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A01372
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A briefe treatise against the priesthood & sacrifice of the Church of Rome wherein the simple may perceiue their intollerable impietie, usurping that office and action, which euer appertaine to Christ onely / by G.G.
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G. G.
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1584
(1584)
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STC 11493.5; ESTC S2680
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22,365
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64
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come Hebrew 10. 1. vnlesse it had béene giuen them of God as it is expressed Heb. 5. where he speaketh of that Priesthood of the lawe which hath now ceased Séeing none could haue this honour to be a Priest of the olde Testament but such as were called of God as was Aaron then how much lesse shall any be partakers of this dignitie with the sonne of God to be the Priestes mediators of the newe couenant but such as can shewe that God hath giuen them this honour Christ did not take this honor to him selfe Hebr. 5. but he that said Thou art my sonne this day haue I begotten thée gaue it him The Lords sware that he should be a priest Let the Papists shewe any calling which they haue of God vnto this glorie of the Priesthood Let them shewe any one place out of the new Testament where Christ did ordeine Priestes Finally let them shewe where euer Peter or Paul or any Apostle or minister of the Gospel haue called themselues priests or haue béen so called by others otherwise than that which they giue vnto all the faithfull that being washed sanctified in the bloud of Christ they be made Kings and Priestes vnto God 〈◊〉 Pet. 2. Reuel 1. 5. which is in another sense than this which they challenge No the worde of the Lorde is directly against you ye priests of Baal For it speaketh of one Priest which should arise after the order of Melchisedech not of priests It sayeth there is one mediatour betwéene God and man 1. Timoth. 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 glorie to the Pope and his priestes as to say they be mediators of the newe Testamēt If not then are they no priests Nowe although this is sufficient to prooue their priesthood to be counterfait that they can shewe no calling in the worde nor no mention that any one of the Apostles was a priest or that any man should haue such honour yet to make the matter more euident I will shewe by further reasons that their priesthood is such that it cannot stand with the priesthood of Christ We al knowe that the Lord swore that his sonne should arise vp a Priest for euer after the order of Melchisedech Psa 110 Then if it fall out as it shal be manifestly shewed that the Priesthood of the Papacie is directly contrary vnto that order of Melchisedech It must néedes also followe that the same is not of God The order of the priesthood of Mechisedech is gathered out of that which Moses saith of him Genesis 14. the wordes are these And Melchisedech King of Salem brought foorth bread 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 heauen and earth and blessed be the most high God which hath deliuered thine aduersaries into thine hand and he gaue him tythe of all This man was greater than the Patriarche Abraham as it is proued 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 no◠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 mother without kinred without beginning of dayes and without ende of life as though he were one that had suddēly come downe from heauen When it is saide 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 nor yet of any that did succéede him it is gathered that he doth continue a priest for euer And moreouer that in his Priesthood all thinges are spirituall and full of endles power By this argument the holy Ghost proueth Hebr. 7. ver 16. 17. 18. that the priesthood of the Leuites was abrogate and could not stand with the Priesthood of Christ séeing it could giue no strength nor furtherance thereto for the one being spirituall and according to the power of the life that is not dissolued the other as he speaketh being after the law of the carnall commaundement they could not be ioyned so together as that the one might be a supply vnto the defect of the other For although the law of the carnall commaundement which is so called not in respect of the founder thereof which was God but for that the substāce of the things were bodily and carnall did profit and benefite men thus farre that by outwarde carnall things they had the resēblance of things spirituall to strengthen their faith Yet when he was come in whom was all the spirituall and heauenly power of the Priesthood those carnal 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 vpon earth which was built with hands he had the bloud of calues and goates and slaine beastes for sacrifice hee presented the names of the tribes before the mercie seat All these and such like are the carnall cōmaudement these did not take away sinne nor restore into fauour with God But Christ alone is the Priest that wrought that His annoynting was not with oyle but with the holie Ghost He needed no holie garments for there was no spot of vncleannes in him to be couered He came not with the bloud of slaine beastes but with his own bloud He entred not into y◠Tabernacle made with hands to appeare for vs and to present vs before the Arke but he is entred into the very heauens euen vnto the throne of God to present vs there Thus then it followeth that the Priesthood of Aaron being after the law of the carnall commaundement that is to saye 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 heauenly and spirituall and full of endlesse power hath fully and perfectly accomplished the worke of reconciliation If this order then of Melchisedech wherin there is nothing carnall did abolish the order of the Priesthood of Aaron wherein al things were carnall because the carnall things cannot helpe at al to bring men to heauen and because the order of the one Priesthood did so differ from the other as being of a quite contrarie nature It must néedes followe that the Priesthood of the Papacie cannot stand with the Priesthood of Christ because it is also carnall For was the oyle vpon Aaron carnall and is not their annoynting shauing carnall Were all the ministring garments of Aaron carnall and are not their
