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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
blood_n	bread_n	eat_v	word_n	5,813	4	4.5462	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66360	Ho Antichristos the great antichrist revealed, before this time never discovered, and proved to be neither pope, nor Turk, nor any single person, nor the succession of any one monarch or tyrant in any policies, but a collected pack, or multitude of hypocritical, heretical, blasphemous, and most scandalous wicked men that have fulfilled all the prophesies of the Scriptures ... and especially have united ... together by a solemn league and covenant to slay the two witnesses of God, Moses and Aaron ... that is, the supreme magistrate of the Commonwealth, and the chief pastors and governours of the Church of Christ, and the Christian world is requested to judge whether the Assembly of Presbyterians consulting at Westminster, together with the independents, Anabaptists, and lay-preachers be not the false prophet ... and whether the prevalent faction of the long Parliament ... that killed the two witnesses of Jesus Christ, 1. Charles the First ... 2. William Laud ... be not the grosse and visible body of the same antichrist / by Gr. Williams.	Williams, Gryffith, 1589?-1672.	1660 (1660)	Wing W2662; ESTC R25201	504,825	313

ordinarily and alwayes when he came to the Temple Matth. 21.14 and opportunity offered him so to do and St. Matthew saith that the blind and the lame came to him in the Temple and he healed them and so must we come to him into his Temple if we desire to be healed of our infirmities and so the Apostles and Disciples of Christ after his ascention into Heaven met and worshipped God in the Temple Act. 2.46 c. 5.25 and when the Christians began to be multiplied they presently erected Churches and consecrated them for Gods service as you may see in 1 Cor. 11.22 and from the 14th Chapter of the said Epistle where the Apostle bids the women to be silent in the Church which must not be understood of any other House or Congregation but the Congregation that meeteth for Gods service in Gods House And because that place was set apart from all prophane uses for to pray to God and to preach unto the people and to do all other exercises of Religion as administring the Sacraments catechizing the youths collecting the alms for the poor and the like services of the Lord and was hallowed and sanctified by the prayers of the Bishop onely for that end and that God hath promised his more speciall presence for our help and assistance in a most speciall manner in that House more then in any other place 2 Chron. 6. as you may see by Solomons prayer therefore the true Saints and servants of God did ever honour and reverence this very place of Gods Worship more then any Chamber of presence of the greatest Monarch in the World and none but prophane Atheists wicked Hereticks and the members and adherents of this Beast that are worse then the worst of worldlings have ever abused prophaned or blasphemed these materiall Churches whereof the Prophet saith holiness becometh thy house for ever for Though originally In what sence all things are alike holy and in respect of their own nature all places are alike holy and so are all persons all dayes and all meates and so all other things that are ejusdem speciei of the same kind they are all alike holy and there is no difference nor any more Sanctity or Holiness in the one then in the other being all alike Holily created by God Yet if we consider Gods designation of any of these things and the Sanctification In what sense some things are more holy then others For the further clearing of this point I desire the Reader to look into Mr. Mede's learned Discourse de sanctitate relativa and his answer to Dr. Twisse pag 660 and in Levit. 19.30 of the same by the appointment of God for such and such uses in the service of God then you shall find a great deale of difference betwixt the one and the other and a great deale of a relative accidentall Holiness in and belonging to the one more then to the other otherwise what difference will you make betwixt the common bread that we eat of the finest Wheat Flower and the most Holy and Blessed bread of the Holy Eucharist or the Lords Supper but the Sanctifying of it by Prayers for this use to be the Body and Blood of Christ this makes the difference so that now after the consecration of it with the words of Christ hoc est Corpus meum we cannot without prophaneness and a mighty offence give the same to Doggs or unbelieving Jewes or any other that we know to be altogether unworthy of it as we can give the other bread that is made of the same lump to either of these without any offence or what difference is there betwixt one day and another but because the Lord designed the 7th day to be set apart for his Service and hallowed it for that end therefore it is more Holy then all the other six dayes and so are the dayes and feasts that are appointed by the Church to honour God in them as the Commemoration of Christs Nativity Circumcision Resurrection Ascention and other dayes of Thanksgiving for some speciall blessings and extraordinary favours that as on those dayes we have received from God which none will prophane but the neglectors of Gods honour and the prophaners of his Service So what difference or what Holiness is there naturally betwixt one man and another but when the Lord chooseth one before another to be his Servant to be sent as his Embassador to Preach his Word and to administer his Sacraments and causeth him to be consecrated or hallowed by Prayers and impositions of hands for that purpose there is a great deale of difference betwixt them and much additionall Holiness in the one more then in the other in so much that our Saviour saith of these men he that receiveth you receiveth me Luc. 10.16 Zech. 2.8 and he that despiseth you despiseth me and the Lord saith of them he that toucheth you toucheth the Apple of mine eye and you see this difference in the Embassadors and other Officers of Kings Princes and Potentates whom we honour and reverence more then others because they are deputed and Authorized to be the Judges Sherifs or other Officers of the Kingdome where they are designed so to be and so likewise what difference or what Holiness is there in one place more then in another in the Church ground more then in the Barne floore surely not any at all originaliter in respect of themselves but when such a piece of ground is designed and dedicated for Gods Service and consecrated by Prayers for that purpose and God promiseth his presence to be more especially there for our comfort