Solomons Temple Spiritualized, Chapter 50 – Chapter 52
L. Of the Bowles and Basons belonging to the Temple.
AS there were Spoons, so there were Bowles and Basons belonging to the Temple: Some of these were of Gold, and some of Silver: and when they were put together, their number was four hundred and forty. These you read of, Ezra 1.10.
The Bowles, or Basons were not to wash in, as was the Sea and Lavers of the Temple, they were rather to hold the Messes in, which the Priests at their holy Feasts, did use to set before the People. This being so, they were types of that proportion of faith, by which, or by the measure of which, every man received of the holy food, for the nourishment of his Soul. For, as a Man, had he a thousand Messes set before him, he eating for his health, cannot go beyond what his stomack will bear: So neither can the Child of God, when he comes to worship in the Temple of God, receive of the good things that are there, beyond the proportion of his faith, or, as it is in another place, according to the ability which God giveth, Rom. 12.6. 1 Pet. 4.11.
And hence it is, that at the self same Ordinance, some receive three times as much as others do: for that their Bowl, I mean their faith, is able to receive it. Yea, Benjamin's Mess was five times as big as was the Mess of any of his Brethren; and so it is with some Saints, while they eat with their Brother Joseph in the House of the living God.
There are three go to the same Ordinance, and are all of them believers, who when they come home and compare notes, do find their receivings are not of the same quantity.
One says, I got but little; to 'ther says, 'twas a pretty good Ordinance to me; the third says, I was exceeding well there. Why, to be sure, he that had but little there, had there but little faith, for great faith in him would have received more. He had it then according to the largeness of his Bowl, even according to his faith, even as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith, Rom. 12.3. Mark, faith is a certain measure, and that not only as to its degree, but for that it can receive, retain, or hold what is put into it.
So then, here it is no matter how much Milk, or holy Broth there is, but how big is thy Bowl, thy Faith. Little Bowls hold but little, nor canst thou receive, but as thy faith will bear: (I speak now of God's ordinary dealing with his People) For so he saith in his Word. According to thy Faith be it unto thee; Matt. 9.29.
If a Man goeth to the Ocean Sea for Water, let him carry but an Egg-shell with him, and with that he shall not bring a Gallon home. I know indeed that our little Pots, have a promise of being made like the Bowls of the Altar; but still our Mess must be according to our measure, be that small, or be it great. The same Prophet saith again, The Saints shall be filled like Bowls, as the corners of the Altar: which, though it supposes an enlargement, yet it must be confined to that measure of faith, which is provided for its reception; Zech 9.15. Chap. 14.2. And suppose these Bowls should signifie the Promises; though the Saints, not the promises, are compared to them, because they, not promises, are the Subjects of Faith: Yet it is the Promise by our measure of Faith in that, that is nourishing to our Souls.
When Ahasuerus made a Feast to his Subjects, they drank their Wine in Bowls. They did not drink it by the largeness of the Vessel, whence they drew it, but according to their health, and as their stomacks would so receive it, Esth. 1.
Thy Faith then is one of the Bowls, or Basons of the Temple, by, or according to which, thou receivest thy Mess, when thou sittest feasting at the Table of God.
And observe, All the Bowls were not made of Gold, as all Faith is not of a saving sort. 'Tis the Golden Faith that is right, the Silver Bowls were of an inferiour sort, Revel. 3.18.
Some, I say, have golden Faith, all faith is not so. Wherefore look to it, Soul, that thy Bowl, thy faith, be golden faith, or of the best kind. Look, I say, after a good faith, and great, for a great faith receives a great Mess.
Of old, Beggars did use to carry their Bowls in their Laps, when they went to a Door for an Alms: Consequently if their Bowls were but little, they oft-times came off by the loss, though the Charity of the Giver was large. Yea, the greater the Charity, the larger the loss, because the Beggar's Bowl was too little. Mark it well, it is oft-times thus in the matters of our God.
Art thou a Beggar, a Beggar at God's Door, be sure thou gettest a great Bowle, For as thy Bowl is, so will be thy Mess. According to thy faith, saith he, be it unto thee; Matt. 9.29.
LI. Of the Flaggons and Cups of the Temple.
THE next thing to be considered, is, the Flaggons and Cups of the Temple: Of these we read, 1 Chro. 28.17. Jer. 52.19.
These were of great use among the Jews, especially on their Feasting-days; as of their Sabbaths, New-Moons, and the like; Levit. 23.13. Numb. 28.7. 1 Chro. 16.3. Isa. 25.6. chap. 62.8, 9.
For Instance, The Day that David danced before the Ark, he dealt among all the People, even to the whole Multitude of Israel, as well to the Women as to the Men, to every Man a Cake of bread, a good piece of Flesh, and a Flaggon of Wine. 2 Sam. 6.19. 1 Chro. 16.3.
In this Mountain, that is, in the Temple typically, saith the Prophet, shall the Lord of Hosts make unto all People a Feast of fat things, a feast of Wine on the Lees, of fat things full of marrow, of Wine on the Lees well refined; Isa. 25.6.
