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
any form of prayers used by the Christian Church that ever it was said Domine Jesus ora pro me Lord Jesus pray for me was never said nor never will be in any Church Catholick therefore the Apostle when he mentioneth Christs praying writeth circumspectly as it were on purpose to prevent this error saying Heb. 5. 7. That in the dayes of his flesh he offered up prayers thereby limiting the time of Christs praying to be before his death Indeed we find often mention of his prayers on earth by all the four Evangelists but not one of them Mat. 14. 23. Mar. 6 46. Luc 22. 32. Ioh. 14. 16. speaketh of any prayer of Christ after his resurrection nor any Apostle mentioneth his praying after his Ascension The Socinians would have us beleeve that Christ Sacrificeth or prayeth in Heaven because themselves do not beleeve that Christ is the Supream God for one of their arguments against his God-head is this That the Supream God doth not pray Therefore because Christ prayed they say he is not God This was an old cavil of the Arians and was often answered by the Fathers as I have partly shewed before One saith b Iustin Mart. n 32. Quaest ad Orth Christus crebrius orabat ut inde homo esse appareret because as another saith c Theod. in Ro. 8. 34. ut Deus non perit sed suppeditat So Chrysostom answered d Chrys Hom. 32. Antioch Christus orabat ut homo nam Deus non orat and Austin often e Aug. in Ps 20. Ps 34. Ps 87. Secundum quod verbumest non orat sed exaudit humanitas interpellat Divinitatem and again Habes Majestatem ad quam ores humanitatem quae oret prote orat verbum caro factum and in another place Christus oravit non secundum formam Dei sed secundum forman servi i. e. Christ prayed only as he was man as he was made flesh as he was in the form of a servant his God-head did not pray But is prayed unto c. If it be demanded why Christ doth not pray in Heaven as he did on earth before his death We answer 1. He prayed before his death because till then he had not paid our ransom by his precious blood and death 2. Because he had fully satisfied the Justice of the God-head before his Ascension even to the utmost farthing therefore after this satisfaction there could be no need or use of further praying 3. When he ascended he took possession of Heaven not only for himself or for his own proper humane nature but also for and in the behalf of his whole mystical corporation and every member thereof therefore now no need of praying for that for neither do we petition for things that are already granted and by us obtained and possessed Our Saviour after his meritorious life and perfect obedience Active and after his satisfactory death and thereby his perfect obedience passive whereby the Covenant and Law was fully performed and executed had no cause at all in his own or our behalf to petition but might and did justly challeng Heaven as due to himself and in him to his whole body and every member thereof But then if Christ do not pray for us it would be inquired what the meaning is of those Scriptural words which signifie his acts and demeanour in Heaven and seem to imply his praying as when he is called a Priest Heb. 7. 17. should not a Priest pray So he is called our Advocate 1 Joh. 2. 1. and our Mediator Rom. 8. 3 4. 1 Tim. 2. 5. And he is also said to make intercession for us Rom. 8. 34. To this we answer First For his Priesthood in Heaven that it is a Priesthood only according to the order of Melchisedech Heb. 6. 20. Therefore it must correspond to that Priesthood only and no other now we find not any act of Priesthood performed by Melchisedech but only Blessing of Abraham Gen. 14. 19 for there is no mention of his praying or sacrificing Therefore the only Priestly act of Christ in Heaven is blessing the children of Abraham And this he doth not verbally or affectionately only but really and effectually by pouring down manifold blessings favours and graces and wonderfully protecting and supporting his Abrahamites or Church here on earth in all assaults and persecutions Secondly For his intercession The Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 7. 25. which doth not signify any supplicating intreating or oral pleading for us but only that in Heaven he is for us or standeth and is present or appeareth for us as is expressed by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 9 24. i. e. To appear in the presence of God for us that is to be ready and at hand to succour us yet not by way of supplication for his intercession is real not oral he claimeth Heaven as due to himself and in him to all the memmers of his body mystical and this by vertue of his obedience active and passive He there presenteth the first fruits that is his own holy body and soul which he took from man as free from all matter of reprehension immaculate and innocent because he was incarnate he performed the Law and suffered death for us he overcame Death and Hell and ascended and sitteth at the right-hand of the God-head so that he is not now a petitioner for but a possessor of all glory and power and hath earned Heaven both for himself and us It is said of him Heb. 12. 