(8.) “ Whereas his intercession doth belong unto this office of his, and is expressly assigned unto him as a high priest, it is nothing but a note, evidence, or expression, to teach us that the power which the Lord Christ exerciseth and putteth forth mercifully for our relief, he received originally from God, as if he had prayed to him for it.”
2. I have so included and expressed the apprehensions of these men concerning the priesthood of Christ in these positions, as that I am persuaded that there is no one who is ingenuous amongst them will except against any particular in the account. But that none may reflect in their thoughts about it, I shall repeat it in the words of one of their principal writers. To this purpose speaks Volkelius, de Vera Relig. lib. iii. cap. xxxvii. p. 144, “Jam ut de pontificio Christi munere explicemus; primo loco animadvertendum nobis est, illud ab ejusdem officio regio, si in rem ipsam mentem
SECT. 2, 3. EXPLAINED AND VINDICATED. 169 ! =
intendas, non multum differre. Cum divinus Spiritus figurato hoc analogicoque dicendi genere, quo pacto Christus regni sui functionem administret, ante oculos nostros constituere potissimum voluerit, nobisque ostendere illum non solum salutem nostram procurare posse, sed etiam nos juvare velle, et porro id omnino facere inque eo totum esse ut peccata nostra penitus expiet; hoc est, tum ab ipsis peccatis, tum vero precipue ab eorum reatu ac pcena nos liberet.” Again, p. 146, “ Ut huic sacerdotis officio rite preeponeretur Christus, non satis erat eum in homines esse misericordem, nisi insuper tanta illius esset potestas, quanta ad homines miseriis oppressos divinis- sima ope sublevandos, pestemque eternam ab illorum capitibus propulsandum opus est; cumque omnis ad hanc rem in ccelo ter- Taque potestas requiratur, consequens est Christum antequam in coelum ascenderet tantumque rerum omnium dominatum conseque- retur summum sacerdotem nostrum nondum perfectum fuisse.” So he, and much more to the same purpose.
In like manner, Cat. Rac. de Munere Christi Sacerdotali: Quest. 1, “Munus sacerdotale in eo situm est, quod quemadmodum pro regio munere potest nobis in omnibus nostris necessitatibus subvenire; ita pro munere sacerdotali vult ac porro subvenit. Atque hec illius subveniendi seu opis afferendze ratio, sacrificium ejus appellatur.”
“Quare hee ejus afferendze ratio sacrifictum vocatur; vocatur ita figurato loquendi modo,” etc.
“ Quid porro est peccatorum expiatio? Est a pcenis que peccata tum temporariz, tum zterne comitantur, et ab ipsis etiam pec- catis ne eis serviamus, liberatio.”
“Cur id sacrificium Christi in ccelis peragitur? Ideo quod tale tabernaculum requireret,” etc.
“Quid? Annon erat sacerdos antequam in ccelos ascenderet et preesertim cruci affixus penderet? Non erat.”
To the same purpose the reader may see Socin. de Christo Servat. p- 2, cap. xv.; Ostorod. Institut. Relig. Christian. cap. xxxvii.; Smal- cius de Divinitate Jesu Christi, cap. xxiii; Woolzogen. Compend. Relig. Christian. sect. 51, p. 11; Brenius in Heb. iv. 16, et cap. vi. 4
8. But the faith of the church of God stands up in direct opposi- tion unto all these imaginations; for it asserteth—(1.) That our Lord Jesus Christ was and is truly and properly the high priest of the church, and that of him all others vested with that office under the law were only types and representatives. And the description which the apostle gives of a high priest properly so called is ac- commodated and appropriated by himself unto him, Heb. v. 1-3; as also all the acts, duties, or offices of the priesthood are accordingly ascribed unto him, chap. vii. 26, 27, x. 6, 7, ix. 24; 1 John i 1, 2 (2.) That he was perfectly and completely a high priest whilst he
170 TRUE NATURE OF THE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST [EXERC, XXXII
was on the earth, although he did not perfectly and completely dis- charge all the duties of that office in this world, seeing he lives for ever to make intercession for us. (8.) That he offered himself an expiatory sacrifice unto God in his death and bloodshedding, and was not made a priest upon his entrance into heaven, there to offer himself unto God, where only the nature of his bloody sacrifice was represented. (4.) That the ewpiation of our sins consisteth princi- pally in the charging of the punishment due unto them upon the Lord Christ, who took them on himself, and was made a sin-offering for them, that we may be freed from them and all the evil which follows them by the sentence of the law. And therefore, (5.) God is the first proper object of all the sacerdotal actings of Christ; for to him he offered himself, and with him he made atonement for sin. And thereon, (6.) This office of Christ is distinct from his kingly office, and not in any of its proper acts or adjuncts coincident there- withal. All which assertions have been before declared and proved, and shall now be further vindicated.
4, He who is supposed, and that not unjustly, to have amongst our adversaries handled these things with most diligence and subtilty is Crellius. I shall therefore examine what he on set purpose dis- putes on this subject, and that not by referring the substance of his discourses unto the distinct heads before mentioned, but taking the whole of it as disposed in his own method and words; and that with a design to give a specimen of those artifices, diversions, ambiguous expressions, and equivocations, which he perpetually maketh use of in this cause and controversy. And where he seems to be defective IT shall call in Smalcius, and it may be some others of them, unto his assistance. And I shall only transcribe his words in Latin, with- out adding any translation of them, as supposing that those who are competently able to judge of these things are not wholly ignorant of that language, and others may find enough for their satisfaction in our discourses so far as they are concerned.