observe one speciall thing to wit that the Gospel which this Angel flyeth withall containeth the brief summ of all the doctrine which Luther Calvin Peter Martyr and the rest have taught out of Gods Word and agreeth in all points with it For what other thing did they all preach teach and write but that men should turn from idols to the living God from fearing glorifying and worshipping creatures to feare worship and glorifie God alone which hath made all things What other thing doe all the preachers of this age publish and proclaime in all their Sermons but this Feare God and give glory onely to him Is not this the Epitome and short sum of all the doctrine of the Preachers of England Scotland Germany France Denmarke and all the rest and therefore I conclude that this Angel must needs be understood of the Preachers of this last age which now these fourscore yeeres have sounded the trumpet of the Gospel against all the inventions of Popery And blessed be God wee see these things fall out in our dayes and are eye-witnesses of the fulfilling of them And there followed another Angel saying Verse 8. It is fallen it is fallen Babylon that great city for she gave to all nations to drink the wine of the wrath of her fornication Here is set down the blessed effect of the preaching of this everlasting Gospel which is the downfall of Babylon For as when the cleer Sun ariseth upon the earth the thick mists and clouds are dispersed even so when the bright beames of the Gospel doe shine forth unto the world Babylon that dark kingdom vanisheth away incontinently And as it is written in the eighteenth chapter so soon as the earth was lightened with the glory of this everlasting Gospel Babylon immediatly falleth Therefore now before I go any further my purpose through the assistance of God Five maine points is to prove these five points out of this verse and that which followeth unto the twentieth chapter to wit First that Babylon here signifieth Rome Secondly that Rome shall fall and how Thirdly that Rome shall fall finally and come to utter desolation in this life Fourthly by whom and when it shall be overthrown Lastly the causes of the utter ruine and overthrow thereof How Rome is to be taken But before I go about to prove that Babylon here is Rome I would have it carefully observed what is meant by Rome viz. not the topography of Rome that is so much ground only as is compassed within the wals of that city but the regiment government and prerogative that is claimed by vertue of that Monarchy whereof Rome is the head By Rome is meant the power and authority of Rome or to speak plainly by Rome is meant the Roman Monarchy Further we are here to observe the reason why the holy Ghost calleth Rome Babylon for Rome literally and properly taken is not Babylon in as much as they were two divers cities one in Italy the other in Chaldea but Rome is called Babylon mystically figuratively and as the holy Ghost speaketh spiritually and by a kind of allusion Chap. 11.8 A reason why Rome is called Babylon For as the old Eastern Babylon did a long time oppresse the Church of the Jewes so Rome this Western Babylon hath long oppressed the Church of the Christians As the Eastern Babylon did many yeers hold down the people of God in miserable bondage and servitude so the Western Babylon did a long time keep the Christian Church in spirituall thraldome and misery In which respects Rome is spiritually compared to Sodom and Egypt to Sodom for filthinesse and to Egypt for idolatry and keeping Gods Church in spirituall bondage and slavery And thus we see the reason why Rome is called Babylon which is not simply and properly but after a sort that is by a phrase of speech or Trope which they call a Metonymie or changing of names when that is given to one thing which is proper to another for the likenesse of quality that it hath with it or adjoyned unto it Now having shewed the reason why Rome is called Babylon and what is meant by Rome we are to proceed to the first point which is to prove that Babylon in this place signifieth Rome which although it be granted of all sound Divines and avouched in the writings of the best learned both new and old so as it shall need no great proof yet will I add three or foure reasons out of this book to make it more plain and apparant First therefore I do thus reason out of the seventeenth chapter and last verse Babylon is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth But there was no other city which did reigne over the kings of the earth when John wrote this book but onely Rome Therefore Rome is Babylon For as for Jerusalem it was at that time made an heap of stones The first proposition is avouched by the Angel of God expounding unto John what is meant by the great whore whose damnation hee had shewed him before and by the woman which sate upon a scarlet coloured beast The woman which thou sawest Chap. 17.18 saith the Angel to Saint John is that great city which raigneth over the kings of the earth that is to say Rome or the Romish synagogue and malignant Church For the Angel could not speak more plainely except he should have named Rome then to say thus The woman the great whore of Babylon is the great city which raigneth over the kings of the earth For if one should say The great citie of England every man knoweth that thereby is meant London if one should say The great citie of France every one knoweth that thereby is meant Paris so when the Angel saith The great citie which reigneth over the kings of the earth all that lived in those times knew that thereby was meant Rome Babylon is Rome for Rome was the chief citie of the Monarchy and is put in this book for the whole Monarchy and the religion thereof as hath been said before My second reason is this Chap. 17. Babylon is the mother of whoredomes and abominations of the earth Babylon is that great whore with whom have committed fornication the Kings of the earth and the inhabitants of the earth made drunk with the wine of her fornication But Rome and none but Rome is such a one Therefore Rome is Babylon My third argument is this Babylon is that city which hath had seven severall governments But only Rome hath had seven severall kinds of government Therefore Rome is Babylon The proposition is proved from the words of the Angel expounding unto John what is meant by the seven heads of the scarlet coloured beast whereupon the woman sate The seven heads saith hee are seven kings Chap. 17.9 that is seven orders or states of kingly government for seven kings in this place are not put for seven severall men which were kings
old Babylon came to utter ruine and desolation in this life as both Isaiah and Jeremiah do witnesse Therefore new Babylon that is Rome shall come to utter destruction and as the holy Ghost here saith shall be found no more or shall fall without all hope of recovery Stories doe report that Rome hath been sundry times destroyed by the Gothes and Vandals and others yea once fired and quite burnt up but afterward built and raised up againe by the Emperors But here the holy Ghost saith expressely that it shall have a finall fall and an unrecoverable destruction For can a mil-stone cast into the bottome of the sea ever be got up againe No no it is impossible Therefore let the Jesuites and seminary Priests doe what they can they shall never set up Rome againe they shall never restore her to her former state and dignity they shall never repaire her credit againe Let the Pope and Cardinals and the King of Spain and all the world and all the Divels in hell joine together they shall never get up this milstone out of the bottome of the sea For the Angel hath cast it in with such a violence that no power of man shall ever fetch it out again True it is indeed that the Jesuites bestir them and the seminary Priests and Papists doe work apace in all lands and adventure themselves in most desperate manner to recover againe the credit of Popery and to set up againe the dignity and the power of the Pope and the glory of their Church and citie and their bold enterprizes doe make many even to doubt that they will againe one day prevaile But assuredly we are to make full reckoning that although here and there they may support for a time some ruinous parts of their rotten frame yet doe what they can it shall in the end down upon their heads and come to utter desolation Indeed Rome standeth yet and Popery is not quite fallen downe But they are disclosed their credit is cracked their power decayeth and so this thing is begun and the time draweth on when it shall be fully accomplished Hee that had beheld the power the pomp the riches and estimation of the Church of Rome about some fourscore yeeres past and looketh upon it now shall see a wonderfull alteration It seemed then to be without all danger of shaking for the Emperor and the Kings of the earth stood forth with all their force and might power and policy to uphold it but God be thanked we see how it is already come down and shall come down every day more and more whosoever saith nay to it But behold yet more and more plain proof for the utter desolation of Rome For Saint John describeth the eternall desolation thereof by denyall of those things which are in cities inhabited First hee saith there shall be no more any voice of harpers Chap. 18.22 musicians pipers and trumpeters heard in Rome that is all musick shall surcease which argueth an utter desolation For what inhabited cities are without musick Secondly hee saith There shall be no craftsmen of what trade soever found in Rome which argueth an utter desolation For what flourishing citie is without artificers Thirdly he saith No light of a candle shall any more shine in Rome which argueth an utter desolation For what inhabited city is without candles Fourthly he saith No sound of a mil-stone shall be heard in Rome which doth argue an utter desolation For what city is without mils to grind their corn Lastly he saith The voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more in Rome which argueth an utter desolation For what citie is without bride and bridegroom and without marriage for procreation sake Then I conclude from all this that Rome shall fall finally and come to utter destruction But behold yet a more plain and pregnant proofe drawne from the pitifull mournings and most wofull lamentations of the kings of the earth the merchants and the mariners who all doe joyntly lament and mourn for the destruction and desolation of Rome crying Alas alas Chap. 18.10 that great city Babylon that mighty city for in one houre is thy judgement come in one houre so great riches are come to desolation in one houre shee is made desolate What can be more plainly and fully spoken to prove an utter desolation of Rome What can be more required then to have it set down in express terms as here we see For now the holy Ghost useth no figure no hardnesse no circumlocution no obscurity but telleth us plainly and thrice for failing that Babylon that is Rome is made desolate is to come to desolation Moreover it is said that the kings V. 10 15 18. merchants and mariners shall stand afarre off for fear of her torment and they shall weep and waile when they shall see the smoake of her burning signifying that the torment and plague of Rome shall be so great that kings for all their might shall not dare to come nigh to rescue her no not the king of Spain with all his great might and power he shall be fain to stand afarre off or rather utterly to forsake her weeping and wailing as well as others for her most fearfull and unrecoverable destruction But we are to observe in all this that the holy Ghost useth a figure or kind of speech which they call a Prosopopoeia or faining of a person whereby the Popish kings being dead and rotten are brought in lamenting and bewailing the fall of Babylon as if they were alive againe or else it may be understood of Cardinals and Legates which are even as kings upon the earth But it cannot be understood of Christian kings for they shall be the instruments of God to pull down great Babylon as we shall hear anon Furthermore let us consider the causes of this great lamentation for the deadly downfall of Babylon by the Popish kings merchants and mariners First the kings they mourn and lament Verse 9. saith Saint John because they had committed fornication with the great whore of Babylon and lived in pleasure with her that is they have lived long with her in abominable idolatry and pleased her that way and therefore she gave them dispensations to live in wantonnesse and all carnall pleasures and even to doe what they list spending their dayes in sensuality and all kind of fleshly delights Secondly the merchants doe weep and waile V. 12 13 14. because no man buyeth their ware any more These merchants are not named but they may easily be knowne by their wares which the holy Ghost describeth to wit that they be the Popish merchants the shaven merchants who are here brought in mourning and lamenting for the losse of their gaine The Monks Friars and Priests cannot have that utterance of their wares that in times past they have had their wares are now out of request their markets waxe dead and they have cold takings When these
Pope Emperor and as it were the whole world and yet die in his bed in a good old age What likelyhood was there that King Henry the eighth of famous memory should renounce Rome oppose himsefe against the Pope and suppresse the Abbeyeâ— Priories and Monasteries in this kingdom and take their lands and livings into his owne hands Therefore I conclude that when God hath decreed the utter overthrow of Rome wee must not ask this question How can it be or which way shall it be brought about For the Scriptures do teach that God in all ages hath done the greatest exploits either by himselfe alone without means or else by weak means or contrary to all means 2 Chron. 20. By himselfe without meanes hee overthrew the Moabites Amorites and them of Mount Seir which made war against good king Jehosaphat Exod. 14. By himselfe he destroyed Pharaoh and his army in the red sea Josh 6. By himselfe hee overthrew Jericho that great city 2 King 19. By himselfe he slew the huge army of the Assyrians that made war against Ezekias 2 Chro. 14. By himselfe he smote the great and dreadfull army of the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah 2 King 6. By himselfe hee smote the Syrians which besieged Dothan the citie where the Prophet Elisha was Judg. 7. By weak meanes he overthrew the innumerable army of the Midianites even by Gideons three hundred By weak meanes hee slew a garrison of the Philistims 1 Sam. 14. even by Jonathan and his armour-bearer By weake means hee overthrew the kings of Sodom and thereabouts Gen. 1â— even by Abraham and his family He overthrew Goliah by David 1 Sam. 17. Judg. 4. Judg. 6. Sisera by Jael Abimelech by a woman Contrary to means hee saved the three children Dan. 3. from burning being in the fire Contrary to means Jonas 2. he saved Jonas from drowning being cast into the sea Contrary to means Dan. 6. he preserved Daniel from devouring being cast into the lions den Contrary to means Exod. 14. hee kept the Israelites from drowning being in the bottome of the sea Contrary to meanes and all expectation Josh 1â— hee caused the Sun to stand still at noon day whilest hee overthrew the five kings of Canaan by Joshua Therefore I conclude that forasmuch as God in aâ—l ages hath effected the most strange and admirable things The 〈◊〉 overthrow of Rome concluded of either by himself without means or by very weak means or contrary to all means â—herefore it is in vain to ask this question How or by what means shall Rome be destroyed For it is enough for us to know that it shall be destroyed and come to utter desolation And in my judgment the holy Ghost hath so often and plainly affirmed this that no man should any more make any doubt of it or once call it into question For what can be more plain Chapt. 14.8 Chapt. 16.2 Chapt. 17.8 Chap. 17.11 Chap. 18.21 Chap. 18.8 then to say Rome is fallen Rome shall fall Great hail-stones like talents shall fall upon it It shall goe to perdition It shall fall to destruction It shall be cast downe like a great mil-stone into the bottome of the sea It shall be burnt with fire Chap. 17.16 Chap. 18.22 It shall be made desolate and naked It shall be without inhabitants All the Popish sort Chap. 18.9 both high and low shall with great mourning and lamenting bewaile the desolation thereof Chap. 16.16 Their armies shall come to Armageddon Chap. 19.28 The beast and the false prophet shall be taken and their Captains and souldiers slain by infinite heapes and their carcasses made meat for the fowles of the air If all this be not plain enough I cannot tell what can be plaine enough True it is indeed the holy Ghost doth not name Rome but it is apparant by the circumstances that all these places must needs be understood of Rome of Romish power and of thâ—â—omish armies For there can no other sound sense be given of them as all divine writers and interpreters doe affirme both new and old And therefore I conclude that Saint John in this prophecie could not speak more plainly except hee should have named Rome for hee nameth Babylon he nameth the great city which then reigned over the kings of the earth he nameth the city situate upon seven hils he nameth the city which had seven severall governments And therefore out of all doubt he meaneth Rome Well then sith it is so that Rome and all Romish power and authority shall fall flat down and come to utter destruction and desolation in this life let all men take heed how they joyn with Rome how they joyn with the Romish Church and how they receive the beasts mark for assuredly they shall all be destroyed together both in this life and that which is to come as wee shall hear by and by Let all the wise men therefore and all such as have any care of their salvation follow the wholesome counsell and advice of the holy Ghost which saith Chap. 18.4 5. Go out of her my people that yee be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues for her sins are come up to heaven and God hath remembred her iniquities Our only wisdome then will be to separate our selves from the whore of Babylon that is from the Church of Rome and to joyne our selves with all speed unto the Church of God that is the Church of the Protestants for this shall stand and flourish the other shall fall down and perish But what then shall we be sorry for the fall of Babylon Gods people are to rejoice in the overthrow of Rome Chap. 18.20 and the ruine of Rome No no the holy Ghost counselleth us greatly to rejoyce in her destruction and overthrow saying O heavens rejoyce over her and ye holy Apostles and Prophets because God hath given you judgement on her Wee are therefore to be so far from mourning and lamenting for the desolation of Rome the kings merchants mariners and other her friends as that it ought to be the very joy and rejoycing of our hearts For Saint John saith that not onely the holy Angels Prophets Apostles and Martyrs shall rejoyce at the destruction of Rome but also all the Saints and all the whole body of the Church And therefore he saith that after the utter overthrow of Rome Chap. 19.1 2. Hee heard a great voyce of a great multitude in heaven saying Hallelujah that is praise yee the Lord for hee hath condemned the great whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication and hath avenged the bloud of his servants shed by her hand And againe saith Saint John they said Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah thrice together thereby expressing the great joy and thanksgiving for the destruction and overthrow of the great whore and even so ought all that love
it up at their hands but will up and maintain the womans cause and bear her out against them all nay he will make ready his bow that he may shoot off and make his arrows drunk in the bloud of her and his enemies and wil whet his glittering sword that he may sheath it in the heart of Antichrist and all his adherents Therefore now let both the great beasts and their fire look to themselves for here comes in one that will knock them all down and lay them in the dust that they shall never rise up again For this cause now at length S. John in a vision seeth a Lamb stand upon mount Sion that is Christ present with the Church For mount Sion was an antient figure of the Church as it is written Mount Sion lying north-ward is faire in situation Psal 48.2 it is the joy of the whole earth and the city of the great King And again The law shall goe forth of Sion Mich. 5.2 and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem Moreover Saint John seeth here with the Lamb an hundred fourty and foure thousand that is the particular members of the Church putting a certain number for an uncertain and specially alluding to the sealing of the twelve tribes of Israel as before hath been shewed For it might be demanded where the Church was when all the world wondred and followed the first beast And also when all Chap. 7 4. both small and great rich and poor received the mark of the second beast Saint John answereth that even then in the midst of the heat of persecutions God had his hid and invisible Church whom Jesus Christ did protect and preserve even in the very flames of persecutions being alwaies present with them and amongst them as he said to his disciples a little before his bodily departure from them Loe I am with you even unto the end of the world And here he is said to stand upon mount Sion with his hundred fourty and four thousand And it is added that this number of Gods faithfull elect children had his Fathers name written in their foreheads that is they did professe and practise the doctrine and religion of God their Father only utterly renouncing and abhorring the worship religion of the beast For the Fathers name in this place is set opposite to the mark of the beast to signifie that as the worshippers of Antichrist received his mark so the true worshippers of God received his brand which is his Spirit and the fruits therof whereby they were perfectly discerned from those which had the beasts mark So then it cleerly appeareth from this place that God preserved many thousands of his true worshippers even in the daies of the great Antichrist when there seemed to be very few or none remaining upon the earth as it was in the dayes of Elias In vain therefore do the Papists ask us where our Church was before Luthers time sith the holy Apostle here stoppeth their mouth and telleth us plainly that Christ had his little flock in the wildernesse even then when it was in greatest streights and as we say driven to the walls And therefore visibility is no sound note of the Church as the Papists do most ignorantly dispute For it is a fond and absurd kind of reasoning to say there is no Church at all because it doth not visibly appear as if a man should reason that there is no moon in the heavens because sometimes there is none seen as in the change And I heard a voice from heaven as the sound of many waters and as the sound of a great thunder Verse 2. and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps Here is set forth how his company of true worshippers doe magnifie and praise God for his great mercies towards them First John heareth a voice from heaven that is an heavenly voyce or the voice of the Church praising and glorifying God For we have heard before Chap. 8.1 that Heaven in this booke is sometimes put for the Church upon the earth and the reasons thereof Wheresoever therefore the Church is assembled to hear the word and to pray and give thanks there is a voice from heaven or an heavenly voice Now this voice is compared to three things first to the sound of many waters Secondly to the sound of a great thunder Thirdly to the voyce of harpers harping with their harps It is likened to many waters because it proceedeth from sundry sorts of people of sundry nations countries and kingdoms as the word waters is taken afterwards in this Prophecie Chap. 17.1 Chap. 17.25 It is compared to thunder because the prayers and invocations of the true Church are as loud in the eares of God as any thunder-crack It is compared to harpers harping with their harpes both because their spirituall worship and service is as sweete unto God as any musick unto men as also because all Gods faithfull people doe tune together among themselves and in their worship as the strings of a wel-tuned instrument of musick or as many musicians playing together which make a sweet harmony and most melodious ditty Verse 3. And they sang as it were a new song before the throne and before the four beasts and the Elders and no man could learn that song but the hundred fourty and foure thousand which were brought from the earth Now it sheweth how this holy society of the faithfull do continue their praying and glorifying of God they are not weary of well doing but hold on constantly in the course of Gods worship having new songs of thanksgiving in their mouthes and serving God daily with renewed affections as men inflamed with the zeale of Gods glory and all this they do performe before the throne before the foure beasts and the Elders that is in the presence of God and his Angels and his holy congregation And no man could learn that song but the hundred fourty and four thousand that is none of the reprobates and ungodly worldlings could inwardly feel and understand this spirituall worship but only the elect to whom it is given to understand the secrets of God and the mysteries of his Sons kingdome These are they which are not defiled with women Verse 4. for they are virgins these follow the Lamb wheresoever hee goeth these are bought from men being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouthes was found no guil Verse 5. for they are without spot before the throne of God This holy company are not defiled with women that is with grosse and divers sins or rather with idolatrous pollutions For they are virgins that is chast worshippers of God which are not polluted with the defilements of Antichrist These follow the Lamb Christ whithersoever hee goeth They hear his voice they professe his worship and obey his doctrine they abhor Antichrist they follow not the beast nor receive his mark They are bought from
