〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of our Regeneration which from the beginning stirred our hearts gives that great and powerful lift which doth the deed Here and not before now that Faith in the Gospel which applies and reaches hold of Christ first comes in to give life unto Repentance as a Soul unto a Body Which union of Faith and Repentance as I said in the beginning of this Discourse makes the Regeneration of a spiritual man as the union of the Soul with the Body makes the generation of a natural man And as in natural generation the Soul is not infused at the first conception but after the Body hath been in some measure fashioned and formed So in our Regeneration or generation spiritual Iustifying Faith or that Faith whereby the Soul flies unto and relies upon Christ hath no place till Repentance be come to the last degree of Contrition For then our Saviour inviteth a sinner to come unto him and not till then Come unto me saith he all ye that labour and are heavie laden that is all ye that are contrite and groan under the burthen of your sins and I will ease you Till then he invites them not as being not till then fit to be eased For the whole hath no need of the Physician but the sick I speak not of an Historical faith whereby a man believes in general that Christ is the Saviour of mankind nor of a Legal wherewith a man believes the punishments and threatnings of the Law for these may be yea are before Repentance but of a Saving faith which applies Christ as a salve to a sick and wounded soul. BUT now to dwell no longer upon the connexion of the two parts let us see what are the degrees also of this second part namely of Turning and Living unto God by a new and reformed life answerable to the degrees of the former part which was Dying and Turning from sin Where first we are to know that because Turning to a thing and Turning from a thing are motions of a contrary nature therefore the degrees of our Turning unto God are to be ranked in a clean contrary order to those of our Turning from sin For the first degree here is the Act of the Will which as it concluded our Turning from sin by resolving to forsake it so it begins our Turning unto God by a firm purpose of Heart to serve him thenceforth in newness of life After this the Affections begin to act their parts answerably and as it were to eccho the good choice the Will hath made First Love when a man begins to find himself affected and enamoured with this change of life After Love comes Delight when the Penitent takes some pleasure in doing the duties whereby God is served and finds joy and comfort in his favour From whence in the third place springs Hope of the reward namely to be partaker of the glory and life to come promised unto all those who unfeignedly turn to God and set themselves to do his will But we must know that these Affections appear not all at once nor in like measure but according as a mans growth and proficiency in Conversion is more or less Howsoever the inseparable Effects of this second part of Repentance are good works or as the Scripture calls them works worthy of or meet for or beseeming Repentance that is works of Religion towards God and of Righteousness towards men I shewed saith S. Paul Acts 26. 20. first to the Iews and then to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God and do works meet for repentance Without such works he that saith he is turned unto God and yet doth them not is a lier and deceives his own soul. THUS much of the second part of Repentance I will conclude this whole Discourse with these two excellent descriptions of Repentance in the Prophets Esay and Ezekiel which contain the Sum of what I have hitherto spoken concerning the same For thus saith Esay chap. 1. 16. Wash ye make ye clean put away the evil of your doings from mine eyes saith the Lord cease to do evil This is the first part of Repentance V. 17. Learn to do well seek judgment relieve the oppressed judge the fatherless plead for the widow This is the second part Ezek. ch 33. v. 14 15. thus When I say unto the wicked saith the Lord Thou shal◠surely die if he turn from his sin there is Contrition the first part and do that which is lawful and right If he restore the pledge give again that he had robbed walk in the Statutes of life without committing iniquity here ye fee the fruit of a New life the second part he shall surely live he shall not die Believe the Gospel THUS much shall suffice to have spoken of Repentance the first part of our Regeneration I come to the second Faith in the Gospel Repent and believe the Gospel Where first I will shew What this Gospel is secondly What it is to believe it or What is that Faith concerning it which our Saviour here requires For the First The Gospel is the glad tidings of Salvation to be attained by Christ who by taking away of sin reconciles us unto his Father that through him we might turn unto God and perform service and obedience acceptable unto eternal life Before I prove every part of this Description out of Scripture and explain the same as shall be needful for your understanding we will first speak of the Antiquity of this Gospel and shew when these glad tidings were made known to the sons of men Know therefore that albeit the Fulfilling and solemn publication thereof were not until our Saviour's coming yet the Promise of the same was from the daies of old even as ancient as the time of man's sin and afterwards continued and repeated all the time of the Covenant of the Law until the Mediatour of the New Covenant came in the flesh For when the Devil abusing the shape of a Serpent had seduced our first Parents unto sin and so had gotten dominion over them and theirs by this title the Gospel or Promise of a Redeemer that they might not be without all comfort was given them in these words The seed of the woman shall break the Serpent's head The Serpent's head is Satan's soveraignty which is Principatus mortis the soveraignty or principality of death a Soveraignty that whosoever is under is liable to death both temporal and eternal the power thereof consisting not in saving and giving life but in destroying both of body and Soul The Sword whereby this dominion is obtained the Sceptre whereby it is maintained or as S. Paul speaks the Sting of this Serpent's head is Sin This is that which got this dominion at the first and the title whereby he still maintaineth the remainder of his jurisdiction in the world This Soveraignty this Headship of the Devil One to be born of mankind the Seed of the woman which is Christ our
the Serpent and what the Heel of the Woman's seed Those who understand The seed of the woman singularly of the person of Christ only make his Head to be the Godhead against which the Serpent could prevail nothing but his heel to be the Manhood which the Serpent so bruised at his Passion that the grave became his bed for three days together This indeed is true and no marvel for the Head is as it were the whole Bodie 's Epitome But we who have expounded The seed of the woman collectively of Christ and his Members must also in this mystical Body find a mystical Head and a mystical Heel and so in like manner for the Serpent and his seed The Head therefore or if you had rather Headship is nothing else but Soveraignty The Serpent's head is the Devil's Soveraignty which is called Principatus mortis the Soveraignty of death namely both objectivè and effectivè that is such a Soveraignty as under which are only such as are liable to Death both temporal and eternal and such a Soveraignty whose power consists not in saving and giving of life but in destroying and bringing unto Death both of body and soul. Under the name also of Death understand as the Scripture doth all other miseries of mankind which are the companions of this double Death I speak of This is that damnable Head of the Serpent the Devillish Soveraignty of Satan Now the Sword whereby this Soveraignty was obtained the Sceptre whereby it is maintained or as S. Paul speaks the Sting of this Serpent's head is Sin This is that which got him this Kingdom at the first and this is still the right whereby he holds the greatest part thereof Imperium iisdem artibus conservaâ—ur quibus acquiritur By the same arts and methods is an Empire conserved by the which it was at first obtained This Soveraignty of the Devil which once overwhelmed â—igh all the world the Woman's seed should break in pieces and destroy which according to this Prophecy we see already performed in a great measure and the grounds laid long ago for the destruction of all that remaineth As saith S. Iohn Ep. 1. c. 3. v. 8. The Son of God was manifested for this purpose that he might destroy the works of the Devil And Christ himself said that the time was come that the Prince of this world should be cast out and bade his Disciples be of good chear for he had overcome the world If you would see what a wonderful victory he hath long ago gotten of the Serpent when after a terrible battel he overcame and destroyed the Soveraignty of the Serpent in the Roman Empire see it described in the 12. of the Revelation v. 7 8. where Michael that is Christ and his Angels fought against the great Dragon and his Angels till the Dragon with all his Army was discomfited and their place found no more in heaven that is he utterly lost his Soveraignty in that state whence there was a voice in heaven v. 10. Now is come salvation strength and the Kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ. And what he will at the length do with the remainder yet of the Devil's Soveraignty you may find in the 19. and 20. chapters of the Revelation For he must reign as S. Paul saith until he hath put all his enemies under his feet until he hath destroyed all power rule and authority adverse unto him And then last of all destroying Death by giving immortality to our raised bodies shall surrender up his Kingdom unto his Father as it is 1 Cor. 15. 25 c. But Satan saith my Text shall prevail something against him for the Serpent shall bruise his heel What is this Heel Those who understood the seed of the woman singularly as I told you made it Christ's Manhood But now we expound the seed Christ's Mystical Body what shall we make the Heel thereof I could say that by it were only meant a light wound or the Devil 's assaulting the Body of Christ ex insidiis at unawares for that is his fashion since the great overthrow which our Michael gave him to work his feats underhand and to undermine our Lord in his members But this though true is not full enough It may seem therefore the fittest to make hypocritical Christians who profess Christ outwardly but inwardly are not his to make these the heel of his Mystical Body for against such the Devil we know prevaileth somewhat and by them annoyeth the rest of the Body with his venome though he be far enough yet from impeaching our Lord's Headship and Soveraignty But will you give me leave to utter another conceit If the Blessed souls in heaven be the upper part of Christ's mystical Body the Saints on earth the lower part of the same may not the Bodies of the Saints deceased which lye in the earth be accounted for the heel For I cannot believe but they have relation to this mystical Body though their Souls be severed from them and yet must that relation be as of the lowest and most postick members of all If you will admit this then it will appear presently what was this hurt upon the heel when Christ had once mauled the Devil's head for the Text seems to intimate that the Devil should give this wound after his head was broken I will hold you in suspence no longer Read the 13. of the Revelation and see what follows upon Michael's Victory over the Dragon what the Devil did when he was down He forms a new Instrument of the wounded Roman Empire by whose means under a pretence of the Honour given to the precious Reliques of the Saints and Martyrs he conveyed the poyson of Saint-worship and Saint-invocation into the Kingdom of Christ with which wound of the heel the Devil coming on the blind side the true Church had been long annoyed and limpeth still DISCOURSE XLIII 2 PETER 2. 1. But there were false Prophets also among the people even as there shall be false Teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction MANY are the Prophesies in Scripture wherein the Holy Ghost forewarns us of a great and solemn Defection and Corruption of Faith which should one day overspread the visible Face of the Catholick Church of Christ and eclipse the light of Christian Verity and Belief S. Paul 2 Thes. 2. 3. foretels us that there should be an Apostasie or Falling away of Christians and the Man of sin be revealed before the coming of the day of the Lord. The same Apostle 1 Tim. 4. 1. tells us that though the great Mystery of Godliness spoken of chap. 3. 16. were then preached among the Gentiles and believed on in the world yet the Spirit spake expresly that in the latter times some should depart from the Faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and doctrines of Devils or Daemons S. Iohn tells
