Servius saith Grotius upon Apoc. 1. 11. whence he would have the Church in Pergamus to re-mind us of high and heavenly things But this is a Moral not a Propheticall sense But with him howsoever I acknowledge that the signification of Sublimity is alluded to in the general but here most elegantly and seasonably in reference to the precedent state of the Church in Smyrna which was a state of Humiliation and bitter Affliction But at the very beginning of this present Intervall she so conspicuously emerging out of this low sad affictive state into the state of glory peace and prosperity what can be more significant then to salute her with the Title of the Church in Pergamus accordingly as she is here saluted which is a kind of Congratulation to her fresh emergency out of her late Miseries And this sense will hold good for a time in this Intervall namely till tho days of her Apostasy but then the Apostolick Church will be the Church in Pergamus still but in another kind of meaning 4. According therefore to the richnesse of the Prophetick style Pergamus has also another sense such as the City Babylon and the City Tyrus which are put for the City of Rome But then not in such a sense as to mean the Walls or Stones of the Roman City but the Roman Church and her Power and Jurisdiction And in such a sense is Pergamus also here put for Rome So that this Epistle written to the Church of Christ in Pergamus the truly Catholick and Apostolick Church is directed to this Church dwelling under the Roman Church or within the Roman Churche's Jurisdiction understanding old Rome especially as all such Apocalyptick Visions perstringe her most Now that Rome in this sense is perstringed by this Pergamus is very evident First in the easie Allusion of Pergamus to Rome from the signification of the words For as Pergamus signifies Sublimity so as Martinius notes Rome is from the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exaltari Besides that her Situation is high and Buildings lofty according to that of the Poet Collibus è septem totum circumspicit orbem And the highest of all is the Bishop of Rome himself who exalts himself above all that is called God or is worshipped Is not this therefore a fit Bishop of Pergamus that perks thus above all Kings and Emperours and Princes of the earth And our Intervall of the Church of Pergamus reaches the highest times of her Exaltation it taking in both Gregory the seventh who first excommunicated the Emperour and took upon him the power of making Emperours himself and Alexander the third who trode upon the neck of the Emperour Frederick as also Caelestine the third that crowned Henry the sixth and his Empress with his feet and in scorn kick'd the Emperour's Crown off with his foot when he had crowned him Certainly the Popes of Rome were then the Bishops of Pergamus with a witnesse Nor after this Intervall could they ever hold their Crests so high Boniface the eighth indeed was a Blusterer and excommunicated Philip the Fair of France but he called him fool for his pains and handled him in such sort that surprized at Anagnia he was disgracefully mounted on a poor Jade and so carried prisoner to Rome where Pride and Regret broke his heart and so he there dy'd ingloriously But secondly It is said of this Pergamus that it was the most given to Idolatry of all the Cities of Asia so Andreas Cesariensis reports of it which is the notorious Character of Rome above all Cities and therefore elsewhere in the Apocalypse she is called the Whore of Babylon for her insatiable spiritual Fornications Thirdly These Pergamenians were very fierce and diligent Accusers of the Apostolick Christians to bring them to Martyrdome as Dr. Hammond upon the place notes out of ancient History For which also Rome is taxed elsewhere in the Apocalypse who is said to be drunk with the bloud of the Saints and with the bloud of the Martyrs of Jesus Fourthly It is recorded of the Prefect of this City Pergamus that he would persuade the Christians to forsake the Apostolick Faith and return to Heathenism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because the elder Religion was the more precious and to be preferred As Antiquity is the great Pretense of the Papal Church That Prefect said of Christianity that it was but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it began but the other day And so you may be sure the Church of Rome said of the Religion of the Waldenses and Albigenses See Dr. Hammond upon the place And lastly That it should be the Martyr Antipas that was slain in Pergamus can any name more directly and assuredly point at the Church of Rome or the Papal Church then this For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Father and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is Papa â—â— but a Reduplication of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Eustathius has noted and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies as much as against And therefore who can be so blind as not to discern how fit