Earthly Religion and so to the Princes of Earthly religion they goe forth therefore they goe unto the Kings of the Earth And of the whole World They doe not containe themselves in the limits of Christendome but the other Princes the Princes of the whole world that is to say to Pagan Princes They would have power to prevent if it were possible this great mischiefe to themselves that they might crush these Christian Kings that brought in the reformation Therefore they goe forth to the Kings of the Earth and of the whole World To gather them to battell To the battell of that great day of God Almighty That 's not the last judgement as some have thought there will be no warring then but every day of great execution is called a great day of God Almighty But that we shall speake to God willing when we come to it of that great day of God Almighty But what day is that yee have it expounded in the 19. Rev. 17. It is the day of Gods great Supper that yee may eat the flesh of Kings and the flesh of Captaines and the flesh of mighty men c. This is the great day of God Almighty on which these worldly and wicked these Popish and Pagan Princes with all their power and all their forces and armies they are able to make shall come forth against the Lord Jesus and against these Christian Princes that have beene serious and studious in the reformation of Religion and in the drying up of these streames of corruption Thus you see the words opened and the plaine and true meaning of them I cannot speake of the comming of Christ now and of the gathering together to the great battell of Armageddon and I would not open more then I am able to finish at this present Therefore now consider the Doctrine againe and the truth of it how it doth plainly arise from the words of the Text. Upon the powring out of the sixth Viall that is to say upon the drying up of the current and streames of the corruption of Antichristian religion or Christian religion for Antichristian religion is but the corruption of religion in Christendome The Dragon that is to say the Devill and the Beast that is to say the Roman Catholique visible Church and the false Prophet that is to say the Pope the head of the Church did send forth out of their mouthes that is to say out of their commands three uncleane spirits that is Cardinalls and Bishops and Jesuites To stir up the Princes of the Earth and of the whole World that is both Popish and Pagan Princes to a great battell To what end ye may see by the occasion of it is was upon the powring out the Viall of the wrath of God upon the streames of corruption of religion therefore they would turne the streame againe to prevent the way of the Kings of the East that is the conversion of the Iewes by bringing in old Idolatry and superstition spirituall Adulteries and Whoredomes and Witchcrafts for the maintenance of the Sea of Rome Thus you see the point plaine from the Text neither is there any difficulty that remaines for the opening of it that I doe discerne Now then for the Reasons of the point and so briefly to come to the use The reasons are two why that upon this drying up of the streames of corruption of Religion these three great commanders should thus send forth such kinde of Emissaries instruments that will bee active and nimble to gather such a fearfull Battell against the Lord and against his servants The first reason is taken from the nature of their Kingdome Rea. 1 Antichrists kingdom is contrary to the Kingdome of Christ his Kingdome is not of the Earth theirs are from beneath his Kingdome is not of this World But theirs are of this World These are of the World saith Iohn speaking of Antichrist in the 1 Ioh. 4. Chapter 6 Verse And therefore minde yee the weapons of their warfare are carnall full of malice and full of envy and devillishnesse their instruments are not spirituall but carnall and worldly And therefore being thus shaken as they are their returne is not to Fasting and Prayer or the power of the holy Ghost or the power of spirituall gifts or so forth these are estranged from them And now they fall to carnall policy and worldly power and devillish engines and instruments these are fit for this use This is one Reason Rea. 2 The other reason is taken from their implacable malice and hatred against the reformation of religion and the conversion of either Iew or Gentile to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus there is nothing more grevious to these spirits then the prosperity of religion they gnash their Teeth for paine in the former Viall this is that will vex them more then all the rest to see these Rivers dried up and these streames dryed up and now the holy City of Rome blasted this doth stirre them up to implacable malice and mischiefe and now they care not who they confederate withall so they may crush the Christian Princes and hinder reformation It was truly prophesied of by the Apostle Paul That evill men and seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived 2 Timothy 3 13. So it is with these evill men here if they see they cannot get victory over Protestants though they have pretended warre with the Turke for the recovering of the holy Land yet now they will consent with him they sticke not who they agree with so they may mantaine their war To come then briefely to make some use of what ye have heard the use of the point is thus much Vse 1 First it may teach every noble wit and every active spirit and every man of cleanly conveyance not to pride himselfe much lesse to blesse himselfe in such gifts and parts what ever they be pride not your selves blesse not your selves in them you see heere is a Generation of nimble spirits and active wits cleanly spirits spirits of as neat and cleanly conveyance as ever the World saw men full of wit and full of dexterity men good for Church as they count it notable there and not able for the Common-Wealth they are marvelous fit for all kinds of imployment in their owne wayes and that 's very large for their owne ends and yet see they are but made instruments to the Dragon to the Beast and to the false Prophet so that verily if a man now should take pride in his gifts and blesse himselfe in the activenesse of his spirit and cleanly conveyance aplaud himselfe in such kinde of inlargements as these be I tell you the Devill hath as quick wits as you are and as active spirits as you are and men of as dexterous conveyance as you can be And therefore never pride your selves in these they are such as are as fit instruments for the Devill as for Christ and many times the Lord Jesus takes lesse delight
Chapter they are all of them further described to be cloathed with pure and white linnen and to have their breasts girded with golden girdles that is to say all of them to be cloathed with the righteousnesse of Christ which is pure linnen both justifying and sanctifying of them the one imputed the other inherent and all of them to be sincere profâ—ssors of the truth of Christ their breasts girded with the golden girdles of truth Further they are all of them said to receive a command from God to pour out the Vials of his wrath and all of them to pour out the Vials of his wrath upon the earth in the first Verse of this Chapter and yet it was but the first that poured out his Vial upon the earth for the second is said to pour it out upon the Sea and the third upon the rivers and fountains and the fourth you read in my Text upon the Sun and the fifth upon the Throne of the Beast and the sixth upon the great river Euphrates and the last upon the air yet all are commanded the whole seven to pour out the wrath of God upon the earth in the first verse The earth being opposed to the Church in heaven the visible Church open in heavenly purity it is so taken for some earthly carnall Antichristian state or Church but when it is not opposed to heaven but other elements then it is the lowest of all the rest and so it is according to this double opposition interpreted in this Chapter If you look at the earth as opposite to heaven the heavenly pure Churches so he means the earthly and Antichristian Church the Romish Popish Church that then was Now if you say as in the first verse it is said The first onely poured out his vial upon the earth now you mean the lowest element of the Antichristian state the common Catholicks whereupon there fell a grievous sore upon all that received the mark of the Beast and worshipped his Image When those holy servants and faithfull Ministers of Christ did discover the corruption of Religion in common Catholicks the Catholicks were afflicted with much confusion and indignation as being convinced they were bedabled with grosse superstition ignorance and idolatry and many other evils which you have formerly heard So that you see the first of them fell upon the Beast and so from the first to the last the first began with the Beast and in the last Babylon is fallen in the 19 Verse of this Chapter So that all these Vials poured out the wrath of God upon something or other of the Beast the first upon the common worshippers of the Beast the second upon the Sea that is the confluence of all the Ordinances that is such Ordinances as the worshippers of the Beast have in their Religion and they discovered that Sea to be but the bloud of a dead man not to have the life of Christ in it And the third poured out his Vial upon the Fountains and Rivers of water which are the Priests and Jesuits of that Church which carry that Religion up and down the earth as the Rivers and Fountains do the water of the Sea and of these you heard at large the last day And look as the opening of the Seals mentioned before in this Book did open the wrath of God and his judgements aginst the Roman-Pagan Empire and the seven Trumpets did sound out the wrath of God against the Roman-Christian Empire and Church so these last Angels with the last wrath in the seven Vials they pour it all out upon the Antichristian Roman state So that all the judgements in this Book are still upon Rome either Rome Pagan or Rome Christian or Rome Antichristian the one falls under seven Seals the other under seven Trumpets and this last under seven Vials So that if the earth upon which the first Angel poured out his Vial be the common sort of Catholicks and the Sea upon which the second Angel poured out his Vial be their Religion and convinced it to be the bloud of a dead man and no life of the bloud of Christ in it to wash sin from the souls and consciences of men nothing else but unwholsome and unsavoury choking corruptions ready to destroy all that were washed in it or drank of it And the third Vial being poured out upon the Jesuits and Priests they were thereby adjudged to capitall punishment as you have heard for they were forced to drink bloud as they were worthy having caused the Martyrs of CHRIST JESUS to drink bloud This fourth Vial therefore comes to be poured out upon something of the Beast as all the rest of the Vials were The fourth Angel poured out his Vial upon the Sun to wit something of the Beast which resembles the Sun in his world even as the Sun is the greatest light in this materiall world which GOD created in the beginning In these words then you may see described the pouring out of the Vial of the fourth Angel which is set forth by the subject upon which it is poured Vpon the sun Secondly by the effect which followed upon that He had power given him to scorch men with fire and secondly Men were tormented with great heat upon it And a third Argument by which this Vial poured out is described is the event which followed and that is double Men blasphemed the name of God and God here described to have power over these plagues as an aggravation of that blasphemy to blaspheme the name of God that had power over these plagues And secondly they are described by another event their Impenitencie their not repenting they repented not to give him glory So that here the fourth Vial is poured out Upon what Upon the Sun What is the effect of that Power is is given to that Angel to scorch men with fire and men were scorched with heat and the event of it was they that were so scorched continued still impenitent they repented not to give God glory but on the contrary blasphemed the name of the great God that had power over these plagues For opening the meaning of the words briefly By the Sun cannot here be meant that body of the Sun that gives light to us in these visible heavens For how shall an Angel comming out of the Temple out of a reformed Church pour out his Vial upon that Sun Or if he should be able so to do how should he work any distempered heat in it but it would annoy reformed Churches as well as Antichristian How will it reflect a peculiar plague upon Antichrist It must therefore be some other Sun and indeed such a Sun as is wrapped up under the generall Notion of Earth for all the Angels poured out their Vials upon the earth they had no other Commission given them to pour out their Vials but upon the earth in the first Verse And therefore he that poured out his Vial upon the Sea it was but an earthly sea a worldly
