pert was the Emperours cook in S. Basils time whom he thus reprehended Tuum est jusculorum curare condimenta nam cùm aures habeas oppletas sordibus sacrosancta dogmata audire non potes It is thy dutie to season the pottage for having thy eares stopt with filth thou canst not heare divine precepts Knowledge puffeth up saith the Apostle They would be doctours of the law and yet understand not what they speak 1. Tim. 1. 7. S. Augustine disputing of knowledge in his 102 epistle to Euodius saith Si propter eos solos Christus natus est qui certâ intelligentiâ possunt ista discernere penè frustra in ecclesia laboramus If saith he Christ be born onely for them which can discern these things by their understanding we should almost labour in vain in the church But what will our Puritanes say If they cannot understand away with them draw the bridge let them not follow us The same S. Augustine in his book against the epistle of the foundation saith Turbam non intelligendi vivacitas sed credendi simplicitas tutissimam facit Not the quicknes of understanding but the simplenesse of beleeving makes the common people safest Canst thou by thy knowledge tell me how God should be but one substance and yet three persons thou mayst beleeve this but thou canst not readily understand it Therefore S. Augustine saith further in Enchirid ad Laurent Fides dicta est cognitio rerum quae non videntur Quamvìs quando se quisque non verbis non testibus non denique ullis argumentis sed praesentium rerum evidentiae dicit credidisse hoc est fidem accommodâsse non ità videtur absurdum ut rectè reprehendatur in verbo eique dicatur Vidisti ergò non credidisti Faith is said to be the knowledge of things not seen Although when every one saith he hath not beleeved that is not applied his faith to words nor witnesses nor lastly any arguments but to the evidence of things present it seemeth not absurd that he should in a word be reprehended and that it should be said to him Thou hast seen therefore thou hast not beleeved Doth not Christ say often in the Gospel Thy faith hath saved thee but he saith no where Thy knowledge or thy understanding saveth thee And our Apostle saith We are saved by faith and that not of our selves it is the gift of God Ephes. 2. 8. but of knowledge he saith Knowledge puffeth up This proud knowledge maketh some of you to say that your Minister is not worthy of his living because he preacheth not Had they as much knowledge as they would seem to have they would not say so because S. Paul saith to the contrarie If we have sown unto you spirituall things is it a great matter if we reap your carnall things Yes it is a great matter with some who prize their corn and their calves and their pigs above Gods service and his grace But will they say What is the service you so much stand upon the read service I have a boy at home will reade that as well as you I but can thy boy reade as a Minister and administer the Sacraments like a Minister Who called him to this when did God commit unto him the word of reconciliation when did God give him power to blesse in his name who laid his hands upon him Away with thy boy thou talkest like a profane fellow Thou mayst assoon make a new God as make unto him new ordinances The stranger in this place God threatned to be slain as we reade Numb 18. And Uzza being a lay-man was presently smitten of God by death for but touching the Ark with his hand to stay it up when it was like to fall But to return to thy Minister who is Gods officer When he by his holy Sacrament hath been the true mean to conferre new life to thy childe to make him a member of Christ and an heir to the kingdome of heaven in this one part of his office he hath performed a better work then all thy lands and goods are worth and this no king no noble-man no monarch can do for thee but onely Gods Minister But concerning the maintenance of Gods Ministers which is so much murmured at of many let us compare it with the Ministers livings of the old law and the worthinesse of their service with the worth of ours They had all the tithes in kinde given them by Gods law with divers other fees of sacrifices but our neighbours have so gelt them to us by customes and prescriptions that many of our brethren are not able to live of them and which is unworthy to be heard amongst us our greatest professours for the most part are the worst tithers And for the worthinesse of our service above theirs of the old law when neither prescription nor custome had any place 't is known that they ministred but about the bloud of beasts and types and figures which were but meer shadows of our service and which as S. Paul saith could never sanctifie the comers thereto but the Ministers of the Gospel serve about the bloud of Jesus Christ the benefit of which is bestowed in the Sacraments by our service and that so abundantly that S. John saith Of his fulnesse we have all received and grace for grace If this be thus then all they that envie the maintenance of Gods Ministers under the Gospell are very unthankfull and unworthy of Christs Gospell But now besides the ten kindes of preaching of which I have alreadie entreated and which are able to stop the mouthes of all discontented and itching-ear'd professours there is yet another kinde of preaching which is not fit for every Minister but for extraordinarie and excellent men called by God and the Church to reform errours and abuses or to promulge to the world new laws and canons And as this kinde is to be performed by extraordinary men so it is not alwaies so needfull but onely when necessitie requireth for when things are setled there needs no more setling but onely preserving We ought not to have many Moseses nor many Evangelists nor many Apostles According to this when idolatrie was spread over the land of Judah the good King Jehoshaphat sent his princes Ben-hail Obadiah Zechariah Nethaneel and Michaiah with the choise of the priests and Levites and with the book of the Law to recall the people from the worship of false Gods to the worship of the true God as you may reade in 2. Chron. 17. Thus again when the Scribes and Pharisees had corrupted the Law by their traditions then came the great Doctour of the Church Jesus Christ and purged it by his preaching upon the mount as you may reade in Matth. 5 6 and 7 chapters Again after our Saviour had finisht the great work of our redemption by his rising from the dead then he sent his twelve Apostles to preach the new law all the world over
