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
distributed but I shall content my self at present with this distribution in the Text and shall speak unto them as the Lord shall enable me in the order wherein the Text hath set them down before us the Words whereof are a short recapitulation of the general Heads of the seven first Chapters of this Book all which treat upon these several sorts of Sacrifices and Offerings with the Rules and Rites appertaining to them which having been delivered and laid down at large the Text concludes and winds up all thus This is the Law of the Burnt-Offering and of the Meat-Offering c. Quest Wherein lay the difference between these several kinds and sorts of Sacrifices Ans There were some things wherein they all agreed namely in all those general things before mentioned in the description and explication of them As 1. They were all offered at the Brazen Altar and so were Offerings of a lower nature also But 2. These were all Quodesh Quodeshim most Holy Holy of Holinesses 3. They were all Ishim Offerings made by Fire 4. They were all Propitiatory they did serve for Expiation and Atonement therefore they differed not in the general nature or in the general scope and intent of them which was the same in all namely to shadow forth Christ in his death as the true Sacrifice for our sins and in other mysteries of his Wisdom and Grace and Love in the Gospel of our Salvation But the difference consists in three things 1. Partly in the different matter of them as an Oxe or a Sheep in some Flower and Wine in others of them 2. Partly in the particular Ends and Designs and Occasions of them some being for sins of Ignorance as the Sin Offering some for sins against Knowledg as Trespass Offerings some for Consecration of the Priests c. 3. Partly yea principally in the different Ceremonies accompanying them some were cut in pieces as Sheep and Oxen but some were only slit in the middle but not cut asunder as Birds And various other Ceremonies there were as you will see further when we come to open and explain the several sorts and kinds of Sacrifices At present I shall conclude with two words of use from all that hath been said Vse 1. Let us learn this great Lesson to keep close to the Rule of divine Institution in matters of Worship I beseech you mark the Text how emphatical the expressions are This is the Law of all the several sorts of Sacrifices which the Lord commanded Moses when he commanded the Children of Israel to offer their Oblations c. As they did nothing but what the Lord commanded Moses so we should do nothing but what Christ hath commanded us Make that your great enquiry in all things that concern the Worship of God hath the Lord commanded it Is the Command gone forth from Mount Sion for it Yea or No The Apostles were limited Mat. 28. ult in their preaching to teach only what Christ had commanded them had they taught their own Inventions they had exceeded their Commission they had not been faithful to their Trust but they were faithful in teaching and transmitting to the Churches what the Lord himself had taught and commanded them 1 Cor. 11.23 What I received of the Lord that I delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread c. When a Minister baptiseth with the sign of the Cross or any such like superstition he cannot say I received this from the Lord. Practise nothing which the Word doth not require omit nothing that the Word doth require whatever worldly troubles or dangers you incurr Vse 2. See the worth and value of the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the necessity of it for the Justification and Salvation of lost Sinners For what was the meaning of all these Offerings and Sacrifices whereof they had so great a multitude and so many several sorts and kinds of them under the Law but to lead us by the hand to Jesus Christ to the true Sacrifice and Atonement that is in his death and blood for he is the Propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 2.2 This was the scope and design of them all for it was impossible that such Sacrifices should do the work of making satisfaction to Divine Justice and reconciling God and sinners therefore they were not to terminate their thoughts there but to look beyond them to Jesus Christ in whom both we and they are reconciled to God That this was the Scope of them appears throughout the New Testament therefore Christ is called a Sacrifice Ephes 5.2 and a Propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 2.2 And hence the Apostle so argues Heb. 9.13 14. If the blood of Bulls and Goats and the ashes of an Heiser sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself with out spot to God purge your Conscience from dead works to serve the living God THE GOSPEL OF THE BURNT-OFFERING June 21 and 28. 1668. Levit. Cap. 1. Of the Burnt-Offering Yola THe first sort of propitiatory Sacrifices under the Law is the Burnt Offering this is set down first in that enumeration of them Lev. 7.37 and taught first in this Book as being the chief and of most common and continual use I shall speak to it somewhat the more largely because it will give Light unto the other sorts of Sacrifices that follow wherein we may be more brief The Institution of it being recorded in this place I know not how to speak to it better than in the way of an Exposition upon this Chapter borrowing also some further Light out of other Scriptures and out of other Chapters of this Book and particularly the 6th where some things are further explained It is called the Burnt-Offering or the whole Burnt-Offering because it was to be wholly burned and consumed in the fire except only the Skin In Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Root 