sat on the throne, and so acted, as to the building up of his Church. John xii. 40, 41; Rev. i. 1; chap. v. 5.

IV. Of what the Temple was Built. The materials with which the temple was built were such as were in their own nature common to that which was left behind-things that naturally were not fit, without art, to be laid in so holy a house. And this shows that those of whom Christ Jesus designs to build his Church are by nature no better than others; but as the trees and stones of which the temple was built were first hewed and squared before they were fit to be laid in that house, so sinners, of which the Church is to be built, must first be fitted by the word and doctrine, and then fitly laid in their place in the Church.

For though, as to nature, there is no difference betwixt those made use of to build God's house, yet by grace they differ from others; even as those trees and stones that are hewed and squared for building by art are made to differ from those which abide in the wood or pit.

The Lord Jesus, therefore, while he seeketh materials wherewith to build his house, he findeth them the clay of the same lump that he rejecteth and leaveth behind. "Are we bet ter than they? No, in nowise." Nay, I think if any be best, it is they which are left behind: "He came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." And indeed in this he doth show both the greatness of his grace and workmanship-his grace in taking such, and his workmanship in that he makes them meet for his holy habitation.

This the current of Scripture maketh manifest, wherefore it is needless now to cite particulars; only we must remember that none are laid in this building as they come out of the wood or pit, but as they first pass under the hand and rule of this great Builder of the temple of God.

V. Who was to Fell those Trees and to Dig those Stones with which Solomon Built the Temple. As the trees were to be felled and stones to be digged, so there was for that matter select workmen appointed.

These were not of the sons of Jacob nor of the house of Israel; they were the servants of Hiram, king of Tyre, and the Gibeonites; namely, their children that made a league with Joshua in the day that God gave the land of

Canaan to his people. Josh. ix. 22, 29; 1 Kings v.; 2 Chron. xxvii. 28.

And these were types of our Gospel ministers, who are the men appointed by Jesus Christ to make sinners, by their preaching, meet for the house of God. Wherefore, as he was famous of old who was strong to lift up his axe upon the thick boughs, to square wood for the building of the temple, so a minister of the Gospel now is also famous if much used by Christ for the converting of sinners to himself, that he may build him a temple with them. Ps. vii. 4, 5, 6; Rom. xvi. 7.

But why, some may say, do you make so homely a comparison? I answer, Because I believe it is true; for it is grace not gifts that makes us sons and the beloved of God. Gifts make a minister; and as a minister one is but a servant to hew wood and draw water for the house of my God. Yea Paul, though a son, yet counted himself not a son, but a servant, purely as he was a minister—a servant of God, a servant of Christ, a servant of the Church, and your servant for Jesus' sake. Tit. i. 1; Rom. i. 1; 2 Cor. iv. 5.

A man then is a son as he is begotten and born of God to himself, and a servant as he is gifted for work in the house of his Father; and though it is truth the servant may be a son, yet he is not a son because he is a servant. Nor doth it follow that because all sons may be servants, therefore all servants are sons; no, all the servants of God are not sons; and therefore when time shall come he that is only a servant here shall certainly be put out of the house, even out of that house himself did help to build. "The servant abideth not in the house for ever;" the servant, that is, he that is only so.

So, then, as a son thou art an Israelite; as a servant, a Gibeonite. The consideration of this made Paul start; he knew that gifts made him not a son. 1 Cor. xii. 28, 29, 30, 31; and xiii. 1, 2.

The sum, then, is, a man may be a servant and a son-a servant, as he is employed by Christ in his house for the good of others; and a son, as he is a partaker of the grace of adoption: but all servants are not sons; and let this be for a caution and a call to ministers to do all acts of service for God and in his house with reverence and godly fear; and with all humility let us desire to be partakers ourselves of that grace we preach to others. 1 Cor. ix. 25.

This is a great saying, and written perhaps

Let us, then, keep these distinctions clear, and not put an apostle in the room of Christ, nor Christ in the place of one of those apostles. Let none but Christ be the high priest and sacrifice for your souls to God; and none but that doctrine which is apostolical be to you as the mouth of Christ for instruction to prepare you, and to prepare materials for this temple of God, and to build them upon this foundation.

VIII. Of the Richness of the Stones which were

laid for the Foundation of the Temple. These foundation stones, as they were great, 80 they were costly stones; though, as I said, themselves of no more worth than they of their nature that were left behind. Their costliness, therefore, lay in those additions which they received from the king's charge.

First, in that labour which was bestowed upon them in sawing, squaring, and carving. For the servants, as they were cunning at this work, so they bestowed much of their art and labour upon them, by which they put them into excellent form, and added to their bigness, glory and beauty, fit for stones upon which a goodly fabric was to be built.

Secondly, these stones as they were thus wrought within and without, so, as it seems to me, they were inlaid with other stones more precious than themselves. Inlaid, I say, with stones of divers colours, according as it is written, "I will lay thy foundation with sapphires." Not that the foundations were sapphires, but they were laid inlaid with them; or, as he saith in another place, "They were adorned with goodly stones and gifts."

