reade or heare the words of this prophecie and in the end of it a speciall command is giuen to S. Iohn Seale not the words of the Prophecie of this booke for the time is at hand wherein the Lord euidently declares that hee will not haue this booke conceiled and hid but handled and reueiled This is sufficient to stop the mouthes of all them who vnder whatsoeuer pretence giue out that this booke should not be meddled with at all What else is this but to close that which Christ hath opened to conceale that which God hath reuealed and in a word to seale vp the Prophecie which the Lord expresly hath commanded not to be sealed Yet is it to be obserued that many both of the ancient and moderne Writers expounding this booke do rather obscure it then open it forcing it violently to follow their conceits not submitting themselues humbly to follow it The Iesuites of Rhemes haue commented vpon it In like manner the Iesuites Franciscus Ribera and Blasius Viega but as none of them agree one with another so all of them are strangers from the right sense of this Prophecie Neither is it possible that such as are possessed with the spirit of Antichrist can see the true meaning of this Reuelation for our Lord sends it to bee reuealed to his seruants As the Iewes loued the name of Christ but hated himselfe not knowing him when he was among them For if they had knowne him they would not haue crucified the God of glory And euen vnto this day in reading Moses and the Prophets who beare witnes of Christ their most learned Rabbines cannot see Christ For as saith the Apostle their mindes are couered with a vaile So the Papists notwithstanding they hate the very name of Antichrist yet do they honour himselfe they reade and interprete this prophecie which pointeth out Antichrist plainely in all his markes and designeth his Chaire and Seate of Residence to bee Rome the Citie situate vpon seuen Hilles and ruler of the earth when S. Iohn wrote this Reuelation yet do not the most learned among them rightly conceiue it but labour all they can to couer and obscure it Yea by the same arguments Popish Doctors defend their Antichrist by which Rabbins or Iewish Doctors impugned Christ for was not this their great reason which they vsed against our Lord Do any of the Rulers or Pharises beleeue in him But this people who know not the Law are cursed And truely strange it is among all the Noble-men of the Iewes wee reade of none who did beleeue in him but Ioseph of Arimathea and of all their learned Pharises we reade of none who beleeued in him but Nicodemus Was this a good argument then that Christ could not be the Christ because Rulers and Pharises beleeued not in him What better I pray you is the argument of Papists now The Pope cannot be Antichrist Why Do Kings or great men do Doctors or learned men of their Church beleeue so But let not vs be deceiued with such shadowes Shall wee haue the faith of Christ in respect of persons Shall we iudge of truth and vntruth by the multitude greatnesse and learning of them who are with it or against it Or shall the naked name and vsurped title of a Church be sufficient to impugne the Church There are many great in the world of small account with the Lord there are many learned in Humanity meere ignorants in Diuinity The doctrine of Christ is called A mysterie of godlinesse the doctrine of Antichrist is also called A mysterie of iniquity Both are mysteries and great Doctors in respect of humane literature and reputation may be ignorant of both I thanke thee O Father that hast hid these things from wise men and hast reuealed them to babes and sucklings But to returne where these Romish Doctors in exposition of this booke fall vpon any point of truth we shall do with them as Primasius professeth he had done with Ticonius the Donatist who wrote vpon this booke of the Reuelation before him hee made choice of the good and reiected the euill for these are his words Sicut enim pretiosa in stercore gemma à prudente debet colligi curari dignitati ingenuae restitui ita vndecunque veritas clareat catholicae deferenda est vnitati huic enim soli competit quicquid veritas etiam foris personârit iustè namque fides à perfidis colligit quod sui iuris esse cognouerit For as a precious pearle in a dunghill if a wise man see it hee will take it vp purge it and restore it to the former beauty so verity wheresoeuer is to bee referred vnto catholike vnity for to the Church onely belongeth all that which truth hath sounded euen by these who are without and iustly may faith gather from Infidels any thing which shee knoweth to be her owne And this for Hereticall Writers vpon this booke As for other orthodoxe Writers concerning the faith I acknowledge that the Church hath beene greatly benefited by their godly labours Euery one of them brings by course some measure of light to cleare this Prophecie where they are miscarried it is for not perceiuing the method and order which the Spirit of God vseth in it but inforcing vpon it a method of their owne haue in many things rather expressed their owne minde then opened the meaning of this Prophecie as shall God willing be declared hereafter To whom lest I do any wrong I will in one view present to the Reader a short abridgement of euery one of their workes that haue come in mine hands and thereafter set downe that which it hath pleased God to communicate vnto me and in all humility will submit it to the iudgement and correction of the Church The greatest difference will bee about the method which as it seemes to me the very naturall course of the Prophecie and threed of the Text it selfe proposeth vnto vs. As for the matter it selfe and substance of the Prophecie all the Doctors of the Churches reformed agree in one sweet harmony All their pennes are like the Pitchers of Gâ—…deon his three hundred souldiers ratling sounding yea importing present terrour and destruction to their enemies the Midianites and Amalâ—…kites who were without number All their tongues are like the Trumpets of Rammes Hornes blowing with one consent the downefall of the walles of Iericho contemptible meanes in the eyes of their enemies yet the power of God was with them Some of their Trumpets are shriller and some of them softer but all sound out one thing The Pope is Antichrist Rome is Babel the Popish Church is the Whore of Babel whom the Lord shall make desolate euen by temporal iudgements here vpon earth The Writers vpon this Prophecie which I I haue seene are these THe eldest is Victorinus Episcopus Pictaniensis Bishop of Poytiers He liued after our
praise the Lord beginning that vpon earth which shall be our continuall exercise in the heauen The tenor of their song followes wherein three things are attributed to God 1. Holines 2. Omnipotencie 3. Eternitie The first of these hath one word thrise repeated and that as Esay saith with an Antiphonie or answering of one Angel to another Vnum Iehouam celebrant repetendo vnum idem Sanctus Trinum agnoscâ—…nt ter repetendo quod vni tribuerunt they acknowledge one GOD whom they esteem onely holy and repeating one thing thrice a Trinitie they acknowledge in that blessed Vnitie of the Godhead but this mysterie is better warranted by other and more plaâ—…e testimonies of holy Scripture But to returne the Lord is so holy that he is holinesse it selfe As the Sunne is among the lights of the firmament so is the holy Lord among his Saints or holy ones what light they haue is no light if it be compared with the Sunne they hide themselues when the Sunne shineth and all the holinesse of most holie creatures is nothing in comparison of the thrice holy Lord. At his brightnesse Angels couer their faces they are holy by creation redeemed ones are holy by communication other things are also holy by separation as was Ierusalems Temple of old and now are the elements in both the Sacraments holy but none neither Angel man nor any other creature holy like the Lord. The next thing they ascribe vnto him is Omnipotencie which consists in these two First that he can doe whatsoeuer he will Next that against his owne nature and truth he cannot do for that were impotencie and not omnipotencie He can not lie nor deny himselfe nor come against his owne Word The first of these renders instruction for Atheists the other for Papists It is a common question of profane men whereby they impugne the truth of Gods promises How can this be The Samaritan Prince when he heard Elizeus prophecie of plentie of victuall that should be in Samaria on the morrow though the day before it was sore pinched with Famine most disdainefully answered him Though the Lord would make windowes in heauen can this thing come to passe There the Lord sayes This I will doe and man by the contrary This the Lord cannot doe but the Lord was and will be found true and euery man a lyer Yea the very deare children of God out of the remanents of their infidelitie oftentimes fall into the like transgression When the Angel promised Sara a child she receiued it with the like answer How can this be sith I am waxed old Yea when the Lord promised to giue Israel flesh enough for a moneth Moses distrusted it Shall all the Sheepe and Beeues be slaine for them to find them or shall all the fish of the Sea be gathered to suffice them But they in effect receiued one answere Is the hand of the Lord shortned or is there any thing impossible to the Lord Consider who he is that saith hee will doe and all such doubts shal cease which makes men enquire How can this be done The other renders instruction for Papists they vrge Gods omnipotencie to prooue their new-found and fond transubstantiation but to no purpose for in this they make his power to fight against his will and to reuerse his owne Word the plaine Articles of our faith They inforce vpon vs that we deny Gods omnipotencie but without cause this fault is their owne and not ours They limit the Holy One of Israel and indeed deny his power when they say He cannot giue vs the body of Christ except he create it of bread We verily belieue that in the holy Sacrament there is a real donation made of Iesus Christ to all reuerent and right Receiuers that bread is the body of Christ that wine is the blood of Christ. God is alwaies as good as his Word and giues vs no lesse then he saith he giues vs. But for all this there is no reason why we should bind the Lord to transubstantiate the Bread as if without transubstantiation of the bread hee were not able to giue vnto vs the body of Iesus Now the third and last thing for which they praise the Lord is his Eternitie and euerlasting Beeing Who was and who is and who is to come This is a circumlocution of his Name I am expounded more plainly in the next words Hee liueth for euermore Solus verè est qui nec à fuit praeciditur nec ab crit expungitur crit non tollit illi esse ab aeterno nec fuit tollit illi esse in aeternum Beeing is so proper vnto God that when I say He was it takes not away that hee is will be and when I say that He will be it takes not away that he was and is And this serues greatly for the comfort of the Church of God One generation passeth and another commeth said Salomon The Heauens shall perish but the Lord doth remaine He that was with Noah in the Arke vvith Israel in the Red-sea with Daniel in the den with the children in the fire with Ioseph in the prison with Elisha in Dothan enclosed by Aramites with Ezechia in Ierusalem besieged by Chaldees he is still in his Church this day and will be for euer VERSE 9. And vvhen these liuing creatures gaue glory and honour and thanks to him that sate on the Thronâ—… which liueth for euer-more THe song of Angels is seconded by the song of redeemed Saints one of them prouokes another to praise GOD. It should be with vs on earth as it is with them in heauen euery Christian should prouoke another to pietie so Saint Paul praises the Corinthians that their zeale had prouoked many But now most part of men liue as if they were set in the world to bee censurers of all men examples to none they will neither prouoke others to good nor be prouoked by them yea euen in the holy assemblies there they are silent if not worse exercised when others beside them are praysing the Lord. Three things these liuing creatures are said to giue vnto the Lord Glory honour thanks Where first it comes to be considered how is it that any creature either Angel or man can giue vnto the Lord Who hath giuen to him first and it shall be recompenced But there is a great difference between these two God giuing to the creature and the creature giuing to God When God giueth hee giueth to the creature that which it had not Angels men and all creatures haue their beeing of him but the creatures giuing to God is an acknowledging of that in Him which Hee hath already and this is the sacrifice of praise or then if it be a sacrifice of distribution either to the poore or any good worke wherein the Lord may haue glory as we are commaunded To doe good and to distribute forget not for
with such sacrifices God is pleased This is also a giuing vnto God but as Dauid calls it is a giuing to God of that vvhich God his owne hand hath giuen to thee for what hast thou that thou hast not receiued The first of these sacrifices men of this age can willingly giue to the Lord that is the praise of all the goods they haue but in the second they are more sparing They will not giue backe to the Lord the vse of that which his hand hath giuen them faire profession like the shew that Fig-tree made a farre off but no fruite whereof it comes to passe that the glorious Gospell of Christ is euill spoken of by our enemies because we doe not adorne it with our good works Now concerning the difference between glorie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 honor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and thanks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is plainely shewed by Musculus and others I insist not in it VERSE 10. The foure and twenty Elders fell downe before him that sate on the Throne and worshipped him who liueth for euermore and cast their Crownes before the Throne saying THeir behauiour in praysing God is noted to be three-fold first they fall downe and humble themselues before God teaching vs by their example to do the like It is no dishonour for the most honourable men of the world to kneele yea to prostrate themselues before the Lord. Come let vs worship and fall downe and kneele before the Lord our Maker Next they worship him that liueth for euermore the true Church worships no creature neither Angell nor man in themselues nor in their Image neither the worship of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sith the Galathians are conuinced by Saint Paul for giuing the worship of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to such as by nature are no Gods how can Papists bee excused Sith all their defence for the worship of creatures is this that they worship them not with the seruice of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which say they is due to God but onely of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which may bee giuen to creatures How weake a distinction this is appeares by that I haue said Papists affirme that they may doe lawfully that which Saint Paul rebuked as vnlawfull in the Galathians And last of all they are said to cast their Crownes before the Throne they empty themselues of all glory merite and worthinesse whatsoeuer that they may giue the praise thereof vnto the Lord. This is in effect the song of all Saints Not vnto vs O Lord not vnto vs but to thy Name be the praise VERSE 11. Saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receiue glory and honour for thou hast created all things and for thy wils sake they are and haue beene created AFter he hath spoken of their behauiour hee subioynes their Song wherein they acknowledge the Lord onely worthy to receiue glory and honour and power and that for two causes first for the benefite of creation by which all things were made next of prouident conseruation by which all things are still conserued for so are their words They are and they haue beene created Creation was a short Prouidence producing all things in their kinds Prouidence againe is a perpetuall Creation conseruing all things in their kindes as he gaue vnto all their first being so hee beareth vp all things by his mighty word Creation is a benefite common to all creatures but the comfort of it is not common for they who haue lost the dignity of their first estate shall wish one day that they had neuer beene created or that they could againe be turned into nothing But as here these Seniors praise him for their creation so in the next chapter they praise him for their Redemption And indeed they onely finde comfort in creation who with the benefite of creation haue also receiued the benefite of Redemption for then Creation is a step to Glorification and a meane of the execution of the decree of their Predestination to life for if first we had not beene created how should we haue beene redeemed and glorified Againe sith he is the Creator of all according to his owne will when we looke vnto beasts and other creatures inferiour to vs let vs praise him for that it was his will to make vs vnderstanding men And again whē we look to many men whose conuersation is beastly they being strangers from the life of God let vs much more praise him who hath made vs new men sith all is of his will what matter of vnspeakeable comfort haue we that hee hath made vs children of his good will that is to whom hee is well willed in Christ And because our weakenesse is great let this serue vs for a spur to sanctification sith the Lord hath made vs for his owne pleasure how loth should we be to displease him It is said of the Lord Let the Lord reioyce in all his workes so when hee looked to his workes he saw that they were all good but when he considered man It repents me said the Lord that I made man for hee is but flesh and the imaginations of his heart are onely euill continually Oh! how should this humble vs that where the Lord hath ioy in all the rest of his creatures hee is grieued at man by reason of his transgression and how loth should we be to displease the Lord our God who for his pleasure and good will hath made vs and out of his aboundant loue hath also redeemed vs CHAP. V. VERSE 1. And I saw in the right hand of him that sate vpon the Throne a Booke written within and on the backe-side sealed with seuen Seales THE first part of the Preparatorie Vision preceding the Prophecies which are to follow wee haue heard in the former chapter wherein S. Iohn sees the Maiestie of God the Creator sitting on his Throne ruling the world according to his holy will Nothing therein fals out by fortune or accident but all comes according to his Decree written and registred in his Booke Now followes the other part of the Preparatorie Vision wherein S. Iohn sees the Maiesty of God the Redeemer take the Booke out of the hand of him that sits on the Throne and open it that he might reueale to his Church her troubles and battels that were abiding her vnto the end of the world The Vision Preparatory is very proportionall to the Prophecie following As if the Lord this way did prepare his seruant I am to let thee see fearefull changes sore troubles by fraudulent and violent enemies that shall persecute my poore Church but warne thou them that they be not discouraged Thou seest who sits at the Rudder of the world and ruleth all the tumultuous waues of the glassie Sea therein Nothing fals out but according as I haue decreed and the euent of things shall bee according as my Sonne
and praise THe fourth circumstance in this second thanksgiuing made by Angels onely is the song it selfe wherein we haue to consider two things the matter and the manner For the manner of their singing it is said to be with a loud voice How voices are ascribed to them they being spirits we haue spoken before onely now the loud voyce noteth their intention readinesse and great feruencie in praising the Lord. The matter of their song is subioyned Worthy is the Lambe Where still it is to be remembred how both Angels and elect Men denude themselues of all worthinesse and ascribe it to the Lambe to the great shame of these wretched wormes vpon earth who dare vsurpe to themselues the praise of worthinesse and glory in the merite of their works These Angels differ in place and order from the first company but all agree in one song Worthy is the Lambe And againe that Angels worship the Lambe but refuse to be worshipped of men condemnes that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the blind Papists who will inforce a worship on Angels which they refuse and acknowledge onely to be due to the Lord. As before the Lambe appeared with seuen Eyes and seuen Hornes so now a seuen-fold praise doe Angels giue vnto him 1. Of power 2. Riches 3. Wisedome 4. Strength 5. Honour 6. Glory and praise They vnderstood the types which they saw they make their song respondent to his apparition In his Eyes they acknowledge his wisedom in his Hornes power and strength and riches and for these praise and honor and glory they giue vnto him Hee is a full and complete Sauiour woorthy of seuen-fold praise because of his seuen-fold that is his manifold yea his full and complete grace which superabounds in him and is powred forth abundantly vnto vs. He hath not loue but hee hath also power what craue we more but that he is most willing because of his loue He was killed for vs and most able because of his power to helpe vs in all our necessities Againe this redundant speech in praysing of God naming one thing many manner of waies is to teach vs how Saints inflamed with the loue of God cannot find words enow nor satifie themselues in praysing of God And this was shadowed before when it was said They sung with a loude voice for what is the loud voice of a spirit but â—…ruens desâ—…erium the feruent desire of it et tantò maioreÌ„ voceÌ„ in aureÌ„ incircumscripti spiritus exprimit quantò se in eius desiderium plenius â—…undit And here that one thing is named many manner of waies as power and strength praise honour and glory their like feruent desire in praysing God is declared And all this may most iustly rebuke our coldnesse in praysing God we discharge all that whole seruice many a time with one word which were yet tolerable if our affections were greater though our words are few but in these exercises how readily faint we we pray as if we desired not to preuaile and wee praise as if wee were not carefull whether the Lord heare or not and therefore wee send our thanksgiuing away but our feruent affection goes not with it such a prayer cannot pierce the cloudes farre lesse bring downe an answere Is there any thing thou shouldest thinke more vpon in prayer then that thou art speaking vvith God or is there any thing thou shouldest desire more then to finde thy selfe accepted of him Quomodo te à Deo audiri postulas cùm te ipse non audias How canst thou desire the Lord to hear thee in praying when thou hearest not thy selfe Vis Deum memorem esse tui cùm rogas cùm tuipse memor tui non sit wilt thou haue the Lord mindfull of thee when thou requestest him and thou in requesting him hast no mind of thy selfe This is a common sin of this age the Lord remoue it VERSE 13. And all the creatures which are in heauen and on the earth and vnder the earth and in the sea and all that are in them heard I say Praise honour and glory and power be to him that sits on the Throne and vnto the Lambe for euermore THe third part of the thanksgiuing is sung by creatures and that of all sorts and vvith one common consent for this distribution of the creatures in these which are in heauen in earth vnder the earth and in the sea is a propheticall amplification frequently vsed in Scripture to shew the coÌ„course of all creatures to praise God in their kind as ye may see Psalme 148. Now these creatures here are such as are without sense or reason to wit the Sunne the Moone the Fire the Aire the Water the Earth and all that in them is after their sort doe praise the Lord and they haue a voice of their owne which is well enough vnderstood by him that made them As they grone for the bondage vnder which our sin hath subdued them so long they to see the sonnes of God restored to their liberty for then shall they be restored also and for this benefit the creatures haue by our Redemption as they were cast into bondage by our transgression they haue their owne reioycing and praysing of God But for this we referre the willing Reader to that which we haue written on the eighth to the Romanes and now proceed to the conclusion of this Song VERSE 14. And the foure liuing creatures said Amen And the foure and twenty Elders fell downe and worshipped him that liueth for euermore NOw are wee come to the conclusion of the Song they who beganne it to wit Angels and redeemed Saints coniunctly doe also conclude it In all this heauenly action we still see that the example of one prouokes another to prayse God teaching vs our dutie not to be silent when others beside vs are praising the Lord. If we cannot with our mouthes at least let vs with our harts make melodie to the Lord and say Amen to the song of our brethren The Angels ratifie the praises giuen to God by saying Amen This particle is sometime a note of affirmation as when our Sauiour saies Amen Amen I say vnto you all these things shall come vpon this generation that is certainly and without doubt they shall come Sometime againe it is a note of confirmation or comprecation as when the Apostle reproues preaching or praying in an vnknown language he vseth this reason How shall hee that occupies the roome of the vnlearned say Amen at thy giuing of thanks seeing he knowes not what thou saist Of this it is cleare that in the Primitiue Church after preaching and prayer the custome of the people was to say Amen in token that not onely they consented but also wished from God the same good things which hee before had either mentioned in the Preaching or desired in the Prayer But this many of our
