Servius saith Grotius upon Apoc. 1. 11. whence he would have the Church in Pergamus to re-mind us of high and heavenly things But this is a Moral not a Propheticall sense But with him howsoever I acknowledge that the signification of Sublimity is alluded to in the general but here most elegantly and seasonably in reference to the precedent state of the Church in Smyrna which was a state of Humiliation and bitter Affliction But at the very beginning of this present Intervall she so conspicuously emerging out of this low sad affictive state into the state of glory peace and prosperity what can be more significant then to salute her with the Title of the Church in Pergamus accordingly as she is here saluted which is a kind of Congratulation to her fresh emergency out of her late Miseries And this sense will hold good for a time in this Intervall namely till tho days of her Apostasy but then the Apostolick Church will be the Church in Pergamus still but in another kind of meaning 4. According therefore to the richnesse of the Prophetick style Pergamus has also another sense such as the City Babylon and the City Tyrus which are put for the City of Rome But then not in such a sense as to mean the Walls or Stones of the Roman City but the Roman Church and her Power and Jurisdiction And in such a sense is Pergamus also here put for Rome So that this Epistle written to the Church of Christ in Pergamus the truly Catholick and Apostolick Church is directed to this Church dwelling under the Roman Church or within the Roman Churche's Jurisdiction understanding old Rome especially as all such Apocalyptick Visions perstringe her most Now that Rome in this sense is perstringed by this Pergamus is very evident First in the easie Allusion of Pergamus to Rome from the signification of the words For as Pergamus signifies Sublimity so as Martinius notes Rome is from the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exaltari Besides that her Situation is high and Buildings lofty according to that of the Poet Collibus è septem totum circumspicit orbem And the highest of all is the Bishop of Rome himself who exalts himself above all that is called God or is worshipped Is not this therefore a fit Bishop of Pergamus that perks thus above all Kings and Emperours and Princes of the earth And our Intervall of the Church of Pergamus reaches the highest times of her Exaltation it taking in both Gregory the seventh who first excommunicated the Emperour and took upon him the power of making Emperours himself and Alexander the third who trode upon the neck of the Emperour Frederick as also Caelestine the third that crowned Henry the sixth and his Empress with his feet and in scorn kick'd the Emperour's Crown off with his foot when he had crowned him Certainly the Popes of Rome were then the Bishops of Pergamus with a witnesse Nor after this Intervall could they ever hold their Crests so high Boniface the eighth indeed was a Blusterer and excommunicated Philip the Fair of France but he called him fool for his pains and handled him in such sort that surprized at Anagnia he was disgracefully mounted on a poor Jade and so carried prisoner to Rome where Pride and Regret broke his heart and so he there dy'd ingloriously But secondly It is said of this Pergamus that it was the most given to Idolatry of all the Cities of Asia so Andreas Cesariensis reports of it which is the notorious Character of Rome above all Cities and therefore elsewhere in the Apocalypse she is called the Whore of Babylon for her insatiable spiritual Fornications Thirdly These Pergamenians were very fierce and diligent Accusers of the Apostolick Christians to bring them to Martyrdome as Dr. Hammond upon the place notes out of ancient History For which also Rome is taxed elsewhere in the Apocalypse who is said to be drunk with the bloud of the Saints and with the bloud of the Martyrs of Jesus Fourthly It is recorded of the Prefect of this City Pergamus that he would persuade the Christians to forsake the Apostolick Faith and return to Heathenism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because the elder Religion was the more precious and to be preferred As Antiquity is the great Pretense of the Papal Church That Prefect said of Christianity that it was but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it began but the other day And so you may be sure the Church of Rome said of the Religion of the Waldenses and Albigenses See Dr. Hammond upon the place And lastly That it should be the Martyr Antipas that was slain in Pergamus can any name more directly and assuredly point at the Church of Rome or the Papal Church then this For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Father and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is Papa â—â— but a Reduplication of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Eustathius has noted and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies as much as against And therefore who can be so blind as not to discern how fit a Type this Antipas is of them that within this Intervall of the Church should suffer for being against that holy Father the Pope as he is called Nothing can sound more congruously or harmoniously whatever any man by way of cavill can say against it The main Interpretation therefore of this present Epistle to the Church in Pergamus will respect the pure Apostolick Church abiding within the Jurisdiction of the Roman as this sense plainly implies the Woman in the wildernesse as the Holy Ghost elsewhere expresses it These things saith he that hath the sharp sword with two edges Christ is set out thus in this Epistle to the Church in Pergamns because this Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God understood and rellished by the Divine Spirit in us was the main Weapon whereby the Church in Pergamus defended her self from the Pergamenian Corruptions and so kept her self pure from the false Glosses and unsound Traditions of either Superstitious men or crafty Deceivers 5. I know thy works and where thou dwellest even where Satan's seat is and thou holdest fast my Name and hast not denied my Faith even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithfull Martyr who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth That is to say I know thou doest well for the main and to thy greater commendation I consider where thou dwellest even where the first-born of Lucifer has his throne he that exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped So Christ compares Satan to Lucifer or the King of Babylon of whom the Prophet says How art thou fallen Lucifer thou son of the Morning Luke 10. 18. I beheld Satan as lightning fall from Heaven And yet neither the awe nor glory of that Church could cause thee to forsake my Name and in stead of being a true Christian to become a Member of Antichrist and so relinquish the pure Apostolick Faith no not
