veniunt qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lectores habeat judicio graves Non praejudicii quos malesana mens Raptos turbine latura per invias Ignotas aliis sibi sit vias Non hîc quae metuat saxa Capharea Erroris scopuli per mare turbidum Incertis animi fluctibus appetens Coelestem trepidus navita patriam Hîc sincera Patrum dogmata veritas Non fucata suis nuda coloribus Hîc Templi decor hîc unica numine Summo relligio digna per improbam Gentis sacrilegae saepius ô scelus Subnervata fidem Non neglecta Fides spreta Scientia Spes calcata trias nobilis inclyta Quin hîc ut decuit regia Charitas Primas obtinuit Caetera non loquar Quae fundata sacris omnia literis Sustentata Patrum munific â manu Felici liber hic praebeat alite Rich. Watson Caio-Gon Ad eos qui Authorem pro novatore sunt habituri NOn nova fert veterum satur at provectior annis Scit veterum facies queis fuit esse nova Idem De conjunctione amoris fidei in Tractatu de charitate piè vindicata QUae bis quina fuêre priùs praecepta feruntur Ad duo lex jubet haec haec facit unus amor Quin ergò quid summa fides cluet una triumphat Servit amor fidei nec comes esse queat Justificat beat una fides facit omnia quid non Credam ego factura haec si siet una fides At fidei nisi juncta foret dilectio fallor Aut haec vana foret si foret ulla fides Quae dum dissociant alii Shelforde beato En tuus in patriam foedere junxit amor In patriam dixi felix Ecclesia nexu Hoc quae per duo sic juncta fit una simul Idem ¶ To the Authour concerning his learned and pious Treatise of Gods house RIch soul and blest for so I dare go on To voice that man whose life 's religion Who fears not to be good gives God his due In this our age and in the Temple too Who scorns these lothsome times and dares learn us To be lesse bold lesse superstitious Not to make God a man joyn heav'n with earth Use him familiarly who gave us birth Nor man a God by following praising such Who neither pray nor preach yet teach they much Lord when I view our Temples which now be Ruin'd by time beauties worst enemie Or rather by neglect crumbling to dust Can I perswade my self or may I trust Those ancient Fathers those pure Saints should then Fables or fruitlesse stories write ev'n when They praise yea blesse their founders and condemne Their puft up Catharists those chair-preaching men Can I conceive S. Pauls expression weak Not like himself when thus I heare him speak Ye are Gods Temples Did th' Apostle mean Our clay-like houses should be kept unclean All cobwebd o're with vices that a lust Should there inhabit and that it should rust The Berill Jasper Amethyst those three Celestiall graces Faith Hope Charitie Or when the Priest the soul must sacrifice A comely Altar should he then despise A pure well furnisht heart must not the place Be hung with well knit vertues where blest grace Resides Yes sure and he whoe're hath done The contrary dilapidation Of that Temple shall to his charge be laid Because his body Gods house thus decayd Now as these walking churches must be drest And purg'd from filth by all as well as Priest So must the other that 's Gods Temple too Though made with hands which carelesly if thou Profane demolish or perhaps abridge That of its honour 't is proud sacriledge Reader no more That God may have his due Turn o're this book and it will teach thee how E. Gower Coll. Jesu Soc. Raptim De hoc opere verè Orthodoxo in Novatores DOgmata qui fingunt novitatis rara supremae Quà m facili applausu nullóque examine cudunt Quin si fortè Patrum sancita ad prela propinquant Dente Theonino lacerant probrisque lacessunt Rodere sic solitus maledictis Zoile castum Relligionis opus calcans mysteria coeli Antiquanda doces veterum monumenta cremanda Tu Shelforde tuum noli curare libellum Novimus hoc omnes te posse problemata sacra Edere non virus malesanae effundere linguae Hinc mea si tantum possint mandata valere I liber invidiâ major victórque triumpha Intimi amoris ergô exoptat R. LONDON A SERMON Shevving How we ought to behave our selves in Gods house PSALME 93. 6. Holinesse becometh thy house O LORD for ever OUt of this Text I must undertake three great tasks The first to shew what Gods house is because this is the subject of my Text. The second to shew what God is because he is the owner of it The third to shew what is that holinesse and behaviour which becometh this house and the owner For the first I must follow holy Scripture in describing of it Gods house began with an Altar as all creatures arise from small seeds built in the place where God appeared to Abraham the father of the faithfull Gen. 12. 7. And the Lord appeared to Abraham and said Unto thy seed will I give this land and there builded he an Altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him In the eighth verse following it is said that he built another and called upon the name of the Lord. With this consent were our churches built where God appeareth to us by his word read and preached Secondly by the Sacrament of the Altar as it is called by the fathers and styled so in our own statute laws in which the sacrifice of our Lord Christ is remembred and represented unto his Father Thirdly by promise of salvation and the kingdome of heaven And lastly by prayer in which God is called on according to that of Isaiah 56. 