in the eares of the Lord from off the Earth And so all their Narratives of their extraordinary Victories and most fortunate successes in Ingland Ireland and Scotland do not prove them to be the Saints of God nor their doings acceptable in his sight but they do sufficiently prove that they have made Warre with the Saints and have overcome them and as the Prophet Daniel hath typically prophesied of the Beast The Parallel Dan. 7.25 2 Thes 2.3 have worn out the Saints of the most high and they may confirm the faith of those that believe them to be the Beast here spoken of and the great Antichrist that is prophefied of by the Apostle Yet to shew the weakness of flesh and blood and the blindness of frail man to understand and to judge of things the Holy Ghost saith v. 8. that the Victories and successes of the Beast do so far prevail with all that dwell upon the Earth that is all earthly and worldly minded men And as H. Grotius rightly saith morem ejus imitari that they are moved thereby to worship the Beast that is to admire him to adhere unto him and to assist him in all his projects and persecution of the Saints which is done as the spirit of God saith by all those whose names are not written in the Book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the World that is by all carnall and worldly men that are not inlightned with the truth of Gods spirit But I would advise both them and all men else seriously to consider how fearfull is the condition of those Worshipers and assistants of the Beast when as God himself doth testifie they are not in the Catalogue of Gods Children but are bletted out of his Book as Reprobates to be tormented with the Beast in the Lake of fire burning with brimstone for evermore And therefore our good God gives a Caveat to all the Servants of Christ in the next verse saying if any man have an ear to hear that is a will and desire to hear let him hear that is so attentively and considerately that he might rightly understand what he heareth for that is not a matter of small moment and slightly to be passed over but they that have any regard of their eternall salvation or desire to avoid everlasting destruction ought carefully to examine who are meant by the Beast and then seriously to weigh in what sad and lamentable condition the Worshippers and adherents of this Beast do remain in Then for the comfort of the persecuted distressed and subjugated banished Captives and for a just reward and retaliation to the oppressing Conquerours Of the end and downfall of the Beast that is the body of the Antichrist the spirit of God addeth v. 10. He that leadeth into Captivity shall go into Captivity and he that killeth with the Sword must be killed with the Sword for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth and you know the Proverb must is for the King truth it self hath spoken it that it must be so and he hath spoken it often therefore it shall undoubtedly be performed and the Beast shall not rule for ever Let my Reader judge if this Prophesie of the downfall of the Beast be not now fulfilled blessed be our good God for it nor the persecuted Saints be oppressed for ever but the Saints shall be delivered out of the hands of the Beast and the Beast shall be excluded out of his Dominion and shall receive his pay when God the just avenger of all wrongs and specially of all blood unjustly spilt shall render their due deserts unto all the members assistants and adherents of this outragious monstrous Beast in the time that they look not for it onely let the Saints with patience constantly expect it and with faith assuredly believe it even as the Holy Ghost hath said Here is the patience and the faith of the Saints i. e. patience quietly to suffer while they are under the rule and the rod of the Beast and faith undoubtedly to believe the dethroning and the downfall of the Beast which will be but the beginning of his sorrowes when as his greater punishment and destruction is still behind and I shall more fully declare it unto you hereafter Liber Tertius CHAP. I. Who is to be understood by this beast of the earth not Mahomet nor the Idolatrous Priests of the heathen Temple when S. John was banished into Patmos That the Preachers of the antichrist and not the Bishop of Rome and his Clergy but the assembly of Presbiters Independants and Lay Preachers are the Prophets of the first beast when the seed of this beast of the earth was first sown and when it became first apparant in these parts and that this beast of the earth is far worse then the first beast that arose out of the sea THen after that the Evangelist had exprest the forsaid particulars of the seven headed and ten horned beast 4. The vision of the second beast which is as the soul of the Antichrist he proceedeth verse 11. to tell us of another vision how he saw 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another beast coming out of the earth where the holy Ghost followeth the same method as he did with the Prophet Ezechiel Ezech. 8.6.13 15. to shew him greater abomination then he had formerly seen in as much as the most opposite place to heaven is the earth and is farthest from it and a far baser Element then the Sea so is this beast that rose out of the earth far more wicked more odious and more abominable in the fight of God and all good men then the other that arose out of Sea as the Sequel of what we read in this thirteenth Chapter will make it plain unto you But first we are to inquire who is to be understood by this beast Who is to be understood by this beast of the earth that can be worst then that beast that ascended from the bottomlesse pit and is the same with the great Antichrist And I find some Divines as Rupertus and others that think this beast of the earth and the other beast of the sea to be the same beast that first rose out of the sea Not the same with the beast that rose out of the sea and then was seen again to spring out of the earth But the description of this beast and his actions likewise do so far differ from the first beast that it cannot be the same especially considering the Evangelist saith plainly it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another beast therefore not the same with the former And yet as the soul and body that are not the same do notwithstanding constitute and make up one and the same man so doth this beast and the other former beast make up the same man of sin and the same great Antichrist this being as the form that as the matter this as the soul that as the body
it and prosper which you may see more at large in the History of the Machabees lib. 2. from the beginning of the third Chapter to the fifth Chapter thus far Mr. Mede Wherein habemus confitentem virum we have this learned man Hucusque ingenuously confessing enough to make good what I assume that the Witnesses should be slaine in the reformed Church and the cause that moveth God to suffer them to be killed and the Church to be deprived of them to be our sins our Sacriledge in robbing them of their revenues and our neglect and contempt of their persons which doth alwayes follow the pillaging of their Estates And if Mr. Mede had seen the unparalleled sacriledge and the incredible contempt of the best men in holy Orders and the trampling of the highest form in Christ his school underfoot that we see now what would he have said then to these things I think as much as I if not more But if the witnesses be taken away and killed as he feareth Therefore he is not the Pope nor Turk in the reformed Churches and their killing must be there because there is the place where they do bear witness and it is the Beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit that killeth them and that Beast is the great Antichrist as hereafter I shall make plain unto you therefore it must needs follow that the Antichrist must needs rise in like manner out of the reformed Church and so neither Pope nor Turk can be the Antichrist Then after the witnesses be killed ejected and deprived of all respect it is said How the worldly and carnall men rejoyce for the killing of the two Witnesses For the manner of sending gists See Hest 9.19 and 22. Isai 9.3 Earthly men accounted those that restrained them from their wickedness their tormentors vers 9. that they which dwell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on the earth that is the carnall earthly and worldly minded men shall rejoyce over them and make merry and send gifts one to another that is for very joy that those witnesses are vanquished and suppressed they shall be the more Joviall and much more exercise the jollity of their mirth and Jubilee now and send gratulatory presents and make feasts for Colonels and Captains that had followed the war and suppressed these two witnesses and so rejoyce according to the joy in harvest and as men rejoyce when they divide the spoil Gaudebunt gaudio maximo they will rejoyce with the greatest joy that can be more then ever they did rejoyce before And the Reason of this their Jubilee and great joy is not omitted to be here rendred by the Holy Ghost and therefore not to be passed over in silence and that is saith he because these two Witnesses that is the King by his just Lawes his powerfull sword that formerly turned the waters of their unlawfull lusts and pleasures as Moses did the waters of Egypt into blood and the Bishops by their spirituall Courts and sentence of excommunication that like fire proceed out of their mouth to root out the refractory carnall and lewd livers out of the Church or to reduce them to repentance tormented them that dwell on the earth that is by rebuking them in their Sermons punishing them in their Conrts and so the witnesses vexed them by their reproofs and by their lawes both Ecclesiasticall and Civil which inflicted penance and imposed fines imprisonment and death it self upon the scandalous transgressors of the Lawes of God and the King by which means of the said civil Rule