we have golden Palm-trees as tokens of our victory and golden Flowers to smell on all the way to Heaven XXXI Of the Wall of the Temple THE Wall of the Temple was cieled with Firr which he over-laid with fine gold and set thereon Palm-trees and Chains 2 Chro. 3.5 6 7. The Walls were as the Body of the House unto which Christ alluded when he said Destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up Joh. 2.19 21. Hence to be and worship in the Temple was a type of being in Christ and worshiping God by him For Christ as was said is the great Temple of God in the which all the Elect meet and in whom they do service to and for his Father Hence again the true Worshipers are said to be in him to speak in him to walk in him to obey in him 2 Cor. 2.14 chap. 12.19 Col. 2.6 For as of old all true Worship was to be found at the Temple To now it is only found with Christ and with them that are in him The promise of old was made to them that worshiped within these Walls I will give saith he to them in my house and within my walls to them that worship there in truth a place and a name better then that of Sons and of Daughters Isa. 5.6 5. But now in New Testament times all the promises in HIM are yea and in HIM Amen to the glory of God by us 2 Cor. â— 20 This is yet further hinted to us in that 't is said these Walls are cieled with Firr Which as was shewed before was a figure of the humanity of Jesus Christ. A Wall is for defence and so is the humanity of Jesus Christ. 'T is was and will be our defence for ever For it was that which underwent and overcame the curse of the Law and that in which our everlasting righteousness is found Had he not in that interposed we had perished for ever Hence we are said to be reconciled to God in the body of his flesh thorow death Col. 1.19 20. Rom. 5.8 9 10. Now this Wall was overlaid with fine gold Gold here is a figure of the righteousness of Christ by which we are justified in the fight of God. Therefore you read that his Church as justified is said to stand at his right hand in Cloth of Gold. Vpon thy right hand did stand the Queen in Gold of Ophir And again her clothing is of wrought gold Psal. 45.9 13. This the Wall was overlaid with this the body of Christ was filled with Men while in the Temple were clothed with Gold even with the gold of the Temple and Men in Christ are clothed with righteousness the righteousness of Christ. Wherefore this Consideration doth yet more illustrate the matter In that the Palm-trees were SET on this Wall it may be to shew that the Elect are fixed in Jesus and so shall abide for ever Chains were also carved on these walls yea and they were golden Chains there were Chains on the Pillars and now also we finde Chains upon the Walls Philip. 1.12 13. 1. Chains were used to hold one Captive and such Paul did wear at Rome but he calls them his Bands in Christ. 2. Chains sometimes signifie great afflictions which God lays on us for our sins Psal. 107.9 10 11. Lam. 1.14 chap. 3.7 3. Chains also may be more mystically understood as of those Obligations which the love of God lays upon us to do and suffer for him Acts 20.22 4. Chains do sometimes signifie beauty and comely Ornaments Thy Neck saith Christ to his Spouse is comely with Chains of Gold And again I put Bracelets upon thy hands and a Chain about thy Neck Song 1.10 Ezek. 16.8 9 10 11. Prov. 1.9 5. Chains also do sometimes denote Greatness and Honour such as Daniel had when the King made him the Third Ruler in the Kingdom Dan. 5.7 16 29. Now all these are Temple-chains and are put upon us for good some to prevent our ruine some to dispose our minds the better and some to dignifie and to make us noble Temple-chains are brave Chains None but Temple-worshipers must wear Temple-chains XXXII Of the garnishing of the Temple with precious Stones AND he garnished the House with precious Stones for beauty 2 Chron. 3.6 7. 1. This is an other Ornament to the Temple of the Lord wherefore as he saith it was garnished with them he saith It was garnished with them for beauty The Line saith garnished the Margent saith covered 2. Wherefore I think they were fixed as Stars or as the Stars in the Firmament so they were set in the cieling of the House as in the Heaven of the holy Temple 3. And thus fixed they do the more aptly tell us of what they were a figure namely of the Ministerial Gifts and Officers in the Church For Ministers as to their Gifts and Office are called STARS of God and are said to be in the hand of Christ Revel 1.20 4. Wherefore as the Stars glitter and twinkle in the Firmament of Heaven So do true Ministers in the Firmament of his Church 1 Chro. 29.2 Joh. 5.35 Dan. 12.3 5. So that 't is said again these Gifts come down from above as signifying they