themselves to his meaning Genes 11.9 do interpret it but the great city of this world that is in all things agreeable to every particular thing that is spoken of this great Babylon for as that place and city was chiefly called Babylon that is confusion because as Moses sheweth God confounded the Languages of those grand rebells that endeavoured in that City 1 John 2.15 1 John 17.9 to scale the walls of Heavens and as it were to desie God himself so this world is just like unto the same the receptacle of all confusion and disorders and it is one of the three capital enemies of mankinde that we profess in our Baptisme to renounce and that we are charged not to love but still to fly from the baits and the deceipts thereof and John 5.19 for which our Saviour that prayed for his enemies which crucified him denieth his prayer saying I pray not for the world because God hateth all those that work wickedness and S. John saith the whole world all of it lieth in wickedness and will not be raised from it and besides God is the God of order and the whole world is out of order the very babel of all confusion The great Antichrist shall rise in such a place as shall be like Babylon when first it was called Babel Genes 11.79 and confusion is the mother that bringeth forth the Antichrist into the Church and it is the nurse that fostereth cherisheth upholdeth and protecteth him against Christ and against his Church But though the world in General is that great citie whith is meant Revel 17. and elsewhere in that book and wherein the great Antichrist will settle himself yet must he rise and spring in some place City or Kingdome of the world that is not as Rome or Constantinople a Babylon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 respectively but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 simply and transcendently like as the Chaldean Babylon was and in all things resembling her when first she was called Babel the City of Confusion and that was when all the Inhabitants thereof were without any settled just and lawfull Governors or Government among them but were as the children of Israel were in the later time of the Judges Judg. ult and Ver. ult when there was no King in Israel but every man did that which was right in his own eyes and so they did now in Babel they understood not one another they obeyed not one another but when the Master or Governor required one thing they did another and when they called for bricks they brought them straw and so forth And what Kingdome Rome not like Babylon when first it was called Babel City or Church is or hath been thus like Babel without any setled just and lawfull Government or Governors I will not determine but I am sure Rome hath her Governors and the Church of Rome her settled strict and well observed Orders and Lawes which none dares disobey nor do what is right in his own eyes nor preach what Doctrines he please unto the people But in what Kingdome City or Common-wealth soever we see no settled just and lawfull Government but the Governors like pegs driving out one another and settling first one kinde of Government then another of greater power cometh and changeth that Government then a third then a fourth and so forth and the Commonwealth standeth like a windmill upon the top of a hill that must turn with every winde and submit it self to every Government that is most prevalent and where you see the Church without Rulers without order and without Law but every Presbyter doth what he pleaseth and serveth God with what service his own fancy liketh best I believe that City Kingdom and Church doth in all things parallel the first Chaldean Babel and must be if any place be the very seat of the Antichrist and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 simply most eminently and transcendently a Babylon and the fittest place for the Antichrist to reside And so the Antichrist having learnt his lesson divide impera i.e. by confusion and division and setting the Father against the Son and the Daughter against the Mother the subject against his King and the King against the subject the people against their Pastors and their Pastors against the people and so of all the rest he will settle and inthrone himself in that imperial seat of his rule and authority where there is most confusion and where there is no settled just and lawfull Government and this is that Babylon thus mystically expressed by the Holy Ghost and thus clearly explained unto you where the Antichrist shall rule and reign and rage over Gods people even in that place of the world and in that street of this Great City where there is most division and confusion both in the Church and Commonwealth this confusion being his chiefest consolation and the furtherance of his progression and which as the Poet saith Turbabit faedera mundi will soon bring the world out of order and to be ruled as he listeth And now the question is demanded Whether in any other place of all the world you can finde more divisions and confusions and a more unstable unjust and unsettled Government both in Church and Commonwealth then you may finde in these Churches and Common wealths and formerly the Kingdomes of Ingland Scotland and Ireland for though that in this Babylon this place that is so full of disorders and confusion Where discord reigns in realm or town The wicked win the chief renown Plutarchus in vita Niceas pag. 547. you may finde many zealous and religious men that do fear God and mourn for the sin of the Antichrist and abhor all his wicked wayes yet it is demanded if ever there were more faction in Hierusalem in the time of their last siege more Sects in Amsterdam more malice in Rome in the time of the proscription or more corruption in the time of the Pope and more division among the Reubenites and confusion in great Babylon in the land of Shinar than may be found now in this relapsed Church and among the people of these Dominions And for the diversity of Sects multiplicity of opinions and the manifold confusions in the Church it is demanded if the errors and heresies of the Sectaries Presbyters Independents and lay-Preachers are not only published printed and permitted but also cathedrally and autoritatively if not maintained yet countenanced or connived at at the least And if here in the field of Gods Church and out of this Babylonish chair you may not finde any error or heresie that hath been formerly invented and broached by the grand Hereticks and confuted by the Fathers of the Church now again in some place or other and by some Sect or other resuscitated and refined unto the people and whether you may not uncontroulably choose any Religion and be of any Sect either Antinomian Anabaptist Arian Aerian Brownist Barrowist Dipper The manifold
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Will-Worship but will have the substance of his Service to be as himself prescribeth Yet wilt thou have God to set thee down every particular circumstance and punctilio in and about his Service Hath he not left Teachers and Governours over his Church and given them both a power to do and a Command that all things should be done in Order and as they should be done in the Church of God And if Christ hath left this power with his Apostles and their Successors the Governours of his Church to set all things in Order touching his Service in respect of the times places and manner and they have ordered it from the beginning that this 25th day of December should be kept holy for the remembrance of the blessed birth of Christ and the whole Church have ever since observed the same Why shouldst thou deny this power unto them and disobey their Order Or who but the Antichrist would speak against the same And he that would have thee as well to reject Christ himself as to neglect the day of his Nativity Thus you see how illustrious Antiochus for so Epiphanes signifieth though he was indeed as the Holy Ghost testifieth Dan. 11.25 a vile person doth antecede the Saint-like Antichrist in all vile actions and I could proceed further in the parallel and especially in the time of their continuance and their judgement which do immediately follow ver 26. but that I had rather pass before my Book doth swell too big from the types and the shadows that the Prophets shew us unto the plainer testimonies of the New Testament and the Apostles of Christ that do so signally demonstrate and so punctually paint out the Antichrist that the true Saints and Servants of Christ which desire to know him and would not be over-awed with terrors nor over-joyed with flatteries and great promises nor yet blinded with worldly love might well and easily understand who he is when they see him to have come into the World that so they might flee from him and not be seduced by him for though that these things which Daniel speaks of the little horn which was Antiochus may in some sence be applied by way of Analogy as the type to the doings and proceedings of the Antichrist Yet I think rather that all Daniels Prophesies and their relations should more properly and in their first aspect be confined to the Jewish Church and their extent to the death of Christ the destruction of