his Brothers Death and came armed with 400 Cut-Throats at his Heels against him Jacob who in his excellent Wrastlings had power with God and prevailed Gen 32.26 c. could not want power to prevail with men Hos 12.4 Let Persons yea Parliaments go but that way God bids them as Jacob did and they shall not want a Mahanaim or Heavenly Host to convoy them through a boisterous Sea where the Winds are contrary Math. 14.24 and to conduct them through a wayless Wilderness through never so many Prophane Esau's with Hundreds and Thousands of Cut-Throats do way-lay them Jacob was back-set by Lowring Laban and fore-set by bloody Esau yet this Host of Angels carry him through both and all The third Scripture Instance of Apparitions of Armys was that in 2. Kings 6.17 which was a comfortable Apparition also being an Army of Angels too not of Men. Benhadad suspected his Councellor of Treachery Some Courtier that had been with Naaman ch 5 tells him it was Elisha that disclosed his Secrets and so frustrated them by his Prophetick Spirit therefore the King sends Horses and Chariots to fetch him v. 12.13.14 as soon his Spys brought him Word he was come to that little Town Dothan the Town is presently begirt with the Syrian Army Gehazi's Successor being yet but a little acquainted with his Masters Miracles could see the Danger so crys alas my Master what shall we do v. 15. but could not see the Deliverance Elisha was no more concerned than to have his Servants Eyes opened that his Faith also might be above his Fear God opened them and then he saw better Horses and better Chariots for their Defence Their Remedy would over-match their Malady v. 17. The same Horses and Chariots that had carried up Elijah were now come to protect Elisha from the Horses and Charriots of Benhadad Horses and Chariots of Fire must needs be too hard for the Syrians of Flesh Elisha thus guarded goeth out to his Adversaries and as he prayed open his Servants Eyes he prayed his Enemies Eyes into blindness v. 18. so led them thence to Samaria where he entrapped them that thought verily they had entrapped him in Dothan not far from Samaria v. 19.20 c. While the Prophet staid in Samaria his place of chiefest Residence and the chief City of the Kingdom he was secure from the Syrians Assaulting him but if he be Removed to Dothan to a place of desection as the Hebrew word signifies a lesser Town of lesser strength there and thither may the Syrian Host better Assemble but they cannot Assault the P. is safe there also having more for than against v. 16. They that be with us are more than they be with them 2. Chron 32.7 more Friends than Adversaries There is yet a fourth Scripture Apparition of Armys which according to the Sentiments of some is an Army of Men but of others an Army of Angels so seems a mixture of both to wit Zech. 6. from v. 1. to 9. 1st Some sence that Apparition of 4. Charriots to signify the four Empires in ordine ad Ecclesiam all ordered from their Rise to their Ruin in each of them by the Decrees of God which lay hid as it were in Mountains of Brass and ran like a River under ground till they broke forth and shewed themselves in their due execution with respect all along to the Church of God And if we admit of this Interpretation then this Apparition was an Army of Men yea of four several sorts of Men The Assyrian The Persian The Grecian And the Roman Thus the four Empires coliectively taken must be understood But the second Sense is that it was an Apparition of four Squdaron of Angels and this is more probable as more agreeable to the Interpretation which the Prophets Tutor rather than Tutelar Angel gives of it v. 5. calling them the Spirits of Heaven c. And though the word Ruachoth Signify Winds by which Daniel prefigures the four Monarchys Dan. 7.2 Yet more emphatically Angels are called Spirits Hab. 1.7.14 And the Spirits of Heaven Math. 24.36 and Gal. 1.8 Who as Ministring Spirits doe Stand before the Lord of the whole Earth Mat. 18.10 To serve his Providence and to be sent out as his Agents and Instruments upon various Errants at his pleasure and therefore are they Described here Gods Chartots as Ps 68.17 and of diverse colours 1. Black when their Errands are Sorrowful 2. White when Joyful 3ly Red when Bloody 4. Grizled when mixt of both Joyful and Sorrowful as to contrary Subjects 'T is very Remarkable here 1. That Divine Decrees are unsearchable insuperable unavoidable unremoveable they stand like Mountains of Brass which can never be removed 2ly All Humane Events are ordered in the World by Divine Decrees Therefore t is our part to put our Amen to Gods Amen and to say in the Language of the primitive Christians the will of the Lord be done Act. 21.14 3. Angels are Gods Agents for moveing the wheel of Providence in all Events The Spirit of the living Creatures is in the Wheels Ezech. 1.20 and 10.9.11.13 'T is a Comfort to Holy Men that all Occurrences are managed by the Holy Angels 4. The Work God Employs Angels to work in the World is various work 't is Black work and White work Red work and Mingled work 5. Their Black work is upon Babylon and their White work is upon Sion The Black Horses were sent to destroy Babylon that lay North of Judea and the White Horses were sent after them into the same Northern Country to deliver Sign which then in a great part lay among the Pots in Babylon 6. Their grizled or mingled work was upon Aegypt and Arabia which lay South from Judea the Punishment whereof was somewhat mixed and mitigated they should be in some better case than Babylon yet not so good as to retain the Jews there from their own Country 7. Their Black work done upon Babylon is said to quiet Gods Spirit v. 8. To ease him of his Adversaries Isa 1.24 to pacify