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judgment, and performing no act of worship but such CHAP. as they were moved to, by the inward light and evidence of the quickening Spirit.

6. Being thus wholly cut off from the fruitless inventions and precepts of men, and wholly dependent on the author and fountain of life, they devoted themselves to do his will in all things wherein it might be made manifest. Hence the light, and truth, and revelation of God increased among them, until, by the special operation of his power, they were moved to go forth and worship God in the dance: which had been expressly signified by the law and the prophets, as the peculiar manner of worship to be established in the latter day.

7. And as the work of full redemption, and the worship of God attending it, were to be introduced in the line of the female; therefore it is particularly worthy of notice, that through the order of the female, both the example and promise were given, through all the law and the prophets, which may evidently appear from what follows.

Exod. xv.

to 20

with Rev XV. 2, 30

8. The deliverance of the children of Israel from under Pharoah, and their escape through the Red Compare sea, was a plain and striking figure of the day of full 1 redemption, from the bondage and dominion of sin, as may appear from the song of Moses and the children of Israel. And therefore it was that Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her, with timbrels, and with dances.

9. The same manner of worship was also continued, on all the most triumphant occasions, among the Israelites, after they were established in the promised land, and commonly practised on obtaining victory over their enemies, and was expressive of their joy and thankfulness for the extraordinary power and presence of God.

10. The first abode of the Ark of God, was in Shiloh, and it was there, at the yearly feasts of the Lord, that the virgins or daughters of Shiloh, went forth to dance in dances. This, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh, was an abiding figure of the true worship in Christ, at the bringing in the Ark of the Covenant of God in the latter day.

CHAP.

IX.

11. Also when the king of Israel returned, after the victory over Goliah the Philistine, (a type of An1 Samuel tichrist) The women came out of all the cities of Israel, Avi. 6 singing and dancing.

1 Chron. xiii. 8.

12. Again, the final establishment of the Ark of God and his Testament, was prefigured when the typical Ark was removed from Shiloh to the city of David, being accompanied with the same solemn exercise And David and all Israel played [that is, danced] before God with all their might, and with singing.

13. But when Michal, the proud daughter of Saul, 2 Sam.vi. saw David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she 24-23. despised him in her heart, and scornfully reproached him for dishonouring his dignity as a king, by shamelessly uncovering himself (as she said) in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants; and counted him and all the rest as vain fellows.

Lam. v.
15.
See Psal.
CXXXVI.

14. But David said to Michal, "It was before the Lord, who chose me before thy father, to appoint me ruler over Israel: therefore will I play before the Lord. And I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be base in mine own sight; and of the maid-servants which thou hast spoken of, of them shall I be had in honour." Therefore, as a punishment for despising that which God accepted, Michal, the daughter of Saul, had no child to the day of her death.

15. It is therefore evident, that it was a peculiar worship, practised among the children of Israel, on the most joyful and important occasions, during their prosperity; and that it was acceptable unto God, and was the highest expression of joy and gratitude that could possibly be used on those occasions, and served. as a figure of the joy and triumph of the saints in the latter day.

16. But in the time of their captivity at Babylon, this sacred exercise was entirely lost from the people of God, and like the vessels of the sanctuary, profaned by the wicked in the service of the Devil. And hence the lamentation of the prophet Jeremiah, The joy of our heart is ceased, our dance is turned into mourning.

17. And although the wicked unjustly took, and

1x.

used this manner of worship in their idolatrous feasts, CHAP. yet there was a promise of restoring it to the people of God in the latter day: hence a plain figure of this Dan.. restoration, was the bringing back to Jerusalem, and 23, cleansing again, those vessels and ornaments of the temple which had been so impiously abused in their feasts at Babylon.

Ezra i. 7.

18. The promise that this mode of worship should be restored to the people of God, in the latter day, evidently appears from the most express and pointed prophecies, given in the time of the captivity. Thus the Lord by the prophet Jeremiah: "Behold, I will Jer. xxx. bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have 18 to 24, mercy on his dwelling places :—And out of them shall proceed thanks-giving, and the voice of them that make merry-In the latter days ye shall consider it.”