that Temple and the dissolution of the polity of that people than reach any further to express the state and the accidents that should befall unto the Gospel Church that were designed for the Apostles to express and especially because that as we say of Similitudes so it may be said of Types and Symbolical Divinity they do not universally in all points hold parallel nec sunt argumentativa as the Schools do speak and as I said before neither are they for sound proofs therefore I will proceed to the plainer and fuller description of the Antichrist by the testimonies of the New Testament CHAP. V. Of the special particular sin that is the proper sin and peculiar only to the Antichrist and to none else and the sin that is most destructive to Mankind and most hateful unto God and what is meant by the Antichrist his exalting himself above all that is called God and that is worshipped and of his sitting in the Temple of God as God 2. HAving waded through the Enigmata's of the Prophets we are come to the transparent evidences of the New Testament that do foretell us of the coming of the Antichrist who as he should fulfill the Prophesie of Zecharie by following the steps and doings of that foolish and Idol-shepherd and likewise the Prophesie of Daniel by his imitation of the wicked acts of Antiochus so he shall accomplish all the Prophesies of the New Testament that do concern him and shall do all the impieties and the tragical acts that the Pen-men of that Testament do foretell us that he should do And all the evident and unquestionable Predictions that we find set down concerning him are set down only in three several places and by three special Instruments of the Holy Ghost that is St. Paul the Apostle St. John the Evangelist and he that goeth under the Title of John the Divine Joh. 10.43 which was indeed St. John the Apostle for that place of St. John alledged by Bellarmine doth not mean the Antichrist but any other false Christs such as Judas Galilaeus or Theudas or Barchochebas or the like that should come as a Christ in his own name as I shewed to you before and the Predictions of Christ in the 24th of S. Matthew are not properly to be referred to the Antichrist but to those false Christs that should come to deceive the Jews and those false Prophets and Pseudo-Apostles the Preachers of the Antichrist that should come towards the end of the World to seduce and to deceive the people and therefore I shall only pass over the places of these three describers of him and the first place that properly concerneth the coming of the Antichrist is in 2 Thes 2.3 where S. Paul describing him as he was the best Scholar and more learned in the Arts and Languages than any of all the Apostles so he doth more signally and evidently shew him than any other he sets him forth as a City upon an hill that all men may see it and makes him so visible and so intelligible by that palpable mark and proper note and badge that be fasteneth on him 1. What S. Paul foretels us of the Antichrist that he might easily be known when men do behold that mark and observe that note and badge which the Apostle layeth upon him for he saith he will be an egregious sinner that is a sinner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an extraordinary sinner and transcendent above all other sinners and therefore the Apostle termeth him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that man of sin as if he were all made of sin That is peccator ille sceleratissimus that most wicked sinner and more wicked than any other 1. That he should be an egregious finner saith Tirinus totaliter peccatis deditus that is wholly given over to sin as having his heart and his hands eminently sinful as our Learned Zanchius saith for as Christ is melior omnibus sanctis better and holier than all the Saints so the Antichrist will be pejor omnibus malis worse than any of all the wicked men saith Aquinas insigniter scelestus notably wicked saith Maresius worse than Ahab that sold himself to work wickedness And Cornelius â Lapide faith the tricks and fallacies of the Antichrist to get Proselites and followers after him The sixfold art of the Anchrist to effect his wickednesses are sixfold 1. A feigned and dissembled Sanctity to be well thought of by all men 2. Smoothness of Language and fair
far greater then the troubles of many of them that were within the Walls of Hierusalem And therefore their being in Pella could not fignifie the earths opening of her mouth to swallow up the flood of their afflictions which no doubt but they endured in full measure Reason 4 4. In that Pella being but a little Village it is not likely that it could containe so many of the Jews or that so many should go out of Hierusalem unto it as should move the Holy Ghost to express them here under the notion of this Woman that was persecuted by the Dragon when as these were not the men against whom Titus waged his War being so few and so contemptible and no wayes opposing him Reason 5 5. In that this persecution of the Woman and her flight into the Wilderness is after the Warre in Heaven and after the Dragon was throwen into the earth as the Text makes it plain v. 13. 14. but these Jewes being in Pella was long before this warre and therefore they cannot be meant by this woman Reason 6 6. In that according to the old rule non est distinguendum ubi non distinguit lex we may not chop and change times places and persons where Scriptures change them not to fit our own purposes and to make good our own best liked Interpretations which is but as the Poet saith to stagger Nunc huc nunc illuc exemplo nubis aquosae Much like a waterish Cloud which sometimes hither is driven with the wind How men should fairly proceed in their interpretations without wresting of any Text. and sometimes thither or as another saith Praxitiles like to make beguiled mindes to bow down to the painted strumpet either of these high conceits of the great Scholars or of the brain-sick fancies of the weaker wits but we ought fairly to proceed according to the most genuine sence of the place that we enterpret and such as crosseth no other truth nor carrieth any absurdity or impossibility with it And who seeth not prima facie at the first sight and reading of this 12th Chapter how the Holy Ghost proceedeth therein to set forth the dangers troubles and persecutions of this woman that signifieth the Christian Church from the time that she became cloathed with the Sun and the beginning of her pain in travell unto the end of her persecutions as how she should flie into the Wilderness how long she should be nourished and fed in that place what Warres she should undergo in that time and after the ending of that Warre and the stepping out of her place how she should be therefore punished and persecuted and for what time she should be distressed in that persecution and how she should be helped and relieved out of the hands and power of her enemies which are all successively in a continued Series and a just order set down by the spirit of God of the same woman that was the Christian Church in this 12th Chapter of the Revelation And as not all this by Junius his concession so indeed not any part of this can be referred to the believing Jewes in Pella as understood by this woman v. 14. but to the Christian Church converted and collected both out of the Jewes and Gentiles especially considered after the time of Theodosins as I have shewed to you before And this last persecution of this woman can be no otherwise understood Why this last persecution of the woman is to be referred to these our times as I conceive then of the sufferings of the reformed Protestant Churches and servants of Christ in these our times wherein we live because they fall out just at the end of 1200 and 60 years wherein the two witnesses after that the woman was cloathed with the Sun should prophesie and the woman should be fed by the witnesses before they should be slain and before the beginning of this her great persecution and flood of all miseries that the Dragon by the service of the Antichrist should raise against her and throw after her And I say that although Arethas Rupertus and Barradius do with Junius understand this woman to signifie the Jewish Synagogue and Alcazar takes it for the primitive Church of the Christians to whom I do assent she may be taken for that Church at that time when the Dragon began to watch her that he might devoure her Child yet St. Ambrose Ticonius and Primasius do with me understand this woman here flying to avoid the Dragons flood to signifie the true Christian Church in her last persecution sub finem mundi a little before the end of the world when Satan should be let loose after his 1000 years imprisonment and should then powre forth a flood and deluge of all crosses troubles and miseries upon the true Church and the faithfull servants of Jesus Christ the which I think he hath now within these late years done to the uttermost Reason 7 7. And lastly in that these times of the womans being fed and nourished in the Wilderness for 1200 and 60 years wherein the Hereticall war betwixt the Angels of Michael and the Angels of the Dragon was made