his Anger and to give God full content 8. The Errand of the Red Charriot is wholy omitted probably because 't is a work reserved for the last times as the Black Charret did destroy Babylon Literal so the red Charet not mentioned as to its going out here may be Reserved to destroy Babylon Mystical and to give her Blood to Drink for she is worthy Revel 16.6.9 After all this is done comes in the Kingdom of the Branch v. 12. Thus the Prophet here concurrs with Daniel who after he had mentioned the downfal of the four Monarchys brings in the Kingdom of the Stone Dan. 2. the Kingdom of Christ our dear Redeemer Daniel had such Apparitions of mighty things as Zachary had The fourth fearful Phaenomenon was that fiery flying Bullet falling from the Firmament whereof this Account from Rostock in Silecia is given that in Jan. last the Heavens seemed to be Ruffled up like a sheet of Paper
Huntings Ezod 3.7 This is that mystery of Iniquity and mother of Harlots that has made so many Kings of the Earth drunk with the Intoxicating Cup of her both of corporal and spiritual Fornications I have sometimes wondred why Sir Edward Cook that strenous Lawyer and Lord Judge used to call Royal Prerogative a mighty Monster and I cannot tell how to put a sounder sense on it than by Interpreting his Words thus That Popery in all Kings and Kingdoms brings forth Tyranny 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Evil Bird Evil Egg as is the Mother so is the Daughter This Monstrous Beast brings forth most Monstrous Births no doubt but there is a just Prerogative well butted and bounded belonging to Kings yet may it be said of it as Naturalists say of the Dragon serpens serpentes vorando-fit Draco as when an overgrown Serpent hath devoured other Serpents that are lesser and below him thereby he becoms a Dragon So when Royal Prerogative hath swallowed both Priviledge of Parliaments and Liberty or Property of Subjects then doth it Degenerate into a Tyrannical Monster and this is evident in Popish Kingdoms where the King is called a King of Asses their Subjects being as so many Vassals Peasants and silly Asses tamely couching down under every Burden that an unlimited Prerogative Imposeth on them As that Creature is commonly Reputed a Monster wherein the common Rules of Nature which never intendeth any monstrous thing are prevaricated so this Prerogative that Sage Judge so Styleth may well be accounted a Monster when there is any notorious prevarication from the known Fundamental Laws of the Land there y when all Law becomes swallowed up with an Absolute and Arbitrary Domination and when no rule is observed therein but Sic Volo sic Jubco stat pro ratione voluntas And quod libet licet which are the Proposals of Popish Parasites to Popish Princes Thus one Monster begets and brings forth another in its own Monstrous likeness The beastly Religion of that Monstrous Beast of Rome both begets and brings forth Monstrous Tyranny changing Due Prerogative into a true Monster God Almighty bless this poor Land from all such Prerogative-Monsters which have so long infested Europe Though Affrica hath been always accounted famous for affording most Menslers according to that old Adage Africa semper aliquid novi sen Monstra Assert and I find this Story in Record That in Africa near Nilus were found a few Mice only one half made up Nature was there taken in the very Nick how she was prevented from perfecting her Work I know not yet this saith my Author I know she had wrought Life in the foreparts thereof Head and Breast but the hinder parts still remainedunform'd unquickned still abiding in the fashion of a little lump of Earth and so she lest them but by the Premises it appeareth that Europe as well as Africa aboundeth with Monsters and not so much with monstrous Mice which marr the Land as 1. Sam. 6.5 Or as Pliny writes with such Mice which drove out the Inhabitants out of Troas and the Island Gyarus Pliny lib. 8. cap. 28. and 10. and 10. cap. 65.68 Nor with such Mice as Speed in Essex mentioneth in the year 1581. just an hundred years ago which came in a great Army and over-ran the Marshes of Dengy Hundred near unto South Minster shearing the Grass to the very roots and so tainted the same with their venemous Teeth that a great Murrain sell upon their Cattel that grazed thereon Alas Europe is now Infested not only with Land Marring Mice which threatneth both a Famine of Bread and a Famine of the Word too Amos. 8.11 but also with monstrous and Landmarring Beasts such as are butting pushing Rams and slinking nausty Goats Ezek. 34.17.18.19.20 to wit the Popish Clergy who eat up the Best and beat down the rest with their foul Feet and for wholesom obtrude Brakish water upon men to quench their Thirst muzling and misleading some silly Souls to feed upon Traditions lying Legends cheating Indulgences vowed Pilgrimages hard Pennances e. They are glad to eat such as they can catch but other more enlightned Souls as cannot touch tast nor handle with them they thrust with the side and with the shoulder v. 21. and push them with their Horns of Excommunications and Persecutions until they have scattered them ahroad They force them out of the Fold Flock and Pasture of Gods Ordinances administred in power and purity in such a case what can the Righteous do Ps 18.3 They are not able to abide the pushings of those Monstrous Beasts they must either Fly or Dye they have not a Third for their choice oh pray that Christ the good Shepard may come and save his Flock from being a Prey to those Monsters and to Judge between Cattle and Cattle and to cause those unclean Beasts to cease out of this Land and other Lands in Europe v. 22 to 26. The Lion Nero and other Slaughter-Slaves of Satan assuredly