Saints and Convey a Blessing to both and then the Lord shall Bless saying Blessed be Aegypt my People a New and Honourable Title to them and Assyria the Work of my Hands as Created anew in Christ Eph. 2. 10. and Israel my Inheritance Isa 19. 23 25. Thus we see Gods Care of his Church in Babylon and in Aegypt too Defeating all the Devils Designs which were to Destroy it every where as well as any-where Now let us view the same Divine Care and Kindness to his Church when Removed to Persia at the Destruction of Babylon out of which she Fled Isa 48. 23. and 52. 11. and Jer. 50. 8. and 51. 6 45. Zech. 2. 6. Revel 18. 4. For it was Devoted to Destruction by Darius the Persian God had Reserv'd an Holy Remnant for Royal Use even in Persia for not half of the Jews Returned to Jerusalem at Cyrus Proclamation whatever Josephus saith to the Contrary who makes the Returners to be above Four Millions whereas Ezra makes them onely Forty and two Thousand Ezra 2. 64. Ten or Twelve Thousand whereof might probably be of the Ten Tribes that were first carryed Captive who together with Benjamin and Judah make up the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Twelve Tribes which the Apostle speaks of Act. 26. 7. Instantly Serving God Night and Day Hoping to come to Heaven which plainly Intimates how God carefully keeps his Covenant in preserving his Church among them Now I say this People having lived a long season safely in a Fat though a Forraign Countrey there they had lived in Peace enjoy'd their Religion gathered Riches and had Favourites at Court so were loth to trouble themselves with removing into their own Countrey where they were sure to meet with much opposition and many Enemies the Samaritans and others Hereupon many of them remained in Babylonia and Persia as before yet God Delivers them not over to the Devil to do what he would with them but Defeats his Design even there also As the Devil had his Wicked Haman to contrive the Churches Destruction in Persia so God had his Holy Mordecai there for her preservation before whom Haman Fails and the Devils Plot in him Now come we to the most Eminent Evidence and most pregnant Proof of Divine Providence in Preserving the Church of God against the Devils most powerful Plot Recorded in Scripture And in discoursing upon it I shall not meddle with the Timeing of it which some Critical observers of Chronology do place betwixt Cyrus and Darius's Decrees for re-Building the Temple but shall take it as it is placed in Canonical Scripture the very last Book that Describes the History of the Church in the Old Testament to wit the Book of Esther wherein though the Name God be not found yet most Eminently the Hand of God is found there in Capital Characters And herein Observe Two Principal parts 1. The Churches Danger and 2. The Churches Deliverance both exceedingly Eminent even in Shushan the Head-City of Persia wherein God had a great People reserved and preserved there and scatter'd about in many other places as will appear by the Sequel First The Churches Danger in it Three particulars are observable 1. The Occasion of the Danger to wit Holy Mordecai's refusal of Bowing the knee to proud Haman that cursed Amalekite a deadly Enemy of the Church and the Kings great Favourite both before he had obtained the Royal Decree against the Church and afterwards also 2ly The Persons who were in this Eminent Danger to wit not Mordecai alone for he thought him alone too mean a Sacrifice below his Revengeful Rage but also all the Godly Jews every-where Dispersed Esth 3. 6. and 3ly The Danger it self to wit not personal onely as that of Dan. 3. 20. and Dan. 6. 14. but an Universal and Utter Destruction maliciously Intended by a Decree obtained upon false Informations that the Jews did not keep the Kings Laws v. 8. Thus Haman cloak'd his private Malice with publique pretences Oh what a likely Tool had the Devil now got to Work the Churches Ruine withal to wit the Adversary and Enemy Wicked Haman Esth 7. 6. where he is painted in his proper Colours The Man-Adversary or Hebr. Satan the Church hath her Man-Adversary as well as Devil-Adversary a Man of might and a great Favourite at Court an Vtter Enemy a Sworn Sword-man of Satan that old Man-slayer from whom Haman had drawn this Antient Enmity Gen. 3. 15. and from cursed Amalek Exod. 17. 8. He is as pious Queen Esther Brands him our Angustiator or Oppressor and ready to do all Hostile Acts against us 'T is this Wicked Haman a Man of Mischief and the Worst of Mankind even Wickedness it self no better than a Breathing Devil so prodigiously and peerlesly profligate in his Plots and Projects against the Church Now the Devil begins his Plot by this sit Instrument as soon as he had set him alost upon the pinacle of highest Preferment and the King had commanded all his Courtiers to Bow to him Esth 3. 1 2. 1st In Hamans madness against Mordecai for his being so stiff in the Ham as not to bend to Great Prince Haman with the Cringing Courtiers at the Kings command ☞ That was enough for them right or wrong and so 't is in our Day with Herodians that will be of King Herod's or King Harry's Religion whatever it be many matters it not so it have a Royal Sanction it must be done though they themselves be Vndone for ever for so doing this Godly Mordecai could not do not onely because Haman was a cursed Amalekite whom God would have Israel not to Honour but to Destroy Exod. 17. 14. Deut. 25. 19. 1 Sam. 15. 3. but also because this kind of Bowing had a Divine Devotion in it due to God onely and not due to any mortal Man quite contrary to the Law of his God Deut. 6. 13. and 10. 20. Matth. 4. 9 10. Dan. 6. 13. It was not therefore a proud self-willedness that made Mordecai so stiff notwithstanding the Allurements and Affrightments of the Courtiers but Fear of Sin and Conscience of Duty and he would rather offend all the World than God and his own Conscience This enraged Haman to be sleighted by a Captive-Jew whom the Free-born Persians Honour'd and Adored Insomuch as he Swell'd like a Toad and Glowed like a Devil 1 in designing his Destruction and the rather because he was a Jew whom he Naturally Hated as Josephus saith seeing they had Antiently destroyed the Amalekites his Country-men Esth 3. 3 4 5. 2ly His Designing to cut off all his People as well as Mordecai it being below his haughty Heart and too narrow for his Revengeful Mind to be confined within the Compass of Killing one Captive-Slave onely but the Fire of his Rage will Burn up all the Jews that lay in his way v. 6. 1. In order hereunto he cast Lots to find a lucky day wherein to Accomplish his Wickedness which by an over-ruling
the Pillar of Providence hath secured the Church withal in all her passages through the World as the Pillar of Glory did the Church in the Wilderness The 1st Instance of the wicked Plotting against the Church and the Lords laughing it to Nothing is that first Plot of the Grand Plotter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that wicked One 1 Joh. 5. 18. the Devil against our first Parents As of Jacob's Ladder which consisted of so many rounds or steps as would reach from Earth to Heaven 't is said The Lord was upon the top of it Gen. 28. 12 13. So of this Scale of Conspiracies against the Church which contains so many Distinct Designs as do Reach from Adam to our present time it may as truly be affirmed That the Devil must be at the top of it We Read of a Book of the Wars of the Lord a Book not extant but if not lost latent Numb 21. 14. However this is extant in the Book of God that here began the War of the Devil or Dragon against the Church No sooner was Lucifer faln from Heaven Isa 14. 12. and of a Glorious Angel was become a damned Devil Jude v. 6. 2 Pet. 2. 4. partly for his pride against God in aspiring to be like the most High and partly for his Envy at Man when he first beheld the Honour and Happiness wherein Man was Created and first heard the charge which God gave the Angels to keep Man in all his ways Psal 91. 11. This Command proud Lucifer disdaining that a superior should wait like a servant upon an inferior Creature Psal 8. 5. He kept not his first Estate but left his first Habitation Jude v. 6. Thus he sinned from the beginning 1 Joh. 3. 8. and abode not in the Truth Joh. 8. 44. And now being come down by his Sin or rather cast down for his sin from Heaven and having great Wrath Rev. 12. 12. for being hurl'd out of Heaven into Hell he had no comfort left him save onely this miserable and mischievous one to make Man as miserable as himself and to bring him into the same Condemnation 1 Tim. 3. 6. For this purpose he lays a dangerous and Diabolical Plot consisting of many parts As 1st He assumes a fit Engine that Creature which was more subtile than all the Beasts of the Field Gen. 3. 1. The sharper a Weapon is it makes a deeper wound and gives a more deadly blow the sharpest and subtilest Wits are of all others the most mischievous Instruments in the Devils hands against Gods truth This grand evil Angel made use of this Serpent which as some say was very specious and delightful to the Eye by his comely mixture of lovely Colours to deceive the first Woman as the good Angel made use of the Ass to rebuke the mad Prophet 2 Pet. 2. 