Pointed for the Ceremonies. The Fifth Sermon
In the partition of God’s laws, next after the moral law we placed the ceremonial law?: and therefore, since the moral law is already expounded, I have now next, by the help of God, to treat of the law of ceremonies. And, that I may not hide any thing from you, note this by the way: that some write Ceremonice, and some Cerimonice; which two words are used for ceremonies; considering that sundry men have sundry opinions touching the word, from whence it should come. For some (after the opinion of Servius Sulpitius) do think that they are called Ceremonie a carendo. But Festus affirmeth, that ceremonies did first take their name of the town Ceres, or Cerete. For Livy in his fifth book saith, that the relics” of the Romans were kept by the towns-men of Cares in the French wars, at what time the Frenchmen invaded Rome. By which occasion it is likely that, for remembrance of the benefit, all the worship due to God, and all the holy rites or customs, were, according to the name of the town, usually called ceremonies. But from whencesoever the word is derived, we in this treatise use it for the holy deed of worshipping God, and the ecclesiastical rites of sacred religion.
Now ceremonies are holy rites belonging to the ministers of religion, and also to the place, time, and holy worship exhibited to God; all which, how they ought to be kept and
[3 Vol. 1. p. 209.] [6 Servius Sulpicius religionem esse dictam tradidit, que propter]
[sanctitatem aliquam remota ac seposita a nobis sit, quasi a relinquendo]
[dicta, ut a carendo ceremonia. Macrob. Saturn. Lib. 11. cap. 3. Sce]
[also Aul. Gell. Noct. Attic. Lib. 1v. cap. 9. Augustine adopted this]
[derivation. Retract. cap. 37.) [5 alii existimant, Lat. omitted: some persons think that.]]
[6 Ceerimoniarum causam alii ab oppido Cre dictam existimant;]
[alii a caritate dictam judicant. Festus, Lutet, 1576. ] [7 Sacra Romanorum, Lat.] [8 —Sacra in plaustrum imposuit (I. Albinius), et το, quo iter]
[sacerdotibus erat, pervexit. Liv. Lib. v. cap. 40.]]
observed according as they should be, the laws called ceremonial do exactly teach and precisely describe. Ceremonies therefore are the actions and rites, which the laws or rules, called ceremonial, do frame or appoint.
Now ceremonies are ordained either by God or men. As touching those which God hath instituted, they are of two sorts: the one sort whereof he did ordain in the old Testament to the ancient Israelites; and the other, at the coming of Christ, to us that are the people of the new Testament or covenant. Of the ceremonies of the new Testament I mean to speak, when I come to treat of the church and the sacraments thereof. At this time I will discourse of the ceremonies of the old Testament, which were holy rites and actions ordained and delivered by God himself to the people of Israel until the time of amendment, partly to represent, and in a shadow to shew!, the mysteries of God; and partly to worship God by them, and also with them to keep the people of God in a lawful religion, and in the society of one ecclesiastical body. cere- But men also have brought in very many and sundry sorts of ceremonies: as among the heathen the arch-flamines did, who were the priests and ministers of idols; which offices and rooms both their kings and princes did some times supply. xii. Among the Hebrews, Jeroboam, king of Israel, to the destruction of him and his, did change the ceremonies which God had ordained into his own, that is, into men’s inventions and detestable blasphemies.
In this latter age of the world, wherein we live, there is no ho? of ceremonies that are instituted daily by brain-sick 3 people: the misery whereof many learned men both have and do yet at this day lament and bewail. Augustine complaineth that in his time ceremonies did increase too fast in the church of God: what would he say (think you), if he were alive to see them now-a-days? But of this I will speak at another time.
[1 velandaque, Lat. and to veil.]: [2 ho, i.e. stop, bound, limit. Johnson. See Tyndale’s Doctr.]
[Treat. Park. Soc. ed. p. 25.] [83 This epithet is not in the Lat.]. [4.ipsam religionem, quam paucissimis et manifestissimis cele-]
[brationum sacramentis misericordia Dei esse liberam voluit, servilibus]
Now, for because the word ceremonies is attributed as a name to any heathenish rites whatsoever, I in this treatise would have you to know, that I speak not of every ceremony, but of those only which were delivered of God by Moses to the people of Israel; not at the will of Moses, but at the will of God, by the means or ministery of Moses, according as it was said unto him: “See, that thou doest all things according to the pattern that was shewed thee in the mountain.” The original therefore or beginning of these ceremonies, which we treat of, are referred to God himself, the most true and assured author thereof; and they did therefore please God, because they were godly, and might be exhibited in faith. Contrarily, the ceremonies in religion that are devised and ordained of men are utterly condemned, as is to be seen in the twelfth of Deuteronomy? In the seventeenth chapter of the fourth of Kings also we find: “Israel walked in the ordinances, or ceremonies, which they themselves had made to themselves.” It is known to all men, what happened to Jeroboam and his household, and all the kings of Israel, that walked in the ways of Jeroboam So then these ceremonies of ours, I mean, the ceremonies whereof I speak, are actions and rites not in profane but holy matters, which God himself did first ordain, and which God’s people doth use and exercise.
These ceremonies were not delivered to all people or nations, but to the people of Israel only, and that too, as the apostle saith, “until the time of amendment,” as that which should lie upon the shoulders of the Jews till the coming of Messiah; at what time they should be taken away, and after that appear no more. And in this sense, verily, the apostle Paul calleth the law the schoolmistress” until Christ.
We have, moreover, to note the end whereunto ceremonies were ordained. Ceremonies do especially belong to the doctrine of piety and faith. For they were added to the first table, as a shore, or prop, to uphold or stay it. For they
[oneribus premunt (ceremonis), ut tolerabilior sit conditio Judseorum.]
[—August. Januario Ep. cxix. Par. 1531. Tom. 11. fol. 112. col. 1.—]
[A very similar passage, with the same quotation from Augustine,]
[occurs in Wicliffe’s Apology for the Lollards, Camden Soc. ed. p. 75.]
[Lond. 1842.]]
[[δ locus illustris est Deuteronomii xii. Lat.] [ See Vol. 1. pp. 335, 6.] [7 Gal. iii. 24; peedagogia, Lat.]]
teach the outward worship of the true God, which godly men do give unto him; and by them were the Israelites drawn not only from strange gods, but from strange worships also, wherewith they were too much and too long inured and trained up in the land of Egypt; to the end they should not have any occasion to receive or admit any strange kinds of worships, when they were furnished, and as it were wrapped in so exquisite sorts of curious ceremonies. This doth Moses in the twelfth of Deuteronomy make to be the cause why God appointed such busy ceremonies. Therefore ceremonies, and the use of ceremonies, are in the scripture expressly called the worship of God. For with them it pleaseth God to be worshipped; and with them he did retain his people in the true worshipping of him, and in the true religion and communion of one ecclesiastical body. For the church is severed and divided by the admitting or bringing in of new or strange ceremonies; as it is evident in the states and dealings of Salomon and Jeroboam. Moreover the apostle Paul said; “Are not they which eat of the sacrifice partakers of the altar,” and so consequently of the whole religion? Furthermore, the chief or especial mysteries of Christ and his church were shadowed in ceremonies’, and were the sacraments of the Jewish people, wherewith the Lord would bind them unto him, put them in mind of his benefits, and lastly, keep the piety, obedience, and faith of his people in ure and exercise. And because the Lord did especially require faith and faithful obedience at the hands of his servants in the observing of ceremonies, therefore those ceremonies did not please but utterly displease his majesty, so oft as the people were ignorant of the meaning of the secret mysteries contained in those figurative shews; so oft, I say, as they were without faith, and observed only the outward actions or ceremonies, without inward zeal and touch of conscience. For the Lord in Jeremy crieth out and saith: “Heap up your burnt-… mis- offerings with your sacrifices, and eat the flesh: for when I brought your fathers out of Egypt, I spoke no word unto them of burnt-offerings or sacrifices; but this I commanded them, saying, Hearken unto and obey my voice, and 1 will be your God, and ye shall be my people.” And yet, in another place, we read that the offering of sacrifices, and that [1 velata abscondebantur, Lat.; being veiled, were hidden. ]
external action of the people in worshipping God, was acceptable and of a sweet-smelling savour in the nose of the Lord, Now, whereupon riseth this diversity, I pray you, but upon the difference of the minds of them that worship the Lord? For sacrifices pleased him, and the honour that was done unto him in simple obedience and faith alone did please him too: but that religion he did utterly mislike of, wherein he was worshipped with outward shews, and not with the faith and sincere obedience of the inward heart: in which sort we read that Cain did sin; for God commanded not to sacrifice in that manner that Cain did.
Again, he commanded to sacrifice and to worship him with external ceremonies? in faith that Christ should come to be the Saviour of the world?: not that they should hope to be justified by the external action, but by him that was prefigured in all their ceremonies, Christ Jesus, the sacrifice once to be offered to save them all‘; who was the life and meaning whereunto all those ceremonies did lead, that are expressed in the law.
