can or are able to doe yet all shall bee in vaine the worke shall neverthelesse be perfected and accomplished for God who by his Almighty power and most wise providence orders all things hath so disposed of this that for all their forementioned surmises most unlawfull practises and howsoever powerfull oppositions the foresaid Kings shall but be * gathered together into the place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon that there he may deliver them into your hands as said once the Lord unto Joshua as we read cap 10. 8. But to come to the words of the text it selfe in the which as you see is set downe the third and last complaint or message uttered by the third and last kind of the forementioned frogges right Amphibies indeed or sea-faring men â—…e Vice-Roys having before done their arrand and the Merchants likewise theirs recited in the uerses before expounded by the precedent brethren now according to our order must I speake of this last mentioned in this seventeenth verse and the two following In which are contained thee chiefe points the first whereof concernes the messengers themselves The second shewes the cause of their complaint or message and in the third wee have the message it selfe The first is contained in the 17 verse and the other two in the two next verses As for the messengers of whom I shall onely speake at this present they are here described first by their function in the former part of the verse secondly by their action or behaviour in the last words of it their function is noted unto us both by the quality thereof and by the quantity of the persons excercising it The quality is expressed by divers both titles and orders whereof some are superiors others inferiors The superiors in order are the Ship-masters and their Assessors the inferiors are the Mariners their assistants Concerning their quantitie they be not some few choyse men of â—ach of these ranckes orders of officers but all of all sorts every one of them the businesse being of such importance that it concernes them all all of them also â—earing the common danger that was like to entrap overwhelme them all as it doth also clearely appeare by their action and behaviour expressed in the last words of this verse where it is said that they stood afarre off But before wee come to speake of these severall officâ—rs we must first of all shew what is meant by this Sea whereon and by the Ships wherein these messengers did before exercise their offices and trade As for the â—ea we must not imagine it to be the maine Ocean which doth as it were girt the whole Earth by its midle though thereupon those great m Spanish Gallions and other tall Ships of the Christian Kings and Princes of Europe doe navigate and commonly trade to the East and West Indies from whence they fetch those rich commodities to which the Holy Ghost hath onely made allusion in the former verses of this chapter viz. 12. and 13. Neither is it the Mediterranean sea though thereon the Pope of Rome doth keepe many good ships and Gallies well furnished with men and munition for the keeping of the Coasts and Sea townes of Saint Peters patrimonie as they speake Nor the Tyber neither watering in its course that ancient and glorious Citie of Rome nor any other River whatsoever though they be all of them called by the title of Seas in the Scripture how navigable soever it bee This being no naturall but a mysticall sea so called by allusion made to some of those naturall seas All which are nothing else in Scripture language but great Assemblies of waters gathered together in one place and called from the beginning by God the Creator by the name of Seas Which Seas are different according to the difference of those waters whereof they are as it were compounded or made up who are therefore either Caelestiall or Terrestriall the Caelestiall being above the firmament and the Terrestriall under it by the appointment of God as we reade * Gen. 1. 7. Where it is said by Moses that God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament But the Terrestiall are those that are gathered together under the said firmament as it is there expressed which are properly called * Seas Now these natural Seas do likewise differ both in quantitie the one being greater then the other as the Ocean is greater then the Rivers and the Rivers are greater the one then the other yea greater then the Lakes Pooles of waters though they also be called by the title of Sea in Scripture phrase as that great Vessell made by Salomon for the service of the Temple was likewise called by the same title of * Sea They differ also in Quality some of them being salt the other brackish and the other fresh these last being as it were distilled and purified in their passage through the veines of the earth Moreover such waters thus gathered together to make up these diverse Seas are very powerfull and unresistable no earthly power being able to stay either the ebbing or flowing of the Sea or the most violent course or streame of any of the least Rivers much lesse to abate their overflowings Now all these properties and different qualities of these Naturall Seas and waters doe very fitly conduce to the Mysticall Seas here intimated which likewise are nothing else then great confluences or Assemblies of Mysticall waters that is of pâ—oples or rather heads of Peoples and that according to the exposition of the Angell himselfe Revel. 