than commenfurate to all the boundless defires of our immortal fouls? Pet. i. 8. whom having not feen, ye love; in wh m, though now ye fee him not, yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Thus the jubilation might be typical of our fpiritual and folemn joy in GoD, Luke i. 46. My foul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit doth rejoice in God my Saviour.

Secondly, The Jubilee was a year of release from fervitude and bondage, v. 40. in which refpect it might be typical of our spiritual release from our fervitude and flavery to fin and Satan, by regenerating grace; for by nature we are all the fervants of fin, and in bondage to our own corruptions; purfue the dictates of our corrupt inclinations, gratifying our minds in carnal pleafures, thinking that there is no greater happiness than what this world affords, and therefore we are in bondage to it, and are fervants and flaves to the things thereof. But, by the Jubilee of divine grace, there is a sweet release, a joyful redemption from this bondage, liberty for captives, the opening of the prifon door to them that are bound; thereby we are delivered from our mafter the Devil, for faith the Apostle, Rom. vi. 16. his fervants ye are, to whom ye obey. We are also delivered from the flavery of our own corruptions, for grace always commands a deliverance, and difpoffeffeth the strong man armed: Sin no longer reins over us, we become CHRIST'S freemen, denifons of his heavenly city, for if the fon make us free then are we free indeed. We leave our old master to seek for a new fervice; the Jubilee being come, divine grace taking poffeffion of our minds, we were glad, we rejoiced at heart to be free from fin, as to its reigning power, which held us in bondage-free from Satan, who exercifed dominion and authority over us-free from the condemnation of the law, which threatened to condemn us to hell; likewife to be free citizens of Zion, to have a place and a name in the house of our GoD, to fit with the King at the banquet, to walk with him in the galleries of his grace, and to talk with him as a man talketh with his friend.

Thirdly, The Jubliee was not only a year of releafe from fervitude, but a year of poffeffion, v. 28. that whatever had been a man's own before, though it had been fold, it returned to him at the Jubilee year; that which is fold, fhall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it, until the year of the Jubilee, and in the jubilee it shall go out, and he shall return to his poffeffion. In which refpect, it might be typical of grace and glory being our inheritance, as the donation of everlasting love, but, by fin, we loft our right of enjoyment to it, though not

our title and intereft in it. For when the year of Jubilee came, I mean, when divine grace took poffeffion of our fouls, being freed from the flavery of Satan, we then by faith took poffeffion of our inheritance, viz. of all the bleffings and promiles in the word of GOD; in a word, of GoD himfelf, who is the inheritance of his people, therefore, faith the believer, Lam. . 24. The Lord is my portion, faith my foul. And what richer inheritance can the foul poffefs? What larger treasure can it defire than a poffeffion of all nature, grace, and glory? For all is yours, faith the Apostle, life, or death, things prefent, or things to come; all are yours, 1 Cor. iii. 22. O! amazing grace! What! Is GOD our inheritance! Heaven our habitation! Angels our companions! Saints our affociates! What, is this the donation of grace? the inheritance of fovereign love? Yes, 1 Pet. i. 3, 4, 5, 6. Bleed be the God and Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift, which according to his bath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the refurrection of Jefus Chrift from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, referved in Heaven for us, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto Jalvation; wherein ye greatly rejoice.

abundant mercy

Fourth. In the year of jubilee, freedom from fervitude, and poffeffion of inheritance was free; there was no money nor price to be paid. In which refpect, I apprehend it to be typical of the freedom of divine grace in regeneration; for when GOD commands deliverance by fovereign grace to a captive foul, he doth it freely, without any reluctancy in himself, or motive taken from the creature, for grace rifeth like a fpring in his mind, and floweth freely therefrom, like flowing freams, Ifa. lv. 1. Ho, every one that thirfteth, come ye to the waters, and be that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money, and without price. The fun doth not fo freely rejoice to run its race, nor the clouds drop their gentle dews, nor waters proceed from fountains, fo freely as the love of GOD flows to his people; for he faith, Hof. xiv. 4. I will love them freely. And as grace is glory begun, fo likewife glory in its full poffeffion and enjoyment, is the free gift of his love, the donation of his heart, and the confummate defigns of his favour, Rom. vi. 23. But the gift of God is eternal life, through Jefus Christ our Lord.

Friendly. Why was the jubilee proclaimed with the found of a trumpet?

Truth. Because it was a joyful time, efpecially to fervants and the poor of the land, therefore they proclaimed it with a

joyful found, or with the found of trumpets through the land. This was typical of the joyful found of the gofpel, which was ufhered in by Angels with a note of admiration, Behold! I bring you glad tidings of great joy, which fhall be unto all people; which was a joyful jubilee, the year of falvation being come, redemption founds from pole to pole, through diftant lands the jubilee is made known. The trumpet of the gospel proclaims the joyful jubilee of pardon, life and peace; a releafe from fin, death, and hell; and full and ample provifion, not only to render life comfortable, but the foul happy for time and eternity, Pfal. lxxxix. 15. Blessed is the people that know the joyful found; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance. And the trumpets being made of filver, Numb. x. 2. may denote the value and preciousness of the gofpel, and the ineftimable worth of thofe bleffings, which the filver trumpet of JEHOVAH's word makes known, for faith the LORD, Joel ii. 1. Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, aud found an alarm in my holy mountain, Ifa. lviii. 1. Cry aloud, fpare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and fhew my people their tranf greffions, and the house of Jacob their fins. The minifters of CHRIST are trumpeters in Zion, to found forth the word of. the LORD to his people; and, O! what a pleasant found, what harmonious mufic doth the gofpel convey to our ears! How charming to the guilty mind, is the found of pardoning blood and atonement? How attracting is the found of light to the blind, liberty to captives, of cloathing to the naked, food to the hungry, and falvation to the loft! Ifa. xxvii. 13. And it fhall come to pass, in that day, that the great trumpet fhall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish. O! sweet news! joyful tidings! happy meffage of love! they fhall come which were ready to perish! which denotes, not only the joyfulness of the found, but the life and liberty which the gospel gives, Ifa. xxx. 21. And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, faying, this is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

