profaned Psal 89. 38. 39. 40. 42. 43. his Crown by casting it to the ground Thou hast broken down all his hedges and brought his strong holds to ruin Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries Thou hast turned the Edg of his Sword Thou hast made his glorie to cease c. Therefore this prophesied Kingdom can not be meant of the old David or any of his posterity but only of Christ in whom only this Davidical Kingdom still resteth and shall last on earth as long as the Sun endureth Of this Kingdom of Christ as he is the Son of David are those prophecies to be understood Ps 72. He shall come down like rain upon Psal 72. 6. the mowen grass or fleece of wool This is said of the secret birth of Christ of a Virgin without noyse or clamor He shall have dominion unto 8. the ends of the earth So had not any other of Davids posterity All Kings shall fall before 11. him and all Nations shall serve him This is not verified of any King but only Christ Prayer 15. shall be made ever to him or for him by his institution and dayly shall he be praised his name shall endure for ever as long as the Sun and men shall be blessed in him all Nations shall call him blessed any man that is but of meane progress in Religion may easily apprehend that these speeches can fit none other but Christ even Balaam an Heathen and a Magician Num. 24. 2 when the Spirit of God came upon him prophecied of a Star to come out of Jacob and a Scepter 17. out of Israel The Star signifieth the Heavenly or Divine part of Christ which should condescend to take flesh from Jacob. The Scepter signifieth the Kingdom of this Heavenly Star or Son of God so incarnate or as he is the Son of Jacob or Israel and so it must signifie the Kingdom of Christ Neither is the Gospel silent concerning the universal Kingdom of Christ in this world The Angel said He shall reigne over the house of Jacob Lu. 1. 33. for ever and of his Kingdom there shall be Regi Deâ— Mcrituro Naz. Ambr. no end This was said of Jesus as he is the Son of Mary therefore of the Man Christ The Wise men of the East call him King and they offer Gold Frankincense and Myrrhe as to a King and to a God and to a Mortall as the Fathers generally agree The news of this Kingdom came to Rome in the days of Nero and is reported by a Suet. in Vospat c. 4. Ioseph de Bel. Iud. l. 7. Suetonius That by an old Prophecie it was foretold That about those times there should come out of Judaea some who should have dominion over the whole world This by flatterers was applied to Vespasian though he thought it to be meant of another and not of himself and therefore caused inquisition to be made among the Jews for the posterity of David to be put to death so did his Son Domitian and when two of them were brought before him of mean condition he asked them what estates they had they answered they had but b Iugera Euseb Hist l. 3. c. 20. Paul Oros l. 7. c. 7. 39 Acres of Land then he looked on their hands and perceived them to be hard and brawny with labour and so dismissed them as contemptible Herod beleeved the Prophecy of Christs Kingdom but mistook the manner of it and therefore slew the infants to prevent it What else can be the meaning of those sayings in St. Johns Gospel The word was made Ioh. 1. 14. flesh He came into the world and the world was made by him He came unto his own therefore 10. 11. Ioh. 3. 35. the world was his The Father hath given all things into his hand This is said of the Son now incarnate Thou hast given him power over all flesh This was said before his passion and that also Mat. 11. 27. All things are delivered unto me of my Father This power was given to him as man for by his God-head all was his before there is also mention of a Kingly prerogative annexed to his manhood wheÌ„ it is said The Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive Mat. 9. 6 sins and this is so high that in the Apocalyps he is called The Prince of the Kings of the earth Rec. 1. 5 so the greatest Potentates on earth are but his subjects Neither did his Kingdom cease whilest he was dead and buried there was no Interstitium no Inter regnum or Interval of his Dominion for neither was the union of the God-head and man hood in him dissolved by death indeed the body and soul were parted each from the other but yet so that they did convene in Vno Tertio for they were both held in the hands of the Father or God head as when one draweth a sword out of the scabbard and holdeth the sword in one hand and the scabbard in the other Christ said at the point of his death Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit Lu. 23. 46. therefore neither could his soul be detained in Hell or wheresoever it was as it is said Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hâ—ll nor Act. 2. 24. 