shall begin his reign until his apearing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in flaming fire mentioned 2 Thes 1. 8. which assertion I conceive to be exceedingly injurious against the divine and humane Nature of Christ and also contrary to the Holy Scriptures For to deny the Kingdom of the Son or Word considered before or without his incarnation in his pure Divinity is all one as to deny his God-head for who can doubt but that he who is the Creator and the only and eternal God both doth reigne and hath reigned from the beginning of the World and shall reigne until the end thereof and after also to eternity and that he hath and doth govern all things in Heaven and Earth working together with the Father as himself saith The Father Ioh. 5. 17. worketh hitherto and I work and both these work by the Holy Ghost which is the Spirit of both The Kingdom of the God head is by divines thus distinguished 1. The Kingdom of power which even Heathens acknowledged in their supposed God O qui res â—ominumque Deumque Virg. Aen. â— Aeteruis Regis Impâ—riis fulmine terris 2. The Kingdome of grace whereby he reigneth in the hearts of the people inclining them to obedience by the Scepter of his Spirit against their carnal inclinations either lucriferous or voluptuous for this wee dayly pray Thy Kingdom come thy wâ—ll be done as on the contrary Satan or Sin is said to reign in the disobedient drawing them to evil 3. The Kingdom of Glory in Heaven in respect whereof the Son is expresly called The Psal 24. 7. King of Glory This I presume no Christian will deny But our question now is not concerning the Son as he is in his single and pure divinity or as he is God the Word or the Son of God But we must now consider him as he is The Son of Man and since his incarnation as he is Emanuel or the Word made flesh or the Anoynted of God or Christ for the pure God-head can not be anoynted because it is the anoynting neither could the Son of God be called Christ until he was incarnate nor can Christ be said to reign until he was made Christ that is until the Son of God by his humane nativity became the Son of Man For though the Son of God hath been a Son from eternity yet he was not Christ or Anoynted from eternity but his unction and title Christ began then as the Apostle saith Gal. 4. 4. When the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman By this double consideration of Jesus wee may perceive the reason why the Scripture distinguisheth between God and Christ as 2 Tim. 4. 1. I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and why we so often read The Lord Christ and the Christ or Anoynted of the Lora as Act. 4. 26. Ps 2. 2. The Lord Jesus in respect of his God-head is called Christus Dominus and the same Lord Jesus in consideration of his humane nature assumed is called Christus Domini i. e. he is both the Lord Christ and The Christ or the Anoynted of the Lord. So that we may truly say The Son of Man is the Christ or the Anoynted of himself as he is the Son of God These considerations being premised Our Question of Christs Kingdom is thus to be stated QUESTION Whether our Lord Iesus Christ ever yet had or now hath any Kingdom in and over this World FOr if it may appear that Christ formerly had and still hath a Kingdom here there will be no need of his corporal descending from Heaven in this fag end of the World to take possession of that which he had before and still retaineth Answer The answer to this question is That Christ now reigneth on earth and hath so done ever since he was Christ that is from the time that The word was made flesh that he reigneth in this world though his Kingdom is not of this world because it is not a visible reigning after a worldly way but in a heavenly manner he beareth not the Sword Material but a Spiritual Sword he raiseth not Armies of men but commandeth Legions of Angels his strong hold is Heaven his prison is Hell as 1 Pet. 3. 19. his Jaylors Divels his executioners Plagues Famines Winds Storms Serpents Wild-beasts evil Angels Sicknesses Deaths Temporal and Eternal his Laws are mild written in Milk the easie yoak of the Gospel his tribute and taxes are faithfulness and obedience his Kingdom doth not invade or disturb other worldly Kingdoms but establisheth them for he refused a worldly Kingdom when it was offered and refused to judg or arbitrate in a petty title of inheritance between two brethren much less will he in this world judg the grand titles of Monarchies and great possessions to be taken from the rightfull possessors to the use of Pretended Saints Let us see what the Scriptures say concerning the Kingdom of this Emanuel here on earth Isaiah saith of Christ as of a child born whom Isa 7. 14. he called In manuel which must needs be meant of the Son of God considered as incarnate That the government shall be upon his shoulders of the increase of his government and peace there shall Isa 9. 6. 7. be no end upon the throne of David and upon his Kingdom to order it from henceforth for ever Surely Davids throne must be upon this earth although it signifie the Church whilest it is Militant Consider we next what David himself saith concerning this Son of David in that memorable passage Psal 89 I have sound David my servant Psal 89. 