and Government there was some restraint to bridle those earthly and carnall men to curb them that they should not gallop so fast as they desired and as otherwise they would have done in their lewd and ungodly courses for which bridling and hindering of them to run on in their evil and wicked wayes these two witnesses were deemed by all those that dwell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the earth and had their conversation and delight in the things of the earth to be their very enemies and their greatest tormentors And now I demand How the carnall worldly men do rejoyce to see the King and the Bishops supprest If the earthly and carnall men the lewd livers adulterers Sabbath breakers Drunkards and the like transgressors of the Law of God and the Church did not rejoyce and leap for joy to see the King killed and all the Bishops suppressed and their Courts that restrained their outrages and impieties quite abolished for though all godly men and all honest men do mourn and are grieved at the heart for those things that were done to these witnesses of Christ yet they that dwell upon the earth and are onely cives hujus mundi the free citizens of this world and have none of their conversation in heaven are exceeding glad that there is no king in Israel and no Bishop in the Church of God that is no Monarch or supreme Governour to punish their unjust doings and no Bishops Court to question them for any of their prophaneness or to prohibite any lewdness and exorbitances but that they might as now they do in many places live after their own lusts And do now what they list in all lasciviousness and wantonness and do what they list run and preach without a calling and so fill the Church with sects heresies and errours and as it was said of some lascivous Friers Mane filium virginis praedicant in choro Nocte filium veneris agitant in thoro So may we far more justly say it of these unlawfull uncalled and unlearned earthly Preachers that prate and preach and say and say and all to none other end but to hide their wantonness and worldliness and to deceive the world Thus you see how the two witnesses of Christ are killed That the Church that is the true and farthfull Christians shall be troden underfoot so long as the witnesses shall remain dead and shall for three days and a half lie unburied without their last honour without favour and without any respect in the world but the worldly men rejoycing for their dejection And all this while that the witness-bearers of Gods truth shall be as dead men in the world and as stincking carkasses in the nostrils of them that dwell on the earth the holy city that is the true Church of Christ which is as St. Augustine calleth it the City of God shall be as the Angel saith c. 11.2 troden under foot by the Gentiles that is the uncircumcised that served not God and were none of Gods people but such as followed after their Idols and their own ungodly wayes so shall the wicked hypocrites worldlings and carnall men that are here understood by these Gentiles prophane the Houses of God the Temples the Oratories and all other places consecrated for Gods service when the fonts wherein they were baptized shall be thrown out of the Churches the windows shall be
Child that the Dragon watcheth to devoure but Christ that is mystically begotten and spiritually residing in that Child of the Church which is truly regenerated is that Child which is advanced and advanceth with himself as his member every true Christian to the Throne of God and which in and by those that are his members and have him by his spirit residing in them What Child ruleth these Nations with a Rod of Iron subdueth the Devill and all the Heathenish Idolaters and all others the enemies of his Church as he did overthrowe all the Oracles all the Idolls of the Gentiles all the Tyrants that persecuted and all the Hereticks that molested his Church And all these things were wrought by this child in and by those instruments that were his members and the Children of the Church even as we find it fully expressed in our Ecclesiasticall Histories how Constantine overthrew Licinius Maxentius and Alexander that rebelled against him and vexed Gods Church and Theodosius vanquished Maximus Eugenius and Arbogastus and that in so wonderfull a manner as not onely the Christian Historiographers but also the Poet Clandian in admiration of his Victory saith O nimium dilecte deo cui militat aether Claudian de consulat Honorii Judges 4. Et conjurati veniunt ad classica venti That as the Starres in their order did fight against Cicera so the Skies and the windes did help and assist Theodosius so much beloved of God and so many other true Christians Children of the Church and the members of this Child or rather as I said this Child in and by those his members hath subdued all the Idolatrous Instruments of Satan and the tyrannicall enemies of his Church and so ruleth them with a Rod of Iron and breaks them in pieces like a Potters Vessel And yet notwithstanding all the omnipotent power and the infinite ability of this Child By the Wilderness is meant a life sequestred from the pomp and vanities of the world to protect his members it seemed good to God not to suffer the woman to stay before the Dragon but he by his blessed spirit moved her for fear of the red Dragon as I conceive though that is not exprest because he still waiteth and watcheth for any opportunity to destroy the faith of Christ from every Christian and to bring them either to renounce their faith like the Apostate Julian or to follow after the world like Demas or else to defile the faith of Christ with the old errors and heresies of the primitive age that are still revived by upstart inlighters to flie into the Wilderness that is to forsake the vanities of the world and all worldly pomp and the society of all wicked and earthly men for the Wilderness is said to be the place which God had appointed and prepared for her verse 6. And what place I pray you doth God appoint for his Children in this world but such a Wildernesse or desart let the same be where it will where they may fast and pray and serve God without being hindered or corrupted by the wicked worldlings for so Lot while he was in Sodome Joseph in Aegypt and Daniel in Nebuchadnezars Court lived as it were like Marke the Eremite in a Wilderness that is sequestred from the world and all the inticements of this world otherwise as St. Ambrose saith Transire in Egyptum non erat criminosum sed transire in mores Egytiorum crimen habet as it was no sin to passe into Aegypt but to follow the manners and the Idolatries of the Aegyptians was most sinfull so to live in the world is no wayes offensive to God but to fashion our selves like unto the World and to be led away and as it were bewitched with the vanities pleasures and delights of the world is that which is forbidden 1 Cor. 7.31 In what Wilderness the Church liveth and is most hatefull unto God and therefore God brings his Church that is his Children out of the World though they live in the world and willeth them to use the World as though they used it not or not abusing it as St. Paul speaketh And in this Metaphoricall Wildernesse or solitary unworldly manner of living in the World and not in any locall Wilderness Junius in annot in locum When the time of the Womans feeding in the Wildernesse expired such as the Children of Israell wandered in the Church of Christ by the power and providence of God was sed that is with the Heavenly Doctrine of the Gospel which is the Spiritual food of our soules for 120 and 60 dayes saith the Angel v. 6. and that is as Junius rightly expounds it by taking a day for a year 1200 and 60 years which must needs be expired after the Woman became Cloathed with the Sun and was so delivered as I shewed to you before and thus fed in the Wilderness for feare of being corrupted by the wiles of the red Dragon just about the yeare of Christ 1642. For so the Ecclesiasticall Histories do most evidently That the Church of Christ was free from any bloody persecution from 382 untill the year 1642. which is the full space of 1200 and 60 years and undoubtedly declare unto us that during all this time of 1200 and 60 years after the reigne of Theodosius untill the year 1642 the Church of God had rest and was freed from any bloody persecution for the profession of the true faith the right Service of God and the two Witnesses of Christ that is as I said before out of E. H. and others the Christian Magistrates the King as chief those that are sent from him as St. Peter saith and the spiritual Ministers the Bishops and Preachers of the Gospel living in their Cloysters and Monasteries as in a Wildernesse secluded from the world and all worldly affaires had free liberty and furtherance through the protection and assistance of the Christian Emperors and those Kings and Queens that God raised to be as nurcing Fathers and nurcing Mothers unto the Church to Preach open and publish the mysterie of our Christian Religion and the truth of the two Testaments and to instruct the people of God in the doctrine of Faith Repentance and so to edifie the Temple that was measured to be built as I have shewed to you before c. 11.3 But then the Dragon seeing the Woman and her Child thus escaped and freed out of his persecuting hands the hands of his instruments How the Devil wheeles about like a cunning Fencer the Idolatrous Heathen Tyrants and the bloody Arrian Kings he like a very cunning fencer that can play with both hands and is good at all Weapons wheeles about and because he cold not prevaile in his own ground and upon the Stage of the Heathen Tyrants he like the Roman Scipio very boldly enters upon his Adversaries Territories and makes a Warr in Heaven and that is he followeth the Woman into the Wilderness and