But it is not amiss here particularly to examine and look
into not all and every one, but the chiefest ceremonies, and those which are more significant than the rest. Let this labour of mine not seem to any man to be more curious than needeth, or less profitable than it sheweth for. For it is undoubtedly very available to the sound understanding of the abrogation of the law All things, whatsoever God hath laid down in the holy scriptures, are altogether profitable to our edification, and do carry with them a divine authority, whereby we may confirm our minds: they therefore are very fools and godless people, or, to use a more gentle term, they are shuttle-witted, and ignorant of all good things, whose stomachs do rise at the ceremonies that God hath taught, and whose ears are offended to hear a sober and godly treatise upon the exposition of those divine ceremonies. Some there are, and that no small number, who think it very profitable [2 legitime et, Lat. omitted: lawfully, and.]
[3 in fide Christi venturi Messi, Lat.]
[ the sacrifice—all; not in the original.]
[6 rather, of the law that has been abrogated: legis abrogate, Lat. ] [6 temerarii, Lat. Shittle or shuttle; light, volatile, giddy. Richard-son’s Dict. in voe.]
[Bullinger, 11
and an excellent thing to construe Homer and Virgil allegorically; in divine ceremonies only foolish heads are persuaded that no profit or wisdom lieth secretly hidden: when indeed, in all the world again, there is nothing more profitable, more pleasant, more fine, more excellent, or more full of wisdom in allegorical types, than the ceremonies are that God hath ordained. For in them are the mysteries of Christ and his catholic church very finely, plainly, and notably described. of Now, in reckoning up and touching these several cere-… monies, I will chiefly follow the very natural order. Ceremonies do appertain to the ecclesiastical worship of God. Therefore it is necessary that there should be persons appointed in the church to be the masters, or rather public ministers, of those ceremonies, to exercise and put them in practice, as the Lord ordained them. It is necessary also, that there be a certain place and time appointed, wherein and when God should be especially worshipped rather than at another place or season. Moreover, the holy rites, that is, the very ceremonies, must be appointed and certainly numbered, that the worshippers of God may know what and how great the honour js that they are bound to give unto him. And first of all, I mean to say somewhat of the persons, that is, the priests or Levites; referring still the hearers to the reading of the holy Bible, wherein the whole is fully contained and largely described.
The beginning of priesthood among the old people is derived or brought from the creation almost!: for they say, that in every family the first-begotten were always the priests. iil. Tt is certain, that, when the firstborn of Egypt were slain, the Lord did by a law consecrate to himself the first-begotten of the Israelites. And the preeminence, or dignity, of the first-begotten hath always been very great by the civil law= The first-begotten did always rule and bear the sway in his father’s house, and was, as it were, a king among his brethren: to the first-begotten the inheritance was due, to the other brethren were portions given: the first-begotten did Xcel the rest in the dignity of the priesthood. Therefore when Cain and Abel did strive about their birthright, they [ In his treatise de Episcop. instit. et funct. cap. 1. Bullinger shews that he here follows the vetus Judworum traditio.)
[2 vel in legibus civilibus, Lat.: even in civil laws.]
Ea - v.] THE CEREMONIAL LAWS OF GOD, 131 contended not about a trifle, but about a matter of very great weight. Whereupon, when the mother-virgin is said in Luke to have borne the first-begotten son, let no man think that she was the mother of the second-begotten, or many sons more. For in that Luke calleth Christ her first-begotten son, therein is noted his dignity and excellency. For to Christ our Lord doth belong the kingdom, priesthood, and inheritance: by whose bountiful liberality we are adopted to be his partners both in the kingdom, priesthood, and inheritance of life everlasting and all heavenly things.
But to return to our purpose again. The dignity of priesthood, among the people of Israel, did of right belong to Reuben, because he was the first-begotten; but he, by commit. ting detestable incest, did lose his right. Next to him, therefore, was Levi‘, who also lost that dignity for the sin which he committed in killing the men of Sychem traiterously, and profaning the sacrament of circumcision. But because the tribe of Levi did behave itself manfully, not only in the bringing of the children of Israel out of Egypt, but also in punishing idolaters, I mean, the men that worshipped the golden calf; therefore did they receive the office or dignity of priesthood in reward of their virtue, and at that time were the Levites chosen to the place of the first-begotten of all the seed of Israel. For thus we read: “And Moses said unto the Levites, Consecrate your hands unto the Lord this day, every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that there may a blessing be given you this day.” And again: “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel for all that first openeth the matrice among the children of Israel; and the Levites shall be mine; because all the firstborn are mine: for the same day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I hallowed to myself all the firstborn in Israel.” And so forth. By this it appeareth that the tribe of Levi was appointed to the priesthood in the church of Israel. Moreover this dignity, or ministry, was singularly confirmed to this tribe immediately upon the insurrection of Korah, Dathan, and Abiron, by the wonderful miracle that the Lord
[3 This correction of the translator is perhaps not necessary. Bul-]
[linger probably took Calvin’s view.—Conf. Calv. Comment. in loc.] [ successit ergo Levi, Lat.]]
wrought upon Aaron’s rod, which budded alone among the other eleven twigs, for a witness that God had appointed the tribe of Levi alone to the office and function of holy priesthood. And for that cause was the same rod put into the ark, and kept in the tabernacle, to the end that none other tribe should affect the priesthood at any time thereafter. All which is largely declared in the sixteenth and seventeenth chapters of the Book of Numbers. de. Now there was among the Levites a certain order; there were degrees, and, as it were, appointments unto sundry offices. For the Levites were divided into three families, that is, into Cahatites!, Gersonites, and Merarites: and they again were parted into four orders. For first of all, out of the family of Cahat were chosen princes, to bear the sway and rule the rest: to them the remnant of the Cahatites, and the other two orders, the Gersonites and Merarites, were subject, and did obey the first sort of Cahatites that were their governors. For Aaron, the chief priest, with Ithamar and Eleazar his sons, had the preeminence among the rest. For thus we read in the third of Numbers: “And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons; for they are given unto him of the children of Israel. And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons to wait on their priests’ office; and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be slain.” Therein did Aaron, the chief priest, bear the type or figure of Christ, the true, the best, and greatest king and bishop, to whom all Christians are subject, as to their chief bishop and head, whose dwelling is in heaven? the. And here observe, that all the Levites did not serve in the tabernacle, nor that they all did everywhere through the land of Israel instruct and teach. There were certain ordinances touching the choice and refusal of those among the Levites that were to be called to the ministry or priesthood. Time will not serve me to reckon all the laws appointed for that purpose; the chief whereof are to be seen in the twenty-first and twenty-second chapters of Leviticus. In the eighth chapter of the book of Numbers the age is appointed of them that should be thought fit for the ministry; that is, from the twenty-fifth to the fiftieth year of their age. The priests, that were called [1 Cahatites: Kohathites.]
[2 quorum ipse summus pontifex et caput in ccelis est, Lat.]
and chosen to the ministry, were also consecrated. The manner of consecrating them is far more large and busy than that I can in few words declare it. By their consecration was meant, that they ought to be adorned with sundry gifts, and endued with holy conversation, that serve the church in the office of priesthood. For to this doth especially belong the anointing of the priests, which is a type of the Holy Ghost, wherewithal unless an ecclesiastical minister be endued, he exerciseth the office to his own destruction. This ceremonial anointing of priests is set down by Moses in the twentyninth of Exodus, the eighth of Leviticus, and the eighth chapter of the book of Numbers. To this we must add also the habit or apparel that the priests did use. The priests ware, when they did not minister in their charge or office, such kind of garments as laymen did, as we may gather out of Ezechiel; but when they did serve in the ministry, then did they wear ceremonial raiment according to God’s commandment. A very large description whereof Moses doth very well set down in the twenty-eighth and thirty-ninth chapters of Exodus.
There are in number nine sorts of ceremonial garments#; raiment. yet some do reckon up but eight; Josephus maketh ten. First of all, the priests, before they went about their offices, did wash themselves in water? and then put on their holy garments. Among those garments, some there were indifferently used both of the inferior and chief priests. And first, their privities are hidden with linen breeches coming down to their knees and hams; the upper part whereof was tied above their hips with a gathering band, like the upper part of our common slops’, to the end that, if they should chance to
[83 Ezek. ΧΙ, 14.—alienis, id est, vulgaribus vestimentis amicti]
[(sacerdotes) multitudini admiscebantur. (Ecolampadius, Comment. in]
[loc. cit. fol. 264. Argent, 1534.] [2 In the following account of the garments of the Jewish priests]
[Bullinger has largely borrowed from Jerome’s Epist. ad Fabiolam, de]
[veste sacerdotali. Hieron. Opp. Par. 1693—1706. Tom. 11. col. 574, &c.] [5 Joseph. Antiq. Lib. mr. cap. 7.) [6 aqua munda, Lat. pure water.) [7 caligarum nostrarnm, Lat. Slops: trowsers, Johnson. Homily]
[(Oxf. ed. 1832, p. 285) Against excess of Apparel. But the corre.]
[sponding word in the auth. ver. of Isai. iii. 20, there quoted, is “the]
[ornaments of the legs.”]]
fall, while they were busy in killing their sacrifices, or in bearing of burdens to and fro, the parts should not appear which shame doth bid to cover.
