nor the Holy Ghost were incarnate we answer that it is true that all the Three Persons equally govern and we further acknowledg that neither the Person of the Father nor the Person of the Holy Ghost are incarnate but only the Person of the Son yet we beleeve that the whole God-head and essence of the Father and of the Holy Ghost is incarnate in the Person of the Son This was affirmed by Christ when he said The Father is in me and I in him Ioh. 10. 38. and John Baptist had said before That God hath given him the Spirit not by measure Ioh. 3. 34. and St. Luke saith that Jesus was full of the Holy Ghost and St. Paul saith Col. 2. 9. In him Lu. 4. 1. dwelleth all the fulness of the God-head bodily whereby it appeareth that the Dominion of Christ doth not in any wise exclude the Dominion of the other Divine persons although St. Jude calls Christ the only Lord God yet this word only doth not barr the Lordship or God-head of the Father and Holy Ghost because as our good rule in Logick teacheth us That Propositio exclusiva non excludit inclusa Next concerning the Priesthood of Christ he is said to be a Priest for ever after the order of Heb. 7. 17. Melchisedech if for ever then he must be a Priest in Heaven but if so then the Socinians tell us that Christ can not be the supream God because the supream God can not be a Priest This cavil I have met with before and answered a Lib. 2. c. 15. out of Arstin That Christ is a Priest only as he is the Son of man as incarnate and Emanuel but not as he is the Son of God or God the Word and so Prosper also resolved this doubt upon those words Thou art a Priest b Prosper in Psal 109. Non quatenus ex patre sed quantenus ex Matre natus est Sacerdos i. e. Christ is a Priest not as he is the Son of his Father but as he is the Son of his Mother But we are further told by the Socinians That Heb. 7. 1. p. â— 16. c. Christ was not a Priest till he was dead and that then his Priesthood began that the expiatory or satisfactory offering of Christ was not performed on the cross or on earth but in Heaven This they affirm because they will not beleeve that our Redemption was wrought by the death of Christ so blasphemously do they vilipend the blood of Christ whereas indeed the ultimate expiation or satisfaction consisteth in the death of Christ answering to the very words of the Covenant viz In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye and therefore the Apostle Gen. 2. 17. Rom. 6. 23. saith The wages of sin is death now if Christ dyed for us on the Cross he there also performed the expiation and paid the ransom for if the expiatory sacrifice were to be performed in Heaven then must Christ have suffered death in Heaven but the Apostle tells us that after his resurrection he dyeth no more This foul blasphemy Rom. 6. 9. is near a kin to that of Origen which St. Jerom reports a Hier. Epist 59. c. 4. That Christ was to suffer in the Air for the salvation of Divels and to suffer in Heaven also because we read of Spirituall wickedness in Heavenly places that so the inhabitants Eph. 6. 12. of al regions might be saved through Christs passions Thus he It being granted that Christ is now a Priest in Heaven it would be inquired of what order or kind his Priesthood is there in this we are certified that it is a Priesthood for ever and that it is after or according to the Priesthood of Melchisedech that is Christ is such a Priest in Heaven as Melchisedech was on Earth and therefore Christ in Heaven doth such Priestly acts as Melchisedech did on earth For Christ whilest he was on earth was a Priest but here his Priesthood was Aaronical i. e. like unto Aarons Priesthood because Christ did offer a bloody sacrifice even his own body and blood on the Altar of the Cross which he gave for a ransom for us Mat. 20. 28. For a propitiation Ro. 3. 25. for our Justification Ro. 5. 9. for our Redemption Eph. 1. 7. Col. 1. 14. to bear our sins in his own body 1 Pet. 2. 24. that is to undergo the punishment for our sins paying the ransom of his own self for us 1 Tim. 2. 6. This bloody sacrifice of Christ was typified and only signified by Aaron offering the bodies and blood of Beasts But the sacrifice of Christ on earth was also unlike Aarons because Aaron offered beasts but Christ offered himself Aaron might not offer human blood nor might Christ offer the blood of Beasts whereupon it is said Heb. 8. 