as some doe take it but for seven severall governments Dan. 7.17 as it is taken in Daniel The foure great beasts saith the Angel there are four Kings that is four kingdomes governments or monarchies as all men know So here by seven kings is meant the seven severall regiments of Rome that is to say by Kings Consuls Decemviri Dictators Triumviri Emperors and Popes whereof the first five were then fallen when John wrote one was that is the Empire and one was to come that is the Papacy My last argument is this Babylon is that city which is situate upon seven hils but onely Rome of all cities in the world is situated upon seven hils therefore Rome is Babylon The proposition is avouched by the Angel which saith in the seventeenth chapter that the seven heads of the scarlet coloured beast are seven mountains whereon the woman sitteth that is seven hils whereon the city of Rome is situated whose names are these Capitolinus Palatinus Aventinus Exquilinus Celius Viminalis and Quirinalis as all Poets and Historiographers do testifie One saith thus of Rome Virg. Geor. Septem quae una sibi muro circumdedit arces Another thus Septem urbs alta jugis toti quae praesidet orbi Propert. Another called Rome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the citie with seven heads that is seven hils It is cleer then by these reasons that Babylon in this place signifieth Rome As for the exposition of the Papists which affirmeth that Babylon here signifieth the universall society of the wicked it is fond and ridiculous For the holy Ghost saith Chap. 18.7 Babylon is that citie which reigneth over the kings of the earth But to say that the universall society of all the wicked reigneth over the kings of the earth is absurd and ridiculous Therefore to say that Babylon is the universall society of the wicked is absurd and ridiculous The distinction of the Jesuits here is also as frivolous as their expositions for they say If Babylon be Rome then it must be understood of Rome under the heathen Emperors but not under the Popes But the Angel saith The woman that is the whore of Babylon or Antichrist sitteth upon seven mountains Ergo she sitteth at Rome and Rome is the seat of Antichrist and consequently Rome under the Popes is Babylon Moreover we may reason thus against the Popish dictinction That which was Babylon under the heathen Emperors is the same which is here prophesied to be the chiefe citie and seat of Antichrist But Rome was then Babylon Ergo Rome is now Babylon for Rome is that citie which the Angel saith should be the seat of Antichrist And this book doth shew that the great Antichrist should reign in the same citie where the heathen Emperors had reigned and therefore it standeth firme That Rome under the Popes is Babylon This being then granted that Babylon here is Rome it followeth that Rome shall fall for the holy Ghost saith Babylon is fallen speaking in the present tense as the manner of the Scripture is in prophesying of things to come For whatsoever God hath determined to come to passe is as it were already done because of the certainty of it and for this cause also the word is doubled It is fallen Rome shall fall it is fallen Wee see then most cleerly that almost 1500 yeers before Rome began to fall the certain fall thereof was fore-told This place it self is cleer enough to prove my second point which is That Rome shall fall But my purpose is to reduce and gather all the five chapters following to certain heads to prove the main points which I have propounded first then I reason thus to prove the second point that Rome shall fall That citie and kingdome which hath the seven vials of Gods wrath emptied and powred downe upon it cannot stand but must needs fall But Rome is that citie which hath the seven vials of Gods wrath powred downe upon it Therefore Rome cannot stand long but must needs fall The proposition is manifest and not to be denied The assumption is proved throughout all the sixteenth chapter and especially in the tenth and second verses in the tenth verse the vials of Gods wrath are expressely said to be powred down upon the throne of the beast and in the second verse of that chapter it is avouched that the second viall was powred downe upon the men which had the marke of the beast and upon them which worshipped her image How then can the throne of the beast hold out or how can they which have received the beasts mark stand up long For there is a great emphasis or vehemency in the manner of speech For hee doth not simply say the wrath of God Chap. 15.17 but the fulnesse of Gods wrath he doth not say should be a little sprinkled but powred down as it were by pail-fuls upon the kingdom of the beast How then can the kingdome of the beast stand which hath so many great Ordnance and so many double Canons discharged and shot off against it Surely it must needs fall Chap. 17.8 My second reason is this The beast that was and is not and yet is shall goe into perdition But Rome is the beast that was and is not and yet is Therefore Rome shall go into perdition The assumption is set down chap. 17. ver 8. For the Roman Monarchy was great in the dayes of Julius Caesar Augustus Claudius Tiberius and therefore it is said that it was But in the reign of Nero Otho Galba and Vitellius it was greatly decayed and therefore it is said It is not meaning so great as it had been and yet in some sort it was and therefore it is said And yet is Now this beast shall goe into perdition Therefore the Roman Monarchy shall be destroyed and consequently the Papacy for the Roman Empire holdeth up the Papacy as it is written that the woman or whore of Babylon sitteth upon the scarlet coloured beast which had seven heads and ten horns that is the Roman Monarchy which beareth up the whore and beareth up the Papacy but the holy Ghost saith this beast that is the Roman Empire shall goe into perdition Then it followeth that the Papacy shall follow after for if the beast that she sitteth upon and which beareth her fall under her then she must needs fall together with him But we see God be thanked that the Roman Monarchy is in a manner quite fallen therefore the Papacy cannot stand long My third argument is this Verse 11. The beast that was and is not being even the eighth and is one of the seven shall goe into destruction But Rome is the beast that was and is not being the eighth and one of the seven Therefore Rome shall goe into destruction The assumption is set down chap. 17. ver 11. For the Papacy or dominion of the Popes is the seventh head of the beast in respect of their civill power and yet
this chapter is most fully to describe that infinite glory and endlesse felicity to the which all the 144000 that is all the elect of God shall be advanced when both the beast and all that have received his mark shall be cast downe into the infernall lake This chapter may very fitly be divided into four parts The first is Verse 1. a description of the renovation of the world and the restauration of the creature The second is Ver. 2 3 4. a laying forth of the most glorious estate of the Church when it shall be freed from all misery The third is Vers 5 6 7 8. a protestation from God himselfe concerning the renovation of all things the felicitie of the elect and the endlesse paine and torment of all reprobates The fourth is Ver. 9 10.11 12 13 14 c. a lively description of the very kingdom of God and the unspeakable joyes of heaven under the figure of a great city called the holy Jerusalem which citie is here most gloriously described in her walles gates foundations streets height length bredth brightnesse matter forme persons and inhabitants The TEXT Verse 1. AND I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea Verse 2. And I John saw the holy city new Jerusalem come downe from God out of heaven prepared as a bride trimmed for her husband Verse 3. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men and hee will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himselfe shall be their God Verse 4. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow neither crying neither shall there be any more paine For the first things are passed By a new heaven and a new earth is meant the renewed estate of heaven and earth after this life in their quality not in their substance For wee do beleeve according to the Scripture that this visible heaven and this visible earth shall continue for ever as touching their matter and substance but shall be greatly altered and changed in condition and quality 1 Pet. 3. For Saint Peter saith Wee look for new heavens and a new earth according to his promise wherein dwelleth righteousnesse that is such heavens and such an earth as is free from all corruption and sin Which thing also the Apostle Saint Paul doth plainly teach saying Rom. 8.19 that the creature doth fervently expect when the sonnes of God shall be revealed that is when Gods children shall be made known to be as they are the very heires of infinite glory which in this life doth not appear And hee yeelded two reasons of this desire of the creature one is because in the meane time it is subject to vanity and corruption the other is that then it shall be free from both And for this cause the Apostle saith that the creature groaneth with us and earnestly desireth and longeth after that day wherein it shall be set free from the bondage of corruption Rom. 8. and redintegrated and restored to that pristine estate wherein it was before the fall But whether this is to be understood of heaven and earth onely or of heaven and earth with their adjuncts and particular creatures I will not here goe about to discusse howbeit I doe greatly incline to their opinion which hold that heaven and earth with all their furniture being redintegrated and restored to their first estate shall remaine for ever to set forth the glory of the Creator and for that use of glorified men which now the Angels have of them Chap. 4.6 Chap. 8.8 Chap. 13.2 Now whereas Saint John added that there shall be no more sea Hee meaneth that there shall be no more any troublesome and confused estate of this world no more broyles waves tempests and storms as it falleth out in this life For the word sea is so taken twice or thrice before By the holy city new Jerusalem hee meaneth the Church triumphant which therefore it is said to come downe from God out of heaven Verse 2. because it hath all his newnesse and holinesse from God and from heaven whereby it is now prepared and made ready to be married unto Christ even as a Bride tricked and trimmed up for her Husband And for this cause Saint John heareth a voice from heaven Verse 3. saying Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men and hee will dwell with them and they shall be his people and hee will be their God Meaning thereby that Jesus Christ will keep house with his glorified Spouse and be at bed and boord with her for ever in the heavens at what time shee shall be freed from all teares Verse 4. woe and misery as the next verse declareth yeelding also a reason hereof which is that the first things are passed that is the state wherein the world is now being subject to many afflictions temptations vanities and corruptions And hee that sate upon the Throne said Verse 5. Behold I make all things new And he said unto mee Write for these words are faithfull and true And hee said unto mee It is done Verse 6. I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end I will give to him that is athirst of the well of the water of life freely Hee that overcometh shall inherit all things Verse 7. and I will be his God and hee shall be my Sonne But the fearfull and unbeleeving Verse 8. and the abominable and murtherers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and lyers shall have their parts in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death Here the omnipotent God which sitteth upon the most glorious throne doth protest that hee will make all things new that is restore the world to that excellent estate wherein it was before Adams fall and his elect to a state and condition farre more excellent in heaven for the greater certainty and assurance of it willeth and commandeth John to write it Verse 5. and record it as a thing most certaine and infallible and to set it downe as a thing already done For things to come which are decreed in the councell of God are as certaine as if they were past for God cannot erre alter nor change and therefore he saith I am Alpha and Omega the first and the last the unchangeable and immutable God Verse 6. And addeth that hee will give freely to every one that is athirst of the well of the water of life that is without all regard of our deserts hee will give to every one that earnestly seeketh after heaven and heavenly things his fill thereof And moreover Verse 7. that whosoever overcometh in the spirituall battell shall have the full fruition of all good things both in this life and the
expound this otherwise but my purpose is not to meddle with other mens opinions and judgements but to set downe that which God hath given to me to see and which in mine owne conscience and perswasion I suppose to be the truth referring all to the judgement of the Church and such therein as are indued with the Spirit of God For the spirit of the Prophet is subject to the Prophets And be it knowne unto all men that my chiefe endeavours throughout this whole booke shall be to seeke the sense that is and not the sense that is not to meddle onely with truth and let falshood goe And when Hee had opened the second Seale I heard the second Beast say Ver. 3. Come and see As before at the opening of the first seale so now againe at the opening of the second seale John is called upon by another Angell to give attention and so afterwards at the opening of the third and fourth seal Wherein we may observe the heavinesse and drowsinesse of mans nature in all heavenly things which is evermore ready to sinke and fall asleep except it be awaked by many means and stirred up by speciall grace Ver. 4. And there went out another horse that was red and power was given to him that salt thereon to take peace from the earth and that they should kill one another and there was given unto him a great sword This red Horse representeth the cruell persecution and bloudy Warres which followed the preaching of the Gospell For the red colour in the Scripture doth note bloud cruelty and Warres The rider upon this Horse is the Divell himselfe for who but he and his instruments delight in bloud persecution and warres He hath power given him to take peace from the earth for he could have no power except it were given him and to this purpose a great sword was given him to murther and kill withall And all this is to be understood of the state of the Church under the tenne great persecutions raised up against it by the persecuting Emperours Domitian Trajanus Nero Antonius Decius Dioclesian Maxentius Licinius and other cruell tyrants even untill the time of Constantine the Great Stories doe report that these cruell persecutors did in a most savage and horrible manner torture torment and shed the bloud of innumerable multitudes of Gods people So that as the first estate of the Church under the preaching of the Gospell was joyfull and peaceable So this second estate of the Church under such outragious persecutions was troublesome and tragicall and yet for all that in the middest of all these swords bloud and flames of persecution the Church did still prevail and encrease For the bloud of the Martyrs is the seede of the Gospell And the Church often times being sowne in bloud yet springeth up and groweth in bloud And as for the cruell and blood-sucking Emperours which could not endure the light of the Gospell but strove by tyranny to suppresse it the just God which taketh vengeance of all iniquity and especially of the persecution of his children was even with them well inough for he gave them over some to be slaine in the warres some to be tortured with horrible diseases some to be poysoned some to be murthered and some to murther themselves Thus did God the avenger shew himselfe from Heaven as the Stories report and pay home to the full these blood-suckers of his Church making them examples of his Wrath and spectacles of his vengeance to all Nations verse 5. And when he had opened the third seale I heard the third beast say Come and see Then I beheld and loe a blacke horse and he that sate on him had ballances in his hand c. By the black horse famine and dearth is signified for the black colour is a mournfull and sad colour and what maketh men more pensive and sad then famine and extream hunger For it is a thing untolerable and therefore the holy Ghost sayth They be better that are killed with the sword Lam. 4.9 then they that dye of famine He that sitteth on this horse hath a ballance in his hand which signifieth great penury and scarsity of all things but especially of victuall insomuch that men must be pittanced and stinted in their victuals and their bread and drinke must be delivered out by waight and measure as it fareth in strait and sore siedges of Cities when victuals wax scarce This is it that God threatneth in Levit. 26. and Ezec. 4.5 That he would breake the staffe of bread verse 6. and that ten women should bake in one oven and deliver bread by measure Now to declare the grievousnesse of this famine a voyce commeth from the Throne and from the Angels that a measure of wheat should bee for a penny and three measures of barley for a penny the measure here spoken of is a Chenix which some Writers say was so much as would serve a man for bread-corne for one day And the Romane penny under Domitian was alwayes seven pence of our mony And at that time the labouring man did worke for a penny a day which would doe little more then buy him bread-corne How then should his wife and children doe Whereas it is sayd Wine and Oyle hurt thou not I take that it should rather bee translated In Wine and oyle thou shalt not doe unjustly as the word will beare it And the sense is that in the state of corn and victuall they shall deale conscionably and mercifully not selling at the highest but rather at the lowest rate now in the times of extreme scarcity Now all this is to be understood of that most grievous famine which we read to have been about the yeare of our Lord 316. and sundry times afterward And all this for the contempt of the Gospell preached by Christ and his Apostles upon the white horse and the murdering of Gods Saints by him upon the red Horse and his instruments So grievous and fearfull a thing is the contempt of the Gospell and the persecuting of the Saints And God did most justly cause the world to smart for it and make them with sorrow enough to feele the punishment of the Gospell rejected Ver. 7. And when he had opened the fourth seale I heard the voice of the fourth Beast say Come and see Ver. 8. And I looked and behold a pale horse and his name that sate on him was Death and hel followed after him c. This pale Horse signifieth the pestilence and other contagious diseases which God most justly brought upon the world for the contempt of the Gospell and the murdering of Christ and his Apostles And as I noted before out of the Scriptures that when God commeth either in mercy or judgement hee is said to come on Horse-backe to note his expedition and swiftnesse both in the one and the other so as before Christ is upon the white Horse the Divell upon the red Horse famine
all the former judgements For now after the cry of the Martyrs for vengeance God the avenger of the bloud of the Righteous doth shew himselfe from Heaven and declare his wrath in more fearefull manner then before even to the great astonishment of all the creatures in Heaven and Earth So horrible a thing is the shedding of the blood of the Christians For now we see plainely that God heareth the cryes of his Martyrs and commeth as a Gyant or an armed man to take vengeance of all their enemies For Psal 116.15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints and he is much mooved with the cry of their blood as here we see And therefore now threatneth to hold a generall Assize wherein he will make inquisition after blood and arraigne and condemne all such as are found guilty thereof according as the persecuting Emperours and many others did finde and feele by wofull experience For if God be angry but a little who may endure it Now although the Stories do report that in those dayes which was above 300. yeares after Christ there were many great and fearfull Earth-quakes in divers nations and Cities of the World yet it is apparant that the Earth-quake here spoken of cannot bee taken litterally nor any of the rest here mentioned For there was never any time neither is it mentioned in any Chronicle that ever the Sunne was as blacke as sack cloth of haire or the Moone turned into bloud or the Starres fell from Heaven or the Heavens rolled together like a scrole or that Mountaines and Ilands were moved out of their places Therefore of necessity all this must be understood metaphorically that is that God did in so strange and fearfull a manner manifest his wrath from Heaven by tumults commotions seditions and alterations of Kingdomes as if these things of the Sunne Moone and Starres had been visibly represented to the eye An earth-quake in this booke and other bookes also of the Scriptures doth by a borrowed speech signifie commotions of Common-wealths troubles tumults uprores and great alterations of States and Kingdomes The darkning of the Sunne Moone and Starres and rolling together of the Heavens do by a metaphor in the Scripture signifie the wrath of God which they being not able to endure are said here to blush at to cover themselves to hide themselves to be ashamed of themselves to remove out of their places no more to do their office c. For as birds do hide themselves and thrust their heads into bushes when the Eagle commeth abroade And as all Beasts of the Forrest doe tremble and couch in their dennes when the Lyon roareth And as the subject doth hide himselfe and dare not shew his head with whom the King is displeased So here it is said that the whole earth doth tremble and all the celestiall creatures are amazed and confounded with beholding the angry face of God against the world in so much that they do as it were draw a canopy over them hide themselves under a cloud and surcease to do their offices The darkning of the Sunne and Moone is taken in this sense in the second or Joel and also in the second Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles For there God promising and foretelling that in the last dayes he would abundantly powre forth of his Spirit upon all flesh which is to be understood of the plentifull preaching of the Gospell in the Apostles time and the abundance of grace that was given with the same addeth that for the contempt of so great grace and mercy he would shew wonders in Heaven above and tokens in the earth beneath Blood and fire and the vapour of smoke the Sunne shall be turned into darknesse and the Moone into blood before that great and notable day of the Lord come The meaning of the Prophet is as Peter also doth expound it Acts 2. that God from Heaven will shew such apparant signes of his wrath against the World that men should be no lesse amazed then if the whole order of nature were inverted And this was performed when as the Jewes for the contempt of Christ and his Gospell were most miserably destroyed by the Romanes Even so here under the opening of the sixt seale God doth threaten That for the murdering of his Sonne Christ and his Apostles and innumerable Christians he would bring strange judgements and extraordinary calamities upon the world according as all stories do shew that those times were full of bloodsheds commotions famine pestilence and miseries of all sorts I am not ignorant that the darkning of the Sunne and Moone and the falling of the Stars from Heaven are sometimes in this booke put for the obscurity and corruption of pure doctrine and the falling away of the Pastors of the Church from their sincerity and zeale But in this place the circumstances will not beare that sense First because here the darkning of the Sun and Moone c. is joyned with an Earth-quake the rolling together of the Heavens and the moving of Mountaines and Islands out of their places which argueth a most horrible confusion of all things Secondly because afterward in the eight chap. he doth of purpose speake of the corrupting of pure doctrine and the falling away of the Ministers referring it to that Chapter as his proper place Thirdly because the Kings and Captaines of the earth here immediately mentioned would never have been cast into any such perplexities and horrors upon any corruption of doctrine and the ministery as here we reade of For commonly men are not any whit touched or moved with that or such like things Last of all because the scope and drift of the holy Ghost under the opening of this sixt Seale is to describe corporall not spirituall visible not invisible judgements For he doth orderly and of purpose handle them in the next Chapter Now whereas it is sayd in the last three verses that the Kings of the earth and the chiefe Captaines Ver. 15.16.17 and the mighty men and every bond-man and every free-man hid themselves in dennes and amongst the rockes of the mountaines and said to the rockes and mountaines Fall on us c. the sense and meaning of all is this that these visible judgements should be so horrible and extraordinary that all sorts of men then living upon the face of the earth should even wish themselves buried quicke or that they might run into a mouse-hole or awger hole to hide themselves from the wrath of the Lambe For being both outwardly terrified with the sensible judgements and inwardly griped and tormented with the fury of their owne consciences they are at no hand able to endure it CHAP. VII THis Chapter doth wholly appertaine unto the opening of the sixt Seale It sheweth generally how God in the middest of all the broyles which hapned under the opening of the sixt seale yet did preserve his owne Church and mercifully provide for his owne people This
