of the people It would better become private persons to reflect upon themselves and upon their own sins and their own unworthiness then to work out in discontent against those that God hath set over them 3. The third Law of the Sin-Offering is concerning the blood thereof There is a threefold disposal of it appointed by the Rule in this Chapter vers 5 6 7. 1. The Priest is to dip his finger in the blood and to sprinkle it seven times before the Lord. 2. He is to put part of it upon the four Horns of the golden Altar of Incense 3. He is to pour out the rest of it at the bottom of the Brazen Altar of Burnt-Offering Of these three Ceremonies a few words 1. The Priest is to dip his finger in the blood and to sprinkle it seven times before the Lord that is before the Vail of the Sanctuary towards the Holy of Holies Upon the great day of Expiation he was to sprinkle it within the Vail but because he was not to enter into that Holy place every day but only once a year therefore at other times he did but sprinkle it towards the holy place upon or towards the Vail see Lev. 16.14 But the signification was the same in both It teacheth us three things 1. That there is no entrance into Heaven but by the blood of Christ shed and poured forth and sprinkled and applied effectually For the place within the Vail the Holy of Holies was a Type of Heaven and the Priest entred there not without blood Heb. 9.11 12 24 25 26. Heaven is a Possession purchased by the blood of Christ Eph. 1.14 Heb. 10.19 20. We enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus We had never come there had not the blood of the Sin Offering been sprinkled there for us 2. There is a full and perfect cleansing in the blood of Christ for he is to sprinkle it seven times Seven is a number of perfection because in seven days the Creation of the world was finished and God rested from his works Hence seven is a mystical number often used in Mysteries throughout the Scripture both in typical and in prophetical places Vid. Aynsw in loc As seven times sprinkling the Leper and seven days for his cleansing Lev. 14.7 9. Seven days for consecrating the Priests Lev. 8.35 For purifying the unclean Lev. 12.2 Numb 19.19 Seven Priests with seven Trumpets blew seven days to the overthrowing of the Walls ef Jericho Josh 6. Every seventh day was a Sabbaoth Every seventh year a year of Rest And seven times seven years brought the Jubilee Lev. 25.3 4 8. In the Book of the Revelation the Lamb that was stain which is Jesus Christ is represented with seven Horns to signify the perfection of his Power and with seven Eyes to shew the perfection of his Wisdom and the seven Spirits of God the Holy Ghost in the perfection of all gifts and graces Rev. 5.6 There be also seven Candlesticks seven Churches And indeed the whole Book doth analyse and divide it self into three sevens seven Seals seven Trumpets and seven Vials The seven Seals holding forth the state of the Church under heathenish persecution with the issue thereof in the three first Centuries The seven Trumpets under Antichrist and other intestine troubles And then finally seven Vials of Wrath for the ruine of Anti-christ and other enemies for the Churches prosperity From all which you see that there is something of mystery in the number of seven And in this Ceremony it teacheth us the full and perfect cleansing and atonement we have in the blood of Christ and that our sins need much cleansing much purgation Heb. 9.13 14. Heb. 10.14 For by one Offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified 3. We may learn further that sprinkling is significative enough of the spiritual cleansing and perfect virtue that is in the blood of Jesus Christ For the Priest was not to pour out the blood upon the Vail nor to wash the Vail in the blood but only to dip his finger and so to sprinkle the Vail with it Isai 52.15 1 Pet. 1.2 Heb. 12.24 2. Another part of the blood was to be put upon the Horns of the Golden Altar of Incense vers 7. And again vers 18. So in the Sin-Offering upon the great day of Expiation Lev 17.18 19. this was used only in the Sin Offering of Bullocks but in the Sin-Offering of Kids or Lambs it was only poured and sprinkled upon the Brazen-Altar vers 25 30 34. The mystery of this Ceremony was this That Christs Intercession is founded in his own blood and satisfaction For the Incense Altar was a Type of Prayer he prays in the virtue of his own blood and sufferings and by the merit thereof he prevails with God for us And it is upon the same account that our prayers also do prevail and find acceptance with the Lord it is because the Incense Altar is sprinkled with blood We pray in his Name and we desire nothing in our prayers but what he hath deserved and procured by his merits See Rev. 8.3 There was given him much Incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all Saints upon the Golden Altar And 9.13 I heard a voice from the four Horns of the Golden Altar The Golden Altar is the Altar of Incense a voice is heard from thence as in answer to prayer But did ever any Christian pray for the coming in of the Turks upon the Christian world No but God answers the prayers of his people oftentimes by wonderful and terrible things in Righteousness as Psal 65.5 The most dreadful Revolutions of Providence are in answer to prayer and that which makes prayer so powerful is because the Altar of Incense is sprinkled with the blood of the Sin Offering 3. The rest of the blood was to be poured forth at the bottom of the Altar of Burnt-Offering vers 7 18 25 30 34. This instructs us that Christ was consecrated and dedicated unto God in his own blood The effusion of the blood of Christ as a Sin-Offering to the Justice of God for us for our Salvation for the purchase of the pardon of our sins and the relation of that blood to the Altar of his Deity are here taught But this was opened before when we were upon the Burnt-Offering Cap. 1.5 But consider this as in conjunction with the former the blood was sprinkled both upon the holiest of all and upon the Altar of Incense and now the rest poured forth by the Altar of Burnt-Offering It teacheth us That the blood of Christ hath an influence into all the concernments of our Salvation from first to last Exercise Faith in that blood upon all occasions and for all the concernments of your Souls Would you see your sins forgiven and atonement made See and take notice of that blood in the effusion of it as poured forth at the bottom of the Altar Would you see your prayers accepted
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
break Bread every Lords day And in the primitive times the Sacrament was the concluding Ordinance But Man did not eat of the Tree of Life for then he had been confirmed and lived for ever Gen. 3.22 therefore it is not likely that he stood in his integrity to the end of the Sabbath And as to the time of the day wherein he sinned it seems to have been about eating time at dinner about noon eating what they should not being the thing wherein they sinned And after his Fall it is said that God came and spake to them in the cool of the day Gen. 3. ver 8. This seems to have been about that time of the day which the Scripture calls the ninth hour which is after our reckoning about three a clock in the afternoon So long they were in darkness and under guilt of their Sin before the Promulgation of the Gospel to them Wherein some have observed a congruity in that Jesus Christ was under those his infinite Sufferings upon the Cross the same space of time from the sixth hour to the ninth Matth. 27.45 46. And it being thus Man in his first sin and fall did break all the Commandments at once as he brake all the rest so he sinned upon the Sabbath day This seems by all the circumstances of the Story to have been the time of his Fall But to think that he fell on Tuesday the tenth day from the Creation there is nothing in the History to evince it Others think this Fast on the day of the seventh month was appointed in remembrance of the great Sin the Idolatry of the Golden Calf Exod. 32. But we may rest in that the Text mentioneth as the occasion of this Ordinance viz. the Sin and Death of Nadab and Abihu And there is a threefold Instruction we are here to learn Obs 1. Here we are taught first That there must be holy fear and reverence in approaching to God in his Ordinances an holy fear and dread of sinning in the manner of his Worship and that it is a dangerous thing to worship God otherwise then he hath appointed Men should take heed of it that they die not as Nadab and Abihu did for this sin they incur the danger of Death both Death temporal and eternal Though God doth not usually smite men with visible Judgments but when they are first in any transgression yet there is a spiritual fire and wrath upon their spirits for it which is worse then outward Judgments Obs 2. The Lord takes hold of the saddest occasions to bring in Dispensations of the greatest good and mercy to his people Light out of Darkness Heaven out of Hell good out of evil to those that he hath set his Love upon Obs 3. When some are slain and die in and for their sins the Lord provides for the Salvation of others that they die not Now to come to the thing it self Moses is to charge Aaron that he come not into the Holy of holies at all times nor in any manner but at Gods appointed times and in such manner as he requireth This manner is here described at large It consists chiefly in three things 1. His washing himself 2. His holy Garments And 3. His propitiatory Offerings 1. That the Priest must wash before he put on his Garments and before he present his Offering is an intimation of his Purity and Cleanness Hence that expression of the Apostle Heb. 10.22 Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our Bodies washed with pure water This is the first thing he is to do So Christ Matth. 3.16 was baptized before he entred upon his Ministry and he was perfectly holy and pure not having the least defilement of sin upon him though he had taken on him our Nature and all the other Infirmities of it Vid. On the Priests Consecration Exod. 29. 2. As to his Attire here be two sorts of holy Garments mentioned in the Services of this day the holy Garments ver 4. and other holy and most costly Garments ver 23.24 Some call the former his White Garments and the other his Golden Garments 1. This Priestly Attire was an emblem of spiritual clothing Psal 132.9 Let thy Priests be clothed with Righteousness and let thy Saints shout for joy and ver 16. I will also clothe her Priests with Salvation Job 29.14 I put on Righteousness and it clothed me my Judgment was as a Robe and a Diadem This then speaks the Grace and Holiness that was in Jesus Christ and ought to be in Ministers such Garments Ministers should be clothed with 2. Those two sorts of Attire the White and the Golden Garments signified the different estate and condition of Jesus Christ when he performed the great work of our Redemption and made atonement for us he did it in much meanness and abasement Isai 52.14 his Visage was marred he was without external Pomp and worldly Glory in the form of a Servant made himself of no Reputation Phil. 2.7 though with Holiness and Purity and Innocency He had white Garments on though they were but plain But as there is a clothing of Grace so there is a clothing of Glory 2 Cor. 5.2 4. And after his Resurrection when he had been in Heaven and returned again and arose and appeared from the dead he did change his Raiment He wore the garments of Holiness here but when he entred into the holy place even into Heaven he did put on garments of Glory These were the holy Garments on this day of Expiation Now the third thing is the Offerings of Atonement and they were of two sorts for the Priest and for the People 1. For the Priest himself and for his own House ver 3 6. This teacheth us the insufficiency and imperfection of the legal Priesthood Heb. 5.1 2.3 we need a better High Priest and we have one Heb. 7.26 27 28. The Priest was first to make atonement for himself and for his own sins that so he might be fit as a figure of Christ the true High Priest to make atonement for the people They that lie under unpardoned guilt themselves are not fit to be Mediators and Intercessors for others The Priest had three things to do in reference to his own Sacrifice 1. He was to kill it and so to make atonement with it v. 11. This was a Type of the Death of Christ the true Sacrifice 2. He was to offer Incense in the Holy of holies v. 12. This is a Type of the Prayers and Intercessions of Jesus Christ in the virtue of his Satisfaction Here are four particulars observable 1. As the High Priest did this before he sprinkled the Blood in the Holiest of all so Christ prepared his own way into Heaven by his Prayers and Intercessions Joh. 17. 2. The Incense was beaten small to intimate the anguish and contrition and brokenness of heart wherewith Christ prayed and interceded for us those agonies of spirit in his Prayers before his Death which he offered
