Rome therefore Anti-christs Seat must be also at Rome The Third thing they weakly or rather wilfully say of him is this That his whole raign is but for three of our years and a half 1. But doubtless this must be understood of Angels years according as Daniels seventy weeks and threescore and two weeks are meant of weeks of years this is spiritual counting by Gods own direction Numb 14.34 Ezek. 4.6 I have appointed thee each day for a year 2. Is there any likelihood in reason that in the space of three of our years and a half he should compass all that the Scripture speaks of him First he must seduce from Christ by corrupting their judgements all the world except two witnesses a small number of the Elect and what time must this take up set the shortest for it in reason that you can Secondly He must teach them his own Doctrine and Worship and make them all drunk with the wine of his abominable fornications Thirdly he must build a great and stately Temple to sit in and there be worshipped as God say they but suppose all the materials at hand it would spend most if not all that time before it could be finished and his sitting times surely will be but short considering what his work must be if his whole should be but three years and a half Fourthly He must wage war and fight great battels bring down mighty Kings and Kingdoms and make himselfe drunk with the blood of all the Saints Fifthly He must have a flourishing reign without any visible or considerable opposition Rev. 11.2 The Court which is without the Temple measure it not for it is given to the Gentiles and the Holy City shall they tread under foot forty two months Rev. 13.7 Power was given him over all Kindreds Tongues and Nations ver 3. All the World wondred after the Beast and ver 4. Who is like unto the Beast Who is able to make war with the Beast Tell me now that likelyhood in reason is there that all this should be effected in three years and a half Thus you see they who willfully left God have left yea lost both Religion and common reason in that which most nearly concernd them to be quick-sighted in But I wonder not if they that are dead drunk ravingly talk their own irrational Fancies Other fond and groundless descriptions they give of that Antichrist they have framed to themselves but these three being fallen the rest cannot stand 'T is not worth while to trouble you or my self any further with them as those who will search after them cannot but confess and I judge it better to say enough then all Vse 2. Is the Pope Antichrist You see then First what a sad case they are in who of Protestants turn to be Papists they submit themselves to the Beast and stand engaged to fight against Christ his Kingdom and their own Salvation and what the issue of that will be you shall hear upon the next Subject and they shall feel hereafter Secondly You may hence gather what it is to be an able a learned Papist this a grown strong man armed a Goliah defieing God the Israel of God and the Gospel of God with all its grace and hopes We use to say of Jesuites quo meliores eò deteriores the better they are the worse they are it holds true of all Papists whatsoever Thirdly the Pope being Antichrist you may easily know what all Popish Ordinances are their Doctrines Auricular confessions Pennances Holy water Crucifixes Beads Extream Unctions Altars Bloodless Sacrifices Merits Satisfactions Images the Worship of Saints and Angels with Invocation of them Indulgences Pilgrimages Burying in a Franciscans-hood Purgatory Canonization all this will all other appurtenances of their Religion are all Antichristianism the Holy-Ghosts expression of them is They are the blood of a dead man Rev. 16.3 No bettter then the polluting Choaking Killing blood of a dead man therefore take heed and beware of their Religion hate it with a right perfect hatred even all those forms of worship Formalities Ceremonies any thing every thing that is a kinn to it as you would hate when you are athirst drinking blood Fourthly You may hence also learn what healing balm for a wounded Conscience what true comfort for him that is weary and burdened heavily with his sin the Church of Rome and their Religion can afford Alas what balm what heart-consolations can Antichrist Antichristianism hold forth They themselves are so far convinced of this that they have made it a Doctrine and point of Faith that to talk of assurance of Salvation is presumption onely Apostles and extraordinary Christians have attained to assurance but t is presumption and boldness for the People to think of it to believe as the Church believes is enough Cold comfort this the Lord knows for an enlightned and wounded Conscience at the hour of Death to have nothing to take off the guilt of sin to break the power of lust to appease an angry God and deliver the poor soul out of the jaws of Death and Hell but a few Beads and Crucifixes and Reliques and the menstruous raggs of creature-righteousness and performances a few empty wishes and hopes and believing as the Church believes how may all such cry out as one of them did O animule quo vadis Poor despicable miserable Soul whither goest thou Cornel. E. Lapid in his Comment on the eleventh of Numbers tells this story of Pius Quintus who Excommunicated Queen Elizabeth Cuus essem religiosus sperabam bene de salute animae meae Cardinalis factus extimui Pontifex creatus penè despero When I was in Religious Orders I hoped well of the Salvation of my soul being made a Cardinal I was sore afraid of it but since I was created Pope I een despair Rev. 9.5 And to the Locusts was given that they should not kill men but that they should torment them five months and their torment was as the torment of a Scorpion when it strikes a man Natural Locusts come in April and continue till September five months whereto the Spirit of God here alludes and says those mystical Locusts that came out of the smoak the bottomless pit should torment men five months that is throughout their whole duration and their torment is as the torment of a Scorpion when he striketh a man Now the sting of a Scorpoin is not at first perceived but when it is it works after such a lingering manner that it affords some hopes of life yet doth certainly bring death in the end When the poor soul is enlightned and conscience stird with appredension of Divine displeasure Popish Ordinances and Administrations prove no better then the stings of Scorpions to them afflicted and vexed they are with them yet some faint hopes they have from them but at last finding themselves deluded they vainly wish Death it self as if that would help them ver 6. They shall desire to die and Death shall flie
the seed of Gods people they have lain a great while under the clods as if they had been lost or quite dead but God hath a day wherein his seed shall spring up into a harvest of joy and all that see them shall acknowledge they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed as it is Isa 61.9 Thirdly after these the residue of the Nations shall be the Lords Zach. 8.22 23. Many and strong Nations shall come to seek the Lord of Hoasts in Jerusalem and to pray before the Lord. And in those dayes it shall come to pass that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the Nations even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew saying we will go with you for we have heard that God is with you That which was done Act. 2. will not agree to this Text for we do not read of many and strong Nations coming in then You will say how can many and strong Nations come in to Jerusalem at any time Doubtless it will be by Agents or Messengers according to Zach. 7.2 3. when the Jews shall send forth their Emissaries into all Lands to Preach Christ to them there shall go a great blessing a mighty power of the Spirit along that the hearts of the Nations generally shall be mightily taken with them and there shall be certain men out of every Nation and Language authorized to take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew and say we will go up to Jerusalem with you for God and Christ are with you to have the most exact and perfect Directory that we and our whole Nation may worship God aright Once Christ in his Rule and Government was kept within the narrow bounds of Jury then he stretched forth the arms of his power over the Gentiles first the Eastern then the Western Churches but the day is coming wherein he will lift up a Scepter over all the Nations of the world Dan. 7.14 There was given him Dominion Glory and a Kingdom that all People Nations and Languages should serve him He reigns a glorious King indeed that is King of all Kings of all Kingdoms Nations in the Earth Sixthly Christ will then given his People more purity and power of Ordinances then ever the Churches did enjoy Take me I pray you in my own sense Ordinances as they came from the Apostles themselves were pure perfect because they were the immediate inspirations or breathings of the Holy Ghost but consider them in the hands of divers