19. "Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be xxxi. 4 built, O virgin of Israel-and thou shalt go forth in 14. the dances of them that make merry.-Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord.-Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow."

20. The same in substance was also promised Hosea through the prophet Hosea, speaking of the valley 15. of Achor (which alludes to the confession and mortification of sin) it is expressly said, She shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up out of the land af Egypt. Which alludes to the deliverance of Israel on the banks of the Red sea.

21. Thus it is evident, that the promise of God for the restoration of this solemn exercise, was given in the line of the female, to virgins, or such as were pure and undefiled before God; and it was to such only that this worship was to be restored in the latter day.

22. But as these things could not be fulfilled in Christ's first appearing, therefore he renewed the promises, which were made through the prophets, saying, "All things must be fulfilled which were Luke written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets and xxiv. 44.

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CHAP. in the Psalms, concerning me." Which, in this particular, was more expressly alluded to in his parable of the younger son, who returned to his father's house, and being stript of his old garments, and Luke xv. cloathed with the best robe, there was Music and Dancing.

25.

23. But the elder son was offended, and would not go in. Which was particularly expressive of the effect of this manner of worship, in making a separation between the old leaven of malice and wickedness, and the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

24. It is not merely the external performance of the present worship of God, by which any are justified; but the same being given by the special gift and revelation of God, according to promise, it is therefore an outward manifestation of the power of the Holy Ghost, which is effectual, in the hearts of the faithful, to the destruction of the nature of sin.

25. And thus, by uniting together in one faith, to worship God according to his own appointment, Believers are baptized into one Spirit, and grow up together in Christ as the members of one body and this manner of worship to the people of God, is not empty, nor carnal; but mighty through God, joyful as heaven, and solemn as eternity.

TH

CHAPTER X.

The Holy Scriptures.

HOSE Books which have been collected into one, under the title of Holy Scriptures, are so called from their being written by holy men, who were moved by the Holy Ghost. And as far as they have been preserved entire, in their original sense, free from the errors of translators and transcribers, they are justly denominated "The Scriptures of Truth."

2. They contain a true account of the will and purposes of God, revealed to man in different ages of the

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X.

world, and of the operations of his power, from the CHAP. beginning of the world, relative to the salvation of souls, until the real work of redemption began: and they contain also the true predictions of all the principal events that were to take place in the earth, until the work of redemption should be finally accomplished.

3. But as the scriptures are composed of letters, and letters are no more than signs, marks, or shadows of things, and not the very substance of the things which they signify; therefore it is contrary to the dictates of reason and common sense to suppose that any of those real things are in the scriptures, of which they contain a written account.

4. They contain an account of the Spirit by which the writers thereof were inspired, but they do not contain that Spirit itself: They contain a true record of the promise of eternal life, but that eternal life is not in the Scriptures, but in the Son of God, according to the record of truth. "Search the Scriptures, John v. (said Christ to the Pharisees,) for in them ye think 59. ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me."

5. The Scriptures contain a true account of the law of God, but Scripture is not that law. "I will Jer. xxxi. put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their 33. hearts." They also contain an account of the Gospel of Christ, but they are not the gospel itself.

16.

6. The beginning of the Gospel is not the beginning of the Bible, but the beginning of the power of Rom. i. God unto salvation: for the Gospel itself is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth in the power of God, wherever it is made manifest, by living and chosen witnesses of God, who have it in possession.

7. The Scriptures also contain a true account of the Word in different ages, according as it was delivered at sundry times, and in divers manners; but the Scriptures themselves are not that Word, but a record of the operation of that Word in different ages.

8. So when it is said, The Word of God came to Abraham, or Moses, or to any of the prophets, it was not the Bible that came to them; but the Word of God which is quick and powerful, sharper than any is

Heh, ir.

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