Candlesticks are the Churches the seven Stars or Lights in the tops of the Candlesticks are the Angels or Ministers of the Churches Rev. 1.20 yet the Ministry considered barely in it self doth not enlighten but as illuminated by the Spirit Rev. 4.5 4. The Priest was to burn sweet Incense upon the Golden Altar when he dressed the Lamps Exod. 30.7 8. this is Prayer and Intercession and this is Christs work he prays and he perfumes the Prayers of his people with the sweet Incense of his own Merits and Mediation and as they are daily praying so Christ is daily interceding for them Rev. 8.3 4. 5. The Priest was to set the Shew-bread upon the Golden Table before the Lord every Sabbath Lev. 24.8 Every Sabbath shall he set it in order before the Lord continually so doth Jesus Christ present and set the whole number of his Elect before the Lord continually as the Shew-bread upon the Table where his favourable Eye and Face is always upon them 6. The Priest was to bless the people in the name of the Lord and well he might for blessed indeed are such a people who have such an Altar and Sanctuary and such a Sacrifice offered for them amongst whom the Lamp of God shines whose Prayers ascend and come up before him as Incense upon the Golden Altar out of the hand of the true High Priest the Angel of the Covenant and who stand before the Face of God and under the Eye and Care of God continually Numb 6.23 and so on to the end and accordingly they did so when they had performed their other Ministrations Lev. 9.22 23. and God ratified it For the Glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people so 2 Chron. 30.27 Then the Priests the Levites arose and blessed the people and their voice was heard and their Prayer came up to his dwelling place even unto Heaven so doth Jesus Christ bless his people Luke 24.50 and that most really and effectually Acts 3.26 These were the Priestly Ministrations Objct. But now it may be demanded wherein then differed the High Priest from the other ordinary Priests these Ministrations belonging to them as well as him Answ There were three things peculiar to the High Priest wherein he was advanced by God above his Brethren 1. He had a superiority of spiritual Power and Jurisdiction over all the Ministers of the Sanctuary both the Priests and Levites Numb 4.19 also ver 27. see Deut. 17.12 and so Aaron was the Archbishop or Primate as it were to oversee and order all so is Jesus Christ in the Church of God He is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 5.4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear ye shall receive a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away He only is the chief Shepherd 2. The High Priest was clothed with peculiar Garments of Glory and Beauty Exod 28. The inferior Priests the Sons of Aaron had but four Priestly Garments Linnen Drawers and Coats and Girdles and Bonnets Exod. 28.40 but Aaron the High Priest had a Brest-plate and an Ephod a Robe a broydered Coat a Mitre and a Girdle with the Urim and Thummim and precious Stones in his Brest-plate and on the shoulders of his Ephod and a Crown or Plate of Gold upon his Mitre Exod. 28. ver 4. and so is Jesus Christ fairer then the Sons of men more beautiful then any other Psal 45.2 3. The third Prerogative of the High Priest was in his glorious Ministration upon the great day of atonement when he went into the holiest of all to make atonement there before the Lord Lev. 16. which none but he might do Thus Jesus Christ is entred not into the holy places made with hands which are the Figures of the true but into Heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us Hebr. 9.24 Neither by the Blood of Goats and Calves but by his own Blood he entred in once into the holy place having obtained eternal Redemption for us ibid. ver 12. Here note as a Corollary the wickedness of the Bishop of Rome who calls himself the High Priest amongst Christians as Aaron was amongst the Jews His judaizing antichristian wickedness And all other such Archbishops and Primates and Prelates fall under the same condemnation who differ not specie but only grad◠not in kind but only in degree from the Usurpations of that Man of Sin I know no other High Priest no other Archbishop or chief Shepherd of our Souls under the Gospel but only Jesus Christ Some thus understand that of Paul Acts 23.5 I wist not that he was the High Priest I acknowledg not that there is an High Priest Vide Beza in 1 Pet. 5.4 Against this Primacy which the Pope usurps consider 1. The High Priest in this preeminence above his Brethren was an express Type of Jesus Christ of whom it is said that he was the first-born among many Brethren Rom. 8.29 2. This Ecclesiastical preeminence amongst Ministers is expresly forbidden under the Gospel How often doth Christ reprove his Disciples for it for striving who should be chiefest Matth. 18.1 2 3 4. and Matth. 23.8 10 11. and Matth. 20.25 and Luke 22.24 25 26. And it is the brand set upon Diotrephes 3 Joh. ver 9. that he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he affected the Primacy 3. Thô the Priests Power was ecclesiastical yet the Pope exercises a temporal power and this not as a Commissioner from under the Civil Magistrate but distinct from the Civil Magistrate and without dependance on him yea indeed superior to him and so do the inferior Prelates too not only a Civil power derived from the King as other Barons of the Realm or Justices of the Peace or the like civil Dignities but they make the Clergy a Fountain of Power to themselves even of temporal Power wherein they intrench upon the Prerogative and just Rights of the Civil Magistrate as well as of Ecclesiastical Power having never received any such Primacy of Office from Jesus Christ but usurping it to themselves and so they do intrench both upon God and the King shewing themselves therein to be the true and natural Children of their Father the Pope the great Antichrist of Rome But you see how remote this is from the Spirit of the Gospel and that it is indeed a Judaizing for Ministers to assume a disparity superiority of Power and Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Jurisdiction over other Ministers So much of the Priests and of their Priestly Work and Ministrations 2. The second sort of Temple Officers were the Levites of whom four things are worthy to be considered 1. Who they were they were the whole Tribe of Levi excepting only Aarons Posterity who were preferred to an higher Office of Priesthood yet they were Levites but all Levites were not Priests The Priests were Levites in regard of their Birth and Extraction out of that Tibe but they were not Levites in regard of their Office nor were the Levites Priests
nature so there is a remedy and purification by Jesus Christ And as there is an Ordinance of Ejection of scandalous Sinners and Lepers out of the house of Israel So there is for re-admission of healed Lepers into the Church again This confutes the Novatians The 13. Chapter of Leviticus reproves promiscuous Communions This 14. reproves that Novatian Error of them who would not re-admit and receive repenting Sinners into the Church again The Scripture is clear for both Binding and Loosing Binding Impenitent sinners and loosing and restoring the Penitent THE GOSPEL OF THE HOLY PLACES Deut. 12.5 6. October 11. 18. 1668. But unto the place which the Lord your God shall chuse out of all your Tribes to put his Name there even unto his habitation shall you seek and thither thou shalt come And thither ye shall bring your Burnt Offerings and your Sacrifices c. WE have been endeavouring beloved to take off the Veyl from Moses face and to unfold and open to you the Types and Shadows of the Ceremonial Law they are dark Shadows but there are glorious Mysteries adumbrated and shadowed forth by them They are hard Shells but there are sweet Kernels within if the Lord help us to break the shell and to understand the mystery and meaning of them You have seen divers of these Shells broken and what precious Kernels of Gospel-truths are contained in them You may remember we did refer this Law of Ceremonies to five general heads 1. The Initiating Seal of Circumcision 2. The Legal Sacrifices and Purifications 3. The Tabernacle and Temple and other Holy places 4. The Priesthood with all the rest of the legal Ministry 5. Their Festivals or holy Times and Seasons We have formerly spoken to the two first of these to wit the Initiating Seal of Circumcision and their Legal Sacrifices and Purifications We are now to proceed in the help of Christ unto the third namely 3. Their Tabernacle and Temple and other Holy places of which this Text gives you this Doctrinal Assertion Doctrine That God was pleased to chuse out certain places to stand in a special relation of Holiness unto himself under the Old Testament See again in this Chapter ver 11 14 18 Psal 68.35 Thou art terrible oh God out of thine holy places And ver 17. As in Sinai in the holy place But it is needless and would be easie to multiply quotations For this phrase holy place and holy places doth occur in the Scripture above threescore times Let me explain and open a little to you the nature of this holiness of places that was under the Law You all know there is a two fold Holiness Inherent and Relative Holiness Inherent Holiness is nothing else but those saving Graces of Sanctification in the Souls of men Now this is only in persons it is a thing which places are no way capable of But the Holiness that is in places is a Relative holiness and it doth consist in a separation or setting them apart for God to be peculiarly his That this is the Scripture notion of Holiness and that particularly in reference to Holy places you may see in Deut. 19.2 7. compared with Joshua 20.7 That which in the one place is called Separation in the other is called Sanctification Thou shalt separate three Cities for Cities of Refuge saith the Lord by Moses And they sanctified Kedesh and Sechem saith the Text in Joshuah The contrary to Holiness is that which is Common or Unclean Acts 10.14 God hath a special propriety in that which is holy it belongs to God as his peculiar Exod. 13.2 Sanctifie unto me all the first-born it is mine Hence the neerer to God any place or thing is the more of Separation to his use the more holy Thus you see the general notion of it Now to descend to some particulars This Holiness of places was twofold either transient and meerly for the present time or else more permanent and abiding 1. The transient Holiness of places was where the Lord gave visible appearances of himself in his glorious Majesty to the eyes of his Servants such places were holy during the time of such divine appearances So when the Lord appeared to Moses in the burning Bush Exod. 3.5 the place whereon thou standest is holy ground and he saith the like to Joshuah cap. 5.15 So Mount Sinai was holy and therefore might not be touched Exod. 19. Upon the same account the Mount where Christ was transfigured is called the Holy Mount 2 Pet. 1.18 I call this a transient kind of Holiness because it continued no longer but while that extraordinary Presence continued There is no more Holiness in Mount Sinai or Mount Tabor now than in any other place The Apostle calls it the holy Mount from what it was not that it is so still Therefore it is but a superstitious thing in the Papists to go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem and to visit the holy Sepulchre and the like there is no Holiness in them now 2. But secondly there was also a more permanent and abiding Holiness of places under the Law during that whole legal Dispensation Quest What were these Places Answ I shall instance chiefly in four particulars 1. The Land of Canaan was an holy Land so called Zach. 2.12 the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy Land It was a Type of Heaven Heb. 11.14 16. they sought another Country a better Country that is an heavenly thine eyes shall see the Land that is very far off Isai 32.17 glimpses of Heaven and Glory And some special places in the Land were holy as 2. The Cities of Refuge whereof there were six three on this side and three on the other side Jordan The Institution and Ordinance for it you have in Deut. 19. the performance in Josh 20. where these Cities are said to be sanctified And that there was a Gospel Mystery in this Ordinance and what it was the Apostle insinuates Heb. 6.18 who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us The Souls flying to Jesus Christ and finding safety and shelter there when pursued by the Law as the avenger of Blood is the Gospel mystery of that Ordinance 3. The Tabernacle the Temple the Ark and all the places where they came 2 Chron 8.11 The places are holy whereunto the Ark of the Lord hath come The Ark did as it were consecrate them and so there was a reverence due to them The Tabernacle you know was made in the Wilderness by Moses and so was the Ark it marched before them to seek rest for them till they came into the Land of Canaan The first place where it was pitched there was at Gilgal Josh cap. 4.19 there it continued about six or seven years till Joshuah had conquered the Land and then it was set up at Shilo Josh 18.1 there it continued as some compute 300 years from Joshuah's time to Eli's and then the people in a carnal confidence carrying the Ark
Now to unfold the Mystery of the Incense The Incense that was offered upon this Golden Altar was a Type of Prayer the Prayers both of Christ and of his Saints Both the Prayers which Christ offers up for the Saints and which the Saints offer up for themselves in his Name and Mediation See Rev. 5.8 Psal 141.2 Let my Prayer be set forth before thee as Incense You may see the fulness of the analogy more at large in seven particulars 1. It was made up of many choise Ingredients Exod. 30.34 so is the Spirit of Prayer as it were a compound of many excellent Graces There must be Faith Humility Fervency c. and indeed all the Graces of Gods Spirit are drawn forth and exercised in Prayer 2. They are strictly forbidden to make another Persume of their own heads like unto it Exod. 30.37 38. so we are not to make use of any other Intercessors or Mediators but Christ only And in like manner for men to make Prayers in the way of stinted Liturgies though there be many of the same Ingredients in the Mass-book that is good expressions for the matter of them and words and notions that are found in the Scripture yet this being not the Incense that is instituted it is not it cannot be accepted 3. These Ingredients whereof the Incense was made were to be beaten very small into fine Powder Exod. 30.36 This teacheth us that Contrition of heart that ought to be in Prayer how the Soul is to be contrite and broken as it were all to pieces by humbling meditations of its own unworthiness when it appears before the Lord in Prayer These are the Prayers that God regards Psal 51.17 The Sacrifices of God are a broken Spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Isai 57.15 I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble Spirit to revive the Spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones If a man come with his heart whole and not broken this is to offer the Incense unbeaten unpounded 4. The Incense was to be set on fire and so the smoke went up before the Throne Exod. 30.7 8. This speaks that holy Fervency in Prayer There should be ardent affections inflamed by the Fire of the Holy Ghost Jam. 5 16. the effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous man availeth much We should not come with a dead cold heart before the Lord in Prayer 5. This burning of Incense was a Service performed every day morning and evening Exod. 30.7.8 This teacheth us that Prayer should be a daily work morning and evening David tells us of his praying in the morning Psal 5.3 My Voice shalt thou hear in the morning O Lord in the morning will I direct my Prayer unto thee and will look up And also in the evening Psal 141.2 The lifting up of my hands as the evening Sacrifice Yea both he and Daniel used to pray thrice a day Psal 55.17 Dan. 6.10 Anna departed not from the Temple but served God with Fastings and Prayers night and day Luk. 2.37 and we are commanded to pray continually 1 Thess 5.17 Praying always with all Prayer Ephes 6.18 that is every day in the seasons of Prayer And Paul mentions his praying day and night 1 Thess 3.10 2 Tim. 1.3 which