7. My house shall be called the house of prayer From hence appeareth that the Altar is the principall part of Gods house as being the cause and originall of all the rest Secondly Gods house is described in Gen. 28. by a stone of which in the plurall number an house is made and by a ladder whose top reached up to heaven as Jacob upon the stone dreamed the angels went up and down by it and from thence the Lord spake to Jacob and when Jacob awoke he said This is none other but the house of God and this is the gate of heaven From whence we are taught that seeing Gods house is both Scala coeli and Janua coeli The ladder of heaven and the gate of heaven and that the angels use it therefore we also should use and respect it as the ordinarie and beaten way to that blessed place Thirdly as Gods house is here described by a dream so in Exod. 3. it is described by a vision the second mean of Gods appearing to the holy nation according to that of Joel Your old
his bountifulnesse and patience and long sufferance not knowing that the goodnesse of God leadeth thee to repentance Having spoken of Gods will as it is antecedent and of signe now it followeth to speak of it as it is of good pleasure and of consequent The will of Gods good pleasure is expressed in the 135 Psalme vers 6. Whatsoever the Lord pleased that did he in heaven and in earth in the seas and in all deep places This is Gods proper and essentiall will first because it is of the nature of the will to do of pleasure and next because it is most generall and not restrained to any place or person His will of signe is not alwaies done because it is his will for men and not for himself respectively Therefore his precepts are broken his prohibitions slighted his counsels not regarded but his will of good pleasure is above the law of the Medes and Persians this cannot be put by because it is divina 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lastly after that God hath shewed man all his favours by his will of signe and word revealed to which he addeth the effects of his grace expressed by S. Prosper in these seven particulars perswading by exhortations admonishing by examples terrifying by dangers inciting by miracles giving understanding inspiring counsel and lightning the heart with faiths affections When all these are despised and rejected then God proceedeth with his will consequent which is the will of his justice First he would have all men to be saved by his will antecedent but because all men will not consent to this therefore to maintain mans free-will God will not save all in effect but the same will turneth from mercie to justice which before turned from justice to mercie and saith Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels Neither is Gods will altered nor broken because it turneth from mercie to judgement for that it still retaineth its former mercie and man his former resistance to receive it How often saith our Saviour would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens but ye would not If God hath not bound man to one object but given him free-will to turn from object to object according to reasons rule then should God be bound and man free The will of God is wider then all wills all his divine attributes may rest in it his truth his wisdome his justice his mercie his power his pleasure and displeasure yea all the contraries that are in the world are within it and lie under it as life and death sicknesse and health good and evil salvation and damnation and without this there could be no world Notwithstanding though Gods will be never so wide and comprehensive yet it imposeth no necessitie upon mans will because all will by Gods creation is free and if it were not free it were no will Necessitie and will are incompatibilia they cannot stand together Nature and things without will are of a strait disposition therefore for them God hath ordained necessitie and determined them to one thing but mans will because it is the image of Gods will is wide and capacious and therefore he hath provided for it the ocean of contingencie He hath set fire and water before thee saith Ecclesiasticus stretch out thy hand unto which thou wilt Before man is life and death good and evil and whether him liketh shall be given him Now no man can justly complain while all things are set before him and he hath free choice to all Election expelleth necessitie and necessitie thrusteth out election If mans will were not free from necessitie then there could neither be merit nor demerit that is neither reward nor punishment and then the two great streams of Gods bountie and justice should be dried up but now he hath given to man free-will and to maintain this he hath ordained contingencie and added his grace to aid his will that there might be no defect on his part for freedome naturall to good Theologicall is not freedome but stubbornnesse without grace And this grace and goodnesse of God as it ordereth and aideth things naturall to their naturall ends so it ordereth and aideth man to his supernaturall end which is to live with his God in heaven And this goodnesse of grace is like to the vertuous magnet the most remarkable of all stones the guide of the diall and the direction for sea-travell for as the pin and needle of the diall being toucht with it the needle will stand no way but north and south so the heart of man being toucht with Gods grace in his regeneration will stand no way but to heaven-ward And