people as distinguished from the Stars But the last cannot be Therefore of necessity the first must be understood We conceive then as by Church or Candlestick is understood many Professors or Churches for under Church here such who thus plead will grant moe particular Churches to be comprehended for say they they are Diocesian Churches in an united way of worshipping or Government So by Angel many Church-guids in an united way of Governing may be understood Ministers are called Stars for these reasons 1. To signifie and point out the eminence and dignity of the Office that it is a glorious and shineing Office 2. To point out what is the especiall end of this Office It is to give light as the use of Stars is to give light to the world so it's Ministers main imployment to shine and give light to others to make the world which is a dark night to be lightsome In which sense Mat. 5.14 It 's said They are the light of the world 3. It is to signifie that they are but subservient lights Our Lord Jesus is the Sun of Righteousnesse that Light that great Light and Ministers are lesser lights 4. It is to point out the way how Ministers become lightsome Stars receive their light from the Sun and by vertue of that borrowed light are made lightsome so Ministers are made lightsome and shine to give others light by vertue of the light that they receive from Christ they are lights but their light is Star light a borrowed light and ecclipses betwixt Jesus Christ and them will darken them seeing they have no light but what they receive from Him This would learn Ministers and People a right uptaking of the nature of this Office and keep off contrary extremes that both respectively are subject unto The second part is expounded the seven Candlesticks are the seven Churches as before he expounded the seven Stars to be the Angels of the seven Churches The Churches are called Candlesticks for these Reasons 1. Because the Candlestick is that which properly the light is set into and it 's fitted for receiving of light though it have none of its own so the visible Church is that wherein Christ Jesus sets His lights 1 Cor. 12.28 God hath set some in the Church first Apostles secondly Prophets c. The Church is as it were the Candlestick to the Candle the proper seat of the Apostles Prophets and Ministers after them 2. Though the Candlestick give no light yet it makes the light set on it to be the more usefull to others as Mat. 5.14 Ye are the light of the world a city set on a hill cannot be hid neither do men light a candle to put it under a bushell but on a Candlestick that it may give light to all that are in the house So Ministers are set in the Church and their setting in the Church is the way whereby God preserves light ordinarily and makes it shine And so the excellent comely order of the visible Church kyths in this that it is like a City set on a hill And hence the Church is called the pillar and ground of the truth 1 Tim. 3.15 The light of the Truth being set in the Church as on a pillar to make it kyth the more and be seen the further that others may fall in love with it And laying both these together the Ministers being Lights and the Churches Candlesticks it holdeth out a near and sib relation betwixt Ministers and People as if the People were dark without Ministers and the Ministers would not shine far nor be usefull if they had not Churches to bear them up We ought not to strain this similitude too far as if Churches might be Churches without Ministers much lesse before Ministers be set in them as a Candlestick still is a Candlestick without a light but certainly very dark That is not the scope but it is to shew that in Constitute Churches what is Christs esteem both of Ministers and People and what is the mutuall relation that stands betwixt them each to other We know that the Church organized is but one body whereof the Pastors are a principall part and that these derogate not to the other relations betwixt Ministers and People as to be Fathers to them to beget them to nourish them as a Nurse doth in giving suck to be Mothers travelling in birth with them in which respect particular Churches and Christians have their being from Ministers as such instruments who hath begotten them by the immortall seed of the Word 2. Golden Candlesticks 1. To point out comparatively the excellency of the Visible Church above all other Societies in the World and positively the excellency that is among the Churches as gold is the most excellent mettall so the Church is the choice and waill of all the World beside it 's Gods Garden 2. To let us see what is Believers duty and what all the members of the Church are obliged to they ought to be as gold that will abide the tryall and hath no drosse The Church of Christ should be throughly sincere as gold to be like every sort of mettall will not be enough Quest. How can these Churches be called gold seing many of them are of so little worth that they could scarce abide the tryall as Pergamos Thyatira Sardis c. and Laodicea is so corrupt that she hath no commendation at all Answ. Our Lord Jesus designes the Visible Church or Churches not according to the plurality but according to the better part and when there is any gold He counts by it even as one may call an heap a heap of corn though the greatest part be chaffe 3. There is something essentiall to the Church as Visible which makes them get this denomination for the Visible Church hath a comparative excellency beyond others that are without and Jesus Christ looking not to what they were but to the nature of a Visible Church He calls them golden Candlesticks even as He calls the Ministers Stars though there were some among them of little worth as that Angel of Laodicea because by vertue of their Office they were so So the Churches written to by the Apostles are called Saints and Holy in so far as by vertue of their profession and Church-state-relation that they stood in to God they were so 3. He designes them so by vertue of their obligation to let them see what they should be and were obliged to be This is a main reason why the Church of the Iews is called a Holy people not for any great holinesse that often was amongst them all but because they were separated from other People to be a peculiar People to Him in which respect the children of Believers are called holy 1 Cor. 7. which is not to be understood of any personall holinesse but of a holinesse in respect of a federall or Covenant relation in which respect they are separated from the rest of the world who have not an externall right to
would not dally with them It sheweth also how easily He can overturn a Church and make no Church of it He hath often gathered Churches quickly and can He not dissolve them when they look to be in their prime Who having read the commendation of Ephesus in the former verses would have expected such a threatning in the close The words now being opened we may enquire 1. How this threatning of un-Churching a Church useth to be executed Answer We conceive it doth not necessarily imply the overrunning wasting and destroying of such a City or Land that it should be no City but that it should be no Church Sometimes indeed God will even by such a mean bring about this thing threatned But here we take it to hold out some other thing than if He had threatned Sword or Pestilence upon them It is the same upon the matter with that Math. 21.43 The kingdom of God shall be taken from them c. which was Christs word to the Iews and is especially these wayes brought to passe The first is sinfull that is when a Church fell themselves to false Doctrine which overturneth the foundation in which sense Hos. 2. the Lord denies Ephraim to be His Wife because of her spirituall whoredoms whereby she had broken her tye thus a people may be said to un-Church themselves by their unbelief confusions and errours unconsistent with the foundation according to that Isa◠50.1 And Rom. 11. the Iews are said to have broken themselves off by their unbelief The second way is penall that is when the Gospel hath not fruits among a people the Lord removeth the Light and His Ordinances from them taketh down His hedge from about them and as it were sendeth them a bill of divorce refusing to own them afterwards as a Church not by giving them up to outward enemies oppression which for a time they may be free of but by ratifying their own sentence of rejecting of the Gospel as it is Act. 13.46 and thus the Kingdom of God was translated from the Iews and they became no Church when the Gospel was taken from them and sent unto the Gentiles A third way may be mixed partly sinfull partly penall a people upon the one side not receiving the love of the Truth and therefore upon the other side God gives them up to strong delusion whereupon they proceed from evill to worse in the believing of lies as it is 2. Thes. 2.10 However this is certain this flourishing Church of Ephesus hath now long since been a proof of this Truth for errour growing to an hieght and delusion and ignorance following upon the back of despising the Gospel hath brought that Church into the estate that it is now into For the second Question Why the Lord peculiarly threatens the Church of Ephesus with these punishments Answ. It is not because His discontentment was more with her than with other Churches But 1. It 's like they thought outward honesty and reformation enough for their Church-estate and that there was no cause of fear of un-Churching so long as they continued pure in profession and zealous in purging c. And therefore to beat down this conceit and to shew the necessity of power as well as of form for continuing of a Church-estate He doth subjoyn this threatning of un-Churching especially to this Church 2. Because these here threatned would lay more weight on this threatning and be more affected with shoring to be un-Churched than with either Sword or Pestilence c. The Lord therefore applieth wisely that which He thinks most conduceable to this end 3. It 's like their outward Church-estate was something thought of by them and the externall frame of Ordinances in purity and that of Discipline in vigour might be rested on and too much esteemed of especially by the Ministers it being too ordinary for men to think too much of external forms The Lord therefore in this threatning toucheth the fault that might stick secretly to them even in their zealous prosecuting of externall reformation 4. Because He would have all men knowing the respect He hath to sincerity and the influence which the exercise or not exercise of grace hath upon keeping or loosing of externall Priviledges Therefore doth He so threaten this Church when no outward cause of such controversie seemeth to be before men If it be asked further Why this Church is called the Angels For Thy hath reference to the Angel and by the Candlestick is meant the Church it self Or 2. How this becomes a threatning to the Minister it being liker a plague upon the People Or 3. How the People can be plagued for a sin in their Minister We shall consider the first by it self after we have gone through this Epistle And now to the second question we say This threatning becomes his plague 1. Because of his interest in them and affection to them nothing can come on a People but it affects the Minister their stroak is his yea often it 's sorer which is on them than what is on himself 2. Cor. 11.29.30 Who is weak and I am not weak Who is offended and I burn not was Pauls touch of the infirmities of the People 2. It 's the nearest stroak can be on a Minister to be stricken in his Charge or blasted in his Ministery c. in this he is smitten as a Minister in things peculiar to a Minister other stroaks are common to all men yea thus to be smitten in the un-Churching of his Flock is striking at his Crown and his Joy 1 Thess. 2. ult for a faithfull Minister will so account it 3. It 's probable it was some contentment to him to see things go right in his outward Ministery Censures to be weighty Discipline vigorous the People to give him credit and countenance c. without reflecting on his own spirituall condition or aiming at the inward warming of love in the hearts of his People but thought all well and who but he that had such a well ordered Church The Lord therefore threatneth to take that ground of boasting or self-pleasing from him It 's a sad thing when a Minister cannot carry even when things go well and cannot look to himself and the people also and be humble when he is countenanced want of this spilleth many hopefull beginnings in Ministers hands And this relation thy is particularly mentioned here to make the threatning touch him the more it is not the Candlestick but thy Candlestick which was to be removed For there be two things that make a thing to be in esteem with men and the losse thereof to affect them The First is That it be in it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a thing lovely and desireable The second That it be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a thing which is a mans own These two going together That it is both an excellent thing in the self and withall a mans own when once evill befalls that thing it doth
