them up in, and carry them through whatever fervice he engages them in; his ftrength is made perfect in their weakness, and as their day is, their strength is; fo he has promised, and fo he performs. Remember and confider, that they that be wife, and teach and instruct others, shall fine as the brightness of the firmament in the kingdom-ftate; and they that turn many to righteoufnefs, or justify many, by teaching the doctrine of juftification, or directing fouls to the righteousness of Chrift alone for it, fhall be as the stars for ever and ever; that thofe who have taken good heed to their flocks, over which the Holy Ghost hath made them overfeers, and have faithfully fed them, and carefully watched over them, when the chief shepherd shall appear, shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away; and will hear from Chrift, well done, good and faithful fervant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord'. But I proceed to obferve, II. The prayer or wifh of the apoftle for Timothy, that the Lord would give him understanding in all things; and upon this I shall be very fhort; only drop a few things by way of explanation of it: and by all things, in which he defires he might have an understanding, he does not mean all things natural and civil; indeed the understanding of all fuch things comes from God; every good and perfect gift in nature, or in providence, as well as in grace, comes from the Father of lights; all the wisdom and knowledge which Bezaleel and Aboliab had for devifing and working curious works for the tabernacle, were of God; he put it into their hearts, and filled them with wifdom, knowledge, and understanding in these things; yea, even all the understanding the ploughman has in ploughing the ground, and breaking the clods, and harrowing them, and in fowing his feed, is all from God; he inftructs him to difcretion; this comes from him who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working; and so the same may be said of knowledge of all natural and civil things, of all arts and sciences, liberal and mechanic and indeed a minifter of the word had need to be acquainted with all things in nature and civil life, thoroughly to understand all things contained in the fcriptures of truth; fince there are fuch a variety of metaphors, and fo many allufions to things natural and civil; and fuch an adorable fulness in them, as Tertullian expreffes it. But the apoftle, no doubt, means understanding in fpiritual things, in the fcriptures, in the doctrines and myfteries of grace. The understanding of man is naturally dark as to thofe things; it is the Lord that gives men an understanding to know them, that opens their hearts, and enlightens their minds by the spirit of wisdom and revelation, in the knowledge of them; for whatever understanding natural men may have of natural things, they have none of fpiritual ones; there is none that understandelb a Dan. xii. 4. f Matt. xxv. 21. & Jam. i. 17. derftandeth, there is none that feeketh after God'. Now, befides the understanding of fpiritual things, which God gives in common to his people, he gives to his minifters a larger understanding of divine things, and of the fcriptures and the truths of them; he opens their understandings, as Chrift did his difciples, that they may understand the fcriptures; he gives unto them to know the myfteries of the kingdom of heaven, to a greater degree than he does to others; and he enlarges their understandings, and increases their gifts, their light, and knowledge; which is what the apostle in a more especial manner prays for here, on the account of Timothy; that he might be better inftructed in every thing relative to his office, as an evangelift and minifter of the word, and know how to behave in the church of God, which is the houfe of God, the pillar and ground of truth; and which is the principal end of his writing this; and the former epistle to him. I have only one obfervation more to make, and that is, that the clause may be confidered as an affertion, or a promise, and the Lord will give thee understanding in all things; and fo is ufed as an encouragement to confider well what had been faid, and to expect a richer furniture of knowledge, and a larger measure of spiritual light and understanding; and as Christ gives more light to his people, who are made light by him; and there is such a thing as growing in grace, and in the knowledge of Chrift, and of all spiritual things, in common chriftians; and the path of the juft is as the shining light that shines more and more unto the perfect day; fo faithful minifters of the word, who are diligent and industrious in their work, may expect, and be affured, that God will give them an enlarged knowledge and understanding of divine truths, and of every thing neceffary to the due performance of that facred work they are called unto, and holy office they are invefted with. I fhall clofe, as I begun, with the words of my text, Confider what I fay, or have been faying; confider the work of the miniftry, that it is a work, and a laborious one, yet honourable and deferving of esteem from men; and that God will never leave his fervants in it: confider the feveral parts of it, as the miniftration of the gospel, the administration of ordinances, the care of the difcipline of Chrift's house, and vifiting the afflicted and diftreffed: confider the neceffary qualifications for it, and the things that are useful to the performance of it: confider the means to be made use of to enable for the better and more regular exercise of spiritual gifts; and the difficulties and discouragements that, on the one hand, attend this work; and, on the other, the encouragements to go on in it; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things; in all divine and spiritual things, in the truths of the gofpel, and in every thing relative to your office, and the due difcharge of it, you have this day been invested with. May the bleffing of God rest upon you, and may you have success in your work. ↑ Rom. iii. 12. *Tim. iii, 14, 15. SERMON The Doctrine of the Cherubim Opened and Explained. A SERMON at the ORDINATION of the Reverend Mr JOHN DAVIS, at Waltham-Abbey. Preached August 15, 1764. EZEKIEL X. 20. This is the living creature, that I faw under the God of Ifrael, by the river of Chebar; and I knew that they were the Cherubim. EING defired to fay fomething to you, my Brother, on this occafion, relative to the minifterial character you bear, and to the work you have been called to, and to the office you have been at this time invested with; my thoughts have been led to this paffage of fcripture. This is the living creature; or creatures, the fingular for the plural; for there were four living creatures which Ezekiel faw in the vision he refers to; these he saw under the God of Ifrael, under a firmament over the heads of thefe creatures; above which was the appearance of a man in a moft