Priest and to command him to discharge the same as he ought to do and to reprove and correct him when he doth neglect it which are the principal things duties and Prerogatives of any King or prime Magistrate of any Kingdom or Commonwealth And thus all the best Orthodox Interpreters both Papists and Protestants do agree that the Apostle meaneth here Vide Tremellium in Joh. 10.34 that the Antichrist should exalt himself above his King because the Scripture doth most properly and plainly speak it of Kings when God saith Dixi Diiestis I have said you are Gods and our Saviour doth primarily and principally mean Kings when he citeth the same saying against the Pharisees as Beza witnesseth saying Testimonium quod citat Christus in Psal 82. v. 6. Habetur That in Psal 82.6 Kings are understood by Gods ubi expostulat Deus cum regibus terrae qui imperio potentia quam â Deo acceperant abuterentur hoc Christus ad presentem causam accommodat quod deorum nomine ornemur qui ad regendum mundum sunt ministri that is the testimony which Christ citeth against the Pharisees is found in Psal 82. v. 6. where God exâ—ostulateth with the Kings of the Earth which abused that rule and power which they received from God Beza in Annotat in Joh. 10.37 and this Christ applieth to the present occasion that they which are Gods Ministers and Deputies to govern the World are honoured with the name of Gods And so the first words of that Psalm do sufficiently shew that Kings are to be understood there by Gods for God standeth in the Congregation of Princes saith the Prophet he is a Judge among Gods and therefore by God in this place the Apostle meaneth the King that God hath set over this man of sin to rule him as well as others because the Kings are appointed by God to governe and to judge the people of God and therefore he tells his people plainly By me Kings do reign that is Prov. 8.15 not only by my permission and suffering of them to reign as I suffer many disorders and many evills to be done but they reign and rule by my authority and by my appointment that have ordained and set your Kings to reign and rule over you for they do sit in the thrones of judgement as Gods Deputies and Vicegerents in Gods stead to exercise a part of Gods power here on earth which is as the Poet can tell you Parcere subjectis debellare superbos The lawful power of Kings To defend and to reward the good and obedient Subjects and to punish the rebellious the wicked and the wrong doers and to that end as God hath the Keys of heaven and of hell to let the Godly enter into glory and to shut up the wicked within the Chambers of death so Kings have potestatem vitae necis the power of life and death that is to preserve the life of the innocent and to put the transgressors unto death or to pardon them if they see cause and to spare their life which is the greatest power on earth but not to put to death whom they please and for what cause soever they list which is the property and practice of an unjust Tyrant and not the liberty of a good and a righteous King So you see the honour power and prerogative that God hath conferred upon Kings and is warranted and confirmed by our Saviour Christ and therefore ought to be ascribed and yielded unto them by their Subjects especially if they be Christians and such as profess to know the will of God Let the Reader Judge whether this be not fulfilled in the long Parliament And yet the Apostle tells us that this man of sin which is the Antichrist will exalt himself above his King and I will not judge but refer it to the World to judge whether the long Parliament and their adherents have not denied this honour worship and obedience and indeed every part and parcel of that honour which God hath granted and commanded to be yielded unto their King Or whether they have not actually exalted themselves above their King And whether their words in their Petition to the King The words of the Parliament in their Petition to the King wherein they say The humble Petition of the Lords and Commons in Parliament and therein further say That his Majesties most humble and faithful Subjects have represented their most dutiful affections in advising and desiring those things which were most necessary for his Majesties safety and honour and in the Conclusion thereof do say That his Majesties personal safety and royal honour and greatness were much dearer unto them than their own Lives and Fortunes being put in one end of the ballance and the warring against him and especially the cutting off of the Kings head in the other end of the ballance where both their love and their hatred might be seen at once do not prove just like the Souldiers dealing with Christ to bow their knees unto him Mat. 27.29 to put a Crown on his head and a Scepter in his hand and to say Hail King of the Jews as if his personal safety and royal honour and greatness were much dearer unto them than their own lives and fortunes and yet immediately to spit in his face and to hang him up upon a tree Which is the most paelpable the greatest and the grossest hypocrisie and mockery in the World or I may justly say with the words of Agur Prov. 30.2 Surely I am more brutish than any man and have not the understanding of a man For Quid audiam verba cum videam contraria facta Will any wise man believe mens words when their deeds tell them to their faces that they lie And how shall I believe that his personal safety and royal honour and greatness were much dearer unto them than their lives and fortunes when I see them taking away his Life And after they had finished the Tragedy of his life and had taken off his Head to do as the Athenians did with Herostratus that burnt the Temple of Diana that is to extinguish with his Person his Name his Memorial and his Office When they would not suffer his Friends and his Servants to keep their King and their Masters Picture in their private Chambers but searched their houses as they did my house to see if they could find the Kings Picture And when as the Prophet tells us the lawless Jews said Hos 10.3 We will have no King because we fear not the Lord and what then should a King do to us For we that fear not the Lord will never reverence any King no more than they that will have no King will never fear the Lord because God hath coupled the fear of the Lord and of the King together with such an indissoluble knot that whosoever feareth God cannot choose but fear and reverence his King and he
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the beast speaketh like the Dragon that is though their words are pretended to be the words of Christ yet that which they aim at to effect are the plots of the Dragon and I beseech you mark it the first beast had a mouth like a Lion but this second beast spake like the dragon and why so because the first spake Magnalia great and glorious things what would they not do The paralel if they might have what they desired so you may remember what fair promises the Parliament made unto the King and the second spake mendacia lies and falshood which is the first language of the old Serpent the devill who is a lyar from the beginning and the father of lyes saith our Saviour Job 8. John 8. and so is the false Prophet and as the Dragon cloathed his lyes with sair speeches and large promises saying you shall be like Gods knowing good and evill so the Apostle tells us Rom. 16.18 2 Pet. 3.26 Mat. 4.6 these false teachers that make divisions in the Church and Rebellions in the Common-Wealth and dissentions among neighbours do with good words and faire speeches deceive the hearts of the simple and what are those good words but the very words of the Holy Scriptures then which no words can be better yet St. Peter tells us the Scriptures may be wrested abused and misapplyed as the Devill did to Christ and so do the false Prophets Trenens l. 1. c. 1. for seeing they come in sheeps clothing it behoves them to bring nothing but good words even the most blessed words of the Holy Scriptures in their mouthes but as Ireneus speaketh adaptare â—upientes ea quae bene dicta sunt iis quae male adinuenta sunt ab ipfis they are alwayes striving to fit those things which are well spoken in the Scriptures to what they have misinvented so did the Valentinians to establish their thirty couples of Gods and Goddesses so did the Arians to deny the Divinity of Christ so do the Papists to justifie their Purgatory and so this Beast the Presbyterians and their Disciples do to uphold all the wicked Tenents that they have invented to oppose their King to expell their Bishops and to extirpate our Lyturgy and service of the Church out of the Church and to spread many other points of their desperate Doctrine which is if any thing be the Language of the Dragon though they speak it in the good words of the Holy Scriptures and fair speeches which is a counterfeit shew of much purity and holiness that so with this shadow of piety they might the sooner make the people believe they are the onely Saints Stap in his counter blast and their words the very truth and language of the Lamb. And I think the adherents of the Long Parliament and this false Prophet scattered as many lies in their Bookes and Pamphlets as Stapleton collecteth out of Bishop Horne if we had but such another Stapleton to pick them out and if you can name any Pope that published more lies then this false Prophet I shall subscribe to the opinion of the Prosbyterians that he is the beast which speaks like the Dragon But Sir John Presbyter confesseth that although they pretend nothing but Scripture yet the Blasphemies Treasons Heresies Incongruities Tantalogies and Absurdities of his brethren and children the Presbyterians in the large measure of their Prayers and Sermons observed by the people hath been a great cause of his untimely death p. 5. 