Selected quad for the lemma: world_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
world_n	church_n	true_a	visible_a	9,863	5	9.3078	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A86683	Lingua testium: wherein monarchy is proved, 1. To be jure divino. 2. To be successive in the Church (except in time of a nationall desertion) from Adam untill Christ. 3. That monarchy is the absolute true government under the Gospel. 4. That immediately after extraordinary gifts in the Church ceased, God raised up a monarch for to defend the Church. 5. That Christian monarchs are one of the witnesses spoken of Rev. 11. 6. That England is the place from whence God fetched the first witnesse of this kind. 7. England was the place whither the witnesses, (viz. godly magistracy and ministry) never drove by Antichrist. Where is proved, first, that there hath been a visible magistracy, (though in sackcloth,) these 1260. yeares in England. ... Amongst these things are proved that the time of the calling of the Jews, the fall of Antichrist, and the ruine of the Beast of the earth is at hand. Wherein you have the hard places of Mat. 24, and Rev. 17. explained with severall other hard texts: ... / Written by Testis-Mundus Catholicus, in the yeare of the Beasts of the earth's raign, 1651.	Hall, Edmund, 1619 or 20-1687.	1651 (1651)	Wing H327; Thomason E632_22; ESTC R202496	43,212	57

unquestionable title both by succession and conquest after his ascension according to his promise sent his holy spirit in an extraordinary way upon his twelve Apostles who dividing the world amongst them went forth in the power of the Holy Ghost conquering the people During their time there was no need of any Magistracy for their protection for the Holy Ghost protected them beyond all the Magistracy in the world it released them out of the strongest prison brake open the strongest gates and knockt down their stoutest enemies as Paul who was doubtlesse some great Magistrate amongst them for he was the companion of Herod and when he was converted the Church had peace round about which argues there was none before his conversion greater then he he punished the scandalous as Ananias and Saphira it gave like a Monarch large boons to those that desired it it healed the sick gave limbs to the lame raised the dead and by its imperiall power made spirits of men in every Nation bow down to the Apostles commands this extraordinary presence of the spirit with the Apostles was beyond all the Monarchs in the world for this Spirit saved all the passengers in the Ship when the Ship was broken all in pieces which all the Monarchs in the world could not do this Spirit raised Paul from death to life after he was stoned which all the powers in the world could not do therefore there was no need of a Magistracy to protect them in that Age the power of working Miracles was their Magistracy at this time say some We may truly affirm that since Christs universall conquest on the Crosse after his Resurrection from that day Matth. 28. 18. that he divulged this universall power in heaven and earth the Church hath not been left without a true Monarch for Christ is that Monarch who gave Commission to his Disciples to divulge his Laws and command the world to observe them and he would be with his Embassadors to the end of the world so that the true Church cannot be without a Monarch who by a naturall right according to the flesh raigns over them and will raign in the midst of his enemies and make all their designs promote his honor and his Churches good this grand priviledge only the Gospell Church injoys for the Jews had only temporall Monarchs according to the flesh who died away but they had not a spirituall Monarch who by right of Succession came whom through unbelief they reject to this day though for certain he is their lawfull naturall King by a naturall right of Succession being of the Linage of David and he is our naturall King we being Gentiles by a right of Succession from Adam and he is spiritually the King both of the Jews and Gentiles by that spituall infinitely glorious Conquest which he got over the Wrath of God and his Divine Justice over the Powers of hell and all their malice and over the souls of the Elect and all their sinnes so that he is by Conquest the Monarch of the Gospell Church so that the Church under the Gospell can never be without a Throne and one to sit upon that Throne In the last place this we do affirm that soon after extraordinary gifts ceased and that extraordinary Succession of Ministers which Christ promised to be with til the end of the world Mat. 28. 20. succeeded God raised up a civil Magistracy for the protecting of the Church propagation of the Gospel and preservation of the Ministery This Magistracy was visible in England before any other part of the world and as Rome furnished our Magistracy with a godly orthodox Christian Ministery so not long after our Magistracy furnished Rome with a godly Magistracy to rescue the Ministery out of the Jawes of those Heathen Dragons Lucius about 170 years after Christ being a Brittish King of this Nation was called to be Gods Vicar as Elutherius Bishop of Rome terms him this Christian King sets up Christs Lawes and Faith in his Kingdom pulling down Paganism and setting up Christian Bishopricks in the room of the Pagan Flamins About 130 years after out of the same Royall Brittish bloud God raised up that famous Witness for his Truth Constantine who became the first great protecter of the Christians throughout the habitable world he was the first that made Rome which for a long time had been the Devils Throne to become Gods Throne Rev. 12. He threw down the bloudy Dragons the Emperours and Rome afterward became famous in her Magistracy and Ministery for Christ beyond all the world untill Antichrist arose and drove these Witnesses into the Wilderness and made them war sackcloth since which rising and tyrannizing of Antichrist there hath been a visible Magistracy and Ministery in England