glorious and illuftrious form; and who was no other than the Son of God, who was to be incarnate, and here called the God of Ifrael; and which is no inconfiderable proof of our Lord's proper Deity, for the God of Ifrael must be the true God: this vifion the prophet had by the river of Chebar ; a river in Chaldea, where the captive Jews affembled, and Ezekiel with them; and when he had the vifion, as now repeated to him, the objects in it became more familiar to him; and he more wiftly looked at them, and perceived and was well affured, that the living creatures he faw were the cherubim; or were of the fame form and figure with the cherubim in the tabernacle of Moses and temple of Solomon; for though he was not an high priest, only a common priest, and fo could never have seen the cherubim in the most holy place himself, yet he might have had an account of them from an high priest who had seen them; and befides there were figures of the cherubim carved upon the walls of the temple all around, and upon the doors of it; which, as his business was to be fre frequently in the temple, he must have often feen, and full well knew them. See allo ver. 15. where the fame is affirmed as here. It may feem strange to you at first, that I fhould read fuch a paffage of fcripture on such an occafion; but it will not appear fo long, when I inform you that my intention is, by opening and explaining the emblems of the cherubim, to lay before you the qualifications, duties, work, and ufefulness of the minifters of the gospel, to make way for which, it will be proper to inquire what the cherubim were, and what they fignified; in order to which we must look both backwards and forwards, to the account of them in fcripture, both before and after these vifions of Ezekiel. The account begins early, proceeds gradually, and by degrees becomes more clear, distinct, and perfect. The first mention of the cherubim is in Gen. iii. 24. quickly after the fall of man, and at his expulfion from the garden of Eden; when Jehovah placed at the east of the garden of Eden, cherubim, and a flaming fword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life; but we are not told what these cherubim were, whether real creatures or only figures, nor what their form, nor their number, only their pofition at the east of the garden of Eden, and their ufe, to keep the way of the tree of life, the meaning of which will be given hereafter; only it may be obferved, that Mofes calls them the cherubim, for the word in the original has the prepofitive and emphatic article; as if they were well known, as they were to Mofes, and might be to the people of Ifrael through him, who could inform them of them; for the book of Genefis was written after Mofes had the order to make the cherubim, and place them with the mercy-feat over the ark in the holy of holies, as related in Exodus xxv. 18-22. from whence we learn, that the cherubim were figures of winged creatures; that they were in number two; that they were made of gold, of the fame mass with the mercy feat; that they stood at both ends of it, looking to one another and to that, and overshadowed it with their wings; and were fo placed as to make a feat for the divine Majefty, who took up his refidence here, and therefore afterwards is often defcribed by him that dwelleth between the cherubim. The fame figures were fet in the most holy place in Solomon's temple; and where alfo were two others of a larger fize, made not of gold, but of olive-wood gilded, and whofe wings extended, and touching each other, reached from one fide of the holy of holies to the other; but still we are at a lofs for the exact form of these figures: this is fupplied in the visions of Ezekiel, related in this and in the first chapter; in which, four living creatures, he afferts to be the cherubim, are particularlydescribed by their faces, their wings, their hands, and their feet, and by the In the Targums of Jonathan and Jerufalem on the place, they are faid to be two. fhining את הכר בים • fhining appearance of the whole; but ftill we are left in the dark what thefe creatures were emblems of, until the gofpel-difpenfation took place, which brings dark things into light; when John had a vifion fimilar to thofe of Ezekiel, with a very little variation, in which he had a more perfect view of the living creatures, and which gives a more exact defcription of them, of their fituation and employment; that they were round about the throne of God, were rational creatures, and fpiritual and conftant worshippers of the divine Being, or however, emblems of fuch; with other marks and circumftances, by which it may be known with fome certainty, who they were, or who are intended by them. The vision is related in Rev. iv. 6-9. and is the key to the interpretation of the cherubim. From whence it appears, First, That these were not emblems of the divine perfons in the Godhead. It is a fancy that fome of late have embraced, and are greatly elated with it, as a wonderful discovery; that the cherubim are an hieroglyphic, the three faces of the ox, lion, and eagle, of the Trinity of perfons in the Deity, and the face of a man joined to them, of the incarnation of the Son of God; and would have the word cherubim pronounced ce-rubbim, and tranflated as the mighty ones; but this is a mere fancy and falfe notion: For, 1. John's four beasts, or rather living creatures, as the word fhould be rendered, for that of beafts is an uncomely translation, the fame with Ezekiel's living creatures, and which he affirms to be the cherubim, are represented as worshippers of the divine Being, and therefore cannot be emblems of the object of worship. They are faid not only to be about the throne of God, and to admire and adore the attribute of holiness, and ascribe it to the almighty Being; but to give glory, honour, and thanks to him; to fall down and worship God, yea, to fall down before the Lamb in a worshipping posture, and to give the lead to others in divine worship. See Rev. iv. 8-10. and v. 8, 14. and xix. 4. 2. The cherubim are in many places most manifeftly diftinguished from the divine Being; they are represented as the feat or throne on which he fits, and as a vehicle in which he rides; so they are described at the first mention of them in Gen. iii. 24. where the words may be rendered be, Jehovah, inhabited the cherubim, or dwelt with, over, or between them; and fo he did in the cherubim over the mercy-feat, from between which he promised to commune with Moses; and therefore, as before observed, is often described as dwelling between the cherubim, and on which he is faid to ride. See Exodus xxv. 22. Pfalm lxxx. 1. and xviii. 10. and here the living creatures in my text are faid to be under the God of Ifrael, and so distinct from him; and in John's vision are defcribed as about the throne of God, and as diftinct from him that fat upon • Vide Texelii Phoenix, 1. 3. c. 7. p. 256, 257. |