3. It is said v. 12. that this two horned beast exerciseth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the Power of the first beast or rather all the Authority which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth more properly fignifie and he causeth the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast Bezius de regno Ital. l. 4. c. 5 1. c. 6. which cannot be applyed to the Pope and his Cardinalls that say the Temperall Sword is and ought to be subject to the Spirituall as Bozius Hostiensis Bellarmine and the rest of that Church do avouch and I shewed you before how this false Prophet the Presbyterians Independants and Lay-Preachers did all that they acted by the Authority aud under the Power of the Parliament Hostien in can quod supor his c. Bellarm. de rom pontif l. 5. c. 5. The parallele Of the power of the second beast plainly fulfilled in the Presbyterians and therefore they Preached and perswaded all men especially the Inhabitants of the earth as the holy Gh. saith all such as were as earthly and as worldly minded as themselves to adhere and to assist the Parliament against the King and his Party which is just as is the worshipping of the first beast that is the temporall state and which is and hath been alwayes the property and practice of all false Prophets to shelter themselves as the Arians did under Constantius and to further their Projects under the wings of their Powerfull Protectors whom they do therefore magnifie perswade all others to worship them that they might thereby effect their own wicked deeds and be secured from the Power of the Church Then 4. Of the miracles of the false prophet 4. It is said v. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he doth great wonders where I take 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not for a disjunctive or causative as Mr. Mede takes it but as it is commonly used for a copulative to that which went before as that this second beast used the Power and Authority of the first beast and being protected and furthered by the Power and strength of the first beast they did thereby great wonders and so St. Paul saith 2 Thes 2.9 the Antichrist should come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with signes and lying wonders and our Saviour saith Bellar. Antichr prodigia potius praestigia daemonum mera mira quam vera miracula statuit de notis eccles c. 14. the false Christs and Prophets that are the followers and promoters of the Antichrist should arise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and should shew great signes and wonders whereby you may see that both the beast and his instruments the Antichrist the false Prophet and the whole troope of his disciples shall pretend to shew signes and wonders to deceive the people and the signes that they shew are just like the signe that Judas gave unto his followers a kisse which is a pretence of love and great kindnesse but it was both destructive to Christ and deceitfull to the followers of Christ so the beast and the false Prophet do kisse those their Proselites with good words and faire promises whom they intend to allure to foule acts and to betray them to evill enemies and so the people are thereby deceived and the Church of Chrift destroyed But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a wonder which the false Prophets are said by Christ to do Aquinas in 2 Thes 2. Prodigia quasi
may not will in vain How God enclineth our wills to will good And yet we deny not but man hath freedom of will to will the things that he willeth for the will is alwaies free and not compelled else should it be no will And therefore when God moveth us to will that which is good he doth it not by forcing or compelling our will to will such and such things but proponendo bonitatem suavitatem Objecti by laying the Objects of good before the eyes of our understanding and then inclinando voluntatem by inclining our minds and enticing our wills to yield and to embrace that good and that by a kind of a sweet influence and secret perswasion in our apprehending the sweetness of the Object and no compulsion at all but even as we pray in our Lyturgy Lord have mercy upon us and encline our hearts to keep this Law But to say that a man can will good of himself without this help of the Grace of Christ we do utterly deny because all the cogitations of mans heart are prone to evil continually And the Apostle saith that we were dead in trespasses and sins Gen. 6.5 Col. 2.13 Aug. de corde gratia And if we were dead in sin then sure we must needs be without any life of Goodness in us And therefore we say with St. Aug. to will any thing freely is the work of nature to will evil is the work of corruption but to will well and that which is good is the work of Christ and of his Grace And yet the Church of Rome ascribeth so much power to the will of man that Bellarmine saith Bellar. l. 6. c. ult de grat our conversation is in the power of our free-will and that before all Grace we have free-will even in the works of Piety and may by this our will leviores quasque titillationes superare overcome all the slighter motions of sin and dispose our selves to receive Grace Scotus 2. d. 28. Durand 16. q. 4. as Aquinas and Suarez say yea and to keep Gods Commandments as Scotus and Durandus do affirm And what is this but in a humane Pride to rob God of his Glory due to him for the Grace of Christ and to give it to the freedom of our will to lessen the bounty of Christ and the goodness of his Grace towards us and to magnifie the goodness of our selves towards him At hoc piarum mentum est ut nihil boni sibi tribuant But it is the part of every good man to ascribe no good unto himself but with St. Paul to confess all good to be due to the Grace of Christ because as St. James saith Every good and perfect gift is from above James 1.17 and cometh down from the Father of Lights And therefore we say with Sr. Bernard that aliud est velle aliuà est velle bonum it is one thing to will and that we have from our selves and it is another thing to will that which is good and this we have from the Grace of Christ and thanks be unto him for his Grace 2. 2. In the Doctrine of our Justification For our Justification The Apostle proveth by many arguments that we are freely justified by the Faith of Jesus Christ and that it proceedeth meerly of Grace and not of works lest any man should boast if it had been of works And therefore St. Ambrose saith Rom. 3.24 c. 4.16 c. 5.1 Gal. 2.16 non gloriabor quia justus sum sed quia redemptus sum non quia vacuus sum peccato sed quia remissa sunt peccata I will neither glory nor rejoyce that I am just but because I am redeemed not because I am free from sin but because my sins are forgiven me And St. Aug. saith that credendo in Christum justificantur homines men are justified by believing in Christ And so not only these men and all the Classie of the Fathers St. Basil Nazianzen and the rest of that age but also the godliest sort of the Church of Rome as Aquinas Cassander and Arius Montanus do ingeruously confess that Faith is reputed for righteousness to every one that believeth in Jesus Christ and that we cannot be justified by our own works or merits but only by the Faith of Jesus Christ And yet the Council of Trent doth anathematize all them that teach and defend this Truth Concil triden Sess 6. c. 7. and it affirmeth that the formal cause of our justification is our own inherent righteousness and so Bellarmine and the whole Schools of Jesuits do eagerly defend the same Tenent But it may be some will say this point might easily be reconciled because that as they affirm we are justified by our good works So we teach that we cannot be justified without good works For though sola fides justificat Faith alone doth justifie us yet we say that fides nunquant est solitaria Faith never goeth alone but is alwaies accompanied with all good works And therefore the difference betwixt us is but in name and explication seeing what they call inherent righteousness we call Sanctification and we preach the necessity of good works for Sanctification as much and as earnestly as they do for justification And therefore all this strife and stir about this point may seem to be but a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a meer strife about words and nothing else when as both sides do agree about the Substance and the necessity of good works Alas Beloved decipimur specie recti we do many times think that to be of great moment which is indeed but of little consequence and many times we judge that to be of nothing worth which in very deed is most material So many men think this point of difference to be but of small account but I am of Mr. Calvins mind herein The difference betwixt our tenent and the Church of Rome explained that this point of all others is one of the most importance and our difference herein to be very great for they make our good works to be causas essicientes the precedent causes of our justification and we make them to be fructus assequentes the subsequent fruits and effects of our justification and so they ascribe to man the greatest part of the Salvation of man when they ascribe justification to the inherent works of man for what is inherent in us must needs be ours and therefore if we be justified as they say by our inherent righteousness it must needs follow that we do justifie our selves and so we do arrogate more unto our selves than we do ascribe unto the Grace of God For si hominem te fecit Deus justum tu te facis melius aliquid facis quam fecit Deus quia melius est justum esse quam hominem esse if God made thee a man and thou by thy good works makest thy self a just man thou makest somthing better than
