day the twelfth Chapter from the seventh verse to the thirteenth is appointed to be read for an Epistle it being no Epistle but a prophecie of a battell fought in heaven betweene Michaell and his Angells and the Dragon and his Angels and of the victory that Michaell and his Angels had over the Dragon and his Angels and of the casting of the Dragon and his Angels out of Heaven Gent. What is meant by Heaven Min. By heaven is meant not the highest heaven but the Church of Christ militant here on earth Gent. What is meant by Michaell and his Angels Min. By Michaell and his Angells are meant Christ and his true followers especially the faithfull Preachers of the Gospell Gent. What is meant by the Dragon and his Angels Min. By the Dragon and his Angels are meant the Devill and the Heathen persecuting Emperours and the Popes Gent. What is meant by the battell Min. By the battell is meant persecutions raised by the Heathen persecuting Emperours and the Popes and popish Princes against the Christian Religion and the professors thereof Gent. What is meant by the victory that Michael and his Angells had over the Dragon and his Angels Min. By the victory is meant the victories that Christ gave to Constantine the Christian Emperour and that he hath doth and daily will give to Christian Princes fighting his battell against Antichrist and his partakers and to the faithfull Preachers against false Teachers Gent. What is meant by the casting of the Dragon and his Angells out of heaven Min. Thereby is meant the utter confusion and overthrow of Antichrist by the spirit of Christs mouth that is by the preaching of the Gospell so as he shall be deprived of all dignitie and shall have no place in heaven that is in the Church of God to domineere any more as thankes be to God the Archbishop of Canterbury is deprived of all dignity and shall never have place againe in heaven I meane in the Church of God to domineere as he hath done Gent. Why is this Prophecy appointed to be read on Michaelmas day Min. It is appointed to be read on Michaelmasse day of purpose to pervert the meaning of our Saviour Christ by misse-applying to Michaell and all Angels in the highest Heaven the victory that Christ hath and daily doth and will every day more and more give to true Christians that doe follow him fighting his battell against Antichrist Gent. I doe heare many finde fault with new orders that the Bishops have made I pray you tell me what those orders are Min. They have made an order that the Communion Table shall be turned to an Altar as Pope Sixtus did to usher in Popery about the yeare of our Lord 264. and that Churchwardens shall present their Minister if he doe not admonish the people to resort to him and open their griefe of conscience that they may receive the benefit of absolution as appeareth by Bishop Wren his Booke of Articles Chap. 4. Art 22. and that no prayer shall be made in the Church for sick persons but according to the order prescribed in the Service Booke Bishop Wren did binde the Churchwardens of his Diocesse by an Oath to present their Minister if he did use any other forme of prayer Gent. What forme of prayer doth the service Booke prescribe for sick persons Min. It prescribeth no forme to be used in the Church Gent. What then Min. The Minister must goe home to their houses and salute them as the Masse-Priest doth saying Peace be in this house and to all that dwell in it and when he is come where the sicke person is he must kneele and reade three or foure lines of the Letany and Lord have mercy upon us and the Lords Prayer till he comes to the last Petition and hath read halfe of it Lead us not into temptation the other halfe but deliver us from evill he must leave as the Masse Priest doth for the Clark to reade and then as soone as the Clark hath read it the Minister must as the Masse-Priest doth skip over the conclusion For thine is the Kingdome power and glory for ever and in stead thereof he and the Clark must read five versicles of a line or halfe a line long and a short prayer and an exhortation and the Creed and then absolve the sick person from all his sinnes in the Name of the Father Sonne and holy Ghost and begins the absolution with an untruth saying that Christ hath left power to his Church to absolve all sinners that doe truly repent and beleeve in him The truth is that Christ hath not given power to his Church to forgive sinnes and that there is no Church that doth take upon it to forgive sinnes but the Synagogue of Sathan the Church of Rome and so many of the Lord Bishops and of the Clergie of England as are Popish whose errour is grounded upon their misse-taking of the words of our Saviour Christ to Peter I will give thee the keyes of the kingdome of heaven and whatsoever thou shalt binde on earth shall be bound in heaven whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven Gent. What is meant by the kingdome of heaven Min. By the kingdome of heaven is meant the Church of Christ on earth where Christ doth rule and raigne by his word and holy Spirit in the hearts and consciences of the Elect and is commonly called the kingdome of grace Gent. What is meant by the keyes of the kingdome Min. By the keyes of the kingdome are meant the grace and power that Christ gave to Peter and the rest of the Apostles and their successors to preach the Gospell Gent. It is written Luke 11.52 that Christ did reprove the Interpreters of the Law because they did take away the key of knowledge from the people what is meant by the key of knowledge Min. By the key of knowledge is meant the opening and shewing the true sense and meaning of