20. 27. 29. 36. I will make hiâ— my first born higher then the Kings of the earth his Seed will I make to endure for ever and his Throne as the dayes of Heaven and as the Sun before me The David here meant must needs be this Son of David that is Christ who is often called David as Jâ—r 30. 9 They shall serve the Lord and David their King whom I will raise up and Ezech. 34. 23. My servant David shall feed them so Hos 3. 5. The children of Israel shall seek the Lord their God and David their King These Prophecies must needs be meant of Christ because the old David was dead before any of those Prophets were born Christ is called David because he was to be the Son of David and so is called by his Fathers name as o her children now are and the prophecies must needs be understood of the Man Christ because by his manhood only he is the Son of David and not otherwise nor can these sayings be verified of any other seed or Son of David Besides These speeches can not be meant of any worldly temporal Kingdom of David for that was taken of Davids posterity long before the birth of Christ and this David himself foresaw and confessed in the same Psalm But thou hast cast off thine Anoynted Thou hasi
41. 1. as Christ in the Gospel promiseth an hundred-fold reward in this time to them that for his sake leave Houses Brethen Sisters VVives Children and Lands which promise is warily to be considered because some Millinarians would have it to be meant grosly and literally as if for one house or one Father they must have an hundred houses and Fathers here a false gloss surely For I trow they expect not to have an hundred Wives neither doth the promise mention Wives though the condition do The meaning is That they who so part with estates and friends shall have both multiplied unto them for to them every true Christian Man and Woman shall be by love care and tender affection as so many Fathers Brethen Wives or Sisters ministring comforts to them The Fortunes and estates of one shall serve the necessities of the other All the houses of the faithful shall be open to them as if they were their own houses For therefore did the primitive Christians call one another Brethren and Sisters Act. 4. 32. The Apostles who left their nets instead thereof had all the wealth of Christians laid at their feet their wealth was common to the whole fraternity in so much that no man called his estate his own propriety Gal. 4. 14. Paul was entertained by the Galatians as if he had been an Angel of God or as if he had been Christ himself And this charity lasted a long time among true Christians Tertullian for his time reports a Tert. Apol. c. 39 Christianis omnia indiscreta sunt praeter Uxores i. e. That all they had was communicated to their fellow-Christians except only their Wives and that the heathens hereupon would say See how the Christians love one another But such Charity is now hard to be found as Christ fore-told nor may we in these dreggs and bottome of the world expect such temporal retributions God hath given some that men may know there is a reward but he doth not so reward all here least men should expect none other elsewhere St Ambrose saith a Ambr. de offic l. 2. c. 16. He knew some Priests who by giving to the poor increased more in wealth The Roman History observeth that the charitable Emperor b Paul Diac. in Tib. c. 2. Tiberius II. was rewarded here by finding vast hidden treasures as the poor Widow of Sarepta was also for relieving the Prophet but such returns are not now to be hoped nor are we to forbear the acts of charity although we find not such mundane retributions It is the good Counsel of St Austin That we should not thus say or think with our selves I will do good to some poor Christians that so my store may increase c Aug. lib. Homil. Hom. 18. Noli hoc quaerere messis tua seriùs venit i. e. expect not your reward here for that harvest will be much later VVhen one brought to Luther a legacy which a certain thankful Auditor of his had bequeathed him the poor man took it with trembling and said d Melch. Ad. in vita Luth. Metuo ne Deus his praemiet i. e. he was afraid least God did reward his labours in this world for verily the with-holding of rewards in this life is a certain pledge that charitableness shall be rewarded elsewhere Madam There is yet a more noble and Heavenly hospitality to be practised by Christians for the exercise whereof I here present unto you Three Guests worthy of admission into the Tabernacle of your beautiful body and Soul because the beauty of both was their gift as one saith a Ovid. Forma Dei munus They are the same Guests that were formerly entertained by your Father Abraham They are Travellers yea and Gen. 18. Wanderers and have suffered repulses in many places of the Christian World and by many persons among us even as our Christian Religion hath been abused by those who professed themselves to be lovers thereof just as Potiphars VVife Gen. 39. loved and yet persecuted Joseph And as the VVatchmen smote and wounded the Spouse even so some that should be the Watchmen of our Israel have uncivily Cant. 57. abused these holy Guests and thereby wounded the very head of Christianity I am firmly confident that you will joyfully admit them by faith and accommodate them by charity and piously treat and retain them with cheerful perseverance This treatise is as the knocking at the dore which is mentioned Rev. 3. 