The Gofpel of the Brazen Altars 367 of Earth 'halt thou make unto me, and (halt facrifice thereon thy Burnt- Offerings and thy Peace-Offerings 2 Chron. 8. 12. Then Solomon offered Burnt-Offerings s unto the Lord, on the Altar of the Lord which he bad built before the Porch. The Altar did two things, I. It fupported the Sacrifice ; for the Sacrifice was laid upon it. 2. It fanl?ified the Sacrifice, and made it holy and acceptable to the Lord. The Altar it felf was firft confecrated with holy Oyl, Numb. 7. 1. and then it did confecrate and fanaifie other things, Exod. 29. 37. Whatfoever toucheth the Altar fhall be holy : Therefore it is Paid,, The Altar fhail be holinefs of holineffes, or i ioft holy, Exod. 40. to. But now here comes in a Queftion ; How it came that the Fire of the Altar roar not fometimes put out by the fhowers of Raw ? And how it could fuffice for the confuming fo many Sacrifices, and that the Sacri- fices did not fill the Court with Soot and Smoak, and Flies, and Pu- trefaaion, from the Offal and Ordure of fo many Beath there flain? Slaughter-houfes are very noyfom and offenfive, efpecially in Summer- time. I meet with a twofold Anfwer unto this, t. The Fire of the Altar was no ordinary and culinary Fire, but Celeftial. and Divine : And as it came down from Heaven, 2 Chron. 7. t. and'. was fo far from being quenchable by Rain or Water, that it would prefently lick it up, as it did, t Kings 18.38. when the Trench was filled with twelve Barrels of Water : So it left not fuch a. footyFecu- lence behind it as common Fire Both. We fee in Lightning,howquickly,., and in an inttant, it confumes any thing that refills it. The Altar of the Lord is called Ariel, Ifa. 29 1. that is, The Lyon of God, and a very devouring Lyon it was. Fuller Pi/gab-fight, p. 394. 2. There feems to have been fomething of a peculiar Providence in it. The Heathen Temples were fuch ftinking Places, and fo infefted with fwarms of Flies, that came to feed upon their Sacrifices, that the yews were wont in an holy Scorn to call the Devil Baal-z.ebub : It is the name of the Idol at Ekren, 2 Kings 1. 2. and Mark3. 22. and Luke t 1. 15. as much as to fay, Dominus mufcarum, the God of Flies not able to drive away a Flie. The Ekronites, it is thought, called their Idol Bayal.zebachima. the. Lord of Sacrifices. Some Heathen Writers fpeak of Temples built jovi cc9rofsrm mufcarum abaf?ori, to Gre Greg. texics. .upiter the Fly-chafer, fang Tu. x66. But let this fuffice for the literal Explication of this great Type, the Altar of Burnt -offering. Now for the Myflery and Spiritual fignification of it. :here::
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