shall bite them and upon occasion of their ungrateful murmurings against the Manna Numb 21.5 The Instruction we may learn and see in it is this That God le ts loose those fiery Serpents Satan and their Lusts to sting the Consciences and torment the Souls of Men for contempt of Christ and Gospel mercies When Manna hath been slighted when Christ is offered and rejected then the Serpent stings Psal 81.11 12. Because Israel would none of me therefore I gave them up to their own hearts lusts Have you never felt the truth of this Type by woful experience how sin hath raged and gotten more strength when the Gospel hath been slighted and offers of Grace despised So much of the Disease the deadly sting of these fiery Serpents for their murmurings Now 2. for the Remedy The Brazen Serpent That Christ is this Brazen Serpent himself declares Joh. 3. 1. It was made of Brass and in the shape and form of a Serpent yet not a real Serpent It was not made of Gold but only of Brass which though it be a strong and bright Mettal yet was contemptible in outward appearance and most unlikely to have attained such an end to work such a cure So is Christ strong and mighty and bright and glorious Rev. 1.15 16. The brightness of his Fathers glory Heb. 1.3 Yet a man and the Son of man Therefore low and mean in his outward appearance and despised of the world Christ crucified is to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness but to them that are saved the wisdom of God and the power of God 1 Cor. 1.23 24. Yea he condescended to appear in the similitude of sinful flesh for so the Apostle most accurately expresseth it Rom. 8.3 He was counted a sinner but he was indeed without sin Heb. 4.15 As this brazen Serpent was like a Serpent yet had neither Venom nor Sting so Christ appeared like a sinner He came in the likeness of sinful flesh and yet knew no sin 2 Cor. 5.21 But though he was not sinful yet he was indeed under the curse due to sin as the Serpent was cursed Gen. 3. So Christ became a curse for us Gal. 3.13 2. This brazen Serpent was a Remedy and a Cure provided of God in meer Grace and sovereign Mercy for ungrateful and unworthy Rebels when some of them were stung to death and ready to perish for their contempt of Manna and others of them were dead and gone and past recovery for the same sin It was against the merit of their murmurings when they spake against him and against Moses in like manner doth God give his Son Jesus Christ of free and meer grace when we were enemies without and against our merit when so great a part of mankind perisheth without him in their own rebellions and especially for their contempt of the Gospel Joh. 3.16 God so loved the world it was a most intense love to give his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him might not perish but have eternal life 3. The Serpent must be lifted up upon a Pole Numb 21. That all Israel might see it whether near or further off so Christ was lifted up Joh. 3.14 As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness even so must the Son of man be lifted up that is upon the Cross Joh. 12.32 33. And I if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me This he spake signifying what death he should die And in the preaching of the Gospel in the sight of all men Gal. 3.1 Before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified among you Both to those that are near and farr of Ephes 2.17 4. This brazen Serpent must be also looked upon by the Israelites when stung Numb 21.8 So must Christ by the eye of Faith Joh. 3.15 Faith is often expressed unto us by that Metaphor of looking Look unto me all ye ends of the earth and be saved Isa 45.22 Isa 65.1 I said behold me behold me Faith looks with a fixed eye and with a mourning eye A mans Spirit is much seen and doth much discover it self by his eye 5. In this way it gave healing unto those that being stung did look upon it whom nothing else could heal Moses and his Law could not do it Numb 21.8 So Christ Mal. 4.2 Vnto you that fear my Name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing under his wings Psal 103 who healeth all thy diseases And none but he can do it Act. 4.12 There is no healing of a wounded Conscience but by Jesus Christ alone as lifted up upon the Cross and beheld by the eye of Faith The brazen Serpents being lifted up was not enough but it must be looked upon so Christ must be believed on or else the soul cannot be healed Ignorant Souls that see not Christ or that despise him shall not be saved by him as if any of the people had said what virtue can there be in such a brazen Serpent to health and so would not look up to it Such they deservedly perish so do Unbelievers and Despisers under the Gospel Though they were but weak and dim-eyed blear-eyed dim-sighted c. yet looking up to the brazen Serpent they were healed so though Faith be weak yet being sincere it saveth Though in the utmost parts of the Camp some say it took up twelve myles Yet look unto me all the ends of the earth and be saved Isa 45.22 6. The brazen Serpent retained this virtue only while instituted by God for that end and therefore when the sacred Stamp of Institution was taken off we read no more of any Miracles wrought by it and Hezekiah brake it in pieces 2. Kings 18.4 Now this part of the History cannot be fitly accommodated to Christ himself but to his Ordinances thus That the very same things and actions which are good and useful when God appoints them are useless yea abominable if there be no stamp of Institution upon them Thus we may fitly apply it because the Types as hath been said relate to all Gospel Truths and the same Truth shines forth in all the rest of those ancient Types and Shadows The Lord then appointed ministring Garments for his Priests and Ministers but for Ministers to use sacred Vestments now is unlawful and abominable The Lord then appointed a kind of legal Hierarchy and spiritual Supremacy of the High Priest over all the rest of the Priests and Levites they were to act by the appointment of Aaron and his Sons Numb 4.19 But for one Gospel Minister to claim a supremacy of Jurisdiction over another Gospel Minister within his own Charge or Congregation This is that for which we justly call the Pope Antichrist The Lord then appointed the Feast of Tabernacles and the Passover and Pentecost But for us to keep these Feasts now under the names of Christmas Easter or Whitsuntide or the like as the Pope hath taught us to do it is a farr