Upon their linen breeches they had a close coat, made of double linen, which (as Josephus saith) was made of silk’, That was plain, or close to the body, without plait or gathering?, and came down just to the calf of the leg. Such? were soldiers wont to wear, and called them cassocks%; so fit for their limbs and close to their bodies, that they were light, and without let either to run or fight. And therefore the priests, making themselves ready to the ministery of God, put on such a cassock, that, being comely clad, they might, notwithstanding, with much expedition discharge their office, and exercise their ministery.
The third kind of raiment, that was a belt or girdle, did gird that cassock about the priest. This girdle was woven of purple, scarlet, and blue silk? like to an adder’s skin, hanging down beneath the knee, but in the holy ministery tucked up again upon the left shoulders. or The fourth kind of ornament was a mitre, or a round little cap, which covered his head almost to the ears, in fashion like as if a man should cut a bowl even in the midst, and set the upper part upon his head’.:
Then was the ephod, (whereof mention is made, not in Exodus, where the ceremonial garments are reckoned up as it were of purpose, but in other places of holy scripture,) xvii. which garment was indifferently common to all the priests. ii18] This ephod is thought to have been a linen cloak; such an vi. one as David ware when he danced before the ark. Of the priests which Saul slew by the hands of Doeg the Edomite, xi. thus we read: “And he killed that same day eighty-five men that ware linen ephods.” His meaning is, not that they were slain while the ephods were on their backs; but that they were killed, when they were of that age and order, that
[1 ---διπλῆς σινδόνος βυσσίνης. Joseph. ibid. ὁ 2. Exod. xxviii. 40.] [2 Adhzeret corpori plana, Lat.) [3 lineas, Lat.] [ camisia, Lat. a linen coat, which soldiers wore close to their]
[body. Ainsworth.] [5 bysso hyacinthoque. Lat. and Joseph. ibid. pera ὑακίνθου kai]
[βύσσου. [6 Joseph. ibid. ὁ 2.] [7 Joseph. ibid. 3. Exod. xxviii. 40.]]
they might wear an ephod; that is, that they might minister in the priesthood of the Lord. Therefore in Osee we read, “Thou shalt be without ephod, and teraphim;” that is, without priesthood and religion. For the ephod began to be used for the very priesthood; the garment, or the sign, for the thing signified. But if any man will take these words of Osee to be spoken of the more notable ephod (of which I shall have cause to speak amon), I will not greatly gainsay him. Now this linen ephod seemeth not to differ much from that which the Papists do call a surplice. These five garments the chief priest and under priests did use alike. The other four do properly belong to the high priest alone.
The first of the four was called megil, and was a coat down to the ancles!; a garment of all blue silk, from the neck down to the sole of the foot, being close on every side, unless it were the places to put his head and arms out at: at the hems beneath did hang seventy-two bells, and as many pomegranates, so placed that still between two bells there hung one pomegranate, and betwixt two pomegranates one bell: the cause thereof is made to be this, that, when the high priest went into the holy of holies, the sound might be heard; because he should by and by die the death unless he did so. Now followeth the ephod of the high priest, which differeth much from that whereof I spake before. For it was not of linen, but woven with weaver’s work of divers colours of gold, purple, and silk; being unlike to the other in shape and making. For it belonged to the high priests alone, and was a breast-lap, coming over the bulk from the neck to the hips: for, like a curet!?, it covered the breast; it came over the hinder part of the shoulders, and about both the sides under the arm-holes: bearing the same fashion that at this day women’s stomachers do, which we Switzers call {ἰδ [113, This ephod be ware upon the top of his megil, that came down to
[[ hodie, Lat. omitted: at this day.] [9 pallium, eamisiam, vel vestem chori, Lat.] [10 vestis inquam sinuosa, Lat. omitted: a plaited garment.] [11 Exod. xxviii. 31-35. Joseph. ibid. 4.] [12 curet, or curiet, a breastplate or corslet, from cuir, leather;]
[breastplates being at first made of that material. Toone’s Glossary]
[in voe.] [13 The word which Luther’s version has is leibrock.]]
the ancles!. Upon each shoulder he bare an onyx-stone, called schoham?; wherein were graven the names of the children of Israel: against the breast there was nothing woven in it, but a place was left void for the breast-lap of judgment. For the breast-lap of judgment, which is called hosen, was the eighth ornament of their attire; and it was a woven cloth made of gold, purple, and silk, about an handbreadth square, and double, and hemmed about on every side, because it should not ravel out. In that there was woven precious stones of a wonderful greatness (for the kind) and of a marvellous price; which were placed so in four sundry rows, that every rank contained three stones; in which, as in the onyx-stones, were graven the names of the children of Israel. They glistered with a wonderful brightness; for no stones were set in the breast-lap but such as shone exceedingly. Whereby it seemeth that Urim and Thummim was nothing else but these rows of precious stones: for Urim and Thummim signify light and perfectness; for, as these stones did give great light, so were they pure without all manner of spots. And they thought that the high priest did never say right in a matter of weight, nor, when he was asked, did utter truly the answers and oracles of God, but when the breast-lap of judgment did hang on his breast. Now this breast-lap of judgment was tied to the ephod, or the other breast-lap, by golden rings beneath; and above, it hung down the shoulders by golden chains, that were fastened under the onyx-stones. This was the most precious and excellent part of the high priest’s apparel. For it was the coffer of wisdom, and treasure of all law and knowledge, of equity and justice, from whence the Israelites did fetch, as it were, the determinate answers to such doubts as at any time they stuck upon: which is the cause (as it seemeth) that some have translated Urim and Thummim into the Greek δήλωσις καὶ ἀλήθειας;
[1 Joseph. ibid. ὁ 5. and de Bell. Jud. Lib. v. cap. 5. ὁ 7.] [2 gemma pretiose, Lat. omitted: precious stones.) [ Exod. xxviii. 15-29. Josephus, ib. 5.] [ Levit. viii. 8. LXX. ἐπέθηκεν ἐπὶ τὸ λογεῖον τὴν δήλωσιν kal τὴν]
[ἀλήθειαν. Hoc vero quid significabatur aliud, quam quod in pectore]
[sacerdotis debet esse verum judicium de rebus divinis, quod deinde non]
[sibi retineat, sed coram ecclesia proferat cum veritate >—Bullinger. de]
[Epic. instit. et funct. Lib. τι. fol. 70.]]
that is (say they) doctrine and truth is in the priest’s breast.
The last of all is the golden plate. For upon the high priest’s head there was a blue silk lace, whereupon this plate was put, which was broad beneath and sharp above; in fashion somewhat like to the label of a bishop’s mitre; wherein was written, “Holy to the Lord,” or, “The holiness of the Lord.” For Christ, our Lord, alone is holiest of all, and he that sanctifieth us all. He is an antichrist that doth usurp that name or title. Some think, that in that plate was written that name of God that was not lawful for any man to utter. This plate was tied to the cap? full upon the forehead, with a blue silk lace, and was as it were a crown upon his head’. Thus, I say, were the high priest and under priests arrayed at the first,
These sundry ceremonies have sundry and godly significations, The use and end of these ordinances the Lord declared by Moses to be for. glory and comeliness’ sake: for they were invented, partly for the winning of credit and authority to the ministers of religion, and partly for the commendation or advancement of religion itself; because the things are most regarded, that are set forth with so great solemnity. Moreover, it was profitable and especially necessary with these busy ceremonies to set awork the people, which, if they had been without such ceremonies of their own, was very profane, and ready to have embraced the idolatrous rites of heathen nations.
Furthermore, those ceremonial clothes, used by the priests, Aaron’s successors, do offer to us the beholding of Christ, the true and highest priest. He was apparelled with the garment of righteousness, temperance, and virtue; which garment is common unto us also. For all Christians must put on and be clad with Christ. And yet Christ hath the pre-eminence, as the high and chiefest priest among us all; not only because he
[6 In qua (i. 6. lamina aurea) scriptum est nomen Dei Hebraicis]
[quattuor litteris, jod, he, vav, he, quod apud illos ineffabile nuncupatur.]
[Hieron. Ep. ad Fabiol. Tom. 1. col. 581. Par. 1693—1706.] [9 commune omnium sacerdotum. Lat. omitted: which was com-]
[mon to all the priests. ] [7 Exod. xxviii. 36-38. Joseph. ibid. 6.] [8 exhibent spectandum, Lat.]]
doth sanctify us, and endue us with virtue; but also because he hath certain properties peculiar to himself, as he that is both very God and the Saviour of the world. He beareth us upon his breast and shoulders, as Aaron did the precious stones’: for we are not vile, but very dear, in the sight of God. Out of the breast of our high priest, Christ, doth glister and shine the light of eternal wisdom: for in him, as it were in the treasury of God’s eternal wisdom, are all the riches of knowledge and wisdom laid up and locked. He is the light of the world; he is both truth and perfectness; so that all the world should of right require and seek at Christ alone for laws, ordinances, answers, and whatsoever else is needful to perfectness and true happiness. He is the Holy of holies, the very majesty and holiness of God: upon his head is the crown of glory very rightly placed, as he that sanctifieth only, reigneth in glory, and liveth for evermore.
