fallen it is fallen Babylon the great Citie For she made all nations to drinke of the wine of the wrath of her fornication And I sawe a woman sitting vpon a scarlet coloured beast full of names of blasphemie which had seauen heads and ten hornes and in her forehead was a name written A mistery Great Babylon the mother of whoredomes and abhominations of the earth And I sawe the woman drunken with the bloud of Saints and with the bloud of the Martyrs of Iesus And the Angell said vnto me The woman which thou sawest is the Great City which raigneth ouer the Kings of the earth Ap. 18. And after this I saw an other Angel come downe from heauen and hee cryed with a loude voice saying It is fallen it is fallen Babylon the great Ciâ—ie and is become the habitation of Deuils and the hould of al foule spirits and a cage of euery vncleane and hatefull bird For all nations haue drunke of the wine of her fornication and the Kings of the earth haue committed fornication with her and the Marchants of the earth are waxed rich of the abundance of her pleasures And I heard an other voice from heauen say Goe out of her my people that ye be not partakers in her sinnes and that ye receiue not of her plagues for her sinnes are come vp to heauen and God hath remembred her iniquities Reward her euen as she hath rewarded you and giue her double according to her workes and in the cup that shee hath filled to you fil her the double in asmuch as she glorified her selfe and liued in pleasure so much giue ye to her torment and sorrowe for she saith in her heart I sit being a Queene and am no widdow and shall see no mourning Therefore shal her plagues come at one day death and sorrowe and famine and she shal be burnt with fire for strong is the Lord God which wil condemne her O heauen reioyce of her and yee holy Apostles and Prophets for God hath giuen your iudgment on her Then a mighty Angel tooke vp a stone like a great milstone and cast it into the sea saying With such violence shall the great citie Babylon be cast and shal be found no more And as the Iewes doe praise God after their deliuerance so is it said that vpon the deliuerance from this spirituall bondage all Christians shall say Let vs be glad and reioyce and worship God saying Amen Hallelu-iah for our Lord God Almighty hath raigned At this deliuerance out of Babell about the euening offering the Angell Gabriel appeareth to Daniel and telleth him the exact houre of Christs death Dan. 9. in these wordes Seauenty seauens or 490 yeares are exactly decreed for the death of Christ the King the most Holy to finish sinne to bring in iustice to reconcile iniquity to annoint the most Holy and to performe euery vision and prophecie By this key the Iewes might haue vnderstoode the death of Christ the sonne of all saluation These seauenty seauens are distinguished into seauen seauens and the Temple shall be built into sixtie two seauens wherein Religion shall seeme to be vtterly obscured and into one seauen in the halfe of which Christ the King must be killed not for himselfe but for the people as Dan. 9. The time of the sixtie two seauens is prooued out of the Grecians Storie whome God in his secret wisedome vsed though vnwittingly to themselues to be recorders of his truth These seauens of weekes I wil handle more at large at the death of Christ where they are fully accomplished Vpon the vision of the foure Beasts in Dan which represent foure stately kingdomes figured before in Nebucadnetzars image which he sawe in his dreame Dan. 2. ariseth a great question Whether the fourth Beast containe the kingdome of the Romanes or not It is certaine it doth not and thus it may be prooued Of the first which is the Lion to be meant of Babylon the Beare to be the kingdome of the Medes and Persians and the Leopard to be Alexanders kingdome there is no controuersie but then of the fourth Beast with ten hornes lyeth the question It is said that a stone shall be cut without hands and shall become a great mountaine and shall fill al the earth and shal fal vpon the image and punne it to dust This stone is Christ vpon whose birth this vision ends for the stone falling vpon the feete of iron clay the whole image fell and was beaten to powder If then vpon the birth of Christ the fourth kingdome must be punned to dust and al the beasts be consumed in the fire by the Ancient of daies as Daniel 7. then the fourth kingdome cannot be the Romanes For vntill the comming of Christ they were in no glory and then were they in their chiefest glory for although a little before indeede they had conquered all the world yet the world did not consent to pay tribute vntill Christs time and therefore it could not bee said a full conquest For it is neuer a full conquest vntill a generall consent of tribute be graunted If it be obiected that it is meant of the second comming of Christ how is euery vision and prophesie performed in Christ and with what authority could Daniel speake of the second comming