The works of the Reverend and learned John Lightfoot D. D., late Master of Katherine Hall in Cambridge such as were, and such as never before were printed : in two volumes : with the authors life and large and useful tables to each volume : also three maps : one of the temple drawn by the author himself, the others of Jervsalem and the Holy Land drawn according to the author's chorography, with a description collected out of his writings.

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The works of the Reverend and learned John Lightfoot D. D., late Master of Katherine Hall in Cambridge such as were, and such as never before were printed : in two volumes : with the authors life and large and useful tables to each volume : also three maps : one of the temple drawn by the author himself, the others of Jervsalem and the Holy Land drawn according to the author's chorography, with a description collected out of his writings.
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Lightfoot, John, 1602-1675.
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London :: Printed by W. R. for Robert Scot, Thomas Basset, Richard Chiswell,
1684.
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Lightfoot, John, 1602-1675.
Church of England.
Theology -- Early works to 1800.
Theology -- History -- 17th century.
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http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A48431.0001.001
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"The works of the Reverend and learned John Lightfoot D. D., late Master of Katherine Hall in Cambridge such as were, and such as never before were printed : in two volumes : with the authors life and large and useful tables to each volume : also three maps : one of the temple drawn by the author himself, the others of Jervsalem and the Holy Land drawn according to the author's chorography, with a description collected out of his writings." In the digital collection Early English Books Online. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A48431.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 15, 2024.

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CHAP. XIV. The Holy Place. (Book 14)

SECT. I. The Temple door.

THE entrance out of the Porch into the Temple was through two Gates, and either Gate had two doors or folding leaves: for the better understanding of which, let us first look upon the dimensions of this passage as we have done upon the others.

The Talmud and Josephus do seem at the first sight exceedingly to differ, about the measure of this Gate: the a 1.1 Talmud reckoning it but twenty cubits high, and ten broad; and b 1.2 he five and fifty cubits high and sixteen broad. In which diversity, if we take the proper meaning of either party, the difference between them will not be so vast, as at the first skanning it doth seem to be. It is the manner of the Talmud in measuring of the Gates to speak only of the open space through which the passage was, but Josephus, as hath been observed before, measures 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the whole front of the Gate both above the open space and the spreading of the posts on either side it: and after this their usual manner they both of them measure this Gate through which we are going: The very open space that gave the passage was but twenty cubits high and ten broad; and of this measure were the two doors: but the front of

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the Gate was three cubits (curiously wrought and richly gilt) on either side, and thirty five cubits above the Gate to the roof or first floor of the entry of the Porch: and this is the meaning of Josephus, as it appeareth plainly enough by these his two passages. For as to the first he saith, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, That the Gate of the House (meaning this that we are about) was gilt all over, and so was the Wall all about it: And as to the second, he hath this saying, somewhat difficult, but well understood resolving the matter according as hath been spoken. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. But the Temple having two floors, or being double roofed, that within was lower than that without, and had gilded doors of fifty five cubits high, and sixteen broad.

Now by what he saith that the Temple was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or double floored or roofed, his meaning is, that as you stood in the Temple there was a first floor over your head, and a room above that, which was called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 of which we have spoken before, and above that there was the roof; Had all the House been open to the very roof, as our Churches are, there could have been no difference between the height of the Holy and most Holy place to the roof, but both had been alike.

But both places being floored over, and having an upper Chamber above them, there was a difference made in the height of this first floor: for in the Holy place it was five and fifty cubits from the ground, but in the Most Holy place it was but twenty, as shall be shewed. Now the Porch had its floor lay at the least as high if not higher than the floor of the Holy place: and so the space above the Gate to the first floor was a goodly space, and made a fair front: It seemeth by our Author that the first floor of the Porch was ninety cubits high, yet doth he reckon the height of the Gate but five and fifty, because he reckons only to the height of the floor of the Holy place, and the height of the front of the Gate of the Oracle, for he speaketh of them both alike.

