that is alledged of the Rabines for the true saying of Elias The words are these Two thousande vaine Two thousande the Lawe Two thousande christ And for our sinnes which are manie and marueilous some yeres which are wanting shall not be expired By which saying the world is notably deuided into three ages or especiall courses and doth shewe both wheÌ„ Christ should come and how long the state of this world should continue Two thousande yeres was the world without any lawes ordeined expressely by the worde of God which being finished Circumcision and afterward the Lawe was giuen and a certaine gouernment and true manner of woorshipping of God was instituted by the worde of god But about the middle age of the world when as three thousande yeeres were past to wit in the time of Iosaphat King of Iuda and Achab King of Israell did this diuine Prophet vtter this Prophecie by which he did signifie the true and certaine tyme of Moses gouernmeÌ„t and of the coÌ„ming of the Messias or sonne of God which should manifest himselfe preach and be crucified of the Iewes And he shewed that almost a thousande yeeres did remaine before Christ should come and the Gospell begin to be preached about two thousaÌ„d yeres after his coÌ„ming the world should perish and come to nought Nowe sith according to this Prophecie of Elias the euent hath proued two thousande yeeres to haue beene past before Circumcision and manifesting the lawe and two thousande also to haue passed when Christ came for vntill the thirtie yeere of Christes age at which tyme Iohn did prepare the way to the Lord and Christ began to accomplish the will of his father did the fourth thousande continue it is to be thought vndoubtedly that nowe in the olde age of the world the euent will answeare to his prophecie and that as in the middle and flourishing state of the world God carried Elias by a firy chariot into heauen so in the ende and vanishing tyme thereof he wil exalt vs with him self into the celestial habitatioÌ„ of which no doubt Elias was a figure coÌ„stituted of god But as Elias saith some yeres shal be waÌ„ting For the Lord God because of wickednes shall hasten his coÌ„ming so that six thousand yeeres may not fullie be expired Which prophecie was vttered by Elias through the holy ghoste and is no fiction of the Rabines as are manye things in those Thalmudician bookes and may in my iudgement be coÌ„firmed by the answeare of Vriel the Angell vnto the demaunds of Esdras although Hierome and those which followe him doubt hereof But Theodore Bibliander in the explication of Esdras his dreame doth say that Hierome did rather imitate the rashnes of the Iewes than probable reason And proueth by many moste plaine arguments this fourth booke to be Esdras owne booke Prophetical diuine and saith That marueill it is not though this diuine booke bycause it moste plainly telleth of the raigne and cheifest lawfull and euerlasting kindome of Iesus Christ and also of the refusall of the Iewes and conuersion of the Israelites vnto Christ the Lorde be despised of the blinded synagog of the Iewes which do wilfully set themselues against their sauiour And also addeth that this booke is yet extant in the Hebrue tongue and was translated out of the same To this Esdras demaunding of Vriell the Angell whether the time past be greater than the time that is to come or whether that which is to come exceede the tyme past the Angell doth answeare by two similitudes And doth shewe vnto him first a burning fornace and afterwarde a watrie cloude and saith Marke whether the fire do ouercome the smoke and the showre the drops or otherwise To whom Esdras sayth I see Lord that a very great smoke doth passe away I see also a great showre to come powring downe but afterwarde I perceiue the flame to ouercome the smoke the drops the showr Then saith the Angel. Now iudge of the continuance of the world Euen as first the smoke vanquished the fire and the drops the showre so the yeeres of the tyme past shall exceede the tyme which is to come But nowe according to the computation of yeeres it is euident that Esdras liued aboute the thirde thousande and fiâ—e hundred yeere after the worlds creation and a while after Cyrus death from which tyme aboue two thousande yeeres are consumed Wherefore we doo see this prophecie marueilously to agree with that of Elias and the ende of the world to be nigh at hande Moreouer bycause the holy scripture doth witnesse that a thousande yeeres with God is but as one daie and also that the Lord God sixe daies was occupied in framing the world but the seuenth day rested therefore Melancton Osiander and others haue put a greate mysterie in the same and haue perswaded themselues that from this number of daies that saying of Elias was borrowed which me thinkes to be true For euen as God in sixe dayes made all things and rested the seuenth so by the ministerie of his worde in this lyfe within the compasse of sixe thousande yeeres he will gather his Church with which in the seuenth he will celebrate and keepe holy his euerlasting Sabboth Caspar Peucerus thinkes Orpheus to haue been of this opinion whose words Plato did thus recite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Although in all the sacred scripture there be no place as touching the determination of any certaine tyme more agreeing with Elias Prophecie then that answeare of Vriell vnto Esdras yet will we proue the same to be moste true by things alredie paste by the state of things present other tokens as hereafter in their place orderlie shal be showen Neither is it to be doubted but that by the certain prouidence predestination and wisdome of Goâ— al things for his glory the safetie of his Church be marueilously mainteined and to a far other purpose then any man can imagin And therefore vnder the cheâ—f histories of the old testament we see our most blessed mightie God to haue hiddeÌ„ great Mysteries to be types figures and shadowes of the life deaâ—h resurrection and raigne of Christ as the storie of Abrahams offring of Isaac of Ioseph the Patriarch of the brazen Serpent of Samson Dauid Ionas the Prophet which was three dayes in the belly of a whale and so likewise some other learned men very probably haue reasoned that Henoch being from Adam the seueÌ„th was a figure of the last iudgemeÌ„t and of our ascending into heauen For euen as the corporal death bycause of sinne forceably did raigne and beare swaye ouer the sixe fathers of the Church to wit ouer Adam Seth Enos Kenan Mahâ—laliel and Iared but vpon the seuenth which was Enoch could exercise no force or power at all so likewise by the space of sixe thousande yeeres which tyme the world shal endure death shal beare a sway but in the seuenth thowsand which shal be the beginning