17. 15. who speaking to Saint John tells him there that the waters which he had seene whereon the Whore did sit were peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues which are gathered together into one place making up one intire body And thus was it expounded by the Spirit of God in the prophesie of Isay Chap. 8. verse 7. above 700 yeares before Saint John did write this Revelation where speaking of the King of Ashur and of all his gâ—lory he sayes behold the Lord bringeth up upon them that is upon the Israelites the waters of the river viz. of Euphrates mighty and great even the King of Ashur with all his glory Which Mysticall Seas being also as the Naturall of great force puissance do accordingly in Scripture language note great power and authority as it is evident Psal. 46. 4. where the Holy Ghost speaking of the power and great rage of the Earthly Kings and Kingdomes sayes that Though the waters of the sea rage be troubled yea though hemountaines should bee shaken with the swelling thereof yet c. then expounding the same verse 6. following he sayes that When the nations raged the Kingdomes were moved God thundred c. Againe Pal. 93. verse 3. 4. where the Prophet speaking of the mighty power of God in preserving his
had beene since that time kindled by the Pope in all the Kingdomes of his dominion the same were at last somewhat moderated especially in England when Henry the eighth had banished the h Pope from thence who though he continued the said persecution yet was it not so hot as before But after his raigne they were altogether extinguished in Edward the sixt his time though they were kindled againe by Marie who succeeded the said Edward yet the great heate thereof was within few yeares after so quenched in Queene Elizabeths time and by her meanes that the Church was then in great hope that it should have bin altogether delivered that they might then without any great difficulty have come to the end of their so much desired journey for in the very beginning of her raigne shee following the example of her said brother Edward who as another Moses had begun the said reformation with her Princes Peares and heads of Peoples assembled in Parliament abolishing all false Antichristian Idolatrous doctrine * digged with their staves of authoritie with the lawgiver a well of cleare doctrine as it is noted before wherby she did refresh as with cleare coole water of life her thirsty people giving also by this meanes a fit opportunity to prepare tune the harpes of God that they might be ready to sing the song of Moses the servant of God the song of the Lamb when they should have bin passed over And therby did shee in a very little space of time conquer unto Christ the whole Kingdome of England a most glorious conquest indeede yea much greater then that of William surnamed the Conqueror At which change all Christendome stood amazed saith the Historie that it could so easily be effect ed without sedition though it was not suddenly made but by little and little by degrees for the Roman Religion saith hee continued in the same state it was first a full moneth and more after the death of Queene Mary The seven and twentieth of December it was tolerated to have the Epistles and Gospels then the ten Commandements the Symbole the Letany and the Lords Prayer in the vulgar tongue The two and twentieth of March the Parliament being assembled the Order of Edward the sixt was reestablished and by the Act of the same the whole use of the Lords Supper was granted under both kinds The foure and twentieth of June in the yeare following by the authority of that which concerned the uniformity of publique Prayers and administration of the Sacraments the Sacrifice of the Masse was abolished and the liturgie in the English tongue more and more established In the moneth of July the Oath of Allegiance was proposed to the Bishops and other persons and in August Images were thrown out of the Temples and Churches and broken and burned The like being done also by her meanes and assistance the very same yeare in Stotland Now as God had given the two forenamed Kingdomes of Sihon and Og to Israel as the first fruits of their inheritance in like manner doth hee give these two to his Christian Israel and both of them were to bee incouraged thereby against the residue of their enemies beyond the river so that that which Moses said then to the one may truely be said to both * That they had seenewhat the Lord their God had done unto these two Kingdomes and the like should the Lord doe unto all the Kingdomes whether they should passe that therfore they should not feare them because â—ehovah their God would fight for them do unto them â—â—â—e had done to those two their land for which also both of them were to be thankfull unto God and to sing his praises as it is said in the hundred thirty sixe Psalme * Confesse ye to Jehovah for hee is good for his mercy endureth for ever Sihon King of the Amorites for his mercy endureth for ever And Og the King of Basan for his mercy endureth for ever and gave their land for an heritage even an heritage unto Israel his servant for his mercy endureth for ever Thus did that most triumphant like Queene conquer those two kingdomes in a spirituall manner putting the last hand to the stripping