but let us further consider how it commeth to passe that the first of these Angels poureth out his Viall upon the earth and the rest upon other things yet they aâ—l have a Commission to poure out the Vials of the wrath of God upon the earth For the opening of this difficulty which else might exercise some we must know that in this Prophecie sometimes earth is opposed to Heaven and then as by Heaven is meant the pure Church as Revel 4.1 12.1 So by Earth is meant an earthly and corrupt Church Sometimes also by Heaven is meant a corrupt state of Religion wherein heavenly and divine honour is given to Satan or Idols as Revel 12.3.7 Againe sometimes Earth is opposed not unto Heaven but unto some other Element in the World and so is it in this Chap. The first Angel poureth forth his Viall upon the Earth the second poureth his Viall on the Sea c. So then in this case the Earth is to be understood in a double sense In generall of the Antichristian state or world Vers 1. And in the Antichristian World they have some things that represent the Earth and some things the Sea and some things represent the Sunne of that World and some things represent that Ayre of that world therefore in the particular execution of this Commission When the first Angel poureth out his Viall upon the Earth it is upon the lowest and basest Element in the Antichristian world and that can bee no other but the lowest sort of vulgar Catholiks and they were the first that had the wrath of God pour'd upon them which did afterwards arise higher to the Sea and then to the Fountaines and Rivers of water then to the Sunne then to the throne of the Beast then to the River Euphrates and last of all to the Ayre and in all these doth the wrath of God ascend higher and higher as may afterwards more clearely appeare The first Angel went and poure out his Viall upon the earth This first Angel must be these first sort of Gods Messengers that did poure out some wrath upon Common Catholikes And doubtlesse such wrath it was as being poured out did worke a Noysome and grievous sore upon them that worshipped the Beast and his Image as the Text expresseth They that had the Mark of the Beast you heard before out of the 13. Chapt. are such as receive some indeliable Character of the Beast such are their Secular or Regular Priests and all that receive religious Orders from the Church of Rome Who then are they that worship his Image The Jmage of the first Beast you know is all Nationall and Diocesan and Provinciall Churches and they that rule them are the Image of the second Beast So then they that worship the Image of the Beast be such as are devoted to the Canons of Popish Churches who drink them up and receive them as Articles of their Faith these are all afflicted with a noisome and grievous sore by the pouring out of this first Viall For those who did poure it out they were such as did convince them of the Damnable estate of a Catholike and taught them that by their Religion they could go not beyond a Reprobate and this was the common practise of the Martyrs of Iesus Christ in Queene Maries time in Edward the sixth and in Henry the eight's time who discovered unto you that all their Religion was but the worship of God after the devises of men even Will-worship such as they were led into by the Man of Sinne who being himselfe blinde leadeth those that are blinde and both fall into the ditch those that thus discovered the unsoundnesse of the Religion of these Catholikes who before seemed to be good Church-men and good House-keepers and good Christmas-keepers they were the men that poured out this first Viall upon the earth And upon this their discovery there fell a noysome and grieveous sore upon their Catholike Priests who had borne the common sort in hand That Ignorance was the mother of Devotion and such ignorant Devotion was the way of Salvation when they see that all their People who were heretofore their honest and good Neighbours full of benevolence towards them were now informed that they lay under a state of deepe Damnation it was an eye-sore to their Catholike Priests and all of that Religious Order a double sore fell upon them First a sore of envy and malice against all the Martyrs of Christ and all that sought for Reformation of Religion against whom their spirits were so strongly embittered that happy was he that could bring Fire and Faggot to execute vengeance upon them that did discover the state of the common sort of Catholikes to be so dangerous It was a publike speech of Henry the eight when he sate in Parliament Complaining of the stirs that were made about Religion There are many saith he that are too busie with their new Sumpsimus meaning those that clave to that which he counted the new Religion though withall others he taxed who doated as he said not amisse much upon their old Mâ—mpsimus The new Religion though true Hee and they all envied the Old though his owne he despised Secondly there was a noysome loathsomenesse discovered by these true Witnesses and Martyrs of Christ unto the people Whereby they began to see that the common sort of their Religious Orders were full of Idlenesse of Ignorance of Covetousnes of Pride and of Hypocrysie and that they had laid such a foundation of Religion as was not Iesus Christ the true Foundation but had indeed reared up an Antichristian Religion whereof as it is said Isai 28.19 it shall be a vexation to heare the Report A grievous malignant ulcer it was and the more they stirred in it the more they were vexed And this let me further adde for open ng the words it is an allusion to that noysome sore of Egypt that fell upon the Common sort of the people and upon the Magitians also Exod. 9.11 So that they could not stand before Moses and so it was here these noisome sores of which wee have spoken did so fall upon the common sort of Catholikes and upon their common Religious Orders that they fell before the Angell that poured out this Viall as Dagon before the Arke Thus you see meaning of these words Now for the Notes that arise from them You may observe that Chap. 15 7. One of the foure Beasts gave unto the seven Angels Seven golden Viols full of the wrath of God but they went not then to poure them out untill they heare a great voice out of the Temple and now they goe So that the Doctrine in the first place to be observed is this Doct. 1 Though the counsell and instruction and advise of a Church-Officer may be a good invitement and inducement and preparative unto a Calling yet it is the mighty Voice of Christ specially in Publike Ordinances that Effectually stirreth up a man to the execution
a man from Publike Ordinances and cause him to sleight them then ever looke at it as a manifest delusion for every dispensation of God doth but enkindle a more earnest longing that the Lord should confirme the same by his broad Letters Patents the Publicke Word and Sacraments in the Church Yea so farre doe the Saints of God stand hereupon that whatsoever is in private onely brought unto them to beleeve they will finde much adoe to rest satisfied in it untill they see it confirmed in publike also As when men have any speciall grant from their Prince and have it confirmed by the Privy Seale they will not rest therwith but will go to the Lord Keeper for the Broad Seale to confirme what was before Sealed to them though either of them apart be sure yet both joyned together will make it more sure Shall men be so carefull for this world and for temporall Patrimonies and shall Christians take up every motion in private and sleight publicke Ordinances Be not deceived whatsoever is brought unto you by the spirit of God in private Will cause you to seeke for more cleare evidence from his loud voice in Publike where his voice goeth on more strongly and powerfully convincing the Conscience and breaking downe all Temptations and discouragements that might hinder the comfort of Gods people The use in the 2. place serveth to reflect a iust reprofe therfore Vse 2 upon any that shall despise or neglect the Publike ordinances of God in the Church for you see here that what is confirmed in the whole Church is the great voyce of God and that without contradiction to the holy Saints and Angels if therefore the Publick ordinances be vndermined and borne witnesse against by any that commeth not from the spirit of these Angels but from some evill roote in the hearts of the sonnes and daughters of men the report of which is a vexation of spirit to heare thereof Thus much for the first note Goe poure out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth And the first Angel went and poured out his viall vpon the Earth c. Here is a world you see discribed having an earth and sea and rivers and fountaines and sunne and aire and they all belong unto the Beast and therefore the first Viall is poured upon them that had the marke of the Beast and the last brought in the fall of Babilon So that from first to last they are the judgments of God vpon the Roman Antichristian state as sixe of the seaven seales brought in judgements upon the Pagan Romane world and the seven Trumpets his Iudgements upon the Christian world as they were ruled by Christian Emperours so are the seven last Vials powred out upon the Antichristian world From hence therefore you may note thus much Doct. 2 That the whole antichristian world or state is but earthly and not heavenly For all these Angels are commanded to poure the vials of the wrath of God vpon the earth and they went not beyond their commission in pouring them upon the sea and Rivers and fountains and vpon the sunne and upon the throne of the Beast and the River Euphrates and the Aire whereby the Holy Ghost holdeth forth vnto us that all these are but earthly the sea is but earthly the fountaines and rivers earthly their sunne an earthly sunne and the throne earthly c. And though it is true as some say poure out any iudgement upon any element and the earth fareth the worse for it yet take the description of the Holy Ghost as it is plaine and it intendeth the antichristian world alone They are of the world therefore they speake of the world and the world heareth them 1 Ioh. 4 5. And he that is of the earth speaketh of the Earth Ioh. 3.31 And so also are all their ordinances earthly Reas 1 The first Reason is taken from the efficient cause of all their frame and state which is but from the Earth all their Doctrine worship and government so farre as it is Antichristian is but humane if not divellish Rev. 13.18 The whole number of the Beast whatsoever is numbred to belong unto him is but the number of a Man humane inventions and will-wisedome men will have it so and this is the Summe of all Popish Religion Reas 2 As the whole frame of their Religion commeth from the earth so doeth it tend to the earth againe for where doth all drive at but the maintenance of an earthly Pompious stately Prelacy nothing in the world but devices to get money they are full of covetousness and ambition both which what are they but an open doore to their earthly libertie these are sensuall saith Iude ver 19. not having the spirit There is nothing spirituall in all their orders nor in their pleasant sights sweet smells delightfull musique and many goodly Feasts they have and what are they but to please the tasts of men and all their carved and painted stocks and stones their goodly Images what doe they but please mens fancies And This you shall finde in the third place that their best devotions Reason 3 doe but leave a man in an earthly and carnall estate and therefore the Holy Ghost speaketh boldly Rev. 13.8 That all that worship the Beast their names are not written in the booke of life of the Lambe slaine from the foundation of the world There is not a man of them that knowing and beleeving no more then what he hath from the Beast can be saved therefore they thought not amisse who have written that a Papist by his Religion cannot goe beyond a Reprobate so then whatsoever is meant by these things in the antichristian world whereon these vials were poured all is but earthly an earthly sea an earthly sunne an earthly light an earthly aire fitter to choake men so farre as it is Antichristian then to breath any life into the soules of Christians To shew you the vanity of all their indeavours that study to reconcile Popish and Protestant Churches together I will Vse 1 say but thus much you may as soone bring Heaven and earth together as you can draw Popish and Protestant Religion together for Popish Religion is all but earthly and all the Churches of Christ are Heavenly and therefore when Heaven and earth meete then will Poperie and Protrolemy meete together In the second place let all men beware lest they have any licourish affection towards the old Religion as they call it if you Vse 2 shall hearken to the voyce of such charmers charme they never so wisely your best Religion will be but earthly your prayers earthly your faith earthly your obedience will bee earthly you shall find nothing therein able to answer an Heavenly and spirituall mind what though they tell you that Protestant Religion loveth case but as for them they have their whippings scourgings and fastings and these they will say are no such earthly dainties Truely these so farre as they are