the presence the pleasaunt speeche and louing embracings of her beloued And yet most of all it greeues thee to see the shamelesse boldnes of that abhominable strumpet the whore of Babilon which blusheth not to call her selfe the onely spouse of thy Christ and to call thee an harlot to boast of her externall beautie and to cast in thy teeth thy outward deformitie to bragge of her antiquitie fame and glorious estate and to tell thee of thy noueltie pouertie and miserie Hence it commeth that thou art no where in quiet from such taunts and chidings nor thy meÌ„bers any where safe froÌ„ her bloodye persecution Hence it is that before the world which is the Sonne of this naughtie houswife thou art contemned hated and afflicted and she as the Queene of heauen is adored loued and aduaunced with her haue all nations committed fornication and the Kings of the earth haue become frantike with Idolatrous wyne of her poysoned doctrine And hence commeth thy deepe sighes thy mournfull countenaunce and the intolerable vexation of minde which thou art in Hence it is that thou canst not be mery But comfort thy selfe faint not thou beloued of Christ for thy husband for thy sake hath made her naughtines to be knowen and she which was so loued is now hated and was glorious for her externall fairnes is nowe become odious to many for her spiritual filthines Haue pacience therefore but a little whyle and thou shalt see her to be of none accompt for thy louer in whom thou delightest shall bring her to such shame as she shall not be able to showe her head out of hell when thou shalt be in glorye with thy beloued Nowe will I make thee priuie with whom this naughtiepacke which now is many wayes knowen to all the world hath had to do a long whyle since first shee lefte to fauour the and began to fancie the wicked doctrine of the Gentiles her baude thy sworne enemy Iohn a very friende of your huâ—â—andes and most familiar with him Iohn in his Reuelation dyd foretell that immediatly after he had seene an Angell flying thorowe the midst of heauen crying with a loude voyce Woe Woe Woe to the inhabitants of the earthe from the other voyces of those three Angels which were yet to sounde the fift Angell dyd first sounde and he sawe a starre falling vppon the earth which was the fall of the Popes holynes from celestiall to earthly thinges and hauing the keyes not of heauen nor of Peter as he dooth vainely boast but of the bottomlesse pit the pit of hell Which when he had opened there came out great aboundance of Locustes into the earth and had for their King one whose name was in Hebrue Abaddon in Greeke Apollyon To this wicked king did that whoore of Babylon plight her fayth ioyne her selfe and altered the name of the Empire so that at length the flourishing estate of the old Empire vanished and he became the chiefe among al Christian kings But what happened afterward These Locustes to wit that infinite and horrible crewe of idle prelates Priestes and Friers with their abhominable king the Pope of Rome whom Paule dooth call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sonne of perdition ascended from hell and brought with them not the pure doctrine of Gods worde but the poysoned lessons of diuels and so by the filthie smoke of false opinions obscured the Sonne of righteousnes and infected the wholesome ayre of Christes Gospell But now would you haue them better described Forsooth they are for theyr intolerable pride and threatnings lyke vnto horses prepared to the battaile womens heare they haue because they are in dealinges light in behauior wanton Lions teeth for their crueltie shieldes as it were of iron to note their obstinacie â–ª In wordes they seemed courteous and therefore they had the faces of men but in deede they prooued villanous and therefore they had in their tailes the sting of Scorpions These made a noyse as it were of manye winges which noted the fame of the Popes holinesse And these had power to hurt and yet not all thinges but onely men and yet not all men but those which had not the marke of God in their foreheads And yet they could not plague at their pleasure but in certaine monthes and those not in Winter but in Somer So thou seest O daughter of SioÌ„ pure vnspotted Virgin to whom this vile stâ—umpet Rome which according to Sybils prophesie is become Rume that is violence or crueltie hath coupled herselfe with whom she hath played the harlot and is become drunken wyth the bloud of Martyrs sitting vpoÌ„ that seuen headed beast horrible in sight and in deede most cruell Now marke I beseech thee and call into mynde the woordes of thy beloued which gaue his Apostles to vnderstand that before his comming meaning before he celebrates his marriage in the kingdome of his almighty father the sounde of the Gospell as it were by a Trumpet should be heard throughout all the world that so both the number of thy friendes might be greatly multiplyed this child of perdition by the final end of al thingâ— and his famous comming vtterly abolished Which things to thy comfort thou mayst perceaue to be com to passe already euen about the sixt houre or midle of of the sixt day or six thousand yeare of the worldes creation Thou seest how the voyce of the Gospell hath sounded in al quarters of the world thou seest how that son of perditioÌ„ with the whore of Babylon sitting vpoÌ„ a purpled and bloodye beast is by the breath of Gods woorde confounded thou seest also which is most to thy glory and their perpetuall prayse how the Kings of the earth which were sometime the tenne hornes and vpholders of that beast by whom shee receyued both such aucthoritie that shee myght persecute and such titles that shee was honored as a Goddesse and reuerenced as the Queene of heauen thou seest I say whom they did honour as a Queene how they doo hate for a Queane and whom they did reuerence like a Goddesse how they renounce as the greatest enemye to godlines and whom they did by an ignorant zeale enrich with all things that myght cause her to be in the eyes of all meÌ„ glorious how they worthily impouerish endeuour by all meanes to make her odious So that the number is great which know confesse thee to be the true and faythfull spouse of christ Which God graunt as they in mouthes confesse to fauour thee so in manners they may expresse Christianitie and as they speake well so at no tyme they may be seduced either by the vayne pleasures of this world or by suttle snares of the diuel froÌ„ louing thee Wherefore tryumph now thou daughter of Sion reioyce daughter of Hierusalem thou daughter of peace reioyce For behold thy husband the King will come thy sauiour wil come to thee and that certaynly and shortly he will come but not