others and in the hands of succeeding Officers and Churches and what Errors yea damnable Doctrines were there presently found amongst them Which increased daily grew worse and worse till at last there came out of the womb of them the great Antichrist But when Christ shall set up this Kingdom whereof we speak there shall be no danger by any gross Errors or seduction by false Teachers Isa 30.25 26. There shall be upon every high mountain and upon every high hill rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter when the Towers fall Moreover the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun shall be sevenfold as the light of seven dayes in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his People and healeth the stroke of their wound These rivers and streams of Ordinances shall break forth in all the Churches in the day of the great slaughter and when the Towers fall i. e. when the Pope and towring Kings shall be brought down Rev. 19 17. to 21. There shall be this wonderfull increase of Gospel-light when God shall heal that spiritual wound the poor Jew lies so sick of to this day when he shall bind up the breach that is between the ten and the two Tribes making them one in faith and love Rev. 22.1 He shewed a pure river of water of life clear as Chrystal proceeding out of the Throne of God and of the Lamb. Romish Ordinances were the blood of a dead man but the Ordinances of Christs Kingdom shall be a river of life most clear and pure ver 2. In the midst of the street of it and of either side the River was there the tree of life which bare twelve manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every moneth and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the Nations Christ in his Ordinances will be a wonderfull tree of life bearing both all plenty and all variety of fruits free and open for every one to pluck and feed upon a healing vertue there is in the very leaves thereof the most outward parts of Ordinances will have saving efficacie upon mens hearts God will then send forth men of eminent parts and graces Obad. ver 22. Saviours shall come up on Mount Sion to judge the Mount of Esau and the Kingdom shall be the Lords In the day when the Lord shall take the Kingdom to himself there shall be Saviours raised up upon Mount Sion in the Margent of your Bibles you have a parallel place put 1 Tim. 4.16 Save the self and those that hear thee q.d. be a Saviour to thy self others Obadiah cals the then-Ministers of the Gospel Saviours because their Gospel-dispensations shall be in the holiness power of the great Saviour of men the Lord Jesus Christ And there will be the most zealous and impartial exercise of Church-discipline that ever was to keep out to purge out both the prophane and the erroneous for which take two or three Scriptures Rev. 21.27 There shall in no wise enter into it i. e. into the holy City which comes down from God out of Heaven any thing that desileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lye but they which are written in the Lambs book of life Not but that doubtless there will be hypocrites in the Church but they shall be so close they shall so artificially paint and varnish themselves over with seeming holiness that they may very well be taken in the judgement of charity for such whose names are written in the Lambs book of life but if once they appear to be defilers of themselves or others any kinde of way nay if they be but catched in lying if such offer themselves they shall not enter shall not be received if they be got in they shall quickly be sent packing again Zach. 13 1. In that day when there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem because of him whom they had pierced Chap. 12.10 11. There shall be a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness i. e. abundant streams not only of Doctrine and Worship but also of Discipline for it follows That Idols and false Prophets shall be cut off ver 2. And if any one continue to Prophesie or Preach lyes even his Father and Mother that begat him shall cause him to be thrust thorow with the sword of the Spirit or Church-censure such zeal and impartiality will there be
his Church Take it thus He that since the Apostles and first primitive-Christian times will confirm his Doctrine and set up his Kingdom by Miracles is the great Antichrist But the Pope and none in the World else since those times confirms his Doctrines and sets up his Kingdom by Miracles therefore the Pope is the great Antichrist Sitxhly Antichrist shall challenge to himself a Power over all Nations and Churches upon the face of the Earth in reference to Christ as being his Vicegerent Rev. 13.7 Power was given him over all Kinreds Tongues and Nations ver 16.17 He causeth all both great and small rich and poor bond and free to receive his mark and that no man might buy or sell save he that had the mark c. This Power the Pope assumes to himself and hath had it for no man in the World layes claim to it but he though the great Turk lays claim to all yet not in reference to Christ as his Deputy but the Pope doth It is Antichristian to challenge Power over the faith and conscience of one man or Church t is more Antichristian to challenge Power over many Churches as Bishops do t is a further degree of Antichristianism to claim a Power over whole Provinces as Arch-Bishops do t is yet more to Lord it over the faith of many Provinces and Kingdoms as Patriarks do but to challenge such Soveraignty over all the Churches in the world as the Pope doth thats the great Antichrist of Antichristianism And as one wittily saith lest he should wrong himself by too modest a claim for you must know he 's a modest soul he doth not onely challenge a Power over all this world but in Heaven Hell also where ever Christ hath power yea and even in Purgatory too where Christ hath no Power Mr. Fox in his book of Martyrs records Pope Leo the tenth his Bull against Luther where he charges all Patriarks Metropolitans Primates Arch-Bishops Bishops and all other Ecclesiastical Orders downwards even to the begging Friers and then all Kings Electors of the Empire Princes Dukes and so on and at last all men throughout the universal World upon pain of the great excommunication that they do not embrace Luthers Doctrine adhere to or favor his person Judge you now if this Language be not the very same with that of the great Antichrist Rev. 13. And let me tell you the Popes of Rome have exercised this supremacie for many hundred years Before I close this in hand let me in a word answer a quaere or two the Church of Rome are still putting to us Where was your Doctrine and where was your Church before Luther Why as for our Doctrine my Answer 's thus It was where their 's never was in the Scriptures And as for our Church where that was my Answer runs thus I. Our Protestant-Divines have abundantly cleared it to them that in all Ages there were some they have named the men and the junctures of time in which they lived that opposed Pope and Popery Secondly if we had none before Luther how came they to have so much work for their Inquisitions before Luther for their Armies against the Albigenses and Waldenses five hundred years ago and how came Thomas Arundel Arch Bishop of Canterbury and his fellow Bishops in the reign of Henry the fourth and Henry the fifth of England to condemn and execute so many of the followers of Wickliff and amongst the rest that gallant and famous Saint Sir Iohn Old-Castle 'T is strange there were none of our Church before Luther when there were its well enough known so many in every Kingdom apprehended and executed for opposing the Pope for denying and rejecting popish Doctrine and worship Surely all they may very well be reckoned of our Religion for they would die before-they would be of theirs Thirdly If by this they mean where was your Church visible t is a Nonsence quaere for Rev. 11.2 the holy City meaning the visible Church of Christ shall they tread under foot forty two Moneths i. e. all the time of Antichrist and Rev. 13. He had Power given him over all People Nations and Languages and all the World wondred after the beast T was an impossibility and inconsistent with Gods eternal counsel and decree that we should have a visible Church during the height of Antichrists reign It is enough for us that there have been two witnesses in every age Prophesying in sackloth against him some few haters opposers of him very closely and secretly you might hear of two or three Heretiques in a Kingdom or in a County but perhaps you should not know many times where to find one of them the Beast had so got all the World under his paws Take it in this Syllogisme He that usurps Authority over the faith and conscience of all the Kingdoms and Churches in the World he is the great Antichrist but this the Pope hath done and doth do at this day at least presumptively and intentionally he 'l tell you 't is his right therefore the Pope is the great Antichrist Seventhly The Holy Ghost hath upon