the Scriptures whereby the people are brought to the knowledge of God and of him whom he hath sent Jesus Christ Gent. It is written Mat. 23.13 that the Scribes and Pharisees did shut up the kingdome of heaven against men how did they lock and shut it up Min. They did lock and shut the people out of heaven by their unfaithfulnesse and idlenesse in opening and shewing the true sense and meaning of the Scriptures and by their false expounding and interpreting of the Scriptures Gent. Christ said to Peter Whatsoever thou shalt binde on earth shall be bound in heaven What is meant by loosing and binding on earth and in heaven Min. By loosing and binding on earth and in heaven is meant the authoritie and power that Christ gave to Peter and to the rest of the Apostles and to every faithfull Preacher not to forgive sinnes but to declare and pronounce forgivenesse of sinnes to all that by their preaching shall be brought to true faith and repentance and that as verily
Christ by his Apostles did ordaine and appoint to Preach the Gospell and not onely they but also all that were in the primitive Church lawfully called to preach the Gospell were Bishops de jure divino of divine institution How long I pray you did they continue to be de jure divino Min. They continued to be de jure divino till they came to be Antichrists that is adversaries to Christ then they fell from being Bishops de jure divino of divine institution and came to be Bishops de jure Pontificio of the Popes institution who is therefore called Pater Patrum the Father of the Fathers meaning the Bishops therefore to distinguish the Bishops that are de jure Pontificio of the Popes institution from the godly Bishops that were de jure divino of divine institution they commonly called Prelates or Lord Bishops Gent. Why are they called Prelates Min. The word Praelati Prelates commeth of praeferor to preferre therefore they are called Praelati Prelates because they are preferred and doe preferre themselves before and above their brethren and fellow Ministers Gent. Why are they called Lord Bishops Min. They are called Lord Bishops because they doe Lord it over their brethren and over Gods heritage 1 Pet. 5.3 and have been the chiefe supplanters and persecuters of the Christian Religion ever since the title of Prelates and Lord Bishops was given unto them In Queene Maries time blooddy Bonner Lord Bishop of London and Gardner Lord Bishop of Winchester were fierce and cruell like Dragons in shedding Christian blood and in supplanting the Christian Religion planted by King Edward the sixt till God in mercy did bring Queen Elizabeth to the Crowne then when in her first Parliament the House was about to establish the true Religion the Lord Bishops that were of the House being nine in number did stand up to cry it downe and to have the Romish Religion continued but thankes be to God they prevailed not When Queene Elizabeth came to the Crowne few or none did study Divinity in the Universities therefore Tradesmen such as were of honest life and conversation were made Ministers to read Service and in stead of Preaching to read Homilies till the Lord Jesus in his good time did thrust forth Labourers into his harvest out of the Universities who did discover the Popish errours wherewith the Service Booke was pestered and the unlawfulnesse of the Romish Ceremonies Then the Lord Bishops who till then were quiet did bestirre themselves to disturbe the peace of the Church and to bring in a cursed division according to the words of our Saviour Christ Luke 12.51 Thinke you that I came to give peace on earth I tell you nay but rather division which cursed division hath continued ever since and in every Parliament since that time till now when humble Petitions were made for Reformation the Lord Bishops onely and such as were seduced by them and made to beleeve that the Ceremonies were lawfull and that there was nothing in the Service Booke contrary to Gods Word did bend all their forces against Reformation In the latter end of Queene Elizabeths Reigne when shee began to be sickly and not like to live long then Doctor Bancroft Lord Bishop of London knowing that King Iames was to succeed her and fearing that his Majesty would reforme things amisse in the publick worship and service of God and in the government of the Church did License a Booke written by a Jesuite that he kept in his house wherein it was written that it was in the Popes power as a gift appropriate to Saint Peters chaire to depose the Kings of England and to give authoritie to the people to elect choose and set up another As then so now it is thought that the Archbishop of Canterbury fearing this Parliament hath devised an oath to stirre up so many as he can to resist the Reformation that many doe pray for and hope to see to the glory of God Gent. There was a little Booke written of late and dedicated to the House of Parliament that had most of those things in it that you have spoken of concerning the Service Booke and the Bishops Min. There was so but the Author whereof is much grieved every time that he doth thinke upon it because it was dispersed without his consent and printed false by putting in leaving out of words so as it was not fit to be presented to the House of Parliament Gent. It made mention of Judgements that God hath shewed upon the Church I pray you shew me what those Judgements were Min The most remarkable and fearefull Judgement was shewed on the Parish Church of Withcombe in Devonshire being a very faire Church newly trimmed having a very faire Tower with great and small Pinnacles one of the famousest Towers in