Besides all this, the priests were by these ceremonies taught to understand, by their very apparel, what was required at their hands, and what kind of men they ought to be. Let the priests be always ready to the executing of their office; let them walk honestly before God and men; let them be temperate and far from lust and sensuality; let their loins be girded with the belt of justice and verity; let their breast, their sides, and back be furnished with the word of God; let their head be covered with the helmet of salvation; upon that let Christ Jesus, the Saviour, be placed; and let him be the chief of the ministers and of the ministry: but chiefly let the priest be heard in the church: for if he be dumb, he shall die the death; but if he ring out the name of the Lord, and preach his law, then doth he stir up in the church a savour, far passing the smell of sweet pomegranates, in the nose of God. Therefore under these clothes is hidden the signification of the priests’ manners, of their virtues and vices. Next after a man’s talk, there is nothing that doth commend him sooner than his apparel. For as the man is, such is his talk, such is his clothing: therefore the raiment doth note of what conversation the priest ought to be. Whereupon it cometh that in the scriptures we are bidden to put on other clothing; when the meaning of the Holy Ghost is, [1 Gestat nos in humeris suis et in pectore suo, veluti gemmas pretiosas, Lat.]
that we should change our wicked conversation: so that the very garments do partly instruct the priests what they have to do, and what is seemly for them.
But now the time and course of this treatise inviteth me to speak somewhat of the priests’ office. Their office did consist in many things, but especially in teaching and instructing. For the chief cause why the priests were ordained of God was to instruct the church in true piety, and to teach the people the law of God. For thus we read that the Lord did say unto Aaron: “Thou and thy sons that are with thee, shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, when ye enter into the tabernacle of witness, lest haply ye die. Let it be an everlasting ordinance among your posterities, that ye may put difference both betwixt holy and unholy, and betwixt clean and unclean; and that ye may teach the sons of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them by the ministery of Moses.” Levit. x. The same law doth Ezechiel in as many words almost rehearse in the forty-fourth chapter of his prophecy. And Malachi declareth it also, as it is to be seen in the second of his prophecy. They therefore are utterly deceived, which think that the Levitical priests were appointed only for to kill the sacrifices. Moreover, the Lord doth every where in his laws minister matter for the Levitical priests to instruct the people in; and that matter was not the heathenish philosophy, the edicts of kings, or decrees of senators, but the very word of God, delivered to them by God himself. And that this doctrine might be the more commodiously uttered to the people, the priests appointed certain holy days? wherein the people should assemble together, to hear them preach the word of God.
The next point of their duty?, after teaching, was to bless the people. That blessing was not free for every priest to use as he listed, but was bound to a certain form of words, very solemnly uttered, which is thus expressed in the sixth of Numbers: “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, and say unto them: The Lord bless thee and keep thee: the Lord shew his face unto thee, and be
[2 indicebant fastos, Lat. ] [3 non minimum officiorum, Lat.: and that, not the least of their]
[duties. ]]
merciful unto thee; the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace,” This manner of blessing did they use undoubtedly in their holy assemblies, especially at the breaking up of the congregation, when the people did depart. In another place it is said, that God did bless; but here, that Aaron and his sons did bless the people: whereupon we have to note, that God doth work inwardly, and perform in the faithful, whatsoever the priests in that form of blessing did wish unto the people!; so that still to bless is the only and proper work of God alone. And therefore, very significantly, after that solemn blessing uttered by the mouth of the priest, God doth add: “And they shall call, or put, my name over, or upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.” The priests, therefore, do lay before the people the name of the Lord; they commend unto them the mighty power of his Godhead; and shew them that all goodness doth flow from God, teach? them how they may obtain it through faith in Christ, who is the blessed Seed that blesseth all them that call upon his name.
Now in this solemn blessing six principal points are chiefly contained. First the priest saith, “The Lord bless thee:” that is, the Lord bestow upon thee whatsoever belongeth to the safety of thy body and soul. Secondarily he saith, “The Lord keep thee; “for it is not sufficient to receive good thingsat the hand of the Lord, unless they be preserved by his power, and not taken from us by his wrathful indignation, nor lost again by our own negligence. Thirdly he saith, “The Lord shew thee his face,” or, “the Lord make his face shine upon thee.” The Lord doth then shew us his loving face, when after his anger he sheweth us his favour, and doth become good and gracious to us. And therefore in the fourth clause doth follow a more plain exposition, where the priest saith, “The Lord be merciful unto thee:” as if he should have said, The Lord be always gentle and favourable unto thee in all that thou goest about, either in words or deeds. The fifth blessing is, “The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee.” Now the Lord lifteth up his countenance, when he looketh upon us, when he watcheth over us, and doth direct and guide our ways. The last desire is, “Peace;”” which is taken for the salvation and chief goodness
[1 externis sensibus ingerunt sacerdotes, Lat.] [2 teaching, ed. 1577.) [ possimus, Lat.] [ corporis et anime, Lat. omitted: of the body and soul.]]
that happeneth unto mankind, although in another sense it is put for the contrary to war or battle: and the peace of the conscience is no small felicity to mortal men’. These were the good things that the priests did wish to light upon the people, teaching them withal to beseech the Lord for those blessings with ardent prayers and earnest supplications, Even till this day there do remain the psalms that the priests did make for the people’s sake to sing. For after that David had brought music into the temple, then did the playing upon musical instruments, with sweet melody and singing of psalms, begin to be taken for an office amongst the priests. Touching this music used in the temple the first book of Chronicles speaketh very much, where it treateth of David and his dealings, how he distributed the singers into twenty-four orders, and that by course. Moreover, the priests were commanded to minister the sacraments, and to sacrifice. For they did circumcise the infants7; their office was to see the passover eaten, and to offer sacrifices of sundry sorts unto the Lord: of which I will speak hereafter in place convenient. And that they might more commodiously offer their sacrifices, David, by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, divided the two families of Eleazar and Ithamar into twenty-four orders: for they did minister by course, as is to be seen in the twenty-fourth chapter of the first of Chronicles. All the while that their turn to minister did last the priests remained still within, and never did set a foot out of the temple. For there were houses builded within the temple for the priests to dwell in, when their lot did come to serve the Lord; they never went unto their own houses until their course were expired, and their time to minister were fully finished. The priests also did keep the holy vessels and make them clean; they kept the candles burning, and the holy fire, that it should not go out: to be short, they had the charge of all things which seemed to belong to the service of God, as oil, frankincense, and such like things.
Now before the temple was erected, and that the Israelites had obtained a place where to settle themselves in the land of promise, the priests’ office was to see the tabernacle pitched
[5 juge convivium, Lat.: a continual feast. Prov. xv. 15.] [6 rem facere divinam, administrare inquam, Lat.: to perform the]
[service of God, I mean &c.] [7 The Mosaic Law did not require the priests to be the operators.]]
down, and taken up again, and carried to and fro. For inthe third of Numbers thus we read: “The Levites shall keep all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation, and have the charge of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle.” For the tabernacle was so appointed, that when they journeyed it might be taken into many pieces!. Therefore, when the Israelites were ready to remove their camp, Aaron and his sons came with the coverings appointed for the purpose, to wrap up and carry the holy vessels in. The Cahatites bare the ark, the table, the altar? and instruments belonging thereunto. The Gersonites had charge over the cords, the coverings, the hangings, the curtains, the veils, and ropes, belonging to the tabernacle. The Merarites did bear the harder stuff that was made of wood and brass, as the pillars, bars, stakes, and planks. All which whosoever desireth to understand more nearly, let him read the third and fourth chapters of the book of Numbers. When the temple was builded, there Were porters and warders of the temple appointed among the Levites. The trumpets also, wherewith the congregation was called together, were in the Levites’ hands; as we read in the tenth of Numbers. The priests also were appointed to be ready and serve in the wars, as is to be seen in the twentieth of Deuteronomy. For the Lord would not have the laws to be hushed where armour did clatter; for victories do avail greatly to godliness and the study of religion.
Beside this also the priests had yet another office; that be-. 4 was, [0 judge betwixt cause and cause, between clean and unclean: both which are more largely declared in the seventeenth of Deuteronomy, and in the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters of Leviticus. For as often as any difficult matter happened to rise among them, the hearing of it was brought to the mother city Hierusalem?: and if any man were suspected to be a leper, the Levitical priests did judge of his disease according to the laws that were prescribed them. So hitherto I have summarily laid down the offices of priesthood among the old people, reckoning up only the especial parts belonging to their service.
[a [ So ed. 1577: places, ed. 1587; partes, Lat.] [2 aras, Lat. altars.) [3 sacerdotum, Lat.: in the priests’ hands. ] [4 Hierusalem is not in the Latin.)]