Laftly, May not the jubilee be typical of the believers walking at liberty, in the full affurance of faith? for in the jubilee year, the fervant had a full affurance of his liberty, from the fervitude of his mafter, and likewife a full affurance of his poffeffion and inheritance. In which refpect, I apprehend it to be typical of a foul walking at liberty, in the full affurance of faith, that it is freed from the condemnation of the law, that it is loved, approved of, juftified in, and faved by, the righ teousness of CHRIST; that its falvation is not hung in the

clouds of defpondency and fear, but is a thing established in the mind, fealed in the understanding by the Holy Spirit of promile. The foul likewife takes poffeffion of the riches of eternity, of the glory of heaven, of the treasures of grace, not only as having a right unto it, as the free gift of GOD, but humbly take the poffeffion of it as its own; enjoys it by faith, which is the fubftance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not jeen; the inheritance is brought home to the foul, or in other words, the foul is brought to the poffeffion of its inheritance, as it lives upon the promifes and bleflings of the Covenant as its own; upon pardon, victory, life and falvation, as its own; being a legacy fealed to it by the SAVIOUR'S death, bequeathed to it by his laft will and teftament; yea, upon CHRIST as its own portion, Cant. v. 16. This is my beloved, and my friend. John xxii. 28. My Lord, and my

God.

Mr. Ainsworth obferves, that the Jews themselves had fome fuch understanding of the jubilee; who fay, that blowing the trumpets, the Greek tranflateth it, a memorial of trumpets; the Chaldee, a memorial of fhouting; the Hebrew, Trugnah; which is here ufed, and fignifies a loud fhouting noife, commonly for joy; and that it had a myftical fignification, which they thus explain, "Awake, ye fleepers out of your fleep; and ye deep leepers out of your deep fleep; and make enquiry into your "works, and turn by repentance, and remember your Creator; behold they that forget the truth, through the vanity "of the times, and that go aftray all the year in vanity and "emptiness, which will not profit nor deliver; look to your "fouls, amend your ways and actions, and let every one of forfake his evil way. And all the house of Ifrael were

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(that is upon this day) to do many alms-deeds and good works, and to exercise themselves in the command

ments, from the beginning of the year unto the day of atonement, more than all the days of the year; and they used to in the and to

"of fupplication for grace, & in the fynagogues, with words

Friendly. Did the Jews obey the ceremonies of the law, and the fervices of the fanctuary, with a view to obtain life and falvation by their obedience?

Truth. Doubtlefs there were fome among the Jews, as well as among us Chriftians, who placed (Arminian like) their hope of heaven and happiness upon their obedience; and thereby religiously perifhed. But it is certain, that many thoufands in Ifracl, had a more fpiritual understanding of their obedience;

or

as a proof, take the following, as the Hebrew doctors relate it, which I think is fomething remarkable in thofe early ages of the church; "Let not a man fay, lo, I do the law, and exer"cife myfelf in the wifdom thereof, to the end that I may "receive all the bleffings that are written therein; or that I may be worthy of life in the world to come; and I will "keep me from the tranfgreffion which it warneth me of, that σε Ι may be delivered from the curfe written in the law of GOD; that I be not cut off from the life in the world to come. "It is not meet to ferve God after this manner, for he that "ferveth thus, ferveth of fear, &c. but he that ferveth of love, "exerciseth himself in the law, and walketh not because of <l any thing in the world, nor for fear of evil, or that he may "inherit good things, doth the truth, but because it is the "truth, &c. and this is a very great dignity, which no wife "man (by nature) is worthy of; and it was the dignity of "Abraham, our father, whom the holy, bleffed GOD, called "his lover or friend, Ifa. xli. 8. becaufe he ferved him out of pure love; and this is the dignity which God commandeth

us by the hand of Mofes, faying, Deut. vi. 5. And thou shalt "love the Lord thy God, with all thine heart, with all thy faul, "and with all thy might. And what time a man loveth the "LORD, with a love convenient, immediately he will do all "the commandments out of love." Maimonides, treating of repentance, Chap. x. Sect. 1, 2. Apoftle doth, all thefe died in the faith, not having received the We might fay of fuch as the promifes; but having feen them afar off, and were perfuaded of them, Heb. xi. 13.

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Friendly. This affords me a pleafing fatisfaction, that faith, when genuine, worketh by love; and yet it reverberates, a keen, but seasonable reflection in my mind: "What did love, "pure love to GOD, influence the minds of the Jews, to an "obediential regard to fuch numberlefs ceremonies and fervices "of the fanctuary? Love that came to them by fhadows, and "adumbrations under the law? And fhall not the fuperlative, " radiant love of CHRIST, which fhines as bright as Heaven "in his word, and at times upon my heart, influence my mind "to acts of love and heavenly obedience?" What the Saints enjoyed under the law were but shadows of good things to come; but we enjoy CHRIST, which is the fum and fubftance of all; their fervice was a yoke which neither we nor our forefathers were able to bear; but ours is perfect liberty, (Ĝal. v. 1. Stand faft in the liberty, wherewith Chrift hath made us free.) And thall not all this diftinguishing love and enjoyment.