Selected quad for the lemma: order_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
order_n	aaron_n	case_n	priesthood_n	36	3	10.0754	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10650	An explication of the hundreth and tenth Psalme wherein the severall heads of Christian religion therein contained; touching the exaltation of Christ, the scepter of his kingdome, the character of his subjects, his priesthood, victories, sufferings, and resurrection, are largely explained and applied. Being the substance of severall sermons preached at Lincolns Inne; by Edward Reynoldes sometimes fellow of Merton Colledge in Oxford, late preacher to the foresaid honorable society, and rector of the church of Braunston in Northhampton-shire.	Reynolds, Edward, 1599-1676.	1632 (1632)	STC 20927; ESTC S115794	405,543	546

and to love any of thy words Thy Law is my Counsellor I will bee ruled by it it is my Physitian I will bee patient under it it is my Schoolemaster I will bee obedient unto it But who am I that I should promise any service unto thee and who is thy Minister that hee should doe any good unto me without thy grace and heavenly call bee thou therefore pleased to reveale thine owne Spirit unto mee and to worke in mee that which thou requirest of mee I say if a man could come with such sweete preparations of heart unto the word and could thus open his soule when this spirituall Manna fals down from heaven he should finde the truth of that which the Apostle speaketh Ye are not straitned in us or in our ministerie wee come unto you with abundance of grace but yee are straitned onely in your owne bowels in the hardnesse unbeliefe incapacity and negligence of your owne hearts which receiveth that in drops which falleth downe in showres Note 3. As it is a divine so it is a secret and undiscerned Birth As the winde bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but caust not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth So saith our Savior is every one that is borne of God Ioh. 3 8. The voluntary breathings and accesses of the Spirit of God unto the soule whereby hee cometh mightily and as it were cloatheth a man with power and courage are of a very secret nature and notwithstanding the power thereof bee so great yet there is nothing in apparance but a voyce of all other one of the most empty and vanishing things As Dew fals in small and insensible drops and as a Childe is borne by slow and undiscerned progresses as the Prophet David saith Fearefully and wonderfully am I made Such is the birth of a Christian unto Christ by a secret hidden and inward call Vocatione Altâ as S. Austen calleth it by a deepe and intimate energie of the Spirit of grace is Christ formed and the soule organized unto a spirituall being A man heares a voyce but it is behinde him hee seeth no man hee feels a blow in that voyce which others take no notice of though externally they heare it too Therefore it is observable that the men which were with Paul at his miraculous conversion are in one place said to heare a voyce Act. 9.7 and in another place not to have heard the voyce of him that spake unto Paul Act. 22.9 They heard onely a voyce and so were but astonished but Paul heard it distinctly as the voyce of Christ and so was converted Note 4. As it is a Divine and secret so is it likewise a sudden birth In naturall generations the more vast the creature the more slow the production an Elephant ten years in the wombe In humane actions magnarum rerum tarda molimina great workes move like great engines slowly by leasure to their maturity but in spirituall generations Children are borne unto Christ like Dew which is exhaled conceived formed produced and all in one night Paul to day a Woolfe to morrow a Sheepe to day a Persecutor to morrow a Disciple and not long after an Apostle of Christ. The Nobleman of Samaria could see no possibility of turning a famine into a plentie within one night neither can the heart of a man who rightly understands the closenesse and intimate radication of sinne and guilt in the soule conceive it possible to remove either in a sudden change yet such is the birth of men unto Christ Before shee travelled shee brought forth before her paine came she was delivered of a man-Childe The earth bringeth forth in one day and a nation is borne at once It is spoken of Ierusalem the mother of us all Esai 66.7 8. VERSE 4. The Lord hath sworne and will not Repent Thou art a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedeck FRom the Regall Office of Christ and the Administration thereof by the Scepter of his Word and Spirit to the conquering of a willing people unto himselfe the Prophet now passeth to his sacerdotall office the vigor and merit whereof is by the two former applied unto the Church Therefore wee may observe that though the tribes were interdicted confusion with one another in their marriages Num. 36.7 Yet the Regall and Leviticall Tribes might interchange and mingle blouds to intimate as I conceive that the Messiah with relation unto whose lineage that confusion was avoided was to bee both a King and a Priest Thus wee finde Iehoiada the Priest married Iehoshabeath the Daughter of King Iehoram 2 Chron. 