and inabled for this space of 1200. and 60. years to build up the Temple which was commanded to be measured to be reared up But then it is said v. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and when these two witnesses That the two witnesses shall be killed thus orderly strengthning and assisting each other shall have finished or end their Testimony that is accomplish the full space of 1200 and 60 years the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make warre against them and shall overcome them and kill them three short sentences and three great wonders for 1. Three great wonders in these three short Sentences 1. Wonder Zech. 2.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the beaft shall make warre with them and is it not wonderfull that the beast should make warre with Gods witnesses for if he be a Warriour and will needs make warre can he fight with none or finde none to fight withall but with the witnesses of Jesus Christ for this is to fight against God himself and to touch them is to touch the apple of his eye as the Lord professeth most plainly in Zechary 2.8 and therefore hoc magnum est hoc mirum this must needs be a wonderfull thing that any beast should venture to make warre with Gods witnesses but the second thing here said is more wonderfull For 2. 2. Wonder He shall make warre with them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he shall overcome them Indeed they are filii pacis no Swordmen no men of blood though the King weares the Sword because they are the Sonnes of Oyl and the Children of peace and the King weares the Sword principally to preserve peace and the Office of the Bishops is to be evangelizantes pacem the preachers of peace through Jesus Christ and therefore in this respect it is no wonder that the Antich which comes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with all power both of Arms men and money should overcome these harmless men but is it not a wonder that God whose Servants they are and whose witnesses they be should not onely suffer this infernall beast to make warre with them but also to vanquish and to overcome them yes indeed it may seem marvelious in our eyes and it stumbleth many men and makes them to think ill of Gods witnesses to see them subdued by the beast which they would not so mis-judge if they would with the Prophet consult with God why he suffereth the wicked so to prosper and his own Children so to be punished And yet 3. The last point is most wonderfull and far more marvellous then the former 3. Wonder that he should overcome them for it followeth that he shall overcome them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he shall kill them what will nothing serve to quench the thirst of this beast but the blood of these Saints and the death of these witnesses and will God suffer his own dear servants his choycest Officers the rulers of his people and the witnesses of his onely Sonne Jesus Christ How God suffereth many things to be killed and murdered by this beast for this will make men to believe as many do that these witnesses are the beast and the beast to be the best witness of Jesus Christ but they might remember that as God suffereth all this so many times he suffereth much more then this as when he suffered Joseph to be sold into Egypt Vrias to be killed Daniel to be thrown into the Lions Den Shadrach Meshac and Abednego to be cast into the fiery furnace and above all and more strange then all his own dear and his onely Sonne to be killed and crucified by the like beast and they might think that God knoweth what is best and that he doth alwayes what is best and as the Apostle saith worketh all things together for the best for all that love him Rom. 8.28 so that their conquered condition proves to be their happiness and their enemies Victory to be their misery for though God suffered them to be vanquished and killed yet then are they Blessed Psal 116.15 and as the Prophet saith right dear in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints and much deerer is the death of his holy Martyres the Witnesses of his truth whose blood he will most assuredly avenge on them that dwell on the earth to make them most miserable Questi But here the question is that seeing the two Witnesses of Christ are the supreme Magistrate which is the King and the chiefe Priest which is the Bishop the Civil and the Ecclesiasticall Governours of Gods people and it is the Beast that ascendeth from the Bottomless pit which killed them who be they that are killed if they be killed and who is that beast that hath done it if it be done Respon I answer that Mr. Brightman thought that this Prophesie was fulfilled in the Smalcaldick War under Charles the 5th the which mistake Mr Mede doth sufficiently confute so that I need not stand to disprove this errour but if I demand whether King Charles and his Magistrates and the Bishop of Canterbury and his Clergy were not the Witnesses of Jesus Christ I presume none will none can justly deny the same and if againe it be demanded whether the long Parliament and their adherents did not make war with the King and accuse the Bishops and most of the rest of the grave Doctors and faithfull Preachers of this Church for innovation and a high Project of bringing in Popery into this our Kingdome which unjust suspition and groundless jealousie they spread every where among the people to set them on fire and to gallop unto the War against the King to press him to subscribe confirme and ratifie their covenant whose principall scope was to roote out and to overthrow the Hierarchy and the Ecclesiasticall Governors of Gods people which were the Bishops and the other faithfull Witnesse of Christ I beleive all this is so well known to all the Kingdome that every one will confess it and as they cannot deny the War with these Witnesses so they must yield that these two Witnesses both King and Bishop were vanquished and killed I am sure that Parliament hath overcome the King and he is killed which was the supreame Magistrate and one of the two Witnesses of Christ And I find the names of such persons as did actually sit as Judges upon the Tryall of his Magisty with the Councill and attendants on the Court which they called the High Court of Justice to be these JOhn Bradshaw And I do set them down that all posterities and their Childrens Children and whose embrioes are not yet in being may understand who had the honour to be the Judges of this good and Godly King to condemne him to death And I would have it observed that of these 32. were Colonels and three Generals that fought against the King and all of them a party that warred and waged the warr against him and
Caesar and so many more such wicked Servants have by the foresaid steps ascended to the slaughtering of their Kings and Masters to teach the way for others that would not be without presidents to do the like But here likewise we must well observe that there are many kinds and degrees and waies of this bloudy sin which is the actual killing of a man and therefore we must look over those degrees and waies of murder and the several kinds of this man-killing before we can find out the worst of them which is the proper and peculiar sin of the Antichrist and which is most hateful unto God for the bloud-thirsty murderer brings his design to pass by killing whom he hateth Murderers do actually kill men two waies Either 1. With his own hands Or 2. By the aid means and performance of some others For 1. Some are so impatient and the fire of their malice is so hot 1. By their own hands Isa 37.38 that they must presently be the death of their brother with their own hands whensoever or wheresoever they find him with the first opportunity So Cain killed Abel So Joab killed Amasa So Adramelech and Sharezzer killed their own father Sennacherib So Brutus and Cassius killed Caesar So Antoninus killed his own brother Geta in his Mothers lap and so did many thousands more kill and murder their Neighbours with their own hands 2. 2. By others Others are so crafty and so witty as they suppose to find a way to effect their own wicked end that to blind the World and to evade the Sword of justice and as they think to escape the hand and judgement of God they will keep their own hands free from bloud and wash the same with Pilate from the blood of the innocent person whom they intend to destroy But yet they will for all this do as Pilate did deliver Christ unto the Souldiers to be crucified so will they be the men that are the chief murderers of him And that two waies And that Either 1. Secretly by their Assassins and those bloudy butchers whom they procure to be their Instruments to bring whom they hate to an untimely death Or 2. Publikely by a Court of justice which is to pronounce judgement against Malefactors that ought to be put to death by the Laws of God and Man and which Courts they procure to condemn whom they hate upon false suggestions though the party be never so innocent The first way Richard the Third procured the death of his two innocent Nephews 1. Secretly the Sons of Edward the fourth and Edward the Second came unto his death the same way though it is not so well known who procured it and so King David did the like by causing Joab to be the death of Urias whom he ought rather to have rewarded than to have murdered him and so do all they that procure their wicked Instruments to poyson those whom they hate as the Earl of Sommerset procured the Lieutenant of the Tower Sir Francis Eleway to poyson Sir Thomas Overbury And such secret contrivings of their intentions are very fine shifts for Murderers and Malefactors to free themselves from blame and from punishment if they could as well blind the eyes of the All-seeing God as they do many times the eyes of simple men but though Davids hands were far from the Fact and he seeming free from the bloud of Urias that was slain by the Sword of the Enemy yet God tells David He was the Murderer and his subtilty shall not serve his turn to wipe away his punishment for as the Devill Aug. super Johan saith S. Augustine is said to be a Murderer Non gladio armatus non ferro accinctus sed quia ad hominem veniendo verbum seminando occidit eum not because he killeth with any weapons Sword or Spear but because he destroyeth Man by his wicked Counsels and by setting on others his Instruments to destroy him And therefore procul dubio decipiuntur Idem habetur de paenit dist 1. Periculose saith the same Father They are very much deceived that think them only to be Murderers which lay violent hands upon their Neighbours and not them also Per quorum concilium fraudem hortationem homines extinguntur by whose counsel deceit subtlety perswasion or procurement any man is unjustly brought unto his death whether it be suddenly by the Sword or any other violent way or lingringly by poyson The 2. 