meanes and degrees by which shee came at length to fall into that vast and drie wildernesse of Idolatrie a right shadow of Death and so grosse that all the former Pagans could not parallel it Then secondly how long shee hath continued under that blacknesse of darkenesse and ignorance thicker and obscurer then that of Egypt And lastly the very time when God in his mercy began to bring and leade her out of the same taking vengeance by degrees of all her persecutors The said Treatise indeede at its first flight did but intend your particular comfort and encouragement in your most undanted faith Jonas-like during your said death Whereof when you were risen and ascended up in a cloud to the heavenly Armagedon or Parliament calling you it would needes take it selfe to its wings being somewhat better feathered then at first and follow you over-sea there to observe more of its contents Trusting by the former true events to see a further accomplishment of many more wherein it hath in nothing hitherto been deceived having observed among many other wonderfull mercies of God first the second tribe of the Christian Israel passing over treading under foot that proudly overflowed Euphraticall Jordan Secondly the Covenant of Circumcifi ōrenewed in Gilgal where I am sure that the twelve stones are set up for a monument to posterity of the drying up of the said Jordan about the revolution of the 1641 yeare being the first of the last tenth of the last Moneth of the long tribulation and the first also of the raising of the Church agreeing with the particular time of your forementioned raising which was as is noted in the treatise the first day of the last moneth of your death And the beginning of the conquest of the premices of the ten Kingdomes of the great Citie or tenth part of them which was to be the first consecrated to God to be brought under the yoke of the Lamb Iesus Christ It observed immediatly after this the celebrating of the Christian Passeover the next Sabbath day following Thirdly the compassing about of the Citie Jericho by the three severall shouting Companies having with them the Arke of the Lord with the downefall of her walls and the sacking therof It admired especially observing that by the command of Joshua Rahab the Harlot was to be put out of the campe there to be by the speciall charge thereof committed to you prepared according to the law and thereby fitted for to be shortly married to the Lambe her promised husband as soone as shee should be stript of her whorish Babylonish garment as soone as the nailes of the Courts of her scratching persecution should be cut off and finally as soone as all the Ceremonies borrowed haires of her alluring and enticing whoredomes should bee shaved off The most part of which perceiving to be now effected it could be contained no longer but would needes scape out of my hands to fly abroad God grant it a favourable entertainement that it may returne againe with a safe conduct to its owner to carry the good tidings of Reformation most necessarie and wanting in the state both Civill and Ecclesiasticall of the Countrie of his aboade The prosecuting and obtaining whereof I desire that it may be by you to your powered further whereby you shall oblige mee to continue for ever Yours in the Lord I. D. L. M. TO THE REAER CHristian Reader little did I dreame that these private meditations intended onely for a particular Congregation should bee made thus publike to the view of the world Sed homo proponit Deus disponit man purposeth but God disposeth Importunity wrung them from me and present opportunity caused mee to yeeld thereunto And the rather because I saw now in good part effected and very much advanced by the wonderfull mercy of Almightie God that concerning the fall of the English Euphraticall Iordan or Nationall Hierarchy of Prelates which I did conceive then to be very neare approaching Being induced thereunto by the observation of the time appointed and by God limited for the Christian Churches pilgrimage through her most vast wildernesse following her all along it as it were step by step from one moneth to another with the helpe and light of that true Type and right guide the old Church of Israel having the Lord going before them by day in the pillar of a cloud to leade them the way and by night in the pillar of fire to give them light that they might goe both by day and by night under the conduct of Moses and Aaron The want of which Typicall guide hath beene the cause in my opinion that many though very worthy men and well deserving of the Church of God for their excellent labours in the exposition of the booke of the Revelation have many times wandered along the said Desart in seeking the footsteps of the said Christian Church which they have often missed It being indeede as difficult to be found without the helpe of the foresaid Typicall guide as I suppose as any of those waies mentioned by Solomon Prov. 30. 18. 19. but very easie having the said light going before Therefore have I already laboured for a good while and doe purpose to continue still if I bee not prevented by God or by the labour of some other in that kinde to parallel the travell of both the foresaid Churches their most notable accidents to send it abroad A tast whereof I profer unto thee in the meane while the which if being relished by thee it findes any good entertainement at thy hands though it be presented unto thee in a very ill polished because borrowed language it will the more encourage me to goe on with chearefulnesse and alacritie in my intended purpose by the assistance of the All sufficient God and thy Christian prayers in my behalfe to him who is no respector of persons and who doth reveale his secrets to all them that feare him Amen Thine in the Lord Jesus I. D. L. M. A COMPLAINT OF THE FALSE PROPHETS MARINERS upon the drying up of their Hierarchicall Euphrates As it was Preached in publik in the Moneth of February 1639 upon these words of the Revelat. 18. 17. And every Shipmaster and all the Company in Shippes and Saylers and as many as trade by Sea stood a farre off THE rod of wickednesse shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous least the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquitie saith the Lord Psalme 125. 3. That of the Roman beast hath for a very long while afflicted the Christian Church yet her lasting hath beene restrained to two and forty Moneths of yeares as it is said by the Angell to John when he forbad him to mete the Court which was without the Temple because saith he It was given unto the Gentiles who should treade the holy Citie under foot two and forty monethes So likewise in the 13. of the Revel. v. 5. where it is said that power was