in by degrees the first four Trumpets made way for the perfection of that Apostasie that came in by the fifth Among the Idolatrous Kings of Israel those in succeeding times were worse then their wicked Predecessors Jeroboam was bad enough but he only sets up the two Calves at Dan and Bethel but Omri went beyond him for it is said he did worse then all that went before him 1 King 16.25 We read of the Statutes of Omri Mic. 6.16 Idolatrous and persecuting Laws But his Son Ahab was worse then he For as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam he did set up the Worship of Baal and did more to provoke the God of Israel to anger then all the Kings of Israel that went before him 1 King 16.31 32 33. So that you see it is an increasing and an endless sin 4. All the honour men do or think they do to God by worship of their own invention doth redound indeed and in truth to the honour of the Devil which is a fearful thing to consider Superstition is a sin directly against the means of worship but it is ultimately against the Object of worship Strange worship sets up a strange God Ames Med. Theol. lib. 2. cap. 13. Thes 14 15 42. for it necessarily supposeth and feigneth to it self such an Object of worship as is well pleased with such manner of worship as Superstition offers up and to whose will soever we submit our Consciences as the Rule of our religious worship him we set up as our God Though it be not so in mens intentions yet it is so indeed and in Gods Interpretation The Lord so interprets false worship that a new God is devised for the Object of it so of the Heathenish Idolatry the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to Devils and not to God 1 Cor. 10.20 And so the Lord interprets the Jewish Idolatry Jeroboam ordained Priests for the Devils which he had made 2 Chron. 11.15 Lev. 17.7 Deut. 32.17 And he puts the same construction upon the Popish Idolatry they repented not of worshipping Devils Rev. 9.20 And their Factors and Emissaries are called Spirits of Devils Rev. 16.14 they think they worship St. Peter and the Virgin Mary yea God himself and Jesus Christ but it is indeed and in Gods account the Devil whom they worship It is true you cannot honour God too much his Name is above and beyond all praise but you may mistake and honour the Devil when you think you honour God A fearful mistake indeed it is but yet it is that which all those fall into who in their worship depart from the will of God revealed in his Word and turn aside to any of the Inventions of men THE GOSPEL OF THE CEREMONIAL UNCLEANNESSES and CLEANSINGS September 13 20. 1668. Heb. 9.13 14. For if the blood of Bulls and of Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh How much more shall the blood of Christ c. IN the distribution I formerly gave of the Ceremonial Law you may remember I did put the Legal Sacrifices and Purifications together under one Head as partaking in the same general nature both of them tending to the purging away of sin and of uncleanness Moral uncleanness being taken away by Sacrifice Ceremonial uncleanness by Ceremonial Purifications whereof we are now to speak as the Lord shall enable us from this Text which speaks very fully and most divinely to this Point There be two things in the Text. 1. The Type vers 13. For if the blood of Bulls of Goats c. 2. The Antitype vers 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ c. Under each of which there be three particulars which are here set by the Apostle in a way of opposite correspondency the one to the other 1. He speaks of uncleanness in the Type To which answers dead works as the thing figured by it 2. He mentions Ceremonial cleansing to the purifying of the flesh To which answers the purging of the Conscience from dead Works to serve the living God 3. The Means of the one answers to the Means of the other The blood of Bulls and Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean which is the Means of legal cleansing To this answers the blood of Christ who by the eternal Spirit offered up himself without spot unto God which is the Means of spiritual cleansing Though withall the Apostle shews that these two answer not each other in a way of equal Analogy there being indeed a preeminent excellency of the one above the other of the Antitype above the Type therefore he expresseth it with an how much more If those legal Purifications attain the end of legal cleansing for which they were appointed how much more shall the blood of Christ cleanse the Conscience It hath a greater efficacy and is a Truth of clearer and higher Evidence These particulars of the Analogy between the Type and the Antitype we may cast them into three doctrinal Propositions thus 1. That they had a Ceremonial uncleanness under the Law which figured the Moral uncleanness of dead works 2. That they had also Ceremonial cleansings or purifyings of the flesh which signified the purging our Consciences from dead works to serve the living God 3. That the Means of Ceremonial putification by the blood of Bulls and Goats and by the ashes of an Heiser sprinkling the unclean signified the blood of Christ who by the eternal Spirit offered up himself without spot unto God 1. For the first namely that they had a Ceremonial uncleanness under the Law which did figure out the Moral uncleanness of dead works therefore he sets them one against the other so that those uncleannesses did signify dead works and what is meant by dead works we may see Heb. 6.1 not laying again the foundation of Repentance from dead works What do we repent of We repent of our sins These are therefore the dead works here spoken of and sin is called a dead work because it proceeds from death and is a part of spiritual death and tends to eternal death As good Actions tend to life so sin tends to death so then Ceremonial uncleanness signifies Moral uncleanness of sin and dead works There were two or three sorts of Ceremonial uncleanness 1. Unclean Touchings 2. Unclean Issues 3. That unclean Disease of the Leprosy 1. They had unclean Touchings and Tastings here was uncleanness from without 2. They had unclean Issues here was uncleanness from within a mans self 3. That Disease of the Leprosy was a Disease of Ceremonial uncleanness and here was both an inward and an outward uncleanness 1. There was a Ceremonial uncleanness by eating or touching any unclean thing Lev. 11. In that Chapter it is treated of which Chapter shews what Beasts what Fishes what Fowls and what creeping things might and what might not be eaten And it
