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A09442 Lectures vpon the three first chapters of the Reuelation: preached in Cambridge anno Dom. 1595. by Master William Perkins, and now published for the benefite of this Church, by Robert Hill Bachelor in Diuinitie. To which is added an excellent sermon, penned at the request of that noble and wise councellor, Ambrose, Earle of Warwicke: in which is proued that Rome is Babylon, and that Babylon is fallen Perkins, William, 1558-1602.; Hill, Robert, d. 1623. 1604 (1604) STC 19731; ESTC S114472 318,460 389

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chose Babylon a citie of confusion and abhomination So he hath chosen Rome which is become of a famous Church the throne of Satan So Ierusalem the citie of God the temple of God first began to be a denne of theeues and then the citie fell to wickednesse so the diuell getteth Gods temple and the holy citie to be his throne And in our time he getteth the great cities shire townes for his throne for in thē is greater ignorance and the Gospell more contemned then in small villages in which after litle preaching it is willingly embraced Now the cause of this is because the diuell laboureth especially to haue his throne where he may do the most harme and conuey his doctrine to moe places and liue without controlment If this or any other shire towne or any great citie liue in sin in ignorance and contemne the Gospell take heed for they shall become in time a denne of theeues and a synagogue of Satan he will haue his throne there Now then it is our dutie to labor against him to haue his throne plucked downe to haue him defaced and cast out haue our bodies and soules subiect to Christ renounce our selues relye wholly on Christ forsake our owne waies neuer lend our eares to Satan let him haue no footing in vs neuer suffer him to come to haue his throne begunne but still labour to haue it razed and turned vpside downe and withall suffer Christ to rule suffer him alone to possesse our hearts that so the kingdome of Satan being ouerthrowne the kingdome of Iesus Christ may be increased daily in vs. Wheras the Church of God is gathered out of that place where the diuell hath his kingdome erected we note that the Church of God is a companie of men deriued and taken out of the Synagogue of Satan the kingdome of the diuell though it be a chosen people yet it is picked out of the kingdome of the diuell where he ruleth Col. 1. 12. 13. for all men are by nature the vassals of Satan and subiects in his kingdome Then no man must stand of his gentilitie and of his nobility and bloud but all our true ioy must be in this that we are the members of the true Church of God for what will it auaile a man to haue a golden chaine on his necke and haue his will and affections vnder the slauerie of the diuell or to be the sonne of a Prince and yet to be out of the true Church and to be in the companie of the wicked a slaue and vassall of the diuell But our ioy must be in this that we are members of the Church of God and haue right to the kingdome of heauen Sundrie men thinke a man may be saued by any religion and most of the common people thinke that good meaning will saue them but a man may professe any religion and haue good meaning and yet not know one step to the kingdome of heauen but remaine the vassall and slaue of Satan For a man may haue outward ciuill iustice and ciuill pollicie and meane well yet be the seruant of the diuell We see the children of God gaine a priuiledge aboue all other for in affliction and persecution though they be cast into dangers yet they may assure themselues seeing they be members of Gods church they be freed from the kingdome of the diuell and so from that place of darknesse Seeing the preaching of the word gained a Church in the middle of the kingdome of the diuell we see the word hath a diuine power for there is no creature which hath greater power in earth then the diuell except good Angels yet the preaching of the word draweth one out of the kingdom of the diuel and gathereth a Church in the midst of his kingdome Seeing in Pergamus where the throne of the diuell was Gods children were we see that God will haue his seruants to dwell in the middle of the wicked and mingled with the vassals of the diuell yet so as he doth this for good causes first that their faith obedience and repentance might be exercised secondly that so they might be kept frō many grieuous sins into which else they would fall So when the Lord brought the Israelites into the land of Canaan he would not cast all their enemies out at once but they must be mingled and dwell with the Canaanites for if they should destroy them at once the wild beasts might haue destroyed the land so the Church must be mingled with euill men that the godly may be exercised and that they might be kept from more grieuous sinnes Secondly he will haue his children to dwell with wicked vngodly men that their godly life might shine as lights among them Philip. 2. 