of our Lady to tosse and seem much tormented Where one fasts on Friday upon the account of the Passion of our Lord many fast on Saturday upon the account of his Mother And to their Beads they string up ten Salutations of our Lady to one of our Lord's Prayers The Bell also which is rung at Sun-rise at Noon and Sun-set is called the Ave-Mary Bell whereby all men every-where at those set times might be engaged to doe their Devotions to the Virgin Mary And lastly their chief Preachers do teach in Pulpit whatsoever is found in Scripture spoken of Christ the Son of God to apply it to our Lady also as being the Daughter of God Is not therefore the Church of Rome rightly called Thyatira as alluding to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which both Strabo and Pliny would have to be the reason of the name of that City 3. I will onely adde one thing more Alsledius calls this Intervall of time which we attribute to the Church of Thyatira Regnum Locustarum because of the variety of the Orders of Monks that started up within this time Therefore when the Church of Rome swarmed so with Monks and Friers that had abjured their Virility by an irrevocable Vow of Caelibate and went in sculking Hoods and long Coats like Women and so became Petticoat-men at the best was it not very congruous for the Spirit of Prophecy by way of just reproach to this Womanishness so to characterize the Church of Rome at this time by calling her Thyatira as if they had become rather the Daughters of men then the Sons of men by this so general Effeminacy in more then those Monkish garbs which I now mention Besides that these Petticoat-men the Dominicans especially managed their opposition against the true Church in a right feminine manner not manly as before by meeting their enemy in the Field but sneakingly by Perfidiousness and Treachery to bring them into the Inquisition and then cruelly and insultingly in the upshot as it is easie to understand by reading the History of the Holy Inquisition as they call it Therefore there being all these symptoms of Feminity in the Church of Rome in this Intervall it is not unreasonable to conceive that this corruption of hers is perstringed by calling her the City of Thyatira alluding to Thygatira which signifies not a son of Adam but a daughter 4. But were it not for the Authority of Strabo and Pliny there is another paronomastical Allusion which I should prefer before this Wherefore according to the richnesse of the Prophetick style I should also conceive Thyatira to allude to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is to break or bruise Aromatick Spices which makes them give the sweeter savour or else to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Altars for the burning of sweet Odours Any of which methinks is lesse forced then either Grotius his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Strabo's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And as to the sense the Paronomasia is very expressive of the Persecutions of the true Members of Christ within this Intervall and agrees exactly with History wherein there is little talk of flaying with the Sword as is intimated in that expression in the foregoing Intervall where the Martyr Antipas is said to be slain which agrees admirably well with that great Slaughter of the Waldenses and the Albigenses which were martyred in the Field by the Pontifician Forces as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies properly to slay suppose with the Sword or any such weapon of War 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the Persecutions in the Thyatirian Intervall were usually Burnings or Rackings and wasting away their lives in miserable Imprisonments But that which was most frequent and most famous in this Period was the burning of men alive with Fire and faggot This filled Thyatira with so many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where though the Cruelty of the Persecutors was most execrable yet the Faith Constancy and devout Sincerity of our blessed Protestant Martyrs went up with the flames and globes of Smoak sweeter then any Odours or Incense from the Altar into the presence of Heaven and were there accepted for his sake who gave himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling favour 5. The frequency of these Burnt-offerings in those times is noted by Sanderus a Papist Infinitos Lolhardos Sacramentarios in tota Europa nuper ignibus traditos fuisse But nothing can be so significative of the change of the Scene of the Persecution of the Church in Pergamus where Antipas was slain to this in Thyatira whereby these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are alluded to as that passage in the History of the Albigenses lib. 2. c. 9. which gave me occasion to terminate the Pergamenian Intervall in that year viz. 1242. Here you see saith he the last Attempt which we finde the Albigenses to have made and the last Expedition of Pilgrims levied against them All the pursuit against them afterwards was by the Monks the Inquisitours the Dominicans he means of whose Father Dominicus his Mother when she went with child with him dream'd she was big of a Dog that vomited fire out of his throat which Monks saith he now kindled their Fires more then ever And taking these poor people disarmed and singling them out by retail it was impossible for them any longer to subsist And so this suffering Church of Christ passed out of that state where Antipas was slain with the Sword to that of Thyatira where the holy Martyrs of our Reformed Religion were burnt at the Stake And this I think will suffice to make us understand why the Power and Jurisdiction of the Roman Church in this Intervall bears the Title of Thyatira 6. These things saith the Son of God who hath his eys like to a flame of fire and his feet are like fine brasse The Son of God is here Christ either personally or mystically understood for his Body the Church Understanding it personally of Christ his flaming Eyes denote his piercing and discerning Foresight and Providence it portends also his Wrath and Vengeance against the Persecutors of his Church with Fire and faggot but his Feet like fine brasse the peremptory Constancy amd Purity of his ways But if we understand these Feet like fine brasse of Christ's mysticall Body we are to make a supply of the Description out of the former Chapter ver 15. And his feet like fine brass as if they burned in a furnace whereby is insinuated the fiery Trial of his Church in this Intervall of Thyatira even in the grossest sense so many of his Servants standing at the Stake with their leggs in the midst of flaming Fire kindled by their barbarous Persecutors That the Son of God described in the foregoing Chapter is also representative of his Body mysticall the description of his Voice seems plainly to intimate His Voice being compared to the sound of
cannot appear till the Church emerge out of the Sardian or Carnaline state into the Philadelphian Against which Church Christ exhibits no complaint at all but loves her and likes her entirely even as he is cordially loved of her And without question the state of that Church is so lovely that she will charm even her enemies to a liking of her and unto a submission to her all things being so irreprehensible in her But commonly wicked men are very domineering and ferocient against good men that have any blot or infirmity on them unless they be of their own faction And therefore this Philadelphian Church if any must be the Church that can mollifie the hearts of the Papists and bring over as many as God pleaseth to the belief of the Truth But for the Cities of the Nations their Conquests will be unspeakable amongst them For these are those powerfull Thunderers by whose thundering and lightening the Cities of the Nations are to fall as I intimated before And to know that I have loved thee The Papists themselves shall discern by the stupendious successe of the Philadelphian Church what a value Christ puts upon her and how far he prefers her Integrity Simplicity Brotherly-kindnesse Humility Meeknesse and Purity of Worship before the Roman Frauds and Impostures their barbarous Persecutions and Cruelties their Luciferian Pride and superstitious and Idolatrous practices 4. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience that is Because thou art both meek-hearted and hast been faithful and not flitting in the time of trial but endurest all things for my names sake I will keep thee from the hour of temptation that shall come upon all the world Namely at what time all the world will be in an hurly-burly and cast into manifold streights and calamities Which is in the last Vial when the three unclean spirits goe forth unto the Kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battel of that great Day of God Almighty and when there shall be so great an Earthquake as has not been since men were upon earth so mighty an Earthquake and so great In this mighty tempest and hurry of things will I preserve thee from danger and thou shalt carry it safe through all Thou shalt escape better then any party of men by reason of thy conspicuous Innocency sincerity and exemplarity of life and unexceptionable Apostolicalnesse of doctrine and singular love to me and all mankind Because thou art milde and courteous and benign and beneficent to all because thou art a lover of unity un-self-interessed a foe to no body and onely an enemy to the vices and miseries of men This with my singular favour to thee shall protect thee in that great confusion and high fermentation of mens spirits under the last Vial. Who is he that will harm you if you be followers of that which is good 5. Behold I come quickly Thou art already in that Period of time wherein this great Judgement will come upon the earth namely under the first Thunder Or rather because the Philadelphian Church is not supposed to be in distinct being or appearance till the last Vial the last Vial must be this Period And then this coming in respect of that time will be quickly indeed Hold thou fast what thou hast that no man take thy Crown Thou art a Church after my own heart O Philadelphia and I blame thee for nothing thou walkest uprightly with me and art perfect Wherefore hold that ground which thou hast got in truth and integrity that thou mayst not be deprived of that Crown I intend thee for in thee will I accomplish all the glorious Promises touching my Kingdome upon earth 6. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the Temple of my God and he shall goe no more out ' O 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that overcomes that is in the Apocalyptick style All or the whole Company that overcomes which is here meant of the Philadelphians They shall be as a pillar in the Temple of God that is they shall be a steddy and standing Holy people a true holy Catholick Church that shall never fail but shall last till I come in the clouds to Judgment in the last Day All other forms and denominations shall fail but this shall keep the sovereignty to the last And I will write upon him the name of my God This is in pursuance of the former Metaphor of a Pillar with a farther Allusion to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Ancients These Philadelphians shall have the name of God written upon them that is their Conversation and manners will be so holy and divine that it will be as conspicuous to all as if it were writ upon their foreheads that they are the holy Church and chosen people of God Or more briefly and in a more Political sense The name of my God may allude to Jehovah Shammah intimating that these Philadelphians shall be that Church which is represented by the City Jerusalem described by Ezekiel which is called Jehovah Shammah Of which the following words seem to be a more expresse signification And the name of the City of my God which is New Jerusalem which cometh down out of Heaven from my God The name of the City the new Jerusalem as well as Jehovah Shammah will be written upon them The City where God dwelleth and ruleth by his Spirit that is to say they will be that City of Jerusalem formally and actually under the second Thunder For to be called and to be are all one in the Hebrew Idiom And his name is called the Word of God Apo. 19. 3. is as much as He is the Word of God Wherefore this Philadelphia under the second Thunder passes into the same with the new Jerusalem but the Title of Philadelphia begins sooner and reaches farther to the fourth Thunder This Inscription of the Philadelphians that they are called the new Jerusalem c. in the very words in which it is described afterwards Apoc. 21. is a notable Indication that by the Church of Philadelphia is meant that Succession of the Church that is under the second and third Thunder but was emerging in the last Vial. For it is the new Jerusalem which cometh out of Heaven from God Which therefore having this manifest Political sense would be very hardly attributed to that City of Philadelphia in Asia literally understood but with an eye to this successive Intervall of the Church which we here speak of And the Promise was not performed to the Literal Church of Philadelphia which has perished that was no such lasting Pillar And therefore there is a necessity of a farther sense Mysticall or Propheticall 7. And I will write upon him my new name It is expresly said Apoc. 10. 16. that Christ has a name written upon his Vesture and upon his Thigh King of Kings and Lord of Lords This name Grotius would have understood here And there is no
touched of it in the general before 5. Tenthly Why is Christ in his Description before the Epistle to the Church in Pergamus set out by a two-edged sword coming suppose out of his mouth according to the Ellipticalnesse of the Apocalyptick style what reason in the letter can be given of that for especially if this Supplement be made it cannot respect the slaying of Antipas with the sword What peculiar thing then in this Church of Pergamus is there to require this Description Truly nothing at all appears in the Letter But in the Propheticall sense it is very proper The Waldenses and Albigenses in this Intervall assaulting the Church of Rome or at least defending themselves and their pure Faith so signally by this weapon I mean by the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God though themselves died so many thousands of them in the field by the sword for the Faith they thus defended And in the eleventh place The Description of Christ before the Epistle to the Church in Thyatira And his feet like fine brasse as if they burned in a furnace for that Supplement is to be understood out of his Description in the first Chapter as before But now what peculiar significancy has this Description or what congruity to any thing in the Church of Thyatira Literally understood surely none But in the Propheticall sense it is very expressive of those lower members of Christ's body his Church here on earth of their invincible Zeal and Patience and Sincerity of Affection such as did abide the most fiery Trialls that could be put upon them and made them stand at the Stake amongst burning Faggots with the flames about their ears and never flinch for it As has been noted in the interpretation of that Epistle This was the state of that Intervall of the Church Twelfthly In a Book that is so full of AEnigmaticall Involutions and Coverings upon Coverings where he calls the Churches Golden Candle-sticks and the Bishops or Pastours Stars and Angels even then when he interprets and offers to be more plain that the same Authour should so openly and plainly mention any one by name as he does the Martyr Antipas if there were not some farther Mysterie in it would be a great difficulty