them, or among them, and I will be their God, and they fhall be my People. Here, as in all Places, where the Church is called an House, there is a Metalepfis of Tropes; for firft the Temple fignifies an holy House dedicated to God, and fecondly, that holy Houfe fignifies the Family, or Oeconomy of that holy House, which is P built on Chrift as its Foundation, and in which the Priefts as Superiors are to govern, teach, and minifter in holy Offices, and the People, as Inferiors are to be governed, and taught, and perform holy Offices by the Priefts, and which therefore make a holy Theocracy unto God. So 1 Cor. iii. After the Apostle had told them, that there was no Foundation of the Church but Chrift, and that he had laid no other Foundation; know ye not (faith he) that you, as a Building erected upon Chrift, are the Temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you, as in his Sanctuary? If any Man therefore by bad Materials dare defile, or deftroy the Temple of God, him fhall God deftroy, for the Temple of God is holy, which Temple ye are. The Oeconomy therefore of the Church in general, and of every particular Church is a Temple, or fpiritual Oeconomy, where the Priefts have the whole Administration, and the High Prieft, as Chrift's Vicegerent, is

Chief

P I Cor. iii. v. 11, 12. Ephef. ii. 20. Sacerdotes Templi Spiritualis, id eft Ecclefia. Tertull. adverfus Judæos, C. 14.

Cyprian. Oxford Edition Epift. Ixvi. Cum te Judicem Dei conftituas, ac Chrifti, qui dicit ad Apoftolos, & per hos ad omnes. prapofitos, qui Apoftolis vicariâ ordinatione fuccedunt, qui vos audit me audit. So Epift. lix. Neque enim aliunde Hærefes oborta funt, aut nata Schifmata, quam inde quod Sacerdoti Dei non obtemperatur, nec unus in Ecclefia ad tempus Sacerdos, ac Judex vice Chrifti cogitatur. Ibid. Firmilian Epift. lxxv, Poteftas ergo peccatorum remittendorum Apoftolis data eft, & Ecclefiis, quas illi a Chrifto miffi conftituerunt, Epifcopis, qui eis ordinatione vicariâ fuccefferunt. See Tertullian de præfcript. Cap. xxxii. St. Clement's Epift ad Corin

thos

r

Chief Rector, as well as Chief Prieft. Such Similitudes as thefe do the Writers of the New Teltament use to make Chriftians, as Chriftians underftand, that the Church is a holy fpiritual Kingdom, a Theocracy in the most proper Senfe, in which the Priefts are the Senate, and the High Priests, as Princes, or Kings. And for this St. John gives Glory to Chrift, who hath made us Kings, or as many Copies have it, who hath made us a Kingdom, and Priests unto God. So Arethas upon the Place alfo reads it; fo the vulgar Latin, Syriac, Arabick, and EthiopickVerfions tranflate it; as alfo, Tertull Exhort. ad Caftit.c.7. To be a Kingdom of Priefts, or a Royal Priesthood, or a Kingdom, and Priefts, or Kings, and Priefs, are but different Expreffions for the fame thing, for the fecond is the Greek Tranflation, and the third the Chaldee Verfion of Mamlechoth Cobenim; a Kindom of Priests in Exod. xix. 6.; which Miles Coverdale, in his English Bible (fuppofed to be printed at Zurich) 1550, renders a Priefterly Kingdom. And if it is the true reading of this Place, St. John makes ufe of it, as St. Peter doth of a Royal Priesthood, to let us understand what reafon we have to glorifie Chrift, who hath made us Members of this holy Theocracy, which in every part of it is governed under him by Princes, who are Priests. This Expreffion of making us Kings, and Priefts unto God, is also used by this Chriftian Prophet, in

f

thos xlii. Ignatius's Epiftles, 2 Cor. v. 2. Atid Erafmus, in his Latin Prayer for the Peace of the Church: Da paftoribus, quibus vices tuas delegare dignatus es, Prophctie donum, ut arcanas Scripturas non ex humano fenfu, fed ex tuo afflatu interpretentur.

Baoiλear. Steph. a. 1. Alex. Baroc. Cov. 2. Sin. M. Hunt 1. Dr. Mille on the Place..

If ye will hearken now unto my Voice, and keep my Covenant, ye fhall be mine own before all People; for the whole Earth is mine, and ye fhall be unto me a Priefterly Kingdom, and an holy People. In 1 Per. ii. 9. thus, But ye are that chofen Generation, that Kingly Priesthood, that holy Nation, that peculiar People.

the

the roth Verfe of the fifth Chap. Thou waft flain, and haft redeemed us to God by thy Blood, out of eve ry Kindred, Tongue, People, and Nation, and haft made us unto our God Kings, and Priests, and we fhall reign on Earth. He alfo fpeaks much after the fame manner in the 6th Verfe of the xxth Chapter, where it is faid, that those who have part in the first Refurrection fhall be Priefts of God, and of Chrift, and hall reign with him a thoufand Years. And in the xxiid Chap. v. 5. that in the holy City the New Jerufalem, the Servants of God fhall reign for ever, and ever. But because these places relate to a future, and far more glorious, and different State of the Church, I pafs them over, only defiring Liberty to tell my own Opinion, that if they are not to be understood of Chriftians feverally, as Tertullian takes them in a Metaphorical Senfe to denote Chriftian Purity, but as in 1 Pet. xi. 9. of the whole collected Body of Jewish Chriftians as a Spiritual Building, an holy Nation, a peculiar Polity, or People incorporated into the Church; then alfo they muft relate to the Chriftian Theocracy, and the Adminiftration of it in a Royal Priefthood under Chrift, tho' in a much more happy, triumphant, and glorious State, than this.

