initio l. 3. f liberii r. liberi l. 5. f. Uno ciâ—ca r. quocirca l. 8. f. eam r. eum p. 231. l. 10. f. by Arrians r. from Arrius l. 31. f. Treatises r. Treatise p. 234. l. 31. f. father r. further A Looking-Glass for the TIMES c. THE Everlasting God which setteth the bounds to the Nations and declareth to man his thoughts is not circumscribed to time or place but in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh Righteousness is accepted of him This said Peter of old who once thought as did the Samaritans that all Religion was impaled to the Jews who had the Circumcision to whom pertained the Adoption and the Glory and the Covenants and the giving of the Law and the Service of God and the Promises whose were the Fathers and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed for ever Amen Therefore he thought it much in the Vision that was shewen him to Arise slay and eat Not so Lord said he for I Acts 10. 13 14 15. have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean But said the Voice the second time What God hath cleansed that call not thou common in the Case of the Centurion unto whom he was sent being a Gentile to turn unto the Faith And said Christ Jesus to the Woman of Samaria who said Our Fathers worshipped in this Mountain and ye say That in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship Woman believe me the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this Mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father Ye worship ye know not what We know what we worship for Salvation is of the Jews But the hour cometh and now is when the true Worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth John 4. 20 21 22 23 24. And said the Apostle Who hath also made us able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit for the Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth Life but if the ministration of the Letter written and engraven in stones was glorious so that the Children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance which glory was to be done away How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious for if the ministration of condemnation be glory much more doth the ministration of Righteousness exceed in glory for even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelleth for if that which was done away was glorious much more that which remaineth is glorious 2 Cor. 3. 6 to the 12. The intent and substance of all which is as much as to say That there is no Religion under the Sun or no prescription that ought to be as to any thing that relates to the Worship of God or that is ground of Worship since Christ came in the flesh and was offered up but what is within in Spirit and in Truth which is in opposition to all outward Forms which proceed not from the Spirit For Israel of old during the State under which they stood of an outward Administration had no further reference than to themselves who had the Circumcision or outward Administration the Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances which Law was added because of transgression till the Seed should come which is Christ who being come put an end to Circumcision and that outward Administration which with the Jew ended who was of the Stock of Sem which related not to the Gentile So that whole Administration with the particularity of the Jew in the flesh had an end and hath no more ground of enforcement wherefore the Gentiles should be obliged to a form or that form of Worship or outward Administration then if the Jew in the flesh had not been or that outward Administration for it related to time and persons and not to the body of the World or the universality of dayes which time being out or expired and those persons or Nations at an end as to that for which they were taken into a particular consideration the thing hath also an end with them and cannot admit of a force upon themselves or those that are yet left of the Jewish Nation much less upon those who are not Jews but Gentiles whom the Lord never so took in nor dealt with as to any outward Administration So that to enforce or to endeavour so to do from what was once the Administration of God in the flesh to the Jews on them who are not Jews but Gentiles what the Scriptures hold forth to be the outward administration of the Jews or to seek to ground from thence a bottom why all Nations or the Nations of the Gentiles should be in an outward administration of Worship and should be bounded in or denominated by any particular form is to put force upon the Scriptures and to hold forth that which neither doth the Scripture nor is the intent of the Spirit and which Christ Jesus ended in the Jew and the Apostles testified unto so to be ended as aforesaid For in the first place Where there is no ground or bottom for such a thing no such thing from such a thing can be concluded But no such bottom or ground is there for any such thing as from the Judaical Policy to enforce a legal Administration or outward form of Worship as hath been declared since Christ was offered up and an end put thereby to that Administration Therefore to enforce any such thing now that he is offered up and that Administration ended is to enforce such a thing without a ground or bottom In the next place The Lord Jesus when he was offered up and ascended gave gifts unto men not outward Administrations as to Times Places and Nations Some Evangelists saith the Apostle some Prophets some Pastors some Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the Body of Christ till we all come saith he in the unity of the Faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Ephes 4. 10 11 12 13. Thirdly The Administration of the Spirit or of Righteousness is that which excels in glory as hath been said and even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelleth 2 Cor. 3. 9 10. Fourthly All outward Administrations had a time to end as well as to begin and they had a signification which the thing signified being come vanished and came to nothing So all that which was the Administration to the Jews had its beginning and end its time to come to nothing and to vanish as it had to begin which
but to all Nations of the Earth to the Gentiles the Church of God amongst them which to gather or to draw into one was the Gospel sent and preached and the Worship now was no longer National nor was it the National Worship of the Jews which also was commanded of God and accompanied with his presence while the end of it was not come or accomplished But it was every where Spirit and Truth not Form and Letter fearing of God working of Righteousness is accepted of him the true Worshippers the Worshippers whom the Father seeks to worship him All the others were dasht in pieces the end was accomplished it stood not in meats and drinks the Kingdom of God but in Righteousness and Peace and joy in the Holy Ghost not in killing of Sheep and slaying of Oxen but in an humble and contrite heart and that trembled at his Word the Sacrifices of God which even under the Law were entitled and said to be his through all which he looked for and accepted which the Sacrifices and the blood of Goats and Bulls signified Circumcision and all the Ordinances of the Jews which Moses commanded and which it was death not to observe comes now to be called beggerly Rudiments the Hand-writing of Ordinances the Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances the enmity which he destroyed on the Cross and blotted out which the Apostle saith was against them and which neither they nor their Fathers were able to bear And he saith Touch not tast not handle Gal. 5. 2. Phil. 3. 2 3. not which all saith he perish in the using And if you be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing I wish them cut off that trouble you And beware of Dogs and beware of evil workers beware saith he of the Concision for we are the Circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh And the Apostles now as any were gathered into the Church they gathered them out of all the Jewish Observations and Heathenish worshipping of Idols into one God and Name of the Lord Jesus who was the great Shepherd and Bishop of the Soul Not into the Name of the Church of the Jews or the Temple or of this Region and that but into the Name of Christ Jesus The Churches of what Of the Jews c. Nay the Churches of Christ Christ the Head of the Church which are in 1 Thes 1. 1. Judea c. The Church which is in God Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus unto the Church of the Thessalonians which is in God Not in this man or that not in this profession and that barely but in God And so it was during the Apostles times of which the Scripture makes mention and their business was to open the eyes to turn men from darkness to the light and from the Power of Satan unto God that they might receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them which are sanctified by Faith which is in me As Paul saith of his Commission which he received of the Lord Acts 26. 