are * Psal 82. 6. called Gods and their seats as the Throne of God in heauen should bee so corrupted by the Pope as that they should beleeue the Saints and Servants of God which refused to obey the Pope and his Lawes to be therefore Hereticks Schismaticks refractarie rebellious and disobedient persons and therefore should condemne them to be burnt to death This they haue done thinking they did God therein good service and that it was the iust iudgement of God upon them Thus he made fire to come downe from heaven For true it is that the iudgements rightly pronounced by the lawfull Magistrates are the iudgements of God and their punishments Gods punishments and therefore it is that Maigistrates are called Gods but seeing Magistrates haue beene thus corrupted by the Pope and made to pronounce unrighteous and unjust judgements wee are to esteeme them as the judgements of the Dragon and yet neverthelesse their authority and power lawfull and ordained of God Thus the Beast deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by meanes of those Miracles falsly so called which he had power to doe in the sight of the Beast as is shewed in the verse following And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the meanes of those miracles Vers 14. which he had power to doe in the sight of the Beast Those which the Beast deceiveth are sayd to dwell on the earth that is haue their affections fet upon earthly things and not upon heavenly so that they will not for loue of the truth forsake their earthly possessions and pleasures these are they which are deceived by these lying wonders of this Beast but those that are strangers and pilgrimes in this world whose affections are set upon heavenly things and not upon earthly these are not deceived nor deluded by him these making tryall of him by Gods word haue found him to be a lyer and a deceiver and beleeue him not but taking their liues in their hands witnes against him to the death that his power and working is of Satan and that his wonders are lyes And whereas it is sayd that he had power to doe these miracles in the sight of the Beast therby is confirmed made manifest that which before is shewed page 23 that this sonne of perdition the chief darling of his holy catholick Mother is present with her and in her bosome and for her sake and in her behalf exerciseth his power shee retayning still her former authoritie without any diminishing thereof as is evident unto all that are acquainted with the acts of that Church Thus much for the second parte of this chapter The 3. part of the 13. Chapter of the Revelation Wherin is foreshewed a third Beast which was set up by the commaundement of this second Beast the Pope who sayd to them that dwelt on the earth that they should make an Image to the Beast which had the wound with a sword and did live HEre we may see that the Pope by his commanding power was the cause of setting up this Image and for the better and more cleare understanding what this Image is Let us consider a little the patterne whose image and likenes it beareth namely the first Beast The first Beast as hath beene shewed was the representative body of the Catholicke Church Militant consisting of the selected Prelacy and Preisthood of sundry Nations gathered together into one Councell or Synode with authoritie to make lawes and canons for the universall Church to be observed uniformely of all Nations under pretence of the insufficiency of the Scripture for the government of the Church and the worship of God In like manner the Pope in his wisedome seeing it necessary for the good government maintenance and upholding of his kingdome and the rooting out of Heretickes and seditious persons as they call them which daylie increased in every Countrie did ordeyne and command | Vide conciliū Lateran secundum Can. 6. that in every Province there should yerely be held and kept a Provinciall counsel or Synode consisting of the Prelats and divers other selected persons which should look to those matters to which Synode he also gave power to make lawes and ordinances to which the people should be conformable and obedient This is the Image which he caused the dwellers on the earth to make of the Beast which had the wound with a sword and did live Further it is sayd Vers 15. And power was given him to giue life unto the Image of the Beast that the Image of the Beast should both speake and Ver. 15. cause that as many as would not worship the Image of the Beast should bee killed In this verse wee may obserue first that a gift was given to the Pope to bestow upon this Image secondly what this gift was viz. to giue life or breath to the Image thirdly the end and effects of the gift which was that the Beast should speake and cause that as many as would not worship the Beast should be killed As there was given by the Dragon to the first Beast great power and authoritie and also a mouth to speake blasphemies and to make warre with the Saints in like manner by the same Dragon was this gift given to the Pope to giue