distill their dew from above And hence again the Ministers are said to be set OVER us in the Lord as placed in the Firmament of his Heaven to give a light upon his Earth There is Gold and a multitude of rubies but the lips of knowledge are a precious Jewel Prov. 20 15. Verily 't is enough to make a Man in this house look always upward since the cieling above head doth thus glitter with precious Stones Precious Stones all manner of precious Stones Stones of all colours For there are divers gifts differences of administrations and diversities of operations but it is the same God which worketh all in all 1 Cor. 12.4 5 6. Thus had the cieling of this house a Pearl here and there a Diamond here a Jasper and there a Saphire here a Sardius and there a Jacinth here a Sardonix and there an Amathist For to one is given by the Spirit the Word of Wisdom to another the Word of Knowledge to one the gift of healing to another faith to this man to work miracles to that a spirit of prophesie to another the discerning of spirits to another divers kinds of tongues 1 Cor. 12.8 9 10 11. He also over-laid the House Beams Posts Walls Doors c. and all with Gold. O what a beautiful House the Temple was how full of glory was it And yet all was but a shadow a shadow of things to come and which was to be answered in the Church of the living God the Pillar and Ground of Truth by better things than these XXXIII Of the Windows of the Temple AND for the House he made Windows of narrow Lights 1 King. 6.4 There was Windows for this House Windows for the Chambers and Windows round about Ezek. 4.16 22 23
greatness of his Grace and Workmanship His Grace in taking such and his Workmanship in that he makes them meet for his Holy Habitation This the current of Scripture maketh manifest wherefore it is needless now to cite particulars Only we must remember that none are laid in this Building as they come out of the Wood or Pitt But as they first pass under the Hand and Rule of this great Builder of the Temple of God. V. Who was to fell those Trees and to dig those Stones with which Solomon built the Temple AS the Trees were to be felled and Stones to be digged so there was for that matter Select Workmen appointed These were not of the Sons of Jacob nor of the house of Israel they were the Servants of Hiram King of Tyre and the Gibeonites namely their Children that made a league with Joshua in the day that God gave the land of Canaan to his People Josh. 9.22 23 24 25 26 27 28. 1 King 5. 2 Chron. 27 28. And these were Types of our Gospel-Ministers who are the men appointed by Jesus Christ to make Sinners by their preaching meet for the house of God. Wherefore as he was famous of old who was strong to lift up his Axe upon the thick boughs to square Wood for the building of the Temple So a Minister of the Gospel now is also famous if much used by Christ for the converting of Sinners to himself that he may build him a Temple with them Psal. 7.4 5 6. Rom. 16.7 But why may some say do you make so homely a Comparison I Answer because I believe it is true for 't is Grace not Gifts that makes us Sons and the beloved of God. Gifts make a Minister and as a Minister one is but a servant to hew Wood and draw Water for the house of my God. Yea Paul tho' a Son yet counted himself not a Son but a Servant purely as he was a Minister A Servant of God a Servant of Christ a Servant of the Church and your Servant for Jesus sake Tit. 1. Rom. 1.1 2 Cor. 4.5 A man then is a Son as he is begotten and born of God to himself and a servant as he is gifted for work in the house of his Father And though it is truth the servant may be a Son yet he is not a Son because he is a servant Nor doth it follow that because all Sons may be servants that therefore all servants are Sons no all the servants of God are not Sons and therefore when time shall come he that is only a servant here shall certainly be put out of the house even out of that house himself did help to build The servant abideth not in the house for ever The servant that is he that is only so Ezek. 46.16 17. John 8.35 So then As a Son thou art an Israelite as a Servant a Gibeonite The Consideration of this made Paul start He knew that Gifts made him not a Son 1 Cor. 12.28 29 30 31. Chap. 13.1 2. The summ then is A man may be a servant and a Son a servant as he is imployed by Christ in his house for the good of others And a Son as he is a partaker of the Grace of Adoption But all servants are not sons and let this be for a Caution and a Call to Ministers to do all acts of service for God and in his house with Reverence and godly Fear And with all Humility let us desire to be partakers our selves of that Grace we preach to others 1 Cor. 9.25 That is a great saying and written perhaps to keep Ministers humble And Strangers shall stand and feed your Flocks and the Sons of the Alien shall be your Plowmen and your Vine-dressers Isaiah 61.5 To be a Plow-man here is to be a Preacher and to be a Vine-dresser here is to be a Preacher Luke 9.59 60 61 62. 