of the Popes Authority in the said Kingdoms h which was begun even from the time of the forementioned Wickleff when hee did teach against the Supremacie of the Pope temporaltie of the Cleargie Monks pardons affirming likewise that the Church of Rome was the Synagogue of Hell and his Clergie heretickes whose doctrine was even then much favored by King Edward the third and many of his Nobles who withstood with great courage the exactions of Pope Clement the sixth Neither could it bee extinguished ever since that time in the said kingdome though it was most miserablie persecuted in the most part of the professors thereof by the Bishops there even till Henry the eight who banishing the Pope as is already said out of the land stripped him by this meanes of his Hierarchichall power there In which worke his said sonne Edward the sixt continued during his time but Queene Mary seeking to reinvest him againe in the same shee was cut short by God who then raised that Heroicall Virago forenamed Queene Elizabeth in whose time and by whose meanes under God the said Hierarchicall authority of the Pope himselfe dyed as it were or fell there downe to the ground But yet herein these worthy Princes did but in some manner even as Moses when he stripped Aaron the High Priest of his Pontificiall ornaments which presently after he * did put upon Eleazar his sonne i And so did they when after the stripping of the said Pope they did invest the Bishops his true right progenie and that by the authority of their Parliaments of the said Hierarchicall power which hath continued hitherto and since become the right Nationall Euphrates forementioned or glassie Sea mingled with fire And though in the said time of Queene Elizabeth the said renewed or rather changed and as it were new shifted Hierarchie did assume but a little power being but as in its infancy and daring not to shew the hornes of the Beast whereupon this Hierarchicall Harlot was most gloriously mounted yet gathering strength by little and little as the rivers doe commonly which though neere their source or spring their streames be but small and weake yet in the continuance of their course by the gathering together of many rivolets or small streames they become at length broad deepe and strong yea able to beare the greatest trading ships even as the Thames it selfe or rather that literall Euphates as we see it described by the Holy Ghost in the Prophesie of Isaâ—as chap. 8. 7. in that threatning of the people of Judah saying unto them that because they had refused the waters of Shiloah which ran softly c. therefore the Lord would bring up upon them the waters of the river
But in the Colloques or Provinciall Synods composed likewise of all the Ministers of the said Province and of one Elder at least of every particular Congregation of the same the Ministers in their successive turnes from the eldest of them to the youngest are the Moderators continuing in the said office from one Colloque to another that is for the space of three Moneths to see with the Scribe who also is most commonly chosen from among the Ministers to keepe the Registers of the said Assemblies the execution of the said matters therein voted Or as it is observed amongst us from one Proposition to another that is for the space of one Moneth onely at the begiâ—ning whereof the said Ministers use to meete to heare one another treating in the publick Congregation in their successive turnes such a portion of Scripture as is appointed by them all thereby to fit themselves for the function of the holy Ministerie by the mutuall brotherly private admonitions given by each of them to him that in his said order hath made the said exercise in publique audience of the Church and also that they may in effect by that meanes see the proficiencie of each other in the same As for the Parishionall Consistory which is the 6 Senate of every particular Congregation composed of the Ministers of the same if they are more then one and of some competent number of Lay-Elders and Deacons according to the greatnesse or smalnesse of the same Congregations therein I say the said Minister or Ministers Successively are moderators from one Sabbath day to another In which day especially they doe meete most commonly all of them together both Minister Elders and Deacons in the Church after the Sermon in the afternoone there to consult concerning the scandalls or offences coÌ„mitted by any members of the said Congregation either in publique or more privately and that either to reconcile parties that are at variance to warne them that are unruly or to proceede in brotherly charity by the censures of the Church against such as are rebellious and that will not bee admonished in a word to set all things in order that may be amisse to the glory of God and better edification of the Church The Deacons are there present also whose peculiar Office concernes the poore of the Parish consisting in the gathering of Almes for them when some extraordinary occasion requires it so or in receiving also at the issue out of the Church for to supply the want of their poore brethren finally in distributing the said Almes faithfully by the order and advice of the said Ministers and Elders for the reliefe of the more needy members of that congregatione specially whereof they themselves are members of whom they are obliged