22.11 And Aaron of the Tribe of Levi tooke Elish●ba the Daughter of Amminadab who was of the tribe of Iuda Exod. 6.23 Numb 1.7 In which respect I suppose Mary and Elizabeth the Wife of Zatharie the Priest are called Cousins Luk. 1.36 In the Law indeed these two Offices were distinct Our Lord saith the Apostle sprang out of the Tribe of Iuda of which Tribe Moses spake nothing concerning Priesthood Heb. 7.14 And therefore when King Vzziah incroached on the Priests Office hee was smitten with a Leprosie 2 Chron. 26.18 21. But amongst the Gentiles amongst whom Melchizedek is thought to have beene a Priest it was usuall for the same person to have been both King and Priest The words containe the Doctrine of Christs Priesthood The Quality of it Eternall The Order not of Aaron but of Melchizedek The foundation of both Gods immutable decree and counsell hee cannot repent of it because hee hath confirmed it by an Oath I shall handle the words in the Order as they lie The Lord hath sworne Here two things are to bee enquired First how God is said to sweare Secondly why hee swears in this particular case of Christs Priesthood The former of these the Apostle resolves in one word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 6.17 Hee interposed in or by an oath namely himselfe for that is to bee supplied out of the thirteenth verse where it is said that bee sware by himselfe So elsewhere it is said that he sware by the excellency of Iacob that is by himselfe Amos 8.7.6.8 By my selfe have I sworne saith the Lord that in blessing I will blesse thee Gen. 22.16 The meaning is that God should denie himselfe which hee cannot doe 2 Tim. 2.13 and should cease to bee God if the word which hee hath sworne should not come to passe So that usuall forme as I live is to be understood let me not be esteemed a living God if my word come not to passe so elsewhere the Lord interposeth his holinesse I have sworne by my Holinesse that I will not lie unto David Psal. 89.35 As impossible for him to breake his word as to bee unholy For the second question why God swears in this particular I answer First and principally to shew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The immutable and irreversible certainty

of reconciliation and calling in his patent and shutting up his office of mercy againe How then comes it that this covenant is immutable and Christs Priesthood of everlasting and unchangeable vigor to all ages and generations of men That there shall never be erected in the Church any other forme of Gods worship or any other instruments of Mans salvation than those which we now enjoy The Apostle groundeth it upon two reasons Heb. 6.17 18. The Promise and the Oath of God First The Promise putteth a right in the creature which he had not before and that Promise determineth the Will of God to the being and leave not that indifferent to the being or not being of the Covenant For it is the foundation of a just claime which wee by faith may make upon the Fidelity Iustice and Power of God to make it Good He is faithfull and just to forgive us our sinnes 1 Iohn 1.9 The righteous God shall give unto mee a Crowne of righteousnesse 2 Tim. 4.8 righteousnesse and justice as well as mercy is the ground of forgivenesse of sinnes and salvation not in relation or respect to merit in us but to promise in God Onely mercy it was which moved him to promise and having promised onely truth and fidelity and righteousnesse bindeth him to performe As impossible it is for God to breake any promise and to lie unto David as it is to bee an unholy God or to deny himselfe Psal. 89.35 2 Tim. 2.13 1 Thes. 5.24 Secondly the Oath of God for that pawnes his owne Being Life Power Truth Holinesse to make good that which he hath so ratified and upon these two doth the immutability of the second Covenant and of Christs Priesthood depend Here then wee see upon what ground all our comfort and assurance subsisteth not upon any strength power libertie or inherent grace already received which wee of our selves are every day apt to waste and be cheated of by Satan and the world but upon Gods unchangeable mercy and covenant This was all Davids salvation and desire all that his heart rested upon that though his house were not so with God that is did faile much of that beautie and puritie which therein God required and therefore did deserve to be cast off yet God had made with him an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure 2 Sam. 23.5 When the conscience is afflicted with the sense of sinne with the feare of its owne slipperinesse and unstedfastnesse in Gods covenant this is all it hath to support it That God is one Galath 3.19 That Christ is the same yesterday and to day and for ever Heb. 13.8 that he is where he ever was ready to meet those that returne Esay 64.5 Luke 15.20 If I should doe to men as I have done to God they would despise forsake revenge themselves on me I should never receive grace nor favour againe But God is not as man Hos. 11.9 the whole cause of his compassion is in and from himselfe and therefore he doth not take the advantage of our failings and exasperations to alter the course of his dealing towards us Psalm 103 8-14 Though we faile every day yet his compassions faile not and therefore from