2. Publikely way that the blood-thirsty murderers use to bring whom they hate and would have killed unto their death I finde twice practised and but twice that they brought their purpose to effect that I can remember in all the book of God 1. And this is likewise done two waies By a personal and an inferiour Court of justice where one or 2. or very few judges are deputed to sit and judg the delinquents that are brought before them 2. By a national and the highest Court of the whole Kingdom where flos medulla regni the choicest Peers and members of the Common-wealth do sit to judg and to determine of the offences and the greatest affairs of the Kingdome And 1. 1. By an inferiour Court of Justice I finde that the inferiour Court of few Judges did once condemn an innocent person unto death in the holy Scriptures for so you may read how Ahab and Jezabel procured the Judges of Jesreel to condemn innocent Nabaoth unto death and though we finde not such another president in all the Scripture yet I fear that the like practice is used in many other places where you may finde such an Ahab and such Judges but though Ahab thought he might with the harlot that commits adultery and then wipes her mouth and is clean be freed from this fact because his wife procured it and the Judges of Jezreel did judicially secunduns allegata probatae condemn him to death yet the Prophet tells Ahab that God will condemn and punish him and all his posterity for it 1 Reg. 21.19 and 21. for in the place where doggs licked the blood of Naboth shall doggs lick thy blood and God will bring evil upon thee and will take away thy posterity and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth-against the wall and him that is shut up and left in Israel and so accordingly Jehu caused the Rulers of Jezreel the very same Town where-Nabaoth was condemned and likely the very same Judges 2 Reg. 10.7 17. that condemned him to cut off the heads of 70 of Ahabs children And when he came to Samarta he slew all that remained unto Ahab untill he had destroyed him according to the saying of the Lord by his Prophet 2. I finde one other example in the holy Scripture and but one that I can remember 2. By the highest Court of Justice where the national Court or the Synopsis and the Representative of the whole Nation did
end why these sinfull murderers do thus kill those eminent persons expressed by our Saviour Christ in the Parable of the husbandmen that killed the Kings son that he being the heir and being killed the inheritance might be their own and they should rule and raign as Kings and have all for themselves that was their chiefest aim for they had learnt their Poetrie to make every Verse true that endeth with semper tibi proximus esto As Cum fueris faelix The covetous and ambitious mans Poetry semper tibi proximus esto Si fueris Romee semper tibi proximus esto Si fueris alibi semper tibi proximus esto Si tibi sint nati semper tibi proximus esto Si tibi sint nulli semper tibi proximus esto and the like So their hate their malice and their murder was not for the love of justice to have sin punished but for the love of themselves that they might have the pleasure and the profit for their iniquity And now having passed through these Particulars and seen the highest step and staff of this ladder of homicide and the worst degree or kinde of murder I say the sin of the Antichrist is like the sin of the Jews in the condemnation of Christ The sin of the Jews condemning Christ what it was which was an usurpation by Inferiors and Subjects as the Jews were to Christ of the highest Court and throne of justice and thence judicially and most unjustly to condemn to death and accordingly to kill and murder the most eminent person their superior placed over them by God to be their King to rule them their Priest and Prophet to pray for them and to instruct them and all this under the hypocriticall cloak and pretence of piety and Religion but indeed to this end that they might get the rule Government and Dominion into their own hands And I conceive the proper and peculiar sin of the Antichrist that the Apostle meaneth in this place The sin of the Antichrist like unto the sin of the Jews to be just like unto the same and never committed either by the Pope or Turk or any other single person whatsoever when it is to be done by a court and a collected multitude of men which therefore maketh the sin the more odious and abominable in the sight of God and of all good men And if in all Aquinas Summes or Antoninus his Titles or in all the Tomes of Abulensis or the mighty Comments of Cornelius à lapide or the painfull Works of Alstedius or the Summes of Vices by Peraldus or in and among all the beastly sinnes that Azorius in his moral Institutions setteth down or as the Prophet Jeremy saith Jerem. 2.10 Passe over to the Isles of Shittim and see send unto Kedar and consider diligently and see if there be such a thing or if you can finde in any Author divine or humane a sin more injurious to man and more odious and abominable in the sight of God than this thus committed by the Jews against Christ and by the Antichrist against the 2 witnesses of Christ then will I retract mine Assertion and submit my self to the correction of the Presbyterians for misinterpreting this place and mistaking this sin here meant by our Apostle But to justifie my Collection you may remember how angry the Lord was Numb 16.32 and how terribly he punished Corah Dathan and Abiram with such a punishment as the like is not found in all the book of God for despising their Superiors and Governors and refusing to yield obedience to Moses and Aaron in but giving spitefull and scandalous words unto them and saying when Moses called them we will not come up Numb 16.12 14. how angry then and what punishment think you would the Lord have inflicted on these rebellious Subjects if they had most wickedly and thus hypocritically as I now shewed you killed Moses and Aaron by a formal judiciary judgment of a whole Court of justice And to make it plain and evident that this man-killing is the notorious and proper peculiar sin of the Antichrist by which as by a plain and singular character he might be known to be the Antichrist when he came into the world the holy Ghost saith that when the two Witnesses of Christ the Supream Magistrate E. H. de Antic p. 76. and the chief Pastor of Gods people as some of the best Interpreters say have finished their testimony that is according to the time determined by God the Beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit that is the Antichrist as all Interpreters do confess shall make war against them Revel 11.7 and shall overcome them and kill them that is in manner and form as I shewed to you before because no other kind of killing them The sin of Antichrist proved to be the foresaid sin of man-killing could have been so odious and so abominable in the sight of God And the Apostle here in 2 Thes 2.3 doth inrimate as much in the very next words that do immediatly follow the man of sin by calling him presently 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the child of perdition or the son of destruction or of the destroyer which I find only ascribed to Judas that betrayed Christ and delivered him to death and to the Antichrist that brought the witnesses of Christ to death and so both Judas and the Antichrist are rightly termed the sons of destruction both actively and passively 1. Actively in destroying and bringing others to destruction as Judas did Christ and the Antichrist the Witnesses And 2. Vide Maresium in dissertat de ontichristo pag. 50. Passively in destroying themselves as Judas did in hanging himself and the Antichrist will do for so unjustly delivering his King and his Master to be destroyed And so you have seen what sin is the notorious proper and peculiar sin of the Antichrist the murdering of the Witnesses 2. 2. Who hath committed this sin that is the sin of the antichrist Neither the Pope nor the turk We are now to enquire whom we can find if we can find any that hath committed and thus committed as I shewed you this sin And here I must tell you it is far safer to tell you who did it not than to name to you who hath done it But I am sure that neither the Pope nor the Turk hath done it neither could they do it Reason 1 1. Because it was to be done by Inferiours and Subjects against their Superiours and Governours as the Jews did against Christ and Corah Dathan and Abiram against Moses and Aaron that were their Rulers and their Teachers and the Pope hath no superiour Pastor to instruct him nor the Turk any Emperor or King to command him Reason 2 2. Because it was to be done by a collected multitude and a High Court of Justice the highest Court in the Kingdom where it should be done and therefore neither by the Pope nor
