Selected quad for the lemma: head_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
head_n	beast_n	dragon_n	horn_n	3,264	5	10.5839	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50840	Mysteries in religion vindicated, or, The filiation, deity and satisfaction of our Saviour asserted against Socinians and others with occasional reflections on several late pamphlets / by Luke Milbourne ...	Milbourne, Luke, 1649-1720.	1692 (1692)	Wing M2034; ESTC R34533	413,573	836

mysteries of Religion are reveal'd in Scripture it proves God's goodness yet farther he has by that means given Reason a task proper for its exercise For tho' our Reason be not able to fathom all the depths of those mighty revelations yet as Chymists seeking after their great Arcanum tho' they miss the main design yet by the way they make a thousand useful experiments never otherwise to have been found out So those who take due measures and industriously insist in the searching the nature of mysteries in Religion though they can never in this life reach their utmost extent yet they attain many things in their quest of a very useful and a very comfortable kind Thus we see the Weeks of Daniel the Visions of Ezekiel the whole book of the Revelation have given abundance of employ to the best and wisest Christians who yet have never been able to come to any considerable agreement in the Interpretation of them yet the learned labours of many have been so far from lost that many excellent truths have been fully clear'd many pious Souls wonderfully supported and many controversies happily resolv'd to the security and edification of the Church of God And we have found plainly that some have seen into those mystical secrets much more clearly than others which argues their quicker apprehensions and their more powerful assistances in their studies and is withal a great encouragement to others to prosecute the same studies with patience since tho' their progress is not great it may be sure where something is attained to more may be and we believe it was not without reason that the author of the Apocalypse in particular begins his Visions with that Revel 1.3 c. 22.7 Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein and to conclude them to the same purpose And in his Vision of that beast with seven heads and ten horns to whom the Dragon imparted of his power which arose out of the sea and of that other which came up out of the earth that had horns like a Lamb and spake like a Dragon he gives a kind of challenge to humane Reason Here is wisdom Rev. 13.18 let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast for it is the number of a Man and his number is 666. i. e. Here 's a task fit for a man to engage himself in here 's enough for him to exercise all his abilities upon But it would be no such extraordinary blessing for a man to read a book of which he could hope to understand nothing at all and it would be no great evidence of a man's extraordinary wisdom to spend his time in poring after the interpretation of a mystic number and to find out to whom it belong'd if the whole was never design'd to be in the least intelligible No God never set man at work in any inquiry but he intended the profit should at least be worth the pains It must be confest that what Schlicktingius asserts is very true Prophetae novi Testamenti Christo jam exorto arcana Dei ita explicarunt ut ab omnibus intelligi possint quae in novo Testamento scriptae extant futurorum praedictiones claris verbis conceptae sunt That the Prophets of the New Tastament after Christ's appearance explain'd the secrets of God in such a manner as that they might be understood by all And the predictions of future things in the New Testament are express'd in plain words plain words may express very hard matters and there 's no need of uncouth Hyperboles or aenigmatical or ambiguous expressions to make a thing mysterious Our Saviour preach'd in as plain a manner as ever any did or could yet how did the Scribes and Pharisees Schlicktin in 2 op Petri c. 1. v. 21. nay how did the Disciples themselves stumble at his familiar Parables and tho' we have them in some measure interpreted to us in the Gospel-story yet many learned and good men disagree in explaining several particulars contained in them still And I have not yet found that our adversaries themselves pretend to an infallible exposition of any considerable difficulties and the forenamed Author speaking concerning the book of the Revelation tells us it was laid down in Visions and representations Non tam ut Christiani distinctè cognoscerent quid futurum esset id enim nec Ecclesiae nec divinis consiliis expediebat quin potiùs ut ex eventu praesignificatum id esse quod evenit intelligerent not so much that Christians should know what was in future times to come to pass for that was neither agreeable to the Churches necessities nor to Gods designs but only that by the event of things Christians might be able to understand that what hapned had been foretold long since This very comparing of predictions with events would require no small intention of our rational faculties yet here he owns these Visions and representations to be mysterious so long till the event unriddle them And there 's no truth of so profound a nature no expression in Scripture so difficult but that futurity will make it all plain and delightfully intelligible to the Souls of just men made perfect yet here 's constant work for the soundest head and the more such a one discovers of the mysteries of Religion the more he 'll be sensible of the defects of his own understanding and he 'll find the more reason to bless the name of God who has yet continued to him the ruines of a compleat understanding and given him such subjects to exercise it upon as may gradually raise it towards its original strength till heavens glory gives it a consummate perfection But as we are obliged to be thankful to God for giving us the use of Reason so we must take care To use our Reason in all debates about matters of Religion with that sober and humble Modesty as becomes Creatures so much decay'd as we are in our most glorious endowments It has been the abuse of reason and a strange confidence in that which in it self at present is extreamly weak that has introduced so many Errors and Heresies into the Church of Christ a humble and a modest Christian would always secure himself with the famous resolution of St. Augustine Errare possum Haereticus esse nolo I may fall into an Error but I will never be an Heretick i. e. I 'le never be obstinate in any singular opinion of mine own too much diffidence of our selves makes us slaves to every one that has boldness enough to contradict us too much confidence renders us incorrigible in our follies even when much wiser Men would undertake to instruct us and nothing can provoke God more to baffle us in all our inquiries than that innate pride which makes Men value themselves above what is fitting for as St. James tells us God resisteth the proud Jam. 6.4 but he giveth