Thus much being observed concerning the height and bredth of this Gate; it is also to be remembred that the Wall of the Temple was six cubits thick, as was observed when we measured the breadth of the building. c 1.3 The two Leaves of the Gate there∣fore which were five cubits broad apiece, were hung up a little within the thickness of the Wall from the Porch, so that when they were opened they covered the whole thickness of the Wall on the right hand and the left, that as you passed through you could not see it.

Now at the very farthest of the thickness of the Wall towards the Holy place, there was a two-leaved Door likewise parallel'd to this that we have surveyed, which when the Leaves opened, they fell back to the Wall which was at the lower end of the House, and covered a place which was ungilded: for all the Walls were gilded but only the places where the Leaves of the Doors fell back.

And thus had you two several Doors of two folding Leaves apiece to go through be∣tween the Porch and the Temple, the one standing within a cubit of the Porch, and the other at the very edge of the Wall within, and so when they were both shut there was a five-cubit space between them, which was so much space in the thickness of the Tem∣ple Wall.

The outer Door is called commonly by the Jews, the great Door of the Temple, not but that the inner Door was as big, but because of the great front that this Gate had, which the other had not: And of this outer Door there are these memorials or remark∣able things recorded among them. First, That the Morning Sacrifice was never killed till this Door was opened: And so it is recorded in the Treatise Tamid, or concerning the dayly Sacrifice 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 d 1.4 That he that was to slay the Sacrifice, killed him not till he heard the noise of the great Gate opening.

And there they relate the noise of this Gate might be heard to Jericho, and so the noise of divers other things there mentioned, in which they do Hyperbolize for the glorifying of the matters of the Temple. And a second thing for which this door is renowned among them, is, For that it had two Wickets in it, in either leaf one, one in the North leaf, and another in the South: And that through that in the South no Man passed, but that that was it of which Ezekiel saith, e 1.5 This Gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no Man shall enter in by it, &c.

Now for the opening of these Doors every morning, the way was thus: One took a Key and opened the Wicket in the North leaf of the Door, and went in, into the five cubit space between the two Doors: and there he went in at a Door into the very Wall where there was a hollow passage into the Holy place, coming forth in the place where one of the Leaves of the inner Door fell to the Wall.

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Being come in, he opened that inner Door, and then he came and opened the outer Door, at the noise of the opening of which the killer of the Morning Sacrifice went about that work: f 1.6 In this five cubits space between the two Doors even behind the leaf of the Door on the right hand, there was a Marble Flag of a cubit square lay loose in the floor with a ring fastned in it to pull it up, and when the Priests tryed and suspect∣ed Wife, they came hither and pulled up this stone, and took dust from under it, to put into the water to make her drink, as was injoined, Numb. V. 17, &c.

SECT. II The Veil.

BEtween these two Doors also in this five cubit space, there hung a Veil answerable to the Veil at the Door of the Tabernacle, Exod. XXVI. 36. And so it is testi∣fied by Josephus, a 1.7 who speaks of two Veils, one at the entring into the Holy place, and another to distinguish betwixt the Holy and Most Holy. And he describes the Veil to have been of the measures that he had newly spoken of before, namely five and fifty cubits deep and sixteen cubits broad (yet the Gate where it hung was but ten) and that it was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, (〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Josh. VII. 21.) Babylonian Tapistry-work, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined Linnen, which he resembles to the four Ele∣ments.