before they do not onely reject and deny the notions expressions and meanes whereby we make God known unto his people which is a Negative Blasphemy but also positively forsweare themselves by receding from that Promisory Oath which they took when they entred into Holy Orders and were made Ministers and by Preaching unto the Congregations such palpable Blasphemies as made my haires to stand and my heart to tremble when once I heard one of their prime Doctors Preaching to a great and honourable Assembly and also by the publick Lectures and printed books of the Presbyterians and the determinations of their Assembly at Westminster and their Associats and Proselites wherein you may hear and read such Doctrines touching free will And yet this horrible Doctrine is still Preached by the Presbyters and originall sin the irrespective and absolute decree of election and reprobation and the inevitable consequents of these and of abundance more of the like deep points of Divinity that they have broached as are more Blasphemous and more injurious and derogatory to the mercy and justice and truth of God then are any of the Blasphemous Errors and Heresies of the ancient and grand Hereticks Bishop Montague in his appeâ—lo caesarem Dr. Taylor in his vindication of the divine attri butes N. N in his prefatory cp to the examination of Tilenus as both learned Bishop Mountague and Dr. Taylor and many others have most fully and abundantly declared unto you and I being too large already must at this time pass them over and for the further clearing of this point referr my reader only to Mr. Edwards his collection of their Blasphemous Tenents in his Gangraena and the book intituled Hell broke loose 2. Consider and inquire how often hath that long Parliament it self Blasphemed the blessed name of God I meane not by their Idle vaine and customary swearing from which they do very well to refraine their Tongues and some of the adverse party do very ill to use it but that which is far worse by their solemne Vowes Oaths and Protestations deliberately made in the presence of God and men and wilfully unmade againe at their own pleasure when they saw that it made and served for their profit Sr. Walter Raleigh in his Preface to the Hustory of the world Comenti quidam non sunt qui crimina mundi omnia pertractent de tertora petunt proh pudor in Christam linguae temeraria dirae teia vibrant summo nil nocitura Deo Sebastianus Brant as if Oaths and Vowes were but as Lewis the 11th King of France was wont to say they were toys to deceive fools or as Apples and Nuts and other like things and Babies to beguile Children and therefore he was wont to wear a leaden God in his Cap and after he had put to death any one whom be hated or falfified his Oath or promise that he had made and sworne to any man he would take his God and kiss him and say that if he forgave him that fault he would do it no more meaning that fact that was already done but the like should usually come very soon after and did not that Parliament think and do the like with their Oaths their Vowes and their Protestations for you may inquire how often have they sworn to be true subjects and to bear faith and true alleageance to the beheaded King to his Heirs and to his lawfull successors and how many Protestations have they made to the same purpose and how often have they falsified their faith and broken this their Oath So inquire how solemnly have they sworn to live and dye with the Earse of Essex and when they suspected and thereupon disliked him how suddenly did they disoblige themselves from that knot and did choose Sr Thomas Fairfax in his roome So inquire how Religiously as it seemed with hands lifted up towards Heaven they swear and make a solemne Covenant to preserve the Kings person and yet by leaving the Clause of Preservation out of Sr. Thomas Fairfax his Commission do they not tacitly Authorize him in the apprehension of wise men to kill their King if he can which is not much less in War then a command and afterwards have they not killed and murdered him most barbarously indeed then inquire how have they Voted and Vowed and sworn at large Consider whether these doings be not to Blaspheme the blessed name of God to profess and to maintaine the true Protestant Religion and yet presently have not they contemned if not condemned and renounced the three authentick Creeds neglected the Lords Prayer rejected the reading and terrified the Readers of the Decalogue as they are set forth in our Lyturgy and cashiered the 39. Articles of our Church which I believe was the true Protestant Church and all these forenamed things were the partes constitutivae essentiall parts of the Protestant Religion that did onely discriminate the Protestants from the Papists because we protested thus to believe and these things to defend which the Papists rejected and condemned for Heresies and then to pass over many other things of less moment inquire how solemnly have they covenanted and sworn to unite themselves by an everlasting indissoluble League with their holy Brethren of Scotland and how often have they termed that Combination against their King in their Papers and Declarations a most blessed union and a most happy association that is as they meant for their own end to subdue and to overthrow the King and yet presently after they had attained their end how eagerly did they rail on them as on a most perfidious Nation as perjured as false confederates and of less credit then the Punick faith and how violently have they afterwards Warred to subdue them or destroy them which is indeed one of the best acts that ever they did to render vengeance unto them and a just reward of their unjust dealings and most perfidious disloyall confederating with them against their own King and which without question was a work proceeding from the hand of God who is most just in all his works and holy in all his wayes that as the wise man saith they might know that wherewithall a man sinneth by the same also shall he be punished Wisd 11.15.16 as the Idolaters that worshipped Serpents void of reason and vile beasts had a multitude of unreasonable beasts sent upon them for vengeance And what mysticall art what tropologicall sence or what subtle Scotus or any Sophister more subtle then he can with any distinction salve this their doings and a thousand such like jugling tricks of theirs from flat and literal perjury a gross blaspheming of the name of God I cannot with all mine understanding any wayes imagine for to swear the preservation of the King in the House and to give leave and to wink at the killing of him in the field to swear to be faithfull to him and to his Heires and yet to cut off his Head and to do
just rights again As for their enemies cloath them with shame confusion And for those that trouble them wrong them open their eys that they may see their own most odious most abominable sins touch their hearts with the finger of thy holy Spirit that they may be truly penitent and sorrowful for all their wicked ways and that they may turn unto thee with weeping fasting and prayer And though we be a sinful nation a nation laden with iniquity corrupt children and the seed of evill doers yet do not thou cast us off from being thine inheritance Let not thy wrath burn like fire and let not thine anger continue from Generation to Generation but be thou pleased and reconciled with us in the death passion of Jesus Christ and for his sake be thou merciful unto us and forgive us all our sins and give us thy grace that ever hereafter we may serve thee in holinesse and righteousesse all the dayes of our life make us more and more thankful unto thee for all those favours and mercies and loving kindnesses that thou hast continually so graciously and so mercifully bestowed upon us increase our faith more and more stirre up our hope and kindle our charity both towards thee and our neighbours for thy sake give us true repentance for our former sins and a constant resolution ever hereafter to lead a holy and an upright life Grant us that meanes and maintenance whereby we may be inabled to serve thee not too much lest we be too proud and so forget thee nor too little lest we should want and so despaire of thy mercy but of thy goodnesse grant us that competencie and sufficiencie whereby we may be inabled to serve thee and not be chargeable but rather helpfull unto others Blesse O Lord my family my wife and children and all that belong unto me Blesse the two Universities of Cambridge and Oxford And blesse likewise the Tribe of Levi the Ministers of the Gospel that do continually wait at thine Altar and especially those reverend Bishops that are yet alive in these dominions and thou that art the Judge of all the world be a just and a righteous Judge betwixt us and them that have taken away the reward of our labours and have hindred us to discharge our duties and caused us that have sate in scarlet to imbrace dunghils we do acknowledge and confesse that we have most worthily deserved all the miseries that are come upon us and much more if thou shouldest deal with us according to our deserts and punish us according to the multitude of our sinnes But we know Lord that thou desirest not the death of a sinner thou takest no pleasure in the destruction of the living but rather that they should turn from their wicked ways and live and if thou Lord shouldst be extream to mark what is done amisse O Lord who may abide it when as the best of us all is not able to answer Thee one of a thousand and therefore we do most humbly and most earnestly beseech thee not to deal with us according to our deserts nor to punish us according to the multitude of our sins but according to the multitude of thy mercies to do away our offences and to give us thy grace that ever hereafter we may serve thee in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of our life Make an end of this wasting division that is amongst us free us from these dangers and deliver us from these troubles O let not our enemies still prevail to triumph over us and to trample us under feet as mire and clay in the streets but let the light of thy countenance shine on us let thine ears hear our prayers let our cry come unto thee and let thine eyes behold our miseries and our troubles which we suffer at the hands of them that hate us And as thou didst deliver the Israelites thy people from the oppressions of the Egyptians so deliver us O Lord our God out of all our troubles and afflictions and let not our sins hinder thy mercics towards us but be thou gracious and merciful unto us to pardon and to forgive all our sins and to make speed to save us to make haste to help us because we have none in heaven nor in earth to make our complaint unto but only unto thee O God and therefore we do most humbly and most earnestly beseech thee to be our good God gracious and mercifull unto us to pardon and to forgive us all our sins to deliver us out of all our troubles and to restore every man to his full and perfect right again So shall we praise and glorify thee O Lord we shall honour and magnify thee in the great congregation through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with thee O Father and thee O blessed Spirit three persons and one immortal invisible indivisible and onely one wise God be given and ascribed from the botof our hearts as is most due unto thee all possible thanks praise power might majesty dominion and glory both now and evermore world without end Amen O eternall God Son of God Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world I pray thee take away my sins and call them not to remembrance to lay the punishment thereof either upon me or upon any other for my sake but be thou gracious and merciful unto me to pardon and forgive me all my sins and to give me thy grace that I may lead all my life according to thy most holy and blessed will And now Lord I do most humbly and earnestly beseech thee to accept this morning sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving which I offer unto thy divine majesty from the bottom of my heart for all those mercies favours and loving kindnesse both spiritual and temporal which thou hast shewed unto me from the hour of my birth to this very day and aspecially for these favours that thou hast delivered me from all dangers both by Sea and Land and hast brought me hither safe to give thanks and praise unto thy holy name thou hast also freed me from the fiery purgatory from the Laborinth of Law-suits and thou hast finished my businesse according to my desire and far better then I could expect thou hast helped and assisted me to preach thy word unto thy people and hast granted me their love and favour for the same O Lord my God I do thank thee with all my heart and praise thee with all my soule for these as for all other thy mercies that thou hast shewed unto me and if it be thy blessed will to grant me that favour which I desire of thee that I may not offend thee I shall thank thee while I live and praise thee while I breath but let thy will be done and not mine for mine is fraile and thou knowest what is best which I do not and therefore I humbly beseech tee to give me thy grace that whatsoever thou doest I may