as Witnesses to the Truth of Christ though many times in great obscurity through outward persecutions it would be here too tedious to relate what might be said of the Magistracy and Ministery of England we will onely say thus much that the Kings and Bishops of England testified to the Truth against the Popes Antichristian Usurpation more then others and before any other Witnesses for about the time Anno 800. when the Popes were swelled to their height even then shall we find when other Kings kissed the Popes feet the Kings and Bishops of England opposed their Usurpation What if I did assert this That the first lawfull Christian Magistracy under the Gospell arose in England from England it went to Rome wherefore a little while half an hour it flourished and caused great peace in the Church but when Antichrist arose he drove the lawfull Magistracy and lawfull Ministery of Rome into Sackcloth and into the Wildernesse that is into some remote place from Rome observe it Rev. 12. 14. The Woman that is the Church that brought forth such a happy Son as Constantine this Woman by Antichrist is drove into the Wildernesse saith the Text into her place whence I conclude that England is this Wildernesse For first this was the place from whence a godly Magistracy went unto Rome and secondly this was the place unto which the Witnesses were drove again where I say have been visible in sackcloth since the Popes usurpation of Rome nay let me add this to my assertion that the lawfull Monarch of Rome by a true Line of Succession was Charles the King of England who was beheaded on a lofty Scaffold at noon at his own door January 30. 1648. For if noble Sir Robert Naunron that learned Antiquary and noble Lawyer say true in his Fragmenta Regalia cap. 1. p. 2. whose words are these Remarkable it is saith he concerning the violent desertion of the Royall house of Britains by the invasion of the Saxons and afterward by the conquest of the Normans that by the vicissitude of times and thought a discontinuance almost a thousand years the Royall Scepter should fall back into the Corrent of the old British bloud in the person of Henry VII

The Offices that are slain are Two a lawful Magistracy and a lawful Ministery The lawful Magistracy is that which hath the Christ and his Apostles ordained in the Church and established untill his second coming for to teach instruct rebuke and comfort the Church Now these two must be slain in that place where they have all their time been in sackcloth but a lawfull visible Magistracy and a lawfull visible Ministery have since 390. been visible in England though in sackcloth under the Popes tyranny treachery and oppression Now let these Countreys that brag of the slaying of the Witnesses amongst them first shew me for these thousand two hundred and sixty years A lawfull Magistracy and Ministery and then those so long in sackcloth if they shew me not this I 'le not believe the Witnesses shal be slain where they are not but confident I am England can only shew these Witnesses no Nation els so long together in the world as God continued Monarchy in the Church from the Creation untill the mighty Monarch of the world came So that mighty Monarch the Lord Jesus after his Ascention chose him his first Vice-Gerent here in England Lucius by name who swaid the Scepter for Christ from that Christian Race the Romans received their Christian Magistracy as Constantine and Christian Monarchy except in a National discertion hath continued visible in this Kingdome of England well nigh 1500 years so that England above and before all other Nations since the profession of the Gospell hath retained Gods Witnesses a lawfull Ministery being established by that good King Lucius that Christian Monarch let us then look for the Witnesses where God hath placed them and never till this day totally plucked them up I say I here challenge all the Historians and Antiquaries in the world to shew me where or when since these fourteen hundred years past that the two great Offices in the Church and State the lawfull Magistracy and the lawfull Ministery were in so sad a slain abject condition as at this day in England let Historians bring me the blackest night that ever came upon these two Offices and I dare undertake to make it appear that this day is seven times blacker and sadder to these great Offices then any heretofore may I not add one thing more to prove that the Witnesses have onely been in this Kingdome visibly in sackcloth before William the Conquerors time our Chronicles make mention of godly Kings which for their piety were called Saints Th●se you shall find them opposing the insolency and wickednesse of the Church of Rome King Edgar acknowledged no supremacy in the Pope but saith that the care of the Church of Christ ad nos spectat it belongeth to the King not to the Pope and this he did saith Hoveden by the advice and means of Ethelwood Bishop of Winton and Oswald Bishop of Worcester so that seven hundred years since we have had Magistrates and Ministers against the Popes supremacy and before that as is evident in Malmsbury de Gest. Reg. lib. 2. P. 57. afterwards from William the Conqueror to the last King of England we have it clear they have testified against the Popes usurpation and have in every Age suffered much and been put into sackcloth by the prevailing treacherous rebellious factions of the Popes raising against the Kings of England no Kingdome in Europe can say the like and which is one of the remarkablest passages in the world the King that wast cut off when he had finished his testimony was the only Protestant King in the world therefore the only Witnesse say I yea he was as learned Sir Robert Naunton proves in his fragmenta regalia cap. 1. p. 2. the lawfull Successor by lineall dissent of the ancient British Kings so that if any Magistracy in the world be the slain Witnesse 't is that of England which is lawfull in it's self hath been visible for Christ before Antichrist in sackcloth visible under