and was not ended here in our Church until King Charles his dayes in whose time both the Brownists and Puritans were suppressed and the Jesuite Fisher the great Golias of the Papists That the times here spoken of cannot cohere with the Jewes in Pella in these parts was quite vanquished and confuted by Bishop Laud and these times that are here expressed by time times and half a time which are the time of the Churches persecution after the 1200 and 60 years and the end of the hereticall warre cannot be referred to the believing Jewes in Pella but rather for the persecution of our Protestant Churches and the preservation of them from being ruined by the earths opening of her mouth to swallow up the flood of afflictions that the Dragon casteth after them because the Holy Ghost saith that after three dayes and a half which is the very same time though expressed in other termes with time times and half a time the spirit of life from God shall enter into the witnesses that is ministris verbi as Junius confesseth the Bishops and Preachers of Gods word or as E. H. more rightly thinketh the Magistrates and Ministers which formerly had been slain and they shall stand again upon their feet that is in their successors by a Monarchicall and Episcopall Government to shew that God will not suffer his Church and Servants to be alwayes nor long trodden underfoot and to want her lawfull Pastors and Governours but should have the witnesses of Christ within a short space restored unto her And we are confident that such a thing as this never happened to the believing Jewes in Pella nor to any other believing Church in the World that we know of that both the witnesses of God That we cannot remember where it happened that the chief Magi. strate and the
2. The contradictions of the Popes Their Popes do follow the same steps for Stephan the 6. abrogated all his Predecessors Decrees but Formosus took up his body after his burial for it and cut off two of his fingers and then buried his body again and the next succeeding Popes Theodorus the 2. Ex Polychron Romanus and John the 10. confirmed all the Acts of Formosus but Sergius disannulled them all again and took up Formosus his body and threw the same into Tiber. 3. 3. The contradictions of their Orders The Oppositions among their Orders is never a whit less than betwixt their Popes for the difference betwixt the Dominicans and the Franciscans about the conception of the blessed Virgin Mary the Dominicans holding that she was conceived in original sin and the Franciscans denying the same was so great and their fury was so hot Anno 1476. against each other that Pope Xistus the 4. joyning with the Franciscans burned 4 of the Dominicans for defending that truth Neither are their Schooles free from this fault for the Scotists Ochamists and Thomists could never be reconciled Erasmus in loc contr Laton Alphoas l. 1. c. 6. Genchrard in Chron. untill the Thomists got the conquest and at this day the Seculars and the Jesuits can never agree nor the Jesuits that are indeed the better learned accord well among themselves for Alphonsus de Castro and his Adherents do hold the Council above the Pope but Card. Bellarm. and all his Schollers do hold the contrary and it is observed by Genebrard that there were 20 several Sects and Schismes amongst the Romanists at the same time and others have collected 80 several different Opinions amongst them about that one only point of the Eucharist And I could yet further inlarge this point how they do not all agree in the Doctrine of our Justification nor in many other points beside nor indeed any one of them long with himself quia oportet mendacem esse memorem because the teacher of errors and false Doctrine had need to have a good memory ea falsitatis atque erroris est natura ut nemine repugnante a seipsa tandem juguletur and that is the nature of Error and falsehood that a length it will overthrow it self though there were no man to speak against it and therefore we finde Bellarmine himself confuting and contradicting himself in many places as our learned Bishop Morton hath most excellently observed but I stood too long on this point already 2. 2. The collusion of the Roman Church There Collusion is and especially in former times was such that they did not onely deceive one another but almost all the world besides Presbyter amplectens faeminam presumitur benedicendi causa fecisse and old Lyra saith fit aliquando in Ecclesia dei maxima deceptio in fictis miraculis à sacerdotibus the greatest decepts and cosenage shall happen sometimes in the Church of God by the false and faigned miracles that shall be done by the Priests and so indeed as our Presbyters do now so their Priests and Jesuits by their faigned sanctity false miracles and subtle insinuations into the hearts and bosomes of the vulgar people seduxerunt gentes have seduced them and made them drunk with the wine of their abominations and abominable flatteries 3. 3. The oppression of the Romanists For their oppression vexation and cruelty towards the servants of God it exceeded all humanity and the Chaldean Babylon must not compare with them herein for they did not only vex the children of God and lay heavy yokes upon their necks which was all that Babylon did unto the Israelites but they did also persecute the best Protestants with sword fire and faggot burning them as they did John Hus and Hierom of Prague and take their bones out of their Graves if they cannot lay hands on them alive as they did the bones of Bucer and Phagius in the time of Queen Mary Scaeva sic in manes manibus arma dabant And so they warred Amos 2.1 And as the King of Moab burned the bones of the King of Edom so they raged against the very Ghosts of the Saints And therefore if we had nothing else to say against them but this their cruelty against the Saints and Servants of Christ yet this alone is a sufficient argument to prove their City and Church a Babylon and themselves rather Citizens of Babylon than Members of the Church of Christ for as he that was born after the flesh Galat. 4.29 persecuted him that was born after the Spirit even so it is now saith the Apostle The Church of Christ doth never persecute but doth alwaies suffer Persecution for Christian Religion is to be maintained enlarged and defended non occidendo sed monendo non saevitia sed patientia not by killing but by monishing not by cruelty but by patience nam si sanguine tormentis religionem defendere velis jam non defendetur Lact. l. 1. c. 19. Religion not to be planted by the sword sed polluetur saith Lactantius For if thou wouldst defend Religion with shedding of blood and inflicting torments it is not defended but polluted and thou dost defile it and spoil it in seeking to maintain it And this is plainly seen by the example of Christ himself who neither instituted his Kingdom by any foreible meanes nor would have himfelf defended by any outward power of the sword but biddeth S. Peter to put up his sword into his sheath Matth. 26.52 and he sheweth the reason of it unto the Governour because his Kingdom is not of this world nor like unto the Kingdoms of this world for they are enlarged and defended by force of Armes and by the sword Rom. 10.14 but the Kingdom of Christ is encreased and continued by the reading and the preaching of the word and Faith cometh ex auditu non ex metu by hearing not by threatning ex dono Dei non ex imperio hominum from the Gift of God and not by the Command of any man And therefore S. Bernard saith that suadenda fides non cogenda Faith is to be perswaded and not compelled And S. Paul saith 2 Cor. 10.4 Damasc 3. sent c. 32. that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but spiritual And Damascene saith that the Gospel was preached throughout all the world without weapon armour or Battel by a few naked poor afflicted men and if men believed they saved their souls if not the Apostles were to take none other revenge but to shake off the dust of their feet to be a witness against them that refused their Doctrine Object But the Romanists against this do answer for themselves and say that our Saviour bids his Servants to go to the high waies and compel the people to come into his Wedding that his House might be full Luke 14.23 Solut. I answer 1. That the Word compell doth not alwaies imply
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