not of most of the chief Abbots and Priors whom with other rewards and compensations he had allured thereunto volenti non fit injuria and so though they ought not to have consented to such an impious Act to be Partakers in his Sacriledge yet the injury that was done unto themselves cannot be deemed so great because they were consenting and those honester men How K. Henry the 8 provided for the Abbots and Priors whom he could not perswade with other better Preferments to yield their consent to his desire to pass away their Patrimony he took that course and care for them that they should be very competently provided for some one way and some another way and many of them with Pensions out of his own Exchequer that they might not want what was necessary for them while they lived And as I am credibly informed Mr. John Pymme a most Noted and Notorious Member of the Long Parliament when he was in that Office hath paid the Pension alotted to one of them that lived to these our own times And this kind of proceeding cannot be thought so great a Persecution or so grievous an Oppression of them or so odious an Impiety in the King especially if you consider the Lazy life and little good that many of them did and the single condition of these men that lived without Wives without Children without Families But the Long Parliament How the long Parl. dealt w th all Bishops Deans and Prebends without the least colour of the Consent of any one of all our Bishops Deans or Prebends but altogether against their wills and against the will of the King that should have a Vote in every Act and a Negative Passage as we conceive hath taken all even from all and every one of them that had for the most part Wives and Children and Servants and allowed them not one Half-Penny out of all the great Means they took from them to relieve themselves and their Families but let them live as they will and as they can dig or beg or starve and die when they can live no longer and so I my self have seen many worthy Divines and some Reverend Bishops in great want and misery And this was worse dealing than the Pirate that took me at Sea dealt with me when he took away all my Money and yet gave me as much as might well carry me home to my House And 2. In Q. Maries time 2. The Persecution of the Protestants in Qu. Mariâ—s time when our Godly Bishops and other Grave Doctors were burned and many good Protestants imprisoned and persecuted for their Religion and the Profession of the true Faith of Christ by the Instruments of the Dragon the old enemy of mankind yet then they were cited to the Courts of Justice they had Articles exhibited against them they had time alotted them for to answer and all the Proceedings against them passed on as against all others in forma Juris according to the Law And they had neither suffered nor been deprived if they had recanted Some of the Lay Protestants I presume from their Ignorance and want of understanding of the School-terms and Scholerlike distinctions wherein their Adversaries were most Skilful and although the Constancy of these Pious Martyrs and the Resolution of those whose Zeal to the Protestant Religion and Desire of Reformation and perhaps Ambition to be Martyrs transported them it may be in some things beyond their Knowledge have moved them rather to suffer themselves to be deprived of their estates and to suffer death than to deny their Faith which the more Learned sort knew and the other good-meaning men believed to be the true Faith of Gods Elect yet the death that was imposed on them and the punishment that they suffered The Martyrs in Q. Maries daies far more fairly dealt withall than we are was not if you consider all circumstances especially the extent of the persecution and the fewness of the persons suffering in comparison of the sufferers in these times near so bitter and so bad nor any waies so cruel and so insufferable as this most inhumane dealing which hath been used and the punishment that was inflicted so extensively and universally upon all the Reverend Bishops Deans Prebends and abundance more of most Learned Divines and other Loyal Subjects and good Christians of these Kingdoms by the subtle tormentors and new tyrants of these daies For seeing as the Poet truly saith Dulce mori miseris To die is sweet and a favour to them that are in misery either through want sickness sorrowes or the like insufferable disasters and as another saith Morsque minus poenae quam mora mortis habet Death is a lesser punishment than to be alwaies as we are at the door of death and still in fear Job 7.15 Ecclesiasticus 41.2 and expecting when death shall come to attache us which is the very same in effect that both holy Job which had most reason to know it and the Son of Syrach that so well understood the state of our mortanty do testifie unto us for both of them do affirm that an honourable death is far better than a miserable life and will sooner be chosen by any Heroick and Noble mind theâ—efore Claudian demands Nonne mori satius Claudian vitae quans ferre pudorem Who would not chuse rather to die than to endure shame and be in contempt and disgrace while he liveth as they must needs be that from the height of honour are tumbled down to the lowest pit of Confusion to become the scorn of the vilest in the world which the Long Parliament hath made us to be Therefore it is apparent to all the world at least to all understanding men that those Martyrs were in a far better condition and used by those Tyrants after a far better manner than our Ministers and others were Their Committee men were told they were ill affected that was enough Sed si satis accusasse quis innocens by the now pretended Saints they were more justly proceeded against more fairly handled and less cruelly dealt withal than our men are the poor Christians that have been utterly undone by the Long Parliament For I speak by the Experience of some that I knew my self to be thus handled and thus dealt withal before ever they were called in question or charged with any crime or accused for any fault or have leave to answer for themselves or be suffered to speak one word in their own behalf and for the relief and support of their Wives and Families to be adjudged yea and oftentimes contrary to their own Articles and Engagements to be deprived of all their Means their Lands and their Livings and all that they had to be taken from them And because they had done nothing worthy of death or of bonds Act. 23.29 they shall not have the honour I speak of many that were thus used either to be imprisoned where it is likely
ipsetemplum Dei S. Aug. de civ Dei l. 20. c. 19. quod est Ecclesia sicut dicimus sedet in amicum id est velut amicus vel si quid aliud isto locutionis genere dici solet which think it may be spoken in Latine as it is in the Greek he sitteth not in the temple of God but for the temple of God as if he were the temple of God which is the Church of God as we say he sitteth for our friend that is as our friend Whereby you may see St. Aug. understandeth that the Great Antichrist would pretend to be the only great friend of the true Church and so in the true Church and not out of it and consequently not to be the Turk in any wise that pretendeth not to serve Christ nor the Pope if we deny the Church of Rome to be the true Church of Christ and therefore we may conclude with Bellarmine Bp Downam de Antichrist lib 10. cap. 3. 4. that the Pope cannot be said to be the Great Antichrist nor Rome the proper Seat of the Antichrist as Downam Thomson and others would have it to be because as I said before the Antichrist must arise in the midst of the truest and purest Church of Christ which we utterly deny Rome to be For the Apostle saith 2 Theff 2. the man of Sin and the child of Perdition which all Interpreters do expound to be the Antichrist shall sit in the temple of God which as the greatest of the School-Doctors Aquinas saith Aquin. in loc and so Tilenus Exegesis 74. pag. 21. must not be understood of the Jewish Temple at Hierusalem that hath been destroyed and shall never be re-edified as some of the best Jewish Rabbines do believe but as S. Chrysostom and the Greek Scholiast pag. 333. and Gorhan and many others do understand it of the true Church of God The Antichrist riseth and reigneth where God dwelleth where the Gospel of Christ by his Faithful Bishops and Painful Ministers is truly preached the Sacraments duly administred and the Flock of Christ rightly Governed and instructed to serve God as they ought to do there the Antichrist will seat himself and there Satan will assist him to overthrow the Bishops to persecure the true Ministers to neglect and nullifie the holy Sacraments to corrupt the Truth of the Gospel and to ruine that Church which Christ thus buildeth For it is observed that the Apostle useth in this place the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Observ which is derived from the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifies to dwell or to inhabit God dwelleth in the best Saints and where they dwell because that is the House or place where God resideth that is among his Saints and in his Saints as God himself doth testifie unto his People that will truly serve him And therefore