Song they are euerie one of them as I said by themselues beautifull and glorious but so much the more beautifull as they are many and diuers agreeing all in one vnitie As in a Musicall Instrument the sound is sweeter if the strings be many yet concordant Nam sâ—…nus sâ—…auissimus â—…it ex diuersis non aduersis sonis ita sancti habebunt tune differentias suas consonantes non dissonantes So is it with Saints howsoeuer different in regard of many sorts of people whereof they consist yet agree they all in one sweete consonance and harmonie among themselues Saluation In this one word of saluation they comprise the whole benefits of our Redemption the greatnesse of this saluation will best be knowne by looking to that three-fold condemnation from which God hath deliuered vs and whereof wee haue spoken Rom. 8. ver 1. All the glory of our saluation they ascribe to the Lord and to none other they look neither to Angell nor man but giue the glorie of saluation to the mercies of God and merites of the Lamb. The discordance of Popish Hymnes from this Song of Saints shewes them to be Antichristian for in all their songs prayers there soundeth an vncouth voice of the merits of men yea in their Masse-booke they are not ashamed to pray that they may come to heauen by another bloud then the bloud of the Lambe Their distinction of principally and secondarily will not free them of blasphemy Our saluation say they principally is from God and the Lambe but secondarily it must be helped by our owne merites and the merites of others No such word haue we in this heauenly Song If they would sing this Song with vs and say Amen to it as Angels do in the next verse Controuersies betweene Christian Catholiques and them that will be called Catholiques Romane were the more easily ended But heresies must be that such as are approued may be tryed VERSE 11. And all the Angels stood round about the Throne and about the Elders and the foure liuing creatures and they fell before the Throne on their faces and worshipped God THE former thankes-giuing of Saints is here seconded by Angels not onely saying Amen and so approuing that which redeemed Saints haue said before but also v. 12. subioyne to this same purpose a new Thankes-giuing of their own where first we haue to obserue the order of the heauenly Court first we haue the Throne vpon which sitteth the blessed Trinitie the Father the Sonne and the seuen-fold Spirit proceeding from both O what a coÌ„fort is it in the sight of Angels and Saints redeemed the Man Iesus Redeemer of Saints sitteth on the Throne with the Father next to the Throne are the soure liuing creatures representing the chiefe and principall order of Angels as we haue shewed chap. 4. Then about them stand the foure and twenty Elders representing the whole Church of Saints redeemed and then in a circle about them stands the whole companie of other Angels What great comfort wee haue of this hath beene declared in the 4. chapter Stood round about the Throne In the ninth verse it hath beene said that redeemed Saints stood before the Throne now Angels are also said to stand about the Throne They stand neuer fell grace preserued them wee fell and were in the transgression but grace raised vs vp againe and makes vs now to stand before the Throne O what a mercy hath the Lord shewed vpon vs If wee would know it let vs looke to the Reprobate Angels Of them so saith S. Iude The Angels who kept not their first estate but left their owne habitation hee hath reserued in euerlasting chaines vnder darkenesse vnto the iudgement of the great Day To this same purpose also saith Saint Peter God spared not the Angels that had sinned but cast them downe into hell and deliuered them into chaines of darkenesse to be keps vnto damnation yet man that sinned the Lord hath spared hee fell from his first estate as the Angels did yet did not the Lord cast him downe to hell nor deliuer him to Chaines of darkenesse as hee did them but mercifully hath raised him vp againe and made him to sit in the heauenly places in Christ Iesus And now hee stands before the Throne in the company of these blessed and elect Angels that stand and neuerfell Let vs meditate vpon this mercy which our narrow hearts can neuer sufficiently vnderstand Oh that we were as we should thankefull for it And they fell on their faces Before the Angels were said to couer their faces with wings now againe they fall on their faces noting no other thing then their humble reuerence in praysing God and recommending the reuerence of bodily humiliation to vs in the worshipping of God It is written of S. Iames the Apostle that his knees with frequent kneeling and his fore-head with often bowing it to the ground in the time of prayer obduruisse callo were become so hard vt nihil ferè à Cameli pedibus si duritiem spectes discreparent that they differed not in hardnesse from the knees or feete of a Camel But now men are become so delicate that they thinke it reuerence enough to discouer the head to fall on their face they will not yea scarse bow the knee to the ground to honour the Lord. Now when they fall on their face it is said They worshipped God In all this Court of heauen there is no worshipping of Angels Patriarches or Apostles all the sound of their voices is for to giue the Lord the glory of saluation and all the gesture they vse is to giue worship to the Lord onely and none other VERSE 12. Saying Amen Praise and glorie and wisedome and thankes and honour and power and might be to our God for euermore Amen THE former Song of Saints is now approued by Angels and they say Amen vnto it they will giue no part of the glorie of saluation to any man they will take none of it to themselues The consent of the Catholike Church consisting of Men and Angels we haue in the preceding confession Papists glory in their multitude and call this confession Hereticall which reserues the glory of saluation to God onely but there are more with vs then with them all the Angels of heauen say Amen vnto it Let vs keep the tenor of the heauenly Song choosing rather to be falsly named Heretiques with Saints and Angels then falsly named Catholiques with Papists who can neuer praise the Lord freely and fully but reserue a part of his glory to the creature Concerning the vse of the particle Amen we haue spoken before Praise and glory It contents them not by saying Amen to approue the Song of Saints but they will also praise God by theÌ„selues A warning to many of our cold Professors who will sit in the Church to heare God praised but not
PATHMOS OR A COMMENTARY ON THE REVELATION of Saint IOHN diuided into three seuerall Prophecies THE FIRST PROPHECIE contained in the fourth fift sixt and seuenth Chapters By Mr. WILLIAM COWPER Bishop of Galloway Abacuk 2. 3. The Vision is yet for an appointed time but at the last it shall speake and not lye though it tarry waite for it shall surely come and shall not stay LONDON Printed by George Purslow for Iohn Budge and are to be sold at the signe of the greene Dragon in Pauls Church-yard 1619. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE LORD my Lord of Binning President of the Colledge of IVSTICE Secretary to his Maiesty and one of his Highnesse most Honorable Priuy Councell in both the Kingdomes MY LORD THIS Prophesie was properly cōpared by Primasius to a precious Gemme or Orientall Pearle not found in the clifts of rockes or shels of fishes but sent from Heauen for a Present to the Church on Earth by Iesus the splendor of the glory of his Father and that bright Orient which hath visited vs from on high He giueth it in a Loue-token to his Church who for it gaue himselfe to the death Doubtlesse it must bee some great Present which is sent from so great a King by the hand of that Seruant whom he loued best in the world This Iewell hath come in the hands of many who being strangers not acquainted with Canaan from which it came haue out of wrong conception iudged it to bee adulterine But all the Lords Lapidaries who haue seene the precious stones wherwith the walls of Heauenly Ierusalem are garnished haue easily perceiued this to be from heauen also yea and among all the rest most admirable for it partakes with all these both in color and vertue and serueth Saints not for decoration onely but declaration also of many secrets which greatly concerne their state Of old Vrim and Thummim were placed by God in that Pectorall of the high Priest called by the Iewes Hosen by the Greekes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but what it was or how by it God gaue answere to his people Israel many Diuines in that point are diuinators speaking more out of coniecture then certaine knowledge Iosephus records that these stones by change of their colour gaue signification of things to fall out eyther aduerse or prosperous Sigonius in his Treatise of the Hebrewes Republick seemes to haue followed him The report that Suidas brings from an vncertaine Author is as vncertaine as the Author that if battell was imminent the stones turned red if death was foretold they turned black if no change of estate was to ensue then the stones changed not their colour at all One thing is sure God by them gaue answere to his seruants that sought him as may bee cleared by many places of Scripture But of this booke wee may boldly affirme that it is indeed a heauenly Oracle foretelling in types the truth of things as they were to fall out to the worlds end at the first it sheweth a white colour importing comfortable grace by the Gospell now and immortall glory hereafter Incontinent it turneth to a red colour foreshewing bloudy persecutions which Saints must suffer before they enioy the Crown Then againe it appeareth with a blacke colour to declare that blackenesse of wrath temporall and eternall which abideth the enemies of the Church In some parts it looketh darke in others cleare like the Christall yet through all more or lesse transparent and therewith variable with sundry sheddes among which most apparant are three seuerall rankes of Seuens stretching themselues in most comely order through this Iewell and wherein the Lord hath secretly inclosed treasures of manifold wisedome In the Seales vnsealed secrets are disclosed In the Trumpets battels are denounced In the Uials plagues are powred out The purpose in these three is not one yet by a comely proportion and correspondence doe they answere one to another Many haue handled this Iewell not to finde it by their labour that were impossible but to finde themselues by the valew of it For that cause among others I haue also looked vpon it truely for none other end but that I might learne from it and now what I haue seene I shew submitting my selfe to the Church for whose profit I haue taken these paines If the light of the booke hereby be any way encreased and comfort arise to the good Christian the praise is the Lords and vnder God thankes is due to your Lordship for by your louing counsell care I haue beene relieued of many intricate matters of Law and found the greater leysure and liberty both to attend my studies Thus hath your Lordship beene a Mecaenas to me indeed Good men oftentimes are forced to expresse great affections by small meanes and so now it fareth with me yet I trust your Lordship will esteeme of mee not as I am but as I desire to be on your behalfe But it is no reason I should requite deeds with words I know your Lordship doth neyther like them nor need them Where Vertue giueth out her beames euen her enemies are forced to acknowledge her glory yet thus much out of duty must I speake that by many Coards of loue hath your God bound you to be thankefull to him Vertue is weake without some aduersity neither can that felicity bee found on earth that communicates not with some crosse Some are raised to wealth but the lesse regarded by reason of their base Linage Some Noble by parentage but depressed with pouerty many beautified both with Nobility and riches who want the delight of children others haue the comfort of children but with the turning of a few yeares they turne crosses vnto them there is no estate so prosperous against which there is not iust cause of complaint Thus runneth the common currant of worldly courses here on earth But will your Lordship turne your eyes a little from others and looke to your selfe you shall see what cause your Lordship hath aboue others to say with Dauid Many wayes hath the Lord beene beneficiall to his Seruant beeing for Linage descended of a wise and worthy Father of an Honourable Family famous among many others of that most flourishing Trybe of Hammilton Honourable also for the places of honour which you possesse but much more for the vertue whereby you haue worthily deserued them for it is a greater thing to deserue Honour then to haue it but where by Vertue it is obtained by Wisedome encreased and by good Gouernement reteined all which are euident in your Lordship What can be more Your children thankes be to God no crosses but comforts like branches of the Oliue promised to such as feare God they stretch out themselues from the sides of your Tabie and without disparagement are matched with the mighty Cedars of the Land For your selfe I haue nothing to say but that which I know no man can gaine-say If quickenesse of ingine vigour of ready witte wisedome in words discretion
vnder the type of another Beast hauing two Hornes like the Lambe but speaking like the Dragon The plaine and particular Prophecie of Antichrist or Apostate Popes in their Kingdome opponing themselues coueredly and by a consequent for hee as a Mysticall enemy is described from the thirteenth verse of the eleuenth chapter to the end thereof hee is described from his originall from his qualities from his working power from his great successe and from his mysticall name His beginning was base but by degrees he grew to that heighth that He caused all both small and great rich and poore free and bond to receiue his marke in their right hand or in their forehead And that vnder no lesse paine then the losse of life or liberty Here the Pope is at his heighth and in the very top and ruâ—…fe of his pride But from the end of the thirteenth chapter to the end of the twentieth commeth in a Prophecie of the fall and destruction of the Pope In the thirteenth chapter the Beast looking like a Lambe with his two Hornes seemed to ouer-rule all a few excepted whose Names are written in the Lambs booke of Life there wee saw him in such grandeur that all the world followed him wondered at him and worshipped him But in the foureteenth there appeares a party against that counterfeit Lambe to wit the true Lambe of God The Lord Iesus standing on Mount Sâ—…on with his Warriours fewer by many then the followers of the two horned Beast but more worthy And this Prophecie of the Pope his destruction we haue it first in typicall or figuratiue speech to the end of the sixteenth chapter Next in more plaine and simple speeches from the end of the twentieth to the one and twentieth inclusiue for the first the true Lambe enters into battell with the counterfeit and ouercomes him Before the battell there goe first foure Proclamations made by heauenly Heraulds in the foureteenth chapter After them in the foureteenth verse hee who before appeared like a Lamb commeth out a crowned King armed with iudiciarie power against his enemies Then in the fifteenth chapter before hee proceed to iudgement Saints in most comfortable manner are secured first and Angels Messengers and Executors of Gods wrath vpon the Beast are called prepared and furnished for that worke All this preparation being made before then in the sixeteenth followes the execution the Vials of Gods wrath according to the tenour of his proclamation are powred out vpon the Beast and them that worship him There by degrees a man may see the Kingdome of Antichrist to decay as he grew by degrees The seuenth Trumpet brings with it the consummation of all and concludes the first Prophecie of Antichrist his destruction fore-told vnder typicall and figuratiue speeches The other Prophecie of his destruction is in speeches more simple plaine and more pungent then the other and this reacheth from the seuenteenth chapter to the end of the one twentieth It pleaseth the Lord Iesus to double this Prophecie because it concernes vs most in these last times that hee might leaue this comfort with his Church and assure his seruants that Babylon shall fall yea is fallen Rome the Seat and Throne of the Beast shall be ouer-turned and made desolate euen in this present life Naturall men and blinded Papists make a scorne of this when they heare it yea they thinke it impossible considering that the Whore of Babel hath so many confederates euen the mighty Kings and Monarches of the earth who haue deuoted themselues to defend and maintaine the Church of Rome Vpon these hopes the Church of Rome is confident and contemneth this Prophecie In her owne minde she sitteth as her Grand-mother in the East Old Babel did like a Queene and thinks with her selfe I shall neuer be moued But the Lord â—…re hath said the contrarie and not onely hath said it but confirmes it for a mighty Angel taketh vp a stone like a great Milstone and casteth it into the Sea saying Thus with violence shall the great Citie Babylon be throwne downe and shall bee sound no more at all When they raise that Milstone againe out of the Sea then shall I thinke it possible that they may repaire the ruines of their Babel but that can neuer be If they will consider how within these hundred yeeres the Waters of their Euphrates haue beene dryed and how the Lord hath darkened the Throne of the Beast they might learne of that which is past what they may looke for in the time to come Their Dagon is fallen before the Arke they do what they can to set him vp againe but he shall fall more and more and his last fall shall be the greatest Certaine it is that this Babel spoken of in the Reuelation is Rome which the greatest Doctors of the Romish Church are forced to acknowledge and themselues see it will be made desolate and the Pope cast out of it but this Babel is the whoorish Church of Rome which God willing shall be made plaine hereafter They glory in their new conquest of Romane Catholiques among the Indians and our Antipodes they do well in time to prouide a Temple for their Dagon and a new Palace for their Pope sith Rome cannot retaine him If Wickednesse should haue a house it is meetest she build in Shinar not in Sion Their Pope will be most honoured where he is least knowne Not in these parts where the light of the Gospell hath discoured his hypocrisie and declared him to bee a rauening Woolfe vnder Sheeps clothing Let not them therefore flatter themselues in their riches in the multitude of their friends and blind followers or in their confederate Kings and Princes Let them not vpon these motiues put the euill day farre from them For her plague shall come in one day death mourning and famine and she shall bee vtterly burnt with fire Let Papists priding themselues in the power of flesh marke what followeth Strong is the Lord who iudges her Where the Lord pursues is the strength of man able to protect or defend This is the summe of the third Prophecie which wee pray the Lord hasten to performe for the glory of his Name and comfort of his poore afflicted Church THE FOVRTH AND FIFT CHAPTERS HAVE A TWO FOLD Vision of Preparation The sixt and seuenth haue the first Vision of Prediction CHAP. IIII. LEAVING the Interpretation of the first three chapters which are plaine we begin at this fourth and in the entry lay this for a ground that in the fourth and fifth chapters there is no Vision of Prediction but onely a Vision of Preparation for the subsequent Predictions As the first Prophecie of the present estate of the Church described in the seuen Epistles had a conuenient Preparatorie Vision going before it so hath the second in like manner The Preparatorie Vision going before the first Prophecie was
this I saw seuen golden Candlestickes and in the middest of the seuen golden Candlestickes one like the Sonne of man c. This serued to prepare both S. Iohn and the Church to receiue this Reuelation reuerently and certainely to beleeue it considering that hee receiued this Vision not from one who knew not the state of the Church for hee who giues the warning walkes in the middest of the seuen Candlestickes and hath eyes like vnto flames of fire which by no couering can bee holden out from looking and piercing into the heart of euery man And no lesse conuenient is this Preparatory Vision premitted before the second Prophecie if we consider both the parts thereof For in the fourth chapter there is a Vision of the Maiestie of God the Creator who as he made the world so is he heere described sitting vpon his Throne and the glassie Sea figuring the world before him which hee rules and gouerneth at his good pleasure directing all the changes and troubles thereof to his owne determinate end for which the whole Church giues vnto him the praise of a powerfull faithfull and prouident Creator and Conseruer Angels go before and Saints redeemed follow after Thou aâ—… worthy O Lord to receiue glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are aâ—…d were created Againe in the fifth chapter there is a Vision of the Maiesty of Christ the Redeemer exercising his Propheticall Office to the comfort of the Church for hee takes the sealed Booke out of the hand of him who sits on the Throne hee opens it and reueales to his Church such things as in the wise counsell and prouidence of God were concluded to be done concerning her for which the whole Church both of Angels and Men renders vnto him the praise of a glorious Redeemer Thou art worthy to take the Booke and open the Seales thereof for thou wast slaine and hast redeemed vs to God by thy Bloud In the first Song which is sung to the praise of God the Creator Angels begin and Saints redeemed follow In the second which is sung to the praise of God the Redeemer Saints redeemed go before and their Song is seconded by Angels and all creatures Now these two being ioyned together it shall appeare easily how this preparatorie Vision prepares a way to the Prophecie and renders a complete comfort to the Church He is to speake in the Prophecie following of fearefull troubles tentations and battels by violent Persecutors and fraudulent Heretiques but that the Church should not be discouraged therewith this Vision is permitted wherein first is declared that howsoeuer the world be a turbulent Sea yet all the waltrings and mutations thereof are gouerned by him that sits vpon the Throne Nothing fals out by accident or by the will of man and all these as they are ruled by the Father so are they reuealed to the Church by the Sonne and we are told of them before-hand that when they come to passe wee should not be offended The iudicious and indifferent Reader may cleerely perceiue this to bee the very naturall order and method of these two chapters they containe an Introduction to the Prophecie but they are farre mistaken who seeke a propheticall prediction in them VERSE 1. After this I looked and behold a dore was opened in heauen and the first Voice which I heard was as it were of a Trumpet talking with me which said Come vp hither and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter AFTER this This is to be referred to the order of the Visions not to the interuall or long distance of time for all these Visions S. Iohn saw them in one day I was in the Spirit on the Lords Day and I heard behind me a great Voice and yet Quaelibet visio suam habuit morulam euery Vision had the owne space of time by order one after another are they reuealed vnto him yet so that vpon one day and in one trance he saw all and this hee signifies in the entry As to the manner of his sight what way S. Iohn saw these Visions because frequent mention is made of it in this Prophecie it is expedient that once for all we speake of it There is a three-fold sight 1. Naturall 2. Propheticall 3. Spirituall The Naturall sight is common both to good and euill this is that sight we haue by the eye of God seene in his workes For the inuisible things of God that is his eternall Power and God-head are seene and vnderstood by the things he hath made The second sight is Propheticall yet common also both to good and euill I meane not to all but some of euery one of them for Balaam had it this is a sight of things to come made by Reuelation Representation or both A sight of things to come by Representation was offered to Pharaoh and to Nabuchadnezzar but they wanted the reuelation of it they could tell what they saw but could not tell what it signified till it was declared to the one by Ioseph to the other by Daniel Sometime againe there is a sight of things to come shewed to the seruants of God by Reuelation without Representation such a sight many of the Prophets had But here to Saint Iohn things to come are shewed both the waies first by Representation next by Reuelation In the manner of his Vision three things must be obserued that it was Interna Imaginaria Intellectualis It was first Internall by the minde for his bodily senses were now asleepe his spirit for a time hauing after a sort derelinquished his body Next it was Imaginary for by types similitudes resemblances and figures of corporall and materiall things formed in his minde were they represented to him Thirdly it was Intellectuall for by heauenly illumination S. Iohn was taught and informed to vnderstand truely what these Types Similitudes and Figures did represent and signifie otherwise hee had not beene a Prophet nor able to shew to the Church that which hee vnderstood not himselfe I marke this to stop the blasphemous mouthes of some Atheists who in disgrace of this Prophecie haue beene bold to say that S. Iohn vnderstood not what he wrote to the Churches The third sight is Spirituall and singular pertaining to Saints onely called and chosen This is a sight of Gods fatherly and mercifull Face shining vpon vs in Christ bringing with it to our foules ioy vnspeakeable and glorious And this sight we haue in this life but in the least degree for now wee see that glory of God but in a mirrour through a vaile darkely so that in comparison of that sight which we shall haue hereafter the Spirit of God accounts this sight to be no sight We walke not by sight but by faith And S. Peter affirmes Wee haue not yet seene him but S. Iohn