27. could the grave retain his body so as to hinder its reuniting with the soul as it is said It was impossible that he should be holden of death we find also both in his life time and in the very lowest degree of his humiliation and death all Creatures acknowledging his Soveraignity He commanded the winds of the air He walked on the Sea the Fishes brought him tribute the Earth did quake The Sun was darkned in Heaven Angels ministred unto him Divels were dispossessed by him Graves gave up their dead bodies and Paradise it self as it seems sent back the souls of sleeping Saints The Kingdom of Christ in this world is acknowledged both by Romanists and also by those Protestants that are of the Presbyterian persuasion although I conceive they both err in the circumstance and manner thereof for the Romanists place the Throne of Christ in their Roman Consistâ—rie and in the Infallible Chayr but that Throne will not agree with the words of the Psalmist because all Kings and Nations have not fain before it and many who heretofore acknowledged it have since utterly rejected it so that the Roman Catholick or universal Throne hath not increased of late nor the universality thereof doth-last as long as the Sun or days of Heaven Neither will the Presbyterian Vestry be suteable with the Universal Throne of Christ although some have said that the Presbytery is his Throne and that it is to be set up by the sword but so is not the Sion of Christ the Prophet reproves the Jews for building up Sion in blood it may be reasonably suspected that all the former Mich. 3. 10. and present indeavours and
Hypostases the Stations or Mansions of the God-head wherein it dwelleth and resideth for ever for this reason it is said Joh. 10. 38. The Father is in me and I in him i. e. The God-head of the Father is in in the Son and the God-head of the Son is in the Father and the God-head of the Father and the Son is in the Holy Ghost One God-head is communicated to all the Persons But it cannot be said that the Person of the Father is in the Son because the Persons are incommunicable wherefore as young Logicians reading or hearing of Vniversals and by their senses perceiving no things but Individuals upon inquiry where to finde these Genera Species they are taught that the residence or existence of Universals is only in particulars so young Christians are to know that the Abiding Mansion and Residence of the God-head is only in these Three Persons no where else If it be said that the God-head is every where and therefore not to be limitted or confined to residence in the Three Persons To this we answer that although it is certainly true that the God-head is every where yet the Existence or Residence of the God-head in the Three Persons doth not exclude it from any place nor confine or limit it within any bounds or in the least hinder its Vbiquity for albeit the God-head is really present in all places and more also although all places are contained inclued in the infiniteness of the God-head yet this God-head is no where but where it resideth in the Three Persons for these Three Divine Persons are also every where The Prophet saith of the Father Do not I fill Heaven and Earth And the Psalmist saith of the Spirit Joh. 10. 38 Jer. 23. 24. Psalm 139. 7. Joh. 3. 13. Whether shall I go from thy Spirit c. And the Son of God saith of himself The Son of man which is in Heaven and this he said in respect of his Divine Person when his body was not in Heaven but upon the Earth And when he was about to ascend into Heaven even then he said Lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world Mat. 28. 20. Neither doe those other passages in Scripture any way contradict the Ubiquity of the Divine Persons as when it is said Ex. 19. 20. The Lord came down upon Mount Sinai and of Sodom Gen. 18. 21. I will go down now and see c. And in the Gospel where it is said of the Father and the Son Joh. 14. 23. We will come unto him and make our abode with him As if the God-head or Divine Persons were not there before But these Speeches are to be understood of Gods appearing or manifesting himself in such places or to such persons where he is always really present but doth not alwayes shew or manifest his presence And in this the Ancient Expositors agree Chrysostom saith a Chrys Serm. de Spirit To. 6 Divinitas non migrat a loco in locum sed est de apparentia corporea i. e. God doth not go from place to place but those sayings signifie his visible appearance in some assumed body So St. Ambrose upon those words Gen. 3. 