16. Numb 22. 28. 2dly The 2d part of his proposed and pursued Plot is in Assaulting not the Man but the Woman the weaker Vessel which is soonest and easiest overcome where the Hedg is lowest there the Beast leaps over with the least difficulty A besieging Enemy raises his Batteries against the weakest part of a besieged City the weaker Sex is most likely to truckle to his temptations hence he Essays to break the Mans head with his own Rib and to make use of this Rib as of the Round of a Ladder whereon to climb up so high as to Reach a blow to her Head and Husband 3dly He sets upon the Woman when alone 'T is supposed As Adam and Eve walk'd together in Paradise Eve stood still gazing with her fancy upon some Delectable Object which Adam passed by with less looking on he got so far before her as to leave her behind whereby she was overtaken by the Tempter the absence of her Head with its counsel and comfort gives Satan a fair opportunity which he improves to the utmost Solomon saith Where Two are there is Help Eccle. 4. 10. 4thly While Eve is alone the Tempter falls a disputing with her in asking her a Concise and an Abrupt Question Yea hath God said c. That he might Enervate the Authority of the Divine Menace or Commination Hereupon the weaker Vessel Eve gives but a weak Answer for she might in her state of Innocency have that Ignorance which the Schools call a pure Negation not a depraved Disposition which is found in Children c. She might not know whether Serpents could naturally speak or whether there was now any Devil existing not hearing of the fall of Angels she did know her protection of Angels as before so might mistake the Devil in the Serpent for a good Angel and therefore disputes with him and was deceived by him as she confesses Gen. 3. 13. So dangerous it is to dispute with the Devil who is better believ'd away than argu'd away They do but shoot with Satan in his own Bow that think by parlying with this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or subtile Sophister to put him off by this means he draws Eve out of her Trenches of the Divine Praecept and wrings the Sword of the Spirit the Word of God out of her hand then doth he what he will with her yea wins the Day when he had disarm'd her 5thly No sooner had the Woman put in her weak Answer in this Disputation to the Devils Question mincing the matter of the Divine Menace in her Least ye Dye instead of Gods Word Ye shall surely Dye Whereby she made that Danger doubtful only which God had made Certain peremptory and without a peradventure Hereupon this subtile Serpent watching for her halting and when to have her upon the hip doth as confidently deny that sentence of Death v. 4. as God had seriously and severely Threatned it before Gen. 2. 7. Hereby her belief of Gods Word is batter'd down and not opposing the certainty of Gods Threatning which she but seem'd to doubt of in the Disputation against Satans Insinuation in his plain and positive Denyal of it she yieldeth If the Word of God had abode in her she had overcome the Devil 1 Joh. 2. 14. 6thly The Tempter tempts her with an Apple from the Forbidden-Fruit-Tree telling her as some say that there was no death in the Apple according to the Divine Threatning from a proof of his own Experience For saith the subtile Serpent I do climb the Tree and eat of the Fruit thereof and yet am not Dead for so doing This was probably done while Eve looked on and therefore she said at least in her mind That she saw it was good for Food v. 6. Hereupon she concluded that Death was not in the Fruit of the forbidden-Tree and hereupon inclines to take and Eat 7thly The Devil to promote his Plot the more accuses God of Envy to Eve which is truly call'd Morbus Satanicus the Devils own Disease as if God had forbid them the Fruit of this Tree of Knowledge onely out of Envy least their Eating thereof should make them Equal
Ingeniose Nequam Wittily Wicked he calls for Balaam the Devils Spelman to Curse Israel This Balaam his Instrument is call'd a Prophet 2 Pet. 2. 16. there is frequent mention of his Receiving Messages and Answers from the Lord Numb 22. 8 13 18. and 24. 17. 't is said God put a Word into Balaam's Mouth Numb 23. 5. a Phrase never used concerning the Inspiring of any of the Holy Prophets which Word did but pass through him as a Trunk through which a Man speaks his Heart was not Holily Affected with what his Tongue uttered He did not Eat his Words as Jeremy did Jer. 15. 16. Nor did he Believe what he had spoken as David did Psal 106. 10. And after him Paul 2 Cor. 4. 13. And as he was call'd Prophet so a Sooth-sayer Josh 13. 22. As all his Altars Sacrifices and Consultations with the Lord were by the Wicked Art of Enchantments or Observing of Fortunes such as the Diviners and Prophets of the Heathen used Deut. 18. 10 14. Numb 24. 1. He went not as at other times to seek for Enchantments as being Resolved to curse Israel however and without Gods leave he was fully bent to do it and nothing shall Hinder him Thus Satan makes Use of the meetest Means to Accomplish his own Develish Ends and makes Balaam to do more Mischief to the Church by his Counsel than Balak could do by his Courage He lay'd a Stumbling-Block before Israel Rev. 2. 14. No doubt but this Wicked Person had excellent Gifts yet as he was Famous for Prophesie so he was Infamous for Prophaness And oh what pernicious Counsel was this of Balak's Consulting with Balaam to have Israel Cursed and that from Heaven too to wit by the Mouth of a Prophet this was more Dangerous than to Fight against them with all his Forces And Balaam was as willing to Curse them as Balak would have had him for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jude 11. Imports it He powr'd out his Malice like Water in a Spout after an Impetuous and Violent manner he Ran greedily from Altar to Altar gaping after the Gain Promised If but his Cursing-Cursed-Work were persorm'd he was like a swift swelling Torrent that breaks down all its Banks and Bounds which are made to keep it in Thus Balaam's March to Marr the Church was as furious as Jehu's so that neither Gods Prohibition before his Journey nor the crushing of his Foot the Speaking of his Ass the drawn Sword of the Angel in his Journey nor the Disappointment of all his Endeavours by his Enchantments afterwards could Hinder him from pursuing his Cursed-Cursing Project yet God made all Fruitless and frustrate neither had Balak his Will nor Balaam his Wages God over-rules the Devil and his Spelman Turns the Desired Curse into a Devout Blessing gladly would Balaam have Cursed Israel but he cannot wagg his wicked Tongue without Gods leave nor Balak with his Men of might could find their Hands without Divine Permission Psal 76. 5. Yea Balaams Heart Curses against his Tongue and his Tongue Blesses against his Heart Let us turn Aside a little here with Moses Exod. 3. 2. and Wonder a while that this Bush should be ever Burning yet never Consum'd Oh let us Admire the Power Wisdom and Goodness of God towards his Church both in that Antient and in this present Wilderness-State as to those Pregnant Parallels following The 1st Parallel is As the Church then had a Balaam to Curse her and a Balak to hire him thereunto Even so it is now Gal. 4. 29. There is no new thing under the Sun c. Eccl. 1. 9. The present Church of the Reformed Religion hath the Great Balaam of Rome to Curse her with Bel Book and Candle as the Phrase is he is The Devils Spellman Primo genitus Diaboli The Gull and Cheat of the World to whom the Balaks or Kings that have given their Power to that Beast Revel 17. 13. says Whom thou blesseth shall be blessed and whom thou curseth shall be cursed Num. 22. 6. Whereas the Power given to Man for Blessing or Cursing others is not Despotical or Magisterial but onely Ministerial The 2d Paralel As Balaam is call'd a Prophet 2 Pet. 2. 16. yet a Mad One yea a Sooth-sayer Josh 13. 22. So the Great Man of Rome is said to sit in the Temple of God as a Prophet 2 Thess 2. 