of Light the Light he gives diffuseth it self through the whole man and has an influence into all his conversation 6. There were many Rooms or Chambers in the Ark and so in the Temple yet all these made up but one Ark this signifies many particular Churches yet all the Churches in the world make up but one Church Catholick which is the mystical body of Christ 1 Cor. 12.12 as the Body is one and hath many Members and all the Members of that one Body being many are one Body so also is Christ see Cant. 6.9 My undefiled is but one 7. There were three Stories in the Ark it was three Stories high Gen. 6.16 and so Solomons Temple had three parts an outer Court an inner Court and an Holy of Holies This holds forth the three degrees of the Church There is 1. The visible Church 2. The mystical Church militant here on Earth 3. The Church triumphant in Heaven The Church in her lowest Story is her visible Members here on Earth among whom there be many Hypocrites yet even so she is more excellent than the Mountains of Prey Psal 76.4 Kingdoms are called Mountains of prey that saying being too often true that magna Regna are indeed magna Latrocinia But the Church is more glorious than they The invisible Church is the second Story against whom all the Gates and Powers of Hell shall not prevail Matth. 16.18 It is true in some sense in general concerning the visible Church Christ will always have some visible Societies of Christians in the world that shall make profession of his Name but it holds chiefly concerning the mystical Body of Christ True Believers cannot fall away The third Story is the Church triumphant which is higher than all these and more excellent than all the Kingdoms in the world than all the Churches upon earth 8. They in the Ark were safe and there was no safety but in the Ark so in the Church there is Salvation but no Salvation out of the Church Salvation is of the Jews Joh. 4. extra Ecclesiam nou est Salus It is always true of the mystical Church and it is ordinarily true concerning the visible Church Yea the Ark was safest when the Waters were highest Sea-man have an expression in a Storm they use to wish for Sea-room enough Or we may apply it higher to Christ himself and to his mystical Body Without Christ there is no Salvation but as they were safe in the Ark So whosoever is in Christ and a Member of that invisible Society he is safe and shall never perish 9. In the Ark there were both clean and unclean Beasts yet the Ravenousness of their Natures was restrained for the time Gen. 7.2 So in the Church there are both Saints and Hypocrites Hypocrites are unclean Beasts A Cham in the Ark a Judas a Devil in Christs own Family In the visible Church there be sometimes Wolves within and Sheep without though they are Wolves in Sheeps clothing For profane persons may and should be kept out but close Hypocrites cannot For as in the Ark though there were ravenous Beasts yet their Natures were restrained so in the Church such as are Beasts by nature yet the Corruption of their Natures is restrained there is restraining Grace upon Hypocrites in the Church as well as renewing Grace in the Saints Isai 11 6-9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy Mountain 10. There issued out of the Ark a Raven and a Dove whereof the Dove returned again but the Raven did not Gen. 8.7 8 9. the Raven is an unclean Bird Levit. 11.15 a Bird of prey and a Bird of darkness Isai 34.11 The Dove is a Bird of Light at the Baptism of Christ the Holy Ghost descended on him in the shape of a Dove Matth. 3. If a Dove go out from Christ and his Ordinances it shall find no rest till it returns again into the Ark and be taken in by the Hand of Noah by the Spirit of Christ But the Raven goes out of the Ark and returns no more and how many Ravens are there in the Church that depart and fall off and return no more 1 Joh. 2.19 they went out from us because they were not of us You Ravens that are going and coming and hovering to and fro Vide the old Geneva Note as the Raven she went and came Gen. 8.7 and might light on the outside of the Ark If you do not get into the Ark into Christ it shews what you are You that are Doves and gone out return again return to your Rest fly as Doves to the Windows Isai 60.9 The Dove is no ravenous Bird she cannot fight as the Raven and she is swift of Wing pray for the Wings of a Dove in this sense Psal 55.6 make haste to Christ Thus you see what a full and plentiful Analogy there is between the Ark and the Church in all these ten particulars 2. The Deluge was a Shadow of the Day of Judgment and the everlasting Salvation of some and Destruction of others at that day The Apostle Peter parallels them 2 Pet. 3.6 7. the World that then was being overflowed with Water perished But the Heavens and the Earth which are now are reserved for Fire against the day of Judgment It was indeed a lesser day of Judgment and magnum futuri Judicii praejudicium Hence Hell is called the place of the Gyants Prov. 21.16 The man that wandreth out of the way of understanding shall remain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in caetu Gigantum in the Congregation of the Gyants Prov. 9.17 18. but he knoweth not that the Gyants are there and that her Guests are in the depths of Hell The World will be in a like frame drowned again in deep security Matth. 