first 6000. yeares of the World as Justine Martyr and after him Lactantius and others have observed And then shal be another condition of the Church which shall be even in this life compared with the former may wel be stiled Triumphant and glorious When Christ that great and mighty Angell shall come downe from Heaven clothed with a Cloud and a Rainbow upon his head and shall set his right foot upon the Sea and his left foot upon the Earth and thereby take to himselfe the dominion of both Revel 10.5.6 which is called taking to himselfe his great power and reigning Revel 11.17 when hee shall give the kingdome and dominion under the whole heaven which was before in the enemies hand unto the Saints of the most High and they shall possesse it for ever and ever When their enemies shall bow down before them and licke the dust under their feet In this militant condition hath the Church of God beene ever since the fall and how long it shall so continue no man can certainly determine But it is the concurrent judgement of our Divines that it drawes neere an end While this estate of the Church lasts their condition will be like that described by the Prophet A day wherein the light shall neither be cleare nor darke Zach. 14.6 full of uncertainties and subject to continuall changes and vicissitudes not so light that they shal say there is an end of our feares nor so darke that they shall say there is an end of our hopes Sometimes they may be under the power of the Enemy as prisoners in a pit wherein there is no water and by and by God will rayse up a deliverer for them that shall proclaime their liberty and be as a covering Cherub to the Ark of God for their defence A resemblance of this condition of the Church we have in the Jewish State which therefore is made the prototype of all the Gentile Churches thorowout the whole Book of the Revelation the Prophesie of the last times An embleme whereof you have in the former Chapters First the children of Israel did evill in the sight of the Lord and he gave them into the hand of Cushan Rishathaim the king of Mesopotamia and hee ruled over them eight yeeres Then the Lord raysed up a deliverer to them Oihoniel the sonne of Kenaz Calebs yonger brother and the Land had rest forty yeeres Then the chilren of Israel did evill againe in the sight of the Lord and he strengthned against them Eglon the king of Moab and they served him eighteene yeeres and then the Lord raysed up a deliverer for them Ehud the sonne of Gera and the Land had rest fowrescore yeeres Afterwards they were oppressed by the Philistines and the Lord delivered them by Shamgar the sonne of Anath And they did evill againe in the sight of the Lord and he sold them into the hand of Iabin king of Canaan the most potent of all these enemies for he had nine hundred Chariots of iron and twenty yeeres hee mightily oppressed Israel And then the Lord raysed for their deliverance Deborah the wife of Lapidoth and Barach the son of Abinoham and gave the enemy into their hands Thus God never leaves his people in affliction but provides Saviours aswell as Persecutors not onely hornes but Carpenters also to beat them to pieces Zach. 1.21 A song of thanksgiving for this last victory and deliverance is the contents of this Chapter In which by way of context wee may observe these six particulars all which will helpe us in the duty of the present day 1 First the heart that shal be thankfull for a mercy must be gracious the song must be sung by a Deborah and a Barak they must have golden vials hearts refined and not drossie that shall have the harpes of God in their hands Revel 5.8 And they that shall sing the Lords song must be redeemed from the Earth being the first fruits to God and to the Lambe in whose mouth is found no guile Revel 14.4.5 An earthy spirit may put a man upon a prayer his owne necessity will therein carry him on to howle upon his bed for his corne and wine and oyle but it is a heart only redeemed from the earth that will enable a man to returne prayse so that if there bee ten cleansed we may say with our Saviour Where are the nine 2. Secondly whosoever shal be thankful for a mercy must prize it and rejoyce in it Gaudentis est gratias agere Levit. 3.1 Peace offrings are called in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Retributions and they that thinke they have received little will make little conscience of returning There is an evill generation among the sonnes of men that undervalue mercies and despise them saying Would God we had died in Egypt Canaan is a Lâ—nd that eats up his inhabitants These men are so far from accepting the punishment in an affliction that they accept not the mercy in their redemption Mercies will distinguish men aswell as Judgements Some are delivered to everlasting life some to shame and everlasting contempt Dan. 12.2 O poore murmuring soules to whom mercies are a burthen 3. Thirdly a thankfull heart must stir up it selfe unto prayse Awake Deborah awake awake utter a song arise Barak and let captivity captive Eph. 5.19 thou sonne of Abinoam Thanksgiving is melody in the heart of the Lord and before you can make melody your Instrument must be in tune Awake my glory awake lute and harpe I my selfe will awake right early Yee prophane and unthankfull spirits ingratus est qui injuriam voc at finem voluptatis that repine at blessings Sen. ad Polyb. â— 20 and looke upon your mercies as your injuries incredulous men that are scarce willing to beleeve the things you see that endeavour to bring up an evill report upon all the goodnesse of God procul hinc heere is no place for you in the worke of this day The garment of prayse is comely only for the upright ye wayward spirits that slight