Tribe twelve thousand for twelve times 12. thousand make an hundred forty and foure thousand Neither yet may we thinke that of every Tribe there were an equall number sealed not moe nor lesse of one Tribe then another but this number of twelve is used as the perfect and full number in as much as the Church of the Jewes was founded upon the twelve Patriarkes unto which our Saviour had respect when for to gather the dispersed and lost sheepe of the house of Israel he chose twelve Apostles Now heere we are to observe that notwithstanding the horrible persecutions and calamities which fell out upon the opening of foure of the Seales yet God had his Church even of the Jewes which in the judgement of reason a man would have thought long ere now had been utterly extinct and abolished But the Apostle sayth Rom. 11. God hath not cast off his people which he had chosen that is utterly cast them off It is therefore a most sure and certaine position in divinity that God hath alwaies his that is in all ages in all times in all places in all Countries even in the midst of all troubles and flames of perscution yet God hath his hid and invisible Church even upon the face of the earth As it was in the dayes of Elias As was in Christs time 1 Kin. 19.18 when the Shepheard was smitten and the sheepe scattered And as it was in the dayes of the great Antichrist as afterward we shall see Moreover it is to be observed that in the enumeration of the 12. Tribes the Tribe of Dan is left out and the Tribe of Levi taken in The cause of the omission and skipping of the Tribe of Dan was their continuance in Idolatry from the time of the Judges at what time they first fell into it even unto the Captivity This Tribe is also omitted in the Catalogue of the Tribes mentioned 1. Chr. chap. 2 3 4 5 6 7. Then the reason of this omission is first their unworthinesse And secondly that there might be a place and roomth for the Tribe of Levi to be taken in which in this Catalogue for singular reason and a speciall mystery might not be omitted For although the Tribe of Levi had no portion or inheritance amongst the other Tribes in the earthly Canaan and now the Priesthood being transferred unto Christ the Holy Ghost doth expresly affirme that the Tribe of Levi as well as others hath his part and portion in the heavenly inheritance and the celestiall Canaan Ver. 9.10 After these things I beheld and loe a great multitude which no man can number of all Nations and Kindreds and people and tongues stood before the Throne and before the Lambe clothed with long white Robes and Palmes in their hands and they cryed with a loud voice saying Salvation commeth of God c. This is to be understood of the Church of the Gentiles and they are said to be an innumerable multitude of all Countries and Nations For although the Church of God in respect of the Reprobates is very small and as an handfull upon the face of the earth yet in it selfe simply considered it is very great and large for even out of Adams cursed race God hath chosen many thousands to life And here still we are to observe the great goodnesse and mercy of God that notwithstanding former persecutions and the great blindnesse which afterward did invade the Church in the prevailing errors and heresies yet John heareth and seeth such an huge number sealed up to salvtion through Christ both of the Jewes and Gentiles The Church of the Gentiles exceeding in number the Church of the Jewes are here said to have long white Robes in token of their purity and innocency and Palmes in their hands in signe of their victory over the world flesh and the divell For Palmes in ancient time were ensignes and badges of victory After this is set downe how the whole Church of the Gentiles do praise and worship God freely Ver. 10 11 12. acknowledging salvation to be only of him through Christ And all the Angels of Heaven do applaud subscribe and say Amen to the same as we have heard before in the fourth Chapter The foure beasts are heere mentioned againe whereby is meant the Angels both because they are sayd to have wings Chapter 4. which agreeth to none but Angels Esay 6. and also because they are expressely named and interpreted to be the Cherubins Ezec. 10. If any man muse why the Angels should be called Beasts let him be resolved with these foure reasons First because they are compared to beasts before as the Lyon Calfe Ezec. 1. c. Secondly because Ezechiel called them so in as much as they draw Gods Chariot of triumph Thirdly because the Prophet Zachary compareth them to red speckled Zach. 1.8 and white Horses Fourthly because the same Prophet calleth them Gods Coach-horses and the multitudes and societies of them he calleth Gods Chariots which came out of two mountaines of brasse that is they went forth at his decree which standeth as fast and unremoveable as a Mountaine of Brasse to comfort and deliver his Church out of the captivity of Babylon and also to succour and helpe the remnant which were left behind in Judea Now in the Prophets these Chariots and Chariot-horses are sayd to carry the Almighty most swiftly throughout all the world And therefore in Zachary it is said of the Angels Zac. 1.10 These are they which goe thorow the whole world In Ezechiel it is said that the beasts ran Eze. 1.14 verse 7. and returned like lightning And againe that they sparkled like the appearance of bright brasse and the wheeles of Gods Chariots were mooved with inconceiveable swiftnesse even as fast as the Angels did flye Let these reasons and Scriptures then satisfie us touching this that the Angels are called beasts After all this one of the 24. Elders asketh John what they were and from whence they came Ver. 13. which were thus arraied in long white Robes Which question is asked of the Elder not as being ignorant thereof but to stirre up John being ignorant to enquire of the matter that he might instruct him therein And therefore when John confessed his ignorance desiring to be instructed therein the Elder telleth him the whole matter namely that they were such as were come out of great tribulation Verse 14. For none can enter into life but through many afflictions as the Apostle saith After this againe the militant and visible Church is described and set forth not according to their present state but according to that which is to come Ver. 15.16 for they are heere spoken of as if they were already in the possession of Heaven and that for the infallible certainty and assurance thereof Therefore the Apostle sayth that even already they doe sit together in heavenly places Verse 16.17 And here they are sayd to be in the
all Saints upon the golden Altars which is before the throne We heard before that when the course of the Gospell was stopt by the divell and his instruments yet God was very carefull for the safety and sealing up of his owne servants so likewise we are now to hear of the like care and providence for now that errours and heresies were to be sowne in the World whereby many were corrupted and that He himselfe from Heaven doth proclaime open enmitie against the despisers of his Gospell by giving them up to blindnesse and errour he doth double his care and providence to all his faithfull worshippers For heere we do plainely see that the Church hath a mediator and that he which keepeth Israel neither slumbereth nor sleepeth And therefore when the wrath of God doth most of all breake forth upon the world for the contempt of his graces yet the Church is remembred and set in safety with all her Children For her prayers come up before God and are accepted through the mediator And this is the sence and drift of this third verse By this Angell is meant Jesus Christ the Angell of the covenant as we have heard before who is not an Angell by nature but by office It is manifest that in the old law there was a golden Altar and a golden Censor on which the Priest did burne sweet incense before the Lord which did figure the mediation of Christ in whom the prayers of the Saints are accepted Now heere the holy Ghost alludeth to that sacrificing Priest-hood of the old Testament where incense was offered at the Altar which now is the sweet savour of the death of Christ through whom both we and all our sacrifices are seasoned and sweetned Who therefore is this Angell but Christ What are the sweet odours with the which the prayers of all Saints come before God but the most sweet mediation of the Lord Jesus What is meant by the smoake of the odours which with the prayers of the Saints went up before God out of the Angels hand Surely the sweet incense of Christ mediation wherewith our prayers are spiced and perfumed that they might be as sweet incense of Christs mediation wherewith our prayers are spiced and perfumed that they might be as sweet smelling sacrifices in the Nostrils of God For as water cast into a fire raiseth a smoake so the teares of the faithfull besprinkled in their prayers make them as sweet incense acceptable to God through Christ The summe of all is this that in the middest of all these heresies and those hellish troubles which should be raised up by the Pope and his Clergy the Turke and his armies as in the next Chapter we shall see the elect have their prayers heard for their preservation by the merits of CHRIST verse 5. And the Angell tooke the Censor and filled it with the fire of the Altar and cast it into the earth and there were voyces and Trumpets thundrings and lightnings and earthquakes Heere we see how Jesus Christ taketh the Censor and filleth it with the fire of the Altar that is the graces and gifts of the Spirit for so the fire of the Altas is taken in Esay In this sense it is sayd that our Lord Jesus should baptize with fire and the holy Ghost that is the gifts and graces of the holy Ghost In this sense also the holy Ghost did rest upon the Disciples in the likenesse of cloven tongues like fire whereupon they were all filled with gifts and graces The holy Ghost is compared to fire because he burneth out our drosse purgeth the hearts of the faithfull and setteth them on fire with the burning love and zeale of Gods glory So then it followeth that as before there was provision had for the safety of the Church by her Mediator so heere many heavenly gifts and graces are bestowed upon her For Christ casteth this fire of the Altar upon the earth that is upon his dwelling in the earth Hereupon it is sayd that there were voyces and thundrings c. that is all manner of broyles tumults uprores slaughters and divisions For after the Gospell was sounded forth in the Church by the power of the holy Ghost the divell is disturbed and the World molested And hence spring all these broyles and tumults thundring and lightning and we must looke for such stirres after the preaching of the Gospell whilest there is a world and a divell Therefore our Lord JESUS saith he came not to bring peace into the Earth Mat. 10.34 but fire and Sword and to set a man at variance against his Father and likewise the Daughter against her mother c. For divisions and civill dissensions do alwayes follow the preaching of the Gospell which thing is not yet simply in the nature of the Gospell of peace but accidently through the frowardnesse and corruption of mans nature which will not yeeld unto it but most stubbornely rebelleth against it Then the seven Angels which had the seven Trumpets verse 6. prepared themselves to blow Now beginneth this open warre to be proclaimed against the World for their great ungodlinesse and rebellion against the truth So the first Angell blew the Trumpet verse 7. and there was Haile and Fire mingled with blood and they were cast into the earth and the third part of trees was burnt and all greene grasse was burnt It were absurd to imagine that any thing in this Verse is to be taken literally seeing in the literall Sense there was never any such matter Therefore of necessitie it must be expounded mystically and allegorically Therefore by this Hayle and Fire mingled with blood is meant Errors and Heresies For as Hayle doth beate downe Corne and destroy the fruits of the Earth Fire doth consume and blood doth corrupt and putrifie So false doctrine and Heresie doth annoy consume and corrupt the soules of men For it is sayd that all these things mingled together were cast upon the earth that is the inhabitants of the earth and the third part of the trees that is the numbers of men or a very great part of the World was corrupted For trees in the Scripture signifie men and all greene grasse was burnt that is Esa 61. the fresh fruits of grace did wither apace and dry up for as error and heresie did prevaile so truth and godlinesse did decay All this hath relation to the Heresies of Sabellius Manicheus Marcion Fotinus Paulus Samosatenus Nestorius Novatus Diodorus Apolinaris Pelagius and many others which about this time being foure hundred yeares after Christ began to spring up and grow apace And the second Angell blew the Trumpet and as it were a great Mountaine burning with fire was cast into the Sea and the third part of the Sea became blood c. Upon the blowing of the second Trumpet by the second Angell heere appeareth a great Mountaine burning with fire whereby is meant some great and notable heresies as that of Arrius which
troubled and wasted the Church for the space of three hundred yeares being greatly favoured of sundry Emperours and other great Potentates in the Earth by meanes wherereof it continued and overspred so long Also this may be referred to other great and notable Arch-heresies as that of Donatus Macedonius Eutycheus Valentinus and such like which all are heere compared to a mountaine for their hugenesse and greatnesse and to a burning Mountaine because the Church was almost burnt up thereby For this word Mountaine is sometimes in the Scripture put for any let or hinderance to true Religion as is errour and heresie Zach. 4.7 Luke 3.5 Therefore it is sayd that it was cast into the Sea that is these great heresies are cast upon the World in Gods wrath and heavy indignation for the Sea is put for the World Chapter 4. Verse 6. Chapter 13. Verse 1. Chapter 12 Verse last for as the Sea is full of Rocks sands sirts waves stormes and tempests so it fareth with this present evill world Moreover it is sayd that the third part of the Sea became blood that is all Europe or some great part of the World was corrupted and infected with these great heresies And he saith in the next verse that the third part of the ships were destroyed that is ver 9. a great number of mariners and ship-masters as well as land-men were infected with these heresies and dyed of them and in them Then the third Angell blew the Trumpet and there fell a great Starre from Heaven verse 10. burning like a Torch and it fell into the third part of the Rivers and into the Fountaines of waters Starres in this booke are put for the Ministers of the Gospell as we have heard out of the first Chapter and the reasons why Then followeth that the falling of this Star from Heaven doth most fitly signifie and set forth the declining and fall of the Pastors of the Church and their corrupting of the true Doctrine which is meant by the fresh Rivers and pure Fountaines into which it fell This Starre hath his name of the elect For it is called Wormewood because through the fall of it the sweet waters into which it fell were turned into bitternesse and men dyed of them that is the doctrine was corrupted which turned to the destruction of many ver 12. And the fourth Angell blew the Trumpet and the third part of the Sunne was smitten and the third part of the Moone and the third part of the Stars so that the third part of them was darkned c. This darkning of the Sunne Moone and Starres doth signifie that great darkenesse which was brought upon the Church by such teachers as did daily more and more degenerate Three things are generally to be observed in the blowing of these first foure Trumpets First that the plagues here mentioned are specially to bee understood of spirituall plagues Secondly that there is a progression from lesser to greater in these plagues Thirdly that in every one there is mentioned but a third part destroyed which plainly sheweth that although the Church was greatly annoyed and pestred with these errours and heresies yet it was not destroyed and brought to utter desolation for the full setting up of Antichrist was not yet come All these errours and heresies which were cast upon the World and did spring and grow apace in all places did as it were make way for Antichrist and as it were by stirrops hoist and helpe him up into his cursed Chaire By the Stories of the Church and course of times it seemeth that the holy Ghost pointeth at those manifold heresies which sprung up in the Church after the first three hundred yeares especially after the death of Constantine the Great who procured peace to the Church destroyed idolatry and set up true Religion in his dayes Now after his raigne and the raigne of Theodosius that good Emperour Constantius Julianus Arcadius Honorius and many other wicked Emperours succeeded by whose meanes all things in the Church grew worse and worse yet this one thing is to be observed that all truth of Religion was not utterly extinct and put out till the full loosing of Satan which was a thousand yeeres after Christ as we shall plainely see when we come to the 20. Chapter concerning the binding of Satan for a thousand yeares For sure it is that the maine principles and grounds of Religion continued in the Church till this full loosing of Satan which was about the time of Silvester the second that Monster as afterward we shall heare But now in the meane time we see what heresies sprung up what corruption grew and increased more and more what darknesse beganne to over-spread a third part of the world and these things grew worse and worse even till by these meanes the great Antichrist came to be possessed of his cursed seat and Sea of Rome which was about some 600. yeares after Christ And I beheld and heard one Angell flying in the midst of Heaven ver 13. saying with a loud voyce Woe Woe Woe to the Inhabitants of the earth because of the sounds to come of the three Angels which were yet to blow the trumpets Because the judgements which were to be executed hereafter upon the blowing of the next three Trumpets were farre more dreadfull and horrible than any were before therefore heere is a speciall Angell or Messenger of God sent of purpose to give warning thereof and to proclaime openly in the Church three fearefull woes which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth that is all earthly minded men as wordlings Papists and Atheists at such time as the next three Angels should blow the Trumpets The first of these three great woes is to be understood of the Papacy The second of Turcisme The third of the last Judgement As if he should have sayd Woe unto the world because of Popery Woe unto the world because of Turcisme Woe unto the world because of the last Judgement Woe unto the world for Popery because thereby men should be punished in their soules Woe unto the World for Turcisme because thereby thousands should be murthered in their bodies by the Turkish Armies Woe unto the world because of the last Judgement for thereby all worldlings should be plagued both in body and soule in hell fire for evermore Sith then these three last plagues which were to come upon the world are more fearefull and terrible than any of the other foure no marvell though heere is sent of purpose a speciall messenger to give intelligence thereof that every man might looke to himselfe seeing such great dangers were at hand And for this cause also it is said before that there was silence in the Church for the space of halfe an houre CHAP. IX THe principall scope and drift of this Chapter is to paint out both the Pope and his Clergie and also the Kingdome of the Turke and his cruell Armies For having already set downe
how a way and passage was made for the Pope to climbe up into his cursed Chaire by the prevailing of heresies the falling away of the Pastors of the Church and the great over-spreading of darknesse and ignorance now he commeth to describe the Pope in his full heighth and greatest exaltation being now universall Bishop and in full possession of his Seat and Sea of Rome which was about some six hundred yeeres after CHRIST as formerly hath been shewed At wat time Pope Boniface obtained of the Emperour Phocas that murderer which slew his Master Mauritius the Emperour that the Bishop of Rome should be called the Universall bishop and the Church of Rome the Head of all Churches This ninth Chapter may very fitly be divided into two parts In the first 12. verses The first is a lively description of the Pope himselfe his Kingdome and his Clergy The second is a description of the Kingdome of the Turke and his most savage Armies so that this Chapter is a full opening of the first two great woes mentioned before concerning the Papacy and Turcisme And the fifth Angell blew the Trumpet and I saw a Star which fell from Heaven verse 2. and to him was given the key of the bottomlesse pit Warning was given before that when this fifth Angell should blow the Trumpet a most fearefull woe should come upon the World surpassing all that went before which is the setting up of Antichrist in his pride that man of sinne that sonne of perdition The Pope is here compared to a Starre as well as other godly Ministers in this booke because the Bishops of Rome at the first were godly and excellent men for amongst the first thirty of them there were some Martyrs But it is heere sayd that now this Starre was fallen from Heaven unto the Earth that is the Bishops of Rome were greatly degenerated and fallen cleane away from heavenly things to earthly for they declined from time to time and grew worse and worse so farre as to become the great Antichrist But some man may say Why may not this Starre falling from Heaven upon the earth be understood of other Pastors falling from the truth as well as the Pope as it is taken in the former Chapter and in the twelfth Chapter and the fourth verse I answer that the circumstances will not heere beare it Therefore to perswade every honest mans conscience that this must needs be understood of the Pope in his pride let us give eare to these three reasons following First we are to consider that the maine drift of the holy Ghost in the opening of the seven Seales and blowing of the seven Trumpets is to lay out the state of the Church in all ages till the comming of Christ Further we are diligently to observe that the things contained under the opening of the seventh Seale whereof the blowing of the seven Trumpets are as it were parts and do all belong unto it do stretch even to the end of the world so as there is no strange accident or any wofull condition of the Church in any age but it is set forth under the opening of these Scales and blowing of these Trumpets But the Papacy was a state of the Church and that most woefull and lamentable therefore it is described under the opening of the Seales and blowing of these Trumpets But it is not described under the opening of any other Seale or blowing of any other Trumpet Therefore of necessity it must be referred to this seventh Seale and the fifth Trumpet And this is my first reason If any man object that the Pope and his Kingdome are most lively described in the Chapters from the twelfth to the last I answer that all those Chapters belong to a new vision wherein some things propounded under the opening of the seven Seales are more fully opened and expounded But this I say that in the second vision the whole estate of the Church in every age is layd open even untill the last judgemet and therefore when the seventh Angell here doth blow the seventh Trumpet immediately followeth the last Judgement as appeareth chap. 10. vers 6. and chap. 11. vers 15.16 My second reason is drawne from the course and consideration of times for the great prevailing of errours and heresies mentioned before which made way for Anti-christ was from the first 300. yeeres untill the 600. yeere and so forward But now immediately upon this great increase of errour and darknesse commeth the description of a speciall Star fallen from Heaven at this time which was about 600. yeeres after Christ and therefore it must needs be understood of the Pope And this is my second reason My third and last reason is drawne from the description of the Pope and his Clergy in the firste leven verses of this Chapter For he is so lively described and painted out in particulars that all men that know him or ever heard of him must needs say it is he For this description heere set downe by the holy Ghost can fitly agree to none other The Papists themselves do confesse that this Starre here mentioned must needs be understood of some Arch-heretike and full wisely forsooth they apply it to Luther and Calvin But we affirme that it is to be understood of the Pope For was there ever any such Arch-heretike as he which opposeth and exalteth himselfe against all that is called God and against all imperiall powers as the Apostle saith But now let us proceed to the description of him First he is sayd to have the key of the bottomlesse pit which agreeth well to the Pope for he hath power given him to open hell gates to let in thousands thither but no power to open Heaven gates to let in any thither for he furthereth many to hell none to Heaven He doth indeed falsely challenge to himselfe the Keyes of the Kingdome of Heaven to let in and shut out at his pleasure But here we see the holy Ghost doth attribute no such power unto him but only telleth us that his power and jurisdiction is in hell and over hell and as for Heaven he hath nothing to doe with it It were needlesse to shew how this Metaphor of keyes is taken for power and jurisdiction in the Scriptures as hath been proved before Chap. 1. vers 18. and as needlesse to prove that by the bottomlesse pit is here meant hell as appeareth Chap. 11. vers 7. Chap 20. vers 1. And he opened the bottomlesse pit and there arose the smoke of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace and the Sun and the Aire were darkned by the smoke of the pit Here we see how the Pope openeth hell gates with his Key and a most horrible grosse and stinking smoke ascendeth up into the ayre presently upon it insomuch that both the Sunne and the Ayre were darkened with it Which all is to be understood of that spirituall darknesse ignorance superstition and Idolatry wherewith the whole Church