then in any other ordinary place then certainly there is a great deale of difference and a great deale of Holiness in that place and Consecrated ground more then in any other common ground whatsoever Therefore Jacob said of the place where God shewed his presence to him Gen. 28.17 this is Gods house and the gate of Heaven and the Lord said unto Moses Exod. 3.5 pull off thy shoes from thy feet for the place where thou standest is Holy ground and why was that ground more Holy then any other ground not in respect of any innate Holiness but because the Lord revealed himself there to Moses more then in any other place and I pray you look what the Spirit of God injoyneth us to do when we come into Gods House Eccles 5.2 for if we make no difference of these things but that every man that will may intrude himself to do the Service which God requireth to be done by another and he may do that Service any where in any one place as well as in another in a Common Barne as well as in a Holy Church then surely we need not observe any time when any one day is as good and as Holy as another the Munday as well as the Lords day and so confounding persons times and places we shall confound all Religion and

transubstantiation shewed three waies is from the old received Faith of the Church and from the Divine Truth of God I shall briefly shew unto you 1. From the Holy Scriptures 2. From the Ancient Fathers 3. From pure and sound reason And a threefold cord is not easily broken For 1. Christ told his Disciples 1. From the Scriptures John 14.3 v. 28. Mark 16.19 Acts 7.56 Acts 9.4 Acts 3.21 before his passion that he must leave the world and go to his Father as he was man And St. Mark saith that after his resurrection he was taken up into Heaven and sitteth on the right had of God And so Saint Stephen saw him in heaven standing on the right hand of God and Saint Paul heard him from Heaven saying Saul Saul why persecutest thou me And St. Peter saith that the Heavens must receive or contain or hold him until the times of restitution of all things that is until the last day the day of Judgment How then can he be corporally present here on earth and be still residing in Heaven But to make the Point more clear John 6.53 our Saviour saith except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his Blood ye have no life in you that is none can attain unto eternal life but only those that do eat the flesh of the Son of man and do drink his bloud but all the Patriarchs Fathers and Prophets of the Old Testament and all those Christians that are baptized and die before they receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper The Fathers of the old Testament could not eat the natural flesh of Christ could not nor cannot eat the very natural flesh of the Son of man For as yet in the time of the Fathers of the Old Testament he had not assumed his Body and therefore either all those Fathers can have no life or else our Saviour meaneth it of a spiritual eating of his flesh by the mouth of Faith and not of any carnal eating of him by the mouth of our Bodies But to deny eternal life to these Fathers is most absurd and injurious unto them therefore our Saviours meaning must needs be granted to be of a spiritual eating of his flesh and no thanks to grant it For the Apostle proves it saying that they did ali eat the same spiritual meat 1 Cor. 10.3 4. and they did all drink the same spiritual drink that is as we do now for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ whose flesh they did thus spiritually eat that so they might have eternal life And St. Aug. in Johan tract 26. Aug. expounds it in the same manner saying visibilem cibum hoc est Manna spiritualiter intellexerunt spiritualiter esurierunt spiritualiter gustaverunt they understood that visible meat that is the Manna spiritually they hungred after it spiritually and they did eat the same spiritually And of all Christian Children and others that are baptized and die before they receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper the same Father saith nulli est aliquatenus ambigendum tunc unumquemque fidelium corporis sanguinis Domini participem fieri quando in baptismate efficitur membrum Christi Aug de Symbol fidei ad catech to 9. no man ought any way to doubt but that every one is then made partaker of the body and blood of our Lord when by Baptism he is made a member of Christ Therefore the words of Christ are not to be understood of any oral eating of his flesh or drinking of his blood 2. 2. From the Fathers The whole stream of the first Fathers of the Christian Church are against this new-found Doctrine of Transubstantiation of the bread into the flesh of Christ and of the wine into his blood and for the spiritual eating of the flesh of Christ and the spiritual drinking of his blood For Origen saith si secundum literam sequaris id quod dictum est Origen in Levit hem 7. nisi manducaveritis carnem filii hominis non habebitis vitam in vobis litera illa occidit if you follow the letter of that which is said except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man ye have no life in you that letter killeth for it is the Spirit that giveth life the flesh profiteth nothing Theoder Dialog 7. And Theodoret saith Christus naturam panis non mutat Christ changeth not the nature of the bread So Tertullian contra Marcionem l. 4. August contra Adamant Manich. to 6. c. 12. in epist 221. Cyprian de coena Domini Hesichius in Levit. l. 3. c. 2 Amb. de Sacrament l. 1. c. 5. Chrys in Johan Tract 25 26. And all the rest that write of this Point are of the sam● minde and do expound it in the same manner And so many of the Popish Writers themselves do either ingenuously confess or else tacitely yield unto this very truth for Pope Gelasius saith non desinit esse substantia vel natura panis vini the substance or nature of the bread and wine doth not cease to be and Roffensis yieldeth that the very presence of Christs body in the Masie Fisher Bishop of Roches cont Capt. Babylon Tonst de Euch. l. 1. Pag 65. Ar. Mont. in Luc. 22. cannot be proved by any place of Scripture and therefore sure we need not believe it for any truth and Tonstall confesseth it was no heresie to deny the Doctrire of Transubstantiation before the Council of Lateran And Arias Montanus upon the words of our Saviour this is my body saith it is no more but my body is sacramentally contained in this Sacrament and this we do all affirm and accursed be he that denieth it for we say with Clemens Alexandrinus that duplex est sanguis Domini alter carnalis quo redempti sumus alter spiritualis quo scilicet unctisumus and so the fiesh or body of Christ is understood to be 1. Carnally or corporally in heaven 2. Mystically and spiritually in the Sacrament and in the first sence none did or can eat him but in the second sence all the godly men have and do and will eat him and drink him nam hoc est bibere Jesu sanguinem incorruptionis domini participem esse for this is to eat the flesr of Christ and to drink the blood of Jesus to be partakets of the incorruption of our Lord as S. Clemens saith and as S. August August in Johan saith credere in Christum est manducarc panem vivum to believe in Christ is to eat the bread of life which is the flesh of Christ 3. Reason it self disproveth 3. From reason 1. Reason John 3.9 and is fully against this their doctrine of Transubstantiation For 1. If the bread upon the pronouncing of those words this is my body be turned into the flesh of Christ then the Apostles did eat his body and yet saw it whole and intire before their

