the sword and furie of the Beast vntill she haue borne the burthen of her shame and as the Ezek. 39. Prophet saith renewed her beautie by her sorrowes and her glorie by her persecutions and then shall be fulfilled that which was spoken by the Prophet Woe to thee that spoiledst and wast not spoiled and didst deale wickedly when they did not Esa 33. wickedly against thee for when thou shalt cease to spoile thou shalt be spoiled and when thy sinne is ended thou shalt be rewarded as here also the Spirit denounceth contesting that God shall scourge him with his owne inuentions repay him home in his owne coine saying He that shall leade into captiuitie shall go into captiuitie and he that shall kill shall be killed And in consolation of the Spouse concludeth that howsoeuer Antichrist and his Delegates foolishly thought by afflicting the Church to destroy the Church yet in her afflictions consisteth the very strength and approbation of her children for by the things they suffer they learne obedience through patience their faith is consecrated by the which they are perfected and made inheritable of the promise of God all which mercie and fauour is commended vnto them vnder the hand and seale of afflictions by which their mad and drunken aduersaries thought to consume them and like fooles did not consider that as the workman doth square the stone by strokes and as the snake doth cast his old skin by passing through sharp stones so the Lord doth renew his Spouse by stripes and brusheth off her old affections by passing her through the asperitie of tribulation which holy and hidden consideration causeth the Spirit to honour the sufferings of the Saints so highly as to ascribe vnto them the chiefest stayes and supportations of their precious hope and calling namely patience and faith saying here is the patience and faith of the Saints Verse 11. And I saw another Beast comming vp from the earth and he had two hornes like the Lamb but he spake like the Dragon THe holy Ghost in the verse foregoing hauing pronounced sentence of death against Antichrist before he comes to the execution thereof descendeth to the araiâ—â—â—ment and condemnation of his Clergie that so they may be carted to the valley of Hinnom both together whom the Lord here figureth vnder the name of the Beast saying And I saw another Beast comprehending vnder the singular number of one Beast by a maner of speech common to the holy Scriptures the whole corporation and vniuersitie of false and lying teachers who from the first Eremite Hypocrite Father Priest Monke Frier to the last trumping and vagabond Iesuite haue auouched the honour and adoration of Antichrist And is most aptly deciphered by their earthly sensuall and diuellish minds in pointing to their country and place of extraction whence and where such weeds do grow saying comming vp from the earth And commendeth their making and acquaintance to vs by two exquisite tokens the one their person the other their doctrine Touching their shape and person the Spirit saith that it was in robe and exteriour appearance the very face and countenance of the Lamb deckt and garnished with his owne two hornes to wit the Law and the Gospel wherew 〈…〉 he Lamb doth saue and kill for so the Spirit saith And he had two hornes like the Lamb. But as concerning the vse and force of the hornes the Spirit saith they were therein so contrary to the Lamb that when they did open either to teach the Law or preach the Gospell they spake and taught like the Dragons Doctors and like the Priests of Iupiter teaching and preaching vnto the children of the world that they ought to worship the God of heauen as the Dragons Priests had taught their fathers to worship the gods of the heathen Which detestable prophaâ—ation of the worship of God and preposterous adoration of his name the Spirit detecteth in saying but he spake like the Dragon Verse 12. And all the power of the first Beast he did in his sight and he made the earth and the inhabitants therein to adore the first Beast whose wound of death was cured BY the power of the first Beast is meant the purpose and plot of the Dragon for the vpholding and establishment of their false and godlesse religion to the prophanation and extinction of the true worship and seruice of God which forasmuch as he could not effect by force and open enmitie I meane by the bloody persecutions of his prophane and Ethnicke Cesars he did deuise to put a new string to his old bowe and to worke it out by fraud and falshood of friends and thereupon perswaded his Ethnicke Cesars that in policie it was the best to play Christians forasmuch as the world was now so giuen as Iupiter with all his idols must needs giue place to Christ because most voices went that way And the better to bring the mysterie of iniquitie to passe he caused his new Christened Cesars to set vp a race of Sycophanticall high and princely Priests who vnder colour of proctering the affaires of the Lamb should cunningly clap Iupiters coate vpon the Lambs back and bestow all the ceremonies and rituals of Iupiter and his idols vpon Christ that so by turning Iupiters worship into Christianisme he might turne the worship of God into Paganisme and idolatrie and that so he might at the least prophane and desolate the true worship of the true God whose maiestie truth of deitie they could no way blemish And for the better successe in this their proiect should cause to be erected throughout all kingdomes and