of the celestiall euerlasâ—ing life his force and sting being lost he shal vtterly be abolished To which thing Iudas in his Epistle had respect which saith that this Henoch the seuenth after Adam dyd foretell of the last iudgement Which iudgement is giuen of Elias that he should be a type figure of his owne prophecie And it is said that as Henoch in generation so Elias in coÌ„putation of yeres was the seueÌ„th after Adam For it is reported that next vnto Adam was Methusalah next to Methusalah Sem to Sem Iacob to Iacob Amram to Amram Ahia and to Ahia Elias the Prophet Now if this accompt of Elias be altogether true as many do coniecture there is no doubt but the Lord God would in his wonderfull woorks declared to his Saintes and chosen haue many secret mysteries that in the consideration of them we might be inflamed with desire of the celestiall and most blessed life Here let vs coÌ„sider that before the seuenâ—h thousand yeare we shal be taken vp to meete the Lord in the cloudes euen as Elias by a fâ—rie chariot and horseâ— was lifted vp to heauen Finallie also the Euangelists and Apostles call the tyme from Christes incarnation vntill the ende of the world the laste howre or laste tymes Saint Peter saith Christ was manifested in the laste tymes And to the Hebrewes Paule writeth Christ once was offred in the ende of the world Neither is this tyme of the Apostles therfore called the last bycause that certainly the ende of the world is at hande but because according to Elies distribution it is the laste of the three ages of the world which without all doubte they respected Neither is it to be deemed that this prophecie was vnknowen to them but rather that by reuelation of the holy Ghoste it was singularly renued and therefore in deede they call this last age of two thousande yeeres in the beginning of which all prophecies and visions by Christ were to be fulfilled the laste tymes and howre These nowe be the testimonies and coniectures by which I haue studied to proue and haue satisfied my selfe that this world shall not continue aboue the space of sixe thousande yeeres Nowe followe those things by which I meane to shewe that the sixt thousande yeere shal not be expired That the world shall not endure sixe thousande yeeres NOwe that the sixt thousand yeere shal be shortened it is apparant and maye be prooued for order sake firste by those woordes of Elias the Prophete aboue recited in this manner And for our sinnes which are many and marueylous some yeeres which are wanting shall not be expyred VVhich words do not much disagree froÌ„ those of Christ where he saith And except those dayes were shortned all flesh should perish but for the elects sake they shall be cut of And although there peraduenture the Lorde doth properly talke of the ruine ouerthrowe of Hierusalem as may easely be gathered by the circumstances of that place yet may it seeme that he would speake the same of the vtter destruction of the world because in that place he giueth certaine and moste euident signes thereof of which hereafter more at large and also dooth foretell both of the ouerthrowe of Hierusalem and by a certaine confusion of wordes of the worldes destruction so that for the perfect vnderstanding thereof greate iudgement is to be required And bycause the former is a figure of that which is to followe I perswade my selfe that as well by the woordes of Christ as by the prophecie of Elias it may be gathered that for the electes cause those miserable dayes of the vtter ouerthrowe and ending of this wicked world shal be shortened and cut of Others by probable reason endeuour to proue the same through consideration of the Sabboth daie which is a true figure of the eternall Sabboth For in the Lawe it was prescribed that about the euening of the sixt day the Sabboth should take his beginning And therefore their coniecture is not vnlike to be true which thinke that the eternal superexcelleÌ„t Sabboth of the Lord shal begin not at the end of the last thousande yeere but a litle before Here be some other coniectures brought foorth which willyngly I passe ouer and the rather bycause I know them to be of no great force But those tokens are dilgentlie to be marked which Christ did foretel should goe before the coÌ„summatioÌ„ of the world that by them we may the more certainly thinke and perswade our selues tyme present and tokens foretolde being compared together that the ende of the woâ—lde hangs ouer our neâ—kes Among othâ—r signes in my iudgement the preaching of the Gospell is not the least but moste cheefely to be noted as rhat by which all other tokens both going before and following in those wordes of Christ are knowen to bee true tokens of his comming The wordes of Christ telling vs howe to knowe when the Gospell is preached are these And this Gospell of the kingdome shal be preached through the vniuersall world for a witnes to all nations and then shall the ende come By which words the sonne of God Christ doth playnly teach that about the time of the worlds destruction the true doctrine of Christ should be preached By which is gathered that the same was obscured defaced and almost not spoken of by reason of false prophets before that tyme And Christ saide that in those dayes should arise many false Prophets and by saying themselues to be Christ should seduce many Nowe what is more euident in these our dayes Hath not the true and sincere doctrine of the free pardoning our sinnes by Christ lien hid these many yeeres and vnder the tyrannie of Antichrist maruelouslie been obscured And the Pope arrogantlie vaunted himselfe to bee Christ or at leaste his vicar What promising of pardoning sinnes and redeming soules out of their fained purgatorie by theire wicked Bulies and blasphemous Masse what idolatrie in woorshipping and impietie in receiuing Christ in the sacrament Finally what diuers and diuilish supeâ—stitions haue been practised so well it is knowen vnto all men that I neede not to recken them And nowe againe â—y the vnspeakeable grace and mercie of God we plainlie perceiue such a cleare light of the Gospell to shine ouer the whole world that in spight of the diuell and all his adherentes it castes his bâ—ames ouer all nations And therefore what other things shall we looke for but as Christ did foretel a sodaine downfall of this wretched world For if we reade eyther the holy Byble of God or historicall bookes of prophane men we shall finde that God hath alwayes followed the example of a ryghteous iudge which before he condemne a man for his offences will first accuse by witnesse so God before he send plagues and punishment for our transgression dooth first put vs in minde of our wickednes by preaching of the Gospell and declaring his diuine pleasure
men liuyng So that all mistrust and vnbeliefe the Quagmyre of all maner of wickednesse in which many men lye tâ— great slumber and sleepe securely may earnestly be cast away true fayth in diuine promises may be râ—ised our hope of attaynyng an happy life and deliuerance from all troubles may be nourished and we the more vigilant least vpon a sodaine that great day of the Lord horrible to the vngodly but to the godly comfortable vnawares oppresse vs and the spouse find vs sober wise and prepared to the feast not without oyle in our Lampes For his commyng in this last age of the world without doubt is not farre and maketh great hast and wyll not as many suppose linger Wherfore in this litle woorke I haue determined by some euident places of the Scripture first to proue that there shal be one day a generall destruction of this world and an vniuersall and last iudgement of our Lord Iesus Christ the sonne of God in which all the promises of God shall to the vttermost be fulfilled and his great threates shall take effect Then by the testimonies of holy Scripture we wil shew that the age of this world shall not be more then sixe thousand yeres that the sixt thousand in which we now liue whose tyme is more than halfe past because of intollerable wickednesse and shamelesse securitie of men shall not be fully finished And to this shal be added certaine singuler signes by course of tyme and yeares woonderfully agreeing with the inclinations of the Starres if credit may be geuen to Mathematicians which things notwithstaÌ„ding I referre to the iudgement of the Church and doctors of more discretioÌ„ Last of al certain proofes out of Scripture shal be brought of the maner of Christ his commyng and of the effect of the last iudgement with an exhortation to watchfulnesse for that most ioyful commyng of our bridegrome ¶ That there shal be a destruction of this worlde a resurrection of the fleshe and a generall iudgement of all mankynde ESpecialy setting apart al other darke significations of the world which in holy Scripture are to be founde euerye where in this place talkyng of his destruction we take the same as Aristotle dooth in his booke of the World for a knittyng togeather of celestiall and inferiour bodyes disposed by Arte which dooth containe liuing creatures and all other things which are ingendred and remaine in euery part And because in the same is to be seene a wonderfull shewe therfore doo the Latines very well take his denomination from fayrenes so that they cal the world as the Grecians doo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a goodly shew or ornament from the perfect excellencie therof as Plinie writeth which woonderful peece of woorke as appeareth by the manner of his creation and holy Scripture dooth plainly and sufficiently auouch the same was only to that ende buylded that it should be a house or dwelling place for mankinde For when our most mighty and eternall God by his woord of power had created of nothing all things as wel senslesse as hauyng life at length he made Adam whom he appoynted Lord of al creatures and possessor of Paradise situated in the mydst of this goodly and glorious world and fashioned him also vpright and innocent according to his owne likenesse that the Lord God of him might worthely be worshipped Here the vnspeakeable loue of God towards mankind is most diligently to be considered For if the Lorde God for our sakes hâ—th erected this famous and excellent peece of woorke to be an abiding place for mankynd of which he would gather to hym selfe a perpetual Church howe fayre and glorious shal we thinke that euerlasting Temple to be which he hath prepared for his elect in Christ and for his heauenly and celestial