saith When hee shall appeare wee shall see him as hee is Yet euen the sight that now we haue by faith sustaines vs that wee faint not yea makes vs to reioyce in him with ioy vnspeakeable and glorious The first sight is no comfort without the third For oh How pittifull is the estate of that man who hath an eye to see the Sunne and hath not an eye to see Him that made the Sunne Yea the second is not comfortable without the third What auailes it to fore-see and fore-tell things to come and not to fore-see that Wrath which is to come that thou maist eschew it Balaam was a great Prophet to point out Iesus Christ vnto others in whom he had no part himselfe Hee fore-saw that the death of righteous men was happy and wished it to himselfe but hee had not true Light to leade him in that life which might bring him to a happy death Thus in the third sight onely stands the comfort of Christians Simeons sight maketh Simeons Song and sendeth away Saints out of the body reioycing in the middest of the dolours of death All these three sights had Saint Iohn but here hee sees these Visions by the second sight Now this sight is relatiue to the sight hee saw before After this I looked and it renders this lesson S. Iohn hauing vsed well the Reuelation hee receiued in the first Vision and hauing deliuered it faithfully to the Church as he was commanded gets now another Vision reueiled to him Two things increase heauenly reuelations in a Preacher First if he vse well the talent receiued already Nec enim alimonia haec distribuendo minuitur sed potius augetur ministrando For heauenly food is not diminished by the distribution thereof but rather is augmented Next if hee looke vp to God by feruent prayer and seek more as here S. Iohn doth hee shall neuer want comfortable matter to deliuer in God his Name to the Church But alack where men come out Prompt◅ docere quod non didicerunt ready to teach that which they haue not learned looking downe to giue vnto people not first looking vp to seek from the Lord what hope of a blessing is there to such a Ministerie And behold a dore was opened By this Metaphoricall speech S. Iohn will signifie vnto vs that an entrance and cleere sight of these heauenly Mysteries was made vnto him by the calling of God which otherwise were hid and locked vp from him like excellent things in the Palace of a King whereof no sight is gotten till the dore be opened and men licensed to enter in So S. Paul by the Opening of a dore of faith to the Gentiles will expresse that entrance to the faith which Gentiles had gotten by his Ministerie and by the great doore and effectuall opened to him at Ephesus and at Troas and by the opened doore of vtterance to speak the Mysterie of Christ for which hee willes the Colossians to pray hee vnderstands that a cleere and easie entrance to these Mysteries may bee made to him by the Lord and a ready way prepared in the hearts of people to conuay these Mysteries as it were in by a doore vnto them In Heauen Hugo Carthusian and others of that sort by the Doore vnderstand Christ and by heauen the Church it is a truth that Christ and his Church sometime are so figured but it is not the truth of this place I maruell what should haue moued Cotterius a iudicious and learned Writer to follow them This Heauen saith hee is Ecclesia in qua Deus habitat the Church wherein God dwels and the Voice which spake vnto S. Iohn Verbum est quo vocamur in Ecclesiam It is the Word by which wee are called to the Church All by purpose for was S. Iohn now in Pathmos to bee called to the communion of the Church But leauing this when wee shall come if the Lord please to such places of this Prophecie where the Heauen is a type of the Church Militant or Triumphant we shall shew the reason thereof But here that we may vnderstand with sobriety let vs consider how Saint Iohn speakes as hee saw He saw not this Vision in the Earth nor in the Aire but in the heauen was it represented to him It is true most part of things prophesied here were to be performed on the earth but they are fore-shewed in the heauens to tell vs that the earth and all things which fall out therein are ruled by the Decree of Heauen To make this yet more cleere let vs be remembred that in holy Scripture Heauen is sundry waies taken First for the Church Triumphant their place and their persons are both exprest by the name of Heauen as when it is said the two Witnesses were taken vp into heauen Next for the Church Militant in the Gospell in this Reuelation cōmonly called Heauen But in this and many other places of this Prophecie Heauen is taken for that typicall representation of heauen made to him in this Prophecie For it is to bee noted and obserued as a necessary rule that in these Visions S. Iohn speakes of things according as hee saw them represented in types as we haue spoken before yet so that euery type hath a truth correspondent to it and it requires great discretion to accommodate euery Type to the owne truth Which is not done by them who in this place expound heauen to be the Church Militant for S. Iohn saw not nor learned not these Mysteries in the Church nor yet from the Church hee saw them represented to him in heauen to be reuealed to the Church In a word he got it indeed for the Church Militant but not from it Neither is there any more reason to say that heauen here is the Church Militant then to say that these things which S. Paul saw when hee was rauished to the third heauen hee saw them in the Church for at this time also was S. Iohn rauished and transported in Spirit Alway we learne here that wee can haue no knowledge of heauenly things vnlesse the Lord open the doore and discouer them vnto vs. The Iewes euery Saturday read in their Synagogues a part of Moses and the Prophets these point with the finger vnto Christ but they cannot see him for a Vaile couereth their mindes till the Lord illuminate them Wee doe therefore pray the Lord our God who opened the doore to S. Iohn through which hee saw these Visions to open a doore to vs also by which we may haue entrance to vnderstand them for the glory of his name and comfort of his Church And the first Voice which I heard c. Vpon this place Victorinus obserues that it was one Spirit which spake in the Prophets of old and in the Apostles now Cotterius in the first Vision saith hee Iohn heard a Voice speaking
onely but here a Voice speaking with S. Iohn quo non obscurè innuitur verbi quod personam suam habet nostri communio whereby the communion of the Word with vs is not obscurely declared Both these are good points of Diuinity but too hardly picked out of this place The more soberly wee handle the Prophecie we shall vnderstand it the better S. Iohn heere tels vs no more but that by a Voice sounding lowdly in his hearing hee was prepared to behold these things which God was to shew him How God did vtter this Voice to him it were but curiosity for vs to enquire Deo namque qui nostris loquendi legibus astrictus non est liberum est loqui quomodocunque voluerit The Lord is not bound to our manner of speaking as Cotterius hath well obserued it is free to the Lord to speake what manner of way hee will This we may be sure of and it should content vs that his seruant vnderstood very well what the Voice said to him which we may perceiue by his owne declaring of it vnto vs. And now out of this the lesson ariseth The Apostle looked vp to God in the beginning of this Verse desirous to see more and now the Lord offers not onely new sight to his eye but new information to his care Wee neuer turne our hearts truely to the Lord but hee is readie to meete vs All his children finde this in experience Certainely if wee would be more homely with our God we should soone finde him more familiar with vs. But alas our sinne is we wait not vpon him and intertaine not a spirituall fellowship with him How shall wee see that delight not in the light And how shall we bee replenished with that grace which ouerflowes in him so long as we are carelesse and negligent to come to him This is the ground of all our euill neglect of the spirituall worship neglect to waite vpon the Lord. God giue vs eyes to see it and hearts to mend it As it were of a Trumpet The Voice soundeth said one like a Trumpet Quia inuitabat Ioannem ad praelium contra diaboli temptamenta contra mundi blandimenta contra carnis oblectamenta because it inuites S. Iohn to battell against the tentations of the deuill the allurements of the world the pleasures of the flesh No question S. Iohn was a good Souldier of Iesus and had fought these battels couragiously but this goes further hee is stirred vp by this Trumpet to heare a Proclamation made in heauen of such battels as his Saints had to fight vpon earth to the worlds end that hee might fore-warne the Church of them The lesson here arising is that the Voice whereby God speakes to his owne is loud liuely and powerfull to waken them out of the dead sleepe of their sinne That same Word of the Lord preached which to a naturall man is but foolishnesse and a dead letter which he vnderstands not to the childe of God is the power of God it is liuely and mighty in operation The houre shall come and now is when the dead shall heare the voice of the Sonne of God and they that heare it shall liue O how miserable are they to whom this Voice sounds and they heare it not and the Trumpet of the liuely Word wakneth them not For if they continue in this estate and their sleepe bee vnto death what remaines but a fearefull Trumpet of doome which whether they will or not they shall be forced to heare denouncing to them the iudgement of endlesse condemnation But to returne our ground is God in his mercifull dealing with his seruants what euer hee haue to doe with them speakes to them in such sort that hee causes them both to vnderstand and also to obey him This S. Iohn declares when hee saith the Voice was like the voice of a Trumpet because by it hee was wakened moued and stirred vp to heare attentiuely and with reuerence Saying Come vp hither Non corporis motu sed mentis intuitu Come vp not by motion of the body but attention of the mind Here then Saint Iohn his calling is renewed to him againe he must be a separate man and after a sort go out of himselfe and go vp vnto God to bee familiar with him who would see the things of God This is required of euery Christian if hee would be the Spouse of Christ ioyned in marriage with him Forget thy owne people and thy fathers house so shall the King haue pleasure in thy beauty How much more then is it requisite in Christian Preachers Did Moses see the patterne of the Tabernacle till he went vp to the Mount Or did the Lord talke familiarly with Ioshua and Moses till first they put off their shooes And shall any Preacher now thinke to be familiar with God and powerfull with his people vnlesse he learne this lesson first that here first is giuen to S. Iohn Come vp hither Againe the voice of God when he talkes to his people is Come vp Satans voice on the contrary Fall downe Cast thy selfe downe That presumptuous Beast durst speake so to our Sauiour what maruell then he dare speake so to his seruants The Lord would haue thee to come vp and enioy all the good which hee hath to communicate to thee Satan would haue thee to go downe that thou mayst be partaker of his remedilesse condemnation He himselfe for his sinne was cast out of heauen He is now reserued in chaines vnder darkenesse to the iudgement of the great Day And he knowes that when the time of his complete iudgement shall come he will bee cast into vtter darkenesse and all his care is to draw man downe-ward with him into the same condemnation There is no restitution for him mercy neuer was neuer will be preached to him neither can he seeke it neither will he get The most that euer he craued was a Supersedere Why wilt thou torment vs before the time he is condemned in his own conscience and knowes that intolerable ineuitable torment abides him We reade that the Lord talked with Satan but neuer called vpon him to come vp since that first he fell down But blessed be the Lord it is his voice to his owne Come to me notwithstanding yee haue fallen from me yet Come to me yee haue sinned but if yee be weary of sinne I will refresh you It was the answer of Christ to the Disciples of Iohn Baptist when they asked Master where dwellest thou Come and see said our Lord and still hee speaketh vnto all his beloued as here hee doth to one of his beloued Come vp hither not to get new reuelations to be shewed vnto others but Come vp hither to get a new and a full sight of my promised glory to your selfe Yea such is the goodnesse of our God that not onely hee cals vpon
seuocate their mindes from their bodies the function of the soule being suspended toward the body that she might intend all her powers toward the Lord. So did hee with Ezechiel and Daniel Yea euen in our daily Christian conuersation we find that as the fish Remora when it cleaues to the side of the ship vnder saile retardeth the course thereof so is it with the body when the soule would ascend and mount vp to the Lord the body drawes it backe and holds it downe therefore Caro animae est Remora said Nazianzen flesh is the stay and hinderance of the soule And this may be best seene in the exercise of prayer when the spirituall life is strongest then is the naturall weake If the desires of the soule be feruently intended toward God the eye sees not those obiects the eare heares not those sounds which are neere vnto them But when againe naturall necessity forces the soule to returne to a familiarity with the body then her familiarity with the Lord relents and is interrupted This lets vs see first that heauenly Mysteries transcend the capacity of man till God make vs able to conceiue them aboue any ability that is in nature if S. Iohn had not beene rauished in the spirit after a diuine manner he could not haue vnderstood these diuine things And againe we may perceiue the truth of that No man can see the Lord and liue This should make vs well content in the day of death to lay aside our bodies that we may ascend to the Lord for as S. Luke said of the death of Christ it is true of all Christians The day of our death is the day of our assumption vp into heauen And behold a Throne Before Godspake to the eare of S. Iohn now hee offers a Vision to his eye This is the Lords order and we must obserue it Wouldst thou see the Lord bee content first to heare him Auditus gradus est ad visum hearing is a step to seeing As we haue heard so haue wee seene If first we heare as we should no doubt but next we shall see what we would They who delight not now to heare the Lord shall not be delighted hereafter with the sight of his ioyfull face And this for the order now to the matter We haue here in a Vision represented the glorious Maiestie of the Ruler of the world gouerning all things therein according to his gracious pleasure And first S. Iohn sees a Throne figuring Kingly Power and Authority Next a Throne in heauen expressing the supremacy and height of his Gouernment his Throne is aboue all the Thrones of Kings in the world By him the decrees of men are established hee ratifies or reuokes them at his pleasure and is countable vnto none His Holinesse also hereby is expressed God will not do wickedly neither will hee peruert iudgement hee renders the worke of a man vnto him and causes euery man to finde according to his wayes said Elihu The Iudge of all the world cannot do vnrighteously said Abraham Thirdly aboue the Throne is a Raine-bow like a stately seeling Fourthly about the Throne are twenty and foure Elders figuring the Church of the liuing God a glorious Court wherein there are none but Seniors and Kings farre surmounting in glory all the Courts of the world Fiftly between the Throne and the circle of Seniors in the midst of the Throne and round about the Throne were foure liuing creatures full of eyes all hauing wings shadowing the company of innumerable Angels Salomon his Throne was of Iuory vnderpropped with carued Lyons but nothing comparable to these liuing vnderstanding and speedily flying Cherubims which execute the will of this great and euerliuing King Sixthly before the Throne there is a glassie Sea like Christall representing this sragill and waltring world which as it was made by the Lord so also is it ruled and gouerned by him hee sees all things in it and gouerneth all the incident mutations and changes thereof vnto his owne determinate end This is the summe of the Vision Which as I said is a preparatoire vision for the subsequent visions of prediction wherein because the Lord is to foreshew sore troubles many changes greâ—…uous accidents that were to fal out in the world for the exercise of his poore Church In the entry he drawes vs vp to looke to himselfe as vnto a glorious King sitting on his Throne ruling the world which is before him with great power and wisedom so that nothing falls out in it by chance but according to his prouidence neither is it satans malice nor man his vvit that carries sway in the world to drawe the euent of things which way they wil. No no satan and men in all their purposes plots are ouer-ruled by the Lord and he worketh all things according to the good pleasure of his owne will for his owne glory and comfort of his Church Thus in the beginning haue wee a strong confirmation of our faith and are conueniently prepared to receiue the Prophecie following vvith faith and reuerence assuring our selues that according to it the euent of things will be because it comes and is reuealed from him who rules the world And doubtlesse if our eyes were opened to see that glorious sight of the supreme Maiesty ruling all things at his will as here saint Iohn saw it or at least if we will looke into it with the eyes of faith it would dissipate all these doubtings and feares which come in our minds arising from the greatnesse of Mahomet the power of the Pope and of blinded Princes enemies to the Gospel of Christ banding and confederating themselues against the Lord and his anointed When the seruant of Elisha was afraid at the huge Army of Aramites which compassed Dothan his Master comforted him Feare not said he there are moe with vs then are against vs. And when according to the prayer of Elisha the Lord opened his eyes then hee saw that the Mountaines were full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha stronger to defend him then the Aramites were to pursue him No lesse should wee be comforted against all terror of flesh if our eyes were opened to see this glorious Maiestie that saint Iohn saw for what are all Kings of the earth compared with him When he pleases he cuts off the spirit of Princes and is terrible vnto them Let vs rest in him God is our hope and strength and helpe in trouble ready to be found Wee will not feare though the earth should be mooued and Mountaines fall in the middes of the Sea For the Throne of our God stands stable It is a pittifull blindnes that wormes of the earth should take vp a banner against him whose Throne is in heauen Their Propositions are proud Let vs cast off the yoke of the Lord. And againe Let vs build a
with these two Saint Iohn sees a third And there was a rainbow round about the Throne like a bowed and circular â—…eeling not of many colours as is in the natural rainebow which are caused by the beames of the Sunne striking into the watry cloud iust ouer against it but it is all of one colour like vnto an Emerald which is also a precious stone of a most comfortable greene colour Hereby is figured that our God is alway mindfull of his couenant his mercie endures froÌ„ generation to generation ouer theÌ„ that feare him The glory of his Maiestie the statelinesse of his Throne the terror of his Iustice should not discourage vs for we are vnder the Couenant of his mercy he cannot forget it for it is before him and compasseth his Throne If he keepes the common and temporall Couenant made with all mankind whereof the Rainebowe is a signe much more may we be assured wil he keepe his speciall and eternall Couenant which in Iesus Christ he hath bound vp with his owne Elect. Hitherto tends that most solemne and sweet asseueration of the Lord recorded by Ieremy Thus saith the Lord who giues the Sunne for a light to the day and the courses of the Moone and of the Starres for a light to the night Who breakes the Sea when the waues thereof roare his Name is the Lord of hosts If these ordinances depart out of my sight saith the Lord then shall the seed of Israel cease from beeing a Nation before me for euer It is a proper and comfortable meditation of that worthy man Peter Martyr speaking of the military bowe when the battell is ended peace is made ye shall neither see a string bended on the bowe nor an arrow in it at least the men of warre carrie it so that the hornes therof are downeward to the earth but when they fight it is otherwise then they bend their bowe and draw the hornes of it together that they may shoote arrowes at the face of their enemies Euen so Deus omnibus pacatis neruum coelestâ—… arcui dempsit sagittas abstulit cornua eius versus terram deiecit The Lord peace being now made betweene him and mankind hath taken away both striug arrowes from the heauenly Bowe for we see none of these in it and letteth the hornes of his Bowe hang downeward to the earth in token he comes not in vvarfare against man but walking with him in the way of peace Howeuer it be wee will conclude this point with Bernard Tanta haec formarum varietas et specierum numerositas in rebus conditis quid nisi radij sunt Deitatis monstrantes quidem quià verè sit à quo sunt non tamen quid sit prorsus definientes itaque de ipso vides sed non ipsum This numerous and great varietie of formes and kindes in things created what are they but certaine beames of the Deitie declaring that in very truth he is from whoÌ„ they are and yet not defining what he is in seeing them thou seest some-what of his but not himselfe Sure it is the Lord here dimits himselfe to our capacitie when hee borrowes similitudes from these stones to expresse himselfe they beeing so farre inferior to himselfe as the smallest creature is inferior to the Creator for whatsoeuer beautie these stones or any other creature hath God gaue it vnto them how then should hee borrow beautie from them Indeed the Kings of the earth borrow their glory from creatures and when they are most richly apparrelled they are greatest beggers clothed with that which is not their own and will not continue with them Let theÌ„ be adorned with Iasper Sardine Emerald and such like in the midst of these a man may see death in their mortall faces Man in his best estate is but vanity and their greatest glory is but grasse compared to the glory of our God And here also we are warned how farre by our sin we haue fallen from our originall glory wherein our God created vs. Our father Adam was made Lord of the creatures and by the knowledge wherewith God indued him he knew the Lord the creature also At one court he imposed names to them all according to their nature the knowledge which he had of God led him to the knowledge of the creature it was not by the creature that he learned the knowledge of the Creator but now man is sent to the schoole of the creature put back as we say to his ABC to learne the glory goodnes prouidence of the Creator by looking to the creature and when all is done so voide now by nature is man of the knowledge of God that he cannot conceiue concerning God that which the creature doth teach him Salomon attained not to the knowledge of Adam and yet the quickest Naturalist comes short of the knowledge of Salomon They write of the Iasper Sardine and Emerald but because we know them not as they are therefore can we not fully know what here by them is figured vnto vs which hath beene with great modesty obserued by our Countrey-man P. Forbes of Corse VERSE 4. And round about the Throne were foure and twenty Seates and vpon the Seates I saw foure and twenty Elders sitting cloathed in white rayment and they had on their heads Crownes of gold VVE haue heard the description of this glorious King Creator Conseruer and Ruler of the world now followes a description of his Court wherein are three sorts of creatures some in whom he rules these are Saints redeemed of the Lord figured here by foure and twenty Elders some ouer whom hee rules these are the men of the world and all other creatures therein represented by a glassie Sea before the Throne for his Saints are said to stand on the glassie Sea some in whom and by whom he rules these are holy Angels whereof such as are principall are figured here by foure liuing creatures full of eyes before and behind and within c. I am not to darken the mindes of men by variety of interpretations and to make contradiction to such as deserue it here were a tedious labour This one thing seemes most strange to any that considereth the Text and seekes light to expound it out of it selfe how men should haue been miscarried to expound these foure twenty Elders of the foure and twenty Bookes of the old Testament Cotterius brings his warrant from Ierome Haec inquit est antiquissima fides vt videre est apud Hieronymum This saith he is the most ancient faith as may be seene by Ierome hee might also haue said more that Ierome borrowed this interpretation from Victorine an hundred yeeres before Ierome and Ierome also writes the Prologue before Victorines Commentaries on this Booke out of it it is like that Ierome borrowed this exposition from Victorine thus Cotterius might haue made this opinion