in their Ecclesiastical Histories have left it recorded to all Posterities what direful Torments the poor harmless Christians have endured in the first ten grievous Persecutions under Nero Domitian Dioclesian Decius and others Heathen Tyrants that were so cruel and so tyrannical to the Saints and Servants of God that most good men and religious minds cannot read their Sufferings without weeping nor remember them without pity For Claud. in Ruff. lib. 1. Quis prodere tanta relatu Funera quis caedes posset deflere nefandas It is not credible for Infidels that know not the Gospel to believe so many slaughters and such exquisite Tortures as the Christians endured when as alii flammis exusti alii ferro perempti alii patibulo cruciati or that they can be looked upon by any humanity with dry eyes And yet Isidorus tells us August de civ Dei l. 20. c. 8. Cyrillus catech 15. Hypolit Orat. de fine seculi The time of the greatest persecution and so doth S. Aug. S. Cyril and Hyppolitus the holy Martyr in his Oration de consummatione mundi that in the time of the Antichrist which would be towards the end of the world and not long before the Coming of Christ to Judgment the Synagogue of Satan and the worldly Senate or Citizens of this world should more furiously rage and more cruelly persecute the true Church of Christ and the most Faithful Servants of God than ever was done in the Primitive Times And besides the accession of above 5000 years experience unto Satans natural and inbred sagacity and sharpness of knowledge and understanding to find out new waies and subtiller devices to afflict Gods Servants they render this Reason for their Assertion because that The reason of the foresaid assertion as the Scripture testifieth Satan was to be bound and fettered as a dog in a chain for 1000 years that is after the end and determination of the first 10 great Persecutions and the Persecutions of the Goths and Vandals and the other Arian Kings that were no less Persecutors and Tormentors of the Orthodox Fathers and the Professors of the Faith of one Substance which is the right Catholick Faith than the Heathen Tyrants were of the Faithful Christians In all which time of 1000 years Satans 1000. years binding how understood that is either the full and determinate number of 1000 years as some Expositors would have it or else a very long season and much about the time of 1000 years though not precisely such a term as others would have it the Malice of Satan was so locked up and chained and his Power so abridged that he could not destroy as many nor persecute the Saints so much as he desired and would have effected si potuisset quantum vellet had he been suffered to do what he would But when his 1000 years Imprisonment should be expired and he loosned out of his Chains and more Liberty granted to him then his inveterate spite and his revengeful Malice for his former Imprisonment would devise the Means and find out the waies to vex and persecute the Servants of God and the Witnesses of Jesus Christ more than ever he had done before in any of the former Persecutions And truly I think Francisc Junius Tilenus ad Bellarm. l. 3. c. 7. de Rom. Pontif. Balâ—us de Antich cap. 6. that although Satan was not fully loosned and set at liberty till now of late yet whosoever readeth Thuanus Tilenus and Chamier and the Book of the Martyrs of our English Church written by Mr. Fox and other Authors that have written the History of these two last Centuries and doth rightly consider the Sufferings and Massacres of those Christians that they within the Compass of those years have undergone in France Germany Spain Italy and other places round about and that only for their Religion and not for any worldly Dominion which was the Sufferings of the People in former ages Dr Abbots in his brief description of the world pag. 141. in the time of the first 4 Monarchies and is still the condition both of the Jews and Christians within the Territories of the Turk that tolerateth any Sect and permitteth all Religions and all Nations to live peaceably and quiet throughout his whole Dominion so they yield themselves subject to his Rule and pay to him their allotted Contribution and meddle not with the Mahometan Laws and Superstition he must ingeniously confess the Truth of this Assertion and the unquestionable Certainty of this Prophetical Prediction of Isidorus and the other Fathers aforenamed videlicet that the sorest Troubles and the greatest Persecution of all that Satan raised or shall stirre up against the Christians as they are Christians hath been is and will be that which he hath and still doth prosecute and will persevere to do it by the Ministers and Ministry of his prime General and his dearly beloved Son of Perdition the great Antichrist And if according to the Counsel of Moses and Job Deut. 4.32 c. 32. v. 7. Job 8.8 Sr Walter Rawleigh in his Preface to the History of the world and M. Fox in his book of Martyrs we ask the daies of old and enquire of our Fathers that were before us what they suffered and how they were handled heretofore either in France Italy Spain or Germany or else nearer home where the Truth may be sooner found and better known of us in Ingland and that under K. Hen. 8. and Q. Mary the two greatest Persecutors of Gods Servants for their Religion that our Chronicles do mention and compare their sufferings in the just and even Ballance of an impartial judgment with that Oppression Persecution Injustice and cruelty and that joyned with such subtilty and a pretence of Piety as cannot by my dull Pen be expressed which for the space of 14 or 15 years hath been acted and continued here in this Island of Great Brittain against Loyal Subjects none can deny and Faithful Christians as we hope God will bear witness and that only for their Loyalty unto their King and their Piety towards God in the constant retaining of the true Faith wherein they were baptized and Christened and a good Conscience wherein they lived we shall find the Cruelties of those two forenamed Princes to be favourable and great mercies and all the Favours and Mercies of our new and now pretended Saints towards the true Ministers of Christ and the Faithful Servants of God to be the greatest Cruelties that ever were recorded in any History and I think such Injustice and so great as was never heard of in any Nation For 1. When King Hen. the 8. became sacrilegious 1. The Persecution of the Clergy and wrongs done in K. Hen. the eighth's time I have no other term for his Doings to rob the Church and to take away the Lands and Possessions of the Abbies and the Priories he did the same with the leave and consent of many if
ipsetemplum Dei S. Aug. de civ Dei l. 20. c. 19. quod est Ecclesia sicut dicimus sedet in amicum id est velut amicus vel si quid aliud isto locutionis genere dici solet which think it may be spoken in Latine as it is in the Greek he sitteth not in the temple of God but for the temple of God as if he were the temple of God which is the Church of God as we say he sitteth for our friend that is as our friend Whereby you may see St. Aug. understandeth that the Great Antichrist would pretend to be the only great friend of the true Church and so in the true Church and not out of it and consequently not to be the Turk in any wise that pretendeth not to serve Christ nor the Pope if we deny the Church of Rome to be the true Church of Christ and therefore we may conclude with Bellarmine Bp Downam de Antichrist lib 10. cap. 3. 4. that the Pope cannot be said to be the Great Antichrist nor Rome the proper Seat of the Antichrist as Downam Thomson and others would have it to be because as I said before the Antichrist must arise in the midst of the truest and purest Church of Christ which we utterly deny Rome to be For the Apostle saith 2 Theff 2. the man of Sin and the child of Perdition which all Interpreters do expound to be the Antichrist shall sit in the temple of God which as the greatest of the School-Doctors Aquinas saith Aquin. in loc and so Tilenus Exegesis 74. pag. 21. must not be understood of the Jewish Temple at Hierusalem that hath been destroyed and shall never be re-edified as some of the best Jewish Rabbines do believe but as S. Chrysostom and the Greek Scholiast pag. 333. and Gorhan and many others do understand it of the true Church of God The Antichrist riseth and reigneth where God dwelleth where the Gospel of Christ by his Faithful Bishops and Painful Ministers is truly preached the Sacraments duly administred and the Flock of Christ rightly Governed and instructed to serve God as they ought to do there the Antichrist will seat himself and there Satan will assist him to overthrow the Bishops to persecure the true Ministers to neglect and nullifie the holy Sacraments to corrupt the Truth of the Gospel and to ruine that Church which Christ thus buildeth For it is observed that the Apostle useth in this place the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Observ which is derived from the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifies to dwell or to inhabit God dwelleth in the best Saints and where they dwell because that is the House or place where God resideth that is among his Saints and in his Saints as God himself doth testifie unto his People that will truly serve him And therefore Constantinople where the Turk resideth and hath made the Chancel of San Sophia where the High Altar and the Patriarchal Throne stood to be a Turkish Moschy whither the Grand Signior goeth to the Blasphemous Ceremonies of their False Prophet and the City of Rome where the Pope sitteth and hath apostatized from the true Faith in many Points and corrupted the Gospel of Christ at leastwise with many Superstitions cannot be said to be that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where God resideth and the Antichrist sitteth as god to destroy it but it must be that Church wherein God in the most Special manner dwelleth and delighteth in it and that is in the Purest Church that can be found on earth in respect of all the outward things that do constitute the same for you must know that the Church is to be considered two manner of waies 1. Respectu divinae illius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so God only knoweth his Church The Church considered two waies and who are the Members thereof as the Apostle sheweth 2. In respect of that Discipline Rule and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is apparent to our eyes and consisteth chiefly in these four special things Four things do constitute a true outward visible Church 1. In the Prayers of the Saints 2. The Preaching of the Gospel 3. The Administration of the Sacraments And 4. Obedience to the Discipline of the Lawful Governours And that Church which in these respects is the truest and purest is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Temple and House of God where he dwelleth and which the Devil by his dear Servant the Antichrist laboureth by all means to overthrow Object But you will say Constantinople was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the true Church and dwelling place of God and so was Rome when her Faith was published throughout the whole world Rom. 1. and so both continued until the Antichrist suppressed the Truth and seated himself therein To this usual Objection I answer Solut. 