the gift because your selves did not chuse the messenger and because you like not the hand that brings it And yee seemingly compassionate that say shall we give thanks for the killing of men and that of our owne Nation in a Civill Warre In this case the Heathen man did forbeare his Triumph and therefore such Thansgivings seeme not only unchristian but inhumane To such I answer The War in which at first ye of this City were eminently ingaged and by you the Kingdom was eyther just or unjust if it were unjust then hide your Tropheyes and be ashamed of your victories for he that gives thankes to God because he prospers in a sinne makes God a patron thereof But if it were just you ought to rejoyce in the successe being the publike execution of divine justice and to glorifie God in those things wherein hee hath glorified himselfe T is farre from us to rejoyce in the bloud of
it Zach. 14 4. Ut Jerosolyma non fit in umbrosa valle quemadmodum prius sed pateat longe latè ejus prospectus ita ut gentes omnes eam scypiciant Calv. Rev. 11 7 8 9. Ezech. 37 11.12 when the Mount of Olives shall cleave asunder in the midst towards the East and towards the West That is whatsoever doth now overshadow and hide the Churches glory and hinder her prospect shall be removed And God doth not use to afford his people great and eminent deliverances till they are deeply humbled and brought low the slaying of the witnesses doth precede their resurrection and they must be dry bones first and then the Lord sayth I will open your graves Upon these grounds I doe conclude that the last at empts of the enemies shal be the fiercest and that the bitterest afflictions and the shâ—rpest persecutions of the Church of God are reserved for these lâ—st times And that this enmity may not seeme strange to you the grounds of it and all the persecution that flows from it are principally these two 1. First Reas 1 from the contrariety and antipathy that is in their natures there being an enmity in judgement put betweene the seed of the woman and the feede of the Serpent It is part of the Divels curse Gen. 3.15 and it is the curse of all those that are of their father the Divell This enmity being founded in nature must needs be aniversall and indefatigable Vniversall for hatred carryes a man against all the kinde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist as grace carryes a mans love sincerely to all the Saints so this enmity founded in nature and in judgement carryes with it a contrariety unto all the Saints And though some ungodly men may pretend fayre and may with their mouths shew much love and this enmity may be hid yet are they only wolves in sheepes clothing and whensoever occasion and opportunity is offered will appear so to be for that Rule will hold to the end of the world Tertul. Apol. Tot hostes quot extranei they that be strangers to godlinesse are all of them enemies to it And indefatig able it must needs be A man would sometime thinke that Satan and wicked men having their plots so often defeated and brought to nought and all the mischiefe of them turned upon their heads should at last sit down discouraged and give over but they cannot doe it because it is founded in nature and judgement and when the five shall cease to burn and the stone to move towards its centre then shall their attempts and acts of hostility cease and never till then 2. Secondly this enmity is exceedingly acted in them by the spirit of the Divell whose name is in regard of his opposition to the Saints Rev. 9.11 called Abaddon and Apollyon the Destroyer All sinnes indeed are from the Divell Ephes 2.2 and all sinners are acted by the Divell he rules in all the children of disobedience but yet some sinnes are from him per modum servitutis as a man serves Satan in them but some sinnes are from him per modum imaginis as a man resembles Satan in them and such is this of enmity against the Saints and in these sins in which a man in an especiall maner becomes the seed of the Serpent Satan doth more directly and immediately act men then he doth in other sinnes and therefore Rev. 3.10 he is sayd to cast the Saints into prison it being done by his speciall instigation and command And therefore it s noted as a speciall misery that shall befall the Divell after all the persecuting Monarchies shall be destroyed that Dragon the old Serpent the Divell and Satan Rev. 20.2.3 shall be bound for a thousand yeares and shut up in the bottomlesse pit that he may not deceive the Nations sc to draw out the rage of their spirits in a way of persecution as he did in times past no more And there is no sacrifice that the Divell is so well pleased with as he is the God of this world as when there is offered to him the bloud of the Saints and therefore men that are more immediatly ruled by him this he doth put them upon as that with which he is chiefly delighted It s sayd of Julian the Apostate that he had two great designes one the subduing of the Persians and the other the rooting out of the Christians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazian Orat. 2. Cont. Julian and when he went in that Persian expedition in which he perished he vowed if he had succes in that enterprise he would at his returne sacrifice to his Idols sc to the Divell in them the bloud of all the Christians that were in the whole Empire which had beene a sacrifice with which Satan would have beene well pleased And as Satan loves to stir up the rage and enmity of wicked men to destroy the saints so he doth very much delight to make them instruments in their owne destruction and that temporall as well as eternall and hee knowes there is no speedier way to destroy a person or people then for men to rall