that respect of His Essence Again these expressions that the one is called the Father and the other the Son and yet both One God do clearly hold forth that there are real relations in that Godhead subsisting in a distinct manner and so there must be Persons as Heb. 1. the Son is called the expresse Image of the Fathers Person which plainly sayes that the Father considered as distinguished from the Son is a Person and subsists and that the Son as distinguished from the Father and as so lively and expresly representing His Person must be a Person also having this from the Father and what is said of the Father and Son must also be true of the holy Ghost who is God equal with both yet different from Them both as They differ from each other though not in respect of that same incommunicable property yet he who proceedeth must differ from those from whom he proceeds as he who is begotten must differ from him that begat him For Their operations we may find here that in some things They concur joyntly yet some way differently Some things again are attributed to one which cannot be to another as their personal properties the Son is begotten and not the Father or the Spirit therefore He is allanerly the Son the Father begets and the Spirit proceeds These are called Their personal properties and Their works ad intra or amongst or in reference to Themselves of this kind is the incarnation of the Son which can neither be said of the Father nor of the holy Ghost Again in things ad extra or that relate to the Creatures simply whether in making or governing of the World They joyntly concur the Father createth all so doth the Son and holy Ghost the Son from the Father by the holy Ghost the holy Ghost from the Father and the Son as those expressions of God sending His Son the Son 's sending the Spirit from the Father c. do declare Ioh. 14.26 and 16.7 Gal. 4.6 To the third This Truth concerning the blessed and glorious Trinity being so often insisted on here and coming so near to the nature of God Himself it cannot but be exceedingly necessary for Christians to be through in the faith thereof yet it is questioned of late whether it be to be accompted a fundamental point of Faith or not I say this of late is questioned by Socinus and the favourers of a boundless untolerable Toleration for of old it was most sacredly received as such amongst the Ancients as the Creeds that are called Apostolick Nicene and that of Athanasius do manifest But this Engine the Devil drives first to make the most necessary Truths indifferent that then he may the more easily engage opposers to quarrel the very Truth of them it self but we conceive whatever it was of old before Christ yet now it is to be looked on not only as a Truth which is clear from the Word but also as a fundamental Truth which being shaken would overturn Christianity and the way of Salvation that the Lord hath revealed in His Gospel This is not to be extended to a rigid degree of knowledge in this wonderful Mysterie but to so much clearness in this Truth from the Word as may be a ground to Faith in the thing it self And that this is necessary as a fundamental we think ariseth clearly from these three grounds 1. That Truth without which the true God cannot be taken up believed in and worshipped is a fundamental Truth but this Truth of the Trinity of Persons and Unity of the Godhead is such that without it that God which is proposed in the Word and is the only true God and the object of all Worship can neither be taken up believed in nor worshipped rightly Ergo c. because the true God is One and yet Three Persons and as such hath proposed Himself to be known and worshipped 2. That Truth without which the work of Redemption would be overturned is fundamental But this is such for by taking away the Mysterie of the Trinity they take away the Godhead and Personality of the Mediatour and so do enervat His satisfaction And as on the former accompt the true God is otherwise conceived than He is in Himself so in this respect the Mediatour is made a quite other thing And can any thing be fundamental if this be not 3. The way that God hath laid down in His Worship requireth this seing in Baptism there is particular and expresse mentioning of these Three the Father Son and Spirit as the Superiour to whom they that are Christian Souldiers should be lifted and inrolled and so we may accompt of all after-worship seing God requires us to honour the Son as we honour the Father and seing these Three equally witness from Heaven 1 Ioh. 5. the Father Word and Spirit all which Three are One can their Testimony be received as of Three or can they be accompted as One God without this And yet there can neither be one in Faith engaged unto in Baptism or one whose Testimony we may receive but He who is God and can any think but it's necessary for a Christian and that fundamentally to know to whom they are devoted whom they are to worship whose Testimony it is that they receive whose operations they feel whom they are to make use of c And therefore it 's necessary to know the Trinity of Persons in that One Godhead It may be the exercise of some tender soul that they know not how to apprehend this Object rightly when they come to worship and that often they are disquieted while their minds are unstable Concerning this there is need here to distinguish betwixt what may satisfie us as to the Object in it self and what may be sufficient to us in directing of our Worship to that Object If we take up God as in Himself here is a depth that cannot be searched out to perfection He is broader than the Sea Who can know Him higher than the Heaven What can we do Iob 11.8 But yet we have footing in His Word how to come before this God with fear reverence holy admiration c. and such affections and qualifications as a true Worshipper that worships in spirit ought to have and in this the pure Worshippers who believe this Truth of One infinit God and Three Persons ought to be taken up rather that they may be suitable in their worshipping and have becoming effects on their own hearts than to be disquieting themselves by poring too curiously on the Object worshipped except in so far as may serve to transform the heart into a likeness to Him And it is not aiming to comprehend the mysteriousness and manner of these incomprehensible Mysteries that doth work this but the real through and near impression of the general which is revealed clearly in His Word We would therefore commend these three in Worship 1. That folks would satisfie themselves in the general with the solid faith
Turks love their Mahomet Baal's Prophets their Baal even beyond their own lives Now may not one love God and Christ as one may love Mahomet or their Idols This Argument is also made use of by the forcited Author to prove that a natural man may love Christ really for kind pag. 236 237. And will not this â—ame hold in respect of the degree also Considering that there is as good ground and more even in a humane respect for Historical faith to believe the truth of the being and worth of God and Jesus Christ and as much proof and experience of the advantages and benefits that come from him as there are for any to be assured of the being and worth of Mahomet Iupiter Apollo c. Now suppose one that formerly loved Mahomet or Iupiter above all should by the force of Historical faith or some extraordinary deliverance be brought to account of and love the only true God as he did formerly love Mahomet or his Idols could that be accounted to be sincere love because the object were changed Supposing still no change to be in the man nor intrinsickly in the act it self in respect of its kind and yet upon the supposition foresaid this act would not be defective in respect of the comparative degree supposing him to love God now as formerly he did his Idol It must therefore be in kind And may not such acts as have proceeded from Nebuchadnezar and other hypocrites upon special and singular appearances of God be accounted such wherein there was some kind of reality as to their actual esteeming of God above all yet still being without sinceritie as the zeal of the Iews was because God was not esteemed of according to knowledge that is as in Christ Jesus in which respect He hath manifested Himself in His Word and without which there can be no degree of love acceptable to Him Fourthly Might not one have loved Christ above all while He was upon earth from the convictions of the worth that was evidently seen in Him and from particular favours received from Him suppose of health freedom from the rage of the devil c. as one man may love another especially His benefactor above all things so that He may become his Idol Now suppose it had been so which was not impossible that men had known and loved Christ thus after the flesh as the Apostle speaketh 2 Corinth 5.17 could that have proven that love to be sincere And yet the fault is not in respect of that degree Again we may instance it in faith for that one may trust Christ in some respect above all is clear by the many examples of the faith of miracles and that both active and passive yet is it also clear that saving faith is of another nature and hath other qualifications concurring in it's acting as such the first acteth on Him as powerfull to bring forth such an act and in respect of some particular manifestation of His Will for the bringing forth thereof the other considereth Him as a Saviour offered to us by Gods faithfulnesse in the Word and for that end to wit Salvation and upon that account to wit as offered and as such it receiveth Him and resteth on Him being moved thereunto by its giving credit to the faithfulnesse of God in respect of His Covenant and offer of speciall Grace So to be willing to have Christ is a main act of Faith and that one in nature may in some respect be willing to have Christ and Heaven above all cannot be denied especially by this Author Neither can it be said that this respect to God and Christ is inferiour to their love to earthly blessings which they prefer to Him as is insinuated pag. 237. for certainly they may esteem Him beyond temporal blessings therefore they will suffer the losse of these and their life it self upon this presumptuous ground of gaining Him by the abandoning of these yet cannot that be accounted sincere willing because they will Him not as such and according to the tearms of His Covenant Further it may be instanced in fear repentance love to the brethren c. as was formerly hinted wherein we will find that natural men may come to this comparative degree in respect of the external object to wit to fear God more than to fear men or any other thing to sorrow for sin in such a degree that it may prevail over delight in it and love to it wherein the comparative degree that constituteth the sincerity thereof is instanced pag. 231 232. and they may love the brethren so as to relive clothe visite them c. and for this end to part with their own case and estate which is the degree that is only marked as wanting to such as loved the Saints but yet could not part with temporal things