For deciding or defining wherof weigh thes three conclusions 1. That a Beleever being in present state and use of holy means tending to salvation and out of tentation in the peace of a good Conscience through Faith in Christ may by the testimony of the Holy Ghost hav a comfortable assurance of Salvation which begets trusty fervent lov and thankfulnes to God specialy when he is neer the end of his race or point of death So S. Paul by inspiration saith I am now ready to be offred up I hav sought a good 2 Tim 4. 6 7 8. fight finished my cours and kept the Faith Henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of righteousnes This place Lutherans press against Papists who wil hav al by doubting and none certain of his present condition no not at best But he that hath right knowledg of God tru Faith stedfast Hope lifely Lov and awful Filial fear with an holy trade of Life he may rejoyce in God with comfortable confidenre and affiance of perseverance to the end 2. That for time to com specialy when we hav probably a long race to run and divers dangers of wild wonton Youth to pass we cannot hav infallible certitud of future or final persevering but must confide in Gods Grace 1 Cor. 10. 13. and Goodnes that he wil assist if we apply al our indevors to De Civ c. 11. 12 continu in it Hereof S. Austin speaks We cal them blessed whom we see liv wel with hope of future immortality and without such crimes as make shipwrack of Conscience who though they may rely on the reward of Pe severance yet are not sure of persevering For who knows certainly he shal continu in doing righteousnes to the end except he be assured by som revelation from him who is not pleased in his just secret judgment to inform al touching this point though he deceivs none S. Ambros thus David saith not I offer the sacrifice De bono moâ—â— c. 3. of Prais but wil offer shewing or signifying that to be a perfect sacrifice when every one freed from the fetters of this Body shal stand before the Lord and offer himself a Sacrifice For before death can be no perfect Prais nor can any be truly extold in this life when his latter times are so incertain S. Bernard Serm. 1 in Seâ— tuag also Who can say I am one of the Elect predestinat to Life or in the number of Sons sith we hav yet no certainty but we may be comforted with hopeful affiance and not tormented with despair or doubting for som signs or marks are given that such may be sure they are Elect which hav them for this caus 't is necessary to be stil in awful fear and humbled under Gods hand sith we know in part what we are at present but not what we shal be which is impossible to know therfore Let him that stands take heed lest he fal for presumption is so perilous as desperation 3. That certitud of salvation cannot be infallible in this life as S. Austin attests What De Cor. Gr. 13. Beleever so long as he livs in this fleshly Tabernacle can presum to be predestinat 't is needful to be conceled in this life wher puffing up is to be shunned sith so great an Apostle was buffeted by Satan lest he should be puf'd up Many such things are spoken for the usefulnes of this secret lest any shal presume for even he that runs wel may fear sith 't is hid whither he shal go Much more he vents to the same effect For Gods Promises in Christ are certain but made with conditions so that we may miss of the end if we fail in the means to fulfil our Covenants sith no Man shal be crowned til he fight it out and the battel ended triumph not before the victory Gods Decrees are known soly to himself but secret to us who must rely on the Promisses by performing the Covenants If we may be fully assured of tru Faith that it cannot fail but we shal infallibly persever to the end through al frailties and tentations then Gods Counsil is not secret to som nor his Decree unknown which is high presumption to arrogat or affirm sith we must stil work it out with fear and trembling This is a Cavaliers Creed or confidence in the point of final perseverance and salvations infallible certainty who holds the middle betwixt two extrems of despair and presumption but had rather be a meek humble Publican then a proud presuming Pharisee Lord be merciful to me a sinner and grant me Grace to continu in thy fear til the end 17. The last Judgment is the execution of al Divine Decrees 17 Last Judgment concerning Men For Predestination of the ends is a foreknowledg and approbation of the last Judgment to Life or Death which execution shews the Decree as a building being erected and finished declares the Architects plot or devise for this Judgment exhibits the consecution of thos ends So if we grant as we must that God proponed an end viz. the glory of his Mercy or Bounty in giving som life eternal and glory of his Power and Justice in inflicting eternal death on others he hath attained his end in the last Judgment So if we admit Note as we must that God prescribed means for Men to aspire or attain to eternal life or for lack therof to incur everlasting death thos ends are executed also in the same Judgment Rom. 6. 23 Howbeit if we grant as we doo that Life is given both as a 2 Tim. 4. 8. Rom 9 21. 22. Bounteous Gift and reward of Righteousnes as also that eternal Death is imposed both as the wages or punishment of sin and a demonstration of Gods soveraign dominion yet with Justice and Equity No ordinary understanding can conceiv how a Decree of thes things could be made from eternity without Prescience siâ—h Life is a reward and Death a punishment which no Justice can prepare without foreknowledg of good or evil deserved This is cald simple or natural Intelligence as Life is a Gift of Gods free goodnes and Death a Declaration of his dominion being both an attainment of his own glory Hence 't is cleer that Prescience which is Gods first highest simple Understanding is to be put in the definition of Predestination which too many separat or dis-join Let Prosper decide this point If we consider al Men together Epâ—gâ— 28. wherof som may be saved in Mercy others damned in Truth al the Lords wais are distinguâ—shed by the end but if we look only on the Saints thes wais are not discerned for Truth is not distinguished from Mercy nor contrarily sith the Saints beatitud is both from reward of Grace and retribution of Justice So he makes eternal Death a retribution of Justice which cannot eternaly be decreed without Prescience of sin which Calvinists ground on Gods pure pleasure as Lord over his