These are Feasting-times: The times in which our Lord used to have his Spouse into his Wine-Cellar, and in which he used to display with delight his Banner over her Head in love; Song 2.5.
The Church of Christ, alas, is of her self a very sickly puely thing, a Woman, a weaker Vessel, but how much more must she needs be so weak, when the custom of Women is upon her, or when she is sick of love. Then she indeed has need of a draught, for she now sinks, and will not else be supported; Stay me with Flaggons, saith she, and comfort me with Apples, for I am sick of love, Song 2.4, 5.
These Flaggons therefore were types of those Feastings, and of those large draughts of Divine love, that the Lord Jesus draweth for, and giveth to his Spouse in those days that he feasteth with them. For then he saith, Drink, yea drink abundantly, O Beloved. This he does to chear her up under her hours of sadness and dejection: For now new Corn makes the young men chearful, and new Wine the maids; Pro 31.6, 7. Psal. 116.13. Jer. 16.7. Song 5.1. Zech 9.17.
As there were Flaggons, so there were Cups, and they are called Cups of Consolation, and Cups of Salvation, because as I said, they were they by which God at his Feastings with his People, or when he suppeth with them, giveth out the more large draughts of his love unto his Saints, to revive the spirits of the humble, and to revive the hearts of the contrite ones. At these times God made David's Cup run over. For we are now admitted, if our faith will bear it, to drink freely into this grace, and to be merry with him; Psal. 23.5. Luk. 15.22, 23, 24. Song 5.1. chap. 7.11, 12. Joh. 14.23. Revel. 3.20.
This is that to which the Apostle alludeth, when he saith, Be not drunk with Wine, wherein is excess, but be ye filled with the Spirit; speaking to your selves in Psalms, and Hymns, and spiritual Songs, singing and making melody in your hearts unto the Lord.
For the Cups, as to their use in the general, understand them, as of the Bowls made mention of before. For assurances are the blooms, and flowers of Faith, not always on it, though usually on Feasting days, 'tis so. So the degree of the one, is still according to the measure of the other; Ephes. 5.18. Jam. 5. Rom. 15.13.
LII. Of the Chargers of the Temple.
IN the Tabernacle they had but twelve of them, and they were made of Silver, but in the Temple they had in all a thousand and thirty. The thirty were made of Gold, the rest were made of Silver; Numb. 7.84.
These Chargers, were not for uses common or profane, but, as I take it, they were those in which the Passover, and other Meat-offerings were drest up, when the People came to eat before God in his holy Temple.
The meat, you know, I told you was opposite to milk, and so are these Chargers, to the Bowls, and Cups, and Flaggons of the Temple.
The Meat was of two sorts, rost, or boyl'd. Of that which was rost, was the Passover, and of that which was boyl'd, was the Trespass offerings. Wherefore concerning the Passover, he saith, Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all in Water, but rost with fire, his head, with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof; Exod. 12.
This rost meat, was a type of the body of Christ, as suffering for our sins, the which when it was rost, was, and is, as drest up in Chargers, and set before the Congregations of the Saints.
But what were the Chargers a type of?
I also ask, in what Charger our Gospel-Passover is now drest up, and set before the People. Is it not in the four Evangelists, the Prophets, and Epistles of the Apostles? They therefore are the Chargers, and the Ordinance of the Supper; in these also is the Trespass-Offerings, with what is fried in Pans, mystically prepared for the Children of the highest.
And why might they not be a type of Gospel-Sermons?
I answer, I think not, so fitly, for alas! the best of Sermons in the World, are but as thin slices cut out of those large dishes. Our Ministers are the Carvers, good Doctrine is the meat, and the Chargers in which this meat is found, are the holy Canonical Scriptures, &c. Though, as I said, most properly, the New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
In these is Christ most truly, lively, and amply set before us as crucified, or rost at the fire of God's Law for our sins, that we might live by him through faith, feeding upon him; 2 Cor. 3.12. Gal. 3.1, 2. Acts 3.18, 19, 20, 21. Chap 13.4. Chap 26.22. 1 Pet. 1.10. Acts 7.42. Chap. 15.15. Chap. 28.23 Rom. 16.26. Revel. 10.7.
There is in these Chargers, not only meat, but sawce (if you like it) to eat the meat withal. For the Passover there is bitter herbs, or sound repentance: and for other, as the thank-offerings, there is holy chearfulness and prayers to God for grace. All these are set forth before us in the holy Scriptures, and presented to us thereby, as in the golden Chargers of the Temple. He that will scoff at this, let him scoff. The Chargers were a type of some thing, and he that can shew a fitter Antitype then is here proposed to consideration, let him do it, and I'l be thankful to him.
Christians, here is your Meat before you, get your Carvers to slice it out for you: and this know, the deeper you dip it in the sawce, the better it will relish. But let not unbelief teach you such manners, as to make you leave the best bits behind you. For your liberty is to eat freely of the best, of the fat, and of the sweet.