warriours In which place we shall enioy the sight of our euerlasting God and shal knowe hym in maiestie and glory euen as he is Truely no comparison of excellencie betwene these can so much as in imagination be conceyued although the beautie of this world and vniuersitie be such as mans wit cannot sufficiently thinke of the same Because as betwene the creature and the creator there is no equality so great is the oddes betweene visible things created and supercelestiall to vs altogether inuisible where the sonne of God wyth all Sainctes in the circuite of all Angels with God the father hath his eternall seate and continuall abiding But all men through the fall of Adam are become vnworthy of that place which was appoynted for Adam being pure from sinne and vnspotted Neither had the world any more borne him according to this immutable senteÌ„ce of God at what tyme thou shalt eate of the tree of kâ—owâ—ledge of good and euill thou shalt die the death had not that ouer merciful God through his deep secrete counsayle receyued him al the elect into fauor by the promised seed of the woman by Christ the sonne of God which was to come in the flesh And therfore if the world haue hitherto and as yet shall continue it is onely done for their sakes which are chosen in Christ whose number being full the world must of necessitie fayle and fall downe flat for which cause the Lord hath a certayne tyme of the worlds destruction because by the sinne and wickednes of vngodly men being marueilously polluted and accursed it dooth together wyth all other creatures as Saynt Paule sayth subiect to the same corruption desire a deliuerance from euil And therefore that this vniuersall world maye be brought to his former integritie it must of necessitie be consumed and burne with fyre in the comming of the Lord as Esay witnesseth saying Beholde the Lorde wyll come in fire and his chariot shal be like a whyrlewynde that he may render his indignation in heate and his correction in flames of fire because the Lord wyll iudge in fire And S. Peter saith The day of the Lord wyll come like a thiefe at which tyme the heauens with great speede shall vanish the Elementes with that heate shal be dissolued and the earth with all contayned in the same shal be consumed with fire No marueile then though Ethnikes and most famous Philosophers folowing the deuises of their owne braine straungers altogeather and ignorant in Scripture haue had very many prophane cogitations of the world Aristotle the Prince of Philosophers dreameth that the world neuer had beginnyng because as he saith the gods in this infinite eternitie haue not been idle But Plato beyng of another mynde will that the world was made yet he thinketh the same to be Animal immortale A creature which shall not dye but remayne for euer Plinie beleeueth the world to be an eternall and vnmeasurable godhead neither begotten at any tyme nor shal be destroyed Others as Epicures imagine that there is not one world onely but infinite whereof some take place as others auoyde Plato also iestingly sayth that
offred it selfe vnto the King in his sleepe vnder which according to the interpretation of Daniell were fygured all the Empyres of the worlde And the same heauenly Prophet by the same spirit dyd foretell that God would rayse vp an euerlasting and perpetuall kingdome which all the Sainctes of God after iudgement shall possesse world without ende Nowe what let is there Why by lyke certayntie those things shall not be fulfilled which haue been spoken afore of the destruction of this world and eternall gouernment of christ Sith that kingdome is perpetuall and not to be ouerthrowen prepared for the Sainctes of God from euerlasting as fayth and Christian Religion do confirme And from the same spirit of truth are these things vttered Gods prouidence also is certaine His eternal pleasure not chaungeable and in his power which of nothing created the worlde nothing is wanting Where of those things none except either a mad man or possessed with some wicked spirit can raise any doubt Besides the eternall iustice of God the ryghteous iudge dooth greatly exact that euery man be rewarded according to his desertes of which must needes be gathered that the state of good men must be glorious of wicked most miserable Which commeth to passe cleane contrary in this wretched world where most commonly good and well disposed persons are with troubles tormented wyth baniâ—hment molested with losse of goods vnpuniâ—hed and with all miseries ouerwhelmed but the wicked are with delicious fare nourished with goods enriched with offices preferred and for aucthotitie honored As Dauid in these woordes dooth bitterly complayne My feete were almost gone and my treadings had welnigh slipt And why I was greeued at the wicked when I sawe them in such prosperitie For they are in no perill of death but are lustie and stronge They labour not lyke other men neyther are they plagued lyke other folke And therefore pryde compasseth them as dooth a chaine and they haue put on the garment of crueltie Their eyes are swollen with fatnesse and they doo what they lyst They marre others and speake marueilously yea they blaspheÌ„e the most hyghest And a little after Behold these vngodly prosper in the worlde and enriche themselues greatly and I sayde then haue I clensed my hart in vaine and washed my handes in innocencie All the day long haue I been punished chastened euery morning yea and I had almost sayd euen as they but loe then should I haue condemned the generation of thy children And therefore there must of necessitie be another lyfe after this in which according to the iuste iudgement of God euery man must receyue eternall and woorthy recompence for their woorkes be they good or bad eternall glory or eternall infamie Euen as Dauid also in the same Psalme to the comforting of himselfe and the Church telleth vs in these woordes Then thought I to vnderstand this but it was too harde for me vntyll I went into the sanctuarie of God then vnderstoode I the ende of these men Namely howe thou hast set them in slipperie places and wilt make them fal downe into desolation O how suddainely doo they consume vanish and come to a fearefull ende yea euen as a dreame are they when one awaketh Lorde when thou raisest the dead thou wilt dispise their image And besides especially it agreeth to the diuine iustice after all good woorkes or bad committed in this body that all bodies knit with their soules doo rise and receiue that which they haue deserued Which thing Esay most plainly dooth signify in this maner All fleshe shall come to worship before my face sayth the Lord And they shall come foorth and see the dead bodyes of men which haue done wickedly against me there worme shall not dye and their fire shall not be extinguished c. And Iob in plaine wordes dooth witnes that those bodies which we now haue we shall receiue again For thus he saith I know that my redeemer lyueth and that I shall rise in the last day from the earth shall be clad again with my skin and in my flesh I shal see God whom I my selfe shal beholde and mine eyes shal see and none other Then as Esay writeth shal death be vtterly deuoured and the Lord God shal washe away al teares from euery face and will take the reproch of his people from the earth because the Lorde hath spokeÌ„ it Neither as Iohn saith in his reuelation shal their be death any more nor weeping nor cry neither anye more griefe because the former things are past Moreouer the Lord God is not onely iust but also truth it selfe And therefore all those things which by the Prophets and Apostles through the instinct of the holy Ghost he hath reuealed touching the end of the world the Resurrection of the flesh the last iudgement of Christ and the eternall lyfe of the godlye and the eternall death of the wicked which is to come shall so certainely come as nothing ought to be more certaine vnto vs notwithstanding that mans reason and the doctrine of the Philosophers cannot sufficiently conceaue the same For if he be truth how can he lie Or sith all which hath been spoken afore of Christes comming in the flesh of his death and resurrection of alteration of Empires be sufficiently fulfilled How can we otherwise thinke but that these things which of the ruine of the world and of Christes eternall kingdome reuealed vnto vs of our most mightie and blessed God must lykewyse come to passe Especially syth all which hath been spoken was to no other end spoken but to proue this and the summe of Christian religion consistes in these things Which demonstration going before and true testimonies of holy Scripture in my iudgement maye suffice both to the strengthening of our faith and cutting of all doubting of that noble coming of Christ our Lorde to iudgement of the ende of this sinfull world of the glorious exhortation of his Church and of the vtrer damnation of the reprobate Wherefore now I will endeuour by testimonies of diuine Oracles probable reasons and coniectures to shewe that the world cannot passe the time of sixe thousande yeares Of the second comming of Christ a comfortable Discourse That the world shall not endure aboue sixe thousande yeares SAint Austine and manie moe of antiquitie together with moste learned men of our tyme and my masters excellentlie seene in all things Philip Melancton and Regner Predin a man of ripe lerning and iudgement Moderator of Groningane haue been of this opinion that that Prophecie of Elias concerning the worlds continuance sixe thousande yeres is without all doubt true and to be credited Notwithstanding that Prophecie is not to be read in the holy scripture but in the books of the Rabines as in the firste Chapter and firste booke Abodazara also in the fourth part of the Thalmudician work in the Sanhedrin book and last Chapter of the same and other places where