was over-spread after the great Antichrist came to the possession of his cursed Chaire and was in his pride and height ruling and raigning over the Kings of the earth For then indeed the Sunne was darkned and eclipsed that is the light of the Gospell was almost cleane put out For that which is spoken heere of the darkening of the ayre and the Sunne is to be understood of a greater and more generall darknesse than that which was mentioned in the former Chapter wherein but a third part of the World was darkned But now the Antichrist invadeth the Church all is overspread with grosse and palpable darknesse all is as darke as Pitch no man can see where he is or which way he goeth For the whole aire is filled with this thicke smoke which came out of hell pit And there came out of the smoke Locusts upon the earth and unto them was given power as the Scorpions of the earth have power By these Locusts is meant the Popes Clergie as Abbots Monkes Friers Priests Shavelings and such like vermine which are therefore compared to Locusts because they wast and destroy the Church even as Locusts destroy the fruits of the earth For both Historiographers and Travellers do affirme that whole fields of greene Corne new come up have been wasted and eaten up in one night as bare as the earth by swarmes of Locusts in the East-countries For in those parts of the World multitudes of this little vermine are to be found even so the Popish Clergy consumeth and devoureth all greene things in the Church Moreover it is to be noted that these Locusts came out of the smoke of the pit that is they were bred out of it for Monkes Fryers Priests and such like Caterpillers were bred of ignorance error heresie superstition and the very smoke of hell for from hell they came and to hell they will They are descended of the blacke horse of hell and thither they will returne Moreover it is sayd that power was given them to sting like Scorpions For whom have they not stung with their most venemous stings I meane their damnable errors and divellish devices Whom have they not wounded with their corrupt doctrine and divellish authority They are the forest soule-stingers that ever the World had who have left their venemous stings in the soules of thousand thousands where with they have been poisoned and stung to death And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grasse of the earth verse 4. neither any greene thing neither any tree but only those which have not the Seale of God in their foreheads It may be demanded what became of the Church when as the whole earth was full of these crawling and stinging Locusts This question is now here answered to wit that these Locusts are charged and commanded that they should not hurt any of the Elect for this Woe and this plague extendeth no further than to the inhabitants of the earth as we heard before Their power is limitted onely to the Reprobate they have nothing to do with Gods chosen people And here againe we see what great care God hath for his in the midst of the greatest dangers as hath been twice noted before Chap. 7. Chap. 8. For now Antichrist raigning in his full pride yet his Elect are preserved in the midst of these Scorpion-locusts flying about their eares like swarmes of Hornets not one of them is stung to death Christs little flock is alwaies defended and set in safety And to them was command verse 5. that they should not hurt them but that they should be vexed five moneths and that their paine should be as the paine that commeth of a Scorpion when he hath stung a man Some write that such as are stung of a Scorpion do not die forthwith but have a lingring paine wherewith they are miserably vexed three or foure daies before they dye of it Now unto this lingring paine is this spirituall stinging compared for these Locusts are commanded of God that they should not kill the very Reprobates outright and at once but torment them with a lingring death for the space of 5. months that is 500. yeers for so long did the Papacy continue in his height and pride full strength and vertue and so long did the Pope and his Clergy sting men with lingring and Scorpion-like paine verse 6. Therefore in those dayes shall men seeke death and shall not finde it and shall desire to dye and death shall fly from them This verse doth shew that all Papists being thus stung and tormented in their consciences with this lingring paine of Popish doctrine shall wish themselves out of the world and buried quicke that they might be rid of their spirituall stinging and hellish torments which they had in their conscience For the Popish doctrine hath no sound comfort in it it leaveth men in desperation in sicknesse and upon their death-beds For alas what comfort can a poore distressed conscience have in Popes pardons Indulgences Masses Dirges Merits Workes Pilgrimages Purgatory Crosses Crucifixes Agnus Dei's and such like trash and trumpery These alas are too weake remedies for any spirituall diseases they are not sufficient to procure pardon at Gods hand for any sinne Alas the poore blind Papists did know and feele that they were vile sinners they knew they must come to judgement they knew that the reward of sinne was death even the second death they knew all this full well and therefore had horrible convulsions in their consciences and knew not how to winde out of them For the doctrine of free justification in the blood of Christ was hid from them they knew it not and therefore all assurance of Gods favour all peace of conscience and all joy in the holy Ghost was utterly taken from them and therefore many of them dyed in most desperate and uncomfortable manner And for this cause it is heere sayd that they sought death and desired to be rid out of the world one way or another for a tormented conscience who can beare it it is a kind of hell torment And the forme of the Locusts was like unto Horses prepared unto battell verse 7.8 and one their heads were as it were Crownes like unto gold and their faces were like the faces of men And they had haire as the haire of women and their teeth were as the teeth of Lions Hitherto we have heard of the pedigree and poysoned stings of these vile Locusts and how they vexed the Inhabitants of the earth all the time of the great Antichrist Now we are to understand of their forme and likenesse For the Spirit of God doth here paint them out in their colours that all men may discerne them and beware of them First it is said that they were like unto horses prepared unto battell that is they were as strong and fierce as barred horses to rush and runne upon all such as should but once mute or mutter against them
or their Authority Moreover they have Crownes of gold upon their heads which sheweth and signifieth that they were the Conquerours of the Earth and Lords of the World and who but they for in those dayes no man nay no Lord or King durst quitch against a Monke a Frier or a pild Priest for if any did they were sure to smart for it They had also faces like the faces of men that is they set faire faces upon matters and pretended great devotion in Religion flattering the people and making them beleeve that they could give them pardon of all their sinnes and bring them to Heaven when as in very truth for their bellies and for their gaine they did cunningly smooth with the Nobles the rich and the mighty setting faire faces upon their proceedings and as Saint Peter saith Through covetousnesse with fained words 2 Pet. 2.3 they made merchandize of mens soules and did closely winde themselves into the hearts of the simple people by their fawning insinuations being in very deed nost notable flatterers and hypocrites They had haire as the haire of women that is they were altogether effeminate being given to delicacy lust and wantonnesse they were drowned in whoredome and all kinde of beastlinesse being a shole of most filthy villaines Their teeth were as the teeth of Lions to catch and snatch at all they could come by They devoured all the fat morsels every where they got the Church-livings into their hands they first made impropriations they incroached upon temporall mens lands they swallowed up all every where If we looke upon the Abbeyes Priories and Nunneries we may easily judge what teeth they had Moreover it is sayd they had Habbergions like to the Habbergions of Iron that is they were so strongly armed with the defence and countenance of the Pope that no Secular power durst once quitch against them Their wings were like the sound of Chariots when many Horses runne unto battell that is with flattering noise and terrible threatnings they strove to uphold their Kingdome Also in Churches and Pulpits they make a roring noise and take on terribly to maintaine their abhominable Idolatry They had tailes like unto Scorpions and there were stings in their tailes For with their poysoned Doctrine and stinging authority like Adders and Snakes they stung many to death Moreover power was given them to hurt men five moneths that is all the time of Antichrists reigne as before hath been shewed ver 10.11 They have a King over them which is the Angell of the bottomelesse pit whose name in Hebrew is Abbadon and in Greeke he is named Apollyon that is destroying As the Fowles have a King over them which is the Eagle and the Beasts the Lion and mortall Men some Chiefe Governour under whose protection and subjection they live so heere these hellish Locusts are sayd to have a King over them which is the Angell of the bottomlesse pit that is the Divell or the Pope which you will under whose Ensigne they fight and under whose defence they live Their Kings name in Hebrew is called Abbadon and in Greek Apollyon The words are both of one signification that is destroying for both the Divell himselfe and his Vicar the Pope are destroyers and wasters of the Church of God One woe is past and behold yet two woes come after this We have heard at large what this first Woe is namely the plage of the world by the Pope and his Clergie Now we are to heare of the second woe which is the most huge and murthering army of the Turkes wherein the third part of men were slaine Some do expound this second woe of the kingdome of Antichrist and his armies but that it is not so may appeare by these reasons following First the Angell denouncing woe woe woe denounceth three severall woes and therefore it is said One woe is past and behold yet two woes come after this It followeth then that this is a distinct and severall woe from the former and therefore cannot be the same Secondly this woe containeth specially a bodily slaughter of the third part of the world and of the wicked reprobates but the first woe was specially a plague of mens soules as we have heard and therefore this cannot be the same with the first Thirdly we are to understand that this booke describeth all the greatest calamities and plagues thaâ— should come upon the world in any age after Christ and therefore we may justly thinke that the kingdome of the Tuâ—ks is not left out seeing it was one of the greatest plagues that ever came upon the world But the kingdome of the Turks is described in no other part of this Revelation and therefore must of necessity be here described ver 13.14 Then the sixt Angell blew the Trumpet and I heard a voice from the foure corners of the golden Altar which is before God Saying to the sixt Angell which had the Trumpet loose the foure Angells which are bound in the great river Euphrates Now we are come to the description of the Second woe which followeth upon the blowing of the sixt Trumpet by the sixt Trumpet by the sixth Angell And first of all he sayth He heard a voyce from the foure corners of the golden Altar By the golden Altar is meant Christ as before hath been shewed with the reasons thereof From this Altar the voyce commeth to the Angell which blew the sixth Trumpet Chap. 8.3 that we might know it is the voyce of the mighty God and the commandement of our Lord Jesus The voyce commandeth the sixth Angell to loose the foure Angells which are bound in the great River Euphrates By these foure Angels which are thus bound at Euphrates is meant many Divels or Angels of darkenesse as we have heard before Chapter 7 Verse 1. Their binding signifieth their restraint by which they were held backe from doing that mischiefe which they desired to do Their loosing signifieth that power was given them to performe that which they wished They are sayd to be foure in number because they should raise an horrible plague in the foure corners of the Earth both East West North and South The sense is that the Divells have yet farther and greater scope given them to plague and destroy the inhabitants of the Earth These Divells had exceeding great power in the Kingdome of Antichrist but they are unsatiable in mischiefe and so after a sort lye still bound till they have their desire The place where they lye bound is Euphrates wherein is a mystery for Euphrates literally taken is a great River which ran so night the City Babylon in Chaldea that it was a mighty defence unto it so that the City could not be taken untill they that laid siedge unto it cut out trenches and derived the waters another way Now for the mystery it is this Rome in this book is called Babylon by a metaphor and after the same manner the great River Euphrates as we shall
might is Christ as appeareth by the description of him and by all the consequents following Mat. 24. for he is said to be cloathed with a Cloud which signifieth his great glory and Majesty For he shall come in the clouds of heaven to judge the world that is with great pomp and glory The Raine-bow was upon his head which signifieth the covenant of peace with his Church as before Chap. 4. verse 3. His face was as the Sunne which signifieth comfort and deliverance to his Church and the dispelling of all the smoake of the bottomlesse Pit as the Sunne Scattereth and driveth away the thick mists His feete are pillers of brasse which signifieth that he should tread downe all his enemies under his feet 1 Cor. 19. both Pope and Turke For he must raigne till he have destroyed them all The Pope along time kept all the Kings of Europe in awe The Locusts were of great power The Turkes prevailed exceedingly But what are they all to this mightie and glorious Angell Christ What is their power to withstand him What can Abaddon the King of the Locusts do against this mighty King of Sion What can the Turkes most terrible Horses and Horse-men doe against this Angell which sitteth upon the white Horse Alas alas they are able to do nothing They must all be trodden down under his feet of brasse ver 2. And he had in his hand a little book open and He put his right foot upon the Sea and his left upon the earth This little Booke signifieth the Bible It is called little in respect of the great and huge volumes of Popish bookes though in it selfe it be large It is sayd to be open that all men might looke into it because it had been shut a long time before even during all the time of the darkning of the Sunne and Aire by the smoke which came out of the bottomlesse pit But although it was long shut up in the time of Popery and lay buried in a strange tongue yet now it is opened and publikely preached unto all the servants of God And all this no doubt is to be understood of Luthers time and all the times ever since the Gospell was spread abroad after the great darkenesse For some hundred yeares agoe it was hard to finde an English Bible but now God be thanked there are thousands to be found in the hands of Gods people And therefore the things here Prophesied of are fulfilled in our daies for we live under the opening of the seaventh Seale and the blowing of the sixth Trumpet and the powring foorth of the sixth Viall as here doth partly appeare and shall God willing bee made more manifest when we come to the sixteenth Chapter Now we are diligently to obserue that as the opening of this Booke and the preaching of the Gospell by Luther and his successors hath dispersed the former darknesse and beaten down Popery so also hath it driven backe the Turke and taken from us all feare of him which in former ages was the terrour of the World for since men have looked into this book repented of their Idolatry and turned unto God with all their hearts the Turke and his power hath not been feared especially in these parts where the Gospell is preached For God in his mercifull providence towards his Church hath diverted his power another way and set him a worke else where So that if men cannot be brought to beleeve that God raised him up as a scourge for Idolaters and a plague for Idolatrie and other soule sinnes according to the words in the former Chap. where it is said They repented not of the workes of their hands c. yet when they see that at the opening of the Booke of God and forsaking Idolatry the feare of him is removed let them beleeve it What can be more plaine than that this open Booke in the hand of the Angell hath delivered us from the Pope and from the Turke A most happy opening of this blessed booke More it is said that he put his right foot upon the Sea and his left on the Earth The setting of Christs right foot upon the Sea signifieth that he is ruler of the Sea and standeth as firmely upon the Sea as upon the Land The setting of his left foot upon the Earth doth signifie that he is Lord of the Earth and true heire to all things in it And cryed with a loud voice verse 3. as when a Lion roareth and when he had cryed seven thunders utterd their voyces This crying with a loud voice like the roaring of a Lion doth signifie the manifestation of the wrath of Christ against all his enemies for now he beginneth to roare against them as a Lion when he is hungry roareth for his prey Therefore now both the Scorpion Locusts and the fierce Horses and horsmen are like to goe to the pot By the seven thunders which uttered their voyces is meant those perfect and exquisite judgements which now were to be inflicted both upon the Kingdome of the Pope and the Turke We have heard before that seven is a perfect number in this book and that thunder is put for the thundring of Gods wrath and all such broiles and plagues as follow thereupon and this is the reason of this interpretation verse 4. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voyces I was about to write but I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me Seale up these things which the seven thunders have spoken and write them not It should seeme these seven thunders did so speake as they might be understood for John was about to write the things which they spake thinking that they were uttered for that end and purpose that he should deliver them in writing to the Churches But he receiveth a commandement to the contrary for he is willed not to write them but to conceale them untill the appointed time But some man may say Why were they uttered seeing they must be concealed and kepâ— close I answer it was not in vaine for first though the particulars be not expressed what the thunders speake yet here we are taught that there remaine most fearfull Judgements against all the oppressors of the Church which Christ hath thundred out with terrour against them And when the time determined is come they shall be seene and understood but in the meane time they be sealed up and kept close according to that of Job Why should not the times be hid of the Almighty so as they which know him should not perceive the times appointed of him and that of Daniel These things are Sealed up untill the time determined And the Angell which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven verse 5. And sware by him that liveth for evermore ver 6. which created heaven and the things that therein are and the earth and the things that therein are and the sea and the things that
all Popish proceedings which is here meant by the two witnesses For assuredly these two witnesses doe not signifie Enoch and Elias as the Papists and some others doe dreame but they signifie all the faithfull Preachers and Professors of the truth which in all ages both former and later have opposed themselves against the Pope his Clergy his doctrine his religion and all his abhominable proceedings They are called witnesses because they should beare witnesse unto the truth They are said two in number for three reasons First because they were very few in those dayes when Poperie did so generally prevail for two is the smallest number Secondly because the law of God doth admit of no lesse number in witnesse-bearing as it is written In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word stand Thirdly it is an allusion to Zorobabel and Jehoshua which were the two restorers and builders of the Temple after the captivitie Hag. 2.5 Christ saith here that he will give power to his two witnesses for no man hath any power in heavenly things except it be given him from above and especially to stand fast to the truth in the heat of persecutions and troubles It is said that these two witnesses shall prophesie that is preach declare and speake For so Prophesie is taken in the former chapter and last verse so also in other places of the Scripture The time of their prophesying being 1260 dayes hath been expounded before These two witnesses are cloathed in sackcloath which signifieth that they should lead a sorrowfull life here in this world For in old time when men did fast and mourne they did use to put on sackloath It followeth then that these faithfull Preachers and witnesses of the truth did not spend their dayes in mirth jollity and worldly pompe and bravery as did the Popes Clergie and pompous Prelates of Antichrist Now if any man will demand how this may appeare that there have been alwaies some raised up of God to write preach declare and speake against the whore of Babylon even then when shee was aloft and raigned as the Queene and Lady of the world I answer that Histories are very plentifull in this point which at large doe shew that in all countries and kingdomes of Europe there were ever some stirred up to impugne and resist the whore of Babylon As In England Robert Grosted Bishop of Lincolne An. dom 1293. An. 1400. John Wickliffe supported by Edw. the 3. and divers of the Nobility in England In Germany Taulerus a Preacher An. 1354 1356. 1357. 1359. 1359. 1360. Franciscus Petrarcha Johannes de rupe scissa Conradus Hager Gerhardus Rhidor Petrus de Corbona Johannes de Poliaco 1420. John Zisca In Bohemia John Husse An. dom 1414. 1416. 1370. Jerome of Prague Mathias Parisiensis In Spaine An. 1250. Arnoldus de nova villa In Italy An. 1500. Jerome Savanarola a Monke Silvester a Frier In France An. 1160. An. 1252. An. 1290. An. 1290. Waldas of whom came the Waldenses or poore men of Lyons in France Guilielmus de sancto amore Robertus Gallus Laurentius In Ireland An. 1362. Armachanus an Archbishop In Suevia An. 1240. Many Preachers at once In Grecia An. 1230. All the Churches of Grecia renounced the Church of Rome for their abominable Idolatry It were too tedious to recite all which the Stories doe report to have withstood both Pope and Popery even when it did most of all beare the sway these may suffice for the understanding of the Text. As for those which have been raised up since the decay and fall of Popery I meane since Luthers time they are so many and so well knowne that I need say nothing These are two Olive trees and two Candlesticks standing before the God of the earth vers 4. Here the two witnesses are compared to two Olive trees because that as the Olive tree doth drop downe his oyle and fatnesse so the faithfull Ministers doe droppe downe upon the Church the sweet oyle of the Spirit which is all heavenly and spirituall graces as the Metaphor of oyle is often so taken in the Scriptures They are also compared to two Candlesticks because that as the candlestick beareth up the candle set upon it so the Ministers of the Gospell beare up and hold forth the light of Gods word even in the greatest darknesse These candlesticks are said to stand before the God of the Earth because God beareth rule not only in heaven but in earth also even then when all things in the earth seeme to be most troubled and the Church militant â—nder greatest persecutions as now it was And if any will hurt them ver 3. fire proceedeth out of their mouthes and shall devoure their enemies for if any will hurt them so must he be killed vers 6. These have power to shut heaven that it raine not in the dayes of their prophesying and have power over waters to turne them into bloud and to smite the Earth with all manner of plagues as oft as they will Here is shewed that if any despise the simplicity of these two winesses and offer them wrong because of their basenesse and contempt in the world that there is a fire commeth out of their mouth that is the fiery and mighty power of the word of God uttered out of their mouthes which overthroweth and overturneth their enemies nay as fire it consumeth them to ashes for the Ministers of the Gospell are armed with ready vengeance against all disobedience 1 Cor. 10. Therefore they be starke mad and know not what they doe which oppose themselves against the true Ministers of Christ For the sword which they fight with slaieth the reprobates in their soules though not in their bodies for the ministry of the word is the savour of death to all unbeleevers That which is here spoken of shutting the heavens that it raine not and turning the waters into bloud 1 King 17. is an allusion to Elias and Moses whereof the one by his prayer shut the Heavens the other by his rod turned the waters into blood Now the faithfull Ministers of the Gospell are compared to these two not because they should worke such outward miracles as they did but because they should be furnished with spirituall power which is farre greater For most sure it is that the invisible and spirituall power where with the Ministers of the Gospell are armed is very great and glorious though the world see it not nor know it not For the Apostle saith The weapons of our warfare are not carnall but spirituall 2 Cor. 10.6 mighty through God to cast downe holds casting downe the imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God c. And when they have finished their testimony ver 7. the beast that commeth out of the bottomlesse pit shall make warre against them and kill them Here is set downe the greater cruelty
