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truth_n	worship_n	worship_v	worth_a	21	3	8.6265	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25568	An answer to several remarks upon Dr. Henry More, his expositions of the Apocalypse and Daniel, as also upon his Apology written by S.E. Mennonite, and published in English by the answerer ; whereunto are annexed two small pieces, Arithmetica apocalyptica, and Appendicula apocalyptica ...	S. E., Mennonite.; More, Henry, 1614-1687.	1684 (1684)	Wing A3379; ESTC R10256	245,076	439

peace which are to flourish in his Kingdom yet this King so acknowledging him and honouring him with splendid superstitious devotions shall notwithstanding continue the same iron Kingdom as formerly though mixt with Clay in the sense mentioned Vis. 1. viz. the same Kingdom of violence and war Ans. Nothing was ever writ with more judgment elegancy and solidity in Explication of Prophecies than what that excellent Interpreter Mr. Mede has writ on this and the foregoing verse Which yet this conceited Remarker very superciliously calls a conceit and says is very remote from the intended sense of the Text when nothing is more congenerous thereto the Prophecy intending to describe the State of the Church as to Religion and Divine Worship in that space of the Time and Times and half a Time when the little Horn which is this King of Pride should rule the rost And therefore we may be sure it will not omit to perstringe the Idolatry then sprung up I mean the Pagano-christian Idolatry or an Idolatry of a new Mode For it is said of this King of Pride v. 37. That he shall not regard the God of his Fathers i. e. either none of the Pagan Gods he shall regard none of them or if you will more particularly he shall not regard that proper God of his Fathers viz. Mars whom Grotius would have understood by the red Dragon Of which Mars Romulus and Remus were born and he is the special Presidentiary God of the Roman City and Empire as Grotius himself also will have it This God of his Ancestors this King of Pride does not regard but is one who with his Hierarchy professes Celibate forbidding to marry a single life for him and his Adherents being most sutable and for their ambitious designs and preferring his own Politick ends before any God or Religion it follows v. 38. according to a true skilfull and faithfull account of the sense out of the Hebrew Together with God he will in his place or Temple where he is worshipped honour the Mahuzzim not Mars the proper God of his Ancestors but these new 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Mahuzzim may signifie from the Seventy's Translation Psal. 31.3 these new Numina defensoria of his Empire even with a God his fathers knew not which is Christ shall he honour them with gold and silver and pretious stones c. This is the onely easie and genuine sense that can be made of the 38 th verse And it being thus plain to any unprejudiced eye that these Mahuzzim are the Daemons that S. Paul speaks of 1 Tim. 4. where he tells us that the Spirit has foretold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expresly that those that forbid to marry c. will bring in the worship of Daemons which express Prediction is no-where but here and the degenerating Church looking upon the Relicks of Saints and their consecrated Images whose form of consecration does sometimes specifie their intended virtue against the Invasion of Enemies to be the Defence of the City where they are and the Saints themselves to be their Mahuzzim their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Martial and Warlike Defenders of the City where Temples or other places are consecrated to them What a groundless Cavil is this of the Remarker to except against Mr. Mede's rendring the sense of this present verse thus which is exquisitely according to the Hebrew viz. And he shall make the Holds of the Mahuzzim jointly to the foreign God understanding it of Churches and Monasteries For the Mahuzzim being once such Warlike Defenders expressed so under that Notion and their help being supposed to come from the places consecrated to them what an easie and obvious Analogy is it to call those consecrated places strong Holds or Forts a And the Prediction is not of what they would be in Reality but what they would be thought and reputed Which therefore is a foretelling of those delusions in the Church under the reign of the King of Pride That the people should put their trust and confidence in such vanities b What the Remarker would substitute in lieu of this excellent account of Mr. Mede is very frigid and jejune it giving notice of nothing but that the King of Pride will be for war as well as other Potentates and so making him to honour the God of forces he makes him still a worshipper of Mars the God of his Ancestours contrary to the Text. Besides there is this other Incongruity in this conceit in that this Prince of Pride is not a Sword-man but Rex sacrorum and his power lyes merely in a manner not in Martial forces and feats of Arms but rather in Magical Incantations and lying Miracles and prestigious charming of people into such superstitions as make most for his own advantage and such whereby he has an hank