Antichrist and in the sight and hearing of all the world cut off with the Axe for finishing the testimony against Antichrist Now as for the Ministery of England the other Witnesse of Christs against Antichrist that it hath been as ancient as the Christian Magistracy and as visibly suffered under Antichrist and now lieth under the greatest reproach ignominy and slain condition is as clear as the former I shall say nothing to this Office that Office will speak for it self I am sure 't is of age and ability enough to gainsay all his opposers you see how much probability we have from the persons that are slain that the English Magistracy and Ministery are the Witnesses Now we proceed to shew what probability there is that these Witnesses are to be slain in these Northern Islands I will say the lesse of the Beast that slaies them because I portrayed him in the ensuing tract I shal only discover him where he is to be found in Scripture Prophecies and then what those Scripture Prophecies say of his downfal in Rev. 11. 7. he is called the Beast that ascendeth out or the bottomlesse pit after the Witnesses have finished their testimony where note that this Beast that slaies the Witnesses is not the Pope but one that riseth when the Witnesses have finished their testimony and his raign is but three years and an half and this all the Greek and Latin Fathers assent unto and 't is as clear as the Sun from this text In Rev. 13. 11. he is called the Beast of the Earth to have us to observe that he is one distinct from the Sea ver. 5. 't is wonderfull to behold how many learned Protestants joyn these together in one when God by his Word hath severed they are distinguished by their originall the one ariseth out of the earth and the other out of the Sea The Holy Ghost calls the Beast of the Earth another and many Protestants though not all of them for Bishop Cooper saith 't is one distinct from the Beast of the Sea make them notwithstanding the same the Beast of the Earth hath but two horns and and the Beast of the sea ten more arguments may be picked out of the texts to prove the Beast of the Earth which slays the Witnesses shall rise and raigne but three years and an half during the time the Witnesses shall lie slain as 't is clear Rev. 11. 7. 12. this Beasts rising is the Witnesses falling and the Witnesses rising in this Beasts ruine That the Beast of the Earth and the Beast of the bottomlesse pit are one and the same is clear for Rev. 13. 10. 11. he riseth then when the faith and patience of the Witnesses are exercised here is the faith and patience of the Saints their suffering graces when the Beast of the Earth ariseth are exercised and the Beast of the bottomlesse pit is he that exerciseth their defensive graces so Rev. 11. 7. he makes war with them and overcomes and kills them This Beast of the

pulling thee by timely repentance out of Babylon that is now falling I beseech the therefore since I have not counted my paines purse person nor life to much too prepare it and present it to thee doe not think thy paines to much to read it read it as I writ it with much diligence and fervent prayer and I pray God grant that it may be so effectuall by the operation of the Holy Ghost upon all that reade it that the drooping feebl soul may be incouraged the blind enlightned the obstinate so terrified that the Divels kingdome may be shaken by it Antichrists kingdome may be confounded by it and the Beast of the earth who supports them both may be speedily and utterly ruined by it this is the daily and hourly prayer of him who studies nothing more then thy spirituall welfare The Author to his Book MY little book I only call thee mine because in these dark times I 'm only thine Goe quickly through the world and boldly say that mighty Monark's comming to destroy The church her enemies let proud Rome know from thee shee 's neare her last great overthrow And tell the earth-Beast when the seven Trump ' sounds his death 's designd that Trump ' his power confounds Then let the Dragon also understand Christs comming and his chaining up's at hand And let the house of Austria know and Spain Their sunne shall set and never rise againe This message don my Booke goe to the Jewes and with a cheerefull voyce proclaime this news Our Lord is their Messias and their eyes shall weepe ore him whom now they doe despise Their Native King our Lord shall by his hand restore the twelve Tribes to their Native land They shall put eie to eie that is shall see their Prophets and the Apostles to agree This don go to the Gentiles Church which lies this day o'rewhelmed with deep Calamities Comfort her thus tell her the Scriptures say her witnesses shall rise that Beast to slay In whose destruction the grand power of all the three last Gospell Enemies shall fall Tell her this earth-Beast raignes this howers that day which slayes her witnesses the Scriptures say Bid her not feare those Offices now slaine in Church and State shall shortly rise againe Whose glorious rising shall the world affright and slay this earth-Beast with his men of might Then shall the Vialls run Gods wrath shall rise and ruine his three last Grand enemies Let then that Northern Kingdome understand by this it's day of triumph is at hand It 's now distressed Ministers and King shall mourne no more but Hallalu-jahs sing That church no more her sackcloth shall put on shee shall be clothed with salvation Her King shall Raigne in righteousnesse and make Gods enemies throughout the world to quake He shall be nursing father to the Jewes and shall no acts of grace to them refuse They shall flock in to him he shall destroy their foes that bard them from Salvations way Immediately before this come to passe her troubles shall be such as never was The prefixt symptoms of this day must be her low State and her foes prospertie Hence t is this great dayes prophecies allude to each great Church deliverance since the flood She sings the Song of Moses and the Lambe 'cause out of such deep miserie she came Lift up thine eyes O Zion then and see in this great day thy foretold Enemie Three yeares and halfe thine enemy must rage ore thee by warre which he with thee doth wage One thousand two hundred sixty dayes just O LaVer Vs CroMweLL's name makes who must 50 5 5 100 1000 50. 