1 Cor. 9.27 Matt. 2.1 2 3 4 8. Chap. 21.28 1 Cor. 9.7 And if he does this Work willingly he has a Reward if not a Dispensation of the Gospel is committed to him and that 's all 1 Cor. 9.17 VI. In what condition the Timber and Stones were when brought to be laid in the building of the Temple THe timber and stones with which the Temple was builded was squared and hewed at the Wood or Pitt and so there made every way fit for that Work even before they were brought to the place where the house should be set up So that there was there neither Hammer nor Axe nor any Tool of Iron heard in the house while it was in Building 1 King 6.7 And this shews as was said before that the Materials of which the House was builded were before the hand of the Work-man touched them as unfit to be lay'd in the building as was those that were left behind consequently that themselves none otherwise but by the Art of others were made fit to be laid in this building To this our New-Testament-Temple answers For those of the Sons of Adam who are counted worthy to be laid in this building are not by Nature but by Grace made meet for it not by their own Wisdom but by the Word of God. Hence He saith I have hewed them by the Prophets And again Ministers are called Gods Builders and Labourers even as to this Work Hos. 6.5 1 Cor. 3.10 and 2 Cor. 6.1 Col. 1.28 No man will lay Trees as they come from the Wood for Beams and Rafters in his house nor Stones as digged in the Walls No the Trees must be hewed and squared and the Stones sawn and made fit and so be lay'd in the house Yea they must be SO Sawn and SO Squared that in coupling they may be joined exactly else the Building will not be good nor the Workman have credit of his doings Hence our Gospel-Church of which the Temple was a type is said to be fitly formed and that there is a fit supply of every joynt for the securing of the whole 1 Pet. 3.5 Ephes. 4.20 21. Chap. 4.16 Col. 2.19 As they therefore build like Children that build with Wood as it comes from the Wood or Forrest and with Stones as they come from the Pitt even so do they who pretend to build God an house of Unconverted Sinners unhewed unsquared unpolished Wherefore Gods Workmen according to Gods advice prepare their Work without and make it fit for themselves in the Field and afterwards build the house Prov. 24.27 Let Ministers therefore look to this and take heed lest instead of making their Notions stoop to the Word they make the Scriptures stoop to their Notions VII Of the Foundation of the Temple THe Foundation of the Temple is that upon which it stood it was twofold First the hill Moriah and then those great Stones upon which it was Erected This Hill Moriah as was said afore did more properly typify Christ. Hence Moriah is called The Mountain of the house it being the Rock on which it was built those great
Altar on which he Offered his Offering was greater then the Offering it self Mat. 23.19 Now the Body of Christ was the Gift for so he saith I give my Flesh for the Life of the World John 6. But now What thing is that which is greater then his Body save the Altar his Divinity on which it was Offered The Tree then was not the Altar which Sanctified this Gift to make it of Vertue enough to make Reconciliation for Iniquity John 6.51 Chap. 17.19 Heb. 9.14 Col. 1.19 20 21. Now since this Altar of burnt Offering was thus placed in the inner Court it teaches us several things First That those that come only into the outward Court or that rest in a bare appearance of Christianity do not by so doing come to Jesus Christ for this Altar stands not there Hence John takes notice only of the Temple and this Altar and them that worship therein and leaves out the outward Court and so them that come no further Rev. 11.1 2. Secondly This teaches us also that we are to enter into that Temple of God by blood The Altar this Altar of burnt-offering stood as Men went into the Temple they must go by it Yea there they must leave their offering and so go in and worship even as a token that they came thither by Sacrifice and by Blood. Thirdly Upon this Altar Solomon at the dedication of the Temple offered thousands both of Oxen and of Sheep to signifie surely the abundant worth and richness that would be in the bloud of Christ to save when it should be shed for us For his bloud is spoken of with an how much more For if the blood of Bulls and Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the blood of Christ who thorow