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
the Incense and sweet Odours offered up to God under the Law These related to the Prayers of Jesus Christ he offers Incense with the Prayers of the Saints Revel 8.3 4. And another Angel came and stood at the Altar having a Golden Censer and there was given unto him much Incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all Saints upon the Golden Altar which was before the Throne And the smoke of the Incense which came with the prayers of the Saints ascended up before God out of the Angels hand They had therefore both the same Gospel-blessings and upon the same Gospel account as we namely from the meer mercy of God through the Mediation of Jesus Christ through his Death and Intercession Reas 2. A second Argument might be taken from an Historical Induction of all those former times and the several Gospel Discoveries which the Lord vouchsafed to them all along from time to time As to Adam in Paradise after his Fall The Gospel was preached to him in that great and blessed Promise that the seed of the Woman should break the Serpents head This was the first Gospel Sermon that ever was preached Afterwards to Abraham the Gospel was preached Gal. 3.8 when it was promised that in thy seed shall all the Nations of the World be blessed and in Isaac shall thy seed be called To Moses and by Moses to Israel when the Lord said I am the Lord thy God that brought thee forth out of the Land of Egypt For he was a Typical Mediator There were yet further Discoveries in Davids time Christ is the true David Thus I might go through the whole Old Testament and shew you how the Lord from time to time made further and further discoveries of himself to his people in succeeding ages Reas 3. Either the Gospel was preached unto them of old or else it will follow that they were all damned or else that they were saved without Christ which to imagine were infinitely derogatory and dishonorable to the Lord Jesus Christ The Fathers before the coming of Christ were saved and went to Heaven But without Christ there is no salvation For there is no other name under heaven c. Acts 4.12 It is impossible that any Sinner should be saved without Christ Qui salutem cuiquam promittit sine Christo nescio an ille salutem habere potest in Christo Austin He that promiseth any man Salvation without Christ I know not whether he can have Salvation by Christ By the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified or saved Rom. 3.20 Gal. 2.16 Jesus Christ therefore is the same yesterday and to day and for ever Heb. 13.8 that is in all times and ages and so we may apply it thus Yesterday under the Law to day under the Gospel and for ever Jesus Christ is the only Saviour Therefore if the Old Testament Saints were saved it was by Christ and if by Christ they had the Gospel preached to them as well as we So we see the Truth of the Doctrine Obj. 1. But why do we call it the Old Testament if it was Gospel Answ This is only in regard of the manner of Dispensation we do not call the first part of the Bible or the times wherein it was written the Old Testament and the latter part of the Bible and the the times wherein it was written the new Testament as if the former were meer Law and the latter nothing but Gospel No therefore take heed of mistaking here For there is very much of the Gospel and the Grace of God in Christ revealed in the Old Testament many precious Gospel truths in the Old Testament And there is very much of the Law and threatnings thereof declared written down and left upon Record to us in the New Testament Yea there is more of Hell and Damnation there are more dreadful threatnings thereof in the Sermons of our Lord Jesus Christ recorded in the four Evangelists than is to be found in all the Old Testament But we call it the Old Testament because it was the first Dispensation of the Gospel And the Gospel we call the New Testament because it is the new Dispensation of the same everlasting Gospel therefore the reason is only in the way and manner of their Dispensation and not in the Subjects themselves Obj. 2. But there is a second Objection that the Apostle often speaks of That ancient Dispensation as if it was Law and not Gospel Some Scriptures call that Old Testament Administration Law the Ministration of Death as John 1.17 the Law came by Moses but Grace and Truth by Jesus Christ If it was Law may some say then it was not Gospel so 2 Cor. 3.7 the Ministration of Death Answ We must distinguish between the thing preached and the manner of Preaching between the Shell and the Kernel the Shadow and the Substance Now the thing preached was the Gospel though the manner of preaching it was legal the Kernel was Gospel though the Shell was Law The Spirit and Substance and Mystery of that Dispensation was Evangelical though it was involved in a legal Shell and outside and overshadowed with the Shades and Figures of the Law God never had but one way only to save men by but it had divers fashions and forms divers outward discoveries and manifestations in those times in a more legal manner but afterwards more like it self in a more evangelical manner This Legality of that Administration appears chiefly in five things which were the peculiar Properties and Characters of that Dispensation by which it is distinguished from the Gospel-dispensation as being much inferiour to it So we shall shew you two things at once both the differences of the two Administrations and withal the Preheminence and Excellencies of the New above the Old It was dark weak carnal burthensome and terrible 1. It was dark but the Gospel is clear all things were involved in thick and dark Shadows Though there was a Light in that Mosaical Paedagogy which did appear and shine forth into the minds of Gods Elect yet withal there was a cloud of Darkness as to the outward Administration especially if compared with the Dispensation of the Gospel since the coming of Christ There was and is a double use of Types and Parables and of that whole way of Argument by Similitude and Comparisons they do both darken and illustrate if explained and understood they do exceedingly enlighten and illustrate but if not explained they are like a Riddle they cast a dark mist and cloud upon the thing So was the Law of Moses to all those that were not instructed by the Spirit to understand the Mystery of it The Reason and Meaning of it was hidden to the most of them hence a Veil is said to be upon their Hearts that they could not see to the end of that which is abolished c. 2 Cor. 3.13 14 c. as the Apostle there discourseth it at large 2. It was weak but the