Now as those priests did serve the Israelitish church, so did they live of the revenues of the church. For the Lord appointed them certain stipends and dwelling-places in the land of promise. For he assigned forty-eight cities for them to inhabit in the land of Israel, six whereof were cities of refuge for men to fly unto, as unto sanctuaries. Moreover he commanded to lay out and appoint, for the sustenance of the priests’ cattle and families, the suburbs and ferms without the walls of the cities, within a thousand cubits’ compass on every side. In those cities were schools, so conveniently placed throughout all the land, that all men might easily go with very small pain from the places thereabout unto the synagogues, to hear the word of God. In those cities there was no sacrifice made: for they were commanded to sacrifice in one place alone; and thrice a year they went up to the temple to sacrifice unto the Lord: but every sabbath-day the law was taught in every town where the synagogues were. Moreover the rents belonging to the priests were great and ample; as is to be seen in the eighteenth of the book of Numbers, and in the last of Leviticus. The wealth of the priests was enough and sufficient to maintain their families, and to live themselves honestly. And they with that stipend did not give themselves to riot and idleness; but, living moderately, did apply themselves to learning, and teaching of {86 people. Thus much hitherto touching the persons belonging to the ministry of holy religion.
And for because by law they could not sacrifice but in one place alone, there was a certain place appointed to the people, wherein, as in an holy shop, the priests should exercise their holy ministry in sacrificing to the Lord; and therefore now the very order and course of this argument doth require, that I say somewhat touching that holy place. That place in the beginning was the tabernacle built by Moses, and afterward the temple which Salomon did make. The law, which forbad them to sacrifice any where but in that one place alone, unless it were by dispensation, is extant in the twelfth of Deuteronomy, and in the seventeenth chapter of Leviticus; and doth contain the mystery of Christ, who was offered up but once, and in one place, to cleanse the sins of the world. Of whom I will speak somewhat more hereafter.
Now that tabernacle, or tent, (being called the tabernacle
of appointment!, because the Lord appointed it both to give answers in, and to have his lawful worship duly accomplished in) was to the people instead of a temple, so long as they wandered and dwelt in the wilderness. For insomuch as they strayed forty years in the desert, it was not convenient for them to have a settled temple, but such an one as in their journeys they might carry to and fro, so oft as they removed, That tabernacle was erected in this order, and was in a manmer of this form and fashion, First of all there were stuck into the earth, close by the ground, silver sockets to fasten in and set boards upon, to make a wall withal: under every plank, or board, were two sockets, For every board had two tenons, like pikes, whereby they were stuck into the sockets. The boards on either side of the tabernacle, north and south, were twenty in number: at the upper end, which was toward the west, were ten boards, or planks, all laid over with gold, and ten cubits high apiece. These, when they were set up, were stuck or fastened into the sockets: upon the back sides those boards had golden rings, through which were bars of sittim wood (which is thought to be whitethorn) thrust; partly, to join the boards close together, that they might be like a wall without chink or crevice; and partly, to make them stand stedfast without wagging to and xxvi. fro, The sanctum on the east side was shut up with a veil,
Moreover, there were made ten curtains, or hangings, οὗ. broidered work? which were coupled together with loops or taches. These curtains were laid upon the tops of the boards that were set upright, as it had been the rafter or roof of an house: over which curtains were three coverings more, the uppermost whereof was of taxus leather? well able in rain to keep water out. xxi Now the tabernacle was in length thirty cubits, and in breadth ten cubits; as may be gathered by the measure of the boards, It was divided also into three parts: the first was called sanctum sanctorum, holy of holies, and adytum edis (the house into which no man came but the high priest alone), [ Ὁ ΟΝ, The tabernacle of the congregation. Auth. ver.] [2 opere Phrygio, Lat. Pictas vestes.acu facere Phryges invenerunt, ideoque Phrygionize appellate sunt.—Plin. Hist. Nat. vi. 74.] [3 DWM, badgers’ skins. Auth. ver.]
[4 the house—alone, not in the Lat.]
or the chancel of the temple the second was the sanctum, whose length was twenty cubits, as the length of the first was ten: the third part was called atrium, the court, which had in length an hundred cubits, and in breadth fifty. This atrium was compassed about with fifty-three pillars, that were fastened down into brasen sockets, and were in height five cubits; upon which there hung hangings of network, through which a man might easily see: at the very entry was hanged a veil twenty cubits long upon four pillars. The sanctum sanctorum was divided from the sanctum by the most precious veil, hanged upon four pillars of silver: and the sanctum was severed from the atrium with the second veil, that was very precious, and hung upon five pillars laid over with gold. In the midst of the atrium did stand the inner house, I mean, the tabernacle, that is divided (as I said even now) into the sanctum and the sanctum sanctorum.
Into the sanctum sanctorum no man did enter but the high priest only once in a year. Therein was laid the ark of the covenant of our Lord betwixt the cherubin; whereunto some (upon the apostle’s words) do add the golden censer. But other there be which think that by θυμιατήριον is meant the incense altar, and not the censer. It should seem thereby (if these fellows be not deceived), that at the time when the apostle writ, the golden altar did stand within the veil in the sanctum sanctorum. But it is manifest by the fortieth chapter of Exodus, (as I mean to shew you anon,) that the golden altar from the beginning was placed in the sanctum before the veil. ἀπά thereunto agreeth that which may be gathered out of the first chapter after St Luke. But howsoever it was, this is sure, that the ark of the covenant was not seen of any mortal man, but of the high priest alone, when he offered incense in the sanctum sanctorum, once in a year. For it was hid with the first veil, the staves wherewith it was borne appearing a little within the Sanctum, by the bearing up of the veil which was somewhat thrust out with the ends of the staves; so that he which stood any thing nigh in the sanctum might easily discern it, but of him that stood farther off it could hardly be perceived.. For in the eighth chapter of the third book of Kings thou readest: “And they drew out the staves, that the ends of
[5 oraculum templi, Lat.]
10
[bullinger, 1.7
them might appear out of the sanctum sanctorwm into the sanctum, but they were not seen without.” The sanctum was open daily for the priests, that did by course supply the place Of ministry before the Lord. In the sanctum, before the veil, was placed the golden table furnished with shew-bread, upon the the north side!: right over against it, upon the south side, was set the golden candlestick. Now in the midst, betwixt? those twain, before the veil and the ark, did stand the golden altar, called the altar of incense, which was consecrated to the burning the of sweet perfumes. And in the atrium, not very far from the the second veil of the sanctum, did appear the altar of burnt-offerit ings; and betwixt the altar and the veil was put the laver, out of which the priests did wash themselves, when they began to go about their ministry. All the people, which came to the sacrifice, might easily on every side see to the altar. And of this sort was the holy tabernacle, which was to the Israelites instead of a temple: touching which he shall read more largely and fully, whosoever will look in the twenty-sixth, twenty-seventh, thirty-sixth, thirty-eighth, and fortieth chapters of Exodus.
ΝΟΥ͂ so much as I have hitherto spoken touching the building of the tabernacle hath a very good end to be applied unto, and containeth and comprehendeth no obscure signification. For first of all, it was profitable to nourish and maintain the unity of the catholic faith. For with that one tabernacle, as with a sure bond, they were tied, first to God and his religion, and then among themselves one to another, as it were, sundry members compact and knit into one body. For to that tabernacle the whole people was gathered, as to one parish-church, to worship and pray unto one God and Lord. And for because the children of Israel did dwell in tabernacles, it pleased the Lord also to have a tabernacle builded for himself, and placed in the midst of them, that thereby he might testify that he himself doth dwell in the midst of his people. The tabernacle therefore being as it were the palace of God, the most high and mighty king, did stand in the midst of the people, as a testimony of his divine presence, to strike the fear and reverence of God into the.
[[᾿ in parte australi, Lat.] [2 in latere meridionali, Lat. ] [ Joseph. Antiq. Lib. mr. cap. vr. 8.] [ Israelite, Lat.; the Israelites.]]
hearts of all his subjects. We men lay up in our tabernacles, or houses, the things that we have; and will be sought for and asked after at our houses. And therefore the Lord did place in the tabernacle the holy things, as it were his treasure; and would be inquired after in the tabernacle, promising that there he would hear the prayers and requests of all the faithful that called upon his name.
Moreover in those ceremonies are contained the secret mysteries of Christ and his church. For Paul calleth us the temple of God, and our bodies the tabernacle of the Lord: for in us the Lord doth dwell. The boards of the tabernacle are, as it were, the rafters, beams, and pillars of the church. And the church hath her pillars, which are doctors and other excellent men inspired with the Holy Ghost: and every several faithful man is a board laid over with gold, if he keep sincerity, and remain in the unity of the faith. The boards of the tabernacle were joined together with bars: and so must sound doctrine keep all the faithful (which are the boards of the mystical tabernacle) in their duty and quiet concord, without crack or crevice. The curtains, though they were many, yet were they knit together with golden loops, as if they had been but all one piece: and therefore the sundry members of the church must be gathered together, and by charity be knit together in one, that they may be one among themselves, and, as it were, a roof of righteousness in the church of God. The coverings of the church, to keep out storms, are faith, repentance, and” desire to do good. Christ himself is the socket thereof; “for none other foundation can be laid than that is already laid, even Christ Jesus.” Moreover, the veil that was spread before the sanctum sanctorum doth signify, as the apostle saith, that the way of the saints, which they had to go in, was not as then made manifest, so long as the first tabernacle did stand. Therefore, when Christ was come, and with his death had finished all, then the veil that hung in the temple was rent from the top to the very ground: whereby all men might understand, that
[6 vault, Lat.; will, ed. 1577.] [6 heroico vel principali spiritu preeditos, Lat.; referring to Psalm]
[li. 14, which the Vulgate renders, spiritu principali confirm me. ] [7 vel, Lat. or.) [ did signify, as the holy apostle, ed. 1577.] 10—2]
the way was opened into the sanctum sanctorum, that is, into the very heavens; and that satisfaction was made for all men in respect of the law!. In the tabernacle also did hang other veils, which were as shadows of the flesh? of Christ. Those veils did hang at the very entry into the sanctum and the atrium. Now Christ, our Lord, is the way and the door, by whose incarnation and death we have an entry made into the kingdom of God. Yea, Christ himself is our tabernacle, in whom we dwell and live, and in whom we worship and please our God: he is the curtain and ceiling, the rafter and orna-~ ment of his church: he is the trusty and most assured covering, that doth defend us from the injuries of man and the devil: he is the bar of the church, which joineth the members thereof together, and keepeth them in the unity of faith: he is the pillar and socket of his church; he is the head? and only all-in-all both of our life and true salvation. In those figures, therefore, they of old had the chief mysteries hidden of Christ and the church; in which Christ is now no otherwise to be beheld, than he was in the beginning of the world beheld of the ancient patriarchs, to wit, very God and very man, the only and highest king and priest, the true Saviour of the world, in whom and by whom alone the faithful have their whole salvation.