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Augusta as Caesar himself was called Augustus nam Augustos Graeci 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vocant for the Graecians call Augustus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Maresius but the Apostle understandeth as I said the ecclesiastical Governors of Gods Church whom we reverence and worship for their callings sake even as the same Apostle injoyneth the same Thessalonians to hold them worthy of double honor for their works sake that is for the administration of the sacred Mysteries the preaching of the Gospel and the deliverie of the blessed Sacraments with the powring forth of their prâ—yers to God for a blessing unto the people and other the like religious acts and office they do in the service of God and above whom notwithstanding their sacred function and all the holy offices they do to God in the behalf of the people the Antichrist will exalt himself and throw those reverend Bishops whom all other good Christians honour unto the ground And therefore That the Pope cannot be here understood to exalt himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 supra numen as this cannot be applyed to the Popes exalting of himself above the Emperors and the Kings of the earth because he had shewed this before how the man of sin would exalt himself above them and it had been but a frivolous repetition and tautalogie which S. Paul never used so suddainly to express the same thing twice and the later expression that should be plainer to be obscurer than the former contrary to all rules of Rhetorick so can it neither be any wayes applyed to the Popes exalting of himself above the rest of the Bishops and ecclesiastical Governors of the Church because he is one of those persons and a special one too whom the people worship and reverence for his calling and Religion sake and therefore it were a Solicisme and a very improper speech to say it was such a transcendent sin for a man that is worshiped for his Religions sake to exalt himself above him that is worshipped for his Religion sake which seems to be none other than to say he will exalt himself above himself or above those that are no wayes his superiors but his equalls at the most and at the best as many other men do besides the Antichrist But the meaning of the Apostle is that this man of sin being but a subject will notwithstanding lift up himself above his King that is in the place of God over him and being but a secular lay-person he will for all that exalt himself above his spiritual Pastors whom he ought to worship and to honour as all good Christians do for their offices and calling and Religion sake this is the true meaning of the Apostles words And whether the long Parliament and their adherents have not been Adversaries Let the Reader judg whether this he not fulfilled in the long Paliament opposed and exalted themselves above the most reverend of all the Clergy whom the people honoured and reverenced for their Calling and Religion sake and not only above the dispensers of the holy things and sacred Orders and the chiefest of all that have or ought to have any Government in the Church but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above all the formes of Religion and religious worship in the Church of Christ let the indifferent and judicious Reader judg of it 3. 3. That the Antichrist will be an Usurper and an intruder into the office of the Church Governors as well as of the civil Magistrate The Apostle still goeth on to explain his former meaning and to shew further the impieties of the Antichrist and saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that he sits in the temple of God as God which words immediately following 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that thing or that person whom we worship for religion sake doth likewise confirm the former exposition of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signifie the Bishops and the dispensers of the holy things of the sacred Orders and of all the rest of the divine Mysteries because he exalteth himself above them to this end and for this very purpose that he as God may sit in the temple of God that is that he may be as well a Pope in the Church as a King in the Common-wealth the supream Governor and disposer of all things as well the Religious Worship of God as the civil Government of the people for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here which as Pasor truly saith cometh from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 habito to dwell must not be raken for the Jews Temple at Hierusalem as the Greek Scholiast testifieth which is the error of some Papists What 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifieth and of Grotius also because Caligula intended to set up his Statue in that Temple under the name of Jupiter optimus maximus which notwithstanding was not done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but it must be understood of the Church of God where God dwelleth and in the same sence as our Saviour useth the same word in John 2.19 John 2.19 where he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 destroy this temple that is where the Godhead dwelleth and I will rear it up in three dayes for so the Church of Christ where God dwelleth is every where in the new Testament called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Temple of God as Ephes 2.21 Apoc. 11.19 1 Cor. 3.16 2 Cor. 6.16 and so Theophilact saith he shall sit non in templo specialiter quod est Hierosolymis sed in Ecclesiis simpliciter in omni divino templo not in the temple specially understood which is at Hierusalem but in the Churches simply and in every divine temple and S. Hierome saith in templo dei sedebit vel Hierosolimis Hieron q. 11. ad Algas ut quidam putant vel in Ecclesiis ut verius arbitramur he shall sit in the temple of God either at Hierusalem as some think or else in the Churches as we more truly suppose And this clearly sheweth that the seat of the Antichrist can be neither at Rome nor at Constantinople as I have shewed to you before unless you will yield That neither Rome nor Constantinople but the true Church is the seat of the Antichrist either Rome or Constantinople to be the truest and purest Church that Christ hath on earth because the Antichrist will arise and settle himself in that Church saith the Apostle which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the dwelling place of God and not where he hath dwelt that so he may do the most dishonour unto God and the most mischief unto his servants and God dwelleth in the purest Church no man can deny it and therefore the Antichrist must arise and inthrone himself in the purest Church as I have fully proved before and there in that Church saith the Apostle he sheweth himself as God or as Erasmus doth best translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 demonstro ostentans
boasting and bragging or prae se ferens as Beza translates it pretending that he is God or as Tremellius saith ostentet seipsum ac si Deus esset he will carry himself as if he were a God that is in Gods stead the true King to rule the people and the right Bishop to govern the Church of Christ or That the Antichrist will wholly direct the Clergy and dispose of all things in the Church and about the service of God as some do read it he would be esteemed and taken tanquam sit Deus for such a supream Monarch and chief Governor over Gods Church as God said unto Moses he should be to Aaron his God to direct him in all the service of the Tabernacle and the whole worship of God so will the Antichrist be such a God to order direct and dispose of all the worship of God and how all the Clergie in order and without order should behave and carry themselves in the whole service of the Church which I take to be the true meaning of the Apostle in this place For this shewing himself or bragging that he is God is not to be understood that he would have himself believed to be the true and everliving God and worshiped with divine worship as the Historians tell us Alexander Antigonus Augustus Caligula Domician and divers others of the Caesars and Emperors were transported to that height of pride and ambition as believing themselves to be more than men to require the people their subjects to take them for Jupiter Apollo or some other of those anciently esteemed Gods and to ascribe the honor and worship that was usually given to those Gods unto themselves as Altars Sacrifices and the like whereof Virgil speaking of Augustus saith Virgilius eglog 1. Illius aram Saepe tener nostris ab ovilibus imbuet agnus And Horace also saith Horatius epist. l. 2. Jurandásque tuum per nomen ponimus aras But the meaning of the Apostle is that this man of sin the Antichrist will bragge and boast unto the people that he is all for God and for the honor and service of God and therefore sits in the temple of God to set out the right directory of serving God that so God through him and by his only means and endeavors might be rightly served and worshipped according to his directory as the Mahometans worship Mahomet according to his Alcoran and we formerly worshipped God according to the form prescribed unto us by our Governors in the book of Common-prayer and so he sheweth that he is God that is most godly and so a God by the participation of the godliness and holiness of God which exposition doth most fitly agree with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what he sheweth himself to be which is the rediest way to deceive the people And whether the long Parliament hath not usurped this ecclesiastical power and jurisdiction over all the holy things Let the Reader judge whether this be not fulfilled in the long Parliament and to set forth the sole Directory of Gods service tanquam sit Deus as if they alone had Aarons Office to order all the other Priests and Levites or had the spirit of S. Paul infallibly