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
of those former Dispensations therefore how shall we escape if after so many ways of teaching we do not receive Instruction see Heb. 2.3 4. THE GOSPEL OF CIRCUMCISION October 30. 1666. Acts 7.8 And he gave him the Covenant of Circumcision and so Abraham begat Isaac and circumcised him the eighth day and Isaac begat Jacob and Jacob begat the twelve Patriarchs THis excellent Sermon and Apology of Stephen the first Martyr of the New Testament the Scope of it is to shew them the variety of Gods Dispensations towards his people together with the various Rebellions and Oppositions of the Sons of men against him and so to convince them that the scope and tendency of them all was to lead to Jesus Christ and that as former Dispensations had been despised so was this which was the Glory of all the rest He goes over the History of the Church from Abrahams time to the time of Christ in sundry most eminent and principal Dispensations of God towards his Church In this Verse he is speaking of the Dispensation of God to Abraham He had shewed before how he had called Abraham out of his own Country how he had promised him a Possession the Land of Canaan how he had foretold the affliction of his Seed for four hundred years and their Deliverance afterward how the Lord had given him the Covenant of Circumcision and how under the influence of this Covenant Isaac was born and Jacob and the rest of the Patriarchs And he gave him the Covenant of Circumcision I shall give you no other Doctrine but the words themselves Doct. That God gave to Abraham the Covenant of Circumcision that is the Doctrine That which I do design and intend is a little explanation of Circumcision and of the Covenant thereof for that is the Phrase here and that in reference to our attendance upon God in this Ordinance of the New Testament Circumcision which we are now to wait upon him in To open to you the nature of Circumcision You know there is an outward and an inward part of it as there is in all other Signs and Sacraments whatsoever Something must be spoken 1. Of the Sign the nature of the external Ordinance 2. Of the Covenant that it relates to and 3. What those respects are wherein it doth relate to that Covenant 1. For the external part of this Ordinance of Circumcision It was the cutting away the Foreskin of the flesh of Abraham and his Male seed upon the eighth day The first institution of this Ordinance is recorded Gen. 17.10 11. This is my Covenant which ye shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee every man child among you shall be circumcised And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin c. The Lord did appoint the Seal of this Covenant to be in that part of the body in his infinite Wisdom and Soveraignty a thing which carnal Reason would despise There seems to be two principal accounts of it 1. Because those Members of the Body are so much abused to sin in the way of uncleanness and filthiness therefore the Lord would now sanctifie them and separate a Seed and Generation to himself and usually the greatest Wrath of God to the Souls of men is expressed by giving them up to abuse those parts of the Body The World was grown very degenerate and the Lord was resolved to leave a Monument an everlasting Monument of his Wrath for those sins in all Ages and therefore destroys Sodom Gen. 18. and before this Destruction he appoints this Seal and Ordinance 2. Another account of it is this that it might be a sure and a strong Wall of Partition between the Jewish and Gentle Nations of the World It made the Partition Wall the surer because carnal Reason could not but despise such an Ordinance Those that know not God have no spiritual sense of the thing therefore we find the Heathens scoff at it as Horat. Curtosque Judaeos Credat Judaeus Apella because by their carnal Reason they could not see the reason of it Therefore when the Lord would have both united to Jesus Christ in one Body he abolishes Circumcision This Ordinance was dispensed to the Males the Females were included and comprehended in the Males and as fully and clearly comprehended in them as the Land and the Trees are said to be Circumcised so are all the Daughters of Abraham as they came of circumcised Parents and married to circumcised Husbands and their Sons were circumcised so that it was a circumcised Nation and People It was to be done upon the eighth day after the Birth of the Child and so in this Text He gave him the Covenant of Circumcision and so Abraham begat Isaac and circumcised him the eighth day The reason of this limitation might be partly because of the Infant state of the Church in those times therefore the Lord teacheth them and limiteth them even in such small particulars which are now left to be determined only by the general Rule of the Word even the particular time and season of our Circumcision It s thought also this might have some further mystery in it in reference to the Christian Sabbaoth which is the eighth day in one respect the first in other ways of numbering and to respect a new state and life after that the compleat and full number of the days of this life here are gone through after the Week is ended the Week of this life here we come to Heaven and Glory which was one thing intimated in Circumcision as you will hear afterwards But so much for the external part of this Ordinance the cutting off the foreskin of Abraham and his Male seed and that upon the eighth day 2. To speak a little to the mystery of this Ordinance the meaning of it the spirit of this external Dispensation For besides the Shell there was a Kernel besides the letter of the Law of the Ordinance there was much spiritual mystery intended and aimed at in it Now then what is the mystery of Circumcision the inward part of it that is the Covenant And he gave him the Covenant of Circumcision So that Circumcision is the Covenant and it is the same expression where this Ordinance is first instituted You shall have my Covenant in your flesh Gen. 17. It is called a Covenant as other Signs and Sacraments are it is a sacramental Phrase the Lamb is called the Passover the Bread the Body the Wine the Blood of Christ so Circumcision is the Covenant of it But what Covenant is it that Circumcision doth relate to This is the great Question You know there be two Covenants that of Works and Grace Now Circumcision was not the Covenant of Works but the Covenant of Grace That it was not a carnal Covenant and a Covenant of Works take these five Considerations to make good that ground before we proceed any further for if it be the Covenant of Works it cuts off all that is