50 a Three yeares and an halfe by his b sword-power raigne which is that time the c witnesses lie slain Jf who he slayes by ought demanded be t is Kingly Offfce and the Ministry This Beast's that d little horne that puls away three hornes ot'h ten him e Christ comes to destroy This Beasts f deceitfull perjur'd base Love's lies and beares g up Rome with all her blasphemies This is that enemie which doth divide Mount h Olvet and makes the breach so wide Twixt North and South and makes one day like night but when its evening comes it shall be light That is this Beast in Scotland shall rage there but one prophetique day that is one year Jn'th' ' ev'ning of which yeare it shall bee light toth' Church and to this Beast Eternall night This beast betwixt betwixt the seas in Scotland must incamp ●nd there be scattered as the dust Share then my book twixt Zions friends and foes their unexpected lots of joyes and woes Tell Zion now i' th dust full fraught with sorrow her bloodie tears shall bring forth joys to morrow Haste then toth' Scots tell them the prophets say their warre is Christs and he 'l give them the day And this shall be the signe even this alone when the enemie seems most strong they most undone Reader What is deficient in this thou shalt find supplyed in Manus Testium THe method of Gods afflicting providence in the Church since the Creation is worthy the observation of all but more especially of him who undertakes to interpret the Holy Scriptures The method of God in his acts of providence towards his Church are 1. To bring them exceeding low before he deliver them 2. After he hath delivered them from their great troubles and put them in a hopeful way of peace for ends best known to himself he oftentimes dashes their hopes and darkens the way by sad and heavy afflictions As the former is undeniable so the latter is cleer in the Scriptures See this verified in Jacob the Father of the twelve Patriarchs Jacob being newly gotten from a Heardmaster and passed the River with his wifes and substance he resolved to go into the Promised Land when he was got seven dayes journey in all probability out of Labans reach on a sudden the storm riseth Laban pursues him with his forces and Esau prepares to stop him in his flight with 400 men so that we may see here Jacob like Christ on the Cross a miserable object betwixt two Thieves To this Jeremiah alludes when he prophesies of the great troubles of the Church immediatly before the conversion of the twelve Tribes He calls it the time of Iacob's trouble none hath bin like it So likewise when the Church was delivered from Egypt's Bondage and all their Enemies drowned and when they had seen and tasted of the goodness of the Lord from Heaven in raining Manna and of the sweet and spiritual love-tokens of God from Mount Sina when God had given them Lawes and Ordinances and began a glorious Reformation and when they were going into Canaan then riseth Corah Datha● and Abiran against the Witnesses Moses and Aaron and then the people rebell and that glorious Sun of a Reformation went retrogade many thousand of degrees by Asa's Diall So likewise David when

years of this opinion but many others more moderate as Irenaeus Turtullian Lactantius Victorinus Apolonius Severus Justinus and several others These did not hold as Corynthus did that they should raign with Christ in corporal but in spiritual delights after 6000 years were accomplished from the Creation may not I say Augustine lib. 20. de Civit. Dei Cap. 7. is of this opinion and Ierome on Dan. 7. where he saith In uno Romano imperio propter Antichristum blasphemantem omnia simul regna delenda sunt nequaquam terrenum imperium erit sed Sanctorum conversatio a saying much harped on though not quoted in these times to further the design of slaying the Witnesses And upon the same mistake as it is conceived the Councils though they were for the most part against this opinion yet they could never unanimously agree to condemn the Opinion as heretical Others of our recents very learned men and pious thinking to confute this errour of the Chiliasts run into more absurdities then the most of those whom they endeavour to confute for not knowing how to remove that Mountain betwixt the Chiliasts and them about the first Resurrection and the raign of the Saints and the 1000. years binding of Sathan they say that the raign of the Saints is pa●t it being before Antichrist comes into the world Of this opinion is Hortulanus and as I am informed by Schollars Pereus Galianus that learned Romanist is of the same opinion as appears by his Manuscripts in the Vatican by Antichrist they mean that Beast of the Earth Rev. 13. 12. which shall arise Rev. 11. 7. and slay the Witnesses few of the Romanists concur with them in their opinion but very many Protestants in the main jump with them but as contrary to the light of the Scriptures as darkness is to light But there are other learned men of great renown who decline both these opinions as Bullinger Beucer and Seraphin who affirm that the great and magnificent promises made to the Church in the old Testament and in the new are not yet fulfilled but are to be fulfilled after the downfall of Antichrist after which say they and others with them the Devills kingdom of darknesse heresie and blasphemie shall be ruined and the Church shall no more be afflicted with heresie but the heavenly form of government shall be set up in the Church which shall suppresse all its enemies with these learned men so far as I have quoted them I shall concur For this I do affirm yet not I but the Scriptures that there is another great day of reformation to be in the world before the day of judgment besides that great day of reformation