father blameless and spotless and faultless Ephes 5.26 27. Jude 24. before the presence of his Glory with exceeding Joy Who is the Type or Figure of him that was to come Rom. 5.14 Sept. 26. 1667 THe personal Types of Christ have been referred unto two sorts 1. Individual Persons 2. Religious Orders or whole ranks and kinds of typical Persons The former have been spoken to we shall now proceed to the latter and so finish the Text. The difference between individual Types and religious Orders or kinds and ranks of typical Persons lies chiefly in this That no wicked man could be an individual Type of Christ but he may be involved in a religious Order of Types For the Order is holy though the Man be wicked And here it is not directly the Person but rather indeed the Order that is the Type and the Person as involved and invested in such an Order Quest What were these typical Orders and Ranks of Men Answ I shall instance only in these six 1. That whole Nation and People of Israel 2. The First-born of that Nation 3. Their Nazarites 4. Their Prophets 5. Their Priests 6. Their Kings 1. The whole Nation of the Jews they were a typical People their Church-state being very ceremonial and peculiar to those legal times and therefore now ceased and abolished and did adumbrate and shadow forth two things 1. Christ himself hence Christ is called Israel Isai 49.3 By Israel is meant Christ and all the Faithful as the Members of him their Head 2. They were a Type of the Church of God under the New Testament Hence the Church is called Israel Gal. 6.16 and Rev. 7. The twelve Tribes of Israel are numbred up by Name to shew forth the Lords particular Care of every one of his People in particular That place is not meant properly of old Israel because it relates to the times of the Antichristian Locusts Compare cap. 7. with cap. 9.4 the Analogy lies in this That they were a peculiar people to the Lord chosen and singled out by him from all the world So is Christ the Lords chosen Behold my Servant whom I have chosen mine elect in whom my Soul delighteth So are all the Saints 1 Pet. 2.9 A royal Nation a peculiar People gathered from among all Nations Rev. 5.9 Hence the Enemies of Israel were typical Enemies as Egypt and Babylon under the Old Testament Types of Antichristian Enemies under the New and the Providences of God towards that People of old Types and Shadows of his intended future Dispensations towards his People under the New as you will see further when we come to speak of typical Providences 2. The First-born of that Nation were also a typical sort of persons therefore Esau in despising his Birthright despised a spiritual Priviledge and therefore justly called a profane person Heb. 12.16 And they also typified Christ and the Church Christ For he is the First-born among many Brethren Rom. 8.29 The Church And thence the same Name and Title is given to all the Saints Heb. 12.23 The general Assembly and Church of the First-born The Analogy appears chiefly in two things 1. In regard of the Lords special Interest and Propriety in them 2. In regard of their Preheminence and Dignity above others 1. The Lords Propriety in them as his in a special and peculiar manner The First-born are mine Because he had redeemed them when the First-born of Egypt were destroyed Exod. 13.2 So Christ hath a special relation to God as his first begotten yea his only begotten Son his Son by Nature we are Sons only by Adoption and Grace Primogenitus ante quem nullus unigenitus post quem nullus Joh. 1.14 So the Saints The Lord hath a special relation and propriety in them all manner of ways by Creation by Redemption by Regeneration by his own choice of them by their consent and choice of him c. 2. In regard of their Dignity and Preheminence above others The First-born had many Priviledges above his Brethren he was as it were the second Father of the Family So Christ Isai 9.6 is called the everlasting Father He had the Honour and the Government the Priesthood was his and a double portion of the Estate Deut. 21.17 The First-born at first had the Priesthood Exod. 24.5 Young men sacrificed Afterward Levi was set apart instead of the First-born Numb 8. Therefore Reuben left the Government to Judah the Priesthood to Levi the double Portion to Joseph who was divided into two Tribes Ephrahim and Manasseh So Christ has the Honour above all Creatures Heb. 1.6 Let all the Angels of God worship him And the Saints which are the Lords First-born in a secondary way are honourable persons as being Members of Christ they are precious in his sight and honourable therefore he says I will give Nations and Princes for thy Life Isai 43.3 4. 3. Their Nazarites the Institution of their religious Order with all the Rules and Observations belonging to it you have in the 6th chapter of Numbers It was an Order of much esteem amongst the People of God in those times and is reckoned as a great Honour and Glory to that People Amos 2.11 I raised of your Sons for Prophets and of your Young men for Nazarites Her Nazarites Lam. 4.7 were whiter than Snow There were two degrees of it either for
this typical Ladder an express Figure of the Ministration of Angels through Jesus Christ unto the Saints which is a Fruit of that great priviledge of Adoption For they ascended and descended in the Vision by this Ladder To wicked men the Angels are Enemies as if the King frown upon a man all the Court does so too and fight against them as they did against Senacheribs Army when they slew an hundred eighty five thousand in one night 2 King 19.35 so Psal 35.5 6. Let them be as Chaff before the Wind and let the Angel of the Lord chase them let their way be dark and slippery and let the Angel of the Lord persecute them The blessed Angels are ever chasing and persecuting Reprobates and wicked men But through Christ they minister unto us for our good Zach. 1.9 they appeared behind him and ver 10. these are they whom the Lord hath sent forth and ver 11. they give up their account tâ him 4. Jacob sees God at the top of the Ladder renewing his Covenant with him ver 13. So it is through Christ that God enters into Covenant and renews his Covenant with us through Christ the Promises are Yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1 20. God could never have spoken words of peace to Sinners but by the Mediation of Jesus Christ 5. Where was this Ladder seen At Bethel which signifies the House of God ver 19. he called the name of the place Bethel So Christ is seen in the Church Ephes 3.10 and through the Church made known to Principalities and Powers c. If you would have a Vision of Christ go to Bethel into the Churches of his Saints and People Cant. 1.8 if thou know not go thy way forth by the footsteps of the Flock There be several steps of this Ladder some apply it thus Several degrees of Grace as many Rounds of the Ladder so many Graces The lowest Round is poverty of Spirit the highest is Perfection Thus you see how Jacobs Ladder represented and shadowed forth something of Christ and of the Gospel to him and us and so much for this spiritual Ladder which Jacob saw 2. A second typical thing in those typical days was the burning Bush which the Lord shewed to Moses Exod. 3. in the ten first verses a very memorable Dispensation therefore largely repeated by Stephen Acts 7 30. to 35. The Bush burnt and was not consumed A most lively Emblem of the Churches subsisting in the Fire of Persecution through the presence and good will of him that dwelt in the burning Bush That is the Instruction we should learn out of it As Israel in the Iron Furnace in Egypt for it related both ways both to shew the state of Israel in Egypt and of the Church of God on earth afterwards So the three Children Dan. 3. in the fiery Furnace were not consumed no nor hurt by the Fire So in the times of Antichrist Rev. 11.3 the Lord hath his Witnesses prophesying all the thousand two hundred and threescore days God hath his two Witnesses all the while though they prophesie in Sackcloth yet prophesie they do and bear witness to him The Lord doth not leave himself without Witness when his Church and Interest is in the lowest and most aflicted condition and indeed all along under the New Testament this Bush hath been burning in several Fires and yet not consumed There was first the fire of Pagan Persecution during the three first Centuries Then the fire of Arrianism and Contention in the Church c. set forth under that prophetical representation of Fire in the first and second Trumpets Rev. 8.7 8. Then the fire of Antichristian Persecution a thousand two hundred and threescore days And then lastly the Persecution of three days and an half in the last part of his Reign But yet still the burning Bush is not consumed the Church of God subsists and lives and outlives all opposition it cannot it shall not be consumed They have power over the Fire Rev. 14.18 It is understood by some Interpreters not unfitly concerning the Martyrs that suffered by Fire but were not overcome by it their Faith and Patience was not overcome but did triumph and conquer through Jesus Christ and all this through the Presence of God with them For he that dwelt in the burning Bush dwells in the midst of his Church Deut. 33.16 Acts 7.35 The Son of God was in the Furnace Dan. 3.25 And under the New Testament he walketh in the midst of the seven Golden Candlesticks Rev. 2.1 He hath promised Isai 43.2 when thou walkest through the Fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the Flame kindle upon thee These two typical things were presented to particular persons namely the mystical Ladder to Jacob and the burning Bush to Moses The other five were more publick to the whole people of Israel namely the Pillar of Cloud and Fire the Manna the Rock and Water out of it the Brazen Serpent and the Pool of Bethesda 1. The Pillar of Cloud and Fire Exod. 13.21 22. As to the nature of it it seems to have been not unlike those things which are called in Scripture Pillars of Smoke Joel 2.30 which the Apostle renders Vapour of Smoke Acts 2.19 which the Lord did now create and in a miraculous way and by the Ministration of his Angels who are the Instruments of his Providence and Ministers to his Church did carry it and move it to and fro from place to place It is called a Cloud because it had something of that appearance but it was not an ordinary and natural but a supernatural and miraculous Cloud and differed from other ordinary Clouds in many respects It was of such an height and bigness as was and might be seen by all the House of Israel Exod. ult ult other Clouds are soon dispersed and dissipated But this remained firm for the space of forty years together till they came into the Land of Canaan the lower part of it rested upon the Tabernacle after that the Tabernacle was erected and from thence it ascended and went up like a Pillar of Smoke as we read of Pillars of Smoke Judg. 20.40 Cant. 3.6 it was one and the same substance which was a Cloud by day and Fire by night It was not real natural Fire therefore called the appearance of Fire Numb 9.16 It was not Ignis urens but only Ignis lucens it was no burning but only shining Fire For it sate upon the Tabernacle which was made of boards and other combustible matter It kept its form and was not moved by the Wind or by any other ordinary and common Cause but by the Lord himself and it moved and walked no faster than the whole Camp could follow Out of this Cloud the Lord spake and delivered his Oracles to Moses And there the Glory of the Lord appeared to the people Exod. 16.10 and 33.9 and 34.5 Levit. 16.2 Psal 99.7 Numb 11.25 and 12.5 Deut. 31.15 Thus for the History of it Now
that there was a Mystery in this Pillar of Cloud and Fire is clear from Isai 4.5 6. for there never was a literal Cloud and Fire upon Mount Sion This fiery Pillar did cease when they were entred into Canaan Isaiah therefore intends a spiritual thing under those expressions So it is here mentioned by the Apostle in the Context as representing a Gospel-mystery They were all baptized unto Moses in the Cloud 1 Cor. 10. ver 2. It signified and shadowed forth 1. Something of Christ himself 2. The Benefits of Christ 3. The Ordinances of Christ 1. Christ himself some have noted a shadow both of his Deity and Humanity There was a fiery Brightness in the Cloud which yet was but a dark shadow of the Glory of his Deity which was often in Visions so represented But his divine Nature was veiled and overclouded by his humane as in this shadow there was a Pillar of Cloud as well as Fire In Revel 10.1 Christ is represented as clothed with a Cloud and his Feet as Pillars of Fire Expressions notably answering this antient Type and Shadow 2. It holds forth something of the Benefits of Christ What Benefits had they from this Pillar of Fire and Cloud They had three 1. Light and Direction 2. Defence and Protection 3. Ornament and Glory All which we have in an higher manner in Christ by the Gospel 1. Light and Direction in the way that they should go in those Arabian Desarts where no man dwelt and which no man passed thorough where there was neither Path nor Guide But they had the Lord himself to guide them So it is said of this Cloud in Exod. 13.21 where it is first mentioned that it was to lead them the way by day and by night to give them Light and more fully and with much emphasis Numb 9.17 18. and to the end of the Chapter So doth Christ direct and conduct his people in their travels through the Wilderness of this world to Heaven the true Canaan He is the true Light Joh. 1.9 who coming into the world enlighteneth every one that is enlightned For so that place may be fitly rendred He is the way the truth and the life Joh. 14.6 There is a directing Light they are under the everlasting conduct of his Word and Spirit He doth not leave his people in the dark as to things absolutely necessary for their Communion with him here in this world and for their Salvation with him in the world to come we must follow Christ as they followed the Cloud 2. A second Benefit they had by this Cloud was Safety and Protection both from the heat and scorchings of the Sun in those burning Sands and Desarts of Arabia For the Cloud covered and overshadowed them therefore it is said of it Psal 105.39 he spread the Cloud for a Covering And likewise from their Egyptian Persecutors and Enemies For the Cloud went behind them when their Safety so required Exod. 14.19 20. as if the Lord should say You shall not hurt them till you have stricken thorough me first Yea the very same Dispensations which are directing and protecting to his people are dark and destructive to his Enemies as here the same Cloud was light to the Israelites but darkness to the Egyptians Vpon all the Glory shall be a Defence and a Covert from the Storm Isai 4.2 last There is a protecting presence of God in his Church we do experience the truth of this at this day in all our solemn Assemblies there is a wonderful protecting Providence over us Every Church of Saints is a spiritual Army of Jesus Christ and these Armies are terrible Cantcles 6.10 glorious as the Sun terrible as an Army with Banners It is a terrible thing to offend or trouble them a man had better fight against all the power the great Turk can raise than oppose or offend one Church of Christ and there were more hope of Success For the Lord himself is a Wall of Fire round about them Zach. 2.5 as well as the Glory in the midst of them Therefore it is written Isai 54.17 no Weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn Some allude thus upon these two Benefits they had by the Cloud That Truth is as a Pillar of Fire to go before us and Peace as a Pillar of Cloud to overshadow and refresh us 3. This fiery Pillar was exceeding glorious it was an honour and glory to them so in the Church Christ is the Glory of his Church See Isai 4.2 We would think if we could see a company of Kings and Princes and Nobles and great men walking together in the Ways and Ordinances of Christ this were glorious but Deus maximus in minimis There is a Glory in the meanest of the Assemblies of his Saints though spiritual that carnal eyes are not able to discern it When you come to the meetings and Assemblies of Gods People you should endeavour to see this divine Glory you should by Faith discern and see a Pillar of Cloud and Fire over the places where they meet and a Guard of Angels and fiery Chariots round about them God is present there in his Temple doth every one speak of his Glory Psal 29.9 Thus the Pillar of Cloud and Fire did figure and exhibit to them the Benefits of Christ Light and Direction Safety and Protection Ornament and Glory 3. It figured also the Ordinances of Christ and his Presence in and with them For the Ordinances are the outward and visible tokens of Gods Presence with his people as this fiery Pillar was of old And therefore when the Tabernacle was made and set up it rested upon the Tabernacle Exod. 40.38 There be some Duties are secret which the world sees not nor may see as Alms-deeds personal and secret Prayer But the Ordinances of Institution are things that ought to be practised with all the publickness that may be They are outward and visible tokens of Gods Presence particularly that great Ordinance of Baptism as in this Chapter 1 Cor. 10.2 The Cloud it seems had a refreshing moisture in it to shade and to refresh and cool them from the burning heat And they were bedewed with it as we are with the Water of Baptism whereby this legal Cloud became a Type of Gospel-Baptism And so you see how it represented something of Christ himself and something of his Benefits and something of his Ordinances under the New Testament So much for this third typical thing this Pillar of Cloud and Fire 1 Cor. 10.11 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã April 16. 1668. A Fourth typical thing amongst them of old was their Manna or Bread from Heaven And a fifth was the Rock that followed them and gave them Water Here was spiritual Meat and spiritual Drink Of these two the Lord assisting at this time They are both mentioned above in the 3 and 4th verses of this Chapter And they did all eat
greater sin then people do imagine the retaining of such legal Shadows being an implicite denyal of the Truth of the Gospel but men consider not the meaning of their own Actions 7. The last occasional Typical thing which the Lord gave to his People of old was those healing Waters of the Pool of Bethesda which indeed are not mentioned in the Old Testament but in the New John 5. It was a Miracle but yet it had also a symbolical use as many other Miracles had to lead them from the consideration of earthly things unto heavenly things Healing Waters are often spoken of in the Scriptvre with a reference to spiritual healing as Ezek. 47.1 8 9 11 Rev. 21.1 So Christ speaks of Rivers of Waters flowing out of the heart of a Believer Joh. 7.38 which cannot be meant of literal Water but is meant of Metaphorical and Spiritual Waters this in general But to unfold the Allegory a little more particularly that we may see more fully what instructions we may learn out of it 1. Those healing Waters of that Pool of Bethesda may fitly represent the Ordinances of Christ in the Church which is indeed Bethesda an house of mercy for so the word may be interpreted ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Beth chesda Domus misericordiae though others expound it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Domus effusionis The Church of Christ is indeed a spiritual Hospital an house of mercy to the Sick to poor diseased Souls where there be the choisest Waters the Waters of Life and all other Medicines of spiritual help and healing 2. The healing virtue of the Water may hold forth to us the spiritual good of Ordinances the healing of our Souls This is frequent in the Scripture as was said before for bodily healing to teach and represent spiritual 3. The motion of the Angel leads us to take notice of the effectual Operation of the Spirit of Christ in and by the Ordinances in the time of love It is not the Means it is not the Ordinances but the Angel of the Covenant by his Spirit moving and working in them that heals and doth good to souls the Ordinances are not effectual at all times but only when and as they are moved and influenced by the Spirit for it was a place much frequented as appears by the five Porches and its neerness to the Temple and the Text saith many sick lay there He could have healed all as well as some Verùm ut miracula suum habent finem ita modum habere debent Calvin in loc As when there were so many dead and but one raised 2 Kings 4.32 So many Widows and the Prophet sent but to one 1 Kings 17.9 Luk. 4.25 26. Who would have looked for help and healing from troubled Water We must follow God against our own reason the judgment of reason is often contrary to the mind of God 2 King 5.10 Naaman thought washing in Jordan an unlikely means to recover the Leper Elisha 2 King 2.20 healeth the Waters by casting in Salt an unlikely means for Salt is wont rather to cause barrenness The Water here did it not for then it would have healed all and at all times one as well as another He singles out one whose condition was most deplorable his disease inveterate incurable 38. years So he that was born blind and had been so till he grew up to mans estate Cap. 9.1 So Lazarus when dead buried four days Joh. 11.39 The Woman twelve years Mat. 9.20 Another eighteen years Luk. 13.11 4. These times were unknown and uncertain to the people they knew not when the Angel would come to move the Waters So is the day of grace and the opportunities of salvation to Souls because man knoweth not his time Therefore is he snared in an evil time when it falleth suddenly upon him Eccl. 9.12 Oh that thou hadst known Luk. 19.41 42. Therefore Eccl. 11.6 In the morning sow thy seed and in the evening withhold not thine hand for thou knowst not whether shall prosper either this or that or whether they both shall be alike good Lay hold upon all opportunities 5. These excellent Waters did not heal all but only him that was put first into them which was for our instruction that we might learn to lay hold betimes upon seasons and opportunities for our spiritual good They that seek me early shall find me Prov. 8.17 Be at work for God and your Souls betimes lest you come too late Christ asks him vers 6. Wilt thou be made whole He prevents him before he expressed any desire to Christ not as though Christ were ignorant of his desire but to excite and stirr up desire and expectation in him and to stirr up the attention of those who were providentially present at that time that they might mind and take notice of the Miracle Vers 8. Jesus saith to him rise take up thy bed and walk He could have said be whole but he chooses rather to express it by an infallible effect and fruit of it To the Maid arise Mark 5.42 To Lazarus come forth Joh. 11.43 and vers 44. Let him go To the Paralytick Mat. 9.6 Arise take up thy bed and go unto thine house On the Sabbaoth day that so it might be the more taken notice of the people would wonder to see a man carry his bed abroad and so inquire about it There were beside these we have now handled some other occasional typical things as Noahs Ark but that was spoken to in the History of Noah and some others may occur afterwards but these are all I shall speak unto here Let me conclude with a few words of use to help you to a practical improvement of all that hath been said upon these Typical things 1. We may here see the compleat and perfect fulness of our Lord Jesus Christ to all the necessities of our Souls That spiritual Ladder represents him as the Mediator and means of all the intercourse between Heaven and Earth between God and us The burning Bush shews his presence with and protection of his Church and People in the Fires of Persecution and Affliction The Pillar of Cloud and Fire holds forth that everlasting blessed Conduct and Guidance of his People by his Word and Spirit through the Wilderness of this World to their eternal Rest The Manna and Water out of the Rock holds him forth as our spiritual Food And now lastly the Brazen Serpent and the Pool of Bethesda teacheth us that here is healing also so that he is both Meat and Medicine The same thing is held forth also under other Metaphors Rev. 22.2 The Leaves of the Tree of life are for healing of the Nations so that Christ is all in all 2. Learn from hence not to despise these Truths concerning the Types how weakly soever they may be held forth by him that speaks unto you for you see they are full of Gospel marrow and mystery Any thing of Christ should be sweet and precious and it is so
to you that believe 3. We may here see the glory of Gospel Truths and Mysteries and withall how dull and slow of heart we are to apprehend them in that the Lord teacheth us and holds them forth in so great variety of spiritual representations to our weak and narrow understandings Here is Light and Safety and Strength and Meat and Drink and Medicine and all laid up in Christ and Christ hereby held forth unto us and all little enough to help us to a true and right Idea of him 4. Here is very great and sweet encouragement from that which hath been said this day to diseased Souls to repair to this Physician whatever thy diseases be go to him for help And that you may obtain help and healing virtue from him remember these three Rules and take them along with you 1. Seek to him in his own Means and Ordinances If he set his Stamp upon a piece of Copper as he did of old do not despise it If he send his Angel into a Pool or Well of Water do not say with Naaman are not the Waters of Abana and Pharphar as good as the Waters of Jordan Are not other Pools as good as the Pool of Bethesda They may be so in themselves and yet may not have the virtue that meaner Waters have if the one be appointed of God for this use and the other not 2. Do not expect healing from the Means from the Well or Waters of it but by the Angel of the Covenant moving the Waters not from the Ordinances but only from the blessing and presence of God in them 3. Be sure you be found waiting his time and leisure wait at the Pool of Bethesda though you do not find help in 38 years yet wait and be ever ready lest you be out of the way when the Angel moves the Waters May 7. 21. 1668. 1 Cor. 10.11 THe occasional Types beloved were referred to two heads Things and Actions Of Typical things we have spoken That which follows next in order is occasional Typical actions Before we enter into them it may be useful to recal to remembrance three things formerly delivered 1. That the Types are not to be restrained only to the Person of Christ but they extend even to all New Testament Dispensations 2. That there is a real historical verity in these typical actions 3. That they did serve for divers other ends and uses as well as for this typical use I must desire you to remember these three things and to carry them along with you in all that shall be said They may be referred to two heads 1. Typical deliverances to his People 2. Typical destruction of Enemies Which though they might be handled together yet for the greater clearness and distinctness we may consider them severally 1. There were typical Mercies Deliverances Preservations of his People of old which happened to them in Types and are written for our Instruction upon whom the ends of the World are come The Lord intended those ancient Dispensations to be Types and Patterns and Pledges of what he intended to do for his People in the latter days There be many signal Instances thereof in the story of the Old Testament I might here instance in the Lords protecting Providence over the Fathers and Ancestors of that People viz. Abraham Isaac and Jacob in all their sojournings and journeyings to and fro at the call of God Psal 105.12 13 14 15. When few in number and in the midst of Enemies He suffered no man to do them harm Mentioned as the first great and speaking Example how the Lord would protect his People in all future times but to let pass the Presidents given in particular Persons and to instance only in such Dispensations as befel that whole People There were six famous Dispensations of Providence which happened unto them in Types and are written for our instruction upon whom the Ends of the World are come 1. Their deliverance out of Egypt 2. Their passage through the Red Sea 3. Their marching through the Wilderness 4. Their passage through the River Jordan under Joshua's conduct 5. Their entrance into Canaan 6. Their deliverance out of Babylon 1. Their deliverance out of Egypt the History whereof is recorded in the Book of Exodus This History may be typically applied three ways 1. Unto Christ himself and so it is expresly in Mat. 2.15 It is quoted out of Hos 11.1 Those words are spoken by the Prophet Hosea concerning the deliverance of that People out of Egypt but this being typically done to the Members of Christ was in the full intent of it accomplisht in Christ the Head and Antitype and therefore is so applyed by Matthew Look as Israel in the Infancy of that People went down into Egypt and God brought them forth again so Christ in his Infancy fled thither and the Lord called him back again 2. Here was also a shadow and representation of our spiritual deliverance out of spiritual bondage and misery under Sin and Satan and the World in an unregenerate estate unto the state of Grace and Glory The Scripture hinteth this unto us in that it doth expresly apply the Terminus ad quem of their deliverance Mystically and Allegorically Therefore the Terminus à quo was also Mystical and Allegorical for there is the same reason of both We made use of the like demonstration before upon the fiery Serpents so here such as the Rest was such was their Bondage but the State they were brought into was a State of typical Rest and Peace in Canaan It is made a Type of another Country even of Heaven it self Heb. 11.16 Heb. 4.8 9. Joshua did not give them Rest But there remaineth a further rest to the people of God If their Rest in Canaan was a Type of spiritual and heavenly Rest Then their Bondage in Egypt was a Type of spiritual Bondage Sin as some have well said is indeed the Egypt of the Soul upon all accounts Temptations to it Actings in it Troubles for it are its house of Bondage and Vexation We are all by nature in a condition of spiritual slavery to Sin and Satan as Israel was in outward slavery to their Egyptian Task-Masters and the Lord redeems us spiritually as he did them literally Hence in the Preface to the Ten Commandments which are moral and perpetual the Lord therein saith to us and to all his People as well as to them I am the Lord thy God which brought thee forth out of the Land of Egypt out of the House of Bondage He redeemeth us out of another and worser Egypt You may see the Analogy a little more particularly in 4. things 1. They were under very cruel Bondage The Egyptians made them to serve with rigor Exod. 1.14 They must make Bricks the Monuments whereof are thought by some to be the Pyramids So Josephus reports Though some object that the Pyramides are not made of Brick To which it may be answered That what manner
I shall prove each Particular out of plain Scripture 1. That great Seed that was not only the Seed of the Woman but the Son of God this was the first and chief Seed here intended Gal 3.16 He saith not as to Seeds but to thy Seed which is Christ such a Seed in whom all Nations are blessed Now it is in Christ only that all Nations are blessed therefore he was this promised Seed The Lord had not before limited the Seed Messiah to any particular Family but left it at large so far as appears among the whole Race of Mankind It was said to Adam the Seed of the Woman there was then no further limitation till Noahs time and then in Abrahams time the Lord limits the Covenant to his Seed It was afterwards confined to Judah one of the twelve Tribes at last the Lord went further to one Family in Judah namely Davids but here he limits it to Abraham that of him should come that great and blessed Seed This was the main thing indeed as without which all other Promises could never be bestowed and fulfilled but through him they are Yea and Amen Abraham saw my day and rejoyced he saw the Messias was to come of his Loyns this was the Seed in whom he believed and by which he was saved 2. There was a Church-seed promised the meaning is this That the Church of God should be continued in his Race and Posterity the true Religion should be setled there There were other godly persons before and after we read of Melchisedech and Job and his Friends and it is very like there might be others and when God had setled Salvation to Abraham it was the duty of all others to joyn themselves to that Church The Lord entailed by Covenant all his Ordinances to Abraham and his Posterity He gave them his Statutes and Judgments he chose them to be a peculiar People a People to the Lord and that is a Church a Society intrusted and invested with the Ordinances and thus he dealt with them he shewed his Statutes to Israel this is no small priviledge and mercy to enjoy the Ordinances this is called the Kingdom of God This Christ threatned the Jews that it should be taken from them and given to other people Mat. 21.43 that is God would settle his Church among the Gentiles and give them his Ordinances And that this is a Priviledge we see by that expression of the Apostle to the Ephesians wherein he mentions it as a part of the dreadful misery of the Ephesians that they were Aliens to the Common Wealth of Israel 3. There was a third thing intended and that is a believing Seed such as should be truly Godly and of this the Apostle speaks in Gal. 3.7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith are the Seed of Abraham so that all true Believers are his Seed in that sense He is called the Father of the Faithful all Believers are his Posterity There were Multitudes that were truly Godly of Abrahams Seed and all that are Godly are his Seed they walk in his steps they are the Seed of the Covenant they are spiritually related to him He was the Pattern and typical Head of that Covenant in which we do all believe the Pattern of Faith to us He is called our Father It is said of him that he believed against sense and reason this was not writen for his sake alone but for us also that we might follow his steps 4. There was included in this Covenant an ingrafted Seed it is the Apostles expression in Rom. 11.17 I mean a Seed not only of the Jews but of the Gentiles God did not only engage to Abraham that there should be Church of his own natural Seed and that there should be Saints of his natural Seed but that the Gentiles should be ingrafted into his Covenant and so become his Seed Thou being a wild Olive Tree wert grafted in among them and partakest of the root and fatness of the Olive Tree God did above and beyond the ordinary course of things ingraft the Gentiles into that Covenant that he had once made with Abraham And thus you see what the Seed is which the Lord did promise in the Covenant whereof Circumcision was the Seal He did promise to give to Abraham that Seed firstly and chiefly that Seed who was the Son of God and a Church Seed and a believing Seed and not only a Seed of the Nation of the Jews but a Seed ingrafted into that Grace and Covenant from among the Gentiles We have gone through two Branches of the Covenant the third is this 3. That God would give an Inheritance to him and them this was the third part of Gods Covenant with him It is the greatest desire in nature to have Children and it is a good desire it is of God And what do Parents desire next a comfortable Inheritance for them and this did the Lord promise to Abraham And in that Text which hath been so often alledged God first promises to make him exceeding Fruitful and then I will give to thee and thy Seed after thee the Land wherein thou art yet a Stranger The Lord promised an Inheritance and that Inheritance was the Land of Canaan Now the Question is whether this was a temporal or spiritual Inheritance Doubtless the Lord did not promise to Abraham Canaan meerly as a temporal Inheritance but as a spiritual Inheritance Canaan was not as other Lands are a meer outward thing but it was a typical Land it was the Land of Emmanuel it is the Land of Glory Canaan was a Type of Heaven and in that respect it was that they did so earnestly prize it and look upon it as being Heaven in an earthly Shadow therefore Jacob and Joseph must needs be buried there therefore the Apostle assures us they did seek a better Country they professed themselves Strangers and Pilgrims here upon Earth They that say such things declare plainly they seek another Country which is an heavenly one wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God It is a heavenly City whose Builder and Maker is God so that under that Shadow the Lord did promise Heaven to Abraham and this was the third part of this Covenant This Land of Canaan is called the Mountain of Holiness what expression can be higher Dan. 11. and therefore the Saints did look beyond that to another Country You see what the Covenant was and what were the principal things and Branches of it That God should be his God that God should give him a Seed and that God should give an Inheritance to him and them You see what the Covenant is that Circumcision doth relate to Now the last thing that was propounded was this what respect it is that Circumcision hath to this Covenant He gave him the Covenant of Circumcision For this Note these five things 1. Circumcision respects the Covenant as the Seal or Sacrament of Initiation into the Covenant The reason of