the matter named him to us Rev. 13. and last verse Here is wisdom let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast for it is the number of a man and his number is six hundred threescore and six As if the spirit of God had sayd 't is not over difficult to find out his name seing t is the number of a man a number that a man may find out or reckon Then he commends the finding of it out for a special piece of wisdom and understanding that so every one might be encouraged to set himself to work it being natural unto men to desire to be accounted wise In the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Romagnosh Romanus a Roman the numeral letters make up six hundred sixty six In the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the man that useth the Latine tongue so much the numeral letters make up six hundred sixty six You know no expression pleaseth but this ecclesia catholica Romana and the Latine Tongue Latine Bible Latine Service all must be in Latine out of this number says Saint John in effect find out his name that is so much for the Latine In the Latine tongue this Generalis dei Vicarus in terris makes up six hundred sixty six And to give him not onely the name he desires but the name he deserves In our English The Pope by superioritie is the divels Leiftenant the numeral letters hereof make up six hundred sixty six This number may be found in such names and terms as do rightly set him out in diverse Langaages But the Jesuites object that this number may be found in many other names We shall easily grant it may without weakning what hath been delivered for they can bring no other name to whom all the other properties of Antichrist do agree The Holy Ghost doth not send us here barely to
memories but at Rome The Holy Ghost tells us He must reign in Babylon Bellarmine interprets and sais that is at Rome Secondly Though by Babylon we must alway understand Rome in the Revelation doth in therefore follow that by Babylon we must understand Rome in all other places of the New-Testament because John in his mystical and typical visions by Babylon points out Rome must therefore Peter needs in the bare salutation of an Epistle by Babylon mean Rome is there either Example or reason of speaking mystically and by a figure in a meer Salutation The Church that is at Babylan salutes you conclude who will from this that therefore Peter was at Rome I am loth upon such easie terms to forfeit my Intellectuals though a thousand Bellarmines should say it But briefly to give you my reasons beside the Scriptures deep silence in this point why it cannot be thought that ever Peter was Bishop of Rome First Peter we all know was an a Apostle and consequently had an unlimited commission in respect of place according to that Mat. 28. Go teach all Nations and to be a Bishop also fixed to one place is not this diminutio capitis to fetch him a hole lower then Christ had set him are not these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 utterly inconsistent Did Christ make him an Apostle and dare they degrade him and make a fixed Bishop of him It seems they dare dishonor Peter after they have given him a Complement or two if they can thereby Honor themselves and pull down an Apostle to set up a Pope Secondly That Paul was at Rome and that in the reign of Nero when Peter was fixed Bishop there as they say tha 's evident from Scripture but in all Pauls occurrences and transactions we can nowhere find either expressions or hints concerning Peters being there much less Bishop there Of those who first saluted and congratulated Pauls coming to Rome see Act. 28.14.15 So from Puteoli we went towards Rome And from thence when the Brethren heard of us they came to meet us as far as Appii forum Here 's all surely had it been as the Church of Rome teaches Paul would have used more civility towards the prince of the Apostles and universal head of the Church then to have jumbled him in undiscernably among the Brethren Then after three days Paul sends for the chief of the Jews ver 17. to clear his innocency and honesty in coming thither yet no mention of Peter unless they can find him in that expression Men and brethren It is said ver 30. Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house and received all that came in unto him but we read not that Peter ever gave him visit at his own house or elsewhere During the time of Pauls abode at Rome how long t was in all we are not certain he wrote divers Epistles but in none of them doth he speak ought of Peters being there but seems rather to hint the contraty 2 Tim. 4.16 17. At my first answer no man stood with mee but all men forsook me I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me that by me the preaching might be fully known and that all the Gentiles might hear and I was delivered out of the mouth of the Lion T is strange did Couragious Peter desert him but suppose him not to be at that time at Rome had he with all his faithfulness and pains no better learned them Christ and Christian carriage then to forsake one another in suffering times nay to leave an Apostle in his trial to the merciless paws and teeth of a Lion But t is more probable Peter had never taken pains with them at all from the following words that by me the preaching might be fully known there having been nothing of Christ and his wayes known but what the brethren who were there occasionally set on foot Paul made the Gospel fully known to them he revealed the whole Counsel of God to the Jews at Rome and in the ears of all the Gentiles also Had Peter been fixed Bishop there surely Paul could not have carried this honor from him Peter long before this would have fully preached the Gospel of the Kingdom to all both Jews and Gentiles the work had not been to do when Paul came Col. 4.7 to 13. He there reckons up a few names whereof Peter is none These says he are of the Circumcision and these onely are my fellow-workers unto the Kingdom of God which have been a comfort to me From Pauls first arrival there to the time of writing this Epistle Peter could not be at Rome if he had of a certainty he had made these lines false for he could not but have been a chief fellow-worker with and comforter of Paul Whence an argument may be drawn from the less to the greater which is more then argumentum ab authoritate negative that if Paul mention inferior persons those whose welfare and respects t was of less concernment to speak of at present then much more would he have mentioned Peter the Prince of the Apostles him to whose care and charge they were all chiefly committed being made universal head of the Church had he been there at any of those times that Paul writ either to or from Rome But he doth not once name him neither in that Epistle he wrote to the Saints at Rome nor yet in these he afterwards wrote from Rome to other Churches therefore surely Peter was far from being fixed Bishop there And let me tell you this hath more Authority and prevalency to determine my faith in the Point then all that Papias a suppositious Clemens and Higisippus the first Authors of Peters Episcopacy there have men t is well known much given to unwritten traditions deceiving and being deceived thereby as the Apostle speaks which is manifest from that discord and contradiction in those authors who do assert this not onely to the Scriptures but among themselves Thirdly For Peter to have been fixed Bishop of Rome contradicts the voyce or conclusion of Divine providence in the eminent success of his Ministry Gal 27 8. The Gospel of uncircumcision was committed to me says Paul the Gospel of circumcision unto Peter For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the Apostleship of the circumcision the same was mighty in me towards the Gentiles And when t was evident to them all that God would work effectually mightily with Peters ministration for the good of the Circumcision or People of the Jews is it likely that Peter would or durst so thwart the spirit and mind of God as to fix his seat among the Gentile were they not bound to lay forth themselves best for the advantage of the Gospel yes doubtless and therefore you may find them giving one another their hands and solemn Engagements that Paul and Barnabas should be preachers to the Gentiles hereupon says Paul Act. 19.21 After I have been at