Other Jews likewise give us intimation of such a Veil hanging at the entrance into the Holy place. For the Talmudick Treatise b 1.8 Tamid, mentioned but a little before, speaking of the High Priest going into the Holy place to worship, saith, there were three that held him, one by his right hand and another by his left hand, and a third by the precious Stones in the Brest-plate. And when the president heareth the sound of the High Priests feet coming out, he lifteth up the Veil for him: and then himself goeth in and worshippeth, and after him his Brethren the Priests go in and worship.

c 1.9 There were thirteen Veils in all about the Temple: namely, seven for the seven Gates of the Court: one at the Gate of the Porch, one at the Gate of the Temple, and two betwixt the Holy and the Most Holy place, and two just over them in the room above: d 1.10 And there was an Overseer of the Veils, that took care for the supply and the right ordering of them: and if they were defiled by any common uncleanness, they were taken down and washed and hung up in the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Chel to dry: And when new Veils were made, they were hung up on the Gallery in the Court of the Women, that they might be viewed by all the people to see that they were right.

SECT. III. The Holy place it self.

THIS place was forty cubits long and twenty broad: and in Solomons Temple it* 1.11 was thirty cubits high, having no floor at all on this side the roof, b 1.12 but in Herods Temple it was sixty: For the the Children of the captivity building their Temple sixty cubits high, they floored it not over, but left it open to the roof in the Holy place as Solomons Temple had been, and according to the same height was the floor laid, when it was floored over in the time of Herod.

And here two things are to be remembred; 1. That whereas the lower leads of the building which were over the side Chambers, were but fifty cubits high, as hath been described, and there was a passage off those leads into the upper Chamber over the Holy place, and it was by steps of ten cubits high, partly without the Wall, and partly within the thickness of the Wall it self. 2. That there was an inequality of the height of the floors in the three parts of the House, the Porch, the Holy place and the Most Holy. The first floor of the Porch was ninety cubits high, the Holy place sixty, and the most Holy but twenty. And therefore whereas there was a floor over the most Holy place, even with the floor over the Holy place, viz. at sixty cubits height, that was not the first floor over it, but there was another floor forty cubits beneath that.

The beauty and richness of this place was exceeding great: The floor of it upon which they trod was planked with Firr boards, and they gilt with gold; and the Walls were also cieled or wainscoted with Cedar, and that gilt likewise: This gilding was from the ground floor, even to the floor over head, all the sixty cubits high up the Walls; and this is meant when the Text saith, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 He built the Walls of the House within with boards of Cedar from the floor of the House to the Walls of the covering: that is, up to the very Walls of the floor over head, as it is well expounded by the Rab∣bins upon that place.

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For fifty cubits height of the Walls was the imbroidery of Branches and open Flowers, &c. and for the ten cubits above, it was the place of the Windows: for the side Cham∣bers without the House, in three stories, did take up the height of fifty cubits high, so that for so high no Windows could be made into the House, but the space of ten cubits above, was the place for the Windows which were made narrow without and broad within.

The deckage or carving of the Wainscot of the Walls is said to be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 The carving of knops and open flowers, as our English renders it: but the Hebrew Doctors are somewhat nice about the construction of these words. The Chaldee expounds it, the ingraving of the likeness of Eggs (Ovals) and wreaths of Lillies: as if he meant that he wrought the Walls with the work of Lilly garlands▪ and an Oval in the midst of a garland: c 1.13 Levi Gershom understands 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Ovals, as the Chaldee doth, but he takes them to be such Ovals as are the buds of Flowers, and that out of them came 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the flowers spreading and opening as in their maturity. d 1.14 David Kimchi takes 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 for wild Gourds, and so our English hath it also in the Margin; and this I take to be the pro∣per construction of the words, and this the imbroidery of the Walls: That there was the carving of Cherubims and Palm-trees, and the carving of Gourds and open Flowers in∣terchanged thus: first a border of Gourds or Pompions or such like Apple-fashioned sculpture intermixed with Marigolds, Gilliflowers, and such opening flowers, and this border or wreath went round about the House: upon this wreath as upon a base, were set the feet of Cherubims, and the rooting of Palm-trees both which stood up from this wreath e 1.15 a Cherub and a Palm-tree, a Cherub and a Palm-tree round about: above the Heads of the Cherubims and Palm-trees was such another wreath, and Cherubims and Palm-trees set upon that again, and so interchangeably to the top. By all which was sig∣nified the attendance of Ministers, Heb. I. 14. and flourishing condition, Psal. XCII. 12, 13. of those that serve the Lord and wait upon him. Every one of the Cherubims was pictured with two faces, one of a man that looked toward the Palm-tree on one hand, and the other of a Lion that looked toward the Palm-tree on the other.