to be said as to the spirit and mystery of this Ordinance all that you will hear afterwards will be things belonging to the Covenant of Grace therefore let us prove that it is not a carnal Covenant that Circumcision doth relate to Argum. 1. Jesus Christ is not the Covenant of Works but Christ is the Covenant of Circumcision and therefore it is not Works but Grace He is so called in Isa 49.8 I will give thee for a Covenant to the people Now Christ was in Circumcision he was the Minister of Circumcision he is the Seed which Circumcision relates to I will be the God of thy Seed This Seed is Christ Gal. 3.16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made He saith not and to seeds as of many but as of one and to thy seed which is Christ Christ is the sum and substance of the Covenant of Grace now this was the Covenant that God made with Abraham and sealed in Circumcision that he would give him a Seed which Seed is Christ 2. The Gospel is Grace and not Works The Covenant of Abraham was the Gospel and therefore it is Grace but not Works It is the Apostles expression that the Gospel was preached to Abraham Gal. 3.8 The Scripture foreseeing that God would justifie the Heathen through faith preached the Gospel before to Abraham There is no Gospel of Works for Works is Law and bad tidings if it be the Gospel it is the Covenant of Grace 3. If it was a Covenant of Works it will follow that Abraham and all the Old Testament Saints either were not saved or else were saved without Christ neither of which can be admited The truth is if it were Works it will follow they were all damned for by works shall no flesh be justified and saved If they were saved and yet by Works they were saved without Christ but without Christ there is no salvation In him in this Seed shall all the Nations of the World be blessed that is by Jesus Christ no blessing and salvation without him and therefore he and his Seed were saved by Christ for Grace was in this Covenant 4. To be a God to any man this is not carnal this is not Works but Grace It is true God was a God to Adam before he fell but to be a God to Sinners this is Grace he was a God to Adam in innocency by virtue of the Covenant of Works but he is not a God to any Sinner but in a way of free Grace Now that was the Covenant I will be a God to thee and thy seed Gen. 17.7 Abraham was a sinner and a Child of Wrath by nature as well as others yet God was his God truly For God to be a God to those that never sinned there may be merit but for God to be a God to those that have sinned this is Grace indeed Angels are saved by Works Sinners cannot be saved but by Grace That ever the Lord should condescend to engage in such a Relation as to give a Sinner interest in him and propriety in him as his God this is Grace they that do not think this is Grace they do not need Arguments but pity and prayer 5. Consider that it was the fatal error and miscarriage of the carnal Jews that they did understand Circumcision and all the rest of those ancient Types and Ceremonies they did understand them all as a Covenant of Works and herein they lost Christ and their Souls It is every where charged upon them as their sin it is that which all the Prophets and Apostles do endeavour with all their might to beat them out of those misconstructions of Circumcision and the Covenant of God in those times The Apostle proves it at large in Rom. 4. that it was Grace and not Works that Abraham was justified by Now this was the error that all the carnal Jews fell into that they took it to be a Covenant of Works as the Pharisees they had a Righteousness of their own they were all of that Spirit they took it all as Law even the Gospel and the Grace that was in the Covenant and so fell short of the blessings of it therefore if our New Testament Circumcision be practised by any as the Covenant of Works as the Jews did when the Apostle preached to them they will fall short of Heaven Now if they took it to be a Covenant of Works shall we justifie their errors and miscarriage against the whole preaching of the Gospel This is enough to shew that it is the Covenant of Grace that Circumcision doth relate to Now briefly what is this Covenant of Grace And what is the Grace of the Covenant that Circumcision doth relate to This is a very large Field There were three parts of this Grace of the Covenant that the Lord made with Abraham and his Seed 1. To be a God to him 2. To give him a Seed 3. To provide an Inheritance both for him and them And these three general Heads will comprize and take in the whole mystery of Circumcision 1. The first part of the Covenant is this that God would be a God to him and his Seed and this indeed is most comprehensive and includes all the rest I will establish my Covenant and be a God to thee and thy Children after thee Gen. 17.7 And what is it for God to be a God to be a God to a man thy God or a God to thee It is when he gives to a poor Creature a special interest and propriety in himself so that God in his alsufficiency and efficiency is ours and we are his All his Attributes and Works are ours for our good I will be thy God that is all my Attributes shall be thine and for thy good as really as they are mine for my Glory The infinite Wisdom of God shall contrive their good whose God he is the infinite Power of God shall effect it the infinite Love of God is theirs his Mercy Truth and all his Attributes are theirs As his essential Power so his working Power or his actual Power As he will be all to them so he will work all for them Now this as I said includes and infers all the rest this is the first and most general 2. That he would give him a Seed that was another part of the Covenant Gen. 17.5 6. Thou shalt be a Father of many Nations thy name shall be no more called Abram but Abraham I will make Nations of thee As God did lengthen out his name so he would lengthen out his Posterity even to length of time But now what is this Seed the Lord promised to Abraham The question is whether it be a meer natural Seed or a spiritual Seed Certainly it was not meerly a natural Seed it is true that is one thing that was the Shell and outside of it but the Kernel of this promise was a spiritual Seed There was a fourfold Seed promised to Abraham above a natural Seed and