Constantinople where the Turk resideth and hath made the Chancel of San Sophia where the High Altar and the Patriarchal Throne stood to be a Turkish Moschy whither the Grand Signior goeth to the Blasphemous Ceremonies of their False Prophet and the City of Rome where the Pope sitteth and hath apostatized from the true Faith in many Points and corrupted the Gospel of Christ at leastwise with many Superstitions cannot be said to be that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where God resideth and the Antichrist sitteth as god to destroy it but it must be that Church wherein God in the most Special manner dwelleth and delighteth in it and that is in the Purest Church that can be found on earth in respect of all the outward things that do constitute the same for you must know that the Church is to be considered two manner of waies 1. Respectu divinae illius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so God only knoweth his Church The Church considered two waies and who are the Members thereof as the Apostle sheweth 2. In respect of that Discipline Rule and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is apparent to our eyes and consisteth chiefly in these four special things Four things do constitute a true outward visible Church 1. In the Prayers of the Saints 2. The Preaching of the Gospel 3. The Administration of the Sacraments And 4. Obedience to the Discipline of the Lawful Governours And that Church which in these respects is the truest and purest is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Temple and House of God where he dwelleth and which the Devil by his dear Servant the Antichrist laboureth by all means to overthrow Object But you will say Constantinople was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the true Church and dwelling place of God and so was Rome when her Faith was published throughout the whole world Rom. 1. and so both continued until the Antichrist suppressed the Truth and seated himself therein To this usual Objection I answer Solut. 1. That it is agreed of all sides and by all Interpreters old and new Papists and Protestants that the Great Antichrist should come towards the end of the world 1. That the Antichrist should come towards the end of the world 1 Tim. 4.1 and in the last Period of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 last times as the Scriptures testifie the same most evidently for though the Mystery of him and his iniquity began by those Hereticks that sprang up in the Apostles time yet was not he to be revealed in his strength and fulness until the last and latter end of times and therefore not any waies like to come and to appear so many Hundred years agone as they prescribe which make either the Turk or the Pope to be the Antichrist 2. 2. That God suffereth not the enemies of his Church to tyrannize long I say that God being so good and so gracious a God especially to his Church and true Servants will not alwaies be chiding neither will he shut up his loving kindness in displeasure but as the Poet saith Nocte pluit tota redeunt spectacula mane Which in the Prophets words I may express that although heaviness may endure for a night yet joy cometh in the morning and he may be sure of it because God himself tells his Church that for a moment in mine anger have I forsaken thee but with everlasting compassion will I have pity upon thee and so accordingly he suffered not Antiochus that was the most lively type of the Antichrist that is in all the Scripture to rage against the Church of the Jews for all their wickedness any longer than Three years and a half neither did he suffer the Captivity of his People in Babylon for their great sins recorded 2 Chron. 36.14 15 16. to last any longer than 70 years nor the Children of Israel to be opprest by Pharaoh for the wrong they had done to their Brother Joseph any more after the Death of Joseph than about 200 years as Helvicus collecteth which is the longest time that I find God seems to sleep and
Jerem. 3.22 as the Lord saith that backsliding Israel hath justifyed her self more than treacherous Judah so have these men given way to the Roman Church to justifie her self more than the now English Church because these men did not purge our Lyturgy and weed the errors and faults that they pretended to be found in our service Book but did wholly reject it and cast it quite away and never brought any other in the room thereof And the Roman Church can never be taxed with the like proceedings when as they often mended their Missalls and Breviaries but never quite exploded any of them and the Reformers of our Church did the like which is indeed a reformation and the other a rejection of Gods worship And if these things do not make up the grand rebellion and the huge Apostacy that the Apostle here speaketh of I only wonder at it and leave it to better Judges than I am to determine it CHAP. IV. Of the Literal and Mystical Babylon That Rome is a Babylon That neither the great Babylon in Assyria nor old Rome nor Constantinople which was called new Rome is that Babylon spoken of Rev. 17. and where the Antichrist seateth himself but that is to be mystically and not literally understood for some City of confusion and what the Prophet Daniel intimateth the Antichrist should do by the doings of Antiochus that was the most lively type of the great Antichrist in his rebellion against his Superiours and his persecution of Gods People the Jews 2. THE Antichrist well perceiving the Apostasie 2. That the Antichrist will set up his throne in the City of Babylon the relapse and falling away of the true and purest Reformed National Church from her Lawful Government and from the true Faith of Christ and the right Service of God by her rebellion both against the civil Magistrates and the spiritual Pastors thereof begins to shew himself and finding the door so wide opened entreth upon the stage and will establish his Court and set up his Throne and principal Seat of his Residence as the Scripture sheweth in the City of Babylon Jer. 50.14 And therefore the Prophet Jeremy saith Put your selves in array against Babylon round about all ye that bend the Bow shoot at her spare no arrowes cap. 51.8 for she hath sinned against the Lord And all the children of God are charged not to go to Babylon but to get out of her because she came in remembrance before God Rev. 18.4 c. 16.19 c. 18.5 c. 14.8 c. 18.3 And he determined to destroy her and to give unto her the wine of the fierceness of his wrath for that her sins have reached unto Heaven and she hath made all Nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her Fornication But here the question is what Place or what City is to be understood by this great and glorious proud City of Babylon which is so sinful and from which we are commanded to flee away and to fight against her For the better understanding of which point what Place is specially meant by this Babylon spoken of Rev. 17. Babylon taken two manner of waies you must remember that the Scripture speaketh of a two-fold Babylon or of Babylon two manner of waies that is 1. Literally 2. Mystically And 1. For the Literal Babylon 1. We find two Great Cities specially of this Name the one in Egypt 1. Literally 1. The Assyrian Babylon not to be understood here Justin l. 1. Herodot l. 1. the other in Chalde That of Egypt was the lesser and less famous than the other which was the Greater and far the more glorious City whereof the Poet saith Atque superba foret Babylon spolianda Trophaeis Ausoniis Which was not that Babylon which is in Egypt but that ancient and famous Babylon which Nimrod founded Ninus enlarged Semiramis walled about Nebuchadnezzar amplified Nitocris beautified and enriched and Cyrus reduced to his obedience For this Old Babylon the Metropolis of Assyria That the Assyrian Babylon excelled all other Cities in four respects and the Seat of the Assyrian Emperors for many years might for Four special things That is 1. For Strength and Bigness 2. For commodious Scituation 3. For the pregnant wits of her Inhabitants 4. For the puissance and the might of her Kings compare with any one City in all the world For 1. After the death of Nimrod and his Son Ninus her chief Foundress 1. For strength Coelius Rhodigin antiquit lâ—ct l. 8. c. 12. Semiramis the Wife of Ninus that was a Woman of more than Masculine Wit and Courage whose Garb of wrapping her head in Lawn after the death of her Husband the Persians imitate to this very day did first surround this City with walls of 32 foot thick and 50 cubits high betwixt the Turrets the Towers being raised 10 cubits higher Plin. l. 8. c. 26. and in compass the walls were 355 Stadia and every Stadium being 139 Paces Or according to Plinie's description of it the breadth of the wall was 50 foot Julius Solinus c. 69. and the heighth of it 200 each foot containing 3 fingers breadth more than our ordinary measure and in circuit it was 60000 paces so bigge that Aristotle thought it might have an equal dimension with all Peloponesus because that when it was first taken by Cyrus the furthest part of the City knew not in three daies after what had happened 2. 2. For scituation For the Scituation of this City the great and famous River Euphrates that was of a stadium broad brought his Channel through the midst of it and it was so arched over and adorned with such beautiful pensil Gardens that it seemed afar off to be like a wood upon the top of a mountain and the Lands about this City were so exceeding fruitful that the ground commonly produced 200 for one and somtimes more Gen. 10.9 c. 11.2 as Caelius and Curtius write for Nimrod that was the mightiest hunter living would have the finest and the best place that could be found even the very Plain of Shennar 3 For the Wits and Ingenuity of her Breed her wisdom and her knowledge were such and so great Es 47.10 that as Esayas testifieth they caused her to fall and to say with the Poet Ingenio perii qui miser ipse meo Mine own too much wit hath undone me For this City had the honour to produce the first Teachers of Astronomy and they were so expert therein that neither the Indian Gymnosophists nor the Egyptian Priests and Magicians were any waies comparable unto them as you may observe it out of Daniel c. 2. v. 2 4 10. And this City likewise bred the first Inventers of that curious Art of working with needles those rare and specious works Josh 7.21 that were done of divers colours which enticed Achan the Israelite to hide the gay and goodly Babylonish Garment 4.