shall not worry Gods Flock for ever T is Gods promise I will cause the unclean Spirit of the monstrous Beast to pass out of the Land Zech. 13.2 But what a deadly Bite this deadly Beast may give at passing and parting we know not morsus Bestiae moribundae sunt maxime mortiferi the good Lord give us a good Deliverance from the last Bite The third Predictive Sign or Wonder is prodigies prodigâ—um some Etymologizeth quasi predicium because 't is predictive and prognosticating others quasi porro agendum more and further to do as a Prodigy portends God hath some more and further great Work to do in the World in Greek 't is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 terren because a Prodigy is an affrightful prospect In Hebrew 't is called Mopheth a Jasaph Splenduit fulsit Illuxit because Prodigies especially those in the Heavens have a shining spendour which do dazle the Eyes of beholders and oft Astonisheth their Minds with their sparkling and shining Lustre The word Mopheth Deut. 13.2 Is Translated portentum quia Indicat quid porro tendatur because it portends some further tendency of Providence though there it be used for fallacious Wonders which the Devil by Jannes and Jambres wrought through Gods permission for the further hardning of Pharoah's Heart True Portents Prodigies or Wonders that do exceed the common course of Nature are always Gods Seals which he never sets on for confirming an untruth they have in the general a perswading power to believe and prompting us to awake out of our lazy slumbers hence one wittily compares Prodigies exposed to View unto a Musitians first strokes upon his Instrument to try in what tune it is and then he puts forth his most excellent dexterity in playing over sundry choice Lessons with most melodious and Ravishing Musick Thus when the great God doth expose his wonderful Prodigies unto Publick view and the knowledge of Mankind it plainly portends that he therein is tuning his Instrument as he is the chief
The SIGNS of the TIMES OR VVonderful Signs OF Wonderful times BEING A Faithful Collection and Impartial Relation of several SIGNS and WONDERS call'd properly PRODIGIES together with some Philosophical and Theological Descants upon them which have been seen in the HEAVENS on the EARTH and on the WATERS as they have been Testifyed by very Credible Hands All which have hapned within the compass of this last Year 1680. Which may well be called another Annus Mirabilis or Wonderful Year wherein the Lord hath given us loud Warnings to Repent of our Sins and Return to him that he may have Mercy upon us Woe to thm that Regard not the Work of the Lord neither Consider the Operation of his Hands Isa 5.11.12 13. By C. N. LONDON Printed for the Author And Published by Langley Gurtiss on Ludgate-Hill 1681. The Comet and the Dart The Armies in the Air The Three Suns seen The greathailstones Hatfield maid Ghost The Earthquake The 3 dead Tower-lyons the River dryd the whale The fight of Ships TO The Worshipful Francis Warner Esq AMongst all my small Acquaintance I have not had the Happiness to know personally any person of Quality though undoubtedly some such there be out of my reach so much conversant and so exquisitely vers'd in prophetick Mysteries like your self and considering That Prodigies which this portable pocket-book treateth upon are a kind of mute yet speaking Prophecies I made bold to Dedicate it quale quale est to your Worship being experimentally Assured That you are a lover of Learning and a candid Patron to all Abstruse Essays well knowing that in magnis voluisse sat est Difficilium facilis est venia Sir your Candour I presume will incline you to pardon me in the whole in as much as I have been constrained throughout this whole Work to tread all in untrodden paths finding none walking in the same way and Method before me You will find the Labour such as it is the more elaborate in finding out Sacred which are least obvious to Exceptions as well as Civil Parallels to present Prodigies and in making such I hope Innocent Descants upon them as the Matter doth require Sir I look upon you as one above many for Discoursing about the Signs of the times both the Signs of Divine Anger and of Divine Favour Signum Signatum sunt correlata Every Sign must have the thing signified no Sign is so dumb but it speaks something which only the wise do understand Hos 14.9 'T was Daniel only and not the South-sayers That could Read the Handwriting upon the Wall and give a Right Interpretation of it Dan. 5.8 11.12 15 16. Such as seek to Sorcerers deserve no better than a Disappointment the lowest fruit of their sublime Folly None of those Wizards of the world though they might have Deep Reaches in Humane Affaires could give the Sense of that Divine Oracle that work was reserved for a better man than they Stultorum plena sunt omnia Store of such Fools no better than Dust heaps are found in every Corner who either know not the mind of God in mystical matters or Stumble at it There be too many Atheists who do extenuate and undervalue all Prodigies Heathenishly ascribing them to Dame Nature only whereby they do dangerously Darken the Power and Providence of the Almighty God but there are not many wise wise-hearted and wise unto Salvation They are few that Understand the Signs of the Times 'T is Objected Prodigies are common Things therefore cannot be special Presages of future Events or of the End approaching I Ans 1 'T is very observable that the Palmoni Hamadabbat or Prince of Preachers preached upon Prodigies those signs and wonders which did presage the Destruction of Jerusalem and of his last Comming occasioned by his Disciples asking When shall these things be and What sign will there be when these