  'Tis strange to me, that they that love to tell JO. BUNYAN |
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[CONTENTS:—The original beauty and splendour of the town of Mansoul, while under the dominion of Shaddai—Its noble castle described—Its five gates—The perfection of its inhabitants—The origin of Diabolus—His pride and fall—Revenge meditated—A council of war held to deliberate on the best means of seducing the town of Mansoul—Diabolus marches to the town, and sits down before Eye-gate—His oration—Captain Resistance slain—My Lord Innocence killed—The town taken.]
In my travels, as I walked through many regions and countries, it was my chance to happen into that famous continent of Universe; a very large and spacious country it is. It lieth between the two poles, and just amidst the four points of the heavens. It is a place well-watered, and richly adorned with hills and valleys, bravely situate; and for the most part (at least where I was) very fruitful, also well peopled, and a very sweet air.
The people are not all of one complexion, nor yet of one language, mode, or way of religion; but differ as much as, it is said, do the planets themselves. Some are right, and some are wrong, even as it happeneth to be in lesser regions.
In this country, as I said, it was my lot to travel, and there travel I did; and that so long, even till I learned much of their mother-tongue, together with the customs and manners of them among whom I was. And to speak truth, I was much delighted to see and hear many things which I saw and heard among them. Yea, I had (to be sure) even lived and died a native among them, so was I taken with them and their doings, had not my Master sent for me home to his house, there to do business for him, and to over-see business done.[15]
Now there is in this gallant country of Universe a fair and delicate town, a corporation called Mansoul. A town for its building so curious, for its situation so commodious, for its privileges so advantageous—I mean with reference to its original—that I may say of it, as was said before of the continent in which it is placed, There is not its equal under the whole heaven.[16]
As to the situation of this town, it lieth just between the two worlds; and the first founder and builder of it, so far as by the best and most authentic records I can gather, was one Shaddai; and he built it for his own delight.[17] He made it the mirror and glory of all that he made, even the top-piece, beyond anything else that he did in that country (Gen 1:26). Yea, so goodly a town was Mansoul when first built, that it is said by some, the gods, at the setting up thereof, came down to see it, and sang for joy. And as he made it goodly to behold, so also mighty to have dominion over all the country round about. Yea, all were commanded to acknowledge Mansoul for their metropolitan, all was enjoined to do homage to it. Aye, the town itself had positive commission and power from her King to demand service of all, and also to subdue any that anyways denied to do it.
There was reared up in the midst of this town a most famous and stately palace. For strength, it might be called a castle; for pleasantness, a paradise; for largeness, a place so copious as to contain all the world (Eccl 3:11). This place the King Shaddai intended but for himself alone, and not another with him;[18] partly because of his own delights, and partly because he would not that the terror of strangers should be upon the town. This place Shaddai made also a garrison of, but committed the keeping of it only to the men of the town.
The wall of the town was well built, yea, so fast and firm was it knit and compact together, that, had it not been for the townsmen themselves, they could not have been shaken or broken for ever.
For here lay the excellent wisdom of him that built Mansoul, that the walls could never be broken down, nor hurt, by the most mighty adverse potentate, unless the townsmen gave consent thereto.
This famous town of Mansoul had five gates, in at which to come, out at which to go, and these were made likewise answerable to the walls, to wit, impregnable, and such as could never be opened nor forced but by the will and leave of those within. The names of the gates were these, Ear-gate, Eye-gate, Mouth-gate, Nose-gate, and Feel-gate.[19]
Other things there were that belonged to the town of Mansoul, which, if you adjoin to these, will yet give farther demonstration to all of the glory and strength of the place. It had always a sufficiency of provision within its walls; it had the best, most wholesome, and excellent law that then was extant in the world. There was not a rascal, rogue, or traitorous person then within its walls. They were all true men, and fast joined together; and this, you know, is a great matter. And to all these, it had always—so long as it had the goodness to keep true to Shaddai the king—his countenance, his protection, and it was his delight, etc.
Well, upon a time, there was one Diabolus,[20] a mighty giant, made an assault upon this famous town of Mansoul, to take it, and make it his own habitation. This giant was king of the blacks or negroes,[21] and a most raving prince he was. We will, if you please, first discourse of the original of this Diabolus, and then of his taking of this famous town of Mansoul.
This Diabolus is indeed a great and mighty prince, and yet both poor and beggarly. As to his original, he was at first one of the servants of King Shaddai, made, and taken, and put by him into most high and mighty place; yea, was put into such principalities as belonged to the best of his territories and dominions. This Diabolus was made son of the morning, and a brave place he had of it (Isa 14:12). It brought him much glory, and gave him much brightness, an income that might have contented his Luciferian heart, had it not been insatiable, and enlarged as hell itself.
Well, he seeing himself thus exalted to greatness and honour, and raging in his mind for higher state and degree, what doth he but begins to think with himself how he might be set up as Lord over all, and have the sole power under Shaddai! Now that did the King reserve for his Son, yea, and had already bestowed it upon him. Wherefore he first consults with himself what had best to be done, and then breaks his mind to some other of his companions, to the which they also agreed. So, in fine, they came to this issue, that they should make an attempt upon the King's Son to destroy him, that the inheritance might be theirs. Well, to be short, the treason, as I said, was concluded, the time appointed, the word given, the rebels rendezvoused, and the assault attempted.[22] Now the King and his Son being ALL and always EYE, could not but discern all passages in his dominions; and he having always love for his Son as for himself, could not, at what he saw, but be greatly provoked and offended; wherefore, what does he, but takes them in the very nick; and, first trip that they made towards their design, convicts them of the treason, horrid rebellion, and conspiracy that they had devised, and now attempted to put into practice; and casts them altogether out of all place of trust, benefit, honour, and preferment. This done, he banishes them the court; turns them down into the horrible pits, as fast bound in chains, never more to expect the least favour from his hands, but to abide the judgment that he had appointed, and that for ever (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6).
And yet, now, they being thus cast out of all place of trust, profit, and honour, and also knowing that they had lost their prince's favour for ever, being banished his courts, and cast down to the horrible pits, you may be sure they would now add to their former pride what malice and rage against Shaddai, and against his Son, they could. Wherefore, roving and ranging in much fury from place to place, if perhaps they might find something that was the King's, to revenge (by spoiling of that themselves) on him (1 Peter 5:8); at last they happened into this spacious country of Universe, and steer their course towards the town of Mansoul; and considering that that town was one of the chief works and delights of King Shaddai, what do they but, after counsel taken, make an assault upon that! I say they knew that Mansoul belonged unto Shaddai; for they were there when he built it, and beautified it for himself.[23] So when they had found the place, they shouted horribly for joy, and roared on it as a lion upon the prey, saying, Now we have found the prize, and how to be revenged on King Shaddai for what he hath done to us. So they sat down, and called a council of war, and considered with themselves what ways and methods they had best to engage in, for the winning to themselves this famous town of Mansoul; and these four things were then propounded to be considered of. First. Whether they had best all of them, to show themselves in this design to the town of Mansoul. Second. Whether they had best to go and sit down against Mansoul, in their now ragged and beggarly guise. Third. Whether they had best to show to Mansoul their intentions, and what design they came about, or whether to assault it with words and ways of deceit. Fourth. Whether they had not best, to some of their companions, to give out private orders to take the advantage, if they see one or more of the principal townsmen, to shoot them; if thereby they shall judge their cause and design will the better be promoted.
First. It was answered to the first of these proposals in the negative, to wit, that it would not be best that all should show themselves before the town, because the appearance of many of them might alarm and fright the town; whereas a few, or but one of them, was not so likely to do it. And to enforce this advice to take place, it was added further, that if Mansoul was frighted, or did take the alarm, it is impossible, said Diabolus—for he spake now—that we should take the town; for that none can enter into it without its own consent.[24] Let therefore but few or but one assault Mansoul, and in mine opinion, said Diabolus, let me be he. Wherefore to this they all agreed, and then to the second proposal they came, namely,
Second. Whether they had best go and sit down before Mansoul in their now ragged and beggarly guise. To which it was answered also in the negative, By no means; and that because though the town of Mansoul had been made to know and to have to do, before now, with things that are invisible, they did never as yet see any of their fellow-creatures in so sad and rascal condition as they. And this was the advice of that fierce Alecto.[25] Then said Apollyon, the advice is pertinent, for even one of us appearing to them as we are now, must needs both beget and multiply such thoughts in them as will both put them into a consternation of spirit, and necessitate them to put themselves upon their guard. And if so, said he, then, as my Lord Alecto said but now, it is in vain for us to think of taking the town. Then said that mighty giant Beelzebub, the advice that already is given is safe; for though the men of Mansoul have seen such things as we once were, yet hitherto they did never behold such things as we now are. And it is best, in mine opinion, to come upon them in such a guise as is common to, and most familiar among them.[26] To this, when they had consented, the next thing to be considered was, in what shape, hue, or guise, Diabolus had best to show himself, when he went about to make Mansoul his own. Then one said one thing, and another the contrary; at last Lucifer answered, that in his opinion it was best that his lordship should assume the body of some of those creatures that they of the town had dominion over. For, quoth he, these are not only familiar to them, but being under them, they will never imagine that an attempt should by them be made upon the town; and, to blind all, let him assume the body of one of these beasts that Mansoul deems to be wiser than any of the rest (Gen 3:1; Rev 20:1,2). This advice was applauded of all; so it was determined that the giant Diabolus should assume the dragon, for that he was in those days as familiar with the town of Mansoul as now is the bird with the boy. For nothing that was in its primitive state was at all amazing to them.[27] Then they proceeded to the third thing, which was,
Third. Whether they had best to show their intentions or the design of his coming to Mansoul, or no. This also was answered in the negative, because of the weight that was in the former reasons, to wit, for that Mansoul were a strong people, a strong people in a strong town, whose wall and gates were impregnable, to say nothing of their castle, nor can they by any means be won but by their own consent. Besides, said Legion,[28] (for he gave answer to this), a discovery of our intentions may make them send to their King for aid, and if that be done, I know quickly what time of day it will be with us. Therefore let us assault them in all pretended fairness, covering of our intentions with all manner of lies, flatteries, delusive words; feigning of things that never will be, and promising of that to them that they shall never find. This is the way to win Mansoul, and to make them, of themselves, to open their gates to us; yea, and to desire us too, to come in to them.
And the reason why I think that this project will do is, because the people of Mansoul now are every one simple and innocent; all honest and true; nor do they as yet know what it is to be assaulted with fraud, guile, and hypocrisy. They are strangers to lying and dissembling lips; wherefore we cannot, if thus we be disguised, by them at all be discerned; our lies shall go for true sayings, and our dissimulations for upright dealings. What we promise them, they will in that believe us, especially if in all our lies and feigned words we pretend great love to them, and that our design is only their advantage and honour. Now there was not one bit of a reply against this; this went as current down as doth the water down a steep descent; wherefore they go to consider of the last proposal, which was,
Fourth. Whether they had not best to give out orders to some of their company, to shoot some one or more of the principal of the townsmen, if they judge that their cause may be promoted thereby.
This was carried in the affirmative, and the man that was designed by this stratagem to be destroyed was one Mr. Resistance, otherwise called Captain Resistance. And a great man in Mansoul this Captain Resistance was; and a man that the giant Diabolus and his band more feared than they feared the whole town of Mansoul besides.[29] Now who should be the actor to do the murder, that was the next, and they appointed one Tisiphone, a fury of the lake, to do it.
They thus having ended their council of war, rose up, and essayed to do as they had determined. They marched towards Mansoul, but all in a manner invisible, save one, only one; nor did he approach the town in his own likeness, but under the shape and in the body of the dragon.[30]
So they drew up, and sat down before Ear-gate, for that was the place of hearing for all without the town, as Eye-gate was the place of perspection. So, as I said, he came up with his train to the gate, and laid his ambuscado for Captain Resistance within bow-shot of the town. This done, the giant ascended up close to the gate, and called to the town of Mansoul for audience. Nor took he any with him, but one All-pause,[31] who was his orator in all difficult matters. Now, as I said, he being come up to the gate, as the manner of those times was, sounded his trumpet for audience. At which the chief of the town of Mansoul, such as my Lord Innocent, my Lord Will-be-will,[32] my Lord Mayor, Mr. Recorder,[33] and Captain Resistance came down to the wall to see who was there, and what was the matter. And my Lord Will-be-will, when he had looked over and saw who stood at the gate, demanded what he was, wherefore he was come, and why he roused the town of Mansoul with so unusual a sound.
Diab. Diabolus then, as if he had been a lamb, began his oration, and said; Gentlemen of the famous town of Mansoul, I am, as you may perceive, no far dweller from you, but near, and one that is bound by the King to do you my homage, and what service I can; wherefore, that I may be faithful to myself, and to you, I have somewhat of concern to impart unto you. Wherefore grant me your audience, and hear me patiently. And, first, I will assure you, it is not myself, but you; not mine, but your advantage that I seek, by what I now do, as will full well be made manifest by that I have opened my mind unto you. For, gentlemen, I am, to tell you the truth, come to show you how you may obtain great and ample deliverance from a bondage that, unawares to yourselves, you are captivated and enslaved under. At this the town of Mansoul began to prick up its ears, and what is it, pray, what is it, thought they; and he said, I have somewhat to say to you concerning your King, concerning his law, and also touching yourselves. Touching your King, I know he is great and potent, but yet all that he hath said to you is neither true, nor yet for your advantage. 1. It is not true, for that wherewith he hath hitherto awed you shall not come to pass, nor be fulfilled, though you do the thing that he hath forbidden. But if there was danger, what a slavery is it to live always in fear of the greatest of punishments, for doing so small and trivial a thing as eating of a little fruit is? 2. Touching his laws, this I say further, they are both unreasonable, intricate, and intolerable. Unreasonable, as was hinted before, for that the punishment is not proportioned to the offence. There is great difference and disproportion betwixt the life and an apple; yet the one must go for the other, by the law of your Shaddai. But it is also intricate, in that he saith, first, you may eat of all; and yet after, forbids the eating of one. And then, in the last place, it must needs be intolerable, forasmuch as that fruit which you are forbidden to eat of, if you are forbidden any, is that, and that alone, which is able, by your eating, to minister to you a good as yet unknown by you. This is manifest by the very name of the tree; it is called the tree of knowledge of good and evil; and have you that knowledge as yet? No, no, nor can you conceive how good, how pleasant, and how much to be desired to make one wise it is, so long as you stand by your King's commandment. Why should you be holden in ignorance and blindness? Why should you not be enlarged in knowledge and understanding? And now, ah! ye inhabitants of the famous town of Mansoul, to speak more particularly to yourselves, you are not a free people! You are kept both in bondage and slavery, and that by a grievous threat; no reason being annexed but, so I will have it, so it shall be. And is it not grievous to think on, that that very thing that you are forbidden to do, might you but do it, would yield you both wisdom and honour; for then your eyes will be opened, and you shall be as gods. Now, since this is thus, quoth he, can you be kept by any prince in more slavery, and in greater bondage, than you are under this day? You are made underlings, and are wrapped up in inconveniences, as I have well made appear. For what bondage greater than to be kept in blindness? Will not reason tell you that it is better to have eyes than to be without them; and so to be at liberty, to be better than to be shut up in a dark and stinking cave.
And just now, while Diabolus was speaking these words to Mansoul, Tisiphone shot at Captain Resistance, where he stood on the gate, and mortally wounded him in the head; so that he, to the amazement of the townsmen, and the encouragement of Diabolus, fell down dead quite over the wall.[34] Now, when Captain Resistance was dead, and he was the only man of war in the town, poor Mansoul was wholly left naked of courage, nor had she now any heart to resist. But this was as the devil would have it.[35] Then stood forth that He,[36] Mr. Ill-pause, that Diabolus brought with him, who was his orator,[37] and he addressed himself to speak to the town of Mansoul: the tenour of whose speech here follows.
ILL-PAUSE. Gentlemen, quoth he, it is my master's happiness that he has this day a quiet and teachable auditory,[38] and it is hoped by us that we shall prevail with you not to cast off good advice; my master has a very great love for you, and although, as he very well knows, that he runs the hazard of the anger of King Shaddai, yet love to you will make him do more than that.[39] Nor doth there need that a word more should be spoken to confirm for truth what he hath said; there is not a word but carries with it self-evidence in its bowels; the very name of the tree may put an end to all controversy in this matter. I therefore at this time shall only add this advice to you, under, and by the leave of my Lord [and with that he made Diabolus a very low conge]. Consider his words, look on the tree, and the promising fruit thereof; remember also that yet you know but little, and that this is the way to know more; and if your reasons be not conquered to accept of such good counsel, you are not the men that I took you to be. But when the towns-folk saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eye, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, they did as old Ill-pause advised, they took and did eat thereof. Now this I should have told you before, that even then, when this Ill-pause was making of his speech to the townsmen, my Lord Innocency—whether by a shot from the camp of the giant, or from some sinking qualm that suddenly took him, or whether by the stinking breath of that treacherous villain old Ill-pause, for so I am most apt to think—sunk down in the place where he stood, nor could he be brought to life again.[40] Thus these two brave men died; brave men I call them, for they were the beauty and glory of Mansoul, so long as they lived therein; nor did there now remain any more a noble spirit in Mansoul, they all fell down, and yielded obedience to Diabolus, and became his slaves and vassals, as you shall hear.[41]
Now these being dead, what do the rest of the towns-folk, but as men that had found a fool's paradise, they presently, as afore was hinted, fall to prove the truth of the giant's words; and first they did as Ill-pause had taught them, they looked, they considered, they were taken with the forbidden fruit, they took thereof, and did eat; and having eaten, they became immediately drunken therewith; so they opened the gate, both Ear-gate and Eye-gate, and let in Diabolus with all his bands, quite forgetting their good Shaddai, his law, and the judgment that he had annexed with solemn threatening to the breach thereof.[42]
[CONTENTS:—Diabolus takes possession of the castle—The Lord Mayor, Mr. Understanding, is deposed, and a wall built before his house, to darken it—Mr. Conscience, the Recorder, is put out of office, and becomes very obnoxious both to Diabolus and to the inhabitants—My Lord Will-be-will, heartily espousing the cause of Diabolus, is made the principal governor of the town—The image of Shaddai defaced, and that of Diabolus set up in its stead—Mr. Lustings is made Lord Mayor, and Mr. Forget-good, Recorder—New alderman appointed—Three forts built to defend the town against Shaddai.]
Diabolus having now obtained entrance in at the gates of the town, marches up to the middle thereof, to make his conquest as sure as he could, and finding by this time the affections of the people warmly inclining to him, he, as thinking it was best striking while the iron is hot, made this further deceivable speech unto them, saying, Alas, my poor Mansoul! I have done thee indeed this service, as to promote thee to honour, and to greaten thy liberty, but alas! alas! poor Mansoul, thou wantest now one to defend thee, for assure thyself that when Shaddai shall hear what is done, he will come; for sorry will he be that thou hast broken his bonds, and cast his cords away from thee. What wilt thou do—wilt thou after enlargement suffer thy privileges to be invaded and taken away? or what wilt resolve with thyself? Then they all with one consent said to this bramble, Do thou reign over us. So he accepted the motion, and became the king of the town of Mansoul. This being done, the next thing was to give him possession of the castle, and so of the whole strength of the town. Wherefore into the castle he goes—it was that which Shaddai built in Mansoul for his own delight and pleasure—this now was become a den and hold for the giant Diabolus.[43]
Now having got possession of this stately palace or castle, what doth he but make it a garrison for himself, and strengthens and fortifies it with all sorts of provision against the King Shaddai, or those that should endeavour the regaining of it to him and his obedience again.
This done, but not thinking himself yet secure enough, in the next place, he bethinks himself of new-modelling the town; and so he does, setting up one, and putting down another at pleasure.[44] Wherefore my Lord Mayor, whose name was my Lord Understanding, and Mr. Recorder, whose name was Mr. Conscience, those he puts out of place and power.
As for my Lord Mayor, though he was an understanding man, and one too that had complied with the rest of the town of Mansoul in admitting of the giant into the town, yet Diabolus thought not fit to let him abide in his former lustre and glory, because he was a seeing man. Wherefore he darkened it not only by taking from him his office and power, but by building of a high and strong tower, just between the sun's reflections, and the windows of my Lord's palace (2 Cor 10:4,5); by which means his house and all, and the whole of his habitation, was made as dark as darkness itself. And thus being alienated from the light, he became as one that was born blind (Eph 4:18,19). To this his house my Lord was confined as to a prison; nor might he be upon his parole go farther than within his own bounds. And now had he had a heart to do for Mansoul, what could he do for it or wherein could he be profitable to her? So then, so long as Mansoul was under the power and government of Diabolus—and so long it was under him as it was obedient to him; which was even until by a war it was rescued out of his hands—so long my Lord Mayor was rather an impediment in, than advantage to, the famous town of Mansoul.
As for Mr. Recorder, before the town was taken he was a man well read in the laws of his King, and also a man of courage and faithfulness, to speak truth at every occasion; and he had a tongue as bravely hung as he had an head filled with judgment. Now this man, Diabolus could by no means abide, because, though he gave his consent to his coming into the town, yet he could not, by all wiles, trials, stratagems, and devices that he could use, make him wholly his own. True, he was much degenerated from his former King, and also much pleased with many of the giant's laws and service; but all this would not do, forasmuch as he was not wholly his. He would now and then think upon Shaddai, and have dread of his law upon him, and then he would speak with a voice as great against Diabolus as when a lion roareth;[45] yea, and would also at certain times when his fits were upon him—for you must know that sometimes he had terrible fits—[he would] make the whole town of Mansoul shake with his voice: and, therefore, the now king of Mansoul could not abide him.[46]
Diabolus therefore feared the Recorder more than any that was left alive in the town of Mansoul, because, as I said, his words did shake the whole town; they were like the rattling thunder, and also like thunder-claps. Since therefore the giant could not make him wholly his own, what doth he do but studies all that he could to debauch the old gentleman; and by debauchery to stupefy his mind, and more harden his heart in ways of vanity. And as he attempted, so he accomplished his design; he debauched the man, and by little and little so drew him into sin and wickedness, that at last he was not only debauched as at first, and so by consequence defiled, but was almost, at last, I say, past all conscience of sin. And this was the furthest Diabolus could go. Wherefore he bethinks him of another project; and that was to persuade the men of the town that Mr. Recorder was mad, and so not to be regarded: and for this he urged his fits, and said, If he be himself, why doth he not do thus always? but, quoth he, as all mad folks have their fits, and in them their raving language, so hath this old and doating gentleman.
Thus, by one means or another, he quickly got Mansoul to slight, neglect, and despise whatever Mr. Recorder could say.[47] For besides what already you have heard, Diabolus had a way to make the old gentleman, when he was merry, unsay and deny what he in his fits had affirmed; and, indeed, this was the next way to make himself ridiculous, and to cause that no man should regard him. Also, now he never spake freely for King Shaddai, but always by force and constraint; besides, he would at one time be hot against that at which at another he would hold his peace, so uneven was he now in his doings. Sometimes he would be as if fast asleep, and again sometimes as dead, even then when the whole town of Mansoul was in her career after vanity, and in her dance after the giant's pipe.
Wherefore, sometimes, when Mansoul did use to be frightened with the thundering voice of the Recorder that was, and when they did tell Diabolus of it, he would answer that what the old gentleman said was neither of love to him nor pity to them, but of a foolish fondness that he had to be prating; and so would hush, still, and put all to quiet again. And that he might leave no argument unurged that might tend to make them secure, he said, and said it often, O Mansoul! consider that notwithstanding the old gentleman's rage, and the rattle of his high and thundering words, you hear nothing of Shaddai himself, when, liar and deceiver that he was, every outcry of Mr. Recorder against the sin of Mansoul was the voice of God in him to them. But he goes on and says, You see that he values not the loss, nor rebellion of the town of Mansoul, nor will he trouble himself with calling of his town to a reckoning for their giving of themselves to me. He knows that though ye were his, now you are lawfully mine; so, leaving us one to another, he now hath shaken his hands of us.[48]
Moreover, O Mansoul! quoth he, consider how I have served you, even to the uttermost of my power; and that with the best that I have, could get, or procure for you in all the world: besides, I dare say, that the laws and customs that you now are under, and by which you do homage to me, do yield you more solace and content than did the paradise that at first you possessed. Your liberty also, as yourselves do very well know, has been greatly widened and enlarged by me; whereas I found you a pent-up people. I have not laid any restraint upon you; you have no law, statute, or judgment of mine to frighten you; I call none of you to account for your doings, except the madman (you know who I mean). I have granted you to live, each man, like a prince, in his own, even with as little control from me as I myself have from you.
And thus would Diabolus hush up, and quiet the town of Mansoul, when the Recorder, that was, did at times molest them; yea, and with such cursed orations as these would set the whole town in a rage and fury against the old gentleman; yea, the rascal crew at some times would be for destroying of him. They have often wished, in my hearing, that he had lived a thousand miles off from them: his company, his words, yea, the sight of him, and especially when they remembered how in old times he did use to threaten and condemn them,—for all he was now so debauched—did terrify and afflict them sore.[49]
But all wishes were vain; for I do not know how, unless by the power of Shaddai, and his wisdom, he was preserved in being amongst them. Besides, his house was as strong as a castle, and stood hard to a stronghold of the town. Moreover, if at any time any of the crew or rabble attempted to make him away, he could pull up the sluices, and let in such floods, as would drown all round about him.
But to leave Mr. Recorder, and to come to my Lord Will-be-will, another of the gentry of the famous town of Mansoul. This Will-be-will was as high-born as any man in Mansoul, and was as much, if not more, a freeholder than many of them were: besides, if I remember my tale aright, he had some privileges peculiar to himself in the famous town of Mansoul. Now, together with these, he was a man of great strength, resolution, and courage; nor in his occasion could any turn him away. But I say, whether he was proud of his estate, privileges, strength, or what—but sure it was through pride of something—he scorns now to be a slave in Mansoul; and therefore resolves to bear office under Diabolus, that he might, such an one as he was, be a petty ruler and governor in Mansoul.[50] And, headstrong man that he was, thus he began betimes; for this man, when Diabolus did make his oration at Ear-gate, was one of the first that was for consenting to his words, and for accepting of his counsel at wholesome, and that was for the opening of the gate, and for letting him into the town: wherefore Diabolus had a kindness for him and therefore he designed for him a place; and perceiving the valour and stoutness of the man, he coveted to have him for one of his great ones, to act and to do in matters of the highest concern.[51]
So he sent for him, and talked with him of that secret matter that lay in his breast, but there needed not much persuasion in the case; for as at first he was willing that Diabolus should be let into the town, so now he was as willing to serve him there. When the tyrant therefore perceived the willingness of my Lord to serve him, and that his mind stood bending that way, he forthwith made him the captain of the castle, governor of the wall, and keeper of the gates of Mansoul; yea, there was a clause in his commission that nothing without him should be done in all the town of Mansoul. So that now, next to Diabolus himself, who but my Lord Will-be-will in all the town of Mansoul; nor could anything now be done, but at his will and pleasure, throughout the town of Mansoul. He had also one Mr. Mind[52] for his clerk, a man to speak on, every way like his master; for he and his Lord were in principle one, and in practice not far asunder (Rom 8:7). And now was Mansoul brought under to purpose, and made to fulfil the lusts of the will and of the mind.
But it will not out of my thoughts, what a desperate one this Will-be-will was, when power was put into his hand. First, he flatly denied that he owed any suit or service to his former prince and liege Lord. This done, in the next place he took an oath, and swore fidelity to his great master Diabolus, and then, being stated and settled in his places, offices, advancements, and preferments, oh! you cannot think, unless you had seen it, the strange work that this workman made in the town of Mansoul!
First, he maligned Mr. Recorder to death; he would neither endure to see him, nor to hear the words of his mouth; he would shut his eyes when he saw him, and stop his ears when he heard him speak: also, he could not endure that so much as a fragment of the law of Shaddai should be anywhere seen in the town. For example, his clerk, Mr. Mind, had some old, rent, and torn parchments of the law of good Shaddai in his house,[53] but when Will-be-will saw them, he cast them behind his back (Neh 9:26). True, Mr. Recorder had some of the laws in his study, but my Lord could by no means come at them: he also thought, and said, that the windows of my old Lord Mayor's house were always too light for the profit of the town of Mansoul. The light of a candle he could not endure. Now, nothing at all pleased Will-be-will but what pleased Diabolus his Lord.
There was none like him to trumpet about the streets the brave nature, the wise conduct, and great glory of the King Diabolus. He would range and rove throughout all the streets of Mansoul to cry up his illustrious Lord, and would make himself even as an abject, among the base and rascal crew, to cry up his valiant prince. And I say, when and wheresoever he found these vassals, he would even make himself as one of them. In all ill courses he would act without bidding, and do mischief without commandment.
The Lord Will-be-will also had a deputy under him, and his name was Mr. Affection; one that was also greatly debauched in his principles, and answerable thereto in his life (Rom 1:25). He was wholly given to the flesh, and therefore they called him Vile-affection. Now there was he, and one Carnal-lust, the daughter of Mr. Mind (like to like, quoth the devil to the collier) that fell in love, and made a match, and were married; and, as I take it, they had several children, as Impudent, Blackmouth, and Hate-reproof; these three were black boys. And besides these they had three daughters, as Scorn-truth, and Slightgod, and the name of the youngest was Revenge; these were all married in the town and also begot and yielded many bad brats, too many to be here inserted.[54] But to pass by this.
When the giant had thus engarrisoned himself in the town of Mansoul, and had put down and set up whom he thought good; he betakes himself to defacing. Now there was in the market-place in Mansoul, and also upon the gates of the castle, an image of the blessed King Shaddai; this image was so exactly engraven, and it was engraven in gold, that it did the most resemble Shaddai himself of anything that then was extant in the world. This he basely commanded to be defaced, and it was as basely done by the hand of Mr. No-truth. Now you must know, that as Diabolus had commanded, and that by the hand of Mr. No-truth, the image of Shaddai was defaced. He likewise gave order that the same Mr. No-truth should set up in its stead the horrid and formidable image of Diabolus; to the great contempt of the former King, and debasing of his town of Mansoul.
Moreover, Diabolus made havoc of all remains of the laws and statutes of Shaddai that could be found in the town of Mansoul; to wit, such as contained either the doctrines of morals, with all civil and natural documents. Also relative severities he sought to extinguish.[55] To be short, there was nothing of the remains of good in Mansoul which he and Will-be-will sought not to destroy; for their design was to turn Mansoul into a brute, and to make it like to the sensual sow, by the hand of Mr. No-truth.[56]
When he had destroyed what law and good orders he could, then, further to effect his design—namely, to alienate Mansoul from Shaddai, her king—he commands, and they set up his own vain edicts, statutes, and commandments, in all places of resort or concourse in Mansoul; to wit, such as gave liberty to the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life, which are not of Shaddai, but of the world (1 John 2:16). He encouraged, countenanced, and promoted lasciviousness, and all ungodliness there. Yea, much more did Diabolus to encourage wickedness in the town of Mansoul; he promised them peace, content, joy, and bliss in doing his commands, and that they should never be called to an account for their not doing the contrary. And let this serve to give a taste to them that love to hear tell of what is done beyond their knowledge, afar off in other countries.[57]
Now Mansoul being wholly at his beck, and brought wholly to his bow, nothing was heard or seen therein but that which tended to set up him.
But now, he having disabled the Lord Mayor and Mr. Recorder from bearing of office in Mansoul, and seeing that the town, before he came to it, was the most ancient of corporations in the world; and fearing, if he did not maintain greatness, that they at any time should object that he had done them an injury, therefore, I say, that they might see that he did not intend to lessen their grandeur, or to take from them any of their advantageous things, he did choose for them a Lord Mayor and a Recorder himself; and such as contented them at the heart, and such also as pleased him wondrous well.
The name of the Mayor that was of Diabolus' making was the Lord Lustings; a man that had neither eyes nor ears; all that he did, whether as a man or as an officer, he did it naturally, as doth the beast.[58] And that which made him yet the more ignoble, though not to Mansoul, yet to them that beheld and were grieved for its ruins, was, that he never could savour good, but evil.
The Recorder was one whose name was Forget-good; and a very sorry fellow he was. He could remember nothing but mischief, and to do it with delight. He was naturally prone to do things that were hurtful; even hurtful to the town of Mansoul, and to all the dwellers there. These two, therefore, by their power and practice, example and smiles upon evil, did much more grammar,[59] and settle the common people in hurtful ways. For who doth not perceive, but when those that sit aloft are vile, and corrupt themselves, they corrupt the whole region and country where they are?[60]
Besides these, Diabolus made several burgesses and aldermen in
Mansoul; such as out of whom the town, when it needed, might choose
them officers, governors, and magistrates. And these are the names
of the chief of them, Mr. Incredulity, Mr. Haughty, Mr. Swearing,
Mr. Whoring, Mr. Hard-heart, Mr. Pitiless, Mr. Fury, Mr. No-truth,
Mr. Stand-to-lies, Mr. False-peace, Mr. Drunkenness, Mr. Cheating,
Mr. Atheism—thirteen in all. Mr. Incredulity is the eldest, and
Mr. Atheism the youngest, of the company.[61]
There was also an election of common councilmen, and others; as bailiffs, sergeants, constables, and others; but all of them like to those afore-named, being either fathers, brothers, cousins, or nephews to them; whose names, for brevity's sake, I omit to mention.
When the giant had thus far proceeded in his work, in the next place he betook him to build some strongholds in the town. And he built three that seemed to be impregnable. The first he called the Hold of Defiance, because it was made to command the whole town, and to keep it from the knowledge of its ancient King. The second he called Midnight-hold, because it was built on purpose to keep Mansoul from the true knowledge of itself. The third was called Sweet-sin-hold, because by that he fortified Mansoul against all desires of good. The first of these holds stood close by Eye-gate, that as much might be light might be darkened there. The second was built hard by the old castle, to the end that that might be made more blind, if possible. And the third stood in the market-place.[62]
He that Diabolus made governor over the first of these, was one Spite-god, a most blasphemous wretch. He came with the whole rabble of them that came against Mansoul at first, and was himself one of themselves. He that was made the governor of Midnight-hold, was one Love-no-light, he was also of them that came first against the town. And he that was made the governor of the hold called Sweet-sin-hold, was one whose name was Love-flesh; he was also a very lewd fellow, but not of that country where the other are bound.[63] This fellow could find more sweetness when he stood sucking of a lust, than he did in all the paradise of God.
And now Diabolus thought himself safe; he had taken Mansoul; he had engarrisoned himself therein; he had put down the old officers, and had set up new ones; he had defaced the image of Shaddai, and had set up his own; he had spoiled the old law-books, and had promoted his own vain lies; he had made him new magistrates, and set up new aldermen; he had built him new holds, and had manned them for himself.[64] And all this he did to make himself secure, in case the good Shaddai, or his Son, should come to make an incursion upon him.
[CONTENTS:—Information of the revolution carried to the court of King Shaddai—His great resentment of the rebellion—His gracious intention of restoring Mansoul—Some intimations of this published—Care of Diabolus to suppress them—His artifices to secure the town, and prevent its return to Shaddai.]
Now you may well think, that long before this time word, by some or other, could not but be carried to the good King Shaddai, how his Mansoul in the continent of Universe was lost; and that the runagate giant Diabolus, once one of his Majesty's servants, had, in rebellion against the King, made sure thereof for himself; yea, tidings were carried and brought to the King thereof, and that to a very circumstance.[65]
At first, how Diabolus came upon Mansoul—they being a simple people, and innocent, with craft, subtlety, lies, and guile. Item, That he had treacherously slain the right noble and valiant captain, their Captain Resistance, as he stood upon the gate, with the rest of the townsmen. Item, How my brave Lord Innocent fell down dead—with grief, some say, or with being poisoned with the stinking breath of one Ill-pause, as say others—at the hearing of his just Lord and rightful prince Shaddai so abused by the mouth of so filthy a Diabolian as that varlet Ill-pause was. The messenger further told, that after this Ill-pause had made a short oration to the townsmen, in behalf of Diabolus, his master, the simple town believing that what was said was true, with one consent did open Ear-gate, the chief gate of the corporation, and did let him, with his crew into a possession of the famous town of Mansoul. He further showed how Diabolus had served the Lord Mayor and Mr. Recorder, to wit, that he had put them from all place of power and trust. Item, He showed also that my Lord Will-be-will was turned a very rebel and renegade, and that so was one Mr. Mind, his clerk; and that they two did range and revel it all the town over, and teach the wicked ones their ways. He said, moreover, that this Will-be-will was put into great trust; and, particularly, that Diabolus had put into Will-be-will's hand all the strong places in Mansoul; and that Mr. Affection was made my Lord Will-be-will's deputy in his most rebellious affairs. Yea, said the messenger, this monster, Lord Will-be-will, has openly disavowed his King Shaddai, and hath horribly given his faith and plighted his troth to Diabolus.[66]
'Also,' said the messenger, 'besides all this, the new king, or rather rebellious tyrant, over the once famous, but now perishing, town of Mansoul, has set up a Lord Mayor and a Recorder of his own. For Mayor, he has set up one Mr. Lustings, and for Recorder, Mr. Forget-good; two of the vilest of all the town of Mansoul.' This faithful messenger also proceeded, and told what a sort of new burgesses Diabolus had made, also that he had builed several strong forts, towers, and strongholds in Mansoul. He told too, the which I had almost forgot, how Diabolus had put the town of Mansoul into arms, the better to capacitate them on his behalf to make resistance against Shaddai their king, should he come to reduce them to their former obedience.
Now this tidings-teller did not deliver his relation of things in private, but in open court, the King and his Son, high lords, chief captains, and nobles, being all there present to hear. But by that they had heard the whole of the story, it would have amazed one to have seen, had he been there to behold it, what sorrow and grief, and compunction of spirit, there was among all sorts, to think that famous Mansoul was now taken; only the King, and his Son foresaw all this long before, yea, and sufficiently provided for the relief of Mansoul, though they told not everybody thereof. Yet, because they also would have a share in condoling of the misery of Mansoul, therefore they also did, and that at a rate of the highest degree, bewail the losing of Mansoul. The King said plainly, 'That it grieved him at his heart,' and you may be sure that his Son was not a whit behind him (Gen 6:5,6). Thus gave they conviction to all about them, that they had love and compassion for the famous town of Mansoul. Well, when the King and his Son were retired into the privy-chamber, there they again consulted about what they had designed before, to wit, that as Mansoul should in time be suffered to be lost, so as certainly it should be recovered again; recovered I say, in such a way as that both the King and his Son would get themselves eternal fame and glory thereby. Wherefore after this consult, the Son of Shaddai, a sweet and comely person, and one that had always great affection for those that were in affliction, but one that had mortal enmity in his heart against Diabolus, because he was designed for it, and because he sought his crown and dignity. This Son of Shaddai, I say, having stricken hands[67] with his Father, and promised that he would be his servant to recover his Mansoul again, stood by his resolution, nor would he repent of the same(Isa 49:5; 1 Tim 1:15; Heb 13:14). The purport of which agreement was this: to wit, That at a certain time prefixed by both, the King's Son should take a journey into the country of Universe; and there, in a way of justice and equity, by making of amends for the follies of Mansoul, he should lay a foundation of her perfect deliverance from Diabolus, and from his tyranny.[68]
Moreover, Emmanuel resolved to make, at a time convenient, a war upon the giant Diabolus, even while he was possessed of the town of Mansoul; and that he would fairly, by strength of hand, drive him out of his hold, his nest, and take it to himself, to be his habitation.
This now being resolved upon, order was given to the Lord Chief Secretary, to draw up a fair record of what was determined, and to cause that it should be published in all the corners of the kingdom of Universe. A short breviate[69] of the contents thereof you may, if you please, take here as follows:
'Let all men know who are concerned, That the Son of Shaddai, the great King, is engaged, by covenant to his Father, to bring his Mansoul to him again; yea, and to put Mansoul too, through the power of his matchless love, into a far better, and more happy condition than it was in before it was taken by Diabolus.'[70]
These papers, therefore, were published in several places, to the no little molestation of the tyrant Diabolus, for now, thought he, I shall be molested, and my habitation will be taken from me.
But when this matter, I mean this purpose of the King and his Son, did at first take air at court, who can tell how the high lords, chief captains, and noble princes, that were there, were taken with the business. First, they whispered it one to another, and after that it began to ring out throughout the King's palace; all wondering at the glorious design that between the King and his Son was on foot for the miserable town of Mansoul. Yea, the courtiers could scarce do anything, either for the King or kingdom, but they would mix with the doing thereof a noise of the love of the King and his Son, that they had for the town of Mansoul.
Nor could these lords, high captains, and princes be content to keep this news at court, yea, before the records thereof were perfected, themselves came down and told it in Universe. At last it came to the ears, as I said, of Diabolus, to his no little discontent. For you must think it would perplex him to hear of such a design against him; well, but after a few casts in his mind, he concluded upon these four things.
First. That this news, this good tidings, if possible, should be kept from the ears of the town of Mansoul.[71] For, said he, if they shall once come to the knowledge that Shaddai, their former King, and Emmanuel, his Son, are contriving of good for the town of Mansoul; what can be expected by me, but that Mansoul will make a revolt from under my hand and government, and return again to him.
Now, to accomplish this his design, he renews his flattery with my Lord Will-be-will, and also gives him strict charge and command, that he should keep watch by day and by night at all the gates of the town, especially Ear-gate and Eye-gate. For I hear of a design, quoth he, a design to make us all traitors, and that Mansoul must be reduced to its first bondage again. I hope they are but flying stories, quoth he; however, let no such news by any means be let into Mansoul, lest the people be dejected thereat; I think, my Lord, it can be no welcome news to you, I am sure it is none to me. And I think that at this time it should be all our wisdom and care to nip the head of all such rumours as shall tend to trouble our people. Wherefore, I desire, my Lord, that you will in this matter do as I say, let there be strong guards daily kept at every gate of the town. Stop also and examine from whence such come, that you perceive do from far come hither to trade; nor let them by any means be admitted into Mansoul, unless you shall plainly perceive that they are favourers of our excellent government. I command, moreover, said Diabolus, that there be spies continually walking up and down the town of Mansoul, and let them have power to suppress, and destroy, any that they shall perceive to be plotting against us, or that shall prate of what by Shaddai and Emmanuel is intended.
This, therefore, was accordingly done; my Lord Will-be-will hearkened to his Lord and master, went willingly after the commandment, and, with all the diligence he could, kept any that would from going out abroad, or that sought to bring this tidings to Mansoul, from coming into the town.
Secondly. This done, in the next place, Diabolus, that he might make Mansoul as sure as he could, frames and imposes a new oath and horrible covenant upon the townsfolk: to wit, 'That they should never desert him, nor his government, nor yet betray him, nor seek to alter his laws; but that they should own, confess, stand by, and acknowledge him for their rightful king, in defiance to any that do, or hereafter shall, by any pretence, law, or title whatever, lay claim to the town of Mansoul.' Thinking belike that Shaddai had not power to absolve them from this covenant with death, and agreement with hell (Isa 28:15). Nor did the silly Mansoul stick or boggle at all at this most monstrous engagement, but, as if it had been a sprat in the mouth of a whale, they swallowed it without any chewing. Were they troubled at it? Nay, they rather bragged and boasted of their so brave fidelity to the tyrant, their pretended King, swearing that they would never be changelings, nor forsake their old Lord for a new.[72]
Thus did Diabolus tie poor Mansoul fast; but jealousy, that never thinks itself strong enough, put him, in the next place, upon another exploit, which was yet more, if possible, to debauch this town of Mansoul. Wherefore he caused, by the hand of one Mr. Filth, an odious, nasty, lascivious piece of beastliness to be drawn up in writing,[73] and to be set upon the castle gates; whereby he granted and gave license to all his true and trusty sons in Mansoul, to do whatsoever their lustful appetites prompted them to do, and that no man was to let, hinder, or control them, upon pain of incurring the displeasure of their prince.
Now this he did for these reasons:
1. That the town of Mansoul might be yet made weaker and weaker, and so more unable, should tiding come that their redemption was designed, to believe, hope, or consent to the truth thereof. For reason says, the bigger the sinner, the less grounds of hopes of mercy.[74]
2. The second reason was, If perhaps, Emmanuel, the Son of Shaddai their king, by seeing the horrible and profane doings of the town of Mansoul, might repent, though entered into a covenant of redeeming them, of pursuing that covenant of their redemption; for he knew that Shaddai was holy, and that his Son Emmanuel was holy; yea, he knew it by woeful experience; for, for his iniquity and sin was Diabolus cast from the highest orbs. Wherefore what more rational than for him to conclude, that thus for sin it might fare with Mansoul. But fearing also lest this knot should break, he bethinks himself of another, to wit:
3. To endeavour to possess all hearts in the town of Mansoul that Shaddai was raising of an army, to come to overthrow and utterly to destroy this town of Mansoul, and this he did to forestal any tidings that might come to their ears of their deliverance; for, thought he, if I first bruit[75] this, the tidings that shall come after, will all be swallowed up of this; for what else will Mansoul say, when they shall hear that they must be delivered, but that the true meaning is, Shaddai intends to destroy them; wherefore, he summons the whole town into the market-place, and there, with deceitful tongue, thus he addresses himself unto them:—
'Gentlemen, and my very good friends, You are all, as you know, my legal subjects, and men of the famous town of Mansoul; you know how, from the first day that I have been with you until now, I have behaved myself among you, and what liberty, and great privileges you have enjoyed under my government, I hope to your honour, and mine, and also to your content and delight. Now, my famous Mansoul, a noise of trouble there is abroad, of trouble to the town of Mansoul, sorry I am thereof for your sakes. For I received but now by the post from my Lord Lucifer—and he useth to have good intelligence—that your old King Shaddai is raising of an army to come against you, to destroy you root and branch:[76] and this, O Mansoul, is now the cause that at this time I have called you together; namely, to advise what in this juncture is best to be done; for my part, I am but one, and can with ease shift for myself, did I list to seek my own ease, and to leave my Mansoul in all the danger. But my heart is so firmly united to you, and so unwilling am I to leave you, that I am willing to stand and fall with you, to the utmost hazard that shall befall me.[77] What say you, O my Mansoul? Will you now desert your old friend, or do you think of standing by me?' Then as one man, with one mouth, they cried out together, 'Let him die the death that will not.'
Then said Diabolus again, 'It is in vain for us to hope for quarter, for this King knows not how to show it: true, perhaps, he at his first sitting down before us will talk of, and pretend to, mercy, that thereby, with the more ease, and less trouble, he may again make himself the master of Mansoul. Whatever therefore he shall say, believe not one syllable or tittle of it, for all such language is but to overcome us, and to make us, while we wallow in our blood, the trophies of his merciless victory. My mind is, therefore, that we resolve, to the last man, to resist him, and not to believe him upon any terms; for in at that door will come our danger.[78] But shall we be flattered out of our lives? I hope you know more of the rudiments of politics than to suffer yourselves so pitifully to be served.
'But suppose he should, if he get us to yield, save some of our lives, or the lives of some of them that are underlings in Mansoul, what help will that be to you that are the chief of the town; especially of you whom I have set up, and whose greatness has been procured by you through your faithful sticking to me? And suppose again, that he should give quarter to every one of you, be sure he will bring you into that bondage under which you were captivated before, or a worse; and then what good will your lives do you? Shall you with him live in pleasure as you do now? No, no, you must be bound by laws that will pinch you, and be made to do that which at present is hateful to you; I am for you, if you are for me, and it is better to die valiantly, than to live like pitiful slaves.[79] But I say, the life of a slave will be counted a life too good for Mansoul now; blood, blood, nothing but blood is in every blast of Shaddai's trumpet against poor Mansoul now.[80] Pray, be concerned, I hear he is coming up; and stand to your arms, that now while you have any leisure, I may learn you some feats of war. Armour for you I have, and by me it is; yea, and it is sufficient for Mansoul from top to toe; nor can you be hurt by what his force can do, if you shall keep it well girt and fastened about you. Come therefore to my castle, and welcome, and harness yourselves for the war. There is helmet, breastplate, sword, and shield, and what not, that will make you fight like men.
1. 'My helmet, otherwise called an head-piece, is hope of doing well at last, what lives soever you live. This is that which they had, who said, that they should have peace though they walked in the wickedness of their heart, "to add drunkenness to thirst" (Deut 29:19). A piece of approved armour this is, and whoever has it and can hold it, so long no arrow, dart, sword, or shield can hurt him; this therefore, keep on, and thou wilt keep off many a blow, my Mansoul.[81]
2. 'My breastplate is a breastplate of iron; I had it forged in mine own country, and all my soldiers are armed therewith; in plain language it is a hard heart, a heart as hard as iron, and as much past feeling as a stone; the which if you get, and keep, neither mercy shall win you, nor judgment fright you (Rev 9:9). This, therefore, is a piece of armour most necessary for all to put on that hate Shaddai, and that would fight against him under my banner.
3. 'My sword is a tongue that is set on fire of hell (Psa 57:4), and that can bend itself to speak evil of Shaddai, his Son, his ways, and people (Psa 64:3). Use this; it has been tried a thousand times twice told; whoever hath it, keeps it, and makes that use of it as I would have him, can never be conquered by mine enemy (James 3:3-5).
4. 'My, shield is unbelief, or calling into question the truth of the Word, or all the sayings that speak of the judgment that Shaddai has appointed for wicked men. Use this shield (Job 15:26). Many attempts he has made upon it, and sometimes, it is true, it has been bruised (Psa 76:3). But they that have writ of the wars of Emmanuel against my servants, have testified that he could do no mighty work there because of their unbelief (Mark 6:5,6). Now, to handle this weapon of mine aright, it is not to believe things because they are true, of what sort or by whomsoever asserted. If he speak of judgment, care not for it; if he speak of mercy, care not for it; if he promise, if he swear that he would do to Mansoul, if it turn, no hurt but good, regard not what is said; question the truth of all; for this is to wield the shield of unbelief aright, and as my servants ought and do; and he that doth otherwise loves me not, nor do I count him but an enemy to me.[82]
5. 'Another part or piece,' said Diabolus, 'of mine excellent armour is a dumb and prayerless spirit—a spirit that scorns to cry for mercy; wherefore be you, my Mansoul, sure that you make use of this.[83] What! cry for quarter, never do that if you would be mine; I know you are stout men, and am sure that I have clad you with that which is armour of proof; wherefore, to cry to Shaddai for mercy, let that be far from you. Besides all this, I have a maul, fire-brands, arrows and death, all good hand-weapons, and such as will do execution.'[84]
After he had thus furnished his men with armour and arms, he addressed himself to them in such like words as these:—'Remember,' quoth he, 'that I am your rightful king, and that you have taken an oath, and entered into covenant to be true to me and my cause; I say, remember this, and show yourselves stout and valiant men of Mansoul. Remember also the kindness that I have always showed to you, and that without your petitions: I have granted to you external things, wherefore the privileges, grants, immunities, profits and honours wherewith I endowed you, do call for at your hands returns of loyalty, my lion-like men of Mansoul; and when so fit a time to show it as when another shall seek to take my dominion over you, into their own hands? One word more, and I have done, Can we but stand, and overcome this one shock or brunt, I doubt not but in little time all the world will be ours; and when that day comes, my true hearts, I will make you kings, princes, and captains, and what brave days shall we have then?'[85]
Diabolus having thus armed, and forearmed his servants and vassals in Mansoul, against their good and lawful King Shaddai; in the next place, he doubleth his guards at the gates of the town, and he takes himself to the castle, which was his stronghold. His vassals also, to show their wills, and supposed, but ignoble, gallantry, exercise themselves in their arms every day, and teach one another feats of war; they also defied their enemies, and sang up the praises of their tyrant; they threatened also what men they would be, if ever things should rise so high as a war between Shaddai and their king.[86]
[CONTENTS:—Shaddai sends an army of forty thousand to reduce Mansoul, under the direction of four captains, Boanerges, Conviction, Judgment, and Execution, who address the inhabitants with great energy, but to little purpose—Diabolus, Incredulity, Ill-pause, and others, interfere to prevent submission—Prejudice defends Ear-gate with a guard of sixty deaf men.]
Now all this time, the good King, the King Shaddai was preparing to send an army to recover the town of Mansoul again, from under the tyranny of their pretended king Diabolus. But he thought good, at first, not to send them by the hand and conduct of brave Emmanuel his Son, but under the hand of some of his servants, to see first, by them, the temper of Mansoul; and whether by them they would be won to the obedience of their King. The army consisted of above forty thousand, all true men; for they came from the King's own court, and were those of his own choosing.
They came up to Mansoul under the conduct of four stout generals, each man being a captain of ten thousand men, and these are their names, and their signs. The name of the first was Boanerges; the name of the second was Captain Conviction; the name of the third was Captain Judgment; and the name of the fourth was Captain Execution. These were the captains that Shaddai sent to regain Mansoul.[87]
These four captains, as was said, the King thought fit, in the first place, to send to Mansoul, to make an attempt upon it; for indeed, generally in all his wars he did use to send these four captains in the van, for they were very stout and rough-hewn men, men that were fit to break the ice, and to make their way by dint of sword, and their men were like themselves (Psa 60:4).[88]
To each of these captains the King gave a banner that it might be displayed, because of the goodness of his cause, and because of the right that he had to Mansoul.
First to Captain Boanerges, for he was the chief; to him, I say, was given ten thousand men. His ensign was Mr. Thunder; he bare the black colours, and his scutcheon was three burning thunderbolts (Mark 3:17). The second captain was Captain Conviction; to him was also given ten thousand men. His ensign's name was Mr. Sorrow; he did bear the pale colours, and his scutcheon was the book of the law wide open, from whence issued a flame of fire (Deut 33:2). The third captain was Captain Judgment; to him was given ten thousand men. His ensign's name was Mr. Terror; he bare the red colours, and his scutcheon was a burning fiery furnace (Matt 13:40,41). The fourth captain was Captain Execution; to him was given ten thousand men. His ensign was Mr. Justice; he also bare the red colours, and his scutcheon was a fruitless tree, with an axe lying at the root thereof (Matt 3:10).
These four captains, as I said, had every one of them under his command ten thousand men; all of good fidelity to the King, and stout at their military actions.[89]
Well, the captains, and their forces, their men and under officers, being had upon a day by Shaddai into the field, and there called all over by their names, were then and there put into such harness[90] as became their degree, and that service that now they were going about for their King.[91]
Now, when the King had mustered his forces—for it is he that mustereth the host to the battle—he gave unto the captains their several commissions, with charge and commandment, in the audience of all the soldiers, that they should take heed faithfully and courageously to do and execute the same. Their commissions were, for the substance of them, the same in form; though as to name, title, place, and degree of the captains, there might be some, but very small variation. And here let me give you an account of the matter and sum contained in their commission.
A commission from the great Shaddai, King of Mansoul, to his trusty and noble Captain Boanerges,[92] for his making war upon the town of Mansoul.
'O thou Boanerges, one of my stout and thundering captains, over one ten thousand of my valiant and faithful servants; go thou in my name, with this thy force, to the miserable town of Mansoul; and when thou comest thither, offer them first conditions of peace (Matt 10:11; Luke 10:5), and command them, that casting off the yoke and tyranny of the wicked Diabolus, they return to me, their rightful Prince and Lord; command them, also, that they cleanse themselves from all that is his in the town of Mansoul, and look to thyself that thou hast good satisfaction touching the truth of their obedience. Thus when thou hast commanded them, if they in truth submit thereto, then do thou, to the uttermost of thy power, what in thee lies, to set up for me a garrison in the famous town of Mansoul; nor do thou hurt the least native that moveth or breatheth therein, if they will submit themselves to me, but treat thou such as if they were thy friend or brother—for all such I love, and they shall be dear unto me—and tell them that I will take a time to come unto them, and to let them know that I am merciful (1 Thess 2:7-10).
'But if they shall—notwithstanding thy summons, and the production of thy authority—resist, stand out against thee, and rebel, then do I command thee to make use of all thy cunning, power, might, and force, to bring them under by strength of hand. Farewell.'
Thus you see the sum of their commissions, for, as I said before, for the substance of them they were the same that the rest of the noble captains had.
Wherefore they having received each commander his authority, at the hand of their King, the day being appointed, and the place of their rendezvous prefixed, each commander appeared in such gallantry as became his cause and calling. So, after a new entertainment from Shaddai, with flying colours, they set forward to march towards the famous town of Mansoul. Captain Boanerges led the van; Captain Conviction and Captain Judgment made up the main body, and Captain Execution brought up the rear (Eph 2:13,17). They then having a great way to go, for the town of Mansoul was far off from the court of Shaddai, they marched through the regions and countries of many people, not hurting or abusing any, but blessing wherever they came. They also lived upon the King's cost in all the way they went.[93]
Having travelled thus for many days,[94] at last they came within sight of Mansoul; the which, when they saw, the captains could for their hearts do no less than for a while bewail the condition of the town, for they quickly saw how that it was prostrate to the will of Diabolus, and to his ways and designs. Well, to be short, the captains came up before the town, march up to Ear-gate, sit down there, for that was the place of hearing. So, when they had pitched their tents and entrenched themselves, they addressed themselves to make their assault.
Now the townsfolk at first, beholding so gallant a company, so bravely accoutred, and so excellently disciplined, having on their glittering armour, and displaying of their flying colours, could not but come out of their houses and gaze. But the cunning fox, Diabolus, fearing that the people, after this sight, should on a sudden summons, open the gates to the captains, came down with all haste from the castle, and made them retire into the body of the town, who, when he had them there, made this lying and deceivable speech unto them:—
'Gentlemen,' quoth he, 'although you are my trusty and well-beloved friends, yet I cannot but a little chide you for your late uncircumspect action, in going out to gaze on that great and mighty force that but yesterday sat down before, and have now entrenched themselves, in order to the maintaining of a siege against, the famous town of Mansoul. Do you know who they are, whence they come, and what is their purpose in setting down before the town of Mansoul? They are they of whom I have told you long ago, that they would come to destroy this town, and against whom I have been at the cost to arm you with cap-a-pie[95] for your body, besides great fortifications for your mind. Wherefore, then, did you not rather, even at the first appearance of them, cry out, fire the beacons, and give the whole town an alarm concerning them, that we might all have been in a posture of defence, and been ready to have received them with the highest acts of defiance, then had you showed yourselves men to my liking; whereas, by what you have done, you have made me half-afraid; I say half-afraid, that when they and we shall come to push a pike, I shall find you want courage to stand it out any longer. Wherefore have I commanded a watch, and that you should double your guards at the gates? Wherefore have I endeavoured to make you as hard as iron, and your hearts as a piece of the nether millstone? Was it, think you, that you might show yourselves women, and that you might go out like a company of innocents to gaze on your mortal foes? Fie, fie, put yourselves into a posture of defence, beat up the drum, gather together in warlike manner, that our foes may know that, before they shall conquer this corporation there are valiant men in the town of Mansoul.
'I will leave off now to chide,[96] and will not further rebuke you; but I charge you that henceforwards you let me see no more such actions. Let not henceforward a man of you, without order first obtained from me, so much as show his head over the wall of the town of Mansoul. You have now heard me, do as I have commanded, and you shall cause me that I dwell securely with you, and that I take care as for myself, so for your safety and honour also. Farewell.'
Now were the townsmen strangely altered; they were as men stricken with a panic fear; they ran to and fro through the streets of the town of Mansoul, crying out, 'Help, help! the men that turn the world upside down are come hither also;' nor could any of them be quiet after, but still, as men bereft of wit, they cried out, 'The destroyers of our peace and people are come.' This went down with Diabolus. 'Aye!' quoth he to himself, 'this I like well, now it is as I would have it; now you show your obedience to your prince, hold you but here, and then let them take the town if they can.'
Well, before the King's forces had sat before Mansoul three days, Captain Boanerges commanded his trumpeter to go down to Ear-gate, and there, in the name of the great Shaddai, to summon Mansoul to give audience to the message that he, in his Master's name, was to them commanded to deliver. So the trumpeter, whose name was Take-heed-what-you-hear, went up, as he was commanded, to Ear-gate, and there sounded his trumpet for a hearing; but there was none that appeared that gave answer or regard; for so had Diabolus commanded. So the trumpeter returned to his captain, and told him what he had done, and also how he had sped. Whereat the captain was grieved, but bid the trumpeter go to his tent.
Again Captain Boanerges sendeth his trumpeter to Ear-gate, to sound, as before, for a hearing. But they again kept close, came not out, nor would they give him an answer, so observant were they of the command of Diabolus their king.[97]
Then the captains, and other field-officers, called a council of war,[98] to consider what further was to be done for the gaining of the town of Mansoul, and, after some close and thorough debate upon the contents of their commissions, they concluded yet to give to the town, by the hand of the fore-named trumpeter, another summons to hear; but if that shall be refused, said they, and that the town shall stand it out still, then they determined, and bid the trumpeter tell them so, that they would endeavour, by what means they could, to compel them by force to the obedience of their King (Luke 14:23).
So Captain Boanerges commanded his trumpeter to go up to Ear-gate again, and, in the name of the great King Shaddai, to give it a very loud summons, to come down without delay to Ear-gate, there to give audience to the King's most noble captains. So the trumpeter went and did as he was commanded. He went up to Ear-gate and sounded his trumpet, and gave a third summons to Mansoul; he said, moreover, that if this they should still refuse to do, the captains of his Prince would with might come down upon them, and endeavour to reduce them to their obedience by force (Isa 58:1).
Then stood up my Lord Will-be-will, who was the governor of the town; this Will-be-will was that apostate of whom mention was made before, and the keeper of the gates of Mansoul. He, therefore, with big and ruffling words, demanded of the trumpeter who he was, whence he came, and what was the cause of his making so hideous a noise at the gate, and speaking such insufferable words against the town of Mansoul?
The trumpeter answered, 'I am servant to the most noble captain, Captain Boanerges, general of the forces of the great King Shaddai, against whom both thyself, with the whole town of Mansoul, have rebelled, and lift up the heel; and my master, the captain, hath a special message to this town, and to thee as a member thereof; the which, if you of Mansoul shall peaceably hear, so;[99] and if not, you must take what follows.'
Then said the Lord Will-be-will, 'I will carry thy words to my Lord, and will know what he will say.'[100] But the trumpeter soon replied, saying. 'Our message is not to the giant Diabolus, but to the miserable town of Mansoul. Nor shall we at all regard what answer by him is made, nor yet by any for him. We are sent to this town to recover it from under his cruel tyranny, and to persuade it to submit, as in former times it did, to the most excellent King Shaddai.'
Then said the Lord Will-be-will, 'I will do your errand to the town.' The trumpeter then replied, 'Sir, do not deceive us, lest in so doing, you deceive yourselves much more.' He added, moreover, 'For we are resolved, if in peaceable manner you do not submit yourselves, then to make a war upon you, and to bring you under by force. And of the truth of what I now say, this shall be a sign unto you: you shall see the black flag, with its hot-burning thunder-bolts, set upon the mount to-morrow, as a token of defiance against your prince, and of our resolutions to reduce you to your Lord and rightful King.'
So the said Lord Will-be-will returned from off the wall, and the trumpeter came into the camp. When the trumpeter was come into the camp, the captains and officers of the mighty King Shaddai came together to know if he had obtained a hearing, and what was the effect of his errand. So the trumpeter told, saying, 'When I had sounded my trumpet,[101] and had called aloud to the town for a hearing, my Lord Will-be-will, the governor of the town, and he that hath charge of the gates, came up, when he heard me sound, and looking over the wall, he asked me what I was, whence I came, and what was the cause of my making this noise? So I told him my errand, and by whose authority I brought it. Then, said he, I will tell it to the governor and to Mansoul; and then I returned to my Lords.'
Then said the brave Boanerges, 'Let us yet for a while lie still in our trenches, and see what these rebels will do.' Now when the time drew nigh that audience by Mansoul must be given to the brave Boanerges and his companions, it was commanded that all the men of war, throughout the whole camp of Shaddai, should as one man stand to their arms, and make themselves ready, if the town of Mansoul shall hear, to receive it forthwith to mercy, but if not, to force a subjection. So the day being come, the trumpeters sounded, and that throughout the whole camp, that the men of war might be in a readiness for that which then should be the work of the day. But when they that were in the town of Mansoul heard the sound of the trumpets throughout the camp of Shaddai, and thinking no other but that it must be in order to storming the corporation, they at first were put to great consternation of spirit; but after they were a little settled again, they also made what preparation they could for a war, if they did storm, else to secure themselves.
Well, when the utmost time was come, Boanerges was resolved to hear their answer; wherefore he sent out his trumpeter again, to summons Mansoul to a hearing of the message that they had brought from Shaddai. So he went and sounded, and the townsmen came up, but made Ear-gate as sure as they could (Zech 7:11). Now when they were come up to the top of the wall, Captain Boanerges desired to see the Lord Mayor, but my Lord Incredulity was then Lord Mayor, for he came in the room of my Lord Lustings. So Incredulity he came up and showed himself over the wall; but when the Captain Boanerges had set his eyes upon him, he cried out aloud, 'This is not he, where is my Lord Understanding, the ancient Lord Mayor of the town of Mansoul? for to him I would deliver my message?'
Then said the giant—for Diabolus was also come down—to the captain, 'Mr. Captain, you have by your boldness given to Mansoul, at least, four summonses to subject herself to your King, by whose authority I know not, nor will I dispute that now; I ask, therefore, what is the reason of all this ado, or what would you be at, if you knew yourselves?'
Then Captain Boanerges, whose was the black colours, and whose escutcheon was the three burning thunder-bolts, taking no notice of the giant or of his speech, thus addressed himself to the town of Mansoul: 'Be it known unto you, O unhappy and rebellious Mansoul, that the most gracious King, the great King Shaddai, my Master, hath sent me unto you with commission,' aand so he showed to the town his broad seal, 'to reduce you to his obedience. And he hath commanded me, in case you yield upon my summons, to carry it to you as if you were my friends, or brother; but he also hath bid, that if after summons to submit, you still stand out and rebel, we should endeavour to take you by force.'
Then stood forth Captain Conviction and said—his was the pale colours, and for an escutcheon, he had the book of the law wide open [from whence issued a flame of fire]—'Hear, O Mansoul! Thou, O Mansoul, wast once famous for innocency, but now thou art degenerated into lies and deceit (Rom 3:3,10-23, 16:17,18). Thou hast heard what my brother the Captain Boanerges hath said; and it is your wisdom, and will be your happiness, to stoop to, and accept of, conditions of peace and mercy when offered; especially when offered by one against whom thou hast rebelled, and one who is of power to tear thee in pieces, for so is Shaddai our King; nor, when he is angry, can anything stand before him (Psa 1:21,22). If you say you have not sinned, nor acted rebellion against our King, the whole of your doings, since the day that you cast off his service—and there was the beginning of your sin—will sufficiently testify against you. What else means your hearkening to the tyrant, and your receiving him for your king? What means else your rejecting of the laws of Shaddai, and your obeying of Diabolus? Yea, what means this your taking up of arms against, and the shutting of your gates upon us, the faithful servants of your King? Be ruled then, and accept of my brother's invitation, and overstand not the time of mercy, but agree with thine adversary quickly (Luke 12:58,59). Ah, Mansoul, suffer not thyself to be kept from mercy, and to be run into a thousand miseries, by the flattering wiles of Diabolus. Perhaps that piece of deceit may attempt to make you believe that we seek our own profit in this our service;[102] but know, it is obedience to our King, and love to your happiness, that is the cause of this undertaking of ours.
'Again, I say to thee, O Mansoul, consider if it be not amazing grace that Shaddai should so humble himself as he doth. Now he, by us reasons with you, in a way of entreaty and sweet persuasions, that you would subject yourselves to him. Has he that need of you, that we are sure you have of him? No, no; but he is merciful, and will not that Mansoul should die, but turn to him and live' (2 Cor 5:18-21).
Then stood forth Captain Judgment, whose was the red colours, and for an escutcheon he had the burning fiery furnace, and he said, 'O ye, the inhabitants of the town of Mansoul, that have lived so long in rebellion and acts of treason against the King Shaddai; know that we come not to-day to this place, in this manner, with our message of our own minds, or to revenge our own quarrel; it is the King, my Master, that hath sent us to reduce you to your obedience to him, the which if you refuse in a peaceable way to yield, we have commission to compel you thereto. And never think of yourselves, nor yet suffer the tyrant Diabolus to persuade you to think, that our King, by his power, is not able to bring you down, and to lay you under his feet; for he is the former of all things, and if he touches the mountains, they smoke. Nor will the gate of the King's clemency stand always open; for the day that shall burn like an oven is before him, yea, it hasteth greatly, it slumbereth not (Mal 4:1; 2 Peter 2:3).
'O Mansoul! is it little in thine eyes that our King doth offer thee mercy, and that, after so many provocations? Yea, he still holdeth out his golden sceptre to thee, and will not yet suffer his gate to be shut against thee. Wilt thou provoke him to do it? If so, consider of what I say:—To thee it is opened no more for ever (Job 36:14). If thou sayest thou shalt not see him, yet judgment is before him; therefore trust thou in him. Yea, "because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away with his stroke; then a great ransom cannot deliver thee" (v 18). Will he esteem thy riches? No; not gold, nor all the forces of strength. "He hath prepared his throne for judgment" (Psa 9:7). For "he will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire" (Isa 66:15). Therefore, O Mansoul, take heed, lest after thou hast fulfilled the judgment of the wicked, justice and judgment should take hold of thee.'
Now, while the Captain Judgment was making this oration to the town of Mansoul, it was observed by some that Diabolus trembled.[103] But he proceeded in his parable, and said, 'O thou woful town of Mansoul! wilt thou not yet set open thy gate to receive us, the deputies of thy King, and those that would rejoice to see thee live? "Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that he shall deal" in judgment "with thee?" (Eze 22:14). I say, canst thou endure to be forced to drink, as one would drink sweet wine, the sea of wrath that our King has prepared for Diabolus and his angels? Consider betimes, consider.'
Then stood forth the fourth captain, the noble Captain Execution, and said: 'O town of Mansoul! once famous, but now like the fruitless bough; once the delight of the high ones, but now a den for Diabolus: hearken also to me, and to the words that I shall speak to thee in the name of the great Shaddai. Behold "the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down, and cast into the fire" (Matt 3:7-10).
'Thou, O town of Mansoul! hath hitherto been this fruitless tree; thou bearest nought but thorns and briars. Thy evil fruit fore-bespeaks thee not to be a good tree. Thy "grapes are grapes of gall, thy clusters are bitter" (Deut 32:32). Thou hast rebelled against thy King, and lo! we, the power and force of Shaddai, are the axe that is laid to thy roots. What sayest thou, wilt thou turn? I say again, tell me before the first blow is given, wilt thou turn? Our axe must first be laid to thy root, before it be laid at thy root; it must first be laid to thy root in a way of threatening, before it is laid at thy root by way of execution; and between these two is required thy repentance, and this is all the time that thou hast. What wilt thou do? wilt thou turn, or shall I smite? If I fetch my blow, Mansoul, down you go; for I have commission to lay my axe at as well as to thy roots, nor will anything but yielding to our King prevent doing of execution. What art thou fit for, O Mansoul, if mercy preventeth not, but to be hewn down, and cast into the fire and burned?
'O Mansoul! patience and forbearance do not act for ever; a year or two, or three, they may; but if thou provoke by a three years' rebellion—and thou hast already done more than this—then what follows but, cut it down? Nay, "After that thou shalt cut it down" (Luke 13:9). And dost thou think that these are but threatenings, or that our King has not power to execute his words? O Mansoul! thou wilt find that in the words of our King, when they are by sinners made little or light of, there is not only threatening, but burning coals of fire. Thou hast been a cumber-ground[104] long already, and wilt thou continue so still? Thy sin has brought this army to thy walls, and shall it bring it in judgment to do execution into thy town? Thou hast heard what the captains have said, but as yet thou shuttest thy gates; speak out, Mansoul, wilt thou do so still, or wilt thou accept of conditions of peace?'[105]
These brave speeches of these four noble captains the town of Mansoul refused to hear, yet a sound thereof did beat against Ear-gate, though the force thereof could not break it open. In fine, the town desired a time to prepare their answer to these demands. The captains then told them, 'that if they would throw out to them one Ill-pause, that was in the town, that they might reward him according to his works, then they would give them time to consider; but if they would not cast him to them over the wall of Mansoul, then they would give them none; for,' said they, 'we know that so long as Ill-pause draws breath in Mansoul, all good consideration will be confounded, and nothing but mischief will come thereon.'
Then Diabolus, who was there present, being loth to lose his Ill-pause, because he was his orator, (and yet be sure he had, could the captains have laid their fingers on him,) was resolved at this instant to give them answer by himself; but then, changing his mind, he commanded the then Lord Mayor, the Lord Incredulity, to do it, saying, 'My Lord, do you give these runagates an answer; and speak out, that Mansoul may hear, and understand you.'
So Incredulity, at Diabolus' command, began and said: 'Gentlemen, you have here, as we do behold, to the disturbance of our prince, and the molestation of the town of Mansoul, camped against it: but from whence you come we will not know, and what you are we will not believe. Indeed, you tell us in your terrible speech that you have this authority from Shaddai; but by what right he commands you to do it, of that we shall yet be ignorant. You have also, by the authority aforesaid, summoned this town to desert her Lord; and for protection, to yield up herself to the great Shaddai, your King; flatteringly telling her, that if she will do it, he will pass by, and not charge her with her past offences. Further, you have also, to the terror of the town of Mansoul, threatened, with great and sore destructions, to punish this corporation, if she consents not to do as your wills would have her.
'Now, captains, from whencesoever you come, and though your designs be never so right, yet know ye, that neither my Lord Diabolus, nor I his servant Incredulity, nor yet our brave Mansoul, doth regard either your persons, message, or the King that you say hath sent you: his power, his greatness, his vengeance, we fear not; nor will we yield at all to your summons.
'As for the war that you threaten to make upon us, we must therein defend ourselves as well as we can; and know ye, that we are not without wherewithal to bid defiance to you. And, in short, for I will not be tedious,' I tell you that we take you to be some vagabond runagate crew, that, having shaken off all obedience to your King, have gotten together in tumultuous manner, and are ranging from place to place to see if, through the flatteries you are skilled to make on the one side, and threats wherewith you think to fright on the other, to make some silly town, city, or country, to desert their place and leave it to you; but Mansoul is none of them. To conclude, we dread you not, we fear you not, nor will we obey your summons: our gates we will shut upon you, our place we will keep you out of; nor will we long thus suffer you to sit down before us. Our people must live in quiet; your appearance doth disturb them (Luke 11:21); wherefore arise with bag and baggage, and begone, or we will let fly from the walls against you.'[106]
This oration, made by old Incredulity, was seconded by desperate Will-be-will, in words to this effect: 'Gentlemen, we have heard your demands, and the noise of your threats, and have heard the sound of your summons, but we fear not your force; we regard not your threats, but will still abide as you found us. And we command you, that in three days' time you cease to appear in these parts, or you shall know what it is once to dare offer to rouse the lion Diabolus, when asleep in his town of Mansoul.'
The Recorder, whose name was Forget-good, he also added as followeth: 'Gentlemen, my Lords, as you see, have, with mild and gentle words, answered your rough and angry speeches; they have, moreover, in my hearing, given you leave quietly to depart as you came. Wherefore, take their kindness, and begone. We might have come out with force upon you, and have caused you to feel the dint of our swords; but as we love ease and quiet ourselves, so we love not to hurt or molest others.'[107]
Then did the town of Mansoul shout for joy; as if, by Diabolus and his crew, some great advantage had been gotten of the captains. They also rang the bells, and made merry, and danced upon the walls. Diabolus also returned to the castle, and the Lord Mayor and Recorder to their place; but the Lord Will-be-will took special care that the gates should be secured with double guards, double bolts, and double locks and bars. And that Ear-gate especially might the better be looked to—for that was the gate in at which the King's forces sought most to enter—the Lord Will-be-will made one old Mr. Prejudice, an angry and ill-conditioned fellow, captain of the ward at that gate, and put under his power sixty men, called Deafmen;[108] men advantageous for that service, forasmuch as they mattered no words of the captains, nor of their soldiers.[109]
[CONTENTS:—The captains resolve to give them battle—The town resolutely resists, and the captains retire to winter quarters—Tradition, Human-wisdom, and Man's invention enlist under Boanerges, but are taken prisoners, and carried to Diabolus; they are admitted soldiers for him, under Captain Anything—Hostilities are renewed, and the town much molested—A famine and mutiny in Mansoul—The town sounds a parley—Propositions made and rejected—Understanding and Conscience quarrel with Incredulity—A skirmish ensues, and mischief is done on both sides.]
Now, when the captains saw the answer of the great ones, and that they could not get a hearing from the old natives of the town, and that Mansoul was resolved to give the King's army battle, they prepared themselves to receive them, and to try it out by the power of the arm. And first, they made their force more formidable against Ear-gate; for they knew that unless they could penetrate that, no good could be done upon the town. This done, they put the rest of their men in their places; after which they gave out the word, which was, 'YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN.'[110] Then they sounded the trumpet; then they in the town made them answer, with shout against shout, charge against charge, and so the battle began. Now they in the town had planted upon the tower over Ear-gate, two great guns, the one called Highmind, and the other Heady. Unto these two guns they trusted much; they were cast in the castle by Diabolus' founder, whose name was Mr. Puff-up; and mischievous pieces they were.[111] But so vigilant and watchful, when the captains saw them, were they, that though sometimes their shot would go by their ears with a whiz, yet they did them no harm. By these two guns the towns-folk made no question but greatly to annoy the camp of Shaddai, and well enough to secure the gate, but they had not much cause to boast of what execution they did, as by what follows will be gathered.
The famous Mansoul had also some other small pieces in it, of the which they made use against the camp of Shaddai.
They from the camp also did as stoutly, and with as much of that as may in truth be called valour, let fly as fast at the town and at Ear-gate: for they saw that unless they could break open Ear-gate, it would be but in vain to batter the wall. Now the King's captains had brought with them several slings, and two or three battering-rams; with their slings, therefore, they battered the houses and people of the town, and with their rams they sought to break Ear-gate open.
The camp and the town had several skirmishes, and brisk encounters, while the captains, with their engines, made many brave attempts to break open, or beat down, the tower that was over Ear-gate, and at the said gate to make their entrance. But Mansoul stood it out so lustily, through the rage of Diabolus, the valour of the Lord Will-be-will, and the conduct of old Incredulity, the Mayor, and Mr. Forget-good, the Recorder, that the charge and expense of that summer's wars, on the King's side, seemed to be almost quite lost, and the advantage to return to Mansoul. But when the captains saw how it was, they made a fair retreat, and entrenched themselves in their winter quarters. Now in this war, you must needs think there was much loss on both sides, of which be pleased to accept of this brief account following:—[112]
The King's captains, when they marched from the court to come up against Mansoul to war, as they came crossing over the country, they happened to light upon three young fellows that had a mind to go for soldiers; proper men they were, and men of courage and skill, to appearance. Their names were Mr. Tradition, Mr. Human-wisdom, and Mr. Man's-invention. So they came up to the captains, and proffered their services to Shaddai. The captains then told them of their design, and bid them not to be rash in their offers; but the young men told them they had considered the thing before, and that hearing they were upon their march for such a design, came hither on purpose to meet them, that they might be listed under their excellencies. Then Captain Boanerges, for that they were men of courage, listed them into his company, and so away they went to the war.
Now when the war was begun, in one of the briskest skirmishes, so it was, that a company of the Lord Will-be-will's men sallied out at the sally-port, or postern of the town, and fell in upon the rear of Captain Boanerges' men, where these three fellows happened to be, so they took them prisoners, and away they carried them into the town; where they had not lain long in durance, but it began to be noised about the streets of the town what three notable prisoners the Lord Will-be-will's men had taken, and brought in prisoners out of the camp of Shaddai. At length tidings thereof were carried to Diabolus to the castle, to wit, what my Lord Will-be-will's men had done, and whom they had taken prisoners.
Then Diabolus called for Will-be-will, to know the certainty of this matter. So he asked him, and he told him; then did the giant send for the prisoners, who, when they were come, demanded of them who they were, whence they came, and what they did in the camp of Shaddai; and they told him. Then he sent them to ward again. Not many days after, he sent for them to him again, and then asked them if they would be willing to serve him against their former captains. They then told him that they did not so much live by religion, as by the fates of fortune; and that since his lordship was willing to entertain them, they should be willing to serve him. Now while things were thus in hand, there was one Captain Anything, a great doer in the town of Mansoul, and to this Captain Anything did Diabolus send these men, with a note under his hand to receive them into his company; the contents of which letter were thus:—
'Anything, my darling, the three men that are the bearers of this letter have a desire to serve me in the war, nor know I better to whose conduct to commit them than to thine; receive them, therefore, in my name, as need shall require, make use of them against Shaddai and his men. Farewell.' So they came, and he received them; and he made of two of them serjeants, but he made Mr. Man's-invention his armour-bearer. But thus much for this, and now to return to the camp.[113]
They of the camp did also some execution upon the town, for they did beat down the roof of the Lord Mayor's house, and so laid him more open than he was before. They had almost, with a sling, slain my Lord Will-be-will outright; but he made a shift to recover again. But they made a notable slaughter among the aldermen, for with one only shot they cut off six of them; to wit, Mr. Swearing, Mr. Whoring, Mr. Fury, Mr. Stand-to-lies, Mr. Drunkenness, and Mr. Cheating.[114]
They also dismounted the two guns that stood upon the tower over Ear-gate, and laid them flat in the dirt.[115] I told you before, that the King's noble captains had drawn off to their winter quarters, and had there entrenched themselves and their carriages, so as with the best advantage to their King, and the greatest annoyance to the enemy, they might give seasonable and warm alarms to the town of Mansoul. And this design of them did so hit, that, I may say, they did almost what they would to the molestation of the corporation.
For now could not Mansoul sleep securely as before, nor could they now go to their debaucheries with that quietness as in times past. For they had from the camp of Shaddai such frequent, warm, and terrifying alarms; yea, alarms upon alarms, first at one gate, and then at another, and again at all the gates at once, that they were broken as to former peace. Yea, they had their alarms so frequently, and that when the nights[116] were at longest, the weather coldest, and so consequently the season most unseasonable; that that winter was to the town of Mansoul a winter by itself. Sometimes the trumpets would sound, and sometimes the slings would whirl the stones into the town. Sometimes ten thousand of the King's soldiers would be running round the walls of Mansoul at midnight, shouting, and lifting up the voice for the battle. Sometimes, again, some of them in the town would be wounded, and their cry and lamentable voice would be heard, to the great molestation of the now languishing town of Mansoul. Yea, so distressed with those that laid siege against them were they, that, I dare say, Diabolus their king had, in these days, his rest much broken.
In these days, as I was informed, new thoughts, and thoughts that began to run counter one to another, began to possess the minds of the men of the town of Mansoul. Some would say, 'There is no living thus'; others would then reply, 'This will be over shortly.' Then would a third stand up and answer, 'Let us turn to the King Shaddai, and so put an end to these troubles.' And a fourth would come in with a fear, saying, 'I doubt he will not receive us.'[117] The old gentleman too, the Recorder, that was so before Diabolus took Mansoul, he also began to talk aloud; and his words were now to the town of Mansoul as if they were great claps of thunder. No noise now so terrible to Mansoul as was his, with the noise of the soldiers, and shoutings of the captains.
Also, things began to grow scarce in Mansoul; now the things that her soul lusted after were departing from her. Upon all her pleasant things there was a blast, and burning instead of beauty. Wrinkles now, and some shows of the shadow of death, were upon the inhabitants of Mansoul.[118] And now, O how glad would Mansoul have been to have enjoyed quietness and satisfaction of mind, though joined with the meanest condition in the world![119]
The captains also, in the deep of this winter, did send, by the mouth of Boanerges' trumpeter, a summons to Mansoul to yield up herself to the King, the great King Shaddai. They said it once, and twice, and thrice; not knowing but that at some times there might be in Mansoul some willingness to surrender up themselves unto them, might they but have the colour of an invitation to do it under. Yea, so far as I could gather, the town had been surrendered up to them before now, had it not been for the opposition of old Incredulity, and the fickleness of the thoughts of my Lord Will-be-will. Diabolus also began to rave, wherefore Mansoul, as to yielding, was not yet all of one mind, therefore, they still lay distressed under these perplexing fears.[120]
I told you but now that they of the King's army had this winter sent three times to Mansoul, to submit herself.
First. The first time the trumpeter went, he went with words of peace, telling of them, 'That the captains, the noble captains of Shaddai, did pity and bewail the misery of the now perishing town of Mansoul; and were troubled to see them so much to stand in the way of their own deliverance.' He said, moreover, 'That the captains bid him tell them, that if now poor Mansoul would humble herself, and turn, her former rebellions and most notorious treasons should, by their merciful King, be forgiven them, yea, and forgotten too.' And having bid them 'beware that they stood not in their own way, that they opposed not themselves, nor made themselves their own losers,' he returned again into the camp.
Second. The second time the trumpeter went, he did treat them a little more roughly. For after sound of trumpet, he told them, 'That their continuing in their rebellion did but chafe and heat the spirit of the captains, and that they were resolved to make a conquest of Mansoul, or to lay their bones before the town walls.'
Third. He went again the third time, and dealt with them yet more roughly; telling of them, 'That now, since they had been so horribly profane, he did not know—not certainly know—whether the captains were inclining to mercy or judgment; only,' said he, 'they commanded me to give you a summons to open the gates unto them.' So he returned, and went into the camp.
These three summons, and especially the two last, did so distress the town, that they presently called a consultation; the result of which was this, that my Lord Will-be-will should go up to Ear-gate, and there, with sound of trumpet, call to the captains of the camp for a parley. Well, the Lord Will-be-will sounded upon the wall, so the captains came up in their harness,[121] with their ten thousands at their feet. The townsmen then told the captains that they had heard and considered their summons, and would come to an agreement with them, and with their King Shaddai, upon such certain terms, articles, and propositions as, with and by the order of their prince, they to them were appointed to propound—to wit, they would agree upon these grounds to be one people with them.
1. 'If that those of their own company, as the now Lord Mayor and their Mr. Forget-good, with their brave Lord Will-be-will, might, under Shaddai, be still the governors of the town, castle, and gates of Mansoul. 2. Provided that no man that now serveth under their great giant Diabolus, be by Shaddai cast out of house, harbour, or the freedom that he hath hitherto enjoyed in the famous town of Mansoul. 3. That it shall be granted them, that they of the town of Mansoul shall enjoy certain of their rights and privileges—to wit, such as have formerly been granted them; and that they have long lived in the enjoyment of, under the reign of their king Diabolus, that now is, and long has been, their only Lord, and great defender. 4. That no new law, officer, or executioner of law or office, shall have any power over them, without their own choice and consent.
'These be our propositions or conditions of peace; and upon these terms,' said they, 'we will submit to your King.'[122]
But when the captains had heard this weak and feeble offer of the town of Mansoul, and their high and bold demands, they made to them again, by their noble captain, the Captain Boanerges, this speech following:—
'O ye inhabitants of the town of Mansoul, when I heard your trumpet sound for a parley with us, I can truly say I was glad; but when you said you were willing to submit yourselves to our King and Lord, then I was yet more glad. But when, by your silly provisoes and foolish cavils, you laid the stumbling-block of your iniquity before your own faces, then my gladness turned into sorrows, and my hopeful beginnings of your return into languishing, fainting fears.
'I count that old Ill-pause, the ancient enemy of Mansoul, did draw up those proposals that now you present us with as terms of an agreement, but they deserve not to be admitted to sound in the ear of any man that pretends to have service for Shaddai. We do, therefore, jointly, and that with the highest disdain, refuse and reject such things as the greatest of iniquities (2 Tim 2:19).[123]
'But, O Mansoul! If you will give yourselves into our hands, or rather into the hands of our King; and will trust him to make such terms with, and for you, as shall seem good in his eyes—and I dare say they shall be such as you shall find to be most profitable to you—then we will receive you, and be at peace with you. But if you like not to trust yourselves in the arms of Shaddai our King, then things are but where they were before, and we know also what we have to do.'
Then cried out old Incredulity, the Lord Mayor, and said, 'And who, being out of the hands of their enemies, as ye see we are now, will be so foolish as to put the staff out of their own hands, into the hands of they know not who? I, for my part, will never yield to so unlimited a proposition. Do we know the manner and temper of their King? It is said by some, that he will be angry with his subjects if but the breadth of an hair they chance to step out of the way; and of others, that he requireth of them much more than they can perform. Wherefore it seems, O Mansoul, to be thy wisdom, to take good heed what thou dost in this matter; for if you once yield, you give up yourselves to another, and so you are no more your own! Wherefore to give up yourselves to an unlimited power, is the greatest folly in the world. For now you indeed may repent; but can never justly complain. But do you indeed know, when you are his, which of you he will kill, and which of you he will save alive; or whether he will not cut off every one of us, and send out of his own country, another new people, and cause them to inhabit this town?'[124]
This speech of the Lord Mayor undid all, and threw flat to the ground their hopes of an accord. Wherefore the captains returned to their trenches, to their tents, and to their men, as they were; and the Mayor to the castle, and to his King.
Now Diabolus had waited for his return, for he had heard that they had been at their points. So when he was come into the chamber of state, Diabolus saluted him with 'Welcome, my Lord, how went matters betwixt you to-day?' So the Lord Incredulity, with a low conge,[125] told him the whole of the matter, saying, Thus and thus said the captains of Shaddai, and thus and thus said I. The which when it was told to Diabolus, he was very glad to hear it, and said, 'My Lord Mayor, my faithful Incredulity, I have proved thy fidelity above ten times already, but never yet found thee false. I do promise thee, if we rub over this brunt, to prefer thee to a place of honour, a place far better than to be Lord Mayor of Mansoul. I will make thee my Universal Deputy, and thou shalt, next to me, have all nations under thy hand; yea, and thou shalt lay bands upon them that they may not resist thee, nor shall any of our vassals walk more at liberty, but those that shall be content to walk in thy fetters.'
Now came the Lord Mayor out from Diabolus, as if he had obtained a favour indeed; wherefore to his habitation he goes in great state, and thinks to feed himself well enough with hopes, until the time came that his greatness should be enlarged.
But now, though the Lord Mayor and Diabolus did thus well agree, yet this repulse to the brave captains put Mansoul into a mutiny. For while old Incredulity went into the castle to congratulate his Lord with what had passed, the old Lord Mayor that was so before Diabolus came to the town, to wit, my Lord Understanding, and the old Recorder, Mr. Conscience, getting intelligence of what had passed at Ear-gate, for you must know that they might not be suffered to be at that debate, lest they should then have mutinied for the captains. But, I say, they got intelligence what had passed there, and were much concerned therewith, wherefore, they, getting some of the town together, began to possess them with the reasonableness of the noble captains' demands, and with the bad consequences that would follow upon the speech of old Incredulity, the Lord Mayor—to wit, how little reverence he showed therein, either to the captains, or to their King; also, how he implicitly charged them with unfaithfulness, and treachery: for what less, quoth they, could be made of his words, when he said he would not yield to their proposition, and added, moreover, a supposition that he would destroy us when before he had sent us word that he would show us mercy.[126] The multitude being now possessed with the conviction of the evil that old Incredulity had done, began to run together by companies in all places, and in every corner of the streets of Mansoul; and first they began to mutter, then to talk openly, and after that they run to and fro, and cried as they run, 'O the brave captains of Shaddai! Would we were under the government of the captains, and of Shaddai their King.'[127] When the Lord Mayor had intelligence that Mansoul was in an uproar, down he comes to appease the people, and thought to have quashed their heat with the bigness and the show of his countenance. But when they saw him, they came running upon him, and had doubtless done him a mischief, had he not betaken himself to house. However, they strongly assaulted the house where he was, to have pulled it down about his ears; but the place was too strong, so they failed of that. So he taking some courage addressed himself, out at a window, to the people in this manner:—
'Gentlemen, what is the reason that there is here such an uproar to-day?'
UND. Then answered my Lord Understanding: 'It is even because that thou and thy master have carried it not rightly, and as you should, to the captains of Shaddai; for in three things you are faulty:—First, In that you would not let Mr. Conscience and myself be at the hearing of your discourse. Secondly, In that you propounded such terms of peace, to the captains, that by no means could be granted, unless they had intended that their Shaddai should have been only a titular prince, and that Mansoul should still have had power by law, to have lived in all lewdness and vanity before him, and so by consequence Diabolus should still here be king in power, and the other only king in name. Thirdly, For that thou didst thyself, after the captains had showed us upon what conditions they would have received us to mercy, even undo all again with thy unsavoury, and unseasonable, and ungodly speech.'
INCRED. When old Incredulity had heard this speech, he cried out, 'Treason, treason: To your arms, to your arms, O ye, the trusty friends of Diabolus in Mansoul.'[128]
UND. 'Sir, you may put upon my words what meaning you please, but I am sure that the captains of such an high Lord as theirs is, deserves a better treatment at your hands.'
INCRED. Then said old Incredulity, 'This is but little better. But, Sir,' quoth he, 'what I spake, I spake for my prince, for his government, and the quieting of the people, whom by your unlawful actions you have this day set to mutiny against us.'
CONS. Then replied the old Recorder, whose name was Mr. Conscience, and said, 'Sir, you ought not thus to retort upon what my Lord Understanding hath said. It is evident enough that he hath spoken the truth, and that you are an enemy to Mansoul; be convinced, then, of the evil of your saucy and malapert language, and of the grief that you have put the captains to; yea, and of the damages that you have done to Mansoul thereby. Had you accepted of the conditions, the sound of the trumpet and the alarm of war had now ceased about the town of Mansoul; but that dreadful sound abides, and your want of wisdom in your speech has been the cause of it.'
INCRED. Then said old Incredulity: 'Sir, If I live I will do your errand to Diabolus, and there you shall have an answer to your words. Meanwhile we will seek the good of the town, and not ask counsel of you.'
UND. 'Sir, your prince and you are both foreigners to Mansoul, and not the natives thereof. And who can tell but that when you have brought us into greater straits, when you also shall see that yourselves can be safe by no other means than by flight, you may leave us and shift for yourselves, or set us on fire, and go away in the smoke, or by the light of our burning, and so leave us in our ruins.'
INCRED. 'Sir, you forget that you are under a governor, and that you ought to demean yourself like a subject,[129] and know ye, when my Lord the king shall hear of this day's work, he will give you but little thanks for your labour.'
Now while these gentlemen were thus in their chiding words, down come, from the walls and gates of the town, the Lord Will-be-will, Mr. Prejudice, old Ill-pause, and several of the new-made aldermen and burgesses, and they asked the reason of the hubbub and tumult. And with that every man began to tell his own tale, so that nothing could be heard distinctly. Then was a silence commanded, and the old fox Incredulity began to speak. 'My Lord,' quoth he, 'here are a couple of peevish gentlemen, that have, as a fruit of their bad dispositions, and, as I fear, through the advice of one Mr. Discontent, tumultuously gathered this company against me this day; and also attempted to run the town into acts of rebellion against our prince.'
Then stood up all the Diabolonians that were present, and affirmed these things to be true.
Now when they that took part with my Lord Understanding, and with Mr. Conscience, perceived that they were like to come to the worst, for that force and power was on the other side, they came in for their help and relief. So a great company was on both sides.[130] Then they on Incredulity's side would have had the two old gentlemen presently away to prison; but they on the other side said they should not. Then they began to cry up parties again; the Diabolonians cried up old Incredulity, Forget-good, the new aldermen, and their great one Diabolus; and the other party, they as fast cried up Shaddai, the captains, his laws, their mercifulness, and applauded their conditions and ways. Thus the bickerment went awhile, at last they passed from words to blows, and now there were knocks on both sides. The good old gentleman, Mr. Conscience, was knocked down twice by one of the Diabolonians, whose name was Mr. Benumbing. And my Lord Understanding had like to have been slain with an harquebus, but that he that shot wanted to take his aim aright. Nor did the other side wholly escape, for there was one Mr. Rashhead, a Diabolonian, that had his brains beaten out by Mr. Mind, the Lord Will-be-will's servant; and it made me laugh to see how old Mr. Prejudice was kicked and tumbled about in the dirt. For though a while since he was made captain of a company of the Diabolonians, to the hurt and damage of the town; yet now they had got him under their feet; and I will assure you he had by some of the Lord Understanding's party his crown soundly cracked to boot. Mr. Anything also, he became a brisk man in the broil, but both sides were against him, because he was true to none. Yet he had for his malapertness one of his legs broken, and he that did it wished it had been his neck. Much harm more was done on both sides, but this must not be forgotten, it was now a wonder to see my Lord Will-be-will so indifferent as he was; he did not seem to take one side more than another, only it was perceived that he smiled to see how old Prejudice was tumbled up and down in the dirt. Also when Captain Anything came halting up before him, he seemed to take but little notice of him.[131]
[CONTENTS:—Lord Understanding and Mr. Conscience imprisoned as authors of the disturbance—A conference of the besieging officers, who agree to petition Shaddai for further assistance—The petition approved at court—Emmanuel, the King's son, is appointed to conquer the town—Marches with a great army and surrounds Mansoul, which is strongly fortified against him.]
Now when the uproar was over, Diabolus sends for my Lord Understanding, and Mr. Conscience, and claps them both up in prison, as the ring-leaders and managers of this most heavy riotous rout in Mansoul. So now the town began to be quiet again, and the prisoners were used hardly; yea, he thought to have made them away, but that the present juncture did not serve for that purpose, for that war was in all their gates.[132] But let us return again to our story. The captains, when they were gone back from the gate, and were come into the camp again, called a council of war, to consult what was further for them to do. Now some said, Let us go up presently and fall upon the town, but the greatest part thought rather better it would be to give them another summons to yield; and the reason why they thought this to be best was, because, that so far as could be perceived, the town of Mansoul now was more inclinable than heretofore. And if, said they, while some of them are in a way of inclination, we should by ruggedness give them distaste, we may set them further from closing with our summons, than we would be willing they should.[133]
Wherefore to this advice they agreed, and called a trumpeter, put words into his mouth, set him his time, and bid him God speed. Well, many hours were not expired before the trumpeter addressed himself to his journey. Wherefore, coming up to the wall of the town, he steereth his course to Ear-gate, and there sounded, as he was commanded. They, then, that were within came out to see what was the matter, and the trumpeter made them this speech following:—
'O hard-hearted, and deplorable town of Mansoul, how long wilt thou love thy sinful, sinful simplicity, and ye fools delight in your scorning? As yet despise you the offers of peace, and deliverance? As yet will ye refuse the golden offers of Shaddai, and trust to the lies and falsehoods of Diabolus? Think you when Shaddai shall have conquered you, that the remembrance of these your carriages towards him, will yield you peace and comfort; or that, by ruffling language, you can make him afraid as a grasshopper? Doth he entreat you, for fear of you? Do you think that you are stronger than he? Look to the heavens, and behold, and consider the stars, how high are they? Can you stop the sun from running his course, and hinder the moon from giving her light? Can you count the number of the stars, or stay the bottles of heaven? Can you call for the waters of the sea, and cause them to cover the face of the ground? Can you behold every one that he is proud, and abase him, and bind their faces in secret?[134] Yet these are some of the works of our King, in whose name, this day, we come up unto you, that you may be brought under his authority. In his name, therefore, I summon you again, to yield up yourselves to his captains.'
At this summons the Mansoulians seemed to be at a stand, and knew not what answer to make; wherefore Diabolus forthwith appeared, and took upon him to do it himself, and thus he begins, but turns his speech to them of Mansoul:—
'Gentlemen,' quoth he, 'and my faithful subjects, if it is true that this summoner hath said concerning the greatness of their King, by his terror you will always be kept in bondage, and so be made to sneak. Yea, how can you now, though he is at a distance, endure to think of such a mighty one? And if not to think of him, while at a distance, how can you endure to be in his presence? I, your prince, am familiar with you, and you may play with me as you would with a grasshopper. Consider, therefore, what is for your profit, and remember the immunities that I have granted you. Farther, if all be true that this man hath said, how comes it to pass that the subjects of Shaddai are so enslaved in all places where they come? None in the universe so unhappy as they, none so trampled upon as they.[135] Consider, my Mansoul. Would thou wert as loath to leave me as I am loath to leave thee! But consider, I say, the ball is yet at thy foot; liberty you have, if you know how to use it; yea, a king you have too, if you can tell how to love and obey him.'
Upon this speech, the town of Mansoul did again harden their hearts yet more against the captains of Shaddai. The thoughts of his greatness did quite quash them, and the thoughts of his holiness sunk them in despair.[136] Wherefore, after a short consultation, they, of the Diabolonian party they were, sent back this word by the trumpeter, 'That, for their parts, they were resolved to stick to their king; but never to yield to Shaddai.' So it was but in vain to give them any further summons, for they had rather die upon the place than yield. And now things seemed to be gone quite back, and Mansoul to be out of reach or call; yet the captains, who knew what their Lord could do, would not yet be beat out of heart. They therefore sent them another summons, more sharp and severe than the last; but the oftener they were sent to, to be reconciled to Shaddai, the further off they were. 'As they called them, so they went from them': yea, 'though they called them to the Most High' (Hosea 11:2,7).
So they ceased that way to deal with them any more, and inclined to think of another way. The captains, therefore, did gather themselves together, to have free conference among themselves, to know what was yet to be done to gain the town, and to deliver it from the tyranny of Diabolus. And one said after this manner, and another after that. Then stood up the right noble, the Captain Conviction, and said, 'My brethren, mine opinion is this:—
'First. That we continually play our slings into the town, and keep it in a continual alarm, molesting of them day and night; by thus doing we shall stop the growth of their rampant spirit. For a lion may be tamed by continual molestation.[137]
'Second. This done, I advise that, in the next place, we, with one consent, draw up a petition to our Lord Shaddai; by which, after we have showed our King the condition of Mansoul, and of affairs here, and have begged his pardon for our no better success, we will earnestly implore his Majesty's help, and that he will please to send us more force and power; and some gallant and well-spoken commander to head them; that so his Majesty may not lose the benefit of these his good beginnings, but may complete his conquest upon the town of Mansoul.'[138]
To this speech of the noble Captain Conviction, they, as one man, consented; and agreed that a petition should forthwith be drawn up, and sent by a fit man, away to Shaddai with speed. The contents of the petition were thus:—
'Most gracious and glorious King, the Lord of the best world, and the builder of the town of Mansoul: We have, dread Sovereign, at thy commandment, put our lives in jeopardy, and at thy bidding made a war upon the famous town of Mansoul. When we went up against it, we did, according to our commission, first offer conditions of peace unto it. But they, great King, set light by our counsel, and would none of our reproof (Matt 22:5; Prov 1:25-30; Zech 10:11,12). They were for shutting of their gates, and for keeping us out of the town. They also mounted their guns, they sallied out upon us, and have done us what damage they could; but we pursued them, with alarm upon alarm, requiting of them with such retribution as was meet, and have done some execution upon the town. Diabolus, Incredulity, and Will-be-will are the great doers against us; now we are in our winter quarters, but so as that we do yet with an high hand molest and distress the town. Once, as we think, had we had but one substantial friend in the town, such as would but have seconded the sound of our summons as they ought, the people might have yielded themselves. But there were none but enemies there, nor any to speak in behalf of our Lord to the town; wherefore, though we have done as we could, yet Mansoul abides in a state of rebellion against thee.[139] Now, King of kings, let it please thee to pardon the unsuccessfulness of thy servants, who have been no more advantageous in so desirable a work as the conquering of Mansoul is; and send, Lord, as we now desire, more forces to Mansoul, that it may be subdued; and a man to head them, that the town may both love and fear. We do not thus speak because we are willing to relinquish the wars—for we are for laying of our bones against the place—but that the town of Mansoul may be won for thy Majesty. We also pray thy Majesty for expedition in this matter, that after their conquest, we may be at liberty to be sent about other thy gracious designs. Amen.'
The petition thus drawn up was sent away with haste to the King, by the hand of that good man, Mr. Love-to-Mansoul.
When this petition was come to the palace of the King, who should it be delivered to but to the King's Son. So he took it and read it, and because the contents of it pleased him well, he mended, and also in some things, added to the petition himself. So after he had made such amendments and additions as he thought convenient, with his own hand, he carried it in to the King; to whom when he had with obeisance delivered it, he put on authority, and spake to it himself.[140]
Now the King, at the sight of the petition, was glad; but how much more think you, when it was seconded by his Son? It pleased him also to hear that his servants that camped against Mansoul were so hearty in the work, and so steadfast in their resolves, and that they had already got some ground upon the famous town of Mansoul.
Wherefore the King called to him Emmanuel his Son, who said, Here am I, my Father. Then said the King, Thou knowest, as I do myself, the condition of the town of Mansoul, and what we have purposed, and what thou hast done to redeem it. Come now, therefore, my Son, and prepare thyself for the war, for thou shalt go to my camp at Mansoul. Thou shalt also there prosper, and prevail, and conquer the town of Mansoul.
Then said the King's Son, Thy law is within my heart. I delight to do thy will (Heb 10). This is the day that I have longed for, and the work that I have waited for all this while. Grant me, therefore, what force thou shalt in thy wisdom think meet, and I will go, and will deliver from Diabolus, and from his power, thy perishing town of Mansoul. My heart has been often pained within me for the miserable town of Mansoul; but now it is rejoiced, but now it is glad. And with that he leaped over the mountains for joy, saying, I have not, in my heart, thought anything too dear for Mansoul; the day of vengeance is in mine heart for thee, my Mansoul; and glad am I that thou, my Father, hast made me the Captain of their salvation (Heb 2:10). And I will now begin to plague all those that have been a plague to my town of Mansoul, and will deliver it from their hand.
When the King's Son had said thus to his Father, it presently flew like lightning round about at court; yea, it there became the only talk what Emmanuel was to go to do for the famous town of Mansoul. But you cannot think how the courtiers too were taken with this design of the Prince. Yea, so affected were they with this work, and with the justness of the war, that the highest Lord and greatest peer of the kingdom did covet to have commissions under Emmanuel, to go to help to recover again to Shaddai the miserable town of Mansoul.[141]
Then was it concluded that some should go and carry tidings to the camp that Emmanuel was to come to recover Mansoul, and that he would bring along with him so mighty, so impregnable a force, that he could not be resisted. But oh, how ready were the high ones at court to run like lackeys to carry these tidings to the camp that was at Mansoul! Now when the captains perceived that the King would send Emmanuel his Son, and that it also delighted the Son to be sent on this errand by the great Shaddai, his Father, they also, to show how they were pleased at the thoughts of his coming, gave a shout that made the earth rend at the sound thereof. Yea, the mountains did answer again by echo, and Diabolus himself did totter and shake.
For you must know, that though the town of Mansoul itself was not much, if at all, concerned with the project—for, alas for them, they were wofully besotted, for they chiefly regarded their pleasure and their lusts—yet Diabolus their governor was; for he had his spies continually abroad, who brought him intelligence of all things, and they told him what was doing at court against him, and that Emmanuel would shortly certainly come with a power to invade him. Nor was there any man at court, nor peer of the kingdom, that Diabolus so feared as he feared this Prince. For if you remember, I showed you before that Diabolus had felt the weight of his hand already. So that, since it was he that was to come, this made him the more afraid. Well, you see how I have told you that the King's Son was engaged to come from the court to save Mansoul, and that his Father had made him the Captain of the forces. The time, therefore, of his setting forth being now expired, he addressed himself for his march, and taketh with him, for his power, five noble captains and their forces.[142]
The first was that famous captain, the noble Captain Credence. His were the red colours, and Mr. Promise bore them, and for a scutcheon he had the holy lamb and golden shield. And he had ten thousand men at his feet (John 1:29; Eph 6:16).
The second was that famous captain, the Captain Good-hope. His were the blue colours, his standard-bearer was Mr. Expectation, and for a scutcheon he had the three golden anchors.[143] And he had ten thousand men at his feet (Heb 6:19).
The third captain was that valiant captain, the Captain Charity. His standard-bearer was Mr. Pitiful, his were the green colours, and for his scutcheon he had three naked orphans embraced in the bosom. And he had ten thousand men at his feet (1 Cor 13).
The fourth was that gallant commander, the Captain Innocent. His standard-bearer was Mr. Harmless, his were the white colours, and for his scutcheon he had the three golden doves (Heb 10:16).
The fifth was the truly loyal and well-beloved captain, the Captain Patience. His standard-bearer was Mr. Suffer-long, his were the black colours, and for a scutcheon he had three arrows through the golden heart (Heb 6:12).
These were Emmanuel's captains, these their standard-bearers, their colours, and their scutcheons,[144] and these the men under their command. So, as was said, the brave Prince took his march to go to the town of Mansoul. Captain Credence led the van, and Captain Patience brought up the rear. So the other three, with their men, made up the main body; the Prince himself riding in his chariot at the head of them.[145]
But when they set out for their march, oh how the trumpets sounded, their armour glittered, and how the colours waved in the wind! The Prince's armour was all of gold, and it shone like the sun in the firmament. The captains' armour was of proof, and was in appearance like the glittering stars. There were also some from the court that rode reformades,[146] for the love that they had to the King Shaddai, and for the happy deliverance of the town of Mansoul.[147]
Emmanuel also, when he had thus set forward to go to recover the town of Mansoul, took with him, at the commandment of his Father, forty-four battering-rams, and twelve slings,[148] to whirl stones withal. Every one of these was made of pure gold; and these they carried with them in the heart and body of their army, all along as they went to Mansoul.
So they marched till they came within less than a league of the town. And there they lay till the first four captains came thither, to acquaint him with matters. Then they took their journey to go to the town of Mansoul, and unto Mansoul they came. But when the old soldiers that were in the camp saw that they had new forces to join with, they again gave such a shout before the walls of the town of Mansoul, that it put Diabolus into another fright. So they sat down before the town, not now as the other four captains did, to wit, against the gates of Mansoul only; but they environed it round on every side, and beset it behind and before; so that now, let Mansoul look which way it will, it saw force and power lie in siege against it. Besides, there were mounts cast up against it.
The Mount Gracious was on the one side, and Mount Justice was on the other; further, there were several small banks and advance-ground—as Plain-truth Hill, and No-sin Banks—where many of the slings were placed against the town. Upon Mount Gracious were planted four, and upon Mount Justice were planted as many; and the rest were conveniently placed in several parts round about the town. Five of the best battering-rams—that is, of the biggest of them—were placed upon Mount Hearken; a mount cast up hard by Ear-gate, with intent to break that open.[149]
Now, when the men of the town saw the multitude of the soldiers that were come up against the place, and the rams and slings, and the mounts on which they were planted, together with the glittering of the armour and the waving of their colours, they were forced to shift and shift, and again to shift their thoughts, but they hardly changed for thoughts more stout, but rather for thoughts more faint. For though before they thought themselves sufficiently guarded, yet now they began to think that no man knew what would be their hap or lot.
When the good Prince Emmanuel had thus beleaguered Mansoul; in the first place he hangs out the white flag, which he caused to be set up among the golden slings that were planted upon Mount Gracious. And this he did for two reasons: 1. To give notice to Mansoul that he could and would yet be gracious if they turned to him. 2. And that he might leave them the more without excuse, should he destroy them, they continuing in their rebellion.
So the white flag, with the three golden doves on it, was hanged out for two days together, to give them time and space to consider. But they, as was hinted before, as if they were unconcerned, made no reply to the favourable signal of the Prince. Then he commanded, and they set the red flag upon that mount called Mount Justice. It was the red flag of Captain Judgment, whose scutcheon was the burning fiery furnace, and this also stood waving before them in the wind for several days together. But look how they carried it under the white flag when that was hanged out, so did they also when the red one was, and yet he took no advantage of them.
Then he commanded again that his servants would hang out the black flag of defiance against them, whose scutcheon was the three burning thunder-bolts. But as unconcerned was Mansoul at this as at those that went before. But when the Prince saw that neither mercy, nor judgment, nor execution of judgment, would or could come near the heart of Mansoul, he was touched with much compunction, and said, 'Surely this strange carriage of the town of Mansoul doth rather arise from ignorance of the manner and feats of war, than from a secret defiance of us, and abhorrence of their own lives; or, if they know the manner of the war of their own, yet not the rites and ceremonies of the wars in which we are concerned, when I make wars upon mine enemy Diabolus.'
Therefore, he sent to the town of Mansoul, to let them know what he meant by those signs and ceremonies of the flag, and also to know of them which of the things they would choose, whether grace and mercy, or judgment and the execution of judgment. All this while they kept their gates shut with locks, bolts, and bars, as fast as they could; their guards, also, were doubled, and their watch made as strong as they could. Diabolus also did pluck up what heart he could to encourage the town to make resistance.
The townsmen also made answer to the Prince's messenger, in substance, according to that which follows:—
'Great Sir, as to what by your messenger you have signified to us, whether we will accept of your mercy or fall by your justice, we are bound by the law and custom of this place, and can give you no positive answer. For it is against the law, government, and the prerogative royal of our king, to make either peace or war without him. But this we will do, we will petition that our prince will come down to the wall, and there give you such treatment as he shall think fit, and profitable for us.'
When the good Prince Emmanuel heard this answer, and saw the slavery and bondage of the people, and how much content they were to abide in the chains of the tyrant Diabolus, it grieved him at the heart. And, indeed, when at any time he perceived that any were contented under the slavery of the giant, he would be affected with it.
But to return again to our purpose. After the town had carried this news to Diabolus, and had told him, moreover, that the Prince that lay in the leaguer[150] without the wall, waited upon them for an answer, he refused, and huffed as well as he could, but in heart he was afraid. Then, said he, I will go down to the gates myself, and give him such an answer as I think fit. So he went down to Mouth-gate, and there addressed himself to speak to Emmanuel, but in such language as the town understood not, the contents whereof were as follows:—
'O thou great Emmanuel, Lord of all the world, I know thee that thou art the Son of the great Shaddai! Wherefore art thou come to torment me, and to cast me out of my possession? This town of Mansoul, as thou very well knowest, is mine, and that by twofold right. 1. It is mine by right of conquest, I won it in the open field. And shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive be delivered? 2. This town of Mansoul is mine also by their subjection. They have opened the gates of their town unto me, they have sworn fidelity to me, and have openly chosen me to be their king. They have also given their castle into my hands; yea, they have put the whole strength of Mansoul under me.
Moreover, this town of Mansoul hath disavowed thee; yea, they have cast thy law, thy name, thy image, and all that is thine, behind their back, and have accepted, and set up in their room, my law, my name, mine image, and all that ever is mine. Ask else thy captains, and they will tell thee that Mansoul hath, in answer to all their summons, shown love and loyalty to me; but always disdain, despite, contempt, and scorn to thee and thine. Now thou art the Just One and the Holy, and shouldest do no iniquity; depart then, I pray thee, therefore, from me, and leave me to my just inheritance, peaceably.'
This oration was made in the language of Diabolus himself. For although he can, to every man, speak in their own language—else he could not tempt them all as he does—yet he has a language proper to himself, and it is the language of the infernal cave, or black pit.
Wherefore the town of Mansoul, poor hearts, understood him not, nor did they see how he crouched and cringed, while he stood before Emmanuel their Prince. Yea, they all this while took him to be one of that power and force that by no means could be resisted. Wherefore, while he was thus entreating that he might yet have his residence there, and that Emmanuel would not take it from him by force, the inhabitants boasted even of his valour, saying, 'Who is able to make war with him?'
Well, when this pretended king had made an end of what he would say, Emmanuel, the golden Prince, stood up and spake, the contents of whose words follow:—
'Thou deceiving one,' said he, 'I have in my Father's name, in mine own name, and on the behalf and for the good of this wretched town of Mansoul, somewhat to say unto thee. Thou pretendest a right, a lawful right, to the deplorable town of Mansoul, when it is most apparent to all my Father's court, that the entrance which thou hast obtained in at the gates of Mansoul was through thy lies and falsehood. Thou beliedst my Father, thou beliedst his law, and so deceivedst the people of Mansoul. Thou pretendest that the people have accepted thee for their king, their captain, and right liege-Lord, but that also was by the exercise of deceit and guile. Now, if lying wiliness, sinful craft, and all manner of horrible hypocrisy, will go in my Father's court for equity and right, in which court thou must be tried, then will I confess unto thee that thou hast made a lawful conquest. But alas, what thief, what tyrant, what devil is there that may not conquer after this sort? But I can make it appear, O Diabolus, that thou, in all thy pretences to a conquest of Mansoul, hast nothing of truth to say. Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou didst put the lie upon my Father, and madest him, to Mansoul, the greatest deluder in the world? And what sayest thou to thy perverting, knowingly, the right purport and intent of the law? Was it good also that thou madest a prey of the innocency and simplicity of the now miserable town of Mansoul? Yea, thou didst overcome Mansoul by promising to them happiness in their transgressions against my Father's law, when thou knewest, and couldest not but know, hadst thou consulted nothing but thine own experience, that that was the way to undo them. Thou hast also thyself—O thou master of enmity, of despite—defaced my Father's image in Mansoul, and set up thy own in its place, to the great contempt of my Father, the heightening of thy sin, and to the intolerable damage of the perishing town of Mansoul. Thou hast, moreover—as if all these were but little things with thee—not only deluded and undone this place, but, by thy lies and fradulent carriage hast set them against their own deliverance. How hast thou stirred them up against my Father's captains, and made them to fight against those that were sent of him to deliver them from their bondage! All these things and very many more thou hast done against thy light, and in contempt of my Father and of his law; yea, and with design to bring under his displeasure for ever the miserable town of Mansoul. I am therefore come to avenge the wrong that thou hast done to my Father, and to deal with thee for the blasphemies wherewith thou hast made poor Mansoul blaspheme his name. Yea, upon thy head, thou prince of the infernal cave, will I require it.
'As for myself, O Diabolus, I am come against thee by lawful power, and to take, by strength of hand, this town of Mansoul out of thy burning fingers. For this town of Mansoul is mine, O Diabolus, and that by undoubted right, as all shall see that will diligently search the most ancient and most authentic records, and I will plead my title to it, to the confusion of thy face.
'First. For the town of Mansoul, my Father built and did fashion it with his hand. The palace also that is in the midst of that town, he built it for his own delight. This town of Mansoul therefore is my Father's, and that by the best of titles; and he that gainsays the truth of this must lie against his soul.
'Second. O thou master of the lie, this town of Mansoul is mine.
'1. For that I am my Father's heir, his firstborn, and the only delight of his heart. I am therefore come up against thee in mine own right, even to recover mine own inheritance out of thine hand (Heb 1:2; John 16:15).
'2. But further, as I have a right and title to Mansoul, by being my Father's heir, so I have also by my Father's donation. His it was, and he gave it me (John 17); nor have I at any time offended my Father, that he should take it from me and give it to thee. Nor have I been forced by playing the bankrupt to sell, or set to sale to thee, my beloved town of Mansoul (Isa 1:1). Mansoul is my desire, my delight, and the joy of my heart. But,
'3. Mansoul is mine by right of purchase. I have bought it, O Diabolus, I have bought it to myself. Now, since it was my Father's and mine, as I was his heir; and since also I have made it mine by virtue of a great purchase, it followeth that, by all lawful right the town of Mansoul is mine, and that thou art an usurper, a tyrant, and traitor, in thy holding possession thereof. Now, the cause of my purchasing of it was this: Mansoul had trespassed against my Father; now my Father had said, that in the day that they broke his law they should die. Now it is more possible for heaven and earth to pass away, than for my Father to break his word (Matt 5:18). Wherefore, when Mansoul had sinned indeed by hearkening to thy lie, I put in and became a surety to my Father, body for body, and soul for soul, that I would make amends for Mansoul's transgressions; and my Father did accept thereof. So when the time appointed was come, I gave body for body, soul for soul, life for life, blood for blood, and so redeemed my beloved Mansoul.
'4. Nor did I do this to the halves; my Father's law and justice that were both concerned in the threatening upon transgression, are both now satisfied, and very well content that Mansoul should be delivered.
'5. Nor am I come out this day against thee but by commandment of my Father; it was he that said unto me, Go down and deliver Mansoul.
'Wherefore, be it known unto thee, O thou fountain of deceit, and be it also known to the foolish town of Mansoul, that I am not come against thee this day without my Father.
'And now,' said the golden-headed Prince, 'I have a word to the town of Mansoul'; but so soon as mention was made that he had a word to speak to the besotted town of Mansoul, the gates were double-guarded, and all men commanded not to give him audience, so he proceeded, and said, 'O unhappy town of Mansoul, I cannot but be touched with pity and compassion for thee. Thou hast accepted of Diabolus for thy king, and art become a nurse and minister of Diabolonians against thy Sovereign Lord. Thy gates thou hast opened to him, but hast shut them fast against me; thou hast given him an hearing, but hast stopped thine ears at my cry; he brought to thee thy destruction, and thou didst receive both him and it: I am come to thee bringing salvation, but thou regardest me not. Besides, thou hast, as with sacrilegious hands, taken thyself with all that was mine in thee, and hast given all to my foe, and to the greatest enemy my Father has. You have bowed and subjected yourselves to him; you have vowed and sworn yourselves to be his. Poor Mansoul! what shall I do unto thee? Shall I save thee? shall I destroy thee? What shall I do unto thee? shall I fall upon thee and grind thee to powder, or make thee a monument of the richest grace? What shall I do unto thee? Hearken, therefore, thou town of Mansoul, hearken to my word, and thou shalt live. I am merciful, Mansoul, and thou shalt find me so; shut me not out of thy gates (Cant 5:2).
'O Mansoul, neither is my commission, nor inclination, at all to do thee hurt; why fliest thou so fast from thy friend, and stickest so close to thine enemy? Indeed, I would have thee, because it becomes thee, to be sorry for thy sin; but do not despair of life, this great force is not to hurt thee, but to deliver thee from thy bondage, and to reduce thee to thy obedience (Luke 9:56; John 12:47).
'My commission, indeed, is to make a war upon Diabolus thy king, and upon all Diabolonians with him; for he is the strong man armed that keeps the house, and I will have him out; his spoils I must divide,[151] his armour I must take from him, his hold I must cast him out of, and must make it an habitation for myself. And this, O Mansoul, shall Diabolus know, when he shall be made to follow me in chains, and when Mansoul shall rejoice to see it so.
'I could, would I now put forth my might, cause that forthwith he should leave you and depart; but I have it in my heart so to deal with him, as that the justice of the war that I shall make upon him may be seen and acknowledged by all. He hath taken Mansoul by fraud, and keeps it by violence and deceit; and I will make him bare and naked in the eyes of all observers. All my words are true, I am mighty to save, and will deliver my Mansoul out of his hand.'[152]
This speech was intended chiefly for Mansoul, but Mansoul would not have the hearing of it. They shut up Ear-gate, they barricaded it up, they kept it locked and bolted; they set a guard thereat, and commanded that no Mansoulonian should go out to him, nor that any from the camp should be admitted into the town; all this they did, so horribly had Diabolus enchanted them to do, and seek to do for him, against their rightful Lord and Prince; wherefore no man, nor voice, nor sound of man that belonged to the glorious host, was to come into the town.[153]
[CONTENTS:—Emmanuel prepares to make war upon Mansoul—Diabolus sends Mr. Loth-to-stoop with proposals for peace—These proposals being dishonourable to Emmanuel, are all rejected—Again Diabolus proposes to patch up a peace by reformation, offering to become Emmanuel's deputy in that business—This proposal also rejected—New preparations made for battle—Diabolus, expecting to be obliged to abandon the town, does much mischief—Ear-gate, violently assaulted by the battering-rams, at length gives way, and is broken to pieces—Emmanuel's forces enter the town, and take possession of the Recorder's house—Several mischievous Diabolonians are killed.]
So when Emmanuel saw that Mansoul was thus involved in sin, he calls his army together, since now also his words were despised, and gave out a commandment throughout all his host to be ready against the time appointed. Now, forasmuch as there was no way lawfully to take the town of Mansoul, but to get in by the gates, and at Ear-gate as the chief, therefore he commanded his captains and commanders to bring their rams, their slings, and their men, and place them at Eye-gate and Ear-gate, in order to his taking the town.
When Emmanuel had put all things in readiness to give Diabolus battle, he sent again to know of the town of Mansoul if in peaceable manner they would yield themselves, or whether they were yet resolved to put him to try the utmost extremity. Then they together, with Diabolus their king, called a council of war, and resolved upon certain propositions that should be offered to Emmanuel, if he will accept thereof, so they agreed; and then the next was who should be sent on this errand. Now there was in the town of Mansoul an old man, a Diabolonian, and his name was Mr. Loth-to-stoop, a stiff man in his way, and a great doer for Diabolus; him therefore they sent, and put into his mouth what he should say.[154] So he went, and came to the camp to Emmanuel; and when he was come, a time was appointed to give him audience. So at the time he came, and after a Diabolonian ceremony or two, he thus began, and said, 'Great Sir, that it may be known unto all men how good-natured a prince my master is, he hath sent me to tell your Lordship that he is very willing, rather than to go to war, to deliver up into your hands one-half of the town of Mansoul (Titus 1:16). I am therefore to know if your Mightiness will accept of this proposition.'[155]
Then said Emmanuel, 'The whole is mine by gift and purchase, wherefore I will never lose one-half.'
Then said Mr. Loth-to-stoop, 'Sir, my master hath said, that he will be content that you shall be the nominal and titular Lord of all, if he may possess but a part' (Luke 13:25).
Then Emmanuel answered, 'The whole is mine really; not in name and word only: wherefore I will be the sole Lord and possessor of all, or of none at all of Mansoul.'
Then Mr. Loth-to-stoop said again, 'Sir, behold the condescension of my master! He says that he will be content, if he may but have assigned to him some place in Mansoul as a place to live privately in, and you shall be Lord of all the rest' (Acts 5:1-5).
Then said the golden Prince, 'All that the Father giveth me, shall come to me; and of all that he hath given me I will lose nothing, no, not a hoof, nor a hair. I will not therefore, grant him, no, not the least corner of Mansoul to dwell in, I will have all to myself.'
Then Loth-to-stoop said again, 'But, sir, suppose that my Lord should resign the whole town to you, only with this proviso, that he sometimes, when he comes into this country, may, for old acquaintance' sake, be entertained as a way-faring man for two days, or ten days or a month, or so; may not this small matter be granted?'
Then said Emmanuel, 'No: he came as a way-faring man to David, nor did he stay long with him, and yet it had like to have cost David his soul (2 Sam 12:1-5). I will not consent that he ever should have any harbour more there.'
Then said Mr. Loth-to-stoop, 'Sir, you seem to be very hard. Suppose my master should yield to all that your lordship hath said, provided that his friends and kindred in Mansoul may have liberty to trade in the town, and to enjoy their present dwellings; may not that be granted, sir?'
Then said Emmanuel, 'No: that is contrary to my Father's will; for all, and all manner of Diabolonians that now are, or that at any time shall be found in Mansoul, shall not only lose their lands and liberties, but also their lives' (Rom 6:13; Gal 5:24; Col 3:5).
Then said Mr. Loth-to-stoop again, 'But, sir, may not my master, and great Lord, by letters, by passengers, by accidental opportunities, and the like, maintain, if he shall deliver up all unto thee, some kind of old friendship with Mansoul' (John 10:8).
Emmanuel answered, 'No, by no means; forasmuch as any such fellowship, friendship, intimacy, or acquaintance in what way, sort, or mode soever maintained, will tend to the corrupting of Mansoul, the alienating of their affections from me, and the endangering of their peace with my Father.'
Mr. Loth-to-stoop yet added further; saying, 'But, great sir, since my master hath many friends, and those that are dear to him in Mansoul, may he not, if he shall depart from them, even of his bounty and good-nature, bestow upon them, as he sees fit, some tokens of his love and kindness, that he had for them, to the end that Mansoul, when he is gone, may look upon such tokens of kindness once received from their old friend, and remember him who was once their King, and the merry times that they sometimes enjoyed one with another, while he and they lived in peace together.'
Then said Emmanuel, 'No; for if Mansoul come to be mine, I shall not admit of, nor consent that there should be the least scrap, shred, or dust of Diabolus left behind, as tokens or gifts bestowed upon any in Mansoul, thereby to call to remembrance the horrible communion that was betwixt them and him' (Rom 6:12-13).
'Well sir,' said Mr. Loth-to-stoop, 'I have one thing more to propound, and then I am got to the end of my commission. Suppose that when my master is gone from Mansoul, any that shall yet live in the town should have such business of high concerns to do, that if they be neglected the party shall be undone; and suppose, sir, that nobody can help in that case so well as my master and Lord; may not now my master be sent for upon so urgent an occasion as this? Or if he may not be admitted into the town, may not he and the person concerned meet in some of the villages near Mansoul, and there lay their heads together, and there consult of matters?'[156] (2 Kings 1:3,6,7).