to have an especiall care every one of them according to his particular distinction or quarter assigned unto him in visiting of them especially in the time of their affliction and suffering none of them to goe a begging Of all which almes both received and distributed the said Deacons are obliged to keepe and to render also a faithfull accompt every Communion day to the said Ministers and Elders and in the presence of the chiefe housholders of the said Congregation who may assist at the giving of the said accompts that they may see how their Almes are distributed and may know the better the estate of the said poore thereby to be the more excited to bountifulnesse Now all these Offices doe acknowledge I meane in spirituall matters onely which doe concerne the administration of the keys of the Kingdom of Christ for otherwise they are subject in all things unto the higher powers which are ordained of God None but Christ alone who is the King of his said Church for their Hierarchicall and supreame head Yet neverthelesse in such a manner as that they confesse also that the said Churches Assemblies are subordinate one to another according to that Canon 1 Pet. 5. 5. be subject all of you one to another c. so that in difficult affaires or incase of grievance if it falles out in any matter of Judgement or censure either for doctrine or manners both officers members of the same Congregations preferring one another in honour Rom. 12. 10. doe accordingly appeale from the lesse Assembly to a greater as from the Consistorie to the Colloque or Provinciall Synod and from this to the Nationall where the more difficult matters of doctrine and manners are concluded and determined by the c word of God The said Judges or Church Governours having no other rule to governe the said Churches committed to their charge or to judge of any of the said cases but the Scriptures onely whereupon are grounded all the Canons or Articles of their church discipline which is the particular rule wherby they are also to decide and determine of all the said Ecclesiasticall businesse and affaires And though all the Ministers among them bee of equall authority and power and likewise all Elders and Deacons none of them pretending to have a greater authority then the other or to bee above one another that is one Minister above another one Elder above another or one Deacon above his fellow officer no more then any one Church or Congregation doth not nor ought to assume to it selfe any power or authoriâ—y over another as the greater above the lesse or those of any great towne over them of the Villages being as they beleeve very well grounded therein upon the word of Christ himselfe Mat. 20. 25 26. and 27. Mar. 10. 42 43. 44. and Luke 22. 25 26. Yet there is no confusion foâ— all that among the â—aid Churches Orders or Officers as it is ordinarily objected by the Adversaries of the said Church Governement but a more convenient and very decent order is observed among them The Ministers being above the Elders in dignitie of Office place and honour and the Elders above the Deacons And the more ancient Ministers having also the precedency of the younger which is likewise observed among the Elders and Deacons according to the Rule of the Apâ—sâ—le speaking to all such divers Church officers Rom. 10. 12. and saying unto them that they should preceede one anothor in honour * 1 Pet. The young submitting themselves unto the Elders yea all of them beeing subject in a decent order one to another and alwaies cloathed with humility because God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble as saith Apostle Saint Peter in the fore alleadged place after the prohibition given there to all dominiering Prelates that they should not be Lords over {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Gods heritage All which Church Officers having since for many ages past beene altogether cashier'd out of the Church and deprived of all that Church Governement by the Roman Hierarchicall earthly power forementioned of the Pope together with the said Consistories and Colloques in stead whereof they have errected the foresaid Hierarchicall Courts
of their owne consciences they had imposed during their idolatry intollerable pride and and crueltie upon the people of God heavie yokes which while the world went well with them they scarse ever felt but in the time of distresse they are made sensible thereof as Josephs brethren who being fallen in great distresse in Egypt could then remember but never before their most barbarous and inhumane crueltie used against their owne brother for then they could say one to another wee are verily guiltie concerning our brother in that we saw the anguish of his soule when he besought us and wee would not heare therefore is this distresse come upon us This doctrine doth furnish matter of exhortation to all sorts of men but especially to them whom the Lord hath constituted in authority over their brethren in Church Cōmon wealth who are to be admonished by it to feare sin which brings after it such sudden thunderclaps and most fearefull judgements though in the committing thereof it seemes very pleasant and delightfull which makes men to commit it even with greedinesse it beeing but a sport to fooles to doe mischiefe saith Salomon Nay such men especially could not sometimes sleepe except