and hardly to be digested by the more sagacious and curious I must confesse I have often wondred at this naming Antipas by name till I understood a farther sense thereof such as we have rendred in the exposition of that Epistle 6. In the thirteenth place One might well demand why Christ expresses a greater disgust against the Church of Laodicea then that of Sardis For though the former is said to be luke-warm yet the other making a great show of life is notwithstanding declared to be dead That Christ should be more enraged against Luke warmnesse then Hypocrisy and threaten it more deeply then the other I will spew thee out of my mouth which is quite to cast a thing away never to be resumed again must seem marvellous to the considerate Certainly if there were not some greater matter in it the Spirit of Christ would not speak so severely onely to follow a Metaphor But in the Propheticall sense the Solution is easie that passage being predictive of the Extermination of the Church from the face of the earth at the close of the world as I have expounded it In the fourteenth place It may be demanded why so affectedly and repeatedly in every Epistle that phrase is used I know thy works without any variation or omission Which seems a thing but of small importance in the Literal sense of these Epistles but in the Propheticall it seems on purpose so repeated to intimate an Allusion in Asia to the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was intended on purpose to answer to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Asia may also be significant as well as the names of the Seven Churches which they all being it is a shrewd presumption this repetition was for some such design as has been declared Whereas the Literal sense can give no account thereof Fifteenthly Alcazar himself is much stumbled that the Spirit of God should be thought to take notice of any one particular Woman in the Church of Thyatira and so call her by the name of Jezabel as is ordinarily supposed And indeed these things are too little for the majesty of this writing of the Apocalypse But how can we help it in the Literal sense if we will interpret with constancy and coherency But in the Propheticall sense there is no such incongruity The Object is worth the Spirit 's taking notice of in this kinde this Jezabel being that painted Woman of Rome intoxicating the Kings of the earth with the Cup of her spiritual Fornications as has been shewn upon the Text. 7. Sixteenthly It seems very strange that that Promise of ruling over the Nations and receiving the Morning-star which doubtlesse are Politicall Promises should be made to the Church in Thyatira more then to that in Pergamus or Ephesus and others What Victories or Dominion did the Church in Thyatira in Asia get over the Nations more then other Churches This is an hard knot in the Literal sense But in the Propheticall it is loosned at the first sight For the Closure of the Intervall of the Church of Thyatira brings in the time wherein whole Nations revolted from the Pope and his idolatrous Church and professed the Reformed Religion and so in these parts got the Pontifician party under them Seventeenthly In the Epistle to the Church in Philadelphia there is mention made of a mighty Temptation that is to come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth touching which he saith Behold I come quickly Why should this be said to the Church of Philadelphia more then to any other of the Churches here specified There are not the least footsteps of reason to be found in the Literal sense But in the Propheticall sense the thing is plain For the Intervall of Philadelphia beginning in the last Vial wherein that mighty and terrible Earthquake is to happen the great Temptation what it is is plainly thence understood and how in respect of this Philadelphian Church it will come quickly she commencing but in the very same Vial that this is to happen under Eighteenthly Why upon this Philadelphia a private Asiatick Church should the name of the City of God the new Jerusalem which cometh down out of Heaven from God the very same that is expressed Apoc. 21. be said to be written This title were too big and turgent for any private Church were it not a Type or Symbol of some greater matter But by the Propheticall interpretation this difficulty is quite removed For the Intervall of the Philadelphian Church is co-incident with the times of the new Jerusalem mentioned at the end of the Apocalypse and of the Millenniall Empire of Christ upon earth 8.
do thou humble her the more by shewing her her ugly hue in the glasse of the Holy Scriptures If she boast that she is that holy Jerusalem a City at Unity within it self whenas the rest of the World are so full of Sects and Factions tell her that she is that carnal Jerusalem wherein Christ in his true Members hath been so barbarously persecuted and murthered and that the Stones of her buildings are no living stones but held together by a mere iron violence and the Cement of her walls tempered with the large effusion of innocent bloud forasmuch as she is that two-horned Beast that gave life to the Image of the Beast and caused him to decree that as many as would not obey his Idolatrous Edicts should be slain This is the power of your Unity which is not from the Spirit of God but from the spirit of the Devil who was a Murtherer from the beginning But the Division of us Protestants is both a sign of our sincere search after the Truth and a more strong Testimony against you of Rome in that we being so divided amongst our selves yet we so unanimously give sentence against you your Miscarriages and Crimes being so exceeding grosse that no free eye but must needs discern them 21. If she vaunts of her Antiquity give her enough of it and tell her she derives her pedigree from that great Dragon the old Serpent that is called the Devil and Satan that Murtherer of mankinde Ye are of your father the Devil saith our Saviour and the works of your father will ye doe We grant that the Visage and Lineage of your Church reaches even beyond the times of the Apostles the two-horned Beast reviving the Image of the Pagan Beast the great red Dragon by bringing up again his old bloudy Persecutions and Idolatries It suffices us that our Church began with the Apostles If she glories in her Universality and in her large Territories tell her she is that GREAT City which spiritually is called Sodom and AEgypt where our Lord was crucified And that she is Babylon the GREAT the mother of Fornications and the Abominations of the Earth If she boast of the power of the Keys and of Sacerdotal Absolution tell her that he that is holy he that is true he that has the Key of David he that openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth that is to say our Lord Jesus Christ will never part with these Keys to his inveterate Enemy that notorious Man of Sin or Antichrist If she spread before thee her goodly wares of mercenary Masses of Pardons and Indulgences of the mutuatitious Good works of their pretended Holy men and women or the Wealth and externall Glories of their Church and varieties of rich Preferments and Dignities say unto her that she is that City of Trade of whom it is written that no man buieth her merchandise any more and again Alas alas that great City that was cloathed in fine linnen and purple and scarlet and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls For in one hour so great riches are come to nought For her Merchants were the great men of the Earth and by her Sorceries