4. Yet a Sooth-sayer a Sorcerer a Necromancer a Conjurer See my Discovery of Antichrist Pag. 48. and 59. So he is the Devils Prophet and 't is very remarkable the Devil hath done more Mischief to the Church of God in his Transforming himself into an Angel of Light than ever he could do while he appeared in his own proper Colours as the Prince of Darkness Gog Tectus or the Secret Adversary is a greater Plague to the Church than Magog Detectus or the open Enemy The Pope that False Prophet and Christs pretended Vice-Gerent hath given more bloody blows to the Reform'd Religion in its Power and Purity than ever the Turk hath done The 3d Parallel As Gain is the great Wheel or at least the Yellow Vnction that made Balaam run so greedily after his Design of Cursing Israel Jude v. 11. So the Balaam of Rome Hews out the Principal Pillars of his Romish-Religion out of the Quarry of filthy lucre Gain is not onely got from the Living in his Pardons Indulgences Dispensations Oblations Pilgrimages c. He making a Money-matter of the most Execrable Abominations as Witchcraft Parricide King-Killing Incest Sodomy Beastiality c. but also from the Dead in his Masses Diriges c. who leave large Legacies to be Pray'd out of Purgatory a Toy which he crys not up so much for Truth as for Traffick as Mr. Jenkins Excellently shows upon Jude last part p. 212. saying Silver is in the Sacks Mouth of every Popish-Errour 'T is a Religion wholly Compacted and Compounded for Gain 'T is altogether a Contrivance to make the Pope 's Kitchin Smoak and their Thirst after Gain makes them Thirst after Blood The 4th Parallel As Balaam Broke through all Difficulties to break Gods Design of Blessing Israel whom he was Brib'd to Curse though 1 a good Angel stood in his way to stop him who was Acted and Agitated by the Devil that wicked Angel 2 though his own Ass that had been long his faithful Servant did reproove his Madness 2 Pet. 2. 16. 3 Though he saw a Sword drawn before his Eyes and that in the Hands of an Angel who was able to Kill 185000 Souldiers notwithstanding their Armour of Defence in one Night Isa 37. 36 and therefore able to Kill him a Naked Man at one blow Yea and 4 though God stood over him with a Cudgel as the Angel had done with a Sword or Whip all the time he ran from Altar to Altar with his Enchantments and Diabolical Arts and would as gladly have Cursed Israel as ever the Dogg would be at his Carrion which
Manners 1. In Neglecting God's Command of Driving out the Canaanites who became Thorns in their sides Judg. 2. 2 3. in their Conversing and Commercing with them they did draw Israel to Participate both of their Sins and of their Plagues 2. In Contracting Marriages with those Canaanites they thus spared against God's Command Josh 23. 13. Judg. 3. 4 6. expresly contrary to God's Law Exod. 34. 16. Deut. 7. 3. Those Interchangeable Matches marr'd their Manners and produced many Enormities as 3. that Prodigious Sodomy and Villany in Gibeah aforesaid Yea 4. Obstinacy in their Impieties Judg. 2. 19. They would Persist and Persevere in their Stubborn way and would not Repent either 1 at the Rebuke of the Angel Christ who had offer'd Himself to be Captain of the Lord's Host Josh 5. 13 14. and had led the Field in all the Wars of Joshua yea and of Judah too till he spared the Canaanites Judg. 1. 18. 19. for this and other Sins the Angel of the Covenant did Reproove them Judg. 2. 1 2 and for this Departs from them Hereupon the People fall a Weeping as they had good cause for the loss of such a Captain-General as Christ and call'd the place Bochim that is Weeping v. 4 5. yet this blessed and Hart-bleeding Frame was soon lost for they Forsook the Lord v. 12. and Corrupted themselves v. 19. and Stubbornly Walked in their own Wicked Ways Neither would they Repent 2 at the Reproof of the Prophet whom Christ though Himself was gone sent with a Message Judg. 10. 11 12 13 14. Thus Israel having broke both the Tables of the Law The 2d thing to wit Punishment must follow as the Thread follows the Needle God is Angry though Satan is pleas'd and God's Anger brings Revenge God sold his People into the Hands of their Enemies Judg. 2. 14. and 3. 8. and 4. 2 c. that is he Renounc'd his Right in them writing Lo-Ammi on them he gave them over as the Seller doth the Matter Sold into the Hands of the Buyer yet without that Complement I wish you good of it or as the Turk sells his Slaves and the Conquerour his Captives And this is Aggravated in Two Circumstances 1. God made not his Best of them but took his first Chap-man as the Pope gave England upon the Abolishing of Abbies primo occupaturo to the first that could Conquer it which he thought might easily be done and won when he withdrew his Protecting Papal Benediction from it and put his charming Curse upon it God Sold his People for nought and did not encrease his Wealth by their Price Psal 44. 12 13. he plainly gave them away gratis for whom he was wont to give great Nations Isa 43. 3. They had sold themselves as Ahab did 1 Kin. 21 20. to work Wickedness Isa 50. 1. and now they are sold by the Lord also And as they had sold themselves for nought Isa 52.3 so they are sold by God for nought he had not so much as Thanks from the Enemy and as little from the Devil that set them on 2ly They were sold as to the first so to the worst Chapmen not to their Brethren who would have shown some pitty as the Israelites did to Benjamin Judg. 21. 2 3 6 7 15 16 17 22. nor to Strangers comming in as Conquerors for then common Humanity would have taught them some Mercy but unto such Neighbouring Enemies as they had highly Incensed in their former Wars and therefore breath'd forth nothing but the worst of Rage and Revenge against them Judg. 7. 3. Here the Devils Design against the Church was promising and prosperous and no doubt he had a fair Prospect of this Plot yet the Lord notwithstanding all Laughs all to Nothing and Works which is the 2d thing the Church's Deliverance from this Danger for 1. though they were sold as Slaves to their Adversary yet even then were they precious as Sons to their God Isa 50. 1 10. Though the Mother had Divorc'd her self yet God owns himself the Husband and he owns them to be his Children yea Children of light even then when they Walked in Darkness And though they had sold themselves for nought he would accordingly Redeem them without Money Isa 52. 3. and love them freely Hos 14.4 2 Though the Church was then under great Distress Judg 2. 15. and 4. 3. God Strengthening their Enemies Iudg. 3. 12. as Ezek. 30. 24. and weakening their Arms and Armies and God Prospering that Wickedness in their Adversaries which he Punished in them being Professors yet had she as oft great Deliverances as many Salves as Sores upon their Repentance God had one Hand to Help them as well as another to hurt them pittying his People for his own sake he Rais'd them up Iudges Iudg. 2. 15. 16. as Othniel Ehud Shamgar Deborah Gedion Tola Jair Jephtah Ibzan Elon Abdon and Sampson all Twelve to save his Church one by an Oxe Goad as Shamgar another by the Jaw-Bone of an Ass as Samson and Gideon was but a Barley-Cake Judg. 7. 13. God never starves his Church for want either of Instruments or of Agents 3 Though the Church was oft Sighing yet as oft Singing God goes in a Circle with her as oft as she Repented of her Sins so oft God Repented of his Judgements Judg. 2. 18. and quite through the Book of Iudges The whole History of the Book of Judges for 450 Y. the Church lived all that time as may be said at the Sign of the Chequer God Chequered his Providences towards her with the Black of Misery and with the White of Mercy and all Chequer'd Work is accounted Beautiful Work God Speckled his Dispensations to his Church as is set forth by those speckl'd Horses among the Myrtle Trees in the bottom Zech. 1. 8. Crosses and Comforts are Interwooven while she is in her Militant-state in this Vale of Misery and Valley of Tears Psal 84. 6. God hath set the one over-against the other Eccles 7. 14. As there is a Vicissitude of Night and Day so of Adversity and Prosperity God turns the Church's Night into Day and the Vpright hath Dominion in the Morning Psal 49. 14. No sooner doth the Church alter her course from Sin and Return to God by Repentance but presently God alters his course from Wrath and returns to Her with his Mercy Zech. 1. 16. Oh that it were the present practice as it was then the Continual Course of God with his Church and his Church with him in this our Day God would soon turn our Mourning into Mirth Heaviness might endure for the Night but Joy would come in the Morning Psal 30. 5 No Doubt but God Wishes his Church's Welfare as the Loving Bridegroom doth his Beloved Bride's otherwise He had never Sighed out those sad Words Oh! that my People had Hearkened unto me c. I should soon have Subdued their Enemies c. Psal 81. 13 14 15 16. God with a bare turn of his Hand can