but shadowes of those better which are aboue The Lord strengthen our faith to beleeue Alway this I haue spoken out of this ground that the Spirit of God not finding one creature on earth meete to represent that variable good which is in Angels doth ioyne foure of the best together which yet all do come farre short of the excellency of Angels VERSE 8. And the foure beasts had each of them six wings and they were full of eyes within and they rest not day and night saying Holy holy holy Lord God almighty who was and is and is to come THE last of their properties they are said to haue sixe wings euery one of them To what end wings are ascribed to them Esay doth tell vs With two they couer their face with two they couer their feete and with two they flye The wings wherewith they coâ—…er their face are first an humble estimation of themselues next a reuerent and great estimation of the glorious maiestie of the Lord their GOD. They acknowledge his glory greater then that they can behold it they are neerest the throne but fardest from pride Among men we vse to say that Familiaritie engendreth contempt it is not so with the Lord they who are most familiar vvith him doe most of all reuerence and feare him The onely cause why men are so bold to dishonor the Lord and to vse his Name without any reuerence is for that they are strangers from him they know him not and are not acquainted with his Maiestie Hitherto tends that similitude of Saint Chrysostome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. For euen as the quicker our sight is the better we learne and perceiue how farre wee are distant from the heauen whereas to a dimme eye the heauen seemes to be neere-hand and hard vpon it euen so the more we excell in vertue and holinesse the more we perceiue what a great difference is betweene the Lord and vs yea his best creatures are nothing in comparison of his glorious Maiesty Let this serue for a warning to these presumptuous Pharisaicall spirits Semipelagian Papists who dare stand before the Lord and glory of their fastings of their almes of their merits of their iustification by their workes and of their perfit obseruance of the Law The holy Angels couer their faces and acknowledge their insufficiencie in comparison of the Diuine Maiestie and thou vile worme of the earth wilt glory of thy sufficiencie Vae generationi huic miserae cui sufficere videtur insufficientia sua Wo be to this miserable sort of people to whom their insufficiencie seemes sufficient It is not the least part of true Philosophy for a man to knowe himselfe and onely hee knoweth himselfe best who esteemeth himselfe to be nothing Abraham called himselfe dust ashes and Dauid esteemed himselfe to be but a vvorme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all Saints saith Saint Chrysostome after this same manner abase and cast downe themselues But they vvho with the Apostat Angels will exalt themselues wil contend with Michael and presume aboue that which indeed they are let them here see of what spirit they are The two wings wherewith they flye note first their sublimitie they are no creeping but flying creatures Vnder the Lawe profane worldlings were figured by vncleane beasts that creepe on the earth with all foure they are cursed with the curse of the Serpent they lick the dust of the earth but Christians should be like vnto Angels not creeping but flying creatures A bird so long as it is flying aboue is in no danger of the snare Many snares hath Satan that crafty Hunter layd for vs the best way to eschew them is that our hearts frequently flie vpward toward the Lord. Next their willing readinesse to execute the will of the Lord without delay S. Bernard makes the two wings of these Angels to bee Knowledge and Deuotion these are also good for vs to flie withall Leuat cognitionis ala sed sola non sufficit the wing of knowledge lifts vs vp but it alone is not sufficient As the bird that hath but one wing the more it striues to flie the more it falleth Ruit citius quae vna tantum ala volare contendit So he that hath knowledge without deuotion the more he seekes to ascend the more he faileth Naturall Philosophers may stand for an example who knowing God did not glorifie him but vanished in their owne cogitations and became fooles And let deuotion againe be neuer so zealous and feruent yet without knowledge it cannot carry vs vpward Zelus absque scientiâ—… quo vehementius irruit eo graâ—…ius corruit for zeale without knowledge the hotter it is the more hindersome it is The two wings wherewith they couer their feete figures their sanctity and modesty they are conuersant with men according as God employes them but communicate not with the sinnes of men they defile not their feete with our pollutions but haue them alwaies couerd As the Sun giueth his light to most filthy places but participates not of their vncleannesse so is it with Angels But alas farre are we from this perfection it is a difficill thing to liue in the company of profane men and not be infected by them If we be not burnt with their fire hardly shall we escape vnblacked with their smoke The other wing for couering their feete is their Modesty whereby they dimit themselues to our capacity they appeare with bodies and colours white sprickled and red hauing indeed neither bodies nor colours yet are men astonished and confounded at their lowest apparitions So farre are we degenerate from our first estate that wee cannot now abide the most modest and base apparition of an Angell And they ceased not day nor night saying In the last place wee haue their function described which is a continuall and vncessant praysing of God they are not weary being alway delighted with new matter of ioy flowing from the sight of God for as many eyes as they haue they can neuer comprehend that infinite goodnesse which is in him new sights make them alway to renew praises vnto God and in this they stand as paterns vnto vs teaching vs to practise these precepts Reioyce euermore Pray continually In all things giue thanks We should alway pray for we neuer want cause we should alway giue thanks for if we can obserue it we neuer want matter Prayer praise are two excellent parts of Diuine worship but of the two praise is the most heauenly and Angelike vertue In prayer a man respects himselfe seeking from GOD that which he cannot want but in praise man respecteth God giuing vnto the Lord that which is due to him Againe prayer pertaines to this life principally et est egâ—…ntium ac miserorum praise pertaineth to the life to come et est beatoruÌ„ ac gloriâ—…icatorum Let vs therefore learne of Angels to
hath reueiled out of this Booke to my Saints This is the summe of all The rage of man shall turne to the praise of GOD The LORD shall haue glory his Church victorie and the Enemies therof shame and confusion Three things haue we in this chapter first a description of this Booke of the Reuelation secondly a description of the Lambe of God who openeth it thirdly thankes giuing for it both of men and Angels And I saw Wee may perceiue heere in the entry how new sights and new Reuelations are multiplied vpon Saint Iohn the Lord beganne to be familiar with him and still he continues for whom he loueth he loueth to the end and causes them to encrease with the increasings of God like the Sunne ascending to the noonetyde of the day Balaam and Balac both may conspire to curse Israel but it cannot be Putiphar may imprison Ioseph but God shall be with him Domitian may banish S. Iohn vnto Pathmos from the fellowship of men but not from the fauour of God euen there shall the Lord be familiar with him What Isaac spake of Iacob stands as a sure decree to all the Saints of God I haue blessed him and he shall be blessed Of the manner of this sight wee haue spoken once for all in the beginning of the fourth chapter No doubt many of the Lords deare children wish they could see the like such a sight as S. Iohn saw or S. Paul saw when he was rauished into the third heauens The one tels vs what he saw for it was shewed vnto him that hee might shew it to the Church The other tels not what hee saw yea professes that the sight hee saw is more then euer man heard or saw or man his heart is able to vnderstand and this is to prouoke vs to long for that Day wherin we shall be capable of this sight In the meane time if we see not such sights as they saw let vs reuerence the Lords dispensation now we walke by faith not by sight the time when wee shall see is comming now happy are wee if we do beleeue A Booke We must still remember that in all this Prophecie the Lord dimits himselfe to vse such formes and representations as we are best able to conceiue Properly God hath no booke â—…e needs not any such help of memory but allusion here is made to Kings who haue beside them bookes containing Lawes whereby they rule their people or else the ancient Acts and Monuments of their Kingdom as was that booke out of which Ahasuerus learned what good seruice Mordecai had done vnto him The Lord hath his booke also but farre exceeding theirs for they haue onely a Register of things which'are done they cannot tell what is to be done and farre lesse can they preuent it but the Lord hath in his Booke a perfect record of all things which haue beene are or shal be to the worlds end they are all appointed by himselfe Now what is meant by this book is not agreed vpon by the Interpreters Victorine whom many follow calls it the old Testament Others more generally the whole Scripture But was not that Booke opened till now And is it not plainly told Saint Iohn by the Angel that the things foretold in this booke are such as were shortly to come to passe not such as had beene done before What Cotterius had for him by this booke to vnderstand vitam life and by the strong Angel to vnderstand Legem or the Law which none can fulfill we leaue it to himselfe and his opinion also The matter is so plaine out of the course of the Text that it is strange men will not take light out of Gods hand when he offers it vnto them for doth not the Sonâ—… take this booke from the Father Doth he not open the seales thereof and let Saint Iohn see what was written in it Is it not the very first and authentike volume of this Booke of the Reuelation the copy and transumpt whereof Saint Iohn drawes out as he is commanded and sends it to the Church al the whole circumstances of the Prophecie make it so cleere that it is strange how men too much enamored with their own coÌ„ceptions should not haue perceiued it But because in holy Scripture often mention occurres of sundry Bookes which are ascribed to God let vs once for all remember they are to be reduced to one of these two sorts they are either metaphoricall or materiall the first so called in respect of the metaphor or borrowed speech the other so called in respect of the matter The metaphorike bookes are either vniuersall or speciall vniuersall are two one mentioned by Dauid In thy booke were all things written which in continuance of time were fashioned And this booke is the most large as being a perfect register of all things all persons of all times and this is the Booke of Prescience The other is the booke of Conscience which albeit it be not so large as the first yet I call it Vniuersall because all men without exception haue it they write it with their owne hand haue it in their owne custodie and therefore shall not be able to speake any thing against the testimony thereof Speciall bookes againe are also two one called by Moses The booke of life contayning a roll of all Gods Elect the other called by Malachy A booke of remembrance wherein the Lord registers the words and workes of the wicked this booke God hath in his keeping and it is euery way conforme and varies not from the booke of conscience that the wicked haue The booke materiall is the Bible whereof this booke of the Reuelation is a part S. Iohn sees it first heere in this vision and then as I said extracts the iust copy of it and sends it to the Churches Written within and without For vnderstanding of this wee must know that the forme of bookes they vsed of old was not like ours they were long Roules euery sheet at the end of another extending in length folded and rouled vp about a peece of tree or some other such thing they might conueniently bee distinguished by seales for the seale of the first being opened all written in it might easily haue been read the rest not so vntill the remaining seales were opened also they were commonly written on the one side except where the aboundance of matter forced them to write on the backe then were they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the sixt chapter it is said that the heauens passed away like a scrole for a scrole of parchment beeing opened and spred out in length if it be let goe by him that holds it returns speedily into a round againe Ezekiel makes mention of the like Roule of a booke spred before him written within and without And as to Ezekiel the Lord presented a roule containing that which
he had to shew vnto Israel and was after written in the booke of Ezekiel It a hoc loco per librum Iohanni ostensum intelligitur scientia ◅orum quae Iohanni fuerant de futuro statu Ecclesiae reuelanda quae nunc in hoc Apocalypsis volumine sant descripta So heere by a booke shewed to S. Iohn is vnderstood the knowledge of these things which were to bee reuealed to Saint Iohn concerning the estate of the Church to come and which now are described in this booke of the Reuelation Alway that S. Iohn sees this book written within and without it is to declare vnto vs that it is a complete Prophesie there is no blanke paper in this booke to be filled vp by any other or if there were who is this in heauen or in earth that can reueale that vnto vs which Iesus Christ our blessed Sauiour hath not reuealed None at all wee are not to looke for any other Reuelation or Prophecie after this til the Day come wherein Christ our Lord shall be reuealed in his glory Sealed with seuen Seales The Seales declare first the surety next the secresie of this Prophecie Surety it is the manner of Kings to seale their decrees which they will haue executed so this book is sealed to shew that the Lord will surely accomplish that which is written in it It is a Decree more sure then any of the Medes and Persians Againe the Seales declare the secrecie thereof here are mysteries locked vp from the vnderstanding of Angels and men if the Lord had not opened them and reuealed them vnto vs. The Iesuite Viega carpeth aduantage heere to instifie that calumnie of the Church of Rome whereby they blot the Scripture with obscurity he brings many reasons to proue that it was expedient the holy Scripture should be penned in obscure māner But I pray you lis not this vnsure reasoning The book of the Reuelation is obscure therfore al the books of holy Scripture are obscure And sith they can looke to the Seales wherewith the book is closed complain of obscurity why will they not looke to the Lambe who openeth the booke giue him thankes who of a closed booke makes it an open booke and giues to it the name of a Reuelation Lastly as we haue said before this booke was written not so much to informe vs in the faith as to confirme vs in it that wee should not leaue the faith for these manifold troubles which in this book are foretold vs that were to follow our faith It is sufficient for vs that in these books wherin the Lord teaches vs the way of saluation hee speakes so plainely that the entrance into his Word sheweth light and giueth vnderstanding to the simple The waters thereof in some places are so shallow that a childe may goe thorow though in others so deepe that an Elephant may swimme In his quae aperte posita su◅t in Scriptura inueniuntur illa omnia quae continent fidem moresque viuendi spem scilicet charitatem What neede men carpe at these places which are obscure sith in these which are plainely written all things are to bee found that containe Faith and good manners to wit Hope and Charity said Augustine Num igitur Deus mentis vocis linguae Artifex diserte loqui non potest imo vero summa prouidentia carere voluit fuco ea quae diuina sunt vt omnes intelligerent quae ipse omnibus loquebatur Shall we think said Lactantius that God who is the Artificer and Maker both of the minde and voyce and of the tongue cannot speake plainely No but by the contrary hee hath most wisely prouided that his words should bee plaine without coloured deceit that all men may vnderstand these things which hee speaketh vnto all I will not therefore answere Viega and his associates with Chrysostome Praetextus iste pigritiae vetamen but rather will say it is malitiae velamen this pretext of the obscurity of Scripture is but a couering of their slothfulnes but rather it is a couering of their maliciousnesse because the Scripture rebukes them therefore they rebuke it they doe what they can to obscure it because it obscureth their kingdome VERSE 2. And I saw a strong Angell who preached with a loud voyce Who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seales thereof IN the first verse we haue seene the description of this booke now beginnes the second part of this chapter wherein we haue him described who openeth the booke first from his singular supereminence that none other was found able to open the booke this appeares by the Angell his proclamation Who is worthy to open the Booke The answer is subioyned in a negation None in heauen c. So this doth greatly magnifie the glory of Iesus that He and He onely hath done that vnto vs and for vs which none in heauen nor in earth were able to haue done The Offices of the Messias are three hee is the King the Priest and Prophet of his Church If these bee compared among themselues the Propheticall Office will bee found the least As our High Priest hee had to satisfie the iustice of God for vs and make atonement for our sinnes As our King hehath deliuered vs from the oppression of our enemies visible and inuisible and ruleth our hearts by the scepter of his Grace As our Prophet he hath reuealed to vs in his holy Scripture the whole counsell of God concerning our saluation and in this Prophecie hath forewarned his Church of such troubles as were imminent vnto her which none in heauen nor in earth was able to doe Now since the last and least of the three cannot be done by any creature what blasphemy is it to say that men may doe the greatest that is by their owne sufferings and doings make satisfaction to the iustice of God as the Romish Church vainly and wickedly doe affirme For they teach that Christ hath not reuealed the whole counsell of God that the Scriptures are imperfect and are to be supplyed by Traditions quas Ecclesia Catholica suscipit ac veneratur pari pietatis affectu reuerentia scilicet atqui ipsum verbum scriptum which the Catholike Church embraces and honoureth with the same affection of piety and reuerence which is due to the written Word it selfe But I pray them Who is able to teach that which the great Doctor of the Church hath not taught If there be any Seale of the Booke which Christ hath not opened who is this that is able to open it Either they must confesse none in heauen sarre lesse in earth can do it or else they must falsifie this Angell which is impossible or then manifest themselues to bee falsisiers which is euident All Antiquity pleads the perfection of holy Scripture against them Religio vera in scriptis Apostolorum Prophetarum continetur
variance for man hauing become by sin an enemy vnto God had the Angels enemies vnto him a figure whereof wee haue in that Angel who stood with a sword in the entry of Paradise to hold Adam out of it but now man beeing reconciled to God by Iesus Angels are also reconciled with man For it pleased the Father to set at peace through the bloud of his Crosse both the things in earth and the things in heauen so that now they agree in one harmony to praise the Lord. Yea strange it is that they who before were figured by Lyons Bullocks Eagles and men are now brought in singing one song This is to magnifie the effectuall vertue of the Redeemer who hath reconciled God and man Angel and man yea man with man so that most sierce and barbarous natures are now made peaceable meeke and louing one to another by the power of his grace And this is it which was foretold by Esay of the kingdome of the Messia The Wolse shall dwell with the Lambe the Leopard shall lye with the Kidde the Calfe and the Lyon shall feede together Therefore Clemens Alexandrinus speaking of Christ Iesus calls him Nouum quendam Citharaedum What the Grecians spake of their Orpheus that by the sweet harmony of his musike he did mitigate and tame the most wild and furious beasts is onely and in truth done by our Christ Solus ipse feras mansuefacit for wild beasts of all sorts are tamed by him Volucres flying fowles that is wicked men carried aloft vpon the wings of vanitie them he makes solid and establisheth their hearts by grace Serpentes creeping things figuring deceiuers with their subtill wiles them he makes vpright Hee tameth Leones Lupos Lyons rauening wolues cruell and bloudy men he turneth into meeke and mercifull men Such a rauening Wolfe was S. Paul of the Tribe of Beniamin but Christ Iesus of a Persecuter conuerted him to a Preacher Yea lapides et ligna such as worshipped stocks and stones and had no more spiritual life in them then stones haue hath he raised quickned and made them children to Abraham What then shal we say of these men who for small offences by no means can be reconciled to their brethren Surely they are yet strangers from this grace in conceit they flye higher then Angels in stubbornnesse harder then stones in fiercenes of nature more barbarous then beasts are they who by the grace of Iesus are not tamed and made louing to their brethren The second circumstance is their gesture in worshipping noted in these words They fel down before the Lambe for still Saint Iohn speaketh of these things as they appeared to him in the Vision Alwaies by their example they learne vs with humbled hearts and bodies to praise the Lord which as it is a dutie whereunto we are bound for so saith the Apostle Yee are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and spirit for they are Gods so it renders to our selues very great cōfort for the time is at hand wherein our bodies must be committed to the graue then the tongue will be silenced the eye closed and no member of the body will be able to doe as now it may So long therefore as we haue the vse of them let vs make them vveapons of righteousnesse for the seruice of our God let the eye mourne for sinne and looke vp for mercy let the hands be lifted vp as an euening sacrifice let the tongue speake to his praise let the knees bow vnto him that made thē Thus if we vse them so long as wee haue them to his honor we may rest assured that he will honor them sith his promise is I will honour them that honour me Euen in the graue shal the Lord watch ouer them to keepe the very dust of them And howsoeuer the body be sowne in dishonour yet shall it be raised in glory it was the temple of the holy Ghost and he will not faile to restore and reedifie it If the Spirit of him that raised vp Iesus from the dead dwell in you hee that raised vp Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortall bodies because that his Spirit dwelleth in you The third circumstance is of the instruments which they vse in his praises It is said Euery one of them had Harps and golden Vials full of odours none of them wants euery one of them haue It contents them not that their companions prayse God beside them euery one of them haue their owne Harpe and praise God for themselues Let vs learne of them how we should behaue our selues in the assembly of Saints Vnder the Law no man might appeare emptie before the Lord it is now a greater sinne vnder the Gospell to come to the House of God and no sacrifice in our heart to offer vnto the Lord. Let vs take heede to our selues the Lord knowes his owne Israelites in whom there is no guile when they sacrifice then hee smelleth a sweet sauour hypocrites he knoweth also that sit in the seate of sacrificers but offer no sacrifice to the Lord they may maske themselues but the Lord cannot be deceiued for hee knowes them as they are and wil deale with them as they deale with him With the vpright thou wilt shew thy selfe vpright and The Lord will doe well to those that be good and true in their hearts But those that turne aside by their crooked waies the Lord will lead with the workers of iniquitie Their Harps note two things first the great ioy they haue in praysing GOD. There is no ioy on earth comparable to that vvhich is found in the praysing of GOD and praying vnto him When our Sauiour prayed then was his countenance changed when Dauid played vpon the Harpe the euill spirit that troubled Saul departed from him and when wee get hearts to pray or praise the Lord doe we not find by experience that then our troubles are mitigated our perturbations pacified then Satan is confounded and we our selues are comforted these are the sweet effects of the soules harping vnto God Againe it noteth the sweet harmonie and concent that is among them They are many and haue seuerall Harpes but all agree in one sound and Song O how good and how comely a thing it is for brethren to dwell together O how great is the glory of Saints when they all speake one thing and all minde one thing This was the happinesse of the Primitiue Church the multitude of beleeuers was of one heart but shortly after were they diuided by an vnnecessarie schisme Some said I am Pauls and some I am Apollos The like preposterous zeale makes a great distemperature and discordant sound in many Professors of our time without any cause The euill is more then we can mend at least let vs mourne for it and pray
