of Canaan on the Priests and Levites being his in his own right Originally by the law of Nature and by him challenged and appropriated as his own domaine All the Tithe of the land whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree is the Lords Here 's the Lords claim and title to them as his own propriety Behold I have given the children of Levi all the Tenth or Tithes in Israel for an inheritance for the service which they serve even the service of the Tabernacle of the Congregation There 's the collation of his right on the Tribe of Levi whom he made choyce of to attend in his holy Tabernacle and to do service at his Altar And they continued the inheritance of the Tribe of Levi until the Priesthood was translated unto Christ our Saviour who being made by God the true owner of Tithes a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedech became invested ipso facto with that right of Tithing which God had formerly conferred on the Priests and Levites and consequently with a power of disposing of them to them that minister in his Name to the Congregation The second argument which the Apostle doth afford us in this case of Tithes is the Prerogative which Melchisedech haâ— iâ— that particular above Aaron and the sons of Levi. Levi also saith he which received Tithes paid Tithes in Abraham for he was yet in the loyns of his Father when Melchisedech met him Heb. 7.9 10. Then which there cannot be a stronger and more pregnant argument to prove that Tithes are no Mosaical institution or the peculiar maintenance of the Levites but that they are derived from an higher Author and are to be continued to the Ministers of a better Testament For the Apostle taking on him to prove this point that the Priesthood after the Ordâ—â— of Melchisedech was better and more perfect then that which was according to the Order of Aaron useth this argument to evince it and it is a weighty one indeed that Levi himself though he received Tithes of his brethren by the Lords appointment yet he and all his Tribe paid their Tithes to Melchisedech being all vertually and potentially in the loyns of Abraham at such time as Melchisedech met him and consequently being as effectually tithed in Abraham as all mankinde have sinned in Adam from whose loyns they sprung Nay we may work this argument to an higher pitch and make the full scope of it to amount to this That if the Tribe of Levi had been in full possession of the Tithes of their Brethren when Melchisedech met with Abraham and blessed him as became the High Priest of God to do or if Melchisedech had lived in Canaan till their setling in it they must and ought to have done as their Father did and paid their Tithes unto Melchisedâ—eh as the Type of Christ in reference to his everlasting and eternal Priesthood But seeing that this common place hath been so much beaten on I shall only alter some few words of that Noble Gentleman and great Antiquarie Sir Henry Spelman to make his argument more suitable to my present purpose and so close this point Insomuch saith he as Abraham did not pay his Tithes to a Priest that offered a Levitical Sacrifice of Bullocks and Goats but unto him that presented him with Bread and Wine which are the Elements of the Sacrament ordained by Christ this may serve well to intimate thus much unto us that we are to pay our Tithes unto that High Priest an High Priest of Melchisedechs Order who did ordain the Sacrament of Bread and Wine and unto them in his behalf who by his Ordinance and appointment in the Word Hoc facite administer the same unto us And so much for the Sacerdotal Office of our Lord and Saviour which he doth execute for our good at the right hand of God we now proceed unto the Regal which though it is most eminent in his coming to Iudgement and so more properly to be handled in the following Article yet for so much thereof as is exercised at the right hand of God we shall reduce it under this in the following chapter CHAP. XIV Of the Regal or Kingly Office of our Lord as far as it is executed before his coming unto Iudgement Of his Vice-gerents on the Earth and of the several Vice-roys put upon him by the Papists and the Presbyterians WE have not yet done with this branch of the Article that of our Saviours sitting at the right hand of God For of the three Offices allotted to him that of the Priest the Prince and the Prophet all which are comprehended in the name of CHRIST that of the Priest is wholly executed as he sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty And so is so much also of the King or the Regal Office as doth concern the preservation of his Church from the hands of her enemies the Regulating of the same by his holy laws and indeed every act and branch thereof except 〈◊〉 of Iudicature which is most visibly discharged in the day of judgement Of all the rest we shall now speak and for our better method and proceeding in it must recall to minde that we told you in our former Chapter how both the Kingdome and the Priesthood of our Saviour Christ did take beginning at the time of his Resurrection He was before a King Elect designed by God to this great Office from before all worlds but not invested with the Crown nor put into the possession of the Throne 〈◊〉 David till he had conquered Death and swallowed up the grave in victory That he was King Elect and in designation is evident by that of the Royal Psalmist where he brings in God Almighty speaking of his only Son and saying I have set my King upon my holy hill of Sion as evident by that of the Prophet Daniel where he telleth us that in those days those days which the Apostle calleth the fulness of time the God of Heaven shall set up a Kingdome which shall never be destroyed which can be meant of none but the Kingdome of Christ. And that we may not have the testimony only of Kings and Prophets which were mortall men but also of the blessed Angels those immortal Spirits we have the Angel Gabriel saying of him to his Virgin-Mother that the Lord would give unto him the Throne of his Father David and of his Kingdome there should be no end But yet he was but King Elect and in designation born to the Crown of the Celestial land of Canaan as the Heir apparent and by that name enquired for by the Wise men saying Vbi est ille qui natus est Rex Iudaeorum i. e. where is he that is born King of the Iews as our Englâ—sh reads it And so do all translations else which I have seen except Bezas and the French which doth follow him And he indeed doth
