head of that Church It is cause of everlasting thankfulnesse and watchfulnesse not to be deluded by fine shewes of worldly men but let us see and know where true worship lies as the Lord hath declared himself in Christ and held him forth in the Gospel of truth Forthly let it teach us all where to bestow our admiration and adoration It was a charge that our Saviour gave to the Devill and which accordingly he himself practised and requires us to doe Mat. 4. 10. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve The Devill askes this of Christ to bow downe to him and worship him The Lords Indignation is kindled his holy Zeale is inflamed against such a Sacriligious request Get thee hence Satan for it is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve And as we are to worship him alone and no God but him so we are to admire none but him Who is like unto thee O Lord amongst the Gods who is like unto thee glorious in holinesse fearfull in praises doing wonders Exod. 15. 11. There is matter of admiration who is a God like unto the Lord that forgiveth Iniquity Transgression and Sinne of which you read Mic. 7. 18. and which the Church holds forth there upon this very ground who is a God like unto thee why what is there in him that you so magnifie him he is a God that forgives Iniquity Transgression and Sinne here is cause indeed of admiration They admire and adore the Pope why Because they had satisfaction to their consciences in their way and an ungrounded hope of a better state in another world and pardon of Sinne in this and now they come to fellowship with Christ by the worship of the Devill But who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth Iniquity Transgression and Sinne So that here is indeed matter of due admiration and let it be fastned there When a mans soul is brought low with the sence of Sinne and overpoured with the burden that lyes upon his conscience by reason of the guilt of Sinne what is matter of admiration now who is a God like unto thee that passeth by Iniquity transgression sin It is not the Pope of Rome that can take away sin it is not all the cunning of the Dragon that can do it And therefore to what end are all the admirations and worships that are put upon the Bishop of Rome and the Dragon that gave him his power They may please themselves in what satisfaction they apprehend they have but their own principles possesse them that they can never come to see the admirable goodnesse of God in forgiving their Sinnes But now when the Lord sheds abroad a spirit of grace and peace in the conscience and applyes the goodnesse of Christ to the discharge of the burden of Sinne and of quickning the heart in the peace of Christ Jesus this breeds admiration Blessed be God the Father of mercy and God of all consolation that of his aboundant mercy hath begotten us again to a lively hope I say this blessing is worthy of admiration and not onely of wonderment but of acknowledging all glory and blessednes to him When the conscience is not pacified by a sorry duty done from man but by a sealed pardon from the spirit of God witnessed by the breath of the holy Ghost this is such a mercy to the soule as indeed raiseth the heart above all admiration of such a Beast I to a true detestation of this Beast and of the Dragon that hath so long bewitched and carried them captive to the imaginations of their own hearts and in the end to their everlasting perdition But let it be the care of Gods people as ever you desire to be blessed from the admiration of such a worm-eaten Religion so grow to an admiration of the God of mercy and grace and so we shall doe that upon just grounds which our Fathers did without grounds to this Beast and to the head of it Upon this ground this head being wounded and afterwards healed all the world wondred after him Here is an Image of Christ he was wounded to death and his deadly wound was healed and he riseth againe and he proclaims all power is given him in Heaven and Earth Now see how this Vicar of Christ as they call him usurps as Christ was wounded and is risen againe so it is with this Beast he is wounded to death and afterwards healed and restored and now all the world admire and worship him Have they forgotten that Christ dyed for our Sinnes and was raised again for our Justification and doe they stand admiring at this Beast as he that was wounded and healed Therefore let it be a ground of true thankfulnesse to the Lord for the great change that is wrought in Christendome and let us give the Lord the admiration that is due to him that we may be preserved from those delusions wherewith others have been deceived and may goe on in this way constantly which the Lord hath established and called us unto Revel 13. 5 6. And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies and power was given unto him to continue forty and two moneths And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God to blaspheme his name and his Tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven THE events that followed upon the healing of the Beast the first was That all the world admired him The second was Vniversall worship given both to the Beast and to the Dragon that gave power to the Beast of which wee have already spoken The third event remains now to be spoken to and that is the deligation of power to this Beast upon his recovery and the power given him is four-fold 1. There was power given him to speak great things and in particular great blasphemies 2. There was power given him to continue that is as the word signifies to be doing to be active to be powerfull and efficacious in his worke 42. moneths 3. There was power given him to make war with the Saints and to overcome them 4. Power was given him of dominion over all Kindreds Tongues and Nations First There was given him a mouth speaking great things Secondly There was power given him to continue 42. moneths and both these Authorities or Liberties they are amplified by the effect it wrought in the Beast He did effectually take that power which was given him and employed it to the utmost As he had a mouth given him so he opened his mouth in blasphemies and that amplified by the object of his blasphemy against God and God distributed his Name his Tabernacle and those that dwell in Heaven The note then that the words do afford first is this That after the healing of the wounded head of the Beast there was given to him power to speak great things even blasphemies which also he did effectually and abundantly exercise or
1639. and the first and second of the yeare 1640. upon his weekly Lecture at Boston in New-England where he went over the other Chapters of the Revelation as he did this thirteenth Chapter and indeed they that were acquainted with his Preaching may easily discern his very spirit in them all along Now that the holy spirit of the Lord may breath in these holy Labours of his precious Servant so as the Reader may experience the truth of that divine sentence mentioned in the beginning The tongue of the righteous is as choise silver is the unfeigned desire of The servant for Jesus sake Thomas Allen. Norwich the 1. day of the 1. month 1654-55 AN EXPOSITION Upon the thirteenth Chapter of the REVELATION Revel 13. 