signifies the Lord Iesus in whose happy fellowship and societie now they liue sub Altari id est in secretario laudis aeternae quod est sublime Altare triumphantis Ecclesiae vel sub Christi custodia et quiete This Altar is in heauen not in earth it is the high Altar of the Church triumphant their soules are in custody and quiet rest with Christ. Againe another of their owne so expounds it Sub Altari id est sub protectione et confortio Christi Vnder the Altar that is vnder the protection and fellowship of Christ. This Altar is otherwise called Paradise This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise and The bosome of Abraham and the hands of the Lord Into thine hands O Lord I commend my spirit It is also called A place before the Throne where the Lord and the Lambe and the seuenfold Spirit is Of it speakes our Sauiour Father I will that those whom thou hast giuen mee be where I am This is the place of glorified soules Neither doe those Diuines reason very diuinely who say Christ cannot be this Altar because he is the Sacrifice for he is both the Sacrifice the Sacrificer and the Altar For he offred himselfe by his eternall Spirit There it is plaine that hee is the Sacrifice or thing offred and the Sacrificer also The Altar in like manner hee must be for the Altar sanctifies the Sacrifice Now by none other was our Sauiour sanctified but by himselfe none other Altar could commend him or make him acceptable to his Father his Diuinitie sanctified his humanity and his humanity was offred by his Diuinitie and vpon it Therefore to say that another not himselfe can sacrifice him or that he can be sacrificed vpon any other Altar but vpon himselfe is as great blasphemy as to bring in another sacrifice whereby the iustice of God may be satisfied Let presumptuous blinded Masse Priests consider this That were killed that is he sawe the soules of those bodies that were killed for the Word of God Death then wee see strikes but the body Feare not them who kill the body and can do no more It is like to Nebuchadnezzar his fire which burnt the cords wherewith the three children were bound but burnt not their bodies so death can do no more but loose our bands and set our soules at liberty What shall separate vs from the loue of Christ shall tribulation or anguish or persecution or perill or sword No in all these things wee are more then Conquerors through him that loued vs. For I am perswaded neither death nor life can separate vs from the loue of God which is in Christ. Let it come and disioyne the soule from the body that it may conioyne vs with Christ. For the Word of God There is no Religion so false but it hath its own Patrones who will defend it yea and dare die for it Satan as he hath his owne Apostles so hath he also his owne Martyrs Martyres Satanicae virtutis wee must alway take heed to the cause of suffering Non poena sed causa facit Martyrem therefore he ioynes these two For the Word and testimonie which they maintained It is nothing to stand to a testimonie nay though thou shouldst die for it vnlesse thou iustifie by the Word that thy testimony is true VERSE 10. And they cryed with a lowd voice saying How long Lord Holy and True Dost thou not iudge and auenge our bloud on them that dwell on the earth NOW followes in this Verse the supplication which these soules of Martyrs send vp to God in the next verse the answer which is giuen thē The voice by which they send vp their supplication is called a crying not vocall but spirituall noting the feruencie of their desires for the words of soules whereby they speake vnto God are their feruent desires Magnus eorum clamor magnum est desiderium tum Resurrectionis tum Iudicii Their great cry is their great desire both of the Resurrection and of the Iudgement to come A small desire makes but a small voice in the Lords eares but a seruent desire causes a lowd voice Animarum igitur verba ipsa sunt desideria si desiderium sermo non esset non diceret Propheta Desiderium cordis eorum andiuit auris tua that is If the desire of the soule were not a speech vnto God the Prophet would not haue said Thou hast heard the desire of their heart How long Lord It is here demanded How is this that Saints cry for vengeance Are we not commanded to loue our enemies and to pray for them To this some Diuines answer that it is not they but the sinnes of the wicked done to them that cryes for a vengeance And they obserue that there are foure crying sinnes first the filthy sin of Sodome Because the cry of Sodome and Gomorah is great I will go downe now and see whether if or not they haue done altogether according to the cry which is come vnto me Next the oppression of the widdow and fatherlesse Thou shalt not trouble any widdow nor fatherlesse childe if thou trouble such and he cry vnto me I will heare his cry Thirdly the detaining fraudulently of the wages of worke-men is also a crying sinne Thou shalt giue an hired seruant his hire for his day for hee is poore and therewith sustaineth his life lest he cry against thee vnto the Lord and it be sinne vnto thee And againe The hire of the labourers holden back by fraud cryes and enters into the eares of the Lord of Hosts Fourthly innocent bloud cryes to the Lord for vengeance against them that shed it The voice of thy brothers bloud cryes to me from the ground And so here the bloud of Martyrs cryes But there is here further to be added that this cry of theirs is their own and proceeds not of any passion or desire of their priuate reuenge but onely of a zeale to the glory of God whose holinesse and truth they desire to be manifested as may be perceiued by the titles they giue the Lord in their prayer Non carnali sensu credendum est eos animositate vltionis accendi sed manifestum est contra potestatem regnum peccati or asse Adueniat regnum tuum Wee are not with carnall sense to beleeue that they were kindled with any heat of reuenge it is manifest they pray against the kingdome of sinne And in effect the summe of their prayer is Lord let thy Kingdome come Quid est animas vindictae petitionem dicere nisi diem extremum Iudicii resurrectionem corporum desiderare What else is it that Saints are said to cry for to be auenged but that they earnestly desire the day of Iudgement and Resurrection of their bodies Hoc dicunt non poenam malis optando sed voluntati Dei
