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
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
to a yong to a learned than to an ignorant Also we ought more entirely to loue our wyues and children than other folkes as likewise according to the doctrine of Paul we should more make of and cherish those of the houshold of faith than straungers from the Church But alas we to too well doo know that no equalitie according to the Arithmeticall proportion is kept at all no not of those which are accompted the most holy among the members of Christ and in the same greatly delighting themselues as though then they were the best Christians if they leade a câ—uil and politike lyfe without any publike reprehension The which as it is rare so is it much to be commended because to doo so is the propertie of a good citizen But it followeth not by and by that they are good Christians because they are good Citizens For godlines humanitie bounteousnes fidelitie vprightnes and true religion stretche farder than doth outward behauiour the rule of the lawe and hypocrisie For the true disciple of Christ being of one minde and meaning wyth his master Christ will be so farre from enriching hymself by empouerishing another and hyding that which may hurt his neighbour that by no meanes he wyll preferre his owne priuate prosperitie before the common profit And rather will forgoe life and liuing then doo that which is not seemely for any man much lesse for him which is by calling holy and by professing a Christian. Good God how farre from this mynde and purpose are most of our buiers and sellers estranged For as yet we talke not of those which are well knowen to deceyptfull faithlesse abhominable and common vserers but of such as in the sight of al men seeme and be accompted honest and good Citizens For euen these doo perswade themselues that they deale vprightly if onely they giue true measure for their money not considering at all that to take excessiue gaynes is to doo wrong and altogeather agaynst iustice not considering that it is all one in respect of equalitie from which all iustice dooth spring to set too great a price and to sell by false waightes and measures by which reason the vnequalnes of price and and ware may well be called false measure for if it were demaunded of them whether it were meete to bring him into the right way which is out of the way or to shewe him the ready way which is altogeather ignorant of the same or if he were not much to be blamed which seeing his neighbour goe astraye will without calling him backe let him goe on forward I am sure they wil confesse both him to be a noughty man and this no honest man for his labour And yet forsooth is it a false opinion which we are in when froÌ„ a general propositioÌ„ we come to a particular contrary to their minds in deede it is more agreeable to iustice not to hurt a maÌ„ by the purse or losse of goods than to shew him the ready way which knowes it not But I pray you what is the cause of these sinister opinions sith the reason is alone and nothing more agreeing with iustice Truely selfe loue couetousnes and an ouer great care of this lyfe from which Christ earnestly dooth call vs But let vs thinke that saying of Cicero to be most true Quum quid quispiam sciat c. Iâ— is not the part of a plaine simple ingenious innocent and honest man but rather of a subtile vile wyly deceiptfull malitious craftie and dubble dealer for his owne profit sake to hyde that which he knoweth from any man which should vnderstand the same And moreouer he sayth Si vituperandi sunt qui reticuerunt quid de his existimandum est qui orationis vanitatem adhibuerunt That is If they are to be dispraised which keepe a thing close what shall we thinke of those which haue vsed vaine woordes And therfore sayth Syrach very well As a naile in the wall sticketh fast betweene two stones so dooth sinne sticke betweene the buyer and the seller Likewise much lesse is the Geometrical proportion kept in this wicked world For the wicked vnlearned beyng in face impudent and in behauiour egregious Parasites are exalted to great honour glorious offices when as men famous as well for learning as Religion be eyther in Court coÌ„temned or of Sycophants defaced or vnworthely disgraded for some light offence as happened to Beliserius who by Iustinian lost his eyes For darknes cannot abyde the light and bold ignorance through her marueilous impudencie doth set her selfe against learnyng and knowledge For as Quintilian dooth witnes Quo quisque minus valet hoc se magis attollere et dilatare conatur The least of power the most vaineglorious And againe Quo minus sapiunt minus habent pudoris The more foole the more impudent Nowe therefore sith among the learned or as Plato saith among Philosophers the contrary dooth happen no marueyle if the vnlearned haue them in contempt Yet Plato woulde haue it otherwise in his common Weale where either Philosophers shoulde beare the sway or those which ruled should be learned in Philosophie or which we doo adde at the least haue such about them whose counsaile they might vse and folow Moreouer sith the Lord God for his electes sake for whose cause all things are kept hath created all things it foloweth out of the woorde of God and his diuine Iustice that al things in the world are due vnto the elect and godly not to the wicked and reprobate But it falleth out farre otherwise in the world where the wicked