24. That his blood speaketh better things then that of Abel blood doth not speak literally or orally but as Abels murther did really require vengeance on Cain so the blood of Christ doth really require acquitment of us by his full satisfaction to Divine Justice and this standing or appearing is that by which he is said to offer himself in Heaven Heb. 9. 25. Thirdly When he is called an Advocate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Joh. 2. 1. and a Mediator 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 2. 5. This Mediation and Advocateship of Christ in Heaven doth not consist in verbal mediating and pleading for us as Advocates in Courts do for the Holy Ghost is also called Paracletus Joh. 14. 26. yet no man will say that he pleadeth for us verbally or by intreating Rom. 8. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 4. 6 and praying no more doth Christ because Divine Justice is not satisfied by praying for if prayers or verbal pleadings could serve our turn then Christ's prayers on earth had beē sufficient to have procured our Salvation and so might have freed him from his bitter Passion and Death Indeed before his Passion he mediated for us Precario by the intercession of prayer but now after the Consummatum est that he hath performed all that the God-head required to be done and thereby hath brought salvation for us and fully paid for it his Mediation
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
therefore how it can seem reasonable to any man that understandeth Baptism and especially to our learned Teachers that one should enter a Covenant in Baptism of beleeving when the things to be confessed and beleeved are not at all rehearsed or mentioned And yet more strange it is that although they have changed the old form of singing with the signe of the Cross into singing with the signe of the Covenant yet the words of the Covenant are not at all by them rehearsed Whereas it is evident in Scripture that a confession of faith and so a Covenant of beleeving is required in Baptism for when the Noble Eunuch desired Baptism he was first required to beleeve and thereupon made a confession of his faith thus I beleeve that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Act. 8. 37. so he was baptized As for the reforming of great Fonts into little Basons and the like lesser matters wherein how much the amendment is better then the supposed fault or defect we dispute not but we are heartily sorry that in many Congregations the Incumbents do often refuse to baptize at all except it be the children of the Rich of their own fraternity Fourthly We have also lost the grave and venerable Order Episcopal which may justly seem to argue a dis-belief or a disparagement of the Holy-Ghost of whom it is said Acts 20. 28. Spiritus sanctus posuit Episcopos for if it be indeed beleeved that the holy spirit did plant or place them it must also be believed that some contrary Ghost or Anti-spirit it is that supplanteth them Our Lord Jesus himself now since he sate at the right hand of God in Heaven yet there sitting is called a Bishop 1 Pet. 2. 25. The Shepherd and Bishop of our souls and the chief Shepherd 1 Pet. 5. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the great Shepherd of the sheep Heb. 13. 20. The Appellation of Pastor belonged only to Bishops in the Primitive Church but but now every young Curat though but an intruder will write himself Pastor too arrogantly St. John in his Revelation saw four and Rev. 4. 10. twenty Presbiters so is the original fall down before this great Bishop but our new Revelations have shewen us twenty four Bishops falling before Presbyters I suppose that the greatest adversaries of Episcopacy will not deny the Title of Bishop to be a scriptural word as it is and not an extraordinary or temporary word or appellation as some others are but a positive and fixed name and office and if it be indeed so planted by the Holy Ghost in the holy Scriptures men should be afraid to raze it out if they consider that Moses charged his Israelites neither to add nor diminish ought from the word that he had Deut. 4. 2. taught them and so St. John at the very close of the Gospel hath left a terrible threatning which surely extendeth to all holy writ If any man shall add to it God shall add plagues to him Rev. 22. 18. And if any shall take away from it God shall take away his part out of the book of life The greatest Sticklers and Dogmatical opposers and enemies to Episcopacy for I meddle not with Authoritative power are those men who would have Presbyters to be the Supream Sacerdotal order but I firmly beleeve that in the Scripture the word Presbyter was not intended to signifie any order at all of Sacerdocy but only to signifie a jurisdictive Authority annexed to the two only Orders of Bishop and Minister for Bishops are therefore called Presbyters in the Scripture because of their jurisdiction only Presbyter is an appellation of the Office or work of a Bishop but not of his Order as St. Paul doth evidently distinguish them 1 Tim. 3. 