hold of the temple, and
rising so high that they were waters to swim in, Ezek. xlvii. 1, 5. God
hath said to his church, "Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them
stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy
cords, and strengthen thy stakes: for thou shalt break forth on the right
hand and on the left," Isa. liv. 2, 3. A great increase of the church
there was in the apostles' times, Col. i. 6; but a far greater may be yet
looked for, Rom. xi. 12. Though the enemy did come in like a flood, the
Spirit of the Lord lifted up a standard against him, Isa. lix. 19; "The
sea saw it, and fled; Jordan was driven back," Psal. cxiv. 3. But when the
gospel cometh, "like a noise of many waters" (as the Prophet calls it,
ver. 2, signifying an irresistible increase), it is in vain to build
bulwarks against it: God will even break open "the fountains of the great
deep," and open "the windows of heaven" (Gen. vii. 11); and the gospel
will prove a second flood, which will overflow the whole earth, though not
to destroy it (as Noah's did), but to make it glad; "For the earth shall
be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover
the sea," Hab. ii. 14; Isa. xi. 9.

Thirdly, In this temple, beside the holy of holies, were three
courts:(1394) the court of the priests; the court of the people, commonly
called _Atrium Israelis_; and, without both these, _Atrium Gentium_, the
court of the heathen, so called, because the heathen, as also many of
those who were legally unclean, might not only come unto the mountain of
the house of the Lord, but also enter within the outer wall (mentioned
Ezek. xlii. 20), and so worship in that outer court, or _intermurale_;
unto which did belong (as we learn from Josephus(1395)) the great east
porch, which kept the name of _Solomon's porch_,--in which both Christ
himself did preach (John x. 23), and the apostles after him (Acts v. 12);
by which means the free grace of the gospel was held forth even to
heathens, and publicans, and unclean persons, who were not admitted into
the court of Israel,--there to communicate in all the holy things: "For the
Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost," Luke xix. 10.
This outer court of the temple is meant when it is said that the Pharisees
brought a woman taken in adultery into the temple, and set her before
Christ, John viii. 2, 3. Now all this will hold true answerably of the
spiritual temple; for, _fi