4. That Christ on earth could not be a Priest because he could not offer gifts according to the Law that is he could not offer Levitical Sacrifices of Beasts as the Legal Priests did because he was not a Son of Aaron or of the Tribe of Levi. But he might and did offer his own humane blood which was the Substance whereas the blood of Beasts offered by Aaron was but only the shadow Therefore they that tell us that Christ may not be called an Aaronicall Priest because he was not a Son of Aaron may as well tell us that he may not be called The Lamb because he was not literally a Lamb taken out of the Sheep-fold The truth is this As the Lamb was Ex. 12. 5. but the shadow of Christs Passion so the Priesthood of Aaron was but the shadow of Christs Sacrificing Priesthood This Sacrificing Priesthood of Christ ended at his death so that he is not any more to be sacrificed but his Melchisedechical Priesthood and only that order of his Priesthood must continue for ever St. Austin saith of the Iews a Aug. in Psa 109. Iudaei vident jam periisse sacerdotium secundum Ordinem Aaron non agnoscunt Sacerdetium secundum ordinem Melchisedech This reproof toucheth not only Jews but Romanists and Socinians The Iews expect a restitution of their Temple and Aaronical or Levitical Sacrifices Romanists say Christ is daily Sacrificed on their Altars Socinians say that Christ Offereth Sacrificeth himself Com. on Heb. 9. v. 12. p. 168. in Heaven not considering that his Priesthood is only like Melchisedech's now which was not a Sacrificing Priesthood for we find not that any Sacrifice was offered by Melchisedech on earth neither may Christ our Melchisedech be thought in any wise to offer Sacrifice in Heaven But of this more anon If Christ being in Heaven doth there Sacrifice for us it must also be granted that he there prayeth for us because no Sacrifice can be rightly performed without prayer but no good Christian may imagine that the mediation of Christ in Heaven is by way of prayer neither can we find in
as Christ is 1 2. Chapt. The Difficulties of apprehending the Mystery of the Trinity and other Christian Doctrines Of Philosophers Jews and Christians professing their ignorance in matters of Nature and Religion 8 3. Chapt. More concerning those Difficulties and of our ignorance in Theological Doctrines of the Trinity and Predestination and of the over-great boldness of some in handling those Mysteries 16 4. Chapt. That the Doctrine of the Trinity is obscurely delivered in the Old Testament Why the Septuagint concealed it The resemblance of the Trinity in things Natural and Moral The distinct proprieties of the Three Persons and their Unity Of the use of some Words in Religion which are not found in the Scriptures 25 5. Chapt. More of Words not Scriptural Of the Word Trinity and of the Word Person Why the Trinity is called Three Persons VVhy Baptism is administred in the name of the Trinity 34 6. Chapt. Of the Scriptural VVord Hypostasis The Grammatical and Theological signification thereof VVhy the Three Divine Persons are called Hypostases That the God-head resideth only in these Three Persons and not otherwise The Ubiquity both of the God-head and of these Three Persons 43 7. Chap. Of the Holy Ghost That he is one of the Divine Persons That he is to be prayed unto is shewed by Scripture and by practise of the Church That he is confessed in Creeds and invocated in Baptismes and Doxologies 53 8. Chapt. Of Scandals hindring the faith of the Trinity 1. By forbidding the corporal worship of the Lord Jesus 2. By disuse of the Doxologies and Creeds even in Baptismes 3. By dissolving the Order Episcopal ordained by the Holy Ghost Of Presbytery That it is no Scriptural order of Sacerdocy St Jerom's Epistle to Euagrius explained 63 9. Chapt. More of Scandals 1. By scandalous Ministers 2. By dis-use and abuse of the Lords Prayer Of Christs Earthly Kingdome and his corporal return before his coming to the last Judgment That prosperity in unjust causes is no sign of Gods approbation Of the Regal Stile Gratia Dei Something concerning publick Thanks-givings 78 10. Chapt. Of Millinarians and their imaginary fifth Monarchy That it is an Heresy against the faith