and make use of it and it will cleanse thy Soul for ever Hebr. 9.13 14. September 27. 1668. THe Apostle in these expressions the blood of Bulls and Goats includes by a parity of reason all the other Ceremonial Cleansings which are not particularly mentioned As they had three sorts of Ceremonial Uncleanness so they had three ways of Purification 1. For the uncleanness by touching any unclean Meat or thing The purification for this was by the Red Heyfer which the Holy Ghost mentions in the Text particularly whereof we spake the last time 2. For unclean Issues Two Turtle Doves or two young Pigeons the one for a Sin Offering the other for a Burnt Offering Lev. 15.14 15. and Lev. 12.8 Or a Lamb and a young Pigeon ver 6. The rites whereof being the same with the Burnt-Offering and the Sin-Offering were there handled and so need not be spoken to here again 3. The third sort of Ceremonial uncleanness was that unclean disease of Leprosie which is treated of at large in Lev. 13. and the Cleansing of it in Chap. 14. Of the Disease we have formerly spoken in the exposition of the 13. Chapter and shall therefore now proceed to the cleansing of it which was done by several Sacrifices and Ceremonies appointed and directed in that 14. Chapter of Leviticus wherein the method the Holy Ghost is pleased to use is this He gives direction first concerning the cleansing of a Leprous person to ver 33. and then of a Leprous house from ver 33. to the end of the Chapter The Rules and Directions about the cleansing of a leprous person are of two sorts Preparative and Executive The preparatory directions are these three 1. He must be brought unto the Priest Lev. 14. ver 2. This was an Ordinance of God and therefore Christ himself requires the observation of it of that Leper whom he himself had cured miraculously Matth. 8.4 Go shew thy self unto the Priest and offer the Gift that Moses commanded The Leper was to dwell alone without the Camp and without the City but he was to be brought to the outmost part of the Camp or to the Gates of the City to the Priest Now the true Priest is Jesus Christ Therefore the meaning of this Ordinance was plainly and clearly this That Leprous souls must come to Jesus Christ by Faith for spiritual healing He is said to arise with healing in his wings Mal. 4.2 You know how many Lepers he did heal in the days of his flesh And all the Miracles of Christ had a symbolical use to instruct us in what he does for Souls in a spiritual way by what he did for mens bodies in a miraculous way 2. The Priest must go forth out of the Camp to the Leper ver 3. This plainly speaks thus much That Jesus Christ goes forth unto poor sinners when in their distance in their back slidings and separations from the Lord he seeks them and finds them out whose blessed Office it is to seek and to save lost sinners Luk. 19.10 We are by nature far from God shut out and cast forth aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel Ephes 1.12 When thou wast in thy blood I passed by and pittied thee Ezek. 16.6 He goes to meet the returning Prodigal Luk. 15.20 As the Priest here to meet the Leper when shut out of the Camp of Israel 3. The Priest shall see and behold if the plague of Leprosie be healed in the Leper ver 3. The Judgment of it is committed to the Priest and he must judge as the thing is It is Christ himself that is the Judge of Souls and he will judge true and righteous Judgment Isai 11.3 he shall not judge according to the seeing of his eyes Though men judge thou art a Leper a Schismatick a Fanatick be not troubled if the Priest pronounce thee clean if the Lord hath said it to thee by the witness of his Spirit in his Word It is the Priest must judge and it is this Word which cannot err nor lye that shall judge of thee at that day It belongs also to Ministers in an inferior way to judge of men to discern between the Clean and the Unclean and to retain or remit sins Ministerially Joh. 20.23 These are the preparatory directions for the purification of the Leper Now 2. The Executive part follows from vers 3. c. and it consists mainly in two things 1. The Sacrifice of two Birds and their Ceremonies to vers 10. 2. A Sacrifice of three Lambs with their Appurtenances and Ceremonies from vers 10 to 21. 1. The first part of the Purification of the Leper is by two Birds and the Ceremonies belonging to them from vers 3 to vers 10. The Materials here required are two living clean Birds together with Cedar Scarlet and Hyssop vers 4. The Birds are thought to be Sparrows The Hebrew word Ziphor signifies a Bird in general any winged Fowl Deut. 4.17 They are forbidden to make the likeness of any winged Fowl that flyeth in the Air. Psal 8.8 The Fowls of the Air. And is sometimes used particularly concerning a Sparrow Psal 84.3 and 102.7 We may understand it here in the largest sense for any clean Birds These two Birds and the Herbs are the Ingredients that must all concur to make up the matter of this cleansing Sacrifice The two Birds were not two Sacrifices for one of them was not slain but dismissed but they did both make up one Sacrifice some of the Mysteries whereof could not be represented by one Bird and therefore two were appointed the one to dye and the other to live They had another Ordinance of the like nature and of the same importance with this viz. the two Goats on the yearly Feast of Expiation Lev. 16. whereof the one was slain the other did escape being sent away into the Wilderness therefore called the Seape-Goat But why were there two Birds and what was the Mystery of this Ans It shadowed forth both the natures and estates of our Lord Jesus Christ 1. Both his natures his eternal Deity and his mortal Humanity are here prefigured and represented The slain Bird represents his humane nature capable of death and suffering The other Bird his divine nature which was and is immortal and impassible As both these Birds were necessary and must be used in this Sacrifice so Christ our Sacrifice must be both God and man We are not cleansed and saved either by his Deity or Humanity alone but both his natures do concur in his mediatorial Actions for our Salvation 2. Here is a shadow of the twofold state that Jesus Christ passed thorough first a state of death and humiliation and then a state of life and glory 1 Pet. 3.18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the Spirit Put to death in the flesh that is in his humane nature but quickened by
