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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
and Thummim therefore that way of Oracular Consultation was ceased Reas 3. If there was any mystery in the Vrim and Thummim they must needs be Materials for we must not separate and take away the outward sign from the thing signified in the Types no more then in the Sacraments This is the sin and error of the Papists in the Lords Supper whereby they do destroy the true nature of the Sacrament But those that seem to scruple whether the Urim and Thummim were any new Materials added to the Brest-plate do yet inquire and seek after the mystery and meaning of them therefore there was an outward part in this as in all other Types a visible and external sign as well as a spiritual mystery signified and shadowed forth thereby Quest 2. What kind of Materials they were Ans The Vrim and Thummim were not things prepared by the Workmen as the rest of the holy Garments were but some choise and secret Monuments given immediately unto Moses by God himself This appears by this consideration that there is no direction given for the making of them in Exod. 28.30 where all the other Garments are treated of but of these it is only said thou shalt put them in ver 30. and accordingly there is no mention of these in that other Chapter Exod. 39. ver 21 c. where the History of the making all the other Garments is recorded Therefore we may concur with those who say this Ornament was non humano artificio factum sed Divinitus Mosi datum As to any further inquiry we can no more determine the matter of them then we can define what kind of Stones those were on which the Law was written by the Finger of God or what substance the Manna was which was melted by the Sun and hardened by the Fire or of what substance the holy Fire was that came down from Heaven and consumed the Sacrifices Therefore we can go no further in determining the nature of the Vrim and Thummim but that it was some glorious thing given by God to Moses and put into the Pectoral Quest 3. What was the end and use of it Answ To consult with God by it and to receive answers from him about the affairs and concernments of his people Numb 27.21 Joshua must stand before Eleazar the Priest who must ask counsel for him after the Judgment of Vrim before the Lord. Magistrates and Rulers should depend on Christ for teaching and seek direction at his Mouth so David did 1 King 23.9 and again 1 King 30.6 And that this was no unusual thing but frequent and ordinary with him appears 1 King 22.15 where Ahimelechs Apology for himself is Did I now begin to ask of God for him implying that he was formerly wont to do it Quest But how was God wont to answer by it Answ It seems to have been sometimes by audible voice 1 Sam. 23.11 12. Will Saul come down and the Lord said he will will the men of Keilah deliver me into his hand and the Lord said they will Numb 7.89 God spake to Moses by an audible voice and it seems that this was the way that God was ordinarily wont to use with Moses Exod. 33.11 Numb 12.7 8. and Deut. 34.10 Some think Gods speaking by Vrim and Thummim was by the shining of the Stones which did appear bright if God would have them do the thing of which they inquired but did appear dark if the answer were negative But as there is nothing of this in the Scripture neither could this way answer all kinds of Questions that might be put so it is more probable that God answered by such ways and manners as the Scripture makes mention of either by speaking from off the Mercy-seat with an audible voice to the Priest appearing with Vrim and Thummim before him or else by immediate inspirations and irradiations upon his Spirit the Lord giving an inward revelation of his Will to the Mind of the High Priest thus inquiring of him Quest 4. Now if you ask what did this Oracular dispensation by the Vrim and Thummim signifie and represent Answ The words Vrim and Thummim signifie Lights and Perfections The mystery and meaning of them you may see in four particulars 1. Some interpret them thus Vrim or Lights that is clearness of Apprehension and Thummim Perfections that is exact and perfect Judgment Those two great parts of the Wisdom of God in the frame of Reason where there is a conjunction of both these excellencies in the height of them this is the highest degree of Reason This is Angelical and Seraphick Understanding Some men are slow and dull of Apprehension a man cannot beat things into them Luke 24.25 O slow and dull of heart to understand Some that have Wit enough and are apprehensive enough yet they cannot judge of what they see of what their mind sees and so they call Darkness Light and Light Darkness they call Error Truth and Truth Error Thus some apply it to the two parts of Reason and I would not exclude this as being partly intended because the Scripture speaks of Christ under these notions as quick in discerning and accurate in judging of things Isai 11.3 and Solomon speaks it of his own Sermons that he both sought out here is ready Invention or quick Apprehension and he took heed here is accurate and careful Judgement the other part of Solomons Logick and he set in order many Proverbs here is Method which is the issue and result of both the former as the Cream of the Milk Eccles 12.9 And he took some pains in the Rhetorick too as well as in the Logick in the Oratory as well as in the Reason of things ver 10. the Preacher sought to find out words of delight 2. It may be applied to the two faculties of the Soul in regard of the virtues belonging to the faculties as well as to the two parts of Reason thus That Vrim Lights imports a sound Faith and Thummim Perfections a perfect heart and life For as clear Apprehension and exact Judgment are the two parts of true Reason so Faith and Holiness are the two parts of true Religion You know Light is the excellency of the Mind of a Christian Holiness is the Perfection of his Will Of the former Paul speaks Ephes 1.17 18. that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory may give unto you the spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of him the eyes of your understanding being enlightened c. Of the other Hezekiah speaks Isai 38.3 I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart c. so when Moses prays for the Tribe of Levi and in them for all godly Ministers Deut. 33. Let thy Vrim and thy Thummim be with thy holy ones that is give sound Minds and holy Hearts sound Minds in a quick discerning and exact judging of things and holy Hearts appearing in a holy and good life and conversation 3.
Gospel is powerful 2 Cor. 3. therefore that is called the Letter this the Spirit 3. There was much of external Pomp and Splendor but little of that Power and Spirituality that is in Gospel-worship which though very pleasing to the people yet upon this account partly the Apostle calls them carnal Ordinances Heb. 9.10 and a worldly Sanctuary ver 1. because they consisted so much in outward low sensible things so suitable to the relish and desire and disposition of a carnal Heart Therefore the carnal Jews were very tenacious of these externals of Moses though desperately averse to the things themselves included and intended in them Christ opposeth their local Worship to spiritual Worship Joh. 4.21 23. implying that that was not so spiritual as Gospel-worship The carnal Jews did turn it into meer Law and Works by their abuse and misunderstanding of it As the Pharisees how did they trust in outward Works and expected Salvation by their own Righteousness they rested and sate down in the Shell and outside of things Rom. 9.32 As it were by the Works of the Law For they had no real legal Perfection in them but only in their own proud and false conceit they thought the bringing of a Sacrafice was that that did expiate Sin and merit and deserve Acceptance with God They did not look beyond all to the meer Mercy and free Grace of God in Christ they did not look to the end of things to the time of Reformation that was to come and so they stumbled at the stumbling stone 4. It was a burthensome Dispensation Acts 15.10 a Yoke which neither our Fathers nor we were able to bear They were an insupportable Yoke an intolerable Burthen both as to their number and nature They had a great number of external Observations from all which the Gospel hath set us free 5. The manner of Administration was legal in regard of the Bondage and Terror of it It left impressions of terror upon their spirits God appeared in such dreadful Majesty unto them on Mount Sinai as it shook the Mountain and shook all their Hearts so terrible that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake Heb. 12.10 18 21. so terrible to all the people that they wished that God would never speak unto them immediately any more so the Lord gave an Interpreter to reveal and speak the Mind of God unto them and so it hath been ever since Hence was that Speech of Austin Breuis differentia Legis Evangelii timor amor the difference between Law and Gospel in brief is Fear and Love Thus you see the Doctrine cleared up and so much shall serve for the clearing up this Truth and removing these Objections against it We shall conclude with two or three words of Use Vse 1. Incouragement to study the Old Testament and the Types and Shadows of the Law Is it so that the Gospel was preached to them under the Old Testament as well as to us under the New We see then the usefulness of the Old Testament to New-Testament Saints we see what use there is of searching into these ancient Dispensations Will you search into the Mystery of the Gospel then consider how God instructed and taught them of old There are some Gospel Truths more expresly revealed and mentioned to them of old than to us as that of Forgiveness of Sins c. Therefore let us search into those ancient Administrations because there is much Gospel there though the Shell be hard yet there is excellent substance in the Kernel Vse 2. Direction how to attain to the understanding of those Mysteries study the Gospel For it was Gospel that was preached to them Faedus gratiae clavis totius Scripturae Vse 3. We may here learn another lesson which wise Agur learned and it was his wisdom to know that he wanted Wisdom Prov. 3.1 2. Many coming to read Chapters in the Levitical Law are apt to think this is a sealed Book we are not to bring these Offerings to God now we know not what use to make of it many Christians make no more use of them than of Apocrypha This may shew us our ignorance For there is no part of the Scripture but is of use we might see much of God and of the Gospel in them if we had skill to search out the meaning and mystery of them But we have not the understanding of the holy Poor dark ignorant Creatures we are the Lord knows Quantum est quod nescimus Vse 4. Incouragement to believe and receive the Gospel for it is the everlasting Gospel This use is the direct scope of this Text they had a promise of entring into rest but came short of it through unbelief Take we heed therefore of unbelief least we enter not into rest For the Gospel is preached to us as well as to them There is ground of encouragement to believe the Gospel to embrace and close with it for it is that which all the Saints of God both under the Old and New Testament have ventured their Souls upon The Gospel was preached to them as well as to us and to us as well as unto them Thou maist safely venture thy Soul in that way where in so many Saints in all ages are gone to Heaven Let us take heed lest we fall short by unbelief for the Gospel was preached to us as well as unto them but the Word profited them not because it was not mixed with Faith in them that heard it Take heed having the Promises of entring into rest lest any of you fall short take heed of falling short of the good things of the Gospel of that Rest which the Gospel gives to sinful guilty weary Souls Is such a Gospel preached and such glad tydings revealed and wilt not thou close with them and receive them gladly and thankfully All the Gospel Dispensations in the Book of God will rise up against thee if thou art an Unbeliever all the Saints of old will judge thee and testifie against thee They had but a little glimmering Light yet they ventured all upon that But now the Sun appears and shines on the World in Clearness and Glory They might have objected that the height of Gospel-light is not discovered which might be great hinderance to them therefore if God was angry with them then how much more with us now how shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation If every word spoken then was stedfast and was sufficient to bring Souls out of the state of Sin and Death to Happiness how much more the Word and Light that we enjoy For if the Word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every Transgression and Disobedience received a just recompence of Reward Heb. 2.2 3. how shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation Unbelief is a damning Sin in all ages but the more clearly the Gospel is preached the more inexcusable is the Unbelief of sinners that perish in their sins the more inexcusable is their Sin and
the more deep and dreadful will their Damnation be The Apostle calls the Gospel the Word of Truth Unbelief saith it is a Lye It gives God the lye it makes him a Lyer and makes the Gospel a Fable If there be a way of recovery why shouldst not thou believe and venture thy Soul on that if there be no such way then the Gospel is a Lye and wilt thou say the Gospel is a lye We have a proverb as sure as Gospel There is nothing so clear and sure and certain as the Gospel All Happiness depends on the believing of the Gospel Therefore take heed of and strive against Unbelief labour as much against it as against any other Corruption and the chief help is a clear understanding a clear insight and understanding in the Mystery of the Gospel this will help against all thy Unbelief then all thy Objections will vanish as Darkness before the Sun It 's Ignorance of the Gospel from whence so many Objections arise Beg of God to give thee clear Gospel-Light and this will be the best means to overcome and overpower that sin of Unbelief Did men see the Excellency the Truth and Goodness of the Gospel they would receive it gladly and thankfully The Gospel is both true tydings and glad tydings it 's both true and glad tydings Now were this believed it would chear up the Hearts of poor Sinners Hebrews 1.1 2 3. God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son whom he hath appointed Heir of all things by whom also he made the Worlds who being the Brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person and upholding all things by the Word of his Power when he had by himself purged our Sins sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high THat the Gospel was preached to them under the Old Testament as well as to us under the New hath been cleared from Heb. 4.2 where the Apostle saith Vnto us was the Gospel preached as well as unto them We are next to consider how it was preached unto them Now to this the Text answers that it was done in divers manners and at sundry times ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The scope of the words is to compare and prefer the Gospel Discoveries and manifestations of God before the Legal which he doth by a most elegant Antithesis between them Then God spake to the Fathers now to us that was by the Prophets but now by his Son Those Discoveries were of old and so are passed away but the Gospel is in these last days And finally then he spake in divers manners and at sundry times But now he hath fixed upon this one way and once for all to reveal himself by his Son We may resolve the Text into four general Propositions or points of Doctrine 1. That it hath pleased God to speak or reveal Himself and his Mind and Will unto poor lost Man in order to his Happiness and Salvation For he speaketh here only of the Gospel Discoveries 2. That there be two grand Discoveries or Dispensations of the Mind of God unto the Sons of Men the one before the other since the coming of his Son 3. That under that former Dispensation God did reveal and speak his Mind of old unto the Fathers by the Prophets in divers manners and at sundry times 4. That in this last Dispensation instead of all those former various Discoveries used of old he hath spoken his Mind unto us only by his Son You see the two last Doctrines do contain and hold forth the Differences and peculiar Characters of each Dispensation It is only the third Doctrine that we are now to speak unto viz. that under the old Dispensation God did reveal and speak his Mind unto the Fathers by the Prophets in divers manners and at sundry times 1. It was of old therefore now passed away as Heb. 8.13 that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish 2. To the Fathers that is to their Ancestors for he writes this Epistle to the Hebrews as the Title of it shews 3. By the Prophets all those by whom God revealed his Mind to others were in that respect Prophets that is Discoverers or Revealers of the Mind of God 4. In divers manners 5. At sundry times It is these two last that I intend a little to insist upon viz. these divers manners and sundry times I shall endeavour to shew 1. What were these divers manners or ways of Discovery 2. What were the several times or the several pieces and parcels of it For this is the Importance of the two words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 1. I shall speak first to the manner as being first in consideration though last mentioned in the Text. The Lord was pleased herein to use great variety he did not limit and confine himself to one way and manner of Discovery but he spake sometimes in one manner and sometimes in another It concerns us to enquire into it so far as we have Scripture-light to guide us For we are built upon the Foundations of the Prophets and Apostles Ephes 2.20 Yet we must do it with Sobriety of Spirit eschewing and taking heed of vain Curiosity For they themselves who received those extraordinary Manifestations did not always fully know the manner of them in all circumstances as the Apostle Paul himself knew not whether in the Body or out of the Body 2 Cor. 12. This is one of the great things God doth which we cannot comprehend as Elihu speaks Job 37.5 Yet so far as the Scripture goes before us we may safely follow These divers manners therefore of Gods speaking or revealing his Mind of old may be referred chiefly to these seven Heads 1. By Visions 2. By Dreams 3. By Voices 4. By inward Inspirations and Impulses of his Spirit 5. By legal Types and Shadows 6. By Signs and Wonders 7. By a special and peculiar kind of Intimacy and Familiarity 1. The Lord was wonted then to speak by Visions I mean visible Apparitions and Representations of things to the eye the person being awake and not asleep I do not mean things represented meerly to the Mind and inward Thoughts for this will come in afterwards under another head namely that of inward Inspiration and Revelation but I speak now of such Visions wherein things were really and indeed objected to the outward Senses Hence the Prophets are called Seers hence that phrase the Visions of God used concerning Prophesies And what was it that they saw Sometimes they saw God himself sometimes the Angels and sometimes other things were represented and did appear in Vision to them 1. Sometimes the Lord himself did appear in Visions to them not as though his Essence were corporeal or visible He dwels in Light unapproachable 1 Tim. 6.16 whom no man hath seen nor
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
these two lay chiefly in this that under the former Dispensation the ordinary way of preserving the Knowledg of God was only by oral Tradition But from Moses his time it was committed to Writing In both these the Church of God was under years in a state of Childhood Gal. 4.1 3. But in the former viz. the time before the Law they were little Children it was the very Infancy and first and weak beginnings of the Church This Period of the Churches Infancy may be subdivided into three particulars 1. The Dispensation they were under from Adam to Noah 2. From Noah to Abraham 3. From Abraham to Moses 1. Adams Dispensation I mean after the Fall For it is the gradual breakings forth of Gospel-light whereof the Text speaks We are to consider how the Lord then spake and how far he revealed himself in that age and state of Mankind Besides what was common to all times viz. the Works of God and the Light implanted in mans heart there were several things that were the special Discoveries and Light of that Age I shall instance in four particulars 1. The Lord having convinced them of their Sin gave them that famous Promise that the Seed of the Woman should break the Serpents Head Gen. 3.15 This was the first Beam of Gospel-Light that ever brake forth unto lost and fallen Man A comprehensive Promise which includes the whole Gospel as you have formerly heard in many particulars upon that Text Gen. 3.15 This great and precious Promise they and all the Saints for almost four thousand years did believe and live upon waiting and longing for the coming of that blessed Seed that victorious Seed that should slay the Dragon and destroy the Works of the Devil as 1 Joh. 3.8 It is thought that Eve did hope to have seen him in her days and that she her self should have been the immediate Mother of the Messiah And thence she called her first Son Cain Possession thinking she had now got the Promise in possession and performance But afterwards perceiving her mistake and disappointment she called her next Son Abel Vanity As it is a common error that we are apt to run into in the exercise of Faith upon the Promises we are apt to antedate the time of performance which is from a secret mixture and working of unbelief for he that believeth shall not make haste Isai 28.16 2. To this Promise the Lord added some outward and visible Signs and Tokens for the further help of Faith In all times ever since God made Man he hath given him some outward and sensible things to be Signs and Representations of spiritual things as being suitable to the Nature of such a Creature Man consisting both of Soul and Body Even before the Fall there were two Sacramental Trees the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil and now under the Gospel we have two Sacraments Baptism and the Lords Supper So in these first times after the Fall they had something of the like nature The signal instance hereof is the Sacrifices or the slaying of clean Beasts and offering them and other things up to God to make atonement For it is expressed that Cain and Abel did it Gen. 4.3 4. and Noah afterwards Which to have done without Order from God had been detestable and abominable Therefore there is no doubt but as they were taught by their Parents so their Parents were instructed from the Lord about it And in Noahs time we find there was a distinction of Beasts into clean and unclean Gen. 7.2 that is clean for Sacrifice For it doth not appear that any of them were used for Food before the Flood What this aimed at the Scripture is plain Heb. 9.22 Without shedding of Blood there is no Remission of Sins and Christ is said to offer up himself a Sacrifice for us Ephes 5.2 therefore they did look at Christ Before Sin there was no need of any Sacrifice for Expiation of Sin Hence among the Gentiles they had a custom of sacrificing from some slender Fame remaining among them of such an Institution for it was no part of the Light of Nature though they were ignorant of the true God the true Object to whom to present their Sacrifices Hither also some refer that passage Gen. 3.21 Vnto Adam also and to his Wife did the Lord God make Coats of Skins and clothed them This is thought to have a further Mystery included and aimed at in it For there is a spiritual Clothing often spoken of in Scripture As they were under a double Nakedness both of Soul and Body their Souls divested of Gods Image and original Righteousness and their Bodies overspread with Shame so the Lord provided a double Clothing for them He did not clothe their Bodies and leave their Souls naked but he gave them both the upper Garment of Justification and imputed Righteousness and the inner Garment of Sanctification and Grace inherent This may be considered also under another Notion as one of the Favours of Providence unto those first times of fallen Mankind that now was the Invention of many useful Arts and Sciences Here God himself vouchsafes to teach them how to make Clothes We read also in Gen. 4. of sundry other Arts and Occupations as ver 20. Jabal was the Father of such as dwell in Tents and of such as have Cattel The meaning of it is well explained in the Margent the first Inventor of Tent making and of Pastorage and keeping Cattel And his Brothers Name was Jubal he was the Father of all such as handle the Harp and Organ ver 21. the first Inventor of Musick I mean Instrumental Musick For Vocal Musick Nature it self teacheth that And ver 22. The working of Mettals by Tubal-Cain an Instructer of every Artificer in Brass and Iron whence arose the Heathenish mistakes and fables of Vulcan These were great Mercies and gave some further Discoveries of God to those who had Eyes and Hearts to see him in his Works For all lawful Arts and Sciences and all the Rules thereof are Beams of Gods Wisdom and Gifts and Operations of his Spirit Prov. 8.12 I Wisdom dwell with Prudence and find out Knowledg of witty Inventors So Bezaleel and Aholiab Exod. 31.3 I have filled him with the Spirit of God in Wisdom and Vnderstanding and in Knowledg and in all manner of Workmanship and ver 6. I have given with him Aholiab Those mean Trades and Occupations Isai 28. are the Gifts of God The Lord teacheth the Husbandman how to thresh his Corn and to beat out the Cummin 3. There was something also of Church Discipline exercised in those first Ages of the Church A signal Instance hereof we have in Gain Gen. 4.12 A Fugitive and a Vagabond shalt thou be in the earth God himself pronounceth Sentence upon him ver 16. he is sent forth loaden with the Curse of God from the Fellowship of his people This is thought to have been about the hundred and