I shall prove each Particular out of plain Scripture 1. That great Seed that was not only the Seed of the Woman but the Son of God this was the first and chief Seed here intended Gal 3.16 He saith not as to Seeds but to thy Seed which is Christ such a Seed in whom all Nations are blessed Now it is in Christ only that all Nations are blessed therefore he was this promised Seed The Lord had not before limited the Seed Messiah to any particular Family but left it at large so far as appears among the whole Race of Mankind It was said to Adam the Seed of the Woman there was then no further limitation till Noahs time and then in Abrahams time the Lord limits the Covenant to his Seed It was afterwards confined to Judah one of the twelve Tribes at last the Lord went further to one Family in Judah namely Davids but here he limits it to Abraham that of him should come that great and blessed Seed This was the main thing indeed as without which all other Promises could never be bestowed and fulfilled but through him they are Yea and Amen Abraham saw my day and rejoyced he saw the Messias was to come of his Loyns this was the Seed in whom he believed and by which he was saved 2. There was a Church-seed promised the meaning is this That the Church of God should be continued in his Race and Posterity the true Religion should be setled there There were other godly persons before and after we read of Melchisedech and Job and his Friends and it is very like there might be others and when God had setled Salvation to Abraham it was the duty of all others to joyn themselves to that Church The Lord entailed by Covenant all his Ordinances to Abraham and his Posterity He gave them his Statutes and Judgments he chose them to be a peculiar People a People to the Lord and that is a Church a Society intrusted and invested with the Ordinances and thus he dealt with them he shewed his Statutes to Israel this is no small priviledge and mercy to enjoy the Ordinances this is called the Kingdom of God This Christ threatned the Jews that it should be taken from them and given to other people Mat. 21.43 that is God would settle his Church among the Gentiles and give them his Ordinances And that this is a Priviledge we see by that expression of the Apostle to the Ephesians wherein he mentions it as a part of the dreadful misery of the Ephesians that they were Aliens to the Common Wealth of Israel 3. There was a third thing intended and that is a believing Seed such as should be truly Godly and of this the Apostle speaks in Gal. 3.7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith are the Seed of Abraham so that all true Believers are his Seed in that sense He is called the Father of the Faithful all Believers are his Posterity There were Multitudes that were truly Godly of Abrahams Seed and all that are Godly are his Seed they walk in his steps they are the Seed of the Covenant they are spiritually related to him He was the Pattern and typical Head of that Covenant in which we do all believe the Pattern of Faith to us He is called our Father It is said of him that he believed against sense and reason this was not writen for his sake alone but for us also that we might follow his steps 4. There was included in this Covenant an ingrafted Seed it is the Apostles expression in Rom. 11.17 I mean a Seed not only of the Jews but of the Gentiles God did not only engage to Abraham that there should be Church of his own natural Seed and that there should be Saints of his natural Seed but that the Gentiles should be ingrafted into his Covenant and so become his Seed Thou being a wild Olive Tree wert grafted in among them and partakest of the root and fatness of the Olive Tree God did above and beyond the ordinary course of things ingraft the Gentiles into that Covenant that he had once made with Abraham And thus you see what the Seed is which the Lord did promise in the Covenant whereof Circumcision was the Seal He did promise to give to Abraham that Seed firstly and chiefly that Seed who was the Son of God and a Church Seed and a believing Seed and not only a Seed of the Nation of the Jews but a Seed ingrafted into that Grace and Covenant from among the Gentiles We have gone through two Branches of the Covenant the third is this 3. That God would give an Inheritance to him and them this was the third part of Gods Covenant with him It is the greatest desire in nature to have Children and it is a good desire it is of God And what do Parents desire next a comfortable Inheritance for them and this did the Lord promise to Abraham And in that Text which hath been so often alledged God first promises to make him exceeding Fruitful and then I will give to thee and thy Seed after thee the Land wherein thou art yet a Stranger The Lord promised an Inheritance and that Inheritance was the Land of Canaan Now the Question is whether this was a temporal or spiritual Inheritance Doubtless the Lord did not promise to Abraham Canaan meerly as a temporal Inheritance but as a spiritual Inheritance Canaan was not as other Lands are a meer outward thing but it was a typical Land it was the Land of Emmanuel it is the Land of Glory Canaan was a Type of Heaven and in that respect it was that they did so earnestly prize it and look upon it as being Heaven in an earthly Shadow therefore Jacob and Joseph must needs be buried there therefore the Apostle assures us they did seek a better Country they professed themselves Strangers and Pilgrims here upon Earth They that say such things declare plainly they seek another Country which is an heavenly one wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God It is a heavenly City whose Builder and Maker is God so that under that Shadow the Lord did promise Heaven to Abraham and this was the third part of this Covenant This Land of Canaan is called the Mountain of Holiness what expression can be higher Dan. 11. and therefore the Saints did look beyond that to another Country You see what the Covenant was and what were the principal things and Branches of it That God should be his God that God should give him a Seed and that God should give an Inheritance to him and them You see what the Covenant is that Circumcision doth relate to Now the last thing that was propounded was this what respect it is that Circumcision hath to this Covenant He gave him the Covenant of Circumcision For this Note these five things 1. Circumcision respects the Covenant as the Seal or Sacrament of Initiation into the Covenant The reason of
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
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