a certain time or during a mans whole life Of Persons that were Nazarites all their days the Scripture giveth some very great and eminent instances as Sampson Judg. 13.5 also Samuel the Prophet 1 Sam. 1.11 also John the Baptist Luke 1.15 Of Persons under the Vow of Nazariteship only for some certain time we have instance in Paul the Apostle Acts 18.18 and again Acts 21.23 24. How long they were to be under the Vow the Scripture limits not The Jewish Writers report that one month was the shortest time in use amongst them This Order shadowed forth sundry things relating 1. To Christ himself 2. To the Members of Christ 3. To the Benefits of Christ 1. The Nazarites were Types of Christ himself not that Christ himself was a Nazarite according to the Law but only in the Spirit and Truth of this Type That he was not a Nazarite literally is clear because he drank Wine as at other times so at his last Supper which they might not do But in him this Type was fulfilled in two respects 1. In regard of his usual Name and Title Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus the Nazarite Matth. 2. ult Joh. 19.19 Thus he was usually called which the Jews would never have done but that by the Providence of God he had lived in that place In which disposal of Providence altius fuit Dei Consilium as Calvin in Mat. 2. God had a further Design and Counsel than they were aware of that from thence called him by that Name Which though it was given him upon another occasion by the Jews namely from the place of his Residence yet God in his infinite Wisdom did so contrive and order it that by this means he should be commonly called by the Name of this religious Order See Matth. 2. ult where the Evangelist tells us that by this means of Christs living in Nazareth was fulfilled that which was spoken by the Prophets namely that he should be called a Nazaren By the Prophets is meant those Prophets that wrote the Book of Judges and the place intended is Judges 13.5 as Calvin from Martin Bucer judgeth It is true indeed the words there are spoken of Sampson literally but intended mystically of the Messiah of whom both Sampson and all the Nazarites were Types It is true there is some literal difference between Zain and Tsade and the Syriack Translation which yet is but a Translation renders Nazareth by Tsade Notsoreth whereas the word Nazarite is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with Zain But that the Holy Ghost regarded such a literal exactness is not probable See Bucholcer Cbronol p. 285. It may suffice that there is an allusion and affinity in the sound And though Matthew useth the word Nazarene as signifying one of the religious Order of the Nazarites yet Pilate Joh. 19.19 useth the same word of him never dreaming of any thing more than the place where Christ had dwelt Some indeed have thought that this passage in Matth. 2.23 refers to Isai 11.1 where Christ is called Netsor the Branch a flourishing Branch But we do not find that flourishing Branches are called Nazarites in the Scripture so Calvin in Matth. 2. ult 2. In regard of his peculiar Holiness and Separation unto God They were ceremonially holy but he was holy indeed and after an higher and infinitely more excellent and glorious manner He is called that holy thing that shall be born of thee Luk. 1.35 and Dan 9.24 the most holy or the Holy of holies 2. The Nazarites were Types of all the Saints and Members of Christ All Believers who are an holy people are spiritual Nazarites separated unto God I say all Believers whether male or female For there were Women Nazarites as well as Men Num. 6.2 when either Man or Woman shall separate themselves to vow a Vow of a Nazarite For in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female Gal. 3.28 3. There was in this Order a Ceremonial shadow and adumbration of the Benefits of Christ which Believers do receive from him and they are chiefly two Sanctification and Justification 1. Sanctification This was shadowed out in this that the Nazarites were persons separated and devoted unto God in a special manner by a Vow Numb 6.6 As also in the particular Rules and Ceremonies belonging to this Order which were three 1. Not to drink Wine Numb 6.3 4. So Sampson This was to teach them Temperance and Mortification of fleshly Lusts which Wine often provokes men to and takes away their hearts from that which is good Hos 4.11 and causes them to err and stumble Isai 28.7 Moreover this Ceremony taught them instead of Wine to be filled with the Spirit Ephes 5.18 and inebriated as it were with the Joys thereof in the sense of Gods Love which is better than Wine Cant. 1.4 2. Not to cut their Hair ver 5. This is thought to be appointed as many other ceremonial Laws were in opposition to the heathenish Idolatry of those times and to signifie the keeping himself from all uncleanness and impurity For when the Nazarite was purged and cleansed from impurity his Hair was shaved off ver 9. and so the Leper Lev. 14.8 9. therefore to keep it from shaving seemeth to signifie the keeping themselves from uncleanness so some expound it It shadowed forth also the growth of the Graces of Gods Spirit in them as in Sampson who with the loss of his Hair lost the Power of God and as his Hair grew again so his Strength in God renewed Judg. 13 25 and 16. This Strength came not by the growth of the Hair otherwise than as an outward Sign appointed unto them of God who sanctifieth to his people what outward Signs himself pleaseth to signifie and convey Grace as he sanctified the Waters of Jordan to wash away Naamans Leprosie Ainsworth on Numb 6.5 which of themselves had no such efficacy 2 Kings 5.14 3. Not to defile themselves by the dead ver 6 7 8. This refraining from the dead in whom the Image as it were of Gods Curse for Sin was to be seen For the Wages of Sin is Death Ainsworth in loc Rom. 6.23 figured out abstaining from sinful and dead Works and from such as live in them who are dead whilst they live 1 Tim. 5.6 It shewed their Constancy in the Rules of their Profession and their Magnanimity in the loss of dearest Comforts 2. Justification by Christ alone was shadowed forth in two Rules or Observations belonging to this Order 1. That legal strictness and severity of Purification in case of accidental Defilement ver 9 10 11 12. If a Nazarite chance to be defiled he is to begin again upon a new score This shews the absolute Purity and Perfection of the Law of God which will not admit the least error or failing but whosoever continueth not in all things is cursed and condemned by it Deut. 27.26 Gal. 3.10 If a man keep the whole Law and fail but in one point he is guilty of