life or breathe to this Image By life is here meant authoritie which is the life of a Synode without which it is of no force and so this Image should haue been no more then a very image or picture and set up to no purpose but the Pope having received it gaue authority to the Image that he should speake that is make and set forth Canons and Lawes for to speake is so understood as for example A King is said to speake to his subiects when he setteth forth his Lawes and Proclamations so this Beast having made Canons and Decrees speaketh to her vassals and subjects by them Moreover the Image caused that as many as would not worship him should be killed Here the pride and cruelty of this Image is set forth to be answerable to the first Beast and therefore rightly is he called her Image for as the first Beast made wart with the Saints and overcame them and all that dwelled on the earth worshiped him c. so whosoever would not worship this Image that is heare his voyce and keep his commandements there was no way for him but death All the worship that the Lord requireth of his servants is * That they feare him walke in all his wayes loue him and serue him with all their Deu. 10. 12. 13. hearts and with all their soules to keep the commandements of the Lord and his ordinances And this is indeed the true worship of God In like manner this Image wil be worshiped his lawes must be observed his canons obeyed without examining and trying of them be they never so unholy and unjust They that do not observe and obey them be they never so upright and holy men
AN EXPOSITION OF THE 13. CHAPTER OF THE REVELATION OF IESVS CHRIST By Iohn Wilkinson Revelation 14. 9. ANd the 3. Angel followed them saying with a lowd voice If any man worship the beast and his image and receive his marke in his forehead or in his hand V. 10. The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is powred out without mixture into the cup of his indignation and he shal be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy Angels and in the presence of the Lamb V. 11. And the smoake of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever Imprinted in the yere 1619. IT was the purpose and desire of the Authour of this Treatise to haue published his Iudgment of the whole booke of the Revelation But through the malice of the Prelates who divers times spoyled him of his goods and kept him many yeres in prison he was prevented of his purpose After his death some of his labours comming to the hands of his friends in scattred and unperfect papers they laboured with the help of others that heard him declare his judgement herein to set forth this little treatise wherin they have not varied from the Authours Iudgement but onely in one opint in the 3. verse which is concerning the wounded head wherein for the clearing of the matter they have added the lines thus marked Which a litle differeth from the Authours understanding of it the which should not haue been altered if the worke had been left perfect AN INTERPRETATION OF THE 13. CHAPTER OF THE REVELATION OF IESVS CHRIST THE Eternall whose power is over all from the beginning hath put enmitie between the Serpent the Gen. 3. 15. Woman and between the seede of the Woman and the seed of the Serpent whereupon it hath come to passe in all ages that the seed of the woman hath laboured to break the serpents head that is to destroy his workes tread him under foot and triumph in victory over him He on the contrarie hath laboured as earnestly to resist God to deceive the Nations and to bring all into condemnation and destruction with himself And amongst the manifold wayes meanes which Satan hath devised and practised to manifest his malice against God and his Saincts none hath been more dangerous nor more availeable to further iniquitie and cause destruction then the Antichristian generation which under the title of the Church and Spowse of Christ and Ministers of the Gospell have corrupted the earth and brought the Nations into miserable bondage and slaverie In this 13. chapter is declared the state policy and proceeding of the Antichristian Dominion and Kingdome as the same was signified and foreshewed to Iohn the servant of Iesus Christ in a threefold forme First by a beast rising up out of the sea having 7. heads 10. hornes verses 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Secondly by a beast coming up out of the earth having two hornes like the lambe but spake like the dragon verses 11. 12. 13. 