a Type this Antipas is of them that within this Intervall of the Church should suffer for being against that holy Father the Pope as he is called Nothing can sound more congruously or harmoniously whatever any man by way of cavill can say against it The main Interpretation therefore of this present Epistle to the Church in Pergamus will respect the pure Apostolick Church abiding within the Jurisdiction of the Roman as this sense plainly implies the Woman in the wildernesse as the Holy Ghost elsewhere expresses it These things saith he that hath the sharp sword with two edges Christ is set out thus in this Epistle to the Church in Pergamns because this Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God understood and rellished by the Divine Spirit in us was the main Weapon whereby the Church in Pergamus defended her self from the Pergamenian Corruptions and so kept her self pure from the false Glosses and unsound Traditions of either Superstitious men or crafty Deceivers 5. I know thy works and where thou dwellest even where Satan's seat is and thou holdest fast my Name and hast not denied my Faith even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithfull Martyr who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth That is to say I know thou doest well for the main and to thy greater commendation I consider where thou dwellest even where the first-born of Lucifer has his throne he that exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped So Christ compares Satan to Lucifer or the King of Babylon of whom the Prophet says How art thou fallen Lucifer thou son of the Morning Luke 10. 18. I beheld Satan as lightning fall from Heaven And yet neither the awe nor glory of that Church could cause thee to forsake my Name and in stead of being a true Christian to become a Member of Antichrist and so relinquish the pure Apostolick Faith no not
Sardis it may prove very significative of the condition of Reformed Christendome within that Intervall beginning from the rising of the Witnesses and ending in the last Viall in part of it I mean After which the Intervall of Phyladelphia comes in and takes up also the second and third Thunder Some special qualities therefore of the Church of Sardis are to be read in this Stone Sarda and some to her praise others to her diminution The virtue of this Stone is that carried about one it makes a man chearfull and couragious and drives away Witchcraft and Enchantment and expells poison rightly administred which adumbrate some peculiar Privileges in this Sardian Church Their chearfull security in justification by faith in Christ's bloud and their being rid of the poisonous idolatrous doctrines and bewitching Enchantments of the Cup of the Whore Here 's nothing of Jezebel in this Church nor any mention of the eating of things offered to Idols nor in the two following Epistles which is no small ratification of the truth of these Successions Both they and she are well and sound touching these points 2. But this Stone Sarda which is also called Carnalina and in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Odem as representing humane flesh and bloud so lively seems also to insinuate something to the Derogation of the Sardian Church as if they were flesh and not spirit which is the special Dispensation of the Church of Philadelphia And whereas Christ's Conquest over Edom is by letting out or squeezing out the corrupt bloud of old Adam this Odem or Carnalina is said to be of that virtue as to stanch bloud and stop it from running out and therefore seems to be significative of whatever Doctrines in the Sardian Church that hinder the due and requisite Mortification of the old man as loth to weaken him too much and let too much of his bloud and life run out 3. The meaning therefore is that though the Sardian Church be well rid of the foul Idolatries and grosse Trumperies of the Papal Church yet her state as yet is but carnal most-what It is not the Dispensation of the spirit of life but the main stir is about external Opinion Ceremony they seem to know Christ onely according to the flesh not according to the power of his Spirit whereby he is able to subdue all things under him Whereas Christ after he had said that his flesh was meat indeed and his bloud was drink indeed clearly explains himself in declaring expresly that the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life yet a great part of this Sardian Church I mean the Lutherans rack their own Wits and disturb the rest of Reformed Christendome to maintain that odd Paradox of Consubstantiation that so men may eat and drink that grosse Flesh and Bloud of Christ that was crucify'd upon the Crosse in the Celebration of their Eucharists What can be more Carnaline-like then this Besides that there are over-many that do as grosly and carnally erre touching the nature of the Resurrection-Body they phansying it as terrestrially modify'd though it be called a celestial or spiritual Body in the Scriptures as that Body is that we put into the