to be Members of his Church The building upon men then is that which doth bring any people in the nearest resemblance to Antichristianisme and the more they do this the more or less are they Antichristian And this I conceive to be one chief reason in Scripture why the falls of the most eminent Saints are left upon record Because others should not dote too much upon them Moses did anger the Lord at the Waters of Meribah and Massah he died before he entred into the Land of Canaan and the Angel of the Lord did bury him in obscurity No man knew of his Sepulchre because the Children of Israel should not go a-whoring after it Deut. 34. 6. And in the New Testament among all the Apostles the faults of none are left so upon publick record as those of Peter And what is the reason of all this Doubtless the Lord did foresee what Idolatry the Church of Rome would commit in owning his Universal Headship over the Church as that the Power of the Keyes was given into his hand alone For these causes I believe the great falls of Peter are left upon record that the Papists should not say I am of Peter I am of the Bishop of Rome the Head of the Church by succession from Peter Cyprian and some of the Churches of Africa fell into another extreme They thought if a man had denied the truth in time of persecution he should never be received into the Ministery again but should stand in the Body of the People as one of them onely I cannot but in the general approve the strictness of the Discipline especially against the faults and corruptions of Ministers who should be Lights and Examples to others But that they should be so strictly dealt with all never to be received no not upon terms of the greatest Repentance Humiliation and godly Sorrow I may say in this case That Cyprian and the rest of the African Fathers were too Canonical And it was well for S. Peter that he was no Minister in Africa when he denied his Master in the High-Priests Hall Surely by the rigour of such Principles they would never have received him into Office again But the Lord Christ had a better end in the permission of his fall Simon saith he Satan hath desired to winnow thee as wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy faith should not fail Luke 22. 31. Here then the reason is clearly shewed why Satan did prevail so against Peter why he was upheld meerly by the Prayer of Christ the reason is this When thou art converted strengthen thy Brethren God in great wisdome doth suffer the most eminent Ministers to fall greatly to pluck down their pride that they may be more humble and that their bowels of affection and tenderness may be greater towards the lost Sons of men and that they should preach the Grace of God more tenderly and more feelingly to the winning and saving of miserable Souls These were the causes of the fall of Peter and one special reason is also here to be remembred God did permit him to fall so foully to prevent that sin of Antichristianity as I may so speak which should be so general in the last times Now the sin of Antichristianity is to make men the Lords of our Faith to build upon Peter or the Pope the pretended Successor of Peter in matters of Faith and Salvation Fourthly they do symbolize with the Great Antichrist who use a lawful Authority Antichrist-like to serve their own pride ambition and external glory The Apostle saith I would have written unto the Churches but Diotrephes who loveth to have the pre-eminence suffered us not 3 Joh. ver 9. Here then seeing he did love to have the pre-eminence we may probably conceive That it was in the lawful Government of the Church there was an affectation of precedency even in those dayes And in what times may not the like spirit of pride be in some men when they are put into place of Rule We reade also in the Directions of Paul concerning the choice of a Bishop that he must not be a Novice lest being swollen up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the Devil 1 Tim. 3. 6. It is clear from these words as also from the whole Epistle that there must be a Government in the Church of God and whosoever S. Paul's Bishop is he must have the principal stroke in the Government For these words are immediately added If a man know not how to rule his own house how shall he take care for the Church of God The Church of God is Christs house and the Bishops Elders and Ministers of the Church have their Office by delegation from him and not from any other Authority Now such a lawful power as this is men may sinfully abuse and pervert to the setting up of their own greatness and therefore the Apostle doth give this caveat Not a Novice lest being swollen up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the Devil By a Novice he doth not intend a man yong in years for Timothy himself was but yong but he meaneth a beginner in the School of Christ a Novice in manners such a one he would not have set over the House of God lest being swollen up with pride he fall into the same sin and the same condemnation as the Devil did being sometimes an Angel of light From this instance then it is clear That a lawful Power may be used in an Antichristian manner Such beginnings of pride the Apostle probably might see in those dayes and these might occasion him to say The Mystery of Iniquity doth already work Now whereas some do impute it to this or that Government that it would be as Tyrannical and Antichristian as any that went before Let them not deceive themselves The Government may be Christs yet if any do use it to serve their own Pride Tyranny or Lordliness the fault is their own It lies in the corruption of the Person but not in the nature of the Office The superiority of Parents over their Children of Husbands over their Wives of Magistrates over the People are all by Divine Institution yet the persons may so demean themselves that they may tyrannize and if we may so speak it may Antichristianize That is a remarkable passage which the Lord hath concerning Stewards in a lawful power If that evil servant shall say My Lord deferreth his coming and shall begin to smite his fellow-servants and shall eat and drink with the drunken the Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him and will cut him in sunder and appoint him his portion with hypocrites Mat. 24. 48 49. By a Servant or Steward we may understand Magistrate Minister or any other whom the Lord hath intrusted with a lawful Power in Church or Common-wealth Now if they use this Power illegally and tyrannically if Ministers cast those out of the Church who should be kept in
THE CONSCIENTIOUS READER Whosoever he be that hath a Minde given to him to calculate the Times and to search into the sense of the most admired Book of the Revelation BEfore I come to the Body of the Treatise it shall not be impertinent to remove a few prejudices in the beginning and that I may the better be understood briefly to shew the whole Patern of the Work When the Spirit doth speak of the Name of the Beast and the Number thereof he doth insinuate that every vulgar understanding is not fit for such a Computation For saith he Here is wisdome let him that hath understanding count the Number of the Beast c. Now I do not assume to my self such a peculiarity of wisdome above other men for none hath greater cause to have the consideration of his own unworthiness to be set before him But because I have had a long time a great inclination to the study of the Prophecies to compare them with the stories of the Church and finding the Lords blessing upon mine endeavors I am the more willing to communicate that to others which I have found to befor my private satisfaction I may speak it with modesty that I have spared no pains to compare the whole Body of the Prophecy Period with Period Time with Time Vision with Vision I have perused many Commentaries both of the Modern and Ancient Times and used all means convenient for the discovery of Truth And therefore though in this kinde of Learning I will not take it upon me to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet I may be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though I have not this wisedome I do profess my self to be the lover and admirer of them that have it Now whereas