things shall come to pass Luke 21.7 Mat. 24.3 Mar. 13 4. c. No sooner had Christ prepared them with due Cautions concerning themselves but he declared what was satisfactory to their curious question 2. The very first Text that Christs Apostles preach'd upon after Christ was gone from them and the Spirit come upon them was concerning Prodigies which the Prophet Jâ—el foretold God would shew in the world ch 2. ver 30 c and the Apostle Peter handled that Text so powerfully as to prevail with 3000 Converts at one Sermon Acts 2â— 17.19.41 Shewing how New Testament times do unvail and Accomplish the vailâ—d Prophecies of the Old 3 'T is the concurrent Opinion of our best Protestant Authors that there be some Special Signs of the Times call'd Sacramentis Mâ—raculis cognata near a Kin to Sacraments and Miracles which are more than Natural even of a Divine Ordination declaring how the Great God stands affected towards poor man in respect of his Favour or Anger See Polani Syntagmaâ—â— 6. ca. 48 59 many Classick Authentick Divines 4 'T is likewise as concurâ—â—â—â— a Sentiment of Goâ—d Hist riâ—â—â— both Ancient and Modern that Prodigies do mostly Portend the Futurition of some extraordinary Events as Herodotus c. and Lucan l. â— telleth how the sad calamities of Rome were presaged by many strange Prodigies in Heaven Earth and Sea singing or saying Thus Superique Minaces Prodigiis terras impleÌ„runt Aethera pontum Igneta obscurae vidèrunt Sydera Noctes Ardentémque polum flammis coelóque Volantes Obliquas per Inane Faces c. All which do signify that the whole Fabrick of the Universe had put upon it by the Angry God a most frightful Face and Aspect and Heaven Earth and Sea did conspire together to chastize the Pride and Luxury of Rome at that Time and Claudian saith That after Caesars Victory over Pompey not only the Heavens drop'd blood but also pits and pools flowed with blood as a praesage of Caesars Stabbing cum multis aliis c. 5. Pliny l. 2. c. 58. saith The Heathens were startled at the Prodigys of his time in so much that they had their solemn Sacrifices for Diverting the Evils portended by them And will not those Dictates of the dim light of Dame Nature in these blind Heathens rise up in Judgment against our Atheists who scoff at all those wonderful signs so terrifying in themselves and so testifying God's wrath for Man's sin Alas they had not God's Heifer to plow withall which we have yet could they Unriddle those Mysteries call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God's prodigious preachments better than many of us their very natural Religion was a dark Imitation of the true Divine Devotion though the Devil God's Ape did impose upon them therein much Superstition If against this it be alledged what is said Jer. 10.2 3. Learn not the way of the Heathen and be not Dismayed at the Signs of Heaven as they are for their Customs are vain I Answer 1. God Cautions his people there going Captives into Chaldea then that they learn
Sun to run Retrogade ten Degrees or such as Samuel shewed in calling for Thunder and Rain in Harvest c. or rather suchas Moses shew'd in Commanding the Corn of Heaven to come down for daily bread to Israel John 6.31.32 and if the Messiah would do so much for them none they pretended should be more willing to own him yet all this while they intended Malice and Mischief against him contemning his Miracles on Earth as if done by Magick Art c. III. Herod also was of no better Bran than those who Desired to see Jesus for a long time that he might shew him some sign Luke 23.8 Such as would recreate his Eyes and his Mind in beholding for he look'd upon our Lord as no better than a Common Juggler that would undoubtedly to ingratiate himself with the King shew to him the very best Trick in his Budget Thus that Fox would gladly have been gratified but he was notoriously deceived inasmuch as Christ was not so profuse of his Divine power as to put it forth at the pleasure of bad men mearly to satisfie their vain Curiosity But II. we do not only find upon Scripture Record wicked men Desirous to see Signs but even Godly men also as 1. Moses Exod. 4.1 who had Experience of his Brethrens rejecting him and thrusting him from them Exod. 2.14 Act. 7.27 and so they might Do again If he had not something to shew what might well warrant his Extraordinary Call therefore he saith They will not believe me c. that is I dare not Venture upon a bare Divine Call and Commission unless some Divine signs be shew'd me for my farther Confirmation Hereupon God condescends to gratify him with the Two first miraculous Signs Thus in the first Sign 't is observable That the turning of Moses Rod into a Serpent was a manifest Disclaiming of any Power borrowed from the Devil in all those wonders which he was to work with that Rod for that Sign did demonstrate Moses power over the Devil or Serpent his express Type and exercis'd against him in handling him though not without some Fear at first through a strengthned Faith at his Pleasure Moses indeed took this Serpent or Crocodile by the Tail only 'T was the Work of the MESSIAH to break the Serpents Head In this first Miraculous sign the ROD shew'd the flourishing State of Israel while Joseph was Lord of the Land of Aegypt and so held the Rod or Scepter for their Comfort but its Turning into a Serpent or Dragon did plainly portend the Afflicted Estate of that Church when Pharaoh that Dragon Ezek. 29.3 with the Subtlety of the Old Serpent most grievously oppressed Israel and yet this Serpent must be turn'd back again into a Rod to signify that the afflicted Estate of the Church should be turn'd into a flourishing Estate again by the Ministry of Moses more glorious than that of Joseph who was called