learn in these books what is good for thy bodie and not learn what is good for thy soul Open thy eyes wider and then thou shalt see that there could be no goodnesse in the creature except God had made it and that if the effect be good then the cause of this good must needs be infinitely more good and therefore he above all things is to be sought of us And this is so cleare a lesson that except a man will shut his eyes he must see it and understand it because the Apostle saith Rom. 1. 19 20. That which may be known of God is manifest in them For the invisible things of him that is his eternall power and Godhead are seen by the creation of the world being considered in his works that they should be without excuse And these preachers are of S. Paul acknowledged for preachers in the 10 chapter following and the 18 vers having relation to the 14 verse Have they not heard no doubt their sound went into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world Secondly Gods Word is thy preacher And this is proved by the book of Solomon called Ecclesiastes for that book as the learned know signifieth a preacher Again turn to Acts 15. 21. and there the holy Ghost will tell thee that Moses was preached every day in the Synagogues while his words were read unto them If thou saist that Gods scriptures are too high for thy capacitie then what sayest thou to the 19 Psalm vers 7. which teacheth that the testimony of the Lord giveth wisdome to the simple And art thou so simple to think that when God gave his scriptures to the Church he gave them so darkly that men might not understand them then he might as well not have given them Thou wilt object that of the Eunuch in Acts 8. 30 31. where when Philip asked the Eunuch whether he understood what he read he answered How can I except I had a guide And I answer thee again that there is a great difference between the Eunuch and thee and this place of scripture which he read and the places of scripture which to thee are propounded for he was out of the Church which is the house of light and thou art in it Again that scripture was to him a mysterie but to thee it is no mysterie For in Isaiah no name is exprest but it is read He was led as a sheep to the slaughter but what he this was the articles of our faith expresse to the simplest that it was Jesus Christ the Messias of the world who was delivered by the Jews to Pontius Pilate to be slain for our redemption and therefore this excuse of darknesse is utterly taken from thee because the Gospel is the blazing of the Law and there is nothing so dark in one place but in some other it is so bright that the very blear-eied may see it Therefore Fulgentius saith In verbo Dei abundat quod perfectus comedat abundat etiam quod parvulus sugat Ibi est enim simul lacteus potus quo tenera fidelium nutriatur infantia solidus cibus quo robusta perfectorum juventus spiritalia sanctae virtutis accipiat incrementa In the word of God aboundeth that which the perfect man may eat and that which the little one may suck For there is both drink of milk whereby the tender infancy of the faithfull may be nourished and solid meat whereby the strong youth of the perfect may receive the spirituall increase of holy vertue Thirdly Gods holy Sacraments are our preachers while by visible and sensible signes they teach us what we are to beleeve for which they are of the learned called visibilia verba words visible Therefore when we see the water in Baptisme this bringeth to our remembrance the water and bloud which came out of our Saviours side and when we see the bread and wine this preacheth to us that his bodie was broken and his bloud shed for our sinnes as the water signifieth the washing away of our transgressions And these Sacraments do that for us that all the preachers of the land cannot do For they by their words can but onely teach us and enlighten our understanding but these preachers the Sacraments besides the light which they give to our understanding infuse through Christs power and effectuall ordinance grace into our souls and make us acceptable before God Yea so effectually do they this that they can never want grace after who rightly receive them and preserve the vertue of them Therefore our Lord said to the woman in John 4. 14. Whosoever shall drink of the water that I shall give him shall never be more athirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into eternall life This water is that grace which is bestowed upon us in Baptisme which after the Eunuch had received as we reade in Acts 8. 39. he went away rejoycing and we reade not that he heard any more sermons or received any other Sacraments for his well of water which he carried away with him into a farre heathen countrey was sufficient for him But oh the lamentation of our times Who shall make our people to beleeve that Christs Sacraments bestow grace they say they signifie onely and that faith cometh by hearing onely yet when they have heard what they can and beleeve what they will they shall never be saved without the grace of the Sacraments at least in desire I can shew you of some that are saved without the hearing of the word preached our baptized infants but I can shew you of none saved ordinarily without the Sacraments in regard of our Saviours exception in John 3. 5. Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdome of God Therefore the men which shut up all in the preaching of the word evacuate Christs Sacraments and do they know not what for preaching is but a preparation for the Sacraments and there the principall grace lies hid For this cause our Saviour said to his Apostles Matth. 28. 19. Go teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost For people must first be taught that God bestoweth grace in the Sacraments or els they will not receive them And the principall Sacrament is Baptisme because that onely bestoweth new life and the rest strengthen and preserve it Fourthly printed sermons are thy preachers For assoon as there is any rare sermon preached by and by it is put to print and from the presse it is disperst all the land over There is scarce a house in any town but one or other in it by reading can repeat it to thee Then how shouldest thou starve for want of preaching when the best preachers in the land such as thou never sawest nor they thee yet by this means continually preach unto thee Fifthly Gods Spirit
is alwaies before thee to behold and it makes deep penetration when it speaks in almes-deeds or benefits This I confirm to you by examples of instance In the second book of Eusebius his Ecclesiasticall Historie and the 9 chapter we reade that when he which drew S. James before the tribunall saw that he would suffer martyrdome willingly he was therewith so moved that he confessed himself to be a Christian so was beheaded together with him after S. James had forgiven him at his request and kissed him His words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Likewise this sermon of good life and conversation had so wonne Ruth to the true religion that when her mother in law Naomi was to return from the heathen countrey of Moab her two daughters in law Ruth and Orpah bearing her companie in the way at last Naomi spake thus unto them Turn again my daughters for there is no more hope of husbands for you by me Then Ruth thus replied Intreat me not to leave thee for whither thou goest I will go and where thou dwellest I will dwell thy people shall be my people and thy God shall be my God Where thou diest will I die and there will I be buried the Lord do so to me and more also if ought but death part thee and me Now if the life and conversation of simple women and illiterate be of such vertue to winne and turn people to God then shall the good life of thy Minister be nothing worth against whom thou canst prove nothing Some parishes as men say have good preachers but bad livers and some have mean preachers or readers but good livers which of these are best I say The good liver is the best preacher For the bad liver as fast as he buildeth with one hand pulls down again with the other but the good-living Minister what he buildeth by his reading of Gods word prayer and administring of the Sacraments pulls not down again but upholds all with his good life and therefore he is farre the best preacher The one builds in shew the other in substance This S. Hierome upon the 22 Psalme confirmeth Ille plus didicit qui plus facit c. He hath learned most that doth most If saith he that which thou hast learned I do my works do more hold the scriptures then thy sermon which makes a vain sound Eighthly parents are preachers to their children and servants The first world for more then two thousand yeares together untill the giving of the Law had no other preachers Then every private mans house was a church as it is in the epistle to Philemon vers 2. And to the church in thy house And according to this God said of Abraham Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do For I know that he will command his sonnes and his houshold after him that they keep the way of the Lord to do righteousnesse and judgement And this kinde of preaching was commanded by God in the Law Deut. 6. 7. And thou shalt rehearse them continually to thy children And Solomon Prov. 1. 8. thus beginneth his sermon to his sonne Roboam My sonne heare thy fathers instruction and forsake not thy mothers teaching For as the mothers milk is more nourishing to the infant then the milk of strangers so the instruction of parents is more acceptable to youth then the teaching of the learned My father and mother were the first that converted me to God by their example and teaching And this kinde of preaching was not onely before the Law and after the Law but it is continued also in the Gospel as we reade Ephes. 6. 4. Ye fathers provoke not your children to wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And this kinde of preaching is so needfull that the Church hath derived it from the naturall parents to the spirituall parents who are Gods Ministers in catechizing of youth And this kinde of preaching as the most ancient and effectuall is so highly commended of King James before all other that in his second direction to the Archbishop of Canterburie he giveth this charge That those preachers be most encouraged and approved of who spend the afternoon exercises in examining children in their Catechisme and in expounding the severall heads thereof which saith he is the most ancient and laudable custome of teaching in the Church of England But how is this regarded Preaching hath preacht away catechizing and the new preaching hath beat out the old Now adayes every mans own wit is best though it be the greenest and youngest A ninth kinde of preachers are thy Christian neighbours for they have not gone so long to church to sermons but they have learned something to speak of the knowledge of God and his laws in the way of good living And this duty S. Paul requireth of all in Coloss. 