that is alledged of the Rabines for the true saying of Elias The words are these Two thousande vaine Two thousande the Lawe Two thousande christ And for our sinnes which are manie and marueilous some yeres which are wanting shall not be expired By which saying the world is notably deuided into three ages or especiall courses and doth shewe both wheÌ„ Christ should come and how long the state of this world should continue Two thousande yeres was the world without any lawes ordeined expressely by the worde of God which being finished Circumcision and afterward the Lawe was giuen and a certaine gouernment and true manner of woorshipping of God was instituted by the worde of god But about the middle age of the world when as three thousande yeeres were past to wit in the time of Iosaphat King of Iuda and Achab King of Israell did this diuine Prophet vtter this Prophecie by which he did signifie the true and certaine tyme of Moses gouernmeÌ„t and of the coÌ„ming of the Messias or sonne of God which should manifest himselfe preach and be crucified of the Iewes And he shewed that almost a thousande yeeres did remaine before Christ should come and the Gospell begin to be preached about two thousaÌ„d yeres after his coÌ„ming the world should perish and come to nought Nowe sith according to this Prophecie of Elias the euent hath proued two thousande yeeres to haue beene past before Circumcision and manifesting the lawe and two thousande also to haue passed when Christ came for vntill the thirtie yeere of Christes age at which tyme Iohn did prepare the way to the Lord and Christ began to accomplish the will of his father did the fourth thousande continue it is to be thought vndoubtedly that nowe in the olde age of the world the euent will answeare to his prophecie and that as in the middle and flourishing state of the world God carried Elias by a firy chariot into heauen so in the ende and vanishing tyme thereof he wil exalt vs with him self into the celestial habitatioÌ„ of which no doubt Elias was a figure coÌ„stituted of god But as Elias saith some yeres shal be waÌ„ting For the Lord God because of wickednes shall hasten his coÌ„ming so that six thousand yeeres may not fullie be expired Which prophecie was vttered by Elias through the holy ghoste and is no fiction of the Rabines as are manye things in those Thalmudician bookes and may in my iudgement be coÌ„firmed by the answeare of Vriel the Angell vnto the demaunds of Esdras although Hierome and those which followe him doubt hereof But Theodore Bibliander in the explication of Esdras his dreame doth say that Hierome did rather imitate the rashnes of the Iewes than probable reason And proueth by many moste plaine arguments this fourth booke to be Esdras owne booke Prophetical diuine and saith That marueill it is not though this diuine booke bycause it moste plainly telleth of the raigne and cheifest lawfull and euerlasting kindome of Iesus Christ and also of the refusall of the Iewes and conuersion of the Israelites vnto Christ the Lorde be despised of the blinded synagog of the Iewes which do wilfully set themselues against their sauiour And also addeth that this booke is yet extant in the Hebrue tongue and was translated out of the same To this Esdras demaunding of Vriell the Angell whether the time past be greater than the time that is to come or whether that which is to come exceede the tyme past the Angell doth answeare by two similitudes And doth shewe vnto him first a burning fornace and afterwarde a watrie cloude and saith Marke whether the fire do ouercome the smoke and the showre the drops or otherwise To whom Esdras sayth I see Lord that a very great smoke doth passe away I see also a great showre to come powring downe but afterwarde I perceiue the flame to ouercome the smoke the drops the showr Then saith the Angel. Now iudge of the continuance of the world Euen as first the smoke vanquished the fire and the drops the showre so the yeeres of the tyme past shall exceede the tyme which is to come But nowe according to the computation of yeeres it is euident that Esdras liued aboute the thirde thousande and fiâ—e hundred yeere after the worlds creation and a while after Cyrus death from which tyme aboue two thousande yeeres are consumed Wherefore we doo see this prophecie marueilously to agree with that of Elias and the ende of the world to be nigh at hande Moreouer bycause the holy scripture doth witnesse that a thousande yeeres with God is but as one daie and also that the Lord God sixe daies was occupied in framing the world but the seuenth day rested therefore Melancton Osiander and others haue put a greate mysterie in the same and haue perswaded themselues that from this number of daies that saying of Elias was borrowed which me thinkes to be true For euen as God in sixe dayes made all things and rested the seuenth so by the ministerie of his worde in this lyfe within the compasse of sixe thousande yeeres he will gather his Church with which in the seuenth he will celebrate and keepe holy his euerlasting Sabboth Caspar Peucerus thinkes Orpheus to haue been of this opinion whose words Plato did thus recite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Although in all the sacred scripture there be no place as touching the determination of any certaine tyme more agreeing with Elias Prophecie then that answeare of Vriell vnto Esdras yet will we proue the same to be moste true by things alredie paste by the state of things present other tokens as hereafter in their place orderlie shal be showen Neither is it to be doubted but that by the certain prouidence predestination and wisdome of Goâ— al things for his glory the safetie of his Church be marueilously mainteined and to a far other purpose then any man can imagin And therefore vnder the cheâ—f histories of the old testament we see our most blessed mightie God to haue hiddeÌ„ great Mysteries to be types figures and shadowes of the life deaâ—h resurrection and raigne of Christ as the storie of Abrahams offring of Isaac of Ioseph the Patriarch of the brazen Serpent of Samson Dauid Ionas the Prophet which was three dayes in the belly of a whale and so likewise some other learned men very probably haue reasoned that Henoch being from Adam the seueÌ„th was a figure of the last iudgemeÌ„t and of our ascending into heauen For euen as the corporal death bycause of sinne forceably did raigne and beare swaye ouer the sixe fathers of the Church to wit ouer Adam Seth Enos Kenan Mahâ—laliel and Iared but vpon the seuenth which was Enoch could exercise no force or power at all so likewise by the space of sixe thousande yeeres which tyme the world shal endure death shal beare a sway but in the seuenth thowsand which shal be the beginning
some other good vse For as plentye brings pride and hautines of mynde so pouertie ingendreth contempt not onely of Ministers but of the Ministrie also which being disdayned for lacke of preferment mens cogitations are so turned that rather they had to bynd their sonnes to some seruile occupation then bring them vp in liberall instruction by which must needes followe not onely the great scarsitie of learned men but also greeuous want of godly Ministers and so consequently the miserable estate and ouerthrowe of the Church Now what remayneth but that we certaynly perswade our selues that rhese are playne and euident signes and testimonies of Gods great displeasure agaynst vs for dispising his Ministers whose contempt he neither can for his holines nor will for his iustice suffer any time as the the manifold miseries plagues that be euery where doo shewe vnto vs And as the sonne of God Christ sayd before that after the preaching of the Gospell destruction should follow I hope the time is so farre from being differred that it will spedely come vppon vs For it cannot be but that the prophecie of Christ should be true which could not be if those dayes of barbarousnes and ignorance of true religion which we are lyke to fall into were not by his speedy comming preuented Moreouer we should thinke the worldes foundation to be worne out and the same to be falling vpon our shoulders when we sensiblye perceiue our selues to liue in those dayes wherof Christ foretold saying The comming of the sonne of man shal be as were the dayes of Noe. For then were men eating drinking marrying and were married vntill Noe entred the Arke And they perceiued nothing vntill the flood came and ouerwhelmed them all and such shal be the comming of the sonne of man. By which no doubt the lord would signify that in the latter dayes there should be a marueylous securitie wherby there should arise not only vnspeakeable wickednes agaynst God but also a lamentable disorder confusion in common weales for lacke of discipline Now if we wil compare tyme present with that which is past and set the manners of all men before our eyes we shall perceyue wickednes to haue come to his ripenes and to raigne almost without controlment For notwithstanding that God through his vnspeakeable mercie in these latter dayes hath giuen vs his Gospell whereby we should frame our affections according to his will and liue in vnitie and peace with all men according to his word what desire of righteousnes or zeale in religioÌ„ is there to be found Yea who is not in Christianitie eyther cold or carelesse Many desire to be religious and thinke they are so if only for a fashion they frequent Sermons and come to ordinarie seruice and Ceremonies supposing themselues in doing so to be sufficiently religious although their hartes doo burne with desire of transitorie things they swel through the poyson of al vngodlynesse Many also thinke they do marueilous wel in making the doctrine of loue peace and vnitye the occasion of stryfe contention and heresie And suppose they do serue God very wel if knowing some of a contrarie opinioÌ„ though not in the chiefest poynt of Religion they doo with wordes condemne them and with curses commit them to the Diuels punishment themselues in the meane while in a certaine spirituall pride gotten through a vaine opinion of learning puft vp doo resting vpon the auctoritie of others not with arguments answering to Gods word take hart of grasse their aduersaries oftentimes defending the better part and more agreable to the pleasure of the highâ—st And yet forsooth must this so great iniurie and shamelesse reproch be called not the spirit of synne but a godly zeale O daungerous dayes and diuelishe behauiour Some there be also which thinke well of themselues and woulde be numbred among good Gospellers because they haue learned without knowledge busily among theyr pottes to inueygh agaynst the papisticall superstition themselues beyng vniust theeues oppressors and most wicked rouers such as at this day men call the Guisians worse speaking after the manner of men then ciuill Papistes What should many wordes doo We plainly now perceiue greatest vice for chiefest vertue to be counted and those men through a fained shewe of simplicitie to be most commended which of all other for impietie