1 2. And I stood upon the sand of the Sea and saw a Beast rise up out of the Sea having seven heads and tenne horns and upon his horns ten Crowns and upon his heads the name of blasphemy And the Beast which I saw was like unto a Leopard and his feete were as the feete of a Beare and his mouth as the mouth of a Lyon and the Dragon gave him his power and his seate and great authority YOU have heard from the last Chapter that when the Dragon that is the Devill as he ruled the Roman Pagan Empire was cast downe out of Heaven that is dethroned from his heavenly and Divine worship he endeavoured by all meanes to oppresse the Church that is the woman that brought forth a Christian Emperour her and her seed 1. By persecution 2. By an inundation of damnable Heresies and barbarous Nations 3. By open War which open war is exprest in the last verse of the former Chapter and here more fully described in this Chapter a whereof hath been now read The warre which is made against the Church is here described to be managed by two beasts which the Devill raised up One he calls a Beast rising up out of the Sea described from the first verse to the end of the tenth Another Beast hee beheld coming up out of the Earth from the 11 th verse to the end of the Chapter Now the former of these Beasts is described by three arguments 1. By his Originall or Fountain from whence he springs he riseth up out of the Sea which is amplified by the place of Johns beholding him I stood upon the sand of the Sea 2. He is described by his shape here is his figure and resemblance For his head he had seven heads and they amplified by honourable Ornaments or rather dishonourable indeed but honourable in the beasts view namely upon his heads the name of blasphemy 2. For his horns he had ten horns and they are set forth by their Crowns which he had on his horns He had so many horns so many Crowns upon his ten horns ten Crowns And as his shape is set forth by his head and horns so also by his resemblance or likenesse the whole shape or bulk of the Beast is like a Leopard The Leopard is of the femenine gender and signifies the female of the Panthers the she Panther spotted and ravenous famous for her speedy race and yet of a good smell by which she allures other beasts to her and as she hath occasion doth devoure them And as his resemblance for his whole shape is like a Leopard so for his feet he is like a Bear And for his mouth he hath the mouth of a Lyon This is the second argument by which he is described 3. The third argument whereby he is described is his state and that amplified by three arguments 1. By the efficient cause 2. By the variable change of it And 3ly by a wise conclusion and observation For the efficient cause of it it is said to be the Dragon he gave him his power and authority For the variable change of it it was 1. Great for it is here called Power and Seate and great Authority 2. One of his heads was wounded I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death And thirdly this wound was healed this is the variable change of it 1. Great authority honourable seate 2. Wounded to death And thirdly healed of that deadly wound And this healing is amplified by five Effects or Consequents The first was the worlds wondering All the world wondered after the Beast The admiration was aâ— this great change so happily atchieved as they thought that he should recover that desperate danger The second effect it wrought was worship both towards himselfe And secondly to the Dragon that gave him power The third effect of this healing was liberty to blaspheme There was a mouth given him to speake great things blasphemies A fourth effâ—ct was Authority and Power to do what First To continue forty two moneths vers 5. Secondly Power to make warre with the Saints and to overcome them that was the fourth effect that followed his healing The fifth effect was amplitude or largenesse of his Dominion Power was given him over all Kindreds Tongues and Nations vers 7. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him vers 8. Which worshippers are described by their estrangement from the number of Gods elect whose names are not written in the book of the life of the Lamb and the Lamb set forth by the eternall efficacy of his death Slaine from the foundation of the world This is the second part of the description of the Beast The third part is a conclusion which contains a word of Caution and Consolation or a word of Attention and Consolation in the ninth and tenth verses If any man have eares to heare let him heare as if it were a matter worthy of observation and diligent attention and of exact understanding and of consolation in the tenth vers He that leadeth into captivity shall goe into captivity he that killeth with the sword must he killed with the sword c. This is the former Beast and his description The latter Beast is in the eleventh verse to the end I beheld another Beast coming up out of the earth c. He is described by his variety from the former beast For his Original he comes not as the other Beast out of the Sea but from the Earth And for his resemblance he hath two horns like a Lamb and he spake lik a Dragon 2. He is described by his power as in the twelfth verse but I will not now speak further of him Now for the meaning of the words It is that which the holy Ghost calls us diligently to attend unto He that hath cares to heare let him heare If any man have an eare to understand any apprehension of spirituall mysteries any capacity of matters of Religion let him heare what manner of beast the Devill stirred up and set against the Church to make war against the Saintâ— as if it were a matter that few would understand but such as were of spirituall understanding and who will listen duly to a diligent observation
discharged of this burden This was very plausable to carnall reason especially if they gave so much to such a Monastery that they may offer so many Sacraments for them for they look at the bread in the Lords supper as a propiatory Sacrament here were so many means to satisfie the consciences of those that were superstitious as nothing could be devised to give better content to the spirits of men in those dayes any man that knowes it shall finde it true that when the conscience is terrified with the curse of Gods Law and never shewed the true way of fellowship with Christ no man is so tender and conscionable in the performance of all duties as they If you will have them kisse the Popes foot or give so much to a Monastery and by this means Hell shall be shut against them and Purgatory discharged But for assurance of Salvation in Christ they could not endure that they that stood for that they tell them what you will not have men doe good workes away with that faggot and halter for such Hereticks Thirdly there was a third Reason and that was from the great reverence of all Councells and Synods to the Sea of Rome The City of Rome had wont to be the imperiall City now in such a case as this they thought it but reasonable In heathenish Rome they gave all worship to them and so let Christian Rome give all their worship to the chief Head there and so to their mother Church all Catholicks would incourage others so to doe and so by this means there were such incouragements laid for admiration and adoration that you may not wonder at what the holy Ghost saith That when the wound was healed all the world wondred after the beast saying who is like unto the beast who is able to make war with him Not the Emperors of the East and West not the King of England France Spain nor all that have been of greatest force they were none of them able to hold up their heads against this great Beast The use of this point is thus much First you may observe from hence that Universality and Prosperity though they be given for two notes of a true Church by the Papists yet indeed they are but sopisticall deceitfull delusions They are not such marks of a Church as are peculiar to a true Church here is Universality All the world wondred after the beast and here is Prosperity all the world adore and admire the Beast Who is like unto the beast who is able to make war with him Not all the Princes of the world So that here is externall prosperity for so they call it here are both these concur and they doe indeed argue a Catholick Church as Bellarmine saith but note this that Catholick Church which is visible which is the Roman visible Catholick Church the Scripture holds it forth as a great and ugly and monstrous Beast look not therefore at these as any good marks and signes by which Jesuites and Seminaries are wont to draw to deep devotion to the Catholick Church for all the world have run this way there is but a handfull a few of such as are otherwise minded what is Genevah and some others to Rome what have they been able to doe in comparison of the Church of Rome which is the Church of Churches none have been able to doe as they Secondly we may see the danger of this admiration and adoration the deadly and desperate danger of adoring the Catholick visible Church and the Dragon It is the cunning of these Priests and Jesuites to draw men by all means to be at least devoted to the Catholick Church and to submit their power thereunto for they say there is no union with Christ the head unlesse you be united to the visible head on Earth this is their usuall plea Now marke what the holy Ghost speaks in this Text he doth say that all the worship of this mother Church is but the worship of the Dragon Men are devoutly adicted to give up their souls to the Devill when they give up themselves to the Catholicke visible Church the Lord professeth he is not honoured by them they professe honour to he-Saints and shee-Saints and dead Saints and to all relicks and remnants of them the honour of them is given unto the Devill and not to God That look what Paul saiâ—h of heathen Rome John speaks of christian Rome This I say saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 10. 