Esdras the springs above the firmament were broken up which on the abatement of the waters are said to have been stopped or shut up again Gen. 8.2 A thing saith he not to be understood of any subterraneous Abysse without an open defiance to the common principles of nature Besides it doth appear from the Text it self that at the first God had not caused it to rain on the earth at all perhaps not till those times of Noah but that a moysture went up and watered the whole face of the ground Gen. 2.5.6 as still it is observed of the land of Egypt And that it did continue thus till the days of Noah may be collected from the bow which God set in the Clouds which otherwise as Porphyrie did shrewdly gather had been there before and if no clouds nor rain in the times before the Cataracts of heaven spoken of Gen. 7. 11. 8.2 must have some other exposition then they have had formerly Nay he collects and indeed probably enough from his former principles that this aboundance of waters falling then from those heavenly treasuries and sunke into the secret receptacles of the earth have been the matter of those clouds which are and have been since occasioned and called forth by the heat and influence of the Sun and others of the stars and celestiall bodies These are the principall reasons he insists upon And unto those me thinks the Philosophical tradition of a Crystalline heaven the watery Firmament we may call it doth seem to add some strength or moment which hath been therefore interposed between the eighth sphere and the primum mobile that by the natural coolness and complexion of it it might repress and moderate the fervour of the primum mobile which otherwise by its violent and rapid motion might suddenly put all the world in a conflagration For though perhaps there may be no such thing in nature as this Crystalline heaven yet I am very apt to perswade my self that the opinion was first grounded on this Text of Moses where we are told of Waters above the Firmament but whether rightly understood I determine not But I desire to be excused for this excursion though pertinent enough to the point in hand which was to shew the power and wisdome of Almighty God in ordering the whole work of the Worlds Creation To proceed therefore where we left As we are told in holy Scripture that God made the World and of the time when and the manner how he did first create it so finde we there the speciall motions which induced him to it Of these the chief and ultimate is the glory of God which not only Men and Angels do dayly celebrate but all the Creatures else set forth in their severall kindes The Heavens declare the glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy work saith the royall Psalmist And Benedicite domino opera ejus O blesse the Lord saith he all ye works of his Psal. 103.22 The second was to manifest his great power and wisdome which doth most clearly shew it self in the works of his hands there being no creature in the world no not the most contemptible and inconsiderable of all the rest in making or preserving which we do not finde a character of Gods power and goodness For not the Angels only and the Sun and Moon nor Dragons only and the Beasts of more noble nature but even the very worms are called on to extol Gods name All come within the compass of laudate Dominum and that upon this reason only He spake the word and they were made he commanded and they were created In the third place comes in the Creation of Angels and men that as the inanimate and irrational creatures do afford sufficient matter to set forth Gods goodness so there might be some creatures of more excellent nature which might take all occasions to express the same who therefore are more frequently and more especially required to perform this duty Benedicite Domino omnes Angeli ejus O praise the Lord all ye Angels of his ye that excel in strength ye that fulfil his commandements for the Angels are but ministring spirits Psal. 104.4 and hearken to the voyce of his words And as for men he cals upon them four times in one only Psalm to discharge this Office which sheweth how earnestly he expecteth it from them O that men would therefore praise the LORD for his goodness and declare the wonders which he doth to the children of men Then follows his selecting of some men out of all the rest into that sacred body which we call the Church whom he hath therefore saved from the hands of their enemies that they might serve him without fear in righteousness and holiness all the days of their lives And therefore David doth not only call upon mankinde generally to set forth the goodness of the Lord but particularly on the Church Praise the Lord O Hierusalem Praise thy God O Sion And that not only with and amongst the rest but more then any other of the sons of men How so because he sheweth his word unto Jacob his statutes and his Ordinances unto Israel A favour not vouchsafed to other Nations nor have the Heathen knowledge of his laws for so it followeth in that Psalm v. 19 20. The Church then because most obliged is most bound to praise him according to that divine rule of eternal justice that unto whomsoever more is given of him the more shall be required And last of all the Lord did therefore in the time when it seemed best to him accomplish this great work of the Worlds Creation that as his infinite power was manifested in the very making so he might exercise his Providence and shew his most incomprehensible wisdome in the continual preservation and support thereof And certainly it is not easie to determine whether his Power were greater in the first Creation or his Providence more wonderful and of greater consequence in the continual goverance of the World so made which questionless had long before this time relapsed to its primitive nothing had he not hitherto supported it by his mighty hand For not alone these sublunary creatures which we daily see nor yet the heavenly bodies which we look on with such admiration but even the Heaven of Heavens and the Hosts thereof Archangels Angels Principalities Powers or by what name soever they are called in Scripture enjoy their actual existence and continual beeing not from their own nature or their proper Essence but from the goodness of their Maker For he it is as St. Paul telleth us in the Acts who hath not only made the World and all things therein but still gives life and breath unto every creature and hath determined of the times before appointed and also of the bounds of their habitation And so much Seneca Pauls dear friend if there be any truth in those letters which do bear their names hath affirmed also
properly the fundamental act and radical qualification of the faith of Adam But after he had fallen from his first integrity and that the Lord out of meer pity to his frail perishing creature was pleased to promise him some measure of reparation in the womans seed then did the bruising of the Serpents head by the seed of the woman become a partial object of the faith of Adam and of all those who afterwards descended of him in the line of Grace And yet this was but in a general apprehension of the mercies of God and of his constancy and veracity in fulfilling his word no distinct Revelation being made till the time of Abraham so much as from what branch of the root of Adam this promised blessing was to come A pregnant argument whereof I think is offered to us in the errour of our Grandam Eve who on the birth of Cain her first-born but most wicked son conceived that he should be the man in whom the promise made by God was to be fulfilled and therefore said I have gotten a man from the Lord as our English reads it but rather possedi virum ipsum IEHOVAH I have gotten a man even the Lord IEHOVAH as Paulus Phagius a very learned Hebritian doth correct that reading And as for Abraham himself though it pleased God to tell him more particularly then before was intimated that in his seed should all the families of the Earth be blessed yet so unsatisfied was he as concerning Sarah or that this general blessing was to come of a son by her that when GOD promised such a son from that barren womb by whom she was to be a Mother of Kings and Nations instead of giving thanks to God he returned this answer O that Ishmael might live before thee And