the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God Purge your Conscience from dead works to serve the living God Heb. 9.14 2 Chro. 7.5 6 7 8. Heb. 10.1 12. Let us then not dare to stop or stay in the Outward Court for there is not this Altar Nor let us dare when we come into this Court to be careless whether we look to this Altar or no. For 't is by Blood we must enter for without shedding of Blood is no Remission Let us alwayes then when we come hither wash our Hands in Innocency and so compass this Holy Altar For that by Christ who is the Altar indeed we are reconciled to God. This is looking to Jesus this is coming to God by him of whom this Altar and the Sacrifice thereon was a Type XII Of the Pillars that were before the Porch of the Temple THere was divers Pillars belonging to the Temple But in this place we are confined to speak of only two Namely Those which stood before the Temple These Pillars stood before the Porch or entrance into the Temple looking towards the Altar the Court and Them that were the Worshippers there Also they were a Grace and a Beauty to the Front of the House 1. These Pillars stood one on the Right-hand and the other on the Left at the door of the Porch of the Temple and they had Names given them you may be sure to signify something The Name of that on the Right-hand was called Jachin God shall Establish And the Name of that on the Left-hand was Boaz in it is strength 1 King. 7.21 2 Chron. 3.17 2. These two Pillars were Types of Christs Apostles of the Apostles of Circumcision and of the Uncircumcision Therefore the Apostle Paul also calleth them Pillars Gal. 2. And saith That that Pillar on the Right-hand was a Type of himself and his Companions who were to go to the Uncircumcised and teach the Gentiles the way of Life When James Cephas and John saith He who seemed to be PILLARS perceived the Grace that was given unto me They gave unto me and Barnabas the Right-hand of Fellowship that we should go unto the Heathen and they unto the Circumcision Gal. 2.9 So then These two Pillars were Types of these two Orders of the Apostles in this their divers Service for God. 3. And that Paul and Barnabas was signified by those on the Right-hand To wit To be the Apostles of the Gentiles He sheweth again where he saith I am the Minister of Christ to the Gentiles ministring the Grace of God that the Offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable being sanctified by the Holy Ghost Rom. 11.13 chap. 15 16. 4. And since the Name of this Pillar was Jachin God shall Establish as it sheweth that Opposition shall attend it so also That God would bless his Word Preached by them to the Gentiles to the Conversion of Numbers of them Mauger all the Opposition of the Enemy 5. This is further implyed for that they were made of Brass as he saith of the Prophet I have made thee a fenced brazen Wall an Iron Pillar And their fighting against thee shall nothing at all prevail Wherefore Paul says of himself I am set for the Defence of the Gospel That the Truth thereof might continue with you Phil. 1.17 Gal. 2.5 XIII Of the Height of these Pillars that thus stood before the Porch of the Door of the Temple THE Pillars were eighteen Cubits high a piece and that is as high yea as high again as the highest Gyant that ever we read of in the Word for the highest of which we read was but six Cubits and a span True the Bedstead of OG was nine Cubits long but I trow the Gyant himself was shorter Deut. 3.11 2 Chron. 3.15 But put the longest to the longest and set the one upon the shoulders of the other and yet each Pillar was higher than they We have now as I know of but few that remain of the remnant of the Gyants and though they boast as if they were higher than Agag yet these Pillars are higher than they These Pillars are the highest you may equal them and an inch above is worth an ell below The height therefore of these Pillars is to shew us what high dignity God did put upon those of his Saints whom he did call to be Apostles of the Lamb For their Office and Call thereto is the highest in the Church of God. These Men I say were made thus high by their being cast in such a mould of that which added yet further to their height we will speak anon we only speak now of the high Call by which they and only they were made capable of Apostolical Authority The Apostles were sent immediately their Call was extraordinary their Office was Vniversal they had alike power in all Churches and their Doctrine was infallible Acts 26.16 1 Cor. 9.1 Gal. 1.1 1 John 1.1 2 3. John 2.23 And what can our pretended Gyants do or say in comparison of these The truth is all other Men to these are dwarfs are low dark weak and beneath not only as to Call and Office but also as