1. That it is agreed of all sides and by all Interpreters old and new Papists and Protestants that the Great Antichrist should come towards the end of the world 1. That the Antichrist should come towards the end of the world 1 Tim. 4.1 and in the last Period of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 last times as the Scriptures testifie the same most evidently for though the Mystery of him and his iniquity began by those Hereticks that sprang up in the Apostles time yet was not he to be revealed in his strength and fulness until the last and latter end of times and therefore not any waies like to come and to appear so many Hundred years agone as they prescribe which make either the Turk or the Pope to be the Antichrist 2. 2. That God suffereth not the enemies of his Church to tyrannize long I say that God being so good and so gracious a God especially to his Church and true Servants will not alwaies be chiding neither will he shut up his loving kindness in displeasure but as the Poet saith Nocte pluit tota redeunt spectacula mane Which in the Prophets words I may express that although heaviness may endure for a night yet joy cometh in the morning and he may be sure of it because God himself tells his Church that for a moment in mine anger have I forsaken thee but with everlasting compassion will I have pity upon thee and so accordingly he suffered not Antiochus that was the most lively type of the Antichrist that is in all the Scripture to rage against the Church of the Jews for all their wickedness any longer than Three years and a half neither did he suffer the Captivity of his People in Babylon for their great sins recorded 2 Chron. 36.14 15 16. to last any longer than 70 years nor the Children of Israel to be opprest by Pharaoh for the wrong they had done to their Brother Joseph any more after the Death of Joseph than about 200 years as Helvicus collecteth which is the longest time that I find God seems to sleep and
without adding the prevalent faction as sometimes for brevity sake I may omit I desire my Reader to remember that I mean only those and that party of whom it is demanded Whether they have not all and every one of the notes and marks of the great Antichrift and have done all the things and fulfilled all the Prophesies that should be fulfilled and done by the Antichrist And because the event of things are the best commentaries upon Prophesies The Events of things are the best Comments upon Prophesies if so it be apparent that all the things sayings and doings that are prophesied and foretold should be done by the great Antichrist are all manifestly seen to be done and fulfilled in them and by them aforenamed and by their confederates and adherents I know not how to give satisfaction to them that demand this question or how to deny them to be the Antichrist and to acquit them from that suspicion But I will leave the answer of these demands and resolution of those Questions to be de ermined by those unpartial Judges that are quicker sighted than I am and I will proceed not to foretel any thing but to explain unto you what the Prophets have foretold us should come to pass and should be done in the time and by the members of the great Antichrist and for the application of those Prophesies as fulfilled in these dayes and by these men I leave it to the better observers of the transactions of our time whether they can rightly do so or not And first That Apostasie or rebellion is the door through which the Antichrist entereth into the Church I finde the Apostle telling us that the door and breach or gap whereby the Antichrist shall have way to enter into the Church and sheepfold of Christ to destroy his flock will be apostasie or rebellion for when the Thessalonians had heard that such a great egregious Antichrist should come and thereupon did presently expect him and then thought the day of Christ his coming to judgment should instantly follow because they had heard that his coming should be towards the end of the world and but a little before the day of Christ his coming the holy Apostle to rectifie their misapprehension of what they had heard and to explain the truth and time of both their comings saith the day of Christ shall not come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quin venerit defectio prius until there be first a failing or falling away 2 Thess 2.3 as Beza translates it or nisi venerit prius rebellio unless there comes a rebellion first as the Syriac hath it and as very many of the best Interpreters say the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth because every rebellion is a falling away from what we should be And this rebellion is conceived by some Authors to be that which the people made in Rome against Nero and by others it is thought to be that which the Jews made against Florus or that which the grand rebell Barchochebas made against Rufus in the time of the Emperour Adrian who did therefore sufficiently chastice the Jews for their apostasie and revolt and others of no small esteem do understand it of the ruine of the Roman Empire and the Provinces revolt from the Roman Empire under the Turk and other apostate Governors of the Provinces as Niger Albinus and the rest that proved false against their Emperors but Mr. Calvin which is ever held the best textuary B. Hall in his Revelation unrevealed Ensebius l. 4. c. 6. even since the Apostles time as B. Hall saith wonders that so many learned men as understood these words of the Apostasie or rebellion of those revolters from the Roman Empire should so far mistake the Apostles meaning nisi quod cum errasset unus turmatim alii sine judicio sequuti sunt eum unles sit be that when one hath erred others without judgement or any further search for the truth have followed him which is an usual fault and a great fault amongst many writers where they see one run they are often ready like sheep without reason to follow after him And yet I wonder not so much herein as Mr. Calvin doth because the Apostle might well mean The rebellion against the Magistrate doth ever precede a recession from the faith and Gods service both the apostasie and rebellion from the temporal Monarchy of Rome as the type or Prodromos and also from the spiritual Kingdome of Christ which is the Church as Estius Anselmus and very many more of our best Protestant writers do interpret it because commonly they that rebel against the one will never stick at the other but when they kick against the Magistrate they will presently spurn against the Priest and God requireth obedience to be observed towards the civil Magistrate as well as to the spiritual Minister neither shall you ever finde that any departed from his true and obliged obedience to his lawfull Governor but he presently apostatized and made a recession from the true service of God as when Jeroboan◠rebelled and made a recession from his obedience to his King he presently made a defection from the true God and a discession from his worship to serve his golden calves and when the Satrapasses and Tetrarchs of the Provinces rebelled against the Roman Emperors they presently fell away from the Church and instead of Christ took Mahomet for their Prophet and the Jews tell us plainly we have no King or will have no King because we feared not the Lord to shew unto us Hosea 10.3 that a discession from Gods service doth ever accompany the rebellion from the civill Government and the rebellion against our Governors is the fore-runner of our discession from the true service of God and the faith of Christ because that our Governors which have the charge to see that the true faith and right service of God be preserved do while they are obeyed hinder this Apostasie and falling away from Gods service but when they are resisted and the bond of our obedience to them broken there is no stop of this apostasie but that every one may be of what faith and do what service he pleaseth and as he pleaseth unto God And therefore I take this apostasie and rebellion that the Apostle speaketh of here What apostasie or rebellion is here meant by the Apostle to be chiefly meant for a civil rebellion against the supreme Magistrate as he is custos utriusque tabulae the defender of the faith and preserver of Gods publique service and a spiritual opposition or withstanding of our spiritual Governors and the discipline of Christ his Church and so a falling from the true Doctrine and the faith of Christ which is the end of that progression and last step of this apostafie that begins in our disobedience and rebellion against Moses and Aaron and ends with our discession from God and Gods service for thus S. Paul saith the Spirit