This was the last of those ensnaring propositions that Mr. Loth-to-stoop had to propound to Emmanuel on behalf of his master Diabolus; but Emmanuel would not grant it, for he said, 'There can be no case, or thing, or matter, fall out in Mansoul, when thy master shall be gone, that may not be salved[157] by my Father; besides, it will be a great disparagement to my Father's wisdom and skill to admit any from Mansoul to go out to Diabolus for advice, when they are bid before, in everything, by prayer and supplication, to let their requests be made known to my Father (1 Sam 28:15; 2 Kings 1:2-3). Further, this, should it be granted, would be to grant that a door should be set open for Diabolus and the Diabolonians in Mansoul, to hatch, and plot, and bring to pass treasonable designs, to the grief of my Father and me, and to the utter destruction of Mansoul.'[158]
When Mr. Loth-to-stoop had heard this answer, he took his leave of Emmanuel and departed, saying, that he would do word to his master concerning this whole affair. So he departed and came to Diabolus to Mansoul, and told him the whole of the matter, and how Emmanuel would not admit, no, not by any means, that he, when he was once gone out, should for ever have anything more to do, either in, or with any that are of, the town of Mansoul. When Mansoul and Diabolus had heard this relation of things, they with one consent concluded to use their best endeavour to keep Emmanuel out of Mansoul, and sent old Ill-pause, of whom you have heard before, to tell the Prince and his captains so. So the old gentleman came up to the top of Ear-gate, and called to the camp for a hearing; who, when they gave audience, he said, 'I have in commandment from my high Lord to bid you tell it to your Prince Emmanuel, that Mansoul and their King are resolved to stand and fall together, and that it is in vain for your Prince to think of ever having of Mansoul in his hand, unless he can take it by force.' So some went and told to Emmanuel what old Ill-pause, a Diabolonian in Mansoul, had said. Then said the Prince, 'I must try the power of my sword, for I will not, for all the rebellions and repulses that Mansoul has made against me, raise my siege and depart, but will assuredly take my Mansoul, and deliver it from the hand of her enemy' (Eph 6:17). And with that he gave out a commandment that Captain Boanerges, Captain Conviction, Captain Judgment, and Captain Execution, should forthwith march up to Ear-gate with trumpets sounding, colours flying, and with shouting for the battle. Also he would that Captain Credence should join himself with them. Emmanuel, moreover, gave order that Captain Good-hope and Captain Charity should draw themselves up before Eye-gate. He bid also that the rest of his Captains, and their men, should place themselves for the best of their advantage against the enemy, round about the town, and all was done as he had commanded. Then he bid that the word should be given forth, and the word was at that time 'EMMANUEL.' Then was an alarm sounded, and the battering-rams were played, and the slings did whirl stones into the town amain, and thus the battle began. Now Diabolus himself did manage the townsmen in the war, and that at every gate; wherefore their resistance was the more forcible, hellish, and offensive to Emmanuel. Thus was the good Prince engaged and entertained by Diabolus and Mansoul for several days together. And a sight worth seeing it was, to behold how the captains of Shaddai behaved themselves in this war.
And first for Captain Boanerges, not to under-value the rest, he made three most fierce assaults, one after another, upon Ear-gate, to the shaking of the posts thereof. Captain Conviction, he also made up as fast with Boanerges as possibly he could, and both discerning that the gate began to yield, they commanded that the rams should still be played against it. Now Captain Conviction going up very near to the gate, was with great force driven back, and received three wounds in the mouth. And those that rode Reformades, they went about to encourage the captains.
For the valour of the two captains made mention of before, the Prince sent for them to his pavilion, and commanded that a while they should rest themselves, and that with somewhat they should be refreshed. Care also was taken for Captain Conviction, that he should be healed of his wounds. The Prince also gave to each of them a chain of gold, and bid them yet be of good courage. Nor did Captain Good-hope nor Captain Charity come behind in this most desperate fight, for they so well did behave themselves at Eye-gate, that they had almost broken it quite open.[159] These also had a reward from their Prince, as also had the rest of the captains, because they did valiantly round about the town.[160]
In this engagement several of the officers of Diabolus were slain, and some of the townsmen wounded. For the officers, there was one Captain Boasting slain. This Boasting thought that nobody could have shaken the posts of Ear-gate, nor have shaken the heart of Diabolus. Next to him there was one Captain Secure slain; this Secure used to say that the blind and lame in Mansoul were able to keep the gates of the town against Emmanuel's army (2 Sam 5:6). This Captain Secure did Captain Conviction cleave down the head with a two-handed sword, when he received himself three wounds in his mouth. Besides these, there was one Captain Bragman, a very desperate fellow, and he was captain over a band of those that threw fire-brands, arrows, and death; he also received, by the hand of Captain Good-hope at Eye-gate, a mortal wound in the breast.
There was, moreover, one Mr. Feeling, but he was no captain, but a great stickler to encourage Mansoul to rebellion, he received a wound in the eye by the hand of one of Boanerges' soldiers, and had by the captain himself been slain, but that he made a sudden retreat.
But I never saw Will-be-will so daunted in all my life: he was not able to do as he was wont; and some say that he also received a wound in the leg, and that some of the men in the Prince's army have certainly seen him limp, as he afterwards walked on the wall.[161]
I shall not give you a particular account of the names of the soldiers that were slain in the town, for many were maimed and wounded, and slain; for when they saw that the posts of Ear-gate did shake, and Eye-gate was well-nigh broken quite open; and also that their captains were slain, this took away the hearts of many of the Diabolonians; they fell also by the force of the shot that were sent by the golden slings into the midst of the town of Mansoul.[162]
Of the townsmen, there was one Love-no-good, he was a townsman, but a Diabolonian, he also received his mortal wound in Mansoul, but he died not very soon. Mr. Ill-pause also, who was the man that came along with Diabolus when at first he attempted the taking of Mansoul, he also received a grievous wound in the head, some say that his brain-pan was cracked; this I have taken notice of, that he was never after this able to do that mischief to Mansoul as he had done in times past. Also old Prejudice and Mr. Anything fled.[163]
Now when the battle was over, the Prince commanded that yet once more the white flag should be set upon Mount Gracious, in sight of the town of Mansoul; to show that yet Emmanuel had grace for the wretched town of Mansoul.
When Diabolus saw the white flag hanging out again, and knowing that it was not for him, but Mansoul, he cast in his mind to play another prank, to wit, to see if Emmanuel would raise his siege and begone, upon promise of a reformation.[164] So he comes down to the gate one evening, a good while after the sun was gone down, and calls to speak with Emmanuel, who presently came down to the gate, and Diabolus saith unto him:
'Forasmuch as thou makest it appear by thy white flag, that thou art wholly given to peace and quiet; I thought meet to acquaint thee that we are ready to accept thereof upon terms which thou mayest admit.
'I know that thou art given to devotion, and that holiness pleaseth thee; yea, that thy great end in making a war upon Mansoul is that it may be an holy habitation. Well, draw off thy forces from the town, and I will bend Mansoul to thy bow.
'[Thus] I will lay down all acts of hostility against thee, and will be willing to become thy deputy, and will, as I have formerly been against thee, now serve thee in the town of Mansoul. And more particularly—1. I will persuade Mansoul to receive thee for their Lord, and I know that they will do it the sooner when they shall understand that I am thy deputy. 2. I will show them wherein they have erred, and that transgression stands in the way to life. 3. I will show them the holy law unto which they must conform, even that which they have broken. 4. I will press upon them the necessity of a reformation according to thy law. 5. And, moreover, that none of these things may fail, I myself, at my own proper cost and charge, will set up and maintain a sufficient ministry, besides lectures, in Mansoul.[165] 6. Thou shalt receive, as a token of our subjection to thee continually, year by year, what thou shalt think fit to lay and levy upon us, in token of our subjection to thee.'[166]
Then said Emmanuel to him, 'O full of deceit, how movable are thy ways! How often hast thou changed and rechanged, if so be thou mightest still keep possession of my Mansoul, though, as has been plainly declared before, I am the right heir thereof? Often hast thou made thy proposals already, nor is this last a whit better than they. And failing to deceive when thou showedst thyself in thy black, thou hast now transformed thyself into an angel of light, and wouldest, to deceive, be now as a minister of righteousness (2 Cor 11:14).
'But know thou, O Diabolus, that nothing must be regarded that thou canst propound, for nothing is done by thee but to deceive; thou neither hast conscience to God, nor love to the town of Mansoul; whence then should these thy sayings arise, but from sinful craft and deceit? He that can of list and will propound what he pleases, and that wherewith he may destroy them that believe him, is to be abandoned with all that he shall say. But if righteousness be such a beauty-spot in thine eyes now, how is it that wickedness was so closely stuck to by thee before. But this is by the by. Thou talkest now of a reformation in Mansoul, and that thou thyself, if I will please, will be at the head of that reformation, all the while knowing that the greatest proficiency that man can make in the law, and the righteousness thereof, will amount to no more for the taking away of the curse from Mansoul than just nothing at all; for a law being broken by Mansoul, that had before, upon a supposition of the breach thereof, a curse pronounced against him for it of God, can never, by his obeying of the law, deliver himself therefrom. To say nothing of what a reformation is like to be set up in Mansoul, when the devil is become corrector of vice. Thou knowest that all that thou hast now said in this matter is nothing but guile and deceit; and is, as it was the first, so is it the last card that thou hast to play. Many there be that do soon discern thee when thou showest them thy cloven foot; but in thy white, thy light, and in thy transformation thou art seen but of a few. But thou shalt not do thus with my Mansoul, O Diabolus, for I do still love my Mansoul.
'Besides, I am not come to put Mansoul upon works to live thereby—should I do so, I should be like unto thee—but I am come that by me, and by what I have and shall do for Mansoul, they may to my Father be reconciled, though by their sin they have provoked him to anger, and though by the law they cannot obtain mercy.
'Thou talkest of subjecting of this town to good, when none desireth it at thy hands. I am sent by my Father to possess it myself, and to guide it by the skilfulness of my hands into such a conformity to him as shall be pleasing in his sight. I will therefore possess it myself, I will dispossess and cast thee out: I will set up mine own standard in the midst of them: I will also govern them by new laws, new officers, new motives, and new ways. Yea, I will pull down this town, and build it again, and it shall be as though it had not been, and it shall then be the glory of the whole universe.'[167]
When Diabolus heard this, and perceived that he was discovered in all his deceits, he was confounded and utterly put to a nonplus—; but having in himself the fountain of iniquity, rage and malice against both Shaddai and his Son, and the beloved town of Mansoul, what doth he but strengthen himself what he could, to give fresh battle to the noble Prince Emmanuel? So then, now we must have another fight before the town of Mansoul is taken. Come up then, to the mountains you that love to see military actions, and behold by both sides how the fatal blow is given: while one seeks to hold, and the other seeks to make himself master of the famous town of Mansoul.
Diabolus, therefore, having withdrawn himself from the wall to his force that was in the heart of the town of Mansoul, Emmanuel also returned to the camp; and both of them, after their divers ways, put themselves into a posture fit to bid battle one to another.
Diabolus, as filled with despair of retaining in his hands the famous town of Mansoul, resolved to do what mischief he could, if indeed, he could do any, to the army of the Prince, and to the famous town of Mansoul; for, alas! it was not the happiness of the silly town of Mansoul that was designed by Diabolus, but the utter ruin and overthrow thereof; as now is enough in view. Wherefore he commands his officers that they should then, when they see that they could hold the town no longer, do it what harm and mischief they could; rending and tearing of men, women, and children (Mark 9:26-27). For, said he, we had better quite demolish the place, and leave it like a ruinous heap, than so leave it that it may be an habitation for Emmanuel.[168]
Emmanuel again, knowing that the next battle would issue in his being made master of the place, gave out a royal commandment to all his officers, high captains, and men of war, to be sure to show themselves men of war against Diabolus and all Diabolonians; but favourable, merciful, and meek to all the old inhabitants of Mansoul. Bend, therefore, said the noble Prince, the hottest front of the battle against Diabolus and his men.
So the day being come, the command was given, and the Prince's men did bravely stand to their arms; and did, as before, bend their main force against Ear-gate, and Eye-gate. The word then, 'Mansoul is won,' so they made their assault upon the town. Diabolus also, as fast as he could with the main of his power, made resistance from within, and his high lords and chief captains for a time fought very cruelly against the Prince's army.
But after three or four notable charges by the Prince, and his noble captains, Ear-gate was broken open, and the bars and bolts wherewith it was used to be fast shut up against the Prince, were broken into a thousand pieces. Then did the Prince's trumpets sound, the captains shout, the town shake, and Diabolus retreat to his hold. Well, when the Prince's forces had broken open the gate, himself came up and did set his throne in it; also he set his standard thereby, upon a mount, that before by his men was cast up to place the mighty slings thereon.[169] The mount was called Mount Hear-well; there, therefore, the Prince abode, to wit, hard by the going in at the gate. He commanded also that the golden slings should yet be played upon the town, especially against the castle, because for shelter thither was Diabolus retreated. Now from Ear-gate the street was straight, even to the house of Mr. Recorder that so was before Diabolus took the town, and hard by his house stood the castle, which Diabolus for a long time had made his irksome den. The captains, therefore, did quickly clear that street by the use of their slings, so that way was made up to the heart of the town. Then did the Prince command that Captain Boanerges, Captain Conviction, and Captain Judgment should forthwith march up the town to the old gentleman's gate. Then did the captains in the most warlike manner enter into the town of Mansoul, and marching in with flying colours, they came up to the Recorder's house, and that was almost as strong as was the castle. Battering-rams they took also with them, to plant against the castle-gates. When they were come to the house of Mr. Conscience, they knocked and demanded entrance. Now, the old gentleman, not knowing as yet fully their design, kept his gates shut all the time of this fight. Wherefore Boanerges demanded entrance at his gates, and no man making answer, he gave it one stroke with the head of a ram, and this made the old gentleman shake, and his house to tremble and totter. Then came Mr. Recorder down to the gate, and, as he could, with quivering lips, he asked who was there. Boanerges answered, We are the captains and commanders of the great Shaddai, and of the blessed Emmanuel his Son, and we demand possession of your house for the use of our noble Prince. And with that the battering-ram gave the gate another shake; this made the old gentleman tremble the more, yet durst he not but open the gate. Then the King's forces marched in, namely, the three brave captains mentioned before. Now the Recorder's house was a place of much convenience for Emmanuel, not only because it was near to the castle, and strong, but also because it was large, and fronted the castle, the den where now Diabolus was: for he was now afraid to come out of his hold. As for Mr. Recorder, the captains carried it very reservedly to him; as yet he knew nothing of the great designs of Emmanuel; so that he did not know what judgment to make, nor what would be the end of such thundering beginnings. It was also presently noised in the town, how the Recorder's house was possessed, his rooms taken up, and his palace made the seat of the war; and no sooner was it noised abroad, but they took the alarm as warmly, and gave it out to others of his friends, and you know as a snow-ball loses nothing by rolling, so in little time the whole town was possessed that they must expect nothing from the Prince but destruction; and the ground of the business was this. The Recorder was afraid, the Recorder trembled, and the captains carried it strangely to the Recorder, so many came to see; but when they with their own eyes did behold the captains in the palace, and their battering-rams ever playing at the castle gates to beat them down, they were riveted in their fears, and it made them as in amaze. And, as I said, the man of the house would increase all this, for whoever came to him, or discoursed with him, nothing would he talk of, tell them, or hear, but that death and destruction now attended Mansoul.[170]
'For,' quoth the old gentleman, 'you are all of you sensible that we all have been traitors to that once despised, but now famously victorious and glorious Prince Emmanuel. For he now, as you see, doth not only lie in close siege about us, but hath forced his entrance in at our gates; moreover, Diabolus flees before him, and he hath, as you behold, made of my house a garrison against the castle, where he is. I, for my part, have transgressed greatly, and he that is clean it is well for him. But, I say, I have transgressed greatly in keeping silence when I should have spoken, and in perverting of justice when I should have executed the same. True, I have suffered something at the hand of Diabolus, for taking part with the laws of King Shaddai; but that, alas! what will that do? Will that make compensation for the rebellions and treasons that I have done, and have suffered without gainsaying, to be committed in the town of Mansoul? Oh, I tremble to think what will be the end of this so dreadful and so ireful a beginning!'
Now, while these brave captains were thus busy in the house of the old Recorder, Captain Execution was as busy in other parts of the town, in securing the back streets, and the walls. He also hunted the Lord Will-be-will sorely; he suffered him not to rest in any corner. He pursued him so hard, that he drove his men from him, and made him glad to thrust his head into a hole. Also, this mighty warrior did cut three of the Lord Will-be-will's officers down to the ground; one was old Mr. Prejudice, he that had his crown cracked in the mutiny; this man was made by Lord Will-be-will keeper of Ear-gate, and fell by the hand of Captain Execution. There was also one Mr. Backward-to-all-but-naught, and he also was one of Lord Will-be-will's officers, and was the captain of the two guns that once were mounted on the top of Ear-gate, he also was cut down to the ground by the hands of Captain Execution. Besides these two there was another, a third, and his name was Captain Treacherous, a vile man this was, but one that Will-be-will did put a great deal of confidence in; but him also did this Captain Execution cut down to the ground with the rest.[171]
He also made a very great slaughter among my Lord Will-be-will's soldiers, killing many that were stout and sturdy, and wounding of many that for Diabolus were nimble and active. But all these were Diabolonians; there was not a man, a native of Mansoul, hurt.[172]
Other feats of war were also likewise performed by other of the captains, as at Eye-gate,[173] where Captain Good-hope and Captain Charity had a charge, was great execution done; for the Captain Good-hope, with his own hands, slew one Captain Blindfold, the keeper of that gate; this Blindfold was captain of a thousand men, and they were they that fought with mauls; he also pursued his men, slew many, and wounded more, and made the rest hide their heads in corners.
There was also at that gate Mr. Ill-pause, of whom you have heard before; he was an old man, and had a beard that reached down to his girdle: the same was he that was orator to Diabolus; he did much mischief in the town of Mansoul, and fell by the hand of Captain Good-hope.
What shall I say, the Diabolonians in these days lay dead in every corner, though too many yet were alive in Mansoul.[174]
[CONTENTS:—The principal inhabitants hold a conference, and agree to petition the Prince for their lives—The castle gates broken open—Emmanuel marches into Mansoul—Diabolus is made prisoner, and bound in chains—The inhabitants, greatly distressed, petition again and again—At length a free pardon is obtained, and universal joy succeeds.]
Now the old Recorder, and my Lord Understanding, with some others of the chief of the town, to wit, such as knew they must stand and fall with the famous town of Mansoul, came together upon a day, and after consultation had, did jointly agree to draw up a petition, and send it to Emmanuel, now while he sat in the gate of Mansoul. So they drew up their petition to Emmanuel, the contents whereof were this, That they, the old inhabitants of the now deplorable town of Mansoul, confessed their sin, and were sorry that they had offended his princely Majesty, and prayed that he would spare their lives.[175]
Upon this petition he gave no answer at all, and that did trouble them yet so much the more. Now all this while the captains that were in the Recorder's house were playing with the battering-rams at the gates of the castle, to beat them down. So after some time, labour, and travail, the gate of the castle that was called Impregnable was beaten open, and broken into several splinters; and so a way made to go up to the hold in which Diabolus had hid himself.[176] Then was tidings sent down to Ear-gate, for Emmanuel still abode there, to let him know that a way was made in at the gates of the castle of Mansoul. But oh! how the trumpets at the tidings sounded throughout the Prince's camp, for that now the war was so near an end, and Mansoul itself of being set free.[177]
Then the Prince arose from the place where he was, and took with him such of his men of war as were fittest for that expedition, and marched up the street of Mansoul to the old Recorder's house.
Now the Prince himself was clad all in armour of gold, and so he marched up the town with his standard borne before him; but he kept his countenance much reserved all the way as he went, so that the people could not tell how to gather to themselves love or hatred by his looks. Now as he marched up the street, the townsfolk came out at every door to see, and could not but be taken with his person, and the glory thereof, but wondered at the reservedness of his countenance; for as yet he spake more to them by his actions and works, than he did by words or smiles. But also poor Mansoul, as in such cases all are apt to do, they interpreted the carriages of Emmanuel to them, as did Joseph's brethren his to them, even all the quite contrary way. For, thought they, if Emmanuel loved us, he would show it to us by word or carriage; but none of these he doth, therefore Emmanuel hates us. Now if Emmanuel hates us, then Mansoul shall be slain, then Mansoul shall become a dunghill. They knew that they had transgressed his Father's law, and that against him they had been in with Diabolus his enemy. They also knew that the Prince Emmanuel knew all this; for they were convinced that he was as an Angel of God, to know all things that are done in the earth. And this made them think that their condition was miserable, and that the good Prince would make them desolate.
And, thought they, what time so fit to do this in as now, when he has the bridle of Mansoul in his hand. And this I took special notice of, that the inhabitants, notwithstanding all this, could not; no, they could not, when they see him march through the town, but cringe, bow, bend, and were ready to lick the dust of his feet. They also wished a thousand times over, that he would become their Prince and Captain, and would become their protection. They would also one to another talk of the comeliness of his person, and how much for glory and valour he outstripped the great ones of the world. But, poor hearts, as to themselves their thoughts would chance, and go upon all manner of extremes; yea, through the working of them backward and forward, Mansoul became as a ball tossed, and as a rolling thing before the whirlwind[178] (Isa 18:13, 23:18).
Now when he was come to the castle gates, he commanded Diabolus to appear, and to surrender himself into his hands. But oh! how loath was the beast to appear! How he stuck at it! How he shrunk! aye, how he cringed! Yet out he came to the Prince. Then Emmanuel commanded, and they took Diabolus and bound him fast in chains, the better to reserve him to the judgment that he had appointed for him. But Diabolus stood up to entreat for himself, that Emmanuel would not send him into the deep, but suffer him to depart out of Mansoul in peace.
When Emmanuel had taken him and bound him in chains, he led him into the marketplace, and there, before Mansoul, stripped him of his armour in which he boasted so much before. This now was one of the acts of triumph of Emmanuel over his enemy; and all the while that the giant was stripping, the trumpets of the golden Prince did sound amain; the captains also shouted, and the soldiers did sing for joy. Then was Mansoul called upon to behold the beginning of Emmanuel's triumph over him in whom they so much had trusted, and of whom they so much had boasted in the days when he flattered them.
Thus having made Diabolus naked in the eyes of Mansoul, and before the commanders of the Prince, in the next place he commands that Diabolus should be bound with chains to his chariot wheels. Then leaving some of his forces, to wit, Captain Boanerges, and Captain Conviction, as a guard for the castle-gates, that resistance might be made on his behalf, if any that heretofore followed Diabolus should make an attempt to possess it, he did ride in triumph over him quite through the town of Mansoul, and so out at, and before the gate called Eye-gate, to the plain where his camp did lie (Eph 4).
But you cannot think unless you had been there, as I was, what a shout there was in Emmanuel's camp when they saw the tyrant bound by the hand of their noble Prince, and tied to his chariot wheels! And they said, He hath led captivity captive; he hath spoiled principalities and powers; Diabolus is subjected to the power of his sword, and made the object of all derision![179]
Those also that rode Reformades, and that came down to see the battle, they shouted with that greatness of voice, and sung with such melodious notes, that they caused them that dwell in the highest orbs to open their windows, put out their heads, and look down to see the cause of that glory (Luke 15:7-10).[180]
The townsmen also, so many of them as saw this sight, were as it were, while they looked, betwixt the earth and the heavens. True, they could not tell what would be the issue of things as to them, but all things were done in such excellent methods; and I cannot tell how, but things in the management of them seemed to cast a smile towards the town, so that their eyes, their heads, their hearts, and their minds, and all that they had, were taken and held, while they observed Emmanuel's order.[181]
So when the brave Prince had finished this part of his triumph over Diabolus his foe, he turned him up in the midst of his contempt and shame, having given him a charge no more to be a possessor of Mansoul. Then went he from Emmanuel, and out of the midst of his camp to inherit the parched places in a salt land, seeking rest but finding none (Matt 12:43).
Now Captain Boanerges and Captain Conviction were both of them men of very great majesty, their faces were like the faces of lions (1 Chron 12:8), and their words like the roaring of the sea; (Isa 5:29-30) and they still quartered in Mr. Conscience's house, of whom mention was made before. When therefore, the high and mighty Prince had thus far finished his triumph over Diabolus, the townsmen had more leisure to view and to behold the actions of these noble captains. But the captains carried it with that terror and dread in all that they did, and you may be sure that they had private instructions so to do, that they kept the town under continual heart-aching, and caused, in their apprehension, the well-being of Mansoul for the future, to hang in doubt before them, so that, for some considerable time, they neither knew what rest, or ease, or peace, or hope meant.[182]
Nor did the Prince himself, as yet, abide in the town of Mansoul, but in his royal pavilion in the camp, and in the midst of his Father's forces. So at a time convenient, he sent special orders to Captain Boanerges to summons Mansoul, the whole of the townsmen, into the castle-yard, and then and there, before their faces, to take my Lord Understanding, Mr. Conscience, and that notable one, the Lord Will-be-will, and put them all three in ward, and that they should set a strong guard upon them there, until his pleasure concerning them were further known. The which orders, when the captains had put them in execution, made no small addition to the fears of the town of Mansoul; for now, to their thinking, were their former fears of the ruin of Mansoul confirmed. Now, what death they should die, and how long they should be in dying, was that which most perplexed their heads and hearts. Yea, they were afraid that Emmanuel would command them all into the deep, the place that the prince Diabolus was afraid of; for they knew that they had deserved it. Also to die by the sword in the face of the town, and in the open way of disgrace, from the hand of so good and so holy a prince, that, too, troubled them sore. The town was also greatly troubled for the men that were committed to ward, for that they were their stay and their guide, and for that they believed that if those men were cut off, their execution would be but the beginning of the ruin of the town of Mansoul.[183] Wherefore what do they, but together with the men in prison, draw up a petition to the Prince, and sent it to Emmanuel by the hand of Mr. Would-live. So he went and came to the Prince's quarters, and presented the petition; the sum of which was this:—
'Great and wonderful Potentate, victor over Diabolus, and conqueror of the town of Mansoul, We, the miserable inhabitants of that most woful corporation, do humbly beg that we may find favour in thy sight, and remember not against us former transgressions, nor yet the sins of the chief of our town, but spare us according to the greatness of thy mercy, and let us not die, but live in thy sight; so shall we be willing to be thy servants, and if thou shalt think fit, to gather our meat under thy table.[184] Amen.'
So the petitioner went as was said with his petition to the Prince, and the Prince took it at his hand, but sent him away with silence. This still afflicted the town of Mansoul, but yet considering that now they must either petition, or die—for now they could not do anything else—therefore they consulted again, and sent another petition, and this petition was much after the form and method of the former.
But when the petition was drawn up, by whom should they send it was the next question; for they would not send this by him by whom they sent the first, for they thought that the Prince had taken some offence at the manner of his deportment before him; so they attempted to make Captain Conviction their messenger with it, but he said that he neither durst, nor would petition Emmanuel for traitors; nor be to the Prince an advocate for rebels. Yet withal, said he, our Prince is good, and you may adventure to send it by the hand of one of your town, provided he went with a rope about his head, and pleaded nothing but mercy.[185]
Well, they made, through fear, their delays as long as they could, and longer than delays were good; but fearing at last the dangerousness of them, they thought, but with many a fainting in their minds, to send their petition by Mr. Desires-awake; so they sent for Mr. Desires-awake. Now he dwelt in a very mean cottage in Mansoul, and he came at his neighbour's request. So they told him what they had done, and what they would do concerning petitioning, and that they did desire of him that he would go therewith to the Prince.
Then said Mr. Desires-awake, why should not I do the best I can to save so famous a town as Mansoul from deserved destruction? They therefore delivered the petition to him, and told him how he must address himself to the Prince, and wished him ten thousand good speeds. So he comes to the Prince's pavilion, as the first, and asked to speak with his Majesty; so word was carried to Emmanuel, and the Prince came out to the man. When Mr. Desires-awake saw the Prince, he fell flat with his face to the ground, and cried out, oh that Mansoul might live before thee! and with that he presented the petition. The which when the Prince had read, he turned away for a while and wept, but, refraining himself, he turned again to the man, who all this while lay crying at his feet as at the first, and said to him, Go thy way to thy place, and I will consider of thy requests.
Now you may think that they of Mansoul that had sent him, what with guilt, and what with fear, lest their petition should be rejected, could not but look with many a long look, and that too with strange workings of heart, to see what would become of their petition. At last, they saw their messenger coming back; so when he was come, they asked him how he fared, what Emmanuel said, and what was become of the petition. But he told them that he would be silent till he came to the prison to my Lord Mayor, my Lord Will-be-will, and Mr. Recorder. So he went forwards towards the prison-house, where the men of Mansoul lay bound. But oh! what a multitude flocked after to hear what the messenger said. So when he was come and had shown himself at the grate of the prison, my Lord Mayor himself looked as white as a clout, the Recorder also did quake; but they asked and said, Come, good sir, what did the great Prince say to you? Then said Mr. Desires-awake, when I came to my Lord's pavilion, I called, and he came forth; so I fell prostrate at his feet, and delivered to him my petition, for the greatness of his person, and the glory of his countenance would not suffer me to stand upon my legs. Now as he received the petition, I cried, oh that Mansoul might live before thee! So, when for a while he had looked thereon, he turned him about, and said to his servant, Go thy way to thy place again, and I will consider of thy requests. The messenger added, moreover, and said, The Prince to whom you sent me is such a one for beauty and glory, that whoso sees him must both love and fear him; I, for my part, can do no less; but I know not what will be the end of these things.[186] At this answer they were all at a stand; both they in prison, and they that followed the messenger thither to hear the news; nor knew they what or what manner of interpretation to put upon what the Prince had said. Now, when the prison was cleared of the throng, the prisoners among themselves began to comment upon Emmanuel's words. My Lord Mayor said that the answer did not look with a rugged face; but Will-be-will said that it betokened evil; and the Recorder, that it was a messenger of death. Now, they that were left, and that stood behind, and so could not so well hear what the prisoners said, some of them catched hold of one piece of a sentence, and some on a bit of another; some took hold of what the messenger said, and some of the prisoners' judgment thereon; so none had the right understanding of things; but you cannot imagine what work these people made, and what a confusion there was in Mansoul now.[187]
For presently they that had heard what was said, flew about the town; one crying one thing, and another the quite contrary, and both were sure enough they told the truth, for they did hear, they said, with their ears what was said, and therefore could not be deceived. One would say, We must all be killed; another would say, We must all be saved; and a third would say that the Prince would not be concerned with Mansoul; and a fourth that the prisoners must be suddenly put to death. And as I said, every one stood to it that he told his tale the rightest, and that all others but he were out. Wherefore Mansoul had now molestation upon molestation, nor could any man know on what to rest the sole of his foot; for one would go by now, and as he went, if he heard his neighbour tell his tale, to be sure he would tell the quite contrary, and both would stand in it that he told the truth. Nay, some of them had got this story by the end, that the Prince did intend to put Mansoul to the sword. And now it began to be dark; wherefore poor Mansoul was in sad perplexity all that night until the morning.[188]
But, so far as I could gather, by the best information that I could get, all this hubbub came through the words that the Recorder said, when he told them that in his judgment the Prince's answer was a messenger of death. It was this that fired the town, and that began the fright in Mansoul, for Mansoul, in former times, did use to count that Mr. Recorder was a seer, and that his sentence was equal to the best of oracles, and thus was Mansoul a terror to itself.
And now did they begin to feel what was the effects of stubborn rebellion, and unlawful resistance against their Prince. I say they now began to feel the effects thereof by guilt and fear, that now had swallowed them up, and who more involved in the one, but they who were most in the other; to wit, the chief of the town of Mansoul.
To be brief, when the fame[189] of the fright was out of the town, and the prisoners had a little recovered themselves, they take to themselves some heart, and think to petition the Prince for life again. So they did draw up a third petition, the contents whereof were this:—
'Prince Emmanuel the Great, Lord of all worlds, and Master of mercy, We, thy poor, wretched, miserable, dying town of Mansoul, do confess unto thy great and glorious Majesty that we have sinned against thy Father and thee, and are no more worthy to be called thy Mansoul, but rather to be cast into the pit. If thou wilt slay us, we have deserved it. If thou wilt condemn us to the deep, we cannot but say thou art righteous. We cannot complain, whatever thou dost, or however thou carriest it towards us. But oh! let mercy reign; and let it be extended to us! Oh let mercy take hold upon us, and free us from our transgressions, and we will sing of thy mercy and of thy judgment. Amen.'
This petition, when drawn up, was designed to be sent to the Prince as the first, but who should carry it, that was the question. Some said, Let him do it that went with the first; but others thought not good to do that, and that because he sped no better. Now there was an old man in the town, and his name was Mr. Good-deed; a man that bare only the name, but had nothing of the nature of the thing. Now some were for sending of him, but the Recorder was by no means for that, for, said he, we now stand in need of, and are pleading for mercy, wherefore to send our petition by a man of this name will seem to cross the petition itself. Should we make Mr. Good-deed our messenger when our petition cries for mercy?
'Besides,' quoth the old gentleman, 'should the Prince now, as he receives the petition, ask him and say, What is thy name? as nobody knows but he will, and he should say, Old Good-deed, what, think you, would Emmanuel say but this, Aye! is old Good-deed yet alive in Mansoul? then let old Good-deed save you from your distresses? And if he says so, I am sure we are lost; nor can a thousand of old Good-deeds save Mansoul.'[190]
After the Recorder had given in his reasons why old Good-deed should not go with this petition to Emmanuel, the rest of the prisoners and chief of Mansoul opposed it also, and so old Good-deed was laid aside, and they agreed to send Mr. Desires-awake again; so they sent for him, and desired him that he would a second time go with their petition to the Prince, and he readily told them he would. But they bid him that in anywise he would take heed that in no word or carriage he gave offence to the Prince, for by doing so, for ought we can tell, you may bring Mansoul into utter destruction, said they.
Now Mr. Desires-awake, when he saw that he must go of this errand, besought that they would grant that Mr. Wet-eyes might go with him. Now this Mr. Wet-eyes was a near neighbour of Mr. Desires, a poor man, a man of a broken spirit, yet one that could speak well to a petition. So they granted that he should go with him. Wherefore they address themselves to their business. Mr. Desires put a rope upon his head, and Mr. Wet-eyes went with hands wringing together.[191] Thus they went to the Prince's pavilion.
Now when they went to petition this third time, they were not without thoughts that by often coming they might be a burden to the Prince. Wherefore, when they were come to the door of his pavilion, they first made their apology for themselves, and for their coming to trouble Emmanuel so often; and they said that they came not hither to-day for that they delighted in being troublesome, or for that they delighted to hear themselves talk, but for that necessity caused them to come to his Majesty: they could, they said, have no rest day nor night, because of their transgressions against Shaddai, and against Emmanuel, his Son. They also thought that some misbehaviour of Mr. Desires-awake the last time, might give distaste to his Highness, and so cause that he returned from so merciful a Prince empty, and without countenance. So when they had made this apology, Mr. Desires-awake cast himself prostrate upon the ground as at the first, at the feet of the mighty Prince, saying, Oh that Mansoul might live before thee! and so he delivered his petition. The Prince then having read the petition, turned aside awhile, as before, and, coming again to the place where the petitioner lay on the ground, he demanded what his name was, and of what esteem in the account of Mansoul; for that he, above all the multitude in Mansoul, should be sent to him upon such an errand. Then said the man to the Prince, 'Oh let not my Lord be angry; and why inquirest thou after the name of such a dead dog as I am? Pass by, I pray thee, and take no notice of who I am, because there is, as thou very well knowest, so great a disproportion between me and thee. Why the townsmen chose to send me on this errand to my Lord, is best known to themselves, but it could not be for that they thought that I had favour with my Lord. For my part, I am out of charity with myself; who then should be in love with me? Yet live I would, and so would I that my townsmen should, and because both they and myself are guilty of great transgressions, therefore they have sent me, and I am come in their names to beg of my Lord for mercy. Let it please thee therefore to incline to mercy, but ask not what thy servants are.'
Then said the Prince, 'And what is he that is become thy companion in this so weighty a matter?' So Mr. Desires told Emmanuel that he was a poor neighbour of his, and one of his most intimate associates, and his name, said he, may it please your most excellent Majesty, is Wet-eyes, of the town of Mansoul. I know that there are many of that name that are naught, but I hope it will be no offence to my Lord that I have brought my poor neighbour with me.
Then Mr. Wet-eyes fell on his face to the ground, and made this apology for his coming with his neighbour to his Lord:—
'O my Lord,' quoth he, 'what I am I know not myself, nor whether my name be feigned or true, especially when I begin to think what some have said, namely, that this name was given me because Mr. Repentance was my father. Good men have bad children, and the sincere do oftentimes beget hypocrites. My mother also called me by this name from the cradle, but whether because of the moistness of my brain, or because of the softness of my heart, I cannot tell. I see dirt in mine own tears, and filthiness in the bottom of my prayers.[192] But I pray thee'—and all this while the gentleman wept—'that thou wouldest not remember against us our transgressions, nor take offence at the unqualifiedness of thy servants, but mercifully pass by the sin of Mansoul, and refrain from the glorifying of thy grace no longer.'[193]
So at his bidding they arose, and both stood trembling before him, and he spake to them to this purpose:—
'The town of Mansoul hath grievously rebelled against my Father, in that they have rejected him from being their King, and did choose to themselves for their captain a liar, a murderer, and a runagate slave. For this Diabolus, and your pretended prince, though once so highly accounted of by you, made rebellion against my Father and me, even in our palace and highest court there, thinking to become a prince and king. But being there timely discovered and apprehended, and for his wickedness bound in chains, and separated to the pit with those who were his companions, he offered himself to you, and you have received him.
'Now this is, and for a long time hath been an high affront to my Father, wherefore my Father sent to you a powerful army to reduce you to your obedience. But you know how those men, their captains, and their counsels, were esteemed of you, and what they received at your hand. You rebelled against them, you shut your gates upon them, you bid them battle, you fought them, and fought for Diabolus against them. So they sent to my Father for more power, and I with my men are come to subdue you. But as you treated the servants, so you treated their Lord. You stood up in hostile manner against me, you shut up your gates against me, you turned the deaf ear to me, and resisted as long as you could; but now I have made a conquest of you. Did you cry me mercy so long as you had hopes that you might prevail against me?[194] But now I have taken the town, you cry. But why did you not cry before, when the white flag of my mercy, the red flag of justice, and the black flag that threatened execution, were set up to cite you to it? Now I have conquered your Diabolus, you come to me for favour, but why did you not help me against the mighty? Yet I will consider your petition, and will answer it so as will be for my glory.
'Go, bid Captain Boanerges and Captain Conviction bring the prisoners out to me into the camp to-morrow, and say you to Captain Judgment and Captain Execution, Stay you in the castle, and take good heed to yourselves that you keep all quiet in Mansoul until you hear further from me.' And with that he turned himself from them, and went into his royal pavilion again.[195]
So the petitioners having received this answer from the Prince, returned as at the first to go to their companions again. But they had not gone far, but thoughts began to work in their minds that no mercy as yet was intended by the Prince to Mansoul; so they went to the place where the prisoners lay bound; but these workings of mind about what would become of Mansoul, had such strong power over them, that by that they were come unto them that sent them, they were scarce able to deliver their message.
But they came at length to the gates of the town—now the townsmen with earnestness were waiting for their return—where many met them, to know what answer was made to the petition. Then they cried out to those that were sent, What news from the Prince? and what hath Emmanuel said? But they said that they must, as before, go up to the prison, and there deliver their message. So away they went to the prison, with a multitude at their heels. Now, when they were come to the grates of the prison, they told the first part of Emmanuel's speech to the prisoners; to wit, how he reflected upon their disloyalty to his Father and himself, and how they had chose and closed with Diabolus, had fought for him, hearkened to him, and been ruled by him, but had despised him and his men. This made the prisoners look pale; but the messengers proceeded, and said, He, the Prince, said, moreover, that yet he would consider your petition, and give such answer thereto as would stand with his glory. And as these words were spoken, Mr. Wet-eyes gave a great sigh. At this they were all of them struck into their dumps, and could not tell what to say. Fear also possessed them in a marvelous manner; and death seemed to sit upon some of their eyebrows.[196] Now, there was in the company a notable sharp-witted fellow, a mean man of estate, and his name was old Inquisitive. This man asked the petitioners if they had told out every whit of what Emmanuel said. And they answered, Verily, no. Then said Inquisitive, I thought so, indeed. Pray, what was it more that he said unto you? Then they paused awhile; but at last they brought out all, saying, The Prince did bid us bid Captain Boanerges and Captain Conviction bring the prisoners down to him to-morrow; and that Captain Judgment and Captain Execution should take charge of the castle and town till they should hear further from him. They said also that when the Prince had commanded them thus to do, he immediately turned his back upon them, and went into his royal pavilion.
But O how this return, and specially this last clause of it, that the prisoners must go out to the Prince into the camp, brake all their loins in pieces! Wherefore, with one voice, they set up a cry that reached up to the heavens.[197] This done, each of the three prepared himself to die; and the Recorder [conscience] said unto them, This was the thing that I feared; for they concluded that to-morrow, by that the sun went down, they should be tumbled out of the world. The whole town also counted of no other but that, in their time and order, they must all drink of the same cup. Wherefore the town of Mansoul spent that night in mourning, and sackcloth, and ashes. The prisoners also, when the time was come for them to go down before the Prince, dressed themselves in mourning attire, with ropes upon their heads.[198] The whole town of Mansoul also showed themselves upon the wall, all clad in mourning weeds, if, perhaps, the Prince, with the sight thereof, might be moved with compassion. But O how the busy-bodies [vain thoughts] that were in the town of Mansoul did now concern themselves! They did run here and there through the streets of the town by companies, crying out as they ran in tumultuous wise, one after one manner, and another the quite contrary, to the almost utter distraction of Mansoul.
Well, the time is come that the prisoners must go down to the camp, and appear before the Prince. And thus was the manner of their going down. Captain Boanerges went with a guard before them, and Captain Conviction came behind, and the prisoners went down bound in chains in the midst; so, I say, the prisoners went in the midst, and the guard went with flying colours behind and before, but the prisoners went with drooping spirits.
Or, more particularly, thus:
The prisoners went down all in mourning; they put ropes upon themselves; they went on smiting themselves on the breasts, but durst not lift up their eyes to heaven. Thus they went out at the gate of Mansoul, till they came into the midst of the Prince's army, the sight and glory of which did greatly heighten their affliction. Nor could they now longer forbear, but cry out aloud, O unhappy men! O wretched men of Mansoul! Their chains still mixing their dolorous notes with the cries of the prisoners, made noise more lamentable.[199]
So, when they were come to the door of the Prince's pavilion, they cast themselves prostrate upon the place. Then one went in and told his Lord that the prisoners were come down. The Prince then ascended a throne of state, and sent for the prisoners in; who when they came, did tremble before him, also they covered their faces with shame. Now as they drew near to the place where he sat, they threw themselves down before him. Then said the Prince to the Captain Boanerges, Bid the prisoners stand upon their feet. Then they stood trembling before him, and he said, Are you the men that heretofore were the servants of Shaddai? And they said, Yes, Lord, yes. Then said the Prince again, Are you the men that did suffer yourselves to be corrupted and defiled by that abominable one Diabolus? And they said, We did more than suffer it, Lord; for we chose it of our own mind. The Prince asked further, saying, Could you have been content that your slavery should have continued under his tyranny as long as you had lived? Then said the prisoners, Yes, Lord, yes; for his ways were pleasing to our flesh, and we were grown aliens to a better state. And did you, said he, when I came up against this town of Mansoul, heartily wish that I might not have the victory over you? Yes, Lord, yes, said they. Then said the Prince, And what punishment is it, think you, that you deserve at my hand for these and other your high and mighty sins? And they said, Both death and the deep,[200] Lord; for we have deserved no less. He asked again if they had aught to say for themselves, why the sentence that they confessed that they had deserved should not be passed upon them? And they said, We can say nothing, Lord; thou art just, for we have sinned. Then said the Prince, And for what are those ropes on your heads? The prisoners answered, These ropes [sins] are to bind us withal to the place of execution, if mercy be not pleasing in thy sight. So he further asked, if all the men in the town of Mansoul were in this confession as they? And they answered, All the natives [powers of the soul], Lord; but for the Diabolonians [corruptions and lusts] that came into our town when the tyrant got possession of us, we can say nothing for them.[201]
Then the Prince commanded that a herald should be called, and that he should, in the midst, and throughout the camp of Emmanuel, proclaim, and that with sound of trumpet, that the Prince, the Son of Shaddai, had, in his Father's name, and for his Father's glory, gotten a perfect conquest and victory over Mansoul, and that the prisoners should follow him, and say, Amen. So this was done as he had commanded. And presently the music that was in the upper region sounded melodiously. The captains that were in the camp shouted, and the soldiers did sing songs of triumph to the Prince, the colours waved in the wind, and great joy was everywhere, only it was wanting as yet in the hearts of the men of Mansoul.[202]
Then the Prince called for the prisoners to come and to stand again before him, and they came and stood trembling. And he said unto them, The sins, trespasses, iniquities, that you, with the whole town of Mansoul, have from time to time committed against my Father and me, I have power and commandment from my Father to forgive to the town of Mansoul; and do forgive you accordingly. And having so said, he gave them written in parchment, and sealed with seven seals, a large and general pardon, commanding both my Lord Mayor, my Lord Will-be-will, and Mr. Recorder, to proclaim, and cause it to be proclaimed to-morrow by that the sun is up, throughout the whole town of Mansoul.
Moreover, the Prince stripped the prisoners of their mourning weeds, and gave them 'beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness' (Isa 61:3)
Then he gave to each of the three, jewels of gold, and precious stones, and took away their ropes, and put chains of gold about their necks, and ear-rings in their ears. Now the prisoners, when they did hear the gracious words of Prince Emmanuel, and had beheld all that was done unto them, fainted almost quite away; for the grace, the benefit, the pardon, was sudden, glorious, and so big, that they were not able, without staggering, to stand up under it.[203] Yea, my Lord Will-be-will swooned outright; but the Prince stepped to him, put his everlasting arms under him, embraced him, kissed him, and bid him be of good cheer, for all should be performed according to his word. He also did kiss, and embrace, and smile upon the other two that were Will-be-will's companions, saying, Take these as further tokens of my love, favour, and compassion to you; and I charge you, that you, Mr. Recorder, tell in the town of Mansoul what you have heard and seen.
Then were their fetters broken to pieces before their faces, and cast into the air, and their steps[204] were enlarged under them. Then they fell down at the feet of the Prince, and kissed his feet, and wetted them with tears; also they cried out with a mighty strong voice, saying, 'Blessed be the glory of the Lord from this place' (Eze 3:12). So they were bid rise up, and go to the town, and tell to Mansoul what the Prince had done. He commanded also that one with a pipe and tabor should go and play before them all the way into the town of Mansoul. Then was fulfilled what they never looked for, and they were made to possess that which they never dreamed of.[205] The Prince also called for the noble Captain Credence, and commanded that he and some of his officers should march before the noble men of Mansoul with flying colours into the town. He gave also unto Captain Credence a charge, that about that time that the Recorder did read the general pardon in the town of Mansoul, that at that very time he should with flying colours march in at Eye-gate with his ten thousands at his feet, and that he should so go until he came by the high street of the town, up to the castle gates, and that himself should take possession thereof against his Lord came thither. He commanded, moreover, that he should bid Captain Judgment and Captain Execution to leave the stronghold to him, and to withdraw from Mansoul, and to return into the camp with speed unto the Prince.
And now was the town of Mansoul also delivered from the terror of the first four captains and their men.[206]
[CONTENTS:—The liberated prisoners return to Mansoul, where they are received with great joy—The inhabitants request Emmanuel to take up his residence among them—He consents—Makes a triumphal entry amid the shouts of the people—The town is new modeled, and the image of Shaddai erected.]
Well, I told you before how the prisoners were entertained by the noble Prince Emmanuel, and how they behaved themselves before him, and how he sent them away to their home with pipe and tabor going before them. And now you must think that those of the town that had all this while waited to hear of their death, could not but be exercised with sadness of mind, and with thoughts that pricked like thorns. Nor could their thoughts be kept to any one point; the wind blew with them all this while at great uncertainties, yea, their hearts were like a balance that had been disquieted with a shaking hand. But at last, as they with many a long look looked over the wall of Mansoul, they thought that they saw some returning to the town; and thought again, Who should they be too, who should they be? At last they discerned that they were the prisoners; but can you imagine how their hearts were surprised with wonder, especially when they perceived also in what equipage and with what honour they were sent home? They went down to the camp in black, but they came back to the town in white; they went down to the camp in ropes, they came back in chains of gold; they went down to the camp with their feet in fetters, but came back with their steps enlarged under them; they went also to the camp looking for death, but they came back thence with assurance of life; they went down to the camp with heavy hearts, but came back again with pipe and tabor playing before them. So, so soon as they were come to Eye-gate, the poor and tottering town of Mansoul adventured to give a shout, and they gave such a shout as made the captains in the Prince's army leap at the sound thereof.
Alas for them, poor hearts! who could blame them, since their dead friends were come to life again? for it was to them as life from the dead, to see the ancients of the town of Mansoul shine in such splendour. They looked for nothing but the axe and the block; but behold, joy and gladness, comfort and consolation, and such melodious notes attending of them that was sufficient to make a sick man well. So when they came up, they saluted each other with Welcome! welcome! and blessed be he that has spared you (Isa 33:24). They added also, We see it is well with you, but how must it go with the town of Mansoul? and, Will it go well with the town of Mansoul? said they. Then answered them the Recorder and my Lord Mayor, Oh tidings! glad tidings! good tidings of good and of great joy to poor Mansoul! Then they gave another shout that made the earth to ring again. After this they inquired yet more particularly how things went in the camp, and what message they had from Emmanuel to the town, So they told them all passages that had happened to them at the camp, and everything that the Prince did to them. This made Mansoul wonder at the wisdom and grace of the Prince Emmanuel. Then they told them what they had received at his hands for the whole town of Mansoul; and the Recorder delivered it in these words—PARDON, PARDON, PARDON for Mansoul; and this shall Mansoul know to-morrow. Then he commanded, and they went and summoned Mansoul to meet together in the market-place to-morrow, there to hear their general pardon read.
But who can think what a turn, what a change, what an alteration this hint of things did make in the countenance of the town of Mansoul! No man of Mansoul could sleep that night for joy;[207] in every house there was joy and music, singing and making merry, telling and hearing of Mansoul's happiness, was then all that Mansoul had to do; and this was the burden of all their song—Oh, more of this at the rising of the sun! more of this to-morrow! Who thought yesterday, would one say, that this day would have been such a day to us? And who thought, that saw our prisoners go down in irons, that they would have returned in chains of gold! yea, they that judged themselves as they went to be judged of their judge, were by his mouth acquitted, not for that they were innocent, but of the Prince's mercy, and sent home with pipe and tabor. But is this the common custom of princes? do they use to show such kind of favours to traitors? No! this is only peculiar to Shaddai, and unto Emmanuel. his Son.[208]
Now morning drew on apace, wherefore the Lord Mayor, the Lord Will-be-will, and Mr. Recorder came down to the market-place at the time that the Prince had appointed, where the townsfolk were waiting for them; and when they came, they came in that attire and in that glory that the Prince had put them into the day before, and the street was lightened with their glory. So the Mayor, Recorder, and my Lord Will-be-will drew down to Mouth-gate, which was at the lower end of the market-place, because that of old time was the place where they used to read public matters. Thither therefore they came in their robes, and their tabret went before them. Now the eagerness of the people to know the full of the matter was great.
Then the Recorder stood up upon his feet, and first beckoning with his hand for a silence, he read out with loud voice the pardon. But when he came to these words, 'The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, pardoning iniquity, transgression, and sin'(Exo 34:6); and to these, 'all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven,' &c. (Mark 3:28); they could not forbear but leap for joy. For this you must know, that there was conjoined herewith every man's name in Mansoul; also the seals of the pardon made a brave show.[209]
When the Recorder had made an end of reading the pardon, the townsmen ran up upon the walls of the town, and leaped and skipped thereon for joy; and bowed themselves seven times with their faces towards Emmanuel's pavilion, and shouted out aloud for joy, and said, Let Emmanuel live for ever! Then order was given to the young men in Mansoul, that they should ring the bells for joy. So the bells did ring, and the people sing, and the music go in every house in Mansoul.[210]
When the Prince had sent home the three prisoners of Mansoul with joy, and pipe, and tabor; he commanded his captains, with all the field-officers and soldiers throughout his army, to be ready in that morning that the Recorder should read the pardon in Mansoul, to do his further pleasure. So the morning, as I have showed, being come, just as the Recorder had made an end of reading the pardon, Emmanuel commanded that all the trumpets in the camp should sound, that the colours should be displayed, half of them upon Mount Gracious, and half of them upon Mount Justice.[211] He commanded also that all the captains should show themselves in all their harness, and that the soldiers should shout for joy. Nor was Captain Credence, though in the castle, silent in such a day, but he, from the top of the hold, showed himself with sound of trumpet to Mansoul, and to the Prince's camp.
Thus have I showed you the manner and way that Emmanuel took to recover the town of Mansoul from under the hand and power of the tyrant Diabolus.
Now when the Prince had completed these, the outward ceremonies of his joy, he again commanded that his captains and soldiers should show unto Mansoul some feats of war. So they presently addressed themselves to this work. But oh, with what agility, nimbleness, dexterity, and bravery did these military men discover their skill in feats of war to the now gazing town of Mansoul!
They marched, they counter-marched, they opened to the right and left, they divided and subdivided, they closed, they wheeled, made good their front and rear with their right and left wings, and twenty things more, with that aptness, and then were all as they were again, that they took, yea, ravished the hearts that were in Mansoul to behold it. But add to this, the handling of their arms, the managing of their weapons of war, were marvellous taking to Mansoul and me.[212]
When this action was over, the whole town of Mansoul came out as one man to the Prince in the camp to thank him, and praise him for his abundant favour, and to beg that it would please his grace to come unto Mansoul with his men, and there to take up their quarters for ever. And this they did in most humble manner, bowing themselves seven times to the ground before him. Then said he, All peace be to you. So the town came nigh, and touched with the hand the top of his golden scepter, and they said, Oh that the Prince Emmanuel, with his captains and men of war, would dwell in Mansoul for ever; and that his battering-rams and slings might be lodged in her for the use and service of the Prince, and for the help and strength of Mansoul. 'For,' said they, 'we have room for thee, we have room for thy men, we have also room for thy weapons of war, and a place to make a magazine for thy carriages. Do it, Emmanuel, and thou shalt be King and Captain in Mansoul for ever. Yea govern thou also according to all the desire of thy soul, and make thou governors and princes under thee of thy captains and men of war, and we will become thy servants, and thy laws shall be our direction.'
They added, moreover, and prayed his Majesty to consider thereof; 'for,' said they, 'if now, after all this grace bestowed upon us thy miserable town of Mansoul, thou shouldest withdraw, thou and thy captains from us, the town of Mansoul will die.[213] Yea,' said they, 'our blessed Emmanuel, if thou shouldest depart from us now thou hast done so much good for us, and showed so much mercy unto us; what will follow but that our joy will be as if it had not been, and our enemies will a second time come upon us with more rage than at the first. Wherefore, we beseech thee, O thou the desire of our eyes, and the strength and life of our poor town, accept of this motion that now we have made unto our Lord, and come and dwell in the midst of us, and let us be thy people. Besides, Lord, we do not know but that to this day many Diabolonians may be yet lurking in the town of Mansoul, and they will betray us when thou shalt leave us, into the hand of Diabolus again; and who knows what designs, plots, or contrivances have passed betwixt them about these things already; loth we are to fall again into his horrible hands. Wherefore, let it please thee to accept of our palace for thy place of residence, and of the houses of the best men in our town for the reception of thy soldiers, and their furniture.'[214]
Then said the Prince, 'If I come to your town, will you suffer me further to prosecute that which is in mine heart against mine enemies and yours, yea, will you help me in such undertakings?'
They answered, 'We know not what we shall do; we did not think once that we should have been such traitors to Shaddai as we have proved to be; what then shall we say to our Lord? Let him put no trust in his saints, let the Prince dwell in our castle, and make of our town a garrison, let him set his noble captains, and his warlike soldiers over us. Yea, let him conquer us with his love, and overcome us with his grace, and then surely shall he be but with us, and help us, as he was, and did that morning that our pardon was read unto us, we shall comply with this, our Lord, and with his ways, and fall in with his word against the mighty.
'One word more, and thy servants have done, and in this will trouble our Lord no more. We know not the depth of the wisdom of thee our Prince. Who could have thought that had been ruled by his reason, that so much sweet as we do now enjoy should have come out of those bitter trials wherewith we were tried at the first? but, Lord, let light go before, and let love come after; yea, take us by the hand, and lead us by thy counsels, and let this always abide upon us, that all things shall be for the best for thy servants, and come to our Mansoul, and do as it pleaseth thee. Or, Lord, come to our Mansoul, do what thou wilt, so thou keepest us from sinning, and makest us serviceable to thy Majesty.'[215]
Then said the Prince to the town of Mansoul again, 'Go, return to your houses in peace, I will willingly in this comply with your desires. I will remove my royal pavilion, I will draw up my forces before Eye-gate to-morrow, and so will march forwards into the town of Mansoul. I will possess myself of your castle of Mansoul, and will set my soldiers over you; yea, I will yet do things in Mansoul that cannot be paralleled in any nation, country or kingdom under heaven.'
Then did the men of Mansoul give a shout, and returned unto their houses in peace; they also told to their kindred and friends the good that Emmanuel had promised to Mansoul. And to-morrow, said they, he will march into our town, and take up his dwelling, he and his men in Mansoul.
Then went out the inhabitants of the town of Mansoul with haste to the green trees, and to the meadows, to gather boughs and flowers, therewith to strew the streets against their Prince, the Son of Shaddai, should come; they also made garlands, and other fine works, to betoken how joyful they were, and should be to receive their Emmanuel into Mansoul; yea, they strewed the street quite from Eye-gate to the castle-gate, the place where the Prince should be. They also prepared for his coming what music the town of Mansoul would afford, that they might play before him to the palace, his habitation.
So, at the time appointed, he makes his approach to Mansoul, and the gates were set open for him, there also the ancients and elders of Mansoul met him, to salute him with a thousand welcomes. Then he arose and entered Mansoul, he and all his servants. The elders of Mansoul did also go dancing before him till he came to the castle gates. And this was the manner of his going up thither. He was clad in his golden armour, he rode in his royal chariot, the trumpets sounded about him, the colours were displayed, his ten thousands went up at his feet, and the elders of Mansoul danced before him.[216] And now were the walls of the famous town of Mansoul filled with the tramplings of the inhabitants thereof, who went up thither to view the approach of the blessed Prince, and his royal army. Also the casements, windows, balconies, and tops of the houses were all now filled with persons of all sorts to behold how their town was to be filled with good. [217] Now when he was come so far into the town as to the Recorder's house, he commanded that one should go to Captain Credence, to know whether the castle of Mansoul was prepared to entertain his Royal Presence, for the preparation of that was left to that captain, and word was brought that it was (Acts 15:9).[218] Then was Captain Credence commanded also to come forth with his power to meet the Prince, the which was, as he had commanded, done, and he conducted him into the castle (Eph 3:17). This done, the Prince that night did lodge in the castle with his mighty captains and men of war, to the joy of the town of Mansoul. Now the next care of the townsfolk was how the captains and soldiers of the Prince's army should be quartered among them, and the care was not how they should shut their hands of them, but how they should fill their houses with them; for every man in Mansoul now had that esteem of Emmanuel and his men, that nothing grieved them more than because they were not enlarged enough, every one of them to receive the whole army of the Prince, yea, they counted it their glory to be waiting upon them, and would in those days run at their bidding like lackeys. At last they came to this result:—1. That Captain Innocency should quarter at Mr. Reason's. 2. That Captain Patience should quarter at Mr. Mind's. This Mr. Mind was formerly the Lord Will-be-will's clerk, in time of the late rebellion. 3. It was ordered that Captain Charity should quarter at Mr. Affection's house. 4. That Captain Good-hope should quarter at my Lord Mayor's. Now for the house of the Recorder, himself desired, because his house was next to the castle, and because from him it was ordered by the Prince, that, if need be, the alarm should be given to Mansoul; it was, I say, desired by him that Captain Boanerges and Captain Conviction should take up their quarters with him, even they and all their men. 5. As for Captain Judgment and Captain Execution, my Lord Will-be-will took them, and their men to him, because he was to rule under the Prince for the good of the town of Mansoul now, as he had before, under the tyrant Diabolus for the hurt and damage thereof (Rom 6:19; Eph 3:17). 6. And throughout the rest of the town were quartered Emmanuel's forces, but Captain Credence with his men abode still in the castle. So the Prince, his captains, and his soldiers were lodged in the town of Mansoul.[219] Now the ancients and elders of the town of Mansoul thought that they never should have enough of the Prince Emmanuel; his person, his actions, his words, and behaviour, were so pleasing, so taking, so desirable to them. Wherefore, they prayed him, that though the castle of Mansoul was his place of residence, and they desired that he might dwell there for ever, yet that he would often visit the streets, houses, and people of Mansoul. For, said they, Dread Sovereign, thy presence, thy looks, thy smiles, thy words, are the life, and strength, and sinews of the town of Mansoul.[220] Besides this, they craved that they might have, without difficulty or interruption, continual access unto him, so for that very purpose he commanded that the gates should stand open, that they might there see the manner of his doings, the fortifications of the place, and the royal mansion-house of the Prince. When he spake they all stopped their mouths and gave audience; and when he walked, it was their delight to imitate him in his goings. Now upon a time Emmanuel made a feast for the town of Mansoul, and upon the feasting-day the townsfolk were come to the castle to partake of his banquet. And he feasted them with all manner of outlandish food, food that grew not in the fields of Mansoul, nor in all the whole Kingdom of Universe. It was food that came from his Father's court, and so there was dish after dish set before them, and they were commanded freely to eat. But still when a fresh dish was set before them, they would whisperingly say to each other, What is it? (Exo 16:15) [221] For they wist not what to call it. They drank also of the water that was made wine; and were very merry with him. There was music also all the while at the table, and man did eat angels' food, and had honey given him out of the rock. So Mansoul did eat the food that was peculiar to the court, yea, they had now thereof to the full (Psa 78:24,25). [222] I must not forget to tell you that as at this table there were musicians, so they were not those of the country, nor yet of the town of Mansoul; but they were the masters of the songs that were sung at the court of Shaddai.[223] Now after the feast was over, Emmanuel was for entertaining the town of Mansoul with some curious riddles of secrets drawn up by his Father's secretary, by the skill and wisdom of Shaddai; the like to these there is not in any kingdom. These riddles were made upon the King Shaddai himself, and upon Emmanuel his Son, and upon his wars and doings with Mansoul. Emmanuel also expounded unto them some of those riddles himself, but oh how they were lightened! They saw what they never saw, they could not have thought that such rarities could have been couched in so few and such ordinary words. I told you before whom these riddles did concern; and as they were opened, the people did evidently see it was so. Yea, they did gather that the things themselves were a kind of portraiture, and that of Emmanuel himself; for when they read in the scheme where the riddles were writ, and looked in the face of the Prince, things looked so like the one to the other that Mansoul could not forbear but say, This is the Lamb, this is the Sacrifice, this is the Rock, this is the Red Cow, this is the Door, and this is the way; with a great many other things more.[224] And thus he dismissed the town of Mansoul. But can you imagine how the people of the corporation were taken with this entertainment? Oh they were transported with joy, they were drowned with wonderment, while they saw and understood, and considered what their Emmanuel entertained them withal, and what mysteries he opened to them; and when they were at home in their houses, and in their most retired places, they could not but sing of him, and of his actions. Yea, so taken were the townsmen now with their Prince, that they would sing of him in their sleep. Now it was in the heart of the Prince Emmanuel to new model the town of Mansoul, and to put it into such a condition as might be more pleasing to him, and that might best stand with the profit and security of the now flourishing town of Mansoul. He provided also against insurrections at home, and invasions from abroad; such love had he for the famous town of Mansoul. Wherefore he first of all commanded that the great slings that were brought from his Father's court, when he came to the war of Mansoul, should be mounted, some upon the battlements of the castle, some upon the towers, for there were towers in the town of Mansoul, towers new built by Emmanuel since he came thither.[225] There was also an instrument invented by Emmanuel, that was to throw stones from the castle of Mansoul, out at Mouth-gate; an instrument that could not be resisted, nor that would miss of execution; wherefore for the wonderful exploits that it did when used, it went without a name, and it was committed to the care of, and to be managed by the brave captain, the Captain Credence, in case of war.[226] This done, Emmanuel called the Lord Will-be-will to him, and gave him in commandment to take care of the gates, the wall, and towers in Mansoul. Also the Prince gave him the militia into his hand; and a special charge to withstand all insurrections and tumults that might be made in Mansoul, against the peace of our Lord the King, and the peace and tranquillity of the town of Mansoul. He also gave him in commission, that if he found any of the Diabolonians lurking in any corner in the famous town of Mansoul, he should forthwith apprehend them, and stay them, or commit them to safe custody, that they may be proceeded against according to law. Then he called unto him the Lord Understanding, who was the old Lord Mayor, he that was put out of place when Diabolus took the town, and put him into his former office again, and it became his place for his lifetime. He bid him also that he should build him a palace near Eye-gate, and that he should build it in fashion like a tower for defence. He bid him also that he should read in the Revelation of Mysteries[227] all the days of his life, that he might know how to perform his office aright. He also made Mr. Knowledge the Recorder; not of contempt to old Mr. Conscience, who had been Recorder before; but for that it was in his princely mind to confer upon Mr. Conscience another employ; of which he told the old gentleman he should know more hereafter. Then he commanded that the image of Diabolus should be taken down from the place where it was set up, and that they should destroy it utterly, beating of it into powder, and casting it unto the wind, without the town-wall; and that the image of Shaddai his Father should be set up again, with his own, upon the castle gates, and that it should be more fairly drawn than ever; forasmuch as both his Father and himself were come to Mansoul in more grace and mercy than heretofore (Rev 22:4). He would also that his name should be fairly engraven upon the front of the town, and that it should be done in the best of gold, for the honour of the town of Mansoul.[228]
***
'And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain: escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.'—Genesis 19:17.
London: Printed for John Marshall, at the Bible in Gracechurch
Street, 1698.
About forty years ago a gentleman, in whose company I had commenced my pilgrimage, and who had joined me in communion with a Baptist church, about four years previously, came to my house one Monday morning, greatly delighted with the sermon which our pastor had preached on the previous day, while I was engaged in superintending the Sunday school. It had caused a very remarkable sensation, which, if properly followed up, bid fair to occasion an extraordinary revival of religion in the neighbourhood. He, with the deacons, had begged of our minister to fill up his outline, and prepare the sermon for publication, to which he had consented. He wished to ascertain from me, as a publisher, the expense of printing five thousand copies, being sure that the sale of it would be unprecedented, not only throughout the kingdom, but as far as the English language was spoken. In about a week, the copy fairly written was left with me. The text was Hebrews 12:1, 'Let us run with patience the race that is set before us.' After the introduction that all men desire heaven, but all do not run for it—the word run was explained as a flying, pressing, persevering. Then seven reasons, and nine directions, were followed by nine motives and nine uses. This, and the striking ideas and language of the sermon, brought Bunyan to my recollection, and, on comparison, it proved to be the Heavenly Footman, with very slight alterations. Having then very recently purchased a neat edition of the book, at a very low price, my inquiry was, whether they would not prefer having the book in its genuine state, especially as it was ready for delivery. I need not add, that all thoughts of circulating the sermon was at once abandoned. In conversation with my excellent pastor, who afterwards for many years bore the honour of a D.D., he acknowledge his obligation to me for detecting the plagiarism before the sermon was published, and explained to me that, when very young, he had read Bunyan's Heavenly Footman with intense interest, and made a full analysis of it, in the shape of notes, which, having committed to memory, he preached to a very delighted and deeply impressed congregation; that after a lapse of many years, looking over the outlines of his early sermons, he was struck with it, and believing it to be his own composition, had again used it with such extraordinary success, as led his deacons and members to request him to print it. Doubtless Bunyan being dead has often similarly spoken—may his voice never be lost in silence or be forgotten.
The title of 'Heavenly Footman' was probably suggested by the words of the prophet Jeremiah, 'If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? And in the land of peace thou trustedst, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?' (12:5), and 'Let us run with patience the race that is set before us' (Heb 12:1). The word footman does not refer to that class of servants who are badged and dressed in livery to gratify the pride of their masters, nor to that description of foot-soldiers or infantry, whose business is designated by the blood-stained colour of their clothes. But it refers to those who are travelling on foot to a distant country, engaged on a pilgrimage from earth to heaven. It is worthy of remark, that the whole of the children of God, of every age and clime, class and kindred, the richest and the poorest, all are upon terms of perfect equality in running the race set before them. No wealth, nor grade, can procure a horse to carry them, or a carriage to ride in; all must run on foot. The only carriage for the foot-sore, weary pilgrim is the bosom of Christ; he carries the lambs in his bosom, and there is room enough for all; the poorest labourer and the noblest aristocrat meet there upon a level with each other; there is no first class for the rich, and parliamentary train for the poor. It is all first class. In the varied adventures of Christian and his associates, and of Christiana, her children, and her lovely friend Mercy, they never ride. The little one is led by the hand up the steep and rough hill Difficulty, but his own feet carry him throughout the wearisome road. The only carriage was the fiery chariot which carried the soul of the martyred Faithful to the Celestial City; there is no riding to heaven while in the body. Wealth may procure many pleasures to clog the soul in its journey. It may purchase indulgencies; it may incline some disciples to look at sinful imperfections through the wrong end of the telescope; it may purchase prayers—but devotional exercises, bought by gold, will freeze the soul. It is the poor disciple that receives the faithful admonitions of his equally poor fellow-saints. The rich have more ceremony, while the labourer enjoys more richly, more free from restraint, the warm outpourings of a devotional spirit. Still there is nothing to prevent the greatest nobleman or monarch from running to heaven in company with the disciples of our lowly Master. If he refuses this road and this company, he must pursue his downward course to destruction.
The order in which the allegorical works of Bunyan were written, very naturally suggest itself from his own narratives, and from the dates of their publication. It was thus, while suffering his tedious and dangerous imprisonment for Christ's sake, he was led to write an account of the dealings of God with his soul, which work he published in 1666, under the title of Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. While engaged in writing this remarkable narrative, the almost unbounded allegorical powers of his mind were brought into exercise—
'And thus it was: I writing of the way
And race of saints, in this our gospel-day,
Fell suddenly into an allegory
About their journey, and the way to glory.'
Having finished his Grace Abounding, he allowed his fertile imagination its full scope, and again wrote the result of his experience in the form of an allegorical narrative, called the Pilgrim's Progress from this World to that which is to Come. At first the thoughts pressed upon him as fast as he could write them, yet he says—
'I did not think
To show to all the world my pen and ink
In such a mode.'
And it was several years before he ventured to publish his beautiful allegory. He was released from prison in 1672, having been chosen in the previous year to be the pastor, or ministering elder of the church at Bedford. His time was then much occupied in re-organizing the church, after years of tempest and fiery persecution. At length, having overcome his own and his friends' reluctance to publish so solemn a work on the conversion of a sinner and his way to heaven, in the form of an allegory, the Pilgrim's Progress was printed in 1678. The wonderful popularity of this book, and the great good it produced, led him again to turn his Grace Abounding into a different form of narrative, in the more profound allegory of the Holy War; this was published in 1682, and in two years afterwards he completed the Pilgrim by a delightful second part. His long incarceration, followed by sudden and great activity, probably brought down his robust constitution; and as the end of his course drew nigh, he was doubly diligent, for in 1688, before his death-day, which was in August, he published six important treatises, and had prepared fourteen or fifteen others for the press. Among these were his final and almost dying instructions to the pilgrim, under the title of The Heavenly Footman, the man whom he describes in the poetical apology to the Pilgrim's Progress, as he that
'Runs and runs,
Till he unto the gate of glory comes.'
This treatise sheds a lustre over the latter days of our immortal allegorist. It is evidently the production of a mind expanded and chastened with the rich experience of sanctified age. In it we are reminded of those important directions to heavenly footmen, contained in his most admired books. Is there a Slough of Despond to be passed, and a hill Difficulty to be overcome? Here the footman is reminded of 'many a dirty step, many a high hill, a long and tedious journey through a vast howling wilderness'; but he is encouraged, 'the land of promise is at the end of the way.' Must the man that would win eternal glory draw his sword, put on his helmet, and fight his way into the temple—the heavenly footman must press, crowd, and thrust through all that stand between heaven and his soul. Did Ignorance, who perished from the way, say to the pilgrims, 'You go so fast, I must stay awhile behind?' He who runs to heaven is told that the heavy-heeled, lazy, wanton, and foolish professor will not attain the prize. The wicket-gate, at the head of the way, is all-important; none can get to heaven unless they enter by Christ, the door and way, so the footman is reminded that it matters not how fast he runs, he can never attain the prize, if he is in the wrong road. Did the pilgrims so severely suffer from entering upon Byepath-meadow, and even after that bitter experience were they again misled into a bye path, by a black man clothed in white raiment? Our footman is warned—Beware then of bye and crooked paths that lead to death and damnation; the way to heaven is one, still there are many well-beaten bye paths that butt or shoot down upon it, and which lead to destruction. To prevent vain and foolish company from calling you out of the path, or from loitering in it, say, I am in haste, I am running for a prize; if I win I am made, I win ALL; if I lose I lose all, and am undone. So it was with Faithful when even Christian, who saw him before, cried Ho ho, so ho. Faithful answered, 'No, I am upon my life, the avenger of blood is behind me.' In the same way the pilgrims refused the invitations of Demas with his silver mine. No, says the heavenly footman, I am running for heaven, for my soul, for God, for Christ, from hell and everlasting damnation. Did the poor pilgrims go grunting, puffing, and sighing, one tumbleth over a bush, another sticks fast in the dirt, one cries out, I am down, and another, Ho! where are you? Pilgrim's Progress. So the footman is told that he will 'meet with cross, pain, and wearisomeness to the flesh, with briars and quagmires, and other encumbrances,' through all which he must persevere. Did Formalist and Hypocrite turn off into bye ways at the foot of the hill Difficulty, and miserably perish? Did Mistrust and Timorous run back for fear of the persecuting lions, Church and State? So the man that runs for heaven is cautioned—'Some when they come at the cross can go no further, but back again to their sins they go, stumble and break their necks, or turn aside to the left or to the right, and perish.' Be not ready to halt, nor run hobbling and halting, but, like my Lord Will-be-will in the Holy War, when fighting against Diabolus, get thy will tipt with heavenly grace, and go full speed for heaven. These quotations tend to prove that this invaluable treatise is a summary of the guide books which Bunyan had before written. It was doubtless one of the last productions of his prolific pen.
Two passages in the Heavenly Footman appear to favour the idea, that a period in life is, in some cases, fixed, beyond which there is no repentance; thus in a solemn warning against procrastination he says, 'Dost thou know whether the day of grace will last a week longer or no? For the day of grace is past with some before their life is ended'; and 'sometimes sinners have not heaven gates open to them so long as they suppose; and if they be once shut against a man, they are so heavy that all the men in the world, nor all the angels in heaven, can open them. Francis Spira can tell thee what it is to stay till the gate of mercy be quite shut.' It becomes an interesting inquiry as to who Bunyan means by the 'some' of whom he says, 'that the day of grace is past before their life is ended.' This cannot refer to those who, neglecting the Saviour, are in a perishing condition. No minister felt a more ardent desire to rouse them to a sense of their danger and to guard them against despair than John Bunyan. In his Jerusalem Sinner Saved he thus argues 'Why despair? thou art yet in the land of the living.' 'It is a sin to begin to despair before one sets his foot over the threshold of hell gates.' 'What, despair of bread in a land that is full of corn? Despair of mercy when our God is full of mercy, thou scrupulous fool; despair when we have a redeeming Christ alive. Let them despair that dwell where there is no God, and that are confined to those chambers of death which can be reached by no redemption.' In Bunyan's Come and Welcome, he proves that it would be 'high blasphemy and damnable wickedness' to imagine that Christ would cast out any that come to God by him. He cannot mean the backslider, for Bunyan was such. David also, to an awful extent, and Peter to the denial of his Lord. No, he may mean those who, while neglecting the Saviour, are overtaken by madness, or more probably to such as Judas, Spira, and others who sell their Master, or renounce him. If a man abandons the Saviour, there is no other name under heaven whereby he can be saved; 'there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin'; he is a despiser of God's way of salvation, and tramples under foot the Son of God. While such a career continues, fiery indignation must be his wretched destiny. They who contemn the heavenly gift—the Holy Ghost—the word of God—the powers of the world to come—if they persevere unto death in such sentiments, the day of grace is past. There have been some who, like Esau, having sold their birthright, sought repentance even with tears, but found it not—they sought it not in God's appointed way. All hope depends upon such sinners coming unto Christ, humbled and broken-hearted. He is willing, He is able to save even then to the uttermost, but they will not. He has promised, and will perform his word, 'him that cometh to me I will in nowise cast out.' The volume of inspiration is crowned at its close with the same cheering encouragement, 'And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And WHOSOEVER WILL, let him take the water of life freely.' I cannot imagine that any man would have sung with greater pleasure than Bunyan that hymn of Dr. Watts'—
'Life is the time to serve the Lord,
The time to insure the great reward;
And while the lamp holds out to burn,
The vilest sinner may return.'
They only who reject the counsel and mercy of God, shut heaven's gates against their own souls, and rush upon Jehovah's buckler like Judas, or Spira, or like one of Bunyan's early friends, John Childs, who apostatized for fear of persecution, and perished by his own hand. To such only the day of grace is past; they have set themselves in the scorner's seat, from which they will be hurled into unutterable wretchedness.
Bunyan well knew that idleness engenders poverty and crime, and is the parent of every evil; and he exhorts his runner to the greatest diligence, not to 'fool away his soul' in slothfulness, which induces carelessness, until the sinner is remediless. Our first care is to get into the right way, and then so to run that 'the devil, who is light of foot,' may not overtake and trip us up. Running to heaven does not prevent the true, the real enjoyment of earthly blessings, but sanctifies and heightens them. The great impetus in our course is love to the prize—to Christ, to heaven; 'having our affections set upon things above.' Looking unto Jesus. His righteousness imputed unto us by the shedding of his blood, marks all the road, and while we keep that in sight we cannot err. In all earthly things we anticipate too much—but in the glories of heaven, our anticipations are feeble indeed, compared with eternal realities. Could the saints in glory impart to us a sense of their indescribable happiness, with what activity and perseverance we should run. The case of Lot, when flying from destruction, is put by Bunyan with peculiar force—he dared not to look back even to see what had become of his wife, lest death should overtake his own soul. O, my reader, may we be stimulated so to run as to obtain that crown of glory which is imperishable, immortal, and eternal.
Charles Doe, one of Bunyan's personal friends, having purchased the copyright of this work, kept it for some years, in hope of publishing it with other treatises, as a second folio volume, to complete his works; but failing in this object, he printed it separately in 1698, and appended an interesting list of Bunyan's works, with thirty cogent reasons why these invaluable labours should be preserved and handed down, to bless succeeding ages.
An earnest desire to preserve, in their perfect integrity, all the treatises as they were originally published, will induce me, at the end of the works, to reprint those interesting additions.
Friends,
Solomon saith, that 'The desire of the slothful killeth him'; and if so, what will slothfulness itself do to those that entertain it? (Prov 21:25). The proverb is, 'He that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame' (Prov 10:5). And this I dare be bold to say, no greater shame can befall a man, than to see that he hath fooled away his soul, and sinned away eternal life. And I am sure this is the next way to do it; namely, to be slothful; slothful, I say, in the work of salvation. The vineyard of the slothful man, in reference to the things of this life, is not fuller of briars, nettles, and stinking weeds, than he that is slothful for heaven, hath his heart full of heart-choaking and soul-damning sin.
Slothfulness hath these two evils: First, To neglect the time in which it should be getting of heaven; and by that means doth, in the Second place, bring in untimely repentance. I will warrant you, that he who shall lose his soul in this world through slothfulness, will have no cause to be glad thereat when he comes to hell.
Slothfulness is usually accompanied with carelessness, and carelessness is for the most part begotten by senselessness; and senselessness doth again put fresh strength into slothfulness, and by this means the soul is left remediless.
Slothfulness shutteth out Christ; slothfulness shameth the soul
(Cant 5:2-4; Prov 13:4).
Slothfulness, it is condemned even by the feeblest of all the creatures. 'Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise (Prov 6:6). The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold' (20:4); that is, he will not break up the fallow ground of his heart, because there must be some pains taken by him that will do it; 'therefore shall he beg in harvest,' that is, when the saints of God shall have their glorious heaven and happiness given to them; but the sluggard shall 'have nothing,' that is, be never the better for his crying for mercy, according to that in Matthew 25:10-12.
If you would know a sluggard in the things of heaven, compare him with one that is slothful in the things of this world. As, 1. He that is slothful is loth to set about the work he should follow: so is he that is slothful for heaven. 2. He that is slothful is one that is willing to make delays: so is he that is slothful for heaven. 3. He that is a sluggard, any small matter that cometh in between, he will make it a sufficient excuse to keep him off from plying his work: so it is also with him that is slothful for heaven. 4. He that is slothful doth his work by the halves; and so it is with him that is slothful for heaven. He may almost, but he shall never altogether obtain perfection of deliverance from hell; he may almost, but he shall never, without he mend, be altogether a saint. 5. They that are slothful, do usually lose the season in which things are to be done: and thus it is also with them that are slothful for heaven, they miss the season of grace. And therefore, 6. They that are slothful have seldom or never good fruit: so also it will be with the soul-sluggard. 7. They that are slothful they are chid for the same: so also will Christ deal with those that are not active for him. Thou wicked or slothful servant, out of thine own mouth will I judge thee; thou saidst I was thus, and thus, wherefore then gavest not thou my money to the bank? &c. (Luke 19:22). Take the unprofitable servant, and cast him into utter darkness, where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 25:26-30).
WHAT SHALL I SAY? Time runs; and will you be slothful? Much of your lives are past; and will you be slothful? Your souls are worth a thousand worlds; and will you be slothful? The day of death and judgment is at the door; and will you be slothful? The curse of God hangs over your heads; and will you be slothful? Besides, the devils are earnest, laborious, and seek by all means every day, by every sin, to keep you out of heaven, and hinder you of salvation; and will you be slothful? Also your neighbours are diligent for things that will perish; and will you be slothful for things that will endure for ever? Would you be willing to be damned for slothfulness? Would you be willing the angels of God should neglect to fetch your souls away to heaven when you lie a-dying, and the devils stand by ready to scramble for them?[1] Was Christ slothful in the work of your redemption? Are his ministers slothful in tendering this unto you? And, lastly, If all this will not move, I tell you God will not be slothful or negligent to damn you—whose damnation now of a long time slumbereth not—nor the devils will not neglect to fetch thee, nor hell neglect to shut its mouth upon thee.
Sluggard, art thou asleep still? art thou resolved to sleep the sleep of death? Wilt neither tidings from heaven or hell awake thee? Wilt thou say still, 'Yet a little sleep, a little slumber,' and 'a little folding of the hands to sleep?' (Prov 6:10). Wilt thou yet turn thyself in thy sloth, as the door is turned upon the hinges? O that I was one that was skilful in lamentation, and had but a yearning heart towards thee, how would I pity thee! How would I bemoan thee! O that I could with Jeremiah let my eyes run down with rivers of water for thee! Poor soul, lost soul, dying soul, what a hard heart have I that I cannot mourn for thee! If thou shouldst lose but a limb, a child, or a friend, it would not be so much, but poor man it is THY SOUL; if it was to lie in hell but for a day, but for a year, nay, ten thousand years, it would (in comparison) be nothing. But O it is for ever! O this cutting EVER! What a soul-amazing word will that be, which saith, 'Depart from me, ye cursed, into EVERLASTING fire'! &c.[2]
Object. But if I should set in, and run as you would have me, then I must run from all my friends; for none of them are running that way.
Answ. And if thou dost, thou wilt run into the bosom of Christ and of God, and then what harm will that do thee?
Object. But if I run this way, then I must run from all my sins.
Answ. That is true indeed; yet if thou dost not, thou wilt run into hell-fire.
Object. But if I run this way, then I shall be hated, and lose the love of my friends and relations, and of those that I expect benefit from, or have reliance on, and I shall be mocked of all my neighbours.
Answ. And if thou dost not, thou art sure to lose the love and favour of God and Christ, the benefit of heaven and glory, and be mocked of God for thy folly, 'I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh'; and if thou wouldst not be hated and mocked, then take heed thou by thy folly dost not procure the displeasure and mockings of the great God; for his mocks and hatred will be terrible, because they will fall upon thee in terrible times, even when tribulation and anguish taketh hold on thee; which will be when death and judgment comes, when all the men in the earth, and all the angels in heaven, cannot help thee (Prov 1:26-28).
Object. But surely I may begin this time enough, a year or two hence, may I not?
Answ. 1. Hast thou any lease of thy life? Did ever God tell thee thou shalt live half a year, or two months longer? nay, it may be thou mayst not live so long. And therefore, 2. Wilt thou be so sottish and unwise, as to venture thy soul upon a little uncertain time? 3. Dost thou know whether the day of grace will last a week longer or no? For the day of grace is past with some before their life is ended: and if it should be so with thee, wouldst thou not say, O that I had begun to run before the day of grace had been past, and the gates of heaven shut against me. But, 4. If thou shouldst see any of thy neighbours neglect the making sure of either house or land to themselves, if they had it proffered to them, saying, Time enough hereafter, when the time is uncertain; and besides, they do not know whether ever it will be proffered to them again, or no: I say, Wouldst thou not then call them fools? And if so, then dost thou think that thou art a wise man to let thy immortal soul hang over hell by a thread of uncertain time, which may soon be cut asunder by death?
But to speak plainly, all these are the words of a slothful spirit. Arise man, be slothful no longer; set foot, and heart, and all into the way of God, and run, the crown is at the end of the race; there also standeth the loving fore-runner, even Jesus, who hath prepared heavenly provision to make thy soul welcome, and he will give it thee with a willinger heart than ever thou canst desire it of him. O therefore do not delay the time any longer, but put into practice the words of the men of Dan to their brethren, after they had seen the goodness of the land of Canaan: 'Arise,' say they, &c., 'for we have seen the land, and behold it is very good; and are ye still,' or do you forbear running? 'Be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land' (Judg 18:9). Farewell.
I wish our souls may meet with comfort at the journey's end.
'So run, that ye may obtain.'—1 Corinthians 9:24.
Heaven and happiness is that which every one desireth, insomuch that wicked Balaam could say, 'Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his' (Num 23:10). Yet for all this, there are but very few that do obtain that ever-to-be-desired glory, insomuch that many eminent professors drop short of a welcome from God into his pleasant place.
The apostle, therefore, because he did desire the salvation of the souls of the Corinthians, to whom he writes this epistle, layeth them down in these words, such counsel, which if taken, would be for their help and advantage. First, Not to be wicked, and sit still, and wish for heaven; but TO RUN for it. Second, Not to content themselves with every kind of running; but, saith he, 'So RUN, that ye may obtain.' As if he should say, Some, because they would not lose their souls, they begin to run betimes (Eccl 12:1), they run apace, they run with patience (Heb 12:1), they run the right way (Matt 14:26). Do you so run? Some run from both father and mother, friends and companions, and thus, that they may have the crown. Do you so run? Some run through temptations, afflictions, good report, evil report, that they may win the pearl (1 Cor 4:13; 2 Cor 6). Do you so run? 'So run that ye may obtain.'
These words, they are taken from men's running for a wager: a very apt similitude to set before the eyes of the saints of the Lord. 'Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.' That is, do not only run, but be sure you win as well as run. 'So run, that ye may obtain.'
I shall not need to make any great ado in opening the words at this time, but shall rather lay down one doctrine that I do find in them; and in prosecuting that, I shall show you, in some measure, the scope of the words.
The doctrine is this: THEY THAT WILL HAVE HEAVEN, MUST RUN FOR IT; I say, they that will have heaven, they must run for it. I beseech you to heed it well. 'Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run ye.' The prize is heaven, and if you will have it, you must run for it. You have another scripture for this in the 12th of the Hebrews, the 1st, 2d, and 3rd verses: 'Wherefore seeing we also,' saith the apostle, 'are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.' And LET US RUN, saith he. Again, saith Paul, 'I therefore so run, not as uncertainly, so fight I,' &c.
But before I go any further, observe,
First—FLYING—That this running is not an ordinary, or any sort of running, but it is to be understood of the swiftest sort of running; and therefore in the 6th of the Hebrews it is called 'a fleeing'; that 'we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set before us.' Mark, 'who have fled.' It is taken from that 20th of Joshua, concerning the man that was to flee to the city of refuge, when the avenger of blood was hard at his heels, to take vengeance on him for the offence he had committed; therefore it is a RUNNING or FLYING for one's life. A running with all might and main, as we use to say. So run!
Second—PRESSING—this running in another place is called a pressing. 'I press toward the mark' (Phil 3:14); which signifieth, that they that will have heaven, they must not stick at any difficulties they meet with; but press, crowd, and thrust through all that may stand between heaven and their souls. So run!
Third—CONTINUING—this running is called in another place, 'a continuing in the way of life. If ye continue in the faith grounded, and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel' of Christ (Col 1:23). Not to run a little now and then, by fits and starts, or half-way, or almost thither; but to run for my life, to run through all difficulties, and to continue therein to the end of the race, which must be to the end of my life. 'So run, that ye may obtain.'
And the reasons for this point are these,
First. Because all or every one that runneth doth not obtain the prize; there be many that do run, yea, and run far too, who yet miss of the crown that standeth at the end of the race. You know that all that run in a race do not obtain the victory; they all run, but one wins. And so it is here; it is not every one that runneth, nor every one that seeketh, nor every one that striveth for the mastery, that hath it (Luke 13). Though a man do strive for the mastery, saith Paul, 'yet he is not crowned, except he strive lawfully'; that is, unless he so run, and so strive, as to have God's approbation (2 Tim 2:5). What, do you think that every heavy-heeled professor will have heaven? What, every lazy one; every wanton and foolish professor, that will be stopped by anything, kept back by anything, that scarce runneth so fast heaven-ward as a snail creepeth on the ground? Nay, there are some professors do not go on so fast in the way of God as a snail doth go on the wall; and yet these think, that heaven and happiness is for them. But stay, there are many more that run than there be that obtain; therefore he that will have heaven must RUN for it.
Second, Because you know that though a man do run, yet if he do not overcome, or win, as well as run, what will he be the better for his running? He will get nothing. You know the man that runneth, he doth do it that he may win the prize; but if he doth not obtain, he doth lose his labour, spend his pains and time, and that to no purpose; I say, he getteth nothing. And ah! how many such runners will there be found at the day of judgment! Even multitudes, multitudes that have run, yea, run so far as to come to heaven gates, and not able to get any further, but there stand knocking, when it is too late, crying, Lord, Lord, when they have nothing but rebukes for their pains. Depart from me, you come not here, you come too late, you run too lazily; the door is shut.[3] 'When once the master of the house is risen up,' saith Christ, 'and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us, I will say, I know ye not, Depart,' &c. (Luke 13:25). O sad will the estate of those be that run and miss; therefore, if you will have heaven, you must run for it; and 'so run that ye may obtain.'
Third, Because the way is long (I speak metaphorically), and there is many a dirty step, many a high hill, much work to do, a wicked heart, world, and devil, to overcome; I say, there are many steps to be taken by those that intend to be saved, by running or walking, in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham. Out of Egypt thou must go through the Red Sea; thou must run a long and tedious journey, through the vast howling wilderness, before thou come to the land of promise.
Fourth, They that will go to heaven they must run for it; because, as the way is long, so the time in which they are to get to the end of it is very uncertain; the time present is the only time; thou hast no more time allotted thee than that thou now enjoyest. 'Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth' (Prov 27:1). Do not say, I have time enough to get to heaven seven years hence; for I tell thee, the bell may toll for thee before seven days more be ended;[4] and when death comes, away thou must go, whether thou art provided or not; and therefore look to it; make no delays; it is not good dallying with things of so great concernment as the salvation or damnation of thy soul. You know he that hath a great way to go in a little time, and less by half than he thinks of, he had need RUN for it.
Fifth, They that will have heaven they must run for it; because the devil, the law, sin, death, and hell, follow them. There is never a poor soul that is going to heaven, but the devil, the law, sin, death, and hell, make after that soul. 'Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour' (1 Peter 5:8). And I will assure you, the devil is nimble, he can run apace, he is light of foot, he hath overtaken many, he hath turned up their heels, and hath given them an everlasting fall. Also the law, that can shoot a great way, have a care thou keep out of the reach of those great guns, the ten commandments. Hell also hath a wide mouth; it can stretch itself further than you are aware of. And as the angel said to Lot, Take heed, 'look not behind thee, neither tarry thou in all the plain,' that is, any where between this and heaven, 'lest thou be consumed' (Gen 19:17).[5] So say I to thee, Take heed, tarry not, lest either the devil, hell, death, or the fearful curses of the law of God, do overtake thee, and throw thee down in the midst of thy sins, so as never to rise and recover again. If this were well considered, then thou, as well as I, wouldst say, They that will have heaven must run for it.
Sixth, They that will go to heaven must run for it; because perchance the gates of heaven may be shut shortly. Sometimes sinners have not heaven-gates open to them so long as they suppose; and if they be once shut against a man, they are so heavy, that all the men in the world, nor all the angels in heaven, are not able to open them. I shut, 'and no man openeth,' saith Christ. And how if thou shouldst come but one quarter of an hour too late? I tell thee, it will cost thee an eternity to bewail thy misery in. Francis Spira can tell thee what it is to stay till the gate of mercy be quite shut; or to run so lazily, that they be shut before thou get within them.[6] What, to be shut out! what, out of heaven! Sinner, rather than lose it, run for it; yea, and 'so run that thou mayst obtain.'
Seventh, Lastly, Because if thou lose, thou losest all, thou losest soul, God, Christ, heaven, ease, peace, &c. Besides, thou layest thyself open to all the shame, contempt, and reproach, that either God, Christ, saints, the world, sin, the devil, and all, can lay upon thee. As Christ saith of the foolish builder, so will I say of thee, if thou be such a one who runs and missest; I say, even all that go by will begin to mock at thee, saying, This man began to run well, but was not able to finish (Luke 14:28-30). But more of this anon.
Quest. But how should a poor soul do to run? For this very thing is that which afflicteth me sore, as you say, to think that I may run, and yet fall short. Methinks to fall short at last, O, it fears me greatly. Pray tell me, therefore, how I should run.
Answ. That thou mightest indeed be satisfied in this particular, consider these following things.
The First Direction. If thou wouldst so run as to obtain the kingdom of heaven, then be sure that thou get into the way that leadeth thither. For it is a vain thing to think that ever thou shalt have the prize, though thou runnest never so fast, unless thou art in the way that leads to it. Set the case, that there should be a man in London that was to run to York for a wager; now, though he run never so swiftly, yet if he run full south, he might run himself quickly out of breath, and be never the nearer the prize, but rather the further off. Just so is it here; it is not simply the runner, nor yet the hasty runner, that winneth the crown, unless he be in the way that leadeth thereto.[7] I have observed, that little time which I have been a professor, that there is a great running to and fro, some this way, and some that way, yet it is to be feared most of them are out of the way, and then, though they run as swift as the eagle can fly, they are benefitted nothing at all.
Here is one runs a-quaking, another a-ranting; one again runs after the Baptism, and another after the Independency. Here is one for free-will, and another for Presbytery; and yet possibly most of all these sects run quite the wrong way, and yet every one is for his life, his soul, either for heaven or hell.[8]
If thou now say, Which is the way? I tell thee it is CHRIST, THE SON OF MARY, THE SON OF GOD, Jesus saith, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me' (John 14:6). So then thy business is, if thou wouldst have salvation, to see if Christ be thine, with all his benefits; whether he hath covered thee with his righteousness, whether he hath showed thee that thy sins are washed away with his heart-blood, whether thou art planted into him, and whether thou have faith in him, so as to make a life out of him, and to conform thee to him. That is, such faith as to conclude that thou art righteous, because Christ is thy righteousness, and so constrained to walk with him as the joy of thy heart, because he saveth thy soul. And for the Lord's sake take heed, and do not deceive thyself, and think thou art in the way upon too slight grounds; for if thou miss of the way, thou wilt miss of the prize; and if thou miss of that, I am sure thou wilt lose thy soul, even that soul which is worth more than the whole world.
But I have treated more largely on this in my book of the two covenants, and therefore shall pass it now; only I beseech thee to have a care of thy soul, and that thou mayest so do, take this counsel: Mistrust thy own strength, and throw it away; down on thy knees in prayer to the Lord for the spirit of truth; search his word for direction; fly seducers' company; keep company with the soundest Christians, that have most experience of Christ; and be sure thou have a care of Quakers, Ranters, Freewillers; also do not have too much company with some Anabaptists, though I go under that name myself. I tell thee this is such a serious matter, and I fear thou wilt so little regard it, that the thoughts of the worth of the thing, and of thy too light regarding of it, doth even make my heart ache whilst I am writing to thee. The Lord teach thee the way by his Spirit, and then I am sure thou wilt know it. SO RUN.
Only by the way, let me bid thee have a care of two things, and so I shall pass to the next thing.
I. Have a care of relying on the outward obedience to any of God's commands, or thinking thyself ever the better in the sight of God for that. 2. Take heed of fetching peace for thy soul from any inherent righteousness; but if thou canst believe that as thou art a sinner, so thou art justified freely by the love of God, through the redemption that is in Christ; and that God for Christ's sake hath forgiven thee, not because he saw any thing done, or to be done, in or by thee, to move him thereunto to do it; for that is the right way; the Lord put thee into it, and keep thee in it.
The Second Direction. As thou shouldst get into the way so thou shouldst also be much in studying and musing on the way. You know men that would be expert in any thing, they are usually much in studying of that thing, and so likewise is it with those that quickly grow expert in any way. This therefore thou shouldst do; let thy study be much exercised about Christ, which is the way; what he is, what he hath done, and why he is what he is, and why he hath done what is done; as, why 'He took upon him the form of a servant,' why he 'was made in the likeness of men' (Phil 2:7). Why he cried; why he died; why he bear the sin of the world; why he was made sin, and why he was made righteousness; why he is in heaven in the nature of man, and what he doth there? (2 Cor 5:21). Be much in musing and considering of these things; be thinking also enough of those places which thou must not come near, but leave some on this hand, and some on that hand; as it is with those that travel into other countries, they must leave such a gate on this hand, and such a bush on that hand, and go by such a place, where standeth such a thing. Thus, therefore, thou must do: Avoid such things which are expressly forbidden in the Word of God. 'Withdraw thy foot far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house, for her steps take hold on hell, going down to the chambers of death' (Prov 5, 7). And so of every thing that is not in the way, have a care of it, that thou go not by it; come not near it, have nothing to do with it. SO RUN.
The Third Direction. Not only thus, but, in the next place, thou must strip thyself of those things that may hang upon thee to the hindering of thee in the way to the kingdom of heaven, as covetousness, pride, lust, or whatever else thy heart may be inclining unto, which may hinder thee in this heavenly race. Men that run for a wager, if they intend to win as well as run, they do not use to encumber themselves, or carry those things about them that may be a hindrance to them in their running. 'Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things' (1 Cor 9:25), that is, he layeth aside every thing that would be any ways a disadvantage to him; as saith the apostle, 'Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us' (Heb 12:1). It is but a vain thing to talk of going to heaven, if thou let thy heart be encumbered with those things that would hinder. Would you not say that such a man would be in danger of losing, though he run, if he fill his pockets with stones, hang heavy garments on his shoulders, and great lumpish shoes on his feet?[9] So it is here; thou talkest of going to heaven, and yet fillest thy pocket with stones, i.e., fillest thy heart with this world, lettest that hang on thy shoulders, with its profits and pleasures. Alas, alas, thou art widely mistaken! If thou intendest to win, thou must strip, thou must lay aside every weight, thou must be temperate in all things. Thou must SO RUN.
The Fourth Direction. Beware of by-paths; take heed thou dost not turn into those lanes which lead out of the way. There are crooked paths, paths in which men go astray, paths that lead to death and damnation, but take heed of all those (Isa 59:8). Some of them are dangerous because of practice (Prov 7:25); some because of opinion, but mind them not; mind the path before thee, look right before thee, turn neither to the right hand nor to the left, but let thine eyes look right on, even right before thee (Prov 3:17). 'Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left. Remove thy foot far from evil' (Prov 4:26,27). This counsel being not so seriously taken as given, is the reason of that starting from opinion to opinion, reeling this way and that way, out of this lane into that lane, and so missing the way to the kingdom. Though the way to heaven be but one, yet there are many crooked lanes and by-paths shoot down upon it, as I may say. And again, notwithstanding the kingdom of heaven be the biggest city, yet usually those by-paths are most beaten, most travellers go those ways; and therefore the way to heaven is hard to be found, and as hard to be kept in, by reason of these. Yet, nevertheless, it is in this case as it was with the harlot of Jericho; she had one scarlet thread tied in her window, by which her house was known (John 2:18). So it is here, the scarlet streams of Christ's blood run throughout the way to the kingdom of heaven;[10] therefore mind that, see if thou do find the besprinkling of the blood of Christ in the way, and if thou do, be of good cheer, thou art in the right way; but have a care thou beguile not thyself with a fancy, for then thou mayst light into any lane or way; but that thou mayst not be mistaken, consider, though it seem never so pleasant, yet if thou do not find that in the very middle of the road there is writing with the heart-blood of Christ, that he came into the world to save sinners, and that we are justified, though we are ungodly; shun that way; for this it is which the apostle meaneth when he saith, We have 'boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us, through the vail, that is to say, his flesh' (Heb 10:19,20). How easy a matter is it in this our day, for the devil to be too cunning for poor souls, by calling his by-paths the way to the kingdom! If such an opinion or fancy be but cried up by one or more, this inscription being set upon it by the devil, 'This is the way of God,' how speedily, greedily, and by heaps, do poor simple souls throw away themselves upon it; especially if it be daubed over with a few external acts of morality, if so good.[11] But this is because men do not know painted by-paths from the plain way to the kingdom of heaven. They have not yet learned the true Christ, and what his righteousness is, neither have they a sense of their own insufficiency; but are bold, proud, presumptuous, self-conceited. And therefore.
The Fifth Direction. Do not thou be too much in looking too high in thy journey heavenwards. You know men that run in a race do not use to stare and gaze this way and that, neither do they use to cast up their eyes too high, lest happily,[12] through their too too much gazing with their eyes after other things, they in the meantime stumble and catch a fall. The very same case is this; if thou gaze and stare after every opinion and way that comes into the world; also if thou be prying overmuch into God's secret decrees, or let thy heart too much entertain questions about some nice foolish curiosities, thou mayst stumble and fall, as many hundreds in England have done, both in Ranting and Quakery, to their own eternal overthrow; without the marvellous operation of God's grace be suddenly stretched forth to bring them back again. Take heed therefore, follow not that proud and lofty spirit, that, devil-like, cannot be content with his own station. David was of an excellent spirit where he saith, 'Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty, neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. Surely I have behaved and quieted myself as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child' (Psa 131:1,2). Do thou SO RUN.
The Sixth Direction. Take heed that you have not an ear open to every one that calleth after you as you are in your journey. Men that run, you know, if any do call after them, saying, I would speak with you, or go not too fast, and you shall have my company with you, if they run for some great matter, they use to say, Alas, I cannot stay, I am in haste, pray talk not to me now; neither can I stay for you, I am running for a wager: if I win I am made, if I lose I am undone, and therefore hinder me not. Thus wise are men when they run for corruptible things, and thus should thou do, and thou hast more cause to do so than they, forasmuch as they run but for things that last not, but thou for an incorruptible glory. I give thee notice of this betimes, knowing that thou shalt have enough call after thee, even the devil, sin, this world, vain company, pleasures, profits, esteem among men, ease, pomp, pride, together with an innumerable company of such companions; one crying, Stay for me; the other saying, Do not leave me behind; a third saying, And take me along with you. What, will you go, saith the devil, without your sins, pleasures, and profits? Are you so hasty? Can you not stay and take these along with you? Will you leave your friends and companions behind you? Can you not do as your neighbours do, carry the world, sin, lust, pleasure, profit, esteem among men, along with you? Have a care thou do not let thine ear now be open to the tempting, enticing, alluring, and soul-entangling flatteries of such sink-souls[13] as these are. 'My son,' saith Solomon, 'if sinners entice thee, consent thou not' (Prov 1:10).
You know what it cost the young man which Solomon speaks of in the 7th of the Proverbs, that was enticed by a harlot, 'With her much fair speech she' won him, and 'caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him,' till he went after her 'as an ox to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks'; even so far, 'till the dart struck through his liver, and knew not that it was for his life. Hearken unto me now therefore,' saith he, 'O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth, let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths, for she hath cast down many wounded, yea, many strong men have been slain by her,' that is, kept out of heaven by her, 'her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.' Soul, take this counsel and say, Satan, sin, lust, pleasure, profit, pride, friends, companions, and everything else, let me alone, stand off, come not nigh me, for I am running for heaven, for my soul, for God, for Christ, from hell and everlasting damnation: if I win, I win all, and if I lose, I lose all; let me alone, for I will not hear. SO RUN.
The Seventh Direction. In the next place, be not daunted though thou meetest with never so many discouragements in thy journey thither. That man that is resolved for heaven, if Satan cannot win him by flatteries, he will endeavour to weaken him by discouragements; saying, thou art a sinner, thou hast broke God's law, thou art not elected, thou comest too late, the day of grace is past, God doth not care for thee, thy heart is naught, thou art lazy, with a hundred other discouraging suggestions. And thus it was with David, where he said, 'I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living' (Psa 27:13,14). As if he should say, the devil did so rage and my heart was so base, that had I judged according to my own sense and feeling, I had been absolutely distracted; but I trusted to Christ in the promise, and looked that God would be as good as his promise, in having mercy upon me, an unworthy sinner; and this is that which encouraged me, and kept me from fainting. And thus must thou do when Satan, or the law, or thy own conscience, do go about to dishearten thee, either by the greatness of thy sins, the wickedness of thy heart, the tediousness of the way, the loss of outward enjoyments, the hatred that thou wilt procure from the world, or the like; then thou must encourage thyself with the freeness of the promises, the tender-heartedness of Christ, the merits of his blood, the freeness of his invitations to come in, the greatness of the sin of others that have been pardoned, and that the same God, through the same Christ, holdeth forth the same grace free as ever. If these be not thy meditations, thou wilt draw very heavily in the way to heaven, if thou do not give up all for lost, and so knock off from following any farther; therefore, I say, take heart in thy journey, and say to them that seek thy destruction, 'Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy, when I fall I shall arise, when I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me' (Micah 7:8). SO RUN.
The Eighth Direction. Take heed of being offended at the cross that thou must go by, before thou come to heaven. You must understand, as I have already touched, that there is no man that goeth to heaven but he must go by the cross. The cross is the standing way-mark by which all they that go to glory must pass by. 'We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God' (Acts 14:22). 'Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution' (2 Tim 3:12). If thou art in the way to the kingdom, my life for thine thou wilt come at the cross shortly—the Lord grant thou dost not shrink at it, so as to turn thee back again. 'If any man will come after me,' saith Christ, 'let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me' (Luke 9:23). The cross it stands, and hath stood, from the beginning, as a way-mark to the kingdom of heaven.[14] You know if one ask you the way to such and such a place, you, for the better direction, do not only say, this is the way, but then also say, you must go by such a gate, by such a style, such a bush, tree, bridge, or such like. Why, so it is here; art thou inquiring the way to heaven? Why, I tell thee, Christ is the way; into him thou must get, into his righteousness, to be justified; and if thou art in him, thou wilt presently see the cross, thou must go close by it, thou must touch it, nay, thou must take it up, or else thou wilt quickly go out of the way that leads to heaven, and turn up some of those crooked lanes that lead down to the chambers of death.
How thou mayest know the cross by these six things. 1. It is known in the doctrine of justification. 2. In the doctrine of mortification. 3. In the doctrine of perseverance. 4. In self-denial. 5. Patience. 6. Communion with poor saints.
1. In the doctrine of justification; there is a great deal of the cross in that: a man is forced to suffer the destruction of his own righteousness for the righteousness of another. This is no easy matter for a man to do; I assure to you it stretcheth every vein in his heart before he will be brought to yield to it. What, for a man to deny, reject, abhor, and throw away all his prayers, tears, alms, keeping of sabbaths, hearing, reading, with the rest, in the point of justification, and to count them accursed;[15] and to be willing, in the very midst of the sense of his sins, to throw himself wholly upon the righteousness and obedience of another man, abhorring his own, counting it as deadly sin, as the open breach of the law; I say, to do this in deed and in truth, is the biggest piece of the cross; and therefore Paul calleth this very thing a suffering; where he saith, 'And I have SUFFERED the loss of all things,' which principally was his righteousness, 'that I might win Christ, and be found in him, not having,' but rejecting, 'mine own righteousness' (Phil 3:8,9). That is the first.
2. In the doctrine of mortification is also much of the cross. Is it nothing for a man to lay hands on his vile opinions, on his vile sins, of his bosom sins, of his beloved, pleasant, darling sins, that stick as close to him, as the flesh sticketh to the bones? What, to lose all these brave things that my eyes behold, for that which I never saw with my eyes? What, to lose my pride, my covetousness, my vain company, sports, and pleasures, and the rest? I tell you this is no easy matter; if it were, what need all those prayers, sighs, watchings? What need we be so backward to it? Nay, do you not see, that some men, before they will set about this work, they will even venture the loss of their souls, heaven, God, Christ, and all? What means else all those delays and put-offs, saying, Stay a little longer, I am loth to leave my sins while I am so young, and in health? Again, what is the reason else, that others do it so by the halves, coldly and seldom, notwithstanding they are convinced over and over; nay, and also promise to amend, and yet all's in vain? I will assure you, to cut off right hands, and to pluck out right eyes, is no pleasure to the flesh.
3. The doctrine of perseverance is also cross to the flesh; which is not only to begin, but for to hold out, not only to bid fair, and to say, Would I had heaven, but so to know Christ, to put on Christ, and walk with Christ as to come to heaven. Indeed, it is no great matter to begin to look for heaven, to begin to seek the Lord, to begin to shun sin. O but it is a very great matter to continue with God's approbation! 'My servant Caleb,' saith God, is a man of 'another spirit, he hath followed me,' followed me always, he hath continually followed me, 'fully, he shall possess the land' (Num 14:24). Almost all the many thousands of the children of Israel in their generation, fell short of perseverance when they walked from Egypt towards the land of Canaan. Indeed they went to the work at first pretty willingly, but they were very short-winded, they were quickly out of breath, and in their hearts they turned back again into Egypt.
It is an easy matter for a man to run hard for a spurt, for a furlong, for a mile or two; O, but to hold out for a hundred, for a thousand, for ten thousand miles: that man that doth this, he must look to meet with cross, pain, and wearisomeness to the flesh, especially if as he goeth he meeteth with briars and quagmires, and other incumbrances, that make his journey so much the more painfuller.
Nay, do you not see with your eyes daily, that perseverance is a very great part of the cross? why else do men so soon grow weary? I could point out a many, that after they have followed the ways of God about a twelvemonth, others it may be two, three, or four, some more, and some less years, they have been beat out of wind, have taken up their lodging and rest before they have got half-way to heaven, some in this, and some in that sin; and have secretly, nay, sometimes openly said, that the way is too strait, the race too long, the religion too holy, and cannot hold out, I can go no farther.
4, 5, 6. And so likewise of the other three, to wit, patience, self-denial, communion, and communication with and to the poor saints. How hard are these things? It is an easy matter to deny another man, but it is not so easy a matter to deny one's self; to deny myself out of love to God, to his gospel, to his saints, of this advantage, and of that gain; nay, of that which otherwise I might lawfully do, were it not for offending them. That scripture is but seldom read, and seldomer put in practice, which saith, 'I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, if it make my brother to offend' (1 Cor 8:13). Again, 'We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves' (Rom 15:1). But how froward, how hasty, how peevish, and self-resolved are the generality of professors at this day! Also, how little considering the poor, unless it be to say, Be thou warmed and filled! But to give is a seldom work; also especially to give to any poor (Gal 6:10). I tell you all things are cross to flesh and blood; and that man that hath but a watchful eye over the flesh, and also some considerable measure of strength against it, he shall find his heart in these things like unto a starting horse, that is rid without a curbing bridle, ready to start at everything that is offensive to him; yea, and ready to run away too, do what the rider can.
It is the cross which keepeth those that are kept from heaven. I am persuaded, were it not for the cross, where we have one professor, we should have twenty; but this cross, that is it which spoileth all.
Some men, as I said before, when they come at the cross they can go no farther, but back again to their sins they must go. Others they stumble at it, and break their necks; others again, when they see the cross is approaching, they turn aside to the left hand, or to the right hand, and so think to get to heaven another way; but they will be deceived. 'Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus SHALL,' mark, shall be sure to 'suffer persecution' (2 Tim 3:12). There are but few when they come at the cross, cry, 'Welcome cross,' as some of the martyrs did to the stake they were burned at. Therefore, if thou meet with the cross in thy journey, in what manner soever it be, be not daunted, and say, Alas, what shall I do now! But rather take courage, knowing, that by the cross is the way to the kingdom. Can a man believe in Christ and not be hated by the devil? Can he make a profession of this Christ, and that sweetly and convincingly, and the children of Satan hold their tongue? Can darkness agree with light? or the devil endure that Christ Jesus should be honoured both by faith and a heavenly conversation, and let that soul alone at quiet? Did you never read, that 'the dragon persecuteth the woman?' (Rev 12). And that Christ saith, 'In the world ye shall have tribulation' (John 16:33).
The Ninth Direction. Beg of God that he would do these two things for thee: First, Enlighten thine understanding. And, Second, Inflame thy will. If these two be but effectually done, there is no fear but thou wilt go safe to heaven.
[First, Enlighten thine understanding.] One of the great reasons why men and women do so little regard the other world, it is because they see so little of it.[16] And the reason why they see so little of it is because they have their understandings darkened. And therefore, saith Paul, do not you believers 'walk as do other Gentiles, even in the vanity of their minds, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance,' or foolishness 'that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart' (Eph 4:17,18). Walk not as those, run not with them: alas, poor souls, they have their understandings darkened, their hearts blinded, and that is the reason they have such undervaluing thoughts of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the salvation of their souls. For when men do come to see the things of another world, what a God, what a Christ, what a heaven, and what an eternal glory there is to be enjoyed; also when they see that it is possible for them to have a share in it, I tell you it will make them run through thick and thin to enjoy it. Moses, having a sight of this, because his understanding was enlightened, he feared not the wrath of the king, but chose 'rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.' He refused to be called the son of the king's daughter; accounting it wonderful riches to be counted worthy of so much as to suffer for Christ, with the poor despised saints; and that was because he saw him who was invisible, and 'had respect unto the recompence of the reward' (Heb 11:24-27). And this is that which the apostle usually prayeth for in his epistles for the saints, namely, 'That they might know what is the hope of God's calling, and the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints' (Eph 1:18). And that they might 'be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge' (Eph 3:18,19). Pray therefore that God would enlighten thy understanding: that will be very great help unto thee. It will make thee endure many a hard brunt for Christ; as Paul saith, 'After ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions. You took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance' (Heb 10:32-34). If there be never such a rare jewel lie just in a man's way, yet if he sees it not, he will rather trample upon it than stoop for it, and it is because he sees it not. Why, so it is here, though heaven be worth never so much, and thou hast never so much need of it, yet if thou see it not, that is, have not thy understanding opened or enlightened to see it, thou wilt not regard at all: therefore cry to the Lord for enlightening grace, and say, Lord, open my blind eyes: Lord, take the vail off my dark heart, show me the things of the other world, and let me see the sweetness, glory, and excellency of them for Christ his sake. This is the first.
[Second, Inflame thy will.] Cry to God that he would inflame thy will also with the things of the other world. For when a man's will is fully set to do such or such a thing, then it must be a very hard matter that shall hinder that man from bringing about his end. When Paul's will was set resolvedly to go up to Jerusalem, though it was signified to him before what he should there suffer, he was not daunted at all; nay, saith he, 'I am ready,' or willing, 'not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus' (Acts 21:13). His will was inflamed with love to Christ; and therefore all the persuasions that could be used wrought nothing at all. Your self-willed people nobody knows what to do with them; we used to say, He will have his own will, do all what you can. Indeed to have such a will for heaven, is an admirable advantage to a man that undertaketh the race thither; a man that is resolved, and hath his will fixed, saith he, I will do my best to advantage myself; I will do my worst to hinder my enemies; I will not give out as long as I can stand; I will have it or I will lose my life; 'though he slay me yet will I trust in him' (Job 13:15). 'I will not let thee go except thou bless me' (Gen 32:26). I WILL, I WILL, I WILL, O this blessed inflamed will for heaven! What is like it? If a man be willing, then any argument shall be matter of encouragement; but if unwilling, then any argument shall give discouragement; this is seen both in saints and sinners; in them that are the children of God, and also those that are the children of the devil. As,
1. The saints of old, they being willing and resolved for heaven, what could stop them? Could fire or faggot, sword or halter, stinking dungeons, whips, bears, bulls, lions, cruel rackings, stoning, starving, nakedness, &c. (Heb 11). 'Nay, in all these things they were more than conquerors, through him that loved them' (Rom 8:37); who had also made them 'willing in the day of his power.'
2. See again, on the other side, the children of the devil, because they are not willing [to run to heaven], how many shifts and starting-holes they will have. I have married a wife, I have a farm, I shall offend my landlord, I shall offend my master, I shall lose my trading, I shall lose my pride, my pleasures, I shall be mocked and scoffed, therefore I dare not come. I, saith another, will stay till I am older, till my children are out of sight, till I am got a little aforehand in the world, till I have done this and that, and the other business; but alas, the thing is, they are not willing; for were they but soundly willing, these, and a thousand such as these, would hold them no faster than the cords held Samson when he broke them like burned flax (Judg 15:14). I tell you the will is all: that is one of the chief things which turns the wheel either backwards or forwards; and God knoweth that full well, and so likewise doth the devil; and therefore they both endeavour very much to strengthen the will of their servants. God, he is for making of his a willing people to serve him; and the devil, he doth what he can to possess the will and affection of those that are his, with love to sin; and therefore when Christ comes close to the matter, indeed, saith he, 'Ye will not come to me' (John 5:40). 'How often would I have gathered you as a hen doth her chickens, and ye would not' (Luke 13:34). The devil had possessed their wills, and so long he was sure enough of them. O therefore cry hard to God to inflame thy will for heaven and Christ: thy will, I say, if that be rightly set for heaven, thou wilt not be beat off with discouragements; and this was the reason that, when Jacob wrestled with the angel, though he lost a limb, as it were, and the hollow of his thigh was put out of joint, as he wrestled with him, yet, saith he, 'I will not,' mark, 'I WILL NOT let thee go except thou bless me' (Gen 32:24-26). Get thy will tipt with the heavenly grace, and resolution against all discouragements, and then thou goest full speed for heaven; but if thou falter in thy will, and be not found there, thou wilt run hobbling and halting all the way thou runnest, and also to be sure thou wilt fall short at the last. The Lord give thee a will and courage!
Thus have I done with directing thee how to run to the kingdom; be sure thou keep in memory what I have said unto thee, lest thou lose thy way. But because I would have thee think of them, take all in short in this little bit of paper.
1. Get into the way. 2. Then study on it. 3. Then strip, and lay aside everything that would hinder. 4. Beware of bye-paths. 5. Do not gaze and stare too much about thee, and be sure to ponder the path of thy feet. 6. Do not stop for any that call after thee, whether it be the world, the flesh, or the devil; for all these will hinder thy journey, if possible. 7. Be not daunted with any discouragements thou meetest with as thou goest. 8. Take heed of stumbling at the cross. 9. Cry hard to God for an enlightened heart, and a willing mind, and God give thee a prosperous journey. Yet before I do quite take my leave of thee, let me give thee a few motives along with thee. It may be they will be as good as a pair of spurs to prick on thy lumpish heart in this rich voyage.[17]
The First Motive. Consider there is no way but this, thou must either win or lose. If thou winnest, then heaven, God, Christ, glory, ease, peace, life, yea, life eternal, is thine; thou must be made equal to the angels in heaven; thou shalt sorrow no more, sigh no more, feel no more pain; thou shalt be out of the reach of sin, hell, death, the devil, the grave, and whatever else may endeavour thy hurt. But contrariwise, and if thou lose, then thy loss is heaven, glory, God, Christ, ease, peace, and whatever else which tendeth to make eternity comfortable to the saints; besides, thou procurest eternal death, sorrow, pain, blackness, and darkness, fellowship with devils, together with the everlasting damnation of thy own soul.
The Second Motive. Consider that this devil, this hell, death and damnation, followeth after thee as hard as they can drive, and have their commission so to do by the law, against which thou hast sinned; and therefore for the Lord's sake make haste.
The Third Motive. If they seize upon thee before thou get to the city of Refuge, they will put an everlasting stop to thy journey. This also cries, Run for it.
The Fourth Motive. Know also, that now heaven gates, the heart of Christ, with his arms, are wide open to receive thee. O methinks that this consideration, that the devil followeth after to destroy, and that Christ standeth open-armed to receive, should make thee reach out and fly with all haste and speed! And therefore,
The Fifth Motive. Keep thine eye upon the prize; be sure that thy eyes be continually upon the profit thou art like to get. The reason why men are so apt to faint in their race for heaven, it lieth chiefly in either of these two things:
1. They do not seriously consider the worth of the prize; or else if they do, they are afraid it is too good for them; but most lose heaven for want of considering the price and the worth of it. And therefore, that thou mayst not do the like, keep thine eye much upon the excellency, the sweetness, the beauty, the comfort, the peace, that is to be had there by those that win the prize. This was that which made the apostle run through anything; good report, evil report, persecution, affliction, hunger, nakedness, peril by sea, and peril by land, bonds and imprisonments. Also it made others endure to be stoned, sawn asunder, to have their eyes bored out with augurs, their bodies broiled on gridirons, their tongues cut out of their mouths, boiled in cauldrons, thrown to the wild beasts, burned at the stakes, whipped at posts, and a thousand other fearful torments, 'while they looked not at the things which are seen,' as the things of this world, 'but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal' (2 Cor 4:18). O this word 'eternal,' that was it that made them, that when they might have had deliverance, they would not accept of it; for they knew in the world to come they should have a better resurrection (Heb 11:35).
2. And do not let the thoughts of the rareness of the place make thee say in thy heart, This is too good for me; for I tell thee, heaven is prepared for whosoever will accept of it, and they shall be entertained with hearty good welcome. Consider, therefore, that as bad as thou have got thither; thither went scrubbed,[18] beggarly Lazarus, &c. Nay, it is prepared for the poor: 'Hearken, my beloved brethren,' saith James, take notice of it, 'Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom?' (James 2:5). Therefore take heart and RUN, man. And,
The Sixth Motive. Think much of them that are gone before. First, How really they got into the kingdom. Secondly, How safe they are in the arms of Jesus; would they be here again for a thousand worlds? Or if they were, would they be afraid that God would not make them welcome? Thirdly, What would they judge of thee if they knew thy heart began to fail thee in thy journey, or thy sins began to allure thee, and to persuade thee to stop thy race? would they not call thee a thousand fools? and say, O, that he did but see what we see, feel what we feel, and taste of the dainties that we taste of! O, if he were here one quarter of an hour, to behold, to see, to feel, to taste and enjoy but the thousandth part of what we enjoy, what would he do? What would he suffer? What would he leave undone? Would he favour sin? Would he love this world below? Would he be afraid of friends, or shrink at the most fearful threatenings that the greatest tyrants could invent to give him? Nay, those who have had but a sight of these things by faith, when they have been as far off from them as heaven from earth, yet they have been able to say with a comfortable and merry heart, as the bird that sings in the spring, that this and more shall not keep them from running to heaven. Sometimes, when my base heart hath been inclining to this world, and to loiter in my journey towards heaven, the very consideration of the glorious saints and angels in heaven, what they enjoy, and what low thoughts they have of the things of this world together, how they would befool me if they did but know that my heart was drawing back; [this] hath caused me to rush forward, to disdain these poor, low, empty, beggarly things, and to say to my soul, Come, soul, let us not be weary; let us see what this heaven is; let us even venture all for it, and try if that will quit the cost. Surely Abraham, David, Paul, and the rest of the saints of God, were as wise as any are now, and yet they lost all for this glorious kingdom. O! therefore, throw away stinking lusts, follow after righteousness, love the Lord Jesus, devote thyself unto his fear, I'll warrant thee he will give thee a goodly recompense. Reader, what sayst thou to this? Art [thou] resolved to follow me? Nay, resolve if thou canst to get before me. 'So run, that ye may obtain.'
The Seventh Motive. To encourage thee a little farther, set to the work, and when thou hast run thyself down weary, then the Lord Jesus will take thee up, and carry thee. Is not this enough to make any poor soul begin his race? Thou, perhaps, criest, O but I am feeble, I am lame, &c.: well, but Christ hath a bosom; consider, therefore, when thou hast run thyself down weary, he will put thee in his bosom: 'He shall gather the lambs with his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young' (Isa 40:11). This is the way that fathers take to encourage their children, saying: Run, sweet babe, while thou art weary, and then I will take thee up and carry thee. 'He will gather his lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom.' When they are weary they shall ride.[19] The Eighth Motive. Or else he will convey new strength from heaven into thy soul, which will be as well—'The youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall; but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint' (Isa 40:30,31). What shall I say besides what hath already been said? Thou shalt have good and easy lodging, good and wholesome diet, the bosom of Christ to lie in, the joys of heaven to feed on. Shall I speak of the satiety and of the duration of all these? Verily to describe them to the height it is a work too hard for me to do.[20]
The Ninth Motive. Again methinks the very industry of the devil, and the industry of his servants, &c., should make you that have a desire to heaven and happiness to run apace. Why, the devil, he will lose no time, spare no pains, also neither will his servants, both to seek the destruction of themselves and others: and shall not we be as industrious for our own salvation? Shall the world venture the damnation of their souls for a poor corruptible crown; and shall not we venture the loss of a few trifles for an eternal crown? Shall they venture the loss of eternal friends, as God to love, Christ to redeem, the Holy Spirit to comfort, heaven for habitation, saints and angels for company, and all this to get and hold communion with sin, and this world, and a few base, drunken, swearing, lying, covetous wretches, like themselves? And shall not we labour as hard, run as fast, seek as diligently, nay, a hundred times more diligently, for the company of these glorious eternal friends, though with the loss of such as these, nay, with the loss of ten thousand times better than these poor, low, base, contemptible things? Shall it be said at the last day, that wicked men made more haste to hell than you did make to heaven?[21] That they spent more hours, days, and that early and late, for hell, than you spent for that which is ten thousand thousand of thousands times better? O let it not be so, but run with all might and main.
Thus you see I have here spoken something, though but little. Now I shall come to make some use and application of what hath been said, and so conclude.
The first use. You see here, that he that will go to heaven, he must run for it; yea, and not only run, but so run, that is, as I have said, to run earnestly, to run continually, to strip off every thing that would hinder in his race with the rest. Well then, do you so run? And now let us examine a little.
1. Art thou got into the right way? Art thou in Christ's righteousness? Do not say yes in thy heart, when in truth there is no such matter. It is a dangerous thing, you know, for a man to think he is in the right way, when he is in the wrong. It is the next way for him to lose his way, and not only so, but if he run for heaven, as thou sayst thou dost, even to lose that too. O this is the misery of most men, to persuade themselves that they run right, when they never had one foot in the way! The Lord give thee understanding here, or else thou art undone for ever. Prithee, soul, search when was it thou turned out of thy sins and righteousness into the righteousness of Jesus Christ. I say, dost thou see thyself in him? and is he more precious to thee than the whole world? Is thy mind always musing on him? Dost thou love to be talking of him—and also to be walking with him? Dost thou count his company more precious than the whole world? Dost thou count all things but poor, lifeless, empty, vain things, without communion with him? Doth his company sweeten all things—and his absence embitter all things? Soul, I beseech thee, be serious, and lay it to heart, and do not take things of such weighty concernment as the salvation or damnation of thy soul, without good ground.
2. Art thou unladen of the things of this world, as pride, pleasures, profits, lusts, vanities? What! dost thou think to run fast enough with the world, thy sins and lusts in thy heart? I tell thee, soul, they that have laid all aside, every weight, every sin, and are got into the nimblest posture, they find work enough to run; so to run as to hold out. To run through all that opposition, all these jostles, all these rubs, over all these stumbling-blocks, over all the snares from all these entanglements, that the devil, sin, the world, and their own hearts, lay before them; I tell thee, if thou art agoing heavenward, thou wilt find it no small or easy matter. Art thou therefore discharged and unladen of these things? Never talk of going to heaven if thou art not. It is to be feared thou wilt be found among the many that 'will seek to enter in, and shall not be able' (Luke 13:24).
The second use. If so, then, in the next place, what will become of them that are grown weary before they are got half way thither? Why, man, it is he that holdeth out to the end that must be saved; it is he that overcometh that shall inherit all things; it is not every one that begins. Agrippa gave a fair step for a sudden, he steps almost into the bosom of Christ in less than half an hour. Thou, saith he to Paul, hast 'almost persuaded me to be a Christian' (Acts 26:26). Ah! but it was but almost; and so he had as good have been never a whit; he stept fair indeed, but yet he stept short; he was hot while he was at it, but he was quickly out of wind. O this but almost! I tell you, this but almost, it lost his soul. Methinks I have seen sometimes how these poor wretches that get but almost to heaven, how fearfully their almost, and their but almost, will torment them in hell; when they shall cry out in the bitterness of their souls, saying, I was almost a Christian. I was almost got into the kingdom, almost out of the hands of the devil, almost out of my sins, almost from under the curse of God; almost, and that was all; almost, but not altogether. O that I should be almost at heaven, and should not go quite through! Friend, it is a sad thing to sit down before we are in heaven, and to grow weary before we come to the place of rest; and if it should be thy case, I am sure thou dost not so run as to obtain. But again,
The third use. In the next place, What then will become of them that some time since were running post-haste to heaven, insomuch that they seemed to outstrip many, but now are running as fast back again? Do you think those will ever come thither? What, to run back again, back again to sin, to the world, to the devil, back again to the lusts of the flesh? O! 'It had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after they have known it, to turn,' to turn back again, 'from the holy commandment' (2 Peter 2:22). Those men shall not only be damned for sin, but for professing to all the world that sin is better than Christ; for the man that runs back again, he doth as good as say, 'I have tried Christ, and I have tried sin, and I do not find so much profit in Christ as in sin.'[22] I say, this man declareth this, even by his running back again. O sad! what a doom they will have, who were almost at heaven-gates, and then run back again. 'If any draw back,' saith Christ [by his apostle], 'my soul shall have no pleasure in him' (Heb 10:38). Again, 'No man having put his hand to the plough,' that is, set forward, in the ways of God, 'and looking back,' turning back again, 'is fit for the kingdom of God' (Luke 9:62). And if not fit for the kingdom of heaven, then for certain he must needs be fit for the fire of hell. And therefore, saith the apostle, those that 'bring forth' these apostatizing fruits, as 'briars and thorns, are rejected, and nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned' (Heb 6:8). O there is never another Christ to save them by bleeding and dying for them! And if they shall not escape that neglect, then how shall they escape that reject and turn their back upon 'so great a salvation?' (Heb 2:3). And if the righteous, that is, they that run for it, will find work enough to get to heaven, 'then where will the ungodly' backsliding 'sinner appear?' or if Judas the traitor, or Francis Spira the backslider, were but now alive in the world to whisper these men in the ear a little, and tell them what it hath cost their souls for backsliding, surely it would stick by them and make them afraid of running back again, so long as they had one day to live in this world.