for them pag. 239. and upon this ground it is we conceive that pag. 232. this necessary advertisement is given That these graces which are expressed by the passion as fear love joy c. are not so certainly to be tried by the passion that is in them as by the will that is contained in them or supposed to them which must either be to shew that somtimes the vehemency of the passion may seem more towards one object suppose in fear of men or love to creatures when yet the will rationally feareth and loveth God more or it is added to shew that somthing must be respected in the trial beside the degree simplie so that this degree is not to be accounted the alone mark of trial otherwise this advertisement were needlesse And what is spoken of the will its acting rationally in its act as contradistinguished from the passion or act of the sensitive part must infer some concurring qualifications to be necessary in the act of the will which cannot be in the sensitive part which doth necessarily infer a racite acknowledging of the necessity of observing somthing in the nature of the act beside this degree alone for the evidencing of the sincerity thereof On the other side may not habits for a time be without acts at least without acts prevalent in respect of this degree Now then what shall be judged of such acts suppose of love fear faith c. which for a time are prevailed over and the heart is led captive by the opposits They cannot be denied to be sincere acts of Grace nor can it be said that there are none such at all for in that one place Rom. 7. we will find the Apostle speaking of such motions of the Spirit or Inner-man which yet prevail not as to the effect but the heart is led captive over them so that what he would that he doth not and he is led captive to the law of sin over the law of his mind yet even then doth he acknowledge these acts of the Inner-man to be sincere acts of Grace and therefore doth comfort himself in them and doth oppose them to the law of sin in
in part be brought to believe the generall truths of the Gospel concerning Christ c. and to his own apprehension be perswaded in himself that he hath received him and so carry within himself as if indeed there were ground to expect what is promised in him This is clear also from the many instances of historicall and temporall faith that are recorded in Scripture and in this respect it is said of the temporary Believer That anone he receiveth the word with joy and goeth forth as if all were well Thus Agrippa is by the force of the Word almost perswaded to be a Christian Act. 26.28 And Isai. 48.1 and 2. some are said to call themselves of the holy city and stay themselves on the Lord God of Israel which supposeth an exercise of faith at least in their account and yet it was not done in truth and in righteousnesse In the seventh place we may instance it in the common operations of the spirit on the affections within we have already hinted something of convictions for sin of fear of wrath and destruction of the soul which certainly may sometimes affect many hypocrites also of grief and worldly sorrow which may seaze upon such and in an high degree who yet may have nothing of God in them upon the other side there may be much of it also in respect of the flashes of joy tendernesse and meltings of heart which hypocrites may have at one time either in some publick Ordinances or possibly in secret or otherwise more than at other times and yet there be nothing but the common operations of the spirit such as were in many of Iohns Hearers who for a srason rejoyced in his light Iob. 5.35 and in the temporary Believer as was formerly cited for the Lord that dispenseth the common gifts of the Spirit as He pleaseth doth also dispense of these common effects of the Spirits operation such as liberty fear joy sorrow and the like according to his Soveraign pleasure without respect to the eternall state good or bad of the person on whom He bestoweth them Now seing these things and such like may be where yet sincerity is not what wonder is there that a person be said to have a name by others or be thought to have reality by himself when yet indeed there is nothing but deadnesse Oftentimes men that are ordinarily admirers of themselves and what is in themselves are brought to think highly of themselves and of the sincerity of their own state and that wâ—th great perswasion upon lesse grounds than these that are laid down as we will find in the Epistle to Laodicea If it be asked supposing such things to be What can further be defective to reality Answ. To say no more all these things may be and yet there may be defect in these three which are simply necessary for the differencing of a sincere person from an hypocrite First There may be a want of the new nature and the person not yet be born again as it is Ioh. 3.3 Secondly All these may be and yet the person not be brought really to deny his own righteousnesse and positively to receive Christ offered in the Gospel and to rest upon Him for the attaining of life through His righteousnesse and satisfaction although they may be convinced it is good to do it and although they may think they have done it being blinded by their own pride and although they may some way comfort themselves as if they had done it in this their presumptuous dream yet really it is never done for so they could not but be saved because of the immutable tearms of Gods Covenant which say Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have eternal life Thirdly All these things may be when yet there is defect in the nature of the inward duties to say so and in the manner of performing what is outward that is they may be both without the qualifications required to the constituting of sincerity and sincere acts spoken to Chap. 2. So that still these fruits are but fruits of the old tree and flesh and are not brought forth by faith in Jesus Christ without which nothing can be pleasing to God neither is His glory singly aimed at in them c. without which the most glancing fruits will be but rotten before the Lord. Again Secondly considering this Thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead with respect to the Minister it may be enquired 1. What kind of Minister this is who may be said to have a name that he liveth and is dead 2. What may be the reasons that make even Ministers to rest satisfied in the applause of others and in such things as may gain an approbation before men without that which may make him approveable before God To the first we say that in the describing of such a Minister we must 1. look to somethingâ— which he hath that give the ground of his having a name And 2. to something which he hath not the want whereof proveth him to have no more but a name First then A Minister may be in his particular condition such an one as was formerly described with many commendable things in his outward carriage Secondly he may have some good measure of gifts and a pleasing quicknesse and dexterity in Preaching and mannaging of other duties that belong to his Calling This gift it seemeth was in many Church-officers at Corinth which made them appear exceeding eminent Thirdly he may have a frequency and accurate formality in the discharge of all duties as bearing forth much diligence and faithfulnesse in the discharge of them with a seeming fervour and earnestnesse It is like that these who preached Christ out of envy Philip. 1.15 wanted not a good measure of this Fourthly he may have a great plausiblnesse and a familiar kind of humanity and discretion to speak so in his conversation with others which often tendeth to gain applause from them as if it were a speciall sign of humility and an evidence of love and respect whereby men oftentimes are engaged to esteem of such a Minister more upon such an account to wit as being particularly friendly to them than for their works sake as the word is 1 Thess. 5.13 It is like that these false Teachers that got such a name as who but they in Corinth and Galatia had much of this way of insinuation and also these mentioned Philip. 1. cannot well be thought to be free in this respect seing they Preached Christ out of envie and strife vers 15. as minding to gain a name thereby beyond Paul Fifthly Such a Minister may also have seeming countenance in his Ministrie with Authority and respect amongst his people and seeming countenance and fruit in outward things as in the bearing down of Error the suppressing of grosse scandals and out-breakings and the bringing of his people to some conformity in publick and private duties in which respects his Congregation may be more formal than
connexion between Repentance and Remission upon grounds laid down by it self no sinners could have expected pardon not would their sins have been remissible even upon supposition of their Repentance more than if there had not been Repentance if such a supposition may be made 3. We say that Repentance doth not concur for the obtaining of remission of sins as it is a piece of our own new obedience and of the condition of the Covenant of Grace and so now to be imputed to us with Faith and the other Graces for Righteousnesse in stead of the perfect holinesse which was the condition of the Covenant of Works as if now God in the pardoning of penitent sinners their sin should not respect Christs imputed Righteousnesse as the immediate cause making them acceptable to Him but the very acts themselves of Faith Repentance c. and so the first Covenant of Works will be mans performing of all holy duties according to the Commands perfectly which Covenant being now broken and man made unable by sin to perform the condition thereof this opinion supponeth Christs satisfaction to have procured which yet Socinians deny as any procuring cause of a new Covenant upon these terms that sinners who are short of perfect Holinesse and yet do believe and repent of their sins should be accepted and these acts of Believing Repentance c should be accounted to them by vertue of that Covenant as if their obedience had been perfect This way is not sufferable because it shutteth out Christs imputed Righteousnesse from being the next immediate and meritorious cause of our Justification and continueth the Covenant to be in substance a Covenant of Works for its form although it place no condignity of merite in these works yet by this it is still some work of outs that is the ground of our defence before Gods Justice and so cannot be admitted for even Faith it self in this case cometh not in to be considered but as it uniteth with its object to wit Christ Jesus in the promise as hath been said These wayes which are more grosse being disowned so that there is neither ground to charge us with Popery nor Arminianisâ—us for our asserting the necessity of Repentance we come now to show positively in what respect it is necessary 1. We say Repentance is necessary not only by necessity of precept but also of mids necessitate praecepti medii that is not only as a duty laid on by God but as a mean appointed by Him for attaining that end to wit remission of sins in which respect a penitent or repenting sinner may be said to be using the means how pardon is attained and to be in the way of obtaining it which cannot be said of a sinner that repenteth not For although Repentance as absolutely considered in it self doth not make a penitent any nearer unto remission yet it being considered in respect of Gods contrivance and of the order which He hath laid down and the promise which He hath subjoyned to it it may well be called a way and mean for attaining to pardon 2. Beside this there is a kind of congruity and suitablnesse in this order which God hath laid down by subjoyning the promise of pardon to it thus it is more suitable that a penitent sinner should have pardon than an impenitent because he is a more congruous object to speak so for grace to shew it self gracious upon than if there were a continuing in security Neither hath this congruity any causality or merit in it but only doth shew Gods wise contrivance in appointing a mids suitable to His end which is the glorifying of His Grace and the making