Opinions and vomited forth the Blasphemies of the old hereticks and chiefly of the Anthropomorphites Sabellians Nestorians Sadduceans Alexander Ross in the Epistle to the Reader before his animadversions Arabeans Taceans or Euchratites Manichaeans Mahometans and others the like wicked Hereticks All which Errors Heresies and Blasphemies the said Rosse hath observed and quoted the very Chapters where they were to be found and seen in the said Leviathan and hath in his animadversions most religiously and learnedly like a good Servant of Christ confuted the same to whom I refer my Reader to be more fully satisfied in every point And so the Reverend Bishop Hall hath somwhat shewed the Errors Heresies Blasphemies Bishop Hall in his revelation unrevealed Absurdities and Confusions that sprang amongst us and these Sectaries have brought into this Church of Christ And so likewise no doubt but many other Divines have observed and confuted the Blasphemie of these Beasts that have so divided the seamless Coat of Christ and brought such a confusion into his Church And letting pass the multiplicity of errors dissentions and absurd conclusions that have now lately crept into these Dominions about the Government of the Commâ—â—-wealth when some would have it a Monarchy others no Monarchy some desire it to be Aristocratical others Democratical and others Anarchical no Government at all If all the foresaid errors and all other sorts of heresies and blasphemies be not the undeniable marks and notes and the Causers of the greatest confusion and division that can be among Christians in the Faith and Doctrine that they do profess and if every Parish-Priest in order or without order becoming absolute like a Pope in every Congregation without any subordination to superiour Governours as the Independant Anabaptists and Lay Preachers would have it doth not breed the greatest confusion that can be in the Discipline and Government of the Church I leave it to any wise man to determine it and to judge whether the Popes Traditions or the Turkes Alcoran or the Jews fabulous Targum can bring more Sects and divisions and cause greater confusion among the people than these Sectaries and Hereticks have scattered and produced in our Church Objection But here it may be some Presbyterian will object against me for making the Region of division and confusion to be that great City of Babylon that is spoken of in the Revelation and is the place and City where the Antichrist shall enthrone himself and say to me as S. Bernard doth in the like case to Abaylardus that answered him quod omnes Patres sic ego autem non sic that although all the Fathers thought so as S. Bernard said yet he thought not so therefore that I must with Acetâ—erigere mihi scalam set up a Ladder for my self alone to ascend and climb up to the high top of this great Mystery the understanding of what place is meant by this Babylon Author Romae ruinae finalis Anno 1666 when as most of the Expositors of this Point and Place both old and new Papists and Protestants as you may see them produced in heaps by the author of Romae ruina finalis Anno Domini 1666. which is dedicated inclitissimo D. O. Protectori do by Babylon there spoken of literally understand the City of Rome and no other place but Rome and I expound it not so grammatically as they do for any special place or City but altogether mystically for the great City of this world and especially for that part of the world where most errors heresies divisions and confusions are spread and do infest both the Church and Common-wealth And why should I think to be believed before all the rest Or what revelation have I had to understand it better than they did Respon To this I answer 1. That the Particulars of the Person time place and other adjuncts of the great Antichrist are tendered unto us every where in the Scriptures as Prophesies and as Mysteries sealed up obscure and not manifested nor to be understood many times by the Prophets themselves until they be fulfilled and are made known by evident and plain event which as I said before is the best exposition upon all Prophesies And therefore as Bishop Morton saith in excuse of the Fathers concerning their erring in this very case of the Antichrist the ignorance or mistaking of those things Bishop Montagu in his apello Caes c. 5. p. 146. which cannot possibly be understood before the time of their accomplishment in the last daies can no waies be held prejudicial to the wisdom and judgment of the Fathers of former times nor the receding from them can be said to be a fault or presumption in us when we see things otherwise fulfilled than they thought Tilenus exeges de Antichristo 73. p. 21. because as Tilenus saith very well aliud est latentem Antichristum non posse agnoscere aliud revelatum nolle adspicere it is one thing not to know the Antichrist while he lieth hid before he cometh into the world or to know the place or time of his coming before he cometh for so neither the Fathers of old nor the Protestants of latter years though never so learned could rightly and infallibly discern either who he was or at what time and in what place he should arise untill they saw him and it is another thing to refuse to know him or to take notice both of him and of the place where he is when he plainly appeareth and is made manifest to as many as are willing to take notice of him Dr. Hackwill in his Preface to his Book of Gods Providence 2. I say with Dr. Hakewel that sometimes an error and mistaking of a point hath been conceived and delivered by some man of note and worth both for learning and judgment and then the same error hath by the succeeding Schollers been generally imâ—taced and received for a truth sine judicio as Mr. Calvin saith in the like case anâ— without further search or discussion into the nature and ground of the matter and in such a case we ought to accept and follow a late and newly delivered truth and recede from the old and ancient error though never so generally imbraced by the former Authors rather than to continue in a generally received error because truth whensoever and by whomsoever discovered is to be received and preferred before error how anciently or how generally soever it hath been delivered §. 3. The Antichrist will accomplish and fulfill all the Prophesies and do all the things that are foretold us should be done by the Antichrist and that being but an insipid speech to say mallem cum Socrate errare quam cum aliis verè sentire 3. The Antichrist having seen the rebellion and apostacy of the Church and now growing strong by the division and confusion that is both in the Church and State wherein he inthroneth himself as in the seat of his Majesty