many a time hee spurreth before them and preuents them in the midst of their purposes and resolutions which they thinke without doubt to accomplish he cuts them away An example whereof we haue in that rich man who resolued with himselfe that hee would enlarge his Barnes foolishly conceiting hee had good enough for many yeeres but it was told him O foole this night they will take away thy soule from thee There is no remedie against this but to prepare our selues in time to preuent death leâ—…t he preuent vs. Let vs mount on Horse-backe in time go before him Our Conquerour and Captaine Christ Iesus rides on a White Horse all his followers walke in his colours for they are all said to ride vpon White Horses If we ride on the white Horses be in fellowship with Iesus the Rider on the Pale shall not be able to hurt vs for there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Iesus he may bite our heele and lick the dust of our earth but the Lord shall preserue the soule of his seruants Let vs ascend in our affection let vs cast the anchor of our soules within the Vaile and fasten it vpon the Rocke Christ Iesus so shall we be sure that this Death which hath Hell following him shall not come neeâ—…e vs. For now this is the third point to be considered in the Type that this Rider on the Pale Horse named Death hath a Page following him called Hell The word Hades in the Greeke and Sheol in the Hebrew signifies sometime the Graue and sometime the place of the damned where there is vtter darkenesse and no light at all The learned Interpreter Beza retaineth the word Infernus or Hell it followes Death said Victorine waiting for the deuouring of many soules For if in this place the word should onely signifie the Graue the iudgement were not great sith the Graue followes the death both of good men and euill And sure it is nothing common to them both can be called the proper punishment of sin Here then is the greatnesse of this Plague that the contemners of the Gospell shall bee punished with such a Death as hath Hell following it For as there is a double Death first and second so there is a double Pit or Hell one for the body to wit the Graue this is Temporall another for the soule and body also most properly called Hell the place of the damned this is Eternall Of it speakes the Psalmist The wicked shall turne into Hell and all Nations that forget God Peccatorum mors mala est the death of sinners is euill said Bernard First for the losse of the world they loued it well and cannot without great sorrow want it but it is Peior in dissolutione carnis it is worse in regard of dissolution of soule and body yet is it Pessima in tormentis inserni worst of all in respect of the torments of hell which follow it But the soules of the righteous are in the hands of the Lord and no torment shall touch them This for the Type it selfe Now followes the exposition of it And power was giuen to them c The relatiue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is plurall shewing that we haue here an exposition not onely of the Pale but of the Red and Black also This is made plaine by the words following Power was giuen them to wit to the Red Horse and his Rider to kill with the Sword to the Black Horse and his Rider to kill with Famine to the Pale Horse and his Rider to kill with Pestilence and deuouring Beasts The Spirit of God so plainely expounds himselfe that it is a wonder how men out of their owne conceits can forge another exposition not taking heed to the Text which expoundeth it selfe All these Executors of wrath come out we see with a limited commission he who executes the plague of Famin is licenced to smite the wheate the Barley but not the Wine and Oile this Rider on the pale Horse is not permitted to smite all the wicked but onely a fourth part thus are all the temporall iudgements of God mitigated for as I haue said neither are all the wicked punished here neither yet is the ful measure of wrath executed on such as are punished NaÌ„ si nunc omne peccatuÌ„ manifesta plecteretur poena nihil vltimo iudicio reseruari putaretur rursus si nullum peccatum nunc puniret apertè Diuinitas nulla esse prouidentia Diuina crederetur Some iudgements God executes now to witnesse to the world that there is a God who iudges righteously in earth and some he spares now to tell vs that there is a iudgement to come But in the last Iudgement it shall not be so none of the wicked shall be spared there and none of their iudgements shall be mitigated there but the vials of full wrath due to their sinnes shall bee powred vpon them Now if it be so that in punishing the vvicked in this life the Lord vseth a mitigation how much more may wee be assured that in correcting his children with the same roddes the Lord will vse moderation and measure And this should serue for an answere to the wicked who thinke the lesse of these externall iudgements because godly men are