18. And he stiles himself an Apostle not of men neither by men but by Jesus Christ and God the Father which raised him from the dead And he saith The Righteousness which is of Faith speaketh on this wise Say not in thy heart Who shall ascend into Heaven that is to bring Christ down from above Or who shall descend into the deep that is to bring up Christ again from the dead But what saith it The Word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the Word of Faith which we preach Rom. 10. 6 7 8. And the Apostle to the Hebrews saith But finding fault with them that is the first Covenant and the things therein of which he had been speaking in the former words he saith Behold the dayes come saith the Lord when I will make a new Covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah Not according to the Covenant which I made with their Fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt because they continued not in my Covenant and I regarded them not saith the Lord For this is the Covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those dayes saith the Lord I will put my Laws into their mind and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a People And they shall not teach every man his Neighbour and every man his Brother saying Know the Lord for all shall know me from the least unto the greatest For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their iniquities will I remember no more Heb. 8. 8 9 10 11 12. Now here is nothing of Churchship of an outward Administration and Worship of a delegation of Power to any to constitute and appoint Worships or how God should be worshipped or what Discipline should be used in the Church or what Power the Church should have as to visible things and who should be the Governors or Rulers thereof that should direct or order as to that throughout all Ages but a turning to a Principle wherein God is to be known and whereby he is to be worshipped Not to Man Kings Princes Governors States Emperors no not to Presbyters Councils Fathers Pastors Officers Synods Be ye followers 1 Cor. 11. 1. of me as I also am of Christ saith Paul But to the Light the Light of the Son of God who is Light God is Light and in him is no darkness at all the Covenant of Light to the Gentiles the Light of the World the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World that which sheweth man that is in the Transgression that he is in the dark that turns him from the darkness to the Light and from the power of Satan unto God The Lord never sent to turn man unto man nor did he ever give power to man to order man as to the Worships of him no not in the Mosaical Administration all the World have been in mistakes about these things but he alwayes reserved the power in himself and by the guidance and order of him man was to be directed and God to be worshipped for from the Lord Moses received in the mount what was that Administration hitherto to the Law of Moses when the Israelites were gone astray and had transgressed were all things to be reduced and the reformation to be made the Law of Moses which was a figure of that which came by Jesus Christ unto which all things after he was come to which Moses his Administration or the Law which was given by Moses was to have reference as it was to spring from it And the coming of him was the time of Reformation of which the Apostle speaks Heb. 9. 10. Which stood saith he speaking of that Ministration which in the verse before he calls a
Figure only in Meats and Drinks and divers Washings and Carnal Ordinances imposed on them until the time of Reformation Heb. 9. 10. Moses his time or the duration of the standing of the Law or the outward Administration or Jewish National Worship was not to remain for ever the first Covenant but it was to pass away and to have an end as not being able to make the comers thereunto perfect Heb. 10. 1. though it was commanded of the Lord So there was to be a time of Reformation when that which could not make the comers thereunto perfect was to be removed when that which was the shadow of good things to come but not the very Image of the things as the same place hath it was to have an end which was in the coming of him who was perfect who perfects for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10. 14. which the other lead unto For by one Offering saith the Apostle in the verse aforesaid he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified and this was called the time of Reformation when he came who put an end to all that was outward and had a visible or an outward Administration which could not make the comers thereunto perfect nor was appointed for that end and purpose but to lead unto another thing which should put an end thereunto and which was its end Now I say if the very outward Mosaical Jewish Administration National Worship the first Covenant which was all the outward Government which was commanded of God in the World was not of man but from the Lord which yet had reference to another thing which was Christ the new Covenant the Law put into the mind and wrote in the heart which was the Prophet which Moses said unto the Jews the Lord their God should raise unto them of their Brethren like unto him whom they should hear in all things whatsoever he should say unto them and that it should come to pass that every Soul he doth not say Body that will not hear that Prophet should be destroyed from among the people Acts 2. 23. How much more now that the thing is come which those Administrations had reference unto the great Reformer ought all things now in relation unto Worship have reference unto him and how ought all things of this nature thither to be directed For as I said he sent not to turn from man to man from the darkness to man but to the Light to the Principle of God that which is of God in man the Seed which is Christ the Mystery hid from Ages and Generations now made manifest as the Apostle speaks Col. 1. 26 27. that men may know who they worship and when and how thy may worship him God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth Spirit that is something that is Spirit that is of the Nature that God is that is Spirit and Truth that is as as he is Spirit they that worship him must worship him not in the Letter not in the Injunctions of men not in an outward or fleshly Principle not in man or the spirit of man but of God which is in opposition to all that is of man or cometh from man that is not from the Spirit or Principle of God So men must first come to learn or be turned to the Light to the Principle of God to that which is Spirit by which they may come to know him that dwells in the Light that is inaccessible as to all that is mannish or mortal from the darkness all that is from man or of him who is mortal then something may be said to them as to the Worship of God then they are somewhere and know something which God accepts and in which he is well pleased such Worshippers the Father seeks to worship him All other Worships are not available nor are they to any purpose nor doth God seek them though men may think thereby that they seek after God The time of Reformation svveeps them avvay to the Moles and to the Bats to go into the Clefts of the Rocks all the Idols of Silver and of Gold which are made each one for himself to worship and into the tops of the ragged Rocks for fear of the Lord and the glory of his Majesty when he ariseth to shake terribly the Earth Cease from man whose breath is in his Nostrils for wherein is he to be accounted of Isa 2. 20 21. The great Reformer gives them no standing every one must worship him from his Temple whose Temple ye are saith the Apostle to the Saints Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God saith he and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you 1 Cor. 3. 16. In his Temple doth Psal 26. 9. every one speak of his glory Novv man coming to be the Temple of God and the Spirit of the Lord dvvelling in man and the Principle of God in man being knovvn 1 Cor. 3. 16. here the Worship comes to be knovvn vvhich is in the Spirit and in Truth and this is that vvhich the Father seeks So avvay vvith all inventions of men in the Worship of God avvay vvith all Imitations and Likenesses avvay vvith the shadovvs even of good things to come Novv the thing it self Christ Jesus is come the Principle the Measure of him is knovvn the Incense or Odour vvith Rev. 8. 3. vvhich the Prayers of all Saints are offered upon the Golden Altar vvhich is before the Throne vvhich God accepts The Principle of God is to lead the Spirit of the Lord to offer as this moves the Lord accepts in this he is vvell pleased the living Root must be knovvn something that is holy that never sinned to guide and direct something that is as he is vvho is holy and no iniquity can come near his dvvelling Hab. 1. 13. then the Worship is accepted of the Lord. Say not in thy heart Who shall ascend into Heuven that is to bring down Christ from above Say not Who shall descend into the deep that Rom. 10. 6 7 8. is to bring up Christ again from the dead You need not go so far you need not look vvithout you to Forms Constitutions Ordinances of Men Laws and Imitations the thing is vvithin you the Lord hath brought it nigh to you he hath not put you to another You must account for your selves and joy or be undone for your selves every man is an Individual he is made so by God An Individual signifies a being by it self that can never be mixed that can never be made tvvo something vvherein a man is determined for ever vvhich the Lord should guide of vvhom the Lord vvill require an account the Lord hath not put you to seek here and look there Loe here and loe there it is not in Heaven that thou shouldst say who shall go up for us to Heaven and bring it unto us that we may hear it and do it Neither is