faces and if so it is a wonder that they did not with Nicodemus ask him how can these things be for I am sure they asked him many questions of less moment and easier to be understood than this great and high point of the transubstantiating of the bread to become his flesh Reason 2 2. If the bread be changed to flesh and the wine into the blood of Christ and we eat and drink the same then it is carryed through our mawes and passeth through the draught or it is turned to our nutriment which notwithstanding must at last together with us see corruption but that is contrary to the saying of David that God will not suffer his holy one no not his mortified much less his glorified body to see corruption Psal 16.10 Reason 3 3. If the bread be turned to flesh and the wine into blood then the dogs and mice may eat with reverence be it spoken the most glorious body of the Son of God and poyson may be mingled with the most precious blood of Christ as we read one of the Emperors was poysoned in receiving the Sacrament but it is most absurd to say that the blood of Christ should poyson any man Reason 4 4. If the body of Christ doth sit in heaven and doth lie under the accidents of the bread then either he took no true body of the blessed virgine or now after his afcention he hath put away all truth of a natural body for a true natural body cannot subsist without its quantity and quality Casman in his Chiolog part 2. pag. 13. Scalliger in Cardan Every true body must be in a place Aug. ad Dard. Epist 57. and every quantity must be measured and bounded by place alone quia numerica unitas corporis finiti non potest subsistere sine continuitate as Julius Scaliger saith and therefore if you take away locallity from a body you must take away quantity trinarum dimensionum terminos and the bounds of the threefold dimensions longitude latitude and profundity and so you make a body to be no body and take away the finiteness and definition of a body saith the same Scaliger and so S. Augustine saith tolle spatia locorum corporibus nusquam erunt quia nusquam erunt non erunt If you take away the spaces of places from bodies they can be no where and what is no where is not at all and therefore by this rule which is most certain the opinion of Aquinas and Lombard who do affirm that the very body of Christ is there in the bread sed non ut in loco non qualitativè aut quantitativè but not as in a place not with quality or quantity is utterly false and overthrown for that as I said before every true body must have quantity and every quantity must have place But to this Bellarmine answereth Bellar. de cuchar l. 3. c. 4. pag. 297. that it followeth not that a true natural quantative body cannot be in two places at once quia ad esse circumscriptivè in loce nihil requiritur nisi ut locatum sit commensur atum suo loco non ut non sit alibi in alio loco because to the being circumscriptive in a place there is no more required but that the thing placed should be fitted and measured according to his place and not that it should not be else-where in another place and therefore the acute Cardinal Bellarmine and all the whole School of Jesuits say that the body of Christ though it be commeasured bounded and fitted to the place wherein it is placed yet may the same body be elsewhere in another place And to confirm this that may be alledged which Tursellian saith Credat Judaeus appella non ego that one Xavier was seen at the self same time in two several places both in a ship and in a boat far distant from that ship and Bellarmine relateth the like story of S. Anthony of Padua as that he was seen preaching in a Town of Italy and at the same time he was seen in another place For Tursellian's instance Plautus Amph. Thom. in ma. l. 1. d. 32. q. 1. r. 1. of the locall●y of Angels I say not only with Plautus tune id dicere audes verbere quod nemo unquam hemo vidit nec potest fieri tempore uno homo idem duobus ut locis simul sit But I will also say with Aquinas that by the same reason that he might be in 2 places he might be in a thousand places at once and therefore if Xavier was in one place it must needs be the Devil that was in the other place by such impossible things and improbable fictions to delude the credulous people and to Bellarmines reasoning I answer The absurdities of Bellarmine's reason that the absurdities of his reasons do quite overthrow the possibility of his Doctrine because that for the same body to be circumscribed in one place and yet to be at the same time in a 1000 places and for one place to fit bounden and commensurate a body the which very body notwithstanding is in 10 thousand several and far distant places at the same time it overthroweth and nullifyeth not only the humanity of our saviour Christ but also the order of things and the very principles of nature and it exceedeth the bounds of all sense and reason Object But I know they will reply against this and say that we must not conceive of divine things by the rule of humane reason when as so we should never believe the world to be made of nothing or that a virgin should bear a son for subtle Philosophy doth many times pervert pure divinity and Aristotle seduced many a Doctor and caused Aetius to become Arius Socrat. l. 2. c. 28. saith Socrates and that may be true according to the rules and Principles of Phylosophy which cannot be true in Divinity which made Paul bid us beware least any man spoil us through phylosophy Colos 2.8 and therefore we must seek to attain to the knowledg of those things not by the reach of reason but by the rule of faith which Philo calleth fidem oculatam so well sighted that as the eagles eye being aloft in the clouds can notwithstanding espie sub frutice leporem sub fluctibus piscem under the shrubs a hare and under the waves a fish so quick-sighted faith here on earth can notwithstanding sore up into the deep things of God in heaven and can most perfectly see those things and believe those mysteries which humane sence and reason can no wayes perceive nor possibly reach unto them Solut. We believe not these things not because we know not how they can be done but because we do know they cannot be done I answer with S. August that we easily yield and do undoubtedly believe Deum posse multa qua nos intelligere non possumus that God can do many things which we can