mighty and great meaning indeed the King of Ashur as it is expounded in the very next words but alluding to the said Euphrates which did water the land of Assyria so hath this mysticall done to which also the same Spirit of God alludeth speaking of it in this book of the Rev. as it was shewed before so that that which the Lord said then to the said people of Judah may very fitly be applyed to the people of this land That because they had refused both in the time of King Edward the sixt and also of Queene Elizabeth * that pure river of water of life cleare as Chrystall proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lambe I meane the the true Liturgie or worship of God together with the true discipline of Christ or Church government both profered unto them then both by Martin Bucer and Peter Martyr grounded and drawn out of the doctrine of Christ of his holy Apostles as we find it expressely instituted by him saying first concerning the said Liturgie * that it is in vaine to worship him teaching for doctrine mens precepts And that all such doe onely draw neare unto him with their mouth and honour him with their lips but their heart is farre off from him Yea in so doing they do but worship that which they doe not know as he said to the woman of Samaria John 4. 22 23 24. for then was that time come of which he speaketh there when the true worshippers were to worship the father in spirit and truth for then the father did require such to worship him For God being a Spirit they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth And concerning the said Discipline observe onely these few places viz. Mat. 5. 22. and 18. verse 15 16 17 18. and chap. 20. verse 25 26 27 and 28. where is set downe the true patterne thereof I doe but name them because I intend not to speake of this now renewed as it were by him after his Resurrection as S. Luke tells us Acts 1. 3. where he shewes that Christ was seene of his Disciples and heard too as saith Saint John in his first Epistle chap. 1. verse 1. speaking of those things which did concerne the true Government of his Kingdome of Grace and that by the space of fortie dayes as he had beene with * Moses in the mountaine under the Law when he gave him the patterne of the Tabernacle of all the instruments thereof which were then to bee imployed in his holy worship then instituted by him wherin as Moses shewed himselfe very faithfull in all the house of God as the Apostle doth testifie Heb. 3. 5. the same may we say of the Apostles concerning the Govenment of this house of Christ But as the said Iewes I say did then refuse such waters so the said people refusing both the said pure and simple worship of God and true Church Discipline and preferring to it that vaine frothie pompous-humane-will worship or Liturgie of Rome some what refined I confesse but yet the very same in substance therefore did the Lord bring upon them that proud Prelaticall Hierarchicall Church governement by the meanes of it The which hath at length * broken into England especially and hath so overflowed and passed through it that it is come not only to the neck but even to the very top of the cheekes and k eares of some of the best servants of God some of them having had their eares cut with the Knife made as it were of the glasse of that * glassie sea and burnt with the fire thereof yea it had so spread out its wings that it had covered the breadth of the land becomming thereby impassable and like the raging sea that cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and dirt as saith the Prophet Isa. 57. 20. as it proved especially when the said Christian Israel of God was ready to passe over it As the waters of the forementioned Jordan did then overflow and fill all his bankes as soone as the feet of the Priests that bare the Arke were dipped in the brinke of the waters thereof thereby to prepare the may for the said children of Israel to passe over it after the drying thereof even so did then especially that Hierarchicall powerfull tyrannicall sea flowing from that forementioned l head thereof raise to such a height of pride and inhumane cruelty that it did overflow and runne over all power and authority both divine and Humane and became thereby so intollerable that no humane creature was able to withstand restraine or resist it So that in a short time it had easily as another deluge overflowed and destroyed the whole land and by its most deadly waters of Popish and Arminians false doctrines and superstitious ceremonies killed every soule living yet in that tyrannical scalding sea according to the prophesie of Christ therein truely accomplished recited Mat. 24. 22. saying that except those dayes meaning the dayes of the great tribulatioÌ„ mentioned described by him in the next preceding words which can bee no other then the thousand two thundred and sixty dayes of this christian Churches pilgrimage through her said deseart so called Revel. 7. 17. except saith he they should be shortned there shall no flesh be saved but for the elects sake those dayes shall bee shortned As it is now manifestly come to passe by the wonderfull mercy of God who being a God * that heareth prayers as the Prophet saith hath at last * looked downe from the highest of his sanctâ—any and hath from Heaven beheld the earth to heare the groanings of the prisoners and to loose those that were appointed to death and hath regarded the prayer of the destitute not despised their request as it is said in that Propheticall Psalme that was then written for the generation to come and for the people which was to be created a new For he is no idle spectator of the wrongs done unjustly to his servants but rather such a one as doth usually * resist the proud Hamans of the world scattering them in the imagination of their hearts and putting downe the mighty from their seates As the most blessed Virgin Mary doth fing Luke 1. 52. 53. and as we see it already begun by the almighty power of God who hath taken in hand that proud Hierarchicall whore even in the very time when in her over-swelling pride * shee most glorified her selfe saying in her heart I sit a Queene and am no widdow and shall see no sorrow as she is brought boasting of her selfe Revel. 18. 7. 8. Whereupon the Angel denouncing her last sentence of condemnation saith of her in the next words Therefore must her plagues come in one day death and mourning and famine and shee shall be utterly burnt with the fire of Excommunication for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her Who therefore doth now stirre up those that