This is still more amplified where it is written of the New Jerusalem, (which is still the testament Church on earth, and so the same in substance with what is now,) "The foundations of the wall of the city," saith he, "were garnished with all manner of precious stones." True, these there are called "the foundations of the wall of the city," but it has respect to the matter in hand; for that which is before called a temple, for its comparative smallness, is here called a city, for or because of its great increase; an I both the foundations of the wall of the city, as well as of the temple, "are the twelve apostles of the Lamb;" for these carvings and inlayings, with all other beautifications, were types of the extraordinary gifts and graces of the apostles. Hence the apostle calls such gifts signs of apostleship. Rom. xv. 19; 2 Cor. xii. 21; Heb. ii. 4. For as the foundation stones of

the temple were thus garnished, so were the apostles beautified with a call, gifts, and graces peculiar to themselves. Hence he says, "First apostles," for that they were first and chief in the Church of Christ. 1 Cor. xii. 28.

Nor were these stones only laid for a foundation for the temple; for the great court, the inner court, as also the porch of the temple, had round about them "three rows of these stones for their foundation."

Signifying, as seems to me, that the more outward and external part, as well as that more internal worship to be performed to God, should be grounded upon apostolical doctrine and appointments. 1 Cor. iii. 10, 11, 12; 2 Thess. ii. 15; iii. 6; Heb. vi. 1-5.

IX. Which way the Face or Front of the Temple stood.

The temple was built with its face or front towards the east, and that, perhaps, because the glory of the God of "Israel was to come from the way of the east unto it." Wherefore, in that its front stood towards the east, it may be to show that the true Gospel Church would have its eye to and expectation from the Lord. We look, said Paul, but whither? "We have our conversation," said he, "in heaven, from" whence our expectation is.

2. It was set also with its face towards the east to keep the people of God from committing of idolatry-to wit, from worshipping the host of heaven and the sun, whose rising is from the east. For since the face of the temple stood towards the east, and since the worshippers were to worship at or with their faces towards the temple, it follows that both in their going to and worshipping God towards that place their faces must be from and their backs towards the sun. The thus building of the temple, therefore, was a snare to idolaters, and a proof of the zeal of those that were the true worshippers, as also to this day the true Gospel-instituted worship of Jesus Christ is. Hence he is said to idolaters to be a snare and a trap, but to the godly a glory. Isa. viii 14; ix. 19.

It was therefore, as I said, set with its face towards the east to prevent false worships and detect idolaters.

4. From the east also came the most blasting winds-winds that are destructive to man and beasts, to fruit and trees, and ships at sea. Ex. x. 13; Job xxvii. 21; Ezek. xvii. 10; and xix. 12; Ps. xlviii. 7; Ezek. xxvii. 26.

I say the east wind, or that which comes from thence, is the most hurtful; yet you see the temple hath set her face against it to show that the true Church cannot be blasted or made turn back by any affliction. It is not the east winds, nor none of their blastings, that can make the temple turn about. Hence he saith that Jacob's face shall not wax pale. And again, "I have made thy face strong against their faces, and that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Isa. xxix. 22; Ezek. iii. 8; Matt. xvi. 18.

5. It might be also built with its face towards the east to show that the true Church looketh, as afore I hinted, for her Lord and King from heaven, knowing that at his coming he will bring healing in his wings; for from the east he will appear when he comes the second time without sin unto salvation, of which the sun gives us a memento in his rising there every morning. "For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be."

6. Christ, as the north pole, draws those touched with the loadstone of his word, with the face of their souls towards him, to look for and hasten to his coming. And this also is signified by the temple standing with its face towards the east.

X. Of the Courts of the Temple.

I perceive that there are two courts belonging to the temple. The first was called the outward court. Ezek. xl. 17; xlvi. 21.

1. This was that into which the people of necessity first entered when they went to worship in the temple; consequently that was it in and by which the people did first show their desires to be the worshippers of God. And this answers to those badges and signs of love to religion that people have in face or outward appearance. Matt. xxv. 27; 2 Cor. x. 7. 2. In this, though here may sometimes be truth, yet oftener lies and dissimulation; wherefore commonly an outward appearance is set in opposition to faith and truth, as the outward is in opposition to the inner court,

and outward to the inner man; and that is when it is by itself, for then it profits nothing. 3. Hence, though the outward court was something to the Jews, because by outward bodies they were distinguished from the Gentiles, yet to us it is little, for now he is not a Jew who is one only outwardly. Therefore all the time of the beast's reign this court is given to be trodden under foot; for, as I said, outward show will avail nothing when the beast comes to turn and toss up professors with his horns. Rev. xi. 12.

4. But as there was an outward, so there was an inner court-a court that stood nearer to the temple, and so to the true practical part of worship, than that outward court did.