the Body selling for Bond-men and Bond-women Banishment upon pain of Death and Death it self after the most exquisite and various manners that can be thought of as Ages and Generations have proved of which I am by and by to speak and give witness And the reason hath bin because being gone from that of God in them by and in which they should vvorship him and every one in their ovvn particulars vvhich is near vvhose Injunction as it is in Spirit so is the Worship and the Punishment of not so vvorshiping they are in nothing but vvhat is outvvard themselves and knovv no more of God than vvhat themselves think which being indeed nothing at all that is so far and as they are gone from that or worship or compel thereunto otherwise than that their Worship is like their Godd which is as themselves These things thou hast done and I kept silence Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such â— one as thy self but I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes Now consider this ye that forget God lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver Psal 50. 21 22. and being as themselves their punishment is as themselves which is outward corporeal as man is not in the Spirit So every one that makes a Worship makes a Godd and every one that worships not God in Spirit and in Truth makes a Worship and confounded be all they that serve graven Images that boast themselves of Idols worship him all ye Godds Psal 97. 7. And the Enemy is in all this who as I have said being far from God himself endeavours to put man as far as himself he removes him from having respect to and minding that of God in him to look afar off well knowing that if he can but once do that he shall never know God and then he can easily perswade man to be as God and to give Laws how he indeed as God may be worshipped and to torture and torment the Bodies of those who worship God as he will be worshipped or who cannot worship God as man would have him worshipped For he that would drive a man from the Measure of God in himself to worship God as he pleaseth drives a man from God and instead of God sets himself up to be worshipped and himself being set up or he having set up himself to be worshipped he takes revenge and punishes those who will not worship what himself sets up and so falls into the predicament of Nebuchadnezzar and of all those who because of Worships not conforming to their Laws of Worship have caused men to suffer as the Histories now to be made mention of give instance And here lest I should seem too prolix and fill a Volumn with that which a lesser space may serve to give evidence to what I have in hand I shall principally confine my self to what Eusebius Pamphilius Socrates Scholasticus and Evarius Scholasticus in their Ecclesiastical History have set down and touched at for near the first six hundred years after the death of him who is Lord and King and lives for ever And here I shall be as short as well I may that in a thing of this consequence I may convince what I have here asserted to this and the Ages that shall succeed to the end that as the wise man said it may appear that as to God and his Worship and Worshippers and what they have received who have worshipped him in Spirit and in Truth from them who have held up the Ecles 1. 9. Form without and not knowing and not from the Power of God there is no new thing under the Sun but as they did of old so in this day the same they receive from such as are in the Form who know and are in the Power of God and how that which hath held up the Form and hath prescribed Laws and Constitutions Creeds and Governments by which God should be worshipped have stained the Earth with blood and with the most horrible torments and sufferings most exquisite have wrung out of every Age this confession That destruction and violence is in their Paths and the way of Peace they have not known And this one thing hath proved that man was in all this or rather the Devil in man who having set up himself as God destroyes as he can all those who will not fall down and worship him which is not the Religion of God the Wisdom which is from Above which is first pure then peaceable Jam. 3. 17. gentle easie to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisie nor the Worship of him who saith He came not to Luke 9. 3â— destroy mens lives but to save them And here I shall take upon me no affected Stile nor strain any thing beyond what they speak in themselves but as the Spirit of the Lord of whom I am moved this to undertake shall lead and give me to whom be the glory of his own working who is God over all blessed for ever Amen Eusebius in his first Book of Ecclesiastical History Chapter the first Eus lib. 1. c. 1. taking upon him to speak of the Divinity and Humanity of Christ the Lord and treating of the Antiquity of the Christian Religion and the Name of Christ which the Heathen in that day thought a very Novelism who worshipped Images and Idols such things which they made to themselves who sacrificed to Devils not to God as it was said of Jeroboam He ordained him Priests for the high Places for the Devils and 2 Chron. 11. 15. Deut. 32. 17. for the Calves which he had made And by Moses They sacrificed unto Devils not to God to Godds whom they knew not to new Godds who came newly up whom your Fathers knew not and which he forbad to Israel when he said They shall no more offer their Sacrifices unto Devils after whom they are gone a whoring This shall be a Statute unto them said the Lord by Levit. 1. 17. 7. Moses throughout their Generations I say he speaking of the Divinity and the Humanity of Christ and treating of the Antiquity of the Christian Religion and the Name of Christ which the Heathen in that day counted a Novelism brings him in thus This Light saith he going before the World and all the Worlds the Intellectual and Essential Wisdom and the living Word of God being in the beginning with the Father who but the Father alone hath rightly known Implying that they took upon them that which they did not understand who did undertake to speak of him and his descent and beginning of dayes who is from everlasting also of his Religion and the Age and Antiquity thereof who knew him not much less his Religion This was the ground of all the most cruel and Heathenish persecutions of the Christians and of the then called Christians one of another of which he and the aforementioned treat they knew not
of his wits and Maximinianus depose themselves which bereaved him of his wits together with Maximinianus the second to him after they had been Emperors for the space of twenty years as aforesaid deposed themselves and lived a private life from which time to his end Dioclesian wasted and pined Dioclesian wasts away with Diseases Maximinian hangs himself Constantius and Maximinus sole Emperors away with Diseases and Maximinian hanged himself Constantinus and Maximinus then took the sole government of the Empire which had before four Princes at one time governing Constantius was very friendly and Persecution on his hand loosened from the Christians Maximinus persecuted them sorely though at Maximinus sorely plagued in his body at Tarsus times he would seem to be otherwise minded The Hand of God pursued him so that at Tarsus a great plague fell upon him first taking hold in his flesh and afterwards proceeding to the very Soul for there arose suddenly in the secret parts of his body an impostume or running sore afterwards in the lower part of his Privities a botchy corrupt Boyl with a Fistula whence issued out with a Botch corrupt matter eating up the inward bowels and an unspeakable multitude of Lice swarming out and breathing a deadly stench and Lice and stench when as the corpulency of the whole body through abundance of meat before the Disease came was turned into superfluous grosness and then being grown into matter yeelded an intolerable and horrible spectacle to the beholders wherefore of the