The fourth use. So again, fourthly, how unlike to these men's passions[23] will those be that have all this while sat still, and have not so much as set one foot forward to the kingdom of heaven. Surely he that backslideth, and he that sitteth still in sin, they are both of one mind; the one he will not stir, because he loveth his sins, and the things of this world; the other he runs back again, because he loveth his sins, and the things of this world: is it not one and the same thing? They are all one here, and shall not one and the same hell hold them hereafter! He is an ungodly one that never looked after Christ, and he is an ungodly one that did once look after him and then ran quite back again; and therefore that word must certainly drop out of the mouth of Christ against them both, 'Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels' (Matt 25:41).
The fifth use. Again, here you may see, in the next place, that is, they that will have heaven must run for it; then this calls aloud to those who began but a while since to run, I say, for them to mend their pace if they intend to win; you know that they which come hindmost, had need run fastest. Friend, I tell thee, there be those that have run ten years to thy one, nay, twenty to thy five, and yet if thou talk with them, sometimes they will say they doubt they shall come late enough. How then will it be with thee? Look to it therefore that thou delay no time, not an hour's time, but speedily part with all, with everything that is an hindrance to thee in thy journey, and run; yea, and so run that thou mayest obtain.
The sixth use. Again, sixthly, You that are old professors, take you heed that the young striplings of Jesus, that began to strip but the other day, do not outrun you, so as to have that scripture fulfilled on you, 'The first shall be last, and the last first'; which will be a shame to you, and a credit for them. What, for a young soldier to be more courageous than he that hath been used to wars! To you that are hindmost, I say, strive to outrun them that are before you; and you that are foremost, I say, hold your ground, and keep before them in faith and love, if possible; for indeed that is the right running, for one to strive to outrun another; even for the hindmost to endeavour to overtake the foremost, and he that is before should be sure to lay out himself to keep his ground, even to the very utmost. But then,
The seventh use. Again, How basely do they behave themselves, how unlike are they to win, that think it enough to keep company with the hindmost? There are some men that profess themselves such as run for heaven as well as any; yet if there be but any lazy, slothful, cold, half-hearted professors in the country, they will be sure to take example by them; they think if they can but keep pace with them they shall do fair; but these do not consider that the hindmost lose the prize. You may know it, if you will, that it cost the foolish virgins dear for their coming too late—'They that were ready went in with him, and the door was shut. Afterward,' mark, 'afterward came the other,' the foolish, 'virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us; but he answered, and said,' Depart, 'I know you not' (Matt 25:10-12). Depart, lazy professors, cold professors, slothful professors. O! methinks the Word of God is so plain for the overthrow of you lazy professors, that it is to be wondered men do take no more notice of it. How was Lot's wife served for running lazily, and for giving but one look behind her, after the things she left in Sodom? How was Esau served for staying too long before he came for the blessing? And how were they served that are mentioned in the 13th of Luke, 'for staying till the door was shut?' Also the foolish virgins; a heavy after-groan will they give that have thus staid too long. It turned Lot's wife into a pillar of salt (Gen 19:26). It made Esau weep with an exceeding loud and bitter cry (Heb 12:17). It made Judas hang himself: yea, and it will make thee curse the day in which thou wast born, if thou miss of the kingdom, as thou wilt certainly do, if this be thy course. But,
The eighth use. Again, How, and if thou by thy lazy running shouldst not only destroy thyself, but also thereby be the cause of the damnation of some others, for thou being a professor thou must think that others will take notice of thee; and because thou art but a poor, cold, lazy runner, and one that seeks to drive the world and pleasure along with thee: why, thereby others will think of doing so too. Nay, say they, why may not we as well as he? He is a professor, and yet he seeks for pleasures, riches, profits; he loveth vain company, and he is proud, and he is so and so, and professeth that he is going for heaven; yea, and he saith also he doth not fear but he shall have entertainment; let us therefore keep pace with him, we shall fare no worse than he. O how fearful a thing will it be, if that thou shalt be instrumental of the ruin of others by thy halting in the way of righteousness! Look to it, thou wilt have strength little enough to appear before God, to give an account of the loss of thy own soul; thou needest not have to give an account for others; why, thou didst stop them from entering in. How wilt thou answer that saying, You would not enter in yourselves, and them that would you hinder; for that saying will be eminently fulfilled on them that through their own idleness do keep themselves out of heaven, and by giving of others the same example, hinder them also.
The ninth use. Therefore, now to speak a word to both of you, and so I shall conclude.
1. I beseech you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that none of you do run so lazily in the way to heaven as to hinder either yourselves or others. I know that even he which runs laziest, if he should see a man running for a temporal life, if he should so much neglect his own well-being in this world as to venture, when he is a-running for his life, to pick up here and there a lock of wool that hangeth by the way-side, or to step now and then aside out of the way for to gather up a straw or two, or any rotten stick, I say, if he should do this when he is a-running for his life, thou wouldst condemn him; and dost thou not condemn thyself that dost the very same in effect, nay worse, that loiterest in thy race, notwithstanding thy soul, heaven, glory, and all is at stake. Have a care, have a care, poor wretched sinner, have a care.
2. If yet there shall be any that, notwithstanding this advice, will still be flaggering and loitering in the way to the kingdom of glory, be thou so wise as not to take example by them. Learn of no man further than he followeth Christ. But look unto Jesus, who is not only 'the author and finisher of faith,' but who did, 'for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is now set down at the right hand of God' (Heb 12:2). I say, look to no man to learn of him no further than he followeth Christ. 'Be ye followers of me,' saith Paul, 'even as I also am of Christ' (1 Cor 11:1). Though he was an eminent man, yet his exhortation was, that none should follow him any further than he followed Christ.
Now that you may be provoked to run with the foremost, take notice of this. When Lot and his wife were running from cursed Sodom to the mountains, to save their lives, it is said that his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt; and yet you see that neither her practice, nor the judgment of God that fell upon her for the same, would cause Lot to look behind him. I have sometimes wondered at Lot in this particular; his wife looked behind her, and died immediately, but let what would become of her, Lot would not so much as look behind him to see her. We do not read that he did so much as once look where she was, or what was become of her; his heart was indeed upon his journey, and well it might: there was the mountain before him, and the fire and brimstone behind him; his life lay at stake and he had lost it if he had but looked behind him. Do thou so run: and in thy race remember Lot's wife, and remember her doom; and remember for what that doom did overtake her; and remember that God made her an example for all lazy runners, to the end of the world: and take heed thou fall not after the same example. But, if this will not provoke thee, consider thus,
1. Thy soul is thy own soul, that is either to be saved or lost; thou shalt not lose my soul by thy laziness. It is thy own soul, thy own ease, thy own peace, thy own advantage, or disadvantage. If it were my soul that thou art desired to be good unto, methinks reason should move thee somewhat to pity it. But alas, it is thy own, thy own soul. 'What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?' (Mark 8:36). God's people wish well to the souls of others, and wilt not thou wish well to thy own? And if this will not provoke thee, then think again,
2. If thou lose thy soul, it is thou also that must bear the blame. It made Cain stark mad to consider that he had not looked to his brother Abel's soul. How much more will it perplex thee to think, that thou hadst not a care of thy own? And if this will not provoke thee to bestir thyself, think again,
3. That if thou wilt not run, the people of God are resolved to deal with thee even as Lot dealt with his wife, that is, leave thee behind them. It may be thou hast a father, mother, brother, &c., going post-haste to heaven, wouldst thou be willing to be left behind them? Surely no. Again,
4. Will it not be a dishonour to thee to see the very boys and girls in the country to have more wit than thyself? It may be the servants of some men, as the horsekeeper, ploughman, scullion, &c., are more looking after heaven than their masters. I am apt to think sometimes, that more servants than masters, that more tenants than landlords, will inherit the kingdom of heaven. But is not this a shame for them that are such? I am persuaded you scorn, that your servants should say that they are wiser than you in the things of this world; and yet I am bold to say, that many of them are wiser than you in the things of the world to come, which are of great concernment.
Well then, sinner, what sayest thou? Where is thy heart? Wilt thou run? Art thou resolved to strip? Or art thou not? Think quickly, man, it is no dallying in this matter. Confer not with flesh and blood; look up to heaven, and see how thou likest it; also to hell—of which thou mayst understand something by my book, called, A few Sighs from Hell; or the Groans of a damned Soul; which I wish thee to read seriously over—and accordingly devote thyself. If thou dost not know the way, inquire at the Word of God. If thou wantest company, cry for God's Spirit. If thou wantest encouragement, entertain the promises. But be sure thou begin by times; get into the way; run apace and hold out to the end; and the Lord give thee a prosperous journey. Farewell.
[1] It was the commonly received opinion that, at the moment of death, the angels and devils strove to carry away the soul. If the dying man had received the consecrated wafer, the devils were scared at it, and lost their victim. Hence the prayer—'From lightning, battle, murder, and sudden death, good Lord, deliver us'; a curious contrast to, 'Thy will be done'! Were they sinners above all men upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and slew them? (Luke 13:4). O that men would rely upon the righteousness of Christ stimulating them to run for glory, as heavenly footmen, and not upon the nostrums of Antichrist!—Ed.
[2] In a very beautifully ornamented Liturgy of the Church of England, prior to the Reformation, after the Salisbury use, printed in 1526 (in the Editor's library), is this direction—'These iii. prayers be wrytten in the chapel of the holy crosse in Rome, who that deuoutly say them they shall obteyne ten hundred thousand years of pardon for deadly sins graunted of oure holy father Jhon xxii pope of Rome.' The three prayers only occupy twenty-six short lines, and may be gravely repeated in two minutes. Such was and IS Popery!! But at the end of all this promised pardon for a million of years—what then? Will eternal torments commence?—Ed.
[3] How awfully is this pictured to the soul in that solemn account of the day of death and judgment in Matthew 25; and how strikingly applied in the Pilgrim's Progress in the character of Ignorance.—Ed.
[4] 'When the bell begins to toll, Lord have mercy on the soul.'
The Papists imagine that there is an extraordinary power in the bell hallowed by baptism to drive away the spirits of darkness, so that the departing soul may take its journey without molestation!! It was also intended to rouse the faithful to pray for the dead person's soul. This, and other superstitious practices, were suspended during the Protectorate in some parishes, if not generally, but were revived at the Restoration, because the omission injured the revenues of the church.—See Brand's Popular Antiquities.—Ed.
[5] This quotation, probably made from memory, is a mixture of the Genevan and the present version.—Ed.
[6] Francis Spira, in 1548, being a lawyer in great repute in Italy, professed gospel principles, but afterwards relapsed into Popery, and became a victim of black despair. The man in the iron cage, at the Interpreter's house, probably referred to Spira. The narrative of his fearful state is preceded by a poem:—
'Here see a soul that's all despair, a man
All hell, a spirit all wounds. Who can
A wounded spirit bear?
Reader, wouldst see what you may never feel,
Despair, racks, torments, whips of burning steel?
Behold this man, this furnace, in whose heart
Sin hath created hell. O! in each part
What flames appear?
His thoughts all stings; words, swords;
Brimstone his breath;
His eyes, flames; wishes, curses; life, a death,
A thousand deaths live in him, he not dead—
A breathing corpse in living scalding lead.'—Ed.
[7] How plain and important is this direction. Saul the persecutor ran fast, but the faster he ran in his murderous zeal the further he ran from the prize. Let every staunch sectarian examine prayerfully his way, especially if the sect he belongs to is patronized by princes, popes, or potentates, and endowed with worldly honours. He may be running from and not to heaven.—Ed.
[8] He that trusts in the sect to which he belongs is assuredly in the wrong way, whether it be the Church of Rome or England, Quaking, Ranting, Baptists, or Independents. Trust in Christ must be all in all. First be IN Christ, then run for heaven, looking unto Christ. Keep fellowship with those who are the purest, and run fastest in the ordinances of the gospel which are revealed in the Word. Follow no human authority nor craft, seek the influence of the Holy Spirit for yourself, that you may be led into all truth, then you will so run as to obtain.—Ed.
[9] How plain is this direction, and how does it commend itself to our common-sense; lumpish shoes, and pockets filled with stones, how absurd for a man who is running a race!! Stop, my dear reader, have you cast away all useless encumbrances, and all easily besetting sins? Is your heart full of mammon, or pride, or debauchery? if so, you have no particle of strength to run for heaven, but are running upon swift perdition.—Ed.
[10] This is one of those beautiful ideas which so abound in all Bunyan's works. Our way to the kingdom is consecrated by the cross of Christ, and may be known throughout by the sprinkling of his blood, his groans, his agonies. All the doctrines that put us in the way are sanctified by the atonement; all the spurs to a diligent running in that way are powerful as motives, by our being bought with that precious price, the death of Emmanuel. O! my soul, be thou found looking unto Jesus, he is THE WAY, the only way to heaven.—Ed.
[11] Strange infatuation, desperate pride, that man should reject the humbling simplicity of Divine truth, and run so anxiously, greedily, and in hosts, in the road to ruin, because priestcraft calls it 'the way of God'; preferring the miserable sophistry of Satan and his emissaries to the plain directions of Holy Writ. O! reader, put not your trust in man, but, while God is ready to direct you, rely solely on his Holy Word.—Ed.
[12] 'Happily,' or haply, were formerly used to express the same meaning.—Ed.
[13] 'Sink-souls' is one of Bunyan's strong Saxonisms, full of meaning, 'Sink' is that in which filth or foulness is deposited.
'She poured forth out of her hellish sink,
Her fruitful cursed spawn.'—Spencer.—Ed.
[14] This is one of Bunyan's most deeply expressive directions to the heaven-ward pilgrim; may it sink into our hearts. Christ is the way, the cross is the standing way-mark throughout the road, never out of sight. In embracing the humbling doctrines of grace, in sorrow for sin, in crucifying self, in bearing each other's burdens, in passing through the river that will absorb our mortality—from the new birth to our inheritance—the cross is the way-mark.—Ed.
[15] Our holiest, happiest duties, IF they interfere with a simple and exclusive reliance upon Christ for justification, must be accursed in our esteem; while, if they are fulfilled in a proper spirit of love to him, they become our most blessed privileges. Reader, be jealous of your motives.—Ed.
[16] This is very solemn warning. But is it asked how are we to see that that is invisible, or to imagine bliss that is past our understanding? The reply is, treasure up in your heart those glimpses of glory contained in the Word. Be daily in communion with the world of spirits, and it may be your lot, with Paul, to have so soul-ravishing a sense of eternal realities, as scarcely to know whether you are in the body or not.—Ed.
[17] How characteristic of Bunyan is this sentence, 'the rich voyage.' God environing us about with his presence in time, and eternal felicity in the desired haven: 'the lumpish heart' at times apparently indifferent to the glorious harvest: 'a pair of spurs' to prick us on in the course. The word voyage (from via, a way) was in Bunyan's time equally used for a journey by sea or land, it is now limited to travelling by sea.—Ed.
[18] 'Scrubbed'; worthless, vile, insignificant in the sight of man, who judges from the outward, temporal condition; but, in the case of Lazarus, precious in the sight of God.—Ed.
[19] What an inexhaustible source of comfort is contained in this passage. Blessed carriage, in which the poorest, weakest of Christ's flock shall ride. Millions of gold could not purchase the privilege thus to ride in ease and safety, supported and guarded by Omnipotence, and guided by Omniscience.—Ed.
[20] Summed up by the Psalmist, 'Happy is that people that is in such a case. Happy is that people whose God is the Lord' (Psa 144:15).—Ed.
[21] How severe and cutting, but how just, is this reflection upon many, that wicked men, for the gratification of destructive propensities, should evince greater zeal and perseverance to light up the fire of hell in their consciences, than some professing Christians do in following after peace and holiness, 'Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise.'—Ed.
[22] How awful a warning is this to the backslider. A wicked professor is a practical atheist and a contemptible hypocrite. But the backslider is worse, he proclaims, in his downward course, the awful blasphemy that 'sin is better than Christ'; 'hell is preferable to heaven.' O! that some poor bewildered backslider may, by a Divine blessing upon the voice of Bunyan, be arrested in his mad career.—Ed.
[23] 'Passions'; the old English term for sufferings. It is used in Acts 1 emphatically, to express the last sufferings of the Saviour; as also in what is called 'passion week.'—Ed.
***
'Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God.'-Psalm 87:3
'And the name of the city from that day shall be, THE LORD IS
THERE.'-Ezekiel 48:35
London: Printed in the year 1665
Reader, it will require the utmost effort of your powers of faith in perfectly well authenticated history to believe an almost incredible fact, but which certainly took place in England, under the reformed church in 1665. It is, however, true, that a number of eminently pious, loyal, sober, industrious citizens were immured, by the forms of law, within the walls of a small prison on Bedford Bridge, over the river Ouse, for refusing to attend the parish church or join in the service prescribed by Acts of Parliament, according to the Book of Common Prayer. The Ruler of the universe deigned to approve their conduct, and to visit these prisoners with his peculiar approbation. He made their prison a Bethel, the house of God, and the very gate of heaven-thus richly blessing their souls for refusing to render unto man the things that are God's.
On the Lord's day they were in the habit of uniting in Divine worship. Their prison chamber had received no prelatic consecration, but God was in their midst to bless them. It happened one morning that it came to the turn of a poor itinerant tinker, of extraordinary ability, to address his fellow-prisoners-he had neither written nor even prepared a sermon, and felt, for a time, at a loss for a text or subject. At length, while turning over the sacred pages, his eye was directed to the description of the Holy City-New Jerusalem, which in the latter day will gloriously descend from heaven. His soul was enlarged and enlightened with the dazzling splendour of that sacred city-his heart, which had felt 'empty, spiritless, and barren,' was baptized into his subject-'with a few groans, he carried his meditations to the Lord Jesus for a blessing, which he did forthwith grant according to his grace, and then the preacher did set before his brethren the spiritual meat, and they did all eat and were well refreshed. While distributing the truth, it did so increase in his hand, that of the fragments he gathered up a basket full, and furnished this heavenly treatise.' Such, in substance, is the author's interesting account of the circumstances under which he wrote this book. He adds, with humility, that the men of this world would laugh, in conceit, that one so low, contemptible, and inconsiderable should busy himself with so hard and knotty a subject, but humbly hopes, that though but a babe in Christ, these truths were revealed to him. To the real followers of the lowly Jesus, the poor carpenter's son, 'who had not where to lay his head'-of whom the Jews said, 'How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?' (John 7:15)-despised by princes, prelates, scribes, and Pharisees-to such, the poverty, the occupation, and the want of book-learning of our author needs no apology. It is all-sufficient to know that he was mighty in the Scriptures, and deeply taught of the Holy Spirit. These are the only sources of information relative to the New Jerusalem; and in this treatise the author has richly developed the treasures of the Bible in reference to this solemn subject. To the same prison discipline to which we are indebted for the Pilgrim's Progress, we owe this, and other of the labours of that eminent servant of Christ, John Bunyan. Little did the poor tyrants who sent him to jail think that, in such a place, he would have this blessed vision of the heavenly city, or that his severe sufferings would materially aid in destroying their wicked craft.
The subject is one of pure revelation. The philosopher-the theologian-the philologist-the historian, and the antiquarian, are utterly unable to grapple with that which is here so admirably handled by a poor unlettered prisoner for Christ, who, from the inexhaustible storehouse of God's Word, brings forth things new and old to comfort the pilgrim, whether in a prison or a palace, and to enliven his prospects on his way to this celestial city. The New Jerusalem is a sublime object, and we are bound humbly to adore that majestic mercy which has condescended to give us such a glimpse of the glory which, in its unbounded extent, passeth all the powers of our earth-bound souls to conceive.
It is a city whose builder and maker is God-perfect as his infinite wisdom-strong as his omnipotence-eternal as his existence. Who by searching can find out the perfections of the Almighty-they can only be traced by his revealed will, and with our poor powers, even then but faintly. No man ever possessed a more intimate knowledge of the Bible, nor greater aptitude in quoting it than Bunyan: he must have meditated in it day and night; and in this treatise his biblical treasures are wisely used. He begins with the foundation of the walls, and shows that they are based upon the truths taught to the twelve tribes, and by the twelve apostles of the Lamb. All these truths are perfectly handed down to us in holy Writ, alike immutable and unalterable. Cursed are they that add to that book, either by tradition or by the imposition of creeds, rites, and ceremonies, and not less cursed are they that take from it. These solid foundations support walls and gates through which nothing can enter that defileth. It is a pattern to the church on earth, into which none should be admitted but saints, known from their conversation as living epistles. 'Not common stuff, not raked out of the dunghills and muck heaps of this world, and from among the toys of antichrist, but spiritual, heavenly and glorious precious stones.' This city has but one street, showing the perfect unity among all its inhabitants, and it is only under the personal reign of Christ that uniformity can exist. The divisions among Christians arise, as Bunyan justly concludes, from 'antichristian rubbish, darkness, and trumpery.' The cause of all the confusion is the lust of man for domination over conscience, the government of which is the sole prerogative of God, and this is strengthened by the hope of passing through time in idleness, luxury, and honour, under the false pretence of apostolic descent transmitted through ceremonies worse than childish. In our Lord's days there was union among his disciples, as there must be under his personal reign in the New Jerusalem. But in the times of the apostles the disciples were divided-one was of Paul-another of Apollos, and others of Cephas. The Holy Ghost issued laws to regulate the church in their disputes-not an act of uniformity, but an injunction to the exercise of mutual forbearance, 'Who art thou that judges another man's servant.' 'Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind' (Rom 14:4,5).
After viewing the spiritual unity of the inhabitants of this wonderful city, we are introduced to its temple. How vast the edifice, to contain the millions on millions of worshippers-every inhabitant being present in the general assembly and church of the first-born! Utterly beneath our notice are the most magnificent temples raised by human ingenuity and vanity, when compared with that of the Holy City. Its foundation, the immutability of God-its extent, his divine immensity-its walls, the omnipotence of Jehovah-its treasury, the unsearchable riches of Christ-its worshippers, the countless myriads of the nations of those that are saved-its duration, ETERNITY. It is the inheritance of the Son of God, Jehovah Jesus, and is worthy of HIS inconceivable majesty. In all the multitude not one hypocrite will be found-not one sleeping worshipper-no wandering thought-no fear of sin or of Satan and his persecuting agents-death itself will be dead and swallowed up in life and immortality-all are pure-clothed in white robes-the palm of victory in their hands-singing the glorious anthems of heaven. O my soul! who are they that are thus unspeakably blessed? Shall I be a citizen of that city? God has told us who they are-not those who have been cherished by the state-clothed with honour, who have eaten the bread of idleness. No. 'These are they which came out of great tribulation' (Rev 7:14). From all kindreds, nations, sects, and parties-they who obeyed God and not man in all matters of faith and holiness-those who submitted to the Saviour, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. How vile is that sectarian spirit which in cold blood consigns all but its own sect to eternal misery. How strange the calculation of that Jewish Rabbi,[1] who, dooming to miserable and eternal slavery all but his own little party, gives to every Jew two thousand eight hundred souls to be tormented and tyrannically used as slaves. The bitter sectarian who thus judges that all not of his own party shall be destroyed, will do well to listen to the voice of truth, 'With what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged.' All these absurd and wicked feelings are fast wearing away before the advancing spirit of Christianity. When the leaven of Divine truth shall have spread over the whole earth, antichrist will finally fall-then shall this New Jerusalem descend from heaven, and become the glory of the earth. How distant soever that period may seem, it is irresistibly hastening on. Since Bunyan's days, persecution has hid its ugly head-North America, which was then a land of darkness, is now widely covered with gospel blessings-slavery is coming to an end-India, the islands of the Pacific, and the vast territories of Australia, are yielding their increase. A few more centuries of progression, increasing in its ratio as time draws to a close, will hasten on the coming of our Lord.
The growth in grace of every Christian goes on thus gradually. Bunyan draws a beautiful picture of this from Ezekiel 47:3-12. It is so slow as scarcely to be perceptible, and one proof of its growth in our hearts is a doubt as to whether we are progressing at all. The more the light of heaven breaks in upon us, the more clearly it displays our sinful follies. According to the prophet, the waters rise higher and higher, but so slowly as to elude observation, until we find that they have risen from the ancles to the knees, and at length they rise and leave no standing for the feet-the earth recedes with time, and the soul enters upon the ocean of eternal grace and glory. The time is coming when we shall no longer worship in temples made with hands, neither in the mountains of Samaria, nor in the temples of Jerusalem, or Rome, or London. 'The cloud-capt towers-the gorgeous palaces-the solemn temples-yea, the great globe itself, shall dissolve, and, like the baseless fabric of a vision, leave not a wreck behind.' Or in language far more solemn and striking, because they are the unerring words of truth, 'The heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up.' Then shall the Holy City-the New Jerusalem-descend from heaven, and all the ransomed of the Lord shall find in it a glorious and everlasting habitation.
Bunyan published this Book in a very small 8vo of 294 pages. It was never reprinted separately from his other works, and even in them it suffered from serious omissions and errors. It is now accurately printed from his original edition. The copy in Dr. Williams' Library, Redcross Street, is remarkably fine and clean, a present, most probably, in the first instance, from the author, having an inscription on the fly leaf, apparently in Bunyan's autograph, 'This for my good and dearly beloved frend mistris Backcraft.' It has a false title, bearing the imprint of 'London, Printed for Francis Smith, at the Elephant and Castle without Temple Barr, 1669.' The editor's copy, soiled and tattered, cost him twenty shillings, a striking proof of its rarity. This has the original title, with the real date, 1665, but without a printer's or publisher's name-from which it may be inferred that no one dared to patronize the labours of the poor prisoner-a circumstance tending to make the book more prized by the lovers of Christian liberty. The four dedications are singular, and truly Bunyanish.
Friend,-Though the men of this world, at the sight of this book, will not only deride, but laugh in conceit, to consider that one so low, contemptible, and inconsiderable as I, should busy myself in such sort, as to meddle with the exposition of so hard and knotty a Scripture as here they find the subject matter of this little book; yet do thou remember that 'God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are' (1 Cor 1:27,28). Consider also, that even of old it hath been his pleasure to 'hide these things from the wise and prudent, and to reveal them unto babes' (Matt 11:25, 21:15,16). I tell you that the operation of the Word and Spirit of God, without depending upon that idol,[2] so much adored, is sufficient of itself to search out 'all things, even the deep things of God' (1 Cor 2:10).
The occasion of my first meddling with this matter was as followeth:-Upon a certain first-day, I being together with my brethren in our prison chamber, they expected that, according to our custom, something should be spoken out of the Word for our mutual edification; but at that time I felt myself, it being my turn to speak, so empty, spiritless, and barren, that I thought I should not have been able to speak among them so much as five words of truth with life and evidence; but at last it so fell out that providentially I cast mine eye upon the eleventh verse of the one and twentieth chapter of this prophecy; upon which, when I had considered a while, methought I perceived something of that jasper in whose light you there find this holy city is said to come or descend; wherefore having got in my eye some dim glimmerings thereof, and finding also in my heart a desire to see farther thereinto, I with a few groans did carry my meditations to the Lord Jesus for a blessing, which he did forthwith grant according to his grace; and helping me to set before my brethren, we did all eat, and were well refreshed; and behold also, that while I was in the distributing of it, it so increased in my hand, that of the fragments that we left, after we had well dined, I gathered up this basketful. Methought the more I cast mine eye upon the whole discourse, the more I saw lie in it. Wherefore setting myself to a more narrow search, through frequent prayer to God, what first with doing, and then with undoing, and after that with doing again, I thus did finish it.
But yet, notwithstanding all my labour and travel in this matter, I do not, neither can I expect that every godly heart should in every thing see the truth and excellency of what is here discoursed; neither would I have them imagine that I have so thoroughly viewed this holy city, but that much more than I do here crush out is yet left in the cluster. Alas! I shall only say thus, I have crushed out a little juice to sweeten their lips withal, not doubting but in a little time more large measures of the excellency of this city, and of its sweetness and glory, will by others be opened and unfolded; yea, if not by the servants of the Lord Jesus, yet by the Lord himself, who will have this city builded and set in its own place.
But, I say, for this discourse, if any of the saints that read herein think they find nought at all but words, as many times it falleth out even in their reading the Scriptures of God themselves, I beg, I say, of such, that they read charitably, judge modestly, and also that they would take heed of concluding that because they for the present see nothing in this or that passage, that therefore there is nothing in it: possibly from that which thou mayest cast away as an empty bone, others may pick both good and wholesome bits, yea, and also out of that suck much nourishing marrow. You find by experience, that that very bit that will not down with one, may yet not only down, but be healthful and nourishing to another. Babes are more for milk than strong meat, though meat will well digest with those that are of riper years. Wherefore that which thy weakness will not suffer thee to feed on, leave; and go to the milk and nourishment that in other places thou shalt find.
My second word is to my wise and learned reader.
Sir,-I suppose, in your reading of this discourse, you will be apt to blame me for two things: First, Because I have not so beautified my matter with acuteness of language as you could wish or desire. Secondly, Because also I have not given you, either in the line or in the margent, a cloud of sentences from the learned fathers, that have, according to their wisdom, possibly, handled these matters long before me.
To the first I say, the matter indeed is excellent and high; but for my part I am weak and low; it also deserveth a more full and profound discourse than my small pats will help me to make upon the matter. But yet seeing the Lord looketh not at the outward appearance, but on the heart, neither regardeth high-swelling words of vanity, but pure and naked truth; and seeing also that a widow's mite being all, even heart as well as substance, is counted more, and better, than to cast in little out of much, and that little too perhaps the worst, I hope my little, being all, my farthing, seeing I have no more, may be accepted and counted for a great deal in the Lord's treasury. Besides, Sir, words easy to be understood do often hit the mark, when high and learned ones do only pierce the air. He also that speaks to the weakest, may make the learned understand him; when he that striveth to be high, is not only for the most part understood but of a sort, but also many times is neither understood by them nor by himself.
Secondly, The reason why you find me empty of the language of the learned, I mean their sentences and words which others use, is because I have them not, nor have not read them: had it not been for the Bible, I had not only not thus done it, but not at all.
Lastly. I do find in most such a spirit of whoredom and idolatry concerning the learning of this world, and wisdom of the flesh, and God's glory so much stained and diminished thereby; that had I all their aid and assistance at command, I durst not make use of ought thereof, and that for fear lest that grace, and these gifts that the Lord hath given me, should be attributed to their wits, rather than the light of the Word and Spirit of God: Wherefore 'I will not take' of them 'from a thread even to a shoe-latchet,—lest they should say, We have made Abram rich' (Gen 14:23).
Sir, What you find suiting with the Scriptures take, though it should not suit with authors; but that which you find against the Scriptures, slight, though it should be confirmed by multitudes of them. Yea, further, where you find the Scriptures and your authors jump,[3] yet believe it for the sake of Scripture's authority. I honour the godly as Christians, but I prefer the Bible before them; and having that still with me, I count myself far better furnished than if I had without it all the libraries of the two universities. Besides, I am for drinking water out of my own cistern;[4] what God makes mine by the evidence of his Word and Spirit, that I dare make bold with. Wherefore seeing, though I am without their learned lines, yet well furnished with the words of God, I mean the Bible, I have contented myself with what I there have found, and having set it before your eyes,
I pray read and take, Sir, what you like best;
And that which you like not, leave for the rest.
My third word is to the captious and wrangling reader.
Friend,-However thou camest by this book, I will assure thee thou wast least in my thoughts when I writ it; I tell thee, I intended this book as little for thee as the goldsmith intendeth his jewels and rings for the snout of a sow. Wherefore put on reason, and lay aside thy frenzy; be sober, or lay by the book (Matt 7:6).
IV. TO THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS, &c.
My fourth word is to the lady of kingdoms, the well-favoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, and the abominations of the earth.
Mistress,-I suppose I have nothing here that will either please your wanton eye or go down with your voluptuous palate. Here is bread indeed, as also milk and meat; but here is neither paint to adorn thy wrinkled face, nor crutch to uphold or undershore thy shaking, tottering, staggering kingdom of Rome; but rather a certain presage of thy sudden and fearful final downfall, and of the exaltation of that holy matron, whose chastity thou dost abhor, because by it she reproveth and condemneth thy lewd and stubborn life. Wherefore, lady, smell thou mayest of this, but taste thou wilt not: I know that both thy wanton eye, with all thy mincing brats that are intoxicated with thy cup and enchanted with thy fornications, will, at the sight of so homely and plain a dish as this, cry, Foh! snuff, put the branch to the nose,[5] and say, Contemptible! (Mal 1:12,13; Eze 8:17). 'But wisdom is justified of all her children' (Matt 11:19). 'The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee' (Isa 37:22), yea, her God hath smitten his hands at thy dishonest gain and freaks (Eze 22:7-11, &c.). 'Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all ye that love her; rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her; that ye may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations, that ye may milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory' (Isa 66:10,11).
1. Solomon Jarchi. See Allen's Modern Judaism, p. 275.
2. By 'idol' is here meant human wisdom and school learning, which the men of this world adore, and laugh in conceit at the attempt of one who did not possess it to expound the mysteries of the Revelations-forgetting that they can only be spiritually discerned.-Ed.
3. Where the Bible and uninspired authors agree, believe the truth simply for the Bible's sake. How properly jealous was Bunyan as to the supremacy of God's authority.-Ed.
4. See Isaiah 36:16. The fountain of living waters, and not the broken cisterns alluded to in Jeremiah 2:13.-Ed.
5. Commentators differ as to the meaning of 'put the branch to the nose,' Ezekiel 8:17, but all agree it was some well known mode of expressing contempt for God and his worship.-Ed.
By John Bunyan
Revelation 21:10-27; 22:1-4 "And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal: And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. On the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof and the wall thereof. And the city lieth four-square, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs: the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is of the angel. And the building of the wall of it was of jasper, and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, every several gate was of one pearl; and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty, and the Lamb, are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved, shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all day by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him. And they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads."
In my dealing with this mystery, I shall not meddle where I see nothing, neither shall I hide from you that which at present I conceive to be wrapt up therein; only you must not from me look for much enlargement, though I shall endeavour to speak as much in few words, as my understanding and capacity will enable me, through the help of Christ.
In this description of this holy city, you have these five general heads:
FIRST, The vision of this city in general. SECOND, A discovery of its defence, entrances, and fashion, in particular. THIRD, A relation of the glory of each. FOURTH, A discovery of its inhabitants, their quality and numerousness. FIFTH, A relation of its maintenance, by which it continueth in life, ease, peace, tranquility, and sweetness for ever. To all which I shall speak something in their proper places, and shall open them before you.
But before I begin with any of them, I must speak a word or two concerning John's qualification, whereby he was enabled to behold and take a view of this city; which qualification he relateth in these words following:
Verse 10. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.
The angel being to show this holy man this great and glorious vision, he first, by qualifying of him, puts him into a suitable capacity to behold and take the view thereof; 'He carried me away in the spirit.' When he saith, He carried me away in the Spirit, he means he was taken up into the Spirit, his soul was greatly spiritualized. Whence take notice, that an ordinary frame of spirit is not able to comprehend, nor yet to apprehend extraordinary things. Much of the Spirit discerneth much of God's matters; but little of the Spirit discerneth but little of them: 'I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ; I have fed you with milk, and not with meat; for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able' (1 Cor 3:2).
'And he carried me away in the spirit,' &c. Thus it was with the saints of old, when God had either special work for them to do, or great things for them to see. Ezekiel, when he had the vision of this city in the old law, in the captivity at Babylon, he must be first forefitted with a competent measure of the Spirit (Eze 40:2). John also, when he had the whole matter of this prophecy revealed unto him, he must be in the Spirit; 'I was (saith he) in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet' talking with me, &c (Rev 1:10,11). Whence note again, that when God calls a man to this or that work for him, he first fits him with a suitable spirit. Ezekiel saith, when God bid him stand upon his feet, that the Spirit entered into him, and set him upon his feet (Eze 2:1,2).
'And he carried me away,' &c. Mark, And he carried me [away] &c. As a man must have much of the Spirit that sees much of God, and his goodly matters; so he must be also carried away with it; he must by it be taken off from things carnal and earthly, and taken up into the glory of things that are spiritual and heavenly. The Spirit loveth to do what it doth in private; that man to whom God intendeth to reveal great things, he takes him aside from the lumber and cumber of this world, and carrieth him away in the solace and contemplation of the things of another world; 'And when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples' (Mark 4:34). Mark, and when they were ALONE; according to that of the prophet, 'Whom shall he teach knowledge, and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts' (Isa 28:9). Whence observe also, he is the man that is like to know most of God, that is oftenest in private with him (Luke 2:25-38). He that obeyeth when God saith, Come up hither, he shall see the bride, the Lamb's wife. For 'through desire a man having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom' (Pro 18:1).
'And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain.' Thus having showed his frame, and inward disposition of spirit, he now comes to tell us also of the place or stage on which he was set; to the end that now being fitted by illumination, he might not be hindered of his vision by ought that might intercept. He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain. Thus did God of old also; for when he showed to Moses the patterns of the heavenly things, he must ascend to the Mount Sinai (Exo 19:3). He must into the mount also, when he hath the view of the Holy Land, and of that goodly mountain Lebanon (Deu 32:49). Whence we may learn that the things of God are far from man, as he is natural; and also that there are very great things between us and the sight of them: none can see them but such as are carried away in the Spirit and set on high.
'…To a great and high mountain.' This mountain therefore signifieth the Lord Christ, on which the soul must be placed, as on a mighty hill, whereby he may be able his eyes being anointed with spiritual eye salve, to see over the tops of those mighty corruptions, temptations, and spiritual enemies, that like high and mighty towers are built by the wicked one, to keep the view of God's things from the sight of our souls (2 Cor 10:5,6). Wherefore Christ is called the Mountain of the Lord's house, or that on which the house of God is placed; he is also called the Rock of ages, and the Rock that is higher than we. 'The hill of God is' an high hill, as Bashan; 'an high hill, as the hill of Bashan' (Psa 68:15). This is the hill from whence the prophet Ezekiel had the vision of this city (Eze 40:2); 'And upon this rock [saith Christ] I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it' (Matt 16:18).
[FIRST. The Vision of the Holy City in General.]
'And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem.' Having thus told us how, and with what he was qualified, he next makes relation of what he saw, which was that great city, the holy Jerusalem.
Jerusalem, in the language of the Scripture, is to be acknowledged for the church and spouse of the Lord Jesus; and is to be considered either generally or more particularly. Now as she is to be taken generally, so she is to be understood as being 'the whole family in heaven and earth,' (Eph 3:15); and as she is thus looked upon, so she is not considered with respect to this or that state and condition of the church here in the world, but simply as she is the church: therefore it is said, when at any time any are converted from Satan to God, that they 'are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem; and to an innumerable company of angels; to the general assembly and church of the first-born which are written in heaven; to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect; and to Jesus,—and to the blood of sprinkling' (Heb 12:22,24).
But again, as Jerusalem is thus generally to be understood, so also she is to be considered more particularly: 1. Either as she relates to her first and purest state; or, 2. As she relates to her declined and captivated state; or, 3. With reference to her being recovered again from her apostatized and captivated condition. Thus it was with Jerusalem in the letter; which threefold state of this city shall be most exactly answered by our gospel Jerusalem, by our New Testament church. Her first state was in the days of Christ and his apostles, and answereth to Jerusalem in the days of Solomon; her second state is in the days of antichrist, and answereth to the carrying away of the Jews from their city into Babylon; and her third state is this in the text, and answereth to their return from captivity, and rebuilding their city and walls again: all which will be fully manifest in this discourse following.
[This city is the gospel church returning out of antichristian captivity.]
Besides, that this holy city that here you read of is the church, the gospel church, returning out of her long and antichristian captivity; consider,
First, She is here called a city, the very name that our primitive church went under (Eph 2:19); which name she loseth all the while of her apostatizing and captivity under antichrist; for observe, I say, all the while she is under the scourge of the dragon, beast, and the woman in scarlet, &c. (Rev 13), she goeth under the name of a woman, a woman in travail, a woman flying before the dragon, a woman flying into the wilderness, there to continue in an afflicted and tempted condition, and to be glad of wilderness nourishment, until the time of her enemies were come to an end (Rev 12).
Now the reason why she lost the title of city at her going into captivity is, because then she lost her situation and strength; she followed others than Christ, wherefore he suffered her enemies to scale her walls, to break down her battlements; he suffered, as you see here, the great red dragon, and beast with seven heads and ten horns, to get into her vineyard, who made most fearful work both with her and all her friends; her gates also were now either broken down or shut up, so that none could, according to her laws and statutes, enter into her; her charter also, even the Bible itself, was most grossly abused and corrupted, yea, sometimes burned and destroyed almost utterly; wherefore the Spirit of God doth take away from her the title of city, and leaveth her to be termed a wandering woman, as aforesaid. 'The court which is without the temple [saith the angel] leave out, and measure it not, for it is given unto the Gentiles; and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months' (Rev 11:2). 'The holy city shall they tread under foot'; that is, all the city constitutions, her forts and strength, her laws and privileges for a long time, shall be laid aside and slighted, shall become a hissing, a taunt, and a byword among the nations. And truly thus it was in the letter, in the destruction of Jerusalem by the king of Babylon and his wicked instruments, by whose hands the city was broken up, the walls pulled down, the gates burned, the houses rifled, the virgins ravished, and the children laid dead in the top of every street (2 Chron 36:17-21; Jer 52; Lam 1; 2; 3; 4). Now was Zion become a ploughed field, and Jerusalem turned to heaps; a place of briars and thorns, and of wasteness and desolation (Micah 3:12; Isa 7:23,24).
Second, The phrase also that is joined with this of city doth much concern the point; she is here called 'the new and holy city,' which words are explained by these, 'prepared as a bride and adorned for her husband.' The meaning is, that she is now got into her form, fashion, order, and privileges again; she is now ready, adorned, prepared, and put into her primitive state; mark, though she was in her state of affliction called a woman, yet she was not then either called a city or a woman adorned; but rather a woman robbed and spoiled, rent and torn among the briars and thorns of the wilderness (Isa 5:6; 42:22; 32:13,14). Wherefore this city is nothing else but the church returned out of captivity from under the reign of antichrist, as is yet farther manifest, because,
Third. We find no city to answer that which was built after the Jews' return from captivity but this; for this, and only this, is the city that you find in this prophecy that is nominated as the antitype of that second of the Jews; wherefore John hath no relation of her while towards the doom of antichrist, and no description of her in particular until antichrist is utterly overthrown; as all may see that wisely read (Rev 17-20).
[Why the church is called a city.]
'And showed me that great city.' The Holy Ghost is pleased at this time to give the church the name of a city, rather than any other name, rather than the name of spouse, woman, temple, and the like-though he giveth us her under the name of a woman also, to help us to understand what he means; but, I say, the name of a city is now the name in special, under which the church must go, and that for special reasons.
First. To show us how great and numerous a people will then be in the church; the church may be a woman, a temple, a spouse, when she is but few, a handful, but two or three; but to be a city, and that in her glory, it bespeaks great store of members, inhabitants, and citizens; especially when she goeth under the name of a great city, as here she does. He 'showed me that great city.'
Second. She goeth rather under the name of a city, than temple or spouse, to show us also how plentifully the nations and kingdoms of men shall at that day traffic with her, and in her, for her goodly merchandize of grace and life; to show us, I say, what wonderful custom the church of God at this day shall have among all sorts of people, for her heavenly treasures. It is said of Tyrus and Babylon, that their merchandize went unto all the world, and men from all quarters under heaven came to trade and to deal with them for their wares (Eze 27; Rev 18:2,3). Why thus it will be in the latter day with the church of God; the nations shall come from far, from Tarshish, Pul, Lud, Tubal, Javan, and the isles afar off. They shall come, saith God, out of all nations upon horses and mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem. 'And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord' (Isa 66:19-23). Alas, the church at that day when she is a woman only, or a temple either, may be without that beauty, treasure, amiableness, and affecting glory that she will be endowed with when she is a prosperous city. His marvellous kindness is seen 'in a strong city' (Psa 31:21). In cities, you know, are the treasures, beauty, and glory of kingdoms; and it is thither men go that are desirous to solace themselves therewith. 'Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined' (Psa 50:2).
Third. It is called a city, rather than a woman or temple, to show us how strongly and securely it will keep its inhabitants at that day. 'In that day shall this song be sung,—We have a strong city, salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks' (Isa 26:1). And verily if the cities of the Gentiles, and the strength of their bars, and gates, and walls did so shake the hearts, yea, the very faith of the children of God themselves, how secure and safe will the inhabitants of this city be, even the inhabitants of that city which God himself will build,' &c. (Deu 9:1,2; Num 13:28).
Fourth. But lastly, and more especially, the church is called here a city, chiefly to show us that now she shall be undermost no longer. Babylon reigned, and so shall Jerusalem at that day. 'And thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion, the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem' (Micah 4:8). Now shall she, when she is built and complete, have a complete conquest and victory over all her enemies; she shall reign over them; the law shall go forth of her that rules them, and the governors of all the world at that day shall be Jerusalem men. 'And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath; and the captivity of Jerusalem which is in Sepharad shall possess the cities of the south. And saviours shall come up on mount Zion, to judge the mount of Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's' (Obad 20,21).[1] 'For the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.—And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off, and they shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more' (Micah 4:1-3). There brake he 'the ships of Tarshish with an east wind. As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God; God will establish it for ever' (Psa 48:1-8). For observe it, Christ hath not only obtained the kingdom of heaven for those that are his, when this world is ended, but hath also, as a reward for his sufferings, the whole world given into his hand; wherefore, as all the kings, and princes, and powers of this world have had their time to reign, and have glory in this world in the face of all, so Christ will have his time at this day, to show who is 'the only Potentate—and Lord of lords' (1 Tim 6:15). At which day he will not only set up his kingdom in the midst of their kingdoms, as he doth now, but will set it up even upon the top of their kingdoms; at which day there will not be a nation in the world but must bend to Jerusalem or perish (Isa 60:12). For 'the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him' (Dan 7:27). 'And his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth' (Zech 9:10). O holiness, how shall it shine in kings and nations, when God doth this!
[This city descends out of heaven from God.]
'He showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.' In these words we are to inquire into three things. First. What he here should mean by heaven. Second. What it is for this city to descend out of it. Third. And why she is said to descend out of it from God.
First. For the word heaven, in Scripture it is variously to be understood, but generally either materially or metaphorically; now not materially here, but metaphorically; and so is generally, if not always, taken in this book.
Now that it is not to be taken for the material heavens where Christ in person is, consider, that the descending of this city is not the coming of glorified saints with their Lord; because that even after the descending, yea and building of this city, there shall be sinners converted to God; but at the coming of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his saints, the door shall be shut; that is, the door of grace, against all unbelievers (Luke 13:25; Matt 25:10).
Therefore heaven here is to be taken metaphorically, for the church; which, as I said before, is frequently so taken in this prophecy, as also in many others of the holy scriptures (Rev 11:15; 12:1-3,7,8,10,13; 13:6; 19:1,14; Jer 51:48; Matt 25:1, &c.). And observe it, though the church of Christ under the tyranny of antichrist, loseth the title of a standing city, yet in the worst of times she loseth not the title of heaven. She is heaven when the great red dragon is in her, and heaven when the third part of her stars are cast unto the earth; she is heaven also when the beast doth open his throat against her, to blaspheme her God, his tabernacle, and those that dwell in her.
Second. Now, then, to show you what we are to understand by this, that she is said to descend out of heaven; for indeed to speak properly, Jerusalem is always in the Scriptures set in the highest ground, and men are said to descend, when they go down from her, but to ascend, or go up when they are going thitherwards (Eze 3:1; Neh 12:1; Matt 20:17,18; Luke 19:28; 10:30). But yet though this be true, there must also be something significant in this word descending; wherefore when he saith, he saw this city to descend out of heaven, he would have us understand,
1. That though the church under antichrist be never so low, yet out of her loins shall they come that yet shall be a reigning city (Heb 7:6,13,14). Generation is a descending from the loins of our friends; he therefore speaks of the generation of the church. Wherefore the meaning is, That out of the church that is now in captivity, there shall come a complete city, so exact in all things, according to the laws and liberties, privileges and riches of a city, that she shall lie level with the great charter of heaven. Thus it was in the type, the city after the captivity was builded, even by those that once were in captivity, especially by their seed and offspring (Isa 45); and thus it shall be in our New Testament New Jerusalem; 'They that shall be of thee,' saith the prophet, that is, of the church of affliction, they 'shall build the old waste places; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in' (Isa 58:12); and again, they that sometimes had ashes for gladness, and the spirit of heaviness instead of the garment of praise, 'they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations; for your shame ye shall have double, and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion,' &c. (Isa 61:3,4,7). Thus therefore by descending we may understand that the church's generation shall be this holy city, and shall build up themselves the tower of the flock (Micah 4:8).
2. When he saith, This holy city descended out of heaven, he would have us understand also what a blessing and happiness this city at her rebuilding will be to the whole world. Never were kind and seasonable showers more profitable to the tender new-mown grass than will this city at this day be, to the inhabitants of the world; they will come as a blessing from heaven upon them. As the prophet saith, 'The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people, as a dew from the Lord; as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men' (Micah 5:7). O the grace, the light and glory that will strike with spangling beams from this city, as from a sun, into the farthest parts of the world! 'Thus saith the Lord, as the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants' sake, that I may not destroy them all: I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my' holy 'mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there. And Sharon [where the sweet roses grew, (Cant 2:1)], shall be a fold for flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me' (Isa 65:8-10). 'In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land' (Isa 19:24). 'And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing. Fear not, but let your hands be strong' (Zech 8:13). 'As the dew of Hermon that descended upon the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore' (Psa 133:3).
Third. And now for the third particular, namely, What it is to descend out of heaven from God.
1. To descend out of heaven, that is, out of the church in captivity, 'from God,' is this: The church is the place in which God doth beget all those that are the children of him; wherefore in that they are said to descend out of heaven 'from God,' it is as if he had said, the children of the church are heaven-born, begotten of God, and brought forth in the church of Christ. For 'Jerusalem which is above is the mother of us all' (Gal 4:26). 'The Lord shall count when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there' (Psa 87:5,6).
2. When he saith he saw this Jerusalem come out of heaven from God, he means that those of the church in captivity that shall build this city, they shall be a people peculiarly fitted and qualified for this work of God. It was not all the children of Israel that had their hand in building Jerusalem after the captivity of old; 'their nobles put not their necks to the work of the Lord' (Neh 3:5). Also there were many of Judah that were sworn to Tobiah, the arch-opposer of the building of the city, because of some kindred and relation that then was between them and him (Neh 6:17-19). And as it was then, so we do expect it will be now; some will be even at the beginning of this work, in Babylon, at that time also some will be cowardly and fearful, yea, and even men hired to hinder the work (Neh 6:10-12). Wherefore I say, those of the church that at that day builded the city, they were men of a particular and peculiar spirit, which also will so be at the building of New Jerusalem. They whose light breaks forth as the morning, they that are mighty for a spirit of prayer, they that take away the yoke, and speaking vanity, and that draw out their soul to the hungry; they that the Lord shall guide continually, that shall have fat bones, and that shall be as a watered garden, whose waters fail not, &c. (Isa 58:8-14). Of them shall they be that build the old wastes, and that raise up the foundations of many generations, &c. It was thus in all ages, in every work of God, some of his people, some of his saints in special in all ages, have been used to promote, and advance, and perfect the work of their generations.
3. This city descends or comes out of heaven from God, that is, by his special working and bringing to pass; it was God that gave them the pattern even when they were in Babylon; it was God that put it into their hearts while there, to pray for deliverance; it was God that put it into the hearts of the kings of the Medes and Persians to give them liberty to return and build; and it was God that quailed the hearts of those that by opposing did endeavour to hinder the bringing the work to perfection; yea, it was God that did indeed bring the work to perfection; wherefore she may well be said to descend 'out of heaven from God': as he also saith himself by the prophet, I will cause the captivity of Judah, and the captivity of Israel to return, and I will build them as at the first (Ezra 4:1-4; 7:27; Neh 2:8-18; 4:15; 6:15,16; Jer 33:7; 32:44; Eze 36:33-37; 37:11-15; Amos 9:11).
Lastly, When he saith he saw her descend from God out of heaven, he may refer to her glory, which at her declining departed from her, and ascended to God, as the sap returns into the root at the fall of the leaf; which glory doth again at her return descend, or come into the church, and branches of the same, as the sap doth arise at the spring of the year, for indeed the church's beauty is from heaven, and it either goeth up thither from her, or else comes from thence to her, according to the natures of both fall and spring (Cant 2).Thus you see what this heaven is, and what it is for this city to descend out of it; also what it is for this city to descend out of it from God.
[This city has the glory of God.]
Ver. 11. 'Having the glory of God.' These last words do put the whole matter out of doubt, and do most clearly show unto us that the descending of this city is the perfect return of the church out of captivity; the church, when she began at first to go into captivity, her glory began to depart from her; and now she is returning again, she receiveth therewith her former glory, 'having the glory of God.' Thus it was in the type, when Jerusalem went into captivity under the King of Babylon, which was a figure of the captivity of our New Testament church under Antichrist, it is said that then the glory of God departed from them, and went, by degrees, first out of the temple to the threshold of the house, and from thence with the cherubims of glory, for that time, quite away from the city (Eze 10:4-18; 11:22,23 &c.).
Again, As the glory of God departed from this city at her going into captivity, so when she returned again, she had also then returned to her the glory of God; whereupon this very prophet that saw the glory of God go from her at her going into captivity, did see it, the very same; and that according as it departed, so return at her deliverance. 'He brought me to the gate,' saith he-that is, when by a vision he saw all the frame and patterns of the city and temple, in the state in which it was to be after the captivity. 'He brought me to the gate—that looketh toward the east, and behold the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east'-the very same way that it went when it was departed from the city (Eze 11:23). 'His voice was like a noise of many waters, and the earth shined with is glory. It was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision which I saw when I came to destroy the city, and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face, and the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east; so the Spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house' (Eze 43:1-5).
Thus you see it was in the destruction and restoration of the Jews' Jerusalem, by which God doth plainly show us how things will be in our gospel church; she was to decline and lose her glory, she was to be trampled-as she was a city-for a long time under the feet of the unconverted and wicked world. Again, she was after this to be builded, and to be put into her former glory; at which time she was to have her glory, her former glory, even the glory of God, returned to her again. 'He showed me,' saith John, 'that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God.' As he saith by the prophet, 'I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies, my house shall be built in it' (Zech 1:16). And again, 'I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem' (Zech 8:3).
'Having the glory of God.' There is the grace of God, and the glory of that grace; there is the power of God, and the glory of that power; and there is the majesty of God, and the glory of that majesty (Eph 1:6; 2 Thess 1:9; Isa 2:19).
It is true God doth not leave his people in some sense, even in the worst of times, and in their most forlorn condition (John 14:18), as he showeth by his being with them in their sad state in Egypt and Babylon, and other of their states of calamity (Dan 3:25). As he saith, 'Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come' (Eze 2:16). God is with his church, even in her greatest adversity, both to limit, bound, measure, and to point out to her quantity and quality, her beginning and duration of distress and temptation (Isa 27:7-9; Rev 2:10). But yet I say the glory of God, in the notion of Ezekiel and John, when they speak of the restoration of this city, that is not always upon his people, though always they are beloved and counted for his peculiar treasure. She may then have his grace, but not at the same time the glory of his grace; his power, but not the glory of his power; she may also have his majesty, but not the glory thereof; God may be with his church, even then when the glory is departed from Israel.
The difference that is between her having his grace, power, and majesty, and the glory of each, is manifest in these following particulars;-grace, power, and majesty, when they are in the church in their own proper acts, only as we are considered saints before God, so they're invisible, and that not only altogether to the world, but often to the very children of God themselves; but now when the glory of these do rest upon the church, according to Ezekiel and John; why then it will be visible and apparent to all beholders. 'When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall APPEAR in his glory' (Psa 102:16), as he saith also in another place, 'The Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee' (Isa 60:1-2).
Now, then, to speak a word or two, in particular to the glory of
God, that at this day will be found to settle upon this city.
First. Therefore, at her returning, she shall not only have his grace upon her, but the very glory of his grace shall be seen upon her; the glory of pardoning grace shall now shine in her own soul, and grace in the glory of it shall appear in all her doings. Now shall both our inward and outward man be most famously adorned and beautified with salvation; the golden pipes that are on the head of the golden candlestick, shall at this day convey, with all freeness, the golden oil thereout, into our golden hearts and lamps (Zech 4:2). Our wine shall be mixed with gall no longer, we shall now drink the pure blood of the grape; the glory of pardoning and forgiving mercy shall so show itself at this day in this city, and shall so visibly abide there in the eyes of all spectators, that all shall be enflamed with it. 'For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory; and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name' (Isa 62:1,2). And again, 'The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God' (Isa 52:10; Psa 98:2). At that day, the prophet tells us, there shall be holiness upon the very horses' bridles, and that the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar, and every pot in Jerusalem shall be holiness unto the Lord (Zech 14:20,21). The meaning of all these places is, that in the day that the Lord doth turn his church and people into the frame and fashion of a city, and when he shall build them up to answer the first state of the church, there will such grace and plenty of mercy be extended unto her, begetting such faith and holiness and grace in her soul, and all her actions, that she shall convince all that are about her that she is the city, the beloved city, the city that the Lord hath chosen; for after that he had said before, he would return to Zion, and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem (Zech 8:3), he saith, moreover, that Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain. 'And all the people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of thee' (Deu 28:10).
Second. As the glory of the grace of God will, at this day, be wonderfully manifest in and over his city; so also at that day will be seen the glory of his power. 'O my people,' saith God, 'that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian; he shall smite thee with a rock, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt,' that is, shall persecute and afflict thee, as Pharaoh served thy friends of old; but be not afraid, 'For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction: and the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him, according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt' (Isa 7; 10:24-26). The sum is, God will, at the day of his rebuilding the New Jerusalem, so visibly make bare his arm, and be so exalted before all by his power towards his people, that no people shall dare to oppose-or stand, if they do make the least attempt to hinder-the stability of this city. 'I will surely [gather, or] assemble, O Jacob, all of thee,' saith God: 'I will surely gather the remnant of Israel—as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of the fold; they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men. The breaker is come up before them, they have broken up [the antichristian siege that hath been laid against them], they have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it, and their king shall pass before them, and the Lord on the head of them' (Micah 2:12,13). 'Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds are called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight for Mount Zion, and for the hill thereof' (Isa 31:4). 'The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war; he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies' (Isa 42:13). But 'not by might, nor yet by power,' that is, the power and arm of flesh, but by the power of the Word and Spirit of God, which will prevail, and must prevail, to quash and overturn all opposition (Zech 12:8; Zeph 3:8; Joel 3:16; Zech 4:6).
Third. [The glory of his majesty.] When God hath thus appeared in the glory of his grace, and the glory of his power, to deliver his chosen, then shall the implacable enemies of God shrink and creep into holes like the locusts and frogs of the hedges, at the appearance of the glory of the majesty of God. Now the high ones, lofty ones, haughty ones, and the proud, shall see so evidently the hand of the Lord towards his servants, and his indignation towards his enemies, that 'they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth,—and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for the fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth' (Isa 2:19,21).
Where the presence of the Lord doth so appear upon a people, that those that are spectators perceive and understand it, it must need work on those spectators one of these two things;-either first a trembling and astonishment, and quailing of heart, as it doth among the implacable enemies (Josh 2:8-13), or else a buckling and bending of heart, and submission to his people and ways (Josh 9:22-25). As saith the prophet, 'The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee, and all they that despised thee shall fall[2] down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee The city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel' (Isa 60:14). As Moses said to the children of Israel, 'The Lord your God shall lay the fear of you, and the dread of you, upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you' (Deu 11:25).
At this day the footsteps of the Lord will be so apparent and visible in all his actions and dispensations in and towards his people, this holy city, that all shall see, as I have said, how gracious, loving, kind, and good the Lord is now towards his own children; such glory, I say, will be over them, and upon them, that they all will shine before the world; and such tender bowels in God towards them, that no sooner can an adversary peep, or lift up his head against his servants, but his hand will be in the neck of them; so that in short time he will have brought his church into that safety, and her neighbours into that fear and submission, that they shall not again so much as dare to hold up a hand against her, no, not for a thousand years (Rev 20:3). 'Thus saith the Lord, Behold I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have mercy on his dwelling-places; and the city shall be builded on her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof. And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving, and the voice of them that make merry; and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; and I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small: Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all that oppress them' (Jer 30:18-20).
[The light of this city.]
Having the glory of God. 'And her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.' Having thus told us of her glory, even of 'the glory of God,' how it at this day will rest upon this city, he now comes to touch a second thing, to wit, 'her light,' and that in which she descends, and by which, as with the light of the sun, she seeth before her, and behind her, and on every side. This therefore is another branch of her duty; she in her descending hath 'the glory of God,' and also 'the light of a stone most precious.'
Ezekiel tells us, that in the vision which he saw when he came to destroy the city-which vision was the very same that he saw again at the restoring of it-he saith, I say, that in this vision, among many other wonders, he saw a fire enfolding itself, and a brightness about it, and that 'the fire also was bright, and that out of it went forth lightning'; that 'the likeness of the firmament upon the—living creatures, was as the colour of the terrible crystal'; that the throne also, upon which was placed the likeness of a man, was like, or 'as the appearance of a sapphire-stone' (Eze 1:4,13,14,22,26). All which words, with the nature of their light and colour, the Holy Ghost doth in the vision of John comprise, and placeth within the colour of the jasper and the crystal-stone. And indeed, though the vision of John and Ezekiel, touching the end of the matter, be but one and the same, yet they do very much vary and differ in terms and manner of language; Ezekiel tells us that the man that he saw come to measure the city and temple, had in his hand 'a line of flax' (40:3), which line John calls a golden reed; Ezekiel tells us that the river came out of, or 'from under the threshold of the house' (47:1); but John saith it came out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. Ezekiel tells us that on either side of this river grew ALL trees for food (v 12); John calls these ALL trees but ONE tree, and tells us that it stood on both sides of this river. The like might also be showed you in many other particulars; as here you see they differ as touching the terms of the light and brightness that appears upon this city at her rebuilding, which the Holy Ghost represents to John under the light and glory of the jasper and crystal-stone; for indeed the end of Ezekiel's vision was to show us, that as when the glory of God departed from the city, it signified that he would take away from them the light of his Word, and their clearness of worship, suffering them to mourn for the loss of the one, and to grope for the want of the other; so at his return again he would give them both their former light of truth, and also the clearness of spirit to understand it, which also John doth show us shall last for ever.
'…And her light was like unto a stone most precious…' This stone it is to represent unto us the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose light and clearness this city comes out of Babylon; for, as he saith, she hath the glory of God, that is, his visible hand of grace, power, and majesty, to bring her forth; so she comes in the light of this precious stone, which terms, I say, both the prophet Isaiah and the apostle Peter do apply to the Lord Jesus, and none else; the one calling him 'a precious corner-stone,' the other calling him the 'chief corner-stone, elect and precious' (Isa 28:16; 1 Peter 2:6). Now then when he saith this city hath the light of this stone to descend in, he means that she comes in the shining wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and influences of Christ, out of her afflicted and captivated state; and observe it, she is rather said to descend in the light of this stone, than in the light of God, though both be true, because it is the man Christ, the stone which the builders rejected, 'in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,' of whose fulness we do all receive, and grace for grace; 'for it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell' (Col 2:3; John 1:16; Col 1:19. See also Acts 2:33 and Eph 4:10-13).
This showeth us, then, these two things-
First. That the time of the return of the saints to build the ruinous city is near, yea, very near, when the light of the Lord Jesus begins to shine unto perfect day in her. God will not bring forth his people out of Babylon, especially those that are to be the chief in the building of this city, without their own judgments. 'They shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion' (Isa 52:8). As he saith also in another place, 'The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and health the stroke of their wound' (Isa 30:26). 'And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly' (Isa 32:3,4). The Lord shall be now exalted, and be very high, for he will fill Zion with judgment and righteousness, and wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times (Isa 33:5,6). When Israel went out of Egypt, they wanted much of this, they went out blindfolded, as it were, they went they knew not whither; wherefore they went not in the glory of that which this city descendeth in; as Moses said, 'The Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear, unto this day' (Deu 29:4). But these shall see every step they take; they shall be like the beasts that had eyes both before and behind: they shall see how far they are come out of Antichrist, and shall see also how far yet they have to go, to the complete rebuilding and finishing of this city.
Second. This showeth us how sweet and pleasant the way of this church will be at this day before them. Light, knowledge, and judgment in God's matters doth not only give men to see and behold all the things with which they are concerned, but the things themselves being good, they do also by this means convey very great sweetness and pleasantness into the hearts of those that have the knowledge of them. Every step, I say, that now they take, it shall be as it were in honey and butter. 'The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy [see v 2] upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away' (Isa 35:10). As he saith, 'Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built; O virgin of Israel, thou shalt again be adorned with tabrets, and shall go forth in the dances of them that make merry.-For thus saith the Lord, Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel. Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child, and her that travaileth with child together; a great company shall return thither' (Jer 31:4,7,8).
By these words, the blind and the lame, the woman with child, and her that travaileth, he would have us understand thus much-
1. That the way of God shall, by the illuminating grace of Christ, be made so pleasant, so sweet, and so beautiful in the souls of all at that day, that even the blindest shall not stumble therein, neither shall the lame refuse it for fear of hurt; yea, the blind, the lame, the woman with child, and her that travaileth shall, though they be of all in most evil case to travel, and go the journey, yet, at this day, by reason of the glorious light and sweetness that now will possess them, even forget their impediments, and dance, as after musical tabrets.
2. This city, upon the time of her rebuilding, shall have her blind men see, her halt and lame made strong; she also that is with child, and her that travaileth, shall jointly see the city-work that at this day will be on foot, and put into form and order, yet before the end. 'Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee,' saith the Lord to his people, 'and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out, and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame. At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you, for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord' (Zeph 3:19,20).
'And her light was like unto a stone most precious.' In that he saith her light is like unto 'A STONE MOST PRECIOUS,' he showeth us how welcome, and with what eagerness of spirit this light will at this day be embraced by the Lord's people. 'Truly the light is sweet,' saith Solomon, 'and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun' (Eccl 11:7). And if so, then how beautiful, desirable, and precious will that light be, that is not only heavenly, and from Christ, but that will be universal among all saints, to show them the same thing, and to direct them to and in the same work. The want of this hath, to this day, been one great reason of that crossness of judgment and persuasion that hath been found among the saints, and that hath caused that lingering and disputing about the glorious state of the church in the latter days; some being for its excellency to consist chiefly in outward glory; and others, swerving on the other side, conclude she shall not have any of this: some conceiving that this city will not be built until the Lord comes from heaven in person; others again concluding that when he comes, then there shall be no longer tarrying here, but that all shall forthwith, even all the godly, be taken up into heaven: with divers other opinions in these matters. And thus many 'run to and fro,' but yet, God be thanked, knowledge does increase, though the vision will be sealed, even to the time of the end (Dan 12:4). But now, I say, at the time of the end, the Spirit shall be poured down upon us from on high (Isa 32:15); now 'they also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding' (Isa 29;24); the city shall descend in the light of a stone most precious. The sun will be risen upon the earth, when Lot goeth from Sodom unto Zoar (Gen 19:23).
Now there shall be an oneness of judgment and understanding in the hearts of all saints; they shall be now no more two, but one in the Lord's hand (Eze 37:19-21). Alas! the saints are yet but as an army routed, and are apt sometimes through fear, and sometimes through forgetfulness, to mistake the word of their captain-general, the Son of God, and are also too prone to shoot and kill even their very right-hand man; but at that day all such doing shall be laid aside, for the knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea (Isa 11:9,13). Which knowledge shall then strike through the heart and liver of all swerving and unsound opinions in Christ's matters; for then shall every one of the Christians call upon the name of the Lord, and that with one pure lip or language, 'to serve him with one consent' (Zeph 3:9). It is darkness, and not light, that keepeth God's people from knowing one another, both in their faith and language; and it is darkness that makes them stand at so great a distance both in judgment and affections, as in these and other days they have done. But then, saith God, 'I will plant in the wilderness,' that is, in the church that is now bewildered, 'the cedar, the shittah tree, the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, the pine, and the box tree together; that they may see and know, and consider and understand together, that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the holy One of Israel hath created it' (Isa 41:19,20). And again, 'The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, and the pine tree, and the box together,' to beautify the house of my glory, and to 'make the place of my feet glorious' (Isa 60:13).
Never was fair weather after foul-nor warm weather after cold-nor a sweet and beautiful spring after a heavy, and nipping, and terrible winter, so comfortable, sweet, desirable, and welcome to the poor birds and beasts of the field, as this day will be to the church of God. Darkness! it was the plague of Egypt: it is an empty, forlorn, desolate, solitary, and discomforting state; wherefore light, even the illuminating grace of God, especially in the measure that it shall be communicated unto us at this day, it must needs be precious. In light there is warmth and pleasure; it is by the light of the sun that the whole universe appears unto us distinctly, and it is by the heat thereof that everything groweth and flourisheth; all which will now be gloriously and spiritually answered in this holy and new Jerusalem (2 Thess 2). O how clearly will all the spiders, and dragons, and owls, and foul spirits of Antichrist at that day be discovered by the light hereof! (Rev 18:1-4). Now also will all the pretty robins and little birds in the Lord's field most sweetly send forth their pleasant notes, and all the flowers and herbs of his garden spring. Then will it be said to the church by her Husband and Saviour, 'Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away; for lo, the winter is past the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; the fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell' (Cant 2:10-13). You know how pleasant this is, even to be fulfilled in the letter of it, not only to birds and beasts, but men; especially it is pleasant to such men that have for several years been held in the chains of affliction. It must needs, therefore, be most pleasant and desirable to the afflicted church of Christ, who hath lain now in the dungeon of Antichrist for above a thousand years. But, Lord, how will this lady, when she gets her liberty, and when she is returned to her own city, how will she then take pleasure in the warm and spangling beams of thy shining grace! and solace herself with thee in the garden, among the nuts and the pomegranates, among the lilies and flowers, and all the chief spices (Cant 7:11-13).
'Even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.' These words are the metaphor by which the Holy Ghost is pleased to illustrate the whole business. Indeed similitudes, if fitly spoke and applied, do much set off and out[3] any point that either in the doctrines of faith or manners, is handled in the churches. Wherefore, because he would illustrate, as well as affirm, the glory of this Jerusalem to the life, therefore he concludes his general description of this city with these comparisons:-I saw, saith he, the holy city, the Lamb's wife; I saw her in her spangles, and in all her adorning, but verily she was most excellent. She was shining as the jasper, and as pure and clear as crystal. The jasper, it seems, is a very beautiful and costly stone, inasmuch as that, above all the precious stones, is made use of by the Holy Ghost to show us the glory and shining virtues of the Lord Jesus in this New Jerusalem; and yet, behold, the jasper is too short and slender to do the business, there must another stone be added, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. Yea, saith the Lord Jesus, her checks are like rows of jewels, and so are the joints of her thighs; even like the jewels that are 'the work of the hands of a cunning workman' (Cant 1:9,10; 7:1).
The crystal is a stone so clear and spotless, that even her greatest adversaries, in the midst of all their rage, are not able justly to charge her with the least mote or spot imaginable; wherefore when he saith, that this city in her descending is even like the jasper for light, and like the crystal for clearness; he would have us further learn, that at the day of the descending of this Jerusalem, she shall be every way so accomplished with innocency, sincerity, and clearness in all her actions, that none shall have from her, or her ways, any just occasion given unto them to slight, contemn, or oppose her. For,
First, As she descends, she meddleth not with any man's matters but her own; she comes all along by the King's highway; that is, alone by the rules that her Lord hath prescribed for her in his testament. The governors of this world need not at all to fear a disturbance from her, or a diminishing of ought they have. She will not meddle with their fields nor vineyards, neither will she drink of the water of their wells: only let her go by the King's highway, and she will not turn to the right hand or to the left, until she hath passed all their borders (Num 20:18,19: 21:22). It is a false report then that the governors of the nations have received against the city, this New Jerusalem, if they believe, that according to the tale that is told them, she is and hath been of old a rebellious city, and destructive to kings, and a diminisher of their revenues. I say, these things are lying words, and forged even in the heart of 'Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their companions' (Eze 4:7). For verily this city, in her descending, is clear from such things, even as clear as crystal. She is not for meddling with anything that is theirs, from a thread even to a shoe-latchet. Her glory is spiritual and heavenly, and she is satisfied with what is her own.[4] It is true, the kings and nations of this world shall one day bring their glory and honour to this city; but yet not by outward force or compulsion; none shall constrain them but the love of Christ and the beauty of this city. 'The Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising' (Isa 60:3). The light and beauty of this city, that only shall engage their hearts and overcome them. Indeed, if any shall, out of mistrust or enmity against this city and her prosperity, bend themselves to disappoint the designs of the eternal God concerning her building and glory, then they must take what followeth. Her God in the midst of her is mighty, he will rest in his love, and rejoice over her with singing, and will UNDO all that afflict her (Zeph 3:17-19). Wherefore, 'associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall come to naught; speak the word and it shall not stand; for God is with us' (Isa 8:9,10).
What work did he make with Og the king of Bashan, and with Sihon, king of the Amorites, for refusing to let his people go peaceably by them, when they were going to their own inheritance (Num 21:22-35). God is harmless, gentle, and pitiful; but woe be to that people that shall oppose or gainsay him. He is gentle, yet a lion; he is loth to hurt, yet he will not be crossed; 'Fury is not in me,' saith he; yet if you set the briars and thorns against him, He 'will go through them, and burn them together' (Isa 27:4). Jerusalem also, this beloved city, it will be beautiful and profitable to them that love her; but a cup of trembling, and a burthensome stone to all that burden themselves with her; 'all that burthen themselves with it, shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against her' (Zech 12:2,3).
Again, she will be clear as crystal in the observation of all her turns and stops, in her journeying from Egypt to Canaan, from Babylon to this Jerusalem state. She will, I say, observe both time and order, and will go only as her God doth go before her; now one step in this truth, and then another in that, according to the dispensation of God, and the light of day she lives in. As the cloud goes, so will she; and when the cloud stays, so will she (Rev 14:4; Exo 40:36-38). She comes in perfect rank and file, 'terrible as an army with banners' (Cant 6:10). No Balaam can enchant her; she comes 'out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all spices[5] of the merchants' (Cant 3:6). Still 'leaning upon her beloved' (Cant 8:5). The return of Zion from under the tyranny of her afflictors, and her recovery to her primitive purity, is no headstrong brain-sick rashness of her own, but the gracious and merciful hand and goodness of God unto her, therefrom to give her deliverance. 'For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon [that is, the time of the reign of Antichrist, and his tyranny over his church] I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place' (Jer 29:10). 'Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for [spiritual] wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd; and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all' (Isa 57:11; Jer 31:12).
[SECOND. A Discovery of its Defence, Entrances, and Fashion in
Particular.]
Verse 12. 'And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.' These words do give us to understand, that this holy city is now built, and in all her parts complete, they give us also to understand the manner of her strength, &c.
'And had a wall.' Having thus, I say, given us a description of this city in general, he now descends to her strength and frame in particular: her frame and strength, I say, as she is a city compact together: as also of her splendour and beauty.
And observe it, that of all the particulars that you read of, touching the fence, fashion, or frame of this city, and of all her glory, the firs thing that he presenteth to our view is her safety and security; she 'had a wall.' A wall, you know, is for the safety, security, defence, and preservation of a place, city, or town; therefore it is much to the purpose that in the first place after this general description, he should fall upon a discovery of her security and fortification; for what of all this glory and goodness, if there be no way to defend and preserve it in its high and glorious state? If a man had in his possession even mountains of pearl and golden mines, yet if he had not wherewith to secure and preserve them to himself, from those that with all their might endeavour to get them from him, he might not only quickly lose his treasure, and become a beggar, but also through the very fear of losing them, even lose the comfort of them, while yet in his possession. To speak nothing of the angels that fell, and of the glory that they then did lose. I may instance to you the state of Adam in his excellency; Adam, you know, was once so rich and wealthy, that he had the garden of Eden, the paradise of pleasure, yea, and also the whole world to boot, for his inheritance; but mark, in all his glory, he was without a wall; wherefore presently, even at the very first assault of the adversary, he was not only worsted as touching his person and standing, but even stripped of all his treasure, his paradise taken from him, and he in a manner left so poor, that forthwith he was glad of an apron of fig-leaves to cover his nakedness, and to hide his shame form the face of the sun (Gen 3:7). Wherefore, I say, John speaks to the purpose in saying she had a wall; a wall for defence and safety, for security and preservation. Now then she shall lie no longer like blasted bones in an open field or valley; that was her portion in the days of her affliction (Eze 37:1,2).
[The wall of the city.]
'And had a wall.' It is said of old Jerusalem, that she had a wall and a wall, two walls for her defence and safety (Jer 39:4; Jer 52:7); which two, in my judgment, did hold forth these two things. The one, their eternal preservation and security from the wrath of God, through the benefits of Christ; and the other, that special protection and safeguard that the church hath always had from and by the special providence of her God in the midst of her enemies, Wherefore one of these is called by the proper name of salvation, which salvation I take in special to signify our fortification and safety from the wrath of God, and the curse and power of the law and sin (Isa 26:1; Acts 4:12). The other is called, A wall of fire round about her; and alludeth to the vision that the prophet's servant was made to see for his comfort, when he was put in fear, by reason of the great company of the enemies that were bending their force against the life of his master (Eze 2:5; 2 Kings 6:17).
But now in those days, though there were for the defence of the city those two walls, yet they stood a little distance each from other, and had a ditch between them, which was to signify that though then they had the wall of salvation about them, with reference to their eternal state, yet the wall of God's providence and special protection was not yet so nearly joined thereto but that they might, for their foolishness, have that broken down, and they suffered to fall into the ditch that was between them both (Isa 22:10-12). And so he saith by the prophet, 'I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard [that is, to this city for the wickedness thereof], I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down' (Isa 5:5-7). Which hedge and wall could not be that of eternal salvation, for that stood sure, though they should be scattered among the nations 'as wheat is sifted in a sieve' (Amos 9:9). It must therefore be the wall of her special preservation in her outward peace and happiness, which wall was often in those days broken down, and they made havoc of, of all that dwelt about them.
But now touching the safety of New Jerusalem, the city of which I here discourse, she is seen in the vision by John to have but one only wall; to signify that at this day the wall of her eternal salvation, and of God's special providence to protect and defend her, in her present visible and gospel glory, shall be so effectually joined together, that now they shall be no more two, that is, at a distance, with a ditch between, but one sound and enclosing wall; to show us that now the state of this Jerusalem, even touching her outward glory, peace, and tranquility, will be so stable, invincible, and lasting, that unless that part of the wall which is eternal salvation, can be broken down, the glory of this city shall never be vailed more. Wherefore the prophet, when he speaks with reference to the happy state and condition of this city, he saith, 'Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls salvation, and thy gates praise' (Isa 60:18); as he saith also in another place, 'Thine eye shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down, not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken' (Isa 33:20). The walls are now conjoined, both joined into one; the Father hath delivered up the great red dragon into the hand of Christ, who hath shut him up and sealed him down, even down for a thousand years (Rev 20:1-3). Wherefore from the Lord shall there be 'upon every dwelling-place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for upon all her glory shall be a defence' (Isa 4:5). And 'in that day shall this song be sung: We have a strong city, salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks' (Isa 26:1,2). The same in effect hath our prophet John, saying 'I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem,' descending out of heaven from God, 'prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying,—The tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them:—and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying; neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away' (Rev 21:1-4).
'And had a wall great and high.' These words, great and high, are added for illustration, to set out the matter to the height; and indeed the glory of a wall lieth in this, that it is great and high; the walls of the Canaanites were terrible upon this account, and did even sink the hearts of those that beheld them (Deu 1:28). Wherefore this city shall be most certainly in safety, she hath a wall about her, a great wall: a wall about her, an high wall. It is great for compass, it incloseth every saint; it is great for thickness, it is compacted of all the grace and goodness of God, both spiritual and temporal; and for height, if you count from the utmost side to the utmost, then it is higher than heaven, who can storm it? (Heb 7:26) and for depth, it is lower than hell, who can undermine it? (Job 11:8).
Great mercies, high mercies, great preservation, and a high arm to defend, shall continually at this day encamp this city: God himself will be a continual life-guard to this city; 'I will encamp,' saith he, 'about mine house, because of the army, because of him that passeth by, and because of him that returneth; and no oppressor shall pass through them any more; for now have I seen with mine eyes' (Zech 9:8).
[The gates of the city.]
'And had twelve gates.' Having thus showed us her wall, he now comes to her gates; it had gates, it had twelve gates. By gates in this place we are to understand the way of entrance; gates, you know, are for coming in, and for going out (Jer 17:19,20); and do in this place signify two things. First, An entrance into communion with the God and Saviour of this city. Secondly, Entrance into communion with the inhabitants and privileges of this city; in both which the gates do signify Christ: for as no man can come to the knowledge and enjoyment of the God, and glorious Saviour, but by and through the Lord Christ; so no man can come into true and spiritual communion with these inhabitants, but by him also: 'I am the way,' saith he, 'and the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me': and again, 'I am the door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture' (John 10:1-9; 14:6).
'And had twelve gates.' In that he saith twelve gates, he alludeth to the city of Jerusalem that was of old, which had just so many (Neh 3: 12:37-29); and are on purpose put into the number of twelve, to answer to the whole number of the elect of God, which are comprehended within the number of the twelve tribes, whether they are natural Jews or Gentiles; for as all the godly Jews are the seed of Abraham after the flesh, though to godly, because they are the children of the flesh of Abraham; so all the godly Gentiles are the children of Abraham after the spirit, though not by that means made the children of the flesh of Abraham. They both meet then in the spirit and faith of the gospel, as God saith to the Jews, 'when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the Lord,' that is, become godly, and receive the faith of Christ, let all his males be circumcised, and then let them come near, and keep it, &c. (Exo 12:48). For they that are of faith, are the children of faithful Abraham, who is called the very father of us all (Gal 3:7; Rom 4:16). Thus you see all the godly come under the title of the children of Abraham, and of the Jews; and so under the denomination also of being persons belonging to the tribes, the twelve tribes, who answer to those twelve gates. Wherefore the Psalmist minding this, speaking indefinitely of all the godly, under the name of the tribes of Israel; saying, 'Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together, whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord' (Psa 122:2-4).
But again, though I am certain that all the Gentiles that are at any time converted, are reckoned within the compass of some of the tribes of Israel, to which the gates of this city may truly be said to answer; yet the gates are here in a special manner called by the name of twelve, to answer to the happy return and restoration of those poor distressed creatures the twelve tribes of the Jews that are scattered abroad, and that are, and for a long time have been to our astonishment and their shame, as vagabonds and stragglers among the nations (Hosea 9:17), there to continue 'many days, without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an ephod' (Hosea 3:4). That is, without the true God, the true Saviour, and the true word and ordinances; after which, saith the same prophet, they shall even in the latter days, that is, when this city is builded, return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and shall then 'fear the Lord and his goodness' (Hosea 3:5). This the apostle also affirmeth, when he telleth the believing Gentiles that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in: which Israel in this place cannot by any means be taken for the Gentiles that are converted, for this Israel must be rejected until the bulk of the elect Gentiles be converted; besides he calleth this Israel by the name of Israel, even while unconverted; but the converted Gentiles still Gentiles, even when converted: he calls this Israel the natural branches, but the Gentiles wild branches; and tells us further, that when they are converted, they shall be grafted into their own olive tree; but when the Gentiles are converted, they must be cut off of their own stock and tree: read Romans 11 throughout. Wherefore, I say, the gates are called twelve, to answer these poor creatures, who at this day shall be awakened, and enlightened, and converted to the faith of Jesus. These gates in another place are called a way, and these Jews, the kings of the east; and it is there said also, that at present this way doth want preparing; which is as much as to say this city wants setting up, and the gates want setting in their proper places. Wherefore, saith John, the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, that is, destroyed the strength and force of the Roman antichrist-for the river Euphrates was the fence of literal Babylon, the type of our spiritual one-which force and fence, when it is destroyed or dried up, then the way of the kings of the east will be prepared, or made ready for their journey to this Jerusalem (Rev 16:12). Of this the prophets are full, crying, 'Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling block out of the way of my people' (Isa 57:14). And again, 'Go through, go through the gates, prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the high way; gather out the stones, lift up a standard for the people. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold thy salvation cometh; behold his reward is with him, and his work before him. And they shall call them, The holy people, the redeemed of the Lord: and thou shalt be called, Sought out; A city not forsaken' (Isa 62:10-12). All which doth most especially relate to the conversion of the Jews in the latter day, who in great abundance shall, when all things are made ready, come flocking in to the Son of God, and find favour, as in the days of old.
[The angels at the gates, what they are.]
'And at the gates twelve angels.' By angels in this place, we are to understand the messengers and ministers of the Lord Jesus, by whom the mystery of eternal life and felicity is held forth and discovered before the sons of men; and thus this word angel is frequently taken in this prophecy (Rev 1:20; 2:1,8,12,18; 3:1,7; 14:6).
'And at the gates twelve angels'-
In these words, then, there are two things to be considered. First. Why they should be called twelve. And, Second. Why they are said to stand at the twelve gates of this new and holy city.
First. They are called twelve, to signify two things. 1. The truth of their doctrine. And, 2. The sufficiency of their doctrine and ministry for the converting of the twelve tribes to the faith of Christ, and privileges of this city.
1. For the truth of their doctrine: for by twelve here he would have us to understand that he hath his eye upon the twelve apostles, or upon the doctrine of the twelve, the apostolical doctrine. As if he should say, This city, the New Jerusalem, shall be every way accomplished with beauty and glory; she shall have a wall for her security, and twelve gates to answer the twelve tribes; yea, and also at these gates the twelve apostles, in their own pure, primitive, and unspotted doctrine. The Romish beasts have corrupted this doctrine by treading it down with their feet, and have muddied this water with their own dirt and filthiness (Eze 34:17,18).[6] But at this day, this shall be recovered from under the feet of these beasts, and cleansed also from their dirt, and be again in the same glory, splendour, and purity, as in the primitive times. It is said that when Israel was passed out of Egypt, beyond the sea, they presently came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, &c., and that they encamped by the waters (Exo 15:27). Which twelve wells did figure forth the doctrine of the twelve apostles, out of which the church, at her return from captivity, shall draw and drink, as out of the wells of salvation. Now shall the wells of our father Abraham, which the Philistines have for a great while stopped; now, I say, shall they again be opened by our Isaac, his son; and shall be also called after their own names (Gen 26:18). This is generally held forth by the prophets, that yet again the church shall be fed upon the mountains of Israel, and that they 'shall lie down in a good fold, and a fat pasture'; yea, 'I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God' (Eze 34:14,15).
2. As by these twelve we are to understand the truth and purity of the doctrine of the twelve, so again, by this word twelve, we are to understand the sufficiency of that doctrine and ministry to bring in the twelve tribes to the privileges of this city. Mark, for the twelve tribes there are twelve gates, for every tribe a gate; and at the twelve gates, twelve angels, at every gate an angel. 'O Judah,' saith God, 'he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of thy people' (Hosea 6:11). And so for the rest of the tribes; before Ephraim and Benjamin, and Manasseh, he will stir up his strength to save them (Psa 80:2). 'I will hiss for them,' saith God, 'and gather them, for I have redeemed them; and they shall increase as they have increased: and I will sow them among the people, and they shall remember me in far countries, and they shall live with their children, and return again; I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria, and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon, and place shall not be found for them' (Zech 10:8-10).
[Second.] But to come to the second question, that is, Why these twelve angels are said to stand at the gate? which may be for divers reasons.
1. To show us that the doctrine of the twelve is the doctrine that letteth in at these gates, and that also that shutteth out. 'Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted,' saith Christ, 'and whosesoever sins yet retain, they are retained' (John 20:23; Matt 18:18). And hence it is that the true ministers, in their right administration, are called porters; because as porters stand at the gate, and there open to, or shut upon, those that make an attempt to enter in (Mark 13:34); so the ministers of Christ, by the doctrine of the twelve, do both open to and shut the gates against the person that will be attempting to enter in at the gates of this city (2 Chron 23:19).
2. But again, they are said to stand at the gates for the encouraging and persuading of the tempted and doubting Jews, who at the beginning of their return will be much afflicted under the sight and sense of their own wretchedness. Alas! were it not for some to stand at the gates of this city for instruction, and the encouragement of those that will at that day in earnest be looking after life, they might labour as in other things for very, very vanity; and might also be so grievously beat out of heart and spirit, that they might die in despair. But now to prevent this for those that are in the way to Zion with watery eyes, and wetted cheeks, here stand the angels, continually sounding with their golden gospel-trumpets, 'Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise; be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good, and his mercy is everlasting, and his truth endureth' for ever, even 'to all generations' (Psa 100:4,5). As he saith again, 'And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcast in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem' (Isa 27:13).
[The names written on the gates.]
'And at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.' Thus it was in the vision of the prophet, when he was taking a view of the pattern of this city: 'And the gates of the city,' saith the angel to him, 'shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel' (Eze 48:31). Which saying John doth here expound, saying, the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel were writ or set upon them.
This being thus, it cleareth to you what I said but now, to wit, that the gates are called twelve, to answer the twelve tribes, for their names are written thereon. This must therefore, without all doubt, be a very great encouragement to this despised people; I say great encouragement, that notwithstanding all their rebellion, blasphemy, and contempt of the glorious gospel, their names should be yet found recorded and engraved upon the very gates of New Jerusalem. Thus then shall the Jews be comforted in the latter days; and truly they will have but need hereof; for doubtless, at their return, when they are thoroughly sensible of the murder they have committed, not only upon the bodies of the prophets and apostles, but of the Son of God himself, I say this must needs, together with the remembrance of the rest of their villainous actions, exceedingly afflict and distress their bleeding souls. For 'the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping; they shall go and seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces thitherward' (Jer 50:4,5). Mark, 'going and weeping'; there will not be a step that these poor people will take in the day of their returning, but will be watered with the tears of repentance and contrition, under the consideration of the wickedness that, in the days of their rebellion, they have committed against the Lord of glory. As he saith also by another prophet, 'I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications; and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddon, and the land shall mourn' (Zech 12:10-12).
Wherefore, I say, they both have and also will have need of twelve gates, and on them the names of their twelve tribes, with an angel at each, to encourage them to enter this holy and goodly city; and to tell them that yet he counts them his friends in whose house he received the wounds in his hands (Zech 13:6).
But again, As by the names of the twelve tribes written on the gates, we may see what encouragement the Jews will have, at their return, to enter in at them; so we may also understand that by the names of the twelve tribes here written, God would have us to perceive how all must be qualified that from among the Gentiles at this day do enter in at these gates; namely, those, and those only, that be cut out of their own wild olive tree, and transplanted among the children of Israel, into their good olive tree. Such as are Jews inwardly, the Israel of God, according to the new creature, they shall enter, for the holy Gentiles also, by virtue of their conversion, are styled the children of Abraham, Jews, the chosen generation, the peculiar people, the holy nation; and so are spiritually, though not naturally by carnal generation, of the twelve tribes whose names are written upon the gates of the city (Gal 3:7; Rom 2:28; 1 Peter 2:9,10). 'And it shall come to pass,' saith the prophet, 'that in what tribe the stranger,' that is, the Gentile 'sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord God' (Eze 47:23). Thus the Jews and Gentiles shall meet together in the spirit of the gospel, and so both become a righteous nation; to both which the gates of this city shall stand continually open; at which also they may with boldness demand, by the faith of the Lord Jesus, their entrance, both for communion with the God, grace, and privileges of this city, according to that which is written, 'Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in' (Isa 26:2). Thus much of the number of the gates, and now to proceed to the order of them.
[The order of the gates.]
Ver. 13. 'On the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.' I shall not speak anything to the manner of his repeating of the quarters towards which the gates do look; why he should begin at the east, then to the north, afterwards crossing to the south, and last to the west; though I do verily think that the Holy Ghost hath something to show us, wherefore he doth thus set them forth. And possibly he may set them thus, and the west last, not only because the west part of the world is that which always closeth the day, but to signify that the west, when Jerusalem is rebuilded, will be the last part of the world that will be converted, or the gate that will be last, because longest, occupied with the travels of the passengers and wayfaring men in their journey to this Jerusalem. But I pass that.
From the order of their standing, I shall inquire into two things. First. Why the gates should look in this manner every way, both east, west, north, and south? Second. Why there should be three, just three, on every side of this city? 'On the east three, on the north three, on the south three, and on the west three.'
First. For the first, the gates by looking every way, into all quarters, may signify to us thus much, that God hath a people in every corner of the world. And also, that grace is to be carried out of these gates by the angels in their ministry into every place, to gather them home to him. As it is said of the living creatures, 'Whither the head looked they followed it, they turned not as they went' (Eze 10:11); so whithersoever the gates look, thither the ministers go, and carry the Word, to gather together the elect. He 'sent them two and two before his face, into every city and place whither he himself would come' (Luke 10:1; Matt 28:19; John 11:52).
Again, the gates, by their thus looking every way, do signify to us, that from what quarter or part of the world soever men come for life, for those men there are the gates of life, even right before their doors. Come they from the east, why thither look the gates; and so if they come from north, or west, or south. No man needs at all to go about to come at life, and peace, and rest. Let him come directly from sin to grace, from Satan to Jesus Christ, and from this world to New Jerusalem. The twelve brazen oxen that Solomon made to bear the molten sea (1 Kings 7:23-25), they stood just as these gates stand, and signify, as I said before, that the doctrine of the twelve apostles should be carried into all the world, to convert-as in the primitive times, so now at the building of New Jerusalem-and to bring in God's sheep to the fold of his church. Now, I say, as the Word is carried every way, so the gates, the open gates, look also into all corners after them, to signify that loving reception that shall be given to every soul that from any corner of the whole world shall unfeignedly close in with grace, through the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, therefore, men 'shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God' (Luke 13:29; Psa 107:1-3).
[Second.] 'On the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.' Having thus showed you in a word, why they stand thus looking into every corner or quarter of the world, I now come to show you why there must be just three looking in this manner every way.
1. Then, there may be three looking every way, to signify that it is both by the consent of the three persons in the Trinity, that the gospel should thus every way go forth to call men, and also to show you that both the Father, Son, and Spirit, are willing to receive and embrace the sinner, from whatsoever part or corner of the earth he cometh hither for life and safety. Come they from whence they will, the Father is willing to give them the Son, and so is the Son to give them himself, and so is the Spirit to give them its help against whatever may labour to hinder them while they are here (John 3:16; Rev 21:6; 22:17).
2. In that three of the gates look every way, it may be also to show us that there is none can enter into this city, but by the three offices of the Lord Jesus. Christ by his priestly office must wash away their sins; and by his prophetical office he must illuminate, teach, guide, and refresh them; and by his kingly office, rule over them and govern them with his Word (Heb 7:5; John 13:8; Acts 3:22-24; Isa 40:10,11; 9:6,7; Psa 76:1-3; 110:3).
3. Or, by three gates, may be signified the three states of the saints in this life; an entrance into childhood, an entrance into a manly state, and an entrance into the state of a father of the church (1 John 2:12-14). Or, lastly, the three gates may signify the three-fold state we pass through from nature to glory; the state of grace in this life, the state of felicity in paradise, and our state in glory after the resurrection: or thus, the state of grace that possesseth body and soul in this life, the state of glory that possesseth the soul at death, and the state of glory that both body and soul shall be possessed with at the coming of the Lord and Saviour. This was figured forth by the order of the stairs in the temple at Jerusalem, which was first, second, and third, by which men ascended from the lowest to the uppermost room in the house of God; as he tells us, 'They went up with winding stairs' from the first into the second story, and from thence by them into the third (1 Kings 6:8). Thus much for the wall and gates of New Jerusalem.
[The foundations of the wall.]
Ver. 14. 'And the wall of this city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.' In these words we have two things considerable:-First. That the city-wall hath twelve foundations. Second. That in these twelve are the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
First. It hath twelve foundations. This argueth invincible strength and support. That wall that hath but one foundation, how strongly doth it stand, if it be but safely laid upon a rock, even so strongly that neither wind nor weather, in their greatest vehemency, are able to shake or stir it to make it fall. But I say, how much more when a city hath foundations, twelve foundations, and those also laid by God himself; as it is said concerning the worthies of old, they 'looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God' (Heb 11:10).
'And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.' The wall, you know, I told you, is the wall of salvation, or the safety of the church by Jesus Christ, to which is adjoined, as the effect of that, the special providence and protection of God. Now this wall, saith the Holy Ghost, hath twelve foundations, to wit, to bear it up for the continuation of the safety and security of those that are the inhabitants of this city; a foundation is that which beareth up all, and that upon which the stress of all must lie and abide. Now, to speak properly, the foundation of our happiness is but one, and that one none but the Lord Jesus; 'For other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ' (1 Cor 3:11). So then, when he saith the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and that in them also are written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, he doth not mean that this wall had twelve Christs for its support, but that the doctrine of the twelve apostles is that doctrine upon which both Christ, and grace, and all happiness standeth firm and sure for ever. And to signify also, that neither Christ nor any of his benefits can be profitable unto thee, unless thou receive him alone upon the terms that they do hold him forth and offer him to sinners in their word and doctrine. If 'we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you,' saith Paul, 'than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you, than that ye have received, let him be accursed' (Gal 1:8,9).
[Second.] 'And in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.' 'And in them their names.' This makes it manifest that by the foundations of this wall, we are to understand the doctrine of the twelve apostles of the Lord Christ, for their names are to it, or found engraved in the foundations. Thus it was with the doctrine which was the foundation of the Jewish church; the first pattern being delivered by the man Moses, his name was always so entailed to that doctrine, that at last it became common, and that by Divine allowance, to call that doctrine by the name of Moses himself. 'There is one that accuseth you,' saith Christ, 'even Moses in whom ye trust' (John 5:45). And again, 'For Moses of old hath in every city them that preach him' (Acts 15:21). The same liberty of speech doth the Holy Ghost here use in speaking of the foundations of this wall, which is the doctrine of the twelve. And in that he calleth the doctrine by the name of foundations, and leaveth it only with telling us the names of the twelve apostles are engraven in it; he expects that men should be wise that read him, and that they should be skillful in the word of righteousness, if they come up clearly to the understanding of him.
'And in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.'
Thus you see that the twelve apostles, above all the servants of Christ, are here owned to be the foundations of this wall; and good reason, for they, above all other, are most clear and full in the doctrine of grace, and all doctrines pertaining to life and holiness. 'In other ages,' saith Paul, it 'was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed to the holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit' (Eph 3:5). Moses was not fit for this, for his was a more dark and veiled administration; while Moses is read, the veil is over the heart, said Paul (2 Cor 3:13-15). Neither was any of the prophets fit for this, for they were all inferior to Moses, and were, as it were, his scholars (Num 12:6,7). Nay, John the Baptists is here shut out;-for the 'least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he' (Matt 11:11).
The apostles, above all other, were the men that were with the Lord Jesus all the time, from the baptism of John, even until the time he was taken up into heaven; they saw him, heard him, and discoursed with him, and were beholders of all the wondrous works that he did; they did eat and drink with him after his passion, and saw, after he was risen, the print of the nails, and the spear with which he was pierced, when he died for our sins (Luke 24:39,40). And because they had seen, felt, and at such a rate experienced all things from the very first, both touching his doctrine, miracles, and life, therefore he said unto them in chief, Ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the utmost parts of the earth (Acts 1:8,21; 13:31; 10:39; 51:32; 1 John 1:1-3).
Further, The apostles were in that marvellous manner endued with the Holy Ghost, that they out-stript all the prophets that ever went before them; neither can I believe that in the best of times there should be any beyond them; yet if it should so fall out that a dispensation should come in which they should have, as to the pouring forth of the Spirit, their equals, yet it could not follow, that therefore the gospel should be offered in other terms than they at first have offered it, especially besides what hath been said of them, if you consider to them it was said, 'Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven' (Matt 18:18). They, as to their doctrine, were infallible, it was impossible they should err; he that despised their doctrine, despised God himself. Besides, they have given in commandment that all should write after their copy, and that we should judge both men and angels that did, or would do otherwise (1 Thess 3:8; Gal 1:8).
Timothy must have his rule from Paul, and so must holy Titus. All which, if we consider it, the Holy Ghost speaks to the purpose, in saying that in the twelve foundations are found the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. They are called the chief, and such as have laid the foundation, and others build thereon, and that as no men have laid the foundation but they, so none can lay even that foundation otherwise than they afore have laid it (1 Cor 12:28; Eph 4:11,12; 1 Cor 3:6-11; Heb 6:1-3).[7]
[Consideration from these words.] 'And in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.' These words, then, teach us two things worthy of our Christian consideration.
First. That God hath given to every man a certain and visible mark to aim at for his salvation, or to build his soul upon, namely, the doctrine of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. For in that he saith their names are in the foundations, it is better for us, all things considered, than if he had said in them was the name of God himself; that is, it is more easy to see this way, through the mist of our carnality, what the mystery of his will should be, which is, that we receive Christ according to their doctrine, words, writings, epistles, letters, &c., their names, I say, being there, God counts it as the broad seal of heaven, which giveth authority to all that doctrine whereunto by themselves they are prefixed and subscribed; not where they are writ by others, but by themselves. I say, as the token of every epistle, and of their doctrine for truth, the which Paul insinuates, when he saith that his hand is the token of every epistle (2 Thess 3:17; Gal 6:11). As he saith again, Am I not an apostle? (1 Cor 9:1). And again, Behold, I Paul, have written unto you; I Paul (Gal 5:2), I, an apostle, I, a wise master-builder, I, who am in my doctrine one of the foundations of the wall of salvation, I have written unto you (1 Cor 11:5). And, as I said before, there is reason it should be thus: for as he who was the foundation of the Jewish church, even Moses, received the pattern of all his order from the mouth of the angel in Mount Sinai, so the twelve received their doctrine of faith and manners, the doctrine of the New Testament, from the mouth of the Son of God himself, as from the mouth of the angel of the everlasting covenant, on the mountain of Zion (Acts 7:38; 1:3; Matt 28:19).
Second. In that he saith the names of the twelve are in the foundations, this shows us the reason of the continual standing of this Jerusalem; it is built upon the doctrine of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, and standeth there. For, observe, so long as he sees this holy city, he sees her standing upon these foundations; but he saw the city till she was taken up, therefore she continued as being settled for ever upon them. Indeed, the primitive city, or first churches, was built upon these foundations, and had also, so long as they there continued, sufficient supportation and upholding by that means (Eph 2:20-22). But then, as I have showed you, the wall of her salvation, and the wall of God's special protection, stood at a distance each from other, and were not so conjoined as now they will be. Wherefore they then, to answer the type, did fall into the ditch that was between, and through their foolishness provoked God to remove the wall of his outward protection and safeguard from them, whereupon the wild beast, Antichrist, got into his vineyard, making havoc of all their dainties. But mark, this city is not so, the walls are now conjoined, and for ever fastened upon the foundations,[8] therefore it abides for ever, and ascends higher and higher; yet not from the foundations, but by them into heaven: 'Behold,' saith God, 'I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands, thy walls are continually before me' (Isa 49:16).
[How we are to understand the word TWELVE.]
'And in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.' This word twelve must be warily understood, or else the weak will be ready to stumble and take offence; wherefore, to prevent this, consider,
First. The twelve must be them twelve that were with the Lord Jesus from the baptism of John until the day in which our Lord was taken up (Acts 1:22).
Second. These twelve are not neither to be considered simply as twelve Christians, or twelve disciples; but as their witness of the Lord Jesus-they being with him from first to last-were a twelve-fold witness of him in all his things; a twelve-fold seeing with their eyes, a twelve-fold hearing with their ears, a twelve-fold handling also with their hands, and feeling of the Son of God. As one of them said, 'That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes,—and our hands have handled of the word of life:—that which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us,' &c. (1 John 1:1,3). Now this being thus, it followeth that the doctrine of the other apostles, as of Paul and Barnabas, was still but the doctrine of the twelve; their doctrine, I say, and no other. Wherefore, as Ephraim and Manasseh were dissolved into the twelve tribes, so these two, with all other the apostles of Christ, are dissolved into the number of the twelve, because their doctrine is only the doctrine of the twelve; for they centre in their doctrine; their length, and breadth, and depth, and height being the doctrine of the twelve. So, then, the names of the twelve being found in the foundations of this wall, it argueth that that doctrine is only true that is the doctrine of the twelve eye-witnesses of the Lord Jesus. And again, that at the day of Antichrist's fall, this doctrine shall be in its former purity, and bear the sway, and for ever hold up the wall of safety for the inhabitants of New Jerusalem. And indeed this doctrine, that the doctrine of the twelve is that upon which eternal safety is built and stands, is so true, that it must not be varied from upon pain of eternal damnation. Here centered Luke the Evangelist, here centered Jude, here centered the author to the Hebrews, yea, here centered Paul himself, with all the Old and New Testament. The doctrine of the twelve must be the opener, expounder, and limiter of all doctrines; there also must all men centre, and ground, and stay. A man may talk of, yea, enjoy much of the Spirit of God, but yet the twelve will have the start of him; for they both had the Spirit as he, and more than he. Besides, they together with this, did feel, see, handle, and receive conviction, even by their very carnal senses, which others did not; besides, their names also are found in the foundations of this saving wall, as being there engraved by God himself; which putteth all out of doubt, and giveth us infallible ground that their doctrine is only true, and all men's false that do not keep within the bounds and limits of that (Luke 1:2; Jude 3,17; Heb 2:3,4; 1 Cor 15:1-9; 9:1; Gal 1:1,2; Eph 3:5; 1 Cor 4:9).
To conclude, here are yet two things worthy of noting-
The first consideration is, that by the names of the twelve apostles being in the foundations of this wall, and the names of the twelve tribes being upon the gates of this city, it giveth us to consider, that at the time of the building of this city the Jews and Gentiles shall be united together, and become one body; which very consideration must needs be to the Jews a great encouragement to have in mind at their conversion (Rom 11: 1 Peter 1:1). For it plainly signifieth that our New Testament preachers shall carry in their mouths salvation to the Jews, by which means they shall be again reconciled and made one with the Lord Jesus (James 1:1; Acts 13:16,26; Rom 1:16; 2:10).
The second consideration is, that at the day of New Jerusalem, there shall be no doctrine accepted, nor no preachers regarded, but the doctrine, and the preaching of the doctrine of the twelve; for in that he saith that in them are found the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, he doth implicitly exclude all other, of whatever tribe they pretend themselves. It shall not be then as now, a Popish doctrine, a Quaker's doctrine, a prelatical doctrine, and the Presbyter, Independent, and Anabaptist,[9] thus distinguished, and thus confounding and destroying. But the doctrine shall be one, and that one the doctrine where you find the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 'If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the doctrine that is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing' (1 Tim 6:3,4).
Thus you see the doctrine of the twelve is that which letteth souls into this city; and that the same doctrine is the doctrine that keepeth up the wall of their salvation about them, when they are entered in within the gates.
[The measuring line, or golden reed: what it is.]
Ver. 15. 'And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.'
Now, having passed the relation of the wall, gates, and foundations, he comes to the measuring line, to see how all things lie and agree with that. Under the law, I find that all things pertaining to the worship of God were to be by number, rule, and measure, even to the very tacks and loops of the curtains of the tabernacle. Now the rule or lien by which all things were then squared, it was the laws, statutes, and ordinances which were given to Moses by the Lord in the Mount Sinai, for thither he went to receive his orders; and according to the pattern there showed him, so he committed all things by writing to them that were to be employed in the workmanship of the holy things pertaining to the rise and completing of the tabernacle, and all its instruments (Exo 20:21; 24:1; 25:40; Deu 30:10; 31:20-26).
Now, when this rule was thus received, then whosoever observed not to do it, he was to fall under the penalty that by the same law also was prescribed against the offenders and transgressors (Num 15:30,31). I find also, that when the temple was built in the days of Solomon, all things were then done according to the writing that David made, when the hand of God was upon him, when he made him understand all the work of this pattern (2 Chron 3; 4; 1 Chron 29:3-7; 28:19).
Thus again, when Josiah went about to bring to pass the reformation of the church of the Jews, and their instruments of worship, after their revolting, he goeth to the law of God, and by that understanding what was out of order, and how to put all things into order, he so did reduce them to their former manner. The same way also went Ezra and Nehemiah at the rebuilding of the temple and city after the captivity (2 Kings 22:8-13; Ezra 7:14; 8:34). From all which I conclude, that the reed, the golden reed, that here you read of, it is nothing else but the pure and unspotted Word of God; by which both the city, gates, and wall of this Jerusalem are regulated. Which word, by the holy prophet, is also compared to gold, and is said to be above 'much fine gold' (Psa 12:6; 19:10).
I find in the vision of the prophet Ezekiel, that the angel that there is said to measure the city, which was a type of our Jerusalem, he appeared with a line of flax in his hand, to measure the pattern withal (Eze 40:3); which very phrase doth show us that this was but the type, and an Old Testament business; but John hath his in a New Testament style, and that in the most excellent manner of language, to signify that his city, or the city that he hath the vision of, is to be the end of all types and shadows, and the very perfection of them all. Wherefore he tells us also, that the line or reed by which this city is builded and squared, it is not now a line of flax, but a reed of gold, a golden reed; to signify not a word of the law and letter that had to do with shadows, but the New Testament, and ministration of the Spirit, which hath to do with substance, and the heavenly things themselves (Heb 9:23).
[The city measured.]
'A golden reed to measure the city,' &c. I told you at the first that this city was the church of God that should be in the latter days; but yet not the church disorderly and confusedly scattered here and there, without all visible order and discipline, but the church brought into exact form and order, lying every way level and square with the rule and golden reed of the New Testament of Christ; wherefore he calleth it a city, a city under rule. Thus it was in the type; for when Solomon's temple was to be builded, and the city in after times, it was not enough that they had stones and timber, but every one of them must be such stones, and such timber, and must also come under the rule and square of the workman; and so being fitted by hewers, saws, axes, and squares, they were fitly put into the building (1 Kings 5:17,18; 7:9-12; 1 Chron 22:2). By this, then, we may see with what a holy, exact line, rule, and order, this church and city, at this day, will be compact and built; the members must be all such as shall be made fit for the city of God by the hewing words of the prophets (Hosea 6:5). They must join in Christian communion also according to the golden reed of the New Testament, and ministration of the Spirit. Indeed, all the time of the reign of Antichrist, the church, as she was a holy temple in the Lord, so she was measured with reference to the truth of her grace, and invisible condition (Rev 11:1,2); but as she is to be a city, so she then is to be trodden down, and to lie without all form and order; but when Antichrist is dead, she shall again come into mind, be considered, reared, built by measure, and inhabited. And observe it, as the rule of the carpenter is of use in building, from the first appearance of the laying of a stone in order, even till it be in every point and part complete, so the golden reed with which the angel is here said to measure the city, &c., is to be of use from the first foundation even to the laying of the last stone thereof; as was also fore-showed by the man that is said to measure the pattern of this, in Ezekiel (Eze 30-48).
'And he measured the city.' That is, he measured the church in her constitution and fellowship. Now when God is said to measure, he is said to measure sometimes in judgment, and sometimes in mercy; sometimes to throw down, and sometimes to build up and establish. Sometimes, I say, he is said to measure in judgment, with intention to throw down and destroy. Thus he measured the city before she went into captivity, and the ten tribes before they were carried away beyond Babylon, because they lay cross to his word, and had perverted that which was right, &c. (Isa 28:17,18; Amos 7:7-9). But when he is said to measure the city in this place, it is that she might be built and set up. Wherefore, as I said, the line or golden reed that is now stretched forth to measure this city, it is to the end that all things may be in right form and order, 'fitly joined' and knit 'together,—by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, making increase of the body, unto the edifying of itself in love' (Eph 4:16; Col 2:19).
Again, By measuring the city, he would have us to understand that all her limits and bounds were now apparent, that all things, even the church and all the world, were made to see their own compass. For as God in the days when temple worship only was on foot, would not lose a form or ordinance of all the forms and ordinances of his temple; so when city-work comes up, he will not lose an inch of the limits, and bounds, and compass of his city, she shall be full as large, and of as great a compass every way, as is determined of her; as he saith by the prophet, 'All the land, saith he, shall be turned as a plain (this is that which a little before is called the new heaven and a new earth); that is, there shall be a smooth face upon the whole earth, all snugs, and hubs,[10] and hills, and holes, shall now be taken away, even 'from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem: and it [the city] shall be lifted up and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananiel, unto the king's wine presses' (Zech 14:10). The four places here mentioned in this verse, they do seem to be the four corners of the city of old; at which places the city bounds were set; and in which very circle the prophet tells us, but with gospel language, she shall be settled again.
[The gates measured.]
'And he measured the city,' and the gates thereof. This was figured forth by the vision in Ezekiel, for in it he saw the angel go from gate to gate, and saw him take the exact and distinct measure of every one thereof; nay, not only of them in a general way, but of the thresholds, the porch, the posts, and the faces of their entrances; he measured also every little chamber that was above upon the gates, with all the spaces that were between (Eze 40).
Now by gates, I told you, we are to understand the Son of God, as he is the way to the Father, and to the privileges of this city. Wherefore when he saith he measured the gates, it is as if he had said, he measured the entrance, strength, and goodly countenance of him, with the mansions of glory that are to be enjoyed by every one that entereth in hereby; for the porch, posts, face, entrance, and chambers of the gate in Ezekiel, they signify the entrance, strength, shining countenance, and resting places that every one shall find in the Lord Jesus that entereth in by him; and to measure all these, it is in substance but this, to set them forth, and out, in their full force, glory, largeness, beauty, and profitableness, in the view of all; for I told you at the first, the golden reed is the Word of God. Now the city and the gates thereof, are said to be measured by this golden reed: which, I say, can be nothing else but an opening of all the excellencies of Christ, as he is the gate of the sheep, even by the full sway, power, majesty, and clearness of the Word. The Lord help us! Christ, as he is the door to God, and to all gospel-privileges, is now strangely handled, and so hath been of a long time among the sons of men; some of them making him the very in-let to all the vile and abominable crew in the world, counting all that are pliant to their ungodly humours, the saints of the Most High, and Christ the door and gate through whom they have right to enter; and to whom belong the delicates of the precious things of God, even those which he hath most choicely laid up and reserveth for none but those that unfeignedly turn from iniquity, and walk with him in the newness of the Spirit. Others again do shut up the gates against the godly, labouring with might and main to hinder those that labour to enter, that fain would do it unfeignedly (Matt 23:14; 2 Chron 29:7).[11] Others again do labour all that in them lies to deface the gates, to take away their beauty: like him that took the gold from off the doors and gates of the temple (2 Kings 18:16). Rendering Christ a low and carnal business, &c. But at the measuring-day, at the day when the golden reed shall be the alone rule: then you shall see this city, and her gates discovered in their own glory, holiness, and beauty. For though in our affliction under antichrist, our temple and instruments of worship, with the city, wall, gates, and the like, have been much defaced, even our doctrine of faith and worship, and have been much trod and trampled under the foot of the uncircumcised, yet all shall be recovered and brought into order again by the golden reed of the word of God. Which thing was figured forth to us by the good man Ezra the scribe, who at the restoring of Jerusalem took review of all the things pertaining to the city, both touching its branches and deformity, and also how to set all things in order, and that by the law of God which was in his hand, even according to the writing thereof (Ezra 7:14; 8:34; Neh 8:9). And whosoever doth but read the history of Ezra and Nehemiah throughout, they shall find that by the Word of God they brought all things to pass; all the ordinances of the house and city of God into their right and holy order. And indeed the measuring of the city and of the gates thereof, which is Christ the way, it can be nothing else but a bringing of them by the right understanding and opening of the Word into their proper places and excellencies, both for comers in, and goers out, according to the commandment (Eze 40:4; 43:7-12). For, to speak properly, Christ in his love, grace, merits, and largeness of heart, to let souls into communion with God and all happiness, is in all these things unsearchable, and passing knowledge, being filled with these things beyond thought, and without measure (Eph 3:8,18,19; Col 1:9; John 3:34).
[The wall measured.]
And he measured the city, the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. In that he saith, he measured the wall also, it is to show us that all things now are according to the rule of the Word: the inhabitants are according to the Word, the entrance is according to the Word, yea, and so is the safety of it also, even a fence to fence them from their enemies; even a fence on every side, that they may be at ease and rest, and be no more a tossing to and fro. 'O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest,' saith he, 'and not comforted, [I will do many good things for thee]—In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near thee' (Isa 44:11-14).
Touching the wall, what it is, I have spoken already; therefore here I speak only to the measure of it, which measure is only the fulfilling all those promises and engagements of God that are made to New Jerusalem, for her safety and continual defence; and that not only in her own eyes, but in the eyes of all her beholders. Then shall that saying be with gladness in the mouths of all the inhabitants of this Jerusalem, 'We were bondmen, yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem' (Ezra 9:9). Which wall, I say, shall be so conspicuous to all the adversaries of this holy and beloved city, that the greatest of them shall not once dare to peep or mutter[12] against her any more. 'God is known in her palaces for a refuge. For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together, they saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away. Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail' (Psa 48:1-6). As it is said of the building of the wall after the captivity: when the enemies and all the heathen saw it was finished, 'they were much cast down in their own eyes' (Neh 6:15,16).
The regulating of this city by this golden reed, and the measuring the gates and wall by this word, when finished, will then cause all that have skill in singing the Lord's songs, and of lifting up the praises of God in this city, to gather themselves together to sing, and to praise, and to say, Bless ye the name of the Lord, for his mercies endure for ever: for then will they purify the people, this city, with the gates and wall thereof (Neh 12:27-47).
Wherefore in the mean time, between this and the building of this city, let Jerusalem come into your mind, and walk about her, 'go round about her,' inquire by the Word what God hath said of her state, strength, safety, ease, peace, and blessed tranquillity in the latter days, 'tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces, that ye may tell it to the generations following' (Psa 48:12,13).
[The form and measure of the city.]
Ver. 16. 'And the city lieth four square, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs, the length, and the breadth, and height of it are equal.'
'And the city lieth four square.' These words do open unto you the matter yet more, to wit, that now both the city, gates, and wall were exactly in their visibility according to the Word, lying even every way with that golden reed: for by four square you are to understand perfection, or an answering the figures that of old did figure to us the completeness and perfection of the New Testament order.
For if you search the Scriptures, you will find that especially the great and principal instruments of God's worship in and under the law, their perfection was what here you read to be the perfection of this city, even a four square. As for instance, The breastplate of judgment, on which were engraved the names of the children of Israel, its exact point of perfection was to be a right four square. The ten bases also, that were to be for bearers to the lavers in the temple, they were to be four square: the altar of burnt-offerings likewise, with the altar of incense, their perfect pattern was that they should be four square. The inward court, and outward court, with the posts of the temple, and tables on which they were to slay the sacrifices, they were all four square. Yea, the city in the type, in the vision of Ezekiel, was seen to be of the same frame and fashion every way, having just twelve gates, and on each of the four sides three gates. Wherefore, when he saith the city lieth four square, it is as if he had said she lieth even with the pattern or golden reed of the Word; even, I say, both in her members, doctrine, worship, and manners: for the things afore hinted unto you do hold forth all these particulars (Exo 28:15,16; 39:8,9; 27:1; 38:1; 37:1; 1 Kings 7:27,28; Eze 43:1318; 40; 41:21; 48:30-34).
'And the length is as large as the breadth.' This explaineth the matter yet more fully and distinctly; for as to the things that I made mention of before, though they were to be made four square, and that their perfection lay exactly in that form, yet these squares did not lie in their height and depth, but in their length and breadth, just as you read here of the square of this city. As to instance: The altars, though they were five cubits long, and five cubits broad, yet but three high (Exo 27:1; 33:1; 1 Kings 7). So the bases, they were a cubit and an half broad, and a cubit and an half long, yet but half a cubit high; the tables also on which they slew the sacrifices, they were a cubit and a half long, and a cubit and a half broad, yet but one cubit high (Eze 40:42). Which things being thus, you see the reason of his saying 'the length is as large as the breadth.'
Now by length and breadth here, we may yet observe another mystery held forth unto us; for by the breadth is held forth the perfection of the rule, or law to which all Christians ought to yield their hearty obedience: his commandment is exceeding broad (Psa 119:96). The breadth of which is signified, I say, by the breadth of those things that before you see to be the instruments of the worship of God. Now, as by breadth we are to understand the perfect latitude and compass of the commandment; so by length we are to understand the answerableness of the obedience of the inhabitants of this city; for indeed the perfection of Christian obedience lieth in an answerableness to the will of God; as it is said of the father and mother of John the Baptist, they walked in all the commandments of the Lord blameless (Luke 1:6). And of Anna, that she continued without ceasing in the service of God in the temple day and night (Luke 2:37). This is to be as long in our obedience, as the law is broad in commanding. The law commands right obedience, and the Christian giveth it; the law commands continual obedience, and the Christian giveth it; the law commands universal obedience, and the Christian giveth it. He giveth it all these sorts of obedience, 1. By the person of Christ, for he is his righteousness (1 Cor 1:30). He giveth it all these, 2. With the consent of the mind (Rom 7:16). And 3. He giveth it all these obediences in the love of the Spirit, which the apostle calleth the fulfilling of the law, that is, an answering the breadth of its command by the length of obedience (Rom 13:10). Wherefore when he saith the length is as large as the breadth, he would have us understand how perfect in holiness these blessed souls will be at this day; and indeed, this is it that is by God expected to be in this city at this day. As the angel with his measuring-line said to Zechariah, I am going 'to measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof' (Zech 2:2). To see whether their doctrine be pure, and whether their obedience be answerable.
'And he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs.' These latter words do refer us to a distinct measure from that which went before; the former measure pointing at the breadth of her commandment and the length of her obedience, but this at the glory and fulness of her mansions and portions; for after he had said the city lieth four square, and that the length is as large as the breadth, which is the full and complete effect of that first measure, he comes over again with another measuring, saying, 'And he measured the city,—twelve thousand furlongs'; as who should say, he measured the city, gates and wall first, and found them all exact, and according to the golden reed; and after he had so done, he measured the city with the reed twelve thousand furlongs.
'He measured the city with the reed'; that is, he measured out to the city, he measured for the city, for its lot and portion, twelve thousand furlongs. Which very thing you find in the vision of the prophet Ezekiel; for after ha had measured the city, the vessels, with the instruments of worship, I say, when he had done this, he comes again with an afterwards, to measure the city, her portions and mansions (Eze 47:1, &c.). Wherefore I say, these words do refer to her portion that she is to enjoy of her God, as the former referreth to her duty and obedience.
Now that which maketh me conclude that this latter measure is a measure distinct from the former, and that it relateth neither to the exactness of rule, nor the completeness of obedience, but only to the largeness of the portions that God will allot for thy sons and daughters, thou city of God; it is,
First, Because this is the biggest measure. For I find, by considering the Scripture, that as the persons and things pertaining to the worship of God were to go according to the rule of this golden reed, so also the portions that pertained to the persons worshipping were to go by rule and measure also, as here he saith he measured also the city, or to it, with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. And hence it is that our grace is called the measure of grace, and that our glory is called a weight of glory (Rom 12:3; Eph 4:7; 2 Cor 4:17).
Now I say, I find that our portions do go always under the biggest measure; the spoons, cups, flagons, snuffers, basons, candlesticks, and pans, which were the instruments of worship, were not so large as the chambers in the temple, and the compass of the holy land, which were the mansions and [the] portions of the church. See Joshua 15-16; John 14:1-3.
Secondly, I take the twelve thousand furlongs to signify portions, rather than worship or worshippers; because, as to the nature of it, it most exactly agrees with the portions that are measured out to this city by the angel before Ezekiel, which is a measuring forth so much land for the portion of the prince, so much for the portion of the priest, and so much for the portion of the twelve tribes. Yea, the very phrase, twelve thousand furlongs, also implieth such a compass of ground, by which we find the holy land hath been measured (Eze 45-47; Luke 24:13; John 6:18).
Lastly, I take it to be this also; because I find not in all this description of this holy city that any place doth give us that ground to speak to her measure of portion as this; and it would seem strange to me that the description of this city given by Ezekiel should be more complete than this that is given by our prophet John; for Ezekiel doth most amply set forth her portions, even distinctly, for prince, priest, and the tribes in particular. This therefore is to be understood of the portions of the city which John did see were measured out unto her immediately after he saw the breadth of her rule and the length of her obedience. Only consider that Ezekiel measureth by reeds, not counting by furlongs; but John, though he measureth by reeds, yet counteth by furlongs.
But now, though the Holy Ghost is thus pleased to speak of the portions of the saints in the New Jerusalem, as if he intended chiefly that their portion should consist in outward happiness, and in the enjoyment of such and such a portion or compass of ground: yet consider that these are but metaphorical and borrowed expressions, spoken to our capacities, under which is indeed included the nature of our blessed and spiritual food and nourishment. You know it is usual for the Holy Ghost in Scripture to call the saints sheep, lambs, heifers, cows, rams, doves, swallows, pelicans, and the like; and also to call their food, their spiritual and heavenly food, grass, provender, wheat, wine, oil, grapes, apples, figs, nuts, and the like also; all which are but shadowish and figurative expressions, even as this of the measure of the twelve thousand furlongs (John 10:15,16; Amos 4:3; Jer 31:18; Cant 2:5; Eze 34:14; Zech 10:1; Isa 30:24; Micah 4:4). And observe it, that which John saith here is twelve thousand furlongs, Ezekiel tells us it lieth on this side and on that side of the bank of the river of the water of life (Eze 47:8,9). Now I think there is none so much void of understanding as to think this water of life is anything else but the precious grace of God, in and through the Lord Jesus. Wherefore the ground or measure for portions, it is nothing else but our spiritual and heavenly food, even spiritual grace, and gifts, and comforts, that the holy ones of this city shall most plentifully partake of and enjoy. And so indeed the prophet also saith, speaking of the portions of the holy land for this city. 'The increase thereof,' saith he, 'shall be for food unto them that serve the city, and they that serve the city shall serve it out of all the twelve tribes of Israel' (Eze 48:18,19). Out of the twelve tribes, that is, out of the twelve thousand furlongs, which is the portion of the tribes. This is according to the saying of the prophet David, 'He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still waters' (Psa 23:2). And again, 'For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters' (Rev 7:17). 'For your shame, ye shall have double; and for confusion, they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double; everlasting joy shall be unto them' (Isa 61:7).
Thus you see the measure of the city, gates, and wall, and the effect of that; and thus you see also the measure of the portion for the city, with what it is: wherefore it remaineth that we see what is to be the effect of that also.
'And he measured the city with a reed, twelve thousand furlongs, the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.' Before he told us that the length was as large as the breadth, which I then told you did signify the nature of her rule and the measure of her obedience. But now he adds and saith, that both in length and breadth and in height she is equal. Wherefore in that he adds at last a squareness of height to her squareness of length and breadth; and also in that he adds it not before he had told us of the measure of her portions, he would have us to understand that as the rule in which this city shall walk shall be complete, and as her obedience to that rule shall be complete, so her enjoyment of God and his grace at that day shall be proportionable also. She is square in her rule, square in her obedience, and square in her enjoyment of God and his goodness: the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. Indeed the Scripture saith, that in keeping his commandments there is great reward (Psa 19:11). And again, 'This man shall be blessed in his deed' (James 1:25). This showeth unto us then what glorious days these will be to the house and city of God, even days in which saints shall see the mind of God clearly, have hearts to do it completely, and have continually the answerable enjoyment of God and spiritual happiness. Now will his paths drop fatness with a witness! (Psa 65:11). And now will he meet 'him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways' (Isa 64:5). And the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. Wherefore the prophet in the vision of the measures of the portions doth observe that there was a squareness in them, as well as in their ordinances and obedience: and hence it is that he tells us that every little chamber was one reed broad and one reed long (Eze 40:7). And again, the oblation, that is, the portion for the tribes, shall be five and twenty thousand (Eze 48:20). By five and twenty thousand ye shall offer the holy oblation FOUR SQUARE, with the portion of the city.
Again, In that he saith the length and the breadth, and the height of it are equal, he showeth us how fit this city at this day will be even for the kingdom of heaven and glory. For observe, that as the rule, obedience, and comforts of God, do make this city a square city, both in height, and length, and breadth; so the holiest of all, which was a type of heaven (Heb 9:24), was of the same fashion also. It was twenty cubits high, and twenty cubits long, and twenty cubits broad: the length, and the breadth, and the height of it were equal (1 Kings 6:20; 2 Chron 3:8: Eze 41:4).