20. At which when you have opened you will find that gracious promise to stand firm which is recorded in the Gospel That the Father and the Son and the Holy Comforter will come in unto you and make their abode and continue Joh. 14. 16 23. with you for ever I crave your patience good Madam whilst I relate unto you one other grand motive besides the above mentioned and my thankful acknowledgement of your many favours why I have used your name in the Dedication of this book St. Ambrose considering those words of Christ Math. 25. I was in Prison tells us That in the last judgement Christian Professors will be asked a Ambr. Serm. 64. whom they have delivered out of Prison In the beginning of the sorrows of this Land when the unmerciful Pentephobers raged among many others far better then my self I also was imprisoned and then first understood the words of Tertullian who said that b Tert. ad Martyr Câ—rcer est Domus Diaboli a Prison is the house of the Divel So much harshness and tedious restraint we suffered that truly my life was dwinling and I was even at Death's dore * The Lady Hewet your Dear and vertuous Mother who is now with God did much comfort me by her personal visitation But your self did negotiate and effect my deliverance The said Tertullian mentioneth c Tert. cont Valent. p. 375. Angelam i. e. a she Angel verily you were the good Angel that lead me out of Prison and thereby prolonged that Life which in just gratitude ought to serve you whilst it lasteth and I trust that this piece of your Christian Charity among the rest will be to your comfort remembred at the great day of the Lord. In Psal 41. 1. the mean time Davids Prophecy of blessings on the merciful shall be my Prayer for you The Lord deliver you in time of trouble The Lord preserve you and keep you alive that you may be blessed upon Earth and not delivered unto the will of your Enemies The same Lord multiply his favours on you here and augment his own Graces in you and in the end crown them with Glory So prayeth Madam Marsham in Norf. Your most obliged Servant EDM. PORTER The Contents of each several Chapter 1. Chapt. HOw Christ is peculiarly the Son of God How he is the first begotten and yet the only begotten That the Holy Ghost cannot be called the Son of God That no Creature is the Son of God so
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
or Advocation is Authoritative in Plenitude of power so that now the presenting of his glorious Person in Heaven is a sufficient Advocate his performance of the Law together with his Passion Death are the Plea and the tongues that effectually move for us because the vigor and efficacy thereof is and for ever will be looked on by the God-head as a full satisfaction to Divine Justice which Doctrine is singularly expressed by the great Apostle Ro. 8. 3. Who shall lay any thing to the charg of Gods elect It is God that justifieth it is Christ that dyed That is risen again who is at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us of which Right hand we are next to consider SECT IV. Of Christ's Session at the right hand of God The difference between the right hand of God and the right hand of the Father with the abuses of that Article why Christ withdrew to Heaven Of the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple of the Iewish Monarchy and their Pseudo-messiah or the great Anti-Christ NO one Phrase in Scripture doth more express the Kingly and omnipotent power of Christ in Heaven and in Earth then this of his sitting at or on the Right hand of God for the understanding whereof I shall offer to the consideration of the Reader the four questions following First What it is in Christ that is so exalted To this we say That Christ consisteth of two ingredients viz God head and Man hood and that this sitting at the Right hand is not to be understood of his God-head but of his Man-hood as he is the Son of Man the Son of David the Son of the Virgin-Mother for by this humane nature he became passible subject to poverty hunger and thirst weariness injuries buffetings scourging and death therefore as by this part only he is said to be humbled to death the Death of the Cross so in this part only may he be said to be exalted for by his God-head he ever was at the Right hand of God and God over all blessed for ever As he Rom. 9. 