the same spiritual Meat and did all drink the same spiritual Drink For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ The fourth I say was the Manna or the Bread that came from Heaven the History whereof we have in Exod. 16.14 15. Behold upon the face of the Wilderness there lay a small round thing as small as the hoar frost on the ground And Moses said unto them this is the Bread which the Lord hath given you to eat which that it was indeed a Type and that the Truth and Mystery of it was Christ himself as the Bread of Life and the Food of our Souls Christ himself assures us in Joh. 6.32 Verily verily I say unto you Moses gave you not that Bread from Heaven but my Father giveth you the true Bread from Heaven And ver 48. I am that Bread of Life And ver 51. I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven and so the Apostle a little before the Text instanceth in this 1 Cor. 10.3 They did all eat the same spiritual Meat This then was the general scope of it to hold forth Christ as the Food of our Souls But now to let you see a little more particularly the excellent Correspondence between the Type and the Antitype the clear and full Analogy that is between the Shadow and the Truth prefigured by it You may discern it in these five particulars 1. This Manna was a Portion prepared of God and given down from Heaven to an unworthy murmuring rebellious people When the Children of Israel first saw it they said one to another It is Manna for they wist not what it was Exod. 16.15 This word Manna your Margent tells you it may be rendred what is this or it is a Portion a prepared or distributed Portion from the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 numerare and in piel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 praeparavit because God prepare and distribute it among them and it was ready to their hand to be eaten as they found it though they might also bake it if they would The Hebrew word Manna is retained in the New Testament in the Greek Joh. 6.31 and from thence and in our own and other Languages there is another thing known by the same name of which Writers say that it is a Syriack Dew but it will neither melt with the Sun nor putrefie in the night nor is it fit for Food but for Physick only so it differs wholly from this Hebrew Manna whereof we speak which God in a miraculous way did rain down from Heaven Psal 78.23 24. He commanded the Clouds from above and opened the doors of Heaven and rained down Manna upon them and gave them of the Corn of Heaven And this without any care or pains or Industry of theirs a Food which they neither sowed nor laboured for but had it for the taking up And this he did for an unworthy murmuring sinful people when they were in a most rebellious frame when they were murmuring and said Exod. 16.3 Would to God we had died in the Land of Egypt when we sate by the Flesh-pots Hereupon the Lord promiseth ver 4. I will rain Bread from Heaven for them So is Christ a Portion and a Food prepared for every hungry Soul and he came down from Heaven and is sent and given of God even to rebellious Sinners He gave Gifts to men even to the rebellious Psal 68.18 2. This Manna was outwardly and seemingly despicable and contemptible yet indeed the choicest Food and most excellent in all respects both as to Colour and Figure Taste and Use It was but a little thing in quantity Exod. 16.14 It is called Angels Food Psalm 78.25 men did eat Angels Food The Figure of it round Exod. 16.31 like Coriander Seed which Philosophers note to be of the best and most perfect Figure The Colour white ibid. and Numb 11.7 like to the Colour of Bdellium The Taste sweet like fresh Oil or Wafers baked with Honey Numb 11.7 And it sustained six hundred thousand fighting men besides Women and Children They might eat it either as they found it or grind and bake it Numb 11.8 Yet the Murmurers loathed it and grew weary of it Numb 11.6 they called it this light Bread Numb 21.5 for which they were destroyed In like manner Jesus Christ as to his outward appearance is despicable and contemptible and despised by the world Isai 53 though in himself most precious and excellent Cant. 5. ult 1. Pet. 2.7 to you that believe he is precious Christ in the Promises and Ordinances is precious to the spiritual Taste 1 Pet. 2.3 If so be you have tasted that the Lord is gratious and sweeter than the Honey or Honey-comb Psal 119.103 Their grinding and baking it some apply to the Sufferings of Christ whereby he was prepared to be unto us the Bread of Life And he fills and satisfies the desires of all Believers the whole Israel of God But as in other Types there is not only a resemblance in part but withal a disparity and pre-eminence of the Antitype above the Type so in this Christ infinitely excels the literal Manna as the substance doth the shadow For that did but feed the Body but Christ feeds the Soul that preserved only the natural Life of the Body and that only for a time but could not give Life but Christ preserves spiritual Life yea gives spiritual and eternal Life to Souls that were dead in sins and trespasses and as he gives it so he maintains and preserves it for ever Your Fathers did eat Manna and are dead Joh. 6.49 but he that eats this true Bread shall never die ver 51.58 so that in this as in all things Christ hath the pre-eminence 3. Something of Mystery may be observed in the quantity they were to gather an Homer full Exod. 16.22 now an Homer was about two Quarts or as others express it three Pints and an half of our measure God gave them a liberal Allowance The Homer was the Vessel which did contain and wherein they were to put the Manna The Vessel that holds Christ is the Heart and Soul and so to get the Vessel full of Manna is to get the Heart full of Christ And he that gathered had none to spare Exod. 16.18 for it seems their manner was when they had gathered it to distribute to every one the same proportion quoted by the Apostle 2 Cor. 8.14 15. to perswade them to a liberal communication of outward supplies to one another It might also figure that spiritual Equality that is among Believers all sorts of Believers having an equal portion in Christ the true Manna Gal. 3.28 29. 2 Pet. 1.1 them that have obtained like precious Faith with us We are all one in Christ Jesus as to relative priviledges Justificatio non suscipit magis minus The Virgin Mary her self though she be Sanctificatior yet she is not Justificatior quam altera All Saints are equally justified