it may be some prejudice that in this Treatise mention is made of a Fifth Monarchy and the Reign of Christ upon the Earth I must needs acknowledge the truth of the Doctrine rightly stated but not as the Opinion of the Chiliasts which doth ordinarily congregate with it many Heterogeneal Falsities and Unsavoury Errors For though there may be cause to maintain the Reign of Christ upon the Earth yet it is not necessary to maintain his Visible and Personal Reign And though there may be cause to defend the Resurrection of the Martyrs slain in all the times of the Beasts Kingdom yet it is not necessary to defend their historical literal and corporal Resurrection at the beginning of the thousand years And though with Mr. Brightman and Mr. Forbes we hold the New Ierusalem to be the glorious state of the Church upon Earth yet we are far from the riot of their Opinions who hold that men shall live without Ordinances without Sin and Misery in those times But if it be further alledged That they that are for this way the very best of them have many absurdities I answer That Piscator Alstedius Mede and some others have but generally spoken of the thing and have not descended to particulars And as they have had great reason to depart from other interpreters so have they used great moderation in managing the Point leaving many things for the discovery of future times On the other side for the 1000 years I would gladly know of them that differ Where they will seat this period of time If they will say That it is the state of the Church in Heaven then let them shew what is the Battel of Gog and Magog and how the Camp of the Saints and the Beloved City may be besieged in Heaven But if they take it for the Reign of Christ upon the Earth then they must necessarily come to admit one member in this disjunctive They must say Either this period of time is already past or else it is to come If it be already past VVhere hath the Church enjoyed these years of her Felicity and of her rest from Persecutions upon Earth Adde moreover to all this That the Reign of Christ for 1000 years is immediately opposed to the times of the Reign of the Beast and the Resurrection of the Martyrs to their death that hath been in all Antichristian times Those Souls are onely represented in the figure to live again that were beheaded for the Word of God and for the testimony of Iesus that had not Worshipped the Beast nor received his Mark c. If therefore we will rightly understand the meaning of these things here is no Visible or Personal Reign as some do imagine But when the Gospel of Christ is set up as the Regent-Law among the Nations then the Lord Christ doth take the Kingdome and doth begin to Reign And this the Lords Name be praised is begun already by the Preaching of the Eternal Gospel by Luther and others Rev. 14. 6 7. For now whole Nations Kingdomes and Common-wealths have set up the Faith of Christ as the Religion of the State when it was persecuted and trodden down before by the Authority of the Bishop of Rome and by all States and Governments that did own and submit to him as Head of the Church And for the Martyrs I conceive That here is no liâ—…eral and corporeal Resurrection of their Bodies onely Iohn in the Vision and in the Figure saw the Souls of them that were Beheaded for the Testimony of Jesus And the times of the Antichristian Tyranny being ended he saw their deliverance and emersion from under this kinde of death These things I thought good more largely to note to take off the prejudice of the Millenarian Opinion Meer necessity doth compel me to maintain that which I conceive to be a truth of God And if the matter were rightly stated I believe here will be nothing found that will cross the Analogie of the Christian Faith the Authority of the Magistrate and the support of the Publick Ministery but rather it will establish all these things But to come a little more near to the main scope of the present Discourse Seeing I take 666 to be the Number of years to the setting up of the Name of Universal Headship in this perhaps they may be offended that are against all Calculation of Prophetical Numbers But for such a way in general we have good ground from the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament If any have gone too far in other Points to determine to a particular year before the Prophecy hath been fulfilled and so have been mistaken in the present case there cannot be the same suspicion of Falshood VVhen we say That 666 is the Number of years to the setting up of the Name or Universal Headship of the Beast in which respect it is called the Number of the Name in this we are on the surer side because the truth of the thing is already verified and made good in the experience of the Church And whereas all the Reformed Churches and our late Assembly of Divines in their Confession of Faith Chap. 25. Sect. 6. do place the formality of Antichristianism in this as the
and Power But yet further They that stand for such a Beginning of the Roman Empire at Iulius Caesar I desire they would Answer this Question In the Tables of the Consuls it is manifest That there is the space of 17 years from the Conquest of Iudea to the Empire of Iulius Caesar. Now concerning this Number of years it must be either reckoned as a Chasme in the Prophetical Chronologie or else it must be applied to some one of the Four Metal-Kingdoms But it cannot be reckoned as a Chasme in the Prophetical Chronologie For it is clear from the Scriptures That these Four Monarchical States must continue one after another in a lineal succession and when their times are in flux and succession then the Kingdom of Christ shall begin Therefore this portion of time from the Conquest of Iudea to the Monarchy of Caesar must necessarily be reckoned as appertaining to one of the Four Kingdoms If so it must either appertain to the Graecian Kingdom typed by the Brass-Metal or to the Roman typed by the Iron-Metal For none will be so absurd as to apply it either to Babel or Persia which were destroyed long before Now they that apply this term of time to the Graecian Kingdom how can they make their Position good seeing that People were brought under the Power of the Romans But if you apply this to the time of the Roman typed by the Iron-Metal you give up the Cause to wit That the Roman began as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom in the time of their â—…ree-state Object 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will Reply The Four Persâ—…uting States of the world are compacted together into one Image but the Romans in the time of their Free-State did not Persecute the Church Ergo. Sol. By the like Reason you may argue That Cyrus did not begin the Persian Kingdom nor Alexander the Graecian because neither of these Monarchs did actually afflict the Church But if you shall say Though they raised no actual Persecution in their own persons yet they did first bring the Church within the verge of that Dominion which in its times did notably afflict her I may say the same of the Romans For if it may be supposed That they did not afflict the Church in the times of their Free-state yet then she came first within the verge of that Dominion where were the â—…orest Persecutions that ever were In the Book of the Revelation there is again and again mention made of the Sufferings of the Church under Roman Tyranny And when she was to bring forth her Man-Child that should Rule all Nations with a Rod of Iron when she cried in pains to be Delivered a great red Dragon with seven Heads and ten Horns did lie in wait to Devour her Child chap. 12. All do agree That this noteth the Sufferings of the Church under Roman Tyranny There must then be some particular instant of time when the Church first came under that Tyranny and there we must set the date of the Tribulation Secondly Whereas it is Affirmed That the Romans did not Afflict the Church in the times of their Free-state this I do plainly Deny For let us hear what is spoken by Iosephus for he I presume in this matter is able to give us the best information Thus saith he Hircanus and Aristobulus through their Dissentions and civil Broyles were the cause of that Servitude that fell upon the