to direct the Church of Christ as well as Moses his Authority and the power of a King to rule the people Let the Parishes and people of God that have none other form of Gods service but what the Parliament Preachers and the observers of their Directory do use be the Judges both of what service and of what Doctrine is brought unto them I make small account though I will not pass it unsaluted of that Observation which some men have made that the Parliament House where the members of the long Parliament sate Arise Evans in his Voice from heaven was a Chappel consecrated by King Edward the 3. to be the Temple of God as appeareth by many Records because many other Parliaments have sate in that Chappel and yet not any of them all have usurped this power to be the supream disposers and directors of all the holy service of God the Commanders of all the Bishops and Priests of the most high God how to do his service and what service should be done unto him and to make themselves the sole Possessors the right owners to dispose sell or give all the Revenues lands states Tythes and offerings of the Church as it is said the Antichrist would do and which he may no better nor so well do as Scyrus and Procrustes the two vilest robbers that we read of could take thy purse and all thy mony by the High-way side And here also I cannot omit to observe Note the word fit in the temple that the Apostle saith that the man of sin shall not stand but sit in the Temple of God where the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which properly signifieth to fit as where it is said that Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 4.6 and 20.12 sate by the well and so the two Angells were seen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sitting in white raiments is to be distinguished from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which betokeneth and signifieth collocare to place or to set a thing in some place as it is where the Apostle saith if you have judgments of things pertaining to this life 1 Cor. 6.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 set such or place them to judg who are least esteemed in the Church and so where it is said that the Disciples brought the Asse and the Colt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as it is in some Copies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they set him Matth 21.7 or placed him thereon And therefore it is rightly concluded by Maresius that this sitting in the Temple of God is ill applyed by Grotius to Caius Caligula his causing of his Statue to be placed in the Temple at Hierusalem but it may most properly signifie the sitting of the Parliament Let the Reader judge of this or the like society of men in that place where they intend to acquiesce and rest themselves whether the place be physical or Metaphysical And whether the Parliament resolved not only to stand in that their dignity and Authority for a while or intended to sit and acquiesce and continue themselves and their Successors for ever in the Parliament-House and in the Temple of God to govern the Church of God as God themselves know best I will not judge of their Intention CHAP. VI. That the Antichrist is a great Professor of Religion and a seeming Saint That he belyeth his Profession and is indeed the greatest Hypocrite in the world What the great Lye of the Antichrist is What 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth What it is to deny Jesus to be the Christ And how the Father and the Son may be denied two manner of waies 2. THough I might go on
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
Child that the Dragon watcheth to devoure but Christ that is mystically begotten and spiritually residing in that Child of the Church which is truly regenerated is that Child which is advanced and advanceth with himself as his member every true Christian to the Throne of God and which in and by those that are his members and have him by his spirit residing in them What Child ruleth these Nations with a Rod of Iron subdueth the Devill and all the Heathenish Idolaters and all others the enemies of his Church as he did overthrowe all the Oracles all the Idolls of the Gentiles all the Tyrants that persecuted and all the Hereticks that molested his Church And all these things were wrought by this child in and by those instruments that were his members and the Children of the Church even as we find it fully expressed in our Ecclesiasticall Histories how Constantine overthrew Licinius Maxentius and Alexander that rebelled against him and vexed Gods Church and Theodosius vanquished Maximus Eugenius and Arbogastus and that in so wonderfull a manner as not onely the Christian Historiographers but also the Poet Clandian in admiration of his Victory saith O nimium dilecte deo cui militat aether Claudian de consulat Honorii Judges 4. Et conjurati veniunt ad classica venti That as the Starres in their order did fight against Cicera so the Skies and the windes did help and assist Theodosius so much beloved of God and so many other true Christians Children of the Church and the members of this Child or rather as I said this Child in and by those his members hath subdued all the Idolatrous Instruments of Satan and the tyrannicall enemies of his Church and so ruleth them with a Rod of Iron and breaks them in pieces like a Potters Vessel And yet notwithstanding all the omnipotent power and the infinite ability of this Child By the Wilderness is meant a life sequestred from the pomp and vanities of the world to protect his members it seemed good to God not to suffer the woman to stay before the Dragon but he by his blessed spirit moved her for fear of the red Dragon as I conceive though that is not exprest because he still waiteth and watcheth for any opportunity to destroy the faith of Christ from every Christian and to bring them either to renounce their faith like the Apostate Julian or to follow after the world like Demas or else to defile the faith of Christ with the old errors and heresies of the primitive age that are still revived by upstart inlighters to flie into the Wilderness that is to forsake the vanities of the world and all worldly pomp and the society of all wicked and earthly men for the Wilderness is said to be the place which God had appointed and prepared for her verse 6. And what place I pray you doth God appoint for his Children in this world but such a Wildernesse or desart let the same be where it will where they may fast and pray and serve God without being hindered or corrupted by the wicked worldlings for so Lot while he was in Sodome Joseph in Aegypt and Daniel in Nebuchadnezars Court lived as it were like Marke the Eremite in a Wilderness that is sequestred from the world and all the inticements of this world otherwise as St. Ambrose saith Transire in Egyptum non erat criminosum sed transire in mores Egytiorum crimen habet as it was no sin to passe into Aegypt but to follow the manners and the Idolatries of the Aegyptians was most sinfull so to live in the world is no wayes offensive to God but to fashion our selves like unto the World and to be led away and as it were bewitched with the vanities pleasures and delights of the world is that which is forbidden 1 Cor. 7.31 In what Wilderness the Church liveth and is most hatefull unto God and therefore God brings his Church that is his Children out of the World though they live in the world and willeth them to use the World as though they used it not or not abusing it as St. Paul speaketh And in this Metaphoricall Wildernesse or solitary unworldly manner of living in the World and not in any locall Wilderness Junius in annot in locum When the time of the Womans feeding in the Wildernesse expired such as the Children of Israell wandered in the Church of Christ by the power and providence of God was sed that is with the Heavenly Doctrine of the Gospel which is the Spiritual food of our soules for 120 and 60 dayes saith the Angel v. 6. and that is as Junius rightly expounds it by taking a day for a year 1200 and 60 years which must needs be expired after the Woman became Cloathed with the Sun and was so delivered as I shewed to you before and thus fed in the Wilderness for feare of being corrupted by the wiles of the red Dragon just about the yeare of Christ 1642. For so the Ecclesiasticall Histories do most evidently That the Church of Christ was free from any bloody persecution from 382 untill the year 1642. which is the full space of 1200 and 60 years and undoubtedly declare unto us that during all this time of 1200 and 60 years after the reigne of Theodosius untill the year 1642 the Church of God had rest and was freed from any bloody persecution for the profession of the true faith the right Service of God and the two Witnesses of Christ that is as I said before out of E. H. and others the Christian Magistrates the King as chief those that are sent from him as St. Peter saith and the spiritual Ministers the Bishops and Preachers of the Gospel living in their Cloysters and Monasteries as in a Wildernesse secluded from the world and all worldly affaires had free liberty and furtherance through the protection and assistance of the Christian Emperors and those Kings and Queens that God raised to be as nurcing Fathers and nurcing Mothers unto the Church to Preach open and publish the mysterie of our Christian Religion and the truth of the two Testaments and to instruct the people of God in the doctrine of Faith Repentance and so to edifie the Temple that was measured to be built as I have shewed to you before c. 11.3 But then the Dragon seeing the Woman and her Child thus escaped and freed out of his persecuting hands the hands of his instruments How the Devil wheeles about like a cunning Fencer the Idolatrous Heathen Tyrants and the bloody Arrian Kings he like a very cunning fencer that can play with both hands and is good at all Weapons wheeles about and because he cold not prevaile in his own ground and upon the Stage of the Heathen Tyrants he like the Roman Scipio very boldly enters upon his Adversaries Territories and makes a Warr in Heaven and that is he followeth the Woman into the Wilderness and