the Priest was not to go to him to fetch it but the man himself is to bring it vers 3. of his own voluntary will so Christ dyed willingly and offered up himself a Sacrifice and a whole Burnt-Offering unto God for us Ephes 5.2 Joh. 10.18 I lay down my life of my self so should we in all our Services be a willing people we should come before the Lord with willing minds when we present our Corbans our Gifts Services and Oblations to him God loves a cheerful Giver 2 Cor. 9.7 2. This leads us by the hand and points every way to Jesus Christ as the cause of our acceptance with the Lord in that they were to bring it to the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation to be offered upon the Altar which stood there For Christ is both the Door and the Tabernacle and the Altar and the Priest He is the door of the Sheep Joh. 10.7 And he is the true Tabernacle and the Sanctuary which the Lord hath pitched and not man Heb. 8.2 A greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made with hands Heb. 9.11 And he is the Altar Heb. 13.10 which sanctifies the Gift and makes it accepted Mat. 23.19 And Christ is the Priest also that presents and offers up our Sacrifices to the Lord He is often called a Priest and our great High Priest This therefore teacheth us That all our access unto and acceptation with the Lord is only in and through Jesus Christ it is through him alone that our Services and Sacrifices are accepted there is no acceptance out of Christ For he that neglected this was to be cut off Lev. 17.8 9. 3. They are to bring it hither before the face of the Lord or the presence of the Lord this refers to the holiest of all where God dwelt and where his presence did appear So the meaning is that we are to see God in all our Services and to eye the presence of God and that he is to be seen there and there only even in and by the Lord Jesus Christ Luk. 1.75 that we might serve him before him 2 Cor. 4.6 the Light of the Knowledg of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ 4. The Tabernacle was a Type of the Church which is often called the Tabernacle and Temple and House of God We are to worship God in his Church in the Assemblies of his people Heb. 10.25 and 12.22 23. So much for the first ceremonial Action about the Burnt-Offering 2. The Sinner that brought the Sacrifice was to lay his hand upon the head of it vers 4. this was not required in the Sacrifice of Fowls but only of Beasts see the like Exod. 29.10 There is some controversy here whether he was to lay on his right hand or his left hand or both but seeing it is in the singular Number and seeing it is expresly commanded that the Priest should lay on both his hands Lev. 16.21 that is both for his own sins and the peoples therefore it is thought by some not improbably that when any of the people offered he laid on but one hand But whether the right or the left We may suppose that whatsoever was not limited by God was left at liberty This Ceremony relates to the confession of sin and the translation of the guilt of it upon the Sacrifice the Offerer in this Ceremony disburthening himself of sin and putting over his own Guilt upon the Sacrifice so it is explained Lev. 16.21 He shall lay on his hands and confess over him the Iniquities of the Children of Israel So Christ hath born our sins and carried our sorrows Isa 53.4 5. And we are to confess our sins over him by Faith in Christ and through the blood of his Sacrifice it shall be forgiven us 1 Joh. 1.7 9. 3. The Sacrifice must be killed and slain and that upon the north side of the Altar vers 5. and vers 11. It is questioned here who did this whether he that brought the Offering or the Priest But doubtless it was the Priest for it is said of him that kills the Offering that he shall stay it vers 5 6. but that was the Priests work And to the killing of the Sacrifice of Beasts answers the wringing off the head of sacrificed Fowls But this is expresly affirmed to be the Priests work vers 15. Only this we find that the Levites were added to the Priests to assist them and help them in the whole work of their Ministry Numb 8.19 and we find it often recorded that they did so 2 Chron. 29.34 Therefore in vers 22. of that Chap. where the Killers and the Priests are distinguished it is not to be understood concerning the people as if they had killed the Offerings but rather the Levites see likewise 1 Chron. 23.28 31. and 2 Chron. 35.10 11. So much for the literal explication of this Ceremony now for the mystery and meaning of it What might be noted from hence concerning actions and administrations properly and peculiarly ministerial we shall observe when we come to that place to the legal Priesthood and Ministry But it is plain and obvious that it holds forth the death of Christ the Messiah was slain and cut off Dan. 9.26 His Soul was made an Offering for sin Isa 53.10 As to that Circumstance of killing it on the north side of the Altar vers 11. the same Rule is given concerning the Sin-Offering Lev. 6.25 and the Trespass Offering Lev. 7.1 2. There be various applications of this Some think there is no further mystery in it but that the Tabernacle door and the Altar were so situate and placed that on the north side there was more space for such Acts as required most room as the killing and dressing of the Sacrifices did so our own Annotators But others conceive this Law was not without something of mystery in it some note how their greatest Troubles and Sufferings were from the North Jeremiah sees a Seething Pot and the face thereof was towards the North. Jer. 1.13 and then vers 14. Out of the North an Evil shall break forth upon all the Inhabitants of the Land Therefore some conceive that to restrain the Evils and Judgments of God the Offerings were slain on the north side of the Altar also that the situation of the Temple was on the north side of the City Psal 48.2 Mount Sion on the sides of the North. Moreover here is no regard had to the Sun and to the East but thither the Ashes were carried forth as vers 16. Whereas the Heathen were accustomed to Sacrifice and to direct their Worship towards the East and towards the Sun which they made an Idol of In opposition to which Idolatry as some conceive the Lord appointed his people to sacrifice towards the North. And lastly the Gospel hath prevailed more in the northern Hemisphere of the World which also is more inhabited than in the Southern Ezekiel in his Vision of the holy City doth first describe the
left for any excuse If they cannot bring an Ox the Lord will accept a couple of Turtle Doves or young Pigeons the Lord accepteth these smaller Sacrifices from the Poor as well as greater from the Richer sort of people See Vers 17. it is of a sweet savour to the Lord. This Offering was brought by the Parents of Jesus Christ Luke 2.24 As to the building of the Tabernacle he that could not offer Gold or Silk or Purple might bring Goats hair Exod. 35.5 6. Therefore let not poor people be discouraged alas I have no Estate I have no Parts nor Learning it may be so but God accepts of mean services where there is but mean ability For if there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not 2 Cor. 8.12 I might add that the Burthen is much easier under the Gospel God doth not put us upon such costly service such a chargeable Religion as theirs was under the Law especially in these latter days There is not a Servant in a Family but may be able to buy a Bible and so to read the Word of God Now for the Particulars they were of two sorts lesser Cattel and Fowls Concerning the Offering of the lesser sort of Cattel there is nothing peculiar in the Rites and Ceremonies thereof save only that of killing it at the north side of the Altar which belongs indeed to other Sacrifices also and was therefore spoken to before upon the Burnt-Offering of the bigger sort of Cattel The third and last part of the Chapter is concerning the Burnt-Offering of Birds or Fowls vers 14 to the end We are to note here what Birds they were and what were the ceremonial Actions about them The Birds were not Ravens and Vultures and such like but Doves and Pigeons and Sparrows at least in that peculiar case of the Leprosy Lev. 14. The Dove is often commended in the Scripture for innocency and harmlesness Mat. 10.16 Be ye wise as Serpents and harmless as Doves The Spirit appeared as a Dove Mat. 3.16 So are the Saints Psal 74.19 deliver not the Soul of thy Turtle Dove and often in the Song of Solomon my Love my Dove all the practical application I shall make of it shall be this Believers themselves are living Sacrifices unto God but if thy Sacrifice be accepted thou must be a Dove not a Bird of prey but harmless as Doves The ceremonious Actions about them aim at the same general scope with the ceremonious Actions about the Burnt-Offering of Cattel whereof we spoke before and divers of them are the same There be only three differing Ceremonies in the Burnt Offering of Fowls whereof we are now to speak 1. That the Priest shall wring off his head vers 15. which the old Geneva Note explains thus The Hebrew word signifies to pinch off with the Nail ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ungue secuit It occureth only here and in Lev. 5.8 where the same Rule is given concerning the Trespass-Offering The Rule concerning the Burnt-Offering of Cattel is only to kill them that is with the sacrificing Knife to cut the Throat and so let out the life and blood of the Beast and then cut off the head and cut all the parts asunder as vers 5 8. The reason of this difference in the outward Ceremony seems to be from the different matter of the Sacrifice both aiming at the same general scope viz. to shadow forth the Sufferings of Jesus Christ and the violence done to him for and by our sins For as the blood of the Turtle Dove was wrung out with violence so was the blood of Jesus Christ when he made his Soul an Offering for sin Some note further that the Head was not to be quite wrung off as the parts were not to be divided asunder of which by and by 2. The Priest was to pluck away his Crop with his Feathers and cast it beside the Altar on the east part by the place of the Ashes vers 16. Why to the East they had a place on the east side of the Court to which they carried forth the Ashes Because this was the furthest off from the Holy of Holies for the Temple stood directly West as you may see Ezek. 8.16 which the Lord did in opposition to the common Idolatry of those times which were wont to worship towards the East There was therefore a place eastward from the Tabernacle where they threw the filth of the Sacrifices as in reverence of the Divine Majesty as far as might be from the Ark of the Testimony We must abandon whatsoever is unclean when we come into Gods presence all filthiness must be removed far away out of his sight As we come to an holy God in an holy duty so we should come in an holy manner and with holy hearts I will wash mine hands in innocency and so will I compass thine Altar O Lord. Psal 26.6 3. He shall cleave it with the wings but shall not divide asunder vers 17 cleave it that is long ways so as there was a Wing on each side This Ceremony of not dividing the Fowls was very ancient for Abraham used it Gen. 15.10 And in reference to the same Scope it was that the Head and Body were not quite disjoyned but only the Neck pinched with the Priests Nail Now what is there in Christ the Anti-type that may answer this Not a bone was broken Joh. 19.33 36. Moreover the divine and humane nature were never totally separated notwithstanding all his Sufferings though his Soul was separated from his Body yet neither Soul nor Body was separated from the Son of God but incomprehensibly and ineffably united when in the Grave and in the dust of Death His Deity as the Head or principal Part was not divided from his humane nature nor was he who is the Head of his Church divided from his mystical Body by all his Sufferings but remains indissolubly and everlastingly united to them So much for the explication of the Burnt-Offering whether of the Herd or Flock or Fowls with the Ceremonies appertaining to them now for the use of all Vse 1. See here the difference between Gods Ceremonies and mens between religious Ceremonies of divine Institution and of humane Invention Divine Ceremonies are full of Light full of Spirit full of Gospel Marrow and Mystery But humane Ceremonies in the Worship of God are full of Darkness and Vanity thick Darkness there is no Light no signification in them as men cannot bless their own Ceremonies and make them effectual for spiritual ends so they cannot so much as make them suitable and significant they are commonly so foolish so impertinent and ridiculous that it is hardly sit to name them in a Pulpit lest they provoke laughter As for instance for I will give you an instance or two because there is an holy scorn and an holy laughter A man must wear a white Garment in a ridiculous manner
Analogy doth appear for the Meat-Offering did consist of Bread and Wine as the Lords Supper doth And as the Meat was eaten by the Priests so is the Bread by Believers who are Gospel-Priests But yet as in all Similitudes and Types beside the Analogy there be also sundry disproportions and disparities between the Type and the thing typified so here for the Meat-Offering was both a Feast and a Sacrifice part of it being burnt upon the Altar But the Lords Supper is only a Feast and not a Sacrifice being wholly eaten by the Priests The Meat-Offering did refer to what was future the Lords Supper to what is past that was a prefiguration of the true Sacrifice the Lords Supper is a commemoration of it In the Meat-Offering the Wine was only poured forth before the Lord but in the Lords Supper the Communicants are to drink it Drink ye all of it Mat. 26.27 In a word that was a Type this a Sacrament 4. There is a fourth duty which the Sacrifice of the Meat-Offering may refer to and that is Almes bounty and liberality to the Saints and to the Poor this is a true Sacrifice and a Gospel Meat-Offering The Apostle seems to speak of it under such a notion Heb. 13.16 To do good and to communicate forget not for with such Sacrifices God is well pleased And Philip. 4.17 18. 4. The Meat-Offering shadowed forth the acceptation of our persons and services with the Lord so in the places before alledged Philip. 4.17 18. the Apostle calls what the Philippians sent unto him for his supply An Odour of a sweet smell a Sacrifice acceptable well pleasing unto God see Mal. 1.10 God rejects the Jews but accepts the Gentiles in their stead together with their prayers and services vers 11. Upon this account Frankincense was an Ingredient in the Meat-Offering to make a sweet smell Hos 9.4 They shall not offer Wine Offerings to the Lord neither shall they be pleasing unto him The Lord hath sometimes given signal evidence and testimony of his good acceptance of this Sacrifice and of his people therein see 2 King 3.9 10 20. So that look as our Reconciliation to God was in a special manner taught and held forth by the Burnt-Offering so our Sanctification and acceptation with him is in a peculiar manner taught and shadowed forth in the Meat-Offering which hath occasioned some to restrain it to this Scope only though that is a mistake as hath been shewed Thus you see the general Mysteries adumbrated and shadowed forth in the Meat-Offering namely Jesus Christ his atoning and reconciling us to God as also Believers their persons their services the acceptance of both before God 4. The fourth Enquiry touching the Meat-Offering is concerning the additions forbidden to be annexed to it which were two Leaven and Honey vers 11. The reason and intent of this is worthy to be considered and enquired into And first for the literal sense and meaning of the Prohibition it is concerning Fire-Offerings at the Brazen Altar Leaven and Honey might not come upon the Altar but yet Leaven was permitted and allowed in Thank Offerings Lev. 7.13 and in the Offerings of First Fruits Cap 23.17 So here in this second Chapter Vers 12. it is thought to be spoken by way of caution they might offer it leavened but not sacrificed at the Altar Honey also is numbered among the First-Fruits 2 Chron. 31.5 Though some understand that of Dates which are as sweet as Honey This 12. vers some explain it thus ye shall offer them to the Lord for a Wave-Offering but not for an Oblation at the Altar This is strictly forbidden both in this and in divers other Scriptures as in reference to the Passover and that very severely under the pain of Extermination or cutting off Exod. 12.19 And in Amos 4.5 they are sarcastically reproved for it for that Interpretation agrees best with the Scope Now for the Reasons of the Prohibition And first for Leaven Leaven you know hath a sower taste it hath its name one of its names in Hebrew ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from the sowerness of the taste Vinegar is a Conjugate from the same Root Numb 6.3 Chometz Jajin And it hath a sowring and a swelling quality and property and an infecting spreading quality when it is put into a Batch of Dough it ceaseth not till it hath made all the rest like unto it self as our Saviour speaks of it Mat. 13.33 Leaven which a Woman took and hid in three measures of Meal till the whole was leavened And so the Apostle Gal. 5.9 A little Leaven leaveneth the whole lump Aul. Gellius Lib. 8. Cap. 15. The Heathen did retain by blind Tradition some footsteps of this Ceremony for the flamen dialis or Roman Priest might not by their Canons touch any leavened Meal Plut. quest Rom. apud Aynsw in Exod. 12.15 Plutarch scanneth the reason of it thus because Leaven it self proceedeth from corruption and corrupteth also the Meal with which it is mixed And therefore by the way that Metaphor of Fermentation so much used by some late Philosophers it may be doubted whether it be always so congruous and so full of light to clear up the mysteries of nature as they suppose who make such continual use of it for it is but one kind or way of corruption But for the spiritual mystery of it Leaven argues Corruption and therefore unleavened is as much as to say uncorrupted I find Leaven applied in Scripture to sin and sinners and Corruptions of all sorts and particularly to these four 1. To false Doctrine Mat. 16.6 11 12. The Leaven of the Pharisees is the false Doctrine of the Pharisees 2. To scandalous and wicked practices 1 Cor. 5.6 7 8. Purge out the old Leaven that ye may be a âein lump as ye are unleavened Let us keep the Feast not with old Leaven neither with the Leaven of malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth Discontent Psal 73.21 thus my heart was grieved Or according to the Hebrew Metaphor thus was my heart leavened or sowred Ki Jithchametze lebaâi or rather leavened and sowred it self Malice and cruelty the Leaven of maliciousness Psal 71.4 Deliver me O my God out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man the leavened person Chometz So likewise Pride is fitly compared to Leaven because it puffs and swells the heart 3. To Hypocrisy and secret sins Luk. 12.1 2. the Leaven of the Pharisees which is Hypocrisy 4. To promiscuous Communion and carnal mixtures in Church society 1 Cor. 5.6 A little Leaven leaveneth the whole lump Some are apt to say their sin will do me no hurt but you may be deceived in this I tell thee their sins may infect and damn thee One Fornicator or profane person must not be allowed in the Church lest many be defiled Heb. 12.15 16. This is a Truth so clear throughout the whole Scripture that if I were to choose what
express prohibition of any such Rite Lev. 10.8 9. And the Lord spake unto Aaron saying Do not drink Wine or strong drink thou nor thy Sons with thee when you go into the Tabernacle of the Congregation lest you die Vers 10. And that you may put difference between holy and unholy and between unclean and clean 3. The spiritual Mystery of it Doubtless it had much of spiritual mystery in it the Psalmist calls it the Cup of Salvation Psal 116.13 I will take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord for what other Administration under the Law that expression could relate unto besides this I know not there being no other use of Cups of Wine amongst them in the Worship of God but only in these Drink-Offerings whereof we speak Three things I shall briefly note 1. Wine in typical and allegorical Scriptures doth sometimes signify the joys and consolations of the Holy Ghost for Wine rejoyces and cheers the heart Psal 104.15 Wine that maketh glad the heart of man Therefore the Apostle Ephes 5.18 so speaks Be not inebriated with Wine wherein is excess but be ye filled with the Spirit The Apostles Antithesis between Wine and the Spirit intimates this Cant. 1.2 Thy love is better than Wine And vers 4. We will be glad and rejoyce in thee we will remember thy love more than Wine And Cant. 2.5 Stay me with Flagons comfort me with Apples for I am sick of love Stay me with Flagons that is with Flagons of Wine Metonymia subjecti continentis pro contento As in the Supper the Cup is put for the Wine This Cup is my blood that is the Wine in the Cup so here Stay me with Flagons she prays for the sense of his Love 2. We find the Saints pouring out their blood in the Cause of Christ compared to a Drink-Offering Phil. 2.27 2 Tim. 4.6 And so is in an higher in a much higher sense the blood of Christ represented by Wine in the Sacrament of the Supper as his Flesh by Bread and so the Meat and Wine in the Meat-Offering may also represent his Flesh and Blood 3. It shadowed forth the Lords acceptance of his people Shall I leave my Wine wherewith I cheer both God and man Judg. 9.13 that is pleasing to God in Sacrifice Hence when the Lord declares his rejection and disacceptance of them Hos 9.4 he thus expresseth it they shall not offer Wine Offerings to the Lord neither shall they be pleasing unto him 6. The sixth and last Enquiry that was propounded concerning the Meat-Offering is the Seasons and Occasions upon which it was to be offered There is the more cause to speak to this both because the Scripture is Copious in it and because there hath been something of controversy and something perhaps of inadvertency and of mistake about it You may note this in general There be some Offerings which were Meat-Offerings as to their matter which yet did not come under the Rule of the Meat Offering as it is here laid down in this second Chapter of Leviticus There be three Instances of this 1. The Wave Sheaf Lev. 23.10 11. 2. The two Wave Loaves Lev. 23.17 It is true these agreed in the matter with the Meat-Offering properly so called for they were of the Fruits of the Earth that were to be eaten but yet they did not come under the Rule of the Meat-Offering For they were not Ishim Offerings made by Fire they were not to be burnt nor were they most holy to be eaten by the Priests alone in the holy place and they were to be made with Leaven which is contrary to the ordinary Rule of Meat-Offerings But they were Heave-Offerings which were but singly and not doubly holy 3. A third Instance is the Jealousy-Offering Numb 5. which differs from the Meat Offering partly in the matter For the Jealousy-Offering was not fine Flower nor yet Flower of Wheat Qemach Sheirim Meal of Barley ãâã some render it the Bran of Barley Barley the coursest sort of Bread-Corn and Bran the coursest part of that Grain not Wheat but Barley not Flower but Meal and no Oyl nor Frankincense with it It differed also and chiefly in the end and use the Meat-Offering being for expiation as hath been formerly proved but the Jealousy-Offering was for exploration and discovery of guilt or innocence It was for a Memorial but not for a Memorial of acceptation but to bring sin to remembrance Numb 5.15 For these Reasons though there be something of general agreement being of the Fruits of the earth and so may be called a Meat-Offering in a general sense and so accordingly is called Mincha vers 15. Yet you see how much it differs from the Rule of the Meat-Offering in this second of Leviticus therefore it was not properly a Meat Offering Quest But when then was the Meat Offering offered And what Offerings were there under the Law that come more fully under that notion Ans They were of two sorts either separate or conjoyned with other Offerings Of separate Meat Offerings there are two signal Instances 1. The poor mans Trespass Offering Lev. 5.11 12. in stead of the Trespass Offering of Cattel because of his poverty 2. The Shew Bread Lev. 24 7 9. It seems to have been a Meat-Offering for the Incense was burnt as a Memorial for the Bread say some Or as others an handful of the Flower whereof they were made was burnt for the whole and the rest was eaten by the Priests after they had been presented and had stood for a time before the Lord so much as to separate Meat Offerings Now 2. as to Meat Offerings conjoyned with other Offerings The general Rule is this That they were conjoyned with Burnt Offerings of Cattel and with Peace Offerings whether offered as Vows or as Freewil-Offerings or at their solemn Feasts and in sundry other incidental occasions But they were not conjoyned with Burnt Offerings of Fowls nor with Sin or Trespass Offerings This Rule is both affirmative and negative it is grounded upon Numb 15.4 9. Hence as there was a dayly Burnt-Offering so there was a dayly Meat-Offering Numb 4.16 Numb 28.4 5. And sometimes the Lord gave signal testimonies of his acceptance of it as 2 King 3.9 10 20. So at the Consecration of the Priests and Levites Lev. 8.26 27. And Lev. 9.4 At the Consecration of the Levites Numb 8.8 At the Expiration of the Nazarites Vow Numb 6.17 At the Dedication of the Tabernacle there were twelve Meat-Offerings according to the number of the Tribes Numb 7.13 14. Also the Sheaf of First Fruits though it self was a Wave-Offering yet there was a Meat-Offering annexed to them Lev. 23.18 So that generally where you have a Burnt-Offering or a Peace-Offering under the Law whether under the notion of a Vow or a Freewil-Offering or at their stated Feasts and in most incidental occasions though I cannot say in all for it is not mentioned in the purification of
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 Ceremonies that were peculiar to the Peace-Offerings the reasons and mysteries whereof require a little opening 1. The division of it c. 1. It was divided into 3. parts c. 1. Some parts of it were to be burnt before the Lord upon the Altar upon the Burnt-Offering viz. all the Suet and the Fat of the Inwards the two Kidneys the Cawl upon the Liver or the Midriffe and all their Fat This is repeated three times over viz. concerning the Peace-Offerings of the Herd vers 3 4. And again concerning the Lamb vers 9 10. And again lastly concerning the Goat vers 14 15. Only with this difference That in the Peace Offering of Lambs there is added the whole Rump vers 9. the fat thereof and the whole Rump it shall he take off hard by the Back Bone Whereof some Interpreters give this account That this in some kind of Sheep is very great and fat especially in those parts of the world As Plinie lib. 8. cap. 48. Therefore it is here commanded to be burnt upon the Altar with the other Fat and Inwards so Aynsw in loc Others give this account of it That there is not the meanest part of the Creature but God hath a right unto it and though it be a thing never so contemptible in it self God can make it honourable and sacred by applying it to his service As the Rump here in the Sacrifice of Peace Offerings And so the Foreskin in the Sacrament of Circumcision Gen. 17.11 Thus our own Annotators in Lev. 3.9 These parts of the Peace-Offering must be offered Yal ha yola in holocaustum for a Burnt-Offering as some render it that is these parts were in stead of the whole and had the use and virtue of the whole Burnt-Offering Here is pars pro toto a synecdochical Offering as we shall meet with many such kind of Administrations under the Law wherein a part is equivalent and accepted as in stead of the whole Others Interpret it thus Yal hayola that is upon the Burnt-Offering ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as being added to it The Burnt-Offering was offered first before any other Oblation and then this and other Offerings superadded to it And so we may learn this out of it That we are first to be reconciled unto God by the death of his Son applyed and received of us by Faith before any Oblation of ours can be acceptable to him This sacrificed part of the Peace-Offering is called the Bread of the Altar and the Bread of God Vers 11 Numb 28.2 My Offering and my Bread for my Sacrifices made by Fire shall ye observe to offer to me They are called his Bread because the Fire of the Altar did consume and eat them up and so the Justice of God devours and feeds upon the sinner The fierceness of the Wrath of God against sin and sinners burning as fire and devouring Souls and the necessity of satisfaction and atonement by the blood of Christ in order to our peace with God are the general Truths held forth and taught in all the Sacrifices and so in this of Peace-Offerings 2. God and the Altar being thus fed and satisfied in the first place the rest of the Peace-Offering was divided between the Priest and the Owner that brought it to be eaten by them The Priests part was the Breast and the right Shoulder The Owner had the rest This appears out of the 7. Chapter of this Book the Breast was to be waved before the Lord for a Wave-Offering vers 30.31 The Shoulder to be heaved or lifted up before him for an Heave-Offering vers 32 33. The Offerer with his Family was to eat the rest such of them as were clean vers 19 20 21. nay the unclean might not so much as touch it vers 21. under pain of Extermination if they did it made the flesh unclean First as to the Priests part we are here taught again that Gospel Truth of the maintenance of Ministers The Apostle spells out this Lesson to us 1 Cor. 9.13 14. They that serve at the Altar must live of the Altar And that the Breast and the Shoulder was for them some have applyed a little more particularly thus That the Priests should be as Breasts and Shoulders that is Counsellors and Supporters to the people preaching to the Ignorant with the Wisdom of a prudent Breast and bearing the Infirmities of the Weak with the strength of a patient Shoulder Others thus 1 he was to have the Shoulder because of his bearing the people and carrying them and their Sacrifices before God Lee Temple pag. 346. And 2 the Breast the seat of the heart to note his compassion tenderness and bowels to them bearing them always in his prayers upon his heart before the Lord. Both which Accommodations are ingenious and spiritual and taken from the nature of the things but the safest way is to observe what hints the Scripture gives those Senses are solid and carry the best evidence of light and demonstration with them Secondly as to the Offerer with his Family or Friends partaking of it here was an exercise of Communion as 1 Cor. 10.21 They have communion with Devils that eat of Idols Feasts so this signified their communion with and Incorporation into Christ Here was an holy Feast wherein they did rejoyce before the Lord Deut. 12.6 7. And thither shall you bring your Burnt-Offerings and your Sacrifices and your Tythes and Heave-Offerings of your hand and your Vows and your Free-Will Offerings and the Firstlings of your Herd and of your Flocks and there you shall eat before the Lord your God and ye shall rejoyce in all that you put your hand unto ye and your Housholds wherein the Lord thy God hath blessed thee We must learn to enjoy all our Enjoyments in and for the Lord and to rejoyce in Communion with him in spiritual feasting at his Table Eating the Peace-Offering is feeding upon Christ by Faith and holy rejoycing in him Christ was not offered for the Priests alone or communicated to them alone but for the people also And that the unclean are so strictly excluded from either eating or so much as touching it We see how dangerous a thing it is for unclean and unworthy persons to participate in the Feasts of the Lord. Hypocrites that partake of the Sacraments in their uncleanness and receive unworthily they eat and drink their own damnation 1 Cor. 11.27 28 29. The flesh of these Sacrifices being a figure of the flesh of Christ to be eaten of the Saints by Faith This Law signified that Unbelievers Hypocrites and wicked ones that profess the Gospel and partake of the Signs and Seals of Grace unworthily do eat and drink Judgment to themselves Aynsw in Lev. 7.22 As no Peace-Offering belongs to the unclean so there is no peace to the Wicked saith my God To the Wicked God saith what hast thou to do to take my Covenant into thy mouth seeing thou hatest to be reformed Psal 50.