a sweet smelling savour Eph. 5.2 God was so pleased with Noahs Sacrifice that he promised to destroy the world by Water no more So God is well pleased with Christs Sacrifice he is so pleased with it that he will be gratious unto sinners for the sake thereof so as not to destroy them but save their Souls 5. Noahs Covenant and the Rainbow the sign thereof was a Type of the Covenant of Grace Gen. 9.12 13. It is a question whether there was any Rainbow before it may seem not Because it had been small comfort and assurance to the new World to see that which they had seen before and to have such a sign of the Covenant Therefore some think that the Rainbow was not from the beginning but as the Lord gave a new Promise so he created a new thing for a Sign thereof Confer on Heb. 1.1 2. of Noah 's Dispensation But how may it appear that the Covenant of Grace was here held forth See Isai 54.9 10. This is unto me as the Waters of Noah c. Ezek. 1. ult As the appearance of the Bow thot is in the Cloud in the day of Rain so was the appearance of the Brightness round about Revel 10.1 and 4.3 Vse From all that hath been said of Noah Here is ground of unspeakable Comfort to the Church and People of God in all their troubles Afflictions are often compared to deep Waters Psalm 42.7 but God will provide for the safety of his people Psal 18.16 17. he sent from above he took me and drew me out of deep Waters Isai 43.2 the Waters shall not overflow thee The Rainbow appears when there hath been rainy weather the Rainbow in a Cloud in a day of Rain Ezek. 1. ult So when the Church hath been in Floods of great Waters Christ appears with a Rainbow Revel 10.1 And as he promised there shall be no more a Flood to destroy the Earth so there is a time coming when there shall be no more floods of Persecution to overwhelm his Church I have sworn I will not be angry with thee nor rebuke thee any more Isai 54.9 So for particular Souls that have been overflown with the Wrath of God and the Waters have gone over their Soul there is a time coming when Christ will appear with a Rainbow about his Head To some he gives such an inward Seal and Testimony of their Adoption that they never loose it but carry it in their bosoms to their dying day keep their Assurance all their days And though I know it is otherwise with some of his Children yet at last when they dye and come to Heaven he will never overflow the soul any more with his Anger 4. The fourth personal Type we named was Melchizedek his Story is in Gen. 14. That he was a Type of Christ is clear from Psal 110.4 where speaking of and to the Messiah he saith The Lord hath sworn thou art a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchizedek as also from that which the Apostle saith Heb. 7.3 that he was made like unto the Son of God and abideth a Priest continually Assimilatus or gerens similitudinem Some Controversie there is who this Melchizedek was and different Opinions there are The Papists have very roving conjectures about it He was not Christ himself because he is said to be made like unto the Son of God Heb. 7.3 but no man is said to be like himself For similitude is between two That he was not an Angel or an appearance of God but a true and real Man may be proved by this Argument because every Priest is taken from amongst men Heb. 5.1 but Melchizedek was a Priest And the Scripture speaks of him as a Man For it mentions the place where he dwelt viz. at Salem which must needs be understood historically because there is no reason to constrain us to run a to metaphorical sense And whereas some object there was no man then superior to Abraham in Faith and Holiness But Melchizedek was greater than Abraham Some answer it thus Non sanctitate sed dignitate praefertur Abrahae For that Abraham was but an inferior person whereas Melchizedek was King and Priest in Salem But we may answer further That there might be some more eminent than Abraham some of his godly Ancestors who were aged and experienced Saints as Sem for instance might towards the end of their lives be more eminent than Abraham was in his youth of whom it is certain by the Genealogies Gen. 11. that he was yet living and he was the greatest person then in the world yea greater than Abraham as being one of his Progenitors and Ancestors Therefore many do conjecture that Sem was this Melchizedek and indeed the conjecture is not improbable though for any certain demonstration it is not to be expected because the Lord hath purposely concealed who he was to the end he might be a more illustrious Type of Christ appearing as it were like a Man fallen down from Heaven and destinated to that end Quest Wherein was Melchizedek a Type of Christ Answ In regard of the Eternity and Excellency of his Person and Office both as King and Priest There be four particulars here included He was a Type 1. In regard of his Kingdom He is called Melchizedek which the Apostle interprets King of Righteousness Heb. 7.2 So Christ is King of his Church and King of Righteousness Psal 45.6 7. King of Salem which signifies Peace It is thought to be the same City which was afterward called Jerusalem so Christ was King of Jerusalem Zach. 9.9 and King of Peace Isai 9.6 My Peace I leave with you Joh. 14.27 Mic. 5.5 This Man shall be our Peace Peace that passeth all understanding and Righteousness first then Peace Isai 32.17 the Fruit of Righteousness shall be Peace Otherwise thou shalt have no Peace from Christ unless he give thee Righteousness first both imputing his own Righteousness for Justification to thee and infusing the inherent Righteousness of Sanctification into thee He will not create Peace for thee 2. In regard of his Priesthood Melchizedek was Priest of the most high God Gen. 14.18 Heb. 7.1 so is Christ both King and Priest This was extraordinary in Melchizedek that he might be the more glorious Type God did not ordinarily allow it the House of Aaron had not the Kingdom the House of David had not the Priesthood they might not intermeddle in the Priests Office King Vzziah was smitten for it but Melchizedek was both 3. In that shadow of Eternity which the Story in Genesis doth cast upon him He is there brought in as a greater person than Abraham the Father of the faithful but neither his Birth nor Death mentioned neither his Father nor Mother without either beginning or end of days Heb. 7.3 It is not meant that he was so really but only in sacred History and in a Type or Shadow For it is impossible for any Creature to be without beginning