already past which Christ when he was on earth began this shall be a more glorious day then any that ever yet was on earth I do not say that Christ shall reign on earth personally I abhor that extreme with that learned Father B. Hall in his tract called the Revelations unrevealed but I or rather the Prophets do affirm that in this great day of reformation to come after the downfall of Antichrist the twelve Tribes shall be converted to the Gospel Here therefore I must with my reverend fathers good leave be his dissenting son notwithstanding all he hath said to the contrary For first whereas he saith the promises in the Prophets are spiritually to be taken and not literally concerning the twelve Tribes but concerning the Gospel-Church I briefly reply this argument is invalid because he neither backs it with reason nor Scripture with reason he cannot for it is a non sequitur to say because the Prophets somtimes are to be understood therefore alwayes I am sure this is neither true in Logick nor Divinity 2. There is no probability in his assertion for though indeed Jerusalem be somtimes in the Prophets put for the Gospel-Church yet where the Prophets speak of the house of Iudah and the house of Ioseph there I believe 't will be hard for the Doctor to prove that they are spiritually to be understood of the Gospel Church as Zach. 10. 6 7 8. so in severall other places had the Bishop instanced in any place of the Prophets we should have grapled then for probability But I passe on 3. If these Prophecies do nothing concern the restauration of the Jewes in these latter dayes then to what purpose did God send his Prophets to sing songs in their ears if it nothing concerned them Certainly these Prophecies were prophesied amongst them to no purpose if all those Prophecies belonged to the Gentiles then certainly God would have sent his Prophets amongst them but they principally concerned the Jewes and therefore they were prophesied amongst them and to them to whom they belonged for God never sends his Prophets out of order all Gods Prophets prophesied to the people to whom they were sent but the Prophets of the old Testament were appointed Prophets for the twelve Tribes except those that had speciall Commission as Ionas to go to the Gentiles and therefore to them principally these Prophesies belong and therefore that hard question is thus resolved since in Luke 21. Ierusalem shall be trodden underfoot untill the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled and the time of the Gentiles reigne continues Rev. 11. 2. 1260. years how coms it to passe in Dan. 12. that the time of the Church's dissipation shall be 1290. dayes To that 't is thus answered Daniel was a Prophet principally designed for the Jewes and therefore God declares to him how long the dissipation of the Jewes shall be which as M. Brightman and other learned men say on Dan. 12. 11. began Anno 360. therefore their time is up about this yeare 1650. their time of dissipation being to continue 1290. years but now our Saviour in Luke 21. 24. respects the Gospel Gentile Church as well as the Jewes which shall be as Rev. 11. 1. drove into a sack cloth condition untill the time of 1260. years be accomplished Now many learned men count that the time of Antichrists appearing to be formally Antichrist and the time of the Witnesses going into the Wilderness and putting on sackcloth was in or neer about the year 390. So that Antichrists raign and the witnesses sackcloth condition is expired in Anno 1650. Now if Daniel in his Prophesie should onely respect the Gentile Church how could Iohn Christ and Daniel be reconciled in their prophefies To return therefore to the thing in hand we affirm that the Prophets in the Old Testament prophesied of the futurehappy state of their own Kindred and Nation and not of the Gentile Church but accidentally and occasionally for the most part as shewing what shall come to pass in the Gentile-Church immediatly before the great Day of the Jews conversion which is the sign that the Jews shall have of their approaching glorious Day And therefore the Old Testament prophesies of the uniting of the house of Ioseph and Iudah together under one King and

Earth or bottomlesse pit Beast is called in Rev. 17. the Beast bearing up Babilon with all her blasphemies murthers In this sevententh Chapter the Holy Ghost gives us a view of the last Scene of the last Act of the Romish Antichristian Factors I 'le beg the sober Christians earnest attention here for it is the hardest Chapter in the whole Revelation in Rev. 17. 1. the Angell tells you what time o' th' day 't is with Rome 't is neer her judgment day at this time Iohn saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast Here are three distinct names mentioned in the Chapter the Woman the Beast and the great Whore Now the great Whore sitting on many waters v. 1. is expounded v. 15. to be that spirituall Whore that hath inticed the kings of the earth to commit idolatry which is spirituall fornication with her this Whore is the Pope of Rome which inhabits the City with seven hills which is Rome The woman mentioned v. 3. is expounded v. 9. and v. 18. 't is the city standing on seven hills as Rome doth v. 18. 't is the Metropolitan city as Rome is But now the scarlet-coloured beast v. 3. which beares up the city Rome is not so plainly to the eye of the Reader unfolded though there be most spoken in this Chapter of this Beast and his party this Beast is one part of the mystery which Iohn wonders at Observe therefore in v. 3. this Beast is called a scarlet coloured Beast because of his bloudinesse This Beast cannot be the Pope for the Pope is the great Whore that sits upon many waters and is born up by this Beast 2. It cannot be the Pope for the Pope came not out of the bottomlesse pit but fell from heaven and got the key of Independency into his own hands which is the bottomlesse pit there spoken of Rev. 9. 1. But now this Beast coms out of the bottomlesse pit to shew that this Beast is the selfesame that slayes the Witnesses Rev. 11. 