of Himself to be precious to the sinner 3. Repentance concurreth in the obtaining of pardon by qualifying the sinner in reference to the promise wherein pardon is proposed which is not to be understood as if this qualification were a thing previous to a saving work of Gods Grace or as if it did dispose the subject for receiving of any inherent quality Or lastly as if there were any merit in it to commend the person so qualified unto God for the attaining of pardon these things we have already rejected But it may be said to qualifie a person in these two respects 1. That it putteth one within the reach of the promise which speaketh pardon to none but to such who are so qualified and thus it qualifieth the person meerly with respect to the promise and the qualification contained it â— and so a true penitent sinner may be said to be qualified for remission and may take hold of the promises that make offer of the same which no other not so qualified can do because the promises are peculiarly holden forth to such who are so qualified 2. It qualifieth the sinner in reference to the promise as it doth dispose him to accept the offered salvation freely and to rest upon Christ alone for that end Thus it qualifieth for obtaining of pardon as felt poverty qualifieth a proud begger to receive willingly an offered almes and to be thankfull for it neither is the almes the lesse free that it requireth one sensible of poverty to receive it but it is rather the more free and acknowledged to be so when it is conferred even so it is here There is one thing more questioned even among Orthodox Divines that is if Repentance may be acounted a condition of the Covenant with Faith and if in that respect it be necessary and do concur for the obtaining of Pardon For answer That we may not disgresse long in this we shall lay down some assertions after we have premitted this distinction A condition may be taken more largely for any thing required as an antecedent for obtaining the thing promised in this sense there may be many conditions 2. It may be taken more strictly and properly for that upon which the closing of the Covenant dependeth and that which as such cannot be considered but as implying the closing thereof 3. A condition may be taken as it looketh to some consequent following the close and is virtually implied therein As for instance in Marriage there are several things necessary as the hearing of the proposall the believing historically the truth of the thing heard an esteem of it and a desire to have it with a loathnesse to offend the party proposing it These are supposed to be requisit and necessary in one that is called to Marrie that she should forget her kindred and her fathers house and cleave to the husband and so forth Yet none of these resolutions or qualifications are properly the condition of the Marriage-covenant but the parties consent to accept the offered match upon the terms proposed The actuall and positive solemn declaration whereof in the approven way is that which formally closeth the match and entitleth the party so accepting to the husband which none of these former qualifications did't after which there followeth the performance of Marriage-duties the obligation
to say that all are not redeemed c. because it leaveth this stumbling-block before the person that he knoweth not whether he ought to believe or not because he knoweth not whether he be redeemed or not and this thought may also follow him if he be not redeemed can his believing be usefull to him Answ. There are severall mistakes in this Objection Therefore we shall answer several wayes thereunto And first we say that even upon supposition that one doth not believe in Christ this Doctrine asserted is more comfortable than the other because first he hath no lesse warrand to believe in Christ and rest on Him than if the other Doctrine were supposed for it is not Christs dying for any that warranteth him to believe or is the object of his Faith but it is Gods call requiring faith of him and Gods offer and promise knitting life to the performance of that condition of believing called-for These are contained in Gods revealed Will which is the rule of our practice and the ground of our Faith And according to this Doctrine a hearer of the Gospel hath these grounds for his warrand and there can no other be given even upon the contrary supposition Secondly If he be brought to yeeld to His call to receive His offer and to trust himself to His promise he hath then more solid ground of consolation because of the certain connexion that is betwixt Faith and Salvation than he can have by the other Doctrine which by the interwoven Errors concerning Free-wil the falling away of such as sometime have been true Believers c. is wholly brangled And so supposing him not yet to have closed with Christ he hath the more effectuall motives to engage him thereunto because by so doing all is made sure 2. We answer this Doctrine of particular Redemption to call it so doth never make Salvation impossible to any that will receive Christ and rest on Him but on the contrary though it deny that all men are redeemed or shall be saved yet doth it assert this Universal that all whosoever shall believe are redeemed and shall be saved which certainly doth make the expectation of life through faith in Christ to be the more certain and doth lay the more solid ground for a tossed sinner to cast himself upon when it saith there was never a sinner of any rank or quality that did believe or shall believe in Jesus Christ but he shall be saved from which he may conclude Then if I can or shall believe in Christ I also shall be saved which conclusion will not follow from the other Doctrine And seing this is the very expresse letter of the Gospel whosoever believeth shall be saved there is no ground left to question the same without manifest reflecting upon the faithfulnesse of God 3. We answer If any thing follow from this ground all are not redeemed it is this Therefore all shall not be saved or Therefore all will not believe both which are true And it doth only make Salvation impossible to him who doth not believe in Christ for to such it saith if thou believe not thou shall not be saved neither in such a case hast thou ground to think thy self redeemed and what absurditie is in these yea upon the grounds of the other Doctrine there is none without Faith that can promise themselvs life or comfort themselves in their pretended universall Redemption more than upon the grounds which we have laid down therefore it can never be said that believing in Christ is uselesse according to this Doctrine yea it is asserted to be alwayes usefull and profitable whereas by the opposite grounds it may be often without these comfortable effects following thereupon In the fourth place we Answer That this Objection as much more in this controversie doth flow from a mistake of the true nature of justifying Faith for it supponeth it to be the hearts receiving of and closing with this as a truth that Christ hath died for me in particular and that His death was particularly intended for me This is the more dangerous because it hath been entertained by many and hath been the occasion of mistake even to some great men who have laid this for a ground as Cameron doth on this subject Christus mortuus est pro te si tu id factum credas that is Christ hath died for thee if thou believe it so to be now according to that ground it is impossible but to miscarry both in reference to this Doctrine the Doctrine of Justification and severall other most concerning-concerning-truths It is to be adverted then that when we are called to believe in Christ we are not called instantly to believe that Christ hath offered up Himself as a satisfaction for us in particular but we are to conceive it in this order First We are called to believe the truth of the Gospel and the way of Salvation laid down therein to wit that there is no name under Heaven by which a sinner can be saved but by the Name of Jesus and that yet all who believe in Him shall be justified and saved c. Thus we may apply that word Heb. 11.6 He that cometh to God must first believe that He is c. for if this generall truth be not acknowledged saving Faith wanteth the discoverie of a sufficient and fit object to rest itself upon Secondly We are then called to receive this Christ offered to us in the Gospel and by Faith to be take ourselves to Him so discovered and there as on a solid foundation to rest for the obtaining of Justification and life by the vertue of His satisfaction according to the offer that is made in the Gospel This is the main act of saving Faith whereby a sinner cometh to be entituled to Christ and to the benefits of His death Whereupon thirdly followeth our accepting of the forsaid offer being supposed a warrant to look upon Christ as ours upon the benefits purchased by Him as belonging to us and upon ourselves as actually redeemed by Him none of which before that could have been warrantably concluded but this being supposed there is good ground for it because a sinner by receiving of Christ cometh to have interest in Him and so consequently in all that is His for Christ and His benefits are not separated and therefore except there be ground to bear out this title to Christ Himself there is no warrant to believe that any of His benefits do belong to us Now according to this forsaid order no hearer is ever called to believe what is false Because these three are ever true to wit First That life is certain through Faith in Christ and no other wayes Secondly that one who is called to believe on Him ought to obey and that Gods call is a good ground for that obedience Thirdly This is also a truth that one who hath yeelded may look upon himself as accepted of God and redeemed by Christ Jesus because in the
method forsaid there is warrant to believe all these But if any will invert the order and at first perswade himself that the benefits of Christs purchase do belong to him as being particularly redeemed by His death before he actually rest on him by Faith this will prove but strong presumption and never give title to Christ or any thing that is His but on the contrary greatly provoke the Lord because in all the Word of God there is no promise of Justification Life or Salvation or any benefit of Christs Redemption made to any person but to him that believeth and to do otherwayes is as if a woman that were wooed for marriage should fancie her self to have title and right to all the priviledges of such a mans wife before the marriage were actually consummated or before she had given her formall consent thereunto And so according to these grounds we see that all hearers are not simply and instantly called to believe that Christ did die for them But first to receive Him as their Saviour and then to draw such a conclusion which upon the performance of that condition can never fail From this also we may see the fallacie and weakness of that much tossed vain Objection to wit That which every one is obliged to believe that must be truth But every one is obliged to believe that Christ did die for him in particular Therefore that Christ did die for every one in particular must be a truth This Argument I say dependeth only upon the former mistake of Faith and this being denied that all men are instantly called to believe that Christ died for them in particular when they are called to believe in Him for obtaining of life The strength of it will evanish because supposing that many in the Visible Church which experience doth put out of question do never believe in Christ or by Faith rest on Him for the obtaining of life Then it will follow that many even in the Visible Church are never obliged to believe that Christ hath died for them in particular because none hath warrant to make that application but such as have first betaken themselves by Faith unto Christ whereby the assumption of that Argument is palpably false for it must be so assumed Every man that heareth the Gospel and hath received Christ ought to believe that He hath died for him and so the conclusion will be That Christ hath died for