them, "the clay of the fame lump that he rejecteth, and leaves behind. Are we better than they? No, in no wife," Rom. ii. chap. ix Nay, I think, if any be beft,t's they which are left behind. "He came not to call the righteous, but finners to repentance," Mark ii. 17. And, indeed in this he doth fhew both the greatnefs of his grace and workmanfhip; his grace, in taking fuch; and his workmanship, in that he makes them meet for his holy habitation.

This the current of scripture maketh manifest : wherefore it is needlefs 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 firft pafs under the hand and rule of this great Builder of the temple of God,

CHA P. V.

Who was to fell thofe Trees, and to dig thofe Stones with which Solomon built the Temple.

S the trees were to be felled, and ftones to be digged, fo there was for that matter select workmen appointed.

The fe were not of the fons of Jacob, nor of the houfe of Ifrael: they were the fervants of Hiram, King of Tyre, and the Gibeonites, namely, their children that made a league with Jofhua, in the day that God gave the land of Canaan to his people. Joshua ix. 22.-29.-1 Kings v 2 Chron. xxvii. 28,

And these were types of our gofpel-minifters, who are the men appointed by Jefus Chrift to make finners, by their preaching, meet for the houfe of God. Wherefore, as he was famous of old, who was ftrong" to lift up his ax upon the thick boughs, to fquare wood for the building of the temple;" fo a minifter of the gofpel now is alfo famous, if much tifed by Chrift for the converting of finners to him

felf, that he may build him a temple with them, Pfal. vii. 4, 5, 6. Rom. xvi. 7.

"But why, may fome fay, do you make fo home. ly a comparison? I anfwer, because I believe it is true; for 'tis grace, not gifts, that makes us fons and the beloved of God. Gifts make a minifter; and as a minifter, one is but a fervant to "hew wood, and draw water, for the house of my God." Yea, Paul, though a fon, yet counted himfelf not a fon but a fervant, purely as he was a minifter, a fervant of God, a fervant of Chrift, a fervant of the church, and your fervant for Jefus fake, Tit. i. 1. Rom, i. 1. 2 Cor. iv. 5.

A man then is a fon, as he is begotten and born of God to himself, and a fervant as he is gifted for work in the house of his Father; and tho' it is truth the fervant may be a fon, "yet he is not a fon because he is a fervant." Nor doth it follow, that because all fons may be fervants, therefore all fervants are fons: no, all the fervants of God are not fons; and therefore, when time fhall come, he that is only a fervant here fhall certainly be put out of the house, even out of that houfe himself did help to build. "The fervant abideth not in the house for ever:" the fervant, that is, he that is only fo, Ezek. xlvi. 16, 17. John viii. 35.

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So then as a fon thou art an Ifraelite, as a fervant a Gibeonite. The confideration of this made Paul ftart; he knew that gifts made him not a fon, 1 Cor. xii, 28, 29, 30, 31. chap. xiii. i, 2.

The fum then is, a man may be a fervant and a fon; a fervant, as he is employed by Chrift in his house for the good of others, and a fon, as he is a partaker of the grace of adoption; but all fervants are not fons and let this be for a caution and a call to minifters to do all acts of fervice for God, and in his houfe, with reverence and godly fear. And with all humility, let us defire to be partakers ourfelves of "that grace we preach to others," 1 Cory ix. 25.

B

This is a great saying, and written perhaps to keep minifters humble: "And ftrangers fhall ftand and feed your flocks, and the fons of the alien fhall be your ploughmen, and your wine.dreffers," Ifa. Ixi. 5.

To be a ploughman here is to be a preacher, and to be a vine dreffer here is to be a preacher, Luke ix. 59, 60, 61, 62, and 1 Cor. ix. 27. Mat. ii, 1. 2, 3, 4, 8. chap. xxi, 28. 1 Cor. ix. 7.

And if he does this work willingly he has a re. ward; if not, "a difpenfation of the gospel was com mitted to him, and that is all." I Cor. ix, 17.