8. God walked in the Garden b Ambr. de Paradiso c. 14. Ambulatio Dei est praesentia apparens i. e. The walking of God signifieth only the appearing of his presence where he was truly present before and after them Fulgentius more home and cleerly saith c Fulg. ad Thrasim l. 2 Substantialiter ubique est Trinitas sed adventus Descensus sâ—gnificant manifestationem ejus i e. The Trinity is really or substantially every where but when it is said they came or descended these words signifie that God manifested his presenee there This is the reason of that Scripture-phrase so often used of the Lords appearing as Gen. 17. 1. The Lord appeared to Abram to signifie that God then manifested his presence there where he was before although he did not there appear before to Abraham This I trust is enough to shew the meaning and full importance of this considerable and weighty word Hypostasis Now touching the Coeternity of the Three Persons both the old and new Hereticks deny it for the Arians said d Athan in Decret Nicaen Concil Pater non semper Pater nec filius semper filius i. e. That God the Father was not always a Father and that the Son was not always a Son But St. Austin often opposed this Error and thus expressed his determination e Aug. de Temp. Serm. 131. 181. Deus non anteà Deus caeperit esse posteà pater sed sine initio Deus semper pater semper fuit pater semper habuit filium i. e. God was not first God and afterwards Father but ever God and ever Father he was always a Father and had always a Son Indeed Tertullian noteth that God was not always to be stiled * Tert. cont Herm. Dominus i. e. Lord though always God and Father and he observeth that in Scripture God is not called Lord until man was made And true it is that although the Father be from Eternity the Father of the Son or Word yet he could not be called either the God or the Lord of the Son but upon supposition of the Sons Incarnation and therefore not until man was created for as soon as man was made the Son of man was in the Loins of Adam John Crellius thus intituled his Book which he wret against the Trinity De uno Deo Patre i. e. Of One God the Father If his meaning were hereby to acknowledg God-head and Paternity to be Coeternal then it must needs follow that God must have an Eternal Son othewise he cannot be an Eternal Father for so St. Basil noteth g Bas cont Eunom l. 4. Si pater ante filium erat cujus pater erat si non filii i. e. If the Father were before he had a Son whose Father was he if not the Sons And although he be an Eternal Father of his Eternal Son yet he cannot be called the Eternal God or Lord of the Son as Epiphanius hath evidently shewed by distinguishing these two Appellations of Father and God thus h Epiph. in Ancor Deus vocatur Pater Filii propter aeternam generationem and Deus propter incarnationem i. e. God is truly called the Eternal Father of the Son because the Son was begotten from Eternity but he is called the God or Lord of the Son in respect only of the Incarnation of the Son just so the holy Psalmist speaketh cautelously in shewing that the Father cannot be called either the God or the Lord of the Son but only with respect had to the humane generation of the Son Psal 22. 10. Thou art my God from my Mothers belly as I have formerly shewed elsewhere King Solomon delivereth the very same Doctrine of the Coeternity of the
hand of the God-head and so at the right hand both of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost that is The Son of Man is advanced to sit at the right hand of the Son of God or thus Mans nature in Christ is advanced above all Angels and Arch-angels and above all Creatures in Heaven and Earth and under the Earth and above all infernal powers and that it is in honour and power immediatly next to the supream God-head The mis-understanding of those words in the Creeds which mention Christ's sitting on the right hand of the Father hath occasioned a great abuse in mens apprehension for hereupon they haâ—e Phansied Three Seats in Heaven one for the Father and another for the Son on the right side of the Father and under both a third Seat for the Holy Ghost whereby they have advanced Christ above the Holy Ghost but we are well assured that it is both against our Christian Faith and also impossible that any one Person in the Trinity should be above the other because all are Coêqual and it is as impossible that any Creature should be above God the Creator for the humane nature of Christ is that which only is so advanced and that nature is a Creature This abuse was foreseen by St. Paul as may be thought and therefore by him care was taken to prevent it by those words He hath put all 1 Cor. 15. 