Which flew some of his Physicians Physitians some being not able to digest that wonderful noysome stench were slain some other when there remained no hope of Others were executed because they could not help recovery by reason of the swelling throughout the whole body being not able to help at all with their Physick were cruelly executed themselves Whilst the Hand and Plague of God was on him and he lay in his miserable plight he pondered with himself the rash enterprises he had practised against the Worshippers of God Cap. 18. In this plight he repents confesses to God Commands persecution to cease wherefore returning unto himself first he confesses his sins to God next calling upon him such as were about him he gave commandment that with all speed they should cease from persecuting the Christians and that by Decree and Commandment of the Emperor they should build again their Churches and that they should meet often to celebrate their wonted Ceremonies and pray for the life of the Emperor And immediately that And desires Prayers of the Christians for his life The Proclamations hastned which by word he commanded was indeed brought to pass The Proclamations of the Emperor were published throughout the Cities containing a recantation of those things formerly prejudicial unto the Christians in this form The Emperor Caesar Maximinus Puissant Magnificent chief Lord The Copy of the Edict Lord of the Thebais Lord of Salmatia five times Conqueror of Persia Lord of Germany Lord of Egypt twice Conqueror of the Carpyans six times Conqueror of the Armenians Lord of the Medes Lord of the Adiabeni twenty times Tribune nineteen times general Captain eight times Consul Father of the Countrey Proconsul And the Emperor Caesar Flavius Valerius Constantius some read Constantius but it is not so found in the Greek Vertuous Fortunate Puissant Noble chief Lord general Captain and Tribune five times Consul Father of the Countrey Proconsul Among other things which we have decreed for the Commodity and profit of the Common Wealth our pleasure is first of all to order and redress all things according to the antient Laws and Discipline of the Romans and withal to use this provisoe That the Christians which have forsaken the Religion of their Ancestors should be brought again to the right way for after a certain humour of singularity such an Opinion of excellency puffed them up that those things which their Elders had received and allowed they rejected and disallowed devising every man such Laws as they thought good and observed the same assembling in divers places great multitudes of people Wherefore when as our Edict was proclaimed that they should return unto the Ordinance of their Elders divers standing in great danger felt the penalty thereof and many being troubled therefore endured all kinds of death And because we perceive many as yet to persist in the same madness in their yeelding due worship to the Caelestial Godds nor regarding the God of the Christians having respect unto our benignity and godly custom pardoning all men according to our wonted guise we thought good in this case to extend our gracious and favourable clemency that the Christians may be tollerated again and that they may repair again the places where they meet together so that they do nothing prejudicial to publick Order and Discipline We mean to prescribe unto the Judges by another Epistle what they shall observe Wherefore as this our gracious Pardon deserveth let them make intercession to their God for our Health for the Common Weal and for themselves that in all places the Affairs of the publick Weal may be safely preserved and that they themselves may live securely in their own houses I have mentioned this Edict or Proclamation the rather that men The reason of the reheaâ—sal of the Copy of the Edict however swel'd with Titles Dominions and Honours notwithstanding all that they can say of them and do by them must come to bow to him whom in their hearts they despise and seek to trample his Worship and Worshippers under foot who is a Spirit and will be worshipped in Spirit and Truth Great calamities attended the Roman Empire whilst their rage was The sad consequence of these persecutions to the Roman Empire and the forbearance of them great against the Christians whilst they imposed the Worship of their Heathen Godds and destroyed all those who could not bow down unto nor worship them which when they forbore and left to these who worshipped the Lord to worship him according to his Spirit not according to their Law it flourished was safe and increased I should be marvellous large if I should go through those things also in particular The rebellious invasions divisions amongst themselves Plagues Pestilences Famines Earth-quakes and untimely deaths that befel those Emperors themselves the Lord when he saw time cutting short their race who ordaineth his Arrows against the Persecutor notwithstanding that he saw it good also to suffer those things to be to prevent greater The end of the Lord to the Christians in suffering these persecutions mischiefs amongst the Christians and to give testimony before all the World of his Power that was in them wonderfully to carry them through whatsoever was laid upon them for the testimony unto his Name For the Christians when a little ease and liberty befel them and the Hand of the Lord so wrought that instead of being cast out like Dogs
was when the thing signified the end and intent of that Administration was come which was Christ the morning being come the shadows fly away that which was before transgression being come that comes to be removed which was added because of transgression Fifthly The Spirit it was that led the Disciples into all Truth not the Letter for that kills as the Apostle saith as aforesaid Sixthly And the Worship which Christ who was the end of the Letter set up for all to walk by whether Samaritan or the Inhabitant of Jerusalem Jew or Gentile bond or free Barbarian or Scythian Male or Female the publick Worship which he would have all to be exercised in and which he saith The Father chuses to worship him the true VVorshippers which are not at this Mountain nor at Jerusalem that in which he said the true Worshippers should worship and that the time was to come or cometh Yea it now is saith he Is the Spirit John 4. as aforesaid So that the Glory that excelleth the Administration of the Spirit which exceeds in Glory the Spirit which gives Life the Gift not the outward Administration the thing that is come not that which is done away the substance not the shadow the Institution of the Son which abides in the House for ever not the Administration of the Servant which is not to abide in the House for ever the universality or largeness where the partitian Wall is taken down not the particularity or narrowness where the partitian Wall standeth is that which in this day since Christ was offered up and ascended is to be looked to and heeded as that which is pleasing to the Lord and which he accepts For I would demand Wherein or upon what bottom can any ground a contrary Assertion Is Christ come or not Is he offered up or not Is he ascended or not Fills he all things or not If he be so why then is that enforced or sought so to be or placed which was before he came which was to end in him Either he is come or he is not come if he is not come then let such say so in open words who do the things that were to be or had their being before he came if he be come how dare any to enforce that or seek so to do which was before he came or that which by his coming is done away The Matter is brought or lies in a narrow compass and there is no trifling in the Matter the things are of the highest consequence and mortals must take heed of giving Law to their Maker and the Potsherds of the Earth must beware of clashing against him that formed them and they who are in the condition or state of destruction must heed how they ascend or seek so to do in his Throne who lives for ever who came to redeem on whose shoulders the Government lies who is the everlasting Father the Prince of Peace Wonderful Counsellor the Head of his Church King of Kings and Lord of Lords who only hath Immortality and eternal Life to whom be Glory and Power and Dominion everlasting Away then with all outside Religion that is to say all that which proceeds not from Spirit and Truth away with all Forms that come not from the power of Godliness away with all Jewish and outward Worship Forms Constitutions Canons Orders Decrees Directories Catechisms Confessions of Faith all forcing of Religion all persecution because of Religion all Injunctions Synods Councils Prescriptions Ordinances of Men all outward fleshly carnal Commandments Traditions all imitations of Christ and his Apostles and doing things by example of them or because of what they did or were led into where the same Spirit of Jesus is not the Leader as it was in them is not the ground and bottom root and source as it was theirs Away with all private Religions and Worships and Precepts of Men all National Worships and Religions all forcings such Religions and Worships Christ the Substance is come Christ the true Jew inwardly is come Christ the (a) Phil. 3. 