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ascendit because being wholly burnt it ascended and went up to Heaven in smoak and vapour in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The special occasions upon which it was to be offered were many and various Confer on Lev. 7.37 38. of the general occasions of Sacrifices they may be referred to three Heads 1. Such as were providential as upon all emergent occasions when they had Guilt or Judgments to be removed or prevented or Mercies to be bestowed and acknowledged Of these see Lev. 22.18 2. Such incidental occasions wherein they were required by the Law as at the Consecration of Priests Exod. 29.18 And of the Levites Numb 8.12 At the Purification of unclean persons and upon several other occasions 3. At their stated Festivals and appointed Seasons which were both dayly weekly monthly and anniversary of which hereafter Amongst the rest there was a constant Burnt-Offering every day or
neglected and postponed God will blast and curse all the other works of your hands as he did theirs 5. Labour to see the Beauty of the Lord in his Temple This was Davids earnest desire Psal 27.4 One thing I have desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the Beauty of the Lord Psal 84.7 to appear before God in Sion Psal 63.2 to see thy Power and thy Glory in thy Sanctuary What do you come there for if you do not meet with God there Be in the purest way of Worship but rest not in it without God Get real visions and fruitions of God in his Ordinances to see the pleasant Beauty of the Lord in his Temple Quest But when is God real to the Soul in his Ordinances Answer When God is as real to the Soul to the eye of Faith as the external part of an Ordinance is to the eye of sense When you see Christ crucified in the Sacrament when you see his Body broken his Blood poured out as really as you see the Bread broken and the Wine poured out And if there be a real sight of Christ it will have real effects to subdue thy Lusts to keep the heart in ways of Holiness Quest But what of God are we to see in his Temple Answ All his Glory shines forth there especially his Power and his Grace 1. His Power Psal 63.2 To see thy Power and thy Glory 2. Especially the Glory of his Grace Zech. 4.7 Cry Grace Grace unto it from the foundation to the top-stone 2. Sam. 7.13 He shall build an House for my Name Nov. 1. 1668. and I will establish the Throne of his Kingdom for ever NOw of the parts of the Temple Taking the word in the largest sense for all the holy Buildings and the appertainances thereof so the parts of it were three 1. The House 2. The Courts and 3. The Vessels of the Temple I call them all parts for want of a fitter term to express it by for there is a penury of words from whence there is a necessity sometimes of tropes and figures and improprieties of speech 1. The House it self that is the covered Building called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to inhabit as all the holy ground is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the whole place and all the Courts were holy As to this I mean the House it self we may consider 1. The common parts of it which belong to every House and so to this amongst the rest And here the Scripture takes notice of the Foundation the Walls the Doors the Windows the Floor and the Roof of the Temple Not that we should seek a mystery in every thing but only so far as we see the Scripture going before us we may safely follow when we find the Scripture allegorizing any thing and alluding to it in a spiritual sense we should mind and heedfully take out such lessons and instructions I must speak first to the Letter and History of them as parts of the material Temple and then consider what mystical application the Scripture makes of them This method I shall observe under every head 1. The Foundation of the House of the Lord it was of great costly hewn stone 1 Kings 5.17 But what is the Foundation in the Foundation in the spiritual Temple The Scripture often applies this to Jesus Christ Isai 28.16 behold I lay in Sion for a foundation a stone a tryed stone c. 1. Pet. 2 4-6 to whom coming as to a living stone disallowed indeed of men c. refused of the Builders Psal 118.22 the stone which the Builders refused is become the head of the corner A Scripture often interpreted in the New Testament concerning Christ other foundations can no man lay 1 Cor. 3.9 11. The Scripture often speaks of Christ under this notion as a Stone and a Rock and a Corner-stone Gen. 49.24 from thence is the Shepherd the Stone of Israel Dan. 2.25 a Stone cut out of the Mountain without hand Isai 26.4 Trust ye in the Lord for ever for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength The word is the Rock of ages in which Rock Moses was hid Exod. 33.22 while my Glory passeth by I will put thee in a clift of the Rock And Elijah 1 Kings 19.9 13. He is that Stone Zech. 3.9 ingraven with seven eyes upon 〈◊〉 it And as Christ is the foundation-stone of the Church so the Apostles in regard of their Doctrine are also called the Foundations of it Rev. 21.14 Eph. 2.20.21 Look to it that you be built upon this foundation that you be not built upon the Sand but upon this Rock Matthew 7.24 For hence it is that the Church stands so safe because built upon this Rock therefore the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it Matthew 26.18 The Papists make the Pope the Corner-stone of their Church but it is not the Pope it is not Peter himself as personally considered that the Church is built upon Many build upon the sandy foundation of their own Righteousness and their own strength and moral endeavours These are false foundations But if you be upon this foundation fear not whosoever believeth in him shall not be confounded 2. The Walls of the Temple they were of Stone the inside was Cedar adorned with carved Cherubims Palm trees Flowers and overlaid with Gold and yet further adorned with precious Stones fixed and sparkling like Stars in fit places in the Wall 1 Kings 6.18 29 2 Chron. 