of that is such a rebellion as Corah Dathan and Abiram stirred up against Moses and Aaron and such a discession and falling away from the true faith and the right service of God which they formerly professed as neither leaves the fundamentals of Christian Religion undigged up or unshaken nor the appearance of a true visible Church among the people For that all the people of Ingland were very faithfull and loyal Subjects and most respectively obedient unto their Governors both their Kings and their Bishops That the people of Ingland were good subjects true believers and right worshippers of God during all the raign of Q. Elizabeth King James and many years of King Charles as any Nation under heaven I think I do verily believe no man can justly deny So likewise that all the subordinate Clergy did ex animo subscribe and unfainedly profess to uphold and maintain the 39 Articles of the Church of Ingland and the established Discipline thereof and did accordingly for well nigh a century of years use to teach the people to believe that Doctrine and to observe that discipline as the true Christian Faith and the right Government that Christ and his Apostles for the preservation of that faith hath left unto his Church and also that the people and Congregations throughout all this Kingdome had the true faith preached unto them and the right service of God the 3 authentick Creeds repeated the Lords Prayer used the 10 Commandments published the 2 blessed Sacraments administred and all the other prayers and service of God that the Governors of Gods Church prescribed were observed practised and professed by them I am very sure and consident hereof and I believe no man will gainsay the same And therefore this Church had and did profess the true faith and Doctrine of Christ and did use to serve God rightly and to be obedient to their Governors both Magistrates and Ministers for many years according to the form prescribed unto them And you may remember how you read in Revel 6.9 that the soules which S. John saw under the altar and cryed to God to avenge their blood on them that dwell on the earth are said to be slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held and why I pray you doth the holy Ghost make such a distinction betwixt the word of God and the testimony which they held but to shew unto us that these soules had collected out of the Bible which containeth all the word of God the chiefest heads and points that are to be known believed and practiced for the true worship of God and their own Salvation and so compiled an abstract of Gods word into another book which is here called their testimony and that is the communion Book or Book of Common-prayer and publick service of God which is sometimes called the Book of life Revel 22.19 and ch 20.21 as Revel 20.12 and Revel 22.19 where you may observe how mention is there made of 2 special Books and the one is termed the book of this prophesie which is the word of God and the other is termed the book of life because the sum and the substance of all that is in the Bible which is the word of God and which is necessary to attain unto Eternal life is contained in this book of their testimony for which book and the constant practice of Gods service according to this book as well as for the other book of the word of God those faithfull soules were slain and it is well known the Presby●erians caused the Parliament to destroy us for the testimony that we held of these Books but the Answer that God gives unto these slaughtered soules may serve for a sufficient comfort unto us yet this gives occasion to demand Whether the prevalent faction of the long Parliament and their adherents the Sectaries of these 3 Kingdomes have not hereby resisted their Governors whom formerly they had so religiously observed and rebelled warred killed and beheaded both Moses and Aaron that is the supreme Magistrate and the chief Priest I leave it for my Reader to determine And whether the Assembly of Divines at Westminster and all their followers and Adherents contrary to their former oathes practices and profession have not generally apostatized and totally relapsed and fallen away from the most essential and most material points of our Christian Religion and from all the right service of God which themselves formerly taught and observed and have led their Congregations after them to the same apostasie let the observers of our new teachers what Doctrines are now taught and what service is now used in every Church judg hereof For I read it in Arise Evans Arise Evans in his Voice from heaven pag. 15. that you may easily finde it every foolish man gets up into the Pulpit and poureth out his folly and so now the false Christs and false Prophets do appear for the Independant saith here is Christ the Presbyterian saith loe here is Christ but the Anabaptist saith no he is not amongst you but here is Christ with us 1 Cor. 1.13 and so all the other Sectaries crie and have as the Apostle saith divided Christ And you may consider what Tilenus saith Vetus Ecclesia primis temporibus solo Apostolorum quod vocant symbolo ex sacris literis excerpto contenta erat The ancient Church in the first times was contented only with that faith which they call the Aposties Creed that is taken out of the holy Srciptures this was the faith of the Christians in the Apostles time and this was the sun and the substance and the abstract of all the whole Scripture for so much as concerned the saving faith and this faith contained in this Creed is the Faith of Gods elect and sufficient to save all the elect people of God though afterwards for the suppression of those Hereticks that sprang up to corrupt the same formulam illam per novas formulas ex iisdem sacris litteris collectas luculentius copiosius explicuerunt episcopi The Bishops and he saith not the Presbyters did more fully and more clearly out of the same sacred Scriptures explain that form of faith by other new formes as the point in question Tilenus exegesis pag. 57. aphoris 169. and controverted by the Hereticks did require as First in the Council of Nice then in the Constantinopolitan after in the Ephesine and at length in the Chalcedon Council And the whole Catholique Church and all the particular Churches of God the Greek Church and the Latine Church and every other particular national Church of the world have ever professed to observe and to retain this form of faith thus left to us by the Apostles and thus explained by the reverend and godly Bishops in these Councills and never to discede from the same And yet now That our new Preachers have and do recede from the true faith and the right service of