upon the reere of the Lords host This is the ready way to take away their owne defence and put themselves out of the protection of God Esay 49 8. for it is for the Saints sake and by their Covenant that the world is continued and the earth established it would soone sinke under your feet else they beare up the pillars of it they are the rocke upon which your City and safety is built and had the Lord once disposed of his sonnes and daughters in their great mariage with the Lambe he would quickly dissolve this frame of heaven and earth and breake up the house keeping of the world and Satan doth set men in a way of persecution to this end that they may thereby take away their own defence And the Divell knowes there is no speedier way to set God in vengeance against a person or a Nation then this is because the heart of the Lord is exceeding tender towards his holy ones hee that toucheth them toucheth the apple of his eye Zach 2 8. which no man shall doe impune or unrevenged I now come to the second branch in the Text which is the portion of these enemies they shall perish All the Churches enemies shall assuredly perish in their owne opposition perishing is their portion For explication I shall lay downe these positions Posit 1 First The destruction of the Churches enemies shall be effected by their opposition against the Church Mich. 4.11.12.13 There are many Nations gathered together against Zion and their purposes are that she may be defiled and destroyed but Gods purposes are not so they know not the thoughts of the Lord neither understand they his counsell for his intention is that they should perish in their opposition associate themselves that they may be broken in peeces Esay 8 9. that they may
battell And when the Lord will use an ungodly people as weapons in his hand they shall mightily prevayle If hee will use Babylon as his battle axe Jer 51.20 he will with him breake in peeces the Nations and destroy the Kingdoms how much more when he will make Judah his battle axe and his weapons of war Joannes Foxe in Comment suis whom he doth much more delight to use and honour some do conceive that in reference to this victory heere by the waters of Megiddo that last great battell hath its name which shall bee betweene Christ and Antichrist called therefore the battell Armageddon Brightm Rev. 16.16 which some render mons deliciarum the mountayne of delights unto God and his people and others render it mons excidii Par. the mountayne of slaughter and destruction to the Churches enemies The Churches enemies have comonly fallen by their hand in the end Esa 31.8.9 The Assyrian shall fall by the sword not of a mighty man and the sword not of a meane man shall devoure him Whence then shall his destruction come Not so much from any instrument but from the hand of God made bare therein Ignem hanc accendi foveri dicit in medio populi sui ut significet impios non impune Ecclesiam persequi c. Calv. in loc and the Lords fire is in Zion and his furnace in Ierusalem it is out of Zion that the fire comes that consumes the enemies and it is into this fiery fornace they are cast when they are destroyed Ezech. 24.14 I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel and they shall doe in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury saith the Lord God They that are with the Lamb called and chosen and faithfull Rev. 17 14 18 6. they shall burne Rome with fire and reward her according as she hath rewarded them and shall double to her double according to her works in the cup that shee filled to them they shall fill unto her double 2. By their prayers Rom. 4 13. The Lord Jesus having made the Saints together with himselfe Heyres of the world hee hath also given them a great hand in the Governement of the world as they shall have in the Judgement of it at the last and great day 1 Cor. 6 1 2. therefore their prayers are Decrees as wel as the prayers of the Angels and are called by the same name Iob. 22.28 Dan. 4.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the great executions and transactions of things in the world doe passe through their hands Psal 49 8 9. they binde Kings in chaynes and Nobles with fetters of iron this honour have all his Saints It s observable that in all the great turnings of the world the prayers of the Saints have had the great hand Exod. 14 15 16 17. Exod. 17 11 12. Psal 76 2. Aegypt is destroyed in the red sea but it is by the prayer of Moses Amaleck is routed by prayer Thereby armies discomfited victories woon in Salem God breakes the arrowes of the bow the shield the sword and the battell And they that scape the fiercest pursuers among men prayer will overtake them hee that escapes the sword of Hazael and Iehu shall Elisha slay 1 King 19 17. Gladionon corporali sed spirituali A Lap. Ad horribilem famem sub Joram refertur quia Deo impe travit Elisaeus cum ab idololatria Israelitae nollent discedere Pet. Martyr in loc Rev. 4 5. Rev. 6 10. and yet we know he was not a man of war one that did handle the sword onely the word did goe out of his mouth and tooke effect upon them And all the great turnings in the Christian world since Christs time have beene no other then the fruit of the praiers of the Saints The Seales in the booke of the Revelation set forth the judgement of God upon Pagan Rome and they are all in answer to prayers for out of the throne sc the presence of the Lord in the midst of his people proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voyces And in answer to the cry of the soules under the Altar who cryed with a loud voyce How long Lord holy and true doest thou not judge and avenge our bloud on them that dwell on the earth The Trumpets set foorth the