nations certaine Couents and swarmes of false vngodly and prostituted Clerks who by auouching and maintaining against all comers that Antichrists name is Simon Peter and that the supremacie his Cesars and his Kings gaue him is the very keyes of heauen and hell which the Lamb committed to the dispensation of his Saints and seruants and that the throne and seate of wickednesse is Peters Chaire and Sea Apostolique and that the execrable forme of Iupiters worship wherein his Lords and Cesars delighted is the very true worship and seruice of God which the Lamb and his Apostles deliuered And by these mists legerdemains and new editions of old idolatrie should establish in the sight of Antichrist the selfe same prophanation and deuout impietie which his antecessors the Cesars so ardently embraced for so much the Spirit rippeth vp in saying And all the power of the first Beast he did in the sight of Antichrist and thereby so strongly deluded and seduced the children of disobedience most properly here as elsewhere described by the name of the earth and the inhabitants therein that they loathed the sacrifices of the God of heauen and refused to worship as the Lord coÌ„manded chose rather as the Spirit saith to adore the first Beast that is to say to worship the god of their fathers as the Dragon commanded them iust after the prescription
And on the Dragons part were Leaders and Chieftaines diuus Tiberius diuus Caligula diuus Claudius diuus Nero and the rest of that most filthy and execrable traine So great was the multitude and number of souldiers that none of what degree sex age or condition soeuer but must be prest for the one side or for the other the valour and vertue of the souldiers exceeded all praise few subdued many the weake ouercame the strong a handfull of Christians a world of infidels The cause was great and higher then the heauens whether God or Belial Christ or Iupiter Christianisme or Paganisme were more venerable for antiquitie maiesticall for amplitude more constant for continuance and in all other respects of wisedome honour and maiestie more worthy to be embraced and adored of the sonnes of men which was for life contended by the Dragon his Angels and assects and was for life withstood and disapproued by Michael and his Angels and their followers The issue of this contention followeth Verse 9. But they preuailed not neither was their place found any more in heauen AS the battell was great so was the victory glorious for though the Dragon with his sapient Senates his prophane Angels and his vncleane abbettors intended all their forces mouing as it is in prouerb heauen and earth to make roome for the abomination of Iupiter and to keepe vnder water the euerlasting Lord and Prince of the Couenant as among the many monuments of time is sufficiently proued and maintained by Orosius and by him to whom he wrote in his booke de Ciuitate Dei yet the Spirit foreseeing the Dragons folly and how in vaine he kickt against the spurre in scorne of his presumption saith But he preuailed not and concluding affirmeth that the possession of heauen so long time vsurped by incestuous murtherers and execrable curtizans gods and goddesses of their owne forgeing must be resigned now to the true Lord and owner of all who hath taken his place at the right hand of the Father and hath deposed for euer from their vsurped titles of deitie all gods and goddesses phantasmes made of wormes created and diuified by the inuentions relations consecrations and canonizations of the Dragon his Taile and successors as the Spirit discouereth in saying Neither the place of them was found any more in heauen Verse 10. And that great Dragon was throwne downe the old Serpent called the Diuell and Satanas which seduceth the whole world and he was cast into the earth and his Angels were throwne downe with him ANd the great and prophane power of the Romane monarchie which had so long time oppressed and corrupted the earth was now at length detected and thereupon disseized of and from her vsurped claime of heauen for euer as the Spirit discouereth in saying And that great Dragon was throwne downe And for that the diuell did corporally dwell as it were in her spreading the beames of his wickednesse at full in all idolatrie impietie and presumption against God and in all oppression iniustice and immanitie towards man the Spirit crowneth her with the cognoments of her sire calling her for her malice to the truth a Serpent for her crimination of the Saints a diuell and for hostilitie to God and his Saints Satanas speaking therein after the maner of the Lord himself who calleth his trecherous steward a diuel thogh he were a man because the fulnesse of Satan did dwel in him filling his heart with such a perfect hatred of his innocent Lord lamentable loue of his guiltie penie that he sold Canaan for Egypt heauen for hell God for siluer And because the impietie of gouernours is not onely their owne decay by euill doing but also by enforcement and euill example the ruine of their people the Spirit layeth the seduction of the whole earth to the charge of the Dragon for the ruling it after the leuell and prescription of Rome saying which seduceth the whole world and thereupon giueth iust iudgement and sentence of death against him namely that as in his beginning he crept out of the earth and by the scale of his wickednesse ascended so high as to presume to thrust his haughtie head into heauen and build his neast aboue