subiect to the same Let them heare what the Prophet saith Hath the Lord smitten Israel as hee smote those who smote him in measure in the branches thereof will he contend with it after that he hath corrected his owne yet Iacob shall take roote and Israel shall flourish He onely cuts away the superstuitie of their branches but conserues themselues to immortalitie and life In death they renew their youth like the Eagle but he strikes the wicked at the roote and cuts them away from all hope of life light ioy Yea these same afflictions which the godly doe suffer at the hands of wicked men Deus summè bonus ad suorum redigens vtilitatem oportunitatem nobis praebet spiritualium triumphorum the Lord turnes them so to the good of his owne that they become to them the matter and causes of their spirituall tryumphes And to this same purpose notable is that speech of Augustine Placuit diuinae prouidentiae praeparare in posterum bona iustis quibus non frâ—…entur iniusti et mala impiis quibus non excruciabuntur boni It hath pleased the Diuine prouideÌ„ce to prepare for good men in the time to come good things whereof the wicked shall not be partakers as also to prepare euill things for the wicked with which the godly shall not be tormented Ista verò temporalia bona et mala vtrisque voluit esse coÌ„munia But concerning the good euill things of this temporal life God will haue them alike common both to good men and euill that such good as wicked men haue should
not be esteemed the greatest good and such euill as godly men suffer should not be esteemed the greatest euill That great good prepared for the godly wicked men shall neuer see it and that great euill prepared for the wicked shall neuer come vpon the godly The last plague threatned here is the plague of deuouring beasts one of God his ordinary iudgements wherby he punisheth the pride of man The creatures are appointed to serue vs yea al of them from the Angell to the creeping worme offers their seruice to vs if wee will serue the Lord our God so hath he promised I will make a couenant for them with the wilde beasts and with the fowle of the heauen and with that which creepeth vpon the earth Otherwise if we rebell against him they are all armed against vs to execute his vengeance vpon vs. This plague of deuouring beasts we shall find threatned in the Law executed also on the idolatrous Samaritans on the disobedient prophet on the two and forty children who mocked Elisha two Beares out of the wood deuoured them And since the time of this Prophecie how God hath punished men by most contemptible beasts see Plinius he records that a towne of Spayne was vndermined by the Conies another in Thessalia by the Modewart a towne in France oppressed with Paddocks they forced the inhabitants to forsake their own houses and in Gyaro a Citie in the I le of the Ciclades the inhabitants were so persecuted with the Mice that they were also faine to leaue it Thus can the Lord by his basest creatures abase the high and lofty conceits of men Now to conclude these first foure seales this is to be obserued there is one thing which God offreth and the world will not receiue it there are three things for this that the world would haue and God will not giue them The Lord offers by the ministery of his Gospel mercy and grace this is one thing and yet such a one as hath all needfull things following it but the worldly sort careth not for it Instead of it three things they seek 1. Outward peace 2. Worldly wealth 3. Bodily health But none of these three shall they enioy They will not accept of peace offred from heauen and the Lord takes from them the peace of the earth they disdaine and lothe the bread of life and God takes from them the bread of corne they care not for the health of their soule and the Lord takes from them the health of their bodies Let vs be wise and welcome the first message for they who despise it multiply sorrowes vpon themselues VERSE 9. And when hee had opened the fift seale I saw vnder the Altar the soules of them that were killed for the Word of God and for the testimony which they maintained BEcause both good men and euill are inuolued in the same externall calamities the sword famine and pestilence which are sent vpon the wicked ouertakes also many a time the children of God therefore for their comfort their happy state after this life is here discouered by the opening of this seale and a difference is declared between their death and the death of the wicked euen when their death to the iudgement of man seemeth to be one for where Hell followes the death of the one the other by the same death are transported to a blessed fellowship with Christ in heauen I saw the soules Hee saw not this sight with his naturall eyes his bodily senses at this time were suspended and he was rauished in the Spirit and by it he saw this sight A strange maner of speech that a soule should see soules yet comparing this sight with the sight vvhich Saint Paul saw vvhen he was rauished to the third Heauen it teacheth vs that there is a sight vvhich Saints out of the bodie haue of GOD and a mutuall sight also vvhereby soules know one another which wee are not able to conceiue nor know till we learne it by experience It is commonly asked by many vvhether if or not vve shall know one another in heauen but it were better for vs all carefully to purge our hearts in time and prepare them for that sight Blessed are the pure in spirit for they shall see God and Whosoeuer hath this hope in him purges himselfe as God is pure Let it be an answer to vs all which Photinus Bishop of Lyons gaue to the Proconsull when hee