he begins to play his part to act all the wickedness and to fulfill all the Prophesies that the spirit of God foretold his Church should be accomplished by the Antichrist that so as he tels them of the signes of his approach to judgment that they might know his coming to be near so by the signes and Marks of the Antichrist and fulfilling of all the Prophesies that concerned him the Saints and servants of God might take notice of him as much as possibly they can to avoid him But here I would have it observed that when I say that all and every thing prophesied in the Scripture How and in what sence all things are done and all Prophesies of the Antichrist are fullfilled by the long Parliament of the old and new Testament that the great Antichrist should do are now conceived to be done and fulfilled in and by the prevalent faction of the long Parliament termed the rump Parliament and their adherents and the Assembly of Presbyterians Independants and Lay-Preachers and their Proselites it is not meant that the rump Parliament should fulfill all and every thing Prophesied concerning the Antichrist or that the Presbyterians should do the same themselves but that all and every thing prophesied of is now fulfilled and acted by some of them or of their adherents not that all and every one of them fulfilled all things but that all things were fulfilled in and by some of them as all the wickedness that is done by an Army is not done by every wicked man in the Army but one commits murder another rape another theft and so forth so it is in the evils prophesied to be done by the Antichrist every one of his members commits not every evil and fulfills every Prophesie but one part or member of him killeth the witnesses another blasphemeth and another changeth the times and so forth and thus we finde all things and all Prophesies now in our dayes fulfilled and acted that were never so fulfilled and acted before The prophesies that concern the Antichrist are of 2 sorts as I have shewed in this book And these Prophesies which are left unto us concerning this great Antichrist are of two special sorts 1. Typically delivered in the old Testament 2. More plainly though mystically too expressed in the new Testament 1. 1. Of the old testament 1. the prophesy of Zechary 11.16 17. The most pregnant place of the old Testament that by the Divines of the Gappe Synod and others is ascribed to foreshew the coming of the Antichrist is found in the 11 Chapter of the Prophesie of Zechariah the 16 and 17 Verses where the Lord saith Lo I will raise up a shepherd in the land which shall not visit those that be cut off neither shall seek the young one nor heal that that is broken nor feed that that standeth but he shall eat the flesh of the fat and tear their clawes in pieces wo to the idoll-shepherd that leaveth the flock the sword shall be upon his arme and upon his right eye his arme shall be clean dryed up and his right eye shall be utterly darkened a most considerable place to describe the great Antichrist 4. things observable in this Prophesie 1. His Raiser Verse 1. the cause v. 3. and 5. and his coming among the flock of Christ and therefore I shall desire you for the better understanding thereof to observe these four Particulars that I finde set down by this our Prophet 1. His Raiser that brings him forth and that is the Lord God For lo I will raise up a shepherd in the land Verse 16. and the reason why he raised him is set down Ver. 3. and 5. 2. 2. the time The time when God raised him and that is after the breaking of the 2 staves beauty and bands spoken of Ver. 7. 3. 3. the titles Ver. 15 17. 4. the judgment v. 17. The Titles names and epithetes that God himself bestoweth upon him thereby to shew unto us all his qualities and his doings Ver. 15. and 17. 4. The Judgment that shall fall upon him both for his foolishness and his wickedness Verse 17. But Act 8.34 as the Eunuch said unto Philip of whom speaketh the Prophet this so before we can well understand these points we must with the Eunuch demand whom doth the Prophet mean by this foolish and idol shepherd Who is meant by this foolish Shepherd And I answer That by this foolish and idol Shepherd we are to understand 1. Primarily not any one single shepherd but chorus pseudo-Prophetarum the whole company of false Prophets that lived about the time of our Saviour Christ 2. The whole multitude of false Teachers that should be the false Prophet of the great Antichrist which towards the end of the world should appear and play their part to vex the Church and to persecute the servants of Jesus Christ for so all the Divines in the National Synod of Gappe Synodo Gappen Artic. 31. 2 Thes 2. 1604. in the 31 Article of their Confession do apply this Prophesie and Text of the foolish Idol shepherd to denotate and shew unto us the great Antichrist which S. Paul calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the man of the sin and the childe of Perdition And so I take the False Prophets and wicked shepherds that were about the time of Christ to be the Type of the false Prophets of the Antichrist and those wicked Shepherds that are the Antichristian Preachers and both to be understood here by this foolish and idol-shepherd And I told you 1. That the raiser and sender of this idol-shepherd unto his people The Raiser of this Shepherd is God himself for as he giveth Kings both good and bad the good out of his love and the bad out of his anger against any Nation as the Prophet testifieth of Saul Hosea 13.11 of whom the Lord saith I gave them a king in mine anger that is against the people that were weary of their good and milde Government under Samuel and I took him away in my wrath that is against himself for his disobedience 1 Sam. 15.23 and transgressions of my Commandments so he sendeth shepherds unto his flock and Prophets unto his people both good and bad the good out of his love and the bad out of his anger against his people for as Christ said unto Pilate Thou couldst have no power at all John 19.11 except it were given thee from above So the false Prophets and this idol-shepherd could not rise if the Lord had not raised them and therefore Hi hi non sine numine divum Eveniunt These men could not come if God made not way for them But would you know the reason why the Lord raised this idol-shepherd and these false Prophets amongst his people look into the 3. verse and you shall finde it two-fold 1. The voyce of the howling of the shepherds for the spoiling of their glory that is
Him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven and not without great cause and a very just reason for it even in any mans judgement for that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the word that St. John useth here and which our Saviour useth there in the place before cited What 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth doth signifie as the learned Criticks do witness not a bare and simple denial of some truth but a treacherous rebellious and unnatural revolt from ones lawful Prince or Master and a revolt accompanied with such a malice against his person that the revolter resieth never satisfied with any thing but in the bloud and utter destruction of the person denied for so St. Peter tels the Jews that had crucified Christ that God had glorified his Son Jesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whom you have delivered and denied that is that he should live before Pilate when he was determined to let him go that he should live 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but you denied the Holy and Just that is you denied that Pilate should let him live and were never satisfied untill you had him crucified and so the Antichrist denieth Christ or Jesus to be the Christ and never leaves to prosecute and persecute the Christ not Jesus but the Christ whom he denieth Jesus to be untill he brings the Christ as the Jews did before bring Jesus down to the dust and unto death and so becomes the man of the sin that S. Paul had spoken of before unto his Thessalonians 2 Thes 2. that is the murderer in the transcendent and vilest kind and manner of man-killing And here also you must observe Another special observation that the Apostle doth not say This great Lyar denieth Jesus to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Son of God because this denial maketh not the Antichrist for so Arius the grand Heretick denied him to be and yet he is not said to be the Antichrist because he confessed and believed that he was the Christ neither doth the Apostle say The Antichrist denieth not Christ to be Jesus but denieth Jesus to be the Christ That this great Lyar is the Great Antichrist because he denieth Jesus to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Saviour of men or the Redeemer of Mankind for so his Name Jesus signifieth and so the Jews the Mahometans and all the Infidels deny him to be and yet they are not said for this denial to be the Antichrist though hereby they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and do absolutely deny to beleeve in him as in their Jesus and their Saviour as the Antichrist doth profess that he is the Jesus that is the Saviour both of himself and of all other men that do beleeve in him and therefore he is not said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Adversary or denier of Jesus but he is said to be the great Lyar and the Antichrist because he would make the World to beleeve that he loves Jesus and beleeves in Jesus and is the best Christian in the World and yet absolutely and peremptorily denieth Jesus to be the Christ Therefore we must take some pains to untie this knot and beg the assistance of Gods Spirit to explain this mystery Mark well this Aenigma that may seem as a Riddle unless we examine it very well to know why the denial of Jesus to be the Christ maketh the Antichrist and the Antichrist to be the great Lyar because he denieth Jesus to be the Christ and how it can be that he which beleeveth in Jesus that he is his Saviour and the true Messias that saves all mankind and as he saith that this his Jesus is Christ and his Christ should