3.6 The outside of the Wall was either white polished Marble as some think or overlaid with Silver as others conceive from 1 Chron. 29.4 For within it was overlaid with Gold Therefore this Silver as it seems was for the outside which could not but yield a very bright and glorious shew to the eyes of all spectators especially when the beams of the Sun did shine and sparkle upon it The thickness of the Wall of the Temple is not expressed in the Scripture but the least that can be allowed at the foundation is four cubits because there was a rebatement of three cubits in the thickness of the Wall for the side-chambers 1 Kings 6.6 and for the Wall in the highest story we may well allow one cubit and so there will be four at the bottom The Scripture appies this mystically to the new Jerusalem Rev. 21.12 it had a Wall great and high and again v. 17. and often the Walls are mentioned 1. The Walls of an House or City are the defence and safety of it so Isai 60.18 thou shalt call thy Walls Salvation And God is said to be a Wall of Fire Zech. 2.5 for I saith the Lord will be unto her a Wall of Fire round about and will be the Glory in the midst of her the Lord is for Walls and Bulwarks to his people Isai 26.1 2. The Stones in this sacred Building
the matter to this head of the Jewish Festivals subjoined as an Appendix those two Discourses as they were found amongst the Authors Papers Farewell THE GOSPEL of the JEWISH FESTIVALS Jan. 14 17. 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 Obs 1. THat the Jewish Holy days were of three sorts and may be referred to three Heads Feasts New Moons and Sabbaths 2. That these were Shadows of things to come but the Body or Substance is of Christ 3. That therefore Christians should not suffer any man to condemn them for their not observing of these Days I shall handle the two first together in one shewing under each of these legal Holy days what the substance and thing signified was what of Christ was signified and shadowed forth by them Obs 1. That the Jewish Holy days were of three sorts and may be referred to three heads viz. Feasts New Moons and Sabbaths This Distribution of them doth frequently occur in the Scripture in other places as well as in this Text 2 Chron. 2.4 I build an House saith Solomon for the Burnt-offerings on the Sabbaths and on the New Moons and on the solemn Feasts of the Lord our God Ezek. 45.17 And it shall be the Princes part to give Burnt-offerings c. in the Feasts and in the New Moons and in the Sabbaths even in all the solemnities of the House of Israel that is in their appointed or solemn Assemblies Where Solemnities or solemn Assemblies is the general and this Genus is distributed into three particulars Feasts New Moons and Sabbaths so likewise Hos 2.11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease her Feast-days her New Moons and her Sabbaths even every holy Assembly of hers The first word is Feasts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebrew moyed set times because they came at set times of the year This is meant of their annual Festivals which were in number five The three principal were the Feast of the Passover the Feast of Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles which continued the two former each of them seven days the last for eight days together and the first day and the last day of them were holy Convocations wherein they were to do no servile work but to be wholly vacant for the Word and Worship of God The first mention of them is in Exod. 23 14-17 They are more largely spoken to in the 23. chap. of Leviticus and again in Deut. 16. and briefly recapitulated and summed up in ver 16. These were the principal because then all the males were to go up to Jerusalem and therefore these three are so often mentioned together There were also two more the Feast of Trumpets and the Feast of Expiation There are five general Rules observable concerning all these yearly Feasts 1. That they were all to be celebrated at the place the Lord their God should choose which was Jerusalem Exod. 23.14 Deut. 16.16 That which we are to learn therein is this that there is a Church-worship There are some Ordinances of Gods Worship which are not to be enjoyed but in Church-society As there is a personal and family-worship so there is publick or Church-worship of this kind is the Lords Supper If this be not an Ordinance of publick Worship under the Gospel there is none therefore to carry it to private persons upon their death-beds as the Papists doe is unwarrantable and superstitious 2. It is to be observed that they were all in the Summer time and not in Winter for the Passover was upon the fourteenth day of the first month Pentecost was seven weeks after and the Feast of Tabernacles was upon the fifteenth day of the seventh month Hence is that expression Acts. 27.9 Sailing is now dangerous because the Feast was now already past that is the Feast of Tabernacles The Instruction we are here to learn is this namely to see the tenderness of God towards his people even as to the outward man As he will have Mercy rather then Sacrifice so he orders the matters of Sacrifice and Worship with tenderness and mercy even to the bodies of his people yea the Spirit of God vouchsafes to dwell in their very Bodies as well as in their Souls and he preserves the dust thereof as precious reliques in the treasures of his Providence and will gather those dispersed atoms and bring them forth again and raise them up to everlasting