7. who also coms out of the bottomlesse pit 3. This Beast cannot be the Pope upon any rationall account from any Expositor because this Beast is the eighth and is of the seven Now the Pope by every Protestant account makes the seventh distinct head of government in Rome but this Beast is of the eighth now lest he should be taken for the eighth head of Rome the Holy Ghost as it were with a Prolepsin v. 11. tells us he is of the seven and how he is of the seven it may be because he beares up the Woman with seven heads and ten horns he is none of the ten subjected to Rome neither is he one of the seven heads of Rome but he is the eighthdistinct from the seven of Rome and of the ten hornes subject to Rome and yet he is of the seven that is he hath somthing of all their wicked craft and subtilty he is of the seven saith Haymo because this Beast shall seven times more persecute the Church of Christ then the other seven this holds good for to prove him to be the Beast that slayes the Witnesses Saith another of this text he is the eighth because regnum ejus distinctum à singulis and he is of the seven Quia in omnibus septem existit I humbly conceive the Holy Ghost uses this expression he is of the seven to take us off from imagining that this Beast though he be the eighth is the eighth head of Rome No saith the Holy Ghost he is of the seven and that you might not imagine this Beast on the other hand to be one of the ten horns subject to Rome saith the Holy Ghost He is of the seven and what followes And goeth to perdition Twice you have the perdition of the Beast mentioned in this Chapter I humbly conceive for two ends 1. To note that this Beast is the last enemy of the Church which bears up Rome with all her blasphemous hypocrites which vent their poyson and profer it to the world in the golden cup of glorious Gospell truths when they are full of all abominations and filthinesse of fornication when Romes judgment day is neer then v. 3. doth that scarlet coloured blasphemuus Beast arise then is it a year of Jubilee with Rome v. 5. she is richly adorned and decked with all outward pomp and hath a golden cup in her hand out of which she vents her abominable blasphemies Then hath Rome v. 5. a name written on her forehead Mystery Babylon now Mystery Babylon is legible in her forehead we shall see Babylon in a mystery when Rome is neer her downfall as to cry down with Antichrist and murther a King that ingaged to pull down Antichrist To pretend to promote the Gospell of Jesus Christ and pull down the godly Ministery To exalt the Kingdom of Christ and to grant a toleration of all Religions against Christ to plead liberty of conscience and devise spirituall wracks and tortures for mens consciences For the Brats of Rome to cry Down with the Pope and down with Rome and down with Antichrist whilest they promote Rome and the Pope and undermine the Gospell What is this but Mystery Babylon written upon Rome's Politicians fore-heads this is the comfort Mat. 24. 24 30. these are the forerunners of Romes ruine By these mysterious plots the Wolves of Rome get into the sheepfold of Christ and suck the bloud of Christs Flock and therefore ver. 6. John saw Rome drunk with the bloud of the Saints at this time when she was going to ruine to note that immediately before Rome goeth to ruine the Witnesses must be slain for she is now found drunk with the Saints bloud And when is this that Rome is drunk with the Saints bloud ver. 7. it is when this Beast bears up Rome that otherwise had fallen by the hands of the Witnesses whose bloud they now drink In as much as this Beast throws down those that would have ruined Rome and had covenanted so to do he may well be called the Beast that bears up Rome For certain the tenth part of the City Babylon had fallen had not this beast bore it up by slaying those that had finished their Testimony and were fully resolved to pour out their Vials on Rome Now when this beast goeth to perdition that bears up Rome certainly then Rome will fall when the pillar that props it up falls then down it falls and therefore it is said in Rev. 19. 19 20. When the Witnesses arise and put themselves under the wings of Christ this Rome-supporting beast John saw when the Pope and his party v. 20. with him And when the beast by the Witnesses for I have proved already that the battel is onely betwixt the Beast bearing up Rome and the Witnesses is overcome in ver. 20. the Pope is taken and with him the false Prophet that wrought miracles This false Prophet is the Beast of the Earth that slays the Witnesses who is called a false Prophet

observe how they carry on their Designs as for this Doctor he undertakes to prove the foulest actions that ever were committed by Christians to be the gloriousest and greatest actions that ever were performed by Christians and pretends to fetch all his proofs from sacred Scripture from Propheticall Texts and 't is commonly taught That King Charles who was cut off was the Antichrist and London the city that must be destroyed with seven hills and the Presbytery the Locust that must be destroyed so that ere long we shall have Protestants massacred as Antichristian 't is therfore time to look after such fellows Indeed there are many in print who assume scribendi libertatem as Scaliger saith of the French but have not scribendi facultatem I think the Writers of these times upon this subject edged with the Doctors designes may be distinguished as maladies are amongst the learned some are privative some are positive in some there is seminarium stultitiae in other some seminarium invidiae Now the later of these is most dangerous From hence proceeds heresie and apostasie from truth if we mark it error is a positive act and where it meets a malicious heart and a subtill head it doth infinite hurt Now I shall sooner prove the Doctor one of these then stile him one As for that other sort of Prophetick time-servers though 't is true