ought most to be dispraised For craftie and deceiptful are wise couetous good husbandes prodigall liberall and riche men are deemed the best men These haue promotions and though by wicked meanes they attaine them yet diues clarus erit fortis iustus sapiens etiam Rex Et quicquid volet as Horace said The riche man shal be noble valiant vpright wise yea and king and what he wyll And in another place Aurea nunc verè sunt saecula plurimus auro Venit honos auro conciliatur amor Auro pulsa fides auro venalia iura Aurum lex sequitur mox sine lege pudor Scilicet vxorem cum dote fidemque amicos Et genus formam Regina pecunia donat Nowe are the braue and golden dayes Nowe fame with golde we gaine And golde can shewe vs many wayes mens fauour to attaine By Golde we heare the Musick sweete and lawes we bâ—ie with golde Lawe seekes for golde and straight vnmeete our name by it is solde Yea wife with wealth and faith and friendes and kinne with comely hewe Doth money Madame Prince and Queene most mortall men endue And Boëtius Vnde habeant cura est paucis sed oportet habere Per scelus atque nefas pauper vbique iacet Howe they do get fewe folkes do care but riches haue they must By hooke or crooke we daily see so weake to wall be thrust Those and the like vices haue Poets and Philosophers in their dayes when wickednesse dyd but spring as themselues haue testified reprehended And therfore is our Lord God earnestly to be desired that all these euils by his speedie comming may take an ende For although al maner of wickednesse in this age haue ascended marueilous high yet are they not so come to the top but that more straunge vngraciousnes and wonderful deceiptes and more horrible confusions in common weales through euil gouernment of them may to the griefe and vexation of good men be seene then euer were For we see continually that many through their cogging prating pride and flatterie without all honestie learning or Christianitie in hope of profit and preferment prickt thervnto beate their braines and bende al their studyes to be gratious in their eyes which sit in chiefest place aboue other men By which it commeth to passe that for a time they are well accepted euen of the best but good Princes can smell them out and wil banishe them their companie perswading themselues that that friendship is not of continuance whose ende and grounde is not the setting foorth and encrease of vertue Wherefore it is to be wished that
dissentions of people and continuall warres of Princes to the ouerthrow of the Gospell by the Popes setting on will subdue all kingdomes But I trust the Lord God by his speedie comming will bring to naught these endeuours of Turke and Pope agaynst his Church and will cast that beast with the litle horne which hath mightely encreased and all those vngodly and dragonish kingdomes arising from the sea and that false Prophet into that fornace which burneth with fire and Brimstone Many reasons and probable coniectures from the course of tyme. HEtherto by meane diligence I haue recited those fore tokens of the induring of times which Christ hath taught vs And also I haue showeÌ„ other signes and coniectures out of Gods worde and condition of the tyme that now is by which we may know the oldnes and sodayne finishing of tymes to which when they come to passe the Lord commaundeth vs to looke backe and lyft vp our heades For in that the Lord God declareth his most ardent goodwill towardes vs in that he would not signify the day and hour but foreshewed the tokens going immediatly before the same And therefore sith by these it is manifest that it is the expresse will of our Sauiour that out of the written word of Christ we should with all diligence search out the last tyme of our redemption I doubt not but I shall doo a good deede and gratefull both to God and his Church if I vtter foorth some cogitations of myne fetcht from the course of tyme yet agreeing to thâ— holy Scripture for the proofe of the opinion about the speedye conclusion of tyme Not that I am in that mynde that I thinke these to be Demonstrations which through a necessitie of that which is to come must needes be but as probable things so long to be imbraced tyll we learne more certayne And therefore in these and the lyke things I submit my selfe to the better iudgement of the Church and of the learned and I perswade my selfe that these and other singuler Prognostications which followe whereby somewhat â—igher I approch than as yet I haue doone to shewe the sodayne comming of the Lord shal be so farre from terryfying of the godly that the consideration of these things will be most pleasaunt and comfortable But yet I take not vppon me as before also I haue protested to know the day which Christ sayth himselfe he dooth not know as he lyke a man beareth the office of an Apostle For the signes foretold we may know but not the day and houre not the very moment of his comming but the tokens of that moment doo we search out as farre foorth as it is lawfull for man so to doo The holy Scripture euery where maketh some collation between the first Adam the sinner the sonne of God Christ our Sauiour the second Adam also betweene the floud the vtter ouerthrowe of the world euen as Christ dooth signifie in these woordes Et erit sicut in diebus Noe c. And it shal be as in the dayes of Noe c. Wherefore I fell first into this consideration and afterwardes from one to another into those which ensue whether the tymes past in equalitie of the same nomber aunsweared alike For the Lord God hath ordayned all things by a singuler and euerlasting wisdome and experience dooth teach by a certaine concurring of the Starres that in such things e great lykenes of tymes is woont oftentymes to happen as in the birth of Isaac and of his offering which is a figure of Christ there is a great concent of the tyme For from Isaac vntill Christ were two thousand yeeres fully expired But when from Adam orderly vntill the floud we doo consider the yeeres of the generations of all the fathers and gather them all into one summe laying aside the false computation of Eusebius and others following the Greeke translation of the seuentie Interpreters from the first yeere of the worlds foundation to the floud are iudged to be a thousand sixe hundred fifty and sixe yeeres From this number the yeeres of Christes birth vnto this present yeere a thousand fiue hundred seuentie and fiue doo differ eightie and one yeere if truly that number were filled But I doo not thinke the world shal continue so long that the latter time should in number exceede the former for many coniectures which follow but what may come to passe the Lord knoweth Lykewyse Moyses is a figure of Christ that marueilous deliuering of Israell by Moyses out of the handes of Pharao is a figure of the victorie of Christ which in our behalfe he hath by his death on the Crosse and resurrection from the dead obtayned agaynst the diuell and death and the whole gouernment of Mâ—yses is a shadowe of Christes kingdome His destruction and the Iewes is no doubt a token of the worldes ouerthrowe And here we shall see a wonderfull concente and agreeing of tymes that so by things past we may looke for the euent of things to come vndoubtedly by the singular prouidence counsayle and ordinance of god For no other reason can I render sith I cannot perswade my selfe that these things can by chance so wonderfully agree togeather First by the true accompt of yeeres it is playne that from the comming out of Aegypt and publishing of the lawe vnto the Natiuitie of Christ are numbred a thousand fiue hundred and nine yeres Now if the yeeres from the Natiuitie of Christ vntill this time in which Christ began agayne to be borne to the world and to be brought into the light as it were through the preaching of the Gospel by Luther and other famous men were numbred they are in summe a thousand fiue hundred and seuenteene Agayne from the departure out of Aegypt vntill the death of Christ the yeeres are accompted to be a thousand fiue hundred fortie and two And this number also dooth marueilously agree with that generall Persecution in Germanye made by Charles the fift and the Pope which happened in the yeere a thousand fiue hundred fortye and seuen So that these numbers of yeeres beyng compared togeather wil be found not much to differ in quantitie of number But from these poore mentions I will goe higher to those things which especially doo agree to our purpose It is manifest that Moses gouernment vntyll the last destruction of Hierusalem by Titus did stand in all one thousand fiue hundred eightie three yeeres Neyther is it to be doubted of any but that that destruction and wasting of Hierusalem is a manifest figure of the last ruine of this world And therfore doth our Lord speake of these things together and sayth those dayes were the dayes of Noe in respect of manners and the securitie of mans lyfe Nowe at length what shall we gather of these things That the terme of the worlds destructioÌ„ should agree with the former number of yeeres of Moses gouernment Which not the sonne of an Emperour or chiefest Monarch as was