life How great is his Goodness to us It shews there is a Duty incumbent upon us in reference to our Bodies and how great a sin it is in men to wrong and hurt their bodies when the Lord himself is tender of them 3. They were not to come empty handed Exod. 23. Deut. 16.16 17. true Religion is bountiful Duties of Worship are to be accompanied with duties of mercy and bounty so upon the Christian Sabbath there should be Collections for the poor 1 Cor. 16.2 Hypocrisie divides these it is willing to serve God but in the cheapest way hypocrites are all for a cheap Religion 4. Whereas there was danger of Invasion by their Enemies when all the Males were absent the Lord secures them by a promise of special Protection Exod. 34.24 Neither shall any man desire thy Land when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year Learn here that while we are in our Duty God will take care of our Safety the way of Duty is the way of Safety When the Church of the Jews was gone from God and had crucified the Lord of Life this protecting Providence forsook them For at the Passover it was that the Romans took and destroyed Jerusalem This Ordinance which was at first and ever after a means of safety to them the Lord now makes it a snare to bring them all together as it were into a pound that the Romans might take them and cut them off But while they abode with God in purity of Worship and Obedience he abode with them in his protecting Providence This should be a great encouragement to us in the Work and Worship of God to run all hazards and to fear no colours but be resolute in the discarge and performance of Duty The Lord is with us in such a case and then who can be against us 5. These Feasts as to their end and use were both commemorative of former Benefits and also prefigurative of future It may be said so of other holy times and holy things also but it holds eminently true concerning these three solemn anniversary Feasts The first of these yearly Feasts was the Passover which began upon the fifteenth day of the first month answering chiefly to our March The first Institution of it is in the 12th chap. of Exodus There were three things which were the peculiar observations of this
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
place of Execration by making it the Stage of his Fury and the Field of his Vengeance in hideous Plagues and Judgments For here he destroyed Senacherib with the rest of that blaspheming Army that damning roaring Crew Here an hundred eighty five Thousand of them were slain miraculously and their Carcasses as it seemeth burnt with Fire to prevent annoyance and infection and putrefaction of the Air. Isa 30.31 33. For Tophet is prepared of old And in the same place again in another day of the Lords Fury when he did let loose the Chaldeans upon them the Jews were slain in so great numbers till there was no room left to bury them see Jer. 7.31 32 33. From all which this place came to be the name of Hell as being a place every way execrable and having been made by God the Gate of Hell as it were and the passage to eternal Destruction by so many remarkable Executions of his dreadful and direful displeasure in that place We do not find Gehinnom used in the Old Testament for the name of Hell as the Learned have observed But Hell got that name during the time of the second Temple the forementioned grounds and occasions of the name being not till about that time in being Mede Disc 7. pag. 41. and accordingly the name is to be found in the Jewish Writers of that time and was used by our Saviour as a name then vulgarly known among the Jews You see then what Types of Hell they had under the Old Testament namely the Deluge Sodom Egypt and Tophet You have heard also that they had five Types of Rome to wit Sodom Egypt Jericho Edom and Babylon These were typical presignifications of Gospel Enemies and Gospel Vengeance And now I have gone through these Occasional Types whether things or actions whether typical mercies or typical vengeance That which next remains is those perpetual standing Types which the Scripture calls everlasting Statutes For besides these Occasional Types which were exhibited in a transient way and did exist but for a time they had also other Types that were of a more enduring nature and did continue to the end of that Old Testament Dispensation namely the whole Ceremonial Law whereof we shall speak hereafter the Lord assisting THE GOSPEL OF THE PERPETUAL TYPES June 4 and 7 1668. Heb. 10.1 For the Law having a shadow of good things to come and not the very Image of the things c. SOme entrance and progress hath been made upon the Types You have heard Beloved what a Type is The nature of it hath been opened from Rom. 5.14 We have distributed them into two Sorts Personal and Real which distribution will carry us through this whole Subject The Personal Types we have gone through as briefly as we could instancing both in several individual Persons both before the Law and under the Law and in typical Ranks and Orders of men which were destined and ordained of God to represent and shadow forth him that was to come The Real Types we have also begun to speak unto and we distributed them into two sorts Occasional and Perpetual Occasional Types are such as God gave them upon special Occasions the most of them before the ordinary and perpetual ones were settled Such as the Pillar of Cloud and Fire Manna the Brazen Serpent their passing through the Red Sea and other such like occasional and extraordinary Dispensations of which we spoke from 1 Cor. 10.11 All these things happened unto them in Types By the perpetual Types we intend such as God by institution settled and stated in that Church to the end of that Age of that whole Old Testament Dispensation till the coming of Christ the Truth Substance and Scope of them Of these we are now to speak as the Lord shall enable us it is the Scripture Phrase it calleth them perpetual Statutes or everlasting Statutes The Phrase is first used as I remember in reference to Circumcision which is called Berith Yolam a perpetual Covenant Gen. 17.7 8. Afterwards we have it again concerning the Passover Exod. 12.14 17. which is there called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Statutum saeculi an everlasting Statute See likewise Exod. 27.21 and 28.43 A Statute for ever and 29.9 A perpetual Statute so Levit. 