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
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
But saving the great worth and Learning of such an Author here is the very formality of Antichristianism for which which men shall be liable to very great Judgements unless they do repent And though they do distinguish betwixt Two kinds of Heads that Head which is Supreme and that which is Ministerial it is too too well known if we go to Practice That the Bishop of Rome hath not assumed a Ministerial Headship to himself nay indeed and in truth he hath made the Headship of Christ nothing at all Ninthly The Mark in the Forehead and in the right Hand ought to be so expounded that therein must appear the principal Cause of the sufferings of the Martyrs For after that the Beast was destroyed Iohn saw in the Vision the Souls of them that were beheaded for the Word God and for the Testimony of Jesus that had not worshipped the Beast nor received his Mark Chap. 20. 3 4. The special Cause of the sufferings of the Martyrs must be for the refusal of these things If we transfer this to Experience we shall find That great Multitudes of Men and Women have been put to death in all the times of the Beast's Kingdom because they would not yield Obedience to the Laws Ceremonies Traditions and Superstitious Observations imposed upon them by the Authority of the Bishop of Rome as Universal Head of the Church They were slain because they held the Word of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ because they took the Lord Christ alone for the true Head of the Church and would live only in subjection to his Laws Now then to gather up all the aforementioned particulars into one sum it is clear That the Profession of a Roman Catholick in the visibility thereof is the Mark of the Beast in the Forehead and in the right Hand and all Circumstances do wonderfully agree But let us now come to give some special instance for this out of the Old Testament And here if we go to the times of Antiochus Epiphanes we shall finde a cleer instance of the Character or Mark of the Beast in the times of the Graecian Antichrist For there is mention made of one Iason when he had bought the High Priesthood for Money and did assign 150 Talents more if he might have license to set up a place for Exercise and for the training up of Youth in the Fashions of the Heathen and to write them of Hierusalem by the Name of Antiochians Which when the King had granted and he had gotten the Rule into his hand it is expressly said of this Iason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our English hath it He forthwith brought his own Nation to the Greekish Fashion Iunius and Montanus and the Lexicographer Scapula have it Ad Graecum Ritum But I think the words may better be translated He carried over his own Country-men to the Greek Character 2 Macc. 4. 9 10. For the more close and perfect Application of this Truth we will note these four Particulars 1. What is the Hellenick or Graecian Character 2. Who are the Persons that do receive it 3. The Time when 4. The Power and Authority which did compel them to receive it For the first A Character is nothing else but a Note of Distinction by and through which one sort of People are distinguished from another as the Ephraimites were distinguished from the Gileadites by the Word Shiboleth so one Nation is distinguished from another by their Language Attire and other Customes But in this case we have not to do with the Marks of civil distinction and therefore when it is said That Iason carried over his own Country-men to the Hellenick Character this is meant of such a way of worship as was the publick Profession among the profane Graecians in matters of Religion In respect whereof that publick Profession was determinatus modus vivendi as the School-men speak containing that manner and way of living according to the Law of the Antiochians The like may be said That the Mark of the Beast in the Revelation is that whereby they of the Romish Religion are distinguished from others for they have a peculiar manner of living according to the Laws of that Church under the Pope the Head There is then an exact Agreement betwixt the Hellenick and the Romish Character and in both Nations Men are distinguished by this as by the Badge of their Profession Secondly For the Persons who were they that Iason carried over to receive the Mark of the Beast in the Graecian Tyranny It is plainly said That he carried over 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his own Country-men of the Stock and Lineage of Abraham And these things were foretold by Daniel the Prophet many yeers before That in the dayes of Antiochus Epiphanes many of his own Country-men should forsake the Holy Covenant Dan. 11. 31 32. and as he foretold it came to pass indeed as appeareth in the Book of the Macchabees and in the Stories of Iosephus and others Now if we apyly this to the Beast in the Revelation there is a more general Defection and Apostacie of the whole Christian world He causeth all to receive a Mark in their forehead and in their right hand Thirdly For the time When was it that Iason carryed over his own Country-men to the Hellenick Character to the publike Profession of Religion used by the Grecians in the Seleâ—…cian State It was in the times of Antiochus the Grecian Antichrist If therefore we read in the Book of the Revelation That the Beast did cause all to receive a Mark in their forehead and in their right hand this was no other but that which was done before in the times of Antiochus the Grecian Antichrist who is set forth as a Type and a Figure of that great Antichrist who should come in the last times Fourthly For the power by and through which Iason should carry over his own Country-men to the Hellenick Character or to that way of Profession It was then when he had gotten the Rule into his hands Some sins do increase by Propagation as Original sin some by Ensample as many evil Customs amongst us But here is mention made of the increase and prevailing of a sin by Imperial Edict by the Countenance Power and Authority of them that have the Soveraignty in their hands The like may be said of the Beast in the Revelation all did receive the Mark in their forehead and in their right hand and if you look to the reason it was a sin of Monarchy or Imperial power The Beast as a Potentate did cause all to receive a Mark in their forehead and in their right hand By the Hellenick Character used in the times of the Grecian Tyranny we may know what is the Mark of the Beast so often mentioned in the Revelation and by the one we may finde out the meaning of the other I have stay'd the longer on this Point because it is the principal matter in the Text and the right