And here comes in that Quoere concerning the Peace-Offerings whether they were of the Holy of Holies whether they had the double or only the single Holiness They are not called most holy as the other five sorts are The reason whereof is because that some part of them was eaten by the people but yet a part also was burnt upon the Altar and another part eaten by the Priests and these parts were most holy though the whole was not Therefore some have called the Peace Offering Sacrificium varium a divers Sacrifice as being partly holy and partly most holy And the other sorts they call simplex by a simple Sacrifice intending that which was all of it most holy and the whole was to shadow out the Sacrifice and satisfaction of Jesus Christ so Mede Disc 49. 2. The second Ceremony of the Peace-Offering was the limitation of time for the eating of it The parts belonging to the Priest and to the Offerer must be eaten by them the same day or the next but if any was left till the third day it must be burnt with fire Lev. 7.15 16 17.18 And here there is a distinction in the Rule between the two sorts or occasions of Peace-Offerings namely That if it were for Thanksgiving it must be eaten the same day that it is offered but if it were for a Vow or a voluntary Offering it must be eaten within two days The former Rule is in vers 15. The Rule for the latter is in vers 16. But how if they did not observe this Rule see the penalty in vers 17.18 To eat any of it upon the third day was very detestable and abominable see vers 17 18. It is forbidden under the penalty of utter Extermination There might be something of a natural Reason for this because the flesh might putrefy in that hot Climate if kept longer But surely this is not all that was intended in such a severe and vehement Prohibition Therefore there be also two spiritual Mysteries that seem to be intended and aimed at by the Spirit of God in this Ceremony 1. To teach us that we should make haste and not delay Communion with God in the exercise of Faith and thankful obedience Do not delay and put off the work of Believing but receive Christ and Communicate of him in this our day This Instruction is clear and evident out of this Ceremony for seeing eating signifies our feeding upon Christ by Faith and to day and to morrow denotes a short time therefore this instructs us speedily to lay hold upon the Mercy of God in Christ and to feed upon this our Peace-Offering while it is called to day according to that Psal 95.7 8 Heb. 3.12 13 15. So for other duties of obedience we should not delay the expressions of our joy and thankfulness to God Psal 119.60 I made haste and delayed not to keep thy Commandments They had a like Rule touching the Passover Exod. 12.10 Ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire One scope whereof was to teach us to lay hold on present opportunities Do not protract the time there is a day of Peace after which when once expired it is too late God will not accept thy Peace-Offerings then 2. It is thought to have respect unto Christs Resurrection which was upon the third day therefore he saith Luk. 13.32 Behold I cast out Devils and I do Cures to day and to morrow and the third day I shall be perfected Then he ended his work and state of humiliation for our Redemption and had no more to do in a way of Sacrifice and Peace-Offering for our sins In which respect the number of three was a mystical number under the Law as well as the number seven the Scripture often sets a mark upon it Isaac was offered the third day Gen. 22.4 Against the third day they were to be ready to receive the Law upon Mount Sinai Exod. 19.10 11. Sanctify the people to day and to morrow and let them wash their Clothes and be ready against the third day for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai so the Ark went before them three days before it rested Numb 10.33 And they departed from the Mount of the Lord three days journey and the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord went before them in the three days journey to search out a resting place for them And after three days to pass over Jordan into Canaan Josh 1.11 In the third day the unclean person was to purify himself but if he purify not himself the third day then the seventh day he shall not be clean Numb 19.12 In the third day Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord and recovered from the sentence of death 2 King 29.5 Hos 6.2 After two days he will revive us in the third day he will raise us up and we shall live in his sight With many other memorable things all which intimates something of mystery in the third day And the greatest Dispensation that ever was upon that day was the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead after he had layn part of three days in the Grave Then he was perfected and had no more to do in way of Sacrifice and satisfaction for our sins as after the third day there was no more of the Peace-Offering remaining 3. A third Ceremony in the Peace-Offering was this That they were to offer leavened bread with it Cap. 7. vers 13. This is the more remarkable for that in all their other Sacrifices Leaven was usually very strictly and severely forbidden but here it is required Here we may learn first That it is not the nature of the thing it self but meerly the will of God that makes a thing good or evil in his worship To put Leaven into any other Offering it makes the Sacrifice odious unto God and like a smoak in his Nostrils all the day but if it please him to require it in the Peace-Offering then it must be used So for Honey he forbids it in other Sacrifices Lev 2.11 But in the First Fruits they were to offer Honey 2 Chron. 31.5 The Children of Israel brought in abundance of the First Fruits of Corn Wine Oyl and Honey and of all the Increase of the Field God herein manifesting his Authority and the supremacy of his Will If it had pleased our Lord Jesus Christ to command us to sign men in his Name with the sign of the Cross it would have been a duty and a blessed thing to do it and if he had not commanded us to wash men with Water in his Name it would have been a sinful and an unlawful Administration to baptize More particularly Leaven is taken both in a good and in a bad sense and I find Interpreters do accommodate and apply it both ways as to the Sacrifice of the Peace Offerings 1. In
the good sense thus our Saviour useth it in his Parable Mat. 13.33 the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto Leaven which a Woman took and hid in three measures of Meal till the whole was leavened And you have the same Parable recorded again by Luke Cap. 13.21 The Lord makes use of Leaven here to teach and hold forth unto us the inward and secret working of the Word and Spirit in the heart sanctifying the heart effectually but gradually by imperceptible degrees as Leaven seasons the Lump Thus the joyning of Leaven with the Peace-Offering may teach us That we and our services must be seasoned with the new Leaven of Grace whereby the old Leaven of Corruption is changed and altered and so the whole man made savoury Look as there is an old Leaven which must be purged out for they that are in the old unsavoury lump of the Flesh cannot please God so there is a new Leaven wherewith every ones heart and life should be seasoned a new principle of Grace a spirit of Life from God which in time works out the contrary old principle of sinful Corruption as an Antidote that works out poyson out of the body 2. Take Leaven in the bad sense and so it signifies sinful Corruption In this sense the Scripture often speaks of it as 1 Cor. 5. Hence we may learn that as God accepteth the Peace-Offering though offered with Leaven so he accepteth the sincere endeavours and services of his people though there be a mixture of sinful Corruption in them Or if we take Leaven as in that sense of sorrow and grief as Psal 73.21 thus my heart was leavened Their having some sower Leaven amongst their Feasts may teach us That in all our rejoycings in this World there is a mixture of sorrow there is no prosperity so entire but hath some sorrow some affliction with it as there is no day but hath some Clouds Roses have Thornes Honey hath a Sting Crowns and Scepters have Cares and Troubles And it is not only so in natural Joy but in those better Joys and Consolations of the Almighty Spiritual Joy is and ought to be accompanied with godly sorrow and is too oft accompanied with a mixture of carnal sorrow and unbelieving doubts and fears There is some of this Leaven with the Peace Offerings of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord. 4. The fourth Ceremony is this That they must not eat the fat nor blood but give it wholly to the Lord vers 16 17. I number this among the Ceremonies of the Peace-Offering because it is here first mentioned and here indeed was the first occasion for it for there being no part at all of the Burnt-Offering to be eaten there was no need there to forbid the eating of fat or blood but in the Peace-Offerings they were to eat some part therefore here comes in this exception respecting the Peace-Offerings in the first place though extended likewise to all the rest The first Prohibition is of Fat And here first for the literal sense of the Ceremony before we come to the mystical signification There be two Cautions to prevent mistakes that the legal Rigor may not seem greater then it was indeed 1. It is meant only of that Fat that was to be sacrificed as the Suet and Fat of the Kidneys c. For of the other Fat that is diffused through the rest of the flesh throughout the whole body of the Beast there is no mention in this Restriction in the Text and therefore being not restrained and prohibited we may justly presume it was allowed and permitted to them they might lawfully eat of it Neh. 8.10 eat the Fat and drink the sweet 2. It is meant only of the three kinds of Beasts that were appointed to be used in Sacrifice for they were permitted to eat the Fat of other clean Beasts See Levit. 7.23 25. where this restriction of Fat is clearly explained and restrained to the Fat of those three kind of Beasts Now as to the mystery and spiritual signification of this Ceremony that we may learn some wholesome Instruction out of it the best way will be this let us consider when the Scripture speaks of Fat in an allegorical or metaphorical sense how is it meant For a Similitude is typus arbitrarius and a legal Ceremony is no more but typus fixus or destinatus and differs from an Allegory or Metaphor or Similitude only in the fixation or destination of it by God unto such an use and end in a stated way Now you will find that the Scripture speaks of Fat in such a Metaphorical sense two ways as was before noted concerning Leaven both in a good and in an evil sense which will give this Type a double aspect as that also had Nor is there any real absurdity or incongruity in the accommodation of a Type two or three several ways for they are not so many contrary senses but only so many several Instructions or spiritual mysteries to be learned out of one of Gods teaching Signs such manifold Instructions being all included in the vast aim and comprehensive wisdom of the Holy Ghost designing and choosing out such things for teaching Signs as may afford and yield plentiful Instruction to his people 1. Then the Scripture speaks of Fat in a good sense My soul shall be satisfied a with marrow and fatness Psal 63.5 That is to be filled with the best things So Isai 25.6 In this Mountain shall the Lord of Hosts make unto all people a Feast of fat things a Feast of Wine on the Lees of fat things full of marrow So Gen. 45.18 Pharaoh saith to Josephs brethren ye shall eat the fat of the Land that is the best of it So all the Fat of the Oyl and all the Fat of the Wine and of the Wheat Numb 18.12 for so the Margin from the Hebrew reads it denotes the best Oyl the best Wine the best Wheat as the Translation well explains it Hence it is said of Abel by way of Commendation Gen. 4.4 That he brought and offered unto the Lord of the Firstlings of his Flock and of the Fat thereof Thus the Lords challenging the fat of all the Sacrifices peculiarly to himself may instruct and teach us thus much That we must serve God with the best we have the best of our time and strength the vigor of our Spirits the best of our endeavours should be the Lords For men to spend their youth in the service of their lusts and then at last bring their decrepit old age unto God this is to give the fat of their Sacrifice to the Devil and the lean unto God But with such Sacrifices God will not be well pleased And yet when we have brought the Fat the best we have unto the Lord it is accepted not for our own sakes but through Christ As the Fat in the Peace-Offerings was burnt upon the Altar upon the Burnt-Offering for a sweet savour unto the Lord. 2. The Scripture sometimes
speaks of Fat in deteriorem partem in an evil sense so it is said of wicked men their heart is as fat as Grease but I delight in thy Law Psal 119.70 So Deut. 32.15 But Jesurun waxed fat and kicked thou art waxen fat thou art grown thick thou art covered with fatness Isai 6.10 Make the heart of this people fat lest they understand with their heart and convert and be healed So it denotes a senseless hard heart the Fat in the body having little sense A Fat heart in this sense is opposed to a fleshy heart so it denotes hardness insensibleness unbelief Now then the Fat being burnt upon the Altar teacheth us That our Corruptions must be burnt up by the Spirit of God as a Spirit of Burning and of Judgment And it is the Fat of the Inward parts and of the Kidneys and Liver which are the seat of Lust and Concupiscence We may learn from hence that even secret sins in the Inward parts must be destroyed and mortified It is not enough to avoid open and outward sins but inward heart hypocrisy secret lusts they must be burnt before the Lord upon the Altar destroyed and mortified by the Spirit God trys the Heart searcheth the Reins sees into the Inward parts That fatness of the heart must be consumed those Inward lustings unto sin destroyed and mortified 5. The last Ceremony was the forbidding of blood vers 10. This Prohibition was more general than the former of Fat for that was only some kinds of Fat But all manner of blood is forbidden without any restraint or specification of this or that kind The first Prohibition of blood that we read of in Scripture was to Noahs Sons Gen. 9.4 But flesh with the life thereof which is the blood thereof ye shall not eat And now again by Moses here and afterwards in other places As Cap. 7.26 27. and Cap. 17. from vers 10 to the end very largely and vehemently under the forest pains and penalties even utter extermination and cutting off by the immediate hand of God But that Prohibition in Noahs time seems to differ from this by Moses in that it was living blood which was there forbidden but here it is all manner of blood As to the mysteries and reasons of it there be two things expressed in Lev. 17.11 1. Because the blood is the life of the Beast vers 11 14. That is it is the Seat and Vehicle of the Spirits which are the Soul and the Life of it as Philosophers say Anima rationalis equitat in sensitivâ sensitiva equitat in vegetativâ The sensitive Soul is the Chariot of the rational Soul and the vegetative of the sensitive so their Blood is the Chariot of the vegetative and vital Spirits The scope seems to be this to forbid and prevent cruelty it argues too much greediness and it tends to make the Spirits of men salvag and barbarous to drink living blood or to eat the flesh if it be not fully killed and cleansed of the blood 1 Sam. 14.32 33 34. Some report that it hath been a custom used in some barbarous Nations amongst the Old Tartarians they would open a Vein with an Instrument in the Beast they rode upon and so quench their thirst by drinking warm blood out of the Veins of a living Creature This is forbidden to Noahs Sons Gen. 9. as a salvage cruel thing Cruelty is abominable at all times but especially when you come with your Peace-Offerings before the Lord. It concerns you then especially to take heed of harshness towards your brethren How can men expect Peace from God when ready to drink the blood of their brethren A violent persecuting Spirit is as black a Mark as any I know To use violence to their Consciences this is to eat or drink their blood which God abhors 2. The second reason there assigned is because I have given it to you upon the Altar to make an atonement for your Souls Lev. 17.11 that is typically as representing the blood of Christ So that here is a mystical Intimation of reverence to that precious blood to keep men in a reverend expectation of it therefore they must abstain from blood as sacred to the Lord. As David refused to drink of the Waters of the Well of Bethlehem 2 Sam. 23.17 because it was per equivalentiam the blood of them that fetcht it with the peril of their Lives So here blood was typically the blood of Christ and therefore sacred to the Lord they must not use it to other common use The Lord would hereby teach them a reverential esteem and high valuation of the blood of Jesus Christ Some go a little further and observe this in it That look as eating and drinking signifies Communion so 1 Cor. 10.16 The Cup of blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the blood of Christ And forbidding to eat is a forbidding Communion Act. 10.13 14. In Peters Vision rise kill and eat It is meant of exercising Communion with the Gentiles and Peters objecting Not so Lord for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean His meaning is he refuseth Communion with them So this Prohibition of eating blood which was given upon the Altar to make atonement for mens Souls and of Fat which was given upon the Altar to be consumed there with Fire and so was the Lords seemeth to forbid figuratively all ascribing and assuming unto our selves the work of our Redemption which is only by the blood of Christ or the work of our Sanctification to our selves which Christ by his Spirit performeth in us Aynsw in Lev. 3. ult To take this work to our selves is to eat the blood as it were which the Lord will not endure There is a further reason given by some That the Lord did it to distinguish his people from the Heathen who were wont to drink the blood of their sacrifices Psal 16.3 As indeed in all these ancient Institutions the Lord had a special eye unto that to keep them off from the heathenish Customs and Idolatries Thus you see the reasons why blood was forbidden under the Law the chief whereof is the respect it had to the blood of Christ From all which you have a clear resolution of that scruple of Conscience that hath troubled some concerning that Prohibition of blood under the New Testament by the Synod in Act. 15. But the Answer is That the main reason why blood was forbidden of old being because the Lord had given blood to them for atonement and this use being figurative which had its end and accomplishment in Christ who by his death and blood shedding hath caused the Sacrifices and Oblations to cease Dan. 9. Therefore now this Law must needs be expired and not still in force upon the Consciences of Believers And as for that Decree of the Council Act. 15. It is forbidden by them meerly upon the account of love which is tender and loth to give offense The sins there forbidden may
sin and that the sins and errors of an anointed Priest are of the worst and greatest guilt This is here taught and held forth both by the Matter of the Sin-Offering and by the Rites belonging to it As to the Matter the Priest must have as great a Sacrifice for a Sin Offering as the whole body of the people collectively considered A young Bullock is the Sin-Offering for the Priest and it is no more but a young Bullock for the whole Congregation And there is a difference as to the Rites for the several sorts of sinners for the Sin-Offering for the Priest and for the body of the people was to be sprinkled before the Vail and upon the Altar of Incense But that for the Ruler and for private persons were not sprinkled before the Vail nor upon the Incense Altar but only upon the Altar of Burnt-Offering vers 25 30 34. For the sins of the Priest and of the whole Congregation as being more hainous required a more solemn manner of atonement so our Annotators on Lev. 4.25 It was an error of the Stoick Philosophers of old that peccata sunt aequalia all sins are equal It is true sin is a privation but there are degrees in Privations there be total and partial privations As in the Twilight and dim sightedness every sin deviates and swerves from the rule of Righteousness But there are degrees of rectitude and curvity some crooked lines depart further off from the strait line and some come nearer to it so it is in sins The sins of a Minister do receive peculiar aggravations and are greater in many respects then the sins of other men For them to be covetous and greedy after the world for them to be of an unbrotherly imposing spirit that is ambitious and contentious it is worse then in other men and that especially in two respects which are both hinted in the Text. 1. Because of their anointing or separation unto Office whereby they stand nearer to God than others do being to minister to him in his holy things 2. Because their sins and errors have usually a very pernicious influence upon the people either to seduce or scandalize them Many will be ready to follow their pernicious ways Hence some read and understand the words vers 3. If he sin to cause the people to err or to bring publick Judgments upon them Hence many are so apt to plead such a Minister thinks it lawful and such a one does it and why may not I See 1. Sam. 2.17 24. how the sins of Ministers do scandalize the people causing them to transgress some of them in like manner and others to abhor and despise the Ordinances of the Lord and this makes Ministers sins great before the Lord. But people should consider that an anointed Priest may sin and err and their Errors oftentimes do much hurt This is a second Instruction 3. The whole Church may err vers 13. This is another Assertion of the Papists That their Church cannot err a strange and wonderful Assertion Did not the whole Church err when they crucified Christ And they did err fundamentally yet the Jews were then the only true Church and people of God in the world Therefore it is very unsafe to pin your Faith upon the Churches Sleeve or upon the Ministers Sleeve either for both Church and Minister may err It is not safe to be led meerly by multitude or by example Exod. 23.2 Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil neither shalt thou speak in a Cause to decline after many to wrest Judgment Yea a true Church may in time err so farr and degenerate so deeply as that they may cease to be a Church As the Church of the Jews for Instance The Lord hath said unto the house of Israel as he threatned by the Prophet Hosea Lo-ruhamah and Lo-ammi I will not have mercy on you and you are not my people Hos 1.6 9. And Cap. 2.2 Plead with your Mother plead for she is not my Wife neither am I her Husband The Church of the two Tribes also are now in the same condition with the other ten Zech. 11.10 And I took my Staff even Beauty and cut it asunder that I might break my Covenant which I had made with all the people The meaning is that he would discovenant and unchurch them but yet he will at last restore them But would you see an Instance of a Church which God hath rejected and unchurched and which shall never be restored any more Behold the Church of Rome it was once a true Church and the Pastor thereof a true Minister when Paul wrote his Epistle to the Romanes sixteen hundred years ago but now so far declined from their first estate and from the primitive and Scripture Pattern That the Church of Rome is become the Whore of Babylon and the Bishop of Rome the Head of that Church is Antichrist See Rev. 13. They are set forth under the notion of two wild and venemous Beasts the first Beast in that Chapter which hath ten Horns c. is the Church of Rome the second Beast with two Horns is the Pope of Rome the first is Babylon and the second Antichrist The truth is they have erred so farr that except the Church of the Jews when they crucified Jesus Christ I think there was never any Church that erred so much as this Church that pretends they cannot err 4. Instruction That the Elders and publick persons act and are to act for the people For the Elders are to lay their hands upon the peoples Offering Vers 15. That is as their Agents and Representatives The people are not to think themselves meerly passive in what their Elders and Rulers do no believe it you are more concerned then so Their act involves the people which gives a just account of Gods sending publick Calamities upon the people for the sins of their Rulers for what the Parliament do the people do The method of Providence is often thus First the people they sin and provoke God to anger then he leaves their Rulers to sin for their sakes and then comes Wrath. For while there is a Phinehas a Josiah they stand in the gap and stave off publick Judgments it may be all their days but when they are gone or if they sin too this opens a gap for publick Judgments to break in upon the people See 2 Sam. 24.1 And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel and he moved David against them to say go number Israel and Judah Observe the method first God is angry with Israel for their sins then he moved David their King to sin and then comes the Plague People are very apt when things go amiss and the publick affairs do not prosper they are very apt to be discontent with their Rulers and Magistrates and to say that it is their fault But if they do amiss you should consider why God leaves them to it it is often for the sins
God give up his people unto the hands of such Magistrates in such a case they have none to complain to 2. The second Instance is ceremonial uncleanness vers 2 and 3. whereof you read in the 11. Chapter of this Book and so forward to the 16. wherein the several sorts of legal or ceremonial uncleanness are treated of at large But do these things defile the Conscience and contract a guilt upon the Soul They do not under the Gospel but yet they did under the Law because then God had forbidden it But suppose it were unknown and involuntary is the Conscience defiled by Casualties No but yet they must seek atonement and bring their Trespass-Offering Doubtless this was to teach them and us to seek pardon for unknown and secret sins I mean unknown to our selves as well as to others Psal 19.12 Who can understand his errors Cleanse thou me from secret faults When he knoweth As soon as God convinceth the Conscience of any sin any defilement that we have contracted there is no delaying but we must make hast to make our peace with him but as soon as the sin is known by the knowledg of the Rule that enjoyns duty and forbids disobedience men must look out for pardon 3. The third Case is swearing to do an unlawful thing as David did 1 Sam. 25.22 Herods Oath Mark 6.23 was such an one and so was theirs that sware to kill Paul Act. 23.21 Of this sort was Jepthahs Vow Judg. 11.30 31. it was a rash Vow What if a Dog or a Swine had met him first Or some other Beast that was unclean for Sacrifice Here was ground for a Trespass-Offering Now the Remedy provided is in general confessing his sin with a Trespass-Offering vers 5 6. It is in particular threefold 1. A Lamb or a Kid a Female vers 6. 2. If he be not able to compass this Two Turtle Doves or two young Pigeons the one for a Sin-Offering the other for a Burnt-Offering whose Rites and Ordinances are set down vers 7 8 9 10. The Lord graciously condescends and provides for the poverty and necessities of his people Vers 10. According to the manner According to the Institution Cap. 1. The Sin-Offering was for that peculiar sin that burdened his Conscience The Burnt Offering for all his sins in general The particular sin was to be first expiated as that the guilt whereof was most pressing upon the Conscience and which provoked God most 3. In case he be not able to compass this Then the tenth part of an Ephah of fine flower vers 11 12 13. The second Case is trespassing ignorantly against the holy things of the Lord. Vers 15. compare it with Cap. 22.14 15 16. The holy things of the Lord is things dedicated to him whereof there were many and of many sorts under the Law As for Instance They were not to eat within their private Gates the Tyth of their Corn Wine Oyl c. Deut. 12.17 18. They were to sanctify all the Firstling Males Deut. 15.19 To this sort may be referred the sin of Ananias and Sapphira they did rob God of his holy things Act. 5.1 2. though they did it knowingly and so it was worse than this case which supposeth ignorance The Remedy provided and appointed in this case is 1. A Ram for a Trespass-Offering 2. Restitution with the addition of a fifth part vers 15 16. The same proportion was added in the case of things redeemed by the Owner Lev. 27.13 15 16. With thy estimation the Speech is directed to Moses and so in him to the Priests that were to suceeed see Cap. 27.12 And the Priest shall value it whether it be good or evil According to thy estimation O Priest so shall it be The Priest shall make atonement For though the Trespasser do restore yet atonement could not be made but by the Priest and the Sacrifice appointed which leads us to Christ and to his death to seek atonement with God there There is no expiation of sin in our amendment or reformation but in the blood of Christ 3. The third Case is general concerning sins unknown and of weakness vers 17 18 19. And the Remedy provided is a Ram. Though he wist it not yet he is guilty and shall bring a Ram. That is when it comes to his knowledg The former Cases vers 4. and 15. speak also of ignorance But some state the difference thus That this is for sins never known certainly but in a doubt and suspense There is to be a doubtful Trespass-Offering vid. Ainsw in loc 4. The fourth Case is in Cap. 6. to vers 8. wherein there is a bundle of grievous sins put together all against light and knowledg 1. Injustice and theft 2. Force and violence 3. Lying fraud and deceit 4. Perjury or swearing falsly about it If a Soul sin and commit a Trespass against the Lord and lye against his neighbour For sins against our neighbour are also sins against God Psal 51.4 Against thee only that is thee chiefly For he had sinned against Vriah and against Bathshebah and had done them both irreparable wrong But that which lay heaviest upon him was the injury done to God I have sinned Luk. 15.18 against Heaven that is against the God of Heaven The Remedy appointed is threefold the two former are not for satisfaction to God but to the party injured without which there can be no effectual application of the atonement to thy Conscience 1. Restitution Vers 4. This is the ground of that saying non remittitur furtum nisi restituatur ablatum the theft is not forgiven without restitution 2. Addition of a fifth part vers 5. This is when the sinner out of the conviction of his own Conscience doth it of his own accord For if he were convicted by the Magistracy and publick Justice of the Land he must restore fourfold in some cases and double in other cases see Exod. 22.1 to 4. 3. A Ram for a Trespass Offering vers 6. Some general Instructions from the whole 1. We may here learn and see in the Trespass Offering and the Laws and Ordinances thereof how much there is of the will of God in the matters of his worship for there are divers things in this as well as in the other Offerings and Sacrifices whereof there can no account be given but the divine will and good pleasure of the Almighty As that the Trespass Offering which mentions greater sins such as stealing lying perjury should have a lesser Sacrifice to expiate the guilt thereof than was appointed in the Sin-Offering for a Ram is the highest Sacrifice here required But the Sin-Offering which is for ignorances and infirmities requires no less than a young Bullock for some kind of persons And why a young Bullock for the Priest and no more but a Goat a Male for the Civil Ruler Reason would say this should be as great if not greater then the Priests Magistracy being as great and as high a power