To proceed now: this tabernacle, by the Lord’s appointment, was erected in Silo, as soon as they came into the land of promise, and did continue there until the time of Heli; as is evident in the eighteenth of Josue, and first of Samuel, first and third chapters. Under Heli the ark was taken by the Philistines, and carried into Palestine’; from whence it was restored again, and placed in Bethsemes; from thence again vi. it was carried to Kirjath-jearim, into the house of Abinadab in Gibea, that is, on the hill; for his house was set upon a high place. For in the sixth of the second book of Samuel we read: “David went with all the people to Baala Juda (which in the fifteenth of Josue is called Kirjath-jearim), to fetch from
[1 et omnibus in lege satisfactum, Lat.] [2 purissimee carnis, Lat.; of the most holy flesh.] [ ac omnis boni, Lat.; omitted: and of every good thing.] [4 et virtus, Lat.; omitted: and strength.] [5 in urbes Paleestinorum, Lat.; among the cities of the Philistines.]
[1 Sam. v.]]
thence the ark of God.” And presently after; “And they fetched it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibea,” that is, on the hill. For there was an high place in Kirjathjearim, wherein Abinadab dwelt. Some other, which take Gabaa for the proper name of the townS do say, that the ark was translated from Palestine into Gabaa. But this is sure, the ark was conveyed from the house of Abinadab into the house of Obed-edom, and from thence into the city of David, that is, into Sion. For so is the city [of David expounded in the eighth chapter of the third book of Kings.
In Sion did David pitch a new tabernacle for the ark of God, wherein he did place it, and appointed priests to minister there before the Lord: as it is at large described in the sixteenth chapter of the first book of Chronicles. And yet, by building that new tabernacle, David neglected not the. old tabernacle of appointment. For after the time of Heli, and the taking of the ark by the Philistines, it seemeth that it was translated diversely from place to place. Silo verily, wherein it was first placed, was desolate, as is to be seen in the seventyeighth Psalm and the seventh chapter of Jeremy. Therefore, when Saul did reign, it appeareth to have been pitched in Gilgal, where he offered peace-offerings in sign of thanksgiving unto the Lord for victory against the Ammonites, as is to be seen in the eleventh chapter of the first book of Samuel. In the twenty-first chapter of the same book it is apparent, that the tabernacle was for a time in Nob (a town not very far from Hierusalem, Isaiah x.), where Ahimelech, the priest, gave to David the fresh shew-bread that was taken from the golden table. In the time when David reigned it was erected in Gabaon, a city of the Benjamites: for in the twenty-first of the first of Chronicles thus we read: “The tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt-offerings, was at that time (when the angel appeared to David with a sword ready drawn) in the hill of Gabaon”.” In that place was it also in the reign of Salomon, and to that hill did Salomon go to pray to the Lord before the temple was builded. For in the first chapter of the second
[6 Accordingly, the one and self-same Hebrew word is rendered in]
[our authorised version, in 1 Sam, vii. 1, in the hill, and in 2 Sam. vi. 3,]
[in Gibeah.] [7 vel excelso, Lat.; or high place.]]
book of Chronicles we find: “” And Salomon, with all the congregation, went to the high place that was at Gabaon; for there was the tabernacle of God’s appointment, which Moses the servant of the Lord made in the wilderness. But the ark of God had David brought from Kirjath-jearim into the place which David had prepared for it: for he had pitched a tent for it at Hierusalem. Moreover the brasen altar, that Bezaleel the son of Uri had made, was there before the tabernacle of the Lord: and Salomon and the congregation went to visit it.” Therefore, whereas we read in the third chapter of the i third book of Kings, Salomon loved the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David; only he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places:” that is not spoken in the dispraise, but in the praise, of Salomon, as he that did not at adventures sacrifice in every place, but in the high places, to wit, upon that consecrated altar which was appointed of the Lord, whereof I spake even now before. Other there are which think that Salomon was not simply blamed in these words for offering upon the altar of burnt-offerings (for that was altogether lawful), but because he had till then deferred the building of the temple. But that which goeth before and followeth after do make greatly that those words were spoken in that sense and signification which I did first allege. The same Salomon, when the temple was builded, did command and see that the old ark, with all the instruments belonging thereunto, should be brought by the priests as a precious treasure from Gabaon, and placed in the temple which he had caused to be built for that purpose: the holy scripture bearing witness thereunto and saying; And they brought the ark of the Lord, and the tabernacle of appointment, and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle: the priests and Levites, I say, brought them into the temple”—the third vii. of Kings, eighth chapter, and the second of Chronicles, fifth “chapter. And so was the tabernacle of the Lord, which stood four hundred and seventy eight! years, abrogated at the last, and instead thereof the temple was erected.
Touching the temple of the Lord, which was prepared by David, but builded and made an end of by Salomon, I need not make many words in the description thereof, because it is vi in the third of Kings and second of the Chronicles very busily [1 According to Usher, 486 years, viz. from A. 0. 1490 to A.c. 1004.]
set down, and painted out at the full. The place, where the temple was afterward builded, is reported to have been shewed to David by the angel of the Lord; and that David did first of all make sacrifice there unto the Lord; and addeth these words: “This is the house of the Lord God, and this altar is for the sacrifice of Israel.” As if he should have said: This plat of ground is appointed for the temple; in this piece shall be built the house of the Lord; yea, here shall be offered that only and effectual? sacrifice for all men, the very Son of God, Christ Jesus incarnate. For all the interpreters of the holy scriptures agree that the place was at Jerusalem, upon the mountain Moria, where Abraham once would have offered his son Isaac; and that in that appointed or fatal place the temple was erected; and that the hill Golgotha, or Calvary, was not far off, but in the very top of the mountain Moria, which was the place and the holy hill, wherein the holy gospel doth testify that Christ was offered for the sins of all the world; which was prefigured in a type of the ancient sacrifices and other ceremonies belonging to the temple. The use and end of the temple was none other than the use and end of the tabernacle was before.
- Jeroboam therefore and the kings of Israel did sin most grievously, when they forsook the temple to make sacrifices in the high places, in their cathedral churches at Bethel and at Dan, and in other high and pleasant places. The people of Juda with their kings did sin most grievously, either for sacrificing to God in the high places, or else because they did not utterly cut down those high places. For the Lord would, and his will was to be worshipped in one place, which he had chosen unto himself. The plain law touching that matter is extant in the twelfth of Deuteronomy, and is very expressly get down in the seventeenth of Leviticus, in these words following: “Whosoever of the house of Israel shall kill an ox, or a sheep, or a goat, within the host or without the host, (to wit, for a sacrifice unto the Lord; for otherwise they might lawfully kill a beast for their sustenance in any place wheresoever,) and shall not bring it to the door of the tabernacle of
[2 aternum efficax, Lat.; everlastingly effectual. ] [ quem sacrificia et templi et veterum omnia preefigurarunt, Lat.:]
[of whom all the sacrifices both of the temple and of the ancients]
[were a type. ]]
the congregation, to offer his sacrifice before the dwelling-place of the Lord; blood shall be imputed to that man, as if he had shed blood. Wherefore when the children of Israel bring their offerings, let them bring them to the Lord before the door of the tabernacle of appointment, unto the priest, that he may offer them. And let them no more offer their offerings to devils}, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be an ordinance to them for ever in their generations. And he that doth not this shall be rooted out from among his people.” There are in these words three things to be noted: first, that it was not lawful to sacrifice but in that one place only, that was, before the altar of burnt-offerings: secondarily we have to mark, that that commandment was given, to the end that all men should understand that the sacrifice was made to God, to whom the tabernacle did belong: thirdly, that to offer sacrifice out of the place, against God’s commandment, was to make sacrifice unto the devil; that the offerer was to be judged as a murderer; and that he was excommunicated by the Lord God, as he that was excluded from the company of God and his holy saints?. But whereas Samuel, Helias, and certain other patriarchs, did, by God’s sufferance, make sacrifices upon some especial causes in other places, and not before the altar in the tabernacle, they did it by dispensation. They therefore that sacrifice in high places, not to strange gods only, but even to the very true God, did sin first of all by disobedience: for God doth mislike, yea, he curseth, all the worship done unto him, which we ourselves do first invent without the warrantise of his word; it is faithful obedience that pleaseth him best. Secondarily, they sinned by making a schism in the unity of the ecclesiastical body. Thirdly, for despising the mystery of Christ, that was to be offered in the mount of Golgotha; and for not referring the meaning of their sacrifices to Christ, the only truth of all their typical ceremonies. Lastly, they sinned by trusting in their sacrifices, as in well-wrought works, to justification, and by neglecting the worship of God, and changing it into trifles of their own inventions?