were all Nations deceived And in her was found the bloud of Prophets and of Saints and of all that were slain upon the Earth 22. If she would amaze thee with the stories of the wonderfull Miracles done by her tell her that she is that two-horned Beast that doth great wonders and that deceiveth them that dwell on the Earth by means of those Miracles which he had power to doe in the sight of the ten-horn'd Beast or that false Prophet working Miracles and deceiving them that receive the mark of the Beast and worship his Image who together with the Beast is to be taken and cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone or lastly that Man of Sin and Son of perdition whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders If she would inveagle thee with her pretenses of Infallibility tell her that she is that Woman Jezebel that calleth her self a Prophetesse or the Prophet Balaam that insnared the Israelites in Idolatry and that very false Prophet that together with the Beast is to be cast alive into the lake of burning brimstone 23. And lastly if she would gull thee with that specious and much-affected Title of Holy Church tell her that the Spirit of Truth in the Divine Oracles let her commend her self as much as she pleases gives no such Character of her but quite contrary declaring the See of Rome to be the Seat of Satan and their Church his Synagogue the Pope and his Clergy to be Balaam the son of Bozor who loved the wages of unrighteousnesse and who was the Murtherer of Christ's faithfull Martyr Antipas to be that Woman Jezebel who calls her self a Prophetesse but was indeed a Sorceresse and a murtherer of the true Prophets of the Lord to be also that false Prophet that is to be taken alive and cast into the lake of fire and brimstone to be that great City that spiritually is called Sodom and AEgypt where our Lord was crucified to be the Beast that has the horns of a Lamb but the voice of the Dragon decreeing Idolatries and cruel Persecutions against God's people to be that Babylon the great the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth the Woman on the seven Hills that is drunk with the bloud of the Saints and with the bloud of the Martyrs of Jesus and lastly to be that Man of Sin that notorious Antichrist that opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or is worshipped whose coming is with all deceivableness of unrighteousnesse in them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth that they may be saved For which cause God sends them strong delusion that they believe a lie That they all might be damned that believe not the truth but have pleasure in unrighteousnesse As well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well all they that love the Romish Lies and Impostures as all they that invent them are here plainly declared in the state of Damnation With this Nosegay of Rue and Wormwood antidote thy self against the Idolatrous infection of that strange Woman 's breath whose lips yet drop as an hony-comb and her mouth is more smooth then oyl And be assured that that cannot be the true Holy Church wherein Salvation is to be expected which the Spirit of God has marked with such unholy and hellish Characters let her boast of her own Holiness as much as she will 24. And if she return this Answer to thee That this is not to argue but to rail in phrases of Scripture do thou make this short Reply That whiles she accuses thee of railing against sinfull
able accession to the Womanishnesse or Daughterlinesse if I may so speak of the Church of Rome which is here perstringed in this Period by an Allusion to Thygatira which signifies a Daughter 11. And although upon search after those places cited out of Strabo and Pliny I could not find what I sought for yet I found no reason to recede from this part of my Interpretation First Because this passage Cornelius cites may haply be found in some other place in those Authours though it be not in these Secondly because there need be no such account of the Notation of the word sith paronomasticall Allusion is sufficient and Thyatira of it self sounds near enough to Thygatira as must be generally allowed by all those that give their suffrage for the derivation therefrom And it is not hard to prove it from the easie Elision is made of the letter G out of sundry words Those in the English Tongue are obvious It is more pertinent to instance in the Greek where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amongst the Poets is srequently for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And also in the middle of words the Boeotians pronouncing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Andfrom the Latine magis is the French word mais and from Magister Maister And Caninius in general pronounces Alia sunt innumerabilia quae deperdunt G which implies it to be but a weak melting Consonant and such as easily degenerates into Y and as it may be placed is easily quite lost Which argues that the sound of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are near enough for paronomasticall Allusion in any indifferent man's judgement whatsoever And that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 besides that common Analogie of making nomina parasyllaba as they are called from the fifth Declension as from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is an example exquisitely answering this of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that the word is unexceptionable And lastly though we should give it for granted that neither Pliny nor Strabo has any such Passage as Cornelius pretends yet Stephanus Byzantius expresly has in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose very words I will transcribe for thy better satisfaction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say THYATIRA a City of LYDIA was first called PELOPEA and SEMIRAMIS but SELEUCUS the son of Nicanor waging war with Lysimachus and hearing that he had a Daughter born to him called the City THYGATIRA And it ought to be spoken in the feminine gender though now they make it of the neuter All this surely will abundantly warrant and secure a paronomasticall Allusion in Thygatira which signifies a Daughter 12. And this may suffice for the making good the Solidity of our Exposition And I say Solidity rather then Perfection affirming onely all to be right so far as we have gone but not denying but that others better versed in History may more fully verifie what we have attempted Nor did all things occurr that my self had read and should have noted if they had come to my minde As those notorious ten years of the most bloudy Persecution of all under Diocletian which I think may in special be alluded to by the ten days mentioned in the Church of Smyrna as well as the ten Persecutions in general by a Propheticall Henopoeia The Notation also of the names of Balaam and Balac are very accommodate to Pergamus Pergamus signifying what is high and Balaam the Lord of the People Which Balaam being also the false Prophet and set here for the Pope and his Clergy agrees excellently well with the Lordlinesse of him in this Pergamenian Period wherein he trode upon the Necks of Emperours and kicked their Crowns off with his feet And Balac which is here the Secular Sovereignty whether it signifie Destruction or Emptinesse sutes very well with the state of that time when the power of the Pope had so overmastered all that the Secular Magistrate was either but the bloudy Executioner of his Edicts or else stood for a mere Cypher the Temporal Power