Mankind are eternally damn'd we conclude their Damnation is the effect of infinite Justice and that they have no more than they deserve and whereas all those who believe in Christ have their Sins pardoned and are eternally saved we believe that the consequence of the same infinite Justice for since Christ has really satisfied for our Sins and his Father has accepted it for us and the Will of God the Father and of God the Son being eternally the same so that the Satisfaction and the Acceptance were of eternal Determination God could not evidence that Justice to us but by making good that Original Contract or Agreement and so by bestowing Pardon and eternal Happiness on all those who believe in his Son and the same Justice is as much evidenc'd in the condemnation of the Wicked because the Satisfaction offer'd by Christ being sufficient to atone for all Sins upon condition that all Sinners believe in him who has so satisfied that sleight put upon the Condition or the Unbelief of the greater part of Mankind exposes them justly to Divine Vengeance as even common Reason teaches us The Socinians tell us as if they were the Privadoes of Heaven that God's Mercy and Justice are both moderated by his Wisdom and Goodness as if they needed somewhat of Limitation or Restraint but why should Justice and Mercy be moderated or governed by Wisdom and Goodness more than Wisdom or Goodness should be managed by Justice or Mercy God's Attributes do not superintend one another but they are all infinite concentred in one infinite Being therefore all equal and no more capable of interfering one with another than God can be supposed capable of disagreeing with himself and whereas we are taught by those Men of Reason that that Justice which is exercised in punishing Sinners is called in Scripture God's Severity his Anger and his Fury if we allow it will they say that Severity in God or Anger or Fury are unjust We know those words are generally understood in an ill sense Severity among Men can admit of no more favourable Character than that of Summum Jus or extremity of Law which is thought to be Summa injuria or extremity of Injustice and Anger and Fury in Men are generally taken for vicious Excesses and such as till a Man can govern or conquer he 's not look'd upon as any extraordinary proficient in Vertue but we hope there are no such vicious Excesses in God therefore such words are made use of only according to Mens Capacities to shew us how very angry God is with Sin and Sinners and yet no more than Justice in consistence with Mercy will allow and to strike a just Aw and Terror upon Men then they who will avoid breaking such or such a Law out of Fear of the Indignation of the Law-giver whose superiour Power and Authority may render him formidable may much more be afraid of breaking the Laws of that God whose Anger is irresistable and whose Justice is inevitable and though there be neither Justice nor Mercy in punishing the Innocent or in acquitting the Guilty yet there is no trespass upon either in pardoning the Guilty when the Innocent Freely and Voluntarily takes that Guilt upon himself especially when the Quality of that Innocent so offering himself is such that the same degree of Punishment or Punishment as heavy falling upon him cannot possibly bring eternal Ruines upon Him as it would upon inferiour Offenders as we often see among meer Men some of so strong and vigorous a Constitution that the same Pains shall scarce disorder them which bring present Death to those of feebler Tempers And if it were no Injustice for the Jewish High-Priests by God's immediate Command to transfer the Crimes of themselves and the People upon the Heads of those Beasts they offer'd in Sacrifice for Sin which Translation of their Guilt they signified by laying their Hands upon the Head of the intended Sacrifice Exod. 29.10 which Beasts were really innocent yet then died for Mens Sins not as in their own nature expiatory Vid. Oughtram de Sacrificiis l. 1. c. 22. but as referring to the Sacrifice of Christ which alone was so in it self then neither was it Injustice in God to lay upon Christ the Iniquity of us all and by so doing to expiate our Sins in earnest though the same Blessed Jesus were Holy Harmless and Vndefiled as we are sure he was Nor indeed could any thing but what was truly innocent be substituted to suffer for the Guilty since otherwise its native Crimes must have needed Expiation whence among other Reasons I conclude Humane Sacrifices abominable to God because all were Sinners and one Sinner could not reasonably atone for another which was no Exception to the Sacrifice of Christ But our Adversaries have their artificial Glosses whereby to put off the plainest Evidences of Scripture that assert His Satisfaction for our Sins for when we are told that our Saviour Died for us that He laid down his Life for Sinners c. they allow no more to be signified by it than this That Christ was a Sacrifice for us in the same manner as former Sacrifices were for those who offered them so that as those Sacrifices were never look'd upon as any Compensation for the Sins of the Offerers neither could that of Christ be a Compensation for theirs for whom he offered himself only his Offering Himself so seems like the others as a certain Condition on which Remission of Sins should be granted But if common Sense may be our Guide the Difference must be very great between this of Christ and all former Sacrifices offer'd by the Jews as generally the Antitype is accounted of a superiour Nature to the Type for tho' Remission of Sins were granted to the Offerer upon his Sacrifice being offer'd yet it was not upon account of that Sacrifice offered but upon account of the Sincerity and Obedience of the Offerer and that respect his Sacrifice had to the Death of the Messias yet to come for though Beasts were innocent there was nothing meritorious in their being sacrificed their Sufferings being involuntary and themselves in a corrupt and insensible state because there was nothing in the ancient Holocausts considerable but their relation to the Messias therefore they were offer'd continually from their first Institution to the time of our Saviour's Death but when the Messias was once come and had offer'd himself knowingly and voluntarily for Sin the former Sacrifices were all effectually to cease and our Lord to offer himself no more than once therefore there must be something extraordinary in that one Sacrifice which was not in others and once offering of that must be more than equivalent to all the former that really and effectually in it self expiating Sin which the others did not and this the Apostle himself urges when he tells us Heb. 9 9● 11 12. That the Jewish Tabernacle was a figure for the time then present in which were