Mediators Furthermore they could not have that honour to be Priests or mediators of that Testament wherein there was but the shadow of good things to come Heb. 10. 1. unlesse it had beene given them of God as it is expressed Heb. 5. where he speaketh of that Priesthood of the lawe which hath now ceased Seeing none could have this honour to be a Priest of the old Testament but such as were called of God as was Aaron then how much lesse shall any be partakers of this dignity with the sonne of God to be the Priests mediators of the new covenant but such as can shew that God hath given them this honour Christ did not take this honour to himselfe Hebr. 5. but he that said Thou art my sonne this day have I begotten thee gave it him The Lord sware that he should be a priest Let the Papists shew any calling which they have of God unto this glory of the Pristhood Let them shew any Christ ordaineâ— no Priest in thâ— New Testament one place out of the new Testament where Christ did ordeine Priests Finally let them shew where ever Peter or Paul or any Apostle or minister of the Gospel have called themselves priests or have been so called by others otherwise than that which they give unto all the faithfull that being washed and sanctified in the bloud of Christ they be made Kings and Priests unto God 1. Pet. 2. Revel 1. 5. which is in another sence than this which they challenge No the word of the Lord is directly against you ye priests of Baal For it speaketh of one Priest which should arise after the order of Melchisedech and not of priests It saith there is one Mediator betweene God and man 1 Tim. 2. And therefore also it followeth that there is but one Priest Because the Priest of the new Testament is the mediator of the same is there any man so mad as to ascribe this glory to the Pope and his priests as to say they be mediators of the new Testament If not then are they no priests Now although this is sufficient to proove their priesthood to be counterfait that they can shew no calling in the word nor no mention that any one of the Apostles was a priest or that any man should have such honour yet to make the matter more evident I will shew by further reasons that their priesthood is such that it cannot stand with the priesthood of Christ We all know that the Lord swore that his sonne should arise up a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech Psal 110. Then if it fall out as it shal be manifestly shewed that the Priesthood of the Papacy is directly contrary unto that order of Melchisedech It must needs also follow that the same is not of God The order of the priesthood of Melchisedech is gathered out of that which Moses saith of him Genesis 14. the words are these and Melchisedech King of Salem brought foorth bread and wine which was also a priest of the most high God And he blessed him saying Blessed be Abram of the most high God possessor of heaven and earth and blessed be the most high God which hath delivered thine adversaries into thine hand and he gave him tythe of all This man was greater than the Patriarch Abraham as it is proved by two reasons Hebr. 7. the one that Abraham paid him tithes The other that he blessed Abraham Then Moses writing of so great a man not mentioning father nor mother nor kindred beginning nor end of his life although he had a father and a mother and kinred and had both a beginning and an end yet because Moses mentioneth not any of these it is said that he was without father without beginning of dayes and without end of life as though he were one that had suddenly come downe from heaven When it is said that he was a Priest of the most high God no mention made of any annoynting of any ministring garments of any temple altar or sacrifice not yet of any that did succeed him it is gathered that he doth continue a priest for ever And moreover that in his Priesthood all things are spirituall and full of endles power By this argument the holy Ghost proveth Heb. 7. ver 16. 17. 18. that the priesthood of the Levites was abrogate and could not stand with the Priesthood of Christ seeing it could give no strength nor furtherance thereto for the one being spirituall and according to the power of the life that is not dissolved the other as he speaketh being after the law of the carnall commandement they could not be joyned so together as that the one might be a supply unto the defect of the other For although the law of the carnall commandement which is so called not in respect of the founder thereof which was God but for that the substance of the things were bodily and carnall did profit and benefit men thus farre that by outward carnal things they had the resemblance of things spirituall to strengthen their faith Yet when he was come in whom was all the spirituall and heavenly power of the Priesthood those carnall and earthly things were to cease As for example Aaron was annointed with materiall oyle he was clothed with the ministring garments he entred into a tabernacle upon earth which was built with hands he had the bloud of calves and goates slaine beasts for sacrifice he presented the names of the tribes before the mercy seat All these and such like are the carnall commandement these did not take away sinne nor restore into favour with God But Christ alone is the priest that wrought that His annoynting was not with oyle but with the holy Ghost He needeth no holy garments for there was no spot of uncleannesse in him to be covered He came not with the bloud of slaine beastes but with his owne bloud He entred not into the Tabernacle made with hands to appeare for us and to present us before the Arke but he is entred into the very heavens even unto the throne of God to present us there Thus then it followeth that the Priesthood of Aaron being after the law of the carnall commandement that is to say the consecration was with things that were earthly and of a bodily substance the sacrifices also of the same sort it could do nothing But the Priesthood of Christ wherein all things are heavenly and spirituall and full of â—…e power hath fully and perfectly accomplished the worke of reconciliation If this order then of Melchisedech wherein there is nothing carnall did abolish the order of the Priesthood of Aaron wherein all things were carnall because the carnall things cannot helpe at all to bring men to heaven and because the order of the one Priesthood did so differ from the other as being of a quite contrary nature It must needs follow that the Priesthood of the Papacy cannot stand with the Priesthood oâ— Christ because it