c. 3. as some say otherwise called Belus by the Gentiles or of Belus the son of Nimrod as others say for an idol to be worshipped well nigh 2000 years after man was made yet our saviour saith he was a murderer from the beginning John 8.44 because it was he that murdered our first parents and made them liable unto death in paradise and it was he that taught Cain to kill his own brother Abel 5. It is not only one but it is also the first and the greatest one of those crying sins 5. The greatest of the 4 crying sinnes Revel 6.9 10. that are onely so called in the Scriptures because they do continually crie and call for vengeance against the transgressors and say with the soules of them that were slain for the word of God How long O Lord holy and true doest thou not judg and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth for the other three crying sins that is Sodomy oppression and detaining of our servants wages they are but parts and parcels of this great crying sin of murder because that in Sodomy that seed is spilt which might have been the matter and substance of the humane flesh and blood and by the other two that is oppression and wages detained from the labourers the life of the oppressed and poor labouring man is made to languish and to be shortened by little and little for want of means because the life of man and the means to maintain that life are like ens bonum voces convertibiles equivalent and therefore the wise man saith The bread of the needy is their life he that defraudeth them thereof is a man of blood but in murder and the killing of a man root and branch and all the tree seed and fruit is wholly destroyed and cut down all at once 6. It is a sin which produceth that irregularity 6. An irregular sin that although the sinners should truly repent and have their sinnes pardoned by God which is but seldome seen that they do yet they cannot promoveri be advanced or proceed on in Gods favour and be so acceptable in Gods service and for to do him service 1 Chron. 28.3 as any other sinners may be upon their repentance as it appeareth plainly by what the Lord saith unto David that otherwise was a man according to Gods own heart and had heartily repented and made 7 paenitential Psalmes for his murder thou shalt not build an house for my name because thou hast been a man of war and hast shed blood not only the blood of Urias but also very likely the blood of others that were innocent in the wars as Souldiers use to do many times slay the righteous with the wicked 7. 7. A sin worse than Adams sin Gen. 4.11 12. The odiousness of this sin is seen by the punishment that the most just God imposed on this sin For when Cain slew his Brother the Lored said unto him the voice of thy Brothers blood crieth unto me that is the voice of the bloods of thy Brother for so it is in the Original that thou hast spilt that is of all the bloud and progeny that should have sprung from Abel to have replenished the earth if thou hadst not spilt it doth most justly require that I should take vengeance on thee therefore thou art cursed from the earth And this his curse was so great and of so large extent that it reached to the very earth that bare him up and therefore the Lord addeth when thou tillest the ground it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strongth a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth the which seems to be a far heavier sentence inflicted upon him so killing his brother then that which was imposed upon Adam for offending Gods own Majesty though there was a straight charge and a Commandment sub poena The punishment of Cains murder heavier than the punishment of Adams sin given to Adam that he should not eat of the forbidden tree lest he die and as yet no precept given to forbid the shedding of mans blood For 1. God doth not say to Adam thou art cursed for thy sin but cursed is the ground for thy sake but unto Cain he saith thou ar● cursed from the ground as if he had said the curse shall not fall to the ground but it shall light upon thine own head 2. He doth nor say to Adam when thou tillest the ground it shall not yeild her strength unto thee but thorns and thistles shall it bring forth unto thee that is naturally and of it self which if thou hadst not sinned would of it self have brought thee all sweet and pleasant fruits shall now bring thee nothing else but weeds and noysom flowers but unto Cain he saith when thou tillest the ground and manurest it and usest all the art and skill that thou canst to make it fruitful yet it shall not yield her strength unto thee so that the unfruitfulness of a well tilled and well manured ground is the punishment of Cains murder and an additional curse to that which was formerly imposed upon Adam 3. He doth not say to Adam that he should be a vagabond and have no resting-place upon the earth Gen. 3.19 but that he should eat his bread in the sweat of his face until he should return to the earth but unto Cain he saith a Fugitive and a Vagabond shalt thou be in the earth And therefore Cain that knew well enough his Fathers censure before and now hearing his own sentence so far exceeding his Fathers punishment crieth out Gen. 4.13 my punishment is greater than I can bear And yet it is no marvel that the punishment of this sin of murder should seem greater than the punishment of Adams sin or indeed of any other sin whatsoever for in nature Why the punishment of this sin is so great let reason shew you who doth offend you most he that disobeyeth your voice and breaks your Command or he that seeks by all that he can to take away your life And in Adams sin and so in all other sins that are but the transgressing of Gods Command there seems to be a leaving of the Being of God or the suffering of God still to be a God as in the great sin of Idolatry though we make an Idol which is a thing that hath no being in the world as St. Paul saith to be our God and fall down and worship that no being with that worship which belongeth to the true God yet we do not thereby seek to annihilate and to destroy the Being of the true God we only rob him of his honour but we seek not to take away his life we leave him still to be a God though we serve him not But in the murdering or killing of a man we do what lieth in us to destroy and to bring to nothing the very Essence and being of God because we deface