Church so that well doth the holy Ghost say here is not the bloud of Christ but the bloud of a dead man Againe I might shew the like in other the chiefe streames whereof their sea consists that Faith which thay have it is built on the Scripture and the authority thereof they have from the Church their faith is built on the Scripture and the Scripture on the Church and so the last resolution of it is but humane authority and so that saith is no assurance for that they say were presumption but humane credulity and so for justification and salvation they will have it by merits and for worship worshipping Saints and Angels and in a strange language which common people vnderstand not an vnreasonable service so that here is nothing but as the bloud of a dead man they want the vitalls of Christianity Vse For the Vse of it It may serve to shew the weaknesse of their imaginations that doe beleeve Popish and Protestant religion may be reconciled together and Popish and Protestant Churches may bee brought to bee one were it not for hot spurred Iesuits on the one side and for hot spirited Protestants Puritants on the other side if moderate spirits had things in hand they have hoped to bring both ends together Alas to bring heaven and earth together goe your waies poure out your vials on the earth their sea is but an earthly sea their sunne is but an earthly sun and their rivers and fountaines are but earthly and yet all may be reconciled the bloud of a dead man and God life and death heaven and hell and all shall be reconciled Vse 2. It shewes what great reason we have everlastingly to stand out against all compromising with them and all subjection to any thing that pertaines to that Religion for they have sacred truthes as they beleeve Father Sonne and Spirit and that Christ is God and man but otherwise for the body of all their other Ordinances they are such as in very truth have not the blood of the Lord Iesus in them but are as the blood of a dead man as they have them and corrupt and pollute them Lastly Every living soule dyed in the Sea why did none live on the earth but were all dead in this Sea All that live on the earth all Catholikes they live in that Religion Iesuits Friats Every living soule died in that Sea The last note then is Doct. 3. A Popish Catholike that lives according to this Religion and no better he lives and dyes in a state of Death and Damnation For so saith the Text Every living Soule in that Sea dyed If he had no other life then by that Religion no other goodnesse then that which he got from that Sea living in those waters which they sucked from that Religion from the Ordinances there if he have no more then that he cannot come to a State of Salvation he dies in that Sea The Reason of the point Is taken First from the Grace held foorth in that Religion Secondly from their Faith Thirdly from their Repentance and Fourthly from theiâ— Obedience they are all such as are but dead their very Grace holds foorth dead Workes the Faith of a Catholike is a dead Faith their Repentance is dead Repentance their Obedience is dead works and that is all their Religion and in these is the life of a Christian the life of Grace the life of Faith the use of Repentance and the life of Obedience if these be dead what life is there For the grace of God By grace ye are saved not of Workes Ephes 2.8.9 Now they will not have it of Grace but of Workes not of living Grace but of Workes that is the most generall opinion Nor no redemption of Christians but common to all alike Reprobates and true Christians and the difference ariseth in vocation and that is out of workes out of merit of Congruity and their Iustification is out of Merit of Workes and Perseverance in Grace is out of Concurrence of Free will and Glorification is from Merit of Condignity of Workes and if all these be of workes here is all the grace of God to seek what saith the Apostle If it be of Workes it is not of Grace Rom. 11.6 And verily this is the best grace of Popish Religion all their grace is of Workes and then it is utterly evacuated What shall I say to their Faith it is no other but Historicall As that all that is contained in the Word is true and verely the Devill beleeves as much he knowes it to be true and will tremble Iames 2.19 And if that be the Devils faith as Iames saith it is then woe worth all Popish Faith and that faith if you come to apply it That it shall be a confidence on Christ to salvation they looke at that as Hereticall presumption what hope is Vse there that by Faith such should ever be justified or saved And for repentance it is like their Faith such repentance as Iudas held forth as great they require Confession contrition and satisfaction he did it all he was not a little broken with the sence of his sinne and the horror of it Hee makes confession of it I have sinned in betraying the Innocent blood he made satisfaction he brought againe the 30. Pieces of silver and throwes them downe away with them I have sinned in betraying the innocent blood this is the best repentance they have for any repentance that springs from the sight of Gods favour applyed to the faith of Gods people this they will by no meanes heare tell of and yet without faith applyed to the soule by a promise or word of grace there is no life in repentance They see him whom they have pierced and mourne for him they see him pierced by them and for them and this mourning is Evangecall and saving For their obedience they looke at it as such as is able to keepe the whole Law of God and if they can doe that they seeke life then by Workes not of Grace and that Obedience that is able to keepe the whole law of God is the Obedience of the Scribes and Pharisees for they so taught and therefore our Saviour tells his disciples Matth. 5.20 Except your righteousnesse exceedes the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees yee cannot enter into the Kingdome of Heaven Such obedience as that a man is able to keepe the whole Law and by that to merit and doe no more then the Law requires it is the obedience of Hereticall presumption not of confidence and affiance of Faith that is obedience of hereticall presumption that is able to keepe the whole law and make satisfaction to the justice of Christ and then Christ died in vaine unlesse hee died to make us Saviours of our selves and that is as notorious as the former The Vse of this point is Vse 1. To reprove a wicked practise of many Protestants that are not ashamed to sow pillowes vnder the elbowes of
Catholiques that make them beleeve they may be saved in that religion so they live honestly and well Oh Brethren doth not the Text expresly say every one that lived in that Sea died and died everlastingly there is no living bloud of the Lord Iesus there there is no saving grace there but workes all and there is no lively faith there but dead saith no repentance but hardnesse of heart or legall contrition at the vttermost nor obedience but such as is too good for him to apply the Bloud of Christ unto for it is able to keepe the whole Law and make satisfaction for the breaches of the Law or if their owne obedience bee not so perfect they have some other saints whose obedience may bee imputed unto them so that though they abhorre Christs Righteousnesse to be imputed to them they have found out a way that the righteousnesse of Saints may bee applyed to make others righteous so that they put more honour upon the servants of Christ if some of them were the servants of Christ then upon Christ and say it were well their righteousnes should be imputed but that Christs owne righteousnesse should bee imputed they looke at it as aputative righteousnesse as they are not ashamed to call it so that see the desperate danger of living and dying in that state in the Romish religion in that Sea Vse 2. Secondly Let me exhort all Christians to hold stedfastly to the puritie of Religion whether in our publicke Ministrations or private conversations let all savour and reake foorth the warme blood of the living Lord Iesus for there is the difference of our Religion from Popery Their religion holds forth such a Christ as leaves him and his blood like the blood of a dead Man The soule is dead for any true Grace or Faith or Repentance or Obedience or living Comfort the heart is still dead no life of Gods favour no life from the Word no hope of Salvation but all conjecturall there is indeed the life of Papists no live-blood of Christ Jesus among them But for Christians It is for us to live as those that are made partakers of the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things then that of Abel that doth pacifie and purifie the Conscience and both worke effectually more and more untill the soule bee established in perfect peace thou wilt keepe them in perfect peace whose minde is staid on thee because he trusteth in thee I speake of perfection that may be attained in our measure in Esay 26.3 So that be diligent to looke up to the Lord Christ still as out of Grace to accept us and by the grace of Faith to receive us and so drawing the soule to lively repentance from dead works and quickning and awakning us to lively obedience In this lively estate we may walke before him according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his Grace in Christ Iesus THE THIRD VIAL REVEL 16. VER 4 5 6 7. And the third Angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters and they became bloud And I heard the Angel of the waters say Thou art righteous O Lord which art and wast and shalt be because thou hast iudged thus For they have shed the bloud of Saints and Prophets and thou hast given them bloud to drinke for they are worthy And I heard another out of the Altar say Even so Lord God Almighty true and righteous are thy iudgements THese seven Angels as you heard that had the vials of the last wrath of God to poure out they poure it all out upon the Antichristian world upon the Beast or something or other pertaining to the Beast for the first that poured his vial on the earth vexed them that had the mark of the beast he begins therefore with the beast And the fift Angel poured forth his vial upon the throne of the beast in the 10. ver and when the seventh Angel poured forth his vial Great Babylon came up in remembrance before God c. in the 19. ver So that in a word all these vials being poured out from first to last upon the earth and the earth being the Antichristian state opposite to heavenly and pure Churches all the vials are poured upon the Antichristian world or state And as you see they begin with the lowest elements