Grave or is capable of the imbraces of the Nuptial Bed To say nothing of other such like grosse carnal Conceits that this Sardian Church has not yet expunged out of her mind But as mischievous a mark as any of her Carnality is her Dissension and Schismaticalnesse even to mutuall Persecution as also the unnatural and unchristian Wars of one part of Reformed Christendome against the other These things rankly savour of the Flesh and are infinitely contrary to the due Dispensation of the Spirit which when it shall appear will bring in the Church of Philadelphia the Church of unfeigned Love and Charity wherein according to the prediction of the Prophets there shall not be the noise of this unchristian War any more These Touches may suffice to shew why the Spirit of God has denoted this Succession of his Church by the Title of the Church in Sardis 4. These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God The number Seven signifies Universality sometimes whence the Pythagoreans call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sense therefore is that hath in readinesse to bestow all the spiritual or Divine Graces to make the man of God perfect to every good word and work And the seven Stars That is to say that holds the seven Stars in his right hand so it is in the Description before his speech to the Ephesine Church which is repeated here for encouragement Christ hereby declaring his Power and promising his Assistence to the renewing of Christendome through the Reformation as well as he did to the forming of it at first and rooting out Paganism in the first beginning of the Church which is the Ephesine Intervall I know thy works that thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead I discern plainly thy state and condition Thou hast indeed a semblance of life because thou hast a great deal of Heat and Zeal and dost with an externall fervour doe many performances that may raise a fame of thee of being more then ordinarily religious And many hot disputes there may be for this or that Ceremony for this or that Opinion and against them much and very vehement discourse about Faith and Justification and the like Which Heat and activity bears a semblance of Life in thee But assure thy self unlesse thou hast that Faith that worketh by Love all this stir is but the noise of tinkling Brasse or of sounding Cymbals And being thus alive thou art notwithstanding in my sight little better then dead And although thou dost thus imitate warm flesh and bloud yet thou art but a cold Sardius Stone to my touch and discernment As she that liveth wantonly is dead while she liveth though she thinks she is then most of all alive so it is with him that devoid of Christian Love and Charity is enlivened with an hot bitter ignorant and preposterous Zeal This is not the life of God but of mere Nature and Carnality 5. Be watchfull and strengthen the things that remain that are ready to die Take heed that want of Love and Life hazard not Faith too and Remissnesse in Manners bring not in Atheism and Infidelity over all For I have not found thy works perfect before me Those things that have Life in them goe on to Perfection Wherefore if they stop before and make no progresse it is a sign there is some deadly distemper at the very heart or root and such a Plant must wither and die Thy Works are neither perfect nor dost thou easily admit of such Doctrines as lead most effectually to Perfection Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent That is to say You that are my true Apostolick Church remember what ye have
do thou humble her the more by shewing her her ugly hue in the glasse of the Holy Scriptures If she boast that she is that holy Jerusalem a City at Unity within it self whenas the rest of the World are so full of Sects and Factions tell her that she is that carnal Jerusalem wherein Christ in his true Members hath been so barbarously persecuted and murthered and that the Stones of her buildings are no living stones but held together by a mere iron violence and the Cement of her walls tempered with the large effusion of innocent bloud forasmuch as she is that two-horned Beast that gave life to the Image of the Beast and caused him to decree that as many as would not obey his Idolatrous Edicts should be slain This is the power of your Unity which is not from the Spirit of God but from the spirit of the Devil who was a Murtherer from the beginning But the Division of us Protestants is both a sign of our sincere search after the Truth and a more strong Testimony against you of Rome in that we being so divided amongst our selves yet we so unanimously give sentence against you your Miscarriages and Crimes being so exceeding grosse that no free eye but must needs discern them 21. If she vaunts of her Antiquity give her enough of it and tell her she derives her pedigree from that great Dragon the old Serpent that is called the Devil and Satan that Murtherer of mankinde Ye are of your father the Devil saith our Saviour and the works of your