Iews For we have lost our Liberty and have been subdued by the Romans Antiq. lib. 14. ch 8. And further he addeth That which is to be lamented the Romans in a little time have drawn from us more than 10000 talents and the Royalty which before was an Honour reserved to the High Priests hath been bestowed upon men of obscurity Antiq. l. 14. c. 8. But if we go to Particulars it is a thing famously known to all Posteritâ—… how Crassus did rob the Temple at Ierusalem And when all this is done shall we say That the Jews suffered nothing from the Romans during the times of their Free-state If we look to the times of Nehemiah we may well conceive that these were some of the best times of the Jewish Church Yet mark what is expressed in the Confession of the Leviâ—…es Behold we are Servants this day and for the Land that thou gavest unto our Fathers to eate the Fruit thereof and the good thereof behold we are Servants in it and it yieldeth much encrease unto the Kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins Also they have Dominion over our Bodies and over our Cattel at their pleasure and we are in great distress chap. 9. vers 36 37. Here was then no publick Persecution for Religion only their Vassalage under the Persian Kings is here noted And may not all things be rightly applied to the Romans when they came to have supreme Dominion in the Land of Promise Were not the Bodies Lives Goods Cattel of the Jews and all that they had at the Roman devotion Nay further if we will compare the times that went before with those that come after we shall find before the Romans came into Iudea that the Jews had indifferently well asserted their Liberty against the Tyranny of the Seleucian Kings as may appear in the Stories of the Macchabees that rose up for the defence of their Country But from that time as the Roman Legions entred Ierusalem and a Conquest was made over the Churches Continent the Jews did totally and finally lose that Liberty to the destruction of their City and Temple And that which is to be noted The Christian Church also hath been under Roman Tyranny more or less to this very day as may appear by the Book of the Revelation and the Stories of the Church Now then if we put all together we may conclude That all things neeful to the beginning of the Fourth Kingdom in Daniel's Image began to be applicable to the Roman State at the destruction of the Seleucian Kingdom and at the subduing the Territories of the Church And therefore we do here fix the beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom ARGUMENT IV. Where the Story of the Gospel doth insinuate the beginning of the Roman to be that is the true beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom But the Story of the Gospel doth insinuate the beginning of the Roman to be in the time of their Free-state when the Churches Continent came first within the Verge of their Dominion Therefore within the time of their Free-state when the Churches Continent came under the Verge of that Dominion is the true beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom The Major is plain for we cannot but think that the Story of the Gospel doth rightly expound the true beginning of the Fourth Kingdom And for the Minor That the Story of the Gospel doth insinuate the beginning of the Roman to be in the time of their Free-state we have these Instances that follow The Evangelist being to write the
came to pass in that year when Cicero and Antonius were Consuls at Rome in the 179 Olympiad in the third Month on a Fasting-day he saith That Pompey entred Ierusalem with the Roman Legions Antiq. lib. 12. cap. 8. And for their subjection to the Romans he addeth That Syria and Iudea and all places from the Borders of Egypt to Euphrates were committed to the tuition of Scaurus Antiq. lib. 14. cap. 8. de Bell. Iud. lib. 1. cap. 5. And here I finde That all Historians and Chronologers do agree in the aforementioned year Now for the Number of time That there are 666 years from this beginning to the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome under the Emperor Phocas this is clear also in all our ordinary Books of Chronology Dr Willet who doth differ from our Judgement about the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom he in his Synops. Papism Quaest. de Antichr part 2. saith That the Scepter was taken from Iudah at that year when Cicero was Consul at Rome which he affirmeth to be 60 years before the Birth of the Lord and 666 before the setting up of the Headship of the Bishop of Rome And in general he doth approve the truth of our Interpretation as Bale the Historian did before him And whereas it may be Alledged That Calvisius the most accurate Chronologer doth Number somthing more than 60 years to the Birth of the Lord To solve this Difficulty let us say as he doth That Cicero and Antonius did enter their Office about the 20 of October when all was full of troubles at Rome And in the fourth of Iuly following which was the 17 day of the Month Tamuz the Romans entered Ierusalem and Pompey went into the Temple To this if we adde those Acts of his of breaking down the Wall of Ierusalem of making Iudea Tributary to the Romans and delivering all into the Power of Scaurus the Questor till further Order should be taken by the Senate These things must necessarily be done in the latter end of the year when Câ—…cero and Antonius were Consuls or rather in the beginning of the next year which according to Calvisius his account is the year of the world 3889. To which if you adde 666 years the Number of the Name of the Universal Headship of the Beast this will make the year of the world 4554. And this will bring us to that fatal year of the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome under the Emperor Phocas And so this present year will be From The Creation of the World the 4555 Year From The Birth of the Lord the 606 Year From The Beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom the 666 Year For the Number of years there is yet one main Objection Some will have the periods of time in Daniel's Image to be a meer Scholastical speculation Sol. We will go to the Scriptures and to the Stories of the Church to decide the Question For the Scriptures Let us first consider the words of Daniel's Thanksgiving upon the Revelation of the Mystery of the Four Metal-Kingdoms Blessed be the Name of God for ever for Wisdom and Might are his he changeth the times and seasons he removeth Kings and setteth up Kings Dan. 2. 20 21. The scope of the Vision is concerning the Four Metal-Kingdoms and so many changes of time answerable to those Four Mutations of Empire But if we look more narrowly to the text the words in the Chaldee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are times and revolutions of time For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth as much as tempus statutum determinatum an appointed and determinate time For the Lord having shewed Nebuchadnezzar's Dream to Daniel and the substance of the Dream That it concerned a Fourfold change of Empire and a Fourfold change of time upon the Earth Upon this Reason the Prophet breaketh forth into the praise of the Wisdom and the Power of God in a sutable manner to the present occasion And in very deed if we look upon the translation of the Empire from the Babylonians to the Persians from the Persians to the Graecians from the Graecians to the Romans Here is a notable Example of the Wisdom and the Power of God And that which is more considerable The Lord speaketh of the times of the sovereign Dominion of these People many years before they come to have the Dominion upon the Earth For this cause the Prophet breaketh forth into the praises of the wisdom of God in his disposing the changes of times and the changes of Empire and for the communication of this deep secret to him and the other three Children and by their means to the information of the Church And when all this is done shall we say That the Four changes of time in the Image of the Metal-Kingdoms are but a curious speculation Further it is added vers 44. In the dayes of these Kingdoms shall the God of Heaven raise up a Kingdom that shall never be destroyed This is spoken of the rising of