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
Flood 2. That impious attempt of building the Tower of Babel Gen. 11.4 whether to secure themselves from another Deluge through their unbelief and distrust of Gods Promise or thinking to climb into Heaven a mad Project but Sinners act sometimes at a strange rate of Madness not knowing what they do or that they were moved and acted by Pride and Vain glory to get them a Name This the Text expresseth being probably the end most generally aimed at by them though it is like they had various motives and inducements and those very foolish and wicked This Defection was from that of Chams about sixty two years as some compute 3. There was a ruining Judgment came upon them for this sin viz. the Confusion and Division of Tongues a just and severe punishment the Hebrew being retained among the godly Seed of Heber which was so denominated from him because his Posterity were the chief Preservers of it which was a punishment that did increase the Apostacy For it made the Communication and Propagation of the Light and Knowledg of God amongst them more difficult 4. That provoking sin of Idolatry I mean that grosser sort of it worshipping the Creatures and Images That the rise of this Abomination was in this Period may appear thus If it had been before the Flood doubtless the Lord would have mentioned it amongst the Causes of that Destruction he mentions other lesser sins but not this Moreover it was amongst Abrahams Ancestors when they dwelt beyond the River Euphrates Josh 24.2 The place where this Delusion first arose seems to be Babylon which is called the Mother of Fornications which is meant of Idolatry and Spiritual Fornications as well as bodily Revel 17.5 And Chaldea the Land of graven Images Jer. 50.38 therefore it is likely the first rise of this sin was at Babel not long after the building of the Tower of Babel it being an usual stratagem of Satan when his Kingdom hath received some deadly stroke in one form to find out some new Appearance some new Device to appear in to recover his Losses and to seduce corrupted man again as Revel 12. when the Dragon was cast down when Paganish Idolatry was destroyed then he raiseth up Popish Idolatry cap. 13. Beast-worship instead of Dragon-worship So here Atheistical Prophaneness being testified against by God from Heaven by the Flood and then again by confounding the Builders of Babel Satan betakes himself to this stratagem that if there must be some Religion and some Worship amongst men he would deceive them with a false Object and so seduce them from the Knowledg and Worship of the only true and living God by presenting a multitude of false Gods But thus this second Dispensation was corrupted and lost whereupon the Lord sets his Church and true Religion as it were upon a new bottom in Abraham and his Seed This second Dispensation under Noah continued about four hundred twenty seven years as you will find it if you compare the Lives of the Patriarchs Gen. 11. But you must remember in the computing of it that Terah was a hundred and thirty years old at Abrahams Birth as appears out of cap. 11.32 compared with cap. 12.4 For Abraham was but seventy five when his Father Terah died being two hundred and five Now if seventy five be deducted out of two hundred and five there remains one hundred and thirty In the rest of the Computation and Chronology there is no difficulty 3. And so we come to the Lords third Dispensation which was that to Abraham and his Seed Wherein the Lord spake forth something more of mind than ever formerly There were now brighter Beams of Gospel-Light shining forth upon the Church of God than ever before I shall instance but in four particulars 1. The Lord calls him forth out of his own Countrey and from his Fathers House and so plucks him like a Brand out of the Fire from the midst of Idols and Idolaters Gen. 11.31 from Ur of the Chaldees to Haran and Gen. 12. from Haran into Canaan Isai 41.2 who raised up the Righteous man from the East 2. He promised him a Seed a blessed Seed that of him should come that great and blessed Seed so much expected and longed for by all the Saints ever since the first Promulgation of the Gospel to our first Parents in Paradise that Seed in whom both he and all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed Genes 22.18 Till then we do not find any particular and express mention of what Family the Messiah should come But now this Promise of this Seed is renewed and repeated seven or eight times over in the History of Abraham in Genesis and it is a Promise not only of a numerous Posterity and a Church-Seed viz. his Posterity to be the only Church of God on Earth but which is more a Promise of that great and blessed Seed 3. He promised him also the Land of Canaan for an Inheritance unto his Seed after him when they had suffered and been in an unsetled condition as strangers and pilgrims four hundred and thirty years Gen. 15.13 18. which was a typical Land and did relate unto another and a better Countrey beyond that as Hebr. 11. 4. The Lord gave him Circumcision as a Seal of this Covenant and of the Righteousness of Faith Gen. 17.10 This is my Covenant which ye shall keep between me and you and thy Seed after thee Every manchild shall be circumcised Rom. 4.11 He received the Sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith The duration of this Dispensation under which Abraham Isaac and Jacob and the twelve Patriarchs and their Posterity continued and enjoyed God till the Lord provided further Mercies for them by the hand of Moses of which afterwards I say this Period and State of the Church continued about four hundred and thirty years Gen. 15.13 We have now gone through the three first pieces the three first steps and degrees of the Lords gradual Patefactions and Manifestations of his Mind before the giving of the Law Those other pieces of Discovery under the Law we sall speak to the Lord assisting afterwards Mean while let us reflect a little upon this that hath been said in order to some practical Improvement of it in some practical Inferences and Instructions from it Vse 1. See the Infant state of the Church and true Religion how low and weak the first beginnings of it were Christ compares it to a Grain of Mustard Seed Matth. 13.31 32. in the first beginnings under the New Testament It is true also of the old times Instruct 2. We may here see how prone Mankind is to degenerate and fall from God God no sooner sets them up again but they fall again The Church of God had stood but a matter of a hundred and thirty years in Adams Family which included all Mankind when Cain falls into open Murther Well he is turned out and a matter of a hundred years after things
the divine Authority of the Scripture Yea the Lord raiseth them to an higher pitch of Reformation than ever Nehem. 9. They kept the Feast of Tabernacles so as it had not been kept from the days of Joshua Doubtless David and other reforming Kings had kept it but that part of the Ordinance the dwelling in Booths had been as it may seem omitted and neglected by them another Corruption was the mixture of the Church with Heathens by strange Marriages Ezr. 9 and Nehem 10. and the Samaritans those Mongrels would have intruded but were rejected Ezra 4. Thus they purged and reformed themselves from both these corrupting mixtures in the matter of the Church 5. And lastly the Old Tetament was concluded by the Prophet Malachy who was the last of all the Prophets The Lord would have no Prophet beyond the first times of the second Temple nor no Writings of men in the age immediately after the Apostles immediately following the Gospels Promulgation That it might manifest it self more clearly by its own own Light to be supernatural This Period viz. that of the second Temple continued four hundred and ninety years Dan. 9.24 seventy Prophetical weeks is four hundred and ninety solar years Now such a people thus delivered and restored twice delivered out of Bondage first out of Egypt and then a second time out of Babylon one would think they would have abiden with the Lord for ever after And one thing they did learn viz. to forsake gross Idolatry and this was all But they grew more rigidly formal and exquisitely hypocritical than ever and Religion ran out into Sects and Parties and Factions amongst them There were Pharisees and Sadduces and Galilaeans and Herodians amongst them Names which the Scripture mentions and Histories speak of another Sect called the Essenes And thus it was with them when our Lord Jesus came in the Flesh The inward and spiritual part of Godliness and the Practice of that which is truly so was in a very great measure lost amongst them being eaten out partly by their Sects and Divisions partly by their rigid Formality and Hypocrisie And thence at last the Lord sending his Son their Messiah so long promised and longed for by them they reject and crucifie him So the Lord having by all these various Dispensations and turnings of his hand mended the old House as it were seven times over he resolves now at last to pull it down for all these legal Dispensations were but the mending as it were and repairing of the old House but the Gospel pulls it quite down and builds a new one Thus I have led you thorough the several times and seasons wherein the Lord spake unto them of old you have seen the gradual progress of the Light and Work of God among them in those seven pieces of the Old Testament Dispensation which have been briefly run thorough That which follows next to be spoken to is the Reasons of the Point why the Lord spake and revealed his mind in such divers ways and manners and in these several pieces and parcels neither in one way only nor at one time Quest What may be the Reasons of the Point The Lord could have spoke his whole Mind at once in one way and at one time therefore why did he speak in such divers manners and in so many several pieces and parcels Answ Although it is a sufficient general account to say that this or that is best because God wills it For he doth all things well and his Will is the Rule of Goodness and it is not for us to call him to an account of what he doth yet we may humbly and modestly inquire into the reason of things not to contend him with for doing so for that were Prophaneness but to understand something of his Wisdom therein The Reasons therefore may be referred to two heads 1. In regard of our Weakness 2. For his own greater Glory I shall speak briefly unto both these adding but a little unto what others have said upon this Subject Reas 1. In regard of our Weakness The Lord herein condescends and accommodates himself unto us You may see his Condescention in four things 1. In that we are dull and slow of understanding to apprehend the Truth Therefore the Lord illustrates the same things several ways like the Light shining into the House at several Windows that in such a plenty of Light some of all those Beams may shine into our Hearts Luk. 24.25 we are slow of Heart to believe 2. We are but narrow-mouth'd Vessels not able to receive much at once As we are slow to receive any thing at all so we are uncapable to receive much at once Therefore the Lord teacheth us here a little and there a little a little to Adam a little more to Noah and a little more to Abraham and yet more fully and copiously to Moses leading them on by degrees as they were able that so men in several ages might know what their Fathers did and something more Isai 28.9 10 13. Geneva Note in loc They must have one thing oftentimes told 3. By this various and gradual proceeding God did prepare and fit his People by weaker and lower Dispensations for further and higher Dispensations As a Child by learning his A. B. C. and his Primmer is fitted to go into an higher harder Book so the Church of God by those immediate Revelations and Visions c. so frequent in those first times when they wanted the written Word was fitted to receive the Scriptures with the more Desire and Reverence and Faith Exod. 19.9 Lo I come unto thee in a thick Cloud that the People may hear when I speak with thee and believe thee for ever And they did believe him ever after so Joh. 9.29 We know that God spake unto Moses So the Church of God being exercised under the Mosaical Pedagogy so long together they were thereby prepared to welcom the Gospel more gladly when it came How gloriously and joyfully was it entertained when they had waited for it about four thousand years with what Triumphings in God! that now they saw that which Kings and Prophets and righteous men have desired to see but it had not been granted to them see Luk. 10.23 24. That which all the Prophets had spoken of since the World began Luk. 1.70 Act. 3.24 The Mystery that had been hid from Ages and Generations Col. 1.26 4. A fourth Condescention of the Lord herein is this By these varieties of Dispensation the Lord provides to have his Truth set on with all kind of Arguments yea with Arguments of peculiar concernment and suitableness to take with us As Moses to the Jews The Lord made not this Covenant with our Fathers but with us Deut. 5.3 And Manna which thy Fathers knew not Deut. 8 16. So Christ Joh. 13.34 A new Commandment give I unto you And the Apostle 1 Joh. 2.8 A new Commandment I write unto you It was an old Commandment but set
Dispensation others for another kind As for instance A New-Testament Saint will praise God that he caused him to live in the Noon-day and under the highest Meridian of Gospel-Light when the Earth was full of the Knowledg of the Lord. Oh what should I have been if my lot had fallen under former times of Ignorance and Darkness But another in those former darker times as for instance Abraham he will admire and wonder at Gods Mercy that when Darkness was round about him yet the Lord opened his eyes to spy the Sun of Righteousness peeping up and caused him then to rejoyce to see Christs Day that his Fleece was wet when the rest of the Earth was dry his Heart drawn after God and Christ when the means were so scant and small One Believer will bless God that the Lord was known to him by his Name Jehovah Another will admire that he did enable him to believe on God Almighty Some will bless him that they have seen the Accomplishment of his Promises and Predictions and not one thing hath failed of all the Good that God hath spoken as Josh 23.14 Another under former Dispensations will admire that his Heart was wrought to embrace the Promises afar off and that the Lord made Faith to him to be the substance of things not seen Beloved the Lord makes his Goodness special and peculiar by variety of Dispensations even to Believers living in the same age and in the same place that though in general they be all alike made partakers of the same common Salvation yet such variety there is in the Lords dealings with them in regard of Circumstances that in one respect or other in regard of one circumstance or other every one hath experience of peculiar loving Kindness singular strains of Mercy that he can say with Paul never such a pattern of Mercy I have more to bless God for than any other in all the world beside It is so much more in several ages so that look as that variety of Wisdom in so many several things before noted did declare the infiniteness of Gods Wisdom so in like manner these various kinds and ways of Goodness being all laid together will yield the lustre of infinite Goodness so far as finite Creatures can contain or conceive it I say when all the particulars are computed and put together in one sum total as they shall be when that general Assembly of all the Saints and Angels shall meet together at the great Day when they shall all compare Notes as it were It will then appear that there is no channel wherein Mercy hath not run no expression of loving Kindness that hath been omitted so manifold have his Dispensations been that every Age and every Person shall be able to bring in their several and peculiar portions into the common Treasury of Gods Mercies and Praises and they shall all say and sing together that Song of Praises in Psal 40.5 Many O Lord my God are thy wonderful Works which thou hast done and thy Thoughts which are to us-ward they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee if I would declare and speak of them they are more than can be numbred I shall conclude for the present with three words of Use both from what hath beeen said to day and in the last Discourse upon this Subject 1. We may gather some Chronological Light 2. We may see the rise of all the old Heathenish Superstitions And 3. See the Glory of the Mystery of the Gospel Vse 1. Here is some Instruction and Light may be gathered as to that Question which may easily arise in your thoughts namely how long this Old-Testament Administration lasted The Answer may be gathered from all that hath been said upon this Subject that it lasted precisely four thousand years This will appear if you compute and put those seven Old-Testament Dispensations together which were formerly spoken to The first Dispensation from Adam to Noah was sixteen hundred fifty six years The second from Noah to the Promise made to Abraham was four hundred twenty seven years The third from Abraham to the coming out of Egypt was four hundred and thirty years The fourth from the coming out of Egypt to the Dedication of the Temple was four hundred eighty seven years The fifth from the Temple to the Captivity was four hundred years The sixth namely from the Captivity to the Return was seventy years The last Old-Testament Dispensation from the Return to the Messiahs Death was four hundred and ninety years And from the Death of Christ to the Destruction of the Temple and City and Nation whereby the Lord did put all that old Dispensation to a full end was forty years All which Sums put together amounts exactly to four thousand years so long did that old Testament Dispensation last Vse 2. We may here see the rise of all the old Heathenish Superstitions They were the Corruption of Old-Testament Dispensations As Popery is nothing else but Christianity corrupted by a cursed mixture of Paganism and Judaism with it so in like manner Turcism is Vse 3. We may learn from hence to see the Glory of the Mystery yea the Riches of the Glory of the Mystery of the Gospel in that it was so long and with so great variety of Dispensation held forth to the Church of God of old Surely it was no small matter which the Lord made use of such various Providences and Dispensations to reveal for they did all tend to and aim at this Col. 1.26 The Mystery which hath been hid from Ages and from Generations ver 27. the Riches of the Glory of this Mystery Therefore learn to prize the Gospel according to this worth and this value that God hath put upon it To slight it is to slight all the Glory and glorious Dispensations of God from the beginning of the World to this day For this they did all look at A man acknowledges the Glory of the Mystery in two things 1. When he believes it for himself with application to himself in particular 2. When he walks worthy of it But to disbelieve the Promises and to disobey the Commands of it is to despise the Gospel 2 Thess 1.8 And to do so under such a clear Dispensation of it as in New Testament times certainly the deepest place in Hell will be their Portion Wo unto thee Chorazin wo unto thee Bethsaida For if the mighty Works that have been done in thee had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented in dust and ashes May we not say wo unto thee O London wo unto thee O Dublin For if the Preaching that hath been in thee had been in Rome they would have been convinced they would have repented before this day Vse 4. Let me repeat a little and reinculcate these things upon you which have been delivered as Reasons but might have been handled as Uses of the Point I beseech you give unto God the Glory due unto his Name in all his
