the Civill State decayed and the Power of the Emperors was so usurped and transferred unto the Pope because this Power which they now unjustly exercise was the just Power of the Emperor and of other Kings whom the Pope and his Cardinalls subjected Volater l 22. Authropolog in Alexand. 3. Hoveden Math. Paris in Reg. Joh. ursburgens in Fred. 1. as the Histories do relate unto themselves Sol. I answer that the Holy Ghost meaneth not that this second Beast took away and usurped the Power and Authority of the first Beast but did all Acts and exercised all his jurisdiction and his function by vertue of the power and under the protection and the countenance that he received by and from the authority of the first beast as the Sheriff exerciseth the power of the King for the service of the King for so the words do plainly intimate that this two horned Beast exercised the Power of the former beast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the presence of him or before him that is for the service and to the use and behoofe of the former Beast because that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In conspectu Jehovae saith Tremelius 1 Sam. 2.18 is here equivalent to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the dative case as when it is said that Samuell was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ministring in the presence of the Lord or before the Lord it signifieth as it is also expressed Cap. 3. 1. that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ministring to the Lord so this second Beast exercised all the Power of the first Beast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the use service and setting forward the practises and designes of the first Beast and this appeareth very cleare from the words immediately following in that this second Beast causeth the Earth and them that dwell therein 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cap. 13.12 that they should worship the first Beast that is not to ascribe any Divine Honor but to submit themselves to obey and to serve and assist the first Beast And we know the Pope and his Cardinalls and so all the Roman Clergy That the Bishop of Rome and his Clergy cannot be meant by the second Beast cause all the Rulers of the Earth and all the Iuhabitants thereof to worship Honour and serve themselves as those that are most worthy of Honour for the care that they take to save the soules of the people rather and before the other Beast that is the Civill Magistrate which careth onely for our Temporall estates and the things of this present life and therefore deserves not so much worship as the other that by the Testimony of the Apostle are worthyer of double Honour because they labour to bring us to eternall life in which respect we find how the Popes exacted Platâ—na in vita ejus French Epit. p. 93. and required the greatest Kings and Emperors to serve and to worship them as Gregory the third did to Leo Iconomachus Gregory the seventh to Henry the fourth Pope Zachary the first to Childerick King of France Allexander the third to Frederick Barbarossa Celestine the third to Henry the sixth Speed in the life of King John Hoveden Annal p. 2. sub Rich. 1. Innocent to King John Adrian the fourth that made the Emperor to hold his stirrop and the like that you may find in the Annalls and the lives of the Kings and the Emperors and therefore questionless the Pope Cardinalls and Clergy of Rome cannot be understood by this second Beast But all that is here specified and spoken of the second Beast The Parallel That the Assembly of Presbyterians and the Independant and Lay Preachers of the Parliament are the second Beast and the false Prophet doth in every particular point agree and most aptly cohere with the Parliaments Heterâ—geniall and Laâ—dicean Assembly of Divines that sat at Westminster together with their dispersed Disciples wheresoever inhabiting within these Kingdomes and with the swarme of Independant and Lay-Preachers that sprang up since the beginning of that Parliament for these Presbyterian Divines that contrary to their Oathes contrary to the Commands of their King and contrary to their Faith given in the presence of God and in Gods House when they were admitted to Holy Orders and the rest of the Independant and Lay-Preachers have as the Text saith exercised all the Power of the Parliament they sat in Westminster under the wings of the Parliament and with the rest of their Associates wheresoever dispersed trusting to the Power and Protection of the Parliament they Preached Consulted and Determined all things by the Power and Authority and for the service and advancement and behoofe of the Parliament for the overthrowing of the King See also what the Author of the last Will and Testament of Sir John Presbyter saith Edwards in his Gangraena p. 26. the rooting out of the Bishops and the utter defacing of Gods Church And I think all the people of this Land knoweth this to be so true that I need not use any argument to confirm it and so the Independant Sectaries do avouch that the Presbyterian Government is the false Prophet and the Beast here spoken of and the third part of the great Citty Revel 16.19 and on the other side the proud Presbyterians do as confidently aver that the Independants and Lay-Preachers are this Beast and so Clodius accusat moechum Catelina Caethegum and I out of their own mouthes will take it pro confesso and conclude them both to be partes constitutivas the chiefest constituting parts that make up the second Beast That the false Prophet is three foldâ— and the false Prophet And this false Prophet is like the three-headed Cerberus consisting of three speciall branches or three sort of Preachers 1. The Presbyterians And to begin with the last 2. The Independants And to begin with the last 3. The Lay Preachers And to begin with the last 1. The Lay Preachers may rightly be said to be one of the heads of Cerberus and the false Prophet in two speciall respects 1. In respect of his eutrance into his Office 2. In respect of his ignorance to discharge the duties of his Office For 1. 1. The Lay Preacher a false Prophet in two respects 1. His unjust entrance Malach. 2.7 that the Priest is the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts and the Apostle tells us that no man taketh this Honour unto himselfe that is to be a Messenger and an Embassador sent from God but he that is called of God as was Aaron and how was Aaron called First by the inward inspiration of Gods Spirit Secondly least he should be mistaken in the inspiration of the Spirit because there are many spirits by the appointment and Ordination of Moses that had his Authority from God to approve of his Vocation and to confirm him in his Priestly Office thus was Aaron called and yet more then this Heb. 5.4 the Apostle saith that Christ himself who is the
without adding the prevalent faction as sometimes for brevity sake I may omit I desire my Reader to remember that I mean only those and that party of whom it is demanded Whether they have not all and every one of the notes and marks of the great Antichrift and have done all the things and fulfilled all the Prophesies that should be fulfilled and done by the Antichrist And because the event of things are the best commentaries upon Prophesies The Events of things are the best Comments upon Prophesies if so it be apparent that all the things sayings and doings that are prophesied and foretold should be done by the great Antichrist are all manifestly seen to be done and fulfilled in them and by them aforenamed and by their confederates and adherents I know not how to give satisfaction to them that demand this question or how to deny them to be the Antichrist and to acquit them from that suspicion But I will leave the answer of these demands and resolution of those Questions to be de ermined by those unpartial Judges that are quicker sighted than I am and I will proceed not to foretel any thing but to explain unto you what the Prophets have foretold us should come to pass and should be done in the time and by the members of the great Antichrist and for the application of those Prophesies as fulfilled in these dayes and by these men I leave it to the better observers of the transactions of our time whether they can rightly do so or not And first That Apostasie or rebellion is the door through which the Antichrist entereth into the Church I finde the Apostle telling us that the door and breach or gap whereby the Antichrist shall have way to enter into the Church and sheepfold of Christ to destroy his flock will be apostasie or rebellion for when the Thessalonians had heard that such a great egregious Antichrist should come and thereupon did presently expect him and then thought the day of Christ his coming to judgment should instantly follow because they had heard that his coming should be towards the end of the world and but a little before the day of Christ his coming the holy Apostle to rectifie their misapprehension of what they had heard and to explain the truth and time of both their comings saith the day of Christ shall not come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quin venerit defectio prius until there be first a failing or falling away 2 Thess 2.3 as Beza translates it or nisi venerit prius rebellio unless there comes a rebellion first as the Syriac hath it and as very many of the best Interpreters say the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth because every rebellion is a falling away from what we should be And this rebellion is conceived by some Authors to be that which the people made in Rome against Nero and by others it is thought to be that which the Jews made against Florus or that which the grand rebell Barchochebas made against Rufus in the time of the Emperour Adrian who did therefore sufficiently chastice the Jews for their apostasie and revolt and others of no small esteem do understand it of the ruine of the Roman Empire and the Provinces revolt from the