and greatness withheld them but when the hand of Providence took them out of the way then they became Popes and manifested themselves to be the seventh distinct Roman Government the last head of that beast Thus you see how both Saint John and Saint Paul were guided by one Spirit when they describe Antichrist to point the finger at the Popes of Rome Take it thus He that succeeds the Emperors in the Government of the Roman State or he that is seventh head of Daniels fourth beast he is the great Antichrist but the Popes of Rome succeed the Emperors in the Government of the Roman state or they are the seventh head of the fourth great beast therefore the Popes of Rome are the great Antichrist Secondly Antichrist is the man that sets himself above all Rule and all authority 2. Thes 2.8 then shall the wicked be revealed that 's our translation but the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the lawless man v. 4. Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God How must men forfeit their Intellectuals to fasten all this anywhere but upon the popes For first they are Church-men their seat is in the Temple or reputed Church of God The great Turk let his pride and domination be what it will yet he sits not in the Temple he 's no Church-man but the Pope is Secondly he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lawless man PopeGratian in his decrees reckons up several Laws publike private Laws the Laws of Nature and Nations written and unwritten Laws civil and canonical the Laws both of God and man but the conclusion of all he makes is this that they are all subject to the Popes interpretation and dispensation and that he is the spiritual man who judgeth all things and himself is judged of none He allows such marriages as God hath forbidden You all know he allowed Henry the eighth of England to have his brother Arthurs wife which God expresly forbids Levit. 18.16 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brothers wife And when the sinfullness of it was discovered he would not untye the knot or allow a divorce though it got him nothing and so justified the sin of uncleanness and the trangression of Gods Law He absolves people from the Laws of obedience to the Powers that God hath set over them contrary to that Let every soul be subject to the High powers so the Greeks or the Powers that are set up on high Rom. 13 To kill a Protestant is no murther to blow up a Parliament is meritorious nay though he carry plures animarum currus ad tartara none may say unto him cur ita facis Thus he puts all Rule and Law under his feet Thirdly He apposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or is Worshipped meaning all civil Powers and Rulers of this World the beast hath lift up his paw at them all yea and fetched them under too Rev. 17.12.13 The ten horns are ten Kings those have one mind and give their power and strength to the beast i. e. he had conquered them and they yeilded themselves his slaves their power their strength their all should be at his service vigorously to promote his designs Bellarm in his fifth Book de Rom. Pontif. hath these words Omnes Imperatores Pontifici Romano debent suum imperium all Kings and Emperors owe their Crowns and Scepters to the Bishop of Rome And hereupon the Pope stiles himself Rex Regum Dominus Dominantium King of Kings Lord of Lords and 't is not bare words but he acts accordingly in deposing Kings and giving away their Kingdoms Pope Innocent the third deposed King John of England and gave this Land to Philip Augustus King of France but at last he absolved him upon condition he would hold his Kingdom in Fee of the Church of Rome and that he should pay yearly a thousand Marks of silver in token of his subjection Pope Alexander the sixth gave the West Indies to the Spaniard the East Indies to the Portugal and set them their Limits Pope Pius the fifth pronounced the sentence of degradation and deposition against Queen Elizabeth The Monks whipt Henry the second of England upon the death of Becket and when he spoke some angry words to them Domine say they noli mirarii nos enim nullas minas timemus qui de tali curia sumus quae consuevit imperare Regibus Imperatoribus never threaten us we fear no threats we are of such a Court as ruleth our kings and Emperors I think I could have furnished you with a hundred stories of like nature Fourthly he sits in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God Non ait dicens sed ostendens says one hoc est operibus signis miraculis nitens ostendere quod sit Deus He doth not say it in words at length that he 's God but his carriage and the prerogatives Royal he claims are such as if he were God himself This they stick not to speak out idem est dominium Dei Papae the Rule of God and the Pope are the same Jus ecclesiasticum est jus divinum their ecclesiastical Law is Divine and must bind the conscience as well as any Laws of God Hereupon one expounds it meethinks very well in templo conscientiarum he sits in the Temple of mens consciences He forgives sin as God doth he makes Articles of faith as God doth he takes to himself the Names and Titles that God doth the Councel of Lateran stiles him tu es alter Deus in terris another God upon Earth Dominus Deus noster para our Lord God the Pope he takes Divine worship to himself as God doth they bow before him and kiss his feet which an Angel of heaven would not receive of John Rev. 22. see you do it not Worship God Nay he takes upon him to do that which God will not do to dispense with Laws moral and natural as I said before to give Indulgences to sin for time to come there have been Leases granted for years Schoolemen affirm Deum non magis homini indulgere posse ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sese gerat quam justitiae suae ordinem overtere seipsum negare God can as soon destroy his order and course of Justice yea deny himself as give men Indulgences to transgress his Laws to walk disorderly but the Pope hath not so bound his own hands he can be Dominus Deus and yet upon good consideration and advantages indulge men to violate any or all the laws of God and Nature He takes upon him to deliver souls out of Purgatory to Canonize Saints at his pleasure so that what is said of God is said of the Pope and more also Take the summ of all thus He who is the great Churchman above all Law and above all Earthly
