The meekeft of men complied with their SER M. request, and by his prayer for the people IV. so far prevailed, that if the ferpents were not immediately taken from them, there was however such a remedy provided, that whofoever was bitten by them, might be fure, upon using it, to be healed of his malady. The Lord faid unto Mofes, make thee a fiery ferpent, and set it upon a pole, and it fhall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, fhall live. And Mofes made a ferpent of brass and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass that if a Serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the ferpent of brass, he lived*.

That the ferpent's injury fhould be healed. by the figure of a ferpent, is, in the account of the Jewish Expofitors, a double miracle, inafmuch as it healed them, not only without any natural force or virtue of its own, but by fuch means as contradict the ordinary courfe of nature, it being reported of those who are bitten by mad or venemous beasts, that the fight of the Beast that did the injury or its fimilitude, inftead of abating, will increase the malady. But here the injury of living ferpents was healed by the lifeless figure, and that barely by the fight or looking up upon it. It was made of brafs, that it might at once resemble them in the brightness of its coNumb. xxi. 8, 9.

lour,

SERM. lour, and be better offered to the view of IV. the fpectators. And withal it was elevated on a pole, or for a fign (as the word elsewhere fignifies) to render it visible at the greater diftance, infomuch that if the fewifb account be true, it might be seen over the whole camp of Ifrael*, which was fome miles in circumference.

By this outward ceremony of lifting up their eyes, they were taught at the fame time to direct their heart, the eyes of their mind, to implore the benediction of their heavenly Father, the true Author of their cure; and fo it is appofitely noted of the Jews, that this miracle was defign'd to draw them nearer to God, and to confirm their faith in the Divine Omnipotence, that fo, according to the Prophet Habakkuk, the just might live or be faved by his faith, rather than by any efficacy of the brazen figure, which plainly had no virtue of its own. So fpeaks the author of the book of Wifdom very pertinently: "When the hor"rible fiercenefs of beafts came upon them, " and they perifh'd with the ftings of crook"ed ferpents, thy wrath endured not for "ever; but they were troubled for a small " season that they might be admonished, having a fign of falvation to put them in "remembrance of the commandment of thy law; for he that turned himself to* Buxt. de ferp. æn. c. 5. § 6.

4

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"wards

"wards it, was not faved by the thing SERM, "that he saw, but by thee that art the Sa- IV. "viour of all *.

Yet fuch was the pervefenefs of the ancient Jews, that when that Figure was preferv'd in memory of fo fignal a deliverance, they stupidly deified the lifeless brafs, and paid that homage to an image made by mortal man, which is due only to the great Creator. This made it neceffary, for the good King Hezekiah, when he de ftroy'd all the remains of fuperftition and idolatry, to break in pieces withal the brazen ferpent which Mofes had made, (for unto those days (fays the Text) the children of Ifrael did burn incense to it) and to brand it with a name of infamy, by calling it Nehushtan +. A plain indication that things which were usefully retain'd at first, may become neceffary to be abolish'd, when the fcandal they have given, and the abominations taking rise from them shall outweigh their intended usefulness, and are scarce to be reform'd otherwise. This breaking in pieces the Talmudifts explain by grinding it to powder, and scattering it in the air. Which Which may teach us the vanity of Popish legends, that pretend to have preferv'd this ferpent among * Wifd. xvi. 5, 6, 7. + 2 Kings xviii. 4. Tract. Avoda Zara, c. 3. fol. 44. col. 1.

SERM. their other Relicks *; defeating in a fort IV. the pious defign of Hezekiah, and aiming ftill to retain a fuperftitious veneration.

And thus much for the hiftorical account of the Fact, the ferpent lifted up by Mofes in the Wilderness. I come

III. THIRDLY, in the last place to state the fpiritual application of it, to our eternal falvation by Chrift's death, according to his own interpretation of it: Even fo must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have eternal life.

It does not certainly appear that the Jewish Doctors have ever exprefly applied this matter as a type of the Meffiah. But yet their interpretation of the matter is fuch, as renders fuch an application highly reafonable. For whilft they make the biting of these fiery ferpents to have reference to the deceit and feduction of the old ferpent, and the lifting up of their eyes towards this brazen ferpent to betoken the lifting up of their hearts to God for his falvation; what do they but point to Chrift as the repairer of the breaches that were made by fin, the deftroyer of the Devil's power, and healer of the fpiritual wounds we had received from him? He was the promised deliverer to turn away ungodliness from Jacob. And * Vid. Buxt. ut fupra, cap. 6. therefore

therefore as the ferpent was erected on a SER M. pole for healing the corporal malady of fuch IV. as fhould look up to it, fo was Chrift lifted up upon the cross for the redemption of Mankind, that whofoever looks up to him by faith, believes and puts his truft in him, fhould not perish after all thro' that envy of the Devil which brought fin into the world, but have eternal life thro' the allfufficient merit of this powerful Redeemer. And to this purpose it deferves to be remark'd, that the fame word which is here used of this brazen figure, that it was erected on a pole or for a fign to be look'd at by the people, is applied to Chrift exprefly by the Prophet Ifaiah: In that day there Shall be a root of felle, which shall ftand Ds Lenes for an enfign of the people, to it fball the Gentiles feek. And he shall fet up an ensign for the nations, (which answers to Mofes's putting his ferpent on a pole) and fhall affemble the outcasts of Ifrael*.

Perhaps it may be wonder'd that the ferpent of all creatures fhould be reprefented as a Type of Chrift, that the fame Animal which is elsewhere ufually the emblem of the Devil the grand Adversary and deftroyer of Mankind, fhould here be propofed as the prefiguration of our Saviour and Redeemer; that in one and the fame instance the venom of living ferpents should * Ifa. xi. 10, 12.

betoken