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there is in Jesus Christ that length, breadth, depth, and height of delightful love, which is abundantly sufficient for saving all the elect for ever. 4. That pitch, with which, according to God's appointment, the joints of the ark were pitched over, within and without, to prevent all ingress of the water, is called in Hebrew Cophir, which likewise signifies expiation and a price of redemption. Was not this an elegant and fine representation of the expiation and redemption of Christ, to which alone we are indebted, for our being secured from the deluge of divine vengeance?

. XXII. But this same ark was also a figure of the church. 1. As the ark contained all the hope of the second world; so, in like manner, the church contains that assembly of the first-born, who are to be the heirs of the new world. 2. As the profane Ham also entered into the ark with the godly, and many unclean beasts with the clean; so many impure hypocrites creep into the external communion of the church. 3. As the ark remained unhurt and unshattered amidst all the shocks of storms and tempests, the tops of houses and craggy cliffs of mountains and rocks; so neither shall the gates of hell prevail against the church. 4. As the ark floated securely on the waters, without sails, oars, or rudder, by the providence of God alone, even when Noah was asleep; so the church, when destitute of all human aid, and while they, to whose care she is committed, are often asleep, is guided by the watchful eye of Christ, and at last happily brought into the haven of salvation. 5. As the ark, upon the retiring of the waters again into their abyss, rested upon the mountains of Ararat, where Noah, when he debarked and set his feet on dry land, offered sacrifices of thanksgiving to God; so, in like manner, the church, after it has passed through the trials, dangers, and oppositions of this pre

sent world, shall rest in the heavenly Zion, where, with uninterrupted thanksgivings, she will sing the praises of her great God and Saviour.

XXIII. Again, the waters of the deluge have a reference both to Christ and the church. 1. As the waters, which descended from heaven, and violently issued out from beneath, covered the ark, and encompassed it on every side; so Christ was also to grapple with the wrath of his heavenly Father, with the bands of hell let loose upon him, and with the unrelenting cruelty of malicious men. In short, the sorrows of death compas-, sed him, and the floods of (Belial) ungodly men made him afraid, Psal. xviii. 4. 2. As those waters did indeed cover, but did not sink, the ark; nay the deeper they were, the more they lifted it up on high, and brought it nearer to heaven; so Christ, in like manner, was put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, 1 Pet. iii. 18. And the more grievous his sufferings were, to the higher pitch of glory did God exalt him, 2 Pet. ii. 9. 3. As the waters of the deluge destroyed the world of the ungodly, but preserved the ark, 1 Pet. iii. 20. which being lifted up on high was placed above the tops of houses and turrets, against which it might be dashed, while, in the mean time, all the devices and instruments of art were overthrown; so the afflictions, which are sent by God, are indeed to consume the ungodly, and drive them headlong into hell; but appointed to purge and prepare the godly for salvation, that they may not perish with the world, 1 Cor. xi. 32. 4. As the waters of the deluge, by drowning sinners, washed out the crimes of the old world; that the church, being delivered from these notorious crimes, might, with greater purity, serve God (by which the same thing is set forth as by the water of baptism, 1 Pet. iii. 21.) so, by the blood and Spirit of Christ, our sins are washed

away, the old man mortified, that the new man may, with the greater alacrity, be employed for God.

XXIV. Lastly, It is not for nothing, that notice is taken of the dove, which Noah sent out, and which returned in the evening with an olive-leaf plucked off. For, 1. As Noah was a type of Christ, so that dove was a type of the Holy Spirit which descended upon Christ, when he was baptized at Jordan. 2. As that dove brought the olive-branch to those who were in the ark, from which they might infer, that the waters were now dried up; so, in like manner, the Holy Spirit assures those that are in the church, of the peace of God, the symbol of which was the olive-branch. 3. As the dove carried that olive-leaf in her mouth; so the Holy Spirit publishes that mystical, or spiritual peace by the mouth of the prophets, apostles, and evangelists. 4. As the dove came to the ark in the evening; so, in the evening of the world, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are inore plentiful and abundant.