Roman Empire under the Turk and other apostate Governors of the Provinces as Niger Albinus and the rest that proved false against their Emperors but Mr. Calvin which is ever held the best textuary B. Hall in his Revelation unrevealed Ensebius l. 4. c. 6. even since the Apostles time as B. Hall saith wonders that so many learned men as understood these words of the Apostasie or rebellion of those revolters from the Roman Empire should so far mistake the Apostles meaning nisi quod cum errasset unus turmatim alii sine judicio sequuti sunt eum unles sit be that when one hath erred others without judgement or any further search for the truth have followed him which is an usual fault and a great fault amongst many writers where they see one run they are often ready like sheep without reason to follow after him And yet I wonder not so much herein as Mr. Calvin doth because the Apostle might well mean The rebellion against the Magistrate doth ever precede a recession from the faith and Gods service both the apostasie and rebellion from the temporal Monarchy of Rome as the type or Prodromos and also from the spiritual Kingdome of Christ which is the Church as Estius Anselmus and very many more of our best Protestant writers do interpret it because commonly they that rebel against the one will never stick at the other but when they kick against the Magistrate they will presently spurn against the Priest and God requireth obedience to be observed towards the civil Magistrate as well as to the spiritual Minister neither shall you ever finde that any departed from his true and obliged obedience to his lawfull Governor but he presently apostatized and made a recession from the true service of God as when Jeroboan◠rebelled and made a recession from his obedience to his King he presently made a defection from the true God and a discession from his worship to serve his golden calves and when the Satrapasses and Tetrarchs of the Provinces rebelled against the Roman Emperors they presently fell away from the Church and instead of Christ took Mahomet for their Prophet and the Jews tell us plainly we have no King or will have no King because we feared not the Lord to shew unto us Hosea 10.3 that a discession from Gods service doth ever accompany the rebellion from the civill Government and the rebellion against our Governors is the fore-runner of our discession from the true service of God and the faith of Christ because that our Governors which have the charge to see that the true faith and right service of God be preserved do while they are obeyed hinder this Apostasie and falling away from Gods service but when they are resisted and the bond of our obedience to them broken there is no stop of this apostasie but that every one may be of what faith and do what service he pleaseth and as he pleaseth unto God And therefore I take this apostasie and rebellion that the Apostle speaketh of here What apostasie or rebellion is here meant by the Apostle to be chiefly meant for a civil rebellion against the supreme Magistrate as he is custos utriusque tabulae the defender of the faith and preserver of Gods publique service and a spiritual opposition or withstanding of our spiritual Governors and the discipline of Christ his Church and so a falling from the true Doctrine and the faith of Christ which is the end of that progression and last step of this apostafie that begins in our disobedience and rebellion against Moses and Aaron and ends with our discession from God and Gods service for thus S. Paul saith the Spirit
propagate the Gospel for the honour of God and the service of his Son Jesus Christ even as Christ hath formerly told us by his Apostles and Prophets that the Antichrist would do And if you have observed any collected multitude to have done these things you may know what to judge though you may not say what you think And though these demoxstrations are very plain A special thing to be observed by most Commentators yet methinks I do observe somewhat in this description of the Antichrist by S. Paul that I find not observed by any of the Interpreters that I have read save what is briefly touched by E. H. in Pag. 76. De Antichristo For the Apostle in this Character of the Antichrist seems to set such an astarisme or as it were a dash with his pen whereby he should be made most palpable unto our hands and most visible unto our eyes if we would but diligently observe it we should not miss to know who he were For 1. The Apostle speaking of the wickedness of this Antichrist speaketh in the singular number and calleth him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the man of sin and not the man of sins the which expression besides the Hebraisme that signifieth he should be a very sinfull man as the childe of death signifieth one that is destined and condemned to death doth most certainly give us to understand that the Apostle meaneth that the Antichrist should commit some singular peculiar sin that should only and properly be the sin of the Antichrist and of none else And therefore 2. To inforce the particularity of his sin his proper and peculiar sin That as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 noteth and designeth thiâ— proper and particular Antichrist so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 designeth the proper peculiar and particular sin of the Antichrist Epiphan heresi 9. the Apostle doth not simply say that he should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the man of sin but with the Article of a special designation both of the man and of the sin that you might take notice as well of the one as of the other he saith he should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the man of the sin or the man of that sin by which sin he may undoubtedly and apparently as by a proper badg and character be known to be that great Antichrist that should come into the world when as he only committeth that sin which none but he did ever commit the like for as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie God King and man that is any one of them indefinitely but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do determinately note forth unto us this particular person of God or King or man because as I said before out of Epiphanius the Greek Articles contrahunt significationem ad rem certam leave not the thing they spoke of like an individuum vagum but do tie the signification to a proper and a certain thing so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth any one sin whetsoever but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 noteth and pointeth out this very particular sin and not another And therefore they that would know who is the Antichrist 2 special things to be inquired after must consider and inquire diligently after these 2 special things 1. What sin is that which is the formalis ratio that gives esse 1. What is the peculiar sin of the Antichrist the very being unto the Antichrist and by which sin he may be undoubtedly known to be the Antichrist and without the committing of that sin no sinner be he never so great or tainted with never so many sins can properly be said to be this great Antichrist 2. If we can finde the sin that makes the great Antichrist we are in the next place to enquire and search whom we can finde if we can finde any 2. Who hath committed that sin that have committed that sin and when we have found the sin and who hath committed that sin if we can finde them we have found out the great Antichrist that is spoken of by the Prophets and hath been long expected and much feared by the Church for as John Baptist saith of Christ I knew him not but he that sent me to baptize with water John 1.33 said unto me upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost and is the Messias and the Christ so whosoever coâ—â—itteth this proper and peculiar unusual sin the sin of the Antichrist only the same is he because the Antichrist only is the man of that sin that is which only committeth that sin and none else but the Antichrist committeth it 1. Then we are to ask and seek and to search disigently to know what sin is the proper and peculiar sin of the Antichrist and I shall with the help of Gods holy Spirit do my best to finde it out and I am sure this sin of the Antichrist is like the Antichrist himself a most notorious eminent and transcendent sin unheard of among the Heathens unknown in the world and uncommitted by any other sinner That all sinnes are not equal untill committed by the Antichrist and a sin when it is committed so perspicuous to all mens eyes as is the beacon upon a hill so destructive unto mankinde so odious so abominable and so hatefull in the fight of God as that no other sin whatsoever is altogether so destructive unto mankinde or so hatefull unto God as is this sin of the Antichrist for it is a paradox among the Philosophers and much more among the Divines to say that all fins are equal when as this sin of the Antichrist is more detestable in the sight of God than any other sin whatsoever as I hope to make it very plain unto you before I have done the canvassing of this beast And what sin may that be which is so transcendent so destructive unto man 1. Oservation and so odious unto God as none more May it not be the sin against the Holy Ghost which is a known wilfull malicious What sin is the peculiar sin of the Antichrist total and final Apostacy from the formerly professed truth of the Gospel and faith of Christ and a perpetual persecuting of the same impenitently unto the end with a most obstinate refusal of all grace and a despair of all pardon from God Surely this must needs be a most haynous sin and I believe the most hurtfull and destructive to the sinner that commits it of all sins because as our Saviour saith it shall never be forgiven him either in this world 1. Not the sin against the Holy Ghost 1. Reason or in the world to come yet I am perswaded this is not the sin that is most destructive to mankinde and most hatefull unto God or that is the proper sin of the great Antichrist 1. Because many others besides the
