Selected quad for the lemma: head_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
head_n	beast_n	dragon_n	horn_n	3,264	5	10.5839	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42547	God's soveraignty displayed from Job 9. 12. : Behold he taketh away, who can hinder him? &c., or, A discourse shewing, that God doth, and may take away from his creatures what hee pleaseth, as to the matter what, the place where, the time when, the means and manner how, and the reasons thereof : with an application of the whole, to the distressed citizens of London, whose houses and goods were lately consumed by the fire : an excitation of them to look to the procuring causes of this fiery tryal, the ends that God aims at in it, with directions how to behave themselves under their losses / by William Gearing ...	Gearing, William.; Gearing, William. No abiding city in a perishing world.	1667 (1667)	Wing G435A; ESTC R18630	101,655	265

notably set forth in the first book of the Macchabees 4. The fourth Beast viz. the Roman Monarchy is worse than all the three former Beasts and that Vision of Daniel fore-mentioned is suited to that of S. John in Rev. 13.1 2. And I stood upon the sand of the Sea and saw a Beast rise up out of the Sea having seven heads and ten horns and upon his horns ten Crowns and upon his heads the name of Blasphemy and the Beast which I saw was like unto a Leopard and his feet were as the feet of a Bear and his mouth as the mouth of a Lion and the Dragon gave him his power and his seat and great authority The reason why Daniel did not liken the fourth to any Beast as the former three were is because it was a Monster compounded of the cruelties of the several beasts sc of a Lion Bear and Leopard this Beast was like them all Now this Beast was some hundreds of years before it came to its full growth and being distant from Judah the Church of God felt nothing of its fury till the Age before Christ came in the flesh The first time that this Beast put forth his Paws against the Church was about sixty one years before the Birth of Christ when Pompey the Roman General taking advantage of the contentions of the two Brethren Hircanus and Aristobulus of the Race of the Macchabees about the Priesthood and Principality took from them the City and Temple of Jerusalem and made them Tributary to the Romans whereupon he and others with him presumed to enter into the Temple and saw such things that was not lawful for them to see after which violence and presumption it is noted of Pompey that was very victorious before above any one Roman that he was very unhappy in his wars afterward and being vanquished by Julius Caesar fled into Egypt for refuge and there was murdered where he looked for succour Crassus committed horrid sacriledge he robbed the Temple in Jerusalem of ten thousand Talents that is two hundred thousand pounds of our money and afterwards being overthrown of the Parthians had molten gold powred down his throat to satisfie his greedy appetite One notable mischief the Romans did to the people of God was the placing of that cruel Herod in the Throne who was made King by the favour of Augustus and Mark Anthony he was a Vassal to the Romans though a cruel Tyrant to the people of God And now the Scepter was departed from Judah and the Law-giver from under his feet this Herod slew the Sanedrin and Grand Council of the Land and murdered the Infants at Bethlehem from two years old and under out of a desire to murder Christ in his Infancy This fourth Beast murdered the Prince of Life and Lord of Glory Pilate the Roman Judge condemning him and the Roman Souldiers putting it in execution And the Jews who formerly had suffered by this fourth Beast as the Church of Christ and now joyning with this Beast against Christ they became the most malignant persecutors of Christ and his Church stirring up the Roman Magistrates in several Provinces and Cities to persecute the Apostles of Christ and the sincere professors of the truth and remaining in their rebellion and enmity against Christ they were unchurched and the Kingdome of the Gospel being translated from them to the Gentiles the wrath of God came upon them to the uttermost eleven hundred thousand of them were slain by the Sword Famine and Pestilence at the Siege by Vespasian and Titus his Son and the residue sold for slaves and afterwards five hundred thousand of them ruinated by Adrian the Emperour And because the Soveraign Power was now setled in the Emperours that I may speak further of the fury of this Beast against the Saints of the most High I think fit to the two former descriptions in Daniel and that in Revel 13. to add another out of Revel 17.3 where S. John saith I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast full of names of blasphemy having seven heads and ten horns This is explained ver 9. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth Ver. 10. And there are seven Kings five are fallen and one is and the other is not yet come and when he cometh he must continue a short space Ver. 11. And the beast that was and is not even he is the eighth and is of the seven and goeth into perdition Ver. 12. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten Kings which have received no Kingdome as yet c. These shall hate the whore and make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire Ver. 16. and ver 17. The woman which thou sawest is that great City which reigneth over the Kings of the earth The seven Heads are seven Mountains on which the Woman sate This Woman is that great City of Rome built upon seven hills viz. Mons Palatinus Capitolinus Caelius Quirinalis Aventinus Viminalis Esquilinus They also signifie seven Kings or seven sorts of Supreme Magistrates by which the City and Empire hath been and is governed Supreme Magistrates in Scripture are called Kings when Israel was formed into a Commonwealth they had Moses set over them Deut. 33.4 5. Moses commanded us a Law c. and he was King in Jesurun when the Heads of the people and the Tribes of Israel were gathered together So the Dukes of the Sons of Esau are called Kings Gen. 36.31 These are the Kings that reigned in the Land of Edom before there reigned any King over the children of Israel that is before Israel was delivered out of bondage and was formed into a Commonwealth and had Moses set over them as Supreme Ruler under God Now Rome is famous for these seven Heads or seven sorts of Governours I. Kings II. Consuls III. Tribunes of the Souldiers IV. Decem-viri V. Dictators VI. Emperours VII Popes Tacitus noteth that among other things Rome hath this honour to have Kings for its Vassals And S. John speaking of these seven sorts of Magistrates that did successively rule in Rome he saith five are fallen that is when this Vision was presented to John and the Revelation written by him viz. five of those seven Supreme Magistrates were fallen Kings Consuls Tribunes Decem-viri Dictators For although there were Consuls many hundred years after yet they were no longer Heads as formerly though they had the same name yet they came short of the former Consuls in power and dignity Then Saint John saith one is that is the Heathen Emperours were then in being these were then regnant and had the place of Heads in the Empire These began to head the Beast as the sixth Head about forty years before the Birth of Christ and continued three hundred years after Christs birth I understand it of the Heathen Emperours only not the Christian Saint John addeth And the other is not yet come viz. the

creatures that like Narcissus dote upon their faces did think how soon and how many wayes God could blast and take away their beauty they would not spend so many precious hours at the glass in trimming this outward sheath which might have been much better spent about the adorning of the precious soul SECT V. He takes away wealth and riches from men It is the Lord that giveth wealth and it is in his power also to take it away Seneca said That Fortune is a glass which oftentimes is the sooner broken the more that it shineth And the Psalmist saith I have seen the wicked spreading himself like a green bay-tree yet he passed-away and loe he was not yea I sought him but he could not be found Psa 37.35 36. As Job acknowledgeth that God had given so likewise that God had taken One might have said to him O Job thou seemest to be mistaken for this large Patrimony thou hast now lost thou hadst from thy Parents thou gottest it together by thy own proper industry these flocks and droves of cattle thou hast obtained by thy own wit But Job saith I am not mistaken for neither my Parents nor my own labour nor yet my own ingenuity but the Lord gave me all these things all which therefore by right and equity he hath taken away because he gave them But it may be objected did God take them away Is it not injurious to God to say so For the Chaldeans and Sabeans drove away all his cattle or if you will behold the original of all this mischief Satan bereaved him of all for he procured the fire he raised the winds he instigated those Robbers and Free-booters he threw down the house and in very deed he did all these things and therefore Satan took all away but Job holdeth his former sentence and repeateth it the Lord hath taken away even the same Lord who gave me these blessings he hath taken away not the Sabeans not the Chaldeans not Satan but the Lord hath taken away and that rightly too for he gave them all unto me for except the Lord had given this license to Satan neither he nor any other of his Instruments could so much as have stoln a Fleece nor a lock of wooll from me The Son of Syrach saith that good and evil life and death poverty and riches are from the Lord and saith he further In the day of good remember the day of evil when thou hast enough remember the time of hunger and when thou art rich think upon poverty and need From morning until the evening the time is changed and all such things are soon done before the Lord Art thou a Lord and of great power thou mayst be brought to serve Art thou rich and wealthy thou mayst be brought to beggery and penury Dost thou now swim in wealth and is thy substance encreased One hour yea a few moments may deprive thee of all thy goods and when thy wealth shall take