the Kingdom of Christ in the time of one of the Four Metal-Kingdoms The Four periods of time then are not a bare Speculation but a plain Scripture-truth For it is the plot of the Spirit to shew That down from Nebuchadnezzar there should be Four Changes of Empire and Four notable Revolutions of time and when these Changes should be in their course and succession then the Kingdom of Christ shall begin Now whereas Bodin in his Method of History chap. 7. taketh a great deal of pains in the Confutation of this Let us Consider what he Alledgeth First There be many things he confuteth which we do not allow For as we have formerly said The Babylonian Empire did not begin at Ninus but at Nebuchadnezzar Secondly He taketh it as Granted That only the Amplitude of Dominion maketh a Monarchical Kingdom And hereupon Reasons Why should not the Kingdoms of the Parthians Saracens Turks Tartars go under the account of Monarchical Kingdoms Here he is to consider That not only the greatness of Dominion but the greatness of Dominion over the Churches Continent is necessary to the Being of Daniel's Metal-Kingdoms And therefore look what Kingdom Nebuchadnezzar did begin it did orderly descend to the Persians Graecians and Romans and not to the Parthians as experience sheweth Therefore a Beast in Daniel or the Revelation doth not signifie a State or Government in the General Notion but a State or Government that is Idolatrous and doth persecute the Church Neither doth it signifie an Idolatrous Government in the Latitude but such an Idolatrous Government in and about the Borders of the Church If this distinction were well observed They that are Enemies to Magistracie would not have such harbour in the Revelation as they think they have Thirdly He disputeth against those who stand for a German-Roman Empire And with him we do agree That this is but a Fable For the Empire of the last Edition is the whole Body of
Dead and the taking up of those that should remain to meet the Lord in the air Hereupon certain among the Thessalonians mistaking the meaning of the Apostle did conclude That the Day of Judgement and the general Assembly of the Saints was then at hand Now to diminish this opinion the Apostle doth exhort them in these words I beseech you Brethren 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the cause of the coming of Christ to Iudgement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the matter or cause of our gathering together unto him that ye be not soon shaken in minde nor be troubled either by Spirit by word or by letter as from us as that the day of Christ is at hand This sheweth plainly That they did mistake the Apostle in his former Epistle and did understand his words as though Christ should come presently to Judgement Now for their better information he proceedeth Vers. 3. Let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and the Man of Sin be revealed the Son of Perdition He plainly sheweth what things should precede the coming of Christ to wit A general defection from the Faith and the revelation of the Man of Sin And this I take it doth fully open the meaning of our Saviours words in the Gospel concerning the woful state of the Church in the latter times He speaketh plainly that many false Christs shall arise and shall deceive if it were possible the very Elect Matth. 24. 5 23 24. Now to what times can we better refer this then to the times of Antichrist to the times of the Apostacy in which men shall depart from the Faith and shall give heed to the Doctrine of Devils 1 Tim. 4. 1. Now whereas the Apostle saith That there shall come a falling away first Some of the Ancients as Hierom did understand this of the defection from the Roman Empire Though this be a truth yet it is not the meaning of the Text For the falling away here meant is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a falling away from the true Faith or from the pure Worship of God So the word is used commonly in the New Testament and the sense of the Text doth plainly shew That God gave men up to delusions to believe lies because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved The words then do not intend a Civil but a Spiritual apostacy or falling away Further whereas it is said And the Man of Sin shall be revealed the Son of Perdition Here is a great question Whether the times of the Apostacy and the Revelation of the Man of Sin do begin all at one instant Some will have this to be a Figure which the Rhetoricians call Hendyadys But they are deceived for the words are plain that a falling away from the Faith should be by degrees and when this Apostacy should come to some ripeness and maturity then the Man of Sin should be revealed For how is it possible that the Christian Church should degenerate so far from Christ to take Antichrist for her Head but she must be moulded prepared and wrought by degrees for such a rebellion And for that expression The Man of Sin whereas the Romish Interpreters and Hugo Grotius in his Tract de Antichristo do take this for one individual Man herein they are monstrous absurd For if he be one Man as they suppose then the Apostle tells us That he was secretly conceived in those first times the Mystery of Iniquity did then begin to work And he further addeth that he shall continue till the last times whom the Lord shall consume with the word of his mouth and shall abolish with the brightness of his coming Upon these grounds if the Man of Sin be one individual Man he must needs be very long-lived he must live in a manner from the first to the second coming of Christ. But leaving them to make good their own conceits to speak positively The Man of Sin meant in the Text is A State or a Succession of Men in a State or Government for Iohn in the Revlation doth call this Tyrannical Empire by the Title of a Beast which all do know in the sense of the Prophets doth intend an Idolatrous or a persecuting Empire He is called The Man of Sin by a singular Emphasis as being exceeding sinful and the cause of sin to others for so it is said in the Scriptures Ieroboam the son of Nebat that made Israel to sin And if he be the Man of Sin it is no hard matter to render a reason why he should be called The childe of Perdition This Title was sometimes given to Iudas While I was with them in the world I kept them in thy Name those that thou gavest me have I kept and none of them is lost save the Son of Perdition Joh. 17. 12. In the next words the Apostle doth describe him according to his nature Ver. 4. Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or is worshipped So that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God For his opposing himself this is spoken in relation to Christ as he is King Priest and Prophet So the Beast in the Revelat. is set in immediate opposition against the Lamb as if he were another Christ the Rival of his Kingly Power and Dignity And whereas he doth exalt himself above all that is called God Interpreters do ordinarily take this for Magistrates whether Inferior or Superior above all which Antichrist must advance himself The expression above all that is called God is a style too diminuent to express the true God by There be maâ—…y that be called Gods yet to us there is but one God 1 Cor. 8. 5. This is spoken of Magistrates that they are called Gods and above all these Antichrist as he doth pretend himself Universal Head of the Church shall exalt himself Further whereas it is said that he sits in the Temple of God this is meant of the Church of God where God is worshipped in the time of the New Testament as he was in the Temple of Ierusalem of old Now that the Church is called The Temple of God is clear from that of the Apostle Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and The Temple of God is holy which ye are 1 Cor. 3. 16. The result of the whole speech is this That Antichrist shall sit in the Universal Church as in his Episcopal See for so the word in the Original doth signifie Cathedraticâ potestate praesidere By these words it is plain That the formality of Antichristianism lies in the Universal Headship For when the Apostle doth describe the Great Antichrist by his nature he saith That he sitteth in the Church of God as the supreme Lord and Ruler Therefore if that be true which I have so largely dispured in the Body of the Treatise That the Name of the