Jerusalem I must also see Rome and God confirmed this conclusion of their Act. 23.11 The Lord stood by him and said be of good cheer Paul for as thou hast testified of me in Ierusalem so must thou bear witness also at Rome And at Rome you find him Act. 28. I profess had they taken the Rise of their succession from Paul they had puzled us more then now they have for Paul was at Rome and the Spirit speaks expresly That he was not behind the very chief of the Apostles spake with more tongues then they all the care of all the Churches lay upon him I say had they made themselves a Church and claimed Supremacy from Paul they had put us more to 't but God hath befooled them in their Counsels they lay claim to all from Peters fixed Episcopacie there contrary to the mind and spirit of God in that eminent success Peter still had in laying forth Christ to the Jews as also contrary to that solemn and well-grounded Covenant among themselves that he together with James and John should be minister of the Jews Oh says Bellarmine t is meant principaliter Judeorum chiefly of the Jews 'T is very true but I would it had been considered by him that at this very time Peter supposing him twenty five years Bishop of Rome had already spent some years of his fixed Episcopacy and presently after this Engagement was to return to his seat and office and there spend out his daies how could such an Engagement stand with wisdom or honesty of Spirit his in accepting theirs in putting it upon him Therefore what an errant dissembler and Covenant-breaker do they make their first Bishop and head of their Church But for my part I verily beleive Peter did take the Engagement with much wisdom and honesty of Conscience it so nearly concerned the greater Growth and Advantage of the Church that he did lay forth his ministration though now and then as occasions were started to the Gentiles principally and for most part to the Jews And indeed consider Fourthly how Scripture looks with a full face towards this to make it good Gal. 1.18 Then after three years meaning of Pauls conversion I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and abode with him fifteen days Paul found him there and left him there and this was Anno Christi thirty seven Eight years after this he was at Ierusalem for Herod had him in Prison Act. 12. and this was the forty fifth year of Christ and third year of Claudius Six years from that he was at Ierusalem for Paul writes Gal. 2.11 then fourteen years after that is from the third year of Pauls conversion mentioned Gal. 1. I went up again to Ierusalem with Barnabas and took Titus with me also Where he found Peter ver 7.8 9. and this was in the year of Christ fifty one At which time the learned say that council spoken of Act. 15. was held viz. in the eighteenth year of Christs passion but if that famous council was after the time that Paul came up by Revelation Gal. 2.2 it still makes more against them for Peter was at the council Act. 15.7 From the council he did not return to Rome for thence all the Jews were Banished by Claudius but travelled up and down those Countries teaching the scattered Iews to whom he had writ his former Epistle and in this peregrination he came to Antioch where Paul withstood him to his face Gal. 2.11 In the sixty third year of Christ and eighth year of Nero Paul wrote his Epistle to the Romans where he salutes by name all his familiar friends and acquaintance but not a word of Bishop Peter was he not one of Pauls dear friends or was he not there at that time No say they he was gone to visit and confirm the Churches but are they sure Paul knew as much that upon that ground he should forbear to mention him but suppose he had known of his absence it would have stood both with wisdom and piety to have saluted and sent commendations to him For First It would have manifested to them all how worthy Peter was of Remembrance and very dear to Paul and provoked new flames of affection on in their hearts towards their absent Pastor which Paul was used to do 1 Thessa 5.12.13 c. Secondly If this Salutation could not have been conveyed to him by letter from some of the Church yet upon Peters first return to Rome he had doubtless met with it which could not but have been a great refreshing to his wearied spirit Four years after this Epistle was written Paul himself came Prisoner to Rome the sixty sixt years of Christ and eleventh year of Nero he lived two whole years in his own hired house as I showed before and was there some time more in another way that 's implied Now Bellarmine tells us both Paul and Peter suffered under Nero the last year of his reign he reigned in all but thirteen years eight moneths when his thirteenth year and somewhat more was expired t is evident Peter had not been at Rome A strange fixed Bishop who is never mentioned in any of the letters either to or from Rome none that ever were there could either see or find him there no nor yet he himself left any indubitable testimony of his Episcopacie amongst them Therefore I am satisfied that Peter made-good his promise and Engagement laying forth his Apostleship principally and generally to the Jews and at Ierusalem and so neither was nor could be a fixed Bishop of Rome at all much less for twenty five years together But In the next place suppose and I do but suppose it that Peter had been at Rome yea had lived and died Bishop there what ground or warrant can they show which necessarily infers that he must have a Successor in that Prerogative and Dignity There is no Law or Command in all the Book of God for it and was there ever any Kingdome or Soveraignty Spiritual or Temporal and this of theirs is both without Laws made touching the Succession thereof and forms of Election but here is no such thing Besides Peter wrot his second Epistle to the Universal Church indefinitely to them that had obtained like precious faith with him and the rest of the Apostles 2 Pet. 1.1 I cannot but wonder why he did not then declare to all the Churches in the world that the Bishops of Rome were to inherit Successively his place and honour of Vniversal Supremacie and will'd them after his death to receive and own the Bishop of Rome still under that Name and Notion especially when he had so handsome an opportunity of bringing it in 2 Pet. 1.14 Knowing that shortly I must put off this my Tabernacle even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me Might he not have brought it in very patly here But you see he did not for doubtless there was never any such thing in his head or heart Christ had shewed nothing of
that But further Suppose we grant a necessity of a Successour in that Dignity and Office did it not of right fall to S. John who was an Apostle and lived many years after S. Peters death The Apostle whom Jesus so loved Certainly if any one could have been found fit and worthy to have been left Vniversal head of the Church 't was he but Peter did not at his death confer it upon him willing the Church of Rome to signifie so mcuh to him and bring him to that See for surely Peter was acquinted with no such office much less necessity of such a Succession Whereunto add but this one word They themselves confess an Apostle to have been above any Bishop t is a truth more clear then could ever yet be denyed now how could Linus if he succeeded Peter in the place of universal Supremacyship but be above the Apostle Iohn and yet with the same breath they say an Apostle is above a Bishop But you know it is a Mystery of Lying Iniquity abovo admalum from the root to the very fag end of it But well In the last place the Pope will needs be Successor to an Apostle I confess I think he is but 't is to Iudas and my reasons are these following 1. The Pope continued a great while in the Church undiscerned a close Hypocrite but a real hater of that he did professe to love as Iudas did 2. He 's a Theif as Iudas was and bears the bag too I told you how he first came to possess himself of Rome and all Italy and presently after of all Ravenna just as a thief gets a purse on the high way Do I need to tell you what vast Treasures of wealth their Sorceries and Legerdemain of Pardons Indulgencies Purgatory Canonization and the like have brought them in yearly they make Merchandize of mens souls Vendit Alexander claves Altaria Christum and what is this but mear cheating and thievery Iudas you know was such a thief and lover of the bag that he grudged his Master the Oyntment the good woman poured on him the Pope t is the grief and vexation of his heart that a drop of mercy or comfort falls upon Christ in any of his Members 3. He is as perfect at Hail Master and kissing Christ and then betraying him in his Truths Worship Saints Discipline Kingdom to be spit on reviled crucified as ever Iudas was 4. Our Saviour calls Iudas the son of perdition Joh. 17.12 which very expression the Holy Ghost here takes up and calls him also the Son of perdition It is said Iudas went to his own place Act. 1. The same is said of the Pope Rev. 17.11 He goeth into perdition And Rev. 19.20 The false Prophet was taken and cast alive into the Lake The Pope in the pride and baseness of his heart makes himself S. Peters Successor but God in Wisedome an Justice declares him to be Iudas Successor and this indeed is the true foundation upon which the present Rome or stately Babel of Papacie is built Ve I shall now make some improvement of the point by Application and first be informed That as the Iews have framed a Messias to themselves so the Popish Clergy have framed an Anti-Christ that God never made mention of for the Descriptions they give of him when applyed to the True One are all of them most false and frivilous 1. One of them is this That the Great Antichrist must be a single individual person as the Article o e denotes therefore the Pope cannot be he for there have been many Popes Reader it thou thinkest there is any thing in this be pleased to take better information The Article o e doth not enforce any such thing Mark 2.27 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not Man for the Sabbath Luke 4.4 It is written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Man doth not live by bread alone 2 Tim. 3.