But, Sir, whatever the Sense of these Paffages, or that in the is Chapter be, Whether they are spoken of Chriftians feverally, or collectively, of fingle Chriftians, or of Chriftians formed into a Society, or Polity of a Royal Priesthood, I have fuf

t

Ecclefia plebs eft Sacerdoti adunata, & Paftori fuo grex adharens. Unde feire debes Epifcopum in Ecclefia effe, & Ecclefiam in Epifcopo & fi qui cum Epifcopo non fint, in Ecclefia non effe; & fruftra fibi blandiri eos, qui pacem cum Sacerdotibus Dei non habentes obrepunt, & latenter apud quofdam communicare fe credunt; quando Ecclefia que catholica una eft, fciffa non fit, neque divifa; fed fit utique connexa, & coherentium fibi invicem Sacerdotum glutino copulata. Cyprian Epift. LXVI. See alfo the excellent Annotations on Tertull. Lib. de exhortatione Caftitatis Cap. VII. 39, 40. Edit. Tertull. II. Vol. Parifiis MDCXXXV. ficient

ficiently fhewed from other Places of the Revelation, that tho' St. John doth not exprefly call the Bishops of the Church Priefts, yet he calls them fo by other Myftical Names, and fets forth their Ministry, as a proper Priesthood, which offered up the Myftical Incenfe the Prayers of all Saints, that is of the Church, more especially in the Service of the Holy Eucharift, when according to the Prophecy of Malachy, the moft folemn Prayers,and Praises were offered unto God by a Holy Priesthood on the Myftical Golden Altar, in every Chriftian Church. Chriftians then are a Kingdom of Priefts, as well as the Jews were; a Congregation, or Multitude of People formed like them into a Prieftly Government, and by the Miniftration of Priefts to ferve,and worship God, and by their hands to offer their External Sacrifices of Bread, and Wine, and by their Mouths to offer up " Euchariftical Prayers, and Praises, and Interceffions to him, which God thro' Chrift our High Prieft will accept, as he did the Sacrifices, and Prayers of the Jews. This is very agreeable Doctrine to what was taught in the early, and pure Ages of the Church. 'Axxov τὸ ἀληθινὸν γέν@ ἐσμεν τ8 Θε5, &c. (faith Fuftin in his Dialogue with the Jew) We are the true Sacerdotal People of God, as God himself teftifies, fay ing, That in every place among the Gentiles pure, and acceptable Sacrifices (hould be brought unto him. But God accepts Sacrifices from none, but by his Priests. God therefore teftifies before the time, that all Sacrifices fhould be acceptable to him in this Name [of Jefus] Which Fefus appointed to be done, I mean in the Eucharift of the Bread, and the Cup,

X

y

* Ουλπη ἐξαιρεθ ἱερῶς καὶ αιώνιΘ βασιλώς, ὁ Χει τὸς, ὡς ὑὸς Θεῖ. δ' ἐν τῇ πάλιν παρεσία μὴ δόξηζε λέξει Ησαΐαν ἢ τοὺ ἄλλες προφήτας θυσίας ἀφ ̓ ἀιμάζων ἢ σπουδῶν ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαςήριον αναφέρεται, ἀλλὰ ἀληθινὸς καὶ πνάμαζικές εινες, καὶ αχαρισίας.

* Pag. 344.

Malach. i. 11,

and

and which are offered up by Chriftians in all places of the Earth; but your Sacrifices offered up by your Priefts, he utterly rejects, faying, I will not receive your Sacrifices from your bands. Becaufe from the rifing of the Sun unto the fetting thereof, my Name fhall be glorified among the Gentiles, but you bave profaned it. He fpeaks to the fame Purpose, citing the Prophet Malachy, more perfectly, as I have tranfcribed the Paffage before. Thus much, Sir, as to the Prophetical Book of the New Teftament; in which, I hope, I have fhew'd, that fetting afide the Texts, in which we are faid to be Kings, and Priefts, St. John hath called Chriftian Bishops, Priefts, in the fame figurative way of Writing, that he calls Chriftians, Jews. To which I have but one Obfervation more to add, which relates to his Defcription of the four, and Twenty Elders who had Crowns or Mitres of Gold on their Heads, and the Tradition of his wearing the Golden Crown, or Miter; in the Front of which there was engraven, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. Sir, you cannot but remark that this Story, which is fo well attefted, and his Defcription of the Chriftian Priests agree very well together. But it is time to put an end to my Letter, and the Exercife of your Patience in reading of it; which I fhall here do with an hearty Prayer, that all Chriftian Presbyters, and Bifhops would as it becomes them, affert the Truth of their Prieftly Character with all Boldness, and adorn it with all Sanctity of Life, and Manners, to the Honour of him, who is our King, Prophet, and High-Prieft, the Angel, and Apoftle of God, from whom we derive our Prieftly Powers, and Authority; and to whom with the Father, and the Holy Ghost be all Honour, and Glory in all the Churches of the Saints now,

a

z Malac. i. 10, II, 12.

Juft. in Apol. dict. 11. p. 95. Dial. cum Tryph. p. 313.

a