upon the Empire and deludes them with all deceiveableness of unrighteousness c And as for the Antithesis in professing Christ who is the Prince of Peace and yet to be given to War Is not the Antithesis at least as full when Christ came to introduce a pure divine Worship to Worship the Father in spirit and in truth that this King of Pride has filled all with superstitious Rites and Idolatries towards the Mahuzzim the Daemons or deceased Saints And lastly there is another a more near proper and immediate Antistoechy or Opposition betwixt the Genius of this King of Pride and his Ancestours in Mr. Mede's way they worshipping the God Mars in a gross Pagan secular sense he the Mahuzzim which are as it were so many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Paganochristian Mavortes in a sense more Spiritual and Ecclesiastical To all which you may add That Grammar and Criticism will not so easily comply with the Remarker's way But I have been too long on this Remark already Vers. 44. Thy tydings out of the North is surely more likely to be meant of the Germans Poles Muscovites c. than of the Tartars both because they are directly North of the Turks whenas the Tartars are as much East as North of them and also because the End here foretold against the Turks is more likely to be executed by the Christians than by those of the same Religion with the Turks especially whenas it is sent upon them in reference to the advancement of Christianity which is the occasion of its here being foretold Ans. That the tydings out of the North is surely more likely to be meant of the Germans Poles Muscovites c. than of the Tartars is spoke with more confidence than sound assurance of Reason For the Tartars being North-East of the Turks but much more properly North than the Persians it is easie and natural to conceive that the tydings out of the East being out of Persia that the News of the Stirs in Tartary would be called the Tydings out of the North the Tartars being a people so hugely more North than the Persians Any one that but casts his eye on a Map

AN ANSWER To Several REMARKS UPON Dr Henry More HIS EXPOSITIONS OF THE APOCALYPSE and DANIEL As also upon his APOLOGY Written by S. E. MENNONITE And Published in English by The ANSWERER Whereunto are annexed two small Pieces ARITHMETICA APOCALYPTICA AND APPENDICVLA APOCALYPTICA Of all which an Account is given in the PREFACE LONDON Printed by Miles Flesher for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-yard 1684. THE PREFACE Reader THOV maist justly expect from me some account of my publishing these Remarks of S. E. and of my Answers thereto which I will give as clearly and briefly as I may The Remarks seem writ by one not onely very serious but highly confident in his way and as Magisterial as if he were no vulgar Interpreter of Prophecies of Scripture nor ordinary Remarker upon the Interpretations of others but some infallible Iudge or decisive Oracle in the case And therefore that which is so highly prized of himself it seemed hopefull that it was of such a nature if rightly answered that it might give some diversion at least if not satisfaction to others Who the Remarker is I cannot satisfie thy curiosity to tell thee But I have adventured to call him Mennonite for that odd wild conceit of his that all Magistracy and Monarchy consequentially will go down in the Millennial Reign of Christ. Which is the opinion of Daniel Brenius a Mennonite but otherwise not an unlearned Person and the point is disputed betwixt him and his Master Episcopius What Dutch or German or other foreign Name those Initial letters S. E. will answer to I cannot easily conjecture But if it were left to me fit a name to them from what language I please I would doe it from the Greek and it should be Streblosinous Ereunetes those two words comprizing both the good and bad of his Genius and Performance viz. his pains in enquiring into the sense of the Scripture-Prophecies which is a laudable enterprize and his studied perversion and distortion of the sense of them to make them comply with the unaccountable dreams as I deem it of his own fancyfull Melancholy which is a thing no-wise approvable However he seeming to me one more than ordinary addicted to and exercised in this study of interpreting Prophecies and particularly those of Daniel and the Apocalypse I thought it not amiss to publish all his Remarks upon Dr. H. More his Expositions of them together with my Answers thereto for these Reasons following First For that the Remarker having used all the diligence he could and as I perceive being eagerly set to find flaws in the Expositor's Interpretations of the Visions of those two Prophets and attempting to substitute others in their room I have plainly discovered that in effect he has found none nor could substitute any thing that would so properly agree with the Text as that which the Expositor has made choice of before Which therefore is a demonstration of the firmness and certainty of Intelligibleness in the Divine Visions and that they are in no-wise compliable with every fancy of either a rash or designing Interpreter nor may be made a nose of wax as some fondly imagine Secondly In answering these Remarks there