overturn both the Many and the Mighty of them and Rescue his Little Ones out of all their Hands Zech. 13. 7. Isa 25. 11. none shall Pluck them out of Christs and His Fathers Hands Joh. 10. 28. 29. The Thirteenth Plot against the CHURCH in Canaan Defeated by GOD. CHAP. XIII THe Church's Restless Wretched Adversary Satan seeing he cannot still Hinder the Being of God's Church Trys again his 13th Experiment against the Well-Being of it and that once more before Israels Aristocracy was chang'd into Monarchy to wit in the time of Eli and Samuel the Two last Judges of Israel yet such was the Over-ruling Providence of God above the Devil that whatever Ground he Won upon the Church in Old Eli's Male-Administration he Lost it All again in Young Samuel's Godly Reformation So that here again Divine Dispensations towards the Church concerning Sorrows and Joys were most beautifully Chequered with Interchangeable Colours Magistracy is what the Pole is to the Hop or the Tree to the Ivy or the Wall to the Vine the former gives Support to the latter which cannot stand alone without something to Sustain them The Church's Word to the State is Te Stante Virebo While thou Stands I Flourish This Blessed Nail as Eliakim that Godly Magistrate Keeps all the Vessels of the Lord stedfastly and Holds them from falling to the Ground Isa 22. 24. This the Devil knew well and therefore play'd his Pranks against the Church in that Interval of Magistracy betwixt Joshuah and the Judges in which Interspace Satan wrought and brought down Israel to that gross Idolatry Impiety and Apostacy mentioned in the Five last Chapters of the Book of Judges The Stories whereof there Related that the History of the following Judges might be continued without any Interruption as before did all Befall Israel soon after Joshuah and some 100's of Y. before Sampson whom this Eli immediately succeeded unless we make Phinehas mentioned in Iudg. 20. 28. to live far beyond Moses term Psal 90. 10. even above 300 Y. who was at Mans estate at his Killing Zimri and Cozbi in the Wilderness and therefore could not out-live Samson 'T is said expresly in those Five last Chapters no less than Three times to wit Iudg. 17. 6. and 18. 1. and 21. 25. In those Days there was no King in Israel that is not a King in its proper Sense for so Israel never had a King in any of those Days until Saul's time but no Judge or supream Magistrate to keep Israel in Awe and Order This time of Israels Anarchy before their Aristocracy the Devil Improv'd as his Golden Opportunity wherein to propose and promote his Hellish Projects and to bring All to an Horrible Confusion when there was no publick Power to controul or restrain their Extravagancies Yea this Daring Devil though over-Witted and over-Powered by the onely Wise and Almighty God even upon that Advantage-Ground Durst Attempt the Church when under the Protection of Her Godly Governours as under Sampson of whom 't is said He shall onely Begin to Deliver Israel Iudg. 13. 5. He made some essays to save them from the Oppressing Philistines yet that Oppression lasted 40 Y. v. 1. to wit During the Days of Samson and of Eli his next Successor though Samson was Destroying them all his life and Destroyed more at his Death Iudg. 16. 20. wherein he was a Type of Christ who by his Death overcame Death and him who had the power of Death the Devil Hebr. 2. 14. yet did he onely Begin and kept Doing at the Church's Deliverance both all his Life and at his Death the Perfecting whereof was Reserved for David the Father and Figure of Christ who is both the Founder and Finisher of Faith and Salvation Hebr. 2. 10. and 12. 2. So under Eli who undoubtedly was a Godly Man as is Apparent 1 by his Godly Prayers whereby he made her Amends for his Uncharitable Censure for Disconsolate Hannah The God of Israel Grant thee thy Petition 1 Sam. 1. 17. He having a particular Faith that God would grant her Request if she compos'd her self and cast her Burden or Petition upon the Lord Psal 55. 22. promises his own Prayers for that purpose and hids her Go in Peace which she did taking the High-Priest's Answer for an Oracle being Comforted with this Comfort and having Pray'd down her Discomfort as David oft did 2 by his Humble and Hearty Submission to the Will of God when Declared to him 1. by the Mouth of the Man of God 1 Sam. 2. 27. and 2ly by the Mouth of his Young Minister Samuel Chap. 3. 11. 17. Eli said upon the Hearing thereof v. 18. It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good id est His Holy Will be done I and my House have Deserved All God hath Just cause to punish but not I to murmur I must patiently bear what God pleases to Inflict He is too kind to do me harm too just to do me wrong he will turn Temporal evil to my Everlasting good 3 by his Trembling for the Ark of God Chap. 4. 13. out of his Zeal for God's Glory and the Church's Good lest Israel should lose and Philistines get the Sign of God's Presence He loved his Spirituals better then his Temporals he could hear with patience of the loss of some Thousands and of the loss of his Two Sons but when he heard of the loss of the Ark this goes like a Dagger to his Heart and 't is a Question whether his Neck or his Heart were first Broken v. 18. Like a godly Man he cannot live without the Ark of God no Sword of the Uncircumcised could have given him a more Mortal Blow than the Report of this Loss that struck him down into a deadly swound Yet was he not Driven away in his Wickedness as is a Wicked Man but he had Hope in his Death as a Righteous One Prov. 14. 32. He that could not Live without the Ark of God how could he Dye without the God of the Ark The Sins of his Sons Displeas'd his godly Soul and he Reproov'd them for it yet more Mildly than was meet hence God Writ his Sin upon his Punishment He that minded not in time to Break the stiff Neck of his stubborn Sons while Young Prov. 19. 18. had now his own Neck broken And though he was not a good Father to his Sons yet was he Himself a good Son to God and his Memory is Blessed among all the other Godly Judges saith Wisdom or Eedus Chap. 46. 11. in the Apocrypha Although Eli was a Godly Man and both Judge over Civil and High-Priest over Ecclesiastick Affairs and so had a most Precious Price put into his Hands for promoting the Church's Weal yet the Devil made a Fool of him so that he hath no Heart to it Prov. 17. 10. and this Satan did Accomplish 1. by Prompting him to too much Indulgency towards his Dissolute Sons 2ly by Tempting him to a too much Neglect of
purity of Religion to his Posterity becomes himself Effeminate and Emasculates himself so far as to be intangled by them into great evils 1. In tolerating at least their Idolatrous practices 2. In allowing places for their Idols 3. In his complying with them and conforming to them in their worshipping of Venus Bacchus Saturn c. and all this as it were under Gods very eye so nigh the Temple the place of Gods residence for this the Lord was angry and says he will rend the Kingdome v. 9 10 11. and does it as well as says it afterwards The Devil is as much pleased as God is angry hopes to win the Game and to damn Solomon yet that wicked one could not touch him to wit with his deadly touch of final Apostacy for the Seed of God was in him 1 Joh. 3. 9. and 5. 18. the Root of Grace remain'd wrought in him and brought him to repentance his Book of Ecclesiastes is his Penitential Palinody so ought he not to be pictur'd by Papists half in Heaven and half in Hell 'T is remarkable that David and Solomon are conjoyn'd in one Commendatory Sentence 2 Chron. 11. 17. to shew that Holy David is as much in Hell as Solomon and Solomon as much in Heaven as Holy David And 't is not possible that the beginning of Rehoboams Reign could be like Davids as that Clause affirms if Solomon had left his Kingdome in so corrupt a condition as his Apostacy caused and not have reform'd it after his return to the Lord. The Devil having lost this first after-game for eclipsing the glory of the Church which gain'd that blessed Book of Ecclesiastes by Solomons fall upon Solomons self he trys conclusions upon Solomons Son as his second after-game and no better Tool could he have to work withal than Childish Rehoboam 'T is a wonder that so wise a Father as Solomon should have only such a foolish Son as Rehoboam and that of seven hundred Wives and three hundred Concubines Many a Fool hath had a wiser Son than this wisest Father assuredly Solomon did prognosticate his Sons future folly in his saying Who knows whether he that comes after me will be a wise man or a fool c. Eccles 2. 18. yea the holy Scripture calls him a Child at forty years old 2 Chron. 13. 7. All this he did prove himself in the Parliament held at Shechem 1 Kin. 12. 1. where an humble Address is made to him that he would lighten their grievous Yoaks and lessen their great Taxes which his Father had laid on them for the maintenance of his vast Retinue of strange Women especially and say they we will be thy servants for ever which promise annexed anticipates a tacit Objection for it might be said if the King had once submitted himself to the request of his Subjects they would prove Lords over him but here they shew the contrary and promise to accept of him and to be subject to him he being less wise than his Father who advised him by a soft Answer to pacifie wrath Prov. 15. 1. but more wilful rejects the advice of his Fathers old experienc'd Counsellors with whom was wisdom Job 12. 