demaunded who God was the other answered Et tu si dignus fueris videbis Thou if thou bee meet for it shalt see who he is Adam was sleeping when God formed Euah of a ribbe of his side hee knew it not but when he wakened incontinent he knew her albeit none informed him what she was This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh and in the transfiguration wherein our Lord gaue to his disciples a glance of the glory to come Peter Iames and Iohn knew Moses and Elias whom they had neuer seene before By these examples learned Diuines haue beene induced to thinke that Saints shall know other in Heauen yea Adam Abraham and that blessed fellowship of Patriarchs and Prophets shall not be vnknowne to vs. The Lord shall let vs want nothing that may increase our ioy yet so that our knowledge shall be without all carnall affection and all our ioy shall euer be in God the fountaine and Father of mercy to them and vs also Alway here we haue an euident argument for the immortality of the soule it dyes not with the body it sleepes not but liues without the body a blessed life albeit not perfit without it Yea euen when it is in the body to giue life vnto it we may perceiue by experience that it hath a life of it owne without it for when the body is asleep and lyes vnder the shadow of death and all the senses thereof are suspended from their naturall functions the soule hath its owne liuely operation meditation and discoursing And sith so is that Connexa corpori extra corpus viuit when it is knit to the body it liueth without the body why shall we doubt but that when it is dissolued and separate from the body it shall still liue by it selfe The place wherein he sees them is noted to be Vnder the Altar by which the Iesuit Viega wandring cleane frō the truth vnderstands the places where the bodies of Martyrs lye buried It contents him not to haue their superstitious Altars honoured with the bones or reliques of Martyrs he will haue their soules there also at least comming to it when they are inuocated and called vpon But this Altar is called in the next verse A place of their rest or residence from which they haue not a going nor a returning againe vnto it But to leaue such Doctors with their doting dreams this altar
saith When hee shall appeare wee shall see him as hee is Yet euen the sight that now we haue by faith sustaines vs that wee faint not yea makes vs to reioyce in him with ioy vnspeakeable and glorious The first sight is no comfort without the third For oh How pittifull is the estate of that man who hath an eye to see the Sunne and hath not an eye to see Him that made the Sunne Yea the second is not comfortable without the third What auailes it to fore-see and fore-tell things to come and not to fore-see that Wrath which is to come that thou maist eschew it Balaam was a great Prophet to point out Iesus Christ vnto others in whom he had no part himselfe Hee fore-saw that the death of righteous men was happy and wished it to himselfe but hee had not true Light to leade him in that life which might bring him to a happy death Thus in the third sight onely stands the comfort of Christians Simeons sight maketh Simeons Song and sendeth away Saints out of the body reioycing in the middest of the dolours of death All these three sights had Saint Iohn but here hee sees these Visions by the second sight Now this sight is relatiue to the sight hee saw before After this I looked and it renders this lesson S. Iohn hauing vsed well the Reuelation hee receiued in the first Vision and hauing deliuered it faithfully to the Church as he was commanded gets now another Vision reueiled to him Two things increase heauenly reuelations in a Preacher First if he vse well the talent receiued already Nec enim alimonia haec distribuendo minuitur sed potius augetur ministrando For heauenly food is not diminished by the distribution thereof but rather is augmented Next if hee looke vp to God by feruent prayer and seek more as here S. Iohn doth hee shall neuer want comfortable matter to deliuer in God his Name to the Church But alack where men come out Prompt◅ docere quod non didicerunt ready to teach that which they haue not learned looking downe to giue vnto people not first looking vp to seek from the Lord what hope of a blessing is there to such a Ministerie And behold a dore was opened By this Metaphoricall speech S. Iohn will signifie vnto vs that an entrance and cleere sight of these heauenly Mysteries was made vnto him by the calling of God which otherwise were hid and locked vp from him like excellent things in the Palace of a King whereof no sight is gotten till the dore be opened and men licensed to enter in So S. Paul by the Opening of a dore of faith to the Gentiles will expresse that entrance to the faith which Gentiles had gotten by his Ministerie and by the great doore and effectuall opened to him at Ephesus and at Troas and by the opened doore of vtterance to speak the Mysterie of Christ for which hee willes the Colossians to pray hee vnderstands that a cleere and easie entrance to these Mysteries may bee made to him by the Lord and a ready way prepared in the hearts of people to conuay these Mysteries as it were in by a doore vnto them In Heauen Hugo Carthusian and others of that sort by the Doore vnderstand Christ and by heauen the Church it is a truth that Christ and his Church sometime are so figured but it is not the truth of this place I maruell what should haue moued Cotterius a iudicious and learned Writer to follow them This Heauen saith hee is Ecclesia in qua Deus habitat the Church wherein God dwels and the Voice which spake