Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	aaron_n	call_v	paul_n	25	3	5.8277	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66360	Ho Antichristos the great antichrist revealed, before this time never discovered, and proved to be neither pope, nor Turk, nor any single person, nor the succession of any one monarch or tyrant in any policies, but a collected pack, or multitude of hypocritical, heretical, blasphemous, and most scandalous wicked men that have fulfilled all the prophesies of the Scriptures ... and especially have united ... together by a solemn league and covenant to slay the two witnesses of God, Moses and Aaron ... that is, the supreme magistrate of the Commonwealth, and the chief pastors and governours of the Church of Christ, and the Christian world is requested to judge whether the Assembly of Presbyterians consulting at Westminster, together with the independents, Anabaptists, and lay-preachers be not the false prophet ... and whether the prevalent faction of the long Parliament ... that killed the two witnesses of Jesus Christ, 1. Charles the First ... 2. William Laud ... be not the grosse and visible body of the same antichrist / by Gr. Williams.	Williams, Gryffith, 1589?-1672.	1660 (1660)	Wing W2662; ESTC R25201	504,825	313

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

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 Plat●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 Heter●geniall and La●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 fold● 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

world and therefore to encourage all the Christians to be constant in their Profession unto their death it was requisite to use all the Eulogies and praises that might well and rightly be given especially in the funeral Orations of the Martyrs unto those holy men that had so manfully fought the good fight of faith and so christianly died for the defence of the Gospel of Christ when as the contrary would have been a great disheartening of the weak Christians but these Eulogies a spur to inflame them to all readiness to undergo the like Martyrdome rather than to start aside from their Christian profession Neither do I see how those Eulogies and praises that these Fathers gave unto the Martyrs are any wayes contrary to the truth of our faith or the Word of God because we know that as the Prophet saith Psalm 116.15 right dear in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints and no doubt but he hath some love and care of their dead bodies to preserve them from that spirit of malice and contempt that the Devil and his wicked assassinates bear against them and therefore as he preserved all that were in the ship for S. Paul's sake Act. 27.24 so he may be pleased to preserve others his servants with the preservation he extendeth and would have shewed to the bodies of his Saints and especially of his holy Martyrs the which he would have no wayes to be abused as the Prophet sheweth and doth exceedingly complain of them that give the dead bodies of Gods servants to be meat unto the fowles of the air Psal 79.2 and the flesh of his Saints to the beasts of the field as now I have seen it in many places how the hogs are rooting in their graves and the dogs gnawing the bones of Gods servants That the aforesaid Errors make not this Apostasie And I say that although the Roman Church hath failed in the Premises and erred in the points aforenamed yet all that doth not make this grand apostasie which the Apostle here speaketh of Reason 1 1. Because here in the Roman Church we finde no rebellion against their Governors but qui ducunt eam seducunt eam the leaders of that Church deceive the Church and so her apostasie is not so odious but the more excusable and the less abominable in the sight of God Reason 2 2. Because these Errors and Superstitions aforenamed and the like have only defaced but not nullified bespotted and polluted but not destroyed that Church which is now like unto a false woman that hath played the whore but is not divorced nor run away from her husband That the Church of Rome holdeth all the foundation and preservation of the Christian Religion for so long as they profess to believe as the three authentick Creeds that is the Apostles Creed the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed teach us and use the Lords Prayer and publish the ten Commandements and receive the two Gospel Sacraments that is Baptisme and the Lords Supper and retain the wholesome form and reverent manner of Divine worship and service of God with the rightly authorized and lawfully called Pastors and Governors and a dutifull submission to the established Discipline of the Church which things are both the foundation and preservation of the Christian Religion and which they say are all observed and performed in the Roman Church I believe no good Christian can deny her to be a true Church though not a pure Church of God because that while the foundation remaineth sure and undigged up all superstructures of wood hay stubble doth not evert and overthrow the whole edifice but is rather a going beyond Eccl. 7.16 17. than a going back from the faith of Christ like the being too righteous and not too wicked as Solomon speaketh that is the being too precise and making more sinnes than ever the Law of God made and not too prophane and so exceeding in the works of supererrogation and observing many other commandments of men besides the commandments of God Mr Mede P. 612. just as the precise Pharisees required the people to do in the time of Christ and Mr. Mede resolves Mr. Hartlib that the Roman Church hath not erred in the fundamental Articles of the Faith but in the assumentis which they added unto the foundation so likewise D. Crakenthorp B. Hall and most of our best Divines are of the same minde And therefore questionless the Church of Rome cannot be guilty of this grand rebellion and Apostasie here spoken of And 4. 