once brought to steal he should not stay there but be carried farther even to forswear and take God's Name in vain Lest I steal saith he and take the Name of my God in vain Peter first denied Christ but the Devil would not let him stay there but made him curse and forswear him David having once committed adultery with the wife of Vriah the Devil took the advantage to make him commit murther too Sin is like a Serpent if it can but once get in the head it will draw the whole train after While there is no rist in a block it is hard for the wedge or axe to enter but if a rift be once made it will enter all with a little driving So will sin The reason is Because he that commits a sin puts himself thereby more or less into the Devil's power who is not so negligent as to lose or not to ply his advantage The Devil is the Prince of death Heb. 2. 14. Now death comes by sin therefore sin gives the Devil a title and first brought and still bringeth man into the Devil's jurisdiction Hence those who are converted to God and acquitted of their sins are said To be delivered from the power of Satan unto God Acts 26. 18. But sin makes them again obnoxious to his power it reaches him a new hold of us which though perhaps it be not so much as he may quite pull us from God yet will it serve him to pull us into many a transgression and cost us much work and a great deal of sorrow before we get free again DISCOURSE XXIX ISAIAH 2. 2 3 4. And it shall come to pass in the last days that the Mountain of the Lord's House shall be established or prepared in the top of the Mountains and exalted above the Hills and all Nations shall flow unto it c. HILLS or Mountains are States Kingdoms or Societies of men which consisting of degrees rising unto a height one above another are compared unto Mountains raised above the ordinary Plain and Level of the Earth The mountain of the Lord's House is that State and Society of men which is called the Church and People of God Regnum Coelorum the Kingdom of Heaven that is a Kingdom whose both King and King's Throne have their residence and place in the Heavens These words therefore are a Prophesie or prophetical Promise of the glorious exaltation wonderful inlargement and unheard-of prosperity of this Society of men called the Church above all other States or Societies of men whatsoever The glory and exaltation is expressed in the words The Mountain of the Lord's House shall be one day exalted yea mounted not only above the lesser Hills but the highest Mountains though at this time it were depressed and trampled under foot by the proud enemies thereof The inlargement and ampleness thereof in the words All Nations shall flow unto it that is Though at the time of this Prophecy it were reduced to a small remnant yet the time was to come when it should not only consist of the one Nation of the Iews as then it did but of all Nations under the whole heaven The prosperity thereof begins to be described from these words in the 4 th verse They shall beat their swords into plow-shares and their spears into pruning-hooks c. that is Although the greatest part of Iacob were already captive and Iudah and Ierusalem in a continual fear and no less danger of the arms and invasion of the King of Babel yet the time should one day come that the People or Church of God should not only be the most exalted State upon the earth and the most ample and universal Dominion that ever was in the world but the most peaceable quiet and flourishing State that ever was since man was first created This is the Prophecy But now comes the Question Whether this as we have described it be and hath already been fulfilled or whether the time thereof be yet to come or if already any ways fulfilled whether it be not in part only performed and the full accomplishment reserved for the time to come Our Adversaries would fain find here the constant and perpetual Visibility of the Church And I must needs grant them that it is meant of a time when the Gentiles shall be called for the words of the Text viz. All Nations tell us so But without doubt he that will have this place for his purpose must shew us not only â—â—â—aked and single Visibility but more than that a glorious Visibility yea the most glorious among the sons of men For a Visibility is one thing and a glorious Visibility is another for many things are visible which are not glorious to look upon and oftentimes good and rich mettal may be within when the outside glisters not We must therefore when we talk of the Churche's Visibility distinguish between these two and not confound them The Church might be Visible though it were but a Hill much more if it be a Mountain but here it is to be established on the tops of Mountains and exalted above the Hills so that no other State shall overtop or overlook it much less trample it under feet Now whether there were ever yet such a time when this was compleatly fulfilled though all be granted our Adversaries they can ask yea and that the Romish Church be that Church here spoken of I leave it to any mans indifferent judgment who can compare the Description of the Prophet with the Stories of forepast and present Times But suppose it were to be fulfilled and fully accomplished in the times which have already been and I will not deny but in part it hath been so yet how doth it follow from this Prophesie that this glorious Visibility should be constant and continual and never interrupted or eclipsed Is not the Prophesie true and hath not God made his Promise good if he hath at any time performed the thing here spoken of though it neither were done all at once and though this exaltation and glory did not alway continue If one skilful in Divination or Astrology should meet with a private man for the present in great want distress contempt and misery and should tell him that it was his fortune to rise to the greatest honours and to become the greatest man that was in the Kingdom If this fell out so at any time of his life according as it was foretold him though perhaps it proved not long durable as such exaltations use not to be had he any reason to say that the Astrologer had lied unto him in that he had foretold him I think any man in reason will think him unjustly charged Why then may not the like be said and thought of the Chruch and as I may so speak with reverence of the prediction of the Churche's fortune But if the time of the full performance of this Prediction be yet to be expected as perhaps it is then it will serve our
Seven Seals But God heard his Prayers and Tears and upon the Lambs opening the Book he is bid Come and see Thus God made the place of his banishment Patmos an Island in the Archipelago to be to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Valley of Vision another Peniel and Gate of Heaven and for the Oracles of Divine wisdom he there received infinitely more illustrious than Delos a neighbouring Island the middlemost and chief of the Cyclades so much famed for the birth and Oracle of Apollo In this Solitude the holy Angels and Christ Iesus the Sovereign over Men and Angels visited him and blest this Eagle-eyed Apostle with the discoveries of the particular Fates of the Church till the End of the World and Christs Second coming to Iudgement Agreeable to such holy Counsels and these great Examples was Mr. Mede's practice particularly when he entered upon the Apocalyps Accordingly in a Letter of his to Mr. W. his ancient Friend he tells him That it was his daily Desire and Prayer to God that he might not be led away with delusions as some unskilful and unstable souls had been in their attempts upon so abstruse a Book as the Apocalyps and that therefore his Hope was in God that he would not suffer him to fall as they had wretchedly miscarried but be merciful to him a sinner and withal he earnestly desires that others would pray for him as he would not cease to pray for them engaged in the like difficult labours In this humble strain does he express himself in that private Letter which needed not to be printed it treating upon what he hath more fully and clearly discoursed of in other Tracts published in this Edition Besides out of his printed Works upon the Apocalyps the Reader may observe the same For those two humble Addresses of his to God in the beginning of both his Clavis and Commentary upon the Apocalyps Tu qui Throno insides and Christe Dei Sapientia are pregnant proofs how sensible he was of the availableness of continued Prayer for the safe understanding of such Mysteries So far was he from leaning to his own Understanding and glorying in his own Wisdom just as Ioseph the Patriarch speaks of his interpreting Pharaoh's Dream Gen. 41. 16. It is not in me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non ex sapientia mea says the Targum II. His Ingenuous Gratitude and Thankfull acknowledgements for any measure of Light received For Praise as it is in it self most comely a singular piece of the Beauty of Holiness the Souls best dress and most graceful deportment so likewise it is an effectual instrument and one of the most compendious means to the obtaining of greater Favours and Blessings Thus Daniel out of a due sense of Gods Goodness in revealing to him that Secret and Mystery of Nebuchadnezzar's Vision repeats and doubles his affectionate Praises in Chap. 2. 20 22 23. And he that was thus becomingly thankful for this First Favour had many other Mysteries imparted to him Mysteries of the greatest magnitude and importance as that of the LXX Weeks Chap. 9. containing besides other Secrets of Providence relating the Iewish State the highest Mysteries of the Gospel the Coming of Messiah into the World his Death the Time and the End or Intent thereof his Anointing Inauguration and being instated in his Sovereign Dignity and Regal Power over all and also that in Chap. 7. of the Second Coming of Christ in the Clouds of Heaven together with the Description of the Great Day of Iudgement and the Kingdom of Christ which should not pass away nor be destroyed as were those Four Kingdoms represented in this Chapter by the Four Beasts diverse one from another verse 3. and to name no more that Mystery of the Reign of Antichrist for so the Ancients understood it both in Chapter 7. 