For the Puissance of her Kings and Princes she outwent all other Cities whatsoever Nimrod called Belus by the Gentiles but indeed his Father that was Noahs Granchilds Son being the first and the stoutest man then on earth then Belus Nimrods Son whom the Gentiles honoured as a god in after times and after him Ninus that built the great City of Nineveh then his Wife the Mirrour of all women Semiramis afterwards omitting all those Eighteen Kings which Berosus nameth and Twenty more that Sleidan setteth down Phul-Belochus that swayed the Scepter 48 years 2 Reg 15.19 and Philazzar whom the Holy Scripture nameth Phul-Assur that reigned 23 years and Salmanazar that reigned 10 years and subdued all Phoenicia The Monarchs of Assyria that reigned in this Chaldean Babylon excepting Tyrus and carried away the King of Israel and the Ten Tribes Captives into Media and Sennacherib that for reviling God and the good King Hezekiah by a rayling Rabsheca was forced to return home with dishonour and then slain by his own Sons in the Temple of his Idols after he had reigned seven years and Esar-haddon whom Josephus calleth Asaracoldus reigned Eleven years Esa 39.1 and Berodac whom Esayas calleth Ben-Merodac that after the revolution of Twelve years translated the Kingdom to the Assyrians and reigned afterwards Eighteen years And Nebuchadnezzar that said Is not this great Babylon that I have built that is so great and so glorious as now it is for the House of the Kingdom and for the Glory of my Majesty Dan. 4.30 And then Belshazzar his Son whom Darius did succeed And many other famous Kings and Princes reigned and ruled in and over this Great and Glorious City of Babylon more than we read to have done over any one other City of the world And therefore this City in these and many other respects was the most resplendent of all the known Cities of the whole Universe and is in that respect termed by the Prophet Esay Esa 13.9 and said to be the Glory of Kingdoms But it is yielded of all sides that this Literal Chaldean Babylon is no where meant to be the Seat of the Great Antichrist that must arise in and out of the true Church of Christ and seat himself in a greater and a more Mystical Babylon And therefore II. Babylon mystically understood which must be so understood to be the Seat of the Antichrist is taken two waies 2. Mystically understood two manner of waies 1. Generally for the whole world of Wickedness 2. Particularly for some special Place of this world Generally 1 1. When the Prophet saith By the waters of Babylon we sate down and wept when we remembred thee O Sion And again O Daughter of Babylon wasted with misery yea happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us Ps 137.1 ult and blessed shall he be that taketh thy children and throweth them against the stones Though literally and in the first sense they are to be understood of the Chaldean Babylon yet mystically they are to be taken for this wicked world which is the City of Satan and the Metropolis of his Empire For although God be the King of all the earth both by the right of Creation and Preservation yet Satan is said to be the King of this Babylon by the unjust Title of usurpation and therefore he is called the Prince of this world that ruleth in the hearts of the children of Disobedience And this world is resembled compared and doth symbolize Babylon in very very many things but especially in these five respects The world resembled to Babylon in five respects Propter 1. Amaenitatem Pleasantness 2. Cacitatem Blindness 3. Celsitudinem Height of Spirit 4. Confusionem All kind of Disorder and Confusion 5. Iniquitatem The Multiplicity of all kind of Iniquity For Respect 1 1. Babylon was the delight of the Nations and a most sweet and pleasant place as I shewed to you before even so the world ab ornatu dicitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is so called by the Grecians from the beauty of it Quid enim mundo praestantius For what can be more excellent and pleasanter than this world saith Lucius Apuleius Respect 2 2. The Assyrian Babylon was full of blindâ—ess and ignorance Jer. 59.17 For as the Prophet saith Every man was brutish in his knowledge so is the world as our Saviour sheweth I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter whom the world cannot receive quia non videt eum nec scit eum because it seeth him not John 14.17 and knoweth him not for though the light shined in darkness yet the darkness comprehended it not and though the Ministers of Christ do preach the Truth daily unto the world yet the children of this world are still drowned in Darkness and will not receive the knowledge of the Truth that they might be saved John 1.5 Respect 3 3. The Assyrian Baâ—ylon was full of Pride so high and so haughty that they would build a Tower which should reach to Heaven And the Prophet saith of her Jer. 50.29 She hath been proud against the Lord against the Holy One of Israel And so is the world full of Pride Maxima quaeque domus servis est plena superbis Not a great House but hath a great deal of Pride and proud Servants in it saith the Poet. Respect 4 4. The Assyrian Babylon was full of all Disorder and Confusion the Labourer would be a Director and a Master-worker the Mason would play the Carpenter and the Carpenter would be the Joyner and so none was contented with his own station not any man dutiful in his own Place but when the Masters called for Bricks the Servants brought them Clay when they desired Bread they gave them Stones and therefore it was called Babel because of this disorderly confusion Even so it is in this world no man is contented with his own state none dutiful in his place and none satisfied with his own condition but as the Poet saith Optat ephippia bos niger optat arare Caballus The Oxe would bear the saddle and the Horse would draw the Plow Respect 5 5. Babylon in Chaldea was full of Sins for she hath sinned against the Lord saith the Prophet So the whole world lieth in wickedness saith the Apostle And all that is in the world Jer. 50.14 John 2.16 is either concupiscence of the eyes or concupiscence of the flesh or Pride of life Haectria pro trino numine mundus habet Particularly 2 2. And more Particularly Many other Cities and Kingdomes of this world are and may in this Mystical sense be rightly stiled Babylon And that either Two waies 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Respectively secundum quid For so 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eminently exceeding all the rest For so Respectively 1 1. 1 Pet 5.13 The City of Rome is called Babylon by the Apostle and is
these that were his enemies sought his life were made his Judges to take away his life And whether this was good Justice in the Parliament to make his enemies to be his accusers Witnesses and Judges I leave it to wiser men then I am to judge of it Serjeant at Law President of the Pretended High Court of Justice John Lisle William Say O liver Cromwel Henry Ireton Esqs Sir Hardresse Waller Valentine Walton Thomas Harrison Edward Whaley Thomas Pride Isaac Ewers Esqs Lord Gray of Groby Sir John Danvers Knight Sir Thomas Maleverer Baronet Sir John Bourcher Knight William Heveningham Esquire Alderman Pennington Alderman of London William Purefoy Henry Martin John Barkstead John Blackiston Gilbert Millington Esqs Sir William Constable Baronet Edmond Ludlow John Hutchinson Esqs Sir Mich. Livesey Baronet Robert Tichbourne Owen Roe Robert Lilburne Adrian Scroope Richard Deane John Okey John Hewson William Goffe Cornelius Holland John Carey John Jones Miles Corbet Francis Alinn Peregrine Pelham John Moore John Aldred Henry Smith Humphrey Edwards Gregory Clement Thomas Woogan Esqs Sir Gregory Norton Knight Edmond Harvy John Venn Thomas Scot. Esqs Thomas Andrews Alderman of London William Cawly Anthony Stapley John Downes Thomas Horton Thomas Hammond Nicholas Love Vincent Potter Augustine Garland John Dixwel George Fleetwood Symon Meyne James Temple Peter Temple Daniel Blagrave Thomas Waite Esqs The Counsellers that were appointed to be assistants unto the Court and to draw up the charge against the King I find to be Dr. Dorislaus Mr. Aske Mr. Cook Serjeant Dandy Serjeant at Armes and Mr. Philips was Clark unto the Court. The Messengers and doore-keepers were Mr. Malford Mr. Rudley Mr. Paine Mr. Powell Mr. Hull and Mr. King was the Cryer all which do make up 77. and of those that were to be his Judges any 20 of them were to condemne him And so this High Court of Justice adjudged him that was one of the Witnesses of Christ to Death And for the other Witnesse of God which is the Ecclesiasticall governour of the flock of Christ which is the Bishop and his subordinate Clergy I doubt not but the most part of the Christian world understandeth how William Laude Bishop of Canterbury whose works do sufficiently prove him to be an Orthodox man and a faithfull Witness of Christ was adjudged to be beheaded by that Parliament and all the rest of the Godly Bishops and the Faithfull teachers of Gods truth and Witnesses of Jesus Christ are spiritually and Civilly killed by the suppression of their Office and calling and silencing them from Preaching and some of them actually brought to their Graves either through want or grief or some other ingredient which that Parliament administred unto them and not any of them but is brought to such contempt and scorn among the generality of the people and so spitefully used in many places that the like was never known since the Arian or the Heathen persecutions Mr. Mede pag. 15. and this dejection of them from their Offices had none of them been actually killed is sufficient to prove the killing of the Witnesses as Mr. Mede confesseth most truly But though we say that the King as supreme Magistrate and the Bishop For the Parliament will say that they did most justly put these witnesses to death as chief Priest are meant by these two witnesses here spoken of yet we do not positively say though we might