doo flourish in riches and are preferred but the godly doo perish with pouertie and are left as a pray to their enemies Also Christ the onely begotten sonne of the euerlastyng God which is the maker both of heauen and earth and Lord of Lords hath witnessed of hym selfe that in this world he had not where to hyde his head but was before the world a very abiect and made away by a most odious death euen the death of the Crosse Yet notwithstanding his aduersary that sonne of perdition sitteth as God in the temple ruling with two swords flourishing with riches power and glory and is with all reuerence called our Holy father and worshipped as the deputie of Christ him self And therfore by these we plainly perceyue that in this world no Geometricall equalitie according to the distributiue iustice which is the best is any where obserued But yet sith God is iust all kinde of iustice necessarily to all must be extended so that to the worthy all things must be giuen but from the wicked all things which falsely they haue taken to themselues and abused to the molesting of the godly shall vtterly be taken away Wherefore needes must there be another lyfe after this and therfore for those reasons alledged we set downe that the Lorde God dooth foreshowe to the studious by this dubble proportion or
¶ Of the ende of this world and seconde commyng of Christ a comfortable and necessary Discourse for these miserable and daungerous dayes 1. Pet. 4. The ende of all things is at hand be ye therefore sober and watch vnto prayer Luke 21. Watch continually and pray that ye may be worthy to escape al these things that shal come and that ye may stand before the Sonne of man. ¶ Imprinted at London nigh vnto the three Cranes in the Vintree for Andrew Maunsell dwelling in Pauies Church-yard at the signe of the Paret Anno Domine 1577. To the most reuerend Fathers in Christ Edmond by the permission of almightie God Archbyshop of Canterburie c. and Iohn Byshop of London Thomas Rogers wisheth the true felicitie of this lyfe and eternall happines by the comming of Christ. IT was the saying of Cambyses reuerend and in Christ most honorable fathers that Cities would floorish wel in prosperitie if the inhabiters of them were watchful and still imagined their enemis to be at haÌ„d That which he said for the prosperous estate of a commoÌ„ weale dyd our Sauiour saye for the happye successe of all Christians And both tende to shewe that whether wee respect the safetie of our bodyes here on this earth or the saluation of our soules in the kingdome of Christ wee may not be in our callings either idle carelesse or secure But yet such is our nature wee rather obey the woordes of Cambyses for temporall prosperitie than the warnyng of Christe for eternall happynesse Wâ—ereby it comes to passe that we haue commonly fayre bodyes but deformed soules much goodes but litle goodnes and glorious wee seeme in the sight of men outwardly but odious inwardly in the eyes of god For it is harde to finde a man saith Aristotle which in prosperitie is not proude disdainful and arrogant of which sort are they whom strength whom riches whoÌ„ clientes whoÌ„ authoritie whoÌ„ fauour of meÌ„ hath exalted And so inioying their harts desire they are of this mynd that no aduersitie caÌ„ hurt them And what is that but as Dauid said The vngodly hath saide in his hart tushe I shall neuer be caste downe there shall no harme happen vnto me But the fayrest Oke is soonest cut down the fattest Oxe is readyest for slaughter and the felicitie of fooles is their owne destruction For how sodainely doo they consume vanishe and come to fearefull ende yea euen as a dreame are they when one awaketh As our Sauiour thought the doctrine against securitie most profitable for his Disciples and all mankynde So hath his faythfull seruant the Author of this booke supposed the same moste necessarye to bee spoken of in these miserable dayes And this was the cause and ende wherefore this Treatise was first written namely that by reciting the signes and tokens of dangers imminent and of the worlds destruction he might draw the wicked from securitie and driue them to a care of godlynesse and vertue A godly zealous and learned woorke and gratefull no doubt to all good men Hippocrates forewarned the Grecians of a greeuous plague which was nigh at hande and for his good admonition he was honoured as Hercules and obeyed as a god The Athenians for telling them the perils which they were like to fall into erected to Berosus a goodly Image with a golden tongue The Grecians to Hippocrates and the Athenians to Berosus were neuer so bounde as all Christians to Schelton for this learned booke For herein the tokens of the ruine not of one Citie as of Athens nor of one Countrie as of Greece but of all the worlde are set downe And here may be seene the wayes to preuent the destruction not of body alone as were those of Hippocrates and Berosus but of body and soule from euerlastyng paine in the pyt of hell So that more cause haue Christians to be thankfull to this author than were the Athenians and Grecians to both them Notwithstanding he desireth not though his deserts be vnspeakeable to be honoured with the rites of Hercules suche idolatrie he abhorreth nor to be kept in memorie with a glorious Image such memoriall he misliketh he only craueth that ChristiaÌ„s would weigh what is said and looke to them selues he seeketh the saluation of all not his owne