1. If a man desire the Office of a Bishop he desireth a good Work Here is 1. The Office or Work 2. The Order 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Afterwards inferior Ministers were called Presbyters and that very early in the Primitive Church And now all Ministers are generally called Presbyters which is improper and abusive except there be first a faculty of some part of the Ecclesiastical jurisdiction annexed to the Minister which jurisdiction in due form should be derived on them by grant of the Superiour Order of the Bishop for although it is very true that in the Primitive Church a new Order was set up and called Presbyters and placed between Bishops and Ministers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet this Order was onely Ecclesiastical but not Scriptural For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Presbyter in Scripture is promiscuously used to signifie both Ecclesiastical and civil Governours because it signifieth only a jurisdictive Authority and not a sacerdotal Order In the new Testament Presbyters of the people Mat. 21. 23. and 26. 47. and 27. 1. are mentioned And Presbyters of the Church Act. 15. 4. 6. and 1 Tim. 5. 17. And Tit. 1. 5. in all which places our English renders the word Elder But Beza varies in in the Translation of it for when it is said of the Laity he renders it Seniores i. e. Elders But when it is said of Ecclesiastical persons there he renders it Presbyteri i. e. Presbyters In the old Testament we find but two Sacerdotal Orders viz. 1. The High-Priest Aaron and his Successors 2. Inferior Priests called the Sons of Aaron So in the new-Testament we finde but two Orders of Sacerdocy viz. * Bishops the inferiour Ministers or Presbyters are both called Sacerdotes by St. Augustin de civ l. 20. c. 10. 1. Bishops 2. Ministers who are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So St. Paul reckons them more then once as Phil. 1. 1. The Bishops and Deacons and so 1 Tim. 3. 2. 8. So St. Jerome in that Epistle to Evagrius which hath been so tugged and stretched to make it speak for the Presbyterian design doth propound this sure rule concerning Ecclesiastical Orders a Hier. Epist 84. To. 2. Sciamus traditiones Apostolicas sumptas de veteri Testamento i. e. What the Apostles have delivered or written concerning Ecclesiastical Orders was by them taken from the patterns of Sacerdotal Orders in the old Testament which certainly is true because the same Immutable God is the Authour of Orders both in the old and new Testament St. Jerome goes on thus b Id. ibid. Quod Aaron filii ejus atque Levitae in Templo fuerunt hoc sibi Episcopi Presbyteri Diaconi vindicent in Ecclesia i. e. That which Aaron and his Sons and the Levites were during the Temple The same may Bishops Presbyters and Deacons claim in the Church But every learned man knoweth that the Levites were not Priests therefore those that St. Jerome calls Presbyters must needs be the same that St. Paul calls Deacons or Ministers Now if Presbyters must be the highest Order in the Church by the same proportion Aarons Sons sholud have been the High-Priests in the Temple but
then what must Aaron himself be a Cipher a nothing The truth is that neither in the time of the Synagogue before nor since in the time of the Church Presbyter or Elder were to be accounted the Appellations of Orders but only of an Office and now to call Presbyters a distinct Order of Sacerdocy is as if we should call Apostles Prophets 1 Cor. 12. 28. Ephes 4. 11. Doctors Evangelists and Pastors so many several Orders which are but only Offices for the Apostleship it self is but an Office but the Order of the Apostles is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 1. 20. i. e. Bishoprick It may therefore seem very uncomely that the Presbytery which of it self is no Order should be advanced over the undoubted Scriptural Judg. 9. 15. order of Bishops as is in the Parable The Bramble is not a tree but was made the King of Trees as Pliny also tells of a Shrub which he calls Viscum we call it Missleto c Plin. hist l. 16. c. 44. Cum sedem suam non habeat in aliena vivit i. e. because it hath no land of its own upon which it can grow therefore it grows upon another Tree but this is not all for some of that rank have proceeded too far even to bitterness and open Pulpit-rayling against that high Order wherein they have been called Tyrants and the dissolving of them said to be a greater deliverance then that of Eighty eight or the powder Treason This was said when neither any intelligent Auditor beleeved it and it may charitably be thought that the Preacher did not himself believe it A Jesuit he was who once Emman Sa. said A lye in a Sermon is no Mortal sin but friend without repentance it will prove an immortal sin I crave leave of thy patience Good Reader to tell thee another piece of great partiality that I say no worse against that high Order which I have heard often related by persons Religious of great quality and of eminent prudence and sobriety and also by a Person of Honour who were present Auditors when a grave Minister of the Presbyterian perswasion reading in the Church the second Chapter of St. Peters first Epistle when he came to those words in the last verse For ye were as sheep going astray but are now returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls this Minister read it thus But are now returned to the Shepherd and Presbyter of your souls whereas not only our English Translation but the Original Greek hath the word Bishop But such men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 2. 