being quite in a manner evacuated by the Rampancy of the Spiritual And seeing all the names in this Prophecy are so significant I leave to the enquiry of the learned whether there may not be some proper significancy in the name of Jezebel also for it seems not uncapable of a fitting Etymologie and that according to the Pattern of a severe Critick in the Hebrew Tongue who in his account of the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is just such another Composition as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says that it may be compounded of either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ubi or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vae or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gloria So therefore say I may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be compounded of either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Habitaculum or else of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in the Chaldee which is but a Dialect of the Hebrew signifies Stercus or of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Insula and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stercus Which last is lesse accommodate to our purpose unlesse Insula here signifie symbolically as Mr. Mede sometimes interprets it of a Church as a place separate as Islands are by the Sea and holy in that it is separate And then the Reproach will be upon the holy Church of Rome in this Thyatirian Intervall as if it had become an Island of Filth and Dung Which was too true of them for all their outward Gildings and Paintings But the other Notations methinks are more simple and easie and fitly accord with both the History of Jezebel and the Fate of the Roman Church at the end of the Thyatirian Intervall For if we derive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ubi or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 habitaculum it will plainly glance at Jezebel's being slung out at the window from her habitation but most fitly prefigure the dispossession of the Roman Priests and Friers at the beginning of the Reformation that they would be cast out of their Habitations and that their places should know them no more So that the very Name of Jezebel bears in it the Fate of that Church at the close of that time But if we derive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vae or heu and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stercus both the Fault and the Punishment of the Roman Church will be found written in this Name her Filth and Corruptions being compared to Dung and her Punishment intimated not unlike that of Jezebel's as it is written And the carcasse of Jezebel shall
small reason for it that name being so particularly and pompously set out for a special name of his And though he has ever had a right unto it yet because the getting into possession of this right will be new and fresh in this Philadelphian Intervall after the battel of the Heros on the white Horse it is rightly termed a new Name and very fittingly writ upon these Philadelphians because they are so instrumental in his Atchievements These are the Boanergesses thundering over the great City divided into three parts and also those Horsemen on white Horses as I intimated before Christ therefore through these becomes King of Kings and Lord of Lords or rather he has made them the greatest Kingdome upon earth The mountain of the Lord's house is exalted upon the top of the mountains and all Nations flow unto it as it is to come to passe under the third Thunder Through which third and second Thunder and seventh Vial is drawn the Intervall of the Succession of the Church of Philadelphia as I have hinted above He that hath an ear to hear let him hear c. We need not here urge the intimation of this Political sense of things from the putting of the Epiphonema last the very nature of the expressions calling for it though we had no such guide But we may rather argue that the things themselves being of so manifest Political sense not moral or spiritual that it confirms our Rule touching the position of this Epiphonema But this by the bye We proceed to the Church of Laodicea CHAP. IX The Interpretation of the Epistle to the Church of Laodicea 1. AND to the Angel of the Church of the Laodiceans write The Intervall of the Succession of the Church of Laodicea is the fourth and fifth Thunders that is from the loosing of Satan to the appearing of Christ coming to Judgement under the sixth Thunder In this Intervall the Scene of Philadelphia is past and Laodicea takes place which is acknowledged a true Church as to Worship and Doctrine but is represented as a lazy lethargical Church in which that former Philadelphian zeal is extinguished as to the generality of the Church though it 's likely this degeneracy comes on by degrees in this Intervall 2. Thus therefore it is foreseen in the series of Divine Providence that after that glorious estate of the Church which is synchronal to the second and third Thunder during which space and a little before the Scene of Philadelphia adorned the Stage had well purged the Christian World from all foolish opinions and superstitions and of that accursed custome of persecuting one another for them and that the truth of the Gospel had clearly shined in the simplicity thereof and so convictively against all the follies and impostures of the former Ages that the Church had no great hazard of being again cheated with them and that they had seen all Prophecies in a manner fulfilled before their eyes so that there could be no doubt to them but that the Philadelphian Church was the true Church nor be in any capacity of any change in faith or worship after this I say as all things are in some sort or other variable under the Sun so it seems this Philadelphian Church was at last to degenerate into this Laodicean state and that which was before the Reign of the Spirit and the living Righteousnesse of God would now become the Church of Laodicea which signifies a more popular or external Politicall righteousnesse or the righteousness of the people An external profession and performance of that Mode that was used by the Philadelphians in a living way and with the power of the Spirit the same will this Church of Laodicea hold on spiritlesly and lazily with little life or zeal and yet applaud themselves by reason of the abundance of knowledge she has because of the completion of the Prophecies and by reason of the purity of the external Worship she still retains as if all was still well with her and as if she wanted nothing 3. This in brief is the condition of this Church as it is significantly intimated in the very name For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies as much as the righteousnesse of the people And the people are any multitude of mankind gathered into a body politick as is manifest in that notation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if it were from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then again in Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And therefore the people being a body politick are ruled by such and such laws which if they observe it is not regarded quo animo or out of what Principle they observe them The new nature Regeneration and the Spirit are quite out of this rode And a National or Oecumenical Religion Doctrine or Worship as they are ab extrà are but as a political law and the Righteousnesse therein but a Laodicean Righteousnesse as has been abundantly inculcated already But besides this meaning