and threw it up with his own Bowels with these words vicisti Galilaee vicisti In these latter times of all the Persecutors in Queen Marys time there is none that seems to have sinned and shed the blood of Saints against Light more than Stephen Gardner of whom there is this Story in the Book of Martyrs and others that write of those times That having invited sundry persons of Quality the Duke of Norfolk and others to dine with him at his house he would not sit down to Dinner till he had news brought him by his servant of the death of two Martyrs Ridley and Latimer who suffered at Oxford and so made his Friends and Guests stay and wait upon his cruelty and blood thirstiness till four a clock in the Afternoon and then being informed that fire was most certainly set to them he said now let us go to Dinner and he began to eat but was taken ill and carried sick from his Table and so lay fifteen days in most intollerable torments having no ease or voidance of any thing in his body by Urine or otherwise his body being miserably inflamed thereby and thrusting his tongue out of his mouth swollen and black and while he lay in this condition uttering sometimes words of despair and blasphemy when Dr. Day Bishop of Chichester came to him and began to comfort him with the Promises of the Gospel and free Justification in the blood of Christ what my Lord saith he will you open that Gap now Nay then farewell all together such words may be fit for one in my condition but if once you open that Gap to the people then farewel altogether And when he was put in remembrance of Peters denying his Master he said that he had denyed with Peter but had never repented with Peter Acts and Monuments vol. 3. pag. 527. and pag. 957. Here was Light and inward Conviction that this was indeed the right way and yet malice even unto blood Open that Gap to the people and then farewel all together just as the Pharisees said they feared the people would go after Christ Some have Instanced also in some of the last killers of the Witnesses of Christ Rev. 11. of whom it is said fire proceedeth out of their mouths and devours their Adversaries vers 5. which they parallel with that expression of the Apostle Heb. 10.27 a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation that shall devour the Adversaries ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A receiving of Judgment that is in their own Consciences God sealing up with some flashes of his Wrath their eternal damnation they have some sparks of Hell fire spit into their Consciences from the lives and doctrine of the Witnesses It is spoken in Rev. 11. in allusion to Moses by whom those Rebels Corah and his Company as also Nadab and Abihu were burnt with fire There be two things which are sure signes a man hath not committed it 1. When the Soul is afraid of it least they have committed this sin here is no malice against the Spirit of Grace for on the contrary here is a fear least they have sinned against him this great sin 2. If there be but common meltings and relentings of heart yea though without any true and saving brokenness and softness of heart yet even this common work is evidence enough that this sin hath not been committed for the sin against the Holy Ghost is the highest degree of wickedness and hardness of heart but where there are any common meltings there is not the highest degree of hardness therefore there is not the sin against the Holy Ghost In such there is a perfect fixation of the will in evil like the very Devils and the damned in Hell Therefore let the greatest sinners know if God hath but kept them from this unpardonable sin that there is hope and help in the Gospel for them there is atonement in the blood of Christ for all that come unto God by him God hath not excluded thee do not thou exclude thy self 'T is true there is atonement but how are we to apply this atonement How may we so improve and apply that precious blood of Christ as to get peace by it and sense of pardon and reconciliation with God 1. Turn your eyes and thoughts from all other things but the blood of Jesus Christ alone for reconciliation a man may set his mark upon his Sheep but it is his money that bought them Other things may be Evidences of Justification but it is the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ that purchases it Phil. 3.7 8. Never think to make God amends or content his Justice or appease his Wrath by any thing that you can do 2. Get a thorough conviction in thy Conscience of the fulness of the atonement and the Soul-redeeming virtue that is in the blood of Jesus Christ that it cleanseth from all sin 1 Joh. 1.7 The redeeming power of the blood of Christ is greater then the condemning power of sin This excellency it hath from the excellency and dignity of his person for it is the blood of God Act. 20.28 which makes his obedience and suffering give more glory to God then our sufferings in Hell would have done Desire the Lord to make a clear discovery of this mystery to thy soul 3. Consider how freely this blood is held forth and offered in the Gospel to be rested on by sinners Rom. 3.25 and 16.26 God has revealed it that it may be rested on 4. Be not afraid of receiving the Atonement Rom. 5.11.17 but rather be afraid to reject it Heb. 4.1 We should not be afraid of believing but of not believing for the Gospel is not tendred unto men that they should have notions in their heads but that they should believe Rom. 4.23 24. 5. Let your acting of Faith upon Jesus Christ be always accompanied with repentance Ezek. 16. last This obviates that Objection about fear of presuming if thy Faith be accompanied with repentance thou dost not presume THE GOSPEL OF THE OFFERINGS and SACRIFICES September 10. 1668. Lev. 7.37 INtending at this time my brethren to wind up this Subject of the Legal Offerings and Sacrifices I have therefore now resumed this Text from which you may remember two Doctrins have been formerly observed 1. That there was a divine Institution and command of God for the Offerings and Sacrifices that were under the Law 2. That there were six kinds or sorts of propitiatory Sacrifices under the Law namely the Burnt-Offering the Meat Offering the Peace-Offering the Sin-Offering the Trespass-Offering and the Offering of Consecrations in Serm. 1. of Doct. 1. on this Text pag. 232 233. Doct. 2. That the propitiatory Sacrifices under the Law may be referred to these six kinds or sorts viz. c In the prosecution of this Doctrine we have gone through many of the Offerings and Sacrifices of the old Law in the way of Exposition upon the former Chapters of this Book to vers
done the morrow after the Sabbath of the Passover and fifty days after at the Feast of Pentecost they were to offer two Wave-Loaves vers 17 20. Thus you see the matter of these Offerings The Rite and Ceremony with which they were offered was Waveing and Heaveing from whence they have their names of Wave-Offering and Heave-Offering Waveing that is moving it to and fro round about towards the East West South and North. Tenuphah agitatio from the Verb Nuph which in Hiphil is agitavit ventilavit Heaveing that is lifting it up towards Heaven Terumah from Rum elevari extolli These were Gestures some may think somewhat strange and hardly grave enough in the Worship of God But what was the mystery and meaning of them You will find that clearly expressed in Numb 8.11 And Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord for an Offering of the Children of Israel that they may execute the service of the Lord. The Hebrew reads it as your Margin tells you thus and Aaron shall wave the Levites befor the Lord for a Wave-Offering of the Children of Israel This then was the end and the meaning of these Gestures to present and dedicate the thing to the Lord who if he will have it done by such or such a Gesture who or what is vain man that he should controle or find fault with the unsearchable Wisdom and sovereign Authority of the Lord God Almighty These words are used generally concerning all things given or dedicated to God as Exod. 35.22 And every one that offered offered an Offering of Gold unto the Lord Heniph Tenuphath agitavit agitationem he waved a Wave-Offering of Gold unto the Lord even Land it self Ezek. 48.8 9 10 20. Persons also are said to be waved as a Wave-Offering when dedicated to the Lord. Numb 8.11 For Wave the Greek translateth separate which word Paul useth speaking of his Designation to the Ministry Rom. 1.1 Some have observed something more in these Gestures especially that of waveing to and fro round about The original word is sometimes used for sifting in a Sieve Isai 30.28 That signifies Tryals and Afflictions Luk. 22.31 And so the Prophets apply this word unto Troubles Isai 10.32 and 13.2 and 30.28 The sense then will amount to thus much That the Saints and Ministers are spiritual Priests are consecrated to the Lord through sufferings As it is said of Christ the Captain of our Salvation Heb. 2.10 so the Saints 2 Cor. 6.4 10. As the Wave-Offering was tost and waved to and fro and thereby dedicated to the Lord. There is some Controversy upon these Mede Disc 49. pag. 384. started by a learned man and one of much Light in other things however he mist it in this there being aliquid humanum in the best of men and humanum est errare no man but is subject to error and mistakes The Question is whether they were Ceremonial and ceased or Moral and Perpetual But the case is clear and easy concerning them both both the Heave-Offerings and the Wave-Offerings they were Ceremonial and they are abolished Object They were not Types of Christ Ans If they were Types or legal adumbrations of Christian duties or of any of the Benefits of Christ this sufficeth and is enough to make them Ceremonial and consequently abolished For the Types as hath been often said and proved and must be now again repeated do not relate only to the person of Christ but to all Gospel Truths and Mysteries Object They might be eaten by others besides the Priests and in other places not in the holy place only therefore could not be typical unless all the people and every Corner of the Land were typical Ans So might the Peace-Offerings in this Chapter Lev. 7.15 16. The Offerer had a share in them and yet they were Ceremonial and not Moral Moreover not only the Temple and the Priests there but the whole Land of Canaan and the people of Israel were a typical Land and a typical people and as hath been formerly and shall be further shewed all the Fruits of the Land had a typical Holiness the First Fruits being virtually the whole they were a typical dedication of the whole Object The Scripture expresly rejects other Sacrifices and Offerings and doth not mention these Ans Yet these are included by a parity of reason if the chief be rejected much more the lesser and inferior Object But Christians under the New Testament are bound to give part of their substance to the Lord and to his use and service therefore these are Moral Ans I answer it follows not for this is a moral duty to give part of our substance to the Lord but yet the Heave-Offerings and Wave Offerings are ceased that is the Ceremony is ceased but the substance or thing signified remains The formalis ratio of these Offerings did not consist as some have thought in prayer and thanksgiving for there was prayer and thanksgiving in other Offerings also as well as these yea in all their Offerings Are they not commanded to lay their hands upon the Sacrifice of Atonement by way of prayer and confession Cap. 1.4 But the formalis ratio of this and other Offerings doth consist chiefly in the Ceremonies ordained to be used about them which is a great part of that which distinguisheth one Offering from another as you have formerly heard therefore if Waveing and Heaving be not to be used under the Gospel as sacred and significant Ceremonies in the presenting and dedicating of our substance to the Lord the Wave and the Heave Offering are ceased But the Gestures of waving and heaving are not to be used as sacred and significant Ceremonies under the Gospel therefore the Wave and Heave Offering are ceased Vse 1. Remember those great Gospel Mysteries which are the scope of all Sacrifices which as you have heard are chiefly these two Atonement and Thanksgiving 1. Atonement and Reconciliation this was the great Mystery taught and held forth in all the propitiatory Sacrifices that we are reconciled unto God by the death and sufferings of his Son and that they had so great a multitude and variety of Sacrifices plainly taught them two things 1. The imperfection of all those legal Sacrifices it taught them to look beyond these for a more perfect Sacrifice then any of these which might serve once for all The Apostle expresly spells out this Lesson to us from the multitude and iteration of the Sacrifices Heb. 10.1 2. 2. This great variety of Sacrifices taught them also the various and manifold Benefits of Christ and of his death and blood Though Christ be one and dyed once for all yet the Benefits that come by him are many no one thing alone was sufficient to represent the fulness that is in Christ 2. The second great thing held forth by their legal Offerings is Praise and Thankfulness This was the intent of the holy Offerings as Atonement was of the most Holy This was the meaning of the Heave-Offering
cannot be supposed that the whole Church had the gift of Miracles neither indeed is the Lord wonted to work Miracles for that end We do not find it in Scripture that the Lord doth put men by Miracle into Satans hand but he rather works miraculously to deliver them from it But a spiritual power of Satan over them is hereby meant namely either to terrifie or stupefie them 1. Sometimes he gives Satan a terrifying power in order to their humbling But 2. If they be not terrified by Satan when under this Ordinance there is a stupefying hardning power and there never was any man justly Excommunicated but fell under one of these two Quest 2. What are the Cases wherein Excommunication ought to be administred Ans It being the highest Censure and the severest part of that spiritual vengeance which the Lord hath intrusted his Ministers and Churches with it should never be used but in Cases of great extremity when no other means in the ordinary course of Gods dispensation will attain the end But when the sinners Case is such that it is beyond the reach of other means to help Immeditabile vulnus ense recidendum est Hence it is not to be used for meer sailings and infirmities and sins of weakness which a Godly man may fall into and yet walk with God uprightly But for such sins and evils as are inconsistent with Grace here or Glory hereafter such as if a man lives and dyes and goes on in it is not possible he should have any Grace in his heart or any grounded comfort or hope of Salvation Hence also it is not to be used for things doubtful and disputeable Rom. 14.1 much less for things indifferent for they neither commend us nor discommend us unto God 1 Cor. 8.8 and therefore should not to the Church For in such things we are not either the better or the worse for practising or forbearing as the Apostle there expresly asserts But for things clear and certain and universally acknowledged amongst all that deserve the name of Christians the Scripture speaks clearly to two Cases 1. Fundamental errors of Judgment So the Apostle 1 Tim. 1. ult dealt with Hymeneus and Philetus And what they held is more particularly expressed in 2 Tim. 2.17 18. viz. that the Resurrection is past already So Titus 3.10 An Heretick after his being twice admonished reject so here Lev. 13.44 if the Leprosie be in the head he is utterly unclean Hence therefore if any man deny one God and three Persons deny the Scriptures the Deity of Christ the Immortality of the Soul the Resurrection of the body or such like fundamental points it is the duty of the Church to cast him out from among them he is unclean 2. For scandalous practises in a mans life and conversation The Rule is plain 2 Thess 3.6 Withdraw your selves from every brother that walketh disorderly so in the case of the incestuous Corinthian 1 Cor. 5.13 put away from among your selves that wicked person So Mat. 18.17 So of old 2 Chron. 23.19 Jehoiada set Porters at the Gates of the house of the Lord that none which was unclean in any thing should enter in This includes Moral as well as Ceremonial uncleanness Quest 3. The ends of this Ordinance Answ They are many The principal are these three 1. To vindicate the name of God from the dishonor done to it by wicked men creeping in among his people This vindicates the holiness of God that though he loves sinners yet he shews his love in sanctifying and turning them from their sins not in sheltering and encouraging them in their wickedness This end is intimated in 1 Cor. 5.1 It is commonly reported that there is Fornication among you and that such Fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles q. d. The name of God suffers by it The Gentiles take offence against Religion because of this they are ready to say as Ezek. 36.20 these are the Lords people And so the holy name of God is profaned by such sinners as the Prophet there speaks So again 2 Cor. 7.11 what clearing of your selves In clearing themselves they clear the name of God I mention this first because this is the great and chief end of this Ordinance And it never fails of attaining this end though it have little success in other respects Though the sinner be never so obstinate yet however the name of God is cleared 2. For the Churches good to take away infectious persons from amongst them and so to preserve and warn the rest to keep the Church pure and free from infection 1 Cor. 5 6. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump One root of bitterness may defile many Heb. 12.15 And to warn others that others may fear 1 Tim. 5.20 That all Israel may hear and fear and do no more presumptuously Deut. 17.13 3. For the good of the sinner himself to bring him to Repentance For the destruction of the flesh 1 Cor. 5.5 the incestuous Corinthian must be delivered unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh And God did so bless this Ordinance to him that he was humbled and brought to deep and thorough repentance thereby I confess this end is not always attained But yet the Ordinance is not in vain For this is not the only end of it nor yet the chief end For Gods glory is the chief end the vindicating his great name the manifesting his justiee and holiness and hatred of sin and this end is attained though the sinner is not converted by it Quest 4. What is the manner of proceeding in Excommunication Ans Some things herein are left to Christian prudence and must be judged of by the particular circumstances of every case But there be some general Rules to guide us in each particular There is chiefly this general Rule wherein all agree all the godly learned that have written upon this subject do agree thus far That in some cases there ought to be a more gradual and delatory kind of proceeding by certain steps and degrees But in other cases the proceedings of the Church may be more speedy and summary Rule 1. In some cases there ought to be a more gradual and delatory way of proceeding by certain steps and degrees These steps and degrees are two First Suspension and then Excommunication The first degree is called by some the lesser Excommunication And the second they call the greater Excommunication Suspension is a temporary debarring of a person from the present enjoyment and participation of Church priviledges As the Sacraments and power of Voting till such time as his Case be fully determined Some call it Suspension others call it Admonition others the lesser Excommunication But he is a Member still For Excommunication cuts him off Suspension only debars him of present communion with the Body for a time But Excommunication cuts off and dissolves his union with the Body The Rule for Suspension is in Levit. 13.4 5. from the Priests shutting
up the Leper seven days And Mat. 5.24 Leave thy gift before the Altar And Mat. 18. The Church must be told of his sin and of his obstinacy under the former steps of proceeding with him and it must appear that he doth not hear the Church before he may be made an Heathen and a Publican Quest But how long must they delay the sentence of Excommunication Answ There cannot be a particular time limited because of the infinite variety of particular Cases Circumstances Therefore whether an Offender should lie under suspension a week or a month or a longer or shorter time God hath left it to Christian wisdom It is dangerous to limit and make particular Rules when God hath made none The general Rule which is sufficient to guide and give light in all particular cases is this That till it do appear that the Offender sins presumptuously the Church should not proceed to Excommunication If the Case be dubious and uncertain whether he be a leprous a presumptuous sinner or no as Levit. 13. then shut him up seven days more till it do appear that he is a Leper and a Presumptuous sinner The same Rule is given concerning lesser private offences in Mat. 18.15 16 17. If thy Brother offend thee tell him between him and thee If he will not hear thee take with thee one or two more And if he shall neglect to hear them then tell it to the Church Tell it What is meant by the word it It must needs relate to the private offense before mentioned This Text therefore speaks not of publick Scandals but of such Offenses as are private till the Offenders impenitency necessitate the making of them publick The same Rule is given in case of corrupt Opinions Titus 3.10 There must be a first and a second Admonition before Rejection The Reason is because it may be hoped in these Cases that the mans sin may have been for want of Conviction and therefore not of Presumption unless he resist light when means and matter of Conviction is held forth And in private Offences the matter may possibly be healed privately Rule 2. In other cases there is no need of such delatory proceeding If it be evident and apparent that the Sinner doth not sin for want of Light but presumptuously against Light And if the thing be already publick so that it cannot be hid nor healed privately as in the case of publick scandals When the Offense is so hainous that it cryes to heaven for vengeance wasteth the Conscience and is generally scandalous the Censures of the Church may proceed with more expedition See Scobels Collect of Acts and Ordinance an 48. cap. 118. pag. 119. Thus ordained that great reforming Parliament by the advice of that Assemby of Divines that sate at Westminster upon their Call The Reasons to prove this viz. that the proceedings with Offenders ought to be more speedy and summary in Cases of atrocious wickedness are such as these Reas 1. From Lev. 13. The Priest is directed to suspend or shut him up seven days if the Case be doubtful But if it be evident that the man is a Leper and presumptuous sinners may well be accounted Lepers the Rule is to shut him out of the Camp not to suspend him seven days but shut him out immediatly See vers 3 and 46. Reas 2. From the Case of the Incestuous person in 1 Cor. 5. The Apostle doth not warn them to take heed of Excommunicating him and to suspend him first and then to wait meekly and mercifully for him till he repent No but he declares he had already determined the Case that he should be delivered to Satan vers 3 4. And indeed there is a general silence throughout the Scripture concerning such gradations and delays in case of publick flagrant scandals There is no Caution no direction given for such previous Admonitions to be given to such persons in order to the preventing of Excommunication Reas 3. From the strange impenitency and hardness of heart that is in scandalous sinners To instance in the sin of Uncleanness which is the Case that now lyes before us it is a very blinding hardning sin Prov 9.18 But he knows not that the dead are there and that her Guests are in the depths of Hell It is the fruit of a seared Conscience a Conscience past feeling Ephes 4.19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness to work uncleanness This meets with that Objection should the Church censure a repenting sinner I will not now dispute that question whether Repentance be always enough to prevent Church Censures Some think it is not for doubtless Aaron and Miriam repented Numb 12.11 12. See how Aaron there confesseth and bewails the sin and he speaks in the plural Number for them both But here was a very scandalous sin insolent and seditious speeches against the chief Magistrate and Prophet of God who was exceeding faithful in his place for which God smites her with Leprosie and notwithstanding their own confessions and Moses his Intercessions for them the Lord would have her shut out Vers 14. And the Lord said unto Moses if her Father had spit in her face should she not be ashamed seven days Let her be shut out from the Camp seven days So we may say of Fornicators or of any other flagitious sinner if his Father had but spit in his face should he not be ashamed seven days And shall he not be shut out of the Church at all for Fornication But there is no need to debate that for all scandalous sinners are impenitent persons and are so to be accounted by all that fear God till full proof and evidence do appear that they have forsaken those scandalous and wicked ways And this neither doth nor can appear ordinarily till after there hath been a sufficient space and time and tryal and experience how they walk Confession of a publick Scandal when the Evidence of the Fact is undeniable is no sufficient Evidence of repentance for Pharaoh and Saul and Judas did this And no man that hath the use of his Reason can or will do otherwise for to what purpose is it to deny that which all men know Or to seek to conceal that which cannot be hid In the Confessions of such persons it is observeable That they are either meerely forced and extorted by the hand of God upon them as Pharaohs was when he confessed the Lord is righteous but I and my people are wicked and Judas his by the horror of his Conscience Matth. 27.3 4 5. Or else their Confession is extorted by the undeniable Evidence of the Fact and mingled with manifest discoveries of Pride even when they seem to be taking shame to themselves as Saul 1 Sam. 15. Or which is worst of all their Confessions are mingled sometimes with Invectives against those which reprove them As Matth. 7.6 They turn again and rent you Instead of an humble broken hearted Confession you
shall sometimes have a venomous virulent Confession from them wherein their Confessions against themselves are mingled with slanderous reflections and invectives against their Reprovers Yet when Excommunication is most speedy it should not be without admonition both before and in the Ordinance and after But shut out they must be Hence continual suspension is an abuse for scandalous sinners to stand suspended from year to year but never fully cast out Quest 5. To whom doth the power of Excommunication belong Answ This hath been matter of much controversy there have been several claims set on foot and many pretenders to this power The Pope and Prelates have been sufficiently detected to be meer Thieves and Robbers and Usurpers upon the inheritance of the Lord. All the Question that remains is about the power of the Elders and the People But I shall wave that which is controversal among the godly learned I would endeavour so to state the Case as to prevent and cut off Disputes and Janglings Therefore note only thus much That it is a general Rule in all Church Administrations that the Officers are to guide and go before the Flock and the People are to obey them in the Lord. Hence they are called Guides and Rulers Obey them that have the Rule over you Heb. 13. See Rev. 4. When the four living Wights that is the Elders of the Church give glory to God then the four and twenty Elders that is the Members of the visible Church fall down before him and worship him So in this business of Excommunication both the Elders and People have something to do in it To speak to them severally 1. The Duty of the Elders or Ministers This lies in two things 1. It is the Ministers part to enquire of the Lord for his People and to declare the mind of God unto them what the Lord would have them to do It is the Ministers duty to enquire of the Lord for them They must Deut. 17.9 10 11. come to the Priest for judgment So Abiathar inquires of the Lord for David It is their part also to declare the Answer of God to his People To hold forth the mind of God and their duty to them Deut. 17.9 They shall shew thee the sentence of Judgment There is the like Rule for Gospel times Ezek. 44.23 24. 2. To pronounce the Leper unclean To make him unclean that is authoritatively to declare him so This belongs to the Elders of the Church Levit. 13.3 Some body must do it and who fitter than the Officers who have the Government of the Church in their hands Whose sins ye retain they are retained Whose sins ye retain that is in a Ministerial way in Christs name they are retained Now when the Minister hath done his part what is the Peoples part in this work As I said before I shall not wade into controversies There be two things which are clear There is a double act of obedience on the peoples part 1. To give an actual consent of heart and mind and affections to what the Officers do in the name of Christ supposing the Officers to have done their part aright Deut. 27.15 c. all the people shall say Amen So the Apostle to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 5.12 do not you judge them that are within their judgments should concur in it As at the Great Day the Saints shall judge the world 1 Cor. 6.2 how by approving the righteous judgment and sentence of Christ upon them so here the people are to approve and consent unto the judgment declared by the Elders from the Word of God 2. It is the peoples duty to forbear keeping company with such a person 1 Cor. 5. Keep no company with Fornicators Vers 9. With such an one not to eat Vers 11. Withdraw from every brother that walketh disorderly that he may be ashamed 2 Thess 3.6 The Reason hereof is plain Either the people must thus concur or else dissent or else stand by as idle Spectators and persons unconcerned but they may not dissent for remember how the Case was stated concerning Officers that are faithful in the discharge of their trust In such a Case for the people to dissent is not so much to disobey them as to disobey the Lord Christ They have not rejected thee but me 1 Sam. 8.7 Neither are the people to stand by as Newters and persons meerly unconcerned for this were to frustrate the sentence of Excommunication and to make it void for the sentence doth exclude him from the fellowship of Gods people and therefore unless they make Conscience of it to forbear keeping company with him the sentence is vain It remains therefore that there is and ought to be a concurrence of the people in Church Censures Object But all this that hath been said goes upon this supposition that the Officers are faithful in the discharge and execution of their Office But suppose the Officers be unfaithful and will not exclude ignorant and profane people or will receive them and shut out better then they Or suppose the people be froward and will not withdraw from the looser sort or will not consent to have them cast out what is to be done in such a Case What is the Remedy there Ans This is a Case that seldom or never falls out in reformed Churches in Churches rightly constituted and Officers rightly qualified it cannot often fall out because the Lord hath promised his presence to be in the midst of them and therefore he will manifest and make known his mind and their duty to them But if it do After all other means used Light held forth and patient waiting and seeking to the Lord and to the Godly-wise for advice and counsel c. The last Remedy that Ministers have is to reform the matter of the Church by withdrawing from such a corrupt Majority as will not be perswaded to obey them in the Lord and to close with the lesser but sounder part of the people And this is the Remedy that all the Godly Ministers generally have taken they have left out the ignorant and profane part of the Parish from the Sacraments especially from the Lords Supper So in like manner if Ministers be so large in their Principles that they will needs pollute the Ordinances what can the people do in such a Case to help themselves but after all other means used to betake themselves to some better Minister and purer Church This is the last Remedy in such a Case and so I have done with the fourth Observation concerning the Lepers duty or punishment Beside other things he must dwell alone and be shut out Obs 5. We may here note the marvellous defiling infecting nature of sin in that the Leprosie infecteth Cloaths and Skins and Garments vers 47 48. And sometimes houses also see Cap. 14. It gets into the Walls and Timber so that sin reacheth other things beside the person Sin may spoil a mans business infect all his Comforts it may ruine