and bloudy tyranny which Antichrist should use against these faithfull witnesses of our Lord Jesus For although they overcome him with the spirituall sword which is the fire that commeth out of their mouthes yet for a time power was given to this Beast that commeth out of the bottomlesse pit that is the Pope and his adherents to murther Gods Saints with the materiall sword but yet note that Antichrist can doe nothing till the two witnesses have finished their testimony such is Gods care and providence for all his faithfull servants And their corps shall lie in the streets of the great City which spiritually is called Sodome and Aegypt where our Lord also was crucified By the great City here is meant Rome and yet not the City onely of Rome but all the Romane Empire power and jurisdictions as afterward shall be made manifest Now the corps and dead carkasses which were murthered and massacred in all Nations by Antichrists tyranny are here said to lie in the streetes of Rome that is to bee cast forth into the open fields as not worthy the honour of buriall in all places countries and kingdomes within the Roman Empire or jurisdiction of Rome as we read to have been in England Scotland France Ireland Germany and Spaine And as the Holy Ghost saith The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat to the fowles of the heaven and the flesh of thy Saints unto the beasts of the earth Moreover it is to bee observed that Rome is here compared spiritually or by a trope to Sodome and Egypt To Sodome for filthines for what City ever was or is more filthy than Rome Chap. 12. the mother of whoredomes and abominations of the earth And to Egypt for Idolatry and keeping Gods people in spirituall bondage Last of all it is here said That our Lord Jesus was crucified at Rome which may seem strange sith all men know that Christ was crucified at Jerusalem But to answere this doubt we are to understand that in respect of the place our Lord Jesus was crucified at Jerusalem but if we respect the power and Authority that put him to death he was crucified at Rome for Christ was put to death by a Roman Judge by Roman lawes by Roman authority by a kind of death proper onely to the Romanes and in a place which then was within the Romane Empire And for this cause is here said that Christ was crucified at Rome And they of the people and kindreds tongues ver 9. and Gentiles shall see their corps three dayes and a halfe and shall not suffer their corps to be put in the grave Hitherto we have heard of the rage of Antichrist against the two witnesses Now further we are to understand of the malice and fury of all his adherents that is all Papists Atheists and the rest of the blinde people and seduced multitude which did allow the Popes cruelty in shedding the bloud of the Martyrs and they doe testifie the allowance and approbation of the Popes fact and also their owne malice and madnesse against them in this that they will not vouchsafe them the honour of buriall but cast out their dead bodies as carrion or as the dead bodies of Dogges or Swine thereby shewing that they esteemed them no beter than so Nay we read that their hellish rage and madnesse was so great and outragious that they wreaked their malice upon the dead bones and carkasses of Gods Saints and Martyrs For their bloudy and most malicious mindes could not be satisfied except they digged up the bodies of Gods witnesses out of their graves and burnt them to ashes Whereas it is said They shall see their corps the meaning is that all the blinde people within the Romane Empire should bee eye-witnesses of these things and not only so but even great Agents also in the slaughter of Gods people By three dayes and a halfe which is halfe a weeke he meaneth all the time of Antichrists raigne and tyrannicall goverment as before hath been shewed For these three dayes and a halfe being in propheticall computation three yeeres and a halfe signifie the same things that the two and forty moneths and a thousand two hundred and threescore dayes before And they that dwell upon the Earth shall rejoyce over them and be glad vers 10. and shall send gifts one to another for these two Prophets vexed them that dwelt on the Earth Here we see how the inhabitants of the Earth that is the seduced multitude and blinde people in the time of ignorance doe greatly insult and triumph over the death of the Lords witnesses and they doe expresse their joy by sending gifts and presents one to another as if they had received some great benefits or had heard the most joyfull newes in the world And the reason is added because they vexed and tormented them meaning thereby that the preaching of the truth and the reproving of their errors Idolatries and manifold impieties was a dagger and a corsey unto them they could at no hand endure it for the preaching of the Gospell is the torment of the World and the Preachers the tormenters These few Preachers thundring against their superstitions and abhominable service of Antichrist did vex every veine in their heart and inwardly so wound and lance their consciences that they could have no rest till they had rid them out of the world But now having dispatched them and made riddance of them they are very crank and jocund vers 11. But after three dayes and a halfe the spirit of life comming from God shall enter into them and they shall stand upon their feet and great feare shall come upon them which saw them Notwithstanding the rage and savage fury of the Pope and his followers yet here is shewed that they could not prevaile as they desired for within three dayes and a halfe that is when the date of Antichrists raigne was expired and the time come that Popery must be disclosed by the light of the Gospell breaking forth there followeth a great alteration For these two Prophets or witnesses are raised up againe For he saith the Spirit of life which came from God shall enter into them and they shall stand upon their feet This may seeme somewhat strange but it is not to be understood that they should be raised up bodily in their persons till the last resurrection but that God would raise up others endued with the same spirit which should mightily defend both the doctrine cause and quarrell which their Predecessors had maintained and sealed with their bloud in whom they should after a sort revive and live againe even as Elias did revive and as it were live againe in John Baptist who is said to be endued with the power and the spirit of Elias as it was foretold by the Prophet and as our Saviour himselfe doth avouch Now blessed be God that we live in these dayes wherein we see with our eyes all
as it were a little before the blowing of the seventh trumpet which presently hereupon is sounded as in the next verses appeareth many should repent and give glory to God The second woe is past behold Vers 14 15. the third woe will come anon And the seventh Angel blew the trumpet and there were great voyces in heaven saying The kingdomes of this world are our Lords and his Christs and he shall reigne for evermore Now cometh the third the last and the greatest woe which is the woe of eternall death upon all the ungodly both in their soules and bodies for ever in the last judgment The second woe was Turcisme and this third wo is the last judgment For it now followeth that the seventh Angel bloweth the last trumpet as our Lord Jesus sware before that when the seventh Angel should blow the trumpet there would be no more time Chap. 10.6 Therefore when we see all things fulfilled which do belong unto the sixth trumpet it remaineth that we should every hour expect and look for the blowing of the seventh trumpet and the end of the world For the holy Ghost telleth us that when the kingdome of the Pope and the Turke shall fall and the Gospel be preached in many nations and kingdomes that then the third woe will come anon that is the last judgment followeth presently upon it Now at the blowing of this seventh trumpet there were great voyces in heaven saying The kingdomes of this world are our Lords and his Christs and hee shall reigne for evermore These voyces in heaven are triumphing voyces of Gods elect who doe exceedingly rejoyce and triumph that the kingdome of Satan and Antichrist is overthrown and that the kingdome of God and of Christ is set up and shall stand for evermore For now all adversary power being overthrown Christ doth deliver up a peaceable kingdom to his Father as it is written Then shall be the end 1 Cor. 1.15 24. when he hath delivered up his peaceable kingdome to God the Father For hee must reigne over the Church militant till he have trod downe all his enemies under his feet and when the Son of God hath subdued all things to himselfe then shall hee be subject to his Father as hee is the Mediator of the Church and yet reign with his Church triumphant for evermore Then the four and twenty elders which sate before God on their seates fell upon their faces Verse 16. and worshipped God Saying Wee give thee thankes Verse 17. O Lord God Almighty which art which wast and which art to come for thou hast received thy great might and hast obtained thy kingdome These four and twenty elders do signifie all the elect both of Jewes and Gentiles Chapt. 4. as wee have heard before which all in most suppliant manner doe worship the onely everlasting God even in the Church triumphant and doe greatly rejoyce and give all praise and glory unto him because now he hath received the kingdome the power and the glory both Pope and Turk and Emperor and all his enemies being subdued under his feet Verse 18. And the Gentiles were angry and thy wrath is come and the time of the dead that they should be judged and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the Prophets and to the saints and to them that fear thy name and to small and great and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth Now he mentioneth the wrath and vengeance which is to be powred forth upon all the wicked at the last day and also the reward of the godly For whereas he saith The Gentiles were angry and thy wrath is come and the time of the dead that they should be judged the sense and meaning is that all the profane enemies of the Church which had their time in which they were angry with Gods people and in their wrath did afflict and vexe them very sore should now be judged and condemned in Gods wrath for now the day of his wrath and vengeance is come wherein hee will destroy them that destroyed the earth and seemed to carry all before them and where also he will give a full recompence of reward to all his faithfull worshippers both small and great both preachers and professors of his Gospel Then the Temple of God was opened in heaven Verse 19. and there was seen in the Temple the ark of his covenant and there were lightnings and voyces and thundrings and earth-quakes and much haile This is a further amplification of that which is set down in this former verse For now hee saith that the Temple of God should be opened in heaven that is an open door and passage should be made through Christ for all the elect to enter into Gods everlasting kingdome and reigne with him and his Angels for evermore By the arke of the Covenant is meant Christ who is said here to be seen in the Temple or kingdome of glory because through his mediation onely in whom the covenant of peace is established with his Church the twenty four elders are made partakers of their crownes and enter in with him and his Angels into the everlasting Temple made without hands and eternall in the heavens But on the contrary here is said that there were lightnings thundrings c. that is most horrible vengeance and wrath powred down upon all reprobates in hell-fire for evermore For when it shall be said to all the faithfull Come yee blessed c. then also shall it be said unto all unbeleevers Goe ye cursed into hell-fire c. Now for warrant of this exposition of the last verse that the Temple in heaven is to be understood of the kingdome of glory look chapter 15. verse 5 6 8. chapt 16. verse 1. The reason hereof is that as the doors of the Temple of Jerusalem being set open Gods people entred in and worshipped so the everlasting gates of the new Jerusalem and celestiall Temple being set open by Christ all the elect do enter in and worship God without wearinesse even as the Angels for evermore That the ark of the covenant is taken for Christ see 2 Sam. 6.2 Psal 78. vers 61 62. This ark of the covenant that is Christ is here seen in the Temple because Christ hath already taken possession of heaven as Mediator and Head of the Church and now doth set open the kingdome of heaven to all beleevers that through him they may have free accesse thereunto as it is written that through him onely we have an entrance unto the Father Eph. 2.28 That by thundrings lightnings earthquakes hail is meant that horrible vengeance and wrath which is powred forth upon all the ungodly see Psal 11. verse 6. Let this briefly suffice to satisfie the conscience of the reader And thus much concerning the second vision contained in these eight chapters going before wherein we have heard all things expounded that doe belong unto the opening of the seven seales and
men But here specially it meaneth the Apostles and their successors yea and at this day all Christian kings princes and potentates of the earth and all others which take part with Christ against the Divell and his instruments Well here wee see that these two Generals and grand Captains Michael and the Dragon doe muster both their armies joyn battell and fight a pitched field the event and successe whereof is this that the Dragon and his Angels goe downe O blessed successe may wee say For if the Divell had prevailed it had been woe to us sith this battell was about and concerning the very salvation of mankind by Christs death and resurrection We know how the Divell set upon Christ alone to tempt him unto sinne that so hee might overthrow the worke of our redemption supposing in this combat or monomachie to have got the day but he prevailed not Afterward how strongly did hee oppugne him by his Angels I mean the Scribes and Pharisees the high Priests and Elders of the people yea all the Divels in hell and his whole infernall army not only in murthering and crucifying his naturall body but also in using all forcible and cunning meanes to keepe him downe that hee might never rise up again as the great stone upon his tomb the sealing of it the watch set to keep it For the Divell knew right well that if Christ rose againe he should lose the field For the resurrection of Christ is our actuall justification And Christ was mightily declared to be the Sonne of God by his resurrection from the dead Rom. 4.25 Well doe the Dragon and his angels what they can yet Christ is risen again and hath spoiled principalities and powers yea all the infernall army and hath made a shew of them openly and hath led them all in triumph upon his crosse so that we see in this first and greatest battell the Divell hath the foyle And it is further said that this Divell and all his angels were cast out of heaven and their place was no more found which is not to be understood of their first casting out of heaven immediately after their creation for at that time they were no Divels nor enemies to the Church but Angels of light but now since their fall and since they were Divels they are said to be cast out of heaven not because they ever came in heaven since they were Divels but because they can no longer impeach the Church touching her blessed estate in heaven They are without all hope to dispossesse her of her inheritance for that is ratified made sure unto her in the death and resurrection of Christ And for this cause it is said that the Divell hath no more to doe in heaven that is hee cannot for his heart overthrow the salvation of Gods children Rom. 8.33 For who can lay any thing to the charge of Gods chosen It is God that justifieth who shall condemn It is Christ which is dead yea or rather which is risen againe c. True it is indeed that this battell is said to be in heaven that is about heavenly things yea about the highest points of heaven which is salvation or damnation for the Divell upon this very point hath from the beginning mightily wrestled and struggled with the Church and doth even untill this day but blessed be God that hee cannot nor shall not prevail against any one of Gods elect For our Lord Jesus saith I give unto them eternall life John 10.28 and they shall never perish neither shall any take them out of my hand my Father which gave them mee is greater then all Neither shall any pluck them out of my hand Againe All that the Father giveth mee shall come unto me And this is the Fathers will which hath sent me that of all which hee hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up againe at the last day Now further wee are to observe that as Christ in his own person hath once prevailed in the main battell against the Divell so his Church militant shall likewise alwaies prevail through him For it is written The gates of hell shall not prevail against it Mat. 16. Verse 9. And the great Dragon that old serpent called the Divel and Satan was cast out which deceived all the world He was even cast into the earth and his Angels were cast out with him Now because the divel cannot overthrow the salvation of Gods elect he is said to be cast out of heaven into the earth that is amongst earthly and carnall men that he may exercise his tyranny and wreak his malice upon them For he hath power given him to tyrannize over them at his pleasure and the Apostle saith Ephes 2. he worketh in the children of disobedience and taketh him captive to do his will Then I heard a loud voyce in heaven saying Verse 10. Now is salvation and strength and the kingdome of our God and the power of his Christ for the accuser of our brethren is cast downe which accused them before God day and night Here is the triumphant song of victory which all the Saints and Angels do sing unto God praising and magnifying his power and the power of his Son Christ for overcoming the Dragon and giving the victory to the Church through Christ For now with great joy and loud voices they sing and say that the Churches salvation is sealed and made sure unto her for ever It can never be shaken The divell is foiled and cast down into the earth These songs of joy after great victories are of great antiquity in the Church as we read of the children of Israel after the overthrow of Pharaoh and his army in the red sea of Deborah after the great victory over Sisera of the women that sung after the victory of Goliah by David The Divell is called the accusey of the brethren for two causes First because hee accuseth Gods elect of much sinne and calleth for justice against them day and night at Gods hands that they might be condemned upon such articles as he is able to prove against them for hee knowing right well that the Judge of all the world is a just God and must needs deale uprightly doth daily urge him to doe justice unto sinners being willingly ignorant that all Gods people though sinners are cleared and discharged in Christ Another reason is because of the calumniations reproaches and slanders which in all ages at all times and in all places and countries he hath alwayes unjustly raised up against the true worshippers of God Verse 11. But they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives unto the death Here is shewed that the Churches victory over Satan and hell is not through any power or might of her owne but by the blood of the Lamb and the word of the testimony that is the word of God
which they witnesse professe love and stick unto even unto death Verse 12. Therefore rejoyce ye heavens and ye that dwell in them Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea for the Divell is come downe unto you which hath great wrath knowing that he hath but a short time Here againe the Saints and Angels and all the blessed company of heaven are called upon and exhorted to rejoyce because the Divell and his angels are cast out and the elect have the victory over him through the blood of the Lamb and because the salvation of the Church is sealed up and God onely reigneth through Christ Which all are matters of so great moment that not onely the Church militant is stirred up to rejoyce herein but even the Church triumphant also that is the spirits of just and perfect men But on the contrary here is fearfull woe denounced against the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea that is all Papists Atheists worldlings and reprobates For sith hee cannot have his will of the Church yet hee will have his will and wreak his malice upon them by hardning their hearts and blinding their eyes and making them his slaves and vassals to fight for his kingdome against Christ against his Church against all goodnesse and all good men Therefore is added why the Divell is in such a rage with the world and cometh upon them in so great wrath and fury to wit because hee hath but a short time that is because his kingdome draweth to an end therefore he doth so bestir him Verse 13. And when the Dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth he persecuted the woman which had brought forth the man child Now the Divell seeing himselfe cast out of heaven so as he cannot impeach the salvation of the Church he raiseth up horrible persecutions against her by his instruments here in the earth labouring to root her out if it were possible for being overcome of the head he doth now with might and main set upon the body and what horrible storms he hath in all ages specially in these last daies raised up and daily doth raise up against the Church both the Scriptures and all Church-stories do abundantly declare Verse 14. But to the woman were given two wings of a great Eagle that she might flye into the wildernesse into her place where she is nourished for a time and times and halfe a time from the presence of the Serpent These two wings do signifie all the waies and means of evasion which God gave to his Church when he delivered her from the hands of her pursuers and persecuters and also her swift flight from them and all their malicious practises For although the Church cannot absolutely fly from the presence of the Divell with her Eagles wings being so unspeakably swift as he is yet after a sort shee is said to fly from him and his presence when the power of the tyrants and persecuters which he raised up cannot overtake her to murder and kill her But as touching her flight to the wildernesse and her lodging and nourishment there by Gods providence in the middest of all penury and extremity wee have sufficiently heard before in the sixth verse and therefore here I surcease to speak any further of it As concerning the space and continuance of her nourishment in the wildrenesse which is here set downe to be a time and times and halfe a time it is the same with the thousand two hundred and threescore dayes mentioned in the sixth verse and the twenty four moneths mentioned chap. 11. verse 2. and the three dayes and an halfe mentioned chap. 11. verse 6. as before hath been shewed And the Serpent cast out of his mouth water after the woman like a floud Verse 15. that he might cause her to be carried away of the floud Now the Church being secretly hid and nourished by Gods providence in the wildernesse so as the Divell and his instruments cannot find her out or come at her hee taketh another course and casteth about another way to annoy her and that is by casting a floud of water after her to drown her withall whereby is meant the innumerable lies reproaches and slanders which hee raised up by sundry hereticks against her in all ages as the Arrians Donatists Papists and such like and all to bring her into the hatred of Princes Potentates and all that were in love with her that sith otherwise he could not prevaile against her yet at least he might utterly sink her in this gulf of reproaches Verse 16. But the earth holp the woman and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the floud which the Dragon had cast out of his mouth The same God which first delivered the Church from the violence and fury of Satan and afterwards cast him out of heaven and gave her victory over him and after that again miraculously hid her and preserved her in the wildernesse doth not now at a dead lift forsake her nor suffer her to be drowned in this floud of reproaches and unjust calumniations which the Dragon cast up after her but causeth the earth to help her and to swallow up the floud That is he useth all creatures in the earth to help his Church and not only so but also he stirreth up many earthly and carnall men to defend the Church and to take part with her against her enemies as sometimes hee did Cyrus Ebedmelech Nebuzaradan Gamaliel and sundry others whose power and policie hee used for the good of his Church and for the drying up of that floud of reproaches which Satan hath in all ages cast up against her And God be thanked we see at this day that this floud of slanders and calumnies which Papists and Atheists cast out against the Church and her particular members doe dry up daily and shall dry up more and more being drunk in by the earth And the Church doth stand still unmoveable and shall stand and continue even unto the end of the world Then the Dragon was wroth with the woman Verse 17. and went and made warre with the remnant of her seed which kept the commandements of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ Here we see there is no end of the Divels malice he is infatigable in mischief though he have never so many foiles yet he will never give over but begin again For whereas he could not prevaile against the woman to cast her out of heaven by impeaching her election and salvation in Christ nor yet root her out of the earth by persecutions being hid in the wildernesse and locked up in the privie chamber of Gods providence as sometimes young Joash was locked up in the Priests chamber from the fury of Athalia 2 King 11.2 now hee goeth another way to work and setteth upon her in her seed and posterity which remain in the earth unto this day So that now sith he cannot do what