before nyne thousande yeares past there was another manner of Athens and farre better citizens Herodotus saith that the Aegyptians haue made mention of tenne thousand yeares and aboue of the worldes continuance and yet they haue obserued that the places of the rising and going downe of the Sunne haue been twise chaunged so that where nowe it falleth there it hath risen twise and hath twise there gone downe where it riseth now But more woonderful and execrable is it that among the people of God should be Saduceis and among Christians should be such men which of set purpose against the manifest woord of God dare boldly say and perswade them selues that the world neither had beginnyng nor shall haue end that there shal be no resurrection of the flesh no lyfe after this lyfe no rewardes for wel dooing no punishment for sinne and that the worlde as it is nowe so hath it been and shall continue for euer which kynd of men are plaine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men which neither beleeue there is any God or diuine prouidence at al. And I feare me the most part of mankind such as are called in the holy Scripture worldly mynded and carnal although they seeme neuer so spiritual catholike and would be counted Gospellers by the like fictions and dayly suggestions of the Diuel although not so wilfully flatter them selues and gladly woulde be brought into that opinion that so in a desperate securitie they maye spende their dayes and augment their impietie Against which apparant dotage and wicked cogitations of naughtie men through want of true knowledge by the instinct of Satan and corruption of the mynde of man it standes vs vppon to arme our selues with the woorde of God and confirme our consciences by the testimonies of Christ of the Prophets and Apostles The holy scripture in many places dooth plainly tell vs that one day the sonne of God Christ shall come to iudge the quicke and the dead all fleshe shall rise and the world shall be consumâ—d wyth fire as the aboue recited testimonies beare witnes To proue the resurrection of the fleshe very many proofes may be alledged both out of the olde and newe testament But amongst al the disputation of Paul may suffice vs where by many arguments he confirmes the resurrection of the flesh and copiously and sufficiently dooth also prooue that we must all stand before the tribunall seate of Christ to receiue eternall rewardes for our deedes be they good or bad And Christ saith Maruell not at this for the day wil come in which al which are in the graues shall heare the voyce of the sonne of God and those which haue doone well shall come fortâ— to the resurrection of lyfe but those which haue doone euill to the resurrection of iudgement To this purpose may be recyted other infinite places of holy scripture and also the creede of Thapostles Nicene and Athanasian But I pray you what auailed religion faith hope and that great pacience of Christians in all their troubles and cruell persecutions if this doctrine of the consummation of the world and of the comming of the Lorde with that which belongeth thereunto which of all others maye most absurdly be thought were but a vaine imagination of the Prophetes of Christ and the Apostles and of all the Martyrs in the Churche when as no cause can be supposed which myght driue them to the loosing of their fame theyr goods their life So that truth is so plaine apparant that a godly well disposed mynde makes that a sure argument of the worldes decay For these godly meÌ„ of al others in the world most miserable suffred those greeuous and direfull thinges not for the hope of vayne glory or desire of riches but for the loue of Christ through the secrete motions of the holy Ghost perswading themselues that in Christ was hid the treasure of true riches and eternal glory Wherfore it behoueth vs vndoubtingly to think their doctrine to be true and celestiall and not to proceede from their owne brayne but to be deliuered vnto them by Christ and his holy spirit and the rather bycause Christ of himselfe dooth saye that he is the truth and the life and that he telleth vs from the bosome of his father and the father sayth in the presence of three Apostles from heauen This is my beloued sonne in whom I am pleased heare him which voyce of God was also heard in Iordan when Iohn was baptising him This coeternall sonne of God woord of the euerlasting father creator of all things our redeemer Christ of sette purpose taught his Apostles certayne tokens of the worlds destruction and his comming to iudgement And also in his last Sermons before he yeelded himselfe in our behalfe to the crosse he playnly dooth as it were depainte and sette the same before theyr eyes and counsailes them and among them especially those which were to lyue in all tymes to be watchfull sober prepared and ready least in his terrible visitation whose differring bringes too much securitie to the reprobate and condemned persons vppon the suddaine they be entrapped and as it were taken in the snare All which Mathew Marke and Luke do abundantly set foorth So that the truth teaching the same nothing ought to be more credible and certain to a ChristiaÌ„ man then that the world his ful time beyng expyred the prouidence of God the eternall father so disposing the same shall passe away and that Christ our Lorde shall come in the the cloudes of heauen to the last and vniuersall iudgement The holy Prophets likewise haue by diuine inspiration foretolde many things of the comming of Christ in the flesh of hys doctrine death and resurrection also of the chaunge of Empyres and of the ruine of many townes all which are fullye come to passe so that nowe they may seeme not by euent to haue foretolde but to haue drawne a true and certaine historie of these thyngs Howe lyuely Esaie dooth expresse the natiuitie person doctrine myracles death and resurrection of Christ it is well knowen vnto all though but meanely read in the Scriptures Likewise Daniell in many places seemeth now to haue prophecied but orderly to haue written things already done of the continuall alterations of Empyres and of the comming of Christ that well he may be called the great Historiographer Now what shall we saye Syth in these and all other things their prophesies haue taken effect and sith they by one and the same spirite haue signifyed of the second commyng of Christ in which he shall declare himselfe to be an eternall kyng of all kings and principalities that these ought not to be finished Yes vndoubtedly so that he shall put all kingdomes of this world vnder hys feete and shall hewe them lyke a stone which is cut from the mountaine He appeared vnto King Nabuchodonozor without handes to bruse that great Image which