notwithstanding be the Antichrist and in all his sayings and profession but a great Lyar because he denieth Jesus to be the Christ he saith he is Christ and beleeveth in him as in his Christ and yet denieth him to be the Christ or to be Christ therefore we may well demand with Nicodemus Joh. 3. How can these things be I say very well or if they were not the great Antichrist could not be the great Lyar. But for the clearing of these points I confess that I must plough with E. H. E. H de Antichristo p. 82. and in his Proface to the Reader p. 3. his Heifer that gave mea the first inckling of the discovery of the truth of this double dealing of the Antichrist where he hath most truly and learnedly though briefly explained the sence and meaning of the Apostle and discovered the apparent great lye of the Antichrist in saying and unsaying affirming and denying the same thing at a breath that must needs make him a Lyar if any thing makes him for as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ signifieth anointed and Jesus was anointed to be both a King and a Priest for so the wise men say Where is he that is born the King of the Jews Simul natus Mat. 2.2 simul Caesar He was a King as soon as ever he was born and Pilate wrote upon his Cross Jesus of Nazreth King of the Jews Joh. 19.19 so that when his enemies bereaved him of his life yet they could not deprive him of his royal and Kingly Office and the more firmly to ascertain us of his Priestly Office The Lord sware and will not repent Psal 110.4 thou art a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchizedech which was not like the Order of Aaron that was to be determined and to have an end but was an everlasting Order to continue a Priest for ever for these two Offices only were the chiefest and the ordinary Offices whereby the Lord ruled the people and governed the Church of the Jews these were the ordinary Rulers of that Commonwealth and therefore these two Offices of Kings and Priests That the Kings and the Priests only were ordinarily anointed 1 Reg. 19.16 and v. 19. were the only usual and accustomed Offices that were anointed in that Church and among that People for the Prophets were an extraordinary Calling and extraordinarily anointed and that but once as I find in all the Scripture and that anointing also not with oyle materially as the Kings and the Priests were but by the casting on of Elijah's Mantle upon Elisha which was termed an anointing of him but the other two were usually anointed with material Oyle And these two Offices of a King and a Priest are the Offices whereby Jesus redeemeth and saveth and also guideth and ruleth his whole Church and without which Offices he could not be a Jesus either to purchase and save or to rule and to instruct his Church and therefore whosoever denieth Jesus to be a King and a Priest denieth him to be the Christ and though he should confess him and beleeve him to be his Jesus and his Saviour yet he cannot save him if he be not the Christ that is anointed to be both
come A speciall observation of the time of this rejoycing and not before because that till now the Church was exercised either with bloody persecutions from without or with intestine broyles and heresies from within but now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the accuser and false traducer of our Brethren the Holy Prophets and the Apostles of Christ by misapplying their sayings misconstring their words and perverting their meaning and making them to say that which they never thought as all Hereticks do being cast out of the Church and quite vanquished consuted and silenced 1. By the blood of the Lamb that is by the faith which the true Christians had in the death of Christ and by the patient sufferings of the Martyrs for the defence of that faith in the former persecutions both of the Pagans and Arians when they loved not their lives unto death but valued them as nothing and yielded them most freely for the maintenance of that Faith which they had in the blood of the Lamb. and 2. by the word of their Testimony that is the breif Articles of their faith and the uniforme rule of Serving God and by the constant firme and faithfull justifying and maintaining the truth of that Doctrine and Service which they professed and published unto the people against all Hereticks whatsoever Therefore now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 12. rejoyce you Heavens Use 12 1. The rejoycing of the Angels and Saints the Church tryumphant and militant for the suppression of the Hereticks and ye that dwell in them that is the highest Heavens and all you Blessed Spirits and Holy Angells that do rejoyce at the Conversion of one Sinner rejoyce now much more for these great Victories and especially for this last victory that Michael and his Angels hath obtained against the Dragon and his Angels and you the Metaphoricall Heavens the Churches of God wherein God resideth rejoyce you as you have most cause to rejoyce that the accuser of your brethren and the false traducer of the Apostles and Holy Fathers of the Church is cast out from amongst you and your Churches are purely reformed the doctrine of faith truely taught and the service of God righty administred and all errors heresies and superstitions swept out of the Church But woe to the Inhabitants of the Earth and of the Sea v. 12. that is Who are meant by the inhabitants of the earth and of the Sea to the Worldlings Hypocrites bloody men and loose livers for the earth signifyeth earthly men and the Sea is a loose roaring and raging element cold and moyst and therefore signifieth the loose and dissolute livers roarers and furious men that have not any heat of Love and Charity in them and those also that for the love of gaine and profit only and not out of love to benefit their Countrey and their Neighbours and to shew the bountifull goodness of God to all places but onely out of a covetous desire to inrich themselves do passe all Seas into all forreign Lands woe woe unto all those because that he which could not and can not prevail against the true Christians that do so firmly stand and so stoutly oppose him will be sure to catch these soon enough within his net and hold them fast enough to make them pay for all because as the Holy Ghost saith he hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great wrath and is exceedingly troubled and vexed not onely for his former foyl and his casting out of Heaven but also most especially for that now after these victories he knoweth or as the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he seeth that he hath but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a short space to recruit and to see if he can revenge his former foyls and therefore 2. 2. The bloody and the most malicious persecution of the Dragon after the suppression of the Hereticks He goeth presently among the Inhabitants of the Earth and of the Sea and perswades them to throw all the stones of the Earth and to stir up all the waves of the Sea and to use all possible arts to vex and oppress the woman and to overwhelm the Ship of Christ which is the Church in the Seas of all miseries and afflictions And so now the Dragon begins a fresh to rage and to persecute the woman saith the Holy Ghost v. 13. which brought forth the man-child and to vex and molest all her Children all the true and faithfull members of the Church whereof most of them especially her lay children were left prety quiet while the spirituall and dogmaticall warre lasted that raged most of all amongst the Clergy but now that warre being ended the Church reformed superstitions expunged and all the Heresies confuted the Dragon vanquished his Angels suppressed and the service of God purely and rightly discharged the true Church and all her members the corrupted unreformed Churches he hath them in his hands already so that he need not trouble himself to meddle with them are newly molested and exceedingly persecuted with great wrath saith the Angel and that is with a bloody warre and a greater warre and a far more unnaturall and unchristian warre and a more violent and more malicious prosecution of the warre and persecution of them that were quiet in the Land then ever was done by this Dragon at any time before this time And the reason of the exceeding greatness and sharpness of this persecution of the true Church The reason of the sharpness of this persecution shewed signified by this woman is not omitted to be set down by the Holy Ghost for the comfort and consolation of all the persecuted Saints and distressed members of Christ and for to incourage them with the more constancy to persist and to withstand the assaults of the Dragon unto the end and that is because the Dragon that in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had many hundred years to prosecute that heriticall and dogmaticall war yet now knoweth and seeth that he hath but a short time to rage and to wage this newly revived bloody war and therefore he must bestir himself or he shall lose his Harvest that hath but a short time to gather in his fruit and that time that he is permitted thus to rage against the woman as the spirit of God sets it down Cap. 12.14 c. 11 8 v. 11. c. 13 5. c. 11.2 is but a time and times and half a time which signifieth the three dayes and a half that the two witnesses of Christ shall lie unburied in the streets of the great City and the 42 moneths wherein the beast should prevail against Gods Servants and should tread the holy City that is the purest Church under feet for all these times thus exprest by severall termes and expressions The suppression of the witnesses and persecution of the Church the same time as of time times and half a time and three dayes and a half and 42 moneths and do synechronize and cohere for the