14. Thirdly by an image of the first beast which the second beast caused them that dwelt on the earth to make as in vers 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. As the Dominion of the Medes Persians and Grecians which persecuted Dan. 8. and destroyed the holy people of God the Iewes were signified and foreshewed to Daniel in a vision vnder the formes of severall beasts according to the qualities of those dominions so here the Antichristian dominion which persecuted the Churches and people of Christ was foreshewed to Iohn under the formes of such beasts as are here described whereby we may learne that as reason and judgment is not to be expected in a beast so equitie and right is not to be expected in this dominion but the contrarie Concerning the first of these beasts Iohn sayth That as I stood upon the sea sand I saw a Beast rise up out of the sea having 7. heads and 10. hornes and upon his hornes 10. Crownes and upon his heads the names of Blasphemy And the Beast which I saw was like unto a Leopard and his feet as the feet of a Beare and his mouth as the mouth of a Lyon and the Dragon gave him his power and his seate and great authoritie That by this first Beast was signified and represented some state of people and body politique I presume no reasonable man exercised in the Scriptures will deny because as it hath been sayd it is there to be seene that such States and Dominions as God hath used as rodds and scourges to chastise correct his Church and people withall have been represented by beasts States and Dominions they are of two sorts eyther Ecclesiastical or Civil but of which sort the State here ment is there hath been and is great opposition Many understand it to be the Romane Empire to which I cannot consent because the Romane Empire is ordeyned of God and is therefore a lawfull Dominion But the Dominion here represented is sayd to be from the Dragon that old Serpent the Divell who is sayd to give his power and his throne and great authoritie unto it and therefore unlawfull neither can I conceive it to be any other civil dominion for the same reason But to be short I understand it to be an Ecclesiasticall Sate or Dominion and in particular that dominion which is called The Catholike Church representative consisting of the Prelacy and Preisthood of many Nations as Patriarches Cardinalls Archbishops Bishops with divers other elected persons who being called and gathered into counsells or synodes usually called generall Counsells did usurpe and take on them the office of Christ Iesus in making Lawes and Canons erecting Courts instituting offices and officers in matters of Religion as for the goverment of the Church and for the worship of God to be of all men observed obeyed These generall counsells or as the Catholicks call it the catholike Church representative have challenged and exercised spirituall authoritie and dominion according to the text over all kinreds toungs and Nations By their lawes canons they have guided and governed them as one vniversall or Catholick Church and made them also to observe their decrees and commaundements for doctrine This they have doen both before and also since the Pope was exalted to his dignitie as all histories of the Church doe testify So that it hath been and is a great question among the Catholicks whether the authoritie of the Pope or the Catholick Church in cases of Religion be the greater And whereas it is sayd in the 12. vers that the second Beast exercised all the power of the first Beast before him therby is confirmed the trueth of this exposition For the second Beast being the Pope as hereafter is shewed hath exercised the whole power of the Catholick church or generall counsells and not of any other State or Dominion Further that this is the first beast here presented that which followeth
in his Testament wherein is set downe the Ministers which hee hath set in the Church namely Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors and 1. Cor. 12. Ephes 4. 11. Teachers and also their office and administration But in all the new Testament no Arch-bishops nor Lord-bishops no Deanes nor Arch-deacons Prebends Priests nor canons no chancellors nor commissaries and other their court officers nor any such administration as they challenge and execute can there be found they are a strange generation that is risen up out of the earth for earthly-minded and vaine men haue invented them and therefore the body which consisteth of them cannot of right be acknowledged to be the Body of Christ whose Ministers in respect that they are called according to the commandement of Christ are from heaven But it is indeed the Image of the first Beast whose mouth was as the mouth of a Lyon his body like a Leopard and his feete as the feete of a Beare an ougly compounded and deformed monster And as their names are strange and different from the Ministers of Christ so is their practise contrary they are not servants to the Flock and Church of Christ and helpers of their ioy but they are authors of their woe challenging and exercising Lordship and dominion over their faith for in stead of a due administration of the word of God they haue mingled a cup of fornication for the people to drinke that is devised a forme of booke-worship with orders rites and ceremonies which they haue imposed on the people under the title of Divine Service and which they must obserue without adding thereto or taking any thing from it as in the 4. 6. 7. 