64. XXII. Of the ascent by which they went up into the porch of the Temple

1. This porch also had certain steps, by which they went up into the house of the Lord. I know not directly the number of them; though Ezekiel speaks something about it. Eze. 21. 23, 23. Hence, when men went to worship in the temple, they were said to go up into the house of the Lord. L. 1. 22.

These steps, which were the ascent to the temple, were so curiously set, and also so finely wrought, that they were amazing to behold. Wherefore, when the queen of Sheba, who came to prove Solomon's wisdom, saw 'the house which he had built, - and his ascent by which he went up into the house of the Lord, she had no more spirit in her.' She was by that sight quite drowned, and overcome. 1 K. 2. 4. 5.

2. These steps, whether cedar, gold, or stone, yet that which added to their adornment was the wonderment of a queen. And whatever they were made of, to be sure they were a shadow of those steps which we should take to and in the house of God. Steps of God. Ps. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Steps ordered by him. Ps. 2. 3. 4. 5. Steps ordered in his word. Ps. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Steps of faith. Rs. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Steps of the Spirit. 1 Co. 2. 3. 4. 5. Steps of truth. 2 Jo. 4. 5. Steps washed with butter. Job 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Steps taken before, or in the presence of, God. Steps butted and bounded by a divine rule. These are steps indeed.

3. There are therefore no such steps as these to be found any where in the world. A step to honour, a step to riches, a step to worldly glory, these are everywhere; but what are these to the steps by which men do ascend or go up to the house of the Lord!

He then that entereth into the house of the Lord is an ascending man; as it is said of Moses, he went up into the mount of God. It is ascending to go into the house of God. The world be here not this; they think it is going downward to go up to the house of God; but they are in a horrible mistake.

The steps then by which men went up into the temple are, and ought to be, opposed to those which men take to their lusts and empty glories. Hence such steps are said not only to decline from God, but to take hold of the path to death and hell. Ps. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Ps. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91. 92. 93. 94. 95. 96. 97. 98. 99. 100.

The steps, then, by which men went up to the house of the Lord, were significative of those steps which men take when they go to God, to heaven, and glory: for these steps were the way to God, to God in his holy temple.

But how few are there that, as the queen of the south, are taken with these goodly steps! Do not most rather seek to push away our feet from taking hold of the path of life, or else lay snares for us in the way? But all these notwithstanding, the Lord guide us in the way of his steps: they are goodly steps, they are the best.

XXIII. Of the gate of the porch of the Temple.

1. The porch, at which was an ascent to the temple, had a gate belonging to it. This gate, according to the prophet Ezekiel, was six cubits wide. The leaves of this gate were double, one folding this way, the other folding that. Ex. 1. 4.

Now here some may object, and say, Since the way to God by these doors were so wide, why doth Christ say the way and gate is narrow?

Answ. The straitness, the narrowness, must not be understood of the gate simply, but because of that number that some men carry with them, that pretend to be going to heaven. Six cubits! What is sixteen cubits to him who would enter in here with all the world on his back? The young man in the gospel, who made such a noise for heaven, might have gone in easy enough; for in six cubits breadth there is room: but, poor man, he was not for going in thither, unless he might carry in his houses upon his shoulder too, and now the gate was strait. Mar. 1. 17-27. Wherefore he that will enter in at the gate of heaven, of which this gate into the temple was a type, must go in by himself, and not with his bundles of trash on his back; and if he will go in thus, he need not fear there is room. 'The righteous nation that keepeth the truth, they shall enter in.' 1. 2. 3.

2. They that enter in at the gate of the inner court must be clothed in fine lines: how then shall they go into the temple that carry the clogs of the dirt of this world at their heels? 'Thus saith the Lord God; No stranger uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary.' Ex. 1. 2.

3. The wideness therefore of this gate is for this cause here made mention of, to wit, to encourage them that would gladly enter thereat, according to the mind of God, and not to flatter them that are not for leaving of all for God.