Animals but by Gods immediat power in maner aforsaid 9. The Soul being not produced simply by Natures power nor made of meer corporal matter transcends the common condition of al corporeal Creatures and is in it self immortal having God the extern efficient to produce it 10. The Soul being propagated from Parents is polluted with Natures stain contracted from Adams sin which is derived from Parents to Children with the whol Man as the adequat subject of it yet God in no fault sith our Souls are not corrupted by him but from our Parents and our selfs If any cannot conceiv how one Soul produceth another which is the hardest knot let him consider how it can be united to a Body and organized with it which wil allay the difficulty For if Angels hav aereal bodies as many Antients deem or at least are not pure Spirits compared to God muâ—h more may Mens Souls hav such a spiritual composure as meerly resembles Matter and form in Bodies which may wel accord with the maner of propagation prespecified and no way repugn the Souls divine essence If this way oppugn Reason yet 't is safer then that which repugns Religion By this Card our Author sailing betwixt Scilla and Charybdis Conclusion discovered Pachinus a middle Promontory in Sicil as Columbus did Cuba viz. that as the Sun is external efficient in the general generation of al Sublunars beside their internal particular principles so is God in the special production of every Mans Soul beside the peculiar Parents Souls working virtualy in the seed as his pretended premisses prov Which he farther confirms thus 1. Ther is no diametral Conformation difference between Soul and Body but they may be naturaly coupled together For though the Soul be not visible yet hath it a spiritual substance not simply pure but the lowest degree of Spirits prone to unite with corporeal natures and so may be propagated with them as united to them 2. Every Nature the more excellent 't is hath a neerer union with the first Being on which it depends and is more immediatly moved by it whence it folows that the Soul being more excellent and neerer to God then any corporal Creature in which he works more immediatly then others after they are made so he doth in the first production of it 3. Nothing is generated but hath som extern efficient Caus which in Coporeals is the Celical bodies whence 't is said the Sun and Man be get a Man as the Sun and Lion a Lion But the Soul being a Spirit and made at first by God can hav no other extern efficient sav the same immediat power So it may more truly be said God and Man generat the Soul God as efficient and Parents as his procreant instruments to produce what how and when he pleaseth according to his eternal Decree Nor is it absurd that Man hath two extern efficients but rather an honor that God and Nature concur to his generation 4. Mortality proceds not from natural generation but divine malediction for had not Man sinned his Body should be eviternal so wel as Soul Ergo if it were compounded and generated in a corporal way which is not so yet it folows not to make it mortal 5. Whatever hath being immediatly from God cannot be annihilated but by his immediat power which is the tru caus of immortality Hence the Body being produced soly by Natures power doth dy or perish yet the Soul produced by immediat act of the Deity can never dy but by the same power which gav it life Thus it appears that though the Soul be produced as aforesaid yet is it immortal sith 't is neither made of corporal matter nor generated in meer natural maner Nor is God faulty though we be sinful sith being wholy in Adam and actualy one with him our whol Nature is so defiled and Gods pure ordinance in producing Souls depraved that a total corruption passeth in the very conception and we stained with original sin at our very first being To cleer the Case he frames som objections against this middle way 1. Ob. If the Soul be resolved into a first principle of Adams Soul whence al are derived as Mixtils are into Elements it must needs be mortal as al such are Ergo 't is not so derived or els 't is mortal Sol. The comparison is unlike for Mixtils are compact of Elements into which they resolv but Mens Souls not compounded of Adams no nor Bodies nor one of another but of the same nature and so simple as his Nor doth it folow if the Soul be compounded like Elements it must inevitably be mortal for death and corruption coms not from composition or propagation but meerly from malediction for sin the wages wherof is death 2. Ob. If God cooperats with Man in producing Souls he no less rests from his works then in jugial creating them of nothing for the thing is the same and terms little differing Ergo this novity of a middle way to make God the external efficient is very vanity and of no validity Sol. Here is no creation of nothing but production of a thing from former principles Nor doth it repugn Gods creatifie rest to concur in other works of providence government and the Souls spiritual acts