this touch is that which Divines call the habit of charitie alwaies enclining and bending to heaven and heavenly things through all the rubs of the world Though the toucht needle for a while is shaken and justled from its former due station yet as soon as the shaking is over it returneth instantly to the same point right so though the heart be for a time justled either by the lust of the flesh or the lust of the eyes or the pride of life from its right standing yet as soon as the force is over presently it returneth to its former station to heaven-ward And the onely reason is the touch of Gods goodnesse in the regenerate soul to which above all things mans heart is beholding And this goodnesse proceedeth from the holy Ghost as truth proceedeth from the Sonne of God for as the Sonne is the Fathers essentiall truth so the holy Ghost is the Fathers and the Sonnes essentiall goodnesse And as the holy Ghost is the increate goodnesse of God in himself so love and charitie is the create goodnesse of the holy Ghost in man And untill this be wrought in us by the holy Spirit we may be men and true men but we cannot be good men nor for the kingdome of heaven Therefore S. Augustine saith Sola charitas dividit inter filios regni filios aeternae damnationis So excellent is charitie that God is called by it 1 John 4. 8. God is charitie And so good is it that Divines call it grace per Antonomasiam because it is the principall grace And S. Paul calleth it the greatest The greatest of these is charitie Yea so great is it that no good can be done without it because it is the cause impulsive of every good action You may beleeve without it but then your belief is not good because it wanteth his right end which must proceed from charities election and direction Therefore in this sense S. Paul gives faiths action to charitie It beleeveth all things it hopeth all things c. Why because it enliveneth faith and all other vertues by giving spirit unto them Faith is the candle to charitie and sheweth her light how to work according to Gods word but charitie being the impulse of the
56. 7. My house shall be called an house of prayer and our Lord in the Gospel confirmeth it Wherefore if God will heare the prayers of his people in all places then he will heare them sooner and with greater respect in his own house which is specially dedicated to prayer and his service Neither doth this any way derogate from his ubiquity but from his being ubique uniformiter for as his mercy although it is over all his works yet is it not equally in hell and in heaven or the measure of his justice equally poured forth upon saints and angels as upon the children of disobedience so likewise although this be Gods attribute to be every where yet he is not every where alike both in regard of the promise of his especiall presence made in Scripture in such houses consecrated to his name by which they become more especially holy as also because in this house God will heare for the presence of his Sonne For as S. Chrysostome saith Where Christ is in the Eucharist there is no want of angels where such a King is and such princes are there is a heavenly palace nay heaven it self It followeth now to shew what God is and that he is the great owner of this house Great is Gods house but greater is the owner because no house can hold him therefore my Text useth an exclamation which intimateth a great entity Holinesse becometh thy house O Lord God is far greater then his house for he not onely dwelleth in his house but in the hearts of men in the intelligences of angels and in all other creatures And because nothing can contain him he dwelleth in himself most perfectly Of all places the prophet David speaketh Whither shall I go from thy spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence If I ascend up to heaven thou art there if I make my bed in the grave thou art there also If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea even there shall thy hand leade me and thy right hand shall hold me And in Isa. 66. 1. God challengeth the whole world for his house Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool what house will you build for me saith the Lord hath not my hand made all these things Wherefore when we come to worship God in his house we must bring this thought with us to surrender up all our own thoughts of serving him and desire him to ayd us with his holy Spirit And when after this we have done our lowliest service and served him with our best devotions yet we must say Lord we can never serve thee enough because thou art infinite and we uncapable of thy greatnesse and worthinesse Thus farre have I spoken of God and his house but before we enter it it is fit to know our selves and how we are to be qualified for it From the highest to the lowest alas we are all poore creatures At the first originally we were born abroad in the fields our mothers name was the earth and our fathers name was nothing for from nothing God made all his creatures according to that in Heb. 11. 