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Man of God may be perfect Will any one who is Master of Common Reason say that the Aricle o e in these places denotes an individual single Person Therefore the prefixed Article cannot enforce it upon us that Antichrist is one single man 2. All the Rulers of the four great Monarchies are set out by Daniel as if every Kingdom had had but one Dan 7.17 These great beasts which are four are four Kings whereas we know there were more in every one of them The last Beast or Kingdom had seven heads or Rulers seven Kings make up the first and they are all called one head and so one The Emperours S. Iohn moulds them all into one Five are fallen and One is speaking of government by Emperours The seventh head of this fourth Beast is the Great Antichrist and why should he be thought a single person rather then any of the other six As each of the former must be taken Collectively so doubtless must this be unless better reasons be given against it then Bellarmine or any other of his way have yet held forth 3. Jesuits themselves call the whole bulk and succession of Popes One visible head of Christs Church therefore give us leave to learn of them and call the whole bulk and succession of them that one Antichrist or one head of the Antichristian Church which was arising in S. Paul and S. Iohns time and is not yet fallen and tell me what single person can be head of a body of such continuance The second thing they fancy of Anti-Christ is That his Seat must be at Ierusalem T is needless to speak much to this can any man read the 17. chap. of Rev. where the Angel tells Iohn That his Seat is the City built upon seven Mountains and that hath seven distinct forms of Government and the great City which in S. Iohns time Ruled over the Kings of the earth Of courtesie tell me can any man understand this of Ierusalem was Ierusalem built upon seven Mountains had ever Ierusalem seven heads or distinct forms of Government did Ierusalem in S. Iohns time raign over the Kings of the earth or was it not rather it self in Vassalage 2. Whereas it is said 'T is the City where our Lord was crucified Revel 11. this will not carry it in their sense For first Let them reconcile this to the former description which I am confident they can never do 2. Antichrists seat is called Ierusalem Spiritually or Mystically as 't is also called Sodom and Egypt Erroneous Prophane Murtherous Ierusalem take it in that state or posture and Ierusalem was a Type or Shadow of Rome Antichristian Antichrists seat is at Ierusalem not Literally but Mystically 3. When Christ was crucified Ierusalem was one of the streets of Rome for there you should hear the fear of Caesar swaying all If you let this man go you are not Caesars friend You should see a Roman Judge Roman Souldiers a Roman Death and all Canaan within Romes boundary and so upon the matter Christ was Crucified at
Pope Innocent with their Acts desiring him That he would add his Authority his Answer was to this effect That they had due regard of the Sea Apostolick and of him who had the care and charge of all the Churches the very language of the Beastly Antichrist Rev. 13.7 So that at this time we may safely conclude him actually set down in his Chair of Pestilence and thence may as safely conclude that his Throne to wit the City of Rome and the glorious visibility of his raign and Kingdom will be laid in the dust twenty years hence In a business of this Nature you ought in reason make some grains of allowance to our guess possibly it may fall out three or four years either under or over and what will you say if it fall out that Rome will be begirt and burnt too about 16. years hence I 'le tell you what my opinion is built upon that of Revel 13. verse the last Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast His number is six hundred threescore and six Observe t is indefinitely called the number of the beast the Holy Ghost may perhaps speak much in a little two things at once thus that 666. is the number of the Beast his name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and the number also of his raign expired that his Seat and Throne shall be pulled down and burnt his formall visible reign shall be at an end about the year 666. But in this I confess I have no man to stand by me t is onely my opinion which started up in me upon my poring upon that Text yet I have this to countenance me the Holy Ghost tells us The Earth-quake that must shake his Throne and Kingdome all to pieces when once it begins and for my part I am satisfied t is begun will be a great earthquake such as was not since men were upon the earth so mighty and so great Rev. 16. And this may be some Answer to those who think there 's more work then can be done in so short a time When God sets upon it he will make quick work with him The Earth-quake being so mighty and so violent may possibly reach the Walls of Rome by that time after which Popery will have a being for some years Rome is burnt in the 18. Chapter of the Revel But the Beast and false Prophet with their Armies their destruction is described in the 19. Chapter as being I suppose to be done some space of years after I doubt not but there are divers of you who hear me this day that shall out-live Romes ruin and that your childrens children will most certainly out-live the great battel of God Almighty wherein both Pope and Popery shall be utterly destroyed But what shall the sign of these things be Why let me tell you Scripture hath given a sign of his approaching ruine and that 's the killing of the witnesses Concerning which I shall briefly premise a few things as First that they are not to be restrained to any sort of men for t is sayd of them Rev. 11.4 These are the two Olive-trees and the two Candlesticks standing before the God of the Earth In calling them the Olive-trees the Holy Ghost doubtless alludes to Zach. 4. Where Zerubbabel and Joshua the Magistrate and the Priest are in the vision the two Olive-trees in the interpretation the two annointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole Eaarth the witnesses Comprehended all those Magistrates and Ministers that have in any juncture of time out of a principle of Religion and Conscience for God any way set themselves against the Pope By Candlesticks we are taught from Christs own mouth to understand Churches Rev. 1.20 The seven Candlesticks which thou sawest are seven Churches The rest of Saints and Churches added to Godly Magistrates and Ministers make up the witnesses And we must needs take them thus for the Holy Ghost divides all throughout the reign of Antichrist into but two witnesses or Prophets and the Gentiles Rev. 11. So that all beside those of Antichrists Party or Faction are witnesses or are of the witnesses Secondly They are sayd to be two First In relation to Moses and Aaron who brought Israel out of Egypt to Zerubbabel and Joshua who brought the People of God from their Babylonish captivity So these bring the Church of Christ out of the more then Egyptian Babylonian bondage of Popery Secondly They are sayd to be two in reference to the legality of their testimony two being a sufficient number in Law to bear witness against him and so God to be justified in their condemnation as being clear and righteous Thirdly For their paucity those who witnessed against him were but a very few in every Nation in respect to those droves and innumerable Multitudes that followed him all the World wondered after the Beast though toward the end of their Prophesie they grow apace Rev. 14.6 7 8. I saw another Angel flie in the midst of heaven having the everlasting Gospel to preach to every Nation Kindred Tongue People saying fear God give glory to him for the hour of his judgement is come And there followed another Angel saying Babylon is fallen that is hath begun to fall since Luther and others have so publikely and openly preached the Gospel Bellarmine confesses that since we have called the Pope Antichrist his Kingdom hath wasted and been incomparably less then before the witnesses have increased the Gentiles have decreased but throughout the most of his reign they were but two very weak and inconsiderable was the number that set against him Thirdly Antichrist hath been killing witnesses all along Rev. 11.2 The holy City shall they tread under foot forty and two moneths throughout his whole domination hath he been been stamping Saints to dust in every age in every Kingdom but that slaughter of the witnesses the spirit of God so largely describes and points the finger to as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the indubitable sign or fore-runner of his sudden downfall I take to be done at one time and in one place It is notoriously known what our Prelates did in England how for a long time they set themselves against the zealous Protestant and by means of their Courts Canons Ceremonies book of sports new c. Oath they silenced made to hide in Corners drove into strange Countries Wildernesses thousands upon thousands At last there rose up two or there somewhat more bold then their fellows whom they took and made them high Examples off their Popish justice and cruelty cut off their ears and sent them to prisons far distant one from another How much they glorified and pleased themselves in this their Conquest you all know and doubtless this fact of Protestant Bishops for so they were called was an universal token to the Popish World that the day was theirs If Protestant Bishops say they have done so valiantly for Romes Interest surely the day is ours and