24.37 38 39. though they see all the tokens appearing and all things fulfilled that have been foretold yet they will not be awakened But when they saw the Flood came indeed Oh the amazement that began to seize upon them when they saw the Cataracts of Heaven opened from above and the Fountains of the great Deep broke up from beneath So at the Day of Judgment every eye shall mourn Rev. 1.7 see Heb. 11.7 Noah prepared an Ark to the saving of his House by which he condemned the World some saved by Noah others condemned by him 3. The Waters that bore up the Ark are made by the Apostle a shadow of the Water of Baptism 1 Pet. 3.21 As that Water bore up the Ark and saved them from drowning so doth Baptism save us For though the Flood was a true and real History ye there be typical Histories as you will hear further when we come to the real Types Therefore that Water had a typical respect to the Water of Baptism 4. Noahs Sacrifice when he came out of the Ark was a manifest Type of the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ For so indeed were all their Sacrifices Gen. 8.20 21 22. Hence Christ is called a Sacrifice of
which you made to your selves contra ver 44 of Act. 7. the Tabernacle which Moses made as he had appointed And it seems by the sacred History that they had something of the notion of a Type in their heads in that Invention For they say Make us Gods that may go before us and they proclaim an Holy day to Jehovah therefore they intended the Calf to be an outward and visible Sign to them of his Presence Here ariseth a Question How may we know when a thing is a Type and that the Lord did ordain and design it to that end and use The Answer is We cannot safely judg of this but by the Scripture 1. When there is either express Scripture for it As Adam here in the Text is called a Type of him that was to come So the whole Ceremonial Law is said to have a Shadow of the good things to come under the Gospel Heb. 10.1 The Buildings and holy places of the earthly Temple are said to be Figures of the true even of Heaven it self Heb. 9.24 The Land of Canaan the Country that Abraham and the Fathers sought for it is said they desire a better Country that is an heavenly Heb. 11.16 2. When there is a permutation of Names between the Type and the Antitype this is a clear Indication of the Mind of God As for instance Christ is called David Ezek. 34.23 and 37.24 Hos 3.5 this shews that David was a Type of him and Christ was the true David So Christ is called Adam the second Adam 1 Cor. 15.45 So he is called Israel Isai 49.3 He is called that Lamb of God which taketh away the Sins of the World Joh. 1.29 and our Passover that is sacrificed for us 1 Cor. 5.7 this shews that the Paschal Lamb was a Type of him He is called the Bread of Life and the true Bread from Heaven Joh. 6.32 35. this shews that the Manna did relate to him So the Church of the New Testament is called Jerusalem Gal. 4.26 but Jerusalem which is above is free which is the Mother of us all Rev. 21.2 I saw the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of Heaven We may hence conclude that Jerusalem was a Type of the Church So it is said that the Odours or Incense are the Prayers of the Saints Rev. 5.8 Incense therefore was a Type of Prayer The Gospel-Church is called Israel Gal. 6.16 Peace be on them and Mercy and upon the Israel of God Therefore that People were a Type of the Church of God under the New Testament Gospel-Ministers are called the Sons of Levi Mal. 3.3 the Prophet there speaking of the coming of Christ he saith He shall purifie the Sons of Levi that is raise up a purer Ministry There is nothing more frequent in the Scripture than for the Antitype to be called by the name of the Type and sometimes on the other side the Type bears the Names and Titles belonging indeed and more properly to the Antitype So Moses is called a Mediator Gal. 3.19 So when a Sheep or a Goat is called a Sacrifice and said to make attonement or to expiate Sin there the Work of the Antitype