20. That the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to Devils and not to God and I would not that ye should have fellowship with Devils And so this saith John the holy Apostle equall to the Apostle Paul or next him but here guided equally with Paul in the Authentical word of God he saith They that worship God according to the prescript of the Church of Rome they worship the Devils and not God they worship the Dragon the old Serpent So that it is not so light a matter as Gallants at Court and great Kings apprehend they will be reconciled to their mother Church they will goe a Pilgrimage that is devised by the Pope and perform duties as their ghostly Father directs them and have their bead-prayers In all this what do they doe This is a worship to the great beast but this is the issue and substance of it they doe indeed worship the Dragon It is not the Lord Jesus nor God the Father nor the blessed spirit that is thus worshipped but this is indeed the worship of the Devill Thirdly this may serve to teach us to blesse the name of the Lord that hath delivered us from this admiration and adoration from this wofull Captivity and Calamity whereto our Fathers have been enthralled All those of them whose names are not written in the Lambs book of life they were all led this way and it is a marvellous deliverance that God hath wrought for us in taking our Religion from universality and from outward prosperity It is sometimes a snare to Christians this kinde of Government that we have and they are apt to say what doe any of the great Nations of the world for worship and Government did you ever know any such thing authorised in any Kingdome There is an inward principle in us by nature to doe as all the world doe what are we more wise then they It is a great temptation but we have cause to blesse God that hath wrought deliverance for us But what if all the world did worship the Devill as time was when they did what if all the world worship the Beast and the Dragon that gave power to the Beast must we doe so And as they are not grounds of our worship so they are fit grounds of unfeigned thankfulnesse to God that hath delivered us from that Religion by which all the world was bewitched to give their Crownes Honours Bodies and States to the devotion of the visible Catholick Church and to the
he goeth They kept themselves undefiled of this Antichrist of Rome were not defiled with the whoredome of this great beast in all things they consented with the Doctrine of the Primitive Church and their hypocrisies and whoredomes and coveteousnesse were things that would by no means be borne therefore the Pope who was the great head discerning he was thus contested against and as they say blasphemed he thinks he does nothing though he destroy Turkes and Sarazens and Aegyptians and whoever took the Sepulcher of Christ as long as those Heretickes at home were not subdued therefore he thinks it as meritorious a worke to subdue them as ever to fight for the holy Land But there was another thing that made the war for no warre can be made but by levying of Forces on both part◠And therefore a second was their taking up of Armes in the just defence of their liberties both of conscience and outward man For if the Catholick Church had raised up all these Forces and they had quietly submitted themselves like sheep to the slaughter there had beene no warre then there had been massacres It would have amounted to that as the massacre in Paris that a man did not lift up his hand but they were slaughtered like dogs in the street Though they come with fire and sword yet unlesse they resist with fire and sword it cannot be said to be war Some set in against them though their weaknesse caused them to presume but it was to weak a businesse for flesh and bloud Wee wrestle not against flesh and blood but against Principalities and Powers and spirituall wickednesses They which trust to flesh and bloud shall be deceived as these men they stood out and sometimes prospered while the Earl of Tone and some other Princes joyned together though they were but few they prospered but war is not one Battel or two and in the end they were overcome and this Beast prevailed and that 's the reason of the 2 d part how he came to make warre against the Saints For the 3 d How came he to overcome them Truly not by strength he had very little that way but First he overcame them by their a little too much confidence in the arme of flesh when they see the King of Aragon set on they come to be a little set on by the power of the King and a great Battell recoyled by trusting to the arme of flesh You read in Heb. 11. 34. That by faith the Saints waxed valiant in Fight turned to flight the Armies of the Aliens but when our faith runne in another channell that we grow confident not in the Lord Jesus by trusting in him but on the arme of flesh we know what is said in Jer. 17. 5. Cursed be the man ye though he be a good man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arme and whose heart departeth from the Lord It withers it cannot stand against the potent Army that rise up against them though their enemies were never lesse in number nor never lesse provided yet they prevailed more then ever before The second Reason was by their attention to politick and deceitfull Treaties of peace for when they saw the men were good Souldiers valient in battell and able to fight it out and they found the 3000. that were to fight for plenary pardon three years had served out their time and they had got as they thought their souls saved they would go home now and they had got peace by this carnall confidence of theirs So they perceived this war would be troublesome and the Hereticks were like to prosper therefore they gather in the cheif Leaders to Treaties about peace and great pitty that such bloud should be shed therefore for the honour of Rome it were needfull to cease the warre and so would draw their cheif Leaders to firme leagues of Peace and then they kept their best Generals in Prison and thus when they had got them to yeild to their pretences then they had their neckes under their girdles and their throats under their axes they might hew them out of measure Insomuch that the King of France hearing of such cruell massacre he sent to know what their Religion was and though he sent expresse charge that none of his Souldiers should offer violence to them yet they concealing his Letters they went on in massacring the poor Saints and scattering them up and down in so much that they prevailed partly by the Saints cleaving to the arme of flesh and by trusting their false pretences And there is a third Reason mentioned in the 10. vers saith he Here is the Faith and Patience of the Saints It was Gods pleasure to make it the season of the Patience of the Saints It was the season wherein Antichrist should swell to his height and the Saints be brought low and their Patience be tryed to the utmost and it being a time of the Saints Patience it must needs be a time of their suffering and suffer they did with much