3. So that things which are seen were not made of things which appeare Seeing then we are so poorely descended what shall we do we must go to service we must seek some good house for our preferment The best house in the world is Gods house for he is owner of heaven and earth and able to advance all But what are the orders of this house what will here give content Holinesse becometh thy house O Lord. Would we know what this holinesse is It is no common but a superlative honour it is Gods honour which we call godlinesse and holinesse common honour belongs to all that have Gods image in them but holinesse reflecteth onely upon the high and mighty God For this cause our Saviour hath taught us to say Hallowed which is more then Honoured be thy name according to the Psalme Holy and reverend is his name And this holinesse respective to Gods house consisteth of certain holy offices The first is To adorn and beautifie it fit for his greatnesse as himself gave pattern in beautifying his tabernacle there was gold and silver precious stones silks with all precious colours the most choice woods and all things framed with the best cunning that God inspired Bezaleel and Aholiab and all the wise-hearted of that time Now to prosecute S. Pauls argument if that which was to be done away was glorious much more is that to be glorious which is to remain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Dei domus sort well together comelinesse and holinesse joyn hand with each other Thus saith my Text Holinesse becometh thy house O Lord. This office equity exacteth of us for seeing God hath made the worlds great ornament and our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our little world for our honour and use should not we proportion a due ornament for his house and service A mans house is his state and the greatest men are esteemed by it And according to this Ezra saith Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers which hath put into the kings heart to beautifie the house of our God that is in Jerusalem And the Psalmist saith Worship the Lord in the beauty of holinesse that is to say in the beautified sanctuary or as the Geneva translation expoundeth in the glorious Sanctuary But how are our Sanctuaries about us for the most part beautified If basenesse were not more then want of beauty I would hold my peace One beauty hath beat out another the beauty of preaching which is a beauty too hath preacht away the beauty of holinesse for if men may have a sermon prayer and church-service with the ornaments of Gods house may fit abroad in the cold Alas that the daughters should drive away the mothers Is it not a shame for us to see the houses of knights and gentlemen sweeter kept and better adorned then the houses of the King of heaven To the one one mans means is sufficient to the other the means of a whole town is liable and yet this latter nothing so beautified as the other is is not this a second shame Our Saviour telleth us that in his Fathers house there are many mansions Shall we look for glorious mansions in the kingdome of heaven and will we not prepare comely mansions in the kingdomes of the earth Doth not God challenge us where he challengeth his chosen people Is it time for you to dwell in your cieled houses and this house to lie waste Gods judgement follows Ye looked for much and lo it came to little and when ye brought it home I did blow upon it and why saith the Lord of hosts because of my house that is waste and ye come every man to his own house Therefore the heaven over you stayed it self from dew and the earth stayed
her fruit Then neighbours if you desire the cry of our poore to cease and the judgements of God to forbear us let us give God his due and respect his house There was a time when our holy fathers spared no cost nor labour to build Gods houses now let us take our time to adorn them as many of our devout brethren have begun So forward were good people in the old world to this service that Moses made proclamation to stay their devotions as we reade in Exod. 36. O that but half this willing heart were among us Christians to shew our love to God in this kinde The second office of holinesse is a holy preparation before we enter Gods house This is taught by Solomon Eccles. 5. 1. Take heed to thy foot when thou entrest into the house of God as if it had been said Thou canst not enter as thou oughtest without a preventing and preparing thought Why sayest thou not to thy self Whither goest thou what art thou about to do If thou sayest To serve God then consider what God is Is he not the maker of all things and the mover of all things made canst thou see any thing that is not his canst thou heare any thing which his hand hath not made canst thou wear any thing which his fingers have not spunne canst thou set thy foot on that which his power hath not founded All this week before thou hast sitten at his table and tasted of his cates and canst thou come at any time to his house to thank him for all this and not deeply consider what thou art to do The third office of holinesse is To reverence Gods Sanctuarie and as by other acts of reverence so by keeping off our hats while we stay in it whether there be Service or no Service and this reverence is commanded in generall Levit. 