though upon the duplicate of this gracious promise that in Isaac should his seed be called he was sufficiently instructed and believed accordingly that the great mercy which God promised to our Father Adam was to descend in time from the loyns of Isaac yet that he should be born of an imaculate Virgin that he should suffer such and so many indignities and at the last a bitter and most shameful death by the hands of those who seemed to boast so much in nothing as that they were the children of this faithful Abraham as it was never that we read of revealed unto him so have we no reason to believe that it was any part or object of his faith at all The like may be affirmed in general of the house of Israel till God was pleased to speak more plainly and significantly to them by the mouth of his Prophets then he had done unto their Fathers in dreams and visions For having nothing further revealed unto them touching Christ to come then what was intimated first in generals to our Father Adam and more particularly specified to their Father Abraham the primary and principal Object of their faith was God alone conceive me still of God the Father Almighty in whom they looked for the performance of those gracious promises which he had made unto their Fathers though of the time when the manner how and other the material points which the Creed contains they were utterly ignorant and consequently could not ground any faith upon them In after times as GOD imparted clearer light to the house of Iacob for the neerer we are to the Sun-rising the more day appeareth so were they bound to give belief to such Revelations or supernatural truths revealed call them which you will which he vouchsafed to make unto them by his holy Prophets Which howsoever they contained in them a sufficient light to guide them to the knowledge of many particular points and circumstances which were to be accomplished in the time and place of Christs Nativity his course of life and sufferings and most shameful death which every one could see when they came to pass that whatsoever had been done by or concerning him did come to pass according as had been sore-signified in the holy Scriptures yet this great light of prophesie which did shine amongst them was but like a Candle in a dark Lanthorn or hid under a bushel and rather served to convince them of incredulity when he was ascended then to prepare them to receive him when he came unto them He came unto his own and his own received him not saith St. Iohn expressely And for the Prophets themselves 't is true that they have in them many positive and plain predictions of the Incarnation Nativity and Circumcision of Christ of his Passion Resurrection and Ascension as also of the most remarkable passages and occurrences in the whole course of his life And yet a question hath been made amongst learned men whether they did always distinctly foresee or explicitely believe whatsoever they did fore-tell or fore-signifie concerning Christ. Nor can I finde but that this question is resolved to this effect that though they had a right apprehension of the truths by them delivered and a foresight of all those future events of which they prophesied according to the accomplishment and sense thereof by themselves intended yet that this foresight of theirs extended not to all branches of divine truth contained in their writings or to that use and application which was after made of them by CHRIST himself and his Evangelists and Apostles with this mark of reference that such and such things came to pass that the sayings of the Prophets might be fulfilled For many things are extant in the Prophetical writings either by way of Typical prefigurations or positive and plain predictions applyable to the life and actions of our Lord and Saviour and the success and fortunes of his holy Church which in all probability was never so intended by those sacred Pen-men For who can reasonably conceive that Moses in the story of the commanded offering up of Isaac the only son of his Father intended to typifie or fore-shadow the real offering up of CHRIST the only begotten Son of God neer the self same place or that this Ceremony in the ordering of the Paschal Lamb ye shall not break a bone thereof did look so far in the first institution of it as to the not breaking of our Saviours legs in the time of his passion or that the setting up of the Brazen Serpent was by him meant to signifie and foreshew the lifting up of the Son of God upon the Cross to the end that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have eternal life as himself applyes it in St. Iohn The like may be affirmed of David to whom the Lord had promised that of the fruit of his body there should one sit upon his Throne for evermore Psal. 132. that God would set his King upon his holy hill of Sion Psal. 2. with many other predictions to the same effect And yet it may be questioned upon very good reason whether he understood
ordained that having made compensation to his neighbour for the injury done he shall bring his trespass offering to the Lord a Ram without blemish out of the flock And the Priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord and it shall be forgiven him In which we finde that satisfaction for the wrong in regard of man was to be made by restitution but the forgiveness of the sin in regard of God to be procured by the sacrifice of the bloud of Rams But what need search be made into more particulars when the atonement for their sins and sanctifying them to the Lord their God is generally ascribed to the sacrifices and bloud of beasts as if the burden of mens sins had been laid on them For thus saith God by Moses to the sons of Aaron Wherefore have ye not eaten the sin-offering in the holy place seeing it is most holy and God hath given it you to bear the iniquity of the Congregation to make atonement for them before the Lord Thus when he doth restrain that people from eating bloud he gives this reason of the same because I have given it to you upon the Altar to make atonement for your souls for it is the bloud that makes an atonement for the soul Thus also saith S. Paul that both the Book and all the people the Tabernacle and all the vessels of the Ministry and almost all things by the Law were purged with bloud and that without shedding of bloud there was no remission If without shedding of the bloud of beasts there was no remission then certainly it followeth by St. Pauls illation that by shedding of their bloud there was Or that the sacrifices both before and under the law may seem to have the same effect in remission of sins which is conferred on Baptism in the time of the Gospel A power not natural to either ex natura sua for naturally it is as impossible for water as for the bloud of Buls and Goats to take away sins but Ex vi divinae institutionis conferred upon them by the Institution of Almighty God who being the Physitian of the soul of man might choose what medicines he thought fittest for the Patients ease And possibly enough it is that besides this Expiatory power affixed to these legal Sacrifices they might occasionally produce repentance in the hearts of the people when they beheld the innocent dumb beasts brought unto the slaughter and brought unto the slaughter for no other reason but to make reconciliation for the sin of man For if a generous young Prince that sees his