first The first upon the earth the next upon the sea the third upon the rivers and fountaines the fourth upon the sun in that world the fift upon the throne of the Beast the sixt upon Euphrates the seventh upon the ayre Now the second Angel of which you heard the last day having poured out his vial upon the sea it became as the bloud of a dead man and all that lived in that sea dyed The sea you heard is the confluence of waters anld rivers and doth hold forth the confluence or concurrence of all the oracles and ordinances and meanes of grace and salvation or those that are pretended so to be The concurrence or confluence of them all to one body which in one word was their Religion in the old Temple it was resembled to a brazen sea wherein the Priests washed themselves In the Apostolique Church of the New Testament it is resembled unto a sea of glasse like unto crystall wherein you might see the face of Christ as in a mirrour In Reformed Churches it is as the of glasse mingled with fire In Popish Churches it is as the bloud of a dead man no living bloud is there to be found to wash the people in but as the bloud of a dead man without life to them that are washed in it and rather fit to choake and poison and kill then to give life Now that being the sea Then here the next vial is poured out upon the rivers and fountains of waters that run into this sea and derive this sea up and downe the earth The third Angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters And the pouring out of his vial is described First by the subject on which it is poured Vpon the rivers and fountains of waters Secondly by the effect and they became bloud Thirdly the pouring out of this vial is amplified by the testimony given to it and the effect of it What is the testimony It is double 1. Given by the Angel of the waters in the 5. ver I heard the Angel of the waters say what doth he say he gives to God the glory of his righteousnesse and of his unchangeable righteousnesse which art and wast and shalt be because thou hast iudged thus And the reason of it he gives is taken from the equity of the law of retaliation in the 6. ver For they have shed the bloud of Saints an Prophets and thou hast given them blood to drinke for they are worthy The second Testimony by which this powring out of the Viall is amplified and the effect of it is justified is by another
Angell out of the Altar in the 7. ver who saith Amen to this Even so Lord God Almighty true and righteous are thy iudgments For the meaning of the words The sea being Religion the confluence of ordinances such ordinances as are dispensed in any religion The rivers and fountains of water that spring from the sea and returne to the sea and derive all their springs and waters from thence they are and it is generally so received and therefore with more freedome of spirit a man may declare it these rivers and fountains of waters are generally conceived to be the Priests and Ministers of the Popish Church who carry Popish Religion as Fountains and Rivers do the Sea up and down the earth so do they Popish Religion up and down the Nations carry it to and fro only there is this difference between them and ordinary rivers and fountains ordinarily rivers and fountains are fresh though the sea be salt but here the fountains rivers are salt and brackish also as those salt springs be that run through salt mineralls which are of like nature with the sea and these keep their brackishnesse still And so it is with these rivers and fountains they run through the earth on which the first Angel poured out his vial they run through the cursed earth as it is plagued of God and therefore still retaines the like unwholsome streams which are found in the bloody sea And therefore it is said that as the sea became bloud so these rivers also became bloud and carryed but the like kind of water which they received from the sea corrupt As the Religion it selfe is corrupt so are these fountaines and rivers the Priests and Jesuites whether secular or regular that is the Parish Priests of their Churches or Regular Monkes that are in Religious Orders or who ever are sent forth by these they are these rivers and fountaines of waters that run to and fro to fill all the world with their sea with their Religion It is the same word which the Apostle Peter hath in expressing the nature of false teachers though there it is wells yet the words are both one They are wells without water meaning without water of life carrying their owne drugs and dregs 2 Pet. 2.17 A fit expression therefore of such kind of Priests or Prophets as doe convey unwholsome liquor or water up and downe a countrey Now of these it is said that on the pouring out of this vial they became bloud not onely in regard that their waters themselves are bloud the doctrine and worship which they doe hold forth to the people are corrupt as their sea is like the plague in Egypt when their waters and rivers were turned to bloud but that chiefly in regard of the punishment which they inflict on them for so doing which is a bloudy death as bloud is expounded in the 5. and 6. verses where the Angel of the waters saith Thou art righteous O Lord c. because thou hast iudged thus Why For they have shed the bloud of Saints and Prophets and thou hast given them bloud to drinke for they are worthy So this is bloud which God hath given them to drinke And that is an usuall phrase to give a man bloud to drinke is to kill him As Tomyris of old said to King Cyrus Thou hast been a bloud-thirsty man drink thou bloud which thou hast thirsted When you give a man bloud to drink you put him to death So this Angel who ever it was that poured out this vial he puts these Priests to death he gave them bloud to drink both made themselves to undergoe a bloudy death to drinke bloud and also made all that received and entertained them to drinke bloud too and this was effectually accomplished by Queene Elizabeth when in the 27. yeare of her raigne in the yeare 1581. by the consent of the Parliament she made it a Law that if any Priest or Jesuite that had received Orders from the Sea of Rome or any authority from that Sea should come into the Realme and goe about or practice to seduce any of the Queenes loyall Subjects from their allegeance to the obedience of the Sea of Rome or practice to draw them to that religion he should be judged guilty of high treason and suffer in the case of a Traitor And this was another branch of that Statute That if any gave entertainment to such Priests and Jesuites after certain dayes and knew them to be such should suffer as in case of Felonie without the benefit of his Booke so that both of them must drinke bloud both the Jesuites and Priests themselves and their abettors and entertainers and the ground was because they had bloudy intendments in their comming intending to kill the Queene or corrupt the State with unwholsome and pernicious Doctrine to draw the people from their allegeance to the obedience of the Sea of Rome that so as it was said a generation of Catholiques was the corruption of her subjects To prevent which mischiefe this Law was enacted and so upon this occasion many suffered that yeare and others in after yeares most part of her Raigne Now what is then the meaning of the next words I heard the Angel of the waters say Thou art righteous O Lord which art and wast and shalt be because thou hast iudged thus so it was bloud recompenced with bloud This Angel of the waters it was he or she that poured out this vial on these waters She with the consent of her Councel and Parliament they were this Angel of the waters that had this power over these rivers and fountaines and this was accomplished two or three yeares after when she set Secretary Cicill on worke to write a Booke with this Title JUSTITIA BRITANNIAE The Iustice of Britaine wherein Secretary Cicill by her appointment doth make it cleare to all neighbour Nations and for that end published his Book in sundry Languages French Dutch and Spanish that what was decreed in that Parliament was just according to the Law of God and the true principles of Christian State Policie that there was no hope of safety to the Queenes Person or of peace to the Common wealth or of liberty to true Reformed Religion if such persons were suffered to goe up and downe in that pestilentious manner to pervert and corrupt the people and withdraw them from their Allegeance and subject them to the Bishop of Rome that they did not suffer meerely on point of Religion though on those points of their Religion which gave them occasion so to work he doth not deny that neither but in respect that the frame of their Religion was not compatible to any Protestant State And the very Booke it selfe holds forth this in effect that the Lord was just herein and as the Text here tels us Thou art righteous O Lord because thou hast iudged thus And he attributes not onely righteousnesse to God in this but immutability and constancie which
If the Prophet shall repent and say I am no Prophet nor the sonne of a Prophet but an Husbandman and my father taught me to keep beasts or sheep and therefore he will not weare a rough garment to deceive And if any man aske him What are those wounds in thine hands he shall answer Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends Zach. 13.4 5 6. That shews in such a case they saved his life but they inflict some punishment on him to carry away with him And this is spoken not of the dayes of the Old Testament but it is written to be done when there is a fountain opened to the house of David and to the Inhabitants of Ierusalem for sinne and for uncleannesse in the 1. ver And in the 7. ver when the Lord calls for a sword against his Shepheard and against the man that is his fellow the Lord Jesus Christ and his companions his disciples He will smite the shepheard and the sheep shall be scattered and those are the dayes of the New Testament in those times it is when the Prophets shall be thus cut off that rise up to seduce the people of God And a third Reason is taken from the due desert of soul-murther Reas 3 There is none of all these Priests or Jesuites or Heretiques that sin in the like kind corrupting the precious truth of God in the very foundations of it but they worry and devour the soules of Gods people I meane those that should not die though Gods elect cannot be seduced yet those whom we ought to looke at that should not be thus murthered and brought to death by such means In the 7. Mat. 15. Beware of false Prophets which come unto you in sheeps cloathing but inwardly they are ravening wolves Is it not an acceptable service to the whole Countrey to cut off the ravenous wolves what is the wolfe to the sheep is he not the very death of them all that he lights on or fall in his jawes so is it with the sheep of Christ that fall into the jawes of these Romish ravenous wolves It is said of those false teachers 2 Timoth. 2.18 They destroyed the faith of some who concerning the truth have erred And in the 2 Pet. 2. 