length of the time I take to be the very self same time and that is the time wherein the Antichrist should rage and should suppress and kill the two witnesses and exceedingly vex and persecute the true Church of Christ And these times thus exprest by the Holy Ghost are interpreted by very many of the most learned How long the persecution of the Antichrist shall last both Papists and Protestants to signifie three years and a half or as some men do think three years and half three years which makes up four years and a half though I rather conceive it should be taken for some short time much thereabouts which the good God in his great Wisdome knoweth best and would have us by these expressions of it to know for a certaine truth and to assure our selves that it shall not and cannot be long but either that time directly A speciall observation or much about that time though perhaps not that time exactly to a day yet it may be most exactly to a minute as God seeth best I will not be too curious nor too presumptuous herein Only I would have it observed that the time of this persecution of the Woman That the time of this persecution of the Woman and of her first abode in the Wilderness is not the same and the time of her first aboade in the Wilderness when she fled there first from the face of the Dragon after the bringing forth of her Child is not the same for that time is said to be 1200 and 60 dayes and this time of her persecution by the Dragon is said to be a time and times and half a time which is just the same time for the length of it and exprest in the same phrase as Daniel saith Antiochus that is the most lively type of the Antichrist that can be found in all the Scriptures should rage against the Church of the Jews and that was just three years and a halfe neither more nor less saith Tremelius or three years seven moneths and thirteen dayes saith Junius and Deodate for if that time of her abode in the Wilderness and this time of her persecution by the Dragon had been the same time why should it not be exprest by the same terme and by the same phrase but that the Holy Ghost by altering the terme and using another phrase to express it would have us to understand it of another time when as we see the time of the Witnesses Prophesying and the time of the Womans first abode in the Wilderness being the same time they have the same expression of 1200 and 60 dayes as you may see in c. 11.3 c. 12.6 and so likewise the time of treading the holy City under foot c. 11.3 c. 12.6 and the time of the beast continuing his War against the Church and the Saints in this last persecution of the Dragon being the same time it hath in like manner the same expression of 42. moneths c. 11.2 c. 13.5 c. 11.2 c. 13.5 that so we might understand it to be the very same time And therefore I say that the Womans first abode in the Wilderness for 1200 and 60 dayes and this her treading under foot by the beast and her last abode and nourishing in the Wilderness for a time times and half a time c. 12. v. 14. is not the same and doth not Sunchronize as Mr. Mede saith Mr. Mede in his clavis pag. 3. but the continuance of the beast persecuting her being 42. moneths c. 11.2 and her nourishing in the Wildernesse during this War and the persecution of her by the beast being a time and times and half a time that makes 42 moneths or three years and a half as the most of the best interpreters do agree it is to be taken do sunchronize c. 12.14 and therefore must be understood for the very same time But all this while that is during the time thus exprest by time times and a half time and by three dayes and a half and 42 months how long or how short soever that time shall be the great Dragon that is the Devil by the cruel beast that is the Antichrist and the Dragons prime instrument of all mischief shall cast out of his mouth saith the holy Ghost Waters as a flood after the Woman c. 12.15 What is meant by the flood that the Dragon casteth after the Woman Judge whether this was not fulfilled in the time of the long Parliament amongst us that he might cause her to be carryed away by the Flood v. 15. and that is he shall make Lawes and decrees orders and Ordinances that do proceed out of the mouth of men that must not be past over unobserved and are as poysonous and as deadly as the waters that are spued out of the mouth of the Serpent and they shall be made so plentifully and in such an abundant manner that they shall be like a flood or a torrent streame that as the Poet saith Fluit acrius amne perenni floweth more violent then any constant current so shall these new made Lawes and Ordinances of the Beast be more prejudiciall to the Servants of God then any former well known Lawes and decrees and they shall be cast after the woman that is not gently made but violently thrown with such a force as might wholly carry away the Woman and so destroy the Church and overwhelme all the right Worshippers of God and the true professors of the faith of Christ for by waters as the Psalmist serteth down in many places is signified Crosses troubles and afflictions Psal 69.1.2 Psal 124.4 Psal 144.7 and all kind of molestations and miseries which the Dragon by his new made orders and Ordinances would bring upon the Church without measure whereby her members from the highest to the lowest should finde plundering and pillaging in all places imprisonment without mercy banishment without pitty taxes beyond ability death without example and killing in all quarters the which things are the floods of miseries and afflictions How troubles and miseries drive many away from the right way and not the Doctrines of Arius and other Hereticks as Mr. Mede saith that the Dragon powreth forth after the woman that she might be carried away of the flood that is that she might be terrified by these floods and driven away by these miseries from the right service of God and the performance of the duties that she oweth unto the witnesses as we see terrors and troubles are too powerfull to drive away the weak and such as have no solidity in them from the right way either of equity or piety And thus shall the poor and pious woman the true Church of Christ and all her members be persecuted and afflicted by the Dragon and whether our Church hath bin thus used or not during the warres of the long Parliament I leave it to the judicious Reader to consider it howsoever the goodness of God
chief Prelate were killed about the same time by the same persons and for the same cause as it seemes the two witnesses of Christ were to be and our King and Bishops were for the pretence of fear of bringing in Popery as here it did 1. The King which is the supreme Magistrate and 2. The Bishop which is the chief Praelate Pastor of the People should be killed about the same time by the same persons and indeed upon the matter for the same cause whatsoever pretences should be alledged the which cause is shewed to be the malice of the Dragon to the woman and her Child and to slay the witnesses And I do verily believe that if learned Junius Beza and others the like wise and learned men had lived in these times and had seen the things that were and are done in these dayes of the last Century of years among Protestants and in the best reformed Churches they would have interpreted this and many other parcels of Scriptures far otherwise then they have done and no marvel nor any disparagement to their learning and wisdom because as I said before Prophesies and Predictions mystically set down are not perfectly understood untill they be fully accomplished and fulfilled And therefore as the Holy Ghost had set down in the 11th Chapter how the two witnesses of Gods truth and the Governours of his Church should be used persecuted and killed by the Ministers of the Antichrist the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit so here in the 12th Chapter he sheweth how the Church her self and all her members should be molested afflicted and persecuted by the Serpent that had formerly seduced her out of Paradise and now followeth her into the Wilderness makes Warre against her and throwes a whole flood of miseries and