27. things under his feet that is All creatures are by the God-head made subject to the man Christ it follows But when he saith all things are put under him it is manifest that he is excepted which did put all things under him that is Although all creatures are now under the Man Christ yet neither the God head nor any Person therein are under Christ his Manhood is next in glory to God but in no wise above him or any Person in the Trinity The Fathers also took notice of this abuse and wrote against it Origen upon these words Sit thou at my right hand adviseth a Orig. in Mat. Tract 23. Ne describas sensibiles sessiones aut Cathedras Sedentes humano Schemate Patrem Filium est de Regno Christi and after him Austin tells us upon the same occasion b Aug. de fide Symb. Tale Simulachrum Deo in Templo Christiano collocare vel etiam in corde nefas est i. e. That we should not describe the Father and the Son sitting on seats as men do for the sitting of Christ signifieth only his Dominion such a Portraiture in a Christian Church or but in our very thoughts is unlawful Thus they Fourthly What is meant by the right hand of God This phrase is not proper but figurative and mystical because no person in the God-head hath-hands except the Son who only is incarnate and he it is that is said to sit Therefore the right hand of God must signify 1. Power 2. Happiness 3. Glory Christ saith Mat. 26. 64. you shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power The Psalmist saith At his right Ps 16. 11. hand are pleasures for ever more The Apostle Râ— â— 5. Eph. 1. 21. Philip. 2. 9. tells us Christ is over all far above all principalities and powers That to him every knee must bâ—w This implieth a Kingly Majesty by the ceremony of bowing the knee The full meaning is that Christ is placed above all creatures next to the God-head and hath fulness of Power Happiness and Glory There can not be invented a better expression of Christs glory then by this phrase of the Right hand of God for it implyeth both a Soveraignty above all others and yet a subordination to the God-head as Psal 45. 9. Vpon thy right hand did stand the Queen this because the Queen is above all the Kings people but yet not above the King So Solomon placed his mother on his right hand 1 King 2. 19. When we say Christ is subordinate to the God-head we must be understood to speak onlâ— of his humane nature for when we speak of the whole person of the Emanuel then with the Apostle we say it is no robbery to affirm him to be Philip. 2. 6. equal with God If he had been said to sit on the Left hand men possibly might imagine some Creature higher then Christ for whom the right hand was reserved but this is the right hand and highest seat it can not be said to him friend go up Lu. 14. 10. higher Or if it had been said as it is Act. 7. 56. That Christ was standing at the right hand of God without any other mention of his sitting it might have been suspected that he stood as a minister or officer only but this sitting implieth Authority and Supremacy over all Creatures for To which of his Angels said he at any Heb. 1. 1â— time Sit thou on my right hand By all which promises I trust it appeareth that Christ is the Supream Lord and King over all the World and all Creatures in Heaven and Earth and therefore surely he hath a Kingdom on earth If it be yet further demanded why this Throne of Christ is not placed on earth seeing the right hand of God that is his omnipotent power is every where as well on Earth as in Heaven and why Christ did not continue his visible residence and bodily presence here on earth as he now doth in Heaven To this we Answer First There is now no need of his bodily presence on earth seeing he hath not withdrawn the Presence of his God-head of which he said Mat. 28. 20. I am with you alwayes even unto the end of the World which Austin thus expresseth a Aug. in Ioh. Tract 50. Corpus coelo intulit Majestatem mundo non abstulit nam secundum Majestatem semper nobiscum est i. e though his body be absent yet his God-head or Majesty is with us which is the most noble part of Christ for therefore Divines call his God-head his Majesty because this word signifieth the supremacy Majesty is the Title of the Supream Magistrate we say The Kings Majesty and so when the supremacy was in the Consuls at Rome and when it was in the People then was this title given to each respectively we read both of b Tul. Orat. Majestas Consulis and Majestas Populi The God head of Christ is his Supream Majesty for The head of Christ is God 1 Cor. 11. 3. And yet his body which is in Heaven is not divided or separated from his God-head which is with us for his Divine and humane natures are eternally and inseparably united and joyntly govern all as the body of the Sun is in the Firmament of this material Heaven yet by his influence and beames moderateth the seasons on earth and so doth Christ though bodily in Heaven by the influence and beams of his Majesty govern all things here below Secondly Christ