The temple stood, from the time that Salomon did first build it until the first destruction of it under king Zedekias,
[1 satyris vel deemonibus, Lat.] [2 Isai. Ixvi. Lat.] [ cultum peculiarem finxerunt, Lat. ]]
four hundred and forty years. And from the reparation of it unto the utter overthrow under Vespasian, it stood five hundred and eighty two years. Other there be that do account it otherwise. Thus have I hitherto spoken a little of a great deal concerning the temple.
Now it remaineth for me to touch and lightly to pass over” the holy instruments belonging to the tabernacle and temple of the Lord: among which the ark of the covenant was the chief; which ark was so called, because of the tables of the covenant that were put within it. It was also called the ark of the Lord God of hosts, which dwelleth upon it betwixt the cherubim; and by that means the Lord himself was called by the name of him that sitteth betwixt the cherubim,” because he did from thence give answers unto his servants, and had placed it in the midst of his people to be a sign that his presence was always among them. Touching the stuff whereof, and the form how, the ark was made, I will say nothing here. For the matter and fashion are in their colours very lively painted out in the twenty-fifth chapter of Exodus. Of the meaning, mystery, and use of the ark, I will speak somewhat now. We men lay up in our coffers and chests the treasures that we most set by. And therefore we understand, that in the ark was laid the treasure of the church, and all the substance of which the faithful made most account. We must not therefore seek for them in men, in Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, St Mary, John, Peter, or Paul; much less in the Romish indulgentiary; but in him in whom all fulness dwelleth, and in whom all the treasures of God’s wisdom and knowledge are heaped up in store; who is not seen here on the earth, but in the sanctum sanctorum, in heaven, I say, above, and is called Jesus Christ; whose divinity is figured by the most pure gold, and his humanity by the sittim-wood, that is, of
[9 According to Usher, 416 years; viz. from A.c. 1004 to A.c. 588.] [5 ad secundum excidium, Lat.; until the second destruction. ] [6 According to Usher, 585 years; viz. from A.c. 515 to A.D. 70.] [7 per transennam inspiciamus, Lat.—proverbialis locutio, qua sig-]
[nificatur, non propius, neque sigillatim, sed procul, obiter, et summatim]
[inspicere. Facciolati Tot. Lat. Lex. in voc. Erasmi Adag. Chil. p. 364.]
[Hanov. 1617.] [8 in cista Chananaica ac Romanensi indulgentiaria, Lat.; in the]
[Canaanitish and Romish indulgence-chest. ]]
cedar, or rather white-thorn: for he took upon him flesh like to our sinful flesh; even the very flesh that we have in all points, saving that it was not sinful’. Out of this ark do the faithful fetch all good and necessary things for the use of their life and eternal salvation. For in the ark we read that there was laid the tables of the covenant, the pot of manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded. For we heard that in Christ were hidden the jewels of the church. Christ is our wisdom, the word? of the Father, the fulfilling of the law; he is just himself, and our righteousness also. In Christ is the heavenly food: for he is the bread of life that came down from heaven, to the end that every one that eateth of it may ΠΥ͂Θ eternally. In Christ did the priesthood bud again: it to Seemed verily, at the death of Christ upon the cross, to have heen cut down for growing any more; but at his resurrection it budded again, and he took the everlasting priesthood, that never shall be ended: for even now, as he standeth at the right hand of the Father in heaven, he maketh intercession to him for us, Moreover the ark was compassed with a crown, because Christ our Lord is a king, which delivereth us his faithful servants from all evil, and maketh us the sons Οἱ God. Upon the ark we read that there was placed the mercy-seat, which was either the cover of the ark, or else a ii. 25. seat set upon the ark. By it was figured, as the apostles John and Paul interpret it, Christ our Lord, who is the throne of grace, and the propitiation for our sins; not only for ours, but also for the sins of all the world. Out of the propitiatory, or mercy-seat, also were uttered the oracles and answers of God. For the use of the mercy-seat is read in the holy scripture to have been this, that Moses, entering into the tabernacle, did at the mercy-seat receive the answers and commandments of God, which he declared unto the people. And Christ is he by whom our heavenly Father declareth his will to us, and whom alone he hath given us to hear, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear him.” Two cherubim have their faces turned toward the mercy-seat, and do as it were look one to another:
[1 nulla in eo peceati spina existente, Lat. omitted: there being in]
[him no thorn of sin. The allusion in this phrase is, of course, to the]
[white-thorn, or sittim-wood, mentioned above. ] [3 lex et verbum, Lat.; the law and word. ]]
whereupon St Peter saith, that “the angels do desire to behold” the Saviour of the world, which is declared in the gospel. The same angels do always serve our Lord and Master, and are ready at his beck, as to him that is Lord over all. Now none did carry the ark of the Lord but the priests alone? For they only which are anointed by the Holy Ghost, and endued with true faith, do receive Christ, and are made partakers of his heavenly gifts. Neither must we wink at and let pass the note that is given in the fourth and fifth chapters of the first book of Samuel, where it is said, that the Israelites, for abusing the ark and turning it to another use than that for which it was given, and for attributing unto it more than the scripture willed, were slain by the Philistines, and that the ark was carried into captivity; to the end that all men might learn thereby not to attribute more to the sacraments and mysteries of God than is convenient, and not to apply them to any other use than that for which the Lord hath ordained them. For the ark was not ordained to the end it should be taken for God, although it bare the name of God; neither was it made to the end that they should look for grace and help to proceed from it, as we read that they did: but it was given them as a token, that God, their confederate’, was in the midst of his people, Β0 long as they did keep the tables of the covenant that were closed within the ark, and did cleave to God alone, at whose hands they should look for all good things through Christ, his Son, which was prefigured by the ark.
Next to the adytum, or sanctum sanctorum, in the sanctum, did stand the golden table, the matter and fashion whereof is declared in the twenty-fifth chapter of Exodus. Upon the table we men do set our meat and sustenance; by the table we are refreshed; and at the table we forget our cares, and
[3 sacerdotes Domini, Lat.; the priests of the Lord.] [.disertis verbis appellatur (Arca) Dominus exercituum. Nam]
[2 Samuelis, 6 cap. scriptura testatur, et ait: Et surgens David abiit]
[una cum toto populo, ut transferret arcam Dei, super quam invocatum]
[est nomen, nomen Domini exercituum insidentis cherubim super eam.]
[Hoc enim Hebraico idiomate tantundem valet, ac si tu dicas: cui]
[nomen inditum est ut appelletur, Jehovah, sive Deus exercituum, habi,]
[tans super cherubim.—Bulling. de Episcop. Instit. et funct. cap. 6.]
[fol. 88. Tig. 1538.] [5 utpote confeederatum, Lat. ]]
are merry and jocund. Therefore the table can be none other but Christ our Lord, and christian doctrine: for Christ is the sustenance of our life; he is the joy and mirth of the faithful. The table was of gold without, and all wood within, because Christ, our table!, is both God and man. The table (which is the type of christian doctrine?) is set forth in the church: it is not therefore to be sought at Athens, among? the sophisters, nor among the Gymnosophists of India, nor in the Jewish synagogues. Upon the table are set twelve new loaves, divided into two parts. For the bread of life, which is new and sweet, doth feed and fill both the Jews and the Gentiles. Moreover, that bread was holy and not profane, and none might eat it but the priests alone. In like manner the faithful only are worthy of Christ, the bread ΟΥ̓ life, and they that believe receive it only. The loaves were called by the name of shew-bread, or the bread of sight; whereby is meant, that the bread of life (which is christian doctrine?) should always be in sight before our eyes. And as those loaves were to be set always before the Lord in the sight of all men; so must not the doctrine of Christ be privily hidden, but openly shewed unto all people. A vessel with frankincense was set upon the shew-bread, because they that eat the heavenly bread do offer to God prayers and thanksgivings without intermission, which is to God as sweet as frankincense. In the twenty-fourth of Leviticus it is at large declared in what sort the shew-bread is prepared.