5. is God the word he can not be said to be exalted but as the word was made flesh It is our nature only that the Son of God ennobled and carried to the right hand of God and we have shewed before that the prophecies of Christ's exaltation were said only of the Son of David that is of Christs humane nature for otherwise he is not the Son of David If it be said that we may not seperate his God-head from his Man-hood for this is to make two Persons of one and was the heresie of Nestorius To this we answer That it is true that the two natures of Christ neither can nor may be severed or divided asunder by any Real separation but yet they may and must be distinguished separated or abstracted mentally or Mathematically as School-men say that is we may in our mind consider one part alone without considering the other although both do really consist together as a Mathematician considereth the longitude of a body without considering the matter of it So we in this exaltation of Christ consider only his humane or assumed nature This is the judgment of the Ancient Church delivered by Theodoret a Theo. Dialog â—â—confu Sede De homine Christo dicitur i. e. That this Sitting is meant only of the Man Christ Secondly Who it is that so exalted Christ Whether the Person of the Father only or the Person of the Holy Ghost or whether the Son exalted himself To this we answer that the whole God-head and every Divine Person therein exalted Christ even the God-head of the Lord Jesus exalted the Manhood of the same Lord Jesus for there is but one God-head in all the Three Persons therefore all the Three Persons exalted the humane nature of the Son This truth the Scripture often sheweth though something mysteriously for David saith of Christ The Lord said unto my Lord sit Psal 110. 1. thou at my right hand That is The God-head of the Son of God said to Christ for David calls Christ His Lord only for this reason because the Lord Christ was to be the Son of David by taking flesh from David for otherwise how is not the Lord that said it Davids Lord as well as the Lord to whom it was said This is that Scripture wherewith Christ posed the Pharisees If David call him Lord how is he his Son David Mat. 22. 45. calls Christ The Lord in respect of his God-head but he calls the same Christ his Lord because he was to be the Son of David by his assumed humane nature His Divine Nature was Davids Lords his humane Nature was Davids Son The same David had said before of Christ God thy God hath anoynted thee with the oyl of gladness The meaning is that the God-head Psal 45. 7. of Jesus was to be the Anoynter and the Oyl and Unction of Jesus and therefore the God-head is called his God because the Lord Jesus by his God-head anoynted Christ or The Son of God anoynted and exalted the Son of Man So Christ on the Cross said My God my Mat. 27. 46. God why hast thou forsaken me Now did Christ speak to his own God-head The Son of Man spake to the Son of God which he therefore calls his God The forsaking here mentioned is not so to be construed or understood as if now in this agonie his God-head had quite departed from him or that the union of the God-head and Manhood were then dissolved far be it from us to think so but the meaning is that his God-head did now expose and give up and deliver the Manhood to death and left it to the will and fury of that People The God-head suspended and with-held protection from the manhood and did not send Legions of Angels to deliver him although the God-head was still united with the Manhood Thirdly At whose Right hand Christ is said to sit Whether at the Right-hand of one or of all the Persons of the Trinity This I conceive requisite to be examined because all our Liturgical Symbols or Creeds mention Christ's sitting at or on the Right-hand of the Father which is certainly true because every Person in the Trinity is the Creator and therefore the Father of all Creatures although only the Person of the Father is to be acknowledged to be Father of the Word or Son of God But yet this Symbolical expression doth not so cleerly declare this Mystery as the words of the holy Scriptures do wherein Christ is never said to sit at the right hand of the Father but at the right hand of God Now the right hand of God is the right hand of every Person in the God-head and not only the right hand of the Person of the Father So that the meaning of this sitting of Christ must be this That the humane nature of Christ is advanced to sit at the right
for those words Ps 9. 20. which the English renders Put them in fear O Lord Both Jerom Austin read Constitue Domine Legislatorem super eos that is saith he Set Antichrist over them for he will be c Hier. in Psal 9. Lator legis malae Doctrinae i. e. a setter up of false Doctrine by a Law SECT V. The signification of the Jewish Feast of Atonement and of the High Priests entring the Sanctum Sanctorum and of the Mercy-seat Sprinkling of Blood Scape-goate and Jewish Sacrifices why God disliked them The signification of the Altar Of the Jewish and Christian Liturgies THere is yet another passage in this History of Christ in Heaven to be examined and that is concerning the correspondency of Christs entring into Heaven with the Jewish High Priests entring and demeanour in the Sanctum Sanctorum that is the most Holy place of the Tabernacle or Temple This we are compelled unto because both the English and Latine Commenters on the Hebrews according to the Doctrine of the Socinians often tell us a Ionas Sâ—hlichtâ—ngius in Heb. 9. 