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of a monster, as Chrift was to be fwal- LECT. lowed up like other men by the devouring jaws of death. As the prophet was detained there three days, Chrift was fo long to be confined to the fepulchre: and as Jonah was reftored to the light at the divine command, so was Christ to rise again from the dead. Jonah was therefore a fign of his death and refurrection, fuch as no words could have delivered; for å miraculous fact is beft fignified by a miraculous fign, which fhews us that the thing was known and determined before it came to pass.

Such another fign was Solomon; the fame of whose wisdom brought the Queen of Sheba from a heathen land to hear his words, and wonder at the greatnefs of his kingdom, and admire the order of his government: a fign that the Gentiles fhould liften to the word of him that was greater than Solomon, and be converted to the laws and œconomy of his fpiritual kingdom; while the Jews fhould defpife his words and perfecute his church: for which the example

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LECT. example of the Queen of Sheba fhall rife in judgment to condemn them.

4. Next to the perfons of the prophets is the history of the church at large; concerning which the wisdom of God ordained, that things past should reprefent things to come, and serve as admonitions and figns to the people of God to the end of the world. Hence it comes to pass, that no Scripture is of any private interpretation: its sense does not end in the perfons of whom it fpeaks, but is of public application for the benefit of all places and of all times. The apostle speaking of fome remarkable circumstances in the hiftory of the church, affures us, that all those things happened for enfamples, and are written for our admonition. The deliverance of the Hebrews from Egypt was a pledge of our deliverance from this world of fin and bondage; the service of which is perfect flavery, like that of the Hebrews under Pharaoh. Their temptations in the wilderness were like our trials in the paffage through this mortal life. Their fettle

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ment in Canaan is an earnest to us, that if LECT. we commit ourselves in faith to the guidance of God, we fhall in like manner obtain the promised inheritance; and that without faith, we shall fall short of it.

Laftly, the actions of the prophets, and particularly of Chrift himself, were figurative and prophetical; they are therefore called figns as well as miracles, because they carried an inftructive fignification, and pointed to fomething greater than themfelves. The ways of divine wisdom are comprehenfive, and answer many purposes at once. Our Saviour performed many mighty works, that for the fake of them men might believe him to be the Saviour of the world; but then they were withal of such a fort, as to admit of an application to the ftate of all Chriftians. We do not hear his voice, bidding us leave our companions in the ship and walk towards him upon the water but all that will come to him must have their faith exercifed, as that of Peter was, upon the waves of this troublesome world; they must undertake a hazardous paffage,

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LECT. paffage, in which nothing but the power of Chrift can fupport them; and if they cry to him, the same right hand, which faved the fearful Apoftle will be stretched out to help them in all their dangers and neceffities; and the fame goodness will be tender toward their infirmity in the hour of trial; reproving and yet pardoning the deficiencies of their faith.

All the miracles of Chrift are after this pattern; they are signs of falvation in all ages, and admit of a general application to every member of the church, with whom the fame miraculous power is ftill present, and acting for the highest purposes, though invisible to mortal fight.

To one or other of these five heads, the fpiritual language of the fcripture may be reduced, and from them the matter of it is borrowed: 1. From the images of nature, or visible things as representations of things invisible. 2. From the inftitutions of the Jaw, as prefiguring the things of the gof

* See the collect for the fecond Sunday after the Epiphany.

pel.

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pel. 3. From the perfons of the LECT. phets, as types of the great prophet and Saviour that was to come. 4. From the hiftory of the church of Ifrael as an enfample to the christian world. 5. From the miraculous acts of Mofes, Chrift, and others, as figns of the faving power of God towards the fouls of men. All these things compose the figurative language of the bible; and that interpretation which opens and applies them to the objects of faith, is called a Spiritual intrepretation; as being agreeable to that teftimony of Jefus, which is the spirit of prophecy.

I have been thus particular in the divifion of my fubject, that by understanding at the beginning what my design is in the whole, it may always be known, as I proceed in it, what part I am upon.

Of this figurative language, the elements first to be understood are those which are borrowed from the images of nature. And here a vast field is open to us, as wide as the world itself. If we confider it in due