12. and whom he consulted only for fashion sake and follow'd the device of his own green-headed Companions and Courtiers who parasitically perswade him to stand upon his Pantoffles and not at all to stoop to his people for that would make him a King without a Kingdome and a Subject to his Subjects Thus they humour him into a conceit of Absoluteness Hereupon he threatens Tyranny to the people who hear of nothing from him but Scourges and Scorpions v. 13. Oh foolish and childish King whose very words have Stings was this the way to gain a discontented people No but rather to disoblige even a willing people who could not but think how cruel will this mans hands be who thus draws blood with his Tongue Thus he fondly loses ten Tribes from his Crown with his churlish words and rough answers which he would and might not have recover'd with the blood of a great Army v. 21 22 23. Then saw he when too late that strife is easier stirred than stinted and that the people is a most Heady Water when once out of their Banks which now were broken down by his indefinite profession of rigour and severity upon their purses and persons ☞ Sad consequences ever accompany those Princes that would be Absolute in Power will be Resolute in Will and dare be Dissolute in Life The wicked one had a double advantage for promoting this Plot not only Rehoboam to work on who was green-headed at forty though the Son of Solomon who was grey-headed at twenty year old 2 Chro. 13. 7. and 1 Kin. 3. 3. 7. with 2. 6. and 1 Chro. 14. 21. but also Jeroboam to work by who was as wily as wicked plotting a revolt from former affronts forming a Religion accommodated to his Rebellion and designedly marring the Israel of God for the better making them his own Subjects By both those two helps of childishness in the one and craftiness in the other Satan that Schismatical Spirit who made the first Schisme or Rent in the City of God at the first being of the World now made 1. The largest Schisme or Rent 2. The longest that ever had been made in the Church of God under any Government 1. It was the largest for here the Devil got more than nine parts even the ten Tribes leaving God only his tythe his tenth his one Tribe to wit the Tribe of Judah only so 't is expressed 1 Kin. 11. 13. with 12. 20. and it 2. was the longest also for it was a Rent that could never be stitch'd together again neither by force of arms nor by the most forward Reformers but lasted till the Captivity However 't is a work of wonder a Miracle of Mercy and a matter of great admiration that the Devil made not the ten Tribes to swallow up the one Tribe ten to one is great odds the Kingdome of Israel to devour the Kingdome of Judah so called though Benjamin was included in Judah No God had promis'd that his mercy should not depart away from Solomon as he took it from Saul 2 Sam. 7. 15. that is I will not quite cast him out of my favour or wholly deprive him of his Kingdome as I did Saul This spoil'd the Devils design of destroying the Church for Solomons Seed was not rejected of God as Sauls was to give way to Davids succession yea and that which spoil'd Satans project yet more was when God was angry with Solomon his Jedidiah his Darling for his sin and threatned to rend the Kingdome which is as a glorious Mantle upon the Kings shoulder 1 Sam. 15. 28. 1 Kin. â—1 29 30. from him yet the severity of that Sentence God was pleased to sweeten with some mitigation and mixture of mercy as 1. I will not do it in thy days c. 2. I will not rend away
Mouth but it was presently in Gods Ear and no sooner was it there but Immediately Gabriel comes posting upon the Wing with an Answer That the 70 Y. being Expired the Decree for their Liberty was now Signed but also 2. Exactly at the End of the 70 Y. Captivity neither more nor less God will come according to his Promise Jer. 25. 12. and 29. 10. but Daniels Prayers must lead him thus he will have it to be and God will be Punctual in keeping his Word a Day with Men breaks no squares it doth with God Hence those Two great Deliverances out of Aegypt and Babylon and this latter more Marvellous than the former Jer. 16. 14 15. hath Two special Remarques upon them in their Accomplishment at a Punctual and Precise point of Time promised as 1. That very Night wherein the First-born of Aegypt were slain was the Ending of the foretold Four Hundred Y. Exod. 12. 40 41. And 2. That very Night wherein Belshazzar was Slain by Cyrus and Darius was exactly the Expiration of the foretold 70 Y. Dan. 5. 30. ☞ This is the Churches Cordial and Comfort though God sometimes fails to come at her time yet he never fails to come at his own time The Nineteenth Plot against the CHURCH in Judea Defeated by GOD. CHAP. XIX THe Church of God through his Over-ruling Hand having got this Royal Wind under her Wings flyes Swiftly out of Babylon to Canaan there to re-Build the House of the Lord one of the Seven Wonders of the World and to Repair the City of Jerusalem that Holy City Ezra 1. 5. then Rose up Zerubabel the Chief Prince and Joshuah the Chief Priest with all the Heads of the Families the Priests and Levites with all their Children Men and Maid-Servants in all 7337 Ezra 2. 65. whose Spirits God had raised up leading them into the Land of Uprightness Psal 143. 10. 1 Chro. 9. 3. Ezek. 37. 16 17 21 22. many Israelites joyned with the Jews Those by the good Hand of God upon them 1. setts up the Altar Ezra 3. 3. in the place where the Temple stood for as yet they had none v. 6. that by their Prayers and Offerings thereon they might get God on their side and run to him Reconciled what ever evil should befall them from their Evil and Malignant Neighbours Then those Godly and Active Souls not being content with the Altar of God onely but Desirous as we should all be of all Gods Ordinances lay the Foundation of the Temple v. 10. Then did the Devil Rage projects his 19th a new Plot against the Church which indeed is a Complication of Plots as the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah doth Demonstrate The 1st part of the Devils 19th Plot was to stirr up 1 the Samaritans to obstruct the Superstructure of the Temple upon the Now and New-laid Foundation 2 the Governors of the Land to wit Tatnai and Shether-Boznai when they began to Build again after the first Obstruction 1. The Samaritans Satan Awaken'd and Rouzed up at the loud Acclamations and Out-cries Partim Jubilando partim Ejulando some shouting aloud for Joy and others howling aloud for Sorrow Ezra 3. 9 12 13. Those Adversaries of Judah Devises Two Designs against the Children of the Captivity to wit the Church Their 1. Plot or Design was most Craftily to offer their own cost and pains to promote the Building of the Temple Ezra 4. 1 8. Here the Devil pretends Devotion to promote his Divelish Design Those Mongrels in Religion who put it on and off at pleasure would have mingled with the Church and would Compound with them here when they saw they could not Conquer them that would break through all Difficulties and Discouragements and do their Duty Ezra 3. 3. and this Accomodation they set on with a loud lye saying We seek your God as ye do which they did not 2 Kin. 17. 28 29 32 34. for they feared the Lord not Filially but for his Lyons Thus they Pretend Amity but indeed Intend Enmity and breeding of New Broils by their Intermixed Influence so as to Hinder the Building This is the very practice of the Jesuits at this Day who pretend Conversion and comming over to the Protestants yet those Cassandrian Reconcilers intend Subversion by the bitter Contentions they keep alive in the Church to hinder Reformation but the Lord will Detect and Defeat them as he did those Samaritans whom his Servants repuls'd telling them Ye have nothing to do with us but we our selves together or alone will Build the Temple for which Doing they had Royal Authority v. 3. So it was a Godly Combination no Wicked Conspiracy or Faction In a Word They stand off from them 1 Tim. 6. 5. not accepting of their false Service for the Jews have no Dealing with the Samaritans Joh. 4. 9. When this 1st Design of the Devil in those Samaritans was Disappointed then the 2d was their Hiring of Counsellours that others might Hinder the Work which they themselves could not v. 4 5. Such Counsellours as can Condescend to Bribing for bolstering up a bad Cause or for Brow-beating a good one Justifying the Wicked for a Reward and condemning the Righteous are the most probable Promoters of the Devils Hellish Plots and Projects Those Sordid Silver-Lovers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being Courtiers had a fair opportunity to frustrate the Purpose of the Church Inasmuch as Cyrus Warring abroad against the Scythians c. made Cambyses his Son the Vice-Roy and he being a light loose and lewd lossel was easily prevail'd with to obstruct the Building If Cyrus did connive at the Crossing of his own Decree by his Son all his Days then his Fatal Fall by Tomyris Queen of Scythia who Conquer'd him cut off his Head casts it into a Vessel full of Blood saying Satia te Sanguine quem Sitisti Cujusque Insatiabilis semper fuisti Glut thy self now with Blood whereof thou could never get enough was a Just Reward from the God of Justice This Cambyses who is call'd Artaxerexes in the Persian and Ahasuerus in the Chaldee-Tongue Names given in common to Kings of Persia as Pharaoh to the Kings of Aegypt c. signifying Great Warriour or Great-Head those Courtifi'd Counsellors Writes to and turning Informers Wrote a Divelish Accusation Hebr. Satana a Satanical Suggestion Hatcht in Hell and Dictated by the Devil the Contents of it being False and Scandalous for then they had not begun either with Building the City or the Walls of it v. 6 12 14. Those Mercenary Pick-Thanks obtains hereby a Commission to cause the Work of the House of God to cease v. 24. The Hindring of the Temple-Building was the Principal thing Intended though the Building of the City and of its Walls was falsly Pretended This Plot proves so powerful that though the Propher Daniel and Gabriel Dan. 10. 13. Remain'd there with Cambyses and his Counsellors to repress their Rage and to Blast their Projects against the Church and though he was a