prooued by the Decrees and Decretals of the Popes if any man thinke we say not the truth Heare what his most impudent fauourers on his behalfe haue reported The Pope say they is called as it were wonderful from Pape the Interiection of woondring because he is Christes Vicar and Gods whose the fulnesse of the earth is And Iohn Andr. vpoÌ„ this woord Pope in the Proeme of Clement speaketh thus Papa dictus est quasi pater Patrum c. The Pope is called as it were the father of all fathers hauyng onely the fulnesse of power Also Thomas of Aquine saith that in spirituall matters and temporall he hath the chiefest degree equally to Peter the Apostle At a woord they make hym a Mungrell as partly God and partly man They call hym The Spouse of the Church The mother of the faythfull which cannot erre whose voyce is heauenly euen as Peters was and therfore that he is the chiefest Iudge whose wickednes as the murders of Sampson the spoyles of the Hebrues the adulterie of Iacob are to be iudged of none for there is one and the same seate say they both of God and the Pope The Popes wyl is said to be a heauenly wyll and therfore is of power to chaunge the nature of things to apply that vnto one which belongeth to another and of nothyng to make somewhat Are not these and such like Rules of the Canonistes formally recited marueilous things which with blasphemous and wicked lyppes vnder the Popes pâ—rson accordyng to Daniels Prophesie speake agaynst the God of Gods. And as the Occidentall Empyre of the great Pope in the tyme of Charles the Great was diuided from the Orientall so likewise the Empire at Constantinople which sometyme was called also the Orientall Empire of Rome afterwards was greatly diminished by the great Turke Sarasins whose power afterward increased more and more and that mightily Afterward a litle before the raigne of Carolus Caluus Cousin to Charles the Great the Tartarian Turkes by occasion they were requested to assist the Persians against the Sarasins obteyned all Asia and these embracing the Mathematicall sect at the length came to be of greatest power So that these two wicked and Antichristian kingdomes tooke their beginnyng when the Romane Empire in Phocas tyme and Heraclius was impayred and in the raigne of Charles the Great the Empyre almost subuerted they dayly more and more mightily increased in this weake and diuided kingdome whose feete were become partly of yron and partly of earth Afterward by lyes backslidings and slaughter which are the properties of the Antichristians their rulyng and Religion was confirmed and the Saintes of God by myngling earthly with heauenly things were vexed as Historiographers and the Chronicles of Iohn Auentine euery where do witnesse And therfore both of them by the glorious commyng of the Lord shall be abolished and shal receyue one and the same destruction If therfore to the consolation of all the godly and confirmation of our faith the holy Ghost hath had a great care to dâ—liuer vnto vs by the Prophets certayne foresignes by which might be coniectured when the commyng of Christ in the fleshe was nigh at hand whose commyng should yet before the world be base and very simple and yet of sufficient power to saue our soules froÌ„ the heauy curse and displeasure of God And if the holy Ghost hath been so carefull in giuyng to the Church and the chosen of God certaine signes and tokens of the commyng of Antichrist no doubt he dyd the same that the better they might shun and forsake all his vntrue teachings and blasphemies by the helpe of Gods woord And therfore hath the holy spirit of God been the more diligent to shew to the Church many and manifest signes of the Lords commyng to iudgement that so he might driue vs from all securitie of this lyfe and wake vs out of the deepe slepe of our deadly sinnes least by the speedy commyng of the Lord to iudgement we sodainly perish and that in all afflictions with which the Church is continually vexed we might haue a sure trust and confidence in the mercy of god And therfore the sonne of God him selfe in the last preaching before his death through a great goodwyll gaue vs many signes and earnestly charged vs taking his parable from the Fyg tree that beholding those tokens immineÌ„t we should carefully and readily attend the commyng of our Brydgrome For that commyng to all the godly and chosen of the Lord shal be ioyfull and comfortable In which the Sonne of God shall appeare in power mighty in glory woonderfull and shew hym selfe to his foes terrible to vs comfortable to them seuere gentle to vs to them a Iudge and condemner to vs an Aduocate and Redeemer to them an enemy and destroyer to vs an assured friend and defender so that he shall recompence them with fire continuall among the Diuels but vs he shal reward with his fauour perpetual in the societie of Angels and celestial habitation And therfore doth Ioel cal that day of the Lord a great day and terrible to the wicked when all from the worlds creation shall be made to stand before the tribunall seate of God. Aboue I haue shewed that the chiefest signe of the comming of the sonne of man was the preaching of rhe Gospell which Paule termeth the spirit of the Lords mouth also I haue declared how that signe is euident in these dayes and that Antichrist by the breth of the mouth of the Lord is ouerthrowen and strangled with lynnin as Sebyl Erithraa speaketh that is with interpretations of holy Scripture imprinted in Paper made of linen it is manifest to all godly and men instructed in true religion Now what what other thing remayneth But the consummatâ—on of the world and that glorious comming of the Lord by which that wicked and damned sonne shal be abolished according to Christes woordes Hytherto that coniunction of all Planets which was a litle before the birth of Christ and in the time of Charles the great in the beginning both of the Turkes tyrannicall dominion and rhe Popes Antichristian religion which shal ensue very shortly dooth belong As if the Lorde would say Behold the chiefest signe of my comming according to my promise the preaching of the Gospell is come already you see the power of Antichrist my sworne enemie is greatly weakned now shall you see the very signes in heauen which foretold my former comming in the flesh and the comming of my aduersary by which you may gather my commyng wherby I wil vtterly abolish his vsurped gouernment and abandon him from the godly to that bottomlesse pyt of hell And therefore take you heede and be circumspect for the tyme of your deliuerance is at hand Neither can we doubt sith the Starres are of the Lord God created for signes vnto vs but that marueilous coniunction of the Planets doth foreshew a wonderfull and incredible alteration of all things
And what other change may we looke for I pray you But euen the vtter destruction of the world and the triumphant appearing of the lord For the sixe thousand yeere which is the last daye draweth to the euening course of tymes and their foretold agreement declare the end to be at hand the preaching of the Gospell shineth the Pope of Rome by the breath of the Lord perisheth and we are in Religion colde carelesse and contemne his preachers which the Lord God cannot suffer long to go vnpunished Also this fearfull inclination of the Starres the dayly talke of warres the direful ciuill contentions the cruell dissention in Religion the great plagues the miserable hunger the straunge tempestes the woonderfull risings of the Sea and other signes which many tymes haue come after the preaching of the Gospell and dayly do more increase are out of doubt the euident signes of the worldes speedy ouerthrow and hasty commyng of our Lord Iesus Christ the sonne of God to iudge the quicke and the dead ¶ Of the fifteene hundred yeares after the Apostles tyme vntyl the last iudgement THere are besides these many other sweete and verye probable coniectures of the suddaine comming of the Lord to iudgement Which containe many and profitable instructions and will be wonderful and strauÌ„ge perchaunce to many for the small consideratioÌ„ they haue of them which if they were well wayed myght bring vs into a great admiration of Gods prouidence It is well knowen to all the learned and not doubted but that all gouernments according to the Princes of Philosophie Platoes and Aristotles doctrine haue their certaine conclusions and it may be for truth that euery fiue hundred yeares there happen wonderfull alterations both in Religion and common Weales as there appeared three in Moses Kingdome For from the comming out of Egypt vnto Salomon there was about fiue hundred yeares from thence vnto the captiuitie at Babylon other fiue hundred and from the returning vnto the last subuersion fiue hundred moe which last periode doth greatly agree with those seueÌ„ weekes of Daniell because they are in number foure hundred foure score and tenne And therfore by a briefe marking of the tymes and things brought to passe we will make it euident that the last fiue hundred yeares from the Apostles tyme fully shal be expired in this Monarchie of the Pope which now threateneth a great ruine and perchance an vtter downefall about the eightie eyght and ninetie three yeere the former inclinations of the starres and other ensuing foreshewing dyrefull thinges euen vntill the sixe thousand and a hundred yeere Which Monarchie is called of Iohn in his Reuelation the image of the beast by reason of a certaine likenes it hath wyth the olde Monarchie which by a like tyrannie against the Christians and manner of gouernment by their ecclesiasticall Senate and by the secular power as they saye to the satisfying of their myndes in oppressing the Christian veritie through all the world they doo exercise So that by a great and infallible supposition it may be gathered that the noble comming of the Sonne of God is nygh at hande sith the preaching of the Gospell now goeth before by which this Monarchie hauing his aucthoritie from the Dragon at the length ruinous beginneth to stoupe but cannot vtterly be abolished according to Paules doctrine vntyll the Lord come for altogether For by histories we know Iohn the Euangelist to haue lyued longer time than any of the Apostles to haue written his Gospel at Ephesus and afterward when as none of the Apostles were no not many dayes before liuing it is well knowen that he was sent of Domitian into the Iland Pathmos where he committed his Reuelation to writing and that was about the dayes of Traian the Emperour which the hundred yeare from Christs natiuitie beyng adopted by Nerua came to the Imperiall throne from whom for causes ensuing I will begin to recite three notable chaunges and alterations both in Religion and in the Empire which differ one from another according to the true accompt of yeares but fiue hundred yeares a peece Now these hundred yeares from the birth of Christ vnto the tyme of Traian beyng expired so straunge things and myraculous both in the Church and common Weales happened as from the beginning of the worlde such and so great neyther haue neither shall come to passe except onely in the last comming of the Lorde at what tyme he shall call the dead before hys tribunall seate that so the whole vngracious worlde may be brought vnto perpetuall shame and the vertuous to euerlasting glory for first oâ—r Lord and Sauiour Christ was borne of a virgin perfect man the Messias promised to the Patriarches the sonne of one substance with his eternall father by whom God hath made of nothing al things both in heauen aboue and in earth belowe and redeemed mankynd which was fallen from sinne and wickednes for in the behalfe of vs all he hath suffred a most reprochfull death of the Crosse to that ende that death and the Diuell beyng vanquished he myght rid all beleeuers from eternall