other things of like nature that so we may distinguish and discern the things that differ I shall instance here only in four things that are partly of the same nature with the Types but yet not exactly the same 1. The difference between a Type and a Simile A Type doth belong indeed to that Argument or Notion in Logick but with this difference this distinction will shew you the difference between them that there is Typus arbitrarius and Typus fixus institutus An arbitrary Type is a similitude or comparison So Marriage is a similitude or comparison by which the Apostle sets out the mystical union between Christ and the Church Ephes 5. But yet Marriage is not a Type For then we shall make it a Sacrament as the Papists do you know it was instituted for another end before the Gospel came into the world It is a Sign but not a Sacrament For by that Argument we should have a thousand Sacraments So Riders on white Horses are resemblances used in Scripture to set out Christ and the Angels but yet not properly Types of them And the reason is this because they were never instituted and designed by God for that end to represent Christ and the Gospel they are only occasionally made use of There is a wide difference between the occasional use of a thing in the way of a similitude or comparison and the Designment or Institution of it for that end and use As if Christ be compared to a Feast of Bread and Wine as in the Parable of the Marriage-Supper This is a very true and fit comparison but for Bread and Wine to be designed and set apart by the Command of God to represent Christ and his Benefits this is a thing of an higher nature and puts them into a Sacramental nature and relation to him 2. The difference between a Type and a Parable A Parable is nothing else but a sacred Similitude We commonly take it as the Scripture doth for such a similitude wherein not only the Truth and Mind of God is the scope and matter of it but whereof God himself is the Author As in the four Evangelists we read of the Parables of Christ To call them Fables as Grotius doth haec Fabula indicat c. is a slight and an irreverent expression A Parable there is the same with a Similitude only hath God himself for its Author But in a Type the Lord doth not only occasionally use such or such a simile but sets such a thing apart sets a stamp of Institution upon it and so makes it an Ordinance to hold forth Christ and his Benefits 3. What is the difference between a Type and a Ceremony This is only that which is between the Genus and Species For all the Ceremonies were Types but all Types were not Ceremonies The Pillar of Cloud and Fire was a Type but not a Ceremony A Ceremony was some Law or external Observation prescribed unto them to teach and shadow forth some Gospel-Mystery so that a Type is more general a Ceremony is one particular kind of Types 4. What is the difference between a Type and a Sacrament I answer they differed in the number and multitude of them they had many Types we have but two Sacraments But there was no difference in the nature of them further than this that our Sacraments are Signs of Christ already come but their Types were Signs of Christ that was for to come our Sacraments are Signs Christi exhibiti their Types Christi exhibendi 4. As to the Words and Phrases by which it is expressed First we have this very word Type used in the Scripture not only in its native and proper Sgnification Joh. 20.25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the print of the Nails But it is used also in this borrowed and spiritual sense whereof we are treating in the Text and 1 Cor. 10.6 these were Types for us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 1 Cor. 10.11 all these things happened unto them in Types So the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answers the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exemplar figura forma â 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aedificavit They are called Shadows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col. 2.17 a Shadow of things to come Heb. 8.5 which serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things Heb. 10.1 a Shadow of good things to come They are called Figures or Patterns 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebr. 8.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Example and Shadow Heb. 9.23 Patterns They are called Signs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 12.39 the Sign of the Prophet Jonas so is Circumcision Rom. 4.11 the Sign of Circumcision Figures or to render it more emphatically parabolical Figures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 9.9 a parabolical Figure for the time This answers to the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And some so understand Heb. 11.19 from whence also he received him in a Figure They are called Allegories Galat. 4.24 which things are an Allegory They are called Seals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 4.11 the Seal of the Righteousness of Faith Also the Law 2 Cor. 3.6 the Letter that is the Law killeth but the Spirit that is the Gospel quickeneth And the Letter 2 Cor. 3.6 the Letter that is the Law killeth but the Spirit that is the Gospel quickeneth The Antitipe or the thing typed and figured is called in Scripture sometimes by this name the Antitype 1 Pet. 3.21 the Antitype whereunto even Baptism doth also now save us The Type being called a Shadow the Antitype is called the Body Col. 2.17 the Body is of Christ The Types are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Antytype 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 10.1 the very Image of the things themselves Future good things Heb. 10.1 a Shadow of good things to come Heavenly things Heb. 9.23 Patterns of things in the Heavens True Heb. 9.24 which are the Figures of the true Joh. 1.17 the Law was given by Moses But Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ Lastly they are called Spirit and spiritual things 2 Cor. 3.6 the Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth life Revel 11.8 In the street of the great City which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt There is literal and spiritual Egypt Vse We may receive encouragement from all that hath been said to look into the Types and to study this Subject For that they do adumbrate and shadow forth Jesus Christ and Gospel-Truths and Mysteries exhibited and revealed by him It is not good to despise any part of Scripture knowledg much less such parts as stand in such a direct relation to Jesus Christ Though there is something of difficulty through our own darkness and weakness yet the fruit will countervail the pains and labour though they be difficult yet they are useful to be known I have been desired by my Brethren of the Ministry to speak unto them and I hope to receive assistance from God through your Prayers and I do much desire the help
It is called the Feast of Weeks because they were to reckon seven weeks from the morrow after the Passover and then they were to offer to the Lord their two Wave-loaves Lev. 23.17 there was a threefold mystery in this Feast 1. To testifie their Gratitude and Thankfulness unto God for the Land of Canaan and for the Harvest of the Fruits of the earth therefore they were to present the first Fruits thereof to him at this Feast Hence it is called the Feast of Harvest Exod. 23.16 and the Feast of First Fruits Numb 28.26 and the Feast of Weeks of the first Fruits of the Wheat-harvest Exod. 34.22 As in the former the first Fruits of their Barley-harvest so in this the first Fruits of their Wheat-harvest must be offered to God This was as it were the compleating of that There are four Instructions to be learned from hence 1. That God must be acknowledged in outward mercies in the Fruits of the Earth we must pay him the Rent of Thankfulness as our great Landlord and that is all the Rent that he requires He is in giving so liberal that he gives us all things richly to enjoy but in taking so sparing that he requires but a Sheaf for the whole Harvest For Act. 14.17 it is he that giveth us Rain and fruitful seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness and would it not be strange ingratitude to receive from God whole harvests of his Benefits and return nothing not not so much as one Sheaf to him 2. The second Instruction is this this Feast instructs when it is that the Soul becomes truly fruitful and thankful to acknowledg God indeed namely when the Blood of Ghrist hath been sprinkled upon the Soul when his Death hath been applied and not before For they were first to eat the Passover and so to begin that Feast and then upon the morrow after the Passover they were to offer the first Fruits of Barley and from thence to reckon fifty days to the Feast of Weeks so that their first expression of their thankfulness to God for the Fruits of the earth was immediately after they had killed and eaten the Passover It is that which many complain of a carnal dead insensible unthankful frame of heart but you see here both the cause of it and the cure and remedy against it The Soul will come to own God to dedicate it self and all it hath unto God when first sprinkled with the Blood of Jesus Christ the Lamb of God but not till then 3. They were to begin these their acknowledgments of God on the sixteenth day of the first month Lev. 16.10 11. for then Barley was ripe in those climates at another season then in these Northern Countries Then they were to begin their acknowledgments of God they were not to delay their thankfulness till they had gotten in their whole Harvest but they must bring the first unto God It is a lovely thing to see men acquaint themselves with God betimes to give him the first ripe Fruits and it is but equal reddere illi prima qui nobis dedit omnia that we should render the first unto him who giveth all unto us 4. As they begun betimes so they were to proceed as in their Harvest so in their Thankfulness for they offered first but a Wave-sheaf of Barly Exod. 16. but now two Wave-loaves of Wheat then but one Lamb now seven Lambs Lev. 23.18 far greater Offerings then the former To teach us that a Christians Thankfulness and Fruitfulness should be increasing till at last he be made perfect We should not sit down in some imperfect beginnings but go forward and make continual progress in the ways of God as their time goes on so should their thankfulness The greater Gods Blessings are to us the greater must our Thankfulness be to him as he doth increase his Benefits so should we augment and increase our Obedience A good Note saith one writing upon this Feast for all them to think of to whom God hath extended a more liberal hand then to their brethren Many rise up early go to bed late and part from their beloved sleep yet fare hardly eat brown Bread as we say and drink the Water of Affliction Is thy condition better then theirs art thou fed with the finest of the Wheat instead of their Barly Remember then that to whom much is given of him shall be required much Luk. 12.48 seven Lambs for their one and for their one Sheaf two Loaves 2. A second end and mystery of this Feast of Pentecost was in reference to the giving of the Law upon Mount Sinai That this was one part of the mystery of this Feast of Pentecost the time it self speaks with other circumstances For they came out of Egypt to serve the Lord and to keep a Feast to him in the Wilderness Exod 5.1 3. And they had the Law first given to them at this time of the year for it was in the third month after they came out of Egypt Exod. 19.1 2 3. Now they came out at the Passover which was on the fourteenth day of the first month from whence if you reckon fifty days from the sixteenth day of the first month it will bring you to the sixth day of the third month in which they received the Law at Mount Sinai the memorial whereof was celebrated by this Feast For God to give his Law and Ordinances to a people and to reveal his Mind and make known his Will to them it is an inestimable mercy to be kept always in precious remembrance and to be celebrated with everlasting thankfulness especially for them who before were tyed to the cruel Laws of Egyptian Tyrants and Taskmasters now to receive not only a Law of their own but a Law from Heaven a Law from God was an ineffable mercy 3. A third mystery of Pentecost was the pouring forth of the Spirit at this time Acts 2.1 2 3 4. as at this time God gave the Law under the Old Testament so it pointed us to the time when he would give the first fruits of his Spirit under the New which he poured forth upon the Apostles who thereupon went forth to preach the Gospel and to gather that which the Prophets before had sown reaping fruit unto eternal life and bring Wheat of God into his Garner As at this Feast he gave the Law by Moses so at the same time he gave his Spirit by Jesus Christ To teach us that under the Gospel we receive the Spirit of Christ to enable us to 〈◊〉 fulfil the Law and do the Will of Christ Vnto this Feast there was added another Precept of leaving for the poor Lev. 23.22 teaching them that with their Sacrifices to God they should joyn love to their brethren and that as Gods hand opened to them so their hands should be opened to the poor and needy But this was a general rule in all the yearly Feasts not to appear before the Lord empty-handed as
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
are so corrupted that Seth calls his Son Enos miserable man Well about three hundred years after as some conjecture for the particular time is not set down in the sacred History but it may be supposd to be thereabouts from Cains Defection and Ejection there is a new Reformation in the time of Enosh How long this reformed state continued is not certain but sure it is that when the World was but sixteen hundred fifty six years old there was such a general and universal Corruption of things that the Lord thought it necessary to cut them down with a Flood That as some have expressed it all mankind is sick of the Falling-sickness Or as the Lord himself complains Hos 11.7 My People are bent to backsliding from me though they called them to the most High yet none at all would exalt him though the Prophets called them to repent and turn to the Lord yet there was none found that would exalt and set up God in his heart and life There is a backsliding bent upon the Heart like the Byass upon the Bowl that turns it aside a departing disposition of spirit 3. Behold and see the free Grace of God in so many recovering Dispensations and renewed Discoveries and manifestations of himself Oh the Love of God to worthless Man he was loth to give up such a lost Creature This is that Divine Philanthropy whereof the Apostle speaks Tit. 3.4 4. These old things being past and vanished away do not sit down with attainments of such low Dispensations but labour for such degrees of Light and Grace and Communion with God as becometh Saints under the New Testament Administrations Beloved the Dispensation of the Age wherein we live is high and glorious But it may be thy particular Dispensation is low thy own personal attainments come very short Thou art but like a Believer that lived under Adams under Noahs under Abrahams Dispensation Signs of a Christian under a low Dispensation 1. When there is an inordinate affecting and a lusting after outward and visible and extraordinary Appearances and Operations such as they were Wont to have in those childish times Such may be Christians and may have the root of the matter in them but they are Christians of the lowest form There is a lusting in our hearts by nature after such things after extraordinary Operations which God is wont to cross as he did in Naaman 2 King 5.11 so when Christians linger much after and lay much weight upon Dreams and Visions and extraordinary Raptures and Ravishments of Spirit or it may be look'd after Miracles if they hear of any vain pretender thereunto I had rather have a little solid Comfort in that good old plain Scripture way of Faith and Repentance and labouring with my own Heart to apply the Promises and I value this more than if an Angel should appear to me out of Heaven to tell me that I am a Child of God For if an Angel should appear to me with such a Message I profess I should not know whether to believe him or not but I am sure that if I walk