there be unus utrique error yet poor soules they make such ridiculous nonsense of what they steal from learned men that every man of ordinaryparts cannot but cry out of them as eruditi fures and deserve as much to be slighted as Iohn Goodwins Songs to be laught at The truth is such self-conceited ideots deserve better to be met with a Lacedemonian whip then to be corrected by a sober pen They are such as Hierom complains of Qui loqui nesciunt tacere non possunt I do not mean onely such tinkling cymballs and crackt trumpets as Sterrey and Powell Durie Feake the Furriers Boy Will Sedgwick Iohn Goodwin Simson and Carpenter the converted Jesuite with his Brother Tillam the blasphemer but many others poor soules who are great Zealots against Antichrist but know not what he is a man that hears the contradictions absurdities and egregious falsities that they impudently utter sometimes in one houre would conclude as Lactantius doth against the Philosophers Aut stulti aut in ani nullus enim ager nulla anus ineptiùs deliravit these empty-headed fellowes whose privative malice proceeding of ignorance makes them belch forth such indigested crudities I would intreat good Christians to pray for them for they know not what they say But while I am viewing the followers of the Beast There is a third sort of time-servers the worst of all by how much the more eminent they are for the profession of the Protestant Religion for that of Iuvenali is true Omne animi vitium tantò conspectius in se Crimen habet quantò major qui peccat habetur These are not such lascivious Goats as the Doctor that I deal with nor such silly hogs as those I pass over who like those possessed run in a Herd together down the precipice of Ruine into the Sea of perdition without remorse or stop But these are men of gravity men of sobriety men professing outwardly godliness men that like Judas kiss Christ with their lips and imbrace Christs murtherers in their arms that have their lips in Heaven and their Arms in Hell they are like the Ayr in their constitutions which Element though it proceed ex duobus Elementis à symbolicis yet notwithstanding 't is utrique symbolicum and so are they I mean such as Mr. Nye Mr. Thomas Goodwin Mr. Shadrack Simpson Mr. Bridge Rows of Eaton who though no Priest yet may well be stiled a Franciscan Apostate and I would I could leave out Mr. J. Car. and M. Ob. S. I am loth to name them because I am ashamed that the world should know that two such eminent-godly-learned men are amongst such an Antichristian abominable Faction but who knows that Mr. Caryl is amongst them and that Mr. Obediah Sedgwick keeps publike Thanksgiving dayes for the overthrow of the Scots our Covenant-keeping Brethren Hi sunt illi saith Tullie qui non solùm vitia concipiunt sed etiam infundunt in Civitatem plusque exemplo quam peccato nocent These are those adultae patriae pestes that if it were possible would seduce the Elect How much mischief have these men done by their evill example by their open apostacy from their Church and State-principles by their Covenant-breaking and by their elegant pleading like Job's acquaintance against a righteous Cause and most shamefull extolling and complying with wicked men cursing the righteous whom God afflicts and blessing the wicked whom God abhors These {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as Greg. Nazianzen calls them such as will truck away their Religious principles and break their Covenants for the gain of the world notwithstanding their former Writings and Opinions fight with their present actings like the souldiers of Gadmus to their own confusion These men going in the way of Cain and running after the errour of Balam for a reward have provoked me unworthy me like Balam's Ass unexpectedly though out of the anguish of my heart to reprove the madness of these Prophets I no whit wonder that Hereticks and scandalous loose fellows such as Doctor Homes and John Goodwin keep Thanksgiving Dayes and make Ballads at the overthrow of the Church and State of Scotland for they know that Scotland is the greatest Enemy to Heresie and Lechery in the world These go upon that new-found Maxime self-preservation and so have some ground for what they do for doubtless Homes had been hang'd for his uncleanness and abominable lewdness had the Scots Laws been put into English practice and such as Goodwin had been justly banished for open apostacy and obstinate heresie if not hang'd for a blasphemer Therefore I the less blame them for what they do and the rather since their own former Writings save me the labour Doth the Doctor call the Church of Scotland and the Presbyterian Church whore by craft Poor man we very well know that this is not his first mistake it is not the first time that he hath mistaken an honest woman for a whore witness his Congregation that excommunicated him for such gross mistakes and to this day for the same stands excommunicated Were it not therefore through this Doctors sides that I intended to wound the whole Rabble of Deceivers and false Prophets who most egregiously abuse prophetick Texts to the defaming of the true Church and that the Time-servers may know I dare incounter their sturdiest Champions I should have been ashamed to have entred the list with so scandalous a man as Doctor Homes But why should I be ashamed to confute him when the Lord Major of London was not ashamed to make him his Teacher Let no man think that I do