and destroy the Image of God when as God himself is invisible and inaccessible and in nothing of all the things that he made so plainly and so exemplanly to be seen of us as in the face of man and therefore of all the creatures and of all the things that are man alone is said to be principally the image of God and in that respect chiefly to be respected and cherished and not to be murdered or killed because that in the Image of God God made man And therefore he that killeth man doth to the uttermost of his best endeavour his very best to kill God because he destroyeth his Image when he can do nothing else nor come at any thing else of God but his Image And if as our adversaries do say the service done to a dead Image which is no where commanded by God to be done doth presently redound ad prototypon to the Person represented by the Image Then certainly we may be much surer that the defacing of Gods lively Image that is man whom God doth so earnestly command us to love and so straightly prohibit us to hate must needs be a disgracing of God himself and all the injuries and contempts that are done to this Image do presently redound to the very Person of God And the City of Thessalonica besides many others can well testifie how severely the Emperors punished the abuse that was done to their Statua's or Images when they deemed all the dishonour that was offered unto their Images to be as Treasons committed against themselves 8. And lastly This sin of murder and killing of a man 8. This sin robbeth God of his temple not only defaceth the Image of God but also robbeth God of his Temple which is sacriledge and thrusteth God out of his House and maketh none account of but trampleth under his feet that creature which God did so highly esteem of and purchased at so high a rate as with his own bloud and with no less than his own death And in a word this unjust and malicious shedding of mans bloud to death is so odious so hainous and every way so horrible a sin in the sight of God as that it is impossible for me had I the tongue of men and Angels to express the vileness and the exceeding heinousness of the same The only commandment that God gave immediatly after the flood Gen. 9.5 And therefore God to shew unto us how hateful this sin is in his sight doth immediatly after the Flood give this great and straight Commandment and the only Commandment that he giveth to all the Sons of Noah to abstain from shedding of mans blood and he doth so pathetically and with such terrible threatnings express the punishment of the Transgressors as I know not the like of any other sin in all the Scriptures saying surely that you need not doubt of it at the hand of every beast will I require it and though the beasts be void of reason or understand not what they do yet will I not hold them guiltless if they shed mans blood See Exod. 21.28 Gen. 9.5 See Num 35. Lev. 24. Mat. 26. and therefore much rather and far sooner at the hand of man and at the hand of every mans brother will I require the life of man And for the due observance of this strict account to be made for the taking away of mans life he appointed Kings and gave them authority to appoint Magistrates under them to take care and to see that whosoever sheddeth mans bloud by man should his bloud be shed that this sin might never escape unpunished The reason why God doth so highly hate man killing And the reason why God is so severe in the punishment of this sin of man-killing is here rendred and ought to be well considered videlicet for that in the Image of God made he man and so whosoever killeth a man except it be whom the Law of God and the Law of the Land requireth to be killed is guilty of destroying the Image of God and God cannot endure to have his own lively Image which himself hath made and no Painter nor Angel could make the like to be defaced And therefore also when God gave his Lawes to us on Mount Sinai the first Commandment of all that do concern our duty towards man after the duty that we owe to our Parents that bring us into the world and do bring us up and feed us when we could not feed our selves is Thou shalt not kill And truly in these respects and for the foresaid Reasons I for mine own part The Authors mind about killing men do so far hate and detest to kill any man except it be for such a necessity as compelleth me to save mine own life rather to kill him that maliciously seeks my life than suffer my self to be killed that I had rather do any servile work for my food for a penny a day to buy bread than to receive the greatest Salary honour and preferment that the world could confer upon me for killing men Greg. habetur 23. q. 8. S. in mortem And Ibelieve St. Gregory was not of any other mind than I am or not far from this mind when he said Si in mortem Longobardorum me miscere voluissem hodie Longobardorum gens nec regem nec ducem haberet sed quia Deum timeo in mortem cujuslibet hominis me miscere formido that is If I might have my will to be the death of the Longobards or if I would have them dead the whole Nation of the Longobards should have neither King nor Captain at this day but because I fear God I will not wish the death of any man but I tremble for fear of being the death of any man And he that feareth God will certainly with St. Gregory be very much afraid to joyn himself to any mans death but will study by all means vacuas caedis habere manus to keep his hands clean from all blood especially the blood of Innocents And so you see how unnatural how unreasonable how devillish now beastly how hainous how inexplicable and how hateful and detestable in the sight of God is the murdering and killing of a man That every kind of murder or mankilling is not the sin of the Antichrist which is the Image of God And Yet you must know that not the simple and single murdering or killing of a man is the sin of the Antichrist for if that were his sin we should have 10000 Antichrists and therefore it could not be his proper and peculiar sin when that sin is committed by so many but his sin is such a murder and such a killing and slaughtering of a man or men as comes to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very height and highest top of this mischief so high as none other man committed the like murder For this sin of murder and man-slaughter is like a huge and mighty