Dispensations Praise him for his Condescention to our Weakness Observe the Harmony that is among his Works The Glory of the Mystery of the Gospel His manifold Wisdom His absolute Freedom and Soveraignty And lastly and above all his peculiar Goodness Labour to get your Hearts up to this As a man is never humbled enough till this Conviction pierce his Conscience that he is the chief of Sinners so a man is never thankful enough till he look upon himself as the greatest strangest Object of free Grace in all the world till he can say Never such a pattern of Mercy as my self And now having shewed that the Gospel was preached to them of old and that in divers manners and at sundry times one signal instance whereof is the Types and Ceremonies I have in these preliminary Discourses made way for what I have promised to speak unto namely the Types and Shadows of the Old Testament That which next remains is that we speak to them more particularly which we shall proceed unto hereafter the Lord assisting Romans 5.14 Adam who was the Figure of him that was to come ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã THat the Gospel was preached to them under the Old Testament as well as to us under the New and that it was revealed to them in several ways and manners of Discovery and in a gradual way in several pieces and parcels hath been formerly shewed One signal Instance we gave of those divers ways and manners was this That the Gospel was preached to them of old by legal Types and Ceremonies Now concerning these not to insist upon the Analysis of the Chapter the Text gives you this Doctrine Doctr. That the Lord was pleased in his infinite Wisdom to design and ordain certain persons under the Old Testament to be Types or Figures of the Messiah that was to come It will be requisite here 1. To explain the Nature of a Type to shew you what a Type is 2. The Reasons why the Lord spake in this way And then 3. To come to a more particular Distribution and Enumeration of them 1. For the Nature of a Type For the opening of this because it is a Subject both difficult and useful to be rightly understood and will give light to all that follows to be spoken upon the Types I shall therefore 1. Give you a brief Description of a Type 2. Some Rules for the better understanding of them 3. The Differences and Agreements between a Type and other things of like nature 4. The Names and Phrases by which it is expressed in Scripture 1. For the Description of a Type what it is I shall content my self with the Apostles Definition of it That a Type is a Shadow of good things to come Hebr. 10.1 The Law having a Shadow of good things to come Col. 2.17 Which are a Shadow of things to come but the Body is of Christ There be three things included in this Description 1. There is some outward or sensible thing that represents some other higher thing 2. There is the thing represented thereby which is good things to come which we call the Antitype 3. There is the work of the Type which is to shadow forth or represent these future good things 1. There is in a Type some outward or sensible thing that represents an higher spiritual thing which may be called a Sign or a Resemblance a Pattern or Figure or the like Here is the general Nature of a Type it is a Shadow It hath been the Goodness and Wisdom of God in all times and ages to teach Mankind heavenly things by earthly spiritual and invisible things by outward and visible as Joh. 3.12 2. There is the thing shadowed or represented by the Type And what is that Things to come saith the Apostle Col. 2.17 and good things to come Heb. 10.1 The good things of the Gospel Christ and his Benefits but the Body is of Christ as Col. 2.17 This we call the Correlate or the Antitype the other is the Shadow this the Substance the Type is the Shell this the Kernel the Type is the Letter this the Spirit and Mystery of the Type This we are still to look at and to search into in every Type we must look beyond the Shadow to the Substance to the Truth and Mystery of it and this is Christ and the Gospel as future and hereafter to be exhibited This may be called the Prototype or the Pattern out of which and according to which the other is drawn as Pictures from the Man whose Visage they represent 3. This Description holds forth the Work of the Type which is to shadow forth the Antitype But what is this shadowing and how do they shadow it It is a metaphorical expression A Shadow represents the proportion of the Body with its actions and motions though it doth it but obscurely and darkly So the Types had some dark resemblance of Christ and his Benefits and did some way adumbrate and represent them and hold them forth unto his People to enlighten and inform their Understandings and to strengthen and confirm their Faith in him The Types had this Voice and Language Such an One shall the Messiah be He is thus to act and thus to suffer for you Thus you have the Description of a Type It is a shadow of good things to come or if you would have it more at large you may take it thus A Type is some outward or sensible thing ordained of God under the Old Testament to represent and hold forth something of Christ in the New It may be otherwise worded But the Description if it be true must be to this effect as if we say that a Type is an instituted resemblance of Gospel-Truths and Mysteries or that it is a Sign holding forth Christ or something of Christ in the New Testament You see it comes all to one scope and indeed all the Descriptions that our Divines have given of it are to this effect they are all to the same scope with this of the Apostle a Shadow of good things to come 2. For Rules for your further understanding of them take these four Rule 1. That God is the only Author of the Types They belong to the second Commandment as matters of Institution Therefore Calvin excellently and judiciously harmonising the Books of Moses referreth the Ceremonial Laws to the second Commandment There is something of Christ stamped and ingraven upon them by Divine Institution They are not meer natural or arbitrary similitudes but they were instituted and set apart by God for that end Heb. 9.8 The Holy Ghost this signifying c. Hence that Sacramental phrase and manner of expression That Rock was Christ 1 Cor. 10.4 like that in Exod. 12. The Lamb is the Passover As the Church under the New Testament hath not power to make Sacraments to themselves so they of old could not make Types Act. 7.43 The Types which you made to worship them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Amos 5.26 Images
of your Prayers that you would remember me to the Lord that he would carry me through this work that he would enlighten and enable me by his Spirit to speak unto them with clear light and not only so as may be clear and convincing to my own Conscience and Judgment but with such evidence of light as may be satisfying and illuminating to yours also even in the evidence and demonstration of his Spirit Some have not unfitly called the Ceremonial Law one of the richest Cabinets of Divinity full of inestimable Jewels But many things in their Religion will seem strange and uncouth and useless if we consider them without their scope and meaning All the Ceremonial Law if a man knows not the meaning of it looks like an heap of unprofitable Burthens The Temple appears but like a Shambles or Butchers Slaughter house and the Priesthood a vain useless Occupation but consider them in their sense and meaning and every thing is full of Light and Glory A great part of the Scripture especially the old Testament Exodus and Leviticus and other places will be like a Sealed Book unto you if you have not some insight into the Types But if the Lord give you a little insight into them you will read the Old Testament with more profit and spiritual understanding For the Prophets do comment upon them yea so do the Apostles also and indeed the whole New Testament is a large and full Exposition of the Types If you ask how may we so search and look into them as to understand them and profit by them Take but three Rules for this and I conclude Rule 1. Search the Scriptures Joh. 5.39 for they are they which testifie of me saith Christ the Scripture is the best Interpreter of it self We cannot judg of these legal Shadows but by Scripture-light If either express words or change of Names or a clear analogy and proportion do appear these are Intimations of the Mind of God that such things are Types Go no further than we see the Scripture going before us Rule 2. Study the Covenant of Grace Faedus gratiae clavis totius Scripturae Look diligently into the Gospel get a clear and spiritual insight and understanding into that this is the best help to the understanding of the Types For he that well understands the Antitype will more easily and readily discern the analogy and see the resemblance it hath with the Type Rule 3. As you find the Lord letting in any thing of further light into your minds be sure you act Faith and exercise Grace with renewed vigour upon those Truths and Mysteries as you find any Beams of further Light coming in concerning them If a man have all Knowledg and understood all Mysteries and hath not Fath and Love what is he the better for his Light 1 Cor. 13.12 When you see things more clearly and fully you should endeavour to believe more strongly and to grow in Grace as you grow in Light Quest Why the Lord spake so much in this way by Types and Shadows Answ Something may be gathered as to this out of what was formerly spoken in general concerning the Reasons of the Lords using so great variety of Dispensation from that Text Heb. 1.1 therefore I shall but touch upon some few things now and that very briefly R. 1. There is a general suitableness in such a way of speaking unto mans Nature as a sensitive Creature consisting of a Body as well as a Soul Hence in all times and ages even before Sin entred the Lord gave unto mankind some outward and sensible things to be Signs and Representations of spiritual things Hence were these two Sacramental Trees the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledg of good and evil And now much more since the Fall Man being fallen much lower hath greater need of such Instructions Man is not only a sensitive but a sense loving Creature R. 2. It was particularly suitable to that Infant age and state of the Church it was suitable to their Nonage to be taught by such visible and carnal things The whole way of Gods Dispensations See Galv Instit l. 2. c. 11. s 1 11. both Gods Blessings and Judgments were much more external and sensible than they are now Children must have their A. B. C. weak and rudimental Instructions These are called Elements or Rudiments yea weak and beggarly Rudiments ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Gal. 4.9 Tota legis Oeconomia veluti rudis quaedam erat disciplina rudibus conveniens Beza in Gal. 4.3 Like a Horn-book to a Child R. 3. That they to whom it was not given might not understand R. 4. That his People might soe and understand the better These two Reasons are assigned by Christ himself for his own teaching so much by Parables and there is some affinity between a Type and a Parable as you heard the last time Matth. 13.11 13. why speakest thou to them in Parables Because it is given to you to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven and because they seeing see not c. Similitudes not understood are Riddles and clouds of Darkness upon the understanding But if once interpreted and understood they are like bright Candles they give a clear light Comparata etiam ficta arguunt fidemque faciunt It is not a true and sound Rule that of the Schoolmen Theologia symbolica non est argumentativa What! shall we say that all the Parables of our Saviour did argue nothing when indeed they did not only argue but demonstrate and that so as did convince and cut the hearts sometimes of his greatest enemies and opposers Was not Nathans Parable argumentative yea demonstrative and convicting unto David Their Rule may be true concerning their own allegorical Senses and mystical Froth which may be found in their Interpretations but concerning Scripture-Types it is most false You have seen the Nature of a Type what it is and some short hints of reasons of the Lords speaking this way we shall now enter into particulars and go through the Types and open to you as the Lord shall enable something of the Gospel-Truths and Mysteries adumbrated and shadowed forth by them depending upon the help and assistance of him of whom we are to speak Now the first and most general Distribution of them is into Types personal and Types real holy persons and holy things The terms of which distinction are so plain that it needs no further explication therefore we shall not make any tarrying here you know the difference between persons and things Personal Types are such as Adam Noah David and others Real Types are the Temple the Ark the Manna the Sacrifices and such like whereof hereafter We shall begin with the personal Types and they may be subdivided into two sorts 1. Individual Persons 2. Typical Ranks and Orders of Persons which we may call Religious Orders such as the Priests the Nazarites c. 1. Typical individual Persons Concerning these there be some
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
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
attending this Rule of understanding and of accommodating typical Scriptures both to Type and Antitype not excluding either they being really meant of both and most fully of Christ the Antitype who is the scope and centre of all the Counsels and Dispositions of God Caut. 2. That the Lord in these occasional and extraordinary Dispensations whereof we speak did aim at sundry ends and intended them to be for several uses namely to be not only Types but other ways also to be instructive and useful and herein his infinite Wisdom appears the more in causing so many ends to meet at once and indeed so it is in all the rest of his Dispensations towards his people and in the world and so in the Ordinances we have at this day they do not serve for one use only Quest But what are these ends Answ Not to insist upon the general Ends of all the Types in this sort we are now upon viz. transient and occasional Types there were three great Ends. 1. For their outward and temporal good they had by these things outward supply and deliverance so the passing through the red Sea the Manna the Water out of the Rock were outward Mercies so the Brazen Serpent gave outward and bodily Healing to them beside that spiritual and sacramental use it had to adumbrate Jesus Christ 2. They were Instructions in moral Duties as indeed all Providences are the Lords giving them Water out of the Rock and Bread from Heaven were instructing Providences to depend upon God in straits and to trust in him at all times 3. The third End was the typical Adumbration of Christ and Gospel-mysteries besides all other ends and uses of them besides outward and temporal good and moral Instruction they did by the positive Intention of the Spirit of God point at Christ and lead to him For this the Text is express all these things happened unto them in Types and ver 4. that Rock was Christ Quest How may we judge what providential Dispensations had such a typical respect and use Answ This hath been formerly partly spoken to and this Rule was given that it is not safe for men to form Allegories out of their own Fancies unless it be some way hinted in the Scripture unless it be either expressed or may be gathered from thence by clear consequence as when by comparing the Scriptures a manifest analogy doth appear as clear as the Sun at noon day But for men to set their Fancies a work to extract Allegories out of every Scripture history as the Popish Interpreters use to do is not safe nor becoming a judicious Interpreter Luth. in Gen. 3. fol. 57. Luther called such Allegories Spumam Scripturae they beat the Scriptures into Froth by allegorizing all things Allegorias esse vanas speculationes tanquam spumam sacrae Scripturae And fol. 57 58. Hoc monuisse sit satis ut qui Allegoriis uti vellent iis utantur quas indicarunt Apostoli quae habent fundamentum certum in ipsa litera seu historia alioqui fiet ut aedificemus super fundamentum paleam stipulas non aurum Paraeus Protogom in Gen. in Gal. 4.24 Parce admodum Spiritus sanctus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Holy Ghost is sparing in the business of Allegories He doth not allegorize every Providence but some he doth And so these Providences were also Ordinances God was pleased to superinduce the nature of an Ordinance upon them Quest What were those typical Providences which we call occasional and extraordinary Types Answ They may be referred and distributed into 2 sorts things and actions A distribution that some have made use of in this Subject who have not well known where to place it but this I take to be the proper place of it It is indeed these occasional Types that are best distributed into things and actions 1. As to occasional typical things we may instance in seven particulars and I shall set them down before you according to the order of time wherein the Lord gave them 1. Jacobs Ladder 2. Moses his burning Bush 3. The Pillar of Cloud and Fire 4. Manna or the Bread that came from Heaven 5. The Rock that followed them and Water out of the Rock 6. The The Brazen Serpent And 7. Some have added also those healing Waters of the Pool of Bethesda These were typical things Occasional typical actions are such as their coming out of Egypt passing through the red Sea c. of which afterward We are to speak to these occasional typical things some whereof were given to particular persons as that visional Ladder to Jacob the burning Bush was shewed to Moses others of them were given to the whole people of Israel as the Pillar of Cloud and Fire and all the rest that were enumerated 1. Jacobs Ladder which he saw at Bethel This was but an occasional Type it was no permanent thing The History of it is in Gen. 28 12-16 That it had a typical respect our Saviour himself seems to insinuate Joh. 1. ult It represented Christ as the means of Intercourse between God and Man Yet it was not to speak properly a Type but rather a typical Vision being not a thing actually existent but only in a Vision of the night however because divers that have spoke upon the Types have made mention of it I shall also speak a word to it Yet even this circumstance some have thought of a typical accommodation for it thus That as Jacob saw this Ladder but in a Vision so we see Christ here but in a Glass darkly 1 Cor. 13.12 till the day-light of Glory in Heaven dawn upon us but then face to face But I shall draw the Parallel only in these five things 1. Here was some dark shadow of the Person Natures and Office of Christ thus In that this Ladder the foot of it stood upon the Earth and the top of it reached up to Heaven whereby Heaven and Earth did meet as it were So Christ in regard of his human Nature toucheth the Earth yet in regard of his Deity he is the God of Heaven And as in this Ladder the top and the foot of it made but one Ladder So both the Natures of Christ are but one Person and by this Union of his two Natures he brings Heaven and Earth together unites God and Man which was the great work for which he came into the world 2. This visional Ladder shews the way to Heaven There is no ascending to Heaven but by the spiritual Ladder Jesus Christ no Salvation but by Christ no comfortable Intercourse and Communion between God and us but only in and through him Men cannot climb to Heaven by their own Works and Merits though they should heap Mountain to Mountain of Duties one upon another yet they would fall short Neither is there Salvation in any other for there is no other Name under Heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved Acts 4.12 3. We have in
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