above all things in this world but also did reach even to heaven and hell For they imagined that the Pope might carry to heaven whom hee would and whom he would he might cast down to hell And therefore who could warre with the beast And thus we see the reason of their wonderment and of their speech All stories and experience it self do shew that there was never any power in the world so wondred at as the usurped power and majestie of the Pope after hee came to bee the head of the Roman Monarchy For then the world supposed that hee had power even as God and that he might depose and set up Kings and Emperors at his pleasure Then it is clear that under the dominion of the Popes Rome hath been in her highest exaltation and glory For the Papacy was the seventh head of the beast whereby the Whore of Babylon was supported in her most magnificall pomp and pride Verse 5. And there was given unto him a mouth that spake great things and blasphemies and power was given unto him to doe fourty two moneths And hee opened his mouth unto blasphemy against God to blaspheme his Name Verse 6. and his Tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven Here are set down the proud and blasphemous speeches both of the old and new Roman Empire and of the old and new Roman Emperors For this beast as I said before comprehendeth all the Roman Empire both under the heathen Emperors and the Popes Touching the great things and blasphemies which the old persecuting Emperors have belched out against the God of heaven it would require a volume to set them down in particulars I will therefore onely mention two or three for examples sake As first that of Caius Caligula which would have his image set up in Temples to be worshipped as God and that the people should swear by his name Nero also did openly blaspheme the Name of Christ required divine honour to be given unto him Domitian commanded that hee should be called God and Lord. Many others required the like things and so all the world wondred and worshipped this blasphemous beast Now as the sixth head which was the old Empire of Rome was full of the names of blasphemy so the seventh head which is the new Empire under the dominion of the Popes which he here chiefly speaketh of did most of all blaspheme For the Pope did challenge to himself all power both in heaven and earth hee would be worshipped as God hee usurped authority over the Word of God hee did take upon him to forgive sins hee did most blasphemously incroach upon all the offices of Christ as King Priest and Prophet he hath commanded the Angels hee hath erected blasphemous images and caused pictures to be made of the Godhead he boasteth and cracketh great things of his papall power of Peters keyes of Peters chair of Peters succession of his miracles of his two swords and of his manifold prerogatives royall One of the Popes poysoned his god another cast his god into the fire another would eat his peacock in despite of God Some of them counted the religion of Christ a tale or fable some drank to the Divell some said they could do as much as God It were infinite to set down all their blasphemies for it is said of the whore of Babylon that she was full of the names of blasphemy Let this suffice for the understanding of this text that as the old heathenish Emperors did blaspheme so the Popes being heads of the Empire did most of all blaspheme And as it is here said they did not only blaspheme the Name of God but also did open their black and blasphemous mouthes against his tabernacle that is his Church calling it a company of hereticks schismaticks apostates and such like and also against them that dwell in heaven that is the spirits of just and perfect men which are in heaven as Luther Calvin Melancthon and such like Moreover it is to be noted that this mouth was given unto this monstrous beast thus to blaspheme and speak great things But this is to be understood that it was given in the wrath and just judgment of God upon the world to plague them withall because they regarded not the knowledge of the truth But it is added that this power of the beast thus to work his actions was limited to 42 moneths so that although he rule and rage for a time yet shall he not long continue And it was given unto him to make war with the Saints and to overcome them Verse 7. and power was given unto him over every kindred and tongue and nation Verse 8. Therefore all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb which was slain from the beginning of the world These two verses doe set forth the great power which was given to this beast both in fighting agaiâ—st Gods people and also overcoming of them and murthering of them by heaps As we read of thousands murthered in the first ten persecutions and ten thousands by the Popes since they came to exercise the civill authority and jurisdiction of the Roman Empire and that in all countries and kingdoms of Europe as it is here said that power was given unto him over every kindred and tongue and nation And it is added that all that dwell upon the earth that is all the subjects of the Roman Monarchy shall worship the beast and make a God of him as we read they have done And the chiefe motive thereof was his blasphemous mouth boasting and threatning great things if any did withstand him and also his mighty power and authoritie whereby hee bare down all before him For if any did mutine against him hee was sure to smart for it And thus through his tyrannicall power hee subdued all nations under him and made them stoup and fall downe and worship him But it followeth that for all this none of Gods elect did worship him or submit themselves to his religion and authority but only those that dwell upon the earth that is earthly men as Papists Atheists and Reprobates and all such whose names are not written in the book of life Christ is called the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world because the saving power of his death was from the beginning of all beleevers although he was not actually exhibited untill the fulnesse of time If any man have an ear let him hear Vers 9 10. If any lead into captivity hee shall goe into captivity if any kill with a sword hee must be killed by a sword Here is the patience and the faith of the Saints Here is shewed that the things spoken of this great beast are very secret and mysticall and can be understood of none but those only whose eares and eyes God openeth to hear and see and understand that is the very elect of God as for all papists and
worldlings their ears and eyes are sealed and shut up they cannot understand them but doe still worship the beast ascribing unto him divine power and honour In the tenth verse the judgment and vengeance of God is denounced against the Roman Monarchy both former and later which as it hath long oppressed the Church with cruell bondage and drawne thousands into perpetuall captivity so it selfe also should be cast down with all the adherents thereof both in this life and that which is to come For as the Roman Empire did tyrannize over the world led millions into spirituall captivity and bondage so here it is avouched that according to the just law of quittance it should be brought to the same lore And as this beast had murdered many by the sword so hee himself must be murdered by the sword also as the Apostle saith 2 Thes 1.6 God is just and therefore will recompence tribulation to them that trouble his Church Now all this seemeth unto mee to be a cleer prophesie of the fall and finall destruction of the Roman Empire which indeed considering the pitch that it was at may seem a thing strange and incredible and therefore the holy Ghost stirreth us up to attention in the 9th verse as to a thing of great wonderment and admiration for if the Roman Monarchy fall the Papacy must of necessity fall with it For the Roman Empire is that beast which beareth up the whore of Babylon as appeareth in the seventeenth chapter of this Prophesie where wee shall God willing plainly and at large hear of the joint destruction of them both together It is added Here is the patience and the faith of the saints That is here is required great patience of all Gods children to wait tarry till the performance and accomplishment of those things and also faith and full assurance to beleeve that they shall in Gods appointed time come to passe For few do beleeve these things therfore wait not with patience for the accomplishment thereof And I beheld another beast coming out of the earth which had two horns like a lamb Verse 11. but he spake like the dragon Having described the first beast which is the Roman Empire now the holy Ghost cometh to describe the second beast which is the Papacy or the kingdome of the great Antichrist for although he be described before in regard of his Monarchy that is the civill jurisdiction which he exercised as he was the seventh head of the beast and head of the Empire yet here he is described after another sort that is according to this ecclesiasticall authority and therefore he is called another beast or a beast differing from the former in that he exerciseth another power beside the power of the heathen Emperors of Rome which is his spirituall jurisdiction in which respect he is called the false prophet The second beast riseth out of the earth as the former rose out of the sea then it appeareth that Antichrist is by his breed a son of the earth obscurely born and by little little creeping up out of his abject estate as did the Turk It is here most truly said that the kingdome of Antichrist ariseth out of the earth and is the very breed of the earth for assuredly it never came from heaven It was first hatched out of covetousnesse ambition pride murders treasons poysoning sorceries enchantments and such like For all stories do shew that from these roots the Papacy grew to his exceeding height and altitude This second beast hath two horns like the Lamb Whereby is meant his Civil and Ecclesiastical power or his Kingdom Priesthood which hee falsly pretended to come from the Lamb and therefore he giveth in his armes two keyes and hath two swords carried before him So Boniface the eighth shewed himself one day in apparel as a Pope and the next day in armour as the Emperor and the two horns in the Popes Mitre are signes hereof But the holy Ghost here telleth us that these two hornes are not the horns of the Lamb but only like the horns of the Lamb for he received not his power from the Lamb Christ but from the Divell that is the Dragon with ten hornes Then thus it is The Papacy is the seventh head of the first beast that is the Empire and yet a beast by it selfe with two horns like the Lamb in respect of his joint power and authority both Ecclesiasticall and Civill in which respect he is called even the Eighth and one of the seven chap. 17.11 Although this second beast have two horns like the Lambe yet he spake like the Dragon that is all his words and works practises and proceedings lawes and decrees are for the Dragon of whom hee hath his power and throne and great authority So that whatsoever he pretendeth in religion and matters of Gods worship as though hee would be like the Lamb yet assuredly hee is altogether for the Dragon and the Divell hee is assured unto them as all experience doth manifestly witnesse Verse 12. And he did all that the first beast could do before him and he caused the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed Here is shewed that this second beast was as mighty and strong as the first beast and could doe as much as hee even in his presence Whereby is noted the great power and authority of the Papacy in performing as much in the service of the Dragon against God and his Church as ever the Empire of the heathen and those wicked Emperors could doe yea hee did much more against Christ and his religion then ever the persecuting Emperors could doe even then when they were at their highest pitch And all this hee did in his presence that is in the sight and open view of the whole Empire or whole world And he caused the earth and them that dwell therein that is all Papists and worldlings to worship the first beast that is to receive the worship and religion of the old Roman tyranny which set up and maintained idolatry so then although the power in the Papacy came under the name of Christ yet in truth it was the same with the power of the persecuting Empire for the heathen Emperors condemned the true worship of God and set up false worship even the worship of Divels which is idolatry so do the Popes also So then wee see that this second beast is all for the first beast that is he levyeth all his power and authority to set up the worship and religion of the old Roman tyrants and to force all men by cruell lawes and decrees to receive and embrace the same So this second beast is nothing better then the first nay in truth a great deale worse And he did great wonders Ver. 13 14. so that hee made fire to come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men And deceiveth them that dwell on
the earth by the signes which were permitted him to doe in the sight of the beast saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make the image of the beast which had the wound of a sword and did live These two verses containe two speciall things the one is the false and fained miracles of Antichrist the other is the cursed effect thereof To the first which is the wonders and miracles which Antichrist should work it is here said that hee should make fire to come downe from heaven as Elias did The meaning whereof is not that the Pope could indeed cause fire to come down from heaven as Elias did but in the opinion of the blind world they seemed to have as great power as Elias had For partly by counterfeit miracles and partly by some strange things done by the power of Sathan the seduced world hath verily beleeved that the Pope and his Clergy had as great power to work miracles as ever had Elias Touching the second thing which is the effect of these wonders It is here said that the inhabitants of the earth that is Papists and worldlings were grossely deceived and deluded by them even by those lying wonders which were permitted him to do in the sight of the beast that is in the face and open view of the Empire According as the Apostle fore-told 2 Thes 2. that the coming of Antichrist should be by the effectuall working of Sathan with all power and signs and lying wonders and in all deceiveablenesse of unrighteousnesse among them that perish c. But concerning the Popish counterfeit signes and wonders it is needlesse to write being so well known unto all men as they are and so common and notorious in all stories Saying to them that dwell on the earth Verse 14. that they should make the image of the beast which had the wound of a sword and did live Now Antichrist having gotten the world under him by his counterfeit miracles doth lay his commandement on them to make the image of the beast Now what is here meant by the image of the beast is somewhat hard to discuss some think that by the image of the beast which had the wound of the sword and did live is meant the repairing and the restoring of the decayed estate of the Empire by the Popes to his full strength and vertue Wee do read that the estate of the Empire under Nero Otho Galba and Vitellius was weak and feeble in comparison of that which was before under Augustus Tiberius and Claudius We doe read also that the Gothes and Vandals made horrible rents and dissipations in the Roman Empire We do further read that the Empire was divided and rent in pieces so that there was the Emperor of the East and the Emperor of the West yea at last the Empire of the West fell quite down so that for the space of 300 yeares and more there was no Emperor of the West till the Bishop of Rome Leo the third made Charles the great the king of France Emperor Then was the Empire of the West again erected and in time grew to as great a height under the dominion of the Popes as before yea far greater Now I say some do take this restoring of the decayed estate of the Empire by the Popes to his former strength and power to be the making of the image of the beast which had the wound of a sword and did live But for my own part I cannot be of that opinion and my reason is that the restoring of the decayed estate of the Empire to his former condition was the setting up of the beast himself for the Empire is the beast and not the image of the beast for wee must needs grant that the beast and the image of the beast are two severall things But the Popes in recovering the Empire to his pristine estate set up the beast againe and therefore not the image of the beast Therefore the image of the beast cannot be understood of the restauration of the decayed estate of the Empire Besides this it is here said that the inhabitants of the earth had a great hand in the making this image But the inhabitants of the earth bare small sway in the recovering and erection of the Empire For therein the Popes were all in all after it came into their hand Therefore this cannot be understood of the Empire but of some other things let us then diligently search out what may be the true meaning of this place It must needs be granted that by the beast which had the wound of a sword and did live is meant the recovered estate of the Empire as before ver 12. And by the image thereof I understand the form of government for an image doth signifie a likenesse a similitude a figure or form of a thing And as in all civill and ecclesiasticall regiments there is both a substance and a form a matter and a maner so here having before set down that Antichrist had erected the substance and matter of the Roman tyranny now he sheweth that he would also set up the image and form of the same For before ver 12. it is said that Antichrist this second beast caused the world to worship the first beast that is to receive and imbrace the lawes worship and religion of the old heathenish Roman tyrants as before hath been shewed now here is added that he did not content himself with causing the inhabitants of the earth to worship the old beast in the substance of his religion but also hee layeth commandements upon them to make his image that is to erect an externall forme of Ecclesiasticall government after the very pattern and forme of the government of the old Empire yea so like it that it is called the very image of the same For as the form of government under the old Emperors was cruel and tyrannicall and altogether bent against the Church so the forme of Ecclesiasticall government under the Popes was cruell and tyrannicall and altogether bent against the Church and therefore here it is called the image of it for it is as like it as it can look Then it followeth that Antichrist hath set up that externall forme of worship which the idolatrous Romans of old used and that he hath renewed the persecuting Empire not onely in substance of matter but also in forme of government and therefore I conclude that the Popish Church policy and externall regiment is the very image of the beast Here the inhabitants of the earth are said to make the image of the beast because they gave their consent to the making of it for indeed the Popes themselves were the chief agents and doers of it Verse 15. And it was permitted unto him to give a spirit unto the image of the beast so that the image of the beast should speake and should cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed
men and bought from the earth as it is said before that is they are redeemed and bought with a price from the currupt lump of mankind and cursed race of Adam that they might be the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb that is wholly consecrated to his worship and to serve him in righteousnesse and true holinesse all the daies of their life In their mouthes was found no guile that is they do declare their innocency and uprightnesse both in their words and works as those which Christ hath chosen out of this world and bought with a price through his bloud in whom they are without spot or speck before God Verse 6. Then I saw another Angel flye in the middest of heaven having an everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth and to every nation and kindred and tongue and people Saying with a loud voyce Fear God Verse 7. and give glory to him for the hour of his judgement is come and worship him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountaines of waters Hitherto the holy Ghost hath taught us how the Church was preserved under the tyranny of Antichrist and greatest waves of persecutions and that even then they did purely and faithfully worship the true God Now he proceedeth to foreshew the ruine and downefall of Antichrist and plainly to prophesie the utter decay of the kingdome of Babel This doctrine therefore wee are to hearken unto with great attention and cheerfulnesse because it doth so much concerne our good and the good of the whole Church also because wee live in the dayes wherein we see it is in part fulfilled First therefore wee are to understand what is meant by this Angel here mentioned to wit not any celestiall Angel or invisible spirit as it is sundry times taken before but by this Angel and the two Angels following are meant all the faithfull ministers of the Gospel which should be raised up in these last dayes for the overthrow of Rome and the delivering of the Church from under the captivity of Antichrist which may plainly appeare by this that is said this Angel preacheth the everlasting Gospel unto them that dwell on the earth which cannot properly agree to the celestiall spirits We have heard out of the tenth chapter that Jesus Christ did open the little book which is the Bible and did give authority to his faithfull ministers to goe preach and publish the doctrine thereof to many nations Chap. 10.11 countries and kingdomes now unto that agreeth this which is here spoken of and is a further opening and declaring of that which is there set downe For as there Jesus Christ cometh downe from heaven and openeth the little book which had been long shut up under the darknesse of Popery and the smoak which came out of the bottomlesse pit so here Christ Jesus raised up his faithfull ministers and preachers to publish and proclaime the doctrine of the Gospel which had long lain hidden under outragious persecutions of the two monstrous and most hideous beasts To this also agreeth that which is written in the eighteenth chapter of this book where Saint John seeth an Angel come down from heaven having great power so that the earth was lightened with his glory By which Angel is meant all the preachers of this age And the Angel is said to have great power for what is more powerfull then the ministery of the word And moreover it is said that the earth was lightened with his glory that is with the brightness of the preaching of the Gospel whereby the darknesse of Popery was dispersed and driven away and Babylon falleth upon it as there you may read and as here wee shall see the like effect by and by Moreover it is here said that this Angel flyeth in the middest of heaven that is very swiftly carryeth this everlasting Gospel through all the Church For when Gods appointed time was come wherein hee would goe about the overthrow of Popery hee caused his everlasting Gospel to be set abroach and to spread over many kingdomes and nations as we see this day Now because those kingdoms where God would have the knowledge of his Gospel divulged were many and great therefore here is expedition required and this Angel doth carry it not standing but flying And all this we see perfectly fulfilled with our eys when God raised up Luther Zuinglius Melancthon Peter Viret Calvin Bucer Bullinger Peter Martyr and all their worthy successors unto this day which have spread the everlasting Gospel very far and carried it very swiftly over England Scotland Germany Denmark Polonia Swevia Russia and many parts of France and Flanders Another reason why this Angell is said to flie in the middest of heaven is because no power of man shall ever be able to stay the course of this everlasting Gospel which this Angel carrieth abroad no more then men are able to stop the course of the Sun in the heavens or a cloud in the skie For this Angel flyeth in the midst of heaven far above the reach of the beast and all kings and potentates that stand for the kingdome of the beast Therefore let them doe all what they can they shall never be able to stop the course of the Gospel for it is called the arm of God and his very arm holdeth it forth to the world and who is able to bend it in or to turne it backward There be three reasons why the Gospel is called everlasting First because it is in his own nature everlasting as it is written 1 Pet. 1.25 The word of the Lord endureth for ever Secondly because it putteth us in possession of everlasting things as it is written Thy word O Lord Psal 119. endureth for ever in heaven Thirdly and principally because as it was long before Antichrist was hatched so it shall continue when he and his kingdome is dead and rotten Saying with a loud voice Fear God Verse 7. and give glory unto him c. Here is set down the doctrine which this Angel preacheth with a loud voice that is with great zeale The sum whereof is this Fear God and give glory unto him and worship him that made heaven and earth c. The sence is that the true and everliving God should onely be feared and worshipped and all glory should be given unto him alone through Christ and none to Antichrist none to Cardinals and Legats none to Angels none to Saints none to images roodes crosses and crucifixes Here then is set downe an abridgement of the doctrine of this everlasting Gospel namely that men should onely feare God and worship him and give all glory to him alone and not to any creature And the reason is yeelded because the houre of his judgement is come that is the time of the manifestation of the Gospel or lawes of the most high God for so the word Judgement is often taken in the Scriptures Here are wee to