3. 16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you plentifully in all wisdome teaching and admonishing one another And thus sometime one neighbour admonisheth another of his faults sometime ancient kindred instruct their younger in the fear of the Lord and sometime servants give good advice to their masters and dames as the servants of Naaman the Syrian did The maid-servant perswaded her mistris that her lord should go to the prophet in Samaria and when that her lord was at a stand his men-servants gave him this good counsell as we reade in 2. Kings 5. 13. Father if the prophet had commanded thee a great thing wouldest thou not have done it how much rather then when he saith to thee Wash and be clean Tenthly Gods Minister is thy preacher and the divine Service in the Church-book is his sermon In this service and in this sermon is contained whatsoever is necessary to salvation But you will say How prove you that I say thus Whatsoever is necessary to salvation is contained in these foure points in true faith in good life in prayer and grace True faith is contained in the three Creeds of the Apostles of Nice and of Athanasius the two latter being the exposition of the former Good life is expressed in the ten commandments Prayer in the Lords prayer the Letanie and the rest and grace in the Sacraments You will say We plain people cannot understand these without some to explain them I answer Canst thou tell me of one man that can make them more plain to thee by his words then God himself and his blessed Apostles have done by their words But thou wilt say further that thou hast need of some bodie to stirre them up unto thee Hast thou not thy Minister to do this for thee every Sunday and holiday in catechizing But thou likest not of this because it is not a sermon How provest thou that Because it is not spoken out of the pulpit nor delivered out of a text I reply Are not the articles of the faith the Lords prayer and the Sacraments exprest in scripture are
not these texts But they are not delivered out of the pulpit If the pulpit make a sermon then where dost thou reade that Christ and his Apostles at any time made sermons Didst thou ever reade of a pulpit in the scripture But tell me thou man all for sermons what is a sermon is it not a speech of God and heavenly things and then is not the divine service this But thou wilt shift out further and say This is not after the manner of our preachers who make divisions answer objections lay open the scope of the text and amplifie it by divers theses and uses to the purpose Then what sayest thou to the Churchsermons which for the more honour from the Greek tongue are called Homilies are not these framed just after the manner of your preachers I but thou wilt say These are dead sermons because they are onely read in which reading there is little or no life Then why hath the Church made them why hath the Church commanded them to be read would the Church have mens souls to be fed with dead things But tell me what difference is there between a sermon read the same sermon spoken by memorie and by heart there is the same pronunciation the same sense the same invention But I will prove to thee out of Gods word if thou wilt beleeve Gods word that the very reading of it is preaching and not onely preaching but lively and working preaching working upon mens souls to grace and goodnesse And that Gods word read unto us is preaching you shall finde it expressed in Acts 15. 21. where it is thus written For Moses of old time hath in every citie them that preach him seeing he is read in the synagogues every sabbath-day Where the reason why Moses that is to say the Law of Moses was preached every sabbath to the Jews is rendred to be this Because it was every sabbath-day read unto them Next that this reading is no dead preaching but lively and working see 2. Kings 22. 10 11 and 19 verses There you shall finde that the bare reading of the Law by Shaphan the Chancellour did so work upon good king Josiah that he rent his clothes and wept and his heart melted before the Lord. Secondly the bare reading of the roll from Jeremies mouth caused the people to fast and pray and fear and to return from their evil way as you may reade in Jeremie 36. Thirdly the bare reading of Baruchs book made the governour the kings sonne and all the people to weep fast and pray and fear and to return from their evil way as you may reade in the first chapter of that book Whose preaching can work better effects Fourthly by Gods word written and read faith is procured as you may reade in John 20. 31. These things are written that ye may beleeve that Jesus is that Christ the Sonne of God and that in beleeving ye might have life through his name If men may have life eternall by reading holy writingâ— then what wretches are they which seek to discredit this Again this is proved from Christs command in John 5. 39. Search the scriptures that is to say Study them by your reading for they are they which testifie of me From all which I conclude that they which deny reading of the scriptures to be a lively and effectuall kinde of preaching and disable it from begetting faith and other spirituall vertues make Jeremiah a false prophet Baruch a false historian the second book of Kings false scripture John a false apostle and our Saviour a false Christ for all these affirm it Further if there be no life in reading then what is in the Psalmes which are sung in the church to Gods praise for they are not preached is there no edifying in them neither then why doth the Apostle say Coloss. 