all that believe in Him which is true or it must be That every one that heareth the Gospel is obliged to receive Christ and rest upon Him and upon that condition may expect life which will make nothing to the intended purpose This occasion giveth ground to insist a little further in clearing the extent of the merit of Christs death in respect of the effects thereof and though it be neither possible for us to make every thing fully clear nor pertinent to our purpose long to insist on the same yet the former grounds being laid we may enquire shortly in some things and answer to them with a particular respect to this place First It may be enquired What is the proper effect of Christs satisfaction and that which is purchased thereby to sinners Secondly If this purchase extend to the procuring of Faith and the first Grace as it doth to the procuring of Pardon and Justification Thirdly If it may be said that any benefit in any respect doth redound to any Reprobate from Christs death as the proper effect of that purchase And fourthly If there may be an Uuniversal conditionall Redemption admitted as consistent with the former grounds yet so as the effect thereof is made sure to the Elect and to them only To the first to wit What is the native proper and immediat effect of Christs purchase unto the redeemed We Answer That we conceive it to be not only the procuring of Salvation to be possible to them so that now by the interveening of this satisfaction there is a way for the just God to pardon mens sins without wronging of His Justice which without this could not have been and so some say that by Christs death God is made placabilis or to say so put in a capacity to be pleased or made placable but is not actually appeased or placatus which is the assertion of the Arminians Nor yet is it only to make reconciliation with God upon the condition of believing and Faith in Christ possible that is by this intervening satisfaction to give a ground for Faith to rest upon with hope of obtaining Salvation thereby which otherwayes would not have been profitable had not this satisfaction of Christs procured a new Covenant to be made upon that condition Thus according to some Christ by His death hath procured an object to be held forth to all to be by faith rested upon and hath established this general that all who should believe on Him should be saved and that Faith alone should have Salvation annexed to it in whatsoever person it should be found but such do deny that actually and absolutely He hath redeemed any or procured Faith Justification and Salvation to them But we say further that the immediate and proper fruit and effect of Christs purchase to these for whom He suffered is actuall Redemption and the benefits following thereupon to be applied in due order and manner and not the possibility thereof only First This is clear from the 9. vers of this Chapter where they acknowledge and praise for this that Redemption and Justification c. are not only made possible unto them but that absolutely they are purchased by Christs death for them and that they are actually redeemed to God by His bloud Secondly This doth clear it that by His bloud He is said to make them Kings and Priests unto God which cannot be understood of the possibility only of any priviledge but must take-in the absolute purchase and the actuall conferring thereof in due order and time Hence Revel 1.5 washing from our sins in His bloud is mentioned as the proper effect of His purchase and Justification and Salvation are frequently derived from Christs bloud as from their immediat meritorious cause particularly in that place Isa. 53.11 whereof was spoken a little before And if there were no more but a possibility of Salvation flowing from Christs death then Christ might never have seen His seed or never had satisfaction for the travel of His soul. And if by Christs death only Faith and Salvation should be knit together and so Faith made thereby to have an object proposed to it and that indifferently in respect of all Then it will follow that the grounds of the redeemeds Song would not be Thou hast redeemed us by Thy bloud and made us Kings and Priests c. neither could these be accounted the immediate effects of His purchase but that He hath given them a ground to believe upon and made Salvation certain upon condition of believing which would not
c. and therefore when or where the general truths of the Gospel are believed there is a more readie way to convince and threaten and a greater facility to take with convictions and to tremble at threatnings when the naturall conscience can neither say against the truth it self or the application of it to them But again where the Gospel hath been for a time men are so puft up with the name of Christianity like Laodicea or are satisfied with formality for removing of challenges for grosser evils or with presumption in misapplying the promises that it is not so easie to alarm them with their hazard Reason 3. Gods intention and purpose in sending of the Gospel to a people or place is to conquer and His way of conquering is to catch as it were whole draughts by His net at once as we may see by the many thousands Act. 2.3 and 4. that are gained by one preaching and therefore as He never sends the Gospel but where He hath some to gather so to speak He keepeth the tide and sendeth where and at such time as He hath many together having as it were fitted and trysted them for that end As we may see from Mat. 9.37 38. the fields are first ripened then Labourers are sent to the Harvest Every time is not Harvest-time and therefore not a ripening time but when He hath ripened a Kingdom Town or Parish then and not till then ordinarily thrusts He out His Labourers who speedily cut down the ripened grain But as the Harvest doth not alwayes continue so neither doth this ripening for a Ministers successe is not alwayes according to His pains but according to the ripnesse of the Field he labours in and therefore he may when the Harvest is past be at more pains in the gleaning of a reaped Field than at first to gather whole sheaves Reason 4. Because then ordinarily people are in more capacity to profit by the Gospel at least in a lesse incapacity than when without fruit they have lived for a time under it for when it edifieth them not through their corruption they grow more hard and cold more secure and presumptuous in respect of themselves more prejudged in reference to the Word and the carriers of it and can abide freedom lesse patiently than before as we may see by the Churches of Galatia who at first received Paul as an Angel of God Chap. 4.14 and so far he prevailed with them as to make them give up themselves in profession to Christ with much seeming zeal vers 15. yet afterward these same Galatians being Christians took worse Pauls freedoom vers 16. and were not so easily even by him brought over a fault in Christianity to be singly Christians as they were at first to be Christians This being ordinary where the Word cometh and bettereth not folks condition the longer they live under it the greater will be their incapacity of getting good by it Isa. 55. Reason 5. Which followeth upon this Gods giving up a people Judicially that they who have loved darknesse rather than light though light came into the world should be given up as it is Isa. 6. To see and not perceive to hear and not to understand which is to have means and not to profit by them or as it is Isa. 29.10 to be cast into a deep sleep so that all visions become as a sealed book unto them This cause hath divers steps in some lesse and in some more according as they continue to thwart with the light of God and to imprison it in unrighteousnesse Rom. 1.18 Hearers had need to advert what use they make of this Gospel many sad proofs of this truth are amongst them young ones and beginners had need to be watchfull if they thrive not at their entry by this Word before the scroof grow over their hearts it is a hundreth to one as may be seen in experience if ever it do them good Ministers at their entry to a place and the people with whom they enter had need to be bussie every time of the year will not be Harvest-time to them 7. From the order that the Lord keepeth when judgements and sad dispensations are coming you may see though there be three sad for one comfortable yet He beginneth with the comfortable offer of His Grace Hence Observe That in Gods order the offer of Grace cometh first He is content to do folks good if they do not reject it the white horse goeth before the red or any other This is His way to sinners First to offer Peace before War which is His practice to you and so it is now the time of your visitation LECTURE III. Vers. 3. And when he had opened the second seal I heard the second beast say Come and see 4. And there went out another horse that was red and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth and that they should kill one another and there was given unto him a great sword FOlloweth now the opening of the second seal which hath the same type to wit an horse and a rider as the former but very diverse in respect of the other particulars as by comparing them is clear That this and the two following do hold forth sad dispensations will be easily granted by these who consider the descriptions of them The main thing to clear then is 1. Whether these hard things do principally point at judgements on the world for despising of the offer of Grace made under the former seal or 2. Persecution stirred and moved by the world against the Professors of Christ or 3. Gods judgements on persecuters These three in their causes and in the events are so linked together that one of them is not long without the other and it is no great inconsistence to take in all The world despiseth Grace God plagueth it for that the Heathens blame the Christians for those evils being stirred up by the devil against them as the only troublers of the world and contemners of their gods which putteth them to persecute and then the Lord letteth loose all sorts of judgements on them as was hinted before Yet more especially considering the scope which is to shew the condition of the Church and the arguments which are in the Text we think it specially setteth out the sufferings of the Church For 1. it is the same type in all with the former to wit a horse differing only in accidentals as colour c. It is most like then that they set forth the same thing and belong to the same subject to wit the Church but as she is diversly affected according to the diverse description of circumstances 2. The fifth seal cleareth this for they suffer here who cry for vengance there But that is the Church who are supponed by that crying to have been long under suffering before that which can be no other but the sufferings holden out by these seals 3. It agreeth best with that contemporary