4. Nor the falling away of the Protestants from the Church of Rome As the African and Afiatick Churches of the East under the Greek Patriarchs and the Europaean Churches of the West under the Pope of Rome are not liable to this grand Apostasie so neither can the Church of Rome nor any other Master of that Church say and say truly that the falling away of Luther Calvin Beza and the rest of the Protestants and protestant Churches from the Roman errors and superstitions and from their obedience to that Church can be this falling away and apostasie here spoken of because we with them and they with us do hold and profess the same 3 authentick Creeds that do contain the sum and substance of our Christian Faith and are agreeing in all or at least in most of the essential and fundamental points of the Christian Religion and the differences betwixt us in the most points that are of moment are not so capital but that for the most part a charitable construction and a right distinction might well and fairly reconcile most of them especially as they are held by the best Interpreters of the Scripture in that Church and by the most temperate and soberest Divines of our Church because as the Apostle saith charity is kinde and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 charity is not rash that is in her judgment no more than in her actions 1 Cor. 13. but beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things and endureth all things and the want of this divine grace of Charity maketh those faults that are indeed but mole-hils to appear like mountains and this want of charity is too too common a fault both among the popish and the Protestant writers which doth make the breach wider and the differences to seem far greater and far worse than indeed they are which made me often to pray that God would send more love betwixt us and suffer not the devil to send so much misprision and distaste betwixt us as there is Question And now the foresaid Churches being freed from being liable to this apostasie the question is What Church can be said to be found guilty of it What Church is guilty of this Apostacy and instead of answering it it is now demanded If this now present Church of great Britain be not liable to this charge of a grand Rebellion and apostasie such as the Apostle speaketh

Spirit of God spake by the tongues of his learned pen-men Saint Luke Saint Paul and the rest of them and I am sure that neither Aristotle nor Plato nor any other Moralist or naturalist can shew such pure Ethicks and true Physicks or any other kind of Philosophy as is to be found in the sacred writ 10. 10. The many seeming contradictions of the Scriptures The many seeming contrarieties and contradictions that are obviously found in these Scriptures do sufficiently prove how difficult it is to reconcile the difference and to give the right sense and the true meaning of every place as 1. Where in 2 Reg. 17.24 2 Reg. 17.24 Verse 34. it is said that the men which came from Cutha and from Ava and from Hamath and from Sepharuaim and were placed in the cities of Samaria feared not the Lord and so it is reiterated in v. 34. that they feared not the Lord And yet in the 32. verse and in the 33. verse and in the 41. verse it is thrice repeated that they feared the Lord. And how can these things be that the same spirit with the same breath should say and unsay the same thing they feared the Lord and they feared not the Lord Non benè conveniunt nec in una sede moruntur It is answered that if you mark it well and understand it right here is no contradiction at all for the fear of the Lord is here put for the whole service of God and so they feared not the Lord as it is said in the 17. and 34. verse that is more debito they served him not as the Lord required his people to serve him but yet feared the Lord and served him as it is said in the 32 33 and 41. verse that is more gentilium as the Gentiles Cultus Dei ex humano cerebro excogitatus and the other nations did and this fear of the Lord and service of God being but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a will-worship is said to be not the fear of the Lord nor the service of God because the Lord neither commandeth it nor accepteth it when as he tells us plainly that he will be served as himselfe prescribeth and not as man deviseth 2. Where our Saviour saith Matth. 6.1 3. Take heed that you do not your almes before men but when thou dost thine almes Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth and when thou prayest go into thy closet and shut thy dore and he that seeth thee in secret will reward thee openly and yet in another place he saith Let your light so shine before men that they maysee your good works Verse 6. Matth. 