3. 16. Teaching and admonishing your own selves in psalmes and hymnes and spirituall songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord But to come nearer to thee when our commissioners of justice under the King send their warrants to our cities and villages and they are read to thee by our under-officers dost thou not understand them dost thou not prepare thy self to perform them Now canst thou understand beleeve the warrants of men when they are read to thee and canst thou not understand and beleeve the warrants of Almighty God when they are read by his Ministers Cannot God as significantly expresse himself unto thee as a Lieutenant a Justice or a chief Constable If thou takest exception at Gods greatnesse and his high style know thou that he spake to men And though he once wrote his law with his own finger and spake it with his own mouth yet ever since he hath spoken all his divine precepts and written all his divine warrants by such men as we our selves are and used too our own words and dialects If thou objectest the deep revelations of S. John or the hard things of S. Paul then I will tell thee of our Church-tenet against Papist and Puritane that all things necessarie to salvation are so plainly written and so easie of digestion that as Fulgentius writeth there is abundantly both for men to eat and for children to suck Then whosoever thou art if thou canst not here be satisfied the fault is thy own For as the children of Israel loathed the heavenly bread of manna so thou loathâ—st the divine food of the soul because it is as common to thee as manna was to them As our horse and kine in the Spring having tasted of the fresh grasse will eat no more hay so our Puritanes after the taste of fresh sermons will touch no more the common service but blow upon it though there be the root and substance of all their sermons Such dainty and queasie stomacks were in S. Chrysostomes time who was the most famous preacher of the Greek Church His words are these in his third homilie upon the 2. Thess. where he brings in the Puritane thus speaking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherefore do I enter the church except I may heare one preaching then he addeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This hath marred and corrupted all And afterward answereth the Puritane in this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What need is there of a preacher by our negligence this necessitie is made Then he sheweth the reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For what need is there of preaching all things are cleare and plain in the scriptures all things necessary are manifest but because you are delicate hearers hunting after pleasure in your hearing therefore ye seek these things Where you understand from this famous and judicious preacher that the besotted negligence of our delicate Puritanes is that which makes them to runne so after sermons God speaks unto thee every holy day by his own word wilt not thou understand him or canst thou not understand him If thou saist thou canst not then thou makest God but a
ten kings which stood up out of the fourth kingdome as Daniel expoundeth in the 24 verse This fourth kingdome or fourth beast was the reigne of the Seleucians in Asia from which the holy nation received many mischiefs and the little horn was Antiochus who plagued the Jews above all the rest From whence ariseth this argument that if Antiochus the figure of Antichrist was but one man then Antichrist which must answer to his figure must be but one man too And to this agreeth S. Johns prophesie in Apoc. 13. 17. where a particular name and a particular number is given unto him Lastly this is shewed from the circumstance of time For Antichrist is to reigne but three yeares and a half as appeareth in Dan. 7. 25. where Antiochus is foretold to reigne over the holy nation untill a time and times and the dividing of a time which is three yeares and a half And with this consenteth the prophesie of Antichrists reigne under the Dragon in the 12 of the Revelation where the woman that is the Church is said to be nourished in the wildernes for a time and times and half a time To this is added the treading down of the holy citie by the same Antichrist for the space of fourty two moneths and the prophesying of the two witnesses in the same time by the space of a thousand two hundred and threescore dayes as it is manifest in the 11 chapter of the same book All which severall accounts by yeares moneths and dayes make but three yeares and a half as that most judicious Father S. Austine most boldly delivereth And with this further agreeth the prophesie of Christ concerning Antichrists end of dayes as appeareth by alluding to Daniel about the abomination of desolation set in the holy place that is to say of the sitting of Antichrist in the temple of God as S. Paul expoundeth it And except those dayes should be shortened no flesh should be saved But here we see these dayes to be shortened by the last yeare cut asunder in the midst And this is more illustrated by reason of congruitie for as Christ preached but three yeares and an half so it is not meet that Antichrist should preach more lest he should seem to prevail upon Christ. The testimonies of Fathers confirm this Irenaeus in the end of his 5. book hath these words Antichrist shall reigne three yeares and six moneths and then shall the Lord come from heaven Hierome upon the 7 of Daniel hath these Tempus annum significat Tempora juxta Hebraici sermonis proprietatem qui ipsi dualem numerum habent duos annos praefigurant Dimidium