1 2 3. he tels us There shall be false teachers amongst them that shall bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and shall bring upon themselves swift destruction c. They shall make merchandise of you as the Church of Rome and her fountaines and rivers doe they make merchandise of the soules of men Rev. 18.13 Now to make merchandise of an Israelite as in the 21. Exod. 16. it is a capitall crime He that stealeth a man and selleth him or if he be found in his hand he shall surely be put to death Now these sell men and engage them to perpetuall bondage under their tyrannie both in doctrine and worship and government This murther of soules is juftly a capitall crime as Moses said before If they thrust thee from thy God and will not let thee walke with him let not thine eye spare such kinde of corrupters and desperate deluders Reas 4 The fourth reason is taken from that which the Iustitia Britanniae stands most upon and becomes States-men to doe and that is the conspiracie and treason against the State And that unavoidably by suffering such locust to run up and downe the Countrey to poison the hearts of men by their corrupt wayes and meanes for these Ministers they doe unavoidably not accidentally but they unavoidably draw men from their Allegeance due to their Native Prince to a forraine State For if a Prince should professe Protestant Religion which is the true Religion and thereupon be excommunicate by the Bishop of Rome what then then by the Lawes of their State he is deposed from his throne And they doe notably abuse the old type of Leprosie for this Vzziah being once smitten with leprosie then the High Priest removes him from the Temple of the Lord and he may not be suffered any more to governe for if once the Lord finite a man with leprosie in his judgement and indeed let heresie be one kinde of leprosie if the Priest pronounce him so then he is cut off from the government of the Countrey then his people are not subject to him and so subjects are freed from their fidelity to their naturall Prince which is a notable abuse of that place For God doth not intend that the authority of any Minister or Priest in the Old or New Testament should so farre prevaile that what they did in the Old Testament to Vzziah should take off Princes from their Goverment in the New For even in the old Testament they still retained the Crown though their power of execution was delegated to another and that not by the High-Priests appointment but by himselfe But as things were with them so though not in the same kinde but in a typicall way it befalls Princes in the New Testament If a man were found a Leper in the Old Testament hee was sequestred from the administration of his Kingdome and from his owne house Leviticus 13.46 he must not live in the Campe or in the Towne or Village but alone and in a separate place by himselfe as those that are sick of the Pestilence in our Native Countrey they are not suffered to live in the towne but in Pest-houses unlesse there be a generall infection But this thing must not be applyed in the letter to the state of the Church in the New Testament for Leprosie was not onely a type of scandalous infectious sins but it was also a bodily noysome infectious disease and made a man unfit for civill commerce Moreover as Leprosie was also a type of scandalous and infectious sinnes so the sequestring of Vzziah from the Temple doth type forth not that Christian Kings should be separate from their thrones For he that gives to a man a Kingdome or any earthly estate doth not debarre that man from his house if he be a private man nor from his government if he be a publique person But what is the Kingdome that is typed out It is the Kingdome of the glory of CHRIST JESUS If therefore hee be shut out from the holy Temple of Israel he is shut out from the Kingdome of Heaven indeed that is true for what is done by the Churches of God on earth is bound in Heaven But yet Christ Jesus never thought it meete to separate any by any Church power from communion with his wife and children those whom nature bound him to nor from his servants and subjects whom civill engagements bound unto him but only from interest in the spirituall communion of the seals of immortality and yet but for a season for the healing of his soule not for the destroying of his person or state but otherwise to exclude them from their own houses or Kingdomes or from any civill right
neither would I wholly wave that Interpretation of the Imperiall state because the matter is not what Papists will acknowledge or what the Church of Rome will own Whether they will own the Emperour to bee the primest and chiefesf light or others for the holy Ghost speaks of things as they be as well as how they are conceived to be Now in Scripture Interpretation the greatest lights are Magistrates that hold forth the greatest lustre and splendor but yet in the Churches and when you speak of spirituall Administrations they that are to derive light from CHRIST to the Church they are the greatest lights for spirituall things But wee come to speak therefore of the great light they set up they set up him as the chiefest and greatest light which derives light to the very Scriptures for they conceive that they should not bee Authenticall unlesse the B of Rome count them so and if he do count them authenticall then they shall be so though they be Apocrypha and no sence of Scripture allowed for the light of truth unlesse it be acknowledged by him nor no Decrees go for currant unlesse he ratifie them So that that which they take for the light of their world is chiefly the Bishop of Rome If then he be their greatest light then this Angel pours his Vial of Gods wrath upon the Pope his transcendent light whereby he gives authority to the Scriptures to Doctrine to Worship to Government to Councels and whereby he gives power to all his Officers to administer Discipline and Church-power in all Christendom as they call it all Christian Churches over Then they are the Angels that pour out the Vial upon that Sun that take from him that transcendent Prerogative of the Sun which is to rule by day 136 Psal 8. Take then from him his rule by day for you must speak of things metaphorically in this place though in the Psalm is meant another Sun but in this Sun take from the Pope from this Sun Popish rule of Religion the rule of all Churches the Soveraign power in all Ecclesiasticall affairs and what then Then you will pour out a Vial of wrath upon him And so did Queen Elizabeth in her time and the Parliament then by making the Popes Supremacie and the defence of it high Treason against her person and the State of the Kingdom and against the Lord Iesus It poured forth such a Vial of Gods wrath upon this great Light the Antichristian State that it rules no more by day neither in England nor Scotland nor Ireland nor divers other neighbour Nations who by her precedent example did abandon the like usurpation the supreme rule of the Pope in Ecclesiasticall affairs which is the very Rule of the Churches of Christ Thus you see take the one or the other both will stand together Let the house of Austria be the Sun as it is in his kinde and Sphaere the greatest light of all their created Civil power and hath been a great light indeed and both an ornament and nourishment to the See of Rome Or take the Pope himself who will be the greatest Church-light and claims to himself Supreme power not onely in Ecclesiasticall causes but Civil too It is no unusuall thing in Scripture to make a graduall Interpretation of dark Scriptures as in the 17 Chapter The seven beads saith the Text are seven mountains upon which the woman sitteth and in the 10 verse they are also seven Kings the same that represent seven mountains doth represent seven Kings And so both these are great lights of that state the Imperiall and the Spanish power combined in that house by bloud and affinitie and the Pope himself in his sphaere are both the great lights of that state and it hath pleased â—od to pour out his Vial of wrath upon them both and both the one and the other suffer and they shall suffer more and more because they do not repent to give God glory of their due and deserved punishment but continue still in their blaspheming against the Lord and his people and when men grow worse and worse both civil state and Ecclesiastical state both growing worse and worse doubtles their plagues will be multiplied Sweden began with one and hath been followed Queen Elizabeth in England and others elsewhere have begun with the other the Lord by sundry instruments in one kinde or other hath gone forth and will go on stil to let them know that the most high hath power over all the earth and will not be driven out When once he begins to execute judgement he will go on destroying to destroy and though the ministers of this wrath may conflict with doubtfull and various events yet the issue will be blessed and Popish Princes and States shall stand a far off and cry Alas alas that great city Babilon that mighty city for in one hour is thy judgement come That will be the finall issue of the great wrath of God upon it and how far both these have proceeded you cannot chuse but know How far queen Elizabeth scorched that Antichristian state with fiery indignation it is universally known which provoked Catholick Princes so much that what with pouring out the former Vials upon the Rivers and Fountains when she decreed it Treason for any to carry Popish Religion to England and to reconcile men to that See the pouring out of that Vial there and this here so far provoked them that they brought in their whole power against her in 88 and would have swallowed her up quick they were so exasperated with heat and fury and had not the Lord by his out-â—â—retched arm and wisdom prevented there had been no hope of preservation but desolation of her and her Kingdom Thus have I shewed you as shortly and plainly as I could what should be the meaning of this fourth Vial and the Angel by whom it was poured out Let us shortly come to gather a note or two from the words and very briefly First this Doctr. 1 When the wrath of GOD is kindled against a State for corruption of Religion he pours out his judgements against them by degrees first upon the common sort of people then upon Church Officers and then upon the principall Rulers and lights of that State That is the first note This is evident in the Gradation of the Text here is the wrath of the Lord kindled against the Antichristian state called here the earth an earthly Kingdom an earthly state brought forth of the earth and minding earthly things and all their Ordinances savouring of the earth of humane inventions and wisdom and power The Lord then when his wrath is kindled and sends forth Messengers of his wrath on that State how begin they They begin first with the earth the lowest Element they begin not with the Sea nor with the Sun nor with the Air but first the Vial fals upon the Earth Common Catholicks they first feel the shame and confusion thereof as you have
heretofore heard Then as he discovers their Religion to be generally corrupt as the bloud of a dead man so hee pours out the next Vials upon the Rivers and Fountains of water those that carry this Religion up and down the Countries and Nations the Lord exasperates Civil States so far against them that they force them to drink bloud their own bloud as they made Martyrs to drink bloud so the Lord gave them to drink bloud for they are worthy as you heard it opened this day seven-night He first begins with the common Catholicks then with Priests and Jesuits Well doth he here stay when the Lord sees what little fruit groweth hereby Verily no for here is no Reformation of the common sort they still continue in their Ignorance and Superstition and Idolatry And what are the Priests and Jesuits any thing reformed It is nothing so nor do the lights of that State either the lights of the Imperiall world of the Provinces or their generall and grand holy Father the Pope as they call him none seek Reformation what then Then let the Imperiall state and Pope that claims Lord Paramountship over all let him look it the next Vial fals upon his head and the Lord doth this by degrees first upon his supreme lustre and glory as he rules by day And the next fals upon his Throne and that is a great blow to him and still the Lord goes on pouring to pour out and striking to strike till at length he crusheth the man of sin and all his abettors For their religion is corrupt and all that drink of it perish and the cōmon people Priests Jesuits shall smart and then the Pope Emperor whoever are their great lights let thē be lights in Church or Common-wealth for I will exclude neither they both partake in the sin and shall partake in the punishment of it The four Angels they may be severall persons but they have one common work they pour Vials upon the lights of both States and truly so the Lord did in Christian Rome this is Antichristian but when Rome was once Pagan and then became Christian in Constantines time and under the Christian Emperors Constantine and the rest opened the doors of the Church so wide that all the garden of God was become a wildernesse by an inundation of carnall people Christians in name but Pagans in heart that were let in and then that which was once a garden inclosed was now made a wildernesse when they took down the Pale and let in all dogs and swine that will come in the wrath of God breaks out against them then the Trumpet sounds a shrill sound and what was that In the 8 of Revel 7. The first