second Covenant-Spirit is a Spirit of liberty and freedom not liberty to sin but liberty of spirit in and unto Duty The first Covenant-Spirit is a Spirit of Persecution Gal. 4.29 the second Covenant-Spirit is a Spirit of Love Let those Professors look to it and take heed to their Spirits who have a rigid a violent an imposing spirit towards the people of God the Children of the Promise take heed least you prove Hagarites and meer legal Professors 2. It is true as Abraham did turn aside unto Hagar so a Believer that is in the Covenant of Grace may possibly turn aside in some particular actings to a Covenant of Works when through unbelief and neglect of the Promise they act according to the Law in their own strength or in a way of violence not of love to their Brethren 3. But the Bondwoman and her Seed must be cast out Gen. 21.10 Gal. 4.30 Away with the Law of Works we must renounce the old Covenant and get free from the snares of such a Spirit 3. If we consider Abraham as the Head of the Covenant to that Church and People so he is a Type of Christ the Head of the second Covenant You know God covenanted with Abraham for his Seed so he doth with Christ for all his Elect. Gods Promise to Abraham was to give a Seed to him and an Inheritance to his Seed viz. the Land of Canaan the Land of Promise so God did promise to Jesus Christ that he should see his Seed Isai 53.10 11. and to bring them to Heaven Heb. 2.10 Jesus Christ is the true Head of the second Covenant he engageth and undertakes for all his Seed Abraham was but a typical Head thereof 4. Abraham was a Type of Christ in regard of his absolute Obedience to the Will of God coming from his own Land and from his Fathers House submitting to that painful and unto carnal Reason shameful and contemptible Ordinance of Circumcision dismissing Ishmael a thing grievous to a tender-hearted Parent yea which was yet more sacrificing and offering up his Isaac his only Son Isaac there was nothing so difficult but if God require it Abraham will do it there is not such another Example there is not an higher instance of Obedience in all the Scripture than in Abraham save only in Jesus Christ who was obedient to his Fathers Will in all things even unto Death it self Joh. 6.38 8.29 10.18 As God tryed Abraham in his Isaac so will he try every Son of Abraham in what is dearest to him 5. Abrahams Intercession for the Righteous in Sodom and the efficacy of it with the Lord is some shadow and resemblance of the Prayers and Intercession of Jesus Christ and the prevailing efficacy thereof for the Salvation of the Elect Gen. 18.25 For as Lot was saved by means of Abrahams Prayer from the Destruction of Sodom so are we for Christs sake from everlasting Damnation For Sodom was a Type of Hell which is therefore called a Lake of Fire and Brimstone Rev. 21.8 Lastly That he who was the Father of the Faithful should be so great a Souldier and Conqueror of five Kings and indeed Abraham is the first godly Warrior we read of in Scripture It was a good Omen and a Presage what Believers the Sons of Abraham should do and especially in the latter days when the Kingdom of Christ shall prevail as Dan 2. and chap. 7. 2. Isaac the Scripture takes notice of him as a Type of Christ when it calls both him and Christ the promised Seed and saith he rose from the dead and so he dyed also in a Figure or as a Type He was therefore a Type of Christ in three respects 1. In his Birth 2. In his Death and Sufferings 3. In his Resurrection from the dead 1. In regard of his Birth which was extraordinary and incredible not by the power of Nature but by virtue of the Promise of God Isaac was the Seed of the Promise made to Abraham Gal. 4.28 in whom all the Nations of the earth should be blessed But Christ was indeed the promised Seed he was chiefly and principally intended in that Promise see Gal. 3.16 in whom alone we are truly blessed Psal 72.17 Isaac was born by virtue of the Promise believed on against and above the ordinary course of Nature of Sarahs dead Womb Rom. 4.19 So Christ was born of the Womb of the Virgin Mary in a miraculous unconceivable manner not according to the ordinary course of Nature but by the power of the Holy Ghost overshadowing her Luk. 1.35 An Angel did reveal the Birth of Isaac to Sarah and she thought in her self it was impossible Gen. 18.11 12. Sarah heard it and it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of Women and Sarah laughed within her self saying after I am waxed old shall I have pleasure my Lord being old also So did an Angel reveal to the Virgin Mary that Christ should be born of her and she admires and saith how can this be seeing I have not known Man Luk. 1.34 Isaac's Birth was promised and waited for many years from the first Promise of a Seed made to Abraham to the Birth of Isaac was five and twenty years For he was seventy five years old when he left Haran Gen. 12.4 and he was an hundred years old when Isaac was born Gen. 21.5 So Christ the promised Seed was long expected and waited for from the first Promise of Christ in Gen. 3.15 Vid. Ainsworth in loc to his coming in the Flesh was well nigh four thousand years 2. Isaac was an eminent Type of Christ in regard of his Death and Sufferings Isaac without resistance without repining or reply willingly yields himself to his Father even unto Death So was Christ obedient to his Father even unto Death So each of them was led away like a Lamb to the slaughter as is said of Christ Isai 53.7 Act. 8.32 Isaac carried the Wood whereon he was bound to Moriah Gen. 22.6 so did Christ carry the Cross whereon he was nailed to Golgotha Joh. 19.17 and so the Wood was first laid upon them both and then they were laid upon the Wood. Isaac was to be offered alone the Servants being left behind at the foot of the Hill Gen. 22.5 So Christ must tread the Wine-press alone his Disciples being fled and scattered from him Joh. 16.32 The place where Isaac was offered was Mount Moriah Gen. 22.2 and there was the Temple built a Type of Christs Body and there also his Body was crucified upon another part of the same Mountain And as to the time something of analogy may be noted some accommodated it thus that as Isaac came the third day to the place of his Immolation so Christ came to his Sufferings the thirty third year of his age consisting of three tens and three units And it was three years after his Entrance upon his publick Ministry which is three days putting a day for a year according to the