is also carnall For was the oyle upon Aaron carnall and is not their annointing and shâ—ving carnall Were all the ministring garments of Aaron carnall and are not their vestments as the Cope the Surplesse the Note this Amisse and other such holy and priestly robes carnall Was the Altar in the Temple carnall and all the ministring vessells that did belong thereto and are not the Altars of these carnall Were Aarons incense and oblations carnall and are not the oblations of these and all their incense and other things carnall Those former could not stand with the Priesthood of the new Testament because they were in substance carnall how then shall these latter which are as carnall as they Tell us O ye Baalamites of the Romish order wherefore your order should in any respect be called the order of Melchisedech seeing it is as contrary unto it as was that of Aaron The order of Melchisedech is gathered out of the description of Moses to be without any annoynting with oyle without garments for the ministration without Tabernacle without Altar without sacrifice without any earthly thing And why because his order is spirituall and therefore all things thereto belonging must be spirituall it is eternall and full of endles power and therefore nothing which appertaineth to the execution thereof must be transitory and weake For shall an earthly Temple an Altar of stone garments of silke or of any corruptible thing be fit to be joyned with that pristhood which is everlasting There is no doubt but that every thing for the execution of the office must be agreable unto the nature of the Priesthood it selfe and therefore as there is nothing mentioned in Melchisedech that is carnall so also we see that our Lord Iesus Christ a Priest after that order hath executed that function without any such things consecrated therunto How shall the Papists then which have their priesthood executed altogether in such things as be transitory challenge to be of that order with our Saviour wherein as the Priesthood is heavenly and eternall so are all things thereto belonging But peradventure ye will say Melchisedech was a Priest he offred sacrifice to God as other priests at that time Wherfore should it then be gathered that there was no carnal thing in substaÌ„ce belonging to the execution of his function He had an Altar he had beasts to offer and no doubt did offer I Answere that albeit Melchisedech did execute the priests office after the manner of other priests yet that is nothing to the purpose For the order of his priesthood is gathered out of that description of Moses in which there is no mention of such things We are not to doubt but that he had father and mother that he was borne as an other man and also had an end of his dayes Neverthel sse because those things are left out he is brought in as one which never had beginning and that never had end but continueth a priest for ever In like sort howsoever at any time he executed the office of a priest as others did yet because there is no such thing expressed and that which is expressed is that wherein he is likened unto the Sonne of God it is said that he was a priest after another order and that there was nothing carnall in his p iesthood Therefore we are to conclude that the priesthood of the new testament having nothing in it that is carnall the priesthood of the papacy being and consisting altogether of things carnall and such as were also the inventions of men it must needes follow that they are not priests of any testament of God but he priests of Antichrist Further let it be considered that a priest must arise after the order of Melchisedech that shall so continue for ever For the eternall Sonne of God was resembled by Melchisedech in that he is brought in without any beginning The continuance also of his office for ever in that there is nothing said of his death nor of any that did succeede him This then being manifest what impudent wretches are those which being mortall men that have an end dare so blasphemously boast that they be Priests after the order of Melchisedech how shall they ever be able to answere unto this The Priest of the new Testament is after the order of Melchisedech that is to say a Priest for ever without beginning without end without any to succeede him Their priesthood hath a beginning it hath an end they have those that do succeed one after another If this be a materiall poynt in that order of priesthood which Christ should be after as none unlesse his forehead be of brasse dare deny that it should be for ever What a childishnes were it for any man to thinke that the priesthood of the papacy is the same when it doth faile in that which is essentiall For they dye and come to an ende Are not these contrary the one to the other to continue a priest for ever as Melchisedech in figure and Christ indeed and to be priests for certaine yeares and then to cease by reason of death Are not then the priests made at Rome contrary to this order yea as contrary as light is unto darkenesse or as heaven is unto hell And must it not still follow that seeing they be no priests of the old Testament nor can not be priests of the New unto the which their order is contrary that their priesthood may be as good as the priesthood of Baal and better it cannot be For if it be not of God is it not then of the Divell Let all true Christians therefore behold with detestation this hellish sacriledge of the Romish bishop who being a priest after the divells order yet saieth he is after the order of Melchisedech Moreover it is to be noted which the holy Ghost sayeth Heb. 7. ver 26. that such an high priest it became us to have as was holy harmelesse unspotted separate from sinnes and made higher than the heavens This setteth foorth the purity and also the high dignity which of necessity are required in that priest that shall deale in our cause to bring us to God For if he were a sinner himselfe how should he come unto God If he were spotted with any uncleannes how should he purchase favour for others seeing he should himselfe be out of favour If he were unholy how should he sanctify and make holy those whom he doth present unto God In like sort it is to be weighed how great that man must be of necessity that is to enter ever unto the thronâ— of glory and there abide as one able to save all that come unto God by him For thus he must be made higher than the heavens and aboue all creatures in the heavens For albeit the holy and blessed angels be separate from sinners and be also about the throne of God yet none of them hath this glory to be made higher than the heavens none of