wrath the day of His wrath is come and who can abide Him what meaneth the great part of men who hazard without fear upon known causes of wrath and can live at feed with God There is a necessity of being at peace with Him this wrath of His one day will be found unsupportable Obs. 7. Judgements oftentimes fall sorest upon the great ones of the world and these that in mens account might be thought most secure Kings great Men and mighty Men are especially stricken at partly because they use to be ring-leaders in the sin partly it serveth most to the abasing of creatures and the manifesting of Gods Justice and Power partly to speak so they think more strange of it 8. The stouter men be in their opposition to Christ and the more secure and confident they be in their sin oftentimes when wrath cometh they are found the more desperate cowards Because the more security be under sin the more force and power is added unto the challenge of the conscience when it is wakened There is a great odds here between the language of these gallants who now cannot abide the face of the Lamb and the former braggings wherein often they have defyed the Son of God 9. There is no condition so hard that the proudest men in the world will decline nay by the contrary they will desire it that they may escape the wrath of God when once the sense of it breaketh in upon them Some gallants stand now upon their points and credit and will not flee where there credit is concerned though it should draw no sin upon them but there will be no such sticking in the day of wrath men will be glad to flee to the basest corner of the earth they would choose that the greatest mountain or rock should fall upon them and think no shame to cry for it yea annihilation would be welcome to them to prevent their appearing before Jesus Christ Men great Men and stout Men will have a far other language if we may suppose it at their appearing before Him than now in their grandour it were possible for them to imagine Obs. 10. When God reckoneth He needeth neither witnesse nor tormenter He hath both these in the consciences of His most desperate enemies What an awband is it that God hath over all men in respect of their consciences which being armed by God against them would be worse to encounter with than thousands of Armies This maketh men flee when none persueth 11. No King nor great one in the world upon any entreaty will be exempted from judgement but appear they must even though they cannot abide it What a tortour must it be to be distracted between these two A necessity of appearing and an utter impossibility to endure that appearing Certainly if men were to live and speak after some experience of these things they might be supposed to become much wiser in the ordering of themselves or at least in giving their advice to others than they were before as the rich Glutton Luke 16. giveth advertisement to his brethren out of hell 12. There is a day coming when there will be no trysting when the Lamb cometh in wrath to reckon with despisers He persueth in wrath and they would fain flee but there is no treating aimed at on either side 13. This day of wrath is certainly coming and will come though it seem to be delayed We may well take all the instances of particular judgements as pledges of that day Men will once find they have wronged themselves that they have so little believed this great Article of Faith 14. When that day cometh there will be great odds between Gods people and the rest of the world The Kings and great ones who despised them on earth would be glad in that day to exchange Thrones with the meanest Saint and will never attain it Wrath when it cometh will make the world know of what worth Godlinesse is and what an excellent thing it is to have a good conscience and what advantage there is in having peace made with God through Christ Jesus These are the true and faithfull sayings of God and who believeth them not now will one day with the rich Glutton find the truth of them LECTURE I. CHAP. VII Vers. 1. ANd after these things I saw four Angels standing on the four corners of the earth holding the four winds of the earth that the wind should not blow on the earth nor on the sea nor on any tree AT the entry of the former Chapter we divided this prophesie into three principall prophesies holding forth and relating unto three principal periods of the condition of the Militant Church The first relating to the Churches sufferings under Heathens which was expressed by the seals whereof we have spoken The second concerning Antichrists rise and dominion holden forth by the trumpets The third concerning the Churches outgate from under that storme is contained under the vials These two are yet to come And because that second was a sad storme which might shake the Faith of Gods People if they were not strengthned against it The Lord armeth them in reference thereunto by laying down these two strong consolations 1. By shewing His care of His Church in providing for the safety of His own before the storm should come 2. By shewing the certainty of the Churches outgate from and victory over that strait Which two take up the Chapter and are put together in a little view and hint before the Lord go on to describe the storme it self that thereby the faith of Gods people and their consolation in reference thereto might be the more strengthned and confirmed If we look to the order of revealing the matter contained in this Chapter it doth belong to the sixth seal the seventh not being yet opened But if we look unto the matter it self and the scope we will find it belong to the prophesies following as preparatory to them and set down before the opening of the seventh seal To make the transition from the one prophesie to the other the more discernable and also to make the prophesie coming the more to be adverted unto and the easier to be understood The Chapter then hath these two parts 1. The Lords taking care of His Church and Elect before the coming of a storm by separating of them and as it were by His own seal setting them apart from others that they should not be hurt by it And because these prophesies represent the events to Iohn as acted therefore is this care of Gods also represented to him in that same manner before these events come This first is from the beginning to the ninth verse and the second part from the ninth verse to the end holdeth forth a calm and flourishing estate of the Church after that storm in respect of number beauty and freedom in the serving of God which relateth First unto the Church on earth and in part foresheweth the spreading of the Gospel after
quod à tempore Apostolorum 2. Quia generalior fere enim nulla terra est quà haet secta non serpit 3. Quia cum omnes aliae sectae immanitate blasphemiarum in Deum audientibus borrorem inducunt haec scilicet Leonistarum magnam babet speciem pietatis â—ò quod coram hominibus justè vivunt benè de Deo omnia credunt omnes articulos qui in symbolo continentur solummodo Romanam Ecclesiam blasphemant ac oderunt cui multitudo facilis est ad credendum This Reinerius as Bellarmine asserteth praefat ad libros de pontif wrote above three hundred years before him If we look Bellarmine in that preface ad libros de pontif and sundry others of their writers we will find them very near draw a series of opposers of this usurped Authority of the Popes It is true sometimes grosser faults are imputed to these Waldenses and Pauperes de Lugduno out of hatred than they were guilty of yet if we will consider Bernards writings against them Sermon 65. and 66. in Cantica and Epist. 240. it is evident that no manifest grosse crime is imputed to these beside their opposing the errors of of the Church of Rome but such as they were calumniate with by the ignorance or iniquity of these times as the great Historician Thuanus doth vindicate them 3. If we will look particularly to the Church-storie we will almost ever find some visible party stand against the Church of Rome for the Eastern Greek Churches did never fully submit till the second Councel of Nice which was Anno 786. according to some or 789. according to others Neither was that submission full without all contradiction nor of long continuance for Bellarmine in the preface formerly cited reckoneth their secession or schism as he calleth it to have begun about the 800 year and to have continued long after In the year 1439. the Greek Churches being affrighted of the Turk sent Embassadours to treat with the Pope and these in the West for supplie and these to obtain it condescended to some articles different from their Churches as the acknowledging of the Pop's supremacie the doctrine of Purgatory and procession of the holy Ghost and the practice of unleavened Bread for which they were Excommunicated by their own Churches while the Councel of Basil sate About the year 1170. The Waldenses or Pauperes de Lugduno began before that close of the Greek Churches with the Pope as Bellarmine ibid. citeth out of Reinerius The occasion was this one Waldus being stricken with fear by the suddain death of one walking in company with him was put more seriously to seek God and make for dying whereby he came to discover the vanity of Poperie as the badges of antichristianity and so to drink in the sincere way of Faith in Christ these who followed him though exceedingly persecuted yet continued in the Alpes and other mountanous places and in Province at Merindol and the parts about it from the year 1200. till the year 1545. These after hearing of Luthers preaching and doctrine sent two of their Ministers to him with whom generally in their Doctrine they agreed These continue also to this day in the valleys of Piedmont Angrongue c. under the Duke of Savoy After him followed the Albigenses in France Anno 1190. according to some who did both in their disputes and sufferings confirm that the Pope of Rome was the Antichrist and that Rome was Babylon and also sometimes by armes did defend themselves as in the memorable seige of Tholouse where God wonderfully protected many of them against great violence After them arose Iohn Wicklif an Englishman Anno 1370. Bellarmine calleth it 1390. he revived the Doctrine of the Waldenses and Albigenses and it took such rooting in many places especially in Bohem Hungary Germanie c. that they came to have great Armies in the fields and after that Iohn Husse and Ierome of Prague who came to the Councel of Constance upon the Emperour Sigismound his safe conduct were contrary thereunto burnt they brought great Armies to the fields under the command of Zisca he would have had fourty thousand men under him he defeated the Pope Emperour and other Popish Princes in eleven severall battels although he had lost both his eyes they continued also strong after him under one Procopius Magnus and were called Thaborites At the Councel of Basil they had granted unto them the Scripture in their own language Priests Marriage and communion in both Elements c. All Bohemia were divided in three sorts one acknowledging the Pope fully another seeking Reformation in some points of Doctrine the third accounted him Antichrist They continued till after Luthers dayes who wrote to them to confirm them as Sleidan recordeth lib. 3. pag. 34. neither was their former courage daunted till division fell first in among their own Ministers of the new and old City of Prague and afterward among the Souldiers Lastly Although we could deduce no such thing by storie yet being here asserted to be during that time we are to believe that it was truth even as there were seven thousand during Iezebels persecution who had not bowed their knee to Baal who yet possibly might be unknown to others as to Elias till the Lord revealed it to him in the generall without shewing their names or where they dwelt It remaineth that we should make some application of the witnesses killing and their Resurrection afterward which according to the former grounds falleth immediately before the year 1558. in which time we will find these things to fall out 1. Anno 1546. Began that war between the Emperour and the Duke of Saxon Landgrave of Hessen and other Protestants in Germanie the year thereafter the Duke is defeated and taken prisoner the Landgrave is shut up in prison the whole face of affairs is changed Protestant Magistrates exauctorated many hundreds of Ministers banished and others put in prison if they did not receive the interim which with a safe conscience they could not do so that the face of affairs was very sad the Protestants were made a prey their Castles demolished a great and incredible number of Cannons and other Armes taken from them and they and prisoners with them sent out through severall corners of Europe as trophees of the Popes absolute victorie and subduing of Lutheranism whereupon great insulting followed through the Popish world At this time also persecution was at a great height in France in the Netherlands under the Duke of Alba and in England during the reign of Queen Marie which began in the year 1554. It is marked by some to wit by Alstediuâ— Chron. restium that from the year 1540. and some years after there were 900,000 Christians massacred for the cause of Religion so that the Professors of the Gospel had not suffered more than they did immediately before that year 1560. having standing Laws in all Kingdoms against them forefeitours proscriptions banishments death c.