CH A P. VI

In what Condition the Timber and Stones were when brought to be laid in the Building of the Temple.

T

HE timber and ftones with which the temple was built, were fquared and hewed in the wood or pit; and fo there made every way fit for that work, even before they were brought to the place where the houfe fhould be fet up: "So that there was neither hammer nor ax, nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was building." I Kings vi. 7.

And this fhews, as was faid before, that the materials of which the houfe was built, were (before the hand of the workman touched them) as unfit to be laid in the building, as were thofe that were left behind; confequently that themselves, none otherwise, but by the art of others, were made fit to be laid in this building.

To this our New-Teftament temple anfwers; for thofe of the fons 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 wif. dom, but by the word of God. Hence he faith, I have hewed them by the prophets." And again, ,, minifters are called God's builders and labourers

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even to this work, Hof. vi. 5. 1 Cor. iii. 10. and 2 Cor. vi. 1. Col. i. 28.

No man will lay trees as they come from the wood, for beams and rafters in his houfe; nor ftones, as digged in the walls. No, the trees must be hewed and fquared, and the ftones fawn and made fit, and fo be laid in the house.

Yea they must be fo fawn, and fo fquared, that in coupling they may be joined exactly, elfe the building will not be good, nor the workman have credit of his doings.

Hence our goipel church, of which the temple was a type, is faid to be fitly formed, and that there is a fit fupply of every joint for the fecuring of the whole, Pet. iii. 5. Ephef. iv. 20, 21. chap. iv. 16. Col. ii. 19.

As they therefore build like children that build with wood, as it comes from the wood or foreft, and with ftones as they come from the pit; even so do they who pretend to build God an house o unconverted finners, unhewed, unfquared, 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. xxiv. 27.

Let minifters therefore look to this, and take heed, left, instead of making their nations ftoop to the word, they make the fcriptures ftoop to their notions.

THE

is

H E foundation of the temple is that upon which it ftod; and it was twofold; first, the hill Moriah, and then thofe great ftones upon which it was erected. This hill Moriah, as was faid afore, did more properly typify Chrift. Hence Moriah is called the "Mountain of the houfe," it being the rock on which it was built. Those great stones called found

ation-ftones, were types of the prophets and apoftles, Matth. xvi. 18. Ephef. i 20, 21. Heb. xi. 10.

Wherefore thefe ftones were ftones of the biggest fize, ftones of eight cubits, and ftones of ten cubits, 1 Kings vii. 10.

Now, as the temple had this double foundation, fo we must confider it refpectively and diftinctly; for Chrift is the foundation one way, the prophets and apostles a foundation another. Chrift is the foundation perfonally and meritoriously; but the prophets and apoftles by doctrine, minifterially. The church then, which is God's New Teftament temple, is faid to be built on Chrift the foundation; fo none other is the foundation but he, 1 Cor. iii. 11, 12. But as it is faid to be built upon the apoftles, fo it is faid to have twelve foundations, and must have none but they, Rev. xxi. 14.

What is it then? why we must be building upon Chrift, as he is our prieft, facrifice, prophet, king, and advocate; and upon the other, as they are infallible inftructors and preachers of him; not that any may be an apoflle, that fo fhall efteem of himfelf, nor that any other doctrine be adminiftred But what is the doctrine of the twelve; for they are fet forth as the chief and laft. These are also they, as Mofes, which are to look over all the build. ing, and to fee that all in this house be done according to the pattern fhewed to them in the Mount, Exod. xxxix. 43. John xx. 21, 22, 23, 1 Cor. iii. 9. chap. iv. 9.

Let us then keep thefe diftinctions clear, and not put an apostle in the room of Chrift, nor Christ in the place of one of thofe apoftles, Let none but Chrift be the high prieft and facrifice for your fouls to God; and none but that doctrine which is apof tolical be to you as the mouth of Chrift, for inftruction to prepare you, and to prepare materials for this temple of God, and to build them upon this foundation.