Godhead: he is the cabinet of God the Father, in which is contained all his treasure. In him the Father beholds infinite beauty, (or holiness, which is the beauty of the divine nature :) and in him the Father has his food, or infinite delight and satisfaction.

The ark in the temple was not only God's cabinet, containing his treasure, but it was also Israel's cabinet; it contained the greatest treasure of the children of Israel. (See Note on Isai. iv. 5.) So Christ is the greatest treasure of his church; he is their pearl of great price; he is the church's portion and chief good; in him is contained all the church's fullness; of his fullness she receives, and grace for grace; all her happiness, all the covenant blessings that she hath, are bound up in Christ. The church hath the Holy Spirit, which is the sum of all her good, no otherwise than through Christ and in Christ. God hath given the Spirit not by measure unto him and from him; it flows to his members as the oil on Aaron's head went down to the skirts of his garments: particularly it is only in and through Christ that the church hath holiness expressed in the law of God, and happiness expressed by the pot of manna.

The ark itself, considered separately from the things it contained, was only a repository and vehicle to contain other things more precious than itself. So the human nature of Christ is only a repository or vehicle to contain and convey that which is infinitely excellent and precious. In this human nature of Christ dwelt God himself. The divine Logos dwelt in it by his Spirit, signified by the law and manna. The Spirit of God never dwelt in any other creature in anywise as it dwells in the man Christ Jesus; for in him he dwells without measure, on which account also he is called Christ, or Anointed. By the Spirit of God dwelling in so high and transcendent a manner, the human nature is united to the divine in the same person. And as that human nature of Christ is as it were the container or repository of the Deity, a vessel full of the divine nature, so is it as it were the vehicle of it, by which it is conveyed to us in and through which it might be as it were ours in possession; for it is by the Godhead being united to the nature of man, that it becomes the portion of men, as the ark of old was as it were the vehicle of the Deity to the children of Israel. It was that by which they had the Deity, whose dwelling-place is heaven, dwelling among them as their God, and by which God maintained a gracious communication with them.

The human nature of Christ had the Logos, or the Word of God, dwelling in it, as the divine eternal person of the Son is often called. This was typified by the ark's containing the word of God in it, written in tables of stone, and in the book of the law. Christ is the Light of the world, as that law contained in the ark

is represented as the light of the congregation of Israel, Deut. xxxiii. 2. From his right hand went a fiery law for them. Christ is the bread of life that came down from heaven; he is that that was signified by the manna in the wilderness, as Christ teaches in the vi. chap. of John; and he is so by the Spirit that dwells in him, and that he communicates, which was typified by the ark's containing manna, the bread from heaven.

The law that was put into the ark signified the righteousness of Christ, including both his propitiation and obedience. Christ's preparedness for both, is signified in the xl. Psalm by that law, Thy law is within mine heart. God's law was put within Christ's heart, as the law was put within the ark. Hence he satisfied the law by his sufferings; for it was out of regard to the honour of God's law, that when he would save them that had broken it, he had rather himself suffer the penalty of the law, than that their salvation should be inconsistent with the honour of it; and it was also because God's law was within his heart that he perfectly obeyed it.

God was wont to manifest his glory from above the ark in the holy of holies, so it is only by Christ that God manifests his glory to his church; they see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; he is the effulgence or the shining forth of his Father's glory. So God was wont to meet with the children of Israel over the ark, and there speak with them, and give forth his oracles and answers; so it is by Christ only that God reveals himself to his church. "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son that is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him."

The ark is called the ark of the covenant; the covenant that God made with the people was contained in it. The covenant that God hath made with mankind, is made in Christ. The covenant was made with him from eternity; the covenant was then committed to him for us. The promises were given us in Christ; it is he that reveals the covenant, and he is the Mediator and surety of the covenant. The book of the covenant was shut up in the ark, which denotes the mysteriousness of the things contained in this covenant, as was said before; things shut up in an ark are secret, or arcana, and especially hereby seems to be signified that the great things of the covenant were in a great measure bidden under the Old Testament, they were covered as with a veil. As Moses put a veil over his face, so he hid the covenant in an ark. The ark itself was hidden by the veil of the temple, and the book of the covenant was hid by the cover of the ark, i. e. they were as it were hidden under Christ's flesh: the carnal typical ordinances of the Old Testament are in scripture represented as Christ's flesh, Rom. ii. 1, 2, 3, 4. Colos. ii. 14. The

veil signified the flesh of Christ; Heb. x. 20; and so doth the cover of the ark, or the ark considered as distinct from what was contained in it. The covenant of grace was, and the glorious things of the gospel were, contained in that book that was laid up in the ark; but it was as it were shut up in a cabinet, hid under types and dark representations. Christ rent the veil from the top to the bottom; so he opened the cabinet of the ark. The faces of the cherubims were towards this ark, and the mercy-seat upon it, to pry into the mysteries of the person of Christ and of this covenant of grace; for "these things," as the apostle Peter says, "the angels desire to look into."

The ark was carried on staves, on the Levites' shoulders; so Christ is brought to his church and people in the labours of the ministers of the gospel.

It seems, by Jer. iii. 16, 17, as if the ark were a type of the church as well as of Christ; but no wonder: the church hath such a union and communion with Christ, that almost all the same things that are predicated of Christ, are also in some sense predicated of the church. Christ is the temple of God, and so is the church; believers are said to be his temple, and they together are said to be built up a spiritual house, &c. The law is in Christ's heart, Ps. xl. As the law was in the ark, so God promises to put his law into the hearts of his people. Christ is the pearl of great price; he is the Father's treasure, his chief delight; so the church is his cabinet, and believers are his jewels. The ark represents the human nature of Christ especially, or the body of Christ, and the church is called the body of Christ.