negligences punished on the back of another according to the usage of former times doth thereby both grow more industrious in his course of studies and more conform and regular in his course of life why may we not conceive so favourably of the people of Israel that seeing the brute beasts punished for mans offences they might repent with shame and sorrow of their former wickednesses and cry out passionately and afflictedly in the words of DAVID It is I that have sinned and done wickedly but what have these sheep done that they should be slaughtered Me me adsum qui feci in me convertile ferrum Let thy hand be against me that have done this wickedness So that for ought appeareth unto the contrary the Sacrifices both before and under the Law had in themselves a power of Propitiation by vertue of the ordinance and justification of Almighty God and not a relative vertue only in reference to the Al-sufficient sacrifice of our Saviour CHRIST But then admitting that those Sacrifices were ordained but as types and figures of that which Christ was in the fulnesse of time to make for the sins of mankind yet is this to be understood of Gods minde and purpose and not of any such respect which the people had of them For that the people when they brought their sacrifices before the Altar had any such relation to the death of CHRIST as to conceive the same to be represented in the slaughter of beasts is no where to be found I dare boldly say it in all the Volume and context of the book of God Or if the people in their sacrifices had respect to CHRIST or looked upon them but as types and figures of that perfect sacrifice which he was afterwards to offer unto God the Father think we that God would have rejected or disliked them professe himself to be full of the burnt offerings of Rams and the fat of fed beasts that he delighted not in the bloud of bullocks or of lambs and goates and more then so that their sacrifices were become such an abomination to him that he who sacrificed a lamb was as if he had cut off a dogs neck and he that sacrificed an Oxe as if he had killed a man Assuredly God could not entertain such a vile esteem of the Iewish sacrifices however they might have some mixture of impure affection had they been offered only in relation to the death of Christ. And though the Lord Du Plessis seem to be of opinion that the sacrificing of men and women was first taken up upon some knowledge that the bloud of the son of man would prove a fuller expiation for their sins and wickednesses then of all the sheep upon the hils and the beasts of the forrest and therefore that their sacrifices did relate to Christ howsoever horribly mis-applyed in that particular yet is this only gratis dictum without proof at all there being another cause as bad of such humane sacrifices which we shall touch upon hereafter If it be asked in the mean time how CHRIST is said in Scripture to be the end of the Law Rom. 10.4 or how the Law is said to be our Schoole-master to bring us to Christ Gal. 3.24 except the sacrifices of the Law were as types and figures of the sacrifice which was made by Christ I answer that the Law had other and more proper means to bring men to Christ then to conduct them by the hand of such types and figures in case the sacrifices of the Iewes had been only such For CHRIST is therefore said to be the end of the Law for righteousness unto those that believe for so it followeth in the Text because he doth performe that unto those which believe which the Law propounded for its end but could not attain that is to say the Iustification of a sinner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what did the Law aime at saith St. Chrysostome to make man righteous but it could not because man will not keep the Law To what end served the feasts and ordinances the sacrifices and the rest of the Mosaical institutes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but that they might contribute to mans Iustification Which when they could not bring to passe then was CHRIST fain to undertake it and so became the end of the Law for righteousness Theophylact following him in this as
power to do Non tam stultus sum ut diversitate explanationum tuarum me laedi putem quia nec tu laederis si nos contraria senserimus This was St. Hieromes resolution to St. Augustine in a point between them equally full of piety and Christian courage And of this temper was also Pope Sixtus the fift as stout and resolute a Prelate as ever wore the Triple Diadem and one who lived in the worst Ages of the Church of Rome when most ingaged in self-interresses and maintaining factions Of whom it is notwithstanding said by Cicarella non multum pugnare ut sua vinceret sententia sed potius ab aliis si ita res ferret facile passus est se vinci And to this blessed temper if we could attain diversity of opinions and interpretations so they hold the analogy of the faith may adde as much to the external beauty of the Church of Christ as it did ornament and lustre to the Spouse of Christ that her cloathing though of pure gold was wrought about with divers colours or wrought with curious needle-work as it after followeth But it is time that I look back upon our Saviour sitting at the right hand of God in whatsoever sense we conceive the words and sitting there to execute the Sacerdotal or Priestly function and so much of the Regal also as is to be discharged and exercised by him before his coming unto judgement Of which two functions by Gods grace I am next to speak The Attribute or Adjunct of the Father Almighty which we finde added to this branch of the Article hath been already handled in its proper place and therefore nothing need to be said here of it CHAP. XIII Of the Priesthood of our Lord and Saviour which he executeth sitting at the right hand of God wherein it was fore-signifyed by that of Melchisedech in what particulars it consisteth and of Melchisedech himself WE told you in the beginning of our former Chapter that they which do consider Christ in his several offices and did reduce each several office to some branch or other of the Creed did generally refer his office of high Priest unto this branch of sitting at the right hand of God the Father Almighty For being advanced to such a place of nearnesse to the throne of God he hath no doubt the better opportunities as a man may say of interceding with God in behalf of his people and offering up the peoples prayers to the throne of grace which are the two main parts of the Priestly function And yet this sitting at the right hand of God is not precisely proper and peculiar to him as he is our Priest but that he claimes the place also as he is our King and there doth execute so much of the Regall office as doth consist in governing his holy Church untill the coming unto judgment Certain I am that David findes him sitting on the right hand of God in both capacities as well King as Priest and so doth represent him to us The Lord saith he said unto my Lord sit thou at my right hand till I make thy enemies thy footstoole That David by those words My Lord meaneth Christ our Saviour is a thing past question We have the truth it self to bear witnesse to it the Lord himself applying it unto himself in his holy Gospels And that he meaneth it of Christ both King and Priest is no lesse evident from the rest of the Prophets words which do immediately follow on