to beleeue his Word we are strong to resist Satan and he is not able to ouercome vs but if we forget the counsell of his Word we easily become a prey to our Aduersarie If we consider that we are called to be Kings to our God and hope to raigne for euer with him in heauen we will thinke shame to render our selues captiues to Satan Let vs looke backe to our first creation Animal es O homo principatu decoratum vt quid seruis affectibus Princeps creaturarum constitutus es dignitatem tuam abiicis Thou art a creature O man in thy first creation decored with Princely power why seruest thou thy affections Thou wast made the Lord of all creatures and castest away thy owne dignity Will we againe looke forward to our future glorification Non sperare potest coeleste regnum cui supra propria membra regnare non datur What hope can he haue to enioy the Kingdome of heauen who reigneth not ouer his owne members vpon earth Thus our first creation our present vocation our future glorification all of them require of vs that like spirituall Kings wee should subdue and ouercome the Deuill the world and the flesh Hee that ouercommeth shall sit with me in my Throne Our Priesthood againe consists in offering vp sacrifices to God and these may be reduced to three sorts first that we offer vp our hearts to the Lord this is the great sacrifice without which the Lord will accept nothing from vs My sonne giue me thy heart Next that we offer vp our bodies vnto him I beseech you brethren by the mercies of God that yee giue vp your bodies a liuing sacrifice holy and acceptable vnto God which is your reasonable seruing of God and this is done when we make the members of our bodie weapons of righteousnesse to God These are two then Cor Corpus the heart and the body the Lord will haue the seruice of them both Thirdly that we offer our goods vnto him as his glory and the necessity of his Saints do require it and this third sacrifice willingly followeth where the other two go before My sonne honour God with the first fruits of all thy encrease To do good and to distribute forget not for with such sacrifices God is pleased But now the hearts of men are locked vp and their hands are linked they feare to giue lest they haue not enough for themselues and the poore also but it is farre otherwise thy portion shall neuer perish by giuing out in ordinary charitie to the poore Quic quid in pauperes contuleris in coeli thesauris reconditum inâ—…enies what-euer thou bestowest on the poore thou shalt finde it laid vp in the heauenly Treasures Clementia dum licet clementiam acquire by shewing mercy when thou mayst purchase mercy to thy selfe These are all agreeable to holy Scripture Make thee friends of the riches of iniquity that they may receiue you into the euerlasting Tabernacles said our Sauiour So also the Apostle that by distributing and giuing to the poore men lay vp in store for themselues a good foundation for the time to come And we shall raigne vpon earth Vpon this place the Chiliasts ground their errour that after the Day of Iudgement the Saints shall dwell on earth a thousand yeeres at which time that Prophecie and others like it shall bee sulfilled The meeke shall possesse the earth And with this opinion many worthy Fathers in the Primitiue Church were ouertaken The Turkes also dreame of an earthly Paradise But let them passe For vnderstanding the true sense and meaning of this place we are to know that the earth in holy Scripture is sometime taken for the men that are in it Dauid cals them the men of this world these are they who as our Sauiour saith haue their portion in this life Saint Iohn commonly cals them in this Booke The Inhabitants of the earth These men are enemies to the children of God and persecute them with all their power they account them the Off-scourings of the earth and vnworthy to dwell in it But the Lord at length shall exalt his Saints and their enemies shall be made their foot-stoole Yea the soles of their feet the Lord shall lift vp aboue the heads of their greatest enemies for the wicked shall stand still vpon the earth when the godly shall be rauished and caught vp into the Aire yea the wicked themselues shall see it and shall be vexed with horrible feare when they see the man honoured whom they despised and shall say within themselues This is he whom sometime wee had in derision wee sooles thought his life madnesse and his end without honour how is hee counted among the children of God! and his portion is among Saints Now for this benefite which the Saints are sure to enioy to wit their finall victory and glorious exaltation aboue all their enemies they here praise the Lord and so hath his Maiestie most iudiciously expounded this difficult place Wee shall raigne ouer the earth at the last and generall Iudgement And this exposition is both very comfortable for Saints now lying vnder the oppression of their enemies and agreeth well with the Analogie of faith Otherwise if we take the word properly for this same earth wherein we soiourne then S. Peter tels vs that we haue to looke for new heauens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousnesse They lost their originall vertue and beautie by our transgression and shall receiue it againe and more at our restitution So are we taught by S. Paul The feruent desire of the creature waiteth when the sonnes of God shall be reucaled for then The creature also shall be deliuered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sonnes of God and then both heauen and earth renewed shall bee the proper possession of Saints renewed Where if any man demand To what vse shall this earth and visible heauens serue in that Kingdome of glorie The answer is We shall know it when we shall see it for if the Lord will restore them to stand as monuments and witnesses of that first goodnesse which hee shewed vs in the Creation and we lost in the Transgression and he hath restored againe with much more in our Redemption who can say against it But lest we seeme to pry within the Arke let our care be rather to prepare our selues then before-hand curiously to enquire of it that which now we cannot vnderstand and let vs remember that answer which Photinus the predecessor of Irenaeus gaue to the Proconsull when he demanded of him who God was He answered Et tu si dignus â—…ueris videbis Euen thou if thou be worthy or meet for it shalt see him So we if we be renewed men shall know to what vse in that Day these new heauens and new
earth shall serue vnto vs. Now there remaines one doubt to be cleared here how is this Canticle conuenient for Angels seeing they fell not how can they praise God for Redemption by his bloud The answer is first in the Song the Thankes-giuing may be distinguished from the reason of the Thankes Thou art worthy to take the Booke and open the Scales thereof there the thankes-giuing which is fitting both for Angels and redeemed Saints to giue vnto the Lambe but the reason Because thou wast killed more proper for redeemed Saints Secondly the Angels are also members of the Church they call themselues our brethren I am thy fellow seruant and one of thy brethren which haue the testimonie of Iesus And againe by the Apostle to the Hebrewes they are reckoned to be of one body and one fellowship with vs Wee are come to the coelestiall Ierusalem and companie of innumerable Angels Now as in the naturall body all the members haue their owne mutuall compassion when one is wounded the rest mourne with it and for it and againe all of them haue their owne mutuall contentment and congratulation in the good of others so that if one member be restored which was hurt the rest albeit they were not hurt reioyce with it So may we thinke that it is in the Mysticall Bodie and that the Angels being of one fellowship with vs glorifie God for our restitution for sith our Sauiour teacheth vs that they haue ioy in the conuersion of one sinner much more may we think they haue ioy in the Redemption of the whole company of Gods Elect. Thirdly the Angels haue their owne interest in the benefite of Redemption As all things were created by him which are in heauen and in earth visible and inuisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers so by him are all things reconciled and set at peace by the bloud of his Crosse both the things in earth and things in heauen Caluin expounds this both of Angels and Men let the iudicious Reader wisely consider his words and hee shall see that albeit there was no enmitie betweene Angels and the Lord because they sinned not yet for the setting of them at a perfect peace it was needfull they should bee made sure of their perseuerance in the state of innocencie which benefite they had not by their creation for the fall of some of them proues that of their owne nature they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mutable by will but that same grace of Iesus which raised vp Elect Men when they had fallen confirmes Elect Angels that now they cannot fall Qui erexit hominem lapsum dedit Angelo stanti ne laberetur I leaue that of Cyrillus Dicimus nos ex parte quadam de Deierga nos bonitate sed nescimus quanta ille Angelis condonauerit indulget enim illis quandoquidem ipse tantùm vnus est qui peccare non possit who thinkes that the Lord vseth his owne indulgence toward Angels it being his owne onely and proper glory that hee cannot sinne Fulgentius agrees with Bernard none other keepes the Angels that they fall not but the same grace which restored man when he had fallen Vna in vtroque gratia operata est in hoc vt surgeret in Angelo ne caderet One grace wrought in both in Man that he might rise and in the Angell that hee did not fall Thus are Angels benefited by the death of Iesus Christ. VERSE 11. Then I beheld and heard the voyce of many Angels round about the Throne and about the liuing creatures and the Elders and they were thousand thousands THe second part of the thanksgiuing is sung by Angels onely where we haue these foure circumstances First who they are that sing Secondly in what place of the Heauenly Court appeare they to Saint Iohn Thirdly their number and lastly what is their song They who sing this part are plainly called Angels different both in place and as it seemes in dignitie from the foure liuing creatures whom we expounded to be a principall chiefe company of Angels neerest to the Throne And S. Iohn ranketh them as they appeared vnto him That there is order among Angels is out of question Some hath been bold to set downe the manner therof out of Dionysius Areopagita whom the learned iustly suspect for the Fathers of that age had not so soone forgotten that Apostolike precept Let none presume aboue that which is written Elias who comments vpon Nazianzen distinguisheth the whole company of Angels into three ranks and placeth three orders in euery one of them In the first Cherubims Seraphims and Thrones In the second Dominions Armies and Powers In the third Principalities Archangels and Angels But these are naked speculations neither warranted by Scripture nor reason It had been better for him to haue kept the bounds of Nazianzen his modestie Angelis pro suae naturae et ordinis ratione tanta pulchritudinis copia est impressa vt secundaria quaedam lumina sint There is imprinted in Angels according to their nature and order such abundance of shining beautie as maketh them secondarie lights he acknowledges among them a distinction and an order yea diuersitie of orders but takes not vpon him to determine it And the like modestie vseth Augustine Qui fatetur se rationem huius distinctionis ignorare who confesseth that hee knowes not the reason of this distinction Their place is described to be about the Throne because they are the Gard of the great King which attend him not for his defence but for the execution of his will For thousand thousands minister vnto him and tenne thousand thousands stand before him But about the Church represented by foure and twenty Elders are they placed as a Gard appointed for our protection and defence The Angels of the Lord pitch their tents round about them who feare him These compassed Elisha in Dothan to keepe him from inuasion of the Syrian horses and Chariots How great their power is the destruction of Pharao his first borne by one Angel and of Senacherib his Armie by another may witnesse vnto vs. Dauid had a strong gard of Cherethits and Pelethits but the best of his Worthies were not comparable to one of these Warriers Here then is our comfort that as Damones Ecclesiam circumeunt ad deuorandum ita Angeli eam circumeunt vt custodiant As Satan with his legions of wicked spirits goeth about seeking to deuoure vs so these Angels and heauenly Armies stand about vs to defend are as an inuincible hedge between Satan and the Saints The third circumstance is of their number of it we haue spoken Chap. 4. 6. VERSE 12. Saying with a loud voice Worthy is the Lambe that was killed to receiue power and riches and wisedome and strength and honour and glory
Professors thinke needlesse now to be required but for mine owne part I would wish them in this and other laudable customes to be lesse nyce and scrupulous then they are The stile they giue vnto the Lord hath beene intreated before Our GOD is a liuing Lord in him selfe In Deo idem sunt viuens et vita and hee giues beeing and life to all things that are and liue A threefold life flowes from the Lord First of Nature Secondly of Grace Thirdly of Glorie Natures life is either Vegetatiue Sensible or Reasonable Little cause haue they to reioyce who haue no more but it For in the Vegetatiue life plants trees of the earth excell man In the Sensitiue life beasts and fowles are quicker in any sense then man And for the Reasonable life Pagans and heathen Philosophers haue farre exceeded euen those who are named Christians All our comfort then stands in this life of Grace now and life of glory hereafter The Lord make vs partakers of them for Christs sake CHAP. VI. VERSE 1. After I beheld when the Lambe had opened one of the Scales and heard one of the foure liuing creatures say as it were the noise of Thunder Come and see THE Vision of Preparation being ended in the two preceding Chapters as we haue declared before now followes the Visions of Prediction fore-telling things which shortly must be done And these are three euery one of them diducing the estate of the Church to the second comming of Christ vnto Iudgement As at more length wee haue shewed in Prolegomenis wherein the generall Method of the Reuelation is shortly set downe The first Propheticall Vision is contained in this sixt and the seuenth Chapter following for the seuenth is an appendix of this and hath in it a larger explication of the fifth and sixth Seale as God willing we shall heare so then the first Prophecie is absolued in six Seales whereof the last concludes with the Day of Iudgement for the seuenth Seale hath in her bosome the seuen Trumpets which make vp the second Prophecie of this Booke beginning at the eighth Chapter for till then the seuenth Seale is not opened and continuing to the end of the eleuenth there it concludeth with the Day of Iudgement The third Prophecie beginnes at the twelfth and continues to the one and twentieth whereof if the Lord please we will speake hereafter This first Prophecie as I said is generall for it containes a generall Prognostication and presents to vs a view of the estate of things as they will be to the worlds end whereof the summe is Christ shall go thorow the world vpon the Ministerie of his Word preaching the Gospell where and when it best pleaseth him This is prophecied in the first Seale like a crowned King and Conquerour hee hath gone out long agoe vpon his White Horse and so shall hee continue till hee ouercome But this victorie let not the Church looke that it shall be without bloud for Satan and his Instruments figured by the Red Horse and one riding on it shall in most cruell manner persecute the Preachers and Professors of the Gospell and this is fore-shewed in the second Seale but they shall not escape vnpunished for the Lord shall send out the Blacke Horse as is told in the third Seale and the Pale Horse who comes out at the opening of the fourth Seale By these two famine and pestilence vnder which all other horrible plagues of God are comprehended shall the Lord be reuenged on the world for contempt of his Gospell And because in these troubles many of the Saints of God shall suffer bodily death it is declared in the fift Seale how their soules rest in peace with God till the number of their brethren be fulfilled and then as they cry for iudgement so the great and last Day of Iudgement shall come as we see in the sixt Seale for we shall see in the next Chapter that the onely cause why Angels delay the execution of the last wrath for which the Soules of Martyrs vnder the Altar cry vnto God is that the seruants of the Lord are not yet sealed which being once done then shall the Lord recompense trouble to them that troubled his Church as in most fearefull manner is declared in the sixt Seale but shall render to his troubled Saints rest when the Lord Iesus shall shew himselfe from heauen with his mighty Angels as at length and most comfortably is set downe in the next Chapter from the tenth verse to the end And this any iudicious man that will reade without pre-conceiued opinion may easily consider that the seuenth chapter hath in it no Propheticall Prediction but onely a larger explanation of the fifth Seale in which Martyrs are willed to waite till their fellow-seruants be sealed and the secure and happy estate of Saints euen in suffering yea their glorious and ioyfull estate after suffering is at great length expressed before the comfortlesse estate of the wicked whereunto the sixt Seale deliuers them be touched at all Thus haue we the summe of this first and generall Prophecie Now before the opening of the first foure Seales S. Iohn is prepared where we haue these circumstances first what was S. Iohn doing when this Vision was presented to him to wit Beholding secondly who prepares and wakeneth him One of the foure liuing Creatures and thirdly what saith he to him Come and see The first is noted in these words After I beheld S. Iohn hitherto hath seene many glorious Visions and yet now hee lookes for more Sure it is that euery sight of heauenly things which Saints get prouokes them to a desire of more for there is not a greater argument of grace receiued then a feruent desire of further grace Beside the desire this beholding imports a constant consideration without wearying or wauering a stable and fixed minde with a perfect heart is required in them who would learne things heauenly The naturall eye if it bee closed or if it bee Circumactus tumbling and waltring in the head or then if it looke negligently cannot see nor take vp those things which are before it and so is it with the eye of the soule if it attend not stedfastly and carefully to heauenly things it cannot perceiue nor vnderstand them The second circumstance is by whom is hee prepared that is by one of the foure liuing creatures that is the first of the foure as the learned Interpreters haue sufficiently cleared They who expound these foure liuing Creatures to signifie the vvhole order of Preachers by the first of them vnderstand the first Preachers after the Apostles namely Quadratus and Aristides Ahentenses of the Church of Athens By the second againe Iustinus Martyr and Melito Sardenses of the Church of Sardis But this vnto me with the reuerence I owe to so laborious men seemes an idle speculation or if they will a Diuination without
Diuinity or warrant of the Word For S. Iohn heere is sent out to waken Preachers and Professors In the seuen Epistles he warnes euery Preacher of his duty and in the Prophecie of things to come he fore-warnes and armes Preachers and all Christians of such battels as are before them And how these Interpreters will bring in Preachers to be wakeners and warners of S. Iohn I vnderstand not Others againe who by the 4. Beasts vnderstand 4. Euangelists as Haymo Berengandus Carthusianus with many others before them and many also after them haue here occasion if they will embrace it to correct themselues◅ for there are here foure one after another who waken S. Iohn if they be foure Euangelists then Saint Iohn must bee the fifth or else yee must say that hee warned himselfe Ribera the Iesuit is the onely man of any that I haue seene who moueth the doubt for he dotes with the rest of his fellowes in that common conceit that the 4. Beasts are the 4. Euangelists he sees here a manifest light arguing the contrary yet doth he what he can to defend that which he had learned from the darke Lights and Doctors of Rome It would pittie a man to see how he pyneth himselfe in wrestling against a cleere verity Therefore we adhere to our former interpretation that these foure Beasts signifie a company of principall Angels who are neerest the Throne and that by one of them S. Iohn is wakened prepared For albeit the Lord in his ordinarie working teacheth men by the Ministerie of Men and not by Angels yet in his extraordinarie working so long as his Wisedome thought expedient to vse it hee hath taught men euen by Angels And in that the Voice of the Angel who wakeneth him is said to haue bene like the noise of Thunder it is first for the matter it selfe to tell vs that great and fearefull things are heere fore-told vnto vs next for the person of S. Iohn to whom they are reuealed that hee might bee stirred vp to receiue them the more reuerently he was at the first wakened with a Voice like a Trumpet and now hee is wakened with a Noise like Thunder And this done to him a diuine man and heauenly disposed may and should warne vs of our great weakenesse sluggishnesse and senselesse securitie O what need haue we to be wakened as oft as the Lord is content to speak vnto vs Peter Iames and Iohn notwithstanding they had seene the glory of Christ transfigurate on the Mountain yet being with him in the Garden albeit he required nothing of thē but that they would watch and pray he burthened them not to drinke of his bitter cup but onely willed them to pray yet they fell asleep and albeit he wakened them both the first second time yet the third time hee came and found them sleeping againe In them let vs see our own weakenesse we haue need not once but often to be wakened or else the Lord may speake but we shall heare in vaine and sleepe in carelesse security The third circumstance is the warning it selfe which is giuen him Come and see Our Sauiour hath the same dictum to the two Disciples of S. Iohn who demanded of him Rabbi where dwelst thou Come see said our Lord. A summary short sentence yet indeed the summe of all the one is a precept for this life Come All duties the Lord requires of thee are comprised in this one word Come for it imports that we must go out of our selues follow our Lord. The other is a promise for the life to come And see except we come we cannot see and when we come we shall see that which the eye neuer saw and the eare neuer heard All our Duty here stands in comming all our Reward there shall be in seeing But this warning of the Angell to S. Iohn is not so generall onely tels him that vnlesse he come he cannot see we must forget all things beside we must forsake our selues and go out of our selues or else the Lord cannot nor will not be familiar with vs to acquaint our soules with the comfortable knowledge of things heauenly and spirituall VERSE 2. Therefore I beheld and loe there was a White Horse and hee that sate on him had a Bowe and a Crowne was giuen vnto him and he went forth conquering that he might ouercome VVE come now to the opening of the first Seale wherein these sixe points are to be considered first the Rider secondly his Horse thirdly the colour of his Horse fourthly his Armour fifthly his Ornaments sixthly his Errand Viega the Iesuit will haue these Horses to be the Romane Empire the Riders on them to be sundry Emperours and this Rider on them to be sundry Emperours and this Rider on the white Horse he saith is Caius Caligula Thus the Seraphic Doctors of Rome are like men groping in darkenes writing what they will but without a warrant That this Rider on the white Horse is the Lord Iesus is cleere out of the 19. Chap. Here in the beginning of the battel he appeares riding on a white horse there again neere the end of the Battel he appeares with his Warriours riding on a white Horse it is told vs that this Rider and mighty Conquerour he is faithfull and true and in righteousnesse hee doth iudge and make war his Name is called The Word of God King of Kings and Lord of Lords If men would confer Scripture with Scripture there would no place be left to their idle speculations And this same collation of these two places reproues them who limit the Rider on the white Horse vnto a certaine time some to the destruction of Ierusalem and others to the daies of Constantine they defraud the Church of great comfort for so long shall this valiant man of warre fight on Horsebacke till hee haue made all his enemies his footestoole and deliuered his Saints from their oppression If it be demanded here seeing Christ is the opener of the Seale how is hee also reuealed by the Seale The answer is easie Iesus Christ is so infinite a Good and his blessing so manifold that many manner of waies is he shadowed vnto vs yea in one and the selfe-same Vision sundry waies figured Hee is the Reuealer and the Thing reuealed the Teacher and the Matter which is taught the Sacrifice and the Sacrificer the Way and Hee who guides vs in the way Certainely if we knew what an incomparable iewell Iesus is we would with the Apostle account all things dung in comparison of him The next point is the Horse whereupon Christ rideth the exposition of this is to be sought from the Psalmist where Christ euen as here is described going out like a valiant King Gird thy sword vpon thy Thigh O most Mighty and prosper with thy glorie ride vpon the word of truth meekenesse and