give them a Mark as if the intent of the Beast were by this that they should give testimony that they are his They are also said to receive a Mark Chap. 14. To have the Mark Chap. 16. Now then we are sure that to give receive or have the Mark of the Beast is no other but that Act by which the Consciences of men are obliged to the Authority of the Pope and his Church When also they do prosess That by their Swords Wits Goods Lives and by all that they have they will maintain the Decrees and Laws made by that Authority The Mark in the Forehead is the publick Profession of the Universal Headship in the view of men and the Mark in the Right-hand is the solemn Resolution and Obligation to defend and maintain the Authority of the Beast against all that do oppose it And truly the event of things doth notably answer the prediction For we see by plain experience That the Papists such is their zeal to the Catholick Cause do out-strip us by many degrees The Jesuiâ—…es are never idle they compass Sea and Land they â—…urn themselves into all forms and are still animating of Princes and People against the Protestant Cause Yea they have so wrought that almost no man among them seemeth to spare either Labour Wealth Counsel or Life it self to uphold the Name and Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome God grant that one day they do not rise up in Judgment against us for we do not come near them in the least degree in promoting the Kingdom of Christ or in setting up the Gospel as the Regent-Law among the Nations But the Papists will not hear that they are enemies or that they go against the Lord and his Word They hold That the Bishop of Rome is the Vicar of Christ and that he hath all his Authority by delegation from him These are specious shews But in deed and in truth they are real enemies against Christ For the Scriptures and the words of the Gospel they can do nothing but meerly as the Pope and the Church of Rome do give life vigour and authority to them and as they do interpret them which always they do to their own advantage There is no truth more clearly delivered in Scripture then the Doctrine of Justification by Faith in Christ and yet the Pope saith on the contrary That there is a Purgatory after this life and that the souls there detained are freed by Masses Indulgences Pardons and such like means God and his Word say Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve The Pope on the contrary saith Thou shalt worship Saints Images Crosses Reliques and the like God and Christ have commanded all men to search the Scriptures and to try the Spirits of what nature they be Now the Pope on the contrary commandeth that men should forbear the doing of this and that they should depend upon him alone God and Christ say Marriage is honourable amongst all men and the bed undefiled The Pope on the contrary forbiddeth Marriage to the Ministry By these and sundry such-like instances it is apparent That the Name and Soveraignty of the Beast is every way contrary to the Name and Soveraignty of the Lamb. For what the Lamb doth command the Beast doth countermand for the most part From hence it is clear then say the Papists what they will when they leave Christ to follow the Laws of the Pope in sense and substance they make him their Christ their Spiritual King Head and Governour and so in effect are no true Christians Now on the contrary seeing the Lord Christ is given as a Leader and Commander to his people they who refuse the Laws of the Pope to yield subjection to Christ in the times of the greatest persecution are every where mentioned in the Revelation to have the Name of the Father written in their Forehead Chap. 14. ver 15. To be the remnant of the seed of the woman that keep the Commandments of God and have the Testimony of Iesus Christ Chap. 12. ver 17. The Papists then in receiving the Doctrines and Decrees of the Bishop of Rome under that formality as they do believe him Universal Head of the Church are positively directly and immediately Antichristian This Truth being laid down a stream of excellent Uses do naturally flow from it First We may here contemplate and behold the truth and infinite Wisdome of God speaking in the Scriptures It is now above 1500 years since that Iohn wrote the Revelation in which he spake of the Beast his Name Mark Image and the Number of his Name Now if we go to experience What have all ages for this thousand years last past but verified and fulfilled the truth of that which he spake of long before He that shall diligently reade the present Treatise will finde it to be true as we have said Secondly here is matter for our prayers and tears yea for our bowels to yern over those great Countries Kingdomes and Commonweals which do as yet own the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome They do continue in a great sin against the Kingly Office of Christ their profession is no other but Apostacy from the true Head of the Church and unless they repent they will one day feel the great Plagues contained in the words of the Prophecy Thirdly here is cause for the Protestant Churches to be thankful to the Lord For did they rightly understand it he hath delivered them from a bondage and slavery which far surpasseth the bondage of Egypt or Babylon For in the present case if men under this Government refuse to Worship the Beast and to receive his Mark the penalty is that they shall have no liberty to buy nor sell they shall be killed with the Sword they shall have their blood spilt they shall be subjected to sundry kindes of death On the contrary if they do worship the Beast and receive his Mark the Lord Christ doth threaten on the other side that they shall be tormented day and night and the smoke of their burning shall ascend for ever and ever Rev. Chap. 14. ver 7 8 9 10. The day of the deliverance of the Churches from Romish Tyranny was a day of deliverance from a Tyranny over their Souls over their Consciences over their Bodies over their Estates But all Treatises are full of Uses of this kinde We will proceed â—…o that which is Antichristian by Analogie and Reduction for this is more immediate to our purpose CHAP. XIII Concerning that which is Antichristian by Analogie and 〈◊〉 IN the progress of the Discourse we have shewed That the formality of Antichristianism is in the Headship of the Beast By this Standard of the Market we may prove all other things that do more remotely symbolize and agree with the Great Anti-Christ First the power of the Magistrate when it hath no bounds or limits but he doth all by his Will and Prerogative in
Doctrine and in the whole Spiritual Government Therefore there ought to be a temper kept for this disease hath always reigned in Princes to desire to bend Religion according to their own pleasure and lust and for their own profits in the mean time So far he In which words two Points are observable First the lawful exercise of the Power of the Supreme Magistrate as it doth keep its due limits in Causes Ecclesiastical Secondly the redundancy and the excess of the Power when it doth tread under foot the Laws of the Church That which these learned men did speak concerning the Supremacy of the Kings of England in Causes Ecclesiastical and the danger of the excess of the Civil Power hath been too truly verified by some in our days not onely to the total ruine of themselves but also to the destruction of that Soveraignty it self which they did so immeasurably exalt And whereas Calvin in the place aforementioned hath these words Et hodie quam multi sunt in Papatu qui regibus accumulant quicquid possunt juris potestatis And at this day saith he how many are there in the Papacy that heap upon Kings whatsoever Right or Power they can possible So that there may not be any Dispute of Religion but this Power shall be in one King to Decree according to his own pleasure whatsoever he list and that should remain fixed without Controversie So far he But we for our parts may not onely say Quam multi in Papatu How many in the Papacy but how many in the Profession of the Protestant Religion have accumulated