3. Circumcision in the Spirit whose praise is not of men but of God that hath no confidence in the flesh is come Christ the publick Worship in the Spirit and Truth is come he is dead and risen again and ascended (b) Rom. 6. 9. No more hath death dominion over him He is (c) Col. 3. 13. Head of his Church He is (d) Gal. 4. 1. Lord of all He is (e) Rom. 9. 5. God over all blessed for ever the (f) 1 Tim. 6. 15. onely Potentate and King of the Princes of the Earth he lives for ever For you must make him something or nothing if he be come and if he hath put an end to those if he so spake as aforesaid and if that be the Worship and those the Worshippers the Father seeks which is and who worship in Spirit and in Truth then the Worship at this Mountain and at Jerusalem is to be no more no more the fear of God to be taught by the precepts of men which was complained of in that day when the Isa 29. 13. Administration was outward the teaching for Doctrine the Commandments Mat. 15. 9. of men which he then reproved no more clutter or adoe among men as to Religion and the settlement and the inforcing thereof If these things be and as of right and what ought to be then he is not come dead risen ascended into Glory How long halt ye between two Opinions either subscribe to these things and that he is the Head of the Church which is in God or deny him as your actions speak who enforce these things and require them Now because it may be thought that I am here too dogmatical and that I have stamped things according to mine own Image and understanding and that I take upon me to judge all the Worlds Professions and Religions that have been since Christ and his Apostles and that I seem to intend to set up instead of or in the room of the other something that my self fancies or some few that are called Quakers who were but of yesterday as some may say I shall to what I have indefinitely already concluded according to Truth and the Spirit and demonstration and proof thereof and of the Scriptures proceed further to shew First The Original and Rise of the Truth from the dayes of Christ and his Apostles throughout the Apostacy to this day or that the Truth which we who are called Quakers now pretend to is the same that was in the dayes of Christ and his Apostles which hath had more or less in this thing or in that a testimony throughout the Apostacy unto this day that is to say that some because of such testimony have suffered as well as testified since the dayes of the Apostles Secondly The Original and Rise of Antichrist from Christs and his Apostles dayes unto this shewing in all by instances of Scripture and History that
wrote in that day the reason of the wrong Judgment of the youngness of Truth then is the same of the same censure of it now the ground hath been declared and the bottom which I thought convenient to take notice of in the entrance of what I have to say as he did in the beginning of what he spake the same being then as it is now and the answer the same with that upon which he grounded that which he said as aforesaid which I have inserted in order as his History began of which he layes this as the ground and bottom and which I quote that such men may see that that which they lay as the ground of their own Principles is no other but the same on which we are grounded who pretend to the Truth and that so they may not be offended with their own Principle when they come to see it in the hand of another or others professing and coming to that which themselves pretend to yet come not at but run on those that both come to and pretend it as is the case of the People called Quakers at this day who are run upon as bringing up some strange and uncouth Doctrine which is no other then what was in the beginning the ground of which was before the World and which when they will lay a bottom for their own work they must come to or no bottom they can lay also that the Controversies may cease and that in this particular it may appear we are not diverse from Christ nor his Apostles nor the holy men of God nor the Principle on which they pretend to build their own Profession which they not holding to come to persecute those who hold it as it was in the beginning The Son of the Bondwoman the Son of the Freewoman for as the Gal. 4 29. Scripture saith as it was then so it is now Also that in this work I may proceed methodically and as it ought taking away all ground of Objections and representing every thing as it is And so I come to that for which I chiefly quoted these Authors and shall in order go as I find the History which by that time I have finished I hope no reasonable or sober man when he hath read and considered all in the Spirit of Truth will have cause to say that either the things are needless or that he mis-spent his time in taking notice of what lies here now to be spoken to or discoursed of This then concerning National Worships and the sufferers by or because The ground of National Worship and the sufferings by them of the not complying with them and how it came that there were such Worships after the decease of the Apostles and so how they came in and on what steps they have stood and do stand at this day that is to say the sufferings by reason of them as I have shewed their Original as to the Jews on the foot of which no National Worship can have Warranty or Ground though upon that foot they have seemed to place their Ground and Warranty as hath been declared National Worship how it came in and what it was as to the Jews and how and when it had its end I have already manifested Spirit and Truth the Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus the newness of the Spirit not the oldness of the Letter the Spirit of Truth which leads into all Truth after his Resurrection Ascension put it out that which was in the letter in the outward Administration in Carnal Rites Ordinances and Commandments which were in the Jew the shadows of good things to come but not the very things themselves came to have an end when this promise was fulfilled So the Apostles and Disciples of Jesus Christ testified of which the Scriptures bear Record and for this they suffered â—â—â—m the Jew that stood in the outward Commandment Worship and â—â—ministration the shadow that once was of that good thing which whiles the shadow continued was to come but being come the shadow had an end So the Jew in the flesh persecuted the Jew in the Spirit the Circumcision made with hands the Circumcision made without hands and here began the dispute in that day which hath continued unto this which is the thing I have hitherto treated of and now shall proceed further to demonstrate according to the Histories of the things that have been done since the decease of the Apostles and Disciples of Jesus and what they went through as it is mentioned in the Scriptures And here the Heathens give me the first occasion of drawing the Sufferings by the Heatâ—ens on the foot of National Worship during the dayes of the Apostles bloody Roll of Sufferings at which these Histories at large do make mention At (a) Acts 6. 5. Antioch it was that the Disciples of Jesus were first called Christians a Nickname or term of slander no doubt given or cast upon such by way of reproach or derision or marking out for mischief as the consequence both from the one and the other gives at large to understand The Gentiles or Heathen had their Worships they sacrificed to Devils not to God they were mad upon their Idols Spirit Jeâ— 5. 38. and Truth that was risen from the dead came to root them up as it did put an end to the Administration of the Jew or his National Worship it turned the World upside down which had put it down and crucified it Acts 17. 6. in Jesus and changed the Laws and Customs and said That they were Acts 19 26. 17 6. no gods that were made with bands and overturned the Decrees of Cesar as even in the Apostles dayes they spake of the Disciples of which the Scriptures makes mention Spirit and Truth overturned it The Devil had his false Worships as he hath had ever since he entred into man he made still adoe in the World about his Worship he stirred up Cain to kill his Brother Abel about his Worship he raised up the chief Priests 1 John 3. 12. and Pharisees to put him to death who came to overturn his Worship he set them on against his Disciples when they preached the Resurrection of the dead that risen again that came to put it under And the Devil said John by the Spirit of Prophesie in the Revelation shall cast some of you into Prison Man thinks he should worship God something calls Rev. 2. 10. after man though he is fallen to return to God and worship him who gave him his being The Devil being entred by reason of transgression seeks to deceive man and being in man sets man upon making of Worships and then to destroy all that will not observe what he hath set up as his Worship or would have to be set up as the Worship of God God is from everlasting his Worship is as he is they which stand in his Worship and which Worship from him are