his house We see of what an infectious nature it is therefore keep off at the greatest distance have nothing to do with it We should hate the very Garments spotted with the flesh Obs 6. Note from the whole what an intricate and cumbersome Dispensation the people of God were then under in those Legal times in regard of the Law of Ceremonies Here was beside the bodily Disease a Ceremonial uncleanness in it which was very burthensome and difficult to judge of and to keep themselves from it and to cleanse it And it was such a burthen as might light upon a Child of God a Godly man might possibly be a Leper As it is not improbable by some expressions but that might be Hâmans Case Psal 88. he saith he was shut up an abomination to them and that Lover and Friend were gone They had this burthen of Ceremonial uncleanness besides all their other burthens That as Peter speaks Act. 15. were a Yoke which neither we nor our Fathers are able to bear We are free from all this we have no further care or burthen lying on us but to look to the health of our bodies and the moral uncleanness of sin but the Ceremonial uncleanness is vanisht away Vse It should stir us up to thankfulness and as the best expression of it to love and prize and keep close to the Ordinances and Institutions of the Gospel which are but two which are plain and easy and spiritual viz. Baptism and the Lords Supper with some few other things for the order and way of enjoying these as a Church-Estate and Ministry to dispense them As he said to Naaman if the Prophet had required some great thing wouldst thou not have done it How much rather when he saith to thee wash and be clean So if the Lord had put that old Yoke upon our Necks and Consciences which he hath been pleased to remove should we not have taken it upon us How much more when he required only so few such plain easy simple spiritual things We should love and prize them and the Lord in them and bring forth the fruit of Gospel Dispensations THE GOSPEL OF THE LEGAL PURIFICATIONS September 20. 1668. Hebr. 9.13 14. HAving spoken of the Ceremonial Uncleannesses and the Moral Uncleanness figured thereby It follows in the next place to speak of the Ceremonial Purifications and the Spiritual Cleansing signified thereby together with the means thereof If the blood of Bulls and Goats sanctified to the purifying of the flesh These general expressions include all But the Apostle specifies one particular viz. The ashes of an Heyser sprinkling the unclean The Law for it is in the 19. Chapter of Numbers There be two things chiefly to be considered in it as in other Sacrifices 1. The matter of it 2. The Ceremonies or actions about it for Purification 1. The Matter and under this there be four things observable 1. That it was an Heyser 2. A Red Heyser 3. Without spot or blemish 4. On which never came Yoak 1. It must be an Heyser So in the Text so in Numb 19. vers 12. The Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron saying this is the Ordinance of the Law which the Lord hath commanded saying speak unto the Children of Israel that they may bring thee a red Heiser without spot wherein is no blemish and upon which never Yoke came Here is Gods Authority so appointing that it should be an Heifer though ordinarily they were to offer Males yet here the Law you see is expresly otherwise it must not be a Bullock but an Heifer therefore this was a peculiar kind of Sacrifice God by his sovereign Authority did and might appoint what he pleased to be offered in his Sacrifices 2. It is particularly required that it be a red Heifer a colour often and fitly applied to Christ in a mystical sense My Beloved is white and ruddy Cant. 5.10 so Isai 63.1 Who is this that cometh from Edom with red Garments from Bozrah Red with his own blood and with the blood of his conquered Enemies And Rev. 19.13 his Vesture dipt in blood The redness of the Heifer did also point at the humane nature of Christ which he had from Adam who was made out of red Earth Gen. 2.7 from which also he took his name Adam Thus Christ is red and that in regard of his sufferings and in regard of his victories and of the blood of his conquered Enemies and also in regard of his beauty and lastly in regard that he took part of flesh and blood was really and truly man 3. It is further required in this Sacrifice that it must be without spot and blemish Numb 19.2 This was required in all the Sacrifices as Lev. 1.3 10. without blemish And it speaks forth the purity and perfection of Jesus Christ therefore it is said 1 Pet. 1.19 We are redeemed by his blood as of a Lamb without spot and blemish And him that knew no sin hath God made sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God by him 2 Cor. 5.21 So he is both white and ruddy Ruddy in regard of his bloody Sufferings but white in regard of his pure and perfect Righteousness 4. It must be such an Heifer on which never came Yoke Numb 19.2 So Christ was free from the bondage of sin and did never come under the yoke of mens Inventions and Commands nor did he suffer by compulsion but freely and willingly when he died for us Sin and the punishment of it is compared in Scripture to a Yoke Lament 1.14 The Yoke of my Transgressions is bound by his hand they are wreathed and come up upon my neck And so Joh. 8.33 34 35 36. He that lives in sin and commits and makes a Trade of it he is the servant of sin They boasted that they were free and never in bondage to any man but he tells them of a spiritual servitude which they understood not This was Christ free from And yet further as there was not this Yoke of sin upon him so neither was there any Yoke of constraint or compulsion in his Sufferings in any thing he underwent for us all he did and suffered was spontaneous and voluntary Joh. 10.17 18. I lay down my life that I might take it again No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again So here is a Heifer a red Heifer a Heifer without spot and one upon which never came Yoke 2. Consider the Actions and Ceremonies about the Heifer which were also very significant and full of spiritual mystery Not to insist upon the bringing of her to the Priest which was common to all the Sacrifices there were four especially remarkable 1. That she must be slain without the Camp 2. The blood sprinkled seven times towards the Tabernacle 3. The body burnt with Cedar Scarlet and Hyslop call into to the fire 4. The Ashes
these parts for the whole this teacheth us the same that was noted before out of the same Ceremony concerning the blood And whereas he must put the Oyl upon the blood that is upon the same place where he had put the blood before as it is explained more fully vers 28. This teacheth us that our Sanctification flows from our Justification the blood must be applied first and then the Oyl upon it the Spirit of Christ is the purchase of the death of Christ and therefore the Spirit of Sanctification is the fruit of the blood of Justification Look not to have thy Soul cleansed from the power of sin by Sanctification unless it be cleansed from the guilt of sin by the blood of Christ applied for Justification We are first justified and reconciled by his blood and then sanctified and anointed by his Spirit He forgiveth all thine Iniquities and healeth all thy Diseases Psal 103. Justification is in order before Sanctification first the blood and then the Oyl upon the blood These are the Laws and Ordinances for the purifying of the Leper But now a Case of Conscience may arise what if the Leper be not able to get all these Sacrifices and Requisites for his cleansing what shall be done in such a Case The Answer is That the Lord hath made a gracious provision for the necessities of his people therefore lesser Sacrifices are provided and appointed in such a Case from vers 21 to vers 33. where this Case is fully spoken to viz. in stead of three Lambs he requires here but one Lamb and two Turtle Doves or else two young Pigeons whichsoever he could best get And in stead of three Omers of fine flower for a Meat Offering he requires in this Case but one Omer that is about a Pottle of our measure and a Log of Oyl that is about half a Pint. This is the same that was before and these lesser Sacrifices are as effectual for the cleansing of a poor Leper as the greater Sacrifices were for richer persons God accepting a man according to that he hath and not according to that he hath not 2 Cor. 8.12 The Rites and Ceremonies of these are the same with the former so I shall pass from this observing only the gracious Condescension of God to the several capacities and necessities of his people The latter part of the Chapter is concerning the cleansing of a leprous house from vers 33 to the end Some say it was a peculiar thing in that Land a strange infection that seized the Land in some Cases the whole Land being a typical Land as we have heard I shall only note two or three general Observations from it and from the whole Chapter and so conclude Obs 1. The marvellous infectious and defiling nature of sin in that it infects and defiles other things the very house and the Garments To the unclean all things are unclean as to the pure all things are pure Tit. 1.15 It poysons and corrupts all the concernments and enjoyments of a sinner The Apostle speaks how the whole Creation groaneth and travelleth in pain together until now Rom. 8.22 For the Creature was made subject to vanity c. The Stones out of the Walls and the Timber out of the houses are troubled with a wicked man and cry out against him as Habakkuk hath it Chap. 2.11 That 's the first Observation Learn the wonderful defilement and infectious nature of sin that it corrupts all the concernments that a sinner is concerned in Obs 2. Whereas the leprous house if it were incurably infected must be pulled down and all the Materials of it cast away vers 40 45. This teacheth us that all the Monuments and remainders of leprous and corrupted things must be destroyed Idolatry and Superstition is a Leprosie that hath overspread the whole Christian World during Popery And as the Prophet saith concerning Babylon Jer. 51.26 They shall not take of Babylon a stone for a Corner nor a stone for Foundations but thou shalt be desolate for ever saith the Lord. It holds true of mystical Babylon that leprous Church whose Idolatry and Superstition is a spiritual Leprosie which did overspread the whole Church of God in the time of Popery therefore away with all the Monuments and Remainders of it Dwalphintramis applies this not impertinently to the Popes Mass-Book The Popes Mass Book was a leprous house the stones and timber whereof should have been cast aside as polluted and an abomination therefore it was an unhappy and a fatal error in the first Reformation to take Materials out of that to reform with to take the stones and timber of that leprous house to use in the Worship of God which must be therefore framed to comport with those leprous polluted things It hath been the occasion of a new Conflict to the people of God in this Age and of manifold sufferings to the servants of Christ because they contended that these leprous polluted things should be cast aside This might have been prevented if there had been a thorough Reformation at first and the stones and timber of those leprous houses the Popes Mass-Book Ritual Pontifical and Breviary had been at our first Reformation cast forth as pollutted and abominable Obs 3. How difficult and yet withal how necessary a work the purifying and cleansing of the Leprosie is The Leprosie was a Type of sin and sinful Corruption especially that original and universal pollution and defilement of our natures the Purification of the Leprosie therefore is nothing else but the work of Mortification or purging out of sinful Corruption This is a difficult work see how many Ingredients must concur to it in the Type there must be two Birds with Cedar Scarlet and Hyssop and a great many Ceremonies about these Materials There must be Spring Water and an earthen Vessel and killing dipping sprinkling washing shaving c. And when all this is done there is but half the work done for there must be also three Lambs for a Burnt-Offering a Trespass Offering a Sin Offering And three Omers of fine Flower with Oyl for a Meat Offering and a Log of Oyl and a multitude of sacred Rites and Ceremonies about these materials O how much ado there is to get a Leprous person purified and made clean And all these things instruct and shew you all along the method of the Lords proceeding in purifying the hearts of sinners There must be a great deal of pains taken with thy own heart in the use of all the means and Ordinances that God hath appointed And though there be all this pains and difficulty in the work yet it must be done there is a necessity of it This Disease is very troublesom and loathsom and it may be mortal at last if a Cure be not provided in time Therefore the Leper must use means and take pains And so should sinful Leprous souls Obs 4. That as there is a Leprosie of the heart as we are defiled and unclean by
the Arrows of the Bow the Shield the Sword and the Battel Psal 76.2.3 It is spoken of temporal Deliverance and may be applied to the Church there is a protecting Presence of God there But it is true in an higher sense concerning Christ Christ is the true Sanctuary from whence all our strength and help cometh Thou therefore my Son be strong in the Grace that is in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 2.1 Nay in all these things we are more then conquerors through him that loved us Rom. 8.37 This is the reason you conquer not but Sin and Lust prevails and you are worsted by Corruption and Temptation from time to time There is a secret distance by unbelief from Jesus Christ did you come to the door of the Tabernacle the Lord would send you help from the Sanctuary and strengthen thee out of Sion but men are loth to leave their own home or loth to break through difficulties they faint and tire by the way before they get thither and so never come to receive those blessed influences those reviving Soul-strengthening Soul-refreshing influences See Psal 84.5 6 7. It is a description to the people in their journeys to the Temple They went through thick and thin as we use to say through drought and heat till they came before God in Sion and there they found what they went for They met with God there ver 10.11 better a day there than a thousand elsewhere for there the Lord will give Grace and Glory Instruct 3. Remember that there is a Church-worship As there was a moral Worship which they were to perform every where for it was personal and not meerly publick so they had their publick Church-worship viz. their Sacrifices and other Institutions which were limited to the Tabernacle as it was a Type of the Church As no Service is to be offered out of Christ so some Services are not to be offered out of the Church for the Tabernacle as you have heard was a Type of the Church And therefore as Gods end in this Institution was to lead out their thoughts and desires and expectations to Jesus Christ and so to prevent Idolatry and Unbelief in that respect so likewise to prevent Schism and to keep them in the unity of that Church which he had then instituted and appointed So now in Gospel-times look that you partake of the Ordidances in Gospel-Churches for these are the New Testament-Tabernacles wherein God dwells and vouchsafes his blessed Presence It is often noted as a great corruption of Worship among the Jews that they sacrificed in the high places yea though they did it to the Lord their God only So in Manasseh's time 2 Chron. 37.17 Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places after some beginnings and degrees of Reformation yet unto the Lord their God only And the reason they were not taken away is sometimes noted to be the perversness of the people so in Jehosaphats time 2 Chron. 20.33 howbeit the high places were not taken away for as yet the people had not prepared their hearts unto the God of their Fathers Yea there were some good people in those times who were unconvinced of this truth that they ought to sacrifice only at the Temple and Tabernacle though they were against the Worship of Baal yet they were not against the high places so we have some in our days that are against Popery but they are not against mixt Communions They are not convinced that they ought to present their Services and Sacrifices their publick Worship unto God in Gospel-Temples that is in pure Churches and not among profane people It is strange to see the supine carelesness and scepticism of some mens spirits in this particular they regard not they care not with whom they join whether it be a true Church or a false Church whether a pure or an impure Church whether a Church or no Church Search the Scriptures and you will find no instance that ever the Lords Supper was dispensed but in Churches Gospel-Churches pure Churches The first Institution of that Ordinance was in the first Gospel-Church sounded by Christ himself the chief Pastor who did dispense this Ordinance himself to the twelve Apostles who were the Foundation stones of the first Gospel-Church at Jerusalem then again Acts 2.42 they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and in breaking of Bread and in Prayers Breaking of Bread is there mentioned amongst other Ordinances and therefore not to be understood of common but sacred Bread Acts. 20.7 it is said of the Church of Troas that they came together on the first day of the week to break Bread The same Ordinance also was observed in the Church of Corinth 1. Cor. 11. and whereas corruptions and corrupt members were crept in the Apostle spends a whole Chapter in exhorting them to purge out the old Leven 5. ch of 1. Epistle Professors that lie amongst the Pots never joyning themselves as fixed members in any particular Church though they have opportunity for it do live in the neglect of a duty a known duty yea such a neglect as doth infer and carry along with it the neglect of many other duties also For how can Church-Discipline be exercised but in the Societies of Gods People therefore tnis neglect it exposeth the Ordinances of Christ to contempt and prostitution It is as great a sin to receive the Lords Supper in an Assembly of ignorant and profane people as it was to offer Sacrifices in the high places yea it is indeed the very same thing For let thy Conscience speak Are such Assemblies the Temples of the Holy Ghost Are they the Tabernacles of the most High Doth God dwell there Is this to go to the door of the Tabernacle with thy Sacrifice when thou knowest thou goest into a dunghill of Profaneness into a dungeon of Ignorance into an Assembly of wicked and ungodly men Art thou a Soul that desirest communion with Christ Then take his own direction for the obtaining of it Cant. 1.7 8. Go forth by the footsteps of the flock this is Church society Feed thy Kids by the Shepherds Tents Make use of the Ministry and Ministers of the Word who are set in particular Churches Instr 4. Labour every one that his own Soul may be an habitation for the Lord a Temple of the Holy Ghost For the Temple signified not only the whole Church in general but every Saint in particular as hath been shewed Let not thy own Soul be as it is said of Rome Rev. 18.2 It is become the habitation of Devils and the hold of every foul Spirit and a Cage for every unclean and hateful Bird. But let the Spirit of God dwell there be restless in thy self give God in Heaven no rest nor thy own Heart within thee any rest till thy Soul be an habitation of the Holy Spirit Say as it is said of David Psal 132.4 5. I will not give sleep to mine eyes nor slumber to
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
neglected and postponed God will blast and curse all the other works of your hands as he did theirs 5. Labour to see the Beauty of the Lord in his Temple This was Davids earnest desire Psal 27.4 One thing I have desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the Beauty of the Lord Psal 84.7 to appear before God in Sion Psal 63.2 to see thy Power and thy Glory in thy Sanctuary What do you come there for if you do not meet with God there Be in the purest way of Worship but rest not in it without God Get real visions and fruitions of God in his Ordinances to see the pleasant Beauty of the Lord in his Temple Quest But when is God real to the Soul in his Ordinances Answer When God is as real to the Soul to the eye of Faith as the external part of an Ordinance is to the eye of sense When you see Christ crucified in the Sacrament when you see his Body broken his Blood poured out as really as you see the Bread broken and the Wine poured out And if there be a real sight of Christ it will have real effects to subdue thy Lusts to keep the heart in ways of Holiness Quest But what of God are we to see in his Temple Answ All his Glory shines forth there especially his Power and his Grace 1. His Power Psal 63.2 To see thy Power and thy Glory 2. Especially the Glory of his Grace Zech. 4.7 Cry Grace Grace unto it from the foundation to the top-stone 2. Sam. 7.13 He shall build an House for my Name Nov. 1. 1668. and I will establish the Throne of his Kingdom for ever NOw of the parts of the Temple Taking the word in the largest sense for all the holy Buildings and the appertainances thereof so the parts of it were three 1. The House 2. The Courts and 3. The Vessels of the Temple I call them all parts for want of a fitter term to express it by for there is a penury of words from whence there is a necessity sometimes of tropes and figures and improprieties of speech 1. The House it self that is the covered Building called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to inhabit as all the holy ground is called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for the whole place and all the Courts were holy As to this I mean the House it self we may consider 1. The common parts of it which belong to every House and so to this amongst the rest And here the Scripture takes notice of the Foundation the Walls the Doors the Windows the Floor and the Roof of the Temple Not that we should seek a mystery in every thing but only so far as we see the Scripture going before us we may safely follow when we find the Scripture allegorizing any thing and alluding to it in a spiritual sense we should mind and heedfully take out such lessons and instructions I must speak first to the Letter and History of them as parts of the material Temple and then consider what mystical application the Scripture makes of them This method I shall observe under every head 1. The Foundation of the House of the Lord it was of great costly hewn stone 1 Kings 5.17 But what is the Foundation in the Foundation in the spiritual Temple The Scripture often applies this to Jesus Christ Isai 28.16 behold I lay in Sion for a foundation a stone a tryed stone c. 1. Pet. 2 4-6 to whom coming as to a living stone disallowed indeed of men c. refused of the Builders Psal 118.22 the stone which the Builders refused is become the head of the corner A Scripture often interpreted in the New Testament concerning Christ other foundations can no man lay 1 Cor. 3.9 11. The Scripture often speaks of Christ under this notion as a Stone and a Rock and a Corner-stone Gen. 49.24 from thence is the Shepherd the Stone of Israel Dan. 2.25 a Stone cut out of the Mountain without hand Isai 26.4 Trust ye in the Lord for ever for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength The word is the Rock of ages in which Rock Moses was hid Exod. 33.22 while my Glory passeth by I will put thee in a clift of the Rock And Elijah 1 Kings 19.9 13. He is that Stone Zech. 3.9 ingraven with seven eyes upon ãâã it And as Christ is the foundation-stone of the Church so the Apostles in regard of their Doctrine are also called the Foundations of it Rev. 21.14 Eph. 2.20.21 Look to it that you be built upon this foundation that you be not built upon the Sand but upon this Rock Matthew 7.24 For hence it is that the Church stands so safe because built upon this Rock therefore the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it Matthew 26.18 The Papists make the Pope the Corner-stone of their Church but it is not the Pope it is not Peter himself as personally considered that the Church is built upon Many build upon the sandy foundation of their own Righteousness and their own strength and moral endeavours These are false foundations But if you be upon this foundation fear not whosoever believeth in him shall not be confounded 2. The Walls of the Temple they were of Stone the inside was Cedar adorned with carved Cherubims Palm trees Flowers and overlaid with Gold and yet further adorned with precious Stones fixed and sparkling like Stars in fit places in the Wall 1 Kings 6.18 29 2 Chron. 3.6 The outside of the Wall was either white polished Marble as some think or overlaid with Silver as others conceive from 1 Chron. 29.4 For within it was overlaid with Gold Therefore this Silver as it seems was for the outside which could not but yield a very bright and glorious shew to the eyes of all spectators especially when the beams of the Sun did shine and sparkle upon it The thickness of the Wall of the Temple is not expressed in the Scripture but the least that can be allowed at the foundation is four cubits because there was a rebatement of three cubits in the thickness of the Wall for the side-chambers 1 Kings 6.6 and for the Wall in the highest story we may well allow one cubit and so there will be four at the bottom The Scripture appies this mystically to the new Jerusalem Rev. 21.12 it had a Wall great and high and again v. 17. and often the Walls are mentioned 1. The Walls of an House or City are the defence and safety of it so Isai 60.18 thou shalt call thy Walls Salvation And God is said to be a Wall of Fire Zech. 2.5 for I saith the Lord will be unto her a Wall of Fire round about and will be the Glory in the midst of her the Lord is for Walls and Bulwarks to his people Isai 26.1 2. The Stones in this sacred Building
and amongst the rest they had one great Idol called the Rood which if it was as some now think the Picture of an old Man from thence the poor ignorant people came to conceive of God the Father as an old Man sitting in Heaven though it seems rather to be a Wooden Image of Christ hanging on the Cross See Acts and Monuments vol. 2. pag. 302. or a Wooden Cross only without any Image hanging on it From whence is the term Roodmas used still in some parts of England by which they mean the first or third of May the Pope having made that an holy day and called it Inventio Crucis because forsooth on that day the Cross on which Christ was crucified was found if you will believe the Fable Masse or Messe signifying in the old Saxon a Feast or a set time of holy rejoycing and Rood as it seems a Cross But this is to be observed that in all the Ceremonial Worship the Lord took special care to keep his people at a distance from the heathenish Idolatries of those times he would not suffer them to conform at all to those false Worships nor to comply with them in the least And it is a good spirit to be zealous against such things but where there is a slight loose indifferent sceptical frame of spirit in the matters of Gods House and Worship this spirit is not of God this spirit is not of him that calleth you So much for the House it self 2. Now secondly for the Courts of the Temple there were two of them the Scripture mentioneth so many and no more 2 Chron. 33.5 and he Manasseh built Altars for all the Host of Heaven in the two Courts of the House of the Lord. About the Tabernacle we read but of one Court Exod. 27.9 for the whole Camp of Israel was the outer Court But about the Temple there two called the outward and the inner Court The outward Court being the larger is called the great Court 2 Chron. 4.9 and the Court of the people because here the people came together to be taught Ezra 10.9 But though the people came into it yet it was part of the Temple and an holy place For none might enter that were unclean in any thing for it was the Office of the Porters to keep them back 2 Chron. 23.19 And hence it was that the Jews took so much offence at Paul when they thought he had brought Greeks into the Temple and so polluted that holy place Actt 21.28 There was also another Court called the inner Court 2 Kings 6.36 and the higher Court Jer. 36.10 and the Court of the Priests Vid. plura on Rev. 11.12 This Reference in the Authors Notes shews he had written a Discourse on that Text and indeed so he had which may be published in time if God will 2 Chron. 4.9 Both these Courts as it seemeth did compass the Temple on all sides round about and they were four square The length of each side of the outer Court was a furlong as the Jewish Witers report and the whole about half an English mile in compass There were also as they report some other Courts added unto these in after times but because the Scripture takes no norice of them I shall not do it neither Neither shall I say any thing of the Walls about the Courts and the Gates and other Buildings belonging to them as Chambers Porches and Treasuries to lay the Vessels and other things in and for the Priests and Levites to lodge in For there is mention 1 Chron. 28.11 of the Porch and of the Houses therof and the Treasuries thereof c. and ver 12. of the Courts of the House of the Lord and of all the Chambers round about of the Treasuries of the House of God and of the Treasuries of the dedicate things Neither need I speak particularly to the mystical significations of the House and the Courts The whole as considered together may be divided into three parts 1. The outer Court 2. The inner Court with the Sanctuary 3. The Oracle or the Holy of holies Some apply these three parts of the Temple to the three parts of a Christian mentioned by the Apostle 1 Thess 5.23 the Spirit Soul and Body The Body say they is signified by the open Court where all may see what is done The Soul say they may be compared to the Sanctuary which as it was more holy than the outward Court so is the Soul of man an higher and more divine part than the Body where by the Lamp of Gods Spirit the Reason and Understanding is enlightened The Spirit say they is as the most holy place where God dwelleth in secret by Faith which saith the Apostle is of things not seen nor comprehended by Reason Others apply it to the three parts of the World thus The outward Court to this inferiour World where all things lye open to the view and use of man The Sanctuary to the starry Heaven which is full of Lights and Stars as the Sanctuary had the seven Golden Candlesticks and Gems and Jewels shining in it The Holy of holies to the third Heaven wherein God dwelleth and indeed the Apostle himself makes it a Type of Heaven Heb. 9.24 There is something of analogy in the thing as to all these But the best accommodation of a Type is from Scripture and from the hints and intimations which the Scripture gives which as hath been formerly shewed makes the Temple a Type of Christ and of the Church Let us consider then what Instructions these parts of the Temple do afford as to both these 1. As to Christ himself The Temple was a Type of Christ especially in regard of that chief part of it the Holy of holies wherein there was a figure or weak representation both of his divine and humane Nature Therefore Christ is called the Holy of holies Dan. 9.24 seventy weeks are determined to anoint the most holy or the Holy of holies that is to initiate and inaugurate the Lord Jesus Christ into his Mediatorial office The Veil of the Holy of holies typified his humane nature Heb. 10.20 through the Veil that is to say his Flesh We may draw forth the analogy more at large in these particulars 1. The Humane nature did veil the Glory of his Deity as the Veil of the Temple did conceal the Holy of holies from the eyes of men 2. There was curious Embroidery of Cherubims and other Ornaments upon the Veil Exod. 26.31 thou shalt make a Veil of blue and purple and scarlet and fine twined Linnen of cunning work with Cherubims shall it be made So Chron. 3.16 This is not unfitly applied to those excellent Graces of the Spirit wherewith the Humane nature of Jesus Christ was filled and adorned 3. The Veil shutting up the Sanctuary from the sight and entrance of the people signified the shutting up the mysteries of the Gospel while the old Temple stood Heb. 9.8 the holy Ghost this signifying that