concerning this Ordinance which Circumcision doth hold forth He is not a Christian which is one outwardly neither is that Baptism which is outward in the flesh but he is a Christian that is one inwardly and Baptism is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of God The Apostles Scope is to depress the external part of the Ordinance as of no worth and value separated from or compared with the spiritual part so it is with our Ordinances that we do enjoy under the New-Testament What is the washing away of the filth of the body if the heart be not washed But it is as Circumcision was to them an aggravation of their sin and condemnation I will punish saith God Jer. 9.25 26. all them which are circumcised together with the uncircumcised Egypt and Judah and Edom and the Children of Ammon and Moab and all that are in the utmost Corners that dwell in the Wilderness for all these Nations are uncircumcised and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart So God will punish the Baptised with the Unbaptised together For many people are unbaptised in the flesh and many of the house of Israel many professing Christians are not baptised in heart They have the Circumcision but not the Covenant of Circumcision they have the Water but not the Spirit of Baptism Therefore take heed of separating the outward part from the inward part of the Ordinance do not rest in the external priviledg but look after the spirit and blessing of every Ordinance get God to wash thy heart and the heart of thy Seed 'T is not enough to have thy body washed if thy heart and soul be not washed from its filth THE GOSPEL OF THE SACRIFICES June 14. 1668. Levit. 7.37 38. This is the Law of the Burnt offering of the Meat offering and of the Sin offering and of the Trespass-offering and of the Consecrations and of the Sacrifice of the Peace offerings c. THe Perpetual Statutes of the Law of Ceremonies have been referred to Five general Heads 1. The initiating Seal of Circumcision 2. The legal Offerings and Sacrifices and Purifications 3. The Temple 4. The Priesthood 5. The Festivals Of the initiating Seal of those times we have formerly spoken from Act. 7.8 That which next follows in the method propounded is the legal Offerings concerning which the Text lays down two Assertions or Points of Doctrine 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 viz. the Burnt offering c. this is the Scope of vers 37. The former Doctrine is the Scope of the 38 but that which is last mentioned in the words of the Text is first in order of Consideration Doct. 1. That there was a divine Institution and Command of God for the Offerings and Sacrifices that were under the Law The Text indeed speaks properly of propitiatory Sacrifices but there is a general truth in the Proposition concerning all their Sacrifices and all the sorts and kinds of them This Book of Leviticus begins thus And he called Vaikra that is the Lord he called by an audible voice from his dwelling Place the Throne of his Glory which was upon the Mercy Seat between the Cherubims as he had promised Exod. 25.22 see Numb 7.89 It is true it is said Jer. 7.22 concerning Burnt-Offerings or Sacrifices that God commanded them not c. But the sense and meaning is comparative though the Grammar of the words sound as if it were negative It cannot be explained better than the Old Note hath done it shewing that it was not his chief intent and purpose that they should offer Sacrifices but that they should regard wherefore they were ordained to wit to be joyned to the word as Seals and Confirmations of Remission of sins in Christ for without the word they were vain and unprofitable To open this Doctrine a little to you we must first consider what a Sacrifice or an Offering is Now an Offering in general is any thing presented to the Lord to become peculiarly his and to be typical of Christ and Gospel Mysteries The former part of the Description extends to Anti typical Offerings as well as typical to Gospel as well as legal Offerings for our Souls and Bodies and all our Services are offered and presented to the Lord but not as Types and Shadows of another Gospel but they become his in a spiritual and peculiar propriety as theirs of old did Their Offerings by being offered became the Lords they presenting and the Lord accepting them therefore they are called Holy as being separated to the Lord separated and set apart from common use to holy use Hence they are called Gifts Quorbanim as being given to the Lord â Quarab appropinquavit so in in the Text their Oblations or their Corbans see Mark 7.11 All this holds true of Gospel Offerings under the New Testament but the Legal Offerings were set apart for God with respect to Christ and his great Sacrifice and Offering of himself up unto God for us they all had some Relation to this either as to the thing it self or the blessed Effects and Fruits of it Some have distinguished them into three sorts 1. Such as were offered at the Brazen Altar or the Altar of Burnt-Offering which represented the Death and Sufferings of Jesus Christ 2. Such as were offered in the Sanctuary more near to the Holy of Holies viz. the Shew-bread and the Incense at the Altar of Incense which had respect to his Intercession for us at the Throne of Grace in the virtue and by the merit of that Sacrifice which he before had shed and offered up to the Justice of God for us 3. Such as were offered in the Holy of Holies where the High Priest came upon some extraordinary and special occasions which did represent the full attainment of the ends of both the former namely our full Access unto and Communion with God through the influence both of the Death and Oblation as likewise of the Prayers and Intercession of our Lord Jesus Christ for us The two latter of these we shall speak unto when we come to those parts of the Temple where these Services were to be performed but the first sort viz. the Sacrifices and Offerings at the Brazen Altar we are now to speak unto These Sacrifices that were offered at the Brazen Altar are commonly distributed into two sorts Propitiatory and Eucharistical ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Sacrifices of Expiation and Sacrifices of Thanksgiving Psal 107.22 It is the former sort whereof the Text speaks and they are here called Corbans a Term which as some affirm is usually appropriated to this sort of Offerings though the notation and original signification of it be more general For the opening whereof unto you I
like a Shift on the top of his Cloths to signifie Purity and Holiness a man must bow down like a fool to a thing made of Wood or Stone call it a Crucifix or an Altar or what you please to signifie I know not what unless it be that they are Imps of Antichrist and in heart members of his pretended Monarchy that do such things But I hope you see that it is not thus with Gods Ceremonies If the Lord open our eyes we may see wondrous things out of his Law Psal 119.18 I suppose the things that have been spoken may not have the same Light and Evidence with all that have heard me this day as I hope through grace they have with some but yet I hope there is Light enough even to the weakest to see and to discern a difference between Gods Wisdom and mans folly between divine Ceremonies in Religion and such as are meerly humane Humane Inventions are teaching Signs but they are Teachers of lyes Hab. 2.18 But Gods Institutions teach Gospel Truths Not to mention all the other evils of them our Consciences are the Throne of God But will they needs reign in our Consciences and so sit down in the Throne of God and pluck the Scepter as it were out of Christs hand and the Crown from his Head He will speak to them in his Wrath for this and vex them in his sore displeasure he will break them with his Rod of Iron and dash them in pieces like a Potters Vessel Vse 2. See the fierceness of the Wrath of God against sin and it may be a word of awakening to secure sinners It is nothing but death and blood and slaughter that will appease offended Justice God must and will have a Sacrifice and the Sacrifice must be slain and burnt with fire Our God is a consuming Fire Heb. 12. ult If thou hast not a Burnt-Offering to present him with to be slain and sacrificed for thee thou must perish It is not enough to see the power and bondage of sin but thou must see thy self under Guilt and that there is a necessity of a Sacrifice to expiate thy sins and make atonement if ever thou art saved You need Christ for your Justification to be your Righteousness as well as to be your Sanctification If there be no sense of this if you go on resisting and despising such Convictions if you live so and dye so thou art the man the woman against whom the Lord hath Indignation for ever and thy sin will not be purged with Sacrifice nor Offering for ever as the Lord said of Elie's Sons 1 Sam. 3.14 Vse 3. Direction under the guilt of sin what to do and what course to take to make atonement and reconciliation between God and thee go and bring your Sacrifice to the Priest and by him unto God Jesus Christ is both the Sacrifice and the Priest and the Altar he is all in all go with him into the presence of God and present him to the Lord by Faith and this Sacrifice that he hath offered shall be accepted for thee to make atonement for thee for thy sin whatever it be and it shall be forgiven thee Vse 4. Unspeakable consolation unto them who have took this course and have fled for Refuge thither here is peace and comfort under the guilt of sin of what kind soever Two things may quiet any mans Conscience under the greatest Guilt 1. Is there not a sufficient Sacrifice Is there not satisfaction and atonement in the blood of Christ Is not this a sufficient Sacrifice 2. Is it not thine This I know unbelief is apt to stagger at But therefore do but lay thy hand upon the head of the Sacrifice confess thy sins over the head of thy Burnt-Offering lay thy Burthens upon him by Faith and he is thine and all that he hath done and suffered was for thee and shall be as effectual for thy good as available and effectual with the Lord for thee as if thou thy self hadst suffered yea infinitely more See vers 4. He shall put his hand upon the head of the Burnt Offering and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him The Apostle saith we have received the atonement Rom. 5.11 and he insists upon this notion of receiving Vers 17. receive abundance of Grace and the gift of Righteousness Now this is done by Faith and what is the effect of this Therefore we joy in God vers 11. and 17. We reign in life through one Jesus Christ It puts the Soul into a triumphing frame THE GOSPEL OF THE MEAT-OFFERING July 5 12 19. 1668. Levit. Cap. 2. 2. The Mincha or Meat-Offering THis is mentioned in the second place in that Enumeration of the Legal-Offerings Lev. 7.37 and treated of in the second Chapter of this Book next after the Burnt-Offering and therefore comes now to be spoken of out of this Chapter with help and conference of other Scriptures It is called in Hebrew Mincha concerning the notation or etymology of which word which may give some light to the sense of it there be divers Conjectures Some derive it from Nachah to bring or Offer hence Mincha munus in like manner as Mizvoh praeceptum from Zivah praecepit And though the Rabbins read the Plural Number Menachoth whence some derive it from a feigned Root Manach that so Mem may be a radical letter yet the Plural Number is read Minchoth in Psal 20.3 It is used in Scripture in three senses 1. It is often used generally for any thing gift or Present whether to God or men which confirms the Etymology before given as Gen. 32.13 20 Gen. 43.11 1 Sam. 10.27 2. It is used not only for Gifts or Presents to men but for all sorts of Offerings to God even such Sacrifices wherein Beasts were slain as Gen. 4.4 where Abels Sacrifice of the Firstlings of his Flock is called his Mincha so it agrees with Qorban and is of as large extent in signification 3. It is frequently used in a narrower sense for an Offering of the Fruits of the Earth as contra distinguished unto Sacrifices of living creatures So Qorban is the general and Mincha a species of Qorban so in this place Lev. 2. Qorban Mincha and in many other Scriptures All propitiatory Sacrifices being referred in Scripture unto these two Heads Zebach and Mincha as Dan. 9.6 Psal 40.6 which the Apostle renders ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Heb. 10.5 that is slain Sacrifices of living Creatures which were offered both by Fire and Slaughter which are called Zebach ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã hostia victima sacrificium mactatum and Offerings of Meat and Drink called Mincha munus sacrum frumentaceum libum libamen which being not living Creatures could not be slain but were offered only by Fire and pouring forth Our Translators render it and not unfitly the Meat Offering from the matter whereof it consisted and from the Rite and manner of Offering the greatest part of it being
to be eaten for Meat Now concerning this Mincha or Meat-Offering there be these six things to be enquired into 1. The Materials of it which were Corn Oyl Frankincense and Salt 2. The Actions to be performed about it it was to be brought to the Priest the Memorial of it burnt upon the Altar and the Residue eaten by the Priest in the holy place 3. The meaning and signification of it to be a sweet Savour before the Lord. 4. The Additions prohibited to be annexed to it which were two Leaven and Honey 5. The Appurtenance of Drink-Offerings by divine Institution added to it 6. The several Seasons and Occasions on which the Meat-Offering was to be offered These six things we shall enquire into the Lord enabling us chiefly out of this Chapter and partly also out of other Scriptures especially in the two last Enquiries which are not expresly spoken to in this Chapter 1. The Materials of it they were these four Corn Oyl Frankincense and Salt 1. Bread Corn Wheat or Barley 1 Chron. 21.23 Wheat for the Meat Offering See also Ezek. 45.13 15. where Wheat and Barley are mentioned for the Meat-Offering This was dressed and ordered several ways They might offer the Meat-Offering of Wheat Either only ground and sifted into Flower without any further preparation vers 1. Soleth simila the Flower of Wheat or dressed and cooked into Cakes and Wafers vers 4. Or baked vers 5.6 Or fryed in a frying Pan. vers 7. Or First Fruits not so much as grinding it into Meal or Flower only dryed and beaten vers 14. This Meat-Offering of First Fruits was of Barley because that was first ripe in that Country therefore the name of the first Month in the Year was called Abib Exod. 13.4 quasi mensis spicarum the Month of Ears of Corn. Out of all which Corn-matter of the Meat-Offering I shall mark three things 1. It must be fine Flower purged from the Bran. It shews the pure estate of Christ and of all Christians with their services in him being purged as it were from the Bran of natural Corruption Aynsw in loc Isai 66.20 it appears their manner was to bring them in a clean Vessel We should labour in all our Offerings and Sacrifices to be pure and clean in his sight and to come with purged and refined Spirits God must have the best as the Flower must be fine and not course so in the Burnt-Offering the Beasts were to be without blemish and whatsoever they offered to God must be of the best all betokening the purity and perfection of him of whom they were Types to wit Jesus Christ and beseeming the excellency of him to whom they were offered Engl. Annot. on Numb 28. ult 2. There was a Meat-Offering of First Fruits what this is the Apostle informs us 1 Cor. 15.20 Christ is the First Fruits by whom the whole Lump is sanctified There may be also some further accommodations of it whereof we may speak further when we come to the Feast of First Fruits 3. It must be ground sifted baked fryed beaten and the like some such bruising and contusion of it there must be So Christ was bruised for our Iniquities and beaten with stripes for our sins Isai 53.5 wherein his Members are partakers with him Col. 1.24 Hence Ignatius sweetly and spiritually when he was to suffer Martyrdom by being devoured of wild Beasts he speaks how his body was the Lords Corn and must be ground by the Teeth of the wild Beasts to be prepared for the Lord as in the Meat-Offering the Corn was to pass under some such preparation 2. The second Ingredient in the Meat-Offering was Oyl vers 1 4 5 7 15. The quantity of Oyl is not expressed but the meaning was there should be a quantum sufficit a fit proportion of it mingled with the Flower Much use of Oyl there was under the Law and so we shall have occasion to speak further to it It signified in general the Spirit of God in the graces and comforts of it Isai 61.1 which Jesus Christ did receive above measure and from him all Believers in some degree do partake of his anointing There is and must be this sacred Oyl in all our Offerings the influence of the Spirit of God 3. Frankincense The use of this was to make a sweet perfume in the Air when the burning of the other things might have caused an ill scent It figured the acceptableness unto God of the persons and services of his people through the mediation and intercession of Jesus Christ he is set forth by Pillars of smoke perfumed with Myrrhe and Frankincense with all Powders of the Merchant Cant. 3.6 and without him our Offerings are not acceptable nor our Sacrifices sweet unto God Jer. 6.20 Hence there was no Oyl nor Frankincense in the Sin-Offering Lev. 5.11 nor in the Jealousy-Offerings Numb 5.15 because though it was for a Memorial yet it was not to bring the person or his services to remembrance with acceptance before God but to bring his sin to remembrance 4. Salt Vers 13. which being required in all their Offerings and so in the Burnt-Offering there we spoke to it and shewed that it was to teach them the perpetuity of the Covenant of Grace that God had made with them and the wholesome and savoury carriage and walking of his people Now put all this together and it spells thus much That our Meat Offerings our good Works being anointed with the Spirit and perfumed with the Incense of Christs Mediation are accepted of God and that in a Covenant of Salt through the unchangeable faithfulness of God in the Covenant So much for the Materials of the Meat-Offering Corn Oyl Frankincense and Salt 2. The Actions to be performed about it and they were three vers 2 3. 1. It must be brought to the Priest 2. He is to burn a part of it the memorial of it before the Lord. 3. The remnant of it must be eaten by the Priest 1. They were to bring it to the Sons of Aaron the Priests vers 2. There was the same Action before in the Burnt-Offering and there we shewed the meaning of it that it imports a voluntary act of the Offerer and a making use of Christ for acceptance in all our services and approaches unto God 2. The Priest is to burn the memorial of it upon the Altar before the Lord. vers 2 9 and 16. For a memorial This as Interpreters well observe is spoken after the manner of men to put God in remembrance of the person or rather of his own love to him and Covenant with him in Jesus Christ Psal 20.3 The Lord remember all thy Offerings and accept thy Burnt-Sacrifice Act. 10.4 Thy Prayers and thine Almes are come up for a memorial before God Hence Nehemiah prays Remember me O my God concerning this Neh. 13.14 22. the meaning is that the Smoke thereof was to come up before God with acceptance therefore there was Frankincense burnt
with it to make a sweet smell 3. The Remnant was Aarons and his Sons vers 3. and again vers 10. that is to eat it in the Sanctuary see Lev. 6.16 18. Except the Meat Offering of the Priests which might not be eaten but was to be all burnt for a whole Burnt-Offering Cap. 6. vers 23. This may be applied two ways 1. To the Communion and Participation of Christ by all Believers For they are all Priests unto God Rev. 1.6 A Royal Priesthood 1 Pet. 2.9 vers 5. An holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual Sacrifices And Christ is our Meat-Offering he is the Bread of God the bread of life Joh. 6.33 So then the Priests eating the Meat-Offering is Believers feeding upon Christ by Faith As the Meat-Offering was partly burnt upon the Altar and partly eaten by the Priests so Jesus Christ having offered up himself once for all doth always continue a spiritual Meat-Offering and Food for the hungry Souls of all Believers to feed upon His flesh is meat indeed his blood is drink indeed Joh. 6. 2. This was part of the Priests maintenance As indeed they had something out of every Offering see Numb 18.9 10. From whence we see that they who serve at the Altar should live of the Altar they that preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel The third thing concerning the Meat-Offering is the scope and intent of it this is hinted in vers 3. To be an Offering made by Fire of a sweet savour unto the Lord. More particularly there was a fourfold Mystery shadowed forth by it I speak now as to the general scope of the whole for the mysteries of particular Rites and Ceremonies about it must be spoken to under each particular Rite 1. It did prefigure and shadow forth the atonement or expiation of sin by the Righteousness of Jesus Christ both by his Sufferings and Actings his active and passive Obedience That this was one part of the mystery of the Meat-Offering the Scripture is express 1 Sam. 3.14 the iniquitie of Elies house shall not be purged or expiated ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã with Sacrifice or Offering for ever Neither by slain Sacrifices nor by Meat Offerings for ever so 1 Sam. 26.19 if the Lord have stirred thee up against me let him accept a Mincha And Psal 40.6 speaking of propitiatory Sacrifices he saith Zebach and Mincha slain Sacrifices and Meat-Offerings thou wouldst not The Apostle applies this to the sufferings of Christ for the expiation of our sins Heb. 10.5 10. Therefore when Christ was come he did cause both Zebach and Mincha to cease Dan. 9.27 both the slain Sacrifices and the Meat-Offerings And it is expresly said of the poor mans Meat-Offering for his Trespass that it shall make atonement Lev. 5.11 13. This is thought to be some account of the Apostles limitation Heb. 9.22 where he saith That under the Law almost all things were purged by blood For it was not always done by slain Sacrifices but sometimes by Meat Offerings And as the Scripture is clear for it so indeed the thing it self speaks For there was in the Meat-Offerings an express adumbration of both the parts of that justifying Righteousness of Jesus Christ by which we are reconciled to God His Sufferings or passive Obedience For there was a destroying of the Mincha by fire and pouring it forth as well as of the Zebachim by fire and blood Here was also an adumbration of his active Obedience or fulfilling all Righteousness which was his meat and drink Joh. 4.34 My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work I know some have made some question of this whether the Meat-Offering were Propitiatory or only Eucharistical But you see how clear it is both from the Scripture and from the Analogy of the thing it self 2. The Meat-Offering signified also the persons of Believers who through Christ are sanctified and cleansed to be a pure Oblation or Meat-Offering unto God They are compared in Scripture to a Meat and Drink-Offering Isai 66.20 They shall bring their brethren for a Mincha or Meat-Offering unto the Lord. which was fulfilled in the Conversion of the Gentiles as the Apostle speaks Rom. 15.16 and in the sufferings of the Saints especially when they suffer unto death and martyrdom in the Cause of Christ They are a Drink-Offering to the Lord exceedingly accepted of him Philip. 2.17 Yea if I be offered up as a Drink-Offering si pro libamento offerar Beza upon the sacrifice and service of your Faith I joy and rejoyce with you all 2 Tim. 4.6 For I am now ready to be offered ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and the time of my departure is at hand The Note upon it is this I am ready to be offered for a Drink-Offering and he alludeth to the pouring out of blood or wine which was used in Sacrifices 3. The Meat-Offering signified not only their persons but their services those fruits of grace and good works that Believers do perform whether towards God or towards man which are often compared to fruits and to meat and drink And the Meat-Offering you know consisted of the Fruits of the Earth of things to be eat and drunk Good works are called fruits Phil. 1.6 and again Philip. 4.17 And meat and drink Joh 4.32 I have meat to eat that ye know not of and what was that See vers 34. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work As the Meat Offering consisted of the Fruits of the Earth things to be eat and drunk To instance in particulars 1. Prayer Psal 141.2 Let my prayer be set before thee as Incense and the lifting up of my hands as the evening Mincha or Meat Offering so when the Lord told the Jews I will not accept a Mincha or Meat Offering at your hands he addeth that in stead of them Mal. 1.10 11. From the rising of the Sun to the going down of the same Incense shall be offered to my Name and a pure Mincha a pure Meat-Offering which is fulfilled when men pray every where lifting up pure hands c. 1 Tim. 2.8 2. Praise and thankful acknowledgment of Gods goodness and soveraignty and the interest God hath in us and in all our comforts and enjoyments which as they come from him are thus acknowledged by way of Chief-Rent in Sacrifice This small Rent as a Peper corn in some Leases being an acknowledgment of their Homage that he is the great Landlord and Owner of all the good they enjoyed therefore while his Worship was neglected he blasted them in all their outward comforts Hag. 1.9 10 11. But when they acknowledged him he remembered them Cap. 2. vers 19. And left a Meat-Offering and a Drink-Offering in the house of the Lord as Joel 2.14 This is a second duty taught in the Meat-Offering 3. Some conceive here was a prefiguration also of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and indeed something of