of the name Laodicea which I doubt not but is particularly intended there may according to the multifarious Allusivenesse of the Propheticall style another notable meaning be also intimated and that very appropriate to this Church For the ratio nominis in Laodicea may be likewise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because in the Intervall of this Church God will in that most notorious and terrible manner come to judge the people Because the Closure of this Church brings in the last Judgement properly so called therefore this last Intervall of the Church is called Laodicea The judging of the people all the Nations of the world at the last Day And there is nothing more frequent in the Scripture then the giving of names from some notable externall Accident that respects the thing or person so named 4. These things saith the Amen the faithfull and true witnesse Paul in his second Epistle to the Corinthians says That all the promises of God in Christ are Yea and Amen that is to say they are so sure and certain that no man need doubt but they will be performed Wherefore this Attribute of Christ is seasonably brought in as respecting both the completion of the Promises already performed in bringing his Church to that admirable glorious condition in the Succession of Philadelphia as also the performance of that material Promise at the end of this Epistle touching eternal Life or a blessed Immortality in Christ's Heavenly Kingdome which these Laodiceans or degenerated Philadelphians like our modern Familists that pretend to the Philadelphian Dispensation may some of them it 's likely be prone to distrust But Christ is here also called the faithfull and true witnesse because he does so impartially witnesse concerning the truth of the condition of the Laodiceans and so faithfully discover to them the danger thereof And the declaration seeming so paradoxicall to them it was the more requisite to inculcate into them his own truth and faithfulnesse that he might gain
purify'd Gold And white rayment that thou mayst be cloathed and that the shame of thy nakednesse do not appear Groan then earnestly in this O thou spiritlesse Laodicea desiring to be cloathed upon with that spiritual house which is from Heaven that being so cloathed thou mayst not be found naked For while thou art in this earthly Tabernacle thou oughtest to account it a burthen and not to set up thy staff in the enjoyments of this life because all things are peacefull and prosperous with thee Not that I would advise thee to shorten thy days here but that being thus cloathed by this spiritual Vestment Mortality might be swallowed up of life And it is the Spirit of life and the Divine Love that worketh in thee this one great thing that thou so greatly wantest and yet art insensible thereof And anoint thine eyes with eye-salve that thou mayst see That is Cleanse thy self with such a due measure of Mortification and Purification of the inward man from all filthinesse of flesh and spirit that thou mayst attain to the Divinely-moral Prudence which will enable thee to have a right judgement and discerning in all things This therefore is the Collyrion which I would advise thee to anoint thine eye-sight with even the purgation of thy self from all the Animal Corruptions that thou mayst perfect the inward Righteousnesse in my fear For the outward alone carries none to Heaven The Ointment I prescribe will indeed smart but without it thou wilt still continue blind and never finde the way to everlasting Salvation 9. As many as I love I rebuke I deal plainly truly and faithfully with thee and not out of any ill will is it that I thus rebuke thee But it is ex amore benevolentiae though not ex amore complacentiae For as thou art thou art but a nauseous and irksome spectacle to me And therefore I thus rebuke thee and instruct thee that thou mayst amend And chasten 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which signifies to chastise and scourge as well as to instruct Which therefore may seem to be the commination of some external Calamity and Affliction that Christ would bring upon the Laodiceans if they did not repent them of their remissness and in such a way as themselves may haply be the causes of through their Remissnesse and Luke-warmnesse For that former Philadelphian Zeal and Activity ceasing which that Church exercised in the behalf of the Interest of the Kingdome of God their enemies may more then ordinarily encrease upon them especially the Devil being let loose and being very active to deceive the Nations whom they should counter-plot by being as active to convert them to the Truth And this may be the time wherein the Prediction of Gog and Magog is to be fulfilled who are said to be gathered together to battel and to encompasse the Camp of the Saints and the beloved City which in this state is termed the Church of Laodicea but in that Vision the Camp of the Saints because there were not onely many Saints amongst them of the old Philadelphian strain but that they were still in their externall frame an holy people and an holy City not prophaned by the Gentiles that is to say not polluted by Heathenish Superstition and Idolatry and Imposture and Cruelty nor brought under their power and dominion that were Which yet was once the condition of the Holy City for a time and times and half a time or forty two months Apoc 11. 2. 10. And it is still called the beloved City also for the same reason but not the new Jerusalem descended from Heaven because so generally that new and Heavenly nature was lost amongst them But this Church of Laodicea is still beloved of Christ partly for her own sake and partly for her deceased Sister's sake the lovely Philadelphia whom she so much resembles in all her externall features that dearest Spouse of Christ. And therefore the Title of the beloved City agrees very well with this passage in the present Text Whom I love I rebuke yea and scourge too For these streights that the Laodiceans are to be cast into by the Siege of Gog and Magog seems the most probable way to rowze them out of their Lukewarmnesse and lazy Formality But that things may not run the hazard of growing worse and worse nor there be an infinite repetition of the vicissitude of Scenes on the Stage of this Earth Providence will knock off at such a time as that the wicked and prophane Rabble of the world shall not again get the dominion over his true Church but he will put a period to the Contest by a deluge of Fire from Heaven as it is intimated in that Vision But this is more then falls to the share of this present verse Be zealous therefore and repent That is Amend thy dead Formality and Lukewarmnesse by attaining to the Spirit of life through Mortification and Regeneration that so thou mayst recover the old Philadelphian Zeal and Love For this is the onely thing thou wantest 11. Behold I stand at the door and knock Do not pretend Difficulties I am ready not onely to assist thee but do also importune thee I suggest good Motions to thee do thou but pursue them and improve them If any man hear my voioe and open the door that is If any man obey those dictates of Conscience and overtures of Light and Grace that Christ ever and anon offers him and so becomes sincere in all things and not willingly offends him in any thing great or small which will not fail to be done where the desire is sincere and this sincere desire is the Door that lets in Christ for he passes into us through an unfeigned hunger and thirst after Righteousness then says he I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me That is I will communicate my Nature and Spirit unto him and he shall eat my flesh which is meat indeed and drink my bloud which is drink indeed that is to say He shall partake of my body bloud not in Symbols onely which ye doe well to keep up till I come but in a true and living way whereby that shall be accomplished I in my Father and ye in me and I in you If any man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our aboad with him Wherefore being thus replenished with the God of life and the Father of lights thou canst not fail of being full of the Spirit and of all alacrity and readinesse to every good work Thy Luke-warmnesse and Dulnesse will goe away 12. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my Throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne And that thou mayst be the more effectually rowzed up out of this Tepidity and Lethargicalnesse thou shalt not onely enjoy me and my Father on this Earthly