a beast by themselves that is an eighth in respect of their ecclesiasticall power Now the Angel saith flatly they shall both go together into destruction that is both the Empire and the Papacy For as the dominion of the Popes goeth down so also their worship and religion goeth down with it and for this cause it is expressely set down in the nineteenth chapter that the beast and the false Prophet that is Chap. 19 2â— the Roman Empire and the Papacy were both destroyed together Sith then the holy Ghost hath spoken it twice for failing that Rome shall go into perdition and shall go into destruction I take it to be a very sound consequence that Rome shall fall and shal be destroyed But how shall it fall may some man say Or wherein shall it fall I answer that it shall fall in the credit and estimation of her doctrine How Rome shall fall it shall fall in wealth and riches it shall fall in power and authority And in all these it shall fall by degrees as it did rise up by degrees it shall not fall at once as it did not rise up at once Chap. 16.12 This is set down in the sixteenth chapter where the fall of Rome is compared to the drying up of the river Euphrates which was dryed up by degrees Thus it is Euphrates was a great river which did run very neer unto the old Babylon in Chaldea and it was the wall and fortification of the city in so much that Cyrus and Darius the kings of the Medes and Persians laying siege against it could not take it till by policy they digged water trenches and turned the waters another way and so dryed them up that the holy Ghost saith The way was prepared for them to passe over Now as this Euphrates was the strength and fortification of old Babylon so the honour wealth riches power and authority of Rome is the very fortification of it Chap. 16.12 But the punishing Angel is commanded to powre down the vial of wrath upon this Euphrates that is upon all that upholdeth or fortifieth Rome and forthwith it dried up that is all the credit power riches and authority of Rome did diminish daily doth diminish and shall diminish by degrees unto the end of the world For the utter destruction of Rome is not yet come but it is greatly decayed from that it was fourscore yeers ago and if it continue decaying eighteen yeers more as assuredly it shall then will it be brought to a low ebb Since Luthers time we know how the Popes Euphrates hath dryed up but there is yet much water left and it is yet too deep for the kings of the earth to passe over and take it But it shall ebb so low that the kings of Europe shall easily passe over and take it as wee shall heare anon But in the mean time we see that it falleth and that it is in falling and the work of God goeth forward every day For now in this age God be thanked many Kings and Princes with great multitudes of their subjects have their eyes opened to behold that the Romish religion is abominable and that the Papacy is the very kingdom of the great Antichrist And whereas before they worshipped the beast The kings of the earth in this age renounce the Pope now they hold up their hands only to the God of heaven and glorifie him in his Son Jesus Christ Now wee see that many lawes are made in sundry kingdomes and provinces to abolish that usurped power of the Bishop of Rome Many acts edicts and injunctions are set forth in sundry nations and kingdomes of Europe to destroy root out and deface all monuments of idolatry and superstition which Antichrist had erected in all kingdomes Now the Popes which were honoured as gods in the earth are counted and adjudged as the most vile and abominable creatures that live upon the earth Doth not all this experimentally shew that Babylon is fallen and that Babylon doth fall by degrees It is very palpable wee need no further proofe for this second point But here wee are further to observe that the Jesuites perceiving the great decay of Rome and the continuall drying of their Euphrates do bestir them to stop the leake The Jesuites bestir them and why that it might not dry up altogether Even as when men let out the waters of great fish-ponds so as the water waxeth low we see the fishes skip and plunge and take on wonderfully So the Jesuites perceiving the waters of their Romish Euphrates to empaire and dry up daily do mightily take on digging and searching every day to open the springs and to find out some fresh fountains to maintain their great fish-pond and to keep the waters deep enough that there may be no safe passage over for the kings of the earth to come and take their great Babylon All this doth appear out of the 16th chapter of this Prophecie where S. John in a vision seeth three unclean spirits like frogs Chap. 16.13 coming out of the mouth of the Dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false Prophet By which frogs the holy Ghost meaneth the Jesuites and seminary Priests The Jesuites compared to frogs and why which are compared to frogs for three reasons First that as frogs delight in filthy lakes and puddles so the Jesuites delight in the filthy puddles of idolatry and superstition Secondly as frogs make a great croaking in their marish grounds so the Jesuites make a great croaking in kings Courts in Noblemens houses and Gentlemens houses and almost every where where they can get any entertainment croaking and cracking of the Popes supremacy the Popes holinesse the Popes blessing the Popes keyes the Popes power Peters chair Peters successors Christs vicar and many good morrows I know not what Thirdly as frogs are all of one nature and quality delighting in croaking and living in puddles so the Jesuites are all of one mind and disposition in evill croaking every where to maintain their Euphrates and living daily in whoredome Sodomitry and all kind of outragious beastlinesse But that I may more fully perswade the conscience of the reader that by these frogs are meant the Jesuites and seminary Priests let us seriously weigh that which goeth before and that which followeth after in this text and we shall discern it to be very cleer and apparant First it is said Chap. 16.10 verse 10. that when the fifth Angel powred out his viall of Gods wrath upon the throne of the beast by and by his kingdome waxed darke that is the majestie power pomp credit and estimation of Antichrist began to be diminished obscured and to suffer a great eclipse which thing was fulfilled shortly after Luthers preaching And presently it followeth that they gnawed their tongues for sorrow that is they were full of fury and rage barking and grinning like mad dogs or rather like
hel-hounds against all such as set the Gospel abroach whereby their Babylon began to shake For at the first when the Gospel began to peep forth they did despise it as a thing which they could easily suppresse but within a short time they found that neither by excommunication wherewith in former times they had even as it were with lightning and thunder caused kings and nations to tremble neither by force of wars and bloudy slaughters neither by any skill in learning nor by treacheries they could any thing prevaile but that the Gospel did still more and more lay open their filthinesse and shame then did they become and so do they continue unto this day even as mad-men in sorrow and rage which the holy Ghost expresseth in saying Chap. 16.11 that they gnawed their tongues for sorrow and blasphemed God c. whereby it is evident that the beast and all that received his mark are full of fiery hatred and malice and cannot tell which way to be revenged For the more they strive the more they lose Faine would they have Popery restored to his ancient credit and dignity and they devise what they can to bring it about but it will not be For their kingdome waxeth darker and darker weaker and weaker and that is a dagger unto them and a griefe of all griefe which maketh them gnaw their tongues and gnash their teeth for sorrow Chap. 16.11 But yet for all this they repented not of their works saith Saint John and therefore God is more incensed against them and causeth the sixth Angel to powr out another viall upon the great river Euphrates and the water thereof dryed up as wee have heard Now then observe carefully Note this and note it diligently that the frogs came forth upon the darkning of the kingdome of the beast and the drying up of their Euphrates For who knoweth not the Pope and his complices perceiving the weakening and diminishing of their kingdom have sent out these Jesuits and seminary Priests into all parts of Europe to repair the ruines of Rome if it were possible and this is one circumstantiall reason to prove these three frogs to be understood of the Jesuites But let us proceed to open the whole description of the holy Ghost that it may yet more plainly appear First Chap. 16.13 these frogs are called unclean spirits because they are the very limbs of the Divell full of all filthinesse and uncleannesse Secondly they are called spirits because they come out of the mouth of the Dragon the beast and the false prophet Thirdly they are called three in number being in truth neerer three thousand because they proceed out of three severall mouthes the Dragon the beast and the false prophet that is the Divell the Roman Empire and the Papacy three horrible monsters three terrible bug bears which with one consent conspire together against the Gospel to uphold their Babylon and to stop the leak of their Euphrates Now these three frogs are said to come out of the mouth of the Dragon the beast and the false prophet because they come with the very minde and message of the Pope and the Roman Empire and so consequently with the very mind and spirit of the Dragon For they are the very breath of the Pope and the spirits of the Divels as like him as if they had been spit out of his mouth They are sent on the Divels errand and the Popes embassage into all countries and kingdomes and are taught their lesson what they shall say and instructed what they shall doe and what courses they shall take with men both kings Nobles and the meaner sort and for this cause the holy Ghost saith they came out of the very mouth the very heart and the very bowels of the Pope and of the Divell And although these Jesuits and seminary Priests are called of the favourites Catholick Doctors The holy Ghost calleth the Jesuits the spirits of Divels Chap. 16.14 holy Fathers c. yet the holy Ghost saith flatly they are the spirits of Divels working false and fained miracles and with great efficacy of error deluding and deceiving the simple and blind multitude We see then that the holy Ghost in all this description doth plainly note out the Jesuites and seminary Priests for to whom can these things here spoken of agree but onely to them And do not wee which live in these dayes sensibly see and discern the fulfilling of all these things Surely wee cannot but see and feel them unlesse wee be wilfully blind and do of purpose blind-fold hoodwink our selves But the holy Ghost goeth yer further and doth more fully and as it were demonstratively point them out unto us describing them by their office which is to go unto the kings of the earth Verse 14. and of the whole world to gather them to the battell of that great day of God almighty Who is ignorant that the Jesuites and seminary Priests are sent out to all Kings and Nobles of the whole world that favour them and their proceedings Are they not croaking in corners thick and threefold in all parts of this land Are they not practising of treacheries and treasons against our most gracious King and the whole state Are they not plotting the destruction and subversion of this Church common-wealth Nay as the holy Ghost saith the chiefe end of their coming abroad is to solicite gather the kings of the earth unto battell against God against Christ and against all true professors of religion The battell betwixt them is here called The battell of the great day of God almighty that is that battell wherein the Almighty God will have the day and goe away with the victory For it followeth The Jesuites by their crafty perswasions shall bring the popish kings and their armies to a place where they shall be destroyed that the Jesuites and seminary Priests did prevaile with the seduced kings of the earth so far as to gather them together to a place which in Hebrew is called Armageddon that is to say a place where they shall be destroyed and that with such an horrible slaughter that the place shall take a name thereof For it was an usuall thing among the Hebrews to call the place where any famous thing fell out by a name which did report the same to all posterity as Kibroth Hataavah Numb 11. the graves of Concupiscence Hamon Gog Ezek. 39. the multitude of Gog and divers such like And so here Armageddon the destruction of an army because the kings of the earth and their armies which shall fight against the Church at the instigation of the Jesuites shall come to a place where they shall have a notable overthrow This word Armageddon may fitly be derived of two Hebrew words that is to say Cherem which signifieth destruction and Gedudh which signifieth an army that is the destruction of an army or as some say and that very judicially it may come
of Genermah Gidnon which signifieth the subtilty of destruction because the blind Kings and Nobles of the earth shall by the subtilty and crafty perswasions of the Jesuits and seminary priests be intised to fight against the Protestants in a place where they shall have a famous foyl Some derive Armageddon of Har which in Hebrew signifieth a Mountain and Megiddo which is the place where the godly king Josias was slaine and so this place should be called Armageddon the Mountain of Megiddo for the slaughter of kings that shall be there To the which the Prophet Zecharie alludeth Zech. 12.11 saying In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo Well we do see that all these significations and derivations of Armageddon come to one thing in effect which is that the great armies which assemble themselves in battell against the Lord shall be destroyed and therefore it is not much materiall to dispute which is the more likely signification of the word But this let us observe for our comfort that whensoever wee shall see the Kings and Captains Nobles and Potentates of the earth being solicited by the Jesuites Priests and the false Prophet to levie great armies and make great powers to fight against the Gospel and the true professors therof for the maintenance of great Babylon they shall not prevaile but be utterly overthrowne and destroyed as in part wee see fulfilled in the yeer of our Lord 1588 when the great and invincible Armado of the Spaniards as they thought which was long in preparing against us and at last by the instigation of the Jesuites brought upon us came to Armageddon as we know GOD be praised And in all time to come in the like case let them look for the like successe Well now to grow to some conclusions of this point we do plainly see that Rome falleth their kingdome waxeth dark their Euphrates dryeth up and they espy it The Dragon the Beast and the false Prophet send out their frogs into all countries and kingdomes hoping to prevent it by the help of the kings of the earth and especially the king of Spaine but alas all in vain for they must come to Armageddon when they have done all that they can For God fighteth from heaven against them God bringeth them down and no power of man is able to uphold them But now let us proceed to prove the third maine point which is that Rome shall fall finally and come to utter desolation For all sound Divines are perswaded of the fall of Babylon and doe grant that it falleth and is in falling but all are not so throughly perswaded of the finall fall thereof in this life Therefore now I will prove by manifest Scripture that Rome shall fall finally Rome shall fall finally First if the things be deeply considered and narrowly looked into which S. John saith shall fall out upon the powring forth of the seventh viall of Gods wrath by the seventh Angel they do fully portend a deadly downfall and utter overthrow of Rome For the seventh viall is not powred upon the earth or sea or fountains of waters or on the Sun Chap. 16.17 as the first foure vials were which signified some particular judgment but it was powred forth into the very air which signifieth the universality of it and containeth the most generall and most grievous judgment and vengeance of Almighty God upon the whole body of the kingdome of Antichrist a little before the last day The text saith that upon the powring forth of this viall Verse 17. there was a loud voyce heard out of the Temple of heaven from the throne that is from the very presence of God saying It is done it is dispatched the utter overthrow of Rome is fully concluded of and all things finished which belong to the powring forth of the seven vials which containe the seven last plagues wherein the whole wrath of God is fulfilled as appeareth chap. 15. As before it is said Babylon is fallen Chap. 15.1 because it should certainly fall so here God himselfe saith It is done because it shall certainly be done For whatsoever God hath determined to be done is as it were already done because it shall most certainly be effected Sith then the Lord hath pronounced this of Rome there remaineth nothing but a daily accomplishment of it and let all the Papists know for a certainty that they must goe to their geere they must come to their payment there is no way of evasion For hath the Lord spoken it and shall it not come to passe Now upon this that God saith It is done followeth presently that there were voyces and thundrings Chap. 15.18 and lightnings and there was a great earth-quake such as was not since men were upon the earth even so mighty an earth-quake Chap. 6.12 What is meant by thundrings lightnings and earth-quakes in this book I have before shewed to wit commotions seditions tumults uprores and alterations of states kingdomes and common-wealths and then the meaning of this place is that there shall be horrible shakings concussions tumults and great alteration of state in all the kingdomes which are subject to Antichrist none of them shall escape For this seventh viall of Gods wrath upon the kingdom of the beast is compared to a most horrible and blustring tempest raised up in the whole aire that is in all places of Antichrists dominions And it is specially to be noted as a thing of great moment that the holy Ghost saith there was never such an earth-quake as this since the world began and since men were upon the earth For assuredly so soon as the seventh Angel powreth forth his viall the kingdom of Popery shall goe down amaine which shall not be long before the end of the world as all circumstances here doe shew After all this Saint John telleth us the effect of this thundring lightning and extraordinary earth-quake which is Chapt. 16.19 that the great city was divided into three parts that is there shall be a most horrible rent and division in the city of Rome and throughout all the Popes dominions What this rent and division is and how it shall be I cannot determine being a thing to come as all the rest comprehended under the powring forth of the seventh viall But this I am sure of that Rome shall goe down and there shall be such tumults uprores rents divisions disputations and concussions in Rome and throughout all the Romish jurisdiction as never were heard of nor read of since the world began For Saint John addeth Verse 59. that Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fiercenesse of his wrath that is God doth now at length call to mind all the wrongs done to his people and all the righteous bloud shed for the space of seven or eight hundred yeers by the whore of
fellowes passe by the great Monasteries and Abbeyes and see them made ruinous heapes and withall remember the fat revenues the good cheer the pleasure and delight which sometimes they have had in those places it cuts their hearts and maketh them shake their heads at it saying Alas alas Verse 16. that great city that was clothed in fine linnen and purple and scarlet and gilded with gold and precious stones and pearls for in one hour so great riches are come to desolation Mark then that the ruine of their great city with all the pomp pleasure and riches thereof is that which doth yet stick in their stomacks Thirdly the mariners doe greatly mourn and lament for the losse of their profit and commodity For while Rome had dominion over the kingdomes and the Pope ruled over all even us God upon the earth there was nothing but trudging over the seas to Rome out of all Lands and againe from thence there was carrying and recarrying insomuch that multitudes of mariners and ship-masters were continually set on work and gained greatly thereby No marvell then though these mariners are brought in amongst other friends of Rome bewailing her destruction even with dust upon their heads weeping and crying and saying Alas alas that great city wherein were made rich all that had ships on the sea by her costlinesse For in one houre shee is made desolate Thus wee see how the kings and merchants and mariners shall bewaile the utter ruine and great desolation of Rome for the losse of their pleasure their gain and their profit Moreover wee are to observe that that which is spoken by the old Prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah as touching the utter desolation of old Babel is applyed by Saint John no new Babel which is Rome Touching the Easterne Babylon the Prophet saith thus Babel the glory of kingdomes Isa 13.19 the beauty and pride of the Chaldeans shall be as the destruction of God in Sodom and Gomorrah It shall not be inhabited for ever neither shall the Arabian pitch his tent there neither shall the shepherds make their folds there But Ziim shall lodge there and their houses shall be full of Ohim Ostriches shall dwell there and the Satyrs shall dance there that is fairies hobgoblins night-spirits and such like whereby is signified the utter desolation of old Babylon Chap. 18.2 Now Saint John applyeth all this to Rome saying Babylon that great city is become the habitation of Divels and the hold of all soule spirits and a cage of every unclean and hatefull bird Noting hereby both the filthinesse of Rome and also her utter desolation But now let us proceed to our last and greatest argument to prove the finall fall and utter destruction of Rome and all Romish power and authority In the nineteenth chapter of this Prophecie our Lord Jesus is described sitting upon his white horse which is the ministery of the Gospel as hath before been proved and is most gloriously brought in by Saint John as grand Captain and Generall of the field fighting with all his army against Antichrist and his souldiers S. John giveth him goodly names and titles Chap. 19.12 13 14 c. calling him the Word of God the King of kings and the Lord of lords and saith that hee hath a Name written that no man knew but himself which is his infinite glory and majesty And moreover that his eyes were as a flame of fire and on his head many crowns and a sharp sword in his mouth and clothed with his warlike garment dipt in bloud and all his heavenly souldiers followed him upon white horses meaning thereby all Christian kings dukes lords nobles captains preachers and professors of true religion This grand Captain with all these worthy souldiers saith Saint John shall muster together and prepare themselves to fight against the beast and the false prophet and all their forces and at last hee seeth them joyn battell Verse 19. I saw saith Saint John the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make battell against him that sate upon the white horse and against his army Now all this is to be understood of the battels betwixt the Papists and the Protestants in these last dayes But may some man say Who shall have the victory What is the successe What is the issue let us hear of that The holy Ghost answereth The Protestants shall have the day that the beast and the false prophet were taken foiled and overcome using a warlike phrase because in the wars they use to take their greatest Captains and Commanders alive and to put them to their ransomes The like unto this we have in the seventh chapter where Saint John telleth us that when the Popish kings and potentates shall make war against Christ and his Gospel they shall have the like successe unto this For saith hee These have one mind Ch. 17.13 14. and shall give their power and authority unto the beast they shall fight with the Lamb and the Lamb shall overcome them for he is the Lord of lords and King of kings But may some man say When the Leaders and Commanders of the Popish armies shall be taken captives and set at their ransomes what shall become of the inferiour Captains and souldiers The holy Ghost answereth that the remnant were slaine with the sword of him that sitteth upon the horse that is they were put to the sword and all the fowles were filled full with their flesh And for this cause Saint John saith Chap. 19.21 that he saw an Angel stand in the Sun who cryed with a loud voice saying to all the fowles that did fly by the middest of heaven Come and gather your selves together unto the supper of the great God Now to make this plain We know that they which proclaim any matter seek some market-crosse or high place to stand in where they may be heard so this Angel which proclaimeth the victory against Antichrist before any stroke be strucken because of the certainty of it standeth in the Sun as it were in the theater and middest of the world as in a place most fit for the purpose that hee may be heard throughout all the earth Now this proclamation is directed to all the fowls of the ayr to bid them to a supper which is here called the supper of the great God But it may be demanded What cheer shall they have The holy Ghost answereth Verse 18. that they shall eate the flesh of Kings and the flesh of great Captains and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of hors-men and the flesh of all free-men and bond-men and of small and great This wee know that when men are slain in great numbers in the wars their bodies lie scattered as meat for the fowls of the air And therefore here all fowles are invited and bidden to a great supper made them by the great God whose hand is in all