mischiefs upon her to see if he can utterly destroy her and being exceedingly vexed and filled with wrath that the woman should be any wayes helped as she was by the earth and earthly members that opened their mouthes to speak for the innocent Children of the woman and thereby swallowed up many of those bitter waters that the Dragon had spued upon her that all the Servants of Christ and the observers of the witnesses should not be wholly and irrecoverably destroyed he goeth about to make warre with the remnant of the womans seed and yet it is not said that he made this warre with the remainder of the womans seed after the death of the witnesses because they were so few that they were not able to warre with him but he went about to make warre with them and to that end 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he stands upon the Sands of the Sea for these words are the conclusion of the 12th Chapter and not the beginning of the 13th Chapter and they are to be referred to the Dragon and not to St. John as our English Translation mistakes it and the meaning is that the Dragon intending to prosecute this warre against the remainder of the faithfull Christians that observed the witnesses and did their duties in the service of God as they ought to do and so kept the Commandements of God and had the Testimony of Jesus Christ that they were 〈◊〉 true and faithfull servants stands upon the Sands that is upon the rest of the Preachers of Gods word and those faithfull Clergy-men and other zealous and conscionable Christians that used and observed the right form of divine service or the right mazner of serving God Who are meant by the Sands upon which the Dragon standeth which the faithfull and slain witnesses of Christ had prescribed and obeyed their Governours and submitted themseives to the Discipline and to the uttermost of their abilities justified and defended the same Government which the true Governours of Gods Church had ordained and he trezdeth and trampleth these Sands under his feet for as the Sands are placed by God to keep in the Seas within their bounds that they should not overflowe the Lands so is the Lawes and Discipline of the Church and those faithfull Ministers and others that observe the same a stop and a bridle to refrain the people and to hinder them from passing over the bounds of equity and piety and though the Discipline and sentence of the Church seemes but a weak fence to keep out the wild beasts and to retain in the fold of Christ his sheep and of little force like a paper bullet to terrifie the wicked from any evill yet as the Sands that are but of a small substance do notwithstanding keep in the raging Seas and as the twigs that tie the hoopes of a Hogs-head or Tun are but very small and yet are the preservatives of the Wine so are the Lawes and Discipline of the Church though not capitall nor bloody yet sufficiently able like the Sands to suppress the raging waves of wickedness from all the Children of the Church How the Dragon stands upon the Sands But now saith the Angel the Dragon stands upon these Sands treads down all holy orders rageth against all the Discipline of the Church throwes the observers of them out of their Churches deprives them of their livings stops their mouthes with terrors and threatnings and as he had formerly slain the witnesses so now he raiseth the windes stirreth up storms and all the Tempests that he can Judge if this also be not fulfilled in the time of the long Parliament to blow away these Sands that adhered to the witnesses and endeavoured to keep in and to restraine the waters of the Seas and the wickedness of the people from overflowing and wheresoever these windes do blow and these Sands are stood upon I pray God to give them patience to overcome these stormy winds and Tempests Amen CAP. III. The three principall enemies of Gods Church Satans 1000 years imprisonment when begun and when ended when the Christian Religion tryumphed over the Idolls of the Gentiles and over all the Gods of the Heathens that the beast signifieth the great Antichrist and a pack or confederacy of most wicked men from whence it sprung of the seven heads of the beast what they are handled at large and the Authours opinion of the seven Kings and the eighth that is the beast and the Antichrist 3. AFter that the Angel which Christ sent unto St John had informed him of those sad accidents that should befall unto the witnesses in the 11th Chapter and the state and condition of the Church of God under the person and title of the woman for the space of 1200 and 60 years and the persecutions that she must undergo after the end and expiration of those years that began as I shewed unto you about 382. and ended in or about 1642. in the 12th Chapter he proceedeth in this 13th Chapter to shew unto him the Instruments that the red Dragon raiseth up and the Devill useth to become the murtherers of the witnesses and the persecuting enemies of Gods Church and I
Ceremonies of our Church which they spared not most loudly and lewdly to bark against and to call it the Laodicean luke-warm Church and the Governours and upholders of all the good orders uniformity and discipline of this Church of Christ they blushed not to style Popish Bishops and proud Prelates and the Book of Common Prayer as if it had been the Turkish Alcoran They perswaded the people to believe it was the English Masse-Book and all the Ceremonies thereof the ragges of Rome and so belched out their poyson against out Church And to what incurable mischief this disease was like to grow that wise and reverend Arch-Bishop Bancraft did foresee and with all his might endeavoured to prevent by discovering and publishing the same unto the world so did worthy Doctor Whitgift before him and so did Doctor Dove Doctor Covell Doctor Gardiner Doctor Leon. Hutton and Mr. Thomas Hutton and many other godly and learned men labour to unvaile this beast his face to shew his hornes and the weaknesse of his reasons unto the weak and seduced people But as the harlot said unto Socrates ego tibi Socrates multum praesto I do much excell thee O Socrates because I can sooner allure the youths of Athens and intice far more of them to my house of leudnesse then thou canst with all thy rhetorick and eloquence perswade to thy School of Philosophy so these locusts and their Proselites prevailed more with those that were such as Socrates answered the harlot her customers were proclives ad malum inclinable to be misled and easily drawen to evill as we are all by nature then all the wise Governours and grave Doctors of the Church could do to hindet them so that in a short space notwithstanding the execution of Martin Mar-prelate Penry and some others in Queen Elizabeths dayes which did a little stop their gallopping course and the careful industry of King James to suppresse them yet multiplicati sunt super numerum they increased exceedingly like the frogges and rats of Egypt that do super-faetare beget young ones before they be rid of their old brood and then being so multiplyed they that formerly pulled in their horns like a snaile did begin in King Charles his time to set up their hornes on high and to speak with a stiffe neck and now to set their instruments the disconteuted Nobility and Gentry and their own seduced disciples on work to bring their long-wished purposes to an end for as the soule worketh no corporeall act but by the organs of his body so these men being spiritual men could not themselves prevaile to attain unto their ends against the power of the King but having so plentifully sowen their seed among their Proselytes and so well instructed the body that was their instrument they can with their help produce the acts that they intended and which they do suggest into the heads of the other beast which is their body And therefore as in every sinful act the soul which is actus primus corporis organici causa actuum secundorum Arist de anima l. 2. c. 1. Text. 4. Is more liable to judgement and deserves more punishment then the body so as I said before this spiritual beast is far the worst of the twain and the worst of all other beasts that ever were so bad that I am no wayes able to shew unto you the badnesse and to display the wickednesse of this second beast yet as the Arian hereticks gave forth of themselves Aug. epist 48. ad Vincent that they onely were the true Catholick Church of God and those that were the members of the true Church indeed they called Athanasians Ambrosians Joannites and as Nestorius being a pestilent heretick covered himself notwithstanding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the cloak or vaile of the Catholick faith saith Theodoret so I know these men think themselves to be the onely true servants and the most faithful Ministers of Jesus Christ but indeed as David did worse then Joab in the murther of Vriah and as the teacher of a man to sin is worse then he that commits the sin as the Serpent that inticed the woman to eat of the forbidden fruit was worse then the woman so this second beast that seduced and taught the first beast to do all or most of the evills and wickednesse that he did is far worse then the first beast that was but his instrument to effect all those vile acts and mischiefs whereof this second beast was the prime Authour instructor instigator and no marvell for as corruptio-optimi est pessima The second beast farre worse then the first beast and so I deem the Prerbyterians the worst of all the men in Ingland and the Authours of all the mischiefs done in this kingdom Jerem. 