Whereas it is said that twenty cubits were built on the sides of the House with boards of Cedar from the floor to the Walls, 1 Kings VII. 16. the Jews do expound these twenty cu∣bits by way of breadth and not of height, as thinking that they mean, that besides the sides of the House on either Hand, which were forty cubits long, he also made the like work upon either end of the room, which was twenty cubits broad: But the Text doth speak it more peculiarly of the most Holy place, and sheweth what was the height of that, which was different from the outer room or Holy place, as we shall see hereafter.

SECT. IV. The Candlestick.

THERE were three remarkable and renowned things in the room of the Holy place, which next come to our observing, and those were the Candlestick, the Table of Shew-bread, and the Altar of Incense: The first of Gold, and the other two gilded, so that here in this room could nothing be seen but Gold. a 1.16 Josephus sets out these three things with this Encomium. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 That they were three most wondrous work∣manships, and to be renowned amongst all men: And that the seven Lamps in the Candlestick resembled the seven Planets: And the twelve Loaves upon the Shew-bread Table, the twelve Signs in the Zodiack or the Year: And the Incense Altar, whereon Incense was offered, which came partly out of the Sea, and partly from Land, denoted that all things are of God and to him.

b 1.17 The Candlestick was eighteen hand breadth high, which according to the cubit of six hand breadth, was a yard and an half: It had three feet, which almost lay flat upon the ground: As three hand breadth height, there was a flowring of a Coronet work curi∣ously spreading out, then went the shaft up, two hand breadth high; and there was a dish, a boss, and a flowring above the boss, and all in a hand breadth compass: thence the shaft went up again, plain for two hand breadths, and then was there a boss of a hand breadth, and there went out two branches, which were carried out, bowed on either side, till they were to be brought up straight to an equal height to the top of this middle shaft out of which they proceeded. Then was there an hand breadth of the shaft plain, and a boss of an hand breadth, and then came out two branches more on either side: And again, one hand breadth of the shaft plain, and a boss again of an hand breadth, and then came out two branches more: Above them was two hand breadth of the shaft plain: And for the three hand breadths above, there were three cups, and three bosses, and three flowrings in that space, and so the Lamp stood in a flowring.

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In every branch that came out of this middle shaft, there were three Cups at a handsom distance one from another, and above the highest a boss, and above that a flowring, and in that flowring the Lamp stood: And before the Candlestick there was a Stone with three steps cut in it, on which he that mended the Lamps stood, and on which he set down his dishes whilst he was about that work.

This Candlestick of seven branches (to which allusion is made, Apoc. I. Zechar. IV. 2. Apoc. XI. 4.) was set on the South-side of the House, but so as that the arms or branches of it spread North and South: All the Lamps or Lights that were set in the six branches that came out of the shaft, were turned bending, and looking towards the Lamp which was in the middle in the shaft it self, and the Lamp in that, was turned bending towards the most Holy place, and therefore it was called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 The Western Lamps: These seven Lamps (which denoted the seven Spirits of God, Rev. IV. 5. & V. 6. which the Jews call, the Seven Spirits of Messias from Esay▪ XI. 1, 2, 3.) did burn continually or if any of them were gone out, every Morning and Evening they were lighted again, and their perpetual Light resembled the Word and Doctrine of Salvation, the Light of the Lord, in which we see Light.