8 20. and Chapter 11. 36 c. together with the Time of his Discovery Chapter 12. 11 12. Nor was Mr. Mede's Practice less observable in this than in the foregoing Particular of which it were easie to produce many Instances This for one out of that above-mentioned Letter to Mr. W. to whom he had sent the First Draught of his Notions upon part of the Apocalyps As for me saith he I am conscious of my weakness and unworthiness being when these kind of thoughts first possess'd me looking another way with a prejudice incompatible with this But if it be found the least means of farther light to the Father of Lights be the Glory His Epistles are full of the like thankful acknowledgements When some admiring his rare Sagacity in the Mysteries of the Apocalyps and other Prophecies wrote to him in a strain full of respect and praise he was not forward to take Glory to himself but gave it as he ought to God telling them if there were any thing in his Meditations worthy of approbation he must ascribe it to Gods goodness towards him that had in any sort enabled him to endeavour ought whereby he might not live in the world altogether unprofitably and withal adds concerning his Clavis If this one thing be my Talent though but a single one I have sufficient wherefore continually to thank the Almighty and to beseech him that my husbanding thereof may be by his gracious instinct such as may be some occasion of farther light to others Agreeable to which expressions is that most Grateful acknowledgment with which he concludes his Clavis Apocal. Id extremum te volo Lector ut si mihi assidenti quid forte revelatum esse perspexeris aut tibi ipsi aut aliis ad haec mysteria profuturum id tot um Dei in me misericordiae acceptum referas cui ego ob tantillum Sapientiae ejus radiolum grates persolvere nunquam desinam The like humble and hearty praises for that portion of knowledge God had given him in these Mysteries and the Opportunity he had vouchsafed him to make it known to others so far as he had done either of which Favours he professes he deserved not the Reader may observe elsewhere in his Epistles And indeed a Soul so Humble and Meek and Thankful as his was is in the fittest disposition and has the fairest advantages for Divine light So true is that of Siracides Mysteries are revealed unto the meek He with whom God spake face to face as a man speaketh to his friend was the meekest man upon earth one whom that rare conjunction and Constellation of so great Accomplishments and Excellencies as his being learned in all the wisedom of the Egyptians his being mighty in words and deeds his forty days converse with God in the Mount his Greatness Power and Dignity together with the incomparable goodliness of his person did not swell into an haughty arrogant and imperious humour as it would have been apt to have made some the proudest men upon earth To conclude To return all Thankful
Experience which shews us that the Evil spirits are not yet bound with eternal chains having so much liberty of gadding about supplies in the Text vinciendos as if there were an Ellipsis reading it thus Iudicio magni illius Diei vinculis aeternis vinciendos reservâsse He hath reserved them to be bound in eternal chains at the Iudgment of the great Day In that of S. Peter if I understand him he takes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not for Dativus instrumenti with chains of darkness but as Dativus acquisitionis for chains of darkness and construes it with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if it were He delivered them for chains of darkness namely supposing a trajection of the words But for my part I take both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in S. Peter and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in S. Iude to be neither of them Dativus Instrumenti but both Acquisitionis or Finis and governed the one of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the other of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As in the Hebrew the preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 serves both for the preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and for the Dative Case whose propriety the style of the Greek Testament every where imitates and why not in this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for not with chains Nay among the Greek Grammarians we find observed that the Dative Case is sometimes put for the Accusative with the preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in this example 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 much more in the sacred Greek which so frequently imitates the Hebrew Construction Next for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in S. Peter it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but once used and so not bound by any use or example to the signification which we here give it to wit casting down to hell I would therefore render it ad poenas tartareas damnavit he hath adjudged them to hellish torments to wit thus Angelos qui peccaverunt cum ad tartari supplicium damnasset catenis caliginis servandos tradidit ad Diem Iudicii Having adjudged the Angels that sinned to hell-torments he delivered them to be kept or reserved in the Aiery region as in a prison for chains of darkness at the Day of Iudgment For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iudgment here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Day of Iudgment as S. Iude hath it So also Matth. 12. 42. The Queen of the South shall rise in Iudgment with this Generation that is in or at the Day of Iudgment Or if I would render it not casting down to hell but casting down to hell-ward so the meaning in both places will be That the wicked Angels were cast down from Heaven to this lower Orb there to be reserved for chains of darkness at the Day of Iudgment Which sense the ninth verse of this Chapter of S. Peter plainly intimates by way of reddition Novit Dominus pios in tentatione cripere The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly in temptation as he did Noah and Lot Injustos verò in diem Iudicii cruciandos servare But to reserve the unjust unto the Day of Iudgment to be punished as he doth the wicked Angels Moreover verse 17. where the same hellish darkness is spoken of it is said to be reserved for the wicked 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to whom that hideous darkness is reserved for ever whence it is probable that S. Peter in the foregoing passage of Angels referred also those chains of darkness to reserving and not to delivering that is not that the evil Angels were now already delivered to chains of darkness but reserved for them at the Day of Iudgment AND thus much for clearing of the words of these two parallel Texts Now what hath been anciently the current opinion about this point And first for the Iews it is apparent to have been a Tradition of theirs That all the space between the Earth and the Firmament is full of Troops of Evil spirits and their Chieftains having their residence in the Air which I make no doubt but S. Paul had respect to when he calls Satan the Prince of the power of the Air. Drusius quotes two Authors one the Book called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another one of the Commentators upon Pirke Aboth who speak in this manner Debet homo scire intelligere à terra usque ad firmamentum omnia plena esse turmis praefectis c. A man is to know and understand that all from Earth to the Firmament is full and no place is empty of Troops of Spirits together with their Chieftains and such as are Praepositi all which have their residence and fly up and down in the Air some of them incite to peace others to war some to goodness and life others to wickedness and death By Praepositi I suppose he means such among the Spirits as are set as Wardens over several charges for the managing of the affairs of mankind subject to their power This was the Opinion of the Iews which they seem to have learned by Tradition from their ancient Prophets for in the Old Testament we find no such thing written and yet we see S. Paul seems to approve it Now for the Doctors of the Christian Church S. Hierome upon the sixth of the Ephesians tells us that their Opinion was the same ' T is the opinion of all the Doctors â—aith he that the Devils have their Mansions and residence in the space between the heaven and the earth And that the Fathers of the first 300 or 400 years nor did nor could hold the evil Angels to have been cast into Hell upon their sin is evident by a singular Tenet of theirs For Iustin Martyr one of the most ancient hath this saying That Satan before the coming of Christ never durst blaspheme God and that saith he because till then he knew not he should be damned The same is approved by Irenaeus lib. 5. cap. 26. Praeclarè saith he dixit Iustinus quòd ante Domini adventum Satanas nunquam ausus est blasphemare Deum quippe nondum sciens suam damnationem Post adventum autem Domini ex sermonibus Christi Apostolorum ejus discens mâ—nifestè quoniam ignis aeternus ei praeparatus sit per hujusmodi homines blasphemat eum Deum qui judicium importat It was a worthy saying of Iustin That Satan before the coming of our Lord never durst blaspheme God as not till then knowing he should be damned But after the coming of our Lord he clearly understanding by the Discourses of Christ and his Apostles that everlasting fire was prepared for him by these men Irenaeus means those Hereticks who blasphemed the God of the Law