the path of thy feet and let all thy wayes be established that is let all thine actions and thy dealings be just and honest and these feet of this Beast are said to be like the feet of a Bear which are the most ugly the most ill-favoured and the most filthy and dirty of any feet and so are all the actions and proceedings of this Beast And are not the doings The Parallel the Ordinances and practises of the long Parliament so for what face soever they bear what colour soever they make and how pious soever they seem to be in their preambles and pretences No Pope Turk nor Tyrant did ever commit viler actions then have been done in these Dominions within these 20. years yet if you look downwards towards the feet of these Peacocks and search into the depth of their actions and find out the secret intentions of these glorious Birds the Birds of Juno as the Poets faigne and the Saints of God as themselves say then I demand if you shall not see that there lieth under their glorious trayl feet as black as the Swans or Turkie-cocks and every way as ugly and as filthy as the Beares feet that is as hatefull and as abominable proceedings as ever were masked under such specious shewes and pretences of so much holiness let the Reader judge hereof A speciall Instance of the long parliaments doings I will instance out of many but in one or two examples of the incomparable justice of this Parliament Dr. Wren a very learned man a most Reverend Bishop a painfull Preacher a prudent Governour and a blameless Christian in his life and conversation yet because a Bishop strict in his Government as all Bishops should be he must be cast into prison have all his goods rifled and plundered and have nothing left to him to maintain himself his Wife and many Children and yet because he was so Orthodox in his Doctrine so regular in his life and so circumspect in his Government I could not learn of any of the members of the Parliament the least crime besides a generall clamour and you know that in universalibus latet error that could be justly layed to his charge and though he is worthy neither of death nor of bonds yet for all that to see if his bonds will bring his death the good man must be detained still in prison for many years together and why is all this The Jewes demanded if the Christ when he came would do greater things then this man that was Jesus did so it may be demanded if these men be not the Antichrist will the Antichrist when he cometh do greater villanies cruelties and outragious mischiefs then these men have done that have overdone all that went before them but to see if the length of his miseries would end his life and his injuries because they hated him without a cause and laid to his charge the things that he knew not and they proved not and so could find no colourable cause of death against him a most admirable example of a very just Parliament let Heaven and Earth admire it but I fear that in other such cases God not suffering them to do so in this when they can find no just fault against the persons that they hate they will say with Caesar aut viam inventam ant faciam and will imitate those flies that finding no sores will fasten upon the sound flesh to make sores that they may suck our blood to forge faults and to suborn witnesses to prove them and to shew the reason of this my fear I would adde here the proceedings of this Parliament and the great justice that Col. Eusebius Andrews and some others found at the hands of that long Parliament but that a better Pen hath set forth the same already In the Hist of Independency p. 63. Yet I may not passe the justice that this Parliament hath shewed in their publique printed Act for the Assesment of that great and heavy Tax which they imposed upon the Kingdom to maintain their Army that when it was assessed and all payd by the Countrey every peny yet if their receiver that is appointed receiver by their Committee-men whom they nominated and appointed to be their Committee-men should fail to pay the monies to their Treasurer and should run away with all the Countries money why then because the Army must have money the Countrey must be newly assessed and what they had formerly payd they must pay again so toties quoties as often as their receiver cheates the Countrey the Countrey must still repay it till the Souldiers receive it And according to this Act a brave receiver of Carnarvonshire left the poor Inhabitants of that poor County to repay what they had formerly payd about 4300 l. Let my Reader therefore judge if the seet of the long Parliament be not as the seet of a Beare and odd money as was reported by some of the Committee-men unto me whereof a 1000 l. was payd again to the great wrong and prejudice if not the undoing of a great many of the poor men of that County and whether this act be just or not I refer it to the judgement both of Jewes and Gentiles and to the Heathens and Pagans that know not God and yet may know by the light of nature what is just for if you give full authority to your servant to come to me for money and require me to pay it him and I according to your direction do so if he runs away with your money will any Law make me to pay it again credat Judaeus Apella non ego And besides all this and all particular acts of their illegitimate Justice History of Independency Part 1. Pag. 3. they have passed an Ordinance of Indempnity not onely for them that acted for the Parliament but also for such as have over-acted and have gone beyond the authority that was given them by the Parliament and had sequestred men most unjustly and leavied the same Taxes three or four times over and so they secured them from the Law and from Justice which made the Authour of the History of Independency to say that you might as easily finde Charity in Hell as Justice among any of their Committees And I must here add Idem Part. 1. Pag 7. how justly and how charitably they have dealt with the Reverned Bishops Deanes and worthy Divines and other Gentlemen in Ireland for when the Irish Popish Rebels had causelesly and most inhumanely used them expelled them from their Inheritances and robbed them of all their Estates the Parliament as thinking this load of misery was not enough to be laid upon their backs but adding still more sorrows unto the afflicted instead of relieving them do make an act to take away all their Lands and possessions for ever And whether the Irish Popish Rebels or the English Parliament Saints dealt with us more Christian-like and whether more devilish-like herein I
that they may not go thither But least I should condemne all alike you must as I said before distribute the whole Classis of Presbyterians into these two parts 1. The plaine timide unwilling and unskilfull Presbyterians in the plots and practises and cunning devises of their Elder Brethren and the other kind of Presbyterians for these like well of the Episcopall Government and could very willingly conform themselves to the former discipline of our Church but for fear of want and losse of Livings they are unwillingly drawn to comply though more moderately with the rest of the Presbyterians and these I love and pitty and as they are moderate men so I would have all men moderate in their censures of them 2. The rough rigid and proud polypragmaticall plotting Presbyterians Where you may see the Author held the same Principles in his younger years as now he doth in his old age that for those causes and reasons which I have set down in my resolution of Pilate well nigh fifty yeares ago have and do start aside from their faith given and from their duties and obedience to the Governours and Government of the Church and with all their wits wealth power and abilities do strive and labour rather to ruine the whole Church and to bring all things to confusion then to be overswayed in their opinions and be brought to any subjection their high mindes cannot any wayes bend they are like oakes not willowes and these are this second beast whose wayes I hate with a perfect hatred and think them well worthy our Saviours censure to be heaten with many stripes because they know their Masters mind and do it not and in that respect are far worse then the worst men that were in that long Parliament And here I would have all men to observe how these two beasts How the two beasts combine themselves together the feven headed and the two horned beast do combine and