that these two witnesses that were thus killed by that Parliament are the very witnesses that are meant in this place c. 11.7 by the spirit of God or that the Parliament which killed them is to be understood by the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit but we leave that to God and to them that are better able to determine whether they be or not Onely I say that we cannot finde the Pope to have either actually killed or civilly suppressed these two Offices of the two witnesses of Christ but that he to the uttermost of his power upholdeth both the regall dignity of Kings and the divine calling of the Bishops and therefore that he can no wayes be meant by this beast That the Pope never killed these two witnesses that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit and shall either actually or civilly or both actually and civilly kill these two witnesses and suppress these two Offices and callings of the two witnesses of Jesus Christ which herein in that which befell to our witnesses fell out most unhappily here amongst us in these Dominions and makes many men to think that as the Poet saith haec haec non sine numine divum Eveniunt All this was done that the Scripture might be fulfilled that saith the two witnesses of Christ should be killed by the beast that is the Antichrist and therefore if they be not killed already in those that I have named as we believe they are I am certain that they shall be killed in the two forenamed Offices of King and Bishop because the Scripture must be fulfilled And now the Witnesses being killed that is the chief of them How the two Witnesses being killed shall be unburied as the King and Bishop Laud actually slain and beheaded and the rest subordinate unto them civilly killed by their ejectment out of their Offices and quite put out of all hope of recovery which happened not all at once to the Bishops and which was not till the good King was made away and the Parliament had prevailed and fully vanquished all their enemies and the assistants of these witnesses the dead bodies of the witnesses saith the Angel shall lye in the streets of the great City which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt that is Sodom The full description and Character of the City where the witnesses shall be killed for their great and abominable sins and filthiness and Egypt for their blindness in the Religion and service of God and for their cruel oppression and persecution of Gods right servants where also the Lord was crucified and that was the great and holy City of Hierusalem so that the dead bodies of these slain witnesses shall lie in such a City as shall be like Sodom and Egypt for impiety and iniquity and yet like Hierusalem for profession of true piety and sanctity hearing of Sermons and hating all superstition for as Hierusalem the City where our Lord was crucified was then pretended to be the onely holy City of the World the City of God and the Inhabitants thereof the onely people of God so that City where the two witnesses of God shall lie unburied and where our Lord Christ was crucified in his annointed witnesses the King and the Bishop and the rest of their subordinate Officers his members as he said unto Saul why persecutest thou me when he persecuted his Servants will pretend to be the onely zealous and best Protestant City Act. 95. and the most opposite to Popery that is in the World And I know not how London will
Faith from off the world by taking away all the meanes and maintenance of the Clergy and so exposing all the most reverend Bishops to scorne and contempt and then Idem c. 11. Lament 4 5. denying any Office or place of command or credit either in the Army or Civil Government to the Christians and thrusting all others out of their places and imployments that professed the Christian Religion and bestowing all Offices of honour and profit upon the Idol-Worshippers and so magnifying the superstitious and idolaters and bringing both the Clergy and lay Christians to extreame want and poverty and making them the spectacles of reproach when as many of them had not bread to put into their mouths and instead of Scarlet that they formerly used they must now be glad of rags and be driven as the Prophet speaketh to imbrace the dunghill and to dig or beg or starve he had almost extinguished the light of the Gospel and exhausted the very Soul of Christianity out of the world and had been very like to put out the greatest part of the light of the divine truth from all the parts of his dominions but that the goodness of God against whom it is hard to kick and whose will must stand when as no Counsell can prevaile against his providence did raise up the two Appollinarisses that were two learned and most famous Christian School-Masters who teaching many Noble mens Children Socrates l. 3. c. 14. The Father turned the five books of Moses into Heroicall verse Idem l. 3 c. 15. Marcellinus l. 22. c. 13. l. 25. c. 5. and by well grounding them in the Rudiments and principles of the Christian Religion did in spite of all the subtlety of Julian and the malice of Hell exceedingly uphold and preserve the faith of Christ for this Apostata bred in Athens at the same time with Greg. Nazianzen and very well skil'd in all humane learning as among other things his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the many elegant Orations and books that he wrote sheweth and Marcellinus testifieth was not ignorant of that maxime of Cornelius Tacitus Sublatis studiorum praemijs ipsa studia pereunt the only way to put out the fire is to take away the fewell and the readiest course to put down all learning is to take away the reward of learning and the maintenance of learned men for as Martiall saith Sint Maecenates non deerunt flacce Marones Martial epig. Bountifull Maecenases and Religious uncorrupted Patrons will bring forth learned Authors Poets Orators Historians and Divines but if you will root out any Art science or profession you need not defile your hands with blood by killing the Persons but take away the meanes and maintenance of the Professors and let them starve but not be kill'd because poverty and want hunger and cold nakedness and shame with scorne and contempt will prevaile with men whose names are not written in the book of Life and are not upheld by the special grace of Gods mighty hand O quantum cogit egestas Juvenal sat 3. to do what thou wilt more then the Sword or Canon Vellit nam saepius aurem Invida paupertas dixit vilia rura And as Juvenal saith Haud facile emergunt quorum virtutibus obstat Res Angusta Domi Therefore I take Julian that took this course with the Church of Christ to be Primogenitus diaboli and Proximus Antichristo the first born of the Devil in respect of his Wickedness though not of time and the next Neighbour or Gentleman Vsher to the Antichrist that chalked out the way to him to overthrow the Church and is the vilest and the worst of all the persecutors that either preceded him or should succeed him untill the comming of the Beast that ascended from the bottomless pit and shall discend to the Lake of Fire and Brimstone because all the other persecutors persecuted Presbyteros the Priests and Bishops that stood for the Faith but this wretch endeavoured to root out Presbyterium the most sacred Calling and Function of the Bishops and Ministery that there might be none to uphold the Faith of Christ upon the Earth but that the Religion and the Service of his Heathen Gods might be still continued to whom beyond all others he was most superstitiously devoted Am. Marcel l. 25. c. 6. as Ammianus testifieth And he is said here c. 17.10 to be the 7th for the comfort of the Church it is added that he should continue but a short space which was but three years at the most for this vile person beginning his Voyage against the King of Persia resolved and Vowed if he prevailed in that enterprise to Sacrifice all the Christians unto his Idoll Gods How God revenged the Wickedness of Julian therefore the God of Gods and the Protector of the Christians sent his Angel from Heaven as some write or a Devil out of Hell as saith Calistus that ran him through or some other instrument of the divine justice suddenly smote him no man knowes how nor from whence that he dyed scoffingly saying vicisti Galilee vicisti and then one of his Compeers objected against the Christians that their God was not as they affirmed slow to wrath when he did so speedily and so suddenly execute his fury against Julian to whom we answer that this doth exceedingly commend the great goodness of our God that will when he seeth his Patience and his long sufferance is abused cannot bring the reprobates to Repentance seeth his Servants in Jeopardy to be destroyed to preserve his Saints to prevent their own further judgment suddenly smite them while they are acting their villanies and their sins are in their hands as he did smite Nebuchadnezzar while the word was in his mouth Dan. 4.31 and Corah Dathan and Abiram before they had the opportunity to destroy his Servants and to commit any more wickedness to heap more vengeance unto themselves So that as the mercyes of the wicked are cruel Prov. 12.10 the judgments of our God upon these transcendent malefactors are mingled and allayed with a great deal of Mercy And as these Reasons afore cited do sufficiently prove Julian to be here meant by the 7th King the Angel speaks of so the Holy Ghost saith The Beast that was and is not is the eighth as I have shewed to you before who might be conceived to be him that was and is not then it is said that he which was and is not is of the 7th that is not of the same race or stock or a colleague of and with the 7th Marcell in vita constantij as Junius saith Trajan was with Nerva or Julian was with Constantius as Marcellinus saith But of the same quality and condition of the same subtlety and cruelty in persecuting the Saints and suppressing the true Service of Christ as the seventh was and is of the same livery and serving the same Master and after