should get Faith and know Christ to be their Redeemer But they would have some new things taught them these common things are tedious the Minister must teach them something they never knew before or if they must have the old things still their stomachs are so queasie that they must needs have them drest and set out with delicious words and gay shews of Learning that so they may go down the better that is They would have Gold to be gilded and find want of knowledge in the noblest piece of Learning in the world These men are like unto the Israelites Num. 11. who when God gave them Manna from heaven and fed them with the food of Angels after they had a while been used to it they began to murmure and said Our souls loath this Manna what nothing but Manna what still Manna every day Manna Manna O that we had the flesh-pots of Egypt our onions and our cucumbers I As if they had said What though this Manna be an heavenly Manna we had rather have that which comes from the Earth so it be rare and geason we regard not the goodness of the meat but the variety of fare But what befel these dainty-mouthed murmurers Many they had their wish they had flesh of the best the flesh of Quails sent them but while the meat was in their mouths the wrath of the Lord came upon them and they died not because it was unlawful for them to eat flesh but because they made more account of this grosâ—â—r food because 't was rare then of the Manna which fell from heaven Take heed therefore you that are too-too choice in hearing and had rather hear rare and new things than profitable things because you hear them often The Knowledg of Christ is this Manna which came from heaven If the Minister of God feed you with this it is the best food he can give you What more soveraign Diet can be unto your souls than that which makes them live for ever What more pleasing News can you hear than Tidings that God will be at peace with men This made the very Angels of heaven to sing for joy at the birth of Christ Glory be to God on high and peace amongst men Account not that common which so few men tast of account not that tedious which the best of you all have need of and which if you could once but relish the sweetness of you would think you never had enough of I speak not all this as quite disallowing a moderate shew of Learning in Sermons but because I would have you know that in respect of the Manna it self they are but leeks and cucumbers the onions and garlick of Egypt AND so I come to the next thing I observe out of the First part of my Text and that is from these words we are sure or we know as in the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but it comes all to one for he that knows he knoweth Christ is sure he knows he that knows he hath a thing is sure he hath it Mark then from hence That a man may be sure he shall be saved he may be sure that the Benefits of Christ's death belong unto him For to know Christ I told you was to know him to be our Redeemer that is to have Faith in him or to believe him to be our Christ. If every one therefore that knows him aright and believes in him truly shall be saved he that is sure he knows him he that knows he believes truly in him this man must needs know also and be assured of his Salvation But you see the words of my Text do plainly imply that a man may be sure he knows Christ or else in vain should the Apostle tell us of the means how to get that which was impossible to be gotten But if the words of my Text be not sufficient to persuade you then call to mind the firm Assurance of S. Paul who was perswaded that neither life nor death neither principalities nor powers nor any thing else in the world could sever him from the love of God Call to mind again the words of Iob who saith he was sure that his Redeemer liveth and that his eyes should see him But perhaps you will say that these were extraordinary men Apostles and Prophets might know so much by special inspiration but every man must not look for that which they had All are not Apostles all are not Prophets and therefore all must not look to be like unto Apostles and Prophets But mark again the words of my Text We are sure or we know that we know him He says not I Iohn am or may be sure or that the other Apostles might be sure but we know or we are sure we know him that is I and you both not I alone who am an Apostle but all you also to whom I write who have believed through the preaching of the Apostles and Disciples of the Lord Iesus we all of us may be sure or know we know him if we keep his Commandments And surely if this be not so why doth S. Peter 2 Ep. chap. 1. 10. bid us endeavour to make our calling and election sure why is the Spirit of God called the Earnest and Seal of our Salvation The Seal we know confirms and makes a thing sure and he that hath given earnest is bound to stand to his bargain whosoever then doth feel the Spirit of God to be within him as every one may and must do before they shall be saved this man hath God's promise sealed unto him and God hath given him the Earnest of his Salvation and certainly God useth not to break covenants he will not break promise with us if we keep promise with him for he is not as the sons of men that he should be changed the Lord hath sworn and it shall not repent him the counsel of the Lord remains for ever and his decree from generation to generation Wouldest thou then have comfort in thy misery wouldest thou have joy in all thy sorrows wouldest thou find rest in the greatest troubles of thy life wouldest thou entertain Death as a messenger of joy wouldest thou welcome the Lord Iesus at his coming O labour then to make thy election sure never cease till thou hast gotten the seal and earnest of thy Salvation renounce all kind of peace till thou hast found the peace of conscience discard all joy till thou feelest the joy of the Holy Ghost Do this and there is no calamity so great but thou mayest undergo no burthen so heavy but thou mayest easily bear it Do this and thou shalt live in the fear dye in the favour and rise in the power of God the Father and help to make up the heavenly Confort singing with the Saints and Angels Hallelujah Hallelujah All glory and honour and praise be ascribed to the Lamb and to him that sitteth upon the throne for
follows after them That all the tribes of the Earth or Land should mourn Now I cannot understand how these two Prophetical passages should not have the same meaning when our Saviour and his Apostle alledge them joyned which they have in their own Authors expressed apart or being expressed together as one should not be fulfilled at once By such a miraculous apparition of Christ from Heaven was S. Paul converted And I hope it is no Heresie to think That the whole Nation of the Iews those Zelots against Christ may be converted by as strange a means as was that one Zelot of their Nation 4. Those who shall be Partakers of this Kingdom are described to be of two sorts 1. The deceased Martyrs who as far as I can yet understand it shall resume their Bodies and reign in Heaven 2. Such of the Living as have not worshipped the Beast nor his Image neither have received his mark c. these shall reign on Earth For so I construe the words I saw the Souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Iesus and for the Word of God and subaudi I saw those which had not worshipped the Beast nor his Image nor had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands and they lived that is the Martyrs and reigned that is both of them with Christ a thousand years 5. Under the Second sort of those Reigners together with the Virgin-Christians of the Gentiles who are the Surrogate Israel I would in a particular respect understand the Nation of the Iews then converted to the Faith of Christ who coming in toward the end of the day may above all others be said to be Those who had not worshipped the Beast neither his Image nor had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands which most of the Christian Gentiles had done and therefore at the time of their cleansing Chap. 15. ver 2. are rather described Those that had gotten the victory over the Beast and over his Image and over his mark and over the number of his Name 6. The Rising of the Martyrs is that which is called the First Resurrection being as it seems a prerogative to their sufferings above the rest of the Dead who as they suffered with Christ in the time of his patience so should they be glorified with him in the Reign of his Victory before the Vniversal Resurrection of all Blessed and Holy are they who have part in the First Resurrection for on them the Second death hath no power namely because they are not in Via but in Patria being a prerogative as I understand it of this First sort of Reigners only and not of the Second Thus I yet admit the First Resurrection to be Corporal as well as the Second though I confess I have much striven against it and if the Text would admit another sense less free of Paradox I had yet rather listen unto it but I find it not Howsoever to grant a Particular Resurrection before the General is against no Article of Faith For the Gospel tells us Matth. 27. v. 52 53. that at our Saviour's Resurrection The graves were opened and many bodies of the Saints which slept arose and went into the holy City and appeared unto many Neither was the number of them a small number if we may credit the Fathers or the most ancient Records of Christian Tradition For of this was that famous saying That Christ descended alone but ascended with a multitude which is found in the heads of the Sermon of Thaddeus as they are reported by Eusebius out of the Syriack Records of the City of Edessa Lib. 1. cap. ult in Ignatius's Epistle to the Trallians and in the Disputation of Macarius Bishop of Ierusalem in the first General Council of Nice also in Cyrill's Catechism Nay this Cyrill of Ierusalem Chrysostome and others suppose this Resurrection to have been common to all the Saints that died before our Saviour See the Bishop of Meath De Limbo Patrum Howsoever it be it holds no unfit proportion with this supposed of the Martyrs And how it doth more impeach any Article of our Faith to think that may be of the Martyrs which we believe of the Patriarchs I yet see not 7. The Second Resurrection to be after the End of the 1000 years Iustin Martyr by way of distinction calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Eternal and Vniversal Resurrection of all together namely in respect of the former which was Particular and but of some And that it is common both to the Godly and to the Wicked and not of the Wicked only may appear in that there are two Books opened for the Dead ver 12. whereof one is the Book of Life which argues two sorts of Dead to be judged Nor can I imagine how it can be otherwise unless all the Iust which live during the 1000 years be supposed to be immortal which is a Paradox I dare not admit understanding not that all the Individuals but that the Body of the Church here on Earth should successively Reign with Christ her Lord 1000 years Besides the attempt of the Nations after the Devil 's loosing argues a State subject to mutability As for those words of v. 14. which seem to intimate no other Dead then judged but the Wicked because it 's said That Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire which is the Second Death I suppose nothing else is meant thereby but that Death was now quite vanquished and that there should be no more Death of Body or Separation of Soul but only the Second Death As if it had been said Death and Hades are now confined only to the Lake of Fire which is the Second Death but the former Death of Bodies in the Grave and the State of separate Souls in Hades was no more 8. For Gog and Magog who after Satan's loosing and before the last Resurrection shall gather together against the Camp of the Saints and the Beloved City it cannot be literally understood of the Nations so called in the Old Testament For there Gog the Prince with the People of Magog come out of the North-parts where the posterity of Magog was seated But Gog and Magog here are said to be Nations which are in the four quarters of the Earth As therefore the Apocalyptical Babylon is not Babylon in Chaldaea but a Counter-type thereof most like for Vniversal Ambition and Metropolitanship of Spiritual Fornication so this Apocalyptical Gog and Magog is not the Gog and Magog of the North but a Counter-type of them which should after the same manner attempt against the Beloved City then which the Scythian Gog and Magog I mean the Turk doth against the Church of the Gentiles now and should before his last Ruine attempt against Israel at their return And if there ever be an Antichrist such as the Fathers describe now will be the most likely time for him when