King in Jesurum Deut. 33.5 a Title above that of Joseph and who was commanded to take the Serpent by the Tail Exod. 4.4 which was dreadful to be done because of the Innate Antipathy and probable Danger of the Sting yet Faith fortifies Moses's Heart against his Fear of this formidable Creature and carries him through the Difficulty of this Duty he doth as God bids him and had no Dammage thereby but the Serpent was turnd into a Rod again Moreover 2. for Humbling Moses and helping him to know That this miraculous Sign was not wrought by the Power of his own hand therefore was his hand made a Leprous one to shew That such great Wonders could not be wrought by so unclean a Hand without the Help of a better and greater Hand than his own and yet the Accomplishment of this Second Sign was a farther Confirmation of Moses's Faith that Leprous hand of his as white as Snow must be return'd to its Natural ruddy Complexion again Moses found the Leprosy in his Bosom and there also he immediately left it This was to signify to him That the sore Estate of the Church should presently be cured the Time of Her Healing now was at Hand tho she had lain long among the Pots and so were not only as poor despis'd Lepers covered over with a white Leprosy but all blakned and besmutch'd in the Bosom of Aegypt their House of Bondage yet God would restore her again to a Sound Estate and give her Wings of Silver and Feathers of Yellow Gold Psal 68.13 Thus the most high God doth vouchsafe to stoop so low to the meanness of Man as to give Moses sign upon sign as he had done before to him Exo 3.3.12 Giving him then a Double Confirmation 1. That of the Burning Bush for the present 2. That of Serving God at Horeb for the future The like Favour the Lord likewise vouchsafeth to us by giving us a frequent Administration of the Lords Supper whereby he doth Seal and Seal again the Confirmation of our Faith in the exceeding great and precious Promises of Christ 2 Pet. 1.4 God said to Moses Such as will not Hear the voice of the first Sign they will believe the Voice of the latter sign Exod. 4.8 Lekol Haoth the voice of the Sign plainly importeth That every of God's Signs hath a Voice and therefore the Psalmist faith That they have not only a Voice but Words also Dibre othothau he shew'd the Words of his Signs So 't is in the Hebr. Psal 105.27 They speak not to our Eyes only but to our Ears also Thus doth Sacramental Signs They have a Voice as Abel's Blood is said to have Gen. 4.10 Hebr. 11.4 which yet speaketh How much more the Blood of Christ which speaketh better things than the Blood of Abel Hebr. 12.24 The sign hath a Voice in it as Exod. 4.10 Ezek. 1.28 Job 4.16 God Annexing his Word with his Sign that it may be the better heard and understood because it as it were speaketh that to the Eye which words do to the Eear and on the contrary that which is plainly declared to the Ear is sometimes represented as if it were acted and exhibited to the Eye Gal. 3.1 Thus the Administratiom of the Lords Supper is a lively Resemblance of Christ crucified upon the Cross and thus the stung Israelites were heald by looking upon the Brazen Serpent advanced upon the Pole Num. 21.8 'T was but Look and live then and t is but Look and live now John 3.16 As they that look'd upon their Sores and not upon the Sign Dyed for it So they that fix their Eyes upon their Sins and not upon their Saviour do Despair and Dye and as they that look'd upon the Sign though but with one Eye though but with a squint Eye or but with half an Eye they were presently healed So those that look up to Christ though Weak in Faith yet Faithful in Weakness are sure to be saved Isa 45.22 Look unto me All the Ends of the Earth and be Saved as the Moon
when she looks most fully in a direct line upon the Sun then is she in the Full and most fully inlightned This is the great Duty Required to look vpon a Crucified Saviour Zech. 12.10 and Salvation in the Extent of it is in the former Scripture propounded as the Grand Wages of that work and Duty and that Universally to all Right Lookers both Jews and Gentiles The second Instance of a godly man desirous to see Signs is Gideon as Moses was the first both of them reckoned among Gods Renowned Worthies Heb. 11.20.32 This Gideon though but weak in Faith yet was faithful in weakness and therefore is he dignified with a Room in that Court-Roll of the most radiant Starrs in Scripture Horizon yet his Faith though true being weak required some Supporters hence he saith then shew me a Sign Judg. 6.17 This Sign Gideon sought not as that Adulterous and Evil Generation the Pharises c. did out of Curiosity and Incredulity but as Moses before him c. for farther Confirmation of his Faith concerning his call to so great a Work whereby he might be satisfied that it was God and not man or Devil that called him A good Cause a good Call and a good Conscience will make a good Courage and all are necessary to a Captain or Soldier Especially the Lord looked upon him as well liking his speech v. 14. vouchsafes him a Sign v. 21. signifying that the Midianites should be Destroyed without mans labour seeing Fire came out of the Rock as before Water had done Exod. 17.7 without any humane help to consume the Sacrifice therefore did Gideon erect an Altar to the Lord who had thus confirmed him not only by these Signs v. 17. but by two other Signs v. 36.37 and thus comforted him against his despondencies and called the name of his Altar Jehovah Shalom the Lord of Peace v. 23.24 O that this Inscription were upon all our Hearts as 2. Thess 3.16 The Lord of Peace give us peace always by all means this would answer all Doubts and advance Faith above Fear The sign of the Fleece Gideon desired to be doubled not