the starres as did his antecessors Assur Beltassar Darius Alexander and the rest of their compeeres so by a like power of sword and crueltie he shall shortly returne to his friends again and be made euen with the earth from whence his stocke and first estate was borrowed and the power of his Cesars councell of his Senators sophistrie of his Sorcerers which with such indurate and obstinate mindes stood for the honour and worship of diuels should be no longer able to vphold the reuerence of their Iupiter Capitolinus who was now deteced for a rogue and by the voices of Michaels Angels as by whips and pasports was sent home againe to the place of his birth namely the earth from whence his mortall and vile genealogie was taken and with him also were Cesars vndiuified and for all their Senates proud relations were made to take vp the graue for their latter end and shame for their fame and wormes for their heritage as the Spirit foretelleth saying And he was cast downe vnto the earth and his Angels were throwne downe with him Verse 11. And I heard a great voice in heauen saying Now is made saluation and force and kingdome of our God and the power of his Christ because the accuser of our brethren is cast downe who accused them before the sight of our God day and night NEither was this famous victorie obtained in a corner or spoken in the eare but as the Spirit reporteth so valorously gotten and so audibly proclaimed that all the world heard the report thereof witnesse the records of those times at which the holy Ghost pointeth in these words And I heard a loud voice in heauen saying and sounding the victorie of Christ and Christianisme against the Dragon and his Angels his sorcerers and their prophane and idolatrous paganisme in these deuout diuine notes Now is made saluation and force and the kingdome of our God and the power of his Christ and yeeldeth a reason of this so pious and triumphant ioy because the folly and fury of the Dragon and his Angels which so continually accused the Saints and seruants of God for pestilent fellowes mouers of sedition maintainers of sects polluters of the Temple teachers of new gods enemies to Cesar wordsowers babblers blasphemers is now vpon setting and going downe for euer Which death and downfall of their spirituall whoredome the holy Ghost discloseth in saying because the accuser of our brethren is cast forth And for the greater comfort of the Church and iudgement of her enemies concludeth that there is a perfect courtroule kept as wel of the sufferings of the Saints as of the slanders of their foes so openly committed in the face of the Court and before a Iudge of so cleare a sight and eternall
spirituall sword and to weare the name and title of Vicar to the Lamb which title name and honour is onely due to the Spirit of the Lamb the onely moderator comforter and commander of all the Lambs affaires and forces in heauen and in earth and of this principal blasphemy the Apostle condemneth him in saying And he opened his mouth vnto blasphemie against God Next the Lord challengeth him for presuming to blaspheme the word of God superaduancing his whorish church aboue the diuine eternall testimonie in and by which the Son of God is named and knowne which contumely offered to his most holy word the Lord accounteth as done to himselfe and his most holy name for so the holy Ghost speaking of that Lord that is faithfull and true who with iustice iudgeth and fighteth saith that he was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood and his name is called The Word of God The pourtraiture of which diuine and essentiall Word is the ingrauen Scripture of his most holy and written word and of this blasphemie the Spirit inditeth him in these words to blaspheme his name Lesse maruell then if like a raging flood downe bearing all before him and ouerflowing all bankes of obedience towards God he dare extol his cursed head aboue all that is called or named God that is to say all magistracie authoritie and power secular which by Gods owne ordinance commandement is the onely true liuely and immediate representation of his owne person iustice and gouernment here on earth in and ouer all temporall causes and persons as well Ecclesiastical as ciuil of which high treason one Apostle also conuinceth him 2. Thess 2. No maruell then if thus daring to blaspheme the Lord of the house and his annointed Deputies he dare blaspheme the house of God wherein his name is honored cursing reuiling and reputing it a house of schismatiques heretiques excommunincates which blasphemous and vndeserued wrong the holy Ghost layeth to his charge in these words and his tabernacle And last of all to shew that there is neither end nor measure in his blacke presumptuous and blasphemous mouth the Spirit further chargeth him with blaspheming the Saints and seruants of God deceased cursing reuiling and condemning their doctrine and yet blessing adoring erecting their shadows sepulchers and shrines for mediators intercessors and reconciliators betweene God and the sinner like their cursed fore-elders the Israelites who boasted in the descent of their father Abraham and yet blasphemed the faith of Abraham their father of which blasphemous and indicible contumely against the Son of God and his most holy Spirit the Apostle condemneth him saying And those that dwell in heauen Verse 7. And it was giuen vnto him to make battell with the Saints and to ouercome them and power was giuen