close with God if I exercise my self unto Godliness and unto Communion with him in Faith and Prayer and in seeking of him and humbling my self before him daily I am sure that in this way I cannot miscarry if the Gospel be true I am safe the Lord keeping me in that way I would not advise Believers utterly to reject all Evidences and Comforts where there is possibly something of Enthusiasm intermixt if there be a suitableness to their condition in the Promises brought to hand in such a way and if there be a spiritual Savour in the Heart and a relish of the Gospel and the Promises and Blessings of it I say then receive them which way soever they be brought to hand though it be by a Dream But I would exhort you not to rest in such a way but labour for an higher and more solid and spiritual way of Comfort and Communion with God 2. Art thou acted by a spirit of Light and Love or Darkness and fear hast thou a dark or clear Light It may be thy Candle gives but a dim Light and smokes in the socket as if it were going out Thou art dark as to the Light and Work of this age This is a sign thou art but low in thy attainments Art thou acted by Fear or Love If by Fear only this is low and legal if by love also this is Gospel-like The Law genders unto Bondage Gal. 4.24 It was delivered Heb. 12.18 with darkness and tempest But the spirit of the Gospel is a spirit of Faith and Love not of Fear and terror 3. Where there is an aptness to backslide and fall off from good beginnings and to fall again after recovering Dispensations This is but a weak and infant state as little Children when first they begin to go they catch many a fall 4. Consider of what standing thy Profession is at first all Believers are but low and weak but for an old Professor to be so this is sad It may be thou hast made a Profession of Religion ten or twenty years It is time for thee to put away childish things Heb. 5.10 you might have been for the time setled and established Christians assured of Gods Love but you are yet under the power of sinful corruptions of Pride and Peevishness and Passion yet under darkness and prevailing doubts about your Interest in God and this after many years Profession of Religion This might better become the Sons of God under those old Dispensations than one of thy years and standing We have briefly gone through the several pieces of Discovery the several Beams of Gospel-light that shone forth before the Law during that first Period from Adam to Moses The second grand Period is that under the Law from Moses to the Messiah This we are now to speak unto we may call it the Legal or the Mosaical Dispensation In this season there were further and clearer and more plentiful beamings forth of Gospel-light upon the Church above what had been before Now might the Spouse say The Voice of my Beloved behold he cometh leaping upon the Mountains skipping upon the Hills c. Cant. 2.8 9. The Worship of God and the true Religion and Church of God was now reduced to a better consistence and settlement in the world than ever before There were two things especially which were the peculiar advantages of this Dispensation under the Law wherein it did excel the former which was before the Law 1. That now the true Religion was preserved and propagated by Writing to Posterity which had been done before only or chiefly by Oral Tradition which might indeed be more easily done Willet in Gen. 9 28 when men lived so many hundred years For some have well observed that three Patriarchs for the space of two thousand years and more from the beginning of the World to Isaac might suffice to propagate
shall Christ remain and all the Dispensations of him in this life they shall remain in precious remembrance with the Saints in Heaven before the Lord to all eternity Christ shall be laid up as it were in the Golden memories of the Saints like Manna in the Golden Pot for a memorial before the Lord the Love of Christ and all the Dispensations of himself They had likewise Aarons Rod blossoming laid up to the same end and purpose The Saints shall remember in Heaven how the Rod of Aaron budded how the Ministry was blessed and made fruitful to them when they were in this World So much as to the Manna or Bread from Heaven You see how full it was of Christ and Gospel Mysteries A Fifth Typical thing of old was the Rock that followed them with Water issuing forth out of the Rock The History of this Type is in the 17th Chap. Exod. see verse 6. That it was a Type is expressed by the Apostle a little before the Text 1 Cor. 10.4 which Rock was Christ This Rock and the Water issuing out of it was a Type of Christ and of His Spirit It was a Dispensation often Celebrated by His people to the praise of God in after times But wherein did the Rock represent Christ I shall but instance in four Respects 1. As to strength and firmness and stability He is indeed the Rock of Ages Isai 26.4 The Rock of eternity Everlasting strength as it is not unfitly interpreted by our Translators Isai 33.16 His defence is the Munitions of Rocks Impregnable safety to his people Their bread shall be given them Their waters shall not fail 1 Pet. 2.6 Behold I lay in Sion a chief Corner stone elect precious and he that believeth in him shall not be confounded The Church is built upon this Rock Mat. 16.18 Hence a wise Hearer is said to build his house upon a Rock Mat. 7. 2. As to shadow and refreshment Isa 32.2 As the shadow of a great Rock in a weary Land this World is a weary Land Psal 121.6.5 The Sun shall not scorch by day nor the Moon by night Those that dwell under the shadow of this Rock those that are in Christ 3. He is fitly resembled to a Rock for offence and scandal accidentally not in himself but only accidentally through the prejudices and lusts of Men. Hence he is called a Rock of offence and a stone of stumbling 1 Pet. 2.8 Rom. 9.33 As it is writen Isa 8.14 and 28.16 Behold I lay in Sion a stumbling stone and Rock of offence and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed 4. He is a Rock as to meanness and unlikelihood of that supply of Water Who would expect or look for water out of a Rock Therefore it is so often remembred with admiration Psal 78.20 The Rock was of no great pomp to see to but only a rude thing standing in a vast Desert So in Christ to outward view there is no beauty that we should desire him Isa 53. Neither is there any likelihood of salvation to be had in Christ if men behold him only in his meanness and look only at his abasement with an eye of sense and carnal reason as the Jews of old did And as the Rock represented Christ unto them So 2. the water out of it represented the Spirit of Christ Joh. 7.37 38 39 Out of his belly shall flow Rivers of living water This spake he of the Spirit There is nothing more frequent in Scripture then to express the Spirit by water Isa 44.3 and that most fitly because of the cleansing and refreshing vertue of it But let us here consider it in reference to the Rock from whence it came and in this there is a four-fold Analogy observable 1. As the water issued out of the Rock So the Spirit proceeds and comes from Christ The Comforter whom I will send unto you from the Father Joh. 15.26 To refresh the weary soul when ready to faint away 2. The water came forth out of the Rock when smitten with the Rod of Moses Exod. 17.6 So the Spirit proceeds from Christ being smitten as it were with Moses his Rod with the curse of the Law for our sins Isa 53 he was smitten of God and afflicted Had not Christ dyed and suffered we had never had any refreshing water never any Rivers of Joy and Consolations from his Spirit 3. The next time the Rock must be spoken to Numb 20.8 It seemeth that God in his unsearchable Wisdom and Providence did so order it That the Waters did cease at this time which had followed them Thirty eight Years Hereupon the people murmur and their murmuring causes Moses himself to stagger at the Promise through unbelief Though in this Moses did miss it too for that he smote the Rock in stead of speaking to it But this we may learn from it Christ must be preached as well as suffer for us and in and by the speaking and preaching of the Gospel he doth communicate his Spirit Gal. 3.2 Received ye the Spirit by the Works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith As Christ smitten is the procuring cause of sending the Spirit so Christ preached is the instrumental cause 4. There is yet a fourth Analogy in this that the Rock followed them either the Rock it self or as others the Rock in regard of the rivers and streams of water issuing from it So doth the Spirit of Christ follow his people in all their changes and travels up and down in the wilderness of this world when we run from Christ he follows us This Water of the Rock the Spirit of God pursues and follows them up and down from place to place and from one condition to another I shall close with a threefold Improvement of this Truth Vse 1. We may here see that they had the Gospel preached unto them as well as we For this spiritual Bread was Christ and the Rock that followed them was Christ If they had not all that I have preached to day and ever since I begun upon the Types it is all false Doctrine for you know the scope of all hath been to let you see what of Christ and what of Gospel Grace and Truth was held forth under those legal Types and Shadows Vse 2. This should render Jesus Christ precious exceeding precious to us for that he is every way suitable to our necessities He is a Rock for support He is the Bread of Life and the Water of Life for Food and Nourishment Vse 3. Here is Comfort and Direction to poor weak hungry thirsty Souls whither to go and to whom to repair for help and for supply here is a Rock and sure Foundation for thy weak and weary Soul to rest upon here is spiritual Bread and spiritual Drink Therefore feed upon Christ by Faith and this will fill thy Hunger and quench thy Thirst and stay and support thy weary Soul But thou hast been rebellious and murmuring and questioning the Truth
of the Pagans and to disguise them with a new Name that those Festivities which had been kept before in the Devils name might now be kept in Christs own name to his greater dishonour Besides there is little probability that the true time of Christs Birth is stumbled upon and many learned men confess there is a mistake as to the time and that it must needs be at the Feast of Tabernacles and not in December Moreover God usually gives men up to more sin then then at other time which is a further evidence of his Displeasedness with the Observation of it It was Latimers complaint of old in the days of King Henry the eighth That Christ was more dishonoured in the Twelve Days then in all the whole Twelve Months besides Ye observe days and months and years I am afraid of you that I have laboured in vain says the Apostle in Gal. 4.10 11. it is a sign the preaching of the Gospel hath been very much in vain among the people when they retain the Observation of such times the Apostle speaks of the days and times that men have invented not of days that God hath instituted to be observed It is said of Jeroboam 1 King 12.33 that he offered upon the Altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month the month which he had devised of his own heart which he had lyed or feigned quem mentitus est The Lye of it appears in this that they pretend to do it to the honour of Christ when indeed they do it to his dishonour and therefore it is as a brand set upon him on this account which he lyed in his own heart so it is but lying for men to keep days of their own invention and the Lye appears in that they pretend to do it for the honour of God and of Jesus Christ whereas they unspeakably dishonour him thereby It is the framing of a Lye in mens own hearts when they keep such days Obj. But should we not celebrate the memorial of our Redemption by Jesus Christ why should we forget the memory of these things should we not remember how Jesus Christ suffered and hath sent his Spirit amongst us and came to tabernacle in our Flesh Answ Yes but the Lord commands us to celebrate the memory of it once a week and for us to put him off with once a year is to put him off with less then he requires to give him a day in a year when he requires a day in a week for the memorial and celebration of this thing Moreover there is a way whereby people may keep the Passover and Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles that is we should keep them under the Gospel every day As some say every day should be a Christian Sabbath But that is not true for a Sabbath is a day set apart from our Callings but six days shalt thou labour saith the Commandment But we should make every day our Easterday every day our Pentecost c. Obj. But why should not Christians be as holy as the Jews and therefore keep these Feasts as well as they how should we keep them every day Answ We are to keep them in a spiritual and Gospel way but not legally and literally for the Letter killeth but the Spirit is Life The Apostle exhorts let us keep the Feast 1 Cor. 5.8 Now if you would keep the Feasts of Fassover Pentecost and Tabernacles aright it consists chiefly in three things 1. To be much in the exercise of Faith in the acting of a true and pure and lively Faith upon the Death and Sufferings of Jesus Christ as the true Lamb of God I say in acting Faith or drawing nigh with a true heart in full assurance of Faith and this is the true Passover and the true keeping of that Feast Heb. 10.22 Let us keep the Feast 1 Cor. 5.8 without the leaven of Hypocrisie of seeming Faith and seeming Holiness with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth That is the right keeping of the Passover when men live not upon their own Righteousness trust not in their own Duties but being sensible of their sinful undone wretched estate act Faith and exercise their thoughts upon the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ this is the right keeping of it indeed 2. Be ye filled with the Spirit get a great and large measure of Gods Spirit this is the true Feast of Pentecost Ephes 5.18 Be not drunk with Wine wherein is excess as the Holiday-keepers use to be through the Justice of God because they observe their own inventions but be ye filled with the Spirit Do not sit down with common Gifts and common Graces and common Workings but get and labour after the saving work of the Spirit and be not content nor sit down satisfied with some little beginnings of a special saving work with saving Grace in truth and in sincerity in little measures and degrees but labour after a great degree and measure of the Spirit of Grace after strength and growth of Grace as well as truth of Grace be ye filled with the Spirit c. 3. Behold and see the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ This is the true Celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles Get a real sight of God so as to behold his Glory as he is manifested in the flesh and as God dwells in our Nature Joh. 1.14 the Word was made Flesh and dwelt amongst us came and pitched his Tabernacle among us and we beheld his Glory We cannot see God in himself he dwells in Light and Glory inaccessible as we cannot look upon the Sun in its own Brightness but we may see it in a pail of Water so we may see the infinite Majesty and Glory of God in the Flesh of Christ The Tabernacle of Jesus Christ is a thing to be beheld by Men and Angels to see more into the Glory of God 〈◊〉 get acquaintance with the mystery of the Father and of Jesus Christ as the Apostle speaks Col. 2.2 3. that ye may be knit together in love and comforted and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ in whom are hid all the treasures of Wisdom and Knowledg But beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit after the Tradition of men after the rudiments of the World and not after Christ ver 8. for in him ver 9. dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily Labour therefore to see God in Jesus Christ we are not able to behold that infinite Majesty but only through the veil of the Flesh of Jesus Christ as shining in his humane nature And this is the mystery of the Feast of Tabernacles and the right and Gospel way of celebrating of it Consider what I have said and the Lord give you understanding in all things THE GOSPEL of the FEAST of TRUMPETS Jan. 21.