The golden candlestick is in the sanctum, and standeth before the veil on the one side, or over against the table. We have the description of it in the twenty-fifth chapter of Exodus. Candles are set up in our common houses to give light to all them that are in the house. And Christ our Lord is come? a light into the world, that whosoever follow-
[1 cibus noster, Lat.; our food. ] [2 which—doctrine, not in the original. ] [3 aut apud, Lat.; or among.] [ See Vol. 1. p. 102. note 3.] [6 et exsaturans, Lat. omitted; and satisfying.] [6 panes propositionis, sive facierum, Lat. In Hebr. called bread]
[of faces, or of presence. Ainsworth on Exod. xxv. 30.] [7 which—doctrine, not in the original.] [8 which—frankincense, not in the original.] [9 datus est, Lat.; has been given. John viii. 12.]]
eth him should get the light of life. Out of Christ do proceed, and upon Christ do stick, other noses of candlesticks!, which have their light from Christ, the chief candlestick. For the Lord did say unto the apostles, “Ye are the light of the world.” So then Christ is the shank, or shaft, of the candlestick, upon which shank many snuffs or noses do stick, which hold the light up to the church!’: for what light soever is in the ministers of the church, they have it all of Christ, who is the head of light, and very light itself. The candlestick is wholly all of gold. And Christ is very God indeed, the light and wisdom of the Father: and the ministers of Christ must be sincere and throughly snuffed!? from all affections of the flesh: and to that end belongeth the use of the snuffers that did pertain unto the candlestick.
In the midst, betwixt the table and the candlestick, before the veil, in the sanctum, did stand the golden altar of incense, which is exactly painted out in the thirtieth chapter of Exodus, That altar was ordained for two uses. For first, there was offered upon it every day incense or perfume, which it was not lawful to offer or prepare to any other God or creature. That was done twice every day, at morning and at evening. Zacharias, the father of John Baptist!, was in that ministery, when he saw the angel, and for his unbelief’s sake was made dumb for a season. Secondarily, incense was offered upon that altar after a certain solemn manner once in a year, that was, at the feast of cleansing, as is declared in the sixteenth chapter of Leviticus.
Now by incense, or perfume, is to be understood the prayers of the faithful; as David witnesseth where he saith: “Let my prayer be set forth in thy sight as the incense; and let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice.” Now there was but one incense altar alone. Whosoever builded any more, he was condemned of blasphemous wickedness. By that only altar is figured Christ our Lord, both God and man, the mediator and intercessor betwixt God and man; by whom all the saints do offer all their prayers to
[10 cannze et luminaria, Lat.] [1 cannz in suprema parte habentes lumina, Lat.; reed-like]
[branches having lights at their extremities.) [12 repurgatos, Lat.] [18 divi Baptiste, Lat.]]
Sy ΨΨ ha a 158 THE THIRD DECADE.. [sera God, their Lord and heavenly Father. They therefore build many altars, which choose to themselves creatures to be their intercessors, by whose mediation they desire to obtain that which they lack at the hands of God. In the end of the thirtieth chapter it is expressly said: “Whosoever shall make like incense to that, to smell thereto, shall perish from among his people.” Therefore through Christ alone the faithful church of Christ doth offer her prayers to God the Father. This altar, whereof we speak, was bound about with a crown of gold: for Christ, our Lord and altar, is a very king and priest, and weareth the crown of glory!. Now we must pray at morning and evening, that is, continually and very earnestly. And we must always pray in and through the name of Christ. And Christ is he alone, through whom God hath been pleased with the prayers of them that have prayed in the morning, that is, at the beginning of the world; and is at this day pleased with them that pray to him at evening, that is, in the end and these last days of the world. They therefore sinned most grievously against the Lord, that offered incense in the high places everywhere: for as they were rebellious and disobedient to God, preferring their own inventions before the laws of God, which they neglected; so did they despise the mystery of Christ, the only mediator, in departing from that only altar. of In the court, or atrium, did stand another altar, which was called the brasen altar, or the altar of burnt-offerings, which is finely described in the twenty-seventh of Exodus. Of this sort also there was but this one. For it was not lawful for any religious man to sacrifice in any other place, saving in the holy place where this altar was, unless it were by some singular dispensation. Therefore, when the Reubenites with their confederates had built an altar by the banks of Jordan, and the fame thereof was brought to the ears of the other tribes of Israel, they did all agree with one consent, that the crime was to be punished with open war. Whereby we may again gather the greatness of their fault, which, neglecting that altar, did offer sacrifice in the high places: of which I also spake before. Now that only and catholic
[[! Nam Christus Dominus noster verus est rex et pontifex, Lat.;]
[and—glory, not in the original. ] [2 perpetuo et jugiter, Lat.]]
altar of ours is Jesus Christ, who offered himself a living sacrifice for us to God. Neither is there any sacrifice in all the world that can cleanse sin, but that alone. Neither do any sacrifices of the faithful please the Father, but those that are by faith offered upon the altar, Jesus Christ. For Christ doth sanctify us; and, being sanctified, we do by him offer the sacrifice that he doth well accept of. This have I taken out of the apostle’s doctrine in the thirteenth to the Hebrews, and the twelfth to the Romans.
The last of the holy vessels was the brasen laver, which was placed in the atrium, betwixt the veil of the sanctum and the altar of burnt-offerings. It is described in the thirtieth chapter of Exodus. In it was contained the water wherewith the priests, that ministered before the Lord, did wash themselves. By that laver was Christ signified, which is the washing of the faithful. And by it was meant, that holy things were not to be handled with unwashed hands and feet. They wash themselves, that by the Holy Ghost are purified, and by the grace of God are made fit to the ministry of religion: but he is in danger of death, that is not a partaker of the grace of life.
Beside these, there are also reckoned other instruments belonging to the tabernacle: but these in a manner are the chief. I thought not good, by beating out busily every particularity, to rehearse unto you every small thing, lest peradventure by too long a treatise I should be too tedious unto your patience.
Now the same holy vessels, that were in the tabernacle, were in the temple also; saving that in Salomon’s temple there was a far more goodly shew and pomp than in the tabernacle: for none other cause, undoubtedly, but that the mysteries of Christ and of the church should increase every day more and more to the sight of the world. Christ, the true Salomon, and king of peace and tranquillity, the very eternal felicity itself, hath raised up in this world to himself a church, which stretcheth to the ends of the world; of which the prophets have spoken very largely, Zachary especially, and the famous prophet Nathan, second of Samuel, chapter seven. Thus much hitherto of the holy place.
After the holy place in the sacred ceremonies, the next to be handled is the holy time. For as to the outward reli-
gion a certain place was given, so to the same also an appointed time was assigned. And holy days are to be employed upon holy actions. For actions are either those which we call handy works!, invented for to get victuals, clothing, and other things necessary for the use of our bodies; or else they are holy or religious, which are done for the exercise of outward religion. We must not consume all our time in handy works and profane business; neither can we bestow all times upon outward religion. But those actions are not without time: for every action is contained in time. Therefore God hath divided the time into sundry parts for sundry actions: so that he will have some working days, to serve for handy actions; and other holy days, for the exercise of outward religion. Not that the working days are not holy and dedicated to the Lord, (for he doth challenge all days and times to himself, and will at all seasons be worshipped in heart;) but for because the holy days are singularly, and, as it were, more precisely, consecrated to the outward worship of God, than the working days are. holy Therefore the festival or holy day, which by God’s appointment is holy to the Lord, was kept for the devout exercising of God’s outward worship. Therefore those days are not holy, nor those feasts lawful, which are not held to the one and only God, Jehovah: neither are those holy days lawful, in which the lawful service of God is not lawfully exercised. And for those causes the sabbaths and festival-days of the Israelites are in the prophets many times rejected, because they were unlawfully solemnized, without pure faith and sincere affections. end Now all holy days had one common name, and were called sabbaths, feasts2, holy days3, meetings and assemblies. All holy days, what name soever they were called by, were ordained to God alone, not to creatures, not for surfeiting and wanton chambering. All holy days were invented for the health, profit, and recreation of mankind: for holy days are no burden, but the easing of our burdens. Profane works, I confess, are profitable, but ease is also necessary: for without rest labour cannot continue. The Lord’s will
[1 et quasi prophanze, Lat. omitted: and, as it were, profane. ] [2 item festa, Lat.; also feasts.] [8 dies stati et sancti, Lat.; omitted.]]
therefore is, to give man a time of recreation, and biddeth his servants to be merry on the holy days in holiness and modesty; so that their ease may be an honest recreation, and not reproachful sensuality. Again, ease of itself is not good, but in respect of another thing it is good. God biddeth to cease from work, but yet he setteth us on work another way; he willeth us to cease from bodily labour, and begin to work in heart and mind, and wholly apply ourselves to his holy service. And therefore it is needful to have holy assemblies, the reading of the holy scriptures, public prayers, sacrifices (for it is prescribed in the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth chapters of the book of Numbers what they ought to offer at every feast and holy day), the celebration of the sacraments, and whatsoever else the Lord hath commanded to be done at festival-days and solemn seasons. For that one thing is here required especially, which Mary found, as she sat at the feet of Jesus, and heard his word. Moreover, all feasts generally do contain the memory, and put us in the remembrance, of notable things; every feast according to the name. The sabbath did put them in mind of God’s good benefit in creating the world for the behoof and profit of us men. It was also, as Moses witnesseth, Exodus thirty-first, a sign of the true sanctification, which God alone bestoweth upon the people that call upon his name. The other holy days did beat into them the memory of the other benefits that God had shewed them, and had (as I will anon declare) their several significations.
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