and favour of that Almighty God who hath hitherto so wonderfully continued and countenanced you in all these so weighty affaires already by you performed to the joy of all true English hearts and terror of all our Enemies both at home and abroad As you may very manifestly perceive it already by the said behaviour of all these Euphratian frogges and shall more and more a mesure que leur dit Euphrates sassechera This being the sence of these words as we take it and judge by the premisses that it cannot bee taken otherwise it may yeld this point of Doctrine unto us viz. that The vindicating Iudgement of God doth most often terrifie his most fierce and haughty enemies overtaking them most commonly at unawares and when they thinke themselves to bee cock sure and very farre from it as Saint Paul doth testifie saying of such that * When they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction commeth upon them as travaile upon a woman with child and they shall not escape This may be proved by many examples both in the Old and New Testament as of Pharaoh when hee was drowned with his armie in the read sea for when God * tooke off their chariot wheeles they were so astonished thereat that they said let us flee from the face of Israel for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians Thus was Nebuchadnezzar surprised for * as he was walking in the palace of the Kingdome of Babylon saying is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the Kingdome c. While the word was in his mouth there fell a voyce from heaven at the which no doubt hee was no lesse amazed then was afterwards Belshazzar his sonne at the hand writing forementioned saying O King Nebuchad-nezzar to thee it is spoken the Kingdome is departed from thee Thus it fell out also to proud Haman who as soone as he heard the Queene Ester accusing him to bee * the great adversarie and wicked enemie who had sold her and her people the Israel of God being then in captivity as these had done likewise the true Christian Israel of the three Kingdomes then in captivity distresse also not only to be held for bondmen bondwomen but to be destroyed to be slaine to perish as woefull experience had too soone proved it for us if God had not in his but too little considered wonderfull mercy towards this land prevented it in his good time by the meanes of the forementioned Hollanders Then I say at such a relation was the said Haman sore afraid seeing in the Kings face that there was evill determined against him by the King We reade also in this booke of the Revâ—lation that when Christ the Lambe came to take vengeance of the persecuting Pagan Emperors that then The Kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chiefe captaines and the mighty men and every bondman and every free man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountaines and said to the mountaines and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the wrath of the Lambe for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand And the like must of necessity falâ— out to this whore her Merchants and Marriners whose Euphraticall Iordan shall then bee dryed up when she should say in her heart sit a Queene and am no widdow and shall see no sorrow for therefore saith the Angel shall her plagues come in one day for her greater terror and astonishment death and mourning and famine and shee shall be utterly burnt with the fire of excommunication for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her The reason whereof may bee first because they applaud flatter and blesse themselves in their hearts saying * that they shall have alwayes peace though they walke in the stubbornesse of their hearts to adde drunkennesse to thirst as it is said Deut. 29. 19. and therefore as it is further added in the said place The Lord will not spare them but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoake against them and all the curses that are written in this booke shall lie upon them c. Secondly because the Lord takes them usually when they are soothing themselves in their naughtinesse and saying in their hâ—arâ—s as those prophane ones in Zephan that the Lord would doe them neither good nor evill whom the Lord threatens there saying that * it shall come to passe at that time that I will search saith he Ierusalem with candles and punish the men that are thus setled on their lees and therefore their goods shall become a bootie and their houses a desolation then he addeth in the next verse that the great day of the Lord was neere it is neere saith he and hasteth greatly which is a day of wrath a day of trouble and distresse a day of wastnesse and desolation c. Thirdly because most commonly the Judgements that God layeth upon them are very grievous and terrible and then * the Lord gives them trembling hearts and failing of eyes and sorrow of minde so that their lives hang in doubt before them and they are in feare day and night having no assurance of their life according to that threatning mentioned in the Law And our Saviour testifies the same speaking of the great judgements that should fall upon the world of the wicked in these latter times saying that * then there should be signes in the Sunne and in the Moone and in the stars and upon the earth distresse of nations with perplexitie the sea and the waves roareing yea saying that mens hearts should faile them for feare looking after those things which are comming on the earth Fourthly God retaliates unto them paying them in their owne coyne as they have pressed downe and thereby endeavored to terrifie most of the best servants and children of God with their most heavie and tyrannicall burdens so doth the Lord pursue them with heavie and terrifying plagues for it is a righteous things with God saith he Apostle to * recompence tribulation to them that trouble you Fiftly God in his justice will have his hand to be seene against those that make warre against him and against his people he will appeare in his anger against such and that must needes be terrible unto them for thus saith the Lord himselfe by his Prophet * Now will I rise sâ—â—th he now will I be exalted now will I lift up my selfe ye shall conceive chaffe ye shall bring forth stâ—ble c. Therefore saith hee afterwards The sinners in Zion are afraid fearefulnesse hath surprised the hypocrites who therefore among us shall dwell with the devouring fire who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings Finally another cause of their terrour is the guiltinesse