before hee had mentioned the first Therefore to hold this to be meant of the Romanes proueth Christ not to be yet come nor the ceremonies of Moses to be abolished Againe the fourth Beast that is the fourth kingdome hath relation to the fourth part of the image And by the legges of iron clay and thereby as the legges of one body being twaine are expressed Wherefore as the legges of contrary natures that is of iron and clay being twaine proceede out of one body so the kingdome which by them is signified must be a diuided Nation ruling one kingdome which the Romanes were not for Augustus Caesar was onely Emperour otherwise you darken the Romanes glory Againe it is said of these legges that is of this fourth kingdome that they shall striue by marriages because they were two Nations that is of Syria and Egipt to be as one body But as iron cleaueth not in nature with clay no more should they bee one Whose stories if you examine in Iustine and other heathen Authors you shall find they were from time to time preuented by vntimely deathes For the wiues killed their husbands the mothers their sonnes the sonnes their mothers so that they could not bring to passe their purpose This cannot be applied to the Romanes for they were still one sole gouernment and vniuersall Emperours of themselues Againe the little horne that is the tenth horne of the fourth beast is Antiochus the vilde who is the last part of the fourth beast whose villanies indeede are answerable to the impieties of the Romanes therefore in the Reuelation the whole time of their gouernment is by allusion called daies 1260. a time 2. times and halfe
the thinges hid in secret places that thou mayest know that I am the Lord which call thee by thy name euen the God of Israel For Iacob my seruants sake and Israel mine elect I will euen call thee by thy name and name thee though thou hast not knowne me I whose hands haue spread out the heauens I haue euen commaunded all thine armie I haue raysed thee vp in righteousnesse and I will direct all thy wayes thou shalt build my Citie and let goe my captiues not for price nor reward saith the Lord of Hostes The labour of Egipt and the marchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans men of stature shall come vnto thee and they shall be thine they shall follow thee and make supplication vnto thee saying Surely God is in thee and there is none other Gods besides And Esay 46. For I call a bird from the East and the man of my counsell from farre as I haue spoken so will I bring it to passe I haue purposed and I will doe it Heare me yee stubborne hearted and that are farre from iustice I bring neere my iustice it shall not be farre off and my saluation shall not tarrie for I will giue saluation in Sion and my glorie vnto Israel These people here mentioned were tributaries to the Persians Cyrus was a figure of Christ For as Cyrus deliuered the Iewes from the bondage of Babel so Iesus Christ deliuered vs from the bondage of the spirituall Babel Thus much for the Prophecie of the persons who should destroy Babylon Now followeth the Prophecies of the destruction thereof BEL is bowed downe Nebo is fallen they are bowed downe and fallen together for they could not rid them of their burden and their soule is gone into captiuitie And Esay 47. Come downe and sitte in the dust O Virgin daughter Bahel sitte on the ground there is no throne O Daughter of the Caldeans for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate Take the mill stones and grinde meale loose thy lockes make bare thy feete vncouer the leg and passe through the flouds Thy filthinesse shall be discouered and thy shame shall be seene I will take vengeance and not meete thee as a man meaning that he would vse no humanity nor pittie towardes it Our Redeemer the Lord of hostes is his name the Holy one of Israel Sit still and get thee into darknesse O daughter of the Caldeans for thou shalt no more be called the Lady of Kingdomes I was wrath with my people I polluted mine inheritance and gaue them into thine hands and thou diddest shew them no mercie but thou laidst the very heauie yoke vpon the ancient and thou saidst I shall be a Lady for euer so that thou didst not set thy heart to these things neither didst thou remember the latter end thereof Therefore now heare thou that art giuen to pleasures and dwellest carelesse Thou saist in thy heart I am and none else I shall not sit as a widdowe neither shall know the losse of children but these two things shall come to thee in one day the losse of children and widdowhood for the multitude of the diuinations and for the great abundance of thine enchanters haue caused thee to rebell and thou hast said in thy heart I am and none else Stand now among thy enchanters and in the multitude of thy sooth-sayers let now the Astrologers the starre gasers and Prognosticators stand vp and saue thee from these things Behold they shall be as stubble they shall burne like fire and shall not deliuer