are so many occasions of taking notice of the true and genuine Rules of interpreting Prophecies the Visions especially of Daniel and the Apocalypse and of the Remarker's transgression of them that the reading of these Remarks with the Answers thereto cannot but add to the skill and judgment of any one that has a Genius this way Thirdly In the Answers to these Remarks there is not onely a farther illustration and confirmation of the Expositor's interpretations of these Prophecies but light also given to several other Prophecies or passages of them Vpon which account they must needs seem considerable to such as have a mind to these kind of studies than which there are none more noble or more becoming either a Philosopher or a Christian provided they pursue them out of their love to God and humble adoration of his Providence over the Sons of men and out of no sinister design of serving a Party Fourthly I thought it very requisite to publish these Remarks together with my Answers because I could not be assured but that sometime or other they might come out without any Answer to them which might be a prejudice to the Truth For they seeming to be written with great confidence and pretending much to Scripture-Autority and being varnished over with Scripture-phrases and no body by to shew their errours and defects they may strike great reverence into the heedless Populacy and make the Remarker go for some notable Hypopheta or Interpreter of the Prophets whenas there is not one true stroke in all his pretended Interpretations that clash with the Expositor's though it is not so much to be imputed to want of diligence and ability in the Remarker as to the invincibleness of Truth and so the ordinary people would be drawn into wretched mistakes And the profane Wits not thinking it worth the while to give themselves the trouble of discovering the errours of this new Interpreter would be the more strongly confirmed in their own and have new cause to insult over all pretences of understanding Prophecies Fifthly And I thought it the more requisite to publish these Remarks and to answer them because some extravagant Notions are applied to the Prophetical Visions by the Remarker whether they be to be deemed Romanistical or Anabaptistical I know not but such as I thought did not so well comport with either a Christian spirit or the peace of Christendom and therefore I thought it my bounden duty to beat them out of this harbour and not to suffer these holy Oracles that were communicated to the Church for her more safe and peacefull Guidance to be made Instruments of her Disquiet and Confusion And lastly I had a more special eye to those two great and usefull Truths exhibited to us in the Visions of the Apocalypse The first That the late Reformation begun by Luther and propagated and perfected in other Kingdoms and Countries and more especially here in England was the Rising of the Witnesses The Second That the Primitive Times till about four hundred years after Christ were Symmetral The evidence of which two Truths the Remarker endeavours tooth and nail to smother and suppress by most wretchedly distorting and slubbering over the sense of the tenth Chapter of the Apocalypse and of the two succeeding Synchronal Visions the one comprized in the eleventh Chapter the other in the twelfth thirteenth and fourteenth and also by peremptorily denying but groundlesly That the Vision of the seven Churches reaches any farther than to the beginning of the Millennium All which is done in favour of his beloved Mennonism that Christ may not be held to begin his reign where there is any visible Monarch or Civil Magistrate that rules Which opinion though it may seem the more tolerable and harmless by how much

〈◊〉 the prophetical Scriptures written before Daniel received this Prophecy Whenas there is not one Interpreter that I could ever lay my hands on or find mentioned by any but they understand thereby onely what is decreed and recorded in the Divine Mind The standing Intellect of God in which are described all the Laws and Decrees of his Providence is that Writing or Book of God which is so often mentioned in the Bible As Exod. 32. Blot me out of thy Book and Psal. 56. Are not these things noted in thy Book And Psal. 139. And in thy book were all my members written And that Book represented to Iohn sealed and unsealed is but a Symbol of this Book or Writing as I may so speak And this Scripture of Truth in Daniel in all likelihood is the first ground of that Apocalyptick sealed and unsealed Book If by the Scripture of Truth had been understood the various Prophecies of the precedent Prophets it would have been said the Scriptures not the Scripture of Truth Besides it will be hard to find all the things of this Prophecy any how written in the foregoing Prophets But it is not worth the while to confute so groundless a Paradox which is indeed an unaccountable Essay of a distorted fancy But to make the Scripture of Truth to signifie a declaration of the Divine counsel and purpose in a plain way without Enigmes is no distortion at all of the sense of the words But is most easie and natural as to one part there being not one Interpreter but who has hit of it or approved it