his immutable mercy it is that wee are not comsumed Lam. 3.22 Mal. 3.6 His blessing of an adopted people is an irreversible thing because he is God and not man and therefore cannot repent nor call in the promise which he hath made for which purpose hee doth not behold iniquitie i● Iacob nor perversenesse in Israel Numb 23.19 20 21. If the Sunne should be alwayes immoveably fixed in one place as it was a little while in Ioshua's time at the destruction of the Kings Iosh. 10.12 13. though I might shut out the light of the Sunne from me yet as soone as I remove the curten the Sunne is still where it was readie to be found and to shine upon me The case were lamentable with us if so often as man provokes Gods justice he should presently revoke his mercy if the issue of our salvation should depend upon the frailty and mutability of our owne nature and our life should be in our owne keeping If the pure Angels of heaven fell from their created condition to be most blacke and hideous adversaries of the God that made them if Adam stood not firme with all that stocke of strength and integrity of will which he had in Paradise how can I who have so many lusts within so many enemies without such armies of feares and temptations round about mee bee able to resist and stand Grace inherent is as mutable in me as it was in Adam Satan as malitious and impetuous against me as against Adam Propensions to sinne and falling away strong in me which were none in Adam snares as many weaknesses more enemies as many temptations more from the grace which is deposited in mine own keeping I cannot but depart daily if the Lord should leave me in the hand of mine owne counsell even as water though it could be made as hot as fire yet being left unto it selfe will quickly reduce and work it selfe to its own originall coldnesse againe We have grace abiding in our hearts as we have light in our houses alwayes by emanation effusion and supportance from the Sunne of righteousnesse which shines upon us Therefore this is all the comfort which a man hath remaining that though I am wanting to my selfe and doe often turne from God yet he is not wanting to mee nor returnes from me for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance Rom. 11.29 The heart of the best man is like the wheeles in Ezekiels vision Ezek. 1.16 As mutable and moveable severall wayes as wheeles as perplexed hindered and distracted in it selfe as crosse wheeles in one another grace swaying one way and flesh another who can expect stabilitie in such a thing Surely of it selfe it hath none but the constancie and uniformitie of motion in the wheeles was this that they were joyned to the living creatures who in their motion returned not when they went vers 17-21 such is the stability of the faithfull in the covenant they have it not from themselves for they are all like wheeles but from him unto whom by the same Spirit of life they are united who cannot repent nor returne from the covenant of mercy which he hath made Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech We now come to speake of the Priesthood of Christ it selfe which is thus sealed and made immutable by the oath of God Every high Priest saith the Apostle is ordained for men in things pertaining to God that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sinnes Heb. 5.1 These sacrifices are of two sorts some Eucharisticall as testifications of homage subjection duty and service as the dedication of the first fruits the offerings of Abel and Cain the meat and drinke offerings c. some Ilasticall or expiatory for the washing away

Lords death till hee come 1 Cor. 11.26 For in the ordinances hee is crucified before our eyes Gal. 3.1 Therefore the Apostle more than once inferres from the consideration of this Sacrifice and office of Christ our dutie of not forsaking the assemblies of the Saints and of exhorting and provoking one another Heb. 3.13.10.24 25. Now I proceed to the last thing mentioned in the words concerning the Priest-hood of Christ and that is about the Order of it Thou art a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedek Secundum verbum or secundum morem rationem the Apostle readeth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the Order of Melchisedeks Priesthood Of this Melchisedek wee finde mention made but in two places onely of the whole Old Testament and in both very briefly the first in the History of Abraham returning from the slaughter of the Kings when Melchisedek being the Priest of the most high God brought forth bread and wine and blessed him Gen. 14.18 19 20. and the other in this place And for this cause the things concerning him and his Order are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hard to bee understood Heb. 5.11 It was so then and so it would bee still if S. Paul had not cleered the difficulties and shewed wherin the Type and the Antitype did fully answere which hee hath largely done in Heb. 7. For understanding and cleering the particulars which are herein considerable here are some questions which offer themselves First who Melchisedek was Secondly what is meant by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Order Thirdly why Christ was to bee a Priest after his Order