its uncontrolled wings and fly away from thee then thou shalt be driven to say I knew what was but for my use was not my own the Lord gave it and he also took it away SECT VI. The Lord taketh away honours from men He powreth contempt upon Princes saith the Psalmist Psa 107.40 Man being in honour abideth not he is like the beasts that perish Sim lis pecoribus morticinis like beasts that die of the Murrain saith Tremelluns and so become useless and fit for nothing This seemeth not unaptly to be figured in Dan. 2. where King Nebuchadnezzar saw an Image whose head was of gold whose arms and breasts were of silver the belly of brass the feet of iron and clay And there was a stone cut out of the Mountains without hands which struck the Image on the feet and brake it in pieces and brought it into dust Figuratively by this high Image you may understand the High and Mighty Man of the World whose golden Head doth signifie the Nobility of his blood the height of his birth and his high honour and advancement in the world his breast and arms of silver signifieth the quantity of his money in the getting whereof the rich man useth his heart hand and arms the belly of Brass denoteth his fame or report sounding abroad for brass doth lend a great noise or sound by the legs of Iron his strength and power is figured and by the feet of Clay or Earth is noted his mortality The stone which is cut out of the Mountain without hands may denote the death of man which the hand of the Lord hath not made saith the Author to the Book of Wisdome neither doth he delight in the destruction of any but our first Parents came thereunto by their own demerits wherefore this stone strikeing the feet of the Image doth suddenly and unexpectedly bring the High and Mighty into dust as well as others neither is there any one that can resist his fury and such so great and so uncertain is his violence in the manner in the place and in the time that mans honour force or policy cannot any way suffice to provide defence against him Of Gods taking away honour from men we have a notable instance in proud Haman who grew insolent by the Kings favour cruel stately and lofty in his gate as if he would have reached the very stars All the Kings servants bowed their knees to Haman and worshipped him for so the King had commanded Now Haman was as a Cock upon his own dunghill and would also be worshipped of Mordecai as well as others this Mordecai could not brook some think he could not do it because Haman had the form of some Idol-gods wrought on his garments in Needle-work others think this worship did contain something of Divine Worship in it a worship not to be given to man therefore Mordecai refused to perform it lest he should have given Gods honour to a man Now behold on a sudden a wonderful alteration while Haman was next to the King and bragged of his Honours and Riches his Noble Family his Children his benevolent fortune the Kings favour and the like while he had the Command of an hundred twenty and seven Provinces he is adjudged by the King to the Gallows while Mordecai that was condemned to the Halter was all of a sudden cloathed with the Kings Robes set upon the Kings Horse adorned with the Kings Crown upon his head led through all the chief places of the City Haman being as it were his Lacquey to attend him crying So shall it be done to the man whom the King delighteth to honour See what a change is here Mordecai but even now appointed to the Gallows is now next to the Throne and Haman who was so highly advanced is now hanged upon the Gibbet he had provided for Mordecai SECT VII He takes away liberty At Rome M. Cato the pattern of a wise and prudent man a lively Embleme of Virtue was haled

Popes they were not then come when John wrote After the Heathen Emperours were taken away Rome was left vacant for the Pope and although the Christian Emperours had some power yet they did not reside at Rome but continued for a long time at Constantinople or Ravenna and after the power of the Christian Emperour was broken by the Barbarians the Pope got Rome and setled himself there and so becometh the seventh Head of the fourth Beast Now the sixth and seventh Head of this Beast one that was then in being and one that was not then come were the grand Enemies of the Church of Christ 1. The sixth Head the Roman Emperours they raised many bloody persecutions against the Church of Christ and though God restrained some of them and gave his Church a breathing yet many of them tortured their own brains to devise cruel torments wherewith to torture the Christians as Nero Tiberius Domitian Trajan Antoninus Decius Maximinus Dioclesian c. under whom many thousand Martyrs sealed the truth of Christ with their blood Such was the favour of God to this Realm that they escaped all except the last Persecution which was under Dioclesian and Alban was the first that suffered Martyrdome in this Land for the Gospel of Christ But the Pope the seventh and last Head hath been more mischievous and continued longer than all the rest Take his first rise from the time the Heathen Emperours were cut off and the Pope hath continued 