17. and so to winne them to the Gospell for a godly life is most effectuall to win men to Christ. Thirdly that the Lord might shew speciall tokens of his loue and fauour to them that when he bringeth his iudgements on the wicked yet he defendeth them Ezech. 9. 4. He marked them which mourned that they might escape the iudgement which was brought on Ierusalem Then if any man dwell among such as contemne and hate religion and the doctrine of the Gospell let them be cōtented seeing it is Gods will they should dwell with the wicked and the Lord will haue his Church on earth proued and exercised by them We see it is lawfull for men to dwell with and by such wicked men but they must not communicate with them in their sinnes but abstaine from their wickednesse as Lot in Sodome and Noah dwelt with the wicked men of the old world and the church of Pergamus in the place where the diuels kingdom was erected For 1. Cor. 7. there is a question whether a seruant hauing a maister which is an infidell may forsake him or not the answer is made he must dwell with him but so that therby he deny not the principall grounds of religion but keepe a good conscience towards God in all things And hence we may see how to answer that old obiection of the Papists Where was our Church fourscore yeares agone before Luther preached when the doctrine of Antichrist was in all Europe By the like I aske Where was the Church of Pergamus when the kingdome of the diuell was there The holy Ghost telleth vs that in the same time when the diuell had erected his throne mightily in that place yet there was the church of God So when the man of sinne had spread his doctrine of wickednesse in all Europe yet there was a Church amongst vs in this and other lands as appeares in that euer there was some which both openly and priuately oppugned his doctrine by word and writing in all ages which shews that though sin ruled in this church many hundred yeares yet the Lord had professors though not so visible as now it is when men may professe openly in euery place without feare And
is for brethren to dwell together in vnitie Aristotle could say that parents were not blessed vnlesse they were after their death blessed in their children And surely it is no small part of a fathers blessednesse to see his children like to flourish when he is gone Nay of all monuments that parents can leaue behind them there is none as one saith like to a vertuous sonne But all parents are not so blessed Adams two sonnes could not agree in one field Abrahams in one house Isaaks in one wombe Dauids in one pallace nor those two brethren in the diuision of an inheritance And though concord amongst brethrē especially such as must deuide the inheritance be very rare yet do you euen in this most comfortably agree You are not as Simeon and Leui Romulus and Remus Eteocles and Polynices Atreus and Thyestes Aeta and Perseus but as Castor and Pollux Dauid Ionathan Ioseph and Beniamin and as a true friend is described to be one soule in two bodies It seemeth that as Agrippa the brother of Augustus was beholding to Salust for that one sentence Small things increase by concord but perish through discord so you haue all learned the same lesson as being perswaded that as the members of a bodie being once dismembred they cannot possibly be ioyned againe so if naturall brethren be once vnnaturally disioyned no glue will conioyne them fast againe It were infinite to shew examples of brotherly loue and hatred and others haue eased me of this paines Now that good God who hath brought you from one roote placed you in one countrie aduanced you to like credit and giuen you one heart giue you also one inheritance in the kingdome of heauen Thus right worshipfull I am bold to speake vnto you and the world knoweth I speake the truth and the Lord knoweth I desire not to flatter Go on therefore I beseech you continue in loue be setled in the truth and labour to honor him who thus honoureth you Be not caried away with the shew of this world but thinke religion the best nobilitie and that as Prudentius said Generosa Christi secta nobilitat viros Cui quisquis seruit ille verè est nobilis He noble is that comes of Christ his race Who serues this Lord he surely is not base And this made Theodosius more to thanke God that he was a Christian then a king considering that he must lose the one he could not lose the other Now as to one of you I am bounden in particular and by him being a Minister the despised Ministry is not a litle graced so for him I pray that he may be an Abraham to our Abimelech a Nathan to our Dauid a Iehoida to our Ioash an Ebedmelech to Ieremiah an Elisha to the widow of this Prophet deceased a light in the Court a trumpet in the Church and that Ahashuerosh may long hold out his golden scepter vnto him that by his meanes great men may not want such as will tell them the truth no earthly Alexander accounted a sonne of Iupiter and that no man may be more respected then a good Pastor and that he may euer remember