Claudius whom Caius Caligula succeeded who was Nero the first chief persecutor of the Christians the successor of Tiberius to the dayes of Constantine and so onwards as the same spirit ruled in the Emperors who made their Laws like themselves and shewed the inward portraicture of their bloody brests by inflicting most inhumane sufferings of which what I have further to say gives a more particular account Read your Authors saith Tertullian Tertul. in Apolog. cap 5. his account thereof and of him in his Apology for the Christians to the Gentiles there you shall find Nero chiefly to have persecuted this Doctrine which was that of the Christians at Rome where the whole East was now subdued he became cruel unto all men We boast and brag saith he of such a famous persecutor for they which knew him may easily perceive that this our Doctrine had never been condemned by Nero had it not been passing good So the setting up of Religion by man the requiring of man to observe the Religion that was set up by man was that which at first gave the occasion or was the ground of the first and the fiercest persecutions And of Persecution the ground of it for as Tertullian hath fully and well said as aforesaid unless that God please man he is not made God A strange presumption that poor man whose breath is in his Nostrils and is not sure that once more he shall breath should be so bewitched with the inchantments of the wicked One and so deluded as to take upon him to prescribe unto God and in effect to say unto him who made him Thou shalt not be or have any The sence of Persecution in effect of God and what of him it saith according to Tertullian Worship but as I will and shall please to afford thee Indeed he might well assume and say as upon the former account as aforesaid Man must be gracious and favourable unto God A strange inversion yet it is that which all that which by the force or power of man would prescribe how God shall be worshipped doth affirm and speak viz. If thou please me or if it so like me thou shalt be so and after this manner worshipped otherwise expect not any Worship in the World pray thou unto me that I may be gracious and favourable to thee for unless thou please me thou shalt not be God thou shalt not be worshipped It were well if mens eyes were open to see these things and how their And what the seeking to enforce Religion signifies as to that or speaks setting up of Worship of Religion something that is of their own mind and framing which is not from the Spirit the Principle the measure of God in them is the same with what hath been rehearsed for if he be a God knows not he how to direct his Worship If he hath made the World and Man and required Man to worship him and to do what is pleasing in his sight knows not he how to direct man in what manner to worship him Or hath he left man so without something of himself to guide and instruct him that man must needs take upon him to advise and instruct yea to inforce as to the Worship of God Gird up now thy loyns like a man for I will demand of thee and answer thou me said the Lord to Job cap. 40. vers 7. who answered I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now mine eye doth see thee wherefore I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes Job 41. 5 6. These things would be ridiculous to affirm yet the things speak it and every dayes experience manifests it how vain man would be wise who is born as the wild Asses Colt who Job 11. 12. would teach his Maker and instruct the holy One of Isâ—ael and instead of abiding at his Feet to intreat his Grace and Favour seems to seek to bring his Maker to his feet to intreat his grace and favour how and that he may be worshipped Well these things cost them hard who ran this course through And the consequence thereof as to punishment throughout all Generations as a warning to this all Generations and this will cost them hard who run the same course now the Lord will be known by the Judgements that he will execute And as Heathens and those who bear the Name of Christians but are otherwise in Nature do the same thing who enjoyn Worship and require men to conform unto their Decrees therein for the spirit in both is the same so will they partake of the same punishment Judah and Edom and the Children of Moab and Ammon all that are in the utmost Corners that dwell in the Wilderness For all these Nations are uncircumcised and all the House of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart Jer. 9. 26. Behold the dayes come saith the Lord that I will punish all them that are circumcised with the uncircumcised vers 25. So all Kings and Princes Lords and Potentates of the Earth had need to look about them and consider how they meddle with his Dominion who lives for ever in the Conscience as to his Worship How they say in effect Unless he please them he shall not be made God and so by their Decrees speak that they must be gracious and favourable to God as the Heathens did of old lest he dash them to pieces Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish in the way if his anger be kindled yea but a little Blessed are all they that put their trust in him Psal 2. 12. Thus stood the case of the Heathen Emperors as to God by the And the reason thereof judgment of Tertullian whose judgment is true and this proves the consequence when as by virtue of their Power and Jurisdiction they took upon them to meddle with his Dominion in the Conscience as they went over and murthered all sence of God or as the sence of God and his Majesty and dread was murdered in their hearts so they murdered those who retaining a sence of the dread and Majesty of God in their hearts could not bow down unto and worship their Godds their National Worship which required all men to fall down and worship it The truth of it is they required God to fall down and worship and because that which was of him in men hindred many from so doing therefore they laid at God what they could but missing him whom they could not reach they killed the Creature in which he was which that of him which was in them kept them from doing and bore them through all that which the rage of man executed upon them because of God And thus stands it with all those who tread the same steps the spirit is the same and the way is the same and the work is the same and the same will be the end of those that tread therein Nero was the first of all the Emperors
of that nature nor may they be required but he the Reformer is to be heard in all things the Law wrote in the heart the fear put in the inward part who hath put an end unto them all the way is open unto the Father Through him saith the Apostle we have all access unto the Father through one Spirit And there is neither Jew nor Gentile Barbarian or Scythian Bond or Free Male or Female but all are one in Christ Jesus he hath put an end to them all who is come through and hath made way through Death Hell and the Grave and hath slain the enmity even the Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances and nailed them to his Cross and broke down the Partian Wall and abolished them So that there is an end to all things of this nature he hath put it who hath made the end and to this of Swearing as unto the rest and that not onely inclusively or as a particular of that administration which was outward which he wholly put an end unto but exclusively as I may so say or by a particular provision or prohibition Ye have heard that it hath been Mat. 5. 