boasting and bragging or prae se ferens as Beza translates it pretending that he is God or as Tremellius saith ostentet seipsum ac si Deus esset he will carry himself as if he were a God that is in Gods stead the true King to rule the people and the right Bishop to govern the Church of Christ or That the Antichrist will wholly direct the Clergy and dispose of all things in the Church and about the service of God as some do read it he would be esteemed and taken tanquam sit Deus for such a supream Monarch and chief Governor over Gods Church as God said unto Moses he should be to Aaron his God to direct him in all the service of the Tabernacle and the whole worship of God so will the Antichrist be such a God to order direct and dispose of all the worship of God and how all the Clergie in order and without order should behave and carry themselves in the whole service of the Church which I take to be the true meaning of the Apostle in this place For this shewing himself or bragging that he is God is not to be understood that he would have himself believed to be the true and everliving God and worshiped with divine worship as the Historians tell us Alexander Antigonus Augustus Caligula Domician and divers others of the Caesars and Emperors were transported to that height of pride and ambition as believing themselves to be more than men to require the people their subjects to take them for Jupiter Apollo or some other of those anciently esteemed Gods and to ascribe the honor and worship that was usually given to those Gods unto themselves as Altars Sacrifices and the like whereof Virgil speaking of Augustus saith Virgilius eglog 1. Illius aram Saepe tener nostris ab ovilibus imbuet agnus And Horace also saith Horatius epist. l. 2. Jurandásque tuum per nomen ponimus aras But the meaning of the Apostle is that this man of sin the Antichrist will bragge and boast unto the people that he is all for God and for the honor and service of God and therefore sits in the temple of God to set out the right directory of serving God that so God through him and by his only means and endeavors might be rightly served and worshipped according to his directory as the Mahometans worship Mahomet according to his Alcoran and we formerly worshipped God according to the form prescribed unto us by our Governors in the book of Common-prayer and so he sheweth that he is God that is most godly and so a God by the participation of the godliness and holiness of God which exposition doth most fitly agree with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what he sheweth himself to be which is the rediest way to deceive the people And whether the long Parliament hath not usurped this ecclesiastical power and jurisdiction over all the holy things Let the Reader judge whether this be not fulfilled in the long Parliament and to set forth the sole Directory of Gods service tanquam sit Deus as if they alone had Aarons Office to order all the other Priests and Levites or had the spirit of S. Paul infallibly to direct the Church of Christ as well as Moses his Authority and the power of a King to rule the people Let the Parishes and people of God that have none other form of Gods service but what the Parliament Preachers and the observers of their Directory do use be the Judges both of what service and of what Doctrine is brought unto them I make small account though I will not pass it unsaluted of that Observation which some men have made that the Parliament House where the members of the long Parliament sate Arise Evans in his Voice from heaven was a Chappel consecrated by King Edward the 3. to be the Temple of God as appeareth by many Records because many other Parliaments have sate in that Chappel and yet not any of them all have usurped this power to be the supream disposers and directors of all the holy service of God the Commanders of all the Bishops and Priests of the most high God how to do his service and what service should be done unto him and to make themselves the sole Possessors the right owners to dispose sell or give all the Revenues lands states Tythes and offerings of the Church as it is said the Antichrist would do and which he may no better nor so well do as Scyrus and Procrustes the two vilest robbers that we read of could take thy purse and all thy mony by the High-way side And here also I cannot omit to observe Note the word fit in the temple that the Apostle saith that the man of sin shall not stand but sit in the Temple of God where the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which properly signifieth to fit as where it is said that Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 4.6 and 20.12 sate by the well and so the two Angells were seen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sitting in white raiments is to be distinguished from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which betokeneth and signifieth collocare to place or to set a thing in some place as it is where the Apostle saith if you have judgments of things pertaining to this life 1 Cor. 6.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 set such or place them to judg who are least esteemed in the Church and so where it is said that the Disciples brought the Asse and the Colt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as it is in some Copies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they set him Matth 21.7 or placed him thereon And therefore it is rightly concluded by Maresius that this sitting in the Temple of God is ill applyed by Grotius to Caius Caligula his causing of his Statue to be placed in the Temple at Hierusalem but it may most properly signifie the sitting of the Parliament Let the Reader judge of this or the like society of men in that place where they intend to acquiesce and rest themselves whether the place be physical or Metaphysical And whether the Parliament resolved not only to stand in that their dignity and Authority for a while or intended to sit and acquiesce and continue themselves and their Successors for ever in the Parliament-House and in the Temple of God to govern the Church of God as God themselves know best I will not judge of their Intention CHAP. VI. That the Antichrist is a great Professor of Religion and a seeming Saint That he belyeth his Profession and is indeed the greatest Hypocrite in the world What the great Lye of the Antichrist is What 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth What it is to deny Jesus to be the Christ And how the Father and the Son may be denied two manner of waies 2. THough I might go on
come A speciall observation of the time of this rejoycing and not before because that till now the Church was exercised either with bloody persecutions from without or with intestine broyles and heresies from within but now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the accuser and false traducer of our Brethren the Holy Prophets and the Apostles of Christ by misapplying their sayings misconstring their words and perverting their meaning and making them to say that which they never thought as all Hereticks do being cast out of the Church and quite vanquished consuted and silenced 1. By the blood of the Lamb that is by the faith which the true Christians had in the death of Christ and by the patient sufferings of the Martyrs for the defence of that faith in the former persecutions both of the Pagans and Arians when they loved not their lives unto death but valued them as nothing and yielded them most freely for the maintenance of that Faith which they had in the blood of the Lamb. and 2. by the word of their Testimony that is the breif Articles of their faith and the uniforme rule of Serving God and by the constant firme and faithfull justifying and maintaining the truth of that Doctrine and Service which they professed and published unto the people against all Hereticks whatsoever Therefore now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 12. rejoyce you Heavens Use 12 1. The rejoycing of the Angels and Saints the Church tryumphant and militant for the suppression of the Hereticks and ye that dwell in them that is the highest Heavens and all you Blessed Spirits and Holy Angells that do rejoyce at the Conversion of one Sinner rejoyce now much more for these great Victories and especially for this last victory that Michael and his Angels hath obtained against the Dragon and his Angels and you the Metaphoricall Heavens the Churches of God wherein God resideth rejoyce you as you have most cause to rejoyce that the accuser of your brethren and the false traducer of the Apostles and Holy Fathers of the Church is cast out from amongst you and your Churches are purely reformed the doctrine of faith truely taught and the service of God righty administred and all errors heresies and superstitions swept out of the Church But woe to the Inhabitants of the Earth and of the Sea v. 12. that is Who are meant by the inhabitants of the earth and of the Sea to the Worldlings Hypocrites bloody men and loose livers for the earth signifyeth earthly men and the Sea is a loose roaring and raging element cold and moyst and therefore signifieth the loose and dissolute livers roarers and furious men that have not any heat of Love and Charity in them and those also that for the love of gaine and profit only and not out of love to benefit their Countrey and their Neighbours and to shew the bountifull goodness of God to all places but onely out of a covetous desire to inrich themselves do passe all Seas into all forreign Lands woe woe unto all those because that he which could not and can not prevail against the true Christians that do so firmly stand and so stoutly oppose him will be sure to catch these soon enough within his net and hold them fast enough to make them pay for all because as the Holy Ghost saith he hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great wrath and is exceedingly troubled and vexed not onely for his former foyl and his casting out of Heaven but also most especially for that now after these victories he knoweth or as the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he seeth that he hath but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a short space to recruit and to see if he can revenge his former foyls and therefore 2. 