nor in assisting its production as an extern efficient which tends only to preserv Mankind specialy sith it hath no mediat maner in ordinary cours of nature sav only Gods immediat concurrence in extraordinary maner 3. Ob. If Man cannot generat his like without Gods special extraordinary help he is in this behalf inferior to Beasts as Traductists urge against Creation Ergo c. Sol. Not so for Beasts beget also by the Heavens help as exterior efficients If then Mans Soul for excellence hath a far sublimer supercelical efficient And he acts so much in generation of his like as other Creatures doo in theirs 't is rather a dignity abov al then any disparagement at al. So this exception holds against jugial creation wherin Man no whit concurs which may seem a derogation but not against natural propagation 4. Ob. If God be immediat extern efficient of our sin-polluted Souls by natural propagation he is Author or accessary to sin rather then by creation Ergo c. Sol. Nothing less for he is only external efficient of the Soul not of sin which coms from corrupt Parents who supply the internal matter of the whol Man wherin sin consists sith generation is not of Parts but Persons it being his just ordinance in nature That as the Tree is so shal the fruit be Sith then he made Man perfectly good at first to beget Children perfect like himself who prevaricated and polluted al his Progeny or Posterity God performs his part stil to confer his efficient power in the perpetual production of Mankind And as he first infused his Soul so he stil concurs in producing it though not in the same sort yet sin is meerly accidental in respect of
Know preceds but to Wil coms orderly Gods Decrees folow his Wil continualy Novit ab aeternâ— Deus omnia tempore danda Aâ—iâ—tâ— Postea dâ—crevit quae fabricare velit God knew eternaly al in time to be And Decreed after what he would frame free Ordine Naturae Omnisciens prius omnia vidit Alâ—aâ— Quà m quid decrevis mente creare Deus Al-knowing God did al in Nature see Yer he in Mind did to creat Decree An lapsu praeviso Elohim praedestinet Adae Aut mâ—ro ex libito lis gravis orta fuit Sâ—â—â—â— Whether God predestind knowing Adams Fal Or of meer Pleasure great strif did befal Simpliei in intuitu certo omnia praesciit antâ— Sive Quam statuit Mundum fabrificare Deus In simple intellect God al foreknew Yer he would make the World what would insu Antea quâ—m Decreta feâ—at Deus omnia praescit 〈◊〉 Progreditur constans ordine namque suo God foreknows al before he doth decree For he proceds in 's order constantly Quos Deus aeternum praescit praedestinat hosque Aut. Eligit aut reprobat pro bonitatâ— sua God foreknows and foredooms eternaly And elects or rejects for 's clemency Vulâ— salvare aliquos reliquos damnare Jehovah 〈◊〉 Sed cur sic voluit non bene causa patet God som wil sav and th' rest damn to Hel But why he wil the caus appeers not wel THESIS III. Verum Ecclesiae Regimen The Churches tru Polity T Is a known verity That Paternity was the prime Hâ—story val Polity among the Protopatriarchs both in sacred and secular matters as Adam is said to be ordained a Priest by God becaus Cain and Abel only brought their offerings til they were ordained to that office by their Father and so in succession one from another Which form continued in the Postpatriachs til their Progeny becam a Nation under Moses and Aaron who promulged Laws by divine dictat both for Civil and Spiritual causes For the Israelits had distinct Courts of different persons one for Church matters â—aled an Ecclesiastic Consistory another for Common-wealth causes termed a Temproal Judicatory Moses speaks of both in general He that wil not hearken to Deut. 17. 1â— 2 Chr. 19. 5. or obey the Priest or Judg shal dy but Jehosophat put a more precise difference who appointed through al Cities secular Judges wherof Zebadiah was chief and at Jerusalem a Spiritual Court of Levits Priests and Elders over whom Amariah high Priest presided so Jeremy was condemned by Jer. 26 8 16. the Priests Consistory but acquited by the Princes Judicatory Yea tho by Antiochus tyranny and the Jews slavery under sundry Nations no evident distinction appeers in the new Testament yet som prints of both remain specialy wher the chief Priests and Elders are cited as two divers Courts the Mat 21 23. Mat. 26. 3. secular caled a Council the spiritual stiled a Synagog For the Ecclesiastic was to discern things holy and unholy clean from unclean and to determin Appeals in difficil debats being as a representativ Church Hence Christ said Dic Ecclesiae Mat. 1â— 17. becaus excommunication pertained to them In civil Courts of seventy Judges being the suprem Sanedrim two sat chief viz. the Nasi as Lord chief Justice and Abbethdin as Father of the Senat so in the Consistory the high Priest and his Sagan or secund like a Bishop and his Suffragan as suprem but the high Priest was not necessarily chosen Nasi unles for eminent worth and extraordinary Wisdom For they had two civil Courts 1. The grand Sanedrim or suprem Senat 2. The lesser or inferior which in after ages had subordinat branches whence Christ said Who ever is angry with Mat. 5. 12. his Brother causlesly shal be culpable of Judgment meaning the lesser Court who cals him Racha in scorn shal be liable to a Council or chief Consistory but he that cals him fool malitiously shal be guilty of Hel-fire The Sanedrim excelled the rest 1. In number of Judges being seventy besides the Exod. 24. 〈◊〉 Nasi or Prince as God at first institution said to Moses Gather to me seventy Elders Rulers of the People and let them stand at the Tabernacle with thee implying seventy besides him but the lesser consisted of twenty three at Jerusalem and three only in smal Cities 2. In place for the seventy sat within the Temple-court in the paved Chamber or Pavment John 19. 