of Reverence to the Passeover while he had none at all to Gods Sixth Command Thou shalt do no Murder In the mean time the Church was hard at Work in Earnest and Vncessant Prayer v. 5. This set the Prayer-Hearing God at Work yet not till Peter was at the Pits-brink v. 6. He sends his Angel Awakes Peter who had cast himself into Gods Arms in his Sleep strikes off his Chains opens the Iron-Gates conveys him out in Despight of his Guards Peter lives to do the Church much Service and soon after the Tyrant Dyes of a Lowzy Disease by the Churches-Prayer ver 7 8 10 21 23. to which Peters Release who was Return'd to them in their very Work and Herods Dreadful Destruction in the midst of his Glittering Glory was a Signal Answer The Twenty-Sixth Plot in the New-Testament against the Church in the Apostles Defeated by God CHAP. XXVI THe last and longest Liver of all the Apostles was John the Divine who is well called the Daniel of the New Test as Daniel is call'd the John of the Old for as Daniel Wrote not onely an History of the Church what it was in his Day but also a Prophecy what it would be after to Christs first Comming so John Wrote 1st an History of the Church what it was in his Day in the Three first Chapters of his Revelation then 2ly a Prophecy what it would be from his time to the Second Comming of Christ in all the following Chapters of that Book from the 6th to the last the 4th alluding to the Old Test and the 5th alluding to the New being but a Preludium or Preface to his Seal Trumpet and Vial-Prophecy concerning Things that must after come to pass This Apostle the Envious One Satan Envy'd above all 1. because he was Beloved above all he was as Daniel Ishchamudoth a Man of Desires and Delights greatly Beloved Dan. 9. 23. Hence is he called the Disciple whom Jesus loved Joh. 19. 26. and 20. 2. and 21. 7 20. Christ loved all his Disciples Joh. 13. 1. but Iohn more singularly and signally therefore did he lean on his Bosom v. 23. and Christ committed his dear Mother to his peculiar charge for this he was the more Hated by the Devil and 2 for his being a Boanerges a Son of Thunder Mark 3. 17. a most powerful Preacher whereby he did Thunder down the Devils Kingdom 3. for his joyning in Commission with Peter in Cureing the Cripple Act 3. and in Confirming the Samaritans and Conferring upon them the Gifts of the Spirit yea and Confounding Satans Grand Sorcerer there Act. 8. 4. for his out-Living all the Apostles as Christ Intimates Ioh. 21. 22 23 24. who Lived to 120 Y. old and so Succesâ—fully Watering those Churches in Asia the less which Paul had Planted he after Pauls Death comes from Ierusalem thither and takes them for his Province and Diocess Hereupon the Devil makes his 8th Assault upon him so begins his 26th Plot against the Church 1. Satan stirrs up Domitian to cast Iohn into a Vessel of Boyling Oyl out of which he came out Vnhurt as the Antients tell us however the Scripture of Truth truly lays 2 that he was Banish'd by Domitian at the Devils Instigation into the Isle Pathmos Revel 1. 9. that he might Preach no more he having none to Preach unto in that Desart-place 3 The Devil sets upon those Golden-Candle sticks and Corrupts them most Horribly in this Apostles Absence insomuch as 1. the Church of Smyrna was Pester'd with a Synagogue of Satan to wit the Unbelieving Iews Rev. 2. 9. but 2 more especially Pergamus where their Divelish Maliciousness is stiled the very Throne or Seat of Satan v. 13. and where Attalus the Devils Agent had Martyr'd Antipas 3 False Apostles had Worm'd themselves in among them pretending Apostolick Power and perhaps practiceing Magick to make themselves look more Apostolical like Revel 2. 2. Those troubled the Church at Ephesus but they were Tryed and found Lyars there 4 other Seducers crept in by the Devils Craft though not by the Magick Miracles of Devils as the others did yet by the Doctrines of Devils as that of the Nico Laitans Rev. 2. 14. and 6. teaching Community of Wives and that things Sacrificed to Idols might be Eaten 5 a Jezabel either of her Name or Nature or both was foisted into Thyatira by Satan both a Whore and a Witch therefore she and her Children to wit Disciples are Threatned to be Destroyed Revel 2. 20 23. 6 Formality and Hypocrisie had Leavened Sardis Revel 3. 1. and 7 Lukewarmness was on Laodicea ver 15 16. so to be Spu'd out But mark how God Bassles the Devil in ali this by laying limits upon him Rather than fail Satan himself will execute the Office of a Justice Rev. 2. 10. Behold the Devil will cast some of you into Prison c. either he acts thus in Person or at least by a Proxy to wit by his Imps and Instruments yet all Satans Actings in the Children of Disobedience by whom he Works Eph. 2. 2. are under a Divine Limitation as 1. 't is but some of them and not all of them 2. into Prison not into Hell 3. 't is onely to Try them not to Destroy them 4. 't is for Ten Days onely not for Ever and though the Devil got John the A postle cast into a Vessel of Boyling Oyl yet he came out thence without harm as before And though Domition the Emperor of Rome Banish'd him to Pathmos yet there he Wrote those Seven Epistles to the Seven Churches which were not un-Churched with all those Corruptions but are Written to as Churches still and as Golden-Candlesticks in those Epistles wherein sweet Cordials and Comforts are Intermingled with sundry sad Corrasives and Cordoliums as 1 God threatens the Removal of the Candlesticks id est to another place not the quite Extinguishing of the Light set up thereon Rev. 2. 5. 2 Christ stemms himself from that Removal because he saw some Goodness in the Church v. 6. because thou Hatest c. ☞ God may do so to England c. 3 Deus minatur ut non puniat Ambrose God Threatens that he may not Strike he hath set his Bow in the Clouds but there is never an Arrow in it and the Bent of that Bow is towards Heaven not towards Earth or us 4 Christ saith Fear none of those things ver 10. promising withal a Crown of Life 5 He promiseth also the Hidden Manna and the White Stone with the New Name to wit Absolution as well as Assurance v. 17. 6 not to lay any other Burden than what they already suffer'd v. 2. ☞ Oh! that God may say so to his Churches in this great City and Nation 7 that They shall walk with him in White Revel 3. 4. to wit in pure Ordinances in a better Day and Dispensation 8 and have an open Door v. 8. yea and 9 Good Counsel v. 18. to shew they were not Incorrigible and
of whose bitter Potions the Church hath been long Drinking-still is so and not yet come to the Dregs thereof Here began the Devils general Game after the Declining Age wherein the Thirty-Three Bishops of Rome Sylvesters Successors can scarce pass for Tolerable much less Laudable When the Star which was Wormwood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of Eminency did fall to the Earth and set up the Earthly Kingdom of the Apocalyptick Beast When the first of the Usurping Nimrods to wit Boniface the 3d. began with his Volumus Jubemus We Will and Command instead of the Holy Apostles Stile We Beseech you Brethren ☞ 1 Mark all along 1. the Churches Malady by Satan 2. the Churches Remedy by Christ and 2 Mark also How the Prophecy in the Revelation shows the Progress of the Church all along to the 2d Comming of Christ 3 Mark likewise how the Pillar of Divine Providence hath both Secured and safely Conducted the Sealed Ones his Church to this present Day and will do so to the end of the World and all this sweetly and exactly Concurring all along with the Revelation-Prophecy As this Book will shew at the End in Chapter the last The 1st Malady of the Church at that time Y. 606. presaged by a prodigious Comet as well as by Mahomets then publishing his Alcharon was when the Key of the Bottomless-Pit was given to this faln Star usher'd in by that Blazing-Star aforesaid to wit Boniface and his Successors who pretend to a power of Damning or Delivering whom they will Here the Pope is made the Angel of the Bottomless-pit Revel 9. 