2. The bloody and the most malicious persecution of the Dragon after the suppression of the Hereticks He goeth presently among the Inhabitants of the Earth and of the Sea and perswades them to throw all the stones of the Earth and to stir up all the waves of the Sea and to use all possible arts to vex and oppress the woman and to overwhelm the Ship of Christ which is the Church in the Seas of all miseries and afflictions And so now the Dragon begins a fresh to rage and to persecute the woman saith the Holy Ghost v. 13. which brought forth the man-child and to vex and molest all her Children all the true and faithfull members of the Church whereof most of them especially her lay children were left prety quiet while the spirituall and dogmaticall warre lasted that raged most of all amongst the Clergy but now that warre being ended the Church reformed superstitions expunged and all the Heresies confuted the Dragon vanquished his Angels suppressed and the service of God purely and rightly discharged the true Church and all her members the corrupted unreformed Churches he hath them in his hands already so that he need not trouble himself to meddle with them are newly molested and exceedingly persecuted with great wrath saith the Angel and that is with a bloody warre and a greater warre and a far more unnaturall and unchristian warre and a more violent and more malicious prosecution of the warre and persecution of them that were quiet in the Land then ever was done by this Dragon at any time before this time And the reason of the exceeding greatness and sharpness of this persecution of the true Church The reason of the sharpness of this persecution shewed signified by this woman is not omitted to be set down by the Holy Ghost for the comfort and consolation of all the persecuted Saints and distressed members of Christ and for to incourage them with the more constancy to persist and to withstand the assaults of the Dragon unto the end and that is because the Dragon that in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had many hundred years to prosecute that heriticall and dogmaticall war yet now knoweth and seeth that he hath but a short time to rage and to wage this newly revived bloody war and therefore he must bestir himself or he shall lose his Harvest that hath but a short time to gather in his fruit and that time that he is permitted thus to rage against the woman as the spirit of God sets it down Cap. 12.14 c. 11 8 v. 11. c. 13 5. c. 11.2 is but a time and times and half a time which signifieth the three dayes and a half that the two witnesses of Christ shall lie unburied in the streets of the great City and the 42 moneths wherein the beast should prevail against Gods Servants and should tread the holy City that is the purest Church under feet for all these times thus exprest by severall termes and expressions The suppression of the witnesses and persecution of the Church the same time as of time times and half a time and three dayes and a half and 42 moneths and do synechronize and cohere for the
the greatest Doctors and best Scholars in Gods Church must follow Saint Augustines rule to understand Gods word S. Augustines rule how we may come to understand the Scriptures where he saith agant orando querendo legendo bene nivendo ut intellig ant that is earnestly pray to God for the assistance of his Spirit and diligently to search and seek by continual studies in the reading of Gods words and consulting with the best learned Authours which God hath given for our help and constantly to lead an upright and a holy life that God may be intreated by these means to enlighten their understanding that they may understand his revealed will And now all the premises considered I demand how dares the Lay-Preacher the rustick Plow-man and the City trades-man and the blood-thirsty souldier with their miry shoes upon their unwashen feet approach to that place of Gods presence which Moses himself while he was thus was forbid to do and there with defiled hands and prophane mouthes not rightly divide the word of God but most miserably to teare and Massacre the Holy Scriptures so shamelesly that it would make not onely our eares to tingle but also our hearts to tremble when we consider how the Divine Truth is abused and the Name of God blasphemed by these rude and ignorant Interpreters that are the best Seedes-Men in the World to sow the Tares of errors heresies and blasphemies among the pure wheat in the field of Gods Church because as St. Augustine saith hine ownes Hereses The premises teach three things dum Scripturae bonae intelliguntur non bene all heresies do spring from hence when the good Scriptures are ill interpreted So this that I have shewed of the difficulties of many places of the Scriptures and how hard it is to explaine and to reconcile them should teach us these three things 1. It should deterre and stop the presumptuous attempts of ignorant men from medling with the interpreting of Holy Mysteries 2. It should move all good people to love and honour all those learned Clergy that are able to Teach them the Truth and to unfold the Scripture truely unto them and not regard the bawling and barking of those whelpes that speake against Learning and Learned Men for if many of the Apostles were unlearned God inabled them with the gifts of Tongues and fitted them with learning Miraculously Act 14.12 2.1 2 3 4 c. and doth not that Miraculous descending of Learning and Languages upon the Apostles shew unto us how necessary Learning and Languages are for the Ministery or is the Learning of St. Paul any thing the worse because he had it not miraculously he needing it not so but in an ordinary way being brought up at the feet of Gamaliel so is Learning and the gift of Tongues now any thing the worse because we have it not as the Apostles had it miraculously but in an ordinary way as St. Paul had it and left more ample fruits of it unto the Church then most of them that had it miraculously But the truth is that Learning and the understanding of Arts and Tongues howsoever gotten in an ordinary or an extraordinary way miraculously or by industry it is from above and a speciall gift of God for so the Scripture saith the Lord hath given me the tongue of the Learned Esay 50.4 and therefore learning is not to be slighted nor these Lay-Preachers that want it to be regarded because the Scripture cannot be vnderstood nor the Divine Mysteries well expressed without a competent measure of Learning and Languages even as the Apostles themselves could not well do it untill they received the same miraculously 3. It doth in the second place make good my second Argument and sufficiently prove these Lay Preachers to be one of the heads of Cerberus and a speciall branch of this false Prophet here spoken of because of tâ—eir ignorance and want of good literature to inable them to expounâ—d the Scriptures Why the Presbyterians charge the Roman Clergy to be this false Prophet And neither of both these Arguments can be justly urged and applyed against the Roman Clergy to prove them to be this false Prophet as Junius and our Presbyterians would have them to be but as the Fox that being hunted for his knavery shewed a hare unto the hounds that the dogs running after the hare he might laugh in his sleeve and passe away so they by making the people to believe that the Priests and Jesuitâ—s are this false Prophet do think that themselves may pass unsuspected and to be taken for the true Ministers of Jesus Christ For though materialiter they of Rome may as they do Teach many points of false Doctrine yet formaliter The Roman Clergy are noâ— liable to these reasons that demonstrats this false Prophet they cannot be said to be this false Prophet modo forma as he is here described 1. Because they are by a successive unbroken line from the Apostles time lawfully called and Ordained by prayers and the imposition of the hands of those that have the Lawfull Power and Authority to ordain them none dares in that Church intrude himselfe into any of these Sacred Functions but such as are lawfully admitted into Holy Orders 2. The works of those Clergy men do sufficiently demonstrate they are no ignorants but learned enough in all arts and sciences if they had the grace to make a right use of their learning And here before I passe from this point you must know that we have now two sorts of Lay-Preachers 1. One without any Ordination And this 2. The other of a false Ordination And this False Ordination that is done only by other Presbyters without the Bishop is no Ordination at all no otherwise then when my Lord Chancellor makes one a Justice of Peace and that Justice of the Peace will presently take upon him to make others Justices of the Peace like himselfe and you know the Authority of such second Justices is of no validity because the one had no power to give it nor the other any right to use it and so it is with those Presbyters that are made onely by the Presbyters they are none other then meere Laicks 2. 2. The Independant another branch of the false Prophet Another head of Cerberus and a speciall branch of this false Prophet is the Independant and this Independant is but a bastard Presbyterian or an illegitimate child begotten of the luxurious seed of the Prtsbyterians and the frothy sperme of the fanatick people that disdains as much to be subject and guided by the Classis of the Presbyterians as the Presbyterians do kick against the Government of the Bishops and both the one and the other do spring from the same root of pride and ambition and they run the same way of disobedience and opposition to their lawfull Governors and they aime at the same end to be Masters and Rulers themselves and therefore