vnto S. Iohn Verbum est quo vocamur in Ecclesiam It is the Word by which wee are called to the Church All by purpose for was S. Iohn now in Pathmos to bee called to the communion of the Church But leauing this when wee shall come if the Lord please to such places of this Prophecie where the Heauen is a type of the Church Militant or Triumphant we shall shew the reason thereof But here that we may vnderstand with sobriety let vs consider how Saint Iohn speakes as hee saw He saw not this Vision in the Earth nor in the Aire but in the heauen was it represented to him It is true most part of things prophesied here were to be performed on the earth but they are fore-shewed in the heauens to tell vs that the earth and all things which fall out therein are ruled by the Decree of Heauen To make this yet more cleere let vs be remembred that in holy Scripture Heauen is sundry waies taken First for the Church Triumphant their place and their persons are both exprest by the name of Heauen as when it is said the two Witnesses were taken vp into heauen Next for the Church Militant in the Gospell in this Reuelation cōmonly called Heauen But in this and many other places of this Prophecie Heauen is taken for that typicall representation of heauen made to him in this Prophecie For it is to bee noted and obserued as a necessary rule that in these Visions S. Iohn speakes of things according as hee saw them represented in types as we haue spoken before yet so that euery type hath a truth correspondent to it and it requires great discretion to accommodate euery Type to the owne truth Which is not done by them who in this place expound heauen to be the Church Militant for S. Iohn saw not nor learned not these Mysteries in the Church nor yet from the Church hee saw them represented to him in heauen to be reuealed to the Church In a word he got it indeed for the Church Militant but not from it Neither is there any more reason to say that heauen here is the Church Militant then to say that these things which S. Paul saw when hee was rauished to the third heauen hee saw them in the Church for at this time also was S. Iohn rauished and transported in Spirit Alway we learne here that wee can haue no knowledge of heauenly things vnlesse the Lord open the doore and discouer them vnto vs. The Iewes euery Saturday read in their Synagogues a part of Moses and the Prophets these point with the finger vnto Christ but they cannot see him for a Vaile couereth their mindes till the Lord illuminate them Wee doe therefore pray the Lord our God who opened the doore to S. Iohn through which hee saw these Visions to open a doore to vs also by which we may haue entrance to vnderstand them for the glory of his name and comfort of his Church And the first Voice which I heard c. Vpon this place Victorinus obserues that it was one Spirit which spake in the Prophets of old and in the Apostles now Cotterius in the first Vision saith hee Iohn heard a Voice speaking
seuocate their mindes from their bodies the function of the soule being suspended toward the body that she might intend all her powers toward the Lord. So did hee with Ezechiel and Daniel Yea euen in our daily Christian conuersation we find that as the fish Remora when it cleaues to the side of the ship vnder saile retardeth the course thereof so is it with the body when the soule would ascend and mount vp to the Lord the body drawes it backe and holds it downe therefore Caro animae est Remora said Nazianzen flesh is the stay and hinderance of the soule And this may be best seene in the exercise of prayer when the spirituall life is strongest then is the naturall weake If the desires of the soule be feruently intended toward God the eye sees not those obiects the eare heares not those sounds which are neere vnto them But when againe naturall necessity forces the soule to returne to a familiarity with the body then her familiarity with the Lord relents and is interrupted This lets vs see first that heauenly Mysteries transcend the capacity of man till God make vs able to conceiue them aboue any ability that is in nature if S. Iohn had not beene rauished in the spirit after a diuine manner he could not haue vnderstood these diuine things And againe we may perceiue the truth of that No man can see the Lord and liue This should make vs well content in the day of death to lay aside our bodies that we may ascend to the Lord for as S. Luke said of the death of Christ it is true of all Christians The day of our death is the day of our assumption vp into heauen And behold a Throne Before Godspake to the eare of S. Iohn now hee offers a Vision to his eye This is the Lords order and we must obserue it Wouldst thou see the Lord bee content first to heare him Auditus gradus est ad visum hearing is a step to seeing As we haue heard so haue wee seene If first we heare as we should no doubt but next we shall see what we would They who delight not now to heare the Lord shall not be delighted hereafter with the sight of his ioyfull face And this for the order now to the matter We haue here in a Vision represented the glorious Maiestie of the Ruler of the world gouerning all things therein according to his gracious pleasure And first S. Iohn sees a Throne figuring Kingly Power and Authority Next a Throne in heauen expressing the supremacy and height of his Gouernment his Throne is aboue all the Thrones of Kings in the world By him the decrees of men are established hee ratifies or reuokes them at his pleasure and is countable vnto none His Holinesse also hereby is expressed God will not do wickedly neither will hee peruert