1â— wher Pilat gav Judgment 3. In power for the Sanedrim received Appeals from al but from them was none 4. In causes to be tried For the seventy Judged al matters of life and death yea a whol Tribe the high Priest and fals Prophets but the twenty three lighter crimes and thos of three only pecuniary mulcts whippings and pety punishments Many make doubt whether in Christs dais they had power of life and death sith they said Wee cannot doâ—m any to death John 1â— 31. Late Jews say al capital censure was inhibited forty yeers before the Temples destruction which is about Christs Baptism but Josephus saith Herod suppressed the Sanedrim before L. 14 Antiq. c. 17. yet thos words to Pilat prov not as if they had no such power for he bids them take and judg him according to their Law Yea they pressed or pleaded we hav a Law and by it he ought John 19. 7. to dy but the holines of the time being the Passovers vigil and preparation of the Sabbath made it unlawful to meddle with matters of blood Indeed the Romans bereaved al power to judg civil capital crimes but suffred them to try transgressions against Moses Law as Blasphemies or the like and such they cried that Christ committed in caling himself the Son of God but with Barabas and the two Theefs they had nothing to doo For Gallio when Paul was brought before him said If it were a matter of wrong or wickednes O ye Jews reason Acts 18. 14. would I should hear or bear with you but being a question of words or names in your Law look ye to it Distingue res seu causas Concordabunt Scripturae Among them who were Gods chosen People and sole Church were three orders of Ministers in the temple over whom the high Priest being Aarons first born was chief 1. Priests Aarons younger Progeny 2. Levits Levies posterity 3. Nephenims who hewed wood and drew water being Gibeonits doomed to that drudgery by Josua for their craft or cunning At 〈◊〉 9 〈◊〉 Consecration the high Priest was annointed with Chrism 〈◊〉 8. 〈◊〉 â—0 powred on his head which ran down his beard and borders of his robe but the Priests only sprinkled with this oil and blood of the Sacrifice At ministration in the Sanctuary the high Priest wore eight sorts of raiments which the Rabbins cal golden Vestments but the Priests only four They differed also in office For the high Preist entred the Holy
Devils like Frogs coming Rev. 16. v. 13 14. out of the mouths of the Dragon Beast and fals Prophet working miracles are Papal Emisaries or Ambassadors sent to sommon the Kings and Potentats of the whol World to the battel of that great day of God Almighty wherin the Dragon shal assist the Beast and fals Prophet with al his warlike powers worldly plots and wily policies but the seven Angels poured out their seven Phials of Gods wrath The Woman in rich attire sitting on a Scarlet Beast ful of Rev 17 v 3. c. names of Blasphemy having seven heads and ten horns on whos forehead was writ a Mystery Great Babylon Mother of Harlots drunken with the blood of Saints and Martyrs of Jesus is Romes Papacy which rides on the Empire in the seven headed City being both but as one head the seventh and last consisting of the Temporal and Spiritual State which is even the eighth yet one of the seven reigning jointly together The Man which sat on a whit Hors in Heaven caled the Word Rev 19 v 11 c. of God who was clothed with a Vesture dipt in blood having on it and on his thigh a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords is our Lord Jesus who shal smite the Nations ruling them wiâ—h a rod of iron and subdu al with great slaughter The Beast and fals Prophet which shal be tormented in a lake Rev 20. v 10. of fire and brimstone for ever is the whol Papacy and Antichrist the Pope head of that State or Society The holy City new Jerusalem prepared as a Bride adorned for Rev. 21. vers 2 hir Husband is the Company of Elect ever ready to receiv hir Bridegroom or best beloved Lord. The Lambs Bride or Spous that great City holy Jerusalem is Ibid. v. 9 10. Christs Militant Church on Earth which jointly with the triumphant in Heaven makes Christs Spous Thes new notions of names forty four in number never vented til now wil if wel digested make the meaning more obvious in most mysteries Many mo circumstantial terms are sparsed in the Text which are amply unveled in the insuing Commentary but this short Index shal serv to lead strangers steps in this Labyrinth Analysis Apocalypseos The Apocalyps Analysed THree principal parts are considerable 1. The Preface Analysis Part 1. which is both general of the whol Prophecy noting the Matter Pen-Man and Profit and special relation to the seven Asian Churches and in them to the Catholic Church wherin is a nomination of the person writing and thos writen to with a salutation of them and description of Jesus Christ 2. The substance and Body of the Book which contains a narration of the Churches State both Militant and Triumphant The Militant is deciphered at present as it was when John wrot and for future as it shal be at last day The Triumphant is declared both for the inchoation at general Judgment and duration to eternity 3. The Conclusion which confirms the whol Prophecy 1. By an Angels testimony who shewed it to John from the Lord 2. By Christ who testifies it to be tru and amplified by Johns earnest request on the Churches behalf 3. By John who denounceth direful judgments on al that shal ad to or take from it with a salutation to the Saints at end of al. The particulars of the Church Militant exhibit two points 1 Vision Ch. 1. 2. 3. 