of the celestiall euerlasâ—ing life his force and sting being lost he shal vtterly be abolished To which thing Iudas in his Epistle had respect which saith that this Henoch the seuenth after Adam dyd foretell of the last iudgement Which iudgement is giuen of Elias that he should be a type figure of his owne prophecie And it is said that as Henoch in generation so Elias in coÌ„putation of yeres was the seueÌ„th after Adam For it is reported that next vnto Adam was Methusalah next to Methusalah Sem to Sem Iacob to Iacob Amram to Amram Ahia and to Ahia Elias the Prophet Now if this accompt of Elias be altogether true as many do coniecture there is no doubt but the Lord God would in his wonderfull woorks declared to his Saintes and chosen haue many secret mysteries that in the consideration of them we might be inflamed with desire of the celestiall and most blessed life Here let vs coÌ„sider that before the seuenâ—h thousand yeare we shal be taken vp to meete the Lord in the cloudes euen as Elias by a fâ—rie chariot and horseâ— was lifted vp to heauen Finallie also the Euangelists and Apostles call the tyme from Christes incarnation vntill the ende of the world the laste howre or laste tymes Saint Peter saith Christ was manifested in the laste tymes And to the Hebrewes Paule writeth Christ once was offred in the ende of the world Neither is this tyme of the Apostles therfore called the last bycause that certainly the ende of the world is at hande but because according to Elies distribution it is the laste of the three ages of the world which without all doubte they respected Neither is it to be deemed that this prophecie was vnknowen to them but rather that by reuelation of the holy Ghoste it was singularly renued and therefore in deede they call this last age of two thousande yeeres in the beginning of which all prophecies and visions by Christ were to be fulfilled the laste tymes and howre These nowe be the testimonies and coniectures by which I haue studied to proue and haue satisfied my selfe that this world shall not continue aboue the space of sixe thousande yeeres Nowe followe those things by which I meane to shewe that the sixt thousande yeere shal not be expired That the world shall not endure sixe thousande yeeres NOwe that the sixt thousand yeere shal be shortened it is apparant and maye be prooued for order sake firste by those woordes of Elias the Prophete aboue recited in this manner And for our sinnes which are many and marueylous some yeeres which are wanting shall not be expyred VVhich words do not much disagree froÌ„ those of Christ where he saith And except those dayes were shortned all flesh should perish but for the elects sake they shall be cut of And although there peraduenture the Lorde doth properly talke of the ruine ouerthrowe of Hierusalem as may easely be gathered by the circumstances of that place yet may it seeme that he would speake the same of the vtter destruction of the world because in that place he giueth certaine and moste euident signes thereof of which hereafter more at large and also dooth foretell both of the ouerthrowe of Hierusalem and by a certaine confusion of wordes of the worldes destruction so that for the perfect vnderstanding thereof greate iudgement is to be required And bycause the former is a figure of that which is to followe I perswade my selfe that as well by the woordes of Christ as by the prophecie of Elias it may be gathered that for the electes cause those miserable dayes of the vtter ouerthrowe and ending of this wicked world shal be shortened and cut of Others by probable reason endeuour to proue the same through consideration of the Sabboth daie which is a true figure of the eternall Sabboth For in the Lawe it was prescribed that about the euening of the sixt day the Sabboth should take his beginning And therefore their coniecture is not vnlike to be true which thinke that the eternal superexcelleÌ„t Sabboth of the Lord shal begin not at the end of the last thousande yeere but a litle before Here be some other coniectures brought foorth which willyngly I passe ouer and the rather bycause I know them to be of no great force But those tokens are dilgentlie to be marked which Christ did foretel should goe before the coÌ„summatioÌ„ of the world that by them we may the more certainly thinke and perswade our selues tyme present and tokens foretolde being compared together that the ende of the woâ—lde hangs ouer our neâ—kes Among othâ—r signes in my iudgement the preaching of the Gospell is not the least but moste cheefely to be noted as rhat by which all other tokens both going before and following in those wordes of Christ are knowen to bee true tokens of his comming The wordes of Christ telling vs howe to knowe when the Gospell is preached are these And this Gospell of the kingdome shal be preached through the vniuersall world for a witnes to all nations and then shall the ende come By which words the sonne of God Christ doth playnly teach that about the time of the worlds destruction the true doctrine of Christ should be preached By which is gathered that the same was obscured defaced and almost not spoken of by reason of false prophets before that tyme And Christ saide that in those dayes should arise many false Prophets and by saying themselues to be Christ should seduce many Nowe what is more euident in these our dayes Hath not the true and sincere doctrine of the free pardoning our sinnes by Christ lien hid these many yeeres and vnder the tyrannie of Antichrist maruelouslie been obscured And the Pope arrogantlie vaunted himselfe to bee Christ or at leaste his vicar What promising of pardoning sinnes and redeming soules out of their fained purgatorie by theire wicked Bulies and blasphemous Masse what idolatrie in woorshipping and impietie in receiuing Christ in the sacrament Finally what diuers and diuilish supeâ—stitions haue been practised so well it is knowen vnto all men that I neede not to recken them And nowe againe â—y the vnspeakeable grace and mercie of God we plainlie perceiue such a cleare light of the Gospell to shine ouer the whole world that in spight of the diuell and all his adherentes it castes his bâ—ames ouer all nations And therefore what other things shall we looke for but as Christ did foretel a sodaine downfall of this wretched world For if we reade eyther the holy Byble of God or historicall bookes of prophane men we shall finde that God hath alwayes followed the example of a ryghteous iudge which before he condemne a man for his offences will first accuse by witnesse so God before he send plagues and punishment for our transgression dooth first put vs in minde of our wickednes by preaching of the Gospell and declaring his diuine pleasure