this great Power upon Princes that they might do what they list in the Church of God and in the determination of matters of Faith In Daniel and the Revelation these things are set down as the true causes of the destruction of Kingdomes That is a most Divine expression of Daniel and the three Children Chap. 2. ver 20 21. Wisdome and might are his and he changeth the times and seasons he removeth Kings and setteth up Kings And for the cause of these Changes it is more particularly expressed Chap. 7. v. 11. I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the Horn spake I beheld even till the Beast was slain and his body destroyed and given to the burning fire All solid Interpreters do understand some State or Government to be typed by the Little Horn. Now the destruction of such a State or Government doth arise immediately from hence because of great words which the Horn did speak against the most High Therefore the exorbitancy of the Power against Religion Christ and his Saints is oftentimes the cause of the eversion of States and Kingdomes But that we may more fully understand how far the Power may go and whither it must not go let us consider the examples of the Kings of Iudah And here it is clear That Asa Iehosaphat Hezekiah Iosiah did great things about the affairs of the Church and had a very large testimony for their zeal in the Worship of God yet I am sure none can say that their Power was so transcendent as to abrogate any thing that was appointed or immediately commanded by God in his Word For when Uzziah the King would offer Incense that appertained not to him but to the Sons of Aaron he was imitten with leprosie and compelled to dwell alone as one that should have no commerce nor society with men So Belshazzar the King when he made a Feast to a thousand of his Lords we reade That in the time of the Feast the fingers of a mans hand did appear and write upon the wall the destruction of the King and the Kingdome And the cause of this Judgement is expounded by Daniel himself in these words Chap. 5. ver 25. Thou hast lifted up thy self against the Lord of Heaven and they have brought the vessels of his House before thee and thou and thy Lords thy Wives and thy Concubines have drunk wine in them Belshazzar and Nebuchadnezzar both by strong convictions and demonstrations were brought to understand That the God of Israel was the onely true God and that they had their Dominion from him Now when they were not contented with this which the Lord had given them but would insult over the Giver and drink wine in the Bowls of the Temple which they had taken with sacrilegious hands this was the cause of the ruine of the King and Kingdome at last There is a remarkable passage of Herodotus in his second Book where he maketh mention of a Statue that was set up to Sennacherib in one of the Temples of Egypt with this Inscription and Title upon it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whosoever looks upon me let him learn to be pious This Testimony as it hath the greatest probability of truth so doth it singularly well agree with the Story of the Scripture We reade that 185000 were slain in one night in the Camp of the Assyrians by an Angel sent from Heaven Sennacherib himself was killed by his own two sons and that great Empire did decline and lose its vigour by degrees Now if we look into the cause of all this we shall finde That the insolency of that King against God and his Church was that which broke him all to pieces This was done in the sight of all Asia that the world might know that the insolency of the greatest Powers of the Earth against God will prove the certain cause of their destruction But we will conclude this matter with that Exhortation of the Psalmist for so he speaketh to all Princes and Potentates who do intrench upon the Prerogative of Christ Be wise now therefore O ye Kings and be instructed ye Iudges of the Earth serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way Psa. 2. ver 10 11 12. Now why doth he exhort the Kings and Judges of the Earth to be wise rather then other men They are Gods Vicegerents and there is none greater in Power then they and through the greatness of their place none are more apt to bend Religion according to their own pleasures and lusts then they are Because this is more immediately against the Kingdome of Christ and cometh nearest to Antichristian pride the Psalmist doth advise them to take heed what they do to serve the Lord with fear and to rejoyce with trembling If not he tells them plainly their insolency against Christ and his Church will be a certain cause of their destruction This is made manifest from the beginning of the Psalm The Kings of the earth set themselves and the Rulers take counsel together against the Lâ—…rd and against his anointed saying Let us break their bonds asunder and cast away their cords from us ver 2. Now he doth direct his speech to such as these and tells them plainly That the Lord Christ will break them with a Rod of Iron and dash them
be deluded by the power of Satan What shall we think of the Oracles among the Heathen of the answer of the Gentile gods of the power which the Devil hath in those Countries that lye wholly under gross Idolatries There is no doubt to be made but that Satan had great power to deceive the world by wonders See August in his Book Of the City of God Lib. 10. Cap. 16. The Scripture also is very plain to the same purpose If there arise among you a Prophet or a Dreamer of Dreams and giveth thee a sign or a wonder and the sign or the wonder cometh to pass whereof he spake unto thee saying Let us go after other gods which thou hast not known and let us serve them Thou shalt not hearken to the words of that Prophet or Dreamer of Dreams for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul Deut. 13. ver 1 2 3. In which words it is plain That the Truth may be set up in the Church of God according to the written Word and yet for the tryal of the sincerity of men God may suffer seducers to arise to do great things We have a large experience of this in all the times of the Beasts Kingdome For when our Saviour saith There shall arise false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew great signs and wonders insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect Mat. 24. 24. these things are specially spoken of the times of the Kingdome of Anti-Christ when the Devil by the permission of God had great power given to him to deceive the world by wonders and signs and great variety of Revelations From hence I am induced to believe That the answer given by the Crucifix at Winchester was reall and it was done by more then an ordinary power Let us consider the meaning of that place in the Prophecy of Zachary Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain so the Lord shall make bright clouds and give showers of rain to every one grass in the field For the Idols have spoken vanity and the Diviners have seen a lie and have told false dreams Chap. 10. ver 1 2. Here I demand How could the Idols speak vanity The word in the Original is Teraphim Idols made after the similitude of a Man With these Idolaters did usually consult in matters of great difficulty And Mr. Pemble upon the place saith It is very probable thâ—…t the Devil used the like feats to cozen the Iews as he did to the Greeks and other simple Gentiles And we may say the same touching the answer of the Rood God in his just judgement might suffer apostatizing Christians to be deceived by the immediate delusions of Satan because they did not receive the truth in the love of it that they might be saved But of all others that place of the Apostle is most proper to the purpose The Spirit speaketh expresly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of Devils speaking lies in hypocrisie having their Consciences seared with a hot iron forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving 1 Tim. 4. 