precious not an Unicorn if any were not an Elephant nor any other foul not an high neckt Swan nor a proud Peacock The Church Catholick in correspondence thereunto had their limited liturgies and set forms of publick prayer as we find in all ages since the dayes of the Apostles none might publickly in the Congregation offer the stang or wildfier of his own phansie but was confined to the form prescribed that so the congregation might knowingly joyn therein No such thing as long tedious Elephantine and tautological Orizons practized as of late as if men on purpose slighted the advice of Christ against Pharisaical long prayers Mat. 6. 7. 23. 14. This by the way Now for conclusion of this question concerning the correspondence of Christ in Heaven with the High Priest in the Sanctuary I desire the learned Reader to peruse the whole passage in that great Festival of Atonement described Levit. 16. and then judg whether there be any mention at all of the High Priests Sacrificing in the Sanctum Sanctorum he will find that the Sacrifice was by him offered not within but without the sanctuary at the Great Altar so was the Sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ offered not within the Sanctuary of Heaven but on the Gross which was his Altar on earth the denial whereof containeth more poyson then a plain Christian is aware of If our Commenter had been contented to affirm only this That Christ presenteth his holy body in Heaven which was besprinkled with his own blood here on earth wee would willingly agree with him therein for certainly his Passion on earth is and ever will be looked on in Heaven and considered by the Godhead as a full satisfaction and expiation for all his members and will ever be present and fresh in the sight of God For if Christ had not fully satisfied the Divine Justice and paid the full price of our redemption at his death he could not have ascended into Heaven nor sate at the Right Hand of God but must still have been held in Prison by death as other dead men are because he was indebted by the Covenant as being a surety for man But now that our surety is freed and out of Prison there is no doubt but that the debt was fully paid before his releasment This is all that I shall need to relate concerning the History of Christ in Heaven for if all could be written as St John said of him upon Earth The World it Ioh 21. 25. self would not contain the Books By what hath been said I trust the Reader perceiveth That neither the Intercession nor Advocateship nor Mediatorship nor Priest-hood of Christ in Heaven doth in the least derogate from his Almighty power and Soveraignty both in Heaven and Earth For his Priest-hood there is Melchisedechical and that was a Royal or Kingly Priest-hood I fear that I have wearied the Reader in this long Chapter which though I have marked for the Tenth he may justly call it Caput Decumanum CHAP. XI More of Millinarism of the dreadful consequences thereof of new Saints and the new Elect and new Meek that these Titles unduely placed are abuses of the Holy Ghost The Conclusion BY what hath been said the Reader may in part perceive what evil consequences attend this Millinarian Doctrine even to the denial of the eternal Kingdom of the Son of God in Heaven and verily if it take place it probably may extend to the demolishing of all earthly Monarchies and to the dissipating and levelling of most private mens interests and taking away properties of Estates and that Meum and Tuum which hath been so much agitated and instead thereof as one said to bring in a Suum that is to settle all earthly goods and possessions upon those men that call themselves Saints and which is worse upon the Millinarian principles it may proceed to the bloody Massacres of many millions of people in the World and at best to the vassallage and slavery of those that escape death which will be a woful restitution of the long expected liberty of the Subject and such as Plutarch observed at â—lut in vita â—yllae Rome that after the outragious fury of Marius when Sylla succeeded the people saw there was a change but yet no freedom from oppression but a proceeding from naught to worse and as one saith a Terent. in Heaut Deteriores omnes sumus licentia as if some men did construe this liberty to signify a licentiousness for one party to do whatsoever they please against another and to quite themselves from all subjection to Magistrates and Laws both humane and Divine such revelling and domineering will not become the mild Kingdome and easie Yoâ—k of Christ nor can such hard task-masters be accounted raigning Saints but Saints Rampant nor can the exorbitant litenciousness of one party be called publick liberty Upon those words Psal 119. 125. I am thy Prosper in Ps 119. Servant Prosper thus confesseth Neque enim mihi bene cessit quando esse volui liber meus non servus tuus i. e. That it never was well with him since he would take his own liberty and not be Gods Subject We now perceive the reasons why some Preachers have heretofore taught the people 1. That wicked man have no right to the Creature 2. That God cannot see sin in the Saints Gangren haer 43. 