north Gates of the holy City restored which some think is not without something of mystery Ezek. 48.1 16 30. Tydings out of the North. Dan. 11. that is say some the Reformation in these northern Countries the Tydings whereof is evil News to Antichrist and the continual progress of that Work hath been a continual trouble to him these hundred and fifty years But I think we may acquiesce in what was first mentioned Aynsworth hath this Note on Lev. 6.25 hereby was figured that Christ our Sin-Offering should be killed by the Priests in Jerusalem and Mount Sion which was on the sides of the North Psal 48.2 Crucified on Mount Calvary which was on the North-West side of Jerusalem as by the Jews Tradition the morning Sacrifice was killed at the North West Horn of the Altar 4. The blood must be poured forth at the foot of the Altar and sprinkled upon it round about The former indeed is not expressed in this Chapter but it is necessarily implyed and you find it expressed Cap. 8.15 for we must borrow Light from other Scriptures poured forth Lev. 8.15 sprinkled in this Chapter vers 5. it was poured forth And almost all things in the Law were purged by blood Heb. 9.22 and without shedding of blood there is no Remission This was a great mystery a Type of the blood of Christ it leads us to the effusion and application of the blood of Christ First the effusion of it to the satisfaction of divine Justice Isai 53.12 He hath poured out his Soul unto death Mat. 26.28 my blood which is shed for many for the remission of sins Jesus Christ did often bleed for us in the day of his Humiliation under the guilt of our sins As at his Circumcision then were the first drops of that pure and precious blood shed that Sin-Expiating that Soul-Saving blood and in his Agony in the Garden he did sweat clodded blood and when he was scourged then he bled again for us and when Crowned with Thornes and in his Death and Crucifixion And finally when they pierced his Side with the Spear when that sacred Blood and Water issued forth which John saw and bare record of Joh. 19.34 35. One of the Souldiers with a Spear pierced his Side and forthwith there came out Blood and Water and he that saw it bare record and his record is true and he knoweth that he saith true that ye might believe Thus was the blood of the Sacrifice poured forth And it was also sprinkled so is Christs blood and therefore it is called Heb. 12.24 the blood of sprinkling Sprinkling is a Ceremony very significant of spiritual things but where was this blood sprinkled The Text saith It was sprinkled upon the Altar round about From this expression we may note the mistake of such as think the setting of the Communion-Table close to the Wall like a Dresser or Side-Table is to set it Altar-wise For it is most clear and certain that their Altars were ever so situate as that they might be compassed round about This expression doth occur no less than twelve times in this book of sprinkling upon the Altar round about so Psal 26.6 so will I compass thine Altar As to that conceit no other account can be given of it but the profound ignorance of Papists and Prelates Now the Altar was a Type of the Deity of Christ as being that which supported and sanctified the Sacrifice Mat. 23.19 It is the Altar that sanctifies the Gift It was the Deity of Christ that gave that infinite value and virtue to his Sufferings therefore look as the Altar was a Type of the divine nature of Jesus Christ and the blood was his Sufferings in the humane nature so the pouring forth and sprinkling this humane blood upon the divine Altar may lead our thoughts to consider the conjunction of the humane nature to the divine and the influence of that Conjunction into all the Sufferings of the humane nature Were not the Blood at the bottom of the Altar and sprinkled round about upon the Altar it could have no merit no value nor efficacy it could have no Soul-Redeeming virtue and efficacy and acceptation with the Lord. But it is the blood of God Act. 20.28 and therefore infinitely valuable and meritorious the Offering being sanctified by the Altar of his Deity It was sprinkled also upon the Book The Scripture and Ordinances must be sprinkled with the blood of Christ if ever they be made effectual to us for our good And upon the people Heb. 9.19 20 21. This shews the application of it to our Souls and Consciences 1 Pet. 1.2 Isai 52.15 5. The fifth ceremonial Action about the Burnt-Offering was this the Priest is to flay it and cut it into its pieces vers 6. The Skin must be taken off and the Body of the Sacrifice must be cut asunder yet not meerly chopt in pieces and mangled but according to the several joynts and pieces of the Body for God will have order in the things of his Worship The Skin was the Priests Portion see Cap. 7.8 As to the mystery of this I would not make too curious an application of it but there be four things we may observe and learn out of it 1. It related in general to the Sufferings of Christ for great Sufferings are set forth by such expressions Micah 3. 2 3. Who hate the good and love the evil who pluck off their Skin from off them and their Flesh from off their Bones who also eat the Flesh of my people and flay their Skin from off them c. Psal 22.15 16. 2. Something we may note here as to spiritual cloathing Skins were first used for Apparrel God clothed Adam with Skins Gen. 3.21 And much of our Clothing at this day is either the Skins of Beasts or the Hair and Wooll taken from those Skins as the Sacrifice being dead and slain did leave a Skin for clothing to the Priest by whose hand he died so Jesus Christ our true Sacrifice who was led as a Sheep to the slaughter for our sins yet being dead leaves a Garment of Righteousness to cloth Believers with therefore we are said to put on Christ as a Garment Rom. 13.14 Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jacob got the Blessing having his hand and his neck covered with Goat-Skins and being clothed in the Garments of his Elder Brother So Believers are blessed of God being clothed with the Righteousness of Jesus Christ 3. Whereas the Sacrifice in this Action was laid open and the inward parts of it discovered to open view so is Jesus Christ fully and openly discovered in the preaching of the Gospel Gal. 3.1 before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified among you like a Sacrifice that is flayed and cut asunder Moreover God sees the inward part of every Service of every Sacrifice we present unto him The Sacrifice was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