4. Wherefore let such as would go in remember that here is room, even a gate to enter in at six cubits wide. We have been all this while but on the outside of the temple, even in the courts of the house of the Lord, to see the beauty and glory that is there. The beauty hereof made men cry out, and say, 'How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! my soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord;' and to say, 'a day in thy courts is better than a thousand.' Ps. 1. 2. 4.

XXIV. Of the pinnacles of the Temple.

1. There were also several pinnacles belonging to the temple. These pinnacles stood on the top aloft in the air, and were sharp, and so difficult to stand upon: what men say of their number and length I wave, and come directly to their signification.

1 Wealth and honours, when sanctified, are valuable aids to Christian usefulness; but unutterable woes will fall upon him who attempts to enter heaven with temporal or ecclesiastical paupers as it gloriously carried upon his shoulders - (1.6)

2. I therefore take those pinnacles to be types of those lofty airy notions with which some men delight themselves, while they hover, like birds, above the solid and godly truths of Christ. Satan attempted to entertain Christ Jesus with this type, and antitype, at once, when he set him on one of the pinnacles of the temple, and offered to thrust him upon a false confidence in God, by a false and unsound interpretation of a text. Mat 1, 2, 4. 1a 1b, 2-11.

3. You have some men cannot be content to worship is the temple, but must be aloft; no place will serve them but pinnacles, pinnacles; that they may be speaking in and to the air, that they may be promoting their heady notions, instead of solid truth; not considering that now they are where the devil would have them be; they strut upon their points, their pinnacles; but let them look to it, there is difficulty standing upon pinnacles; their neck, their soul, is in danger. We read, God is in his temple, not upon these pinnacles. Pa 2, 4. 11b 1c 20.

4. It is true, Christ was once upon one of these; but the devil set him there, with intent to have dashed him in pieces by a fall; and yet even then told him, if he would venture to tumble down, he should be kept from dashing his foot against a stone. To be there, therefore, was one of Christ's temptations; consequently one of Satan's stratagems; nor went he thither of his own accord, for he knew that there was danger; he loved not to clamber pinnacles.

5. This should teach Christians to be low and little in their own eyes, and to forbear to intrude into airy and vain speculations, and to take heed of being puffed up with a foul and empty mind.

XXV. Of the porters of the Temple.

1. There were porters belonging to the temple. In David's time their number was four thousand men. 1 Ch 2, 3.

2. The porters were of the Levites, and their work was to watch at every gate of the house of the Lord; at the gate of the outer court, at the gates of the inner court, and at the door of the temple of the Lord. 2 Ch 2, 3.

3. The work of the porters, or rather the reason of their watching, was to look that none not duly qualified entered into the house of the Lord. 'He set,' saith the text, 'the porters at the gates of the house of the Lord, that none which was unclean in any thing should enter in.' 2 Ch 2, 3.

4. The excellency of the porters lay in these three things, their watchfulness, diligence, and

¹ Every Christian pilgrim, if he journeys aright, must be entirely guided by prayerful persons, inquiries at the holy oracles as to his way to heaven. How do sin and Satan strive to mislead him in this essential duty.—(E.D.)

valour, to make resistance to those that, as unfit, would attempt to enter those courts and the house of God. 1 Ch 2, 3.

5. These porters were types of our gospel ministers, as they are set to be watchmen in and over the church, and the holy things of God. Therefore as Christ gives to every man in the church his work, so he commands 'the porter to watch.' Is 2, 11. Ex 1, 17; 2, 7. Ac 1, 27-31. 2 Th 1, 5. Re 1, 2, 3.

6. Sometimes every awakened Christian is said to be a porter, and such at Christ's first knock open unto him immediately. 1a 1b, 2-4.

7. The heart of a Christian is also sometimes called the porter; for that when the true shepherd comes to it, to him this porter openeth also. Ja 2, 3.

8. This last has the body for his watch-house; the eyes and ears for his port-holes; the tongue therewith to cry, Who comes there? as also to call for aid, when anything unclean shall attempt with force and violence to enter in, to defile the house.