Angel sounding there followed hail and fire mingled with bloud and they were cast upon the earth c. and that is upon the lowest sort of Christians there was given grievous hail cold hail-storm they received not the truth in love and being cold in Christianity they were hot in Emulation and Contention And then the second Trumpet sounding there was as it were a great Mountain burning cast into the Sea and there was a third part of the Sea became bloud there was high preferment cast into the Officers of the Church and a great part of the Administrations grew corrupt Then the third Angel sounded and there fals a Star from Heaven called Wormwood Wormwood of Heresie and corrupts the Priests many were infected with the Heresie of Arrius and Nestorius and Eutyches Afterwards all Scriptures came to be darkned with Allegoricall and Hereticall and corrupt Interpretations that Christ is scarse discerned in all their writings and the light of Scripture is darkened and the light of humane Learning that there is little light left And then the next Angel he sounds and smoke comes out of the bottomlesse pit and there comes Locusts upon the earth and they have a King set over them which is the Angel of the bottomlesse pit which is the Pope over the Friars and Monks So thus the Lord begins to deal with men first he fals upon them in one degree upon the earth first and then upon Religion in them and then upon Ministers the publishers of that Religion and after grows higher and higher till in the end there comes the Antichristian state the seventh head and he surmounts all Christian Emperors leads them all captive and hath the Key of the bottomlesse pit to destroy their souls whose name is Abaddon in Hebrew but in the Greeke Apollyon and then comes the Turk in the sixth Trumpet and he destroys and swallows up all So the Lords manner is first he breaks forth against the common people then against the Ministers then at last he riseth to the great Lords of the world the Rulers of the State they smoke for it at last What should be the Reason of the Point The Reason is Reas 1 First because ordinarily the first beginning of corruption is with the people and they being first corrupted then indeed it is meet that they should first be plagued for look as the Church grew to be corrupted in the Christian Emperors time so the Church came to be plagued in Antichristians time the earth was first corrupt in the Christian Emperors time and the first that is plagued is the earth then the sea then the rivers so by degrees The Lord goes the same way in plaguing as they did in degenerating the same way in executing judgement as they in sinning Reas 2 And secondly when the cōmon people are corrupted for their sin sake it pleaseth God either to send them corrupt Rulers like themselves or else to lead their good leaders into temptation to corrupt themselves and their people You read Prov. 28.2 For the wickednesse of a land many are the princes thereof many and wicked Rulers too They never lived long nor well after once the house of Israel had cryed out What portion have we in David or what inheritance in the son of Iesse The Lord never gave them good King in Israel after not in Israel I say Judah indeed had sundry times good Kings but for Israel the 10 Tribes that rejected the yoke and the house of David in regard of the hard payments that Solomons son put upon them and therefore in their prophanenesse cryed out What portion have we in David c. Then immediatly after that the Lord never gave them any good King 1 King 12.16 So there grows Religion to be corrupted in the people and then for their wickednesse God gives them wicked Princes I gave them a King in mine anger and took him away in my wrath O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self Hos 13.9 10. Israel corrupts it self provokes God and he gives them a King in his anger and takes him away in his wrath And it is written as a heavie curse of God in Lev. 26.17 If you still trespasse against me I will set Princes over you that shall hate you Mischievous
polluted and what then And now saith the Lord O yee Priests this Commandement is for you in the first verse of the second Chapter it is a very sad word which the Lord speaks if you will not heare and lay it to heart what should they lay to heart This hailstone Corruption of the people this snuffing at the Ordinances if you lay not this to heart I will send a curse upon you and will curse your blessings yea I have cursed them already because you doe not lay it to heart and I will corrupt your seed c. in the 1 2 3 verse and so he goes on very sadly in threatning the Ministers of God upon this point The people corrupted their wayes and were weary of holy duties cold hearted and only quick for contention and division and what then because the Ministers of God doe not bestirre them the Lord brings a curse upon their blessings their best gifts in heart and outward blessings he blasts both and therefore it marveilously concernes Ministers to be most tender this way to see that all be carried exactly according to the word of God Vse 3 And thirdly this may be a word of warning to Magistrates as the greatest lights in the Common wealth for as I said before I will exclude neither for both are the Sun in their several Sphear a great light and he speaks of the greatest light the Antichristian state had and so I speak of the greatest light this State hath Thus much let me say to you if religion be corrupted the people may first smart for it if there be any corruption it springeth there and we shall smart for it before you yet if this be not redressed God will reserve a vial for you he will pour out a vial upon the very Sunne that you would think were out of gun-shot but how high soever they be among the Stars of God exalted above all their brethren yet the Lord can tel how to cast some vial upon your authority to eclipse and darken and staine it if the Lord helpe you not to continue watchfull in this kind It is true there is an order to looke to all corruption in doctrine and worship and government that are stirring in the Countrey And it is true matters of religion are first and properly considerable in the Churches themselves by the officers and brethren of the Church But if Magistrates shall find Brethren or Officers defective or neglective it will be their parts to give free passage to all undertakings for redresse and if any thing come to your cognizance before it come to the Church then it will concerne you to stirre up the Church to looke to doctrine worship and government and you will find in this case you will deliver your soules from danger and Church-officers and people too otherwise you see the danger of corruption in religion if the earth be corrupt the sea will be corrupt and the rivers and fountaines and the Sunne wil be corrupt and all alike more or lesse afflicted and plagued of God for toleration of such evils as are found amongst them So much for the first point let me speak a word of another and so come to an end The next note is this A wicked heart will not repent of sin no not under the wrathfull Doct. 2 hand of God who hath power over his owne judgements to give him the glory but will rather break forth to further wickednesse even to blaspemy against the name of God It was said of Ahaz that when he was in distresse on every hand yet in his distresse he did trespasse more against the Lord 2 Chron. 28.22 This is that King Ahaz as who should say brand him for an hypocrite and a reprobate that in his distresse trespasseth yet more why for he went and sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which smote him because the gods of the kings of Syria help them c. In stead of humbling himself under Gods hand to give him glory he breaks forth into blasphemy and hardens his heart and repents not to give him glory but waxes more fierce against the Lord to blaspheme And another prophane King of Israel Ioram 2 King 6.31 32 33. He weares sackcloth indeed upon his loynes but being in distresse by reason of the famine hee breakes forth into fury and rage God doe so to mee and more also if the head of Elisha shall stand on him this day hee meant to cut off Elisha's head by reason of the famine when an Asses head was sould for fourescore peeces of silver and in the 33 verse Shall I wait for the Lord any longer There he breaks forth into blasphemy hee is full of fiery indignation and blasphemy against the God of Israel see you this son of a murtherer While he yet spake this the Messengers came down unto him and he said Behold this evil is of the Lord what should I waite for the Lord any longer So you read in Isa 8.21 They in their distresse shall curse the Lord and their King and look upward This is the frame of carnall and wicked hearts And the Reason is Reas 1 First from the Ignorance of such wicked spirits their Ignorance is such they know not who smites them but think it is some chance as the Philistims in 1 Sam. 6.9 If he go up the way of his own coast to Bethshemesh then he hath done us this evil but if not then we shall know it was but some chance that happened to us They neither see the hand of God that smites them nor their own desert that provokes the Lord thus to smite them and so they repent not to give him glory but blaspheme him And a second Reason is Reas 2 Secondly from the prophane pride of a carnall heart some kinde of carelesnesse and it is incident to all prophane kinde of spirits that they will not see the hand of God nor own their own sinfulnesse when the judgements of God are in the earth the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousnesse Isa 26.9 10 11. But they will not behold the majesty of the Lord When thy hand is lifted up they will not see it but they shall see it and be ashamed c. They will not see it a good while that either their own sin hath brought this judgement or that it is a just hand of God upon them they will not see such things as these So you see the Reasons of the point not to speak of what high reasons might be given of Gods heavie vengeance upon mens unprofitablenes under the hands of God they grow worse and worse 2 Tim. 3.13 That the Lord leaves them to hardnesse of heart and gives them up to themselves to obstinate their spirits as Pharaoh that they will exalt themselves against him and though you bray a fool in a morter yet his folly will not depart from him The Use of the Point is thus much Vse 1 First it may report to you from the Oracle