autem temporis sex menses quibus sancti potestati Antichristi permittendi sunt ut condemnentur Judaei qui non credentes veritati susceperunt mendacium A time signifieth a yeare times according to the propertie of the Hebrew speech which hath the duall number prefigureth two yeares but half a time six moneths during which time the saints shall be permitted to the power of Antichrist that the Jews might be condemned who beleeving not the truth have received a lie S. Augustine in his 20 book of the citie of God and 23 chap. saith The most cruel reigne of Antichrist against the Church that it is to be sustained for a very short time he that readeth these things though he be half asleep and half awake is not suffered to doubt because A TIME AND TIMES AND HALF A TIME is one yeare and two yeares and half a yeare and so three yeares and an half This also appeareth by the number of dayes afterward put down and sometime in Scripture this is declared by the number of moneths From these testimonies it is cleare that if Antichrist in his reigne shall not exceed this prescribed time then it is not probable that he should be more then one man But against this computation it is objected that the foresaid prophesies of yeares moneths and dayes are to be multiplied and understood according to the prophesie Ezek. 4. 6. where is said I have given thee a day for a yeare Then these yeares moneths and dayes will fetch in a long succession of Popes into Antichrists chair I answer Then the foresaid Fathers and all the rest for all in this point agree in one were much overseen in not seeing this prophesie to be so much against them Next I answer This is a particular prophesie and no generall rule to rule other prophesies I have given thee a day for a yeare and so I have not done to the rest of my prophets for if times should be understood of yeares and then every day in the yeare should be multiplied again into so many yeares more as there be dayes in every yeare then where it is prophesied of Nebuchadnezzar that seven times should passe over him in his expulsion from his kingdome it should follow that he was banished two thousand five hundred and fiftie five yeares which are more yeares then he ever lived by a thousand at the least and thus the prophesie of his restauration should be utterly false But these times in Daniel must be understood onely of yeares as Tremellius and Junius note upon Dan. 4. 13. after our division of chapters but upon the 16 as they begin their chapter Again in the 11 of Daniel verse 13 in the text he readeth exactis illis temporibus id est annis following the Hebrew original And thus again it is noted in our Church-bible in the margine of the same chapter and verse at the end of times of yeares Therefore Revel 12. 14. during the great persecution of Antichrist caused by the devil the old serpent the woman that is the Church is provided for but for a time and times and half a time that is but for three yeares and an half as both ancient and modern interpreters consent The second prophesie of the durance of Antichrists reigne is by moneths Revel 11. 2. And the holy citie shall they tread under foot two and fourtie moneths This the opponent will not understand of bare moneths as the Fathers expound which make but three yeares and an half but they will alter the propertie and turn moneths into so many daies as be in fourty two moneths and then they will turn dayes again into yeares that is 1260 dayes which are in fourty two moneths into 1260 yeares Here I would demand of these men what rule or warrant they have in any part of Gods word to turn moneths into dayes and then dayes into yeares I reade in Levit. 25. 8. where God gave this rule to the Israelites to number yeares by weeks or sabbaths Thou shalt number seven sabbaths of yeares unto thee and the space of seven sabbaths of yeares will be unto thee nine and fourty yeares Now let them in like manner shew where God hath given a rule to number yeares by moneths resolved into dayes as here we
Jerusalem but the Churches of Christ. And according to this sense our Saviour Matth. 24. 15. speaking of Antichrists seat doth not say When ye see the abomination of desolation stand in the temple at Jerusalem but he saith stand in the holy place that is to say in the Church which is more holy then ever was the temple at Jerusalem by reason of the time of grace And this reason also evinceth For if Antichrist should not have his residence in the Church among Christians what opportunitie could he have to tread under foot the holy citie by the space of fourty two moneths and to compasse the tents of the saints about and the beloved citie which is the Church of Christ prophesied of in the 11 and 20 chapters of the Revelation Lastly to this cometh the prophesie of Sibylla speaking of Antichrist in the 8 book of Oracles and quoted by Jewel upon the 2 Thess. 2. where she hath these words The greatest terrour and furie of his empire and the greatest wo that he shall work shall be by the banks of Tybur And to this agree the Remenses saying Credibile omnino est Romae sessurum Antichristum It is altogether credible that Antichrist is to sit at Rome Secondly this is shewed from the Fathers S. Hierome quaest 11. ad Algas saith He shall sit in the temple of God either at Jerusalem as some think or in the Church as we more truely suppose S. Chrysostome upon 2. Thess. 