and Finisher of our Faith and Salvation Nay the Creation or Generation of our life and flesh as well as our Salvation is here ascribed to the Virgin Which can have no sense or truth unless she were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God-woman in that sense that Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God-man and as I said were as properly the Daughter of God as he is the Son of God 5. As she is expresly called in her Litanie Filia Dei the Daughter of God Which considering what high Titles they give her both in that Litanie and elsewhere as Illuminatrix cordium Fons misericordiae Flumen sapientiae Mater Dei Regina coeli Domina mundi Domina coeli terrae would be but a dwindling Title it belonging to all women that are believers if there was not some such raised and sublime sense of it as I have intimated And therefore their Addresses to her being as if she were as I said a She-Christ and the Daughter of God in as high a sense at least as Christ is the Son of God and she being called the Daughter of God in the Litania Mariae in her Litanie or publick Supplication to her it is plain that in that Intervall of the Church wherein this most conspicuously and notoriously happened the Church of Rome by reason also of the abundance of their Devotions then to the Virgin might be said to be rather the Worshippers of the Daughter of God then of the Son of God And that therefore the Spirit of Prophecy foreseeing these times whenas for such a space he called Rome Pergamus this succeeding Scene coming on he might very well change the title of Pergamus into that of Thyatira with a derisorious Allusion to the occasion of the name of that City from the news of a Daughter being born to Nicanor As if God Almighty had the like occasion of changing the name of Pergamus into Thyatira from the Romanists turning the Virgin Mary into the Daughter of God 6. For a stop to which Insolency Christ seems on purpose in the Epistle to the Church in Thyatira to resume to himself the Title of the Son of God notwithstanding that he is called the Son of man in the Vision in the foregoing Chapter out of which he ever draws a description of himself for an Entrance before each Epistle to the Churches Which in my judgement is a thing specially well worth the marking and that this making the Virgin Mary the Daughter of God in this Intervall might alone be a sufficient occasion of changing the name of the Church of Rome from Pergamus to Thyatira But other things that are apposite are also comprehended by a Propheticall Henopoeïa 7. But this is an Overplus to our present purpose which was mainly to discover the grosse Idolatry of the Church of Rome in the Invocation of their Saints and especially of the Virgin Mary and how both the Definition of the Council of Trent is Idolatrous in this Point and much more the Practice of the Church countenanced by publick Authority 8. For this Mary-Psalter it self that has the most enormous and blasphemous Forms of Idolatrous Invocation of any is not the private Contrivance of some single obscure superstitious Monk but bears the Title of that Seraphick Doctour S. Bonaventure once Cardinal of Rome Which is no small publick countenance thereto And that nothing might be wanting to the grace and furtherance of so devotionall a piece of Idolatry there was instituted a peculiar Society entitled the Fraternity of the Many-Psalter confirmed afterward by Sixtus the fourth many Indulgences being added Anno 1470. And Innocent the eighth added to these Indulgences plenarie Remission à poena culpa once in their life and once in articulo mortis to as many as entred into that Fraternity 9. And in such case stands the Church of Rome at this very day that is to say she is still Thyatira notorious for her Idolatrous Worship of the Virgin Mary But the Intervall of the true Church in Thyatira ceased upon the Reformation when we cast off the Pope or suffered Jezebel to delude the Servants of God no longer nor to debauch them with Idolatrous Modes of Worship But this is onely by the bye In the mean time it is abundantly manifest that the Invocation of Saints in the Roman Church is not onely the praying to them that they would pray to God for us but the asking Aids of them and such frequently as are in the power of none but of God and of Christ as he is God for to give and therefore is still the grosser Idolatry CHAP. VII That the Doctrine of the Council of Trent touching the Worshipping of Images is Idolatrous and the Reason of the Doctrine weak and unsound 1. AND thus much for their Idolatry in the Invocation of Saints Let us now consider what the sense of the Council of Trent is touching the worshipping of Images Imagines porrò Christi Deiparae Virginis aliorum Sanctorum in templis praesertim habendas retinendas esse eisque debitum honorem reverentiam impertiendam Quoniam honos qui eis exhibetur refertur ad Prototypa quae illae repraesentant ità ut per Imagines quas osculamur coram quibus caput aperimus procumbimus Christum adoremus Sanctos quorum illae similitudinem gerunt veneremur Id quod Conciliorum praesertim verò secundae Nicaenae Synodi Decretis contra Imaginum oppugnatores est sancitum The meaning of which in brief is this That the Images of Christ of the blessed Virgin and other Saints are to be had and retain'd in Churches and that due honour and reverence is to be done to them For which are produced two Reasons The first In that the Honour that is done to the Images is referred to the Prototypes The second In that this Injunction is but what the second Nicene Council had of old decreed 2. To which I answer That thus much as the Council of Trent has declared touching Images is plain and open Idolatry by the seventh Conclusion of the first Chapter and expresly against the Commandment of God who forbids us to make any graven Image to bow down to or worship But the Council of Trent says Yes ye may make graven Images of the Saints and set them up in their Temples and give them their due Honour and Worship nay ye ought to doe so and instances in the very act of Bowing or Kneeling and prostrating our selves before them This Definition of the Council is so palpably against the Commandment of God that they are fain to leave the second Commandment out of the Decalogue that the people may not discern how grosly they goe against the express Precepts of God in their so frequent practices of Idolatry See the first ninth and tenth Conclusions of the first Chapter as also the third fourth fifth eighteenth nineteenth and twentieth of the second 3. Nor can all their