some other good vse For as plentye brings pride and hautines of mynde so pouertie ingendreth contempt not onely of Ministers but of the Ministrie also which being disdayned for lacke of preferment mens cogitations are so turned that rather they had to bynd their sonnes to some seruile occupation then bring them vp in liberall instruction by which must needes followe not onely the great scarsitie of learned men but also greeuous want of godly Ministers and so consequently the miserable estate and ouerthrowe of the Church Now what remayneth but that we certaynly perswade our selues that rhese are playne and euident signes and testimonies of Gods great displeasure agaynst vs for dispising his Ministers whose contempt he neither can for his holines nor will for his iustice suffer any time as the the manifold miseries plagues that be euery where doo shewe vnto vs And as the sonne of God Christ sayd before that after the preaching of the Gospell destruction should follow I hope the time is so farre from being differred that it will spedely come vppon vs For it cannot be but that the prophecie of Christ should be true which could not be if those dayes of barbarousnes and ignorance of true religion which we are lyke to fall into were not by his speedy comming preuented Moreouer we should thinke the worldes foundation to be worne out and the same to be falling vpon our shoulders when we sensiblye perceiue our selues to liue in those dayes wherof Christ foretold saying The comming of the sonne of man shal be as were the dayes of Noe. For then were men eating drinking marrying and were married vntill Noe entred the Arke And they perceiued nothing vntill the flood came and ouerwhelmed them all and such shal be the comming of the sonne of man. By which no doubt the lord would signify that in the latter dayes there should be a marueylous securitie wherby there should arise not only vnspeakeable wickednes agaynst God but also a lamentable disorder confusion in common weales for lacke of discipline Now if we wil compare tyme present with that which is past and set the manners of all men before our eyes we shall perceyue wickednes to haue come to his ripenes and to raigne almost without controlment For notwithstanding that God through his vnspeakeable mercie in these latter dayes hath giuen vs his Gospell whereby we should frame our affections according to his will and liue in vnitie and peace with all men according to his word what desire of righteousnes or zeale in religioÌ„ is there to be found Yea who is not in Christianitie eyther cold or carelesse Many desire to be religious and thinke they are so if only for a fashion they frequent Sermons and come to ordinarie seruice and Ceremonies supposing themselues in doing so to be sufficiently religious although their hartes doo burne with desire of transitorie things they swel through the poyson of al vngodlynesse Many also thinke they do marueilous wel in making the doctrine of loue peace and vnitye the occasion of stryfe contention and heresie And suppose they do serue God very wel if knowing some of a contrarie opinioÌ„ though not in the chiefest poynt of Religion they doo with wordes condemne them and with curses commit them to the Diuels punishment themselues in the meane while in a certaine spirituall pride gotten through a vaine opinion of learning puft vp doo resting vpon the auctoritie of others not with arguments answering to Gods word take hart of grasse their aduersaries oftentimes defending the better part and more agreable to the pleasure of the highâ—st And yet forsooth must this so great iniurie and shamelesse reproch be called not the spirit of synne but a godly zeale O daungerous dayes and diuelishe behauiour Some there be also which thinke well of themselues and woulde be numbred among good Gospellers because they haue learned without knowledge busily among theyr pottes to inueygh agaynst the papisticall superstition themselues beyng vniust theeues oppressors and most wicked rouers such as at this day men call the Guisians worse speaking after the manner of men then ciuill Papistes What should many wordes doo We plainly now perceiue greatest vice for chiefest vertue to be counted and those men through a fained shewe of simplicitie to be most commended which of all other for impietie ought most to be dispraised For craftie and deceiptful are wise couetous good husbandes prodigall liberall and riche men are deemed the best men These haue promotions and though by wicked meanes they attaine them yet diues clarus erit fortis iustus sapiens etiam Rex Et quicquid volet as Horace said The riche man shal be noble valiant vpright wise yea and king and what he wyll And in another place Aurea nunc verè sunt saecula plurimus auro Venit honos auro conciliatur amor Auro pulsa fides auro venalia iura Aurum lex sequitur mox sine lege pudor Scilicet vxorem cum dote fidemque amicos Et genus formam Regina pecunia donat Nowe are the braue and golden dayes Nowe fame with golde we gaine And golde can shewe vs many wayes mens fauour to attaine By Golde we heare the Musick sweete and lawes we bâ—ie with golde Lawe seekes for golde and straight vnmeete our name by it is solde Yea wife with wealth and faith and friendes and kinne with comely hewe Doth money Madame Prince and Queene most mortall men endue And Boëtius Vnde habeant cura est paucis sed oportet habere Per scelus atque nefas pauper vbique iacet Howe they do get fewe folkes do care but riches haue they must By hooke or crooke we daily see so weake to wall be thrust Those and the like vices haue Poets and Philosophers in their dayes when wickednesse dyd but spring as themselues haue testified reprehended And therfore is our Lord God earnestly to be desired that all these euils by his speedie comming may take an ende For although al maner of wickednesse in this age haue ascended marueilous high yet are they not so come to the top but that more straunge vngraciousnes and wonderful deceiptes and more horrible confusions in common weales through euil gouernment of them may to the griefe and vexation of good men be seene then euer were For we see continually that many through their cogging prating pride and flatterie without all honestie learning or Christianitie in hope of profit and preferment prickt thervnto beate their braines and bende al their studyes to be gratious in their eyes which sit in chiefest place aboue other men By which it commeth to passe that for a time they are well accepted euen of the best but good Princes can smell them out and wil banishe them their companie perswading themselues that that friendship is not of continuance whose ende and grounde is not the setting foorth and encrease of vertue Wherefore it is to be wished that