must premise some General grounds which are as followeth First That as God is most One and without all Multiplicity so must the Honour and Service which is given unto him have no Communicability Isa. 42. 8. I am the Lord that is my name and my glory will I not give unto another nor my praise to graven Images For the One-most God must have an One-most service Therefore in that Action whereof God is the Object nothing must be an Object but God Or in the Scripture phrase thus In those actions which look towards the Face of God nothing may come between whose Face such Actions may look upon besides him whether by way of Subordination to him or Representation of him For I am the Lord thy God saith he Thou shalt have no other Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before my face Secondly This Face of God is not only the Object of his Person but also the Place of his presence where his Glory is revealed in the Heavens where we shall see him face to face 1 Cor. 13. 12. Revel 22. 4. and where the Angels in heaven behold the Face of the Father which is in Heaven Matth. 18. 10. No Action therefore directed thitherward that is to this Face of his revealed presence and glory may so much as look asquint upon any other Object or behold any other Face but the Face of God alone For we must have no other Gods before his Face I say not that a man may not turn his Face upon the Face of any other thing when he turns his Face towards the Face of God for how then should we worship him at all seeing which way soever we turn us something will always be before us But it is not the Face of our Bodies or their posture but the Face and posture of the Act we do which must not have the Face turned upon any thing else when it is directed at the Face of God namely That Action in which God is faced must face nothing else but God that is Where God is the Object whether in regard of his Person when we pray unto him or of his Throne of presence when we would approach it or direct our supplications towards it there nothing is to have any respect of an Object but God alone So although when we pray unto God we turn the face of our Bodies towards Heaven the Sun the Moon and Stars yet do we not therefore worship the host of heaven because our Action hath no relation to them as to an Object but to God alone and howsoever they are between God and us in place yet as an Object of our devotion neither they nor any thing in them come any way between us and him Now for the reason if you ask it of this Incommunicableness of all Action and Service directed to God-ward you shall have it Exod. 34. 14. Because the Lord whose name is Iealous is a Iealous God Iealous not only lest he should not be honoured and served as God but Iealous lest he should not be honoured as One God For as by honouring him we acknowledge him God so by the Incommunicableness of honour we acknowledge him One God For this cause God being to give us a Mediator by whom we should have access unto his presence and whom without his Iealousie we might interpose in our devotions and supplications unto himself or offered at the Throne of his Majesty and Glory in the heavens provided that admirable Mystery of communicating to the nature of a man born of a woman the Hypostatical union of the second Person of the Deity and him after he had vanquished death to exalt to sit at his right hand of Glory and Power in the Heavens there in his own Presence and Throne to receive our Requests and to deal as an Agent between us and him Thus at length I am arrived at that Port which all this while I made for viz. to shew That this Glory of Christ which is styled His sitting at the Right hand of God is that Incommunicable Royalty to which of right belongeth in the Presence of God to receive and present our devotions to the Divine Majesty as in that which now followeth shall appear Sessio ad Dextram Dei To sit at the Right hand of God is to be installed in God's Throne or to have a God-like Royalty which is defined in Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Majesty of Christ in heaven whence it is said Heb. 1. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He sate down on the Right hand of Majesty on high and Heb. 8. 1. it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Right hand of the Throne of the Majesty in the Heavens It is called also by Christ himself Mark 14. 62. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 22. 69. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Right hand of Power and the Right hand of the Power of God For as to the Right hand belongs both dignity and strength so doth this Glory of Christ include both a God-like Sublimity and a God-like Power the first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The proper place where the Majestical Glory is revealed is the Heavens as may appear almost wheresoever this sitting at the right hand of God is mentioned Eph. 1. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Coloss. 3. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 1. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 7. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 3. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Heaven Heavenly places High places and the like being alwayes thereto annexed and every where appeareth to be a consequent of his Ascension into Heaven as we say in our Creed He ascended into Heaven and sitteth at the Right hand of God and therefore in the words whereon my Text depends is expressed by Assumed or Taken up into Glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For as God himself is styled Pater in Coelis not because not elsewhere but because his Glory is there revealed so Christ sits ad dextram in Coelis because there the beams of the Majesty given him by his Father are revealed whence it comes that his Kingdom is called the Kingdom of Heaven that is a Kingdom whose King 's residence and Kingly Throne are both in Heaven This glorious Throne of Majesty this Sitting at the Right hand of the Power of the Almighty is a Name incommunicable an Exaltation whereof no creature in heaven or earth is capable which is that the Apostle means to tell us when he saith Eph. 1. 21. Far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come and Phil. 2. 9 10. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that is created name That at the name of Iesus every knee should bow both of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth Revel 3. 21. He
the rest of the Apostles but the particular Fates and States of that Kingdom were never known till Christ revealed them to S. Iohn in the Apocalyptical Visions The like I say of the Fourth or Roman Kingdom the general revelation whereof could not but be before the opening of the sealed Book in the Apocalyps since it had then been so long a time in the world as it was grown past the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and had fulfilled what it was to fulfil upon Daniel's people 4. As for the Persecutions of the Church I deny the argument either of the Seals or Trumpets to be the Roman persecutions of Christ's Kingdom or that any of them have reference to persecutions save the Fifth Seal only or that any thing contained in them was made known to Daniel save the Catastrophe only represented in the last Trumpet which the Angelus tonitruum proclaims there to be Consummatio Mysterii Dei prout annunciavit servis suis Prophetis The finishing of the Mystery of God as he hath declared to his servants the Prophets and therefore cannot be denied to have been both foretold and expected for the general although not for the Manner Time and Order in serie rerum gerundarum till now 5. Howsoever my Tenet here be yet your Assertion That the Romans persecution was revealed to none till Christ revealed it to Iohn cannot stand unless you deny the coming of the man of sin who is a limb of that Kingdom to be any part of the Churche's afflictions For this was revealed unto S. Paul both for the quality and the fall thereof viz. That Christ should destroy it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I make no doubt but S. Paul learned out of the seventh of Daniel where that ruffling Horn also is not destroyed until the Son of man comes in the clouds of heaven to receive that Universal Kingdom which shall never suffer persecution 6. But whereas you say that the ruffling Horn of the Fourth Beast is Antiochus Epiphanes I demonstrate the contrary by this one Argument The ruffling Horn reigns until the Ancient of days comes in fiery flames to destroy him and to give judgment unto the Saints of the most High and until the time comes that the Saints possessed the Kingdom viz. until the Son of man comes in the clouds of heaven to receive a Kingdom wherein all Nations People and Languages should serve and obey him Daniel 7. verses 9 10 11 13 expounded ver 22 26 c. But Antiochus Epiphanes reigned not until this time for he died 160 years and more before the Birth of Christ and almost 200 years before his Ascension the least of which numbers is a longer space of time than was from the death of Alexander unto Antiochus Ergò Antiochus Epiphanes is not that ruffling Horn. The changing of Times and Laws whereby the power of this Horn is described is an Oriental phrase to express potestatem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nor are Times here to be taken in so abstract a notion but concretely for status rerum tempora varianâ—ium or Res quibus variatur status temporum as are mutationes Rerumpub regiminis rerum Times for things done in time whereby the Times are altered such as are the alterations of States and Governments According to which notion Dan. 2. 21. it is said of God that he changeth times and seasons he removeth Kings and setteth up Kings and I Chron. 29. 30. that the Acts of David were written in the Books of Samuel Nathan and Gad the Seers with all his reign and his might and the times that went over him and over Israel and over all the Kingdoms of the Countries And whether the Pope if I say he is that Horn took not upon him a power of changing such Times as these I shall not need to tell you And yet take Times in your own Notion and it would make a shift to fit him as well as Antiochus To your Second Position The proof of your Second Position That the Fourth Beast Dan. 7. is not able sufficiently to express the Roman Empire is in the mainest part Petitio principii wherein that is taken for granted which is in question For you take for granted that the Type of the Roman Empire in the Apocalyps borrows his Ten horns from Daniel's fourth Beast as a distinct Beast from it But I say he borrows them not they are his own proper and native horns Daniel's Beast and he being one and the same Beast I grant that the Apocalyptical Beast for the shape of his body is beholding to Daniel's three first Beasts but that he borroweth any from the fourth I deny Nor do Horns more or fewer distinguish the species of a Beast For in the Apocalyps there is a Lamb with seven horns and a Lamb with two horns and yet for kind a Lamb still So Daniel's He-goat had first one horn and afterward four horns and yet the same Goat still c. The correspondence in number of the several Heads of Daniel's four Beasts put together with the seven heads of the Apocalyptical Beast is but casual Neither can it be proved that the Fourth of Daniel's Beasts had but one head as is here to be supposed for the third Beast hath the four heads and the other three but one a piece For the mentioning of the Head which bore the ten horns in the singular number Verse 20. proves no more it had but one head than the mentioning of mouth likewise in the singular number Apoc. 13. ver 2 5 6. proves the Apocalyptical Beast had buâ— one mouth For indeed the Ten horns were all upon one head as well in the Apocalyptical Beast viz. upon the seventh or uppermost head as in Daniel's Beast and the mouth of the Apocalyptical Beast was the mouth also of the seventh head to act the state of which head S. Iohn saw him rise out of the Sea c. And whereas you speak of an insufficient expression of the Roman Empire by Daniel's Fourth Beast you may perceive by that I have said before that it would well enough agree with my Principles to grant it my Tenet being That the Fourth Beast should not be so distinctly with all accoutrements revealed unto Daniel as it was unto S. Iohn because the specification of the several States and Fates thereof was yet sealed and unrevealed And the third Kingdom was not so distinctly revealed to Daniel in the Leopard Chap. 7. as it was two years after to the same Daniel in the great He-goat Chap. 8. c. The dispensation of God in these Revelations is to be measured according to his pleasure and the use of the Church c. But it is now three a clock and I have no more time I had much rather confer of these things by word of mouth wherein perhaps I could give better satisfaction Conference by writing is wont to multiply it self into so much paper as takes away a great deal of my