19. after such an emphaticall manner as if the breach of it were equall to the sinne of not keeping the fourth commandment for they are joyned together both in the same precept vers 30. Ye shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuarie I am the Lord. Where ye see why God commands his house to be reverenced because it is his house and the honour that is done in it and to it is done to himself I am the Lord. As the good usage which we give to the family of a nobleman reflecteth from the family to the nobleman so is it between God and his house When we go into our kings chamber where stands his chair of state though the king himself be not there yet we put off and are uncovered in remembrance of his majestie but our heavenly King as he is in all places because he is infinite so he is in this his palace by a more speciall resemblance of his holinesse but then chiefly when Gods people are met together there for Gods house is a little heaven on earth here dwels the Father Sonne and holy Ghost the Father in receiving our devotions the Sonne in directing them and the holy Ghost in sanctifying them Thus saith the Sonne of God Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them Thou wilt say I cannot see either Father Sonne or holy Ghost in this place I answer God is a Spirit therefore not to be seen with bodily eyes yet hath he given thee bodily eyes to inform thy spirituall eyes Seest thou not Gods Minister here speaking to God and bowing his knees to him when he speaks Seest thou not the Sonne of Gods seat here the holy Altar at the upper end of this house and seest thou not the holy Font at the nether end where the holy Ghost is alwaies ready to receive all into his kingdome If the Sonne and holy Ghosts seats be at both ends of this house must not the Father needs be all the house over because both Sonne and holy Ghost proceed from him and are but one Spirit and one God Moses saith The Lord our God is one Lord. He is in the light that shines in at the window he is in thy breath by which thou prayest and speakest Thou mayst say further I cannot see the holy angels here attending on him Wilt thou beleeve no more then thou canst see then art thou no better then S. Thomas in this case to whom our Lord preferreth all them that beleeve have not seen See with S. Pauls eies in the 1. Cor. 11. 10. where men are directed to be uncovered on their heads in Gods house women to be covered because of the angels that is to say lest the holy angels in the congregation should be offended at the womens irreverent carriage with bare heads and long hair and at the mens hats on their heads Wherefore good fellow-brethren if you respect God and his holy place have a speciall care to maintain good orders and manners in it lest God and his holy angels be offended at us To conclude as all the holy saints in heaven behold Gods face there so all the saints of the earth are here in this lower heaven beholding the beauty of his holinesse Now if God be here his seat here his angels here his saints here his word and worship here then what reverence and holinesse becometh this house above all places in the world Wert thou in the kings chamber the king there speaking to thee and thou to the king how wouldest thou tremble what passions wouldest thou have within thee what thoughts of humilitie what cares of oversights But because thou canst see none but thy neighbours here here thou art bold and servest God with lesse fear then men serve the work of his fingers Si quis regem hominem saith Erasmus alloquuturus circumstante procerum coronâ nec caput aperiat nec genu flectat non jam pro rustico sed pro insano ab omnibus haberetur Quale est ergò illîc opertum habere caput erecta genua ubi Rex adest ille regū immortalis immortalitatis largitor ubi vener abundi circumstant aetherei spiritus nec refert si eos non vides vident illi te nec minùs certum est illos adesse quà m si videres illos oculis corporeis It skilleth not whether thou seest them when as they see thee for it is as certain that angels are present in Gods house at such times as if thou sawest them with thy bodily eyes Open therefore all thy eyes the eyes of thy minde and the eyes of thy body the eyes of thy body to behold the outward beauty of this house in divine service and the eyes of thy soul to behold the inward beauty of Gods holinesse majesty and greatnesse and thou canst not choose but be reverent more then our usuall manner is The 4 sort of reverence and office of this holinesse beseeming Gods house is at the entring in before we take our seats to bend the knee and to bowe our body to him
because our eyes are more conversant in beholding inferiour and nearest causes therefore the Apostle directeth us to this here and thus onely the Romane empire was the letting cause One tyrant will not suffer another tyrant to rise because he would be tyrant still But one must not alwayes continue the worlds race requireth this One generation passeth and another cometh When one Comedian hath acted his part he goes off the stage and another cometh on Let Christs little flock therefore be of good comfort for when the whole generation of Antichrist have played their parts they shall all be taken away in the end As Moses said to the children of Israel Exod. 14. 13. The Egyptians whom ye have seen this day ye shall never see them again And this demonstration is confirmed by S. Chrysostome upon this chapter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As those kingdomes were destroyed which were before the Romane Empire as the kingdome of the Medes by the Babylonians the Babylonians by the Persians and the Persians by the Macedonians and the Macedonians by the Romanes so the kingdome of the Romanes shall be destroyed of Antichrist and he again of Christ and after that he shall obtain no more The discoverie of Antichrist Vers. 8. And then shall that wicked be revealed That wicked in the Greek text is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est exlex that outlaw for he shall live without law And herein is verified the prophesie of him in his type Antiochus Dan. 11. 