the West part of England On the 21. of October 1638. in service time was heard a fearefull Thunder much like the noise or report of great Cannons and a most strange and fearefull darknesse and a strong loathsome smell of brimstone and a fearefull blast that strucke in at the North side of the Tower and tearing through a strong stone wall came into the Church through the highest Window and tooke with it a great part thereof and with a mighty power strucke against the North-side wall of the Church and did batter and shake it very much and went towards the Pulpit and in the way tooke with it the Lime and Sand from the wall and grated the wall and defaced it being newly whited and tore away the side Deske of the Pulpit and coloured the Pulpit blacke and left it moyst as if it had beene newly wiped over with Inke There was also a most fearefull Lightning which did affright the people and scalded them so as the most part of them fell downe some on their knees some on their faces and some one upon another crying The Ministers wife had her Ruffe and linnen next her body burnt off and her body grievously scorched One Mistris Ditford sitting in the Seat with her had her Gown two Wast-coats and her linnen next her body grievously scorched Another woman running out of the Church had her Cloaths set on fire her body scorched and her flesh torne on her backe in grievous manner One Master Hill a Gentleman had his head smit against the wall and dyed the next day Sir Richard Reinolds Warriner had his head cloven his skull rent in three pieces whereof two fell into the next Seat the other fell in the Seat where he sat his braines fell intire and whole into the next Seat behind him his Blood dasht against the wall some of the skin of his head flesh and haire to the quantitie of an handfull was carried into the Chancell and stucke fast upon one of the Posts betweene the Church and the Chancell his Body was left in the Seat as though he had been alive sitting asleepe and leaning upon his elbow resting on the Deske
before him with the forepart of his head and face whole A man that sate next unto him in the same seat was scalded and burnt all over on that side next unto the Warriner In the second Seat behind the Warriner a man was in a most grievous manner burnt and scalded all over his body so as he was all over like raw flesh and lived in great misery about a weeke A dog neere the Chancell doore was whirled up three times and fell down dead Some seats in the body of the Church were torne up and turned up-side downe and they that sate in them had no harme notwithstanding that they were throwne out of them into other seats foure or five seats higher About the number of eight boyes sitting about the rayles of the Communion Table were taken up and throwne on heapes within the rayles and had no hurt A man sitting on the Church Beere at the lower end of the Church had the Beere torne in pieces under him and himselfe throwne into a seat by the wall and had no hurt A beame broke in the middle and fell betweene the Minister and the Clarke and hurt neither The Church was very much defaced and torne and a great stone neare the foundation was torne out and removed Stones were throwne out of the Tower as thicke as if there had bin an hundred men throwing them some of such weight and bignesse as no man was able to lift One of the Pinnacles of the Tower was throwne downe into the Church A very great stone was thrown from the Tower over the East end of the Church and over the Churchyard and over an hedge into a Close Another great stone was throwne an hundred yards from the Church which sunke into the Earth so farre as it could not be seene A Bowling-Alley neare the Church-yard was turned up into pits and holes A Wine-Taverne neare the Church had the side next the Church torne up and the covering carryed off and one of the Rafters broke into the house A little before night some were sent into the Church to fetch out the dead bodies who found a couple of little children walking chearefully hand in hand and seemed by their countenances that they had been nothing affrighted with the fearefull sights that they saw nor with the lamentable crying of the people nor to have cryed because their mothers were gone On Whitsunday last 1640. in the Parish of Anthony in Cornwell when the people were kneeling at the Communion great claps of Thunder was heard as though divers Cannons had been shot off at once and extraordinary and most fearfull flashes of Lightnings and a terrible and unspeakeable strange sound to the great amazement of the people and when the Minister was turning towards the Communion Table to give the Cup after he had given the Bread he saw to his thinking a flaming fire about his body and withall heard a terrible and unspeakeable sound and had no hurt save that the outside of one of his legs was scalded Presently after that diverse balls of fire came into the Church and strucke one Ferdinando Reepe on the sole of his left foot with such violence as he thought his foot had beene split in pieces and was for a while deprived of his sences One Iohn Hodge was stricken in the knees and thighs and lower part of his body so as he thought every part of his body to be unjoyned One Dorothy Tubbe was stricken so as she thought her legs and knees were strucke off from her body One Anthony Peeke was fearefully struck in all the lower parts of his body so as it seemed as dead and felt the water in his bladder as it were boyling hot and thought that he had beene shot thorow and was lift up from kneeling and set upon the form by which he kneeled One Susan Collins was