iudgement hee renders the worke of a man vnto him and causes euery man to finde according to his wayes said Elihu The Iudge of all the world cannot do vnrighteously said Abraham Thirdly aboue the Throne is a Raine-bow like a stately seeling Fourthly about the Throne are twenty and foure Elders figuring the Church of the liuing God a glorious Court wherein there are none but Seniors and Kings farre surmounting in glory all the Courts of the world Fiftly between the Throne and the circle of Seniors in the midst of the Throne and round about the Throne were foure liuing creatures full of eyes all hauing wings shadowing the company of innumerable Angels Salomon his Throne was of Iuory vnderpropped with carued Lyons but nothing comparable to these liuing vnderstanding and speedily flying Cherubims which execute the will of this great and euerliuing King Sixthly before the Throne there is a glassie Sea like Christall representing this sragill and waltring world which as it was made by the Lord so also is it ruled and gouerned by him hee sees all things in it and gouerneth all the incident mutations and changes thereof vnto his owne determinate end This is the summe of the Vision Which as I said is a preparatoire vision for the subsequent visions of prediction wherein because the Lord is to foreshew sore troubles many changes greâ—…uous accidents that were to fal out in the world for the exercise of his poore Church In the entry he drawes vs vp to looke to himselfe as vnto a glorious King sitting on his Throne ruling the world which is before him with great power and wisedom so that nothing falls out in it by chance but according to his prouidence neither is it satans malice nor man his vvit that carries sway in the world to drawe the euent of things which way they wil. No no satan and men in all their purposes plots are ouer-ruled by the Lord and he worketh all things according to the good pleasure of his owne will for his owne glory and comfort of his Church Thus in the beginning haue wee a strong confirmation of our faith and are conueniently prepared to receiue the Prophecie following vvith faith and reuerence assuring our selues that according to it the euent of things will be because it comes and is reuealed from him who rules the world And doubtlesse if our eyes were opened to see that glorious sight of the supreme Maiesty ruling all things at his will as here saint Iohn saw it or at least if we will looke into it with the eyes of faith it would dissipate all these doubtings and feares which come in our minds arising from the greatnesse of Mahomet the power of the Pope and of blinded Princes enemies to the Gospel of Christ banding and confederating themselues against the Lord and his anointed When the seruant of Elisha was afraid at the huge Army of Aramites which compassed Dothan his Master comforted him Feare not said he there are moe with vs then are against vs. And when according to the prayer of Elisha the Lord opened his eyes then hee saw that the Mountaines were full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha stronger to defend him then the Aramites were to pursue him No lesse should wee be comforted against all terror of flesh if our eyes were opened to see this glorious Maiestie that saint Iohn saw for what are all Kings of the earth compared with him When he pleases he cuts off the spirit of Princes and is terrible vnto them Let vs rest in him God is our hope and strength and helpe in trouble ready to be found Wee will not feare though the earth should be mooued and Mountaines fall in the middes of the Sea For the Throne of our God stands stable It is a pittifull blindnes that wormes of the earth should take vp a banner against him whose Throne is in heauen Their Propositions are proud Let vs cast off the yoke of the Lord. And againe Let vs build a
Professors thinke needlesse now to be required but for mine owne part I would wish them in this and other laudable customes to be lesse nyce and scrupulous then they are The stile they giue vnto the Lord hath beene intreated before Our GOD is a liuing Lord in him selfe In Deo idem sunt viuens et vita and hee giues beeing and life to all things that are and liue A threefold life flowes from the Lord First of Nature Secondly of Grace Thirdly of Glorie Natures life is either Vegetatiue Sensible or Reasonable Little cause haue they to reioyce who haue no more but it For in the Vegetatiue life plants trees of the earth excell man In the Sensitiue life beasts and fowles are quicker in any sense then man And for the Reasonable life Pagans and heathen Philosophers haue farre exceeded euen those who are named Christians All our comfort then stands in this life of Grace now and life of glory hereafter The Lord make vs partakers of them for Christs sake CHAP. VI. VERSE 1. After I beheld when the Lambe had opened one of the Scales and heard one of the foure liuing creatures say as it were the noise of Thunder Come and see THE Vision of Preparation being ended in the two preceding Chapters as we haue declared before now followes the Visions of Prediction fore-telling things which shortly must be done And these are three euery one of them diducing the estate of the Church to the second comming of Christ vnto Iudgement As at more length wee haue shewed in Prolegomenis wherein the generall Method of the Reuelation is shortly set downe The first Propheticall Vision is contained in this sixt and the seuenth Chapter following for the seuenth is an appendix of this and hath in it a larger explication of the fifth and sixth Seale as God willing we shall heare so then the first