1 A Vision of seven golden Candlesticks and seven Stars signifying the Asian Churches 2 A description of thos Churches in seven Epistles directed to the Bishop-Angels of thos seven Seas in al which is one current constant form observed which imports 1 A description of Christ Jesus sutable to his Vision 2 A narrativ of the good commendable or evil culpable in every Angel and Church 3 Promises or menaces proportional to their Virtues or Vices 4 An exhortation to attend things writen to the Churches The Churches State for future specialy in Europ is more mysticaly unfolded which is to premonish hir of grievous persecutions by Tyrans Heretics and lims of Antichrist against al which the holy Ghost givs many comforts That God wil be with her in al distresses whos tribulations shal terminat in short space but hir Enemies shal perish and she in fine set safe or secure in the life to com al which things are pointly or precisely expressed in six Visions one after another Thes are comprised in two Prophecies or Systems Ch 4 〈◊〉 11. of Visions contemporar the first begins with the sealed Book the last lasts to the end of Apocalyps taking in som passages of five Trumpets viz. the litle Book the measuring of the Temple the out Court not to be measured and fate of the two mourning witnesses The Churches future estate is reveled in a mysterious Vision 〈◊〉 Vision Ch. 4. of a Book fastned with seven seals wherin is comprised a preparatory to open them which displais God 's sitting on a Throne in Heaven with his Ensigns or Emblems of Majesty viz. twenty four Elders and four Beasts Lightnings Thunders Voices Trumpets seven Lamps which are his seven Spirits a Sea of Ch 5. glass like Crystal and Songs of prais by them al to him that sits on the Throne The sealed Book held in his right hand which none was worthy or able to open sav the Lamb shewed to John the Churches future state til the worlds end In the seventh seal are Ch. 6. presented seven Trumpets and in the last seven Phials of Gods wrath ful of the last seven plagues or punishments The first Seal shews a whit Horse the secund a red the third a black his Rider bearing Ballances in his hand the fourth a pale his Rider death with Hel folowing at heels the fifth the Martyrs Souls under the Altar crying for vengeance which had whit robes given them with promiss of complet glory when their felow Brethren should be fulfilled The sixth sets forth Gods direful Judgments on the Churches Enimies attended with dreadful signs viz. A great Earthquake the Sun becam black and Moon as blood the Stars fel to Earth Heaven departed as a scrole and every Mountain and I le moved out of their places Herat Kings great Men cheif Captains Bond and Free even al Persecutors fel to despair hiding in Dens desiring the Mountains and Rocks to cover them from the Lamb. The seventh contains more Mysteries then any viz. A Vision 3 Vision Ch. 7. Ch. 8. of seven Angels with seven Trumpets as shal be specified but the holy Ghost comforts the Church and an Angel seals Gods Servants in the Foreheads as a sign of their deliverance At opening wherof was half an hours silence in Heaven betokening great things to com and the Angels addressed to sound The first sounded And Hail mixd with Fire and Blood insued which burnt a third part of al green things At sound of the secund A mighty Mountain burning with
15 16. cried to the Lycaonians we Preach that ye should turn from thes vanities to the living God who in times past suffred al Nations to walk in their own wais but now the time of his Judgment is com The Instruments used to denounce Gods judgments were holy Bishops and Confessors who first opposed Martyrs Reliques as appeers in the story of Vigilantius and others but A. C 720. afterward more conspicuously in the Greec Church against Image-worship which many zelous Emperors Leo Isauricus Constantinus Iconomachus Leo Armenius Michael Balbus Theophilus stisly opposed yet in fine it prevailed by the power and policy of the two horned Beast and fals Prophet For tho som condemned Images yet many favored invocation of Saints under which notion Iconolatry crept up closly which Constantin with divers orthodox Fathers impeached of error For the nominal honor of Saint given to Apostles Martyrs and Confessors was never denied til in this last ignorant age by giddy Sectists as a Christian compellation but only the real invocation and intercession which drew on superstitious adoration of their Images yet to decry the name of Saints to such is no less erroneous though not so enormous The cry of this flying Angel sounded in the West so wel as East for the Synod of Francfort under Charlemaign of almost three hundred A. C. 790. Bishops condemned Image-worship and the secund Nicen Council which established it So the Synod of Paris summoned A. 825. by his Son King Lewis declared it to be impious and rejected that Nicen cru as superstitious Now listen to the secund Angels proclamation Ther folowed another Angel crying Babylon is falen is falen Vers 8. that great City becaus she made al Nations drink the Wine of the wrath of hir fornication He declares the foundation of Babylons ruin to be laid wherin he imitats Isaiah touching Isai 21 9. Babylon in the same words is falen is falen when the Medes and Persians were about to destroy hir The Ministers of this cry against mystical Babylon were the Waldenses and Albigenses who by word deed and death declared Rome to be Apocalyptic Babylon for hir Spiritual whordom of Idolatry wherwith she intoxicated al Nations Thes Champions began hir downfal for multituds of Men in al hir Provinces gradualy started or revolted By poisoned Wine is meant the amorous philâ—ry or sorcery of hir spiritual fornication but the Wine of hir wrath alluds to mortiferous potions usualy given to Malefactors specialy among the Grecians in antient times The third Angel folowed saying aloud if any worship the V. 9. 