3.17 and 24.9 An everlasting Statute Levit. 16 34. And indeed this Phrase of Speech doth occur between twenty and thirty times in the Books of Moses It shall be a perpetual Statute or an everlasting Statute or a Statute for ever throughout your Generations that is a standing Type and not meerly transient and occasional Only there hath been some mistake and misunderstanding of this Phrase which must be cleared before we leave it The unbelieving Jews have seemed to interpret and understand it concerning an absolute Eternity which hath been one occasion or pretence alledged by them for their stumbling at Christ and at the Gospel because he hath removed and taken away the Law of Ceremonies But besides many other things that might be said to shew the weakness and folly of their pretence in this matter I shall but note these two things 1. That this word for ever is often used in Scripture for a limited duration As for instance it is used for duration till the year of Jubilee Exod. 21.6 He shall be a servant for ever that is only till the year of Jubilee in case he lived so long For then he was to go free by vertue of that Law Levit. 25.13 28 40 41. Sometimes it is used for a continuance during life As 1 Sam. 1.22 that he may appear before the Lord and there abide for ever Explained vers 28. Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord as long as he liveth Sometimes it is used for duration to the end of the Old Testament Dispensation For all the Land which thou seest to thee will I give it and to thy Seed for ever Gen. 13.15 The Land given to thy Seed for ever which cannot be Interpreted concerning an unlimited Eternity unless they will say that God hath broke his Promise for they have been Ejected and cast forth of that Land these sixteen hundred years 1 King 8.13 I have surely built thee an house to dwell in a settled place for thee to abide in for ever Psal 132.14 This is my rest for ever here will I dwell for I have desired it He doth not dwell nor manifest his presence there now but God hath given them up to invincible perversness and darkness and prejudice in this particular 2. There be manifest intimations in the Old Testament that these Ceremonial Laws were not to continue always but to cease and be abolished in the fulness of time Jer. 3. They shall say no more the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. Jer. 31. Not according to the Covenant that I made with their Fathers but this shall be the Covenant I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts c. But
nature so there is a remedy and purification by Jesus Christ And as there is an Ordinance of Ejection of scandalous Sinners and Lepers out of the house of Israel So there is for re-admission of healed Lepers into the Church again This confutes the Novatians The 13. Chapter of Leviticus reproves promiscuous Communions This 14. reproves that Novatian Error of them who would not re-admit and receive repenting Sinners into the Church again The Scripture is clear for both Binding and Loosing Binding Impenitent sinners and loosing and restoring the Penitent THE GOSPEL OF THE HOLY PLACES Deut. 12.5 6. October 11. 18. 1668. But unto the place which the Lord your God shall chuse out of all your Tribes to put his Name there even unto his habitation shall you seek and thither thou shalt come And thither ye shall bring your Burnt Offerings and your Sacrifices c. WE have been endeavouring beloved to take off the Veyl from Moses face and to unfold and open to you the Types and Shadows of the Ceremonial Law they are dark Shadows but there are glorious Mysteries adumbrated and shadowed forth by them They are hard Shells but there are sweet Kernels within if the Lord help us to break the shell and to understand the mystery and meaning of them You have seen divers of these Shells broken and what precious Kernels of Gospel-truths are contained in them You may remember we did refer this Law of Ceremonies to five general heads 1. The Initiating Seal of Circumcision 2. The Legal Sacrifices and Purifications 3. The Tabernacle and Temple and other Holy places 4. The Priesthood with all the rest of the legal Ministry 5. Their Festivals or holy Times and Seasons We have formerly spoken to the two first of these to wit the Initiating Seal of Circumcision and their Legal Sacrifices and Purifications We are now to proceed in the help of Christ unto the third namely 3. Their Tabernacle and Temple and other Holy places of which this Text gives you this Doctrinal Assertion Doctrine That God was pleased to chuse out certain places to stand in a special relation of Holiness unto himself under the Old Testament See again in this Chapter ver 11 14 18 Psal 68.35 Thou art terrible oh God out of thine holy places And ver 17. As in Sinai in the holy place But it is needless and would be easie to multiply quotations For this phrase holy place and holy places doth occur in the Scripture above threescore times Let me explain and open a little to you the nature of this holiness of places that was under the Law You all know there is a two fold Holiness Inherent and Relative Holiness Inherent Holiness