Selected quad for the lemma: saint_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
saint_n	incense_n	prayer_n	smoke_n	1,391	5	11.4786	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59894	A short summary of the principal controversies between the Church of England, and the church of Rome being a vindication of several Protestant doctrines, in answer to a late pamphlet intituled, Protestancy destitute of Scripture-proofs.	Sherlock, William, 1641?-1707.	1687 (1687)	Wing S3365; ESTC R22233	88,436	166

for the office of a Mediator considered as a Mediator consists wholly in Intercession whence his authority and interest to intercede arises is of another consideration and therefore S. Iohn distinguishes between Christ's being an Advocate for us and a Propitiation for our sins 1 John 2. 1 2. if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous And he is the Propitiation for our sins Christ is our only Redeemer who has bought us with his own Blood but to be our Redeemer and to be our Mediator and Advocate are two things by the Constitution and Appointment of God both these are united in one person that he who is our only Redemer is our only Advocate also but yet to redeem with his Blood and to intercede with his Father for us differ as the death of the Sacrifice doth from the intercession of the Priest. To Redeem and make Atonement for our sins by shedding his Blood upon the Cross is not his Intercession for us and to intercede for us in Heaven is not to redeem us by shedding his Blood though he intercedes in vertue of his Blood. So that though Christ be our Redeemer yet considered as our Mediator and Advocate his mediation consists wholly in his Intercession for us And therefore to say that there is one Mediator and one Intercessor is the very same thing Suppose then the Apostle had said there is one God and one Intercessor between God and Men the man Christ Iesus would this have proved that there are no Mediators of Intercession but only Christ Or would they still say that there is an Intercessor of Redemption and Intercessors of Intercession and yet that there is but one Intercessor But besides this this very distinction between a Mediator of Redemption and a Mediator of pure Intercession that is such a Mediator as mediates in vertue of his Blood and Sacrifice and a Mediator who intercedes only by prayers and personal interest and Merits is contrary to the Analogy both of the Old and New Testament For as there is no Remission or Expiation so there is no mediation without Blood. For to mediate and intercede is not merely to pray for another but it signifies a Ministerial authority to apply the vertues and merits of a Sacrifice Thus it was under the Law of Moses The High Priest was the Mediator or as the Apostle speaks every High Priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God that he may offer both gifts and Sacrifices for sins Heb. 5 1. Thus he mediates by offering Gifts and Sacrifices by making Atonement and Expiation of sin And no Man has authority to do this but by God's Appointment No man taketh this honour to himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron v. 4. Since there is no remission of sins without shedding Blood without the Atonement and Expiation of Sacrifice there can be no mediation but in vertue of the Sacrifice and therefore there can be no Mediator but he who offers the Sacrifice which confines mediation to the Sacerdotal Office. And therefore if we have but one High Priest there can be but one Mediator also between God and Man. But that we may rightly apprehend this matter and be able to distinguish betwen the prayers of good Men for themselves and for each other and the intercessions of a Mediator we must distinctly consider the vertue of the Sacrifice the prayers of the people and the Intercession of the Priest all which must concur to an effectual Prayer to obtain our requests and desires of God. Thus it was in the Mosaical Law. The Sacrifice was slain instead of the sinner and to bear the punishment of sin and without shedding of blood there was no remission Prayers could not expiate sin without a Sacrifice and therefore even in the time of the Patriarchs an Altar which is for Sacrifice was the place of their Devotions Thus Noah as soon as he came out of the Ark built an Altar and offered Sacrifice to God. Thus we frequently read how Abraham in his Travels whereever he made any stay built an Altar unto the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord that is he offered Sacrifices and Prayers to God. The like we read of Isaac and Iacob So that an Altar was the place of their solemn Devotions that is they offered up their prayers to God in vertue of a Sacrifice For sinners must not go directly to God without the Atonement and Expiation of a Sacrifice Hence under the Law while the Priest offered the Sacrifice the people offered up their prayers to God to ascend together with the Sacrifice and therefore those who lived in places remote from Ierusalem which was the only place of Sacrifices or those who could not attend the daily Sacrifices in the Temple yet were to observe the time of offering their Sacrifices for the time of their Prayers Whence it is that the time of offering the Sacrifice is called also the hour of Prayer Thus the people were to offer a Sacrifice for sin and to offer up their prayers in vertue of the Sacrifice but then neither their prayers nor their Sacrifice were acceptable to God unless they were offered by the Priest who sprinkled the blood of the Sacrifice upon the Altar to make Atonement and offered Incense as an emblem of their prayers To which the Psalmist alludes Let my prayer be set before thee as Incense and the lifting up of my hands as the evening Sacrifice And therefore the Evangelist observes that the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of Incense that their prayers might ascend as Incense Thus we expresly read in the Book of the Revelations of An Angel who stood at the Altar having a golden Censer and there was given unto him much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all Saints upon the golden Altar which was before the Throne and the smoke of the Incense which came with the prayers of the Saints ascended before God out of the Angels hand Which expresly applys these legal Types to the state of the Gospel that great Sacrifice and great High Priest who presents our prayers to God. The death of Christ upon the Cross was the Sacrifice for all our sins in vertue of this Sacrifice we pray to God but Christ our great High Priest is now ascended into Heaven to present himself before his Father to offer his own blood and in vertue of that to offer our prayers to him This is the work of a Mediator and High Priest not so much to pray for us as to offer up our prayers to God in the vertue and efficacy of his own Sacrifice and with the authority of a heavenly Mediator and High Priest. Now this plainly shows the difference between the prayers of good Men for themselves and one another and the Intercession of a Mediator Good men are humble supplicants