God. God will now, when he returneth to Jeru- | was figured forth by the throne of Solomon, in the salem, 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.' Is. Ivi. 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.' Zec. viii. 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? Is. xlviii. 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.' Je. xxxi. 10–12. 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 aud near, it had, for the bearers of the steps, twelve lions, six on this side, and six on that side of the throne. 1 Ki. 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.' Ps. lxxxvii. 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 (0 city) that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, - and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve,' Is. xiv. 2, 3, and thou shalt serve the Lord thy God without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of thy life.' Lu. i. 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. De. xxxi. 17. Je. xxxiii. 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 Pe. iii. 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 vi. 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. He. i. 1–3. 2 Co. iv. 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 thce, for thy judgments are made manifest.' Re. xv. 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.' Ju. v. 11. Third. And as for his mercy, they shall see that 459 their horn is exalted, and that they are near to calf and the young lion and the fatling together, him. • Praise ye eat straw like the ox. and a little child shall lead them. The lion shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child And the suckling shall shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord.' Is. xi. 6—9; lvi. 2—5. the Lord.' Ps. cxlviii, 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.' Zep. iii. 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. Ex. xiii. 6-9. 1 Co. v. 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. and the hills shall break forth before her into singThe mountains ing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.' Is. lv. 12. All nations shall call them blessed, for they shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.' Mal. iii. 12. The waters of Noah shall now be no more, the tumultuous multitudes shall now be gone, and there will be no more sea. Is. liv. 9. Ps. lxv. 7; Ixxxix. 9. Re. xxi. 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. Ge. viii. 4, 5. The wolf also shall (now) dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the city descending and lighting upon the place that Blessed is he whose lot it will be to see this holy 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. rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the 'From 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. i. 11. sunshine, always pleasant, green, fruitful, and It will be then always summer, always beautiful to the sons of God. to pass in that day that the mountains shall drop And it shall come 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 iii. 18, 20. name of the city from that day shall be, The Lord 'And the is there.' Eze. xlviii. 35. and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: O blessedness! And he angel to show unto his servants the things that must shortly be done.' Re. xxii. 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 wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the our days. - Make us glad according to the days in we have seen evil. Let thy work thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. years whereAnd let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon appear unto us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.' us; and establish thou the work of our hands upon P. xc. 14-17. Amen. 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 Israel; shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, 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.'-Ezek. xliii. 10, 11. London: Printed for, and sold by George Larkin, at the Two Swans without Bishopgate, 1688. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. Or 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 chambers round about, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of the dedicated things.' 1 Ch. xxviii. 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 Ch. xxii. 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.' xxviii. 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.' Ex. xxv. 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 posi 461 tion, Mine eye seeth thee, wherefore I abhor | all not only without fear, but with solemn joy. myself, and repent in dust and ashes.' Thus, in The cost of Solomon's temple has been estimated Solomon's beautiful prayer on the dedication of at eight hundred thousand millions of money: if this gorgeous temple, he humbly inquires, Will this is true, still how infinitely inferior is that vast God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? sum to the inconceivable cost of the eternal temple, behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot with its myriads of worshippers, for which the Son contain thee; how much less this house that I of God paid the ransom, when he made the atonehave built?' 2 Ch. vi. 18. Thus was completed the ment for transgression, and built that imperishmost perfect, splendid, and magnificent building able temple which neither human nor satanic that was ever erected by human hands. Still it malevolence can ever destroy, and in which every was only a type of that infinitely more glorious spiritual worshipper will be crowned with an everantitype, the Christian dispensation. Most stately lasting weight of glory. 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." A greater than Solomon is here.' 'The BRANCH he shall build the temple of the Lord'—the more glorious, spiritual, eternal temple. Zec. vi. 12. The its services contained many types highly illustrative While we cannot doubt but that the temple and of the Christian dispensation, incautious attempts to find them may lead to fanciful interpretations which tend to cloud, rather than to elucidate gospel truths. against giving the reins to their imaginations and Bunyan very properly warns his readers indulging in speculations like those fathers, who in In a few hundred years after the temple of most every feather of a sacrificed bird could discern every nail, pin, stone, stair, knife, pot, and in alSolomon was finished, this sumptuous structure strange, distinct, and peculiar mysteries. was doomed to destruction, like all the fading same remark applies to the Jewish rabbies, who in handiwork of man. Sin enervated the nation which their Talmud are full of mysterious shadows. From should have protected it; while the immensity of these rabbinical flints some have thought to extract its riches excited the cupidity of a neighbouring choice mystical oil to supple the wheels of their royal robber. It was plundered, and then set on fancy-to use a homely expression. Such Jewish fire; the truth of the declaration made by Job rabbies and Christian fathers limped and danced upon the perishable works of man was eminently upon one learned leg, to the amazement of all bedisplayed-For man to labour he is born, and holders, but not to their edification; their lucubrathe sons of the burning coal they mount up flut- tions may amuse those who have patience to read tering. "In a few days the labour of years, aided them, but they afford no instruction. Even the by unbounded wealth and resources, was reduced learned Samuel Lee, whose work on the temple to a heap of ashes. And now, after a lapse of abounds with valuable information, has strongly about twenty-five centuries, accompanied by John tinctured it with pedantry. It is seldom that a more Bunyan, 'a cunning workman,' as our guide, we curious jumble is found than in the following paraare enabled to contemplate the account given us graph:-The waxen comb of the ancient figures of this amazing edifice recorded in the volume of and typical eels is fully matted and rolled up in truth, and to compare that utmost perfection of shining tapers, to illuminate temple students in human art, aided from heaven, with the infinitely finding out the honey that couches in the carcass superior temple in which every Christian is called of the slain Lion of the tribe of Judah.' There is to worship-to enter by the blood of the everlast- no fear of Bunyan's indulging his readers with the ing covenant into the holiest of all, the way con- vagaries of the Jewish rabbies or Christian fathers secrated by the cross and sufferings of Christ--his converse was limited to the prophets and without the intervention of priest or lordly prelate apostles. His object is to make us familiar with -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. 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. He. ix. 23, 24. Among the many striking objects to which Bunyan directs our wontion while we accompany him in viewing this marChrist has conse-dering eyes, a few should excite our deeper attenvellous temple. crated the way, and we enter into the holiest of 1 Lee's Solomon's Temple portrayed by Scripture Light. Dedication. 2 Job v. 7, literally translated from the Hebrew. Reject all the inventions authority in the worship. 1. All the materials that were used required pre- | of the prophets and apostles, Jesus Christ being paration. The stones must be quarried, squared, the chief corner stone. and fitted for the building with many a hard knock of man and all human and cutting of the chisel. So must you and I, my of God. 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.' Ec. ix. 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 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."1 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. GEO. OFfor. 1 Lee's Solomon's Temple, p. 232. TO THE CHRISTIAN READER. COURTEOUS CHRISTIAN READER, 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 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. He. iii. 5—10. The fruit of their land was said to be uncircumcised. Le. xix. 23. |