procul a digito is a degree beyond 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a signe for signes are but parva mira some strange accidents and things done within the sphere of nature but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wonders which some conceive to be derived 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that fignisieth to terrifie because they strike amazement in the beholders Stapleton asserit illa vera miracula futura quoad actus su pernaturales sed mendacia quoad usum quia mendacio inserviunt dom 24 as things that do far exceed the reach of nature or the second causes are things of a higher straine quaeque omnium naturalium causarum creaturarum vires excedunt which do exceed the strength of all naturall causes and the Power of all the creatures and so there must be a supernaturall Power and a Divine vertue to effect them And such wonders this beast would pretend to do and not onely this beast but many other false Prophets would pretend to do the same as I said before for so the Friars and the Nuns of the Roman Church have filled the world with such pretended miracles Texeda p. 23. as could not be done without Divine strength whereof you may see divers of them in Texedas miracles unmasked and especially those of Mary of the visitation priors of the Monastery of the Anunciada in Lisbon Object But you will say the Presbyterians pretend not to do any such miracles and therefore they cannot be this false Prophet nor can they be justly charged for such doings I Answer that the deceits and fallacies of the pretenders to do miracles have been so sufficiently discovered by St. Augustine St. Chrysostom and others of the ancient Fathers and specially by our learned Protestants that have displayed the counterfeit miracles of the Roman Church and the jugling tricks of the Nuns and Friars that the Presbyterians have so much wit Aug. l. de unitate Ecclesiae The Parallele as in plaine termes not to pretend to worke miracles yet they will tell you of such things that the Parliament and themselves have done which if done as they say are greater miracles then any of the pretended miracles of the false Friars for the doings of the Parliament slaying the Witnesses Let my reader judge if the Presbyters have not hereby fulfilled this prophesie changing the Times altering the Lawes stripping the Church of her Revenues subduing all Opposers and the Pretensions of the false Prophet the Presbyterians and the Independants and Lay-Preachers to convert soules to make Saints to make fire to come down from heaven to pull down the Antichrist to overthrow the whore of Babylon to reduce all the Tribes of Israel to the Sheepfold of Christ as they hope to do and the like 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strange things The miracles of the Presbyterians greater then the miracles of the Friars seeming to all the people to surpasse all humane reach and not to be done but by the singer and speciall providence of God which they plainly Preach so to be unto their hearers must needs be conceived to be greater wonders then the pretended miracles of the Friars and so accordingly as great miracles and strange wonders are wont to do these very things have wrought such an admiration and amazement among the people that they were very easily deceived by the meanes of these things that were indeed but as the Apostle saith the miracles of the Antichrist should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lying wonders false fignes and deceitfull miracles in respect of all the causes of true mirales For 1. That the wonders of the Presbyterians are all lying wonders Bellarm de to Pontif. l. 3. c. 15. Corn. Alapide in h. loc Whereas the end of a true miracle and the proper use of it is to confirm and justifie an extraordinary calling and the truth of the Doctrine of them that are so called as Elias and the Apostles did and the Pharisees requested of Christ to do the like to shew them a figue from Heaven to justifie his extraordinary Office the end of Antichrist his wonders and of this false Prophet is not to justifie their extraordinary calling which they do not challenge lest that should discover them but to deceive the people and to cheat them into a compliance with them in their wicked wayes and to that end saith Gerhan the man of sin Vtitur sapientia verborum will be as eloquent as Domosthenes Guhan in 2 Thes 2. and he useth simulatione virtutum a dissimulation of much vertue in his life and conversation seeming as curteous as Titus the son of Vespasian The differences betwixt true miracles and false 1. Difference and as Religious as St. Antony or Marke the Eremite he will also use the Testimony of the Scripture and Preach and alleadge Scripture as readily as the Devill did to Christ and he will pretend to do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strange things and to make large promises of Preferments to his adherents as blessings here and happiness hereafter if they follow him and his waies and all this he useth but to deceive the people and to intice them to be his Proselites and if neither of these things nor all these can do the deed then as the King of terrors he will roare out his threatnings and persecutions like a Lion no less then hell and damnation remaineth for them and are not the doings of our Presbyterians just thus as if Gorran had been alive to have seen them he doth so lively and so punctually describe them under the person of the man of sin 2. Difference 2. Whereas true miracles are done by the helpe and operation of Gods Spirit as Nicodemus saith to Christ no man can do those things which thou doest John 3.2 except God be with him the lying miracles of the beast and the wonders of the false Prophet are done by the helpe of the Devill as the Holy Ghost saith Revel 13.2 the Dragon gave him his Power and his Seate and great Authority whereby they were furthered and inabled to do those great things and wonders that they did and St. Cyrill affirmeth antichristum esse magum veneficiis malis artibus instructissimum the Antichrist to be a Magician and most expert in all kinde of witcheries Cyrillâ—s Cateâ— ches 15. and wicked arts I know not whether any of the Long Parliament were such or no though many men suspected them to be such but I have often heard that those enthusiasts that were Presbyterians and Lay-Preachers pretended Revelations from God which were indeed the delusions of the devill 2 Thes 2. and as the Apostle saith strong delusions 3. Difference 3. Whereas true miracles are really the things that they seem to be these wonders of the beast and his followers the pretended doings of our Presbyterians videntur non sunt are but phantasmes and illusions and a kinde of seeming to be what they are not and therefore
Golden Calfe and therefore this beast this Ecclesiastical beast who may be said to be the Assembly of Presbyters and Independants and Lay-preachers is onely said in this 14. verse The mischievous perswasions of the false Prophet to dcceive them that dwell on the earth that is all those that are like to themselves risen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the earth and are worldly minded men and no marvell for it is most consonant to reason and more likely for the false Prophet then it is for the violent soldiers that dispute the matter with the sword and will compell rather then perswade or the City Senators that trade only in worldly Merchandize To deceive the people poor people that are deceived by their leaders and carried on the right way to bell when they think they are led streight to heaven But O thou false Prophet thou deceitful Presbyterian and the lawlesse lay-preacher how wilt thou answer for all the injuries that have been done and all the blood that hath been shed in our last war through thy deceitful perswasions cum surrexerit ad judicandum Deus when God shall come to make inquisition for blood for it is more then most likely plain enough to them that have their eyes open the Parliament had never prevailed as they did to overthrow the King to destroy the Bishops to rob the Church and to gain so many victories to make so many poor widowes and Fatherlesse children and distressed infants if thou hadst not most perfidiously and spitefully used all the rhetorical art to perswade the simple worldly men to adhere and to assist that long Parliament as the onely Patrones of their liberty protectors of their estates and the true propagators of the Gospel against a King that invaded upon their estates and incroached upon their priviledges and such a Hierarchy of Bishops and Episcopal Clergy as did most palpably ayme and strive to bring in Popery like a deluge among the people which was the string that the Presbyterians perpetually harped upon and the onely song the false song of their Sion And therefore 6. 6. What is meant by the image of the beast ver 15. Doctor Sbelden pag. 13. Junius in annot in loc Mr. Mede pag. 67. It is said verse 15. that this second beast gave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 life or breath or spirit which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth to the image of the beast where the question is what is here meant by the image of the beast and some Expositors not much amisse do understand hereby the representation of the State and government of the first beast Junius meanes the setting up of images to be worshipped in the second Councill of Nice Mr. Mede saith the Roman Empire in the seventh head that is under the ten Kings is the image of that Empire as it was under the sixt head that is the Caesarian Empire which had the wound by the sword whose mistake herein I have shewed unto you even now The impieties and wickednes of the beaff ete the image of the beast that the present German Empire is but a very ill Image of the old Roman Empire therefore I conceive that to give life to the image of the beast signifieth nothing else but to be a speciall means and the chiefest instruments to uphold and justify the Practices impieties and proceedings of the beast which is indeed to maintain the State and Government of the beast as Doctor Sheldon saith because the injustice impieties and wicked practises of the beast do most fully resemble and are the very perfect image of the beast for as an image sheweth the similitude and likenesse of a thing to the life Geu 1.27 and as a man is said to be made in the image of God which must not be understood of any externall form or outward shape which God being a pure spirit Ephes 4.24 cannot have but must be understood of that holinesse and true righteousnesse wherein man was created as the Apostle sheweth like unto God Levit. 