2. Manifestum est Pontificis nostri oblationem Sacrificium non in cruce sed in Coelo peractum esse which our English Translating commenter thus renders It is manifest that the offering and Sacrifice of Christ was not made upon the Cross but was performed in Heaven By these words they would have us beleeve that because the Jewish High Priest carried and presented the blood of Beasts in the Sanctuary Therefore Christ must carry his own blood into Heaven and there continually offer and Sacrifice It seems they do not beleeve that the Passion and Death of Christ finished upon the Cross was a sacrifice sufficient to redeem them What the intent meaning and signification of the Jews High Priests so entring into the earthly Sanctuary was we shall better apprehend by a diligent consideration of the ceremonies performed by the said Priest in that great and solemn Festival of the Jews which is called The Feast of Atonement described Levit 16. and applied to Christ Heb. 9. 12. for in that Feast was the great mystery of mans Redemption described by a type figure shadow and Holy Scene as will appear anon which Feast was therefore called a Sabbath and rest Levit. 16. 31. vers 31. and was kept on the 10. day of the seventh month our September Levit. 23. 27. Philo and Josephus both Jews call this Feast only the Fast but the Scriptures and Christians have other names for it whereby the meaning thereof may be discovered It is called The Expiation The Reconciliation The Propitiation and The Atonement I. Expiation This word signifies purging purifying hallowing cleansing appeasing delivering from the guilt of sin and restoring him to a State of Piety who by transgression hath faln into a state of impiety This Festival was therefore called the Feast of Expiation because therein was Typically shewed the means whereby sinful man was to be restored to innocency and to be quitted and purged from the guilt of sin II. Reconciliation This Feast was so called because therein was figuratively shewed how sinful man is to be Reconciled to his offended God III. Propitiation it was so called because it typically shewed who it is by whose mediation and intercession the God-head is made propitious and favourable and by whom we are ingraciated with God or who is the Proportiation for our sins of whom we read 1 John 2. 2. IV. Atonement This is our English word by which that Feast is called which doth singularly express the intent and meaning thereof It signifies our uniting or re-uniting with God God and man are by sin set at odds and made two or at variance as Coelius a Cholerick Orator in Seneca said to another a Sen. de Ira. l. 3. c. 8. Dic aliquid contra ut Duo simus But this Type shews how the disagreeing parties may be agreed made one or set at one and reunited for this word Atonement signifies that which the Latine word Vnitas doth viz. the At onement or making one of those who before were differing and at odds In this great mysterious Festival many circumstances are very considerable for the businesse now in hand First The High Priest was to enter into the Levit. 16. most Holy place alone none with him Lev. 16. 17. This was to teach us that Christ alone is he that taketh away sins and worketh our expiation reconciliation and atonement or reunion with the offended God-head Secondly The High Priest went not into that Sanctuary until the Sacrifical beasts were killed one for the Atonement of the Priests and after the other for the Atonement of the people and their blood respectively taken vers 11. 15. So Christ did not actually expiate us but by his death and blood shedding his own blood Thirdly The High Priest presented two Goats before the Lord vers 7. One was killed the other was kept alive v. 7. 13. Both the Goats represented Christ That which was killed at the Tabernacle signified that the benefit of Christs death was tendered and offered to the Israelites or people of the Tabernacle The other which was reserved alive and sent away into the wilderness signified that Christ with all his efficacies and benefits should by his Gospel be sent and tendered and presented to the Gentiles or Nations who in the Scriptures are often called the Wilderness and Solitary place or desert as Isa 35. 1. For in Christ all the Nations of the earth are to be blessed Gen. 18. 18. The gathering of the people expectatio gentium shall be unto him Gen. 49. 10. he was to be a light to lighten the Gentiles Luc. 2. 23. And Christ himself professed that he hath other Sheep which were not of this Jewish fold Joh. 19. 16. Some Expositers as Theodoret. and Both the Glosses with Lyranus have thought that this Hircus Apopompeus i. e. the Emissary or Scape-goat signified the God-head of Christ which could not dye But this exposition can not possibly agree with this type nor indeed with the Analogie of Faith because the sins of the people are said to be laid on this Scape-goat Levit 16. 21. Just as it is said of Christ The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all Isa 53. 6. This is not true of the pure God-head of Christ upon which our sins could neither be laid or imputed nor could the pure God-head expiate or satisfie Divine Justice because it could not dye If the Son of God or the Word had for ever continued in his pure Divinity and had not been incarnate he could not have taken away the sins of the World For it was mans nature that was peccant therefore the Son of God took upon himself that nature to destroy sin in the flesh The work of Redemption was confined to the Seed of the Woman to the Son of Man and to the Lamb of God St. Peter teacheth us that Christ bare our sins