expect it I say it is not Faith but presumption to expect it for Apostolical Gifts are ceased A Minister that is called to that work and is diligent in reading and meditation and in Prayer to God may expect assistance from the Spirit in this way for God hath promised it But he cannot expect it in the way of immediate Revelation because there is no such promise Now then seeing God hath ordained that the Ministry be a particular Calling so that it is not lawful for men that follow their Callings to take upon them to be constant Preachers and it is not lawful for one that is a constant Preacher to follow another Calling It follows that Ministers either must be maintained or else they must starve Quest There is also another Question concerning the way and manner of Maintenance whether it may be in any of these ways that were used under the Law or whether they be not all ceased and abolished Answ To this the Answer is easie that seeing the Maintenance of the Priests and Levites under the Law was raised all manner of ways the Maintenance of Gospel-Ministers must be in some of these or there can be no Maintenance at all For if Ministers do receive Maintenance by the Free-will-offerings and voluntary Contributions of the people so did the Levites under the Law If Ministers have Houses to dwell in provided for them the Legal Ministry had so too If Ministers have it by the Edict of the supream Magistrate so had the Levites too Ezr. 7.24 If Ministers have their Maintenance setled by Law by the consent of the people as by Act of Parliament This way was used under the Law likewise Josh 21.1 3. Nehem. 10.32 If Ministers under the Gospel receive Tythes so did they also under the Law only concerning Tythes it's observable that the most of the other ways were not used till first instituted under the Law yet Tythes were paid long before as a Due to God and to his use long before the Aaronical Priesthood or Levitical Ministry was instituted and appointed For Abraham paid Tythes to Melchizedek Gen. 14.20 and Jacob Gen. 28.22 resolves of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee Such ways and parts of their Maintenance as were inseparable appendants to the Types as their parts of the Sacrifices must needs be ceased because there are no such Sacrifices under the Gospel But for the other ways of Maintenance which were not of such a nature they may be lawful still for ought I know to the contrary Thus I have gone through the Temple-Officers both their kinds and their Maintenance And now to wind up all I shall but briefly recapitulate and gather up the heads of things and so conclude All these old legal Types and Shadows may be ranged into these seven Classes or general heads 1 Personal Types sundry individual persons before the Law such as Adam Enoch Noah Melchizedek Abraham Isaac Jacob and Joseph There were divers also under the Law such as Moses and Joshua Sampson David and Solomon Elijah Elisha and Jonah Zerubbabel and Jehoshuah And besides these individual persons that were Types there were also typical Ranks and Religious Orders of men under the Law such as their Nazarites their Prophets Priests and Kings All these were personal Types and this is the first Classis 2. Occasional Types such things as Jacobs Ladder Moses his burning Bush the Pillar of Cloud and Fire Manna and Water out of the Rock the Brazen Serpent the Pool of Bethesda And beside such typical things there were typical actions and dispensations of Providence as their deliverance out of Egypt their passing thorough the red Sea and thorough the Wilderness and thorough Jordan and possessing the Land of Canaan and their Captivity and Deliverance out of Babylon And there were not only such typical Mercies and Deliverances but typical Vengeance and Destruction upon Enemies the Flood Sodom and Gomorrah Egypt Jericho Babylon Edom were Types of Rome and Hell This is the second general head of Types these transient and occasional Types 3. The third is that initiating Seal of the Old Testament Circumcision that famous Ordinance which stood in force about two thousand years much longer then the Temple and Temple-Ordinances 4. The fourth is the holy Places as the Tabernacle and Temple with all the holy Vessels and Utensils belonging to them the Brazen Altar of Burnt-offering the molten Sea and Lavers the two Pillars of the Temple the Golden Candlestick the Tables of Shew-bread the Golden Altar and Censer of Incense the Ark with all the glorious appurtenances thereof This is the fourth Classis of them 5. The fifth is the Priesthod with all the Legal Ministry and all the concernments thereof the Rules of these Religious Orders their holy ministring Garments the Ephod the Brest-plate the Urim and Thummim the Mitre the holy Crown their Consecration to their Office their Administrations in their Office And to the Priests belonged as subordinate to them the Levites who were Porters Singers Treasurers Judges And lastly the Nethinims 6. The Legal Sacrifices and Purifications Their Burnt-offerings Meat-offerings Peace-offerings Sin-offerings Trespass-offerings the Purifications of unclean Touches unclean Meats unclean Issues and chiefly the Leprosie both the Signs and Indications and likewise the Purifications of it they were all typical 7. The seventh and last is the Jewish Festivals or holy times and seasons as the Passover Pentecost the Feast of Tabernacles the Feast of Trumpets the Feast of Expiation their New Moons their Sabbaths weekly every Saturday as also every seventh year and every fiftieth year seven times seven which is the Jubile These are some of the general heads of things which you have heard spoken to and the Gospel-mysteries included in them briefly opened and unfolded This is the proper and genuine method and order of them which to have thus rehearsed may a little help and refresh your memories There are three things more which must needs be added and annexed unto all that hath been said each of which might have deserved a distinct Discourse by it self But I shall but name them because I would conclude at this time 1. That all this typical Dispensation is expired and abolished by the exhibition of Jesus Christ the truth and substance and scope of all these Shadows are vanished away by the rising of that Sun of Righteousness this is that which the great Apostle doth expresly assert Col. 2.14 He hath blotted out the hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way nailing it to his Cross This the Jews do not believe 2. The Gospel-dispensation doth succeed and is substituted instead thereof so the same Apostle Heb. 1.1 2. God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son Instead of Moses the Servant of the Lord we have Christ himself the Son of God instead of the Law and the Prophets we have the Gospel and Evangelists who give us an History instead of Prophesie they tell us that Christ is come whereas the Law and the Prophets only said he shall come The Jewes do not believe this neither as they adhere to the Law so they reject the Gospel 3. This Gospel-dispensation is far more glorious then that old legal Dispensation For is not the substance better then shadows The Law from Mount Sion is more glorious then the Law from Mount Sinai the Spirit is better then the Letter 2 Cor. 3.6 to ver 11. The Letter there is not the written Word and the Spirit the Enthusiasms of a deluded fancy as some have understood it but the Letter is the Law and the Spirit is the Gospel as the whole Context shews And look as the Jews do not believe the two former so the Papists and other superstitious Christians do not believe this third and therefore they seek to adde an external legal Pomp and Splendor which is carnal to the Worship of the Gospel to the spiritual Majesty and Glory of the Gospel and Gospel-Ordinances which their carnal eyes are not able to see and to discern Remember these three things and carry them along with you The Abolition an Expiration of the Law with all the Types thereof The Succession and Substitution of the Gospel And the preeminence of Glory in the Gospel above the Law And now blessed be God who hath carried me through this Subject of the Types and Shadows of the Old Testament a Subject in it self useful and edifying were it handled according to its worth I must confess I have found some experience of assistance and help from God since first I entred upon it much beyond my own weakness and unworthiness I hope through the influence of your Prayers and through the Grace of Christ shining into a dark heart But I have been but brief in divers things which have deserved a much larger and better explication If you can say concerning any part or portion of holy Scripture that now you understand it something better and that you see a little more into it then you did before if you have found any refreshings by what you have heard any enlightenings and increasings of Gospel-light by it live up thereto and bless the Lord who hath taken off the Veil from off Moses's Face and the Veil from off your Hearts FINIS
Gospel is powerful 2 Cor. 3. therefore that is called the Letter this the Spirit 3. There was much of external Pomp and Splendor but little of that Power and Spirituality that is in Gospel-worship which though very pleasing to the people yet upon this account partly the Apostle calls them carnal Ordinances Heb. 9.10 and a worldly Sanctuary ver 1. because they consisted so much in outward low sensible things so suitable to the relish and desire and disposition of a carnal Heart Therefore the carnal Jews were very tenacious of these externals of Moses though desperately averse to the things themselves included and intended in them Christ opposeth their local Worship to spiritual Worship Joh. 4.21 23. implying that that was not so spiritual as Gospel-worship The carnal Jews did turn it into meer Law and Works by their abuse and misunderstanding of it As the Pharisees how did they trust in outward Works and expected Salvation by their own Righteousness they rested and sate down in the Shell and outside of things Rom. 9.32 As it were by the Works of the Law For they had no real legal Perfection in them but only in their own proud and false conceit they thought the bringing of a Sacrafice was that that did expiate Sin and merit and deserve Acceptance with God They did not look beyond all to the meer Mercy and free Grace of God in Christ they did not look to the end of things to the time of Reformation that was to come and so they stumbled at the stumbling stone 4. It was a burthensome Dispensation Acts 15.10 a Yoke which neither our Fathers nor we were able to bear They were an insupportable Yoke an intolerable Burthen both as to their number and nature They had a great number of external Observations from all which the Gospel hath set us free 5. The manner of Administration was legal in regard of the Bondage and Terror of it It left impressions of terror upon their spirits God appeared in such dreadful Majesty unto them on Mount Sinai as it shook the Mountain and shook all their Hearts so terrible that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake Heb. 12.10 18 21. so terrible to all the people that they wished that God would never speak unto them immediately any more so the Lord gave an Interpreter to reveal and speak the Mind of God unto them and so it hath been ever since Hence was that Speech of Austin Breuis differentia Legis Evangelii timor amor the difference between Law and Gospel in brief is Fear and Love Thus you see the Doctrine cleared up and so much shall serve for the clearing up this Truth and removing these Objections against it We shall conclude with two or three words of Use Vse 1. Incouragement to study the Old Testament and the Types and Shadows of the Law Is it so that the Gospel was preached to them under the Old Testament as well as to us under the New We see then the usefulness of the Old Testament to New-Testament Saints we see what use there is of searching into these ancient Dispensations Will you search into the Mystery of the Gospel then consider how God instructed and taught them of old There are some Gospel Truths more expresly revealed and mentioned to them of old than to us as that of Forgiveness of Sins c. Therefore let us search into those ancient Administrations because there is much Gospel there though the Shell be hard yet there is excellent substance in the Kernel Vse 2. Direction how to attain to the understanding of those Mysteries study the Gospel For it was Gospel that was preached to them Faedus gratiae clavis totius Scripturae Vse 3. We may here learn another lesson which wise Agur learned and it was his wisdom to know that he wanted Wisdom Prov. 3.1 2. Many coming to read Chapters in the Levitical Law are apt to think this is a sealed Book we are not to bring these Offerings to God now we know not what use to make of it many Christians make no more use of them than of Apocrypha This may shew us our ignorance For there is no part of the Scripture but is of use we might see much of God and of the Gospel in them if we had skill to search out the meaning and mystery of them But we have not the understanding of the holy Poor dark ignorant Creatures we are the Lord knows Quantum est quod nescimus Vse 4. Incouragement to believe and receive the Gospel for it is the everlasting Gospel This use is the direct scope of this Text they had a promise of entring into rest but came short of it through unbelief Take we heed therefore of unbelief least we enter not into rest For the Gospel is preached to us as well as to them There is ground of encouragement to believe the Gospel to embrace and close with it for it is that which all the Saints of God both under the Old and New Testament have ventured their Souls upon The Gospel was preached to them as well as to us and to us as well as unto them Thou maist safely venture thy Soul in that way where in so many Saints in all ages are gone to Heaven Let us take heed lest we fall short by unbelief for the Gospel was preached to us as well as unto them but the Word profited them not because it was not mixed with Faith in them that heard it Take heed having the Promises of entring into rest lest any of you fall short take heed of falling short of the good things of the Gospel of that Rest which the Gospel gives to sinful guilty weary Souls Is such a Gospel preached and such glad tydings revealed and wilt not thou close with them and receive them gladly and thankfully All the Gospel Dispensations in the Book of God will rise up against thee if thou art an Unbeliever all the Saints of old will judge thee and testifie against thee They had but a little glimmering Light yet they ventured all upon that But now the Sun appears and shines on the World in Clearness and Glory They might have objected that the height of Gospel-light is not discovered which might be great hinderance to them therefore if God was angry with them then how much more with us now how shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation If every word spoken then was stedfast and was sufficient to bring Souls out of the state of Sin and Death to Happiness how much more the Word and Light that we enjoy For if the Word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every Transgression and Disobedience received a just recompence of Reward Heb. 2.2 3. how shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation Unbelief is a damning Sin in all ages but the more clearly the Gospel is preached the more inexcusable is the Unbelief of sinners that perish in their sins the more inexcusable is their Sin and