the Throne of the Ancient of days was set and the Iews had defence till Christ's time from the weak Greeks And now the Romans having an inch given them take an ell and usurp authority over the Iews and with them kill Christ the Messiah But Christ overcame death and had all power in heaven and in earth given him Matth. 28. This his Kingdom we acknowledge in our prayers and the Church celebrates Apocal. 5. by the voice of all such as were made Priests and Kings to reign on the earth even such as were gathered out of all nations tongues and kindreds That which you add about Times put for Things done in time is very true for the signification of the Phrase when it comes alone in divers places But here changing of Times and Laws go together Antiochus Epiphanes his dealings wonderfully agree to this 1 Mac. 1. 42. He would make every one leave his Laws He forbids burnt-offering and sacrifice Vers 45. He commands the Books of the Law to be burnt Vers. 56 57. He slew the Iews for circumcising their children Vers. 60. He puts down their Laws 2 Macc. 4. 10. 6. 1 2. He uses threats and cruelty then flattery to make them forsake the Law 2 Macc. 7. All these stirrs grew from the Greeks attempting to make them leave their Laws 1 Macc. 6. 59. Then Epiphanes his attempt to alter Times is clear in his command to put down the Sabbaths and Feasts and his making them to keep Bacchus Feasts 2 Macc. 6. 7. To the Seventh THESIS The Fourth Beast Dan. 7. and the First Beast Revel 13. are not one and the same They differ much in shape of body and in their acts and in their falls and plagues Besides that in the Apocal. is made as it were of all the four in Daniel and is so described as if it came in stead and was comparable to them all as indeed it was Horns more or less distinguish not a Beast That infirms not what I said By the way only I here observe That the Beast with seven horns was a Lamb indeed that is Christ. The Beast Apocal. 13. with two horns had these two horns like a Lamb's but in truth he might be a Wolf Seeing it is not said that Daniel's Fourth Beast had four heads therein I mistook in my former writing it is to be presumed he had but one as Beasts usually have no more except in Vision for expression of some special matter more heads be attributed to them The Third Beast Dan. 7. had four heads The number of which four heads with the three heads of the other three Beasts◠fits so well with Iohn's Beast besides the resemblance to the Lion Bear Leopard that I believe it cannot be casual especially seeing it is in God's Book Concerning that you say of Mouth put singularly I answer that the Beast Apocal. 13. had seven heads with names of blasphemy This will imply that each had a mouth and that a blasphemous mouth which is more Besides the very nomination of head implies a mouth and seven heads seven mouths And whereas there is mention of a mouth given the Beast Vers. 5. methinks that should intimate the extremity of blasphemy proceeding from the seventh head beyond all the rest Whereas you say the third Kingdom in Daniel was not so distinctly revealed Chap. 7. as afterwards chap. 8. That is true And further I add That in Visions and Prophecies God hath spoken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and revealed things to come by parts so that several Visions or Prophecies laid together make up the whole In each of Daniel's Visions something is passed over to be supplied by the rest In the second Chapter there is nothing to type Alexander's four chief Chaptains nor is it told what people should be trode on by the Iron legs In Chap. 7. the Exposition of the three former kingdoms is very brief the Exposition of the fourth very large The weakness of Antiochus his Successors is unexpressed In Chap. 8. nine of the horns coming out of Alexander's Captains are passed over and the little Horn fully set out The Kingdom of Christ over all Nations is not spoken of at all These things thus passed over are supplied by the rest So is it in the Revelation The afflicting of God's Church is diversly expressed and the afflicters thereof and the afflicted by them So that no one Vision but the several Visions laid together do give us a perfect and whole delineation of what was to come from that time to the end of the World EPISTLE VIII Mr. Mede's Answer to Mr. Hayn's Second Letter about several passages in Daniel and the Revelation SIR I Received yours at the Commencement wherein I found if I should answer to every part I should have as many Questions to dispute as I sent you Theses The experience of which multiplications in that kind makes me so backward in Collations by writing So that I can with much more patience endure to be contradicted than be drawn to make Reply But all this time the truth is I had no leisure nor yet have and am presently also to go into the Countrey where I shall stay some weeks and have no opportunity to write That I might not therefore in the mean time seem too much too neglect you I have caused a Scholar of yours to write out something I had by me in a Paper long ago written wherein you may further see my Opinion and some part of the grounds thereof When I return and have more leisure I shall answer to what I find Principal in your Replies but not to what is Circumstantial for so the business would grow too tedious for my pen. In the mean time I would desire you to believe that I have read the most that hath or can be said for that Opinion either by the chief Patrons thereof Broughton and Iunius or their followers Polanus Piscator D. Willet and that whilst I was yet free and first began with these kind of studies and yet found nothing that could in the least measure perswade me to be of their mind And I see now that the modern Writers and even some of their Scholars return to the ancient opinion and forsake their Masters in this point This I speak not to boast of my reading in this controversie but to shorten your Discourses which you may send hereafter you shall need but touch and spare the labour of so much enlargement But a word or two to your Reply Whereas you say The ground of the expectation of the coming of Christ when be came was the Fall or expiration of the Fourth Kingdom I utterly deny it The ground was the near expiration of Daniel's 70 weeks concurring with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Fourth Kingdom the Roman during which his Kingdom was to be first revealed and at the end of which consummated Besides I acknowledge no place in this account of Kingdoms for the Greeks after Antiochus Epiphanes
Octob. 8. 1629. from Christ's Hospital London THE ground of the expectation of the coming of Christ and his Kingdom was say you the near expiration of Daniel's Seventy weeks The expectation of Simeon Anna and others of the Magi and them of the East was seventy years before the end of Daniel's Seventy weeks according to your opinion For you hold that the Seventy weeks end at Ierusalem's overthrow which was after Christ's Birth seventy years Therefore it could not be any mark for the looking for of Christ. 2. At the end of the Seventy weeks according to your judgment the City and Sanctuary was to be destroyed sacrifice ended and desolation brought on the Iews Therefore the Seventy weeks according to your Tenet is a mark of other matters not of Christ's or the Saints Kingdom but rather of Vespasian's as Iosephus saith which ensued just upon the end of the Seventy weeks But in truth Daniel's Seventy weeks end at Christ's death and seeing Christ was expected to be King of the Iews all that truly kept account of the Seventy weeks might rightly conceive that Christ about thirty years before the expiration of the Seventy weeks should be born and so about thirty years old which are years fit for publick charge should enter upon that Kingdom Of this reason I forbore to write formerly because I saw that we should differ about the beginning and end of Daniel's Seventy weeks which would bring on a new controversie between us That Christ's Kingdom was as you affirm to be revealed in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Fourth Kingdom I see no Text that proves it nor that Christ's Kingdom should be consummated at the end of the Roman Kingdom At the end of the Fourth Kingdom in Daniel it was to begin Chap. 7. And that it was perfected in Christ Iesus is evident for he overcame the Devil Death Hell and all and teaches that all power is given him in heaven and earth that all things bow to him and that he led captivity captive Further I have good ground for to say that the extirpation of the Fourth Kingdom was one sâ—re mark of Christ's coming and his Kingdom for that only is the mark of the same Chap. 2. and 7. where that Kingdom is mentioned You will not admit the Greeks any Rule after Antiochus Epiph. death because the Holy Ghost ends their Kingdom in him I say the Holy Ghost ends the domineering violence and persecution of the Saints in him but there were to be clayie feet after him Stories shew that many Kings of the Greeks ruled after him and in the end Cleopatra a woman as Iosephus saith of chief Nobility in those times even Caesar at first umpired between her and her brother in matters of difference between them She had the revenue of Iericho and Arabia and other parts she killed all her kindred that might stand in her wayâ— and desired Antonie to do the like by them of chief bleâ—d in Syria that she in right of the Greeks might have all She with the rest after Epiphanes were sufficient to express the clayie legs And that Rule is sufficient and all that I stand for Besides the Stone as cut out not as growing to a Mountain is to fall on the toes So that if by the legs the Romans be understood Christ was not to come in their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but at their fall Evident it is that Christ's Kingdom took place as frequent mention of it in the New Testament shews at his first coming and so began at the beginning of the Roman persecutions not at the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of them they were abundant and manifold afterward The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of their Empire hath nothing to do here You hold still that the Roman Kingdom was revealed to Daniel but not according to the distinct Fates and Times as to Iohn I shewed that the Fourth Kingdom in Daniel was revealed