him vpon euery people tribe tongue and nation ANd as after lightning followeth thūder so after Antichrists blasphemie followeth his persecution as the Spirit testifieth saying And it was giuen him to bid battell to the Saints which the Prophet Daniel by way of exposition also plainly setteth forth saying that he should murther and consume the Saints and seruants of the most high And in further amplification of this his carnificious furie the Spirit setteth forth the largenesse of his charter and commission by an excessiue loquution foretelling vs that it should be so large and general that the fire of his prophane and sycophantical keys should take hold vpon euery nation and tribe as if we please to cast an eye vpon the times past and conferre what he had with what he hath we shall easily discerne the meaning of the holy Ghost in these words And power was giuen him vpon euery Tribe people tongue and nation Verse 8. And all that inhabite the earth adored it whose names be not written in the booke of life of the Lamb which was slaine from the beginning of the world THe holy Ghost hauing in the former part of this Chapter discouered the birth place person power blasphemie and persecution of Antichrist descendeth now to the description of his creatures and deuotaries foretelling vs that they should be such onely for vnto such onely the particle all is here restrained as haue their portion and interest in this life whose pietie heauen hope and glorie is here and not elsewhere which kind of out and ouercast Christians the Spirit describeth by a periphrasis most proper to their naturall and inbred disposition saying they are those that inhabite the earth therein discouering them as by a difference diuisiue from such as are the Lords pilgrims and strangers on earth hauing here no permanent abode or place of rest but seeking the things which are aboue attend with patience the reuelation of a life and citie to come not made with hands where their Lord and their Redeemer liueth And the Spirit proceeding sheweth further the supreme hidden and vnperceiuable reason why the adorers of Antichrist thus defiled the ornaments of their calling and why they loued lyes more then truth the Beasts penance more then Gods repentance the Beasts beliefe more then faith towards God the Beasts miserable merits more then the fruits of the Spirit hatred of sin and loue of God because as holy Dauid saith they were not found in the Lords record nor written with the righteous for so much the Spirit vnfoldeth saying whose names be not written in the booke of life of the Lamb which was slaine from the beginning of the world Verse 9. If any man haue an eare let him heare THe Apostle hauing sufficiently deciphered the nature and cariage of Antichrist and his creatures commeth now to discouer his reward and iudgement which howsoeuer it tarry little or long is of necessitie the reward of sinne But before the Spirit draweth out his sword it pleaseth him in his accustomed mercie to awake his Church and her enemies and to moue them to a feare and reuerent attention by a generall summons proclaiming If any man haue an care let him heare Verse 10. He that shall leade into captiuitie goeth into captiuitie and he that shall kill with the sword must be killed with the sword here is the patience and the faith of the Saints THe holy Ghost in this verse calleth Antichrist to the Barre and sets him before the world for the very he on whō the wrath of God and his heauie displeasure is to be executed For he who vnder colour and pretence of weeding out and rooting vp of heretiques hath brought into the Church captiuitie inquisitions tortures and torments to the horrible murther and slaughter of the Saints when in such cases notwithstanding he had neither precept nor example in the life of the Lamb or his Apostles so to do he euen he saith the Lord is that partie against whom this iust iudgement of taliation is laid vp in store to be executed vpon him in that day when the Lord shall bring againe the captiuitie of his Church which for their sins he hath giuen vp to
of his Cesars and maner of the heathen And that we may the better discerne from whom those Proctors of Don Antichrist borrowed this their abominable Church-seruice the Spirit remembreth the repaired wound of their masters creditors pate mentioned in the third verse whose wound of death was cured Verse 13. And he did many signes so that he made fire to come downe from heauen to the earth in the sight of men THe holy Ghost hauing arraigned and condemned the Clergie of Antichrist touching their doctrine proceedeth further to detect their abomination and forgery in seeking to confirme their false doctrine by lying signes and works of wonder condemning therein first their vanitie secondly their presumptioÌ„ For as nothing can be more vaine and vngodly then to seeke by lying signes and wonders to confirme the doctrine of the Lamb and his seruants which is all sufficiently established by their owne magnificent and diuine miracles vnto which the Church of God vpon her allegiance is enioyned to subscribe so nothing can be more presumptuous and wicked then to attempt by signes and wonders the confirmation of any other doctrine then that which the Lamb and his two witnesses haue sealed and deliuered vnto vs according to the statute of God Deut. 13. And though their signes were many as the Spirit reporteth saying And he did many signes yet were they but forgeries and lies not wrought in truth dignitie but in falshood fallacie as our Lord himself and his seruant Paul foretold vs Mat. 24. 