of the Trinity Mr Mede's Argument for Christ's Earthly Kingdome is answered That Christs Kingdome shall last after the final Judgement and continue for ever 87 Sect. 2. Of Christ's Kingdom over all the World and every Creature That it ceased not at his death That neither the Roman Consistory nor the Presbyterian Vestry can be called Christs Throne How it is in this World and yet not of this World That the Policy of Christ's Kingdome is altogether unlike and divers from worldly Policy 96 Sect. 3. Of Christ's Kingdome and Acts in Heaven Of his Melchisedechical Priest-hood there The manner of his Intercession Advocateship and Mediatorship for us in Heaven That it is not by Sacrificing or praying for us there What Priestly Act he there performeth 110 Sect. 4. 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 VVhy Christ withdrew to Heaven Of the re-building of Ierusalem and the Temple Of the Jewish Monarchy and their Pseudo-Messiah or the great Antichrist 122 Sect. 5. 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-goat and Jewish Sacrifices why God disliked them The signification of the Altar Of Jewish and Christian Liturgies 135 11. Chapt. More concerning Millinarism The dreadful and bloody Consequences thereof Of new Millinarian Saints and the Meek VVhat Earth or Land is promised to the truely Meek The Title of Saint unduely placed is an abuse of the Holy Ghost The Conclusion 146 The Preface HAving formerly discoursed concerning the absolute Godhead of Jesus Christ and shewed that he is the only and most high God and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Divines use to say and the I am i. God absolutely and independently for an Antidote against the late Socinian commentary on the Hebrews It seemeth requisite and seasonable to consider the same Lord Jesus in his Relative Personality as he standeth in relation to the Father and so is the Eternal Son of the Eternal Father In the contemplation whereof I shall be necessitated briefly to discourse the Sacred Doctrine of the whole blessed Trinity and each several Person thereof And because this profound and mysterious Doctrine is far above the reach of our Natural reason and comprehension and therefore to be not only Reverendly but also Warily and Circumspectly handled it being confessed both by Heathen and Christian Writers a Tacitus Sanctius reverentius visum est de actis Deorum credere quam scire and b Cicero De Potestate Deorum timide pauca dicamus i. e. it seemeth more reverend to believe the power of God then to presume to pry into it and to speak sparingly and timerously thereof because as Origen saith c Orig. in Eze. hom 1. De Deo vera dicere periculosum est i. e. It is dangerous to speak of God albeit we speak nothing but the Truth I therefore do here most earnestly implore the assistance of the Father of Lights to illuminate the hearts both of the Writer and Reader that from him we may receive all needful evidence for our apprehension and for our faith in the holy Trinity which now we are to discourse of and to shew that there are Three Persons in the Godhead and that they all are Coëssential Coëqual and Coëternal Errata Page 5. l. 17. r. patre p. 9. l. 9. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 17. l. 19. r. Salvianus p. 21. l. 16. r. ipse p. 23. l. 9. r. Abulenses p. 24. l. 9. r. Idiotae p. 34. l. 10. r. contentiosius p. 41. l. 31. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 44. l. 24. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 60. l. 1. r. are that temple p. 69. l. 21 22. r. signing p. 75. l. 13. r. voted p. 76. l. 7. dele those godly p. 78. l. 10. r. in Marcione p. 109. l. 2. r. ne gentes l. 22. r. spirit p. 110. l. 9. r. whether p. 125. l. 2. r. lord p. 129. l. 15. r. premisses p. 130. l. 24. r. take p. 136. l. 22. r. the feast p. 137. l. 12. r. propitiation p. 147. l. 25. r. men p. 150. l. 5. r. women p. 151. r. them p. 153. l. 2. r. auri l. 12. r. devour l. 17. r. foul toad found p. 158. l. 2. r. Augustine p. 159. l. 4. r. paraechial l. 13. r. metuant l. 25. r. alio fastu In the Margin In the Epistle p. 4. l. 3 4. r. extinguunt In the Book p. 7. l. 1. r. Bas cont Eunom p. 11. l. 7. r. Dion Laer. p. 16. l. 2. r. Rom. 11. 33. p. 17. l. 3. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 21. l. 2.