sinns have reached unto heaven We commonly call it the See but it may well be called the Sea of Rome for the streams of all the wickedness of all the world have run thither and have there been swallowed up 1. The Apostle says of the Cretians They are all-wayes lyars Tit. 1. but of these he saith They speak lyes in Hypocrisie 1. Tim. 4.2 The very first rise of Popery was from a lye Hypocritically and against their Conscience they challenged Appeals in difficult matters to themselves and forged a Canon of the Councel of Nice for it which the sixt Councel of Carthage did with much diligence search out and found to be a very forgery a very lye but for all that they had the face to go on adding one lye to another till they had made up their Religion which indeed is nothing else but a great knot and bundle of lyes Their Doctrine of Merits their Doctrines of Purgatory Transubsantiation very lyes as our Reformed Divines have made appear sufficiently show me one point that is truly and peculiarly theirs and I will pawn my life upon 't I demonstrate it to be a lye a taste whereof you had in the first Sermon showing you his contradictions of Christ 2. There is the greatest pride found in them that ever was found in men Suppose thou hadst been at Rome this year being the year of Iubile but you must know that he is not such a proud and pamperd Beast now adays as he was in formen ages hadst thou been at Rome this year of Iubile but especially any of those Iubiles that were some hundreds of years before Luther and there seen the Pope arrayed as the Holy Ghost describes him Rev. 17.4 In purple and scarlet colour decked with gold precious stones and pearls with a Triple Crown upon his head set in a golden chair carried on mens shoulders his Princely Cardinals about him his Breaden God Crucifixes Reliques carried before him opening the gates of Paradise as they call them with the touch of his golden hammer great Ambassadors sometimes Kings themselves bowing before him and worshiping of him the common people begging pardon of sin and eternal life of him scarce suffered to kiss his feet I say hadst thou been at Rome and seen all this couldst thou have thought or said less of him then hic est ipse primogenitus diaboli this is doubtless the first born Son of Lucifer the eldest Son of the devil Pope Innocent the 4. Ann. 1253. in the 37. year of Henry the 3. of England being set in his Conclave in the midst of his Cardinals after much advisement upon a small occasion brake out into this language Annon Rex Anglorum noster est vassallus ut plus dicam mancipium qui possumus eum nutu nostro incarcerare ignominiae mancipare Is not the King of England our Vassal nay to say more our slave whom we can imprison at pleasure and condemn to everlasting ignominy Pope Alexander the 3. set this foot upon the Neck of the Emperor Frederick the first blasphemously using those words of the Psalmist Super Aspidem Basiliscum Vpon the Adder and the Basilisk shalt thou tread The Pope hath made Kings to wait at his Gate and hold him his stirrop I could have furnished you with many stories of like nature speaking aloud the pride of their Spirits says Basil long since Odi fastum istius Ecclesiae I hate the pride of that Church of Rome And lest you should think we speak out of Spleen and Envy against him hear what the Holy Ghost saith 2 Thes 2.4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped for that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God 3. The greatest truely and blood guiltiness lies upon them that ever was upon any T is impossible for me to convince you of the ten thousand part of their murthers Historians do generally with one mouth tell us in that one Kingdom of France 400. years ago they slaughtered ten hundred thousand of those godly Waldenses and Albigenses The Duke D'Alva boasted He had destroyed above 18000. Hereticks in the Netherlands in the space of six years In the first 30 years after the Order of Jesuites was set up t is found that above fourscore thousand were slain The Spanish Inquisition in the space of 30 years made away no less then one hundred and fifty thousand In the year 1572. was the Massacre at Paris in a few days space there were above 30000. treacherously and basely murtherd In our Queen Marys days in less then 4 years were consumed with fire and faggot 277 persons every one whereof it might be strongly presumed were true Members of Jesus Christ his Saints indeed In the late rebellion in Ireland to speak with the least one hundred thousand were murthred before we could get so much as one Breast-work against them And now by these hints I have given you can you make any guess at the number of those that have been slain in all those ten Kingdoms who submitted to him throughout the space of above 1000 years Certainly they do exceed all humane Arithmatick Rev. 17.12 13 14. The ten horns which thou sawest are ten Kings these shall give their power and strength to the Beast these shall make war with the Lamb. The ten Kings of Europe with all their power and strengths were nothing but the Popes instruments of blood and cruely I may be bold to say it the Popes little finger hath been heavier upon the people of God then were the Loyns of the ten Heathenish Persecutions To shed the innocent blood of any man is a sin that cryes to God and will certainly prevail with him for vengeance how much more then to shed the blood of an Innocent Saint I am confident if one had shed the blood of a hundred thousand men that were indeed Reprobates and the blood of but one true Saint of God he should find a harder task and pull of it to come off with Divine Justice for the blood of that one Saint then for all the other hundred thousand there 's reason enough for it they being but Chaff Bryars and Thorns Dung Scorpions and worse then naught but t is said the death of a Saint is precious with God A Saint is a Member of Christ helps to make up that body which is the fulness of him that fills all in all is the pupilla oculi the very apple of Gods eye yea so dear to God that the very hairs of his head are numbred and therefore no marvel if he have a harder pull of it But the Popes of Rome have shed the blood of more then one Saint indeed no other blood rellishes with them Rev. 18. and last verse In her was found the blood of Prophets and of Saints and of all that were slain upon the earth A vein of cruelty bloodshed went down from Cains days even to the
Popes times who was so far from putting a stop to it that he eagerly closed with it made it wider and deeper then before and his actions have justified all the murthers of the Saints that ever were yet committed in the world There hath not been a war in Christendom for this thousand years and upwards but a Priest or some eminently of the Popish Faction hath been the incendiary and they have so taken up their cups that they have made themselves dead drunk Rev. 17.6 I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the Saints and with the blood of the Martyrs of Iesus and when I saw her I wondered with great admiration as at their sin what that was so at their punishment how great in justice and equity it must needs be when it should come upon them To be drunk is a great sin to be drunk with blood is monstrous but to be drunk with the blood of the Saints and Martyrs of Jesus is strangely hellish I could tell you how at Burges they buried one Marion alive how in Queen Maryes dayes a woman being delivered at the stake and the Infant by its sprawling like to get out of the fire they threw it with their forks into the fire again they digg'd up Wickliffs bones and burnt them forty years after his death Peter Martyrs wife at Oxford Mr. Bucer and Paulus Phagius at Cambridge were served no better We use to say Vrsinon saeviunt in Cadavera savage Bears will not rage against dead Carcasses Now Lord if these be Saints who are Scythians if these be Catholiks who are Canibals