Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	aaron_n	order_n	priesthood_n	56	3	10.9149	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26371	A modest plea for the clergy wherein is briefly considered, the original, antiquity, necessity : together with the spurious and genuine occasions of their present contempt.	Addison, Lancelot, 1632-1703.	1677 (1677)	Wing A524; ESTC R21288	59,187	185

been ambulatory and the Holy Offices consign'd to the First-born or Chief of each Family For the Priesthood did not begin in Aaron but was translated and conferr'd upon his Family before his Consecration For those young men of the Children of Israel which offered Burnt-offerings and sacrificed Peace-offerings of Oxen unto the Lord Exod. 24.5 as they were Priests so without question they were no other than the First-born to whom the Priesthood did belong But as soon as God began to constitute a Church he began also to fix the Priesthood and appointed Aaron to minister the Publick Services And during the Levitical Dispensation the Succession of the Priesthood was continued in Aaron's Posterity and the High-Priesthood tied to the Line of his First-born the rest of his Posterity being simply termed Priests or Priests of the Second Order Now what is here chiefly to be taken notice of is Aarons Call to the Priesthood which we are assured was from God So that neither Aaron did at first nor any after him could legally take this Honour to himself But all were called of God And this Truth we find miraculously attested in the suddain and fearful destruction of those who undervalued the Priests and factiously usurp'd their Office 'T is true Aaron's Priesthood was but temporary and at the appointed Season to expire and determine yet as long as it did continue it was lawful for none but those of his Line to undertake it Because God had so ordain'd And this Divine Ordinance of the Priesthood was such an inviolable observation that even Christ when he came to give himself an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling Savour and by the Oblation of his own Body made an atonement for our Sins when Christ I say became an Aaronical Priest and put an end to that sort of Priesthood when he also became a Priest according to the Order of Melchizedeck which lasts for ever both were by Divine Appointment As the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews distinctly argues out of the Second and the Hundred and tenth Psalm But here it is worthy our remark that Jesus was anointed with the Unction of Aaron to the Sacerdotal Office and not called after the Order of Aaron for it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah of which Tribe Moses spake nothing concerning Priesthood Heb. 7.14 or that no Priest should come of that Tribe But Jesus was made a Priest after a more ancient Order according to the Prediction of the Psalmist The Lord hath sworn and will not repent Thou art a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchizedeck But though he were of another Order yet whatsoever Aaron did as a Priest was wholly Typical and to be fulfilled in the Messias as he was a Priest To which he had a double Title the one of Primogeniture as the First-begotten of God the other of Unction as being anointed unto that Office Now if Christ did not glorifie himself to become an High-Priest if as Man he did not advance himself to that Dignity but was thereunto advanced by God then is the Priesthood an Office to whose undertaking more is required than personal Abilities and which none of right can undertake but either by Gods immediate or mediate Call For though the meetness of the Person ought to be looked upon by men yet we cannot prescribe unto God or tell him who are fit to be heard by him in behalf of the people or whom he ought to entertain in Religious Addresses Nor are we able to yield a reason from the nature of the thing why God should accept of Aaron more than of Abiram or the mediation of any one man for many except the free pleasure of him that makes the choice But to return If the more solemn Institution of the Clergy bear date only from the Consecration of Aaron yet it plainly appears to be Divine or of Gods own appointment and during the time of the Mosaical Oeconomy was so Sacred and Inviolable that none could invade it under a gentler Penance than Sudden death or a Leprosie And long before this too I mean before the erecting of the Tabernacle or Temple and Institution of Priesthood when God was served within Private Walls and the right of Priesthood in every Family was annexed to the Primogeniture so that the First-born was Priest we read but of one contrary to custom who aspired unto it whose ambition therein would have been utterly inexcusable if the whole disposal of the matter had not been from God who loved Jacob but hated Esau and made the Elder to serve the Younger Rom. 9.12 13. But though the Levitick or Aaronical Priesthood was of Divine Institution yet being wholly Typical and consequently to determine and because it is already past and gone vve are next to enquire into the Nature and Constitution of that Clergy vvhich succeeded it CHAP. V. Of the Institution of the Evangelical Clergy WHen the Great Fulfiller of the Lavv even the blessed Author of our most Holy Faith in a most excellent manner made good that Title and being dravving to the last Stage of his life and together vvith it to put a full end to the Mosaick Dispensation and abolish both the Sacrifice and Priesthood in that of himself When vvithout a Figure the immutable Clergy of the Gospel vvas to succeed into the mutable Clergy of the Law he called those Apostles of vvhom at first he made choice and gave them Power to erect and constitute a Church and to transmit such Povvers unto others as vvere proper for the continuance and propagation of the same Novv the Commission vvhich Christ gave to the Apostles to impovver them to this end is the chief thing to be considered and vve meet vvith it at large as it vvas signed by our Saviour immediately upon his Ascension in S. Matth. 28. 18. All power is given unto me in Heaven and Earth 19. Go ye therefore and teach or make all Nations Disciples baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost 20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the World In vvhich vvords Christ first asserts and declares his ovvn Commission shovving his Apostles that vvhat he did vvas not the result of his ovvn private judgement but the exercise of that Authority vvhich vvas given him of his Father vvho had consign'd unto him a full Povver of ordering and disposing vvhatsoever belong'd to the Church of vvhich he vvas made the Prince and head upon his rising from the Grave and by vertue of that relation stood obliged to provide for the preservation and encrease thereof But hovv this should be done is the doubt to be satisfied For Christ in his ovvn Person could not make this provision for the Church because as to his humane Nature he vvas shortly to remove to Heaven and there to abide until his coming to

