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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
power_n	beast_n	image_n	worship_v	2,681	5	9.5773	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A48454	The Christian mans triall, or, A trve relation of the first apprehension and severall examinations of Iohn Lilbvrne with his censure in Star-chamber, and the manner of his cruell whipping through the streets : whereunto is annexed his speech in the pillory, and their gagging of him : also the severe	Lilburne, John, 1614?-1657.; Kiffin, William, 1616-1701.; Lilburne, John, 1614?-1657. Work of the beast.	1641 (1641)	Wing L2089; ESTC R1513	44,603	44

the Scorpions of the earth have power to hurt and undoe men as the Prelates daily doe and also Revel. 13. 2. And the Beast which I saw saith Saint Iohn was like unto a Leopard and his feete were as the feete of a Beare and his mouth as the mouth of a Lion and the Dragon that is to say the Divell gave him his power his seat and great authoritie and verse 15. 16 17. And whether the Prelates as well as the Pope doe not daily the same things let every man that hath but comon reason judge For doe not their daily practises and cruell burthens imposed on all sorts of people high and low rich and poore witnesse that their discent is from the Beast part of his state and kingdome So also Revel. 16. 13 14. all which places doe declare that their power and authoritie being from the Pope as they themselves confesse therefore it must needs originally come from the Divell for their power and callings must of necessitie proceed either from God or else from the Divell but it proceeds not from God as the Scriptures sufficiently declare therefore their calling and power proceeds from the Divell as both Scripture and their owne daily practises doe demonstrate and prove and as for that last place cited Rev. 16. 13. 14. If you please to reade the second and third parts of Doctor Bastwicks Letany you shall finde hee there proves that the Prelates practices doe every way suit with and make good that portion of Scripture to the utmost For in their Sermons that they preach before his Majestie how doe they incense the King and Nobles against the people of God labouring to make them odious in his sight and stirring him up to execute vengeance upon them though they be the most harmelesse generation of all others And as for all these officers that are under them and made by them for mine owne particular I cannot see but that their callings are as unlawfull as the Bishops themselves and in particular for the callings of the Ministers I doe not nor will not speake against their persons for I know some of them to be very able men and men of excellent gifts and qualifications and I perswade my selfe their soules are very deare and pretious in the sight of God Yet notwithstanding this proves not their callings to be ever the better as it is in civill government If the King whom God hath made a lawfull Magistrate make a wicked man an officer hee is as true an officer and as well to be obeyed comming in the Kings name as the best man in the world comming with the same authority for in such a case hee that is a wicked man hath his calling from as good authoritie as the godliest man hath and therefore his calling is as good as the others But on the other side if hee that hath no authority make officers though the men themselves be never so good and holy yet their holinesse makes their calling never a whit the truer but still is a false calling in regard his authority was not good not lawfull that made them and even so the Ministers be they never so holy men yet they have one and the same calling with the wickedest that is amongst them their holinesse proves not their callings to be ever the truer seeing their authority that made them Ministers is false and therefore they have more to answer for than any of the rest by how much the more God hath bestowed greater guifts upon them than upon others and yet they detaine the truth in unrighteousnesse from Gods people and doe not make knowne to them as they ought the whole Will and Counsell of God And againe the greater is their sinne if their callings be unlawfull as I verily believe they are in that they stil hold them and do not willingly lay down and renounce them or they do but deceive the people and highly dishonour God and sin against their own soules while they preach unto the people by vertue of an Antichristian and unlawfull calling and the more godly and able the Minister is that still preaches by vertue of this calling the more hurt he doth for the people that have such a Minister will not be perswaded of the truth of things though one speake and informe them in the name of the Lord but will be ready to reply Our Minister that preaches still by vertue of this Calling is so holy a man that were not his calling right and good I doe assure my selfe he would no longer preach by vertue thereof And thus the holinesse of the Minister is a cloake to cover the unlawfulnesse of his calling and make the people continue rebels against Christ his Scepter and Kingdome which is an aggravation of his sinne for by this meanes the people are kept off from receiving the whole truth into their soules and rest in being but almost Christians or but Christians in part But Oh my brethren it behoves all you that feare God and tender the salvation of your owne soules to looke about you and to shake off that long security and formality in Religion that you have laine in For God of all things cannot endure Lukewarmnesse Rev. 3. 