trance but having his eyes open But on the contrary such as were acted by Satan they had their extatical Furies wherein their Minds were so discomposed that they were not compotes sanae mentis As some have written of the Sybils that when after their Prophesyings they came to themselves again they had forgotten what they had said and so could not review and correct what was written from them But it was not so with the Prophets of God John wrote and had Order to write his Apocalypse and so the other Prophets And when those to whom and by whom the Devil spake were not discomposed to such a degree even to fury and Distraction yet they were always debased and brought down below themselves The Lords Prophets were raised above themselves These were depressed even below themselves by dealing with Satan 3. The Prophets and Servants of God had an inward Seal from God of the Truth of what they spake Not unlike that new Name in the white Stone which none could read but he that had it Revel 2.17 Jer. 11.18 They believed and therefore spake 2 Cor. 4.13 See Isai 52.6 My people shall know that I am he that doth speak behold it is I. The true Prophets were no Scepticks they were as sure of what they said that it was the Mind of God as Ministers are now when they preach the Gospel 1. Joh. 1.1 2. On the contrary those by whom Satan spake either knew that they were acted by the Devil as the Witch at Endor Or else were deluded by him to think it was God or else knew not but were uncertain in themselves 4. They had also some of those ordinary Rules of Tryal that we have now As for instance If God confute them by the event Deut. 18.21 22 or if it correspond with the event yet if it be contrary to the Fundamentals of Religion See Deut. 13.1 2 3. Or if they be wicked men on the one side and the Prophets of the Lord on the other This gave some glimmerings of Light to Jehosaphat 1 King 22.7 They were Baalites pretenders indeed to Jehovah but superstitious wretches therefore he could not acquiesce in what they had said Quest 2. Whether these ways of Discovery be now ceased yea or no Answ As to that the Text is plain enough That instead of all those divers manners used by God of old he hath now substituted instead thereof this one and only way of revealing himself viz. in and by his Son And his Son speaks by his Word and Ordinances as also by the Works of his Providence in all which his Spirit breaths Therefore there we are to meet with God and to hear his Voice and there only to expect it These old things are vanished away Some think there be some footsteps of them to this day See a notable Instance of Information by a Dream in the Life of Zuinglius Melch. Adam p. 43. And of a Vision in Melancthon on Daniel 10. 1 But first such things are altogether extraordinary the Lord goes out of his ordinary course when he doth such things they are not the standing ways that God hath appointed under the Gospel therefore they are not to be expected or trusted to 2. They are only to be regarded in the way of a Providence not in the way of an Ordinance and to be tryed and judged by the Matter of them as agreeing or disagreeing with the Scripture As if a man in a Dream have some Duty some Scripture-truth brought to him he is to observe and accept the Providence of God in it Or if he find a strong impulse or motion of the Spirit in his Heart whereby some Truth or Duty is strongly impress'd and set upon his Heart Let him examine it by the Scripture and if the Scripture say it is a Duty he is to look at that internal motion and impression as a motion of the Spirit of God else not Vse 1. See the variety of Gods Wisdom and Goodness to his people that he hath so many ways revealed himself to them Vse 2. We may see something of the lowness of that legal Dispensation from this which hath been said that the Lord spake in such divers manners Vse 3. Bless God for the days wherein we live and for the Dispensation we are under It is much clearer and better For it is by his Son speaking by his Word working and breathing by his Spirit The Light shines much clearer We see that which many Kings and Prophets and righteous men have desired to see and have not seen as Matth. 13.17 Luke 10.24 Christ spake it to his Disciples then but it holds true concerning all the Saints under the New Testament It is true there was a Cloud of Antichristian Darkness did arise which did exceedingly obscure Gospel-light But that Cloud was never so dark but that the Elect of God did see through it in some measure Moreover the Lord hath begun to dispel and scatter those Clouds of Antichristian Darkness and will in time scatter them from off the face of the earth 2. We are now to speak to the second Word these divers times Having shewed the divers Manners of the Lords speaking to his people of old we are now to shew the divers Times or seasons wherein he did it For he spake not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by piece-meal not all at once but here a little and there a little first one piece of his Mind was discovered at one time then another piece at another time first a little Light brake forth some darker hints and intimations then further and clearer Discoveries and Manifestations by degrees In the opening of this we shall have occasion to run through some general heads of the History of the Church throughout the Scripture till the coming of Jesus Christ And it is an Inquiry both useful and profitable and also pleasant and delightful to an inquisitive Mind to view the several states of Religion and of the Church of God in the several ages of the World Under every one of which we shall have occasion to take notice both of Gods Manifestations and of mens Departures from the Lord and from the Truth That we may see the occasion of every new Discovery they departed and destroyed themselves and then the Lord appeared again in recovering Dispensations Now these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these several pieces and parcels of the Lords Discoveries and Manifestations of himself may be referred to two general heads 1. Before the Law 2. Under the Law These were the two great pieces of it and the Scripture takes notice of them both Of that Dispensation that was before the Law from Adam to Moses as the Apostle speaks Rom. 5.14 Death reigned from Adam to Moses Of the Dispensation under the Law our Saviour speaks Matth. 11.13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John again Luk. 16.16 the Law and the Prophets were until John The difference between
Dispensations Praise him for his Condescention to our Weakness Observe the Harmony that is among his Works The Glory of the Mystery of the Gospel His manifold Wisdom His absolute Freedom and Soveraignty And lastly and above all his peculiar Goodness Labour to get your Hearts up to this As a man is never humbled enough till this Conviction pierce his Conscience that he is the chief of Sinners so a man is never thankful enough till he look upon himself as the greatest strangest Object of free Grace in all the world till he can say Never such a pattern of Mercy as my self And now having shewed that the Gospel was preached to them of old and that in divers manners and at sundry times one signal instance whereof is the Types and Ceremonies I have in these preliminary Discourses made way for what I have promised to speak unto namely the Types and Shadows of the Old Testament That which next remains is that we speak to them more particularly which we shall proceed unto hereafter the Lord assisting Romans 5.14 Adam who was the Figure of him that was to come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THat the Gospel was preached to them under the Old Testament as well as to us under the New and that it was revealed to them in several ways and manners of Discovery and in a gradual way in several pieces and parcels hath been formerly shewed One signal Instance we gave of those divers ways and manners was this That the Gospel was preached to them of old by legal Types and Ceremonies Now concerning these not to insist upon the Analysis of the Chapter the Text gives you this Doctrine Doctr. That the Lord was pleased in his infinite Wisdom to design and ordain certain persons under the Old Testament to be Types or Figures of the Messiah that was to come It will be requisite here 1. To explain the Nature of a Type to shew you what a Type is 2. The Reasons why the Lord spake in this way And then 3. To come to a more particular Distribution and Enumeration of them 1. For the Nature of a Type For the opening of this because it is a Subject both difficult and useful to be rightly understood and will give light to all that follows to be spoken upon the Types I shall therefore 1. Give you a brief Description of a Type 2. Some Rules for the better understanding of them 3. The Differences and Agreements between a Type and other things of like nature 4. The Names and Phrases by which it is expressed in Scripture 1. For the Description of a Type what it is I shall content my self with the Apostles Definition of it That a Type is a Shadow of good things to come Hebr. 10.1 The Law having a Shadow of good things to come Col. 2.17 Which are a Shadow of things to come but the Body is of Christ There be three things included in this Description 1. There is some outward or sensible thing that represents some other higher thing 2. There is the thing represented thereby which is good things to come which we call the Antitype 3. There is the work of the Type which is to shadow forth or represent these future good things 1. There is in a Type some outward or sensible thing that represents an higher spiritual thing which may be called a Sign or a Resemblance a Pattern or Figure or the like Here is the general Nature of a Type it is a Shadow It hath been the Goodness and Wisdom of God in all times and ages to teach Mankind heavenly things by earthly spiritual and invisible things by outward and visible as Joh. 3.12 2. There is the thing shadowed or represented by the Type And what is that Things to come saith the Apostle Col. 2.17 and good things to come Heb. 10.1 The good things of the Gospel Christ and his Benefits but the Body is of Christ as Col. 2.17 This we call the Correlate or the Antitype the other is the Shadow this the Substance the Type is the Shell this the Kernel the Type is the Letter this the Spirit and Mystery of the Type This we are still to look at and to search into in every Type we must look beyond the Shadow to the Substance to the Truth and Mystery of it and this is Christ and the Gospel as future and hereafter to be exhibited This may be called the Prototype or the Pattern out of which and according to which the other is drawn as Pictures from the Man whose Visage they represent 3. This Description holds forth the Work of the Type which is to shadow forth the Antitype But what is this shadowing and how do they shadow it It is a metaphorical expression A Shadow represents the proportion of the Body with its actions and motions though it doth it but obscurely and darkly So the Types had some dark resemblance of Christ and his Benefits and did some way adumbrate and represent them and hold them forth unto his People to enlighten and inform their Understandings and to strengthen and confirm their Faith in him The Types had this Voice and Language Such an One shall the Messiah be He is thus to act and thus to suffer for you Thus you have the Description of a Type It is a shadow of good things to come or if you would have it more at large you may take it thus A Type is some outward or sensible thing ordained of God under the Old Testament to represent and hold forth something of Christ in the New It may be otherwise worded But the Description if it be true must be to this effect as if we say that a Type is an instituted resemblance of Gospel-Truths and Mysteries or that it is a Sign holding forth Christ or something of Christ in the New Testament You see it comes all to one scope and indeed all the Descriptions that our Divines have given of it are to this effect they are all to the same scope with this of the Apostle a Shadow of good things to come 2. For Rules for your further understanding of them take these four Rule 1. That God is the only Author of the Types They belong to the second Commandment as matters of Institution Therefore Calvin excellently and judiciously harmonising the Books of Moses referreth the Ceremonial Laws to the second Commandment There is something of Christ stamped and ingraven upon them by Divine Institution They are not meer natural or arbitrary similitudes but they were instituted and set apart by God for that end Heb. 9.8 The Holy Ghost this signifying c. Hence that Sacramental phrase and manner of expression That Rock was Christ 1 Cor. 10.4 like that in Exod. 12. The Lamb is the Passover As the Church under the New Testament hath not power to make Sacraments to themselves so they of old could not make Types Act. 7.43 The Types which you made to worship them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Amos 5.26 Images
for evermore Psal 16.11 So likewise the Tree of Life in Paradise was a Type of Christ though it was created upon the third day of the Week and before the Gospel it could not be a Type of Christ yet after the Fall and after the preaching of the Gospel Gen. 3. it might be designed and ordained to this use As God provided Physical Herbs for Man before he fell or needed them as to that use of Physick so this Tree of Life before Sin or the Gospel was known It seems to be so spoken of Revel 2.7 and 22.2 The Tree of Life in the midst of Paradise Christ in the midst of the Church Mans Ejection out of Paradise a Type of his deserved Exclusion out of Heaven And the Cherubims with flaming Swords Gen. 3. ult an outward and visible shadow of the Wrath of God and of the Angels of God as Executioners of it on Man who were created to be Ministers to his good and are so again through Grace But as in our natural condition they are the Lords Hosts to fight against us But there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a much more put upon Christ His saving Virtue far exceeds that cursed influence of Adam in sundry particulars amply opened by the Apostle from ver 12. to the end of the Chapter 1. The disparity is very great both in their Persons The first Adam is of the earth earthly his Name is but Adam Earth or Red earth but the second Adam is the Lord from Heaven 2 Cor. 15.47 2. In their Headship and Undertaking the one of a Covenant of Works the other of a better Covenant of Grace 3. In the Success of their Undertakings The one failed the other kept the Covenant the first Adam was tempted by Satan and conquered by him but Christ was tempted but overcame the Tempter 4. In their Influences The first Adam was made a living Soul the second a quickening Spirit 1 Cor. 15.45 The one conveys all evil Sin and Death to his Seed the other communicates all good Righteousness and Life to his There is Righteousness opposed to Sin and Life to Death and with a much more Rom. 5.15 16 17 18. Not as the Offence so is the free Gift At the great Day when Adam shall see his Seed lost and undone he must own it I have embrued my hands in the Blood of all these But Christ shall say here am I and the Children which God hath given me and not one of them is lost 2. Enoch the seventh from Adam It is true he is not so expresly mentioned in Scripture for a Type of Christ as Adam is but yet by comparing the Scriptures we may discern a clear analogy between Christ and him how he was made like unto the Son of God in sundry things 1. He was a most illustrious Type of Christs Ascension into Heaven and indeed the only Type they had of it before the Law They had but two in all Elijah under the Law and Enoch before the Law Therefore we cannot well omit him Gen. 5.24 Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him and Heb. 11.5 he was translated that he should not see Death and was not found because God had translated him Some look upon this as a pledg of their Translation that shall be found alive at Christs second coming of whom the Apostle saith they shall be changed or translated 1 Thess 4. But it looks first and chiefly at Christ himself at his Ascension This I mention first as being the chief particular but a further analogy may observed in sundry other particulars also as 2. There was in Enoch some shadow of Christs Prophetical Office we read of Enochs Prophesie Jude 14 15. But Christ is the true Prophet who hath unsealed the whole Book of Gods Counsels that Liber fatidicus Rev. 5. he hath opened it so far as is fit and needful for his Church to know And as Enoch prophesied of the Day of Judgment so hath Christ very fully and frequently 3. We may set him among the Types of Christ for his unparallell'd Holiness in the age wherein he lived which was a corrupt and evil time all Flesh began to corrupt their way Gen. 5.22 24. Enoch walked with God it is twice repeated as worthy of special remark so Christ fulfilled all Righteousness Matth. 3.15 4. His pleasing God For so it is testified of him Heb. 11.5 so Christ Matth. 3.17 this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Joh. 8.29 I do always those things that please him He is pleased so well with him that he is well pleased with Sinners for his sake even for his Righteousness sake 5. His very Name Enoch hath something in it dedicated unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consecratus from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dedicavit consecravit From whence some derive the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Initio and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Feast of Dedication Joh. 10.22 So was Christ Luk. 1.35 that holy thing my Servant whom I have chosen Isai 42.1 and 49.5 formed me from the Womb to be his Servant 6. Some have added in regard of the continuance of his Life Henochs days were as the days of the Sun For he lived three hundred sixty five years Gen. 5.24 as many years as there be days in the year And of Christ it is is said his Throne shall continue for ever as the Sun before me Psal 89.36 3. The third typical person that we mentioned is Noah He is made a Type 1 Pet. 3.20 21. in regard of his preaching and saving those that believed him in the Ark. So Christ hath published the Gospel Matth. 11.27 no man knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son revealeth him He came and preached Peace Ephes 2.17 1 Pet. 3.19 Christ preached in Noah he saves them that believe his Doctrine he saves them in the Ark of his Church by the Covenant and Water of Baptism 4. Melchizedek was also a Type of Christ and most especially in regard of the excellency and eternity of his Person Priesthood and Kingdom Psal 110 4. The Lord hath sworn and will not repent thou art a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchizedek with Heb. 7.2 3 4. made like unto the Son of God But there is not time to insist upon these nor to proceed to the rest of the Types I shall therefore for the present conclude with something of Use and practical Improvement and shall raise the Uses not so much from the Doctrine in general but rather from that which hath been spoken upon it at this time Vse 1. Learn and know something more of Jesus Christ by what you have heard or if you knew it before let it be more deeply imprinted upon your hearts Let us sum up all together for they are all but partial Types and weak and imperfect Shadows of the Messiah but all put together will give the greater lustre like the Galaxia which is said
