The Leper and the Lepers House Cleansed, Title page – To the reader
THE Leper, and the Leper's Houſe, CLEANSED: BEING, AN EXPOSITION Upon ſome part of the XIVth Chapter of LEVITICUS; The Myſtery of which is Explained and Applied to the State and Condition of a Sinner's becoming a Saint. WITH Profitable USES and APPLICATIONS.
AS ALSO, What the Chapter may be applied to, as to the Cleanſing or Deſtroying of any particular Church of CHRIST, in and under the Time of the Goſpel.
Divided into Ten PARTS.
Written for the Information of thoſe which ſeldom concern themſelves about the Types and Shadows of the Old Teſtament: Very uſeful for all People.
By THOMAS WORDEN, Author of, The Types Ʋnvailed.
LONDON: Printed for William Marſhal; and ſold at the Bible in Newgate-ſtreet, and at the Bible in Gracious-ſtreet.
Where you may be ſupplied with moſt of Dr. Owen's, Mr. Caryl'… and Mr. Beverly's Works, with all ſorts of Stationary Was… and Paper-hangings of the neweſt India and Japan Figure… either by Yard or Sheet, &c. Likewiſe Bibles, Teſtame… Pſalters, and all ſorts of School-books. At the Bible in N… gate-ſtreet, you may have Matthews's Pill, rightly prep… and ſold at a reaſonable Rate.
AN Epiſtle to the Reader.
AS the least of the Works of God are adorable, becauſe they are the Works of him who is infinitely Wiſe, Powerful, Iust and Good, much more are the greater Works of God adorable and admirable▪ There are three great Works of God, preſented to our Senſe and Ʋnderſtanding, which invites us all, with David, to cry aloud, Many are thy Works, O Lord, and in Wiſdom hast thou made them all: And theſe are, 1ſt, His Works of Creation, in making the World. 2dly, His Works of Providence in providing for the World, in ſuſtaining, governing, and preſerving of it. 3dly, In redeeming and eternally ſaving of his Elect in the World. In his Creating-work there is much of his Wiſdom and Power manifeſted; in his Providential-work there is much of his Bounty and Goodneſs declared; and, in this Work of Redemption, how much of his Love, Grace, Mercy, and Bowels of Pity is there in this to be magnified? And unto all this has God added his written Book of Scripture, by the Inſpiration of his own Spirit in the holy Prophets and Apoſtles, wherein he hath plainly opened, to our dark Ʋnderſtandings, both the Matter, Method, and the Means to obtain the End of it, which is Everlaſting Life and Bleſſedneſs. And though this be plainly incerted in the Word of God, that ſanctified Babes do … to the Knowledge of it, yet it is a Book ſealed up from the … ſanctified, Wiſe, and Learned in the World, that they underſt… nothing of the ſaving Myſtery and Meaning of it; thoſe whi… have not the Key of Grace to unlock it, ſhall never diſ… the Riddles of it, as to be able to ſay, by experience, … this Eater comes Meat, and out of this ſtrong One comes … neſs; but though there is nothing obſcure in the Scrip… what the meanest Child of God may underſtand, as n… his Salvation, yet there are many things in it which … … ſtill ignorant of, as a hindrance to their growth in Knowledge, to the furtherance of their Conſolation; and theſe difficult things, not eaſily to be underſtood, conſiſts much, if not moſtly, of the dark Types of the Old Teſtament: The difficulty of them makes many a Chriſtian to throw by the reading of the two Books, (viz.) Exodus and Leviticus, as wholly uſeleſs in their Eſteem, which was one conſiderable Reaſon which put me upon that Task of bringing forth my Book, call'd, The Types Unvailed, above Thirty Years agon, it was to encline the ignoranter ſort of Chriſtians to a greater Freedom, to make themſelves more familiar with theſe Old Teſtament-Myſteries, in which (as ſo many Pearls hid in a heap of Earth) the Subſtance of the whole Goſpel is included; and the ſame Deſign I have in being willing to let go this Expoſition to publick View, the Piece having lain by me in ſecret for ſome Years, not knowing that ever it might be of any farther Ʋſe than to benefit my own Children; but, God, which orders all Events by his Providence, it ſeems, was reſolved that this Work of mine, (though but a Mite prepared for his Treaſury) yet it ſhould not be buried in Oblivion, but did order it to be ſo, (though unknown to me) did cast a Servant of his into a Family, unto which I had lent the Manuſeript to read for their private Inſtruction, it pleaſed God to order it ſo, that the People of the Houſe ſhould give their Friend a ſight of the Copy; and when he had read part of it, it begat a thorow Reſolution in his Mind, not to rest until he had been at the Preſs with it; and though it be void of Letters of Atteſtation, yet it hath past under ſeveral good Miniſters Approbation: So, commending the whole Work to the Bleſſing of God, with thy Soul in the reading of it, which if it prove a Means of the increaſe of thy Faith in God, thy Knowledge of God, and Love to God, give the whole Honour to him from whom I received this Light, as indeed they must who are moſtly acquainted with the Original of my Education, and give me thy Prayers, (not thy Praiſes) that God would make my Preaching-labours, as well as my Writing-labours, very profitable to the Souls of thoſe I labour in the Miniſtry amongst: And ſo, crave leave to write my ſelf the meanest of Miniſters, and yet Christ's and the Churches Servant,
T. W.