that saying of wise Salomon He that loueth purenes of heart for the grace of his lips the King shall be his friend His Cyrus will not be spoken to verbis bissinis in silken words to his Alexander he needeth not speake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either sweet words or no words For if one Antiochus might be surnamed holy another good Prince called the Good King much more may he whose religious knowledge surpasseth all the Princes that haue bene of this nation and whose humilitie is such that he will haue his sonne to remember that he dissereth not in stuffe but in vse from the rest of his people and that by Gods ordinance I am the bolder for that one to make choice of you all in the dedication of this booke no man knew loued conuersed with and respected this Author more then he He resorted to him in his health visited him in sicknesse and preached a learned Sermon for him at his death Concerning this author as he said of Carthage I had rather be silent then say litle and his worthie labours do speake enough for him by name that his Posthume dedicated to his excellent Maiestie by an excellent Diuine In a word therefore whatsoeuer this man did he desired to profite others by it he thought as it is written of Bernard in his life that he was not his owne man but deputed to the seruice of others He was neuer idle but as Hierome reporteth of Ambrose and Bernard of himselfe he did either reade or meditate or pray or conferre or counsell or comfort or write or preach And thus as the Embleme is of a faithfull Teacher he like a waxe candle in giuing light to others in a short time extinguished himselfe Yet in this short time of his what art was he not a maister of what vertue was he not endued with He was a complet Diuine and hath this blessing in the Church that no mans writings are read of all sorts and in all countries with greater grace and profite then his He was peaceable in the Church patient of wrongs and free from ambition For as Ierome said of Nepotian aurum calcans schedulas consectabatur he regarded not his purse but followed his booke and as Bernard said he liued in terra auri sine auro in a kingdome of gold without gold An excellent gift he had to define properly deuide exactly dispute subtilly answer directly speake pithily and write iudicially and how he preached if these Sermons do giue a testimonie what witnesse had they who often heard him themselues I haue published of his now two Discourses and I onely did it that these his labours might not perish I haue no benefite by them but exceeding great paines And since I vnderstand that his other labours are in the hands of his friends to make benefite for his children I will ease my selfe of the like labour be a means that they may haue the benefit of the future impressions of this booke the which how faithfully I haue published I appeale to the godly and indifferent Reader and I hope no honest minded man will be hired to calumniate it Thus as one desirous to be seruiceable in my calling profitable to the Church not forgetfull of my friend and to testifie the happinesse of your house which was in your fathers time and is now as it is said of Aurelian the Emperors Referta piis Ecclesia Dei replenished with the godly and a Church of God and withall to leaue a monument of my dutie to you all I haue as you see published this exposition of seuen Epistles vnder your eight names nothing doubting but it will be as welcome to you as
root from whence is conueyed to vs all righteousnesse Seeing Christ is holy both in himselfe and in vs yea the root of all holinesse we must note this maine principle of all true religion which is to be set and ingraffed into Christ as a branch into a tree and being once in him to become new creatures to labour to feele the power of Christ killing in vs the old man our naturall corruptions and also renewing in vs the new man and the image of God in righteousnesse and true holinesse to feele the power and vertue of Christ as sensibly in vs as we feele the corruption of nature and shew this vertue we receiue of Christ euen as a branch sheweth the sappe it receiueth from the roote by the leaues and fruite 2 Seeing Christ was thus holy he propoundeth to vs a patterne to follow teaching vs to be holy as he was holy to make conscience of al sinne to be conformable to him to marke what he did and to imitate it 1. Ioh. 3. 