Wherefore, as now the will of God will be done, according to the petition, 'on earth as it is in heaven' (Matt 6:10); so will this city be at this day fit to enter into the holiest place; even as fit as one four square is to shut into another. Here is a four square city for a four square heaven; and the length and the breadth of it are equal. Wherefore it is upon this account that this city, at her appearing, is said to be adorned and prepared as a bride is for her husband, which we all know is the most perfect and completest attire that is possible to be got. And therefore it is, again, that at the coming of the Lord those that go in with him to the marriage are said to be ready beforehand (Rev 21:2; Matt 25:10).
Ver. 17. 'And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits.' This measure of the wall that here he maketh mention of is also distinct from the former measure, where he is said to measure the city, gates, and wall; and it refers to such a wall, or to such a part of the wall in such a place. For I find that though the wall of this city in general is that which shall encompass the New Jerusalem round, yet this wall is in some place, and for some reason, of another manner and measure than the wall is in general, as it compasseth round the city, which part of the wall is called the broad wall, the wall upon which even half of the people might walk complete at once (Neh 3:8; 12:38).
But to trace out the business in the type, and so to come to its answer in the antitype; I find that a little distance from Jerusalem there was a place called Tophet, which place was counted profane, unholy, or defiled (2 Kings 23:10). I find also that this unclean, unholy place, was a figure of hell itself (Isa 30:33). Now mark, I find by the Scripture that against this Tophet, this unholy and profane place, was the broad wall of the city for the defence of the sanctuary erected, and reared up. He measured, saith the prophet, by the four sides, and it had a wall round about, five hundred reeds long, and five hundred reeds broad, 'TO MAKE A SEPARATION BETWEEN THE SANCTUARY AND THE PROFANE PLACES' (Eze 42:20). Which wall could not be that wall which compasseth the city, because it was but five hundred reeds long: for take the measure of this wall in its largest measure, and it is, if you count a reed for that which we count a pole, but twelve furlongs, which compass will scarce go round many market towns; especially if, together with this, you consider the breadth of the wall, whose breadth is as large as its length; wherefore now there is not room enough for a city so big as a cottage to stand in the midst thereof. I speak this, to show you that the wall in this place is not the wall that goeth round about the city, but the wall that is placed just between the sanctuary and Tophet, or hell itself. Now though Ezekiel and John do differ touching their count about the thickness of this wall, it is not so much to signify the walls are not one and the same, as to show us that the one, to wit, Ezekiel's wall, was to encompass a worldly sanctuary, but John's to encompass a spiritual and heavenly; wherefore Ezekiel's must be of so many reeds long to go round about the material sanctuary, as a type; but John comes more to the spirit of the matter, and showeth us what the sanctuary, wall, and the like should mean; for by sanctuary we are to understand, even in the Old Testament, a place of safety and security, which was a type of Christ (Eze 11:16; Heb 6:18). Now in that Tophet did stand against the sanctuary in the letter, it signifies that hell itself is bent against all those that take shelter in Christ; but to no purpose, for in the very face of Tophet, even between it and our place of sanctuary, is fixed an invincible and impregnable mighty wall, to keep in safety those that have fled to Christ for shelter. Now I say, in that John tells us this wall is an hundred and forty-four cubits, and waives the manner of the measure of Ezekiel, it is to show us that this wall is for the safety of the hundred and forty-four thousand that have taken sanctuary in Christ, that is, all the holy and truly gracious souls that are with him on the Mount Zion, having his Father's name written in their foreheads (Rev 7; 14:1-3). Both numbers, I say, being twelve times twelve, implying a sufficient safety for all that are sincerely and truly gracious.
And now to bring down the matter to our New Jerusalem state: for though it be true in all ages, that there is between those that have taken sanctuary in Christ, and the bottomless pit, an invincible and mighty wall of grace and heavenly power, and of the merits of Christ, to save to the uttermost all and every one that are thus fled to him for safety (Heb 7:25,26), yet there is something in it more than this, for those that come into the days and state of the New Jerusalem. For, I say, this wall being it that makes a separation between the sanctuary and the profane place in general, and yet being spoken of as a thing extraordinary, and accompanying the state of this new city only, it implieth that at this day the saints shall have that shelter by this wall from all the force of hell, and the damned spirits that now from Tophet afflict them, that they never had before. And therefore you find at the beginning of the thousand years, which, as I conceive, is the time of the building of this city, a mighty angel is said to come down from heaven to lay hold of the dragon, that old serpent, called the devil and Satan, and to bind him a thousand years; which done, he casts him into the bottomless pit, and there shuts him up, to the end he should deceive the nations no more (Rev 20:1-3). The effect of which will be not only a delivering of the saints from outward persecution, but also from being any more assailed with either wicked and erroneous doctrine, or fierce and fiery darts from the prince of darkness, which now many of them are so much annoyed and afflicted with; now the church will be free from those hellish suggestions to blaspheme, to despair, and the like, that her members do yet most dreadfully and sadly meet with. For observe, this old tempter is said to be tied up, or to be cast into the bottomless pit, first as he is a dragon, under which name he goeth in this book, in his persecuting the church (Rev 12). Secondly, he is said to be shut up, as he goeth under the name of a serpent, under which name he went when he fomented his devilish and damning seducing doctrine to our first parents; the which the Spirit expressly seems to relate unto, and therefore calls him that old serpent; that old serpent that deceived us at the first (Gen 3:1-5). Thirdly, he is said to be shut up also, as he goeth under the name of the devil, and Satan, under which name he goeth commonly in the New Testament, when he provoketh and stirreth up our lusts, and when he labours to drive us into all manner of unbelief, distrust, despair, and so consequently into murmurings and blasphemy against God (Matt 4:1,5,8; Luke 4:2-6; Acts 5:1-3; Eph 6:11; 2 Cor 2:7,11). Wherefore, I say, that at the day that this wall is set up in all its glory, and when it performs every part and piece of its office to the full, then shall Satan be bruised under our feet indeed, and then shall Jerusalem be called the joyous city, and her people a joy; for her former sorrows shall be past and forgot (Rom 16:20: Rev 21:4).
If thou still objectest: But I have yet an evil heart, and therefore if I be not rid of that at that day, should I live till then, why though there should be no devil to afflict me, I shall feel and meet with sorrow and trouble enough. I answer thee: First, I dare not say that at this day thou shalt be in every sense without thy evil heart in the midst of all this glory, tempted soul. Yet I say thus much to thee-
First. Where there is no devil to tempt, though the saints will yet be imperfect, and come short of a glorified state, yet they, by his absence, will be delivered from many dreadful, vexing, and burning, and hellish darts, that will otherwise confound and afflict the soul like arrows whose heads are poisoned. Christians have a great deal of ease, when God doth, even at this day, withhold the devil for a season, though yet they have their own lusts, over they have when the devil and their own lusts are suffered to meet and work together. Yea, the Lord Jesus himself, who had no sin, yet in the temptation was fearfully handled and afflicted with the devil, though all the while, I say, he kept him at staves end,[13] and did not suffer him in the least to annoy his person; and therefore it is said that when he was in the wilderness, in the conflict, the angels came to minister to him (Mark 1:12,13; Col 2:14,15). At the time of his agony also-in which agony, doubtless, Satan had a great hand to afflict him-you see his complaint, how that he was sore amazed, and exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, being so laden with heaviness and sorrow that he was scarce able to stand or wag under the burden of it (Luke 23:44; Mark 14:33,34). Satan, even from himself, besides the workings of our own lust, doth do us wonderful injury, and hits our souls with many a fiery dart that we think comes either from ourselves, or from heaven, and God himself; but not by this wall, this broad wall, this sorrow will be cut off.
Secondly. Again, when Satan is thus tied up, we shall, together with this mercy, receive such a plentiful pouring forth of the Holy Ghost, that though there will remain in us still remainders of our corruptions, yet, by the plentiful indwelling of the Holy Ghost, and the joy and peace and heavenly sweetness thereof, these things shall lie like lean, withered, blasted things. The reason of that power and that strength, that our lusts have to this day in our hearts, it is because they are so lean, and thin, and weak in the things of God. Strong grace makes corruptions weak, and strikes them thorough, laying them at the point of death, always gasping for life. Thus it was with Moses, he had such grace in his soul, and such communion with God, that though he had yet a body of sin within him, it was a rare thing for him to see his wretchedness (Num 11:14,15); that is, to see it pert, lively, and powerful in him. Indeed God saith, that upon the land of his people shall come up briars and thorns; 'yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city; because the palaces shall be forsaken, the multitude of the city shall be left, the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks; until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field,' &c. (Isa 32:13-15). And then 'the Lord shall defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David, and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them' (Zech 12:8). 'The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick; the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity' (Isa 33:24).
'And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.' 'According to the measure of a man.' The man Christ Jesus. For the measure of this city, or the golden reed with which this city is thus measured, it is his, his word and law of the New Testament. All judgment is committed into the hand of the Son; and God 'hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man' (John 5:27; 12:48).
'According to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.' This angel is one of the seven that had the seven last plagues to execute upon the man of sin (Rev 21:9), and yet he saith the measure is according to the measure of a man; the meaning is that the city, the New Jerusalem, is to be built according to the word of Christ; but yet by his word as it is in the hand of his angels, that is, his messengers and servants; of which servants, the chief will be those that are his instruments to pour forth the seven vials full of the seven last plagues upon the Antichristian harlot. For they, with their plagues, will both destroy what standeth in implacable opposition, and will subject the rest, and bring them into a correspondency with the word and will of God, as I have showed. Whence note, that they of his servants that God shall use to pour forth his last and most dreadful plagues upon the whore, they are they that God will use to show us the pattern of this holy city. Or thus, they that can tell how to plague the whore, they can tell how to measure this city. 'The righteous men, they shall judge them,' that is, the Antichristian harlot, with her wicked and adulterous daughters, 'after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women that shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands' (Eze 23:45).
Thus much touching the frame of this city, its walls, gates, and foundations, with the measure of each. And now it remains that I speak of the glory of them.
Ver. 18. 'And the building of the wall of it was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.'
[The glory of the walls.]
In these words you have a discovery of the glory, both of the wall and city itself; and that, as you see, under the notion of two choice metaphors. The wall is jasper, the chief of stones; and the city is gold, the chief of metals. 'And the building of the wall of it was of jasper, and the city was pure gold.'
This jasper is that stone, in the light of which this city is said to descend, as in the light of a stone most precious. Now, as there he saith she descended in the light of this stone, so here he saith this stone is the wall thereof. 'And the building of the wall of it was of jasper.'
This therefore confirmeth unto you what I said of the wall before, to wit, that it was the salvation of God through Christ; wherefore, learn this by the way, that this city shall not be at this day in her own keeping, but in the keeping of Jesus Christ. He with his benefits doth compass her round, and by him alone she lieth down in safety. Wherefore it is from this consideration that God doth say by the mouth of the prophet, I will give them within my house, and within my walls, 'a place and a name better than that of sons and of daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off' (Isa 56:5).
'And the building of the wall,' &c. By this word building, we are to understand both the materials of the wall, the manner of their placing, and the instruments that God will use for the setting up thereof. Now, to speak properly, this wall being the Lord Jesus Christ himself in his precious merits, benefits, and offices, the builder hereof must needs be God himself, for he it is that hath made this Christ for us a safeguard and defence, by making of him our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, by which he doth encompass us round on every side, and that at every moment to deliver us from the power and destruction both of sin, death, the devil, and hell (1 Cor 1:30; Heb 11:10; 3:4).
But again, the building here spoken of is a building of this wall after the destruction of Antichrist, and so long after Christ was sent, and made these things in his own person, to his beloved and blessed church. Wherefore the building of this wall that is here spoken of, it must be understood of the recovering again the purity of those doctrines, in which the Lord Jesus, with all his benefits, is found and made ours, for our everlasting defence and safety. For we find that the king of Babylon, who was a type of our Antichrist, when he came up against Jerusalem, the type of our primitive church, he brake down their city, destroyed their walls, rifled their houses, and killed their children; whose steps, I say, our Antichrist follows to a hair, in treading down the primitive church, corrupting her doctrines-which are her safeguard and wall-also robbing and spoiling the houses of God, and killing his children with a thousand calamities; turning all the heavenly frame and order of church government into a heap of rubbish, and a confused dunghill (Psa 74:4-7).
Wherefore the building again of this wall is to be understood of the recovering, and settling, and fastening the doctrines of Christ, as afore, in which doctrines he in all his benefits is wrapped and held fast for ever. I say, a recovering of them, and setting him up again in his primitive and pure glory, of being our priest, prophet, and king in his church, and a giving unto these offices their own proper length, breadth, height, and depth, letting them rule in all their force, glory, and majesty, and authority, for then will be golden days, and not till then; then, I say, when the several offices of the Lord Jesus do rule in their own nature and largeness of authority, both in the church and in the world (Zech 9:7,8; 14:9; Rev 11:15).
Alas! this wall is yet unbuilt, the offices of the Lord Jesus do not yet shine in that purity, nor so stand in their proper places as they shall do at the coming in of New Jerusalem. The wall lies yet but as a heap of rubbish; the offices of the Lord Christ are to this day by many preachers confounded, and removed to and fro, even like loose and rolling stones. These offices, also, are by others attributed to Antichrist, and his children of iniquity; but at this day the nations shall know themselves to be but men, and the doctrines of Christ shall be set again in their own places (Eze 28:2,3; 2 Thess 2:4). Now shall every going into this city, and every going out thereof, stand where it ought; and now shall every tower and fortress on this wall be placed as in the days of old; which towers and fortresses are the glorious names and attributes of the Father and Christ; for the name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous flee into it, and are safe. And again, thou hast been a shelter to me, and a strong tower from the enemy. Wherefore now, I say, shall the name of God, as Lord of all, and Father of his church, with the names of the Son, as Head, Saviour, and King of kings, be as the bulwarks to this city (Cant 1:10), to which shall be added all the promises, consolations, encouragements, &c., in the blessed book of God, out of which this city continually shall suck the milk and nourishment of the unsearchable grace of God to them (1 Peter 2:1,2). To all which shall be added many new pieces of timber in the wall, for so it was in the type at the rebuilding of the city (Neh 2:8). By which new pieces I gather, that the special providence of God, and his protection, shall be at this day so fastened in this wall for the complete delivering of this city, both from hell and earth, that she shall stand in full force, safety, and peace, even till the heavens and the earth shall be no more. Now, when this wall is thus set up, even every truth and office of Christ in its own true natural force, about this city, and when God, in his special and most endeared affections, shall engage himself, even everlastingly, to keep this city safe from all storms and tempests, and trouble, and sorrow, then shall these citizens, as a sign of their conquest both of hell and the world, even set up their banners on the several towers of this wall, and the standards that belong to the tribes thereof; then, I say, 'we will rejoice in thy salvation,' O Lord, 'and in the name of our God will we set up our banners' (Psa 20:5). And then shall the inhabitants of the world both wondering and tremblingly say, 'Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?' (Cant 6:10). O the names of God, of Christ, of his offices, and the power of his grace and promises! How will they shine? In what glory will they appear? They will be even as a wall of fire round about Jerusalem; and will not be, as now, in the mind and thought of the people as the white of an egg in the mouth, without taste; but shall be, and appear in their own brightness, sweetness, and grace. 'For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty? corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids' (Zech 9:10). 'In that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee; though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid; for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength, and my song, he also is become my salvation' (Isa 12:1,2).
For the workman, I am sure, God is the principal, as I said before; but yet he will do it by instruments, through the guidance of his Spirit. The building of the wall of old was of God; but so as that he did it by the hand of Nehemiah and his companions. I do observe, in the completing of the city of Jerusalem of old, that there was first altar-work, then temple-work, and after that the building of the wall and completing the city. Altar-work, I say, was the first which was reared, and on which there were offered, according to the law and holy custom, the sacrifices and offerings both morning and evening, as every day required. 'But the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid' (Ezra 3:1-6). These altar-men were those also that afterward built the temple; but yet by them was first of all repaired the altar, to signify that the first work that will be on foot at the beginning of the return of the Christians from out of Antichristian Babylon, it will be to find out altar-work, that is, the priestly office of Christ, and to offer by him the prayers and supplications of the church continually (Acts 19:9). Wherefore these altar-men, or these men in their altar-work, did figure out for us our famous and holy worthies, that before us have risen up in their place, and shook off those relics of Antichrist that entrenched upon the priestly office of our Lord and Saviour, even worthy Wickliff, Huss, Luther, Melancthon, Calvin, and the blessed martyrs in Queen Mary's days, &c., with the rest of their companions. These, in their days, were stout and valiant champions for God according to their light, and did upon the altar of God, which is Christ our Lord, offer up many strong cries, with groans and tears, as every day required, for the complete recovering of the church of God; the benefit of whose offering we have felt and enjoyed to this day; but by this the foundation of the temple was not yet laid (Ezra 3:6).
Now after these arise another people, not another with respect to Christianity, but with respect to further light.[14] These men, though they keep the continual offerings upon the altar, as the other did, yet they are men also that are for temple-work; wherefore these begin to search out the foundations of the temple of God, that they may rear up the house, as well as build up the altar. These be they that are for having the church a select company of visible believers, walking in the faith and holiness of the gospel, which believers are for separating from the unconverted and open profane, and for building up one another an holy temple in the Lord, through the Spirit (1 Cor 12:13). I say, a temple, or house, or church, separate and distinct from that confused heap of rubbish and carnal gospellers that everywhere, like locusts and maggots, crawl up and down the nations (Rom 1:7; 2 Cor 6:14-16; Acts 2:40; Eph 2:21,22; 1 Cor 5:11-13). These were figured forth by Zerubbabel, Joshua, and all the people of the land that are for working and labouring in this service of temple-work (Haggai 1:12; 2:1-5).
Again, As there is thus altar-work and temple-work to be done by the saints when they are coming out of spiritual Sodom and Egypt; so, at the end of these, there will be city-work on foot also. Which city-work will chiefly consist in setting up the wall and gates for defence, and of building themselves houses or mansions of rest and refreshment after all their hard usage under the tyranny of the man of sin, that son of perdition (Isa 65:19-21). Which city-work will be then completed, when the church of Christ hath obtained a complete conquest and victory over the world, and hath got her enemies and them that hate her, to lie at her feet, and to lick the dust of the soles thereof (Isa 60:14). For, as I have told you already, temple-work, yea, when that is complete in the work, yet there may be great havoc made of the church of Christ (Rev 11:1-3). At which time also, city-work may be trampled under the feet of the wicked and uncircumcised Gentiles; but when the city is built, then Zion is become a stronghold, and about all her glory shall be a defence (Isa 4:5). Then she either draweth and allureth her adversaries to entreat her kindly, and to count it their honour to be under her protection, as did the Gibeonites; or else she breaks, and bruises, and subjects them to her by her power and authority (Josh 9). 'The daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift, even the rich among the people shall entreat thy favour' (Psa 45:12). 'In the last days,' saith the prophet, 'it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come and say,—Let us go up unto the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks'; that force and power that they used formerly to destroy the church of God, now they shall use it to do her service, even to break up the clods of the hearts of sinners, and to prune and dress the house of God, and vineyard of Jesus Christ; 'nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more'; for the word of the kingdom of peace shall bear sway. 'And thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem' (Micah 4:1-3,8). This is city-work, and as to the glory, peace, and deliverance of the church, it is the chiefest of all other, because it is not only most excellent for concourse and multitude, but, I say, for preservation and safety; and that not only to keep the worshippers, if they keep their order, but to keep the order and worshippers both in order and continual safety, that they may be for ever in the purest order. But now, though at the completing of this wall, and the building its towers, when they are finished there will be great peace; yet all the time that these things are doing, before they be done, let the workmen look for opposition, taunts, underminers, and a thousand tricks for the hindrance of it (Neh 4:1-11; 6:1-14). For the streets of the city shall be built, and the wall, 'even in troublous times' (Dan 9:25).
'And the building of the wall of it was of jasper.' Of jasper only; for as by building is showed unto us the manner of the work, so by jasper is showed unto us the matter itself; the matter therefore must be, JASPER, Christ only, his Word, offices, and glorious brightness only; for indeed, whatever the special grace, protection, and providence of God will at this day be over this city, yet it shall be every whit of it according to Christ; that is, both of him, for him, and by him, as the fruits and effects of his suffering, bloodshed, and merits. 'Therefore,' saith God, 'will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and was numbered with the transgressors' (Isa 53:12). O holiness, how will it shine both in kings and nations, when God doth this!
[The glory of the city.]
'And the city was pure gold.' Having thus given us a discovery of the glory of the wall, he now comes to show us the glory of the city that is within the wall. The city, saith he, is gold, it is pure gold. This was figured out by the golden candlesticks belonging to the tabernacle and temple among the Jews, which candlesticks did then present unto us the worth and use of the church of Christ (Exo 25:31-36). 'The seven candlesticks are the seven churches,' saith the Lord Christ himself (Rev 1:20). Now the city here spoken of is the church in her highest and greatest glory. Its state was also figured out by the temple itself, whose beams, posts, walls, doors, and the like, were most famously covered over with gold (2 Chron 3:5-7). It was also, though but leanly, represented to us by the golden state of old Jerusalem in the days of Solomon the king, in which state gold was so plentiful in the midst thereof, that silver was nothing counted of among the citizens there in those days, but was as common as the stones in the street of the city (2 Chron 9:13-22,27).
'And the city was pure gold.' I find by the search of the Scriptures, that there are divers sorts of gold in the world; there is the gold of the land of Havilah (Gen 2:11); the gold of Parvaim (2 Chron 3:6); the gold of Ophir (Job 22:24); the gold of Sheba (Psa 72:15); and the gold of Uphaz (Jer 10:9). Now seeing he saith the city is gold, yet not distinguishing what gold, or which, we may suppose in this place he means gold of all these sorts; and indeed it is most agreeable to this text thus to judges. For the church at this day shall be made up of the twelve tribes that are scattered abroad, and of the Gentile nations both far and near; who, as they now lie, are, for ought I can learn, at as great a distance, and as remote from one another, not only in knowledge and affections, but touching the places of their abode, as are the golden mines out of which the gold that I spake of before is digged and fetched. Thus shall gold, the golden saints of God, at this day be gathered out of the several golden mines of the world, and be brought to King Solomon, the Son of David, our Lord Jesus, to Jerusalem, with which he will build him a golden shining city, the joy of all the world.
'And the city was pure gold.' Gold is the choice and chief of all metals, both for worth, colour, and virtue; wherefore, when he saith, 'The city is gold,' you may conceive how rich and shining, and virtuous[15] this city will be; the riches of the whole world will be here, the beauty of the whole world will be here, and the virtue of the whole world will be here; I mean spiritual riches, beauty, and health. Wherefore the rest of the world at this day will be but as a crushed bunch of herbs in which is no virtue; or like a furnace full of dross, out of which the gold is taken; or like an old, crazy, and ruinous house, from which is departed all health and happiness; and indeed much like to this is that saying of the prophet, to wit, that at this day the whole circumference of the world that is without the walls and privileges of this city, it shall be but like an old ruinous house, in which dwells nothing but cormorants, bitterns, owls, ravens, dragons, satyrs, the screech-owl, the great owl, the vulture, and the like most doleful birds. All their princes shall be nothing, saith the prophet, and when they call their nobles to the kingdom, none shall be there. In their very palaces shall be thorns, and nettles, and brambles; for all among them that are princes and nobles indeed, will have packed up, and be gone for Jerusalem (Isa 34:10-17). So that the world, I say, will be left empty, void, and stripped both of treasure, beauty, and health, at the day of Jerusalem's building again. But O how melancholy a forlorn, beautiless world will this be at this day! It will be only the place of 'dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie' (Rev 22:15). It will now be the very emblem of hell, as the church at this day will be the emblem of heaven. Wherefore, as the church, as I showed you before, will be most fit for her putting on of immortality and incorruption, so the world will at this day be most fit to be swallowed up of the lake and bottomless gulf. All things that are good and worth anything shall at this day be found only in the city of God. The gold will be in Jerusalem (Zech 14:14; Rev 18).
Again, In that this city is here called by the name of gold it is to show us how great pains, and travel, and charge the Lord Christ hath been at to get so great a treasure together. Gold is fetched from a far country, and that with great pains, charge, and difficulty (2 Chron 9:10). The gold wherewith King Solomon made his drinking vessels, it cost a three years' journey to obtain it. So the saints also, those golden vessels wherewith is made this golden city, they cost Christ a three days' travel in the heart of the earth, even sweatingly under the wrath of God, to obtain them, and thus to build this city with them (Luke 22:44; Mark 12:40).
Further, In that he saith this city is gold, he would have us to consider what the state of the church was before she came into this happy condition, to wit, an afflicted, tempted, and tried condition. Gold, as it comes from the mine, it cometh commixed with its dust and ore; wherefore the goldsmith hath a burning furnace wherein he having put it, doth with the fire purge and take away the dross and dust from among the metal itself; into which furnace he puts it once, twice, thrice, and again to the end it may at length be thoroughly cleansed and purified from its dross. Now all this befalleth the people of God; they are thrown into the burning fiery furnace of affliction and temptation, and there they are tried, purged, and purified (Isa 31:9). As the Lord also saith by the prophet, 'I will try them as gold is tried, and will refine them as silver is refined' (Zech 13:9). Yea, 'I will melt them and try them, for how shall I do for the daughter of my people' (Jer 9:7).
Lastly, When he saith this city is gold, he also thereby insinuates how invincible and unconquerable a spirit the people of God are possessed with. Gold is a metal so invincible and unconquerable, that no fire can consume it; it may burn it indeed, and melt it; the dross indeed doth consume and give way to the power of the fire, but the gold remains, and holds its ground; yea, it gets ground even of the furnace and fire itself; for the more it is burned and melted, the more it recovers its colour, and the more it shakes off its dross and dishonour. Just thus it is with the people of God, and hath been so even from the beginning: the more they oppressed them, the more they grew (Exo 1:12). The truth of which will be proved with a witness, when God comes to set up this city Jerusalem: his church hath been now for many hundred years in the king of Babylon's furnace; all which time she hath most gloriously endured and withstood the heat; and at last when the fire hath done its worst against her, behold there comes out a city of gold. A type of which was the state of the three children, who though they were cast into the fire bound and in disgrace; yet came out in the liberty and grace of the Son of God (Dan 3:23-26). Wherefore let her be bold to say, even before she comes out of the fire, When I am tried, 'I shall come forth as gold' (Job 23:10).
'And the city was PURE gold.' These words, PURE GOLD, clear up what I said already. Pure gold, or gold upon which the fire hath done its work. The church in the fire of persecution is like Esther in the perfuming chamber, but making fit for the presence of the king; which fire, when it hath done its work, then she comes into his presence in clothing all of gold (Esth 2:10). 'The king's daughter is all glorious within, her clothing is of wrought gold.' And again, 'At thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir' (Psa 45:9,13). Wherefore he means by pure gold, gold out of the fire, gold on which the fire of persecution and temptation hath done its full and complete work.
'And the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.' By glass, in this place, we are to understand the Word of God, as both James and Paul do testify (James 1:22-25; 2 Cor 3:18; 1 Cor 13:12). By clear glass then, we are to understand the Word in its own nature and purity, without the corruptions and traditions of men. Wherefore, when he saith this golden city was like unto clear glass, it is as if he had said she is even with the Word and law of her goldsmith, in all her matters. The Word is a golden reed, this city a golden city; and that, a golden city, taken out of the furnace of affliction, and therefore like to the golden reed. 'And the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.'
[The glory of the foundations.]
Ver. 19, 20. 'And the foundations of the wall were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.'
Thus having showed us the glory of the wall, and of the city, he now comes to show us the glory of the foundations. The foundations you know, I told you before, they are the twelve apostles in their doctrine, or the primitive doctrine of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
Now the great business in this place will be to show you the garnishing of these foundations, and also the mystery and order of the lying of the foundations, for their glory lieth in both.
As for the garnishing of these foundations, it is, and will be at the day of New Jerusalem, two-fold, and the first is with beautiful gifts and grace. Thus were the apostles of old adorned, and thus shall their doctrine again be garnished. I know that the doctrine of the twelve hath been always accompanied with goodly gifts and grace, from the first churches quite down, that is, according to the measure of light they appeared in, and according to the dispensations of God in the times of antichrist. But yet the glory that this doctrine had in these latter days, I mean since the apostacy, it was nothing in comparison of the glory and splendour that will be in them in the day when this city is built and complete. Wherefore you find, that though all along in antichrist's reign, the gospel of grace hath shone, and given light to the saints and people of God in all their travels and afflictions; yet the shining of it at that day was much opposed and eclipsed by the smoke of the bottomless pit: as he saith, 'There arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit' (Rev 9:2). In which days, I say, abundance of the light, heat, and operation of the gospel was diminished and taken off, so that but little of the power or glory of it hath been either felt or seen from that time to this very day. This is that God spake of by the prophet Amos, saying, 'I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day; and I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.' All which he explaineth in the next words, for 'Behold the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord; and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it' (Amos 8:9-12). In those days Eli's sons were become varlets (1 Sam 2:12-15). Indeed there was here and there a little child, like Samuel in his minority, that now and then would speak most goodly things. But 'the word of the Lord was precious in those days, there was no open vision' (1 Sam 3:1). This is that which David in the Spirit of prophecy complaineth of, saying, 'They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course' (Psa 82:5). Thus in the days of the eclipsing of the glory of these foundations. But now, behold, they recover their light, and put on, as of old, their former glory, and are again garnished as in the former days. Now will all the doctrines of the gospel spangle and sparkle; out of every text will the ministers of God make to issue exceedingly most precious and heavenly fire; for these stones are indeed the stones of fire (Eze 28:16). And in them is contained that which would set the whole world on a flame with love and delight in the things of God and another world, had but men the spirit of wisdom, and the authority of God in their ministry, as the apostles and the primitive Christians had. Well this doctrine of the twelve shall be again adorned with gifts and graces as in the days of old: by which it shall also be made to shine, and to cast forth its golden rays before the nations to their salvation. Behold, saith God, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, that is, thy apostolical doctrines shall again be garnished as at the first (Isa 54:11). Truth shall appear in its old and mature colours, and as such shall be embraced, and lived and delighted in, both by Jews and Gentiles, as I have showed.
But secondly, The twelve foundations that here you read of, they are the same with those twelve stones that long before were set in the breastplate of judgment, in which were engraven the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel, the names of which tribes did comprehend the whole body of the house of their fathers (Exo 28:16-21,29; 39:14). Now then, seeing these twelve are the same with those on the breastplate of judgment; and seeing also, that those on the breastplate did comprehend the whole of the twelve tribes, I conclude that for these foundations to be garnished with all manner of precious stones, it is as much as to say, they shall be garnished with abundance of converts; multitudes, and that of all sorts, both of Jews and Gentiles, Moors, Tartars, Turks, and those in the utmost parts of the world, shall now be entangled with the light and truth, with the glory and goodness of the doctrine of the twelve. And I the rather take it thus, 1. Because, as the foundations themselves are said to be precious stones; so also the saints in general, they go under the same names too. As Jeremiah saith, the precious stones of the sanctuary are the precious sons of Zion (Lam 4:1-3). As Peter also saith, in alluding to the precious stones of the temple; the saints are lively, or living precious stones, built up a spiritual house, &c. (1 Peter 2:5). And the foundations of the wall were garnished with all manner of precious stones (1 Chron 29:2). That is, the doctrine of the twelve was garnished with all manner of precious souls; that is, converted by it, by which they become a glory and a garnishing to it. 2. I take it to be the conversion of the precious ones of God; because that thus to understand it, is most like the phrase of the apostle Paul himself, saying, 'What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy' (1 Thess 2:19,20). Mark, in the text he saith, The foundations were garnished with all manner of precious stones, and here those precious stones, Paul accounts to be those that are converted by the Word: for what is our hope, or joy, or crown? are not even ye that have been converted by us? Ye are our joy, ye are our crown, ye are our glory; it is with you that we shall be crowned, adorned, and garnished in the presence of our Lord Jesus. Mark, John saith, They are garnished, Paul saith, they are crowned; John saith, they are garnished with precious stones, and Paul saith, they are crowned with the conversion of sinners. Thus therefore as God will lay these stones with fair colours, so also he will lay these foundations with sapphires (Isa 54:11). That is, as he will beautify the doctrine of the twelve with its former glory, sweetness, and authority; so he will crown and garnish it with the conversion of many sinners. The elect are the jewels of God, and this is the day of his binding them up, even then when the antichrist falls, and the gospel breaks out in its primitive glory (Mal 3:16-18).
'And the foundations of the wall were garnished with all manner of precious stones.' In these words, there are yet two things considerable.
First Consideration. That all who go to the adorning of these foundations, they must be precious stones, not a common stone shall here be owned. And indeed what should pebbles do among the pearls and the diamonds of New Jerusalem; or the stones of blackness and emptiness, among the saints of light (Job 28:3). I tell you, that those which God doth reckon the adorning-stones, they are all and every one, precious stone; they must be all lively, glistering, and curious stones, though stones of divers colours (1 Peter 2:5; 1 Chron 29:2). Antichrist counts anything sufficient enough to garnish his apostles with, even the empty stones of confusion, the sinners that have no more grace in their souls then there is sap in a post that hath been this twenty years without either sap or water (Isa 34:11). But God will not count such for the beauty of his word, nor for the garnishing and beautifying of the doctrine of the twelve, they are garnished with PRECIOUS STONES.
Second Consideration. As he saith the foundations are garnished with precious stones only, so he saith it is with ALL MANNER of precious stones: by which he would have us understand that all saints have not the same degree either of precious grace or gifts and virtue in them. There are some that excel and differ from the rest, even as one star differeth from another in glory (1 Cor 14:12). Some saints, as they have both more grace and also gifts than others; so too they are more laborious and painful in the work of God than their fellows, and therefore he saith, ALL MANNER of precious stones (Pro 31:29; 1 Cor 15:10,41).
[The Foundations, what they are, with their order of placing.]
Ver. 20. 'The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite'; &c. Thus having showed you the garnishing and beautifying of the twelve foundations, he now comes to discover the foundations themselves, with reference to their order of placing and lying.
[The First Foundation.] Touching which order, he saith the first and bottom foundation is a jasper.
I have hitherto said that this jasper in both the two afore-mentioned places, both as to the light of this city, and also of the wall, it was Jesus Christ: Christ illuminating, and Christ defending. But here the jasper is said to be one of the twelve foundations, even one of those foundations in which are writ the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, which one would think did put this jasper now into another state, even to be a representation of one of the twelve apostles, and not of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ himself. To which I shall yet say, that the jasper here in the order of the foundations, is to be understood of Christ, as well as in the other two places in this discourse; I say it is yet to be understood of representing the Lord Jesus, though it also doth bear the name of one of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And in this very thing there is an infolding mystery wrapped up and inclosed. For,
First. In that the name of an apostle is writ in this stone, and yet that this jasper should represent Christ, it showeth unto us the agreement that is between the doctrine of the apostles and Christ himself, to wit, that they are one and the very same; and hence it is that the apostle saith, 'We preach Christ crucified' (1 Cor 1:23,24). Christ in all his benefits is the very marrow, life, and sum of all their teaching. 'Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ' (1 Cor 3:11). Wherefore the doctrine of the apostles being Christ itself, no marvel though the name of an apostle be writ upon this jasper; and again, no marvel though this jasper go yet under that name that represents him.
Second. In that it is said the names of the twelve are in these twelve foundations, and yet that the first of them should be the jasper, Christ; it argueth also, that whosoever receiveth the doctrine of the twelve, they must needs with that receive the Lord Christ himself. Receive the doctrine of the gospel, as it is held forth by the twelve in the word, and thou canst not miss of the Lord Jesus Christ himself; he will be found in the bottom of their doctrine. Ye 'are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone' (Eph 1:19,20).
Third. In that he saith in these twelve stones are the names of the twelve apostles, and yet that the first should be the jasper, Christ; it argueth also that wherever the doctrine of the twelve is preached, there is therewith the presence of Christ: the presence of his Spirit to teach and enlighten the ignorant and blind hearts of the unconverted; the presence also of his power to overcome them, and to make them fall under the glory and truth of his heavenly word. 'Lo,' saith he, 'I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.' 'And they went forth and preached everywhere the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following' (Matt 28:20; Mark 16:20).
Fourth. In that he saith the names of the twelve are in the foundations, and yet that Christ should be one of the twelve himself; it showeth to us the union that is between Christ and his holy people. Mark in the twelve foundations are placed all, even all manner of precious stones. Again, in the twelve is placed the jasper, Christ; by which we may see the nearness that is between Christ and his whole body. 'I in them, and thou in me,' saith Christ, 'that they may be made perfect in one' (John 17:23). Christ and his saints make but one temple, one man; being but one flesh, one nature, &c. (1 Cor 12:12).
Fifth. In that this jasper is said to be one of the foundations, and that too the first and undermost; he showeth farther, that Christ is the foundation of them before God, that are the foundation of him before men. The twelve do bear up Christ before the world, as the twelve brazen oxen did hold up the molten sea in the temple (1 Kings 7:25). And Christ doth bear up the twelve before his Father, as the high priests did carry the twelve stones on their breastplate of judgment, when they went to make an atonement for the sins of the people, into the holiest (Exo 28:29).
Sixth. It showed us further, that though the apostles shall be adorned with the conversion of those that they shall win to the Lord Christ; yet they will never be able to stand under that glory and honour unless they are supported and upheld by Christ, as their foundation. Sirs, as Christ is the strength of his people in their work for him in this world, so he must be their strength by which they must stand under the reward they shall have for their labour when this world is ended. And hence it is, that the prophet saith, 'They shall hang upon him all the glory of his Father's house, the offspring and the issue; all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons' (Is 22:24), and again, 'He shall build the temple of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory' (Zech 6:13). He shall bear the glory of our salvation from sin, preservation in the midst of all temptations, and of our going to glory; also he shall bear the glory of our labour in the gospel, of our gifts and abilities, of making our labour and work effectual to the saving of sinners, 'that in all things he might have the pre-eminence' (Col 1:18).
Seventh. In that the foundations are twelve, and Christ the undermost of them; it signifieth, that all that are converted by the twelve, as they shall be for the garnishing of the twelve, so also both the twelve, with all that they are garnished with, shall be for garnishing of Christ. We shall stick like perarls in the crowns of the twelve apostles, and they again with all their glory shall stick in the crown of Christ. And hence it is that you find the four and twenty elders, which four and twenty do, as I conceive, hold for the twelve, both in the first and second Jerusalem. I say, hence it is that you find them take their crowns from off their heads, and cat them down before the throne of God and of the Lamb, crying, 'Blessing, and honour, and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever' (Rev 4:9-11; 5:11-14).
Eighth. One thing more of this goodly jasper, and then to the rest; which thing is this, that jasper that here you find to be the first in the twelve foundations, even that jasper you find to be the last of all among the stones in the breastplate of judgment (Exo 28:20). From whence you may note, 1. That Christ, as he is to be the author, or first of our faith, so also he is to be the finisher, or last of our faith (Heb 12:2). 2. That as he is to be the captain and leader of his people, so he is to be the rereward and bringer up of his people (Heb 2:10; Isa 52:12). He is to go before them to lead them the way; and to come behind them to bring them all up (Isa 58:8; Exo 14:19). 3. Again, forasmuch as he is said to be last before he is first; that is, last in Exodus, and after that, first in the Revelation, it may be to show us, that Christ was first to be least, lowest, and last, and then to be greatest, highest, and first. He first humbled himself to the death, even to the shameful death of the cross; and then was by God his Father exalted and placed above every name; as he also himself doth witness, saying, 'Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?' (Luke 24:26; Phil 2:6-11).
[The other foundations.] 'The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz,' &c. Touching the jasper you see what I have said. Now all I have to say to the rest of them, it is in general these three things.
First, In that the foundations are all and every one of them precious stones, it signifieth that all the doctrines of the New Jerusalem will be only the precious doctrine of the twelve apostles, not common stuff, not raked out of the dunghills and muck-heaps of this world, and from among the toys of antichrist, but spiritual, heavenly, and glorious. He that hath his word shall then speak it faithfully, for 'what is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord' (Jer 23:28,32).
Second, In that they are called after the names of precious stones, it signifieth also that at that day none shall be used or put into the ministry but these that have received spiritual and heavenly gifts from above. It is not every babbling fellow, not those that look for their abilities from the rudiments of the world, that then shall be of any value or account. He must be a costly stone, a stone about which the Lord Jesus hath bestowed the cost of his heavenly abilities, even he whom the Lord Jesus shall appear unto for that very purpose, to make him a minister. HE shall be a minister, and none else at that day. The other shall be ashamed every one of his vision; yea, and shall in those days be so contemptible, that their father and their mother shall reprove them, and count them liars; yea, and shall be ready to run them through while they are prophesying in their rough garments to deceive (Zech 13:3-5).
Third, In that these precious stones are not all of one and the same nature, but every one of them several, and diverse one from another; it argueth that the gifts of the apostles, and so of the ministers of the New Jerusalem, shall be differing one from another in glory and operation; yet mark, as in these stones, so in every one of them shall be perfect glory, according to the nature of God's working by his Spirit; as the nature of the jasper is perfect in his kind, and the nature of the sapphire is perfect in his. These stones, some of them are of greater light and clearness than others; and so some of the apostles are chiefest (2 Cor 11:5). Some of these stones, again, they are of a more fiery and burning colour than others, they being bright also, but of a more mild brightness. Therefore some of the ministry are called the sons of thunder, when others are styled by the name of the sons of consolation (Mark 3:17; Acts 4:36). The gifts are differing, being diverse, their administrations are differing, and the operations of them also are differing, though all those things are from that one and the self-same Spirit, working in every one severally as he pleases (Rom 12:6; 1 Cor 12:4-6). All these things will spangle in the New Jerusalem, and carry their full breadth and sway as in the days of old.
To conclude this, in that he here saith, that the foundations of the wall are these twelve stones, he doth it to show that now also the former ministration that was in the apostles' days will be the same and in full force again. For their gifts of knowledge, judgment, and authority, they are such as have to this day lain buried, as it were with the apostles themselves. But now they shall show themselves again, even these foundation-stones, stones that are great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits (1 Kings 7:10). Thus much of the glory of the foundations.
[The glory of the gates.]
Ver. 21. 'And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, every several gate was of one pearl; and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.' Having thus showed us the glory of this city, wall, and foundations, he now comes to show us the glory of the gates and of the street of the city.
'And the twelve gates are twelve pearls.' The gates, I told you before, they signify Christ, both as he is the way to communion with the God of this city, and with the inhabitants thereof, that so they may have a share in the privileges of the same. I told you also then, that though he tells us exactly of the measure both of city and wall, yet he tells us nothing of the measure of these twelve gates and goings in thereat, and the reason is, because Christ, as he is the way to grace, he is beyond all measure both as to fulness and freeness (Eph 3:8). And now again he puts us to the same plunge with the unsearchable riches of the Lord Christ; for who can count the worth of pearl as big as the gates of a city? As, indeed, when Christ himself doth speak of the parable of the pearl in the field, he only telleth us that there is such a one, but never valueth the worth thereof, only he saith, a pearl of great price, and so leaveth it (Matt 13:35,36). Now, when he saith that the gates are pearls, he thereby insinuates several things. As,
First. To show us how rich a treasure Christ Jesus our Lord is, and will be to all those that by him shall enter in through the gates into this city, 'riches and honour are with me,' saith he, even 'durable riches and righteousness. My fruit [or the fruit of entering in by me] is better than gold, and my revenue than choice silver. I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment; that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance, and I will fill their treasures' (Pro 8:18-21; Eph 3:8).
Christ is rich indeed, both in his blood, resurrection, intercession, and all his offices, together with his relations and all his benefits; all which he bestoweth upon every one that receiveth him, and maketh them unspeakably wealthy.
Second. The pearl, as it is rich, and so worth much, so again it is beautiful and amiable, even to take the eyes of all beholders. It hath, I say, a very sweet and sparkling light and glory in it, enough to take the eye and affect the heart of all those that look upon it. And thus is Christ to all that come to him, and by him to the Father, &c. 'My beloved,' saith she, 'is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.' 'His mouth is most sweet, yea, he is altogether lovely' (Cant 5:10,16).
The mother of harlots had some knowledge of the beauty and glory of this stone, and knew that it had a very taking and drawing glory in it, and therefore she gets it for some time to adorn herself withal; she was decked with gold and precious stones and pearls (Eze 16:17), and was therefore called 'the well-favoured harlot' (Nahum 3:4; Rev 18:4). By which means she hath drawn into her lewdness the kings and kingdom of the world; who have in such sort been entangled with her beauty, and with her fornication, that they have been adulterated from God and their own salvation. For indeed she used this pearl but for to get them to drink of her fornication, that they might drink and spew, and fall and never rise more. But now when he saith, the gates are pearl, it is as if he had said, this woman is stript of her beauty and delicate ornaments; the pearl is taken from her, and is set in its right place, even to be for the gates of Jerusalem (Rev 18:12,22,23). Wherefore it is to be expected, that many should be taken with the way of entrance into this beloved city in the day that she shall be set up and appear in her heavenly beauty (Pro 8:35; 3:35). The glory of that city must needs be great whose wall is jasper and gates are pearl (1 Cor 2:9; John 17:24).
'And the twelve gates were twelve pearls.' Not pearls and other precious stones commixed, but pearl only. To signify that Christ only can let in souls into this city, that they may partake of the goodness and privileges thereof. It is not he and saints together, neither is it all the saints and angels in heaven without him, he alone 'hath the key of David, and that openeth, and no man shutteth; and that shutteth, and no man openeth' (Rev 3:7; 22:12).
Secondly, As he saith, the several gates are each of them pearls, so he saith that every several gate was of one pearl, of one entire pearl. By which he would have us to understand also, that as none can enter in but by Christ, so none can enter in but by whole Christ. Christ must be helpful to thee every way, or he will be helpful to thee no way; thou must enter in by every whit of Christ, or thou shalt enter in by never a whit of him. Wherefore look not to have him thy Saviour, if thou take him not for king and prophet; nay, thou shalt not have him in any one, if thou dost not take him in every one of these. Wherefore the prophet saith, 'He shall build the temple of the Lord [that is, by his prophetical office]—and shall sit and rule upon his throne, and he shall be a priest upon his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both' (Zech 6:13).
[The glory of the street.]
'And the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.' In these words there are four things to be enquired into. First. What this street is? Second. Why he saith not streets, but street, as of one? Third. Why this street is called by the term of pure gold? Fourth. And why it should look like transparent glass. For the
First, A street ordinarily is the place of common concourse, and the place of continual open salutation, and taking acquaintance one of another; and as touching this street, we are also to understand it of the open and common place or way of God's worship, in which saints salute each other and acquaint themselves together; also here the world are converted, saints built up and edified, &c. 'Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets,' saith Solomon; 'she crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates; in the city she uttereth her words' (Pro 1:20,21). That is, in the public and righteous ordinances of the Lord Jesus, which he hat ordained in his church, for men to travel and trade in,[16] for the good and wholesome merchandize of heaven, as the men of this world do for the things thereof in the streets and open places of their cities and places of privilege (Pro 8:1-3; 9:1-3).
Thus it was in the figure when the city Jerusalem was built after the captivity, as ours shall be at and after the overthrow and downfall of antichrist, for then it is said that the people, to hear the law, were gathered together in the street, even in the water street; there they heard the sense given, and there they were convinced of their wickedness; also thee they received the knowledge of God's goodness to them, and there they received power to eat the fat and drink the sweet, to eat and drink and be merry, and to cast away sadness and fear (Neh 8). This, by way of allegory, is called the way for the wayfaring men, even the way of holiness, over which the unclean shall not in anywise pass. The way in which they learn to know God and themselves, and the way of newness of life, in which every one walks that entereth in by the gates of New Jerusalem. And it is most suitable to the matter that went before to understand the street to be the way of God, the way of holiness and newness of life; because as it is natural for the stranger, so soon as ever he is entered the gates of a city, to have his feet in the streets of the city, so it is natural for the sinner, so soon as ever he is entered into the church by Christ, to have his feet treading in the way and paths of holiness. Wherefore it is usual in the Holy Scripture to call the transformation of the sinner from Satan to God a holy way, and also to admonish him that is so transformed to walk in that way, saying, Walk in the faith, love, spirit, and newness of life, and walk in the truth, ways, statutes, and judgments of God (Psa 86:11; 143:8; Eze 11:20; 37:24; Gal 5:25; Rom 4:12).
He that entereth not by these gates into the city, he cannot walk in newness of life; but he that entered in by them, he cannot but walk in newness of life. The next thing then that a man passeth into when he is entered into the New Jerusalem, is to walk in the STREET thereof, the way of holiness, even the way in which men learn to fear God, and to believe in and love the Lord Jesus, &c. (Eph 5:1,2; 2 John 4; Rom 6:4).
Second. Now this street or way of holiness, it is on purpose called not many, but one, to show us the perfection of light, grace, faith, and spiritual comfort, that the inhabitants of this city shall then enjoy. Daniel also calleth it one street, to signify the same thing (Dan 9:25). Wherefore from hence I gather, that then all saints shall walk-as before I have made appear-even in one street, in one way, and in one light. It is antichrist that hath brought in all those crossings, bye-lanes, and odd nooks, that to this day many an honest heart doth greatly lose itself in; but at this day they shall be otherwise minded, that is, made all to savour one thing, and to walk one way, not biting and devouring each other as now. And indeed there is all reason it should be thus, for the street itself is but one. There is but ONE God, ONE Lord Jesus, ONE Spirit, ONE faith, ONE baptism, even as we are also called in ONE hope of our calling (Eph 4:5,6; Acts 2:27,32,33; Phil 1:27; Rom 15:6). Now, therefore, when saints have the rubbish of antichristian darkness and trumpery removed, then they shall have, as they also had of old, but one heart, one soul, one judgment, one mind, and shall with one heart and mouth glorify God. The which also shall be prayed for of all the saints, even of all that have received the pure language before these things come to pass. They shall 'call upon the name of the Lord' with One lip, 'to serve him with One consent' (Zeph 3:9). O! the heavenly spiritual harmony that will be in the city of God in those days, when the trumpeters and singers shall be as one, to make one sound, then the house shall be filled with a cloud' (2 Chron 5:13).[17]
Third. When he saith that the street of the city was pure gold, he alludes to the floor in Solomon's temple, which was overlaid with gold (1 Kings 6:30). He alludes to Solomon's chariot also, whose bottom was paved with love, and overlaid with gold (Can 3:10). By the floor of the temple, we are to understand the way of holiness; and by the chariot of Solomon, the triumphant glory of that way. Again, in that he saith this street is gold, he would have us to understand the worth and treasure that is laid up in the ways of God, and of a truly gracious heart. First for the worth and treasure that is laid up in the ways of God. They beget light (Psa 119:130), they change the heart, they lead from death, the devil, and hell, to life, God, and the kingdom of heaven (Psa 119:9; Pro 2). In them God walks, and those that walk there also are sure to meet with him (Isa 64:5). O this way, it is the way which 'no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen'; 'It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.—The gold and the crystal cannot equal it; and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral or of pearls; for the price of wisdom is above rubies' (Job 28:7,15-18,28). All the ways of God they are pleasantness, and all his paths are peace, and ought to be preferred before our necessary food (Pro 3:17).
Again, as the ways of God are thus rich, and so far above the gold and rubies of the world, so also is that sanctified and gracious heart, without which no man can walk in this golden street. It is not every clown with his clumping dirty shoes that is admitted into kings' privy-chambers and private palaces; neither doth, or will God, at the day of New Jerusalem, suffer any to trace about this golden street, but such as have golden feet, and that beautified with goodly shoes. For as for this street, all that walk in it, they must be golden men, with golden hearts, and with graces that are 'much more precious than of gold that perisheth' (Cant 7:1; 1 Peter 1:7; Rev 3:18).
Further, in that he saith this street is gold, 'pure gold,' he giveth us to understand also what great delight and pleasure the Lord's people will take in his ways and ordinances in that day. There will not then be that backwardness to do good, and to receive God, as there is in these more dry and empty days of the gospel. As gold is pleasing to the covetous man and worldling, so shall the ways of God be to the saints and godly at that day. Now we have strong corruptions and weak grace, but then we shall have strong grace and weak withered corruptions. You that are spiritual, you know what an high and goodly lifting up of heart one small gale of the good Spirit of God will make in your souls, how it will make your lusts to languish, and your souls to love, and take pleasure in the Lord that saves you. You know, I say, what a flame of love, and bowels, and compassion, and self-denial, and endeared affection to God and all saints, it will beget in the soul. O! it is good to be here, saith the gracious heart. Well, and so thou shalt be always, if thou live to see New Jerusalem settled in her own place (Isa 65:17-25).
Fourth. 'And the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.' Mark, a street of gold like glass, a street of gold, as it were transparent glass. By glass here, as also in verse 18, we are to understand the Word (James 1:23-25). Wherefore, when he saith the street, the golden street, was like unto glass, he means, that the walking and carriage of the saints at this day shall be like unto, or according to, the Word, the life of the saints answering the life of the Word and rule of the Lord Christ.
Again, in that he doth add to glass the word transparent, he would have us to understand thereby these two things.
1. That the walking and ways of holiness of saints shall be more in the power and spirit of the Word, than all along in the reign of Antichrist they have been. For transparent glass, it is the most clear and excellent glass, and goeth as far beyond other sorts of glass, as he that walks in the spirit and power of the commandment goes beyond him that only walks in the letter and outward word thereof. Alas, the churches of Christ, at their firs assembling, will be like the coming together of Ezekiel's bones, clothed much with flesh and sinews, but greatly void of spirit and life (Eze 37:7,8). Wherefore the spirit, power, holiness, and majesty that now will appear in the church, it will greatly transcend and go beyond the spirit, power, and holiness that hath accompanied her in former days. Then shall the sun be ashamed, and the moon confounded, when the Lord shall reign in Mount Zion, &c. (Isa 24:23). Then shall the sun be ashamed, that is, then shall that little light and understanding of the Word, that hath been in the church in the days when a third part of the glory of the gospel was hid by the smoke of the pit, be, as it were, laid aside and be useless (Rev 8:12; 9:2). Every saint shall be under the light of a sun that shines seven-fold brighter, even as the light of seven days. We see it is so in some measure at this day; what light, and with what clearness do the saints in this day see the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, beyond what the holy and goodly martyrs and saints did in the days that were before us; Huss, Bilney, Ridley, Hooper, Cranmer, with their brethren, if they were now in the world, would cry out and say, Our light and knowledge of the word of the Testament of Christ was much inferior to the light that at this day is broken forth, and that will yet daily, in despite of men and devils, display its rays and beams amongst the sons of men![18] When the children of Israel were to depart the land of Egypt, the Lord made known himself to them otherwise than ever he made known himself either to Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob, their fathers (Exo 6:3). The book also, at the recovering the church from under Antichrist, is to be unlocked and unsealed gradually, first one seal and afterwards another, and last of all the seventh, before which time the book will never quite be opened (Rev 5; 6). According to that of the angel, 'Go thy way, Daniel; for the words are closed up, and sealed till the time of the end' (Dan 12:9). In which time (which is the time of New Jerusalem) they shall be opened, and men shall consider it perfectly (Jer 30:24; 23:20). Wherefore,
2. It must needs be that the church return to her old and primitive love. For what is the cause of the want of love to Christ and one another now, but our want of light in the things, mysteries, and privileges of the glorious gospel of the Son of God? Wherefore this being come, then love will reign, and have her perfect work among the godly. Love is the very quintessence of all the graces of the gospel, and is as transparent to them; 'the greatest of these is charity' (1 Cor 13:13). It is the 'fulfilling of the law,' 'the bond of perfectness,' and the most 'excellent way' (1 Cor 12:31; Rom 13:10; 1 Cor 16:14; Col 3:14). Wherefore the Holy Ghost doth mean, by this word transparent glass, that the height of light, and the height of love, will be found in this city; all their things shall be done without confused smoke and darkness, and also without spiritual pride and desire of vain-glory: then shall they indeed do all their things in charity, and in the feeling bowels and fellowship of the gospel. 'Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years' (Mal 3:4).
Alas! though now through grace the saints of God have attained to more light and knowledge in the mysteries of the kingdom of God than heretofore they had, yet their light is far inferior to that which will be when this city is built. Our spiritual union and fellowship in the very bowels of the grace and gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ also is yet greatly defective. It is said that 'no man was able to enter into the temple' of God, 'till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled' (Rev 15:8). But when the seven last plagues are spent, and when all the adversaries of the church, which caused terror in the land of the living, shall be laid with the uncircumcised in the pit, then look for golden days, and not till then (Eze 32:18). Then shall this golden street be finished; that is, then shall the light, faith, love, and holiness of the gospel be walked in and embraced in a transparent and transcending way. 'He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root; Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit' (Isa 27:6).
[The city has no temple.]
Ver. 22. 'And I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.' These words do, in my present light, point at the end of the days of this Jerusalem here in this world: and in so doing they signify to us, that when she is built, she shall stand and continue in this her glorious state afore-mentioned even until that glory be swallowed up of that which doth excel. That they do point at the end of her day in this world, I do gather from these particulars:-
First. Because they are the last words of the description of her glory,-that is, these and the words ensuing, which is but one and the same continued speech; and it is easy to conclude that John, in this description of this city, doth, from first to last, even from the first appearing of her as she cometh out of Babylon till she be perfect in glory, give us the relation of it. First, I say, showing us her descending, then her building, and afterward the glory of that building; at the end of which also he showeth to us with what glory he will crown this glory, even by swallowing of her up with a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
Second. Because in these words he doth absolutely cut off all and every whit of her outward and external glory; that is, as to outward ordinances and temple-worship, which yet was to be most famous for a long time in this new and goodly city; which he verifies in the eleventh chapter of this prophecy, which chapter is a summary collecting of the church in her fall and rise under Antichrist, which church there in her rise is this city here in her glory in this world. He tells us there, I say, that when the kingdoms of this world were become the kingdoms of the Lord, and of his Christ, that 'then the temple of God was opened in heaven'; that is, temple-worship under the gospel recovered into its former and primitive state and purity, in which it was before the coming in of the man of sin (Rev 11:15-19, compared with 15:8). Which temple he here utterly shutteth out, saying, 'I saw no temple therein'; in the room of which he setteth the presence of the Lord Jesus, and God his Father, making them to stand and be in the room of temple and gospel-worship, in that manner as it is used while we here live in the flesh. 'For the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.' It is true, the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of this church in her lowest condition, therefore much more when she is brought into the condition that she is in at her rebuilding; but yet, neither in her low estate, nor yet in her highest, is it proper to say, that so long as she is in this world, God will be a temple to her, in opposition to her temple and gospel-worship, in outward and New Testament administrations. Wherefore when he saith He 'saw no temple therein,' and that from this reason, because 'the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it'; he must needs aim at a state to which the church cannot attain until her Lord comes. For then will that which is perfect be come, and that which is in part be done away (1 Cor 13:10).
Now that the temple in this place excluded, can signify nothing else but the outward orderly way of God's worship, which the saints ought with conscience, in faith, to be found in till their Lord comes, consider that our New Testament doth use the word 'temple' three several ways: 1. For the outward order and worship or discipline of the Gospel (Rev 11:1-3). 2. For the body of Christ, which is his church, &c. 3. And lastly, For the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb, which here are said to be the temple of this city.
Now then, when he saith he saw 'No temple therein,' he cannot exclude the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb, for they are here said to be 'the temple of it.' Neither can he shut out the church, which is the body of Christ, for that is the city itself; yea, and the church shall be God's temple, and God and Christ the temple of the church for ever and ever He must therefore by this word 'no temple,' exclude only the outward way of gospel-worship, in which the saints in the times of the New Testament both meet and edify each other, and also meet their God, and are blessed and refreshed by him. Again, that this outward gospel-worship should be laid aside while the church is in this world, before her Lord doth come to be enjoyed by her, as touching his personal presence; it looks too like ranting opinions, and contradiction to Scripture, for me to believe (1 Cor 11:26). For when he comes, but not till then, shall these things be laid aside.
Besides, that which yet confirms me more fully in this opinion, is because herein this New Jerusalem doth most exactly answer the city and temple, which was built after the captivity; which city and temple being once built, it stood till Christ our Lord did visit them in his own personal coming the first time; as the prophets also said it should. 'The Lord, whom ye seek,' saith one, 'shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in; behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts' (Mal 3:1). And again, 'I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come; and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts.' Wherefore 'the glory of this latter house shall be greater than [that] of the former, saith the Lord of Hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of Hosts' (Hagg 2:7,9).
Now observe, that from the time of the building of the second temple to the coming of Christ, the worship of the temple order was to be by all most devoutly and continually observed. But when the Lord Jesus was come, and had established his own more honourable and New Testament dispensation, then all the former temple-worship fell to the ground, and became, with all the instruments of worship that there unto belonged, null and void. Yea, and it was a derogation to his gospel to offer to uphold that former way of worship, after he had by his own personal presence and Spirit brought in that other dispensation. All which, I say, will be answered by our second and New Testament New Jerusalem. For as the Old Jerusalem was built after the Jews were come out of literal Babylon, so is our New Jerusalem built after our coming out of the antichristian oppression of spiritual Babylon. Again, as that city did after she was built continue and retain her temple-worship, until the personal appearing of Christ the first time, so New Jerusalem shall retain and hold her outward New Testament worship till HE comes in person the second time. After all which, as the second temple was swallowed up of a more heavenly and spiritual dispensation by the personal presence of Christ, so shall also the New Jerusalem temple-worship be swallowed up by the glory of the appearing of the person of Christ the second time; as Paul saith, for he speaks in the person of Christ, 'Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine,' &c. (1 Tim 4:13).
Thus then, when this holy city doth once again appear upon the stage, and in her own situation, and when she hath been showed in the attire of a queen before the face of all nations, and their kings; and when she hath by the glory of the light of her New Testament temple, gathered, as with a net, the number of God's elect; then she is taken into her husband's privy chamber, where she and he alone shall be in that blessed fellowship and communion that shall not again be once eclipsed, or in the least interrupted to eternity.
Thus have I showed you my present light into this portion of the Holy Scripture. If any can give me further, I hope I shall not refuse it. But as yet, methinks this should be the genuine sense of this place, and is the very track of John himself. For after he had seen the wall for present safety, the foundations for continuation, the gates for entrance, and the like, then he comes to tell us of the glory of all, and of the street itself at last; which indeed is the last and end of all the order of God, and to continue till an end be put to it by mortality's being swallowed up of life. As is yet more fully showed you in the next verse of this description.
[The city needs not the light of sun or moon.]
Ver. 23. 'And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.'
'And the city had no need of the sun.' That is, after temple-worship is over: this verse is added therefore for further clearing up and illustrating of that which he said before. There he tells us this city had 'no temple,' and here he tells us she needed neither the light of the sun or moon. There he said, 'The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it'; and here he saith, they are the light thereof. The substance of which, in the language of the Holy Ghost, is this: the reason why temple-worship is now gone and over, it is because there is now no need in this city of the light of the sun and the moon; and the reason why she hath now no need of them, is because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are to it instead of both temple and light. 'For the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.' 'For the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.' Whereby we may note, that though the light in which she descended, being the purity of temple-worship, was glorious, yet this city shall, when she is once built, so advance from glory to glory, that at the last she shall be more happy without the help of that light, without which she had been for ever unbuilt, than she was by it in the midst of the fulness of it.
'And the city had no need of the sun,' &c. The word sun is in Scripture taken divers ways; sometimes for the true and natural sun in the firmament; sometimes again for persecution, and the rage of the enemy, &c. (Josh 10:12; Matt 13:6). But I take 'sun' here not to be any of these, but for the good and pure word of the gospel of Christ, unfolded, opened, and explained by the servants of Christ; which sun is the same that before you find to be darkened by the Antichristian fog and mist, which was darkened, I say, even to a third part of it (Rev 8:12; 9:2). This sun, or word of the gospel, Paul saith it is shadowed forth even by that which shineth in the firmament of heaven, because as that by its light and shining, giveth to those that have eyes, to see the glory and excellency of this world, so by the shining and light of the gospel is given 'the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,' and a view of the excellency of the things of the world to come (2 Cor 4:3-6). Now, I say, though while the church is in this world, and on this side the state of glory, she cannot live and flourish without the shining of this sun, but would be lifeless and lightless, and without all heat and comfort-for it is the entrance of the law that giveth light here, and that lighteneth the eyes, 'making wise the simple' (Psa 19:7,8; 119:130)-yet at the day of the coming of her Lord in person she shall see far more clearly without the thus shining of the sun than ever she did or could see with and by it. 'And the city had no need of the sun.' For when by the light of it the whole body of the elect have found out the way to this city, and when they have also by this light accomplished and fulfilled all their work; yea, when the Lord himself is come, and doth immediately communicate far more glorious light to this city without it than ever he did by it; what need is there then of the light of this sun? for that is to be of use but for the time present, even until the whole of the body of the Lord Jesus is come to the perfect measure, even 'to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ' (Eph 4:10-12). So then, when the body of Christ is in every sense completed in this life by the light of the sunshine of his holy gospel, what need of this sun? And hence it is that the word of the gospel is called 'the word of reconciliation,' 'the word of faith,' and 'the words of this life' (2 Cor 5:19; Rom 10:8; Acts 5:20). Wherefore, I say, it ceaseth when there is no more to be reconciled, and when faith in all is perfected, and when this life is put an end unto by the coming in of another. For 'when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away' (1 Cor 13:8-10).
The ministers of the gospel are of use so long as there is either elect to be converted, or any converted soul to be perfected by that measure of perfection that God hath appointed on this side glory; but when this work is done, their ministry ceaseth. Wherefore, though like the widow's sons, they are busy to borrow vessels for the oil so long as it is running, and emptying itself out of the great and principal barrel; yet when it ceaseth, as it will do, when there are no more vessels to be found, then let them sit down as they, and receive of the fruits of their labour, for the reward of their work is then only to be enjoyed by them (2 Kings 4:1-6).
'And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it.' This word moon also, as well as that of the sun, is to be taken divers ways in the Scriptures of truth; sometimes for the natural one, sometimes for the world and persecutors, &c. (Josh 10:13; Rev 12:1; Psa 121:6). But moon here is to be taken for the church of God, with reference to her life, conversation, duties, and exemplary behaviour, in which she is conversant on this side glory; according to that of the Song, 'Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?' (Cant 6:10). When he saith, then, that at this day there shall be here no need of the shining light of the moon, he means that this city at this day, in the state she is in when she hath the person of the Lamb in her, then she shall have no need of the growth of Christianity, for they shall be all perfect; nor no need of mortification, for there shall be no sin. They shall not need now, as in time past, to exhort and encourage one another to stick fast to the promise, for they shall be swallowed up of life and open vision (2 Cor 5:4). Here shall be no need either of prayer, of repentance, of faith, or of good works, as afore. 'And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it.'
Now, I say, the Holy Ghost is pleased to bring in here the shining virtues of the church under the notion of a shining moon, because, as the church herself is compared to the moon, so her virtues are as naturally compared to a shining light; as Christ saith, 'Let our light so shine' (Matt 5:16); and again, 'Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning' (Luke 12:35; Phil 2:15). For, indeed, while we are here, that church and congregation of the Lord doth most shine, and most send forth the golden rays and pleasant beams of Christianity, that is most in the exercise of the afore-mentioned virtues. Take away the moon, and the night is doubtful; or though the moon be in the firmament, if she hath lost her light, the night is not thereby made more comfortable. And thus, I say, it is first with the world, where here there is no church to shine, or where there is a church that doth not so shine that others may see and be lighted. For while the day of time doth last, even the world itself hath need of the shining of the church; but at this day this time will be no longer, because the day of eternity will break, and by that means cause the world that now is, even the world of the ungodly, to cease to have a being here any longer. Therefore now no need of the moon, or of the light thereof, to shine before that which is not.[19]
Second. Again, as the church is in her light before men as the moon is in her light in the night to the world, so, as I said before, this city which is called also heaven, she, even she, shall have no need of these things, for she shall be taken up in open vision, and shall be completely delivered from all imperfection; she shall not need now the light of her children to provoke her and to stir her up to this or the other act of holiness; all shall be done, all shall be complete, the Lord himself is come. Indeed, while Christ is absent as touching his person, and while the work of God is not yet completely done in the church, there will be need both of the light of sun and moon, but when the work is done, and he come, then these things will be out of use. Thus 'the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day' (Pro 4:18).
'For the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.' This is rendered as the reason why at this day both the light of the sun and moon are needless; it is because 'the glory of God did lighten it,' and because 'the Lamb is the light thereof.' Now the glory of God must be understood in this place, not of that glory that doth attend the church in this world, for that glory doth attend the church upon the account of her purity of worship, of temple-worship, and doth either abide on her, or withdraw itself, according to her exact observing the rule, or declining from it, as I have showed you in the beginning of this discourse (see the exposition of the 11th verse). But the glory that here you read of, it is a glory that supplieth this city without those ordinances; yea, therefore, those ordinances, as the temple and the light of the sun and moon, do cease because of the glory of this glory that now is come into this city. 'The city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it,' mark, 'for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.'
Wherefore, I say, this glory that now he speaks of, it is the glory that shall possess this city at the end of her glory in this world; wherefore, as saith the Holy Ghost by Isaiah the prophet, from this day forward, 'The sun shall be no more thy light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee; but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory' (Isa 60:19).
'For the glory of God did lighten it,' &c. Thus it was at the finishing of the tabernacle in the wilderness, and of the temple at Jerusalem; both which were figures, in their finishing, of the finishing of the state of the church in this world; and it is said of them, that in the day when they in all things were accomplished, according to the fashion that was revealed before concerning their order and accomplishment, that then the glory of God so appeared upon them, that neither Moses nor Aaron was able to enter in, or to stand therein, because of the cloud, and of the glory of the Lord that at that time filled the house (Exo 40:33,34; 1 Kings 8:10,11). Thus you see this city descends in one measure of glory, and is consummate in another measure of glory. The glory of the Lord was upon the mount Sinai while the pattern of the tabernacle was giving, but it rested on the tabernacle when the work thereof was finished; to signify, I say, that the glory of God will rest in his ordinances, and in his church by them, so long as ordinances are in use; but when they are needless, then it will rest in the church without them, and that more gloriously than ever it therein did rest by them.
'For the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.' Mark, though now there shall be no need of temple, sun, or moon, yet Christ the Lamb, or the Man who was offered in sacrifice for our redemption, shall be of use and benefit; 'for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.' Wherefore, all that we who are the saved shall enjoy of glory and sweetness in another world, though we shall not enjoy it from God through Christ, by and in the ordinances, yet we shall enjoy it through Christ the Lamb without them; 'for the Lamb is the light of it.' by this word Lamb, he would have us understand that when we are in glory, the blood, death, and bloody conquest that the man Christ did get over our infernal enemies, will be of eternal use to us; because that benefit of Christ shall not only for ever be the foundation of our eternal felicity, but the burden of our song of glory in all our raptures among the angels (Rev 5:9). It will be the blood, the blood, the redeeming blood of the Lamb. 'Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the LAMB for ever and ever' (Rev 5:13). It is he in whom will be found the seven eyes, the seven spirits of God, in whose light we shall see the heights and depths of those springs and everlasting foundations and depths of glory for ever; and, indeed, the conceit of the contrary is foolish (Zech 3:9; Rev 5:6). Is not Christ the head, and we the members? and do not the members receive their whole light, guidance, and wisdom from it? Is not he also the price, the ground, and bottom of our happiness, both in this world and that which is to come? And is it possible it should be forgotten, or that, by it, our joy, light, and heaven should not be made the sweeter to all eternity? Our soul is now bound up in him, as in a bundle of life (1 Sam 25:29). And when we come thither, he is still the Christ, our life; and it is by our being where he is that we shall behold his glory and our glory, because he is glorified (Col 3:3,4; John 17:24). 'For the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.' As he said, 'Ye now therefore have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you' (John 16:22).
Thus much of this city, her descending, her fashion, her glory, and of her wading through glory, from glory to glory.
Ver. 24. 'And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it; and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.' After this long and pleasant description of this holy and new Jerusalem, the Holy Ghost now falleth upon a relation of the people that shall be the inhabitants of this city, and of their numerousness and quality.
'And the nations,' &c. The nations of the world, both of the Jews and Gentiles.
Every one knoweth what the nations are, wherefore I need not stay upon the explication of that, for it doth in general include the multitude of the sinners of the world (Eph 2:1-3; 1 Cor 6:9-11; Titus 3:3). Therefore, when he saith, the nations shall walk in the light of this city, it is as if he had said, that at this day, when she is here in her tranquility, the sinners and disobedient among the sons of men shall by multitudes and whole kingdoms come in and close with the church and house of God. These spiders shall take hold with their hands, and be in kings' palaces (Pro 30:28).
'And the nations,' &c. For this word, 'the nations,' is a great word, and it comprehendeth much; mark, it doth not say a nation, or some nations, neither doth it say few or small nations, but indefinitely, the nations, many nations, strong nations, all nations, the nations in general; only he ties them up with this limit, the nations of them that are saved (Isa 52:15; 60:22; 2:2). Which yet is not so much spoken to clip off the multitude that we suppose may then be converted, as to show us their qualifications and happiness; as he saith by the prophet in another place, Thy children shall be all holy, or righteous, 'and great shall be the peace of thy children' (Isa 54:13; 60:21). 'And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it.' Surely the Holy Ghost would never have spoken at such a rate as this, if he had not intended to show us that at the day of the setting up of this Jerusalem, a great harvest of sinners shall be gathered by the grace of the gospel. But the truth is, the Scriptures go with open arms towards the latter end of the world, even as if they would grasp and compass about almost all people then upon the face of the whole earth with the grace and mercy of God. 'The earth,' saith God, 'shall be full of the knowledge' of the glory 'of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea' (Isa 11:9; Hab 2:14). As he saith, also, for the comfort of the church in another place, 'Behold, I have grave thee upon the palms of my hands, thy walls are continually before me. Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee. Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth. For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me; give place to me, that I may dwell. Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone, these, where had they been?' (Isa 49:16-21). Thus the multitudes of the nations shall at this day be converted to the Lord, and be made the inhabitants of this Jerusalem; as he saith again, 'The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ' (Rev 11:15). And again, 'The kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him' (Dan 7:27).
And observe it, these promises are to be fulfilled in the last days, at the time of the pouring forth of the last vial, which is the time of the sounding of the last of the seven trumpets; for then this city shall be built, and Lucifer fallen from heaven; then the prisoners shall be set at liberty, and the people be gathered together, 'and the kingdoms to serve the Lord' (Isa 2:1,2; 14:4-6; Psa 102:20-22; Rev 11:15-17). 'Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people' (Deu 32:43). Alas! it is now towards the end of the world, and therefore now all is going, if the Lord steps not in with the riches of his grace. Wherefore now at last, before all be turned into fire and ashes, behold the Lord casts the net among the multitude of fish, and the abundance of the sea shall, without fail, be converted to Jerusalem (Isa 60:5). Though Satan and Antichrist have had their day in the world, and by their outrage have made fearful havoc of the souls of sinners from time to time, yet now at length God will strike in for a share with them, and his Son 'shall divide the spoil with the strong' (Isa 53:12). Wherefore he now sets up this city, puts the glory of heaven upon her, provides a new heaven and a new earth for her situation (Isa 66:22); drives profaneness into the holes and dens of the earth; giveth righteousness authority to reign in the world (2 Peter 3:13); and takes off the veil from all faces, that none may hereafter be for ever beguiled by blindness and ignorance (Isa 25:7). Now shall they make merry with the things of God; now shall all eat the fat and drink the sweet (1 Kings 4:20; Neh 8:10,12). For 'in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined' (Isa 25:6).
'And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it.' They 'shall walk in the light of it.' That is, in the light that is in it while it is in its purity in this world, and in the glory of it when it is in its perfection and immortality in another. Whence note by the way, that in the midst of all this glory, or while the glorious light of the gospel shall thus shine in the world, yet even then there will be some also that will not see and rejoice in the glory hereof. But as for those, whoever they are, they are excluded from a share in the blessed and goodly privileges of this city. 'The nations of them which are SAVED shall walk in the light of it.'
'And the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.' By these words are great things held forth. He told us before that the nations of them that are saved shall walk in the light of it; and here he tells us that even their kings also, the kings of the earth, do bring their honour and glory to it. The people of the nations they are but like to single pence and halfpence, but their kings like gold angels and twenty-shilling pieces.[20] Wherefore, when he saith that the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour unto it, it argueth that the gospel and the grace of God, when it is displayed in its own nature, and seen in its own complexion, even then they that have most of the honour and glory of the world will yet stoop their top-gallant[21] unto it. 'Because of thy temple which is at Jerusalem, shall kings bring presents unto thee' (Psa 68:29; Isa 49:22,23). 'The kings of Tarshish, and of the isles, shall bring presents' to thee: 'the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him; all nations shall serve him' (Psa 72:10,11). The kings shall see and arise, and 'princes also shall worship because of the Lord,' &c. (Isa 49:7). The kings shall come to thy light, and princes to the brightness of thy rising (Isa 60:1-5). 'The Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory' (Isa 62:2). Yea, 'that which had not been told them shall they see, and that which they have not heard shall they consider' (Isa 52:15). 'All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of thy mouth. Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord: for great is the glory of the Lord' (Psa 138:4,5). Thus, we see, that though in the first day of the gospel, the poor, the halt, the lame, and the blind are chief in the embracing of the tenders of grace, yet in the latter day thereof God will take hold of kings.
'And the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.' INTO IT; that is, to Jerusalem. Wherefore this city must be built before they all of them will fall in love with her. Indeed, I do conceive that some of them will lay their hand to help forward the work of this city, as did Hiram with Solomon, and Darius, Cyrus, and Artaxerxes, with Ezra and Nehemiah, at the building and repairing the city, in the letter, in the days of old (2 Chron 2:11-15; Ezra 1:1-4; 6:1-3; 7:21). But yet, I say, the great conquest of the kings will be by the beauty and glory of this city, when she is built. 'thou shalt arise,' O Lord, 'and have mercy upon Zion; for the time to favour her, yea, the set time is come. For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof. So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, and all kings thy glory' (Psa 102:13-15). And, indeed, before this city is set up, and established in her own place, most of the kings and great ones of the earth will be found employed and taken up in another work, than to fall in love with Mount Zion, and with the hill thereof. They will be found in love with mistress Babylon, the mother of harlots, the mistress of witchcrafts, and abominations of the earth (Rev 17:2,12-14; 18:3,9). They will, I say, be committing fornication with her, and will be as the horns upon the heads of the beast, to defend the riding lady from the gunshot that the saints continually will be making at her by the force of the Word and Spirit of God. They will be shaking the sharp end of their weapons against the Son of God, continually labouring to keep him out of his throne, and from having that rule in the church, and in the world, as becomes him who is the head of the body, and over all principality and power. 'These shall make war with the Lamb' (Rev 17:14). But, I say, it shall so come about at the last, by the illuminating grace of God, and by the faithful and patient enduring of the saints, together with the glory that everywhere shall now be abiding on the church and congregation of Jesus, that they shall begin to receive a man's heart, and shall consider things that have not been told them; wherefore at last they shall withdraw themselves from the love of this mistress, and shall leave her to scrape for herself in the world, and shall come with repentance and rejoicing to Zion; nay, not only so, but to avenge the quarrel of God, and the vengeance of his temple; and to recompense her also for the delusions and enchantments wherewith she hath entangled them. 'These shall hate her, and they shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire' (Rev 17:16).
Now, madam, what sayest thou? The kings must come to Jerusalem, Jezebel. Thy chamber companions will shortly, notwithstanding thy painted face, cast thee down headlong out at the windows. Yea, they shall tread thee in pieces by the feet of their prancing horses, and with the wheels of their jumping chariots (2 Kings 9:30-33). They shall shut up all bowels of compassion towards thee, and shall roar upon thee like the sea, and upon thy fat ones like the waves thereof (Jer 50:41,42). Yea, when they begin, they will also make an end, and will leave thee so harbourless and comfortless, that now there will be found for thee no gladness at all, no, not so much as one piper to play thee one jig. The delicates that thy soul lusted after, thou shalt find them no more at all (Rev 18:12-22). 'Babylon the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation; neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there, neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures. And owls shall dwell there, and satyrs [that is, the hobgoblins, or devils] shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces; and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged' (Isa 13:19-23). Thus wilt thou come down wonderfully. For 'in thee have they set light by father and mother; in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow. In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in thee they eat upon the mountains, in the midst of thee they commit lewdness' (Eze 22:6-10). God hath smitten his hands at thy dishonest gain, and all the blood which hath been in the midst of thee; God will be avenged of thee, but will not meet thee as a man (Isa 47:1-3). You 'have cast lots for my people,' saith God: you 'have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.' You have made havoc of my young converts to satisfy your lusts; therefore, 'What have ye to do with me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the coast of Palestine? Will ye render me a recompence? And if ye recompence me swiftly and speedily, will I return you recompence upon your own head' (Joel 3:1-4). I will throw it as dirt in your face again. And never talk of what thou wast once, for though thou wast full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty, though thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God, yea, though every precious stone for some time was thy covering, and thou the very anointed cherub that covereth, walking upon the mountain of God, and in the midst of the stones of fire, yet because-by reason of the multitude of thy merchandize-thou hast sinned, and art filled with violence. 'Therefore God will cast thee, as profane, out of the mountain of God, and will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire'; yea, he will cast thee to the ground, and lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. And 'all they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more' (Eze 28:12-19). 'And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold; though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair, thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life' (Jer 4:30).
'And the kings of the earth do bring their glory and their honour into it.' Mark, they do not only forsake the crimson harlot, neither do they content themselves with eating her flesh and burning her with fire, but they come over, they come over to Jerusalem; they are conquered by the grace of Christ and wisdom of the Son of God. They shall make war with the Lamb, but the Lamb shall overcome them, for he is King of kings and Lord of lords, and those that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. Now they shall all give way to the government of the King of kings, the governor of the Jews (Ezra 6:7), and shall with gladness delight to see him rule his spouse with his own law, rules, and testament; they shall play the pranks of Jeroboam no longer, in making calves to keep the people from going up to Jerusalem to worship. Now they shall count him also king of nations, as well as king of saints; and he shall wear the crowns, and they shall seek to him (Rev 19:12,15; Jer 10:7; Isa 52:15; 2 Chron 9:23).
[The city secure, the gates always open.]
Ver. 25. 'And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day for there shall be no night there.'
This is the effect of what you read before, namely, of the coming in of the kings and great ones of the earth to this Jerusalem. For when the whore is made desolate and naked, and burned with fire, and when the kings also that loved her, and that maintained her, are come in, and have closed with the glory and beauty of this city, then what need is there to shut the gates? Alas, all the injuries that the kings and great ones of the earth have done to the church and spouse of Christ in these days of the New Testament, it hath been through the instigation and witchcraft of this mistress of iniquity. 'The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear' (Nahum 3:3,4), against the saints of God, by reason of the multitudes of the whoredoms of the well-favoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, who selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts. Wherefore I say, this gentlewoman being laid in her grave, and all her fat ones gone down to the sides of the pit, these kings will change their mind, and fall in love with the true and chaste matron, and with Christ her Lord. Now when this is thus, this city must needs be safely inhabited as towns without walls, and as a place near to which there is neither thief nor ravenous beast (Isa 2:4; Jer 33:16; Zech 2:4; 14:11).
Persecutors, while they remain in their spirit of outrage against the church and people of God, they are frequently in the Scripture compared to the venomous dragons, fierce lions, and ravenous wolves (Jer 51:34,37). All which at this day shall be driven out of the world, that is, so out, as never to molest the church again, or to cause a gate of this city to be shut, through fear, against them; as he saith by the prophet, 'In the habitation of dragons where each lay, shall be grass, with reeds and rushes' (Isa 35:7). In the habitation of dragons, that is, even in the places of persecutors, where each lay, shall be food for the flock of Christ. The dragon is a venomous beast, and poisoneth all where he lieth! He beats the earth bare, and venoms it, that it will bear no grass, as do the persecutors where they inhabit and lie. But behold, the days do come in which these dragons shall be removed, and the ground where they lay be made fruitful and flourish, so that even there shall be places for the flocks to lie down in. 'In the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass, with reeds and rushes. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon; but the redeemed of the Lord shall walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away' (Isa 35:7-10). According to that of Moses, the Lord 'will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid.' For 'he will rid evil beasts out of the land,' and the sword shall not go through it more (Lev 26:6). 'And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings and in quiet resting-places' (Isa 32:18).
'And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there.' This word DAY we may understand two ways; either for the day of bringing in to fill this city, or for the day of her perfection and fulness. Now if you take it with reference to the day in which her converts are coming in, as indeed it ought, why then, the gates shall not be shut at all. 'Thy gates shall be open continually, they shall not be shut day nor night, that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought' (Isa 60:11).
But again, this day of grace, and of conversion of sinners, it must be looked upon either as the church is in captivity and persecution, or as she is out. Now, as she is in captivity, so her longest day is usually accompanied with a black and doubtful night of temptation and affliction. Wherefore this day here being spoken of, it is the day of grace that she shall have even when she is absolutely delivered from the rage of the beast, false prophet, and whore. Wherefore he is not content to say, the gates shall not be shut at all by day, but adds withal, 'for there shall be no night there'; as who should say, I know that commonly in the day of the church's affliction she is accompanied with nights as well as days, but it shall not be so here; 'Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended' (Isa 60:20).
Wherefore John, considering this, doth quite exclude the night, saying, 'There shall be no night there.' Indeed after this New Jerusalem hath had her golden day in this world, I say, just towards the ending thereof, she will yet once again be beset with raging Gog and Magog, which enemies will, after the long safety and tranquility of this city, through the instigation of the devil come upon the breadth of the earth, and encamp about this holy city (Eze 28; 29). But behold in the midst of this intention to swallow her up, the Lord rains fire and brimstone from heaven and destroys them all; so that God, I say, though he may bring one only evening upon this holy city after her long peace and rest among the sons of men, yet he shall not bring one night upon her, nor cause a gate thereof to be shut for ever. The sun shall now stand still in the midst of heaven, and this night shall be thus prevented by this marvellous judgment of God (Josh 10). As another prophet saith, 'At evening time it shall be light' (Zech 14:7). That is, though her enemies will at last still make, through their enmity, one only attempt to swallow up all in everlasting oblivion, yet they themselves shall fall down dead upon the mountains of Israel, and be a prey to this Jerusalem. Thus there will be only day accompanying the inhabitants of this city, 'For there shall be no night there.'
[The glory and honour of the nations brought into it.]
Ver. 26. 'And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.' This, as I said before, is to show us how heartily, and how unfeignedly, both the nations and their kings shall now come over to New Jerusalem. They come hand in hand, not the people without their prince, nor the prince without his people, though it will, and must be so, in the times of persecution; but now, together 'they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations to it.'
Again, I told you before that the Jews shall at this day be converted to the Christian faith, and shall have a great name and much of heaven upon them in this city. For, indeed, they are the first-born, the natural branches, and the like. Now when he saith, they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations to it, I cannot think that by this should we understand only, or yet principally, the outward pomp and treasure of the world, but that rather by honour and glory we are here to understand the heavenly treasure and glory that the saints shall continually pour forth into one another's bosoms in this city. In this city, I say, for at this day, as I have formerly showed you, there will be found no treasure any where but at Jerusalem; every saint shall be here, every grace shall be here, the precious stones of the sanctuary, the precious sons of Zion shall not then, as now, lie scattered, some in the world, and some in mistress Babylon's lap; neither shall any thing pertaining to the church's privileges be found in her at all for ever. There shall be heard no more at all in her any harpers, trumpeters, pipers, or any other heavenly music in her; neither shall there be any more the sound of a millstone to grind us bread, nor the light of a candle to guide us in the house, nor yet the voice of the bridegroom, Christ, nor of the bride his wife, to tempt or allure any that are seeking the way of life, to stay with her (Rev 18:22,23). All these things shall be brought to Jerusalem (2 Chron 36:7). Christians, you must understand that there is a time when all the treasures of the church are to be found in Babylon, as in the days of old; but at this day, when this city is built, not any of them shall be found there, but all shall be brought and delivered up to Jerusalem again, as was also foreshown in the type; and all places shall be void of the treasure of heaven, but Jerusalem (Ezra 6:1-6; 7:13-16).
Wherefore by the glory and honour of the nations in this place, I understand that all the treasures of the church, and all the graces that at this day lie scattered here and there, some in one place and some in another, they shall be found no where at that day but in this city, in the church that walks according to rule. Now the reasons why I take this honour and glory to be meant of these things are-
First. Because thus it was in the time of the building of Jerusalem after the captivity, the treasure of the Jews, which was become the treasures of the provinces of Babylon, was again restored and brought to Jerusalem, as you may see by the scriptures now cited.
Second. Because I find indeed, that the milk and honey of the land of Canaan-which are, in our gospel language, the gifts, graces, and treasures of the church-it is called, 'The glory of all lands' (Eze 20:6). Now, I say, seeing the milk and honey, which are the comforts of the church and her treasure, is called 'The glory of all lands,' I take glory and honour in this place to signify the same thing also (Cant 4:11).
Third. Because also I find, by comparing the prophets, that the Christian's glory and honour lieth mostly, even principally, in heavenly and spiritual things; as in faith, love, experience of God, of grace, of Christ, and spiritual life. I read that, at the building of this city, the Jews and Gentiles shall meet together, and that at that day they shall mutually be partakers of each other's glory. The Gentiles 'shall milk out, and be delighted in the abundance of the glory' of the Jews: and the glory of the Gentiles shall be again extended unto the Jews like a mighty flowing stream (Isa 66:10-13). But I say that this glory and honour should consist in outward things, or that the glory that is merely carnal should be principally here intended, I confess it grates too near the ground for me to believe or rejoice in it. Alas, I find that those souls that have not now the tenth part of the spirit and life of heavenly things that shall then be poured forth; I say, I find that these are trampling on the world, and disdain the thoughts of being taken with its glory. Wherefore much less will it be esteemed in that day, when the glory and goodness of God shall in that manner break forth. Again, can it be imagined that the chief of the glory that the Gentiles should bring to the Jews after a sixteen hundred years warming in the bosom of Christ; I say, is it imaginable that the great crop of all they have reaped should consist in a little outward trumpery? Or if it should, would it be a suitable medicine in the least to present to the eyes of a broken and wounded people, as the Jews will be at that day? Or if they glory that the Gentiles at that day shall suck from the Jews were such as this, would it at all be as life from the dead to them in a gospel sense. The church of the Gentiles shall be a wall to the Jews at their return; but such a wall as will chiefly consist in spiritual and heavenly safeguard, and in outward, because of that (Rom 11:13-15). I am a wall, saith she, and my breasts are towers, on which the Jews will build upon her a palace of silver (Cant 8:8-10). But must this wall, I say, consist chiefly in outward glory, in the glory of earthly things? or must this silver palace be of that nature either? No verily, but when God hath built the city Jerusalem, and put his church into such a state, that upon all her glory shall be a defence of heaven, then shall the Jews, by their coming into this city, build, by their experience, a palace for spiritual and heavenly pleasure, to solace and comfort their brethren withal. In a word, then, by glory and honour in this place, we are chiefly to understand the spiritual and heavenly things of this city, which, in the times of the reign of Antichrist, have lain, some among the potsherds of the earth, some again under the stairs, some under this abuse, and some under that (Psa 61:3; Cant 2:14). All which shall be brought by the souls that shall be converted, forthwith to this city, the church, where will be the treasury of God, into which every one at that day shall throw in of their abundance; but as for the glory of the world, the saints shall be above it, it shall be with them as silver and wood was in the days of Solomon, even as little worth as the stones in the street in their account (Isa 27:13; 1 Kings 10:21).
[None but visible saints shall enter.]
Ver. 27. 'And there shall in nowise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.'
I am not yet convinced that the highest church-state that ever was, or ever will be in this world, could possibly be so, all of them, the elect of God, but that there would get in among them some that had not saving grace; the same also I believe touching the state of this Jerusalem. But yet this I do believe again, that the right and gospel-pattern is, that none be admitted into church communion but such who are visible saints by calling (1 Cor 1:1; 2 Cor 1:1; Eph 1:12; Phil 1:1). The substance of which these words import, 'There shall not enter into it any thing that DEFILETH, or that worketh abomination, or that maketh a lie.' Which words do principally strike at a people that appear to be loose, wicked, or ungodly; of which sort indeed, not one shall here at any time, no, not in any wise, be admitted entrance. For now shall all the forms, and all the ordinances, and all the forms of the goings out of the church of God, and the comings into it, be so exactly opened to these people, and they so punctual and distinct in the observation of them, that it will not be possible that a Canaanite should be here for ever again found any more (Eze 43:10,11; 44:6,8). 'This is the law of the house upon the top of the mountain-the whole limit thereof shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house' (Eze 43:12; Joel 3:17; Zech 14:21).
And as there shall at this day be none admitted here, but such as are in truth visible saints, so none must here continue, but they that continue such. If any of those stones that are put in for building into the house of God, shall afterwards have the plague found on them, then the priest shall command that such stones be taken away and cast into the unclean place that is without the city (Lev 14:40). And observe it, that congregation on earth that admits only of such persons as are visible saints by calling and profession-though possibly some of them, as in the case of Judas and Demas, may be known to God to be non-elect-yet that church is holy round about the limits thereof (Num 19:22; Eph 5:11; Heb 12:15; 2 Thess 3:6,14; 1 Cor 5:6,11-13). Provided, also, that if at any time after that the plague appears, they ordinarily proceed to deal with them, as here things will be done to a tittle and a hair's breadth. Now the reason why the church may be said to have some within her that are non-elect, and yet be counted holy still, it is because the church is to judge of persons by their words and lives; they know not the heart absolutely, and therefore if in word and life a man be as he ought, he is to be accounted a visible saint, and orderly ought to be received of the church as such. So that I say, as I said before, these words of barring out sinners out of the church, they are not to be understood as if they intended that those should be debarred visible communion that in word and life appeared visible saints, that are so judged by the rules of Christ's testament; but that such should be from it shut out that appeared visible sinners. Those that are defilers, workers of abomination, and makers of lies, none of these shall enter.
But 'they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.' These words explain the matter: those, and those only, shall enter here, that are found written in the Lamb's book of life. Now, by book of life we are to understand two things in the Scriptures of truth. First, either the book of God's eternal grace and mercy through Christ, in which all the elect are recorded for ever. Or, Secondly, that book of life in which the Lord Jesus hath all recorded that are visible saints by calling; for, for both these there is a book of life. For the first of these, I judge these Scriptures do suit (Luke 10:20; 2 Tim 2:19; Phil 4:3). And for the second, these with that in the text (Exo 32:32,33; Rev 22:19).
Now the book of life in this place must not be so strictly taken as if it included those only that were elect of God to eternal life, but must be understood of that book wherein are recorded the rules and bounds of visible church-communion; and so all those that, through the gifts and operations of special or common grace, do fall within the compass of those rules and bounds. Thus it was in the type at the return out of captivity, none were to be admitted entrance into the church but those that could show their privileges by genealogy and the records of the church; and to others it was said that they had neither portion, nor lot, nor memorial, in Jerusalem (Ezra 2:62,63; Neh 7:64,65; 2:20).
Now that by book of life in this place we are to understand that book that hath in it the bounds and liberties of this city, and so every one that falleth within the compass of these bounds and privileges visibly; consider,
First. They that are visible matter for visible church-communion, they shall be found within this city, and yet there shall not enter any, but those that are written in the Lamb's book of life.
Second. Now visible church-communion doth not absolutely call for only invisible saints, neither can it; for if the church were to join with none but those whom they knew to be the very elect of God-as all invisible saints are-then she must join with none at all; for it is not possible that any church should be so infallible to judge in that manner of the elect, as to discern them always, and altogether, from the non-elect, which cannot be an invisible saint.
Third. By book of life therefore, in this place, we are to understand, I say, that book that hath written in it every visible saint, whether they be elect or not; and so such a book that is capable of receiving in a man at one time, and of blotting of him out again, as occasion doth require, at another. Which thing is only applicable to that book which binds and looses on the account of a man's being a visible saint or a visible apostate. Which thing is only applicable to the visible rules of receiving or shutting out of visible church-communion; which rules being the rules of Christ's New Testament, it is proper to call it the book of life; and is about the matter of going in or going out of this very city so called. 'If any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book' (Rev 22:18,19). O how happy is he who is not only a visible, but also an invisible saint! (Rev 3:5). He, he shall not be blotted out the book of God's eternal grace and mercy, when others are liable to loose a share, not only in heaven, but to be for ever blotted out of the book that approveth of visible believers also.
Fourth. But again, to explain the matter yet more: in the visible church there are not only sons, but servants-that is, not only those that are truly elect, but such as have received a gift for the perfecting of the church under Christ, in his service here in this world (Eze 46:16,17). Now, I say, the servant for the time present hath his place in the church as well as the son, though not the place of a son, but of a servant, even a place of service, as of preaching, prophesying, administering the ordinances that are given to the church, and the like (1 Cor 12:7; Eph 4:11,12). All which a man that hath not grace may do, and that by the appointment of Christ; thus was Judas, Demas, Hymeneus, Phyletus, and others, who sometimes were the servants of Christ in the church, and did minister for him to them; yet themselves, notwithstanding, such as were all that time strangers and aliens to the life and power and saving operations of the justifying and preserving grace of the gospel (1 Cor 13:1-4; Matt 25:14-18). As he saith also by the prophet Isaiah, 'strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of aliens shall be your ploughmen, and your vine-dressers' (Isa 61:5). For verily Christ will give to those that have not his saving grace, yet great knowledge and understanding in the mysteries of the kingdom of God, and will also make them for profit and advantage in his church, to feed their flocks, to plough up the fallow ground of their hearts, and to dress their tender vines. Yet, I say, they themselves shall not be everlastingly saved, for they want his saving grace. As Christ saith, 'The servant abideth not in the house for ever, but the son abideth for ever' (John 8:35). As he saith again in another prophet, 'If the prince give a gift unto any of his sons, the inheritance thereof shall be his sons, it shall be their possession by inheritance; but if he give a gift of inheritance to one of his servants, then it shall be his to the year of liberty, after it shall return to the prince; but his inheritance shall be his sons for them' (Eze 46:16,17). Some indeed have grace as well as gifts; now they that are such the profit of their gifts shall be rewarded by virtue of their grace; but as for them that have only a gift, when the work of a gift is done, then they cease to be any longer of use in the church, and therefore are forthwith shut out of the same, but the son abideth for ever. Thus you see that as visible church-communion doth not absolutely call for the elect only, but admits, and that by the book of rules, all that are visible and open saints by calling, so also the Lord Jesus himself doth, and will use some in his church as his officers and servants, that yet in a strict sense are neither his sons nor members, who yet are within the bounds of that book of life that here he speaks of, as is evident, because with Christ's allowance they are admitted into communion with his church, and by him also furnished with gifts and abilities to profit and edify withal. Now observe, such a one is admitted, though but a servant, yet not by the church, because but such a one. The church receiveth no man upon the account of gifts alone, but upon the account of the appearance of grace, as of gospel-repentance, of the confession of faith, and of a conversation suitable to the same; all which a man that is not elect may have the notion of, yea, the power, though not the saving power (Heb 6:4,5).
Fifth. Further, this which I have said about the visible church-communion, and so consequently about the book of life, it must needs be a gospel-truth: yea, a thing for truth in this New Jerusalem: because, besides what hath been said, there will be found in this city, even at the coming of the Lord Jesus, which coming of his will not be for some time after the building and setting of it up, I say, there will be then found among them foolish virgins, and such who have not the saving grace of God in their souls. But yet, 1. These very souls shall be counted by the church, yea, by Christ himself, for virgins; that is, such as had not defiled their profession. 2. And will be such virgins as have, and hold every one her lamp, even as the wise themselves. 3. Such virgins as were, every one of them gone forth from the pollutions of this evil world. 4. And so such as continued visible saints, even till the bridegroom came (Matt 25:1-10). For then, it is said in the margin, they cried, Our lamps are going out. These, I say, be those gifted people that will have place in the church, and so place in the book of life here mentioned, which yet will, though they continue hid from the church, be discovered in the day of the Lord to be such as had only a gift, but not grace, and shall for their secret sins be cut off and cast away, notwithstanding they were visible saints all their days.
To conclude then: If the Scripture saith, that none that defileth, or that worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, shall enter into his holy city which yet is but the church on earth, with what face can defilers think and say they shall possess a part among the church which is in heaven? Again, If many that have received gifts from God, and that may be serviceable in his house, shall yet be put out of doors at the coming of the Lord, what will they do that have been and yet continue both giftless and graceless, as visibly as the light that shineth? And that instead of being the ploughmen and vine-dressers of the church, prove thieves, robbers, persecutors, and the like! Yea, if many that are within the bounds of that book of life that hath the records and rules of a rightly constituted visible church may yet perish, what will become of them that never were so much as written therein? Must they not perish rather? 'And whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire' (Rev 20:15).
Rev. 22:1.-'And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.'
Having thus showed us this city, her fashion, glory, inhabitants, and the like, he now comes to show us her provision and maintenance, wherewith she is kept in safety, life, peace, and comfort, &c.
[Its drink the river of life.]
'And he showed me a pure river of water of life.' This water of life is nothing else but the manifold grace of God in Christ let forth to the inhabitants of this Jerusalem, wherewith she is watered and replenished, as the earth with rain from heaven, for the good of those that drink thereof. For both the word water and that of life, they are but metaphorical sayings, under which is held forth some better and more excellent thing. And indeed it is frequent with God in Scripture to speak of his grace and mercy under the notion of waters, of a fountain, a sea, and the like (Zech 13:1; Micah 7:18,19).
[It is called water.] Now it is called water, First, Because no soul can be cleansed, or effectually washed from its guilt and filth, but by the grace of God (Eph 1:7). 'I washed thee with water, yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee,' 'and thou becamest mine' (Eze 16:8,9). Second, It is called water, because it also quencheth the spiritual thirst of them that by faith do drink thereof (Isa 41:18). I will give, saith Christ, to him that is a-thirst, of the fountain of the water of life freely (Rev 22:17). And again, 'He that drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst' (John 4:14).
[Water of LIFE.] Further, As it is called water, so it is called 'the water OF LIFE,' and that upon a diverse account. First, Because it is that which recovereth the soul that drinketh thereof from the death of sin and the curse of God, to a principle of life and heavenly blessing. 'And it shall come to pass that every thing that liveth, which moveth whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live' (Eze 47:9). Second, It is called 'the water of life,' because that from it comes all those heavenly and spiritual quickenings and revivings, that (like aqua vitae [water of life]) do fetch again, and cheer up the soul that was sinking and giving up the ghost in this world. 'There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God' (Psa 46:4). Third, It is called 'the water of life,' because it healeth the soul of all its spiritual infirmities and diseases, wherewith by reason of the remainders of sin, the creature is most sadly annoyed and infected. 'And there shall be a very great multitude of fish,' of men he means (Matt 4:19), 'because the waters shall come thither; for they,' these fish, 'shall be healed, and every thing shall live whiter the river cometh' (Eze 47:9). Fourth, and lastly, It is called 'the water of life,' because that whosoever doth effectually drink thereof, shall die no more, but the water that Christ shall give him shall be in him a well of water, springing up in him to eternal life; wherefore he calleth it in another place, 'the living water,' because the quality and nature of it is to beget, to increase, to maintain, and preserve life (John 4:10-14).
[Water of lifer clear and PURE AS CRYSTAL.] 'And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal,' &c. Mark, it is water, water of life, pure water of life, and clear as crystal. These words, 'pure' and 'clear,' and that as 'crystal,' they are added upon a double account. First, To show you that it is grace alone that saveth the sinner; and, Second, To show you that at this day the doctrine of this grace will be by itself alone without the commixture of that dirt and trash that for a long time, even to this day, hath been thrown into it.
First, It showeth us that it is grace alone that saveth the sinner, pure grace, grace that admits of nothing of ours to be in the least a helper in the matter of our happiness; we are 'justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.' As he saith by the prophet, 'I will pour CLEAN water upon you, and ye shall be clean, and from all your idols will I cleanse you' (Eze 36:25).[22] 'Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord. Be ye ashamed and confounded for all your own evil ways, O house of Israel' (vv 32,33). It is clean water, indeed-it is clear in the nature of it, clear in the gift of it, and clear in the working of it. It washeth freely, thoroughly, and perfectly. 'From all your idols will I cleanse you' (v 25; 16:9; Rev 21:8).
Second, This word pure, and clear as crystal, it also showeth us that at the day of New Jerusalem, the doctrine of grace shall be cleansed from all those dirty and muddy inventions that sin, Satan, and the wisdom of this world hath thrown into this river, and into its goodly crystal streams; I say at this day they shall not come near it, neither shall the rubbish they have already cast into it any more be there for ever. 'I will destroy all the beasts thereof [the beastly men he means] from beside the great waters, neither shall the foot of man trouble them any more, nor the hoofs of beasts trouble them. Then will I make their waters deep, and cause the rivers to run like oil, saith the Lord God' (Eze 32:13,14).
'And he SHEWED me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal,' &c. In that he saith he saw this river, he giveth us in a mystery also to understand how openly and plainly this river shall in all its crystal streams and currents be apprehended and seen by the children of this city; for in this vision he doth as it were represent in his person the children of New Jerusalem; as God said to Ezekiel in another case, 'Thou shalt be a sign,' 'and they shall do as thou hast done' (24:22,27). So here, I saw, saith John, a pure river of water of life. I am in this a sign to the house of the Israel of God, and to the inhabitants of this city; they shall do as I have done, and shall also see as I have seen. As saith the church and people of this city, 'As we have heard, so have we seen, in the city of the Lord of hosts' (Psa 48:8). And hence it is called an open fountain, because it shall be no more shut up or kept close for ever (Zech 13:1,2).
[Whither this water goes and its extension.]
'And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, PROCEEDING out of the throne of God.' This word, proceeding, hath also in it two things: First, An implicit declaration whither it goes; and, Second, A discovery of its gradual extension to those to whom it goes.
First. Touching to whom, or whither it goes, it is let out both to the Jews and Gentiles indifferently; and so it never yet was since the foundations of the Jewish church; for in the time of the Old Testament it did run to the Jews in special, and in the time of the New Testament, hitherto, unto us the Gentiles in special. O! but now it shall in this manner be extended to sinners no longer; not now to the Jews without the Gentiles, nor again to them without the Jews, but equally and alike to both, and on them both it shall work alike effectually. 'It shall be in that day,' saith the prophet, 'that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea' (Zech 14:8). By 'living waters' here, you are to understand the same with this in the text; by 'the former sea,' the people of the Jews, for they were God's former people; and by 'hinder sea,' the people of the Gentiles, for they are the younger son. And because the whole world consisteth of these two people, therefore Ezekiel in his vision puts them both together, calling them the fish of one great sea, to which this water of life shall run, and upon whose fish it shall have a like operation, even to heal them, and make them live, without respect either to this or that party. 'It shall come to pass that the fishers,' that is, the gospel ministers, 'shall stand upon it,' the rivers, 'from En-gedi even to En-eglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many' (Eze 47:10). As another prophet saith, 'The abundance of the sea shall be converted to thee' (Isa 60:5). Thus much touching whither this water goes.
[Second.] And now to come to the manner of the extension of it, in the way of its proceeding. A thing that proceeds, it doth what it doth gradually, that is, by degrees. First, it comes or goes so far, and then further, and afterwards further than that, till at last it ascends to the height and uppermost degree that is allotted for its perfection. All which the Holy Ghost would have us gather out of this word, 'it proceedeth,' or that John saw this holy water 'proceeding.' The which the prophet Ezekiel in a mystery unfoldeth to us, saying, the first time he passed over this water it was up but to his ankles; the second time he passed through, it proceeded to his knees; the third time, to his loins; and last of all, became a river to swim in (Eze 47:1-3).
1. It is but up to the ankles, that is, but shallow; and signifies that, first, the soul is but a little child in God's things, such as the apostle calls babes, children, 'little children' (1 John 2:12).
2. Then from the ankles it proceeds to the knees, that is, somewhat higher than the ankles; and signifieth that the Christian groweth from a child to a young and strong man, one that is now gotten deeper into the things of God, and that is able to tug with and overcome the wicked ones (1 John 2:13).
3. After this it proceeds higher, even up to the loins; this signifies that as grace makes men children of God, and his young men, so also it maketh them fathers and ancients in his church; it makes them grave, knowing, solid guides, and unfolders of the mysteries of the kingdom; these are such as are instructed into the kingdom of God, and that can bring out of their treasury things new and old.
4. It yet proceeds higher, even to be above the head, a river to swim in, and that such a river as can by no means be passed over. This signifieth our launching into eternity; our being beyond all heights, depths, lengths, and breadths in the open vision and enjoyments of grace. 'For there the glorious Lord shall be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams, wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ships pass thereby' (Isa 33:21). Thus we begin children, and wade up to the ankles in the things of God; and being once in, it riseth and proceeds to come up to our knees, then to our loins, and last of all to be a river to swim in; a river so wide, so deep, and every way so large, that it can in no wise be passed over.[23]
[Whence and from whom this water comes.]
'And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb.' Having thus spoken to the water what it is, as also to whom it extends itself, and how it proceeds, he now comes to show us from whence and from whom it doth come. It proceeds, saith he, 'from the throne of God and of the Lamb.' Out of the throne of God; this throne of God, it is, in another place, called the mercy-seat, and throne of grace, from which, as always, so now in a special manner he will issue forth of himself in the glory of the gospel of the grace of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to the inhabitants of this city (Exo 25:22; Heb 4:16). When he saith, therefore, that it doth proceed out of the throne of God, it is as if he had said, I saw that from the yearning bowels of the great God did flow continually the living streams of the everlasting fountains of grace, and that not only to, but in the midst of this city, wherewith her inhabitants are continually watered, and their pastures kept always green and flourishing. 'Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters' (Isa 55:1).
'Proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.' In that this water of life is said to proceed not only out of the throne of God, but also of the Lamb, it signifieth and holdeth forth unto us two special things:
First. That the throne of God is also made the throne of the Lord Jesus Christ, upon which he, as a reward of his sufferings and victory over sin, Satan, and all evils, is set down, and upon which he sits and rules as Lord and Chief of all worlds. He is set down on the right hand of power, on the right hand of the Majesty on high; as he saith, 'To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne' (Rev 3:21). This being thus, it signifieth that this city shall have her enjoyments of life, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, by virtue of the kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as by the virtue of his priestly and prophetical office. The church doth in our days know a little what joy, peace, and life is to be enjoyed from Christ, even through that dark and glimmering sight that she hath of the offices of Christ in a mist; but she feels not yet what joy she shall have, and what peace she shall enjoy when her Lord, in all his offices, is manifest before her, and when he in the glory of them doth reign in the midst of this Jerusalem. There are none of the offices of the Lord Jesus yet upon the throne in his church on earth, though they be all upon the throne in heaven. O! but the day is coming that they shall be all upon the throne in the church on earth; when they shall, each of them in its full length, breadth, height, and depth, bear sway among his people, and before all men. 'Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously' (Isa 24:23).
'O that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence!' (Isa 64:1). O that the day were come that the smoke should go forth of the temple of God, that men might enter into it, and there meet with God upon the throne, and with Jesus in him upon the throne in all his offices! It will be thus, thou Zion, shortly, 'and great shall be the peace of thy children' (Isa 54:13).
[Second.] The second thing observable is, that as all grace comes from out of the throne of God, so it also proceeds or comes out of the throne of the Lamb; that is, no grace comes to any but through the victory and conquest of the Lord Christ. We are 'justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus' (Rom 3:24). And again, 'We have redemption through his blood,' even 'the forgiveness of' our 'sins, according to the riches of his grace' (Eph 1:7). By which we may gather that when these things come to be in their own purity among us-that is, when grace runs clear without the dirt and mud of the traditions of men commixed therewith-then will all that hold up false and erroneous opinions be washed away. For this river will not only wash away the sins and filthiness of those that are truly gracious; but it will also destroy the heretic and erroneous person;[24] it will be to them at that day as the Red Sea was to the Egyptians of old; which sea, though it was a wall on this hand and on that to the children of Israel, yet it destroyed the Egyptians that assayed to go through it as Israel did (Heb 11:29). The reason also why we are at this day in such confusion in matters of religion, it is for want of the clear and pure streams of this river of water of life; all which will be mended when there is but one river to water this city, and that too the pure river of the water of life, in all its streams as clear as crystal; then shall all drink in all things into one Spirit, and be watered with the same dews of heaven.
Thus much of the water of life that belongeth to this Jerusalem.
[Its food the tree of life.]
Ver. 2. And 'in the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bear twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.' This tree of life is the Lord Jesus Christ; and that he is here called a tree, rather than by other of his names, it is to show us how fruitful and exceeding advantageous he in all his benefits will be to the inhabitants of this city. This is that tree under whose branches the fowls of heaven shall now most safely lodge, and find relief from the hot and fainting beams of the persecuting sun of this world, as the Word doth there inform us (Matt 13:31,32).
[The situation of this tree in the midst of the city.] Now before I come to speak to this tree, touching the manner of its fruit, and its often bearing, with the efficaciousness of its leaves, which here he saith doth heal the nations; I will take notice of one or two general things that lie before me, from the standing of the tree in the midst of the street of this city.
First then, In that he saith this city hath a tree of life in it, he alludes to the garden of Eden, the pleasant paradise that God began the world withal; whereby he signifieth that as the world began with a paradise, so also it shall end with a paradise, when sin and Satan have done their worst. This New Jerusalem shall be the wind up of the world, and in it shall stand the tree of life, as well as there stood one in the goodly garden, which was the beginning thereof. In which paradise there shall be not tree of knowledge, or the law of works, to bear sway, and to cause that the sons of God shall be thrust out thence for their eating of its forbidden fruits; no, the tree of life alone shall here bear sway and rule, whose fruit is only healthful, and the leaves thereof for medicine.
[1.] Now this tree of life being in the midst of this city, it signifieth that the inhabitants of it shall be sweetly shadowed, refreshed, and defended with its coolness, and also sweetly nourished and comforted with its dainties. And hence it is that the Scriptures do hold him forth in his benefits to his church under these very notions. 'As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste' (Cant 2:3). Indeed the shadow of this tree of life, as always it is refreshing to the tempted and weary, so now it will be far more. 'They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine; the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon' (Hab 14:7). Mark, (1.) His shadow will make us return, that is, to our first love; to the days of our youth, to our young, fresh, tender, and flourishing faith, love, and self-denial, that we received in the days of our espousals. (2.) As it will make us return to these, so it will make us revive in these; they shall return and revive, they shall revive as the corn; as the corn doth when, in the heat of summer, after long scorching, it is covered with cool clouds, and watered with the bottles of heaven. (3.) As it shall make them return and revive, so it shall make them grow; they shall grow as the vine, that is, speedily, fruitfully, and spreadingly. (4.) This is not all, but the smell of saints in those days shall be excellent: 'They shall revive as the corn,' they shall 'grow as the vine,' and shall send forth their scent 'as the wine of Lebanon.' This tree is a perfuming tree, and makes them also that abide under the shadow thereof to smell as sweet-smelling myrrh; it makes them smell as the wine of thy grace, O Lord, and as the fragrant ointments of heaven. When the spouse did but touch where her Lord had touched afore her, it made her 'hands drop with myrrh, and her fingers with sweet-smelling myrrh' (Cant 5:5). O they will be green, savoury, reviving, flourishing, growing Christians, that shall walk the street of New Jerusalem! 'I am,' saith he, 'like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found' (Hosea 14:8).
[2.] But again, As he shall be thus profitable to his people for shadow and reviving, so he will be in the midst of the street of it for food, for refreshing and replenishing that way. 'I sat down under his shadow with great delight,' said she, 'and his fruit was sweet to my taste.' Ezekiel tells us that this tree is all trees; and on the bank of the river, on this side, and on that, were all trees for meat (Eze 47:12). Indeed Christ is all trees; yea, there is more to be found in him for the food of the soul, than there can be on all trees for the food of the body. He is a fir-tree for tallness, greenness and strength; he is an olive for fatness, a vine for sweetness and goodness, for therewith is refreshed the heart both of God and man (Hosea 14:8; Rom 11:17; John 15:1,2). What shall I say, He is the almond-tree, the fig-tree, the apple-tree, all trees; The tree of life also in the midst of the paradise of God (Cant 2:13).
To conclude.-Seeing Christ is said to be in the midst of the street of this city, it showeth unto us with what, at all occasions, the actions of the saints of this city shall be seasoned. The street, you know I told you, is the way of holiness in this city, the place of spiritual recreation and solace. Now in the very midst of this street there stands this tree, which being thus, it showeth us how wonderfully Christ, as a tree of life, will be in all the words and deeds of the inhabitants of this Jerusalem; they will walk in Christ, they will talk in Christ, they will do all they do in Christ, or rather Christ will be found in all their ways; even as the tree of life is found in the midst of the street of this city: 'they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the Lord' (Zech 10:12).
Again, In that this tree is said to stand in the midst of the street, it showeth unto us how common and free his benefits will now be also. The plumbs, and figs, and grapes, and apples of this tree, will be open to every passenger: not a boy nor a girl, that now shall play in thy street, O Jerusalem, but shall eat of the fruits of the tree that stands in the mist of thee, as of common things (Jer 31:4,5).
[Second.] 'And in the midst of the street of it, and ON EITHER SIDE of the river was there the tree of life.' As this tree doth stand in the midst of the street of this city, so it also standeth on each side of the river of the water of life, of which you have heard before. Now when he saith, the tree is on either side of the river; whence by the way note yet again, that both the water of life, and also the tree of life, they are both to be enjoyed by the inhabitants of this city in the way of holiness; the tree is in the midst of the street, and the river runs through or between the very tables of the heart of this tree of life; on either side of the river was there the tree of life.
Again, In that it is said that this tree of life is on either side of the river; it argueth that they who come at any time at this river for water to quench their thirst, and to make them live, they must come to it by the tree of life, which is Christ. In more easy terms, read it thus: There is none can partake of the grace of God but by the man Christ Jesus, which is this tree of life (Col 2:3,9). For this tree, this Christ, doth stand on either side of the river, to signify that all grace to us comes through his bloody wounds, death and victory (John 1:16). 'I am the way,' saith Christ, 'and the truth, and the life; no man cometh to the Father but by me' (John 14:6).
'And on either side of the river was there the tree of life.' Mark, but one tree, and yet such a tree whose body reached as far as the river reached: indeed Ezekiel saith this tree is all trees for meat, yet not to show that there are more trees of life than one, but to show that all that can be thought of that is good for soul-nourishment, is to be found in this one, that is, in Christ Jesus. And it is further evident that though he saith all trees, as if he meant many, yet he spake but metaphorically, to show thereby the fulness of Christ; because John doth understand him so, calling it one tree, to wit, 'the tree of life.' But mark again, so far as the river goes, so far the tree goes, so that where you cannot find the tree of life, be sure there is none of the water of life. No Christ, no grace. 'He that hath the Son hath life, but he that hath not the Son of God, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him' (John 3:36; 1 John 5:12). For 'on either side of the river was there the tree of life.'
[The fruits of this tree.] 'Which bare twelve manner of FRUITS.' This word fruits, it may be taken two ways-either as it relates to God, or as it relates to man, for, as I said before, the fruit of this tree refreshes the heart both of God and man (John 9:9,14).
[1.] Now if it be taken with reference to God, then it signifieth the complete satisfaction that by the worthiness of the fruits of the passion of Christ is given to God for the salvation of the church; this city of God (Dan 9:24,26). He suffered to finish transgression, to make an end of sin, and to bring in everlasting righteousness; by this, I say, is the heart of God refreshed, and in this doth it rest (Matt 3:17).
[2.] If fruit here be taken with reference to men, then it signifieth the happiness and glory that those for whom he died and rose again should receive by this means. His fruit, I have showed you, is sweet to the taste of his church, which fruit is the effect of his undertaking for sinners and the comfortable savour of it in the soul.
[The variety of the fruits.] 'Which bare twelve manner of fruits.'
In that he saith the fruits are twelve, he herein alludeth,
1. To the twelve tribes of the Israel of God; for which twelve tribes here will be found a suitable measure of food, healing food: 'I will multiply the fruit of the tree,' saith God, and also 'the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen' (Eze 36:30).
Again, These that John calleth 'twelve manner of fruits,' the prophet Ezekiel calleth 'all manner of fruit for meat.' For indeed, as I showed before, there is that to be found in Christ, both for fulness and variety, that is not to be found in heaven and earth beside. Here is fruit for body, fruit for soul, fruit for babes, fruit for strong men, fruit for fathers, yea, for glorified saints and angels. Fruits, variety of fruits, even twelve manner of fruits.
2. By twelve manner of fruits, he doth also allude to the apostles, who are called twelve, and are those who have made provision for the house of God, according to the twelve-fold manner of the dispensation of God unto them, and of the twelve-fold manner of operation of that holy Spirit which wrought in every one of them severally as he pleased. Which twelve were before figured unto us by the twelve offices of king Solomon, the type of Christ, which twelve were to make provision for the house of the king, according to the season of the year, and each man his month in the year (1 Kings 4:7). Which very thing the Holy Ghost also doth here cast his eye upon, and that makes him bring in the words of 'every month,' saying, it yields its fruit 'every month.' For indeed, whatever you read of concerning this city, in this description of John, you find something or other in the writings of the prophets that giveth ground for such expressions. Wherefore seeing the officers of Solomon were twelve, and the apostles of Christ twelve also; and seeing the officers of Solomon made provision for his house, each man his month in a year, and the fruits of this tree of life are called twelve manner of fruits, I do take the twelve manner of fruits here to be signified by the provision of Solomon's officers, according to the twelve seasons of the year, and they a type of the twelve-fold doctrine of the twelve apostles of the Lord Christ, for it is their doctrine that is the bread of the church, yea, the milk for the babe, and the strong meat for men (1 Thess 2:7; 1 Cor 3:2; Heb 5:11-14).
[The abundance of the fruits.] 'And yielded her fruit every month.' As this confirmeth what I have said before, so it further showeth us these three things. First, That the effectual fruits of Christ for the saving of the world, they are to be had especially at certain seasons. It 'yielded her fruit every month.' Second, It showeth also that at the building of this Jerusalem, these seasons will be very thick and quick; she yielded her fruit 'every month.' Third, It showeth us also the abundance of provision that this holy city shall then enjoy from the tree of life, even all manner of fruit every month.
First, For the first, that the gospel hath and will be especially effectual at certain seasons for the saving of the sons of men; it is showed us by the descending of the angels into the pool of Bethesda to trouble the water, which as it was at certain seasons, so he that in those seasons first stepped in, he only was made whole of whatsoever disease he had (John 5:4). It is showed us also in that parable of the Lord's hiring men to work in his vineyard; which time of hiring, though it lasteth in general from the first hour to the eleventh, yet so as that there were vacant seasons between hiring-times and hiring-times, quite through the whole day; he went out at the first, third, sixth, ninth and eleventh hour, and not at every hour, to hire labourers (Matt 20:1-6). For as God hath appointed out beforehand the number of his elect, so also he hath determined in his good pleasure the day of their bringing in, and will then have them as certainly as the wild ass is found in her month (Gal 1:15,16; Hosea 6:11; Jer 2:24). Of which times and season, because men are ignorant, therefore they should with all faithfulness wait upon God in all the seasons of his grace for their souls, even as he did for his body; who because he would be there at all seasons, brought thither his bed and couch to rest there (John 5:8).
Second, As by the fruit of this tree being yielded at certain seasons, we may gather that there are certain seasons in which the word in an especial manner shall be blessed and made successful to the salvation of many souls. So again, in that he saith this fruit is yielded every month, it signifieth that in the days of the building of the city, the New Jerusalem, these seasons will be very thick and quick. 'Lift up thine eyes,' saith God to this city, 'all they gather themselves together, they come to thee; thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters' from the ends of the earth. 'All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee' so that thou wonderingly shalt say, 'Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows!' (Isa 60:4,7,8). For 'I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted. Behold these shall come from far; and lo these from the north, and from the west, and those from the land of Sinim' (Isa 49:11,12).
Third, In that she is said to yield not only fruit, but all manner of fruit; and that not only one manner of fruit now, and another then, but all manner of fruit, and that every month; it argueth also that at this day Jerusalem shall have abundance of heavenly and spiritual provision, and of variety of dainties for her solace and refreshment; always new, I say, and immediately from the tree. The fruits of the vine shall at that day be upon the mountains of Samaria, and shall be eaten 'as common things,' saith the prophet (Jer 31:5). 'Fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice; for the Lord will do great things. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness do spring; for the tree beareth her fruit; the fig-tree and the vine do yield their strength. Be glad, then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God; for he hath given you the former' and the latter 'rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain and the latter rain in the first month; and the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the canker-worm and the caterpillar, and the palmer-worm' hath eaten. 'And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord' (Joel 2:21-25). And then shall every one not only sit under his own vine, and under his own fig-tree, but from thence they shall call each to other, to give to each other their dainties, and none shall make them afraid (Zech 3:10).
[The virtue of the leaves.] 'And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.' By leaves here, we may understand the blessed and precious promises, consolations, and encouragements, that by virtue of Christ's undertaking for us, we have everywhere growing upon the new covenant; which promises and encouragements they are and will be most freely handed to the wounded conscience that will be tossed upon the restless waves of doubt and unbelief, as was the olive leaf by the dove brought home to Noah, when he was tossed upon the waves of that outrageous flood that then did drown the world (Gen 8).
But again, by this word, the leaves, you may conceive that still he hath his eye to the paradise in which at first God placed Adam and his companion, for it was to leaves they fled for covering after they had transgressed against their Maker (Gen 3:7). Now then, in his saying the leaves are for healing; it is as if he had said, the paradise that will be towards the latter end of the world will far outstrip the paradise that first was planted in the beginning thereof; for as the tree of life, which is the Christ and Saviour, shall stand where did the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which is the old covenant and law of works: so the leaves of this tree shall be for healing, and for covering the nakedness of poor transgressors, though the leaves that Adam found in the first paradise, do what he could, did leave him naked.
Christ's leaves are better than Adam's aprons. Ezekiel saith that these leaves are for medicine (47:12), that is, they are for healing, saith John; the which may most fitly be applied to the blessed promise of grace. For as a leaf for medicine, when applied to a sore in the body, doth supple, mollify, and heal the wound; so the word of promise, when rightly applied to the soul, it doth supple, mollify, and heal the wounded conscience. 'He sent his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!' (Psa 107:20,21).
'And the leaves,' &c. There is yet another mystery lieth in these words.
He doth not say, and the fruits thereof are for the healing of the nations, but the leaves, by which he would have us to understand that all the benefits and privileges that we do receive from Christ, they are as inferior to the glory we shall have from him when we come to heaven, as inferior, I say, as the leaves are to the fruit. Again, the comfort and sweetness that at any time we receive from the Lord, it is not before but after a promise is suitably applied, even as the fruit of the tree with which the body is comforted is not before but after the leaves have put forth themselves. Wherefore Christ might well say to Nathaniel, and that after he had received some refreshments from a leaf, 'Thou shalt see greater things than these' (John 1:50); and Paul, that yet 'a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory' is laid up for all believers (2 Cor 4:17). For indeed, indeed, the glory that God hath prepared for us against the day of God, it doth and will more outstrip the most high enjoyment of the highest saint in New Jerusalem, notwithstanding their enjoyment will be so eminent, than doth the sweetest fruit outstrip the leaf that hangeth on that tree. 'And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.' If the leaves be so good, O Lord, let us enjoy the fruit; and not a little, or earnest, but the whole harvest thereof in thy kingdom. Thus much touching this water and tree of life.
[The ease, peace, and tranquility of the city.]
Ver. 3. 'And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God—shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him.' This is the conclusion of the whole discourse, and it showeth unto us the blessed effect of the blessed recovering of this city to her first and primitive state. These words, therefore, they are only applicable to this state of the church. For there hath no state of the church been yet in the world but that state hath been liable to a curse; but this state, to wit, the state she will be in at her building again, will be a state without parallel, a state properly her own.
'And there shall be no more curse.' By curse in this place we are chiefly to understand, not the taking away of the curse, the eternal curse which separates between God and the soul for ever-for so the curse in this sense hath always been taken away by virtue of the terms, the general terms of the new covenant, and that in common for every saint in all ages (Gal 3:13)-but by curse here we are to understand that, or those curses that do, and have frequently befallen the church for her sin and apostasy; as namely, the giving up his people to their own darkness and ignorance; his suffering them to swerve from his true worship and ordinances: his giving them up into the hand of those that hate them, to become among them a hissing, a taunt, a reproach, and a by-word, as it is at this day (Zeph 1:12-17; Psa 43:28; Jer 29:18; 44:8,12). His taking away from them the means, to wit, the outward word of the gospel, and suffering them to be even at the point to famish for the want thereof (Amos 8:9-13). These and other things are the curses that he here saith shall be no more among his people; for indeed they shall not, because the gospel-pattern shall never be removed more, nor their light to see, nor their love to practise, never be diminished more. Their defence, also, 'shall be the munition of rocks; bread shall be given them, and their waters shall be sure' (Isa 33:16). As here, you find the tree and river of the water of life are fixed now in the midst of this city. Wherefore now the church, as I have all along showed you, shall have her sun at the height, her light as the light of seven days, and shall go no more down for ever. Also she shall never be pulled down. She shall be a tabernacle that shall never be pulled down, neither shall one of the cords thereof be loosed, or one of her stakes again removed (Isa 33:20).