dissentions of people and continuall warres of Princes to the ouerthrow of the Gospell by the Popes setting on will subdue all kingdomes But I trust the Lord God by his speedie comming will bring to naught these endeuours of Turke and Pope agaynst his Church and will cast that beast with the litle horne which hath mightely encreased and all those vngodly and dragonish kingdomes arising from the sea and that false Prophet into that fornace which burneth with fire and Brimstone Many reasons and probable coniectures from the course of tyme. HEtherto by meane diligence I haue recited those fore tokens of the induring of times which Christ hath taught vs And also I haue showeÌ„ other signes and coniectures out of Gods worde and condition of the tyme that now is by which we may know the oldnes and sodayne finishing of tymes to which when they come to passe the Lord commaundeth vs to looke backe and lyft vp our heades For in that the Lord God declareth his most ardent goodwill towardes vs in that he would not signify the day and hour but foreshewed the tokens going immediatly before the same And therefore sith by these it is manifest that it is the expresse will of our Sauiour that out of the written word of Christ we should with all diligence search out the last tyme of our redemption I doubt not but I shall doo a good deede and gratefull both to God and his Church if I vtter foorth some cogitations of myne fetcht from the course of tyme yet agreeing to thâ— holy Scripture for the proofe of the opinion about the speedye conclusion of tyme Not that I am in that mynde that I thinke these to be Demonstrations which through a necessitie of that which is to come must needes be but as probable things so long to be imbraced tyll we learne more certayne And therefore in these and the lyke things I submit my selfe to the better iudgement of the Church and of the learned and I perswade my selfe that these and other singuler Prognostications which followe whereby somewhat â—igher I approch than as yet I haue doone to shewe the sodayne comming of the Lord shal be so farre from terryfying of the godly that the consideration of these things will be most pleasaunt and comfortable But yet I take not vppon me as before also I haue protested to know the day which Christ sayth himselfe he dooth not know as he lyke a man beareth the office of an Apostle For the signes foretold we may know but not the day and houre not the very moment of his comming but the tokens of that moment doo we search out as farre foorth as it is lawfull for man so to doo The holy Scripture euery where maketh some collation between the first Adam the sinner the sonne of God Christ our Sauiour the second Adam also betweene the floud the vtter ouerthrowe of the world euen as Christ dooth signifie in these woordes Et erit sicut in diebus Noe c. And it shal be as in the dayes of Noe c. Wherefore I fell first into this consideration and afterwardes from one to another into those which ensue whether the tymes past in equalitie of the same nomber aunsweared alike For the Lord God hath ordayned all things by a singuler and euerlasting wisdome and experience dooth teach by a certaine concurring of the Starres that in such things e great lykenes of tymes is woont oftentymes to happen as in the birth of Isaac and of his offering which is a figure of Christ there is a great concent of the tyme For from Isaac vntill Christ were two thousand yeeres fully expired But when from Adam orderly vntill the floud we doo consider the yeeres of the generations of all the fathers and gather them all into one summe laying aside the false computation of Eusebius and others following the Greeke translation of the seuentie Interpreters from the first yeere of the worlds foundation to the floud are iudged to be a thousand sixe hundred fifty and sixe yeeres From this number the yeeres of Christes birth vnto this present yeere a thousand fiue hundred seuentie and fiue doo differ eightie and one yeere if truly that number were filled But I doo not thinke the world shal continue so long that the latter time should in number exceede the former for many coniectures which follow but what may come to passe the Lord knoweth Lykewyse Moyses is a figure of Christ that marueilous deliuering of Israell by Moyses out of the handes of Pharao is a figure of the victorie of Christ which in our behalfe he hath by his death on the Crosse and resurrection from the dead obtayned agaynst the diuell and death and the whole gouernment of Mâ—yses is a shadowe of Christes kingdome His destruction and the Iewes is no doubt a token of the worldes ouerthrowe And here we shall see a wonderfull concente and agreeing of tymes that so by things past we may looke for the euent of things to come vndoubtedly by the singular prouidence counsayle and ordinance of god For no other reason can I render sith I cannot perswade my selfe that these things can by chance so wonderfully agree togeather First by the true accompt of yeeres it is playne that from the comming out of Aegypt and publishing of the lawe vnto the Natiuitie of Christ are numbred a thousand fiue hundred and nine yeres Now if the yeeres from the Natiuitie of Christ vntill this time in which Christ began agayne to be borne to the world and to be brought into the light as it were through the preaching of the Gospel by Luther and other famous men were numbred they are in summe a thousand fiue hundred and seuenteene Agayne from the departure out of Aegypt vntill the death of Christ the yeeres are accompted to be a thousand fiue hundred fortie and two And this number also dooth marueilously agree with that generall Persecution in Germanye made by Charles the fift and the Pope which happened in the yeere a thousand fiue hundred fortye and seuen So that these numbers of yeeres beyng compared togeather wil be found not much to differ in quantitie of number But from these poore mentions I will goe higher to those things which especially doo agree to our purpose It is manifest that Moses gouernment vntyll the last destruction of Hierusalem by Titus did stand in all one thousand fiue hundred eightie three yeeres Neyther is it to be doubted of any but that that destruction and wasting of Hierusalem is a manifest figure of the last ruine of this world And therfore doth our Lord speake of these things together and sayth those dayes were the dayes of Noe in respect of manners and the securitie of mans lyfe Nowe at length what shall we gather of these things That the terme of the worlds destructioÌ„ should agree with the former number of yeeres of Moses gouernment Which not the sonne of an Emperour or chiefest Monarch as was