10. 11. Beast and his Image and receiv his mark in forehead or hand he shal drink the Wine of Gods wrath mingled with the Cup of his indignation and shal be tormented with fire and brimstone in presence of the holy Angels and the Lamb and the smoak of their torment ascends up for ever and ever They hav no rest day or night which worship the Beast and his Image and receiv the mark of his name This Angel proceding farther then the two former forewarns the Beasts folowers how dreadful dangers hang over their heads unles they speedily shun his society The chief Minister of this cry was Luther with his Sectators Successors who began that great glorious Reformation when whol Stats Kingdoms and Provinces not single Men as before cast off the Beasts yoke with al his abominations Here is threatned a terrible punishment look to it Romish Catholics if they persist in their old drunkennes they shal drink the Wine of Gods wrath mix'd with bitternes Myrrhe Aloes Gal Frankincens or Wormwood such as the Jews gav them that were put to death and offred to our Saviour Here the first Angel admonished them to worship God aright the next menaceth ruin to Babylon and this denounceth judgment to al his Folowers Here is the Saints patience Here are they that keep Gods Vers 12. Commandments and Faith of Jesus This cry is the Touchstone to try the Saints patience in so long expecting the Beasts punishment not being dejected or discontented at his prosperity nor deterred with his tyranny in obedience to Gods Commands and Faith of Jesus by abondoning the Beasts communion and renouncing his Image mark or cognisance I heard a voice from Heaven saying Write blessed are the Vers 13. dead which dy in the Lord henceforth saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labors and their works folow them This declaration most Men refer to the preceding words as a comfort henceforth to the Saints in the Lord but they rather tend to the subsequent matters as a warning of the Judgment and Resurrection to com under the seventh trumpet As if he said Now is the time wherin thos that dy in the Lord shal rise to a blessed life eternal This interpretation seems best for three reasons First becaus the day of death is never caled a reward but Judgment and Resurrection is Secundly becaus a Voice from Heaven imports som notable matter insuing nor is any command given to write sav only at beginning Thirdly becaus R. v. 11. 11. 18 it agrees with the seventh trumpet wherin the caus of thos that dy in Christ shal be judged and God shal reward his Servants which fear his name as here 't is said Blessed are the dead from this time that they may rest from their Labors and their works or a blessed reward folow them Both expositions intend specialy such as dy for the Lord viz. Martyrs who giv their life 's for Christ rather then other Saints or Confessors which dy in the Lord and put faith in him for so the context evidently evinceth or argueth by the Saints patience in suffering persecution even to death I looked and lo a whit Cloud and on it one sat like the Son of Vers 14 15. 16 Man haveng on his head a golden Crown and in his hand a sharp sickle and another Angel cam out of the Temple crying aloud to him that saâ— on the Cloud thrust in thy sickle and reap for time is com and Harvest is ripe and he thrust in his sickle and the Earth was reaped By Harvest three things are meant viz. Cutting of Corn gathering it in and threshing it out Hence a duple Parabol of contrary sens is used in Scripture one of killing or destroying by cutting down and threshing as Jeremy saith Babylon is a threshing floor 't is time to thresh hir Jer. 51. 33. yet a litle while and Havest time shal com So Isaiah speaks of Israels overthrow by Tiglatpeleser It shal be as when the Harvest Isai 17. 5. man reaps the ears of Corn with his arms Another of saving or restoring by gathering in used in the new Testament as Christ saith The Harvest is great but the Laborers or Gatherers such as shal be saved are few Now which of the two is here presented rests to be sifted or scanned by order of things doon The treading of
holy Land but Jerusalem the City of general worship more holy the Temple holier and Sanctum Sanctorum holiest of al places A Sacrament is a separation of som visible thing from common use consecrated to Gods service for a sign of our admission Sacrament into his Kingdom or a commemoration of the same Circumcision was the sign of admission in the old Testament Baptism in the new but the commemoration in the one was eating the Pascal Lamb once annaly to mind them of the night when they were delivered from Egypts temporal bondage and celebrating the Lords Supper in the other wherby we are remembred of our deliverance from sin and Satan by our Saviours crucifixon The Sacraments of admission Circumcision and Baptism are used but once to every one becaus we are admitted no oftner but thos of commemoration Passover and the Lords Supper often reiterated becaus we must be often minded of our deliverance and allegiance Ther be other Consecrations which in ample acception may be stiled Sacraments as the word implies a sacred institution for Religious uses as Ordination Matrimony and many mo but as it imports an Oath Promiss or Covenant of Allegiance to God thos precited are soly so named A Common-wealth cannot possibly consist wher any sav the Soveraign hath power to giv greater rewards then life or inflict Chap 38. grievouser punishments then death but sith eternal life excels temporal and endless torments exced death of nature 't is worthy to be wel weighed of al that wil obey Authority to avoid the calamities of confusion and civil war what is meant in Scripture by eternal life and endless torment as also for what offenses and against whom committed Men are to be eternaly tortured and for what actions to enjoy everlasting life Adam had enjoied it in the terren Eden Paradise for ever had he not broken Gods commandment to eat the forbidden fruit who had the Tree of Life allowed to eat but so soon Eternal Life Gen. 3. 