25. may say any thing impune so it be to the nulling Bishops because it hath pleased some wiser-heads to make use of Malevolent hearts and Venal tongues to prepare the game for a more politick and profitable reason of state for I cannot imagine that the dissolving of Episcopacy was noted only for their ill management of the Jurisdiction but also for the good use which others might make of their Temporalties and if all the excesses of them in their jurisdictions were now collected since primo Elizabethae until Mar. 25. 1654. The moderate administration thereof by some Presbyters since that time will not rise up in judgment against the Bishops CHAP. IX Of Scandalous Ministers Scandals by dis-use of the Lords Prayer Christs Kingdom on earth and of his comming before the last judgement Successes in unjust causes are no signs of Gods approbation The Regal stile Gratia Dei. Of Thanks-givings THere hath been much adoe with us about scandalous Ministers and the right Character of them that are so indeed is that they are the men which lay stumbling-blocks in our way to retard us from going toward Heaven and to make us fall into Hell But those godly those godly studious and laborious Ministers who endeavour both day and night to direct our souls in the right way toward Heaven and to sufflaminate them which are too swiftly running towards Hell are quite contrary to scandalous Ministers except this word scandalous be understood in that sence as it is used Rom. 9. 33. and 1 Cor. 1. 23. where Christ himself was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jezabels Priests were indeed scandalous Ministers for they seduced the people by magnifying Baal but was Elias a scandalous Prophet for shewing the true God to that people Verily many Reverend Religious persons such as Elias was are now by the Canting Language of these days nick-named Scandalous Malignant and ill-affected by those that call other men by names proper to themselves but I wish that they would consider that as there is a woe Matt. 18. 7. to that man by whom the scandal or offence cometh So there is the like Wo unto them that call Isa 5. 29. evil good and good evil a Diod. lib. 1. Diodorus Siculus tells us of an Aegyptian Queen Isis that gave the third part of her Land to Priests to hire them to cry up her deceased Husband for a God And we are told by b Eus de Praep. lib. 1. c. 1. Eusebius of an Aegyptian King that set up several Religions in the several Provinces of that Country that thereby the people might be divided and so despise and hate one another for Religion least they should agree in one and so conspire against their King whereby it seems that Divide Impera was an old Egyptian-Heathenish policy but surely Dilige Impera is the better and more Christian There are also many Religions among us I cannot say for what policy and many old revived Heresies brought in as Arianism by Socinians Donatism by Anabaptists Aerianism by the Anti-prelaticals And Judaism by some Sabbatarians And Millinarism by our new Chiliasts or Millers as our Country people call them whilst the true Christian and English-Catholick Religion is by all those parties contemned and depraved as is shewed before in divers particulars to which I must add one more which is a great scandal also against the Person of Christ Fifth The Lords Prayer is now in many places omitted and quite dis-used whereby some people have taken occasion most impiously and cursedly to blaspheme both it and also the Author of it they call it the Devils Faggot-bond and they say that Christ if he were now on earth would be ashamed of it c. surely those Demagogues that do thus principle their Disciples are the right scandalous Ministers and no good teachers as one saith c Plaut in Bach. Pejor Magister te ista docuit it must be such a Preacher as Irenaeus speaks of d Iren. lib. 1. c. 29 Serpens praeconiavit in Marcion i. e. either Marcions Chaplain or he that in the Serpent Preached to Eve For this Prayer was taught us by that God to whom we are to pray as if the Prince himself should pen our Petition wherewith he would be petitioned that so he might the more cheerfully and unscrupulously grant it Wherein we are
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
himself gave a reason of his withdrawing from Earth â—oh 16. 7. It is expediert for you that I go away for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you This he said not as if he could not on earth give the Holy Ghost but because the infirmities of men would not be in a capacity to entertain him so as they should for he gave it before his ascension but their minds were otherwise busied They were so fond of his bodily presence that they thought nothing could be done to them for their benefit without it for they dreamed of his Earthly Kingdom even just at his ascension Act. 1. 6. as Jews and Millinarians now do this earthly monarchy so filled their thoughts that they were not capable of the Comforter they thought Christ could not reign except his body were present so that his God-head was not considered but altogether neglected The holy Woman Martha greatly erred in this very thing when she said Lord if thou hadst been Ioh. 11. 