Weapons were but paper Bullets and his Speares but feeble quills and therefore though they may prevail in Hierusalem the City of God yet oftentimes corruit in platea veritas the Steel cuts the quills in peeces and the truth is trodden down in the streets of Babylon where the Devill ruleth and where this head of the Beast thus wounded with the Sword of truth was healed for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wound of his death or his deadly wound was healed saith the Text that is by the Weapon salve and by the Warre that they made against the truth because the wound was but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi mortifera as it were a deadly wound Non quod revera talis erat sed quia talis videbatur not that it was struck dead indeed for then it could not have been healed Cohnelius a Lapide in loc but that it seemed so and did appear sufficiently to be so to all honest men as Cornel. a Lapide well observeth for it was such a wound that although to them which obey not the truth but are like the fool Harpaste that as Seneca saith How the deadly wound of the Parliament was healed was as blind as a Beetle and yet nesciebat se esse caecam would by no meanes be perswaded that her eye-sight failed her but that the Room was dark the Kings confutation of their lyes the detection of their falshood and the manifestation of the truth and his innocency were like Cassandra's Prophesies and would give them no satisfaction yet to all those that had their eyes open and had sence to perceive the light of truth this head appeared to be so sufficiently wounded that it was plain and bootless to adde any Playster to revive it or to have it further to be disputed But it is conceived that the Parliament hoped to thrive better by Club-law then by any truth and therefore in this question they will needs dispute the matter again and for a melius inquirendum the question must be decided by the Sword that often beats down the truth and prevails against the right And so now herein Quia opera Dei judicia ejus occulta esse possunt in justa esse non possunt Augustinus God that in and out of his secret Councel doth all things well and cannot do any thing ill or unjust though we know neither the causes nor the reasons of his doings permitted as the Prophet saith he did in his time veritatem in platea corruere the truth to be trodden under foot and as he gave leave to Satan to overthrowe the House of righteous Job and to slay his Children every one so he gave way to the Quack salvers to heal with their Weapons of Warre the wound that the King and the Prieft had made with the Sword of truth And Mr. Medes Reason to prove the Roman Empire revived by the Pope to be this head that was wounded videlicet because that whatsoever evill the Beast is mentioned to have committed whatsoever adoration or worship is done unto him all that is said to have come to passe after the curing of his wound for I saw saith St. John one of his heads Mr. Mede p. 54. Mr. Medes reason to be applied rather to the Parliament then to the Empire revived by the Pope in Charles the Great as it were wounded to death and his deadly wound was healed and then he addeth and all the World wondered after the Beast that is now being healed they wondered after him and worshipped him and he opened his mouth in blaspemy c. all after his healing and none of his hainous acts are mentioned or any subjection done unto him or any honour conferred upon him by the Nations before his wound was healed I say this doth in all things agree with the long Parliament far better then the Roman Empire revived by the Pope for the Eastern Empire which was the best part of the Roman Empire was quite lost from him and never revived by him since the time of Momyllus called also Augustulus and the Western Empire conferred upon Carolus Magnus the Sonne of Pepin King of France was ever since rather weakened then revived by the Pope that hath made it a Skeleton to rest in Germany without much honour besides the title and with lesse power then ever it had before but for that Parliament we know that till their deadly wound was healed by their Sword and by their Victories and successes neither did the people yield unto them their subjection nor the Nations round about them honour them with such Complements nor themselves commit such horrible wickednesses as afterwards we have heard and some have seen so amply done but when their wound was once healed and they became Masters of all that opposed them then began their Io Paean and all the foresaid things succeeded and they are said to have proceeded a malo ad pejus and as the Poet saith From bad to worse from worse to worst of all 10. How all the World wondered after the Beast And therefore it is said then v. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the World wondered after the Beast so they did after the Parliament and so they might wonder well enough to see the falshood of the Parliament in their accusation against the King and his Party so clearly detected and the truth and uprightness of the Kings proceedings so fully confirmed to the World and yet to finde these like incredulous Jewes and like Jannes and Jambres to resist Moses and to wage Warre against the truth and against all right and to prevail against them which is able if any thing be able to make all the World wonder at it The Parallel as the Holy Ghost saith they did for who would not wonder 1. To see men so impudent as to warre against the truth and against innocency Two things to be justly wondered at and Children warring against their Parents and subjects against their King and which is more 2. To see iniquity prevailing against equity and wickedness against piety and the followers of the Antichrist against the Servants of Christ But though this may move us to wonder at it and to wonder much at all this quia mirabilis Deus in operibus suis because God is wonderfull in all his works and more especially wonderfull in his judgements Psal 37.35 when suffering the wicked to flourish like a green Bay-tree he chasteneth his own Children every morning and hedgeth their wayes even with thorns that they cannot step aside Hosea 2.6 but they shall be wounded yet we may not by any meanes forsake oppressed righteousness and be partakers with the wrong-doers in their prosperous iniquity and though to the amazement of all beholders we see God permitting them to thrive prevall and prosper in all their wayes yet must not we cast our lots with them V. 4. To worship the Beast what it signifieth Hinc male
and new as well Protestants as Papists do believe the testimonie of Irenaeus and assent to his opinion that lived long before Epiphanius and therefore could better inform us of the time of his banishment then Epiphanius could that he wrote this Revelation in the later end of Domitiani reign and Doctor Hammonds reason to confirm his supposition doth no wayes infringe the allegation of Irenaeus which is the banishment of all the Jews out of Rome by Clandius Caesar for though Claudius banished them out of Rome yet we do not find that he confined any of them to this or that place but rather gave them libertie to go to dwell where they pleased so they departed out of Rome as it appeareth by Aquila and Priscilla that were driven out of Rome Act. 18.2 but were permitted to go to inhabit where they would and therefore these and the rest of the Visions of this book that were after the revealing of them to be fullfilled cannot be understood to be referred to any times or persons before Domitians time And though the holy Ghost saith these Revelations were of things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Revel 1.1 v. 3. which must shortly or suddenly come to passe and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the time i. e. of their fullfilling is at hand yet doth not this any way prove but that many of them might continue unfulfilled to these our times and many remain to be accomplished after our time in the ages that are yet to come because all the time from the first coming of Christ on earth to the second coming of Christ to the last judgement which is the last Age of the World is termed by this our Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the last hower John 2.18 Pet. 4.7 and by St. Peter it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the last time And he saith further 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the end of all things is at band and St. Paul saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet a very little little while Heb. 10.37 he that is to come will come and will not tarry And Christ speaking of his coming to the last judgement as appeareth plainly by the manner of his coming with his reward with him to render unto every man according as his work shall be useth the very same word as is here alleaged for the speedy fullfilling of these Prophesies Revel ult v 12. saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 behold I come suddenly and therefore whensoever any of these Visions is or shall be fulfilled it is shortly and suddenly absque mora without delay even as the holy Ghostsaith And he that would see this error of Grotius more fully discovered and confuted Mares p. 169. let him look into Maresius in his dissertati◠de antichrist◠where he shall find the truth of what I say more largely and most excellently confirmed And so Hyppolitus Carocotta saith Epiphan heresi Alogor c. 33. that the authority of Epiphanius who in the herefie of the Alogors affirmeth St. John to be in Patmos and to have written this Revelation in the time of Claudius is of no validity And he further saith that solenne est Epiphanio caespitare in Historia Epiphanius faileth often in the History and he sheweth how Petavius the Jesuite noteth in the Margin Epiphanium mendose Claudium posuisse pro Domitiano and then produceth St. Hierom. de