intent of their Institution They saw all That Holy matters were to be kept within a Sept the more decently to secure them from being unhallowed by the rude and undiscerning touch of the Vulgar For the Holy Offices of Religion are at the same time profan'd that they are made Common which they cannot escape if there be no distinction of Persons observed in their Administration Men in this affair might likewise argue from a Parity of Reason and that if it be for the credit and advancement of all profitable Arts and Professions to be provided of such Professors Officers and Masters as may propagate instruct and excecute the same then the like must be granted to Religion or else we must think it to be of less worth and moment than Secular Professions and that less is required to make a man Religious than a Pin-maker and to give him a competent knowledge of the things of God than of making of a Horse-shooe Nor doth it here amount to any valuable Objection that the common right and interest which every one hath in Religion is sufficient to entitle them to the publick officiating the Solemn Rites thereof for by the same reason every one might gird on the Sword of Justice and become a Publick Minister of the Laws on pretence of the Common Interest which he hath therein the consequences of which Hypothesis are so absurd and monstrous that they carry with them their own confutation But that which we may presume to have been most moving in this concern was the Consideration of the Common Nature of Mankind which being far gone in corruptions is utterly unfit for and unprovided of that Sanctity which is required in Religious Addresses upon which consideration it was deem'd not only safe and agreeable but also necessary for this faln condition of men that out of themselves some persons should be chosen and by Holy Ceremonies set apart and as it were placed in a middle Station between God and the people on purpose to present God with the Peoples Petitions and to bring down his Blessings upon them And though the bestowing of Gods Blessings depends upon his own free act and that the acceptance of such Petitions as are made by such persons in behalf of the people is to be known by such testimonies as God is pleased to vouchsafe yet that there is a necessity of such persons who by Holy Offices are thus to mediate for the people is a thing God himself was pleased to illustrate by an everlasting Example when he sent his Son to take our Nature that he might be qualified to interceed for that Nature which he had taken and be fit to make nearer accesses unto that Seat of Mercy which we by reason of our great imperfections were unfit to approach And in this sense he is styled the only Mediator between God and man And I humbly conceive it was with respect unto this Consideration that at the designing of Persons for the Clergy the Greek Church made this Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. O Lord our God who because mans Nature is not able of it self to approach the Glorious Essence of thy Godhead hast in thy wise Providence and Dispensation order'd us Masters and Teachers of like Passions with our selves whom thou hast placed in thy Throne or in the Ministry of thy Kingdom the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. to offer unto thee a Sacrifice in behalf of the people c. The contexture and occasion of which Oraison I take for no incompetent account of appointing men for the Clergy But not to enquire too minutely for the Reasons that at first might probably induce Mankind to constitute peculiar persons for the Service of Religion we may conceive that all herein did not follow the same Light But that some Nations were hereunto perswaded by the more durable and regular principle of Reason Others by an Universal Tradition which will last as long as either we reverence our Ancestors or think not our selves wiser than all that lived before us Others no doubt imitated herein some Nation which they esteemed wise sober and dis-interessed But without any peremptory determination of the Motive we are most certain of the thing and that ever since the Creation a Deity Religion and Priesthood do as mutually infer each other as the most natural Relations CHAP. III. Out of what Rank and Condition the Clergy were elected among the Jews and Pagans the respect showen them c. HAving thus briefly surmised some of the more probable inducements for the Institution of a Clergy we come next to examine what manner of persons were usually made choice of for that Office and what respect was given them when they were once therewith invested And limiting this Remark to the Times antecedent to our Saviours coming in the flesh we know that all Religion was then either of Jew or Gentile And beginning with the Gentiles we read how the Sons of their Princes were educated for the Priesthood That their Kings did exercise this Office That in their Sacrifices there was among the Romans a peculiar Office assigned unto the King And we find that when Numa to give more Splendour and Credit to Religion established many sorts of Priests in the City fearing that in process of time the Kings might come to neglect their Office about the Sacrifices by reason of the weighty affairs of State that might otherwise imploy them he ordain'd the Flamens to supply the Kings place who bore the names of the severate Gods to whom they were consecrate And this officiating of their Kings was thought so necessary that when they were banish't Rome one of the Priestly Order had the Name of King while he was doing his Function lest the people should suspect any thing to be lacking in the worship of the Gods Thus they preserved Royalty in Religion when it was cast out of the State and how unwelcome soever it became among the uncertain people yet they thought it necessary to be preserved in the Priesthood which was generally so highly valued by the Romans that it was accounted a singular honour in their Genealogies that some of their Family had been of the Clergy And of this Truth we meet with a pregnant instance in Agrippa who writing to Caius Caesar and speaking of the Honour of his own Descent he told the Emperor that some of his Ancestors had not only been Kings but also admitted to the Priesthood We find likewise that that sort of Priests among the Romans called Augurs were chosen out of the Patricii who were the Nobility of Rome But suppose the Families out of which the Gentile Clergy were elected had been as mean as they were certainly otherwise yet to those who were once received unto that Province they were careful to pay an esteem and reverence suitable to the Sacredness of their imployment and to instate them with such Immunities as testified they thought them not sit to be treated as