judgements executed upon Rome Christian and these also proceede from the prayers of the Saints for the fire cast upon the earth in those plagues was taken off the Altar Rev. 8 5. and there were voices and thundrings and lightnings and an earthquake c. The Trumpets sounded but it was in answer to prayer after there had beene silence in heaven for the space of halfe an howre sc during the time of the incense offering The Vialls set forth the judgements of God upon Rome Antichristian and the great voice that commanded these Angels to powre out their Vials upon the earth came out of the Temple that is Rev. 16 1. De Templo venit quando precibus sanctorum aliquid impetratur quibus mandandi partes hic tribuntur ut sciamus quantam vim habent fideles precationes Brightm Rev. 11 5 6. from the prayers of the Saints and whosoever shall observe the great changes in the world that all these set forth wil be forced to acknowledge what a mighty power there is in the prayers of the Saints And that it may appeare it was not only so in ancient times he sayth the witnesses even in these latter dayes shall have a power to shut heaven that it shall not raine to turne waters into bloud and to smite the earth with plagues as often as they will And that this is the misery of all the Churches enemies If any man will hurt them fire shall proceed out of their mouthes and devour them and who ever he be he must in this maner be killed 3. By their praises for out of the mouthes of babes the Lord hath ordained them Psal 8 2. that he should still the enemy and the avenger when Iehosophat and all the people promised God in the beauty of holinesse the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon Moab 2 Chron. 20 22 23. and Mount Seiâ—… which were come against Iudah and they smote one another When Paul and Silas sung in the prison the earth did quake and so it commonly doth at the praises of the Saints The enemies of the Church doe fall before their praises as well as their prayers Let us now come to the Application of these three points for a conclusion They serve for Admonition for consolation and direction First Vse 1 for Admonition unto all the enemies of the Church cease your rage against them your plots your hopes refraine from them let them alone they are but passengers and Pilgrims they are going unto Canaan if the world be your countrey let them quietly and peaceably passe through it without
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an opportunity of temptation are fallen away and are become actors and advocates for those things and persons which before they were resolute against and all their former deliverances are but a Resurrection to shame Dan. 12.2 The Iewes in their first deliverance are to meet with such trouble as they had not since they became a Nation which is to last five and forty yeeres in which time many that had a share in the first deliverance shall be discovered to be unsound and false hearted and their former deliverance shall bee to their eternall shame and dishonour before the Saints Surely there are trying times coming when no house will stand but that which is built upon the Rocke It s the righteous onely that is an everlasting Foundation There are three observations which I desire to adde to the explication before I come to the reasons and grounds of this emnity First Obs 1 when mens hearts are once in judgement turned to hate the Saints the maine pleasure of their lives comes in by their opposition to them and they take very much delight in it As Sathan not having yet his full torment the maine pleasure that he takes is in opposition against God and to see his plots to take in a way of revenge so it is with the enemies who are acted in a high degree by the spirit of Sathan in their opposition against the Saints A mans meat and drinke in the Scripture Fruitionem denotat delectationem Glass Rhetor. sacr p. 373. is that by which the pleasure and the comfort of his life cometh in It is my meat to doe the will of him that sent me and to finish his worke Jo. 4.34 And to note that the mayne pleasure of the enemies lies in their opposition it is said to be their meat and drinke It is their meat Psal 14.4 They eat up my people as they would eat bread they are the food that their malice feeds upon Mos est in urbibus Palestinae usque hod ie peromnem Judaeam vetus consuetudo servatur ut in vicculis oppidis castellis rotundi ponantur lapides gravissimi ponderis ad quos juvenes exercere se soleant eos pro varietate virium sublevare alii ad genua alii ad umbilicum alii ad humeros capur nonnulli super verticem erectis junctisque manibus pondus extollunt and this is their drink also Rev. 17.6 I saw the woman drunken with the bloud of the Saints and with the bloud of the Martyrs of Iesus Though it prove a cup of poyson and of trembling in the end yet they drinke if downe as sweet wine Zach. 12.2 This is their recreation also and that wherin they shew forth their strength and activity which Hierome conceives to be intended by the Holy Ghost in that expression of a burdensome stone Zach. 12.3 alluding therein to the custome of the Iewes and of all those Easterne Countreys where in every towne and village were great round stones which the yong men for recreation and to shew forth their strength did use to lift pro virium varietate some to their knees some to the loynes some to the head c. And thus as matter of recreation are the enemies lifting at the Church every man according to his ability and as any one dare doe more then other this way hee accounts himselfe the more valiant and gallant man which made Saul in this zeale this way which he after saw to be madnesse to go beyond his fellowes The last enemies of the Church shall surely be the worst Obser 2 The fourth beast was divers from all the other beasts that went before and exceeding dreadfull whose teeth were of brasse Dan. 7.