16. and search out diligently the truth of things and try them in the Ballance of the Sanctuary I beseech you take things no more upon trust as hitherto you have done but take paines to search and find out those spirituall and hidden truths that God hath enwrapped in his sacred Booke and find out a bottome for your owne soules for if you will have the comforts of them you must bestow some labour for the getting of them and you must search diligently before you finde them Prov. 2. Labour also to withdraw your necks from under that spirituall and Antichristian bondage unto which you have for a long time subjected your soules lest the Lord cause his plagues and the fiercenesse of his wrath to seize both upon your bodies and soules seeing you are now warned of the danger of these things For he himselfe hath said Rev. 14. 9. 10 11. That if any man worship the Beast and his Image and receive his marke in his forehead or in his hand the same shall drinke of the wine of his wrath which is powred out without mixture into the cup of his indignation and he shall he tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy Angels and in the presence of the Lambe and the smooke of their torment ascended up for ever and ever and they have no rest day nor night who worship the Beast and his Image and whosoever receiveth the marke of his name Therefore as you love your owne soules and looke for that immortall Crowne of happinesse in the world to come looke that you withdraw your selves from that Antichristian power and slavery that you are now under even as God himselfe hath commanded and injoyned you in Rev. 18. 4. saying Come out of her my people

being a guiltie person himselfe and a prisoner and did that which he did against mee for purchasing his owne libertie which hee hath by such Judasly meanes got and obtained who is also knowne to be a lying fellow as I told the Lords I was able to prove and make good But besides all this there was an inquisition-oath tendered unto mee which I refused to take on foure severall dayes the summe of which Oath is thus much You shall sweare that you shall make true answer to all things that shall be asked of you So helpe you God Now this Oath I refused as a sinfull and unlawfull Oath it being the High-Commission Oath with which the Prelates ever have and still doe so butcherly torment afflict and undoe the deare Saints and Servants of God It is an oath against the Law of the Land as Master Nicholas Fuller in his Argument doth prove And also it is expressely against the Petition of Right an Act of Parliament Enacted in the second yeere of our King Againe it is absolutely against the Law of God for that Law requires no man to accuse himselfe but if any thing be laid to his charge there must come two or three witnesses at the least to prove it It is also against the practice of Christ himselfe who in all his examinations before the High Priest would not accuse himselfe but upon their demands returned this answer Why aske you me goe to them that heard me Withall this Oath is against the very law of Nature for nature is alwaies a preserver of it selfe and not a destroyer But if a man takes this wicked oath he destroyes and undoes himselfe as daily experience doth witnesse Nay it is worse than the Law of the Heathen Romanes as wee may reade Acts 25. 16. For when Paul stood before the Pagan Governours and the Iewes required judgement against him the Governour replyed it is not the manner of the Romans to condemne any man before he and his accusers be brought face to face to justifie their accusation But for mine owne part if I had beene proceeded against by a Bill I would have answered and justified all that they could have proved against me and by the strength of my God would have sealed whatsoever I have done with my blood for I am privie to mine owne actions and my conscience beares mee witnesse that I have laboured ever since the Lord in mercy made the riches of his grace knowne to my soule to keepe a good conscience and to walke inoffensively both towards God and man But as for that oath that was put upon mee I did refuse to take it as a sinfull and unlawfull oath and by the strength of my God inabling me I will never take it though I be puld in pieces with wilde horses as the ancient Christians were by the bloody Tyrants in the Primitive Church neither shall I thinke that man a faithfull Subject of Christs Kingdome that shall at any time hereafter take it seeing the wickednesse of it hath been