5. This inner court is that which is called "the court of the priests," because it was it in which they boiled the trespass-offering, and in which they prepared the sin-offering for the people.

6. This court, therefore, was the place of practice and of preparation to appear before God, which is the first true token of a sincere and honest mind. Wherefore here, and not in the outward court, stood the great brazen altar, which was a type of Christ, by whom alone true worshippers make their approach with acceptance unto God. Also here stood the great brazen scaffold, on which the king kneeled when he prayed for the people, a type of Christ's prayers for his when he was in the world. 2 Chron. vi.; John xiii. 17.

7. Wherefore this court was a type of prac tical worship, and so of our praying, hearing, and eating before God. There belonged to this court several gates, an east, a south, and a north gate; and when the people of the land went into this court to worship, they were not to go out at the gate by which they came in, but out of the gate over against it, to show that true Christians should persevere right on, and not turn back, whatever they meet with in the way. "He that entereth in by the way of the north gate to worship shall go out by the way of the south gate; and he that entereth in by the way of the north gate, he shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in, but shall go forth over against it."

8. These courts were places of great delight to the Jews, as both feigned and sincere profession is to those that practise therein. Wherefore, when the Jews did enter into these, they did use to do it with praise and pipe, as do both hypocrites and sincere ones. So then, when a man shall tread in both these courts.

and shall turn what he seems to be into what he should be in reality, then, and not till then, he treads them as he should; for then he makes the outward court, and his treading there, but a passage to that which is more inward and sincere. But he that stays in the outward one is but such an one as pleases not God, for that he wants the practice of what he professes with his mouth.

XI. Of the great Brazen Altar that stood in the Inner Court of the Temple.

In the inner court stood the great brazen altar which Solomon made. This is evident, for that when he kneeled upon the scaffold to pray he kneeled before this altar. See Ex. xl. 6, 29.

2. This altar seems to be placed about the middle of this court, over against the porch of the house; and between it and the temple was the place where Zechariah was slain. This altar was called "the altar of burnt-offering," and therefore it was a type of Christ in his dignity. For Christ's body was our true burntoffering, of which the bodies of the sacrificed beasts were a type: now that altar upon which his body was offered was his divinity or Godhead, for that, and that only, could bear up that offering in the whole of its sufferings; and that therefore, and that only, was to receive the fat, the glory. Hence it is said, "He through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God."

3. For Christ is priest, and sacrifice, and altar, and all. And as a priest he offered, as a sacrifice he suffered, and as God he supported his humanity in that suffering of all the pains it underwent. Gal. i. 4; ch. ii. 20; 1 Pet. iii. 18; Heb. ix. 14.

4. It was then Christ's Godhead, not the tree, that was the altar of burnt-offering, or that by which Christ offered himself an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour.

5. That it was not the tree is evident, for that could not sanctify the gift, to wit, his body; but Christ affirmeth "that the altar sanctifieth the gift;" and by sc saying he affirmeth that the altar on which he offered his offering was greater than the offering itself. Matt. xxiii. 19.

Now the body of Christ was the gift; for so he saith, "I give my flesh for the life of the world."

But now what thing is that which is greater than his body save the altar, his divinity, on which it was offered? The tree, then, was not

the altar which sanctifieth this gift to make it of virtue enough to make reconciliation for in iquity. John vi. 15.

Now, since this altar of burnt-offering was thus placed in the inner court, it teaches us several things:

First. That those that come only into the outward court, or rest in a bare appearance of Christianity, do not, by so doing, come to Jesus Christ; for this altar stands not there. Hence John takes notice only of the temple and this altar, and them that worship therein, and leaves out the outward court, and so them that come no farther. Rev. xi. 1, 2.

Secondly. This teaches us also that we are to enter into that temple of God by blood. The altar, this altar of burnt-offering, stood as men went into the temple; they must go by it; yea, there they must leave their offering, and so go in and worship, even as a token that they came thither by sacrifice and by blood.

Thirdly. Upon this altar Solomon at the dedication of the temple offered thousands both of oxen and of sheep, to signify surely the abundant worth and richness that would be in the blood of Christ to save when it should be shed for us. "For" his blood is spoken of with an "how much more." "For if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works, to serve the living God!"

Let them not dare to stop or stay in the outward court, for there is not this altar. Nor let us dare, when we come into this court, to be careless whether we look to this altar or no. For it is by blood we must enter; for without shedding of blood is no remission. Let us always then, when we come hither, wash our hands in innocency, and so compass this holy altar, for that by Christ, who is the altar indeed, we are reconciled to God. This is looking unto Jesus; this is coming to God by him, of whom this altar and the sacrifice thereon was a type.

XII. Of the Pillars that were before the Porch of the Temple.

There were divers pillars belonging to the temple, but in this place we are confined to speak of only two-namely, those which stood before the temple.

These pillars stood before the porch or en