to you that believe 3. We may here see the glory of Gospel Truths and Mysteries and withall how dull and slow of heart we are to apprehend them in that the Lord teacheth us and holds them forth in so great variety of spiritual representations to our weak and narrow understandings Here is Light and Safety and Strength and Meat and Drink and Medicine and all laid up in Christ and Christ hereby held forth unto us and all little enough to help us to a true and right Idea of him 4. Here is very great and sweet encouragement from that which hath been said this day to diseased Souls to repair to this Physician whatever thy diseases be go to him for help And that you may obtain help and healing virtue from him remember these three Rules and take them along with you 1. Seek to him in his own Means and Ordinances If he set his Stamp upon a piece of Copper as he did of old do not despise it If he send his Angel into a Pool or Well of Water do not say with Naaman are not the Waters of Abana and Pharphar as good as the Waters of Jordan Are not other Pools as good as the Pool of Bethesda They may be so in themselves and yet may not have the virtue that meaner Waters have if the one be appointed of God for this use and the other not 2. Do not expect healing from the Means from the Well or Waters of it but by the Angel of the Covenant moving the Waters not from the Ordinances but only from the blessing and presence of God in them 3. Be sure you be found waiting his time and leisure wait at the Pool of Bethesda though you do not find help in 38 years yet wait and be ever ready lest you be out of the way when the Angel moves the Waters May 7. 21. 1668. 1 Cor. 10.11 THe occasional Types beloved were referred to two heads Things and Actions Of Typical things we have spoken That which follows next in order is occasional Typical actions Before we enter into them it may be useful to recal to remembrance three things formerly delivered 1. That the Types are not to be restrained only to the Person of Christ but they extend even to all New Testament Dispensations 2. That there is a real historical verity in these typical actions 3. That they did serve for divers other ends and uses as well as for this typical use I must desire you to remember these three things and to carry them along with you in all that shall be said They may be referred to two heads 1. Typical deliverances to his People 2. Typical destruction of Enemies Which though they might be handled together yet for the greater clearness and distinctness we may consider them severally 1. There were typical Mercies Deliverances Preservations of his People of old which happened to them in Types and are written for our Instruction upon whom the ends of the World are come The Lord intended those ancient Dispensations to be Types and Patterns and Pledges of what he intended to do for his People in the latter days There be many signal Instances thereof in the story of the Old Testament I might here instance in the Lords protecting Providence over the Fathers and Ancestors of that People viz. Abraham Isaac and Jacob in all their sojournings and journeyings to and fro at the call of God Psal 105.12 13 14 15. When few in number and in the midst of Enemies He suffered no man to do them harm Mentioned as the first great and speaking Example how the Lord would protect his People in all future times but to let pass the Presidents given in particular Persons and to instance only in such Dispensations as befel that whole People There were six famous Dispensations of Providence which happened unto them in Types and are written for our instruction upon whom the Ends of the World are come 1. Their deliverance out of Egypt 2. Their passage through the Red Sea 3. Their marching through the Wilderness 4. Their passage through the River Jordan under Joshua's conduct 5. Their entrance into Canaan 6. Their deliverance out of Babylon 1. Their deliverance out of Egypt the History whereof is recorded in the Book of Exodus This History may be typically applied three ways 1. Unto Christ himself and so it is expresly in Mat. 2.15 It is quoted out of Hos 11.1 Those words are spoken by the Prophet Hosea concerning the deliverance of that People out of Egypt but this being typically done to the Members of Christ was in the full intent of it accomplisht in Christ the Head and Antitype and therefore is so applyed by Matthew Look as Israel in the Infancy of that People went down into Egypt and God brought them forth again so Christ in his Infancy fled thither and the Lord called him back again 2. Here was also a shadow and representation of our spiritual deliverance out of spiritual bondage and misery under Sin and Satan and the World in an unregenerate estate unto the state of Grace and Glory The Scripture hinteth this unto us in that it doth expresly apply the Terminus ad quem of their deliverance Mystically and Allegorically Therefore the Terminus à quo was also Mystical and Allegorical for there is the same reason of both We made use of the like demonstration before upon the fiery Serpents so here such as the Rest was such was their Bondage but the State they were brought into was a State of typical Rest and Peace in Canaan It is made a Type of another Country even of Heaven it self Heb. 11.16 Heb. 4.8 9. Joshua did not give them Rest But there remaineth a further rest to the people of God If their Rest in Canaan was a Type of spiritual and heavenly Rest Then their Bondage in Egypt was a Type of spiritual Bondage Sin as some have well said is indeed the Egypt of the Soul upon all accounts Temptations to it Actings in it Troubles for it are its house of Bondage and Vexation We are all by nature in a condition of spiritual slavery to Sin and Satan as Israel was in outward slavery to their Egyptian Task-Masters and the Lord redeems us spiritually as he did them literally Hence in the Preface to the Ten Commandments which are moral and perpetual the Lord therein saith to us and to all his People as well as to them I am the Lord thy God which brought thee forth out of the Land of Egypt out of the House of Bondage He redeemeth us out of another and worser Egypt You may see the Analogy a little more particularly in 4. things 1. They were under very cruel Bondage The Egyptians made them to serve with rigor Exod. 1.14 They must make Bricks the Monuments whereof are thought by some to be the Pyramids So Josephus reports Though some object that the Pyramides are not made of Brick To which it may be answered That what manner
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
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
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