2. He shall command himself to be worshipped for God and to be placed in the temple not onely at Jerusalem but also in the Churches S. Augustine de Civit. Dei lib. 20. cap. 11. speaking of Antichrists persecution saith Haec erit novissima persecutio novissimo imminente judicio quam sancta Ecclesia toto terrarum orbe patietur universa scilicet civitas Christi ab universa diaboli civitate quantacunque erit utraque super terram This shall be the last persecution the last judgement hanging over our heads which the whole Church shall suffer in all the world that is to say the whole citie of Christ from the whole citie of the devil c. But to stop the mouth of these testimonies some perhaps may say that there is no Church at Rome To such will Calvin give answer in his fourth book of Inst. chap. 2. sect 12. Hinc igitur patet nos minimè negare quin sub ejus quoque tyrannide Ecclesiae maneant From hence it is plain that we denie not but that under his tyrannie the Churches may remain Likewise in the 11 section he hath Ut manebant olim inter Judaeos peculiares quaedam Ecclesiae praerogativae ità nec hodie Papistis adimimus quae superesse ex dissipatione vestigia Ecclesiae inter eos Dominus voluit As in time past among the Jews certain peculiar prerogatives remained so neither do we at this day take from the Papists the steps of the Church which the Lord would have to remain among them out of that dissipation Here again may some other ask why Antichrist may not as well make choice of some other Seas in Christendome as of Rome and namely among the reformed Churches I answer Of necessitie he must sit at Rome to fulfill the prophesie Revel 17. and because this was the seat of the first beast Reason also will runne with the prophesie for that conquerers will aim at the fairest as the Turk the second beast hath made choice of Constantinople as being the principall citie of the East Church The Papist and the Protestant strive about the seat of Antichrist the one would have it to be at Rome the other not In my judgement the Protestant sets the saddle on the right horse Wherefore if the Papist will be advised by me let him yeeld the horse and saddle too and save the rider Let him free the Pope amend his teaching especially whereby he shed so much Christian bloud and maintain peace and charitie with his brethren who dissent not from him in the main and let the devil and Antichrist take Rome when the time comes They had it at the first and they will have it again at the last sit the holy Father as sure as he can When the great deluge and overspreading shall come spoken of by Daniel and John then all shall down the Pope must stoup his Cardinals shall be off their hinges and his triple crown shall lie in the dust In the mean time God of his great goodnesse have mercie on us all Antichrists destruction Vers. 8. Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightnesse of his coming In these words Antichrists destruction is prophesied to the great comfort of Christs little flock The overthrow is described to be given as it were by a double blow and a twofold weapon to shew the certaintie and inevitabilitie of it The Lord Christ shall utterly consume and destroy his enemie but how Spiritu oris sui with the spirit of his mouth that is as Carthusianus upon this place saith With his precept in commanding him to be killed by Michael the archangel or else in killing him by himself that is to say with his look or as Anselm hath it SPIRITU ORIS SUI id est invisibili virtute spiritûs sui c. WITH THE SPIRIT OF HIS MOUTH that is with the invisible vertue of his spirit which spirit is the holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Sonne and is the power of the Godhead In short he shall destroy him not by the preaching of his Ministers as some would have it but because he is his personall opposite he shall destroy him in his own person by his divine power and command whose command is to do not in the multitude of an armie nor in the strength of souldiers nor in the aid of angels but as darknesse is banished by the sunnes presence so by the lustre of Christs coming by the look of his countenance and by the breath of his nostrils he shall destroy him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By the brightnes of his presence when he shall say Ite maledicti in ignem aeternum Go ye cursed into everlasting fire Whether Antichrist be yet come I answer No because the scripture testifieth that he shall come in the end of the world for when he is come and hath reigned his three yeares and an half as is before declared then our text saith that Christ shall come to consume him with the spirit of his mouth and to destroy him with the brightnesse of his coming Some understand this of Christs spirit in his preachers by created graces but this cannot be good because the Greek hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth by the appearing of his substantiall or personall presence Secondly because the preachers of that time shall not kill Antichrist but be killed as appeareth in the prophesie of the two witnesses Revel 11. 3
seen Antichrists description and his warres and now we are to behold his furniture and setting forth He is furnished with all the devils power and therefore his marching shall be like the marching of Jehu the sonne of Nimshi who marched furiously But here we must observe with Carthusianus that Antichrists coming is twofold the one secret the other open His secret coming belongs to his breeding of which I have alreadie spoken in the apostasie and his open coming belongs to his preaching and progresse in conquering when he shall shew himself to the world in the person of Christ and in the form of God secundum operationem Satanae according to the working of Satan And how is that That is as Anselm interpreteth diabolo instigante the devil inciting him He shall be possest with a devil and at his instigation he shall do all things not like a phrentick without sense but with forecast and deliberation He shall put his will to the devils cunning and the devil shall put his cunning to his will The one shall devise and plot and the other shall perform and effect As God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself so the devil shall be in Antichrist seducing the world from God to himself And as Christ saith in John 14. 