may well be understood of evening and morning See also 1 Tim. 5.5 and Act. 26.7 6. The time of burning the Incense was when they dressed and lighted the Lamps of the Sanctuary Exod. 30.7 8. This teacheth us the conjunction of the Word and Prayer in the Church Deut. 33.10 Acts 6.4 But we will give our selves continually to Prayer and to the Ministry of the Word 7. The Smoke of the Incense ascended with a sweet and fragrant smell into the Holy of holies before the Mercy seat as Rev. 8.4 and the Smoke of the Incense which came with the Prayers of the Saints ascended up before God out of the Angels hand It went up out of the Angels hand This speaks that our Prayers come up before the Lord into his holy place even into Heaven before the Throne of Grace with acceptance through the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ Acts 4.10 thy Prayers are come up for a memorial before God Hence that expression 1 Kings 8. hear thou in Heaven thy dwelling place For the Holy of holies was a Type of Heaven and the Mercy-seat is that Throne of Grace where the Lord is said to dwell between the Cherubims Psal 80.1 It speaks also that God returns gracious answers to them as it is Zech. 1.13 the Lord answered the Angel that talked with me with good and comfortable words Sometimes there is a gracious terribleness in them I mean a mixture of Mercy and Terror in the Lords answers and returns of Prayer Psal 65. ver 5. by terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us O God of our Salvation Thus Rev. 8.5 when the Angel cast down the Censer upon the earth there were voices and thunderings and lightenings and an earthquake The Lord uttering his voice as it were from the Holy of holies in dreadful dispensations of Providence in the seven Trumpets it is from the Prayers of Saints that those dreadful Trumpets were sounded But one of the strangest instances of the Lords answering Prayer by strange and seemingly contrary Providences is that of the Turks Rev. 9. It is agreed by all Interpreters that the sixth Trumpet is the Turk But did ever any Christian pray for the coming of the Turk into Christendom No but yet they came and the Voice from the four Horns of this Golden Altar of Incense usher'd them in Rev. 9.13 The meaning is this the strange Power of God did answer the Prayers of his people this way it is the Prayers of Gods people that turns the wheel of Providence as it were and brings about all the great and mighty revolutions in the course thereof Vse 1. Of Comfort in five or six particulars This Doctrine of Christs Intercession which is the mystery of this Golden Censer and Altar of Incense is full of Comfort to poor praying Souls thou hast an High Priest which offereth up thy Prayers and they are made acceptable through his Intercession This affords Comfort let thy condition be what it will 1. If thou find thy self unskilful in making application of that part of Christs Priestly Office which consisteth in his Death yet thou maist look up to him to speak a good word for thy Soul this work is doing still though the former be done 2. In case of new sins committed after Grace received here is this Comfort that as Satan puts in new Accusations against thy Soul so Christ puts in new Answers 1 Joh. 2.1 2. if any man sin we have an Advocate c. 3. Many an one is much troubled with fears of future backslidings but Christ prays that thy Faith fail not he prays not only that we should come
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
Ceremonies about these Goats are severally spoken to from ver 15 c. 1. He begins with the sacred actions about the slain Goat and then speaks 2. Of the scape Goat 1. The sacred Actions and Ceremonies about the slain Goat were such as these 1. The sprinkling of the Blood thereof upon the Mercy seat and before the Mercy-seat c. ver 15. This represents the Blood of Jesus Christ which made way for him and us into Heaven into the presence of God as the Blood of the Bullock for the Priest beforementioned was ver 14. where the meaning of this Rite was opened 2. The Priest hereby must make an atonement for the holy place for the Tabernacle because of the uncleanness of the Children of Israel ver 16. This teacheth us that the very Ordinances of God and our holy Services therein have a secret defilement cleaving to them through our being exercised in them If the Tabernacle be pitch'd in the midst of an unclean people the Tabernacle it self must be atoned How should this beat down our being proud of Ordinances and haughty because of Gods holy Mountain as the Prophets phrase is Zeph. 3.10 those carnal boastings that we are subject to such as those of theirs that said the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are these Jer. 7. If the Ordinances were not sprinkled with the Blood of Jesus Christ they could never be accepted they could be never be effectual for good unto us Not that Duties and Ordinances are unclean or impure in themselves but we defile them by the mixture of Corruption that is in us 3. The Priest must enter alone into the holy place when he doth this ver 17. So Jesus Christ was alone in the work of our Redemption and purging away of our sins Heb. 1.3 He by himself purged our sins It is an horrible and dreadful error of the Papists that joyn other Mediators with him this is to send others to go along with the High Priest when he atones the holy place 4. He must go out from the Brazen Altar of Offerings to the Golden Altar of Incense and atone it by putting the Blood of the Sin-offering upon the Horns thereof ver 18 19. There are many things here 1. That Christs Intercession is founded in his Oblation for the Golden Altar is a Type of his Intercession Now this must be sprinkled with Blood to teach us that by the virtue of Christs Death and Blood his Prayers and Intercessions are available and effectual with God And look whom he died for those he prayed for To separate his Death and Intercession is to divide what God hath joyned To think that he died for some for whom he doth not pray is as if the High Priest should neglect or forget one part of his Office which requires not only that he kill the Sacrifice but that he sprinkle the Blood of it upon the Altar of Incense Therefore if Christ hath shed his Blood for Reprobates he will not forget to sprinkle it upon the Golden Altar for them If he hath died for them he will pray for them But it is confessed he doth not pray for some and himself asserts it Joh. 17.9 therefore he did not die for them 2. This teacheth us how it is that our Prayers come to be accepted it is because sprinkled with the Blood of Christ they need cleansing and purging the Incense Altar must be atoned Lava lachrymas meas Domine Lord wash my tears 3. The Horns of the Altar of Incense sprinkled with Blood denotes the efficacy and strength of Prayer when sprinkled with the Blood of Christ both his Prayers for us and ours also in his name Hence Revel 9.13 we read of a Voice from the four Horns of the Golden Altar which is before God that is answers and returns of Prayers from the power of God awakened and improved by Prayer But this third particular belongs rather to the Altar of Incense as the proper place to which it should be referred 2. The Rites and Ceremonies of the scape-Goat whereto some other things also are annexed from ver 21 c. I shall put them altogether in seven particulars some concerning the scape Goat and some other Rules and Observations in this day of Expiation most of them mentioned in this Chapter 1. The Priest must confess their sins over the head of the scape Goat ver 21. This scape Goat was a Type of Christ God laid on him the iniquities of us all Isai 53.6 and we are to do it by Faith confessing our sins with an eye to him as being born by him in our stead Many of the damned have confessed their sins but not over the head of a dying Saviour 2. The scape Goat carries their sins afar off into the land of Oblivion ver 21.22 far from the sight and presence of God in the Temple A most lively shadow and representation this is of that great mystery of the Pardon and Forgiveness of Sin for so Christ carries our Sins away into the land of oblivion Psal 103.12 As far as the East is from the West so far hath he removed our transgressions from us that though they be sought for they cannot be found Jer. 50.20 If Conscience seek for them it cannot find them for Conscience is pacified when sprinkled with the Blood of Jesus Christ If Satan seek for them he cannot find them for they are gone and lost in the Wilderness Yea if Justice it self seek them yet they cannot be found for Justice is satisfied by the Death and Blood of Christ 3. The High Priest is now to go into the Tabernacle and there to change his Raiment and there to wash himself and to come forth and offer the Burnt-offering and burn the fat of the Sin-offering according to the Ordinance ver 23 24 25. I put all these together because they have all been formerly opened in the several places to which they appertain and therefore it may suffice now only thus to bind them up together as it were in one bundle for the help of memory and so pass on to the next The mystery of the Priests Attire was opend on ver 4 and 23 24. The Burnt-offering on Levit. 1. pag. 244. The burning of the Fat on Levit. 3. in the Peace-offering pag. 285. where this Rite is first mentioned It was there shewed how it signifies the giving unto God the best of our Spirits and Services and in another accommodation of the metaphor the consuming and burning up of sinful Corruption See p. 299 300. 4. He that carried away the scape Goat must wash his Clothes and so come into the Camp ver 26. And the like again ver 28. He that is the Minister of these holy actions must wash himself as having contracted guilt which denotes not only the imperfection of the Levitical Priesthood but also it may instruct us in the iniquity of all our most holy actions See of this upon the Sin-offering on Lev. 4. pag.
Amoinus and also because of Aquinas his Judgment of Instrumental Musick in Gods Worship Secund. secundae Quaest 91. by whom it sufficiently appears they were not then in general use and Durandus Ration Div. Off. l. 4. c. 34. who lived and wrote for them about the same time or a little before saith that in his time Organs used to creak in some Churches in quibusdam Ecclesiis Organa concrepare solita which he pleads for from the Practice of David and Solomon to which Reason of Durandus Aquinas answers as the most learned Dr. Reynolds judgeth Cens lib. Apocr tom 2. prael 187. And moreover the Romish Synagogue it self in the presence of the Pope useth not Organs as Voetius ubi supra informs us from Navarrus Molanus and Cardinal Cajetan he forsooth being in this tenacious of the primitive simplicity So far do those among us vary from the Pope who have introduced them not into Cathedrals only but into their Parish Churches though they have neither Injunction from the Kings Majesty nor Statute of Parliament nor Canon of their own Convocations or Synods nor any countenance thereto from any Rubrick or syllable in their own Books that I can call to mind But these men who glory in their own Conformity to the publick Establishment can thus notoriously transgress it themselves and their Lordships the Bishops can connive thereat in such an instance as this When any of the Conforming Clergy shall be as forward to swerve from the publick Establishment on the other hand in a way of departure from the Popish manner of Worship as they are in this to transgress against it in a way of approach to the Papists mode we shall see whether their Lordships the Bishops will be as indulgent towards them or not In the mean time we may take it for granted that the King and Parliament never intended the Act of Uniformity should be violated in compliance with the Papists manner of Worship and serve as an Engine to bring affliction upon great numbers of other loyal peaceable and useful Subjects who from Conscience though supposedly weak and mistaking dare not conform to it in those things wherein it injoyns Conformity with the Papists And what wonder is it if many be strengthened in their Non-conformity when the zealous Pleaders for Conformity shall give instances neither few nor small of their little regard to their own avowed Rule THE GOSPEL OF THE LEGAL PRIESTHOOD Hebr. 4.14 Jan. 31. 1668. Seeing then that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the Heavens let us hold fast our Profession THe perpetual Statutes of the Ceremonial Law we referred to five Heads 1. The initiating Seal of Circumcision 2. The Legal Sacrifices and Purifications 3. The Temple with all the Vessels and Utensils thereunto belonging 4. The Legal Administration Lastly The Legal Festivals or legal times and seasons Four of these five Heads we have spoken to The last was that of the Festivals or Jewish Holy days which we spake to before this of the Priesthood because of these superstitious times yet continued amongst us which we borrow from the Jews all whose Ceremonial holy times are abolished and ceased The fifth thing remaining to be spoken to is the Priesthood or the whole Legal Ministry Of the Priesthood and Legal Ministry we may consider 1. The several sorts or kinds of them 2. Their Maintenance 1. As to the first there were three sorts and degrees of Temple-Officers 1. The Priests the chief of which was the High Priest 2. The Levites 3. The Nethinims Now first of the Priesthood Three Doctrines are obvious before us in the words Doct. 1. That Jesus Christ the Son of God is the great High Priest of whom the Priests under the Law were but types and shadows Doctr. 2. That he is passed into the Heavens as the High Priest of old did into the holy places made with hands so Christ into Heaven it self Doctr. 3. That our having such an High Priest under the Gospel should be an effectual motive to Believers to hold fast their Profession As times of Prosperity to the Church use to produce many Hycrites so times of Persecution commonly produce many Apostates as it was formerly so it is now in this regard Therefore a great part of the scope of this Epistle is to perswade them to hold fast their Profession It is the first of these we are to speak unto That Jesus Christ the Son of God is the great High Priest of whom the Priests under the Law were but types and shadows We shall endeavour to open this a little and give you the meaning of this Type the Priesthood under the Law and that under two heads 1. What of Christ was typified by the Priests and especially by the High Priest of old 2. How or wherein did the High Priest typifie and shadow forth these things Quest 1. What of Christ was typified by the Priests and especially the High Priests under the Law Answ Take it in three things the legal Priesthod was a Type 1. Of Christ himself in his own Person 2. In his Ministers 3. In his Members All which I shall endeavour to make out unto you with what evidence of Scripture-light the Lord shall enable me when we come to the particulars wherin the High Priest did typifie and shadow forth Christ there will be occasion to accommodate them all these ways both to Christ to himself and his Ministers and his Members 1. The Priest was a Type of Christ himself in his own person therefore Christ is so often called a Priest and an High Priest especially in the Epistle to the Hebrews And he doth appear and is presented unto John as officiating in the Office of a Priest Rev. 8.3 and another Angel came and stood at the Altar having a Golden Censer and there was given him much Incense This Angel is Jesus Christ the great High Priest of his Church who stands with the Golden Censer having much Incense given him that he should offer it up before the Throne Here is Jesus Christ doing that great part of his Priestly Office namely making Intercession for us For the Incense was a Type of the Prayers and Intercession of Jesus Christ as we have heard This is the first thing typified by the High Priest the Priest was a Type of Christ himself 2. The Priests were Types of Gospel-Ministers we read Mal. 3.3 He shall fit as a Refiner and Purifier of Silver and he shall purifie the Sons of Levi c. It is spoken concerning Jesus Christ when he should come what he should do and the meaning is he shall set up a pure Gospel-Ministry In the last Chapters of Ezekiel as the holy City there is the Church of God under the Gospel so the Priests and Levites are the Ministers and Officers of the Church And in that famous Prophesie of the Conversion of the Gentiles Isai 66.19 20 21. as the converted Gentiles are here called a Meat-offering to