their owne liues from the power of the flame For Babell is fallen it is fallen and all the images of her Gods are broken to the ground this is the time of the Lords vengeance he will render vnto her a recompence Babell hath beene as a golden cuppe in the Lords hand that made all the earth drunken the Nations haue drunke of her wine therefore doe the Nations rage Babell is sodainely fallen and destroyed howle for her bring balme for her sore if she may be healed We would haue cured Babell but shee could not be healed Forsake her and let euery one goe into his own cuntrey for her iudgment is come vp into heauen and is lifted vp to the clowds O thou that dwellest vpon many waters aboundant in treasures thy end is come euen the end of thy couetousnesse Behold I come vnto thee O destroying mountaine which destroyest all the earth saith the Lord and I will stretch out my hand vpon thee and roll thee downe from the rockes and will make thee a burnt mountaine They shall not take of thee a stone for a corner nor a stone for foundations but thou shalt bee destroyed for euer saith the Lord. A Poste shall runne to meete the Poste and a Messenger to meete the Messenger to shew the King of Babell how his citie is taken on a side therof and that the daughter of Babel is like a threshing floore and the time of her threshing is come saith the Lord. The spoile of me and that which was left of me is brought vnto Babel shall the inhabitant of Sion say and my bloud vnto the inhabitants of Caldea shall Ierusalem say Therefore Babel shall be as heapes a dwelling place for Dragons an astonishment and an hissing without an inhabitant They shall roare together like Lions and yelle as the Lyons whelpes In their heate I will make them feastes I will make them drunken that they may reioyce and sleepe a perpetual sleepe and not wake saith the Lord. How is Sheshack taken how is the glory of the whole world taken how is Babell become an astonishment among the Nations her cities are desolate the land is dry and a wildernesse a land wherein no man dwelleth neither doth the Sonne of man passe therby Though Babell should mount vp to the heauens and though she should defend her strength on high yet from me shall come her destroyers saith the Lord. For the Lord God that recompenceth will surely recompence and I wil make drunke her Princes and her Wisemen her Dukes and her Nobles and they shall slâ—epe a perpetuall sleepe and not wake saith the King whose name is the Lord of hostes And Ieremie tooke a great stone and cast it into Euphrates and said Thus shall Babylon be ouerthrowen Thus the word of the Lord remayneth for euer as it is written If any leade into captiuity hee shall goe into captiuity and if any kill with a sword he must be killed with a sword Ap. 13. Now compare the impieties of Rome or misticall Babylon with these times and you shall find them the very same and therefore the Holy Ghost layeth downe her destruction as the destruction of Babel ANd Ap. 14. I sawe an Angell flie in the middest of heauen hauing an euerlasting Gospel saying with with a loude voice Feare God and giue glory to him for the houre of his iudgment is come And there followed an other Angel saying It is
in the Wildernesse Dauid referred all his actions to the building of the Temple And if we will truly be beloued all our actions must haue this end to aduance the glorie of God in his Temple Dauid had many enemies so that the 18. Psalme is a thankesgiuing to God for his deliuerance from them God would not haue his afflictions easie because the comfort and consolation in ouercomming should be sweeter and that he being the beloued of God and yet afflicted men might learne to leaue to trust to the happinesse in this life and thirst after the felicitie of the world to come Hee had enemies abrode and enemies at home As Adonay Absalom c. and in respect of this hee maketh the 86. Psalme The consideration of this is of great vse to euerie godly man in his priuate life Besides these he himselfe was his owne greatest enemie in seeing Vrias wife and coueting her and killing of Vrias Gods purpose in these great offences of the godly is wonderfull vpon this he sung the 51. Psalme shewing himselfe to be a spirituall Leapour more odious and detestable in the sight of God than the bodily leaprousie in the sight of men In the psalme there is a sentence vsed which Saint Paul applyeth in the new testament for he sayth then shall I teach thy way vnto the wicked and sinners shall be conuerted vnto thee And sayth Saint Paul God hath shewed mercie to me a sinner These fallings of Dauid are no warrant for any man to presume to doe the like But from hence ariseth a wonderfull comfort to the sinner which transgresseth by infirmitie to hope for forgiuenesse that so hee may bee free from desperation If Dauid being so glorious in conquests and other graces had not thus transgressed hee would haue been too proude but hee was therefore humbled that hee might thereby