22. as he tasted the one God thrust him out of the Garden lest he should take of the other and liv for ever So if he had not sinned he should liv on Earth perpetualy but mortality seized on him and al his posterity for this first sin Sith then he forfeted eternal life by sin he who is to cancel that forfeture must recover it by righteousnes which Christ Jesus did by satisfying for the sins of al that beleev in him and so recovered life eternal lost by Adam to al beleevers So saith St. 1 Cor. 15. 21 22. Paul sith by Man cam death by Man cam also the Resurrection of the dead for as in Adam al dy so in Christ shal al be made alife Touching the place wher Men shal enjoy eternal life the precited Texts seem to set it on Earth for if al forfeted it in earthly Paradise by Adam they shal enjoy it on Earth by Christ els the comparison were not consonant nor complet So saith David God commanded the blessing on Zion Ps 133 3. even life for evermore So St. John to him that overcometh Rev. 2. 7. I wil giv to eat of the Tree of Life in the midst of Gods Paradise Rev. 21. 2. 10. This was the Tree of eternal life on earth Again I saw the holy City new Jerusalem coming down from God as a Bride adorned for his Husband As if he should say new Jerusalem Gods Paradise or rather the Church Christs Spous shal descend from Neaven at Christs next coming to Gods people and Acts 3. 11. not they ascend to it So the two Angels in whit clothing said to the Apostles looking at Christ ascending This Jesus who is taken up from you into Heaven shal so com as you see him go up into Heaven As if they had said Glossa corrumpit textum he shal com down to govern them under his Father eternaly on Earth he coms to Judg not to Rule and not take them into Heaven This conforms to the restauration of Gods Kingdom began under Moses which was the Israelits Politic Mat. 12 30. government on Earth Christ saith In the Resurrection Men neither marry nor giv in mariage but are as the Angels in Heaven This describes eternal life like that which Adam lost at point of mariage For sith Adam and Eve if they had not sinned had lived on Earth eternaly yet could not continualy propogat Progenies becaus if immortals should immortaly procreat as Men doo now the Earth in short space could not afford Foot-room to stand on much less food to sustain them How then can a new created Earth except extended to Quaeâ—e iâ—finit immensity contain al Mankind which are unimaginable multituds born and to be born since the Creation Thes with sundry such quirks surpass the reach of reason to resolv The comparison betwen life eternal lost by Adam and recuperated by Christs victory over death holds thus that as he lost it by sin yet lived long after so a faithful Beleever recovers it by Christ though he dy 〈◊〉 natural death for a long time even til the general Resurrection for as death is counted from Adams condemnation not execution so is life reckoned from the absolution not from the Resurrection of thos elected in Christ Jesus Such are his specious speculalations favouring of singularity That Men after the Resurrection shal liv eternaly in Heaven Ascention into Heaven caled by St. Paul the third Heaven is not evident in Scripture by the Kingdom of Heaven is meant Gods Kingdom who dwels in Heaven which was Israels People whom he ruled by Judges Prophets and high Priests as Lieftenents til they rebelled and required a mortal King like other Nations So when our Saviour by his Ministers shal perswade the Jews to return and accomplish the fulnes of Gentils ther shal be a new Kingdom of Heaven becaus God whos Throne is Heaven shal be King yet it folows not that Man shal ascend to his seat of happines or higher then his Footstool No Man John 3. 13. hath ascended into Heaven but he that cam down from it even the Son of Man that cam down from Heaven Wher note that thos are St. Johns words not Christs as al the rest were who was not then in Heaven So David saith Thou wilt not leav Ps 16. 10. my Soul in Hel nor suffer thy Holy one to see corruption which St. Peter provs to be spoken of Christs Resurrection not of Acts 2 31 34. himself becaus David is not ascended into Heaven If any answer 't is tru they shal not ascend in bodies til the Resurrection but their Souls enter Heaven so soon as they dy As Christ confirms Who provs the Resurrection by Moses words Luk 20. 37 38. at the bush when he cals the Lord the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob who is a God of the living not of the dead This cannot be construed of the Souls immortality sith Christ ther
