lOO METAPHORS FROJ\1 HEAVEN. Book I. Defcription of that Royal Majefly, by comparing it to that Cherub, which was placed by God in the Garden of Eden, Gen. iii. 24. for <\San Angel was appointed to keep that Garden, and armed with that flaming Sword which turned every Vlay, it was a Tt:r~ ror ro all, fo thou, King of 'l'yru.s, [wee the Kingdom became rhine, didft fancy thy– fdf equal to the Angels of God in Glory. Some think it has Re!pdt to thofe angelica! Figures placed in the Sanctuary, Exod. xxv. 20. covering the Mercy.feat. Riding upon a Cherub is attributed to God," Pfal. xviii. 10. 2 Sam. xxii. 11. when the Speech is of TYinds, Storms, Clouds and '.Tempefls, to which this Name is alcribed by Reafon of their vehement Swiftnels, and dreadful ElfeCI:s. The Chaldee renders it, And he is re– vealed in his Magnificence upon mofl fwifc Cherubs, and he is led in Strength upon the Wings of the Wind. 2. As to what refpetls evil .Angels or Devils, Chrift calls Peter Satmz, when he would dill\Jade him from fulfering, Matt. xvi. 23. Mark viii. 33· Get thee behind me Satan. Some* take this as a Noun appellative, and fa ]l!ll!l (Satan) lignifies any Adver– fary, as if Chrifl had faid; give over to contradict the Will of my Father: It is thy Part to follow, not to go before. Now thou gainfayeft, fludying to hinder what will fave Mankind, what the Father will have done, and whlt beco<ncs me to do. Thou delirefl to be a Partaker of the Kingdom, and yet thou hinderefl me, that am hafl– eniilg willingly to the Crofs whereby it is to be purchafed; where you fee me go, (viz. the Kingdom of Heaven) there you ought alfo to bend your Courfe. Thou daft not yet l:wor of God, but led by human AlfeClions, refi!lefl the Divine Will. Hinder me not therefore, thou unprofitable Monitor, but follow behind me, and rather act the Part of a Difciple than a Ma!ler. But becaufe our Savior ufes not the Greek"""'""?·"~' ( Antikcimenos) or "'~'J'"-~ ( Antidikos) which fignifies an Adveriary or Oppofer, but the Hebrew or Syriac, Satan, by which always the Devil is underflood in the New Teflament, and Chrift ufes the fame Phrafe ro the Devil, Luke iv. 8. It is more rightly faid that Chri!t calls Peter, Satan by a Metaphor, becaufe in his Oppoution he atl:ed the Devil's Part, in giving h1tanical Counfel, diredly contrary to the Will of God. From whence Lutber t fairly infers this Mnxim, that whatfoever Peter, wirh the uni– verfal College of Apoflles, !peaks from his own Senfe, in Divine Matters, and not by Divine Authority and Revelation, as Verle xvi. 17, 18. is to be accounted diaboi;cal and oppojite to Chrift. See 1 Cor. iii. 1 r. and xvi. 22. Gal. i. 8, 9· 2Pet. i '9• 20, &c. And then he adds, That Chrifl in this Palfage, with Peter and h1s Apoflles, prefigured the future Hiltory of his whole Church, to wit, that there fhould be fame true Confef– fors of Chrifl, viz. good Bijhops and Mart;•rs, who 010uld confcfs and preach Chrift the Son of the living God purely, by the Example of Peter fpeaking from the Revelation ef the Father. But becaufe the fame Peter and the Apoflles a little after favor of the Flefh, yea, and as Chrifl lays, become Satans, it fignifies that after the Succelfors of the Apoflles and good Bijbops, there would come de·vi/ifh Bijhops: And that at length he that would u urp the Title of Peter's foie and only Succelfor, il10uld follow Satan as his Father for Revelation, and would feek not the Kingdom of God, but of the ·world. Which Prophecy we fee mofl palpably and borribly fulfilled, [o far Luther. John vi. 70. Chrijl calls Judas Ifcariot a Devil, becaule he was like him in Lies and Treachery, and fa lignally malicious that the Scripture fays, he was of the Devil, John viii. 4+• 1 'John i1i. 8. .And the Son of the Drvil, AEis xiii. 10. Metaphors taken from Heaven. CORPOREAL or bodily Creatures, according to their phyjical Diflinction are either . jimple or mixed and compounded, The fimplc are lleavm and the Elements, or the ethereal and elementary Region of the World. Heaven properly fignifies that outermofl celeflial Body that inclofes or compalfes the Elements. and is the Receptacle of the Stars and Conflellations, Gm. i. 8, t4, &c. Gen.xv.5. Pja/.viii.3. andxix.x,s. lfa.xiv. 13. • Erafm, Par11p/r rfi. A!fo
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