5.16 and glorify your Father which is in heaven And how shall men see them if I shut my dore and do them so close in my chamber and do mine almes so secretly that none may see them It is briefly answered that Christ doth not forbid you to bestow your almes to pray and to do the other duties of religion in the fight of men but he adviseth you not to do them as the Scribes and Pharisees did them onely to this end that they might be seen of men let men see them but do them not that they might be seen 3. Where Saint Paul saith Rom. 3.28 c. 5. v. 1. James 2.21 we conclude a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law and yet Saint James saith that Abraham was justified by Works and Rahab was justified by Works and then concludes it positively and saith you see how that by works a man is justified and not by faith onely And therefore Luther that was all for faith and not finding the way to reconcile these two Apostles rejecteth the whole Epistle of Saint James as not Canonical and calleth it Stramineam Epistolam an Epistle not worth a straw whereas he might as easily have reconciled the two Apostles How the words of Saint Paul and S. James are reconciled if he had considered that Saint Paul speaks of that perfect and most absolute justification that freeth us from all sin and is fully able to acquit us coram Tribunali Dei before the throne of Gods judgement and so Abraham and all the sons of Abraham can be justified no otherwise then by a lively faith in Jesus Christ and Saint James speaks of the manifestation of the faith whereby we approve our selves to be justified coram hominibus both to the satisfaction of our selves and others and this is by g●od works which are the fruits of our faith and so no contradiction at all betwixt Saint Paul and Saint James Many more seeming contradictions and many more reasons of the difficulties of the Scriptures I might produce unto you but out of this that I have set down you may very easily see that the best divine the quickest wit the sharpest sight and the greatest Schollar when he considereth the depth of this Ocean and the mysteries of these Scriptures and his own shallow reach to comprehend them 2 Cor. 2.16 may cry out with the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who is sufficient for these things And what then shall a Taylor or a Shoemaker or a Weaver or any the like unskillful tradesman or unealled Lay man be sufficient for these things wherein such a masse of treasure and so much of Gods wisdom is contained I beseech you to consider what Saint August saith and your selves know to be true that a reasonable good Schollar will not read Horace or Terence without a Comments and wilt thou presume to expound the deep mysteries and the high secrets of Gods word without the help of learned Authors that have bestowed much paines and made many prayers to God for the help and assistance of his Spirit to understand them Quicquid est crede mihi in Scripturis istis altum divinum est whatsoever is in these Scrriptures believe me saith the same Father it is high and d●vine and you know the Prophet David saith thy commandement is exceeding broad and therefore he doth often pray for understanding Psalm 119. that he might understand his Commandements and yet the Commandements which were things that appertained unto all men for to know are the easiest to be understood as being delivered in the plainest manner of all the Scriptures that they might be understood of all because they were to be observed by all And you know likewise that it was prophesied of Christ Matth. 13.35 that he should open his mouth in parables and declare hard sentences of old so hard to be understood that his own Apostles and disciples who were alwayes conversant with him yet of themselves understood them not as you may perceive by that reprehension of our Saviour are ye yet without understanding Matth. 15.16 whose apprehensions and understanding neverthelesse was as you may believe far better then the best of our Lay-Preachers And therefore seeing the Apostles and disciples of Christ and

concernment to the whole Church it should be very well plainly and sufficiently proved and manifested and not darkly and improbably demonstrated or else it ought hardly to be received and not at all to be beleeved 4. Whereas pag. 2. of this interpretation he saith that because oppositorum eadem estratio and that the mysterie of 144. to which this number of 666 is opposed is contained in the roote thereof which is 12 therefore the mysterie of this 666. must be contained in the roote thereof which is 25. I say that the misterie of 144. is indeed interpreted to consist in the roote thereof which is 12. which being 12 times multiplied doe make up just 144. and yet the Holy Ghost maketh no such interpretation of it but that those spirits which beleeve nothing but the expresse text of scripture may as easily reject it as receive it but being granted that this is rightly interpreted because the twelve Apostles St. Paul left out that laboured in the building more then any if not then most of them all were the foundations of the wall of the new and spirituall Jerusalem yet it followeth not that because this mysterie must be explained by the extraction