women after Child-bed Levit. 12.6 They had a Meat-Offering by divine Institution annexed and conjoyned with it The other part of the Rule is negative and it is this we do not find that Meat-Offerings were annexed unto the Burnt-Offerings of Fowls or to Sin or Trespass Offerings or to First-Fruits or Tythes or to the Paschal-Lamb though to the Feast of the Passover they were Deut. 16.1 2. And in the cleansing of the Leper the Meat-Offering seems to be annexed to the Sin-Offering Lev. 14.10 which is a peculiar Case This Rule is drawn from the authority of the Scripture negatively there being no such annecting of it unto these in that place Numb 15. where it is annexed unto Burnt-Offerings and Peace-Offerings but where it was not commanded where they were not directed to it in the Law they might not do it Vse See the fulness of spiritual Mystery and the plenty of Gospel Light and Teaching that is in the Sacrifice of the Meat-Offering To recapitulate briefly some Heads of things which have been more largely opened to you It relates both to Christ and Christians and is full of spiritual mystery as to both 1. As to Christ he is the true Meat-Offering the Food of our Souls it was to consist of fine Flower to denote his Cleanness and Purity The baking frying drying beating of it points us to his Sufferings and so doth the burning of it upon the Altar The pouring forth the Wine belonging to the Meat-Offering plainly represents the pouring out his Blood The Green Ears represents Christ as the First Fruits by whom all the rest is sanctified The Priests eating it tells us how Believers feed upon Christ by Faith as the Bread of Life The Oyl is the Spirit of Christ The Incense his Prayers and Mediation and the efficacy and acceptance thereof with God for us The Salt of the Covenant is the stability and everlasting faithfulness of God as our God in a Covenant Relation through Jesus Christ The prohibition of Leaven and Honey frees Christ from all Corruption of life and doctrine and all such deceiving comfort which afterwards like Honey turns to bitterness 2. Apply it to Christ mystical to the Saints and Members of Christ for it may be so applied the Gentiles under the Gospel are presented as an acceptable Meat-Offering to the Lord Isai 66.20 Every particular and circumstance of it is full of teaching The Fine Flower teaches us to purge our selves from the Bran of our natural Corruption We must be anointed with the Unction of the Spirit The Incense teaches us to be much in prayer and to expect acceptance with the Lord. The Salt instructs us in the safety of our Covenant-Estate and Interest in God and that our speeches and whole deportment should be savoury and seasoned with Salt The forbidding of Leaven and Honey calls upon us to purge out the Old Leaven of sinful Corruption and to take heed of the sweetness and pleasures of sin I beseech you brethren do not rest in the notional understanding of these Truths but reduce all to practice If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them Joh. 13.17 But if you know all mysteries and have not love 1 Cor. 13.1 2. it profiteth nothing And to press you a little further you may observe that the Meat-Offering under the Gospel is larger than it was under the Law as you will find if you compare Numb 28. with Ezek. 46. For in Numb 28.5 the Meat-Offering is but the tenth part of an Ephah it is but the fourth part of an Hin of beaten oyl But in Ezek. 46.13 14 it is augmented the Meat-Offering to a sixth part of an Ephah and the third part of an Hin of oyl This speaks a greater degree of fruitfulness and more ample obedience under the Gospel then was of old under the Law That look as the Grace of God in Christ abounds towards us under the Gospel so should we abound in our Returns of thankful and fruitful obedience 1 Tim. 1.14 And the Grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus Can you not go along with the Apostle in those expressions Hath not God abounded towards you in Mercy and free Grace Have you not sometimes said never such a Pattern of Mercy never the like Riches of free Grace if the Lord pardoned such sins and heal such backslidings therefore be you abundant in the work of the Lord 1 Cor. 15. ult If you know these things happy are you if you do them THE GOSPEL OF THE PEACE-OFFERING Lev. 3. July 26. August 6 9. 1668. The Peace-Offering Shelamim THe third sort of Sacrifices or Offerings under the Law is the Peace-Offering We had the Burnt-Offering in the first Chapter the Meat-Offering in the second Chapter and now follows the Peace-Offering here in the third Yola Mincha Shelamim We may open it in this Method which I hope will be plain and edifying 1. The name 2. The ends occasions and seasons of it 3. The matter of it 4. The sacred Rites and Ceremonies or ceremonious Actions about it 1. For the name it is Shelamim which we render the Peace-Offering and Zebach Shelamim the Sacrifice of the Peace-Offering from Shalom pax so called because it was a Sacrifice of Peace Offering amongst all the parties God and the Priests and the people being all partakers of it as being all agreed and therefore sociable partakers of the same thing The word may be otherwise rendred but this Interpretation is most generally received and suits well with the nature of this Sacrifice of Peace-Offerings 2. The ends occasions and seasons of the Peace-Offerings for we may put all these together First as to their ends they were of a mixt nature they were both Hilastical Eucharistical and Euctical both for atonement and for thanksgiving and for prayer they were in general for peace and reconciliation with God Some I know have questioned this which I must confess I have often wondred at and they have thought it meerly expressive of moral duties of homage and thankfulness to God c. But it was a Fire-Offering upon the Brazen Altar all the rest of which were for reconciliation and atonement and therefore why not this It is said to be a savour of rest vers 5. which signifies Gods acceptation The Actions about it speak forth this end for it was slain and burnt upon the Altar the Blood poured forth and sprinkled upon the Altar round about c. All pointing to Jesus Christ who is indeed the true Peace-Offering Ephes 2.14 He is our Peace and he hath made peace by the blood of his Cross Col. 2.20 Yet this was but the general and not the special nor the only end of them There be two particular ends mentioned in Cap. 7. 1. Peace enjoyed to testify their thankfulness 2. Peace desired and sought after each of which had their different Rites of which afterwards 1. One end was for thanksgiving by
the good sense thus our Saviour useth it in his Parable Mat. 13.33 the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto Leaven which a Woman took and hid in three measures of Meal till the whole was leavened And you have the same Parable recorded again by Luke Cap. 13.21 The Lord makes use of Leaven here to teach and hold forth unto us the inward and secret working of the Word and Spirit in the heart sanctifying the heart effectually but gradually by imperceptible degrees as Leaven seasons the Lump Thus the joyning of Leaven with the Peace-Offering may teach us That we and our services must be seasoned with the new Leaven of Grace whereby the old Leaven of Corruption is changed and altered and so the whole man made savoury Look as there is an old Leaven which must be purged out for they that are in the old unsavoury lump of the Flesh cannot please God so there is a new Leaven wherewith every ones heart and life should be seasoned a new principle of Grace a spirit of Life from God which in time works out the contrary old principle of sinful Corruption as an Antidote that works out poyson out of the body 2. Take Leaven in the bad sense and so it signifies sinful Corruption In this sense the Scripture often speaks of it as 1 Cor. 5. Hence we may learn that as God accepteth the Peace-Offering though offered with Leaven so he accepteth the sincere endeavours and services of his people though there be a mixture of sinful Corruption in them Or if we take Leaven as in that sense of sorrow and grief as Psal 73.21 thus my heart was leavened Their having some sower Leaven amongst their Feasts may teach us That in all our rejoycings in this World there is a mixture of sorrow there is no prosperity so entire but hath some sorrow some affliction with it as there is no day but hath some Clouds Roses have Thornes Honey hath a Sting Crowns and Scepters have Cares and Troubles And it is not only so in natural Joy but in those better Joys and Consolations of the Almighty Spiritual Joy is and ought to be accompanied with godly sorrow and is too oft accompanied with a mixture of carnal sorrow and unbelieving doubts and fears There is some of this Leaven with the Peace Offerings of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord. 4. The fourth Ceremony is this That they must not eat the fat nor blood but give it wholly to the Lord vers 16 17. I number this among the Ceremonies of the Peace-Offering because it is here first mentioned and here indeed was the first occasion for it for there being no part at all of the Burnt-Offering to be eaten there was no need there to forbid the eating of fat or blood but in the Peace-Offerings they were to eat some part therefore here comes in this exception respecting the Peace-Offerings in the first place though extended likewise to all the rest The first Prohibition is of Fat And here first for the literal sense of the Ceremony before we come to the mystical signification There be two Cautions to prevent mistakes that the legal Rigor may not seem greater then it was indeed 1. It is meant only of that Fat that was to be sacrificed as the Suet and Fat of the Kidneys c. For of the other Fat that is diffused through the rest of the flesh throughout the whole body of the Beast there is no mention in this Restriction in the Text and therefore being not restrained and prohibited we may justly presume it was allowed and permitted to them they might lawfully eat of it Neh. 8.10 eat the Fat and drink the sweet 2. It is meant only of the three kinds of Beasts that were appointed to be used in Sacrifice for they were permitted to eat the Fat of other clean Beasts See Levit. 7.23 25. where this restriction of Fat is clearly explained and restrained to the Fat of those three kind of Beasts Now as to the mystery and spiritual signification of this Ceremony that we may learn some wholesome Instruction out of it the best way will be this let us consider when the Scripture speaks of Fat in an allegorical or metaphorical sense how is it meant For a Similitude is typus arbitrarius and a legal Ceremony is no more but typus fixus or destinatus and differs from an Allegory or Metaphor or Similitude only in the fixation or destination of it by God unto such an use and end in a stated way Now you will find that the Scripture speaks of Fat in such a Metaphorical sense two ways as was before noted concerning Leaven both in a good and in an evil sense which will give this Type a double aspect as that also had Nor is there any real absurdity or incongruity in the accommodation of a Type two or three several ways for they are not so many contrary senses but only so many several Instructions or spiritual mysteries to be learned out of one of Gods teaching Signs such manifold Instructions being all included in the vast aim and comprehensive wisdom of the Holy Ghost designing and choosing out such things for teaching Signs as may afford and yield plentiful Instruction to his people 1. Then the Scripture speaks of Fat in a good sense My soul shall be satisfied a with marrow and fatness Psal 63.5 That is to be filled with the best things So Isai 25.6 In this Mountain shall the Lord of Hosts make unto all people a Feast of fat things a Feast of Wine on the Lees of fat things full of marrow So Gen. 45.18 Pharaoh saith to Josephs brethren ye shall eat the fat of the Land that is the best of it So all the Fat of the Oyl and all the Fat of the Wine and of the Wheat Numb 18.12 for so the Margin from the Hebrew reads it denotes the best Oyl the best Wine the best Wheat as the Translation well explains it Hence it is said of Abel by way of Commendation Gen. 4.4 That he brought and offered unto the Lord of the Firstlings of his Flock and of the Fat thereof Thus the Lords challenging the fat of all the Sacrifices peculiarly to himself may instruct and teach us thus much That we must serve God with the best we have the best of our time and strength the vigor of our Spirits the best of our endeavours should be the Lords For men to spend their youth in the service of their lusts and then at last bring their decrepit old age unto God this is to give the fat of their Sacrifice to the Devil and the lean unto God But with such Sacrifices God will not be well pleased And yet when we have brought the Fat the best we have unto the Lord it is accepted not for our own sakes but through Christ As the Fat in the Peace-Offerings was burnt upon the Altar upon the Burnt-Offering for a sweet savour unto the Lord. 2. The Scripture sometimes
speaks of Fat in deteriorem partem in an evil sense so it is said of wicked men their heart is as fat as Grease but I delight in thy Law Psal 119.70 So Deut. 32.15 But Jesurun waxed fat and kicked thou art waxen fat thou art grown thick thou art covered with fatness Isai 6.10 Make the heart of this people fat lest they understand with their heart and convert and be healed So it denotes a senseless hard heart the Fat in the body having little sense A Fat heart in this sense is opposed to a fleshy heart so it denotes hardness insensibleness unbelief Now then the Fat being burnt upon the Altar teacheth us That our Corruptions must be burnt up by the Spirit of God as a Spirit of Burning and of Judgment And it is the Fat of the Inward parts and of the Kidneys and Liver which are the seat of Lust and Concupiscence We may learn from hence that even secret sins in the Inward parts must be destroyed and mortified It is not enough to avoid open and outward sins but inward heart hypocrisy secret lusts they must be burnt before the Lord upon the Altar destroyed and mortified by the Spirit God trys the Heart searcheth the Reins sees into the Inward parts That fatness of the heart must be consumed those Inward lustings unto sin destroyed and mortified 5. The last Ceremony was the forbidding of blood vers 10. This Prohibition was more general than the former of Fat for that was only some kinds of Fat But all manner of blood is forbidden without any restraint or specification of this or that kind The first Prohibition of blood that we read of in Scripture was to Noahs Sons Gen. 9.4 But flesh with the life thereof which is the blood thereof ye shall not eat And now again by Moses here and afterwards in other places As Cap. 7.26 27. and Cap. 17. from vers 10 to the end very largely and vehemently under the forest pains and penalties even utter extermination and cutting off by the immediate hand of God But that Prohibition in Noahs time seems to differ from this by Moses in that it was living blood which was there forbidden but here it is all manner of blood As to the mysteries and reasons of it there be two things expressed in Lev. 17.11 1. Because the blood is the life of the Beast vers 11 14. That is it is the Seat and Vehicle of the Spirits which are the Soul and the Life of it as Philosophers say Anima rationalis equitat in sensitivâ sensitiva equitat in vegetativâ The sensitive Soul is the Chariot of the rational Soul and the vegetative of the sensitive so their Blood is the Chariot of the vegetative and vital Spirits The scope seems to be this to forbid and prevent cruelty it argues too much greediness and it tends to make the Spirits of men salvag and barbarous to drink living blood or to eat the flesh if it be not fully killed and cleansed of the blood 1 Sam. 14.32 33 34. Some report that it hath been a custom used in some barbarous Nations amongst the Old Tartarians they would open a Vein with an Instrument in the Beast they rode upon and so quench their thirst by drinking warm blood out of the Veins of a living Creature This is forbidden to Noahs Sons Gen. 9. as a salvage cruel thing Cruelty is abominable at all times but especially when you come with your Peace-Offerings before the Lord. It concerns you then especially to take heed of harshness towards your brethren How can men expect Peace from God when ready to drink the blood of their brethren A violent persecuting Spirit is as black a Mark as any I know To use violence to their Consciences this is to eat or drink their blood which God abhors 2. The second reason there assigned is because I have given it to you upon the Altar to make an atonement for your Souls Lev. 17.11 that is typically as representing the blood of Christ So that here is a mystical Intimation of reverence to that precious blood to keep men in a reverend expectation of it therefore they must abstain from blood as sacred to the Lord. As David refused to drink of the Waters of the Well of Bethlehem 2 Sam. 23.17 because it was per equivalentiam the blood of them that fetcht it with the peril of their Lives So here blood was typically the blood of Christ and therefore sacred to the Lord they must not use it to other common use The Lord would hereby teach them a reverential esteem and high valuation of the blood of Jesus Christ Some go a little further and observe this in it That look as eating and drinking signifies Communion so 1 Cor. 10.16 The Cup of blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the blood of Christ And forbidding to eat is a forbidding Communion Act. 10.13 14. In Peters Vision rise kill and eat It is meant of exercising Communion with the Gentiles and Peters objecting Not so Lord for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean His meaning is he refuseth Communion with them So this Prohibition of eating blood which was given upon the Altar to make atonement for mens Souls and of Fat which was given upon the Altar to be consumed there with Fire and so was the Lords seemeth to forbid figuratively all ascribing and assuming unto our selves the work of our Redemption which is only by the blood of Christ or the work of our Sanctification to our selves which Christ by his Spirit performeth in us Aynsw in Lev. 3. ult To take this work to our selves is to eat the blood as it were which the Lord will not endure There is a further reason given by some That the Lord did it to distinguish his people from the Heathen who were wont to drink the blood of their sacrifices Psal 16.3 As indeed in all these ancient Institutions the Lord had a special eye unto that to keep them off from the heathenish Customs and Idolatries Thus you see the reasons why blood was forbidden under the Law the chief whereof is the respect it had to the blood of Christ From all which you have a clear resolution of that scruple of Conscience that hath troubled some concerning that Prohibition of blood under the New Testament by the Synod in Act. 15. But the Answer is That the main reason why blood was forbidden of old being because the Lord had given blood to them for atonement and this use being figurative which had its end and accomplishment in Christ who by his death and blood shedding hath caused the Sacrifices and Oblations to cease Dan. 9. Therefore now this Law must needs be expired and not still in force upon the Consciences of Believers And as for that Decree of the Council Act. 15. It is forbidden by them meerly upon the account of love which is tender and loth to give offense The sins there forbidden may