1360 years or thereabout and Rome was builded about a thousand and sixty years before the Pope arose so that this Head hath continued neer three hundred years longer than all the other six which may give us hopes his time is now almost expired and since the Church hath been vexed by him for so many Ages it is not so much to be admired he should fall speedily as that he hath stood so long The Pope was born about the time of Constantine the Great and came not to his full stature till about the year six hundred or somewhat after then Boniface III. made by Phocas universal Pastor of all the Churches of the world appeared with his Ecce duo gladii hic Behold here the two Swords challenging Imperial and Papal Dignity The mischief done to the Church by this seventh Head hath been partly by fraud partly by open violence partly by bringing in corruptions in matter of Doctrine Popery is not a single Heresie like that of Apollinaris or Arrius but a heap and sink or common sewer in which there is a confluence of Heresies and corrupt Doctrines meeting together and partly by rage and cruelties witness their cruelties to the Albigenses and Waldenses About the latter end of the reign of King Henry the Second King of England Pope Alexander III. held a Council at the Lateran Church in Rome where they consulted about the extirpation of the Albigenses They were a people that did not acknowledge the Pope prayed to none but to God alone had no Images went not to Mass denied Purgatory and read the holy Scriptures The Pope therefore gave the same graces to them that should spill the blood of these poor Christians as to them that crossed themselves to go to the holy Sepulchre and fight against the Sarazens Hereupon Dominick the Author of the Order of Dominicans put above two hundred thousand of them to death This was done in the time of John King of England and by the instigation of Pope Innocent the III. And of the Albigenses and Waldenses Pope Julius the II. was the cause of the death of two hundred thousand Now whosoever be the Instruments of great trouble to the Church or changes in the world it is the hand of the Lord that doth it we have no cause to repine and murmure at such and such but have just cause to blame our selves for it others have not dealt so ill with us as we have dealt with God therefore when God takes away peace and sends trouble takes away the fruits of the earth and sends famine takes away health and sends Epidemical diseases in all these we are to eye God remember that the Judgments of God are a great deep and like the great Mountains if we do not thorowly search the reason of it let us confess our understandings are too short to reach to the bottom of it let us not accuse God of injustice but confess with Job Lo he goeth by me and I see him not his wayes are unsearchable and past finding out CHAP. III. II. GOd takes away what he pleaseth in respect of the place where So Jobs Children were taken from him when they were feasting in their Elder Brothers house a place seemingly of great security Naomi lost her Husband and her two Sons in a strange Land when she sojourned in Moab she was left a childless Widow in a strange Country therefore saith she Call me not Naomi but Marah for I went out full but the Lord hath brought me home again empty Ruth 1.21 So Jacob had his beloved Rachel taken away from him on a journey as they were travelling in the way III. In respect of the time when Nebuchadnezzar lost the use of his reason when he was in the height of his glory walking in his stately Palace of Babel Dan. 4.30 being puffed up with pride Is not this great Babylon that I have built by the might of my power and for the honour of my Majesty and while the word was yet in his mouth a voice came from heaven saying to thee it is spoken the Kingdome is departed from thee and the same hour was it fulfilled upon him So the rich man in the Gospel had his soul taken from him even then when he promised himself many years enjoyment of his wealth IV. The Lord taketh away by what means and instruments and in what manner he pleaseth Job's Oxen and Asses were taken away by the Sabeans his Camels by the Chaldeans his sheep burnt by fire from heaven his children slain by the fall of an house yet in conclusion Job doth not say The Lord hath given and the Chaldeans and Sabeans have taken but the Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken Now God is said to take away when Instruments do take away it is seldome that God dealeth with a people immediately but in these outward Providences he stirreth up Instruments to do what is done but that which Instruments do the Lord is said to do Isai 42.24 Who gave Jacob to the spoiler and Israel to the robber did not I the Lord Men robbed and spoiled them yet it was the Lords act to send these spoilers upon them the Act is from the Lord though the wickedness of the act be from the evil instruments There are many wayes that God useth to take men away some die with the Pestilence and such like contagious diseases some die by the Sword one is consumed with famine another is killed with thirst some are choaked in waters others