death and the intolerable yoke of Satan He hath also rysen lyke a conquerour in glory from the dead and ascended into heauen that he myght prepare a waye for vs to his almightie father whose anger by his righteousnes he had appeased and reconciled him vnto vs. Finally also at the feast of Penticost God miraculously and without meane according as it was long before promised by the Prophetes did powre out his holy spirit full of all grace and goodnes vppon his Apostles that in all Nations they myght be able to glorify God and by euery speache declare their message of glad tydings as also Mangre the diuel and his Adherentes the same notwithstaÌ„ding the outragious cruelty of Nero and Diomitian was preached published throughout all the world Lastly what wonderfull things haue happened from the byrth of Christ vnto the hundred yeere after the same at which tyme Traiane fyrst receyued the Emperiall Diâ—deme I mynde not to prosecute euery thing particulerly least by that meanes contrary to my purpose I proceede Amongst other things those woordes forespoken of Christ and the Prophets teaching the ouerthrowe and vtter destruction of the Iewes and Hierusalem take effect and also vnder Traiane the Emperour there happened a great alteration in religion For although the Empyre was of Rome yet was not the Emperour a Romane borne but a Spaniard and adopted to that dignitie of Nerua which was a Romane And therfore by these it plainely doth appeare that the Apostles beyng dead there was now a new face of the Church and that nothing so beautifull as the former and also new state of Empire presignifyed of Iohn in his Reuelation Because that Traian was the eyght from the seuenth who was Nerua which was the seuenth from Nerc the last of the stocke of Caesars from whom Iohn beginneth to number the seuen Kings which
the Pope became the chiefe Monarch of all the worlde ruled all kyngs and obteyned all authoritie of chusing Bishoppes Also howe that third Periode of fiue hundred yeares about the yeare of our Lord one thousand and sixe hundred should be fully perfect that so without all doubt we may looke for a new Metamorphosis of these things if things to come may well be gathered of things past already And what other I beseech you can we looke for but euen that which was seene and heard of Iohn in his Reuelation from hym which sate on the Throne among the foure and twenty Elders saying Behold I make al things new a newe heauen a newe earth behold the Tabernacle of God with men and he shall dwell with them and they shal be his people and he shall be a God with them euen their God. But when those vngodly Decrees and blasphemies which the Romanes froÌ„ the fifty seuen vnto the thousand one hundred yeare in all the tyme that Henrie the fourth raigned by litle and litle brought in are considered and withall compared with our dayes we shall find all those things continually to haue had as it it were peculiarly their fiue hundred yeares a peece Wherefore in my iudgement by the tymes past and state of things present I am the more confirmed to thinke the full and perfect end of all vngodlynesse to be very nigh at hand after which shall ensue that perpetuall and euerlasting world in which the Lord God shall raigne and rule in iustice truth and mercy for euer In the tyme of Henry as out of histories we gather these Decrees of the Bishoppes were published first that the Emperours shoulde haue no aucthoritie to chuse Bishoppes nor Pope for which cause the Senate of Cardinals to whom was geuen that power was instituted and preferred to great honour then also they tooke vppon them to chuse and refuse Emperours at their pleasure as plainly appeared by Hildebrandes electing of Rodolph and displacing of Henry Moreouer vnder this Emperour that horrible Idolatrie of the woorshippyng and carrying about of the bread came into the Church Lastly in the yeare one thousand nyntie and three al the lawes of Popes were gathered set forth by one Iuon B. of Carnot And therfore no doubt but the Lord God also at his certayne tyme wyll briâ—g to nought cut of and by his commyng to iudgemeâ—t to the perpetuall shame of all papistes vtterly abolish all that impietie and wickednes which the Diuell by his ministers to the reproch of God hath caused increased and confirmed For we haue examples both in the people of the Iewes and Gentiles For when as their superstition and obstinate vngodlynes was come to the top then sprang vp the true doctrine and preaching of the Gospell by which their false doctrine was reproued yet in the meane while through the iust and horrible displeasure of God against them most greeuously were they plagued euen as also happened to the Iewes by Ierusalems destruction and also to other nations and lastly to Rome in the miserable spoyling of the Gothes and vandolles But if the tyme since the preaching of the Gospell were well marked we shâ—ll see most euident beginnings of the ruine and ouerthrow of the Pope and Papacie which perchance eyther shall go before the last end of tyme or els in that third space of fyue hundred yeeres or somwhat after by the Lords comming shall come to naught So doo I perswade my selfe thinke you what you will at your pleasure and yet take heede ye rhinke not falsly But if in other places I erre the matter is not great For it is certayn out of the word of God that this errour shall not long continue For Christ is the very truth and cannot erre But let vs note what hath happened and dayly dooth happen among Christians in this our age and playnly and euidently we shall see all things forespoken to haue and daily to come to passe about this very tyme of fiue hundred yeeres For we haue a notable example hereof in the Electors and states of the Empire which in the yeere one thousand fiue hundred fiftye and eight which was about the fiue hundred yeere after the Popes began their tyranny ouer Kings and Princes did chuse Ferdinandus the Emperor maugre the Pope and for euer disanulled that decree of the Cardinals for the confirmation of his election How I beesech you hath Lotharinge a Guisian Caâ—dinall in Fraunce and Granuellus another Cardinal in Belgia for al their Cardinalshippes preuayled in their laboring to confirme the Popes authoritie and to bring in the Spanishe Inquisition haue not the Frenchmen and Belgians by that meane rather rebelled agaynst them cast froÌ„ their shoulders that intollerable yoke of the Popes bondage By which no doubt it is euident that that space of fiue hundred yeeres in which the Cardinals bare the swaye is now passing and will shortly be expired euen as the other peeuish and idolatrous doctrine of the Papistes is well and to their perpetuall prayse banished out of the Dominions of manye good Kings and Princes And now ye Princes deale wisely and with iudgement consider how that Antichrist of Rome hath most shamefully abused your authoritie to the suppressing of the truth and persecuting of innocentes Beare in minde how long you haue been Ministers and slaues to that blooddie beast in crucifying Christ agayne in his members Be learned ye Iudges of the earth be sorye for these things Serue the Lord in feare and reioyce with trembling For the horrible day of the Lord hangs vppon your shoulders Therefore kisse the Sonne least he be angry and so ye perish when his fury shalbè but a little kindled Blessed are all they which trust in the Lord. Now if in that spoken already and other particular lawes the number of fiue hundred yeeres be so rightly filled what shall we iudge of the whole body of all the Popes decrees which afterwarde by Iuon Byshoppe of Carnot after whom Gratian followed in the yeere of the Lord one thousand nintie and three at the commaundement of the Pope was truly collected into one booke as it were by imitating Iustinian the Emperour which by the ayde of Tribonianus and other noble men gathered the Ciuill lawe into an order and made thereof a newe booke But how with absurdities in number infinite blasphemies not to be vttered those decrees of the Pope doo filthily deface the woord of God none of a ryght iudgement is ignorant And yet alas these haue had more aucthoritie now many yeares than the very immutable worde and will of god Which things although they doo agree very well together yet for the sakes of the ignorant we will proue the same both by a Canon of holy Scripture and the Popes decrees manifestly contrarie between themselues Paule sayth to Timothie Spiritus disertè dicit fore c. That is The Spirit saith plainly that in the latter tymes
some shall depart from the fayth lystening to false spirites and to the doctrine of Diuels by the hypocrisie of vayne speakers whose conscience is marked with a hot iron they forbyd to marrye they commaund to abstaine from meates which are created of God to be eaten of the faythfull and of those which knowe the truth with thankefulnes And a little before he taught a Byshop must be the husband of one wyfe To these woordes of the Apostle the decrees of Popes are cleane opposit which doo forbyd Byshops Priests and all the Clergie to marrie with this interdiction that if they doo so they must be remoued from the Ecclesiasticall calling and which is more if they haue alreadye contracted Matrimonie without any respect of irregularship they must be seperated and shal be compelled by the Ordinarie and remedies of excommunication to refuse their wiues c. By which it is apparant that the Papistes are those which in the latter dayes should depart from the faith and by the Diuels prouoking vnder hypocrisie and with many of the chiefest of them haue not vnder the cloake of ouermuch chastitie forbyd pure and chaste Matrimonie which the holye ghost dooth singuâ—arly commend and also receyuing of certaine meates which as Paule dooth witnes God hath created for the faithfull to be eaten with thankesgeuing And yet notwithstanding these as I said before decrees of Popes although they be cleane contrarie to the wyll of God haue had more aucthoritie among men than the eternall woord of god Bycause those although in deede wicked and vngodly yet haue been called holy and Catholike and they which haue been conuersant in them our chiefe masters and doctors were counted to whom the sacred Scripture was most vnsauerie So that to take an honest woman to wyfe which Paule commaunded his Byshops to doo was dishonestie and more dishonestie than either openly to vse a concubine or secretly to commit adulterie Also on the Friday to