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. But upon the last head of the fourth beast there arise ten hornes for the Romane Empire is broken into ten Kingdomes and after them o behinde them there doth arise a little horne that speakes great words against the most High and whose design is to we are out the Saints 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dicitur de calceamentis inveteratis Josh 6.13 de pannis affritis Jer. 38.11 Dan. 7.24.25 The Originall word doth signâ—fiâ— to weare out a thing with long and continued use or as a Garment is worn out by degrees with long and constant wearing so under this little Horne which must be Antichrist because hee riseth with the ten hornes upon the last head of the fourth beast and in whose judgement the beast is slaine and his body destroyed given to the burning flame ver 11. the witnesses prophesie in sackcloth and ashes 1260 dayes in a persecuted mournefull and afflicted condition that by a long and continuall oppression they may be worne out even as a garment Thirdly the last acts of these enemies shall be filled with the greatest cruelty and with a rage that shall reach to heaven Antichrist shall make it his businesse during all the time of his raigne to weare out the Saints but at last they shall be killed Rev. 11.7.8 and that in the most inhumane maner their dead bodies shall be cast out into the street and they shall rejoyce in their death and deny them a buriall in the last attempts they shall expresse more cruelty and bitternesse Rev. 16.16 then in many hundred yeeres before And after the resurrection of the witnesses and Romes downefall they shall attempt with greater violence when the Kings of the earth and of the whole world shall be gathered together to the battell Armageddon Rev. 20.8.9 And lastly when Gog and Mâ—gog shall gather the Nations together to battell from the fowre quarters of the earth in number as the sands of the sea and they shall go upon the bredth of the earth and compasse the campe of the Saints round about and the beloved City Satan shall have great indignation seeing his time is short For in the last dayes shall be the most glorious Reformation the greatest refinements shall passe upon the world by him who sits as a refiner answerable to the degrees of reformation Mal. 3.3 such shall the degrees of opposition be when there shall be the perfectest reformation there shall then be the highest opposition and the bitterest persecution 2 Tim. 3.5 In the last dayes the opposition to Godlinesse in the power of it shal be by them that have a forme and the persecution of Religion shall in a great measure be under a profession therof men sinning against greater light and higher workes whose hearts the Divel hath touched 1 Jo. 5.18 and left a speciall impression of divellishnesse upon and who are thereby qualified for a higher way of sinning In the last dayes shall the great and glorious deliverances of the Churches be when all the persecuâ—ing Monarchies shall be destroyed Esay 2 2â— and the mountayne of the Lords house be exalted on the top of the mountaynes that all Nations may flow to
end of the Romane Empire the King of the south the Saracen and the King of the north the Turk shall come against the Romane as a whirlwinde and shall overflow and he shall wax great and shall subdue all the neighbouring nations and they shall be all at his steps sc at his devotion and at his command And towards the end of his Empire he shall set himselfe against the Saints and he shall plant the Tabernacle of his Palace betweene the seas in the glorious holy mountaine and then he shall come to an end irrecoverably none shall helpe him And in the end of the world though in respect of the former persecutions Satan shall be bound up that he shall not stir up men to rage and cruelty against the Saints as he had done during all the time of the foure Monarchies Rev. 20.7 yet when the thousand yeares of the Churches Peace and glory are expired Satan shal be losed againe and having but once liberty granted he will betake himselfe unto the same course that he had used in former times to stir up the wicked of the world in a way of persecution of the Saints Rev. 20.9 and Gog and Magog shal be gathered together to battle and they encompasse the Campe of the Saints and the beloved City and in this their opposition they perish now fire shall come downe from God out of Heaven and deveure them thus all the Churches enemies without do perish in their owne opposition It s true also of all enemies within some there are that fight against Christ under his owne banner and persecute the Saints under the name of Saints Cant. 5.7 sometimes the watch men that goe about the City smite the Church and wound her and the keepers of the wall take away her Vaile yet even these enemies their opposition will prove their destruction as we may observe both in the Jewish and in the Gentile Churches In the Church of the Jewes Numb 16. there were a company of men rose up against Moses and Aaron 250 Princes famous in the Congregation men of renowne but they did it against their owne lives as they are called sinners against their own soules for the Lord created a new Creation the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and when the Lord came in judgement to destroy that Church and Sate this is the sin that hath especiall influence into their destruction Mat. 23.34.35 Behold I send unto you Prophets and wisemen and Scribes and some of them ye shall kill and crucifie and some of them shall