Prophecie is absolued in six Seales whereof the last concludes with the Day of Iudgement for the seuenth Seale hath in her bosome the seuen Trumpets which make vp the second Prophecie of this Booke beginning at the eighth Chapter for till then the seuenth Seale is not opened and continuing to the end of the eleuenth there it concludeth with the Day of Iudgement The third Prophecie beginnes at the twelfth and continues to the one and twentieth whereof if the Lord please we will speake hereafter This first Prophecie as I said is generall for it containes a generall Prognostication and presents to vs a view of the estate of things as they will be to the worlds end whereof the summe is Christ shall go thorow the world vpon the Ministerie of his Word preaching the Gospell where and when it best pleaseth him This is prophecied in the first Seale like a crowned King and Conquerour hee hath gone out long agoe vpon his White Horse and so shall hee continue till hee ouercome But this victorie let not the Church looke that it shall be without bloud for Satan and his Instruments figured by the Red Horse and one riding on it shall in most cruell manner persecute the Preachers and Professors of the Gospell and this is fore-shewed in the second Seale but they shall not escape vnpunished for the Lord shall send out the Blacke Horse as is told in the third Seale and the Pale Horse who comes out at the opening of the fourth Seale By these two famine and pestilence vnder which all other horrible plagues of God are comprehended shall the Lord be reuenged on the world for contempt of his Gospell And because in these troubles many of the Saints of God shall suffer bodily death it is declared in the fift Seale how their soules rest in peace with God till the number of their brethren be fulfilled and then as they cry for iudgement so the great and last Day of Iudgement shall come as we see in the sixt Seale for we shall see in the next Chapter that the onely cause why Angels delay the execution of the last wrath for which the Soules of Martyrs vnder the Altar cry vnto God is that the seruants of the Lord are not yet sealed which being once done then shall the Lord recompense trouble to them that troubled his Church as in most fearefull manner is declared in the sixt Seale but shall render to his troubled Saints rest when the Lord Iesus shall shew himselfe from heauen with his mighty Angels as at length and most comfortably is set downe in the next Chapter from the tenth verse to the end And this any iudicious man that will reade without pre-conceiued opinion may easily consider that the seuenth chapter hath in it no Propheticall Prediction but onely a larger explanation of the fifth Seale in which Martyrs are willed to waite till their fellow-seruants be sealed and the secure and happy estate of Saints euen in suffering yea their glorious and ioyfull estate after suffering is at great length expressed before the comfortlesse estate of the wicked whereunto the sixt Seale deliuers them be touched at all Thus haue we the summe of this first and generall Prophecie Now before the opening of the first foure Seales S. Iohn is prepared where we haue these circumstances first what was S. Iohn doing when this Vision was presented to him to wit Beholding secondly who prepares and wakeneth him One of the foure liuing Creatures and thirdly what saith he to him Come and see The first is noted in these words After I beheld S. Iohn hitherto hath seene many glorious Visions and yet now hee lookes for more Sure it is that euery sight of heauenly things which Saints get prouokes them to a desire of more for there is not a greater argument of grace receiued then a feruent desire of further grace Beside the desire this beholding imports a constant consideration without wearying or wauering a stable and fixed minde with a perfect heart is required in them who would learne things heauenly The naturall eye if it bee closed or if it bee Circumactus tumbling and waltring in the head or then if it looke negligently cannot see nor take vp those things which are before it and so is it with the eye of the soule if it attend not stedfastly and carefully to heauenly things it cannot perceiue nor vnderstand them The second circumstance is by whom is hee prepared that is by one of the foure liuing creatures that is the first of the foure as the learned Interpreters haue sufficiently cleared They who expound these foure liuing Creatures to signifie the vvhole order of Preachers by the first of them vnderstand the first Preachers after the Apostles namely Quadratus and Aristides Ahentenses of the Church of Athens By the second againe Iustinus Martyr and Melito Sardenses of the Church of Sardis But this vnto me with the reuerence I owe to so laborious men seemes an idle speculation or if they will a Diuination without