of the roote of 144. therefore the other mystery that denoteth the beast must consist in the roote of 666 no more then the mysteries of many other numbers expressed in scripture can be said to consist in their extracted rootes and though the beast be opposite to Christ and the Synagogue of Satan opposite to the Church of Christ or Babylon to Jerusalem yet this doth not in any understanding prove that 666 is more opposite to 144. as it is a set number then it is to 444 or to any other definite number 333 being as I conceive a more oppofite number in respect of division to 666. Onely this 666 is said to be the number of the beast in direct and plain termes and the other number of 144 is interpreted by some authors to be understood of the Church militant here on earth and by others of as good repute to be the typicall expression of the Kingdome of Heaven Besides the twelve Apostles were but the foundations of this wall as having their names in them v. 14. the wall being made up of other stones that is of all the beleeving christians and so it comprehendeth the whole Church and then the opposition must be not betwixt the Hierarchie of the Pope and his Cardinals and the Hierarchie of the Christian Church but betwixt the whole Church of Christ whose wall and not whose foundation v. 17. was 144 cubits and the whole Synagogue of Satan that is made up of theeves infidels and all other wicked reprobates therefore the Pope and his Cardinals cannot be the the beast that by this exposition of opposites must fignifie all the whole companie of reprobates which is far contrarie to the meaning of the Holy Ghost that plainly differenceth the beast and the worshipers and followers of the beast as the Lambe and the followers of the Lambe are not the same But indeed contrarie to the opinion of Mr. Forbes and some other that make this vision of the new Ierusalem to be typus presentis ecclesiae a type of the militant Church I shall with many of the most ancient interpreters denie this discription of the new Ierusalem to be the type of the Christian militant Church and say that ad captum nostrum that can reach no higher then demonstration this admirable explication of this citty is thus set down to shew unto us those ineffable excellencies and most glorious estate which the servants of Christ shall enjoy in the kingdome of Heaven for if you observe the coherence of this 21 c. with the former you shall finde there c. 20. that the beast and the false prophet and the devill are cast into the lake of fire to be tormented for ever and ever v. 10. and the dead both smale and great were all judged according to their works v. 12 and death and bell and all that were not written in the booke of life were cast into the lake of fire which can be no other then the last judgement against all the reprobates this is the end of them And then after St. Iohn had shewed the end of them and their sad condition for ever he proceeds in the 21 c. to shew unto us according to the best of our apprehension the most happie state and condition of the children of God in heaven which he expresseth under this type that he saw a new heaven and a new earth even as St Peter and before him the prophet Esay long agone had prophysied and foretold the servants of God how happie they should be and because that which is no where is not at all as St. Aug. Tolle spatia locorum corporibus nusquam erunt et quia nusquam erunt non erunt saith therefore he describeth the place where they shall remain in bliss under this type of the new Ierusalem whose excellent frame and figure he doth here so amply describe unto us wherein you may observe that the things attributed to the Cittizens of this new Ierusalem are incompatible with the members of the church militant for it is said that God shallwipe away all teares from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more paine v. 4. which cannot be referred and applied to the members of the purest church on earth and so many other things are set down c. 22. to be in this heavenly Cittie which cannot without apparant violence unto the text properly be thought to be in the militunt church but are most elegant expressions by way of allusion of those incomprehensible excellencies that the saints shall finde in the kingdome of heaven 5. Whereas he saith pag. 3. that it is not said as it is observed by many let him that hath understanding count the name of the beast but count the number of the beast I answer that in c. 13. v. 17. it is said that no man might buy or sell but he that had the marke or the name of the beast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the number of his name therefore the number of the beast and the number of his name are all one and so both the one and the other both signifying the same thing are said to contain therein the just number of 666 when as the number of the beast is put down for the number of the name of the beast 6. Whereas he saith c. 2. pag. 5. that the mysterie of 144. consisteth in the square roote of it which is 12. I answer as before that I doe not gain-say it but for the oppositio of 666 to this 144 that the mysterie of the 666. must consist in the square roote of it which is 25. as the mysterie of a 144 confisteth in the square roote of it which is 12 I utterly denie untill he can bring me