Hoc praestat timor Dei ut alios timores contemnamus and St. Ambros speaking of the burning of the Martyr Laurentius saith e Ambr. Serm. 19. n. 41 Maâ—or slamma intrinsecus est The fear of God overcometh all humane fears and the fire of Gods Spirits within us wherewith our hearts burn is more ardent then the flames of Tyrants as cruel Antiochus was told by a Martyr f Ioseph de Macab Ignis tuus frigidus est O Magister crudelitatis i. e. That the Tyrants fire was but cold in respect of this Heavenly flame Thus doth the Scepter and Kingly power of Christ appear most in our weakness and this is the method of his Kingdom in this world But of the carnal domineering insulting ruffling and ranting Kingdom which Millinarians dream of Christ saith My Kingdom is not of this World SECT III. Of Christs Kingdom and Acts in Heaven of his Melchisedechical Priest-hood there The manner of his intercession Advocate-ship and Mediatorship for us in Heaven That it is not by sacrificing or praying for us there What Priestly act he there performeth WE are next to inquire whether Christ since his ascensioÌ„ hath any Kingdom or Dominion in HeaveÌ„ what he hath done there all this while for the English Socinian Commenter on the Hebrews tells us that this Epistle is a The Preface a. 3. the History of Christ in Heaven which is true in part although himself have depraved it but so are also other parcels of Scripture as may thus appear in his ascension he was attended and proclaimed King by Angels as Justin. Origen Jerom. Ambros and Chrysost understand these words Ps 24. 7. Lift up your Psal 24 heads O ye gates or O ye Princes and the King of glory shall come in for although as he is the Son of God or God the Word he was in Heaven before yet his humane nature was not there before his ascension as is well expressed by b Ruf. in Symb. apud Cyp. Ruffinus Ascendit ad Coelos non ubi verbum Deus ante non fuerat sed ubi verbum caro factum ante non sedebat being there he is said to have a Throne and that for ever and Heb. 1. 8. ever Ps 45. 6. a Throne is Kingly but this Throne is also on the right hand of God so it is the highest Throne thence he is said to give gifts unto men Eph. 4. 8. as The Holy Ghost at Pentecost was by him shed Act. 2. 3. So he gave Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Teachers Eph. 4. 11. to those more gifts are added Gifts of healing helps in government diversities of tongues 1 Cor. 12. 28. besides many other sanctifying graces to holy men and women He â—hewed himself to be in Heaven and at the right hand of God to the Protomartyr Act. 7. 56. out of Heaven he spake to Saul and restrained him from persecuting Act. 9. He is called a Priest an High-Priest and a Bishop he maketh intercession for us in Heaven Rom. 8. 34. Heb. 7. 25. He is our Advocate with the Father 1 Joh. 2. 1. And our Mediator 1 Tim. 2. 5. c. What Act of Priest-hood and what kind of intercession Christ performeth for us in Heaven and what is meant by his session at the right hand of God we will inquire anon but first his Kingly authority is to be shewed After the Passion and Resurrection of Christ and before his ascension he said All power is Mat 28. 18. given unto me in Heaven and in Earth These words are weighty The giving is meant only of a gift to his humanity thus That all power in Heaven and Earth which was naturally in the Son or Word before his incarnation is now by the God-head even his own God-head communicated to his humane nature being personally united with his divine nature so that now the Emanuel or Christ or the Word made flesh hath all power in Heaven and Earth the whole power of the God-head is in him There is nothing done by God either in Heaven or Earth but what Jesus Christ doth because there is none other God but that God which he is for he is the one and only God The Father and the Spirit are with him but one God whatsoever the Father doth he doth it by the Son and whatsoever the Son doth he doth it from the Father and by the Spirit and whatsoever the Spirit doth he doth it from the Father and the Son Christ saith The Ioh. 5. 17. Father worketh and I work this because the works of one are the works of both He saith again I can of my self do nothing 30. this he said because the Father and the Son are one therefore the works of the Son are the works of the Father also This is to be understood of the Essential or Absolute works of the God head but not of the Personal or proper works of each several person he saith again The Son can do nothing of himself but what he 19. seeth the Father do This is not so to be understood as if the Father did first perform a work to be as a Sampler or pattern for the Son to work by and then the Son after him should perform such another work but that the very same individual work of the Father is also the work of the Son for example The Father made the world so did the Son make the same world If this work be not the one and self same work of the Father and the Son then as Austin argueth a Aug. in Ioan. tract 20. Da mihi alterum mundum quem fecit Filius you can not shew me two worlds one of the Fathers making and another of the Sons making Indeed before the incarnation of the Son all the power in Heaven and earth was in the pure God-head residing in the Father Word and Spirit But since the Word or Son was incarnate all that power is communicated by the same God-head to the Son incarnate who is thereupon called Christ and Emanuel There is now none other King of glory but that God which is in Christ St. Iude calls him both The only Lord God and our Lord Iesus Christ Iude 4. Ioh. 5. 22. 27. therefore himself saith That the Father hath committed all judgment to the Son that is to Christ and this Son shall therefore in the end in his assumed and visible nature judg the world If it be said that his humane nature is a creature and therefore must always be subject to his God-head we answer that it is true but nevertheless the Emanuel i. e. The Divine and Humane Nature joyntly govern all things for so the body of a King is subject to the soul or will of the King yet the King consisting of a Body and Soul with both ruleth If it be said that the Father and the Holy Spirit do also reign and govern all things as well as the Son though neither the Father
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
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