'There shall be no more curse: but the throne of God shall be in it.' Indeed, here lieth the reason of all blessedness to any people, even the presence of God. Now the presence of God is with his people, either at times or seasons, or all together. He will not be to this city a God of times and seasons, even like a way-faring man that tarries but for a night, as he used to be to his people of old, but here he will abide, rest, and dwell (Zeph 3:17; Jer 14:8,9; Zech 2:10,11). I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and my house shall be built in it, saith the Lord. And, again, 'I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem for ever' (Eze 43:9). Wherefore John considering this, he saith, there shall be here no more any curse, but the throne of God. God will now, when he returneth to Jerusalem, bring his seat with him to signify his sitting down in the midst of his people, to be their company-keeper for ever.
[Import of the word THRONE.] 'But the throne of God—shall be in it.' By this word 'throne,' we are to understand yet further these particular things-
First. How blessed a state this city will be in at all times for the answer of prayer! The throne of God will be in the midst of them; the throne of grace, the mercy-seat, they will be open now to all the inhabitants of this city; yea, the fame thereof shall so spread that it shall be rumoured among all the nations that in Jerusalem God will be found speedily; that in Jerusalem the God of heaven and eternal mercy is found at all times by them that seek his face. 'Mine house,' said he, 'shall be called a house of prayer for all people' (Isa 56:7). Yea, many people, and strong nations, shall at that day come to seek the Lord at Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord. And at that day the very fasts of the house of God 'shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore, love the truth and peace' (Zech 8:19-22).
Second. The throne of God being now established in this city, what a government, what rule, what a life of holiness and godliness, what dread and majesty will now be in the hearts of all the sons of this city! How to a hair's-breadth will he command and guide them with his eye at all times, when they should either turn to the right hand or to the left. What wisdom, I say, what holiness, what grace and life will be found in all their words and actions? (Isa 48:17). The throne of God is among them, from which there will come continual influence, light, and splendour, into all their hearts. 'Hear ye the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattereth Israel will gather him and keep him, as a shepherd doth his sheep. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he. Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock, and of the herd, and their soul shall be as a watered garden, and they shall not sorrow any more at all' (Jer 31:10-12).
Third. The throne of God being in this city, there is also thereby discovered what sway and commanding an authority this city will have at this day, as I have already showed you, over all the earth (Isa 2:9,10). 'The Lord also shall roar out of Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shall shake, but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel' (Joel 3:16). This was figured forth by the throne of Solomon, in the days when that city was in its prosperity; which throne, to show the majesty and commanding awe that then that city had over all, both far and near, it had, for the bearers of the steps, twelve lions, six on this side, and six on that side of the throne (1 Kings 10:18-20). This city shall then be the head and chief, but the tail and reproach no more. 'Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God' (Psa 87:3).
'And his servants shall serve him.' That is, HIM ONLY. Indeed his servants serve him always, but yet withal they do too too often serve with the wills and lusts of men, even in their service and worshipping God; that is, they serve him in much affliction, temptation, fear, and persecution; but then they shall serve him without any of these. Yea, 'they shall take them captives, whose captives they were, and they shall rule over their oppressors. And it shall come to pass in the day [O city] that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow,—and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve' (Isa 14:2,3), and thou shalt serve the Lord thy God 'without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of thy life' (Luke 1:74,75).
'And they shall see his face.' This also argueth a very great dispensation of grace and mercy to this Jerusalem. When God did deliver up his people into the hand of the king of Babylon, he said it should be done in fury and in anger, and that for their wickedness he would hide his face from his city (Deu 31:17; Jer 33:5). Wherefore, by the sight of his face here, we are to understand that glorious visible appearance of God that then will be for this city and people in the face of all the world (1 Peter 3:12). For by the face of God we are to understand the discovery of his severity, providences, and wonderful outgoings among the sons of men (Job 6:8-13). As also the glorious breaking forth of grace, mercy, and forgiveness through Christ Jesus, all which the people of God shall then most marvellously see and behold (Heb 1:1-3; 2 Cor 4:6).
First. They shall see his severity and judgments upon the whore.
Second. They shall see how God, by his strange judgments and works of wonder, hath brought this about. 'Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee, for thy judgments are made manifest' (Rev 15:4). 'They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord, even the righteous acts towards the inhabitants of his villages in Israel' (Judg 5:11).
Third. And as for his mercy, they shall see that their horn is exalted, and that they are near to him. 'Praise ye the Lord' (Psa 148:14).
'And his name shall be in their foreheads.' And 'his name.' That is, his fear and image, it shall appear in all their doings. Sometimes he saith he will write his fear and law in their hearts and minds. Which fear and law is all one with that which in this place he calleth his name in their foreheads. The forehead of a man is the place above all parts of the body that is most naked and plain to be beheld of all that pass by; wherefore, when he saith their Father's name shall be in their foreheads, it is as if he had said, the profession of my people shall now be open, and the beauty of it apparent to all beholders; 'I will make' them, saith God, 'a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes' (Zeph 3:20). Every face shall then shine with oil, as well as every heart be replenished with milk and wine. This was held forth by the memorial that the Israelites were to wear, at God's command, between their eyes; which memorial was the doctrine of unleavened bread and of the paschal lamb, the doctrine of faith and holiness (Exo 13:6-9; 1 Cor 5:8). Wherefore, by name here, he means the faith and holiness of the gospel, which in those days shall walk openly with honour, with reverence, and esteem before all men. At this day the world will, as I have said, be so far off from opposing and persecuting, that they shall wonder, and tremble, and fear before this people; yea, be taken, affected, and pleased with the welfare of this beloved. 'The mountains and the hills shall break forth before her into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands' (Isa 55:12). 'All nations shall call them blessed, for they shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts' (Mal 3:12). The waters of Noah shall now be no more, the tumultuous multitudes shall now be gone, and there will be no more sea (Isa 54:9; Psa 65:7; 89:9; Rev 21:1,2). Now therefore the doves may be gathering their olive-branches, and also find rest for the soles of their feet, while the ark shall rest upon the mountains of Ararat (Gen 8:4,5).
'The wolf also shall [now] dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.—The lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the suckling shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord' (Isa 11:6-9; 56:2-5).
Blessed is he whose lot it will be to see this holy city descending and lighting upon the place that shall be prepared for her situation and rest! Then will be a golden world; wickedness shall then be ashamed, especially that which persecutes the church. Holiness, goodness, and truth, shall then, with great boldness, countenance, and reverence, walk upon the face of all the earth. 'From the rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts' (Mal 1:11). It will be then always summer, always sunshine, always pleasant, green, fruitful, and beautiful to the sons of God. 'And it shall come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim.—And Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation' (Joel 3:18,20). 'And the name of the city from that day shall be, The Lord is there' (Eze 48:35). O blessedness! 'And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things that must shortly be done' (Rev 22:6).
I conclude therefore with that earnest groan of Moses, the man of God, 'O satisfy us early with thy mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.—Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us; and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it' (Psa 90:14-17). Amen.
1. The note upon this passage in the Genevan or Puritan version, with which Bunyan was familiar, is, 'God will raise up in his church such as shall rule and govern for the defence of the same, and instruction of his enemies, under Messiah, whom the prophet calleth here the Lord and Head of this kingdom.'-Ed.
2. From the Genevan or Puritan version.
3. 'Set out' render prominent, plain, or conspicuous.-Ed.
4. In Bunyan's days, a few fanatics from among the Fifth Monarchy men conceived that the millennium had arrived, and that it was their duty to take possession of the kingdom for Jesus. They were mad enough, like the late Mr. Courtnay, to imagine that their bodies were invulnerable, and they marched out to seize London. A few of the trained bands soon encountered them, some were shot and the rest were punished, and this absurd attempt was at an end in a few hours. This gave the enemies of true religion a pretext, which they eagerly seized, of charging these absurd notions upon all who feared God, and a severe persecution followed. To deprecate and counteract these reports, Bunyan is very explicit in noting the difference between a spiritual and a temporal kingdom.-Ed.
5. 'Spices' is from the Genevan version; our authorized text has 'powders.'-Ed.
6. Referring to the attempts made in Bunyan's days to introduce Popery. It is admirably shown in the Pilgrim's Progress, p. 193-'This is the spring that Christian drank of; then it was clear and good, but now it is dirty with the feet of some that are not desirous that pilgrims here should quench their thirst.'-Ed.
7. All authority in the church is strictly limited to the written Word. Throw away then to the owls and the bats all tradition, and the power of the church to decree rites and ceremonies. It is treason against God to suppose that he omitted anything from his Bible that his church ought to do, or commanded that which may be neglected, although human laws may authorize such deviation.-Ed.
8. The walls do not go from or leave the foundations, but, resting upon them, they gradually ascend to perfection.-Ed.
9. Anabaptist was the name given to those who submitted to be baptized upon a profession of faith, because, having been christened when infants, it was called re-baptizing.-Ed.
10. 'Hub'; an obstruction, a thick square sod, the mark or stop at the game of quoits.-Ed.
11. These observations apply to such churches as admit to the Lord's table unconverted persons, because they have passed through certain outward ceremonies; and to those who refused to admit the most godly sayings, because they had not submitted to an outward ceremony.-Ed.
12. See Isaiah 8:19. 'To peep and mutter,' as pretended sorcerers or magicians attempting their incantations against the truth.-Ed.
13. This is an allusion to the ancient English pastime of combat, called quarterstaff.-Ed.
14. Bunyan most accurately traces the pedigree of God's fearers, who, at the expense of life, maintained the spirituality of divine worship. He commences with our early Reformers, Wickliff and Huss, to the later ones who suffered under Mary; continues the line of descent through the Puritans to Bunyan's brethren, the Nonconformists. All these were bitterly persecuted by the two lions-Church and Sate. The carnal gospellers, that confused heap of rubbish that crawled up and down the nation like locusts and maggots, refers to the members of a hierarchy which were ready to go from Popery to Protestantism, and back again to Popery, or to any other system, at the bidding of an Act of Parliament.-Ed.
15. 'Virtue'; strength, efficacy, power.-Ed.
16. 'To travel and trade,' means to pursue or labour in an habitual course, exercise, or custom, as, 'Thy sin's not accidental but a trade.'-Shakespeare. Or, trade wind.-Ed.
17. The perfect unity of the Christian world is not likely to take place before the glorious meeting in the holy city, under the personal reign of Christ. The divisions among Christians arise, as Bunyan justly says, from antichristian rubbish, darkness, and trumpery; the great evil arising from difference of opinion, is that lust of domination over the faith of others which naturally leads to bitterness and persecution. In the earliest days one was of Paul, another of Apollos, and another of Cephas. The exercise of Christian forbearance was not an act of uniformity, but a declaration of the Holy Ghost. 'Who art thou that judgest another man's servant?' 'Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind' (Rom 14:4,5).-Ed.
18. As the leaven goes on imperceptibly until the whole is leavened, so the kingdom of our Lord must increase. How extraordinary has been the progress of Divine truth since Bunyan's days! and who can predict what it will be in another century?-Ed.
19. There being no night there but perpetual day.-Ed.
20. A 'gold angel' was an early English coin, valued at one-third of a pound, afterwards increased to ten shillings. The 'twenty-shilling piece' was the old sovereign. The comparison between them and the silver pence and halfpennies was made by Bunyan in respect to their rarity and not their purity.-Ed.
21. 'To stoop or lower the top-gallant' is a mode of salutation and respect shown by ships at sea to each other.-Ed.
22. This quotation is taken from that excellent translation of the Bible made by the reformers at Geneva, and which was much used in Bunyan's time. He preferred the word pour to that of sprinkle, used in the present version.-Ed.
23. How beautifully is the Christian's growth in grace here pictured by Bunyan from Ezekiel 47:3-12. So imperceptibly by Divine power, without the aid of man, that the partaker often doubts his own growth. The water rises higher and higher, until at length there is no standing for his feet-the earth and time recedes, and he is plunged into the ocean of eternal grace and glory.-Ed.
24. 'To the one, the savour of death unto death; and to the other, the savour of life unto life' (2 Cor 2:16).-Ed.
***
Solomon's Temple Spiritualized
or,
Gospel Light Fetched out of the Temple at Jerusalem, to Let us
More Easily into the Glory of New Testament Truths.
'Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Isreal;—shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out hereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof.'—Ezekiel 43:10, 11
London: Printed for, and sold by George Larkin, at the Two Swans without Bishopgate, 1688.
Of all the wonders of the world, the temple of Solomon was beyond comparison the greatest and the most magnificent. It was a type of that temple not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, of that city whose builder and maker is God, and which, at the consummation of all things, shall descend from heaven with gates of pearl and street of pure gold as shining glass, and into which none but the ransomed of the Lord shall enter. Jesus, the Lamb of God, shall be its light and glory and temple; within its walls the Israel of God, with the honour of the Gentiles, shall be brought in a state of infinite purity. No unclean thing will be able to exist in that dazzling and refulgent brightness which will arise from the perfection of holiness in the immediate presence of Jehovah; and of this, as well as of the whole Christian dispensation, the temple of Solomon was a type or figure. It would have been impossible for the united ingenuity of all mankind, or the utmost stretch of human pride, to have devised such a building, or to have conceived the possibility of its erection. The plan, the elevation, the whole arrangement of this gorgeous temple, proceeded from the Divine Architect. He who created the wondrous universe of nature condescended to furnish the plan, the detail, the ornaments, and even the fashion of the utensils of this stately building. 'David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and of the inner parlours thereof, and of the place of the mercy seat, and the pattern of all that he had BY THE SPIRIT, of the courts of the house of the LORD, and of all the chamber round about, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of the dedicated things' (1 Chron 28:11,12). 'Now, behold I have prepared for the house of the Lord an hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver; brass, and iron without weight, timber and stone also, and all manner of cunning workmen' (1 Chron 22). And lest his heart should fail before a work so vast, 'David said to Solomon, Be strong and of good courage, and do it; fear not, nor be dismayed: for the Lord God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord' (28:20). Thus furnished with wisdom from above, with materials and with cunning workmen, and, above all, with the approbation and protection of his God, Solomon commenced, and eventually finished, this amazing structure, and fitted it to receive the sacred implements, all of which, to the minutest particular, had been made by Moses, 'after their pattern, which was shewed him in the mount' (Exo 25:40).
Every part of the building, including the foundation, its altar, its courts, the holy of holies, all the utensils, and the ark, were types of that more glorious system which, in the fulness of time, appeared as the antitype, and perfected the Divine revelation. The temple becomes therefore an object of our special attention as a light to guide us while searching into gospel truths.
Under the peculiar aid of Divine guidance and protection, this sumptuous structure was finished, and most deeply impressive were the ceremonies on the day of its consecration. Solomon had made to himself an everlasting name, and it would be natural to expect that in such a scene of splendid triumph he would have felt exalted to the proudest height that human nature was capable of attaining. But Solomon had not only heard of God by the hearing of the ear, but by internal communion had seen and conversed with him. He could say with Job, when he had been restored from the deepest abasement to an elevated position, 'Mine eye seeth thee, wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.' Thus, in Solomon's beautiful prayer on the dedication of this gorgeous temple, he humbly inquires, 'Will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have built?' (2 Chron 6:18). Thus was completed the most perfect, splendid, and magnificent building that was ever erected by human hands. Still it was only a type of that infinitely more glorious antitype, the Christian dispensation. 'Most stately and magnificent is the fabric of God's house, yielding admirable delight to such whom free grace has vouchsafed to give spiritual eyes to discern it; far surpassing the splendour of its ancient type, the temple of Solomon, which was once the wonder of the world.'[1] 'A greater than Solomon is here.' 'The BRANCH he shall build the temple of the Lord'—the more glorious, spiritual, eternal temple (Zech 6:12).
In a few hundred years after the temple of Solomon was finished, this sumptuous structure was doomed to destruction, like all the fading handiwork of man. Sin enervated the nation which should have protected it; while the immensity of its riches excited the cupidity of a neighbouring royal robber. It was plundered, and then set on fire; the truth of the declaration made by Job upon the perishable works of man was eminently displayed—'For man to labour he is born, and the sons of the burning coal they mount up fluttering.'[2] In a few days the labour of years, aided by unbounded wealth and resources, was reduced to a heap of ashes. And now, after a lapse of about twenty-five centuries, accompanied by John Bunyan, 'a cunning workman,' as our guide, we are enabled to contemplate the account given us of this amazing edifice recorded in the volume of truth, and to compare that utmost perfection of human art, aided from heaven, with the infinitely superior temple in which every Christian is called to worship—to enter by the blood of the everlasting covenant into the holiest of all, the way consecrated by the cross and sufferings of Christ—without the intervention of priests or lordly prelate—without expensive victims to offer as a type of expiation—without limit of time, or space, or place, the poorest and most abject, with the wealthiest—the humbled beggar and the humbled monarch have equal access to the mercy seat, sacrificing those sinful propensities which are the cause of misery, and pleading the Saviour's merits before the eternal Jehovah. Christ has consecrated the way, and we enter into the holiest of all not only without fear, but with solemn joy. The cost of Solomon's temple has been estimated at eight hundred thousand millions of money: if this is true, still how infinitely inferior is that vast sum to the inconceivable cost of the eternal temple, with its myriads of worshippers, for which the Son of God paid the ransom, when he made the atonement for transgression, and built that imperishable temple which neither human nor satanic malevolence can ever destroy, and in which every spiritual worshipper will be crowned with an everlasting weight of glory.
While we cannot doubt but that the temple and its services contained many types highly illustrative of the Christian dispensation, incautious attempts to find them may lead to fanciful interpretations which tend to cloud, rather than to elucidate gospel truths. Bunyan very properly warns his readers against giving the reins to their imaginations and indulging in speculations like those fathers, who in every nail, pin, stone, stair, knife, pot, and in almost every feather of a sacrificed bird could discern strange, distinct, and peculiar mysteries.[3] The same remark applies to the Jewish rabbis, who in their Talmud are full of mysterious shadows. From these rabbinical flints some have thought to extract choice mystical oil to supple the wheels of their fancy—to use a homely expression. Such Jewish rabbis and Christian fathers limped and danced upon one learned leg, to the amazement of all beholders, but not to their edification; their lucubrations may amuse those who have patience to read them, but they afford no instruction. Even the learned Samuel Lee, whose work on the temple abounds with valuable information, has strongly tinctured it with pedantry. It is seldom that a more curious jumble is found than in the following paragraph:—'The waxen comb of the ancient figures and typical eels is fully matted and rolled up in shining tapers, to illuminate temple students in finding out the honey that couches in the carcass of the slain Lion of the tribe of Judah.' There is no fear of Bunyan's indulging his readers with the vagaries of the Jewish rabbis or Christian fathers—his converse was limited to the prophets and apostles. His object is to make us familiar with those types exhibited in the temple and alluded to by the inspired writers of the New Testament; to use a Puritan expression, he would enable us to plough with our spiritual Samson's heifer to expound the riddle, and thus discover the dark patterns of heavenly things (Heb 9:23,24). Among the many striking objects to which Bunyan directs our wondering eyes, a few should excite our deeper attention while we accompany him in viewing this marvellous temple.
1. All the materials that were used required preparation. The stones must be quarried, squared, and fitted for the building with many a hard knock and cutting of the chisel. So must you and I, my readers, pass through the new birth, and be prepared by the Holy Spirit to fit us for the spiritual building composed of living stones; and if not made meet for that building, we shall be eventually found lifting up our eyes in torment.
2. Very solemn is the consideration insisted on by our author—that all sons are servants to assist in building this spiritual edifice, but all servants are not sons to inherit a place in it; an awful thought, that there have been and now are servants employed in the conversion of sinners, and in building up the saints, who never did nor never will worship in that temple. Let us examine ourselves before we enter that dreary abode, to which we are hastening; 'for there is no work nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whither thou goest' (Eccl 9:10).
3. Are we zealously affected to forward the work, be careful then as to the materials we use, 'living stones' not wood, hay, or stubble. May all our persuasions be constantly used to bring poor thoughtless sinners to repentance but introduce them not as members of that house until you have a scriptural hope that they have passed from death unto life—that they are believers in Jesus, and have brought forth fruit meet for repentance.
4. All the foundation, the superstructure, the furniture, must be according to the written word of the prophets and apostles, Jesus Christ being the chief corner stone. Reject all the inventions of man and all human authority in the worship of God.
5. The temple was so built that the worshippers looked to the west toward the holy of holies. All the superstitions and idolatrous notions of man lead him to turn to the east, to worship the rising sun. 'The heathen made the chief gates of their temples towards the west, that these stupid worshippers, drawing nigh to their blind, deaf, and dumb deities, might have their idols rising upon them out of the east.'[4] The temple as a type, and Christianity as the antitype run counter to such idolatrous absurdities and folly.
6. Christian, be content with whatever may be your lot, however humble your place in the church and world. Soon will it be changed for the better. In this world we are working men, and must be content to be clad and fed as such, that we may be fitted for our solemn and joyful change. Soon we shall put on our church-going holiday suit and partake all the dainties of the heavenly feast, the glories of the New Jerusalem. Reader, these are samples of the prominent truths which will occupy your attention, while accompanying Bunyan in your interesting visit to Solomon's temple. May you richly enjoy your survey of that astonishing building, under so trusty and experienced a guide.
I have, as thou by this little book mayest see, adventured, at this time, to do my endeavour to show thee something of the gospel-glory of Solomon's temple: that is, of what it, with its utensils, was a type of; and, as such, how instructing it was to our fathers, and also is to us their children. The which, that I might do the more distinctly, I have handled particulars one by one, to the number of threescore and ten; namely, all that of them I could call to mind; because, as I believe, there was not one of them but had its signification, and so something profitable for us to know.
For, though we are not now to worship God in these methods, or by such ordinances, as once the old church did: yet to know their methods, and to understand the nature and signification of their ordinances, when compared with the gospel, may, even now, when themselves, as to what they once enjoined on others, are dead, may minister light to us. And hence the New Testament ministers, as the apostles, made much use of Old Testament language, and ceremonial institutions, as to their signification, to help the faith of the godly in their preaching of the gospel of Christ.
I may say that God did in a manner tie up the church of the Jews to types, figures, and similitudes; I mean, to be butted and bounded[1] by them in all external parts of worship. Yea, not only the Levitical law and temple, but, as it seems to me, the whole land of Canaan, the place of their lot to dwell in, was to them as ceremonial, or a figure. Their land was a type of heaven, their passage over Jordan into it a similitude of our going to heaven by death (Heb 3:5-10). The fruit of their land was said to be uncircumcised (Lev 19:23). As being at their first entrance thither unclean (Exo 12:15). In which their land was also a figure of another thing, even as heaven was a type of sin and grace (Lev 6:17, 23:17).[2] Again, the very land itself was said to keep Sabbath, and so to rest a holy rest, even then when she lay desolate, and not possess of those to whom she was given for them to dwell in (Lev 26:34,35).
Yea, many of the features of the then church of God were set forth, as in figures and shadows, so by places and things, in that land. 1. In general, she is said to be beautiful as Tirzah, and to be comely as Jerusalem (Can 6:4). 2. In particular, her neck is compared to the tower of David, builded for an armoury (Cant 4:4). Her eyes to the fish-pools of Heshbon, by the gate of Bethrabbim. Her nose is compared to the tower of Lebanon, which looketh towards Damascus (Cant 7:4). Yea, the hair of her head is compared to a flock of goats, which come up from mount Gilead; and the smell of her garments to the smell of Lebanon (Cant 4:1,11).
Nor was this land altogether void of shadows, even of her Lord and Saviour. Hence he says of himself, 'I AM the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys' (Cant 2:1). Also, she, his beloved, saith of him, 'His countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars' (Cant 5:15). What shall I say? The two cities Sion and Jerusalem, were such as sometimes set forth the two churches, the true and the false, and their seed Isaac and Ishmael (Gal 4).
I might also here show you, that even the gifts and graces of the true church were set forth by the spices, nuts, grapes, and pomegranates, that the land of Canaan brought forth; yea, that hell itself was set forth by the valley of the sons of Hinnom and Tophet, places in this country. Indeed, the whole, in a manner, was a typical and a figurative thing.
But I have, in the ensuing discourse, confined myself to the temple, that immediate place of God's worship; of whose utensils, in particular, as I have said, I have spoken, though to each with what brevity I could, for that none of them are without a spiritual, and so a profitable signification to us. And here we may behold much of the richness of the wisdom and grace of God; namely, that he, even in the very place of worship of old, should ordain visible forms and representations for the worshippers to learn to worship him by; yea, the temple itself was, as to this, to them a good instruction.
But in my thus saying, I give no encouragement to any now, to fetch out of their own fancies figures or similitudes to worship God by. What God provided to be an help to the weakness of his people of old was one thing, and what they invented without his commandment was another. For though they had his blessing when they worshipped him with such types, shadows, and figures, which he had enjoined on them for that purpose, yet he sorely punished and plagued them when they would add to these inventions of their own (Exo 32:35; 2 Kings 17:16-18; Acts 7:38-43). Yea, he, in the very act of instituting their way of worshipping him, forbade their giving, in any thing, way to their own humours or fancies, and bound them strictly to the orders of heaven. 'Look,' said God to Moses, their first great legislator, 'that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount' (Exo 25:40; Heb 8:5). Nor doth our apostle but take the same measures, when he saith, 'If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord' (1 Cor 14:37).
When Solomon also, was to build this temple for the worship of God, though he was wiser than all men, yet God neither trusted to his wisdom nor memory, nor to any immediate dictates from heaven to him, as to how he would have him build it. No; he was to receive the whole platform thereof in writing, by the inspiration of God. Nor would God give this platform of the temple, and of its utensils, immediately to this wise man, lest perhaps by others his wisdom should be idolized, or that some should object, that the whole fashion thereof proceeded of his fancy, only he made pretensions of Divine revelation, as a cover for his doings
Therefore, I say, not to him, but to his father David, was the whole pattern of it given from heaven, and so by David to Solomon his son, in writing. 'Then David,' says the text, 'gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and of the inner parlours thereof, and of the place of the mercy-seat, and the pattern of all that he had by the spirit, of the courts of the house of the Lord, and of all the chambers round about, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of the dedicated things: also for the courses of the priests and the Levites, and for all the work of the service of the house of the Lord, and for all the vessels of service in the house of the Lord' (1 Chron 28:11-13).
Yea, moreover, he had from heaven, or by Divine revelation, what the candlesticks must be made of, and also how much was to go to each; the same order and commandment he also gave for the making of the tables, flesh-hooks, cups, basins, altar of incense, with the pattern for the chariot of the cherubims, &c. (vv 14-19). 'All this, said David, the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the work of this pattern' (v 19). So, I say, he gave David the pattern of the temple, so David gave Solomon the pattern of the temple; and according to that pattern did Solomon build the temple, and no otherwise.
True, all these were but figures, patterns, and shadows of things in the heavens, and not the very image of the things; but, as was said afore, if God was so circumspect and exact in these, as not to leave any thing to the dictates of the godly and wisest of men, what! can we suppose he will now admit of the wit and contrivance of men in those things that are, in comparison to them, the heavenly things themselves? (Heb 8:5, 9:8-10,23, 10:1).
It is also to be concluded, that since those shadows of things in the heavens are already committed by God to sacred story; and since that sacred story is said to be able to make the man of God perfect in all things—2 Timothy 3:15-17—it is duty to us to leave off to lean to common understandings, and to inquire and search out by that very holy writ, and nought else, by what and how we should worship God. David was for inquiring in his temple (Psa 27:4).
And, although the old church-way of worship is laid aside as to us in New Testament times, yet since those very ordinances were figures of things and methods of worship now; we may, yea, we ought to search out the spiritual meaning of them, because they serve to confirm and illustrate matters to our understandings. Yea, they show us the more exactly how the New and Old Testament, as to the spiritualness of the worship, was as one and the same; only the old was clouded with shadows, but ours is with more open face.
Features to the life, as we say, set out by a picture, do excellently show the skill of the artist. The Old Testament had the shadow, nor have we but the very image; both then are but emblems of what is yet behind. We may find our gospel clouded in their ceremonies, and our spiritual worship set out somewhat by their carnal ordinances.
Now, because, as I said, there lies, as wrapt up in a mantle, much of the glory of our gospel matters in this temple which Solomon builded; therefore I have made, as well as I could, by comparing spiritual things with spiritual, this book upon this subject.
I dare not presume to say that I know I have hit right in every thing; but this I can say, I have endeavoured so to do. True, I have not for these things fished in other men's waters; my Bible and Concordance are my only library in my writings. Wherefore, courteous reader, if thou findest any thing, either in word or matter, that thou shalt judge doth vary from God's truth, let it be counted no man's else but mine. Pray God, also, to pardon my fault. Do thou, also, lovingly pass it by, and receive what thou findest will do thee good.
Thy servant in the gospel,
Solomon's Temple Spiritualized
'Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Isreal;—shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out hereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof.'—Ezekiel 43:10, 11
I. Where the Temple was built.
The temple was built at Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, in the threshing-floor of Arnon the Jebusite; whereabout Abraham offered up Isaac; there where David met the angel of the Lord, when he came with his drawn sword in his hand, to cut off the people at Jerusalem, for the sin which David committed in his disorderly numbering the people (Gen 22:3-5; 1 Chron 21:15, 21:12; 2 Chron 3:1).
There Abraham received his Isaac from the dead; there the Lord was entreated by David to take away the plague, and to return to Israel again in mercy; from whence, also, David gathered that there God's temple must be built. This, saith he, is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of the burnt-offering for Israel (1 Chron 21:28, 22:1, 3:1).
This Mount Moriah, therefore, was a type of the Son of God, the mountain of the Lord's house, the rock against which the gates of hell cannot prevail.
II. Who built the Temple.
The temple was builded by Solomon, a man peaceable and quiet; and that in name, by nature, and in governing. For so God had before told David, namely, that such a one the builder of the temple should be. 'Behold,' saith he, 'a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about; for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days. He shall build an house for my name, and he shall be my son, and I will be his father' (1 Chron 22:9,10; Psa 72:1-4).
As, therefore, Mount Moriah was a type of Christ, as the foundation, so Solomon was a type of him, as the builder of his church. The mount was signal,[1] for that thereon the Lord God, before Abraham and David, did display his mercy. And as Solomon built this temple, so Christ doth build his house; yea, he shall build the everlasting temple, 'and he shall bear the glory' (Zech 6:12,13; Heb 3:3,4). And in that Solomon was called peaceable, it was to show with what peaceable doctrine and ways Christ's house and church should be built (Isa 9:6; Micah 4:2-4).
III. How the Temple was built.
The temple was built, not merely by the dictates of Solomon, though he was wiser than Ethen, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, and all men (1 Kings 4:31). But it was built by rules prescribed by, or in a written word, and as so delivered to him by his father David.
For when David gave to Solomon his son a charge to build the temple of God, with that charge he gave him also the pattern of all in writing; even a pattern of the porch, house, chambers, treasuries, parlours, &c., and of the place for the mercy-seat; which pattern David had of God; nor would God trust his memory with it. 'The Lord made me,' said he, 'understand in writing, by his hand upon me, even all the works of their pattern.' Thus, therefore, David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of all; and thus Solomon his son built the house of God (1 Chron 28:9-20).
And answerable to this, Christ Jesus, the builder of his own house, WHOSE HOSE ARE WE, doth build his holy habitation for him to dwell in; even according to the commandment of God the Father. For, saith he, 'I have not spoken of myself, but the Father which sent me. He gave me a commandment what I should speak.' And hence it is said, God gave him the revelation; and again, that he took the book out of the hand of him that sat on the throne; and so acted, as to the building up of his church (John 12:49,50; Rev 1:1, 5:5).
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 on 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 with, 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 leaves behind. 'Are we better than they? No, in no wise' (Rom 3:9). 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' (Mark 2:17). 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.[2] 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 9:22-27; 1 Kings 5:1; 1 Chron 28, 29).
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 (Psa 7:4-6; Rom 16).
But why, may some 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 servants for Jesus' sake (Titus 1:1; Rom 1:1; Col 4:5).
A man then is a son, as he is begotten and born of God to himself, and a servant as he is gifted for work in the house of his Father; and though it is truth the servant may be a son, yet he is not a son because he is a servant. Nor doth it follow, that because all sons may be servants, that therefore all servants are sons; no, all the servants of God are not sons; and therefore when time shall come, he that is only a servant here, shall certainly be put out of the house, even out of that house himself did help to build. 'The servant abideth not in the house for ever,' the servant, that is, he that is only so (Eze 46:16,17; John 8:35).
So then, as a son, thou art an Israelite; as a servant, a Gibeonite. The consideration of this made Paul start; he knew that gifts made him not a son (1 Cor 12:28-31, 13:1,2).
The sum then is, a man many 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 9:25).
This is a great saying, and written perhaps to keep ministers humble: 'And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your ploughman, and your vine-dressers' (Isa 61:5). To be a ploughman here is to be a preacher; and to be a vine-dresser here is to be a preacher (Luke 9:59-62; 1 Cor 9:7,27; Matt 20:1-4,8, 21:28). And if he does this work willingly, he has a reward; if not, a dispensation of the gospel was committed to him, and that is all (1 Cor 9:17).
VI. In what condition the timber and stones were, when brought to be laid in the building of the temple.
The timber and stones with which the temple was built, were squared and hewed at the wood or pit; and so there made every way fit for that work, even before they were brought to the place where the house should be set up: 'So that there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was in building' (1 Kings 6:7).
And this shows, as was said before, that the materials of which the house was built were, before the hand of the workman touched them, as unfit to be laid in the building as were those that were left behind; consequently that themselves, none otherwise but by the art of others, were made fit to be laid in this building.
To this our New Testament temple answers. For those of the sons of Adam who are counted worthy to be laid in this building, are not by nature, but by grace, made meet for it; not by their own wisdom, but by the Word of God. Hence he saith, 'I have hewed them by the prophets.' And again, ministers are called God's builders and labourers, even as to this work (Hosea 6:5; 1 Cor 3:10; 2 Cor 6:1; Col 1:28).
No man will lay trees, as they come from the wood, for beams and rafters in his house; nor stones, as digged in the walls. No; the stones must be hewed and squared, and the trees sawn and made fit, and so be laid in the house. Yea, they must be so sawn, and so squared, that in coupling they may be joined exactly; else the building will not be good, nor the workman have credit of his doings.
Hence our gospel-church, of which the temple was a type, is said to be fitly framed, and that there is a fit supply of every joint for the securing of the whole (1 Peter 2:5; Eph 2:20,21, 4:16; Col 2:19). As they therefore build like children, that build with wood as it comes from the wood or forest, and with stones as they come from the pit, even so do they who pretend to build God a house of unconverted sinners, unhewed, unsquared, unpolished. Wherefore God's workmen, according to God's advice, prepare their work without, and make it fit for themselves in the field, and afterwards build the house (Prov 24:27).
Let ministers therefore look to this, and take heed, lest instead of making their notions stoop to the Word, they make the Scriptures stoop to their notions.
VII. Of the foundation of the Temple.
The foundation of the temple is that upon which it stood; and it was twofold: First, the hill Moriah, and then those great stones upon which it was erected. This hill Moriah, as was said afore, did more properly typify Christ. Hence Moriah is called 'The Mountain of the house,' it being the rock on which it was built. Those great stones, called foundation-stones, were types of the prophets and apostles (Matt 16:18; Eph 2:20,21; Heb 11:10). Wherefore these stones were stones of the biggest size, stones of eight cubits, and stones of ten cubits (1 Kings 7:10).
Now, as the temple had this double foundation, so we must consider it respectively and distinctly; for Christ is the foundation one way, the prophets and apostles a foundation another. Christ is the foundation personally and meritoriously; but the prophets and apostles, by doctrine, ministerially. The church then, which is God's New Testament temple, as it is said to be built on Christ the foundation; so none other is the foundation but he (1 Cor 3:11,12). But as it is said to be built upon the apostles, so it is said to have twelve foundations, and must have none but they (Rev 21:14).
What is it then? Why, we must be builded upon Christ, as he is our priest, sacrifice, prophet, king, and advocate; and upon the other, as they are infallible instructors and preachers of him; not that any may be an apostle that so shall esteem of himself, nor that any other doctrine be administered but what is the doctrine of the twelve; for they are set forth as the chief and last. These are also they, as Moses, which are to look over all the building, and to see that all in this house be done according to the pattern showed to them in the mount (Exo 39:43; John 20:21-23; 1 Cor 3:9, 4:9).
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 foundations of the Temple.
These foundation stones, as they were great, so they were costly stones; though, as I said, of 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 so goodly a 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 foundations with sapphires' (Isa 54:11). 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' (Luke 21:5).
This is still more amplified, where it is written of the New Jerusalem, which is still the New 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' (Rev 21:19). 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: and both the foundations of the wall of the city, as well as of the temple, are 'the twelve apostles of the Lamb' (Rev 21:14).
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 15:19; 2 Cor 12:12; Heb 2:4). 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 12:28).
Nor were these stones only laid for a foundation for the temple; 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 (1 Kings 7:12). Signifying, as it 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 3:10-12; 2 Thess 2:15, 3:6; Heb 6:1-4).
IX. Which way the face or front of the Temple stood.
1. 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 into it (Eze 43:1-4, 47:1). Wherefore, in that its front stood toward 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 Cor 4:18; Phil 3:20; Psa 62:5).
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 toward 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.[3] 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 trap, but to the godly a glory (Isa 8:14, 60:19).
3. Do but see how God catched the idolatrous Jews, by this means, in their naughtiness: 'And he brought me,' saith the prophet, 'into the inner court of the Lord's house, and behold at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces towards the east' (Eze 8:16). It was therefore, as I said, set with its face towards the east, to prevent false worship, 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 (Exo 10:13; Job 27:21; Eze 17:10, 19:12; Psa 48:7; Eze 27:26). 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 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 29:22; Eze 3:8; Matt 16:18).
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 even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be' (Matt 24:27; Mal 4:2; Heb 9:28; Col 3:4; 2 Peter 3:11-14).
6. Christ, as the north pole, draws those touched with the load-stone 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 were two courts belonging to the temple. The first was called the outward court (Eze 40:7, 46:21).
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 23:27; 2 Cor 10:7).
2. In this, though there 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 (Rom 2:28; 1 Cor 13:1-3; 2 Cor 5:12).
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 11:10-12).
4. But as there was an outward, so there was an inner court, a court that stood nearer the temple; and so to the true practical part of worship, than that outward court did (Eze 10:3, 46:1; 1 Kings 6:36).
5. This inner court is that which is called 'the court of the priests,' because it was it in which they boiled the trespass-offerings, and in which they prepared the sin-offering for the people (2 Chron 4:9; Eze 46:20).
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 the 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 6:13; John 17).
7. Wherefore this court was a type of practical 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 that 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 south gate, shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in, but shall go forth over against it' (Eze 46:9).
8. These courts were places of great delight to the Jews, as both feigned and sincere profession is to those that practice 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 one. 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.
1. In the inner court stood the great brazen altar which Solomon made. This is evident; for that when he kneeled upon the scaffold there to pray, he kneeled before this altar. See Exodus 40:6, 29; 2 Chronicles 6:13; 2 Kings 16:14; Joel 2:17.
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 divinity. For Christ's body was our true burnt-offering, 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 suffering; 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' (Heb 9:14).
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 1:4, 2:20; 1 Peter 3:18; Heb 9:14).
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 so saying, he affirmeth that the altar on which he offered his offering was greater than the offering itself (Matt 23:19). Now the body of Christ was the gift; for so he saith, I give my flesh for the life of the world (John 6).
But now, what thing is that which is greater than his body, save the altar, his Divinity on which it was offered? The tree then was not the altar which sanctified this gift, to make it of virtue enough to make reconciliation for iniquity (John 6:51, 17:19; Heb 9:14; Col 1:19-21). Now, since this altar of burnt-offering was thus placed in the inner court, it teaches us several things:
First, That those that come only into the outward court, or that rest in a bare appearance of Christianity, do not, by so doing, come to Jesus Christ; for this altar stands not there. Hence John takes notice only of the temple and this altar, and them that worship therein, and leaves out the outward court, and so them that come no farther (Rev 11:1,2).
Second. 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.
Third. 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 of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works, to serve the living God!' (Heb 9:13,14, 11:12; 2 Chron 7:5-8).
Let us then not dare to stop or stay in the outward court, for there is not this altar. Nor let us dare, when we come into this court, to be careless whether we look to this altar or no. For 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 to Jesus; this is coming to God by him, of whom this altar and the sacrifice thereon was a type.
XII. Of the pillars that were before the porch of the Temple.
There 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 entrance into the temple, looking towards the altar, the court, and them that were the worshippers there; also they were a grace and beauty to the front of the house.
1. These pillars stood, one on the right hand and the other on the left, at the door of the porch of the temple, and they had names given them, you may be sure, to signify something. The name of that on the right hand was called Jachin, [God] shall establish; and the name of that on the left hand was Boaz, in it is strength (1 Kings 7:21; 2 Chron 3:17).
2. These two pillars were types of Christ's apostles; of the apostles of circumcision, and of the uncircumcision. Therefore the apostle Paul also calleth them pillars (Gal 2), and saith that that pillar on the right hand was a type of himself and his companions, who were to go to the uncircumcised, and teach the Gentiles the way of life. When James, Cephas, and John, saith he, 'who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision' (Gal 2:9). So then, these two pillars were types of these two order of the apostles in this their divers service for God.[4]
3. And that Paul and Barnabas were signified by those on the right hand, to wit, to be the apostles of the Gentiles, he showeth again, where he saith, I am 'the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost' (Rom 11:13, 15:16).
4. And since the name of this pillar was Jachin, shall attend it; so also, that God would bless his word preached by them to the Gentiles, to the conversion of numbers of them, maugre the opposition of the enemy.
5. This is further implied, for that they were made of brass; as he saith of the prophet, I have made thee a fenced brazen wall, an iron pillar; and their fighting against thee shall nothing at all prevail (Jer 15:20). Wherefore Paul says of himself, 'I am set for the defence of the gospel,' 'that the truth thereof might continue with you' (Phil 1:17; Gal 2:5).
XIII. Of the height of these pillars that thus stood before the porch of the door of the Temple.
The pillars were eighteen cubits high apiece, and that is as high, yea, as high again as the highest giant that ever we read of in the Word; for the highest of which we read was but six cubits and a span. True, the bedstead of Og was nine cubits long, but I trow the giant himself was shorter (Deut 3:11; 2 Chron 3:15).[5] But put the longest to the longest, and set the one upon the shoulders of the other, and yet each pillar was higher than they.
We have now, as I know of, but few that remain of the remnant of the giants; and though they boast as if they were higher than Aga, yet these pillars are higher than they. These pillars are the highest; you may equal them; and an inch above is worth an ell below. The height therefore of these pillars is, to show us what high dignity God did put upon those of his saints whom he did call to be apostles of the Lamb: for their office and call thereto is the highest in the church of God. These men, I say, were made thus high by their being cast in such a mould. Of that which added yet further to their height we will speak anon: we only speak now of the high call by which they, and only they, were made capable of apostolic authority. The apostles were sent immediately,[6] their call was extraordinary, their office was universal; they had alike power in all churches, and their doctrine was infallible (Acts 26:16; 1 Cor 9:1; Gal 1:1; 1 John 1:1; 3 John 2:23).
And what can our pretended giants do or say in comparison of these? The truth is, all other men to these are dwarfs, are low, dark, weak, and beneath, not only as to call and office, but also as to gifts and grace. This sentence, 'Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,' drowneth all! What now are all other titles of grandeur and greatness, when compared with this one sentence?
True, the men were but mean in themselves; for what is Paul or what Apollos, or what was James or John? Yet by their call to that office they were made highest of all in the church. Christ did raise them eighteen cubits high; not in conceit; for so there are many higher than they, but in office, and calling, and Divine authority.
And observe it, these stand at the door, at the entering into the temple of God, at which they enter that go in thither to worship God, to shew that all right worship, and that which will be acceptable to God, is by, or according to, their doctrine.
XIV. Of the chapiters (capitals) of the pillars of the Temple.
There were also two chapiters made for the pillars of the temple; for each, one; and they were five cubits high apiece. These were for the adorning of the pillars, and therefore were types and shadows of that abundance of grace which God did put upon the apostles after the resurrection of our Lord. Wherefore, as he saith here, the chapiters were upon the pillars; so it saith that great grace was upon all the apostles (Acts 4:33).
These chapiters had belonging to them a bowl made pummil-fashion,[7] and it was placed upon the head of them, perhaps to signify their aptness to receive, and largeness to contain of the dew of heaven; that shadow of the doctrine of the gospel; which doctrine the apostles, as the chief, were to receive and hold forth to the world for their conversion. Hence, as the bowls were capable to receive the dew of heaven, these are said to receive 'grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name' (Rom 1:5; 1 Kings 7:16,42; 2 Chron 4:13; Deut 32:10; Rom 15:29).
There was also upon these chapiters a net-work, or nets like unto chequer-work, which still added to their lustre. These nets were they which shewed for what intent the apostolical office was ordained; namely, that by their preaching they might bring many souls to God. And hence Christ calls them fishermen, saying, 'Ye shall catch men' (Matt 4:19; Mark 1:17; Luke 5:10; 2 Cor 12:16). The world is compared to a sea, men to fishes, and the gospel to a net (Eze 47:10-12; Matt 13:47-50). As therefore men catch fish with a net, so the apostles caught men by their word, which word, as I told you, to me is signified by this net-work upon the top of these pillars. See therefore the mystery of God in these things.
XV. Of the pomegranates adjoined to these nets on the chapiters.
There were also joined to these nets upon the top of the pillars pomegranates in abundance; four hundred for the net-work. Pomegranates, you know, are beautiful to look on, pleasant to the palate, comfortable to the stomach, and cheering by their juice (1 Kings 7:42; Cant 4:3, 8:2, 4:13, 6:11, 7:12). There were to be two rows of thess pomegranates for one net-work, and so two rows of them for the other.
And this was to show that the net of the gospel is not an empty thing; but is sufficiently baited with such varieties as are apt to allure the world to be catched by them. The law is but a sound of words, but the gospel is not so; that is, baited with pomegranates; with variety of excellent things. Hence it is called 'the gospel of the kingdom,' and 'the gospel of the grace of God,' because it is, as it were, baited with grace and glory, that sinners may be allured, and may be taken with it to their eternal salvation (Matt 24:14; Acts 20:24).
Grace and glory, grace and glory! these are the pomegranates with which the word of the gospel is baited, that sinners may be taken and saved thereby. The argument of old was 'milk and honey'; that was, I say, the alluring bait, with which Moses drew six hundred thousand out of Egypt, into the wilderness of old (Exo 3:8). But behold we have pomegranates, two rows of pomegranates; grace and a kingdom, as the bait of the holy gospel; no wonder, then, if, when men of skill did cast this net into the sea, such numbers of fish have been catched, even by one sermon (Acts 2). They baited their nets with taking things, things taking to the eye and taste.
Nets are truly instruments of death, but the net of the gospel doth catch to draw from death; wherefore this net is contrary; life and immortality is brought to light through this. No marvel, then, if men are so glad, and that for gladness they leap like fishes in a net, when they see themselves catched in this drag of the holy gospel of the Son of God. They are catched from death and hell, catched to live with God in glory!
XVI. Of the chains that were upon these pillars that stood before the Temple.
As there were nets to catch, and pomegranates to bait, so there were chains belonging to these chapiters on these pillars. 'And he made chains, as in the oracle, and put them upon the head of the [pillars],' or chapiters (2 Chron 3:16).
But what were these chains a type of? I answer, they were, perhaps, a type of those bonds which attend the gospel, by which souls taken are tied fast to the horns of the altar. Gospel grace, and gospel obligations, are ties and binding things; they can hold those that are entangled by the word. 'Love is strong as death'; bands of love, and the cords of a man, and chains take hold on them that are taken by the gospel (Hosea 11; Cant 8:6).
But this strength to bind lieth not in outward force, but in a sweet constraint, by virtue of the displays of undeserved love. 'The love of Christ constraineth us' (2 Cor 5:14). Wherefore as you find the nets, so the chains had pomegranates on them. 'And' he 'made an hundred pomegranates, and put them upon the chains' (2 Chron 3:16). The chains then had baits, as well as the nets, to show that the bands of the gospel are unresistible goodnesses; such with which men love to be bound, and such as they pray they may be held fast by. He binds his foal to the vine; his saint unto this Saviour (Gen 49:11).
By these chains there is therefore showed what strength there is in gospel-charms, if once the adder doth but hear them. Never man yet was able to resist them that well did know the meaning of them. They are mighty to make poor men obedient, and that in word and deed. These chains were such as were in the oracle, to show that gospel bonds are strong as the joys of heaven, and as the glories there; can make them chains as in the oracle, as in the most holy place. It is heaven that binds sinners on earth to the faith and hope of the gospel of Christ.
XVII. Of the lily work which was upon the chapiters, that were upon these pillars of the Temple.
These pillars were also adorned with lily work, as well as with pomegranates and chains. 'The chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars were of lily work'; 'so was the work of the pillars finished' (1 Kings 7:19-22).
This lily work is here put in on purpose, even to show us how far off those that were to be the true apostles of the Lamb should be from seeking carnal things, or of making their prevailing[8] a stalking-horse to worldly greatness, and that preferment. There was lily work upon them; that is, they lived upon the bounty and care of God, and were content with that glory which he had put upon them. 'The lilies,' saith Christ, 'they toil not, neither do they spin, and yet—Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these' (Matt 6:28,29; Luke 12:27-29). Thus, therefore, these pillars show, that as the apostles should be fitted and qualified for their work, they should be also freed from cares and worldly cumber; they should be content with God's providing for them, even as the goodly lilies are. And as thus prepared, they were set in the front of the house, for all ministers to see and learn, and take example of them how to behave themselves as to this world in the performing of their office.
And that which gives us further light in this is, that this lily work is said, by divine institution, to be placed 'over against the belly,' the belly of the pillars, a type of ours (1 Kings 7:20). The belly is a craving thing; and these things, saith the text, were placed over against the belly, to teach that they should not humour, but put check unto the havings and cravings of the belly; or to show that they need not do it, for that he that calls to his work will himself provide for the belly. It is said of the church, that 'her belly is like a heap of wheat set about with lilies' (Cant 7:2). To show that she should without covetousness have sufficient, if she would cast all her care upon God, her great provider. This the apostles did, and this is their glory to this day.
'So was the work of the pillars finished.' To live lily lives, it seems, is the glory of an apostle, and the completing of their office and service for God. But this directly opposite to the belly, over against the belly, and this makes it the harder work. But yet, so living is the way to make all that is done sweet-scented, to those that be under this care. Covetousness makes a minister smell frowish,[9] and look more like a greedy dog, than an apostle of Jesus Christ. Judas had none of this lily work; so his name stinks to this day. 'He that grows like the lily shall cast forth his scent like Lebanon, his branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon' (Hosea 14:6). Thus lived Christ, first; and thus the apostles, next; nor can any other as to this, live like, or be compared to them. They coveted no man's silver or gold, or apparel. They lived like lilies in the world, and did send forth their scent as Lebanon.
Thus you see of whom these pillars were a shadow, and what their height, their chapiters, their bowls, their nets, their chains, their pomegranates, and their lily work did signify, and how all was most sweetly answered in the antitype. These were men of the first rate; the apostles, I mean, were such.
XVIII. Of the fashion of the Temple.
Of the length and breadth of the temple I shall say nothing; but as to the height thereof, there methinks I see something. The temple was higher than the pillars, and so is the church than her officers; I say, consider them singly as officers, though inferior as to gifts and office; for, as I said before of ministers in general, so now I say the same of the apostles, though as to office they were the highest, yet the temple is above them. Gifts and office make no men sons of God; as so, they are but servants, though these were servants of the highest form. It is the church, as such, that is the lady, a queen, the bride, the Lamb's wife; and prophets, apostles, and ministers, &c., are but servants, stewards, labourers for her good (Psa 45:9; Rev 19:7; 1 Cor 3:5, 4:1,2). As therefore the lady is above the servant, the queen above the steward, or the wife above all her husband's officers, so is the church, as such, above these officers. The temple was higher than the pillars.
Again, as the temple was highest, so it enlarged itself upward; for as it ascended in height, so it still was wider and wider; even from the lowest chambers to the top.
The first chambers were but five cubits broad, the middle ones were six, but the highest were seven cubits (1 Kings 6:5,6). The temple therefore was round about above some cubits wider than it was below; for 'there was an enlarging and winding about still upward to the side chambers, for the winding about—went still upward round about the house; therefore the breadth of the house was still upward, and so increased from the lowest chambers to the highest, by the midst' (Eze 41:7).
And this was to show us that God's true gospel temple, which is his church, should have its enlargedness of heart still upward, or most for spiritual and eternal things: wherefore he saith, 'Thy heart shall fear and be enlarged,' that is, be most affected with things above, 'where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God' (Isa 60:5; Col 3:1). Indeed it is the nature of grace to enlarge itself still upward, and to make the heart widest for the things that are above. The temple therefore was narrowest downwards, to show that a little of earth, or this world, should serve the church of God. And having food and raiment, let us be therewith content.
But now, upwards, and as to heavenly things, we are commanded to be covetous, as to them, and after them to enlarge ourselves, both by the fashion of the temple, as by express words (1 Kings 4:29; Isa 60:5; Phil 3:14; 1 Cor 12:31; 1 Tim 6:8; Psa 119:32).
Since, then, the temple was widest upward, let us imitate it, and have our conversation in heaven. Let our eyes, our ears, our hands, and hearts, our prayers, and groans, be most for things above. Let us open our mouths, as the ground that is chapt doth for the latter rain, for the things that are eternal (Job 29:23; Psa 81:10).
Observe again, that the lowest parts of the temple were the narrowest part of the temple; so those in the church who are nearest, or most concerned with earth, are the most narrow-spirited as to the things of God. But now let even such a one be taken up higher, to above, to the uppermost parts of the temple, and there he will be enlarged, and have his heart stretched out. For the temple, you see, was widest upwards; the higher, the more it is enlarged. Paul being once caught up into paradise, could not but be there enlarged (2 Cor 12).
One may say of the fashion of the temple, as some say of a lively picture, it speaks. I say, its form and fashion speaks; it says to all saints, to all the churches of Christ, open your hearts for heaven, be ye enlarged upwards!
I read not in Scripture of any house, but this that was thus enlarged upwards; nor is there anywhere, save only in the church of God, that which doth answer this similitude. All other are widest downward, and have the largest heart for earthly things. The church only is widest upward, and has its greatest enlargements towards heaven.
XIX. Of the outward glory of the Temple.
I do also think that as to this, there was a great expression in it; I mean, a voice of God, a voice that teacheth the New Testament church to carry even conviction in her outward usages that, I say, might give conviction to the world. And besides this of its enlarging upwards, there was such an outward beauty and glory put upon it, as was alluring to beholders. The stones were curiously carved, and excellently joined together; its outward show was white and glittering, to the dazzling of the eyes of the beholders; yea, the disciples themselves were taken with it, it was so admirable to behold. Hence it is said, they came to Christ to show him the building of the temple.'Master,' said they, 'see what manner of stones, and what buildings are here' (Matt 24:1; Mark 13:1; Luke 21:5). And hence it is said, that kings, and the mighty of the earth, were taken with the glory of it. 'Because of thy temple at Jerusalem, shall kings bring presents unto thee'; as it is (Psa 68:29,31).
Kings, Gentile kings, they shall be so taken with the sight of the outward glory of it; for they were not suffered to go into it; no uncircumcised were admitted in thither. It was therefore the outward glory of it with which the beholders were thus taken.
Her enlarging upward, as that was to show us what the inward affections of Christian should be, so her curious outward adorning and beauty was a figure of the beauteous and holy conversation of the godly (Col 3:1-3). And it is brave, when the world are made to say of the lives and conversations of saints, as they were made to say of the stones and outward building of the temple, Behold, what Christians, and what goodly conversations are here! I say it is brave when our light so shines before men, that they seeing our good works shall be forced to glorify our Father which is in heaven (Matt 5:16).
Hence this is called our adorning wherewith we adorn the gospel, and that by which we beautify it (Titus 2:10). This, I say, is taking to beholders, as was this goodly outside of the temple. And without this, what is to be seen in the church of God? Her inside cannot be seen by the world, but her outside may. Now, her outside is very homely, and without all beauty, save that of the holy life; this only is her visible goodliness. This puts to silence the ignorance of foolish men. This allureth others to fall in love with their own salvation, and makes them fall in with Christ against the devil and his kingdom.
XX. Of the porch of the Temple.
We come next to the porch of the temple that is commonly called Solomon's. 1. This porch was in the front of the house, and so became the common way into the temple (1 Kings 6:3; 2 Chron 3:4). 2. This porch therefore was the place of reception in common for all, whether Jews or religious proselytes, who came to Jerusalem to worship (Acts 3:11, 5:12). 3. This porch had a door or gate belonging to it, but such as was seldom shut, except in declining times, or when men put themselves into a rage against those better than themselves (2 Chron 29:7; Acts 21:28-30). 4. this gate of this porch was called Beautiful, even the Beautiful gate of the temple, and was that at which the lame man lay, to beg for an alms of them that went in thither to worship (Acts 3:1,2,10).
Now then, since this porch was the common place of reception for all worshippers, and the place also where they laid the beggars, it looks as if it were to be a type of the church's bosom for charity. Here the proselytes were entertained, here the beggars were relieved, and received alms. These gates were seldom shut; and the houses of Christian compassion should be always open. This therefore beautified this gate, as charity beautifies any of the churches. Largeness of heart, and tender compassion at the church-door, is excellent; it is the bond of perfectness (1 Cor 12:31, 13:1-4; Heb 13:1-3; John 5:6,7; Col 3:14).
The church-porch to this day is a coming in for beggars, and perhaps this practice at first was borrowed from the beggars lying at the temple-gate. This porch was large, and so should the charity of the churches be. It was for length the breadth of the temple, and of the same size with 'the Holiest of all' (1 Kings 6:3; 2 Chron 3:4). The first might be to teach us in charity we should not be niggardly, but, according to the breadth of our ability, we should extend it to all the house; and that in our so doing, the very emblem of heaven is upon us, of which the holiest was a figure. 'As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all,' &c. (Gal 6:10).
It is a fine ornament to a true church to have a large church-porch, or a wide bosom, for reception of all that come thither to worship.[10] This was commanded to the Jews, and their glory shone when they did accordingly: 'And it shall come to pass, that in what tribe the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord God' (Eze 47:23).
This porch was, as I said, not only for length the breadth of the temple, and so the length and breadth of the holiest; but it was, if I mistake not, for height far higher than them both: for the holy place was but thirty cubits high, and the most holy but twenty; but the porch was in height an hundred and twenty cubits. This beautiful porch, therefore, was four times as high as was the [oracle in] temple itself (1 Kings 6:2,20; 2 Chron 3:4).
One excellent ornament, therefore, of this temple was, for that it had a porch so high, that is, so famous for height; hence he says, 'This house that is so high,' that is so famous for height. So high as to be seen afar off. Charity, if it be rich, runs up from the church like a steeple, and will be seen afar off; I say, if it be rich, large, and abounds. Christ's charity was blazed abroad; it was so high no man could hide it: and the charity of the churches will be seen from church to church, yea, and will be spoken of to their commendations in every place, if it be warm, fervent, and high (Mark 7:36-44; 2 Cor 8:24, 9:2,13,14).
XXI. Of the ornaments of the porch of the Temple.
There were three things belonging to the porch, besides its height, that were ornaments unto it. 1. It was overlaid within with gold. 2. It had the pillars adjoined unto it. 3. It was the inlet into the temple.
First. It was overlaid with gold. Gold ofttimes was a type of grace, and particularly of the grace of love. That in Solomon's chariot called gold is yet again mentioned by the name love (Cant 3:9,10). As it is in the church, the grace of love is as gold. It is the greatest, the richest of graces, and that which abides for ever. Hence they that show much love to saints are said to be rich (1 Tim 6:17-19). And hence charity is called a treasure, a treasure in the heavens (Luke 12:33,34). Love is a golden grace; let then the churches, as the porch of the temple was, be inlaid with love, as gold.
Second. It had the pillars adjoined to it, the which, besides their stateliness, seem to be there typically to example. For there was seen, by the space of four cubits, their lily-work in the porch (1 Kings 7:19). Of their lily-work I spake before. Now that they were so placed that they might be seen in the porch of the house, it seems to be for example, to teach the church, that she should live without worldly care, as did the apostles, the first planters of the church. And let ministers do this; they are now the pillars of the churches, and they stand before the porch of the house; let them also show their lily-work to the house, that the church may learn of them to be without carefulness as to worldly things, and also to be rich in love and charity towards the brethren. A covetous minister is a base thing, a pillar more symbolizing Lot's wife than an holy apostle of Jesus Christ; let them, since they stand at the door, and since the eyes of all in the porch are upon them, be patterns and examples of good works (1 Tim 6:10-12; Titus 2:7).
Third. Another ornament unto this porch was, that it was an inlet into the temple. Charity is it which receiveth orphans, that receiveth the poor and afflicted into the church. Worldly love, or that which is carnal, shuts up bowels, yea, and the church-doors too, against the poor of the flock; wherefore look that this kind of love be never countenanced by you. Crave that rather which is a fruit of the Spirit. O churches, let your ministers be beautified with your love, that they may beautify you with their love; and also be an ornament unto you, and to that Gospel they minister to you, for Jesus Christ's sake.
XXII. Of the ascent by which they went up into the porch of the
Temple.
1. This porch also had certain steps, by which they went up into the house of the Lord. I know not directly the number of them; though Ezekiel speaks something about it (Eze 40:38,39). Hence, when men went to worship in the temple, they were said to go UP into the house of the Lord (Isa 38:22).
These steps, which were the ascent to the temple, were so curiously set, and also so finely wrought, that they were amazing to behold. Wherefore, when the queen of Sheba, who came to prove Solomon's wisdom, saw 'the house which he had built,—and his ascent by which he went up into the house of the Lord, she had no more spirit in her.' She was by that sight quite drowned, and overcome (1 Kings 10:4,5).
2. These steps, whether cedar, gold, or stone, yet that which added to their adornment was the wonderment of a queen. And whatever they were made of, to be sure they were a shadow of those steps which we should take to and in the house of God. Steps of God (Psa 85:13). Steps ordered by him (Psa 37:23). Steps ordered in his word (Psa 119:133). Steps of faith (Rom 4:12) Steps of the Spirit (2 Cor 12:18) Steps of truth (3 John 4). Steps washed with butter (Job 29:6). Steps taken before, or in the presence of, God. Steps butted and bounded by a divine rule. These are steps indeed.
3. There are therefore no such steps as these to be found any where in the world. A step to honour, a step to riches, a step to worldly glory, these are everywhere; but what are these to the steps by which men do ascend or go up to the house of the Lord!
He then that entereth into the house of the Lord is an ascending man; as it is said of Moses, he went up into the mount of God. It is ascending to go into the house of God. The world believe not this; they think it is going downward to go up to the house of God; but they are in a horrible mistake.
The steps then by which men went up into the temple are, and ought to be, opposed to those which men take to their lusts and empty glories. Hence such steps are said not only to decline from God, but to take hold of the path to death and hell (Psa 44:18; Prov 2:18, 5:5, 7:25-27).
The steps, then, by which men went up to the house of the Lord,
were significative of those steps which men take when they go to
God, to heaven, and glory: for these steps were the way to God, to
God in his holy temple.
But how few are there that, as the queen of the south, are taken with these goodly steps! Do not most rather seek to push away our feet from taking hold of the path of life, or else lay snares for us in the way? But all these notwithstanding, the Lord guide us in the way of his steps: they are goodly steps, they are the best.
XXIII. Of the gate of the porch of the Temple.
1. The porch, at which was an ascent to the temple, had a gate belonging to it. This gate, according to the prophet Ezekiel, was six cubits wide. The leaves of this gate were double, one folding this way, the other folding that (Eze 40:48).
Now here some may object, and say, Since the way to God by these door were so wide, why doth Christ say the way and gate is narrow?
Answ. The straitness, the narrowness, must not be understood of the gate simply, but because of that cumber that some men carry with them, that pretend to be going to heaven. Six cubits! What is sixteen cubits to him who would enter in here with all the world on his back? The young man in the gospel, who made such a noise for heaven, might have gone in easy enough; for in six cubits breadth there is room: but, poor man, he was not for going in thither, unless he might carry in his houses upon his shoulder too, and now the gate was strait (Mark 10:17-27). Wherefore he that will enter in at the gate of heaven, of which this gate into the temple was a type, must go in by himself, and not with his bundles of trash on his back;[11] and if he will go in thus, he need not fear there is room. 'The righteous nation that keepeth the truth, they shall enter in' (Isa 26:2).
2. They that enter in at the gate of the inner court must be clothed in fine linen: how then shall they go into the temple that carry the clogs of the dirt of this world at their heels? 'Thus saith the Lord God; No stranger uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary' (Eze 44:9).
3. The wideness therefore of this gate is for this cause here made mention of, to wit, to encourage them that would gladly enter thereat, according to the mind of God, and not to flatter them that are not for leaving of all for God.
4. Wherefore let such as would go in remember that here is room, even a gate to enter in at six cubits wide. We have been all this while but on the outside of the temple, even in the courts of the house of the Lord, to see the beauty and glory that is there. The beauty hereof made men cry out, and say, 'How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! my soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord'; and to say, 'a day in thy courts is better than a thousand' (Psa 84:1,2,&c.).
XXIV. Of the pinnacles of the Temple.
1. There were also several pinnacles belonging to the temple. These pinnacles stood on the top aloft in the air, and were sharp, and so difficult to stand upon: what men say of their number and length I wave, and come directly to their signification.
2. I therefore take those pinnacles to be types of those lofty airy notions with which some men delight themselves, while they hover, like birds, above the solid and godly truths of Christ. Satan attempted to entertain Christ Jesus with this type, and antitype, at once, when he set him on one of the pinnacles of the temple, and offered to thrust him upon a false confidence in God, by a false and unsound interpretation of a text (Matt 4:5,6; Luke 4:9-11).
3. You have some men cannot be content to worship IN the temple, but must be aloft; no place will serve them but pinnacles, pinnacles; that they may be speaking in and to the air, that they may be promoting their heady notions, instead of solid truth; not considering that now they are where the devil would have them be; they strut upon their points, their pinnacles; but let them look to it, there is difficulty standing upon pinnacles; their neck, their soul, is in danger. We read, God is in his temple, not upon these pinnacles (Psa 11:4; Hab 2:20).
4. It is true, Christ was once upon one of these; but the devil set him there, with intent to have dashed him in pieces by a fall; and yet even then told him, if he would venture to tumble down, he should be kept from dashing his foot against a stone. To be there, therefore, was one of Christ's temptations; consequently one of Satan's stratagems; nor went he thither of his own accord, for he knew that there was danger; he loved not to clamber pinnacles.
5. This should teach Christians to be low and little in their own eyes, and to forbear to intrude into airy and vain speculations, and to take heed of being puffed up with a foul and empty mind.[12]
XXV. Of the porters of the Temple.
1. There were porters belonging to the temple. In David's time their number was four thousand men (1 Chron 23:5).
2. The porters were of the Levites, and their work was to watch at every gate of the house of the Lord; at the gate of the outer court, at the gates of the inner court, and at the door of the temple of the Lord (2 Chron 35:15).
3. The work of the porters, or rather the reason of their watching, was to look that none not duly qualified entered into the house of the Lord. 'He set,' saith the text, 'the porters at the gates of the house of the Lord, that none which was unclean in any thing should enter in' (2 Chron 23:19).
4. The excellency of the porters lay in these three things, their watchfulness, diligence, and valour, to make resistance to those that, as unfit, would attempt to enter those courts and the house of God (1 Chron 26:6; Mark 13:34).
5. These porters were types of our gospel ministers, as they are set to be watchmen in and over the church, and the holy things of God. Therefore as Christ gives to every man in the church his work, so he commands 'the porter to watch' (Isa 21:11; Eze 3:17, 33:7; Acts 20:27-31; 2 Tim 4:5; Rev 2:2,3).
6. Sometimes every awakened Christian is said to be a porter, and such at Christ's first knock open unto him immediately (Luke 12:35-40).
7. The heart of a Christian is also sometimes called the porter; for that when the true shepherd comes to it, to him this porter openeth also (John 10:3).
8. This last has the body for his watch-house; the eyes and ears for his port-holes; the tongue therewith to cry, Who comes there? as also to call for aid, when anything unclean shall attempt with force and violence to enter in, to defile the house.
XXVI. Of the charge of the porters of the Temple more particularly.
1. The charge of the porters was, to keep their watch, in four square, even round about the temple of God. Thus it was ordained by David, before him by Moses, and after him by Solomon his son (1 Chron 9:24; Num 3; 2 Chron 23:19, 35:15).
2. The porters had some of them the charge of the treasure-chambers; some of them had the charge of the ministering vessels, even to bring them in and out by tale; also the opening and shutting of the gates of the house of the Lord was a part of their calling and office.
3. I told you, the porters were types of our gospel ministers, as they are watchmen in and over the house of God; and therefore in that they were thus to watch round about the temple, what is it but to show how diligent Satan is, to see if he may get in somewhere, by some means, to defile the church of God; he goes round and round and round us, to see if he can find a hog-hole for that purpose.
4. This also showeth that the church of itself, without its watchmen, is a weak, feeble, and very helpless thing. What can the lady or mistress do to defend herself against thieves and sturdy villains, if there be none but she at home? It is said, when the shepherd is smitten, the sheep shall be scattered. What could the temple do without its watchmen?
5. Again, in that the porters had charge of the treasure-chambers as it is (1 Chron 9:26), it is to intimate, that the treasures of the gospel are with the ministers of our God, and that the church, next to Christ, should seek them at their mouth. 'We have this treasure in earthen vessels,' saith Paul, and they are 'stewards of the' manifold 'mysteries of God' (1 Cor 4:1; 2 Cor 4:7; 1 Peter 4:10; Eph 4:11-13).
6. These are God's true scribes, and bring out of their treasury things new and old; or, as he saith in another place, 'At our gates,' that is, where our porters watch, 'are all manner of pleasant fruits, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved' (Cant 7:13; Matt 13:52).
7. Further, some of them had charge of the ministering vessels, and they were to bring them in and out by tale (1 Chron 9:28). (1.) If by ministering vessels you understand gospel ordinances, then you see who has the charge of them, to wit, the watchmen and ministers of the word (Luke 1:12; 2 Thess 2:15; 2 Tim 2:2). (2.) If by ministering vessels you mean the members of the church, for they are also ministering vessels, then you see who has the care of them, to wit, the pastors, the gospel ministers. Therefore 'obey them that have the rule over you—for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account; that they may do it with joy, and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you' (Heb 13:17).
8. The opening of the gates did also belong to the porters, to show that the power of the keys, to wit, of opening and shutting, of letting in and keeping out of the church, doth ministerially belong to these watchmen (Matt 16:19; Heb 12:15).
9. The conclusion is, then let the churches love their pastors, hear their pastors, be ruled by their pastors, and suffer themselves to be watched over, and to be exhorted, counselled, and if need be, reproved, and rebuked by their pastors.[13] And let the ministers not sleep, but be watchful, and look to the ordinances, to the souls of the saints, and the gates of the churches. Watchman, watchman, watch!
XXVII. Of the doors of the Temple.
Now we are come to the gate of the temple; namely, to that which let out of the porch into the holy place.
1. These doors or gates were folding, and they opened by degrees. First, a quarter, and then a half, after that three quarters, and last of all the whole. These doors also hanged upon hinges of gold, and upon posts made of the goodly olive tree (1 Kings 6:33,34; Eze 41:23,24).
2. These doors did represent Christ, as he is the way to the Father, as also did the door of the tabernacle, at which the people were wont to stand when they went to inquire of God. Wherefore, Christ saith, 'I am the door,' alluding to this, 'by me if any man enter he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture' (Exo 33:9,10, 38:8, 40:12; Lev 1:3,4, 8:3,4,33, 15:14; Num 6:13,18, 10:3, 25:6, 27:2; 1 Sam 2:22; John 10:9). (1.) 'I am the door.' The door into the court, the door into the porch, the door into the temple, the door into the holiest, the door to the Father. But now we are at the door of the temple. (2.) And observe it, this door by Solomon was not measured as the door of the porch was: for though the door into the court, and the door into the porch were measured, to show that the right to ordinances and the inlet into the church is to be according to a prescript rule, yet this door was not measured; to show that Christ, as he is the inlet to saving grace, is beyond all measure, and unsearchable. Hence his grace is called 'unsearchable riches,' and that above all we can ask or think, for that it passeth knowledge (Eph 3:8,19,20).
3. It is, therefore, convenient that we put a note upon this, that we may distinguish rule and duty from grace and pardoning mercy; for as I said, though Christ, as the door to outward privileges, is set forth by rule and measure; yet, as he is the door to grace and favour, never creature, as yet, did see the length and breadth of him (Eph 3:17,19).[14]
4. Therefore, I say, this gate was not measured; for what should a rule do here, where things are beyond all measure?
5. This gate being also to open by degrees, is of signification to us; for it will be opening first by one fold, then by another, and yet will never be set wide, wide open, until the day of judgment. For then, and not till then, will the whole of the matter be open. 'For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known' (1 Cor 13:12).
XXVIII. Of the leaves of this gate of the Temple.
The leaves of this gate or door, as I told you before, were folding, and so, as was hinted, has something of signification in them. For by this means a man, especially a young disciple, may easily be mistaken; thinking that the whole passage, when yet but a part was open; whereas, three parts might be yet kept undiscovered to him. For these doors, as I said before, were never yet set wide open; I mean, in the antitype; never man yet saw all the riches and fulness which is in Christ. So that I say, a new comer, if he judged by present sight, especially if he saw but little, might easily be mistaken; wherefore such, for the most part, are most horribly afraid that they shall never get in thereat. How sayest thou, young comer, is not this the case with thy soul? So it seems to thee that thou art too big, being so great, so tun-bellied a sinner. But, O thou sinner, fear not, the doors are folding-doors, and may be opened wider, and wider again after that; wherefore, when thou comest to this gate, and imaginest there is not space enough for thee to enter, knock, and it shall be wider opened unto thee, and thou shalt be received (Luke 11:9; John 6:37). So, then, whoever thou art that art come to the door, of which the temple door was a type, trust not to thy first conceptions of things, but believe there is grace abundant. Thou knowest not yet what Christ can do, the doors are folding-doors. He can 'do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think' (Eph 3:20).
The hinges on which these doors do hang were, as I told you, gold; to signify that they both turned upon motives and motions of love, and also that the openings thereof were rich. Golden hinges the gate to God doth turn upon,
The posts on which these doors did hang were of the olive tree, that fat and oily tree, to show that they do never open with lothness or sluggishness, as doors do whose hinges want oil. They are always oily, and so open easily and quickly to those who knock at them. Hence you read, that he that dwells in this house gives freely, loves freely, and doth us good with all his heart. 'Yea,' saith he, 'I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart, and with my whole soul' (Jer 3:12,14,22, 32:41; Rev 21:6, 22:17). Wherefore, the oil of grace, signified by this oily tree, or these olive-posts, on which these doors do hang, do cause that they open glibly or frankly to the soul.
XXIX. What the doors of the Temple were made of.
1. The doors of the temple were made of fir; that is so sweet scented, and pleasant to the smell (1 Kings 6:34).
2. Mankind is also often compared to the fir tree. As Isaiah 41:19, 55:13, 60:13-17, 14:8.
3. Now, since the doors of the temple were made of the same, doth it not show that the way into God's house, and into his favour, is by the same nature which they are of that thither enter, even through the veil, his flesh? (Heb 10:20). For this door, I mean the antitype, doth even say of himself, 'I Am like a green fir tree, from me is thy fruit found' (Hosea 14:8).
4. This fir tree is Christ; Christ as man, and so as the way to the Father. The doors of the temple are also, as you see here, made of the fir tree; even of that tree which was a type of the humanity of Jesus Christ. Consider Hebrews 2:14.
5. The fir tree is also the house of the stork, that unclean bird, even as Christ is a harbour and shelter for sinners. As for the stork, saith the text, the fir tree is her house; and Christ saith to the sinners that see their want of shelter, 'Come unto me, and I will give you rest.' He is a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in time of trouble (Deut 14:18; Lev 11:19; Psa 104:17, 84:2,3; Matt 11:27,28; Heb 6:17-20). He is, as the doors of fir of the temple, the inlet to God's house, to God's presence, and to a partaking of his glory. Thus God did of old, by similitudes, teach his people his way.
XXX. How the doors of the Temple were adorned.
And Solomon carved upon the doors 'cherubims, and palm trees, and open flowers, and covered them with gold' (1 Kings 6:35; Eze 41:25).
First. He carved cherubims thereon. These cherubims were figures or types of angels, and forasmuch as they were carved here upon the door, it was to show,
1. What delight the angels take in waiting upon the Lord, and in going at his bidding, at his beck. They are always waiting like servants at the door of their Lord's house.
2. It may be also to show how much pleased they are to be where they may see sinners come to God. For 'there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth,' and comes to God by Christ for mercy (Luke 15:10).
3. They may be also placed here to behold with what reverence or irreverence those that come hither to worship do behave themselves. Hence Solomon cautions those that come to God's house to worship, that they take heed to their feet, because of the angels. Paul also says, Women must take heed that they behave themselves in the church as they should, and that because of the angels (Eccl 5:1,2,6; 1 Cor 11:5,6,10).
4. They may also be carved upon the temple doors, to show us how ready they are, so soon as any poor creature comes to Christ for life to take the care and charge of its conduct through this miserable world. 'Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?' (Heb 1:14).
5. They may also be carved here, to show that they are ready, at Christ's command, to take vengeance for him upon those that despise his people and hate his person. Hence he bids the world take heed what they do to his 'little ones,' for 'their angels do always behold the face of their Father which is in heaven,' and are ready at the door to run at his bidding (Matt 18:10).
6. Or lastly, they may be carved upon these doors, to show that Christ Jesus is the very supporter and upholder of angels, as well as the Saviour of sinful man. For as he is before all things, so by him all things consist; angels stand by Christ, men are saved by Christ, and therefore the very cherubims themselves were carved upon these doors, to show they are upheld and subsist by him (1 Cor 8:6; Col 1:17; Heb 1:3).
Second. Again, as the cherubims are carved here, so there were palm trees carved here also. The palm tree is upright, it twisteth not itself awry (Jer 10:5).
1. Apply this to Christ, and then it shows us the uprightness of his heart, word, and ways with sinners. 'Good and upright is the Lord, therefore will he teach sinners in the way'; in at the door to life (Psa 25:8, 92:15).
2. The palm or palm tree is also a token of victory; and as placed here, it betokeneth the conquest that Christ, the door, should get over sin, death, the devil, and hell for us (Rom 7:24, 8:37; 1 Cor 15:54-57; Rev 7:9-11).
3. If we apply the palm tree to the church, as we may, for she also is compared thereto (Cant 7:8-10), then the palm tree may be carved here to show, that none but such as are upright of heart and life shall dwell in the presence of God. 'The hypocrite,' says Job, 'shall not come before him.' 'The upright,' says David, 'shall not dwell in thy presence' (Job 13:16; Psa 140:13). They are they that are clothed in white robes, which signifies uprightness of life, that stand before the Lamb with 'palms in their hands' (Rev 7:9).
Third. There were also carved upon these doors open flowers; and that to teach us that here is the sweet scent and fragrant smell; and that the coming soul will find it so in Christ, this door. 'I AM,' saith he, 'the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.' And again, 'His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh' (Cant 2:1, 5:13). Open flowers. Open flowers are the sweetest, because full grown, and because, as such, they yield their fragrancy most freely. Wherefore, when he saith upon the doors are open flowers, he setteth Christ Jesus forth in his good savours, as high as by such a similitudes he could; and that both in name and office. For open flowers lay, by their thus opening themselves before us, all their beauty also most plainly before our faces. There are varieties of beauty in open flowers, the which they also commend to all observers. Now, upon these doors, you see, are open flowers, flowers ripe, and spread before us, to show that his name and offices are savoury to them that by him do enter his house to God his Father (Cant 1:1-4).
'All these were overlaid with fine gold.' Gold is the most rich of all metals; and here it is said the doors, the cherubims, the palm trees, and open flowers, were overlaid therewith. And this shows, that as these things are rich in themselves, even so they should be to us. We have a golden door to go to God by, and golden angels to conduct us through the world: we have golden palm trees as tokens of our victory, and golden flowers to smell on all the way to heaven.
XXXI. Of the wall of the Temple.
The wall of the temple was 'ceiled with fir tree, which he overlaid with fine gold, and set thereon palm trees and chains' (2 Chron 3:5-7).
The walls were as the body of the house, unto which Christ alluded when he said, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up' (John 2:19). Hence to be, and worship in the temple, was a type of being in Christ, and worshipping God by him. For Christ, as was said, is the great temple of God, in the which all the elect meet, and in whom they do service to and for his Father.
Hence again the true worshippers are said to be in him, to speak in him, to walk in him, to obey in him (2 Cor 2:14, 12:19; Col 2:6). For, as of old, all true worship was to be found at the temple, so now it is only found with Christ, and with them that are in him. The promise of old was made to them that worshipped within these walls. 'Unto them,' saith he, 'will I give in my house, and within my walls,' to them that worship there in truth, 'a place, and a name, better than of sons and of daughters' (Isa 56:5).
But now, in New Testament times, 'all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him, amen unto the glory of God by us' (2 Cor 1:20). This is yet further hinted to us in that it is said these wall s are ceiled with fir;[15] which, as was showed before, was a figure of the humanity of Jesus Christ.
A wall is for defence, and so is the humanity of Jesus Christ. It is, was, and will be, our defence for ever. For it was that which underwent and overcame the curse of the law, and that in which our everlasting righteousness is found. Had he not in that interposed, we had perished for ever. Hence we are said to be reconciled to God in the body of his flesh through death (Col 1:19,20; Rom 5:8-10).
Now, this wall was overlaid with fine gold. Gold here is a figure of the righteousness of Christ, by which we are justified in the sight of God. Therefore you read, that his church, as justified, is said to stand at his right hand in cloth of gold. 'Upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.' And again, 'Her clothing is of wrought gold' (Psa 45:9,13). This the wall was overlaid with; this the body of Christ was filled with. Men, while in the temple, were clothed with gold, even with the gold of the temple; and men in Christ are clothed with righteousness, the righteousness of Christ. Wherefore this consideration doth yet more illustrate the matter. In that the palm trees were set on this wall, it may be to show that the elect are fixed in Jesus, and so shall abide for ever.
Chains were also carved on these walls, yea, and they were golden chains; there were chains on the pillars, and now also we find chains upon the walls. 1. Chains were used to hold one captive, and such Paul did wear at Rome, but he called them 'his bands in Christ.' 2. Chains sometimes signify great afflictions, which God lays on us for our sins (Psa 107:9-11; Lam 1:14, 3:7). 3. Chains also may be more mystically understood, as of those obligations which the love of God lays upon us, to do and suffer for him (Acts 20:22). 4. Chains do sometimes signify beauty and comely ornaments. 'Thy neck,' saith Christ to his spouse, 'is comely with chains of gold.' And again, 'I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck' (Cant 1:10; Eze 16:8-11; Prov 1:9). 5. Chains also do sometimes denote greatness and honour, such as Daniel had when the king made him the third ruler in the kingdom (Dan 5:7,16,29).
Now all these are temple-chains, and are put upon us for good; some to prevent our ruin, some to dispose our minds the better, and some to dignify and to make us noble. Temple-chains are brave chains. None but temple-worshippers must wear temple-chains.
XXXII. Of the garnishing of the Temple with precious stones.
'And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty' (2 Chron 3:6,7). 1. This is another ornament to the temple of the Lord; wherefore, as he saith, it was garnished with them; he saith it was garnished with them for beauty. The line[16] saith, garnished; the margin saith, covered. 2. Wherefore, I think, they were fixed as stars, or as the stars in the firmament, so they were set in the ceiling of the house, as in the heaven of the holy temple. 3. And thus fixed, they do the more aptly tell us of what they were a figure; namely, of the ministerial gifts and officers in the church. For ministers, as to their gifts and office, are called stars of God, and are said to be in the hand of Christ (Rev 1:20). 4. Wherefore, as the stars glitter and twinkle in the firmament of heaven, so do true ministers in the firmament of his church (1 Chron 29:2; John 5:35; Dan 12:3). 5. So that it is said again these gifts come down from above, as signifying they distil their dew from above. And hence, again, the ministers are said to be set over us in the Lord, as placed in the firmament of his heaven to give a light upon his earth. 'There is gold and a multitude of rubies, but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel' (Prov 20:15).
Verily, it is enough to make a man in this house look always upward; since the ceiling above head doth thus glitter with precious stones. Precious stones, all manner of precious stones, stones of all colours. For there are divers gifts, differences of administrations, and diversities of operations, 'but it is the same God which worketh all in all' (1 Cor 12:4-6). Thus had the ceiling of this house a pearl here, and there a diamond; here a jasper, and there a sapphire; here a sardius, and there a jacinth; here a sardonyx, and there an amethyst. 'For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge'; to one the gift of healing, to another faith; to this man to work miracles, to that a spirit of prophecy; to another the discerning of spirits, to another divers kinds of tongues (1 Cor 12:8-11).
He also overlaid the house, beams, posts, walls, doors, &c., and all with gold. O what a beautiful house the temple was; how full of glory was it! And yet all was but a shadow, a shadow of things to come, and which was to be answered in the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth, by better things than these.
XXXIII. Of the windows of the Temple.
'And for the house, he made windows of narrow lights' (1 Kings 6:4). There were windows of this house, windows for the chambers and windows round about (Eze 40:16,22-25,29,33,36). These windows were of several sizes, but all narrow, narrow without, but wide within; they also were finely wrought, and beautified with goodly stones (Isa 54:12).
1. Windows, as they are to a house an ornament, so also to it they are a benefit. 'Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun' (Eccl 11:7). The window is that which Christ looks forth at, the window is that which the sun looks in at (Cant 2:9).
2. By the light which shines in at the window we also see to make and keep the house clean, and also to do what business is necessary there to be done. 'In thy light shall we see light'; light to do our duty, and that both to God and man.
3. These windows therefore were figures of the written word, by and through which Christ shows himself to his, and by which we also apprehend him. And hence the Word of God is compared to a glass through which the light doth come, and by which we see not only the beams of the sun, but our own smutches also (2 Chron 30:18; James 1:23-25).
4. The lights indeed were narrow, wherefore we see also through their antitype but darkly and imperfectly. 'Now we see through a glass darkly,' or, as in a riddle, now we know but in part (1 Cor 13:12).
5. Their windows and their light are but of little service to those that are without; the world sees but little of the beauty of the church by the light of the written Word, though the church, by that light, can see the dismal state of the world, and also how to avoid it.
XXXIV. Of the chambers of the Temple.
In the temple Solomon made chambers (1 Kings 6:5).
1. The chambers were of several sizes; some little, some large; some higher, some lower; some more inward, and some outward.
2. These chambers were for several services; some were for rests, some to hide in, some to lay up treasure in, and some for solace and delight (2 Chron 3:9; Eze 40:7, 41:5,9-11; 2 Chron 31:11,12). They were for resting-places. Here the priests and porters were wont to lodge. They were for hiding-places. Here Jehoshabeath hid Joash from Athaliah the term of six years (2 Kings 11:3). They were also to lay the temple treasure, or dedicated things in, that they might be safely kept there for the worshippers (Ezra 8:29). And some of them were for solace and delight; and, I must add, some for durable habitation. Wherefore in some of them some dwelt always, yea, their names dwelt there when they were dead.
(1.) Those of them which were for rest, were types of that rest which by faith we have in the Son of God, and of that eternal rest which we shall have in heaven by him (Matt 11:28; Heb 4:3). (2.) Those chambers which were for hiding and security, were types of that safety which we have in Christ from the rage of the world (Isa 26:20). (3.) Those chambers which were for the reception of the treasures and dedicated things were types of Christ, as he is the common store-house of believers. 'For it pleased the Father, that in him should all fulness dwell'; 'and of his fulness we all receive, and grace for grace' (John 1:16; Col 1:19). (4.) Those chambers that were for solace and delight, were types of those retirements and secret meetings of Christ with the soul, where he gives it his embraces, and delights her with his bosom and ravishing delights. 'He brought me,' said she, 'into his chambers,' 'into the chamber of her that conceived me,' and there he gave her his love (Cant 1:4, 3:4).
The chambers which were for durable dwelling-places were types of those eternal dwelling-places which are in the heavens, prepared of Christ and the Father, for them that shall be saved (John 14:1-4; 2 Cor 5:1-4). This it is to 'dwell on high,' and to be safe from fear of evil! Here therefore you see are chambers for rest, chambers for safety, chambers for treasure, chambers for solace, and chambers for durable habitations. O the rest and peace that the chambers of God's high house will yield to its inhabitants in another world! Here they will 'rest from their labours,' 'rest in their beds,' rest with God, rest from sin, temptation, and all sorrow (Rev 14:13; Isa 57:1,2; 2 Thess 1:7). God therefore then shall wipe all tears from our eyes, even when he comes out of his chamber as a bridegroom, to fetch his bride, his wife unto him thither, to the end they may have eternal solace together. O these are far better than the chambers of the south!
XXXV. Of the stairs by which they went up into the chambers of the
Temple.
There were stairs by which men went up into these chambers of the temple, and they were but one pair, and they went from below to the first, and so to the middle, and thence to the highest chambers in the temple (1 Kings 6:8; Eze 41:7).
1. These stairs were winding; so that they turned about, that did go up them. So then, he that assayed to go into these chambers, must turn with the stairs, or he could not go up, no, not into the lowest chambers.
2. These stairs therefore were a type of a two-fold repentance. That by which we turn from nature to grace, and that by which we turn from the imperfections which attend a state of grace to glory. Hence true repentance, or the right going up these turning stairs, is called repentance to salvation; for true repentance stoppeth not at the reception of grace; for that is but a going up these stairs to the middle chambers (2 Cor 7:10).
Thus, therefore, the soul, at its going up these stairs, turns and turns, till it enters the doors of the highest chambers. It groans, though in a state of grace, because that is not the state of glory. I count then, that from the first to the middle chambers may be a type of turning from nature to grace. But from the middle to the highest, these stairs may signify a turning still from the imperfections and temptations that attend a state of grace, to that of immortality and glory (2 Cor 5:1-9).
For as there are turning stairs, form the lowest to the middle chambers, so the stairs from thence still turn, and so will do, till you come to the highest chambers. I do not say that they that have received grace, do repent they received grace; but I say they that have received grace, are yet sorry that grace is not consummate in glory; and hence they are for going up thither still, by these turning stairs; yea, they cannot rest below, as they would, till they ascend to the highest chambers. 'O wretched man that I am!' And 'in this we groan earnestly,' is the language of gracious souls (Rom 7:24; 2 Cor 5:1-3). True, every one doth not do thus that comes into the temple of God; many rest below stairs, they like not to go turning upward. Nor do I believe that all that bid fair for ascending to the middle chambers, get up to the highest stories, to his stories in the heavens. Many in churches, who seem to be turned from nature to grace, have not the grace to go up, turning still; but rest in that show of things, and so die below a share in the highest chambers.
All these things are true in the antitype, and, as I think, prefigured by these turning stairs to the chambers of the temple. But this turning, and turning still, displeases some much; they say it makes them giddy; but I say, there is no way like this, to make a man stand steady; stedfast in the faith, and with boldness in the day of judgment. For he has this seated in his heart; I went up by the turning stairs, till I came to the highest chambers. A strait pair of stairs are like that ladder by which men ascend to the gallows; they are the turning ones that lead us to the heavenly mansion-houses. Look, therefore, you that come into the temple of God to worship, that you stay not at the foot of these turning stairs, but go up thence; yea, up them, and up them, and up them, till you come to the view of the heavens; yea, till you are possessed of the highest chambers! How many times has God, by the Scripture, called upon you to TURN, and told you, you must turn or die! and now here he has added to his call a figure, by placing a pair of turning stairs in his temple, to convict your very senses, that you must TURN, if you mean to go up into his holy chambers, and so into his eternal mansion-houses; and look that you turn to purpose; for every turning will not serve. Some turn, but not to the Most High; and so turn to no purpose.
XXXVI. Of the molten sea that was in the Temple.
There was also a molten sea in the temple; it was made of brass, and contained three thousand baths (2 Chron 4:2-10). [17] This sea was for the priests to wash in when they came into the temple to accomplish the service of God; to wash their hands and feet at, that they might not, when they came thither, die for their unpreparedness. The laver also which was in the wilderness was of the same use there (Exo 30).
1. It was, as may be supposed, called a sea, for that it was large to contain; and a sea of brass, for that it was made thereof. It is called in Revelation a sea of glass, alluding to that in the wilderness, which was made of the brazen looking-glasses of women that came to worship at the door of the tabernacle (Rev 4:6, 15:2; Exo 38:8).
2. It was also said to be molten, because it was made of that fashion, by fire; and its antitype therefore is said to be a sea of glass mingled with fire (Rev 15:2). (1.) This sea was a figure of the word of the gospel, in the cleansing virtue of it; which virtue then it has when mingled with the fire of the Holy Ghost. And to this Christ alludes, when he saith, 'Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you' (John 15:3). (2.) It was a figure of the word, without mixture of men's inventions; hence it is called 'pure water.' Having your 'bodies washed with pure water.' And again, He sanctifies and cleanseth his church 'with the washing of water by the word' (Eph 5:26; Titus 3:5). All these places are an allusion to the molten sea, at which of old they washed when they went into the temple to worship. Therefore, saith he, being washed, let us draw near to God (Heb 10:22).
3. This sea from brim to brim was complete ten cubits; perhaps to show that there is as much in the word of the gospel to save, as there is in the ten[18] words to condemn.
4. From under this sea round about appeared oxen, ten in a cubit did compass it round about (2 Chron 4:3). Understand by these oxen ministers, for to them they are compared in 1 Corinthians 9:8-10. And then we are taught whence true ministers come; to wit, from under the power of the gospel, for this sea breeds gospel ministers, as the waters breed fish.
5. It is also said in the text, that these oxen were cast when the sea was cast; insinuating that when God ordained a word of grace to save us, he also in his decree provided ministers to preach it to us to that end. Paul tells us, that he was made a minister of the gospel, 'according to God's eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord' (Eph 3:9-11; Col 1:25).
6. This sea is said to have a brim like the brim of a cup. To invite us as well to drink of its grace, as to wash in its water. For the word and Spirit when mixed, has not only a cleansing, but a saving quality in it (2 Chron 4:1-5; 1 Cor 15:1,2).
7. This brim was wrought with lilies, or was like a lily flower; to show how they should grow and flourish, and with what beautiful robes they should be adorned, who were washed, and did drink of this holy water. Yea, that God would take care of them, as he also did of lilies, and would not fail to bestow upon them what was necessary for the body, as well as for the soul (Matt 6:28-34).
XXVII. Upon what the molten sea stood in the Temple.
1. This molten sea stood upon the backs of twelve brazen bulls or oxen (2 Chron 4:4).
2. These oxen, as they thus stood, looked three towards the north, three towards the west, three towards the east, and three towards the south.
3. These twelve oxen were types of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, who, as these beasts, stood looking into the four corners of the earth, and were bid to go preach the gospel in all the world.
4. They were compared to oxen, because they were clean; for the ox was a clean beast. Hence the apostles are called holy. They were compared to oxen, because the ox is strong; and they also were mighty in the word (Prov 14:4; 2 Cor 12:12).
5. The ox will not lose what he has got by drawing; he will not let the wheels go back; so the apostles were set to defend, and not let that doctrine go back, which they had preached to others; nor did they, they delivered it pure to us.
6. One of the cherubs of which you read in the vision had a face like an ox, to show that the apostles, these men of the first order, are most like the angels of God (Eze 1:10).
7. In that they stood with their faces every way, it was, as I said, to show how the apostles should carry the gospel into all the world (Matt 28:19,20; Mark 16:15-18).
8. And observe, just as these oxen were placed looking in the temple every way, even so stand open the gates of the New Jerusalem to receive those that by their doctrine should be brought into it. 'And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God' (Luke 13:29; Rev 21:13,14).
9. These oxen bear this molten sea upon their backs, to show that they should be the foundation workmen of the gospel, and that it ought not to be removed, as was the molten sea of old, from that basis to another.
10. It is also said concerning those oxen that thus did bear this molten sea, that all their hinder parts were inwards, that is, covered by that sea that was set upon their backs; their hinder parts, or, as the apostle has it, 'our uncomely parts' (1 Cor 13:23,24).
11. And, indeed, it becomes a gospel minister to have his uncomely parts covered with that grace which by the gospel he preached unto others. As Paul exhorts Timothy to take heed unto himself, and to his doctrine (1 Tim 4:6).
12. But alas! there are too, too many who, can they but have their hands covered with a few gospel notions, care not though their hinder parts are seen of all the world. But such are false ministers; the prophet calls them 'the tail.' 'The prophet that speaketh lies, either by word or with his feet, he is the tail' (Isa 9:15; Prov 6:12,13).
13. But what a shame is it to hide his head under this molten sea, while his hinder parts hang out. Such an one is none of Christ's oxen; for they, with honour to their Master, show their heads before all the world, for that their hinder parts are inward, covered.
14. Look to thy hinder parts, minister, lest, while thy mouth doth preach the gospel, thy nakedness and shame be seen of those which hear thee. For they that do not observe to learn this lesson themselves, will not teach others to believe the Word, nor to live a holy life; they will learn of them to show their shame, instead of learning to be holy.
XXXVIII. Of the lavers of the Temple.
Besides this molten sea, there were ten lavers in the temple; five of which were put on the right side, and five also on the left (2 Chron 4:6).
1. Of their fashion and their furniture, you may see (1 Kings 7:38). These lavers, as the molten sea, were vessels which contained water; but they were not of the same use with it. True, they were both to wash in; the sea to wash the worshippers, but the lavers to wash the sacrifice. 'He made the ten lavers to wash in them such things as they offered for the burnt-offering, but the sea was for the priests to wash in' (2 Chron 4:6). 2. The burnt-offering was a type of the body of Christ, which he once offered for our sins; and the fire on which the sacrifice was burned, a type of the curse of the law which seized on Christ when he gave himself a ransom for us. For, therefore, that under the law was called the burnt-offering, because of the burning upon the altar (Lev 6:9).
But what, then, must we understand by these lavers, and by this sacrifice being washed in them, in order to its being burned upon the altar?
I answer, Verily, I think that the ten lavers were a figure of the ten commandments; in the purity and perfection of Christ's obedience to which he became capable of being made a burnt-offering, acceptable to God for the sins of the people. Christ was made under the law, and all his acts of obedience to God for us were legal, and his living thus a perfect legal life was his washing his offering in these ten lavers, in order to his presenting it upon the altar for our sins. The lavers went upon wheels, to signify walking feet; and Christ walked in the law, and so became a clean offering to God for us. The wheels were of the very same as were the lavers, to show that Christ's obedience to the law was of the same, as to length and breadth, with its commands and demands to their utmost tittle and extent. The inwards and legs of the burnt-offering were to be washed in these lavers (Lev 1:9,13; 2 Chron 4:6); to show that Christ should be pure and clean in heart and life.
We know that obedience, whether Christ's or ours, is called 'a walking in the way,' typified by the lavers walking upon their wheels. But I mean not by Christ, his washing of his offering, that he had any filthiness cleaving to his nature or obedience; yet this I say, that so far as our guilt laid upon him could impede, so far he wiped it off by washing in these lavers. For his offering was to be without blemish, and without spot to God. Hence it is said, he sanctified himself in order to his suffering. 'And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him' (John 17:19; Heb 5:6-10).
For albeit he came holy into the world, yet that holiness was but preparatory to that by which he sanctified himself, in order to his suffering for sin. That, then, which was his immediate preparation for his suffering was his obedience to the law, his washing in these lavers. He, then, first yielded complete obedience to the law on our behalf, and then, as so qualified, offered his washed sacrifice for our sins without spot to God. Thus, therefore, he was our burnt-offering washed in the ten lavers, that he might, according to law, be accepted of the Lord.
And he set five of the lavers on the right side of the house, and five of them on the left. Thus were the ten divided, as the tables of the law, one showing our duty towards God, the other our duty towards our neighbour; in both which the burnt-offering was washed, that it might be clean in both respects. They might also be thus placed, the better to put the people in mind of the necessity of the sanction of Christ according to the law, in order to his offering of himself an offering to God for us.
XXXIX. Of the tables in the Temple.
'He made also ten tables, and placed them in the temple, five on the right hand,[19] and five on the left' (2 Chron 4:8).
Some, if not all of these tables, so far as I can see, were they on which the burnt-offering was to be cut in pieces, in order to its burning.
These tables were made of stone, of hewn stones, on which this work was done (Eze 40:40-43). Now, since the burnt-offering was a figure of the body of Christ, the tables on which this sacrifice was slain must needs, I think, be a type of the heart, the stony heart, of the Jews. For had they not had hearts hard as an adamant, they could not have done that thing.
Upon these tables, therefore, was the death of Christ contrived, and this horrid murder acted; even upon these tables of stone. In that they are called tables of hewn stone, it may be to show that all this cruelty was acted under smooth pretences, for hewn stones are smooth. The tables were finely wrought with tools, even as the heart of the Jews were with hypocrisy. But alas, they were stone still; that is, hard and cruel; else they could not have been an anvil for Satan to forge such horrid barbarism upon. The tables were in number the same with the lavers, and were set by them to show what are the fruits of being devoted to the law, as the Jews were, in opposition to Christ and his holy gospel. There flows nothing but hardness and a stony heart from thence. This was showed in its first writing; it was writ on tables of stone, figures of the heart of man; and on the same tables, or hearts, was the death of Jesus Christ compassed.
One would think that the meekness, gentleness, or good deeds of Jesus Christ might have procured in them some relentings when they were about to take away his life; but alas, their hearts were tables of stone! What feeling or compassion can a stone be sensible of? Here were stony hearts, stony thoughts, stony counsels, stony contrivances, a stony law, and stony hands; and what could be expected hence but barbarous cruelty indeed? 'If I ask you,' said Christ, 'ye will not answer me, nor let me go' (Luke 22:68).
In that these stony tables were placed about the temple, it supposeth that they were temple-men, priests, scribes, rulers, lawyers, &c., that were to be the chief on whose hearts this murder was to be designed, and by them enacted to their own damnation without repentance.
XL. Of the instruments wherewith this sacrifice was slain, and of the four tables they were laid on in the Temple.
The instruments that were laid upon the tables in the temple were not instruments of music, but those with which the burnt-offering was slain. 'And the four tables were of hewn stone for the burnt-offering: whereupon also they laid the instruments wherewith they slew the burnt-offering and the sacrifice' (Eze 40:42,43).
Here we are to take notice that the tables are the same, and some of them of which we spake before. That the instruments with which they slew the sacrifice were laid upon these tables. The instruments with which they slew the sacrifices, what were they but a bloody axe, bloody knives, bloody hooks, and bloody hands? For these we need no proof; matter of fact declares it. But what were those instruments a type of?
Answ. Doubtless they were a type of our sins. They were the bloody axe, the knife, and bloody hands that shed his precious blood. They were the meritorious ones, without which he could not have died. When I say ours, I mean the sins of the world. Though, then, the hearts of the Jews were the immediate contrivers, yet they were our sins that were the bloody tools or instruments which slew the Son of God. 'He was wounded for our transgressions, he died for our sins' (Isa 53; 1 Cor 15; Gal 1).
O the instruments of us churls, by which this poor man was taken from off the earth! (Isa 32:7; Prov 30:14). The whip, the buffetings, the crown of thorns, the nails, the cross, the spear, with the vinegar and gall, were all nothing in comparison of our sins. 'For the transgression of my people was he stricken' (Isa 53:8). Nor were the flouts, taunts, mocks, scorns, derisions, &c., with which they followed him from the garden to the cross, such cruel instruments as these. They were our sins then, our cursed sins, by, with, and for the sake of which the Lord Jesus became a bloody sacrifice.
But why must the instruments be laid upon the tables?
1. Take the tables for the hearts of the murderers, and the instruments for their sins, and what place more fit for such instruments to be laid upon? It is God's command that these things should be laid to heart, and he complains of those that do not do it (Isa 42:25, 57:11).
2. Nor are men ever like to come to good, until these instruments with which the Son of God was slain indeed be laid to heart. And they were eminently laid to heart even by them soon after; the effect of which was the conversion of thousands of them (Acts 2:36,37).
3. Wherefore when it says these instruments must be laid upon the stony tables, he insinuates, that God would take a time to charge the murder of his Son home upon the consciences of them that did that murder, either to their conversion or condemnation. And is it not reason that they who did this horrid villany, should have their doings laid before their faces upon the tables of their heart? That they may look upon him whom they have pierced, and mourn (Zech 12:10; Rev 1:7).
4. But these instruments were laid but upon some of the tables, and not upon all the ten, to show that not all, but some of those, so horrid, should find mercy of the Lord.
5. But we must not confine these tables only to the hearts of the bloody Jews; they were our sins for the which he died. Wherefore these instruments should be laid upon our tables too, and the Lord lay them there for good, that we also may see our horrid doings, and come bending to him for forgiveness!
6. These instruments thus lying on the tables in the temple, became a continual motive to God's people to repentance; for so oft as they saw these bloody and cruel instruments, they were put in mind how their sins should be the cause of the death of Christ.
7. It would be well also, if these instruments were at all times laid upon our tables, for our more humbling for our sins in every thing we do, especially upon the Lord's table, when we come to eat and drink before him. I am sure the Lord Jesus doth more than intimate, that he expects that we should do so, where he saith, When ye eat that bread, and drink that cup, do this in remembrance of me. In remembrance that I died for your sins, and consequently that they were the meritorious cause of the shedding of my blood.
To conclude. Let all men remember, that these cruel instruments are laid upon the table of their hearts, whether they see them there or no. 'The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond—upon the table of their heart' (Jer 17:1). A pen of iron will make letters upon a table made of stone, and the point of a diamond will make letters upon glass. Wherefore in this saying, God informs us that if we shall forbear to read these lines to our conversion, God will one day read them against us unto our condemnation.
XLI. Of the candlesticks of the Temple.
'And he made ten candlesticks of gold, according to their form, and set them in the temple, five on the right hand, and five on the left' (2 Chron 4:7).
These candlesticks were made of gold, to show the worth and value of them. They were made after the form, or exact, according to rule, like those that were made in the tabernacle, or according to the pattern which David gave to Solomon to make them by. Observe, there was great exactness in these; and need there was of this hint, that men might see that every thing will not pass for a right ordered candlestick with God (Exo 25:31-40; 1 Chron 28:15).
These candlesticks are said sometimes to be ten, sometimes seven, and sometimes one; ten here; seven, Revelation 1:12, 13, and one in Zechariah 4.[20] Ten is a note of multitude, and seven a note of perfection, and one a note of unity. Now, as the precious stones with which the house was garnished were a type of ministerial gifts, so these candlesticks were a type of those that were to be the churches of the New Testament; wherefore he says, 'The candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches' (Rev 1:12-20).
1. The candlesticks were here in number ten, to show that Christ under the New Testament would have as many gospel-churches. 'And I, if I be lifted up from the earth,' saith he, 'will draw all men unto me'; that is, abundance. For the children of the desolate, that is, of the New Testament church, shall be many more than they of the Jews were (John 12:32; Gal 4:27).
2. In that the candlesticks were set by the lavers and stony tables, it might be to show us, that Christ's churches should be much in considering, that Christ, though he was righteous, yet died for our sins; though his life was according to the holy law, yet our stony hearts caused him to die. Yea, and that the candlesticks are placed there, it is to show us also, that we should be much in looking on the sins by which we caused him to die; for the candlesticks were set by those tables whereon they laid the instruments with which they slew the sacrifice.
3. These candlesticks being made according to form, seem not only to be exact as to fashion, but also as to work. For that in Exodus, with its furniture, was made precisely of one talent of gold, perhaps to show, that Christ's true spouse is not to be a grain more, nor a dram less, but just the number of God's elect. This is Christ's completeness, his fulness; one more, one less, would make his body a monster.
4. The candlestick was to hold the light, and to show it to all the house; and the church is to let her light so shine that they without may see the light (Matt 5:15,16; Luke 8:16, 11:33, 12:35).
5. To this end the candlesticks were supplied with oil-olive, a type of the supply that the church hath, that her light may shine, even of the spirit of grace.
XLII. Of the lamps belonging to the candlesticks of the Temple.
To these candlesticks belonged several lamps, with their flowers and their knops (Exo 25:33; 2 Chron 4:21).
1. These lamps were types of that profession that the members of the church do make of Christ, whether such members have saving grace or not (Matt 25:1-7).
2. These lamps were beautified with knops and flowers, to show how comely and beautiful that professor is, that adorns his profession with a suitable life and conversation.
3. We read that the candlestick in Zechariah had seven lamps belonging to it, and a bowl of golden oil[21] on the top; and that by golden pipes this golden oil emptied itself into the lamps, and all, doubtless, that the lamps might shine (Zech 4:2,12).
4. Christ, therefore, who is the high-priest, and to whom it belongs to dress the lamps, doth dress them accordingly. But now there are a lamp-carriers of two sorts; such as have only oil in their lamps, and such as have oil in their lamps and vessels too, and both these belong to the church, and in both these Christ will be glorified: and they should have their proper places at last. They that have the oil of grace in their hearts, as well as a profession of Christ in their hands, they shall go in with him to the wedding; but they who only make a profession, and have not oil in their vessels, will surely miscarry at last (Matt 25).
5. Wherefore, O thou professor! thou lamp-carrier! have a care and look to thyself; content not thyself with that only that will maintain thee in a profession, for that may be done without saving grace. But I advise thee to go to Aaron, to Christ, the trimmer of our lamps, and beg thy vessel full of oil of him—that is, grace—for the seasoning of thy heart, that thou mayest have wherewith, not only to bear thee up now, but at the day of the bridegroom's coming, when many a lamp will go out, and many a professor be left in the dark; for that will to such be a woeful day (Lev 24:2; Matt 25).
Some there are that are neither for lamps nor oil for themselves; neither are they pleased if they think they see it in others. But they that have lamps and they that have none, and they which would blow out other folk's light, must shortly appear to give an account of all their doings to God. And then they shall see what it is to have oil in their vessels and lamps: and what it is to be without in their vessels, though it is in their lamps; and what a dismal thing it is to be a malignant[22] to either; but at present let this suffice. XLIII. Of the shew-bread on the golden table in the Temple.
There was also shew-bread set upon a golden table in the temple (1 Kings 7:48). The shew-bread consisted of twelve cakes made of fine flour, two tenth deals[23] were to go to one cake, and they were to be set in order in two rows upon the pure table (Lev 24:5-9).
1. These twelve loaves to me do seem to be a type of the twelve tribes under the law, and of the children of God under the gospel, as they present themselves before God, in and by his ordinances through Christ. Hence the apostle says, 'For we being many are one bread,' &c. (1 Cor 10:17). For so were the twelve cakes, though twelve; and so are the gospel-saints, though many; for 'we, being many, are one body in Christ' (Rom 12:5).
2. But they were a type of the true church, not of the false. For Ephraim, who was the head of the ten tribes in their apostacy, is rejected, as 'a cake not turned.' Indeed he is called a cake, as a false church may be called a church: but he is called 'a cake not turned,' as a false church is not prepared for God, nor fit to be set on the golden table before him (Hosea 7:8).
3. These cakes or shew-bread were to have frankincense strewed upon them, as they stood upon the golden table, which was a type of the sweet perfumes of the sanctifications of the Holy Ghost; to which I think Paul alludes, when he says, 'The offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable' to God, 'being sanctified by the Holy Ghost' (Rom 15:16).
4. They were to be set upon the pure table, new and hot; to show that God delighted in the company of new and warm believers. 'I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth': 'when Israel was a child, then I loved him' (Jer 2:2; Hosea 11:1). Men at first conversion are like to a cake well baked, and new taken from the oven; they are warm, and cast forth a very fragrant scent, especially when, as warm, sweet incense is strewed upon them.
5. When the shew-bread was old and stale, it was to be taken away, and new and warm put in its place, to show that God has but little delight in the service of his own people when their duties grow stale and mouldy. Therefore he removed his old, stale, mouldy church of the Jews from before him, and set in their rooms upon the golden table the warm church of the Gentiles.
6. The shew-bread, by an often remove and renewing, was continually to all them before the Lord in his house, to show us, that always, as long as ordinances shall be of use, God will have a new, warm, and sanctified people to worship him.
7. Aaron and his sons were to eat the old shew-bread, to show that when saints have lived in the world as long as living is good for them, and when they can do no more service for God in the world, they shall yet be accepted of Jesus Christ; and that it shall be as meat and drink to him to save them from all their unworthinesses.
8. The new shew-bread was to be set even on the Sabbath before the Lord, to show with what warmth of love and affections God's servants should approach his presence upon his holy day.
XLIV. Of the snuffers belonging to the candlesticks and lamps of the Temple.
As there were candlesticks and lamps, so there were snuffers also prepared for these in the temple of the Lord. 'and the snuffers were snuffers of gold' (1 Kings 7:50). 1. Snuffers. The use of snuffers is to trim the lamps and candles, that their lights may shine the brighter. 2. Snuffers, you know, are biting, pinching things; but use them well, and they will prove not only beneficial to those within the house, but profitable to the lights.
Snuffers, you may say, of what were they a type?
Answ. If our snuffs are our superfluities of naughtiness, our snuffers then are those righteous reproofs, rebukes, and admonitions, which Christ has ordained to be in his house for good; or, as the apostle hath it, for our edification; and perhaps Paul alludes to these when he bids Titus to rebuke the Cretians sharply, that they might be sound in the faith (Titus 1:12,13). As who should say, they must use the snuffers of the temple to trim their lights withal, if they burn not well. These snuffers therefore are of great use in the temple of God; only, as I said, they must be used wisely. It is not for every fool to handle snuffers at or about the candles, lest perhaps, instead of mending the light, they put the candle out. And therefore Paul bids them that are spiritual do it (Gal 6:1). My reason tells me, that if I use these snuffers as I should, I must not only endeavour to take the superfluous snuff away, but so to do it, that the light thereby may be mended; which then is done if, as the apostle saith, I use sharpness to edification, and not for destruction (1 Cor 5:4,5; 2 Cor 13:10).
Are not the seven churches in Asia called by name of candlesticks? And why candlesticks, if they were not to hold the candles? And candles must have snuffers therewith to trim the lights. And Christ, who is our true Aaron, in those rebukes which he gave those churches, alluding to these snuffers, did it that their lights might shine the brighter (Rev 2, 3). Wherefore, as he used them, he did it still with caution to their light, that it might not be impaired. For as he still thus trimmed these lamps, he yet encouraged what he saw would shine if helped. He only nipt the snuff away.
Thus, therefore, he came to them with these snuffers in his hand, and trimmed their lamps and candlesticks (Rev 2:4,20, 3:2,15). This should teach ministers, to whom it belongs under Christ to use the snuffers well. Strike at the snuff, not at the light, in all your rebukes and admonitions; snuff not your lamps of a private revenge, but of a design to nourish grace and gifts in churches. Thus our Lord himself says he did, in his using of these snuffers about these candlesticks. 'As many,' saith he, 'as I love, I rebuke and chasten; be zealous therefore, and repent' (Rev 3:19).
To conclude; Watchman, watch, and let not your snuffs be too long, nor pull them off with your fingers, or carnal reasonings, but with godly admonitions, &c. Use your snuffers graciously, curb vice, nourish virtue; so you will use them well, and so your light will shine to the glory of God.[24]
XLV. Of the snuff-dishes that were with the snuffers in the Temple.
As there were snuffers, so there were also snuff-dishes in the temple; 'and they were also made of gold' (Exo 25:38; 37:23; Num 4:9). The snuff-dishes were those in which the snuffs were put when snuffed off, and by which they were carried forth of the temple. They therefore, as the snuffers are, are of great use in the temple of God. 1. By them the golden floor of the temple is kept from being daubed by the snuffs. 2. By them also the clean hands of those that worship there are kept from being defiled. 3. By them also the stinks of the snuffs are soonest suppressed in the temple; and consequently the tender noses of them that worship there preserved from being offended.
Snuffs, you know, are daubing things, stinking things, nauseous things; therefore we must take heed that they touch not this floor on which we walk, nor defile the hands which we lift up to God, when we come to worship him. But how must this be done, but as we take them off with the snuffers, and put them in these snuff-dishes? Some are for being at the snuffs with their fingers, and will also cast them at their feet, and daub the floor of God's holy house; but usually such do burn as well as defile themselves. But is it not a shame for a man to defile himself with that vice which he rebuketh in another? Let us then, while we are taking away the snuffs of others, hate even the garment spotted by the flesh, and labour to carry such stink with the snuff-dishes out of the temple of God.
Snuff-dishes, you may say, what are they?
I answer, If sins are the snuffs, and rebukes and admonitions the snuffers; then, methinks, repentance, or, in case that be wanting, the censures of the church, should be the snuff-dishes. Hence, repentance is called a church-cleansing grace, and the censures of the church a purging out of the old leaven, and making it a new lump (1 Cor 5:2; 2 Cor 7:11).
Ah! were these snuff-dishes more of use in the churches, we should not have this man's snuff defile that man's fingers as it doth. Nor would the temple of God be so besmeared with these snuffs, and be daubed as it is.
Ah! snuffs pulled off, lie still in the temple-floor, and there stink, and defile both feet and fingers, both the callings and conversations of temple-worshippers, to the disparaging of religion, and the making of religious worship but of low esteem with men; and all, I say, for want of the due use of these snuffers, and these snuff-dishes, there. Nay, are not whole churches now defiled with those very snuffs, that long since were plucked off, and all for want of the use of these snuff-dishes, according to the Lord's commandment. For you must know, that reproof and admonitions are but of small use, where repentance, or church-censures, are not thereto annexed. When ministers use the snuffers, the people should hold the snuff-dishes.
Round reproofs for sin, when they light upon penitent hearts, then brave work is in the church: then the snuff is not only pulled away, but carried out of the temple of God aright, &c. And now the worship and worshippers shine like gold. 'As an ear-ring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear' (Prov 25:12).
Ministers, it appertains to you to use the snuffers, and to teach the people to hold the snuff-dishes right (Acts 20:20,21; 2 Tim 4:2). We must often be snuffed with these snuffers, or our light will burn but dimly, our candle will also waste. Pray, therefore, O men of God, look diligently to your people. Snuff them as you see there is need; but touch not their snuff with your white fingers; a little smutch on YOU will be seen a great way. Remember also that you leave them nowhere, but with these snuff-dishes, that the temple may be cleared of them. Do with the snuff as the neat housewife doth with the toad which she finds in her garden. She takes the fork, or a pair of tongs, and therewith doth throw it over the pales. Cast them away, I say, with fear, zeal, care, revenge, and with great indignation, and then your church, your conversation, your fingers, and all, will be kept white and clean (2 Cor 7:11).
XLVI. Of the golden tongs belonging to the Temple.
There were also tongs of gold used in the temple of old (1 Kings 7:49). 1. These tongs were used about the altar, to order the fire there. 2. They were used too about the candlestick, and are therefore called HIS tongs. 3. Perhaps there were tongs for both these services; but of that the word is silent.
But what were they used about the candlestick to do?
Answ. To take holy fire from off the altar to light the lamps withal. For the fire of the temple was holy fire, such as at first was kindled from heaven, and when kindled, maintained by the priests, and of that the lamps were lighted (Lev 9:24; 2 Chron 7:1). Nor was there, upon pain of death, any other fire to be used there (Lev 10:1,2). These tongs, therefore, were used to take fire from off the altar to light the lamps and candlesticks withal. For to trim the lights, and to dress the lamps, was Aaron's work day by day. He shall light and order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the Lord, and Aaron did so. He lighted the seven lamps thereof, as the Lord commanded Moses (Exo 10:24,25; Lev 24:2,3; Num 8:3). What is a lamp or candlestick to us, if there be not light thereon; and how lighted without fire, and how shall we take up coals to light the lamps withal, if we have not tongs prepared for that purpose? With these tongs fire also was taken from off the altar, and put into the censers to burn sweet incense with, before the Lord. The tongs then were of great use in the temple of the Lord.
But what were the tongs a type of?
The altar was a type of Christ; the fire of the Holy Ghost; and these tongues were a type of that holy hand of God's grace, by which the coals, or several dispensations and gifts of the Holy Ghost, are taken and given to the church, and to her members, for her work and profit in this world.
Tongs, we know, are used instead of fingers; wherefore Aaron's golden tongs were a type of Christ's golden fingers (Can 5:14). Isaiah saith that one of the seraphims flew to him with 'a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar.' Here the type and antitype, to wit, tongs and hand, are put together (Isa 6:6). But the prophet Ezekiel, treating of like matters, quite waives the type, the tongs, and speaketh only of this holy land; 'And he spake unto the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in between the wheels under the cherub'—where the mercy-seat stood, where God dwelt (Exo 25; Psa 80:1)—'and fill thy hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims' (Eze 10:2).
Thus you see our golden tongs are now turned into a golden hand; into the golden hand of the man clothed in linen, which is Jesus Christ, who at his ascension received of God the Father the Spirit in all fulness, to give, as his divine wisdom knew was best, the several coals or dispensations thereof unto his church, for his praise, and her edification (Matt 3:11; Acts 2). It is by this hand also that this holy fire is put into our censers. It is this hand also that takes this coal, therewith to touch the lips of ministers, that their words may warm like fire; and it is by this hand that the Spirit is given to the churches, as returns of their holy prayers (Luke 11:9-13; Rom 8:26; Rev 8:5).
It was convenient that the fire in the temple should be disposed of by golden tongs; but the Holy Ghost, by the golden hand of Christ's grace, for that can wittingly dispose of it, according as men and things are placed, and to do and be done in the churches; wherefore he adds, 'And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubims, unto the fire that was between the cherubims, and took thereof, and put it into the hands of him that was clothed with linen, who took it and went out' (Eze 10:7).
By this hand, then, by this Man's hand, the coals of the altar are disposed of, both to the lamps, the candlesticks, the censers, and the lips of ministers, according to his own good pleasure. And of all this were the tongs in the temple a type.
XLVII. Of the altar of incense in the Temple.
The altar of incense was made first for the tabernacle, and that of shittim wood; but it was made for the temple of cedar, and it was to be set before the veil, that is, by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy-seat; that is, at the entering of the holiest, but not within. And the priest was to approach it every morning, which, as to the holiest, he might not do. Besides, when he went in to make an atonement, he was to take fire from off that altar to burn his incense within the holy place (Exo 30:1-10; Lev 16:18).
1. It was called the golden altar, because it was overlaid with pure gold. This altar was not for burnt-offering, as the brazen altar was; nor for the meat-offering, nor the drink-offering, but to burn incense thereon (Exo 30:7). Which sweet incense was a type of grace and prayer (Psa 112:2).
2. Incense, or that called incense here, was not a simple but a compound, made up of sweet spices called stacte, onycha, and galbanum; and these three, may answer to these three parts of this duty, to wit, prayer, supplication, and intercession (Exo 30:34-37, 37:29; 1 Tim 2:1).
3. This incense was to be burned upon the altar every morning; upon that altar which was called the altar of incense, which was before the veil; to show that it is our duty every morning to make our prayer to God by Jesus Christ before the veil; that is, before the door of heaven, and there to seek, knock, and ask for what we need, according to the word (Luke 11:9-13).
4. This incense was to be kindled every morning, to show how HE continueth interceding for us, and also that all true praise of men to God is by the work, the renewed work, of the Holy Ghost upon our hearts (Rom 8:26).
5. Incense, as you see, was made of sweet spices, such as were gummy, and so apt to burn with a smoke, to show, that not cold and flat, but hot and fervent, is the prayer that flows from the spirit of faith and grace (Zech 12:10; Jer 5:16).
6. The smoke of this incense was very sweet and savoury, like pleasant perfume, to show how delightful and acceptable the very sound and noise of right prayer is unto the nostrils of the living God, because it comes from a broken heart (Psa 51:17; Cant 2:14).
7. This incense was to be offered upon the golden altar, to show us that no prayer is accepted but what is directed to God in the name of his holy and blessed Son our Saviour (1 Peter 2:5; Heb 13:15).
8. They were commanded to burn incense every morning upon this altar, to show that God is never weary of the godly prayers of his people. It also showeth that we need every day to go to God for fresh supplies of grace to carry us through this evil world.
9. This altar, though it stood without the veil, to teach us to live by faith, and to make use of the name of Christ, as we find it recorded in the first temple, yet was placed so nigh unto the holiest, that the smell of the smoke might go in thither; to show that it is not distance of place that can keep the voice of true prayer from our God, the God of heaven; but that he will be taken with what we ask for according to his word. It stood, I say, nigh the veil, nigh the holiest; and he that burnt incense there, did make his approach to God. Hence the Psalmist, when he spake of praying, saith, 'It is good for me to draw near to God' (Psa 73:28; Heb 10:22).
10. This altar thus placed did front the ark within the veil; to put us in mind that the law is kept therein from hurting us; to let us know also that the mercy-seat is above, upon the ark, and that God doth sit thereon, with his pardon in his hand to save us. O! what speaking things are types, shadows, and parables, had we but eyes to see, had we but ears to hear! He that did approach the altar with incense of old aright—and then he did so when he approached it by Aaron, his high-priest—pleased God; how much more shall we have both person and prayers accepted, and a grant of what we need, if indeed we come as we should to God by Jesus Christ. But take heed you approach not to a wrong altar; take heed also that you come not with strange fire; for they are dangerous things, and cause the worshippers to miss of what they would enjoy. But more of this in the next particular.
XLVIII. Of the golden censers belonging to the Temple.
There were also golden censers belonging to the temple, and they were either such as belonged to the sons of Levi in general, or that were for Aaron and his sons in special (Num 16:6,17,18). The censers of the Levites were a type of ours; but the censer of Aaron was a type of Christ's. The censers, as was hinted before, were for this use in the temple, namely, to hold the holy fire in, on which incense was to be burned before the Lord (Lev 10:1,2).
These censers then were types of hearts. Aaron's golden one was a type of Christ's golden heart, and the censers of the Levites were types of other worshippers' hearts. The fire also which was put therein was a type of that Spirit by which we pray, and the incense that burnt thereon, a type of our desires. Of Christ's censer we read, Revelation the eighth, which is always filled with much incense; that is, with continual intercessions, which he offereth to God for us; and from whence also there always goes a cloud of sweet savour, covering the mercy-seat (Lev 16:13; Heb 7:25; Rev 8:3,4).
But to speak of the censers, and fire, and incense of the worshippers; for albeit they were all put under one rule, that is, to be according to law, yet oftentimes, as were the worshippers, such were the censers, fire, and incense. 1. Hence the two hundred and fifty censers with which Korah and his company offered, are called the censers of sinners; for they came with wicked hearts then to burn incense before the Lord (Num 16:17,37). 2. Again, as the censers of these men were called the censers of sinners, showing they came at that time to God with naughty hearts, so the fire that was in Nadab and Abihu's censers is called strange fire, which the Lord commanded them not (Lev 10:1). 3. This strange fire was a type of that strange spirit opposed to the Spirit of God, in and by which, notwithstanding, some adventure to perform worship to God. 4. Again, as these censers are called the censers of sinners, and this fire called strange fire, so the incense of such is also called strange, and is said to be an abomination unto God (Exo 30:9; Isa 1:13, 66:3).
Thus you see that both the censers, fire, and incense of some is rejected, even as the heart, spirit, and prayer of sinners are an abomination unto God (Hosea 7:14, 4:12, 5:4; Prov 28:9).
But there were besides these true censers, holy fire and sweet incense among the worshippers in the temple, and their service was accepted by Aaron their high-priest; for that was through the faith of Christ, and these were a type of our true gospel worshippers, who come with holy hearts, the holy spirit, and holy desires before their God, by their Redeemer. These are a perfume in his nose. 'The prayer of the upright is his delight' (Prov 15:8). Their prayers went up like 'incense, and the lifting up of their hands as the evening sacrifice' (Psa 141:2).
Let them then that pretend to worship before God in his holy temple look to it, that both their censers, fire, and incense, heart, spirit, and desires, be such as the word requires; lest, instead of receiving of gracious returns from the God of heaven, their censers be laid up against them; lest the fire of God devours them, and their incense become an abomination to him, as it happened to those made mention of before.
But it is said the censers of Korah and his company was hallowed.
Answ. So is God's worship, which is so his by his ordination, yet even that very worship may be spoiled by man's transgression. Prayer is God's ordinance, but all prayer is not accepted of God. We must then distinguish between the thing commanded, and our using of that thing. The temple was God's house, but was abused by the irreverence of those that worshipped there, even to the demolishing of it.
A golden censer is a gracious heart, heavenly fire is the Holy
Ghost, and sweet incense the effectual fervent prayer of faith.
Have you these? These God expects, and these you must have if ever
your persons or performances be of God accepted.
XLIX. Of the golden spoons of the Temple.
1. The golden spoons belonging to the temple were in number, according to Moses, twelve; answering to the twelve tribes (Num 7:86). But when the temple was built, I suppose they were more, because of the number of the basins.
2. The spoons, as I suppose, were for the worshippers in the temple to eat that broth withal, wherein the trespass-offerings were boiled: for which purpose there were several cauldrons hanged in the corners of that court called the priest's to boil them in (1 Sam 2:13,14; Eze 46:19,20).
3. Now, in that he saith here were spoons, what is it but that there are also babes in the temple of the Lord. There was broth for babes as well as meat for men, and spoons to eat the broth withal.
4. True, the gospel being more excellent than the law, doth change the term, and instead of broth, saith, There is milk for babes. But in that he saith milk, he insinuates there are spoons for children in the church.