{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} meddle with that which concerns me not for by my Covenant I am bound timely to make known and discover whatsoever Church or State-evill I am not able to suppress and I do no more here I know that this my young Lamb must pass through the midst of Wolves and Lyons who will indeavour to devour it and therefore I have arm'd it with Armour of proof the Holy Scriptures I do not as Cromwel in his Letters falsly saith the Scots do use weapons of a foolish shepherd I fetch all my weapons out of Davids Armory the Scripture here hangs a thousand Bucklers all the shields of mighty men I draw no Arguments from Conjurers Dreams or from Astrological Predictions such really are the weapons of a foolish shepherd I offer no such poysonous water to the thirsty Traveller in this Road all that I draw comes clearly up exprofundissimis Scientiae fodinis from the Scriptures the Wells of living Water Here are no Texts crook't though cross to the common interpretations by any private interpretation to particular self-ends Indeed I do swim against the stream of common Interpreters but not without just cause given I protest it is not out of a desire to be singular as not a few in this Age do who think no Fabrick of fame stands so stately as that which is built exruinis alienae existimationis esteeming it no small piece of honour to be counted novae alicujus rei Authores Let it be what I will for my own part I protest against such folly I onely follow the Ark which way it goes I go and when it stands still I stand still I shall submit my self wholly to the censure of learned Texts men whether I have wracked any Texts to stretch it beyond the lawfull bounds of interpretations or whether I have made any {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} or not made my {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} to be {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} onely This I will assure the Reader that he shall find nothing in this book either prater fun lamentum salutis or contra a fundamentum salutis Nor scarce any one Text of these many unfolded but what learned Writers do concur with me in for I walk upon the learned heads of at least fourscore Interpreters and if I fall from ones head I presently fall into anothers arms so that my sence falls not to the ground Indeed my style and my method may justly be blamed I am heartily ashamed that it should go so tatter'd with its rags into the world but indeed the reason is because it was done in hast not that it was studied in hast but scribed in hast it is well known this piece proffer'd to the Press within a month after the Doctors Sermon was printed and from that time to this day it hath waited at the Press like the Cripple of Bethesda expecting dayly some one to put it in indeed my book if it could should not go like Independents wives {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Now the Church is in her winding sheet The first part of it proves Monarchy to be Jure Divino and to be visible in the Church from the Creation to Christs Incarnation who was both Monarch by a right of succession from Adam of the whole world and by right of succession from David King of the Jews according to the flesh I have not handled this point or any other so fully as I might and could I intend it not untill I hear what my Antagonists say against me and then I shall by Gods good grace say more upon this subject if need require not otherwise for I hate coming in print except in a case of necessity and in that case onely privatly I heartily praise God that I have so fair an opportunity to declare my self in this of Monarchy for at least seven years ago I was unjustly slander'd by those ingrateful wretches whose family and goods I protected that I should say that I would kill the King This news and my name was carryed to the Court where it met with His Majesties ear as He was at dinner there it was told him that I naming me by name was the man that had vow'd the Kings death where ever I saw him This doubtless had died away and never come to my ears had not this accident hapned he gouty good Gentleman of the house where the King at that time kept his Court though he could neither stir hand nor foot by reason of his age and disease yet was so inraged at the news that he vow'd as decrepit as he was to be the man to fight with and kill such a rebellious villain meaning me as would attempt such a thing I never had an opportunity to vindicate my self from this foul aspersion nor so much as to present hearty thanks to the Gowty Gentleman for his hearty and loyall affections to his Soveraign the King in that he would adventure his life to kill a villain that should attempt to kill the King I profess before God and Men that I when I was so aspersed was of this opinion That he was both a Villain and a Traytor and deserved sudden and cruell death that would presume in his heart to think so evil a thought as to kill the King for my own part I had rather be a slave to my Liege Soveraign then a Ruler amongst the Rebellious I am througly convinc'd that Monarchy is that Government which God hath ordain'd and set his stamp upon and all other Government is the Ordinance of man immediatly though approved by God as the Seventy were under Moses and that no person upon earth can by Gods law question or bring to punishment the person of a Monarch This we all know both Jews and Gentiles that hold the Divinity of the Scriptures that the Church of God before Christ was beholding to a Monarch both for their Church-Laws and State-Laws For the Revelation of the Will of God and the manner of his Worship Moses the Monarch was the first mediator into whose hands the first glorious Gospel dispensations were put God revealed himself immediatly to Moses and the people received Gods mind immediatly from their Monarch Moses The first Revelation of the Covenant of Grace was given to Adam the Monarch of the World The second manifestation of the Covenant with a Seal was given to Abraham the Monarch of the Church and the Gospel-Church received all their spirituall Lawes and Ordinances from Christ the natural Son of both But now the question will be Whether Christ ordained Monarchy in the Gospel Church as well as the Ministry if so shew us the Monarchy I acknowledg this a difficult question I do not find any of the Learned so much as touch upon it indeed I find many men in the Negative but scarce one Affirmative in this Question I find though not directly Hierom and Calvin negative in the Question