so apparently laid open by so many for the refusall whereof many doe suffer cruell persecution to this day Thus have I as briefly as I could declared unto you the whole cause of my standing here this day I being upon these grounds censured by the Lords at the Star-chamber on the last Court day of the last Terme to pay 500. pounds to the King and to receive the punishment which with rejoycing I have undergone unto whose censure I doe with willingnesse and cheerefulnesse submit my selfe But seeing I now stand here at this present I intend the Lord assisting me with his power and guiding me by his Spirit to declare my minde unto you I have nothing to say to any mans person and therefore will not meddle with that onely the things that I have to say in the first place are concerning the Bishops and their calling They challenge their callings to be Iure Divino and for the oppugning of which those there renowned living martyrs of the Lord Doctor Bastwicke Master Burton and Master Prin did suffer in this place and they have sufficiently proved that their calling is not from God which men I love and honour and doe perswade my selfe that their soules are deare and precious in the sight of God though they were so cruelly and butcherly dealt with by the Prelates and as for Master Burton and Master Prin they are worthy and learned men but yet did not in many things write so fully as the Doctor did who hath sufficiently and plentifully set forth the wickednesse both of the Prelates themselves and of their callings as you may reade in his Bookes that they are not Jure Divino which noble and reverend Doctor I love with my soule and as he is a man that stands for the truth and glory of God my very life and heart-blood I will lay downe for his honour and the maintaining of his cause for which hee suffered it being Gods cause As for the Bishops they used in former times to challenge their jurisdiction callings and power from the King but they have now openly in the High Commission Court renounced that as was heard by many at the censure of that Noble Doctor And as you may fully reade in his Apologettcus and in his Answer to Sir John Bancks his Information Now I will here maintain it before them all that their callings is so far from being Jure Divino as they say they are that they are rather jure Diabolico which if I be not able to prove let mee be hanged up at the Hall gate But my brethren for your better satisfaction reade the 9. and 13. Chapters of the Revelation and there you shall see that there came Locusts out of the Bottomlesse Pit part of whom they are and they are there lively described Also you shall there finde that the Beast which is the Pope or Romane State and government hath given to him by the Dragon the Divell his power and seate and great authoritie So that the Popes authoritie comes from the divell and the Prelates and their Creatures in their printed Bookes doe challenge their authoritie jurisdiction and power that they exercise over all sorts of people is from Rome And for proving of the Church of England to be a true Church their best and strongest argument is that the Bishops are lineally destended from his Holinesse or Impiousnesse of Rome as you may reade in Pocklingtons Booke called Sunday no Sabbath So that by their owne confession they stand by that same power and authority that they have received from the Pope So that their calling is not from God but from the Divell For the Pope cannot give a better authoritie or calling to them then he himselfe hath but his authority and calling is from the Divell therefore the Prelates calling and authority is from the Divell also Revel. 9. 3. And there came out of the smoake Locusts upon the earth and unto them was given power as

with the power of the Almighty which made me with cheerefullnesse triumph over all my sufferings not shewing one sad countenance or discontented heart And when I was to come downe having taken out my head out of the Pillory I looked about mee upon the people and said I am more then a conqueror through him that hath loved mee Vivat Rex Let the King live for ever and so I came downe and was had backe againe to the Taverne where I together with Mr. Wharton staid a while till one went to the Warden to know what should be done with mee who gave order we should be carryed backe againe to the Fleete and as I went by land through the streets great store of people stood all along to behold me and many of them blessed God for enabling me to undergoe my sufferings with such cheerefulnesse and courage as I did for I was mightily filled with the sweet presence of Gods Spirit which caused me notwithstanding the paines of my sufferings to goe alone the streets with a joyfull countenance not shewing the least discontentednesse as if I had been going to take possession of so ne great treasures After I came back to the prison none were suffered to come at me but the Surgeon to dresse mee and I feeling my selfe somewhat feverish I went to bed and my Surgeon doubting the same also gave me