the right way that he go not where-away he will himselfe but as the rider directs him So is it with Preachers we are many times inclined to faint and loyter in our calling to waken vs some Cananites must be stirred vp to bee pricks in our sides or else within vs God stirreth vp our owne Conscience to put vpon vs. And as to the other he bridles the mouthes of his seruants he opens them to speake how and when he pleases In that houre it shall be giuen you what ye shal say for it is not ye that speake but the Spirit of your Father that speakes in you Againe he closeth their mouth when he sees it expedient So said he to Ezekiel I shall cause thy tongue cleane to the roofe of thy mouth In a word as I said before that hee carries Preachers from place to place according to his pleasure so in preaching hee carries them from purpose to purpose hee puts in their heads that which they intended not to haue spoken hee makes them forget that which they thought sure to haue deliuered and so ouer-rules their memorie and bridles their mouth that still hee makes them his owne purpose Happy yea thrise happie are they who this way are ruled by the Lord. A notable example heereof wee haue in Augustine for Possidonius records of him that in a certaine Sermon his memory failed him and that beside his intention and purpose hee fell out into a discourse against the Manichaeans When he was come home hee demaunded of them who dined with him if they had marked it They said indeed they had to whom he answered Credo quod forte aliquem errantem in populo Dominus per nostram obliuionem et errorem doceri curari voluerit It may be as I thinke that by my obliuion and miscarrying from my purpose to speak against that heresie GOD will haue some among the people to be taught and cured of it Nam in eius manu sunt et nos et Sermones nostri for in his hand are both our selues and our speeches to frame them as he will And so indeed it was as the man of God tooke it for within two dayes Firmus a Manichaean came to him and shewed him how by the same Sermon he had been conuerted Vnde stupentes glorificauimus sanctum eius nomen qui cum voluerit et vnde voluerit et quomodo voluerit et per scientes et nescientes salutem Sanctorum operatur Whereupon they who were in Augustines company much astonished glorified the holy Name of God who when he will and as he will by witting vnwitting Preachers works the saluation of Saints Let this glory be reserued to the Lord he works saluation oftentimes by Preachers that Preachers know not of themselues The Preacher knowes not your troubles your tentations nor the estate of your soules yet euery Professor prepared reuerently to heare thinks that the Preacher speakes vnto him but this as I haue said is the finger of God who by the ministery of one speaketh and worketh in many as he will The third point is the colour of the horse he is said to be a white horse the white colour noteth two things first puritie and holines that should be in Preachers the Lord will not ride vpon vncleane beasts nor haue his Name carried through the world by profane men he will not he cannot worke with an vnsanctified Ministerie A fearfull example whereof we haue â—…in Ophni and Phinees two sonnes of Eli with the wickednesse of their liues they had made the people to abhorre the sacrifices of God yet thought they to couer the iniury vnder the garment of God and to saue themselues in battell against the Philistims by bearing the Arke of God on their shoulders yet was the Lord so displeased with them that hee chose rather to suffer his Arke to be captiued of vncircumcised Philistims then to maintaine it in the hands of so profane men as they were they suffered their iust deserued punishment but the Lord pleaded the cause of his owne glory and brought home the Arke againe Let them therefore be cleane who carry the vessels of the Lord let vs study to be holy the Lord will not ride but vpon white horses Vita munda ipsa est luce fulgentior a holy life is brighter then light it selfe Secondly the white colour signifies the ioyfulnesse of the message which they bring there is no black nor dolefull thing in it In holy Scripture when Angels appeared to bring good tydings we find them clothed in white and among men it hath been customably vsed for a signe of gladnesse The Emperours of Rome in their solemne triumphs had their Chariots drawne with white horses Pomponius writes of the horse which drew Dioclesian his Chariot Quòd candore cum niue certabant that in whitenes they contended vvith the snow So then by the white Horse the Gospell is declared to be a ioyfull message Reioyce O Sion for thy King commeth riding vnto thee and that vpon his white Horse in token of ioy to his owne and triumphant victory ouer his enemies Great ioy was in Ierusalem when Dauid brought the Arke into it Great ioy in Samaria when Philip preached the Gospel vnto them Beautifull are the feet of them who bring the glad tydings of peace But miserable are they who find neither peace nor ioy in the preaching of the Gospel these may be sure that dolefull tydings abide them The fourth point to be considered here is his Armour He had a bowe No mention is made here of arrowes but in the 45. Psalme arrowes are ascribed to him without mention of a bowe Thine arrowes are sharpe to pierce the heart of the Kings enemies Thus collation of Scripture is the best interpretation of Scripture In old time the chiefe weapons vsed in warre were bowes and slings the one we may see out of the Psalmist The children of Ephraim being armed and shooting with the bowe turned back in the day of battell the other out of the booke of Iudges The Beniamites had seuen hundred chosen men who could sling stones at an haire breadth and not faile Our Lord then is a man of warre an expert Archer he hitteth the mark whereat he shooteth and faileth not it is long ere hee bend his bowe and when he hath bended the longer he drawes the deeper he fastneth his arrow quò diutiùs expectat districtiùs iudicabit Let not wicked men please themselues in their sinnes because the Lord spares to shoote at them The Lord laughes the wicked to scorne because he sees his day comming Let the patience of God lead men to repentance for except they turne he hath bent his bowe and made it readie he hath prepared him deadly weapons will ordaine his arrowes for them that persecute his Saints Two sorts of arrowes shootes the Lord
first arrowes of iudgement against the wicked these he fastneth so deeply in the soules of his enemies and bodies also that repine as they will they cannot shake off the sense of his wrath but are confounded therewith Such an arrow shot hee at Iudas he might not abide but desperately hanged himselfe which yet helped not to release him of his paine Such an arrow directed he in the battell against Iulian as forced that scornfull Apostate to confesse that hee fought against an inuincible Conquerour Vicisti tandem Galilaee Next hee hath arrowes of mercy which hee shootes at his owne and wherewith hee vvounds them that he may cure them and these are of two sorts the one worketh a sense of sinne with feare of wrath for so he works with his children to terrifie them with the sense of wrath that he may waken them to eschew the wrath to come Such arrowes shot he at Dauid Thine arrowes haue light vpon me and thy hand lyeth vpon me He expounds himselfe incontinent For mine iniquities are gone ouer my head and as a waighty burden they are too heauy for me Such arrowes also shot he at Iob. The arrowes of the Almighty are in me the venim whereof doth drinke vp my spirit and the terrors of GOD fight against me These are sharp and fearfull and heauy for the present but healthfull and profitable in the end I note it for this cause that the children of God should not suffer themselues to be ouercome with griefe when they are exercised with such terrors of mind The other sort of his arrowes worketh in his Saints a sense of mercy which ingendreth loue he fastneth their harts knits them to himselfe that they vvander no more from him Of these speaketh the Church Vulnerata sum amore I am wounded and sick vvith loue By these arrovves Amor excitatur interitus non cōparatur loue is vvakened destruction is not procured In a vvord these are the two operations of the Spirit vvhereby GOD vvorks the saluation of his children Ye haue not receiued the spirit of bondage to feare againe but ye haue receiued the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father He beginneth to feare terrifie vs these are his first arrowes but in the end hee comforts vs these are his second arrowes many of them may the Lord shoote at vs. The fist point touched here is his ornament A crowne was giuen vnto him Two sundry wayes find we Christ crowned They platted a Crown of thorns and put vpon his head Thornes are the fruite of our sinnes Cursed is the earth for thy sake thornes thistles shall it beare vnto thee These are the best flowers vvhich the earth could giue were it not that by Iesus the curse is remoued and of these cursed fruits of the earth our sinnes procured a garland to be set vpon the head of our Lord. Quale oro sertum pro vtroque sexu subiit ex spinis opinor tribulis in figuram delictorum nostrorū we should neuer thinke of that thornie and pricking crowne set vpon the head of the God of glory but our soules should be humbled and our hearts pricked vvith sorrow for our sinnes which procured it The other is a crowne of glory But now we see Iesus crowned with glory and honour Except wee be content to beare the first with him we shall not be partakers of the second No man is crowned except hee strine as he ought The last point is his errand Hee went foorth conquering that he might ouercome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Here are two wordes one in the present time the other in the future declaring that from the beginning he hath been victorious and so will be to the end and herein stands his victory to deliuer his Saints from the hand of their enemies till at length he make his enemies his footstoole This is his errand and hee shall continue riding and fighting vpon his white horse till he haue fully finished and done it They are therefore much mistaken as wee said before who bound the course of the white horse within certaine yeeres some to the destruction of Ierusalem and some to the dayes of Constantine They who so limit him spoyle the Church of great comfort but say they what they will we say with this Prophecie Our Conqueror is stil riding on his white horse and so shall continue vntill he ouercome And we haue yet here this further comfort that where other Warriers goe out to battell vvith a carnall considence which often faileth them as we may see in Senacherib Antiochus and many such our Captaine Conqueror comes out not to a doubtfull battell the euent whereof is vncertaine but as a crowned victorious King sure at the last to ouercome Many of his enemies hath he put downe by his hand already and couered their face with shame Where are now the first Persecuters no better successe shall the remanent haue The enmity was proclaimed in Paradise and therewith the euent foretold The seed of the Woman shall bruise the head of the Serpent Victorie is sure for we fight not as men vncertain but certain Great opposition in all ages hath bin made to this crowned King yea many times would it seem his white horse hath been slaine vnder him The Baptist beheaded Steuen stoned Peter executed Preachers martyred but he hath still others in readines Paul may be bound the Word of the Lord cannot be bound This King shall furnish horses armor all needfull for the battell till he obtaine the victory It should greatly animate vs to the battell that we are sure before-hand Iesus Christ in the ministery of his Word shall preuaile oppose who will VERSE 3. And when he had opened the second seale I heard the second liuing creature say Come and see AT the opening of the second seale the second Vision is exhibited to the Church warning them that the happy successe of the Gospel foretold in the first seale will not be without bloudie persecution for Sathan shall stirre vp the bloudy beasts on whom he rides to afflict such as carrie the Name and testimonie of Christ through the world but what they intend by way of persecution against the Church the Lord shall turne it into a plague by which they themselues shall be punished and therefore are the Saints forewarned of it that they may be prepared for patient suffering when the Persecution shall come In this verse the preparation goes before and in the next verse the Vision followes In the preparation Saint Iohn is warned by the second of the liuing creatures to attend the opening of the second seale They who expound the foure liuing creatures to be the Preachers of the Word as by the first they vnderstand Quadratus and Aristides Athenienses so by the second they vnderstand Iustinus Martyr and Melito Sardensis by the third
not be esteemed the greatest good and such euill as godly men suffer should not be esteemed the greatest euill That great good prepared for the godly wicked men shall neuer see it and that great euill prepared for the wicked shall neuer come vpon the godly The last plague threatned here is the plague of deuouring beasts one of God his ordinary iudgements wherby he punisheth the pride of man The creatures are appointed to serue vs yea al of them from the Angell to the creeping worme offers their seruice to vs if wee will serue the Lord our God so hath he promised I will make a couenant for them with the wilde beasts and with the fowle of the heauen and with that which creepeth vpon the earth Otherwise if we rebell against him they are all armed against vs to execute his vengeance vpon vs. This plague of deuouring beasts we shall find threatned in the Law executed also on the idolatrous Samaritans on the disobedient prophet on the two and forty children who mocked Elisha two Beares out of the wood deuoured them And since the time of this Prophecie how God hath punished men by most contemptible beasts see Plinius he records that a towne of Spayne was vndermined by the Conies another in Thessalia by the Modewart a towne in France oppressed with Paddocks they forced the inhabitants to forsake their own houses and in Gyaro a Citie in the I le of the Ciclades the inhabitants were so persecuted with the Mice that they were also faine to leaue it Thus can the Lord by his basest creatures abase the high and lofty conceits of men Now to conclude these first foure seales this is to be obserued there is one thing which God offreth and the world will not receiue it there are three things for this that the world would haue and God will not giue them The Lord offers by the ministery of his Gospel mercy and grace this is one thing and yet such a one as hath all needfull things following it but the worldly sort careth not for it Instead of it three things they seek 1. Outward peace 2. Worldly wealth 3. Bodily health But none of these three shall they enioy They will not accept of peace offred from heauen and the Lord takes from them the peace of the earth they disdaine and lothe the bread of life and God takes from them the bread of corne they care not for the health of their soule and the Lord takes from them the health of their bodies Let vs be wise and welcome the first message for they who despise it multiply sorrowes vpon themselues VERSE 9. And when hee had opened the fift seale I saw vnder the Altar the soules of them that were killed for the Word of God and for the testimony which they maintained BEcause both good men and euill are inuolued in the same externall calamities the sword famine and pestilence which are sent vpon the wicked ouertakes also many a time the children of God therefore for their comfort their happy state after this life is here discouered by the opening of this seale and a difference is declared between their death and the death of the wicked euen when their death to the iudgement of man seemeth to be one for where Hell followes the death of the one the other by the same death are transported to a blessed fellowship with Christ in heauen I saw the soules Hee saw not this sight with his naturall eyes his bodily senses at this time were suspended and he was rauished in the Spirit and by it he saw this sight A strange maner of speech that a soule should see soules yet comparing this sight with the sight vvhich Saint Paul saw vvhen he was rauished to the third Heauen it teacheth vs that there is a sight vvhich Saints out of the bodie haue of GOD and a mutuall sight also vvhereby soules know one another which wee are not able to conceiue nor know till we learne it by experience It is commonly asked by many vvhether if or not vve shall know one another in heauen but it were better for vs all carefully to purge our hearts in time and prepare them for that sight Blessed are the pure in spirit for they shall see God and Whosoeuer hath this hope in him purges himselfe as God is pure Let it be an answer to vs all which Photinus Bishop of Lyons gaue to the Proconsull when hee demaunded who God was the other answered Et tu si dignus fueris videbis Thou if thou bee meet for it shalt see who he is Adam was sleeping when God formed Euah of a ribbe of his side hee knew it not but when he wakened incontinent he knew her albeit none informed him what she was This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh and in the transfiguration wherein our Lord gaue to his disciples a glance of the glory to come Peter Iames and Iohn knew Moses and Elias whom they had neuer seene before By these examples learned Diuines haue beene induced to thinke that Saints shall know other in Heauen yea Adam Abraham and that blessed fellowship of Patriarchs and Prophets shall not be vnknowne to vs. The Lord shall let vs want nothing that may increase our ioy yet so that our knowledge shall be without all carnall affection and all our ioy shall euer be in God the fountaine and Father of mercy to them and vs also Alway here we haue an euident argument for the immortality of the soule it dyes not with the body it sleepes not but liues without the body a blessed life albeit not perfit without it Yea euen when it is in the body to giue life vnto it we may perceiue by experience that it hath a life of it owne without it for when the body is asleep and lyes vnder the shadow of death and all the senses thereof are suspended from their naturall functions the soule hath its owne liuely operation meditation and discoursing And sith so is that Connexa corpori extra corpus viuit when it is knit to the body it liueth without the body why shall we doubt but that when it is dissolued and separate from the body it shall still liue by it selfe The place wherein he sees them is noted to be Vnder the Altar by which the Iesuit Viega wandring cleane frō the truth vnderstands the places where the bodies of Martyrs lye buried It contents him not to haue their superstitious Altars honoured with the bones or reliques of Martyrs he will haue their soules there also at least comming to it when they are inuocated and called vpon But this Altar is called in the next verse A place of their rest or residence from which they haue not a going nor a returning againe vnto it But to leaue such Doctors with their doting dreams this altar
signifies the Lord Iesus in whose happy fellowship and societie now they liue sub Altari id est in secretario laudis aeternae quod est sublime Altare triumphantis Ecclesiae vel sub Christi custodia et quiete This Altar is in heauen not in earth it is the high Altar of the Church triumphant their soules are in custody and quiet rest with Christ. Againe another of their owne so expounds it Sub Altari id est sub protectione et confortio Christi Vnder the Altar that is vnder the protection and fellowship of Christ. This Altar is otherwise called Paradise This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise and The bosome of Abraham and the hands of the Lord Into thine hands O Lord I commend my spirit It is also called A place before the Throne where the Lord and the Lambe and the seuenfold Spirit is Of it speakes our Sauiour Father I will that those whom thou hast giuen mee be where I am This is the place of glorified soules Neither doe those Diuines reason very diuinely who say Christ cannot be this Altar because he is the Sacrifice for he is both the Sacrifice the Sacrificer and the Altar For he offred himselfe by his eternall Spirit There it is plaine that hee is the Sacrifice or thing offred and the Sacrificer also The Altar in like manner hee must be for the Altar sanctifies the Sacrifice Now by none other was our Sauiour sanctified but by himselfe none other Altar could commend him or make him acceptable to his Father his Diuinitie sanctified his humanity and his humanity was offred by his Diuinitie and vpon it Therefore to say that another not himselfe can sacrifice him or that he can be sacrificed vpon any other Altar but vpon himselfe is as great blasphemy as to bring in another sacrifice whereby the iustice of God may be satisfied Let presumptuous blinded Masse Priests consider this That were killed that is he sawe the soules of those bodies that were killed for the Word of God Death then wee see strikes but the body Feare not them who kill the body and can do no more It is like to Nebuchadnezzar his fire which burnt the cords wherewith the three children were bound but burnt not their bodies so death can do no more but loose our bands and set our soules at liberty What shall separate vs from the loue of Christ shall tribulation or anguish or persecution or perill or sword No in all these things wee are more then Conquerors through him that loued vs. For I am perswaded neither death nor life can separate vs from the loue of God which is in Christ. Let it come and disioyne the soule from the body that it may conioyne vs with Christ. For the Word of God There is no Religion so false but it hath its own Patrones who will defend it yea and dare die for it Satan as he hath his owne Apostles so hath he also his owne Martyrs Martyres Satanicae virtutis wee must alway take heed to the cause of suffering Non poena sed causa facit Martyrem therefore he ioynes these two For the Word and testimonie which they maintained It is nothing to stand to a testimonie nay though thou shouldst die for it vnlesse thou iustifie by the Word that thy testimony is true VERSE 10. And they cryed with a lowd voice saying How long Lord Holy and True Dost thou not iudge and auenge our bloud on them that dwell on the earth NOW followes in this Verse the supplication which these soules of Martyrs send vp to God in the next verse the answer which is giuen thē The voice by which they send vp their supplication is called a crying not vocall but spirituall noting the feruencie of their desires for the words of soules whereby they speake vnto God are their feruent desires Magnus eorum clamor magnum est desiderium tum Resurrectionis tum Iudicii Their great cry is their great desire both of the Resurrection and of the Iudgement to come A small desire makes but a small voice in the Lords eares but a seruent desire causes a lowd voice Animarum igitur verba ipsa sunt desideria si desiderium sermo non esset non diceret Propheta Desiderium cordis eorum andiuit auris tua that is If the desire of the soule were not a speech vnto God the Prophet would not haue said Thou hast heard the desire of their heart How long Lord It is here demanded How is this that Saints cry for vengeance Are we not commanded to loue our enemies and to pray for them To this some Diuines answer that it is not they but the sinnes of the wicked done to them that cryes for a vengeance And they obserue that there are foure crying sinnes first the filthy sin of Sodome Because the cry of Sodome and Gomorah is great I will go downe now and see whether if or not they haue done altogether according to the cry which is come vnto me Next the oppression of the widdow and fatherlesse Thou shalt not trouble any widdow nor fatherlesse childe if thou trouble such and he cry vnto me I will heare his cry Thirdly the detaining fraudulently of the wages of worke-men is also a crying sinne Thou shalt giue an hired seruant his hire for his day for hee is poore and therewith sustaineth his life lest he cry against thee vnto the Lord and it be sinne vnto thee And againe The hire of the labourers holden back by fraud cryes and enters into the eares of the Lord of Hosts Fourthly innocent bloud cryes to the Lord for vengeance against them that shed it The voice of thy brothers bloud cryes to me from the ground And so here the bloud of Martyrs cryes But there is here further to be added that this cry of theirs is their own and proceeds not of any passion or desire of their priuate reuenge but onely of a zeale to the glory of God whose holinesse and truth they desire to be manifested as may be perceiued by the titles they giue the Lord in their prayer Non carnali sensu credendum est eos animositate vltionis accendi sed manifestum est contra potestatem regnum peccati or asse Adueniat regnum tuum Wee are not with carnall sense to beleeue that they were kindled with any heat of reuenge it is manifest they pray against the kingdome of sinne And in effect the summe of their prayer is Lord let thy Kingdome come Quid est animas vindictae petitionem dicere nisi diem extremum Iudicii resurrectionem corporum desiderare What else is it that Saints are said to cry for to be auenged but that they earnestly desire the day of Iudgement and Resurrection of their bodies Hoc dicunt non poenam malis optando sed voluntati Dei