is ascribed unto the Type For those things could not take away sins Heb. 10.4 it is not possible that the Blood of Bulls and Goats should take away sins they were but a shadow of a Sacrifice of Christ the true Sacrifice 3. When by comparing several Scriptures together there doth appear an evident and manifest analogy and parallel between things under the Law and things under the Gospel we may conclude that such legal Dispensations were intended as Types of those Gospel Mysteries whose Image they bear In such a case Res ipsa loquitur For the Type must be made like the Antitype as the Apostle speaks of that illustrious Type Melchisedec Hebr. 7.3 he was made like unto the Son of God As the Deliverance out of Egypt and Babylon if we read the History thereof in the Old Testament and compare it with the Prophesies in the New Testament concerning the Churches Deliverance from Antichristian Bondage we shall clearly see that it was a Type thereof there is such a resemblance the one answers the other so remarkably Hence Divines generally make Sampson a Type of Christ there is such a fair and full Analogy in sundry particulars of his Life and Death between him and Christ So likewise Joseph is generally lookt upon as a Type of Christ though there be no Scripture that doth expresly call him so but if the History of Joseph in Genesis be compared with the History of Jesus Christ in the four Evangelists the Analogy will be very clear and evident The Old Testament and the New should be compared together The Protasis or Proposition of these sacred similitudes is in the Books of Moses and in the Old Testament but the Apodosis the Reddition or Application is to be found chiefly in the New Sometimes the Types are not so explicitly taught but implyed and then a thing may be known to be a Type by diligent observing and comparing the Phrase of the Prophets in the Old Testament and of the Apostles in the New Men must not indulge their own Fancies as the Popish Writers use to do with their Allegorical Senses as they call them except we have some Scripture ground for it It is not safe to make any thing a Type meerly upon our own fansies and imaginations it is Gods Prerogative to make Types And so much for that first Rule Rule 2. The Types were not only Signs but Seals not only Signs to represent Gospel Mysteries unto them but also Seals to assure them of the certain and infallible exhibition thereof in Gods appointed time As we say of our Sacraments Sacramentum est verbum visibile the Sacrament is a visible Promise and holds forth the Covenant of Grace to the Eye and other Senses as the Word to the Ear so it was with the Types of old The Types were visible Promises and not only Signs but Pledges and Assurances of the good they represented They did represent those great Mysteries not only by way of resemblance to the understandings but by way of assurance to the Faith of Gods People Reasons to prove this that the Types were Seals 1. The Apostle saith it expresly concerning Circumcision Rom. 4.11 he received the Sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith And there is a parity of Reason in this respect between Circumcision and other Types 2. If they were Signs that did certainly foresignifie they were Seals But the Types were Signs that did certainly foresignifie therefore they were more than Signs even Seals also They did not shew what a one the Messiah might happen to be but what a one he should certainly be they were so many Divine Testimonies to the coming of Christ 3. If they were not Seals and Pledges to assure it will follow that it would have been no disappointment to Gods People and
of your Prayers that you would remember me to the Lord that he would carry me through this work that he would enlighten and enable me by his Spirit to speak unto them with clear light and not only so as may be clear and convincing to my own Conscience and Judgment but with such evidence of light as may be satisfying and illuminating to yours also even in the evidence and demonstration of his Spirit Some have not unfitly called the Ceremonial Law one of the richest Cabinets of Divinity full of inestimable Jewels But many things in their Religion will seem strange and uncouth and useless if we consider them without their scope and meaning All the Ceremonial Law if a man knows not the meaning of it looks like an heap of unprofitable Burthens The Temple appears but like a Shambles or Butchers Slaughter house and the Priesthood a vain useless Occupation but consider them in their sense and meaning and every thing is full of Light and Glory A great part of the Scripture especially the old Testament Exodus and Leviticus and