33 34 35 36. said by them of old time Thou shalt not forswear thy self but shalt perform thine Oath But I say unto you Swear not at all neither by Heaven for it is Gods Throne nor by the Earth for it is his Footstool neither by Jerusalem for it is the City of the great King neither shalt thou swear by thy Head because thou canst not make on Hair white or black but let your communication be Yea yea and Nay nay for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil And James who wrote unto the twelve Tribes who were scattered abroad saith to them But above all things my Brethren swear not neither by Heaven neither by the Earth neither by any other Oath but let your yea be yea and your nay nay lest you fall into condemnation Emphatical and plain words above all things swear not nor by any other Oath lest you fall into condemnation And swear not at all whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil These things are as full as they can be exprest words of weight and depth and large comprehensiveness so peremptory and flat that one would think none could find out a way to evade them that is to say durst to do it Yet what hath not man dared to do in this particular and upon this very foot How have they put multitudes of people both in this and other Ages to most exquisite sufferings Policarpus who suffered under Verus the Emperor who began his Euseb l. 4. c. 15 Reign about the year 163. being brought forth and demanded by the Proconsul to Swear by the Fortune of Caesar to repent him of what was past and to say Remove the Wicked by which was intended the Christians And again Swear and I will let thee go Blaspheme and deny Christ and I will let thee go And again Swear by the Fortune of Caesar Policarpus answered If thou requirest this vain glory that I protest the Fortune of Caesar as thou sayest feigning thou knowest me not who I am Hear freely I am a Christian He was burned quick at Smyrna of which he was Bishop Ponticus and Blandina a Lad of fifteen years old and a Woman who Euseb l. 5. c. 10 endured notable torments and at last death by the Heathen in France in the Reign of Antonius Verus about the year 179. being the seventeenth year of his Reign of whose sufferings and constancy I have already given a particular account who often by the Heathen were urged to swear which they refused Basilide◠a Souldier in Authority in the Roman Host being upon some Euseb l. 6. c. 4. occasion required to swear by his fellow Souldiers affirmed plainly That it was not lawful for him to swear for he said he was a Christian and that he would in very deed protest the same I have given an account of him and how he came to be a Christian before page To which I refer the Reader as to a noble example they thought he dallied at first but being brought before the Judge and he confessing the same was clapt in Prison and beheaded Evangelica veritas non recipit juramentum saith Jerom The Evangelical or the Truth of the Gospel admits not of an Oath And saith Chrysostome Non oportet ut vir qui Evangelicè vivit juret omninò It behoveth not or it is not meet or it ought not to be that the man or he which lives according to the Gospel should swear at all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christians ought not to swear at all saith Justin Martyr Plato saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Let an Oath be absent from every one as much as to say let none Swear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Meander also hath these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Fly an Oath although thou mayest swear justly Plato also saith again in his twelfth Book concerning Laws Ne quis juret ipse ne ab altero jusjurandum exigat i. e. Let no man swear himself and let him not require or compel an Oath of another Ausonius in his second Epistle saith Jurare aut falsum dicere par habuit To swear or speak falsly is the same Hesiod in his Theogonia places an Oath among the brood of contention 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Pag. 88. An Oath saith he which greatly burteth men Again he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Presently an Oath goes with corrupt judgments * Cito enim abit jusjurandum una cum pravis judiciis or When Justice appears among men then swearing vanishes As is Hesiod's scope in that place p. 13. And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. neither ought he to swear this or any thing this thing or swearing shall never be or there ought to be no such thing as to swear saith Theognis Vers 660. Wherefore should I reckon up Origen Chrysostome Theophilact Oecomenius Hillary Athanasius Jerom Theodoret Lactantius and others who had frequent invectives against swearing Or Basil who commended a famous Greek called †Clineas cum posset effugere trium talentorum mulctam jurando injuriam pati maluit quam jurare Clineas who rather than he would save a Mulct of * Accounted 300 l. Sterling at the least three Talents by swearing suffered loss of his honour which he thought caution sufficient for his honesty suffered the payment mentioned by Sam. Fisher in his Answer to Bishop Gauden about Swearing or the many thousands of these latter Generations contained in the Books of Martyrs and other Histories I should fill the World anew with that with which it is full enough already and yet signifie little more than as a drop doth to the Sea shew what from the Principle came but the fulness is the Principle that he changed it that he put an end to it with all the body
September about the fourth hour in the night three hundred forty seven years being expired after the Earthquake under Trajan The Baths under Trajan Severus and Adrian the adjoyning Ostracina with the Porches and Nymphaeum were overturned As dreadful a fire or beyond it hapned at Constantinople in that Cap. 13. A dreadful fire at Constantinople much like that lately at London part of the City which lay next to the Sea and is called Oxstreet it lasted the space of four dayes and no man was able to quench it it flashed throughout the midst of the City consumed from the North part to the South end all Houses five Furlongs in length and fourteen in breadth left no building either publick or private no Pillars no strong Arches nor Vaults in all that time and in all that compass unburned to the Foundation but to have pierced the flint Stone and hard Mettal as if it had been stubble or straw on the North part of the City where the Haven lies This lamentable destruction reached from the Oxstreet unto the old Temple of Apollo on the South-side from the Haven of Julian unto the Temple of Concord in the midst of the City from Constantines Market unto the Market of Taurus a pittiful shew and dreadful to behold saith the History the goodly places and gorgeous high buildings that had been within the City the costly carved Timber yeelding heretofore great majesty unto the eye of man both publick and private were then become like craggy Hills and Rocks that no man could pass through confused heaps of filth and all kind of stuff full of deformity that the owners themselves could not discern the bounds of their Possessions nor say this or that place stood thus before the fire consumed them These are the words of the Historian in which I have put them down because it seems to bear some resemblance to the late dreadful fire in London Moreover in the East part of the Empire the Scythian War Cap. 14. The Scythian War waxed hot in the East Thracia Hellespont Ionia the Cyclades or 50. Isles Cnidos in Caria shaken with teâ—rible Earthquakes storms of Rain like floods fall in Constantinople and Bythinia Mountains made Plains and Valleys Hills Villages on float Islands in Lakes waxed hot Thracia Hellespontus and Ionia were wonderfully shaken with Earthquakes no less were the fifty Isles called Cyclades in the Sea Aegaeum Cnidos in Caria and Coo so that many buildings were thrown down to the ground Priscas also writes that at Constantinople and Bythinia such storms of Rain and Water fell for the space of three or four dayes it poured down like streams and floods beat down the Hills and Mountains with the violence thereof as saith the History and made them plain Valleys that the Villages were all on float and in danger of drowning and that in the Lake Boan not far from Nicomedia by reason of the filth and baggage the Water brought thither were seen Islands These things hapned more Eastward At Rome Leo the Emperor Cap. 16. Anthemius made Bishop Genzerichus invades the West Basiliscus sent against him sent Anthemius at the request of the Roman Ambassadors to be Emperor of Rome who had married the Daughter of Martianus Basiliscus the Brother of Berina Leo's Wife he made Captain of an Army that he sent against Genzerichus that invaded those parts but as for Aspar whom himself had made Emperor Leo conspires the death of Aspar who he made Emperor and slayes him his Son and Patricius Anthemius slain Olymbrius succeeds Leo conspired his death and slew him with his Sons Ardaburius whom he had made Caesar and Patricius that he might scorn at the ignorance and insolency of Aspar their Father Anthemius after he had been Emperor five years was slain and Olymbrius by Rhecimerus was proclaimed Emperor After he was dispatched who reigned but seven months Glycerius was proclaimed Emperor Glycerius after him Nepos deposes him Orestes puts by Nepos Augustulus succeeds Odoacer follows who called himself King The last Emperor of Rome of the 1300 years after Romulus was Augustulus and after he had continued five years was deposed by Nepos Orestes after six and fifty dayes puts by Nepos After Orestes his Son Romulus sirnamed Augustulus succeeded who was the last Emperor of Rome of the thousand three hundred years after the Reign of Romulus When he departed this life Odoacer governed the Roman Common-Wealth who refused the name of an Emperor and would himself be called King So I have traced the Empire of Rome or the Western part of The end of