5. 'I could not,' saith Paul to them at Corinth, 'speak to you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk and not with meat; for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able' (1 Cor 3:1,2).
6. See, here were need of spoons, milk is spoon meat; for here were those which could not feed themselves with milk, let them then that are men eat the strong meat. 'For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who, by reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil' (Heb 5:13,14).
7. Spoons, you know, are to feed us with weak and thin food, even with that which best suiteth with weak stomachs, or with a babyish temper. Hence, as the strong man is opposed to the weak, so the milk is opposed to the strong meat.
8. So then, though the babe in Christ is weaker than the man in Christ, yet is he not by Christ left unprovided for; for here is milk for babes, and spoons to eat it with. All this is taught us by the spoons; for what need is there of spoons where there is nothing to eat but strong meat?
9. Babes, you know, have not only babyish stomachs, but also babyish tricks, and must be dealt withal as babes; their childish talk and frompered carriages must be borne withal.
10. Sometimes they cry for nothing, yea, and count them for their foes which rebuke their childish toys and ways. All which the church must bear, because they are God's babes; yea, they must feed them too: for if he has found them milk and spoons, it is that they may be fed therewith, and live: yea, grown ministers are God's nurses, wherefore they must have a lap to lay them in, and knees to dandle them upon, and spoons to feed them with.[25]
11. Nor are the babes but of use in the church of God; for he commands that they may be brought to cry with the congregation before the Lord for mercy for the land (Joel 2:16).
12. Incense, I told you, was a type of prayers, and the spoons, in the time of Moses, were presented at the temple full of it. Perhaps to show that God will, with the milk which he has provided for them, give it to them as a return of their crying to him, even as the nurse gives the child the teat and milk.
13. You know the milk is called for when the child is crying, as we say, to stop its mouth with it. O babes! did you but cry soundly, God would give you yet more milk.
14. But what were these golden spoons a type of? I answer, if the milk is the juice and consolations of the Word, then the spoons must be those soft sentences and golden conclusions with which the ministers feed their souls by it. 'I have fed you,' saith Paul, 'with the milk of the Word'; saith Peter, 'even as you have been able to bear it.' Compare these two or three texts—1 Peter 2:1-3; 1 Corinthians 3:2; 1 Thessalonians 2:7.
15. And this is the way to strengthen the weak hands, and to confirm the feeble knees. This is the way to make them grow to be men who now are but as infants of days. 'Thus a little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation.' Yea, thus in time you may make a little child to jostle it with a leopard; yea, to take a lion by the beard; yea, thus you may embolden him to put his hand to the hole of the asp, and to play before the den of the cockatrice (Isa 11:6-8, 60:22).
Who is most stout was once a babe; he that can now eat meat was sometimes glad of milk, and to be fed with the spoon. Babes in Christ, therefore, must not be despised nor overlooked; God has provided them milk and spoons to eat it with, that they may grow up to be men before him.
L. Of the bowls and basins belonging to the Temple.
As there were spoons, so there were bowls and basins belonging to the temple. Some of these were of gold, and some of silver; and when they were put together, their number was four hundred and forty. These you read of, Ezra 1:10. The bowls or basins were not to wash in, as was the sea and lavers of the temple; they were rather to hold the messes in, which the priests at their holy feasts did use to set before the people. This being so, they were types of that proportion of faith by which, or by the measure of which, every man received of the holy food for the nourishment of his soul. For, as a man, had he a thousand messes set before him, he eating for his health, cannot go beyond what his stomach will bear; so neither can the child of God, when he comes to worship in the temple of God, receive of the good things that are there, beyond the 'proportion of his faith' (Rom 12:6). Or, as it is in another place, according to 'the ability which God giveth' (1 Peter 4:11). And hence it is, at the self-same ordinance, some receive three times as much as others do; for that their bowl, I mean their faith, is able to receive it. Yea, Benjamin's mess was five times as big as was the mess of any of his brethren; and so it is with some saints while they eat with their brother Joseph in the house of the living God.
There are three go to the same ordinance, and are all of them believers; who, when they come home, and compare notes, do find their receivings are not of the same quantity. One says, I got but little; the other says, It was a pretty good ordinance to me; the third says, I was exceeding well there. Why, to be sure, he that had but little there, had there but little faith; for great faith in him would have received more. He had it then according to the largeness of his bowl, even according to his faith, 'as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith' (Rom 12:3). Mark, faith is a certain measure, and that not only as to its degree, but for that it can receive, retain, or hold what is put into it.
So then, here it is no matter how much milk or holy broth there is; but how big is thy bowl, thy faith. Little bowls hold but little, nor canst thou receive but as thy faith will bear; I speak now of God's ordinary dealing with his people, for so he saith in his Word, 'According to your faith be it unto you' (Matt 9:29). If a man goeth to the ocean sea for water, let him carry but an egg-shell with him, and with that he shall not bring a gallon home. I know, indeed, that our little pots have a promise of being made like the bowls of the altar; but still our mess must be according to our measure, be that small, or be it great. The same prophet saith again, the saints shall be 'filled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar'; which, though it supposes an enlargement, yet it must be confined to that measure of faith which is provided for its reception (Zech 9:15, 14:20). And suppose these bowls should signify the promises, though the saints, not the promises, are compared to them, because they, not promises, are the subjects of faith; yet it is the promise by our measure of faith in that, that is nourishing to our souls.
When Ahasuerus made a feast to his subjects, they drank their wine in bowls. They did not drink it by the largeness of the vessel whence they drew it, but according to their health, and as their stomachs would so receive it (Esth 1:7,8). Thy faith, then, is one of the bowls or basins of the temple, by, or according to which, thou receivest thy mess, when thou sittest feasting at the table of God. And observe, all the bowls were not made of gold, as all faith is not of a saving sort. It is the golden faith that is right; the silver bowls were of an inferior sort (Rev 3:18).
Some, I say, have golden faith; all faith is not so. Wherefore look to it, soul, that thy bowl, thy faith, be golden faith, or of the best kind. Look, I say, after a good faith, and great, for a great faith receives a great mess. Of old, beggars did use to carry their bowls in their laps, when they went to a door for an alms.[26]
Consequently, if their bowls were but little, they ofttimes came off by the loss, though the charity of the giver was large. Yea, the greater the charity, the larger the loss, because the beggar's bowl was too little. Mark it well, it is ofttimes thus in the matters of our God. Art thou a beggar, a beggar at God's door, be sure thou gettest a great bowl; for as thy bowl is, so will be thy mess. 'According to your faith,' saith he, 'be it unto you' (Matt 9:29).
LI. Of the flagons and cups of the Temple.
The next thing to be considered is the flagons and cups of the temple; of these we read, 1 Chronicles 28:17; Jeremiah 52:19; Isaiah 22:24. These were of great use among the Jews, especially on their feasting days; as of their sabbaths, new-moons, and the like (Lev 23:13; Num 28:7; 1 Chron 16:3; Isa 25:6, 62:8,9).
For instance, the day that David danced before the ark, 'he dealt among all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women as men, to every one a cake of bread, and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine' (2 Sam 6:19; 1 Chron 16:3). 'In this mountain,' that is, in the temple typically, saith the prophet, 'shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the less well refined' (Isa 25:6).
These are feasting times; the times in which our Lord used to have his spouse into his wine-cellar, and in which he used to display with delight his banner over her head in love (Cant 2:4,5). The church of Christ, alas! is of herself a very sickly puely thing; a woman; a weaker vessel; but how much more must she needs be so weak, when the custom of women is upon her, or when she is sick of love? Then she indeed has need of a draught, for she now sinks, and will not else be supported. 'Stay me with flagons,' saith she, 'and comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love' (Can 2:5).
These flagons, therefore, were types of those feastings, and of those large draughts of Divine love, that the Lord Jesus draweth for and giveth to his spouse in those days that he feasteth with them. For then he saith, 'Drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.' This he does to cheer her up under her hours of sadness and dejection; for now new 'corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids' (Prov 31:6,7; Psa 116:13; Jer 16:7; Cant 5; Zech 9:17).
As there were flagons, so there were cups; and they are called cups of consolation, and cups of salvation, because, as I said, they were they by which God at his feastings with his people, or when he suppeth with them, giveth out the more large draughts of his love unto his saints, to revive the spirits of the humble, and to revive the hearts of the contrite ones. At these times God made David's cup run over. For we are now admitted, if our faith will bear it, to drink freely into this grace, and to be merry with him (Psa 23:5; Luke 15:22-24; Cant 5:1, 7:11,12; John 14:23; Rev 3:20). This is that to which the apostle alludeth, when he saith, 'Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart unto the Lord' (Eph 5:18,19).
For the cups, as to their use in the general, understand them as of the bowls made mention of before. For assurances are the blooms and flowers of faith, not always on it, though usually on feasting days it is so. So the degree of the one is still according to the measure of the other (James 5; Rom 15:13).
LII. Of the chargers of the Temple.
In the tabernacle they had but twelve of them, and they were made of silver; but in the temple they had in all a thousand and thirty. The thirty were made of gold, the rest were made of silver (Ezra 1:9; Num 7:84). These chargers were not for uses common or profane, but, as I take it, they were those in which the passover, and other meat-offerings, were drest up, when the people came to eat before God in his holy temple. The meat, you know, I told you, was opposite to milk; and so are these chargers to the bowls, and cups, and flagons of the temple.
The meat was of two sorts, roast or boiled. Of that which was roasted was the passover, and of that which was boiled were the trespass-offerings. Wherefore, concerning the passover, he saith, 'Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof' (Exo 12:9). This roast meat was a type of the body of Christ as suffering for our sins, the which, when it was roast, was, and is as dressed up in chargers, and set before the congregations of the saints.
But what were the chargers a type of? I also ask, in what charger our gospel passover is now dressed up and set before the people? Is it not in the four evangelists, the prophets, and epistles of the apostles? They therefore are the chargers and the ordinance of the supper; in these also are the trespass-offerings, with what is fried in pans, mystically prepared for the children of the Highest.
And why might they not be a type of gospel sermons?
I answer, I think not so fitly; for, alas! the best of sermons in the world are but as thin slices cut out of those large dishes. Our ministers are the carvers, good doctrine is the meat, and the charger in which this meat is found are the holy canonical Scriptures, &c., though, as I said, most properly the New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
In these is Christ most truly, lively, and amply set before us as crucified, or roasted at the fire of God's law for our sins, that we might live by him through faith, feeding upon him (2 Cor 3:12; Gal 3:12; Acts 3:18-22, 13:2-5, 26:22; 1 Peter 1:10; Acts 7:52, 15:15, 28:23; Rom 16:26; Rev 10:7).
There is in these chargers not only meat, but sauce, if you like it, to eat the meat withal; for the passover there are bitter herbs, or sound repentance; and for other, as the thank-offerings, their is holy cheerfulness and prayers to God for grace. All these are set forth before in the holy Scriptures, and presented to us thereby, as in the gold chargers of the temple. He that will scoff at this, let him scoff. The chargers were a type of something; and he that can show a fitter antitype than is here proposed to consideration, let him do it, and I will be thankful to him.
Christians, here is your meat before you, and get your carvers to slice it out for you, and this know, the deeper you dip it in the sauce, the better it will relish. But let not unbelief teach you such manners as to make you leave the best bits behind you. For your liberty is to eat freely of the best, of the fat, and of the sweet.
LIII. Of the goings out of the Temple.
As to the comings into the temple, of them we have spoken already; namely, of the outer and inner court, as also of the doors of the porch and temple. The coming in was but one strait course, and that a type of Jesus Christ; but the goings out were many (John 10:9, 14:6).
Now, as I said, it is insinuated that the goings out are many, answerable to the many ways which the children of men have invented to apostatize in from God. Christ is the way into; but sin the way out of the temple of God. True, I read not of a description of the goings out of this house, as I read of the comings in. Only when they had Athaliah out thence, she is said to go out by the way by which the horses come into the king's stables, and there she was slain, as it were upon the horse dung-hill (2 Kings 11:16; 2 Chron 23:15). When Uzziah also went out of this house for his transgression, he was cast out of all society, and made to dwell in a kind of a pest-house, even to the day of his death (2 Chron 26:21).
Thus, therefore, though these goings out are not particularly described, the judgments that followed them that have for their transgressions been thrust out thence, have been both remarkable and tremendous: for to die upon a dung-hill, or in a pest-house, and that for wicked actions, is a shameful, a disgraceful thing. And God will still be spreading dung upon the faces of such; no greatness shall prevent it (Mal 2:3). Yea, and will take them away with it. 'I will drive them out of my house,' says he, 'I will love them no more' (Hosea 9:15).
But what are we to understand in gospel days, by going out of the house of the Lord, for or by sin? I answer, if it be done voluntarily, then sin leads you out: if it be done by the holy compulsion of the church, then it is done by the judicial judgment of God; that is, they are cut off, and cast out from thence, as a just reward for their transgressions (Lev 20, 21:3; Eze 14:8; 1 Cor 5:13).[27]
Well, but whither do they go, that are thus gone out of the temple or church of God? I answer, not to the dunghill with Athaliah, nor to the pest-house with Uzziah, but to the devil, that is the first step, and so to hell, without repentance. But if their sin be not unpardonable, they may by repentance be recovered, and in mercy tread these courts again. Now the way to this recovery is to think seriously what they have done, or by what way they went out from the house of God. Hence the prophet is bid to show to the rebellious house, first the goings out of the house, and then the comings in. But, I say, first he bids show them the goings out thereof (Eze 43:10,11). And this is of absolute necessity for the recovering of the sinner. For until he that has sinned himself out of God's house shall see what danger he has incurred to himself by this his wicked going out, he will not unfeignedly desire to come in thither again.
There is another thing as to this point to be taken notice of. There is a way by which God also doth depart from this house, and that also is by sin, as the occasion. The sin of a man will thrust him out, and the sin of men will drive God out of his own house. Of this you read, Ezekiel 11:22, 23. For this, he saith, 'I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage, I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies' (Jer 12:7). And this also is dreadful. The great sentence of Christ upon the Jews lay much in these words, 'Your house is left unto you desolate'; that is, God has left you to bare walls, and to lifeless traditions. Consider, therefore, of this going out also. Alas! a church, a true church, is but a poor thing if God leaves, if God forsakes it. By a true church I mean one that is congregated according to outward rule, that has sinned God away, as she had almost quite done that was of Laodicea (Rev 3).
He that sins himself out, can find no good in the world; and they that have sinned God out, can find no good in the church. A church that has sinned God away from it, is a sad lump indeed. You therefore that are in God's church, take heed of sinning yourselves out thence; also take heed, that while you keep in, you sin not God away, for thenceforth no good is there. 'Yea, woe to them when I depart from them!' saith God (Hosea 9:12).
LIV. Of the singers belonging to the Temple.
Having thus far passed through the temple, I now come to the singers there. The singers were many, but all of the church, either Jews or proselytes; nor was there any, as I know of, under the Old Testament worship, admitted to sing the songs of the church, and to celebrate that part of worship with the saints, but they who, at least in appearance, were so. The song of Moses, of Deborah, and of those that danced before David, with others that you read of, they were all performed, either by Jews by nature, or by such as were proselyted to their religion (Exo 15:1; Jude 5:1,2; 1 Sam 18:6). And such worship then was occasioned by God's great appearance for them, against the power of the Gentiles their enemies.
But we are confined to the songs of the temple, a more distinct type of ours in the church under the gospel. 1. The singers then were many, but the chief of them, in the days of David, were David himself, Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman, and their sons. 2. In David's time the chief of these singers were two hundred fourscore and eight (1 Chron 25). These singers of old were to sing their songs over the burnt-offering, which were types of the sacrificed body of Christ; a memorial of which offering we have at the Lord's table, the consummation of which Christ and his disciples celebrated with a hymn (Matt 26:30). And as of old they were the church that did sing in the temple, according to institution, to God, so also they are by God's appointment to be sung in the church by the new. Hence,
1. They are said to be the redeemed that sin. 2. The songs that they sing are said to be the 'songs of their redemption' (Rev 5:9,10). 3. They were and are songs that no man can learn but they.
But let us run a little in the parallel.
1. They were of old appointed to sin, that were cunning and skilful in songs. And answerable to that it is said, That no man could learn our New Testament songs, but the hundred and forty and four thousand which were redeemed from the earth (1 Chron 15:22; Rev 14:3).
2. These songs were sung with harps, psalteries, cymbals, and trumpets; a type of our singing with spiritual joy, from grace in our hearts (1 Chron 25:6; 2 Chron 29:26-28; Col 3:16).
3. The singers of old were to be clothed in fine linen; which fine linen was a type of innocency, and an upright conversation. Hence the singers under the New Testament are said to be virgins, such in whose mouth was no guile, and that were without 'fault before the throne of God' (1 Chron 15:27; Rev 14:1-5. See also 7:9-16; Psa 33:1).
4. The songs sung in the temple were new, or such as were compiled after the manner of repeated mercies that the church of God had received, or were to receive. And answerable to this, is the church to sing now new songs, with new hearts, for new mercies (Psa 33:3, 40:3, 96, 144:9; Rev 14:3). New songs, I say, are grounded on new matter, new occasions, new mercies, new deliverances, new discoveries of God to the soul, or for new frames of heart; and are such as are most taking, most pleasing, and most refreshing to the soul.
5. These songs of old, to distinguish them from heathenish ones, were called God's songs, the Lord's songs: because taught by him, and learned of him, and enjoined to them, to be sung to his praise. Hence David said, God had put a new song in his mouth, 'even praise unto our God' (1 Chron 25:7; Psa 47:6,7, 137:4, 40:3).
6. These songs also were called 'the songs of Zion,' and 'the songs of the temple' (Psa 137:3; Amos 8:3). And they are so called as they were theirs to sing there; I say, of them of Zion, and the worshippers in the temple. I say, to sing in the church, by the church, to him who is the God of the church, for the mercies, benefits, and blessings which she has received from him. Sion-songs, temple-songs, must be sung by Sion's sons, and temple-worshippers.
The redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads, they shall obtain joy and gladness; and sorrow and sighing shall fly away. Therefore they shall come and sing in the height, or upon the mountain of Zion; and shall flow together thither, to the goodness of the Lord. 'Break forth into singing, ye mountains,' and let the inhabitants of the rock sing (Isa 44:23, 42:11, 51:11).
To sing to God, is the highest worship we are capable of performing in heaven; and it is much if sinners on earth, without grace, should be capable of performing it, according to his institution, acceptably. I pray God it be done by all those that now-a-days get into churches, in spirit and with understanding.[28]
LV. Of the union of the holy and most holy Temple.
That commonly called the temple of God at Jerusalem, considered as standing of two parts, was called the outward and inward temple, or, the holy and most holy place. They were built upon one and the same foundation; neither could one go into the holiest, but as through the holy place (1 Kings 3:1, 6:1; 2 Chron 5:1,13, 7:2).
The first house, namely, that which we have been speaking of, was a type of the church-militant, and the place most holy a type of the church-triumphant; I say, of the church-triumphant, as it now is.
So, then, the house standing of these two parts, was a shadow of the church both in heaven and earth. And for that they are joined together by one and the same foundation, it was to show, that they above, and we below, are yet one and the self-same house of God. Hence they, and we together, are called, 'The whole family in heaven and earth' (Eph 3:14,15).
And hence it is said again, that we who believe on earth 'are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel' (Heb 12:22-24).
The difference, then, betwixt us and them is, not that we are really two, but one body in Christ, in divers places. True, we are below stairs, and they above; they in their holiday, and we in our working-day clothes; they in harbour, but we in the storm; they at rest, and we in the wilderness; they singing, as crowned with joy; we crying, as crowned with thorns. But, I say, we are all of one house, one family, and are all the children of one Father. This, therefore, we must not forget, lest we debar ourselves of much of that which otherwise, while here, we have a right unto. Let us, therefore, I say, remember, that the temple of God is but one, though divided, as one may say into kitchen and hall, above stairs and below; or holy and most holy place. For it stands upon the same foundation, and is called but one, the temple of God; which is built upon the Lord our Saviour.
I told you before, that none of old could go into the most holy, but by the holy place, even by the veil that made the partition between (Exo 26:33; Lev 16:2,12,15; Heb 9:7,8, 10:19). Wherefore, they are deceived that think to go into the holiest, which is heaven, when they die, who yet abandon and hate the holy place, while they live. Nay, Sirs, the way into the holiest is through the holy place; the way into heaven is through the church on earth; for that Christ is there by his word to be received by faith, before he can by us in person be received in the beatical vision. The church on earth is as the house of the women, spoken of in the book of Esther, where we must be dieted, perfumed, and made fit to go into the bridegroom's chamber, or as Paul says, 'made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light' (Esth 2; Col 1:12).
LVI. Of the holiest or inner Temple.
The most holy place was, as I said, a figure of heaven itself, consequently a type of that where the most special presence of God is, and where his face is most clearly seen, and the gladness of his countenance most enjoyed (Heb 9:23,24; Exo 25:22; Num 7:89).
The most holy place was dark, it had no windows in it, though there were such round the chambers; the more special presence of God, too, on Mount Sinai, was in the thick darkness there (1 Kings 8:12; 2 Chron 7:1; Exo 19:9, 20:21).
1. This holiest, therefore, being thus made, was to show that God, as in heaven, to us on earth is altogether invisible, and not to be reached otherwise than by faith. For, I say, in that this house had no windows, nothing therein could be seen by the highest light of this world. Things there were only seen by the light of the fire of the altar, which was a type of the shinings of the Holy Ghost (1 Cor 2). And hence it is said, notwithstanding this darkness, 'He dwelleth in the light, which no man can approach unto'; none but the high-priest, Christ (1 Tim 6:16; 1 Peter 3:21,22).
2. The holiest, therefore, was thus built, to show how different our state in heaven will be from this our state on earth. We walk here by one light, by the light of a written word; for that is now a light to our feet, and a lantern to our path. But that place, where there will be no written word, nor ordinances as here, will yet to us shine more light and clear, than if all the lights that are in the world were put together, to light one man. 'For God is light, and in him is no darkness at all' (1 John 1:5). And in his light, and in the light of the Lamb immediately, we shall live, and walk, and rejoice all the days of eternity.
3. This also was ordained thus, to show that we, while in the first temple, should live by faith, as to what there was, or as to what was done in the second. Hence it is said, as to that, 'we walk by faith, not by sight' (2 Cor 5:9). The things that are there we are told of, even of the ark of the testimony, and mercy-seat, and the cherubims of glory, and the presence of Christ, and of God: we are, I say, told of them by the word, and believe, and are taken therewith, and hope to go to them hereafter; but otherwise we see them not. Therefore we are said to 'look, not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal' (2 Cor 4:18).
4. The people of old were not to look into the holiest, lest they died, save only their high-priest, he might go into it (Num 17:13). To show that we, while here, must have a care of vain speculations, for there is nothing to be seen, by us while here, in heaven, otherwise than by faith in God's eternal testament. True, we may now come to the holiest, even as nigh as the first temple will admit us to come; but it must be by blood and faith, not by vain imagination, sense, or carnal reason (Heb 10:19).
5. This holiest of all was four square every way, both as to height, length, and breadth. To be thus, is a note of perfection, as I have showed elsewhere; wherefore it was on purpose thus built, to show us that all fulness of blessedness is there, both as to the nature, degree, and duration. So 'when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away' (1 Cor 13:8-10; Heb 10:19-22).
LVII. Of the veil of the Temple.
The veil of the temple was a hanging made of 'blue and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen,' and there were cherubims wrought thereon (Exo 26:31).
1. This veil was one partition, betwixt the holy and most holy place; and I take it, it was to keep from the sight of the worshippers the things most holy, when the high-priest went in thither, to accomplish the service of God (Exo 26:33; 2 Chron 3:14; Heb 9:8).
2. The veil was a type of two things.
(1.) Of these visible heavens through which Christ passed when he went to make intercession for us. And as by the veil, the priest went out of the sight of the people, when he went into the holiest of all, so Jesus Christ when he ascended, was by the heavens, that great and stretched out curtain, received out of the sight of his people here. Also by the same curtain, since it is become as a tent for him to dwell in, he is still received, and still kept out of our sight; for now we see him not, nor shall, until these heavens be rolled together as a scroll, and pass away like a thing rolled together (Isa 40:22; Acts 1:9-11, 3:19-21; 1 Peter 1:8).
(2.) This is that veil through which the apostle saith, Jesus is, as a forerunner for us, entered into the presence of God. For by veil here also must be meant the heavens, or outspread firmament thereof; as both Mark and Peter say, He 'is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God' (Mark 16:19; 1 Peter 3:22).
3. The veil of the temple was made of blue, the very colour of the heaven. Of purple and crimson, and scarlet also, which are the colours of many of the clouds, because of the reflections of the sun. But again,
4. The veil was also a type of the body of Christ. For as the veil of the temple, when whole, kept the view of the things of the holiest from us, but when rent, gave place to man to look in unto them; even so the body of Christ, while whole, kept the things of the holiest from that view, we, since he was pierced, have of them. Hence we are said to enter into the holiest, by faith, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh (Heb 10:19-22). But yet, I say, all is by faith; and, indeed, the rending of the veil that day that Christ was crucified, did loudly preach this to us. For no sooner was the body of Christ pierced, but the veil of the temple rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and so a way was made for a clearer sight of what was there beyond it, both in the type and antitype (Matt 27:50-53; Heb 10:19,20).
Thus you see that the veil of the temple was a type of these visible heavens, and also of the body of Christ; of the first, because he passed through it unto the Father; of the second, because we by it have boldness to come to the Father.
I read also of two other veils, as of that spread over the face of Moses, to the end that the children of Israel should not stedfastly behold; and of the first veil of the tabernacle. But of these I shall not in this place speak.
Upon the veil of the temple there were also the figures of cherubims wrought, that is, of angels; to show, that as the angels are with us here, and wait upon us all the days of our pilgrimage in this world; so when we die, they stand ready, even at the veil, at the door of these heavens, to come when bid, to fetch us, and carry us away into Abraham's bosom (Luke 16:22).
The veil, then, thus understood, teaches us first where Jesus is, namely, not here, but gone into heaven, from whence we should wait for him. It also teaches us, that if we would even now discern the glories that are in the holiest of all, we must look through Jesus to them, even through the veil, 'that is to say, his flesh.' Yea, it teaches us that we may, by faith through him, attain to a kind of a presence, at least of the beauty and sweetness of them.
LVIII. Of the doors of the inner Temple.
1. Besides the veil, there was a door to the inner temple, and that door was made of olive tree; 'and for the entering of the oracle, he made doors of olive tree. The two doors also of olive tree, and he carved upon them—cherubims, and palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold, and spread gold upon the cherubims, and upon the palm trees' (1 Kings 6:31).
2. These doors were a type of the gate of heaven, even of that which lets into the eternal mansion-house that is beyond that veil. I told you before that the veil was a type of the visible heavens, which God has spread out as a curtain, and through which Christ went when he ascended to the right hand of the Father.
3. Now, beyond this veil, as I said, I find a door, a gate opening with two leaves, as afore we found at the door of the outward temple. These are they which the Psalmist calls to, when he saith, 'Lift up your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in' (Psa 24:7,9).
4. The doors of the temple were made of fire, but these, as you see, were made of olive; to show us by that fat tree, that rich type, with what glory we shall be met, who shall be counted worthy to enter at these gates. The olive tree has its name from the oil and fatness of its nature, and the doors that let into the holiest were made of this olive tree (Rom 11:16-18).[29]
5. Cherubims were also carved upon these doors to show, that as the angels met us at the temple door, and as they wait upon us in the temple, and stand also ready at the veil, so even at the gate of the mansion-house, they will be also ready to give us a welcome thither, and to attend us into the presence chamber.
6. Palm trees also, as they were carved upon the temple doors, so we also find them here before the oracle, upon the doors that let in thither; to show, that as Christ gave us the victory at our first entering into faith, so he will finish that victory, by giving of us eternal salvation. Thus is he the author and finisher of our faith. For as sure as at first we received the palm branch by faith, so surely shall we wear it in our hands, as a token of his faithfulness in the heaven of heavens, for ever (Rev 7:9).
7. Open flowers are also carved here, to show that Christ, who is the door to glory, as well as the door to grace, will be precious to us at our entering in thither, as well as at the first step we took thitherward in a sinful and miserable world. Christ will never lose his sweet scent in the nostrils of his church. He is most sweet now, will be so at death, and sweetest of all, when by him we shall enter into that mansion-house prepared for us in heaven.
8. The palm trees and open flowers may also be a type of the precious ones of God, who shall be counted worthy of his kingdom; the one, of the uprightness of their hearts; the other, of the good favour of their lives. 'The upright shall dwell in thy presence; and to him that ordereth his conversation aright, I will show the salvation of God' (Psa 140:13).
9. Thus sweet on earth, sweet in heaven; and he that yields the fruit of the gospel here, shall find it for himself, and his eternal comfort, at the gates of glory.
10. All these were overlaid with gold, as you may say, and so they were at the door of the first house. True, but observe here we have an addition. Here is gold upon gold. Gold laid on them, and then gold spread upon that. He overlaid them with gold, and then spread gold upon them. The Lord gives grace and glory (Psa 84:11). Gold and gold. Gold spread upon gold. Grace is gold in the leaf, and glory is gold in plates. Grace is thin gold, glory is gold that is thick. Here is gold laid on, and gold spread upon that: and that both upon the palm trees and the cherubims. Gold upon the palm trees, that is, on the saints; gold upon the cherubims, that is, upon the angels. For I doubt not but that the angels themselves shall receive additional glory for the service which they have served Christ and his church on earth.
11. The angels are God's harvest men, and doubtless he will give them good wages, even glory upon their glory then (Matt 13:38,39, 24:31; John 4:36).
12. You know harvest men use to be paid well for gathering in the corn, and I doubt not but so shall these, when the great ingathering is over. But what an entrance into life is here? Here is gold upon gold at the door, at our first step into the kingdom.
LIX. Of the golden nails of the inner Temple.
I shall not concern myself with all the nails of the temple, as of those made of iron, &c. (1 Chron 22:3). But only with the golden ones, of which you read, where he saith, 'And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold' (2 Chron 3:9). These nails, as I conceive, were all fastened to the place most holy, and of form most apt to that of which they were a figure.
1. Some of them represented Christ Jesus our Lord as fixed in his mediatory office in the heavens; wherefore in one place, when the Holy Ghost speaks of Christ, as he sprang from Judah to be a mediator, saith, 'Out of him came the corner,' the corner stone, 'out of him the nail' (Zech 10:4). Now, since he is compared to a nail, a golden nail, it is to show, that as a nail, by driving, is fixed in his place; so Christ, by God's oath, is made an everlasting priest (Heb 7:25). Therefore, as he saith again, the nail, the Aaronical priesthood, that was fastened in a sure place, should be removed, be cut down, and fall; so he who has the key of David, which is Christ (Rev 3:7), shall by God, as a nail, be fastened in a sure place, and abide; therefore he says again, 'And he shall be for a glorious throne,' or mercy-seat, 'to his Father's house.' And moreover, That 'they shall hang upon him,' as on a nail, 'all the glory of his Father's house, the offspring, and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons' (Isa 22:20-25). According to that which is written, 'And they sang a new song' to the Lamb that was slain, 'saying, Thou art worthy,' &c. (Rev 5:9-12).
And therefore it is again that Christ, under the similitude of a nail, is accounted by saints indeed their great pledge or hope, as he is in heaven, of their certain coming thither. Hence they said of old, God has given us 'a nail in his holy place'; a nail, says the line, 'a pin, a constant and sure abode,' says the margin (Ezra 9:8). Now, this nail in his holy place, as was showed before, is Christ; Christ, as possessed of heaven, and as abiding, and ever living therein for us. Hence he is called, as there, our head, our life, and our salvation; and also we are said there to be set down together in him (Eph 1; Col 3:3; Eph 2:5,6).
2. Some of these nails were types of the holy words of God, which for ever are settled in heaven. Types, I say, of their 'yea and amen.' Hence Solomon, in another place, compares the words of the wise God, 'to goads and nails, fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd' (Eccl 12:11).
They are called goads, because, as such prick the oxen on in their drawing, so God's words prick Christians on in their holy duties. They are called nails, to show, that as nails, when fastened well in a sure place, are not easily removed; so God's words, by his will, stand firm for ever. The masters of the assemblies are first, the apostles. The one shepherd is Jesus Christ. Hence the gospel of Christ is said to be everlasting, to abide for ever, and to be more stedfast than heaven and earth (Isa 40:6-8; 1 Peter 1:24,25; Heb 13:20; Rev 14:6; Matt 24:35). The Lord Jesus then, and his holy words, are the golden nails of the temple, and the fixing of thess nails in the temple, was to show that Christ is the same today, yesterday, and for ever; and that his words abide, and remain the same for ever and ever. He then that hath Christ, has a nail in the holiest; he that hath a promise of salvation hath also a nail in heaven, a golden nail in heaven!
LX. Of the floor and walls of the inner Temple.
1. The floor of the oracle was overlaid with cedar, and so also were the walls of this house. 'He built twenty cubits on the sides of the house, both the floor and the walls with boards of cedar. He even built for it within, for the oracle, for the most holy place' (1 Kings 6:16).
2. In that he doth tell us with what it was ceiled, and doth also thus repeat, saying, 'for the oracle, for it within, even for the most holy place,' it is because he would have it noted, that this only is the place that thus was done.
3. Twenty cubits, that was the length, and breadth, and height of the house; so that by his thus saying he teacheth that thus it was built round about.
4. The cedar is, if I mistake not, the highest of the trees (Eze 31:3-8). Now in that it is said the house, the oracle, was ceiled round about therewith, it may be to show, that in heaven, and no where else, is the height of all perfections. Perfection is in the church on earth, but not such as is in heaven.
(1.) There is a natural perfection, and so a penny is as natural silver as is a shilling. (2.) There is a comparative perfection, and so one thing may be perfect and imperfect at the same time; as a half-crown is more than a shilling, yet less than a crown. (3.) There is also that which we call the utmost perfection, and that is it which cannot be added to, or taken from him; and so God only is perfect. Now, heavenly glory is that which goes beyond all perfection on the earth, as the cedar goes beyond all trees for height. Hence God, when he speaks of his own excellency, sets it forth by its height. The high God, the most High, and the high and lofty One; and the Highest (Psa 92:9, 138:6; Gen 14:19-21; Dan 3:26, 5:18; Psa 18:13, 87:5; Luke 1:32, 6:35; Isa 57:15; Psa 9:2, 56:2, 92:1; Isa 14:14). These terms also are ascribed to this house, for that it was the place where utmost perfection dwelt.
I take, therefore, the cedar in this place to be a note of perfection, even the cedar with which this house was ceiled. For since it is the wisdom of God to speak to us ofttimes by trees, gold, silver, stones, beasts, fowls, fishes, spiders, ants, frogs, flies, lice, dust, &c., and here by wood; how should we by them understand his voice, if we count there is no meaning in them? 'And the cedar of the house within was carved with knops and open flowers; all was cedar; there was no stone seen' (1 Kings 6:18).
Knops and flowers were they with which the golden candlestick was adorned, as you read, Exodus 25:33, 35, 37:10, 21. The candlestick was a type of the church, and the knops and flowers a type of her ornaments. But what! must heaven be hanged round about with the ornaments of saints! with the fruits of their graces! Well, it is certain that something more than ordinary must be done with them, since they are admitted to follow them into the holy place (Rev 14:13); and since, it is said, they shall have a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory bestowed on them, for them in the heavens' (2 Cor 4:16,17).
'All was cedar; there was no stone seen.' Take stone in the type for that which was really so, and in the antitype for that which is so mystically, and then it may import to us, that in heaven, the antitype of this holiest, there shall never be anything of hardness of heart in them that possess it for ever. All imperfection ariseth from the badness of the heart, but there will be no bad hearts in glory. No shortness in knowledge, no crossness of disposition, no workings of lusts, or corruptions will be there; no, not throughout the whole heavens. Here, alas! they are seen, and that in the best of saints, because here our light is mixed with darkness; but there will be no night there, nor any stone seen.
'And the floor of the house was overlaid with gold' (1 Kings 6:30). This is like that of which we read of the New Jerusalem that is to come from God out of heaven; says the text, 'The street of the city was pure gold'; and like that of which you read in Exodus, 'They saw the God of Israel, and under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness' (Rev 21:21; Exo 24:10). All the visions were rich, but this the richest, that the floor of the house should be covered or overlaid with gold. The floor and street are walking-places, and how rich will our steps be then! Alas! here we sometimes fall into the mire, and then again stumble upon blocks and stones. Here we sometimes fall into holes, and have our heel oft catched in a snare; but there will be none of these. Gold! gold! all will be gold, and golden perfections, when we come into the holy place! Job at best took but his steps in butter, but we then shall take all our steps in the gold of the sanctuary.
LXI. Of the ark of the covenant which was placed in the inner
Temple.
In the Word I read of three arks; to wit, Noah's ark, that in which Moses was hid, and the ark of the covenant of God (Gen 6:14; Exo 2:3,5). But it is the ark of the covenant of which I shall now speak. The ark was made 'of shittim-wood, two cubits and a half was the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.' It was overlaid 'with pure gold within and without,' and 'a crown of gold' was made for it 'round about' (Exo 25:10,11).
1. This ark was called 'the ark of the covenant,' as the first that you read of was called 'Noah's,' because as he in that was kept from being drowned, so the tables of the covenant were kept in this from breaking.
2. This ark, in this, was a type of Christ; for that in him only, and not in the hand of Moses, these tables were kept whole. Moses brake them, the ark keeps them.
3. Not only that wrote on two tables of stone, but that also called 'the ceremonial,' was put into the ark to be kept. The two tables were put into the midst of the ark, to answer to this—thy law is within my heart to do it. But the ceremonial was put into the side of the ark, to show that out of the side of Christ must come that which must answer that, for out thence came blood and water; blood, to answer the blood of the ceremonies; and water, to answer the purifyings and rinsings of that law. The ceremonies, therefore, were lodged in the side of the ark, to show that they should be answered out of the side of Jesus Christ (Exo 25:16,17; Deut 10:5; Psa 40:8; John 19:34; Heb 10:7).
4. The ark had the name of God put upon it; yea, it was called the strength of God, and his glory, though made of wood. And Christ is God both in name and nature, though made flesh; yea more, made to be sin for us (2 Sam 6:2; 1 Chron 13:6; 2 Chron 6:1; John 1:14; Rom 9:5; 2 Cor 5:21).
5. The ark was carried upon men's shoulders this way and that, to show how Christ should be carried and preached by his apostles and ministers into all parts of the world (Exo 25:14; 1 Chron 15:15; Matt 28:19,20; Luke 24:46,47).
6. The ark had those testimonies of God's presence accompanying it, as had no other ceremony of the law; and Christ had those signs and tokens of his presence with him, as never had man either in law or gospel. This is so apparent it needs no proof. And now for a few comparisons more.
(1.) It was at that that God answered the people, when they were wont to come to inquire of him; and in these last days God has spoken to us by his Son (1 Chron 13:3; 1 Sam 14:18; Heb 1:2; John 16:23,24).
(2.) At the presence of the ark the waters of Jordan stood still till Israel, the ransomed of the Lord, passed over from the wilderness to Canaan; and it is by the power and presence of Christ that we pass over death, Jordan's antitype, from the wilderness of this world to heaven (Josh 3:15-17; John 11:25; Rom 8:37-39; 1 Cor 15:54-57).
(3.) Before the ark the walls of Jericho fell down; and at the presence of Christ shall all high towers, and strongholds, and hiding places for sinners be razed, and dissolved at his coming (Josh 6:20; Isa 30:25, 2:10,16; 2 Peter 3:10; Rev 20:11-13).
(4.) Before the ark Dagon fell, that idol of the Philistines; and before Christ Jesus devils fell, those gods of all those idols. And he must reign till all his enemies be put under his feet, and until they be made his footstool (1 Sam 5:1-4; Mark 5:12; 1 Cor 15:25; Heb 10:13).
(5.) The Philistines were also plagued for meddling with the ark, while they abode uncircumcised; and the wicked will one day be most severely plagued for their meddling with Christ, with their uncircumcised hearts (1 Sam 5:6-13; Psa 50:6; Matt 24:51, 25:11,12; Luke 13:25-29).
(6.) God's blessing was upon those that entertained the ark as they should; and much more is, and will his blessing be upon those that so embrace and entertain his Christ, and profess his name sincerely (2 Sam 6:11; Acts 3:26; Gal 3:13,14; Matt 19:27-29; Luke 22:28,29).
(7.) When Uzzah put forth his hand to stay the ark, when the oxen shook it, as despairing of God's protecting of it without a human help, he died before the Lord; even so will all those do, without repentance, who use unlawful means to promote Christ's religion, and to support it in the world (1 Chron 13:9,10; Matt 26:52; Rev 13:10).
(8.) The ark, though thus dignified, was of itself but low—but a cubit and a half high; also Christ—though he was the glory of heaven and of God—yet made himself of no reputation, and was found in the likeness of a man (Exo 25:10-12; Phil 2:6-11).
(9.) The ark had a crown of gold round about upon it, to show how Christ is crowned by his saints by faith, and shall be crowned by them in glory, for all the good he hath done for them; as also how all crowns shall one day stoop to him, and be set upon his head. This is showed in the type (Zech 6:11,14). And in the antitype (Rev 4:10, 19:12).
(10.) The ark was overlaid with gold within and without, to show that Christ was perfect in inward grace and outward life, in spirit and in righteousness (John 1:14; 1 Peter 2:22).
(11.) The ark was placed under the mercy-seat, to show that Jesus Christ, as Redeemer, brings and bears, as it were, upon his shoulders, the mercy of God to us, even in the body of his flesh, through death (Exo 25:21; Eph 4:22; 5:1,2).
(12.) When the ark was removed far from the people, the godly went mourning after it; and when Christ is hid, or taken from us, then we mourn in those days (2 Sam 7:2; Mark 2:19,20; Luke 5:34,35; John 16:20-22).
(13.) All Israel had the ark again, after their mourning-time was over; and Christ, after his people have sorrowed for him a while, will see them again, 'and their hearts shall rejoice' (John 16:1-3,20-22).
By all these things, and many more that might be mentioned, it is most evident that the ark of the testimony was a type of Jesus Christ; and take notice a little of that which follows, namely, that the ark at last arrived to the place most holy (Heb 9:3,4). That is, after its wanderings; for the ark was first made to wander, like a non-inhabitant, from place to place; now hither, and then thither; now in the hands of enemies, and then abused by friends; yea, it was caused to rove from place to place, as that of which the world was weary. I need instance to you for proof hereof none other place than the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters of the first Book of Samuel; and, answerable to this, was our dear Lord Jesus posted backwards and forwards, hither and thither, by the force of the rage of his enemies. He was hunted into Egypt so soon as he was born (Matt 2). Then he was driven to live in Galilee the space of many years. Also, when he showed himself to Israel, they drove him sometimes into the wilderness, sometimes into the desert, sometimes into the sea, and sometimes into the mountains, and still in every of these places he was either haunted or hunted by new enemies.
And at last of all, the Pharisees plot for his life; Judas sells him, the priests buy him, Peter denies him, his enemies mock, scourge, buffet, and much abuse him. In fine, they get him condemned, and crucified, and buried; but at last God commanded, and took him to his place, even within the veil, and sets him to bear up the mercy-seat, where he is to this very day, being our ark to save us, as Noah's did him, as Moses' did him; yea, better, as none but Christ doth save his own.
LXII. Of the placing of the ark in the holiest, or inner Temple.
1. The ark, as we have said, and as the text declares, when carried to its rest, was placed in the inner temple, or in the most holy place, 'even under the wings of the cherubims.' 'And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord unto his place, to the oracle of the house, into the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubims' (Exo 26:33, 39:35; 1 Kings 8:3; 2 Chron 5:7).
2. Before this, as was said afore, the ark was carried from place to place, and caused to dwell in a tent under curtains, as all our fathers did; to show that Christ, as we, was made for a time to wander in the world, in order to his being possessed of glory (2 Sam 7:1,3,6; Heb 11:9; John 1:10, 16:28, 3:13).
3. But now, when the ark was brought into the holiest, it is said to be brought into its place. This world then was not Christ's place, he was not from beneath, he came from his Father's house; wherefore while here, he was not at his place, nor could until he ascended up where he was before (John 8:23, 16:28, 6:62, 3:13).
4. Christ's proper place, therefore, is the holiest. His proper place, as God, as Priest, as Prophet, as King, and as the Advocate of his people. Here, with us, he has no more to do, in person, as mediator. If he were on earth, he should not be a priest, &c. His place and work is now above with his Father, and before the angels (Acts 5:31; 1 Peter 3:22; Heb 4:14, 8:4; 9:24; 1 John 2:1,2; Rev 1:4,5).
5. It is said the ark was brought 'to the oracle of the house,' Solomon was not content to say it was brought into the holiest; but he saith, his place was the oracle, the holy oracle, that is, the place of hearing. For he, when he ascended, had somewhat to say to God on the behalf of his people. To the oracle, that is, to the place of revealing. For he also was there to receive, and from thence to reveal to his church on earth, something that could not be made manifest but from this holy oracle. There therefore he is with the two tables of testimony in his heart, as perfectly kept; he also is there with the whole fulfulling of the ceremonial law in his side, showing and pleading the perfection of his righteousness, and the merit of his blood with his Father, and to receive and to do us good, who believe in him, how well pleased the Father is with what he has done in our behalf.
6. 'Into the most holy place.' By these words is showed, whither also the ark went, when it went to take up its rest. And in that this ark was a type of Christ in this, it is to show or further manifest, that what Christ doth now in heaven, he doth it before his Father's face. Yea, it intimates, that Christ even there makes his appeals to God, concerning the worth of what he did on earth; to God the Judge of all, I say, whether he ought not for his suffering-sake to have granted to him his whole desire, as Priest and Advocate for his people?
'Wilt thou,' said Festus to Paul, 'go up to Jerusalem, and there be judged of these things before me?' (Acts 25:9). Why, this our blessed Jesus was willing, when here, to go up to Jerusalem to be judged; and being misjudged of there, he made his appeal to God, and is now gone thither, even into the holy place, even to him that is Judge of all, for his verdict upon his doing; and whether the souls for whom he became undertaker, to bring them to glory, have not by him a right to the kingdom of heaven.
7. 'Under the wings of the cherubims.' This doth further confirm our words; for having appealed from earth to heaven, as the ark was set under the wings of the cherubims, so he, in his interceding with God and pleading his merits for us, doth it in the presence and hearing of all the angels in heaven.
And thus much of the ark of the covenant, and of its antitype. We come next to speak of the mercy-seat.
LXIII. Of the mercy-seat, and how it was placed in the holy Temple.
The mercy-seat was made in the wilderness, but brought up by Solomon, after the temple was built, with the rest of the holy things (2 Chron 5:2-10).
The mercy-seat, as I have showed of the ark, was but low. 'Two cubits and a half was the length, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof'; but the height thereof 'was without measure.'
1. The length and breadth of the mercy-seat is the same with that of the ark: perhaps to show us, that the length and breadth of the mercy of God to his elect, is the same with the length and breadth of the merits of Christ (Exo 25:10,17). Therefore, we are said to be justified in him, blessed in him, even according to the purpose which God purposed in him.
2. But in that the mercy-seat is without measure, as to height, it is to show, that would God extend it, it is able to reach even them that fall from heaven, and to save all that ever lived on earth, even all that are now in hell. For there is not only breadth enough for them that shall be saved, but 'bread enough and to spare' (Luke 15:17). 'And thou shalt,' says God, 'put the mercy-seat above upon the ark.' Thus he said to Moses, and this was the place which David assigned for it (Exo 25:21; 1 Chron 28:11). Now, its being by God's ordinance placed thus, doth teach us many things.
(1.) That mercy's foundation to us is Christ. The mercy-seat was set upon the ark of the testimony, and there it rested to usward. Justice would not, could not have suffered us to have had any benefit by mercy, had it not found an ark, a Christ to rest upon. 'Deliver him,' saith God, 'from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom' (Job 33:24).
(2.) In that it was placed above, it doth show also that Christ was, of mercies, ordaining a fruit of mercy. Mercy is above, is the ordainer; God is love, and sent of love his Son to be the Saviour and propitiation for our sins (John 3:16; 1 John 4:10).
(3.) In that the mercy-seat and ark were thus joined together, it also shows, that without Christ mercy doth not act. Hence, when the priest came of old to God for mercy, he did use to come into the holy place with blood; yea, and did use to sprinkle it upon the mercy-seat, and before it, seven times. Take away the ark, and the mercy-seat will fall, or come greatly down at least. So take away Christ, and the flood-gate of mercy is let down, and the current of mercy stopped. This is true, for so soon as Christ shall leave off to mediate, will come the eternal judgment.
(4.) Again, in that the mercy-seat was set above upon the ark, it teacheth us to know, that mercy can look down from heaven, though the law stand by and looks on; but then it must be in Christ, as kept there, and fulfilled by him for us. The law out of Christ is terrible as a lion; the law in him is meek as a lamb. The reason is, for that it finds in him enough to answer for all their faults, that come to God for mercy by him. 'Christ is the end of the law for righteousness'; and if that be true, the law for that can look no further upon whoever comes to God by him. The law did use to sentence terribly, until it was put into the ark to be kept.[30]
(5.) Let them then that come to God for mercy be sure to come to him by the ark, Christ. For grace, as it descends to us from above the mercy-seat, so that mercy-seat doth rest upon the ark. Wherefore, sinner, come thou for mercy that way: for there if thou meetest with the law, it can do thee no harm; nor can mercy, shouldst thou elsewhere meet it, do thee good. Come, therefore, and come boldly to the throne of grace, this mercy-seat, thus borne up by the ark, and 'obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need' (Heb 4:16).
Wherefore the thus placing of things in the holiest, is admirable to behold in the word of God. For that indeed is the glass by and through which we must behold this glory of the Lord. Here we see the reason of things; here we see how a just God can have to do, and that in a way of mercy, with one that has sinned against him. It is because the law has been kept by the Lord Jesus Christ; for as you see, the mercy-seat stands upon the ark of the covenant, and there God acts in a way of grace towards us (Exo 25:17-23).
LXIV. Of the living waters of the inner Temple.
Although in the holy relation of the building of the temple no mention is made of these waters, but only of the mount on which, and the materials with which the king did build it, yet it seems to me that in that mount, and there too where the temple was built, there was a spring of living water. This seems more than probable, by Ezekiel 47:1, where he saith, 'He brought me again unto the door of the house, and behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward, for the fore-front of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under, from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar.' So again, 'And a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim' (Joel 3:18). Nor was the spring, wherever was the first appearance of thess holy waters, but in the sanctuary, which is the holiest of all (Eke 47:12), where the mercy-seat stood, which in Revelation is called 'The throne of God, and of the Lamb' (Rev 22:1,2).
This also is that which the prophet Zechariah means, when he says, 'Living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea,' &c. (Zech 14:8). They are said to go forth from Jerusalem, because they came down to the city from out of the sanctuary which stood in Jerusalem. This is that which in another place is called a river of water of life, because it comes forth from the throne, and because it was at the head of it, as I suppose, used in and about temple-worship. It was with this, I think, that the molten sea and the ten lavers were filled, and in which the priests washed their hands and feet when they went into the temple to do service; and that also in which they washed the sacrifices before they offered them to God; yea, I presume, all the washings and rinsings about their worship was with this water.
This water is said in Ezekiel and Revelation to have the tree of life grow on the banks of it, and was a type of the word and Spirit of God, by which, both Christ himself sanctified himself, in order to his worship as high-priest (Eze 47; Rev 22). And also this water is that which heals all those that shall be saved; and by which, they being sanctified thereby also, do all their works of worship and service acceptably, through Jesus Christ our Lord. This water therefore is said to go forth into the sea, the world, and to heal its fish, the sinners therein; yea, this is that water of which Christ Jesus our Lord saith, Whosoever shall drink thereof shall live for ever (Eze 47:8-10; Zech 14:8; John 4:14).
LXV. Of the chains which were in the oracle or inner Temple.
As there were chains on the pillars that stood before the porch of the temple, and in the first house; so, like unto them, there were chains in the holiest, here called the oracle. These chains were not chains in show, or as carved on wood, &c., but chains indeed, and that of gold; and they were prepared to make a partition 'before the oracle' within (1 Kings 6:21; 2 Chron 3:16).
I told you before that the holiest was called the oracle, not because in a strict sense the whole of it was so, but because such answer of God was there, as was not in the outward temple, but I think that the ark and mercy-seat were indeed more especially that called the oracle; 'for there I will meet with thee,' saith God, and from above that 'I will commune with thee' (Exo 25:22). When David said, 'I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle,' he meant not so much towards the holiest house, as toward the mercy-seat that was therein. Or, as he saith in the margin, 'Toward the oracle of thy sanctuary' (Psa 28:2).
When therefore he saith, 'before the oracle,' he means, these chains were put in the most holy place, before the ark and mercy-seat, to give to Aaron and his sons to understand that an additional glory was there. For the ark and mercy-seat were preferred before that holy house itself, even as Christ and the grace of God is preferred before the highest heavens. 'The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens' (Psa 113:4).
So then, the partition that was made in this house by these chains, these golden chains, was not so much to divide the holy from the place most holy, as to show that there is in the holiest house that which is yet more worthy than it.
The holiest was a type of heaven, but the ark and mercy-seat were a type of Christ, and of the mercy of God to us by him; and I trow any man will conclude, if he knows what he says, that the God and Christ of heaven are more excellent than the house they dwell in. Hence David said again, 'Whom have I in heaven but thee?' For thou art more excellent than they (Psa 73:25). For though that which is called heaven would serve some; yea, though God himself was out of it, yet none but the God of heaven will satisfy a truly gracious man: it is God that the soul of this man thirsteth for; it is God that is his exceeding joy (Psa 52:2, 63:1, 143:6, 17:15, 43:4).
These chains then, as they made this partition in the most holy place, may teach us, that when we shall be glorified in heaven, we shall yet, even then, and there, know that there will continue an infinite disproportion between God and us. The golden chains that are there will then distinguish [or separate] the Creator from the creature. For we, even we which shall be saved, shall yet retain our own nature, and shall still continue finite beings; yea, and shall there also see a disproportion between our Lord, our head, and us; for though now we are, and also then shall be like him as to his manhood; yea, and shall be like him also, as being glorified with his glory; yet he shall transcend and go beyond us, as to degree and splendour, as far as ever the highest king on earth did shine above the meanest subject that dwelt in his kingdom.
Chains have of old been made use of as notes of distinction, to show us who are bond men, and who free. Yea, they shall at the day of judgment be a note of distinction of bad and good; even as here they will distinguish the heavens from God, and the creature from the Creator (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6; Matt 22:13).
True, they are chains of sin and wrath, but these chains of gold; yet these chains, even these also will keep creatures in their place, that the Creator may have his glory, and receive those acknowledgments there from them, which is due unto his Majesty (Rev 4, 5:11-14).
LXVI. Of the high-priest, and of his office in the inner Temple.
When things were thus ordained in the house 'most holy,' then went the high-priest in thither, according as he was appointed, to do his office, which was to burn incense in his golden censer, and to sprinkle with his finger the blood of his sacrifice, for the people, upon and above the mercy-seat (Exo 30:7-10; Lev 16:11-14).
Now for this special work of his, he had peculiar preparations. 1. He was to be washed in water. 2. Then he was to put on his holy garments. 3. After that he was to be anointed with holy oil. 4. Then an offering was to be offered for him, for the further fitting of him for his office. 5. The blood of this sacrifice must be put, some of it upon his right ear, some on the thumb of his right hand, and some on the great toe of his right foot. This done, some more of the blood, with the anointing oil, must be sprinkled upon him, and upon his garment; for after this manner must he be consecrated to his work as high-priest (Exo 29).
His being washed in water was to show the purity of Christ's humanity. His curious robes were a type of all the perfections of Christ's righteousness. The holy oil that was poured on his head was to show how Christ was anointed with the Holy Ghost unto his work, as priest. The sacrifice of his consecration was a type of that offering Christ offered in the garden when he mixed his sweat with his own blood, and tears, and cries, when he prayed to him that was able to save him; 'and was heard in that he feared'; for with his blood, as was Aaron with the blood of the bullock that was slain for him, was this blessed one besmeared from head to foot, when his sweat, as great drops or clodders of blood, fell down from head and face, and whole body, to the ground (Luke 22:44; Heb 10:20).
When Aaron was thus prepared, then he offered his offering for the people, and carried the blood within the veil (Lev 16). The which Christ Jesus also answered, when he offered his own body without the gate, and then carried his blood into the heavens, and sprinkled it before the mercy-seat (Heb 13:11,12, 9:11,12,24). For Aaron was a type of Christ; his offering, a type of Christ's offering his body; the blood of the sacrifice, a type of the blood of Christ; his garments, a type of Christ's righteousness; the mercy-seat, a type of the throne of grace; the incense, a type of Christ's praise; and the sprinkling of the blood of the sacrifice upon the mercy-seat, a type of Christ's pleading the virtue of his sufferings for us in the presence of God in heaven (Heb 9:10-28).
'Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus' (Heb 3:1). 'Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins: who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity' (Hosea 4:14-16, 5:1,2).
This then is our high priest; and this was made so 'not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.' For Aaron and his sons were made priests without an oath, 'but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.'
'And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death. But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself. For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore. Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle,[31] which the Lord pitched, and not man. For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount' (Heb 7:16-8:5).
'But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
'For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; for then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation' (Heb 9:11-14,24-28).
LXVII. Of the high-priest's going into the Holiest alone.
As it was the privilege of the high-priest to go into the holiest alone, so there was something of mystery also, to which I shall speak a little: 'There shall,' says God, 'be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation, when he [Aaron] goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel' (Lev 167:17). The reason is, for that Christ is mediator alone; he trod the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with him to help him there (Isa 63:3; 1 Tim 2:5).
Of the people there was none to help him to bear his cross, or in the management of the first part of his priestly office. Why then should there be any to share with him in his executing of the second part thereof? Besides, he that helps an intercessor must himself be innocent, or in favour, upon some grounds not depending on the worth of the intercession. But as to the intercession of Christ, who can come in to help upon the account of such innocency or worth? Not the highest angel; for there is none such but one, wherefore he must do that alone. Hence it is said, He went in alone, is there alone, and there intercedes alone. And this is manifest not only in the type Aaron, but in the antitype Christ Jesus (Heb 6:19,20, 9:7-11,21,23,24).
I do not say that there is no man in heaven but Jesus Christ; but I say, he is there to make intercession for us alone. Yea, the holy text says more. 'I go,' saith Christ, 'to prepare a place for you; and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also' (John 14:1-3).
This text seems to insinuate that Christ is in the holiest or highest heavens alone; and that he there alone must be, until he has finished his work of intercession; for not till then he comes again to take us to himself. Let us grant Christ the pre-eminency in this, as also in all other things; for he is intercessor for his church, and makes it for them in the holiest alone. It is said he is the light that no man can approach unto.
LXVIII. Of the high-priest's going in thither but once a year.
As the high-priest went into the holiest when he went in thither alone; so to do that work, he went in thither but once a year. Thou shalt not come 'at all times,' said God to him, 'into the holy place, within the veil, before the mercy-seat, which is upon the ark, that thou die not' (Lev 16:2).
And as he was to go in thither but 'once a year,' so not then neither, unless clothed and adorned, with his Aaronical holy robes (Lev 16:32-34). Then he was to be clothed, as I hinted before, with the holy robes, the frontlet of gold upon his forehead, the names of the twelve tribes upon his breast, and the jingling bells upon the skirts of his garment? nor would all this do, unless he went in thither with blood (Exo 28; Lev 16).
Now, this once a year the apostle taketh special notice of, and makes great use of it. 'Once a year,' saith he, this high-priest went in thither: once a year, that is, to show, that Christ should once in the end of the world, go into heaven itself, to make intercession there for us. For by this word 'year,' he shows the term and time of the world is meant; and by 'once' in that year, he means once in the end of the world.
'Not,' saith he, 'that he should offer himself often: as the high-priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others. For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself (Heb 9:25,26).
And having thus once offered his sacrifice without the veil, he is now gone into the holiest, to perfect his work of mediation for us. Not into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.
Now if our Lord Jesus is gone indeed, now to appear in the presence of God for us; and if this now be the once a year that the type speaks of; the once in the end of the world, as our apostle says; then it follows, that the people of God should all stand waiting for his benediction that to them he shall bring with him when he shall return from thence. Wherefore he adds, 'Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation' (v 28).
This, therefore, shows us the greatness of the work that Christ has to do at the right hand of God, for that he stays there so long. He accomplished all the first part of his priesthood in less than forty years, if you take in the making of his holy garments and all; but about this second part thereof, he has been above in heaven above sixteen hundred years, and yet has not done.
This therefore calls for faith and patience in saints, and by this he also tries the world; so that they, in mocking manner, being to say already, 'Where is the promise of his coming?' (2 Peter 3:4). But I say again, We must look and wait. If the people waited for Zacharias, and wondered that he staid so long, because he staid in the holy place somewhat longer than they expected, no marvel if the faith of the world about Christ's coming is fled and gone long ago, yea, and that the children also are put to it to wait, since a scripture 'little while' doth prove so long. For that which the apostle saith, 'yet a little while,' doth prove to some to be a very long little (John 16:16; Heb 10:37).
True, Zacharias had then to do with angels, and that made him stay so long. O but Jesus is with God, before him, in his presence, talking with him, swallowed up in him, and with his glory, and that is one cause he stays so long. He is there also pleading his blood for his tempted ones, and interceding for all his elect, and waits there till all his be fitted for, and ready to enter into glory. I say, he is there, and there must be till then; and this is another reason why he doth stay the time we count so long.
And, indeed, it is a wonder to me, that Jesus Christ our Lord should once think now he is there, of returning higher again, considering the ill treatment he met with here before. But what will not love do? Surely he would never touch the ground again, had he not a people here that cannot be made perfect but by his coming to them. He also is made judge of quick and dead, and will get him glory in the ruin of them that hath him.
His people are as himself to him. Can a loving husband abide to be always from a beloved spouse? Besides, as I said, he is to pay the wicked off, for all their wickedness, and that in that very plat where they have committed it. Wherefore the day appointed for this is set, and he will, and shall come quickly to do it. For however the time may seem long to us, yet, according to the reckoning of God, it is but a little while since he went into the holiest to intercede. 'A thousand years with the Lord is as one day'; and after this manner of counting, he has not been gone yet full two days into the holiest. 'The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness'; 'he will come quickly, and will not tarry' (2 Peter 3; Heb 10:37).
LXIX. Of the cherubims, and of their being placed over the mercy-seat in the inner Temple.
There were also cherubims in the most holy place, which were set on high above the mercy-seat. See 1 Kings 6:23-28.
1. These are called by the apostles, 'the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy-seat' (Heb 9:5).
2. These cherubims were figures of the angels of God, as in other places we have proved.
3. It is said these cherubims were made of image work, and that in such manner, as that they could, as some think, move their wings by art; wherefore it is said, 'they stretched forth their wings'; the wings of the 'cherubims spread themselves'; and that the 'cherubims spread forth their wings over the place of the ark,—and the staves thereof above' (1 Kings 6:27; 2 Chron 3:13, 5:8).
4. I read also of these cherubims, that they had chariots and wheels; by which is taught us how ready and willing the angels are to fetch us when commanded, unto the paradise of God; for these chariots were types of the bosoms of the angels; and these wheels, of the quickness of their motion to come for us when sent. 'The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels; the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place' (1 Chron 28:18; Eze 10:9,15,16,18-20; 2 Kings 6:17; Psa 68:17; 2 Kings 2:11; Dan 9:2).
5. What difference, if any, there is between cherubims and seraphims, into that I shall not now inquire; though I believe that there are diverse orders and degrees of angels in the heavens, as there are degrees and diverse orders among men in the world. But that these cherubims were figures of the holy angels, their being thus placed in the holy oracle doth declare; for their dwelling-place is heaven, though they, for our sakes, are conversant in the world (Heb 1).
6. It is said that these cherubims, in this holy place, did stand upon their feet, to show, (1.) That the angels of heaven are not fallen from their station, as the other angels are. (2.) To show also that they are always ready, at God's bidding, to run with swiftness to do his pleasure. (3.) To show also that they shall continue in their station, being therein confirmed by Jesus Christ, 'by whom all things consist' (Col 1:17).
7. It is said 'their faces were inward,' looking one to another, yet withal somewhat ascending, to show that the angels both behold and wonder at the mysteries of grace, as it is displayed to usward from off the mercy-seat. The faces of the cherubims 'shall look one to another; towards the mercy-seat shall the faces of the cherubims be' (Exo 25:20; 2 Chron 3:13; 1 Peter 1:12; Eph 3:10).
(1.) 'Towards the mercy-seat.' They are desirous to see it, and how from hence, I say, mercy doth look towards us.
(2.) 'They look one towards another,' to show that they agree to rejoice in the salvation of our souls (Luke 15:10).
(3.) They are said to stand above the mercy-seat, perhaps to show that the angels have not need of those acts of mercy and forgiveness as we have, who stand below, and are sinners. They stand above it; they are holy. I do not say they have no need that the goodness of God should be extended to them, for it is by that they have been and are preserved; but they need not to be forgiven, for they have committed no iniquity.
(4.) They stand there also with wings stretched out, to show how ready, if need be, the angels are to come from heaven to preach this gospel to the world (Luke 2:9-14).
(5.) It is said in this, that thus standing, their wings did reach from wall to wall; from one side of this holy house to the other; to show that all the angels within the boundaries of the heavens, with one consent and one mind, are ready to come down to help and serve, and do for God's elect at his command.
It is said, also, that their wings are stretched on high, to show that they are only delighted in those duties which are enjoined them by the high and lofty One, and not inclined, no not to serve the saints in their sensual or fleshly designs. It may be also to show that they are willing to take their flight from one end of heaven to the other, to serve God and his church for good (Matt 13:41,49, 24:31, 25:31; 2 Thess 1:7,8).
LXX. Of the figures that were upon the walls of the inner Temple.
The wall of the inner temple, which was a type of heaven, was, as I have already told you, ceiled with cedar from the bottom to the top. Now by the vision of Ezekiel, it is said this wall was carved with cherubims and palm trees. 'So that a palm tree was between a cherub and a cherub, and every cherub had two faces; so that the face of a man was toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other. It was made through all the house round about; from the ground unto above the door were cherubims and palm trees made' (Eze 41:18-20).
1. As to these cherubims and palm trees, I have already told you what I think them to be figures of. The cherubims are figures of the holy angels, and the palm trees of upright ones; we therefore here are to discourse only of the placing of them in the heavens.
2. Now you see the palm trees in the holiest are placed between a cherub and a cherub, round about the house, which methinks should be to signify that the saints shall not there live by faith and hope, as here, but in the immediate enjoyment of God; for to be placed between the cherubims, is to be placed where God dwells; for Holy Writ says plainly, He dwells between the cherubims, even where here it is said these palm trees, or upright ones are placed (1 Sam 4:4; 2 Kings 19:15; 1 Chron 13:6; Psa 80:1; Isa 37:16). The church on earth is called God's house, and he will dwell in it for ever; and heaven itself is called God's house, and we shall dwell in it for ever, and that between the cherubims. This is more than grace, this is grace and glory, glory indeed.
3. To dwell between the cherubims may be also to show that there we shall be equal to the angels. Mark, here is a palm tree and a cherub, a palm tree and a cherub. Here we are a little lower, but there we shall not be a whit behind the very chief of them. A palm tree and a cherub, an upright one between the cherubs, will then be round about the house; we shall be placed in the same rank; 'neither can they die any more, for they are equal unto the angels' (Luke 20:36).
4. The palm trees thus placed, may be also to show us that the elect of God shall there take up the vacancies of the fallen angels; they for sin were cast down from the holy heavens, and we by grace shall be caught up thither, and be placed between a cherub and a cherub. When I say their places, I do not mean the fickleness of that state, that they for want of electing love did stand in while in glory; for the heavens, by the blood of Christ, is now to us become a purchased possession; wherefore, as we shall have their place in the heavenly kingdom, so, by virtue of redeeming blood, we shall there abide, and go no more out; for by that means that kingdom will stand to us unshaken (Heb 9:12, 12:22-24,28; Rev 3:12).
5. These palm trees, I say, seem to take their places who for sin were cast from thence. The elect therefore take that place in possession, but a better crown for ever. Thus 'Israel possessed that of the Canaanites'; and David, Saul's kingdom; and Matthias, the place, the apostleship of Judas (Acts 1:20-26).
6. Nor were the habitations which the fallen angels lost, excepting that which was excepted before, at all inferior to theirs that stood; for their captain and prince is called son of the morning, for he was the antitype there (Isa 14:12).
7. Thus, you see, they were placed from the ground up to above the door; that is, from the lowest to the highest angel there. For as there are great saints and small ones in the church on earth, so there are angels of divers degrees in heaven, some greater than some; but the smallest saint, when he gets to heaven, shall have an angel's dignity, an angel's place. From the ground you find a palm tree between a cherub and a cherub.
8. And every cherub had two faces—so here; but I read in Ezekiel 10:14, that they had four faces apiece. The first was the face of a cherubim; the second, the face of a man; the third, the face of a lion; and the fourth, the face of an eagle.
9. They had two faces apiece; not to show that they were of a double heart, for 'their appearances and themselves' were the same, and 'they went every one straight forward' (Eze 10:22). These two faces, then, were to show here the quickness of their apprehension, and their terribleness to execute the mind of God. The face of a man signifies them masters of reason; the face of a lion, the terribleness of their presence (1 Cor 13:12; Judg 13:6).
In another place I read of their wheels; yea, that themselves, 'their whole bodies, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels were full of eyes round about' (Eze 1:18, 10:12). And this is to show us how knowing and quick-sighted they are in all providences and dark dispensations, and how nimble in apprehending the mischievous designs of the enemies of God's church, and so how able they are to undermine them. And forasmuch also as they have the face of a lion, we by that are showed how full of power they are to kill and to destroy, when God says, Go forth and do so. Now, with these we must dwell and cohabit, a palm tree and a cherub; a palm tree and a cherub must be from the ground to above the door, round about the house—the heavens.
'So that the face of a man was toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side.' By these two faces may be also showed that we in the heavens shall have glory sufficient to familiarize us to the angels. Their lion-like looks, with which they used to fright the biggest saint on earth, as you have it, Genesis 32:30; Judges 13:15,22, shall then be accompanied with the familiar looks of a man. Then angels and men shall be fellows, and have to do with each as such.
Thus you see something of that little that I have found in the temple of God.
[Advertisement by Editor footnotes]
[1] Lee's Solomon's Temple portrayed by Scripture Light. Dedication.
[2] Job 5:7, literally translated from the Hebrew.
[3] Lee's Solomon's Temple, p. 173.
[4] Lee's Solomon's Temple, p. 232.
[To the courteous reader footnotes]
[1] Legal terms to define the boundaries of an estate, butted upon a common or high road or river, and bounded by the property of another person.—Ed.
[2] Heaven is a type of sin and grace. Had there been no sin, we should have been limited to an earthly paradise; but sin and the grace of a Saviour's purchase opens heaven to our wondering hearts.—Ed.
[Main Text FOOTNOTES]
[1] One of the types or signs.—Ed
[2] How universal is this feeling among Christians! 'Why was I made to hear thy voice,' while so many more amiable and less guilty 'make a wretched choice?' All are equally encouraged—'Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.'—Ed
[3] 'To oppose the customs of heathens, who made their chief gates towards the west, that these stupid worshippers, drawing nigh to their blind, deaf, and dumb deities, might have their idols, as it were, arising upon them out of the east.'—Lee's Solomon's Temple, p. 242.—Ed.
[4] 'There were two pillars, which some resemble to the two states of the church—Jewish and Christian; others understand magistracy and ministry.'—Lee's Temple, 1659, p. 281.—Ed.
[5] The height of these pillars was thirty-five cubits each, including the base and chapiter. The base, ornamented with lines or net-work, twelve cubits; the column eighteen cubits, and the chapiter five cubits, making the height thirty-five cubits; while the column or pillar, cast by itself, was only eighteen. This reconciles the apparent discrepancy between 1 Kings 7:15 and 2 Chronicles 3:15.—Ed.
[6] Immediately, or by Christ himself.—Ed.
[7] Pummil, or pommel, round like an apple.—Ed.
[8] In all the editions of this book published since the author's death, these words are altered to 'their preaching.'—Ed.
[9] Frowish, or frowzy, fetid, musty. Alas! how many ministers there are who are afflicted with this unsavoury smell.—Ed.
[10] This is a valuable lesson to the ministers and members of churches, to be ever ready to welcome the returning prodigal. The porch is never to be shut against the poor fugitive; and the only proper inquiry as to opening the door of the church, is, 'If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest freely enter.'—Ed.
[11] Wealth and honours, when sanctified, are valuable aids to Christian usefulness; but unutterable woes will fall upon him who attempts to enter heaven with temporal or ecclesiastical pomps vain-gloriously carried upon his shoulders.—Ed.
[12] Every Christian pilgrim, if he journeys aright, must be entirely guided by prayerful personal inquiries at the holy oracles as to his way to heaven. How do sin and Satan strive to mislead him in this essential duty.—Ed.
[13] The simple-minded nature of Bunyan here appears conspicuously. He measures others by his own bushel, as if every pastor had as single an eye to the welfare of their flocks as he had over the Church at Bedford. How tenderly ought the churches of Christ to cherish such pastors as Bunyan, while they prayerfully watch over their ministrations.—Ed.
[14] This is one of those beautiful gems which sparkle all through Bunyan's works, 'As the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!'—Ed.
[15] Ceiled is now only used with reference to the top of a room—the ceiling. It is an old English word, and means overlaid or lined with wood, wainscot, or plank, either roof, sides, or floor.—Ed.
[16] The line means the text. The marginal reading agrees with the puritan version 'overlayed.' Tyndale renders it, 'And he paved the house with precious stones goodly.' Coverdale, 'And overlayed the house with precious stones to beautify it.'—Ed.
[17] A bath was a Hebrew measure containing about seven gallons and a half.—Ed.
[18] The moral law of ten commandments.—Ed.
[19] This is from the Genevan or puritan versions. Our translation has 'on the right side.'—Ed.
[20] The candlesticks mentioned in 2 Chronicles 4:7, Zechariah 4, and Revelation 1, appear to have been of one pattern. A stem, with a bowl bearing a centre and six branches—three on each side. Of these there were ten in the temple. The prophets Zechariah and John, in their holy visions, saw but one, with its seven lamps secretly supplied by living olive trees. These lights 'are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth'; the seven lamps 'are the seven churches.' What a source for reflection is here opened.—Ed.
[21] Oil called golden, from its representing that which is better than thousands of gold and silver. So pure that, in the golden bowl, it would look like liquid gold.—Ed.
[22] A malignant was a term of reproach given to those who, in the civil wars, opposed Divine truth, and promoted popery and arbitrary domination. Clarendon calls it 'a term imposed upon those that the puritans wished to render odious to the people.'—Ed.
[23] A tenth deal is the tenth part of a Hebrew measure, called the ephah, containing about a bushel.—Ed.
[24] Daniel Burgess published a curious sermon, in 1697, on the golden snuffers, showing that they are a type or emblem of spiritual snuffing or reproving; and of pure gold, to show that reprovers should be holy and unblameable. His directions and cautions are valuable, but Bunyan says much more in his few lines than Burgess does in his eighty pages.—Ed.
[25] Great was the fatherly care felt by Bunyan for his own children, especially for his blind Mary; and judging by the lessons he draws from the temple spoons, those feelings extended to his church. It must be a severe trial to a minister's temper, when teased with babes in religion at three score and ten years of age, especially if they are old professors. Thus Bunyan, in addressing the readers of his emblems, says—
'We now have boys with beards, and girls that be
'Huge as old women wanting gravity.'—Ed.
[26] The degraded state of the poor, when the religious houses (so called) distributed food to all comers, was long felt after the suppression of those hot-beds of vice, from the encouragement they gave to idleness, pauperism, and the most vicious habits. Even in Bunyan's days the beggar, carrying a bowl to receive the fruit of their industrious neighbours' toil, was still remembered. At intervals, plague and famine swept away the helpless wretches, to the terror of all classes. How severely is this curse still felt in Ireland.—Ed.
[27] How careful ought churches to be in casting out an offending member, seeing that their sentence should be as 'the judicial judgment of God.' It is not revenge, hatred, malice, or the mere exercise of power, that is to lead to it; it is the good of the individual that is to be pursued and sought. While the church endeavours to remain pure, its aim and object should be mainly to correct and reform the offender, that his spirit may be saved. When discipline is undertaken from any other motive than this; and when it is pursued from private pique, or rivalship, or ambition, or the love of power, it is wrong. The salvation of the offender, and the glory of God, should prompt to all the measures which should be taken in the case. 'Restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted' (Gal 6:1).—Ed.
[28] In Bunyan's 'now-a-days,' it was much debated whether singing ought to be introduced in a mixed assembly. It was contended that a voice and talent for singing does not accompany the new birth; that it might tend to hypocrisy and vanity; and that it was not expressly commanded. The Quakers rejected it, but all other sects adopted that delightful part of public worship. See Keach's Breach Repaired.—Ed.
[29] The olive wood is used, with ivory and mother of pearl, in ornamenting the most sumptuous apartments in oriental palaces. It is exceedingly durable and elegant. 'The choosing olive out of every other kind of wood, for the adorning these sumptuous apartments, shows the elegance and grandeur of the taste in which Solomon's temple was built, where the doors of the oracle, and some other parts, were of olive wood.'—Harmer, Scheuzer, Lady M. W. Montague.—Ed.
[30] As the mercy-seat covered the law deposited in the ark, so Christ covers the transgressions of his people; while Christ sits upon the mercy-seat, the law cannot rise up in judgment against them.—Jennings.
[31] In Bunyan's edition this is called the 'new tabernacle,' a typographical error which is corrected by restoring the true reading.—Ed
***
That part of Palestine in which the celebrated mountains of Lebanon are situated, is the border country adjoining Syria, having Sidon for its seaport, and Land, nearly adjoining the city of Damascus, on the north. This metropolitan city of Syria, and capital of the kingdom of Damascus, was strongly fortified; and during the border conflicts it served as a cover to the Assyrian army. Bunyan, with great reason, supposes that, to keep them in check, Solomon built a tower house and palace, well furnished with munitions of war, called the house in the forest of Lebanon.
As the magnificent temple at Jerusalem was the seat of public worship appointed by God, it was considered typical of the gospel dispensation, which was intended to supersede it. All its parts and utensils, sacrifices and services, have been described, in their typical meaning, in Solomon's Temple Spiritualized; but as the lovely system of the gospel had, with slow and irresistible steps, to conquer the prejudices, passions, and wickedness of mankind, those who bore the brunt of this battle were considered as the church militant in the wilderness: and Bunyan has, in this treatise, endeavoured to show that this palace and fortress was typical of the churches of Christ while in a state of holy warfare, defending their Divine dispensation, and extending the line of defence by progressive spiritual conquests. While the churches are surrounded by enemies, they have inexhaustible internal comfort, strength, and consolation. Like the house in the forest of Lebanon, they are also pleasantly, nay, beautifully situated. If Mount Zion was the joy of the whole earth, the mountains of Damascus were a picture of the earthly paradise. So beautiful is the scenery, and balmy the air, that one part is called Eden, or the garden of the Lord. It is described by Arabian poets as always bearing winter far above upon his head, spring on its shoulders, and autumn in his bosom, while perpetual summer lies sleeping at his feet. It was upon this beautiful spot, called by Isaiah 'the glory of Lebanon,' that Solomon built his house in the forest.
This is the plain matter of fact which Bunyan establishes from the sacred Scriptures, but he was, as to lettered lore, an unlearned man; at all events, no man could say of him that 'much learning has made thee mad.' Bunyan's is the plain common-sense scriptural account of this building; but he differs greatly from almost all our learned commentators—they imagining that this house was near the temple of Jerusalem. The Assembly of Divines, in their valuable annotations, suggest that it was so called 'because great store of trees, as in Lebanon, were planted about it; and gardens, orchards, and all manner of delightful things were added thereto': to aid this conjecture, they quote Ecclesiastes 2:4, 6. Poole says that it was 'a house so called, either, first, because it was built in the mountain and forest of Lebanon, for recreation in summer time; but generally held to have been near Jerusalem; or rather, secondly, from some resemblance it had with Lebanon for its pleasant shades and groves.' Diodati considers it the same with Solomon's palace, but called the house of Lebanon by reason of the groves planted about it; or of the great number of cedar columns brought from Lebanon, and used in its construction. Even Bunyan's favourite translation, made at Geneva by the Puritans, while it gives two wood-cuts of 'The King's house IN the wood of Lebanon,' a marginal note is added—'For the beauty of the place, and great abundance of cedar trees that went to the building thereof, it was compared to Mount Lebanon.' Calmet, in his very valuable translation, accompanied by the Vulgate Latin, gives the same idea: 'Il batit encore le palais appelle la maison du Leban, a cause de la quantite prodigeuse de cedres qui entraient dans la structure de cet edifice.' [Translation: 'Another thing he did was build the palace which was called the house of Lebanon because of the prodigious quantity of cedars used in its construction.'] Bishop Patrick places this house in or near to Jerusalem, 'In a cool, shady mountain, which made it resemble Mount Lebanon.' Dr. Gill was of opinion that this house was near Jerusalem; because it was a magazine of arms, and a court of judicature, and had its name from being built of the cedars of Lebanon, and among groves of trees. Josephus, in his Antiquities of the Jews, book 8, chapter 6, section 5, states that when the Queen of Sheba came to Judea, she was amazed at the wisdom of Solomon, and surprised at the fineness and largeness of his royal palace; 'but she was beyond measure astonished at the house which was called the forest of Lebanon.' Matthew Henry follows the opinion of Bunyan; 'I rather incline to think it was a house built in the forest of Lebanon itself, whither, though far distant from Jerusalem, Solomon having so many chariots and horses, and those dispersed into chariot cities, which probably were his stages, he might frequently retire with ease.' Express notice is taken of Lebanon, as the place of a warlike building, in 2 Kings 19, and in Canticles 7:4.
The tower of Lebanon is described as looking towards Damascus. The ruins of this house and tower, in the forest of Lebanon, are probably those seen by Benjamin of Tudela, who describes the stones of which it was built as twenty palms long, and twelve wide. Gabriel Sionits describes the tower as an hundred cubits high, and fifty broad. Maundrel saw the ruins in the mountains of Lebanon at a distance. The objections made by our commentators to the plain testimony of the Scriptures are, that Solomon would not have built this beautiful house at so great a distance from the capital—that he would not have risked so much treasure nor the munitions of war in a forest—and that he would not, on the extreme border of the kingdom of Judea, have set up a throne, or seat of judgment. The answer to these objections appears to me to be conclusive. Lebanon possessed the most commanding sites for a border fortress, and therefore an admirable depot for arms, to enable the Jewish warriors to keep out their most vigilant and dangerous enemies, the Assyrians. The wealth that was deposited in this house was calculated to excite greater vigilance to protect so important a pass, while it would divert the attention of an enemy from the still more wealthy temple and fortress at Jerusalem. A throne of justice was well placed there, to save a long journey to the capital, for the trial of offenders, and the settlement of disputes on the borders of the empire. It appears to me that common sense and the soundest evidence supports the view which Bunyan took, which was far in advance of the age in which he lived.
The way in which this building, with the purposes for which it was intended, is spiritualized, is very ingenious, and admirably carried through in the following treatise. Whether it was intended by the Holy Ghost to be typical, must be left to the judgment of the impartial reader. That Lebanon is used figuratively by the inspired writers there can be no doubt. 'Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down,' must be intended as a type of the church, when under the malice of her enemies. So also when Babylon, a type of Antichrist, fell, 'the cedars of Lebanon rejoiced'; doubtless referring to the joy of God's saints when relieved from the oppressor. Whether the fine old trees, or the splendid house built as a defence to prevent the approach of enemies to the temple, is intended as a type of the Christian warfare, is left to the impartial consideration of the reader. There is very little reason to doubt but that we shall adopt Bunyan's view; if we consider the temple to be typical, we shall consider the house in the forest of Lebanon to be typical also.
It has been said, by an author of very great repute (Addison), that had Bunyan lived in the times of the Christian fathers, he would have been as great a father as the best of them. He stands unrivalled for most extraordinary mental powers for allegory and for spiritualizing, but to compare him with the best of the fathers is faint praise indeed. He was as much their superior, as the blaze of the noon-day sun excels the glimmer of a rushlight.
In this treatise we find many very admirable illustrations of two important subjects. One is, that temporal governors have nothing to fear from the spread of vital godliness: the other is upon the nature of the strife and antipathy felt by the world against Christ and his spiritual seed. They are sweet-scented; the fragrant smell of their graces excites the enmity of Satan and his followers, who would burn these cedars, because they are pillars of, and angels for, the truth. 'Reason, history, and experience all confirm this truth; that a people, whose profession is directly in opposition to the devil, and antichrist, and to all debauchery, inhumanity, profaneness, superstition, and idolatry,' will be hated, persecuted, and, if possible destroyed by Satan and his adherents. The secret is, that the world cannot bear such 'living epistles, known and read of all men,' which reflect so severely by their conduct upon the vice and profligacy of the worldling. This was a stinging censure upon the profligate court of Charles II, and therefore the Nonconformists were hated and persecuted; while conformity to soul-benumbing rites and ceremonies was cherished and rewarded. To render persecution perfectly unjustifiable, Bunyan scripturally and plainly exhibits the harmlessness of the Christian character bearing with meekness the injuries heaped upon it; followers of him who, when reviled, reviled not again, but suffered patiently. It is a grievous mistake to suppose that vital godliness caused the great rebellion, and consequent beheading of King Charles I. It was frightful and most insupportable tyranny that drove a nation, headed by their parliament, to arms. The King levied severe taxes without the consent of the people's representatives; he perverted justice by the abominable decisions of the King's judges in the court of Star Chamber; and attempted to introduce Popery through the medium of the Queen and her licentious court, composed principally of the worst class of foreign Papists. And when Leighton, Prynne, Bastwick, and some of the most virtuous and enlightened citizens, justly but firmly remonstrated, they were seized and tortured in a way that the heart sickens with the narrative. It was an attempt to reduce the whole nation to the most abject slavery of both body and soul, that roused the spirit of the people to resistance. The solemn league and covenant was taken, Cromwell appeared, and the country was, by Divine aid, saved from utter desolation. It was not a war of religious sects; the Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists, and others, could never have coalesced; it was a war for liberty or despotism, and the principal of the warriors on both sides were attached to the religion that was by law established. It is true that many Episcopalians, in the reign of Charles II, charged the Puritans, not only as being the mainspring, but as possessing the overwhelming force in that awful struggle, forgetting that the Nonconformists were then but a handful of men, neither possessed of wealth nor influence. To attribute victory to so small a band, must refer it to the immediate interposition of the Most High, as in the case of Gideon in his victory over the Assyrians. But it was no sectarian fight, except those two great sects of freemen against despots. Bunyan fully proves that no state has anything to fear from religion: 'She moveth no sedition, she abideth in her place; let her temple-worshippers but alone, and she will be as if she were not in the world'; 'neither she nor her Jesus are for doing them any hurt.' 'God's armour is no burthen to the body, nor clog to the mind, and it being only spiritual, the slaughter must needs be spiritual also.' 'All her privileges are soul concerns, they make no infringement upon any man's liberties. Let but faith and holiness walk the streets without control, and you may be as happy as the world can make you.' 'Let not kings, and princes, and potentates be afraid; the saints that are such indeed, know their places, and are of a peaceable deportment; the earth God hath given to the children of men, and his kingdom to the sons of God.' The Christian is a pilgrim bound to a far more glorious inheritance: with so bright and glorious a prospect, he may well apply the encouraging language of Bunyan to his own soul; 'I have a bad master, but I have only a year to serve under him, and that makes me serve him with patience. I have but a mile to go in this dirty way, and then I shall have my path pleasant and green, and this makes me tread the dirty way with patience.'
This treatise is one of the ten 'excellent manuscripts' which Bunyan had prepared for the press, when his unexpected decease prevented his publishing them. It first appeared in the folio volume of his works, printed under the care of Charles Doe, in 1692. It has since been re-published in every edition of Bunyan's work, but with the omission of the Scripture references, and many errors. It is now accurately corrected by the first edition.
As Solomon built a house for Pharaoh's daughter, and that called the temple of the Lord; so he built a house in Lebanon, called 'the house of the forest of Lebanon' (1 Kings 7:2).
Some, I perceive, have thought that this house, called 'the house of the forest of Lebanon,' was none other than that called the temple at Jerusalem, and that that was called 'The house of the forest of Lebanon,' because built of the wood that grew there. But that Solomon built another than that, even one in Lebanon, called 'the house of the forest of Lebanon,' is evident, and that from these reasons:—
First, That in the forest of Lebanon is mentioned as another, besides that called the temple of the Lord; and that too when the temple and its finishing is spoken of; yea, it is mentioned with an 'also,' as an additional house, besides the temple of the Lord.
'In the fourth year,' saith the text, 'was the foundation of the house of the Lord laid in the month Zif;[1] and in the eleventh year in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof, and according to all the fashion of it; so he was seven years in building it.' 'But Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house. He built also the house of the forest of Lebanon,' &c. (1 Kings 6:37,38; 7:1,2).
Can there now be any thing more plain? Is not here the house of the forest of Lebanon mentioned as another besides the temple? he built the temple, he built his own house, he built also the house of the forest of Lebanon.
Second. It is evident by the difference of their measures and dimensions. The length of the temple was threescore cubits; but the length of the house of the forest of Lebanon was an hundred cubits; so that the house of the forest of Lebanon was forty cubits more than was that called Solomon's temple: The breadth of Solomon's temple was twenty cubits, but the breadth of the house of the forest of Lebanon was fifty cubits: And as there is odds between threescore and fivescore, so there is also between twenty and fifty.
As to their height, they were both alike; but equality in height can no more make them the same, than can a twenty years' age in two, make them one and the same person.
Their porches also differed greatly; the porch of the temple was in length but twenty cubits, but the length of that of the house of the forest of Lebanon was fifty cubits. So that here also is thirty odds.[2] The porch of the temple was but ten cubits broad; but the porch of the house of the forest of Lebanon thirty cubits. Now, I say, who that considereth these disproportions, can conclude that the house of the forest of Lebanon was none other than that called the temple of Jerusalem. For all this compare 1 Kings 6:2, 3 with 7:2, 6.
Third. If you add to these the different makes of the houses, it will sufficiently appear that they were not one. The house of the forest of Lebanon was built upon four rows of cedar pillars; but we read of no such pillars upon which the temple stood. The windows of the house of the forest of Lebanon stood in three rows, light against light; but we read of no such thing in the temple. The temple had two pillars before the door of its porch, but we read not of them before the door of the porch of the house of the forest of Lebanon. In the sixth and seventh chapters of the first book of Kings, these two houses, as to their make, are exactly set forth; so that he that listeth may search and see, if as to this I have not said the truth.
That the house of the forest of Lebanon was a house significant, I think is clear; also, if it had not, we should not have had so particular an account thereof in the holy Word of God: I read but of four buildings wherein, in a particular manner, the houses or fabrics are, as to their manner of building, distinctly handled. The tabernacle is one, the temple another; the porch which he built for his throne, his throne for judgment; and this house of the forest of Lebanon is the fourth. Now the three first, to wit, the tabernacle, the temple, the porch and throne, wise men will say are typical; and therefore so is this.
[First.] I will therefore take it for granted that the house of the forest of Lebanon is a significative thing, yea, a figure of the church, as the temple at Jerusalem was, though not under the same consideration. The temple was a figure of the church under the gospel, as she relateth to worship; but the house of the forest of Lebanon was a figure of that church as she is assaulted for her worship, as she is persecuted for the same. Or take it more expressly thus: I take this house of the forest of Lebanon to be a type of the church in the wilderness, or as she is in her sackcloth state.
We read, before this house was built, that there was a church in the wilderness; and also, after this house was demolished, that there would be a church in the wilderness (Acts 7:38; Rev 12:14). But we now respect that wilderness state that the church of the New Testament is in, and conclude that this house of the forest of Lebanon was a type and figure of that; that is, of her wilderness state. And, methinks, the very place where this house was built does intimate such a thing; for this house was not built in a town, a city, &c., as was that called the temple of the Lord, but was built in a kind of a wood, a wilderness; it was built in the forest of Lebanon, unto which that saying seems directly to answer. 'And to the woman,' the church, 'were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness into her place' (Rev 12:14). A wilderness state is a desolate, a tempted, an afflicted, a persecuted state (Jer 2:6). All which is more than intimated by the witnesses wearing of, and prophesying in sackcloth, and also expressed of by that Revelation 12.
Answerable to this is that of the prophet concerning this house of the forest of Lebanon, where he says, 'Open thy doors, O Lebanon! that the fire may devour thy cedars.' And again, 'Howl, fir-tree; for the cedar is fallen' (Zech 11:1,2). What can be more express? The prophet here knocks at the very door of the house of the forest of Lebanon, and tells her that her cedars are designed for fire; unto which also most plainly answer the flames to which so many of the cedars of Lebanon,[3] God's saints, I mean, for many hundred years, have been delivered for their profession; and by which, as another prophet has it, for many days they have fallen (Dan 11:33). Also when the king of Assyria came up with his army against Jerusalem, this was his vaunting, 'I am come—to the sides of Lebanon, and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof' (Isa 37:24).
What was this king of Assyria but a type of the beast made mention of in the New Testament? Now, saith he, I will cut down the cedars of Lebanon; who are, in our gospel times, the tall ones of the church of God. And I say again, in that he particularly mentions Lebanon, he intends that house which Solomon built there, the which was built as a fortification to defend the religion of the temple, as the saints now in the wilderness of the people are set for the defence of the gospel. But more of this anon.
This house therefore was built to make assaults, and to be assaulted, as the church in the wilderness is; and hence the state of this house is compared to the condition of a woman in travail, struggling with her pains, as also we find the state of the church in the wilderness is—'O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!' (Jer 22:23). And again, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament,' and have sorrow, as a woman in travail (John 16:20-22). Much answering her case who, in her travails, and while 'pained to be delivered,' was said even in this case to stand before the dragon, who with open mouth sought to destroy her fruit, so 'soon as it was born' (Rev 12:1-6).
Hence, again, when Christ calls his spouse out to suffer, he calls or draws her out of his house in Lebanon, to look 'from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards,' to the things that are invisible; even as Paul said when he was in affliction, 'We look not at the things which are seen' (Cant 4:8; 2 Cor 4:18). He draws them out thence, I say, as sheep appointed for the slaughter; yea, he goeth before them, and they follow him thither.
Also, when the prophet foretells the affliction of the church, he expresses it by the fall of the cedars of Lebanon, saying, The Lord shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron; a little afore called the axe and saw. And Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one (Isa 10:15,34). And again, 'The earth mourneth and languisheth: Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down' (Isa 33:9).
Do we think that the prophet prophesieth here against trees, against the natural cedars of Lebanon? No, no, it is a prophecy touching the afflicted state of the church in the wilderness, of which Lebanon, I mean this house of the forest of Lebanon, was a figure.
When God also threateneth the enemies of his church in the wilderness with his judgments, for their cruel dealing with her in the day of her desertion, he calls those judgments the violence of Lebanon. That is, by way of comparison, such as the violence done to Lebanon was. 'The violence of Lebanon shall cover thee; and the spoil of beasts which made them [Lebanon] afraid, because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein' (Habb 2:17). This is like that, 'Reward her, even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works' (Rev 18:6). This the church doth by her prayers. 'The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say' (Jer 51:35). And then shall be fulfilled that which is written, Look what they did unto Lebanon shall be done unto them (Oba 15; Eze 35:14,15).
God has his time to return the evil that the enemies do to his church, and he will do it when his time is come upon their own head; and this return is called the covering of them with the violence of Lebanon, or that violence showed to her in the day of her distress. It is yet further evident that this house of the forest of Lebanon was a type of the church in the wilderness:—
1. For that she is called a tower, or place of fortification and defence; the same term that is given to the church in a captivated state (Can 7:4; Micah 4:8-10). For as the church in the wilderness is compared to a woman in travail, to show her fruitfulness to God-ward in her most afflicted condition; so she is called a tower, to show her fortitude and courage, for God and his truth, against antichrist. I say therefore, unto both these is she compared in that scripture last cited, the which you may peruse if you please. A tower is a place of receipt for the afflicted, and so is the church under the rage of antichrist; yea, and though it is the only place designed by the enemy for ruin and destruction, yet it is the only place of safety in the world.[4]
2. This tower, this house of the forest of Lebanon, it seems to be so built as to confront Damascus, the chief city of the king of Assyria; and in so doing it was a most excellent type of the spirit and design of the church in the wilderness, who is raised up, and built to confront antichrist. Hence Christ calls some of the features of his church, and compares them to this. 'Thy neck,' says he 'is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fish-pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim; thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus' (Cant 7:4).
Thy nose, that great ornament of thy lovely countenance, is as a tower looking that way; so set, as Christ says of his, as a flint. And this is a comely feature in the church, that her nose stands like a tower, or as he says in another place, like a fenced brazen wall against Damascus, the metropolitan of her enemy: 'for the head of Syria is Damascus' (Isa 7:8).
And as Christ thus compares his church, so she again returns, or compares the face of her Lord to the same, saying, 'His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars' (Can 5:15). Thus in Lebanon, in this brave house, is found the excellency of the church, and the beauty of Christ, for that they are both as a rock, with glory and majesty, bended against the enemies of the truth. 'The face of the Lord is against them that do evil.' Pillars his legs are here compared to, and pillars were they that upheld this house, this tower, which thus bravely was built with its face confronting the enemy's country.
Second. That this house of the forest of Lebanon was a type of the church in affliction, yet further appears, for that at the fall of Babylon her cedars are said to rejoice in special. 'The fir-trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us' (Isa 14:8). This is at the destruction of Babylon, the type of that called antichrist.
But why should Lebanon, the cedars in Lebanon, in an especial manner here, be said to rejoice at his downfall: doubtless to show that as the enemy made his inroad upon Jerusalem; so in a particular manner Lebanon, and the house there, were made to smoke for it (Isa 37:24; Jer 22:23; Zech 11:1). This answereth to that, 'Rejoice over her thou heaven; and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged you of her.' Hence again, when he speaks of giving glory to his afflicted church, for all the sorrow which she hath sustained in her bearing witness for the truth against antichrist, he calls it the glory of Lebanon. That is, as I take it, the glory that belongs to her, for the afflictions which she underwent for his name. 'The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it' (Isa 35:2). And again, 'The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee' (Isa 60:13). These are promises to the church for her suffering of affliction, and they are made unto her as she bears the name of Lebanon, who or which was her type in those havocs made in it, when the enemy, as I said, assaulted the church of old.
Thus by these few lines I have showed you that there was a similitude betwixt this house in the forest of Lebanon, and our gospel church in the wilderness. Nor need we stumble because this word house is not subjoined in every particular place, where this sorrow or joy of Lebanon is made mention of; for it is an usual thing with the Holy Ghost, when he directs his speech to a man, to speak as if he spake to a tree; and when he directs his voice to a king, to speak as if he intended the kingdom; so when he speaks of the house, to speak as to the forest of Lebanon. Instances many might be given.
The house of the forest of Lebanon was forty cubits longer than was the temple at Jerusalem, to show that the church in the wilderness would increase more, and be far larger than she that had peace and prosperity. And as it was forty cubits longer, so it was thirty cubits wider, still showing that every way she would abound. Hence they that came out of great tribulation, when compared with others, are said to be a numberless number, or a multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues. 'These,' saith one, 'are they which came out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; therefore are they before the throne of God' (Rev 7:14,15).
The church, as it respected temple-worship, was confined to the land of Canaan; but our New Testament persecuted one is scattered among the nations, as a flock of sheep are scattered in a wood or wilderness. Hence they are said to be in 'the wilderness of the people,' fitly answering to this house of the forest of Lebanon (Eze 20:35-37).
But though the house exceeded in length and breadth the temple of Jerusalem, yet as to their height they were the same, to show that what acts that in the wilderness doth, above what they have been capable to do, that have not been in that condition; yet the nature of their grace is the same (Rom 15:27; 1 Peter 1:1).
But, I say, as for length and breadth, the church in the wilderness exceeds more than the house of the forest of Lebanon did that of the temple at Jerusalem, as it is written; 'More are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord.' And again: 'Thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited' (Isa 54:1-3). This is spoken of the church in the wilderness, that was made up chiefly of the Gentiles, of which the house of the forest of Lebanon was a figure; and how she at last shall recover herself from the yoke and tyranny of antichrist. And then she shall shoulder it with her adversary, saying, 'Give place to me, that I may dwell' (Isa 49:20).
And I will add, it was not only thus magnificent for length and breadth, but for terror; it was compacted after the manner of a castle, or stronghold, as was said before. It was a tower built for an armoury, for Solomon put there his two hundred targets and three hundred shields of gold (2 Chron 9:15,16). This place therefore was a terror to the heathen, on that side of the church especially, because she stood with her nose so formidable against Damascus: no marvel therefore if the implacable cried out against them, Help, 'men of Israel, help!' And, 'Will ye rebel against the king?' (Acts 21:28; Neh 2:19).
For it is the terror, or majesty and fortitude, which God has put upon the church in the wilderness, that makes the Gentiles so bestir them to have her under foot. Besides, they misapprehend concerning her, as if she was for destroying kings, for subverting kingdoms, and for bringing all to desolation, and so they set themselves against her, 'crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also; whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus' (Acts 17:5-7). Indeed, the very name of Jesus is the very tower of the Christian church, and that by which she frights the world, but not designedly, but through their misunderstanding; for neither she, nor her Jesus, is for doing them any hurt; however, this is that which renders her yet in their eye 'terrible as an army with banners' (Cant 6:10). How then could she escape persecution for a time, for it was the policy of Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:26-28). And it is yet the policy of the nations to secure themselves against this their imagined danger, and therefore to use all means, as Pharaoh did, to keep this people low enough, saying, 'Come on, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass that when there falleth out any war, they join also to our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land' (Exo 1:10).
But could the house of Lebanon, though a fortified place, assault Damascus? Could it remove from the place on which God had set it? It only was a place of defence for Judah, or for the worship of the temple. And had the adversary let the temple-worship and worshippers alone, the shields and targets in the house of the forest of Lebanon had not been uncovered, had not been made bare against them. The same may now be said of the church in the wilderness, she moveth no sedition, she abideth in her place; let her temple-worshippers but alone, and she will be as if she were not in the world; but if you afflict her, 'Fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies; and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed' (Rev 11:5). And so die by the sword of the Spirit. But because the weapons of the church, though none of them are carnal, be so talked of in the world, the blind are yet more afraid of her than they in this manner are like to be hurt by her, and therefore they of old have peeled,[5] and polled, and endeavoured to spoil her all along, sending their servants, and saying to their bailiffs and sheriffs, 'Go—to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning,—a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!' (Isa 18:2). But this people shall prevail, though not by worldly force; her God will deliver her. And then, or at 'that time, shall the present be brought to the Lord of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the Mount Zion' (Isa 18:7).
Now thus did the house of the forest of Lebanon provoke; it was built defensively, it had a tower, it had armour; its tower confronted the enemy's land. No marvel then, if the king of Assyria so threatened to lay his army on the sides of Lebanon and to cut down the tall cedars thereof (Isa 37:24).
The largeness, therefore, and prowess of the church, by reason of her inherent fortitude and the valorous acts that she hath done by suffering, by prayer, by faith, and a constant enduring of hardship for the truth, doth force into the world a belief, through their own guilt and clamours of conscience against them for their debaucheries, that this house of the forest of Lebanon will destroy them all when she shall be delivered from her servitude. 'Come now, therefore,' saith Balak to Balaam, and 'curse me this people,' if peradventure I may overcome them: when he might have let them pass peaceably by, and they would not have lifted up a finger against him. Wherefore, from all these things it appears that the house of the forest of Lebanon was a type of the church in the wilderness.
The foundation of the house of the forest of Lebanon was of the same great stones which were laid in the foundation of the temple of the Lord (1 Kings 7:2-11). And this shows that the church in the wilderness has the same foundation and support as had the temple that was at Jerusalem, though in a state of sackcloth, tears, and affliction, the lot of the church in the wilderness; for she, while there, is to howl (Zech 11:2). Now since the foundation is the same, what is it but to show also that she, though in an afflicted condition, shall certainly stand; 'The gates of hell shall not prevail against it' (Matt 16:18). Her confronting idolatrous nations is therefore a sign of her troubles, not any prediction of a fall. Her rock is steadfast, not like the rock of her adversaries, the enemy being judges (Deut 32:31).
But that which in special I take notice of is, that I find, in a manner, in this house of the forest of Lebanon, nothing but pillars, and beams, great timber, and thick beams, and of those was the house builded; pillars to hold up, and thick beams to couple together, and thus was the house finished. I read not here of any garnishing, either of the pillars, beams, doors, posts, walls, or any part of the house; all was plain, without garnish, fitly representing the state of the church in the wilderness, which was clothed with sackcloth, covered with ashes, wearing her mourning weeds, with her tears upon her cheeks, and a yoke or band about her neck (Isa 52:1,2, 61:3).
By this kind of description we may also note with what kind of members this house, this church is furnished. Here, as I said, that is, in the house of the forest of Lebanon, you find pillars, pillars, so in the church in the wilderness. O the mighty ones of which this church was compacted! they were all pillars, strong, bearing up the house against wind and weather; nothing but fire and sword could dissolve them. As therefore this house was made up of great timber, so this church in the wilderness was made up of giants in grace. These men had the faces of lions; no prince, no king, no threat, no terror, no torment, could make them yield; they loved not their lives unto the death. They have laughed their enemies in the face, they have triumphed in the flames.
They were pillars, they were pillars of cedar: the cedar is the highest tree in the world;[6] wherefore in that this house was made of cedar, it may be to denote that in the church in the wilderness, however contemned by men, was the highest perfection of goodness, as of faith, love, prayer, holy conversation, and affection for God and his truth. For indeed none ever showed the like, none ever showed higher cedars than those that were in Lebanon. None ever showed higher saints than were they in the church in the wilderness. Others talked, these have suffered; others have said, these have done; these have voluntarily taken their lives in their hands, for they loved them not to the death; and have fairly, and in cool blood, laid them down before the world, God, angels, and men, for the confirming of the truth which they have professed (Acts 15:26; Rev 12:11). These are pillars, these are strong ones indeed. It is meet, therefore, that the church in the wilderness, since she was to resemble the house of the forest of Lebanon, should be furnished with these mighty ones.
Cedars! the same that the holiest of all in the temple was covered within, and that house was a figure of heaven, to show that the church of God in the wilderness, how base and low soever in the judgment of the world, is yet the only heaven that God hath among the children of men. Here are many nations, many kingdoms, many countries, and many cities, but the church in the wilderness was but one, and she was the heaven that God has here; hence she is called, 'Thou heaven. Rejoice over her thou heaven' (Rev 18:20). And again, when the combustion for religion is in the church in the wilderness it is said to be in heaven—'And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought, and his angels' (Rev 12:7).
The church therefore loseth not all her titles of honour, no, not when at the lowest, she is God's heaven still; though she may not be called now a crown of glory, yet she is still God's lily amongst thorns; though she may not be called the church of Jerusalem, yet she may the church in the wilderness; and though she may not be called Solomon's temple, yet she may the house of the forest of Lebanon. Cedars! cedars are tall and sweet, and so are the members of the church in the wilderness. O their smell, their scent, it hath been 'as the wine of Lebanon' (Hosea 14:5-7). They that have gone before have left this smell still in the nostrils of their survivors, as that both fragrant and precious.
This house of the forest of Lebanon was builded 'upon four rows of cedar pillars' (1 Kings 7:2). These four rows were the bottom pillars, those upon which the whole weight of the house did bear. The Holy Ghost saith here four rows, but says not how many were in a row. But we will suppose them to allude to the twelve apostles, or to the apostles and prophets, upon whose foundation the church in the wilderness is said to be built (Eph 2:20). And if so, then it shows that as the house of the forest of Lebanon stood upon these four rows of pillars, as the names of the twelve tribes stood in four rows of precious stones upon Aaron's breastplate when he went into the holiest, so this house, or church in the wilderness, stands upon the doctrine of the apostles and prophets (Exo 28:17, 29:10). But because it only saith it stood upon four rows, not specifying any number, therefore as to this we may say nothing certain, yet I think such a conjecture hath some show of truth in it, however, I will leave it to wiser judgments.
'And it was covered with cedar above, upon the beams that lay on forty-five pillars, fifteen in a row' (1 Kings 7:3). These pillars, as the others, are such upon which the house did also bear; this is clear, because the beams that lay upon the four rows of pillars afore-mentioned lay also upon these forty-five.
It seems, therefore, that these four rows of pillars were they that were the more outside ones; that is, two rows on this side of the house and two rows also on that; and that those forty-five pillars, fifteen in a row, stood in three rows more inward, and so did bear up with the other the beams that were laid upon them, much like to those inner pillars that usually stand in our parish churches. If so, then the first four rows did seem to be a guard to these, for that, as they stood more to the outsides of the house, so more to the weather, and nearer to the first approach of the enemy.
And this may show that the apostles in their doctrine are not only a foundation to the forty-five pillars, but a protection and defence; I say a protection and defence to all the pillars that ever were besides in the church in the wilderness. And it is to be considered that the four rows are mentioned as placed first, and so were those upon which the thick beams that first were for coupling of the house were laid; the which most fitly teacheth that the office and graces of the apostles were first in the church in the wilderness, according to 1 Corinthians 12:18.
These forty-five pillars standing in the midst, by the others, may also be to show that in the time of the trouble of the church in her wilderness state, there will be those that will stand by and maintain her apostolical doctrine, though for so doing they bear the burthen of the whole. But I read of no chambers for ease or rest in this house, here is no room for chambering. They that were for being members in the church in the wilderness, must not look for rest until their Lord shall come (Rom 13:13,14; 2 Thess 1:5-9).
Here therefore was but hard lodging; the house of the forest of Lebanon was not made for tender skins and for those that cannot lie out of down beds, but for those that were war-like men, and that were willing to endure hardness for that religion that God had set up in his temple, and is fitly answered by that of the apostle: 'Thou, therefore,' my son, 'endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier' (2 Tim 2:3,4). Forty-five pillars! It was forty-five years that the church was of old in a bewildered and warlike condition before she enjoyed her rest in Canaan (Josh 14:10). Now, as there were forty-five years of trouble, so here are forty-five pillars for support, perhaps to intimate that God will have in his church in the wilderness a sufficient succession of faithful men that, like pillars, shall bear up the truth above water all the time of Antichrist's reign and rage.
The thick beams that lay over-thwart to couple this house of the forest of Lebanon together, did bear upon these forty-five pillars, to show that, by the burden-bearers that have and shall be in the church of God in the wilderness, the unity of that house is through the Spirit maintained. And indeed, had it not been for these pillars, the sufferers, these burden-bearers in the church, our house in the forest of Lebanon, or, more properly, our church in the wilderness, had before this been but in a poor condition. Thus therefore this church, which in her time is the pillar and ground of truth in the world, has been made to stand and abide it. 'When the blast of the terrible ones has been as a storm against the wall' (Isa 25:4; 1 Tim 3:15). 'Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say: many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me' (Psa 129:1,2).
Thus you see how the house of the forest of Lebanon was a type of the church in the wilderness; and you see also by this the reason why the house of the forest of Lebanon had its inward glory lying more in great pillars and thick beams than in other ornaments. And indeed, here had need be pillars and pillars and beams and beams too, since it was designed for assaults to be made upon it, since it was set for a butt for the marksman, and to be an object for furious heathens to spend their rage against its walls.
The glory therefore of the temple lay in one thing, and the glory of this house lay in another: the glory of the temple lay in that she contained the true form and modes of worship, and the glory of the house of the forest of Lebanon lay in her many pillars and thick beams, by which she was made capable, through good management, to give check to those of Damascus when they should attempt to throw down that worship.
And as I said before, these pillars were sweet-scented pillars, for that they were made of cedar; but what cared the enemy for that, they were offensive to him, for that they were placed as a fortification against him. Nor is it any allurement to Satan to favour the mighty ones in the church in the wilderness for the fragrant smell of their sweet graces, nay, both he and his angels are the more bent to oppose them because they are so sweet-scented. The cedars therefore got nothing because they were cedars at the hands of the barbarous Gentiles—for they would burn the cedars—as the angels or pillars get nothing of favour at the hands of Antichrist because they are pillars of and angels for the truth, yea, they so much the more by her are abhorred. Well, but they are pillars for all that, yea, pillars to the church in the wilderness, as the others were in the house of the forest of Lebanon, and pillars they will abide there, dead and alive, when the enemy has done what he can.
The pillars were set in three rows, for so are forty-five when they are set fifteen in a row. And they were set in three rows to bear. This manner also of their standing thus was also doubtless significant. But again, they, these pillars, may be set, or placed thus in three rows in the house of the forest of Lebanon, to show that the three offices of Christ are the great things that the church in the wilderness must bear up before the world.
The three offices of Christ, they are his priestly, his prophetical, and his kingly offices. These are those in which God's glory and the church's salvation are most immediately concerned, and they that have been most opposed by the devil and his angels. All heresies, errors, and delusions with which Christ's church has been assaulted in all ages, have bent themselves against some one or all of these (Rev 16:13,16). Christ is a priest to save, a prophet to teach, and a king to rule his church (Isa 33:22). But this Antichrist cannot bear, therefore he attempts to get up into the throne himself, and to act as if he were one above all that is called God, or that is worshipped (2 Thess 2:3,4; Rev 19:19-21). But behold! here are pillars in three rows, mighty pillars to bear up Christ in these his offices before the world and against all falsehood and deceit.
Fifteen in a row, I can say no further than I can see; what the number of fifteen should signify I know not, God is wiser than man; but yet methinks their standing thus should signify a reserve; as suppose the first three that the enemy comes at should be destroyed by their hands, there are three times fourteen behind; suppose again that they should serve the next three so, yet there is a reserve behind. When that fine one, Jezebel, had done what she could against the afflicted church in her time, yet there was left a reserve, a reserve of seven thousand that were true worshippers of God (1 Kings 19:18; Rom 11:4).
Always when Antichrist made his inroads upon the church in the wilderness, to slay, to cut off, and to kill, yet some of the pillars stood, they were not all burnt in the fire, nor cut down. They said indeed, 'Come and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance' (Psa 83:4). But what then? there is a difference betwixt saying and doing; the bush was not therefore consumed because it was set on fire; the church shall not be consumed although she be afflicted (Exo 3:3). And this reason is, because God has still his fifteens; therefore if Abel falls by the hand of Cain, Seth is put in his place (Gen 4:25). If Moses is taken away, Joshua shall succeed him (Josh 1:2,3). And if the devil break the neck of Judas, Matthias is at hand to take his office (Acts 1:16-26). God has, I say, a succession of pillars in his house; he has to himself a reserve.
Yet again, methinks that there should be forty-five pillars, and besides them four rows of pillars, and all this to bear up an invisible burden, for we read of nothing upon the pillars but the heavens and roof. It should be to show that it is impossible that a carnal heart should conceive of the weight that truth lays upon the conscience of a believer. They see, nothing, alas, nothing at all, but a beam, a truth, and, say they, are you such fools to stand groaning to bear up that, or what is contained therein? They, I say, see not the weight, the glory, the weight of glory that is in a truth of God, and therefore they laugh at them that will count it worth the while to endure so much to support it from falling to the ground.[7] Great pillars and beams, great saints and great truths, are in the church of God in the wilderness; and the beams lie upon the pillars, or the truth upon the saints.
The tabernacle and ark formerly were to be borne upon men's shoulders, even as these great beams are borne up by these pillars. And as this tabernacle and ark were to be carried hither and thither, according to the appointment of God, so were these beams to be by these pillars borne up, that therewith the house might be girt together, kept uniform, and made to stand fast, notwithstanding the wind and storm.
The house of the forest of Lebanon had many windows in it; 'And there were windows in three rows, and light was against light in three ranks' (1 Kings 7:4). Windows are to let the light in at, and the eye out at, to objects at a distance from the house, and from those that are therein.
The windows here are figures of the Word of God, by which light the light of life is let into the heart; through that, the glass of these windows, the beams of the Sun of righteousness shine into the church. Hence the word is compared to glass, through which the glorious face of Christ is seen (2 Cor 3:18). This, therefore, this house of the forest of Lebanon had; it had windows, a figure of that Word of God, through, and by which, the church in the wilderness sees the mind of God, and so what while there she ought to believe, do, and leave undone in the world.
This house had plenty of windows—three rows of windows on both sides the house. In three rows; by these windows in three rows perhaps was prefigured how into the church in the wilderness was to shine the doctrine of the Trinity: yea, to signify that she was to be possessed with that in her most low state, and when under her greatest clouds. The doctrine of the Trinity! that is the substance, that is the ground and fundamental of all (1 John 2:22,23, 4:2-4; 2 John 9,10). For by this doctrine, and by this only, the man is made a Christian; and he that has not this doctrine, his profession is not worth a button. You must know that sometimes the church in the wilderness has but little light, but the diminution of her light is not then so much in or as to substantials, as it is as to circumstantial things; she has then the substantials with her, in her darkest day, even windows in three rows.
The doctrine of the Trinity! You may ask me what that is? I answer. It is that doctrine that showeth us the love of God the Father, in giving of his Son: the love of God the Son, in giving of himself; and the love of the Lord the Spirit, in his work of regenerating of us, that we may be made able to lay hold of the love of the Father by his Son, and so enjoy eternal life by grace. This doctrine was always let in at these windows into the church in the wilderness, for to make her sound in faith, and hearty in obedience; as also meek and patient in temptation and tribulation. And as to the substance of Christianity, this doctrine is sufficient for any people, because it teaches faith, and produceth a good moral life. These therefore, if these doctrines shine upon us, through these windows of heaven, so as that we see them, and receive them, they make us fit to glorify God here, and meet to be glorified of, and with him hereafter. These lights, therefore, cause that the inhabitants of this church in the wilderness see their way through the dark pitch night of this world. For as the house of the forest of Lebanon, this church of God in the wilderness had always her lights, or windows in these three rows, to guide, to solace, and comfort her.
This house therefore, is thus discriminated and distinguished from all other houses in the world; no house, that we read of in the Bible, was thus adorned with light, or had windows in three rows, but this; and answerable hereunto, no congregation or church, but the true church of God, has the true antitype thereof. Light! windows! A sufficiency of windows was of great use to a people that dwelt in a forest, or wood, as the inhabitants of the house of the forest of Lebanon did. But how solitary had this house been, had it had no light at all! To be in a wood, and that without windows, is one of the worst of conditions. This also is the relief that the church in the wilderness had; true, she was in a wood, but had light, called in another place God's rod, or his Word, which giveth instruction. 'Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitary in the wood,' &c. (Micah 7:14).
To be, as was said, in a wood, and without light too, is a condition very desolate: the Egyptians found it so, for all they were in their houses (Exo 10:21,23). But how much more then is that people's case to be lamented that are under persecution, but have not light in three rows to guide them. But this is not the state of the church in the wilderness; she has her windows in three rows, to wit, the light of the face of the Father, the light of the face of the Son, and the light of the face of the Holy Ghost; all shining through the windows or glass of the Word, to her comfort and consolation, though now in the forest of Lebanon.
'And light was against light in three ranks.' This is an additional account of the windows that were in the house of the forest of Lebanon. Before he said she had windows in three rows, but now he adds that there was light against light, light opposite to light, and that also in three ranks. In that he saith they were in ranks, he either means in order, or insinuates a military posture, for in both these ways is this word taken (Num 2:16,24; 1 Chron 12:33,38; Mark 6:40). Nor need any smile because I say the lights were set in a military posture; we read of potsherds striving with potsherds; and why may it not as well be said, 'light was against light' (Isa 45:9).
But we will pursue our design. Here is opposition insinuated; in the margin it is 'sight against sight'; wherefore the lights thus placed in the house of the forest of Lebanon give me another encouragement, to think that this house was a type of the church in the wilderness, and that she is the seat of spiritual war also (Rev 12:7). For as this house of the forest of Lebanon was that which was the object of the rage of the king of Assyria, because it stood in his way to hinder his ruining Jerusalem; so the spirit and faithfulness of the church of God in the wilderness stands in the way, and hinders Antichrist's bringing of the truth to the ground.
And as the enemy brake into Lebanon, and did set fire to her cedars, so the boar, the Antichrist, the dragon, and his angels, got into the church in the wilderness (Psa 80:13; 2 Thess 2:4; Rev 12:7). This being so, here must needs be war; and since the war is not carnal but spiritual, it must be made by way of controversy, contention, disputation, argument, reasonings, &c. which were the effect of opposite apprehensions, fitly set out in this house of the forest of Lebanon, for that there was 'light against light,' 'sight against sight,' in three ranks. Wherefore in that he saith 'light was against light in three ranks,' he suggesteth, to the life, how it would be in the church in the wilderness. And suppose they were the truly godly that made the first assault, can they be blamed? For who can endure a boar in a vineyard; a man of sin in a holy temple; or a dragon in heaven? What then if the church made the first assault? Who bid the boar come there? What had he to do in God's house? The church, as the house of the forest of Lebanon, would have been content with its own station; and bread and water will serve a man, that may with peace enjoy his delights in other things. But when privilege, property, life, delight, heaven, and salvation, comes to be intruded, no marvel if the woman, though but a woman, cries out, and set her light against them; had she seen the thief, and said nothing, she had been far worse.
I told you before that by the windows is meant the Word, which is compared to glass (1 Cor 13:12; 2 Cor 3:18; James 1:23-25). What, then, is the Word against the Word? No, verily, it is therefore not the Word, but opposite apprehensions thereabout, that the Holy Ghost now intends; for he saith not that window was against window, respecting the true sense of the Word, but light was against light, respecting the divers notions and apprehensions that men of opposite spirits would have about the Word. Nor are we to take this word light, especially in the antitype, in a proper but in a metaphorical sense, that is, with respect to the judgment of both parties. Here is the true church, and she has the true light; here also is the boar, the man of sin, and the dragon; and they see by their way, and yet, as I said, all by the self-same windows. They that are the church do, in God's light, see light; but they that are not, do in their own way see. And let a man, and a beast, look out at the same window, the same door, the same casement, yet the one will see like a man, and the other but like a beast. No marvel then, though they have the same windows, that 'light is against light,' and sight against sight in this house. For there are that known nothing but what they know naturally as brutes (Psa 92:6; Jer 10:8,14,21; Jude 10).
No marvel then if there is here a disagreement; the beast can but see as a beast, but the church is resolved not to be guided by the eye of a beast, though he pretends to have his light by that very window by which the church has hers. The beast is moon-eyed, and puts darkness for light, yea, and hates the light that is so indeed;[8] but the saints will not hear him, for they know the voice of their Lord (Isa 5:20; John 3:20). How then can it be but that light should be against light in this house, and that in a military posture? And how can it be but that here 'every battle of the warrior' should be 'with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood' (Isa 9:5).
And in that he saith, 'light was against light in three ranks,' it shows their preparations one against another; also that they on both sides are resolved to stand by their way. The church is confident, the man of sin is confident; they both have the same windows to see by, and so they manage their matters; yet not so simply by the windows, as by their divers judgments they make of that which shineth in at them. Each one therefore hath the true and false profession, will be confident of his own way; he that was right, knew he was right; and he that was wrong, thought he was right, and so the battle began. 'There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death' (Prov 14:12).
Nor is it in man to help it; there has been reasoning, there has been disputing, there has blood also been spilt on both sides, through the confidence that each had of the goodness of his own way; but no reconciliation is made, the enmity is set here of God; iron and clay cannot mix (Gen 3:15; Dan 2:42,43). God will have things go on thus in the world, till his words shall be fulfilled: 'The deceived, and the deceiver, are his' (Job 12:16). Things therefore must have their course in the church in the wilderness, till the mystery of God shall be fulfilled (Rev 17:17).
Hence it is said God will bring Gog against his people of Israel, 'as a cloud to cover the land' (Eze 38:16). But for what cause? Why, that he may contend a while with them, and then fall by their light to the ground. Therefore he says also, that he 'will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, and it shall be called the valley of Hamon-gog' (Eze 39:11).
God will get himself great glory by permitting the boar, the man of sin, and the dragon, to revel it in the church of God; for they, by setting up and contending for their darkness and calling of it the light, and by setting of it against that light, which is light in very deed, do not only prove the power of truth where it is, but illustrate it so much the more. For as black sets off white, and darkness light, so error sets off truth. He that calls a man a horse, doth in conclusion but fix the belief of his humanity[9] so much the more in the apprehension of all rational creatures.
'Light against light in three ranks.' The three ranks on the church's side signify her light in the Trinity, as was said, and in the three offices of Christ; and the ranks against these three ranks be to signify the opposite apprehensions of the enemy. They differ also about the authority of the Word, and ordinances, about the offices, officers, and executions of office, in the church, &c. There is an opposition everywhere, even round about the house; there was 'light against light in three ranks.' This house of the forest of Lebanon was therefore a significative thing, wisely built and fit for the purpose for which it was designed, which was to show what afterward would be the state of the church in the wilderness. Nor could anything in the temple more aptly express itself in a typical way, as to any of the things concerning New Testament matters, than doth this house of the forest of Lebanon, as to the things designed to be signified thereby. It speaks, can we but hear: it points to things, as it were with a finger, have we but eyes to see.
It is not therefore to be wondered at that we hear both parties plead so much for their authority, crying out against each other, as those that destroy religion. So doth the church, so doth the man of sin. The living child is mine, saith one; nay, but the dead child is thine, and the living child is mine, says the other. And thus they spake before the king (1 Kings 3:16-22). Now this could not be, were there not different apprehensions here; light against light then is the cause of all this; and here is 'light against light in three ranks'; and so will be until the beast is dead.
The church will not give place, for she knows she has the truth; the dragon and his angels, they will not give place, but as beaten back by the power of the truth; for thus it is said of the dragon and his angels, they fought and prevailed not. Therefore there will, there must, there cannot but be a spiritual warfare here, and that until one of the two are destroyed, and their body given to the burning flame (Dan 7:11; Rev 19:20).
'And all the doors and posts were square, with the windows.' The doors, they were for entrance, the posts were the support of the doors, and the windows were, as was hinted before, for light. Now here they are said to be all square; square is a note of perfection; but this word square may be taken two ways. 1. Either as to the fashion of the things themselves; or, 2. With reference to the uniform order of the whole.
In the first sense was the altar of burnt-offering, the altar of incense, and the breastplate of judgment, square (Exo 27:1, 28:16; 30:2). And so also it is said of our New Testament New Jerusalem (Rev 21:16). But the square in the text is not thus to be understood, but if I mistake not, as is signified under the second head, that is for an uniform order. The whole fabric, as the doors, posts, and windows, presented themselves to beholders in an exact uniform order, and so right delectable to behold. Hence we may gather that this house of the forest of Lebanon was so exactly built, and consequently so complete to view, that it was alluring to the beholders; and that the more, for that so pretty a fabric should be found in a forest or wood. A lily among thorns, a pearl on a dunghill, and beauty under a veil, will make one turn aside to look on it.
Answerable to this, the church, even in the wilderness, or under persecution, is compared not only to a woman, but to a comely and delicate woman. And who, that shall meet such a creature in a wood, unless he feared God, but would seek to ravish and defile her.
Therefore I say, that which is here said to be square, must be understood to be so, as to prospect and view, or right taking to the eye.
Thus therefore they are allured, and think to defile her in the bed of love; but coming to her, and finding of her chaste, and filled with nothing but armour, and men at arms, to maintain her chastity, nolens volens—their fleshly love is turned into cruel rage, and so they go to variance.
'I have likened,' says God, 'The daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman' (Jer 6:2). But where is she? O! she is in the field, in the forest among the shepherds. But what will they do with her? Why, because she complies not with their desires, they 'prepare war against her,' saying, 'Arise, let us go up at noon. Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces' (Jer 6:4,5). Wherefore the beauty of the house of the forest of Lebanon, as well as the fortitude thereof, was a temptation to the enemy to come to take it into their possession; especially since it stood, as it were, on the borders of Israel, and so faced the enemy's country.
Thus the church, though in her weeds of widowhood, is become the desire of the eyes of the nations; for indeed her features are such, considering who is her head, where mostly to the eye beauty lies, that whoso sees but the utmost glimpse of her, is easily ravished with her beauties. See how the prophet words it—'Many nations are gathered together against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion' (Micah 4:11).
The church, the very name of the church of God, is beautiful in the world; and, as among women, she that has beauty has her head desired, if it might be, to stand upon another woman's shoulders; so this, and that, and every nation that beholds the beauty of the church, would fain be called by that name. The church, one would think, was but in a homely dress when she was coming out of captivity; and yet then the people of the countries desired to be one with her. 'Let us [said they to Zerubbabel, and to the fathers of the church] build with you, for we seek your God as ye do' (Ezra 4:2).
The very name of the church, as I said, is striven for of the world, but that is the church which Christ has made so; her features also remain with herself, as this comely prospect of the house of the forest of Lebanon abode with it, whoever beheld or wished for it. The beauty therefore of this house, though it stood in the forest, was admirable; even as is the beauty of the church in the wilderness, though in a bewildered state.