to be a multitude of little Stars Adam was a Type of Christ in regard of his Headship and Influence Enoch a Type of his Ascension into Heaven Noah of his Preaching and saving the Church by the Covenant and Water of Baptism Melchizedek was a Shadow of the Excellency and Eternity of his Person and of his Priesthood and Kingdom Know these things meditate and consider them more throughly and improve Christ in these Discoveries for your spiritual good Consider him as a common person standing in our stead as a Prophet Priest and King as ascended into Heaven as the Saviour of the Church which is his Body Use 2. Be exhorted to examine your selves and try which of the two Adams you are under For there are but two Men in the World the first and second Adam thou art a Member of one of them Adam and Christ divide the whole World Quest How may we know whether we be under the first or the second Adam Answ Take these Tryals 1. What Birth hast thou only the natural or spiritual Generation Art thou only born or new born For they that come only from Adam by natural Generation belong to him as the first Adam They that come of Christ by spiritual Regeneration are the Seed of Christ and belong to him as the second Adam What Experience hast thou had of this great work Nicodemus though a Doctor in Israel understood little of it 2. What Covenant doth thy Soul cleave to and act under the rule and influence of Works or Grace Works is the first Adams Covenant but Grace is the Covenant of the second Adam To go forth in a mans own Strength to expect acceptance in his own Worth this is a first Covenant Spirit a sign thou growest upon the old Stock upon the root of old Adam But to live in a continual dependance upon free Grace for every thing the free Grace of God in Christ this is the Spirit of the second Covenant and becomes the Sons and Branches of the second Adam Though a godly man may for a fit turn aside to the old Covenant as Abraham did to Hagar yet it is not his way it is not his Spirit to do so and thence he is never at rest till he return to have his dependance and rest on Christ again The Spirit of one under the Covenant of Grace is to have no confidence in the Flesh but to have his rest and rejoycing in Jesus Christ Phil. 3.3 3. What Communications whose Influences dost thou receive Every Branch receives from its Root the Stream from its Fountain Dost thou receive the Communications of the first or of the second Adam this will shew whose thou art and to whom thou dost belong You have heard what it is that each of them doth communicate That old Tree bears no good Fruit at all Art thou under the power of Sin and Death or under the power of Righteousness and Life Sin and Death reigns in the posterity of the first Adam But Righteousness reigns by Grace unto eternal Life in the posterity of the second Adam Rom. 5.21 2 Cor. 5.17 if any man be in Christ he is a new Creature Vse 3. Here is Comfort to the Seed of the second Adam against the present troubles they are under There be chiefly three complaints and troubles of Gods People under all which here is matter of support and relief 1. Thou art here upon Earth Christ the Head in Heaven but his poor Saints and Members here below But remember whither Jesus the Forerunner is entred for us As sure as Enochs Body is in Heaven or Elijahs by the virtue of his Ascension of whom they were Shadows so sure shall thine and mine ascend thither if we be his though we sleep in the dust for a time as Chirst himself also did 2. But while in this low valley the floods of great Waters are ready to overwhelm us the floods of Persecution Affliction Desertions the overflowing scourges of common calamities which puts many of Gods people to some cares and fears But as to this consider that true Noah the Lord provides an Ark of safety for his people that the floods of great Waters may not overwhelm them Psal 32.6 see Psal 124 1-5 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side if it had not been the Lord who was on our side when Men rose up against us then the Waters had overwhelmed us the Stream had gone over our Soul then the proud Waters had gone over our Soul But 3. Thou art a poor unworthy creature and God is angry or appears angry and how can I expect such Salvation from him who have sinned against him so as I have done To this remember what an High Priest you have even Jesus who is made an High Priest for ever after the Order of Melchizedek Therefore let us come with boldness to the Throne of Grace It is the Apostles Inference Heb. 4.15 16. the Apostle saith of Melchizedek Heb. 7.4 consider how great this man was It may be said much more of Christ consider how great your High Priest is How little soever thou art in thy own eyes how unworthy soever the Greatness and Glory of your Redeemer is enough to remove all discouragement Some entrance Beloved hath been made into the personal Types We are upon the individual persons that were Types before the Law whereof eight were named Adam Enoch Noah Melchizedek Abraham Isaac Jacob and Joseph whereof only two have been spoken to viz. first Adam secondly Enoch We shall now proceed to the rest 3. The third is Noah whom we did but touch upon the last time but shall endeavour now to clear it more fully The Story of Noah is written in the 6 7 8 and 9. Chapters of Genesis And so famous it was amongst his Posterity that the Heathen have some broken Remembrances and Traditions of it they had heard of a Flood as well as of the Creation of the World Ovid speaks of them both in his Metamorphosis And their Bacchus the very name with a little alteration of the Letters comes from Noah Noachus Boachus and Janus from the Hebrew Jajin vinum somewhat they had heard as it seemeth about his planting a Vinyard and making Wine That this History of Noah had a typical respect you may see in 1 Pet. 3.20 21. In what respect was he a Type In two things chiefly 1. In regard of his Preaching 2. His saving his Houshold in the Ark. 1. In regard of his Preaching he was a Preacher of Righteousness 2 Pet. 2.5 he gave warning to the secure World for a hundred and twenty years together both by his Word and Actions Every stroke in the building of the Ark had a voice and was an alarm to the World every day So Christ who did preach by his Spirit in the Ministry of Noah 1 Pet. 3.19 20. And when he came in the Flesh he did preach and bring in everlasting Righteousness Dan. 9.24 And he hath preached by
of Light the Light he gives diffuseth it self through the whole man and has an influence into all his conversation 6. There were many Rooms or Chambers in the Ark and so in the Temple yet all these made up but one Ark this signifies many particular Churches yet all the Churches in the world make up but one Church Catholick which is the mystical body of Christ 1 Cor. 12.12 as the Body is one and hath many Members and all the Members of that one Body being many are one Body so also is Christ see Cant. 6.9 My undefiled is but one 7. There were three Stories in the Ark it was three Stories high Gen. 6.16 and so Solomons Temple had three parts an outer Court an inner Court and an Holy of Holies This holds forth the three degrees of the Church There is 1. The visible Church 2. The mystical Church militant here on Earth 3. The Church triumphant in Heaven The Church in her lowest Story is her visible Members here on Earth among whom there be many Hypocrites yet even so she is more excellent than the Mountains of Prey Psal 76.4 Kingdoms are called Mountains of prey that saying being too often true that magna Regna are indeed magna Latrocinia But the Church is more glorious than they The invisible Church is the second Story against whom all the Gates and Powers of Hell shall not prevail Matth. 16.18 It is true in some sense in general concerning the visible Church Christ will always have some visible Societies of Christians in the world that shall make profession of his Name but it holds chiefly concerning the mystical Body of Christ True Believers cannot fall away The third Story is the Church triumphant which is higher than all these and more excellent than all the Kingdoms in the world than all the Churches upon earth 8. They in the Ark were safe and there was no safety but in the Ark so in the Church there is Salvation but no Salvation out of the Church Salvation is of the Jews Joh. 4. extra Ecclesiam nou est Salus It is always true of the mystical Church and it is ordinarily true concerning the visible Church Yea the Ark was safest when the Waters were highest Sea-man have an expression in a Storm they use to wish for Sea-room enough Or we may apply it higher to Christ himself and to his mystical Body Without Christ there is no Salvation but as they were safe in the Ark So whosoever is in Christ and a Member of that invisible Society he is safe and shall never perish 9. In the Ark there were both clean and unclean Beasts yet the Ravenousness of their Natures was restrained for the time Gen. 7.2 So in the Church there are both Saints and Hypocrites Hypocrites are unclean Beasts A Cham in the Ark a Judas a Devil in Christs own Family In the visible Church there be sometimes Wolves within and Sheep without though they are Wolves in Sheeps clothing For profane persons may and should be kept out but close Hypocrites cannot For as in the Ark though there were ravenous Beasts yet their Natures were restrained so in the Church such as are Beasts by nature yet the Corruption of their Natures is restrained there is restraining Grace upon Hypocrites in the Church as well as renewing Grace in the Saints Isai 11 6-9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy Mountain 10. There issued out of the Ark a Raven and a Dove whereof the Dove returned again but the Raven did not Gen. 8.7 8 9. the Raven is an unclean Bird Levit. 11.15 a Bird of prey and a Bird of darkness Isai 34.11 The Dove is a Bird of Light at the Baptism of Christ the Holy Ghost descended on him in the shape of a Dove Matth. 3. If a Dove go out from Christ and his Ordinances it shall find no rest till it returns again into the Ark and be taken in by the Hand of Noah by the Spirit of Christ But the Raven goes out of the Ark and returns no more and how many Ravens are there in the Church that depart and fall off and return no more 1 Joh. 2.19 they went out from us because they were not of us You Ravens that are going and coming and hovering to and fro Vide the old Geneva Note as the Raven she went and came Gen. 8.7 and might light on the outside of the Ark If you do not get into the Ark into Christ it shews what you are You that are Doves and gone out return again return to your Rest fly as Doves to the Windows Isai 60.9 The Dove is no ravenous Bird she cannot fight as the Raven and she is swift of Wing pray for the Wings of a Dove in this sense Psal 55.6 make haste to Christ Thus you see what a full and plentiful Analogy there is between the Ark and the Church in all these ten particulars 2. The Deluge was a Shadow of the Day of Judgment and the everlasting Salvation of some and Destruction of others at that day The Apostle Peter parallels them 2 Pet. 3.6 7. the World that then was being overflowed with Water perished But the Heavens and the Earth which are now are reserved for Fire against the day of Judgment It was indeed a lesser day of Judgment and magnum futuri Judicii praejudicium Hence Hell is called the place of the Gyants Prov. 21.16 The man that wandreth out of the way of understanding shall remain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in caetu Gigantum in the Congregation of the Gyants Prov. 9.17 18. but he knoweth not that the Gyants are there and that her Guests are in the depths of Hell The World will be in a like frame drowned again in deep security Matth. 24.37 38 39. though they see all the tokens appearing and all things fulfilled that have been foretold yet they will not be awakened But when they saw the Flood came indeed Oh the amazement that began to seize upon them when they saw the Cataracts of Heaven opened from above and the Fountains of the great Deep broke up from beneath So at the Day of Judgment every eye shall mourn Rev. 1.7 see Heb. 11.7 Noah prepared an Ark to the saving of his House by which he condemned the World some saved by Noah others condemned by him 3. The Waters that bore up the Ark are made by the Apostle a shadow of the Water of Baptism 1 Pet. 3.21 As that Water bore up the Ark and saved them from drowning so doth Baptism save us For though the Flood was a true and real History ye there be typical Histories as you will hear further when we come to the real Types Therefore that Water had a typical respect to the Water of Baptism 4. Noahs Sacrifice when he came out of the Ark was a manifest Type of the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ For so indeed were all their Sacrifices Gen. 8.20 21 22. Hence Christ is called a Sacrifice of