12.44 Luke 6.36 and whereunto we are now exhorted to conform our selves when the Lord biddeth us to be holy as he is holy to be mercifull as our heavenly Father is mercifull and so in all other imitable points and attributes of goodnesse and piety whereby we may renew the lost image of God in our selves so the wickednesse the rebellion the ungodlinesse injustice subtlety and cruelty of the beast John 8 44. may as well be said to be the image of the beast even as our Saviour saith the Jewes were of their father the devill that is the very image of the devil Gen 5.3 because they were lyars and murderers and replenished with all other wicked conditions like unto the devill and as Adam is said to have begotten a child in his own image that is not onely in the feature and liniaments of his body but especially in the deformity mortality and corruptibility that Adam by his disloyalty had brought upon himself and upon all his posterity and as you know it is a common thing to say that a subtle crafty fellow is a fox a cruell man a Tygar an innocent man a sheep a foolish fellow an asse and so forth because of the likenesse and similitude they bear not to the shapes and figures but to the properties and conditions of these beasts And so in this sence What it is to give life to the image of the beast taking the image of the Beast for the wicked Government and leaud practises and proceedings of the beast the second beast that came out of the earth is said to give life to the image of the first beast that is to the wickednesse and impieties of the first beast because that as the true Preachers and the Orthodox Ministers of Christ do together with the inward helpe of Gods Spirit renue and revive the image of God in men in bringing the life of Grace unto them and destroying the image of the beast and of the devill in them by killing their vices and rooting out their impieties aud the lustfull corruptions of the flesh so the false Prophet and the apostaticall earthly beast together with the helpe of the Devill doth give life and breath unto the impieties and wickednesse of the first beast even as the true Propets of God tell us the Priests of Baal did animate The parallele and give life to the Idolatry of the Jewes And thus it cannot be said that the Pope and his Cardinalls did animate The Presbyterians animated all the proceedings of tha Parliament and give life to the Tyranny and cruelty or any other impiety of any Civill State either of Kings or Emperors that I read in any History but I suppose it is not unknown to any man in these parts how the Preshyterians and Independants and Lay Preachers did animate and give life to all the injustice and the impieties and all the unjust proceedings that were done
patience in all these our sufferings and to assist us for our constancy and perseverance in our duties that we neither murmure at our present condition nor start aside one inch from the truth of our Christian Profession Non me videre superbum prosper a fatorum nec fractum adversa videbunt said Pompey and how much rather should a Christian say it either for fear of losses or for love of gain and preferment but to proceed on codem vultus tenore with the same cheerful countenance as well in these stormy thundring dayes of Adversity and Persecution as we would do in the cleerest Sun-shining dayes of pleasure and prosperity and to remember that Rebus in adversis facile est in contemnere vitam Fortiter ille facit qâ—i miser esse potest 3. To abhor the wayes of the wicked 3. To abhor the wayes and to fly from the service and allurements of these Beasts as from a Serpent because the third Angel that S. John saw sayd with a lond voice so that all men might hear him and plead no excuse If any man worship the Beast and his Image that is serve and follow the two horned Beast which is the false Prophet and the ten horned Beast that is the Image of the false Prophet and assist them in their Impieties or imitate and follow them in their blasphemous doctrines and their wicked wayes or receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand that is take an Ingagement and oblige himself to assure the Beasts that he will uphold assist and desend them and so be true and faithful unto them to further their proceedings or to justifie their doings either plainly or covertly directly or indirectly the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God The heavy punishment of them that assist and adhere to the Beasts which is poured out without mixture that is of any comfortable thing to allay the fierceness or to sweeten the bitterness of it into the Cup of his indignation and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy Angels and of the Lamb which will encrease his Torment to see their happiness and himself in such extream misery and the smoak of that torment ascendeth up for ever and ever to keep God still in minde of the odiousness and stinking savour of their wickedness and they have no rest day nor night that is no manner of ease or abatement of their Torment at any time that worship the Beast and his Image that is serve and adhere to the false Prophet and the ten horned Beast Revel 14.9 10 11. and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name that is engageth himself to adhere and to assist them which pathetical and fearful expressions of the wrath of God and the unspeakable Torments of them that serve and assist these Beasts if men did believe the Scriptures should as I think make all men affraid to receive the mark The 2 Beasts often termed in the singular number the Beast and why or to do any service to any that is like to have any affinity or society with these Beasts which though they be two as the soul and body are yet by reason of their coberency and conjunction like Samsons Foxes or rather Herod Pilate to crucisie Christ to consume all the Corn in Joabs field as being subservient one to another they are most commonly spoken of in the singular number and tearmed the Beast whose undeniable notes and indelible characters and whose words and works testified by the spirit of God in the holy Scripture I have in all particulars parallel'd and expressed by the doctrines and doings of the Assembly of Presbyters at Westminster and their associates the Independant and Lay-preachers and the long Parliament that beheaded the two Witnesses of Jesus Christ and is therefore believed by very many to be the great Antichrist and the man of the sin that is spoken of by the Apostle from whose impiety iniquity and cruelty I earnestly and humbly beseech Almighty God night and day to preserve me and all the true Servants of Jesus Cstrist Amen Obs 2 The pious works of the long Parliament But secondly Against all this that I have written and shewed in the Application of the description and doings of the Antichrist to the Actions and determinations of the Presbyterians and long Parliament and the just paralleling of the one with the other to be as a man and his Image or shadow in a Glass I know it will be objected and demanded how it can be possible that that Parliament which protested they made their War against the Antichrist to root out Popery Idolatry and Superstition from the Church and made so many Orders and Ordinances for Gods Service and Acts for the propagation of the Gospel and to restrain the prophanation of Gods Name and appointed so many Fasts to beg a blessing upon their Endeavours and so many Thanksgivings unto God for their good snccesses which they ascribed only to God and not to themselves and did many other such like acts of piety and devotion should be the great Antichrist and the greatest enemies that ever were to the honour of Christ and of his Church since his ascention into Heaven as you seem to make theworld to believe they are Are these things the works of the Antichrist or can they be compatiblc with the Antichrist Sol. I answer briefly If they had not done these things they could not have been the great Antichrist for Christ himself doth tell us that the Antichrist and his false Prophets would say Matth. 24.23 Lo here is Christ that is with them and there is Christ that is where they meet in the Desart and in the secret Chambers that is in their private Conventicles and not in his consecrated Church where we pray unto him and hereby sayth Christ they should deceive the World and as S. Revel 13.14 John sayth All them that dwell upon the earth i.e. All earthly men yea Mar. 13 21. and if it were possible they should by this their great profession of Piety deceive the very Elect and the true Servants of Christ and you know the old Rule which is infallible decipimur specie recti Fallit enim vitium specie virtut is umbra We are soonest and oftnest deceived with the shew of piety and under the profession of the greatest holiness Si. Walter Rawleigh in the life of Mabomet pag. 7.8 so Mahomet the great Impostor by embracing a solitary life free from the ordinary conversation of men and his speeches mixed with gravity teaching holiness and a good life and beating down Idolotry and injustice gained such an extraordinary opinion of sanctity among the Arabians that they which saw him admired him and they that heard of him held him to be a Saint and thereby he deceived the greatest part of this side of the world and so all Hypocrits do seem to be