1 11 or the Devils Lieutenant-General call'd Abaddon or Abadone as the Devil his Lord-General is a bad Angel Hereupon the Pope casts away the Key that Christ gave to his Holy Predecessors of binding and looseing according to the Word and takes up the Devils Vsurped Key with his Tripple Crown and therewith opens Hell which the Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles had hitherto shut then Arose the Smoak of those Doctrines of Devils and of that Black and Diabolical Divinity Preach'd and Practic'd in the Church of Rome ever since which so Darkened the Sun and the Ayr the Doctrine of Christ of the Church and of the Scriptures and then came out of that Smoak those Devouring Locusts the Monks and Fryars the Priests and Jesuits c. call'd so both for their Numerosity the last of which alone hath sometimes maintained Two Hundred Thousand Schollars Oh what Swarms of those Locusts are there then in all and for their Votacity those Popish Flesh-Flyes do so pester many Princes Houses which do receive them that not onely the Duke of Bavaria's Court notwithstanding his Vast Revenue but many other Princes and places are kept poor by them that lye Lurking as Scorpions in their Cells and Obscure Residencies Revel 9. 2 3. and which is worst of all Stinging Incureably the Souls of Men c. Yet 2ly Christ hath his Antidote and Remedy against this Divelish Malady for though God permitted this bad Angel or Apollyon to punish those that Obey'd not the Truth Rom. 1. 24 26. 2 Thess 2. 10 11. Insomuch that this Key of the Bottomless-pit was so notably Improved by all the Vsurping Nimrods Luxurious Sodomites and Aegyptian Magicians unto Hildrebrand or Brand of Hell in the 10th Century as that in his Popedome Letters were set forth as sent from Hell wherein the Devil and his Angels gave the Popish Clergy many Thanks for sending them so many Souls as they never had sent them in any Age before Though the Devil and his Locusts play'd Flush in this general Game yet the Lord limits them both in their Task and in their Time and in their Torments 1 In their Task Those Locusts or Scorpions must not Sting whom they will but whom Christ will none of his Sealed ones must be Stung by them 't was Commanded them not to hurt the Grass of the Earth nor any Green thing Ch. 9. 4. Whatever charge Satan gave those Locusts Sure I am this was Christs Charge in the behalf of His Redeemed not unlike unto Davids Charge to his Captains Deal kindly with the Young-man Absolom So and much more than so Sollicitous is Christ the Son of David for the Safety of all his Sons and Servants none of those whose Names were Written in the Lambs Book of Life were stung no not those young Christians who were as Tender as Grass nor any Green Plant though never so weak Christ Secured his Church and the Kernel of Christianity maugre the Malice of that Man of Sin 2. In their Time Those Locusts must not last so long as they list but as the Lord listeth who hath limited them to Five Months v. 5. which is justly the Life time of the Natural Locusts that are Bred in April and Dye in September and though those be Craftier in having a King over them ver 11. than they Prov. 30. 27. so might better secure themselves over Winter yet Five Months must be their Term which they cannot exceed The Question is How long is that 1. Answ Suppose a Definit and Certain time be set down for an Indefinite and Uncertain Here however it holds out this Comfort 1. that it shall not be for Ever 2. it shall be onely for a short Time as this phrase Five Months plainly Imports 2. Answ 'T is True Antichrists Lease is much longer than Five Months even Forty-Two Months Rev. 13. 5. and his beastly biting hath lasted much longer yet this term may hold out the five Ages of the Beasts biting Life 1. Infancy 2. Childhood 3. Youth 4. Middle-Age 5. Old Decrepit or Dote-age and so his last Bite is not yet over 3d Answ by the five Months may be Understood the five Hundred Y. wherein the Pope stood in his prime pride and plenary power that is from the 6th Century to the 11th when God stirr'd up the Waldenses c. to call the Pope Antichrist which is exactly 500 Y. and Bellarmin himself confesseth that ever since the Pope was so called Non Modò non Crevit ejus Imperium sed Magis ac Magis Decrevit He hath lost a great part both of his Command and of his Commodity more and more Dayly De pap Rom. lib. 3. cap. 1. So long was he Trump and Triumphant in the World and why his Term is Reckon'd by Months See my Discovery of Antichrist p. 200. 4th Answ Those five Months hold an Exact Correspondency with the time of Noah's Deluge prevailing over the Earth which was 150 Days which make up five Months Compleat Gen. 7. 24. Now Noah's Deluge and this which the Dragon powr'd out of his mouth to Drown the Church Revel 12. 15 do Symbolize together after a most singular manner in sundry particulars 1. as that was a General Flood over all the Habitable World so is this over all the Christian World 2. As that began in April and lasted to September in the prevalency of it Gen.
furious Blasts yet could they never be able to Blow out the Light for the Lord hath ever held his own Hand betwixt it and them that Blessed Doctrine did take such Deep Root in the Hearts of the Elect then and doth so now that as Men and Devils never could so they never shall suppress it in England The 5 was by Wickliff's means the Pope lost his long Usurped Power of Imposing what Bishops he pleas'd upon England his great Gain of Peter-Pence and of Tenths out of every Spiritual Promotion our K. Edward the 3d. was too Wise to admit of any such Intrusion and Encroachments The 6 was As Wickliff's Ministry was so exceeding Successful in this Land bringing so many to the Obedience of the Truth that some thought that Day to be the first Resurrection so it was a means of Reformation in other Lands for our Rich. the 2d then Marrying Ann of Bohemia as this Queen Taught our Women Modesty in Riding on Side-Saddles so in Exchange they Taught Bohemia Religion out of Wickliff's Works for there John Hus and Jerom of Prague Lighted their Candles at our Torch The 7th was Though the Devil and all his Black Bands did their Utmost to blow out this Candle thus Lighted and to Run down the followers of it yet God sent them Valiant John Zisca to comfort them by Working mighty Deliverances for them and when after Zisca's Death Pope Martin the 5th sent a great Army to suppress them then did God strike this Popish-Army with such a panick Fear at the Approach of those poor Orphans as they stiled themselves at Zisca's Death that they all fled from the Siege of Misna before they saw the Faces of â—hose Godly Orphans leaving all their Engines of War and a great Booty behind them and when the Emperor Sigismund the Popes Creature to Retrieve the Popes Credit lost by the shameful flight of his Army Raises a vast Army of 40000 Horse besides Foot against them Then was that Word made good In thee the Fatherless findeth Mercy Hos 14. 3. and that Word I will not leave you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orphans Fatherless or Comfortless Joh. 14. 18. for God fought from Heaven for those poor Orphans striking the prodigious Host of their Enemies with a most prodigious Fright that they all run away at the very Report of the Protestants approach without staying to strike one stroak and being speedily pursued became a very great prey to the pursuers These Two Signal Testimonies from Heaven did so Astonish the Pope and Emperor that they afterwards fall upon ways of Fraud when the way of Force failed to suppress them and though by that Method and Means they were much run down yet God Raised them up again by Raising up Undaunted Luther the 3d. Angel Rev. 14.9 that Thunderbolt against the Pope who lighted his Candle at John Hus's Book sent to him by some Bohemians when he was in some strait This Candle gave light to all Germany ☞ Mark here what an Honour hath God put upon this our Land in this Blessed Pedigree of Reformation wherein Germany may be Reckon'd for the Son Bohemia for the Father but England for the Grand-Father inasmuch as Luther received light from John Hus and he from our Wickliff * May not this Encourage us that 't is a Land our God careth for Deut. 11. 11. and that He will yet have some Honourable Respect for us having more Honour from his People here than in any other Land and notwithstanding our Unworthiness may we not Hope God will look more at his own Cause and Glory than at our Folly and Iniquity otherwise the same sad Calamities may overtake us the Grand-Father that have over-taken both the Son and the Grand-Son and that by the Fag-end of this 3d. Plot or Game which the Devil and the Pope began to lay and play as soon as this 3d. Angel Luther a Boanerges or Son of Thunder Sounding with so loud a Voice had Awaken'd them Rev. 14. 8 9. God gave him a mighty Heroick Spirit every way Accomplish'd with Grace Learning and Courage for a Gospel-Champion to Preach Damnation not so much to those that receive the Name or Number of the Beast for 200 of them may follow Antichrist as they did Absolom in the Simplicity of their Hearts knowing nothing of his Treason 2 Sam. 15. 