keepe the Commaundements of the Lord. Now let vs consider him in his learned affaires THe whole Booke of Psalmes are called Dauids but there be many which are none of his yet they are called Dauids psalmes because they bee in that volume All Dauids Psalmes haue relation to Moses and there is great vse of them to expound Moses For as Moses at his death blesseth Iuda the second psalme expounds that blessing and applyeth it to Christ Moses teacheth the Children of Israel to blesse in this sort Numb 6. The Lord blesse you and keepe you the Lord make his face to shine vpon you the Lord turne his louing countenance towards you and graunt you his peace Dauid in the 67. Psalme expounds this and telleth wherein this consisteth Hee beginneth in the like order that God would bee mercifull vnto vs and shew vs the light of his countenance This appeareth in that the earth knoweth his way and the Nations his sauing health When hee iudgeth the folke righteously and gouernes the Nations vpon the earth and then shall the earth increase therefore let the people praise thee o God yea let all the people praise thee by this one you may gather all the rest In Moses it is sayd that God did arise The 68. Psalme beginneth so Let God arise and his enemies shall be scattered There he sayth Thou art gone vp on high thou hast led captiuitie captiue and receiued gifts for men Saint Paul expounds this of Christ Ephes 4. Thus much for his Doctrine generally ABenezra an ancient Iew mooueth a doubt concerning Dauids Organes and Instruments of Musicke It may thus bee answered when they came from Egipt they had Organes and hauing one kinde it was lawfull to haue other kindes also The Prophets which knewe the Iewes should be trayned vp in ceremonies might vse these to the same purpose This is no warrant for the vse of them nowe seeing Ceremonies cease Concerning the ecclesiasticall discipline amongst the Iewes we shall see that Dauid durst not aduenture to appoint the Sacrificers whose turne should be first or second but they cast lots for it for as he was Prince ruler ouer the people so they were al Princes of the sanctuarie and therein equall with him When the Leuites tooke vpon them to be Kings they became Saduces and Malachi calleth this time the time of the curse Rabbi Leui Ben Gerson sheweth that though the Leuites had notable victories against the Antiochi yet they all died of violent deaths because they tooke the glorie from Iuda therefore God would not hold them vnpunished In the 22. Psalme Dauid as a prophet telleth what the Scribes and pharisees would doe vnto Christ and therein sheweth likewise the calling of the Gentiles He entituleth the Psalme the Hart of the morning that looke euen as the Hart is the pleasure of the beasts and the morning the glorie of the day so is Christ to the soules of those which beleeue in him As Dauid a great many yeares looketh to the death of Christ so must wee following Saint Peters rule look to the end of the world that from the meditation thereof wee may lift vp our heads knowing that our saluation is at hand Dauid knew of these contumelies against Christ by the spirite of prophesie but yet he must prooue the truth therof therefore imagineth the most outragious And surely we cannot imagine greater than that Christ should bee as one forsaken of God Besides what could bee more cruell than to giue vinegar to drinke to those which are sicke Dauid in his psalmes goeth further and compareth Melchisedech with Christ saying Thou art a Priest for euer after the order of Melchisedech and from thence descendeth to the calling of the heathen He shall smite in sunder the heads ouer diuers Nations He likewise in the 49. Psal mentioneth Adams Storie Adam being in honour continueth not one night but is as the beast that perisheth The summe of all is that as Paul taught nothing but Moses and the prophets so doth hee In that his Sonnes are wicked wee haue to learne that godlinesse is no inheritance neither doth it lineally descend from the Father to the Sonnes His afflictions may teach vs that the best men are not without the greatest calamities seeing there is no goodnesse in them And if their actions haue good successe it is because God doth blesse the whole state Thus much for Dauids Storie Salomon borne HIs name signifieth Peaceable so was his Kingdome and gouernement thereby to shew that Christ the King whome he representeth should giue peace passing all vnderstanding Hee was of Dauid by Bershabe This blemish the holy Ghost noteth to comfort vs in our infirmities and to keepe vs from desperation Salomon raigneth Fortie yeares THe Grecians say that Salomon was King at Twelue yeres of age The reason is because mention is made of him when Thamar was defloured and they cast it thus two yeares after the deflouring of Thamar Ammon is slaine for the which Absalom flyeth to Geshur and there hee remaineth three yeares afterwards hee is two yeares banisht from the presence of the King then he rebelleth