Gods prople yet because they profest to know their Masters will and did it not our Saviour was offended with them and denounceth more and more beavie woes against them then against all the enormous horrible and flagitious sins of others the greatest finners that knew not so much of the will of God as they did Even so though the Idolatries and heresies and superstitions of the Pope and his Hierarchie and their other sins and the abominations and cruelties of the Turks and Mahometans may in there own nature simplie considered seem more odious and heinous then the sins of the Presbiterians and long Parliament yet consideratis considerandis all circomstances considered that may be said for the Pope and popish church No sinner so hatefull in the sight of God as the ypocritical saint and for the Turk and Mahometans and against these seeming Angels and the grand masters of injustice and impietie in all their wayes I say no Pope no Turk no Tyrant no Scismatick no Heretick nor any other the like great sinner can be so hatefull in the sight of God as are the doings of these hypocritical Saints that I have so cleerly and so amply displayed unto you in this book so far that the best of mine understanding cannot immagine how a greater Antichrist more odious to God and more destructive to the Church of God can possibly arise then that which I have described in these bookes CHAP. VII Of the continuance and destruction of the beast the time of his prevalencie his utter ruine not till the day of judgment and why and what it should teach us how the seven Vials of Gods wrath shall be poured out and what the three unclean spirits do signifie ANd now I should end this discourse but that for the comfort of all the persecuted Saints and Servants of Jesus Christ that seem in mine ears to crie to God with the soules under the Altar saying how long tarriest thou holy and true before thou comest to deliver us from the crueltie of this beast and to avenge the blood of thy servants that hath been spilt by them that dwell on the earth I think it requisite that I should say some-what of the continuance of the beast and the destruction of the Antichrist Touching which being points of things to come it is not an easie matter nor wisedome in any man rashly to determine and knowing how many great Schollers and holy men have failed in the computation of times I am verie loath to bee too peremptorie or positive therein especially considering that I could not yet satisfie my selfe with any thing that I read concerning this matter in the best either of the popish or the Protestant writers For 1. The Papists expecting the Antichrist that in all probabilities 1. What the Papists conceive concerning the Antichrist Bellar. de rom Pontif. 1. 3. c. 8. and 16. Sanders in demonstr Corn a la pi de in Apoc. c. 3. Iraeneus Hyppolitus c. should be a Jew risen of meane parentage of the tribe of Dan and by cheating tricks should first overcome the Kings of Egypt Lybia and Ethiopia and then many more and should most cruelly persecute the Church of Christ for three years and a halfe in which time Henoch and Elias should return in their own persons from the terrestriall Paradise where God reserveth them for to preach and to preserve the elect from the deceits of the Antichrist doe say that he is not yet come and when he cometh that he shall continue but as I said three years and a halfe and this shall be but a verie little time before Christ cometh to Judgment this is the generally received opinion of the Papists which is but a fancie without ground 2. The Protestants whereof some that make the succession of Popes to be the Antichrist do say he hath already continued ever since Boniface the third in Phocas his time Balaeus de vit Pontif. l. 3. Thom. Antichrist arraigned pag. 06. E. H. de Antichrist c. as Balaeus saith or since Vitalianus in 666. as Thompsom and others say above a 1000 years already and they cannot tell how many years more he may continue God knoweth it may be a 1000 yet if their exposition be true and the world continue so long others think that the Antichrist is but some one single and singular person that should arise or is risen from the true Church that is from the purest nationall Church which I am sure in King Charles his time was the Church of Ingland and though he springs from a smal roote yet by his wars his wits and cheating tricks he shall slay the two witnesses of Christ whic they conceive to be the Magistrates and the Ministers that is as I take them the King and the Bishops and that man should still prevail over Gods people and continue glorious in all good successes according to his own desires untill the Ministers of Christ that through fear shall be for a while like Plinies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mouthless men doe receive a new courage and as it were life from the dead to preach him down and God shall second them and assist them by raising commotions against him and powerfull armies to overthrow both him and his adherents and thereby that is the zealous preaching of the Gospel and the great victories of Christ his servants over the Antichrist they shall proceed on and reduce not onley the Jewes but also the ten tribes of Israel that have been scattered like the dust of the earth to be converted to imbrace the faith of Christ and to restore them to repossess their Land of Palestina and to make a glorious reformation of the Church of Christ thus collected into one sheepfold that shall continue as some fondly dream a 1000 years more in all worddly felicitie the most of which conceits I take to be as fabulous and as fictitious as the fictions of the Talmudists And therefore I must humbly crave leave What the author conceieth to be the truth touching the Antichrist in many things to dissent and in some things to assent to the expositions both of the Papists and Protestants and out of both their assertions to set down what I conceive to he most probable and likeliest to be the truth and so I say with the Protestants that Sanders and Bellarmine and the rest of the Popish Writers that take the beast for one single person are utterly mistaken and all that they say of that person are but meer fictions because all that is here spoken of this beast and elsewhere of the Antichrist can never be applied to one singular man nor all things that are to be acted can be peformed by one person and yet I cannot assent with those Protestants that say he is the succession of Popes or popish Hierarchie or a wicked Kingdom and Politie and the seventh head of the beast that reignes after the Emperors in the Cittie of Rome as Brightman
So it was blasphemie in the Caesars to be called divi dii aeterni as Prosper saith in dimid temp c 7. Nam aeterna cum dicitur quae temporalis est utique nomen est blasphemiae 2. Way Psal 50.18,19 20.21 James 2.7 that upon the heads of this Beast there were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the names of blasphemies for so it is in some Copies and it agreeth better with heads then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the name upon many heads now blasphemy may be committed two special wayes 1. When we assume unto our selves that Deity and Divine Honour and Right either of power or knowledge which is onely due to God as when Christ told the Jews that he was the Son of God that is his essential and coeternal Son otherwise we are all his sons by Creation and the elect by grace and adoption the Jews not knowing and not believing him to be so said that he blasphemed because that he being but a man as all other men were and no more as they thought assumed to himself the honour and title of God or else when we give and ascribe the divine honour to any other creature whatsoever as all idolaters do and therefore idolatry in the Scripture phrase is usually termed blasphemie as you may see Ezech. 20.27 and Isa 65.7 2. When we derogate from God that Deity and divine honour and right which is due and we do ow to ascribe unto God or do conceive and attribute unto him any unseemly act or thing whether words or deeds which do no wayes agree with the excellency and purity of his divine Majesty as when we do oppresse the poor consent with Thieves and be partakers with the adulterers and then think wickedly as all such Actors for the most part do that God is such an one as themselves or as Jupiter Apollo and the rest of the adulterous gods of the Gentiles were that hath no regard of these things as the Prophet speaketh these do blaspheme that worthy name by which they are called as Saint James testifieth And is not the long Parliament The parallel That the Parliament Sectaries are said to Blaspheme both wayes 1. Way or some of their adherents justly said to be guilty of Blasphemy both these wayes for 1. Did they not assume to themselves or at least their flatterers ascribe to them those attributes and Prerogatives that are only due and proper unto God as among others to break the powers of the earth in pieces to levell the Hills and to fill up the Vallies to bruise the Nations with a rod of Iron and to break them in pieces like a Potters Vessel as my self have heard one of their Sword Preachers and adherent to the Parliament Preaching the same unto the people and as he ascribed unto them this attribute of Gods power which they made use of reasonable well in these three Kingdomes so do they not arrogate to themselves that attribute of Knowledge 2. Tim. 2.19 which as the Apostle saith is only proper and peculiar unto God and that is to know qui sunt ejus who are his for I refer it to the judgment of the people if these mens Chaplains and Preachers take not upon them to discerne and discriminate the elect from the Reprobate And the Independants gathering of Churches is a sufficient proof hereof The History of Independency part 3. pag. 28. 