to him most distinctly for the original proceeding strength acts persecution sufferings fall All the 〈◊〉 are revealed to Iohn about the Roman Kingdom Now if they should both speak of the Roman Kingdom but in these points 〈…〉 it be true in Iohn that this Book was opened by none as you limit it according 〈…〉 distinct Fates before by Christ Therefore the limitation propounded by you cannot hold I say not that the Iews after the Apostles times brought in or invented the opinion That the Romans were Daniel's Fourth Kingdom but that they endeavoured to perswade it whoever were the brochers of it Ionathan Ben Uziel or any other surely some of their stamp And the rather they then did and now do perswade to it because some Christians by assenting to them give them advantage therein If Porphyrie an enemy to Christians overcome by the evidence of truth confessed it that is a greater confirmation of the truth The Devil confessed Christ to be the Son of the living God though the Devil be a liar commonly yet now he spake that which was most true Besides in S. Ierome it appears that Porphyrie was not alone in that opinion but that divers others held the same And in the eleventh chapter S. Ierome goes along with Porphyrie in most things but addeth this That Antichrist and his doings were there typed And in points in which S. Ierome crosseth Porphyrie his arguments are sometimes but his own bare assertion sometimes weak If you please to set the best edge on them that may be we will try them And Porphyrie had Suctorius his Author To the writing in a different hand You hold Christ's Kingdom to be double First Regnum Lapidis while the times of the Four Kingdoms lasted I say it cannot be in the time of the three former Kingdoms for it was preached by Christ and the Apostles to be at hand in the time of the Romans Antiochus Epiphanes his time whom you make the last of the Greeks being past well-near or full hundreds of years before Besides I object That if Christ's Kingdom be set up in the Fourth Kingdom 's time it must be set up in the three formers time also For it confounded the gold silver brass iron as well as fell on the clayie legs Again if you make the Sâ—one to continue a Stone from Christ's time till ours and some years after God knows how long to smite the feet of the Image you will make the legs and feet of the Image above 1600 years long three times and more as long as all the body The Second Kingdom of Christ you hold to be Regnum montis that shall fill the whole earth to arise when the Image shall be utterly destroyed 1. I say This division of Christ's Kingdom is no where in Scripture plainly expressed though this Kingdom be most frequently handled If such a thing had been it would in one place or other in the various handling of it have been plainly taught 2. The Stone spreads it self over the whole earth presently
and their Lord should reign for ever See the place and consider it This opinion is here and there also dispersed in the Chaldee Paraphrase and in the Talmud as of ancient Tradition and is the opinion of the Iews at this day who as they look not for the Kingdom of their Messiah until Dies Iudicii magni so they expect that their forefathers at least such as were just and holy should rise at the beginning of the same and reign in the land of Israel with their off-spring under Messiah I can hardly believe that all this smoke of Tradition could arise but from some fire of Truth anciently made known unto them Besides why should the holy Ghost in this point speak so like them unless he would induce us mutatis mutandis to mean with them In fine the Second and Universal Resurrection with the State of the Saints after it now so clearly revealed in Christianity seems to have been less known to the ancient Church of the Iews than the First and the State to accompany it Lastly This was the Opinion of the whole Orthodox Christian Church in the Age immediately following the death of S. Iohn when yet Polycarp and many of the Apostles Disciples were living as Iustin Martyr expresly affirmeth whose passage to that purpose when I return again to Cambridge I will send you illustrated with some Notes and the reading in one place restored from a corruption crept thereinto by fraud or otherwise A testimony absolute without all comparison to perswade such as rely upon Authority and Antiquity It is to be admired that an Opinion once so generally received in the Church should ever have been cried down and buried But those Times which extinguished this brought other Alterations into the Church besides this Et quidem sic fieri oportuit I will say something more observed perhaps by few of those which have knowledge enough of the rest namely That this Opinion of the First Resurrection was the true ground and mother of prayers for the dead so anciently received in the Church which were then conceived after this manner Vt partem haberent in Resurrectione prima See Tertullian who first mentions them The reason was because this having part in Resurrectione prima was not to be common to all but to be a priviledge of some namely of Martyrs and Confessors equipollent to them if God so would accept them Moreover the belief of this Prerogative of Martyrs in Resurrectione prima was that which made the Christians of those times so joyously desirous of Martyrdom These things will perhaps seem strange but they will be found true if duly examined Thus I have discovered my opinion of the thing which I suppose the Scripture hath revealed shall be But de modo how it shall be I would willingly abstain from determining We must be content to be ignorant of the manner of things which for the matter we are bound to believe Too much adventuring here without a sure guide may be dangerous and breed intolerable fancies as it did among some in those ancient times which occasioned as may seem the death and burial of the main Opinion it self so generally at first believed Yet thus much I conceive the Text seems to imply That these Saints of the First Resurrection should reign here on earth in the New Ierusalem in a state of beatitude and glory partaking of Divine presence and Vision of Christ their King as it were in an Heaven upon earth or new Paradise immutable unchangeable c. Secondly That for the better understanding of this Mysterie we must distinguish between the State of the New Ierusalem and State of the Nations which shall walk in the light thereof they shall not be both one but much differing Therefore what is spoken particularly of the New Ierusalem must not be applied to the whole Church which then shall be New Ierusalem is not the whole Church but the Metropolis thereof and of the New world The State of the Nations which shall walk in her light though happy and glorious yet shall be changeable as appears by the commotio◠of the Nations seduced at the end of the Thousand years But the State of those wh◠dwell in the New Ierusalem shall be extra omnem mutationis aleam Blessed are thos◠who have part in the First Resurrection for on them the Second Death hath no power I differ therefore from Piscator and agree with Alstedius That the Saints of th◠First Resurrection should reign on Earth during the Millennium and not in Heaven I differ from both in that I make this State of the Church to belong to Secundus Adventus Christi or Dies Iudicii Magni when Christ shall appear in the clouds of Heaven to destroy all the professed enemies of his Church and Kingdom and deliver the creature from that bondage of corruption brought upon it for the sin of man Whereas they make it to precede the Day of Iudgment and Second coming Though this Notion may seem to make but little alteration of the thing believed yet it is of no small moment to facilitate the understanding of Scripture and puts upon the thing it self another nature than is conceived by those who apprehend it otherwise In a word Ours conceive this State to be ante Diem Iudicii Others though wrongfully suppose the ancient Chiliasts to have held it to be post Diem Iudicii But the truth is it is neither before nor after but ipsa Dies Iudicii ipsum tempus Secundae apparitionis Christi And it is to be remembred here that the Iews who gave this time the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Day of Iudgment and from whom our Saviour and his Apostles took it never understood thereby but a Time of many years continuance yea some mirabile dictu of a thousand years and the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Day of Iudgment is more frequent in their Writings than in the New Testament it self It is mentioned I know not how many times in the Chaldee Paraphrase of that little Book of Ecclesiastes The word Day is in the Hebrew notion used ordinarily for tempus yea longissimum as in the Prophets for the seventy years Captivity for the time of their great and long Captivity for the time of their pilgrimage in the wilderness Psal. 95. according to the LXX and S. Pauls translation Hebr. 3. The day of temptation in the wilderness when your Fathers tempted me and proved me and saw my works forty years See the thirteenth verse of that chapter where a Day includes every Day So should Day be taken in the Lord's Prayer for the time of this our life Compare it with S. Luke whose words are Give us every day our daily bread See the longest day of all days in the last words of S. Peter's last Epistle in the Greek and Latin for our English obscures it with a general expression It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dies
sufficeret Herodian Frumenti summam primus adauxit Lampridâ— de Alexandro Oleum quod Severus populo dederat quódque Heliogabalus imminuerat integrum restituit c. The colour of the Horse Black fits the severity and strictness of Iustice yea Severus his person both for countrey and quality Sed non est tanti The Fourth State was remarkable for concurrence of War Famine Pestilence This for ten years together as it is plain in Story The Index the Fourth Beast the first Emperour of this State Maximinus Thrax being of his Quarter Imperator ab Aquilone Thus the first Four Seals of the Six as being of unequal times and easy for their qualities to be confounded in the accommodation it pleased the Holy Ghost therefore to distinguish them by their several references to the Four Beasts but the other Two have no such need the Character of their qualities will sufficiently serve to sever them The Fifth State therefore which we may count from Aurelian Ann. 270 or 268. for thereabouts the former ended unto Constantine is notable for the Tenth Persecution by Diocletion the greatest that ever the Ethnick Caesars raised against the Saints of Christ in regard whereof the rest were but as Flea-bitings This is typified by the Cry of the Souls under the Altar How long O Lord Holy and True dost thou not judge and avenge our bloud on them that dwell on the earth And they had promise of present hearing as soon as their Fellow-servants which were yet behind should come in which was not to be long after The Sixth Seal is Terrae-motus a great Earth-quake That intestine Change of the Roman State begun with Constantine and was fully settled with the death of Iulian about the year 364. For an Earthquake implies not a Destruction but an extraordinary Alteration and Change of the face of things As an Earthquake changeth the positure of the Earth by exalting Valleys and depressing Hills turning the Chanels and courses of Rivers and such like And was there not here the whole Politick Government as well as