Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

(1.) Themselves looked upon themselves as standing afar off, at a distance from heaven, whilst they were a-praying; and entered not themselves by faith into heaven, as we are here called upon to do. I may therefore again say, this way of prayer in the holiest was not then manifest, as it is now. And,

(2.) Though they desired God would hear in heaven, yet the cry of their prayer and the eye of their faith were directed first unto and towards his holy of holies on earth;* from whence, as by a rebound (as I may so speak), it should as by an echo ascend up into the ears of the Lord of hosts in heaven. Even as a man directing his speech, going immediately to such or such a hollow place, or cavern, the sound thereof comes back at second hand by reflection, to one that is further off: and their intercourse with God in heaven was like as if one should send a letter, or a petition to a great person, who had two dwelling-houses, one in a city, the other in some village very far off from that city; and the man is appointed to send his petition or letter directly to the country-house, but directed to him withal in his standing house in his city. So as indeed the holiest saint of them looked unto God in both, and did homage to him as dwelling in both, and were not to neglect either. Whereas we take a direct course to heaven when we pray, and divert not the least cast of an eye to anything on earth wherein God should be. We look not to the right hand, nor the left; not to one place more than another: Let prayers be made everywhere,' 1 Tim. ii. 8., spoken in opposition to the Jews looking to their temple.

And one reason of this was, that God dealing then with them as children under age, Gal. iv. 1, and instructing them by figures of the time (as Heb. ix. 24, where he speaks of and applies that maxim to this very thing we are upon), he therefore would have a figurative house to dwell in; not such as in common he is said to dwell in all the earth, but separated from the rest of the earth; which house was consecrated by himself, and wherein his glory and shadowy presence did often shine and appear from forth the oracle, the holy of holies, and filled that temple: and thither their faith and prayers were to approach him first, and take up by the way, as we say, in their addresses to heaven. God condescended herein to the weakness of them whom he trained up as children. And it was a way of worship fit for children, and suited to their capacity; and yet sanctified unto them, because thus appointed by God.

You may perhaps in part understand an Old Testament Jewish heart, and that of one that was truly penitent, by the spirit of that poor publican, whose character and frame of spirit Christ hath lively set forth to us, Luke xviii. And therein view the distance which they keep. He was a sinner truly humbled, and an expectant of mercy. It is said, He went up to pray in the temple,' ver. 10; so then it therein falls pat with the subject afore me. Now, observe what confirms the foregone differences (as on their part) I have given. 1. 'He stood afar off;' so ver. 13. There is the distance I spake of. 2. He would not so much as lift up his eyes to heaven;' but, 3. applied himself, and his prayer unto God, as sitting on his mercy-seat in the holiest; in those words, But smote upon his breast, and said, God be merciful unto me a sinner.' It is that word-God

* The word which Calvin useth of David's praying, in the 3d Psalm, when he fled from Absalom was-David recta se ad tabernaculum convertit, unde promiserat Deus se propitium fore servis suis. On the words of the 5th verse-Mediam viam tenuit, ne vel signum visibile contemneret, quod Deus pro temporis ruditate instituerat: vel superstitiosè loco affixum quicquam de gloria Dei carnale conciperet.—Ibidem.

[ocr errors]

be merciful to me--I take hold of for this. In the original, the word iλáolnrı, that is there used, is a verb answering to the noun iaorgio, the mercy-seat; and unto iλaouós, a propitiation for sin, as 1 John ii. 2. And so it is as if he had said, According to that mercy, thou, O God, that sittest between the cherubims, over and upon thy mercy-seat (which is called haarigov by the Septuagint, and owned by the apostle, Heb. ix. 5), declaring thereby that thou art and wilt be propitious and merciful to poor sinners, according unto that mercy thereby set forth, be merciful to me a poor sinner, that am at this distance from that thy holy place thou dwellest in. Yet I do look unto that thy mercy-seat, and to thee who sittest thereon; and have my eye and hopes fixed wholly thereupon for pardon. And though I dare not look up to heaven itself, where thou dwellest, yet my soul looks toward this mercy-seat, whereon thou sittest on earth. You may, I say, understand hereby the level of a Jewish faith. And that word indoor, as spoken by him, shews that they understood, though darkly, what that mercy-seat did signify. That God, that sat thereupon, was merciful, and favourable to expiate and make atonement for sins, and then to cover, and pardon them, as the Hebrew word importeth (of which more afterwards); unto which the word inάoxea, and iάoxev answereth; signifying both to make atonement or reconciliation by Christ (so Heb. ii. 17), and also to be merciful and forgive, upon such a reconciliation made: as by Dan. chap ix. 14, and Deut. xxi. 8, Be merciful, O Lord,' &c. Now of this man, Christ says, he went away justified. He being humbled, and having this faith. I but observe here how yet he stood afar off, two courts off from the holy of holies, where this mercy-seat was: yea, in the remotest place, out of that outermost court, did this man stand; for it is comparatively spoken unto that nearer approach which the Pharisee forsooth made, he going up unto the highest part of that outward court; thither he crowds up himself with confidence, even next to the door of the priest's court: but into that priest's court none was to enter but a Levite. Well, but here, in this Heb. x., we see the faith we are exhorted unto: 'Christ being come, an high priest of good things to come;' not as then, but in a shadow revealed, we are bidden to enter with boldness:' yea, to draw near, when we are entered, with full assurance of faith, and confidence, even into the holy of holies; the heaven where Christ is sitting at the throne of the majesty on high. Under the law, the holiest saint of that people was not to enter into the first earthly mundane tabernacle, into which the priests came. Yea, some have said, they were not so much as to see into it (but that I am not fully resolved of; for they brought their sacrifice to the door of that first tabernacle, and one would think should see it sacrificed too for them); but enter they did not, that is certain. And to that end there was a veil, called the first veil, placed at the entrance of the first tabernacle of the priests, to shut out the people; as well as there was a second veil placed afore the holy of holies, as the apostle plainly insinuates, Heb. ix. 2. I will not dispute whether it was to hinder the people's sight of what was done in the priests' court, as well as the second veil hindered the priests' sight of what was in the holy of holies; but, to be sure, it forbade entrance to the people, if not wholly debarred their sight.