These Lamps were called the Candle of the Lord, 1 Sam. III. 3. where it is said, before the Candle of the Lord went out, the Lord called to Samuel, &c. upon which words, Da∣vid Kimchi giveth this Gloss, * 1.18 If this be spoken concerning the Lamps in the Candlestick, this was somewhat before day: for the Lamps burnt from Even till Morning; yet did they sometimes some of them go out in the Night. They put Oil into them by such a measure as should keep them burning from Even till Morning, and many times they did burn till Morning; and they always found the Western Lamp burning. Now it is said, that this Prophesie came to Samuel, before the Lamps went out▪ while it was yet Night, about the time of Cocks crowing▪ for it is said afterward, that Samuel lay till Morning: Or allegorically it speaks of the Candle of Prophesie; as they say the Sun ariseth, and the Sun sets: Before the holy blessed God cause▪ the Sun of one righteous Man to set, he causeth the Sun of another righteous Man to rise. Before Moses his Sun set, Joshua's Sun arose; before Elie's Sun set, Samuel's Sun arose: And this is that which is said, Before the Candle of God went out.

The Lord needed no light of Candles (no more than he needed Bread which was set upon the Shew-bread Table) nor the Priests needed no Candles in this room neither, for the Windows though they were high, yet did they give light into the Room abundantly, but God by these Candles did as it were enlighten the People to teach them Spiritual things by these Corporal, and to acquaint them with the necessity of the light of his Word, and the Bread of Salvation which came down from Heaven. And therefore when Solomon did make d 1.19 ten Candlesticks, and ten Tables, and set them intermixedly by five and five on either side the House, he added nothing to God, but he added only more splendor to the service, and more lustre to the Doctrine of the necessity of the light of the Word, and of the Bread of Life, e 1.20 Our wise Men say (saith Baal Hatturim) that the Western Lamp (which never went out) was a testimony that the Divine glory dwelt amongst Israel.

SECT. V. The Shew-bread Table.

ON the North-side of the House which was on the right Hand, stood the Shew-bread Table of two cubits long, and a cubit and a half broad, a 1.21 in the Tabernacle of Mo∣ses, b 1.22 but wanting that half cubit in breadth in the second Temple (the reason of the fal∣ling short not given by them that give the relation.) It stood length ways in its place, that is East and West, and had a Crown of Gold round about it, toward the upmost edge of it, which c 1.23 the Jews resemble to the Crown of the Kingdom.

Upon this Table there stood continually twelve Loaves, which because they stood be∣fore the Lord, they were called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 d 1.24 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, The bread of setting before, for which our English hath found a very sit word, calling it the Shew-bread: The manner of making and placing of which Loaves was thus.

e 1.25 Out of four and twenty 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Sata (three of which went to an Ephah) that is, out of eight bushel of Wheat being ground, they sifted out f 1.26 four and twenty tenth Deals g 1.27 or Omers of the purest Flower; and that they made into twelve Cakes, two Omers in a Cake; or the fifth part of an Ephah of Corn in every Cake: They made the Cakes square, namely ten Hand breadth long, and five broad, and seven Fingers thick: They were made and baked in a room that was in the great building Beth mokadh, on the North-side of the Court, as we shall shew anon, and they were baked on the day before the Sabbath.

On the Sabbath they set them on the Table in this manner: Four Priests went first in, to fetch away the Loaves that had stood all the week, and other four went in after them to bring in new ones in their stead; Two of the four last, carried the two rows of the Cakes, namely six a piece: and the other two carried either of them a golden dish,

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in which the Frankincense was to be put to be set upon the Loaves, and so those four that went to fetch out the old Bread, two of them were to carry the cakes, and the other two the dishes: these four that came to fetch the old Bread out, stood before the Table with their Faces towards the North, and the other four that brought in the new stood betwixt the Table and the Wall, with their Faces toward the South; those drew off the old cakes, and these as the other went off slipt on the new, so that the Table was never without Bread upon it, because it is said, that they should stand before the Lord con∣tinually.