the West Empire of Rome The cause assigned the Roman Empire to this foot which was the end thereof through the just Judgment of God who met with them and brought his calamities as he thought fit through Sedition and Civil War as the particular Judgments it fell out that the Empire came to Many reigned in the Wâ—st of equal Authoriâ—y No Emperor of the West for 330. years after the year 800. Carolus Magnus translated the name to the Emperor of Germany nought Many reigned in the West of equal Authority there was no Emperor of the West for the space of three hundred and thirty years afore the year eight hundred When Carolus Magnus King of France was by Leo the Third Bishop of Rome created Emperor from which time the Emperors of the West were called the Emperors of Germany Leo also after he had reigned seventeen years deposed himself and placed Leo who was of tender years the Son of Ariadne his Cap. 17. Anno. 457. Leo deposes himself Cap. 1 Places young Leo in his room Zeno comes to be Emperor with him Leo the younger dies Zeno Emperor alone Daughter and Zeno in the Empire in a while Zeno came to be Emperor with him by the procurement of Berina but Leo the younger departing he was Emperor alone And thus have I gone through this Council of Chalcedon and the consequences that in so small a tract of time ensued thereupon both of Blood and Judgment and to this time how that was shaken and brought down which broke the unity of the Christians by seeking to establish the Truth This Council was famous not only for the particulars already exprest but of counterfeiting More indirect dealings at the Council of Calcedon and horrible wickedness hands the wringing of the fingers of such as wrote directing their Pens compulsion by force to a Subscription to Blanks Souldiers with naked Swords standing by ready to dispatch them if they yeelded not said to be used in the business of Dioscorus for the accomplishing of his ends in the second Council of Ephesus which I note to shew what fraudulent courses At the second Council at Ephesus The proper consequences of forcing Religion of force and violence as well as blood and mischief were used by those Fathers of the Church as they are called in the taking upon them to determine and establish the
highest part of Religion viz. Faith in Christ God and what he is the Son and Spirit I shall now go unto Zeno and those that follow and see what the History of him will afford me in the things I am about and do now treat of This Zeno saith the History as if he were certainly perswaded Evagr. lib. 3. cap. 1. The unreasonable sensuality of Zeno. that he could not enjoy the Empire of the whole World unless with outrage and Riot he yeelded himself to all fleshly pleasure whatsoever gave himself in the beginning so much unto sensuality that he left no filthy or shameful Act nor heinous offence unpractised but so wallowed in them as that he thought it the part of a base mind to commit them in the dark or in secret but to do them openly in the face of the whole world was Princely and such as onely became the Emperor being led into all sensuality his Dominion became as himself weak and rusty and The decay of the Empire Cap. 2. Invaded on every hand His Subjects vexed Great losses The Scenitae and Hunnies destroy all fell away by degrees as he gradually was captivated by his Lusts no good defence was made for his Dominions but on every hand he suffered it to be invaded so that his Subjects were vexed out of measure and sustained great losses The Scenitae a barbarous Nation destroyed all places as they came and a great multitude of Hunnes of old called Massagetae invaded Thracia and passed over the River Danuby without let or stay by force also after a Barbarian sort he was bereaved of the other parts of the Empire for things being at this pass Basiliscus the Brother of Bernia Basiliscus takes Arms. Zeno slies His Subjects desert him took arms against him Zeno being so faint in courage that he fled away giving Basiliscus the Imperial Honour and Victory without any travel for his abominable life was so detested of his Subjects that they mattered not to assist him therefore he got him into Isauria with Ariadne his Wife who also fled away from her Mother and there where he was brought up he was besieged 〈◊〉 So Basiliscus became Emperor who proclaimed his He is besieged Basiliscus Emperor Marcus made Cesar Son Marcus Caesar and lad down a platform of Government far contrary to the manner of Zeno's Reign and such as were Emperors before him Basiliscus being thus become Emperor he turns all things upside Cap. 4. All turned up-sâ—de down by Basiliscus down undoes that which was done before him calls Timothius Aelurus Bishop of Alexandria home from Exile where he Timothy called home The Council of Chalcedon accursed by Letters to all the Churches under Heaven The Decrees thereof and of Leo burnt to Ashes had continued eighteen years sends Letters by the advice of Timothy unto all the Priests throughout the Churches under Heaven and therein accurseth the Acts of the Council of Chalcedon chargeth all the Decrees of that Council and of Leo which he saith therein disturbs the quiet state of the Church of God and the peace of the whole World to be burned to Ashes The Faith of the second Council at Ephesus and the 318 Fathers and the 150 established The Bishops required to subscribe these Letters by the Emperor by Priests also Monks Laymen as the Council of Chalcedon had done and so to be abolished as to be banished for ever confirms the Faith of the second Council of Ephesus and the 318. Fathers and the 150. godly Fathers after them requires the Bishops to subscribe to these his Letters and commands the same to be done by Bishops Priests Monks and Laymen as the Council at Chalcedon had done in the conclusion of theirs as aforesaid with much more of the like nature too long to be repeated Now as the Wind drives from every part of the Compass the stubble flies before the Wind so did the Bishops the force of this Cap. 5. The Bishops turn and subscribe Emperor many signed to these his Letters being quite contrary to what they had done at Chalcedon Anastasius the Successor Anastatius Bishop of Rome and 40. others of Juvenalis Bishop of Rome and forty more that way are said to do it and that the Bishops of Asia met at Ephesus tendered Those of Asia supplications unto him wherein they exprest to have subscribed to his Gratious and Apostolick Letters as they are called with most willing and prompt minds and not as it was reported of them that they did it by compulsion and constraint To this Letter Timothy also subscribed and Peter Cnapheus of Antioch Peter of Antioch contrary to what they had done at Chalcedon who was at that time at Constantinople and in that supplication they desire the Emperor to depose the Bishop of Constantinople Acasius and many others Timothy hereupon left Constantinople puts Paulus again into Cap. 6. Paulus put into Ephesus Ephesus restored to a Metropolitan Jurisdiction Those at Alexandria requested to curse the Council of Chalcedon Ephesus from whence he was deposed restores Ephesus to the Metropolitan Jurisdiction taken away by the Council of Chalcedon came to Alexandria and there he requested as many as came unto him to curse the Council of Chalcedon Notwithstanding all this peremptory work and contradiction Basiliscus fearing the disturbance of the Monks might make against Cap. 7. Basiliscus sounds a retreat for fear of the Monks Judges his Letters Writes contrary him through the perswasion of Acasius who canvassing the matter set them on and so wrought that he was constrained to deny that he had written his Letters universally unto all men and to decree that such things as he had rashly and unadvisedly published should be called in again and contrary Letters wherein he approveth of the Council of Chalcedon to be wrote unto all men These things wrought not well for Basiliscus but Zeno to Cap. 8. Zeno rises a scourge to Basiliscus whom and for whose sensuality and pleasure Basiliscus was made a scourge he is now made a scourge to Basiliscus and so arising as it were out of the Graves of pleasure and punishment led his Army towards Constantinople and thrusts by Basiliscus after Puts him by He flies to the Altar for Sanctuary he had reigned two years taking him out of the Sanctuary unto which he had fled for they used the Altar for Sanctuary in those dayes he sent him to suffer at Cappadocia where together with Is sent to Cappadocia He and his Wife and Children put to death there his Wife and Children he was put to death in an Inn called Acouson Now the Wind turning again how plyant are the Bishops of Cap. 9. The Bishops turn again crave pardon Swear that they subscribed by compulsion Asia they acknowledge their fault and crave pardon of Acacius protesting that they subscribed not of their own accord but by compulsion and constraint to the general Letters