ye scourge in your Synagogues and persecute them from City to City that upon you may come all the righteous bloud shed upon the earth therefore they that are enemies to the Saints among themselves shall not escape In the Gentile Churches also all that ever had their hearts turned against the Saints it proved the forerunner of their destruction The Church of God had beene in hard travaile 300. yeares and at last brought forth a man childe Rev. 12.5 and he was taken up to the throne of God that is they obtained of God a Christian Emperour this wrought a great change in the Empire and they became in shew many of them Christians but then arose among them a generation of persecutors the floud powred out after the Woman which had swallowed them up had not the earth succored the Woman and God given her the wings of a great Eagle to flye into the wildernesse now the Lord will not suffer the persecutor even by them that live in the Church to goe unrevenged therefore he doth in judgment devide the Empire the easterne parts he gives to the Saracens and Turks and the westerne part to the Goths and Vandalls those barbarous Nations brake in upon them as a floud and did overflow all The Westerne part of the Empire being broken by the Goths there arise in it ten Kings Rev. 17.12 and they contribute all their power to set up Antichrist Rev. 17.13.17 they give their Kingdomes to the Beast to this end and this Beast persecutes the Saints more then all the former persecutors had done and in their persecution they perish Rev. 18.8.21 for her plagues shall come in one day death and mourning and famine and she shall be cast into the Sea as a Milstone and shall be found no more at all and the cause of all this shal be that God may recompence upon them the controversies of Zion that he may avenge the bloud of his servants at her hands because in her was found the bloud of the Prophets Rev. 18.20 24. and 19.2 and of the Saints Rev. 18.16 and of all that have beene slaine upon the earth And in the reformed Churches in the ten Kingdomes whom God will reserve for the ruine of Antichrist and will use them in this great worke yet there shall arise a persecution among themselves also and in them shall the Witnesses be slaine for their enemies shall dwell in the same street where their deads bodies shall lye unburied this persecution shall end in their destruction Rev. 11.7.8 for when the witnesses shall rise from the dead and ascend to Heaven in a cloud their enemies beholding them the same houre there shall be a great Earthquake and not onely the tenth part of the City shall fall but in this Earthquake shall be slaine seven thousand of these men Rev. 11.12.13 there shall a very great destruction come upon the enemies to the Saints in the Reformed Churches Reliqui pontificiae prius religionis agnoscentes in Istorum Ecclesiasticorum excidio calamitate justam Dei ultionem tribuebant gloriam Deo caeli id est ad verum creatorem conversi sunt Brightm Esay 34.5.6.7.8 Ad contendendum pro Ziona ejus causam vindicandam Forer Annus quo rependet Deus talionem Idumaeis qui jugiter â—ixati sunt belli gerarunt cum Iudaeis a Lâ—p Et quod de Idumais dictum est ad universos Ecclesiae hostes extendi certum est Calv. Ad excidium Sodomae Gomorthae alludit in quo perpetuam â—â—ae Dei imaginem habemus they pertaking with Rome in the sin shall be made pertakers of her plagues and the remnant shall be affrighted and converted by this destruction upon others and shâ—ll give glory to the God of heaven Thus it will be an universall ruine no enemies eyther within or without the Church if they persist in their opposition ever did or ever shall escape 3. Thirdly that the enemies shall bee sure to meet with in their opposition to the people of God shall be an utter destruction and exceeding fearefull they shall not perish in an ordinary way nor by the common death of other sorts of sinners but there is a high degree of vengeance prepared for them There is a fearefull wrath comming upon Idumea The sword is bathed in heaven it shall come downe upon Idumea the people of my
opposition or persecution or else ye will be found fighters against God and ye will but meet with your owne destruction in the end To enforce this Admonition let these considerations be duely weighed First for God to give a man up to a spirit of emnity and opposition to his people is the greatest spirituall judgement that can befall a man in this life it is the Devils curse to be the envious man the accuser and the persecutor of the brethren and the more a mans heart is turned against the Saints the more fully doth this curse take place upon him It was the great spirituall judgement upon Aegypt and a most dangerous forerunner of their utter destruction Psal 105.25 It is commonly demanded by Interpreters on that place how God is said to turne the hearts of men to hate his people and it is commonly answered as in the case of hardning Pharoahs heart men turne their owne heerts against Gods people sinfully and God turnes them judicially diserved by forsaking them leaving them to the power of Satan and the rage of their owne spirits media disponendo so ordering and disposing objects and occasions as to draw out their rage and malice against his people The greatest spirituall judgement is a hard heart and of this hardnesse there are severall degrees but of them all two are the highest to sit downe in the chaire of the scorner and in the throne of the persecutor This did fill up the measure of Pharoahs hardnesse Exod. 10 28. Take heed to thy selfe see my face no more for in the day thou seest my face thou shalt dye how would it make a mans heart tremble to consider how far at this time this judgment is powred