patience but yet they were not utterly exterpated for some fled to France and some to England and so propagated Christian Religion which after turned to the conversion of many John Husse and Jerome of Pragues Doctrine grew and spread more till God raised up Luther to set forward the power of the Gospell Thus you see the truth of the Doctrine For the use then First it may serve to let us see whence is the power of waging war for the Text saith it was given To him it was given to make war with the Saints All men cannot receive this as our Saviour saith in another case but they to whom it is given It is not an easie matter for any to be 〈◊〉 to wage war it requires great store of persons and great store of Treasury and Fountain to maintaine both And besides all this it require◠no small measure of Wisdome and Policy to undertake such designes all these you see the Lord gives and gives them to those that his soul take no pleasure in and to those that in his esteem are men of beastly spirit◠yet he gives them power to make warre He may blesse himself in his rule and bravery that they were able to 〈◊〉 against Infidels and after against Heriticks as they called them but indeed the Saints of God but you see God gave power unto this Beast which is therefore no cause of triumph or glorying that he hath recived such a power for you see it may be given to these that are enemyes to the Lord Jesus Secondly observe this much That the Lord himselfe doth acknowledge even his poor children on Earth to be that which is commonly by priviledge sequestred to the holy Saints in Heaven He calles them Saints We think Saint-ship is a peculiar priviledge to the Saints in Heaven when they have ended their dayes in peace and a good conscience then they are accounted Saints and Angels but the Lord accounts
sword into the head of their Guides Leaders where they lived and though they were by former Lawes engaged by way of Homage yet now they may take up the sword of their own defence and maintenance in witnesse bearing to the Truth to the last bloud In such cases the case is much altered for their Princes and supream Governours they are all subject to the Laws and Oath of the Kingdome and they have no power but according to the Lawes which are made If therefore they take up a power against Law and contest with the people of God then this power which these holy men did exercise to maintain their peace against all opposition to be raised against them is lawfull For a fourth use it may teach all the people of God not to measure a cause by the event nor persons by accidents that do befall them lest they should condemn the generation of the Just It was a grievous temptation Asaph lay under to see the ungodly prosper and have what their hearts could desire and himselfe plagued all the day long and chastned every morning Psal 73. 3. to 13. and by this meanes he condemned the generation of Gods children But no matter though the Beast prosper and the Saints are overcome yet the Beast is a Beast when he prospers and the Saints are Saints though they be overcome therefore let us not judge of things according to their appearance Fifthly It may teach all the Saints in this Countrey or where-ever not to trust the pretences of deceitfull men especially such as are not sound in Religion and take heed also how you trust upon your own strength let me put them both together for brevity sake We know not how soon any of us may be tempted in this kind what warres may be raised against this Countrey though wee have none for the present nor feare none yet in time we know not what may come what are we better then our Fathers The Beast of Rome still lives his 42. moneths is not yet out though his power he much weakned but his Agents still live He is able to blow a coale to those that look for salvation from him to do this great and glorious service to the Catholick Church and cause And if it please the Catholick Church then it grows a great businesse to root out Hereticks to blast them by censures of Excommunication and Civill State if it were so we stand upon our own defence you see It behooves you therefore as you desire to be faithfull to God to Religion to your Churches and Common-wealths to your Wives Children Estates as you desire to be faithfull to his Ordinances to the Kingly Priestly and Propheticall Office of Christ to attend to that which these Saints neglected that is to say to attend to the word of Faith and to the wisdome of God Trust not upon the experience of your Captaines or Souldiers to fight by Land or Sea Trust not upon your Castles or Vessels by Sea any thing you have or may have Trust not upon the pieces of Ordnance they are all vaine things to save if you stand in need and yet of use Be prepared in this kind that you may be instrumentall to Gods providence but trust not in them they are but the Arm of flesh And if Wars come against New-England it will be from Principalities and Powers and flesh and blood will not be able to with-stand them They will be Principalities from Hell or the great Beast the Catholick Church or from the Image of this Beast otherwise there is no feare of any War but if any War do come trust not in those means you have nor though all the Natives in the Countrey were on your side and if any great Protestant States should offer you help use them but do not trust in them It was the way of overcoming the Saints of God they trusted on the arm of Flesh and that was their great folly and that brought the hand of God against them therefore see your Faith be sincere and upright to him Secondly Leane not to the wisdome of carnall reason nor trust not to faire pretences you shall have your liberties longer established only something or other you must give way to and some principall ones must be singled out to treat of peace but it was the ruine of this State It behoves the Saints to sanctifie God in their hearts to trust upon his grace to cleave to the word of God trust what the Lord saith and not what deceitful men say It was a grave saying of an ancient Prince in England Obey according to the Law and you obey the King but if you obey what comes suddenly out of his mouth or against Law you obey not me as King And that is it which Christian Religion teacheth no Religion teaches a man more to obey Kings in wholsome Laws to obey them it to obey God in them for Princes are subordinate to God himselfe The people do concur in making some Laws in every Common-wealth and Princes have transcendant power over the People and God forbid any should spring out of this Countrey to plead against their Governours and weaken their forces but keep their Scepters fresh from one Generation to another yet this is the best service done to Kings service according to God If Laws be made let a man yield active obedience to them if they be good and passive if they be evill but against Law contrary to the stream of Law to make a man think himselfe bound in such a case it is to flatter Princes and Powers and not to yeeld professed subjection to them Therefore it behoves the people of God to know upon what terms they stand that wee may carry our selves like loyall Subjects and Christians that the name of God may not be dishonoured by any weaknesse of ours and starting aside on any hand or other Rev. 13. latter part of the 7. vers And power was given him over all Kindreds and Tongues and Nations WEe come now to the fourth thing which these words hold forth and that is the power or as the Greek word hath it the authority which is here sayd to be given to the Roman Catholick Church and that is over all Kindreds and Tongues and Nations The note is this To the Roman Catholicke visible Church was given very ample jurisdiction and authority over all the Christian world if we may so speake or as in the Text over all Kindreds Tongues and Nations And he meanes Kindreds Tongues and Nations of such Countreys which were wont to be subject to the Empire of Rome which were then counted all the Civill Nations of the world To open it briefly It was given him over all kindreds tongues and nations Here are three words and one include another Nation is the largest for in a Nation there may be many Tongues and in one Tongue there may be many Kindreds He had dominion and soveraignty over all Nations or over the