Christ and the Gospel in the Ceremonial Law How excellently doth the Apostle put them together The sprinkling of the Unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh The blood of Christ purgeth the Conscience from dead works to serve the living God If we cannot see these divine mysteries in the Text if we cannot see Gospel-Truths in these legal Ceremonies and how admirably they are adapted and fitted the one to the other the Type to instruct and teach us and inform us about the Anti-type it is because of our own darkness and dimsightedness in spiritual things Vse 4. Behold also the pre-eminence and excellency of Christ above Moses and the Gospel above the Law How much more shall the blood of Christ purge your Consciences from dead works How much more It hath a greater and an irresistible efficacy to cleanse the Soul Conscience And this is a Truth of clearer and higher evidence than the Ceremonial cleanness by those legal washings and purifications which were the means of that Ceremonial Cleanness The Apostle uses the like note of pre-eminence when he compares Adam and Christ Adam was a personal Type as this was a real Type Rom. 5.15 17. For if by one mans offence death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of Grace and of the gift of Righteousness shall reign in life by Christ Jesus So here Gods design is that in all things Christ might have the pre-eminence and be preferred above Moses Vse 5. Labor to see and find in your selves the experience of this spiritual cleansing whereof the Apostle speaks this cleansing by the blood of Christ and go thou thither have recourse to that blood for it Thou that hast an unclean heart and hast lived it may be an unclean life at least in secret though perhaps men have not seen it get thy Heart and Life and Conscience purified from dead works to serve the living God There is healing cleansing vertue enough in the blood of Christ And would you be cleansed indeed you see the way of it Hath the Lord discovered to thee thy defilement and convinced thee of thy own uncleanness then get this blood of Christ applied And as the Water of Purification was sprinkled on the Unclean under the Law so get this blood of Christ sprinkled on thy Soul and Conscience by the Gospel It is often called the Blood of sprinkling The reason is because that as they did apply it by sprinkling as a means of cleansing c. so is the blood of Christ applied to the Conscience It is applied by the Spirit in the Promise Under the Promise held forth we receive it by Faith and the Promise so received the blood of Christ is brought home and sprinkled on the Soul and this will cleanse thee though thou have been never so unclean there is healing purifying vertue in that blood though thy uncleanness be never so great and thy Conscience never so defiled yet there is cleansing by the blood of Christ Thy Case is not desperate there is vertue enough in the blood of Christ How much more will the blood of Christ cleanse thy Soul if the blood of Bulls and of Goats and the ashes of an Heyfer sprinkling the unclean could cleanse the body And remember this blood is offered all that thou hast to do is to receive it by Faith to beg a part in Christ and desire him to make it effectual to thee The reason of all the defilement that appears in men and that continues under the use of Ordinances is because they geâ— not the blood of Christ sprinkled on their Consciences they do not receive it And two things keep them off either there is a Spirit of security that they never seek after it neither pray not endeavour or mourn after it Or 2. There is a Spirit of discouragement they never fly to Christ and his blood they seek not to him but since he is offered do not refuse him thou canst not displease him more then by so doing but fly for refuge thither as a poor unclean guilty Creature venture all on the infinite cleansing power and virtue that is in the blood of Jesus Christ Vse 6. See the bondage and burdensomness of the legal Administration they could scarce be sick but they became unclean they could not touch so many Creatures but they were forthwith unclean and being unclean might not come into the Temple or publick society and in some cases were shut up They had Porters to keep them that were unclean in any thing 2 Chron. 23.19 that they should not enter in at the Gates of the house of the Lord. Let us bless God that we are delivered from this Yoke of bondage An ADVERTISEMENT to the READER THe attentive Reader will quickly observe that here is nothing upon that Head of Vncleanness by Issues which according to the Authors proposed method should have been here treated of But there is not any thing thereon to be found amongst his Papers nor to be recovered by the help of any that took in writing these Discourses from his mouth It is therefore not improbable that the Author did purposely pass over in silence that Head for reasons to him satisfactory which now can be but conjectured at Moreover the Reader is desired to bear in mind that the following Sermon on Levit. 13. concerning uncleanness by the Leprosy was not preached in the Authors course as it fell in his way in going over the Types but sundry years before on occasion of dispensing the Censure of Excommunication in that Church whereof the Author had the Oversight This it was thought needful to advertise the Reader of partly because of the different method of this Sermon from his other discourses on the Types and partly because some Passages therein evidently refer to the Dispensation of that Ordinance on occasion whereof it was preached and partly to account for the date of this Sermon which the Reader will see is some years before those that go before it The like is to be observed also concerning the foregoing Sermon on Circumcision which in this Book is at Pag. 218. It was preached on occasion of the Administration of Baptism as appears by a Passage in it Pag. 219. And more then two years before it fell in the Authors way in his going over the Types yea sundry Months before he entred on this course and subject in his Ministry THE GOSPEL OF THE LEPROSIE Levit. 13. April 12 1665. BRethren and Beloved in the Lord If this Chapter seem to us at the first reading to be a dark and abstruse place and to have little edifying matter in it we must impute it to our own ignorance and unskilfulness in Scripture Truths and Mysteries It is true there is a dark shadow upon the words But there is much light and many useful Truths intended and held forth under these dark legal shadows The subject both of this and of sundry foregoing and following Chapters is concerning Ceremonial
Uncleanness of which there be several kinds whereof this of Leprosie is one The general scope of this Chapter is to give Rules of tryal whereby to discern it The next viz. the 14. Chapter gives the Rules for cleansing the Leper Concerning both which God gives them afterwards a strict and solemn charge that they should take heed and observe diligently and do according to these commands of his concerning the Leprosie Deut. 24.8 The Leprosie and the legal uncleanness thereof was typical It signified and held forth three things 1. Sin which is fitly compared to a Leprosie for the loathsomness and painfulness and infectiousness of it Yet this is not all For Sin may be compared to any other disease as well as to the Leprosie Any sore or sickness or disease whatsoever may signifie and hold forth sin As Isai 1 5â— 6. full of sores the meaning is Spiritual sickness They were a sinful people Mat. 9.12 The whole need not a Physician but they that are sick that is sick of sin 2. Therefore secondly it signified Original sin For the Leprosie overspreads all Actual sins are the Boils and Sores that break forth but Original sin is as the Leprosie overspreading the whole nature Yet this is not all For this is in the best and therefore if this were all the people of God might be accounted Lepers For all have Original sin but yet there be some that be not Lepers 3. Therefore thirdly the Leprosie signified a state of sin and unregeneracy For the Leper must be shut out of the Camp from among the people of God as being none of them as having such a spot as is not the spot of his people Therefore it seems also to hold forth a state of sin a sinful or unregenerate condition Now for the exposition of this Chapter to let you see a little further into some of the Truths and Mysteries contained in it I shall only give you some general Observations under which we shall explain some part of the Chapter Obs 1. That it is a work both difficult and weighty for people to discern and judge aright of their own spiritual condition This appears by all these Rules and Directions Were it not necessary what need of any Rule were it not difficult what need of so many Rules of tryal about the Leprosie This condemns the slightness of many that are slight and careless about this great work bestow few thoughts and cares about it about searching into their Spiritual Condition as if it were an easie or a slight matter It is the exhortation of the Apostle 2 Pet. 1.10 that we should give diligence to make our Calling and Election sure Obs 2. That it is the Priests Office to judge of the Leprosie It is the Office of the Ministers of God to help his people in discerning their own spiritual estates and conditions towards God therefore it runs so much upon the Priest throughout the Chapter Bring him to the Priest and the Priest shall make him unclean Defile him pollute him that is Ministerially declare him so to be As Ezek. 43.3 4. destroy the City that is prophesie its destruction God hath given his Ministers power to retain and remit sins Joh. 20.23 which is the thing intended in this typical work of the Priests How should I understand without an Interpreter Act. 8.31 How could men know the meaning of the Scripture or apply it aright without this means which God hath appointed for their help Ordinarily they cannot Vse It reproves that reservedness of many who know not their own condition whether they be Lepers or no and yet will not disclose their case whereas it may be the Priest might declare and evidence it to them that they are clean To complain to every one and to make Table talk of their Corruptions and so to fish out praises savours of Hypocrisie But to make known their condition to some able faithful friend or Minister especially if in the use of other means you cannot attain to a comfortable discerning of it is a duty through the neglect whereof some are kept long in the dark about their own estates It is often times out of shame their sins and sores and spiritual Leprosies are loathsome and shameful But were it not better to make it known then to let the sores of thy Conscience sester inwardly Their Wounds stink and are corrupt because of their foolishness in this particular Obs 3. Note here which will carry us through many particulars in the Chapter the Rules of Tryal whereby the Priest is to judge of the Leprosie There be five Rules especially which be clear and safe to judg of the spiritual Leprosie by 1. If it be but skin deep it is not the Leprosie he is clean but if deeper he is unclean Vers 3 4 and again Vers 20 25 30. if it be but skin deep it is some sin some sore of a lesser nature but if deeper then the skin in the Vitals blood and spirits he is unclean it is the Leprosie So if there be sins and corruptions appearing like spots in the skin in a mans outward walkings yet if the heart be not tainted it is a good sign A Child of God may have spots in his Skin frailties in his life but his heart is sound his heart is perfect with God sound in his Statutes But there be some sins that go deep not only in the Skin but the sin is deeply rooted in the heart and spirits and affections of a sinner so that the Vitals are infected This is a sign he is a Leper 2. Tryal Doth it stand at a stay Or doth it spread further and further Vers 5 6 7 8. And again vers 23 27 28 34 36 37. If it stand at a stay he is clean If it spread he is a Leper So a leprous sinner that is in a sinful state and condition the Leprosy will spread in him Evil men and Deceivers will grow worse and worse 2 Tim. 3.13 Their Corruptions gain ground upon them But it is a sign there is some beginning of healing if it stand at a stay If the Lord be healing a sinner mortifying his Lusts he is clean There is sinful Corruption in a Child of God but it doth not grow spread and gather strength from day to day but on the contrary it is decaying it is on the losing hand The house of Saul grows weaker and weaker but the house of David grows stronger and stronger This is a sign God intends good to him 3. Tryal is this If there be proud raw flesh in the Rising vers 9 10 11 and 14 15. he is not to be shut up in suspense the thing is evident But how shall we apply this to the spiritual Leprosy Thus. Is there proud raw flesh of pride and presumption and impatience of reproof This is an evil sign the sin is grown to some strength There may be sores and spots in a Child of God but they are not so sore as that they
reserved to make an holy Water to sprinkle the unclean 1. This Heifer must be slain without the Camp This is required Numb 19.3 This Ceremony was required also in the Sin-Offering Cap. 4 12. This is expounded at large by the Apostle Heb. 13.10 11 12 13 14. We have an Altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the Tabernacle For the bodies of those Beasts whose blood is brought into the Sanctuary by the High Priest for sin are burnt without the Camp Wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered without the Gate Let us go forth therefore unto him without the Camp bearing his reproach For here have we no continuing City but we seek one to come Some Sacrifices were to be eaten but other Sacrifices the Sin Offering and this of the Heyfer for Purifications they were not to eat them but to kill them and burn them out of the Camp This shews that they which serve the Temple which adhere to old legal carnal ways they have no right to eat of the Altar saith the Apostle they that serve the Tabernacle that adhere to Moses and to those things that are of mens wisdom and invention as all Moses his Ceremonies now are being abolished by God And therefore now to adhere to them and to serve the Tabernacle is to follow our own wisdom and worship God according to our own pleasure such have no right to eat of the Altar they have no right to Jesus Christ in that they keep not to the purity of his own Institutions Again Jesus Christ did suffer without the Gate which was prefigured by this their carrying this Heyfer out there to be slain So they carried Jesus Christ out to Golgotha there they Crucified him so that it was fulfilled in Christ in a very manifest way For that he suffered without the City as this Heyfer was to be slain without the Camp Jesus Christ therefore being a reputed Sinner and Malefactor and under that reproach and shame did therefore suffer without the Gate We must therefore be content to suffer with him in the same disgrace and dishonor If ye cannot be content to bear the reproaches and disgraces of the world ye cannot bear his reproach The Apostles were accounted the very filth of the World such as by sweeping is gathered together as in the Margent the swepings and refuse of all things Wo unto you when all men shall speak well of you Luk. 6 26. We see the mystery then of this Ceremony that the Heyfer must be slain without the Camp 2. The Blood must be sprinkled seven times directly towards the Tabernacle For the Priest is spoken of as standing without the Camp where the Heyfer was slain who was to sprinkle the blood towards the Camp and so towards the Tabernacle The Tabernacle was a Type of Heaven therefore the sprinkling the Blood towards Heaven taught us That our access into Heaven is only by the perfect merit of the blood of Christ Heb. 10.19 20. The sprinkling seven times notes the perfect efficacy of the blood of Christ for seven is a number of perfection therefore often used in those mystical Dispensations of old It shews the perfection of his blood and that there must be frequent and renewed application of it from time to time It must be sprinkled again and again and seven times over upon our Consciences 3. The body of the Heyfer must be burnt with Cedar Hyssop and Scarlet cast into the fire and the Priests that do it are unclean until the Even vers 5 6 7 8. Of the Burning you have heard upon other Sacrifices The casting in of Cedar Hyssop and Scarlet is peculiar to this Sacrifice and something of Instruction we may pick out of it by looking into other Scriptures Cedar is noted