out upon this Nation Secondly whatsoever any man doth in opposition to the Saints he is a vessell of dishonour in all those workes it is the same service in which the Devills are imployd and God hates them when he doth imploy them The Assyrian the rod of mine anger Esay 10 5 12 24. and the staffe of mine indignation I send him against an hypocriticall Nation against the people of my wrath and I give him a charge to take the spoyle and to tread them downe like the mire of the streets and this charge of God he doth execute to the utmost but was the Lord well pleased therewith he saith when he had performed his whole worke upon Zion the indignation should cease and his anger in his destruction and it 's a hard service to be imployed in that which brings forth neither acceptance nor reward but indignation and destruction in the end Thirdly your very opposition will prove your destruction the pit that you dig for the Saints yee shall surely fall into it is a worke that ever ended in the ruine of the Actors Esay 59.5 It 's said of wicked men that they hatch cockatrice egges and they weave a spiders webbe the webbe never becomes a garment and the egges cursed breakes into a Viper it sets forth two properties and fruits of al the labours of the workers of iniquity they are unprofitable they attaine not their end in them and they are destructive they bring forth a Viper that stings him to death that hatched it and the wrath of God will never be pacified being once provoked till it end in their utter overthrow Zach. 6.8 when the Angels as instruments of vengeance went into the north Countrey sc into Persia and Chaldea and they have quieted my spirit saith the Lord that is they pacified my wrath by executing vengeance upon the persecutors the people of my wrath let me reason with you a little was there no other way of sinning that could bring vengeance enough upon you and sinke you deepe enough into perdition but ye must touch the apple of the Lords eye May not I say with Moses Was not the iniquity of Peor enough from which ye are not cleansed unto this day Was not your drunkennesse swearing uncleannesse hatred of godlinesse superstition enough but that you must breake forth into persecution also 4. Fourthly your destruction is neerest when yee are highest when your confederacy is strongest and your hopes raysed to the greatest perfection when the enemy is as smoake out of a chimney and doth threaten even to darken the Sunne then shall they bee scattered Hose 12.3 When they associate themselves and have the greatest combination of parties and counsels then they shall be broken in pieces Esay 8 9 10. When they are folded together as thornes and drunken with confidence as the drunkards then shall they be consumed as stubble fully dry The Lord doth many times lay the Church low in a designe that the enemy may put forth their power and shew foorth their malice to the utmost against it therefore he is sayd to make Ierusalem a cup of poyson no man attempts to drinke wine while it is in the pipe or in the vessell the Church of God is alway poyson to the enemies but not alway put into a cup and made ready and fit for their mouthes but when the Church of God is brought into a low condition it s then prepared to invite the enemy as it were to attempt some thing upon it partly from the pleasantnesse of such a draught and partly from the ease of it it s as easie as to drink and they can make no resistance The Church is sometimes a great stone Zach. 12 2 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even as a mountayne and it fils the earth and then the enemies dare not attempt to burden themselves therewith but sometimes it is a stone of a lesser size and then they are ready to thinke they may carry it away with case whereas though it be not alwayes so great yet it is as heavy and they finde it so for it breaks them to peeces Whensoever the Church of God is brought low it is in designe that their enemies may be ensnared and taken 5. Fiftly by these means ye shall bring upon your selves the guilt of all the bloud of the Saints that hath beene shed in former ages To reade of the cruelty of Pharaoh Nebuchadnezzar Antiochus the Iewes in crucifying the Lord of Life and of the ten bloudy Persecutors and the rage of Antichrist surpassing all these and to have all this bloud lie upon one generation who would not tremble at it But yet all the bloud of former times will come upon the persecutors of this last age of the world Matth. 23.34.35 That upon you may come all the righteous bloud shed upon the earth from the bloud of righteous Abel unto the bloud of Zacharias the son of Barachias It is much questioned how this is to bee understood that the bloud shed in one age should in the guilt of it come upon another and how the bloud of all former ages should come upon this last To understand it rightly these two things are to bee considered 1. First that it is to be understood