same condition that Adam and his Posterity were since his fal sav that God graciously promised a Redeemer to such as should repent and beleev but not to thos that dy in their sins impenitent as Reprobats doo so they may liv as they did before with gross corruptible Bodies as al Men now hav and haply beget Children continualy which no 1 Cor. 15. Scripture gainsais St. Paul treats only of the Resurrection Luk. 20 34. c. to life eternal not a word of that to pnuishment nor Christ who saith the Children of this World which liv in the estate Adam left them shal marry and generat successivly by an immortality of Kind not of Persons who are not worthy to be counted among thos that shal rise and obtain the World to com that is life to com not a terren World which alone are Heirs of eternal life equal to Angels and Children of God So a secund eternal death remains to Reprobats when after the Resurrection shal com a time of torment or punishment which by succession of sinners shal last so long as the kind of Man by propagation shal endure that is eternaly but not so every single Person nor shal the Tormenters be Fâ—ends or evil Angels Touching the Souls natural immortality that 't is a spiritual substance subsisting by it self after separation he answers som objections Ob. Salomon saith Dust shal return to Dust as it was and Eccles 12. 7. the Spirit to God that gav it Ergo God created the Soul distinct Spirit Sol. He shews how Mans Body made of dust must return to dust but God only knows what becoms of his Spirit Chap. 3. 20. Breath or Life He hath a sentence of semblable sens Al Man and Beast go to one place al are of dust and turn to dust Who knows except the Omniscient that Mans Spirit goes Ibid. v. 19. upward and a Beasts downward Sith 't is said That which befals the Sons of Men betides Beasts as one dies so doth the other yea they hav al one breath before spirit so that a Man hath no preeminence abov a Beast for al is vanity He praiseth Châ—p 4 2 3. the dead beyond the living and ads Better is he which hath not yet bin nor seen the evil work doon under the Sun then both the dead and living which cannot hold current if Mans Soul be immortal that no Soul were better then it only for a little oppression in this life Lastly he saith The living know they shal dy but the Dead know nothing naturaly before the Body shal rise nor hav any more a reward for their memory is forgot Al which places prostern the Souls immortality and by Spirit is meant Breath or Life as often foresaid Ob. Christ saith Abraham Isaac and Jacob are living Ergo their Souls separat subsist stil for their bodies lay buried many ages before Sol. This purports Gods promiss and certitud of their Resurrection not any actual life as God said to Adam on the day he should eat the forbidden fruit he shal certainly dy so from that day he was a dead Man by Sentence but not by actual execution til 930. yeers after Ob. The wicked shal rise to Judgment and go into everlasting fire torment or punishment wher the worm of Conscience never dieth which is caled a secund everlasting Death and general everlasting Life in torments far wors then Death as appeers in the new Testament Ergo c. Sol. Al this is tru yet it no wher appeers that the Damned shal liv in torments everlastingly for God the Father of Mercies and fountain of Goodnes who doth al what he wil and holds al Mens hearts at his disposing working them to wil and doo without whos free gift no Man hath any inclination to good or repentance of evil wil not punish Mens transgressions committed by inevitable ignorance natural frailty or wilful obstinacy sans end of time or with extremity of torture more then Men can conceiv or imagin Then he proceds to answer Bellarmins places or proofs in both Testaments touching Purgatory which he that lists may read p. 346. c. The next Caus of spiritual Darknes is heathen Demonology 2 Caus or doctrin of Devils as St. Paul cals it which their Poets as principal Priests diffused divulged or dissipated over the World witnes Hesiods goodly Genealogy of Gods For they caled al Spirits good and bad Demons but the Jews gav the name Demon only to evil Spirits stiling the good which Prophets or others inspired had the Spirit of God So they caled Lunatics Maniacs Lycanthrops Epileptics Hysterics or the like direct Demoniacs possest with evil Spirits They said unclean Persons had an unclean spirit dumb Men a dumb Devil aspersing John Baptist and our Saviour himself to hav Devils but Devils specified in Scripture are meer Diseases If any ask why Christ did not cross comptrole or teach Quest the contrary but confirms it by bidding Dâ—vils go out of Men which is improper to speak unto any Diseas that cannot hear He answers that Christs command to any Diseas is no more Answ improper then to rebuke the Fever Wind or Sea which obeied him yet can hear no more then the rest Nor are such speeches improper becaus they import or impart the power of Gods word to command such contumacious Diseases under the appellation of Devils as they were then generaly deemed to depart out of Mâ—ns Bodies So Devils Spectres or evil Spirits which they dreamed of are meer Phantasms or Inhabitants of their own Brains nor are any Ghosts of the Dead or ever were extant in the Air Heaven Hel or any real place as som surmise Al this must be taken upon his bare Phythagorean Ipse dixit Was that legion of Devils who besought Christ to enter 〈◊〉 into the Gergesens Swine and caried a whol Herd headlong into Sea only a Diseas Can Metaphors discurs or doo such mischeef When Christ cast out a dumb Spirit the traducing Pharisees denied not the dispossessing or matter of fact but said he did it by Beelzebub Prince of Devils can Christians then deny it Christ saith St. Matthew was led by or of the Spirit into Maâ— 4. 1. Maâ—â— 1. 12. Luk 4. 1. the Wildernes which Spirti drov him into the Desart saith St. Marc but Luke that he being ful of the holy Ghost which descended on him as a Dov newly before at Baptism was led of the Spirit into the Wildernes al which imply the holy Ghost nor can this be a possession of one substance by another sith Christ and the holy Ghost are one self same substance 'T is said after the Devil took him up into the holy City and set him on a Pinnacle but anon after caried him on a very high Mountain to shew him al the Worlds Kingdoms but certes the Devil did not transport him by force nor is any Mountain so high to shew him one Hemisphere of the World The meaning then must be