father will ye doe We grant that the Visage and Lineage of your Church reaches even beyond the times of the Apostles the two-horned Beast reviving the Image of the Pagan Beast the great red Dragon by bringing up again his old bloudy Persecutions and Idolatries It suffices us that our Church began with the Apostles If she glories in her Universality and in her large Territories tell her she is that GREAT City which spiritually is called Sodom and AEgypt where our Lord was crucified And that she is Babylon the GREAT the mother of Fornications and the Abominations of the Earth If she boast of the power of the Keys and of Sacerdotal Absolution tell her that he that is holy he that is true he that has the Key of David he that openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth that is to say our Lord Jesus Christ will never part with these Keys to his inveterate Enemy that notorious Man of Sin or Antichrist If she spread before thee her goodly wares of mercenary Masses of Pardons and Indulgences of the mutuatitious Good works of their pretended Holy men and women or the Wealth and externall Glories of their Church and varieties of rich Preferments and Dignities say unto her that she is that City of Trade of whom it is written that no man buieth her merchandise any more and again Alas alas that great City that was cloathed in fine linnen and purple and scarlet and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls For in one hour so great riches are come to nought For her Merchants were the great men of the Earth and by her Sorceries were all Nations deceived And in her was found the bloud of Prophets and of Saints and of all that were slain upon the Earth 22. If she would amaze thee with the stories of the wonderfull Miracles done by her tell her that she is that two-horned Beast that doth great wonders and that deceiveth them that dwell on the Earth by means of those Miracles which he had power to doe in the sight of the ten-horn'd Beast or that false Prophet working Miracles and deceiving them that receive the mark of the Beast and worship his Image who together with the Beast is to be taken and cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone or lastly that Man of Sin and Son of perdition whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders If she would inveagle thee with her pretenses of Infallibility tell her that she is that Woman Jezebel that calleth her self a Prophetesse or the Prophet Balaam that insnared the Israelites in Idolatry and that very false Prophet that together with the Beast is to be cast alive into the lake of burning brimstone 23. And lastly if she would gull thee with that specious and much-affected Title of Holy Church tell her that the Spirit of Truth in the Divine Oracles let her commend her self as much as she pleases gives no such Character of her but quite contrary declaring the See of Rome to be the Seat of Satan and their Church his Synagogue the Pope and his Clergy to be Balaam the son of Bozor who loved the wages of unrighteousnesse and who was the Murtherer of Christ's faithfull Martyr Antipas to be that Woman Jezebel who calls her self a Prophetesse but was indeed a Sorceresse and a murtherer of the true Prophets of the Lord to be also that false Prophet that is to be taken alive and cast into the lake of fire and brimstone to be that great City that spiritually is called Sodom and AEgypt where our Lord was crucified to be the Beast that has the horns of a Lamb but the voice of the Dragon decreeing Idolatries and cruel Persecutions against God's people to be that Babylon the great the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth the Woman on the seven Hills that is drunk with the bloud of the Saints and with the bloud of the Martyrs of Jesus and lastly to be that Man of Sin that notorious Antichrist that opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or is worshipped whose coming is with all deceivableness of unrighteousnesse in them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth that they may be saved For which cause God sends them strong delusion that they believe a lie That they all might be damned that believe not the truth but have pleasure in unrighteousnesse As well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well all they that love the Romish Lies and Impostures as all they that invent them are here plainly declared in the state of Damnation With this Nosegay of Rue and Wormwood antidote thy self against the Idolatrous infection of that strange Woman 's breath whose lips yet drop as an hony-comb and her mouth is more smooth then oyl And be assured that that cannot be the true Holy Church wherein Salvation is to be expected which the Spirit of God has marked with such unholy and hellish Characters let her boast of her own Holiness as much as she will 24. And if she return this Answer to thee That this is not to argue but to rail in phrases of Scripture do thou make this short Reply That whiles she accuses thee of railing against sinfull