fast in his remembrance as if they were written in a book before him For that end his decree hath taken such particular notice of them that if they were written in a book before him they could not be more stedfastly and particularly recorded It is a phrase borrowed from men that when they would remember such a man or such a freind they set them down in a booke God stands not in need of books but his clear and everlasting love to them is such that they are engraven as on the palmes of his hands as the Shew-bread was present before the Lord continually which represented the 12. Tribes that his eye might be upon them from one end of the week to another and the word which the Septuagints use for Shew-bread it is translated as the word which the Apostle useth Rom. 8. 28. and the Greeke Translators and Hebrew expresse it it is the bread of Gods purpose or of Gods face and what is his purpose it is not with him as it is with us that whiles we speak of one man we forget another but his purpose is alwayes the same and these being the bread of Gods purpose they are ever before him from one end of the week to another and from one end of the year to another now that is the meaning of the Question what is the Booke of life It is the booke of Gods eternall election that is it is the register or record of the names of all whom God hath chosen to life and salvation in Christ Quest 2. If you shall aske why it is called the Lambes Booke of life Answ First because the Lord hath given this booke to Christ and all the names of his elect by name to be brought to salvation and kept in a state of salvation to imortality and therefore you shall read in Scripture when God puts forth an eternall love to his people wrought eternall salvation for us I mean when he did eternally elect us to grace and glory in this eternall election of his there was accompanying an eternall donation in giving them to Christ Christ knew his fathers counsel from eternity and the Lord gave them to Christ by him to be brought and he undertaking that they shall be brought to salvation the Lord requiring that he should keep them to immortality he shall work the means and apply the same effectually to the end of the world This is evident from those Scriptures that speak of the grant and of the gift of them to Christ before their effectuall calling though donation go before that for from that love of God by which he gives us to Christ in our effectuall calling he gives us Christ and faith to receive Christ but before this there is a giving a donation of us to Christ as John 6. 37. All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me So this coming to Christ is believing on Christ and it is so exprest in ver 35. He that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that beliveth on me shall never thirst To come to Christ is to belive on his name thus much doth hee expresse himselfe that all that the Father give him in his eternall counsell they shall come unto him to wit in effectuall calling him the Father will draw none but whom in his eternall counsell he hath given to Christ and whom he drawes I will not cast out in ver 37. to 44. So then when this act of Gods eternall election passed on those whose persons are designed to grace and glory hee gave all by name to the Lord Jesus as if they were particularly registred in a booke And he promised that in fulnesse of time he would draw them to him and required that the Lord Jesus should keep them under his wing to imortality it is called therefore the Lambs booke of life because he is the subject receptive of it Answ 2. And again it is called the Lambs booke of life because he is the head of all Gods elect they are all elect in him not besides or out of him not as actually believing in him for it is long before any work of ours Rom. 9. 11. Not of workes but of him that calleth the children being not yet born neither having done good or evill that the purpose of God according to election might stand Election iâ— before any worke of ours God gives us in his eternall councell to Christ but we are not then in him by faith faith is an effect of our election not the cause of it As many as were ordained to eternall life believed Acts 13. 46. 48. But this is the thing It is a true distinction that some give in that case we are in Christ not by actuall existence in beleiving nor as so considered but by virtuall comprehension the Lord looks at us as in him we are not in him by faith but the Lord comprehending us in his everlasting decree we are in him by Gods charter even children not born the Lord hath wrapped us in his everlasting armes in his electing love promising in time to give us faith to beleive on him and therefore to come to him and to give him to us that wee may live in his sight therefore it is the Lambs book of life as he is the sonne of man the sonne of the Virgin Mary to be united to the second person in Trinity long before his humane nature was in being Answ 3. And it is called also the book of the life of the Lambe if you have respect of referring to Christ this life then you take Christ as he is the subject of this life in John 14. 19. Because I live you shall live also I live and then you live and he is the author the efficient the procreant and conservant cause of life in us to eternity the Lord hath given us eternall life and this life is in his son He that hath the sonne hath life 1 John 5. 12. So you see the meaning of these words these persons that are thus given to Christ elect vessels to grace and glory that are given to Christ they are preserved from the worship of the Beast and none but they they onely for this purpose you read that false Christs whereof Antichrist is chief Mat. 24. 24. They shall deceive many yea if it were possible the very elect It implies thus much that none of them shall be deceived by all false Christs but all others shall be deceived earthly minded men and such whose names are not written in the Lambes book of life they shall be deceived the Beast shall go into perdition and they with him Rev. 17. 8. Not but that for a time they that are Gods elect may be taken with a fond admiration and adoration of the Beast to beleive as the Church of Rome believes and may look for peace of conscience from the dispensations of the Church of Rome it may be so as Bilney and Latimer that were marvellous devout to that Church though it
pleased God that Bilney you may read it in his Epistle to Bishop Tonstall that being troubled in conscience he had taken all the courses that their Religion enjoyned him had made confession to the Preists and they enjoyned him pennance and whipping of himselfe but for all these his wound bled as fresh as before till in the end he took an English Testament as it was translated by Erasmus not with any intent to finde any thing in it that might ease his trouble but because he was a perfect Latinist but reading that place in 1 Tim. 1. 