Therefore it s mine This will serve rather wholly to overturn it as is said and till from Scripture they make out their affirmative the assertion will stand good yet we shall a little descend to consider their grounds and concessions in this point and we will find that the weight of their conclusion that this power doth belong to the Pope doth rest upon Traditions Fathers Councels and especially the Popes own determination That the Scripture giveth such a power to the Pope of Rome before it can be believed as of divine authority these three must be made out by it See Greg. de Val. disp 1. punct 7. part 37. 1. That Peter not only as an Apostle with the rest but as head and supream over all the Apostles was furnished with and established in that Authority by Jesus Christ over them and the Catholick Church as their head 2. That Peter sat and had this Authority and exercised it at Rome as peculiarly the seat of this Authority and that this supremacy in Peter was no extraordinary priviledge to his person but to be derived and continued in his successors to the end of the world 3. That only the Pope of Rome is Peters successor in this supream power and that by divine Authority it belongeth to that seat and to him who shall sit there To passe the first two which yet can never be made out by Scripture the third also must be made out or it will not bear this conclusion that it is of faith to believe that the Pope is invested with this power But now there is no shadow of this in Scripture and therefore when Bellar. cometh to make out this he foundeth it on these four to wit 1. Apostolick tradition 2. General◠Councels 3. Popes Decrees or Statutes 4. Fathers and antiquity But none of these are Scripture and in effect all resolveth on this the Pope appointeth himself head and successor Ergo he is head c. for it is well known nothing is received as Apostolick tradition but what he decreeth to be so Not are any generall Councels accepted as infallible but such as are approven by him and so far as approven See Bellar. De authoritate Concil lib. 2. cap. 1. And Gregorius de Val. casteth Traditions and Scripture but as owned by his Authority much lesse then will they admit any Father that differeth from him Hence sundry Councels and Acts as that of Chalcedon and Constantinople in these Acts wherein Constantinople was equalled to Rome are rejected by them on this ground because they were not approven by the Pope So it runneth in this circle Whence hath the Popes this power or whence is it clear to us so as to warrant our faith that they have that power They answer in sum from themselves or from such grounds as resolve on themselves because say they their power is such as determineth all these things If it be asked further How getteth these Popes power to determine so and what warrandeth us to rest on their determination Say they because they are Peters successors in that universall office If it be asked again How is that made out that they are his successors Say they by such determinations we know him to be so In a word these determinations give him power and he giveth them power to do so and so about yet this is the main thing to wit the application of this power to Rome and particularly to the Bishop thereof that is here questioned and though possibly it were not requisit that all the successors should be other wayes known than by Historie yet the ratio successionis as Bellar. calleth it to wit Why the Bishop of Rome hath this peculiar Authority beyond others that would be known if it be either of divine or catholick faith which two are ill distinguished by Bellarmine If it be objected to them These cannot ground a divine warrant to make a thing be believed to be jure divino or of divine authority Because to make a thing certain to us certitudine fidei and to be believed as such there is a twofold certainty required 1. An objective surenesse or certainty in the thing it self 2. Subjective in them that believe that is such certainty as proceedeth from such grounds as cannot cause a mistake or fail any which no humane testimony can bear out and therefore only Gods testimony can give warrant for this Bellar. De Pontif. lib. 2. cap. 12. seeing this doth go about to distinguish between a divine warrant or else de jure divino and to be of catholick faith and saith though it be not the first fortè saith he as loath to speak it out Yet it is the second and to be believed under pain of damnation upon the grounds foresaid His words are Successio est à Christo qui uno actu constituit Petrum successores ejus in Pontificatu ad finem mundi ratio successionis i. e. cur Papa succedit quia est Romanus non est ex prima institutione Christi quia alibi potuit Petrus fixisse sed ex facto Petri and calleth it not improbable to be setled at Rome by Christs command But our question is How it is evident that this Pope hath ground to claim that succession or Quomodo constat cum Petri successorem esse to which this saith nothing therefore addeth he that though fortè Papa Romanus quia Romanus non sit jure Divino tamen si quaeratur Si Romanus Pontifex jure Divino sit caput omnium Ecclesiarum omnino saith he respondendum est quia nibil aliud requiritur quam ut ipsa successio sit jure Divino Yea there is more required before that succession can be believed to be peculiar to that Sea seing they go together and this would be evidenced to be so for we ask not now If there be succession but why the Pope carrieth himself as successor and where is his warrant At last it resolveth in traditions and Councels which are so and to be esteemed so because he decreeth them so and this is the ground of this article of their faith unto them notwithstanding that the Scripture is silent in it which yet containeth all things needfull to eternall life Ioh. 5.39 20 21. And for that instance that Bellar. giveth of a catholick faith as distinguished from a divine faith to wit whether Paul left a cloak at Troas or not It is true this was a truth before Paul wrote that epistle and is yet a truth not simply necessary to salvation in it self yet considering it as revealed in the Word the believing of it now is of divine authority and hath a divine warrant which it would not have had if it had not been in the Word although it had been a truth in it self So that when it cometh to this that the Pope is successor to Peter that is only essayed to be proven by authorities See Greg. de Val. disput 1. De objecto fidei punct 7. pag. 35. and
Luke wrote the Acts yet is it not for nought that the Lord hath left it unrecorded that we might thereby know it was not necessary to be believed and therefore any conclusion which supposeth it to be necessary to be believed is not necessary except we rub on the wisdom of God who recordeth lesser things than this And therefore a thing may be truth and yet not being writen is not necessarily to be believed but with a humane faith as other histories at the most whereas no article of faith is thus grounded because the object of our Faith or the ratio why we believe such a thing is not simply because such a thing is truth for many facts are truth which we are not obliged to believe but because God hath revealed such a thing and testifieth it to be Truth Faith resting on that testimony and giving credit to Him that testifieth The other Conclusion to wit That the Church of Rome for these many years past and presently is the whore intended here the same argument will make it out If the Rome that is present be the Rome unto which all the properties here mentioned do agree and at this time Then this Rome is that whorish Church But unto the Rome that now is and hath been these many generations past agree both the properties and time in which it is to be fulfilled Ergo. The properties given to this whorish Church are four That she hath her Court at Rome and sitteth on the seven-hilled City yet also exercising dominion over many other Nations vers 15. but differently so as Rome is here peculiar in another other manner the fountain and splendour of that Kingdom 2. That it is Rome turned a whore and fallen from the simplicity she had and to such an apostasie of which Rome is the head and chief seat 3. That it is Rome claiming a superiority over all those of her association or apostasie and deriving her errors to them and they keeping a dependance on her she is and it is when she is Mother and Metropolis of all vers 5. 4. It is Rome then when the Emperour hath ceased to command it and another Government or Governour hath succeeded him there 5. It is when ten Kings are withdrawn from the Empire and have given their subjection to Rome on a spiritual account She that is Rome in that case is the Whore But all these properties agree to Rome not as heathenish but as popish and to the Pope as head thereof And therefore this is neither to be applyed to Rome heathenish nor to an Antichrist to come but to that which is And it is not unobservable in Gods providence that considering the speciall sibnesse that is holden forth here both betwixt this city Rome the Woman Whore and Beast that yet the Popish Church should glory in that title of the Roman Church and many of them dispute that it is impossible to separate their Pope from that very City or that elsewhere he might choose to sit and continue Pope and those who in this grant most do affirm that he must and would still be Roman Bishop and that the Church would still be the Church of Rome although that city were possessed by Turks By this all may the more easily discern what Church or defection they are who have such relation to and dependance on Rome at this time when this prophesie is fulfilled ut supra Before we leave this Chapter it may possibly not be unmeet that coronidis vice we consider how the Popish Writers do interpret and apply it wherein they are wonderfully straitned and perplexed It was their common opinion to understand by this City or whore the city or multitude of the wicked generally This is followed by Thomas Aquinas Hugo Card. Lyranus Haymo and many others but the latter Writers since Reformation brake forth have been constrained to cast that opinion because this City is so particularly circumstantiated as to point at an individuall City to speak so and she is contradistinguished from many Nations and Kings who yet are certainly a great part of the wicked in the world and also Chap. 18. when she is destroyed there are many wicked living and lamenting her destruction and standing at a distance from her Upon these and the like grounds the most learned of them are generally since that time brought to expound it of Rome and as Viegas saith impellimur aliam interpretationem excogitare and Ribera saith Interpretes coguntur c. Alcasar in locum all whom with others we cited before at the beginning of the Chapter interpreteth it so and citeth twentie Authors of their most eminent men for it Also Corn. à Lapide who addeth many to these cited by Alcasar amongst whom are Suarez in 3. part tom 2. disp 5. Sixtus Senensis lib. 2. pag. 88. Pererius Salmeron and others All which take Babylon in all this prophesie to hold out Rome and in this they and we agree as to the generall 2. There is again difference amongst themselves how to conceive Rome here so as to save their Pope and the present Rome from this application Hence some which is most received apply it to heathen Rome Others as Ribera Blasius Viegas and Cornelius à Lapide apply it to Rome under Antichrist who therefore say that at or before his coming Rome shall turn heathen and desert the Pope and be destroyed by Antichrist or by the Kings before his coming Their reasons are because it looketh to such a state of Rome as then was to be fulfilled in Iohn's time and therefore cannot be understood of heathenish Rome but because this opinion supposeth Rome to be involved in defection which cannot stand with her infallibility and would shake all seing some plead so much for Romes eternity and make all suspicious for if Rome fall then may it not be fallen already Therfore others cast it as Alcasar and those named by him applying it to what heathenish Rome suffered at or before Constantines time or after by the Goths And Bellarmine seemeth to favour this lib. 2. cap. 2. de Pont. Rom. Those who take it thus expound the seven hills literally but in other things the differ 1. Some take the beast for the devil but others considering that the devil and the beast are differenced and that this beast is cast into the lake long before the devil and that the scope is to point out some eminent opposer of the Church for some particular time therefore they do in generall apply it to Antichrist as also that first beast Chap. 13. and some make the last a false prophet that maketh way for him so do they of that beast Chap. 11.7 and expresly say he is one of the seven heads here mentioned and also called the eight because his nature differeth from them and his hurt to the Church exceedeth them 2. Concerning the seven heads they differ some applying it to the seven tyrannous Kingdoms or Empires Egypt Assyria Babylon c.