this their cheer and their dainties are reckoned up to be the flesh of Kings and Captains c. Now out of this may be strongly concluded that hereafter in all time to come when the armies of the Pope which is the beast the armies of the king of Spain who hath given his power and authority unto the beast and is his great upholder when the armies of the Cardinall his great confederate when the armies of the Leaguers his great adherents yea when all these and all other Popish armies shall joyne and band themselves together against the Christian kings and defenders of the Gospel they shall have a notable overthrow insomuch that their dead carcasses shall even cover the earth and the fowles of the air shall come to their great supper which the Lord of hosts will make ready for them For assuredly and out of doubt they that live shall see the fulfilling of all this and shall see the Popish armies goe down by heaps in all countries and kingdomes and be made meat for the fowles of the air The Popish armies shall go down by heaps Chap. 16.6 Chap. 13.10 For the holy Ghost saith They shall come to Armageddon that is the place where their armies shall be destroyed And again If any lead into captivity hee shall go into captivity If any kill with a sword he must be killed with a sword For as the Popish forces have in former times taken captive the people of God and cruelly murthered them so now the time draweth on apace wherein themselves shall be taken and put to the sword And therefore now at last I conclude that Rome shall fall finally and come to utter destruction in this life For as Rome did rise up by degrees in this life so Rome shall fall by degrees in this life as Rome grew up to her full height and highest pitch in this life so it shall come to her lowest ebb and greatest declination in this life I meane before the coming of Christ unto judgement For the falling down of haile like talents upon the kingdome of the beast shall be in this life The extraordinary earth-quake upon the dominions of Antichrist shall be in this life Rome shall be utterly destroyed in this life The coming of the Popish armies to Armageddon shall be in this life The mourning of the kings merchants and mariners for the overthrow of Babylon shall be in this life The great battell betwixt the beast and him that sitteth upon the white horse shall be in this life before the day of judgment The powring forth of all the seven vials of Gods wrath upon the kingdome of the beast shall be even in this life For it were an absurd thing to say any of these things shall be after this life or to say that these things shall not be till the very coming of Christ for they are all things to be effected here in this earth and the holy Ghost doth describe them as things to be done upon the face of the earth for otherwise we could have small comfort in any of these things if they should not be done here in earth or if they should all be deferred till the very coming of Christ and in the meane time Antichrist shall prevaile But it will be objected that S. Paul saith The Lord shall consume Antichrist with the spirit of his mouth and abolish him with the brightnesse of his coming 2 Thes 2. Therefore before his coming he shall not be utterly abolished True it is indeed An objection answered he shall not utterly be cut off in all his members till the very coming of Christ For there will be some Papists remaining in all countries even unto the end there be some nay many that will carry the beasts mark even untill the last day But the holy Ghost in this Prophecie speaketh of the revolting and falling away of kingdomes and countries from the See of Rome whereby it shall come to passe that it shall be exceedingly weakned and brought so low that the kings of the earth shall easily take it or as the holy Ghost speaketh Chap. 16.26 shall easily passe over their Euphrates being dryed up and enter their Babylon But then will some man say Shall there be no Pope at all a little before the coming of Christ I answer and not I but the holy Ghost for me hee shall be a poor Pope a naked Pope Chap. 17.16 The Pope shall bee brought very low 2 Sam. 3. a desolate Pope a Pope whose flesh shall be torn whose flesh shall wither as we shall hear anon Hee shall be such a Pope as Ishbosheth was a King when Abner and all Israel fell away from him He shall be such a Pope as the king of Portugal is a king But it will be objected How know you this are you a prophet can you fore-tell of things to come I answer Saint John was a Prophet and indued with a Propheticall spirit in this matter of his visions and revelations and I speak no more then Saint John hath set down And therefore I hope I speak within my compasse for I doe but relate Saint Johns words and explain them in such measure as I am able This Prophecie doth plainly declare that Babylon shall fall Rome shall come down the Pope shall never be esteemed again and I do beleeve it to be so I beleeve God I beleeve his word I beleeve all that is spoken in Scripture and I do indeavour to perswade others also For sith the holy Ghost hath so plainly and so fully fore-told it why should we not beleeve it why are wee so slow to beleeve all that is written in the Scriptures Hath God spoken it and shall it not come to passe shall any jot of his word fail shall we think he jesteth with us when he doth so often and so seriously tell us of the downe fall of Rome Surely surely the cause why men are not fully perswaded of the finall fall of Rome is because they do not diligently peruse this book of the Apocalypse But let them be studious and diligent in this book and they shall be out of all doubt that Rome is the great whore of Babylon that the Pope is Antichrist and the Papacy the beast But now me thinketh I hear some men say How is it like that Popery shall fall down more and more here among us sith it hath so many friends backers and upholders and seemeth to gather strength and make an head again I answer that all is but a lightning before death I answer that all is but the stopping of a water-brook or making a dam overthwart it which will cause it to swell more and to break over with great violence I answer that all is no more then is fore-told that the Jesuits shall come forth like frogs out of their puddles and marish grounds and keep a croaking for a time till they have croaked their own destruction and many others For they shall
in the earth when they overcome the world by faith and subdue Satan and sin by the power of grace Now where it is said that John saw the soules of them that were beheaded for the witnesse of Jesus c. It is to be understood of those which in the time of the persecuting Empire and growing of the Papacie were slaine for the truth For the second beast which is the dominion of Popes reigned not in those thousand yeers in the which Satan was bound but yet did grow by degrees towards their height and used great tyranny against the servants of God before Satans full loosing The Chiliasts or Millinaries doe fondly gather from this Scripture that after the overthow of Antichrist the Lord Jesus would come and reigne with the faithfull here a thousand yeers upon the earth and that in this time that Christ did so reigne as a great and glorious King upon the earth his subjects should enjoy all maner of earthly pleasures and delights This foolish error is confuted by the words that follow in the text as wee shall see afterwards Whereas hee saith The rest of the dead shall not live again It is to be understood of such as were spiritually dead that is such as despised the Gospel which was preached those thousand yeers and were not thereby revived and quickned unto eternall life but did still remain as men dead in sinnes and trespasses Therefore the meaning of Saint John is that as in the thousand yeers many that heard Christ and his Apostles and their successors were raised up from the death of sin to the life of righteousnesse so many others were not quickened by their doctrine but still dwelt in their sinnes whom hee calleth the rest of the dead and hee saith These shall not live again meaning the life of God or the life of grace And whereas he addeth untill the thousand yeeres be finished hee meaneth never or not at all for so the word untill is often taken in the Scriptures and it is sure that after the expiration of the thousand yeers they did not live the life of God and the life of the Spirit For then the Divell was let loose upon the world to work his pleasure and to seduce with all efficacy of error and iniquity Whereas it is said This is the first resurrection hee meaneth the rising from sin to the life of righteousnesse which was in the thousand yeeres of the Gospels preaching and therefore he addeth that he is blessed that hath part in the first resurrection c. and saith that all such shall reigne with Christ a thousand yeers Which is meant of the reigne of the faithfull even upon earth for the space of the thousand yeers in which Satan was bound but yet excludeth not their eternall glory in the heavens And when the thousand yeers are expired Vers 7.8 Satan shall be loosed out of his prison And shall goe out to deceive the people which are in the foure corners of the earth even Gog and Magog to gather them together to battell whose number is as the sand of the sea Verse 9. And they went up unto the plain of the earth and they compassed the tents of the Saints about and the beloved city But fire came downe from God out of heaven and devoured them Now Saint John telleth us that after the determination of a thousand yeares Satan shall be let loose upon the world for their unthankfullnesse and contempt of the Gospel to seduce and deceive even as much as ever he did No marvaile therefore that the two great and monstrous Heresies of Popery and Mahometry did now begin mightily to grow and increase in the world For what other thing can be looked for after this setting loose of Satan But we are to observe that as Satan was bound by degrees through the Ministry of Christ and his Apostles and in their immediate successors so also he was loosed by degrees by the prevailing of Heresies till the great Antichrist was hatched and brought into the possession of his cursed Chaire For Satan was not fully loosed till the yeare of our Lord 998. At what time Silvester the second came to be Pope who was in league with the Divell Stories doe report that at his death he called for the Cardinals and confessed that hee had familiarity with the Divell and how hee had given himself unto him body and soule so that he might come to the Papall dignity After him succeeded sundry other Popes which were notorious monsters some of them murtherers some poysoners some sorcerers some conjurers by whom the Divell was fully loosed all light of the Gospel and â—rue religion being in a manner cleane put out and most abominable idolatry and all manner of villany spreading over the face of the earth and hereof Saint John saith that Satan being fully loosed hee went forth to deceive the people which were in the foure corners of the â—arth even Gog and Magog c. This seducing by Satan here spoken of is the same with â—hat which is spoken chap. 13. onely this exâ—epted that this of Gog and Magog is more generall Wee read there how all nations â—indreds and tongues were made to worship â—he image of the beast and to receive his mark but that is to be extended no further â—hen to those kingdoms which were subject â—o the Papacy But here by these armies of Gog and Maâ—og are understood all the chiefe enemies â—f the Church in these last dayes since the loosing of Satan both open and secret both Turk and Pope for the Turk is an open enemy the Pope a more close enemy Gog signifieth covered Magog uncovered whereby is noted the Turk For the Pope cometh covered under the name of Christ and Christs Vicar Peters successor c. But the Turk cometh uncovered for hee openly denyeth and impugneth Christ Moreover the names of Gog and Magog are here set downe to note of what countries these chiefe enemies should spring to wit out of Scythia Syria Arabia Italy and Spaine for Magog was the son of Japheth Gen. 10. ver 2. of whom came the Scythians Gog was the name of a great Captaine in the lesser Asia which built a city and named it after his own name Gogkartah that is the city of Gog and it is put in the Prophecie of Ezekiel for the whole region of the lesser Asia and Syria whereby the Prophet did fore-tell that the great enemies of the Church should arise out of those coasts And in very truth they did for out of Egypt Scythia Syria and the lesser Asia did spring up Ptolomeus Seleucus Antigonus Cassander and the rest of Alexanders successors which vexed and oppressed the Jewes by the space of 294. yeers even untill the coming of the Messias at what time the divided Greek Empire was overthrown and translated to the Romans Furthermore it is to be noted that the Prophet Ezekiel saith That Gog is the chiefe Prince of Mesech and Tubal By
the blowing of the seven trumpets that is all notable things which were to fall out from the Apostles times unto the end of the whole world CHAP. XII NOw having finished the second vision we are come unto the third contained in all the chapters following even unto the end of this book Wherein divers things which were obscurely and darkly set down in the former vision are more plainly and fully opened and expounded so that this third vision is as it were a Commentary or more cleare exposition of sundry things contained in the second vision Chap. 6. But especially of the persecuting Roman Empire mentioned in the opening of the second seal and also of the Papacy mentioned at the blowing of the first trumpet Chapt. 9. But the generall sum of this third vision is a lively painting out of the malignant Church and the great upholders thereof the Divell the Roman Emperor and the Pope It sheweth also the rising and falling of the Roman Empire and the rising and falling of the Papacy It sheweth also the utter overthrow of both together with the eternall condemnation of the Divell which set them all awork to fight against the Church Last of all it sheweth the eternall felicity of the Church and the unconceivable happinesse of all Gods chosen in the heavens for evermore The principall drift of this twelfth chapter is to set forth the nature of the true visible and militant Church here on earth whose head is Christ Jesus and also the false malignant Church whose head is the Divell together with the continuall enmity and war which is alwayes betwixt them This chapter may very fitly be divided into five parts The first is a description of the Church The second is a description of the Divell the Churches enemy The third containeth the Churches battel with the Divell and her victory The fourth sheweth the joy and triumphs of the godly in the Churches victory over Satan The fifth and last sheweth the fury and malice of Satan who although he was foiled in battel by the Church yet would not give over but continued persecuting the Church in her members and making war against the remnant of her seed And there appeared a great wonder in heaven Verse 1. A woman clothed with the Sun and the Moon was under her feet and upon her head a crown of twelve stars First the holy Ghost calleth the matters of this chapter a great wonder to stir us up to attention for men are much moved with wonders and a wonder indeed it is in the literall sense to see a woman clothed with the Sun c. but a far greater wonder in the spirituall sense as we shall hear and the greatest wonder of all that a poor weak woman should encounter with a great red Dragon and overcome him It is said to be a wonder in heaven because the Church here in vision appeareth not upon the earth but in heaven in as much as her birth is from heaven her inheritance in heaven and her conversation in heaven The Church is here compared to a woman as in the 45. Psalme and the whole booke of the Canticles and that for three reasons First as a woman is weak and feeble and in law can doe nothing of her selfe without her husband so wee of our selves are weak and feeble and in matters of Gods law and worship can doe nothing without our husband Christ as hee saith Without me yee can doe nothing Secondly as a woman through the company of her husband is fruitfull and bringeth forth children so the Church by her conjunction with Christ and his word doth bring forth many children unto God Thirdly as the love and affection of a woman is to her husband as Genesis chapter 2. verse 16. so the love and affection of the Church is altogether to Christ and Christ to her This woman is clothed with the Sunne that is the Church is clothed with Christ the Sunne of righteousnesse Mal. 4.2 as the Prophet speaketh The Moon was under her feet Whereby is meant that the Church treadeth under her feet all worldly things which are compared to the Moon for their often changes waxings wainings and increasings decreasings continuall mutations and uncertainties The Church treadeth all transitory things under her feet that is shee maketh light account of them she regardeth them not in comparison of heavenly things For he that is clothed with the Sun careth little for the light of the Moon Shee hath upon her head a crown of twelve starres which signifieth that the Church is adorned and beautified with the doctrine of the twelve Apostles that is the doctrine of the Gospel as it were with a crown of gold of pearl and precious stones For the doctrine of the Gospel is the crown of the Church And shee was with child Verse 2. and cryed travelling in birth and was pained ready to be delivered The Church is said to be with child after shee hath conceived the immortall seed of the Word by the ministery of the Gospel as the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 4.15 In Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel And to the Galatians O ye little children of whom I travell in birth againe till Christ be formed in you It is not onely said that this woman waâ— with child but also that she was very neeâ— her time ready to bring forth and to be delivered and that she cryeth in travell Now the child which she bringeth forth is Christ Jesus Gal. 5.19 as appeareth in the fifth verse for there it is said of him that he should rule all nations with a rod of iron Now although Christ was born but of one member of the Church which is the Virgin Mary yet may it be said that the whole Church which was before his coming did even travell with paine to bring him forth because they had through faith in the promises a longing and fervent desire and expectation of his coming For from the first promise made to Adam and afterward renewed to Abraham and his posterity the Church stood in a continuall expectation of the promised Messias looking wishly every day when hee should be actually exhibited to the world For which cause here she is said to cry travelling in birth And not unfitly also may the Church be said to cry travelling in birth when through many persecutions and afflictions shee bringeth forth children unto God by the ministery of the Word For the Church bringeth forth no children at ease but with hard travell and much ado having so few friends to help her and so many enemies against her as anon we shall hear And there appeared another wonder in heaven Verses 3.4 For behold a great red Dragon having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns upon his head And his taile drew the third part of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth And the Dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered Now
wee are come to the description of the Churches great and capital enemy which is the Divell who because he studieth and laboureth continually to impeach the good estate of the Church in heavenly things to deject her from her dignity and dispossesse her of her inheritance therefore here in a vision he is said to appear in heaven for he meddleth with the Church in and about heavenly things practising to pull her out of heaven from whence shee came and whither she must return even to cast her into hell and condemnation with himselfe if it were possible The Divell is compared to a Dragon for his fury and felnesse to a great Dragon for his power and might and a red Dragon for his bloudy cruelty malice and madnesse against Christ and all hiâ— members His seven heads signifie his manifold sleights and subtilties wherein he is a crafts-master His ten horns signifie his dreadfull power For who knoweth not that hee is stronger then any other creature having not lost his strength by his fall but remaineth as strong as an Angel of light His seven crowns upon his heads do signifie his manifold victories over the world For he hath from time to time and from age to age got so many conquests of the world through his sleights and power that now he is the god of the world as the Apostle saith and reigneth as king over them The Dragon hath a monstrous tail both for length and strength for it is so long that it reacheth up to heaven and so strong that it brusheth down many stars from thence That is the Divell through ambition and covetousnesse and other fleshly lusts doth pull down many ministers which shined in doctrine and life as the starres of heaven even unto the earth where they have lost their brightnesse and glory and shine as much as the Moone in a mist Moreover it is said Verse 4. that the Dragon stood before the woman in travell to devoure the child as soon as it was born Wherein wee are to observe the malice and fury of Satan in that he watcheth so narrowly to devour the blessed Seed even the Saviour of the world so soon as he was born And for this cause he stirred up Herod the king subtilly to seek him out by the wise men that hee might kill him and afterward most cruelly practised the same by murdering so many innocents But this is alwaies a generall truth Matth. 2. that Satan seeketh to smother not onely Christ but every member of his in the cradle yea to blast them in the bud before ever they come to fruit or flower So shee brought forth a man-child Verse 5. which should rule all nations with a rod of iron and that her child was taken up to God and his throne Notwithstanding the malice and watchfulnesse of Satan yet the Church bringeth forth Christ which should rule and over-rule all nations with a rod of iron that is the scepter of his Word as it is in the second Psalme and with the rod of his mouth as the Prophet speaketh Isa 11.4 Moreover it is said that this child was taken up unto God and his throne That is Christ by his resurrection did take possession of his chaire of estate in despight of Herod Pontius Pilate the Priests the Pharisees and all other his enemies which sought to keep him down and now he being ascended unto heaven doth draw all his members unto him in despight of the Divell and all his imps Verse 6. And the woman fled into the wildernesse where shee hath a place prepared of God that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore dayes Now after the womans child was set in safety here is shewed what became of the woman her selfe to wit that shee was so sore pursued by the Scribes and Pharisees and by the Priests and Elders that shee was fain to fly into the wildernesse The naturall sense and meaning of this place is that when the Church began to grow after Christs ascension and the number of the Disciples to increase exceedingly as wee read in the second of the Acts Satan did so greatly maligne it and began to be in such a rage that he would have eaten them up all at a bit and rooted them out at once that so the woman might have no more being in the earth And therefore we read Acts 8. that after the stoning of Stephen there was such a persecution raised up against the Church by the high Priests the Princes of the Jewes the Pharisees all that cursed crew that all the Apostles and Disciples of Christ were scattered and dispersed here and there in the heathen countries and amongst the heathen people which here are called the wildernesse that is to say a ground untilled desolate and barren of all fruits of godlinesse But now may some man say How shall the Church do in the wildernesse how shall she live how shall she be sustained There is no tilling no sowing no planting there groweth no corn there is nothing to be had either for food or raiment Here it is answered that God prepared a place for her where she should be fed God took up an inn for her shee wanted neither food nor raiment in her persecutions and troubles Which teacheth that God doth alwaies provide for his own even in great miseries scarcities famines banishments and persecutions as sometimes hee did for Elias in the time of dearth and for the children of Israel in the wildernesse The time wherein the Church was fed in the wildernesse was a thousand two hundred and threescore dayes that is during the time of her persecutions as before hath been shewed chap. 11. verse 2. Vers 7 8. And there was a battell in heaven Michael and his Angels fought against the Dragon and the Dragon and his angels fought But they prevailed not neither was their place found any more in heaven Now wee are come to the third part of this chapter which is the battell betwixt Christ and the Divell For whereas the Dragon could not smother Christ in the cradle as hee endeavoured and so deprive the Church of all her happinesse for ever now he proclaimeth open war both against Christ and all his members plotting and purposing to oppugne the very salvation of the Church though it be founded in Christ Wherein hee sheweth both his impudency and furious madnesse Michael here signifieth Christ as in Daniel chap. 10. verse 13. This name is given to Christ in Daniel because hee is the first of the chiefe Princes that is hee is the head of the Angels Col. 1.16 who are chiefe Princes as the Apostle affirmeth That Christ hath his Angels joyned with him is not to note any weaknesse or want of strength in Christ alone to overcome his enemies but to shew that as Christ effecteth great wonders in the world so for the most part he doth it by instruments and meanes as sometimes Angels sometimes