Death I would dye I think I could never choose to dye in a better cause than for bearing witness to this Truth That the Church of God ought not to be made a Den of Thieves and a Refuge and Receptacle for wicked Livers there must be no such Leaven in the House of God Now put all these together and put them into the affirmative and you see a fourfold Instruction in this Prohibition of Leaven It teacheth us 1. Soundness in the Faith of Christ 2. Holiness of life 3. Sincerity of heart 4. Purity of Church Communion 2. Honey was forbidden also it may seem strange that so sweet and so good a thing should be so severely interdicted How often is the Land of Canaan commended as a Land flowing with Milk and Honey But to eat too much of it is not good Prov. 25.16 27. It cloys and loads the Stomach and turns to choler and bitterness and if poured upon the Fire it swells and riseth up in Froth Three things we may learn out of this Prohibition of Honey 1. That God will be worshipped according to his own Institution and Command his Will is the Rule we must submit unto though we cannot well see the reason of it We must not follow any Invention of our own though to our carnal thoughts it seem as sweet as Honey though it seem never so decent never so orderly as that is the common pretense it is for decency and orders sake But what think you Friends is not Honey sweet and decent too But God requires it not therefore away with it from the Meat-Offerings of the Lord. 2. That holy temperature and equability of spirit that becometh Saints in all the conditions and vicissitudes they pass through we must take heed of Extremes There should be neither Leaven nor Honey neither too much sower nor too much sweet neither inordinate sorrow nor inordinate pleasures in the Meat-Offering of the Saints they should neither be dejected nor lifted up but in an even well composed frame and temper of Spirit 2 Cor. 12.7 10. neither leavened and sowred with discontent under worldly troubles nor surfeited with the sweatness and Honey of carnal pleasure and delight and contentment of the Creature 3. Some apply it unto Christ himself thus That there is in Christ our Meat-Offering no such sweetness which turns to loathing no such pleasure whereof a man can take too much there is no glutting no satiety no after sorrows no such delight as proves bitter in the latter end as much Honey doth But on the contrary the more any man tastes of the sweetness and comfort that is in him the more he shall long for it and say Lord evermore give us of this bread as Joh. 6.34 more of this bread more of this comfort this Communion with God He is not sweet at first and bitter afterwards but his Yoke seems heaviest at first but lighter afterward he speaks first of the Cross then of the Crown of Glory These four are all in this Chapter for the other two additional Enquiries we shall borrow Light out of other Scriptures further to illustrate this 5. The fifth Enquiry concerning the Meat-Offering is concerning the appurtenance of Drink-Offerings by divine Institution affixed and annexed to the Meat-Offering I reckon it as an appurtenance to the Meat-Offering for two Reasons 1. Because it is not mentioned as a distinct Species in that Enumeration of the Legal-Offerings which hath been so often quoted Lev. 7.37 The Drink-Offering is there omited as being included and understood in the Meat-Offering 2. Because it was never offered alone under the Law but always in conjunction with the slain Sacrifices to compleat the Meat-Offering belonging to them It is true before the Law we read of Drink-Offerings alone Jacob Gen. 35.14 he set up a Pillar in Bethel and he poured a Drink Offering thereon and he poured Oyl thereon But after that Regulation and Reformation of the Offerings by Moses we never read of any Drink Offering alone but only in Conjunction with Meat Offerings and Slaughter-Offerings As Numb 15.5 And the fourth part of a Hin of Wine for a Drink-Offering shalt thou prepare with the Burnt-Offering or Sacrifice for one Lamb. And vers 7. For a Ram thou shalt offer for a Drink-Offering the third part of a Hin And again vers 11. For a Bullock And Numb 28.7 The Drink Offering thereof shall be the fourth part of an Hin for one Lamb c. Lev. 23.18 They shall be for a Burnt Offering unto the Lord with their Meat-Offerings and their Drink Offerings And in Hezekia's time when he purged the House of God it is said 2 Chron. 29.35 The Burnt-Offerings were in abundance with the fat of the Peace-Offerings and the Drink-Offerings for eve By rurnt Offering I shall speak to three things upon the Drink-Offering 1. The matter of it 2. The Rite and manner of Oblation 3. The Mystery of it 1. First then for the matter of it it was Wine Numb 15.5 Wine for a Drink-Offering shalt thou prepare Called Shekar in Numb 28.7 from whence the Greek Sikera that is a strong inebriating Wine our Translators here render it strong Wine Hence Hos 9.4 They shall not offer Wine-Offerings to the Lord. Hence Judg. 9.13 in Jothams Parable the Vine saith should I live my Wine which cheereth God and man How doth Wine cheer God It cannot be said to cheer God otherwise than in Offerings and Sacrifices The Heathen fell into an horrible Corruption as to this for that they mingled Blood in their idolatrous and superstitious rage in Drink Offerings whereto the Psalmist alludes Psal 16.4 and declares how he abominates such a practise Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten or give Gifts to another God their Drink-Offerings of Blood will I not offer It is not unlike the Health Drinkers of our times of whom you may have heard of some who in their raging profanness have mingled their own Blood with Wine and so have drunk it in Healths to the Devil and to the confusion of Sion and Sions King 2. The Rite and manner of Oblation was by pouring of it forth before the Lord Numb 28.7 In the holy place shalt thou cause strong Wine to be poured out unto the Lord for a Drink Offering that is upon the Altar say some but not upon the Fire or as others beside the Altar for it is likely the Wine of the Drink-Offering was to be poured forth where the blood of the slaughtered Sacrifices was poured forth but that was at the bottom of the Altar as you have formerly heard upon Cap. 1. with Cap. 8.15 Hence it hath its name in Hebrew Nesek libamen a sacred effusion or a pouring out from the Verb Nasak fudit effudit They were not to drink it that might have been an occasion of intemperance and drunkenness there being dayly and continual Drink-Offerings nay there was no piece of legal worship wherein they were commanded to drink Wine But there is an
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
their high strains of superstitious Devotion Mark 7.4 8. But out of Gods Institution here we may spell this lesson of spiritual Instruction namely the strange defilement and deep contagion and pollution that is in sin that there is so much ado for the cleansing of it and what care there should be to purge and cleanse our selves from it Heb. 10.19 22 2 Cor. 7.1 And to make it out a little more particularly If you would find out the meaning of a Type it is a good Rule to observe the Scripture use of the same word in the way of a Metaphor and allusion Now we find both wicked men and good men compared to earthen Vessels It is a Metaphor concerning wicked men and the breaking is the destroying them Jer. 19.11 Psal 2.9 Jer. 48.38 God will break wicked men and unclean persons with utter destruction as Vessels wherein is no pleasure But good men also are called earthen Vessels and so the Type must be accommodated a little otherwise 2 Cor. 4.7 We have this Treasure in earthen Vessels And so the cleansing these Vessels by washing with water points to the spiritual cleansing by the Spirit of Christ Ezek. 36.25 and by his blood Heb. 9.13 14. And breaking signifies the utter abolishing of all sin and uncleanness by death We are not fully cleansed till the Vessel be broken but then there is no more defilement in the Vessel And God will make it up again in the Resurrection as pure and holy as if it had never been defiled with sin at all Thus we have gone through the special Laws of the Sin-Offering in these five Heads for they do either concern the end or the matter or the blood of it or the burning or lastly the eating of it I shall conclude all that hath been said upon the Sin-Offering with some general Instructions from the whole 1. We may here learn and be instructed that even sins of Infirmity they do contract a guilt upon the Soul yea such a guilt as needs Atonement and Expiation in the blood of Jesus Christ There are no venial sins the least sin is death You must bring your Sin Offering if you expect to be forgiven Do not slight sins of Infirmity for then they become more than meer Infirmities 2. Here is relief unto Faith against those usual complaints of dayly Infirmities which many gracious Souls do so much complain of and mourn under Alas I can do nothing well if I pray my thoughts wander when I hear the Word I understand little and remember less I am easily overtaken and carried aside dayly I sin in all I do But you see here is a Sin Offering provided There is not a just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not Eccles 7.20 In many things we offend all James 3.2 Therefore the Lord ordained this Sin-Offering which as it served for a legal Expiation and purging of their sins under that Dispensation so it did prefigure to them the blood of Jesus Christ which cleanseth us from all our sins 3. Here is great encouragement to engage in the service and work of God notwithstanding our own Infirmities and disabilities yet do not withdraw when called though conscious to thy self of much unworthiness and unfitness for the Lord hath provided a Sin-Offering for us he will accept our sincere though weak endeavours and pardon our failings 4. See and take notice what continual Obligations of love are upon us to Jesus Christ we have such continual need of him Behold and wonder at his love in that he was content to be made a Sin Offering for us and so procures our pardon for such continual sins and failings He that knew no sin was made sin for us that is he was made a Sin Offering for us 2 Cor. 5.21 Hence we have pardon and not only pardon but power also against sin Rom. 8.3 and for sin condemned sin in the flesh And for sin that is God sent Christ for a Sin Offering as you have the same word so rendred Heb 10.6 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in Sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure Object But my sins are worse then meer Infirmities of Saints they are sins of a grosser nature Ans There is relief for such in the Trespass Offering if they do not sin presumptuously and obstinately For God will wound the hairy Scalp of him that goeth on in his Trespasses Psal 68.21 But if you repent of it and bring your Trespass-Offering to the Lord there is hope in Israel even concerning such kinds of sin also of which the Lord assisting we shall speak the next time THE GOSPEL OF THE TRESPASS-OFFERING Lev. Cap. 5. and Cap. 6. to vers 7. August 27 and September 6. 1668 The Trespass-Offering Asham THis is the fifth sort of legal Sacrifices The difference between this and the Sin-Offering as to the special end of them being in this That the Sin-Offering seems to carry some limitation to sins of weakness and ignorance but this extends further even to sins against knowledg This points at Christ as the Sin Offering and all the rest did therefore Christ is called Asham Isai 53. The method which the Holy Ghost is pleased to use upon the Trespass Offering is this He proposeth 1. the Case and 2. the Remedy and in this method he goes over a four-fold Case and a Cure and Remedy for them The sacred Rites and Ceremonies here required differ little from other Offerings before handled and therefore we may be the briefer The first Case is three-fold I mean there be three Cases put together 1. Concealment of mans knowledg when called to testify upon Oath Vers 1. If a Soul sin and hear the voice of Swearing and is a Witness whether he hath seen or known of it if he do not utter it then c. A Soul that is a person the Soul the more noble part being synecdochically put for the whole man The temptation seems to ly here if the persons for Rank and Quality in the world be great so that a Witness is afraid to speak and utter his knowledg Hear a voice of Swearing that is either of the Judge adjuring or calling him forth to speak upon Oath Or of sinners Swearing Cursing Blaspheming You have an Instance of the former in the High Priest Mat. 26.63 I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether thou be Christ the Son of the living God Unto which Adjuration or voice of Swearing our Lord Jesus Christ made answer and did declare the truth though before he held his peace For it was Casus Confessionis a case wherein confession of the Truth was called for Of the latter we have an Instance in Lev. 24.10 11. They that heard the man blaspheme made complaint to Authority A man may contract upon himself the guilt of other mens sins by concealing them if he be called to reveal them This presupposeth a Magistrate that is not given to swearing and cursing and damning himself for if
as Ministry Who is able to give any necessary reason for these things One Reason indeed might be to lead them from the shadow to the substance that they might not dwell and rest in the outward Type and Ceremony but look further to what was figured by them For if the atonement had lain in the Type there must have been other proportions set down between sin and sin but the will of the Lawgiver is enough and this we must acquiesce in where no other reason doth appear You have formerly heard how the Lord saith upon the Meat-Offering I will have no Leaven nor Honey but in the Peace-Offering he saith I will have Leaven In all the Fire-Offerings he saith I will not have Honey but in the First Fruits he will have Honey His Will is our Rule his Will as revealed in his Word Vse 2. See the sovereign virtue of the blood of Christ for he is our Trespass-Offering as well as our Sin Offering Therefore Isai 53.10 it s said When thou shalt make his Soul an Offering for sin The word is the same with this Asham naphsho his Soul a Trespass-Offering Here are sins against knowledg mentioned thieving lying perjury sins which do amount to a very stupendious guilt Vse 3. Hence thirdly here is encouragement to the greatest sinners to have recourse to him and to his blood and to make use of him for atonement There is atonement in the blood of Christ our Trespass-Offering even for Thieves Oppressors Lyars and perjured persons Let me speak particularly to these sins mentioned in the Text and that in this method 1. To shew the greatness of these sins And then 2. That yet there is atonement for them in the blood of Jesus Christ 1. Theft and unjust dealing That this is a very grievous sin appears by this because it is so contrary to the very light of nature and to that golden Rule of equity to do as you would be done to and is destructive to humane Society That it is against light appears because they labour to hide it and are ashamed of it if it come to be known Jer. 2.26 As a Thief is ashamed when he is found And this further shews the greatness of it That God insists upon restitution and satisfaction to the party injured Consider this all you that are Tradesmen and have much dealing in the world and you that are Apprentices and Servants If you steal and pilfer from your Masters though it be but a Groat or Six-pence if you do not restore it God will never pardon you But what if a man be not able and have not wherewith to restore That is a sad case but in such a case God may accept the will for the deed But suppose the persons may be dead and gone The answer that Casuists give in such a case is that then you must restore it to God by giving it to the poor or to some good use restore you must one way or other For without restitution there is no remission and the Reason is clear Because the detaining of unjust gotten Goods is a continuation of the sin the taking possession of them was theft the keeping that unjust possession is a continuation of that theft Zach. 5.4 The curse of God shall enter into the house of the Thief and remain in it and consume it with the timber and stones of it The curse of God will be upon thee in all thy comforts in all thy concernments But yet there is atonement We have two Instances in the Scripture of Thieves that were converted and saved Zacheus Luk. 19.8 9 10. but he made restitution vers 8. And the Thief on the Cross 2. Violence here is a sin against the sixth Commandment added to a sin against the eighth for Violence belongs to the sixth Commandment Thou shalt not murther they are beginnings of blood they have a tendency to it and blood is a sin that crys There are many threatnings against this sin Psal 104.11 Evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him This is against light for no man would be so used himself Yet there is atonement for this you have Instance in violence of the worst sort proceeding even unto blood and that in a way of persecution for Righteousness sake in Manasseh and Paul who had been men of much violence and yet were converted and saved Manasseh 2 King 21. with 2 Chron. 33.12 13. And Paul 1 Tim. 1.13 14. It is like the Thief on the Cross was such a one an High-way man a violent thief or else by their Law they could not have put him to death but yet the Lord shewed mercy to his Soul 3. Lying a grievous sin and against a double light and knowledg both knowledg of the Rule and of the Fact which riseth up in the mind against a Lyar when he speaks a lye It is usually one of the first actual sins that breaks forth in Children Psal 58.3 The wicked are estranged from the womb they go astray as soon as they be born speaking lyes And there be dreadful threatnings against it see Rev. 21.8 you that are Parents may do well to teach your Children that Scripture Yet there is atonement for this sin also David sometimes told lyes to save his life but yet he was deeply humbled for it his Soul cleaved to the dust about it and melted for heaviness Psal 119.25 28 29. 4. Perjury and false swearing a most horrible sin for a man to invoke the God of Truth to joyn with him in a lye and to co-attest and bear witness with him to a lye and this sin seldom escapes unpunished even in this life God usually sets some visible mark and token of his vengeance and wrath upon them even in this life Jer. 34.15 18. Ezek. 17.15 18 19. Yet we have an Instance and but one that I remember in all the Bible of a man that found mercy for this sin and that is Peter who denyed Christ with swearing and cursing but he went out and wept bitterly and when his broken bones were set again as in nature they grow stronger there than in another place so Peter grew very bold in preaching and confessing Christ whom before he had so fearfully denyed Obj. 1. But there be divers sins which are not here specified Ans Yet they are included and understood by a parity of reason and there might be some reasons given why it might not be convenient to mention some sins particularly which yet were included and for which there was atonement As if a man be overtaken in drink or lust or passion rash anger c. these and all other pardonable sins are included either in the Trespass Offering by a parity of reason with the Instances mentioned in the Text or else under the Sin-Offering or the Burnt-Offering Obj. 2. But some sins were not intended to be included in any of the Sacrifices of the Law but they had no atonement no Sacrifice provided for them as Murther and Whoredom
in by degrees the first four Trumpets made way for the perfection of that Apostasie that came in by the fifth Among the Idolatrous Kings of Israel those in succeeding times were worse then their wicked Predecessors Jeroboam was bad enough but he only sets up the two Calves at Dan and Bethel but Omri went beyond him for it is said he did worse then all that went before him 1 King 16.25 We read of the Statutes of Omri Mic. 6.16 Idolatrous and persecuting Laws But his Son Ahab was worse then he For as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam he did set up the Worship of Baal and did more to provoke the God of Israel to anger then all the Kings of Israel that went before him 1 King 16.31 32 33. So that you see it is an increasing and an endless sin 4. All the honour men do or think they do to God by worship of their own invention doth redound indeed and in truth to the honour of the Devil which is a fearful thing to consider Superstition is a sin directly against the means of worship but it is ultimately against the Object of worship Strange worship sets up a strange God Ames Med. Theol. lib. 2. cap. 13. Thes 14 15 42. for it necessarily supposeth and feigneth to it self such an Object of worship as is well pleased with such manner of worship as Superstition offers up and to whose will soever we submit our Consciences as the Rule of our religious worship him we set up as our God Though it be not so in mens intentions yet it is so indeed and in Gods Interpretation The Lord so interprets false worship that a new God is devised for the Object of it so of the Heathenish Idolatry the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to Devils and not to God 1 Cor. 10.20 And so the Lord interprets the Jewish Idolatry Jeroboam ordained Priests for the Devils which he had made 2 Chron. 11.15 Lev. 17.7 Deut. 32.17 And he puts the same construction upon the Popish Idolatry they repented not of worshipping Devils Rev. 9.20 And their Factors and Emissaries are called Spirits of Devils Rev. 16.14 they think they worship St. Peter and the Virgin Mary yea God himself and Jesus Christ but it is indeed and in Gods account the Devil whom they worship It is true you cannot honour God too much his Name is above and beyond all praise but you may mistake and honour the Devil when you think you honour God A fearful mistake indeed it is but yet it is that which all those fall into who in their worship depart from the will of God revealed in his Word and turn aside to any of the Inventions of men THE GOSPEL OF THE CEREMONIAL UNCLEANNESSES and CLEANSINGS September 13 20. 1668. Heb. 9.13 14. For if the blood of Bulls and of Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh How much more shall the blood of Christ c. IN the distribution I formerly gave of the Ceremonial Law you may remember I did put the Legal Sacrifices and Purifications together under one Head as partaking in the same general nature both of them tending to the purging away of sin and of uncleanness Moral uncleanness being taken away by Sacrifice Ceremonial uncleanness by Ceremonial Purifications whereof we are now to speak as the Lord shall enable us from this Text which speaks very fully and most divinely to this Point There be two things in the Text. 1. The Type vers 13. For if the blood of Bulls of Goats c. 2. The Antitype vers 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ c. Under each of which there be three particulars which are here set by the Apostle in a way of opposite correspondency the one to the other 1. He speaks of uncleanness in the Type To which answers dead works as the thing figured by it 2. He mentions Ceremonial cleansing to the purifying of the flesh To which answers the purging of the Conscience from dead Works to serve the living God 3. The Means of the one answers to the Means of the other The blood of Bulls and Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean which is the Means of legal cleansing To this answers the blood of Christ who by the eternal Spirit offered up himself without spot unto God which is the Means of spiritual cleansing Though withall the Apostle shews that these two answer not each other in a way of equal Analogy there being indeed a preeminent excellency of the one above the other of the Antitype above the Type therefore he expresseth it with an how much more If those legal Purifications attain the end of legal cleansing for which they were appointed how much more shall the blood of Christ cleanse the Conscience It hath a greater efficacy and is a Truth of clearer and higher Evidence These particulars of the Analogy between the Type and the Antitype we may cast them into three doctrinal Propositions thus 1. That they had a Ceremonial uncleanness under the Law which figured the Moral uncleanness of dead works 2. That they had also Ceremonial cleansings or purifyings of the flesh which signified the purging our Consciences from dead works to serve the living God 3. That the Means of Ceremonial putification by the blood of Bulls and Goats and by the ashes of an Heiser sprinkling the unclean signified the blood of Christ who by the eternal Spirit offered up himself without spot unto God 1. For the first namely that they had a Ceremonial uncleanness under the Law which did figure out the Moral uncleanness of dead works therefore he sets them one against the other so that those uncleannesses did signify dead works and what is meant by dead works we may see Heb. 6.1 not laying again the foundation of Repentance from dead works What do we repent of We repent of our sins These are therefore the dead works here spoken of and sin is called a dead work because it proceeds from death and is a part of spiritual death and tends to eternal death As good Actions tend to life so sin tends to death so then Ceremonial uncleanness signifies Moral uncleanness of sin and dead works There were two or three sorts of Ceremonial uncleanness 1. Unclean Touchings 2. Unclean Issues 3. That unclean Disease of the Leprosy 1. They had unclean Touchings and Tastings here was uncleanness from without 2. They had unclean Issues here was uncleanness from within a mans self 3. That Disease of the Leprosy was a Disease of Ceremonial uncleanness and here was both an inward and an outward uncleanness 1. There was a Ceremonial uncleanness by eating or touching any unclean thing Lev. 11. In that Chapter it is treated of which Chapter shews what Beasts what Fishes what Fowls and what creeping things might and what might not be eaten And it