observation and the powring out thereof is the worke which the Lord calleth men principally to attend upon and wherein God hath manifested his presence most and wil goe on still to manifest more of the presence of his wrath unto other states now the points that arise from the words are two That forme of government wherein one by sole and singular Doct. 1 authority doth govern the Church specially many Churches and most of all all Churches doth spring from the Earth and savoureth of the Earth for so it appeareth to be from the Text for all these Angels powred out their Vialls upon the Earth Verse 1. Not as Earth is opposed to other elements but as it is opposed to Heaven so that as their Earth is earthly so is their Sea and their Rivers and Fountaines and their Sunne and this throne is but an earthly throne you see no such throne in the Tabernacle of the Testimony opened in Heaven so farre as Churches are Heavenly these thrones are not set up in them for this is it which Iohn reprooveth 3. Io. 9. in Diotrephes that he loveth to be a primate and would not regard a letter from Iohn himselfe though an Apostle for the brethren he would not receive them himself and forbad them that would and cast them out of the Church the true spirit of an earthly Primate for they savour of earthly ambition and covetousnesse love Balaams wages they stick not to buy their places for silver care not what they give for them but having gotten them with buying they must maintaine them by selling they must sell Ordinations and Absolutions and Dispensations and must be maintained by the benevolences of their obedient Clergy and in truth the summe of the matter is quid mihi dabis and what is all this but earthly bravery if ever you have beene at their thrones though it were but the thrones of their chauncellors and Officialls you shall see nothing but that which savoureth of the Earth earthly pride or pleasure or Covetousnesse I am and have lesse cause then many others from my last Diocesan who being more learned was more ingenuous and favourable then many others not wont to speake these things yet when the necessity of clearing my Text leadeth me to them I may not without unfaithfullnesse to God and his Church keepe silence we came not hither to speake hardly of other Churches but when the Word of God calleth for it we should be wickedly silent if we should not let the people know what the mercy and blessing is which we doe enjoy and what we are delivered from Rea. 1 The first Reason of the Doctrine is from that forme of Church estate which Christ hath instituted in his Word which is no other but the government of a Church of a particular visible Congregation He owneth no other nor giveth any government to any besides them If thy brother offend thee goe and tell the Church and must the offence stay till all the world be gathered together or if it were meant of one Diocesan or provinciall Church when will they meete therefore the Church that must heare al offences is the Church of a particular Congregation which may all of them meete together in one place 1 Cor. 14.23 and then though offences come thicke they may all be orderly heard and remooved And consider moreover that which further cleares up this first ground what variety of officers God hath given to this Church not many Parishes to one Bishop but many Bishops to one Church so as that Paul writteth to the Saints at Philippi with the Bishops and Deacons Phil. 1.1 And he sendeth for the Elders of the Church of Ephesus Acts 20.17 Whom he calleth Bishops Verse 28. And they were more then one in every Church according to Acts 14.23 They ordained them Elders in every Church directly contrary to the practise of the Lord Bishops of these dayes These things we speake that the people may know we set forth no new inventions though it be true that there is a newnesse in all the blessings of the new Testament whereas all the inventions of men wax old as doth a garment and there is no new thing under the sunne as touching mens inventions but they will grow old and vanish away as all Diocesin Churches will doe which the Lord hath not instituted Though indeed in the old Common wealth of Israel the Church was Nationall and there was but one high Priest who was a type of Christ but now Christ is come he hath delivered all his counsell to his 12. Apostles and they have left the ordering of his Church to some pastors and some teachers and some ruling Elders and some Deacons But besides these the Gospel knoweth no other The second ground is taken from the kinde of power which Rea. 2 God hath given to his officers in his Churches hath he given to them a Lordly or a Ministeriall power surely no Lordly power neither over their fellow Elders nor over the Church But he hath in his Word prohibited both these Math. 20.25 26 27. The Princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them they that are great exercise authority upon them but it shall not be so amongst you but whosoever will be great amongst you let him be your Minister and whosoever will be cheife amongst you let him be your servant Amongst the Officers of Christ honour is carried by the most labour and not by most outward splendor But those that sit upon the throne of of the Beast doe not labour in any kinde of government but that which is merely antichristian to foment sin and let loose the reines of all prophanesse neither doe the officers which Christ hath set in his Church reach after outward honour but the cheife of them make themselves equall with them of the lower sort as Peter though an Apostle when he writeth to the Elders stileth himselfe a fellow Elder 1. Pet. 5.1 and exhorteth them to feed the flock of God not as Lords over Gods heritage but being examples to the flock so the Apostle in his second and third Epistle stileth himselfe an Elder so farre is he from affecting Lordly authority by all which we may see that all this kinde of Lordly and stately government is no way compatible to that government which Christ hath instituted in his Church The third reason is taken from that authority which the Lord Rea. 3 hath given to every Church over their Bishops as well as to their Bishops over them which cannot stand with Episcopall soveraignty It is true the Lord hath given them power over the Church let the Elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour c. 1 Tim. 5.17 A power they have to call the Church together as the Apostles did for the choise of Deacons Acts 6.2 And to open the doores of speech and shut the doores of silence Act. 13.15 A power they have also to dismisse the assembly as they see cause for
things most difficult to open are sweetest to chew upon as in all bones and the like let us therefore from hence observe this note That the Event and successe of the great and last battell Doct. which Christian Princes shall fight against Antichrist and his Adherents shall be like in successe to the battel 's fought at Armageddon that is to say desperate destruction to the Enemies of Gods people joyfull victories and Triumphs to the Churches of Christ godly sorrowes and penitentiall mourning to the Iewes All these severall Events are inclusively spoke unto in this word Armageddon and each branch of them are expressely mentioned in this booke and other Prophesies of Scripture First that there shall bee great and desperate destruction to the Enemies of Gods people you read in chapter 19 that it will be so great that the Angell standing in the middest of the Sunne cryed with a loud voyce saying to all the foules that flye in the middest of Heaven come and gather your selves together to the Supper of the great God that yee may eat the flesh of Kings and the flesh of Captaines and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of them that sit on them and the flesh of all men both free and bond both small and great therefore this battell must not bee sought onely with the Ministery of the Gospell though that will mightily concurre but with the sword and Weapons of warre else the foules of Heaven would have little flesh to eat upon battells fought by the Ministery of the word but Word and Sword fighting together Thus will there be wrought a great destruction to Gods Enemies to satiate all the foules of Heaven And there will bee great rejoycing and Triumph to the Churches of Christ as you read of their songs of praise for the victory gotten by Deborah and Barak over Iabin and Sisera Iudges 5. So here there will be many Hallelujahs chap. 19.1 to the end of 7. which they sing againe and againe to the Lord. And thirdly it will be matter of penitentiall mourning to the Israel of God Zach. 12.10 11. when they shall see Christ comming in his glorious power it will break their hearts with holy mourning over them and this shall be fulfilled when the new Ierusalem shall come from God out of Heaven as is prophesied in this booke chapter 21.2.10 Then shall the Tribes of the Earth mourne bitterly after Iesus Christ Why will the Events of these battels be the same Reas 1 First because Gods Enemies will bee like in their sinnes unto those that fought against Israel of old Therefore they must partake in the like Judgements wherein are they like in their sinnes In their oppressions of the people of God so Jabin mightily oppressed the children of Israel Iudges 4.3 And Saul was a malicious persecuter of David So hath the man of sinne and his Adherents beene malicious persecuters of the Saints of God And Saul tooke Counsell of the Witch at Endor So have these beene famous for their witch-crafts neither did they repent of their sorceries chap. 9. ult Now as their sinnes are like so shall their punishments bee because of the unchangeable wisedome and Iustice of God who punisheth now as he did of old Psal 83.9 10. The likenesse of their sinnes the likenesse of Gods Iustice bring forth the like kinde of Iudgements now as of old If you shall aske the Reason why there shall be the like occasion of rejoycing It is because the Lord shall in like manner avenge his people Reas 2 now as he did of old Iudg. 5.2 where she calleth upon Gods people to praise the Lord for the avenging of Israel so shall he now judge the Whore and avenge the bloud of his servants at her hand Rev. 19.2 And looke as of old they went on destroying to destroy the Enemies of the people of God untill they had consumed them so shall the people of God now doe untill they have extinguished utterly the name of Popery and made it like dung upon the face of the Earth and as there was way made of old for the glorious Kingdome of David so shall there be way made by these Warres for David to be the Prince of Gods people for ever as the Prophet Ezechiel foretelleth chap. 34.23 34. and 37.24.25 not in visible presence I dare not take up such carnall Imaginations as that Christ shall come bodily and reigne here upon the Earth but by his Spirit and in his Servants hee shall reigne on the Earth And all these things shall give the people of God great and wonderfull causes of rejoycing If you shall aske in the third place why Gods ancient people the Iewes shall be called to such penitentiall mourning Reas 3 1 The Reason first is taken from the sence which they shall have of their owne sinne a sprinkling whereof we find Act. 2.37 when they were pricked in heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the Apostles Men and Brethren what shall we doe such will the sence of their sinne bee hereafter as will affect and afflict them with affliction like that of the Iewes for the death of Josiah yea it is set forth in Zach. 12.10 11. by the deepest mourning that can befall a family they shall mourne as one mourneth for his onely sonne and bee in bitternesse as one that is in bitternesse for his first borne It is true the losse of some wife may be greater then the losse of some sonne but he speaketh there of the mourning of Husband and Wife together and they can loose no greater outward blessing then their first borne And such was mourning for the death of Iosiah wherein they saw the ruine of Family Church and Common-wealth Therefore Ieremy complaineth that the breath of their Nostrills was taken away Lament 4.20 They mistake that thinke it was spoken of Zedechiah for the Lamentations were written upon the death of Iosiah 2 Chro. 37.25 which was a bitter mourning to them all and such shall bee their mourning in their return to the Lord when they shall see that the death of Christ hath beene the ruine desperate destruction and damnation of all their Families for these many Generations that all the Calamities that have come upon them for these 1600. yeares have sprung from this that their Fathers have put Christ to death by which meanes they have bin ruâ—â—agates upon the face of the earth the sence of that horrible sin misery which they have brought upon themselves and theirs by the death of their Iosiah Messiah shall thus deeply afflict them 2. The second ground of their mourning will spring not onely from the sight and sence of their sin but of the wonderfull unspeakable grace mercy of God unto them to give them that Son of his who hath given himself to death for them they shal be so ashamed confounded with the sence of Gods tender mercy loving kindnes towards them that
