ftood it, Pfalm 15. Lord, who fhall abide in thy Tabernacle? who fhall dwell in thy boly Hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh Righ teousness, and speaketh the Truth from his Heart. He that backbiteth not with his Tongue, nor doeth evil to his Neighbour, nor taketh up a Reproach against his Neighbour: In whofe Eyes a vile Perfon is contemned, but be honoureth them that fear the Lord. He that fweareth to his own Hurt, and changeth not; he that putteth not out his Money to Ufury, nor taketh Reward against the Innocent. He that doeth thefe Things, shall never be moved. Thefe were Laws given to Ifrael to obferve in the temporal Canaan: But the Pfalmift certainly fpeaks here of the true Holy Hill, that is, of Heaven it felf, which the Earthly Sion was but a Figure of. For many dwelt in the earthly Sion, who did not obferve thefe Laws; but none could dwell in this holy Hill without obferving them; and those who did obferve them, fhould never be moved, that is, fhall always dwell there; which fignifies, that this holy Hill the Pfalmift fpeaks of, is an eternal Habitation, which can be true only of Heaven.

Had God intended no more in his Promises to Ifrael, but a temporal Canaan, he used them mnch worse than he did the reft of Mankind. All the Privilege they had by being God's peculiar People, was to live under feverer Laws, and to be more feverely punished for their Sins; as God himself tells them, You only have I known of all the Familes of the Earth, therefore will I punish you for all your Iniquities, Amos

3.2.

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As for Inftance: All the reft of the World were Idolaters, but God did not therefore difpoffefs them of their Countries; many of which O 3

were

were as flourishing Countries as Canaan was. But if the Jews turned Idolaters, God certainly delivered them into the Hands of their Enemies; either to be oppreffed by them at Home, or to be carried Captive by them into Foreign Countries; that as they ferved ftrange Gods in their own Land, they should be strangers in a Land which was not theirs, Jeremiah 5. 19.

Now fuppofing Canaan to be a mere temporal Inheritance, it is very unaccountable, why God fhould fuffer all the reft of the World to be Idolaters, but not fuffer the Children of Ifrael to commit Idolatry in Canaan. For why should the Idolatry of Ifrael in Canaan be more provoking than the Idolatry of all the World befides? And yet for this Reason the Ten Tribes were carried away into a perpetual Captivity; and Judah was afterwards carried Captive into Babylon for feventy Years. But now if Canaan was a Type of Heaven, as the carnal Ifrael was of the true fpiritual Ifrael, this gives a plain Account of it. For how profperous foever Idolatry may be on Earth, no Idolaters must live in Heaven; none must be owned for God's peculiar People, nor dwell in his Prefence, who worfhip any strange God. And this is a good Reafon, why God gave the fame Laws for Canaan, as for Heaven. But then if this be allowed as a good Reason, it proves that the Promise of the temporal Canaan did reach to Heaven; that they were trained up under fuch Laws and Discipline in the temporal Canaan, as fhould prepare and qualify them to dwell in God's immediate Prefeuce in Heaven.

Fourthly, 'Tis univerfally acknowledged by all Chriftians, that the most mysterious Parts of the Jewish Worship were Types of Chrift. The Tem

upon

Temple where God dwelt by fymbolical Signs, was the Type of the Body of Chrift, wherein the Fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily, not in Types and Figures, but oμanxes, really and truly, Coloffians 2. 9. And therefore Chrift owns himself to be greater than the Temple, Matth. 12. 6. Moft of the Sacrifices of the Law were Types of that great Sacrifice the Crofs; as we must own, if we acknowledge the Authority of the New Teftament, which applies all these legal Sacrifices to the Sacrifice of Chrift; as, befides many other Places, you may fee at large in the Epiftle to the Hebrews. Now if the Mofaical Oeconomy was typical of Chrift, and of the Gospel State, it must typify alfo all the Bleffings of the Gofpel, and therefore that Immortality which Chrift hath brought to light by the Gospel. And indeed all the Amufements of the Law were fuch a mere Shew of Pageantry, that wife and devout Men had reason to apprehend fomething more divine and mysterious concealed under them. And it is certain, that when earthly Things are Types, they must be Types of heavenly. The earthly Tabernacle and Temple, where God chofe to dwell on Earth, muft typify the immediate Prefence of God in Heaven, whither the God in, carnate, who was made Flesh and Blood amongst us, will translate all his fincere Difciples, to be where he is, and to fee his Glory. Thofe legal Sacrifices, which fanctified to the purifying of the Flesh, and to give Admiffion into the earthly Tabernacle and Temple, muft typify that great Sacrifice, wherewith heavenly Things are purified, and which gives Admiffion into the immediate Prefence of God.

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Fifthly

Fifthly, We muft here more particularly confider the Nature of Sacrifices, which made up a great Part of the Mofaical Law. Tho' the Ufe of Sacrifices has been as ancient as the Fall of Man, 'tis a great Difpute whether Sacrifices are a Part of natural or inftituted Worship. We have in Scripture no account of their Inftitution, and that occafions this Difpute. But I could never yet find in my own Mind, or learn from any other Man, a good natural Reason for offering Beafts in Sacrifice to God. And yet all natural Worship is founded upon fome plain natural Reason. And befides this, were Sacrifices a Branch of natural Worship, how come they to be abrogated? For though the Gofpel of Chrift improves Nature, it abrogates nothing that is purely natural. And it is certain that in the Jewish Law there was nothing natural, but all typical in their Sacrifices. And therefore though there is no mention made in the Hiftory of Mofes of the Original Inftitution of bloody Sacrifices, we have reason to think, that Sacrifices were not Nature, but Infti. tution.

But then this starts a greater Difficulty: To what End thefe Sacrifices were inftituted by God? All Men grant, that Sacrifices were for the Expiation of Sin, to redeem the Life of the Sinner, with the Life of the Beast, which was facrificed in his ftead. But then this feems very unaccountable, how the Life of a Beast should make an Atonememt for the Sins of Man; why Blood should be required for the Expiation of Sin; and what Satisfaction this could make to the divine Juftice.

But

But fetting afide all thefe Difputes at prefent, there feems to be one great End of Sacrifices which is little taken notice of, and that is, to give Men Hopes of a Life after Death. Adam, was threatned with Death, if he fhould eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil: In the Day that thou eateft thereof, thou shalt furely die. So that from that time he was under the Sentence of Death. But yet he lived many hundred Years, before this Sentence was actually executed upon him; which must be refolved into the merciful Goodness of God, who immediately upon the Fall promifed a Redeemer, that the Seed of the Woman should break the Serpent's Head; and in the mean time accepted the Sacrifice of Beasts, as a Ransom for the Life of Man; as it was in the Cafe of Ifaac, who was a Tyye of Chrift; when he was to be offered as a Sacrifice to God, his Life was fpared, and a Ram offered in his ftead; which fignified that the Sacrifices of Beafts fhould be accepted till the coming of Chrift, who fhould put an end to them all, by the great Sacrifice of the Crofs. We do not indeed read that Adam at that time offered any Sacrifice to God, but we read that which makes it very probable that he did: For it is faid, that unto Adam and his Wife God made Coats of Skins, and cloathed them; which must fignify the Skins of Beafts; and that proves that Beasts were then killed; which as far as we can learn, they were not for many Ages, but only for Sacrifices.

But ftill what is this to a Life after Death? The Account of which feems plain and short, that the Sinner legally dies in the Death of the Beaft which is facrificed in his ftead, but he himfelf lives after this legal Death, which is a Life