other places will be like a Sealed Book unto you if you have not some insight into the Types But if the Lord give you a little insight into them you will read the Old Testament with more profit and spiritual understanding For the Prophets do comment upon them yea so do the Apostles also and indeed the whole New Testament is a large and full Exposition of the Types If you ask how may we so search and look into them as to understand them and profit by them Take but three Rules for this and I conclude Rule 1. Search the Scriptures Joh. 5.39 for they are they which testifie of me saith Christ the Scripture is the best Interpreter of it self We cannot judg of these legal Shadows but by Scripture-light If either express words or change of Names or a clear analogy and proportion do appear these are Intimations of the Mind of God that such things are Types Go no further than we see the Scripture going before us Rule 2. Study the Covenant of Grace Faedus gratiae clavis totius Scripturae Look diligently into the Gospel get a clear and spiritual insight and understanding into that this is the best help to the understanding of the Types For he that well understands the Antitype will more easily and readily discern the analogy and see the resemblance it hath with the Type Rule 3. As you find the Lord letting in any thing of further light into your minds be sure you act Faith and exercise Grace with renewed vigour upon those Truths and Mysteries as you find any Beams of further Light coming in concerning them If a man have all Knowledg and understood all Mysteries and hath not Fath and Love what is he the better for his Light 1 Cor. 13.12 When you see things more clearly and fully you should endeavour to believe more strongly and to grow in Grace as you grow in Light Quest Why the Lord spake so much in this way by Types and Shadows Answ Something may be gathered as to this out of what was formerly spoken in general concerning the Reasons of the Lords using so great variety of Dispensation from that Text Heb. 1.1 therefore I shall but touch upon some few things now and that very briefly R. 1. There is a general suitableness in such a way of speaking unto mans Nature as a sensitive Creature consisting of a Body as well as a Soul Hence in all times and ages even before Sin entred the Lord gave unto mankind some outward and sensible things to be Signs and Representations of spiritual things Hence were these two Sacramental Trees the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledg of good and evil And now much more since the Fall Man being fallen much lower hath greater need of such Instructions Man is not only a sensitive but a sense loving Creature R. 2. It was particularly suitable to that Infant age and state of the Church it was suitable to their Nonage to be taught by such visible and carnal things The whole way of Gods Dispensations See Galv Instit l. 2. c. 11. s 1 11. both Gods Blessings and Judgments were much more external and sensible than they are now Children must have their A. B. C. weak and rudimental Instructions These are called Elements or Rudiments yea weak and beggarly Rudiments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 4.9 Tota legis Oeconomia veluti rudis quaedam erat disciplina rudibus conveniens Beza in Gal. 4.3 Like a Horn-book to a Child R. 3. That they to whom it was not given might not understand R. 4. That his People might soe and understand the better These two Reasons are assigned by Christ himself for his own teaching so much by Parables and there is some affinity between a Type and a Parable as you heard the last time Matth. 13.11 13. why speakest thou to them in Parables Because it is given to you to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven and because they seeing see not c. Similitudes not understood are Riddles and clouds of Darkness upon the understanding But if once interpreted and understood they are like bright Candles they give a clear light Comparata etiam ficta arguunt fidemque faciunt It is not a true and sound Rule that of the Schoolmen Theologia symbolica non est argumentativa What! shall we say that all the Parables of our Saviour did argue nothing when indeed they did not only argue but demonstrate and that so as did convince and cut the hearts sometimes of his greatest enemies and opposers Was not Nathans Parable argumentative yea demonstrative and convicting unto David Their Rule may be true concerning their own allegorical Senses and mystical Froth which may be found in their Interpretations but concerning Scripture-Types it is most false You have seen the Nature of a Type what it is and some short hints of reasons of the