weakened there shal be no lamentation no sorow no death but perfect ioy great myrth and a lyfe endued with all spirituall riches and euerlasting of which the faithfull in the commyng of the Lord shal be partakers Whose most ioyful comming about those notable tymes aboue mentioned we looke for and long exceedingly for our redemption To these may be added that in the yeare .88 which is the yeare of the world 5550. such a yeere shall ensue as it is from the creation of the world by seuens as it were by degres steps we may ascend as also the yere before that 87. which is the yere .5549 to which number auncient writers haue ascribed much partly because it is a square number of which aboue it is spoken partlye also because it ariseth of seuen seuen times dubbled But experience and the assertion of the learned proues that euery seuen yeere from their byrth to their death is very daungerous contrary to noble wits and notable men of the best nature by a certaine agreement they haue with their maker For sith all that is made hath been created by the wonderfull wisedome of God and by a certaine secret power ingrafted tendes to his natural conseruation seekes that is best for his good estate it very likely appeares that famous men haue a more affinitie with theyr second byrth the most artificiall nature beyng made of God than eyther beast or beastly men and therefore that they are of God more tyed wyth nature her self to a certaine tyme But these are counted especially climacterian yeeres which by seuenfolde ascend as is the 21. yeere which dooth consist of three times seuen such be .42 and 63. yeeres counting aswell by nynes as by seuens and therefore be they iudged to be very hurtfull to notable fellowes For in that yeare of their lyfe dyed Luther Melanthon Martyr and other excellent men in all ages as also Erasmus is thought to haue left this world in the 70. yeare of his age But whether the lyke yeeres be fatall to all the worlde as they are to particular men we leaue it to the iudgement of others Yet if these things mentioned for a certaine lyke proportion of members do include any secrete reason bycause as Plinie sayth harmonia rerum naturā sibi ipsam congruere cogit the concente of things makes nature to agree to her selfe it is credible and lykely that the last ende of the world and of all mankind dooth consist of lyke proportion of numbers as dooth a part Because man is in deede a part of the world and therefore is rightly called of the Philosophers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Againe of thinges past thinges to come are gathered since the course of tyme the inclinations of the starres the circuite of fiue hundred yeares and that singuler proportion of numbers in the number of fyue of which hetherto we haue spoken come to passe about the same tyme altogether and consist of one reason All which to speake the truth were coniectures of no waight and could proue nothing did not Christ and Paule in plaine woordes signifie vnto vs that the worldes ende together wyth the glorious comming of the sonne of God to iudgement are at hand and as it were at our doores when we shall plainely perceiue the Gospell of the kingdome of Christ to be preached throughout all the world and the sonne of perdition by the spirit of Gods mouth to be so confounded that nothing shal seeme to be behind but his vtter defamation and to this purpose finally doo serue other coniectures as is aboue declared Here by reason of numbers one thing more worthy to be marked because it agrees with that aboue mentioned comes into my mynde the which was told me by an honest man skilfull in Astronomy and Geometrie and of good credit For he sayd that in the .1568 when Ericus King of Suethland which then was in armes had by force taken from the Liuonians a certayne Castle situated in the Iland Osila called Sonenborch he by good fortune was lodged with a certayne noble Astronomer with whom by reason of their studies he was very familiar Being in talke one day he brake out into these words and said O miserable and hotrible dayes which from the yeare .1570 now at hand shall ensue and continue many yeares His guest asked him how so He aunsweared Because when the number of the yeares of Christes Natiuitie dooth containe within it for certayne yeares the Golden number of euery yeare which is seldome seene then it hath of long tyme been obserued and histories doo witnes the same that infinite calamities and intolerable troubles haue chaunced But now from the 70. yeare now at hand vntill the yeare .77 there shal be among the yeares of the birth of Christ and between the golden number of euery yeare such an agreement as .1.5.7 which being ioyned togeather by addition do make .13 Now this number .13 is the Golden number of the yeare 1570. in the six other immediatly ensuing And therfore he did affirme that in that yeare the watrie Element should gouerne and should presage great ouerflowings of water But in the yeare 73. which is the middle of these seuen the Earthy Element for some notable cause should lose of his vertue by reason whereof a wonderful scarsetie of all things should ensue as afterward it came to passe Moreouer he said that in .76 yeare the aire should be corrupt and the plague should be in euery place After which should succeede three yeares the first of which .1577 dooth by the fore sayd reason comprehend in it twentie in number and if from this number .19 which is the chiefest goldē number and the golden number to the yeare going befor◠were taken away then one which is the beginning of the number and the golden number of thys yeare dooth remayne and so in the other two following and no further And therefore in the yeare .77 the firie Element shall trie his force and breede discention and warres and agayne in the yeare .78 a greeuous pestilence shall dispatch verye many And in the yeare .79 agayne shall come great scarsetie of all fruit Finally he sayd because .19 is the highest golden number it shal be found that that number from the .70 yeare when this first agreement began counting .19 shall as it were by a finger poynt vnto the .88 yeare For from the .70 yeare to the .88 so many yeares come betweene about which tyme according to the opinions almost of all Mathematicions verie dyreful and miserable things shal be come to passe Because by good experience he boldly sayd that the Lord God maker and keeper of all order did orderly by a certain number measure and aspect of the starres rule and gouern the whole Firmament of heauen And therefore because of these things which haue ben spoken we do wel ynough and sufficiently know that the kingdome of God is at hand let vs lyft vp our heades to