their curious and admirable Ornaments the Lillies on the upper end of the Pillars and the Coronets or Chapiters upon the tops of them with the curious chains and nets and rows of Pomegranates round about these Crowns 4. In their use which was not only for Ornament but as it were to support the Temple as Pillars do support an House not that they did support or bear it up properly as if they had been placed in the material Building no more than the twelve Brazen Oxen did indeed carry the molten Sea to the four quarters of the world 2 Chron. 4.4 but only as in an emblem or figure as Abraham received Isaac in a figure Heb. 11.19 so here For the Temple had no Pillars in it for the Beams of the Roof rested upon the Walls as you have formerly heard and not upon these Pillars but they were an emblem or figure of support Now the Temple is the Church of God and we may apply this Type three ways 1. To God and Christ 2. To the Church 3. To particular Saints 1. As to God and Christ These Pillars speak the support of the Church of God by the purpose of his Will and by his almighty Power Our Faith stands upon these two Pillars these two do support the Church and the Churches Faith 1. The faithful purpose of God and good pleasure of his Will Jakin he will establish here is the resolved purpose of his Will and Love Heb. 10.23 He is faithful who hath promised This includes 1. his Purpose 2. his purpose of Love 3. his Promise 4. his unchangable Faithfulness in all Thou saist I am unworthy True but if the Lord will save and will have mercy who can resist his Will his purpose is unchangeable and immovable as Brass he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy 2. The Power of Christ his almighty Power this is the other Pillar Bo-yas in him is power 1 Pet. 1.5 kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation Thou saist alas I am weak I can do nothing But therefore depend and rest and stay thy self upon this almighty Power which is able to do above what we are able to ask or think as Abraham Rom. 4.20 21. who was strong in Faith being persuaded that he was able to perform what he had promised This is of special use in difficulties when difficulties and impossibilities do appear Can the Lord pardon such sins heal such backslidings Yes in him is Power Take both these together Love and good will withour Power is but lame to help us Power without Love and good will is but deaf to hear us but both put together is a support firm enough and safe enough for Faith to rest upon yea if thou doubt of the one improve the other Matth. 8.2 if thou wilt thou canst here be both these Pillars but he could not lean upon the one he doubted of Gods Will but therefore he relies upon the other thou canst and Christ accepts this Faith of his and therefore saith ver 3. I will be thou clean so do thou lean and rest upon both these Pillars yea upon either of both and thou art safe enough If thou art not assured of his purpose yet then rest and stay thy self upon his Power 2. Consider them in reference to the whole Church here is shadowed forth the impregnable safety of the Church The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it Matth. 16.18 3. Particular Saints are compared to Pillars in the House of God Rev. 3.12 especially Ministers Gal. 2.9 Jer. 1. â I will make thee an Iron Pillar and Wall of Brass therefore it is in vain to oppose them and contend with them There be two properties of a good Pillar it must be strait and strong It is a sad thing when they that should be Pillars in the House of God are warping and leaning and bending this way and that way when they should stand upright and steady And there were two Coronets upon the tops of these Pillars so they that persevere to the end shall receive the Crown of life 2 Tim. 4.7 8. These Pillars were broken in pieces and carried away to Babylon but living Pillars in the spiritual Temple shall go out no more Rev. 3.12 but abide in the house for ever Joh. 8.35 A true Believer is as one saith Monumentum aere perennius more durable then Pillars of Brass Would you be assured of the Crown of Glory Is there this rectitude and straitness this strength and firmness in the ways of God thou art then a Pillar in the House of God and shalt go no more out THE GOSPEL of the BRAZEN ALTAR 2 Chron. 4.1 Moreover he made an Altar of Brass twenty cubits the length thereof and twenty cubits the breadth thereof and ten cubits the height thereof THe Vessels of the Temple beloved we are upon They may be referred to two sorts either sub dio or sub tecto either without doors or within either in the Courts or in the Temple those without doors were of Brass those within were of Gold Of the former sort there was the Altar of Burnt-offering the molten Sea and the ten Lavers as also the two Pillars Jachin and Boyas which were of Brass and placed either in or by the Porch We are now to speak as the Lord shall enable us concerning the Altar of Burnt-offering concerning which we may observe this doctrinal Proposition out of the Text as the foundation of our Discourse viz. Doctr. That Solomon by Gods appointment made in the Temple a Brazen Altar for Burnt-offering The first express mention we have of Altars in the Scripture is in Noahs time after the Flood Gen. 8.20 and Noah builded an Altar unto the Lord and took of every clean Beast and of every clean Fowl and offered Burnt-offerings on that Altar Concerning Offerings we read before in Gen. 4.3 4 how Cain and Abel brought their Offerings unto the Lord. Whether Altars were as antient as Sacrifices or whether the Lord afterwards added them as a further improvement of his Worship and a further help to the Faith of his people I shall not here dispute The name in Hebrew is Mizbeach quasi Sacrificatorium from Zebach Sacrificium from the Sacrifices offered thereupon and so in Greek ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Sacrificium There is another Hebrew word for it Bamah excelsum from their ascending up to it from whence the Greek ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã so the Latin altare is derived ab alto because their Altars were built on high above the earth but the Hebrew Bamah is more usually applied to the idolatrous Altars Ara Idolorum Buxtorf we commonly translate it high places And here I must observe the same method as in other things first to open the Type and then the Anti-type first the History of the Altar and then the Mystery of it for the right understanding of the Type makes way for the better understanding of the thing
5. The Oxen under the molten Sea are the Ministers of the Gospel and especially the twelve Apostles as the number it self intimates for there were twelve Oxen looking towards all the 4 quarters of the world so the Apostles and Ministers of the Gospel carry this Crystal Sea of the Blood of Christ and the Laver of Regeneration and Baptism throughout the world Ministers are often compared in Scripture to Oxen because of the strength and laboriousness of that creature as 1 Corinth 9.9 thou shalt muzzle the mouth of the Ox that treadeth out the Corn. Doth God take care for Oxen saith the Apostle there I may say so in reference to this Type now in hand Did God regard the shapes and pictures of Oxen to be set under this Temple-Sea or rather did he not set them there altogether for our sakes For our sakes no doubt this was done as the Apostle there speaks The Lavers also had their Bases with their wheels which served for the carrying of the water from place to place and so served for the same use really whereof the Oxen were but an emblem The taking of these away is noted as an act of audacious wickedness and profaneness in Ahaz 2 Kings 16.17 And King Ahaz cut off the borders of the Bases and removed the Laver from off them and took down the Sea from the Brazen Oxen that were under it and set it upon a pavement of stones he having as it seemeth no understanding at all nor no sense in him of the spiritual mystery and signification of these Wheels and Oxen nor no fear and reverence of Gods Institution who did ordain and appoint them 6. The use of it being to wash in both the Priests and Sacrifices were washed in the water of these typical vessels the Sea and Lavers that they dye not Exod. 30.19 20 21. For Aaron and his Sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat when they go into the Tabernacle of the Congregation they shall wash with water that they dye not or when they come neer to the Altar to minister to burn Offering made by Fire unto the Lord so they shall wash their hands and their feet that they dye not and it shall be a Statute for ever to them even to him and to his Seed throughout their Generations You see with what emphasis and earnestness it is required and ingeminated This teacheth us that both our persons and our duties and services must be washed and made clean in the Blood of Jesus Christ or else we dye eternally that they dye not it is twice repeated as both the Priests and Sacrifices so both our persons and our services must be washed or else the same disaster that befel Nadab and Abihu may befall us of whom it is said they dyed before the Lord Levit. 10.2 It is a fearful thing for men to come before God in their sins in their uncleannesses unwashed and uncleansed from them They shall wash that they dye not 7. The Laver was never covered but always open when the rest of the vessels were folded up Ainsworth on Numb 4. v. 14. hath this Note It seemeth to be not without mystery that Moses mentioning Fire-pans Flesh-hooks and other less things should quite omit the Laver which usually is reckoned amongst the holy things of the Sanctuary Exod. 35.16 and 38.8 and 39.39 and 40.30 And as in Melchisedeks History Gen. 14. he omitted his Parentage Kindred Birth and Death from which silence in the Story the Apostle reasoneth as if he had been without Parents or Kindred beginning of days or end of life Heb. 7. so here if it may be lawful to conjecture the like the Laver is left uncovered and always open to the eyes of the people that it might be a lively representation of Gods Grace in Christ continuing and opened as an ever springing Fountain that by the washing of the new Birth by Repentance and Faith in the Blood of Christ we may in all our travels at all times cleanse our hands and feet our works and ways as the Sacrificers did from the Laver Exod. 30.19 20. that albeit the face of the Church is sometimes hid as the Tabernacle wrapped up and the Light of the Word shineth not nor publick Worship performed yet always Gods Elect having Faith in him may wash and purge themselves in Christ his Blood unto forgiveness of sins and Sanctification of the Spirit and Salvation It may be the Holy Ghost hath some allusion hereto in that phrase Zech. 13.1 a Fountain opened for Judah and Jerusalem to wash in for sin and for uncleanness Certainly this point of our washing and cleansing by the Blood of Christ is of that weight and moment that it was not without cause said of it by Luther Hic articulus regnat in corde meo this Article reigns in my heart which he also styled Stantis aut cadentis Ecclesiae articulum the point upon which the Church doth either stand or fall So much for the Explication of this Type You see how full it is of Gospel-teaching and instruction Nor should it seem strange that one Type should have such a various and manifold aspect to so many several Truths at once For it is usual as you have formerly seen and it suits best with the infinite Wisdom of the Holy Ghost that one of his teaching signs should teach many things at once and have many spiritual lessons and instructions thus included in it And now from the Type thus explained we may gather some further light to confirm and settle the true interpretation of the Text. What is meant by this Sea of Glass like unto Crystal I argued before from the allusion that is carried on all along in the context to the Types of the Temple therefore this Crystal Sea in the Text is the same with that molten Sea of Solomons Temple which shadowed forth the Blood of Christ for Justification Now to add some further arguments A 2d May be this Here are other priviledges and benefits of Christ mentioned in the context which do accompany Justification through his Blood and go along with it As in ver 5. here are seven Spirits before the Throne that is the sanctifying Spirit of Christ And again ver 6. here are four living creatures And cap. 5.11 many Angels round about the Throne Here is the Ministry and a Guard of Angels and the Spirit of Sanctification therefore it is not incongruous that the Blood of Christ for Justification should be also mentioned And this therefore seems to be intended in this Crystal Sea Reas 3. From the properties and circumstanâes belonging to this Sea in the description of it which cannot well be otherwise accommodated I shall mention but these two 1. It is said to be before the Throne so we are said to be justified before God this is one of the blessed effects and manifestations of his Glory in the Church so Heb. 12.23 24. we are said to come unto God the Judge of all
so freely offers to the washing in this spiritual Sea is nothing else but believing and exercising Faith in the Blood of Christ Do not object and say Alas I am defiled and unclean I answer Thou hast the more need of washing the greater thy defilements be thou hast the more need of Jesus Christ and of his Blood to cleanse thee and wash thee from thy sins Vse 4. Comfort to Believers that wash here for sin and for uncleanness see Isai 4.4 when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the Daughters of Sion and shall have purged the Blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof Here is a fourfold ground of comfort in this Crystal Sea 1. Here is enough of it here is a Sea to wash in there is Water enough in the Sea for any man to wash in though never so much defiled so there is vertue enough cleansing enough in the Blood of Jesus Christ Thou hast many sins many spots many defilements upon thee but here is a Sea to wash in this Type of a Sea speaks the plenty of it here are not a few drops of Soul-cleansing justifying Blood but here is an Ocean of it 2. It will take out the deepest stains the foulest spots though your sins be as Scarlet they shall be as white as Snow though they be red like Crimson they shall be as Wooll Isai 1.18 The Apostle instanceth in some of the foulest and blackest spots Adulterers Thieves Drunkards c. 1 Cor. 6.10 11. and such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God Your Robes are white if washed in this Blood Rev. 7.14 these are they that have washed their Robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb. Yea 3. Thou art as clean in respect of Justification as if those sins had never been committed You are perfectly justified though but imperfectly sanctified Therefore justified persons are said to have no more Conscience of sins Heb. 10.2 not as though they made no conscience to commit it No that were abominable but the Conscience is discharged and set free from guilt and can look God in the face comfortably and with holy boldness Men use to say when they have not committed such or such an evil my Conscience is clear yea but Conscience may be clear though thou hast committed it if washed and cleansed from it by the Blood of Christ 4. You should therefore draw nigh with full assurance of Faith being thus washed as Heb. 10.22 Let us draw neer with a true heart in full assurance of Faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our Bodies washed with pure Water When you stand upon this cleansing Sea you should take the Harps of God into your hand as Revel 15.2 you should triumph and sing Quest But how may I know that I am indeed washed in this Blood and accepted through this Righteousness of Jesus Christ Answ This Sea of Glass is mingled with Fire cap. 15.2 and here in the words before the Text here are seven Lamps of Fire burning before the Throne which are the seven Spirits of God ver 5. There is a Baptism of Fire as well as a Baptism of Water the meaning is this that Justification through the Blood of Christ is ever accompanied with Sanctification by his Spirit therefore if the Spirit of God be burning and working in thy heart fear not thou art washed in this Crystal Sea which is before the Throne if sanctified by the Spirit of Christ thou art justified by his Blood THE GOSPEL of the GOLDEN CANDLESTICKS in the TEMPLE Hebr. 9.1 2 3 4 5. Decemb. 6. 13 20. 1668. Then verily the first Covenant had also Ordinances of Divine Service and a worldly Sanctuary For there was a Tabernacle made the first wherein was the Candlestick and the Table and the Shew-bread which is called the Sanctuary And after the second Veil the Tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all which had the Golden Censer and the Ark of the Covenant overlaid round about with Gold wherein was the Golden Pot that had Manna and Aarons Rod that budded and the Tables of the Covenant and over it the Cherubims of Glory shadowing the Mercy-seat of which we cannot now speak particularly OF the two Courts of the House of the Lord and of the sacred Furniture and Utensils of the Inner Court we have spoken viz. the Brazen Altar of Burnt-offering signifying our Reconciliation unto God by the Death and Blood of Christ the molten Sea and Lavers signifying our Justification by the applying or washing in that Blood and the two Pillars Jachin and Boyas which signified our perseverance and Preservation through the Power and Faithfulness and Love of God till we be crowned with the Crown of Glory We are now to survey the House it self all the Furniture and Vessels wherof were of Gold And as to these I have pitch'd upon this Text because it gives us in a short compass of words the most full and compleat enumeration of them that doth occur to my remembrance any where in Scripture We may resolve the words into these five doctrinal Propositions 1. That the Old Testament had Ordinances of Divine Service and a worldly Sanctuary There was a Religion and a way of Worship ordained by God in those times as well as now though that Worship was not so spiritual and evangelical as is the Worship of the New Testament They had Ordinances of Worship and a Seat of Worship then but they were carnal Ordinances and a worldly Sanctuary comparatively carnal But the Ordinances now are spiritual and the Seat of Worship spiritual For then it was the material Temple to which God was pleased to tye and to annex the publick Church-worship and Ordinances of those times but now the Seat of Worship is the several Churches and Congregations of his People However a Worship Ordinances of Worship and a Seat of Worship they had Obs 2. There were two parts of that old legal Tabernacle one called the Sanctuary and the other called the Holy of Holies so it was in the Tabernacle and so in the Temple After the second Veil by the first Veil the Apostle intends the Curtains and Hangings that were hung about the Tabernacle of which you read Exod. 26. In the Temple there was but one Veil for instead of these Hangings were the Walls of the Temple Obs 3. That both these parts of the Tabernacle had their sacred Furniture of several holy Vessels and Vtensils belonging to them Obs 4. That the sacred Furniture or Vessels belonging to the Sanctuary were the Golden Candlestick and the Table of Shew-bread Obs 5. That the Furniture belonging to the Holy of Holies were the Golden vessels for the offering of Incense and the Ark with its appurtenances We are now to speak concerning the Furniture of the Sanctuary of which the Doctrine is this That the sacred Furniture or
here consider Priests as Ministers for the Levitical Ministry was a Type of the Gospel-Ministry And so the Instruction here is this That the Priests should feed and live themselves upon the same Christ and the same Truths they preach to others 1 Tim. 4.16 Take heed unto thy self and unto thy Doctrine continue in them for in doing this thou shalt both save thy self and them that hear thee 5. There was Incense set upon the Bread Lev. 24.7 and thou shalt put pure Frakincense upon each row Incense was a Type of Prayer so the Word and Prayer should go together The solemn Dispensation of the Word should be accompanied with Prayer Acts. 6.4 But we will give our selves continually to Prayer and to the Ministry of the Word It is said of the Levites Deut. 33.10 they shall teach Jacob thy Judgments and Israel thy Law they shall preach the Word They shall put Incense before thee and whole burnt Sacrifice upon thine Altar Here is Prayer and the Administration of the Sacraments which do succeed instead of the Jewish Sacrifices 6. Christ thus feeding and sustaining his Church gives us some intimation of his Kingly Office For he is this Bread of Life by which their Lives are sustained and upheld And so look as the Candlestick points especially to his Prophetical Office in teaching and enlightening us and the Altar and Vessels of Incense to that great work of his Priestly Office mediating and interceding for us so the Table of Shew-bread speaks his Kingly Office in sustaining and upholding of us 7. A third mystery of the Shew-bread is this It seems to have been a Sacrifice unto the Lord namely a Meat-offering and consequently all the Gospel-mysteries of the Meat-offering do belong to the Shew-bread as being one species or kind thereof For the Rule is this in Lev. 24.7 Thou shalt put pure Frankincense upon each row that it may be on the Bread for a memorial even an Offering made by Fire unto the Lord and accordingly it was to be eaten as other Fire-offerings were by Aaron and his Sons in the Holy place For it is most holy unto him of the Offerings of the Lord made by Fire ver 9. The Incense was burnt upon the Altar as a memorial for the Bread or as some think an handful of the Flower whereof they were made was burnt with the Incense for the whole Now the Meat-offering did purge away Sin as typifying the Righteousness of Jesus Christ both his active and passive Obedience 1 Sam. 3.14 purged by Sacrifice or by Meat-offering It signified also the Persons and Services of the Saints and the Acceptance of both before the Lord. All which may be applied to the Shew-bread under the notion of a Meat-offering Therefore I shall not here insist upon these Considerations but refer them to that place to which they do belong namely to the legal Offerings and Sacrifices where the Meat-offering comes to be considered But as to the two former notions of the Shew-bread to improve them a little more practically we may apply them both for Comfort and for Tryal 1. For Comfort As the Church is this Shew-bread they stand before the Lord continually his eye is ever upon them Though thou art one whom Man despiseth and whom the Nations abhor as usually the best of Gods people are most hated and least beloved in the world yet if the Lord regard thee what though men despise thee Psal 40. ult I am poor and needy yet the Lord thinketh upon me Quest But how may I know that I am one of those that are under the Eye and Care and Love of God Answ The second notion of the Shew-bread speaks to this Dost thou feed upon Christ Is he the Shew-bread the Food of thy Soul whom as a spiritual Priest thou dost feed upon by Faith Then thou art the Shew-bread in that other notion as being continually before the Lord under his eye of special Care and Love And because all depends upon this let me give you a few Directions about it some Directions in eating the Shew-bread in feeding upon Christ in the Word 1. Do not feed upon other things Isai 55.2 Wherefore do you spend your Mony for that which is not Bread It is but to feed upon Husks Luke 15 16. and lying Vanities that cannot profit As if through a Distemper in the Stomach a man eats Coals or feeds upon Ashes it hurts the Appetite and weakens Nature so in Spirituals 2. Do not feed upon the Word without Christ in the Word For it is not the Letter of the Word it is not the bare Letter of the Promise but Christ in the Promise that is the Food of the Soul there be some that catch at the Promises and Benefits of Christ but do not close with Christ himself in the Promise who is indeed exhibited and manifested therein Therefore you should labour to see Christ himself there to behold his Glory as the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth as Joh. 1.14 to see his fitness and suitableness to all the necessities of a poor sinful Soul and that he is a person every way fit to be the great means of our access unto God and so upon that account to close with him as your Saviour having seen who and what a one he is as revealed in the Word of Promise by which we are first united to his Person and then do enjoy Communion with him in his Benefits 3. Never think that you seed upon Christ in the Promise a right until you find strength and nourishment from him Bread strengthens mans heart Psal 104.15 16. It is a lamentable thing when the Bread of life strengthens not when there is no staff nor stay in the Promise when God sends leanness into mens Souls But may not true Believers complain of unprofitableness Yes But strength comes at last if they go on to feed upon this food Therefore that which I aim at is this that you should never cease believing and eating and feeding upon Christ in every Ordinance and at every opportunity till at last you find strength and spiritual nutriment unto your Souls by him THE GOSPEL of the INCENSE and the GOLDEN ALTAR in the HOLY of HOLIES Dece 27 1668. Hebr. 9.3 4 5. And after the second Veil the Tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all which had the Golden Censer and the Ark of the Covenant overlaid round about with Gold wherein was the Golden Pot that had Munna and Aarons Rod that budded and the Tables of the Covenant and over it the Cherubims of Glory shadowing the Mercy-seat of which we cannot now speak particularly HAving spoken of the holy Vessels in the Sanctuary we are now to treat of the sacred Furniture of the Holy of Holies concerning which we formerly observed from this Text this Doctrinal proposition Obs 5. That the sacred Furniture or the holy Vessels and Vtensils belonging to the Holy of holies were the Golden vessels for the