36. And the king shall do what him lust His will shall be his law as if he were a God Here is the patience of the saints for what he will they must undergo Then shall that wicked be revealed that is to say disclosed Before this time Antichrist was in his egge as you may see in the seventh verse he was closed in a mysterie the dragon then sat upon it now here he breaks forth But here we must observe that which Anselm and Carthusianus do upon this place that the Apostle doth not define the time of Antichrists uncovering but leaves it at large saying That he may be revealed in his time setting down no speciall time again in saying For the mysterie of iniquitie doth alreadie work but he doth not expresse how long it shall work Yet certain it is that after the falling away Antichrist shall come though it be not known how soon or how long after And as Carthusianus saith Verisimile est quòd post discessionem statim veniet Antichristus vel nascendo vel publicè praedicando It is likely saith he that after the falling away Antichrist straightway shall come either in springing up or in publick preaching And upon this he saith further Ideo de adventu Antichristi qui est secundum quod praecedet diem judicii subditur ET REVELATUS FUERIT id est manifestatus mundo Therefore saith he of the coming of Antichrist according to that he is to precede the day of judgement it is added AND THAT HE SHOULD BE REVEALED that is to say manifested unto the world Thus that judicious writer maketh a double coming of Antichrist one in his preparation and another in his corporall presence the one immediately after the defection and the other immediately before the worlds end The first that is of his preparation I cannot better apply then to the preaching of the Alcoran in the Turks empire First because as I have alreadie shewed there is the absolute apostasie And next by comparing Mahumetisme with Papisme For in the Papacie there as Calvin saith Ecclesiae fundamenta manent the foundations of the Church remain but in Mahumetisme there is all rent up and overturned in the Papacie he saith there Christ is semisepultus that is but half buried but in Mahumetisme he is whole buried in the Papacie he saith there is semirutum aedificium the house of God half ruinate but in Mahumetisme there is not so much as a groundsell or a raft to be seen neither stick nor stone Moreover because in the Alcoran there Mahomet Antichrists immediate forerunner is preached and expected And lastly because Antichrist is called of the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the man without law and the Turk hath no other law to rule his people by but his own will Wherefore from his kingdome we are to expect the great Antichrist And with this agreeth S. Pauls sequel which is That the man of sinne could not appeare till the Romane Empire were removed And it is known that the Turkish kingdome grew upon the ruine of the Romish in Heraclius time The two Beasts These two kingdomes the Romish and Turkish are the two beasts that S. John writeth of Revel 13. and are to precede the Antichrists coming The first beast is the Romane Empire which rose out of the sea that is to say from the citie of Rome because that famous arm of the sea Tybur flows through it And this beast is described in this monstrous shape in the form of his bodie to be like a leopard for his various government by Kings Consuls Decemvirats Dictatours Cesars c. in his feet to be like a bear to lay hold and in his mouth like to a lion to devoure and tear And by this beast was the Church most lamentably rent and torn during the time of the ten persecutions as we reade in Ecclesiastical histories The second beast is the Turkish Empire which is there said to rise out of the earth that is out of the drie rockie and desert land of Arabia Regio aquarum inops inculta as Sturmius saith Out of this countrey as historie affordeth Mahomet sprung up And this beast by his original in Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est terrae filius the sonne of the earth in regard of his base birth which fitteth well with Mahomet that scum of the earth Again he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say a giant in regard of his monstrous and huge dominion spread so farre over the earth And this beast is compared to a lambe in the frame of the Alcoran which praiseth religion and offers content to every sect as being patched up of all the pleasures of hereticks in assoiling the nations that dwelt nigh him as Ranulphus testifieth and in doing by craft and guile what he might not do by deeds of arms But after he had raised his kingdome by flatteries as Antiochus did his then he spake like a dragon saying that he was sent of God to compell men to his religion by the sword and that they which will not obey his law must pay tribute or be put to death for so be the words of the Alcoran And this beast exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him that is in speaking great things and blasphemies in making warre with the saints and overcoming them and in having power over all kindreds tongues and nations as