Providence that ever was excepting that of our Redemption by Jesus Christ Yea so famous was the History of Moses that though it was very antient yet the Heathen Historians and Poets have said something of it And he is thought by some to be their Mercurius Trismegistus of whom they spake out of some broken remembrances and traditions though corrupted with fabulous Inventions intermix'd wherein yet some footsteps of the Truth may be discerned They call their Mercurius Interpres Divum and paint him with a Rod twined with Serpents c. Now that Moses was a Type the Scripture is clear Deut. 18.18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their Brethren like unto thee Heb. 3.2 Jesus Christ who was faithful to him that appointed him as also Moses was faithful in all his House But how or wherein was Moses a Type The Answer is in two respects For Moses may be considered two ways 1. In regard of his Dispensation and so he was a type of the Law 2. In regard of his Person and so he was a Type of Jesus Christ And so we have two things to inquire into 1. What of the Law and 2. What of Jesus Christ was shadowed forth in Moses I shall begin with the lower Notion first 1. Moses was a Type of the Law in regard of the Dispensation wherein the Lord was pleased to use him and to introduce by his Ministry into the Church For as hath been formerly shewed the Types are not always to be restrained only to the Person of Christ But there were legal shadows of all other Truths which are more clearly and fully revealed under the New Testament And so they had their Types and Shadows even of the Covenant of Works as was shewed in Abrahams Wives and Children So likewise Moses his Administration of the Mind of God shadowed forth the same thing Hence the Scripture speaks so much of the Law of Moses under the notion of Works The Law came by Moses Joh. 1.17 that is as contradistinguished unto Gospel Grace and Truth for it follows but Grace and Truth by Jesus Christ Not that Moses his Dispensation was indeed a Covenant of Works but a shadow or representation of it For had it been indeed a Covenant of Works it would have been their Duty to seek Salvation by their own Merits but they were saved by Grace as well as we and not by Works they were saved by Faith in Christ and in his Righteousness whereof they had some discoveries they were under a Dispensation of Grace but it was like a Covenant of Works and did very much resemble that legal way in many respects Quest But wherein was the Mosaical Dispensation so like unto the Covenant of Works what of the Law was shadowed forth in Moses Answ Something was hinted as to this in the first Sermon on Heb. 4.2 But now to speak a little further to it 1. In regard of the dreadful Majesty and Terror and Glory of that Administration Herein it was like the old Covenant Heb. 12.18 21. God acts as a Soveraign Lord in the Covenant of Works and appears in the dreadful Glory of his absolute Soveraignty and Dominion over his Creatures 2. There was a darkness also in that Dispensation Heb. 12.18 Ye are not come unto blackness and darkness and Tempest Hence Moses had a Veil upon his Face Exod. 34.29 30 33. But there was a further mystery in this Veil it signifieth a spiritual Veil a Covering upon the Heart 2 Cor. 3.13.14 a Veil upon their Minds Act. 13.27 the Prophets they understood them not though read every Sabbath day 3. There was a Yoke of Bondage which neither we nor our Fathers saith Peter were able to bear Act. 15.10 so the Law genders unto Bondage Gal. 4.24 25. Such as are under the Law their Spirits are under continual Bondage but the Gospel is spiritual Liberty 4. The abiding Strength and Power of the Law to condemn 1 Cor. 3 the Letter killeth It is the Ministration of Death And as Moses his natural Force was not abated Deut. 34.7 so neither is the Strength of the Law as to its condemning Power over Sinners Hereby the continual force of the Law is signified the Power whereof decayeth not in the Conscience of Sinners by number of Days or mutitude of Works Answorth in lec till God take it away and abolish it by Grace in Christ 5. The Weakness of it to save Moses might not enter into Canaan though he did much desire it see Deut. 32.52 And the Reason alledged is his failing in that one point Numb 20.12 What was Moses his error and mistake at that time There is something of difficulty to discern and make it out Three things the Scripture seemeth to intimate 1. He smote the Rock twice Numb 20.11 when his Instructions were no more but to speak unto it v. 8. 2. Something of inordinate Passion seems to be noted Psal 106. he spake unadvisedly with his Lips v. 33. 3. His Unbelief is expresly taxed because ye believed not my Word Numb 20.12 But what was this Unbelief or how came it to be working in him at this time Some have guessed at it thus This Occurrence fell out eight and thirty years after their first murmuring for Water and their was a new Generation now risen up and they falling into the very same sin and that at the same place upon the Borders of Canaan and upon the same occasion want of Water for which the Lord had rejected and excluded their Fathers Moses was afraid that the Lord would now take advantage against this Generation also as he did against their Ancestors causing them to wander forty years and as indeed he might justly have done against these also But yet Moses should not have given way to such Fears unless the Lord had declared it which as to this Generation he did not But for this one failing Moses could not enter into Canaan So the Law if but one Sin be admitted keeps the Soul of Heaven the Law is strong to condemn and destroy Sinners but it is unable and weak to save them The Law cannot save Rom. 8.3 Yea 6. The abrogation of it through Grace As Moses's Body was buried that it could not be found Deut. 34.6 and Satan would have brought it forth again but Michael opposed him Jud. 9. so he hath buried the Law though Satan would revive it in the Spirits of Men. 7. Moses did prepare the people for Joshuahs Dispensation So the Law prepares and sits the Soul for Christ Gal. 3.24 wherefore the Law was our Schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by Faith It doth not put us into Christ but it prepares us for Christ Thus in regard of the Terror of that Dispensation and the Darkness and Bondage of it the Strength to condemn the Impotency of it to bring them into Rest and the Abrogation of it and that nevertheless it did prepare and fit them for it Moses did
a temporal Saviour Christ a spiritual Saviour Author of eternal Redemption Heb. 9. The Analogy appears chiefly in five things 1. Joshuah brought the people into Canaan after Moses his death which Moses could not do being alive He divided the Land among them assigning to every one his Portion So Christ brings us to Heaven which the Law could not do Rom. 8.3 And as Joshuah went in himself before them So Christ to Heaven Joh. 14. I go to prepare a place for you in my Fathers House are many Mansions Heb. 6. ult whither the Forerunner is entred for us And as when Joshuah did this the Cloud and Manna ceased which had been in Moses his time Of the Manna it is expressed and the time when Josh 5.12 of the Pillar of Cloud and Fire that it did cease is evident by many passages afterwards in the sacred History but the time when is not set down Probably it might be after they had passed Jordan being divided by the Ark and were on shoar on the other side So shall Ordinances cease when we come to Heaven Rev. 21. God himself is instead of all 2. Joshuah was a Type of Christ in regard of the Miracles wrought by him we read of three 1. He divided Jordan Josh 3. But herein as in all things Christ hath the preheminence for Christ in the same Jordan divides the Heavens when he was baptized Matth. 3. And he commanded the Winds and Seas and walked upon the waters as upon dry ground 2. Moreover Joshuah threw down the Walls of Jericho by the sounding of Rams Horns a weak and an unlikely means for so great a Work yea ridiculous and contemptible in the eye of Reason Josh 6. but it was done by Faith Heb. 11.30 So Christ by the Foolishness of Preaching subdueth Souls unto himself and throws down strong holds 2 Cor. 10.4 5. And as Joshua did it again and again six days seven days before the Walls fell So it is in the preaching of the Gospel There must be Assiduity in that work Line upon Line and Precept upon Precept and at last the strong holds are won and the Sinner subdued unto the Lord. 3. Joshuah commanded the Sun to stand still till he had slain his Enemies Josh 10.12 13 ver 14. and there was no day like that before it or after it that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a Man So Jesus Christ when fighting with Principalities and Powers upon the Cross Matth 27.45 when the Sun was ashamed and the Moon confounded and all the Angels in Heaven stood agast Thus you see how great a Person this Joshuah was in that all the Creatures all the Elements obeyed him the Earth the Walls of Jericho prostrate themselves and fell before him the Waters also viz. in Jordan were at his Command yea the Heavens also the Sun and Moon obeyed him thus God magnified him in the sight of all Israel as it is said Josh 4.14 But behold a greater than Joshuah is here For it is said of Christ That God hath given him a Name above every Name Phil. 2.9 that in the Name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in Heaven and things in Earth and things under the Earth ver 10. 3. Joshuah was a Type of Christ in regard of his Conquests and Victories over his Enemies We read of five Kings at once subdued by him Josh 10. and he bids his Captains tread upon their Necks and cap. 12. of one and thirty Kings which he smote yet notwithstanding there were some few Enemies left though weak and inconsiderable but not one that durst or could oppose or disturb the publick peace of Gods people yet they were left for a time for their good least the wild Beasts should multiply upon them Deut. 7.22 So Christ Jesus is a mighty Conqueror he subdueth all the enemies of his people see him described Rev. 6.1 2. conquering and to conquer not only five nor one and thirty but thousands of them One man was possest with a Legion of Devils but they are all cast forth by Jesus Christ And as Christ so his Followers are as Joshuahs Conquerors with and through him and he gives Believers to tread upon the necks of their own Lusts and of the Devils Temptations yet however there be some Canaanites left in the Land some Corruptions in the Hearts of Gods people in this Life to exercise their Graces and to keep them humble which yet if it be not through their own careless negligence shall not disturb their Peace with God But there were some Enemies that were devoted unto everlasting Ruine and Destruction irrecoverable by Joshuah in the spirit of Prophesie viz. Jericho cap 6.26 which Curse did not fall to the ground but was fulfilled in Hiel the Bethelite 1 King 16.34 a shadow of the irreparable Ruines and everlasting Destruction of all the implacable Enemies of God and his people and especially Rome and Antichrist Rev. 18.21 Babylon shall be cast down like a Milstone into the Sea never to rise more The Curse of Christ will fall upon such as endeavour to restore Rome again and raise up the Ruines that he hath brought upon it For it is devoted by our Lord Jesus the true Joshuah to irreparable everlasting Destruction 4. Though Joshuah conquered and destroyed resisting Enemies yet he saved those who submitted themselves as Rahab and the Gibeonites Rahab cap. 6. the Gibeonites cap. 9. Though they acted very sinfully they came out of slavish fear and they dissembled but yet they did submit themselves So Christ resists the proud but gives Grace to the humble that yield up themselves unto him though there be a mixture of much slavish Fear and sinful Selfishness and Unbelief in their so doing as Mark 9.24 5. Joshuah gave them rest fulfilling and accomplishing all the good promised cap. 21.45 and 23.14 Joshuah appeals to all their Knowledges and Consciences about it So when we come to Heaven we shall see the Truth and Faithfulness of God we shall have all the Promises accomplished through Christ the true Joshuah and be able to say with Joy unspeakable not a word hath failed and all through Christ the true Joshuah For in him all the Promises are Yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1.20 and this will be Rest for ever As they had Rest so now Believers enter into an everlasting Rest Heb. 4.9 10 11. But yet withal there is a great disparity between Christ and Joshuah and the Rest they bring their Followers into Joshuah brought them but into a state of outward Rest in the Land of Promise but this was not the true Rest But Christ gives us an higher Rest in Heaven by bringing us into a state of Grace and Glory Thus you see how eminently Joshuah was a Type of Jesus Christ Sept. 12. 1667. Who is the Type or Figure of him that is to come Rom. 5.14 THe second Conglobation of typical Persons under the Law is Sampson David and Solomon three famous Rulers amongst