home and be converted but also that we be preserved unto his heavenly Kingdom Joh. 17.15 He prays that we should be kept from the evil Hence sometimes Believers are kept from being tempted But if they be tempted they are either kept from falling by temptations or if they fall from lying in their falls 4. Suppose you meet with troubles oppositions and persecutions from the world Let the world speak evil of us yet Christ speaks well of us or rather for us to his Father and then what need we fear See Isai 51.7 8. 5. Thy Prayers are full of weaknesses and imperfections but the Prayers of Jesus Christ have no weakness and imperfection going along with them Quest But how may I know that Christ prays for me Answ Thou maist know it by two things 1. If thou hast a heart to pray for thy self thy Prayers are the eccho of his Intercession if Christ hath taught thee to pray for thy self Christ intercedes and prays in Heaven for thee Rom. 8.27 2. Hath the Lord taught thee to prize the Prayer and Intercession of Jesus Christ for thee if so it is a sign he is interceding for thee Heb. 7.25 Vse 2. This also makes against the Papists who plead for Mediators of Intercession though not of Satisfaction beside Christ This cannot be for his Intercession is founded in his Satisfaction the Scripture makes him the only Mediator of Intercession Rev. 8.3 It is true the Saints do pray or intercede for one another but yet they are not Mediators because it is not their own Incense nor their own Blood but it is his Incense it is his Blood that makes their Prayers effectual They do not pray in their own name but in his but he prays in his own name by the merit of his own Blood THE GOSPEL of the ARK and its Appertainances in the HOLY of HOLIES Jan. 3. 1668. Hebr. 9.4 5. THe Ark with its appertainances was another of the holy vessels belonging to the Holy of holies and it was the chief of all their holy things as appears in sundry respects as for instance 1. It had many glorious appertainances that related to it many other vessels belonging to this as the Cherubims c. 2. The place of it was the Holy of holies 3. Solomon though he made all other things new in the Temple yet he did not make a new Ark but only introduced the same which Moses had made with great solemnity into the Oracle the place which he had prepared for it 2 Chron. 5.7 Whatever changes and varieties there may be in other things whereby God dispenseth himself unto and amongst mankind other utensils may be made new there may be new Ordinances new Administrations but there is no new Christ Never look for any new or further Administration in this respect as there is no new God so there is no new Christ but Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day and for ever Heb. 13. It is a blind and blasphemous delusion to speak of Christ as an Administration that is to pass away when the Saints have passed under it for a while 4. In that the Providences about it were very great and glorious and full of teaching and instruction The Ark of God led them through the Wilderness We are to follow the Guidance of Christ through the world It was carried with Bars so is Christ upon the Ministry of the Gospel from one place to another As the Levites did carry the Ark so Preachers may be said to carry Christ to bear his Name among the Gentiles so Paul Act. 9.15 Many great things were done by it Jordan was divided by it so by Christ all obstacles are removed out of the way The Walls of Jericho fell by it so by Christs coming the strong holds of Satans Kingdom are cast down It was the downfall of Dagon So is Christ of Satan and Idolatry While the Ark was amongst the Philistines they were plagued but Obed-Edom was blessed while it was at his House so Christ in the Gospel to some brings wrath being refused to others Salvation Eli and his Daughter died when the Ark was taken and the Bethshemites rejoyced exceedingly when they saw it so the presence of Christ brings comfort but his absence grief and sorrow The Bethshemites were punished for prying into the Ark. It is a dangerous thing to search into inscrutable Mysteries Be wise unto sobriety The Ark after many travels was brought at last to a place of rest in Solomons Temple so Christ after many wearisome journies on Earth was at length taken up into Heaven a place of rest where he sits at the right hand of God But as to this glorious Utensil it self we may observe these things 1. The Ark was the Throne of God on which he did appear sitting on his Throne of Grace and Glory and from whence he spake and gave forth Answers and Oracles Hence we read of a Throne of Grace Heh 4. ult This Throne of Grace is that Mercy-seat that covered the Ark on which God sate and where he is said to dwell between the Cherubims Psal 80.1 1. Here he gave upon special occasions visible appearances of his Glory This is that Shechinah which the Jewish Rabbins speak of And they have it from the Scriptures and the Prophets Ezek. 1. last and cap. 9. and 10. The Glory of the Lord is said to appear and to remove and depart away by little and little There was still less and less of God among them till he was quite gone So Isai 6.1 Rev. 4.2.3 2. Hence the Lord spake with audible voice and gave forth his answers so he promised to Moses Exod. 25.22 so Numb 7. ult The mystery of all which is this that God is to be seen in Christ and that he speaks and reveals his mind to us only in and through Jesus Christ 2. The Mercy-seat which was upon the Ark was a Type of the passive Obedience and Satisfaction of Jesus Christ for our sins whom God hath set forth to be Rom. 3.25 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a propitiation 1 Joh. 2.2 he is the propitiation for our sins 3. The Law which was within the Ark is the active Obedience of Christ Psal 40.8 thy Law is within my heart 4. The Golden Pot of Manna is Christ in the Word Exod. 16. Joh. 6.48 49 50 51. He is the true Manna the true Bread of life 5. Aarons Rod that budded is the Ministry blessed with success for the good of Souls Numb 17.10 this was reserved before the Testimony for a token against the Rebels 6. The Cherubims upon the Ark are the Angels ministring to the Lord Ezek. 1. they are there described Is 6.2 they look towards the Ark they pry into the mysteries of the Gospel 1 Pet. 1.12 held forth by the Church Eph. 3.10 The mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God being above their comprehension and their Subjection to Christ as Mediator being not included originally within the Law
was observed before 3. The third of their solemn Festivals was the Feast of Tabernacles which began upon the fifteenth day of the seventh month the fifteenth day of September and it lasted eight days the first and last whereof were holy Convocations or days sanctified and set apart for publik Worship The principal Rite and Ceremony of this Feast to distinguish it from the rest was their dwelling in Booths from whence it hath its demomination and is called the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles as you have the description of it at large in Lev. 23.34 to the end There was a threefold mystery in this Feast 1. To put them in mind of their dwelling in Tents when they travelled through the Wilderness into the Land of Canaan they dwelled forty years in Tents Lev. 23.42 43. that your Generations may know that I made the Children of Israel to dwell in Booths when I brought them out of the Land of Egypt That was one thing to keep the memorial of that great Dispensation of Providence towards their Fore-fathers 2. The second mystery was this to instruct them that they were but Pilgrims and Strangers here below Sojourners as it were in a strange Land passing through it to their own Country towards their own home I am a stranger with thee saith David and a Sojourner as all my Fathers were Psal 39.12 This Ceremony was strangely neglected and forgotten by them in their observation of this Feast for about a thousand years together till they were taught by their deportation into Babylon to keep it better as you find in Nehem. 8.13 to the end they went forth and fetched Olive-branches c. to make Booths as it is written c. For since the days of Joshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the Children of Israel done so a strange omission Some understand it only of the frame of Heart wherewith they kept it and not of this external Rite but it may include both Now they made Booths they had learnt now that they were but Sojourners indeed while they were here below and that the Land of Canaan was not the true rest nor their own Country but that they were to seek and look for another that is an heavenly Heb. 11.16 arise and depart for this is not your rest for it is polluted Mich. 2.10 Here then is a second mystery of this Feast of Tabernacles to put them in mind that they were but Sojourners while they were here and were to seek and expect another Countrey an everlasting abode and fixed habitation in the Heavens 3. This Feast of Tabernacles pointed them to the time when God himself would come to tabernacle and pitch his Tent amongst men Therefore the expression is in Joh. 1.14 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and the Word was made Flesh and he came and did pitch his Tent amongst us dwelled as in a Tent or Tabernacle amongst us Wherein he refers to this great Institution and Feast of Tents or Tabernacles and many other circumstances of this Feast fall in suitably to this scope and great Gospel-mystery of it For it cannot be imagined that this Feast should have no relation to Jesus Christ especially it being so great a Feast greater in some respects then either of the two former for it lasted eight days whereas the Feast of the Passover was but seven the eighth day pointing us to his Circumcision as the first to his Birth and it had a more wonderful and mysterious course of Sacrifices appointed for it then the other Feasts had as you may see Numb 29. from ver 12. to the 40. there must be thirteen Bullocks offered the first day and but twelve the second day and but eleven the third day and so to the end of the Feast every day less and less till upon the last day no more but only one which is thought to shadow forth the cessation and evanition at last of all the legal Sacrifices it intimates that all those legal external Sacrifices were to cease at last That Covenant and that Administration of it waxing old and growing weaker and weaker and decaying till it be vanished quite away as the Apostle speaks Heb. 8.13 Moreover this Feast had two other Feasts previous to it in the same month the Feast of Trumpets on the first day of the seventh month and the Feast of Expiation on the tenth day of it and then follows after such preparations and introductions this great Feast of Tabernacles from the fifteenth to the two and twentieth They had also a custome as the Jewish Writers report of singing certain Songs and Hymns of Praise to God when they were preparing and making these Booths and Tabernacles one whereof was the 118. Psalm ver 25. Hosanna save now I beseech thee O Lord and they would say necte Hosannam fold or prepare the Hosanna Insomuch that the whole Feast the Booths Tabernacles and the Feast and all came in process of time to be called Hosanna's Now this the people apply in their Acclamations and Songs of Praise to Jesus Christ Luk. 19. which though it was done at another time of the year yet as the people in those Acclamations seem to allude to the manner and custom at the Feast of Tabernacles so they do ascribe it to the Messiah Hosanna to the Son of David And well they might for the Birth of Christ was at the Feast of Tabernacles Christ did then tabernacle in the flesh Moreover at this Feast of Tabernacles was Solomons Temple dedicated and the Ark solemnly introduced into it 2 Chron. 5.2 3 7. which Temple was a Type of Christs humane nature Joh. 2.19 21. I know it is contrary to the common account to place the Birth of Christ here upon the fifteenth day of the seventh month But consider these arguments for it 1. From this Feast of Tabernacles which must needs point to some principal thing concerning the Messiah as well as the two former Feasts did And in how many particulars it suits this of his coming to tabernacle in our flesh you have heard 2. From the space of time that our Saviour did converse amongst us here upon earth As to his private life we find Luk. 3.23 that he was baptized and entred upon his Ministry as he began to be about thirty years old His publick Ministry was about three years and an half for we read of four Passovers in the Gospels at which he was present at the last whereof he suffered And the Angel faith to Daniel that in the midst of the week the Messiah shall be cut off Dan. 9.27 which is meant of a prophetical week containing seven years the half wherreof is three years and an half Moreover we read in all the Evangelists that the Death of Christ was at the Passover in the first month Now if we reckon three years and an half from thence it will carry us to the month of September for his Baptism so as the whole space and time of his conversing here
conversation of their lives that is the true Gospel-Musick 3. These Trumpets and other musical instruments were used in time of War and appointed by God so to be Numb 10.9 the Trumpets were to sound to prepare and call them forth to the War to encourage their Faith in it that they should be remembred before the Lord and have success over their enemies sometimes visible success attending this Ordinance as in Jehosaphats time 2 Chron. 20.21 22. they sounded the Trumpet praising the Beauty of Holiness and when they began to sing praises the Lord set ambushments against Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir and then they were smitten 4. It was the Office of the Priests to sound these Trumpets as in Numb 10.8 the Sons of Aaron the Priest must do it To shew that the publick Dispensation of the Word and Gospel belongs to and is intrusted chiefly with the Sons of Aaron the Ministers of the Gospel they must sound the Silver Trumpet of the Gospel in the ears of the world 5. The matter they were made of some were of Silver and some of Horn Numb 10.1 and in 1 Chron. 15.28 The Cornet that is an instrument of Horn so in that 98. Psal 6. with Trumpet and sound of Cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord the King And Rams Horns did beat down the Walls of Jericho Josh 6. If God institute the Rams Horns they shall be as powerful as the Silver Trumpets To teach us that the meanest Gifts of any Godly Ministers if sincere are accepted and may be blessed of God for the good of Souls for the casting down of strong holds and for success and victory against our spiritual enemies Rams Horns may do it as well as Silver Trumpets 6. Their number at first was but two Numb 10.2 that is for the two Sons of Aaron Eleazar and Ithamar the Priests Numb 3.4 but in process of time David added many other musical instruments but he did it by authority and direction from God For so was the Commandment of the Lord by his Prophets 2 Chron 29.25 1 Chron. 16.42 2 Chron. 7.6 And in Solomons time we read of one hundred and twenty Priests that did sound with Trumpets at the Dedication of the Temple 2 Chron. 5.12 Also the Levites which were the Singers being arayed in white linnen having Cymbals aad Psalteries and Harps and with them one hundred and twenty Priests sounding with Trumpets And those Instruments of Musick which David made they are called the Instruments of Musick of the Lord for he made them according to the direction of the Seer All which shews the enlargement of the Church and its Joy and the improvement of the Worship of God in Gospel times here is one hundred and twenty Trumpets now whereas there was but two at first And as the number of Priests and Trumpets and musical instruments was much increased in Solomons time above what it was in the time of Moses so shall the Church and their spiritual Joy in the days of the Gospel under Christ who is the true Solomon They are increased now and shall be more and more in the later days Isai 60 and 61 chap. 7. And lastly but why was this Feast of Musick and Trumpets upon the first day of the seventh month why is that the appointed season for it Many accounts there are given by Interpreters which do all center in this because of the many great occurrences and dispensations of God in this month some whereof were past and were now to be remembred and some future which were now to be proclaimed and prepared for The World was created in this month which was at first the first month in the year until the account was changed upon occasion and in memorial of their deliverance out of Egypt This month shall be to you the beginning of months it shall be the first month of the year to you Exod. 12.2 intimating that it was not so before There was approaching the Feast of Atonement upon the tenth day of this month which is thought to relate to the Golden Calf and the Lords pardoning that Idolatry also the Feast of Tabernacles on the fifteenth day The Temple of Solomon was dedicated in this month and now also was the Birth of Christ at this time God assumed and appeared in our nature pitching his Tabernacle or Tent in our Flesh All which things put together gives some account of the season of this Feast and of the solemnity of the blowing of Trumpets on the first day of this seventh month And so much for the fourth of these annual Festivals namely the Feast of Trumpets Now take this inference namely the unwarrantableness of Musical instruments in the Worship of God now under the Gospel You see of old there was an Institution for it there is not so now 22 ae q. 91. 2. 4. It is a very late invention of the Church of Rome Aquinas speaks against them as not used in the Church in his time saying they are legal and prefigure something of Christ therefore are not continued under the Gospel Consider these three things 1. They were a Type that is evident and hereby is typified the Musick and melody of the Joys and Graces of the Holy Ghost in the hearts of Gods people and many other Gospel lessons and instructions were held forth by this ancient legal Ordinance And Types you know are ceased and Shadowes are vanished now that the Substance is come look therefore after the inward musick of a good Conscience and the witness of the Holy Ghost there this is the Gospel-musick 2. If we could not find out the mystery and the direct signification of them which hath been cleared to you yet however these things were a legal burthen and childish rudiments therefore not becoming the mature estate of Believers under the new Testament though they might be a fit solace for the childish estate of the Church under the Law 3. This Cathedral Musick introduceth into the Church of God a Rabble of Church-Officers which the Lord never appointed and which never came into his heart the Choristers and Singing men c. and that is a very great evil It is not in the power of men but it is the great Prerogative of Jesus Christ to appoint Officers in his Church who hath appointed none but Pastors and Teachers Elders and Deacons 5. And lastly the Feast of Expiation or Atonement and this was on the tenth day of this seventh month the Rules and Rites whereof are set down at large in Levit. 16. which because they are many and very significant and full of Gospel-mysteries therefore I purpose the Lord assisting to speak to it more at large in a distinct Discourse by it self having here only mentioned it in its place to which it doth belong Quest Were these then all their yearly Feasts had they no more but these five under the Law viz. the Passover the Feast of Pentecost the Feast of Tabernales the Feast of Trumpets and
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
break Bread every Lords day And in the primitive times the Sacrament was the concluding Ordinance But Man did not eat of the Tree of Life for then he had been confirmed and lived for ever Gen. 3.22 therefore it is not likely that he stood in his integrity to the end of the Sabbath And as to the time of the day wherein he sinned it seems to have been about eating time at dinner about noon eating what they should not being the thing wherein they sinned And after his Fall it is said that God came and spake to them in the cool of the day Gen. 3. ver 8. This seems to have been about that time of the day which the Scripture calls the ninth hour which is after our reckoning about three a clock in the afternoon So long they were in darkness and under guilt of their Sin before the Promulgation of the Gospel to them Wherein some have observed a congruity in that Jesus Christ was under those his infinite Sufferings upon the Cross the same space of time from the sixth hour to the ninth Matth. 27.45 46. And it being thus Man in his first sin and fall did break all the Commandments at once as he brake all the rest so he sinned upon the Sabbath day This seems by all the circumstances of the Story to have been the time of his Fall But to think that he fell on Tuesday the tenth day from the Creation there is nothing in the History to evince it Others think this Fast on the day of the seventh month was appointed in remembrance of the great Sin the Idolatry of the Golden Calf Exod. 32. But we may rest in that the Text mentioneth as the occasion of this Ordinance viz. the Sin and Death of Nadab and Abihu And there is a threefold Instruction we are here to learn Obs 1. Here we are taught first That there must be holy fear and reverence in approaching to God in his Ordinances an holy fear and dread of sinning in the manner of his Worship and that it is a dangerous thing to worship God otherwise then he hath appointed Men should take heed of it that they die not as Nadab and Abihu did for this sin they incur the danger of Death both Death temporal and eternal Though God doth not usually smite men with visible Judgments but when they are first in any transgression yet there is a spiritual fire and wrath upon their spirits for it which is worse then outward Judgments Obs 2. The Lord takes hold of the saddest occasions to bring in Dispensations of the greatest good and mercy to his people Light out of Darkness Heaven out of Hell good out of evil to those that he hath set his Love upon Obs 3. When some are slain and die in and for their sins the Lord provides for the Salvation of others that they die not Now to come to the thing it self Moses is to charge Aaron that he come not into the Holy of holies at all times nor in any manner but at Gods appointed times and in such manner as he requireth This manner is here described at large It consists chiefly in three things 1. His washing himself 2. His holy Garments And 3. His propitiatory Offerings 1. That the Priest must wash before he put on his Garments and before he present his Offering is an intimation of his Purity and Cleanness Hence that expression of the Apostle Heb. 10.22 Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our Bodies washed with pure water This is the first thing he is to do So Christ Matth. 3.16 was baptized before he entred upon his Ministry and he was perfectly holy and pure not having the least defilement of sin upon him though he had taken on him our Nature and all the other Infirmities of it Vid. On the Priests Consecration Exod. 29. 2. As to his Attire here be two sorts of holy Garments mentioned in the Services of this day the holy Garments ver 4. and other holy and most costly Garments ver 23.24 Some call the former his White Garments and the other his Golden Garments 1. This Priestly Attire was an emblem of spiritual clothing Psal 132.9 Let thy Priests be clothed with Righteousness and let thy Saints shout for joy and ver 16. I will also clothe her Priests with Salvation Job 29.14 I put on Righteousness and it clothed me my Judgment was as a Robe and a Diadem This then speaks the Grace and Holiness that was in Jesus Christ and ought to be in Ministers such Garments Ministers should be clothed with 2. Those two sorts of Attire the White and the Golden Garments signified the different estate and condition of Jesus Christ when he performed the great work of our Redemption and made atonement for us he did it in much meanness and abasement Isai 52.14 his Visage was marred he was without external Pomp and worldly Glory in the form of a Servant made himself of no Reputation Phil. 2.7 though with Holiness and Purity and Innocency He had white Garments on though they were but plain But as there is a clothing of Grace so there is a clothing of Glory 2 Cor. 5.2 4. And after his Resurrection when he had been in Heaven and returned again and arose and appeared from the dead he did change his Raiment He wore the garments of Holiness here but when he entred into the holy place even into Heaven he did put on garments of Glory These were the holy Garments on this day of Expiation Now the third thing is the Offerings of Atonement and they were of two sorts for the Priest and for the People 1. For the Priest himself and for his own House ver 3 6. This teacheth us the insufficiency and imperfection of the legal Priesthood Heb. 5.1 2.3 we need a better High Priest and we have one Heb. 7.26 27 28. The Priest was first to make atonement for himself and for his own sins that so he might be fit as a figure of Christ the true High Priest to make atonement for the people They that lie under unpardoned guilt themselves are not fit to be Mediators and Intercessors for others The Priest had three things to do in reference to his own Sacrifice 1. He was to kill it and so to make atonement with it v. 11. This was a Type of the Death of Christ the true Sacrifice 2. He was to offer Incense in the Holy of holies v. 12. This is a Type of the Prayers and Intercessions of Jesus Christ in the virtue of his Satisfaction Here are four particulars observable 1. As the High Priest did this before he sprinkled the Blood in the Holiest of all so Christ prepared his own way into Heaven by his Prayers and Intercessions Joh. 17. 2. The Incense was beaten small to intimate the anguish and contrition and brokenness of heart wherewith Christ prayed and interceded for us those agonies of spirit in his Prayers before his Death which he offered
the Honour of Saints and that the Lord should ease his people of the burthen of a few Festival days to lay upon them an heavier burthen by a greater number of them So that we see the Scripture doth abundantly and clearly condemn and testifie against these superstitious observations of days and times Reason 3. Consider further the deep dishonour that is done to God by these days every manner of way The common pretense is that they do it for the Honor of Christ but it is not good Intentions that will excuse bad Actions Jeroboam pretended very good Intentions 1 Kings 12.28 so did they in Exod. 32.5 they proclaimed an Holy day to Jehovah though they kept it in a rude manner but what saith the Lord to them even after all the Prayers of Moses for them ver 34. in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them He will not regard their vain pretenses for the truth is these days are celebrated rather in dishonour and as it were in despite of Christ then for any Glory to him For 1. They are a dishonour to his Holiness as if Christ were a God that delighted in Profaneness and Wickedness for he is dishonoured as some have well observed by letting the reins loose to all manner of Profaneness as much in the twelve days and in some respects more then in all the twelve months of the year beside Hence Mr. Perkins most truly and justly complains that the Feast of Christs Nativity commonly so called is not spent in praising the Name of God but in Revelling Dicing Carding ãâã Mumming and in all licentious liberty for the most part as ãâã it were some Heathen Feast of Ceres or Bacchus Perk ãâ¦ã Creed Art of Christs Birth apud Gillesp Engl. Pop. Cerem p. ãâ¦ã cap. 9. page 48. 2. It is an unspeakable dishonouour to his blessed Sabbaths for men to set their Days by his Days their Posts by his Posts their Altars by his Altars as Jeroboam devised a Feast of his own heart like unto the Feast that was in Judah 1 Kings 12.32 yea as Dr. Ames observes they were from their first use not only equalled unto but extolled above the Lords day Fresh Suit part 2. p. 84. Those Prelates saith Mr. Gillespy that will not abase themselves to preach upon ordinary Sabbaths think the high Holy days worthy of their Sermons Engl. Pop. Cerem part 3. cap. 1 pag. 13. Yea they can write Books against the Sabbath as Heylin White Pocklinton and others have done to pluck away that Crown of Glory and Preeminence which God hath set upon that day which he hath chosen and they set up their own devised days in stead thereof Common experience proveth saith Reverend Mr. Dod on the second Commandment p. 68. that all they which stand most for superstitious Holy days are greatest profaners of the Lords Sabbath and contemners of his Word 3. They do dishonour the Wisdom and Word of Christ for Christ the Lord of Time and the Lord of the Sabbath hath sanctified and instituted the first day of the week whereon he arose from the dead for the Commemoration of the great work of our Redemption by him and what can the man do that comes after the King and in those things that have been already done as Eccles 2.12 It is a bold and deep reflection upon the Wisdom of Christ to add thus to his appointments as if the Lord Jesus Christ himself were not wise enough to appoint days and times sufficient to keep his own Nativity Death Resurrection Ascension and all the great things he hath done for us in everlasting remembrance in the hearts of his Saints but the Devil and the Pope must help it out It is therefore in plain terms a profane speech of Dr. Hammond that when the Festivals are turned out of the Church it will not be in the power of weekly Sermons on some head of Religion to keep up the knowledge of Christ in mens hearts View of Direct and Vindic. of Liturg. pag. 31. What are not the Institutions of Christ powerful to attain his own blessed ends unless they be pieced out with the additions of mens Inventions surely there is no Christian that hath found the experience of the saving Power and Blessing of Gods Ordinances to his own Soul but will detest and abhor to entertain such base and vile thoughts of them unless he hath forgotten that he was purged by them from his old sins 4. These superstitious Holy days introduced and brought in many other corruptions along with them as bad or worse then themselves like the unclean Spirit with seven Devils more sundry whereof are thus expressed by Dr. Ames Fresh Suit against Cerem part 2. pag. 84. They were saith he from their first rise not only equalled unto but also extolled above the Lords day Easter brought in a superstitious Lent to attend upon it made Baptism wait for her Moon and conformed our Lords Supper to the Jewish Passover in unleavened Bread It was the first Apple of Contention amongst Christians The Latin and Greek Churches striving contending fiercely about the time of it and Victor Bp. of Rome desperately excommunicated those that were not of his opinion in this frivolous Question So that it was the first Weapon wherewith the Bishop of Rome played his Prizes against other Churches and after slew so many Britains with by Austin the Monk Holy days devised by men in honour of Christ invited and drew on Holy days to Saints with many other mischiefs more then can be now numbred up And therefore upon all accounts God is dishonoured by them And so much for that third Reason Reason 4. The true yearly time for the Celebration of these Festivals is not certainly known but much disputed among Chronologers and Divines so that Holiday-keepers cannot affirm that they do commemorate opus diei in die suo the Lord having hid it as he did the Body of Moses to prevent Idolatry The fierce contention for the space of two hundred years or thereabout between the Greek and Latin Churches about the time of celebrating Easter is famous in Ecclesiastical History the Eastern Churches kept it on the fourteenth day of the first month when the Jews kept their Passover from whence they were called quarto-decimani But the Western Churches kept it upon the Christian Sabbath in commemoration of Christs Resurrection who rose upon the first day and both sides pretended Apostolical Tradition for their different practice The difference grew so hot that Victor Boshop of Rome being full of the spirit of Antichrist excommunicated all the Asian Churches as being Fourteeners and as Judaizers Afterwards Constantine the Great called the Council of Nice to compose these differences in the Churches who thought it best to keep it upon the day of Christs Resurrection but they had done better if they had utterly abolished it as the great reforming Parliament did in England But thus we see what a bone of Contention