2. Way and so accordingly do what Christ did not to Judas exclude them from Christ and from the Communion of Saints and being such to assure their followers that they may justly rob and kill these Reprobates at their own pleasure as men that have no right to the good things of this world but are unworthy to live upon the earth as the Author of the History of Independancy witnesseth and which is a most dangerous and destructive doctrine to all humane society and if the ground thereof be not extreame Blasphemy let any sober christian judge 2. For the other way as the Worshippers of this Beast Blasphemed so did not the adherents unto the Parliament commit more Blasphemies and more odious Blasphemies then I am able to express for our Saviour saith Whoscever speaketh a word against the Son of man it shall be forgiven him but unto him that Blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost Luc. 12.10 Math. 11.32 it shall not be forgiven neither in this World nor in the World to come saith St. Mathew and yet did not that Parliament and especially the independant party of the Parliament and the whole pack of their proselites with all reverence be it spoken by me make the Holy Ghost to be the pack-Horse to carry all their vile and wicked sins upon his back and the spirit of God doth exceedingly complaine against this lewd practice of such wicked men saying supra dorsum meum fabricaverunt peccatores Psal 129.3 The Plowers Plowed upon my back these sinners do not onely commit sin but they will also build up their sins and fasten them all upon my back as if I were the Author the mover and contriver of all their wickednesse and impieties for when they are pulling down and setting up new Doctrines and new disciplines and change their Faith and Religion as the Nomades do change their Cottages as they are led by the Lesbian rule of their own fancies which is the very square by which they interpret the Holy Scripture The Common Doctrine of the Independents as you may see in the History of Independency do they not usually alledge that the Spirit which Sanctifyeth and illuminates them bloweth when and where he will sometimes this way and sometimes that way and oftentimes contrary wayes and therefore that they can make no profession of any certaine rule of Doctrine or Discipline because they know not which way the spirit will inspire them and to justifie this their inconstancy and their continuall chopping and changing of their minds and resolutions they abuse that Text of Scripture where our Saviour saith to Nichodemus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the winde or Spirit bloweth where it listeth John 3.8 and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it commeth and whether it goeth So is every one that is borne of the Spirit as every one of them is without question in their own conceit and therefore when contrary to their Oaths Protestations and Covenant they beheaded and murdered the King saith the Author of Independency part 3. if he saith true did they not pretend that they could not resist the motions of the Spirit and so when they break their faith their Articles as they did I know with whom their promises their Declarations and their Covenant do they not avouch that the Spirit moves them to it which is most true if they understand it right of the spirit of darkness which they make to be the Spirit of God And I would faine know what greater Blasphemy then these if these things be true as men
worthy of credit assure me they are for what Blasphemy in the world can there be greater then to make the Holy Spirit of God that flieth from deceit and dwelleth not in the body that is subject unto sin to be the foul Spirit of Darkness and the Author mover and promoter of such most horrid and execrable acts acts never acted by any Christians and but seldome if ever known by the worst of Pagans and never before adventured or invented as I conceive to be justifiable by the most impudent of all the Hereticks And besides all this have not their Assembly and Preachers Wisdome 1.5 as I told you before by consequent and in effect denyed the Father and the Son and so the Holy Ghost which is amor nexus spiritus patris filij Let the Reader judge what Blasphemous acts the Assembly of Divines and the adherents to the Parliament did and have they not obliterated and cashiered some of the chiefest heads and maine points of the long received truths of our Christian Religion and did not that Parliament Authorize that Apostate assembly and countenance the swarms of their lay-sword-Preachers to discountenance the 39 Articles of our Church to dispute about the expunging of the fift Article of the Apostles Creed to Antiquate the Lords Prayer out of the Church Service for fear that if they should use to say the same they should quench the Spirit as if the spirit of Christ would be offended with the Prayer of Christ and to turne out the long setled service of God and the book of Common-prayer out of the Church to give way as one saith well to a long-winded extemporary non-sence and Blasphemous repetitions Such Blasphemies as never were in the Church of Rome are broached in the books and Sermons of the Presbyterians and most sawcy expostulations with God in the steed thereof which is the readiest way to introduce Athiesme and to abrogate Christianity out of the world which is the desire of the Dragon and the proper work of the Antichrist And therefore the Religion of the Fauterers and adherents to that Parliament being but a meer complication and a syncretisme or rather a sink and common sewer of all errors Heresies and Blasphemies may we not well say that upon the heads thereof there is not onely the name but in the plurall number the names of Blasphemy especially if I should set down which would swell to a huge Volume all the Blasphemous tenents that some of their members many of their Preachers and more of their adherents have broached scattered and printed throughout these three Kingdomes since the unhappie birth of that most unhappy Parliament to most of the Kings most Loyall Subjects and so you see how this Appendix of the Beast may be said to cohere with that long Parliament Fiftly It is said v. 2. that this Beast was like a Leopard 5. The Beast was like a Leopard Jun. in annotat in loc As after the 2d Pun warr Maced Grec syria caeteraque omnia quasitorrente sequnta sunâ— Dan. 7.6 Vt loquitur florus l. 2. c. 7. Diodorus siculus de success Alexandr 2. and Junius following his former exposition saith this ought to be understood of the Roman Empire that was like a Leopard propter velocitatem by reason of their swiftness and speedy expeditions and their extraordinary successes to subdue their Enemies when their Generalls might say with Caesar veni vidi vici assoone as I came I overcame all the adversaries that opposed me whereby they have suddenly prevailed to inlarge their dominions over the better part of the then known world But indeed that Empire cannot be understood by this Leopard for Daniel speaking of the four great Empires of the world saith that the third Beast which betokened the Macedonian or Greek Empire was like a Leopard that is propter velocitatem by reason of the sudden increase and speedy inlargement thereof when Alexander the great did most suddenly in less then 10 years space subdue the Persian Monarchy and brought under his subjection the most part of the visible Dominions of the world and his Empire was as suddenly divided when he bequeathed the same to the Worthyest of his Captaines and almost as quickly againe translated unto the Romans and therefore I say that not the Roman Empire Eodem c. v. 7. 23. which was the fourth beast in Daniels Vision and had Iron teeth and stamped the residue of the Kingdomes with the feet of it but the beast that is the Antichrist which was typified by the little horne that came up among the hornes of the fourth beast â— v. 8. that Daniel saw is here likened to a Leopard and that not only propter velocitatem for the great speed that he maketh in all his actions but also in respect of all the other chief properties of the Leopard which is observed to be 1. The three properties of the Leopard Velox very swift 2. Crudelis very Cruel 3. Maculosus very much spotted And so was that many-headed beast that our Evangelift saw And truly I may justly demand if that these three properties of the Leopard might not be perfectly seen in the long Parliament The parallel for 1. 1. The great speed of the Parliament Were they not most swift in their expeditions and executions and subduing all that have opposed them either Domestick and homebred Enemies or any other forreigne foes and have they not conquered these three Kingdomes and prevailed more in less then ten years space then either the Warlike King of Sweden or any other King or Common-wealth if you consider all circumstances since Alexanders time 2. 2. The cruelty of the Parliamen As they were most speedy in their actions so I may demand if they were not as cruel in their executions and more cruell then all the examples that ever I found in any History to parallel them more cruel as it is conceived then John Vasilowich that was the greatest Tyrant of Russia and as they say greater then any other former Tyrant and yet he never persecuted any man as these men did onely for being loyall Subjects unto their King and faithfull Servants unto their God though we might say of Vasilowich that Saevior est tristi Busiride Saevior illo Qui falsum lento torruit igne bovem And therefore when I duly weigh the decenniall slaughters practised in these Christian parts by those that profest themselves to be the best Saints on earth especially when I consider not the bloudy killing of men but the many deaths that in a lingring death they have imposed on many good men and the piece-meale taking away of the lives of many quos oderunt gratis whom they hated without cause but only for seeking to do them the greatest good and to prevent the greatest evil that can be imagined from falling on them I cannot choose but cry out with the Poet O mites Diomedis equi Busiridis arae