that there was a Mystery in this Pillar of Cloud and Fire is clear from Isai 4.5 6. for there never was a literal Cloud and Fire upon Mount Sion This fiery Pillar did cease when they were entred into Canaan Isaiah therefore intends a spiritual thing under those expressions So it is here mentioned by the Apostle in the Context as representing a Gospel-mystery They were all baptized unto Moses in the Cloud 1 Cor. 10. ver 2. It signified and shadowed forth 1. Something of Christ himself 2. The Benefits of Christ 3. The Ordinances of Christ 1. Christ himself some have noted a shadow both of his Deity and Humanity There was a fiery Brightness in the Cloud which yet was but a dark shadow of the Glory of his Deity which was often in Visions so represented But his divine Nature was veiled and overclouded by his humane as in this shadow there was a Pillar of Cloud as well as Fire In Revel 10.1 Christ is represented as clothed with a Cloud and his Feet as Pillars of Fire Expressions notably answering this antient Type and Shadow 2. It holds forth something of the Benefits of Christ What Benefits had they from this Pillar of Fire and Cloud They had three 1. Light and Direction 2. Defence and Protection 3. Ornament and Glory All which we have in an higher manner in Christ by the Gospel 1. Light and Direction in the way that they should go in those Arabian Desarts where no man dwelt and which no man passed thorough where there was neither Path nor Guide But they had the Lord himself to guide them So it is said of this Cloud in Exod. 13.21 where it is first mentioned that it was to lead them the way by day and by night to give them Light and more fully and with much emphasis Numb 9.17 18. and to the end of the Chapter So doth Christ direct and conduct his people in their travels through the Wilderness of this world to Heaven the true Canaan He is the true Light Joh. 1.9 who coming into the world enlighteneth every one that is enlightned For so that place may be fitly rendred He is the way the truth and the life Joh. 14.6 There is a directing Light they are under the everlasting conduct of his Word and Spirit He doth not leave his people in the dark as to things absolutely necessary for their Communion with him here in this world and for their Salvation with him in the world to come we must follow Christ as they followed the Cloud 2. A second Benefit they had by this Cloud was Safety and Protection both from the heat and scorchings of the Sun in those burning Sands and Desarts of Arabia For the Cloud covered and overshadowed them therefore it is said of it Psal 105.39 he spread the Cloud for a Covering And likewise from their Egyptian Persecutors and Enemies For the Cloud went behind them when their Safety so required Exod. 14.19 20. as if the Lord should say You shall not hurt them till you have stricken thorough me first Yea the very same Dispensations which are directing and protecting to his people are dark and destructive to his Enemies as here the same Cloud was light to the Israelites but darkness to the Egyptians Vpon all the Glory shall be a Defence and a Covert from the Storm Isai 4.2 last There is a protecting presence of God in his Church we do experience the truth of this at this day in all our solemn Assemblies there is a wonderful protecting Providence over us Every Church of Saints is a spiritual Army of Jesus Christ and these Armies are terrible Cantcles 6.10 glorious as the Sun terrible as an Army with Banners It is a terrible thing to offend or trouble them a man had better fight against all the power the great Turk can raise than oppose or offend one Church of Christ and there were more hope of Success For the Lord himself is a Wall of Fire round about them Zach. 2.5 as well as the Glory in the midst of them Therefore it is written Isai 54.17 no Weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn Some allude thus upon these two Benefits they had by the Cloud That Truth is as a Pillar of Fire to go before us and Peace as a Pillar of Cloud to overshadow and refresh us 3. This fiery Pillar was exceeding glorious it was an honour and glory to them so in the Church Christ is the Glory of his Church See Isai 4.2 We would think if we could see a company of Kings and Princes and Nobles and great men walking together in the Ways and Ordinances of Christ this were glorious but Deus maximus in minimis There is a Glory in the meanest of the Assemblies of his Saints though spiritual that carnal eyes are not able to discern it When you come to the meetings and Assemblies of Gods People you should endeavour to see this divine Glory you should by Faith discern and see a Pillar of Cloud and Fire over the places where they meet and a Guard of Angels and fiery Chariots round about them God is present there in his Temple doth every one speak of his Glory Psal 29.9 Thus the Pillar of Cloud and Fire did figure and exhibit to them the Benefits of Christ Light and Direction Safety and Protection Ornament and Glory 3. It figured also the Ordinances of Christ and his Presence in and with them For the Ordinances are the outward and visible tokens of Gods Presence with his people as this fiery Pillar was of old And therefore when the Tabernacle was made and set up it rested upon the Tabernacle Exod. 40.38 There be some Duties are secret which the world sees not nor may see as Alms-deeds personal and secret Prayer But the Ordinances of Institution are things that ought to be practised with all the publickness that may be They are outward and visible tokens of Gods Presence particularly that great Ordinance of Baptism as in this Chapter 1 Cor. 10.2 The Cloud it seems had a refreshing moisture in it to shade and to refresh and cool them from the burning heat And they were bedewed with it as we are with the Water of Baptism whereby this legal Cloud became a Type of Gospel-Baptism And so you see how it represented something of Christ himself and something of his Benefits and something of his Ordinances under the New Testament So much for this third typical thing this Pillar of Cloud and Fire 1 Cor. 10.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 April 16. 1668. A Fourth typical thing amongst them of old was their Manna or Bread from Heaven And a fifth was the Rock that followed them and gave them Water Here was spiritual Meat and spiritual Drink Of these two the Lord assisting at this time They are both mentioned above in the 3 and 4th verses of this Chapter And they did all eat
〈◊〉 flayed and cut up Heb. 4.12 13. so all things are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before him with whom we have to do The Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God searcheth the heart as the sacrificeing Knife did the bowels of the Beast there is no Skin no cloke of Hypocrisy that can hide thee from the Lord. 4. The Skin of the Sacrifice went to the Priest it was part of his Maintenance see Cap. 7. 8. and the Priest that offereth any mans Burnt Offering even the Priest shall have to himself the Skin of the Burnt Offering which he hath offered As before the Law the Sacrificer had the Skin he enjoyed the benefit of that either to cloth him as Adam and Eve Gen. 3.21 the Lord God made them Coats of Skins and clothed them Or to buy cloathing with or what else he needed And under the Law there was hardly any Sacrifice of which the Priest had not his part It teacheth us that they that serve at the Altar should live of the Altar 1 Cor. 9.13 14. from whence the Apostle argues to the care that should be taken for the maintainance of Ministers under the Gospel So much for the fifth Ceremony about the Burnt-Offering namely the flaying it and cuting it in pieces 6. The Pieces were to be salted This indeed is not expressed in Cap 1. but you will find it in other places for as I said at first we must borrow Light from other Scriptures Lev. 2.13 Every Oblation of thy Meat-Offering shalt thou season with Salt neither shalt thou suffer the Salt of the Covenant of thy God to be lacking Ezek. 43.24 the Priests shall cast Salt upon them The Rule is general to all Sacrifices as well Burnt as Meat-Offerings Mark 9.49 every Sacrifice shall be salted with Salt I find by conference with other Scriptures a twofold Mystery hinted and aimed at in this 1. Salt doth preserve things and keep them from putrifaction this therefore signifies and shadows forth the Perpetuity of the Covenant of Grace Hence is that emphatical expression in the Text Lev. 2.13 the Salt of the Covenant of thy God So Salt is used Numb 18.19 It is a Covenant of Salt for ever before the Lord unto thee and to thy Seed with thee that is saith the Margin sure stable and incorruptible So 2 Chron. 13.5 Ought ye not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the Kingdom over Israel to David for ever even to him and to his Sons by a Covenant of Salt that is Perpetual because the thing that is salted is preserved from Corruption saith the Geneva Note upon the place 2. Salt makes things savoury and wholesome which without Salt would stink and putrify Col. 4.6 let your Speech be seasoned with Salt That is contrary to that corrupt Communication Ephes 4.29 wise and savoury and gracious Speech Mark 9.49 50. when there is no Salt no Savour in a mans words his Speech stinks and is corrupt the Sacrifice is unsalted and so it stinks 7. The Leggs and Inwards must be washed Vers 12. the Feet and the Inwards are the fowlest part of a Beast washing away the filth signifies spiritual washing and cleansing So the bodies of Believers are said to be washed with pure Water and their hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience Heb. 10.22 they are made clean both within and without and their filthiness washt away through Jesus Christ 8. The several parts of the Offering must be laid upon the Altar and burnt with Fire till it be consumed and burnt to ashes Seeing the Fire which once fell from Heaven Lev. 9.24 was to be continually kept and preserved upon the Altar Lev. 6.12 and the use of all other Fire forbidden in Sacrifices Lev. 10.1 putting of Fire upon the Altar in this place can signifie nothing but kindling of it Deodat in Lev. 1.7 See Lev. 6.9 the Fire burnt all night The Wrath of God is the Fire and Sin the Wood or Fuel that feeds it This is the Fire of the Justice and Wrath of God from Heaven which seized upon Christ and every part of him as all the parts of the Offering was burnt his Head crowned with Thornes his Side pierced with the Spear his Hands and Feet with Nails his whole body did sweat drops of Blood yea his Soul was heavy unto the Death yea burnt to Ashes as it were brought to the utmost extremity of misery his Saints also endure the fiery tryal 1 Pet. 4.12 Though theirs is not a fire of Expiation as Christs was Heb. 12.10 but only a fire of Purgation which they pass through in this Life to prepare and fit them for Heaven but after this Life there is no Purgatory as the Papists dream 9. The Ashes must be carried out of the Camp into a clean place Lev. 6.10 11. The contrary is said of the Rubbish of a leprous house that the dust and stones thereof should be poured forth into an unclean place Lev. 14.40 41. For they came from a polluted house But these from the Lords holy dwelling place and were the Reliques of an holy thing which the Lord here manifests that he hath a special regard of This Ceremony is applied by the Apostle to Christ Heb. 13.11 12 13. Look as the Ashes of the Sacrifice being burnt signified the dead Body of Christ so the carrying of the Ashes out of the Camp signified how his crucified Body should not be buried within the City but carried into a clean place into a new Sepulchre where never any man lay before Joh. 19.41 So the dead Bodies of all his Saints when they are spent and consumed to Ashes they are regarded and preserved in the dust by God as sacred Reliques and he will raise them up again unto eternal Life So much for the Burnt Offering of the Herd and the Ceremonies appertaining to it There were also some other Actions about it as that in Psal 118.27 of binding the Sacrifice with Cords even unto the Horns of the Altar But this as it is not mentioned in this Chapter so it seems rather to be an Action of natural necessity unto such a work as the slaying of a Beast then to have any special mystery in it Therefore let this suffice for the Burnt-Offering of the greater sort of Cattel Now the other two sorts that follow are the Burnt-Offering of the Flock that is lesser Cattel Sheep or Goats vers 10. And of Fowls viz. Turtle Doves and young Pigeons vers 14. Quest Why the Lord appointed these lesser Sacrifices Ans He did it that so none might be able to plead excuse to be exempted from his service for you know men are very apt to make excuses If the Lord had only appointed Oxen and Sheep some might have pretended Poverty and have said we would offer Sacrifice but we are not able Therefore these lesser Sacrifices were ordained that so both Rich and Poor might serve the Lord so that here is no room
the Arrows of the Bow the Shield the Sword and the Battel Psal 76.2.3 It is spoken of temporal Deliverance and may be applied to the Church there is a protecting Presence of God there But it is true in an higher sense concerning Christ Christ is the true Sanctuary from whence all our strength and help cometh Thou therefore my Son be strong in the Grace that is in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 2.1 Nay in all these things we are more then conquerors through him that loved us Rom. 8.37 This is the reason you conquer not but Sin and Lust prevails and you are worsted by Corruption and Temptation from time to time There is a secret distance by unbelief from Jesus Christ did you come to the door of the Tabernacle the Lord would send you help from the Sanctuary and strengthen thee out of Sion but men are loth to leave their own home or loth to break through difficulties they faint and tire by the way before they get thither and so never come to receive those blessed influences those reviving Soul-strengthening Soul-refreshing influences See Psal 84.5 6 7. It is a description to the people in their journeys to the Temple They went through thick and thin as we use to say through drought and heat till they came before God in Sion and there they found what they went for They met with God there ver 10.11 better a day there than a thousand elsewhere for there the Lord will give Grace and Glory Instruct 3. Remember that there is a Church-worship As there was a moral Worship which they were to perform every where for it was personal and not meerly publick so they had their publick Church-worship viz. their Sacrifices and other Institutions which were limited to the Tabernacle as it was a Type of the Church As no Service is to be offered out of Christ so some Services are not to be offered out of the Church for the Tabernacle as you have heard was a Type of the Church And therefore as Gods end in this Institution was to lead out their thoughts and desires and expectations to Jesus Christ and so to prevent Idolatry and Unbelief in that respect so likewise to prevent Schism and to keep them in the unity of that Church which he had then instituted and appointed So now in Gospel-times look that you partake of the Ordidances in Gospel-Churches for these are the New Testament-Tabernacles wherein God dwells and vouchsafes his blessed Presence It is often noted as a great corruption of Worship among the Jews that they sacrificed in the high places yea though they did it to the Lord their God only So in Manasseh's time 2 Chron. 37.17 Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places after some beginnings and degrees of Reformation yet unto the Lord their God only And the reason they were not taken away is sometimes noted to be the perversness of the people so in Jehosaphats time 2 Chron. 