XXV. Omitting, for the present, the illustrious type of Melchizedek, which Paul has accurately explained, Heb. vii. we shall take a short view of the history of Isaac, who was a type of Christ. I. In his person. IL In his offering. III. In his deliverånce, and the glorious consequence thereof.

XXVI. As to his person. 1. He is called Isaac from laughing, because he was a son of joy and exultation to his parents, Gen. xxi. 6. But Christ is the joy of the whole world, and at his birth the angels proclaimed to the shepherds good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people, Luke ii. 16. 2. Isaac was the son of the promise, being descended in a miraculous manner from Abraham, who was old, and from Sarahı, who was barren and past bearing, by the alone efficacy of the word of God, whereby he calls things that are

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not, as if they were, Rom. iv. 17. So Christ, not according to the order of nature, nor by virtue of the neral blessing, Increase and multiply, but by the efficacy of a gracious promise, was born of a virgin-mother, by a strange and surprising miracle. 3. Isaac was the only son of Abraham, Gen. xxii. 2. by a lawful and free wife, and in whom his seed was to be called, Gen. xxi. 12. though he likewise had Ishmael, and afterwards begat sons of Keturah; so Christ is the only-begotten Son of the Father, John iii. 16. though he also has brethren, but of a far more inferior order and con'dition, Rom. viii. 29. 4. Isaac was the head of Abraham's family, and, in his measure, that is, typically, the origin of the blessing. Christ is the head of God's family; of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, Eph. iii. 15. And in him we are blessed with all spiritual blessings, Eph. i. 3.

XXVII. In the offering of Isaac the analogy is in the following particulars. 1. Abraham could not possibly have given a more illustrious instance of his love to God, than by offering to the death his son, his only son Isaac, whom he loved, in whom all his hopes were placed. Nor was it possible for God to give a more illustrious display of his love to men, than by delivering up for them his beloved and only-begotten Son to the most dreadful tortures of many deaths in one, John iii. 16. 2. It was an extraordinary instance of Isaac's obedience, to submit to his father in such a dreadful case, without a repining murmur. And who can, as it justly deserves, relate, with what cheerfulness Christ obeyed his Father unto the death, even the death of the cross? Phil. ii. 8. 3. As Isaac went out of his father's house to the place which God had appointed; so Christ went out of Jerusalem, in order to suffer without the gate, Heb. xiii, 11, 4. Isaac carried the wood; and Christ

carried his cross. 5. Isaac's hands were tied; in like manner were Christ's. 6. Isaac was laid on the wood; and Christ was nailed to the cross. 7. Isaac was offered on mount Moriah, which was either the same with, or at least near to Calvary, where our Lord was cru cified.

XXVIII. We are further to observe these coincidences in his deliverance. 1. Isaac was already dead in his father's opinion, and Abraham received him from the dead in a figure, Heb. xi. 19. So Christ, being truly dead was restored to life. 2. Isaac was dead in his father's intention, from the moment he received the command to offer him up, until the third day on which he was forbid to lay hands on the lad. On the third day also Christ arose. 3. When Isaac was restored to Abraham, he dwelt with his father, and became the parent of a numerous seed. So, when Christ rose from the dead, he entered into his Father's house, and saw his seed, Is. liii. 10. .

XXIX. When a ram was substituted for Isaac, who was otherwise to have been offered; by inverting the figure, Isaac represents the church, and the ram is a figure of Christ. 1. Isaac was, by the command of God, brought to be offered, which was near put in execution by Abraham. Thus the severity of the divine judgment against sin was shadowed forth; whereby, unless the satisfaction of Christ had interposed, all mankind must have perished. 2. That ram was not of Abraham's fold, but was suddenly at hand, and got ready for that purpose, by a remarkable dispensation of divine providence. Thus also Christ was given by a peculiar gift of God to us, who could never have found, among any thing belonging to us, a sacrifice fit for an expiation. 3. That ram's being caught by the horns in the thicket, seems to be a representation of all those cala

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