of God but The popish sacrifice is abomination to God a wicked abbomination no more pleasing unto God than if men should offer a dogge in sacrifice unto him It might suffice to satisfie a modest minde that all which they doe is naught because they doe make themselves Priests after the order of Melchisedech and so do challenge to themselves greater honour than any Angell hath even the honour that is due alone unto the onely begotten Son of God And yet where the scripture sheweth that this honour was given unto Christ with an oath they will have part with him being not able to bring one sentence of the word to prove that there should be any Priest besides Christ He never ordained any Priest no one of his Apostles was called a Priest and in every point their order is so contrary unto the order of Melchisedech this I say might satisfie but yet to lay open their trechery further we will prove that they have abused the world and made them worship that for God which was but a cake of flower I will not goe farre for proofe hereof for it is manifestly and fully to be prooved by that which the holy Ghost hath set downe as concerning the sacrifice of the New Testament in the Epistle to the Hebrewes Those reasons which are there brought to prove that the sacrifices of the law could doe nothing and therefore were to be abolished will also serve to throw downe the abominable idol of the Papists For if the weaknes of those former sacrifices were gathered by their nature and order which was used in them then shall the sacrifice of the Masse if it bee found to differ as farre and further from that of Christes than those be found not to be the sacrifice of the New Testament In the Epistle to the Hebrewes Chap. 9. ver 1 it is said that the former covenant had also ordinances of religion and a worldly sanctuary and there he doth repeate particularly sundry things as the Candlesticke the Table the shew bread the Golden censure the Arke of the Testament the Golden pot with Manna Aarons Rod that had budded and the Tables of the Testament In this worldly Sanctuary with these foresaid ordinances of the same nature did the priests of the law exercise their office and this is one argument to prove that their priesthood was weake and could not bring men unto God For the habitation of God is in the heavens there is his throne of glory and most high majesty thither must those be brought which shall come unto him whereupon it followeth that the Priest that shall bring men unto God must be a minister of the Tabernacle of Heaven For the entring into the holy place made with hands and the ministring in the same with ordinances of the like nature that is to say earthly and transitory can by no meanes bring men eternally unto God For how shall earthly things compasse heavenly or things which vanish and decay bring that to passe which shall last for ever Those Priests therefore whose priesthood was transitory for their priesthood must needs be of the same nature and condition that their temple and ordinances were and can stand no longer than they were for to cease when the time was come unto which they were prefixed Vnto these is Christ opposed in the same Hebr. 9. ver 24. where he saith that Christ is not entred into the holy places made with hands which are similitudes of the true sanctuary but is entred into heaven it selfe to appeare in the sight of God for us For as the sacrifice which he offred was heavenly and of eternall power so also is his Tabernacle and likewise his Priesthood For those three must ever be joyned together Then if the Priesthood of Aaron and his sacrifices could doe nothing but were to cease because their Tabernacle and ordinances were worldly how much lesse shall the greasie popish priestes be able to offer any sacrifice to appease Gods wrath seeing the sacrifice which must do that is heavenly and spirituall and cannot be offred in a worldly sanctuary nor with such ordinances as be of earthie nature For it is most manifest that all the trinkets ◅l the Popish ◅nkets are ◅rthly and trash of Popish Masse mongers wherewithall they do juggle and play with their Mammets are earthly and transitory so is also their Temple and Altars and consequently their Priesthood And further also it is certaine that the Priesthood of Aaron ◅on was cal◅d of God might rather be called heavenly than theirs because it was the paterne of the heavenly and he was called unto that honour of God but they can shew no calling thereto at all Who then is so blinde but may see that seeing the sacrifice propitiatory The Priests ◅hite cake o◅er his head is ◅ dead idol cannot be offred by an earthly Priest nor with earthly ordinances that the white cake which the uncleane shaveling the Baalamite doth hold up over his head is not the Sonne of God but a dead Idol If the blinde idolatous Papists will object that the efficacy of their sacrifice and priesthood is heavenly although it be executed on earth they are to be answered that if the efficacy of their priest hood be heavenly then is it eternall but they are mortall and doe not remaine Priests world without ende Againe the power of the sacrifice dependeth upon the power of the priest and so their sacrifice is not eternall This thing shall be yet more manifest by a further comparison which is made betweene the sacrifice of Christ and those of the law in the same Chapter verse 13. and 14. where Heb. 9. 13. ◅ it is shewed that if the bloud of calues and of goates and the ashes of a red Heffer sprinkling those that were defiled did sanctifie as touching the carnall purging then how much more shall the bloud of Christ which by his eternall spirit offred himselfe to God without spot purge your conscience from dead workes to serve the living God This comparison is brought in to prove that Christ by entring once into the holy places by his owne bloud hath found eternall redemption for that being the summe of the two verses going next before is proved by this It was graunted without controversie that by reason of gods ordinances the bloud of those poore beasts and the water made with the ashes of the Heffer being but a dead thing had power in some manner to purge as namely that which he calleth the carnall purging For if a man were polluted with any outward pollutiō and there fore might not come unto those holy things which were the carnall commandements being but shadowes and ceremonies yet if he were sprinkled with those although he were not purged within from sinne he was counted cleane then how much more shall the bloud of the sonne of God which hath the power of life in it because it is the bloud Note this of him that