Fourthly The Bishops of Rome are the star that 's sayd to fall Rev. 9. from Heaven to Earth Their falling away from Christ and the Faith is called the great Apostacy of the latter times 1 Tim. 4. as Learned Mr. Mede hath judiciously observed Fifthly It is sayd Rev. 13.5 6. That he had a month speaking great things and blasphemies and he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name and Tabernacle and them that dwell in Heaven They take those Titles to themselves that are peculiar unto God and so blaspheme his name They call the true Doctrines and worship of Jesus Christ Heresie and Schisme and so blaspheme his Tabernacle Those that God hath damned they canonize and affirm them to be in heaven and those that God hath glorified in heaven them they affirm to be damned souls in Hel and so they blaspheme Heaven and the inhabitants thereof One of them would eat his Pork in spight of God another of them if God were so angry with Adam for eating an apple might not he much more for his Peacock says a third quantas nobis divitias comparavit ista fabula Christi what a deal of wealth hath that Fable of Christ speaking of the Gospel broguht us in A Bishop here in England when one he knew well was brought before him for medling heretically with Scriptures what a devil sayd he made thee meddle with Scriptures Sixthly We read of their Fornication Rev. 9. and last v. t is true enough there was once of shee-Pope Ego non dubito says Functius the Chronologer quin divinito ita sit permissum ut faemina fieret Pontifex eadem Meretrix I make no question of it but that God in his wisdom permitted a notorious strumpet to be advanced to the Popedom that he might in her shew to all the World what the Popes of Rome were even that great whore with whom the Kings of the Earth committed Fornication I say t is true enough there was once a shee-Pope who cried out I mean fell into the pangs of travel as she was going on procession which afterward occasioned their Porphery Chair and so God openly declared her to be not onely mystically but even literally the whore of Babylon Rome calls herself the Mother of all Churches but the Holy Ghost much truer calls her the mother of Harlots Rev. 17. Common notorious stews are upheld in the Holy City if self Seventhly Their covetousness is so base that they make merchandise even of mens souls as you may see Rev. 18.11.12.13 It is storied of Pope John the twenty two that when he dyed there was found in his treasure two hundred and fifty tuns of gold And t is recorded of Boniface the eight that he was able to shew more mony then all the Kings in Christendom Surely God hath long since smitten his hands at their dishonest gain and that endless wealth the inventions of their covetousness Pardons Indulgences Pugatory c. hath brought them in Eighthly We read of their idolatry Rev. 9. and last verse worship a piece of bread kneel before the Cross kiss it also the Images of Saints Boniface the 4 th in the year 610 beg'd of the Emperor the Pantheon he presently throws out the Heathen Images and sets up the Image of the Virgin Mary as chief and fills it with the Images of all the rest and thereupon instituted the Feast of all Saints Ninthly we read in the same place of their Sorceries Their own Historians tell us as I touch'd before that two and twenty of their Popes were abominable Negromancers of whom Bellarmine faith they were parum probi homines scarce to be called honest men but Platina speaks out and calls them Monstra et portenda hominum divels clad with flesh and shapes of men onely Tenthly They have kept Christ out of his brithright and lawfull inheritance above a 1240. years already and he shall never have it but by strong hand If it went so hard with Ahab for taking Naboths Vineyard awhile what will become of them who have seized Christs own inheritance so long a time and killed those he hath sent unto them to demand his right out of their hands Lastly They are the most impenitent wretches that ever breathed upon Gods ground they have had the witnesses to call them to repentance from the very beginning and God reaifed up the Turk as a scourge of Popery yet the rest of the men says the text Rev. 9.20.21 that is they of the West repented not God gave the old World a 120. years to repent in before the broght the Flood upon them he hath given these as much since Luther first preached the Gospel but they are as far from repenting as the old World was when Noah entered into the Ark. Rev. 16. ver 9. When a Vial was poured upon the Sun they blasphemed the name of God they repented not ver 10.11 the fifth is poured upon the Throne of the Beast they gnawed their tongues blasphemed God and repented not of their deeds but prepared war against God ver 14. When great hail-stones fell upon them out of heaven You read not of their repenting ver the last but that they blasphemed God to the last because of the plague of hail Impenitent blasphemous wretches they have lived and impenitent blasphemous wretches for the generality of them they 'l
and carriage and see what we contribute to this great design Christ is gone forth upon Do ye so dispence Justice and Judgement so administer Gospel-Ordinances Word and Sacraments so act your Faith so Pray so Fight as may help to shake out the remaining Vials of wrath faster and faster upon them There is never a man or woman in this Congregation but may carry the matter so as when Christ hath got the day and conquest may without lying or vanity of spirit say Through the goodness of God upon me I was a weapon a poor instrument in the hand of Jesus Chirst for the effecting of it when Rome is all on a flaming fire may say I was one that helped to set it on fire when Babylon is fallen I was one that helped to pull it down which if thou hast done not Jehu-like out of pride and for thy own ends but as service due to Jesus Christ and for the bringing in of his Kingdom doubtless thy seed shall be blessed upon Earth and great shall be thy reward in Heaven Vse 4. The last Use is to you who in reason may live to this great day of Romes ruin when you shal see the great Earthquake shaking their Politicall Heavens and Earth all to pieces and the greatest temporall glories now in Christendom brought down laid low and trodden under foot let it not trouble you at all for let me tell you those in Rev. 18. That shall tament her burning are none of Christ friends but carnal wretches and indeed his enemies Your duty upon it is of a clean contrary nature Rev. 18. you read of Babylon fallen as when a milstone is cast into the bottom of the Sea of the smoak of her burning and that in one hour she is made desolate saith the Holy Ghost Rejoyce over her thou Heaven and ye holy Apostles and Prophets for God hath avenged you on her Rev. 19.1 After these things that is after Rome burnt and laid in ashes I heard a great voyce of much People in Heaven in the true Church of Christ saying Allelujah salvation and honour and glory and power unto the Lord our God ver 2. For true and righteous are thy Judgements for he hath judged the great whore which did corrupt the Earth with her Fornication and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand ver 3. And again they said Allelujah and her smoak rose up for ever and ever ver 5. A voyce came out of the Throne saying praise our God all ye his servants ye that fear him both small and great It was one of S. Austins three wishes that he could have rejoyced greatly in to have seen Rome in her glory though but heathenish but I am confident were he upon earth now one of his greatest wishes wherein he would most please and solace himself would be to see Rome all on a flaming fire and burnt to ashes O quam pulchrum spectaculum And truly there is cause why you should rejoyce in it with exceeding great joy 1. When the Witnesses were dead in the streets you know what was their carriage Rev. 11. They rejoyced over them made merry sent gifts and God will have you to tread forth the law of retaliation as they rejoyced over your misery so Gods tels you t is an equal thing and he requires it as a duty of you to rejoyce greatly over their miseries 2. You know what postures they stand in in reference to Christ and his Church they provoke God daily with the highest hand that ever any did as I have shewed you they wrong Christ strangely keeping him out of his just rights they are the proudest enemy the cruellest enemy and enemy of the longest continuance the most hopeless of ever being brought in by repentance that ever the Church had any and therefore if ever the people of God might rejoyce in the downfall of an enemy you may certainly in this 3. Consider the sequel of their ruin which will be this A Kingdom that cannot be shaken as the Apostle speaks Heb. 12.27 28. and if the Text be rightly understood it speaks to this very time and business Out of the ruins and ashes these wars shall make Christ will bring the most glorious frame of Government that ever the world saw and let men and States do what they can