20.33 howbeit the high places were not taken away for as yet the people had not prepared their hearts unto the God of their Fathers Yea there were some good people in those times who were unconvinced of this truth that they ought to sacrifice only at the Temple and Tabernacle though they were against the Worship of Baal yet they were not against the high places so we have some in our days that are against Popery but they are not against mixt Communions They are not convinced that they ought to present their Services and Sacrifices their publick Worship unto God in Gospel-Temples that is in pure Churches and not among profane people It is strange to see the supine carelesness and scepticism of some mens spirits in this particular they regard not they care not with whom they join whether it be a true Church or a false Church whether a pure or an impure Church whether a Church or no Church Search the Scriptures and you will find no instance that ever the Lords Supper was dispensed but in Churches Gospel-Churches pure Churches The first Institution of that Ordinance was in the first Gospel-Church sounded by Christ himself the chief Pastor who did dispense this Ordinance himself to the twelve Apostles who were the Foundation stones of the first Gospel-Church at Jerusalem then again Acts 2.42 they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and in breaking of Bread and in Prayers Breaking of Bread is there mentioned amongst other Ordinances and therefore not to be understood of common but sacred Bread Acts. 20.7 it is said of the Church of Troas that they came together on the first day of the week to break Bread The same Ordinance also was observed in the Church of Corinth 1. Cor. 11. and whereas corruptions and corrupt members were crept in the Apostle spends a whole Chapter in exhorting them to purge out the old Leven 5. ch of 1. Epistle Professors that lie amongst the Pots never joyning themselves as fixed members in any particular Church though they have opportunity for it do live in the neglect of a duty a known duty yea such a neglect as doth infer and carry along with it the neglect of many other duties also For how can Church-Discipline be exercised but in the Societies of Gods People therefore tnis neglect it exposeth the Ordinances of Christ to contempt and prostitution It is as great a sin to receive the Lords Supper in an Assembly of ignorant and profane people as it was to offer Sacrifices in the high places yea it is indeed the very same thing For let thy Conscience speak Are such Assemblies the Temples of the Holy Ghost Are they the Tabernacles of the most High Doth God dwell there Is this to go to the door of the Tabernacle with thy Sacrifice when thou knowest thou goest into a dunghill of Profaneness into a dungeon of Ignorance into an Assembly of wicked and ungodly men Art thou a Soul that desirest communion with Christ Then take his own direction for the obtaining of it Cant. 1.7 8. Go forth by the footsteps of the flock this is Church society Feed thy Kids by the Shepherds Tents Make use of the Ministry and Ministers of the Word who are set in particular Churches Instr 4. Labour every one that his own Soul may be an habitation for the Lord a Temple of the Holy Ghost For the Temple signified not only the whole Church in general but every Saint in particular as hath been shewed Let not thy own Soul be as it is said of Rome Rev. 18.2 It is become the habitation of Devils and the hold of every foul Spirit and a Cage for every unclean and hateful Bird. But let the Spirit of God dwell there be restless in thy self give God in Heaven no rest nor thy own Heart within thee any rest till thy Soul be an habitation of the Holy Spirit Say as it is said of David Psal 132.4 5. I will not give sleep to mine eyes nor slumber to
mine eye-lids until I find out a place for the Lord a habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. THE GOSPEL of SOLOMONS TEMPLE Octob. 25. 1668. 2 Sam. 7.13 He shall build an House for my Name and I will establish the throne of his Kingdom for ever OF their holy places under the Law the chief was the Tabernacle and the Temple The difference between which two was not in their typical use and signification wherein they were the same but only that the one was movable the other fixed The Tabernacle was a movable Temple the Temple was a fixed Tabernacle and accordingly they differed in their quantity and dimensions the Temple being double the quantity of the Tabernacle suitable to its fixed state but the Tabernacle was lesser and lighter because it was to be portable and fit for the shoulders of the Levites who were to carry it from place to place The Temple being the greater and more glorious of the two I have chosen to speak to that and in so doing shall speak of the Tabernacle also so far as is requisite to this end of opening the typical significations of these legal shadows The Text speaks of two things the Temple and the Kingdom it is the former of which I am to speak The Doctrinal Proposition in the words is this Doctr. That God appointed Solomon to build him a Temple or an House unto his Name A Temple is an House inhabited by a Deity As a man dwells in his House so God dwelt in the Temple or as Satan dwells in the Temples of Idols and in false Churches which are therefore called Synagogues of Satan and habitations of Devils so God dwells in the Temple and in the true Gospel-Churches I give these opposite instances because contraries put together do illustrate one another To dwell there is to vouchsafe his Presence there The Temple was a very great and glorious Type both the Temple and all the concernments of it were mystical and significant of Gospel-truths The general significations of the Temple were Christ and the Church and every individual Saint See the Sermon on Deut. 12.5 6. p. 409. where this is proved at large this in general But besides these significations of the Temple in general almost all the particulars about the Temple had their particular mysteries and instructions They may be referred to five heads 1. the Builders 2. the time 3. the Place 4. the Materials and Preparations for it 5. the Parts of the Temple 1. The Builders 1. of the Tabernacle 2. of the first Temple 3. of the second Temple 1. Of the Tabernacle Moses Bezaliel Aholiab The people contributed Exod 35. and every Princes Offering at the Dedication of it is set down particularly Numb 6.7 to shew that the Lord takes special notice of the Bounty and Liberality of his people to Work 2. Of the first Temple David and Solomon David made vast preparations for it appointed the place and gave the pattern of it in writing to his Son 2 Sam. 8.11 12 1 Chron. 29.2 3 4 5. and 1 Chron. 28.11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19. Solomon had an Army of Workmen that were employed about it 1 Kings 5.23 to the end One hundred and fifty thousand Bearers of burdens thirty thousand Israelites for plain work three thousand and three hundred Officers besides Hirams men 3. The second Temple Cyrus Isai 44. and 45. Ezra 1. Jehoshua and Zerubbabel Take these Instructions from this 1. The chief Builders were Types of Christ whose work and office it is to build the Temple of the Lord. Moses Solomon Zerubbabel were so and some think Cyrus also was a good man and a Type of Christ but concerning the other there is no controversie 2. Obs That all hands should help to carry on Church-work 3. Obs The Freedom and Soveraignty of God in the choice and use of Instruments to do his work He chose Cyrus who was by birth a Persian he singles out and chuses whom he will He chose Paul a Persecuter to be an instrument to plant and gather Churches Strangers of Tyre and Sidon Kings of Persia Gentiles as well as Jews shall be added to the Church Those that were once strangers to the Common-wealth of Israel they that are far off shall come and build in the Temple of the Lord Zech. 6. ult 2. The time the Tabernacle was built about the year of the World two thousand five hundred and thirteen the Temple about four hundred eighty seven years after 1 Kings 6.1 ult which fell upon the year of the World three thousand according to that account The Temple stood from the Dedication of it by Solomon to the last Destruction of it by the Romans about a thousand years For to the Captivity in Babylon was about four hundred years the Captivity lasted seventy years From thence to the Death of the Messiah four hundred and ninety years which is Daniels seventy weeks cap. 9. After Christs Death it was destroyed by Vespasian about forty years after So that it was finished and dedicated about the year of the World three thousand and finally destroyed about the year of the World four thousand so it stood from first to last about a thousand years viz. the fourth millenary from the Creation of the World excepting the intercision of the Captivity in Babylon It lay wast about fifty years a whole Jubile some think seventy but the least is fifty supposing their bondage under the yoke of Babylon to begin about 20 years before the burning of the Temple In all this we see the vicissitudes and various revolutions that do befall the Church of God whereof the Temple was a Type and that the ingratitude and unprofitableness of a people may bring Desolation upon all their pleasant things The greatest glory of external Ordinances may by sin be laid in the dust as this Temple was twice And moreover the use of it was ended Christ the substance being come 3. The Place Mount Moriah was the place of the Temple there was a double designation of the place to this use 1. By Isaacs being offered there Gen. 22. get thee to the Land of Moriah c. 2. By the Angels staying there and commanding an Altar to be built there in Davids time and Gods answering David from Heaven by fire on that Altar 1 Chron. 21. with cap. 22.1 We may here learn the Soveraignty and unsearchable freedom of the Will and Grace of God in choosing one place to be the Seat of his Temple of his Church and Ordinances rather than another For it was said Psal 87.2 He loveth the Gates of Sion more then all the dwellings of Jacob. Why he chose this I know no reason can be given but the good Pleasure of his own Will So that the Lord should chuse England to have Gospel-Temples here to plant his Churches and Ordinances here rather than in Spain or Italy he hath reprobated them to be the seat of Antichrist but hath chosen these to be
home and be converted but also that we be preserved unto his heavenly Kingdom Joh. 17.15 He prays that we should be kept from the evil Hence sometimes Believers are kept from being tempted But if they be tempted they are either kept from falling by temptations or if they fall from lying in their falls 4. Suppose you meet with troubles oppositions and persecutions from the world Let the world speak evil of us yet Christ speaks well of us or rather for us to his Father and then what need we fear See Isai 51.7 8. 5. Thy Prayers are full of weaknesses and imperfections but the Prayers of Jesus Christ have no weakness and imperfection going along with them Quest But how may I know that Christ prays for me Answ Thou maist know it by two things 1. If thou hast a heart to pray for thy self thy Prayers are the eccho of his Intercession if Christ hath taught thee to pray for thy self Christ intercedes and prays in Heaven for thee Rom. 8.27 2. Hath the Lord taught thee to prize the Prayer and Intercession of Jesus Christ for thee if so it is a sign he is interceding for thee Heb. 7.25 Vse 2. This also makes against the Papists who plead for Mediators of Intercession though not of Satisfaction beside Christ This cannot be for his Intercession is founded in his Satisfaction the Scripture makes him the only Mediator of Intercession Rev. 8.3 It is true the Saints do pray or intercede for one another but yet they are not Mediators because it is not their own Incense nor their own Blood but it is his Incense it is his Blood that makes their Prayers effectual They do not pray in their own name but in his but he prays in his own name by the merit of his own Blood THE GOSPEL of the ARK and its Appertainances in the HOLY of HOLIES Jan. 3. 1668. Hebr. 9.4 5. THe Ark with its appertainances was another of the holy vessels belonging to the Holy of holies and it was the chief of all their holy things as appears in sundry respects as for instance 1. It had many glorious appertainances that related to it many other vessels belonging to this as the Cherubims c. 2. The place of it was the Holy of holies 3. Solomon though he made all other things new in the Temple yet he did not make a new Ark but only introduced the same which Moses had made with great solemnity into the Oracle the place which he had prepared for it 2 Chron. 5.7 Whatever changes and varieties there may be in other things whereby God dispenseth himself unto and amongst mankind other utensils may be made new there may be new Ordinances new Administrations but there is no new Christ Never look for any new or further Administration in this respect as there is no new God so there is no new Christ but Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day and for ever Heb. 13. It is a blind and blasphemous delusion to speak of Christ as an Administration that is to pass away when the Saints have passed under it for a while 4. In that the Providences about it were very great and glorious and full of teaching and instruction The Ark of God led them through the Wilderness We are to follow the Guidance of Christ through the world It was carried with Bars so is Christ upon the Ministry of the Gospel from one place to another As the Levites did carry the Ark so Preachers may be said to carry Christ to bear his Name among the Gentiles so Paul Act. 9.15 Many great things were done by it Jordan was divided by it so by Christ all obstacles are removed out of the way The Walls of Jericho fell by it so by Christs coming the strong holds of Satans Kingdom are cast down It was the downfall of Dagon So is Christ of Satan and Idolatry While the Ark was amongst the Philistines they were plagued but Obed-Edom was blessed while it was at his House so Christ in the Gospel to some brings wrath being refused to others Salvation Eli and his Daughter died when the Ark was taken and the Bethshemites rejoyced exceedingly when they saw it so the presence of Christ brings comfort but his absence grief and sorrow The Bethshemites were punished for prying into the Ark. It is a dangerous thing to search into inscrutable Mysteries Be wise unto sobriety The Ark after many travels was brought at last to a place of rest in Solomons Temple so Christ after many wearisome journies on Earth was at length taken up into Heaven a place of rest where he sits at the right hand of God But as to this glorious Utensil it self we may observe these things 1. The Ark was the Throne of God on which he did appear sitting on his Throne of Grace and Glory and from whence he spake and gave forth Answers and Oracles Hence we read of a Throne of Grace Heh 4. ult This Throne of Grace is that Mercy-seat that covered the Ark on which God sate and where he is said to dwell between the Cherubims Psal 80.1 1. Here he gave upon special occasions visible appearances of his Glory This is that Shechinah which the Jewish Rabbins speak of And they have it from the Scriptures and the Prophets Ezek. 1. last and cap. 9. and 10. The Glory of the Lord is said to appear and to remove and depart away by little and little There was still less and less of God among them till he was quite gone So Isai 6.1 Rev. 4.2.3 2. Hence the Lord spake with audible voice and gave forth his answers so he promised to Moses Exod. 25.22 so Numb 7. ult The mystery of all which is this that God is to be seen in Christ and that he speaks and reveals his mind to us only in and through Jesus Christ 2. The Mercy-seat which was upon the Ark was a Type of the passive Obedience and Satisfaction of Jesus Christ for our sins whom God hath set forth to be Rom. 3.25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a propitiation 1 Joh. 2.2 he is the propitiation for our sins 3. The Law which was within the Ark is the active Obedience of Christ Psal 40.8 thy Law is within my heart 4. The Golden Pot of Manna is Christ in the Word Exod. 16. Joh. 6.48 49 50 51. He is the true Manna the true Bread of life 5. Aarons Rod that budded is the Ministry blessed with success for the good of Souls Numb 17.10 this was reserved before the Testimony for a token against the Rebels 6. The Cherubims upon the Ark are the Angels ministring to the Lord Ezek. 1. they are there described Is 6.2 they look towards the Ark they pry into the mysteries of the Gospel 1 Pet. 1.12 held forth by the Church Eph. 3.10 The mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God being above their comprehension and their Subjection to Christ as Mediator being not included originally within the Law