that Scripture here signifies the Decree or Counsel of God And that Truth in the style of Daniel signifies plainness in opposition to Aenigmaticalness has been proved over and over again and that it does particularly signifie so here appears from chap. 11. vers 2. And now will I shew thee the truth As if none of Daniel's Visions were true till now But the apparent sense is Now will I communicate a plain Prophecy to thee without any Aenigmatical Figures or Involutions Which therefore shews that the Scripture of Truth is particularly restrained to this Prophecy here and not understood of the Writings of the precedent Prophets at large who abound with Enigmes or Parables If the Angel in saying Now will I shew thee what is written in the Scripture of Truth meant onely I will shew thee what already is shewn in the Writings of the Prophets it were a very sorry way of exciting attention in Daniel who might have said to the Angel It were a needless thing to give himself that trouble if what he would predict was already predicted in the Prophetick Writings So extravagant is the Remarker in this Remark Vision 6. Vers. 22. I Take this Verse to be a general account of what is more particularly related in the following verses and the Covenant the same with what is after called the holy Covenant and the Prince of it the same with the Prince of the Host against whom Antiochus Epiphanes is said to magnifie himself Vis. 3. whenas Demetrius can very badly by reason of his right onely be said to be Prince of Antiochus and his confederate forces whenas at the same time he is described to be really King acting in his own behalf Ans. The Indistinctness of the Remarker's fancy would crumple up things together which Grotius by virtue of his skill in History has explicated more articulately And nothing is alledged against him of any value For Demetrius being really by right though absent the Sovereign of his Uncle Antiochus and of Attalus and Eumenes waging war against Heliodorus though in behalf of their Sovereign King Demetrius onely in shew Demetrius may very well justly and properly be called the Prince of these confederates against his open enemy Heliodorus Their being perfidious to him did not extinguish his real Right and Relation of being their King Nor was Antiochus yet declared or acknowledged King The Remarker should have proved that Vers. 27. These two Kings meditating mischief in their hearts seems to be against the Iews and not against one another for that would not be so agreeable with their meeting then in a friendly way and the words do import some mischief which they concurred in and not mischiefs projected against one another And the lyes they speak may then signifie what they say of the Iews by way of instigating one another against them This sense will better than the other agree with the scope of the Vision viz. to foretell what will befall the people of God and also with the following words But it shall not prosper for yet the end shall be at the time appointed that is Notwithstanding such meditating the Iews Ruine yet the end of their state shall not be till the time appointed The same words to the same sense are v. 35. Ans. These two Kings meditating mischief one against another when they pretend mutual friendship though it be not agreeable to the Laws of friendship yet it is to the nature and custome of Politick Potentates and the Prophecy predicts not what ought to be but what would be And the one being so ambitious and covetous the other so deeply injured there was no likelihood that there was any real friendship betwixt them but that all their caressing and complementing one another were imposture and lyes as they are called in the Prophecy And the scope of the Prophecy is sufficiently pursued without distorting this place from this natural sense Grotius and others have given it For the feats of Antiochus against the Iews are fully declared afterwards And for the following words But it shall not prosper c. The sense the Expositor has given agrees very well with this Hypothesis of Grotius And besides what mischief the King of the North meditated against the King of the South did not prosper as appears from v. 29 30. But there is no mention of any Essay from the King of the South against the people of God which farther shews the Ineptness of the Remarker's conceit which he would substitute in the room of Grotius his judicious Interpretation See also what the Expositor has writ v. 35. on those words Because it is yet for a time appointed comparing them with what he has wrote on the same words v. 27. Vers. 39. The conceit of making Churches and Monasteries to be called strong Holds seems very remote from the intended sense of the Text. a For they were no such Holds at all farther than the crafty Impostures of Priests did for their gain delude the people with a belief of their being so And it was in a spiritual sense they were pretended to be such which does not agree with the words in this and the precedent verse they bearing a Martial sense b I take them therefore to be spoken in way of c Antithesis on mentioning this strange God whom this King should acknowledge viz. That though the Laws of this strange God teach righteousness and