out of Incredulity to tempt God but out of Humility to be supported under the sence of his own weakness and unsuitableness to so great an undertaking against which he found marvelous Relief in the double Wonder of the Fleece which intimated two things to him 1. Concerning Israel 2. Concerning Midian 1. As to Israel that was represented by the Fleece being sometimes wet with the Dew of Heaven and sometimes dry 2. As to Midian they had Fleeced Israel of all their good things and pull'd all the Wooll from off their backs as the Shearer in that Fleece had don to the poor Sheep turning him naked out of doors into the open Fields but now Gideon with the Lords help should fleece Midian the Sword of the Lord and of Gideon should do as much for them as they had done for Israel pay them home in their own Coyn and requite them to the full after the Law of retaliation hereby Gideons Faith weak at first did gradually grow strong by those confirming Signs so comes he in as a Candidate in that Apostolical Catalogue Heb 11.32 Amongst the highest Favourites in the Court of Heaven Besides those two Godly Men Moses and Gideon that desired confirming Signs there be many others to whom God vouchsafed Signs though undesired as the Tree of Life to Adam Gen. 3.22 The Fire of God to Abraham Gen. 15.17 The budding of the Rod to Aaron Num. 17.5 The Sun standing still to Joshuah Josh 10.13 And its running back to Hezekiah 2. Kings 20.8 9. Fiery Tongues to the Apostles Acts 2.3 4. A Draught of Fish to Peter John 21.6 A Star to the three Wise men Mat. 2.2.9 Dumbness to Zechariah Luke 1.20 and many other Signs to Believers Mark 16.17 18 20. Yet sometimes we find God forcing Signs even upon wicked men as upon that branded one Ahaz Isai 7.10.11.12.14 c. Though this was King Ahaz wicked with an accent even he shall see that while he was under the power of a malicious Devil yet hath he to do with a most gracious God who by a wonderful condeseension will needs give him a Sign 't is an unheard of vouchsafement to vouchsafe a Sign to such a notorious Unbeliever this is more than Christ would do to the Pharisees whom he calls a bastardly Brood for desiring a Sign as before Matt. 12.39 Ask a Sign either in the Depth c. Here was a fair offer to a most foul Sinner he might have had a sight of Heaven or of Hell for a Sign yet instead of an humble and thankful asking he sordidly answered tantamont I le ask no askings I lle try no Signs I know a trick worth two of that I 'le send to the Assyrians so help my self God may keep his Signs to himself I crave no such courtesy at his hands c. Did ever any branded Belialist or black-mouthed Bedlam speak worse to God than he in all this no wonder if God set a black brand upon him saying This is that Ahaz 2. Chron. 28.22 Yet notwithstanding all this ingratitude and provocation God of himself gave Israel a Sign Isa 7.14 A singular Sign a Sign both from above and from beneath inasmuch as this Immanuel born of a Virgin did joyn pure Heaven and base Earth together in his two Natures Again those Signs which the Scripture mentions are manifold as 1. Such as be meerly Natural Gen. 1.14 2. Praeternatural beside the power of Nature in her ordinary production such are Prodigies in Heaven and Monsters on Earth c. 3. Supernatural which are either Divine such as were the Miracles God wrought by the Prophets and Apostles or Diabolical as the Lying Wonders Deut. 13.2.3 2. Thess 2.9 and Rev. 13.13 As there be Natural Signs so there be Instituted Signs to wit the Sacraments which are call'd Signs and Seals of the Covenant Rom. 4.11 Moreover the Signs God shews to men are either ordinary or extraordinary commnnia aut Insolita Signa Except we see not common but unusual signs we will not believe John 4.48 We have a frequent sight of Natural Signs and of Artificial Signs the former hanging in the Heavens exposed to open view the latter hanging over every House almost in this great City yea and such signs as be significant indeed some Signs are significant ex primaria intentione instituentis purposely and primarily Instituted to signify something whether the Institutor be God or Man God is the only Institutor of all significant signs in Sacred things as he Instituted the two Sacraments under the Law and the two Sacraments under the Gospel other significant Signs or Ceremonies which are only mans Institution and never came into the mind of God Jer. 7.31 Nor out of the Mouth of God Deut. 4.1.2 ought justly to be exploded All Divine Worship must have Divine Warrant and Divine Institutions may not be mingled
Impression which through his Angelical Nature he is able to make upon matter can do wonderful things to cheat the blind world as he did Pharaoh and the Aegyptians by his Vassals the Sorcerers But he cannot work such a Wonder as is a Miracle The Lending Power will never accommodate the Borrowing party with such a Power as may be prejudicial to his own holy and glorious Design The only wise Creator will never gratify his Creatures nay the worst of his Creatures such are all Sorcerers for any such end as either to obstruct his WORK or to cheat the World Hereupon Austin de Unit ate Feeles cap. 16. saith excellently That the pretended Miracles of his time were either figmenta mendacium Hominum aut Portenta fallacium Spirituum either the Forgeries of lying Men or the Portents of Deceitful Devils for a true Miracle is the work of an Infinite Power whether primarily or Secondarily performed and hence David saith That God only doth wondrous Things Ps 72.18 Indeed God somtimes useth men as moral Instruments but never as natural Causes in working VVonders which surpass the Power of Nature Hence also Nebuchadnezzar when God drove him from men by his own Courtiers