And here comes in that Quoere concerning the Peace-Offerings whether they were of the Holy of Holies whether they had the double or only the single Holiness They are not called most holy as the other five sorts are The reason whereof is because that some part of them was eaten by the people but yet a part also was burnt upon the Altar and another part eaten by the Priests and these parts were most holy though the whole was not Therefore some have called the Peace Offering Sacrificium varium a divers Sacrifice as being partly holy and partly most holy And the other sorts they call simplex by a simple Sacrifice intending that which was all of it most holy and the whole was to shadow out the Sacrifice and satisfaction of Jesus Christ so Mede Disc 49. 2. The second Ceremony of the Peace-Offering was the limitation of time for the eating of it The parts belonging to the Priest and to the Offerer must be eaten by them the same day or the next but if any was left till the third day it must be burnt with fire Lev. 7.15 16 17.18 And here there is a distinction in the Rule between the two sorts or occasions of Peace-Offerings namely That if it were for Thanksgiving it must be eaten the same day that it is offered but if it were for a Vow or a voluntary Offering it must be eaten within two days The former Rule is in vers 15. The Rule for the latter is in vers 16. But how if they did not observe this Rule see the penalty in vers 17.18 To eat any of it upon the third day was very detestable and abominable see vers 17 18. It is forbidden under the penalty of utter Extermination There might be something of a natural Reason for this because the flesh might putrefy in that hot Climate if kept longer But surely this is not all that was intended in such a severe and vehement Prohibition Therefore there be also two spiritual Mysteries that seem to be intended and aimed at by the Spirit of God in this Ceremony 1. To teach us that we should make haste and not delay Communion with God in the exercise of Faith and thankful obedience Do not delay and put off the work of Believing but receive Christ and Communicate of him in this our day This Instruction is clear and evident out of this Ceremony for seeing eating signifies our feeding upon Christ by Faith and to day and to morrow denotes a short time therefore this instructs us speedily to lay hold upon the Mercy of God in Christ and to feed upon this our Peace-Offering while it is called to day according to that Psal 95.7 8 Heb. 3.12 13 15. So for other duties of obedience we should not delay the expressions of our joy and thankfulness to God Psal 119.60 I made haste and delayed not to keep thy Commandments They had a like Rule touching the Passover Exod. 12.10 Ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire One scope whereof was to teach us to lay hold on present opportunities Do not protract the time there is a day of Peace after which when once expired it is too late God will not accept thy Peace-Offerings then 2. It is thought to have respect unto Christs Resurrection which was upon the third day therefore he saith Luk. 13.32 Behold I cast out Devils and I do Cures to day and to morrow and the third day I shall be perfected Then he ended his work and state of humiliation for our Redemption and had no more to do in a way of Sacrifice and Peace-Offering for our sins In which respect the number of three was a mystical number under the Law as well as the number seven the Scripture often sets a mark upon it Isaac was offered the third day Gen. 22.4 Against the third day they were to be ready to receive the Law upon Mount Sinai Exod. 19.10 11. Sanctify the people to day and to morrow and let them wash their Clothes and be ready against the third day for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai so the Ark went before them three days before it rested Numb 10.33 And they departed from the Mount of the Lord three days journey and the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord went before them in the three days journey to search out a resting place for them And after three days to pass over Jordan into Canaan Josh 1.11 In the third day the unclean person was to purify himself but if he purify not himself the third day then the seventh day he shall not be clean Numb 19.12 In the third day Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord and recovered from the sentence of death 2 King 29.5 Hos 6.2 After two days he will revive us in the third day he will raise us up and we shall live in his sight With many other memorable things all which intimates something of mystery in the third day And the greatest Dispensation that ever was upon that day was the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead after he had layn part of three days in the Grave Then he was perfected and had no more to do in way of Sacrifice and satisfaction for our sins as after the third day there was no more of the Peace-Offering remaining 3. A third Ceremony in the Peace-Offering was this That they were to offer leavened bread with it Cap. 7. vers 13. This is the more remarkable for that in all their other Sacrifices Leaven was usually very strictly and severely forbidden but here it is required Here we may learn first That it is not the nature of the thing it self but meerly the will of God that makes a thing good or evil in his worship To put Leaven into any other Offering it makes the Sacrifice odious unto God and like a smoak in his Nostrils all the day but if it please him to require it in the Peace-Offering then it must be used So for Honey he forbids it in other Sacrifices Lev 2.11 But in the First Fruits they were to offer Honey 2 Chron. 31.5 The Children of Israel brought in abundance of the First Fruits of Corn Wine Oyl and Honey and of all the Increase of the Field God herein manifesting his Authority and the supremacy of his Will If it had pleased our Lord Jesus Christ to command us to sign men in his Name with the sign of the Cross it would have been a duty and a blessed thing to do it and if he had not commanded us to wash men with Water in his Name it would have been a sinful and an unlawful Administration to baptize More particularly Leaven is taken both in a good and in a bad sense and I find Interpreters do accommodate and apply it both ways as to the Sacrifice of the Peace Offerings 1. In