is nothing else but those saving Graces of Sanctification in the Souls of men Now this is only in persons it is a thing which places are no way capable of But the Holiness that is in places is a Relative holiness and it doth consist in a separation or setting them apart for God to be peculiarly his That this is the Scripture notion of Holiness and that particularly in reference to Holy places you may see in Deut. 19.2 7. compared with Joshua 20.7 That which in the one place is called Separation in the other is called Sanctification Thou shalt separate three Cities for Cities of Refuge saith the Lord by Moses And they sanctified Kedesh and Sechem saith the Text in Joshuah The contrary to Holiness is that which is Common or Unclean Acts 10.14 God hath a special propriety in that which is holy it belongs to God as his peculiar Exod. 13.2 Sanctifie unto me all the first-born it is mine Hence the neerer to God any place or thing is the more of Separation to his use the more holy Thus you see the general notion of it Now to descend to some particulars This Holiness of places was twofold either transient and meerly for the present time or else more permanent and abiding 1. The transient Holiness of places was where the Lord gave visible appearances of himself in his glorious Majesty to the eyes of his Servants such places were holy during the time of such divine appearances So when the Lord appeared to Moses in the burning Bush Exod. 3.5 the place whereon thou standest is holy ground and he saith the like to Joshuah cap. 5.15 So Mount Sinai was holy and therefore might not be touched Exod. 19. Upon the same account the Mount where Christ was transfigured is called the Holy Mount 2 Pet. 1.18 I call this a transient kind of Holiness because it continued no longer but while that extraordinary Presence continued There is no more Holiness in Mount Sinai or Mount Tabor now than in any other place The Apostle calls it the holy Mount from what it was not that it is so still Therefore it is but a superstitious thing in the Papists to go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem and to visit the holy Sepulchre and the like there is no Holiness in them now 2. But secondly there was also a more permanent and abiding Holiness of places under the Law during that whole legal Dispensation Quest What were these Places Answ I shall instance chiefly in four particulars 1. The Land of Canaan was an holy Land so called Zach. 2.12 the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy Land It was a Type of Heaven Heb. 11.14 16. they sought another Country a better Country that is an heavenly thine eyes shall see the Land that is very far off Isai 32.17 glimpses of Heaven and Glory And some special places in the Land were holy as 2. The Cities of Refuge whereof there were six three on this side and three on the other side Jordan The Institution and Ordinance for it you have in Deut. 19. the performance in Josh 20. where these Cities are said to be sanctified And that there was a Gospel Mystery in this Ordinance and what it was the Apostle insinuates Heb. 6.18 who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us The Souls flying to Jesus Christ and finding safety and shelter there when pursued by the Law as the avenger of Blood is the Gospel mystery of that Ordinance 3. The Tabernacle the Temple the Ark and all the places where they came 2 Chron 8.11 The places are holy whereunto the Ark of the Lord hath come The Ark did as it were consecrate them and so there was a reverence due to them The Tabernacle you know was made in the Wilderness by Moses and so was the Ark it marched before them to seek rest for them till they came into the Land of Canaan The first place where it was pitched there was at Gilgal Josh cap. 4.19 there it continued about six or seven years till Joshuah had conquered the Land and then it was set up at Shilo Josh 18.1 there it continued as some compute 300 years from Joshuah's time to Eli's and then the people in a carnal confidence carrying the Ark
before them to battel it was taken captive by the Philistines and Shilo was rejected of God and laid desolate for the wickedness of his people Israel The Story whereof you have recorded in 1 Sam. 4. A very instructing Providence to teach them to take heed of carnal resting in external Ordinances Yea Gospel Ordinances Baptism and the Lords Supper if thou art a wicked man will stand thee in no more stead than the Ark did them Jer. 7.12 But go ye now unto my place which was in Shilo where I set my Name at first and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel And after this it is observable that the Ark and the Tabernacle so far as it appears out of the sacred History never met again after this parting Which should teach such as pretend to be the Tabernacles of God in whom he dwells as every Christian is to take heed of decays and backslidings in your Christian course For it may be God and thou may part never to meet more We see sad examples of it in many Professors that after backslidings never recover their former Glory they never enjoy the Ark of his Presence any more as formerly What became of the Tabernacle after the Desolation of Shilo and after this departure of the Ark from it the Scripture is in a great measure silent Only this we find that it was at Nob in Sauls time 1 Sam. 21.1 and that it was afterwards at Gibeon in Davids time 1 Chron. 