p. 593. Ainsworth on Psalms p. ult of Musick in Temple Ames Fresh Suit against Ceremonies part 2. cap. 4. sect 6. pag. 405 406. Didoclav Altar Damasc cap. 8 p. 490 491 c. Cotton of Singing of Psal c. 3. p. 12. who do with one mouth testifie against them most of them expresly affirming that they are a part of the abrogated legal Pedagogy so that we might as well recall the Incense Tapers Sacrifices New Moons Circumcision and all the other shadows of the Law into use again But Aquinas himself also though a Popish Schoolman pleads against them upon the same account quia aliquid figurabant and saith the Church in his time did not use them ne videatur judaizare lest they should seem to judaise Aquin. secund secundae Qest 91. Art 2.4 Yea Tilenus himself before his Apostacy for what his Judgment was afterwards in this particular I do not know but in his first which were his best times he saith Instrumenta inanimata sive ea sint ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã sive ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã quicunque in Ecclesiam revocant Synagogam pridem sepultam hac in parte refâdiunt operosum illud machinamentum quod Antonomastice vocant Organon Vitaliani Papae inventum ac donum illis arrideat qui magnae meretrici supparasitari quam Christianae simplicitati studere malunt non absimiles Ethnicis quos Lactantius ad Templa ventitare ait non tam Religionis gratia quam ut videant audiant quod oblectet lib. 2. cap. 7. quibus publicorum Conventuum finis non est ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã sed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Syntag. part 2. disp 49. thes 49 50. What it was that was the thing intended and signified by these dark shadows is not without some obscurity and difficulty to determine But yet it may be found out as in other Types so in this by considering the nature of the thing it self and by diligent observing the hints and intimations that are given by the Spirit of God in the Scripture For the meaning of the Types is seldom fully and explicitly declared and held forth but for the most part briefly and obscurely hinted and so left by God to be collected by the Christian Wisdom and Industry of his people The Silver Trumpets then are conceived to hold forth the Promulgation of the Gospel the preaching of the pure Word of God by his Messengers See Ainsworth on Numb 10. For which as there is a clear and fair analogy and proportion in the things themselves so there be some hints of Scripture that seem evidently to look this way As when Solomon saith the Tongue of the just is as choice Silver Prov. 10.20 so the Messengers of God are said to lift up their voice as a Trumpet Isai 58.1 set the Trumpet to thy mouth Hos 8.1 And in Ezek. 33 3-6 the faithful discharge and execution of their Office is expressed by blowing the Trumpet So when it is said in that great Prophesie concerning the Restauration of the Jews Isai 27.13 that in that day the great Trumpet shall be blown it is understood by Interpreters concerning the sounding of the Silver Trumpet of the Gospel throughout the world So Calvin in Isai 27.13 of whose Renown for a spiritual and solid Interpreter we need not speak Tubae spiritualis nempe Evangelii clangor c. So the Dutch Annotators in Isai 27.13 understand by this great Trumpet in a spiritual way the Trumpet of the Gospel whereby God hath called and gathered unto himself a Church out of all People and Nations of the World So Mr. Davenport of the true Messiah p. 21. The sounding of Trumpets to give notice of the Jubile typed out the preaching of the Gospel which began in Johns Ministry and Christ seconded it Luk. 4.18.22 And both these and all the rest of their Musical instruments were expressions and signs of Joy Psal 89.15 and 98.6 Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound with Harp with Trumpets with sound of Cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord the King They were therefore fit Resemblances to shadow out that heavenly Musick and inward Melody of the Joys and Graces of Gods Spirit in the Hearts of his people The Apostle therefore exhorts us to sing unto the Lord but instead of calling upon us for Musical instruments he requires the Spirit of Grace in the Heart and Melody in the Heart Ephes 5.18 19. Colos 3.16 The making a joyful noise with Instruments continueth not saith Mr. Cotton of the singing of Psalms cap. 3. p. 12. save only so far as it is kept alive in the Antitype the affections of our Hearts our praecordia making melody with the songs and professions of our Lips and with the gracious and peaceable conversations of our Lives Yea so clear and obvious are these significations of the Jewish Musick notwithstanding some some little obscurity that Tilenus himself though dark enough in other things could not but see it such is the evidence of the thing it self Festum clangoris saith he continuam spiritualem laetitiam Evangelici praeconii tuba excitandam denotabat the Feast of Trumpets denotes those continual spiritual rejoicings raised in the heart by the pleasant sound of the Trumpet of the Gospel Syntag. par 1. disp 52. thes 61. 4. But suppose the signification of the Jewish Musick could not be found out as indeed it is an hard thing to find out the meaning all their Types and Ceremonies Yet nevertheless we are delivered by Jesus Christ not only from their Types and Ceremonies but also from all their yokes and burthens and from all such Ordinances and Observations as did befit them and belong unto them as in that estate of infancy and childhood Junius therefore upon the History of Miriams praising the Lord with Timbrels and with Dances distinguisheth thus Eorum quae lege imperata sunt alia ad rei futurae praesignificationem pertinuerunt alia singularem illius Ecclesiae habuerunt significationem Quaecunque res futuras praesignificaverunt ea post Complementum in Christo usurpare est impium quae Ecclesiae illius fuerunt propria vel singularia eadem nunc usurpare est ridiculum Jun. in Exod. 15.20 which overthrows that deceitful Rule of Bellarmine which he repeats and makes use over again and again when he saith Ceremoniae Judaeorum propriae sunt illae quae ad aliud futurum significandum erant institutae At Ceremoniae quae fundantur in Ratione naturali ut genua flectere similes non sunt propriae Judaeorum atque ad hoc genus pertinent instrumenta musica porro talem esse Templorum Dedicationem apparet c. Bell. tom 2. de Cultu Sanct. lib. 3. c. 5. tom 3. de Missa l. 2. c. 15. tom 4. de Bon. Oper. in partic l. 1. c. 16. where besides the impropriety of expression for kneeling in Prayer is not so fitly called a Ceremony being an outward gesture which both the
shoulder-pieces belonging to it in which were placed two Ouches of Gold with two Onyx stones set and fastened in them Two Ouches that is hollow Circles two hollow places in which the stones were set like Diamonds in a Ring Onyx stones white stones not unlike the white of a mans Nail The Hebrew word is Shoham It is I know otherwise rendered by some but the Onyx being a large stone as it was requisite that these should be that there might be space enough to ingrave six names in a stone besides other circumstances we may rest in this Translation The use of these precious stones was for the writing of the names of the twelve Children of Israel in them that the High Priest might bear them upon his shoulders for a memorial before the Lord. See Exod. 28.9 10 11 12. Now the Priest being a Type of Christ and the people of Israel a Type of the whole Church of God their being born thus upon the shoulders of the High Priest clothed with this sacred Ephod intimated three things 1. The Lord Jesus Christ his supporting of his Church and people and bearing them up as upon the shoulders of his Power and Grace and Government Isai 9.6 the Government shall be upon his shoulders so he is said to do with the lost Sheep Luke 15.5 Isai 46.3 4. hearken unto me O House of Jacob all the remnant of the House of Israel which are born by me from the Belly which are carried from the Womb and even to your old age I am he and even to hoary hairs I will carry you I have made you and I will bear even I will carry and will deliver you 2. His presenting them to the Lord to be in everlasting remembrance before him that he cannot look upon the High Priest but their names appear upon his shoulders for a memorial before the Lord their names are engraven in his sight that he cannot look from off them Mal. 3.16 A book of remembrance is written before him for them that fear the Lord Ephes 5.27 that he might present it to himself a glorious Church 3. He bears their names before the Lord in this curious and costly Ephod as representing his own perfect Righteousness wherewith he stands clothed before God in the glorious merit whereof he appeareth for his people For men to trust to their own works and merits is to have their names born before God in an Ephod of their own weaving which God abhors by which sin both the Jews and the Papists perish Rom. 10.3 But the Saints dare not appear before God in such filthy Garments but confess as Isai 64.6 All our Righteousness is but as filthy rags c. 5. The curious Girdle of the Ephod of which the words of Text are these And he girded him with the curious Girdle of the Ephod and bound it unto him therewith Exod. 28.8 so that this Girdle of the Ephod is thought not to be a distinct thing separable from the Ephod but to have been as it were a piece of it Mr. Ainsworths Note out of the Rabbins is this The Ephod had as it were two hands or pieces going out from it in the weaving on this side and on that with the which they girded it and they are called Cheseb the curious Girdle of the Ephod This curious Girdle of the Ephod was tyed upon his heart under the Brest-plate This differeth from the other Girdle Abnet which is after spoken of in ver 39. and by reason of the Gold in this which the other had not it is called the Golden Girdle Some have doubted whether there were two Girdles but the Text is clear for it Levit. 8.7 He put upon him the Coat and girded him with the Girdle This is the Linnen Girdle Now it follows and he clothed him with the Robe and put the Ephod upon him and he girded him with the curious Girdle of the Ephod and bound it unto him therewith And they are called by two several names Abnet and Cheseb The reason why there was two was because his Garments did require two As to the mystery of this second Girdle it is the same with the former It signified the truth and strength and readiness for action that is in Christ and should be in all that bear his name so I need say no more upon it 6. The sixth piece of the High Priestly attire and indeed the chief of all was the Brest-plate of which the Text saith and he put the Brest-plate upon him Concerning this holy Pectoral or Brest-plate there be four things declared in Exod. 28. from ver 15. c. to ver 29. 1. The Materials of Gold Blue c the same with the Ephod ver 15. 2. The form and shape four-square a span in breadth and length ver 16. 3. The twelve Stones with the names of the twelve Tribes of Israel set therein ver 17 to 22. And thou shalt set in it settings of Stones even four rows of Stones c. 4. The fastening of the Brest-plate to the Ephod by four Golden Rings in the four corners of it In the two upper Rings of the Brest-plate there were two Chains of Gold by which it was fastened above to two Golden Ouches in the shoulder-pieces of the Ephod and in the two lower Rings of the Brest-plate there was a blue Lace by which it was tyed to two Gold Rings in the sides of the Ephod ver 22 to 29. that so the Brest-plate might not be loosed from the Ephod ver 28. which may help in the understanding of that place 1 Sam. 23.9 where David saith to Abiathar the Priest Bring hither the Ephod that is to consult with the Lord by Urim and Thummim saith the Geneva Note upon the place for by the Providence of God the Ephod was preserved and kept with David the true King that so he might have the means of consulting with God in all his dangers and distresses and the Brest-plate wherein was the Urim and Thummim by which they inquired of God was fastened to the Ephod and not to be loosened from it so that David called for the Ephod because of the Brest-plate that was fastened to it and because of the Urim and Thummim that was in the Brest-plate Quest Why is it called Pectorale Judicii the Brest-plate of Judgment so Exod. 28. ver 15 29 30. Answ There may be a twofold account given of this 1. Because the High Priest was to wear this upon his Brest when he gave forth a Sentence and Judgment from God unto such as came to him to inquire of God by him 2. The Judgment of the Children of Israel may be understood to signifie the Concernments of their Good for Judgment is not always put for Wrath and Punishment but for a wise and accurate and exact Administration of things saepe per nomen Mishpat Scriptura significat quicquid bene rite ordinatum est Hoc Epitheto commendatur rectus omni vitio purus Ordo Calvin in
All this pointed them to and was most eminently fulfilled in Jesus Christ the only true High Priest in and by whom alone God speaks his mind and works his Image in us In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge Col. 2.3 and he is holy and harmless and separate from sinners Heb. 7.26 For such an High Priest became us who is holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners He wears the true Vrim and Thummim always upon his heart Illuminations and Perfections Lights and Graces in the highest And we have nothing of either but what we have from him Our Lights are from him 2 Cor. 4.6 Matth. 11.27 our Graces are from him Joh. 1.16 of his fulness have we all received Grace for Grace For the Law was given by Moses ver 17. these legal shadows of terror and darkness but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ Grace instead of legal terror and rigour Truth that is accomplishments and performances instead of shadows and promises came by Jesus Christ It follows ver 18. no man hath seen God at any time that is by any Light or Grace or Power of his own but the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him The true Vrim and Thummim is in the Pectoral of Jesus Christ all our Illuminations and Perfections are in him 4. Whereas this Vrim and Thummim were lost in the Captivity in Babylon and wanting in the second Temple Ezra 2.63 Nehem 7.65 They wanted this as they did some other vessels and monuments as the Golden Pot of Manna Aarons Rod that budded some think also the Ark and the two Tables of Stone were wanting in the second Temple but as to the Vrim and Thummim those Texts seem clear for it nor had they the Cloud of Glory as in the Tabernacle and in the first Temple or Fire from Heaven The end of all this Dispensation was to teach them to look and long the more earnestly after Jesus Christ the true spiritual Glory of the Temple and Church of God whose coming was now approaching and drawing on apace These abatements of that former outward Glory were preparations for more spiritual Dispensations under the Gospel wherein those outward Glories were not to be expected and in the mean time they had the Law of Moses and the written Word of God in the Old Testament which they were to cleave and stick close unto Mal. 4.4 But when Christ came he restored to his Church in a more glorious manner the true Vrim and Thummim Light and Grace was poured forth abundantly even upon such who by reason of the long intermission of those extraordinary Operations of the Holy Ghost had not so much as heard whether there was an Holy Ghost or no. Acts 19.2 6. The Jewish Writers have a saying and a tradition amongst them that after the latter Prophets Haggai Zechariah and Malachy the Holy Ghost went up and departed from Israel They mean in those extraordinary operations of it and they reckon Vrim and Thummim as one of the degrees of the Holy Ghost inferior to the Spirit of Prophesie but superior to that Bath-qol as they call it the Daughter of a Voice or an Eccho from Heaven which was heard sometimes in the second Temple and which they say took place in the second Temple when Prophesie and Urim ceased We read of such Voices from Heaven to Jesus Christ Matth. 3.17 Joh 12.28 29. 2 Pet. 1.17 18. and he adds in the next verse we have a more sure Word of Prophesie This Bath-qol or Voice from Heaven it was a Prologue and a Preface and Type as it were of that true Voice of the Father the eternal Word of God Jesus Christ who came down from Heaven by whom God hath in these last days spoken to us who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in former times unto the Fathers but now only by his Son Heb. 1.1 2. 8. The eighth piece of the holy Pontifical attire was the Mitre of which the Text saith And he put the Mitre upon his head And it is said Exod. 28.39 thou shalt make the Mitre of fine Linnen This was one of the last Garments that was put on therefore Zechariah desires this in the clothing of Jehoshuah as the perfecting of the Mercy Zech. 3.5 and I said let them set a fair Mitre upon his head so they set a fair Mitre upon his head As to the shape and fashion of this Garment it was not unlike that which the other Priests wore and is called a Bonnet It was made of Linnen-cloth wrapped about the head in a round and high-crowned fashion after the manner of the East Some compare it to the Turkish Turbants or Tullibants some translate it a Hat As to the outward form and inward mystery of it there is little difficulty For a Mitre or a Hat upon the Head was an Ornament of Authority and Superiority over others Ezek. 21.26 Remove the Diadem Job 29.14 My Judgment was as a Diadem in which places is radically the same word as here in Exod. 28. The Mitre therefore was an Ornament and Ensign of illustrious sacred Eminency and Superiority in the High Priest over others It pointeth us to the Princely Dignity and Kingly Office of Jesus Christ He is the great High Priest and indeed both Priest and King of his Church the true Archbishop the chief Shepherd as Peter calls him 1 Pet. 5.4 Believers are called a royal Priesthood 1 Pet. 2.9 but Christ is so much more He is not only a Priest but a Prince and a Prevailer with the Lord on our behalf 9. The ninth and last piece of the holy Priestly attire is the Golden Plate of which the Text saith Also upon the Mitre even upon his forefront did he put the Golden Plate the holy Crown It is called Exod. 39.30 the Plate of the holy Crown so called for that it was made say some somewhat like a Crown Compare Exod. 29.6 The use and nature of it is described fully in Exod. 28.36 37 38. The Inscription Quodesh la Jehovah may be rendred more emphatically the Holiness of Jehovah It speaks three things 1. The Royal yea the Divine Holiness of Jesus Christ that absolute Holiness whereby he sanctifies both himself and us Joh. 17.19 wherein he doth that really which Aaron did typically He is indeed the Holines of Jehovah Jehovah tsidkenu the Lord our Righteousness is his Name Jer. 23.6 Hence he often appears with a Crown of Gold upon his Head as Rev. 14.14 2. His bearing our iniquities and taking away our sins which are found even in our holy things Exod. 28.38 There is a mixture in the best we do Many Believers are apt to be discouraged about it My Prayers are so full of unbelief and deadness and wandrings they deserve abhorrence and not acceptance Well but the High Priest here bears the iniquities of all the holy things of the Children of Israel 3. His causing us to be accepted
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
2. The occasion of their Separation to this Office And there are two or three occasions of it noted 1. The Lords passing by the first-born of Israel when he slew the first-born of Egypt Exod. 13.2 on which occasion the Lord challenged the first-born to himself and required they should be sanctified to him But afterwards the Lord was pleased to take the Levites from amongst the Children of Israel instead of all the first-born See Numb 3.11 12 13. Therefore the Levites shall be mine saith God because all the first-born are mine 2. The Faithfulness of the Levites in a time of great Apostacy and temptation the Story whereof you have in Exod. 32.28 29. and it is afterwards remembred by Moses before the Lord in his blessing of them Deut. 33.9 3. The later Rebellion of Korah Dathan and Abiram with the lamentations and self-condemning complaints of the people upon that occasion Compare cap. 17. of Numbers the two last verses with the first verses of this 18th chapter That Complaint of the people Behold we dye we perish we all perish is an earnest deprecation of the danger for they were under the sense of the dread and Majesty of the dreadful presence of God in his Tabernacle and thereupon they thus spake From all which we may observe that such as God cals to any Work and Office he doth usually give many visible intimations of it he doth design and prepare them to it by many fore-running Providences 3. The Rites and manner of their Separation and Consecration to their Office This is recorded and declared at large in Numb 8. where you will find it was by sprinkling them with Water by shaving their Hair by washing their Clothes and by offering Sacrifices for them And lastly by the Children of Israels laying their hands upon them But I shall not speak to these things though it would be worth the while Because there hath been occasion to speak to sundry of these Rites in other places formerly 4. Their Work and Office which they were thus separated and set apart unto which was in general to be adjoyned as subordinate Ministers to the Priests in the outer Services and Ministrations of the Temple so here ver 2. that they may be joyned unto thee alluding to the name of Levi which bears that signification though the name was given upon another occasion I say outer because they are excluded from the Ministrations of the Sanctuary and the Altar ver 3. Their Work might be distinguished into Synagogue-work and Temple-work into temporary or occasional and standing work But I shall put all together in seven heads 1. They were to bear the Tabernacle and all the holy Vessels Numb 4.15 so Christ supports and bears the Church but this work was but temporary and occasional while the Tabernacle was in that ambulatory posture but when the flitting moving Tabernacle was changed into a fixed Temple then this part of their Ministration was at an end 2. The Levites were to assist the Priests in offering Sacrifices 1 Chron. 23 28-31 2 Chron. 29.34 and 2 Chron. 30.16 to burne them on the Altar and sprinkle the Blood was peculiar to the Priests but the Levites might help in killing them and other preparatory Administrations As to the Gospel of this you know the true Sacrifice is Christ and he is the Priest and the Levite too he did all himself alone without any ãâã assistance 3. The Levites were to teach the people in the Law of the Lord therefore scattered and dispersed in their habitations up and down among them Deut. 33.10 they shall teach Israel thy Law Mal. 2. ver 7. the Priests Lips should keep Knowledge and and they should seek the Law at his Mouth for he is the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts 2 Chron. 17.7 8 9. Jehosophat sent Levites to teach It is the Magistrates duty to provide for the teaching and instructing of his Subjects in the good knowledge of the Lord. This Christ doth and this Gospel-Ministers also do they should teach the people what the Lord hath taught them 4. They were to judge of Causes and to determine Controversies among the people Deut. 17.8 9-12 the supream Judgment lying in the High Priest ver 11. Amaziah the Priest in those things which belong to God shall preside 2 Chron. 19.8 10. so there is spiritual Judgment of Discipline in the Church under the Gospel Ezek. 44.23 24. 1 Cor. 5.12 5. They were to sing the Songs of the Temple That business of the Temple-Musick was committed to them partly as to the Psalteries Harps and Viols though the Priests were to sound the Trumpets 1 Chron. 15.16 17. 2 Chron. 5.12 13. That which answers this is the inward melody of the Joys and Graces of Gods Spirit 6. Others of them were Treasurers 1 Chron. 26.20 22 24 26 27 28. there is a Treasure also in the Church of the New Testament for which the Lord hath appointed Deacons whom he hath intrusted with it 7. Others were Porters to keep and watch the Gates of the House of the Lord which they did both by day to keep back unclean persons that they might nor enter into the Temple so we find in Jehoiada's time 2 Chron. 23.19 Ezek. 22.26 and Ezek. 44.7 8. and by night Psal 134.1 These seem to have been as the Priests and Singers were divided into four and twenty courses 1 Chron. 23.4 5 6. 2 Chron. 8.14 so the Gates of the Gospel-Churches should be kept and guarded that enemies and unclean persons may not enter in Rev. 21.27 3. The third sort of Temple-Officers were the Nethinims or Gibeonites Josh 9. for the servile work of the Temple ver 21 23 27. And Joshua gave them that day to be Hewers of Wood and Drawers of Water for the Congregation and for the Altar of the Lord. Hence they are called Nethinims from Nathan dedit They were afterwards methodized by David for the Temple-service Ezra 8.20 and had Lodgings neer the Temple Nehem. 3.26 though their dwellings were in their own Towns and Cities Nehem. 7.73 the Nethenims dwelt in their Cities Their coming to the Israelites was to save their own Lives a lawful end but the means they used was very evil for they came with a Ly in their mouths as you all know the Story Josh 9. And as their means was bad so the motive was but low for they were under a legal work of fear and terror and under guilt and guile of Spirit as indeed guilt is usually accompanied with guile and deceitfulness of heart Yet out of this legal principle this legal fear and terror they came to make their peace I may call it in a sense their peace with God for it was with the people of God with the people of the true God and God by his Providence did so order it that their Lives were preserved and not only so but they were devoted though in a very low and mean way to the Service of the Tabernacle of the true and
ãâã flayed and cut up Heb. 4.12 13. so all things are ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã before him with whom we have to do The Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God searcheth the heart as the sacrificeing Knife did the bowels of the Beast there is no Skin no cloke of Hypocrisy that can hide thee from the Lord. 4. The Skin of the Sacrifice went to the Priest it was part of his Maintenance see Cap. 7. 8. and the Priest that offereth any mans Burnt Offering even the Priest shall have to himself the Skin of the Burnt Offering which he hath offered As before the Law the Sacrificer had the Skin he enjoyed the benefit of that either to cloth him as Adam and Eve Gen. 3.21 the Lord God made them Coats of Skins and clothed them Or to buy cloathing with or what else he needed And under the Law there was hardly any Sacrifice of which the Priest had not his part It teacheth us that they that serve at the Altar should live of the Altar 1 Cor. 9.13 14. from whence the Apostle argues to the care that should be taken for the maintainance of Ministers under the Gospel So much for the fifth Ceremony about the Burnt-Offering namely the flaying it and cuting it in pieces 6. The Pieces were to be salted This indeed is not expressed in Cap 1. but you will find it in other places for as I said at first we must borrow Light from other Scriptures Lev. 2.13 Every Oblation of thy Meat-Offering shalt thou season with Salt neither shalt thou suffer the Salt of the Covenant of thy God to be lacking Ezek. 43.24 the Priests shall cast Salt upon them The Rule is general to all Sacrifices as well Burnt as Meat-Offerings Mark 9.49 every Sacrifice shall be salted with Salt I find by conference with other Scriptures a twofold Mystery hinted and aimed at in this 1. Salt doth preserve things and keep them from putrifaction this therefore signifies and shadows forth the Perpetuity of the Covenant of Grace Hence is that emphatical expression in the Text Lev. 2.13 the Salt of the Covenant of thy God So Salt is used Numb 18.19 It is a Covenant of Salt for ever before the Lord unto thee and to thy Seed with thee that is saith the Margin sure stable and incorruptible So 2 Chron. 13.5 Ought ye not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the Kingdom over Israel to David for ever even to him and to his Sons by a Covenant of Salt that is Perpetual because the thing that is salted is preserved from Corruption saith the Geneva Note upon the place 2. Salt makes things savoury and wholesome which without Salt would stink and putrify Col. 4.6 let your Speech be seasoned with Salt That is contrary to that corrupt Communication Ephes 4.29 wise and savoury and gracious Speech Mark 9.49 50. when there is no Salt no Savour in a mans words his Speech stinks and is corrupt the Sacrifice is unsalted and so it stinks 7. The Leggs and Inwards must be washed Vers 12. the Feet and the Inwards are the fowlest part of a Beast washing away the filth signifies spiritual washing and cleansing So the bodies of Believers are said to be washed with pure Water and their hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience Heb. 10.22 they are made clean both within and without and their filthiness washt away through Jesus Christ 8. The several parts of the Offering must be laid upon the Altar and burnt with Fire till it be consumed and burnt to ashes Seeing the Fire which once fell from Heaven Lev. 9.24 was to be continually kept and preserved upon the Altar Lev. 6.12 and the use of all other Fire forbidden in Sacrifices Lev. 10.1 putting of Fire upon the Altar in this place can signifie nothing but kindling of it Deodat in Lev. 1.7 See Lev. 6.9 the Fire burnt all night The Wrath of God is the Fire and Sin the Wood or Fuel that feeds it This is the Fire of the Justice and Wrath of God from Heaven which seized upon Christ and every part of him as all the parts of the Offering was burnt his Head crowned with Thornes his Side pierced with the Spear his Hands and Feet with Nails his whole body did sweat drops of Blood yea his Soul was heavy unto the Death yea burnt to Ashes as it were brought to the utmost extremity of misery his Saints also endure the fiery tryal 1 Pet. 4.12 Though theirs is not a fire of Expiation as Christs was Heb. 12.10 but only a fire of Purgation which they pass through in this Life to prepare and fit them for Heaven but after this Life there is no Purgatory as the Papists dream 9. The Ashes must be carried out of the Camp into a clean place Lev. 6.10 11. The contrary is said of the Rubbish of a leprous house that the dust and stones thereof should be poured forth into an unclean place Lev. 14.40 41. For they came from a polluted house But these from the Lords holy dwelling place and were the Reliques of an holy thing which the Lord here manifests that he hath a special regard of This Ceremony is applied by the Apostle to Christ Heb. 13.11 12 13. Look as the Ashes of the Sacrifice being burnt signified the dead Body of Christ so the carrying of the Ashes out of the Camp signified how his crucified Body should not be buried within the City but carried into a clean place into a new Sepulchre where never any man lay before Joh. 19.41 So the dead Bodies of all his Saints when they are spent and consumed to Ashes they are regarded and preserved in the dust by God as sacred Reliques and he will raise them up again unto eternal Life So much for the Burnt Offering of the Herd and the Ceremonies appertaining to it There were also some other Actions about it as that in Psal 118.27 of binding the Sacrifice with Cords even unto the Horns of the Altar But this as it is not mentioned in this Chapter so it seems rather to be an Action of natural necessity unto such a work as the slaying of a Beast then to have any special mystery in it Therefore let this suffice for the Burnt-Offering of the greater sort of Cattel Now the other two sorts that follow are the Burnt-Offering of the Flock that is lesser Cattel Sheep or Goats vers 10. And of Fowls viz. Turtle Doves and young Pigeons vers 14. Quest Why the Lord appointed these lesser Sacrifices Ans He did it that so none might be able to plead excuse to be exempted from his service for you know men are very apt to make excuses If the Lord had only appointed Oxen and Sheep some might have pretended Poverty and have said we would offer Sacrifice but we are not able Therefore these lesser Sacrifices were ordained that so both Rich and Poor might serve the Lord so that here is no room