15. these words did so affect him that immediately the Lord letting him see his love in Christ Jesus The Lord saith he let me see that I had taken a wrong course all this while I have sought for salvation where it was not to be had and prayed those to whom he spoke not to take it ill for it was not out of any neglect of them but out of his faithfulness having had experience that the course they prescribed that was not the way but it so farre prevailed as that he was marvellously esteemed but he was taken up by Latimer he made Bilney hear him Preach a most fearfull Sermon against Lutherans that were then better then he yet Bilney saw that he had zeal but not according to knowledge and he knew not how to come within him but he went to him in private and desired to speak with him and he must not say him nay then he up and tells him what a miserable wretch he had been how he had wounded his conscience how he had confest his sin to this and that Preist how unprofitable all those meanes were to him which they prescribed and there was no means in the world to finde peace till the Lord applyed that everlasting redemption in the bloud of Christ why saith Latimer he comes to seek for pardon from me to his soul and saith he I saw I stood in more need of being taught by him and therefore stiles him in his Sermon Saint Bilney that caught his soul and revealed that to him which he never heard of Therefore it is possible that Latimer and Bilney may be devout Catholicks for a time but now when this electing love of God puts forth it selfe in the fruits of it which is effectual calling now they are fully satisfied that all this devotion beleiving as the Church beleives they see they are so farre out of the way as faith is contrary to sence and reason So that those whom God reserved and chosen to life they are preserved from totall and finall adoration of the Beast they may for a time through ignorance worship the Beast as the best of Gods servants in those times did and many times have been most zealous for the Catholick cause and yet when the Lord hath called them effectually to his grace then not one that are written in the Lambs book of life doe worship him so that though they worship him before yet now they do not when they come to see their folly and have the love of God made known to them The Reason is first taken from the experimentall knowledg of every child of God effectually called from the evident experience that he hath of the vanity of the Roman Catholick Church and of the emptinesse of calling on any to look from Church power to heale or wound the conscience as of themselves further then they dispence the Ordinances of Christ and then it is not they but Christ in them and for them to look for salvation in the communion of that Church and in reconcilement to that Church They are so experimentally beaten off from that and possest of the contrary by their own experience that you need not take them from adoring the Beast for they see it is a Beast and they shall as wel utterly destroy their souls as worship the Beast and therfore the love of Christ constrains Bilney and he draws Latimer and Latimer draws others till they have propogated the truth of God to all ages But that though it be one reason yet it is the least Let me shew another reason why the elect of God after the electing love of God comes to be dispenced to them in outward execution For before it may come to passe they may worship the Beast but then they will not doe it finally but when the electing love of God is shed abroad in their hearts then they will not do it and the reason of that you cannot give a demonstrative reason but from this to prevent impossibility it is not possible that they should now there are three fundamentall reasons of the impossibility of it two properties there are in Gods electing love There is in Gods election first immutability as God himselfe is unchangeable Mal. 3. 6. so are his decrees unchangeable the foundation of God stands sure 2 Tim. 2. 19. and what he hath purposed he will bring to passe The counsell of the Lord is true for ever in Psal 33. 10 11. he disappoints all the decrees of men but his own counsels they take place for ever in every age therefore it is not possible that any of his should perish and perish they should if they should worship the Beast but it is not possible his unchangeable decree keepes them Again there is another property in his electing love which is the efficacy of it for Gods electing love doth choose us out of the world John 15. 19. And if he choose us out of the world the efficacy of that is that it delivers us from the evill world God electing us out of the world hath redeemed and delivered us from this present evill world Gal. 1. 4. Now if the electing love of God be of such efficacy that when he elects men of his grace he will in fulnesse of time deliver them from the world then they shall not run headlong to the worship of the Beast whom their hearts cannot close withall the Lord redeemes them from that vaine conversation received by tradition from their Fathers I though there be such efficacy in the bloud of Ancestors yet the electing love of God redeemes them from that But that will more appear in the second Reason And that is the faithfulnesse of Christ and the efficacy of of his redeeming bloud All that the Father hath given me shall come unto me and those that doe come unto mee I will by no means cast out John 6. 37. Of those that thou hast given me I have lost none but the sonne of perdition that but is not an exceptive but an adversative he that was never given was lost he did not bring him on to salvation For this is the will of the Father that sent me that of all that he hath given me I should loose nothing c. John 6. 37 38 39. That is his faithfulnesse and with his faithfulnesse there is such efficacy in his bloud that though the bloud of Ancestors run very warme that a
man would choose to live no better life nor keep a better house then his Father or Grandfather but wish their souls might be but as safe as theirs when men are once redeemed by the bloud of Christ and that is sprinkled upon their consciences then the bloud of Christ is warmer then the bloud of Ancestors though the Religion of our Fathers should be strong in the hearts of devout Catholicks as in Bilney or Latimer then alasse for our poor Fathers what is become of them they pity them and see plainly that unlesse the Lord led them a further way then the Religion of those that taught them they are gone everlastingly and then they wonder that God should ever choose such a dunghill thee and me that they see a broad difference between the Religion of their Ancestors and that which they see now but that is the efficacy of the bloud of Christ there is that efficacy in it that it washeth away all relations to Fathers to antiquity and universality he is crucified to them all God forbid saith the Apostle that I should glory save in the crosse of our Lord Jesus Christ whereby the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world Gal. 6. 14. So that though all the world runne after the Beast they will not the world looks at them as base unworthy creatures and so they look at the world And there is a third fundamentall Reason and that is taken from the power and presence of the Spirit of Gods grace in the hearts of his people We are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation 1 Pet. 1. 5. That is by the spirit of God and by the power of that spirit he keeps our faith and by faith keeps us in the way of his ordinances and in the way of sanctification to salvation Little children yee are of God and you have overcome these Antichrists why for greater is he that is in you then he that is in the world 1 John 4. 4. The power of God is in you they are of the world and the world is carryed away with them you are of God and you hear them not for greater is he thaâ— is in you then he that is in the world These are three fundamentall Reasons which are indeed the demonstrative cause of the impossibility of them to be finally carried to the worship of the Beast the election of God will not suffer it the unchangeblenesse thereof the faithfulnesse of Christ the efficacy of the blood of Christ and the power of the spirit and that which flowes from it is the experience of Gods love and the vertue of their faith in Christ Their faith is unchangeble not possible to be rooted out in Luke 22. 31 32. I have prayed for thee that thy faith faile not It may be shaken but it shall not finally fail I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me Jer. 32. 