1 2 3. Seeing the Apostle doth here so plainly speak of the Apostacy of the latter times and of the Prohibition of Marriage Meats and other lawful things all do agree in it That he pointeth to the times of Antichrists Kingdome Onely the great Question lieth here Why the Prohibition of Marriage is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Doctrine of Devils Mr. Mede in his learned Treatise concerning the Apostacy of the later times thinketh that this is Genitivus materiae a Genitive case of the matter because Daemons and the Souls departed are so much worshipped in the Papal Kingdome Though it is true in the general That Daemon-worship as he saith is used in that Kingdome yet it is not the meaning of this Text For here is plainly Genitivus efficientis a Genitive case of the efficient cause for the Doctrine of the Prohibition of Marriage is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Doctrine of Devils because it was brought into the Church by the suggestions of those impure Spirits to cast miserable mortals upon all occasions of sin If therefore we do determine the case that the Devil in the Rood did utter this voice touching the Marriage of Ministers God forbid it should be so it doth singularly agree with the words of the Apostle when he speaketh of the Prohibition of Marriage in Antichristian times that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Doctrine of Devils For to say truly The Prohibition of Marriage as it did continue for many hundred years together so it had its immediate original from the delusion of Satan Now for the fall of the house at Cleve or Calne we may probably believe That God might suffer the Devil to do great wonders for so Spondanus calls it mirandum to deceive the world What else should be the meaning of that place Rev. 20 He layed hold on the Dragon that old Serpent which is the Devil and Satan and bound him a thousand years and cast him into the Bottomless Pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the Nations no more ver 2 3. By this he doth tacitely imply That the whole time of the Beasts Kingdome was a time of the loosing of Satan in which God was preased to give him leave to do great wonders to deceive the world and therefore in the two last Verses of the former Chapter these words are expressed And the Beast was taken and with him the false Prophet that wrought Miracles before him with which he deceived them who had received the Mark of the Beast and them that worshipped his Image These both were cast alive into a Lake of fire burning with brimstone ver 20. When this was done an Angel came down from Heaven with a great Chain in his hand and bound the Dragon the old Serpent that he should deceive the Nations no more All this plainly declareth That in Antichristian times the Devil had freedome to do great wonders to deceive the Nations If therefore at the fall of the house they who stood against the Marriage of Ministers were marvellously delivered and those that stood for it were slain out-right or sorely bruised we must not wonder at these things The Devil can do great things to deceive them who forsake the Scriptures and the known Will of God to hang upon Visions Dreams and Revelations There was a time when the Devil could not touch a hair of Iobs head Thou hast made an hedge about him and his substance is increased in the Land yet we see when God did give leave the Devil could cause fire to come down from heaven to devour his sheep he could blow down
the house upon his Children by a violent wind he could do any thing when he was let loose And so truly the times of Antichrist were the times of the loosing of Satan God did permit him to do great things to deceive that kinde of people who had forsaken the plain way to Salvation written in the Word to look after dispensations of a higher light by Visions Dreams and Revelations Now then to make Application of all these things to our times my speech and exhortation is to them who amongst us have departed from Ordinances and from Scriptures and are now for extraordinary Revelations my earnest desire is to them That they would lay these things to heart If they go on if they build upon such uncertain grounds let them seriously consider whether they may not be deluded by the power of Satan and whether God in his just Judgment may not deliver them over to believe lies I will not make mention of that Sect which goeth under the Name of the Quakers what they are and who they are God knows I do desire to contain my self in such things as I have some experience of There have been some friends of my familiarity heretofore whom I did conceive to be people of good hope these as I have observed have departed first from the Ministery and then have come to slight the Written Word and then last of all to hang upon Revelations and extraordinary Enthusiasms of the Spirit I have seen a Book scattered abroad by these men it beareth the Title of Gerard Winstanley his new Law of Righteousness The argument of the Treatise is That the Propriety of Goods is the Curse laid upon the Creature That all things should lie in common and that the whole earth should be brought to a Publick Treasury For probation of this as he doth make some mention of the practise of the Apostles in the Primitive times and that which shall be in the future glorious estate of the Church so for the more special confirmation of this he doth depend upon an extraordinary Revelation as it is expressed pag. 57. In the beginning of the Treatise he doth distinguish three Ministrations the Ministration of Moses of Christ and of the Spirit And saith he as the worshippers in Moses Ministration envied those that worshipped the Son of Man So those who now worship Christ at a distance in their several Congregations and Forms and are most zealous these are the bitterest enemies to the Ministration of Christ in the Spirit pag. 14. But further when he comes to expound himself concerning the Ministration of the Spirit he slights all outward Forms and doth look onely to inward Teachings Now I will speak a word or two to the followers of this way I will not say in positive terms that they are led by the delusions of Satan neither will I judge of their final estate they stand or fall to their own Master yet nevertheless I may be so bold seeing they have so often in their mouths the Whore of Babylon and Come out of Babylon my people and that every thing is Antichristian not onely in Mâ—…nistery Magistracy but also in the propriety of goods to desire them to look home to their own hearts whether they are not most Antichristian themselves or whether that Spirit which did so strongly deceive the Antichristian world doth not deceive them also when they do believe and profess such things as are directly and diametrally contrary to Scripture For these men though I do desire to speak moderately of them yet in some particulars they are delivered over to deep delusions when they go so palpably against the written Word and pretend extraordinary Revelation It were good in this case that they would judge themselves that they do not prove in the event the greatest promoters of the Kingdome of the Beast I am perswaded that Gregory the Great was in the main a godly and zealous man yet it appeareth by his Dialogues that he did run into foul errors into Idolatry into wil-worship and the like when he left the Scriptures to follow Revelations This is the only word which I do desire to speak to them Secondly here is also a word of Admonition for all those who endevour in these times to extinguish Book-learning For though it is a most certain truth and much to be lamented that men have looked too much to Scholarship and have made an Idol of it for they have not regarded the inward teachings of the Spirit in the heart nor the Spiritual understanding of the Mystery of Salvation which are the principal qualifications to prepare and fit men for the Ministery These things I confess have been too much slighted and the slighting and neglect of them hath been a great cause of hurt to the Church of God and damage to the Souls of men This shall never be denied by me For how may we probably conceive that a Minister will come home with the Demonstration and Evidence of the Spirit so powerfully at least to the Conscience of the Hearer when he himself is altogether a stranger to these inward workings How can he so effectually bring home the lost Sons of men to Christ when he himself never had a true feeling of his lost condition They must needs