had not our neighbour Nation owned proclaimed him whom they did the hand of providence had never raised this storm against them I do not lay this down as a certain Conclusion for Judicia Dei non sunt temere discutienda sed formidoloso silentio veneranda t is only my perswasion which you may receive or reject as God shall guide your hearts Yet I am not more confident that this book of the Bible came out of the mouth of God then that the childe is born who shall see a general tottering and shivering to peices of Thrones and Scepters and that-upon this account the quarrel that is already one foot between Christ and Antichrist Begin at forty one or thereabouts and make up a Century and observe it in your dayes and then leave it to your children to be observed by them if this now current Century I say be not more fatal to most or all that hold Scepters in their hands but especially to Europaean Scepters then ever any was since this World began The text is express Rev. 16.14 16.18 Chiefly in reference to Kings who being confederate in a crafty war having fair pretentions but exceeding bad intentions marched in the head of their Regiments against indeed Christ and his Kingdom but a Divine Anathema or curse falls upon them there is an Earthquake raised such as was not since men were upon the Earth so mighty an Earthquake and so great to answer the greatness of the adversaries engaged against him to shake to pieces those great and mighty ones of the Earth which an ordinary Earthquake could not have effected But how can this be for t is said Rev. 17.16 The ten Horns which thou sawest upon the Beast these shall hate the Whore and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire The Pope falls by them and not they by adhering to the Pope First I answer what I have sayd to this particular you see I have built upon plain Scriptures and I think according to the sense and mind of the Holy Ghost in them Secondly by Hornes here it is not needfull to understand Kings in the strictness and formality of the Notion and my reason is gathered from Rev 17.9.10 The seven Heads are also seven Kings five are fallen and one is Here Consuls Tribunes Decemvirs Dictators are called by the Holy Ghost Kings when as we know strictly they were not so onely they had Supream power in their hands Thirdly What Protestant whose eyes are open doth not see that most or all the Kings of Europe in their present posture are directly framed for the Popes interest Indeed his and their now interest make up one Linsey Woolsey piece they are so interwoven and mixt that Christ must be fain to open the whole fabrick of Kingly Government to the very foundations thereof before the cursed roots and seeds of the mystery of iniquity will be got out Will you tell me that he who lately swayed the Scepter here and he that now endeavours to succeed would ever have been perswaded so to hate as to make war against Pope and Papists for the setting up in the World Gospel-Ordinances in their purity and power and if it cannot be expected from the present Protestant Princes can it in reason be hoped for from the present Popish Princes therefore they are in no small danger most or all of them to be shaken quite to peices by the Earthquake Fourthly the strength of a beast to do his greatest hurt lies in his horns they are the highest and most eminent parts of him and so by ten hornes is meant only the supream power of the ten Nations by what names or Titles soever they are called Christ by the Earthquake will shake down those powers in whom are found a deal of carnal Popish dregs and set up those in their room that are men of other spirits pares negotio fit for such a business as Christ hath in hand Doubtless the ten horns are the ten Supream Powers of Europe who shal do the deed that is so much desired and prayed for of all the Saints And now if any man herein differ from me let him differ I judge him not God forbid that in ruining Antichrist I my self should be so Antichristian as to attempt to Lord it over the faith of any man Why should I be offended that thou canst not see that which I see nor believe as I belive if God intends thee good I doubt not but he 'l find a time to reveal even this unto thee that one civil Government is no more of Divine right then another and that thy Conscience ought not to engage or give it self up in perpetuum to any one of them but thou art free from Oaths Convenants when t is sufficiently clear God hath layd aside that civil power to whom thou didst so swear or Covenant Onely I think it but reason to entreat this of thee that fancy Conscience void of argument custome novelty of the things delivered private ends and aims self interest may not be layd in the ballance against me these are poor beggarly chaffi◠irrational things be carefull to start from me upon some solidity of reason I do profess in the sight of God that as I have balked nothing for fear of any mans displeasure for though I respect and honour many men yet so far as I know my own heart I fear no man so neither have I brought in or delivered any thing purposely to grieve or provoke any mans spirit I hope I have otherwise learned Christ You have it in the singleness of my heart so as God brought it to my hand The fifth Angel poured out his Vial upon the seat of the beast Rev. 16.10 11. Here Expositors do generally pitch upon the City of Rome to be this seat of the beast But sure t is not sense to speak of the destruction of Babylon till Euphrates be dryed up which is under the sixrh Vial and you must know that the Vials are placed in this Chapter according to the order of events or transactions and therefore the Popes material seat cannot be destroyed by this Vial. The Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he poured his vial upon the Throne of the Beast By Throne in Scripture is often meant that Government with any person or state sitting upon that Throne do set up and administer as Ps 89.29 So then consider that form of Government the Pope sets up and exercises in all his Churches throughout the World A throne you know admits but of one finde a Government where one alone doth rule and what can this be but Episcopacy Episcopacie is a is a Government where one and no more hath the Throne or Seat all the rest keep their distance and are under Command There were holy and learned men as Beza Cartwright Bains Parker who cast some drops of wrath upon this Seat but t was not long ere all Scotland got the