40. and that is the proper act of faith Be not high minded but fear his mercy is sufficient for us trust steadfastly on the grace of Christ and though Peter seemed not to trust on the grace of Christ yet in his worst state he knew that all the courses of Satan were vanity and he durst not but in his heart believe that Christ was the Messiah so all the elect of God know the Beast is a Beast and the Catholick Roman Church is a Beast and the head of that Beast is a beastly head and they know that their Doctrine is sensuall and carnall and that they all shall go into perdition and withall their experience doth evidently convince them that were it not in a pang of temptation in which they are not able to abide by it yet by a renewall of the blood of the Lord Jesus sprinkled on their souls they are brought a fresh to see the work of Gods grace stirred up in them but otherwise their constant course is as in Rev. 14. you hear them coming as on a stage representing the Lambe in their carriage and conversation and follow the Lambe wheresoever he goes but for the Beast a stranger they will not follow but both their faith and experience yeild them a third cause and that is the spirit of God carying them an end My sheep hear my voyce and they follow me but they know not the voyce of strangers they see a difference between good and evill and therefore if they hear a man speak and doth not speak of salvation by him but of the world or of himselfe they will not follow him John 10. 45. Thus you see the Reason why none of them worship the Beast But on the other side all the rest of the world doe meaning where Antichrists power comes speaking of those times when there was great power given to him to speak great things and no man might say Sir why do you so in that time when he had power to be active forty two months when he had power to make Warre with the Saints and to overcome them and when all Nations worshipped him and did not shake off that Religion but in former times before reformation of Religion this was an universal practice they all Nations Kindreds and Tongues gave their power to the Beast and the reason of that was from Gods just judgement for their not receiving the truth in love therefore he gave them over to strong delusions to believe lyes Secondly from the efficacy of Satan in the power of deceitfull sophistry and doing wonders And thirdly by the plausiblenesse trumpery and bravery of that Religion so suitable to carnal reason that they were carried away thereto and it could not be but they should be carried away by the man of Sinne. The use first may then be thus much If all that dwell on Earth whose names are not written in the book of life do worship the Beast and none are excluded but those whose names are written in the Lambs booke of life then this will unavoidably follow that a Papist by his Religion cannot go beyond a Reprobate what he may and renounce his Religion is another matter as Bilney and Latimer sometimes did they were written in the Lambes booke of life but by his Religion take them that do believe as the Catholick Roman Church believes and believe no more but practice that which that Religion directs them to and goe no further and they continue and live and die in that then I must pronounce it from the Text they cannot go beyond a Reprobate the reason is evident from the Text for if none of them whose names are written in the Lambs booke of life doe worship the Beast and onely they do worship the Beast whose names are not written in the Lambs booke of life then if they be not written in the Lambs booke of life the Text is very strong clear in Rev. 20. 15. Whosoever was not found written in the Lambs Book of life was cast into the lake
the world to bear witness unto that When Pilate did accuse him he answered nothing and the Governour wondred at it knowing that hee could tell what to answer He marvailed that so just a man in so just a case did not answer a word which did so narrowly concern him But he did not know what the cause was that he was as a Lamb dumb before the shearer and before the slaughter also What might be the reason then of this Lamb lik innocency and meeknesse of Christ They are principles and ought to be incultated often The first ground is To fulfill the types that went before of him Exod 12. 5. The paschall Lamb was without blemish And Exod. 29 39. The daily Sacrifice was to be a Lamb without spot and blemish therefore Christ must be such The second Reason is taken from his personal union with the second person in Trinity For in him dwelleth all the fulnesse of the God-head bodily Col. 2 9. that is personally So that Christ must be a sinner if in any thing Christ had failed either in doing or suffering which were blasphemy to say And hence springs an utter impossibility of his manhood acting any thing without the Gâ—d head acting by him for the Son can do nothing of himselfe but as he seeth the Father do Thirdly there is a further necessity of his Lamb-like innocency From our necessity of such a Sacrifice and such an high Priest as was holy and blamelesse and undefiled Heb. 7. 26 27 28. Such an high Priest it behooved us to have Yea it was requisite the Sacrifice should be blamelesse Levit. 1. 3. And the Priest that offered it to be so also Levit. 21. 18. For otherwise he could not make attonement for us nor could his attonement be accepted But why was he thus patient silent and meek a double reason of that First That his Sacrifice might be voluntary and so accepted of the Father Sacrifice and offering for sinne thou wouldst not neither hadst pleasure therein which are offered by the law Then said he Loe I come to doe thy will O God Heb. 10. 8 9. Whoever was to offer a Sacrifice was to bring it himselfe and deliver it up and himselfe with it and it must be offered willingly Wheeher it was the Congregation that had committed a sinne or whether it were any particular person they were to bring their oblation Any Sacrifice that a man would have accepted he must bring it to the door of the Tabernacle Lev. 4. 4. 14. 23. The Priest must not fetch it If any would bring their Sacrifice they might but if they were extorted from them they were not accepted So the Lord Jesus must come and freely offer up himselfe as one that was to be presented in the stead of all the Elect Hee offered himselfe a Surety of the Covenant we should have brought it but we had it not in our hearts But hee brings himselfe and layes downe his life of himselfe and takes it up againe John 10. 18. And 2ly why did he expresse his patience in that silence of his The reason was from this very cause even From the want of sufficient matter to give a just Answer in our behalfe by all things that he could alledg for us If hee had stood in his own person and had had nothing to do but to cleare himselfe he had had a world to have answered for himselfe and this Pilate saw for he said that he was a King but a King of another world and Pilate knew that there was no Cesarian Law that did forbid a Kingdome in another world but standing in our persons hee knew not what to answer What could there be charged upon Christ but we have been guilty of it Can it be sayd that none of the Elect of God did blaspheme and that none of them did destroy the Temple of God and can it be justified that all the Elect of God have been freed from commotions Can any undertake that defence for the elect of God What sinne can you charge upon him but some of the servants of God have been guilty of it Therefore it is that the Lord Jesus answers not He doth not deny he doth not out-face them in the businesse It is not so with him He is not such an Advocate He pleads with a good conscience when he pleads and he is clear but he cannot clear his Elect ones from Church-censure and Civill censure Nor doth he plead with God about any kind of hard-ship in putting upon him that extremity he knew the elect of God had deserved such And though he knew that they dealt wickedly yet standing in our room hee had not a sufficient plea let them charge him with what they will A man cannot charge him with any sinne but some of his Elect have been guilty of it and therefore what can be answered Therefore he was not willing to excuse himselfe He doth neither deny nor extenuate any Crime that can be layd agâ—inst him but take it in its full rigour and the accusation doth stand good They stand not good against the Principall but against the Surety as hee is a Surety they stand good against him for as it is in Job 9. 