give her the wine first of distraction secondly of destruction Secondly the cities of the Nations fell the great Citie was destroyed it fell to ruine The second sort of subjects upon which this distraction fell were Every Island and every mountaine the Islands fled away the mountaines were not found The third sort was the sonnes of men and the plague that fell upon them was a great haile out of heaven which is amplified 1. By the measure or weight of it every stone about the weight of a Talent 2. By the effect it wrought in men They blasphemed the God of heaven set forth by the cause of their blaspheming againe repeated because of the plague of the haile for the plague thereof was exceeding great 3. Let us first open the words and then summe them up into some doctrinall observations 1. What in the first place is here meant by Ayre doubtlesse not the element of ayre that wee breath in for all the Vials are Vials of wrath therefore poured upon subjects of Gods displeasure Now God is not offended with the ayre which is his creature but as you reade in the first verse of the Chapter All these Angels received a commandement to poure out their Vials upon the earth and that is meant of the earthly Antichristian Church and they all fulfill this Commandement upon whatsoever they poure out their Vials it is still upon the Antichristian state nor are the messengers of Gods wrath which come out of the Temple and have their loynes girded with golden girdles provoked against the Ayre which themselves doe breath in nor could a plague be upon the Ayre but it would fall upon Christian Churches as well as Popish Others doe interpret it with much more probabilitie to be upon the kingdome of Sathan for he is called the Prince that ruleth in the ayre Eph. 2.2 he also rayseth up stormes in the ayre and fiery meteors therein Job 1.16 So they conclude that wheresoever the Devill hath to doe whether it be in Popery or Paganisme this Viall is poured upon all his kingdome I thinke the doctrine is truly gathered from this place that the holy Ghost intendeth to poure out a judgement upon all his kingdome yet I cannot say that the words doe so properly hold forth a judgement upon the Element of ayre for all the Vials are to be poured upon the earth the Antichristian Church called earth in opposition to the heavenly and pure Church mentioned Revel 15.5 there being in it the whole Fabricke and Systeme of the world there is an earth and that is the lowest and basest common sort of Catholickes in that world and there is a Sea their corrupt Religion there be Rivers and fountaines of water those that derived their corruptions into all countries Priests and Monkes c. there is a Sunne in this world the great light thereof the family of Austria in the common wealth and the Popes supremacy in the Church there is the throne of the beast the forme of their government and manner of judicature Afterwards comes in Euphrates the streame of all those corruptions that make glad the Citie of Rome Therefore this Ayre seemeth to be the Ayre of that Antichristian Church Looke therefore what you can conceive to be the Ayre which this Antichristian Church doth breath in and that is the subject whereupon this Viall is poured And although indeed Mahumetry and Paganisme come to be afflicted here by it yet is it but an effect of pouring out this Vial upon the Ayre Now if you looke into Chap. 9.1 2. of this booke you shall finde that the Ayre of this worldly Church is the smoake which arose out of the bottomlesse pit and darkned the Ayre so that you could not see the Sunne much lesse the Moone and Starres and what was that smoake out of the bottomlesse pit but the darkenesse of ignorance from whence sprung all those Locusts and that King over them vers 11. the angel of the bottomlesse pit whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon he destroyeth the hope of the conversion of the Jewes and in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon he destroyeth them also and sprung out of this ignorance There is a double use of Ayre and this darkenesse corrupted both 1. There is an use of it for sight for through the Ayre if is bee cleare you see all the heavenly lights and by their help all inferiour bodies 2. It is the breath of life which maintaineth the life of men and is the supportance of their vitals And in both these things doth it fitly resemble heavenly and saving knowledge by which 1. In the first place we see Jesus Christ the Sun of righteousnesse to our justification by which we see the Moon that is the true state of Churches according to the Gospell by which we see the Stars the people of God and who indeed are his people that shine like lights in the world And hereby they see all things here below and judge rightly of them And 2. by the same saving knowledge doe we breathe in our vitals that we may so speak our spirituall life By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many Esay 53.11 And this is life eternall to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent John 17.3 Now if this Ayre be choaked you can neither see Jesus Christ to your justification nor breath in any ordinance of his to your salvation nor can you see what is the true Church nor who are the true Saints of God you can rightly discerne of nothing if once the Sun and the whole body of the ayre be darkened but if how there come an Angel that shall poure out his Vial upon his smoke of the ayre and dispell thereby the clouds of darknesse and ignorance then shall you clearly see Jesus Christ and the true state of his Church and of all visible Saints then shall you draw in true and lively breath from every ordinance of God This is therefore the ayre whereupon this Vial shall be poured and that will be the dispelling of the darknesse of it The Lord will send forth such a bright and cleare knowledge of his Christ and Church and Saints and holy things which will prevaile so far as to dispell all the fogs and mists of darknesse not alone in the Antichristian State but in all the world so that all Nations shall be brightened with the knowledge of God All Asia shall see the vanity of Mahumetry and all the Pagan Nations the fondnesse and blindnesse of their Superstitions And the Jews shall then see and bewaile their blindnesse and wretchednesse in standing out against Jesus Christ So that most true it is which godly Interpreters have said that hereby all the kingdomes of Satan are threatened though it be rather an effect of it then the true and proper sence 2. What is then the adjunct that followeth or goeth along with it There came a great voice out of the Temple
of heaven from the Throne And that Throne is set in the Church Rev. 4.2 3. Behold a Throne was set in heaven and one sate on the Throne which is the Lord himselfe who is resembled by three pretious stones holding forth the three persons in Trinity A Jasper having as they say a white circle round about it representing the Eternity of the Father a Sardine stone of a fleshy colour representing Jesus Christ who took our flesh upon him An Emerauld being of a green colour refreshing the eyes of those that looke upon it representing the Spirit who is as the Rainbow a token of faire weather and is a comfortable refresher wheresoever he commeth Now this voice comming from heaven and from the Throne it commeth also apparently from God saying It is done that so all men may see it to be the revealed and holy will of God that all these things should be thus accomplished 3. It is done what is done for here is no nominative case before the verb. But this is that which is done the mystery of iniquity is abolished And the mystery of God is fulfilled For of this it was spoken which you read Rev. 10.7 where the Angel that stood upon the Sea and upon the earth telleth us That in the dayes of the seventh Angel when he shall sound whose Trumpet is sounding to this day the mystery of God should be fulfilled And that standeth chiefly in two things 1. In the destruction of all his enemies 2. In the accomplishment of all his gracious promises to the conversion of the Jewes and both these shall be accomplished in the pouring out of this Vial as we may reade at large Ezek. 39.17 to the end of the Chapter where the holy Prophet speaketh of this very time when the enemies of the Church shall come out against them there will be a finall accomplishment of all the mysteries of iniquity and of all the hostility of the Lords enemies against his Church It is also the accomplishment of all his gracious promises and therefore he saith Rev. 21.6 When once the new Jerusalem commeth downe from God out of heaven then Christ himselfe saith It is done All his promises are now performed and his great workes now fulfilled this is meant when it is here said It is done And the Lords voice it is for had it been the voice of some Church-Officers alone it might have reached to the Church but not to the ends of the world but when the Lord himselfe speaketh whose voice is like the voice of thunder then is it heard from one end of the earth unto another All men shall see the great workes that he hath done upon the face of the earth Popery and all false Religion abolished the Kingdome of Christ established from the rising of the Sun to the going down thereof This is the Adjunct Now for the Effect There is an Effect of Terrour and of agitations and changes and an effect of destroying calamities for I cannot well gather the notes that arise unlesse these things be all opened then I conceive they may be handled with brevity 4. For the effect of terrour the thunderings and lightenings and the voices are the same with those that are said to come out of the Throne Rev. 4.5 Like unto that dispensation of old Exod. 20.18 Wherein were thunderings and lightenings and in stead of voices there is put in the noise of the Trumpet and these held forth the terrour of the Lord in giving of the Law in so much that Moses himselfe said I exceedingly feare and quake and much more did the people feare and tremble for such is the convincing dreadfull power of the Law of God that let a man but heare it and have it effectually applyed and it will make the meekest and most innocent of the servants of God to tremble It will make the mountaines and hils to tremble The voice of Gods servants is like the voice of a trumpet Esay 58.1 piercing deep into the eares and hearts of men but the voice of himselfe exceedeth So the meaning is That upon the pouring out of this Vial upon the ayre there shall be terrible thunderings and lightenings and voices like founds of Trumpets upon the hearts of men that shall make them tremble and quake The Lord will so terribly affright and amaze the sons of men with the power of his holy word and will as that it shall suddenly break forth all the world over for in this manner doth the Lord begin his saving dispensations towards men even with terrible lightenings and thunderings and earthquakes thereby partly convincing men of sin and subduing their hearts and confounding their malicious enemies For the next Effect 5. There was great earthquake c. And that importeth agitatations and changes and not terrour onely they are such as will not cease untill they have removed the things that are shaken that the things which cannot be shaken may remain so doth the Apostle Heb. 12.26.27 Interprete the Prophesie of Haggai 2.6 It argueth saith he the removing of those things that are shaken and he interprets it concerning the Church estate in that place and he will also shake all the Kingdomes of the world as the same Prophet Haggai told Zerubbabel Chap. 2.21 22. saying I will shake the heavens and the earth and I will overthrow the throne of Kingdomes and I will destroy the strength of the Kingdomes of the Heathen c. And so the Lord did overthrow the great Persian Monarchy by the Grecian and the Grecian Monarchy by the Romane and the Romane by barbarous Nations and the Lord hath bin shaking them eversince and will shake them hereafter with such a shaking as never was the like you reade of a great earthquake when as Rome of Pagan became Christian Rev. 6.12 But that was a small shaking unto this earthquake for still the Persians are Idolaters and many Pagans in the world that shaking brought in a forme of Christianity but the saving knowledge of Christ was yet in a great measure wanting that forme of Christianity which then came in made way for Popery to creepe in fast into the Churches but this will shakeout Popery and when by it the Popish aire is smitten the Lord will also shake all the world by it and the time doth hasten 6. Now for the third effect which is a distracting and destroying calamity upon Cities upon Islands and Mountaines and upon men Among cities here is the great Citie and the cities of the Nations and Babylon Some good Interpreters looke at Babylon to be Constantinople For my part I dare not think but one of these is put expositively for the other Babylon for the great city Now that great city which is spiritiually called Sodome and Aegypt Rev. 11.8 is that great city which reigneth over the Kings of the earth and that is Rome as all confesse and that Babylon Chap. 17.18 and this is the same city which the Kings of the earth and the