2. Thess 2. In which regard the holy Ghost squaring the miracles of these exorcists after the rule of their doctrine which was in shew the Lambs but in truth the diuels calleth also their lying signes heauenly fires saying so that he made fire to come downe from heauen to the earth in the sight of men not that they were in deed and in truth so but that they seemed so to be in the eyes of men because they were wrought by these vagabond exorcists vnder a pretended and colourable imitation of the name of the Lord Iesus who of all heauenly powers and fires is the true Lord and soueraigne commander that so these Clerks of Antichrist might be sutable in their wickednesse that as their doctrine was opposite to the truth of Christ so their wonders might contrary the power of Christ by a colourable imitation of the miracles of Christ and might be a true and perfect deprauation of the same Verse 14. And he seduced the inhabitants on the earth through the signes which were giuen him to do in the sight of the Beast saying vnto them that dwell on the earth that they should make the image of the Beast which had the stroke of the sword and liueth ANd the Spirit further disclosing the happie successe of these vnhappie brokers and slaues of Antichrist touching their mists and miracles foretelleth vs that as the first Elias by the miracles of heauenly fire did induce and draw the good vnto the feare of God so these imposters of Antichrist by the lure of their false and lying fires should seduce and draw all dung-hill and earthly minded men from the feare of God in such sure and deuoted sort as that they should perswade them to make the picture and image of the Beasts religion and to embrace and erect such a Christianisme as should in all points counterfeit and represent the Paganisme of the Dragon attiring and decking Iupiters prophanation with the holy and honorable names of God Iesus Spirit Scriptures Church Sacraments Saints c. like excellent Comedians who decke themselues with Crownes Scepters purples and representations of Kings whenas indeed they are the basest of the people And as the Lord commanded his seruant Moses to erect such a Tabernacle of witnesse here on earth as should be in all points after the Idea modell and platforme of that diuine and eternall Tabernacle which he saw in the mount so Antichrist Lord of misrule commanded his propudious Clergie to cause all people nations and kingdomes to set vp such a Christianity as should in all points answer the Idea modell and platforme of that prophane and execrable heathenisme wherewith he saw the Gentiles enamoured and hereby so strongly seduced the inhabitants on earth that they verily thought the mysterie of Iniquitie to be pure and vndefiled Christianitie and that the abomination of desolation forespoken by Daniel the Prophet is the onely true ancient Catholique and Apostolique religion teaching them that perish by consenting vnto lies that they ought to worship God as the Gentiles did worship Iupiter perswading them that as the Gentiles had their Arae so Christians must haue their Altars and as the heathen had their bloody sacrifices so Christians must haue their vnbloody sacrifices and offer bread and wine to God as the heathen did to Ceres and Bacchus and as the Pagans had their Poutifex maximus so ChristiaÌ„s must haue their Pope and as Ethnicks had their Sacerdotes so must Christians haue their Priests and as the Gentiles had their gods and goddesses so must Christians haue their he Saints and she Saints and as the Dragon had his Pantheon so Antichrist must haue his All Saints and as the heathen had their idols so Christians must haue their images and as the Pagans did consecrate their Temples to Idols so Christians must dedicate their Churches to Saints and as the Ethnicks had their supplications so Christians must haue their processions and as the Gentiles had their lustrations so Christians must haue their holy water and as the Dragon in his Church-seruice had his Cerei so Antichrist in his Church-seruice must haue candles and as the Dragon had his Acerra or Thuribles so Antichrist must haue his Censors and as the Dragon had his Nouendiall sacrifices so must Antichrist haue his Masses of Requiem and as the Dragon had his Hecatombes so Antichrist must haue his Trentals and as the Dâ—agon had his Colledges SodaliuÌ„ and Arvalium fratraÌ„ so must Antichrist haue his Cloisters of Monks and Friers and as the Dragon had his Vestals so Antichrist must haue his Nunnes and Sanctimonials and as the Dragon did celebrate the birth dayes of his Cesars so Antichrist must solemnize the natiuitie of his Saints and as the Dragon had his Annals so must Antichrist haue his Legends and as the Dragon had his secular Spectacles so Antichrist must haue his Iubilees and as the Dragon had his Bacchanals so Antichrist must haue his Carnivals and as the Dragon had his Lupanaries so must Antichrist haue his Stewes and as the Dragon had his inchanters so Antichrist must haue his exorcists and as the Dragon had his Asyla so Antichrist must haue his Sanctuaries and as the Dragon had his Exequies and Parentals so Antichrist must haue his Diriges and his de profundis and as the Dragon had his comitia centariata so Antichrist must haue his Councels oecumenicall and as the Beast had his comitia curiata so Antichrist must haue his