16.39 And finally that the Vessels of it were removed to the Temple after the building of that by Solomon Not as the Jews suppose to be laid by there but rather to be used as occasion was together with the other Vessels of the Temple Some think the Tabernacle had a station once at Mizpeh which they gather from that phrase 1 Sam. 10.17 and Samuel called the people together unto the Lord to Mizpeh But this is not certain because they might be said to appear before the Lord elsewhere and not only where the Tabernacle was The places where the Ark came are more particularly recorded in the Scripture First it was carried from Shilo into the Field of Aphek against the Philistines 1 Sam. 4.2 where the Philistines took it captive and carried it from place to place to Ashdod to Ekron to Gath 1 Sam. 5. At last they sent it home into the Land of Judah First to Bethshemesh cap. 6. Thence it went to Kirjath Jearim Thence to the House of Abinodab cap. 7. Thence to the House of Obed-Edom 2 Sam. 6. Thence to the City of David ibid. ver 12. And finally it was placed in the Oracle in the Temple by Solomon 1 King 8.6 7. where it continued till the Captivity of Babylon at which time it was either destroyed in the burning of the Temple or else carried away to Babylon and restored amongst the rest of the Vessels of the Lords House by Cyrus Some indeed think it was never returned and that the second Temple wanted the Ark. But this to others seems improbable because the High-priest was annually to minister in the most holy place and that in reference to the Ark for he was to sprinkle the Mercy-seat with Blood of which hereafter But these various removals and travels of the Ark to and fro from place to place may teach us this lesson that God hath not tyed himself and his Ordinances and the tokens of his Presence so to any people but that if they prove unworthy he may remove them and seek unto himself another habitation Matth. 21.43 Rev. 2.5 I will remove the Candlestick 4. Hence fourthly among the holy places Jerusalem was very eminent as being the place of the Temple and Ark and all the publick Worship thereunto belonging Psal 76.2 In Salem also is his Tabernacle and his dwelling place in Sion Psal 87.2 The Lord loveth the Gates of Sion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Jerusalem therefore is made in Scripture a Type of the Church both militant and triumphant Gal. 4.26 for Jerusalem which is above is free which is the Mother of us all Therefore in that magnificent Description of the Church Catholick mystical Heb. 12.22 23. amongst other Elogies it is called heavenly Jerusalem So Rev. 21.2 the new Jerusalem that comes down from God out of Heaven as a Bride adorned for her Husband is the Church throughly reformed in the latter times both in Doctrine and Order and Worship Which Purity is begun here and perfected in another and an higher Glory in Heaven And throughout the Scripture the Elogies given to Jerusalem are very high and excellent It is called the City of God Psal 46.4 The Elect City or the City which God hath chosen 1 Kings 11.32 but he shall have one Tribe for my Servant Davids sake and for Jerusalems sake the City which I have chosen out of all the Tribes of Israel It is called the beloved City Gog and Magog compass the beloved City Rev. 20.9 The holy City Matth. 27.53 many bodies of Saints which slept arose and went into the holy City Rev. 22.19 God shall take his part out of the holy City The City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem Heb. 12.22 It is called the Throne of the Lord Jer. 3.17 at that time they shall call Jerusalem the Throne of the Lord and all Nations shall be gathered unto it to the Name of the Lord to Jerusalem Quest What is the ground of this Holiness of these places and how are we to conceive of it Answ You heard in general before that it consists in this in the Lords separating of them for himself in a special and peculiar manner But there be four expressions in the Text the explication whereof will a little further clear it 1. The Lord is said to set his Name there 2. Thither shalt thou seek 3. Thither shalt thou come 4. Thither shalt thou bring thy holy things 1. The Lord is said to chuse these places to set his Name there and therefore they are called his Habitation even to his Habitation shall ye seek the meaning is his Name dwelt there What is Gods Name and how is it set in such a place Gods Name is any thing by which he is known the discoveries or manifestations of himself by which he is known amongst his people as a man is known by his Name He sets his Name in such or such a place when he constitutes or appoints it to be the place wherein he will give forth the discoveries and manifestations of himself unto his people There be five things here included 1. That here were the standing symbols and tokens of his Presence The Ark the Mercy-seat the Altar the Sacrifices here they had their abode and residence even in the places that God chose for that end 2. In these places were visible appearances of his Glory upon special occasions As when Moses had erected and reared up the Tabernacle Exod. 40.34 then a Cloud covered
Jews Some they borrow from the Pagans and others are nothing else but pieces and reliques of the Law of Ceremonies So is this of the Holiness of Places and consecrating of Churches For there is nothing more clear than that the difference of Places is taken away under the Gospel When the Woman of Sâ—â—naria pleaded Our Fathers worshipped in this Mountain but ye say that Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship Jesus said unto her Woman believe me the hour cometh and now is when ye shall neither in this Mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father but the true Worshippers shall worship him in spirit and in truth Joh. 4.21 23. He turns her eyes and thoughts away from the difference of Places to regard and mind the Spirituality of the Worship For as God is no respecter of Persons so he is no respecter of Places But wheresoever for that indefinite where is equivalent to an universal wheresoever two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them Matth. 