it will not be brought forth till then but then it shall and can any Saint but rejoyce in that which ushers in those good and blessed times Scripture is so abundant in promising which shall be the subject of the ensuing discourse THE REIGN OF CHRIST By Ed. Hawghton LONDON Printed for Francis Tyton 1652. TO THE READER I Would not have any one think that I am able no nor any man now alive to set forth the so-much-expected Kingdome of CHRIST in the true worth and glories of it let it suffice if I give you some rude draughts of it The Prophets of old did speak very clear and excellent things concerning the Messiah his Birth Life Miracles Doctrine Death Resurrection and what was to follow thereupon insomuch that Isaias is usually called by Divines the Evangelical Prophet But when John was come our Saviour saith of him Mat. 11. He was the greatest of those that had been born of women meaning in respect of his knowledge of the Messias nay that he was was more then a Prophet i. e. he had more abilities to speak of Christs nature offices and excellencies of his kingdome then any or all the Prophets that had been before him But yet sayes he The least in the kingome of God is greater then John the Baptist After the ascension of Christ and descension of the Holy Ghost the meanest Minister of the Gospel was able to hold him forth in all points more excellently then John the Baptist was To bring this home to the present businesse We that now speak concerning this great this blessed Kingdome of Jesus Christ onely as Prophets yet not by any private spirit but groundedly from the Word may speak very clear undoubted and in their eares especially to whom this subject is somwhat strange and new very wonderful things almost incredible but when Rome shall come to be buried in its own ashes and after that the great Battel of God Almighty fought and finished and Christ hath his Kingdome actually upon the Anvil hammering and working it out those whose lot it shall be to stand forth Ministers of the Gospel then and be eye witnesses of Christ so at work of them it may be said They are the greatest of those that have been born of women in respect of their distinct knowledge of the Kingdome of our Lord nay more then Prophets men far more accomplish'd to speak of the parts government glory of his Kingdome then any or all the most holy learned men that have been before them who saw it only at a distance through the Prospective of the more dark and general Promises and spake of it by way of
Prophesie But they who shall be so far honoured and blessed of God to be called to the marriage-supper of the Lamb as the expression is Rev. 19. to see this Kingdome drawn forth in all the just parts and lineaments of it set up to the height of its greatnesse and glory I say the least of them will be greater then John the Baptist my meaning is will be far more able to preach forth the excellencies of that Kingdome in all the dimensions of it then were those who were spectators of Jesus Christ when he was but at work upon it Therefore Reader I say again since you ought in reason let it answer your expectation if I set before you only some unpolisht draughts of it The Church of God will have more knowledge of this businesse ere it be long Dan. 12.4 Shut up the words and seal the book even to the time of the end many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased The context rightly under stood clearly gives it thus That when the time of Antichrists reign and the Jews captivity shall draw towards an end men and matters will be hurried to and fro there will be great stirs in the world but then the sealed Book will be opened the knowledge of the Popes ruine calling of the Jewes the starry lustre of Christs kingdome will break forth increase and shine more and more unto the perfect day Which is the daily and fervent prayer of Your true Friend and Servant in the Lord E. H. The Reign of CHRIST Rev. 19.6 The Lord God Omnipotent raigneth THe four and twenty Elders we read of ver 4. are the Representative of the Church of Iews and Gentiles arising out of twelve Patriarks and twelve Apostles The four Beasts there also mentioned are the Ministerial Embleme who are elswhere said to have the face of a Lion of an Oxe of a Man and of an Eagle that by their special courage laboriousnesse wisdome speed the work of Jesus Christ in its time might be effectually carried on in the four parts of the world These four Beasts and four and twenty Elders something they do and something they say that which they did was this they fell down and worshipped him which sate upon the throne that which they said was Amen Allelujah be it even so as God hath done and praise and honour and glory be given to God Two grounds they lay down for this their posture and carriage the first this that he had judged the great Whore which did corrupt the earth he had pull'd down Babylon the second this he had set up himself as 't is in the text The Lord God omnipotent reigneth There needs but little explanation of the words The Lord God that is the Lord Christ for Christ is truly God 1 Joh. 5.20 This is the true God as might abundantly out of other Scriptures be proved yea the next word makes it good an incommunicable Attribute is given to him Omnipotent the Lord God omnipotent he is elsewhere called the mighty God Isa 9.6 which is of no lesse import then Almighty or Omnipotent Reigneth i. he is King Why was he not King before yes but not so as he is now now he reigns to some purpose The words thus opened and relatively taken afford us this point Vpon the breaking to peeces of the Church of Rome the Lord Christ will reigne and King it so as he never did in the world before Christ hath reigned from everlasting by Gods decree he hath reigned actually since mans fall he hath reigned eminently since his ascension and mission of the Holy Ghost but he will reigne gloriously upon the expiration of the reign of Antichrist The wonderfulnesse of this Kingdome we speak of appears to us many wayes First from those Scripture-epithites and adjuncts of him and his then-government In the very text the Lord God omnipotent reigns Omnipotent such a rule and government shall be set up that all shall be convinced and say Nothing under nothing lesse then the Omnipotencie of the Lord Christ could set it up Rev. 11.17 Thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned then Christs great power will be seen in his reigning Isa 24.23 Then the moon shall be confounded and the sun ashamed when the Lord of Hosts shall reign in mount Sion and in Ierusalem and before his Ancients gloriously You remember what I have spoken to the immediately preceding verses there is the great Earthquake v. 18 19 20. see Rev. 16 18. the ruine of the Kings of the earth and of the whole world v. 21. see Rev 16 14.16 the visiting and calling forth of the imprisoned Jews v. 22. the reigne of the kingdome of Jesus Christ v. 23. Take Sun and Moon how you will Politically for the supreme powers of the Nations or literally for the great lights of heaven the Sun and Moon will be ashamed of themselves and confounded as not being the greatest glories and admirations of the world When his Ancients the Jewes shall be fully brought in Christ will reign so gloriously as shall cast shame and darknes into the face of Sun and Moon If you say this Scripture hath been at any time fulfilled I will not deny it but affirm this that a prophesie may have a gradual fulfilling Jer. 31.15 A voice of an old Grandmother raised out of her grave was heard in Ramah lamentation and bitter weeping Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted because they were not This was fulfilled when Israel went captives into Babylon which will be undeniably clear if you read on to the 22 verse and yet when Herod kill'd the children upon his search after him that was born King of the Jewes Mat. 2.17 18. then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the Prophet saying In Ramah was a voice heard lamentation c. If Isaias prophesie of Christs reigning before his Ancients hath been at any time fulfilled much more will it be fulfilled in the day may Text points at then it will be fulfilled to the uttermost fulfilled gloriously you see 't is epithited A glorious reign Secondly Christ his then-mannagement of affairs the Holy Ghost sets it forth in such high language to answer the reality of the Kingdom as hath deceived many thousands as if it should be a glorious personal raign 2 Thes 2.8 Then shall the wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming The Lord hath two wayes to bring down Antichrist First He consumes him by the spirit of his mouth i. e. by the ministry of the Word ever since Luther the Pope hath been in a Consumption you might see it in his face The second is by his own coming the brightness of his coming some take it for a personal appearance to give him his deaths wound Rev. 1.7 Behold he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him and they also which peirced him and all