and subjects and so had tam'd him and taken him a loop or link lower by making him graze among the Beasts himself becomes a Catholick Preacher to the VVorld publickly proclaiming the Great God to be the only Author of Signs and Wonders 'T is the Lord only that sheweth them And they are all His with an Emphasis and not only So but they are Rab Rabbin Great many and Magnificent as the word signifies Dan. 4.2 3.33 34 37. Mark how he enlargeth upon this point again and again and he calls God's great Acts towards him in his Expulsion from his Throne 1. SIGNS as they did signify Gods Wisdom Power and Justice to him and 2. VVONDERS as worthy to be Wondred at by him when yet in the Highest Ruffe of his Pride and Prosperity should have both a Vision and Execution of his Downfal from the Highest Pinacle of his Arch Triumphant Mark Nebuchadn hereupon celebrates God's Kingdom only had David handled this he had added as in his Hilled Gadol or great Gratulatory Psalm the 136. He doth often His Mercy endureth for ever which is the foot and burthen of the whole Song not as an idle tautologie or vain Repetition but as a most notable intimation of the Saints unsatisfiableness in praising GOD for his never-failing mercy his Covenant-mercy his special mercy in CHRIST who was the most signal Sign Isa 7.14 in and by whom God only worketh wondrous things Ps 72.17.18 Where David blesseth God for all the forementioned Benefits by the Lord Christ of whom his Son Solomon was but a Type hereof Nebuchadnezar was Ignorant However 't is admirable he could go thus far as to acknowledge the Lord Jehovah to be the true and wonder-working-God whereby he testified his Repentance in his admiring as in a Rapture the mighty and matchless power of God he was constrained to give God the Glory of all his wonderous Works hence some think he was truly and throughly Converted here seeing he falls so kindly under the mighty hand of God whereby as he penitently acknowledgeth those great Signs and Wonders were wrought concerning him that such a mighty Monarch as he was should be chased from his Kingdom yea and from among men and live among brute Beasts feeding upon Grass as they fed who had formerly fed on the choicest fare the chiefest Cates and Delicates in the World and that for 7 long years yea deprived of his Humane Understanding all this time oh that the proudest Potentates of the World would well ponder this wonderful Work and yet after all this be restored to his right Intellectuals and to his Royal Dignitys How well doth he stile them Gods great Signs and Wonders for who but God can look upon the proud and bring them low Job 40.11 12 13. God did abate his Pride and abase his Power to bring him to Repentance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God hath a most powerful Eye both for Eversion as here and for Conversion as â—nk 22.61 and here probably also The whole work being a supernatural change both forward and backward outward and inward and every circumstance occasion manner degree and time c. seeming no less then a new Creation Again 3ly The Wonders of Gods working are either Ordinary or Extraordinary 1. Ordinary God often shews himself maximum in minimis the greatest Artist in the smalest matters not only in that miraculous plague of Lice made of the Dust upon the Land of Aegypt which so fainted under these poor Vermin armed with the power of God that they were forced to cry out This is the very Finger of GOD Exod. 8.17 18 19. wherein 't is very Admirable to observe how this Act of Omnipotentency in such base and vile Creatures as are Dust and Lice consounded the Imposture and Power of Jannes and Jambres 2 Tim. 3.8 9. yea and of the Devil their Master yet thâ— Great God was highly honored thereby for 't is said All thâ— dust of the Land was made Lice by Moses ver 17. then the Magicians had no matter lest them to try their Diabolical Art upon unless they could create Dust and suppose they had some Duâ—â— left them for an Experiment yet though they stretch'd ouâ— their hands with Rods and did their utmost Endeavours The could not vers 18. They could neither Create Dust where there was none nor where there was some convert it into Lice Neither could these Magicians save their own Skins c. Thus it plainly Appeareth That the power and Providence of God extendeth even to the lowest and vilest things in the Creation and that God can after a Miraculous manner fâ—â— the Greatest power either of Men or Devils therewith at 〈◊〉 Pleasure And this is Gods shewing himself the greatest Operator in the least of his Operations and not only I say in extraordinary but also even in ordinary Cases Indeed the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the eternal Power and God head is manifest and knowable in the whole Creation yea in the Decimo-Sexto's as well as in the Great Folio's thereof Every Creature hath Aliquid Dei aeque ac aliquid Nihili Something of God in it as well as something of Nothing otherwise it could not be said to be created out of Nothing by the Creator and many times we Admire that there should be more of Art and Activity in a Dwarf Bee or Ant than in a Giant or Elephant most great Souls are sometimes couch'd in most little Bodies Amd the truth is True and real Wonders are God's daily work upon which Account they may be called Ordinary as I shew in my Crown of a Christian upon that Book with Three leaves the Creation of God viz. Heaven Earth or Sea Psal 135.6 There be Wonders without number in all those Three Job 9.10 Such as the Wisest