Lords speaking this way we shall now enter into particulars and go through the Types and open to you as the Lord shall enable something of the Gospel-Truths and Mysteries adumbrated and shadowed forth by them depending upon the help and assistance of him of whom we are to speak Now the first and most general Distribution of them is into Types personal and Types real holy persons and holy things The terms of which distinction are so plain that it needs no further explication therefore we shall not make any tarrying here you know the difference between persons and things Personal Types are such as Adam Noah David and others Real Types are the Temple the Ark the Manna the Sacrifices and such like whereof hereafter We shall begin with the personal Types and they may be subdivided into two sorts 1. Individual Persons 2. Typical Ranks and Orders of Persons which we may call Religious Orders such as the Priests the Nazarites c. 1. Typical individual Persons Concerning these there be some
see things as in a Glass but in Heaven we have the things themselves And now to sum up all that hath been said in Explication the Doctrine amounts to thus much That the Ceremonial Law hath a shadow or a dark and weak representation of the good things of that eternal future happiness the more lively Image and Portraiture whereof we have under and by the Gospel Quest 4. What are the several parts of this Law of Shadows and Ceremonies these perpetual Types or everlasting Statutes Ans This is a large Field I shall refer them at present to five several Heads omiting Sub divisions lest they be troublesome to weak memories 1. The initiating Seal to wit Circumcision 2. Their Sacrifices and Purifications of sin and of uncleanness 3. The Temple and Tabernacle and other holy places 4. The Priesthood with the whole legal Ministry 5. The Festivals or Legal Times and Seasons These five general Heads will carry us through this whole Subject of the Types For the whole Ceremonial Law and all or most of the Statutes of it will come in under some of these Heads 1. The initiating Seal of those times which was Circumcision the first Institution whereof we have in 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 and it shall be a token of the Covenant betwixt me and you Which is contracted and epitomized into a few words by Stephen Act. 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 Wherein he briefly tells us the substance of this Shadow and the meaning of this Type namely that it signified and shadowed forth the Covenant of Grace 2. Their Sacrifices and Purifications for sin and for uncleanness of which Psal 40.6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required with Heb. 10.5 10. Many things will come in under this Head for they had both Sacrifices of Expiation for moral sins and Ceremonies of Purification for legal uncleanness and impurity I put them both together because they did both aim at one Scope namely the cleansing and purging away of sin They had burnt-offerings meat-offerings peace-offerings sin-offerings trespass offerings They had legal Uncleannesses of several sorts they had unclean Meats unclean Persons unclean Houses unclean Garments unclean Vessels the saddest of all their ceremonial Uncleannesses was the Leprosy for all which they had Purifications answerable The general scope of all which was to shadow forth Jesus Christ in his purifying cleansing power and virtue as cleansing us from the guilt of sin by his Blood shed and sacrificed for us and from the filth and power thereof by his Spirit dwelling and working in us Therefore he is said to offer up himself a Sacrifice for us Ephes 5.2 and to wash us and cleanse us vers 26 27. 3. The Temple and Tabernacle and the Utensils thereof with all their holy places For they had many and divers of them the whole Land of Canaan was an holy Land They had Cities of Refuge Jerusalem was an holy City Mount Sion was an holy Hill the Temple was an holy House And before they had a sixed Temple they had which was equivalent in signification as well as like unto it in outward form the Tabernacle Heb. 9.1 to vers 6. All which signified and shadowed forth both Christ and the Church Christ in his humane nature the Church both as visible and as militant and mystical and likewise as triumphant in Heaven Therefore the Church of God is called his House 1 Tim. 3.15 4. The Priesthood with all the rest of the Temple Ministry Heb. 8.2 They had beside the High-Priest the other Priests and the Levites some whereof were Porters some Singers And here the Temple Musick comes to be considered the High-Priest was an eminent Type of Christ the true and great High-Priest of his