it For in the very next words he proceedeth thus The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion Rule thou in the middest of thine enemies Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power In which assuredly he looks upon him in his regal function And no lesse plainly it doth follow for the Priesthood also The Lord hath sworn saith he and shall not repent thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech Touching the Regal office though here also executed we shall more fully and more fitly speak in the following Article that of his coming to judge the quick and dead the power of judicature being the richest flower of the regal diademe The Priesthod we shall treat of now T is the place most proper Christs Priesthood and his sitting at the right hand of God being often joyned together in the holy Scripture Nay therefore doth he sit at the right hand of God that so he might with more advantage execute the Priestly office Every Priest saith the Apostle standeth dayly ministring and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sinnes But this man that is Christ our Saviour the high Priest of the new Testament after he had offered one sacrifice for our sins is set down for ever at the right hand of God From hence forth tarrying till his enemies be made his footstool And in another place to the same purpose thus We have such an high Priest that sitteth on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens A Minister of holy things and of the true Tabernacle c. Being therefore in this place to speak of the Priesthood of CHRIST we will consider it in all those particulars which may make the calling warrantable to himself and comfortable unto us To make it warrantable in respect of himself we must behold him in his calling in his consecration and finally in the order it self which was that of Melchisedech to which he was so called and consecrated To make it comfortable in regard of us we will behold him in the excercise of those three great duties wherein the Priesthood did consist viz. the offering of sacrifice for the sins of the people the offering of prayers in behalf of the people and lastly in the act of benediction or of blessing the people To these heads all may be reduced which concernes this argument and of all these according to the method now delivered which I think most natural a little shall be said to instruct the reader First for his calling to the Priesthood it was very necessary as well to satisfie himself as prevent objections For Christ our Saviour being of the line of Iudah he could not ordinarily and of common right intermedle with the Priestly function which was entailed by God to the house of Aaron and therefore he required a special and extraordinary warrant such as God gave Aaron and the sons of Aaron to authorize him thereunto No person whatsoever he was was to take this honour to himself but he that was called of God as Aaron was as St. Paul averreth Now such a calling to the Priesthood as that of Aaron our blessed Saviour had and a better too for he was called to be an high Priest after the order of Melchisedech Where this word called imports more then a name or title as if he were called Priest but indeed was none but a solemne calling
or designement unto that high office a calling far more solemne and of better note then that which Aaron had to the Legal Priesthood For of the calling of Aaron it is only said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he was called by God is a common word and therefore like enough 't was done in the common way But the calling of Christ it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a more solemne and significant word and intimates that he was solemnely declared and pronounced by God to be a Priest after the order of Melchisedech Now as the calling was so was the consecration in all points parallel to Aarons and in some beyond Aaron was consecrated to the Priesthood by the hand of Moses but Christ our Saviour by the hand of Almighty God who long before as long before as the time of David had bound himself by oath to invest him in it Aarons head was anointed only with materiall oile Christs with the oil of gladnesse above all his fellowes The consecration of Aaron was performed before all the people gathered together for that purpose at the dore of the Tabernacle That of our Saviour was accomplished in the great feast of the Passeover the most solemne publick and universall meeting that ever any nation of the world did accustomably hold besides the confluence and concourse of all sorts of strangers In the next place the consecration of Aaron was solemnized with the sacrifices of Rams and Bullocks of which that of the Bullock was a sin-offering as well for Aarons own sins as the sins of the people and of the Rams the one of them was for a fire-offering or a sacrifice of rest the other was the Ram of consecration or of filling the hand And herein the preheminence runs mainly on our Saviours side who was so far from needing any sin-offering to fit him and prepare him for that holy office that he himself became an offering for the sins of others even for the sins of all the world And as he was to be advanced to a more excellent Priesthood then that of Aaron so was he sanctifyed or prepared if I may so say after a far more excellent manner then with bloud of Rams For he was consecrated saith the text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with his own bloud and with this bloud not only his hands or ears were spinkled as in that of Aaron but his whole body was anointed first being bathed all over in a bloudy sweat next with the bloud issuing from his most sacred head forced from it by the violent piercing of the Crown of thornes which like the anointing oyle on the head of Aaron distilled unto the lowest parts of that blessed body and lastly with the streams of bloud flowing abundantly from the wounds of his hands and feet and that great orifice which was made in his precious side Though our Redeemer were originally sanctifyed from the very wombe and that in a most absolute and perfect manner yet would Almighty God have him thus visibly consecrated in his own bloud also that so he might become the authour of salvation to all those that obey him and that he having washed our robes in the bloud of the Lamb might be also sanctifyed and consecrated to the service of our heavenly father Finally the consecration of Aaron and of all the high Priests of the law which succeeded him was to last seven dayes that so the Sabbath or seventh day might passe over him because no man as they conceived could be a perfect high Priest to the Lord their God until the Sabbath day had gone over his head The consecration of our Saviour lasted seven dayes too in every one of which although he might be justly called an high Priest in fieri or per medium participationis as the Schoolmen phrase it yet was not he fully consecrated to this Priestly office till he had bathed himself all over in his own bloud and conquered the powers of death by his resurrection That so it was will evidently appear by this short accompt which we shall draw up of his actions from his first entrance into Hierusalem in the holy week till he had finished all his works and obtained rest from his labours On the first day of the week which still in memory thereof we do call Palme Sunday he