the Church of God doth come too near to the formality of Anti-Christianism Antiochus Epiphanes in the Prophecy of Daniel is described as a mighty King or Potentate in the Seleucian Line but when he was not contented with his Power which was great enough but would exalt himself against the Prince of the Host and tread down the Sanctuary and do all things after his own will in this he was a figure of the Antichrist to come Dan. 8. 12. But that we may speak more distinctly in a matter of so great moment we do desire to lay down this necessary caution in the beginning Let us then distinguish betwixt the Essence and the Exercise of the power For the Essence we do willingly acknowledg that the Lord hath ordained Magistrates to be over the people for his own glory and the publick good and that Magistracy is the Ordinance of God Rom. 13. v. 1 2 3. And though he hath not tied any Nation or People so strictly and precisely to this or that particular Form of Government yet his pleasure is That the People should obey the Government that is set over them In this case If they resist the Power they resist the Ordinance of God and draw great guilt upon their Souls for their resisting If we look to the Nation and People of the Jews they did meet with the greatest Changes and Alterations of State yet in each Alteration the will of the Lord was that they should obey the Civil Authority set over them for the preservation of the Publick Peace The hardest Change that they ever met withal was the translation of their State from the house of David yet they were to pray for the peace of the King of Babylon seek the good of the City whither they were carried Captive All this plainly sheweth That Magistracy is the Ordinance of God and the Lord would have his own Command to be observed by his People though they did live under Heathen Kings Secondly we are to consider the Exercise of the Power And here First is the lawful execution and Secondly the exorbitancy and excess of the Power above Law For the lawful use of the Power we do willingly yield That the Supreme Magistrate hath not onely Authority in the Common-wealth but he hath also great Power in and about the affairs of the Church And this thing we have often incuâ—…cated in the Body of the Treatise to wit That the Reign of Christ doth begin upon the Earth when the Kingdoms States and Governments of this World become Nursing Fathers to the Church And so we do affirm That it doth appertain to the Higher Powers to take order that Unity and Peace be preserved in the Church that the Truth be kept pure and intire that horrid Blasphemies be supprest that the Ordinances of God be duly setled that the profane the ignorant and rude body of the People who of themselves would never call upon the Name of the Lord be brought by their Power and Authority to the publick places of Worship For the better effecting of which they have Power to call Synods to be present at them and to provide That whatsoever is transacted in them be according to the minde of God In this sense we may not doubt to say That the Chief Magistrate in every Common-wealth is the Supreme Head in Causes Ecclesiastical that is to say The Supreme Head in Causes Ecclesiastical that do of right appertain to him and do fall under his cognizance by the Law-Divine In the forementioned cases he is the Delegate and Vice-gerent of Christ upon the Earth And this we take to be the lawful Exercise of the Power Thirdly there is the Hyperbole or Excess of the Power when the Magistrate is not contented with his own limits or bounds but shall further endeavor to carry all by Will and Prerogative in the Church of Christ. This is that which comes nearest to the formality of Antichristianism for Antichrist is said to sit in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God If therefore the Supreme Magistrate shall do the same in the Church of Christ if he shall controll and do all things after his own Will in the house of Christ this is to resemble the Great Antichrist and to do the same in effect which he doth But for this we have a clear example in Steven Gardiner Bishop of Winchester who of all others is noted by Forraign Divines to cry up such an excessive Prerogative of the Kings of England in Causes Ecclesiastical For he did not shun to maintain That it was at the pleasure of the King to abrogate Statutes and institute new Rites in the worship of God yea he further said That it was lawful for the King to forbid the people the use of the Cup in the Lords Supper and the use of Marriage to the Ministers And the â—…round of all this was Because the King was Supreme Head in Causes Ecclesiastical Now in way of opposition to this the Forraign Divines have risen with great indignation These are the words of Dr. Rivet in his Explication of the Decalogue Edit 2. pag. 203. Qui enim Papatus doctrinam adhuc fovebat ut posteà apparuit novum Papatum in personâ Regis erigebat For he meaning Steven Gardiner aforesaid who did as yet nourish the Doctrine of the Papacy as after it appeared did erect a new Papacy in the Person of the King And Calvin in his Commentary upon Amos Chap. 7 ver 13. speaking of them who did ascribe the Title of Supreme Head in Causes Ecclesiastical to Hen. 8. King of England hath these words Hoc me semper gravitèr vulneravit quum vocarent ipsum summum Ecclesiae Caput sub Christo. This hath grievously wounded me always when they called him the Supreme Head of the Church under Christ. He did take this for no other then an incroachment upon the Prerogative of Christ. And he might well do so if we look to the Interpretation of Steven Gardiner aforementioned with whom he had to do But the learned man doth proceed in these words It is certain if Kings do their duty they are both Patrons of Religion and Nursing Fathers of the Church as Isaiah calls them Chap. 49. ver 23. This therefore is principally required of Kings That they use the Sword wherewith they are furnished for the maintaining of Gods Worship But in the mean time there are inconsiderate men who make them too Spiritual and this fault reigns up and down Germany yea spreads too much in these Countries And now we perceive what fruit springs from this root viz. That Princes and all that are in the place of Government think themselves to be so Spiritual that there is no other Ecclesiastical Government And this Sacriledge creeps amongst us because they cannot measure their Office with certain and lawful bounds but are of opinion they cannot reign unless they abolâ—…sh all the Authority of the Church and become the Chief Iudges both in
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