[ocr errors]

This practical instance I have, as by the way, and in the middle of my discourse, inserted, to shew the difference mentioned of a Jewish faith and prayer, and as giving light to the rest of my discourse on this argument.

I proceed to confirm the former notion further.

II. As in this manner they directed their prayers unto God in his temple, on their parts, so answerably on God's part he both promises,

1. That his eyes shall be open, and his ears attent unto the prayer that was made in that place. For now' (saith he), 'I have chosen and sanctified my house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.' And in 1 Kings ix. 3, it is added by God, My heart shall be there perpetually.'

[ocr errors]

2. It is de facto said and spoken of God, that his hearing of their prayers was out of his holy temple, as well as out of heaven; and to send forth help, and blessings, and deliverances of his people upon their prayers; yea, and to work all his works of wonder, which he executes over the whole earth from out of his temple, his dwelling-place on earth.

But especially in the deliverances of his people: Ps. iii. 4, I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill.' It was uttered by David when he fled from Absalom, as the title to the psalm is (he having before placed the tabernacle and ark on Zion,* the city of David, 2 Sam. vi. 12, 17, which he calls in that Ps. iii., The holy mount'); and that speech of his here hath an aspect and reference unto those passages in the story of his flight, 2 Sam. xv. The high priest did offer to carry the ark with him into the field, ver. 24. No, says David, let it stand in its proper place, in the tabernacle appointed for it, ver. 25; and, thought he, my prayer shall be towards it, as it is placed in that ordained seat which God hath appointed. And his prayers having been heard, though at that distance from the ark itself, he glorifies God that had heard him at that distance out of his holy hill' (thus Calvin glosseth on the words); David's faith glorying and triumphing in this, that whilst Absalom, who came and possessed the city of Jerusalem, and so had the outward presence of the temple and ark with him (and let him take that to himself); but David, in the mean while, though removed from it, bent his prayers thither, and those prayers prevailed, and were heard therein (says he), whilst his wretched son was rejected, who had the local being of the ark close by him and with him, for he was possessed of Jerusalem (let these things be compared with the story). In like manner, Ps. xx., he brings in the people praying for their king; their petition, ver. 2, is, 'Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion.' And lo, as he hears the prayer in his sanctuary, so the performance of it is likewise said to come from God, as dwelling in the sanctuary; from thence it was he gave forth his commands for the execution; and yet so as heaven thereby was signified too. And therefore, upon this experiment, David (who was the king they had prayed for) strengthens his faith for the future: ver. 6, 'Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.'

Many other like passages you may find scattered up and down in the Psalms and elsewhere; that what God doth at the prayer of his people, he is said to do it in his temple; that is, that from out of his temple the sentence to come forth, to render recompence to his enemies, is said to be a voice out of his temple. Isa. lxvi. 6, A voice from the temple, a voice of the Lord that rendereth recompence to his enemies.' For God sat as a

*Fateor quidem cœlum alibi sæpe vocari sanctum Dei palatium; sed hic non dubito quin respexit ad Arcam: quæ jam in monte Zion locata erat.-Calvin in verba.

† Hoc est, auxilietur tibi e monte Sion: ubi Arcam fœderis locari jubens, domici. lium sibi illic delegit.—Calvinus in verba.

VOL V.