then run into a great extream who dote so much upon Secular Learning and do neglect the chiefest thing But yet on the other side they go as far out of the way who would have this kinde of learning to be extinguished in the Church of God This I much fear may be one mean to throw the world back again upon Visions Dreams and Revelations to set up the Kingdome of Antichrist once more Now whereas it is alledged That there were excellent Preachers in the Apostles times when there were no Universities nor was there any Humane Learning acquired by study Though this should be granted those extraordinary Revelations are now ceased Therefore we must be contented to go in the ordinary way and not to look for those extraordinary distributions which were in the first times They who are for the dissolving of Universities and for the total cashiering of Humane Learning let them stay untill there be a renovation and a return of these extraordinary gifts unto the Churches Some are of opinion that such times shall come if that be true let them be patient till they do come However as the case doth stand for the present I believe they who take away Humane Learning do what in them lies to reduce the Antichristian times All do agree that in these times the Church was in an eclipse or great darkness Now let us inquire after the time of the emersion how the Church came out and the time of the immersion how she was brought into this darkness For the time of the emersion most do pitch upon it that she waded out of obscurity at the time of Luther when the eternal Gospel began to be preached to every Kindred Tongue and
the other side I conceive That it is too high to call Hen. 8. or any other Supreme Magistrate an Head much more a good Head of the Church the eminency transcendency and sublimity of that Prerogative belonging to Christ alone Our Princes have used such a Title and in the sense of the Statute in a moderate way the people have ascribed it to them to wit a Spiritual Power Authority and Jurisdiction that ever have belonged to Kings and Princes which David Solomon the Kings of Iudah and Christian Emperours have ever exercised in their respective Dominions This no doubt hath been the sense of well-meaning men and so Mr. Bedel doth expound it in the forementioned place and pag. 56. But for my part being inlightned and better informed I pray God such Titles be no more used and let that passage Next under thee and thy Christ in all Causes Ecclesiastical in these His Majesties Dominions Supreme Head and Governour Let the exuberancy of such a Title pass among the iniquity of our holy things Our godly Friends have been offended at it our Enemies have insulted Experience hath shewed much danger in the use of it and the present Treatise I doubt not will shew what an evil thing it is to take away the Prerogative of Christ and to make other Heads of the Church in his room Of all men living the Erastians have greatest cause to look to this For let Princes be once told That there is no Church-Government in the Word of God and that they themselves are the sole Fountains of Church-Power By this means it will be effected That the Name and Power of Christ over his own Church will be plucked down and the Name and Headship of Princes will be onely set up In matters of this nature if you give an Inch men will take an Ell. Rather for acts past we should often think upon that expression of the Prophet I will pour upon the House of David and the inhabitants of Ierusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication and they shall look to him whom they have pierced Zach. 12. 10. Christ is not onely pierced in a literal sense when his body is run thorow with a Spear but he is pierced also when his Name and Headship is taken away from him and given to another So far as a whole Nation have been mediately or immediately directly or indirectly implicated and involved in such a sin so far I believe they ought to mourn If this be not done God perhaps may rebuke us when our Armies go forth against those that Worship the Beast and uphold his Name and Headship in enmity to the Government of Christ. Though not in the favour of the enemy yet we may be chastised for our own faults and the Lord may be provoked to appear against us When the Lamb went forth on his white Horse against the Beast and his Armies the Armies that followed were upon white Horses cloathed in fine linen white and clean Rev. 19. 14. Further also by the process of this Discourse information may be given to certain in these Times who being led by the meer shew and colour of some passages in the Prophesies do think it a part of their duty to level Magistracy abolish Laws and to turn all things up-side down in Church and Common-wealth Of such I may say That they mingle the precious Truths of God with Fables of their own commenting In the Metamorphosis of Ovid we reade of the Beginning of the World of the Chaos of the Giants heaping of Pelion upon Ossa of Deucalions Flood of the Four Ages of the Golden the Silver the Brazen and the Iron Age. These things are not all Fictions because they have some ground of truth in the Scripture neither are they all truths because they are mingled with Fictions of the invention of man Of the same kinde are some Authors who are for the Fifth Monarchy they think that the setting up of the Kingdome of Christ will be the Dissolution of all Earthly Kingdomes But by the purport and whole drift of the present Discourse they may understand That the Kingdome of Christ is not contrary to Governments Powers and Authorities purely as such but onely to Governments as Idolatrous as Tyrannical as contrary to the Laws of Christ and of his Church In the Prophecy of Daniel the Empire of Babel is resembled to a Lyon of Persia to a Bear of Greece to a Leopard of Rome to a Beast of divers shapes All these Monarchies erected and set up on the ruines of the Davidical Kingdome are parallell'd to so many Beasts Buâ—… to what Beast shall we resemble in its right constitution the Davidical Kingdome it self In the Book of the Revelation the Angel doth expresly say That there were eight Kings and yet the Beast had but seven Heads Chap. 17. How can this be I have fully proved That the Dynasty Race and Succession of the Christian Caesars do make the seventh Roman King but no Head of the Beast Therefore the Mediatoriâ—…n Kingdom of Christ is not contrary to Governments as such neither is nor ever shall be built upon the ruines of Governments as Governments but upon the ruines of Governments onely as Tyrannical and opposite to the Laws of the Gospel There is no such cause then why solid and judicious men in these dayes should set aside this kinde of Learning which is so much for the Credit Authority of the Christian Magistrate And for the Government of the Church in some Points if I am not mistaken there is in this Prophecy as strong if not stronger proof then in any other Book of the New Testament As for Example Though Bishops are put down the Service-Book taken away the Ordination of Ministers brought neerer the Rule all this being done men are not pleased What is the cause of the Difference The difficulty lies in the Church-state Robinson and others of that way do plead That we have no Example for a National Church in the New Testament and the bringing in of whole Nations by the power of the Magistrate this is the principal Rock of Offence I confess it is true that we have no Example of a National Church in the Apostles time For how could all Nations come in at that particular instant when the greater part of them did still remain in their Idolatries and the Emperors themselves were the greatest Enemies of the Church Now if we apply our selves to the Book of the Revelation we shall plainly see how the Spirit doth foretel That after the Preaching of the Gospel the Church should fall under grievous Persecutions in all the times of the Pagan Caesars when that time is ended the Empire it self shall become Christian. What else should be the meaning of that expression Now is come Salvation and Strength and the Kingdome of our God and the Power of his Christ Rev. 12. 10. This doth note no other but the setting up of the Gospel in the Throne in the times of