52 153. that know themselves to be in Grace 3. That Christ shall live again on this Earth and put down Monarchies 4. That all the Earth is the Saints 5. That with them there ought to be a community of goods be like they so expound the Article of the Communion of Saints Now we can guess at the cause why we have of late such a numerous Canonization and Apotheosis or Apocolocyntosis of Saints for if all the Earth must be in the possession of Saints only what Earthly man will not at least pretend to be a Saint although in old time as Theodoret tells us men called Saints b Theod de Cur Graec affe lib 3. Luc 4 6. Hagios quasi Ageos because they were not earthly minded If Satan had not lyed when he said that all Kingdoms of the World were at his dispose he might have hired a great part of mankind to stand for his designs but Satans rewards of his Servants are in another Kingdom indeed one of the Romane Saints St Francis was voted at Rome to that place in Heaven which Lucifer lost but if this Millinarian Tyranny be put into practise some for their great deserts may hereafter dispute with Beelzebub for the upper hand in his infernal principality for as there are many Saints in Heaven which are not registred in the Catalogue of Saints on Earth as Erasmus said so Mr Fox reporteth as the saying of St Jerome that many are reverenced for Saints on Earth who are now tormented in Hell when our English Becket was Sainted at Rome one
know and S Austin giveth this good advice concerning the Articles of our faith which may be understood and those also which we cannot understand e Aug. in Ioh. Tract 35. Si potes Cape Si non potes crede i. e. Understand what you can and beleeve the rest for in those great mysteries it is safer to build our faith upon the sure word of God then to depend on a sandy foundation of humane reason and to be firmly assured of this as Epiphaninus saith f Ephiph haer 70. Quicquid Deus dicit verum est licet nos non intelligamus i. e. Whatsoever God hath said it is certainly true although we do not understand it and Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have beleeved Neither should our weakness and want of Joh. 20. 29. knowledge in such high mysteries either discourage us or move us to impatience for we may find in wiser men then our selves as great ignorance who yet were not ashamed to acknowledge it for even in things mundane and natural the wisest Philosopher said He Socrates knew nothing at all but his own ignorance and Themistius Anaxarchus another professed That The greatest part of his knowledg was but the least part of his nescience and another saith he did not know so much as his own wants of knowledge and many others by reason of this professed ignorance were called g Dion lacet in Pyrrhon Sceptici Ephetici Zetetici and Aporetici i. e. Considerers unresolved Seekers Doubters as in a Labyrinth without any passage of Egress Who knows the true manner of the motions of the Stars Men now doubt whether the Sun be moved at all or whether the Earth move or stand still we are not satisfied in the cause of Tides nor do we know the forms of many thousands of Creatures A great Philosopher said Dic formam lapidis Phillida solus habeto Our own soul knoweth not it self nor doth it know by it self what is within that body which it informeth although it is within it and in every part of it as Austin expresseth it h Aug. de Trin. l. 6. c. 2. Tota in Toto in qualibet ejus parte tora nor doth it know the forming of the body in the womb although it is under God instrumentally operative in that work If we patiently indure our ignorance in these things how much rather should we in the deepest mysteries of Religion as Athanasius advised i Atha Cont. Aâ—ian O. 3. Non quaerendam est quomodo Dâ—us gignat nec modum iâ—effabile est and just so doth Basil k Basil hom 25 Filius est Gâ—nitus ne quaeras quomodo dut quando est impâ—ssibilis responsio i. e. God hath a Son inquire not how or when he begot him for it is ineffable and an Answer is impossible the same Father saith that if he thought it possible Cont. Eunom lib. 3. to know all things then perhaps he would be ashamed to confess his ignorance but seeing the greatest Philosophers knew not the nature of a poor little Pismire how shall we be able to comprehend the great Mysteries of Epist 162. God Thus he The most learned of the Jews did not understand the meaning of their own Religion and Sacraments in the old Testament although they were so conversant therein as appeareth by Philo the learned Jew who confessed that he knew not the meaning of those words Gen. 1 26. Let us make man but he thought Philâ— de Mundi Opific p. 15. that God had assumed