glory But howe soeuer he be esteemed of others I trust your Lordships wyll like of this woorke and so like it that ye wyll allowe it and so allowe it that yee wyll both against the euyll woordes of the enuious and the captious tongues of malicious persons willingly protect it It pleased the Author to chuse for Patrons at the first two noble Earles but mee thinkes none so meete for defence thereof being a Spirituall Discourse as Spirituall men and because it tendes to the cutting away of securitie who better Patrons than they whose office is to be vigilant whereof they haue their names And among Bishoppes who fitter than they whose authoritie is such as none may better and zeale so great as none wyll sooner seeke and promote the glorye of God Wherfore I trust both because it is diuine your Lordships wyll vouchsafe and because it was wel accepted by two worthy men but yet Temporal your honours wyll much more willyngly allowe the same being Spirituall And that you may doo so God for whose glory it was first made and is nowe translated put into your myndes Your Graces and Lordships most humble at commaundement Thomas Rogers ¶ To the vniuersall Church throughout the world the most holy and chast daughter of Sion and entirely beloued Spouse of Iesus Christ the Sonne of God King of all Kings Health and comfort in the holy spirit and the speedâ—e comming of her Bridegroome c. I Am not ignoraÌ„t sweete Sion daughter of the celestiall Ierusalem and entierly beloued spouse of Christ in howe great miseries thou hast been plunged now a long time for the lacke of thy kinde and louing husbaÌ„d Which notwithstanding thou art black browne by reason of the extremâ— heat of the Sunne light of God the father to which as yet thou canst not approche yet onely wythal his hart embraceth the as his friend for fairnes peereles and as his wife for beautie surpassing For thy blacknes by his holy spirit he hath turned into beautifulnes thy vnseemely spots of sinne by his precious blood are no whit seen by his holy spirit he hath woÌ„derfully adorned thee wythin and endued thee wyth the holy Ghost the seale of beleefe so that now thou canst not doubt but that he is both faithfull and fauours thee with all his hart And yet it greatly greeues thee that thy glory which thou wishest for thy comfort which thou hopest for and thy King and bridegrome for whom thou so lokest and longest for is so long from thee And no maruel for it is the property of a faythfull louer not quietly to beare the absence but ardently to desire
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
men liuyng So that all mistrust and vnbeliefe the Quagmyre of all maner of wickednesse in which many men lye tâ— great slumber and sleepe securely may earnestly be cast away true fayth in diuine promises may be râ—ised our hope of attaynyng an happy life and deliuerance from all troubles may be nourished and we the more vigilant least vpon a sodaine that great day of the Lord horrible to the vngodly but to the godly comfortable vnawares oppresse vs and the spouse find vs sober wise and prepared to the feast not without oyle in our Lampes For his commyng in this last age of the world without doubt is not farre and maketh great hast and wyll not as many suppose linger Wherfore in this litle woorke I haue determined by some euident places of the Scripture first to proue that there shal be one day a generall destruction of this world and an vniuersall and last iudgement of our Lord Iesus Christ the sonne of God in which all the promises of God shall to the vttermost be fulfilled and his great threates shall take effect Then by the testimonies of holy Scripture we wil shew that the age of this world shall not be more then sixe thousand yeres that the sixt thousand in which we now liue whose tyme is more than halfe past because of intollerable wickednesse and shamelesse securitie of men shall not be fully finished And to this shal be added certaine singuler signes by course of tyme and yeares woonderfully agreeing with the inclinations of the Starres if credit may be geuen to Mathematicians which things notwithstaÌ„ding I referre to the iudgement of the Church and doctors of more discretioÌ„ Last of al certain proofes out of Scripture shal be brought of the maner of Christ his commyng and of the effect of the last iudgement with an exhortation to watchfulnesse for that most ioyful commyng of our bridegrome ¶ That there shal be a destruction of this worlde a resurrection of the fleshe and a generall iudgement of all mankynde ESpecialy setting apart al other darke significations of the world which in holy Scripture are to be founde euerye where in this place talkyng of his destruction we take the same as Aristotle dooth in his booke of the World for a knittyng togeather of celestiall and inferiour bodyes disposed by Arte which dooth containe liuing creatures and all other things which are ingendred and remaine in euery part And because in the same is to be seene a wonderfull shewe therfore doo the Latines very well take his denomination from fayrenes so that they cal the world as the Grecians doo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a goodly shew or ornament from the perfect excellencie therof as Plinie writeth which woonderful peece of woorke as appeareth by the manner of his creation and holy Scripture dooth plainly and sufficiently auouch the same was only to that ende buylded that it should be a