Religion altered the Imperial Seat removed the distribution of Provinces Offices and Governments new moulded c Was not the former State of the Empire turned topsie-turvy when the low and trampled Valleys arose into Mountains and the haughty Mountains were laid as low as the Valleys And if the Roman Gods be any of the Stars or Hills here mentioned we need not go farther for an Exposition of this Earthquake and the shock it caused in the world The SEVENTH SEAL or Seven Trumpets The Seventh Seal or Seal of Trumpets brings forth the Ruine and miserable Downfall of the Roman State This is that which the Martyred Saints in the Fifth Seal prayed for How long O Lord Holy and True dost thou not judge and avenge our bloud upon this cruel Empire They were answered that some more of their Brethren must yet suffer as they had done When they were once come in then should the cry of their bloud be avenged upon that bloudy State This now comes to be accomplished And therefore when the Seventh Seal was opened and the Trumpets were to sound Christ the Angel of the Covenant offereth those Prayers of the Martyrs in a golden Censer upon the golden Altar before the Throne that they might come into remembrance before God And no sooner was the Incense of their Prayers ascended but instantly the Seven Angels come forth with their Seven Trumpets to sound alarm for the Empire 's Dissolution For though Iosiah were a good King and made a Reformation yet must the bloud shed by Manasseh needs be avenged upon the Kingdom of Iudah So although the Roman Emperors were now become Christians yet would not God forget their former slaughters of his Servants but require their bloud at the hands of that Empire The Epocha or beginning of these Trumpets was about the year 365. Now was the Censer wherein the Martyrs Prayers were offered thrown down to the Earth and there were Thundrings and Lightnings and an Earthquake the meaning whereof may be otherways expounded but was here even literally fulfilled in that stupendious Earthquake described by Ammianus Marcellinus l. 26. c. 14. Horrendi tremores per omnem Orbis ambitum grassati sunt subitò quales necfabulae nec veridicae nobis antiquitates exponunt Paulò post lucis exortum densitate praviâ fulgurum acriùs vibratorum tremefacta concutitur omnis terreni stabilitas ponderis c. Now the Trumpets began to sound which Ammianus c. 5. tells so happily as if he meant to be an Expositor Hoc tempore saith he velut per universum Orbem Romanum Bellicum canentibus Buccinis excitae saevissimae Gentes limites sibi proximos persultabunt Gallias Rhaetiásque simul Alemaâ—ni populabantur Sarmatae Pannonias Thracias diripiebant praedatorii globi Gothorum c. Of these Seven Trumpets the first Four are lesser ones and fall chiefly upon the West and made way for the rising of the Antichristian State of the Beast or Kingdom of the False-Prophet The last Three are greater and more terrible and more lasting and therefore distinguished from the former by the name of WOES verse 13. The First Trumpet which lights upon the Earth was that terrible furious and bloudy Hail-storm of the Nations of the North which Ammianus told us of even now without intermission harrying spoiling burning and wasting the inhabitants and Citizens of the Empire great and small young and old from the year 365 almost 45 years but not yet by setling therein impairing or diminishing the Roman Dition The Second which fell upon the Sea was the bloudy rending and destruction of the Amplitude of the Roman Iurisdiction in the West from the time viz. Ann. 410. when Alaricus sacked Rome and was occasioned by the swelling and burning ambition of Stilico who called in the Goths hoping when the waters were thus troubled to have made his Son an Emperor The Third Trumpet brought Lapsus Hesperi the fall of the Western Caesar which after the death of the third Valentinian When Gensericus with his Vandaels had again sacked Rome fell by degrees out of the Orb of Sovereignty though blazing a little as a Candle before extinction By the fall of this Star the Rivers and Fountains suffered the power of the Roman Presidents Ministers and Courts of Iustice failing in the West for want of their wonted influence from that Star the Western Caesareate being extinct in Augustulus resembled by reason of the then bitterness and sorrows by a falling Star called Wormwood vers 11. The Fourth Trumpet brings darkness upon the Roman Firmament by an Eclipse of the Sun Moon and Stars in the third part thereof when in the Wars of the Greek Emperors with the Kings of the Goths in Italy the remaining light of Rome's Majesty in the West was quite put out after the year 542 the long-continued succession of the Roman Consuls ceasing the Roman
what 321 Comet not mentioned in Scripture but implied in other expressions 28 Coming of Christ spoken of indefinitely in the Old Testament without that distinction of First and Second Coming more clearly expressed in the Newâ— 98 611. His First Coming was at the time prefixed in Dan. 105. His Second Coming shall have an Harbinger as well as the First 98 99. Whence S. Paul learn'd to confute the Thessalonians false fear of the day of Christ's Coming to judgment to be near at hand 758 763 Coming of Christ sometimes in Scripture implies the destruction of Ierusalem and the Iewish State 701 Commemoration twofold in the Eucharist 373. how this Commemoration is made to God 377 Competency twofold 125. a Competency only to be prayed for 128. it is the best and safest condition 129 Confession of Faith should not be long nor obscure 871. a Fundamental Confession how it may be framed 873. Some Politick considerations against such a Confession examined 875. See more in Fundamentals Constagration of the World whether it implies an utter abolition 614 615 617 Congruity How the Rule of Congruity is observed by God in his dealings with man 81. How it is the Reason and Rule of several Duties God requires at our hands 95 Conscience A good Conscience compared to a Feast in three respects 163. a Scared Conscience what 678. it is the worst estate of the Soul 162 163. how Gods Law alone bindes the Conscience 208 209 Consecrate See Dedicate Constantinople not meant by the mystical Babylon in Apocal. 17. 912 when and how it was taken by the Turke 474 Coâ—rition what the two parts or degrees thereof 108 Conversion the parts or degrees thereof 109 Corban 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what 96. more particularly described with the two parts thereof 287. it was called also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isâ—â—h or Fire-offering 286. the most Holy Offering 286 287 Cornelius a Proselyte and of what sort of Proselytes 165 Covenant twofold of Works and of Grace 251 c. the open and the secret or hidden Covenant under the Law 251. Covenant of Grace the same for substance under the Law and Gospel 250 c. Covenants The Universal Custom of mankind to contract and confirm Covenants by eating and drinking together 370 Covetous men their great folly 131 Council of Constantinople endeavoured to be wronged by foisting in two Canons for Saint-worship 685. falsely said to be against the words Saint and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 686. the First Nicene Councils Testimony touching the Kingdom of Christ 813. a foul Story made use of in the Second Nicene Council in behalf of Image-worship 687. Council of Trent added more Articles to the Creed 874 Courts of the Templeâ— the Inner and Outer Courts what they signifie 587 588. the Times of both not coincident 586 587. the Outmost Court or Court of the Gentiles 20 The Creature how subject to vanity and bondage 230 812. the Creatures were made and are to be used not only for the Service of the Body but of the Soul 195 S. Cyprian a fabulous story touching the manner of his conversion 681. his opinion about Chiliasme 837 D DAEmoniacks were Lunaticks or Mad-men 29 30 Damons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 1 Tim. 4. 1. not always taken in Scripture for Evil Spirits 634 635. but sometimes for the Deified Souls of men deceased according to the notion of the Gentiles Theology 629 c. Damons were supposed to be a middle sort of divine Powers Mediators and Agents between the Gods and men 627 c. the same with Dii Animales Penates Lares Manii Dii 631. the way of worshipping them by Images Pillars or Columns 632 633. their worship promoted by lying miracles 680. the Gentiles Theology of Daemons revived and resembled by an Idolatrous sort of Christians 634 Daily Bread what meant thereby 86 Dan why not mentioned among the Twelve Tribes in Apocal. 7. 455 456 Daniels LXX Weeks explained 697 c. the purport of them 697. his Prophecy reaches to Christ's Second Coming 787. whether he understood his own Visions 788 Day signifies sometimes in Scripture a long time 86 772 Days The 1260 Days in Apocal. 11. are to be taken for Years proved by five Reasons 598. when they begin and end 600 the 1290 and 1335 Days in Dan. 12. are so many Years 720 Iunius and Broughton who interpret them of so many Days confuted 117 c. their Epocha 720 602. the purport and scope of those two Numbers 719 834. the Events answerable to the Prophecy 720 c. why the fuller Discovery of Antichrist was not to be till toward the end of the Eleventh Century 723 Dead body See Body Death What meant by the Second Death 913 Dedicate Things dedicated unto God how unalienable 120 121 Deliration two kinds of it 29 Devil why called The Prince of the power of the Air 23. and The accuser of the brethren 496. why he took the Serpent's shape 223 c. he assaults us where we are weakest 226. That the Devil durst not blaspheme God before the Coming of Christ was an ancient Tenet of some Fathers 24 Diluvium ignis in Irenâ—us 611 Discalceation a Rite used at their coming into Sacred Places by the Iews and Mahumetans 348. and by the Abâ—ssine Christians 349 Double honour See Honour Dying unto Sin what 107 E EAdem est ratio Loci Temporis vindicared and explain'd 860 Eagle the Ensign of the Roman Empire 492 The Earth is in the Politick World according to the Prophetick style the Peasantry or Vulgus hominum 616 Earth-quake what it means in the Prophetick style 919 East Churches anciently built towards it 330. of worshipping towards iâ— the practice os Antiquity 397. By the East is sometimes in Scripture meant Arabia 467 Ecclesiastical Persons See Clergy and Ministers Edom in the Rabinical Comments is interpreted Rome with an account of some such passages expunged by the Romanists 902 903 Elders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word used sometimes in the Old Testament for Civil Magistrates 72. in the New for Church-Officers 70 c. no ground in 1 Tim. 5. 17. for Lay-Elders in the Church 70 c. under this name of Elders are sometimes included ' Deacons 71. the 24 Elders in Apocal. 4. who meant thereby and why they are said to be crowned 439 Elements why called in Gal. 4. weak and beggarly Elements 250 An Elias to be the harbinger of Christ's Second Coming 98 c. The Encamping of Israel in the wilderness described and how it is in Apocal. 4. alluded to 619 Encanstum Ink of a purple colour appropriate to the use of Kings c. 11 End of the world That the Apostles were not so mistaken as to believe it would be in their days proved against Baronius and others 665 Enemy and Avenger in Psal. 8. meant of the Devil 38 Envy the Image of the Devil 90 Ephraim why he and ' Dan not mentioned among the Twelve Tribes in Apocal. 7. 455 456 Epiphanius his