some other helpers in that work that so the miscarriages of man might be imputed to those other fellow-Creators and not to God Thus he Judaizeth not knowing or beleeving the Trinity So Id. Lib. de Circum pag. 811. again when he desired to shew to what end and purpose God appointed the Sacrament of Circumcision he doth it so poorly that it appeareth evidently that himself knew not the meaning thereof and verily at this day no Jews persisting in the Jewish Religion do understand the intent and meaning of their own Laws and Sacraments but only the bare Letter for if they did truly know to what purpose and signification their Sacrafices and Pascal Lamb were ordained they would not any longer continue in their Judaism and therefore Origen truly affirmeth l De lege Mosis melius quam Judaeus nos respondebinus Orig. Cont. Cels l. 2. i. e. A Christian can render a better reason and account of Moses Laws then the Jews themselves Touching the Obscurity of the Scriptures the Christian Doctors do generally acknowledg it and set down may reasons why the Holy Spirit would haue them so difficult For they say 1. If the Mysteries therein were so easily understood Truth would not so earnestly be sought nor be so pleasant when it is found 2. That these Obscuri ieâ— are prâ—fitable to incite us to a mâ—re ailigâ—nt ïnâ—â—isition 3. Because a gracious truth which wâ— understand not is the more loved and ad dired if it be beleeved 4. That thâ— Obscurity may prevâ—nt our satiâ—ty or weariness of them that they grew not tedious or despicable 5 To abate the pride of the mâ—st proâ—ound wordly Sciolists who may find themselves often posed in them These and many other Reasons are alledged by Divines of Gods ordering these obscurities and because we do not in all places of Scripture understand the word we should ascribe reverence to the Author and reserve humility to our selves and seeing there are truths manifest and sufficient to feed us that we should use the obscurer for our exercise and withal to know that what we cannot understand in the undoubted word of God we should notwithstanding beleeve and then our nescience cannot hurt us Clemens of Alexandria tells us truly m Clem. Alex Stro. l. 4. Difficilia non sunt necessaria necessaria non sunt difficilia i. e. Those things which are too hard to be understood are not necessarily to be understood and those things which are necessarily to be understood are not hard Neither are the profoundest Doctors and wisest men ashamed to acknowledg their ignorance in these high Mysteries Even King Solomon in the Person of Agur Prov. 30. 2. Prov. 30. 2. saith Surely I am more brutish then any man and have not the understanding of a man This he said in respect of his own humane and acquired knowledg but not of that wisdom which was inspired by God S. Basil was for his learning and profound knowledg in Religion called The Great yet he saith to every man n Bas hom 27. Quae ignoras superant cognita S. Hirome saith o Hier. n. 40. in sacris Scripturis pluâ—a nescio quam scio S. Ambrose saith p Amb. hexam lib. 6. libenter fateor me nescire quod nescio Austin the profoundest of them all saith q Aug. Epist 119. de Animae Orig. c. 16. Sanctis Scripturis multa nescio
nor the Holy Ghost were incarnate we answer that it is true that all the Three Persons equally govern and we further acknowledg that neither the Person of the Father nor the Person of the Holy Ghost are incarnate but only the Person of the Son yet we beleeve that the whole God-head and essence of the Father and of the Holy Ghost is incarnate in the Person of the Son This was affirmed by Christ when he said The Father is in me and I in him Ioh. 10. 38. and John Baptist had said before That God hath given him the Spirit not by measure Ioh. 3. 34. and St. Luke saith that Jesus was full of the Holy Ghost and St. Paul saith Col. 2. 9. In him Lu. 4. 1. dwelleth all the fulness of the God-head bodily whereby it appeareth that the Dominion of Christ doth not in any wise exclude the Dominion of the other Divine persons although St. Jude calls Christ the only Lord God yet this word only doth not barr the Lordship or God-head of the Father and Holy Ghost because as our good rule in Logick teacheth us That Propositio exclusiva non excludit inclusa Next concerning the Priesthood of Christ he is said to be a Priest for ever after the order of Heb. 7. 17. Melchisedech if for ever then he must be a Priest in Heaven but if so then the Socinians tell us that Christ can not be the supream God because the supream God can not be a Priest This cavil I have met with before and answered a Lib. 2. c. 15. out of Arstin That Christ is a Priest only as he is the Son of man as incarnate and Emanuel but not as he is the Son of God or God the Word and so Prosper also resolved this doubt upon those words Thou art a Priest b Prosper in Psal 109. Non quatenus ex patre sed quantenus ex Matre natus est Sacerdos i. e. Christ is a Priest not as he is the Son of his Father but as he is the Son of his Mother But we are further told by the Socinians That Heb. 7. 