and creeks of it The like you shall see in the sequels of this business they are four all set down ver 13. The first of them this The same hour the witnesses rose there was a great earthquake A violent shaking of Church and State even of the whole Kingdom in the breaking out of these late Wars between King and Parliament there have been such Commotions amongst us as may well be called a great earthquake and it began presently upon the quickening or return of these men The second this The tenth part of the city fell Conceive as I touched before the great Mystical City made up of the ten Kingdoms that gave their power to the Beast and when one of these Kingdoms fell off utterly and irrecoverably from Rome by means of the earthquake then the tenth part of the city fell If you would know which peradventure the Greek may give some hint of it the Holy Ghost seems to lay a great Emphasis upon the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that tenth part where the last of the Witnesses were killed in so different and signal a way that tenth part that is so easily discernable from all the rest Et penitùs toto divisi ab orbe Britanni in plain terms England You 'le say was England but shaken off from Rome by this late Earthquake I answer it was in part but not wholly in Doctrine but not in Worship and Discipline for as I told you Rome and we were fast tyed together by the tails of Episcopacy Ceremonies and Formes of Worship though their bodies were loose and heads looked several ways Yet truly let me tell you this that in our times the heads were turning and looking one upon another with marvellous benigne aspects and were working their bodies together again as fast as such great and unweldy bodies could be moved There were such Popish Doctrines Popish Practises and Popish ordering of Church-affairs to say nothing of the State in most points and places that the Pope had good cause to assure himself of Englands return into the Bosom of the Romane Church But when the Parliament arose for Parliaments themselves rose from the dead you know how long we had been kept without them and at last a Proclamation set forth that men should not think of a Parliament and quickened the dead Witnesses Voted down Episcopal Government with all the Appurtenances of it and being forced to 't took up Arms resolving to live and die in the defence of those Votes then and not till then I dare boldly say it did England a tenth part of those Kingdoms that had given their power to the Beast utterly totally fall off from Rome that in reason they can have no hope of ever fetching it back again to serve the Popish Interest The third is this In the earthquake were slain of men 7000. This being a round and perfect number you need not understand it of just so many and no more for indeed 7000. is not a proportionable number for such an earthquake but it may be a certain number for an uncertain and in the earthquake were slain 7000. i. e. thousands upon thousands But searching the Original I finde That runs thus In the earthquake were slain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 names of men that is men of name men of renown the like Hebraisme you have Gen. 6.4 So in this Fall of the tenth part of the City were slain men of name note quality besides the common sort of People 7000. meaning of the Witnesses enemies some lost their blood and lives others their places powers livings livelyhoods and thus there were slain of noted Statesmen and noted Churchmen 7000. which in reason may be conceived a competent number in this late earthquake The fourth sequel is this And the remnant were affrighted and gave glory to the God of Heaven Observe 't is not said the remnant repented but were terrified and indeed nothing is more evident then that an awe and terrour is fallen upon the spirits of those that remain and as Joshua exhorted Achan to confess and give glory to God so they are constrained it bursts out of their mouths fore against their wills that since the restoring of those men every Providence of God hath fought against them And though they speak evil of dignities and instruments as Jannes and Jambres did against Moses yet they will confess that this is digitus Dei the just handy-work of God upon them they have nothing to accuse God of for such his Dispensations to them Whatever they think or say concerning men and present Powers yet being terrified they confess and give glory to the God of Heaven Tell me now in the singleness of your Spirits have not Providences suted marvellous patly to the Text Hath not something fallen out in our days that may with more perspicuity of Reason be called the signal killing of the Witnesses then hath in any Kingdom you can name all Circumstances complying fully with the standard of the Word Confident I am that since the quickening and Resurrection of these men there can no Kingdom in the World be named where the Beast hath prevailed against the Zealous Protestant party so as it may be said he is yet killing Witnesses he hath enough to do to hold his own and in many places is apparently on the loosing sinking hand Wherefore if I may draw the conclusion it shall be this That which we all so much fear is past and let Antichrist and those of his Faction take what follows I remember what our Saviour said to his Disciples Mat. 24.32 33. When the Fig-tree putteth forth her leaves you uknow that Summer is nigh Likewise ye when ye shall see all these things know that it is near even at the door So say I to you When something hath passed before our eyes which we cannot in reason but call the killing of the witnesses and resurrection of the witnesses from that time from that sign know that Antichrists utter ruin is near even at the dore Vse The first use shall inform you of the ground and cause of God's thus severe proceeding with them A Vial of wrath is poured upon every thing that belongs to Antichrist and the latter still more hot and scalding then the former till he 's utterly burnt up and ruind by them Why it lies in this The justice of God God hath a nature that constrains him to give to every one according to their works but such have been Antichrists works and carriage that it is the equallest thing in the world that God should execute and pour out upon him all those fearfull things which Daniel Paul and the Apostle Iohn have foretold and threatned him withal He who hath made himself the Man of Sin God can do no less then make him The Son of Perdition as t is in the Text Rev. 18.2 An Angel cryed with a strong voyce saying Babylon the great is fallen is fallen the reason is laid down in the 5. ver Her