script Eccles and Eusebius in Chron. and Baronius that putteth this his banishment in the ninth year of Domitian Baron an Christi 92. Sect. 1. Three others understand by this beast the preachers of the Antichrist Bellar. l. 3. c. 15. de rom pontifice Junius annot c. 13.11 in c. 17.12 which was 35. years after the death of Claudius But to return to this beast other learned men as St. Greg. Aretas Rupertus and as Bellarm saith Richardus Anselmus and Haymo by this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the beast that rose out of the earth do understand the Preachers and Proclaimers of the greatnesse and the worthinesse of the Antichrist And so Junius likewise in his Annotations saith it signifieth the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchie quam pseudo prophetissam vocat and further addeth that à Johanne pseudo prophetae appellatione donatur the Evangelist St. John calleth this very beast the false prophet as you may see in cap. 16.13 and cap. 19.20 therefore this beast must signifie some Preachers that pretend to reach the wayes and will of God unto the people And truly I am in part of Junius his opinion and I do subscribe to the judgement of the aforesaid Fathers that by this beast we are to understand some Ecclesiastical Persons that undertake the preaching of Gods word either lawfully called or illegally intruding themselves into the Sacred Function of the Ministery and both sorts most wickedly corrupting the truth and seducing the flock of Christ and so Irenaeus one of the most Antient Interpreters of this book of the Apocalyps hath observed and it will so appear to any one that will compare cap. 13. v. 13.14.15.16 where you may see how this beast is subservient to the other beast with the 19. chap. v. 20. where the other ten horned beast was taken and with him the false Prophet that wrought miracles before him and with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast Mr Mede p. 65. So this beast is none other then the false prophet And so Mr. Mr Mede p. 65. Mede taketh this beast to signifie some Ecclesiastical Persons and so do I. But with their favour I take them not as Junius takes them for the Roman Clergy nor as Mr. Mede meaneth for the Pope and his Cardinals which is the same that Junius meant This second beast exerciseth all the power of the first beast c. 13.12 but the Pope exerciseth his own power but I say that this beast cannot signifie these men because the practice of this beast doth no waies agree with those Prelates nor those Prelates of the Roman Church do any whit cohere with the particulars of those things that are here mentioned to be acted by this beast for the Pope and the Cardinals of Rome as all men know and our men tax them for it do exercise their own power and use their own authority and not the power of the other beast which Junius and his followers make to be the Rom. civil state or imperial dignity and those Prelates say as you may obviously see it in Bellarm. Becanus and the rest of that Church that as the Moon borroweth her light from the Sun so should the Civil state take and receive all her directions and form of Government from the Church and the Governors of the Church of which they pretend to be the chief Object And if you say as our men do that would have the Pope and his Cardinalls to be this second Beast that they exercised the Power of the first Beast when the Empire was weakned and
better Saints then the best of all the true Saints as the Scribes Pharises can make this good unto you for they were the only appearing Saints among the Jews Luke 11.42 Tything the least things praying in the Streets cautious of their Oaths and very strict Observers of their Sabbath dayes service and teaching as much outward holiness as these holy men do Matth. 23.13 yet we may believe our Saviour that they were but holy Hypocrits that thought they did God good Service when they did exceedingly offend him for as the Devil doth then most of all enlarge the Kingdom of darkness when he transforms himself into an Angel of light and made our Fore-fathers to become like Devils Gen. 3 5. when he told them they should be like gods so it is as it hah been ever since his perpetual practice to teach his Instruments and you may be sure the Antichrist is one The Antichrist will seen to his followers the best Christian in the world Preponere quod delectabile subponere quod exitiale to give deadly poy son in a golden Cup and to pretend and to make shew of the greatest Piety Holiness and Devotion in the world and with Judas to kiss Christ to love him and to honour him above all men when the consequents of their actions aimand level to betray him as Judas did to be crucified to overthrow his service to kill his servants and to lay all his honour in the dust and the more holy the Devil seems to be the more Devil he is and the worse he means to be so the more Saints and the more pretence of Devotion and zeal of Gods honour these or any other Actors of wickedness seem to make the more apparent proof it is that they are the greatest Adversaries unto Christ But it is true A special observation to be considered Luke 10.22 and most worthy to be observed that S. Paul calleth the coming and discovery of the Antichrist a mystery that is a hidden dark and secret thing and in some respects not much unlike the coming and believing the coming of Christ into the world for as no man hath known who the Son is but the Father and who the Father is but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal him so none shall know the Antichrist to be the Antichrist but only they to whom Christ will reveal him for as the mystery of Christ his coming into the world was bid from the wise men of this world the Scribes and the Pharises and the rest of the Rulers of the people that would never believe a man of such mean birth poor friends and so contemptible in the eyes of men as the Prophet sheweth Isa 53.2 And they beheld with their eyes without form or beauty should be the Christ that annointed of God to be the Messias that was to be the Redeemer and Saviour of all mankinde but this mystery was revealed to Shepheards and as Christ sayth to Babes and Sucklings that is Luke 2.10 Math 11.25 That the discovery of the Antichrist is a mystery hardly believed by the wise men of this world to some few that were as weak as simple and of as smal account in the world as are the little Children among men and yet to these only he was revealed and these first believed in him so the mystery of the coming of the Antichrist is hid from the wordly wise from the great men the wealthy men the ruling Officers of the people that shall not know him nor will not believe him to be the Antichrist but shall wonder after him and worship him and befool all those men that shall imagine such successes and protestations of piety and acts to suppress Idolatry and prophaneness and to further true Religion and the service of God can be any wayes compatible with the Antichrist yet this knowledge and this revelation of the Antichrist by the special favour and blessing of God shall be made known and discovered to some few mean despised and dejected ones in the world that do truly love Christ and zealously stick to his service notwithstanding all the affronts of the world and do perfectly hate the bypocrisy and hypocritical pretentions and proceedings of the cruel and most hateful Beasts And therefore S. Paul calls the discovery and the knowledge of the Antichrist a revelation saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he might be revealed 2 Thes 2. Emergere patesteri extenâ—bris in lucem prodire ut à piis pro tali cognoscatur Maresius pag. 63. Matth. 11.25 E.H. de Antichristo part 3. c. 5. pag. 102. Esay 6.9 Act. 28.27 Luk. 7.30 2 Thes 2.9.10 which is the taking away of a covering or the putting off of a Veil or Mask from some face that was masked and hidden from publick fight so is the discovery of the Antichrist a reveiling of some bidden face and a manifesting of some secret thing that is not commonly known nor believed in the world but is and shall be only re veiled especially at his first appearing to some few and those of the meaner sort or smallest account in the world and it shall be kept secret and hidden from the world and the generality of men in the world especially the great men and noted men of the world as are the revelations of all the mysteries of God and therefore S. Matthew speaking of Gods mysteries joyneth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to hide with the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to reveil to note unto us as it is well observed that the mysteries of God and of our Religion that are unfolded and published are notwithstanding so made known and reveiled as that they are believed only by some few that truly love Christ and earnestly desire to understand his truth and are kept still secret and hidden from all the rest that believe them not which hapneth through their own fault just as it was with the Jews that as the Prophet Isay sheweth had eyes and would not see and had ears and yet would not hear and as the Scribes and Pharises rejected the counsel of God against themselves for so it is with these wise men of the world that when they are told this truth they will not understand it when they are perswaded to embrace it they are averse to believe it and think we are greatly deceived and simple men that teach it because indeed the love of this present world hath insensibly bewitched and blinded them and their care and search after the truth hath been too remiss for which cause the Apostle sayth God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lie that they all might be damned who believe not the truth but bad pleasure in unrighteousness Where I would have the great men and the wise men of this world to observe that this fearful expression of judgment is against such as believe not and receive not the love of this truth