challeÌ„ge to themselues greater honour than any Angel hath euen the honour that is due alone vnto the onely begotten sonne of God And yet where the scripture sheweth that this honour was giuen vnto Christ with an oth they will haue part with him being not able to bring one sentence of the worde to prooue that there shoulde be any Priest besides Christ He neuer ordained any Priest no one of his Apostles was called a Priest and in euerie point their order is so contrarie vnto the order of Melchisedech this I say might satisfie but yet to lay open their trecherie further we will proue that they haue 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 prooued by that which the holie Ghost hath set downe as concerning the sacrifice of the Newe Testament in the Epistle to the Hebrewes Those reasons which are there brought to proue that the sacrifices of the lawe could doe nothing and therefore were to be abolished will also serue 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 vsed in them then shall the sacrifice of the Masse if it bee founde 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 Hebreweâ— Chap. 9. ver 1. it is saide that the former couenant had also ordinances of religion and a worldly sanctuarie and there he doth repeat particularly sundrie things as the candlestick the fable 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 Sanctuarie with these foresaide ordinances of the same nature did the priestes of the law exercise their office and this is one argument to prooue that their Priesthood was weake and coulde not bring men vnto God For the habitation of God is in the heauens there is his throne of glorie and most high maiestie thither must those be brought which shal come vnto him whereupon it followeth that the Priest that shall bring men vnto God must be a minister of the Tabernacle of Heauen For the entring into the holie place made with handes the ministring in the same with ordinances of the like nature that is to saye earthly a transitorie can by no meanes bring men eternally vnto God For how shall earthly things compasse heauenly or things which vanish and decay bring that to passe which shall last for euer Those Priestes therefore whose priesthood was transitorie for their priesthood must needes 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 vnto which they were prefixed Vnto thâ—se is Christ opposed in the same Chapter ver 24. where he sayeth that Christ is not entred into the holie places made with handes which are similitudes of the true sanctuarie but is entred into heauen it selfe to appeare in the sight of God for vs. For as the sacrifice which he offred was heauenly and of eternall power so also is his Tabernacle and likewise his Priesthood For those three must euer be ioyned together Then if the Priesthood of Aaron and his sacrifices could do 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 séeing the sacrifice which must do that is heauenly and spiritual and cannot be offred in a worldly sanctuarie nor with such ordinances as be of earthie nature For it is most manifest that all the trinkets and trash of Popish Massemongers wherewithal they do iuggle play with their Mammets are earthly and transitorie so is also their Temple and Altars and consequently their priesthood And further also it is certaine that the Priesthood of Aaron might rather be called heauenly than theirs because it was the paterne of the heauenly and he was called vnto that honour of God but they can shewe no calling thereto at all Who then is so blind but may sée that séeing the sacrifice propitiatorie cannot be offred by an earthly Priest nor with earthly ordinances that the white cake which the vncleane shaueling the Baalamite doth holde vp ouer his head is not the sonne of God but a dead Idol If the blinde idolatous Papistes will obiect that the efficacie of their sacrifice and priesthood is heauenly although it be executed on earth they are to be aunswered that if the efficacie of their priesthood be heauenly then is it eternall but they are mortal and do not remaine Priestes worlde without ende Againe the power of the sacrifice dependeth vpoÌ„ the power of the Priest 〈◊〉 so their sacrifice is not eternall This thing shal be yet more manifest by 〈◊〉 further comparison which is made betwéene the sacrifice of Christ and those of the lawe in the same Chapter verâ— 13. 14. where 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 howe much more shall the bloud of Christ which by his eternall spirite offred him selfe to God without spot purge your conscience from dead workes to serue the liuing God This comparison is brought in to prooue that Christ by entring once into the holie places by his owne bloud hath founde eternall redemption for that being the summe of the two verses going next before is proued by this It was graunted without controuersie that by reason of gods ordinance yâ— 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 carnal purging For if a man were polluted with any outwarde pollution and therefore might not come vnto those holie thinges which were the carnall commandements being but shadowes and ceremonies yet if he were sprinkled with those although he were not purged within froÌ„ 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 of him that was not onely a man so holie that he was without spot but also God For herein lyeth the strength of the argument which the holie ghost vseth to prooue that Christ at once by his bloud hath purged the conscience from same for euer that this sacrifice was offred by his eternall spirit which is his godhead For the godhed hauing eternall power of life the flesh and bloud of the manâ—od ioyned so with the godhead that they made one person had also the same power so that although the bloud