struck in the lower part of her body so as it seemed to her to be struck off from the upper part and was scalded on the wrest on the right hand A great fire farre redder then any Lightning came into the Church and struck one Nicholas Shelton on both sides of his head as though he had been struck with two flat stones did shake his body as though it would shake it in pieces whereby he lost his sight and his sences One Roger Nile was strucke on the back-bone on the right side and on the anckle on the inside of his left legge so as for a while he was not able to stand After the fire there was heard in the Church as it were the hissing of a great shot and after that a noise as though diverse Cannons had been shot off at once to make one single and terrible report The noyse did not descend from above but was heard and seemed to begin close at the Northside of the Communion Table After this fire and noyse then followed a loathsome smell of Gunpowder and Brimstone and a great smoake The Church had no harme save that seven or eight holes and rents were made in the wall of the Steeple some on the inside and some on the outside and impressions on the stones in diverse places as if they were made by force of shot discharged out of a great Ordnance so as in diverse places light might be seene through the walls In this storme was no body kill'd save one dog in the Belfree and another at the feet of one kneeling to receive the Cup As soone as this fearefull storme was over they that were weake not able to stand were through the mercy of God restored to their strength and they that were franticke to their sences and he that was blind was restored to his sight and came all to the Lords Table and received the Wine and went all safe home praising God and returned all in the afternoone to give God thanks Besides the fearefull signes of Gods wrath shewed on Churches diverse strange and fearefull sights have beene seene in the Ayre and on the Land The like we read were seene in Germany and in other Countries beyond the Sea a little before their warres and ruine began Therefore pray heartily for the King and his Councell and for the whole House of Parliament that all may joyne together in the feare of God to reforme what is amisse especially in Gods Worship and Service and that in time before the wrath of God be kindled Gent. These fearefull judgements doe shew that God is not pleased but much offended with the publick worship and service which is prescribed unto his holy Majesty in our service booke therefore I have no heart to come into the Church till the service be all read Min. Doe not refraine but come into the Church and there doe as the godly in Ierusalem did and as the three godly children and Ioseph of Arimathea did Gent. What did the godly in Ierusalem Min. When they saw that the chiefe of the Priests and of the people did bring the abominations of the heathen into the publick worship and service of God and so polluted the house of the Lord 2 Chron. 36.14 they did not refraine but came and brought their Sacrifices and did mourne and cry unto God against those abominations so doe you come and offer unto God your sacrifices of prayer of praise and of thankesgiving and mourne when you see the Minister and people doe after the abominations of the Church of Rome and cry unto God against those abominations Gent. What did the three godly children Min. They did not goe about to pull downe the golden Image that Nebuchadnezzer had set up but did refuse to worship it so you ought not to goe about to put downe that which publick authoritie hath set up as some to keepe the Minister from being heard in reading the Service did sing aloud so as he could not be heard and was faine to give over In stead of singing they ought rather to have mourned and cry in secret unto the Lord and to joyne with the Minister and the Congregation save onely in those things wherein they doe after the abominations of the Church of Rome Gent. If we doe so wee are sure to be complained of to the Bishop Min. When you are complained of and brought before the Bishop doe as the three godly children did when complaint was made of them to Nebuchadnezzar they answered boldly saying O Nebuchadnezzar wee are not carefull to answer thee in this matter For behold our God whom wee serve is able to deliver us from the hot fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of thy hand O King But if not be it knowne to thee O King that wee will not serve thy Gods nor worship thy golden Image So doe you when you are presented and brought before the Bishop be not afraid to speake but tell him boldly with reverence that you will not doe after the abominations of the Church of Rome as he would have you If he cast you into prison take it patiently and chearefully as the three godly children did when they were cast into the hot fiery Furnace Gent. What did Ioseph of Arimathea Min. He did not goe about to take downe the body of Christ till he had beg'd and obtained leave of Pilate whose example serveth to teach all Christians that in things concerning the authoritie of the Magistrate they ought to acquaint him and aske his leave before they attempt any thing Gent. I thank you for your good counsell The God of all grace direct all the Nobles Knights and Burgesses of the house of Parliament to goe to our gracious King Charles as Nehemiah did to Artaxerxes and Hester to Ashuerosh that thereby they may finde such grace with his Majesty as Nehemiah found with Artaxerxes for Ierusalem and Hester with Ashuerosh for her selfe and the Iewes Min. Amen Amen for Christ Jesus his sake LEVVES HEVVES FINIS