propagate the Gospel for the honour of God and the service of his Son Jesus Christ even as Christ hath formerly told us by his Apostles and Prophets that the Antichrist would do And if you have observed any collected multitude to have done these things you may know what to judge though you may not say what you think And though these demoxstrations are very plain A special thing to be observed by most Commentators yet methinks I do observe somewhat in this description of the Antichrist by S. Paul that I find not observed by any of the Interpreters that I have read save what is briefly touched by E. H. in Pag. 76. De Antichristo For the Apostle in this Character of the Antichrist seems to set such an astarisme or as it were a dash with his pen whereby he should be made most palpable unto our hands and most visible unto our eyes if we would but diligently observe it we should not miss to know who he were For 1. The Apostle speaking of the wickedness of this Antichrist speaketh in the singular number and calleth him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the man of sin and not the man of sins the which expression besides the Hebraisme that signifieth he should be a very sinfull man as the childe of death signifieth one that is destined and condemned to death doth most certainly give us to understand that the Apostle meaneth that the Antichrist should commit some singular peculiar sin that should only and properly be the sin of the Antichrist and of none else And therefore 2. To inforce the particularity of his sin his proper and peculiar sin That as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 noteth and designeth thiâ— proper and particular Antichrist so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 designeth the proper peculiar and particular sin of the Antichrist Epiphan heresi 9. the Apostle doth not simply say that he should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the man of sin but with the Article of a special designation both of the man and of the sin that you might take notice as well of the one as of the other he saith he should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the man of the sin or the man of that sin by which sin he may undoubtedly and apparently as by a proper badg and character be known to be that great Antichrist that should come into the world when as he only committeth that sin which none but he did ever commit the like for as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie God King and man that is any one of them indefinitely but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do determinately note forth unto us this particular person of God or King or man because as I said before out of Epiphanius the Greek Articles contrahunt significationem ad rem certam leave not the thing they spoke of like an individuum vagum but do tie the signification to a proper and a certain thing so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth any one sin whetsoever but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 noteth and pointeth out this very particular sin and not another And therefore they that would know who is the Antichrist 2 special things to be inquired after must consider and inquire diligently after these 2 special things 1. What sin is that which is the formalis ratio that gives esse 1. What is the peculiar sin of the Antichrist the very being unto the Antichrist and by which sin he may be undoubtedly known to be the Antichrist and without the committing of that sin no sinner be he never so great or tainted with never so many sins can properly be said to be this great Antichrist 2. If we can finde the sin that makes the great Antichrist we are in the next place to enquire and search whom we can finde if we can finde any 2. Who hath committed that sin that have committed that sin and when we have found the sin and who hath committed that sin if we can finde them we have found out the great Antichrist that is spoken of by the Prophets and hath been long expected and much feared by the Church for as John Baptist saith of Christ I knew him not but he that sent me to baptize with water John 1.33 said unto me upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost and is the Messias and the Christ so whosoever coâ—â—itteth this proper and peculiar unusual sin the sin of the Antichrist only the same is he because the Antichrist only is the man of that sin that is which only committeth that sin and none else but the Antichrist committeth it 1. Then we are to ask and seek and to search disigently to know what sin is the proper and peculiar sin of the Antichrist and I shall with the help of Gods holy Spirit do my best to finde it out and I am sure this sin of the Antichrist is like the Antichrist himself a most notorious eminent and transcendent sin unheard of among the Heathens unknown in the world and uncommitted by any other sinner That all sinnes are not equal untill committed by the Antichrist and a sin when it is committed so perspicuous to all mens eyes as is the beacon upon a hill so destructive unto mankinde so odious so abominable and so hatefull in the fight of God as that no other sin whatsoever is altogether so destructive unto mankinde or so hatefull unto God as is this sin of the Antichrist for it is a paradox among the Philosophers and much more among the Divines to say that all fins are equal when as this sin of the Antichrist is more detestable in the sight of God than any other sin whatsoever as I hope to make it very plain unto you before I have done the canvassing of this beast And what sin may that be which is so transcendent so destructive unto man 1. Oservation and so odious unto God as none more May it not be the sin against the Holy Ghost which is a known wilfull malicious What sin is the peculiar sin of the Antichrist total and final Apostacy from the formerly professed truth of the Gospel and faith of Christ and a perpetual persecuting of the same impenitently unto the end with a most obstinate refusal of all grace and a despair of all pardon from God Surely this must needs be a most haynous sin and I believe the most hurtfull and destructive to the sinner that commits it of all sins because as our Saviour saith it shall never be forgiven him either in this world 1. Not the sin against the Holy Ghost 1. Reason or in the world to come yet I am perswaded this is not the sin that is most destructive to mankinde and most hatefull unto God or that is the proper sin of the great Antichrist 1. Because many others besides the
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the beast speaketh like the Dragon that is though their words are pretended to be the words of Christ yet that which they aim at to effect are the plots of the Dragon and I beseech you mark it the first beast had a mouth like a Lion but this second beast spake like the dragon and why so because the first spake Magnalia great and glorious things what would they not do The paralel if they might have what they desired so you may remember what fair promises the Parliament made unto the King and the second spake mendacia lies and falshood which is the first language of the old Serpent the devill who is a lyar from the beginning and the father of lyes saith our Saviour Job 8. John 8. and so is the false Prophet and as the Dragon cloathed his lyes with sair speeches and large promises saying you shall be like Gods knowing good and evill so the Apostle tells us Rom. 16.18 2 Pet. 3.26 Mat. 4.6 these false teachers that make divisions in the Church and Rebellions in the Common-Wealth and dissentions among neighbours do with good words and faire speeches deceive the hearts of the simple and what are those good words but the very words of the Holy Scriptures then which no words can be better yet St. Peter tells us the Scriptures may be wrested abused and misapplyed as the Devill did to Christ and so do the false Prophets Trenens l. 1. c. 1. for seeing they come in sheeps clothing it behoves them to bring nothing but good words even the most blessed words of the Holy Scriptures in their mouthes but as Ireneus speaketh adaptare â—upientes ea quae bene dicta sunt iis quae male adinuenta sunt ab ipfis they are alwayes striving to fit those things which are well spoken in the Scriptures to what they have misinvented so did the Valentinians to establish their thirty couples of Gods and Goddesses so did the Arians to deny the Divinity of Christ so do the Papists to justifie their Purgatory and so this Beast the Presbyterians and their Disciples do to uphold all the wicked Tenents that they have invented to oppose their King to expell their Bishops and to extirpate our Lyturgy and service of the Church out of the Church and to spread many other points of their desperate Doctrine which is if any thing be the Language of the Dragon though they speak it in the good words of the Holy Scriptures and fair speeches which is a counterfeit shew of much purity and holiness that so with this shadow of piety they might the sooner make the people believe they are the onely Saints Stap in his counter blast and their words the very truth and language of the Lamb. And I think the adherents of the Long Parliament and this false Prophet scattered as many lies in their Bookes and Pamphlets as Stapleton collecteth out of Bishop Horne if we had but such another Stapleton to pick them out and if you can name any Pope that published more lies then this false Prophet I shall subscribe to the opinion of the Prosbyterians that he is the beast which speaks like the Dragon But Sir John Presbyter confesseth that although they pretend nothing but Scripture yet the Blasphemies Treasons Heresies Incongruities Tantalogies and Absurdities of his brethren and children the Presbyterians in the large measure of their Prayers and Sermons observed by the people hath been a great cause of his untimely death p. 5. 3. It is said v. 12. that this two horned beast exerciseth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the Power of the first beast or rather all the Authority which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth more properly fignifie and he causeth the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast Bezius de regno Ital. l. 4. c. 5 1. c. 6. which cannot be applyed to the Pope and his Cardinalls that say the Temperall Sword is and ought to be subject to the Spirituall as Bozius Hostiensis Bellarmine and the rest of that Church do avouch and I shewed you before how this false Prophet the Presbyterians Independants and Lay-Preachers did all that they acted by the Authority aud under the Power of the Parliament Hostien in can quod supor his c. Bellarm. de rom pontif l. 5. c. 5. The parallele Of the power of the second beast plainly fulfilled in the Presbyterians and therefore they Preached and perswaded all men especially the Inhabitants of the earth as the holy Gh. saith all such as were as earthly and as worldly minded as themselves to adhere and to assist the Parliament against the King and his Party which is just as is the worshipping of the first beast that is the temporall state and which is and hath been alwayes the property and practice of all false Prophets to shelter themselves as the Arians did under Constantius and to further their Projects under the wings of their Powerfull Protectors whom they do therefore magnifie perswade all others to worship them that they might thereby effect their own wicked deeds and be secured from the Power of the Church Then 4. Of the miracles of the false prophet 4. It is said v. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he doth great wonders where I take 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not for a disjunctive or causative as Mr. Mede takes it but as it is commonly used for a copulative to that which went before as that this second beast used the Power and Authority of the first beast and being protected and furthered by the Power and strength of the first beast they did thereby great wonders and so St. Paul saith 2 Thes 2.9 the Antichrist should come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with signes and lying wonders and our Saviour saith Bellar. Antichr prodigia potius praestigia daemonum mera mira quam vera miracula statuit de notis eccles c. 14. the false Christs and Prophets that are the followers and promoters of the Antichrist should arise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and should shew great signes and wonders whereby you may see that both the beast and his instruments the Antichrist the false Prophet and the whole troope of his disciples shall pretend to shew signes and wonders to deceive the people and the signes that they shew are just like the signe that Judas gave unto his followers a kisse which is a pretence of love and great kindnesse but it was both destructive to Christ and deceitfull to the followers of Christ so the beast and the false Prophet do kisse those their Proselites with good words and faire promises whom they intend to allure to foule acts and to betray them to evill enemies and so the people are thereby deceived and the Church of Chrift destroyed But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a wonder which the false Prophets are said by Christ to do Aquinas in 2 Thes 2. Prodigia quasi
his Father with his Angels And the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is derived of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which fignifieth to appear to be made manifest or to be brought to light because the proper signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in lucem proferre to bring into the light that which was not seen doth here signifie that coming of Christ which in the most proper sense is called his glorious coming The glorious Majestie of of Christ his coming to judgment 1. In respect of the person coming Rev. 13 14. or his coming in great Majestie and that is onely his coming to judgment when as his coming in the flesh was manifested but to few and his coming by his spirit is invisible to all imperceptible and unperceviable to most men but his coming to judgment shall be made manifest to all the men in the world and therefore is and may most rightly be termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a most glorious appearance and that both in respect of the person that cometh clothed with a garment down to the foot and girt about the paps with a golden girdle his hairs as white as Snow his eyes as a flame of fire his feet like unto fine brass his voice as the sound of many waters his mouth sending out a sharp two edged sword and his countenanc as the Sun shineth in his strength and everie way glorious as he appeared to this our Evangelist and secondly in respect of the glorious train and companie that shall attend and wait upon him 2. In respect of the companie that attend him which are thousand thousands of Angels and all the heavenly saints of Almighty God And though this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the glorious manifestation of him doth sufficiently shew the time of the quite rooting out and totall destruction of the Antichrist not to be till the last judgment yet here is another word that the Apostle useth which putteth the matter out of all doubt for he saith that the man of the sin shall be destroyed by the glorious appearance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth the coming of the Person of Christ of his Personal presence for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being compounded of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 co vel ad sum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 essentia doth import and must needs expresse the coming of the Person of Christ to destroy the Antichrist which made some expositors to suppose as I shewed before that his coming will be to begin the 1000 years felicitie here on earth whereas St. Peter tels us plainly that Christ never cometh in his own Person but the heavens must containe him untill the times of the restitution of all things which is the day of judgment and therefore the whole body of the beast Act. 3.21 Ob Et sic Hugo Grotius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christi interpretatur de ilius adventum suum ad particulare judicium iâ— Judaeos v. 1. and all the adherents of the Antichrist shall not be quite rooted out till Christ shall come to the last judgement But against this E. H. and others do object that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth doth not alwayes signifie the Personall presence or the essential appearance of Christ and to prove this besides the judgment of Mr. Leigh whom he rightly termeth our noble English Greek Critick that saith fateor quidem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saepe illum juditii adventum significari sed id perpetuum non est this word I confesse doth often fignifie his personal coming to judgement but not alwaies he quoteth certain places of Scripture where the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth the powerful coming of Christ by his Spirit and not the personal appearance of Christ as where St. Peter saith we have made known unto you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.16 which saieth he signifieth his powerful coming by his Spirit to convert the Souls of his people But Sol. I say that both the precedent and subsequent words and the very scope of the Apostle in that place doth most plainly prove that he meaneth not his spiritual coming to worke his graces in us but rather the first coming of Christ in the flesh which he saith was no devised fable because they were eye witnesses of his Majestie which they could not be of his powerfull coming by his spirit and therefore this place is wrested to make good their sence but clear enough to prove the word to signifie his personal presence whereof they were eye witnesses 1 Jo. 1.3 when the word was made flesh as St. John likewise testifieth 1 John 1.3 Obj. 2 2. He saith our Saviour vseth the like phrase in S. Mat. c. 16 28. There be some standing here Mat. 16.28 which shall not tast of death until they see the Son of man coming in his Kingdome and that is his powerful coming by his Spirit to work faith in his elect to increase his kingdome of Grace which is his Church and not his personal coming to receive his Saints to the Kingdome of glory before which time all and every one of them did tast of death Sol. but I say these words are no thing and of no force to prove that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth this his coming in his Kingdome or any other his powerful coming by his Spirit either to propogate his Gospel as some do understand that place of S. Mat. or to execute Judgement upon the Jewes as some others do understand it or upon any other enemies of Christ as some of our late interpreters think because the words which our Saviour useth are they shall not tast of death until they see the Son of man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coming in his Kingdome where you see our Saviour doth not use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signifie this his Spiritual and powerful coming by his Spirit but the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we deny not the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signifie his gracious and powerful coming by his Spirits but we say that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is never found to signifie such a coming or any other besides his personal coming yet Obj. 3. He produceth the 24 of St. Mat. v. 3. and 30. Maâ— â—4 v. 3. and 30. where in the 3. v. indeed we have the Disciples asking the question of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what shall be the signe of thy coming and and here you see they use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the coming of Christ but I demand what or which of his comings do they mean his gracious and powerful coming by his Spirit to build his Church and to destroy his enemies or his glorious personal coming in all Majesty to the last judgement I hope the next immediate words that are subsequent will shew you plainly
conceive more agreeable to the meaning of the Holy Ghost then her Son and the Dragons eating of it would be a speedy devouring of her Child whether it were Male or Female so the Dragon was watching this woman and is still watching to devoure every Child of the Church Male or Female And in the fifth verse the Angel saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 V. 5. The diversity of opinions who this Child should be and the woman brought forth a man Child who was to rule the Nations with a rod of Iron and the Child was caught up to God and to his Throne where we are past the plaine and are come into the Wilderness wherein the way is not so easie to be found out when we do find so many pathes and such a great diversity of opinions among the learned who is meant by this Man child and what is to be conceived of his birth and of his taking up to the Throne of God Rupertus de victoria verbi dei l. 9. c. 28. l. 12. c. 2. Math. 2.16 c 4.1 for some Interpreters by the Birth of this Man child do understand the Birth of Jesus Christ in the Jewish Synagogue of the Blessed Virgin whom the red Dragon the Devill by Herod his grand instrument sought immediately to destroy as soone as ever he was borne as St. Mathew sheweth and also tempted him as soon as ever he was Baptized as the same Evangelist declareth But against this E. H. doth rightly oppose E. H. de Apostasia pag. 44. that the Revelation is not of known things that are past but as the Angel saith of things that must shortly come to pass and the incarnation or Birth of Christ of the Virgin Mary was not to come the same being already past well nigh an 100. years before and therefore though we deny not but the Dragon sought to destroy Christ as Rupertus saith as soon as ever he was brought forth out of his Mothers Womb yet we say that cannot be the meaning of this place which is to be understood of another Child that is to be borne of another Woman E. H. Lococitato By this Child understandeth the great Constantine and therefore E. H. and some other Authors do understand this woman to be the Primitive Church of the Christians groaning to be delivered from under the bloody Tyranny