is said of those that might not be eaten Whosoever toucheth the Carcase of them shall be unclean Vers 24. And this was a thing of so great weight that the Lord uses those vehement expressions about it Ye shall not make your selves abominable with any of those unclean things and creeping things c. 43. verse of that Chapter For I am the Lord your God you shall therefore sanctify your selves It did make the person abominable who did defile himself with those things We read of two kinds of uncleanness of Beasts under the Law 1. There was an Uncleanness of Beasts for Sacrifice and an Uncleanness of Beasts for Food That distinction of Clean and Unclean referred to Sacrifices that was from the first entrance of Sin into the World Therefore in Noah's time there were so many Clean and so many Unclean Beasts with him in the Ark. 2. The uncleanness of the Beasts for Meat seems now to be appointed by God there having been a more general liberty in the time of Noah and ever since to eat of any wholesom living Creature God now laid a restraint upon it by Moses Quest But why such a difference Is not every Creature of God good Answ They are good in themselves It is not any natural Uncleanness but an instituted Uncleanness that Uncleanness that is in them by virtue of the Ceremonial Law And the Reason is The absolute supream authority and dominion of God over all his Creatures He would have all men know That whatsoever they eat it is by his allowance and they must forbear so far as he restrains them And this further account may be given of it That it did make up and strengthen that Partition Wall between Jew and Gentile which the Lord thought good to set up in those times The Gentiles being unconvinced of any such things and the Jews being strictly trained up to it Quest What Creatures be they that were Clean and what were Unclean Answ They be set down at large in Levit. 11. And there be three Rules observable about the Beasts which were Clean and which were Unclean which might be eaten and touched and which might not and they were known thus 1. By the parting the Hoof. 2. By chewing the Cud. 3. By the properties and dispositions of them 1. Such as parted the Hoof were Clean. Levit. 11.3 Whatsoever parteth the Hoof and is cloven footed among the Beasts that shall ye eat And they that did not were Unclean This plainly notes a right distinguishment of things that God requires of his people That we should walk in them with a right foot distinguishing of things that differ Phil. 1.9 10. And this I pray that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and in all judgment that ye may approve things that are excellent The Margin renders it thus That you may discern of things that differ For many things there are of a different nature which a Christian should distinguish as the difference between the Law and the Gospel between our general and particular Callings that there be not an intrenching of the one upon the other This is one property the parting of the Hoof. 2. The second is the chewing of the Cud which intimates Meditation ruminating on the things of God digesting Spiritual Food for the Word is compared to Food Amos 8.12 I will send a Famin in the Land not a Famin of Bread nor a thirst for Water but of hearing the Words of the Lord. The Word of God is Spiritual and it must be chewed and ruminated upon by deep and serious Meditation Psal 1. Blessed is the Man that meditateth in Gods Law day and night Luk. 2.19 It is spoken in the praise of Mary that she pondered on those things and laid them up in her heart It is the misery of Sinners and unclean Creatures that they cannot ponder the path of Life Prov. 5.6 Her feet go down to death her steps take hold on hell lest thou shouldst ponder the path of life The want of a meditating considering frame of heart undoes poor sinners they cannot consider what they do they are not serious in meditating and ruminating on the word of God 3. There is a third difference and character between the Clean and the Unclean and that is in the properties of each Some had good properties and some bad As the Swine which wicked men are compared unto for that fowl and dirty disposition and property of wallowing in the Mire 2 Pet. 2.22 The Dog is turned to his vomit and the Sow that is washed to her wallowing in the mire So that as the Dog licks up his vomit again so many a poor Sinner that hath been washed and made clean and hath confessed his sins and vomited up his filthiness he licks it up again and returns to the same sin he had vomited up by confession like the Dog and Swine This uncleanness of the Beasts did intimate two things 1. A distinction of persons 2. The necessity of forbearing Communion with some kind of persons 1. That there is a difference of persons clean and unclean Men which is intimated by clean and unclean Beasts It is common in Scripture to speak of men under such resemblances and especially wicked men to compare them to unclean Beasts We see it in Peters Vision Acts 10. He saw all manner of four-footed Beasts and creeping things c. vers 15. What God hath cleansed call not thou common nor unclean And so hereupon when Peter was meditating on this Vision the Spirit said unto him go down with these men doubting nothing for I have sent thee And he had incouragement to go and preach to the Gentiles by that Vision This Sheet let down with unclean Beasts signifies the Gentile people There is a great distinction in the Godly themselves and much more in Wicked and Ungodly Men. Daniel represented the four Monarchies by four Beasts The Lyon of Babylon the Bear of Persia the Leopard of Greece and the Roman Monster This speaks thus much That some persons are clean and some are unclean godly and ungodly clean and unclean 2. It bespeaks a restraint of Communion with wicked men Eating is an action of Communion and not eating implies a restraint of Communion Therefore when it is said to Peter kill and eat the meaning is go and communicate with the Gentiles Our Communion with Christ is set forth by eating and drinking eating his flesh and drinking his blood having inward Communion with him thereby So to eat or not to eat of such and such Beasts is to have Communion or not to have Communion with such or such Persons Some men must be abstained from as unclean that is wicked and ungodly men the neglect whereof God often reproves Ezek. 44.7 He reproves them that they had let in strangers into his Sanctuary And vers 23. They shall teach my people the difference between the Holy and Profane and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean Men of
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
come into the Tabernacle and have Communion with God in his Ordinances This holds forth Souls being sprinkled with the blood of Christ and with the Spirit which is often compared to Water as when it is said I will pour water on the dry ground and my Spirit on your Off spring Isai 44.3 see also Ezek. 36.25 and Joh 7.38 39. So they that have this sprinkling by the blood of Christ they have access to and fellowship with God by the blood of Christ And so much for the meaning of the Ceremonial actions relating to this Heyfer Now for Use and Application a little and so we shall conclude Vse Learn this Instruction See the Sovereign vertue transcendent excellency of the blood of Christ and it gives direction and incouragement to unclean souls to have recourse to Jesus Christ for cleansing If these things did so avail to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the blood of Christ cleanse your Consciences from dead works to serve the living God The vertue and excellency of his blood appears as to the purging of our Souls and Consciences in a fourfold respect 1. If compared with Ceremonial blood of which the Text speaks The Sacrifices were but shadowy cleansings but a shadowy purification But the blood of Christ cleansing the Conscience is the thing aimed at These were the means to shadow out this spiritual cleansing This is the end the substance aimed at They gave an outward holiness no inward holiness When they were made Ceremonially clean they did not change the mind they removed but the shadow of Moral uncleanness for Ceremonial uncleanness was no sin but only a shadow of it But the blood of Christ removes the sin it self the guilt of sin in Justification and the power of sin in Sanctification So the blood of Christ hath a surpassing excellency being compared with the blood of Bulls and Goats c. 2. Compare it to the blood of Souls and Sinners The blood of Jesus Christ brings more glory to God than if all the Elect themselves had suffered to all eternity more glory to God And it is more efficacious for the good of Souls If the Elect had suffered and their blood had been shed for their own sins God had wanted much of that glory which he hath by the blood of Jesus Christ And more efficacious for good to them For they could never have been saved by their own sufferings The worth of the blood of Christ appears 1. In regard of the worth of the Person 2. In regard of the speedy satisfaction 3. In regard of the full satisfaction 1. The worth of the Person This is often taken notice of in Scripture as belonging to the efficacy of the blood of Jesus Christ that it is the blood of God As Acts 20.28 and Zach. 13.7 He is the Man that is the fellow of the Lord of Hosts Therefore the Apostle having spoken in Coll. 1. how that we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sin In vers 14. he falls into a description of the glory of the person of Christ Who is the Image of the invisible God by him were all things made The dignity of his Person puts an infinite value on his blood and sufferings mounting the blood of Christ to a higher satisfaction of Divine Justice than the blood of all the Elect. The Righteousness of Jesus Christ is a more glorious Righteousness than if all the Elect had suffered for themselves that had been but the blood of Sinners this the blood of God 2. The speedy satisfaction that is made to Divine Justice Christ paid all the Debt at once which Sinners must have been paying for ever And this is more satisfactory to the Creditor than to have the Debt long a paying If a man owe an hundred pounds and must lie in Prison till the Debt be paid paying ten pounds every year this Debt will be long in paying and it will not be so satisfactory to the Creditor as if a Rich Man should come and set the Prisoner free by paying the Debt presently 3. He satisfied fully and paid the whole Debt Joh. 19.30 Our Saviour saith Now it is finished He hath made full and perfect satisfaction to Divine Justice So that the Law of God hath more honor and the Justice of God more glory by the sufferings of Christ than if all the Elect had suffered 3. Compare the blood of Christ with the Righteousness of Saints and Angels his Righteousness and their Righteousness There is a greater Glory of Jesus Christ his obedience Active and Passive then in the Righteousness of all the Angels in Heaven though they had never sinned For theirs is but the Righteousness of Creatures in whom is a negative imperfection Job 4.18 He chargeth the Angels with folly and the Heavens are impure in his sight Christs Righteousness is more worth then all the Righteousness of all the Creatures 4. If compared with the power of sin in its kind to defile and damn souls there is a far greater power in the blood of Christ to cleanse and save then in sin to defile and destroy Rom. 8.3 The Law became weak to do good but it hath power to condemn The strength of sin is the Law 1 Cor. 15.56 The Law gives a strength to sin because by virtue of the curse of the Law sin reigns and defiles the souls of men through that righteous Curse The Soul that sins shall dye But the blood of Jesus Christ hath greater power to save then sin together with the Law hath to condemn for the blood of Christ takes away and abolishes it utterly Where this blood is applied and brought home sin it self cannot ruine that Soul The Soul is poysoned and corrupted by sin but the blood of Christ takes away that poyson and makes the Soul pure and holy as if it never had sinned therefore as to those discouragements I shall never get power against these sins against these Corruptions they will be my ruine These are deep reflectings on Jesus Christ as if sin were stronger then he as if thy sin were more powerful to damn thee then Christ is to save thee Therefore be encouraged how unclean soever thy heart and life have been make use of this Atonement which hath been made to God by the blood of Jesus Christ What is the preaching of the Gospel but the sprinkling of this blood It holds forth Christ and if men will refuse this blood their destruction is of themselves they perish not under the Gospel because there is no means of Salvation no means to help no means to cleanse and purifie them but because they will not make use of it And what a woful thing is this when light is come into the world and help brought by Jesus Christ for sinners to refuse it For sinners to stand on their own Objections this is to bid defiance to the Gospel and to say that Jesus Christ is no sufficient Saviour But apply it
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
according to the custom of of those times and therefore defended with Battlements according to that Law Deut. 22.8 and adorned with Pinnacles For the Devil carried our Saviour to a Pinnacle of the Temple Matth. 4.5 that is saith the Marginal Note the Battlement wherewith the flat Roof of the Temple was compassed about that no man might fall down Deut. 22.8 and though flat yet might be some gentle rising in the middle to cast off the Rain-water The Scripture seems to apply the Covering of the Temple as an emblem of divine shelter and protection over the Church Isai 4.5 6. for upon all the Glory shall be a Defence or as the Margin reads it a Covering And there shall be a Tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat and for a place of refuge and for a covert from the storm and from the rain This Covering and Shelter is the Lord Jesus Christ Isai 12.2 Cant. 2.4 his Banner over me was Love 2 Sam. 7.13 Nov. 5. 1668. He shall build an House for my Name and I will establish the throne of his Kingdom for ever WE have soken of the Foundation the Walls the Doors the Windows the Floor and the Roof of the Temple these I call the common parts of the Temple because they are such as are in every house of what form or of what use soever But the special parts or the Rooms in a house may be various and divers according to the mind of the Architect and the use he puts it to The Rooms in this sacred Building and House of the Lord were chiefly three the Porch the Sanctuary and the Oracle with the side-chambers belonging to them It will be needful here to speak something first concerning the Letter and History of these things and then concerning their mystical significations because we cannot so well see the ground and the truth of the mystical application unless we have a right Idea and conceiving of the Letter of the âype it self 1. And first for the literal or historical explication of these parts of the Temple you may easily conceive of them by the form of our Churches as they are called only there was a difference in the position or situation of the parts but the parts themselves are alike in both For first there was a great Court about the Temple to which answers the Church-yard about our Churches Then there was a stately Tower-porch four times as high as the Temple it self to this answers that which is called the Steeple To the Sanctuary answers the Body of the Church And then answerable to the Oracle is that which we call the Chancell And finally as the Temple had Side-chambers and Lodgings for the Levites so there is belonging to our Churches the Vestry and the dwelling house for the Minister c. Only there is a difference in the position or situation of these parts For whereas the Holy of holies in the Temple was at the West end of it on the contrary with us the Chancell is ever towards the East which was done either in opposition to the Jews or in imitation of the Pagans As to our Churches or publick Meeting-places the thing it self is necessary For if there must be publick Worship there must be publick places to assemble in A Meeting-place is a necessary appertainance to the Worship and as for this form or fashion of Building whatsoever is for use or convenience or moderate Comeliness and Ornament is lawful and allowable and therefore there is no evil in a Church-yard or a Steeple or a Vestry or an House for the Minister but to have a Chancell or one part of the Meeting-place as more holy than the rest in imitation of the Jewish Oracle this is evil and superstitious Publick Meeting-places are necessary but the opinion of Holiness in them this is superstitious For our Meeting-places do not succeed in the room and nature of the Jewish Temple as a Temple but of the Jewish Synagogues where they had their moral Worship in all their Towns and Cities throughout their habiations It will be useful here to speak a little first concerning the Dimensions of these several parts of the Temple and then concerning their Position or Situation to each other And first for the Porch it was a hundred and twenty cubits high twenty cubits long and ten cubits broad This appears by comparing and putting two places of Scripture together 1 Kings 6.3 with 2 Chron. 3.4 In the Kings it is said And the Porch before the Temple of the House twenty cubits was the length thereof according to the breadth of the House and ten cubits was the breadth thereof before the House In 2 Chron. 3.4 the height is mentioned the height was one hundred and twenty cubits It is not to be supposed that it was all void to the top but that it had Chambers and winding Stairs up to the top according to that in 1 Chron. 28.11 which speaks of the pattern of the Porch and of the Houses thereof and of the Treasures thereof and of the upper Chambers thereof and of the inner Parlours thereof And a gallant prospect it was from the top of this Tower-steeple they might see far and neer Some have written that the River Jordan the dead Sea and all Arabia might be discerned And so I suppose might the Mediteranean Sea Westward The use of this stately Porch in the front of the House was chiefly for Ornament to the House it self to the rest of the Temple 2. The second part of the House was the Sanctuary or the holy place called sometimes the Temple sometimes the House and the greater House 2 Chron. 3.5 in contra-distinction to the Oracle which was the lesser This was forty cubits long that is from East to West between the Porch and the Oracle 1 Kings 6.17 and the House that is the Temple before it viz. before the Oracle was forty cubits long And ver 2. the breadth thereof twenty cubits and the height thereof thirty cubits In this stood the Altar of Incense the Table of Shew-bread and the Golden Candlesticks And here the Lord was wont to walk as it were amongst the Golden Candlesticks 3. The third part of the Temple was the Oracle This was twenty cubits every way both in the height length and breadth 1 Kings 6.10 and the Oracle in the forepart that is which as a man entred into the Temple lay before him in the West end of it was twenty cubits in length and twenty cubits in breadth and twenty cubits in the height thereof so that it was a perfect cube excavated It had Doors of Olive-tree 1 Kings 6.31 and the Lintel or side-posts were a fifth part of the Wall that is four cubits the Wall being twenty So there was eight cubits of Wall beside eah Door It may be rendred a little otherwise but thus our Translators and this seemeth the fittest proportion for the Doors And here was the Veil hung namely between
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