the Lambe be turned to them in the terrible face of a Lyon and as I said mercy despised shall torment them more then iudgement inflicted The other thing that perturbes the wicked is within them a sensible infirmity in themselues through the guiltie conscience that makes them vnable to stand before the Lord Who can stand The wicked are as the chaffe which the winde driueth away they shall not stand in iudgement Let vs beware of both these see wee despise not mercy offered let vs carefully purge our conscience Who shall ascend into the Mountaine of the Lord Who shall stand in his holy place He that hath innocent hands and a pure heart So shall that Day of the Lord fearefull to the wicked be vnto vs a ioyfull day of Redemption and of sweet Refreshment The Lord grant we may so finde it CHAP. VII VERSE 1. And after that I saw foure Angels stand on the foure corners of the earth holding the foure windes of the earth that the winds should not blow on Earth nor Sea nor any Tree THIS Chapter is a pendicle of the precedent and appertaines to the first Prophecie of this Booke which we called Generall In it per Anabasin we haue a larger explication of the fifth and sixth Seales with a notable consolation for the godly presently subioyned after the Prediction of that most fearefull desperate and comfortlesse end of the wicked which shortly will come vpon them For there we heard all manner of reprobate men sorrowfully lamenting and crying that Mountaines might couer them Here we are all told that the godly shall not be inuolued with them in their desperate estate the Lord by his owne Seale separates them from the wicked and foreshewes that happy estate wherein they shall liue for euer and euer The Chapter hath two parts the first enlarges that which hath beene briefly set downe in the fift and sixt Seale for in the fift Seale Saints cry for a dissolution of the world and for finall iudgement to auenge their bloud on them who dwell on earth there they are desired to rest vntill their fellow-seruants were fulfilled In the sixt Seale that dissolution of the world and iudgement on the wicked craued by Saints and promised by the Lord is represented to S. Iohn Both these in the first part of this seuenth Chapter are more cleerely expounded For first S. Iohn sees foure Angels standing at the foure corners of the earth ready to ouerturne the world and to fold it vp like an old Vesture as was figured in the sixt Seale and this we haue ver 1. Next these Angels are inhibited and forbidden to destroy the world vntill the seruants of God be first sealed and secured as was promised in the fift Seale and this we haue ver 2. 3. together with the number of them that are sealed till we come to the thirteenth verse From that to the end is described the happie condition of Saints set downe in plaine termes and directly opposite to that wofull condition of Reprobates mentioned in the sixt Seale so this from ver 15. to the end makes vp the second part of this Chapter The first part letting vs see how the world is conserued till Saints be fulfilled and sealed the other part shewing vs their ioyfull and happy estate Wherein it is very comfortable to obserue the opposition which is made betweene the miserable estate of the wicked in the end of the sixt chapter and happy estate of Saints in the end of this seuenth They had shed the bloud of the seruants of God and therefore the Moone with a bloudie face lookes vpon them and all creatures concurre to bee auenged of them Heere the Saints come safe through all these tribulations and make their Robes white in the bloud of the Lambe There the Sunne waxed black and withdrew his light from the wicked heere Saints haue no need of the light of the Sunne for the Lamb gouernes them ver 16. 17. And the glory of God and the Lamb is their light Againe there the wicked flie from the presence of God and may not abide it but here Saints are in the presence of the Throne of God ver 15. There the wicked cry that Mountaines might hide them from him that sits on the Throne but here hee that sitteth on the Throne dwelleth among his Saints and they serue him for euer ver 15. These things thus compared together may let the iudicious Reader see how this Chapter is a proper pendicle of the sixt explaining at length some things shortly and obscurely set downe in the former So that in these two Chapters we haue the first Prophecie of this Booke which I call generall absolued and in the beginning of the eighth Chapter we are to looke for a second Prophecie which continues to the twelfth And I saw foure Angels This Verse as I haue said lets vs see how the Angels standing at the foure corners of the earth are ready to ouerturne the world and to fold it vp like an old Vesture if the Lord did not stay them That they are said to be foure is a certaine number for an vncertaine yet imports it that they are sufficient for one at euery corner of a sheet or vesture as the Psalmist termeth this Vniuerse are able enough to fold it vp What these Angels are whether good or euill is disputed among the Diuines but without a cause for sometime by good Angels the Lord punisheth euill men as was done to the Egyptians Sodomites and Assyrians sometime by euill Angels hee exerciseth good men so S. Paul was buffeted with an Angell of Satan for maruellous is the Lord in working with his Saints Satan in his fighting against them fights for them and destroies himselfe into them But that these are good Angels appeares by the speech which Christ vseth vnto them ver 2. Hurt not the earth till wee haue sealed the seruants of our God in their fore-head hee speakes to Angels hee speakes of Saints redeemed and inuolueth them both in the fellowship of one God with himselfe Beside this the execution of that last Iudgement is commonly ascribed to the holy Angels The Lord shall descend from heauen with a showt and with the Voice of the Arch-Angell and with the Trumpet of God And againe When the Sonne of man shall come in his glory the holy Angels shall also come with him then shall the sheepe bee separated from the Goates That this shall be done by Angels is euident in the Parable of the Haruest The Haruest is the end of the world the Reapers are the Angels And to this same purpose Angels here are brought in as executors of the last Iudgement to ouer-turne the world Holding the foure windes of the earth I leaue here those allegoricall interpretations whereby this is expounded to be the restraint of the Gospell which is the breathing of the holy Spirit
multitude for it is said No man could number them Next their varietie they are of all Nations and people Thirdly their vnity in their action and song common to them all These three coniunctly doe greatly augment the glory and felicity of Saints redeemed As for their multitude The Lord promised to make the seed of Abraham in number like the stars of heauen and sand of the sea Some of the Fathers by the starres of heauen will haue Israelites to be figured and by the sand of the sea Gentiles Howeuer that be it is plaine out of this place that the number of elected Gentiles doth farre exceed the number of elected Iewes Multitude as I said doth greatly increase the glory of Saints Euery one of them by themselues are beautifull glorious and maruelous creatures but all of them coniunctly in one multitude and fellowship make their beautie and glorie farre greater For one of them hinders not another one of them derogates not from another it is so with multitudes of men on earth but not so with the multitude of Saints in heauen the moe in nuÌ„ber they be the greater is the ioy glory of all Thus in the first creation the Lord considering euery one of his works seuerally said of them And the Lord saw it was good But when he looked vpon all coniunctly then it is said And God saw all that he had made loe it was very good Their variety is noted here that they were of all nations kindreds people tongues and yet their variety is no impediment to their vnity for they all sing one song as we shal heare shortly Of this we learn that the Church in not bound to any one nation or place as the Donatists of old would haue it included in such places of Afric as pleased them and Papists now will acknowledge no church but Romane Shall Churches of other Nations Tongues be no Churches because they are not Romane I know all Churches are of one communion but the band of their coÌ„munion is their faith in Christ who is the head of them all and not their profession of subiection to the Sea of Rome that is but the Beast his vsurpation and can no way be shewed or proued to descend from Diuine dispensation Shall that most ancient Church of the East composed of Grecians a Nation acknowledged by her aduersaries to be a Mother Church in whose language the new Testament was written of Syrians in which tongue the Son of God pronounced his Oracles of Slauonians Russians 〈◊〉 and others in whose bosome are almost all the Apostolike Seas and in whose Iurisdiction were celebrate souen Vniuersall Councelâ—… shall 〈◊〉 East Church I say be no Church because it speakes not the Romane tongue Or shall the Patriarch of Constantinople President thereof be no Patriarch because he is not subject to the Pope of Rome No sure it is many thousands of good Christians are among them Or shall the South Church which containeth the Nubians the Abyssines subiects of the King of Ethiop otherwise called Prester-Iohn beside many other scaâ—…ered in Egypt Arabia Caldea with their Primate resident in Caire called Patriarch of Alexandria and his deputy or substitute in Ethiop called Abuâ—… that is Our Father who look for the remission of their sins in the bloud of Iesus haue their Leiturgies not so agreeable to the Church of Rome as to the Churches reformed And beside those shall the Christians of Tartaria in the North Persâ—… and the Kingdomes of the East Indies with their Prelate resident at Seleucia Shall all these bee no Churches no Christians Sith they hold the Christian faith suppose with different Ceremonies Shall these be reiected because they are not Romane and professe not subiection to the Bishop of Rome I speake not of the Churches reformed in Germany England Scotland France Flanders Swethia Poland I know the Church of Rome accounts these for hereticall But it is now more then three hundred yeeres since Reinerius an Inquisitor gaue vnto them this testimonie atleast to their fathers and predecessors They called them Waldenses Leonistae and by other such like opprobrious names But this Sect hath beene of longer continuance then any other for some say it hath endured since the time of Siluester others say it hath endured since the Apostles time Secondly it is more generall then any other for there is almost no Land to which this Sect doth not creepe Thirdly all other Sects do bring in an horrour with the haynousnesse of their blasphemies against God but this Sect of the Leonists hath a great shew of godlinesse because they liue iustly before men and beleeue all things well concerning God and all the Articles contained in the Creed Onely they blaspheme and hate the Church of Rome It is not then to be thought that the Christian Church of Gentiles is to be restrained to the Church of Rome No but the Christian Church hath in her bosome some of all Nations Kindreds People and Tongues who keep the faith of Iesus and are not for that no Christians because not Romane Stood before the Throne Their standing notes their firmenesse and stabilitie in glory they shall neuer fall from it againe Adam was created in a happie estate hee continued not long in it hee had his saluation in his owne keeping and he easily lost it but with Saints redeemed it is not so Secondly it notes that they are in great fauour with the Lord gracious and acceptable to him They are not licenced to stand in the presence of Princes with whom Princes are displeased therefore Haman when they saw the King angry with him they couered his face and carried him out to the Gibbet and hanged him In the end of the last Chapter the wicked cryed out Who can stand but heere Saints are brought in standing before the Throne For the Lord loueth them hee delights in his Saints yea he hath promised that hee himselfe shall bee a Crowne of glory and Diademe of beautie to his people But of this God willing more hereafter And thirdly their standing may imporâ—… their promptnesse and readinesse to attend the praise and the seruice of the Lord our God Cloathed in long white Robes The white Robe is ascribed to them to note first that they are holy pure and vndefiled for Christ loued his Church and gaue himselfe for it that hee might sanctifie it and clense it by the washing of water through the word that he make it vnto himselfe a glorious Church not hauing spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blame So are the soules glorified in heauen and so shall our bodies be also without any spot of vncleannesse and therefore represented to S. Iohn couered with white Robes Next the white Robe hath in it some signification of their blessed estate in glory immortality
open their mouth to praise him themselues And further sith Angels reioyce and giue thankes to God for our saluation yea at the conuersion of one sinner they are said to reioyce how much more should we reioyce in our owne saluation They are ioyfull that we are adioyned to their fellowship from which many of their fellow-Angels in respect of creation fell away and shall not we reioyce that the Lord hath raised vs vp and made vs companions to the Angels The heap of words which they vse noteth againe their zeale and as it were insatiable delight in praising God there can neuer enough be said to his praise but we must beware of babbling and idle repetitions then are the words of our mouth acceptable vnto God when they are thrust out by the affections of our heart Otherwise let vs remember Salomon his warning Bee not rash with thy mouth nor let thine heart be hasty to vtter a thing before God for God is in the heauen and thou art on the earth therefore let thy words be few VERSE 13. And one of the Elders spake saying vnto me What are these who are arayed in long white Robes and whence come they IN the remanent of this Chapter wee haue the felicity of sealed Saints some-way described vnto vs The occasion hereof is offered by a question moued by one of the twenty foure Elders and S. Iohn his answer vnto it The Senior moues the question to S. Iohn Who are these not that he was ignorant who they were but that hee might teach S. Iohn as after followeth this is the end of all diuine Interrogatories The Lord demanded of Adam Where art thou And of Caâ—… What hast thou done Hee knew where Adam was and what Cain had done better then themselues but he asketh not to get knowledge but to giue it to them of whom he asketh Concerning the Senior let the Reader who pleaseth look backe to the fourth Chapter VERSE 14. And I said vnto him Lord thou knowest and hee said to me These are they which came out of great tribulation and haue washed their long Robes and haue made their long Robes white in the bloud of the Lambe IN S. Iohn his answer we haue two things his humility in acknowledging his own ignorance Lord thou knowest as for me I know not He was an Apostle best beloued of Iesus hee was excellent for the notable reuelations which he had from the Lord yet wee see glorified Saints doe farre exceed in knowledge the most excellent men that are vpon earth for we doe but know in part wee walke by faith not by sight but they behold the glory of the Lord with open face Let vs hasten and prepare our selues to be in that company whom the brightnesse of the Lord doth fully illuminate where no errour no darkenesse is no ignorance of any thing which is either needfull or comfortable for them to know In the meane time if we would grow in knowledge let vs with S. Iohn professe our ignorance It is for such onely who are meeke schollers to learne heauenly things Them that bee meeke will the Lord guide in iudgement and teach the humble his way Conceite of knowledge is a fore enemie vnto true knowledge Wisedome cannot enter into a proud heart We see none more emptie of heauenly knowledge then are they who in their owne conceite and opinion excell others in it Againe his reuerence may bee seene in the stile which hee giues him Lord thou knowest Hee knew hee was one of these Elders whom hee heard confesse before that they were redeemed by the bloud of the Lambe hee saw Crownes vpon euery one of their heads and therefore giues him a stile of honour properly competent vnto him Indeed glorified Saints are truely Kings and Lords They are freed from all seruitude and bondage they triumph victoriously and are more then Conquerours ouer the Deuill the World the Flesh and all their spirituall enemies And hee said vnto mee That is Ad animâ—… meae admirationem seu dispositionem conuenienter loquutus est hee spake conueniently to the disposition of my soule and I did cleerely vnderstand him Hee told mee that those whom I saw cloathed in white with Palmes in their hands were redeemed Saints who had come out of great tribulation This cannot as Ambrose hath obserued on these words be vnderstood of Saints Militant as some do expound it for so long as their warfare lasts they are still in tribulation and cannot be said in this life to come out of tribulation Man is borne vnto trauatle as the sparkes sâ—…ye vpward but vnto the godly death puts an end to all their troubles Neither can this bee meant of Martyrs onely as some will haue it but of all blessed Saints washed and cleansed in the bloud of the Lambe Qui etsi Martyrium non in publico actu habere videntur coram Deo tamen habere probantur in habitu who albeit in respect of the publique act they seeme not to haue the honour of Martyrdome yet in respect of the habit and their willing disposition to it they are approued before God to haue it as saith Primasius Which came The word being read as it may be in the present time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that come leades vs to consider that in all ages froÌ„ all parts of the world there is an ascending of soules vp into heauen that Court of the great King encreaseth continually till the number of his Saints be fulfilled the Mansions of our Fathers house be plenished Some Angels forsooke their first Habitation but we see the Lord wants not seruants to praise glorifie him His Court shall not be the thinner though reprobate men desperatly forsake him and comfortable is it to meditate heere what great ioy elect Angels and glorified Saints haue in the continuall comming and increasing of others their fellow-seruants to praise and serue the Lord with them Out of great tribulation There is the Lords working with his Owne from the crosse hee carries them to the Crowne from tribulation to the Throne hee intreates them most hardly on the earth whom hee intends to exalt most highly in the heauen Let vs not therefore feare nor be offended at our afflictions For by many tribulations must we enter into the kingdome of God Tribulation is like that furnace of Egypt wherin the Lord fined his Israelites and Nebuchadnezar his Ouen the fire whereof burnt their bands but not themselues It is the Lords Flayle whereby he beats away the chaffe from the wheat he threshes it that he may purge it prepare it make it meet to be layd vp in his Garner It is the Lords Wine-presse out of which hee presseth wine and oyle for himselfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sicut pondere praelorum adhibito oleum diligenticura conficitur et per trituram
vertue may be learned froÌ„ the Paschal Lambe which was a type of Christ Iesus When God slew all the first-borne in euery house of Egypt by his destroying Angell such houses as had the posts of their doores sprinkled with bloud were spared The Lord Iesus shal be a couering to his Saints to saue them from that wrath wherein the wicked shall perish His pacifying vertue is touched by the Apostle Being iustified by faith wee haue peace with God And againe The bloud of Christ cryeth for better things then the bloud of Abel But let vs take heed vnto our selues vnlesse we feele his purging vertue who naturally are vnclean the comfort of his protecting and pacifying vertue cannot be ours VERSE 15. Therfore are they in the presence of the Throne of God and serue him day and night in his Temple and he that sits on the Throne will dwell among them THe Sâ—…ignior hauing declared to Saint Iohn what these were whom he saw clothed in white garments with palmes in their hands to wit redeemed Saints not militant but hauing ended their warrefare and gotten the victory not vnder tribulation but come out of tribulation Hee now proceedeth and shortly describes their felicitic and happy estate wherein now they are and that in two points First in the affluence aboundance which they haue of al good next in their freedom and exemption from all euill In this verse three things are set downe concerning them First where are they In the presence of the Throne of God Next what doe they there they serue him day and night Thirdly what get they for that He that sitteth on the Throne will dwell among them By this phrase the vnspeakeable ioy communicated to them by the Lord is figured This can not be vnderstood of any estate of the Church militant here on earth neither of Iewes conuerted nor other Christians deliuered from the tyrannic of Antichrist as some Interpreters will haue it These words are not competent to Saints militant they hunger no more they thirst no more God shall wipe away allteares from their eyes In this valley of teares when shall we when shuld we be without teares Blessed are they who hunger thirst now for righteousnesse they shall be satisfied Now we hunger are blessed there they hunger no more but are fully satisfied The Millenaries of old had an opinion somewhat like this that Saints after Christ his comming for a thousand yeeres should possesse the earth by themselues without all tribulation but neither before his comming nor after is any such quiet estate of the Church here vpon earth warranted by the holy Scripture Therefore This is relatiue to the words immediatly preceding They haue made their robes white in the bloud of the Lambe therefore are they in the presence of God There is no fellowship vvith God but by the Lord Iesus Euery man in this presumptuous age saith that he hath Iesus but Iesus is a Physician of great value If thou haue him he will cleanse thee from the filthy leprosie of thy sinnes Art thou not cleansed then hast thou not Iesus and without him thou canst not be admitted into the comfortable presence of God The last Chapter was concluded with the tragicall and fearfull end of the wicked The day of the Lords wrath is come who can stand said they The wicked shall not stand in iudgement but shall bee banished from the presence of his glory But here wee see how the godlystand before the Throne are in the presence of God As their courses in their life are coÌ„trary to other so shal their ends be God giue vs grace to make choice of the best For we see before vs the way wherein they walked and the order which they obserued who now are in the kingdome of heauen first they are washed in the blood of Christ and then they are in the presence of God if we would come where they are let vs keepe the course wherein they walked Before Ioseph was presented vnto Pharao his head was shauen his nailes were pared his garments changed and must not wee cut away from vs our superfluities before wee be admitted into the presence of God Esther was six moneths purified with oile of myrrhe and other six moneths with sweet odors before she was married with Ahasuerus And shall wee thinke to be where the Lord is without a similitude with him Or what similitude can wee haue with that holy One except that first we be washed and cleansed from our naturall vncleanenes In the presence of God There is a threefold presence of God First a presence of his goodnesse next a presence of his grace and thirdly a presence of his glory whereof here is spoken The presence of his goodnesse he grants vnto all men in the vtter Court of his Palace for he maketh the Sunne to shine and the raine to fall vpon the iust and the vniust Who may not see the goodnesse of the Lord in the manifold good creatures which hee hath created The earth is full of his goodnesse yea the inuisible things of God that is his eternall power and godhead are seene in the creation of the world The light of this presence hath learned natural men many things concerning God by it the Platonies saw Deum omnia ista fecisse à nullâ—… fieri potuisse that God had made all these things and could not be made of any other himselfe yea they ascended farre higher to vnderstand much more coÌ„cerning the nature of God as more at large is set down in that same place by Saint Augustine And yet all this knowledge gotten in the court or schoole of the creature did but make them to be without excuse because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God The presence of his grace hee giueth to his Saints specially in their holy assemblies there by the preaching of his Word and operation of his holy Spirit hee sheweth himselfe a gracious mercifull and reconciled God to them in Christ they seeke him and worship him in Spirit and truth and he speakes peace vnto them and secretly by his holy Spirit witnesses vnto their hearts that hee is their Father that is his little Sanctuarie I meane his Church narrower by much then the vtter great court as I haue called it in that wherein all men see his goodnesse in this hee is familiar with his Saints and they onely see and feele his grace Of this presence speaketh Dauid for in his banishment hee longed for it My soule thirsteth for GOD euen for the liuing God when shall I come and appeare before the presence of God and what presence he meanes of he expounds himselfe That he might goe with the multitude and lead them into the house of God with the voyce of singing and praise for God in a speciall manner appeares in