Church And all this Temple Ministry was a shadow of the true Gospel Ministry which though they cannot be called Priests in the Popish sense yet they may be called Antitypical Priests The further mysteries of all which legal Ministry we shall open more particularly afterwards the Lord enabling us 5. A Fifth of these perpetual Types was the Festivals or Holy Times appointed by the Law whereof they had many their weekly seventh day Sabbaoths their New Moons their yearly Feasts That of Tabernacles Passover and Pentecost their seventh year their Jubilee of fifty years containing the Revolution of seven times seven all which were a shadow of good things to come Col. 2.16 17. Vse 1. This Text and Doctrine gives much light for the resolution of that question whether the Law of Moses was a Covenant of Works or Grace The answer is That the Law hath a shadow of the good things of the Gospel but not the very Image of the things themselves There was a mixture in that Dispensation you may take the Answer more fully in three Propositions 1. The thing it self adumbrated and shadowed forth in this Law of Ceremonies is the future good things of the Gospel so that it was indeed a Covenant of Grace that they were under 2. The manner of representation of them was legal and in the way of a shadow not of a full and lively Image so that it was a kind of legal Gospel they had in those times Vid. on Heb. 4.2 3. The carnal Jews made it meer Law by sticking in the shell and shadow and rejecting the Gospel or the thing it self that was adumbrated and shadowed forth unto them Vse 2. See the Justice of God in the rejection of the Jews For might not Israel have understood They did not want a competency of outward means but they wanted hearts Deut. 29.2 3 4. Vse 3. Encouragement in the search we are now upon as to the Types for it is the Gospel and the good things of the Gospel that we look into when we enquire and search into the Types The Law having a shadow of them Vid. on Rom. 5.14 Serm. 1. Vse where there are three Rules for the better understanding of them To which let me add this as an Appendix to the first seek Light from God Psal 119.18 Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy Law You may see wondrous things indeed Jesus Christ and the Gospel and many precious mysteries in this part of the Law of God this Law of Ceremonies if God open your eyes but otherwise all will be dark to you Vse 4. Encouragement to believe and receive the Gospel for it hath been held forth to the Faith of Gods people all along and they have rested upon it and found peace We have it declared in the clearest way and indeed every way for we reap the Fruit
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
2. The occasion of their Separation to this Office And there are two or three occasions of it noted 1. The Lords passing by the first-born of Israel when he slew the first-born of Egypt Exod. 13.2 on which occasion the Lord challenged the first-born to himself and required they should be sanctified to him But afterwards the Lord was pleased to take the Levites from amongst the Children of Israel instead of all the first-born See Numb 3.11 12 13. Therefore the Levites shall be mine saith God because all the first-born are mine 2. The Faithfulness of the Levites in a time of great Apostacy and temptation the Story whereof you have in Exod. 32.28 29. and it is afterwards remembred by Moses before the Lord in his blessing of them Deut. 33.9 3. The later Rebellion of Korah Dathan and Abiram with the lamentations and self-condemning complaints of the people upon that occasion Compare cap. 17. of Numbers the two last verses with the first verses of this 18th chapter That Complaint of the people Behold we dye we perish we all perish is an earnest deprecation of the danger for they were under the sense of the dread and Majesty of the dreadful presence of God in his Tabernacle and thereupon they thus spake From all which we may observe that such as God cals to any Work and Office he doth usually give many visible intimations of it he doth design and prepare them to it by many fore-running Providences 3. The Rites and manner of their Separation and Consecration to their Office This is recorded and declared at large in Numb 8. where you will find it was by sprinkling them with Water by shaving their Hair by washing their Clothes and by offering Sacrifices for them And lastly by the Children of Israels laying their hands upon them But I shall not speak to these things though it would be worth the while Because there hath been occasion to speak to sundry of these Rites in other places formerly 4. Their Work and Office which they were thus