11. but to all those that Receive his Mark pronouncing the Word Damn with such an Emphasis as our Mr Perkins did that it left a Doleful Eccho in his Auditours Ears a long time after insomuch that like another Sampson he pull'd down some of the Pillars of Babylon and made Babels Whore with all her Bald-Pate Panders even Roar for very Anguish gnash their Teeth and gnaw their Tongues for Intollerable Pain The Devils 3d. Design against the Church in Protestants Defeated by God CHAP. XXXIII THe Devils 3d. particular Design being the 3d. part of the last Plot was against the Protestants in and after Luther This Book having already swell'd into a greater Bulk then at first Intended almost above a portable Pocket-Book I must Referr my Reader to the Morient or Dying Period of Antichrist in my Discovery of Antichrist pag. 81. to pag. 110. and Confine my self by Constraint to point out onely the most Eminent Remarks of Divine Providence which hath Preserv'd the Church in those Two last Centuries to wit the Fifteen and the Sixteen Hundred Y. of Christ because it would require a Distinct Volum to Speak Distinctly of every Passage and Providence therein The 1st Remark was The Harvest of the Earth yea and of Heaven too was fully Ripe when God Rais'd up Luther to put in his sharp Sicle 1. that of Earth the Kingdom of the Beast was so Debauch'd in that Day as if Earth had been turned into Hell insomuch as Geffery Chaucer that learned Poet in the 14th Century doth notably Scourge the Romish-Church for Degenerating so notoriously both in Doctrine and Discipline both in Faith and Manners 2. that of Heaven the Kingdome of Christ had then a whole Harvest of Souls Chosen of God to be effectually called otherwise such a poor Fryar as Luther was could never have gone through so great a Work against so Great and General Opposition with such Great Success The 2d Famous Remark was that Luther should be sent to Rome as Messenger of his Covent for Deciding some Controversies therein about the Monks Priviledges before the Pope in the Y. 1510. where beholding the Base and Abominable Manners of the Roman Clergy of the Pope and of his Pallace he Returned from Rome with Utmost Detestation both of it and of its Religion crying out often Away with it Away with it and saying to his Friends He would not have been without that Journey to Rome for a 1000 Florens's Thus God by this Providence Unhing'd him of his Romish Religion and prepar'd him thereby for a Great Reformation The 3 Remark was Pope Leo the 10th through his Luxury wanted Money to
longer bear his Burdens One would think England e're this should be so Awakened and made Wiser than ever to become the Popes Asse any more A 2d Remark is Those Princes who have Trusted God with their Lives and Lands and kept Rome c. at Distance and Defiance hath Speeded the Best and Flourish'd the most and the longest in their large Dominions Q. Elizabeth is a pregnant Instance hereof who could never be perswaded to Favour the Papists though she was to Disfavour the Puritans but she ever kept a Vigilant Eye over the former as being rightly Informed that they and not the latter were the worst Enemies to Royal Power and God Wonderfully Preserv'd this Heroick Lady from all the Romish Bulls Interdicts Poysonings Assassinations c. as before A 3d. Remark is Such Princes as Relyed upon their own politick Projects in Conniving at if not Complying with the Romish Interest for their personal preservation have ever fared the Worst to omit K. James who though not blown up yet was so Shaken as some say How True I know not with the Powder-Plot that his naturally Timerous Spirit was drawn into some Connivences c. point-Blank against Arch-Bp Abbot's Advice and not long after he was taken out of the way by whose Hands God onely knows But Henry the 4th of France is a clear Instance who being bred up a Protestant Turn'd Papist upon politick Grounds and being Disuaded by a great Duke from re-Admitting the Jesuits which justly had been Banish'd the Realm he Angrily Answered Give me then Security for my Life Hereupon he not onely Restoreth them but Demolisheth the Pillar Erected in Paris as a Standing Monument of their Treasons against their Soveraigns yea received them into his Bosome giving them his Pallace for their Colledge and in a publick Speech saying That they were Timothys in the House Chrysostoms in the Chair and Augustins in the Schools c. But what was the Issue Those Timothys proved Judas's those Chrysostoms Cataline's and those Augustins Assassins one of those Slaughter-Slaves Stabb'd him in the Mouth another in the Heart Thus things Men Fear come upon them by trusting their own Politicks more than Gods Providence Lastly Other Nations that have seen so little of their Wiles and Wickedness have seen enough as not to trust them as China it self God forbid that We who have Felt so much should See so little as now to be Cheated with them especially after such a Chain of Providence link'd together on which we may Hang our Hope for prevention thereof In a Word Gods Word is his Will and his Will is his Work and neither Man nor Devil can Disappoint it The good Lord give still more Evinceing Proofs of his Providence The Scripture-Prophecy Shewing how the Church shall be Preserved to the End of the World CHAP. XXXIV HAving shown How it hath been with the Church from the Beginning of the World to this present time let me now make a short-Inspection How it shall be with Her Until Time shall be no more but turned into Eternity A Narrative hereof cannot be Deduced out of any Chronicle or History either Civil or Sacred but out of the Apocalypse or Revelation which Book is a Manifestation of many Mysteries by the Mediatour to John who had the Mind of Christ shew'd to him that he might shew it to the Church what things should shortly come to pass Revel 1. 1 19 20. and 4. 1. and 1 Cor. 2. 16. The Divine Project of John therein is a Contiguous and Continued Prophecy of the Churches Progress through all Times after Christ to his 2d Comming as that of Daniel was before Christ to his 1st Comming both of them Divinely Declaring how God would preserve his Church in the Worst Times of Apostacy both under Antiochus before Christ and under Antichrist after Him as is aforesaid and that in no Age shall ever the Gates of Hell prevail against the Church Matth. 16. 18. on which both their Books be a Conspicuous Comment I have already shewn how John's Seal-Prophecy and his Trumpet-Prophecy hath had their Exact Accomplishment in our fore-going Ages and how Time the best Expounder of Dark Prophecies hath turned those abstruse Misteries into plain and legible Histories Now I come unto the Book-Prophecy that Ushers in the 7th Trumpet Revel 10. 2 7. and 11. 15. and the Seven Vials having the Seven last Plagues which are the several parts of that 7th Trumpet Chap. 15. 1 7. Here for brevity's sake take those following Famous Remarks The 1st is The Church of God is always under some special Prophecy Promise and Providence and therefore is her State so stedfast and Unmoveable as the Mountains of Brass Zech. 6.1 neither Men nor Devils can remove her Psal 125. 1 2. The 2d Remark is The Book which made John Weep is call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Book of some Bulk and bigness while it had all the Seven Seals upon it and the great Concerns of the Six Trumpets within it Rev. 5. 2. But now when the Seal-Prophecy was Accomplish'd in its Events as likewise Six parts of the Trumpet-Prophecy 't is call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word is a double Diminutive signifying a little little Book or a very little Book containing onely the Seven last Plagues whereby Gods last Wrath should be filled up on the Antichristian-State and Time should be no longer for him Rev. 10. 2 6 7. and 11. 15. and 15. 1. The 3d. Famous Remark is such is Christs Compassion to his Church and Chosen that in the worst of times he leaves her not comfortless Joh. 14. 18. but Secures her from Swounding with Soveraign Cordials as 1st He gave the Comforts of the Fifth Seal and the Intercession of Christ giving Acceptance to that Prayer Rev. 6. 10. Ch. 8. 3. under the Evils of the former and following Seals 2ly While the Church lay under the Wo-Trumpets Christ gave the comforting Vision of Revel the 10th where the Churches Redeemer is Represented as supream Lord of Sea and Land and that he sets his Feet as a Conquerour upon the Neck of that Double-Beast the Political Rising out of the Earth and the Ecclesiastical Rising out of the Sea Limiting the Time and Finishing the Lease of that Mystery of Iniquity and in the mean time Christ keeps his Right foot upon Antichrists Clergy and his Left foot upon his Layity so that all their Exploits are what Christ not what Antichrist Willeth 3ly Under the 3d. Wo-Trumpet where there is a Recounting of the Churches Evils both by the Beast and by the Dragon Chap. 11. and 12. and 13. yet some Allays of Comfort are Annexed Chap. 11. 14. c and Ch. 14 2 3 12 13. and Ch. 15. 3. The 4th Remark is The little little Book in the Hand of Christ sheweth tkat he hath but a little more Work to do in the World after the Seal and Trumpet-Prophecies be fulfilled Christ hath then but a few Things more to Accomplish to