the assembly of his Saints according to his promise but this presence is not perceiued but of his owne secret ones who seeke his face The presence of his glory is giuen to Saints triumphant in the heauen The Lord giueth grace and glory but first grace and then glory from grace in earth yea and by it he leades them vp to glory in heauen Of this presence of glory this place is to be vnderstood according to that In thy face is the fulnesse of ioy and at thy right hand are pleasures for euermore And againe O how excellent is they mercy O God! therefore the children of men trust vnder the shadow of thy wings they shall bee satisfied with the fatnesse of thine house and thou shalt giue them drinke out of the riuers of thy pleasure Here not onely haue we pleasure but riuers of pleasures yet such as can neuer be exhausted for it is subioyned With thee is the well of life So long as the fountaine or spring lasteth the riuer cannot decay God is that great fountaine or bottomlesse deepe from him comes the riuers of pleasures to all that stand about him The Queene of Sheba said of Salomon his seruants Happy are thy men happy are these thy seruants which stand euer before thee and heare thy wisedome but much more truly may it bee spoken of the seruants of our God who stand about his Throne Blessed are they who dwell in thine house Now followes They serue him night and day in his Temple We haue heard of the place wherein they are the second part of the verse shortly describes their exercise They serue God and that without all fainting wearying or intermission night and day This imports no vicissitude but a continuance and perpetuitie Dies nox vicissitudâ—…nem sed perpetuitatem significant Because all our time turneth vpon day and night therefore many a time vseth the Spirit of God this phrase Day and night to expresse as much as for euer and euer In the heauens there is nothing but a Day no change of their glorious and lightsome estate by time In the Hell there is nothing but a Night perpetuall darkenesse no change of their horrible and comfortlesse estate by time In the Earth there is a day and a night and a vicissitude and change of euery estate by time That mention is made of a Temple wee are not to thinke there is any materiall Temple in heauen but an allusion is made to the Temple of Ierusalem wherein his seruants serued him day and night And this word of seruice noteth that they are now fully become the Lords they haue resigned themselues altogether to do his will there is not now in them any deed nor desire of any thing that may offend him they waite vpon him they looke stedfastly to him they delight in him they praise him without ceasing this is their seruice Non est laborâ—…osa sed amabilis optanda haec seruitus It is not a painefull seruice or laborious but to be loued and longed for Seruitus hâ—…c dulcissima merces est seruitutis praesentis laboriosae this seruice is a most sweet reward of our present laborious seruice Among men the name of a seruant is counted vnhonorable and a base thing thinke they it to serue another but sith the most honourable creatures elect Angels and Men delight to serue him let vs not be ashamed to professe ourselues his seruants Dauid was a great King yet hee counteth more and reioyces oftner in it that hee was a seruant of God then a King ouer his people And S. Paul was a Chosen vessel vnto God yet his ordinarie stile is Paul the seruant of Iesus Christ. And indeed it is more honorable to be a seruant of Christ then to be a Monarch of the world without him Seruire Deo est regnare In very deed hee is a free-man yea and a King who is Gods seruant Hee trampleth vnder feete the deuill the world and the flesh hee is Lord of his affections yea and of all creatures hee can vse them but will not come vnder the power of any of them and yet so blind are worldlings that they account Christ his seruice to be bondage his Law a yoke whereas in truth it is the Law of Liberty and men without it not subiect to it are in most miserable bondage For he that will not serue the Lord shall bee like cursed Cham a seruant of seruants He shall serue many masters instead of one O quam multos Dominos habet qui vnum non habet and that in a seruice wherein there is no comfort for which there is no reward and after which no time set for manumission or liberty Any other seruant that hath an euill Master sometime may bee sold to another and he will be glad of it But the seruant of sin is so blinded that albeit of all slauâ—… he be the most miserable yet he is content with it and desires not to change his Master And againe any other seruant oppressed with the tyrannie of a Master sometime will deliuer himselfe by flying from him But the seruant of sinne where-away shall hee flee Secum trahit Dominum suum quocunque fugerit non fugit seipsam mala conscientia hee draweth his oppressor with him flee where hee will an euill conscience cannot flee from it selfe And as for a reward of his seruice where is it Voluptas transitâ—… peccatum manet praeterit quod delectabat remansit quod pungat the pleasure passeth the sinne abideth still that is gone which delighted him and for which hee sinned that remaines which disquiets him and torments him to wit guiltinesse the fruit of his sinne that is the worme which gâ—…aweth his conscience what shall we then do but cry out and confesse with the same Father O miserabilis seruitus peccatâ—… O miserable and vnprofitable and euery way comfortlesse seruice of sinne And on the contrarie O happy ioyfull fruitfull and euery way most comfortable the seruice of Iesus Christ our Sauiour Yet concerning this point there is but one question to be moued Said not our Sauiour to his Disciples Henceforth I call you not seruants but friends How then are redeemed and glorified Saints called seruants I answer This noteth their aduancement to a new and high dignity but derogates not from their old debt-bound duetie Familiarity with God takes not away reuerence It it engenders not as our Prouerbe is contempt no there is none who reuerenceth him more then they with whom hee is most familiar and noâ—…e more readie to serue him then they who haue found him most mercifull to them so these two stiles Friends and Seruants are not repugnant the one to the other And againe if it be demanded How serue they him for euer in his Temple Said not our Sauiour The seruant abides not in the
house for euer Hee had said immediately before He that committeth sinne is the seruant of sinne and then terrible is that which followeth The seruant abides not in the house for euer What then shall the Lambe who is without sinne be in the house himselfe alone Shall no sinners come there Shall hee be a King and Lord without Subiects Cui haerebit caput si non erit corpus Where shall the head be if it haue not a bodie Oh but marke what immediately he subioynes Filius autem manebit in aeternum the Son shall abide in the house for euer Non sine causa terruit spem dedit It is not without cause said S. Augustine that in one sentence hee hath both terrified vs and comforted vs hee hath terrified vs that we should not loue sinne hee hath comforted vs that we should not despaire for sinne If yee demand then where is our hope sith we are sinners and the Lord hath said The seruant abides not in the house for euer for he is a seruant that commits sinne Here is your hope and hearken vnto it The Sonne abideth in the house for euer If we were but seruants and not sonnes wee had cause of discouragement but here is our comfort wee were seruants but now are become sonnes If the Sonne make you free yee shall be free indeed such seruants are wee now as are free-men also And he that sitteth on the Throne will dwell c. This is the third and last part of this verse as they serue him so hee most graciously recompenseth them noted here by this speech that hee dwels among them The phrase imports the communication of all good For among men where Kings haue their dwelling there is the aboundance of euery good thing that can be had in the Kingdome but much more is here signified yea infinitely more Ahasuerus one of the momentanean Monarchs of the earth made a feast to his Princes of an hundred and seuen and twenty Prouinces the feast lasted an hundred and foure score daies and seuen daies againe for the common people all this he did that hee might shew the riches and glory of his Kingdome and honour of his great Maiestie and his Maiesty shortly after turned into dust and ashes Why then do I bring him in To make a comparison No way What is the light of a halfe-peny candle to the Sunne Yet haue I spoken of him that if we can from small things we may ascend to the consideration of greater What a great feast must this bee which the Lord shall make in heauen to his Saints Hee dwelleth among them hee flitteth not hee is their King for euer and they are not gathered out of an hundred and seuen twenty Prouinces but out of all Nations Tongues and Languages This Feast is not for an hundred foure score and seuen daies but for euer and euer O happie habitation O dwelling full of delight The word which the Spirit of God here vseth imports all this and much more then we can conceiue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee shall bee as a Tent or Tabernacle to spread ouer them to obumbrate them and protect them The like is promised in other places I will dwell among them and walke there I will be their God and they shall bee my people In this life the Lord dwelleth in his Saints and with them dâ—…rigendo ad finem adipiscendum guiding and directing them to the end whereunto he hath ordained them but in heauen he dwelleth with his Saints Conseruandoeos in fine adepto conseruing them in that end and happy estate whereunto his grace hath brought them But as I said what great glorie and ioy Saints haue by the Lord hsi dwelling among them cannot now be vnderstood Moses was but forty dayes with the Lord on Mount Sinai and his face when hee came downe shined so brightly that his people might not behold him How then shall the glory of the Lord his lightsome countenance illuminate them with whom he shall dwell for euer Alway the vse of all is they serue him and hee dwels among them to satiate and replenish them with his ioyes and pleasures their seruice wants not the owne recompence yea all the benefite of their seruice redounds to themselues where we must obserue a great difference between the seruice of God and of man other Masters seeke and entertaine seruants for some vantage to themselues for who will maintaine seruants but for their owne ease and commodity It is not so with the Lord his seruants can profite him nothing all the benefite redounds to himselfe This Dauid humbly doth acknowledge My goodnesse extends not to thee And againe when he had offered liberally for the building of the Temple then said hee Who am I and what are my people that we should bee able to offer willingly after this sort for all things come of thee and of thine owne hand haue we giuen thee The like of this hath Iob May a man be profitable to the Lord Is it any thing to the Almighty that thou art righteous or is it prâ—…fitable to him that thou makest thy waies vpright But yet more cleerely explaines hee the same in another place If thou sinne what dost thou against him If thou be righteous what dost thou to him Or what receiues hee at thine hand Thy wickednesse may hurt a man as thou art and thy righteousnesse may profit the sonne of man But the All-sufficient Maiestie of God is neither encreased by thy good nor empaired by thine euill Why then will yee demand doth hee seek seruice Onely that of his superaboundant goodnesse hee may haue occasion to blesse thee If hee craue any thing from thee it is not because hee needeth thee but because thou needest him hee seeketh to the end that hee may giue Oh that we would consider this and so be encouraged to serue our God! Euen in this life the wages which he hath already payed vs in hand should encourage vs to serue him Hee may iustly demand of vs Who among you all doth open the doore of my Temple for nothing Wee can neuer serue him sufficiently for that which hee hath giuen vs already but the wages payed are nothing in comparison of those which are promised VERSE 16. They shall hunger no more nor thirst any more neither shall the Sunne light on them nor yet any heate THE description of the felicitie of Saints in heauen hauing finished their warrefare on earth still continueth They shall hunger and thirst no more In that he saith no no more hee tells vs he is comparing that life which is to come with this which we haue now In this life the dearest Saints of God are oftentimes most hardly handled So S. Paul professes of himselfe that he was oft times in wearinesse and painefulnesse in hunger and thirst in cold and
the seuenth head of the first beast and yet the second beast also 51. His opposite is Christ. ibid. Q QVestion for Papists 168. R RAinebow 86 Redemption is maruellous and what benefits wee haue by it 170. 171. It 〈◊〉 vâ—… debtors to Christ in more then wee are worth 169. It is not vniuersall 171. wonderfull many waies 321 Religion bastard is alway cruell 204. wants not its owne Martyrs 241 Recusants rebuked 292 Righteousnesse imputed and inherent 319. 320 Romane Doctors cannot vnderstand the Reuelation and why 80. How they are to be handled in handling this booke 11. They are rauening Wolues 214 Roman state opposite to Christ vnder Emperours is the first beast vnder Popes the second 50. 51 S SAluation the glory thereof is the Lords 300 Sanctus the Martyr 280 Saints sealed in their harts and foreheads 280. 283. Particularly they are known to God 284. their stability in glory fauor with God 299. Felicity of Saints glorified 224. 328 329. They need no creature 339. Saints are both seruants and sonnes to God 333. How they shall know others in heauen 237. 238. Saints some neerer the Throne then others 93. Militant Saints how they are said to haue crowns 93. 94 Saints triumphant not yet perfected 161. 162. How they pray 158. How said to reigne vpon earth 177. 178. Al Saints are fellow-seruants 249. Their number ibid. Sanctification 326 Sacrifices of a Christian are three 175 Sardine stone 83 Satan a restlesse enemy 50. His predictions 72. None should consult with him ibid. Hee is a sore enemy to our Peace 213. He is a Lyon but chayned 216 Satan thirsts for bloud and bloud is his destruction 214 215 Seale what it is in generall 274. Seale of God what it is ibid. How Christ is sealed of the Father 278. He hath the seale of God two wayes ibid. How wee may know if God hath sealed vs. 279. 280. Such as want his Seale are not his 281. Seale internall Christ keepes it his seruants haue the externall 276 Seales seuen contain a generall prognostication of things to come 39. The first seale too narrowly limited by some 29. 31. It continues to the worlds end 30. None of al the seales but the sixt is bound to a particular time 40. Sixt seale how to be accoÌ„modated 40. 41. 251. 252. Summe of the seales 190. Fist sixt seales explaned in the seuenth chapter 43. Seales limited to seuen yeares 221 Seuenth chapter a pendicle of the sixt 43. 268 Seruice of God commended 329. 330 Seruants of Satan and sin how 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The profit of all seruice we doe to God redounds to our seluâ—… 335. Not to God ibid. Yet hee craues it that he may doe vs good for it 336 Scripture hath three sorts of bookes 1. Obscurity thereof 128. Why Papists call it obscure 129. Perfection of it 132 Sight three-fold 161. Naturall sight is no comfort without the spirituall 63. Sight which S. Iohn saw was internall imaginary and intellectuall 61. Sight of God what it doth 79. Who shall get it 178. Sight that Saints haue â—…ur of the body 237 â—…igne of the Crosse. 277 Similitudes of holy Scripture are from most excellent things in Nature 300 â—…inne an vncleanenesse 317 Song of Saints why called a new Song 165 Soules immortality 238 Spirit how S. Iohn was in the Spirit 75 Spanish Army handled not vnlike the Syrians of old 213 Starres falling like figges what they signifie 258 Sunne darkened 249. The heat thereof hurtfull to mâ—…ny 340 T THankesgiuing 160. 310 Throne of God 77. Court about it and before it 78 Threatnings most generall admit exceptions 292 Three things men would haue from God and hee will not giue them 235. Because men will not receiue one thing which God offereth to men Ibid. Tribulation in this life 315. It is Nebuchadnezzars fire Gods Flayle and Wine-presse 314. As it hath an in-gate so an out-gate 305. It is measured by God 307 Trinity in the God-head 84. 113 Types should be rightly accommodated 77. 78 V VAriety with vnity makes the sweeter Harmony 305 Victory cannot be without fighting 302. Figured by the Palme-tree 294 Victory is sure to Saints yer euer they fight 209. 210 Vision preparatory in the fourth and fifth chapter 57. Properly preparing for the Visions of Prediction 59. 79 Voice of God calleth men vpward Satans on the contrary 70. Voice of Gods mercy sounded to apostate man neuer to apostate Angell 71 Now it is a Trumpet and a Thunder 194. 68. The Voice which S. Iohn heard how it was vttored 67. Loud and liâ—…ely 69. Miserable are they who heare it not 67 Vials and Trumpets how they differ 46. 47 W WAlking here is by faith not by sight 1â—…4 Washing three-fold whereof we stand in need 317. How is it that Saints need washing sith Christ is their garment 319. And how Saints are said to wash themselues 318 White Rayment 95. 247. 299. 300 Wicked men why some of them are plagued now and some spared 233. They want the Creator now and shortly shall also want the creature 256. 257. In their trouble they runne to the creature 256 Words last of our Lord should be best remembred 4 Worke with God should we in the worke of our saluation 319 World figured by a glassic Sea and the Moone 98. 99. Best pleasures thereof like waters of the salt Sea 101. It shal fall yer it be ripâ—… â—…58 How all creatures in it shall bee changed in the lost Day 259 Worldlings called Inhabitants of the earth and why â—…46 Worship due to God onely 308 Wrath of God is a fire 227 FINIS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebr. 1. 3. Luk. 1. 78. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ioseph Antiquit lib. 3. c. 12. Sigon de repub Heb. lib. 5. Psalm 127. 3. Psalm 116. 12. Psalm 16. 2. Sam. 9. 1. 2. Vers. 11. 13. The bookes of holy Scripture are of three rankes rendring a threefold fruit 1 Of Conuersion Psal. 19. 7. Rom. 15. 4. 2 Of Consolation Psal. 34. 19. 3 Of Confirmation Ioh. 16. 4. This booke of the Reuelation is Prophetical And it serues especially to confirme vs in the faith This book the Father giues to the Son the Son to an Angel and the Angel to Saint Iohn that hee might giue it to the Church Reuel 1. 1. The generall matter of this Prophecie Reu. 3. 10. The time wheÌ„ this book was written commends it greatly to vs. The last words of our Lord should be best remembred Luke 16. 31. An answer to Atheists who will haue one from the dead to teach them About threescore yeeres after his ascension our Lord sent this Reuelation Ephe. 4. 8. 〈◊〉 lib. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bucholâ—…er chronol To keepe his Church from fainting vnder trouble till he come himself By two scandals would satan scarre vs froÌ„ this book 1 By denying authority of it Reu. 1. 3. Iustin. Marâ—…n Dialog 〈◊〉 tryph cont Iudcos Iren. lib. 5. cont Valen. Ambros. lib. 3. de S. Sancto cap. 21. Aug. de
are called Elders 1. Ioh. 2. 1. Esay 65. 20. The white rayment of Saints is their two-fold righteousnesse 1 One imputed 2 Another inherent Their Crowns note their Royall Dignity 1. Cor. 9. 26. Rom. 8. A two-fold operation of God here is figured 1 One terrible to his enimies compared to lightning Psal. 18. 14. 2 To Thundring Psal. 18. 13. Exod. 20. Amos 1. 2. Mark 3. Psal. 29. 3. Suâ—… ca. 5. 3 To Voices Psal. 2. 5. The other gracious comfortable to his own children Mat. 3. 11. Acts 2. Esay 11. 2. 1. Cor. 12. 4. The glassie Sâ—…a is a figure of this world Reuel 17. 15. The world sometime figured by the Moone And sometime by the Sea which is euer waltring and neuer standeth in oâ—… estate Ester 7. 2. King 7. It is christalline transparent because all things in it are manifest to the Lord. Heb. 4. 13. Iob. 22. Psal. 139. A dehortation from the loue of this world 1. Cor. 7. 31. ☜ The best pleasures thereof are like the salt waters of the Sea Angels described 1. From their place 2. From their nature 3. FroÌ„ their number 4. From their properties 5. From their function How by the foure beasts some vnderstand the four Euangelists But in truth they figure the company and order of principall Angels This Vision coÌ„pared with the like in Ezechiel will be the more easily vnderstood Ezech. 1. The foure Beasts in the originall are foure liuing creatures And are expounded by the Spirit of God to be Cherubims Ezech. 10. 20. The place of these holy Angels they are in the midst of the Throne and round about it The Throne of God is coÌ„passed wâ—…th Angels not for any need but to shew his glory and to comfort his Church 1. King 10. 20. Esay 37. 36. What Angels are as concerning their nature Psal. 104. 4. Numb 16. 22. August Enchirid cap. 18. Of the number of Angels Dan. 7. 10. Psal. 68. Heb. 12. 22. The properties of Angels Nazian orat 2. de Thâ—…o How they are said to haue eyes before eyes behind and eyes within them ☞ Gregor Moral Lamentable is our estate for the want of this three-fold sight Why Angels are represented by Men Lyons Bullocks and Eagles Ezech. 1. The manifold wisedome of God appeares in the variety of his creatures Not in the great onely but in the smallest also What assurance we haue of good things prouided for vs hereafter Heb. 11. 3. Six wings are ascrybed to euery one of these Angils Esay 6. 2. With two wings they couer their facâ—… these are 1 An humble estimation of themselues 2 A reuerent estimation of the Lord. Chrysost. in Mat. hom 26. Heauenly creatures are most humble Hereby are condemned Pharisaicall and Popish spirits who dare stand vp with vncouered face and glory of their merits Ber. Ser. cont vitium ingratitud Gen. 18. Chrysost. in Mat. â—…om 26. The two wings wherewith they flye 1 Their sublime disposition they are no creeping things 2 Their willing readinesse to obey By the two wings Bernard vnderstands knowledge and deuotion Bern. de verbis Esaiae Serm. 4. To striue to flye with one wing is the ready way to fall Rom. 1. The wings wherewith they couer their feet are sanctity and modesty zach 1. In the last place they are described froÌ„ their function they are not weaâ—…y in praysing God 1. Thes. 5. 16 16 17 18. Prayer and prayse are good parts of diuine worship but praise the most excellent of the two Three things in their song doe they ascribe to the Lord. Esay 6. Ang. de side ad Pet. cap. 1. 1 Holinesse which is so proper to him that there is none so holy as the Lord. 2 Omnipotency consisting in these two 1. That he can do what hewil 2. That against his nature and truth hee can doe nothing Mouthes of Atheists who cal Gods power in question bound vp 2. King 7. 2. Weakenesse of Saints helped by the consideration of God his omnipotency Gen. 18. Numb 11. 22. Esa. 50. 3. Papists abuse the omnipotency of God in making it militant against his truth Psal. 78. 41. 3 They ascribe to him the praise of eternity Bern. in Cont. Scrm. 31. What great comfort commeth to the Church by the consideration of God his eternity Eccles. 1. Heb. 1. 11. The song of Angels is soconded by the song of redeemed Saints 2. Cor. 9. 2. Thus one of vs should prouoke another to plety In their song they giue three things to the Lord. Rom. 11. 35. Great difference betweene these two man his giuing to God Gods giuing to man Heb. 13. 1. Chro. 29. 14. No dishonour to the most honourable creatures to kneele to the Lord. Psal. 95. 6. The true Church worships no creature neither Angell not man Gal. 4. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But giueth to the Lord all the glory of their saluation Psal. 115. 1. Creation was a short Prouidence and Prouidence a long creation Heb. 1. 3. Creation coÌ„mon to all creatures not so the comfort of creation What reason we haue to serue God for our creation Ephes. 2. Loth should we be to displease the Lord who made vs for his owne pleasure Psal. 104. 31. Gen. 1. Gen. 6. The second part of the Preparatoâ—…ie Vision containing a description of God the Redeemer Reuealing things to come for the comfort of his Church Psal. 76. 10. The parts of this Chapter The familiarity of God with his Saints once begun stil encreases Numb 22. Gen. 39. Reu. 1. 9. Gen. 27. 33. We walke not here by sight but by saith 2. Cor. 5. 7. How the Lord is said to haue a Booke Ester 6. 1. In it allusion is made to the manner of Kings who haue their Registers This booke cannot be the old Testament Other strange opinions concerning this Booke But in truth the booke is this same book of the Reuelation Bookes in holy Scripture are of two sorts 1 Metaphorical and these are either vniuersall or special Psal. 139. 16. Vniuersall are two Speciall are al. so two Gen. 32. 32. Malach. 3. 16. 2 The other sort of bookes are materiall The forme of bookes vsed among the Ancients different froÌ„ ours Plin. lib. 3. epist. Ezech. 2. 9. Carthus What meanes the writing of this book without within The booke is sealed for surety and secrecie Dan. 6. 8. Obscurity of Scripture pretended by Papists They looke to the seales wherewith the book is closed but not to the Lambe who opened them Psal. 119. 130. In bookes of Scripture written for our instruction in the faith God speaks plainly Aug. de doct Chr. lib. 2. c. 9. Lactant. l. 6. c. 21. This pretext of obscurity of holy Scripture is but a couering of their misliking Chrysost. hom 3. de Lazaro It is Christ his singular glory none but hee can open this booke The offices of Christ are 3 Kingly Priestly and Propheticall The last and least of the 3. can be done by none but by himselfe Papists derogate from