They set the cakes in two rows, six and six, one upon another, and they set them, the length of the cakes cross over the breadth of the Table (by which it appears that the Crown of Gold about the Table, rose not above the surface of it, but was a border be∣low edging even with the plain of it, b 1.28 (as is well held by Rabbi Solomon) and so the cakes lay two hand breadths over the Table on either side; for the Table was but six hand breadth broad, and the cakes were ten hand breadth long: Now as for the preventing that, that which so lay over should not break off, if they had no other way to prevent it (which yet they had, but I confess that the description of it in their Authors I do not un∣derstand, yet their manner of laying the cakes one upon another, was such, as that the weight rested upon the Table, and not upon the points that hung over.

The lowest cake of either row they laid upon the plain Table: and upon that cake they laid three golden Canes at distance one from another, and upon those they laid the next cake; and then three golden Canes again, and upon them another cake, and so of the rest; save only that they laid but two such Canes upon the fifth cake, because there was but one cake more to be laid upon. Now these which I call golden Canes (and the Hebrews call them so also) were not like Reeds or Canes, perfectly round and hallow thorow, but they were like Canes or Kexes slit up the middle, and the reason of laying them thus betwixt cake and cake, was, that by their hollowness Air might come to every cake, and all might thereby be kept the better from moldiness and corrupting; and thus did the cake lie hollow, and one not touching another, and all the golden Canes being laid so, as that they lay within the compass of the breadth of the Table, the ends of the cakes that lay over the Table on either side, bare no burden but their own weight.

On the top of either row was set a golden dish with a handful of Frankincense, which when the Bread was taken away, was burnt as Incense to the Lord, Lev. XXIV. 7. and the bread went to Aaron and his sons, or to the Priests as their portions to be eaten.

What these Loaves did represent and signifie, is variously guessed: the number of twelve in two rows seem to refer to the Twelve Tribes, whose names were so divided into six, and six in the two Stones on the High Priests shoulders: And as Bread is the chief subsistence and staff of our mortal life, so the offering of these might denote an acknow∣ledgment of the people, of their receiving of all their subsistence from the Lord, to whom they presented these as their Tribute: and these aswell as the Lamps standing before the Lord, might shew, that their Spiritual and Temporal support were both before him. But our pursuit is to look after the things themselves, leaving the allegorizing of them unto others: for in such things men are most commonly more ready to give satisfaction to them∣selves, than to take it from others, for as much as the things themselves may be bended and swayed to various application.

SECT. VI. The Altar of Incense.

THE Candlestick stood on the one side of the House, and the Table on the other, and this Altar in the middle: not just betwixt them, but somewhat higher in the House toward the most Holy place than they were: These three Ornaments and furnitures of the Holy place, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a were set in a 1.29 third part of the House; that is, whereas the House (meaning the Holy place) was forty cubits long, when you had gone up six and twenty cubits, and two third parts of a cubit into the room, there stood the Table and Candlestick, and somewhat further higher towards the Veil stood this Altar.

b 1.30 It was a cubit square, and two cubits high, had four Horns at the four corners of it, and a Crown about the brim or edge of it, which the Jews say denoted the Crown of the Priest-hood: It stood not so nigh the Veil of the most Holy place, but that one might go about it; and so how the Priest did on the day of Expiation, and besprinkled the Horns of it with Blood, we observe elsewhere.

On this Altar (commonly called the golden Altar) Incense was offered Morning and Evening every day: a Figure, if you apply the action to Christ, of his Mediation; and if to man, a resemblance of the duty of Prayer. The twelve cakes which resembled the sustenance and sustentation of the Twelve Tribes, which was ever before the Lord, were renewed only once every week, but the Lamps drest, and the Incense offered twice every

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day, for we have more need of the light of Gods Word, and of Prayer, than of our dayly food. And if we will apply all the three to Christ, The Kingly Office of Christ provided Bread for his People, his Prophetick Office provided the light of his Word, and his Priestly Office the Incense of Mediation.

Notes

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