a Glister and appointed to come the next morning and let me blood but when he came he could not be permitted to come at me nor any else for the Porter kep● the key and lock'd me up very close saying the Warden gave him straight command so to doe Whereupon I desired the Surgeon to goe to Westminster to the Warden and certifie him how it was with me being very ill and that he might have liberty to come at me to let me blood and dresse me which could not be obtained till the Warden himselfe came home About one of the clock Iohn Hawes the Porter came to me to know what I had to say to the Warden to whom I said Master Hawes this is very cruell and harsh dealing that after so sore whipping my Surgeon shall not be admitted to come and dresse me nor any other be suffered to administer to my necessities having not eaten all this day nor the last evening but a little Caudlè I hope the Lords will be more mercifull than after the undergoing the extremity of my censure to take my life from me by letting me perish for want of looking to therefore I pray speake to Mr. Warden that he would be pleased to give leave to my Chirurgion to come to dresse and let me blood otherwise I was in danger of a Feaver which might take away my life So hee wished me to haye written to the Warden I told him if he would help me to Pen Ink and Paper so I would No said he I dare not doe that Then I desired him to deliver my mind to the Warden by word of mouth who then went away and after I was in my bed he came to me againe and said thus unto mee Mr. Lilburne I have one suite to you What is that said I It is this said he that you would help me to one of those bookes that you threw abroad at the Pillory that I might read it for I never read any of them I speake not for it to doe you any hurt only I have a great desire to reade one of them Sir I thinke you doe not said I but I cannot satisfie your desire for if I had had more of them they should yesterday have all gone I verily believe you said he and so wee parted And in a very little while after came the Warden himselfe with the Porter and I being in my bed hee asked me how I did Said I I am well I blesse my God for it and am very merry and cheerefull Well said he you have undone your selfe with speaking what you did yesterday Sir said I I am not sorry for what I have said but am heartily glad that the Lord gave me strength and courage to speake what I did and were I to speake againe I would speake twice as much as I did if I could have liberty though I were immediately to lose my life after it Wouldst thou so said hee Ey indeed Sir would I with the Lords assistance said I for I feare not the face of Man And concerning what I yesterday spake I did not in the least manner speake against any of the Lords but did openly declare that I did willingly with all contentednesse submit my selfe to their censure and as for the Bishops I said nothing against any of their persons but onely against their Callings Ey said the Warden and thou saidst their Calling was from the Divell Yes Sir so I did said I and I will prove it and make it good or else I will be willing to lose my dearest blood For if you please to reade the 9. and 13. Chapters of the Revelations you shall there finde that the Beast which ascended out of the bottomlesse pit which is the Pope and Romane State hath his power and authority given him by the Dragon the Divell So that all the power which the Pope hath and doth exercise originally comes from the Divell If you reade also some Bookes lately set out by the Prelates themselves and their Creatures you shall there finde that they claime their jurisdiction standing and power from the Pope Now if their power and calling be from the Pope as they themselves say it is then it must needs be from the Divell also For the Popes power and calling is from the Divell And he cannot give a better power and calling to them than hee himselfe hath And I pray Sir if the Bishop of Canterbury be offended at that which I spake yesterday tell him I will seale it with my blood And if hee please to send for mee I will justifie it to his face and if I be not able to make it good before any Noble man in the Kingdome let mee lose my life Ey but it had beene a great deale better said hee for thine owne particular good to have beene more sparing of thy speech at that time No Sir said I nothing at all for my life and blood is not deare and precious to mee so I may glorifie God and doe him any service therewith I assure thee said he I was exceedingly chid about thee and also there were old businesses rubb'd up aginst mee concerning Doctor Laiton and Master Burton for that liberty that they had Wherefore were you chid for me said I About the Bookes said hee that you threw abroad in regard you were close prisoner and yet had those bookes about you I would aske you one question Did you bring those bookes to the Fleet with you or were they since brought to you by any other I beseech you Sir pardon me for revealing that said I. Then he would have knowne who they