house or dwelling place for mankinde For when our most mighty and eternall God by his woord of power had created of nothing all things as wel senslesse as hauyng life at length he made Adam whom he appoynted Lord of al creatures and possessor of Paradise situated in the mydst of this goodly and glorious world and fashioned him also vpright and innocent according to his owne likenesse that the Lord God of him might worthely be worshipped Here the vnspeakeable loue of God towards mankind is most diligently to be considered For if the Lorde God for our sakes hâ—th erected this famous and excellent peece of woorke to be an abiding place for mankynd of which he would gather to hym selfe a perpetual Church howe fayre and glorious shal we thinke that euerlasting Temple to be which he hath prepared for his elect in Christ and for his heauenly and celestial warriours In which place we shall enioy the sight of our euerlasting God and shal knowe hym in maiestie and glory euen as he is Truely no comparison of excellencie betwene these can so much as in imagination be conceyued although the beautie of this world and vniuersitie be such as mans wit cannot sufficiently thinke of the same Because as betwene the creature and the creator there is no equality so great is the oddes betweene visible things created and supercelestiall to vs altogether inuisible where the sonne of God wyth all Sainctes in the circuite of all Angels with God the father hath his eternall seate and continuall abiding But all men through the fall of Adam are become vnworthy of that place which was appoynted for Adam being pure from sinne and vnspotted Neither had the world any more borne him according to this immutable senteÌ„ce of God at what tyme thou shalt eate of the tree of kâ—owâ—ledge of good and euill thou shalt die the death had not that ouer merciful God through his deep secrete counsayle receyued him al the elect into fauor by the promised seed of the woman by Christ the sonne of God which was to come in the flesh And therfore if the world haue hitherto and as yet shall continue it is onely done for their sakes which are chosen in Christ whose number being full the world must of necessitie fayle and fall downe flat for which cause the Lord hath a certayne tyme of the worlds destruction because by the sinne and wickednes of vngodly men being marueilously polluted and accursed it dooth together wyth all other creatures as Saynt Paule sayth subiect to the same corruption desire a deliuerance from euil And therefore that this vniuersall world maye be brought to his former integritie it must of necessitie be consumed and burne with fyre in the comming of the Lord as Esay witnesseth saying Beholde the Lorde wyll come in fire and his chariot shal be like a whyrlewynde that he may render his indignation in heate and his correction in flames of fire because the Lord wyll iudge in fire And S. Peter saith The day of the Lord wyll come like a thiefe at which tyme the heauens with great speede shall vanish the Elementes with that heate shal be dissolued and the earth with all contayned in the same shal be consumed with fire No marueile then though Ethnikes and most famous Philosophers folowing the deuises of their owne braine straungers altogeather and ignorant in Scripture haue had very many prophane cogitations of the world Aristotle the Prince of Philosophers dreameth that the world neuer had beginnyng because as he saith the gods in this infinite eternitie haue not been idle But Plato beyng of another mynde will that the world was made yet he thinketh the same to be Animal immortale A creature which shall not dye but remayne for euer Plinie beleeueth the world to be an eternall and vnmeasurable godhead neither begotten at any tyme nor shal be destroyed Others as Epicures imagine that there is not one world onely but infinite whereof some take place as others auoyde Plato also iestingly sayth that
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
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
equalitie of numbers a certaine finishing of things with an vtter destruction of this wicked world and withall he vndoubtedly dooth giue vs to vnderstand and signifies the beginning of the building anewe of the eternall kingdome of Christ which with vpright iudgement and by equalitie in euery respect he will establish perpetually and make it endure world without end ¶ Of the number of fiue the fiue-folde forme and of the Greeke letter χ. SIth by that which is vttered we haue showen that euen fyue hundred and euery 50. yeere there doo commonly happen some singular alterations in the Churche and common Weales it followeth very likely that the eightie eyght yeeare nowe at hand which is the yeere of the world .5550 shal be fully perfect to which if but fiue were added it commeth to passe as a little before it is sayd that the whole number in the yeare .93 will be proportionable according to Arithmeticall and Geometricall equalitie And therfore they doo seeme to presage vnto vs a golden world in deede and euerlasting to come in which all the iustice of God shal be fulfilled and haue her full strength and vertue Yet I do not denie but it is my saying that the lowest number of fiue from the first and last doo offer vnto vs many things agreeing very well to our purpose especially sith which hath been sayd so meete in one and many things els both in the Byble and Sibillian Oracles are to be