1. p. â— 16. c. Christ was not a Priest till he was dead and that then his Priesthood began that the expiatory or satisfactory offering of Christ was not performed on the cross or on earth but in Heaven This they affirm because they will not beleeve that our Redemption was wrought by the death of Christ so blasphemously do they vilipend the blood of Christ whereas indeed the ultimate expiation or satisfaction consisteth in the death of Christ answering to the very words of the Covenant viz In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye and therefore the Apostle Gen. 2. 17. Rom. 6. 23. saith The wages of sin is death now if Christ dyed for us on the Cross he there also performed the expiation and paid the ransom for if the expiatory sacrifice were to be performed in Heaven then must Christ have suffered death in Heaven but the Apostle tells us that after his resurrection he dyeth no more This foul blasphemy Rom. 6. 9. is near a kin to that of Origen which St. Jerom reports a Hier. Epist 59. c. 4. That Christ was to suffer in the Air for the salvation of Divels and to suffer in Heaven also because we read of Spirituall wickedness in Heavenly places that so the inhabitants Eph. 6. 12. of al regions might be saved through Christs passions Thus he It being granted that Christ is now a Priest in Heaven it would be inquired of what order or kind his Priesthood is there in this we are certified that it is a Priesthood for ever and that it is after or according to the Priesthood of Melchisedech that is Christ is such a Priest in Heaven as Melchisedech was on Earth and therefore Christ in Heaven doth such Priestly acts as Melchisedech did on earth For Christ whilest he was on earth was a Priest but here his Priesthood was Aaronical i. e. like unto Aarons Priesthood because Christ did offer a bloody sacrifice even his own body and blood on the Altar of the Cross which he gave for a ransom for us Mat. 20. 28. For a propitiation Ro. 3. 25. for our Justification Ro. 5. 9. for our Redemption Eph. 1. 7. Col. 1. 14. to bear our sins in his own body 1 Pet. 2. 24. that is to undergo the punishment for our sins paying the ransom of his own self for us 1 Tim. 2. 6. This bloody sacrifice of Christ was typified and only signified by Aaron offering the bodies and blood of Beasts But the sacrifice of Christ on earth was also unlike Aarons because Aaron offered beasts but Christ offered himself Aaron might not offer human blood nor might Christ offer the blood of Beasts whereupon it is said Heb. 8. 4. That Christ on earth could not be a Priest because he could not offer gifts according to the Law that is he could not offer Levitical Sacrifices of Beasts as the Legal Priests did because he was not a Son of Aaron or of the Tribe of Levi. But he might and did offer his own humane blood which was the Substance whereas the blood of Beasts offered by Aaron was but only the shadow Therefore they that tell us that Christ may not be called an Aaronicall Priest because he was not a Son of Aaron may as well tell us that he may not be called The Lamb because he was not literally a Lamb taken out of the Sheep-fold The truth is this As the Lamb was Ex. 12. 5. but the shadow of Christs Passion so the Priesthood of Aaron was but the shadow of Christs Sacrificing Priesthood This Sacrificing Priesthood of Christ ended at his death so that he is not any more to be sacrificed but his Melchisedechical Priesthood and only that order of his Priesthood must continue for ever St. Austin saith of the Iews a Aug. in Psa 109. Iudaei vident jam periisse sacerdotium secundum Ordinem Aaron non agnoscunt Sacerdetium secundum ordinem Melchisedech This reproof toucheth not only Jews but Romanists and Socinians The Iews expect a restitution of their Temple and Aaronical or Levitical Sacrifices Romanists say Christ is daily Sacrificed on their Altars Socinians say that Christ Offereth Sacrificeth himself Com. on Heb. 9. v. 12. p. 168. in Heaven not considering that his Priesthood is only like Melchisedech's now which was not a Sacrificing Priesthood for we find not that any Sacrifice was offered by Melchisedech on earth neither may Christ our Melchisedech be thought in any wise to offer Sacrifice in Heaven But of this more anon If Christ being in Heaven doth there Sacrifice for us it must also be granted that he there prayeth for us because no Sacrifice can be rightly performed without prayer but no good Christian may imagine that the mediation of Christ in Heaven is by way of prayer neither can we find in