separated and set apart unto which was in general to be adjoyned as subordinate Ministers to the Priests in the outer Services and Ministrations of the Temple so here ver 2. that they may be joyned unto thee alluding to the name of Levi which bears that signification though the name was given upon another occasion I say outer because they are excluded from the Ministrations of the Sanctuary and the Altar ver 3. Their Work might be distinguished into Synagogue-work and Temple-work into temporary or occasional and standing work But I shall put all together in seven heads 1. They were to bear the Tabernacle and all the holy Vessels Numb 4.15 so Christ supports and bears the Church but this work was but temporary and occasional while the Tabernacle was in that ambulatory posture but when the flitting moving Tabernacle was changed into a fixed Temple then this part of their Ministration was at an end 2. The Levites were to assist the Priests in offering Sacrifices 1 Chron. 23 28-31 2 Chron. 29.34 and 2 Chron. 30.16 to burne them on the Altar and sprinkle the Blood was peculiar to the Priests but the Levites might help in killing them and other preparatory Administrations As to the Gospel of this you know the true Sacrifice is Christ and he is the Priest and the Levite too he did all himself alone without any 〈◊〉 assistance 3. The Levites were to teach the people in the Law of the Lord therefore scattered and dispersed in their habitations up and down among them Deut. 33.10 they shall teach Israel thy Law Mal. 2. ver 7. the Priests Lips should keep Knowledge and and they should seek the Law at his Mouth for he is the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts 2 Chron. 17.7 8 9. Jehosophat sent Levites to teach It is the Magistrates duty to provide for the teaching and instructing of his Subjects in the good knowledge of the Lord. This Christ doth and this Gospel-Ministers also do they should teach the people what the Lord hath taught them 4. They were to judge of Causes and to determine Controversies among the people Deut. 17.8 9-12 the supream Judgment lying in the High Priest ver 11. Amaziah the Priest in those things which belong to God shall preside 2 Chron. 19.8 10. so there is spiritual Judgment of Discipline in the Church under the Gospel Ezek. 44.23 24. 1 Cor. 5.12 5. They were to sing the Songs of the Temple That business of the Temple-Musick was committed to them partly as to the Psalteries Harps and Viols though the Priests were to sound the Trumpets 1 Chron. 15.16 17. 2 Chron. 5.12 13. That which answers this is the inward melody of the Joys and Graces of Gods Spirit 6. Others of them were Treasurers 1 Chron. 26.20 22 24 26 27 28. there is a Treasure also in the Church of the New Testament for which the Lord hath appointed Deacons whom he hath intrusted with it 7. Others were Porters to keep and watch the Gates of the House of the Lord which they did both by day to keep back unclean persons that they might nor enter into the Temple so we find in Jehoiada's time 2 Chron. 23.19 Ezek. 22.26 and Ezek. 44.7 8. and by night Psal 134.1 These seem to have been as the Priests and Singers were divided into four and twenty courses 1 Chron. 23.4 5 6. 2 Chron. 8.14 so the Gates of the Gospel-Churches should be kept and guarded that enemies and unclean persons may not enter in Rev. 21.27 3. The third sort of Temple-Officers were the Nethinims or Gibeonites Josh 9. for the servile work of the Temple ver 21 23 27. And Joshua gave them that day to be Hewers of Wood and Drawers of Water for the Congregation and for the Altar of the Lord. Hence they are called Nethinims from Nathan dedit They were afterwards methodized by David for the Temple-service Ezra 8.20 and had Lodgings neer the Temple Nehem. 3.26 though their dwellings were in their own Towns and Cities Nehem. 7.73 the Nethenims dwelt in their Cities Their coming to the Israelites was to save their own Lives a lawful end but the means they used was very evil for they came with a Ly in their mouths as you all know the Story Josh 9. And as their means was bad so the motive was but low for they were under a legal work of fear and terror and under guilt and guile of Spirit as indeed guilt is usually accompanied with guile and deceitfulness of heart Yet out of this legal principle this legal fear and terror they came to make their peace I may call it in a sense their peace with God for it was with the people of God with the people of the true God and God by his Providence did so order it that their Lives were preserved and not only so but they were devoted though in a very low and mean way to the Service of the Tabernacle of the true and