the Divines into their Cloysters which was the Churches Heaven upon Earth and he will not so part with her Mr. Mede pag. 40. What is meant by the War of Michael and his Angels against the Dragon and his Angels as there to let her escape free from his assault but be will now prosecute another kind of Combate with her which he had only begun before when he saw himself like to be worsted in the former conflicts and that Combate shall be not as E. H. and Mr. Mede do imagine the bloody Warrs of the persecuting Tyrants which was already past and the Dragon failed of his purpose therein but bellum dogmaticum a verball Warr that is a spirituall Scholastick and Ecclesiasticall War like the Pharsalian civil War of the Romans when a Kingdome is divided amongst it self which is the Worst and most dangerous of all Wars and so is this Ecclesiasticall War that the Hereticks and their grand Captaines the Proselites of Arius Nestorius Eutyches Pelagius Manichaeus Aerius the Trinitarians Millenaries and the rest of that litter did still prosecute to molest the Church of Christ And my reasons to prove this War to be no Bloody War The hereticall War but rather a spirituall and Ecclesiasticall War are these Reason 1 1. Because this War is said to be in Heaven which cannot signifie the seat and place of the Blessed Angels and of the Saints departed out of this life because that neither War nor sorrow nor any other trouble can come there and therefore the seat of this War must be not the World simply considered which is never called Heaven but the Church of God which is the Christians Heaven here upon Earth and the Arke that carrieth us through the Seas of this World into the Eternall Heaven and therefore this War being said to be rather in the Church then in the World when as our Saviour speaking of our bloody Wars saith in the World you shall have Tribulations must needs be an Ecclesiasticall Hereticall and no bloody War no worldly War Reason 2 2. Because it is said that Michael and his Angels that is Christ and the true Bishops and Pastors of his Church that are called the Angels of the Churches and not Michael and his Princes Revelat. 1.20 fought against the Dragon and his Angels and not as it is said in Daniel that he affisted his Angel against the King of Persia but with the Dragon and his Angels Dan. 10.13 that is the Devil and his false Prophets the Hereticks that molested the Church and corrupted the true faith and the right Service of God and yet as their Master the Devil transformeth himself into an Angel of light as the Apostle speaketh so will the false Prophets be deemed and esteemed Angels but this Heavenly Angel tells us they are the Angels of the Dragon that make this War with the Angels of Christ Reason 3 3. And lastly because that in this War we find none slaine nor any blood spilt as they were under the persecuting Tyrants as well the Arian Kings as the Pagan Emperors and therefore this War must needs be understood of no Forreigne bloody War but of a Verball spirituall Warr waged within the bosome of the Church that happened after the death of Theodosius who had freed the Church from all externall Wars and bloody persecutions but could not stop the mouth of the false Prophet nor hinder the Dragon and his Angels to raise and prosecute this Hereticall War And yet now How the Church prevailed against the Hereticks as the Woman formerly prevailed in the first War against the bloody Instruments of the Dragon that were vanquished in patientia Martyrum through the patience of the Martyrs and the sufferings of the Saints so here in this second War she gets the Victory over her Enemies and the Dragon is overcome c. 12. v. 11. by the blood of the Lamb and his Angels vanquished by the word of their Testimony v. 11. that is the Hereticks and Scismaticks were confuted and silenced in prudentia Doctorum by the Wisdome of the Bishops that were the Governours of the Church and by their learned writings and faithfull Preaching of Gods truth and not with the Sword or Cannon shot or any other such outward force which the Angels of Jesus Christ the Ministers of the Gospel never use as the Angels of the Dragon do and now did in many places because they are commanded with St. Peter to put up their Sword into the sheath and it is for none but the satellites of the high Priests Math. 26.52 and the Jannizaries of the Antichrist to come out against Christ and to fight against his Witnesses with Swords and Staves Then Mr. Mede pag. 40. Michael significat quis sicut deus certe nullus nifi Jesus Christus the Dragon being by Michael that is by the power and Wisdome of God that is Jesus Christ which Michael fignifieth and not by any one of the chief Princes or of the seven Arch Angels as Mr. Mede thinketh cast out of Heaven that is driven from the Church as he did the buyers and sellers out of the Temple when all the errors heresies and superstitions which the Devil by his prime Angells the Heresiarches had invented and sowed amongst Gods people were confuted and rooted out of these our reformed Churches and these Churches restored to their Pristine purity and setled in the right forme of serving God by the painefull diligence of the learned Bishops the Pastors and the Protestant Preachers of Gods word which was fairly begun in Queen Elizabeths time The Victory in this War when obtained continued and bettered in King James his Reign but not clearly done and perfectly finished untill King Charles his dayes nor any where so purely done as in these our dominions as I have fully proved unto you before there ensued a two-fold act or a double consequence of this great Victory of Michael and his Angels over the Dragon and his Angels 1. The Tryumph rejoycing and Jo-paean of the Conquerors The twofold Consequence of the Church his Victory over the Hereticks cap. 12.11 the Inhabitants of Heaven 2. The fretfull wrath and continued malice of the Conquered Dragon 1. In Heaven that is in the Church of God as I said before St. John heard a loud voyce saying now is come Salvation and strength and the Kingdome of our God and the power of his Church c. 12. v. 10. where you must first observe the Emphasis in the word now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now is Salvation come and it was come long before when Christ had fully purchased our Redemption before his Ascention into Heaven but I conceive this Salvation to be meant not of our spirituall and eternall Salvation from Sin Hell and Satan which was come by Christ long before but for our Temporall Salvation and deliverance from the power and malice of our Enemies and that was now come that is fully and perfectly