their curious and admirable Ornaments the Lillies on the upper end of the Pillars and the Coronets or Chapiters upon the tops of them with the curious chains and nets and rows of Pomegranates round about these Crowns 4. In their use which was not only for Ornament but as it were to support the Temple as Pillars do support an House not that they did support or bear it up properly as if they had been placed in the material Building no more than the twelve Brazen Oxen did indeed carry the molten Sea to the four quarters of the world 2 Chron. 4.4 but only as in an emblem or figure as Abraham received Isaac in a figure Heb. 11.19 so here For the Temple had no Pillars in it for the Beams of the Roof rested upon the Walls as you have formerly heard and not upon these Pillars but they were an emblem or figure of support Now the Temple is the Church of God and we may apply this Type three ways 1. To God and Christ 2. To the Church 3. To particular Saints 1. As to God and Christ These Pillars speak the support of the Church of God by the purpose of his Will and by his almighty Power Our Faith stands upon these two Pillars these two do support the Church and the Churches Faith 1. The faithful purpose of God and good pleasure of his Will Jakin he will establish here is the resolved purpose of his Will and Love Heb. 10.23 He is faithful who hath promised This includes 1. his Purpose 2. his purpose of Love 3. his Promise 4. his unchangable Faithfulness in all Thou saist I am unworthy True but if the Lord will save and will have mercy who can resist his Will his purpose is unchangeable and immovable as Brass he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy 2. The Power of Christ his almighty Power this is the other Pillar Bo-yas in him is power 1 Pet. 1.5 kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation Thou saist alas I am weak I can do nothing But therefore depend and rest and stay thy self upon this almighty Power which is able to do above what we are able to ask or think as Abraham Rom. 4.20 21. who was strong in Faith being persuaded that he was able to perform what he had promised This is of special use in difficulties when difficulties and impossibilities do appear Can the Lord pardon such sins heal such backslidings Yes in him is Power Take both these together Love and good will withour Power is but lame to help us Power without Love and good will is but deaf to hear us but both put together is a support firm enough and safe enough for Faith to rest upon yea if thou doubt of the one improve the other Matth. 8.2 if thou wilt thou canst here be both these Pillars but he could not lean upon the one he doubted of Gods Will but therefore he relies upon the other thou canst and Christ accepts this Faith of his and therefore saith ver 3. I will be thou clean so do thou lean and rest upon both these Pillars yea upon either of both and thou art safe enough If thou art not assured of his purpose yet then rest and stay thy self upon his Power 2. Consider them in reference to the whole Church here is shadowed forth the impregnable safety of the Church The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it Matth. 16.18 3. Particular Saints are compared to Pillars in the House of God Rev. 3.12 especially Ministers Gal. 2.9 Jer. 1. ◠I will make thee an Iron Pillar and Wall of Brass therefore it is in vain to oppose them and contend with them There be two properties of a good Pillar it must be strait and strong It is a sad thing when they that should be Pillars in the House of God are warping and leaning and bending this way and that way when they should stand upright and steady And there were two Coronets upon the tops of these Pillars so they that persevere to the end shall receive the Crown of life 2 Tim. 4.7 8. These Pillars were broken in pieces and carried away to Babylon but living Pillars in the spiritual Temple shall go out no more Rev. 3.12 but abide in the house for ever Joh. 8.35 A true Believer is as one saith Monumentum aere perennius more durable then Pillars of Brass Would you be assured of the Crown of Glory Is there this rectitude and straitness this strength and firmness in the ways of God thou art then a Pillar in the House of God and shalt go no more out THE GOSPEL of the BRAZEN ALTAR 2 Chron. 4.1 Moreover he made an Altar of Brass twenty cubits the length thereof and twenty cubits the breadth thereof and ten cubits the height thereof THe Vessels of the Temple beloved we are upon They may be referred to two sorts either sub dio or sub tecto either without doors or within either in the Courts or in the Temple those without doors were of Brass those within were of Gold Of the former sort there was the Altar of Burnt-offering the molten Sea and the ten Lavers as also the two Pillars Jachin and Boyas which were of Brass and placed either in or by the Porch We are now to speak as the Lord shall enable us concerning the Altar of Burnt-offering concerning which we may observe this doctrinal Proposition out of the Text as the foundation of our Discourse viz. Doctr. That Solomon by Gods appointment made in the Temple a Brazen Altar for Burnt-offering The first express mention we have of Altars in the Scripture is in Noahs time after the Flood Gen. 8.20 and Noah builded an Altar unto the Lord and took of every clean Beast and of every clean Fowl and offered Burnt-offerings on that Altar Concerning Offerings we read before in Gen. 4.3 4 how Cain and Abel brought their Offerings unto the Lord. Whether Altars were as antient as Sacrifices or whether the Lord afterwards added them as a further improvement of his Worship and a further help to the Faith of his people I shall not here dispute The name in Hebrew is Mizbeach quasi Sacrificatorium from Zebach Sacrificium from the Sacrifices offered thereupon and so in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacrificium There is another Hebrew word for it Bamah excelsum from their ascending up to it from whence the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the Latin altare is derived ab alto because their Altars were built on high above the earth but the Hebrew Bamah is more usually applied to the idolatrous Altars Ara Idolorum Buxtorf we commonly translate it high places And here I must observe the same method as in other things first to open the Type and then the Anti-type first the History of the Altar and then the Mystery of it for the right understanding of the Type makes way for the better understanding of the thing
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