Ans This was for a special reason because there was a civil penalty appointed in such Cases and for such sins extending even unto death And it had been incongruous to that legal and external dispensation they were under to appoint a Sacrifice to make atonement for Capital sins for which the sinner was to be cut off This made David cry Sacrifice thou wouldst not Psal 51. else would I give it he was at a loss what to do There was no provision made by the Law for atonement in that case of his but as God by prerogative and special dispensation spared his life so he did also forgive his sin and taught him upon this occasion the imperfection of all the legal Sacrifices but yet there is an atonement and a Trespass Offering provided under the Gospel even for such sins There is a spiritual Sacrifice Jesus Christ and his blood therefore such notorious sinners should not despair see 1 Cor. 6.11 Such were some of you foul enough and bad enough but ye are washed but ye are justified Obj. 3. But there be some sins even under the Gospel for which the Apostle saith there remaineth no more Sacrifice for sin Heb. 10. but fiery indignation and fearful looking for of Judgment Ans This is only the sin against the Holy Ghost which because many when in trouble of Conscience are apt to fear they have committed this sin I shall therefore open a little to you the nature of it to prevent mistakes and discouragements I shall endeavour to shew you both wherein it doth not and wherein it doth consist And first wherein it doth not consist 1. It is not every error in fundamentals that amounts to this sin for some Hereticks have been renewed by repentance have been converted and reclaimed from the error of their way which they that sin against the Holy Ghost cannot be Yea 2. suppose a man do not only err in fundamental truths but speak reproachful piercing words against it as the Quakers use to do when they scoff against a Christ without us and against the Bible calling it a dead letter This is blasphemy but yet it is not impossible even for such a one to repent and be forgiven for Mat. 12.30 32. every Blasphemy against the Son that is every kind or sort of Blasphemy may be forgiven 3. Yet further that sin which of all other doth in some respects come nearest to the sin against the Holy Ghost is Persecution For here is malice yet some even of these also have obtained mercy as Paul the Apostle who before his Conversion was a Persecutor he was both a fundamental Heretick and a Blasphemer and a Persecutor 4. Some have thought it doth consist in universal Apostacy but these are rather Circumstances that may accompany it but are not of the essence of it Apostasie is not essential to it much less universal Apostasie It is true those in Heb. 10. and Heb. 6. were Apostates that fell away from their former profession therefore Apostasie is sometimes found in this sin but not always For the Pharisees had never professed Christ yet they did sin against the Holy Ghost Mat. 12.32 33. Moreover Apostates in some cases may be recovered Hos 14.4 Rev. 2.5 and 3.18 And as to that of universal apostacy the Pharisees did not cast off all profession of God and of the truth they were not universal Apostates Therefore a man may pretend to Religion and be a Professor of it in some degree and yet a Pharisee doing despite unto the Spirit of Grace Thus you see negatively concerning this impardonable sin what it is not There may be fundamental error yea Blasphemy Persecution yet not unpardonable moreover a man may sin this sin and yet not be an universal Apostate as the Pharisees But if all this be not the sin against the Holy Ghost what is it and wherein doth it consist Ans There be two Ingredients that do concur to this sin 1. Inward conviction by the Holy Ghost 2. Malice This is that the Apostle intends by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if we sin wilfully Heb. 10. Hence our Saviour calls it Blasphemy against the Spirit Mat. 12. That is against the inward illumination and conviction of the Spirit in a mans Conscience If there be not a conjunction of both these both inward conviction and malicious opposition if there be only one of these without the other it is not the sin against the Holy Ghost Peter in his denying Christ and swearing falsly about it he sinned against Light and inward Conviction but this was not the sin against the Holy Ghost because he did it not in malice but only out of fear to save his life Paul before his Conversion did sin and persecute out of malice but yet he did not commit this sin because he wanted Light and inward Conviction himself gives us this account of it 1 Tim. 1.13 but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly But can this be known concerning others Yes it may be known therefore 1 Joh. 5.16 pray not for such It will further clear up the nature of the sin to name some Instances of such as have committed it There be some Instances and Examples of it in the Scripture and there have been some since the Scriptures were written The Scripture mentions the Pharisees Mat. 12. The Apostle Paul instanceth in the Convicted and yet apostate Jews in his Epistle to the Hebrews Since the Scriptures were written Julian the Apostate is thought to have sinned this sin for he had Light enough he was a Christian and an high Professor of Christianity before his Apostasie He did profess Religion to such a degree that he was wont to read in the Church in the publick Assemblies he did not disdain to read the Bible to them in the Church Assemblies though he was of the blood Royal but after he was setled in the Empire he fell away to Paganism and not only so but to most malicious and crafty Persecution Some have observed of him that he did not put forth such Edicts for the putting Christians to death as some former Persecutors had been wont to do He did forbear to do it out of craft and malice because he had observed the truth of that Speech sanguis Martyrum semen Ecclesiae the blood of Martyrs is the Seed of the Church he saw that such a course would propagate Christianity the more and increase the Church rather than diminish it Therefore he chose rather to lay snares for their Consciences by way of subtilty to draw them from the Truth and so to wash his hands in the blood of their Souls a sweeter victory to him then of their bodies and to triumph over them in their falls rather then in their deaths denying them the use of Books or Schools to get Learning suffering none to bear Office in War or Peace and when he dyed being shot with an Arrow in a Battle and feeling himself mortally wounded he pluckt out the Arrow