4. We must purge our selues of sinne and be pure as he is pure for he which is not holy as he is holy shall haue no benefit or fellowship by his death and passion Thirdly we see that title giuen to the Bishop of Rome is blasphemous to call him Holinesse as it is common in all their speeches to him Now he in that taketh to him the title of Christ which is a part of Christs honour communicable to none else nay he taketh more on him then Christ here doth for Christ is called but holy he is called holinesse it selfe The second title of Christ is truth Christ is called true in three respects first because without errour and ignorance he knoweth al things as they be in themselues so do not creatures but by vertue from him Secondly because what he willeth and decreeth he willeth and decreeth seriously without fraud deceipt or any contradiction as appeareth in the whole Scripture wherein is nothing contrarie to it selfe but all without chaunge and alteration Thirdly because he maketh good all his promises in his word he accomplisheth and performeth them all he is the performance of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yea and Amen Seeing Christ is true nay truth it self we see a difference betweene Christ and all false spirits for they be spirits of errors the diuell is a lyer from the beginning he is the father of lyes nay his nature is to lie he can do nothing else but Christ is true nay truth it selfe euery way true in his knowledge in his will and in his promises he is true Seeing Christ is absolutely true we must beleeue in him and beleeue his promises in his word without doubting for seeing Christ is true nay truth it selfe what need we call his promises into question And this shold be the very prop of our faith that he which promiseth is true therfore wil perform his promise So in persecutiō in trouble and affliction trust in Christ he hath promised to helpe he will not faile because he is most true of his promise Seeing he is so true he propoundeth himselfe to be followed of vs. Christ he knoweth things truly he willeth and decreeth things seriously so should we promise and performe and make good our lawfull promises Psal. 55. The Lord hateth the deceiptfull person Reu. 20. without that is in hell be all deceiptfull and lying persons Psal. 15. It is a note of a member of the Church and of Christ to be true and faithfull and to speake truth from his heart for the diuell is the author of lies 3 Christ is described by his kingly office which hath the keyes of Dauid First let vs see what is meant by the key of Dauid Esay 22. 22. speaking of Eliakim saith I will put the key of Dauid vpon his shoulder for Ezra had bene Hezechiahs Steward an ancient steward in many kingdomes but in his dayes he began to be negligent in his dutie therfore he decreed to cast him out and to place Eliakim in his stead 2. King 18. 18. and therefore saith he will put the key of Dauid that is the gouernement of the kingdome of Iudah on his shoulder for by Dauids house is meant the kingdome of Dauid and the giuing of the key is the placing and inuesting him into his office and giuing him the authoritie of the kingdome of Dauid Christ here hath the key of Dauid great and large authoritie of the Churches as a chiefe Gouernor in a kingdome It will be said Dauids key was temporall Christs kingdome spirituall Ans. First Christ had Dauids key properly for when Christ was borne the scepter was departed from Iudah to the Romaine Emperour so that Christ then was the next to it and had true right to the crowne and kingdome Luk. 3. And Christ challenging his right saith Mat. 17. 26. That the Kings sonnes be free and therefore he need not to pay tribute 2 Christ had Dauids key typically and figuratiuely for Dauids tēporall kingdome was a figure of Christs spirituall kingdome so Dauid was a figure and type of Christ therefore he is often called Christ and Ezec. 3. Christ is called Dauid Now he is said to haue Dauids kingdome and not Neroes or any other because their kingdomes were kingdomes of darknesse and miserie and cursed kingdomes but Dauids kingdome was a kingdome of light a blessed kingdome hauing those men which were acceptable to God and therefore was a type of the kingdome of Christ. Then where Christ is said to haue Dauids key it is not so to be vnderstood that he had the same with Dauid but that which is signified by Dauids key Christ Mat. 2. is called a Nazarite not that he vsed their rites and customes for he dranke wine they did not but because he was that signified by a Nazarite namely by Sampson Iud. 13. For as he slue more by his death then by his life so Christ he saued more by death then by his life yet Christ was a Nazarite that is seuered from all sin and pollution And so Christ had Dauids key that is the spirituall key signified by his temporall key which key signifieth authoritie power and gouernment of the church of God Which openeth and none shutteth In these words Christ hath relation to an house where when one openeth the doore he openeth the house and so Christ he openeth and he shutteth which sheweth his absolute and soueraigne authoritie he hath the key of Dauid and he hath it absolutely no creature is aboue him but he can shut or open at his pleasure Now this key is the power of Christ. In his hand which is a supreme soueraignetie ouer the church by which he can saue or destroy Now this soueraigne power of Christ hath three parts first to prescribe secondly to iudge thirdly to saue and destory First to prescribe he hath an absolute power without constraint of any creature to commaund what he will haue done or not so he