of the Red Dragon that is from the cruel dealing and sad condition that she sustained under the Pagan and persecuting Emperours and the Lord delivering her from those Tyrants by raising up Constantine who as they say is the Man-child that the Church then brought forth a good Christian to rule the Nations with a Rod of Iron that is to subdue Licinius and Maxentius and the Nations that adheared to them with his Victorious Sword and he was caught up to God when he was converted from an Infidell to become a Christian and he was placed in Gods Throne when he attained to the Imperiall Majesty The which exposition The former exposition rejected though it seem very probable and plausible yet cannot I yield unto it to be the meaning of the Holy Ghost in this place because this woman doth not crie to be delivered from her enemies that were without her but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having in her belly that is a Child within her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 she cryed by reason of her child birth pain which the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that cometh from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to bring forth a Child from whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth properly signifie dolor parturientis the very pangs and pain of bringing forth the Child into the world and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that comes of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 torqueo to be grieved or vexed and wrested with pain doth make it manifest that she cryed not to be delivered from her enemies but to be delivered of her child that she had in her womb and would faign have him to be brought forth into the world That Constantine is not the Man-child here meant Neither can I see any reason to perswade me to yield that this man-child should signifie Constantine the great Reason 1 1. Because this woman which signifieth the Church was not as then before Constantines time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 circumcinctasole cloathed or girded and compassed about with the great light of the Sun that is fully inlightened and instructed with the Doctrine of Christ and the many points of particular truths of Christian Religion nor can we finde her to be thus inlightned untill the time of Theodosius alter the death of Valens and Gratian which was about the year of Christ 382 when those great lights The woman not cloathed with the Sun till 382. that God then raised in his Church to expell the foggy mysts of errors and clouds of heresies that were formerly raised by the Hereticks and still pestered the Church St. Hierome St. Ambrose St. Augustin St. Basil Bishop of Caesaria that for his great learning and wisdom was rightly termed Basilius Magnus great St. Basill Gregory Nazianzen that for his excellent skill and knowledge in Divinity was styled Theologus the Divine as the writer of these Revelations is called John the Divine Epiphanius Cyrillus Bishop of Hierusalem When the Bishops were like Stars and when like the Sun and many more most worthy men of great learning and piety made the truth of the Gospel of Christ that was left unto us by the Evangelists and Apostles to shine in the Church as the Sun in the Firmament that formerly while those hereticks that Irenaeus Tertullian Epiphanius and St. Augustine record troubled the Church and darkned the truth of the Gospel the said truth shined but as the light of the Starres and therefore during those times of the grand Hereticks the very Angels of the seven chiefest Churches of Asia that is the Bishops and prime Pastors of those Churches Revelat. 1.20 were called seven Starres for the seven Starrs are the Angels of the seven Churches saith the Holy Ghost and the twelve Apostles are compared unto twelve Starres as I shewed to you before and the Church could not be inlightned with the light of the Sun when her chief teachers were but Starres and shined to her but as Starres though the light which these Starres sent forth was the light which they received from the Sun that is the Sun of righteousness as the Prophet calleth him but in the year 382. and about that time Reignolds Devitis Imperat. fol. 115. was the flourishing time of the learned when the Doctrine of Christ did shine as the Sun saith Reignolds Reason 2 2. Because that although the Church like the woman that is with Child is pained before the time of birth yet is she most of all tormented when the child is nearest to be born so the Church had her pangs in those that she brought forth in the
time of the persecuting Emperours but now after the death of Valens when Theodosius had freed the Empire from the Northern blasts and delivered the Church from those grievous troubles and molestations of the Arian persecution not much if any thing inferior to the Pagan persecution that the Gothes the Huns the Alans and the other cruel enemies under Gensericus Attalus Alaricus and others had continually brought as well upon the Church as upon the Empire the Church was neere her time that she should peaceably bring forth Children very plentifully unto God and that is to beget Christ by our Regeneration and to bring him forth by faith in the heart of many Sonnes and Daughters At what time the Church like a woman with Child was near the time of her Child-birth which is the Child that is now spiritually to be born in every true member of the Church in every Christian soul and in that respect as the throwes and pangs of the Church are the thicker and come the oftner by reason of the plenty of Children that she now brings forth so her pain and cry is the greater and therefore I say that this her travell was not in the time of Constantine that was born about 284 when the Church comparatively brought forth but very few Children unto God but in the dayes of Theodosius about 382. when those great lights aforenamed encompassed and cloathed the Church round about with the heavenly truth as with the glorious light of the Sun the Church did then most plentifully bring forth very many Children unto God and so her pangs were the more and her cry the greater Reason 3 3. Because that although Constantine subdued Licinius Maxentius and the rest of his and the Church his enemies and attained to the imperiall dignity to protect the Church of Christ as he did within his Dominions from all those Tyrants that formerly vexed and molested her yet it cannot be said that he should be able to feed or rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the Nations but this power must be left to that Child whose Government is upon his shoulders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 2. Esay 9.6 the strongest part of his body to support it and is therefore able to rule them with a Rod of Iron even while he is a Child as being by reason of the hypostaticall union of the Godhead to and with the manhood of perfect power and ability to rule or feed the Nations Luk. 2.46 47. as he was of perfect knowledge and understanding to pose and to confute the Doctors which Constantine whose Government was in his hand by the strength of his Sword was not able to do for to this holy Child Jesus as St. Peter calls him God had given the Heathen for his Inheritance Act. 4.27 30. and the uttermost parts of the Earth for his possession which he gave neither to Constantine nor to the Pope nor Turk nor to any man else and therefore he onely and no man else but he hath right as well as power to rule them with a Rod of Iron and therefore when Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and people of Israel which two species comprehended all Nations of the World were gathered together in a confederacy against this holy Child Jesus and did to him what God before determined to be done Act. 4.27.30 yet did the Apostles then many signes and wonders by the name of the holy Child Jesus as Saint Peter freely telleth all his enemies Reason 4 4. Because that if Constantine should be meant by this Child that is here spoken of then many men might conceive that Helen his Mother must be understood by the woman that was cloathed with the Sunne and cryed to be delivered and being delivered fled into the Wilderness where she was fed 1200 and 60 dayes By this man-child is understood Jesus Christ spiritually conceived and brought forth in every Christian man Gal. 4.19 So Mr. Mede takes this man-child to be Jesus Christ p. 37. which is most absurd to imagin and therefore the other is as absurd to conceive And therefore I understand that by this Child is meant not Constantine but Jesus Christ not as he was born in Bethlehem of his Mother the blessed Virgin Mary which was past long before this time but of his spirituall birth by faith in the heart and soul of every true member of the Church that is here signified by this woman which cried to be delivered and to bring forth Christ into her member even as St. Paul plainly sheweth unto the Galathians saying My little Children of whom I travel in birth again until Christ be formed in you as the Child is formed in his Mothers womb where the Apostle useth the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to travel in birth as the Holy Ghost doth in this place for so doth the Church labour and travel as the Mother of a Child doth to beget and to bring forth Jesus Christ in every one of her members and as the Devill carried Christ himself as soon as ever he was baptized into the Wilderness where he sought by many temptations to overthrowe him so doth the same red Dragon the Devill watch and labour to destroy every Sonne of the Church as soon as ever Christ is begotten in them and to extinguish and devoure the spirit of Christ that is all the graces of Gods spirit as soon as ever they be regenerated and made the Children of the Church Christ is no sooner brought forth by them that is the grace of Christ doth no sooner appear to be in them but the Devill is presently ready to eat up all the graces the faith the hope the love and all the other fruits and gifts of Christ and to take them quite away from them But the love of God towards all sincere Christians is such and so great that he takes up every truly regenerated Child of the Church unto himself and to his own protection How God preserveth every faithfull Child of the Church and placeth them in his own Throne even the Throne of Majesty by advancing them to regall dignity and making them Kings and Priests to sit and to remain where himself resteth and delighteth to reside and that is among his chosen Children which is the Church of God where every faithfull Child of the Church shall be as safe from the malice of the Dragon as Noahs Children were in the Ark from the waters of the deluge Satan being not able to pluck them from thence out of Gods hands Object But against this you will say that this Child of the woman is to rule all the Heathen with a rod of Iron and to break them that are stubborn and refractory in pieces like a Potters Vessel and this every Christian Child that the Church bringeth forth cannot do Sol. I answer that we do not say the Christian child which is regenerated and brought forth unto God by the Church is the