2 3. How should man be just with God If hee will contend with him he cannot answer him one of a thousand Let a man stand before the Tribunall of the justice of God and he cannot answer one of a thousand And if Christ be to stand for all the elect of God hee cannot answer one of a thousand And therefore when the King came to see the man in the room that had not on the wedding Garment the man was speechlesse which plainly shewes us that if Christ stand in the room of Gods people the case stands so that Christ cannot answer for us to excuse us Job could not answer one of a thousand though he was the perfectest man in his Generation and I know not whether any man after him that was more innocent then he And what shall others of Gods called ones be able to doe and what they are not able to doe the Lord Jesus Christ hee doth carry it in the same manner as one that cannot excuse them from being guilty of those sinnes no more then himselfe can Thus you see the reasons both of Christs innocency and patience The use of the point is First to convince us of the guilt of all the elect people of God and their guiltinesse even of violent death and unexcusablenesse under that death If so be we had been innocent what needed Christ to have been so patient as hee was so Lamb-like in his innocency His Lamb-like innocency is an argument of our guiltinesse The servants of God especially such as take any more narrow search of their own waves they see themselves full of blemishes spots and wrinckles and many such things Isa 64. 6. We are all as unclean things and all our righteousnesses are as filthy
the Churches and Saints of Christ that have been overcome or have suffered any hard-ship from any of these Those that have been troublesome to Gods Churches and people the Lord will one day visite them all and he will one day root them out of the land of the living They shall one day know what pillars and scourges and fire and faggot meanes what torments meane what bloody inquisitions meane They shall be recompenced seven-fold into their bosomes Here is the patience and faith of the Saints The third note is this The Lord doth as much acknowledg and accept the patience and faith of his Saints that have suffered under the Roman Catholique Church as he did the faith and patience of the Primitive Saints that suffered under the Roman Pagan Emperours against Heathenish idolatry The Papists themselves are full of acknowledgment of the Primitive Martyrs and will write many Legends of them as the Pharisees they did build the Sepulchers of the Prophets and yet killed their Successors Fulfill saith Christ the measure of your fathers You garnish the sepulchers of the dead bodies and yet you kill their Successors They will acknowledg them the Primitive Martyrs but what are those that suffered in Switzerland in France in England in Germany They look at those as Lolards and Hereticks But what saith the Lord of them Even of them as well as of those that suffered in former times the Lord doth accept their sufferings and saith of them Here is the patience and faith of the Saints Wherein the Lord doth acknowledge the faith by which they overcome this Beast and patience to be the patience and faith of the Saints The world saith otherwise but the Lord saith of those that suffered under this Beast Here is the patience and faith of the Saints So in Rev. 12. 13. Here is the patience of the Saints Write blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from hence-forth as well as in ancient times Blessed are they that dye in the faith of Christ Jesus in the hottest and highest times of Popery The Reason is evident First because the faith of such Christians and their patience was the faith and patience of Christ That is to say that which both fastned upon Christ and bore witnsse unto Christ and suffered patiently for Christ as did the Primitive Christians in the ten Persecutions And it was such a faith as by which they overcame the world 1 John 5. 4. It was faith in Christ Jesus even that faith by which they chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sinne for a season Heb. 11. 24 25. It was that faith by which they despised honour Even the same case of Christ in Moses hand and in their hands and the point is of like nature Roman Idolatry is but another Edition and their Errors are as fundamentall subvertions to that which shouâ—d be the faith of Gods elect And their Government is directly contrary unto the Gospel-government of Christ Jesus as light is to darknesse When their faith in the cause of Christ do carry them along in suffering for him it is then the patience of Christ It was the like faith and patience of Christ to suffer under Annas and Caiaphas as under Herod It is true in the one he suffered as an enemy to Caesar in the other as a blasphemer but the case is all one No matter what the persons 〈…〉 Christian in profession Iâ— the cause be the 〈◊〉 of Christ it is the patience and faith of Christ which is in his 〈…〉 whomsoever they suffer 〈…〉 Reason is from the greater exercise of saith and 〈◊〉 to discern and suffer under Christians against Christians 〈…〉 Pagans 〈◊〉 Heathen persecutors For the use of the point Fiâ—st it cryes downe all the scandalous sentences that Courts have given against the Saints of God they say here are the suffering of Lolards and Hereticks Jesus Christ from heaven saith Here is the faith and patience of the Saints Do not therefore count it obstinacy and contumacy in heresie nor pravity It is the faith and patience of the Saints if Chrâ—st calls it so his word must carry it When they shall all appear before his Judgment-seate whose word shall stand then his or theirs He will say here is the cruelty and outrage of the persecution of Antichrist that puts the Lambs of Christ to death Secondly It may serve to teach us how much the Lord delights to honour his patient and faithfull servants Hee writes upon their Toomb-stones as it were so many Saints or faithfull Martyrs of Christ are those who have thus suffered This doth the Lord Jesus Christ write upon their stakes where they are burned in Smithfield or else-where and upon the chains wherewith they are bound A great encouragement it is unto Christians to be constant in the profession of the Gospel and to contend earnestly for the faith once given to the Saints We must not therefore be afraid to stand fast in the profession of the Truth and to hold it to the death If we should dye in his Cause in a way of persecution to be slaughtered by the outrage of ungodly men what ever the world say of it the Lord will from heaven beare this witnesse to it That it is the patience and faith of the Saints Thirdly it must teach all who would suffer for the name of Christ to be well assured of their cause and then to adde constancy to their suffering in their cause Otherwise unlesse it be the cause of Christ it is no patience but obstinacy blindenesse and ignorance But see that your cause be the cause of Christ and then cleave unto it by the invincible â—aith of Gods elect to overcome the world and look Lyons and Dragons in the facâ— without fear and astonishment and look at punishment and tortour as not worthy of the glory that shall be revealed It looks at them as things that Christ hath endured greater and other of the Saints of God have gone before uâ— in the like or a greater martyrdome Therefore first look to the cause and then believe in the truth of the cause and the faithfulnesse of Christ that will maintaine his servants stable and firme and cause them to hold out unto the end But do not take up your reformation upon custome nor side with any thing for custom of the country where you are because your Magistrates and Elders do commend it to you for it behooves every christian man to know well what he beleives and practise and to know the doctrine of Christ and the Government and the worship of Christ and that not because men say so but because you see light for it from the word of the Son of God Then your next care is to look that you depend upon Christ for strength that as he suffered for you you may be able to suffer for him ther 's the faith of Gods children And for