come A speciall observation of the time of this rejoycing and not before because that till now the Church was exercised either with bloody persecutions from without or with intestine broyles and heresies from within but now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the accuser and false traducer of our Brethren the Holy Prophets and the Apostles of Christ by misapplying their sayings misconstring their words and perverting their meaning and making them to say that which they never thought as all Hereticks do being cast out of the Church and quite vanquished consuted and silenced 1. By the blood of the Lamb that is by the faith which the true Christians had in the death of Christ and by the patient sufferings of the Martyrs for the defence of that faith in the former persecutions both of the Pagans and Arians when they loved not their lives unto death but valued them as nothing and yielded them most freely for the maintenance of that Faith which they had in the blood of the Lamb. and 2. by the word of their Testimony that is the breif Articles of their faith and the uniforme rule of Serving God and by the constant firme and faithfull justifying and maintaining the truth of that Doctrine and Service which they professed and published unto the people against all Hereticks whatsoever Therefore now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 12. rejoyce you Heavens Use 12 1. The rejoycing of the Angels and Saints the Church tryumphant and militant for the suppression of the Hereticks and ye that dwell in them that is the highest Heavens and all you Blessed Spirits and Holy Angells that do rejoyce at the Conversion of one Sinner rejoyce now much more for these great Victories and especially for this last victory that Michael and his Angels hath obtained against the Dragon and his Angels and you the Metaphoricall Heavens the Churches of God wherein God resideth rejoyce you as you have most cause to rejoyce that the accuser of your brethren and the false traducer of the Apostles and Holy Fathers of the Church is cast out from amongst you and your Churches are purely reformed the doctrine of faith truely taught and the service of God righty administred and all errors heresies and superstitions swept out of the Church But woe to the Inhabitants of the Earth and of the Sea v. 12. that is Who are meant by the inhabitants of the earth and of the Sea to the Worldlings Hypocrites bloody men and loose livers for the earth signifyeth earthly men and the Sea is a loose roaring and raging element cold and moyst and therefore signifieth the loose and dissolute livers roarers and furious men that have not any heat of Love and Charity in them and those also that for the love of gaine and profit only and not out of love to benefit their Countrey and their Neighbours and to shew the bountifull goodness of God to all places but onely out of a covetous desire to inrich themselves do passe all Seas into all forreign Lands woe woe unto all those because that he which could not and can not prevail against the true Christians that do so firmly stand and so stoutly oppose him will be sure to catch these soon enough within his net and hold them fast enough to make them pay for all because as the Holy Ghost saith he hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great wrath and is exceedingly troubled and vexed not onely for his former foyl and his casting out of Heaven but also most especially for that now after these victories he knoweth or as the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he seeth that he hath but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a short space to recruit and to see if he can revenge his former foyls and therefore 2. 2. The bloody and the most malicious persecution of the Dragon after the suppression of the Hereticks He goeth presently among the Inhabitants of the Earth and of the Sea and perswades them to throw all the stones of the Earth and to stir up all the waves of the Sea and to use all possible arts to vex and oppress the woman and to overwhelm the Ship of Christ which is the Church in the Seas of all miseries and afflictions And so now the Dragon begins a fresh to rage and to persecute the woman saith the Holy Ghost v. 13. which brought forth the man-child and to vex and molest all her Children all the true and faithfull members of the Church whereof most of them especially her lay children were left prety quiet while the spirituall and dogmaticall warre lasted that raged most of all amongst the Clergy but now that warre being ended the Church reformed superstitions expunged and all the Heresies confuted the Dragon vanquished his Angels suppressed and the service of God purely and rightly discharged the true Church and all her members the corrupted unreformed Churches he hath them in his hands already so that he need not trouble himself to meddle with them are newly molested and exceedingly persecuted with great wrath saith the Angel and that is with a bloody warre and a greater warre and a far more unnaturall and unchristian warre and a more violent and more malicious prosecution of the warre and persecution of them that were quiet in the Land then ever was done by this Dragon at any time before this time And the reason of the exceeding greatness and sharpness of this persecution of the true Church The reason of the sharpness of this persecution shewed signified by this woman is not omitted to be set down by the Holy Ghost for the comfort and consolation of all the persecuted Saints and distressed members of Christ and for to incourage them with the more constancy to persist and to withstand the assaults of the Dragon unto the end and that is because the Dragon that in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had many hundred years to prosecute that heriticall and dogmaticall war yet now knoweth and seeth that he hath but a short time to rage and to wage this newly revived bloody war and therefore he must bestir himself or he shall lose his Harvest that hath but a short time to gather in his fruit and that time that he is permitted thus to rage against the woman as the spirit of God sets it down Cap. 12.14 c. 11 8 v. 11. c. 13 5. c. 11.2 is but a time and times and half a time which signifieth the three dayes and a half that the two witnesses of Christ shall lie unburied in the streets of the great City and the 42 moneths wherein the beast should prevail against Gods Servants and should tread the holy City that is the purest Church under feet for all these times thus exprest by severall termes and expressions The suppression of the witnesses and persecution of the Church the same time as of time times and half a time and three dayes and a half and 42 moneths and do synechronize and cohere for the