Lord. But consider the end let all flesh looke into this Mirror and in time learne to embrace the counsell of God Be wise now therefore ye Kings be learned ye Iudges of the earth serue the Lord in feare and reioyce in trembling kisse the Sonne lest he be angry and ye perish in the way when his wrath shall suddenly burne Blessed are all that trust in him VERSE 16. And said to the Mountames and Rocks Fall on vs and hide vs from the presence of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the wrath of the Lambe TWo things here we haue first to whom doe the Reprobates runne in this desperate estate next what doe they craue They run to the creature Rocks and Mountaines But haue they eares to heare or can they protect when the Lord pursues This is their blindnesse they loued the creature more then the Creator In their necessitie they seeke comfort in the creature but can finde none a iust recompence of their error But why doe they not cry to the Lord Surely because they dare not they see nothing in him but vvrath vvhich their owne consciences tell them they haue most iustly deserued they find within themselues a condemnatorie sentence which they knowe cannot be recalled Let vs in time seeke mercy so long as it may be found the day before the Trumpet blowe mercie will be preached vnto men but they who receiue it not yet then shall neuer find it afterward By their folly let vs learne wisedome The onely rocke of our refuge is the Lord Iesus Christ if wee runne to him in time hee shall hide vs and saue vs from that fearefull vvrath which is to come The Romane Doctors vpon this place build vp as they thinke a sure ground for their inuocation of creatures they said to the Mountaines that is to the Saints and to the Rocks that is to the confirmed Angels Hide vs from the Lambe And hitherto they abuse that place of the Psalmist I lift mine eyes to the Mountaines from whence commeth mine helpe that is to the Saints VVhat a grosse ignorance is this Will Saints and Angels goe between the Lord and the wicked when they shall be iudged Shall they not rather assist the Lord in iudging them Know ye not that the Saints shall iudge the world Or what doe they meane to propose that vnto them for imitation vvich is here condemned in the wicked as vttered by them in their desperation These and such like are the sundry foundations vvhereupon stand the pillars of Papistry A twofold error in them is here manifest They lay another foundation then that vvhich is layd vvhich is Iesus Christ. And againe pretend of Christ what they will sure it is they build not vpon him gold and siluer but stubble and hay which will not abide the triall of the fire But now what craue they that the Rocks and Mountaines would fall vpon them and hide them from the presence of him that sits vpō the throne O desperate folly can Mountaines hide thee from the Lord Are they not a part of that Chrystall Globe which is before the Throne and is transparent to the Lord they liued all their dayes out of Gods presence not that his eye did not behold them and marke them in all their waies but their eyes looked not vp to him and therefore now may they not abide his presence Let vs leaue them and learne at Dauid when he had considered with himselfe that there was no flying from the Lord Whither shall I go from thy Spirit or whither shall I flee from thy Presence He betooke him to this resolution I set the Lord alway before me hee is at my right hand therefore I shall not slide Sith we cannot flee from the Lord let vs flee to him there is no defence against his vnsupportable wrath but to hide vs vnder the mantle of his mercy There are two feares which trouble two sorts of men the feare of Sin and the feare of Death which is the punishment of sinne the godly in their life feare nothing so much as sinne they fight continually against it they desire nothing more then to be quit of it O wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me from this body of death And therefore is it that hauing ouercome sinne they feare not death when it commeth more then a Serpent that wants a sting The wicked on the contrarie in their life feare nothing but death they flie it as the center of their sorrowes because they cannot eschew it all their care is to prolong it as for sinne they feare it not It is a pastime to a foole to doe wickedly But when their Terme-Day commeth and conscience wakens against them to pursue them for their sinnes and lets them see wrath due to their sinnes then seeke they Death as a remedy of their sorrowes but shall not find it yea they would vndergoe the most painefull death euen to bee pressed quicke to the death by the weight of Mountaines that they might bee freed of the heauie burthen of their sinnes VERSE 17. For the great Day of his wrath is come and who can stand THe day of Iudgement is called A great Day of wrath First because all the children of wrath shall be iudged in that Day none excepted Next because all the Vialls of Gods wrath shall then be powred vpon them an vniuersall deluge of all the plagues of God shall then ouerflow them The wicked put the euill day farre from them the vnfaithfull seruant thinkes his Master will not come Mockers will say Where is the promise of his comming As the kinsmen of Lot regarded not his praediction of Sodoms destruction ab vno dicebatur à multis ridebatur it was spoken by one and scorned by many but they felt the force and fury of that scorching fire shortly after so no lesse assuredly shall all the wicked who repent not feele the weight of that terrible wrath both on their soulos and bodies they shall confesse at length The great Day of his wrath is come that Day which wee despised that Day which we scorned that Day which we thought would neuer be That Day of the Lord is now come Two things perturbe and confound the wicked The one is without them the terrible presence of the Iudge or wrath of the Lambe Hee that is a Lambe to his owne lookes to the wicked like a deuouring Lyon And not without cause is the name of a Lambe here attributed to the Iudge for sure it is that iudgement iustly inflicted will not torment the wicked so much as mercy wilfully despised Terrible will it be to them when they looke to the Lambe who hath giuen mercy to so many and so many times offered mercy to themselues and now see him refuse all mercy to them because they despised it iustly shall the meek face of