the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while as the first Tabernacle was yet standing There were dark shadows then of the mysteries of the Gospel 4. The rending of the Veil when Christ died represents his Sufferings in the Flesh or humane nature Matth. 27.51 the Veil of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom If the Veil be the Flesh or the Humane nature of Christ then the rending of the Veil must needs be the breaking of his Body and the sufferings of his Humane nature 5. As by this the Holy of holies was open to the view of all that came to the Temple so under the Gospel the mysteries of Salvation are made manifest Rev. 11.19 and the Temple of God was opened in Heaven and there was seen in his Temple the Ark of his Testament Clear discoveries of God in Christ 6. As the Priest entred into the holy place through the Veil so hath Christ into Heaven and made way for us all to enter after him and with him through his Sufferings Heb. 9.12 neither by the Blood of Bulls and Goats but by his own Blood he entred in once into the holy place having obtained eternal Redemption for us and Heb. 6.2 last which hope we have as an anchor of the Soul both sure and stedfast and which entred into that within the Veil that is into the Holy of holies whither the fore-runner is for us entred even Jesus This is the first accomodation of this Type even unto Jesus Christ himself 2. The Temple signified also the Church and the several parts of the Temple may be considered here also 1. We learn here that there is a threefold distinction of the Church into visible militant and triumphant The outer Court signified the visible Church into which all the people came that were clean according to the Law so into the visible Church come all that make a fair outward profession though they are not all sincere as all were not Israel that were of Israel The Sanctuary and the inner Court signified the Church militant of true Believers who are indeed spiritual Priests unto God And lastly the holiest of all was a Type of Heaven and of the Church triumphant there so the Apostle often Heb. 9.24 for Christ is not entred into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true but into Heaven it self 2. Whereas there was a Wall about the great Court to keep out the Gentiles for none but Jews were admitted the Apostle shews that Christ hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us Ephes 2.14 which he hath done by converting the Gentiles and repealing the Ceremonial Law 3. The outer Court must be left out in Church-reformation Rev. 11.1 2. that is when the matter of the visible Church is wholly corrupted these Gentiles must be cast out or left out 4. Whereas the Materials of the Sanctuary and of the Oracle were the same Cedar-boards and Gold and garnished with precious Stones c. as was shewed before when we spake of the Walls of the Temple hence we may learn this Instruction that Grace and Glory differ not in kind but only in degree Grace is Glory begun Glory is Grace perfected Heb. 12.23 the Spirits of just men made perfect A Believer hath eternal life begun in him in this world 1 Joh. 3.15 5. The side-chambers and all the buildings about the Chambers wherein the Priests and Levites had their several Lodgings and stations appointed them may instruct and mind us of those Mansions that are prepared for us in Heaven Joh. 14.2 in my Fathers House are many Mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you 6. Whereas in these Chambers were kept and laid up the Standards of all Weights and Measures for so some understand that place 1 Chron. 23.29 speaking of the Levites work in their several places and stations it is said their Office was to wait on the Sons of Aaron as for other things so for all manner of Measure and Size that is as some expound it that unto their Trust were committed the Standard measures of things and here laid up under their custody as in a most safe and sacred Repository and these were called the Measures of the Sanctuary as with us the Standards and Measures are laid up in the Tower We may here learn that God regards Justice amongst men next to his own Worship To unjust persons he saith as Isai 1.11 to what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices unto me who hath required this at your hands to tread my Courts v. 12. The reason is given v. 15. your hands are full of Blood And would you know that there are Mansions prepared in Heaven for you you may take this as one evidence of it Psal 15.1 Lord who shall abide in thy Tabernacle who shall dwell in thy holy hill He answers in the second verse He that walketh uprightly and worketh Righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart And let me add this further do not judge of your spiritual estate by your getting into the outer Court for hypocrites may get in there if they be but outwardly clean But art thou admitted as a spiritual Priest into the Sanctuary to enjoy true communion with God in his Ordinances and to worship God in the Spirit art thou a member of the Church militant as well as of the visible Church The Church militant shall be at last triumphant they shall pass from and through the Sanctuary into the Holy of holies even into Heaven it self whither Jesus our fore-runner is entred for us THE GOSPEL of the TWO BRAZEN PILLARS in the TEMPLE 1 Kings 7.21 22. Novemb. 8. 1668. And he set up the Pillars in the Porch of the Temple and he set up the right Pillar and called the name thereof Jachin and he set up the left Pillar and called the name thereof Boaz. And upon the top of the Pillars was Lillie-work so was the work of the Pillars finished SO much of the House and the Courts Now follows the Vessels or Utensils of the Temple the sacred Houshold stuff or Furniture of this House of God they were many We read in Ezra 1.11 all the Vessels of Gold and Silver were five thousand and four hundred We may distinguish the Vessels of the Temple into two sorts 1. Such as were of natural necessity and conveniency for the Worship that was there to be performed as Knives Pots Flesh-hooks c. which had not their particular mystical significations But yet thus much we may observe from them that the meanest instrument in the Church of God is of some use and therefore not to be despised And of this sort there were some larger Vessels as the Kings Scaffold 2 Chron. 6.13 on which he stood when he came into the Priests Court to present his Sacrifices before the Lord or upon any other occasion For you
typified Now then as to this great Type the Altar of Burnt-offering we may consider four things 1. The Materials of it they made Altars of Earth upon present occasions Moses his Altar was of Shittim-wood but overlaid with Brass Exod. 27.1 2. This was to continue for the constant use and service of the Tabernacle But how then came it to pass that the Wood was not burnt and set on fire by the continual fire that was upon the Altar It is answered unto this by some That the Fire might be kept in the Grate at a due distance from the Wood. And some answer further that there was an especial Providence in it God as he sent down Fire from Heaven upon the Altar so he did limit and over-rule the operation of it at his pleasure Solomons Altar was of Brass within either of Earth or Stone but not of hewen Stones that being expresly forbidden Exod. 20.24 25. In that it was of Brass This was for strength and durablenss to bear the Fire that was continually burning upon it and so to represent the strength of Christ to endure the Wrath of God without being burnt up and consumed and overcome by it For Brass is often mentioned to signifie strength Job 40.18 His Bones are as strong pieces of Brass Is my Strength of Stones or my Flesh of Brass Job 6.12 Am I not a poor weak frail creature So Zach. 6.1 the mountains of Brass signifie Gods irresistible Purpose and Decree so likewise Christ is represented under that appearance Ezek. 40.3 a man whose appearance was as the appearance of Brass and Rev. 1.15 his Feet like unto fine Brass as if they burned in a furnace These Representations have the like mystery of strength and invincibleness That it was of unhewed Stones This instructs us that humane polishments do not perfect but corrupt the Worship of God that which carnal Wisdom thinks doth adorn doth indeed pollute there be no perfect additions We must observe the plainness and simplicity of Institution 2. As to the figure and dimensions of it it was four square with four Horns upon the four corners of it Moses his Altar was five cubits in length and five in breadth and three cubits high But Solomons was twenty cubits in length and twenty cubits in breadth and ten cubits high compare Exod. 27.1 2. with the Text 2 Chron. 4.1 The four-square form saith Ainsworth on Exod. 27.1 signifies firmness and stability therefore the heavenly Jerusalem is four-square Rev. 21.16 so was the figure of it Ezek. 48.20 so was the Oracle or most holy place in the Temple and Tabernacle too 2 Chron. 3.8 The height of Solomons Altar was too high for any Priest to reach yet they might not go up by steps to it Exod. 20.26 therefore it is thought there was an easie ascent by a declivity on the South side the ground rising by little and little The largeness of Solomons Altar beyond that of the Tabernacle might intimate the inlargement of the Church and great increase of the Worshippers and Worship of God under the Gospel which is the mystery of those great inlargements in Ezekiels visionary Temple beyond Solomons as Solomons went beyond Moses his Tabernacle 3. The situation of the Altar was sub dio in the open air that so the nidor and fuligo the scent and smoak of the Sacrifices might be the less offensive Moreover it stood in the Priests Court before the Porch of the Temple 2 Chron. 8.12 the Altar of the Lord which he had built before the Porch Joel 2.17 Let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord weep between the Porch and the Altar 4. The use of it was to offer Sacrifice upon Exod. 20 24. An Altar of Earth shalt thou make unto me and shalt sacrifice thereon thy Burnt-offerings and thy Peace-offerings 2 Chron. 8.12 then Solomon offered Burnt-offerings unto the Lord on the Altar of the Lord which he had built before the Porch The Altar did two things 1. It supported the Sacrifice for the Sacrifice was laid upon it 2. It sanctified the Sacrifice and made it holy and acceptable to the Lord. The Altar it self was first consecrated with holy Oyl Numb 7.1 and then it did consecrate and sanctifie other things Exod. 29.37 whatsoever toucheth the Altar shall be holy Therefore it is said the Altar shall be holiness of holinesses or most holy Exod. 40.10 But now here comes in a Question How it came that the Fire of the Altar was not sometimes put out by the showers of Rain and how it could suffice for the consuming so many Sacrifices and that the Sacrifices did not fill the Court with soot and smoak and flies and putrefaction from the offal and ordure of so many Beasts there slain Slaughter-houses are very noysom and offensive especially in Summer-time I meet with a twofold answer unto this 1. The Fire of the Altar was no ordinary and culinary Fire but celestial and divine and as it came down from Heaven 2 Chron. 7.1 and was so far from being quenchable by Rain or Water that it would presently lick it up as it did 1 Kings 18.38 when the Trench was filled with twelve barrels of Water so it left not such a sooty feculency behind it as common Fire doth We see in Lightening how quickly and in an instant it consumes any thing that resists it The Altar of the Lord is called Ariel Isai 29.1 that is the Lyon of God and a very devouring Lyon it was Fuller Pisgah-sight p. 394. 2. There seems to have been something of a peculiar Providence in it The Heathen Temples were such stinking places and so infested with swarms of Flies that came to feed upon their Sacrifices that the Jews were wont in an holy scorn to call the Devil Baal-zebub it is the name of the Idol at Ekron 2 Kings 1.2 and Mark 3.22 and Luk. 11.15 as much as to say Dominus muscarum the God of flies not able to drive away a flie The Ekronites it is thought called their Idol Bayal zebachim the Lord of Sacrifices Some Heathen Writers speak of Temples built Jovi ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã muscarum abactori Greg. Greg. Lexic sanct Tit. 166. to Jupiter the Fly-chaser But let this suffice for the literal explication of this great Type the Altar of Burnt-offering Now for the mystery and spiritual signification of it There hath been a very unhappy mistake as to this in some of the Antients commonly called Fathers whose darkness in this and other points did make way for Popery in after times They have applyed the Altar to the wooden Cross on which Christ was crucified they say Christ suffered in arâ crucis upon the Altar of his Cross but this is a weak and low interpretation yea indeed a dangerous mis-interpretation of this great Type 1. For first the Cross of Wood was nothing else but the instrument of mans cruelty against the Lord Jesus Christ it hath no spiritual use nor vertue in it it
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
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
Now to unfold the Mystery of the Incense The Incense that was offered upon this Golden Altar was a Type of Prayer the Prayers both of Christ and of his Saints Both the Prayers which Christ offers up for the Saints and which the Saints offer up for themselves in his Name and Mediation See Rev. 5.8 Psal 141.2 Let my Prayer be set forth before thee as Incense You may see the fulness of the analogy more at large in seven particulars 1. It was made up of many choise Ingredients Exod. 30.34 so is the Spirit of Prayer as it were a compound of many excellent Graces There must be Faith Humility Fervency c. and indeed all the Graces of Gods Spirit are drawn forth and exercised in Prayer 2. They are strictly forbidden to make another Persume of their own heads like unto it Exod. 30.37 38. so we are not to make use of any other Intercessors or Mediators but Christ only And in like manner for men to make Prayers in the way of stinted Liturgies though there be many of the same Ingredients in the Mass-book that is good expressions for the matter of them and words and notions that are found in the Scripture yet this being not the Incense that is instituted it is not it cannot be accepted 3. These Ingredients whereof the Incense was made were to be beaten very small into fine Powder Exod. 30.36 This teacheth us that Contrition of heart that ought to be in Prayer how the Soul is to be contrite and broken as it were all to pieces by humbling meditations of its own unworthiness when it appears before the Lord in Prayer These are the Prayers that God regards Psal 51.17 The Sacrifices of God are a broken Spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Isai 57.15 I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble Spirit to revive the Spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones If a man come with his heart whole and not broken this is to offer the Incense unbeaten unpounded 4. The Incense was to be set on fire and so the smoke went up before the Throne Exod. 30.7 8. This speaks that holy Fervency in Prayer There should be ardent affections inflamed by the Fire of the Holy Ghost Jam. 5 16. the effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous man availeth much We should not come with a dead cold heart before the Lord in Prayer 5. This burning of Incense was a Service performed every day morning and evening Exod. 30.7.8 This teacheth us that Prayer should be a daily work morning and evening David tells us of his praying in the morning Psal 5.3 My Voice shalt thou hear in the morning O Lord in the morning will I direct my Prayer unto thee and will look up And also in the evening Psal 141.2 The lifting up of my hands as the evening Sacrifice Yea both he and Daniel used to pray thrice a day Psal 55.17 Dan. 6.10 Anna departed not from the Temple but served God with Fastings and Prayers night and day Luk. 2.37 and we are commanded to pray continually 1 Thess 5.17 Praying always with all Prayer Ephes 6.18 that is every day in the seasons of Prayer And Paul mentions his praying day and night 1 Thess 3.10 2 Tim. 1.3 which may well be understood of evening and morning See also 1 Tim. 5.5 and Act. 26.7 6. The time of burning the Incense was when they dressed and lighted the Lamps of the Sanctuary Exod. 30.7 8. This teacheth us the conjunction of the Word and Prayer in the Church Deut. 33.10 Acts 6.4 But we will give our selves continually to Prayer and to the Ministry of the Word 7. The Smoke of the Incense ascended with a sweet and fragrant smell into the Holy of holies before the Mercy seat as Rev. 8.4 and the Smoke of the Incense which came with the Prayers of the Saints ascended up before God out of the Angels hand It went up out of the Angels hand This speaks that our Prayers come up before the Lord into his holy place even into Heaven before the Throne of Grace with acceptance through the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ Acts 4.10 thy Prayers are come up for a memorial before God Hence that expression 1 Kings 8. hear thou in Heaven thy dwelling place For the Holy of holies was a Type of Heaven and the Mercy-seat is that Throne of Grace where the Lord is said to dwell between the Cherubims Psal 80.1 It speaks also that God returns gracious answers to them as it is Zech. 1.13 the Lord answered the Angel that talked with me with good and comfortable words Sometimes there is a gracious terribleness in them I mean a mixture of Mercy and Terror in the Lords answers and returns of Prayer Psal 65. ver 5. by terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us O God of our Salvation Thus Rev. 8.5 when the Angel cast down the Censer upon the earth there were voices and thunderings and lightenings and an earthquake The Lord uttering his voice as it were from the Holy of holies in dreadful dispensations of Providence in the seven Trumpets it is from the Prayers of Saints that those dreadful Trumpets were sounded But one of the strangest instances of the Lords answering Prayer by strange and seemingly contrary Providences is that of the Turks Rev. 9. It is agreed by all Interpreters that the sixth Trumpet is the Turk But did ever any Christian pray for the coming of the Turk into Christendom No but yet they came and the Voice from the four Horns of this Golden Altar of Incense usher'd them in Rev. 9.13 The meaning is this the strange Power of God did answer the Prayers of his people this way it is the Prayers of Gods people that turns the wheel of Providence as it were and brings about all the great and mighty revolutions in the course thereof Vse 1. Of Comfort in five or six particulars This Doctrine of Christs Intercession which is the mystery of this Golden Censer and Altar of Incense is full of Comfort to poor praying Souls thou hast an High Priest which offereth up thy Prayers and they are made acceptable through his Intercession This affords Comfort let thy condition be what it will 1. If thou find thy self unskilful in making application of that part of Christs Priestly Office which consisteth in his Death yet thou maist look up to him to speak a good word for thy Soul this work is doing still though the former be done 2. In case of new sins committed after Grace received here is this Comfort that as Satan puts in new Accusations against thy Soul so Christ puts in new Answers 1 Joh. 2.1 2. if any man sin we have an Advocate c. 3. Many an one is much troubled with fears of future backslidings but Christ prays that thy Faith fail not he prays not only that we should come
in the afternoon and the evening of the night which began at Sun-set Josh 10.26 27. The Lord gave them so large a time because they had many other Services and Sacrifices to offer See Ainsworth in loc So Christ Matth. 27.46 50. he suffered death about the hour of three a clock and then the evening began for the sixth hour of the day is that which we call twelve a clock the ninth hour is that which we call three a clock in the afternoon for the Jews reckoned their hours from morning to evening and not as we do from midday to midnight Thus you see how the time of the Passover shewed forth divers circumstances of the time of Christs Sufferings 4. The Blood of the Lamb shadowed forth the Blood of Christ See the analogy in four things 1. The Blood of the slain Lamb was not to be spilt upon the ground or trodden under foot but kept in a Basin as a precious thing v. 22. What that typified we may gather from that of the Apostle Heb. 10.29 they have trodden under foot the Blood of the Covenant This was to hold forth the preciousness of the Blood of Jesus Christ it is called precious Blood 1 Pet. 1.19 Unbelief rejects and spills this Blood and makes it to be shed in vain 2. It was to be sprinkled upon the lintel and posts of their doors with a bunch of Hyssop v. 22. This shadowed forth the sprinkling of Christs Blood upon the Souls of his people that is the effectual application of it by the Promise Isai 52.15 He shall sprinkle many Nations 1 Pet. 1.2 the sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus Christ It was to be sprinkled with a bunch of Hyssop This intimates the means of the application of the Blood of Christ which are the Promises and Ordinances and Faith and the Spirit of Christ in them 3. This Blood of the Paschal Lamb it made atonement for them that is typically so Christs Blood doth it really Nothing we can do can expiate the least sin but there is atoning virtue in this Blood he hath expiated our sins and made Satisfaction for our offenses 4. Hence the destroying Angel passed over them v. 23. and the Israelites were spared when the Egyptians were cut off so Believers are saved through the Blood of Christ sprinkled upon their Consciences when Unbelievers are cut off and perish eternally Heb. 12. the Blood of Christ speaks better things then the Blood of Abel Thus you see how the Blood of the Paschal Lamb typified the Blood of Christ 5. Their eating the Lamb signified our spiritual seeding upon Christ by Faith especially in the Sacrament of the Supper We eat Christ spiritually by Faith and sacramentally in the Lords Supper The manner of eating was very significant to hold forth the manner of receiving Christ in the Supper not unworthily 1 Cor. 11. but in due order as 1 Chron. 15.13 1. They were to do it standing with their staves in their hands their shooes on their feet and their loins girt which was a posture of readiness for action and motion which seems to have been a peculiar circumstance of that first Passover but it was very significant shewing how we ought to behave our selves in the Egypt of this world and of a natural condition and of Anti-christian bondage that we should be upon a posture of motion and action bestirring our selves to get out of it Gird up the Loins of your minds 1 Pet. 1.13 saith the Apostle that is be at Christs dispose be ready to follow his Call to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth Rev. 14.4 Let us up and be going for we have a great journey before us and this is not our rest Mich. 2.11 here we have no continuing City but seek one to come Hebr. 13.14 2. They were to eat it with sowr or bitter Herbs Christ himself was a Man of Sorrows and must be fed upon with bitter and dolorous remembrance of our sins and of his Sufferings for them 1 Cor. 11.28 31. the grief we have put him to should be matter of grief to us Repentance and godly sorrow must go along with the exercise of Faith And as Christ suffered before he entred into Glory so all that will follow him must bear the Cross before they can wear the Crown We cannot reign with him except we suffer with him 3. They must eat it without Leaven and have no Leaven for seven days ver 15. Leaven is of an infecting sowring spreading nature It is put for false Doctrine Beware of the Leaven of the Scribes and Pharisees Matth. 16.6 12. and the Apostle interprets it as signifying also Hypocrisie 1 Cor. 5.7 8. Purge out the old Leaven and let us keep the Feast with the unleavened Bread of Sincerity and Truth So Christ interprets it to his Disciples Luk. 12.1 Beware ye of the Leaven of the Pharisees which is Hypocrisie And the Apostle 1 Cor. 5.8 applies it in particular to the sowring swelling lust of malice Let us keep the Feast not with old Leaven naither with the Leaven of Malice and Wickedness As they having eaten the Passover did presently abstain from all Leaven for seven days together so we having once laid hold on Christ and fed upon him by Faith must put away the old leaven of sin and corruption purging our hearts as they did their houses of it not a day but seven days serving the Lord in holiness and righteousness all the days of our lives Thus we are to keep the Feast under the Gospel 4. The whole Lamb was to be eaten and none of it left ver 9.10 so by Faith we must receive whole Christ and all his Benefits Joh. 1.12 1 Cor. 1.13 Is Christ divided every Believer hath whole Christ to himself Some are willing to feed upon Christ for pardon and to eat that part of the Lamb but to feed upon Christ for holiness and mortification this they desire not 5. It was to be eaten by the whole Family ver 3 and 4. and if the Family were too little they were to call in others this signified both the communion and enlargement of the Church It signified the spiritual communion of the Church as being one Body one spiritual Family 1 Cor. 12.12 13. the whole Church of Christ must eat and feed upon Christ jointly as well as severally and personally and exercise a spiritual and visible communion together It signified also the enlargement of the Church gathering in of others Luk. 14.23 compel them to come in But no uncircumcised person might eat thereof Exod. 12.48 so now none uncircumcised in the flesh no unbaptized person and none uncircumcised in heart none apparently unregenerate may be received to the Lords Supper See Ezek. 44.7 9. which speaks of New Testament days in Old Testament phrases Their second Feast was that of Penticost so called in the New Testament Act. 2.1 from the Greek ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the fiftieth because it was kept fifty days after the Passover