only in respect of temporall punishments and not of eternall for as no man ever went to heaven by the righteousnesse of another meere man so no man shall ever goe to hell for the wickednesse of another Heere the sonne shall not bear the iniquity of the father but the soule that sinnes shall die Yet in things temporall as children may have many blessings as a reward of their fathers graces and obedience as God brought Israel into Canaan 2. Cron. 20.7 although they were a very disobedient and stiffenecked people because it was the Land which he had promised to Abraham his friend and hee delivered them in the dayes of Hezekiah for his servant Davids sake so they may be under many temporall judgements Esay 37.35 as a punishment of their fathers disobedience the Lord heerein using his soveraignty and prerogative to punish a man eyther in his person or his posterity Gen. 9 25. 2 King 5 27. as he did Cham in Canaan his son and Gehesie both in his person and in his seede also 2. Secondly God lookes upon a generation or succession of men as a body and in the punishment of their sinnes he doth shew both justice and providence As there is a measure of iniquity in particular men to bee filled up before eternall wrath shall take hold of them Jer. 51 13. Dan. 8 23. Zach. 5.6 Joel 3 13. Rev. 14 15. so is there a measure appointed also to a State or a generation of men which must be filled up before Temporall wrath shall come upon them Wee see the Temporall judgement upon the Amorites is deferred because their iniquity was not yet full and the time to fill it up was 400 yeeres Gen. 15.16 The Lords Decree is gone forth to blot out the remembrance of Amalecke from under heaven Exod. 17.14 and yet this people doe not come up into remembrance before the Lord to their utter destruction till the dayes of Saul 1 Sam. 15.2 and then the Lord sits upon their posterity their fathers sinnes because they layd wayt for Israel in the way when they came out of Egypt So Christ sayth to the Pharises ye are the children of them that killed the Prophets fill yee up the measure of your fathers Matth. 23.31.32 So that when children walke on in their fathers wayes and fill up their measure though in respect of eternall wrath inflicted upon their persons they were in hell many yeeres agoe and received a just recompence of reward yet the temporal punishment may be reserved for after ages and visited upon the posterity when transgression is come to the full Thus all the cruelty executed upon the Saints from the bloud of Abel was visited upon the Jewes in the destruction of Jerusalem and all the bloud shed upon the earth shall be visited upon Babylon the great the mother of harlots when she shall come up into remembrance before God with all those that have receyved her marke or borne her image or acted with her in a way of bloud 6. Sixthly there are no sort of sinners in whose destruction the Lord doth so much delight it is unto him a sacrifice of a sweet savour Esa 34.6 Jer. 46.10 Zâ—ph 1.7.8 And as Satan the neerer his kingdome is to end the greater is his rage great wrath because his time is short so the neerer Christ comes to the perfect possession of his Kingdome for when the enemies are subdued all the Kingdomes of the earth shall be the Lords and his Christs the more will he put on zeale as a garment and the more he will hasten the enemies overthrow he will doe more in a short time at last then hee hath in many ages in times past If it bee but a slanderer Quid tandem Deus Opt. Max. in te decernet Sagittas suas desuper nec non carbones seu primas Juniperorum in Gehenna Miâ—s in loc or one that persecutes with a despitefull heart and a false tongue he shall not lose his labour therefore the question is put Psal 121.3.4 What shall be given unto thee or what shal be done unto thee thou fals tongue Thy reward from the Lord shal be mighty and sharp arrowes with coales of Iuniper which as they burne hottest and continue the longest so they doe in the burning yeeld a sweet savour The second use is for consolation to all the Saints Vse 2 and the Lord takes great care that they should be comforted that their spirit might not sinke and fayle in the evill day Comfort yee comfort yee my people Esay 40.1 sayth your God and when the Lord Christ drew neere his suffering when a man would have expected all his thoughts should have beene taken up about himselfe yet now he takes care to beare up the spirits of his people that they might not bee overwhelmed with overmuch sorrow Io. 14.1 Let not your hearts bee troubled c. Truly we had need of great supports because the enemies are many and enraged mens spirits are in judgement turned to hate the Saints and it is to be feared if a man rightly discernes the signes of the times that the killing of the witnesses drawes neere which will surely bee the bitterest and bloudiest persecution that ever befell the Christian Churches My purpose is not to give you those ordinary supports which are common to all afflictions as that they come from a fathers hand from a heart full of love that they shal be in measure and make a man partaker of the holinesse of God in the end for this is all the fruit to take away the sinne c. though these are great grounds to stay a mans faith upon But I would rather pitch upon those that might be more proper and peculiar to the enemies and sufferings of the last times the cup that God hath reserved for you 1. These shal be the last great suffrings of the saints and they shal be but short for as all the former beasts are destroyed so there now remaines onely the seventh head of the fourth beast which is as the eight and must goe into perdition Rev. 17.11 and then all the eminent persecutions of the Church shall cease and there shall be no more a pricking briar and a grieving thorne in the Lords holy Mountaine the Lord shall then wipe away all teares from your eyes there shall bee no more sorrow nor crying the witnesses shall die but once and it shal be the sharpest but yet the shortest of the Churches sufferings To all you that have beene with the Lambe called and chosen and faythfull I say as the Martyr did Hold out faith and patience your worke is almost at an end It was a great comfort to Hierome of Prague that he could say to his persecutors at his death Centum revolutis annis Deo respondebitis mihi after an hundred yeeres God would call them to an account in avenging his bloud but you may summon your persecutors before God to answer in a far