for an excellent kind of Timber the chief of Trees and the Scripture doth sometimes apply it unto Christ in a Metaphorical way Cant. 5.15 It is said of Christ his countenance is as Lebanon excellent as the Cedars It is a stately and durable Tree not subject to putrefaction Therefore some interpret this Law as a shadow of the perpetual efficacy of the death of Christ who by one offering perfected for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 As for Hyssop it is said vers 18. there must be a bunch of it to sprinkle with Hence David prays Purge me with Hyssop Psal 51.7 Some apply it thus That the Bunch of Hyssop wherein they sprinkled the blood is the Word of Promise by which Christ is applied to the Soul Or thus The Bunch of Hyssop signifies the Instrument of the application of Christs blood And what is the Instrument by which we apply the blood of Christ but Faith and this Faith lays hold on the promise It is the word of promise that brings Christ and his blood unto the Soul and the Soul receives it by Faith This must be cast into the burning It is by the death and sufferings of Jesus Christ that the promises are made effectual and that they have the virtue of cleansing us from our sins And they were also to cast Scarlet into the burning Scarlet is of a red colour and we read in Scripture of Scarlet sins Isai 1.18 Though your sins be as Scarlet they shall be made as Snow The death and blood of Jesus Christ saith the Apostle cleanseth us from all sin 1 Joh. 1.7 And further he that doth all this must yet be unclean until the Evening so before in the Sin-Offering Lev. 4. with Lev. 16.27 28. which plainly holds forth the imperfection of all Legal Sacrifices and the Iniquity that cleaves to our holy Offerings as was there shewed 4. The fourth thing is the ashes must be gathered and reserved to make an holy Water of to sprinkle the unclean Numb 19.9 17 18. This Water which was made by means of this sacred Relick is called in another place of Scripture Numb 5.17 holy Water It is called holy because it was appointed by God for a holy use He can set his Stamp upon and hallow this Water as he did on the Bread and Wine appointing it for a holy use and so this it must be kept for an holy use and every unclean person must be sprinkled with it Now the meaning of this sanctifying to the purifying of the flesh is this it plainly signifies the sprinkling of the blood and spirit of Jesus Christ upon us for Justification and Sanctification 1 Joh. 5.8 There are three that bear witness in the Earth the Spirit and the Water and the Blood and these three agree in one There is the Spirit of Faith in Vocation The Water of Sanctification And the blood of Jesus Christ for Justification These three concur in their Evidence and Testimony that there is virtue and life in Christ for them that believe so you see the mystery of it When persons were sprinkled with this Water they became clean others might converse with them they might
the Spirit that is by his Deity raising him up again from death to life he must both dye and live again for us As to the Cedar Hyssop and Scarlet they were used in the Purification by the Red Heifer of which we spoke before and shall now add thereunto only thus much further That of these three it is conceived that there was a sprinkling Brush made namely the Brush of Hyssop the Handle of Cedar Wood and the binding of a thred of Scarlet dy The Apostle calls it Scarlet Wooll in Heb. 9.19 And as there seems to be a general respect had to the properties of these Plants as was formerly shewed so some do observe a particular sutableness between the Leprous Contagion and these means of Purification thus That as the Leprosie did corrupt and putrifie the body opposite to this was the Cedar-Wood which is commended for firmness and soundness against putrefaction And as the Leprosie was of a foul colour contrary to this was the fresh and fair colour of Scarlet And as the Leprosie had a very ill and unsavoury scent the sweetness of Hyssop was a Remedy against that So our Annotators on Lev. 14.6 Thus for the Materials of this purifying Sacrifice Now the purifying Ceremonies and Actions were of three sorts and all full of mystery some relating to the slain Bird some to the living Bird and some to the Leper himself Let me briefly open them unto you 1. The Ceremonies of the slain Bird were chiefly these three 1. It must be killed vers 5. You know the mystery of this in all the Sacrifices it was a prefiguration of the death of Jesus Christ the true Sacrifice Almost all things in the Law were purged by blood and without shedding of blood there is no remission Heb. 9.22 2. It must be killed over running Water or living Water That is Spring Water called Living because of the continual motion resembling life thereby that is it must be taken out of a Spring or a River not out of a Pond or Rain Water What this means our Saviour himself interprets Joh. 4.10 14. where he speaks of spiritual Living Water And the blood thus falling into and being mingled with the Water points us clearly to him who came to cleanse us and save us by water and blood 1 Joh. 5.6 For as water and blood here meet so there were Streams of both issuing out of his Side when he was slain for us Joh. 19. But this water and blood is the blood of Justification and the water of Sanctification both plentifully flowing from Christ our Purification There is an ever flowing Fountain of these Waters of life in and from the Lord Jesus Christ for the cleansing of sinful and leprous Souls 3. This must be in an earthen Vessel The like Numb 5.17 The sense of this part of the Allegory may be easily gathered from the former That Soul-cleansing blood and water issued out of his blessed body therefore his body was this earthen Vessel which was frail and brittle and accordingly broken by death at last and mean and contemptible amongst men as earthen Vessels use to be The Ministers of the Gospel also are compared to earthen Vessels 2 Cor. 4.7 God useth contemptible Instruments many times for the effecting of great things These are the Ceremonies relating to the slain Bird it must be killed and it must be killed over Living Water and this is in an earthen Vessel Now 2. The Ceremonies belonging to the living Bird they are also three 1. The living Bird must be dipt in the blood of the slain Bird vers 6. A most evident and excellent representation of the union of the divine and humane nature of Jesus Christ and the influence of that union into the concernments of our peace Had not the Deity supported and influenced the humane nature in its sufferings they could not have been available with God for us Upon the account of this divine union and dipping of the living Bird in the blood of the slain the Apostle calls the sufferings of the humane nature the blood of God Act. 20.28 2. The Cedar Scarlet and Hyssop must be dipped also with it vers 6. That is all the concernments of our Salvation they do all receive a tincture an influence from the blood of Christ Whether we refer the mystery of these Plants to the Graces and Excellencies that are in him as our Saviour or to the Graces we receive from him all must be considered with relation to his blood Take it in the latter all the Graces Virtues Excellencies we receive from him must be dipped in his blood to cleanse them and make them and us accepted of God 3. The living Bird must be let loose into the open field vers 7. This clearly represents not only Jesus Christ his escaping and deliverance from death to life after he had suffered and humbled himself unto death he did escape and live again and lives for ever But also the open publication and preaching hereof as it were in the open Firmament in the view of all men so that Phrase imports Rev. 14.6 flying in the midst of Heaven preaching the everlasting Gospel This respects also the setting of the Leper free from his restraint that was upon him before by reason of his uncleanness as appears by the Connexion He shall pronounce him clean and let the Bird loose into the open field These are the Ceremonial Actions relating to the living Bird. 3. The Ceremonial Actions in reference to the Leper himself these also are three 1. The Priest shall sprinkle upon him seven times and pronounce him clean Vers 7. This sprinkling of that typical blood and water upon him is nothing else but the application of the blood of Jesus Christ There must be a particular application of it to the Soul it must be sprinkled upon the Leper and then he is pronounced clean All the other Ceremonies would not make him clean without this though the Bird were killed and other Ordinances observed yet it must be also sprinkled The death and blood of Christ is not enough to the cleansing of our Souls unless the blood be sprinkled the death of Christ applied to us There must be a work of Application as well as of Redemption All the precious blood that Christ hath shed will not save a sinner unless this blood be effectually applied and sprinkled on the Soul Application is a great and necessary part of our Recovery and Salvation as well as the blood of Christ it self And it must be applied seven times both frequently and perfectly over and over again once is not enough suppose thou hast believed and laid hold upon Christ already and applied him by Faith to thy self in particular the blood must be sprinkled seven times over thou must apply Christ and lay hold upon Christ again And lastly the number seven is a number of perfection so it holds forth perfect cleansing as well as frequent application of the blood of Christ for
the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while as the first Tabernacle was yet standing There were dark shadows then of the mysteries of the Gospel 4. The rending of the Veil when Christ died represents his Sufferings in the Flesh or humane nature Matth. 27.51 the Veil of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom If the Veil be the Flesh or the Humane nature of Christ then the rending of the Veil must needs be the breaking of his Body and the sufferings of his Humane nature 5. As by this the Holy of holies was open to the view of all that came to the Temple so under the Gospel the mysteries of Salvation are made manifest Rev. 11.19 and the Temple of God was opened in Heaven and there was seen in his Temple the Ark of his Testament Clear discoveries of God in Christ 6. As the Priest entred into the holy place through the Veil so hath Christ into Heaven and made way for us all to enter after him and with him through his Sufferings Heb. 9.12 neither by the Blood of Bulls and Goats but by his own Blood he entred in once into the holy place having obtained eternal Redemption for us and Heb. 6.2 last which hope we have as an anchor of the Soul both sure and stedfast and which entred into that within the Veil that is into the Holy of holies whither the fore-runner is for us entred even Jesus This is the first accomodation of this Type even unto Jesus Christ himself 2. The Temple signified also the Church and the several parts of the Temple may be considered here also 1. We learn here that there is a threefold distinction of the Church into visible militant and triumphant The outer Court signified the visible Church into which all the people came that were clean according to the Law so into the visible Church come all that make a fair outward profession though they are not all sincere as all were not Israel that were of Israel The Sanctuary and the inner Court signified the Church militant of true Believers who are indeed spiritual Priests unto God And lastly the holiest of all was a Type of Heaven and of the Church triumphant there so the Apostle often Heb. 9.24 for Christ is not entred into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true but into Heaven it self 2. Whereas there was a Wall about the great Court to keep out the Gentiles for none but Jews were admitted the Apostle shews that Christ hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us Ephes 2.14 which he hath done by converting the Gentiles and repealing the Ceremonial Law 3. The outer Court must be left out in Church-reformation Rev. 11.1 2. that is when the matter of the visible Church is wholly corrupted these Gentiles must be cast out or left out 4. Whereas the Materials of the Sanctuary and of the Oracle were the same Cedar-boards and Gold and garnished with precious Stones c. as was shewed before when we spake of the Walls of the Temple hence we may learn this Instruction that Grace and Glory differ not in kind but only in degree Grace is Glory begun Glory is Grace perfected Heb. 12.23 the Spirits of just men made perfect A Believer hath eternal life begun in him in this world 1 Joh. 3.15 5. The side-chambers and all the buildings about the Chambers wherein the Priests and Levites had their several Lodgings and stations appointed them may instruct and mind us of those Mansions that are prepared for us in Heaven Joh. 14.2 in my Fathers House are many Mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you 6. Whereas in these Chambers were kept and laid up the Standards of all Weights and Measures for so some understand that place 1 Chron. 23.29 speaking of the Levites work in their several places and stations it is said their Office was to wait on the Sons of Aaron as for other things so for all manner of Measure and Size that is as some expound it that unto their Trust were committed the Standard measures of things and here laid up under their custody as in a most safe and sacred Repository and these were called the Measures of the Sanctuary as with us the Standards and Measures are laid up in the Tower We may here learn that God regards Justice amongst men next to his own Worship To unjust persons he saith as Isai 1.11 to what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices unto me who hath required this at your hands to tread my Courts v. 12. The reason is given v. 15. your hands are full of Blood And would you know that there are Mansions prepared in Heaven for you you may take this as one evidence of it Psal 15.1 Lord who shall abide in thy Tabernacle who shall dwell in thy holy hill He answers in the second verse He that walketh uprightly and worketh Righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart And let me add this further do not judge of your spiritual estate by your getting into the outer Court for hypocrites may get in there if they be but outwardly clean But art thou admitted as a spiritual Priest into the Sanctuary to enjoy true communion with God in his Ordinances and to worship God in the Spirit art thou a member of the Church militant as well as of the visible Church The Church militant shall be at last triumphant they shall pass from and through the Sanctuary into the Holy of holies even into Heaven it self whither Jesus our fore-runner is entred for us THE GOSPEL of the TWO BRAZEN PILLARS in the TEMPLE 1 Kings 7.21 22. Novemb. 8. 1668. And he set up the Pillars in the Porch of the Temple and he set up the right Pillar and called the name thereof Jachin and he set up the left Pillar and called the name thereof Boaz. And upon the top of the Pillars was Lillie-work so was the work of the Pillars finished SO much of the House and the Courts Now follows the Vessels or Utensils of the Temple the sacred Houshold stuff or Furniture of this House of God they were many We read in Ezra 1.11 all the Vessels of Gold and Silver were five thousand and four hundred We may distinguish the Vessels of the Temple into two sorts 1. Such as were of natural necessity and conveniency for the Worship that was there to be performed as Knives Pots Flesh-hooks c. which had not their particular mystical significations But yet thus much we may observe from them that the meanest instrument in the Church of God is of some use and therefore not to be despised And of this sort there were some larger Vessels as the Kings Scaffold 2 Chron. 6.13 on which he stood when he came into the Priests Court to present his Sacrifices before the Lord or upon any other occasion For you