Clergie-men their lamentation for their temporal losse and hazard also to wit both lucrum cessans and damnum emergens which two are the great grounds of lamentation among the men of the world He proceedeth ver 15. to the lamentation of the Ship-men and under-rowers of Peters Bark as they call it or inferiour Clergie-men and Sub-ministers of the Church of Rome who have their standing by this trade ver 17. and their lamentation is much more as having â— more sensible touch of their own misery in hers They cast dust on their heads possibly being more blinded than others and regrate the desolation of that City that had no equall in her pump and hath now no equal in her ruine yet so they lament as it appeareth what pincheth them most She made all that traded in ships rich ver 19. not simply all who traded in outward things but all her dependers in Abbacies and Convents Priests Jesuits and all inferiour orders and officers that were servants to this stately City in her merchandise and providing for her venting of her wares and carrying them through the world and bringing back returnes for the adorning of her again all in that Seâ— are made rich So the Merchants suit with the wares the Ship-men and Sea must be suitable to both imploying a trade and traffick of Rome sinfull to her and inriching to her servants and merchants occupied in it These Ship-mens standing dependeth on Rome and her ruine is theirs for all of that sort live by her trade and that is the change of her Merchants from which it is clear that that Sea is not literally to be taken here but so as serveth to this Antichristian trade and end of merchandizing in the forms laws and Ecclesiastick state of that Whore and her Clergie who are most usefull in that imployment and made up by it The Orders are the ships and men that trade The Sea is the spirituality under which notion they trade Hence also we may see what trade inricheth Rome most to wit of souls and what holdeth on its Merchants to wit self interest it giveth them such a being as they have in worldly esteem and grandour and what wonder it be sad to them to part with such a trade The third part of the Angels denounciation followeth vers 20. setting out the greatnesse and fulnesse of this ruine by the great ground of joy it should give and justly give to all Gods people formerly oppressed by her The words are by an Apostrophe spoken to others than these he was speaking to in the words before By Heavens Apostles and Prophets may figuratively be understood the great glory God shall have out of Romes destruction so that it shall affect heaven and be ground to them of joy or rather by heaven is meaned the Church so they come in as obeying this Chap. 19. and they sing And by Apostles and Prophets is understood their successors who are to be in the Church unto the end The reason why they should joy is because in this judgement God hath had respect to them to vindicate them and to liberate them and is to take vengeance on her for them If it be asked how she to wit Rome antichristian was guilty of the bloud of the Prophets and Apostles vers 20. and all Saints vers 24 Or 2. How they are to rejoyce at her destruction Answ. 1. She is guilty of the Apostles bloud as of the Prophets bloud though she never actually shed the bloud of any of them in these three 1. because there is but one body and who wrongeth any of the members on that common account as such he wrongeth the head and all the rest for they have one cause 2. Because they who wrong one they virtually wrong all and their malice would reach to all if they had them as Matth. 23.31 ye are the children of them that killed the prophets for ye shall slay me and would have done so to them if ye had had them 3. They are accessory in serving themselves heirs to the judgements of all persecuters who have all one lot and who come last in come in on the same score with the former so is the generation that Christ lived in guilty of all the bloud was shed from Abel's time Matth. 23. unto that For answer to the second they rejoyce not carnally or selfishly But 1. for that they see the glory of Gods justice manifested 2. That they and especially the truth they suffered for and the threatnings they had pronounced in his name do appear now to be vindicated and ratified and God owneth them which for a long time was not believed in the world Thus he hath judged your judgment that is there was still a controversie between them and Babylon God cometh and now decideth for them and declareth it was truth they suffered for and not errour 3. That by this mean way is made to the spreading of Christs Kingdom the snare is removed from many a poor soul. This is joyfull to them and upon this account they formerly prayed for it and this addeth to their joy when God now heareth them and maketh it appear He heareth them The last part of the Chapter followeth from ver 21. by the second Angel who by word and sign confirmeth this finall and utter destruction of Rome The sign goeth first the word next and the cause of it is set down in the close The sign is a mighty Angels taking up a great stone like a milstone and casting it in the sea So that as this heavy stone which is thrown down by a mighty Angel to the bottom of the sea cannot but suddainly fall and not arise so sure shall this fall of Babylon or Romes destruction be and that with violence and she shall no more be found This is the Angels exposition vers 21. as taken from Ier. 51.63 64. and spoken of old Babylon He proceedeth to amplifie this desolation ver 22 23. out of Ier. 25.10 11. where the sad desolation of Iudah is prophesied in these almost the same tearms 1. There shall be no more chearfulnesse and mirth there 2. No tradsmen-usefull for mans life there 3. No milstone or provision meet for entertaining mans life there 4. No light of a candle or what is comfortable but absolute darknesse there 5. No marrying or chearfull solemnity of that kind without out which there can be no continuing city These particulars are instanced according to the manner of the Prophets to set out desolation and its continuing in the highest degree The causes follow and they are three great ones the first is vers 23. for thy merchants were the great men of the earth whereby it is clear 1. These are not common traders but such as become by this trade to be and are accounted great men on the earth though not in heaven 2. That it must be something sinfull and peculiarly sinfull to Rome which is not to be found elsewhere it being given here as the
Pallace and the first-born shall be gathered together By Called here are understood 1. those who are effectually so for they are blessed and glorified Rom. 8.30 Yea 2. called even outwardly Now they of the Jews that shall be called to the Supper are more happy than those who were called at the first to the Dinner for God shall make them generally more obedient and the iron sinew shall be taken out of their neck and the vail from off their eyes and they shall generally yeeld to this Call and flow like doves to their windows to this Gospel therefore are they blessed and happy Thus these who are called by this happinesse are not only opposed to these who are not called at all or only to such who are called and not chosen Matth. 20. But this second Call of the Jews is opposed thus to the first Mat. 22. which is in a word that the Jews after their re-ingrafting shall be generally more blessed by being made to yeeld to the call of the Gospel than those who did live under the first offer thereof So the things prophetically confirmed are two 1. That there is a second calling of the Jews or feast of Christs Marriage to come beside what was at first at the Dinner a new offer to be made to the Jews before the end of the world and a new and most beautifull lustre to be put upon the Church 2. That they shall be blessed and happy beyond the former Jews that shall be called to this as is said This truth is confirmed two wayes 1. by a speciall command to write Write saith he as Chap. 14.13 importing a singular excellency in the thing 2. A great certainty in it that it may be recorded ad futuram râ—i memoriam as Paul signifieth in expressing that of the Jews calling Rom. 11. 3. A difficulty in believing or receiving the truth so pressed And a second way he confirmeth this is These are the true sayings of God it is from the Author of them and His nature and the nature of all His sayings they are saith he not Mens nor Angels words for there might be a lie in both these but they are Gods all whose words are Truth He Himself being Truth He Himself being God who cannot lie and yet as in these sayings concerning the happinesse of these called there is as it were a singular eminency of His faithfulnesse so in speciall these are His true sayings and will take effect The 10. ver is notable by expressing the infirmity of an eminent Saint and the Angels rejecting of that worship intended to him by Iohn with severall reasons as if purposly he would rectifie men in that point of will-worship in giving that religious adoration to creatures though most excellent which alone is due to God Iohn's infirmity is set down in these words And I fell at his feet to worship him Worship implyeth three things 1. An act in the judgement taking up an excellency in the object worshipped 2. An act of the will yeelding it conformly to that apprehended excellency 3. An externall act of the body This may be common to all sorts of worship Further we may consider a twofold adoration or worship mentioned in Scripture that is allowable one is Religious and is a speciall duty due to God and commanded in the first Table of the Law the other is Civil which is due to creatures and commanded in the second Table Again this second sort is twofold the first is that which proceedeth from a reverencing of men for their stations or relations whatever their qualifications be as Magistrats Ministers Parents great Men c. The second is a reverentiall worshipping of men for their qualifications of wisdom and holinesse so we respect good men though they be not great as Act. 2.47 Such living Saints get and in a greater measure Angels may have when they appear such was that which Abraham and Lot gave to the Angels Gen. 18. and 19. supposing them to be men All these are lawfull There is also an idolatrous and sinfull worship and that is when what is due to the Creator is given to any creature and that either more grosly to Idols Images c. called worshipping of devils or more subtil to Saints as that of Cornelius to Peter Act. 10. and that to Paul and Barnabas Act. 14. and is also of diverse sorts This here is not of the first two sorts for it is not condemnable to worship God nor to give holy Men and Angels due reverence But it is this third sort an unlawfull worship as appeareth by the Angels rejecting it with so much zeal and earnestnesse these two wayes expressed 1. By a vehement prohibition See thou do it not there is no more in the Originall but See no an abrupt cutted expression such as is used when men hasten to prevent something they abhor and would fain prevent 2. It is expressed by the pressing arguments he useth which are two 1. This is not my due to be so worshipped I am saith the Angel thy fellow-servant not thy Lord and the fellow-servant of thy brethren that have the testimony of Iesus and are imployed in his Ministery we have but one Ministery 1. The Angels to the Prophets then the Prophets to the Church Therefore are Ministers called Angels and Angels Ministers The second argument is taken from Gods prerogative to whom only such worship is due Wâ—rship God saith he I am not God and that is alone due to Him therefore give it not to me but to Him allowing by the one argument no such worship to creatures and by the other appropriating it all to God He confirmeth in the close his arguments especially the first thus For the testimony of Iesus is the Spirit of Prophesie which may be thus understood the Spirit of Prophesie and revealing of these things is not mine but it is Jesus Christs hence it may be called the testimony of Iesus as belonging peculiarly to Him therefore worship is not due to me who am but a servant with thee Or to the same purpose reading the words as they lye I am thy fellow-servant for the testimony of Jesus or the ministery of the Gospel called so for its bearing witness to Christ in which respect Ministers are often called Witnesses See Chap. 22.8 is the Spirit of prophesie that is is also His gift and way of revealing secrets and edifying of others as this more immediat message which I bear is they are of the same nature and kind of service and therefore from these who are imployed in one of them religious worship is not due to the other they being fellow-servants For more clear opening the doctrine contained in the words it may be asked 1. If Iohn sinned 2. What sort of sin 3. How he being such an eminent servant of Christ and in the midst of such revelations fell into it First That he sinned we suppose is clear 1. in that he never fell to worship an Angel before