went into the holy City not so much to prepare for the Iewish Passeover as to make ready for his own and at his entrance was received with great acclamations Hosanna be to him that cometh in the name of the Lord And on the same day or the day next following he purged the Temple from brokery and merchandizing and so restored that holy place to the use of prayer which the high Priests of the Law had turned or suffered to be turned which comes all to one to a den of Theeves The intermediate time betwixt that and the day of his passion he spent in preaching of the Gospell instructing the ignorant and in healing of the blind and lame which were brought unto him in the performance whereof and the like workes of mercy he was more diligent and frequent and more punctuall far then Aaron or any of his successors in the legal Priesthood in offering of the seven dayes sacrifice for themselves and the people On the fift day having first bathed his body in a bloudy sweat he was arrained and pronounced to be worthy of death in the high Priests hall And on the sixt according to the Iewish accompt with whom the evening is observed to begin the day he went into his heavenly sanctuary to which he had prepared entrance with his precious bloud as Moses at Aarons consecration did purifie and consecrate the materiall Sanctuary with the bloud of Bullocks and of Rams Not by the bloud of Goats and Calves saith the Apostle but by his own bloud hath he once entred into the holy place and obtained eternal redemption for us Which Sacrifice of the Son of God on the accursed Crosse although it was the perfect and full accomplishment of all the typical and legal sacrifices offered in the law yet was it but an intermediate though an especiall part of his consecration to the eternall Evangelical Priesthood which he was to exercise and not the ultimum esse or perfection of it That was not terminated till the day of his resurrection untill a Sabbath day had gone over his head which was more perfectly fulfilled in his consecration then ever it had been in Aarons and the sons of Aaron For then and not till then when God had powerfully defeated all the plots of his enemies did God advance him to the Crown to the regal Diademe setting him as a King on his holy hill the hill of Sion and saying to him as it were in the sight of his people Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee And then and not till then when he had glorifyed him thus in the
Reformers in Queen Elizabeths time say as much as this The Scriptures say the Papists in their Council of Trent for I regard not the unsavory Speeches of particular men Is not sufficient to Salvation without Traditions that is to say without such unwritten Doctrinals as have from hand to hand been delivered to us Said not the Puritans the same when they affirmed That Preaching onely viva voce which is verbum traditum is able to convert the sinner That the Word sermonized not written is alone the food which nourisheth to life eternal that reading of the Word of God is of no greater power to bring men to Heaven than studying of the Book of Nature that the Word written was written to no other end but to afford some Texts and Topicks for the Preachers descant If so as so they say it is then is the written word no better than an Ink-horn Scripture a Dead Letter or a Leaden Rule and whatsoever else the Papists in the height of scorn have been pleased to call it Nay of the two these last have more detracted from the perfection and sufficiency of the holy Scripture than the others did They onely did decree in the Council of Trent That Traditions were to be received Paripietatis affectu with equal Reverence and Affection to the written Word and proceed no further These magnifie their verbum traditum so much above it that in comparison thereof the Scripture is Gods Word in name but not in efficacy They onely adde Traditions in the way of Supplement where they conceive the Scriptures to be defective These make the Scriptures every where deficient to the work intended unless the Preacher do inspire them with a better Spirit than that which they received from the Holy Ghost Good God that the same breath should blow so hot upon the Papists and yet so cold upon the Scriptures that the same men who so much blame the Church of Rome for derogating from the dignity and perfection of the Holy Scriptures should yet prefer their own indigested crudities in the way of Salvation before the most divine dictates of the Word of God But such are men when they leave off the conduct of the Holy Ghost to follow the delusions of a private Spirit Articuli IX Pars Secunda 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam i. e. The Holy Catholick Church CHAP. II. Of the name and definition of the Church Of the Title of Catholick The Church in what respects called Holy Touching the Head and Members of it The Government thereof Aristocratical IN the same Article in which we testifie our Faith in the Holy Ghost do we acknowledge That there is a Body or Society of faithful people which being animated by the power of that Blessed Spirit hath gained unto it self the name of the Church and with that name the attribute or title of Catholick in regard of the extent thereof over all the World of Holy in relation to that piety of life and manners which is or ought to be in each several Member And not unfitly are they joyned together in the self same Article the Holy Ghost being given to the Apostles for the use of the Church and the Church nothing but a dead and lifeless carcass without the powerful influence of the Holy Ghost As is the Soul in the Body of Man so is the Holy Ghost in the Church of Christ that which first gives it life that it may have a Being and afterward preserves it from the danger of putrefaction into which it would otherwise fall in small tract of time Having therefore spoken in the former Chapter of the Nature Property and Office of the Holy Ghost and therein also of the Volume of the Book of God dictated by that Blessed Spirit for that constant Rule by which the Church was to be guided both in Life and Doctrine We now proceed in order to the Church it self so guided and directed by it And first for the Quid nominis to begin with that it is a name not found in all the writings of the Old Testament in which the body of Gods people the Spiritual body is represented to us after a figurative manner of Speech in the names of Sion and Ierusalem as Pray for the peace of Jerusalem Psal. 121. And the Lord loveth the gates of Sion Psal. 87. The name of Church occurreth not till the time of the Gospel and then it was imposed by him who had power to call it what he pleased and to entitle it by a name which was fittest for it The Disciples gave themselves the name of Christians the name of Church was given them by our Saviour Christ. No sooner had St. Peter made this confession for himself and the rest of the Apostles Thou art Christ the Son of the living God but presently our Saviour added Upon this Rock that is to say The Rock of this Confession as most of the Antients and some Writers also of the darker times do expound the same will I build my Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Greek The word used by our Lord and Saviour is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence the Latines borrowed their Ecclesia the French their Eglise and