eate flesh was a great sinne and heresie and yet on that day to follow drunkennes and carnalitie was no shame but highly commended Likewyse to heare the blasphemous Masse to reuerence an Idolatrous peece of breade and to carry the same about with a pompous Procession was no impietie but good Religion and yet to celebrate the Supper of the Lord soberly according to his institution was no godlynes but great abhomination At a woord the doctrine of Christ a good and godly conuersation was of them suspected as erronious yet forsooth their deuilish decrees and damnable doctrine was holy and nothing pernicious Their impuritie great pietie their hypocrisie great holynes their damnable ceremonies was the diuine seruice of god So that all Christian Religion was vtterly banished and no token of the true seruice of God could be seen But now in the yeare of the Lorde a thousand fyue hundred ninetie and three after Christes birth which is the fyue thousand fyue hundred and fiue yeare after the world was made that expiring of fyue hundred yeares draweth nygh in which these decrees of Popes gathered together by publike aucthoritie to the great defacing of Gods woord and the merites of Christ shall haue theyr ende Wherefore a woonderfull and vndoubted hope of things to come may be conceyued of things past that about that tyme shal be that vniuersall destruction of all the worlde and glorious comming of the Lorde by which all these Popishe decrees shall come to naught and by the iust iudgement of God as erroneous and blasphemous be cast into eternall fire because they haue wickedly burned all the true interpretations of the Propheticall and Apostolicall scriptures and cruelly martyred the learned ministers and true professors of Christes Religion Vndoubtedly that number of fyue hundred yeeres in lyke manner as the others spoken of before doo presage the same lyke thing the Prognostications of the starres as may be gathered by that which is spoken take their effect about the same tyme The preaching of the Gospell and other tokens mentioned of Christ is gonne before and the Iustice of God especially dooth exacte the same ¶ Of the double equalitie of numbers which is represented in the number of yeares of the worlde happening â—n the eyghtie eyght and ninetie thâ—â—e yeare next ensuing NOwe what should I thinke and saye of that course of yeares from the beginning vntill the ninetie three nowe at hand Which is the yeare of the world fyue thousand fyue hundred fiftie and fyue dooth it foreshowe any wonderfull or signifie any perfect thing or no Certainly I find the same to be altogether of lyke proportion as by that which is spoken may appeare euen with the eightie eyght now at hand because it is in his qualitie the fiue thousand fiue hundred and fiftie yeere The Pythagorians and Platonistes men of great aucthoritie haue thought many things to consist in these and haue wondred therat for the lowest number in the highest hath in it selfe a perfect Arithmeticall proportion and from the lowest to the highest it comprehendeth with in it a perfect Geometicall equalitie And Plâ—to in another place greatly dooth wonder at the Arithmeticall and saith that the same dooth make the mynd apt for alâ— speculation and practise And he dooth adde moreouer that numbring is giuen of God himselfe to man as a necessarie instrument of reasoning and discoursing without whiâ—h the mynde should appeare without a mynde and all artes and knowledge would vanish Here I confesse my selfe to haue certaine singular imaginations those not vayne but of waight and agreable to the woord of God as I thinke And thereâ—ore for the profit of all and that I may giue an occasioÌ„ to the learned more deepely to thinke of this matter I will not bury this my talent whatsoeuer it be but wyll set it abrode for commoditie and bring it foorth without any regard of the ouer curious the rather because I knowe that these things if els where perchance I slide doo containe no daunger or heresie within them but rather by occasion many profitable instructions and those sweete and necessarie And that we may returne to Plato he sayth in another place very well That God is an eternall spirit and cause of all goodnes in the world Because in the creation of good things he shewed his vnspeakeable power wisedome and goodnes and iâ— the conseruatioÌ„ of things created his eternal prouidence a wonderful consent and order of al things that by the contemplation thereof man which was made to the image of God should also continue according to the woord reueâ—led in acknowledging and calling on his Maiestie and not as a brute beast beholding the earth should seeke after vayne and transitorie things but should in minde ascend into heauen to beholde things celestiall and of continuance as also the Scripture euerie where doth teach vs Also what kind of meÌ„ would Plato in his Phedrus and Phedon haue in his common weale Forsooth euen such as through contemplating of
Sonne of God hym selfe receyued a name from the Angell and was called Iesus that is a Lord and Sauiour redeeming the worlde from sinne which afterward receyued a name according to his office â–ª and was called Christ that is Annoynted annoynting vs with his holy spirit that so we might acknowledge him to be our christ Wherfore let it not seeme straunge vnto vs if those letters by the diuine prouidence of God doo containe many and great mysteries within them For the Lorde God by a certaine incomprehensible prouidence not according to mans wisedome or foreknowledge of things to come doth gogouerne the thoughtes and tongues of men that many men and Cities in which the Lord God wyll shewe eyther his singular fauour and marueilous woorkes of mercie or his anger and heauie displeasure should receyue fatall names accordingly And therefore by this reason it came to passe no doubt that king Dauid which signifyeth well beloued should receyue a proper name as also the Prophet Daniell his signifying the iudgement of the Lorde Because in him the Lord God dyd shewe foorth his singular kindnes manye wayes and in this his secrete iudgement concerning the Empyres of the world and their endes and of the two commings of Christ the first vyle in the fleshe the second victorious to iudgement So likewyse Babylon receyued a fit name but in a diuers respect not onely because that in her there was made a confusion of tongues but especially because of the confounding of manners and wickednes of Religion and Idolatry together Wherefore at the length it vtterly came to naught and there is become a meere confusioÌ„ in deed of all beastes and serpents By a contrary ende IerusaleÌ„ tooke her name because she should see the peace of God in Christ which afterward she dyd furiously dispise I haue heard moreouer of Melanthon which also in a certaine booke he dyd publish that that name Emda a towne of the Orientall Frisia and my natiue countrey hath her dâ—riuation from truth and firmenes according to the force of the Hebrew woord Est enim illa vrbs amans veritatis For sayth he that citie is a louer of the truth And howe this name agreeth to that Citie in these our dayes the Lord God hath abundantly declared in this that he hath myraculously kept vs among these so daungerous tempests constant in the true doctrine of hys Gospel against the manifolde subtilâ—ies of the Diuell God graunt we may perseuer to the end in all truth and simplicitie of hart and that this naturall falling may firmely be vpholden and stayed least otherwise it pretend an euill fortune and so we be called no longer Emdani that is constant in the truth but Valdarini â–ª that is Babilonians which thing God of his mercy turne away from vs Sibâ—l also Erithina plainely telleth of Rome that her name doth comprehend many wofull destinies and that in these verses translated out of Greeke into Latin by Castilion Porro quater decies complebis terque trecentos Annos atque octo cum te pertingere metam Tristia fata â–ª tuo completo nomine cogent Thy ende thy name fulfyld and fates shall cause then for to come Of yeares nine hundred fortie eyght When seene shal be the summe Nowe after what sort that Prophesie is fulfylled Castalion shewes in his annotations vppon the same place to which I send the Reader And that Rome els where hath a name according to her nature it is apparant by a certaine answere of Pasquil Roma quid est quod te docuit praeposterus ordo Quid docuit iungas versa elementa scies Roma amor est amor est qualis praeposterus vnde hoc Roma mares Noli dicere plura scio Hereof also in respect of her outward whoordome which is linked oftentymes with the spiritual fornication she is worthely called in holy Scripture an Harlot and Babylon Sodome and Gomorrhe secret malice and a people rebellyng against God. ¶ Of the round and square figure of the Climacterian yeares and of the Golden number IF nowe these and that which folowes be rightly considered and compared together they wyll sufficiently shewe themselues to be neither coÌ„trary to the Scriptures nor impertinent to my purpose but rather such as if they be compared with that before mentioned may well bring vs into the remembraunce of the latter dayes especially sith they doo as it were in colours liuely place before our eyes the perfect end of this world and commyng of the Lord to iudgement As also the fiuefold figure doth not only represent the Greeke letter χ. or being somewhat turned the crosse but also both the squate figure and the round For the crosse by equall distance in the plaine dooth fyll the circle and representes the round forme but the Greeke letter χ. rather betokeneth the quadrangle figure But this I speake by the way if vnto the fiuefolde figure noted by fiue vnities on either side contrary to the myddle number of fiue the foure figures comprehended in the fifth euen to the perfect number were set vnder then these nyne vnites may so by Art be disposed that euery way we may see fifteene as by the figure here vnderneath may appeare  15 15 15 15 15 2 9 4  15 7 5 3  15 6 1 8      15 So that this number of fyue in the threefold according to Arithmetike may seeeme the most perfect and by many figures as it were to represent those three alterations of tyme of which before we made mention whose end in a iust quantitie of numbers perfectly set of God hym selfe ought certainly to be looked for Neither can any doubt but that this figure contaynyng a marueilous equalitie and agreement of numbers in a very great inequalitie as it may seeme doth signifie some great mysteries as well Diuine as Philosophical the which least in these which may perchaÌ„ce seeme more darke then many of Platoes numbers I be ouer tedious to the Reader I leaue to the consideration of the studious But that we may somewhat returne to that we haue in hand although the circular and round figure be of all others in sight most fayre yet as is the whole world is it very vnstable subiect to alteration and full of troubles But the square forme is firme constant and stable and howe soeuer it be placed is alwayes one and the same And therefore dooth Aristotle compare the same to a good and honest man whom he calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the which howsoeuer with Aristotle we imagine hym we shall not finde Christ onely the Rocke and true corner stone refused of the buylders and workmen of this world onely excepted but in the lyfe to come wee shall be such with Christ hym selfe And therefore dooth Iohn describe the holy Hierusalem descending from heauen to be foure square in which her perfection constancie and continuance is noted Because by no yll fortune it shal be