unite themselves to effect all their purposes and joyne together hand and heart to assist each other in all their projects whereby it appeareth most manifest that the Great Antichrist consisteth of Tyrannizing Magistrates and false Prophets of a secular Authority and a spirituall or Ecclesiasticall directory all is but one grand Enemy of Christ and one Army of the Dragon though disposed by their Prince into two speciall Regiments CHAP. II. Why this second beast is said to be risen out of the earth what is meant by the two hornes of this beast and the two things signified by them what it is to speake like the Dragon Of the wonders or miracles of the Beast all false in respect of the foure speciall causes of true miracles and of the fire that this Beast bringeth down from Heaven what it signifieth BUt now having understood who is meant and to be understood by this second Beast that is as all Interpreters agree the Preachers and the Proclaimers of the goodness and the piety of the Antichrist which is conceived to be the Presbyterians Independants and Lay Preachers of the Long Parliament we are to proceed to the description of this Beast and his actions both his words and his works which will make the former Exposition that sheweth who he is the more plain unto you For 1. Why this beast is said to be raised out of the earth Jan. in Annot. in hâ—â—oe Mr. Mede in loc page 65. He is said verse 11. to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a Beast risen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of the earth that is saith Junius quia haec bestia est terrae filia id est obscure natae pedetentim emergens ex âbiectione sua because those Ecclesiasticall Prelates he meanes the Pope and his Cardinalls were sprung up out of obscure flocks meane parentage and poore beginnings and by little and little erept into the height and highest step of all earthly dignity and with him Mr. Mede almost agreeth in words as he doth in sence saying that he is sprung from the lowest condition or rather because he is sprung up secretly without noice like herbes out of the earth Mares p. 138. which Exposition though among so many Popes fome of them sprung from meane parentage as Sixtus 5. was the son of a heardsman Benedict 12. of a baker Vrban 4. of a shoemaker and some others so meane that we know neither their Sir-names nor their Countrey yet can it not be applicable to the Roman-Clergy when as I told you before the men signified by the first Beast that rose out of the Sea that is from the vulgar and common people were of meaner abstract and of farr worse breeding then the Roman Cardinalls and Bishops were whereof divers were Princes even by birth and the children of Nobles of Princes and of Kings as not onely the Records of Spain but also to go no further the Chronicles of our own Kingdom do sufficiently testifie therefore I rather conceive this beast is said to be risen out of the Earth because their hearts and soules were like Demases onely earthly glued to these vanities and bewitched with the love of this present world 1 Cor. 15.47 even as St. Paul saith the first man is of the earth earthy and as is the earthy such are they that are earthy so are the men signified by this beast earthy and worldly though of all others they ought to have been as they professed themselves to be most heavenly for so St. Paul tells Titus Titus 1.12 1 Pet 2.3 Jude v. 11. that they teach things which they ought not for filthy lucre sake and St. Peter saith that through covetousness they shall with faigned words make Merchandize of you and St. Jude saith they run greedily after the error of Balâ—am that is for reward and St. Paul tells us plainly that they which cause division and offences Rom. 16 17 18. The Parallele The Assembly of Presbyters and the rest of the pre-byterians most worldly contrary to the doctrine which you have learned serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly that is to get the things of this world to satisfie their fleshly lusts but for their earthliness their covetousness and in justice in taking and possessing their brethrens livings and livlihoods it is so well known that I need not speak of it but onely to say with St. Paul thou that teachest another not to steal doest thou steale thou that wouldest have thy Parishioners to be just wilt thou be unjust and take the bread out of thy brothets mouth take heed how thou wilt answer this at the last day And I believe that if the Assembly of Presbyters and the rest of the Independant and Lay-Preachers had not been very worldly and most earthly minded ambitious of greatness and desirous to be wealthy and to have the honour to beare rule and to be as the Scribes and Pharisees coveted to be great among the people they would never have caused such division
procul a digito is a degree beyond 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a signe for signes are but parva mira some strange accidents and things done within the sphere of nature but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wonders which some conceive to be derived 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that fignisieth to terrifie because they strike amazement in the beholders Stapleton asserit illa vera miracula futura quoad actus su pernaturales sed mendacia quoad usum quia mendacio inserviunt dom 24 as things that do far exceed the reach of nature or the second causes are things of a higher straine quaeque omnium naturalium causarum creaturarum vires excedunt which do exceed the strength of all naturall causes and the Power of all the creatures and so there must be a supernaturall Power and a Divine vertue to effect them And such wonders this beast would pretend to do and not onely this beast but many other false Prophets would pretend to do the same as I said before for so the Friars and the Nuns of the Roman Church have filled the world with such pretended miracles Texeda p. 23. as could not be done without Divine strength whereof you may see divers of them in Texedas miracles unmasked and especially those of Mary of the visitation priors of the Monastery of the Anunciada in Lisbon Object But you will say the Presbyterians pretend not to do any such miracles and therefore they cannot be this false Prophet nor can they be justly charged for such doings I Answer that the deceits and fallacies of the pretenders to do miracles have been so sufficiently discovered by St. Augustine St. Chrysostom and others of the ancient Fathers and specially by our learned Protestants that have displayed the counterfeit miracles of the Roman Church and the jugling tricks of the Nuns and Friars that the Presbyterians have so much wit Aug. l. de unitate Ecclesiae The Parallele as in plaine termes not to pretend to worke miracles yet they will tell you of such things that the Parliament and themselves have done which if done as they say are greater miracles then any of the pretended miracles of the false Friars for the doings of the Parliament slaying the Witnesses Let my reader judge if the Presbyters have not hereby fulfilled this prophesie changing the Times altering the Lawes stripping the Church of her Revenues subduing all Opposers and the Pretensions of the false Prophet the Presbyterians and the Independants and Lay-Preachers to convert soules to make Saints to make fire to come down from heaven to pull down the Antichrist to overthrow the whore of Babylon to reduce all the Tribes of Israel to the Sheepfold of Christ as they hope to do and the like 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strange things The miracles of the Presbyterians greater then the miracles of the Friars seeming to all the people to surpasse all humane reach and not to be done but by the singer and speciall providence of God which they plainly Preach so to be unto their hearers must needs be conceived to be greater wonders then the pretended miracles of the Friars and so accordingly as great miracles and strange wonders are wont to do these very things have wrought such an admiration and amazement among the people that they were very easily deceived by the meanes of these things that were indeed but as the Apostle saith the miracles of the Antichrist should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lying wonders false fignes and deceitfull miracles in respect of all the causes of true mirales For 1. That the wonders of the Presbyterians are all lying wonders Bellarm de to Pontif. l. 3. c. 15. Corn. Alapide in h. loc Whereas the end of a true miracle and the proper use of it is to confirm and justifie an extraordinary calling and the truth of the Doctrine of them that are so called as Elias and the Apostles did and the Pharisees requested of Christ to do the like to shew them a figue from Heaven to justifie his extraordinary Office the end of Antichrist his wonders and of this false Prophet is not to justifie their extraordinary calling which they do not challenge lest that should discover them but to deceive the people and to cheat them into a compliance with them in their wicked wayes and to that end saith