8. and 14. canons Further they are not painefull preachers but lazy Lords they are not followers of Christ and of his word but are contemners thereof casting it behind their backs and will not be reformed nor ruled by it they are Lawmakers much like Nebuchadnezar for as he would destroy all that would not worship his golden Image So whosoever doth refuse to yeild obedience to their Lawes shal be most severely punished as is playne by diverse penalties annexed unto their Cannons In consecrating and ordeyning Preists they are like to Ieroboam for as he consecrated whome he would of the basest of the people to be the Preists of the high places which he had set up so doe they ordeyne for the most part ignorant fellowes to be their parish priests and inferior Ministers wherein though they doe most absurdly yet will they not be contradicted as we may see by the 57. Canon where it is sayd whosoever shall refuse to comunicate with a dumbe and unpreaching Minister Let him be excommunicated And although their owne Doctors complayne and cry out against it yet they will not amend amongst the rest it is worthy to be observed what their owne great Champion profound Mr. Hooper sayth viz. That both Arguments from light of nature Lawes and Statutes of scripture the Canons that are taken out of auncyent Synodes the decrees and constitutions of sincerest tymes the sentences of all antiquitte and in a word every mans consent and conscience is against ignorance in them that have the cure and charge of soules If it be so how unreasonable and beastly is it for the Prelats to ordeyne allowe and approve of such for the Ministers of Christ of which there are many hundreds in the land whome the Prelats are not ashamed to forbid to expound the Scriptures as in the 49. Canon where it is sayd that some of their parish priests shall not take upon them to expound in their cure or elswhere any Scripture or matter or doctrine but shall onely study to reade c. It is greatly to be wondered at that so many grave heads as were gathered together and sate consulting about these matters should breed and bring forth such absurd and impious Canons If there were nothing else this allowance of dumbe Ministers is sufficient to shew the vanitie of their mindes and the darknesse of their foolish hearts So that we may truely say of them that when they professed themselves to be most wise by exalting and making themselves equall with God in making lawes for the government of his house the Church even then they became most foolish and void of judgment As for the best sort of their parish Preists which are men of learing and gifts they must also be confined within their limitts they must worship God according to the rules prescribed them by these their spirituall Fathers as in the 38. Canon If any minister shall omitt to use the forme of Prayer or any of the orders or Ceremonies prescribed in the Communion Booke let him be suspended and if he doe not conforme within the space of a moueth let him be deposed The absurdities and blasphemies conteyned in that Comon prayer Booke are many which having been discovered and layd open by divers treatises already published in print I will omit onely this I will add that in the imposing of that service Booke or any other this great iniquitie is committed by the imposers therof That they doe exalt themselves both against Christ who is ascended into heaven †Ephes 4. 8. 11. 12. and hath given gifts to his Ministers for the gathering together of the Saincts for the worke of the ministery and for the edification of the Church his body and also they exalt themselves against the holy Ghost who onely hath power ‡ Rom. 8. 26. to helpe our infirmities to furnish men with gifts to worship God aright Further their preachers may not teach against their corrupt Church state and Ministrie though they know it to be Antichristian nor against the forme of worship prescribed in the said comon prayer Booke nor against the ceremonies nor the government of the church of England by Archbishops Bishops Deanes Archdeacons and the rest that beare office in the same nor against the manner and forme of making and consecrating Bishops Preists or Deacons nor against the Lawes and Ordinances Ecclesiasticall established in the sayd Church whosoever transgresseth in these things shal be excommunicated ipso facto as is playne in the 4. 6. 7. 8. 54. Canons Thus by excommunicating and cursing they labour to mainteine and defend their corruptions but not one iote of Scripture dare they shew and no marvell seeing the whole scriptures are against mens inventions and traditions of which nature these abuses are being left here by the Pope and reteyned and renewed by his Prelates As they may not teach against these things so on the contrarie they may not teach the true and right way which Christ hath prescribed in his Testament how we must worship God nor how the true Church of Christ ought to be gathered and constituted the Ministers thereof ordained nor the manner how it ought to bee governed as appeareth in the 9. 10. 11. and 12. Canons By which we may see in what bondage their Preachers are