signifieth Coetum evocatum a chosen or selected company a company chosen out of others derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as much as evocare to call out or segregate In that sense as the word is used to signifie a company of men called by the special Grace to the Faith in Christ and to the hopes of life eternal by his death and passion is the word Ecclesia taken in the writings of the holy Apostles and in most Christian Authors since the times they lived in though with some difference or variety rather in the application to their purposes But antiently it was of a larger extent by far and signified any Publick meeting of Citizens for the dispatch of business and affairs of State For so Thucidides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. That the Assembly being formed the different parties fell upon their disputes and so doth Aristophanes use it in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. That the people should now give the Thracians a Publick meeting in their Guild-hal or Common forum of the City St. Luke who understood the true propriety as well as the best Critick of them all gives it in this sense also Acts 19.32 where speaking of the tumult which was raised at Ephesus he telleth us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the Assembly was confused And in the 26. Psal. Ecclesia malignantium is used for the Congregation of ungodly men APPLICATION BUt after Christ had given this name unto the Body of the Faithful which confessed his Name and the Apostles in their writings had applied it so as to make it a word of Ecclesiastical use and notion the Fathers in the following Ages did so appropriate the same to the state of
in several ranks appointing unto every rank the course of his ministery composing Psalms and Hymns to the praise of God prescribing how they should be sung with what kind of instrument and ordering with what vestments the Singing-men should be arayed in the act of their service We shall there finde the Feast of Purim ordained by Mordecai who then possessed the place of a Prince among them and that of the Dedication by the Princes of the Maccabean progeny yet both religiously observed in all times succeeding this last by Christ himself as the Gospel telleth us We shall there finde how Moses broke in peeces the Golden Calf and Hezekiah the Brazen Serpent how the high places were destroyed and the groves cut down by the command of Iehosaphat and what a Reformation was made in the Church of Iudah by the good King Iosiah Finally we shall therein finde how Aaron the High Priest was reproved by Moses Abiathar deposed by Solomon the arrogancy of the Priests restrained by Ioas Such power as this the godly Princes of the Iews did exercise by the Lords appointment to the glory of Almighty God and their own great honor If they took more than this upon them and medled as Vzziah did in offering incense which did of right belong to the Priests office A Leprosie shall stick upon him till the hour of his death nor shall he have a sepulchre amongst the rest of the Kings And such and none but such is that supream power which we ascribe unto the King in the Church of England The Papists if they please may put a scorn on Queen Elizabeth of most famous memory in saying Foeminam in Anglia esse caput ecclesiae that a woman was the head of the Church of England as once Bellarmine did and Calvin if he list may pick a quarrel with the Clergy of the times of King Henry the eighth as rash and inconsiderate men and not so onely but as guilty of the sin of blasphemy Erant enim blasphemi cum vocarunt eum summum caput ecclesiae sub Christo for giving to that King the title of Supream Head of the Church under Christ himself But Queen Elizabeth disclaimed all authority and power of ministring divine service in the Church of God as she declared in her Injunctions unto all Her Subjects And the Clergy in their Convocation Anno 1562. ascribe not to the Prince the Ministery of the Word and Sacraments nor any further power in matters which concern Religion than that onely Prerogative which was given by God himself to all godly Princes in the Holy Scriptures More than this as we do not give the Kings of England so less than this the Christian Emperors did not exercise in the Primitive times as might be made apparent by the Acts of Constantine and other godly Emperors in the times succeeding if it might stand with my design to pursue that Argument Take one for all this memorable passage in Socrates an old Ecclesiastical Historian who gives this Reason why he did intermix so much of the acts of Emperors with the affairs of holy Church viz. That from that time in which they first received the Faith Ecclesiae negotia ex illorum nutu perpendere visa sunt c The business of the Church did seem especially to depend on their will and pleasure insomuch as General Councils were summoned by them for the dispatch of such affairs as concerned Religion even in the main and fundamentals and other emergent occasions of the highest moment CHAP. III. Of the Invisibility and Infallibility of the Church of Christ And of the Churches power in Expounding Scripture Determining Controversies of the Faith and Ordaining Ceremonies BUt laying by those Matters of External Regiment we will look next on those which are more intrinsecal both to the nature of the Church and the present Article For when we say That we believe the Holy Catholick Church we do not mean That we do onely believe that there is a Church upon the Earth which for the latitude thereof may be called Catholick and for the piety of the Professors may be counted Holy but also that we do believe that this Church is led by the Spirit of God into all necessary Truths and being so taught becomes our Schoolâ—mistress unto Christ by making us acquainted with his will and pleasure and therefore that we are to yeeld obedience unto her Decisions determining according to the Word of God This is the sum of that which we believe in the present Artiâ—le more than the quod sit of the same which we have looked upon in the former Chapter and to the disquisition of these points we shall now proceed A matter very necessary as the world now goes in which so many Schisms and Factions do distract mens mindes that Truth is in danger to be lost by too much curiosity in enquiring after it For as the most Reverend Father the late Lord Bishop of Canterbury very well observes Whiles one Faction cries up the Church above the Scripture and the other side the Scripture to the contempt and neglect of the Church which the Scripture it self teacheth men both to honor and obey They have so far endangered the belief of the one and the authority of the other That neither hath its due from a great part of men The Church commends the Scripture to us as the Word of God which she hath carefully preserved from the time of Moses to this day and so far we are willing to give credence to her as to believe that therein she hath done the duty of a faithful witness not giving testimony to any supposititious or corrupted Text but to that onely which doth carry the impressions in it of the Image and Divine Character of the Spirit of God But if a difference do arise about the sense and meaning of this very Scripture or any controversie do break forth on the mis-understanding of it or the applying and perverting it to mens private purposes which is the general source and fountain of all Sects and Heresies we will not therein hearken to the voice of the Church but every man will be a Church to himself and follow the Dictamen or the illumination as they please to call it of their private Spirit It therefore was good counsel of a learned man of our own Not to indulge too much to our own affections or trust too much unto the strength of a single judgment in the controverted points of Faith but rather to relie on the authority and judgment of the Church therein For seeing saith he that the Controversies of Religion in our time are grown in number so many and in nature so intricate that few have time and leasure and fewer strength of understanding to examine them what remaineth for men desirous of satisfaction in things of such consequence but diligently to search out which of all the Societies of men in