10. The Father which remaineth in me he doth the works so the devil dwelling in Antichrist he shall do all that he doth too Thus they shall conferre their forces that they may do the more hurt according to the proverb Vis unita fortior United force is the stronger With all power and signes and lying wonders Because Antichrist hath two ends the one to be honoured as a king the other to be worshipped as a God therefore he shall come instructed and furnished with full means with all power of mans arm to throw down and to enthrone and with all signes and lying wonders to prepare faith for him With the first agrees the type with the second the antithesis accords Of the type it is said in Daniel The prince that shall come shall destroy the citie and the sanctuarie and the end thereof shall be with a floud and unto the end of the battel it shall be destroyed by desolations So when Antichrist comes he shall spread the breadth of the earth with his armies as a floud covers the drie land For the antithesis look how Christ wonne the world to his faith by true signes and miracles so shall Antichrist prevail with the reprobate by his false signes and lying wonders And as when Christ came not he onely wrought miracles but his disciples also did the like so when Antichrist shall come his ministers shall work as false miracles as their master Therefore it is said in Matth. 24. 24. that the false prophets shall shew signes and wonders as well as the false Christs Hitherto there have been many false Christs and many false prophets as we reade in storie but the last false Christ and the last false prophets which are Antichrists false prophets shall outgo the rest for they shall mork miracles which the former could not do for they shall cause fire to come down from heaven in the sight of men as it is Revel 13. 13. because at that time Satan shall be loosed and they shall have all his power And these miracles of theirs are said to be lying wonders in respect of all the causes matter form efficient and end In respect of the matter because many of them shall be phantastick deceiving the eye like the tricks of juglers Such were the rods and serpents of Pharaohs inchanters which were devoured of Aarons rod because they were but shadows and his was a substance In respect of the form because though they have a matter yet they shall not exceed the force of nature And such are the prodigies of Necromancers while by the help of the devil they conjoyn naturall causes to the producing of some strange effect beyond the ordinary course of nature And thus they may cause fire to fall down from heaven for that in the aire there is the element of fire and the fuell of exhalations for the fire to feed upon But true miracles have no naturall causes and therefore they are miracles not onely in the sight of men but also in the sight of devils and angels These are competent to God onely as it is Psal. 72. 18. Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel qui facit mirabilia solus Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who alone doth wondrous things And our Lord Christ saith Joh. 15. 24. If I had not done among them the works which no other did they had not had sinne Again in regard of the efficient they are lying miracles because the devil the father of lies shall be the principall agent whose coming is after the working of Satan Therefore the Fathers affirm that Antichrist shall be a notable witch and that the devil shall inhabit him from his conception or at least from his cradle Lastly they shall be lying signes in regard of their end because they shall tend to shew that Antichrist is God and the Messias which is a Jewish and devilish lie For as Christ by his true miracles proved his divinitie so shall Antichrist by his false miracles labour to do the like but all in vain because lying miracles are but idols and prove nothing And for this cause miracles are called signes for that they signifie to the world some strange and wonderfull thing Vers. 10. And with all deceiveablenesse of unrighteousnesse in them that perish In these words is expressed a second member of Antichrists provision to obtain his purpose which is his hypocrisie and dissembling His life in outward shew is righteousnesse but inwardly it is unrighteousnes therefore to such as cannot unmask it it is deceiveablenesse He shall feigne notable justice to give all the world content his forehead shall be made of equitie but his intralls shall be fraught with iniquitie Therefore he shall be the arch-hypocrite Ephrem Syrus in his sermon of Antichrist hath these words Ut omnes fallere possit falsus atque falsiloquus humilem se simulabit blandum c. That he might deceive all he being false and a false speaker shall counterfeit himself humble and fair-spoken despising injustice preferring pietie gentle poore studious beautifull beyond all admiration pleasing cheerfull to all he shall endeavour to please all that he might soon be sought of the people and be beloved The books of this Ephrem were thought so notable that they were read in the Church as S. Hierome testifieth To proceed Carthusianus upon this text saith Variis modis Antichristus decipiet mundum videlicet simulatione sanctitatis scripturarum allegationibus sapientiâ ornatu sermonis eminentiâ miraculorum promissione divitiarum terrore minarum potestate prosperitate ac multitudine ministrorum suorum Antichrist shall divers wayes deceive the world with counterfeit holinesse with