Gerhan the man of sin Vtitur sapientia verborum will be as eloquent as Domosthenes Guhan in 2 Thes 2. and he useth simulatione virtutum a dissimulation of much vertue in his life and conversation seeming as curteous as Titus the son of Vespasian The differences betwixt true miracles and false 1. Difference and as Religious as St. Antony or Marke the Eremite he will also use the Testimony of the Scripture and Preach and alleadge Scripture as readily as the Devill did to Christ and he will pretend to do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strange things and to make large promises of Preferments to his adherents as blessings here and happiness hereafter if they follow him and his waies and all this he useth but to deceive the people and to intice them to be his Proselites and if neither of these things nor all these can do the deed then as the King of terrors he will roare out his threatnings and persecutions like a Lion no less then hell and damnation remaineth for them and are not the doings of our Presbyterians just thus as if Gorran had been alive to have seen them he doth so lively and so punctually describe them under the person of the man of sin 2. Difference 2. Whereas true miracles are done by the helpe and operation of Gods Spirit as Nicodemus saith to Christ no man can do those things which thou doest John 3.2 except God be with him the lying miracles of the beast and the wonders of the false Prophet are done by the helpe of the Devill as the Holy Ghost saith Revel 13.2 the Dragon gave him his Power and his Seate and great Authority whereby they were furthered and inabled to do those great things and wonders that they did and St. Cyrill affirmeth antichristum esse magum veneficiis malis artibus instructissimum the Antichrist to be a Magician and most expert in all kinde of witcheries Cyrillâ—s Cateâ— ches 15. and wicked arts I know not whether any of the Long Parliament were such or no though many men suspected them to be such but I have often heard that those enthusiasts that were Presbyterians and Lay-Preachers pretended Revelations from God which were indeed the delusions of the devill 2 Thes 2. and as the Apostle saith strong delusions 3. Difference 3. Whereas true miracles are really the things that they seem to be these wonders of the beast and his followers the pretended doings of our Presbyterians videntur non sunt are but phantasmes and illusions and a kinde of seeming to be what they are not and therefore
Bellarmine well observeth out of Arâ—thas this beast is said to do his wonders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the sight of menj that is so appearing to men whose sight and judgement are thereby deceived for that they do nothing of what they pretend and seemed to do but the things that they do are no such things indeed in the sight of God 4. 4. Difference Whereas true miracles do exceed all naturall causes tam occultas quam manifestas as well the hidden secrets of nature as those causes that are knowen to us and are done onely by the hand and Power of God and therefore they are wonders and not onely in the fight of men but also in the sight of Angells and Devills the wonders of the Antichrist and his adherents the Presbyterians and Lay-Preachers have all of them their naturall causes though they be hidden from the sight and understanding of the people as the victories of the beast and his successes are obtained meerely by his subtle tricks his cunning carriage of the war and the desperate valour of his soldiers God giveth them leave so to prevaile over the pufillanimity and security of his children that offendeth him and they are not obtained by the immediate hand of Gods active Power The Presbyterians gaining so many Proselites to what it is ascribed and a miraclous effecting Providence from heaven as the beast pretendeth and so desperately blasphemeth God in making him the author of all his bloody cruelties and the shedding of all the innocent blood that was spilt which can no wayes stand either with the goodness or justice of God and the Presbyterians winning of so many simple men to follow after them and to become their disciples to believe their erronius heresies and damnable positions it is to be ascribed to their sedulity vehemency and good oratory wherewith Aeschines Demosthenes and Cicero perswaded their Auditors to follow them and not to the powerfull working of Gods Holy Spirit who though for their sins he permitteth the simple people to believe strong delusions and to be misled into most damnable conclusions by this beast yet he never worketh and leadeth them into the same And therefore what Vulteius Remensis saith of some Franciscan Monkes that played many jugling tricks in Orleance Anno 1534. the same may be rightly applyed to these Presbyterians Cum clamat larvas furiosa caterua leonum Infestare suam nocte dieque domum Res vera est falsi larvati denique fratres Quos vestis sanctos prodigiosa facit Sunt lemures larvae furiae vulpesque lupique Qui infestant vitiis seque suamque domum Which I may very well thus translate When Presbyters do cry that scisme and heresie Do spoile the Church of Christ The thing is true for so these Saints in shew Are furious Fiends the limbs of Antichrist That with their Lies and Heresies given in a golden Cup Have poysoned all the whole Flock of Christ And so themselves are the Mischief that have spoyled all things both in the Church and Common-wealth But though all the wonders and workings of this false Prophet be but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lying wonders and no truth in them yet hereby he deceiveth the people and especially when as the Holy Ghost sayth He maketh fire to come down from heaven on the earth Touching which fire What is here meant by the fire that the beast maketh to come down from heaven 1 Reg. 18.38 we must not understand it to be such a fire as Elias brought down to consume the two fifty men that the King sent to fetch him nor such a fire as by his prayers came down to consume the Sacrifice upon Mount Carmel because those fires were true fires and truly miraculously brought down by the Prophet when as the sire that this false Prophet pretendeth to bring down is no such thing neither must we take it for such a fire as Philostratus sayth Apollonius Tyanaeus fetched down from Heaven in the fight of many people because this was some elfe-fire that he procured to appear as the flash of a Meteor by the help and procurement of the Devil when as this false Prophet pretendeth not to bring down any such a fire neither yet can I yeild it should be taken as Mr. Mr. Medes Expofition rejected Mede and others of our late Writers do expound it for the lightnings and thunders of the Popes Buls and Excommunication against those that submit not themselves to him and to his Decrees because as I shewed to you before the Pope and his Cardinals cannot be understood by this false Prophet But I take it as a proverbial Hyperbole for the application of that which was sayd before That this Beast doth great wonders so that he maketh fire to come down from Heaven The parallel The fire that Christ came to send on earth the Beast pretendeth to bring from heaven because the Jews do commonly attribute so much to the miraculous fire of Elias that they use for all wonderful works proverbially to say He bringeth down fire from heaven sayth Graserus Or else it must be taken as I rather conceive in that sense as our Saviour takes it when he sayth I came to send fire upon the earth because this Prophet would fain seem to imitate Christ and to do all the things that he should do and can do as Christ did and therefore he pretendeth to bring the same fire that Christ brought down and that is the fire of zeal and a most ardent affection to Christ and to the truth of his Religion and this fire the Presbyterians and the Independant and Lay-preachers pretend to bring down from heaven to the earth above all other men whatsoever but in very deed this fire of their is but an ignis fatuus a deceitful fire and their seeming zeal as well as all the rest of their doings is but as the Apostle saith a lying-wonder for the true fire that these men do bring is of another kinde from another place and to another end and that is the fire of hatred and persecution which they bring from Hell Not the fire of persecution and not from Heaven and they bring it into the Church and upon the true Members of Christ and not on the earth but this their fire is not to be understood in this place Reason 1 1. Because the Holy Ghost sayth The Beast bringeth the fire upon the earth that is the earthly minded men whom only he perswadeth to worship the Beast and to adhere unto him as being deceived by his false wonders and this he doth by the fiery zeal of Gods worship which he pretends to bring unto them and the persecution of the Beast is against the Saints and not against these earthly men that by the sight of this fire are perswaded to serve and assist the beast and to afflict the Saints Reason 2 2. Because it is immediatly sayd that hereby he deceiveth them that dwell