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
the Lord so Gospel-Ministers are called Priests and Levites ver 21. See the Geneva Notes e f g h. on the place Quest Here then it may be demanded whether Gospel-Ministers may be called Priests Answ In the Popish sense they may not for the Papists call them Priests because they say they offer a propitiatory Sacrifice in the Mass for quick and dead But there is no such Sacrifice under the Gospel but that one only Sacrifice which Jesus Christ offered when he offered up himself once for all Therefore their calling Ministers Priests on such an account is erroneous and abominable And hence it is that the word Priest is justly become a word of contempt and reproach as the word Baal which at first was and might be used for the true God but becoming in common and ordinary speech the name of Idols the Lord refuseth that Title Hos 2.16 thou shalt no more call me Baali my Lord but thou shalt call me Ishi Or as the word Bishop which is a Scripture word and signifieth an Overseer any Elder of a Church but having been so long abused to signifie an Antichristian Order of men and spiritual Usurpers in the Church of God it is now justly become a word of contempt and reproach and therefore it is not sit to call a Gospel-Minister a Bishop Of the same nature is the word Catholick which in its proper signification and its first use might be innocent and inoffensive but being become the name of distinction whereby the Papists do distinguish themselves from other Christians that are more reformed then they therefore we do not call our selves Catholicks as they do Some alledge that the word Priest comes from the Saxon Preister and that from the Greek Presbyter and so signifies no more but an Elder But the signification of words is not ruled by the Notation or Etymology of them and therefore suppose this word Priest had some good sense at first yet being in common speech used to signifie one that offers Sacrifice it is therefore not sit to be used concerning Gospel-Ministers unless with some limitation and explication as if we call them Antitypical Priests or the like The analogy lies chiefly in this That as the Priests of old did minister to the Lord in his House under the Law so do Gospel-Officers under the New Testament in his Church 3. The Priests were Types of all Believers Rev. 1.6 and he hath made us Kings and Priests to God and his Father so likewise 1 Pet. 2.9 where he speaks to all Believers and saith But ye are a chosen Generation a royal Priesthood c. all Believers are holy Priests unto God The analogy lies chiefly in this that as the Priests of old did offer legal Sacrifices so Believers offer up spiritual Sacrifices under the Gospel the Apostle so explains it 1 Pet. 2.5 Ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual House an holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual Sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ These spiritual Sacrifices are Prayer and Praise and Thanksgiving and universal Obedience to all Gods Commandments These are spiritual acceptable Sacrifices by Jesus Christ which Believers offer up now as the Priests did typical Sacrifices under the Law We see then that the Priests under the Law were Types of Jesus Christ of Gospel-Ministers and of all Believers under the Gospel Quest 2. How or wherein did the Priests typifie Christ c This is a large field I shall endeavour to shew how and wherein the Priests under the Law did shadow forth the things relating to Jesus Christ under the Gospel and that in four things 1. In their personal Qualifications and other ritual observations belonging to this Rank and Order of men 2. In their Apparel 3. In their Consecration 4. In their Priestly Ministrations in the House of God 1. In their personal qualifications and special observations belonging to that Order of Priesthod some whereof did fit them for the Office and the rest were Rules to be observed by them in their Office There were sundry legal and typical qualifications and observations required in those Ranks and Orders of ãâã There were certain common and moral qualifications which it is not necessary to seek a typical accommodation of as that they should be knowing and godly men as Gospel-Ministers ought to be But there were sundry other qualifications which had a typical respect which were partly to fit them for their Office and partly the Rules to be observed by them in that Office and Order I put them all together for the greater plainness and brevity sake though they might be ranked under two distinct heads 1. The Priest must be taken from amongst his Brethren 2. He is subject to common infirmities 3. Yet free from gross deformities and blemishes 4. Called of God he must be called to this Office 5. He must abstain from Wine he must drink no Wine 6. He must not marry a Widow 7. Nor mourn for the dead These things did point out something relating to Jesus Christ and Gospel Ministers 1. The Priest must be taken from among his Brethren from among the Jews so the Apostle speaks and applies it as having something of mystery in reference hereunto Heb. 5.1 For every High Priest taken from amongst men is ordained in things pertaining to God He was to be taken from amongst themselves And truly so was Jesus Christ He is not taken from among Angels but from among men he took not on him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham Heb. 2.16 This is one thing and it is a shadow and an intimation of Jesus Christ his being of our nature of humane nature For otherwise he had not been a fit Mediator between God and Man if he had not partaked of our nature he could not have redeemed us 2. As the Priest was taken from amongst his Brethren so he was subject to the common infirmities of his Brethren he had as is said of the Prophet Elijah the same passions and infirmities that his Brethren had This is applied to Jesus Christ who took upon him not only our Nature but the sinless infirmities of pain hunger weariness and other sufferings which we are obnoxious to so the Apostle speaks For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin Hebr. 4.15 the next words after the Text so in Heb. 5.1 2. For 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 Sin who can have compassion on the ignorant and on them that are out of the way for that he himself is also compassed with infirmity having experience and sense of the same infirmity in himself he knows how to have compassion on others This relates to Jesus Christ who is a merciful High Priest exposed to the same temptations and passions with us though without sin
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
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
on foot about it as if a man should say he had rather lye or steal or whore or be drunk or kiss the Pix or bow to an Idol or go to Mass then not preach the Gospel For I beseech you consider either it is a sin or it is not a sin If it be not a sin to preach in a Fools Coat or in a Surplice prove this and then use it and wear it in the name of God But if it be a sin it is not a supposed good intent to save a Soul that will justifie an evil action though it be not so foul an evil as some others If a Minister would fain do good to Souls and therefore is very loth to be silenced let him observe this rule let him take heed of conforming lest God silence him lest God stop his mouth or blast his endeavours that he shall never speak with any great evidence and demonstration of the Spirit nor with any great success for the good of Souls For I see but few Surplices or Circingle men that do much good Vse 2. To confute the Popish Allegorizers who tell us the literal sense of these Garments is such as this namely That the disposition and frame of the World is expressed in them and that the High Priest did thereby profess himself the Minister or Servant of the Creator of Heaven and Earth For of the significations of these holy Garments thus they descant see Aquin. 1. 2â âst 102. art 5. ad 10. and Becan tom 3. Opusc 7. cap. 5. q. 1. ãâã lintea significabant terram ex quâ linum nascitur Balceus Oceanum qui cingit terram the Linnen Breeches signifie the Earth out of which Flax groweth the Girdle the Ocean because it compasseth the Earth like a Girdle Tunica hyacinthina Aerem quia hyacinthini coloris est the sky-coloured Coat the Air because it is of a sky-colour The Golden Bells of it the Thunder in the Air The Pomegranates the Lightenings The Ephod the starry Heavens The two Onyx-stones the two Hemispheres or the Sun and the Moon The twelve Precious Stones in the Ephod the twelve Signs in the Zodiack The Mitre the Empyrean Heavens The Golden Plate God the King of all This they call the literal account of these holy Priestly Garments Well then they come to the mystical sense and there they tell us That the Linnen Breeches signifie Chastity the Linnen Coat purity of Life the Girdle moderation of Discretion the Mitre a right Intention which they say are virtues necessary for all Ministers over and above which Bishops they say must have four others which they fancy to be signified by the other Garments of the High Priest But these are too vain to insist on a large Confutation of them As these Interpretations and Applications of theirs have no footing in Scripture nor the least countenance given them from thence so there is a profound silence concerning Christ therein passing him over wholly when as indeed He and his Performances and Endowments are the great thing taught and shadowed forth by them all Vse 3. See and behold in these holy Pontifical Vestments the spiritual Glory of Jesus Christ the true High Priest For all this did represent plusquam Angelicam Splendorem Calvin that more then Angelical Splendor of Jesus Christ who is clothed indeed with Glory and Beauty Let me but briefly run over and recapitulate the heads of things according to the Explications given 1. Here is the white and pure Linnen of his perfect Righteousness imputed to us in Justification For that is one great thing intended by it as well as the Garments of Holiness and Grace inherent 2. He is girded with Strength and with Truth and Faithfulness for our Salvation and is always ready to do us good 3. He hath a glorious Robe the Golden Bells whereof have sounded in the holy place and their sound is gone forth into all the earth and the Fruits thereof are sweet and fragrant as a Garden of Pomegranates 4. He wears a glorious Ephod in the shoulders whereof he doth support his Church and lifts up them and their concernments out of the dust of death and sin and misery and bears them up before the Lord as upon the shoulders of an infinite and almighty Power 5. He hath a Brest-plate of Love upon his Heart continually our Names and our Concernments are written there even upon the Heart of Jesus Christ like the Names of the Children of Israel upon Aarons Brest-plate 6. Here is the true Urim and Thummim all Divine Illuminations and Perfections in the Heart of Jesus Christ and Emanations of Light and Holiness from him to us 7. He hath a Mitre upon his Head He is a Royal Priest both King and Priest He reconciles us effectually and intercedes with Power as a Prince prevailing with the Lord. 8. And lastly he wears a Golden Crown of Holiness upon his Forehead before the Lord. And having such an High Priest Is not all this enough to strengthen Faith and to encourage you not only to believe but to rejoyce in believing even to rejoyce and triumph in Jesus Christ THE GOSPEL of the CONSECRATION of the PRIESTS Exod. cap. 29. ver 1 c. to 38. Feb. 21. 1668. THe Contents printed in your Bibles give you the true Analysis of this Chapter for there be three things in it 1. The Consecration of the Priests to ver 38. 2. The continual Burnt-offering ver 38 c. 3. The Lords Promise of his gracious Presence with the Children of Israel ver 45. It is only the first of these viz. the Consecration of the Aaronical Priests unto their Office that we are now to speak unto There be four things wherein those Priests of old were Types 1. In their Priestly Qualifications and other Rites and Rules observed by them 2. In their Apparel 3. In their Consecration to their Office 4. In their Priestly Ministrations The two former of these viz. their Priestly and ritual Qualifications as also their holy Garments have been spoken to That which follows next is their Consecration to their Office which is declared at large in two places almost two whole Chapters of holy Scripture The Direction of it in this 29th of Exodus and the Execution of it in the 8th Chapter of Leviticus This Consecration was the solemn Investiture of them in their Office which was done by sundry sacred and mystical Rites and Ceremonies ordained and appointed of God for that end They were chiefly these four all mentioned in both these places Exod. 29. and Levit. 8. 1. Washing them 2. Apparrelling them with the holy Garments 3. Anointing them with the holy Oyl 4. Sacrificing and so sanctifying them by Blood All which I shall put together in one general Proposition or point of Doctrine which will indeed contain the sum of this whole Chapter as far as to ver 38. Doctr. That the Consecration of the Priests of old was done by washing them and by apparrelling them
living God Joshua and the Princes as some alledge might have banished them being engaged by their Oath no further but to the saving of their Lives but they suffered them still to dwell in the Land and devoted them as the first Fruits of the Slaves or Servants to the Lord. Their work was to provide and bring in Water to the Lavers and molten Sea and to provide Wood for the Fire of the Altar of Burnt-offering The time when they did this their service seems to have been early in the morning and late at night before the Morning Sacrifice which was at nine a clock in the morning and after the Evening Sacrifice which was not till three a clock in the afternoon But by this means having such access into the Courts of the Temple they came to see and know something of the Worship of the true God And as David saith Psal 84.10 better be a Door-keeper in the House of God then to dwell in the Tents of wickedness better be but a Gibeonite to the Worship of the true God then the High Priest of Baal or Apollo These Gibeonites or Nethinims were so incorporated into the Commonwealth of Israel that as they were carried away to Babylon with the rest of Gods people so they returned with them and accordingly are several times mentioned in Ezra and Nehemiah This we may learn from the whole History of them that it is much better for men to seek after God though they do it meerly out of legal fear and terror as these poor creatures did then wholly to neglect him The Lord in the bringing home of his Elect usually begins with legal works and then by degrees carries it on further in such as belong to the Election of his Grace And now you have seen the several kinds of these Temple-Officers The next thing to be spoken to is their Maintenance For you may ask Quest How was all this large and numerous Hierarchy of Temple-Officers maintained Answ There was a large and plentiful provision made for them which is the second part of this Chapter from ver 8. to the end no less then five and twenty verses are employed upon this beside which if you will have a full account of it we must borrow Light from other Scriptures Their Maintenance consisted chiefly in these eight particulars the three first whereof are mentioned in this Chapter 1. All the Offerings and Sacrifices that were given to the Lord the Lord gave part thereof to these his Ministers so here ver 9 c. Hence the Apostle saith Do ye not know that they that wait at the Altar are partakers with the Altar and they which minister about holy things live of the things of the Temple 1 Cor. 9.13 The Meat-offerings Sin-offerings Trespass-offerings Heave-offerings Wave-offerings were theirs the right Shoulder and the Wave-brest was theirs the two Cheeks and the Maw Deut. 18.3 and in the Burnt-offerings the Skin 2. They had the first Fruits of all things and that of the best so here in Numb 18. ver 12 13 15 16 17. of Corn Oyl Wine of men and Beasts whereof men the first-born of men and of beasts that were not clean for Sacrifice were redeemed with mony five shekels a head Deut. 18.4 and they had three sorts of first Fruits 1. Of the first ripe Ears of Corn offered at the Passover which was Barly because that was first ripe in that Country Lev. 23.10 Lev. 2.14 2. First Fruits of Bread at Pentecost and this of Wheat which was then ripe Lev. 23.15 3. First Fruits of all the other Fruits of the Earth of which Numb 18.13 Deut. 18.4 and Deut. 16.2 3. They had the tenths of all the Increase of the Land ver 20 c. the tenth of which tenth went to the Priests ver 26. 4. They had Gleab-lands forty eight Cities with their Suburbs for themselves and their Cattel The Institution whereof is in Numb 35. the eight first verses The Performance is recorded in Josh 21. throughout the Chapter whereof thirteen were given to the Priests the rest to the Levites six of them were Cities of Refuge 5. They had voluntary Presents and Contributions at the three solemn Feasts Deut. 16.16 17. 6. They had Poll-mony of a half shekel at every general Muster of the people and of the third part of a shekel yearly Of the former you have the Ordinance Exod. 30 12-16 it is there said to be for the Service of the Tabernacle which shews that the Levites had it though withall the Lord there puts another respect also upon it The ordaining of the latter you find Nehem. 10.32 7. The Restitution-mony for Trespasses and Injuries often fell into their hands which was the principal with a fifth part superadded Numb 5.8 8. They had a priviledge of exemption from all publick Taxes and Assessments that were laid on others granted them by Artaxerxes Ezr. 7.24 All which put together amounts to a very large and ample Maintenance Some have observed that though the Levites were not equal in number to the one and fortieth part of the people yet their Revenue and yearly Income was above four times as much as fell to the lot of the richest Tribe in all the Land of Canaan and that the Temple and these sacred Officers of it had above a third part of the Income of the whole Land The Instruction which the Apostle teacheth us out of all this is the Maintenance of Gospel-Ministers He disputes the point at large 1 Cor. 9. as from arguments of all sorts so from the equity and reason of this old Temple-ordinance Object But what necessity is there that Ministers should be maintained by others For can they not follow some other honest Calling and yet preach too Answ For a man to follow another Calling and yet to be a constant Preacher is neither lawful nor possible ordinarily 1. It is not lawful because it is the Ordinance and Appointment of Jesus Christ that the Ministry should be a particular Calling that is that Ministers should employ their whole time upon it 1 Tim. 4.13 14 15. Be thou wholly in them give thy self to reading c. To think otherwise argues a secret contempt of this Calling and blindness of heart concerning the nature of it Is it such a small thing in your eyes to preach the Gospel that this must be done as a ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as a work upon the by which is of so great weight and concernment that it requires the whole man and the utmost improvement of all his abilities and of all his time and talents for the right discharging of it 2. As it is not lawful so it is not possible ordinarily as no man may preach constantly so no man can preach constantly that follows another Calling Object But they may by the immediate assistance of the Spirit say some Answ I answer the Spirit of God doth not give any such immediate assistance in these times and therefore it is presumption to
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