regione profana Ter tantum soluent quantum fecere malorum Igni confecti multo tum dentibus omnes Stridentes acri tabescent vique sitique Optandum mori dicent fugientque vocantes Non iam mortis enim requiem non noctis habebunt Multa quidem frustra supremi numina Patris Orabunt sed eos tunc auertetur apertè O that blyndnes of mans mynde and that madde doubting of these diuine promises of eternall lyfe O that hardned and flintie hart of ours which is not mooued no not wyth these horrible threates of Gods heauie displeasure but continuing securely in all impietie neuer asketh pardon for such wilfull offending and amendeth euen as though the scripture were but lyes and these diuine Oracles prophane fables For by those things which haue come to passe and by true demonstrations of Gods holy spirit it is apparant that nothing is more certaine than that the end of all things haÌ„geth oÌ„ our shoulders Truly great is the force of sinne and marueilous is the rage of Satan in these latter dayes he endeuoureth by all meanes that possibly he can to bring the whole world into a desperate securitie of life that so he may haue many partakers of his tormentes in hell from which there is no redemption But how much better had it been we had eyther neuer been borne or at the least been voyde of reason with beastes and serpentes or els been dispactht as soone as we were borne if either we enioy not that place for which we were created or come not to the celestyall Paradyse and to the marryage of our Spouse our Lord and sauiour Iesu Christ where shal be the ful abundance of all delightes and perfection of all pleasure Wherefore let vs cast from vs both our carelesse securitie and mistrust of the promises of God let vs renounce the diuell and all the woorkes of the flesh which are not sufferable by the word of God let vs listeÌ„ to the friendly admonitioÌ„ of our Sauiour Christ warning vs in these wordes Take heed least at any tyme your mindes be ouerladen with surfetting and dronkennes and cares of this life and so the suddayne day of the Lord take you vnawares for euen as a snare it shall come vppon all which sit vppon the face of the earth Be ye watchfull therefore at all tymes and as Matthew addeth because ye knowe not the houre in which your Lorde wyll come praying that ye may escape all these things which are to come and may stand before the Sonne of man. For if the comming of theeues and stealers of our earthly goods be to be feared with how great care with how great diligence and watchfulnes should we seeke to escape those enemies which would spoyle vs of our eternall riches and kingdome of heauen Here we vse great heede and wisedome to preserue our mortall bodyes from hurt and daunger but to saue our soules which are immortal from eternal paynes in hel we are altogeather carelesse nothing circumspect And yet more would it beseeme the children of lyght to be more carefull in seeking and keeping those things which are celestiall than are wordlings paynfull in enriching themselues with such things as they are neither sure to enioy while they are aliue nor can assure them of any ioy when they are dead Yea let vs thinke and perswade our selues that in the sight of God it is not shamefull but abhominable that the elect or chosen people of God which should be wise and circumspect shall in this care be surpassed of wicked worldlings and the more hyghly we displease our god by how much the things which we so litle esteem are more excellent than that which they so hunt after betweene which so surpassing is the treasure prepared for the godly that there is no comparison This exhortation though it pertayne to all men at all tymes yet now especially in these daungerous dayes in which euery where we see so many by suddayne and strange endes to be taken out of this world and because euery man shall dy though the certayne houre and daye none dooth knowe and shall either woofully be sent among the diuels in hell or ioyfully be receyued into the felowship of the faythfull in heauen Wherefore sith the spirit in the faythfull is willing but the flesh very weake and blinde in heauenly things we are to beseech our heauenly father in continuall prayers that by his holy spirit he would dayly more and more encrease and strengthen our weake and feeble fayth And therefore we hartely desire thee O eternall father that thou wilt not vtterly breake vs though we bowe not as we should neither deale with iustice though we doo not our duties according to thy wyll but keepe vs good God in thy welbeloued sonne illuminate our myndes with thy holy spirit by which we may be prepared to all good workes in true holines newnes of life that so with Paule we may desire to leaue this world to be with Christ and so in the coÌ„ming of the Lord being found ready with oyle in our Lamps and adorned with our wedding garmentes we may find entrance to the Lordes mariage which thou for thy son his beloued spouse the holy church hast prepared and appointed from the beginning of the world To thee therfore O heauenly father to thy only begotten sonne and to the holy Ghost our comforter be all prayse honour and glory for euer and euer Amen FINIS Matth. 14.25 Mark. 13. Luk. 21. Aristot lib. 2. Rhetor. ad Theodecten cap. 10. Psalm 10. Prouerb 1. Psalm 73. Cardanus de rerum varietaâ—e Canti Cant. Psalm 51. Roâ— 8. Apoc. 17 Lact. lib. 7. cap. 25. Matth. 24. Lactan. 9. Matth. 25. 2. Cor. 5. Rom. 8. Luc. 16. Hebr. 11. Psal. 73 â–ª The argument of the booke Gene. 1.2 Rom. 8. Esay 66. 2. Pet. â— Aristotle â–ª Plato in Timâ— â–ª Plinius nat hist â–ª lib. 2. cap. 1. Epicures â–ª Plato in Atâ—â—â—â—tico Aegiptians Saduces Esay 56. Sâ—piâ—n 2. Diuers profes â—ut of the worde of God. 1. Cor. 1â— â–ª Iohn 5. The testimonie of tâ—e â—rophets â—f Chrâ—st Apostâ—eâ— â—oâ—firmâ—d by thâ— blooâ— of Martyrs Proofe from the testimony of the holy ghost Christian aucthoritie Matth. 17. Luc. 9. Math. 3. Maâ—â— 24.25 Marke 13. Luke 21. Proofe froâ— Prophesies â—â—ay 9.11.35.40.53 Daniel câ—p â— 7.8.9.11 Daniel 2. Daniel 7. Proofe from the iustice of God. Psal. 73. Esay 66. Iob. â— 9. Esai 25. Proofâ— from the diuine tâ—uth August in hiâ— 12. booke agaynst Mat. Elias prophesie 4. Esdras 4. The iudgement of Bibliander concerning the fourth booke of Esdras The answeare of Vriell to Esdras Psal. 90. 2. Pet. â— Conâ—ectâ—re fâ—om the syx daies of creation Coâ—iecture of Hench by generation thâ— seuenth from Adam Elias 1. Peter 1. Heb. 9. Math. 24. Coniecture from the constitution of the Sabboth The preaching of the Gospell the chiefest signe of Christs comming to iudgement Math. 24. God doth first accuse before he condemne Gen. 6.7 4. Reg 17. 4. Reg. 24.25 Iâ—sephus Egesippus Iosephus Egyptus Dan. 6. Orosius lib. 7. Chap 5. Of other things following the preaching of the Gospâ—ll Maâ—h 24. Luk. 21. An answere vnto certayne obiections Luk. 21. â—om 13. From Pharoeâ— Example Exod. 14. Contempt of knowledge All gifts at the â—â—ppe of perfection Contempt of learning Contempt of the ministerie Math. 24. Securitie of lyfe Horace lib. Serm. 2. Horace lib. 1. Episto Boëtius lib. 2. ante prosam 3. Math. 7. An admonition to Princeâ— Lucan lib. Ouid. lib. 1. fast Luc. 16. Of the successâ— of the Turke Daniel 7. Epito diuinar instit Chap. 11. Rom. 5. 1. Cor. 15. Mat. 24. Melancthonin vita Vaspatiani Ciprian Lâ—ouitius of the strange coâ—iunction of Planes Prayse of Astronomie Gen. 1. Of the comming of Christ into the flesh Gen 49 Dan. 9. Of the comming of Antichrist 2. Thessa. 2. Platina Krants 2. Cap. 18. Ganguinus lib. 4. Lib. 7. Annâ—l Ioan. Auen in exemplari Enstaâ—â—i impresso an 1554. fol. 684. 685. The blasphemous aâ—rogancie of the wicked Pope 2. Distin. 44. Of the comming of Christ to iudgement Ioel. 2. Lib. 8. Plato 8. Polytic Aâ—istotelâ—s 5. pol. Apo. 13. â—usebius Apo. 17. The first Peâ—â—ode The secondâ— Period Apo. 13. Lanf de Sacra Virgi de inâ—entione libr. 4. capi 10. Krantz lib. 5. ca. 8. Blondus Krantz li. 5. ca 7. The last Peryod Apo. 13. Apo. 21. Decretâ— Pontificum Plaâ—ina Sabellicus Krantz lib. 5. ca. 6. Caus. 16. q. 7. Si quis de inceps An admonition to Pâ—inces An admonition to kings Psalm 2. Functi Chron â–ª 1. Tim. 4. 1. Tim. 3.1 paâ—s dist 32. Iâ— Epinemidâ— Philosopho De re pub lib. 2. The definitioÌ„ of Arithmetycall proportion Melant. in Epit mo Phi. Geometrical proportion whar In Gorgia Gâ—lâ— 6. A true Christian Cicerâ— lib 3. Orliâ—i Syrach 27. Quintil. lib. 2. Cap. 3. Plato de Ropub lib. 5. Matth. 8. Quintil. lib. 8. cap. 3. Of the greeke letter χ Of the woord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Emeâ— veritâ—â— Eman stabilis Libro 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 948. Lo. Vulteii  2  1 5 3  4  1  2  5  4  3 Arist. li. â— Ethâ—hâ—t 3. Psal. 17. Mat. 21. Apo. 21. Apo. 21. Of the Clemitarian yeâ—es Libr. 2. ca. 10â— Of the golden number Daniel â— Luâ—ae 1. Math. 25. 1. Thes. 4. 1. Cor. 15. Apo. 20. Cice. lib. 2. de diuinatione Eâ—sebius in vita Constantini August lib. 18. ca. 25. de ciuit Dei. 1. Cor. 2. Esay 64. Apo. 21. Math. 25. Lucae 13. Mâ—tth 13. Apo. 20.21 22. An exhortation to watchfulnes Lucae 21. Math. 24. ¶ Imprinted at London nigh vnto the three Cranes in the Vintree by Thomas Gardyner and Thomas Dawson for Andrew Mumsell dwelling in Paules Churchyard