ос

judge in his holy temple, and ruled thence the whole earth, Hab. ii. 20. And Ps. xcix. 2, The Lord is great in Zion; and he is high above all people; and terrible out of his holy places,' Ps. lxviii. 35. The great deliverances of his people when threatened to be besieged by Sennacherib and his host in Hezekiah's times; Ps. lxxvi. 2, 3,*In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling-place in Zion. There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle. Selah.' Observe how it is said, 'There he brake,' namely, in his temple, his habitation there. For unto that his temple doth the coherence in the verse afore carry it, for that was last in mention, and with the greatest emphasis above the former; either Jerusalem or the land of Judah, ver. 1. And there he brake the spear,' &c., that is, frustrated and made void all their weapons prepared for the battle, though not one stroke were struck; so he is said to break the arm of the king of Egypt,' Ezek. xxx., that is, to weaken his power. But that which puts the greatest notoriety upon this, as to our purpose in hand, is that in the story we read how that Sennacherib's overthrow was from Hezekiah's prayer in the temple; for upon Sennacherib's letter, and Hezekiah's hearsay of the blasphemy, he took himself thither, went instantly into the temple, and began his prayer thus: O thou God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims.' He invocates him under that style of his dwelling in the holies,† and so hearing prayers there. Thus you have it recorded both in Isaiah and in 2 Kings xxix. 15. And how suitably, in answer hereunto, it is said here in the psalm, that God gave forth sentence presently out of his tabernacle; yea, and that so suddenly too, as that the very execution is said to be done there, that is, from thence. And yet again, in the 8th verse of the psalm, it is said to be a sentence from heaven too; Thou didst cause judgment' (so called because it was the sentence of God as a judge) 'to be heard from heaven.' Thus Hezekiah prayed, and thus God heard; and both as in the temple.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Unto Sennacherib's invasion doth Calvin refer it, for which he gives his reason. And Piscator, in the very title, doth the same. And Ainsworth, on the last verse, aptly applies it to the chieftains of Sennacherib's army, which is a most apt accommodation of the conclusion of the story, with a concluding admonition given to kings and princes; ver. 12, He shall cut off the spirit of princes; he is terrible to the kings of the earth.' The word translated princes, is antecessors, leaders (see Junius's translation), next to kings (which follows), God doth cut off their spirits; gather or take away their spirits, their lives, in a moment, at once, and with as much ease and liberty at pleasure as a gardener prunes the leaves and branches of vines, or as he would gather the bunches of the grapes when fully ripe, and makes no matter on it to do it. How fitly this doth correspond with the event in that story, you may see but by reading these few words, which are the conclusion of that story too, in 2 Chron. xxxii. 21, And the Lord sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the "leaders" and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria.' And for those other words in the Psalm, He is terrible to the kings of the earth,' take those other words in the same verse in the story, 'So he returned with shame of face to his own land.' What a dread and confusion must it needs strike the heart of that haughty prince with. But that was not all; read but the verse, 'And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came out of his own bowels slew him there with the sword.'

[ocr errors]

† Qu, holiest '?-ED.

[ocr errors]

CHAPTER V.

That there is a fair and open invitation to enter into heaven when we pray.— And in such a manner to pray, as those that are thither entered.

[ocr errors]

It being the condition of many New Testament saints (so much of Moses' veil remaineth on their hearts), that they dare not approach so near as to believe themselves in heaven, or to be called up to heaven when they are to pray they hope indeed in the end to enter in thither when they die (and it is true they shall), but stand at present afar off;-our apostle, therefore, vehemently exhorteth them in these words, to draw near, ver. 22; and to enforce this his exhortation, tells them they have a liberty, yea, a right to enter. And then he follows, to back that, with other most potent arguments to persuade them hereunto.

Concerning this his scope, in the general, observe,

1. That this invitation, with that exhortation, ver. 22, is of such persons as are actually believers already; for it is of such that at present have a right to enter, and cause of boldness. 2. That they are supposed to have a true heart, and a saving faith wrought in them; and thereupon are exhorted to draw near, yet nearer, with a full assurance of faith, which is a further degree of faith, in believing their right and interest, and of the acceptation of their persons and prayers when they come. And such a

[ocr errors]

faith of assurance always presupposes a first act of faith of recumbency to be already begun; it is that begins their interest; which faith of recumbency, the apostle Paul saith, was the foundation faith of himself, and Peter, and the other apostles and Christian Jews: Gal. ii. 16, We believed on Jesus Christ, that we might be justified.' Those he thus invites and exhorts, he termeth' brethren.' 'Seeing therefore, brethren, we have a liberty, &c., let us draw near,' or 'come to.'

Likewise 3.

There is another invitation to come to Christ, which is on purpose directed to such as are but as yet under a work of preparation unto their coming to Christ; namely, of those that are weary and heavy laden: ' Mat. xi. 28, 29, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.' And that indeed is that coming to Christ by souls that are now a-converting. And so the exhortation there is for them to put forth that first act of faith, which they never had done before, that they may be saved. But this here is an invitation with an exhortation to those that have come to Christ for salvation already, that they would enter into heaven in prayer. And it is certainly a mistake in those interpreters that do extend the direct scope of this here unto men who as yet have not believed, to come in at first to believe. I say this is not the direct scope of our apostle; though I acknowledge (to the honour of this portion of Scripture) that many of the grounds, persuasives, and instructions here given believers to come into heaven, by prayer to Christ, may powerfully be made use of as pertinent invitements, persuasives, and directions to those whom we preach to; and by themselves to persuade them, being humbled and heavy laden, for their first coming to Christ. As, namely, 1, That they are immediately and directly to come to Christ, as the way to God the Father: as my text also teacheth, and as Christ is here represented. And 2, To come unto him as a high priest, to sprinkle their consciences with his blood, as ver. 20, 22. Likewise, 3, * As, Rev. xi. 12, it is spoken of the Witnesses.

« НазадПродовжити »