18.22 The Apostle therefore saith 1 Tim. 2.8 I will that men pray everywhere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in every place as was prophesied long before by the Prophet Malachi cap. 1.11 For from the rising of the Sun even to the going down thereof my Name shall be great among the Gentiles and in every place therefore all places are alike Incense shall be offered unto my Name and a pure Offering which before were limited to the Temple Therefore the Church at Jerusalem met in an upper Chamber Acts. 1.13 so did the Church at Troas Acts 20.8 there they did preach and break bread therefore all places are alike Every Place is now a Judea every House a Jerusalem every Congregation a Sion But what a strange thing is this that men can see no Holiness in the Lords day but slight and oppose that and yet assert an Holiness in Places Oh the Wrath of God upon such mens Spirits Obj. But should there not be publick Worship Answ Yes but that may be in places that are not consecrated Dr. Vsher in his Body of Divinity pag. 404. speaking against the private Administration of the Sacraments he thus explains it in these words In times of persecution the Godly saith he did often meet in Barns and such obscure places which were indeed publick because of the Church of God there The House or Place availing nothing to make it either publick or private even as wheresoever the Prince is there is the Court although it were a poor Cottage Obj. But there it a spiritual Presence of God in the Places therefore they are holy Answ It follows not For 1. God doth not vouchsafe his Presence out of respect to the Place but to the Persons He hath not set his Name upon the Place but only upon the Persons and is not present with them for the Places sake but only present in the place for their sakes who are there assembled 2. The Spiritual Presence of God is not enough to make a place holy for then all places should be holy wheresoever Gods People do enjoy Communion with him and so not only dwelling houses where there are Family duties but every private Chamber where there is secret Prayer yea the Fields the Streets and sometimes Prisons and Dungeons and Gibbets and all places whatsoever where the Saints come and enjoy Communion with God in their Spirits would be holy places And so this Objection lays all places level the Lord having many precious Saints that walk closely with him who are dispersed and scattered up and down almost in every corner of the Land Our publick Meeting-places for Worship they have not any such Sacred Symbols of Gods Presence as the Temple had the Ark the Altar c. neither have they any such extraordinary visible appearances of the Divine Majesty and Glory as the Temple had upon special occasions neither have they that typical respect unto Christ and Gospel-mysteries neither are they parts of Worship or Ordinances nor hath God annexed his Worship to them He hath no way separated or set them apart unto himself as his own peculiar therefore there is no pretense for Holiness in them Instr 2. The second Instruction is this Learn to present your Worship unto God by Jesus Christ for he is the true Temple and Tabernacle as hath been shewed Therefore that strict Injunction to bring all their Sacrifices thither signified thus much that we must present all our Services and Sacrifices to God in the Name Mediation of Jesus Christ Make use of Jesus Christ in his mediatory relation a thing much often pressed in the Scripture as indeed it cannot be too much insisted on Heb. 7.25 He is able to save to the utmost all that ceme unto God by him 1 Pet. 1.21 who by him do believe in God Joh. 14.6 I am the way the truth and the life no man comes unto the Father but by me Col. 3.17 And whatsoever ye in word or deed do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God and the Father by him A thing of absolute necessity if we desire either Access unto God Acceptance witn God or Influence and Assistance from God 1. There is no Access unto God but by this greater and more perfect Tabernacle Jesus Christ in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the Faith of him Ephes 3.12 God considered as in himself dwells in Light inaccessible 1. Tim. 6.16 dwelling in the Light which no man can approach unto whom no man hath seen nor can see He is glorious and excellent in himself but approachable only in Christ we cannot see him nor conceive of him nor get into his presence but by Jesus Christ 2. There is no Acceptance with God out of Christ If you bring a Sacrifice to God and bring it not to the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation Blood shall be imputed to that man Levit. 17.1 2 3 4 5 5 6 7. If thou couldst live like a glorified Saint shine like an Angel if out of Christ God regards it no more more than the sacrificing Swines flesh or the cutting off of a Dogs neck Ezek. 20.40 for in mine holy Mountain in the Mountain of the height of Israel saith the Lord God there shall all the House of Israel all of them in the Land serve me there will I require your Offerings and the First fruits of your Oblations with all your holy things All our holy Offerings our best Duties and Services as they come from us are abominable but through his Mediation acceptable 3. There can be no gracious Influence or Assistance from God but only in this way by Jesus Christ The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble the Name of the God of Jacob defend thee send thee help from the Sanctuary and strengthen thee out of Sion Psal 20.1 2. For in Salem is his Tabernacle and his dwelling place in Sion there brake he
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
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