and not after Aarons Fourthly why hee brought forth bread and wine Fifthly what kinde of blessing it was with which hee blessed Abraham Sixthly in what manner he received Tithes Lastly in what sense hee was without Father and without Mother without beginning of dayes or end of life First for Melchisedek who hee was much hath been said by many men and with much confidence Some hereticks of old affirmed that hee was the Holy Ghost Others that hee was an Angell Others that hee was Sem the Sonne of Noah Others that hee was a Canaanite extraordinarily raised up by God to be a Priest of the Gentiles Others that hee was Christ himselfe manifest by a speciall dispensation and priviledge unto Abraham in the flesh who is said to have seen his day and rejoyced Ioh. 8.56 Difference also there is about Salem the place of which hee was King Some take it for Ierusalem as Iosephus and most of the ancients Others for a citie in the halfe tribe of Manasse within the River Iordan where Hierom reports that some ●uines of the palace of Melchisedek were in his dayes conceived to remaine Tedious I might be in insisting on this point who Melchisedek was But when I finde the Holy Ghost purposely concealing his name genealogie beginning ending and descent and that to speciall purpose I cannot but wonder that men should toile themselves in the darke to finde out that of which they have not the least ground of solide conjecture and the inevidence whereof is expressely recorded to make Melchisedek thereby the fitter type of Christs everlasting Priesthood Secondly what is meant by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is as much as the state condition or prescribed Rule of Melchisedek and that was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 After the power of an endlesse life Heb. 7.16 Not by a corporeall unction legall ceremony or the intervening act of a humane ordination but by a heavenly institution and immediate unction of the Spirit of Life by that extraordinary manner whereby hee was to bee both King and Priest unto God as Melchisedek was Thirdly Why was hee not a Priest after the order of Aaron The Apostle giveth us an answere Because the Law made nothing perfect but was weake and unprofitable and therefore was to bee abolished and to give place to another Priesthood Men were not to rest in it but by it to bee led to him who was to abolish it Heb. 7.11 12. as the morning-starre leadeth to the sunne and at the rising thereof vanisheth The ministery and promises of Christ were better than those of the Law and therefore his Priest-hood which was the office of dispencing them was to be more excellent likewise Heb. 8 6. For when the Law and covenant were to bee abolished the Priesthood in which they were established was to die likewise Fourthly Why Melchisedek brought forth bread and wine The Papists that they may have something to build the idolatry of their masse upon make Melchisedek to Sacrifice bread and wine as a Type of the Eucharist I will not fall into so tedious a controversie as no way tending to edification and infinite litigations there have been between the parts already about it In one word Wee grant that the Ancients doe frequently make it a Type of the Eucharist but onely by way of allusion not of literall prediction or strict prefiguration as that out of Egypt have I called my Sonne and in Rama was there a voyce heard which were literally and historically true in another sense are yet by way of allusion applied by the Evangelist unto the History of Christ Matth. 2.15.18 But wee may note first it is not Sacrificavit but Protulit hee brought it forth he did not offer it up Secondly he brought it forth to Abraham as a Prince to entertaine him after his conquest as Iosephus and from him Cajetan understand it not as a Priest to God Thirdly hee if hee did offer he offered bread and wine truely these men onely the lying shapes thereof and not bread and wine it selfe which they say are transubstantiated into another thing Fourthly the Priest-hood of Melchisedek as Type and of Christ as the substance was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Priesthood which could not passe unto any other either as successor or vicar to one or the other and it was onely by divine and immediate unction but the Papists make themselves Priests by humane and ecclesiasticall ordination to offer that which they say Melchisedek offered and by that meanes most insolently make themselves either successors or vicars or sharers and co-partners and workers together with him and his Antitype Christ Iesus in the offices of such a Priesthood as was totally uncommunicable and intransient Heb. 7.24 and so most sacril●giously rob him of that honor which hee hath assumed to himselfe as his peculiar office Fifthly what kinde of blessing it was wherewith Melchisedek blessed Abraham To this I answer that there is a twofold Benediction The one Charitativa o●t of love and so any man may blesse another by way of euprecation or well wishing The blessing of the Lord bee upon you we blesse you in the name of the Lord Psal. 129.8 the other Autoritativa as a King a Priest an extraordinary superiour and publike person by a way of office and to the purpose of effecting