founde lyke vnto them all which we plainly see are grounded in the perpetuall ordinance and prouidence of God not by chaunce Of the number of fiue is termed the fiuefold forme which of all other as Quinctilian recordeth in setting of trees maketh the fayrest Orchard and is such as howsoeuer one behold the same it is direct and and strayte Then is a thing sayd to be fiuefoulde or of fiue manner of wayes when the disposition thereof is such as two partes thereof togeather with the third of another sort opposit to themselues by equall space doo seeme howsoeuer you turne your selfe to haue the forme of fiue or this letter V by which the Latines doo note fiue But if fiue in number were set downe by other figures or by the same in like order vnderneth they doo represent the Greeke letter χ. and the lattine χ which dooth signifie tenne From thence I thought sith in the fore mentioned proportionable number of yeares the number of fiue is lowest and besides dooth represent these two letters from which also by an equalitie of Geometricall proportion it goeth foreward by the distance of tenne I thought I say whether this also did signifie any singular thing worthy to be marked For the Greeke letter χ. is the first letter in the name of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Iohn in the Reuelation by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 commaundeth all of vnderstanding to count the comming of the Beast rising from the earth and hauing the two hornes of the Lambe which are .666 yeares so significant are these Greeke letters But in the explications of this place Bullinger teacheth that the account of .666 yeares must begin when Iohn sawe his Reuelation about the ende of the raigne of Domitian which was from the byrth of Christ the .97 yeare so that to the filling of the first hundred yeare from Christes natiuitie three yeeres be wanting If therefore these yeares were added to an hundred and they added to the number of the Beastes name .666 and three yeeres were taken from the first hundred we shall haue the yeare of the Lord to be .763 which was the .13 yeare of Pepines raigne about which tyme Pepine graunted vnto the Pope his chiefe power and aucthoritie contrarie to the minde of Leo Isauriâ—us which the Papistes extremely did hate for casting their images out of his teÌ„ples and therfore they called him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or enemie to images Therfore by these letters we know the time of the comming of the beast with two hornes like vnto the Lamb euen as Henry Bullynger dooth prosecute the same more at large and prooueth the same by Sibyls Oracles Moreouer when we count all markes of the letters in this name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if as it is in Sibyls verses E. be added we shall plainly finde that in these also the beginning of the tyme when the kingdome of Christ should be preached and also the beginning of the fall of Antichrist also in the former his comming was signifyed All the Greeke letters in this name expresse this number .1485 Now if the yeares which come from that yeare in which Iesus by his resurrection from the dead and ascention into heauen he had declared hym selfe to be Christ the king of the Iewes and the sonne of the eternal God were compared to this tyme when Luther and other learned men did by the pure Euangelicall doctrine of the free remission of sinnes in Iesus Christ driue away the grosse darknes of papisticall ignorance and made the sonne of righteousnesse Iesus Christ our Lord to shine againe we shall euidently perceiue this tyme rightly to be comprehended in these numbers For if to this number .1485 the yeares from the Natiuitie of our Lord to his resurrection which were .33 were added then shall the yeare of our Lord a thousand fiue hundred eighteene arise in which and afterward many learned men began to set them selues against the darknes of Papistes Now because this lowest number of fiue a perfect Arithmeticall to that Geometrical proceeding by a fiuefold and very goodly forme dooth as it were in colours place before our eyes the Greeke Letter χ. which is the first Letter in the name and office of our eternall king and also being a litle turned representeth the Crosse that is the badge and noble signe of Christ whose last letter of the Nominatiue case is X by those things I fall into this consideration that about these tymes foretold the commyng of the Lord to iudgement is presignified by which he shall shew hym selfe to all the world to be Christ the sonne of God promised to the fathers afterward seene of the Iewes whom they dyd abhorre and at length crucifie whose token according to the iudgement of the Fathers and Sibylles prophesies also in the commyng of the Lord to all the faythfull shal be like a comfortable Trumpet but in the sight of the worlde a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or stumblyng blocke to the world That this is no vaine imagination although it be no certaine demonstration many such like reasons and examples cause me to thinke For in many places of the Scripture we often find that the Lord hath been greatly delighted in geuyng them either by plaine wordes or secret prouidence fyt and proper names by whom it hath pleased hym for the glory of his name to bestowe vppon his Church any great benefite Hereof is Abram called of God Abraham and the forerunner of the Sonne of God is called Iohn and the