Prefiguration of the Rest of the Body of Jesus Christ in the Grave that whole day which was indeed the only whole day of his resting or cessation from the actions of a bodily life For he was in the Grave only some small part of the sixth day and of the first day but he rested the whole Jewish Sabbath So then as they had other legal days and times that pointed them to other things about the Messiah so the Sabbath points to his resting in the Grave And he did not only rest in the humbling of himself under the guilt of our Sins but in his Resurrection from the dead The day of his Resurrection was the day of his entring into his state of rest from his Sufferings but on the Sabbath he rested from the actions of his bodily life therefore the seventh day Sabbath is abrogated and the Lord hath substituted the first day of the week for the Sabbath is moral And there is a ground too for the changing of the day that there should be one day in seven to attend on the Worship of God this is moral and perpetual that it should be the last day in seven this is by Gods Institution made legal and typical Christ entred into his rest of Glory into the state thereof at his Resurrection and into the place thereof when he ascended into Heaven but his resting in the grave was on the seventh day From all which you may see the morality of the Sabbath considered as in general together with the shadowy nature of the Jewish Sabbath of the seventh day having these typical respects relations annexed to it and so therein you see the grounds of the abrogation of it and of the substitution of the Christian Sabbath instead therereof And so much may serve for the typical respects and use of the Jewish Sabbath Now as for the Rites and Observations thereof 1. There were more Sacrifices that day then upon other days Numb 28.9 10. The reason was because there were more Mercies given and commemorated that day as the Creation their Deliverance out of Egypt and their Sanctification by the Spirit It shall be a sign between me and them that they might know that I Jehovah do sanctifie them Exod. 31.13 Ezek. 20.12 20. Here learn that the more Blessings God gives to any people the greater thankfulness he expects again It reacheth also that special Holiness that should be upon the Sabbath more exercise of Grace and duties of Worship to be performed upon that day then ordinarily upon any other day there should be that among us on the Christian Sabbath that should answer their double Sacrifice upon their Jewish Sabbath But in Ezek. 46.45 there is appointed for the Sabbath six Lambs for one under the Law to teach us that there should be more Holiness now under the Gospel then there was under the Law 2. They might not kindle a fire on that day Exod. 35.3 as some think to put them in mind of their absolute freedom from their Egyptian Bondage and the fiery Brick-works there or from the fire of Gods Wrath in the world to come when entred into that none of these fires should ever be kindled upon them or hurt them though others think that restraint respected only kindling a fire for the building of the Tabernacle nor is it unlikely 3. They were to abstain from building the Tabernacle that day Exod. 31.12 13 14 15 16 17. and 35.2 to teach them that the six days that is the time of this life is the only time wherein God will build the Tabernacle of his Church this life is the only day of Grace and opportunity of Salvation 4. They might not gather Manna on that day Exod. 16. In this life Christ is offered but in the Sabbath of eternity no Manna no means of Grace no offers of Christ then none could have Manna upon the Sabbath but they that had stored it up upon the week day so none can have Christ in Heaven but they that have stored him up in their hearts on earth These things shew the rigor of the Law as to Sabbath-rest but the Pharisees being deeply possest with the spirit of the Law did strain it a peg or two higher that to do a miraculous work of mercy or works of necessity was unlawful 2. They had also a Sabbatical year viz. every seventh year a Sabbath of the seventh year every seventh year was a Sabbatical year as every seventh day was a Sabbatical day Exod. 23.10 Deut. 15.9 This was celebrated by letting the Land rest from its usual culture and husbandry Levit. 25.4 5. Some alledge a political and philosophical reason for this that the Land by resting one year might be the more fruitful the other six quod caret alternâ requie durabile non est This Sabbatical year was celebrated by giving rest unto the Land from tillage and manuring the hungry ground This was a shadow of things to come this signifies something of Christ and Gospel mystery in which observe four things There was a fourfold Instruction in this Sabbatical year 1. This Sabbatical year told them plainly that both they and their Land was the Lords Lev. 25.23 For the Land is mine 2. This taught them to depend upon Providence without worldly care and trusting to the Creature for supply and support For they must not now sow nor till the Land this year for the sixth year was to bring forth the Fruit of three years both for the seventh year and for the eighth and for the ninth till the Harvest time See Lev. 25.20 21 22. and ver 6. the Sabbath of the Land shall be meat for thee The Land of its own accord that year was to produce sustenance enough both for man and beast It is not enough for us to depend on the ordinary course of means God can over-rule them and over-work them as he doth here 3. The Lord hereby teacheth them and us that great Gospel-lesson and duty of mercy and bounty to the poor Exod. 23.10 11. the Land must rest that the poor may eat and Deut. 15.1 2. Creditors must release their Debtors every seventh year Lev. 25.5 6. there is an Equity a Chancery a bountiful condescension to the necessities of the poor that men exact not their own right in all things but rather remit and abate something thereof Not but that men may take their course and use means to get it especially when persons are able and wilful but in case of poverty there should be mercy shewed in such a case 4. This Sabbatical year was a special season and time of instruction in the Law of God Deut. 31.10 11 12. the Lord would have them instructed and taught to know his Mind and the true Religion and the ways of his Worship Therefore he appointed so many times and seasons for it weekly and monthly and yearly and moreover one year in seven as you see Beside the mystery of spiritual rest by Christ of which further in
All this pointed them to and was most eminently fulfilled in Jesus Christ the only true High Priest in and by whom alone God speaks his mind and works his Image in us In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge Col. 2.3 and he is holy and harmless and separate from sinners Heb. 7.26 For such an High Priest became us who is holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners He wears the true Vrim and Thummim always upon his heart Illuminations and Perfections Lights and Graces in the highest And we have nothing of either but what we have from him Our Lights are from him 2 Cor. 4.6 Matth. 11.27 our Graces are from him Joh. 1.16 of his fulness have we all received Grace for Grace For the Law was given by Moses ver 17. these legal shadows of terror and darkness but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ Grace instead of legal terror and rigour Truth that is accomplishments and performances instead of shadows and promises came by Jesus Christ It follows ver 18. no man hath seen God at any time that is by any Light or Grace or Power of his own but the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him The true Vrim and Thummim is in the Pectoral of Jesus Christ all our Illuminations and Perfections are in him 4. Whereas this Vrim and Thummim were lost in the Captivity in Babylon and wanting in the second Temple Ezra 2.63 Nehem 7.65 They wanted this as they did some other vessels and monuments as the Golden Pot of Manna Aarons Rod that budded some think also the Ark and the two Tables of Stone were wanting in the second Temple but as to the Vrim and Thummim those Texts seem clear for it nor had they the Cloud of Glory as in the Tabernacle and in the first Temple or Fire from Heaven The end of all this Dispensation was to teach them to look and long the more earnestly after Jesus Christ the true spiritual Glory of the Temple and Church of God whose coming was now approaching and drawing on apace These abatements of that former outward Glory were preparations for more spiritual Dispensations under the Gospel wherein those outward Glories were not to be expected and in the mean time they had the Law of Moses and the written Word of God in the Old Testament which they were to cleave and stick close unto Mal. 4.4 But when Christ came he restored to his Church in a more glorious manner the true Vrim and Thummim Light and Grace was poured forth abundantly even upon such who by reason of the long intermission of those extraordinary Operations of the Holy Ghost had not so much as heard whether there was an Holy Ghost or no. Acts 19.2 6. The Jewish Writers have a saying and a tradition amongst them that after the latter Prophets Haggai Zechariah and Malachy the Holy Ghost went up and departed from Israel They mean in those extraordinary operations of it and they reckon Vrim and Thummim as one of the degrees of the Holy Ghost inferior to the Spirit of Prophesie but superior to that Bath-qol as they call it the Daughter of a Voice or an Eccho from Heaven which was heard sometimes in the second Temple and which they say took place in the second Temple when Prophesie and Urim ceased We read of such Voices from Heaven to Jesus Christ Matth. 3.17 Joh 12.28 29. 2 Pet. 1.17 18. and he adds in the next verse we have a more sure Word of Prophesie This Bath-qol or Voice from Heaven it was a Prologue and a Preface and Type as it were of that true Voice of the Father the eternal Word of God Jesus Christ who came down from Heaven by whom God hath in these last days spoken to us who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in former times unto the Fathers but now only by his Son Heb. 1.1 2. 8. The eighth piece of the holy Pontifical attire was the Mitre of which the Text saith And he put the Mitre upon his head And it is said Exod. 28.39 thou shalt make the Mitre of fine Linnen This was one of the last Garments that was put on therefore Zechariah desires this in the clothing of Jehoshuah as the perfecting of the Mercy Zech. 3.5 and I said let them set a fair Mitre upon his head so they set a fair Mitre upon his head As to the shape and fashion of this Garment it was not unlike that which the other Priests wore and is called a Bonnet It was made of Linnen-cloth wrapped about the head in a round and high-crowned fashion after the manner of the East Some compare it to the Turkish Turbants or Tullibants some translate it a Hat As to the outward form and inward mystery of it there is little difficulty For a Mitre or a Hat upon the Head was an Ornament of Authority and Superiority over others Ezek. 21.26 Remove the Diadem Job 29.14 My Judgment was as a Diadem in which places is radically the same word as here in Exod. 28. The Mitre therefore was an Ornament and Ensign of illustrious sacred Eminency and Superiority in the High Priest over others It pointeth us to the Princely Dignity and Kingly Office of Jesus Christ He is the great High Priest and indeed both Priest and King of his Church the true Archbishop the chief Shepherd as Peter calls him 1 Pet. 5.4 Believers are called a royal Priesthood 1 Pet. 2.9 but Christ is so much more He is not only a Priest but a Prince and a Prevailer with the Lord on our behalf 9. The ninth and last piece of the holy Priestly attire is the Golden Plate of which the Text saith Also upon the Mitre even upon his forefront did he put the Golden Plate the holy Crown It is called Exod. 39.30 the Plate of the holy Crown so called for that it was made say some somewhat like a Crown Compare Exod. 29.6 The use and nature of it is described fully in Exod. 28.36 37 38. The Inscription Quodesh la Jehovah may be rendred more emphatically the Holiness of Jehovah It speaks three things 1. The Royal yea the Divine Holiness of Jesus Christ that absolute Holiness whereby he sanctifies both himself and us Joh. 17.19 wherein he doth that really which Aaron did typically He is indeed the Holines of Jehovah Jehovah tsidkenu the Lord our Righteousness is his Name Jer. 23.6 Hence he often appears with a Crown of Gold upon his Head as Rev. 14.14 2. His bearing our iniquities and taking away our sins which are found even in our holy things Exod. 28.38 There is a mixture in the best we do Many Believers are apt to be discouraged about it My Prayers are so full of unbelief and deadness and wandrings they deserve abhorrence and not acceptance Well but the High Priest here bears the iniquities of all the holy things of the Children of Israel 3. His causing us to be accepted