24.23 Tertul. l. de prescript advers haeres c. 42. and as Jeremy his figges were either exceeding good or extream bad so are the Preachers and teachers of men either the best of men and so worthy of double honour if with the true Prophets they go the right way to work or else the worst of all men and so worthy of many stripes if with this second beast and false Prophet they go about to corrupt the truth to seduce the people and as Tertullian saith of the hereticks of his time cum hoc sit negotium illis non ethnicos convertendi sed nostros evertendi to labour more to overthrow us then to build others in the faith of Christ And as the Arian Prelates and Preachers were more cruell and greater persecutors of the Orthodox then either the heathen tyrants or the Ariankings that were but their instruments and were indeed lesse bloody and more consciencious then their teachers so are these Presbyterians and Independents and Lay-Preachers more proud and more cruel and of lesse conscience and lesse honesty as being the prime Authours fomenters and devisers of all villanies miseries and mischiefes that have been acted in these dominions ever since they were hatched then were the members of that long Parliament as the sequele of their description and their actions here specified will make it plaine and the Author of the Last Will and Testament of Sir John Presbyter in his Epitaph that concludes too uncharitably doth briefly paint them forth saying Here lies Jacke Presbyter void of all pitty Sir John Presbyter his Epitaph That ruin'd the Country and fooled the City He turn'd Preaching to prating and telling of lies Caus'd Jarres and Dissentions in all Families He invented new Oathes Rebellions to raise Deceiving the Commons whil'st on them he preyse He made a new Creed despised the old King State and Religion by him bought and sold He foure yeares consulted and yet could not tell The Parliament the way Christ went into hell Resolved therein he never could be Therefore in great hast he goes thither to see And I would to God they had the Grace to see the mischiefes that they have done and to repent
Lords Table though Christ admitted Judas whom he knew far better then these men do know those whom they reject and cast away and we can and ought to do no more to the lewdest offenders but to shew them the danger of the unworthy receivers and exhort them to repent and to believe in Christ and upon the confession of their faults and profession of their Faith and repentance we ought to believe them to be Gods children and receive them among the Faithfull and leave them all for Christ to judge which of the guest doth want his wedding garment Yet we confess That the Apostles had two manner of gifts 1. Extraordinary it is true that the Apostles had a double qualification 1. The one extraordinary which was requisite for the planting of a new Church and that consisted chiefly in these two things 1. Infallibility of the Doctrine which they taught 2. A powerful working of miracles to confirm that doctrine and to win the hearers to give credit and to believe the same And when the Churches were converted these graces determined and ceased with the Apostles 2. Ordinary which were either 2. The other was ordinary which was requisite for the instructing guideing and ruling of the Church so long as the Church should continue till Christ should come to judgement And these graces that were thus requisite for the continuance of the Church in the service of God were likewise of two sorts 1. Common 1. Common to the Apostles and Presbyters and Deacons as reading the Scriptures preaching or expounding the word administring the Sacraments provision for the poor and other like christian duties 2 Proper which the Apostles reserved unto themselves 2. Proper which consisted in two things and to the Bishops that were to be their successors to guide and to govern the Church after them And this proper qualification of the Apostles which they left as peculiar to the Bishops that were to succeed the Apostles was and is likewise two-fold 1. Ordination 1. Ordination of Presbyters and Deacons to read the word and to preach and to administer the Sacraments and to do all the other common duties of the Church 2. Jurisdiction which was twofold 1. The lesser censure 2. The greater censure 2. Jurisdiction in censuring those that were refractory and walked disorderly in the Church and this Ecclesiasticall censure is either 1. The lesser which is a debarring of the offendor from the Lords Supper 2. The greater censure which was by such an excommunication as excluded the offender quite from the Churh and was not received into it untill he had satisfied the Church by his confession of his fault and repentance shewed for the scandall he had given Now such is the pride and ambition of every Presbyterian that he would have nothing left proper unto the Bishop but that all must be common as well to him as to the Bishop How the Presbyterians do usurp the authority of the Bishop he cannot indure to be excluded or debarrd from any thing but cryeth out as Corah Dathan and Abiram did against Moses and Aaron that the Bishops take too much upon them And therefore 1. They usurp and assume unto themselves the office of ordination and do make Priests themselves the which boldnesse of theirs I intend not to stand now to confute but do assure the people Lay-preachers and tradesmen to execute the Ecclesiastical function have as good authority and calling as the new Presbyterian Priests that the Priests of their making have no better calling nor authority to enter upon that sacred function then he that is made a Judge or a Justice of Peace to rule the countrey by a company of high-way thieves and robbers and the Lay-preachers be they what they will husband-men or trades-men Taylors Shoemakers or Weavers or the like may as lawfully and perhaps more blamelesly do all the service of the Church as any of them that have their ordination from these Presbyters 2. They usurp the jurisdiction over the Church as well as the ordination of the Priests unto themselves and they are more rigid in their censures that are also more illegally done then either Bishop or Pope See the translation of Grallae pag 69. to pag. 90. and you shall find how these Presbyterian censures do exceed the tyranny of the Pope who exercised their discipline and censures in open Court in forma juris and secundum allegata probata when the Presbyterians do it secundum beneplacitum as it seemeth good in their own eyes because they have the discerning spirit to know who are worthy to be received and who ought to be excluded both from Christ and from the Church of Christ And yet I do not wonder so much that the Presbyters should be so ambitious to lay hold of this authority as I do admire that the people should be so foolish as to hate us for telling the truth unto them for their own benefit and shewing the other mens iniquity But I remember a story that Sir Thomas Moore tells us of two famous Philosophers that by their great skill in astronomy foresaw that at such a constellation A pretty story of Sir Thomas Moor. there would fall such a shower of pestiferous rain upon the earth that all the men which scaped not the drops of that rain should presently prove frantick and be distracted of their sences whereupon those Philosophers concluded that they would hide themselves in a Cave untill that shower was passed over and so they did and all things succeeded as they expected for when they came out of their hole where they were hidden they found all the people like mad-men playing the Anticks and therefore they being sober thought to do them good by advising them to leave their fooleries and to follow after sobriety but the mad people told the Philosophers that they themselves were mad and they would take a course with them for saying that they were out of their wits and knew not what they did and so they laid hold on the Philosophers and beat them and they had much adoe to escape from these mad people with their lives this was the reward they had for their well-wishes and desire to do those mad people good to guide them and to direct them in the right courses I wish it may not be so with us that the people prove not themselves like those upon whom that fatal shower descended and that they would not deal with us It is easier to find few wise men then to find many wise men for telliug the truth of these mens doings for their good as those mad men did with those Philosophers And I would the people that are so affected to the Presbyterian government would consider whether it be as easie to find ten thousand wise and sober moderate men as to finde out ten The Kings and Emperours heretofore were very careful to make choice of the best and wisest men that