Hear the relation that the Holy Ghost gives of the intrinsic beauty of the church, when she was to go to be in a persecuted state; she was 'clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars' (Rev 12:1). And yet now the dragon stood by her (Rev 12:4). But I say, Here is a woman! let who will attempt it, show such another in the world, if he can.[10]
They therefore that have any regard to morality, civility, or to ceremonial comeliness, covet to be of the church of God, or to appropriate that glorious title to themselves. And here, indeed, Antichrist came in; she took this name to herself; and though she could not come at the sun, nor moon, nor stars, to adorn herself with them, yet she has found something that makes her comely in her followers' eyes. See how the Holy Ghost sets her forth. She 'was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones, and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand,' &c. (Rev 17:4). Hence she is called, 'The well-favoured harlot,' 'the lady of kingdoms,' &c. (Nahum 3:4; Isa 47:5,7).
But because the chaste matron, the spouse of Christ, would not allow this slut to run away with this name, therefore she gets upon the back of her beast, and by him pushes this woman into the dirt; but because her faith and love to her husband remains, she turns again, and pleads by her titles, her features, and ornaments, that she, and she only, is she whose square answereth to the square of her figure, and to the character which her Lord hath given of his own, and so the game began. For so soon as this mistress became a dame in the world, and found that she had her stout abettors, she attempts to turn all things topsy-turvy, and to set them and to make of them what she lists. And now she will have an altar like that which was Tiglath-pileser's. Now must the Lord's brazen altar be removed from its place, the borders of the basis must be cut off, and the laver removed from off them; the molten sea must also now be taken off the backs of the brazen oxen, where Solomon set it, and be set on a pavement of stone (2 Kings 16:10-17).
Solomon! alas, Solomon's nobody now; this woman is wiser in her own conceit than seven men that can render a reason. Now also the covert for the Sabbath must be turned to the use of the king of Assyria, &c. (2 Kings 16:18). Thus has the beauty of God's church betrayed her into the hands of her lovers, who loved her for themselves, for the devil, and for the making of her a seat, a throne for the man of sin. And poor woman, all her struggling and striving, and crying out under the hands of these ravishers, has not, as yet, delivered her, though it has saved her life (Deut 22:25-27).
But though thus it has been with Christ's true church, and will be as long as his enemy Antichrist reigns, yet the days will come when her God will give her her ornaments, and her bracelets, and her liberty, and her joy, that she had in the day of her espousals.
To be sure it was not superfluously done of the Holy Ghost to make repetition of these words, 'And light was against light in three ranks,' therefore something is intended in the adding of them again that was not intended by the first mentioning of them (1 Kings 7:4,5).
I have told you what I thought was intended by the first rehearsal of them, namely, to show how Antichrist got in with his sensuality, and opposed it to the true light of the Word of God, exalting himself above God, and also above all Divine revelation; this was his light against light. But, I say, why is it repeated? For he saith, 'Light was against light in three ranks' again. Truly, I think it is repeated to show the evil effects the first antichristian opposition would have in the church of God, towards the end of her wilderness state. For, 'light against light' now, for that it is here repeated, is to show us some new thing, or, as far as wood and windows can speak, to let us understand what would be the consequence of those antichristian figments[11] that were brought into the church at first by him.
For can it be imagined but that, since so much confusion was brought into the church, some of the truly godly themselves would be much damnified thereby? The apostle says, 'Evil communication corrupts good manners' (1 Cor 15:33). And that 'their word will eat as doth a canker' (1 Tim 2:17). Mischief therefore must needs follow this ugly deed of the man of sin. If a house be on fire, though it is not burnt down, the smell of the flame may long remain there; also we count it no wonder to see some of the effects upon the rafters, beams, and some of the principal posts thereof. The calf that was set up at Dan defiled that people until the captivity of the land (Judg 18:30).
And I say again, since light against light was so early in the church in the wilderness, and has also been there so long, and again, since many in this church were both born and bred there under these oppositions of light, it is easy to conclude that something of the enemy's darkness might be also called light by the sincere that followed after. For by antichristian darkness, though they might call it light, the true light was darkened, and so the eye made dim, even the eye of the truly godly. Also the Holy Ghost did much withdraw itself from the church, so the doctrines, traditions, and rudiments of the world took more hold there, and spread themselves more formidably over the face of that whole church. For after the first angel had sounded, and the star was fallen from heaven to the earth, and had received the key of the bottomless pit, and had opened the mouth thereof, the smoke came out amain. This angel was one of the first dads of antichristianism, and this smoke was that which they call light, but it was 'light against light.' 'And he opened the bottomless pit, and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened, by reason of the smoke of the pit' (Rev 9:1,2).
The sun I take to be the gospel of God, and the air a type of the breathings of the Holy Ghost. The smoke I take to be the doctrines and traditions of Antichrist; that which was, as I said before, put for light against the true light of the Word. Now, since the sun and the air were darkened by this smoke, yea, and so darkened as that the sun, nor moon, nor stars, nor day, nor night, could shine for a third part of them; no marvel though the true worshippers here were benighted, or, at least, had but little light to walk by; yea, I have known some that have been born and bred up in smokey holes, that have been made, both in smell and sight, to carry the tokens of their so being bred about them.
And I say again, as to what is now under our consideration, no marvel if they that breathed in this church in the wilderness, after the smoke came out of this pit, sucked in the smoke with the air until it became natural to them. A house annoyed with smoke is a great offence to the eyes, whose light being thereby impaired, the judgment also, since that, as to visibles, is guided by the eye, must needs be in danger of being in part misled. And this being the effect of light against light at first, is the cause of what to this day we see in the church among the true brotherhood. For as a cause produceth an effect, so oftentimes an effect sets on foot another cause.
Now, therefore, we have light against light among the godly, as afore there was antichristian against the Christian light. Not that light against light is now godly in the all of it. It is antichristian that opposes the Christian light still. But, as before, the darkness that opposed the light was in the antichristians, now that darkness is got into the Christians, and has set them against one another. Light therefore against light now is in the Christians, truly prefigured by that which was in the house of the forest of Lebanon. Witness the jars, the oppositions, the contentions, emulations, strifes, debates, whisperings, tumults, and condemnations that, like cannon-shot, have so frequently on all sides been let fly against one another.
Shall I need to mention particularly contests many years past, and presented to us in print? Words and papers now in print, as also the many petty divisions and names amongst us, sufficiently make this manifest. Wherefore light against light in this last place, or where it is thus repeated, cannot, I think, be more fitly applied than to that now under our consideration; that is to say, than to the opposite persuasions, different apprehensions, and thwart conclusions, that are constantly drawn from the same texts to maintain a diverse practice. Though we are to acknowledge with thankfulness that this opposition lies not so much in fundamentals as in things of a lesser import.
The godly all hold the head, for there Antichrist could never divide them; their divisions therefore are, as I said, only about smaller things. I do not say that the antichristian darkness has done nothing in the church as to the hurting it in the great things of God. But, I say, it has not been able to do that which could sever their Head from them, otherwise there appears even too much of the effect of his doings there. For even, as to the offices of our Lord, some will have his authority more large, some more strait. Some confine his rules to themselves and to their more outward qualification, and some believe they are extended further. Some will have his power in his church purely spiritual, others again would have it mixed. Some count his Word perfect and sufficient to guide in all religious matters, others again hold that an addition of something human is necessary. Some are for confining of his benefits, in the saving effects of them, only to the elect, others are for a stretching of them further. I might here multiply things, but that light against light is now among the godly as light against light was in the house of the forest of Lebanon, is not at all to be questioned.
This therefore may stand for another argument to prove that the house of the forest of Lebanon was a type of the church in the wilderness. As to the number here, that is to say, in three ranks, it is also, as I think, to show that, though, as was said afore, this darkness could not sever the true church from her Head, yet it has eclipsed the glory of things. By two lights a man cannot see this or that thing so exactly as by one single light; no, they both make all confused though they make not all invisible (Matt 6:22,23).
As, for instance, sun-light and moon-light together, fire-light and sun-light together, candle-light and moon-light together, make things more obscure than to look on them by a single light. The Word reflecting upon the understanding, without the interposing of man's traditions, makes the mind of God to a man more clear than when attended with the other. How much more then when light shall be against light in three ranks? Christ in his offices, blessed be God, is to this day known in his church, notwithstanding there is yet with us light against light in three ranks. But in these things he is not so distinctly, fully, and completely known, as he was before the church went into the wilderness. No, that knowledge is lost to a 'third part' of it, as was also showed before (Rev 8:12).
Things therefore will never be well in the church of God so long as there is thus light against light therein. When there is but one Lord among us and his name One, and when divisions, by the consent of the whole, are banished, I mean, not persecuted, but abandoned in all by a joint consent, and when every man shall submit his own single opinion to those truths, that by their being retained are for the health of all, then look for good days, and not until then. For this house of the forest of Lebanon, in which, as you see, there is 'light against light in three ranks,' was not built to prefigure the church in her primitive state, but to show us how we should be while standing before the face of the dragon, and while shifting for ourselves in the wilderness.
And although by her pillars, and beauty, and tower, aye, and by her facing the very metropolitan of her enemies, she showeth that the true grace of God is in her, and a strength and courage that is invincible, yet for that she has also affixed to her station 'Light against light in three ranks.' It is evident her eye is not so single, and consequently that her body is not so full of light, as she will be when her sackcloth is put off, and as when she has put on her beautiful garments. For then it is that her moon is to shine as the sun, and that the light of her sun is to be sevenfold, even as the light of seven days, then, I say, 'When the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound' (Isa 30:26).
You know that a kingdom flourishes not so long as it is the seat of war, but when that is over peace and prosperity flourishes. This house, as has been hinted, was a type of the church in a wood, a forest, a wilderness.
As this house of the forest of Lebanon was that which, in the general, prefigured the state of the church in the wilderness, so it was accoutered with such military materials as suited her in such a condition, that is to say, with shields, and targets; consequently with other warlike things. 'And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold, six hundred shekels of gold went to one target, and he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; [three pound] or three hundred shekels of gold went to one shield. And the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon' (1 Kings 10:16,17; 2 Chron 9:15,16).
This supposes that the house of the forest of Lebanon would be attacked by the enemy. And good reason there was for such a supposition, since it was built for defence of that worship that was set up in the church. Hence it is said, when the enemy used to come with his chariots and horsemen against them, that they 'did look in that day to the armour of the house of the forest' (Isa 22:7,8). That was, to see how they were prepared at Lebanon, to make resistance against their foes, and to secure themselves and their religion from that destruction that by the enemy was designed should be made upon both. And thus again, or in this thing, the house of the forest of Lebanon shows that it was a figure of the church of the wilderness; for she also is furnished with such weapons as were counted by the wisdom of God necessary for the security of the soul, and Christian religion, to wit, 'the weapons of our warfare,' 'the whole armour of God' (2 Cor 10:4).
For though this house of the forest of Lebanon was a place of defence, yet her armour is described and directed too, both as to matter and to measure. It was armour made of gold, such armour, and so much of it. And it was made by direction of Solomon, who was a type of Christ, by the power of whose grace and working our armour is also provided for us, as in the texts afore-mentioned may appear. By this description, therefore, of the armour of the house of the forest of Lebanon we are confined, that being a type to the armour of God, in the antitype thereto for the defence of the Christian religion. We then may make use of none but the armour of God for defence of our souls, and the worship of God; this alone is the golden armour provided by our Solomon, and put in the house of the forest of Lebanon, or rather in the church in the wilderness, for her to resist the enemy withal.
Two hundred targets. There is but little mention made of targets in the Bible, nor at all expressly how they were used, but once; and that was when Goliah came to defy Israel, he came, as with other warlike furniture, so 'with a target of brass between his shoulders' (1 Sam 17:6). A target, that is, saith the margin, a gorget. A gorget is a thing wore about the neck, and it serveth in that place instead of a shield. Wherefore in some of your old Bibles, that which in one place is called a target, in another is called a shield.[12] A shield for that part. This piece of armour, I suppose, was worn in old time by them that used spears, and it was to guard the upper part of the back and shoulders from the arrows of their enemies, that were shot into the air, to the intent they might fall upon the upper part of the body.
The shields were for them which drew bows, and they were to catch or beat off those arrows that were levelled at them by the enemy before. 'Asa had' at one time 'an army of men that bare targets and spears, out of Judah three hundred thousand, and out of Benjamin that bare shields, and drew bows, two hundred and fourscore thousand' (2 Chron 14:8).
I cannot tell what the target should signify here, unless it was to show that those in the type were more weak and faint-hearted than those in the antitype: for in that this gorget was prepared for some back part of the body, it supposed the wearers subject to run away, to flee. But in the description of the Christian armour, we have no provision for the back; so our men in the church in the wilderness are supposed to be more stout. Their face is made strong against the face of their enemies, and their foreheads strong against their foreheads (Eze 3:8,9). The shield was a type of the Christian faith, and so the apostle applies it. The which he also counteth a principal piece of our Christian armour when he saith, 'Above all taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked' (Eph 6:16). These targets and shields were made of gold, to show the excellent worth of this armour of God; to wit, that it is not carnal but spiritual, not human but divine; nor common or mean, but of an infinite value. Wherefore James, alluding to this, saith, 'Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith,' (hath he not given them this golden shield) and made them 'heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?' (James 2:5).
Faith! Peter saith, faith, in the very trial of it, is much more precious than is gold that perisheth. If so, then what is that worth, or value, that is in the grace itself? (1 Peter 1:7). This also is that which Christ intends when he says, 'buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich' (Rev 3:18).
And methinks the apostles and the Lord Jesus Christ do in all these places allude to the shields, the shields of gold, that Solomon made, and put in the house of the forest of Lebanon; which house, as I have showed, was that which indeed prefigured the state of the church in the wilderness; and these shields a type of faith.
Obj. But here is mention made of nothing but shields and targets.
Answ. True, and that perhaps to show us that the war that the church makes with Antichrist is rather defensive than offensive. Shields and targets are weapons defensive, weapons provided for self-preservation, not to hurt others with. A Christian also, if he can but defend his soul in the sincere profession of the true religion, doth what by duty, as to this, he is bound. Wherefore though the New Testament admits him to put on the whole armour of God, yet the whole and every part thereof is spiritual, and only defensive. True, there is mention made of the sword, but that sword 'is the Word of God' (Eph 6:17). A weapon that hurteth none, none at all but the devil and sin, and those that love it. Indeed it was made for Christians to defend themselves, and their religion with, against hell and the angels of darkness. These two pieces of armour then that Solomon the king did put into the house of the forest of Lebanon, were types of the spiritual armour that the church in the wilderness should make use of. And as we read of no more that was put there, at least to be typical, so we read of, and must use no more than we are bid to put on by the apostle, for the defence of true religion.
Obj. But he that shall use none other than this, must look to come off a loser.
Answ. In the judgment of the world this is true; but not in the judgment of them that have skill, and a heart to use it. For this armour is not Saul's, which David refused, but God's, by which the lives of all those have been secured that put it on, and handled it well. You read of some of David's mighty men of valour, that their 'faces were like the faces of lions, and' that they 'were as swift' of foot 'as the roes upon the mountains' (1 Chron 12:8). Being expert in handling spear and shield.
Why, God's armour makes a man's face look thus, also it makes him that useth it more lively and active than before. God's armour is no burden to the body, nor clog to the mind, but rather a natural, instead of an artificial, fortification.
But this armour comes not to any but out of the king's hand; Solomon put these targets and shields into the house of the forest of Lebanon. So Christ distributeth his armour to his church. Hence it is said it is given to his to suffer for him. It is given to his by himself, and on his behalf (Phil 1:29).
That is, that they might with it fight those battles which he shall manage against Antichrist. Hence they are called the armies in heaven, and are said to follow their Lord 'upon white horses clothed in fine linen, white and clean.' But, as I said, still their war was but defensive. For a little further do but observe, and you shall find the beast fall upon him. 'And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together, to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army' (Rev 19:14,19). It is they that fall on, it is they that pick the quarrel, and give the onset. Besides, the armour, as I said, is only spiritual; wherefore the slaughter must needs be spiritual also. Hence as here it is said the Lamb did slay his enemies, by the sword, spirit, or breath of his mouth; so his army also slays them by the fire that proceedeth out of his mouth (Rev 1:16, 19:21).
Here is therefore no man's person in danger by this war. And I say again, so far as any man's person is in danger, it is by wrong managing of this war. True, the persons of the Christians are in danger, but that is because of the bloody disposition of an antichristian enemy. But we speak now with reference to the Lamb and the army that follows him; and as to them, no man's person is in danger simply as such. Wherefore, it is not men but sin; not men, but the man of sin, that wicked one, that the Son of God makes war against, in and by his church (2 Thess 2:8; Heb 12:4).
Let us therefore state the matter right; no man needs be afraid to let Jesus Christ be chief in the world, he envies nobody, he designs the hurt of none: his kingdom is not of this world, nor doth he covet temporal matters; let but his wife, his church alone, to enjoy her purchased privileges, and all shall be well. Which privileges of hers, since they are soul concerns, make no infringement upon any man's liberties. Let but faith and holiness walk the streets without control, and you may be as happy as the world can make you. I speak now to them that contend with him.
But if seasonable counsel will not go down, if hardness of heart and blindness of mind, and so perishing from the way, shall overtake you, it is but what you of old have been cautioned of. 'Be wise now therefore, O ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him' (Psa 2:10-12).
Now let this also that has been said upon this head, be another argument to prove that the house of the forest of Lebanon was a type of the church in the wilderness.
Solomon did also put vessels into the house of the forest of Lebanon. 'And all king Solomon's drinking-vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of' gold, 'pure gold, none were of silver; it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon' (1 Kings 10:21; 2 Chron 9:20).
Since it is not expressed what those vessels of pure gold were which Solomon put in the house of the forest of Lebanon, therefore, as to the affirmative, no man can be absolute; vessels of gold, vessels of pure gold, the Holy Ghost says they were, and so leaves it to the prudent to make their conjectures; and although I may not put myself among the number of those prudent ones, yet let me take leave to say what I think in the case.
First then, negatively, they were not vessels ordained for Divine worship, for as that was confined to the temple, so the vessels and materials and circumstances for worship were there. I say, the whole uniform worship of the Jews now was confined to the temple (1 Chron 2:4, 7:12,15,16). Wherefore the vessels here mentioned could not be such as was in order to set up worship here, for to Jerusalem they were to bring their sacrifices; true, they had synagogues where ordinary service was done, there the law was read, and there the priests taught the people how they should serve the Lord; but for that which stood in carnal ordinances, as sacrificings, washings, and using vessels for that purpose, that was performed at Jerusalem.
This house, therefore, to wit, the house of the forest of Lebanon, was not built to slay or to offer burnt-offerings or sacrifices in, but as that altar was which the two tribes and an half, built by Jordan, when they went each to their inheritance, namely, to be a witness of the people's resolutions to preserve true religion in the church, to themselves, and to their posterity (Josh 22:21-29). Since this house therefore was designed for defensive war, it was not requisite that the formalities of worship should be there.[13]
The church in the wilderness also, so far as she is concerned in contention, so far she is not taken up in the practical parts of religion (1 Thess 2:2); for religion is not to be practised in the church in the moments of contention. Let us practise then our religion in peace, and in all peaceable ways, and vindicate it by way of contention, that is, when asked or required by opposites to render a reason thereof (Phil 1:7,17; Acts 22:1). But my contention must be, not in pragmatic languages or in striving about words to no profit, but by words of truth and soberness, with all meekness and fear (Acts 26:24,25; Titus 3:1,2; 1 Peter 3:15).
To practise and defend a practice you know are two things; I practise religion in my closet, in my family, in the congregation, but I defend this practice before the magistrate, the king, and the judge. Now the temple was prepared for the practice of religion, and the house of the forest of Lebanon for defence of the same (Rev 11:1). So far then as the church in the wilderness worships, so far she is compared to the temple, and so far as she defends that worship, so far she is called an army (Rev 19:14). An army terrible with banners (Cant 6:4). For God has given a banner to them that fear him, that it may be displayed because of the truth (Psa 60:4). Hence she says to God, 'We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God, we will set up our banners' (Psa 20:5). But here is in all this no hurt to the world, the kingdom, the worship, the war is spiritual, even as the armour is.[14] I have spoken this to distinguish worship from contending for worship, and to make way for what is yet to be said.
If the vessels of the forest of Lebanon, or those put in that house, were not such as related to worship, to worship simply as such, then it should seem—
These vessels therefore were for some other use than for formal worship in the house of the forest of Lebanon. The best way then, that I know of, to find out what they were is first to consider to what they are joined in the mention of them. Now I find them joined in the mention of them with Solomon's drinking vessels, and since as they were made of fine or pure gold, I take them also to be vessels of the same kind, namely, vessels to drink in. Now if we join to this the state of the church in the wilderness, of which, as we have said, this house of the forest of Lebanon was a type, then we must understand that by these vessels were prefigured such draughts as the church has, when in a bewildered or persecuted state; and they are of two sorts, either, First, Such as are exceeding bitter; or, Second, Such as are exceeding sweet; for both these attend a state of war.
First. Such as are exceeding bitter. These are called cups of red wine, signifying blood; also, the cup of the Lord's fury, the cup of trembling, the cup of astonishment, &c. (Psa 75:8; Isa 51:17,22; Jer 25:15; Eze 23:33).
Nor is there anything more natural to the church, while in a wilderness condition, than such cups and draughts as these. Hence she, as there, is said to be clothed, as was said afore, in sackcloth, to mourn, to weep, to cry out, and to be in pain, as is a woman in travail. See the Lamentations and you will find all this verified. See also Revelation 11:3, 12:2.
And whoso considers what has already been said as to what the house of the forest of Lebanon met with, will find that what is here inferred is not foreign but natural. For, can it be imagined, that when the king of Assyria laid down his army by the sides of Lebanon, and when the fire was to devour her cedars, also when Lebanon was to be cut down and languish, that these vessels, these cups, were not then put into her hand. And I say again, since the church in the wilderness, Lebanon's antitype, has been so persecuted, so distressed, so oppressed, and made the seat of so much war, so much blood, of so many murders of her children within her, &c., can it be imagined that she drank of none of these cups? Yes, yes, she has drank the red wine at the Lord's hand, even the cup of blood, of fury, of trembling, and of astonishment; witness her own cries, sighs, tears, and tremblings, with the cries of widows, children, and orphans within her (Lam 1, 2, 4, 5).
But what do I cite particular texts, since reason, histories, experience, anything that is intelligible, will confirm this for a truth; namely, that a people whose profession is directly in opposition to the devil and Antichrist, and to all debauchery, inhumanity, profaneness, superstition, and idolatry, when suffered to be invaded by the dragon, the beast, the false prophet, and whore, must needs taste of these cups, and drink thereof, to their astonishment.
But all these are of pure gold. They are of God's ordaining, appointing, filling, timing, and also sanctified by him for good to those of his that drink them. Hence Moses chose rather to drink a brimmer of these, 'than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season' (Heb 11:25). The sourness, bitterness, and wormwood of them, therefore, is only to the flesh that loveth neither God, nor Christ, nor grace (Psa 75:8; Phil 1:28).
The afflictions, therefore, that the church in the wilderness hath met with, these cups of gold, are of more worth than are all the treasures of Egypt; they are needful and profitable, and praiseworthy also, and tend to the augmenting of our glory when the next world is come (1 Thess 3:3; Rev 2:10; 1 Peter 1:6). Besides they are signs, tokens, and golden marks of love, and jewels that set off the beauty of the church in the sight of God the more (Gal 6:17; Rev 3:19; Heb 12:6). They are also a means by which men are proved sound, honest, faithful, and true lovers of God, as also such whose graces are not counterfeit, feigned, or unsound, but true, and such as will be found to praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ (Isa 27:9; Heb 12:7-10; 1 Peter 2:19; 2 Cor 4:17,18; 2 Thess 1:5).
And this has been the cause that the men of our church in the wilderness have gloried in tribulation, taking pleasure in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, and in distresses for Christ's sake (Rom 5:3; 2 Cor 12:9,10). Yea, this is the reason why they have bidden one another rejoice when they fell into divers temptations, saying, Happy is the man that endureth temptations, and behold we count them happy that endure (James 1:2,12, 5:11). And again, 'if ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye' (1 Peter 4:14).
These therefore are vessels of pure gold, though they contain such bitter draughts, and though such as at which we make so many wry faces before we can get their liquor down.
Do you think that a Christian, having even this cup in his hand to drink it, would change it for a draught of that which is in the hand of the woman that sits on the back of the scarlet-coloured beast? (Rev 17:3,4). No, verily, for he knows that her sweet is poison, and that his bitter is to purge his soul, body, life, and religion, of death (2 Tim 2:11,12).
God sends his love tokens to his church two ways, sometimes by her friends, sometimes by her enemies. When they come by the hand of a friend, as by a minister, a brother, or by the Holy Ghost, then they come smoothly, sweetly, and are taken, and go down like honey. But when these love tokens come to them by the hand of an enemy, then they are handed to them roughly; Pharaoh handed love tokens to them roughly; the king of Babylon handed these love tokens to them roughly. They bring them of malice, God sends them of love; they bring them and give them to us, hoping they will be our death; they give us them therefore with many a foul curse, but God blesses them still. Did not Haman lead Mordecai in his state by the hand of anger?
Nor is this cup so bitter but that our Lord himself drank deep of it before it was handed to his church; he did as loving mothers do, drink thereof himself to show us it is not poison, also to encourage us to drink it for his sake and for our endless health (Matt 20:22, 26:39,42).
And, as I told you before, I think I do not vary from the sense of the text in calling them cups; because, though there they have no name, they are joined with king Solomon's drinking vessels, and because as so joined in the type, so they are also joined here; therefore the cup here is called Christ's cup. 'Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of?' 'Ye shall drink indeed of my cup' (Matt 20:22,23). Here you see they are joined in a communion in this cup of affliction, as the cups in one and the same breath are joined with those king Solomon drank in, which he put in the house of the forest of Lebanon.
[Second. Such as are exceeding sweet.]
But these are not all the cups that belong to the house of the forest of Lebanon, or rather to the church in the wilderness; there is also a cup, out of which, at times, is drunk what is exceeding sweet. It is called the cup of consolation, the cup of salvation; a cup in the which God himself is (Psa 116:13; Jer 16:7). As he said, the Lord is the portion of my cup. Or rather, 'The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance, and my cup' (Psa 16:5). This cup, they that are in the church in the wilderness have usually for an after-draught to that bitter one that went before. Thus, as tender mothers give their children plumbs or sugar, to sweeten their palate after they have drank a bitter potion, so God gives his the cups of salvation and consolation, after they have suffered awhile. 'For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ' (2 Cor 1:5).
Hence the apostle assureth himself concerning the affliction of them at Corinth; yea, and also promiseth them, that as they were partakers of the sufferings, so should they be of the consolation (2 Cor 1:7). Some of these cups are filled until they run over, as David said his did, when the valley of the shadow of death was before him. 'Thou preparest a table before me,' said he, 'in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over' (Psa 23:5). This is that which the apostle calls exceeding; that is, that which is beyond measure. 'I am,' says he, 'filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation' (2 Cor 7:4).
Now he has one answering the other. Thou hast made summer and winter. Thou hast made the warm beams of thy sun answerable to the cold of the dark night. This may be also yet signified by the building of this house, this type of the church in the wilderness, in so pleasant a place as the forest of Lebanon was (Cant 4:8). Lebanon! Lebanon was one of the sweetest places in all the land of Canaan. Therefore we read of the fruit of Lebanon, of the streams from Lebanon; the scent, the smell, the glory of Lebanon; and also of the wine and flowers of Lebanon (Psa 72:16; Hosea 14:6,7; Isa 35:2, 9:13; Nahum 1:4).
Lebanon! That was one thing that wrought with Moses to desire that he might go over Jordan; namely, that he might see that goodly mountain, and Lebanon. The glory and excellent beauty of the church, Christ also setteth forth, by comparing of her to Lebanon. 'Thy lips, O my spouse,' says he, 'drop as the honey-comb: honey and milk are under thy tongue, and the smell of thy garment is like the smell of Lebanon' (Cant 4:11,15). This house, therefore, being placed here, might be to show how blessed a state God could make the state of his church by his blessed grace and presence, even while she is in a wilderness condition.
We will add to this, for further demonstration, that letter of that godly man, Pomponius Algerius, an Italian martyr; some of the words of which are these:—
'Let,' saith he, 'the miserable worldly man answer me; what remedy or safe refuge can there be unto him if he lack God, who is the life and medicine of all men: and how can he be said to fly from death, when he himself is already dead in sin. If Christ be the way, verity, and life, how can there be any life then without Christ?
'The sooly[15] heat of the prison to me is coldness; the cold winter to me is a fresh spring-time in the Lord. He that feareth not to be burned in the fire, how will he fear the heat of weather? Or what careth he for the pinching frost, which burneth with the love of the Lord?
'The place is sharp and tedious to them that be guilty; but to the innocent and guiltless it is mellifluous. Here droppeth the delectable dew; here floweth the pleasant nectar; here runneth the sweet milk; here is plenty of all good things. And although the place itself be desert and barren, yet to me it seemeth a large walk, and a valley of pleasure; here to me is the better and more noble part of the world. Let the miserable worldling say, and confess, if there be any plot, pasture, or meadow, so delightful to the mind of man, as here. Here I see kings, princes, cities, and people; here I see wars, where some be overthrown, some be victors, some thrust down, some lifted up. Here is Mount Sion; here I am already in heaven itself. Here standeth first Christ Jesus in the front; about him stand the old fathers, prophets, and evangelists, apostles, and all the servants of God; of whom some do embrace and cherish me, some exhort me, some open the sacraments unto me, some comfort me, other some are singing about me: and how then shall I be thought to be alone, among so many, and such as these be, the beholding of whom to me is both solace and example. For here I see some crucified, some slain, some stoned, some cut asunder, and some quartered, some roasted, some broiled, some put in hot caldrons, some having their eyes bored through, some their tongues cut out, some their skin plucked over their heads, some their hands and feet chopped off, some put in kilns and furnaces, some cast down headlong, and given to the beasts and fowls of the air to feed upon. It would,' said he, 'ask a long time, if I should recite all.
'To be short, divers I see with divers and sundry torments excruciate; yet notwithstanding, all living and all safe. One plaster, one salve cureth all their wounds, which also giveth to me strength and life; so that I sustain all these transitory anguishes and small afflictions with a quiet mind, having a greater hope laid up in heaven. Neither do I fear mine adversaries which here persecute me and oppress me, for he that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn, and the Lord shall deride them. I fear not thousands of people which compass me about. The Lord my God shall deliver me, my hope, my supporter, my comforter, who exalteth up my head. He shall smite all them that stand up against me without cause; and shall dash the teeth and jaws of sinners asunder, for he only is all blessedness and majesty.
'The rebukes for Christ's cause make us jocund; for so it is written: if ye be rebuked and scorned for the name of Christ, happy be you; for the glory and spirit of God resteth upon you (1 Peter 4). Be ye therefore certified (said he, by this his letter to his friends) that our rebukes, which are laid upon us, redound to the shame and harm of the rebukers. In this world there is no mansion firm to me; and therefore I will travel up to the New Jerusalem which is in heaven, and which offereth itself to me, without paying any fine or income. Behold I have entered already in my journey, where my house standeth for me prepared, and where I shall have riches, kinsfolks, delights, honours, never-failing.
'As for these earthly things here present, they are transitory shadows, vanishing vapours, and ruinous walls. Briefly all is but very vanity of vanities, whereas hope, and the substance of eternity to come, are wanting; which the merciful goodness of the Lord hath given, as companions to accompany me, and to comfort me; and now do the same begin to work, and to bring forth fruits in me. I have travelled hitherto, laboured and sweat early and late, watching day and night, and now my travails begin to come to effect. Days and hours have I bestowed upon my studies. Behold the true countenance of God is sealed upon me, the Lord hath given mirth in my heart: and therefore in the same will I lay me down in peace and rest (Psa 4). And who then shall dare to blame this our age consumed; or say that our years be cut off? What man can now cavil that these our labours are lost, which have followed, and found out the Lord and maker of the world, and which have changed death with life? My portion is the Lord, saith my soul, and therefore, I will seek and wait for him.
'Now then, if to die in the Lord be not to die but live most joyfully, where is this wretched worldly rebel, which blameth us of folly, for giving away our lives to death? O how delectable is this death to me! to taste the Lord's cup, which is an assured pledge of true salvation; for so hath the Lord himself forewarned us, saying, the same that they have done to me, they will also do unto you. Wherefore let the doltish world, with his blind worldlings (who in the bright sunshine, yet go stumbling in darkness, being as blind as beetles), cease thus unwisely to carp against us for our rash suffering, as they count it. To whom, thus, we answer again, with the holy apostle, that neither tribulation, nor anguish, nor hunger, nor nakedness, nor jeopardy, nor persecution, nor sword, shall be able ever to separate us from the love of Christ; we are slain all the day long; we are made like sheep ordained to the shambles (Rom 8).
'Thus,' saith he, 'do we resemble Christ our Head, which said that the disciple cannot be above his master, nor the servant about his Lord. The same Lord hath also commanded that every one shall take up his cross and follow him (Luke 9). Rejoice, rejoice, my dear brethren and fellow-servants, and be of good comfort, when ye fail into sundry temptations; let your patience be perfect in all parts. For so it is foreshowed us before, and is written, that they which shall kill you shall think to do God good service. Therefore, afflictions and death be as tokens and sacraments of our election and life to come. Let us then be glad and sing unto the Lord, when as we, being clear from all just accusations, are persecuted and given to death; for better it is that we in doing well do suffer, if it so be the will of God, than doing evil (1 Peter 3). We have for our example Christ and the prophets which spake in the name of the Lord, whom the children of iniquity did quell[16] and murder. And now we bless and magnify them that then suffered. Let us be glad and joyous in our innocency and uprightness; the Lord shall reward them that persecute us; let us refer all revengement to him.
'I am accused of foolishness, for that I do not shrink from the true doctrine and knowledge of God, and do not rid myself out of these troubles, when with one word I may. O the blindness of man, which seeth not the sun shining, neither remembereth the Lord's words. Consider therefore what he saith, you are the light of the world. A city built on the hill cannot be hid; neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine, and give light to them in the house. And in another place he saith you shall be led before kings and rulers. Fear ye not them which kill the body, but him which killeth both body and soul. Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before my Father which is in heaven; and he that denieth me before men, him will I also deny before my heavenly Father.
'Wherefore, seeing the words of the Lord be so plain, how, or by what authority, will this wise counsellor then approve this his counsel which he doth give? God forbid that I should relinquish the commandments of God and follow the counsels of men. For it is written, Blessed is the man that hath not gone in the way of sinners, and hath not stood in the counsels of the ungodly, and hath not sit in the chair of pestilence (Psa 1).[17] God forbid that I should deny Christ where I ought to confess him; I will not set more by my life than by my soul, neither will I exchange the life to come for this world here present. O how foolishly speaketh he which argueth me of foolishness!'
And a little farther he saith, 'And now let this carnal politic counsellor, and disputer of this world, tell wherein have they to blame me. If in mine examinations I have not answered so after their mind and affection as they required of me, seeing it is not ourselves that speak, but the Lord that speaketh in us, as he himself doth fore-witness, saying, When you shall be brought before rulers and magistrates, it is not you yourselves that speak, but the Spirit of my Father that shall be in you (Matt 10). Wherefore, if the Lord be true and faithful of his word, as it is most certain, then there is no blame in me; for he gave the words that I did speak, and who was I that could resist his will?
'If any man shall reprehend the things that I said, let him then quarrel with the Lord, whom it pleased to work so in me; and if the Lord be not to be blamed, neither am I herein to be accused, which did that I purposed not, and that I fore-thought not of. The things that there I did utter and express [he means when he was before the magistrates], if they were otherwise than well, let them show it, and then will I say that they were my words, and not the Lord's. But if they were good and approved, and such as cannot justly be accused, then must it needs be granted, spite of their teeth, that they proceeded of the Lord; and then who be they that shall accuse me—people of prudence? Or who shall condemn me—just judges? And though they so do, yet, nevertheless, the word shall not be frustrate, neither shall the gospel be foolish or therefore decay, but rather the kingdom of God shall the more prosper and flourish unto the Israelites, and shall pass the sooner unto the elect of Christ Jesus, and they which shall so do shall prove the grievous judgment of God. Neither shall they escape without punishment that be persecutors and murderers of the just.
'My well-beloved,' saith he, 'lift up your eyes and consider the counsels of God. He showed unto us a late an image of his plague, which was to our correction; and if we shall not receive him he will draw out his sword and strike with sword, pestilence, and famine, the nation that shall rise against Christ.'
This, as I said, is part of a letter writ by Pomponius Alerius, an Italian martyr, who, when he wrote it, was in prison, in, as he calls it, his delectable orchard, the prison of Leonine, 12 calend. August, anno 1555. As is to be seen in the second volume of the book of martyrs.[18]
This man was, when he wrote this letter, in the house of the forest of Lebanon, in the church in the wilderness, in the place and way of contending for the truth of God, and he drank of both these bitter cups of which I spake before, to wit, of that which was exceeding bitter, and of that which was exceeding sweet, and the reason why he complained not of the bitter was because the sweet had overcome it—as his afflictions abounded for Christ, so did his consolations by him. So, did I say? they abounded much more.
But was not this man, think you, a giant, a pillar in this house? Had he not also now hold of the shield of faith? Yea, was he not now in the combat? And did he not behave himself valiantly? Was not his mind elevated a thousand degrees beyond sense, carnal reasons, fleshly love, self-concerns, and the desires of embracing temporal things? This man had got that by the end that pleased him; neither could all the flatteries, promises, threats, or reproaches, make him one listen to or desire to inquire after what the world or the glory of it could afford. His mind was captivated with delights invisible; he coveted to show his love to his Lord by laying down his life for his sake; he longed to be there where there shall be no more pain, nor sorrow, nor sighing, nor tears, nor troubles; he was a man of a thousand (Eccl 7:28).
But to return again to our text. You know we are now upon the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon, which, I have told you, could not be vessels for worship, for that worship that was ordained to be performed at the temple was also confined to that, and to the vessels that were there. Therefore they must be, in all probability, the vessels that I have mentioned, the which you see how we have expounded and applied. If I am out I know it not; if others can give me better light here about for it I will be thankful.
There was also added to this house of the forest of Lebanon, store-cities, chariot-cities, and cities of horsemen, unto which king Jotham added castles and towers (2 Chron 8:4-6, 27:3,4).
These might be to signify by what ways and means God would at times revenge the quarrel of his church, even in this world, upon them that, without cause, should, for their faith and worship, set themselves against them. For here is a face of threatening revenge, they were store-houses, chariot-cities, cities of horsemen, with castles and towers. And they stood on the same ground that this house was builded upon, even in the forest of Lebanon. We know that in Israel God stirred up kings who at times suppressed idolatry there, and plagued the persecutors too, as Jehu, Hezekiah, Josiah, &c. And he has promised that, even in gospel times, kings 'shall hate the whore,—make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire' (Rev 17:12,16).
Here now are the store-houses, chariot-cities, cities of horsemen, with towers and castles, for the help to the house of the forest of Lebanon, for the help of the church in the wilderness, or, as you have it in another place, as the serpent cast floods of water out of his mouth after the woman, 'that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth' (Rev 12:15,16). Thus the Medes and Persians helped to deliver the church from the clutches and strong hand of the king of Babylon.
This Lebanon, therefore, was a place considerable and a figure of great things; the countenance of the Lord Jesus is compared to it, and so is the face of his spouse, and also the smell of her garment (Cant 4:11, 5:15, 7:4).
Solomon also made a porch to this house of the forest of Lebanon. He made several porches, as one for the temple, one for the house which he dwelt in, one for the throne of the kingdom, and this that was for the house of the forest of Lebanon, of all which this last is that mentioned.
'And he made a porch of pillars, the length thereof was fifty cubits, and the breadth thereof thirty cubits; and the porch was before them, and the other pillars, and the thick beam were before them' (1 Kings 7:6). This porch was famous both for length, and breadth, and strength, it was able to contain a thousand men. It was like that of the tower of David, otherwise called the stronghold, the castle of Zion, which is the city of David (2 Sam 5:7; 1 Chron 11:5; Micah 4:8).
This tower of David was built for an armoury, whereon there hanged a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men. It was fifty cubits long and thirty broad, a spacious place, a large receptable for any that liked to take shelter there. It was made of pillars, even as the house within was, or it stood upon pillars. The pillars, you know I told you before, were to show us what mighty men, or what men of mighty grace, God would have in his church in the wilderness furnished with. And it is worth your observing here also we have pillars, pillars. And he made the porch of pillars, that is, of pillars of cedar, as the rest of the pillars of the house were.
'And the porch was before them.' That is, as I take it, an entering porch, less than the space within, so that the pillars, neither as to number nor bigness, could be seen without, until at least they that had a mind to see entered the mouth of the porch. And by this was fitly prefigured how unseen the strength of the church under persecution is of all that are without her. Alas! they think that she will be run down with a push, or, as they said, 'What do these feeble Jews? Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they make an end in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are bunt?' Alas! 'if a fox go up he shall even break down their stone wall' (Neh 4:2,3).
But do you think these men saw the strength of the Jews now? No, no, their pillars were within, and so were shadowed from their eyes. David himself could not tell what judgment to make of the way of the world against the people of God, until he went into the sanctuary of God (Psa 73:16,17).
How then can the world judge of the condition of the saints? Alas, had they known the church's strength, surely they would not, as they have, so furiously assaulted the same. But what have they got by all they have done, either against the head or body of the same? She yet has being in the world, and will have, shall have, though all the nations on earth should gather themselves together against it. Nor is it the cutting off of many that will make her cease to flourish. Alas, were she not sometimes pruned and trimmed her boughs would stand too thick. Those therefore that are taken away with God's pruning-hooks are removed, that the under branches may grow the better.[19] But, I say, to extinguish her it is in vain for any to hope for that. She stands upon pillars, on rocks, on the munition of rocks; stand therefore she must, whether the world believes it or no.
'And the other pillars—were before them,' or, as the margin has it, 'according to them.' The other pillars, that is, they more inward, those that were in the body of the house. Christ doth not, as the poor world doth, that is, set the best leg before; the pillars that were more inward in the house were as good as those in the front. It is true some are appointed to death to show to the world the strength of grace, not that he can help nobody to that strength but they. The most feeble of his flock, when Christ shall stand by and strengthen them, are able to do and bear what the strong have underwent. For so he saith.
And 'the other pillars and the thick beams were' according to them; nay, 'before them.' Indeed, they that are left seem weak and feeble if compared to them that have already been tried with fire and sword and all the tortures of men. But that grace by which they were helped that have done such mighty acts already, can help those who seem more weak yet to go beyond them. God strengtheneth 'the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress' (Amos 5:9). Or, as another scripture has it, 'The lame take the prey' (Isa 33:23). So that you see here is all substance. All here are pillars and thick beams, both in the house and in the porch.
The conclusion therefore is:—The true members of the church in the wilderness are strong, mighty, being made able by the grace of God for their standing, and being also coupled and compacted together with the biggest bands or thickest beams that the Holy Ghost puts forth to bind and hold this church together. And there is reason for it. The church is God's tower or battery by which he beateth down Antichrist, or if you will have it in the words of the prophet, 'Thou art my battle-axe and weapons of war; for with thee [saith God] will I break in pieces,' &c. (Jer 51:19,20). Wherefore, since the church is set for defence of religion, and to be as a battery to beat down Antichrist, it is requisite that she should be made up of pillars of strong and staunch materials.[20]
The largeness of the porch was commodious; it was the next shelter, or the place whereunto they of the house of the forest of Lebanon, when pursued, might resort or retreat with the less difficulty. Thus the church in the wilderness has her porch, her place, her bosom, whereunto her discouraged may continually resort, and take up and be refreshed. As Abiathar thrust in to David and his men in the wilderness, in the day when Saul had slain his father, and of his brethren, even 'four-score and five persons that did wear a linen ephod' (1 Sam 22:17-23).
When the apostles were persecuted 'they went to their own company,' because the Lord was there (Acts 4:23). There we find the pillars, and have both solace and example. There, as Pomponius said of his person, stands Christ Jesus in the front as Captain of the Lord's host, and round about him the old fathers, prophets, apostles, and martyrs. This porch, therefore, I take to be a figure of those cordial and large affections which the church in the wilderness has to all, and for all them that love the truth, and that suffer and are afflicted for the sincere profession thereof.
This porch was bigger than that which belonged to the temple by much, to show that those that are made the objects of the enemies' rage most are usually most prepared with affection for them that are in the same condition. Fellow-feeling is a great matter. It is said of the poor afflicted people that were in Macedonia 'in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality;[21] for to their power,—yea, and beyond their power,' they showed their charity to the destroyed church of Jerusalem (2 Cor 8:1-4).
And a porch in a forest, or a bosom in a wilderness, is seasonable to them that in the wilderness are faint and weary. Nabal shut up his doors against David, and therefore he died like a beast. Poor David! thou wast bewildered, but this churl had no compassion for thee (1 Sam 25:5-13, 25-39). Blest Obadiah, thou hadst a bosom, and bread, and hiding-places for the church, when rent and torn by the fury of Jezebel, and thou hast for it thy reward in heaven (1 Kings 18:3,4; Matt 10:42). Ebedmelech, because he had compassion on Jeremiah when he was in the dungeon, God did not only give him his life for a prey, but promised him the effects of putting his trust in the Lord (Jer 38:7-11, 39:15-18).
And he made a porch of pillars. The porch is but the entrance of the house, whither many go that yet step not into the house, but make their retreat from thence; but it is because they are non-residents, they only come to see; or else, if they pretended more, it was not from the heart. 'They went out from us,' said John, 'but they were not of us; for if they had been of us they would, no doubt, have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us' (1 John 2:19).
And forasmuch as this porch was fifty cubits long, men may take many a step straight forward therein and be but in the porch yet.[22] Even as we have seen men go, as one would think, till they are out of view in the porch of this church in the wilderness, but presently you have them without the door again.
True, this porch was made of pillars, and so to every one, at first entrance, it showed the power of the place; the church in the wilderness also is so builded that men may see it is ordained for defence. Men also, at their first offer to step over the threshold there, with mouth profess that they will dwell as soldiers there. But words are but wind; when they see the storm a-coming they will take care to shift for themselves. This house, or church in the wilderness, must see to itself for all them.
As the house therefore is a figure of the church in the wilderness, so, so great a porch belonging to it may be also to show that numbers may there be entertained that, if need be, will quickly whip out again. Although therefore the porch was made of pillars, yet every one that walked there were not such. The pillars was to show them, not what they were, but what they should be that entered into this house.
The church also in the wilderness, even in her porch or first entrance into it, is full of pillars, apostles, prophets, and martyrs of Jesus. There also hang up the shields that the old warriors have used, and are plastered upon the walls the brave achievements which they have done. There are also such encouragements there for those that stand, that one would think none that came thither with pretence to serve there would, for very shame, attempt to go back again; and yet, not to their credit be it spoken, they will forsake the place without blushing, yea, and plead for this their so doing. But I have done with the explicatory part, and conclude that from these ten particulars thus handled in this book, the house of the forest of Lebanon was a type, or figure, of the church in the wilderness.
Nor do I know, if this be denied, how so fitly to apply some of these texts which speak to the church, to support her under her troubles, of the comforts that afterwards she shall enjoy, since they are presented to her under such metaphors as clearly denote she was once in a wilderness, for instance,
1. 'Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it [that is, redeemed his servant Jacob from his sins and from the hand of the enemy]: shout, ye lower parts of the earth [or church once trampled under feet]: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein [here is comfort for the church under the name of a forest, that in which the house we have been speaking of was built]: for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel' (Isa 44:23). To what, I say, can this text more fitly be applied, than to the church in the wilderness, put here under the name of a forest as well as under the title of heaven? Yea, methinks it is cried here to her, 'O forest,' on purpose to intimate to us that the house in the forest of Lebanon was the figure of the church in this condition.
2. Again, 'Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest? And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the holy One of Israel. For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off' (Isa 29:17-20). Lebanon was a forest, but now she must be a fruitful field. What means he here by Lebanon but the church under persecution, and the fruitful field? Mistress Babylon shall become as a forest, that is, as the church under distress. But when shall this be? Why, when the terrible one is brought low and the scorner is consumed, &c.
What can be more plain than this to prove that Lebanon, even the house in the forest of Lebanon, for that is here intended, was a figure of the church in the wilderness, or in a tempted and persecuted state. For to be turned into a fruitful field signifies the recovering of the afflicted church into a state most quiet and fruitful; fruitful fields are quiet because they are fenced, and so shall the church be in that day.
3. 'The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose' (Isa 35:1).
What are we to understand by these words if they be not a prophecy of the flourishing state of Christ's kingdom, who, in the days of her persecution, is compared to a wilderness, to a desert, and to solitary places. And she 'shall be glad for them'; for what? for that she is rid of the dragons, wild beasts, satyrs, screech owls, great owl, and vulture, types of the beasts and unclean birds of Antichrist (Isa 34:13-15).
She shall be glad for them that they are taken away from her and placed far away, for then no lion shall be there nor any ravenous beast; yea, it is the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass, with reeds and rushes, as it is, Isaiah 35. And now 'the lame man shall leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing; for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.' Read the whole chapter.
For that the desert and wilderness is thus mentioned, and that to express the state of the church in trouble by, it is clear that Lebanon is not excluded, nor the thing that is signified thereby, which, I say, is the church in her low estate, in her forest, or wilderness condition.
4. 'I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah-tree, and the myrtle, and the oil-tree; I will set in the desert the fir-tree, and the pine, and the box-tree together' (Isa 41:19).
Can any think that trees are the things taken care of here? They are the men that Antichrist has murdered in his heat and rage against Christ, the which God will restore again to his church, when Antichrist is dead and buried in the sides of the pit's mouth. And that you may the better understand he meaneth so, he expresseth again the state of the church as like to a wilderness condition, and promiseth that in that very church, now so like a wilderness, to plant it again with Christians, flourishing with variety of gifts and graces, signified by the various nature and name of the trees spoken of here.
5. 'Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen' (Isa 43:19,20). Here God alludes to the condition of the children of Israel in the wilderness of old, and implies they shall be in a wilderness again; and as then he gave them water, and delivered them from serpents, cockatrices, vipers, dragons, so he will do now, now to his people, his chosen.
6. 'The Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody' (Isa 51:3).
See here are Zion's waste places, Zion's wilderness, forest, or Lebanon. Next here is a promise that he will comfort her; and what doth this suppose but that she was in her wilderness state, uncomfortable at least as to her outward peace, her liberty, and gospel privileges and beauties? Then here is the comparison, by which he illustrates his promise as to what degree and pitch he will comfort her. 'He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord.' The effects of all which will be she will have joy and gladness; she will be thankful, and be melodious in her voice, in her soul to the Lord. This, I say, will follow upon her deliverance from her desert, her wilderness, her desolate, and comfortless state: all which is more fully expressed by her repeated hallelujahs (Rev 19:1-6). Which hallelujahs there are the effect of her deliverance from the rage of the beast and great whore, of whose greatness and ruin you read in the two foregoing chapters. Now, I say, since the church was to be in a wilderness condition under the gospel; and since we have this house of the forest of Lebanon so particularly set forth in the Scriptures; and also since this house, its furniture, its troubles, and state, do so paint out this church in this wilderness state, I take it to be for that very thing designed, that is to say, to prefigure this church in this her so solitary and wilderness state.
We will now therefore here make a brief conclusion of all.
First. This may inform us of the reason of the deplorable state of a professing people. It is allotted to them in this world to be so. The world, and men of the world, must have their tranquility here, and must be possest of all; this was foreshown in Esau, who had of his sons many that were dukes and kings before there was any king in Israel (Gen 36:31). God so disposing of things that all may give place when his Son shall come to reign in Mount Zion, and before his ancients gloriously, which coming of his will be at the resurrection, and end of this world, and then shall his saints reign with him; 'when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory' (Col 3:4).
Let not therefore kings, and princes, and potentates be afraid; the saints that are such indeed, know their places, and are of a peaceable deportment; 'the earth God hath given to the children of men,' and his kingdom to the sons of God (Psa 115:16; Matt 25:34; Luke 12:32).
I know there are extravagant opinions in the world about the kingdom of Christ, as if it consisted in temporal glory in part, and as if he would take it to him by carnal weapons, and so maintain it in its greatness and grandeur; but I confess myself an alien to these notions, and believe and profess the quite contrary, and look for the coming of Christ to judgment personally, and betwixt this and that, for his coming in Spirit, and in the power of his word to destroy Antichrist, to inform kings, and so give quietness to his church on earth; which shall assuredly be accomplished,[23] when the reign of the beast, the whore, the false prophet, and of the man of sin is out (2 Thess 2:8; Isa 49:23, 52:15, 60:3,10,11,16, 62:2; Rev 21:24).
Second. Let this teach men not to think that the church is cursed of God, because she is put in a wilderness state. Alas, that is but to train her up in a way of solitariness, to make her Canaan the more welcome to her. Rest is sweet to the labouring man. Yea, this condition is the first step to heaven; yea, it is a preparation to that kingdom. God's ways are not as man's. 'I have chosen thee,' saith he, 'in the furnace of affliction.' When Israel came out of Egypt, they were led of God into the wilderness; but why? That he might have them to a land, that he had espied for them, that he might bring them to a city of habitation (Eze 20:6; Psa 107:1-7).
The world know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of our God. Do you think that saints that dwell in the world, and that have more of the mind of God than the world, would, could so rejoice in God, in the cross, in tribulations and distresses, were they not assured that through many tribulations is the very roadway to heaven (Acts 14:22).
Let this then encourage the saints to hope, and to rejoice in hope of the glory of God, notwithstanding present tribulations. This is our seed-time, our winter; afflictions are to try us of what mettle we are made; yea, and to shake off worm-eaten fruit, and such as are rotten at core. Troubles for Christ's sake are but like the prick of an awl in the tip of the ear, in order to hang a jewel there.
Let this also put the saints upon patience: when we know that a trial will have an end, we are by that knowledge encouraged to exercise patience. I have a bad master, but I have but a year to serve under him, and that makes me serve him with patience; I have but a mile to go in this dirty way, and then I shall have my path pleasant and green, and this makes me tread the dirty way with patience. I am now in my rags, but by that a quarter of a year is come and gone, two hundred a year comes into my hand, wherefore I will wait, and exercise patience. Thus might I multiply comparisons. Be patient then, my brethren; but how long? to the coming of the Lord. But when will that be? the coming of the Lord draws nigh.
'Be patient,' my brethren, be long patient, even 'unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh' (James 5:7,8).
1. The second month in the Hebrew calendar began April 7.—Ed.
2. A common expression for difference.—'What's the odds between us?'—Ed.
3. The churches of Christ have suffered under bitter persecution, and been in a wilderness state, from the primitive times, through Popish days, and under the relentless cruelties suffered by the Covenanters and Nonconformists from the Church of England. As the gospel spreads, it humanizes and softens the hearts even of the rebellious. The dread fire no longer consumes the cedars of Lebanon. Still there remains the contemptuous sneer, the scorn, the malice of the soul, against Christ and his spiritual seed. Not many years since the two daughters of an evangelical clergyman, a D.D., came out, from strong and irresistible conviction, and united with one of the straitest sects of Dissenters—the Plymouth Brethren. The unhappy parent could not brook the insult to his order, and died insane.—Ed.
4. Bunyan not only experienced the richest enjoyments in jail, but it is very probable that his life was saved for a few years by his having lain in prison during the violent heat and storm of persecution which raged in the early part of the reign of Charles II. Thus God mysteriously restrains the wrath of man, and makes it to praise him. The damp unwholesome dungeon, intended for his destruction, crowned him with peculiar honour, because, as in his Patmos, he there wrote his immortal book.—Ed.
5. Pill, to rob; poll, to exact, to extort. 'The church is pilled and polled by its own flocks.'—South, Ser. 11. v. 5.—Ed.
6. Maundrel measured a cedar which was thirty-six feet six inches in girth, and one hundred and eleven feet in the spread of its boughs; the foliage is ever green, and it mounts up to an enormous height.—Ed.
7. It is one of the strongest proofs that the human mind is disordered by sin, that man is by nature senseless to the sublime truths of Christianity—the beam, the truth which saves the world from utter moral desolation. What wonders open before the eyes of the young convert, stretching far away into that heavenly and eternal felicity which had been shut out from his vision by the gloom of death! Life and immortality is brought to light. His life, and all other things, become but dross, that he may win Christ, and maintain his cause in the world.—Ed.
8. All men have the same Bible, but all have not sought for spiritual discernment. The Beast, whether of Rome, Greece, or England, that looks through the Word to find some plausible means of tyrannising over the soul, by preventing man from using his own eyes in seeking salvation, whether it be by church canons or acts of Parliament interfering with the exercise of private judgment, is an enemy to, and hater of, the true light.—Ed.
9. Humanity, in its usual acceptation, means the inferiority of man to the divine or angelic nature, but superiority to the mere animal or brute creation. 'The nature of man, wherein he is lesse than God Almighty, and excellynge not withstandyng al other creatures in erth, is called humanitie.'—Sir T. Eliot. Bunyan's illustration of the word is curious.—Ed.
10. A common mode of picturing the virgin Mary for the devotee of Popery to worship, is a whole length beautiful woman, with rays as of the sun shooting out all round her, standing upon the moon, and upon her head a splendid crown ornamented with twelve stars. Under such a disguise, who would expect to find 'the well-favoured harlot establishing a throne for Satan?'—Ed.
11. Inventions, fictions, fables.—Ed.
12. The Hebrew words translated in the authorized version of the Bible, 'And a target' or gorget 'of brass,' are rendered, in all the earlier versions, 'And a shield of brass.' Perhaps a cuirass; it was evidently defensive brass armour, worn between the shoulders.—Ed.
13. No formal service such as that of the temple. While the churches are in the wilderness, suffering under the fangs of Antichrist, religious services must be adapted to their circumstances. At times fervent silent prayer, unheard on earth, but recorded in heaven; at other times in an upper chamber or a forest, afraid to sin, lest it should bring the enemy upon them. How ought we to bless God for giving us the full enjoyment of public worship, even while in the wilderness.—Ed.
14. One of the popular delusions of our day is, that all sects have been intolerant and persecutors when they had the opportunity. This is a gross falsehood. Who can charge the Waldenses, Albigenses, or Lollards with that spirit of Antichrist? Who dares charge the Quakers with a persecuting spirit? They had the full opportunity when governing Pennsylvania. Who can accuse the Baptists with injuring those who differed from them when Roger Williams and his Baptist brethren obtained the charter of Rhode Island, with full power to rule themselves by any form of government they preferred? His magna charta concludes with these words, 'And let the saints of the Most High walk in this colony without molestation, in the name of Jehovah their God, for ever and ever.' And it has never been violated. Persecution has never sullied its annals. Freedom to worship God was the desire of its founder—for himself and of all; and he nobly endured till it was accomplished.—Ed.
15. This word was used by Fox in translating the letter of Algerius; I cannot find it in any dictionary. It probably refers to this poor prisoner for Christ being confined in a 'soler,' or room, close under the roof of his prison, in which an Italian sun must have rendered the heat intense. The word 'sooly' may be derived from the Anglo-Saxon 'swool,' sultry; the Dutch use swoel, zoel, and zoelheid, for heat and sultry heat.—Ed.
16. The obsolete verb, to kill.—Ed.
17. This is a curious mode of expressing the awful gradation of a sinner. 1. To go in the way of sinners. 2. To enter into their counsels. 3. To sit in the scorner's seat, here called 'the chair of pestilence.' This is from the vulgate Latin, which renders it pestilentiae.—Ed.
18. Pomponius Algerius, born in Capua, a young man of great learning, was student in the University of Padua, where he, not being able to conceal the verity of Christ's gospel which he learned by the heavenly teaching of God's grace, ceased not, both by doctrine and example of life, to inform as many as he could in the same doctrine, and to bring them to Christ; for which he was accused of heresy, and brought to Rome, where he was burned alive. He wrote this letter while in prison at Venice.—See Fox's Acts and Monuments, edit. 1631. vol. ii. p. 181.
Mr. Southey thought that this letter gave Bunyan some germ of his Pilgrim's Progress!! He takes it from the words, 'In this world there is no mansion firm for me, and therefore I will travel up to the New Jerusalem, which is in heaven.'—Life of Bunyan, p. xc.—Ed.
19. Thus the blood of the martyrs was the seedtime of the church, and it produced an abundant harvest. That God suffered the choicest of his saints to pass through such dreadful sufferings in their way to glory, is a proof that God's ways are not our ways, but they are infinite in wisdom and mercy.—Ed.
20. Consult Bunyan's admirable treatise, Of Antichrist and his Ruin.
21. How easily is this riddle resolved by those who visit the afflicted. The Christian poor beat the rich out and out in charity. The poor mother rises long before her usual time, and having fitted her own children for school, runs to her sick neighbour to do the same for her little ones, frequently sharing with them her own children's food; and then, like an angel of mercy, watches over and comforts her sick neighbour. Such is the unostentatious Christian charity found among the Christian poor. O that it may more and more abound.—Ed.
22. These home-thrusts at conscience, so constantly met with in Bunyan's works, should have the effect of exciting us to solemn self-examination. May we never be contented with the porch, but enter and enjoy the riches of Divine grace.—Ed.
23. The gradual spread of the gospel, like the leaven, must eventually leaven the whole. How astonishing has been its progress since Bunyan entered the celestial city. If his happy spirit hovers as a guardian angel about the saints at Bedford, how must he rejoice in the change. The iron hand of despotic oppression laid low; his old prison swept away; the meetings in dells, and woods, and barns, exchanged for large and commodious places of worship. How he must wonder at our want of gratitude, and love, and zeal, in return for such mercies.—Ed.
***
'And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.'—Revelation 22:17
London: Printed for Nathanael Ponder, at the Peacock in the Poultry, 1688.
Often, and in every age, the children of God have dared to doubt the sufficiency of divine grace; whether it was vast enough to reach their condition—to cleanse them from the guilt of all their sins—and to fit their souls to dwell with infinite holiness in the mansions of the blessed. To solve these doubts—to answer these anxious inquiries, Bunyan wrote many of his works; for although he was a Boanerges, or son of thunder, to awaken the impenitent, he was eminently a Barnabas—a son of consolation—an evangelist to direct the trembling inquirer to Christ the way, the truth, and the life. He proclaims first, from his own experience, that there is 'Grace abounding to the Chief of Sinners'; then he proclaims 'Good News for the Vilest of Men, the Jerusalem Sinner is Saved'—'Christ is an Advocate'—'Christ is a complete Saviour.' Every one is invited with a 'Come and welcome to Jesus Christ.' There is 'Justification by his Righteousness'—'Salvation by his Grace.' 'He is a Throne of Grace' to which all are freely invited. Even 'The Broken Heart is an acceptable sacrifice.' There is 'The Holy City, New Jerusalem,' to receive such at the end of their pilgrimage, and directions amply given to the pilgrim to guide him in his progress to the celestial city; and he now introduces us to a majestic overflowing river, 'The Water of Life,' sufficient for the refreshment and solace of the myriads of God's saints who have lived from the creation, and will live until the final consummation of all things, when the prophet in holy vision saw 'a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, stand before the throne, and before the Lamb.' This work was the result of the author's mature experience, being published by him during the last year of his eventful life. In it he refers to one of those ten excellent manuscripts left by him at his decease, prepared for the press, and afterwards published by Mr. Doe. It is called, The Saint's Privilege and Profit. The way in which he alludes to this, as if it had been printed, shows that he had fully determined to publish it shortly, and this, if it was needed, would confirm our confidence in those treatises. He thus refers to it: 'Because I have spoken of this thing, more particularly upon that text, 'Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace,' I shall therefore here say no more.'
Two things are rather extraordinary with regard to this valuable treatise on the Water of Life. One is, that although inserted in every list of our author's works, both published by himself and by his friends after his decease, it escaped the researches of Doe, Wilson, Chandler, Whitfield, and others who collected and published Bunyan's works, excepting only the edition with Mason's notes, printed for A. Hogg about 1785. The other singular circumstance is, that although the separate treatises of Bunyan were all most wretchedly and inaccurately printed, the Water of Life has in this respect suffered more than any other of his works. A modern edition of this book, published at Derby by Thomas Richardson, is, without exception, the most erroneously printed of all books that have come under my notice. The Scriptures are misquoted—words are altered so as to pervert the sense—whole sentences and paragraphs, and even whole pages in three or four places, and, in one instance, four consecutive pages, are left out!!! I should be grieved if more penal enactments were added to our statutes, but surely there should be some punishment for such a crime as this. The other editions are more reputable, but very incorrect. One of them bears the imprint of 'London, for James Bunyan, 1760.' Another has 'London, sold by Baxter, Doolittle, & Burkit,' evidently fictitious names, adopted from those three great authors. The Pilgrim's Progress was twice published by D. Bunyan, in Fleet Street, 1763 and 1768; and the Heavenly Footman, 'London, sold by J. Bunyan, above the Monument.' All these are wretchedly printed, and with cuts that would disgrace an old Christmas carol. Thus the public have been imposed upon, and thus the revered name of Bunyan has been sacrificed to the cupidity of unprincipled men. Had his works been respectably printed they would have all been very popular and useful, and his memory have been still more venerated.
To attract his readers to come personally, and partake the blessings imparted by the water of life, Bunyan shows that, as a medicine, it alone is the specific to cure the sin-sick soul—all other applications must fail most fatally—'all other remedies come from and return to the Dead Sea'—while the water of life issues from, and leads the soul to, the throne of God. It cleanseth from the old leaven. The Divine Physician is ever ready to administer to the wearied soul. Be not misled by worldly-wisemen to take advice of the doctor's boy, but go direct to Jesus; he is ready—he is willing to cure and save to the uttermost. His medicine may be sharp, but merely so as to effect the cure 'where bad humours are tough and churlish.' 'It revives where life is, and gives life where it is not. Take man from this river, and nothing can make him live: let him have this water and nothing can make him die.' The river of water of life allegorically represents the Spirit and grace of God; thus the truth is mercifully set before us, for 'what is more free than water, and what more beneficial and more desirable than life?' Vast and majestic rivers convey but a faint idea of the immensity of Divine grace; in comparison with which 'the most mighty mountain dwindles into the least ant's egg or atom in the world.' A stream of grace issued from the same source during the patriarchal dispensation, and then mankind were directed to it by immediate revelation, or by the tradition of their fathers. It extended under the Jewish or Levitical law, in its course passing through the temple, issuing from under the threshold of God's house, revealed by types, and shadows, and an earthly priesthood, and then 'grace ran but slowly because Jesus was not glorified.' Now it flows like a majestic river from the throne of God, open to all, without limit of family or nation, revealed to every creature by the volume of inspiration. This water admits no mixture—it is pure and perfect as its origin—free as the air we breathe to sustain life. 'There is no grudge, or a piece of an upbraiding speech heard therein.' Any attempt to mix with it human merits destroys all its efficacy. In it, and in it only, spiritual life, exciting to works of mercy, and giving sure hopes of immortal bliss, is to be found. God's children can no more live separated from this river than fish can live out of water. As a fish, by natural instinct, avoids foul and unwholesome water, so a Christian has spiritual powers to judge of the purity of doctrine. Like the manna from heaven, and our daily bread, it must be supplied day by day. No church cistern of works of supererogation can supply this pure water. All such pretended supplies are poisonous. It must come direct from heaven without human interference. Those only who spiritually thirst will seek it. Some prefer wine that perisheth in the using, while this water, once received, becomes a well-spring of living waters, springing up into everlasting life. How marvellous that river which swallows up all the impurities of the myriads of the redeemed, so that they are seen no more for ever. These are the truths pressed upon our attention in this treatise. Well may our venerated Bunyan say, while richly enjoying the blessings of this river of grace, just before he waded through the black river which absorbs our earthly bodies—'O grace! O happy church of God! all things that happen to thee are, for Christ's sake, turned into grace!' It is a river that so reflects the splendour of God, that the first sight of it was to Paul above the brightness of the sun; a light that did, by the glory of it, make dark to him all the things in the world.
Reader, may your soul and mine be abundantly refreshed from this inexhaustible river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God.
I have now presented thee with something of a discourse of the water of life and its virtues; therefore, thou mayest, if thou wilt, call this book Bunyan's Bill of his Master's Water of Life. True, I have not set forth at large the excellent nature and quality thereof, nor can that so be done by the pen or tongue of men or angels. Yet this I have said, and so saying, said truly, that whosoever shall drink of this water shall find it in him a well of water; and not only so, but a well springing up in him to everlasting life, let his disease be what it will. And as men, in their bills for conviction to readers, do give an account to the country of the persons cured, and the diseases that have been removed by liquors and preparations, they have made for that end, so could I, were it not already (by Holy Writ) done by an infallible pen to my hand, give you accounts of numberless numbers that have not only been made to live, but to live for ever, by drinking of this water, this pure water of life. Many of them indeed are removed from hence, and live where they cannot be spoken with was yet; but abundance of them do still remain here, and have their abode yet with men.
Only, if thou wouldst drink it, drink it by itself, and that thou mayest not be deceived by that which is counterfeit, know it is as it comes from the hand of our Lord, without mixture, pure and clear as crystal. I know there are many mountebanks in the world, and every of them pretend they have this water to sell; but my advice is, that thou go directly to the throne thyself (Heb 4:16); or as thou art bidden come to the waters (Isa 55:1), and there thou shalt be sure to have that which is right and good, and that which will certainly make thee well, let thy disease, or trouble, or pain, or malady, be what it will. For the price, care not for that, it is cheap enough, this is to be had without money or price. 'I will give,' saith God and the Lamb, 'unto him that is athirst, of the fountain of the water of life freely' (Rev 21:6). Hence he says again, 'Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely' (Rev 22:17). So that thou hast no ground to keep back because of thy poverty; nay, for the poor it is prepared and set open, to the poor it is offered, the poor and needy may have it of free cost (Isa 41:17,18).[1]
But let it not be slighted because it is offered to thee upon terms so full, so free. For thou art sick, and sick unto death, if thou drinkest not of it, nor is there any other than this that can heal thee, and make thee well. Farewell. The Lord be thy physician! So prays thy friend,
'AND HE SHOWED ME A PURE RIVER OF WATER OF LIFE, CLEAR AS CRYSTAL, PROCEEDING OUT OF THE THRONE OF GOD AND OF THE LAMB.' Revelation 22:1
These words are part of that description that one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, gave unto John of the New Jerusalem, or of the state of that gospel church, that shall be in the latter days (Rev 21:9). Wherefore he saith, 'And he showed me'; HE, the angel, showed me it.
In the text we have these things to consider of,
FIRST. The matter, the subject matter of the text, and that is the water of life. 'He showed me the water of life.' SECOND. We have also here the quantity of this water showed to him, and that is under the notion of a river: 'He showed me a river of water of life.' THIRD. He shows him also the head, or well-spring, from whence this river of water of life proceeds, and that is, 'the throne of God and of the Lamb.' 'He showed me a river of water of life, proceeding out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb.' FOURTH. We have also here the nature and quality of this water; it is pure, it is clear as crystal: 'And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.'
[FIRST.] We will begin with the first of these, to wit, with the matter, the subject matter of the text, which is, THE WATER OF LIFE. These words, water of life, are metaphorical, or words by which a thing most excellent is presented to and amplified before our faces; and that thing is the Spirit of grace, the Spirit and grace of God. And the words, water of life, are words most apt to present it to us by; for what is more free than water, and what more beneficial and more desirable than life? Therefore I say it is compared to, or called, the water of life. He showed me the water of life.
That it is the Spirit of grace, or the Spirit and grace of God, that is here intended: consider, FIRST, the Spirit of grace is in other places compared to water: and, SECOND, it is also called the Spirit of life. Just as here it is presented unto us, 'He showed me the water of life.'
FIRST. The spirit of grace is compared to water. 'Whosoever,' saith the Lamb, 'drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life' (John 4:14). What can here by water be intended, but the Spirit of grace that this poor harlot, the woman of Samaria, wanted, although she was ignorant of her want, as also of the excellency thereof? Which water also is here said to be such as will spring up, in them that have it, as a well into everlasting life.
Again, 'In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.' But of what? Why of his rivers of living waters. But what are they? Why he answers, 'This spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive' (John 7:37-39).
Yes, the prophets and servants of God in the Old Testament, did take this water of life for the Spirit of grace that should in the latter days be poured out into the church. Hence, Isaiah calls water God's Spirit and blessing, and Zechariah, the Spirit of grace. 'I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring' (Isa 44:3). And Zechariah saith, 'I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication,—and they shall mourn,' &c. (Zech 12:10). Behold, in all these places the Spirit of grace is intended, and for our better understanding it is compared to water, to a well of water, to springs of water, and to floods of water.
SECOND. It is also called the Spirit of life, [either] more closely, [or] more openly.
More closely, where it is called 'living water,' 'that living water,' and 'water springing up into everlasting life' (John 4:10,11,14, 7:38).
Then more openly or expressly it is called 'the Spirit of life.' 'And after three days and an half, the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet' (Rev 11:11).
From hence, therefore, I conclude, that by these terms, water of life, is meant the Spirit of grace, or the Spirit and grace of the gospel. And the terms are such as are most apt to set forth the Spirit and grace of the gospel by: for,
[First. The term WATER.]
1. By this term, WATER, an opposition to sin is presented unto us. Sin is compared to water, to deadly waters, and man is said to drink it, as one that drinketh waters. 'How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?' (Job 15:16). So, then, that grace and the Spirit of grace is compared to water, it is to show what an antidote grace is against sin; it is, as I may call it, counter poison to it. It is that ONLY thing by the virtue of which sin can be forgiven, vanquished, and overcome.
2. By this term WATER, you have an opposition also to the curse, that is due to sin, presented unto you. The curse, is compared to water; the remedy is compared to water. Let the curse come into the bowels of the damned, saith the psalmist, like water (Psa 109:18). The grace of God also, as you see, is compared to water. The curse is burning; water is cooling: the curse doth burn with hell-fire; cooling is by the grace of the holy gospel: but they that overstand the day of grace, shall not obtain to cool their tongues so much of this water as will hang on the tip of one's finger (Luke 16:24,25).[2]
3. Water is also of a spreading nature, and so is sin; wherefore sin may for this also be compared to water. It overspreads the whole man, and infects every member; it covereth all as doth water. Grace for this cause may be also compared to water; for that it is of a spreading nature, and can, if God will, cover the face of the whole earth; of body and soul.
4. Sin is of a fouling, defiling nature; and grace is of a washing, cleansing nature; therefore grace, and the Spirit of grace, is compared to water. 'I will,' saith God, 'sprinkle clean water upon you, [my Spirit, v 27] and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you' (Eze 36:25).
5. Water; the element of water naturally descends to and abides in low places, in valleys and places which are undermost; and the grace of God and the Spirit of grace is of that nature also; the hills and lofty mountains have not the rivers running over the tops of them; no, though they may run 'among them.' But they run among the valleys: and 'God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace unto the humble,' 'to the lowly' (John 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5; Prov 3:34).
6. The grace of God is compared to water, for that it is it which causeth fruitfulness; water causeth fruitfulness, want of water is the cause of barrenness; and this is the reason why the whole world is so empty of fruit to Godward, even because so few of the children of men have the Spirit of grace in their hearts. But,
[Second. The term LIFE.]
As there is a great special signification in this term WATER, so there is in this term LIFE, water of life. 'He showed me the water of life.' In that, therefore, there is added to this word water, that of life, it is, in the general, to show what excellent virtue and operation there is in this water. It is aquae vitae, water of life, or water that hath a health and life in it. And this term shows us,
1. That the world of graceless men are dead; dead in trespasses and sins (John 5:21,25; Eph 2:1; Col 2:13). Dead, that is, without life and motion Godward, in the way of the testament of his Son.
2. It also shows us that there is not any thing in the world, or in the doctrine of the world, the law, that can make them live. Life is only in this water, death is in all other things.[3] The law, I say, which is that that would, if anything in the whole world, give life unto the world, but that yet killeth, condemneth, and was added that the offence might abound; wherefore there is no life either in the world or in the doctrine of the world. It is only in this water, in this grace of God, which is here called the after of life, or God's aquae vitae.[4]
3. It is also called the water of life to show that by the grace of God men may live, how dead soever their sins have made them. When God will say to a sinner, 'live,' though he be dead in his sins, 'he shall live.' 'When thou wast in thy blood, I said unto thee, Live; yea, when thou wast in thy blood, I said, Live' (Eze 16:6). And again, 'The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live' (John 5:25). That is, when he speaks words of grace, and mixeth those words with the Spirit and grace of the gospel, then men shall live; for such words so attended, and such words only, are spirit and life. 'The words that I speak unto you,' saith Christ, 'they are spirit, and they are life' (John 6:63).
4. In that this grace of God is here presented unto us under the terms of water of life, it is to show that some are sick of that disease that nothing can cure but that. There are many diseases in the world, and there are also remedies for those diseases; but there is a disease that nothing will, can, or shall cure, but a dram of this bottle, a draught of this aquae vitae, this water of life. This is intimated by the invitation, 'let him take the water of life freely' (Rev 22:17). And again, 'I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely' (Rev 21:6). This is spoken to the sick, to them that are sick of the disease that only Christ, as a physician, with his water of life, can cure (Mark 2:17). But few are sick of this disease, but few know what it is to be made sick of this disease.[5] There is nothing can make sick of this disease but the law and sin, and nothing can cure but the grace of God by the gospel, called here the water of life.
[SECOND.] We come now to discourse of the second thing with which we are presented by the text, and that is, the quantity that there is of this water of life. It is a RIVER—'He showed me a river of water of life.' Waters that are cordial, and that have in them a faculty to give life to them that want it, and to maintain life where it is, are rare and scarce, and to be found only in close places and little quantities; but here you see there is abundance, a great deal, a RIVER, a river of water of life. In my handling of this point I will show you,
FIRST. What a river of water of life this is. SECOND. And then draw some inferences therefrom.
FIRST. What a river this is, this river of water of life.[6]
First. It is a deep river. It is a river that is not shallow, but deep, with an 'O the depth!' (Rom 11:33). 'I will make their waters deep, saith God' (Eze 32:14). And again, they 'have drunk of the deep waters' (Eze 34:18). A river of water of life is much, but a deep river is more. Why, soul-sick sinner, sin-sick sinner, thou that art sick of that disease that nothing can cure but a potion of this river of the water of life, here is a river for thee, a deep river for thee. Those that at first are coming to God by Christ for life, are of nothing so inquisitive as of whether there is grace enough in him to save them. But, for their comfort, here is abundance, abundance of grace, a river, a deep river of the water of life, for them to drink of.
Second. As this river is deep, so it is wide and broad (Eph 3:18; Job 11:9). Wherefore, as thou art to know the depth, that is, that it is deep, so thou art to know its breadth, that is, that it is broad; it is broader than the sea, a river that cannot be passed over (Eze 47:5). Never did man yet go from one side of this river to the other when the waters indeed were risen; and now they are risen, even now they proceed out of the throne of God and of the Lamb too. Hence this grace is called 'the unsearchable riches of Christ' (Eph 3:8). Sinner, sick sinner, what sayest thou to this? Wouldst thou wade? wouldst thou swim? here thou mayest swim, it is deep, yet fordable at first entrance. And when thou thinkest that thou hast gone through and through it, yet turn again and try once more, and thou shalt find it deeper than hell, and a river that cannot be passed over. If thou canst swim, here thou mayest roll up and down as the fishes do in the sea.[7] Nor needest thou fear drowning in this river, it will bear thee up, and carry thee over the highest hills, as Noah's waters did carry the ark. But,
Third. As this river of water of life is deep and large, so it is a river that is full of waters. A river may be deep and not full. A river may be broad and not deep. Aye, but here is a river deep and broad, and full too. 'Thou waterest it; thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water' (Psa 65:9). Full of grace and truth. Fill the water-pots, saith Christ, up to the brim. The waters of a full cup the wicked shall have; and a river full of the water of life is provided for those who indeed have a desire thereto.
Fourth. As this river is deep, broad, and full, so it still aboundeth with water. The waters, says the prophet, 'were risen' (Eze 47:4). Hence, the Holy Ghost saith, God causeth the waters to flow (Psa 147:18). And again, 'And it shall come to pass in that day [the day of the gospel] that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim' (Joel 3:18). When a river overflows it has more water than its banks can bound: it has water. 'Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed' (Psa 78:20). This river of water of life, which is also signified by these waters, is a river that abounds and that overflows its banks in an infinite and unspeakable manner. Thus much for the river, to wit, what a river of water of life it is. It is a river deep, broad, full, and abounding with this water, with this Spirit and grace of the gospel.
[Inferences to be drawn from this term RIVER.]
SECOND. Now I shall come to draw some inference from it, that is, from this term, a river. A river of water of life.
First. Then, a river is water that is common, common in the streams, though otherwise in the head. This river proceeds out of the throne, and so, as to its rise, it is special; it is also called the water of life, and as it is such, it is special; but as it is a river it is common, and of common use, and for common good. Hence the grace of God is called the common salvation (Jude 3), for that by the word there is no restraint, no denial to or forbidding of any that will, from receiving thereof.
And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely (Rev 22:17). What can more fully declare the commonness of a thing? Yea, this river is called, at the very head of it, an 'open fountain,' a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem (Zech 13:1). And by David or Judah and Jerusalem is comprehended every soul that would drink of the water of life or living water. And hence it is that this river is said to 'go down into the desert and go into the sea,' where all kinds of fishes are (Eze 47:8). By sea is meant the world, and by fish the people, and thither shall run this river of water of life. But,
Second. Though a river, in the streams of it, is common, yet a river, as it passes through a country or province, will choose its own way, it will run in the valleys, in the plains, not over steeples and hills. It will also fetch its compasses and circuits; it will go about and reach hither and thither, and according to its courses it will miss by its turnings what places and people it lists, yet it is common, for that it lies open, yet it is common for all the beasts of the field. There is, therefore, a difference to be put betwixt the commonness of a thing and its presence. A thing may be common, yet far enough off of thee. Epsom, Tunbridge waters, and the Bath, may be common, but yet a great way off of some that have need thereof.[8] The same may be said of this river, it is common in the streams, but it runs its own circuit, and keeps its own water-courses. 'He sendeth the springs into the valleys which run among the hills' (Psa 104:10). Indeed, he openeth his river in high places, in his throne, and of the Lamb, but still they run in the midst of the valleys to water the humble and the lowly. Wherefore, they that thirst and would drink are bid to come down to the waters—'Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy,' &c. (Isa 55:1). And again, 'If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink' (John 7:37). The waters are common, but you must come to them, to them where they are, or you will be nothing the better for them. 'Come ye to the waters.'
Third. This water of life is called a river, to intimate to you by what store of the same it is supplied. All rivers have the sea for their original: 'All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again' (Eccl 1:7).[9] And so this river of water of life is said to proceed out of the throne, as out of a place where it breaketh out, but the original is the sea, the ocean of grace, which is an infinite Deity. 'Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea, into the depth of the sea of thy grace' (Micah 7:19). Rivers, when they are broken up, do with their gliding streams carry away a great deal of the filth, which from all parts of the countries through which they run, is conveyed into them; and they carry it away into the sea, where it is everlastingly swallowed up.[10] And, O! the filth that is cast into this river of God! and, O! how many dirty sinners are washed white therein, for by its continual gliding away, it carrieth that filth into the midst of the sea.
A river will take away the very stink of a dead dog: nor doth all the soil and draught that is cast into the rivers, cause that those that can should be afraid to make use thereof: all that have need do betake themselves to this river notwithstanding. But how much more virtue is there in this sweet river of grace that is designed, yea, opened on purpose, to wash away sin and uncleanness in, to carry away all our filth, and to remain as virtuous still!
Fourth. It is called a river, to show that it yields a continual supply, as I may call it, of new and fresh grace. Rivers yield continually fresh and new water. For though the channel or watercourse in which the water runs is the same, yet the waters themselves are always new. That water that but one minute since stood in this place or that of the river, is now gone, and new and fresh is come in its place. And thus it is with the river of God, which is full of water; it yieldeth continually fresh supplies, fresh and new supplies of grace to those that have business in those waters. And this is the reason that when sin is pardoned, it seems as if it were carried away. Those waters have, with their continual streams, carried away the filth of the sinner form before his face. It is not so with ponds, pools, and cisterns; they will be foul and stink, if they be not often emptied, and filled again with fresh water. We must then put a difference between the grace that dwelleth in us, and this river of water of life. We are but as ponds, pools, and cisterns, that can hold but little, and shall also soon stink, notwithstanding the grace of God is in us, if we be not often emptied from vessel to vessel, and filled with fresh grace from this river (Jer 48:11). But the river is always sweet, nor can all the filth that is washed out of the world make it stink, or infect it: its water runs with a continual gliding stream, and so carries away all annoyance, as was said, into the depth of the sea.
Fifth. The grace of God is called a river, to show that it is only suited to those who are capable of living therein. Water, though it is that which every creature desireth, yet it is not an element in which every creature can live. Who is it that would not have the benefit of grace, of a throne of grace? But who is it that can live by grace? Even none, but those whose temper and constitution is suited to grace. Hence, as the grace of God is compared to a RIVER, so those that live by grace are compared to FISH: for that as water is that element in which the fish liveth, so grace is that which is the life of the saint. 'And there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither; for they shall be healed, and everything shall live whither the river cometh' (Eze 47:9). Art thou a fish, O man, art thou a fish? Canst thou live in the water; canst thou live always, and nowhere else, but in the water? Is grace thy proper element? The fish dieth if she be taken out of the water, unless she be timely put in again; the saint dieth if he be not in this river. Take him from this river, and nothing can make him live; let him have water, water of life enough, and nothing can make him die.
I know that there are some things besides fish, that can make a shift to live in the water; but the water is not their proper, their only proper element. The frog can live in the water, but not in the water only; the otter can live in the water, but not in the water only. Give some men grace and the world, grace and sin; admit them to make use of their lusts for pleasure, and of grace to remove their guilt, and they will make a pretty good shift, as we say; they will finally scrabble on in a profession; but hold them to grace only, confine their life to grace, put them into the river, and let them have nothing but river, and they die; the word, and way, and nature of grace, is to them as light bread,[11] and their soul can do no other but loath it, for they are not suited and tempered for that element. They are fish, not frogs, that can live in the river, as in their only proper element. Wherefore, the grace of God, and Spirit of grace, is compared to a river, to show that none but those can live thereby whose souls and spirits are suited and fitted thereto.
Sixth. The grace, and Spirit of grace of God, is called or compared to a river, to answer those unsatiable desires, and to wash away those mountainous doubts that attend those that indeed do thirst for that drink. The man that thirsteth with spiritual thirst, fears nothing more than that there is not enough to quench his thirst. All the promises and sayings of God's ministers to such a man seem but as thimbles instead of bowls (Psa 63:1, 143:6). I mean so long as his thirst and doubts walk hand in hand together. There is not enough in this promise; I find not enough in that promise to quench the drought of my thirsting soul. He that thirsteth aright, nothing but God can quench his thirst. 'My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God' (Psa 42:2, 63:1, 143:6). Well, what shall be done for this man? Will his God humour him, and answer his desires? Mark what follows: 'When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none,' (and they can find none, when all the promises seem to be dry, and like clouds that return after the rain), 'and their tongue faileth for thirst, I, the Lord, will hear them.' Aye, but Lord, what wilt thou do to quench their thirst? 'I will open rivers,' saith he, 'in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water' (Isa 41:17,18). Behold! here are rivers and fountains, a pool, and springs, and all to quench the thirst of them that thirst for God.
Wherefore, as I said, such provision for the thirsty intimates their fears of want and the craving appetite of their souls after God. Right spiritual thirst is not to be satisfied without abundance of grace. And 'they shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house, and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures' (Psa 36:8).
Seventh. The grace of God is compared to a river, to show the greatness of the family of God. He has a family, a great family, and, therefore, it is not a little that must be provided for them. When Israel went out of Egypt, and thirsted by the way, God provided for them a river; he made it gush out of the rock; for, alas! what less than a river could quench the thirst of more than six hundred thousand men, besides women and children? (Psa 78:20).
I say, what less than a river could do it? When the people lusted for flesh, Moses said, 'Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them to suffice them?' (Num 11:22). Even so could not less than a river sustain and suffice that great people. Now his people in gospel days are not to be diminished, but increased; and if then they had need of a river, surely now of a sea; but the river is deep and broad, full, and abounds, or rises with water, so it will suffice.
Eighth. The grace of God is compared to a river, perhaps to show of what a low esteem it is with the rich and the full. The destitute indeed embrace the rock instead of a shelter, and the poor and needy, they seek water: but they that can drink wine in bowls, that can solace themselves with, as they think, better things, they come not to this river to drink; they never say they shall die if they drink not of this water. It is, therefore, for the poor and needy, God will lead THEM to his 'living fountains of waters,' and will 'wipe away all tears from THEIR eyes' (Rev 7:17). And thus I pass the second and come to the third particular, and that is, to show the head and spring from whence this river proceeds, or springs.
[THIRD.] Rivers have their heads from whence they rise, out of which they spring, and so, accordingly, we read this river has; wherefore he saith, 'He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.'
[GOD.] God is here to be taken for the whole Godhead, Father, Son, and Spirit, for that grace proceeds from them all; the grace of the Father, the grace of the Son, and the grace of the Spirit is here included. Hence, as the Father is called 'the God of grace' (1 Peter 5:10): so the Son is said to be full of grace, grace to be communicated (John 1:14-16), and the Holy Ghost is called 'the Spirit of grace' (Heb 10:29). So then by this we perceive whence grace comes. Were all the world gracious, if God were not gracious, what was man the better? If the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Ghost, are gracious, if they were not all gracious, what would it profit? But now God is gracious, the three persons in the Godhead are gracious, and so long they that seek grace are provided for; for that, there proceeds from them a river, or grace like a flowing stream; indeed the original of grace to sinners is the good will of God; none can imagine how loving God is to sinful man. A little of it is seen, but they that see most, see but a little.
[THE LAMB.] But there is added, 'and of the Lamb.' The Lamb is, Jesus as sacrificed, Jesus as man, and suffering. Hence you have the Lamb, at the first vision of the throne, set forth unto us, that is, as slain. 'And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain' (Rev 5:6). Wherefore, by this word Lamb, we are to understand who, or by what means, grace doth now run from the throne of God, like a river, to the world. It is because of, or through the Lamb. We are 'justified freely by the grace of God through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood' (Rom 3:24). And again, 'We have redemption through his blood,' even 'the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of God's grace' (Eph 1:7).
Nor doth the Lamb of God, by becoming a means, through death, of the conveyance of grace to us, at all darken the nature or glory of grace, but rather doth set it off the more. For wherein can grace or love more appear than in his laying down his life for us? I speak now of the grace of the Son. And wherein could the nature and glory of grace of the Father more appear than in giving his Son to death for us, that grace might, in a way of justice as well as mercy, be bestowed upon the world? Wherefore, as he saith here, that the river of water of life proceedeth from God, so he adds that the Lamb, because he would have us while we are entangled and overcome with this river of God's pleasure, not forget what it cost the Lamb of God that this grace might come unto us.
For the riches of grace and of wisdom are, that grace comes to us not only in a way of mercy and compassion, but in a way of justice and equity; but that could be by no other means but by redeeming blood. Which redeeming blood came not from us, nor yet through our contrivance or advice; wherefore, whatever it is to the Lamb, still all is of grace to us. Yea, the higher, the greater, the richer is grace, by how much the more it cost the Father and the Lamb, that we might enjoy it. When a man shall not only design me a purse of gold, but shall venture his life to bring it to me, this is grace indeed. But, alas! what are a thousand such short comparisons to the unsearchable love of Christ.
The Lamb, then, is he from whom, by, or through whom the grace of God doth come to us. It proceeds from the throne of God and of the Lamb. And it proceeds from him now as a donator: from him, not only as a means of conveyance, but as one that has power to give grace; power, as he is the Son of Man. For as the Son of Man he is the Lamb, and as he is the Lamb it cometh from him. 'The Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins' (Matt 9:6). And that before he had actually paid to God the price of our redemption. But how much more now? Wherefore Paul, in his prayer for grace and peace for saints, supplicates both God and the Lamb—'Grace be to you, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ' (Eph 1:2; 1 Cor 1:3; 2 Cor 1:2; Gal 1:3).
'Proceeding out of the throne.' Formerly this river of water is said to come from under the threshold of the house of the Lord (Eze 47:1). And it is, said again, they 'shall go out from Jerusalem,' that is, the church or house of God still (Zech 14:8). In that they are said to come out from under the threshold, it may be to intimate that they ran but low formerly, if compared to what they do now. Which might also be signified by this, that they 'issued out,' that that issues out ordinarily comes forth but slowly. Also the prophet saith, the first time he went through the waters, they were but up to the ankles (Eze 47:3,4). But what is ankle-deep to that which followeth after? It is said also to come out from Jerusalem, where, I perceive, were no great rivers, to intimate, that as long as the first priesthood, first temple, and type, were in their splendour, only the shadow of heavenly things were in use, and that then grace ran but slowly, nor would run much faster, because Jesus was not yet glorified. For the Spirit and abundance of grace was to be given not before but after his ascension.
Wherefore, now Jesus is ascended, now he is glorified, now grace proceeds from the throne, not from the threshold of the house. 'He shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb.'
THE THRONE. That of which the mercy-seat was a type, that which is called the throne of grace (Exo 25:17; Heb 4:16). And it is called the throne of grace, even, therefore, because it is that from or out of which proceeds this river of water of life, this overflowing grace of God. Now, it may be asked what is the throne of grace? and I shall answer it is the humanity of Christ. He is the throne, he is the Jacob in which God sitteth (Isa 22:22,23). And he shall be for a glorious throne to his Father's house (Rev 3:7). The fulness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily; and God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, nor can grace come to men but by Christ, nor can God rest as to our salvation but in him. But because I have spoken of this thing more particularly upon that text, 'Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace,' &c., I shall, therefore, here say no more.
Only, methinks, it is a glorious title that the Holy Ghost has given to the humanity of Christ, in that he calls it the throne of God; and methinks he gives it the highest preference in that he saith, out thence proceeds a pure river of water of life: we will a little, therefore, speak something to this word—the throne, the throne of God.
First. A throne is the seat of majesty and greatness; it is not for things of an inferior quality to ascend or assume a throne. Now, then, since this river of water of life proceeds from the throne, it intimates, that in grace and mercy there is great majesty; for grace, as it proceeds, has a voice from the throne. And, indeed, there is nothing in heaven or earth that can so AWE the heart as the grace of God (Hosea 3:5). It is that which makes a man fear, it is that which makes a man tremble, it is that which makes a man bow and bend, and break to pieces (Jer 32:9). Nothing has that majesty and commanding greatness in and upon the hearts of the sons of men as has the grace of God. So that, I say, when he saith that this river of grace proceeds out of the throne of God, it is to show us what a majesty, what a commanding greatness, there is in grace. The love of Christ constraineth us.
When Moses went up to the mount the first time to receive the law, he did exceedingly fear and quake. Why? because of the fire and smoke, thick darkness and thunder, &c. But when he went up the second time thither, 'he made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.' But why? because it was before proclaimed that 'the Lord was merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin,' &c. (Exo 34:6-9).
There is nothing overmastereth the heart like grace, and so obligeth to sincere and unfeigned obedience as that. 'Examine me, O Lord,' said David, 'and prove me; try my reins and my heart. For thy loving kindness is before mine eyes: and I have walked in thy truth' (Psa 26:2,3). Therefore, he saith again, O Lord our God, 'how excellent is thy loving kindness' in all the earth! and that loving kindness is marvellous; for it has that majesty and that excellent glory in it as to command the heart and subdue sin. And, therefore, grace has given to it the title of sovereignty, or of one that reigns. The throne is called 'the throne of grace' (Heb 4:16), that on which it sits and reigns, as well as that from whence it proceeds: 'Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord' (Rom 5:21).
Second. As a throne is a seat of majesty and greatness, and so can awe, so it is the seat of authority and legislative power, and so will awe; this is confirmed from what was said but now, 'grace reigns.' Wherefore it is expected that they that hear the word of God's grace should submit thereto, and that at their peril. 'He that believes not shall be damned,' is a word of power, of law, and of authority, and the contemner shall find it so. Grace proceeds from the throne, from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Wherefore, sinner, here is laid a necessity upon thee, one of the two must be thy lot; either thou must accept of God's grace, and be content to be saved freely thereby, notwithstanding all thy undeservings and unworthiness, or else thou must be damned for thy rebellion and for thy rejecting of this grace. Wherefore, consider with thyself and think what is best to be done. Is it better that thou submit to the grace and mercy of God, and that thou acceptest of grace to reign for thee, in thee, and over thee, than that thou shouldst run the hazard of eternal damnation because thou wouldst not be saved by grace? Consider of this, I say, for grace is now in authority, it reigns and proceeds from the THRONE. Now, you know, it is dangerous opposing, rejecting, despising, or disowning of them in authority; better speak against twenty than against one that is in authority. If 'the wrath of a king is as messengers of death' (Prov 16:14), if the wrath of the king 'is as the roaring of a lion,' what is the wrath of God? (Prov 19:12). And you know, to despise grace, to refuse pardon, to be unwilling to be saved from the guilt and punishment due to treasons, the king's way, since that also is the best way, how will that provoke? how hot will that make wrath? But to accept of grace, especially when it is free grace, grace that reigns, grace from the throne, how sweet is it? 'His favour is as dew upon the grass.'
This, therefore, calls for thy most grave and sedate thoughts. Thou art in a strait, wilt thou fly before Moses, or with David fall into the hands of the Lord? wilt thou go to hell for sin, or to life by grace? One of the two, as was said before, must be thy lot: for grace is king, is upon the throne, and will admit of no other way to glory. In and by it thou must stand, if thou hast any hope, or canst at all 'rejoice in hope of the glory of God' (Rom 5:2).
Third. As the throne is the seat of majesty and authority, so it is the highest seat of authority. There is none above the throne, there is no appeal from the throne. There are inferior courts of judicature, there are under-governors, and they may sometimes, perhaps, be faulty; wherefore in some cases an appeal from such may be lawful or permitted; but from the throne none can appeal. Now grace is upon the throne, reigns upon the throne, proceeds from the throne. A man may appeal from the law to the throne, from Moses to Christ, from him that spake on earth to him that speaks from heaven; but from heaven to earth, from Christ to Moses, none can appeal, Moses himself has forbid it. For 'Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, of your brethren like, unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people' (Acts 3:22,23).
See here, this NEW prophet judges in the highest court; he is master of grace, the throne by which grace reigns; and even Moses admits that from himself an appeal may be made to this prophet; yea, he allows that men may flee from himself to this prophet for refuge; but there must be no appeal from him. Thou must hear him or die. How shall we escape, 'if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven?' (Heb 12:25).
This, therefore, is to be duly weighed and deeply considered by us. It is not a saint, nor a minister, nor a prophet, nor an angel that speaks, for all these are but servants, but inferiors; no, it is a voice from the throne, from authority, from the highest authority; it is the Lord from heaven. This grace proceeds from the throne, and, therefore, men must stand and fall by what shall come from hence. He that comes not hither to drink shall die for thirst. He that refuses this water now, shall not have so much as will hang upon the tip of his finger, if it would save his soul, hereafter. 'How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation' (Heb 2:3).
Apostates will, therefore, from hence find gripping pangs and burning coals, for they have turned themselves away from this throne, and from the grace that proceeds therefrom; nor is it to any purpose whatever they plead for themselves. They are fallen from grace, and what can help them? Christ is become of none effect unto such, whosoever is, that is, seeks to be, justified by the law; they 'are fallen from grace' (Gal 5:4).
Fourth. The throne is the seat of glory, 'When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him; then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory' (Matt 25:31). And if the throne of judgment is the seat of glory, much more the throne of grace. We will venture then to say that the throne of grace is the throne of God's glory, as the throne of judgment will be the throne of Christ's glory, and that grace proceedeth from his throne, that both it and he might have glory; glory in a way of mercy.
1. That it might have glory; therefore has he designed that grace shall be effectual in, and to the salvation of some, even 'to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in his Beloved' (Eph 1:6). He has designed, not the glory of man's works, but the glory of his own grace; and, therefore, has put man's works, as to justification before God, under his feet, and counts them as filthy rags; but has set his grace up above, has made it a king, given it authority to reign, has provided for it a throne, and called that throne the throne of grace, from whence it also proceeds to its own praise and glory, in and by the effectual salvation of those that receive it, and receive it not in vain.
2. As grace is exalted, and made to proceed out of the throne, to its own praise, to its own glory; so is it also thus exalted and made flow to us like a river, that we should be the praise of the glory of him that hath exalted it. We that receive it, and submit unto the throne whence it proceeds, have thereby 'obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory' (Eph 1:11,12). So that this throne is a throne of glory. 'A glorious high throne, from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary' (Jer 17:12). Now what follows from this, but that they that accept of this grace give glory to God, to his grace, and to the word of his grace; such, I say, 'glorify God for his mercy' (Rom 15:9). 'They glorify God for your professed subjection to the gospel of Christ' (2 Cor 9:13), which is the gospel or good tidings 'of the grace of God' (Acts 20:24). They, with Abraham, believe, and give glory to God (Rom 4:20). And with the Gentiles they glorify the word of the Lord (Acts 13:48).
But to slight grace, to do despite to the Spirit of grace, to prefer our own works to the derogating from grace, what is it but to contemn God? to contemn him when he is on the throne, when he is on the throne of his glory? I say, it is to spit in his face, even then when he commands thee to bow before him, to subject unto him, and to glorify the grace of his glory, that proceeds from the throne of his glory. If men in old time were damned because they glorified him not as God, shall not they be more than damned, if more than damned can be, who glorify him not for his grace? And, to be sure, none glorify him for his grace but those that close in therewith, and submit themselves thereto. Talkers of grace are but mockers of God, but flatterers of God. Those that only talk highly of grace, and submit not themselves unto it, are but like to those that praise a look, or flatter him in his own conceits. Grace God has exalted, has set it upon the throne, and so made it a king, and given it authority to reign; and thou goest by, and hearest thereof, but wilt not submit thyself thereto, neither thy soul nor thy life; why, what is this more than to flatter God with thy lips, and than to lie unto him with thy tongue? what is this but to count him less wise than thyself? while he seeks glory by that by which thou wilt not glorify him; while he displays his grace before thee in the world from the throne, and as thou goest by, with a nod thou callest it a fine thing, but followest that which leadeth therefrom? Tremble, tremble, ye sinners, that have despised the richness of his goodness; the day is coming when ye shall behold, and wonder, and perish, if grace prevaileth not with you to be content to be saved by it to the praise of its glory, and to the glory of him who hath set it upon the throne (Acts 13:38-41).
Fifth. The throne is the seat of wisdom. Hence, he is called 'the Ancient of Days,' that sits on this throne, the throne of God (Dan 7:9). Infinite in wisdom, whose garments were white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool. By Ancient of Days, and in that it is said the hair of his head is like the pure wool, his wisdom is set forth unto us. Wherefore, when we read that out of the throne proceeds a river of grace; when we read this proceedeth out of the throne of God, it is as much as to say the wise God, who most perfectly knoweth all ways, counteth, in his wisdom, that to save men by grace is the best, most safe, and sure way: 'Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace, to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed' (Rom 4:16). And, again, forgiveness is according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence (Eph 1:7,8).—Wherefore, to set grace upon the throne, to let grace proceed out of the throne as a river, is by the wise God, the only wise God, counted the best way, the safest way, the way that doth best suit the condition of a sinful man, and that tends most to the utter disappointment of the devil, and death, and hell. Grace can justify freely, when it will, who it will, from what it will. Grace can continue to pardon, favour, and save from falls, in falls, out of falls. Grace can comfort, relieve, and help those that have hurt themselves. And grace can bring the unworthy to glory. This the law cannot do, this man cannot do, this angels cannot do, this God cannot do, but only by the riches of his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. Wherefore, seeing God has set grace on the throne, and ordered that it should proceed from this throne to the world; yea, seeing he has made it king, and granted to it, to it only, the authority and sovereignty of saving souls, he has magnified not only his love, but his wisdom and his prudence before the sons of men. This, then, is his great device, the master-piece of all his witty inventions; and, therefore, it is said, as was hinted before, in this thing he hath proceeded towards us in ALL wisdom and prudence (2 Sam 14:14; Prov 8:11,12).
So then, he that comes to, and drinks of this water, glorifies God for his wisdom, praises God for his wisdom. Such an one saith that God is only wise, and, bowing his head, saith again, 'to God only wise, be glory both now and for ever. Amen.' But he that shall contemn this grace, confronts the highest wisdom, even wisdom upon the throne; he saith to himself, I am wiser than Daniel, than the judgment of God. I could have found out a more safe way to heaven myself; and had I been of God's council, I would have told him so. All this, so horrible blasphemy, naturally proceeds from him that liketh not that grace should be king on the throne, and should proceed out of the throne to the world; but 'shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him?' He that reproveth God, let him answer it (Job 40:2).
The text says,[12] that this very doctrine to the Greeks, to the wise, is foolishness, and the preaching of it a foolish thing to them; but it will appear even then, when the conclusion of all things is come, and when these wise ones, by their wisdom, have fooled themselves to hell, that this 'foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men' (1 Cor 1:21-25).
Christ Jesus, because he was low in the world, is trampled upon by some, but he is a glorious throne to his Father's house: for since his humility was the lowest of all, now he is exalted to be the throne of God, yea, is made the fountain whence grace continually flows, like the rivers, and comes down to us like a mighty stream. Wherefore, I will conclude this with both comfort and caution: with comfort, and that because of the security that they are under that indeed have submitted themselves to grace; 'sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace.' And let it be a caution to those that despise. Take heed, it is dangerous affronting of the wisdom of God. Now here is the wisdom of God, even wisdom upon the throne. It pleased God, for the glory of his wisdom, to make this the way: to wit, to set up grace to reign. I have often thought, and sometimes said, if God will be pleased with any way, surely he will be pleased with his own. Now this is the way of his own devising, the fruit and effect of his own wisdom; wherefore, sinner, please him, please him in that wherein he is well pleased. Come to the waters, cast thyself into them, and fear not drowning; let God alone to cause them to carry thee into his paradise, that thou mayest see his throne.
Sixth. The throne is the seat of faithfulness, the place of performing of engagements and promises. 'When I shall receive the congregation,' saith Christ, 'I will judge uprightly,' that is faithfully (Psa 75:2). And now he has received it, and is made head over all things to it (Eph 1:22,23). And for this cause is he upon the throne, yea, is the throne, from whence proceeds all this grace, that like a river doth flow, and glide from heaven into the world. This river, then, is nothing else but the fulfilling of promises; the faithful fulfilling of promises. 'If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you' (John 16:7). 'This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh,' &c. (Acts 2:16-18). Now this river is the Spirit, the Spirit and grace of God, which was promised by the Father and the Son, and now it comes running from the throne of God and of the Lamb. For 'being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear' (Acts 2:33).
Behold, then, how mindful, how careful, how faithful our Father and the Lamb of God is! It is not exaltation, nor glory, nor a crown, nor a kingdom, nor a throne, that shall make him neglect his poor ones on earth. Yea, therefore, even because he is exalted and on the throne, therefore it is that such a river, with its golden streams, proceeds from the throne to come unto us. And it shall proceed to be far higher than ever was the swellings of Jordan. True, it runs not so high now as in former days, because of the curse of God upon Antichrist, by whose means the land of God's people is full of briers and thorns (Isa 32:13-17). But when the tide is at the lowest, then it is nearest the rising; and this river will rise, and in little time be no more so low as but ankle-deep; it will be up to the knees, to the loins, and be a broad river to swim in (Eze 47). For 'there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams' (Isa 33:21). 'And there shall be no more curse' in the church, 'but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him' without molestation (Rev 22:3-6).
'These sayings are faithful and true,' and in faithfulness shall they, from the throne of God and of the Lamb, be performed to the church. Faithfulness in him that rules, is that which makes Sion rejoice; because thereby the promises yield milk and honey. For now the faithful God, that keepeth covenant, performs to his church that which he told her he would. Wherefore, our rivers shall run, and our brooks yield honey and butter (Job 20:17). Let this teach all God's people to expect, to look, and wait for good things from the throne. But, O! methinks this throne, out of which good comes like a river! who would not be a subject to it? who would not but worship before it? But,
Seventh. A throne is 'the seat of justice.' 'Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne' (Psa 89:14). And it is also from justice that this river of grace flows to us: justice to Christ, and justice to those that are found in him (Rom 3:24). God declares that he can justly justify, and justly forgive (1 John 1:9). Now, if he can justly justify and justly forgive, then can he give grace, and cause that it should proceed to, yea, flow after us as a river (1 Cor 10:4). The river that gushed out of the rock in the wilderness ran after the people there, wherefore they wandered therein. They drank of the rock that followed them; the rock was not removed out of his place, but the flood followed them whither they went. 'He opened the rock and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry places like a river' (Psa 105:41). This rock, saith he, was Christ, that is, figuratively: and this throne is Christ really: and the water gushing out of the rock, and following of them in the wilderness, was to show how, when Christ became a throne, grace and goodness should follow us in the wilderness from thence so long as here we abide. Wherefore David, considering this, said, 'Surely goodness and mercy shall FOLLOW me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever' (Psa 23:6).
But whence must this come? The text says from the throne; from the throne, the seat of justice; for from thence, by reason of what HE hath found in Christ for us, he, in a way of righteousness and justice, lets out to us rivers of his pleasures; whose original is that great and wide sea of mercy that flows in his infinite heart beyond thought.
All is paid for both US and grace (John 7:39). We are bought with a price (1 Cor 6:20). He has obtained eternal redemption for us (Heb 9:12). Yea, and as we are made his, and heaven made ours thus, so this river of grace has been also obtained by him for us (John 7:38). Wherefore, all comes to us in a way of justice and righteousness. Hence we are said to obtain 'faith through the righteousness of God' (2 Peter 1:1), that is, through the justice of God, and of Jesus our Lord. Mark, here is the justice of God, and the justice of Jesus our Lord; and we have our faith from the justice of God, because of the righteousness of Jesus our Lord; that is, Jesus answered with works of justice the demands of justice; and therefore, in a way of justice, grace reigns, and comes to us like a river, as is signified, for that it is said to come to us out of the throne.
Again, grace is said 'to reign through righteousness unto eternal life' (Rom 5:21). Through what righteousness? the righteousness or justice of God by Jesus Christ our Lord. By Jesus Christ, or for his sake. For for his sake, as I said, we are forgiven; and for his sake have all things pertaining to life and godliness. Which all things come to us, through, or down, the stream of this river in a way of justice; and, therefore, it is said to come from the throne.
Eighth. This throne is the seat of grace and mercy; and, therefore, it is called the mercy-seat and throne of grace. This throne turns all into grace, all into mercy. This throne makes all things work together for good. It is said of Saul's sons, they were not buried after they were hanged, until water dropped upon them out of heaven (2 Sam 21:10,14). And it may be said of us there is nothing suffered to come near us, until it is washed in that water that proceeds from the throne of grace. Hence afflictions flow from grace (Psa 119:67), persecutions flow from grace; poverty, sickness, yea, death itself is now made ours by the grace of God through Christ (1 Cor 3:22; Rev 3:19; Heb 12:5-7). O grace, O happy church of God! all things that happen to thee are, for Christ's sake, turned into grace. They talk of the philosopher's stone, and how, if one had it, it would turn all things into gold. O! but can it turn all things into grace? can it make all things work together for good? No, no, this quality, virtue, excellency, what shall I call it, nothing has in it, but the grace that reigns on the throne of grace, the river that proceeds from the throne of God. This, this turns majesty, authority, the highest authority, glory, wisdom, faithfulness, justice, and all into grace. Here is a throne! God let us see it. John had the honour to see it, and to see the streams proceeding from it. O sweet sight! O heart-ravishing sight! 'He showed me a pure river of water of life proceeding out of the throne of God.'
Indeed, as was hinted before, in the days of the reign of Antichrist there are not those visions of this throne, nor of the river that proceedeth therefrom. Now he holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth a cloud upon it; but the preserving, saving benefits thereof we have, as also have all the saints, in the most cloudy and dark day. And since we can see so little, we must believe the more; and by believing, give glory to God. We must also labour for more clear Scripture knowledge of this throne; for the holy Word of God is the perspective glass by which we may, and the magnifying glass that will cause us to behold, 'with open face, the glory of the Lord' (2 Cor 3:18).
But, methinks, I have yet said nothing of this throne, which is indeed none other but the spotless and glorified humanity of the Son of God. This throne is the Lord Jesus, this grace comes from the Divine Majesty, as dwelling bodily in the Lord Jesus. Wherefore let us fall down before the throne, and cast our crowns at the foot of the throne, and give thanks to him that sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever. O how should Jesus be esteemed of! The throne of the king is a royal seat: it is said of Solomon's, 'there was not the like made in any kingdom' (1 Kings 10:20). But of this it may be said there is not its like in heaven and earth. At the setting up of this throne, the angels flocked round about it, and the beasts and the elders gathered together to see it (Rev 4). When this throne was set in heaven, there was silence, all the heavenly host had no leisure to talk; they were surprised with sight and wonder. When this throne was set in heaven, what talk there was! it was as the music of the trumpet.[13]
'And behold,' says John, 'a door was opened in heaven; and the first voice which I heard was, as it were, of a trumpet talking with me, which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold a THRONE WAS SET IN HEAVEN, and one sat upon the throne.'
This throne was Jesus Christ exalted, SET, that is, lifted up, not as upon the cross to the contempt and scorn of his person, but, as I said, to the wonderment of the four beasts, and the elders, and all the angels in heaven. 'A throne was set in heaven, and one sat upon the throne'; that is, God. And this intimates his desirable rest for ever: for to sit is to rest, and Christ is his rest for ever. Was it not, therefore, well worth the seeing? Yea, if John had taken the pains to go up thither upon his hands and knees, I say, to see the Lord Jesus as a throne set in heaven, and the glory of God resting and abiding upon him, and giving out by him all things, not only his Word, but all his dispensations and providences, to the end of the world; and this blessed thing among the rest, even 'a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal,' [how richly would he have been rewarded for his pains].
[FOURTH.] But I leave this, and proceed to the fourth and last thing, namely, to the nature and quality of this water. It is said to be pure and clear; pure and clear as crystal. 'And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal.' I know that there is a two-fold quality in a thing, one with respect to its nature, and the other with respect to its operation. The first of these is inherent, and remaineth in the subject being as such, and so for the most part useless. The other is put forth then when it meeteth with fit matter on which it may freely work. As to instance aquae vitae, the very metaphor here made use of, hath a quality inherent in it, but keep it stopped up in a bottle, and then who will may faint notwithstanding; but apply it, apply it fitly, and to such as have need thereof, and then you may see its quality by the operation. This water, or river of grace, is called, I say, the water of life, and so, consequently, has a most blessed inherent quality; but its operation is seen by its working, the which it doth only then when it is administered and received for those ends for which it is administered. For then it revives where life is, and gives life where it is not. And thus far, in the general, have we spoken to it already. We will, therefore, in this place more particularly, though briefly, speak a few words unto it.
[The operative quality of this water.]
FIRST. Then this water of life is the very groundwork of life in us, though not the groundwork of life for us. The groundwork of life for us is the passion and merits of Christ, this is that for the sake of which grace is given unto us, as it is intimated by the text; it proceeds from the throne of God, who is Christ. Christ then having obtained grace for us, must needs be precedent, as to his merit, to that grace he hath so obtained. Besides, it is clear that the Spirit and grace come from God through him; therefore, as to the communications of grace to us, it is the fruit of his merit and purchase. But, I say, in us grace is the groundwork of life; for though we may be said before to live virtually in the person of Christ before God, yet we are dead in ourselves, and so must be until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high; for the Spirit is life, and its graces are life, and when that is infused by God from the throne, then we live, and not till then. And hence it is called, as before, living water, the water of life springing up in us to everlasting life. The Spirit, then, and graces of the Spirit, which is the river here spoken of, is that, and that only, which can cause us to live; that being life to the soul, as the soul is life to the body. All men, therefore, as was said before, though elect, though purchased by the blood of Christ, are dead, and must be dead, until the Spirit of life from God and his throne shall enter into them; until they shall drink it in by vehement thirst, as the parched ground drinks in the rain.[14]
Now when this living water is received, it takes up its seat in the heart, whence it spreads itself to the awakening of all the powers of the soul. For, as in the first creation, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, in order to putting of that creature into that excellent fashion and harmony which now we behold with our eyes; even so the new creation, to wit, the making of us new to God, is done by the overspreading of the same Spirit also. For the Spirit, as I may so say, sitteth and broodeth upon the powers of the soul, as the hen doth on cold eggs, till they wax warm and receive life. The Spirit, then, warmeth us, and bringeth the dead and benumbed soul—for so it is before conversion—to a godly sense and understanding of states, of states both natural and spiritual; and this is the beginning of the work of the Spirit, by which the soul is made capable of understanding what God and himself is.
And this drinking in of the Spirit is rather as the ground drinks in rain, than as a rational soul does through sense of the want thereof.
The Spirit also garnisheth the soul with such things as are proper for it, to the making of it live that life that by the Word of God is called for.
It implanteth light, repentance, faith, fear, love, desires after God, hope, sincerity, and what else is necessary for the making the man a saint; these things, I say, are the fruits and effects of this Spirit which, as a river of water of life, proceedeth forth of the throne of God and of the Lamb. Hence the Spirit is called the Spirit of faith, the Spirit of love, and the Spirit of a sound mind; for that the Spirit is the root and original of all these things, by his operations in, and upon, the face of the soul (2 Cor 4:13; Gal 5:22; 2 Tim 1:7).
But, again, as this living water, this Spirit and the grace thereof, doth thus, so it also maintains these things once planted in the soul, by its continual waterings of them in the soul. Hence he saith, 'I will water it every moment'; water IT—his vineyard, the soul of the church, the graces of the church; and so the soul and graces of every godly man (Isa 27:3).
And because it so happeneth sometimes, that some of those things wherewith the Holy Ghost has beautified the soul may languish to a being, if not quite dead, yet 'ready to die' (Rev 3:2), therefore he doth not only refresh and water our souls, but renews the face thereof, by either quickening to life that which remains, or by supplying of us with that which is new, to our godly perseverance and everlasting life. Thus 'thou visitest the earth, and waterest it; thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God' (Psa 65:9).
For this must be remembered, that as the herb that is planted, or seed sown, needs watering with continual showers of the mountains, so our graces, implanted in us by the Spirit of grace, must also be watered by the rain of heaven. 'Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly: thou settlest the furrows thereof: thou makes it soft with showers: thou blessest the springing thereof' (Psa 65:10). Hence he says that our graces shall grow. But how? 'I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon' (Hosea 14:5-7). Or, as he saith in another place, 'The Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not' (Isa 58:11).
There is, besides this, another blessing that comes to us by this living water, and that is, the blessing of communion. All the warmth that we have in our communion, it is the warmth of the Spirit: when a company of saints are gathered together in the name of Christ, to perform any spiritual exercise, and their souls be edified, warmed, and made glad therein, it is because this water, this river of water of life, has, in some of the streams thereof, run into that assembly (Jer 31:12,13). Then are Christians like those that drink wine in bowls, merry and glad; for that they have drank into the Spirit, and had their souls refreshed with the sweet gales and strong wine thereof. This is the feast that Isaiah speaks of, when he saith, 'In this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined' (Isa 25:6). This is called in another place, 'the communion of the Holy Ghost' (2 Cor 13:14). Now he warmeth spirits, uniteth spirits, enlighteneth spirits; revives, cherisheth, quickeneth, strengtheneth graces; renews assurances, brings old comforts to mind, weakens lusts, emboldeneth and raiseth a spirit of faith, of love, of hope, of prayer, and makes the Word a blessing, conference a blessing, meditation a blessing, and duty very delightful to the soul. Without this water of life, communion is weak, flat, cold, dead, fruitless, lifeless; there is nothing seen, felt, heard, or understood in a spiritual and heart-quickening way. Now ordinances are burdensome, sins strong, faith weak, hearts hard, and the faces of our souls dry, like the dry and parched ground.
This drink also revives us when tempted, when sick, when persecuted, when in the dark, and when we faint for thirst. The life of religion is this water of life: where that runs, where that is received, and where things are done in this spirit, there all things are well; the church thrifty, the soul thrifty, graces thrifty, and all is well. And this hint I thought convenient to be given of this precious water of life, that is, with reference to the operative quality of it.
[The other qualities of this water.]
SECOND. I shall come, in the next place, to speak of it, as to the other descriptions which John doth give us of it. He says it is, First, pure; Second, clear; Third, clear to a comparison: 'And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal.'
[First. The purity of this water.]
1. You read here that this water of life is PURE, that is, alone without mixture, for so sometimes that word PURE is to be understood. As where it saith, pure, 'pure olive oil' (Exo 27:20). 'Pure frankincense' (Exo 30:34). 'Pure gold' (Exo 25:11,17). 'Pure blood of the grape' (Deut 32:14), and the like. So then, when he saith, 'he showed me a pure river of water of life,' it is as if he had said he showed me a river of water that was all living, all life, and had nothing in it but life. There was no death, or deadness, or flatness in it; or, as he saith a little after, 'and there shall be no more curse.' A pure river. There is not so much as a grudge, or a piece of an upbraiding speech found therein. There is in it nothing but heart, nothing but love, nothing but grace, nothing but life. 'The gifts and calling of God are without repentance' (Rom 11:29).
2. PURE is sometimes set in opposition to show or appearance; as where he says, 'the stars are not pure' (Job 25:5). That is, not so without mixture of darkness, as they seem to be: so again, 'If thou wert pure and upright' (Job 8:6): that is, as thou seemest to be, or as thou wouldst have us believe thou art.
Now, take pure in this sense here, and then the meaning is, it is grace without deceit, without guile; its show and its substance are the same; it has nothing but substance in it; it is indeed what it seems to be in bulk; it is a river in show and a river indeed. It comes from God and from his throne in appearance, and really it comes from his very heart.
The great fear of the tempted is, that there is not so much grace in God, and that he is not so free of it as some scriptures seem to import. But this word PURE is levelled against such objections and objectors, for the destroying of their doubts, and the relieving of their souls. There is no fraud, nor guile, nor fable in the business; for though God is pleased to present us with his grace under the notion of a river, it is not to delude our fancies thereby; but to give us some small illustration of the exceeding riches of his grace, which as far, for quantity, outstrips the biggest rivers, as the most mighty mountain doth the least ant's egg or atom in the world.
3. But, again, this word PURE is set in opposition to that which is hurtful and destructive: 'I am pure from the blood of all men,' that is, I have hurt nobody (Acts 20:26). 'The wisdom that is from above is first pure,' it is not hurtful (James 3:17). Do you count them pure with the wicked balances? how can that be, since they are hurtful? (Micah 6:11).
Now take PURE in this sense here, and then it intimates, that the grace of God, and the doctrine of grace, is not a hurtful thing. It is not as wine of an intoxicating nature. If a man be filled with it, it will do him no harm (Eph 5:18). The best of the things that are of this world are some way hurtful. Honey is hurtful (Prov 25:16,27). Wine is hurtful (Prov 20:1). Silver and gold are hurtful, but grace is not hurtful (1 Tim 6:10). Never did man yet catch harm by the enjoyment and fulness of the grace of God. There is no fear of excess or of surfeiting here. Grace makes no man proud, no man wanton, no man haughty, no man careless or negligent as to his duty that is incumbent upon him, either from God or man: no, grace keeps a man low in his own eyes, humble, self-denying, penitent, watchful, savoury in good things, charitable, and makes him kindly affectionated to the brethren, pitiful and courteous to all men.
True, there are men in the world that abuse the grace of God, as some are said to turn it into wantonness and into lasciviousness (Jude 4). But this is, not because grace has any such tendency, or for that it worketh any such effect; but because such men are themselves empty of grace, and have only done as death and hell hath done with wisdom, 'heard the fame thereof with their ears' (Job 28:22). It is a dangerous thing for a man to have the notions of grace, while his heart is void of the spirit and holy principles of grace; for such a man can do no other than abuse the grace of God. Alas, what can be expected of him that has nothing in him to teach him to manage that knowledge of grace which he has, but his flesh, his lusts, and lustful passions? Can these teach him to manage his knowledge well? Will they not rather put him upon all tricks, evasions, irreligious consequences and conclusions, such as will serve to cherish sin? What Judas did with Christ, that a graceless man will do with grace, even make it a stalking horse to his fleshly and vile designs; and rather than fail betray both it, and the profession of it, to the greatest enemies it has in the world.
And here I may say, though grace is pure, and not hurtful at all, yet one altogether carnal, sinful, and graceless, having to do with the doctrine of it, by the force of his lusts which tamper with it, he will unavoidably bring himself into the highest ruin thereby. An unwary man may destroy himself by the best of things, not because there is in such things an aptness to destroy, but because of the abuse and misuse of them. Some know the way of life, the water of life, by knowledge that is naked and speculative only; and it had been better for such if they had not known, than to know and turn from what they know; than to know, and make the knowledge subservient to their lusts (2 Peter 2:20-22). Some receive the rain of God, and the droppings of his clouds, because they continually sit under the means of his grace. But, alas! they receive it as stones receive showers, or as dunghills receive the rain; they either abide as hard stones still, or else return nothing to heaven for his mercy, but as the dunghills do, a company of stinking fumes. These are they that drink in the rain that comes often upon them, and that instead of bringing forth herbs meet for the dresser, bring forth briers and thorns; and these are they who are nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned (Heb 6:7,8).
By this word PURE I understand sometimes the chiefest good, the highest good. There are many things that may be called good, but none of them are good as grace is good. All things indeed are pure, that is, all creatures in themselves are good and serviceable to man, but they are not so good as grace (Rom 14:20; Gen 1:31). 'There is a generation that are pure,' that are good in their own eyes (Prov 30:12). There are good men, good consciences, good works, good days, good angels, &c., but none so good as grace, for it is grace that has made them so. Grace, this water of life, therefore is good, superlatively good, good in the highest degree, for that it makes all things good, and preserveth them good. And whatever it be that this water of life washeth not, it is soil, and given to the curse, as the prophet intimates where he saith, 'But the miry places thereof, and the marshes thereof, shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt' (Eze 47:1).
But who understands this, who believes it? Its goodness is kept close from the fowls of the air. Men, most men, are ignorant of the goodness of it, nor do they care to inquire after the enjoyment of this pure, this good water of life. The reason is, because though it is good in itself, good in the highest degree, and that which makes all things good, yet it is not such a good as is suited to a carnal appetite. There is good; and there is suitable good. Now suitable good is of two sorts: either such as is spiritual, or such as is temporal. That which is spiritual, is desired only of them that are spiritual; for temporal good will satisfy a carnal mind. Now grace is a spiritual good; this river of grace is the goodness of spiritual good. It is the original life of all the grace in our souls. No marvel, then, if it be so little set by of those that are carnally minded. They will serve a horse, and mire will serve a sow; so things of this life suit best with the men of this world; for their appetite is gross and carnal, and they savour not the things that be of the Spirit of God. 'The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,' the things that be of this river of God; 'for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned' (1 Cor 2:14). This is the river of OIL which the prophet speaks of, the river of SPIRIT. Were it a river of gold and silver, there would be old fishing on the banks thereof. But it is a river that runs 'like oil, saith the Lord God' (Eze 32:14). This rock pours us out 'rivers of oil' (Job 29:6)—'fresh oil' (Psa 92:10)—'soft oil' (Psa 55:21)—'the oil of joy' (Isa 61:3)—'the oil of gladness' (Psa 45:7)—oil to anoint the head withal (Eccl 9:8)—oil to make the face to shine (Psa 104:15)—oil by which thou wilt be made able to honour both God and man in some good measure as becomes thee (Judg 9:9).
I might have enlarged upon this head, and have showed you many more particulars wherein this term of pure might serve for the better setting forth of the excellency of this water of life, but I shall proceed no further upon this, but will come to that which remains.
[Second. The clearness of this water of life.]
As this river of water of life is said to be pure, so it is said to be CLEAR. 'He shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear.' This term has also its particular signification, and, therefore, ought to be heeded.
1. CLEAR is set in opposition to dark; therefore some are said to be 'clear as the sun' (Cant 6:10). And again, 'the light shall not be clear nor dark' (Zech 14:6). In both these places, clear is to be taken for light, daylight, sunlight; for, indeed, it is never day nor sunshine with the soul, until the streams of this river of water of life come gliding to our doors, into our houses, into our hearts. Hence the beginning of conversion is called illumination (Heb 10:32). Yea, the coming of this river of water of life unto us is called the day-spring from on high, through the tender mercy of our God (Luke 1:78). It is also called the dawning of the day (2 Peter 1:19). And hence, again, these men unto whom this river of water of life comes not, are said to be dark, darkness. 'Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord' (Eph 5:8). Wherefore, this water is like Jonathan's honey; it hath a faculty to open the eyes, to make them that sit in darkness see a great light (1 Sam 14:27; Matt 4:16). The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the faith of Jesus Christ; 'God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light'; the Spirit that enlighteneth and giveth the light, 'of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ' (2 Cor 4:6). This river casteth beams where it goes, like the beams of the sun; it shines, it casts out rays of glory unto those that drink thereof. The streams of this grace were they that overtook Saul when he was going to Damascus; they were the waters of this flood that compassed him round about. And if you will believe him, he saith this light from heaven was a great light, a light above the brightness of the sun, a light that did by the glory of it make dark to him all the things in the world (Acts 9:3, 22:6, 26:13).
2. CLEAR is set in opposition to that which is not pleasing. For to be clear is to be pleasant. Hence it is said, 'truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun' (Eccl 11:7). I read of rivers that looked red as blood, that stank like the blood of a dead man, but this is no such river (Exo 7:19,20; 2 Kings 3:22,23). I read of rivers whose streams are like streams of brimstone, fiery streams, streams of burning pitch, but this is none of them (Isa 30:27-33; David 7:9-11; Isa 34:9). 'There is a river' besides all these, clear and pleasant, 'the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God' (Psa 46:4).