heauen let vs contemne all worldly things let euery man cast away securitie and desire of pleasure by whose inticementes the mind is suppressed let euery man frame himselfe to learne what is good and godlines let hym prepare himselfe to the Crosse let hym profit in good woorking in true calling vppyn the name of the Lord and put on the armour of righteousnes that if the aduersarie challenge vs into combate we may by no flaterie by no force by no terrour by no tormentes be drawen and pluckt away from Christ. The almightie God be present with vs continually with his diuine asistance and defende vs euermore agaynst all the inuasions of the diuell by which he would bring vs from our faith driue vs out of hope and so bar vs from our kingdome which is in heauen ¶ Of the manner and effect of the Lordes commyng to iudgement with an exhortation to watchfulnes HEtherto by diuine testimonies it hath ben shewed that certainly the world must be destroyed and also by Oracles and probable reasons and coniectures it hath been proued that the glorious comming of the Lorde is at our doores and cannot be farre of although we knowe not the certaine yeare daye and houre of hys commyng It followeth therefore that both for the edifying of the Churche and refourming of our manners that we alledge testimonies out of holye Scripture both of the manner of the commyng of the Sonne of God to iudgement and of the effect of the same After that the Sonne of God Christ our Lorde and Sauiour by the secrete counsayle of God the Father had determyned for our saluations and satisfying the wrathe of God to suffer death he tooke vppon him the shape of a seruaunt was in the worlde poore and miserable tooke paciently all tauntes and mockes and suffred himself to be condemned though vniustly and shamefully to be crucifyed but in his seconde commyng he shall not onely appeare lyke a chiefe Monarch of thys world but shall shewe hymselfe to be a King since the begynning of the worlde and him which cast the myghtiest from theyr seate of Maiestie and exalted the humble and turned Empyres at hys pleasure Also he shall declare himselfe to be the Sonne of God coequall in dietie wyth God his eternall Father so that then the course of things shall be chaunged for he in that daye shal be iudge and iustly condemne those of whom he was iudged and against all equitie together wyth his members condemned and which haue obstinately and wythout reason persisted in impietie For the wordes of Christ in the .25 of Matthew by which accordyng to the capacitie of man the last iudgement is depainted are these Cum venerit silius hominis in maiestate sua omnes angeli cum eo tunc sedebit super sedem maiestatis suae congregabuntur ante eum omnes gentes Nemo enim qui vnquam vixit est erit hoc iudicio eximetur separabit eos ab iâ—uicem sicut pastor segregat oues ab hoedis statuet oues quidem à dextris suis. Tunc dicet Rex his qui à dextris eius erunt Venite benedicti Patris meâ— possidete paratum vobis regnum à constitutione mundi c. Et his qui à sinistris dicet Discedite à me maledicti in ignem aeternuÌ„ qui paratus est Diabolo Angelis eius That is When the sonne of man shall come in his maiestie and all his Angels with him then shall he sit vppon the throne of his maiestie and all Nations shal be gathered tegether before hm for none which euer was is or shal be from this iudgement shal be exempted and he shall separate them euen as a shepheard doth segregate the sheepe from the goates and shall place the sheepe on his right hand Then shall the King saye vnto those which are on his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father possesse the kingdome prepared for you from the beginning of the world c. And to those which are on his left hand he shall say Depart from me ye accursed into euerlasting fire which is prepared for the Diuell and his Angels Because these haue doone no deedes of charitie but haue continually rebelled against God but these haue doone much better because by reason of their fayth they haue fulfylled all woorkes of mercies and haue been with one minde with God. In which Sermon Christ dooth applie himselfe to mans capacitie and borroweth his similitude from an vpright King and Iudge of this world which dooth pronounce lawfull sentence whether it be of absolution or condemnation according to our woorkes be they good or bad and by and by dooth execute the same Lykewyse Paule dooth shewe the manner how Christ in his last comming shall appeare to al the elect which euer were or shal be in these wordes Hoc enim vobis dicimus in verbo Domini quiae nos qui viuimus quiresidui sumus in aduentu Domini non praeuentemus qui dormierunt Quoniam ipse Dominus in iussu in voce Archangeli in tuba Dei descendet de caelo mortui qui in Chriâ—â—o sunt resurgent primi Deinde nos qui viuimus simul rapiemur cum illis in nubibus obuiam Christo in aera sic semper cum Domino erimus This we say vnto you in the word of the Lord that we which liue and are the remnaunt in the Lordes comming shall not goe before theÌ„ which sleepe Because the Lord himselfe in the coÌ„maundement and voyce of an Archangle and in the trumpet of God shall descend from heauen and they which are dead in Christ shall first arise Afterwarde we which doo liue shall togeather with them be caried in the Cloudes to meete Christ in the the ayre and so shall be with God for euer Also Paule teacheth that in a moment in the twinckeling of an eye in the last sound of the Trumpet the dead shall ryse vncorrupt and those which are liuing shall vppon the suddayne be changed to incorruption and immortalitie Iohn also seeth all the dead standing before the great and whyte Throne in the sight of God and the bookes to bee opened and the dead to be iudged out of that which was written according to their woorkes And he which was not found written in the booke of lyfe was cast into a burning lake But Sybyll Erithraea in in her verses called Acrostichides which were read as it seemeth but not well vnderstoode of Cicero dooth notably depaint the last comming of Christ and destruction of the world Which verses were greatly esteemed of the Fathers as appeareth both out of Eusebius and Augustine For out of these Authors which were before the byrth of Christ as also it is euident in Varro in Virgils 4. Eglog that these Oracles were of great antiquitie in so much as they were accounted as diuine reuelations and therefore wyll wee ioyne those Latine verses vnderneath and