[475] Exod. xxv. 23, to the end. Concerning the shew-bread, table, and the golden candlestick. These both were to stand continually in the holy place, before the veil of the holy of holies, one on the north side and the other on the south. Each of these

seems to represent both a divine person and also the church. Each represents a divine person; the shew-bread represents Christ, and was set on the south side at God's right hand, as Christ is often represented as being set at God's right hand in heaven, being next to God the Father in his office, and above the Holy Spirit in the economy of the persons of the Trinity. The candlestick, or at least the oil and lamp of it, represent the Holy Spirit, and is set at the left hand of God's throne. Christ is as it were the bread of God. He is so called, John vi. 33. He is the portion of God the Father, in whom is his infinite delight and happiness, and as our Mediator and sacrifice. He is as it were the bread of God as the ancient sacrifices, that were only typical of Christ, are often called the bread of God. This bread is called the shewbread, in the Hebrew Lechem Plannim, the bread of God's face,

or presence. So Christ, in Isai. Ixiii. 9, is called Malak phannim, the angel of God's face, or presence. This bread had pure frankincense set on it, which undoubtedly signifies the merits of Christ, and so proves the bread, that had this pure frankincense on it, to be a type of Christ. And besides this, the bread and frankincense are called an offering made by fire unto the Lord, Levit. xxiv. 7. 9, which is another proof that this bread and incense were a type of Christ offered in sacrifice to God; the bread was prepared to be as it were the food of God, by being baked in the fire, and the frankincense, when removed for new to be set on, was probably burnt in the fire on the altar of incense. There were twelve cakes of shew-bread, according to the number of the tribes of Israel, to signify that Christ, as offered up in sacrifice to God, is offered as representing his people and church, and presenting himself to God in their name. This bread represents Christ not only as presented in the presence of God as the bread of the saints, for this bread was eaten by the priests in the temple, Levit. xxiv. 9. So Christ is often spoken of as the bread of the saints. He is the bread they will feed upon in heaven, which is the holy temple of God, where the saints are all kings and priests.

This bread also represents the church, who are spoken of not only as partaking of Christ, the divine bread, but as being themselves the bread of God, 1 Cor. x. 17. God's people are very often, in both the Old Testament and the New, spoken of as God's food, his fruit, his harvest, his good grain, his portion, &c. This seems to be one reason why the shew-bread was to be in twelve cakes, representing the twelve tribes of Israel, because the bread represented the church, as the twelve precious stones in the breastplate did. These loaves had frankincense set on them to represent that God's people are not acceptable food to God, any otherwise than as rendered so by the incense of Christ's merits; the loaves of shew-bread were to be set on the table anew every sabbath, representing these several things.

1. That in God's finishing the work of redemption, or in Christ's finishing of it, when he rested from it, Christ especially became the bread or sweet food of God, wherein he was refreshed; as God is said to have rested, and to have been refreshed, when he finished the work of creation, so much more when Christ finished the work of redemption.

2. As the sabbath day especially is the day of the worship of Christ's church, so on that day especially does Christ present himself as their Mediator, and present his merits as the sweet food and incense of God to recommend them and their worship to the Father.

3. Christ is, on the sabbath-day, especially set forth as the bread of his church in the preaching of the word, and adminis

tration of the sacrament. On the sabbath day, the disciples came together to break bread, and it is then especially that his saints do feed upon him, in meditation, hearing his word, and partaking of the sacrament of the Lord's supper, as the priests ate the shewbread on the sabbath.

4. The sabbath is that time wherein especially God's people do present themselves to God as his portion through Christ.

5. The time wherein in a most eminent manner they shall be presented by Christ, and will present themselves to God as his portion, is on the time of their eternal rest (the antitype of the sabbath) in heaven.

6. This is also the time wherein they will in the highest degree feed and feast on Christ as their bread, as the priests ate the shewbread in the temple on the sabbath.

In the golden candlestick that stood before the throne, on the left side was a representation both of the Holy Spirit and of the Church. The pure oil olive that fed the lamps is indisputably a type of the Holy Ghost; and it is evident, from Rev. iv. 5, compared with chap. i. 4, and v. 6, and Zech. iii. 9, and iv. 2. 6. 10. The burning of the lamp represents that divine, infinite, pure energy and ardour wherein the Holy Spirit consists. The light of the lamps filling the tabernacle with light which had no windows, and no light but of those lamps, represents the divine, blessed communication and influence of the Spirit of God, replenishing the church and filling heaven with the light of divine knowledge in opposition to the darkness of ignorance and delusion, with the light of holiness in opposition to the darkness of sin, and with the light of comfort and joy in opposition to the darkness of sorrow and misery. This light being communicated from a candlestick, represents the way in which these benefits are communicated to the church, viz. the way of God's ordinances, which are called a candlestick, Rev. ii. 5.

It is evident that the candlestick represents the church from the iv. chap. of Zech. and the i. of Rev., and Matth. v. 13, 14, 15, and 1 Tim. iii. 15. The matter was gold, as the church is constituted of saints, God's precious ones. The candlestick was like a tree of many branches, and bearing flowers and fruit, agreeable to the very frequent representations of the church by a tree, an olive-tree, a vine, a grain of mustard-seed that becomes a tree, the branch of the Lord, a tree whose substance is in it, &c. The continuance and propagation of the church is compared to the propagation of branches from a common stock and root, and of plants from the seed. In this candlestick, every flower is attended with a knop, apple, or pomegranate, representing a good profession attended with corresponding fruit in the true saints. Here were rows of knops and flowers one after another, beautifully re