the matter to this head of the Jewish Festivals subjoined as an Appendix those two Discourses as they were found amongst the Authors Papers Farewell THE GOSPEL of the JEWISH FESTIVALS Jan. 14 17. 1668. Coloss 2.16 17. Let no man therefore judge you in Meat or in Drink or in respect of an Holy day or of the New Moon or of the Sabbath-days Which are a shadow of things to come but the Body is of Christ Obs 1. THat the Jewish Holy days were of three sorts and may be referred to three Heads Feasts New Moons and Sabbaths 2. That these were Shadows of things to come but the Body or Substance is of Christ 3. That therefore Christians should not suffer any man to condemn them for their not observing of these Days I shall handle the two first together in one shewing under each of these legal Holy days what the substance and thing signified was what of Christ was signified and shadowed forth by them Obs 1. That the Jewish Holy days were of three sorts and may be referred to three heads viz. Feasts New Moons and Sabbaths This Distribution of them doth frequently occur in the Scripture in other places as well as in this Text 2 Chron. 2.4 I build an House saith Solomon for the Burnt-offerings on the Sabbaths and on the New Moons and on the solemn Feasts of the Lord our God Ezek. 45.17 And it shall be the Princes part to give Burnt-offerings c. in the Feasts and in the New Moons and in the Sabbaths even in all the solemnities of the House of Israel that is in their appointed or solemn Assemblies Where Solemnities or solemn Assemblies is the general and this Genus is distributed into three particulars Feasts New Moons and Sabbaths so likewise Hos 2.11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease her Feast-days her New Moons and her Sabbaths even every holy Assembly of hers The first word is Feasts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebrew moyed set times because they came at set times of the year This is meant of their annual Festivals which were in number five The three principal were the Feast of the Passover the Feast of Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles which continued the two former each of them seven days the last for eight days together and the first day and the last day of them were holy Convocations wherein they were to do no servile work but to be wholly vacant for the Word and Worship of God The first mention of them is in Exod. 23 14-17 They are more largely spoken to in the 23. chap. of Leviticus and again in Deut. 16. and briefly recapitulated and summed up in ver 16. These were the principal because then all the males were to go up to Jerusalem and therefore these three are so often mentioned together There were also two more the Feast of Trumpets and the Feast of Expiation There are five general Rules observable concerning all these yearly Feasts 1. That they were all to be celebrated at the place the Lord their God should choose which was Jerusalem Exod. 23.14 Deut. 16.16 That which we are to learn therein is this that there is a Church-worship There are some Ordinances of Gods Worship which are not to be enjoyed but in Church-society As there is a personal and family-worship so there is publick or Church-worship of this kind is the Lords Supper If this be not an Ordinance of publick Worship under the Gospel there is none therefore to carry it to private persons upon their death-beds as the Papists doe is unwarrantable and superstitious 2. It is to be observed that they were all in the Summer time and not in Winter for the Passover was upon the fourteenth day of the first month Pentecost was seven weeks after and the Feast of Tabernacles was upon the fifteenth day of the seventh month Hence is that expression Acts. 27.9 Sailing is now dangerous because the Feast was now already past that is the Feast of Tabernacles The Instruction we are here to learn is this namely to see the tenderness of God towards his people even as to the outward man As he will have Mercy rather then Sacrifice so he orders the matters of Sacrifice and Worship with tenderness and mercy even to the bodies of his people yea the Spirit of God vouchsafes to dwell in their very Bodies as well as in their Souls and he preserves the dust thereof as precious reliques in the treasures of his Providence and will gather those dispersed atoms and bring them forth again and raise them up to everlasting life How great is his Goodness to us It shews there is a Duty incumbent upon us in reference to our Bodies and how great a sin it is in men to wrong and hurt their bodies when the Lord himself is tender of them 3. They were not to come empty handed Exod. 23. Deut. 16.16 17. true Religion is bountiful Duties of Worship are to be accompanied with duties of mercy and bounty so upon the Christian Sabbath there should be Collections for the poor 1 Cor. 16.2 Hypocrisie divides these it is willing to serve God but in the cheapest way hypocrites are all for a cheap Religion 4. Whereas there was danger of Invasion by their Enemies when all the Males were absent the Lord secures them by a promise of special Protection Exod. 34.24 Neither shall any man desire thy Land when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year Learn here that while we are in our Duty God will take care of our Safety the way of Duty is the way of Safety When the Church of the Jews was gone from God and had crucified the Lord of Life this protecting Providence forsook them For at the Passover it was that the Romans took and destroyed Jerusalem This Ordinance which was at first and ever after a means of safety to them the Lord now makes it a snare to bring them all together as it were into a pound that the Romans might take them and cut them off But while they abode with God in purity of Worship and Obedience he abode with them in his protecting Providence This should be a great encouragement to us in the Work and Worship of God to run all hazards and to fear no colours but be resolute in the discarge and performance of Duty The Lord is with us in such a case and then who can be against us 5. These Feasts as to their end and use were both commemorative of former Benefits and also prefigurative of future It may be said so of other holy times and holy things also but it holds eminently true concerning these three solemn anniversary Feasts The first of these yearly Feasts was the Passover which began upon the fifteenth day of the first month answering chiefly to our March The first Institution of it is in the 12th chap. of Exodus There were three things which were the peculiar observations of this
1668. Coloss 2.16 17. Let no man therefore judge you in Meat or in Drink or in respect of an Holy day or of the New Moon or of the Sabbath-days Which are a shadow of things to come but the Body is of Christ THere are three Doctrines in the words 1. That the Jewish Holy days are of three sorts or may be referred to three general heads Feast days New Moons and Sabbaths 2. That these their holy seasons were shadows of things to come but the Body is of Christ 3. Therefore no Christian should suffer any man to judg him or condemn him for not observing these Jewish times and seasons We are endeavouring to open the substance of these shadows and what were those things to come those things about Jesus Christ and the Gospel which were shadowed forth in them We began first with their Holy days or their Feast days that is their annual Festivals whereof we heard they had five 1. The Passover 2. Pentecost 2. The Feast of Tabernacles 4. The Feast of Trumpets 5. The Feast of Expiation These three the Passover Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles were the three great Festivals which were more solemn then the rest because then all the Males of Israel were to assemble together out of the whole Nation and to appear before the Lord in the place that he should choose in a general Church Assembly We heard something that these things pointed to The Passover did point them to the Death and Sufferings of Jesus Christ as the true Paschal Lamb who fulfilled this Type even as to the very season and holy time it self for he suffered at the Passover The Pentecost pointed at the time of the effusion of the Holy Ghost after his Ascension The Feast of Tabernacles pointed them to the Birth and Nativity of Jesus Christ when he should come to tabernacle and pitch his Tent in our Nature We heard indeed that this was the time of Christs Birth and not as it is commonly computed to be in December in the depth of Winter It is not like the Shepherds would be watching their Flocks all night then and that Augustus would command his Subjects to travel to their own Cities to be taxed at such a time and that John would choose that time to baptize in There be two more of the Jewish Feasts to be spoken to which were great and solemn Feasts yet not so great as these three because the people were not all bound to come up to Jerusalem to the Temple namely the Feast of Trumpets and the Feast of Expiation they were both in the seventh month as was also the Feast of Tabernacles the Feast of Trumpets on the first day of it the Feast of Expiation on the tenth day and the Feast of Tabernales on the fifteenth day and from thence to the two and twentieth day which is therefore accounted the greatest of all their Feasts being in the seventh month which was also the first in their old account the chiefest of all the months in the year and called by some the Sabbath of months as the seventh day is the Sabbath of days 4. This month began with the Feast of Trumpets which was upon the first day of the seventh month The first Institution of it we have in Lev. 23.23 24 25. and the Lord spake unto Moses saying c. It was celebrated as a Sabbath they were to do no servile work therein This Feast also had its peculiar Sacrifices appointed for it as in Numb 29. the six first verses It was also solemnized with the blowing of Trumpets which being the special Rite of this Festivity it had its Name from thence Here therefore the old legal Musick may fitly be considered this being as it were their Feast of Musick The Institution of these Trumpets we read in Numb 10. the ten first verses mentioned long after as a very solemn Ordinance in Psal 81.3 4 The first mention we have of Musical instruments in the Worship of God is in Exod. 15.20 21. where we read that Miriam used Timbrels and they praised God therewith and they sang the Song of Moses when they were delivered from Pharaoh And Miriam the Prophetess the Sister of Aaron took a Timbrel in her hand and all the Women went out after her with Timbrels and with Dances And Miriam answered them Sing ye to the Lord for he hath triumphed gloriously the Horse and his Rider hath he thrown into the Sea Moses afterwards by order from God appointed these Trumpets to be made and we read of a further increase of such Instruments in after times As to the use and signification of them there be many Gospel Instructions to be considered in this legal shadow we shall mention seven 1. The general scope of them was to signifie and shadow forth the sound of the Gospel the blessed sound of the Gospel which is called the joyful sound Psal 89.15 the Gospel is called glad tidings it is a joyful pleasant sound indeed Hence the Ministers of the Gospel are said to lift up their voice like a Trumpet Isai 58.1 the Tongue of the just is as choise Silver Prov. 10.20 these Trumpets were of Silver the faithful discharge and execution of their Office is expressed by blowing of the Trumpet Hos 8.1 Ezek. 33.3 4 5. it is said in the day when the Jews shall be converted in that day the great Trumpet shall be blown and they shall come which were ready to perish c. Isai 27. last when God shall gather them one by one ye shall be gathered one by one ver 12. in that day the great Trumpet shall be blown c that is saith Calvin the Silver Trumpet of the Gospel to the conviction and conversion of the Jews God will have his Church instructed not by sight only but by voice not by the eye only but by the ear Even under the Law the Lord would not have his people always to look for miraculous and immediate Guidance but they were to order themselves according to the sound of the Trumpet both in War Peace according to the rule of the Word so according to the rules of the Gospel according as that Trumpet sounds so are you to act This is the first namely the joyful sound of the Silver Trumpet of the Gospel 2. The Joys and Graces of the Spirit of God is another thing intimated by this Trumpet and instrument of Musick that spiritual melody of the Joys and Graces of the Holy Ghost in the hearts of Gods people Psal 98.6 with Trumpets and sound of Cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord the King Ephes 5.18 19. There is a melody and joyful voice in the Consciences of Believers the Spirit of God both sanctifying and comforting of them so the Apostle Col. 3.16 Grace and Joy the fruit of Grace so this Musick remains in the Antitype of it the heart-strings of Believers making melody suitable to the profession of their Lips and to the gracious and peaceable
up unto God with strong crying and tears Matth. 26.37 he began to be sorrowful and very heavy and ver 38. then saith he unto them my Soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death and ver 39. he fell on his face and prayed saying Oh my Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me Luk. 22.44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly and his Sweat was as it were great drops of Blood falling down to the ground Hebr. 5.7 It speaks also the Contrition and brokenness of heart that is in the Prayers of the Saints 3. He took a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar to kindle the Incense It is the fire of the Altar the Spirit of God that inflames the Affections in Prayer that sets the heart on fire and makes the Incense flame sets Grace on work and as the Spices whereof the Incense was made are the Graces of Gods Spirit and the beating of them small is the Contrition of the heart so the Incense must be set on fire with sacred fire the Spirit of God inflaming the heart with earnest desires and ardent affections after God 4. The Cloud of Incense must cover the Mercy-seat that the Cloud of Incense that is the Smoke thereof may cover the Mercy-seat that he die not ver 13. There is much Instruction in this If we think to behold the Mercy-seat without the Cloud of Incense we die It is the death of many a Soul that in the day of Atonement when they are afflicting their Souls for sin they think that God is merciful and they cry to God for Mercy But they do not behold the Mercy of God in the Son of his Love they do not look up to the Mercy-seat as covered and clouded with the Incense of the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ and therefore they die and perish even in the day of Atonement when they come before the Mercy-seat 3. The Blood must be sprinkled upon the Mercy-seat Eastward that is upon the forepart of it ver 14. It teacheth us that as the High Priest went into the holy place not without Blood so Christ with his own Blood Heb. 9.7 11 12. hath entred into Heaven for us to make way for us to come thither also by the merit and virtue of his own Blood and Satisfaction Heaven therefore is called the purchased possession Ephes 1.14 because purchased by the Blood of Christ We have boldness to enter into the holiest by the Blood of Jesus Hebr. 10.19 20. 4. The Blood must be sprinkled upon the Mercy-seat seven times A mystical number often used in the legal Services and hath been formerly explained It is a number of perfection God having created the World in six days and resting upon the seventh It therefore notes a full and perfect cleansing and applying of the Blood of Christ for that end And it presupposeth a copious and liberal effusion but it implies directly a plenteous and effectual application of the Blood of Christ Get the Blood of Christ effectually applied unto thy Soul or else thou canst never look God in the face with any comfort or acceptance take this Blood of Christ apply it by Faith see how it atones God It is true the Blood of Christ doth not make God merciful but it makes way for the exercise of his Mercy it doth not cause the attribute of Mercy to be in God but it makes way for the putting of it forth Now then let us put both these together The Mercy-seat must be both clouded with Incense and sprinkled with Blood or else there is no approaching for Sinners into the presence of God none but through the Prayers and Intercessions and through the Blood and Satisfaction of Jesus Christ Non solum periculosum sed horribile est de Deo extra Christum cogitare It is not only dangerous saith Luther but it is an horrible thing to think of God out of Christ Do not think to make use of Gods Attributes in an immediate way but by the Intercession of a Mediator there is no Mercy in God for Sinners out of Christ Thus much of the Priests Offerings for himself 2. The second sort of Offerings upon this great day of Atonement were for the People and these are two Goats for a Sin-offering and a Ram for a Burnt-offering ver 5. The Rites and Ceremonies of these two Goats are full of the Gospel It is pity that choise portions of Scripture which have so much in them are commonly so little understood by us Let us in the help of Christ inquire a little into the mystery of these things Of the Burnt-offering there is something said but it is not much the common rules of the Burnt-offering being here to be observed But the Sin-offering of the two Goats there be many very significant Rites and Ceremonies about them This Sin-offering is first generally and then severally and more particularly spoken to and the several actions about them more particularly opened 1. In general ver 7 8 9 10. The first thing that they had to do which was peculiar to it was that these two Goats they were to cast lots upon them Now a Lot is a referring of a thing by an appeal to the determination of Providence Prov. 16.33 the Lot is cast into the lap but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. There is a special hand of Providence in a Lot so it is said of Christ Acts 2.23 Him being delivered by the determinate Counsel and foreknowledge of God ye having taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain The Lot in this business was to determine which of the Goats should be slain and which was to escape But why were there two Goats one to die and the other to escape The reason was plainly this Because that one alone was not sufficient to represent the Mystery intended and aimed at For Christ was both God and Man he both died and rose again but the same Sacrifice could not both die and live again without a miracle Therefore these two Goats were appointed to represent more compleatly the whole mystery of our Redemption in all the concernments of it to shadow forth Jesus Christ in both his Natures and in both the states he passed through both in his Divinity and in his Humanity both in his Humiliation and Exaltation As in like manner there were two Birds appointed in the Purification of the Leper See of the cleansing of the Leper Lev. 14. pag. 398. So here two Goats a flain Goat and a scape Goat the one to shadow forth Christ as dying and slain for our offences the other as rising again for our Justification The slain Goat represented Christ as he was put to death in the Flesh that is in his Humane nature the scape Goat represented him as quickened by the Spirit that is by his Deity raising him up again from death to life This in general Now 2. In particular the sacred Rites and
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