21. here my brother had not died as if Christ could not cure him or raise him except he were bodily present To cure them of this fond conceit Christ withdraws to Heaven as a Mother withdraws her presence from a too fond Child and as light and food are sometimes withheld from Frantick men for their good for this cause it may reasonably be thought that Christ performed some miraculous cures on earth when he was not corporally present thereby to teach men the omni-presence of his Divine Spirit for so he cured the Centurious Servant not going to Mat. 8. 13. Ioh. 4. 50. the place where he was and also the Noble mans sick Son although he did not go down to him at Capernaum as the Noble man desired To these reasons many other are added by Divines which are frequent and obvious in their writings I shall not need here to rehearse them These premises being true and all of them matters of Faith it may be wondred that any Christian should dream of removing the Court Royall of Christ from Heaven to this base and beggerly earth Faustus the Manichean thought more honorably of Christ then so and said a Aug. cont Faust l. 20. c. 2. Mat. 17. 20. That the Son of God resideth in the Sun therefore the Manichees adored the Sun They who can believe this monstrous Article of Christs removeal to dwel upon this earth have need of a greater Faith then that which can remove Mountains And yet I do not think it unprobable but that before the end of this world there will be some such thing attempted as Jews and Millinarians phansie concerning this Earthly Monarchy of Messiah the Jews possibly may be congregated to their old country Jerusalem and the Temple there may be rebuilt and that People may be the most potent upon earth Their Captain or Leader that shall so congregate them may by them be thought and beleeved to be their long-expected Messiah Those Christians that then shall joyn with the Jews and their Leader may be thought by themselves and by the Jews to be Proselite-Saints and so together they may have a Sovereignty over all other worldly Princes These things are not impossible But then when this attempt shall rake effect their great Captain will not be the true Messiah or Christ but a Pseudo-Christ such as the Jews have often heretofore been abused by nor will this Monarchy be the mild and righteous reigning of Christ whose Kingdom is not of this world But verily it will be that which the Primitive Christians so much feared even the Bloody Tyrannous and formidable raging of the Grand Antichrist so Origen thought b Orig. in Mat. Tract 29. The desolation of Jerusalem must last till the consummation of the World Si aedificabitur Templum aedificabitur illi qui extollitur supra omne quod dicitur Deus i. e. If Dan. 9. 27. 2 Thes 2. 4. ever the Temple of Jerusalem be re-built it will be for him that extolleth himself above all that is called God Thus he The Monarchy of Antichrist whensoever it comes must be set up by the sword His Pallace Royal and Hypocritical Temple must be built in blood Our own c Fitzstephen Stow. Speed Historians tel us that the Tower of London built by the Conqueror was cemented with Lime tempered with the blood of Beasts But this Babel must be cemented with the blood of men and the Tyrant himself will be such as the crafty and cruel Emperor Tiberius is described to have been d Suet. in Tib. c. 57. 59. Lutum sanguine maceratum i. e. a Lout like clay tempered with blood of whom also it was foretold Regnabit sanguine multo i. e. that his reign would be bloody so will be the dominion of the Grand Hypocrite who will be not only a blood-sucker but a blood-supper a man of blood a destroyer and drunken with blood The primitive Christians did so conceive of this Pseudo-Christ or Antichrist and therefore they prayed for the continuance of the Roman state though persecutors because they thought Antichrist could not come till that state was dissolved and they also prayed e Tert. Apol. c. 32. c. 39. Pro mora finis i. e. That the judgment of the world might be deferred because Antichrist was not to come till the day of judgment was near at hand for they feared to adventure the perseverance of their Faith to the tryal of such cruel forces The apprehension of the persecution of this Antichrist inclined some to think that it should be Nero raised from the dead as f Aug. de Ci. vit lib. 20. c. 19. Austin reports So Chrysostome thought g Chrys Serm. de 2. Adventu Christi That St. Paul meant Nero by those words 2 Thess 2. But Theodoret affirmed that this Last and greatest Antichrist shall be the Divel appearing in the shaâ—e of a man and pretending himself to be the Messiah h Theod. Haeret. Fab. l. 5. In the mean time as there have been before so there will be yet many Antichrists who will outwardly profess Christ as members of the Church as Austin saith a Aug. in 1. E. pist Ioh. Tract 3. Multi Antichristi intus sunt nondum foras exierunt Such are by St. Bernard called Christiani Antichristiani i. e. Antichristian Christians of which sort more anon Finaly as all Petty-Antichrists have had preachers suborned to deceive and mislead the vulgars so also will the Grand Antichrist St. Jerom called Sabinianus who was an Adulterer and a scardâ—lous Deacon a Hier. Epist 48. Novum Apostolum Antichristi i. e. a new Apostle of Antichrist Prosper saith as much of the Great Antichrist b Prosper de Promis p. 3. c. 11. 13. Antichristus habebit suos praecones mendacii pseudoprophetas i. e. That he will have his false Prophets and Preachers of lyes St. Jerom further addeth That Antichrist will assume to himself a Legislative power