There are the waters that the doves love to sit by, because by the clearness of these streams they can see their pretty selves, as in a glass (Cant 5:12).
These are the streams where the doves wash their eyes, and by which they solace themselves, and take great content. These streams are instead, as I said, of a looking-glass; their clearness presents us with an opportunity of seeing our own features. As in fair waters a man may see the body of the sun, and of the moon, and of the stars, and the very body of heaven; so he that stands upon the bank of this river, and that washeth his eyes with this water, may see the Son of God, the stars of God, the glory of God, and the habitation that God has prepared for his people. And are not these pleasant sights? is not this excellent water? has not this river pleasant streams?
3. CLEAR is set in opposition to dirty water and muddiness. I read of some waters that are fouled with the feet of beasts, and with the feet of men, yea, and deep waters too. Yea, saith God to some, ye 'have drunk of the deep waters,' and have fouled 'the residue with your feet'; and again, 'As for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet, and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet' (Eze 34:18,19). These waters are doctrines contained in the text, muddied and dirtied by the false glosses and sluttish opinions of erroneous judgments, of which the poor sheep have been made to drink. And, verily, this is apparent enough by the very colour and hue of those poor souls; for though the truth of God was in them, yet the very stain of tradition and superstition might be also seen in their scales. For as the fish of the river receive, by being there, the changeable colours of the waters, so professors, what doctrine they hear and drink, do look like that. If their doctrines are muddy, their notions are muddy; if their doctrines are bloody, their notions and tempers are bloody: but if their doctrines are clear, so are their notions, for their doctrine has given them a clear understanding of things.[15]
Now, here we have a river of water of life that is clear—clear without dirt and mud—clear without the human inventions and muddy conceptions of unsanctified and uninstructed judgments; yea, here you have a river the streams whereof lie open to all in the church, so that they need not those instruments of conveyance that are foul, and that use to make water stink, if they receive it to bring it to them that have need.
4. By clear we sometimes understand purgation; or that a thing has purged itself, or is purged from those soils and imputations of evil wherewith sometimes they have been charged. 'Then thou shalt be clear from this my oath'; or, 'How shall we clear ourselves?' (Gen 24:8-14, 44:16). Something of this sense may be in the text; for if men are not afraid to charge God with folly, which is intimated by 'that thou mightest be clear when thou judgest' (Psa 51:4), will they, think you, be afraid to impute evil to his Word, and grace, and Spirit? No, verily; they are bold enough at this work. Nay, more than this, even from the foundation of the world, men have cast slanders upon, and imputed based things into the blessed grace of the gospel. But not to look so far back. Paul was one of the pipes through which God conveyed this grace to the world; and what was he counted for his so doing, but 'a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition—throughout the world' (Acts 24:5,6). But, behold, no imputation can stick on the grace of God—not stick long; for that, like honey, will purge itself of what filth is put upon it, and of all bad imputations of evil men's springs, and rivers are of a self-purging quality. Now, here we have to do with a river—a river of water of life; but a river more slandered than ever did Naaman the Syrian slander the waters of Israel in preferring those of Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, beyond them (2 Kings 5:10-12). But behold now, at last, when all the world have done what they can, and cast what reproaches and slanders upon it they are able, it is a river pure and clear. It has purged itself before kings—it has purged itself before princes and judges, and all the Naamans in the world; it is still a river—a river of water of life—a river of water of life CLEAR.
5. By clear we sometimes understand purity manifest, or innocency and goodness made known. 'In all things ye have approved yourselves to be CLEAR in this matter' (2 Cor 7:11). That is, you have made it appear, and stand upon your justification, and are willing to be searched and sounded to the bottom by those that have a desire to undertake that work. So this river of water of life in the fountain, and in the streams thereof, offer themselves to the consideration and conscience of all men. To this end how often doth God, the head of this river, and he out of whose throne it proceeds, call upon men to challenge him, if they can, with any evil or misdoing towards them, either by presence or doctrine; hence he says, 'Put me in remembrance; let us plead together; declare thou,' if thou canst, 'that thou mayest be justified,' and I condemned (Isa 43:26). So again: 'What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?' (Jer 2:5). So Christ: 'Which of you convinceth me of sin?' (John 8:46). And 'If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil' (John 18:23). So Paul: We 'have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the Word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God' (2 Cor 4:2). All these sentences are chiefly to be applied to doctrine, and so are, as it were, an offer to any, if they can, to find a speck, or a spot, or a wrinkle, or any such thing in this river of water of life.
Some men fly from it as from a bear; and some are afraid to drink of it, for fear it should be poison unto them. Some, again, dare not take it because it is not mixed, and as they, poor souls, imagine, qualified and made toothsome by a little of that which is called the wisdom of this world. Thus one shucks,[16] another shrinks, and another will none of God. Meanwhile, whoso shall please to look into this river shall find it harmless and clear; yea, offering itself to the consciences of all men to make trial if it be not the only chief good, the only necessary waters, the only profitable, for the health of the soul, of all the things that are in the world, and as clear of mischief as is the sun of spots.
[Third.—this river is clear to the most perfect comparison.]
As John saw this river pure and clear, so he saw it clear to a comparison. Clear to the best of comparisons, clear as crystal. Crystal is a very clear stone, as clear as the clearest glass, if not clearer; one may see far into it, yea, through it; it is without those spots, and streaks, and smirches that are in other precious stones. Wherefore, when he saith that this river is clear as crystal, it is as if God should say, Look, sinners, look to the bottom of these my crystal streams. I have heard of some seas that are so pure and clear, that a man may see to the bottom though they may be forty feet deep. I know this river of water of life is a deep river; but though it is said to be deep, it is not said we can see no bottom. Indeed, as to the wideness of it, it is said to be such as that it cannot be passed over; but I say, it is nowhere said that we cannot see to the bottom; nay, the comparison implies that a man with good eyes may see to the bottom. It is clear, as clear as crystal. So, then, we will a little look down to the bottom, and see, through these crystal streams, what is at the bottom of all.
1. Then the bottom of all is, 'That we might be saved' (John 5:34). 'These things I say,' saith Christ, 'that ye might be saved'; and, again, 'I am come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly' (John 10:10). This is the bottom of this great river of water of life, and of its proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb: it is that we might be saved; it is that we might live. What a good bottom is here! what a sound bottom is here! But few deep rivers have a good bottom. Mud is at the bottom of most waters in the world; even the sea itself, when it worketh, casts up mire and dirt, and so do the hearts of sinners; but the bottom of this grace of God, and of the Spirit and Word thereof, is that we might be saved, consequently a very good bottom.
2. As the bottom of all is, 'that we may be saved,' so that we may be saved by grace, and this is a bottom sounder and sounder. Our salvation might have been laid upon a more difficult bottom than this. It might have been laid on our works. God might have laid it there, and have been just, or he might have left us to have laid it where we would; and then, to be sure, we had laid it there, and so had made but a muddy bottom to have gone upon to life. But now, this river of water of life, it has a better bottom; the water of life is as clear as crystal, look down to the bottom and see, we are 'justified freely by his grace' (Rom 3:24). 'By grace ye are saved,' there is the bottom (Eph 2:5,8).
Now, grace, as I have showed you, is a firm bottom to stand on; it is of grace that life might be sure (Rom 4:16). Surely David was not here, or surely this was not the river that he spake of when he said, 'I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink' (Psa 69:2,14). I say, to be sure this could not be the river. No, David was now straggled out of the way, was tumbled into some pit, or into some muddy and dirty hole; for as for this river it has a good bottom, a bottom of salvation by grace, and a man needs not cry out when he is here that he sinks, or that he is in danger of being drowned in mud or mire.
3. The bottom of all is, as I said, that we might be saved, saved by grace, and I will add, 'through the redemption that is in Christ.' This is still better and better. We read that, when Israel came over Jordan, the feet of the priests that did bear the ark stood on firm ground in the bottom, and that they set up great stones for a memorial thereof (Josh 3:17, 4:1-3). But had Jordan so good a bottom as has this most blessed river of water of life, or were the stones that Israel took out thence like this 'tried stone,' this 'sure foundation?' (Isa 28:16). O the throne! this river comes out of the throne, and we are saved by grace through the redemption that is in him. We read that there is a city that has foundations; grace is one, Christ another, and the truth of all the prophets and apostles, as to their true doctrine, another, &c. (Heb 11:10). And again, all these are the very bottom of this goodly river of the water of life (Eph 2:19,20).
4. There is another thing to be seen at the bottom of this holy river, and that is, the glory of God; we are saved, saved by grace, saved by grace through the redemption that is in Christ to the praise and glory of God. And what a good bottom is here. Grace will not fail, Christ has been sufficiently tried, and God will not lose his glory. Therefore they that drink of this river shall doubtless be saved; to wit, they that drink of it of a spiritual appetite to it. And thus much for the explication of the text.
I now come to make some use of the whole.
You know our discourse has been at this time of the water of life, of its quantity, head-spring, and quality; and I have showed you that its nature is excellent, its quantity abundant, its head-spring glorious, and its quality singularly good.
FIRST. Let this, then, in the first place, be a provocation to us to be more free in making use of this water. There are many, now-a-days, that are for inventing of waters, to drink for the health of the body; and to allure those that are ill to buy, they will praise their waters beyond their worth. Yea, and if they be helpful to one person in a hundred, they make as if they could cure every one. Well, here you have the great Physician himself, with his water, and he calls it the water of life, water of life for the soul: this water is probatum est.[17] It has been proved times without number; it never fails but where it is not taken (Acts 26:18; Isa 5:4,5). No disease comes amiss to it; it cures blindness, deadness, deafness, dumbness. It makes 'the lips of those that are asleep to speak' (Cant 7:9). This is the right HOLY WATER,[18] all other is counterfeit: it will drive away devils and spirits; it will cure enchantments and witchcrafts; it will heal the mad and lunatic (Gal 3:1-3; Mark 16:17,18). It will cure the most desperate melancholy; it will dissolve doubts and mistrusts, though they are grown as hard as stone in the heart (Eze 36:26). It will make you speak well (Col 4:6). It will make you have a white soul, and that is better than to have a white skin (Eze 36:25,26). It will make you taste well; it will make you disrelish all hurtful meats (Isa 30:22). It will beget in you a good appetite to that which is good; it will remove obstructions in the stomach and liver. It will cause that what you receive of God's bread shall turn to good nourishment, and make good blood. In a word, it preserveth life (John 4:14). They that take this water shall live longer than did old Methuselah, and yet he lived a great while (Gen 5:27).
Wherefore, let me continue my exhortation to you. Be more free in making use of this water; it is the wholesomest water in the world; you may take it at the third, sixth, ninth, or eleventh hour, but to take it in the morning of your age is best (Matt 20:3-6). For then diseases have not got so great a head as when they are of long continuance, consequently they will be removed with far more ease; besides, those that thus do will receive endless life, and the comfort of it betimes; and that, you know, is a double life to one (Eccl 11:1-4).
This water gently purges, and yet more effectually than any others. True, where bad humours are more tough and churlish, it will show itself stronger of operation, for there is no disease can be too hard for it. It will, as we say, throw the house out of the windows; but it will rid us of the plague of those most deadly infections that otherwise will be sure to make us sleep in death, and bring us, with the multitude, down to hell. But it will do no hurt; it only breaks our sleep in security, and brings us to a more quick apprehension of the plague of our heart and flesh. It will, as I said before, provoke to appetite, but make us only long after that which is wholesome. If any ask why I thus allegorize, I answer, the text doth lead me to it.
SECOND. I advise, therefore, in the next place, that thou get thee a dwelling-place by these waters. 'The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him, and the Lord shall cover him all the day long' (Deut 33:12). If thou ask where that dwelling is, I answer, in the city of God, in and among the tabernacles of the Most High. This river comes from the throne to water the city of God; and to that end it is said to run 'in the midst of the street of it' (Rev 22:2). If ye will inquire, inquire, return, come. 'The seed also of his servants shall inherit it, and they that love his name shall dwell therein' (Psa 69:36). Get thee a dwelling in Jerusalem, in the midst of Jerusalem, and then thou wilt be seated by this river.
In old times, the ancients had their habitations by the rivers; yea, we read of Aroer that stood upon the brink of the river Arnon (Josh 13:9). Balaam also had his dwelling in his city Pethor, 'by the river of the land of the children of his people' (Num 22:5). O! by a river side is the pleasantest dwelling in the world; and of all rivers, the river of the water of life is the best. They that dwell there 'shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them' (Isa 49:10). Trees planted by the rivers, and that spread out their roots by the rivers, they are the flourishing trees, they bring forth their fruit in their season (Psa 1:3; Jer 17:8). And the promise is that men that take up their dwellings by this river of water of life, shall be fruitful as such trees.
If thou art a Christian, thou hast more than an ordinary call and occasion to abide by these waters; thy things will not grow but by these waters. Weeds and the excellencies of most men we may find in the barren wilderness, they grow under every hedge; but thine are garden, and so choice things, and will not thrive without much water, no, without the water of God's river. Dwell, therefore, here; that thy soul may be as a watered garden (Jer 31:12; Isa 12:1-3). And when thou seest how those that are loath to die,[19] make provision at Tunbridge, Epsom, the Bath, and other places, and what houses they get that they may have their dwellings by those waters, then do thou consider of thy spiritual disease, and how nothing can cure thee but this blessed water of life; be also much of desires to have a dwelling-place in Jerusalem, that thou mayest always be nigh to these waters. Be often also in watering thy plants with these waters. I mean the blessed graces of God in thy soul; then shalt thou grow, and retain thy greenness, and prove thyself to be a disciple indeed. And herein is God, and thy Father, glorified, that thou bear much fruit (John 15:8).
THIRD. My third word is, bless God for providing for man such waters. These only can make us live; all others come out of the Dead Sea, and do kill; there is no living water but this. I say, show thy acceptation of it with thanksgiving; if we are not to receive our bread and cheese but with thanksgiving, how should we bless God for this unspeakable gift! (2 Cor 9:15). This is soul life, life against sin, life from sin, life against the curse, life from the curse, life beyond hell, beyond desert, beyond thought, beyond desires. Life that is pleasing, life that is profitable, life everlasting.
O my brethren, bless God! who doth good and gives us such rain, filling our hearts with food and gladness.[20] When Moses would take the heart of Israel, and took in hand to raise up their spirits to thankfulness, he used to tell them that the land that they were to go to was a land that God cared for, and that was watered with the dew of heaven. Yea, 'a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land that flowed with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands' (Deut 8:7; Exo 3:8, 13:5; Lev 20:24; Num 14:8). But yet in his description he makes no mention of a river of water of life; a river the streams whereof make glad the city of God.
This river is the running out of God's heart; the letting out of his very bowels, for God is the living God. This is his heart and soul. 'Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly, with my whole heart, and with my whole soul' (Jer 32:41). I say, if ever God's heart and soul appeared, it showed itself in giving this water of life, and the throne from whence it proceeds. Wherefore [there is] all the reason of the world, that in the reception of it thy heart and soul should run out and flow after him in thanksgiving. See how David words it in Psalm 103:1-5, and do likewise.
FOURTH. By the characters that are given of this water of life, thou art capacitated to judge when a notion, a doctrine, an opinion, comes to thine ears, whether it is right, good, and wholesome, or how. This river is pure, is clear, is pure and clear as crystal. Is the doctrine offered unto thee so? or is it muddy, and mixed with the doctrines of men? Look, man, and see if the foot of the worshippers of Bel be not there, and if the waters be not fouled thereby. What water is fouled is not the water of life, or at least not the water of life in its clearness. Wherefore, if thou findest it not right, go up higher to the spring-head, for always the nearer to the spring, the more pure and clear is the water. Fetch, then, thy doctrine from afar, if thou canst not have it good nearer hand (Job 36:3). Thy life lies at stake; the counterfeit of things is dangerous; everybody that is aware, is afraid thereof. Now a counterfeit here is most dangerous, is most destructive. Wherefore take heed how you hear, what you hear; for, as I said before of the fish, by your colour it will be seen what waters you swim in; wherefore look you well to yourselves.[21]
FIFTH. Doth this water of life run like a river, like a broad, full, and deep river; then let no man, be his transgressions never so many, fear at all, but there is enough to save his soul, and to spare. Nothing has been more common to many than to doubt of the grace of God; a thing most unbecoming a sinner of any thing in the world. To break the law is a fact foul enough; but to question the sufficiency of the grace of God to save therefrom, is worse than sin, if worse can be. Wherefore, despairing soul, for it is to thee I speak, forbear thy mistrusts, cast off thy slavish fears, hang thy misgivings as to this upon the hedge; and believe thou hast an invitation sufficient thereto, a river is before thy face. And as for thy want of goodness and works, let that by no means daunt thee; this is a river of water of life, streams of grace and mercy. There is, as I said, enough therein to help thee, for grace brings all that is wanting to the soul. Thou, therefore, hast nothing to do, I mean as to the curing of thy soul of its doubts, and fears, and despairing thoughts, but to drink and live for ever.
SIXTH. But what is all this to the DEAD world—to them that love to be dead? They toss their vanities about as the boys toss their shuttlecocks in the air, till their foot slips, and themselves descend into the pit.
Let this suffice for this time.
1 As God gave us existence, so, in his munificence and royal bounty, he gives us his rich grace. We have nothing to give in return but grateful love. He redeems us from the captivity of sin, and earth, and hell. 'Every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills: the world is mine, saith the Almighty, with the fulness thereof.' O to grace how great a debtor; freely bestowed to the poor and needy.—Ed.
2 Water is a curse, as in the dropsy, but essential to life with our food. Oil is valuable, properly taken, but an irritating oil to consume the bones is destructive. How awful the case of the rich man when refused a drop of water to cool that fire which he had created while living, and into which he had irretrievably plunged himself.—Ed.
3 Reliance upon an imperfect obedience to God's holy law, united with a hope, through Christ or some other means, of forgiveness for not having kept some parts of that law, is 'the doctrine of the world,' and of devils. It is a refuge of lies, which death will fearfully sweep away. We must rely wholly upon Christ, or perish.—Ed.
4 Aquae Vitae was a cordial-water well known in Bunyan's time, and much used in compounding medicines, but now almost forgotten. It was distilled from brewed beer, strongly hopped, and well fermented. The French have an intoxicating liquour called eau de vie; this is distilled from the refuse of the grapes after the wine is made.—Ed.
5 Although all mankind are fatally diseased, they only feel it that are made sick of sin; this is the law work, and when it takes place, then comes the new birth and salvation by the efficacy of this water of life.—Ed.
6 A RIVER inexhaustible, to supply the pure and unmixed joys of heaven to all the myriads of happy glorified souls, and applied by the Spirit of grace to quench the thirst of the soul on earth. This grace is fixed and permanent, 'springing up into everlasting life.' Blessed Jesus, 'give me this water, that I thirst not ever.'—Ed.
7 This water of life is as essential to the spiritual-mindedness of the soul, as natural water is to the life of a fish. The grace of God is the element in which only the renewed soul can live and enjoy a little of that heaven into which, as an ocean of bliss, this river carries him.—Ed.
8 Those that are satisfied with the world, and its enjoyments, and seek not for happiness in the favour of God; those that depend on the merit of their own works for a righteousness; these do not thirst—they have no sense of their need, and will not condescend to come to THE FOUNTAIN.—Ed.
9 The rain is taken from the sea by water-spouts or in vapour; it is wonderfully distilled, and descends upon the earth in fertilizing showers which supply the rivers. In proportion to the rain or melting of the snow, is the quantity of water in the rivers. Bunyan was taught all this phenomena of nature, by a single verse in the inspired volume which he quotes. How wonderful is that Book!—Ed.
10 This is a most astonishing natural phenomenon: that such a river as the Thames, receiving constantly all the filth of a vast metropolis, containing more than two millions of inhabitants, buries it all, and yet purifieth itself.—Ed.
11 Light bread is an allusion to Numbers 21:5: 'our soul loatheth this light bread.' The heavenly manna, like Christ, is despised and rejected of man.—Ed.
12 By 'the text,' in this and other places, is meant the text of sacred Scripture; not the particular passage, or text, on which this treatise is founded.—Ed.
13 The solemn silence, and the sound of the trumpet, took place in quick succession when the medium of prayer and praise, from fallen man, was first exhibited in heaven. When Christ was revealed to John, as the throne upon which God received the prayers of all his saints, awe, and wonder, and silence, was felt in heaven for the space of half an hour; then came the sound of the trumpet with dire events to those who had refused to pray in the name of Christ.—Ed.
14 Thus the Spirit of God in regeneration produces light out of darkness, makes the barren heart fruitful, and from confusion, discord, and enmity, brings order, harmony, and tranquility. The renewed man is actuated by new hopes and fears; his judgment is enlightened, his will rectified, and his heart transformed; his eyes being divinely opened he sees into eternity; he has a hope full of immortality; spiritual appetites are excited in his soul; his affections are raised to God and heaven; his soul thirsteth for God, for the living God! Thus the Spirit giveth life to the dead, eyes to the blind, speech to the dumb, feet to the lame, and the hand of faith to lay hold on Christ for complete salvation.—Mason.
15 This is an excellent commentary upon that part of the Pilgrim's Progress which describes Christiana and her company at the foot of the hill Difficulty. Greatheart points out the spring at which Christian was refreshed before he began the arduous ascent which led him, in defiance of a persecuting world, to join in church fellowship, allegorically represented by the house Beautiful—'When Christian drank it was clear and good, but now it is dirty; and with the feet of some that are not desirous that pilgrims should here quench their thirst.' After the writing of the first part, and before that of the second, the Act of Uniformity had spread its baleful influence over England. To use Bunyan's words—'The Romish beasts have corrupted the doctrine by treading it down with their feet, and have muddied this water with their own dirt and filthiness.'—See Holy City.—Ed.
16 'Shuck,' to shake; obsolete as a verb, but retained as a noun to designate the pea-shell, after the peas have been shook out.—Ed.
17 Probatum est—is proved—a scrap of Latin commonly used in advertising medical prescriptions, in Bunyan's time.—Ed.
18 A Protestant can have but little idea of the insane superstition of the Papists in respect to holy water. The following lines, from Barnaby Googe's Popish Kingdome, will shed a little light upon it:—
'Besides, they do beleeue their sinnes to be forgiven quight, By taking holy water here, whereof if there do light But one small drop, it driueth out the hellishe deuils all Then which there can no greater griefe vnto the feend befall.'—4to. 1570, p. 42. In the Editor's library.—Ed.
19 The infatuation, nay, madness of human nature, in its fallen state, is shown by living to hasten the inroads of death; and when he appears, terror-stricken they fly from it to any remedy that is within their reach. How vast the number of suicides by intemperance!—Ed.
20 The real Christian, and such only, are in this blessed case; they have the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come. Their Father, the Almighty, supplies all their wants; giving joy and peace, when heart and flesh tremble.—Ed.
21 In proportion to the number of professed Christians who thus obey the gospel by judging for themselves, so will be the happiness of the church, and the hastening on of the kingdom of Christ. No one is a Christian that receives his doctrine from a prelate, priest, or minister, without prayerfully comparing it with the written Word. O man, take not the water of life as doled out by a fellow-man; go to the river for yourself—survey yourself as reflected in those crystal streams. Christ does not say to the heavy-laden, sin-burdened soul, Go to the church; but, Come unto me, and find rest. Blessed is he who loves the river of water unpolluted by human devices, forms, or ceremonies; who flies to the open bosom of his Christ, and finds refuge from every storm.—Ed.
***
'Who being dead, yet speaketh.'—Hebrews 11:4
London: Printed for J. Robinson, at the Golden Lion, in St. Paul's
Churchyard, 1688.
This Title has a broad Black Border.
This solemn, searching, awful treatise, was published by Bunyan in 1682; but does not appear to have been reprinted until a very few months after his decease, which so unexpectedly took place in 1688. Although we have sought with all possible diligence, no copy of the first edition has been discovered; we have made use of a fine copy of the second edition, in possession of that thorough Bunyanite, my kind friend, R. B. Sherring, of Bristol. The third edition, 1692, is in the British Museum. Added to these posthumous publications appeared, for the first time, 'An Exhortation to Peace and Unity,' which will be found at the end of our second volume. In the advertisement to that treatise are stated, at some length, my reasons for concluding that it was not written by Bunyan, although inserted in all the editions of his collected works. That opinion is now more fully confirmed, by the discovery of Bunyan's own list of his works, published just before his death, in 1688, and in which that exhortation is not inserted. I was also much pleased to find that the same conclusion was arrived at by that highly intelligent Baptist minister, Mr. Robert Robinson. His reasons are given at some length, concluding with, 'it is evident that Bunyan never wrote this piece.'[1] Why it was, after Bunyan's death, published with his 'Barren Fig-tree,' is one of those hidden mysteries of darkness and of wickedness that I cannot discover. The beautiful parable from which Bunyan selected his text, represents an enclosed ground, in which, among others, a fig-tree had been planted. It was not an enclosure similar to some of the vineyards of France or Germany, exclusively devoted to the growth of the vine, but a garden in which fruits were cultivated, such as grapes, figs, or pomegranates. It was in such a vineyard, thus retired from the world, that Nathaniel poured out his heart in prayer, when our Lord in spirit witnessed, unseen, these devotional exercises, and soon afterwards rewarded him with open approbation (John 1:48). In these secluded pleasant spots the Easterns spend much of their time, under their own vines or fig-trees, sheltered from the world and from the oppressive heat of the sun—a fit emblem of a church of Christ. In this vineyard stood a fig-tree—by nature remarkable for fruitfulness—but it is barren. No inquiry is made as to how it came there, but the order is given, 'Cut it down.' The dresser of the garden intercedes, and means are tried to make it fruitful, but in vain. At last it is cut down as a cumber-ground and burnt. This vineyard or garden represents a gospel church; the fig-tree a member—a barren, fruitless professor. 'It matters not how he got there,' if he bears no fruit he must be cut down and away to the fire.
To illustrate so awful a subject this treatise was written, and it is intensely solemn. God, whose omniscience penetrates through every disguise, himself examines every tree in the garden, yea, every bough. Wooden and earthy professor, your detection is sure; appearances that deceive the world and the church cannot deceive God. 'He will be with thee in thy bed fruits—thy midnight fruits—thy closet fruits—thy family fruits—they conversation fruits.' Professor, solemnly examine yourself; 'in proportion to your fruitfulness will be your blessedness.' 'Naked and open are all things to his eye.' Can it be imagined that those 'that paint themselves did ever repent of their pride?' 'How seemingly self-denying are some of these creeping things.' 'Is there no place will serve to fit those for hell but the church, the vineyard of God?' 'It is not the place where the worker of iniquity can hide himself or his sins from God.' May such be detected before they go hence to the fire. While there is a disposition to seek grace all are invited to come; but when salvation by Christ is abandoned, there is no other refuge, although sought with tears. Reader, may the deeply impressive language of Bunyan sink profoundly into our hearts. We need no splendid angel nor hideous demon to reveal to us the realities of the world to come. 'If we hear not Moses and the prophets,' as set forth by Bunyan in this treatise, 'neither should we be persuaded though one rose from the dead' to declare these solemn truths (Luke 16:31).
I have written to thee now about the Barren Fig-tree, or how it will fare with the fruitless professor that standeth in the vineyard of God. Of what complexion thou art I cannot certainly divine; but the parable tells thee that the cumber-ground must be cut down. A cumber-ground professor is not only a provocation to God, a stumbling-block to the world, and a blemish to religion, but a snare to his own soul also. 'Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds, yet he shall perish for ever, like his own dung; they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?' (Job 20:6,7).
Now 'they count it pleasure to riot in the daytime.' But what will they do when the axe is fetched out? (2 Peter 2:13,14).
The tree whose fruit withereth is reckoned a tree without fruit, a tree twice dead, one that must be 'plucked up by the roots' (Jude 12).
O thou cumber-ground, God expects fruit, God will come seeking fruit shortly.
My exhortation, therefore, is to professors that they look to it, that they take heed.
The barren fig-tree in the vineyard, and the bramble in the wood, are both prepared for the fire.
Profession is not a covert to hide from the eye of God; nor will it palliate the revengeful threatening of his justice; he will command to cut it down shortly.
The church, and a profession, are the best of places for the upright, but the worst in the world for the cumber-ground. He must be cast, as profane, out of the mount of God: cast, I say, over the wall of the vineyard, there to wither; thence to be gathered and burned. 'It had ben better for them not to have known the way of righteousness' (2 Peter 2:21). And yet if they had not, they had been damned; but it is better to go to hell without, than in, or from under a profession. These 'shall receive greater damnation' (Luke 20:47).
If thou be a professor, read and tremble: if thou be profane, do so likewise. For if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and sinners appear? Cumber-ground, take heed of the axe! Barren fig-tree, beware of the fire!
But I will keep thee no longer out of the book. Christ Jesus, the dresser of the vineyard, take care of thee, dig about thee, and dung thee, that thou mayest bear fruit; that when the Lord of the vineyard cometh with his axe to seek for fruit, or pronounce the sentence of damnation on the barren fig-tree, thou mayest escape that judgment. The cumber-ground must to the wood-pile, and thence to the fire. Farewell.
Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus in sincerity. Amen.
At the beginning of this chapter we read how some of the Jews came to Jesus Christ, to tell him of the cruelty of Pontius Pilate, in mingling the blood of the Galileans with their sacrifices. A heathenish and prodigious act; for therein he showed, not only his malice against the Jewish nation, but also against their worship, and consequently their God. An action, I say, not only heathenish, but prodigious also; for the Lord Jesus, paraphrasing upon this fact of his, teacheth the Jews, that without repentance 'they should all likewise perish.' 'Likewise,' that is by the hand and rage of the Roman empire. Neither should they be more able to avoid the stroke, than were those eighteen upon whom the tower of Siloam fell, and slew them (Luke 13:1-5). The fulfilling of which prophecy, for their hardness of heart, and impenitency, was in the days of Titus, son of Vespasian, about forty years after the death of Christ. Then, I say, were these Jews, and their city, both environed round on every side, wherein both they and it, to amazement, were miserably overthrown. God gave them sword and famine, pestilence and blood, for their outrage against the Son of his love. So wrath 'came upon them to the uttermost' (1 Thess 2:16).[2]
Now, to prevent their old and foolish salvo, which they always had in readiness against such prophecies and denunciations of judgment, the Lord Jesus presents them with this parable, in which he emphatically shows them that their cry of being the temple of the Lord, and of their being the children of Abraham, &c., and their being the church of God, would not stand them in any stead. As who should say, It may be you think to help yourselves against this my prophecy of your utter and unavoidable overthrow, by the interest which you have in your outward privileges. But all these will fail you; for what think you? 'A certain man had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard, and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none.' This is your case! The Jewish land is God's vineyard; I know it; and I know also, that you are the fig-trees. But behold, there wanteth the main thing, fruit; for the sake, and in expectation of which, he set this vineyard with trees. Now, seeing the fruit is not found amongst you, the fruit, I say, for the sake of which he did at first plant this vineyard, what remains but that in justice he command to cut you down as those that cumber the ground, that he may plant himself another vineyard? 'Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and find none; cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground?' This therefore must be your end, although you are planted in the garden of God; for the barrenness and unfruitfulness of your hearts and lives you must be cut off, yea, rooted up, and cast out of the vineyard.
In parables there are two things to be taken notice of, and to be inquired into of them that read. First, The metaphors made use of. Second, The doctrine or mysteries couched under such metaphors.
The metaphors in this parable are, 1. A certain man; 2. A vineyard; 3. A fig-tree, barren or fruitless; 4. A dresser; 5. Three years; 6. Digging and dunging, &c.
The doctrine, or mystery, couched under these words is to show us what is like to become of a fruitless or formal professor. For, 1. By the man in the parable is meant God the Father (Luke 15:11). 2. By the vineyard, his church (Isa 5:7). 3. By the fig-tree, a professor. 4. By the dresser, the Lord Jesus. 5. By the fig-tree's barrenness, the professor's fruitlessness. 6. By the three years, the patience of God that for a time he extendeth to barren professors. 7. This calling to the dresser of the vineyard to cut it down, is to show the outcries of justice against fruitless professors. 8. The dresser's interceding is to show how the Lord Jesus steps in, and takes hold of the head of his Father's axe, to stop, or at least to defer, the present execution of a barren fig-tree. 9. The dresser's desire to try to make the fig-tree fruitful, is to show you how unwilling he is that even a barren fig-tree should yet be barren, and perish. 10. His digging about it, and dunging of it, is to show his willingness to apply gospel helps to this barren professor, if haply he may be fruitful. 11. The supposition that the fig-tree may yet continue fruitless, is to show, that when Christ Jesus hath done all, there are some professors will abide barren and fruitless. 12. The determination upon this supposition, at last to cut it down, is a certain prediction of such professor's unavoidable and eternal damnation.
But to take this parable into pieces, and to discourse more particularly, though with all brevity, upon all the parts thereof.
'A certain MAN had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard.'
The MAN, I told you, is to present us with God the Father; by which similitude he is often set out in the New Testament.
Observe then, that it is no new thing, if you find in God's church barren fig-trees, fruitless professors; even as here you see is a tree, a fruitless tree, a fruitless fig-tree in the vineyard.[3] Fruit is not so easily brought forth as a profession is got into; it is easy for a man to clothe himself with a fair show in the flesh, to word it, and say, Be thou warmed and filled with the best. It is no hard thing to do these with other things; but to be fruitful, to bring forth fruit to God, this doth not every tree, no not every fig-tree that stands in the vineyard of God. Those words also, 'Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away,' assert the same thing (John 15:2). There are branches in Christ, in Christ's body mystical, which is his church, his vineyard, that bear not fruit, wherefore the hand of God is to take them away: I looked for grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes, that is, no fruit at all that was acceptable with God (Isa 5:4). Again, 'Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself,' none to God; he is without fruit to God (Hosea 10:1). All these, with many more, show us the truth of the observation, and that God's church may be cumbered with fruitless fig-trees, with barren professors.
Had a FIG-TREE.
Although there be in God's church that be barren and fruitless; yet, as I said, to see to, they are like the rest of the trees, even a fig-tree. It was not an oak, nor a willow, nor a thorn, nor a bramble; but a FIG-TREE. 'they come unto thee as the people cometh' (Eze 33:31). 'They delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God. They ask of me the ordinances of justice, they take delight in approaching to God,' and yet but barren, fruitless, and unprofitable professors (Isa 58:2-4). Judas also was one of the twelve, a disciple, an apostle, a preacher, an officer, yea, and such a one as none of the eleven mistrusted, but preferred before themselves, each one crying out, 'Is it I? Is it I?' (Mark 14:19). None of them, as we read of (John 6:70), mistrusting Judas; yet he in Christ's eye was the barren fig-tree, a devil, a fruitless professor. The foolish virgins also went forth of the world with the other, had lamps, and light, and were awakened with the other; yea, had boldness to go forth, when the midnight cry was made, with the other; and thought that they could have looked Christ in the face, when he sat upon the throne of judgment, with the other; and yet but foolish, but barren fig-trees, but fruitless professors. 'Many,' saith Christ, 'will say unto me in that day,' this and that, and will also talk of many wonderful works; yet, behold, he finds nothing in them but the fruits of unrighteousness (Matt 7:22,23). They were altogether barren and fruitless professors.
Had a fig-tree PLANTED.
This word PLANTED doth also reach far; it supposeth one taken out of its natural soil, or removed from the place it grew in once; one that seemed to be called, awakened; and not only so, but by strong hand carried from the world to the church; from nature to grace; from sin to godliness. 'Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt; thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it' (Psa 80:8). Of some of the branches of this vine were there unfruitful professors.
It must be concluded, therefore, that this professor, that remaineth notwithstanding fruitless, is, as to the view and judgment of the church, rightly brought in thither, to wit, by confession of faith, of sin, and a show of repentance and regeneration; thus false brethren creep in unawares![4] All these things this word planted intimateth; yea, further, that the church is satisfied with them, consents they should abide in the garden, and counteth them sound as the rest. But before God, in the sight of God, they are graceless professors, barren and fruitless fig-trees.
Therefore it is one thing to be in the church, or in a profession; and another to be of the church, and to belong to that kingdom that is prepared for the saint, that is so indeed. Otherwise, 'Being planted, shall it prosper? shall it not utterly wither, when the east-wind toucheth it? It shall wither in the furrows where it grew' (Eze 17:10).
Had a fig-tree planted in HIS vineyard.
In HIS vineyard. Hypocrites, with rotten hearts, are not afraid to come before God in Sion. These words therefore suggest unto us a prodigious kind of boldness and hardened fearlessness. For what presumption higher, and what attempt more desperate, than for a man that wanteth grace, and the true knowledge of God, to crowd himself, in that condition, into the house or church of God; or to make profession of, and desire that the name of God should be called upon him?
For the man that maketh a profession of the religion of Jesus Christ, that man hath, as it were, put the name of God upon himself, and is called and reckoned now, how fruitless soever before God or men, the man that hath to do with God, the man that God owneth, and will stand for. This man, I say, by his profession, suggesteth this to all that know him to be such a professor. Men merely natural, I mean men that have not got the devilish art of hypocrisy, are afraid to think of doing thus. 'And of the rest durst no man join himself to them; but the people magnified them' (Acts 5:13). And, indeed, it displeaseth God. 'Ye have brought,' saith he, 'men uncircumcised into my sanctuary' (Eze 44:7). And again, 'When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?' saith God (Isa 1:12). They have therefore learned this boldness of none in the visible world, they only took it of the devil, for he, and he only, with these his disciples, attempt to present themselves in the church before God. 'The tares are the children of the wicked one.' The tares, that is, the hypocrites, that are Satan's brood, the generation of vipers, that cannot escape the damnation of hell.
HAD a fig-tree planted in his vineyard.
He doth not say, He planted a fig-tree, but there was a fig-tree there; he HAD, or found a fig-tree planted in his vineyard.
The great God will now acknowledge the barren fig-tree, or barren professor, to be his workmanship, or a tree of his bringing in, only the text saith, he had one there. This is much like that in Matthew 15:13—'Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.' Here again are plants in his vineyard which God will not acknowledge to be of his planting; and he seems to suggest that in his vineyard are many such. Every plant, or all those plants or professors, that are got into the assembly of the saints, or into the profession of their religion, without God and his grace, 'shall be rooted up.'
'And when the King came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on the wedding-garment. And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having a wedding-garment?' (Matt 22:11,12). Here is one so cunning and crafty that he beguiled all the guests; he got and kept in the church even until the King himself came in to see the guests; but his subtilty got him nothing; it did not blind the eyes of the King; it did not pervert the judgment of the righteous. 'Friend, how camest thou in hither?' did overtake him at last; even a public rejection; the King discovered him in the face of all present. 'How camest thou in hither?' My Father did not bring thee hither; I did not bring thee hither; my Spirit did not bring thee hither; thou art not of the heavenly Father's planting. 'How camest thou in hither?' He that 'entereth not by the door, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber' (John 10:1). This text also is full and plain to our purpose; for this man came not in by the door, yet got into the church; he got in by climbing; he broke in at the windows; he got something of the light and glory of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ in his head; and so, hardy wretch that he was, he presumed to crowd himself among the children. But how is this resented? What saith the King of him? Why, this is his sign, 'the same is a thief and a robber.' See ye here also, if all they be owned as the planting of God that get into his church or profession of his name.
'Had a fig-tree.' Had one without a wedding-garment, had a thief in his garden, at his wedding, in his house. These climbed up some other way. There are many ways to get into the church of God, and profession of his name, besides, and without an entering by the door.
1. There is the way of lying and dissembling, and at this gap the Gibeonites got in (Josh 9 &c).
2. There is sometimes falseness among some pastors, either for the sake of carnal relations, or the like; at this hole Tobiah, the enemy of God, got in (Neh 13:4-9).
3. There is sometimes negligence, and too much uncircumspectness in the whole church; thus the uncircumcised got in (Eze 44:7,8).
4. Sometimes, again, let the church be never so circumspect, yet these have so much help from the devil that they beguile them all, and so get in. These are of the sort of thieves that Paul complains of, 'False brethren, that are brought in unawares' (Gal 2:4). Jude also cries out of these, 'Certain men crept in unawares' (Jude 4). Crept in! What, were they so lowly? A voluntary humility, a neglecting of the body, not in any humour (Col 2:23).[5] O! how seemingly self-denying are some of these 'creeping things,' that yet are to be held, (as we shall know them) an abomination to Israel (Lev 11:43,44).
But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour (2 Tim 2:20). By these words the apostle seems to take it for granted, that as there hath been, so there still will be these kind of fig-trees, these barren professors in the house, when all men have done what they can; even as in a great house there are always vessels to dishonour, as well as those to honour and glory; vessels of wood and of earth, as well as of silver and gold. So, then, there must be wooden professors in the garden of God, there must be earthy, earthen professors in his vineyard; but that methinks is the biting word, 'and some to dishonour' (Rom 9:21,22). That to the Romans is dreadful, but this seems to go beyond it; that speaks but of the reprobate in general, but this of such and such in particular; that speaks of their hardening but in the common way, but this that they must be suffered to creep into the church, there to fit themselves for their place, their own place, the place prepared for them of this sort only (Acts 1:25). As the Lord Jesus said once of the Pharisees, These 'shall receive greater damnation' (Luke 20:47).
Barren fig-tree, fruitless professor, hast thou heard all these things? Hast thou considered that this fig-tree is not acknowledged of God to be his, but is denied to be of his planting, and of his bringing unto his wedding? Dost not thou see that thou art called a thief and a robber, that hast either climbed up to, or crept in at another place than the door? Dost thou not hear that there will be in God's house wooden and earthly professors, and that no place will serve to fit those for hell but the house, the church, the vineyard of God? Barren fig-tree, fruitless Christian, do not thine ears tingle?
And HE came and sought fruit thereon.
When a man hath got a profession, and is crowded into the church and house of God, the question is not now, Hath he life, hath he right principles? but, Hath he fruit? HE came seeking fruit thereon. It mattereth not who brought thee in hither, whether God or the devil, or thine own vain-glorious heart; but hast thou fruit? Dost thou bring forth fruit unto God? And, 'Let every one that nameth the name of' the Lord Jesus 'Christ depart from iniquity' (2 Tim 2:19). He doth not say, And let every one that hath grace, or let those that have the Spirit of God; but, 'Let every one that nameth the name of' the Lord Jesus 'Christ depart form iniquity.'
What do men meddle with religion for? Why do they call themselves by the name of the Lord Jesus, if they have not the grace of God, if they have not the Spirit of Christ? God, therefore, expecteth fruit. What do they do in the vineyard? Let them work, or get them out; the vineyard must have labourers in it. 'Son, go WORK to-day in my vineyard' (Matt 21:28). Wherefore, want of grace and want of Spirit will not keep God from seeking fruit. 'And he came and sought fruit thereon' (Luke 13:6, 8:8). He requireth that which he seemeth to have. Every man in the vineyard and house of God promiseth himself, professeth to others, and would have all men take it for granted, that a heavenly principle is in him, why then should not God seek fruit?
As for them, therefore, that will retain the name of Christians, fearing God, and yet make no conscience of bringing forth fruit to him, he saith to such, Away! 'As for you,—Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto me,' &c. (Eze 20:39). Barren fig-tree, dost thou hear? God expecteth fruit, God calls for fruit, yea, God will shortly come seeking fruit on this barren fig-tree. Barren fig-tree, either bear fruit, or go out of the vineyard; and yet then thy case will be unspeakably damnable. Yea, let me add, if thou shalt neither bear fruit nor depart, God will take his name out of thy mouth (Jer 44:26). He will have fruit. And I say further, if thou wilt do neither, yet God in justice and righteousness will still come for fruit. And it will be in vain for thee to count this austerity. He will reap where he hath not sowed, and gather where he hath not strewed (Matt 25:24-26). Barren fig-tree, dost thou hear?
Quest. What if a man have no grace?
Answ. Yes, seeing he hath a profession.
And he came and sought fruit THEREON.
A church, then, and a profession, are not places where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves and sins from God. Some of old thought that because they could cry, 'The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!' that therefore they were delivered, or had a dispensation to do the abominations which they committed, as some in our days; for who, say they, have a right to the creatures, if not Christians, if not professors, if not church members? And, from this conclusion, let go the reins of their inordinate affections after pride, ambition, gluttony; pampering themselves without fear (Jude 12), daubing themselves with the lust-provoking fashions of the times; to walk with stretched out necks, naked breasts, frizzled fore-tops, wanton gestures, in gorgeous apparel, mixed with gold and pearl, and costly array.[6] I will not here make inspection into their lives, their carriages at home, in their corners and secret holes; but certainly, persons thus spirited, thus principled, and thus inclined, have but empty boughs, boughs that want the fruit that God expects, and that God will come down to seek.
Barren fig-tree, thou art not licensed by thy profession, nor by the Lord of the vineyard, to bear these clusters of Gomorrah; neither shall the vineyard, nor thy being crowded among the trees there, shelter thee from the sight of the eye of God. Many make religion their cloak, and Christ their stalking-horse, and by that means cover themselves and hide their own wickedness from men; but God seeth their hearts, hath his print upon the heels of their feet, and pondereth all their goings; and at last, when their iniquity is found to be hateful, he will either smite them with hardness of heart, and so leave them, or awaken them to bring forth fruit. Fruit he looks for, seeks, and expects, barren fig-tree!
But what! come into the presence of God to sin! What! come into the presence of God to hide thy sin! Alas, man! the church is God's garden, and Christ Jesus is the great Apostle and High-priest of our profession. What! come into the house that is called by my name! into the place where mine honour dwelleth! (Psa 26:8). Where mine eyes and heart are continually! (1 Kings 9:3). What! come there to sin, to hide thy sin, to cloak thy sin! His plants are an orchard with pleasant fruits (Cant 4:13). And every time he goeth into his garden, it is to see the fruits of the valley, and to 'see if the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded.'
Yea, saith he, he came seeking fruit on this fig-tree. The church is the place of God's delight, where he ever desires to be: there he is night and day. He is there to seek for fruit, to seek for fruit of all and every tree in the garden. Wherefore, assure thyself, O fruitless one, that thy ways must needs be open before the eyes of the Lord. One black sheep is soon espied, although in company with many; that is taken with the first cast of the eye; its different colour still betrays it. I say, therefore, a church and a profession are not places where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves from God that seeks for fruit. 'My vineyard,' saith God, 'which is mine, is before me' (Cant 8:12).
And he came and sought fruit thereon, AND FOUND NONE.
Barren fig-tree, hearken; the continual non-bearing of fruit is a dreadful sign that thou art to come to a dreadful end, as the winding up of this parable concludeth.
'AND FOUND NONE.' None at all, or none to God's liking; for when he saith, 'He came seeking fruit thereon,' he means 'fruit meet for God,' pleasant fruit, fruit good and sweet (Heb 6). Alas! it is not any fruit will serve; bad fruit is counted none. 'Every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire' (Matt 3:10).
First. There is a fruit among professors that withers, and so never comes to be ripe; a fruit that is smitten in the growth, and comes not to maturity; and this is reckoned no fruit. This fruit those professors bear that have many fair beginnings, or blossoms; that make many fair offers of repentance and amendment; that begin to pray, to resolve, and to break off their sins by righteousness, but stop at those beginnings, and bring not fruit forth to perfection. This man's fruit is withered, wrinkled, smitten fruit, and is in effect no fruit at all.
Second. There is a hasty fruit, such as is the 'corn upon the house-top' (Psa 129:6); or that which springs up on the dung-hill, that runs up suddenly, violently, with great stalks and big show, and yet at last proves empty of kernel. This fruit is to be found in those professors that on a sudden are so awakened, so convinced, and so affected with their condition that they shake the whole family, the endship,[7] the whole town. For a while they cry hastily, vehemently, dolefully, mournfully, and yet all is but a pang, an agony, a fit, they bring not forth fruit with patience. These are called those hasty fruits that 'shall be a fading flower' (Isa 28:4).
Third. There is a fruit that is vile and ill-tasted, how long soever it be in growing; the root is dried, and cannot convey a sufficiency of sap to the branches, to ripen the fruit (Jer 24). These are the fruits of such professors whose hearts are estranged from communion with the Holy Ghost, whose fruit groweth from themselves, from their parts, gifts, strength of wit, natural or moral principles. These, notwithstanding they bring forth fruit, are called empty vines, such as bring not forth fruit to God. 'Their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit; yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb' (Hosea 9:16).
Fourth. There is a fruit that is wild. 'I looked for grapes and it brought forth wild grapes' (Isa 5:4). I observe, that as there are trees and herbs that are wholly right and noble, fit indeed for the vineyard; so there are also their semblance, but wild; not right, but ignoble. There is the grape, and the wild grape; the vine, and the wild vine; the rose, and canker rose; flowers and wild flowers; the apple, and the wild apple which we call the crab. Now, fruit from these wild things, however they may please the children to play with, yet the prudent and grave count them of little or no value. There are also in the world a generation of professors that, notwithstanding their profession, are wild by nature; yea, such as were never cut out, or off, from the wild olive-tree, nor never yet planted into the good olive-tree. Now, these can bring nothing forth but wild olive berries, they cannot bring forth fruit unto God. Such are all those that have lightly taken up a profession, and crept into the vineyard without a new birth, and the blessing of regeneration.
Fifth. There is also untimely fruit: 'Even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs' (Rev 6, 13). Fruit out of season, and so no fruit to God's liking. There are two sorts of professors subject to bring forth untimely fruit: 1. They that bring forth fruit too soon; 2. They that bring forth fruit too late.
1. They that bring forth too soon. They are such as at present receive the Word with joy; and anon, before they have root downwards, they thrust forth upwards; but having not root, when the sun ariseth, they are smitten, and miserably die without fruit. These professors are those light and inconsiderate ones that think nothing but peace will attend the gospel; and so anon rejoice at the tidings, without foreseeing the evil. Wherefore, when the evil comes, being unarmed, and so not able to stand any longer, they die, and are withered, and bring forth no fruit. 'He that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the Word, and anon with joy receiveth it; yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while; for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the Word, by and by he is offended' (Matt 13:20,21). There is, in Isaiah 28:4, mention made of some 'whose glorious beauty shall be a fading flower,' because it is 'fruit before the summer.' Both these are untimely fruit.
2. They also bring forth untimely fruit that stay till the season is over. God will have his fruit in his season; I say, he will receive them of such men as shall render them to him in their seasons (Matt 21:41). The missing of the season is dangerous; staying till the door is shut is dangerous (Matt 25:10,11). Many there be that come not till the flood of God's anger is raised, and too deep for them to wade through; 'Surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him' (Psa 32:6). Esau AFTERWARDS is fearful: 'For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears' (Heb 12:17).
So the children of Israel, they brought to God the fruits of obedience too late; their 'Lo, we be here' came too late (Num 14:40-42); their 'We will go up' came too late (Num 14:40-44). The Lord had sworn before, 'that they should not possess the land' (Matt 25:10, 27:5). All these are such as bring forth untimely fruit (Heb 12:17; Luke 13:25-27). It is the hard hap of the reprobate to do all things too late; to be sensible of his want of grace too late; to be sorry for sin too late; to seek repentance too late; to ask for mercy, and to desire to go to glory too late.
Thus you see, 1. That fruit smitten in the growth, that withereth, and that comes not to maturity, is no fruit. 2. That hasty fruit, such as 'the grass upon the house-top,' withereth also before it groweth up, and is no fruit (Psa 129:6). 3. That the fruit that is vile, and ill-tasted, is no fruit. That wild fruit, wild grapes, are no fruit (Rev 6). That untimely fruit, such as comes too soon, or that comes too late, such as come not in their season, are no fruit.
And he came and sought FRUIT thereon, and found none.
Nothing will do but fruit; he looked for grapes. 'When the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it' (Matt 21:34).
Quest. But what fruit doth God expect?
Answ. Good fruit. 'Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down' (Matt 7:19). Now, before the fruit can be good, the tree must be good; for good fruit makes not a good tree, but a 'good tree bringeth forth good fruit. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?' A man must be good, else he can bring forth no good fruit; he must have righteousness imputed, that he may stand good in God;'s sight from the curse of his law; he must have a principle of righteousness in his soul, else how should he bring forth good fruits? and hence it is, that a Christian's fruits are called 'the fruits of the Spirit, the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ' (Gal 5:22,23; Phil 1:11). The fruits of the Spirit, therefore the Spirit must be there; the fruits of righteousness, therefore righteousness must first be there. But to particularize in a few things briefly:—
First. God expecteth fruit that will answer, and be worthy of the repentance which thou feignest thyself to have. Every one in a profession, and that hath crowded into the vineyard, pretendeth to repentance; now of every such soul, God expecteth that the fruits of repentance be found to attend them. 'Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance,' or answerable to thy profession of the doctrine of repentance (Matt 3:8). Barren fig-tree, seeing thou art a professor, and art got into the vineyard, thou standest before the Lord of the vineyard as one of the trees of the garden; wherefore he looketh for fruit from thee, as from the rest of the trees in the vineyard; fruits, I say, and such as may declare thee in heart and life one that hath made sound profession of repentance. By thy profession thou hast said, I am sensible of the evil of sin. Now then, live such a life as declares that thou art sensible of the evil of sin. By thy profession thou hast said, I am sorry for my sin. Why, then, live such a life as may declare this sorrow. By thy profession thou hast said, I am ashamed of my sin; yea, but live such a life, that men by that may see thy shame for sin (Psa 38:18; Jer 31:19). By thy profession thou sayest, I have turned from, left off, and am become an enemy to every appearance of evil (1 Thess 5:22). Ah! but doth thy life and conversation declare thee to be such an one? Take heed, barren fig-tree, lest thy life should give thy profession the lie. I say again, take heed, for God himself will come for fruit. 'And he sought fruit thereon.'
You have some professors that are only saints before men when they are abroad, but are devils and vipers at home; saints by profession, but devils by practice; saints in word, but sinners in heart and life. These men may have the profession, but they want the fruits that become repentance.[8]
Barren fig-tree, can it be imagined that those that paint themselves did ever repent of their pride? or that those that pursue this world did ever repent of their covetousness? or that those that walk with wanton eyes did ever repent of their fleshly lusts? Where, barren fig-tree, is the fruit of these people's repentance? Nay, do they not rather declare to the world that they have repented of their profession? Their fruits look as if they had. Their pride saith they have repented of their humility. Their covetousness declareth that they are weary of depending upon God; and doth not thy wanton actions declare that thou abhorrest chastity? Where is thy fruit, barren fig-tree? Repentance is not only a sorrow, and a shame for, but a turning from sin to God; it is called 'repentance from dead works' (Heb 6:1). Hast thou that 'godly sorrow' that 'worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of?' (2 Cor 7:10,11). How dost thou show thy carefulness, and clearing of thyself; thy indignation against sin; they fear of offending; thy vehement desire to walk with God; thy zeal for his name and glory in the world? And what revenge hast thou in thy heart against every thought of disobedience?
But where is the fruit of this repentance? Where is thy watching, thy fasting, thy praying against the remainders of corruption? Where is thy self-abhorrence, thy blushing before God, for the sin that is yet behind? Where is thy tenderness of the name of God and his ways? Where is thy self-denial and contentment? How dost thou show before men the truth of thy turning to God? Hast thou 'renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness?' Canst thou commend thyself 'to every man's conscience in the sight of God?' (2 Cor 4:2).
Second. God expecteth fruits that shall answer that faith which thou makest profession of. The professor that is got into the vineyard of God doth feign that he hath the faith, the faith most holy, the faith of God's elect. Ah! but where are thy fruits, barren fig-tree? The faith of the Romans was 'spoken of throughout the whole world' (Rom 1:8). And the Thessalonians' faith grew exceedingly (2 Thess 1:3).
Thou professest to believe thou hast a share in another world: hast thou let got THIS, barren fig-tree? Thou professest thou believest in Christ: is he thy joy, and the life of thy soul? Yea, what conformity unto him, to his sorrows and sufferings? What resemblance hath his crying, and groaning, and bleeding, and dying, wrought in thee? Dost thou 'bear about in thy body the dying of the Lord Jesus?' and is also the life of Jesus 'made manifest in thy mortal body?' (2 Cor 4:10,11). Barren fig-tree, 'show me thy faith by thy works.' 'Show out of a good conversation thy works with meekness of wisdom' (James 2:18, 3:13). What fruit, barren fig-tree, what degree of heart holiness? for faith purifies the heart (Acts 15:9). What love to the Lord Jesus? for 'faith worketh by love' (Gal 5:6).
Third. God expecteth fruits according to the seasons of grace thou art under, according to the rain that cometh upon thee. Perhaps thou art planted in a good soil, by great waters, that thou mightest bring forth branches, and bear fruit; that thou mightest be a goodly vine or fig-tree. Shall he not therefore seek for fruit, for fruit answerable to the means? Barren fig-tree, God expects it, and will find it too, if ever he bless thee. 'For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: but that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned' (Heb 6:7,8).
Barren soul, how many showers of grace, how many dews from heaven, how many times have the silver streams of the city of God run gliding by thy roots, to cause thee to bring forth fruit! These showers and streams, and the drops that hang upon thy boughs, will all be accounted for; and will they not testify against thee that thou oughtest, of right, to be burned? Hear and tremble, O thou barren professor! Fruits that become thy profession of the gospel, the God of heaven expecteth. The gospel hath in it the forgiveness of sins, the kingdom of heaven, and eternal life; but what fruit hath thy profession of a belief of these things put forth in thy heart and life? Hast thou given thyself to the Lord? and is all that thou hast to be ventured for his name in this world? Dost thou walk like one that is bought with a price, even with the price of precious blood?
Fourth. The fruit that God expecteth is such as is meet for himself; fruit that may glorify God. God's trees are trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified; fruit that tasteth of heaven, abundance of such fruit. For 'herein,' saith Christ, 'is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit' (John 15:8). Fruits of all kinds, new and old; the fruits of the Spirit are in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth. Fruits before the world, fruits before the saints, fruits before God, fruits before angels.
O my brethren, 'what manner of persons ought we to be,' who have subscribed to the Lord, and have called ourselves by the name of Israel? 'One shall say I am the Lord's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel' (Isa 44:5). Barren fig-tree, hast thou subscribed, hast thou called thyself by the name of Jacob, and surnamed thyself by the name of Israel? All this thou pretendest to, who art got into the vineyard, who art placed among the trees of the garden of God. God doth therefore look for such fruit as is worthy of his name, as is meet for him; as the apostle saith, 'we should walk worthy of God'; that is, so as we may show in every place that the presence of God is with us, his fear in us, and his majesty and authority upon our actions. Fruits meet for him, such a dependence upon him, such trust in his word, such satisfaction in his presence, such a trusting of him with all my concerns, and such delight in the enjoyment of him, that may demonstrate that his fear is in my heart, that my soul is wrapped up in his things, and that my body, and soul, and estate, and all, are in truth, through his grace, at his dispose, fruit meet for him. Hearty thanks, and blessing God for Jesus Christ, for his good word, for his free grace, for the discovery of himself in Christ to the soul, secret longing after another world, fruit meet for him. Liberality to the poor saints, to the poor world; a life in word and deed exemplary; a patient and quiet enduring of all things, till I have done and suffered the whole will of God, which he hath appointed for me. 'That on the good ground are they which, in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience' (Luke 8:15). This is bringing forth fruit unto God; having our 'fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life' (Rom 7:4, 6:22, 14:8).
Fifth. The Lord expects fruit becoming the vineyard of God. 'The vineyard,' saith he, 'in a very fruitful hill': witness the fruit brought forth in all ages (Isa 5:1). The most barren trees that ever grew in the wood of this world, when planted in this vineyard by the God of heaven, what fruit to Godward have they brought forth! 'Abel offered the more excellent sacrifice' (Heb 11:4). Enoch walked with God three hundred years (Heb 11:5). Noah, by his life of faith, 'condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith' (Heb 11:7). Abraham left his country, and went out after God, not knowing whither he went (Heb 11:8). Moses left a kingdom, and run the hazard of the wrath of the king, for the love he had to God and Christ. What shall I say of them who had trials, 'not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection? They were stoned; they were sawn asunder; were tempted; were slain with the sword; they wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented' (Heb 11:35-37). Peter left his father, ship, and nets (Matt 4:18-20). Paul turned off from the feet of Gamaliel. Men brought their goods and possessions (the price of them) and cast it down at the apostle's feet (Acts 19:18-20). And others brought their books together, and burned them; curious books, though they were worth fifty thousand pieces of silver. I could add how many willingly offered themselves in all ages, and their all, for the worthy name of the Lord Jesus, to be racked, starved, hanged, burned, drowned, pulled in pieces, and a thousand calamities.[9] Barren fig-tree, the vineyard of God hath been a fruitful place. What dost thou there? What dost thou bear? God expects fruit according to, or becoming the soil of the vineyard.
Sixth. The fruit which God expecteth is such as becometh God's husbandry and labour. The vineyard is God's husbandry, or tillage. 'I am the true vine,' saith Christ, 'and my Father is the husbandman' (John 15:1). And again, 'Ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building' (1 Cor 3:9). The vineyard; God fences it, God gathereth out the stones, God builds the tower, and the wine-press in the midst thereof. Here is labour, here is protection, here is removing of hindrances, here is convenient purgation, and all that there might be fruit.
Barren fig-tree, what fruit hast thou? Hast thou fruit becoming the care of God, the protection of God, the wisdom of God, the patience and husbandry of God? It is the fruit of the vineyard that is either the shame or the praise of the husbandman. 'I went by the field of the slothful,' saith Solomon, 'and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; and lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof' (Prov 34:30-32).
Barren fig-tree, if men should make a judgment of the care, and pains, and labour of God in his church, by the fruit that thou bringest forth, what might they say? Is he not slothful, is not he careless, is he not without discretion? O! thy thorns, thy nettles, thy barren heart and barren life, is a continual provocation to the eyes of his glory, as likewise a dishonour to the glory of his grace.
Barren fig-tree, hast thou heard all these things? I will add yet one more.
'And he came and sought fruit thereon.'
The question is not now, What thou thinkest of thyself, nor what all the people of God think of thee, but what thou shalt be found in that day when God shall search thy boughs for fruit? When Sodom was to be searched for righteous men, God would not, in that matter, trust his faithful servant Abraham; but still, as Abraham interceded, God answered, 'If I find fifty,—or forty and five there, I will not destroy the city' (Gen 18:20-28). Barren fig-tree, what sayest thou? God will come down to see, God will make search for fruit himself.
'And he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of the vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and find none; cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground?'
These words are the effects of God's search into the boughs of a barren fig-tree; he sought fruit, and found none—none to his liking, none pleasant and good. Therefore, first, he complains of the want thereof to the dresser; calls him to come, and see, and take notice of the tree; then signifieth his pleasure: he will have it removed, taken away, cut down from cumbering the ground.
Observe, The barren fig-tree is the object of God's displeasure;
God cannot bear with a fruitless professor.
THEN said he, &c.
THEN, after this provocation; then, after he had sought and found no fruit, then. This word, THEN, doth show us a kind of an inward disquietness; as he saith also in another place, upon a like provocation. 'THEN the anger of the Lord, and his jealousy, shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven' (Deut 29:18-20).
THEN; it intimateth that he was now come to a point, to a resolution what to do with this fig-tree. 'Then said he to the dresser of this vineyard,' that is, to Jesus Christ, 'behold,' as much as to say, come hither, here is a fig-tree in my vineyard, here is a professor in my church, that is barren, that beareth no fruit.
Observe, However the barren professor thinks of himself on earth, the Lord cries out in heaven against him. 'And now go to, I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and I will break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down' (Isa 5:5).
'Behold, THESE THREE YEARS I come seeking fruit.'
Observe, 'THESE THREE YEARS.' God cries out that this patience is abused, that his forbearance is abused. Behold, these three years I have waited, forborne; these three years I have deferred mine anger. 'Therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting' (Jer 15:6). 'These three years.' Observe, God layeth up all the time; I say, a remembrance of all the time that a barren fig-tree, or a fruitless professor, misspendeth in this world. As he saith also of Israel of old, 'forty years long was I grieved with this generation' (Psa 95:10).
'These three years,' &c. These three seasons: Observe, God remembers how many seasons thou hast misspent: for these three years signify so many seasons. And when the time of fruit drew nigh, that is, about the season they begin to be ripe, or that according to the season might so have been. Barren fig-tree, thou hast had time, seasons, sermons, ministers, afflictions, judgments, mercies, and what not; and yet hast not been fruitful. Thou hast had awakenings, reproofs, threatenings, comforts, and yet hast not been fruitful. Thou hast had patterns, examples, citations, provocations, and yet has not been fruitful. Well, God hath laid up thy three years with himself. He remembers every time, every season, every sermon, every minister, affliction, judgment, mercy, awakening, pattern, example, citation, provocation; he remembers all. As he said of Israel of old, 'They have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice' (Num 14:22). And again, 'I remember all their wickedness' (Hosea 7:2).
'These three years,' &c. He seeks for the fruit of every season. He will not that any of his sermons, ministers, afflictions, judgments, or mercies, should be lost, or stand for insignificant things; he will have according to the benefit bestowed. (2 Chron 32:24,25). He hath not done without a cause all that he hath done, and therefore he looketh for fruit (Eze 14:23). Look to it, barren fig-tree.[10]
I came 'SEEKING' fruit.
Observe, This word 'SEEKING' signifies a narrow search; for when a man seeks for fruit on a tree, he goes round it and round it; now looking into this bough, and then into that; he peeks into the inmost boughs, and the lowermost boughs, if perhaps fruit may be thereon. Barren fig-tree, God will look into all thy boughs, he will be with thee in thy bed-fruits, thy midnight-fruits, thy closet-fruits, thy family-fruits, thy conversation-fruits, to see if there be any among all these that are fit for, or worthy of the name of the God of heaven. He sees 'what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark' (Eze 8:12). 'All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do' (Heb 4:12,13).
Seeking fruit on 'THIS' fig-tree.
I told you before, that he keeps in remembrance the times and seasons that the barren professor had wickedly misspent. Now, forasmuch as he also pointeth out the fig-tree, THIS fig-tree, it showeth that the barren professor, above all professors, is a continual odium in the eyes of God. This fig-tree, 'this man Coniah' (Jer 22:28). This people draw nigh me with their mouth, but have removed their hearts far from me. God knows who they are among all the thousands of Israel that are the barren and fruitless professors; his lot will fall upon the head of Achan, though he be hid among six hundred thousand men. 'And he brought his household, man by man, and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zera, of the tribe of Judah, was taken' (Josh 7:17,18). This is the Achan, this is the fig-tree, this is the barren professor!
There is a man hath a hundred trees in his vineyard, and at the time of the season, he walketh into his vineyard to see how the trees flourish; and as he goes, and views, and prys, and observes how they are hanged with fruit, behold, he cometh to one where he findeth naught but leaves. Now he makes a stand; looks upon it again and again; he looks also here and there, above and below; and if after all this seeking, he finds nothing but leaves thereon, then he begins to cast in his mind, how he may know this tree next year; what stands next it, or how far it is off the hedge? But if there be nothing there that may be as a mark to know it by, then he takes his hook, and giveth it a private mark—'And the Lord set a mark upon Cain' (Gen 4), saying, Go thy ways, fruitless fig-tree, thou hast spent this season in vain. Yet doth he not cut it down, I will try it another year: may be this was not a hitting[11] season. Therefore he comes again next year, to see if now it have fruit; but as he found it before, so he finds it now, barren, barren, every year barren; he looks again, but finds no fruit. Now he begins to have second thoughts, How! neither hit last year nor this? Surely the barrenness is not in the season; sure the fault is in the tree; however, I will spare it this year also, but will give it a second mark; and it may be he toucheth it with a hot iron, because he begins to be angry.
Well, at the third season he comes again for fruit, but the third year is like the first and second; no fruit yet; it only cumbereth the ground. What now must be done with this fig-tree? Why, the Lord will lop its boughs with terror; yea, the thickets of those professors with iron. I have waited, saith God, these three years; I have missed of fruit these three years; it hath been a cumber-ground these three years; cut it down. Precept hath been upon precept, and line upon line, one year after another, for these three years, but no fruit can be seen; I find none, fetch out the axe! I am sure THIS is the fig-tree, I know it from the first year; barrenness was its sign then, barrenness is its sign now; make it fit for the fire! Behold, 'now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore, every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down, and cast into the fire' (Matt 3:10).
Observe, my brethren, God's heart cannot stand towards a barren fig-tree. You know thus it is with yourselves. If you have a tree in your orchard or vineyard that doth only cumber the ground, you cannot look upon that tree with pleasure, with complacency and delight. No; if you do but go by it, if you do but cast your eye upon it: yea, if you do but think of that tree, you threaten it in your heart, saying, I will hew thee down shortly; I will to the fire with thee shortly: and it is in vain for any to think of persuading of you to show favour to the barren fig-tree; and if they should persuade, your answer is irresistible, It yields me no profit, it takes up room and doth no good; a better may grow in its room.
Cut it down.
Thus, when the godly among the Jews made prayers that rebellious Israel might not be cast out of the vineyard, what saith the answer of God? (Jer 14:17). 'Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people': wherefore 'cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth' (Jer 15:1).
What a resolution is here! Moses and Samuel could do almost anything with God in prayer. How many times did Moses by prayer turn away God's judgments from even Pharaoh himself! yea, how many times did he by prayer preserve Israel, when in the wilderness, from the anger and wrath of God! (Psa 106:23). Samuel is reckoned excellent this way, yea, so excellent, that when Israel had done that fearful thing as to reject the Lord, and choose them another king, he prayed, and the Lord spared, and forgave them (1 Sam 12). But yet neither Moses nor Samuel can save a barren fig-tree. No; though Moses and Samuel stood before me, that is, pleading, arguing, interceding, supplicating, and beseeching, yet could they not incline mine heart to this people.
Cut it down.
'Ay, but Lord, it is a fig-tree, a fig-tree!' If it was a thorn, or a bramble, or a thistle, the matter would not be much; but it is a fig-tree, or a vine. Well, but mark the answer of God, 'Son of man, What is the vine-tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest? Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon?' (Eze 15:2,3). If trees that are set, or planted for fruit, bring not forth that fruit, there is betwixt them and the trees of the forest no betterment at all, unless the betterment lieth in the trees of the wood, for they are fit to build withal; but a fig-tree, or a vine, if they bring not forth fruit, yea, good fruit, they are fit for nothing at all, but to be cut down and prepared for the fire; and so the prophet goes on, 'Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel.' If it serve not for fruit it will serve for fuel, and so 'the fire devoureth both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burnt.'
Ay, but these fig-trees and vines are church-members, inhabiters of Jerusalem. So was the fig-tree mentioned in the text. But what answer hath God prepared for these objections? Why, 'Thus saith the Lord God, As the vine-tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel; so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will set my face against them, they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them' (Eze 15:6,7).
Cut it down.
The woman that delighteth in her garden, if she have a slip there, suppose, if it was fruitful, she would not take five pounds for it; yet if it bear no fruit, if it wither, and dwindle, and die, and turn cumber-ground only, it may not stand in her garden. Gardens and vineyards are places for fruit, for fruit according to the nature of the plant or flowers. Suppose such a slip as I told you of before should be in your garden, and there die, would you let it abide in your garden? No; away with it, away with it! The woman comes into her garden towards the spring, where first she gives it a slight cast with her eye, then she sets to gathering out the weeds, and nettles, and stones; takes a besom and sweeps the walks; this done, she falls to prying into her herbs and slips, to see if they live, to see if they are likely to grow. Now, if she comes to one that is dead, that she is confident will not grow, up she pulls that, and makes to the heap of rubbish with it, where she despisingly casts it down, and valueth it no more than a nettle, or a weed, or than the dust she hath swept out of her walks. Yea, if any that see her should say, Why do you so? the answer is ready. It is dead, it is dead at root; if I had let it stand it would but have cumbered the ground. The strange slips, and also the dead ones, they must be 'a heap in the day of grief, and of desperate sorrow' (Isa 17:10,11).
Cut it down.
There are two manner of cuttings down; First. When a man is cast out of the vineyard. Second. When a man is cast out of the world.
First. When a man is cast out of the vineyard. And that is done two ways; 1. By an immediate hand of God. 2. By the church's due execution of the laws and censures which Christ for that purpose has left with his church.
1. God cuts down the barren fig-tree by an immediate hand, smiting his roots, blasting his branches, and so takes him away from among his people. 'Every branch,' saith Christ, 'that beareth not fruit in me, he,' my Father, 'taketh away' (John 15:2). He taketh him out of the church, he taketh him away from the godly. There are two things by which God taketh the barren professor from among the children of God: (1.) Strong delusions. (2.) Open profaneness.
(.1). By strong delusion; such as beguile the soul with damnable doctrines, that swerve from faith and godliness, 'They have chosen their own ways,' saith God, 'and their soul delighteth in their abominations. I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them' (Isa 66:3,4). I will smite them with blindness, and hardness of heart, and failing of eyes; and will also suffer the tempter to tempt and affect his hellish designs upon them. 'God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness' (2 Thess 2:10-12).
(2.) Sometimes God takes away a barren professor by open profaneness. There is one hath taken up a profession of that worthy name, the Lord Jesus Christ; but this profession is but a cloak; he secretly practiseth wickedness. He is a glutton, a drunkard, or covetous, or unclean. Well, saith God, I will loose the reins of this professor; I will give him up to his vile affections; I will loose the reins of his lusts before him; he shall be entangled with his beastly lusts; he shall be overcome of ungodly company. Thus they that turn aside to their own crooked ways 'the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity' (Psa 125:5). This is God's hand immediately; God is now dealing with this man himself. Barren fig-tree, hearken! Thou art crowded into a profession, art got among the godly, and there art a scandal to the holy and glorious gospel; but withal so cunning that, like the sons of Zeruiah, thou art too hard for the church; she knows not how to deal with thee. Well, saith God, I will deal with that man myself, 'I will answer that man by myself.' He that sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumbling-block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes and appears before me, 'I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb: and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the Lord' (Eze 14:7,8). But,
2. God doth sometimes cut down the barren fig-tree by the church, by the church's due execution of the laws and censures which Christ for that purpose hath left with his church. This is the meaning of that in Matthew 18; 1 Corinthians 5: and that in 1 Timothy 1:20 upon which now I shall not enlarge, But which way soever God dealeth with thee, O thou barren fig-tree, whither by himself immediately, or by his church, it amounts to one and the same; for if timely repentance prevent not, the end of that soul is damnation. They are blasted, and withered, and gathered by men, God's enemies; and at last being cast into the fire burning must be their end. 'That which beareth thorns and briars is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned' (Heb 6:8).
Second. And, again, sometimes by 'Cut it down' God means, cast it out of the world. Thus he cut down Nadab and Abihu, when he burned them up with fire from heaven. Thus he cut down Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, when he made the earth to swallow them up (Num 3:4, 16:31-33). Thus he cut down Saul, when he gave him up to fall upon the edge of his own sword, and died (1 Sam 31:4). Thus he cut down Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, when he struck them down dead in the midst of the congregation (Acts 5:5,10). I might here also discourse of Absalom, Ahithophel, and Judas, who were all three hanged: the first by God's revenging hand, the others were given up of God to be their own executioners. These were barren and unprofitable fig-trees, such as God took no pleasure in, therefore he commanded to cut them down. The Psalmist saith, 'He shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath' (Psa 58:9). Barren fig-tree, hearken! God calls for the axe, his sword; bring it hither; here is a barren professor. Cut him down, why cumbereth he the ground?
Why cumbereth it the ground?
By these words the Lord suggesteth reasons of his displeasure against the barren fig-tree; it cumbereth the ground. The Holy Ghost doth not only take an argument from its barrenness, but because it is a cumber-ground, therefore cut it down; wherefore it must needs be a provocation. 1. Because, as much as in him lieth, he disappointeth the design of God in planting his vineyard; I looked that it should bring forth fruit. 2. It hath also abused his patience, his long-suffering, his three years' patience. 3. It hath also abused his labour, his pains, his care, and providence of protection and preservation: for he hedges his vineyard, and walls it about. Cumber-ground, all these things thou abusest! He waters his vineyard, and looks to it night and day; but all these things thou hast abused.
Further, there are other reasons of God's displeasure; as,
First. A cumber-ground is a very mock and reproach of religion, a mock and reproach to the ways of God, to the people of God, to the Word of God, and to the name of religion. It is expected of all hands, that all the trees in the garden of God should be fruitful: God expects fruit, the church expects fruit, the world, even the world, concludes that professors should be fruitful in good works; I say, the world expecteth that professors should be better than themselves. But, barren fig-tree, thou disappointest all. Nay, hast thou not learned the wicked ones thy ways? Hast thou not learned them to be more wicked by thy example?—but that is by the by. Barren fig-tree, thou hast disappointed others, and must be disappointed thyself! 'Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground?'
Second. The barren fig-tree takes up the room where a better tree might stand; I say, it takes up the room, it keeps, so long as it stand where it doth; a fruitful tree out of that place, and therefore it must be cut down. Barren fig-tree, dost thou hear? Because the Jews stood fruitless in the vineyard, therefore, saith God, 'The kingdom of God shall be taken from you,' and given to a nation that shall render him their fruits in their season (Matt 21:33-41). The Jews for their barrenness were cut down, and more fruitful people put in their room. As Samuel also said to barren Saul, 'The Lord hath rent the kingdom from thee, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine that is better than thou' (1 Sam 15:28). The unprofitable servant must be cast out, must be cut down (Matt 25:27).
Cumber-ground, how many hopeful, inclinable, forward people, hast thou by thy fruitless and unprofitable life, kept out of the vineyard of God? For thy sake have the people stumbled at religion; by thy life have they been kept from the love of their own salvation. Thou hast been also a means of hardening others, and of quenching and killing weak beginnings. Well, barren fig-tree, look to thyself, thou wilt not go to heaven thyself, and them that would, thou hinderest; thou must not always cumber the ground, nor always hinder the salvation of others. Thou shalt be cut down, and another shall be planted in thy room.
Third. The cumber-ground is a sucker; he draws away the heart and nourishment from the other trees. Were the cumber ground cut down, the others would be more fruitful; he draws away that fatness of the ground to himself, that would make the others more hearty and fruitful. 'One sinner destroyeth much good' (Eccl 9:18).
The cumber-ground is a very drone in the hive, that eats up the honey that should feed the labouring bee; he is a thief in the candle, that wasteth the tallow, but giveth no light; he is the unsavoury salt, that is fit for nought but the dunghill. Look to it, barren fig-tree!
And he answering, said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it; and if it bear fruit, well; and if not, then after that, thou shalt cut it down (vv 8,9).
These are the words of the dresser of the vineyard, who, I told you, is Jesus Christ, for he made intercession for the transgressors. And they contain a petition presented to an offended justice, praying, that a little more time and patience might be exercised towards the barren cumber-ground fig-tree.
In this petition there are six things considerable: 1. That justice might be deferred. O that justice might be deferred! 'Lord, let it alone,' &c., a while longer. 2. Here is time prefixed, as a space to try if more means will cure a barren fig-tree. 'Lord, let it alone this year also.' 3. The means to help it are propounded, 'until I shall dig about it, and dung it.'[12] 4. Here is also an insinuation of a supposition, that, by thus doing, God's expectation may be answered; 'and if it bear fruit, well.' 5. Here is a supposition that the barren fig-tree may yet abide barren, when Christ hath done what he will unto it; 'and if it bear fruit,' &c. 6. Here is at last a resolution, that if thou continue barren, hewing days will come upon thee; 'and if it bear fruit, well; and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.' But to proceed according to my former method, by way of exposition.
Lord, let it alone this year also.
Here is astonishing grace indeed! astonishing grace, I say, that the Lord Jesus should concern himself with a barren fig-tree; that he should step in to stop the blow from a barren fig-tree! True, he stopped the blow but for a time; but why did he stop it at all? Why did not he fetch out the axe? Why did he not do execution? Why did not he cut it down? Barren fig-tree, it is well for thee that there is a Jesus at God's right hand, a Jesus of that largeness of bowels, as to have compassion for a barren fig-tree, else justice had never let thee alone to cumber the ground as thou hast done! When Israel also had sinned against God, down they had gone, but that Moses stood in the breach. 'Let me alone,' said God to him, 'that I may consume them' in a moment, 'and I will make of thee a great nation' (Exo 32:10). Barren fig-tree, dost thou hear? Thou knowest not how oft the hand of Divine justice hath been up to strike, and how many years since thou hadst been cut down, had not Jesus caught hold of his Father's axe. Let me alone, let me fetch my blow, or 'Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground?' Wilt thou not hear yet, barren fig-tree? Wilt thou provoke still? Thou hast wearied men, and provoked the justice of God! And 'will ye weary my God also?' (Isa 7:13).
Lord, let it alone this year.
Lord, a little longer! let us not lose a soul for want of means. I will try, I will see if I can make it fruitful, I will not beg a long life, nor that it might still be barren, and so provoke thee. I beg, for the sake of the soul, the immortal soul; Lord, spare it one year only, one year longer, this year also. If I do any good to it, it will be in little time. Thou shalt not be over wearied with waiting; one year and then.
Barren fig-tree, dost thou hear what a striving there is between the vine-dresser and the husbandman, for thy life? 'Cut it down,' says one; 'Lord, spare it,' saith the other. It is a cumber-ground, saith the Father; one year longer, prays the Son. 'Let it alone this year also.'
Till I shall dig about it, and dung it.
The Lord Jesus by these words supposeth two things, as causes of the want of fruit in a barren fig-tree; and two things he supposeth as a remedy.
The things that are a cause of want of fruit are, First. It is earth-bound. Lord, the fig-tree is earth-bound. Second. A want of warmer means, of fatter means. Wherefore, accordingly, he propoundeth to loosen the earth; to dig about it. And then to supply it with dung.
'To dig about it, and dung it. Lord, let it alone this year also, until I shall dig about it.' I doubt it is too much ground-bound. The love of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches lie too close to the roots of the heart of this professor (Luke 14). The love of riches, the love of honours, the love of pleasures, are the thorns that choke the word. 'For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father,' but enmity to God; how then, where these things bind up the heart, can there be fruit brought forth to God? (1 John 2:15,16). Barren fig-tree, see how the Lord Jesus, by these very words, suggesteth the cause of thy fruitfulessness of soul! The things of this world lie too close to thy heart; the earth with its things have bound up thy roots; thou art an earth-bound soul, thou art wrapped up in thick clay. 'If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him'; how then can he be fruitful in the vineyard? This kept Judas from the fruit of caring for the poor (John 12:6). This kept Demas from the fruit of self-denial (2 Tim 4:10). And this kept Ananias and Sapphira his wife from the goodly fruit of sincerity and truth (Acts 5:5,10). What shall I say? These are 'foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition; for the love of money is the root of all evil.' How then can good fruit grow from such a root, the root of all evil? 'Which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows' (1 Tim 6:9,10). It is an evil root, nay, it is the root of all evil. How then can the professor that hath such a root, or a root wrapped up in such earthly things, as the lusts, and pleasures, and vanities of this world, bring forth fruit to God?
Till I shall 'DIG' about it.
Lord, I will loose his roots, I will dig up this earth, I will lay his roots bare; my hand shall be upon him by sickness, by disappointments, by cross providences; I will dig about him until he stands shaking and tottering; until he be ready to fall; then, if ever, he will seek to take faster hold. Thus, I say, deals the Lord Jesus ofttimes with the barren professor; he diggeth about him, he smiteth one blow at his heart, another blow at his lusts, a third at his pleasures, a fourth at his comforts, another at his self-conceitedness. Thus he diggeth about him; this is the way to take bad earth from his roots, and to loosen his roots from the earth. Barren fig-tree, see here the care, the love, the labour, and way, which the Lord Jesus, the dresser of the vineyard, is fain to take with thee, if haply thou mayest be made fruitful.[13]
Till I shall dig about it, and 'DUNG' it.
As the earth, by binding the roots too closely, may hinder the tree's being fruitful, so the want of better means may be also a cause thereof. And this is more than intimated by the dresser of the vineyard; 'Till I shall dig about it and dung it.' I will supply it with a more fruitful ministry, with a warmer word; I will give them pastors after mine own heart; I will dung them. You know dung is a more warm, more fat, more hearty, and succouring matter than is commonly the place in which trees are planted.
'I will dig about it, and dung it.' I will bring it under a heart-awakening ministry; the means of grace shall be fat and good: I will also visit it with heart-awakening, heart-warming, heart-encouraging considerations; I will apply warm dung to his roots; I will strive with him by my Spirit, and give him some tastes of the heavenly gift, and the power of the world to come. I am loth to lose him for want of digging. 'Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it and dung it.'
And if it bear fruit, WELL.
And if the fruits of all my labour doth make this fig-tree fruitful, I shall count my time, my labour, and means, well bestowed upon it; and thou also, O my God, shalt be therewith much delighted; for thou art gracious, and merciful, and repentest thee of the evil which thou threatenest to bring upon a people. These words, therefore, inform us, that if a barren fig-tree, a barren professor, shall now at last bring forth fruit to God, it shall go well with that professor, it shall go well with that poor soul. His former barrenness, his former tempting of God, his abuse of God's patience and long-suffering, his mis-spending year after year, shall now be all forgiven him. Yea, God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, will not pass by and forget all, and say, 'Well done,' at the last. When I say to the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if he then do that which is lawful and right, if he walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity, he shall surely live, he shall not die (Eze 33).
Barren fig-tree, dost thou hear? the axe is laid to thy roots, the Lord Jesus prays God to spare thee. Hath he been digging about thee? Hath he been dunging of thee? O barren fig-tree, now thou art come to the point; if thou shalt now become good, if thou shalt, after a gracious manner, suck in the gospel-dung, and if thou shalt bring forth fruit unto God, well; but if not, the fire is the last! fruit, or the fire; fruit, or the fire, barren fig-tree! 'If it bear fruit, well.'[14]
And if not, THEN after that thou shalt cut it down.
The Lord Jesus, by this if, giveth us to understand that there is a generation of professors in the world that are incurable, that will not, that cannot repent, nor be profited by the means of grace. A generation, I say, that will retain a profession, but will not bring forth fruit; a generation that will wear out the patience of God, time and tide, threatenings and intercessions, judgments and mercies, and after all will be unfruitful.
O the desperate wickedness that is in thy heart! Barren professor, dost thou hear? the Lord Jesus stands yet in doubt about thee; there is an IF stands yet in the way. I say, the Lord Jesus stands yet in doubt about thee, whether or no, at last, thou wilt be good; whether he may not labour in vain; whether his digging and dunging will come to more than lost labour; 'I gave her space to repent,—and she repented not' (Rev 2:21). I digged about it, I dunged it; I gained time, and supplied it with means; but I laboured herein in vain, and spent my strength for nought, and in vain! Dost thou hear, barren fig-tree? there is yet a question, Whether it may be well with thy soul at last?
And if not, THEN after that thou shalt cut it down.
There is nothing more exasperating to the mind of a man than to find all his kindness and favour slighted; neither is the Lord Jesus so provoked with anything, as when sinners abuse his means of grace; if it be barren and fruitless under my gospel; if it turn my grace into wantonness, if after digging and dunging, and waiting, it yet remain unfruitful, I will let thee cut it down.
Gospel means, applied, is the last remedy for a barren professor; if the gospel, if the grace of the gospel, will not do, there can be nothing expected but cut it down. 'Then after that thou shalt cut it down.' 'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!' Therefore 'your house is left unto you desolate' (Matt 23:37,38). Yet it cannot be, but that this Lord Jesus, who at first did put a stop to the execution of his Father's justice, because he desired to try more means with the fig-tree; I say, it cannot be, but that a heart so full of compassion as his is should be touched, to behold this professor must now be cut down. 'And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes' (Luke 19:41,42).
After that thou shalt cut it down.
When Christ giveth thee over, there is no intercessor, no mediator, no more sacrifice for sin, all is gone but judgment, but the axe, but a 'certain fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries' (Heb 10:26,27).
Barren fig-tree, take heed that thou comest not to these last words, for these words are a give up, a cast up, a cast up of a cast away; 'After that thou shalt cut it down.' They are as much as if Christ had said, Father, I begged for more time for this barren professor; I begged until I should dig about it, and dung it. But now, Father, the time is out, the year is ended, the summer is ended, and no good done! I have also tried with my means, with the gospel, I have digged about it; I have laid also the fat and hearty dung of the gospel to it, but all comes to nothing. Father, I deliver up this professor to thee again; I have done; I have done all; I have done praying and endeavouring; I will hold the head of thine axe no longer. Take him into the hands of justice; do justice; do the law; I will never beg for him more. 'After that thou shalt cut it down.' 'Woe also to them when I depart from them!' (Hosea 9:12). Now is this professor left naked indeed; naked to God, naked to Satan, naked to sin, naked to the law, naked to death, naked to hell, naked to judgment, and naked to the gripes of a guilty conscience, and to the torment of that worm that never dies, and to that fire that never shall be quenched. 'See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not, who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven' (Heb 12:25).
From this brief pass through this parable, you have these two general observations:—First. That even then when the justice of God cries out, I cannot endure to wait on this barren professor any longer, then Jesus Christ intercedes for a little more patience, and a little more striving with this professor, if possible he may make him a fruitful professor. 'Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it; and if it bear fruit, well,' &c. Second. There are some professors whose day of grace will end with, Cut it down, with judgment; when Christ, by his means, hath been used for their salvation.
First. The first of these observations I shall pass, and not meddle at all therewith; but shall briefly speak to the
Second, to wit, that there are some professors whose day of grace will end with, Cut it down, with judgment, when Christ, by his means, hath been used for their salvation.
This the apostle showeth in that third chapter of his Epistle to the Hebrews, where he tells us that the people of the Jews, after a forty years' patience and endeavour to do them good by the means appointed for that purpose, their end was to be cut down, or excluded the land of promise, for their final incredulity. 'So we see that they could not enter in, because of unbelief.' 'Wherefore,' saith he, 'I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart, and they have not known my ways; so I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.' As who should say, I would they should have entered in, and for that purpose I brought them out of Egypt, led them through the sea, and taught them in the wilderness, but they did not answer my work nor designs in that matter; wherefore they shall not, I swear they shall not. 'I sware in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest.' Here is cutting down with judgment. So again, he saith, 'As I have sworn in my wrath, If they shall enter into my rest; although the works were finished from the foundation of the world' (Heb 4:4,5). This word 'if' is the same with 'they shall not,' in the chapter before. And where he saith, 'Although the works were finished from the foundation of the world,' he giveth us to understand that what preparations soever are made for the salvation of sinners, and of how long continuance soever they are, yet the God-tempting, God-provoking and fruitless professor, is like to go without a share therein, 'although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.' 'I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. And the angels that kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day' (Jude 5,6). Here is an instance to purpose, an instance of men and angels: men saved out of the land of Egypt, and in their journey towards Canaan, the type of heaven, cut down; angels created and placed in the heavens in great estate and principality; yet both these, because unfruitful to God in their places, were cut down—the men destroyed by God, for so saith the text, and the 'angels reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day.'
Now, in my handling of this point, I shall discourse of the cutting down, or the judgment here denounced, as it respecteth the doing of it by God's hand immediately, and that too with respect to his casting them out of the world, and not as it respecteth an act of the church, &c. And as to this cutting down, or judgment, it must be concluded, that it cannot be before the day of grace be past with the fig-tree; but according to the observation, there are some professors whose day of grace will end with, Cut it down; and according to the words of the text, 'Then,' after that, 'thou shalt cut it down.' 'After that,' that is, after all my attempts and endeavours to make it fruitful, after I have left it, given it over, done with it, and have resolved to bestow no more days of grace, opportunities of grace, and means of grace upon it, then, 'after that,' thou shalt cut it down.
Besides, the giving up of the fig-tree is before the execution. Execution is not always presently upon the sentence given; for, after that, a convenient time is thought on, and then is cutting down. And so it is here in the text. The decree, that he shall perish, is gathered from its continuing fruitless quite through the last year—from its continuing fruitless at the end of all endeavours. But cutting down is not yet, for that comes with an afterward. 'Then, after that, thou shalt cut it down.'
So then, that I may orderly proceed with the observation, I must lay down these two propositions:—PROPOSITION FIRST. That the day of grace ends with some men before God takes them out of this world. And, PROPOSITION SECOND. The death, or cutting down of such men, will be dreadful. For this 'Cut it down,' when it is understood in the largest sense, as here indeed it ought, it showeth not only the wrath of God against a man's life in this world, but his wrath against him, body and soul; and is as much as to say, Cut him off from all the privileges and benefits that come by grace, both in this world and that which is to come. But to proceed:
PROPOSITION FIRST.—The day of grace ends with some men before God taketh them out of the world. I shall give you some instances of this, and so go on to the last proposition.
First. I shall instance Cain. Cain was a professor, a sacrificer, a worshipper of God, yea, the first worshipper that we read of after the fall; but his grapes were wild ones. His works were evil; he did not do what he did from true gospel motives, therefore God disallowed his work (Gen 4:3-8). At this his countenance falls, wherefore he envies his brother, disputes him, takes his opportunity, and kills him. Now, in that day that he did this act were the heavens closed up against him, and that himself did smartingly and fearfully feel when God made inquisition for the blood of Abel. 'And now art thou cursed,' said God, 'from the earth; which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand,' &c. 'And Cain said, My punishment is greater than I can bear.' Mine iniquity is greater than that it may be forgiven. 'Behold thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face shall I be hid' (Gen 4:9-14). Now thou art cursed, saith God. Thou hast driven me out this day, saith Cain, and from thy face shall I be hid. I shall never more have hope in thee, smile from thee, nor expect mercy at thy hand. Thus, therefore, Cain's day of grace ended; and the heavens, with God's own heart, were shut up against him; yet after this he lived long. Cutting down was not come yet; after this he lived to marry a wife, to beget a cursed brood, to build a city, and what else I know not; all which could not be quickly done; wherefore Cain might live after the day of grace was past with him several hundred of years (Gen 4:10-17).
Second. I shall instance Ishmael. Ishmael was a professor, was brought up in Abraham's family, and was circumcised at thirteen years of age (Gen 16:12, 17:25,26). But he was the son of the bond-woman, he brought not forth good fruit; he was a wild professor. For all his religion, he would scoff at those that were better than himself. Well, upon a day his brother Isaac was weaned, at which time his father made a feast, and rejoiced before the Lord, for that he had given him the promised son; at this Ishmael mocked them, their son, and godly rejoicing. Then came the Spirit of God upon Sarah, and she cried, Cast him out, 'cast out this bond-woman and her son; for the son of this bond-woman shall not be heir with my son, with Isaac' (Gen 21:9-11). Now Paul to the Galatians makes this casting out to be, not only a casting out of Abraham's family, but a casting out also from a lot with the saints in heaven (Gal 4:29-31). Also Moses giveth us a notable proof thereof, in saying, that when he died he was gathered to his people—his people by his mother's side; for he was reckoned from her, the son of Hagar, the son of the bond-woman (Gen 25:17). Now, she came of the Egyptians, so that he was gathered when he died, notwithstanding his profession, to the place that Pharaoh and his host were gathered to, who were drowned in the Red Sea; these were his people, and he was of them, both by nature and disposition, by persecuting as they did (Gen 21:9).[15] But now, when did the day of grace end with this man? Observe, and I will show you. Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised, and then was Abraham ninety years old and nine (Gen 17:24-26). The next year Isaac was born; so that Ishmael was now fourteen years of age. Now, when Isaac was weaned, suppose he sucked four years, by that account, the day of grace must be ended with Ishmael by that time he was eighteen years old (Gen 25:12, &c.). For that day he mocked; that day it was said, 'Cast him out'; and of that casting out the apostle makes what I have said. Beware, ye young barren professors! Now, Ishmael lived a hundred and nineteen years after this, in great tranquility and honour with men. After this he also begat twelve princes, even after his day of grace was past.
Third. I shall instance Esau (Gen 25:27, &c.). Esau also was a professor; he was born unto Isaac, and circumcised according to the custom. But Esau was a gamesome professor, a huntsman, a man of the field; also he was wedded to his lusts, which he did also venture to keep, rather than the birthright. Well, upon a day, when he came from hunting, and was faint, he sold his birthright to Jacob, his brother. Now the birthright, in those days, had the promise and blessing annexed to it. Yea, they were so entailed in this, that the one could not go without the other; wherefore the apostle's caution is here of weight. Take heed, saith he, 'lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears' (Heb 12:16,17). Now, the ending of Esau's day of grace is to be reckoned from his selling of his birthright; for there the apostle points it, lest there be among you any that, like Esau, sells his birthright: for then goes hence the blessing also.
But Esau sold his birthright long before his death. Twenty years after this Jacob was with Laban, and when he returned home, his brother Esau met him (Gen 31:41, 32:4). Further, after this, when Jacob dwelt again some time with his father, then Jacob and Esau buried him. I suppose he might live above forty, yea, for ought I know, above fourscore years after he had sold his birthright, and so consequently had put himself out of the grace of God (Gen 35:28,29).[16]
Three things I would further note upon these three professors.
1. Cain, an angry professor; Ishmael, a mocking one; Esau, a lustful, gamesome one. Three symptoms of a barren professor; for he that can be angry, and that can mock, and that can indulge his lusts, cannot bring forth fruit to God.
2. The day of grace ended with these professors at that time when they committed some grievous sin. Cain's, when he killed his brother; Ishmael's, when he mocked at Isaac; and Esau's, when, out of love to his lusts, he despised and sold his birthright. Beware, barren professor! thou mayest do that in half a quarter of an hour, from the evil of which thou mayest not be delivered for ever and ever.[17]
3. Yet these three, after their day of grace was over, lived better lives, as to outward things, than ever they did before. Cain, after this, was lord of a city (Gen 4:17). Ishmael was, after this, father of twelve princes (Gen 25:16). And Esau, after this, told his brother, 'I have enough, my brother, keep that thou hast unto thyself' (Gen 33:8,9). Ease and peace, and a prosperous life in outwards, is no sign of the favour of God to a barren and fruitless professor, but rather of his wrath; that thereby he may be capable to treasure up more wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Let this much serve for the proof of the first proposition, namely, That the day of grace ends with some men before God takes them out of the world.
Now, then, to show you, by some signs, how you may know that the day of grace is ended, or near to ending, with the barren professor; and after that thou shalt cut it down. He that hath stood it out against God, and that hath withstood all those means for fruit that God hath used for the making of him, if it might have been, a fruitful tree in his garden, he is in this danger; and this indeed is the sum of the parable. The fig-tree here mentioned was blessed with the application of means, had time allowed it to receive the nourishment; but it outstood, withstood, overstood all, all that the husbandman did, all that the vine-dresser did.
But a little distinctly to particularize in four or five particulars.
First sign. The day of grace is like to be past, when a professor hath withstood, abused, and worn out God's patience, then he is in danger; this is a provocation; then God cries, 'Cut it down.' There are some men that steal into a profession nobody knows how, even as this fig-tree was brought into the vineyard by other hands than God's; and there they abide lifeless, graceless, careless, and without any good conscience to God at all. Perhaps they came in for the loaves, for a trade, for credit, for a blind; or it may be to stifle and choke the checks and grinding pangs of an awakened and disquieted conscience. Now, having obtained their purpose, like the sinners of Sion, they are at ease and secure; saying like Agag, 'Surely the bitterness of death is past' (1 Sam 15:22); I am well, shall be saved, and go to heaven. Thus in these vain conceits they spend a year, two, or three; not remembering that at every season of grace, and at every opportunity of the gospel the Lord comes seeking fruit. Well, sinner, well, barren fig-tree, this is but a coarse beginning: God comes for fruit.
1. What have I here? saith God; what a fig-tree is this, that hath stood this year in my vineyard, and brought me forth no fruit? I will cry unto him, Professor, barren fig-tree, be fruitful! I look for fruit, I expect fruit, I must have fruit; therefore bethink thyself! At these the professor pauses; but these are words, not blows, therefore off goes this consideration from the heart. When God comes the next year, he finds him still as he was, a barren, fruitless cumber-ground. And now again he complains, here are two years gone, and no fruit appears; well, I will defer mine anger. 'For my name sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off,' as yet (Isa 48:9). I will wait, I will yet wait to be gracious. But this helps not, this hath not the least influence upon the barren fig-tree. Tush, saith he, here is no threatening: God is merciful, he will defer his anger, he waits to be gracious, I am not yet afraid (Isa 30:18). O! how ungodly men, that are at unawares crept into the vineyard, how do they turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness! Well, he comes the third year for fruit, as he did before, but still he finds but a barren fig-tree; no fruit. Now, he cries out again, O thou dresser of my vineyard, come hither; here is a fig-tree hath stood these three years in my vineyard, and hath at every season disappointed my expectation; for I have looked for fruit in vain; 'Cut it down,' my patience is worn out, I shall wait on this fig-tree no longer.
2. And now he begins to shake the fig-tree with his threatenings: Fetch out the axe! Now the axe is death; death therefore is called for. Death, come smite me this fig-tree. And withal the Lord shakes this sinner, and whirls him upon a sick-bed, saying, Take him, death, he hath abused my patience and forbearance, not remembering that it should have led him to repentance, and to the fruits thereof. Death, fetch away this fig-tree to the fire, fetch this barren professor to hell! At this death comes with grim looks into the chamber; yea, and hell follows with him to the bedside, and both stare this professor in the face, yea, begin to lay hands upon him; one smiting him with pains in his body, with headache, heart-ache, back-ache, shortness of breath, fainting, qualms, trembling of joints, stopping at the chest, and almost all the symptoms of a man past all recovery. Now, while death is thus tormenting the body, hell is doing with the mind and conscience, striking them with its pains, casting sparks of fire in thither, wounding with sorrows, and fears of everlasting damnation, the spirit of this poor creature.[18] And now he begins to bethink himself, and to cry to God for mercy; Lord, spare me! Lord, spare me! Nay, saith God, you have been a provocation to me these three years. How many times have you disappointed me? How many seasons have you spent in vain? How many sermons and other mercies did I, of my patience, afford you? but to no purpose at all. Take him, death! O! good Lord, saith the sinner, spare me but this once; raise me but this once. Indeed I have been a barren professor, and have stood to no purpose at all in thy vineyard; but spare! O spare this one time, I beseech thee, and I will be better! Away, away you will not; I have tried you these three years already; you are naught; if I should recover you again, you would be as bad as you were before. And all this talk is while death stands by. The sinner cries again, Good Lord, try me this once; let me get up again this once, and see if I do not mend. But will you promise me to mend? Yes, indeed, Lord, and vow it too; I will never be so bad again; I will be better. Well, saith God, death, let this professor alone for this time; I will try him a while longer; he hath promised, he hath vowed, that he will amend his ways. It may be he will mind to keep his promises. Vows are solemn things; it may be he may fear to break his vows. Arise from off they bed. And now God lays down his axe. At this the poor creature is very thankful, praises God, and fawns upon him, shows as if he did it heartily, and calls to others to thank him too. He therefore riseth, as one would think, to be a new creature indeed. But by that he hath put on his clothes, is come down from his bed, and ventured into the yard or shop, and there sees how all things are gone to sixes and sevens, he begins to have second thoughts, and says to his folks, What have you all been doing? How are all things out of order? I am I cannot tell what behind hand. One may see, if a man be but a little a to side, that you have neither wisdom nor prudence to order things.[19] And now, instead of seeking to spend the rest of his time to God, he doubleth his diligence after this world. Alas! all must not be lost; we must have provident care. And thus, quite forgetting the sorrows of death, the pains of hell, the promises and vows which he made to God to be better; because judgment was not now speedily executed, therefore the heart of this poor creature is fully set in him to do evil.
3. These things proving ineffectual, God takes hold of his axe again, sends death to a wife, to a child, to his cattle, 'Your young men have I slain,—and taken away your horses' (Amos 4:9,10). I will blast him, cross him, disappoint him, and cast him down, and will set myself against him in all that he putteth his hand unto. At this the poor barren professor cries out again, Lord, I have sinned; spare me once more, I beseech thee. O take not away the desire of mine eyes; spare my children, bless me in my labours, and I will mend and be better. No, saith God, you lied to me last time, I will trust you in this no longer; and withal he tumbleth the wife, the child, the estate into a grave. And then returns to his place, till this professor more unfeignedly acknowledgeth his offence (Hosea 5:14,15).
At this the poor creature is afflicted and distressed, rends his clothes, and begins to call the breaking of his promise and vows to mind; he mourns and prays, and like Ahab, awhile walks softly at the remembrance of the justness of the hand of God upon him. And now he renews his promises: Lord, try me this one time more; take off thy hand and see; they go far that never turn. Well, God spareth him again, sets down his axe again. 'Many times he did deliver them, but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity' (Psa 106:43). Now they seem to be thankful again, and are as if they were resolved to be godly indeed. Now they read, they pray, they go to meetings, and seem to be serious a pretty while, but at last they forget. Their lusts prick them, suitable temptations present themselves; wherefore they turn to their own crooked ways again. 'When he slew them, then they sought him, and they returned and inquired early after God'; 'nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongue' (Psa 78:34-36).
4. Yet again, the Lord will not leave this professor, but will take up his axe again, and will put him under a more heart-searching ministry, a ministry that shall search him, and turn him over and over; a ministry that shall meet with him, as Elijah met with Ahab, in all his acts of wickedness, and now the axe is laid to the roots of the trees. Besides, this ministry doth not only search the heart, but presenteth the sinner with the golden rays of the glorious gospel; now is Christ Jesus s set forth evidently, now is grace displayed sweetly; now, now are the promises broken like boxes of ointment, to the perfuming of the whole room! But, alas! there is yet no fruit on this fig-tree. While his heart is searching, he wrangles; while the glorious grace of the gospel is unveiling, this professor wags and is wanton, gathers up some scraps thereof; 'Tastes the good Word of God, and the powers of the world to come'; 'drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon him' (Heb 6:3-8; Jude 4). But bringeth not forth fruit meet for him whose gospel it is; 'Takes no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart' (2 Kings 10:31). But counteth that the glory of the gospel consisteth in talk and show, and that our obedience thereto is a matter of speculation; that good works lie in good words; and if they can finely talk, they think they bravely please God. They think the kingdom of God consisteth only in word, not in power; and thus proveth ineffectual this fourth means also.
5. Well, now the axe begins to be heaved higher, for now indeed God is ready to smite the sinner; yet before he will strike the stroke, he will try one way more at the last, and if that misseth, down goes the fig-tree! Now this last way is to tug and strive with this professor by his Spirit. Wherefore the Spirit of the Lord is now come to him; but not always to strive with man (Gen 6:3). Yet a while he will strive with him, he will awaken, he will convince, he will call to remembrance former sins, former judgments, the breach of former vows and promises, the misspending of former days; he will also present persuasive arguments, encouraging promises, dreadful judgments, the shortness of time to repent in; and that there is hope if he come. Further, he will show him the certainty of death, and of the judgment to come; yea, he will pull and strive with this sinner; but, behold, the mischief now lies here, here is tugging and striving on both sides. The Spirit convinces, the man turns a deaf ear to God; the Spirit saith, Receive my instruction and live, but the man pulls away his shoulder; the Spirit shows him whither he is going, but the man closeth his eyes against it; the Spirit offereth violence, the man strives and resists; they have 'done despite unto the Spirit of grace' (Heb 10:29). The Spirit parlieth a second time, and urgeth reasons of a new nature, but the sinner answereth, No, I have loved strangers, and after them I will go (Amos 4:6-12). At this God's fury comes up into his face: now he comes out of his holy place, and is terrible; now he sweareth in his wrath they shall never enter into his rest (Heb 3:11). I exercised towards you my patience, yet you have not turned unto me, saith the Lord. I smote you in your person, in your relations, in your estate, yet you have not returned unto me, saith the Lord. 'In thy filthiness is lewdness, because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged; thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I cause my fury to rest upon thee' (Eze 24:13). 'Cut it down, why doth it cumber the ground?'
The second sign. That such a professor is almost, if not quite, past grace, is, when God hath given him over, or lets him alone, and suffers him to do anything, and that without control, helpeth him not either in works of holiness, or in straits and difficulties. 'Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone' (Hosea 4:17). Woe be to them when I depart from them. I will laugh at their calamities, and will mock when their fear cometh (Prov 1:24-29).
Barren fig-tree, thou hast heretofore been digged about, and dunged; God's mattock hath heretofore been at thy roots; gospel-dung hath heretofore been applied to thee; thou hast heretofore been strove with, convinced, awakened, made to taste and see, and cry, O the blessedness! Thou hast heretofore been met with under the word; thy heart hath melted, thy spirit hath fallen, thy soul hath trembled, and thou hast felt something of the power of the gospel. But thou hast sinned, thou hast provoked the eyes of his glory, thy iniquity is found to be hateful, and now perhaps God hath left thee, given thee up, and lets thee alone. Heretofore thou wast tender; thy conscience startled at the temptation to wickedness, for thou wert taken off from 'the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ' (2 Peter 2:20-22). But that very vomit that once thou wert turned from, now thou lappest up—with the dog in the proverb—again; and that very mire that once thou seemedst to be washed from, in that very mire thou now art tumbling afresh. But to particularize, there are three signs of a man's being given over of God.
1. When he is let alone in sinning, when the reins of his lusts are loosed, and he given up to them. 'And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient: being filled with all unrighteousness' (Rom 1:28,29). Seest thou a man that heretofore had the knowledge of God, and that had some awe of Majesty upon him: I say, seest thou such an one sporting himself in his own deceivings, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and walking after his own ungodly lusts? (Rom 1:30-31). His 'judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and his damnation slumbereth not' (2 Peter 2:13). Dost thou hear, barren professor? It is astonishing to see how those that once seemed 'sons of the morning,' and were making preparations for eternal life, now at last, for the rottenness of their hearts, by the just judgment of God, to be permitted, being past feeling, to give 'themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness' (Eph 4:18,19). A great number of such were in the first gospel-days; against whom Peter, and Jude, and John, pronounce the heavy judgment of God. Peter and Jude couple them with the fallen angels, and John forbids that prayer be made for them, because that is happened unto them that hath happened to the fallen angels that fell, who, for forsaking their first state, and for leaving 'their own habitation,' are 'reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day' (Jude 5,6; 2 Peter 2:3-8). Barren fig-tree, dost thou hear? (1.) These are beyond all mercy! (2.) These are beyond all promises! (3.) These are beyond all hopes of repentance! (4.) These have no intercessor, nor any more share in a sacrifice for sin! (5.) For these there remains nothing but a fearful looking for of judgment! (6.) Wherefore these are the true fugitives and vagabonds, that being left of God, of Christ, of grace, and of the promise, and being beyond all hope, wander and straggle to and fro, even as the devil, their associate, until their time shall come to die, or until they descend in battle and perish!
2. Wherefore they are let alone in hearing. If these at any time come under the word, there is for them no God, no savour of the means of grace, no stirrings of heart, no pity for themselves, no love to their own salvation. Let them look on this hand or that, there they see such effects of the word in others as produceth signs of repentance, and love to God and his Christ. These men only have their backs bowed down alway (Rom 11:10). These men only have the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, to this very day. Wherefore as they go to the place of the Holy, so they come from the place of the Holy, and soon are forgotten in the places where they so did (Eccl 8:10). Only they reap this damage, 'They treasure up wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God' (Rom 2:3-5). Look to it, barren professor!
3. If he be visited after the common way of mankind, either with sickness, distress, or any mind of calamity, still no God appeareth, no sanctifying hand of God, no special mercy is mixed with the affliction. But he falls sick, and grows well, like the beast; or is under distress, as Saul, who when he was engaged by the Philistines was forsaken and left of God, 'And the Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and pitched in Shunem, and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they pitched in Gilboa. And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled. And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets' (1 Sam 28:4-6). The Lord answered him no more; he had done with him, cast him off, and rejected him, and left him to stand and fall with his sins, by himself. But of this more in the conclusion: therefore I here forbear.
4. These men may go whither they will, do what they will; they may range from opinion to opinion, from notion to notion, from sect to sect, but are steadfast nowhere; they are left to their own uncertainties, they have not grace to establish their hearts; and though some of them have boasted themselves of this liberty, yet Jude calls them 'wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever' (Jude 13). They are left, as I told you before, to be fugitives and vagabonds in the earth, to wander everywhere, but to abide nowhere, until they shall descend to their own place, with Cain and Judas, men of the same fate with themselves (Acts 1:25).
A third sign that such a professor is quite past grace is, when his heart is grown so hard, so stony, and impenetrable, that nothing will pierce it. Barren fig-tree, dost thou consider? a hard and impenitent heart is the curse of God! A heart that cannot repent, is instead of all plagues at once; and hence it is that God said of Pharaoh, when he spake of delivering him up in the greatness of his anger, 'I will at this time,' saith he, 'send all my plagues upon thine heart' (Exo 9:14).
To some men that have grievously sinned under a profession of the gospel, God giveth this token of his displeasure; they are denied the power of repentance, their heart is bound, they cannot repent; it is impossible that they should ever repent, should they live a thousand years. It is impossible for those fall-aways to be renewed again unto repentance, 'seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame' (Heb 6:4-6). Now, to have the heart so hardened, so judicially hardened, this is as a bar put in by the Lord God against the salvation of this sinner. This was the burden of Spira's complaint, 'I cannot do it! O! how I cannot do it!'[20]
This man sees what he hath done, what should help him, and what will become of him; yet he cannot repent; he pulled away his shoulder before, he stopped his ears before, he shut up his eyes before, and in that very posture God left him, and so he stands to this very day. I have had a fancy, that Lot's wife, when she was turned into a pillar of salt, stood yet looking over her shoulder, or else with her face towards Sodom; as the judgment caught her, so it bound her, and left her a monument of God's anger to after generations (Gen 19:26).
We read of some that are seared with a hot iron, and that are past feeling; for so seared persons in seared parts are. Their conscience is seared (1 Tim 4:2). The conscience is the thing that must be touched with feeling, fear, and remorse, if ever any good be done with the sinner. How then can any good be done to those whose conscience is worse than that? that is, fast asleep in sin (Eph 4:19). For that conscience that is fast asleep, may yet be effectually awakened and saved; but that conscience that is seared, dried, as it were, into a cinder, can never have sense, feeling, or the least regret in this world. Barren fig-tree, hearken, judicial hardening is dreadful! There is a difference betwixt that hardness of heart that is incident to all men, and that which comes upon some as a signal or special judgment of God. And although all kinds of hardness of heart, in some sense may be called a judgment, yet to be hardened with this second kind, is a judgment peculiar only to them that perish; hardness that is sent as a punishment for the abuse of light received, for a reward of apostacy. This judicial hardness is discovered from that which is incident to all men, in these particulars:—
1. It is a hardness that comes after some great light received, because of some great sin committed against that light, and the grace that gave it. Such hardness as Pharaoh had, after the Lord had wrought wondrously before him; such hardness as the Gentiles had, a hardness which darkened the heart, a hardness which made their minds reprobate. This hardness is also the same with that the Hebrews are cautioned to beware of, a hardness that is caused by unbelief, and a departing from the living God; a hardness completed through the deceitfulness of sin (Heb 3:7, &c). Such as that in the provocation, of whom God sware, that they should not enter into his rest. It was this kind of hardness also, that both Cain, and Ishmael, and Esau, were hardened with, after they had committed their great transgressions.
2. It is the greatest kind of hardness; and hence they are said to be harder than a rock, or than an adamant, that is, harder than flint; so hard, that nothing can enter (Jer 5:3; Zech 7:12).
3. It is a hardness given in much anger, and that to bind the soul up in an impossibility of repentance.
4. It is a hardness, therefore, which is incurable, of which a man must die and be damned. Barren professor, hearken to this.
A fourth sign that such a professor is quite past grace, is, when he fortifies his hard heart against the tenor of God's word (Job 9:4, &c.) This is called hardening themselves against God, and turning of the Spirit against them. As thus, when after a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus, and of the doctrine that is according to godliness, they shall embolden themselves in courses of sin, by promising themselves that they shall have life and salvation notwithstanding. Barren professor, hearken to this! This man is called, 'a root that beareth gall and wormwood,' or a poisonful herb, such an one as is abominated of God, yea, the abhorred of his soul. For this man saith, 'I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination' or stubbornness 'of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst'; an opinion flat against the whole Word of God, yea, against the very nature of God himself (Deut 29:18,19). Wherefore he adds, 'Then the anger of the Lord, and his jealousy, shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in God's book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven' (Deut 19:20).
Yea, that man shall not fail to be effectually destroyed, saith the text: 'The Lord shall separate that man unto evil, out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant' (Deut 19:21). He shall separate him unto evil; he shall give him up, he shall leave him to his heart; he shall separate him to that or those that will assuredly be too hard for him.
Now this judgment is much effected when God hath given a man up unto Satan, and hath given Satan leave, without fail, to complete his destruction. I say, when God hath given Satan leave effectually to complete his destruction; for all that are delivered up unto Satan have not, nor do not come to this end. But that is the man whom God shall separate to evil, and shall leave in the hands of Satan, to complete, without fail, his destruction.
Thus he served Ahab, a man that sold himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord. 'And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also; go forth, and do so' (1 Kings 21:25, 22:20-22). Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail; do thy will, I leave him in thy hand, go forth, and do so.
Wherefore, in these judgments the Lord doth much concern himself for the management thereof, because of the provocation wherewith they have provoked him. This is the man whose ruin contriveth, and bringeth to pass by his own contrivance: 'I also will choose their delusions' for them; 'I will bring their fears upon them' (Isa 66:4). I will choose their devices, or the wickednesses that their hearts are contriving of. I, even I, will cause them to be accepted of, and delightful to them. But who are they that must thus be feared? Why, those among professors that have chosen their own ways, those whose soul delighteth in their abominations. Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved: for this cause God shall send them strong delusions, that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned, who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
'God shall send them.' It is a great word! Yea, God shall send them strong delusions; delusions that shall do: that shall make them believe a lie. Why so? 'That they all might be damned,' every one of them, 'who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness' (2 Thess 2:10-12).
There is nothing more provoking to the Lord, than for a man to promise when God threateneth; for a man to delight of conceit that he shall be safe, and yet to be more wicked than in former days, this man's soul abhorreth the truth of God; no marvel, therefore, if God's soul abhorreth him; he hath invented a way contrary to God, to bring about his own salvation; no marvel, therefore, if God invent a way to bring about this man's damnation: and seeing that these rebels are at this point, we shall have peace; God will see whose word will stand, his or theirs.
A fifth sign of a man being past grace is, when he shall at this scoff, and inwardly grin and fret against the Lord, secretly purposing to continue his course, and put all to the venture, despising the messengers of the Lord. 'He that despised Moses' law, died without mercy;—of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God?' &c. (Heb 10:28). Wherefore, against these despisers God hath set himself, and foretold that they shall not believe, but perish: 'Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in nowise believe, though a man declare it unto you' (Acts 13:41).
After that thou shalt cut it down.
Thus far we have treated of the barren fig-tree, or fruitless professor, with some signs to know him by; whereto is added also some signs of one who neither will nor can, by any means, be fruitful, but they must miserably perish. Now, being come to the time of execution, I shall speak a word to that also; 'After that thou shalt cut it down.'
[PROPOSITION SECOND. The death or cutting down of such men will be dreadful.]
Christ, at last, turns the barren fig-tree over to the justice of God, shakes his hands of him, and gives him up to the fire for his unprofitableness. 'After that thou shalt cut it down.'
Two things are here to be considered:
First. The executioner; thou, the great, the dreadful, the eternal God. These words, therefore, as I have already said, signify that Christ the Mediator, through whom alone salvation comes, and by whom alone execution hath been deferred, now giveth up the soul, forbears to speak one syllable more for him, or to do the least act of grace further, to try for his recovery; but delivereth him up to that fearful dispensation, 'to fall into the hands of the living God' (Heb 10:31).
Second. The second to be considered is, The instrument by which this execution is done, and that is death, compared here to an axe; and forasmuch as the tree is not felled at one blow, therefore the strokes are here continued, till all the blows be struck at it that are requisite for its felling: for now cutting time, and cutting work, is come; cutting must be his portion till he be cut down. 'After that thou shalt cut it down.' Death, I say, is the axe, which God often useth, therewith to take the barren fig-tree out of the vineyard, out of a profession, and also out of the world at once. But this axe is now new ground, it cometh well-edged to the roots of this barren fig-tree. It hath been whetted by sin, by the law, and by a formal profession, and therefore must, and will make deep gashes, not only in the natural life, but in the heart and conscience also of this professor: 'The wages of sin is death,' 'the sting of death is sin' (Rom 6:23; 1 Cor 15:56). Wherefore death comes not to this man as he doth to saints, muzzled, or without his sting, but with open mouth, in all his strength; yea, he sends his first-born, which is guilt, to devour his strength, and to bring him to the king of terrors (Job 18:13,14).
But to give you, in a few particulars, the manner of this man's dying.
1. Now he hath his fruitless fruits beleaguer him round his bed, together with all the bands and legions of his other wickedness. 'His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins' (Prov 5:22).
2. Now some terrible discovery of God is made out unto him, to the perplexing and terrifying of his guilty conscience. 'God shall cast upon him, and not spare'; and he shall be 'afraid of that which is high' (Job 27:22; Eccl 12:5).
3. The dark entry he is to go through will be a sore amazement to him; for 'fears shall be in the way' (Eccl 12:5). Yea, terrors will take hold on him, when he shall see the yawning jaws of death to gape upon him, and the doors of the shadow of death open to give him passage out of the world. Now, who will meet me in this dark entry? how shall I pass through this dark entry into another world?
4. For by reason of guilt, and a shaking conscience, his life will hang in continual doubt before him, and he shall be afraid day and night, and shall have no assurance of his life (Deut 28:66,67).
5. Now also want will come up against him; he will come up like an armed man. This is a terrible army to him that is graceless in heart, and fruitless in life. This WANT will continually cry in thine ears, Here is a new birth wanting, a new heart, and a new spirit wanting; here is faith wanting; here is love and repentance wanting; here is the fear of God wanting, and a good conversation wanting: 'Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting' (Dan 5:27).
6. Together with these standeth by the companions of death, death and hell, death and evils, death and endless torment in the everlasting flames of devouring fire. 'When God cometh up unto the people he will invade them with his troops' (Hab 3:16).
But how will this man die? Can his heart now endure, or can his hands be strong? (Eze 22:14).
(1.) God, and Christ, and pity, have left him. Sin against light, against mercy, and the long-suffering of God, is come up against him; his hope and confidence now lie a-dying by him, and his conscience totters and shakes continually within him!
(2.) Death is at his work, cutting of him down, hewing both bark and heart, both body and soul asunder. The man groans, but death hears him not; he looks ghastly, carefully, dejectedly; he sighs, he sweats, he trembles, but death matters nothing.
(3.) Fearful cogitations haunt him, misgivings, direful apprehensions of God, terrify him. Now he hath time to think what the loss of heaven will be, and what the torments of hell will be: now he looks no way but he is frighted.
(4.) Now would he live, but may not; he would live, though it were but the life of a bed-rid man, but he must not. He that cuts him down sways him as the feller of wood sways the tottering tree; now this way, then that, at last a root breaks, a heart-string, an eye-string, sweeps asunder.
(5.) And now, could the soul be annihilated, or brought to nothing, how happy would it count itself, but it sees that may not be. Wherefore it is put to a wonderful strait; stay in the body it may not, go out of the body it dares not. Life is going, the blood settles in the flesh, and the lungs being no more able to draw breath through the nostrils, at last out goes the weary trembling soul, which is immediately seized by devils, who lay lurking in every hole in the chamber for that very purpose. His friends take care of the body, wrap it up in the sheet or coffin, but the soul is out of their thought and reach, going down to the chambers of death.
I had thought to have enlarged, but I forbear. God, who teaches man to profit, bless this brief and plain discourse to thy soul, who yet standest a professor in the land of the living, among the trees of his garden. Amen.
[1]General Doctrine of Toleration, 8vo, 1781.
[2] This awful destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans is narrated by Josephus in his sixth book of the Jewish Wars, in language that makes nature shudder. Multitudes had assembled to celebrate the passover when the invading army beleaguered the city; a frightful famine soon filled it with desolation: this, with fire and sword, miserably destroyed one million, three hundred and thirty-seven thousand, four hundred and ninety Jews, while the Christians fled before the siege, and escaped to the mountains. Well might the sun vail his face at that atrocious deed, which was so quickly followed by such awful punishment.—Ed.
[3] Reader, do not imagine that this was peculiar to Bunyan's days; look not upon your neighbours to find an example, but search your own heart—'Lord, is it I?' and strive and pray that you may bring forth more fruit.—Ed.
[4] The mode of admitting a member to church-fellowship, among the Baptists, was and now is by introducing the trembling convert to a private meeting of the whole church, that they may hear why the union is sought, how the soul became alarmed, and fled for refuge to Christ, with the grounds of hope; inquiries having been previously made into Christian character and godliness. If, with all these precautions, a barren professor gains admittance, the punishment is not upon the garden, but upon the barren tree.—Ed.
[5] 'Humour,' the temper or disposition of mind. Not out of love to humility, but these creeping things pretend to be humble, to gain some sinister end.—Ed.
[6] However strange it may appear, it is true that the Ranters, in Bunyan's time, used these arguments, and those so graphically put into the mouth of Bye-ends, in the Pilgrim, to justify their nonconformity to Christ. The tom-fooleries and extravagancies of dress introduced by Charles II, are here justly and contemptuously described. The ladies' head-dresses, called 'frizzled fore-tops,' became so extravagant, that a barber used high steps to enable him to dress a lady's head!—Ed.
[7] A word not to be found in our dictionaries, being local and almost obsolete. It means a division, end, or border of a town or village.—Ed.
[8] See the character of Talkative, in the Pilgrim's Progress. 'His house is as empty of religion as the white of an egg is of savour. There is in his house neither prayer, nor sign of repentance for sin. He is the very stain, reproach, and shame of religion. Thus say the common people that know him, A saint abroad and a devil at home.'—Ed.
[9] How great is the mercy that those horrid barbarities, perpetrated upon peaceful Christians, are now only heard of in those distance parts of Satan's empire, China and Madagascar! Has the enmity of the human heart by nature changed? No; but the number of Christians has so vastly increased with a civilizing influence, as to change the face of society. What a paradise will this earth become when Christ shall reign in every heart!—Ed.
[10] In the midst of these faithful admonitions, we venture to remark that, according to Lightfoot, so valuable was the fig-tree that it was never destroyed until means were carefully used to restore its fruitfulness, and that the use of these means occupied a period of three years. This illustrates the wisdom of our Lord in selecting the fig-tree as the principal object presented to view in his parable. It is a most valuable tree—capable of bearing much fruit; still, after every trial, if it remains barren, it must be cut down as a cumber-ground, and sent to the fire.—Ed.
[11] A 'hit,' in some parts of the country, is used to express a good crop. A 'hitting season' means a fruitful season.—Ed.
[12] This mode of infusing new vigour into plants and trees is thus described in the Gemara—'They lay dung in their gardens, to soften the earth. They dig about the roots of their trees, and sprinkle ashes, and pluck up suckers, and make a smoke beneath to kill vermin.'—Ed.
[13] Among the superstitions of the ancients, Michaelis states that both the Greeks and Asiatics had a superstition that a tree might be rendered fruitful by striking it, at the intercession of a friend, three times with the back of an axe.—Ed.
[14] However painfully unpleasant these terms may appear to eyes or ears polite, it is a homely but just representation, and calculated to make a lasting impression on every reader. Afflictions, trials, crosses, are used as a means of creating or reviving spiritual life, as manure is applied to vegetation.—Ed.
[15] Mahomet professed descent from Ishmael, and that he came to revive the religion which God had revealed to Abraham, who taught it to Ishmael. Mahometanism is the religion of the outcast of God.—Ed.
[16] Bunyan had been haunted with the temptation 'to sell and part with Christ,' and, under a fear that he had fallen under that temptation, the case of Esau made a dreadful impression upon his soul; extreme horror and anguish seized upon his spirit; 'he was like a man bereft of life and bound over to eternal punishment,' for two years. At length, after an awful storm, he found peace in the promise, 'his blood cleanseth from ALL sins,' and a proof that he had not sold Christ.—See Grace Abounding, No. 139-160.
[17] How solemn a thought! What an appeal to perpetual watchfulness. Why have I not made shipwreck of faith? Most emphatically may we reply, Because God has sustained my soul.—Ed.
[18] Bunyan's tongue and pen are here fired by his vivid imagination of eternal realities. With such burning words, we need no messenger from the invisible world to alarm the consciences of sinners. What angel could arouse more powerfully, alarmingly, convincingly, the poor sinner, than the whole of this chain of reasoning.—Ed.
[19] This picture is drawn by a master hand: the master is laid by for a season; or, as Bunyan quaintly expresses it, 'a little a to side': when raised from affliction earthly affairs absorb his attention, and he forgets his good resolves. According to the old rhyme:—
'The devil was sick, the devil a saint would be
The devil to well, the devil a saint was he.'—Ed.
[20] This is referred to in the Pilgrim, at the Interpreter's house, by the representation of a man in an iron cage, who says, 'I cannot get out, O now I cannot!' The awful account of Spira's despair must have made a strong impression upon Bunyan's mind. It commences with a poem.
'Here see a soul that's all despair; a man
All hell; a spirit all wounds; who can
A wounded spirit bear?
Reader, would'st see, what may you never feel
Despair, racks, torments, whips of burning steel!
Behold, the man's the furnace, in whose heart
Sin hath created hell; O in each part
What flames appear:
His thoughts all stings; words, swords;
Brimstone his breath;
His eyes flames; wishes curses, life a death;
A thousand deaths live in him, he not dead;
A breathing corpse in living, scalding lead.'
—Fearful Estate of Francis Spira.—Ed.
***
The Life and Death of Mr. Badman,
Presented to the World in a Familiar Dialogue Between Mr. Wiseman and Mr. Attentive.
By John Bunyan