misunderstood dictates of those old Philosophers For where the Scripture saith They had all things common we are to understand it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the use and communication and not in referenee to the right and original title The goods of Christians were in several as to the right title and possession of them but common in the merciful inclination of the owner to the works of mercy And this appears exceeding plainly by the Text and Story of the Acts. For the Text saith That no man said of any thing that it was his own no not of the things which he possessed which plainly shews That the possession still remained to the proper owner though he was mercifully pleased to communicate his goods to the good of others But this the story shews more plainly For what need any of the Possessors of Lands or Houses have sold them and brought the prices of the things which were sold and laid them down at the Apostles feet to be by them distributed to the poorer Brethren If the poor Brethren might have carved themselves out of such estates and entred on them as their own or with what colour could St. Paul have concealed this truth and changed this natural community to a communication Charge them which be rich in this world saith he that they be willing to communicate a communication meerly voluntary and such as necessarily preserves that interess which the Communicators have in their temporal fortunes And so Tertullian also must be understood For though it be omnia indiscreta in regard of the use or a communion if you will with the Saints maintained with one another in their temporal fortunes yet was it no community but a communication in reference to that legal interess which was still preserved and therefore called no more than rei communicatio in the words foregoing The like may be replied to the other Argument drawn from the quality of friendship and the authority of Aristotle and the rest there named That which I have is properly and truly mine because descended on me in due course of Law or otherwise acquired by my pains and industry and being mine is by my voluntary act made common for the relief and comfort of the man I love and have made choice of for my friend yet still no otherwise my friends but that the right and property doth remain in me Quicquid habet amicus noster commune est nobis illius tamen proprium est qui tenet as most truly Seneca As for the practise of the Spartans and that natural liberty which is pretended to be for mankinde in the use of the Creatures It is a thing condemned in all the Schools of the Politicks and doth besides directly overthrow the principles of the Anabaptist and the Familist and their Confederates who are content to rob all mankinde of the use of the Creatures so they may monopolize and ingross them all to the use of the Saints that is themselves But the truth is that these pretences for the Saints are as inconsistent with the Word and Will of God as those which are insisted on for mankinde in general For how can this Community of the Saints or mankinde agree with any of those Texts of holy Scripture which either do condemn the unlawful getting keeping or desiring of riches by covetousness extortion theevery and the like wicked means to attain the same or else commend frugality honest trades of life and specially liberality to the poor and needy Assuredly where there is neither meum nor tuum as there can be no stealing so there needs no giving For how can a man be said to steal that which is his own or what need hath he to receive that in the way of a gift to which he hath as good a Title as the man that giveth it I shut up all with this determination of the Church of England which wisely as in all things else doth so exclude community of mens goods and substance as to require a Christian Communication of and communion in them The riches and goods of Christians saith the Article are not common as touching the right title and possession of the same as certain Anabaptists do falsly boast therefore no community Notwithstanding every man ought of such things as he possesseth liberally to give Alms to the poor according to his ability and there a Communion of the Saints in the things of this world a communication of their riches to the wants of others But the main point in this Communion of the Saints in reference to one another concerns that intercourse and mutual correspondency which is between the Saints in the Church here Militant and those which are above in the Church Triumphant The Church is of a larger latitude than the present world The Body whereof Christ is Head not being wholly to be found on the Earth beneath but a good part thereof in the Heavens above Both we with them and they with us make but one Body Mystical whereof Christ is Head but one Spiritual Corporation whereof he is Governor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we read in Chrysostom And if he be the Head of both as no doubt he is then must both they and we be members of that Body of his and consequently that correspondence and communion must be held between us which is agreeable to either in his several place So far I think it is agreed on of all sides without any dispute The point in question will concern not the quod sit of it that there is and ought to be a communion between them and us but quo modo how it is maintained and in what particulars And even in this I think it will be granted on all hands also that those above do pray unto the Lord their God for his Church in general that he would please to have mercy on Ierusalem and to build up the breaches in the walls of Sion and to behold her in the day of her visitation when she is harassed and oppressed by her merciless enemies How long say they in the Apocalypse O Lord holy and true how long dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell upon the earth And as they pray unto the Lord to be gracious to us so do they also praise his name for those acts of mercy which he vouchsafes to shew to his Church in general or any of his servants in particular The joy that was in Heaven at the fall of Babylon which had so long made her self drunk with the blood of the Saints and Martys and that which is amongst the Angels of Heaven over every sinners that repenteth are proof enough for this were there no proof else We on the other side do magnifie Gods name for them in that he hath vouchsafed to deliver them out of the bondage of the flesh to take their souls unto his mercy and free