they had done mischiefe and their sleepe were taken away unlesse they had caused some to fall But they must also know on the other side that there is a terrible woe denounced by God himselfe against all those that devise iniquity and worke evill upon their beds to practise it as soone as it is day light because it is in the power of their hand that doe covet fields and take them by violence and houses and take them away So they oppresse a man and his house even a man and his heritage as these trading Vice Roys Merchants Mariners have done To all whom the Lord speaketh by the same Prophet in the following chap. saying Heare I pray you O heads of Iacob and ye Princes of the house of Israel for such have they reputed themselves to be and such would they still be taken for Is it not for you to know judgement who hate the good love the evill who plucked off their skin frō off them and their flesh of my people and flay their skinne off them and breake their bones and chop them in peeces as for the pot and as flesh within the cauldron I herefore shall they cry unto the Lord in the day of trouble but he will not heare them hee will even hide his face from them at that time Be wise now therefore * O ye Kings receive chastisement ye governours of the earth serve now the Lordwith feare and trembling kisse the sonne lest he be angry and ye perish in the way when his anger shall burne suddenly * Take heede that ye be not found even to fight against God as said once that wise Councellor Gamaliell speaking to them of the High Counsell at Jerusalem the great enemies of Christ and of his Apostles oppose no more his ordinances neither persecute his faithfull servants and children Hinder not by your authority or favour the course of the preaching of the word nor the establishment and administration of an holy discipline or Church Governement grounded upon the Word and practised by the Apostles Pervert not the right waies of God in withstanding the true servants of God labouring after a true and holy reformation for know ye for certaine that this counsell and this worke is not of men but of God which therefore you shall never be able to hinder or overthrow * The Lord of hostes hath sworne it saying surely as I have thought so shall it come to passe and as I have proposed so shall it stand which is as true in the Antitype as in the type it selfe as it shall bee made manifest yet a little more presently therefore may we safely apply this threatning to it for as he then said that hee would breake the Assyrian in his land so may we say of these westerne Babylonians and that he will tread their Euphrates vnder the feet of his servants and then shall their yoke depart from off them and their burden depart from off their shoulders This is the purpose that is now purposed upon the whole earth and this is the hand that is now stretched out upon all the nations for the Lord of hosts hath purposed and who shall disanull it and his hand being stretched out who shall turne it backe Now for the conclusion of this treatise I will adde to that which hath beene already said yet somewhat more for the conclusion of it concerning the totall and finall ruine of these enemies of the Church which God had decreed and appointed even as soone as the dragon and his Angels had consulted and resolved after they had beene overcome and cast into the earth by Constantine the great and his successors to Theodosius surnamed also the great and termed by the title of Michael and His Angels to make after the woman flying from them into the wildernesse to make warre with the remnant of her seede for even then the same God who knoweth the very thoughts and purposes of the wicked had provided against them foure mighty Angels having ready the foure Cardinall windes of the earth to blow and scatter them all as dust and all their counsels and devices * as stubble before the wind and to drowne them as Pharaoh in the Sea who were ready to doe it all at once but that he who is slow to anger and who had yet some imployment for them to aflict his Church and chastise it to humble it and prove it during her said long voyage along that vast wildernesse thereby also to fill up their measure would not permit it Because he had also purposed in his mercy to free and exempt from those fierce judgements which by their blowing they were to bring upon the world of the wicked that forementioned remnant of the womans seede which were to be marked to that end from time to time during their said voyage the first whereof being one of the last effects of the opening of the sixt seale was performed Revel. 6. 12. c. as that of Egypt the true type thereof immediately before the last plague or utter overthrow of the pagan Idolatries and Idoles by the foresaid Theodosius though afterwards recited viz. chap. 7. Besides God had likewise appointed many other instruments of his Iustice to punish with them by degrees and at severall times his said enemies whose forerunners and ushers as it were these foresaid windes should be as the seven Angels with seven trumpets to denounce and proclaime the said judgments and seven more with seven Vials to powre out the same one after another and therby to bring upon that wicked world the three great woes mentioned R◅ 8 13. And all and every one of these to bee disposed in order and executed in their due time by the