may well wonder at and more observable than either the most are aware of or affected with 'T is manifest That Jehovah is the true and only Thaumaturgus the great and ordinary Wonder-worker To omit the Wonders of the Creation for which see Psalm 136 4 5 6 7. and my little Book aforesaid upon Meditation pag. 125. to 145. and give but a Specimen or small Scantling of them 1. 'T is a Wonder to be wondred at How the Bones grow in her that is with Child Eccles 11.5 Solomon himself who was Natures Secretary wonders at this and so did David before him Psalm 139.14 2. The double Motion of the Lungs call'd Systole and Diastole and of the Pulse in mans Body is a Wonder which that Famous Physician Galen tho an Heathen was so amazed with that he would needs offer Sacrifices to that God whom he knew not who yet as he supposed must be the Original of that Wonder 3. The Strength of the Nether Chap is a Wonder whereof no man could ever give a Sufficient Natural Reason Nor 4. of the Heat in the Stomach for Digestion of all Meats in Succum Sanguinem into juice and Blood in a little time Nor. 5. Of the various Colours in the Rain-bow Nor 6. of the Flux and Reflux of the Sea Nor 7. of the Magnetick Virtues of the Loadstone to let pass many others that are Wonders all though ordinary No nor 8. of this common case that Chaff should be so cold as to keep Snow hid within it from melting and yet so warm as to hasten the Ripning of Apples which are coverd with it Gods wonders are without Number But 2. Instances more The 9th wonder is God's turning water into Wine as his Daily Work 'T is true this is called The Beginning of Christs Miracles Joh. 2.11 and 't was a mighty Miracle yea better than that of Moses for the Giver of the Law turn'd Water into Blood but the Giver of the Gospel turn'd Water into Wine the former could not be drank without danger of dying the latter was delightful to Drink and Heart-Reviving yet this VVonder of turning water into VVine is a daily work with God as Augustin excellently observeth Inasmuch as the Rain water which falls upon the Root of the Vine and nourisheth the Tree Doth in time turn into the Grape The Juice Blood or VVine is originally VVater In the 10th and last place Augustin excellently also maketh Gods multiplying a grain of Corn sown in the Earth to 30 60 or 100 Corns a more miraculous wonder than Christs multiplying the few Loves to feed 5000 persons his words are mirabilior est Grani in Terra multiplicatio quam illa quinque panum Tract 24. in Joh. 6.9 10 11. yet was that miracle of the 5 loaves exceeding marvelous Inasmuch as the Loaves by a strange kind of Arithmetick were Multiplied by Division as they were distributed among the Multitude and an Addition to them was made by Substraction As each person had his piece subtracted from the Loaves yet were they augmented thereby Notwithstanding all this That Reverend Father prefers the common Experience of every Husband-man the multiplying of one grain as a greater wonder Thus something may be known of God in the whole Creation Rom. 1.19 and much more in Divine Providence God never leaves himself without Witness Acts 14.17 yet leaves he all men without excuse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without any Apology Rom. 1.20 for though natural light is not available to bring faln Man into the Favour of God yet it is sufficient to convince him of Moral wickedness both against God and Man oh then what pity it is that Christ should still say Ye will not believe except ye see Signs and Wonders whereas men live in the very midst of many such like Signs and wonders as are the aforesaid c. yet they come not up to so much as amounts to an Old Testament Faith of Believing in GOD though a New Testament Faith is requisite also as Christ saith Ye believe in God believe also in Me John 14.1 but are Intoxicated with Atheism and live according to their Lusts as if they were all become David's Fools which say in their Heart There is no God though they Daily see God sufficiently sealing up his General Goodness to Man in doing him Good pro victu amictu bestowing upon him Daily Bread and Daily Cloathing 2. Besides those Ordinary God hath also his Extraordinary Wonders The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very great and Wonderful Works of GOD Act. 2.11 for though the Great GOD doth limit Nature to her Common Products yet will he never limit himself but Will Do whatever pleaseth him Psal 115.3 without either the Help or the Hindrance of any Whether it be Miracles or Marvels or Ordinanary Occurrences As to the first of those I have spoke so largely already and shall only add that there were never any Miracles for Weight Measure and Number for God is said to do all things pondere mensura Numero equal to those in the time of the Gospel none of those either before or under the Law can be parralel'd with those under the Gospel upon all those three accounts they are not like them for weight measure and number It may easily be Demonstrated how far Law-Miracles come short of Gospel Miracles in all these respects To Instance only in that one asorenamed Moses indeed turned Water into Blood but the Messiah turned Water into Wine and how much the latter exceeds and excels the former is obvious to every ordinary understanding inasmuch as the former was made pestiferous the latter salutiferous Drink therefore the captious and carnal Jews were exceedingly irrational in rejecting those Miracles the Messiah wrought amongst them and requesting some such as Moses had wrought for their Forefathers as giving them Manna from Heaven c. Seeing those of the Messiah did far surmount those of Moses both in quality and quantity and in ponderesity Inasmuch as that Manna Moses gave their Forefathers melted putrified bred Worms and perished in the using but the Messiah gave himself the true Bread from Heaven to feed them up to Everlasting Life his own Flesh for them to eat and his own Blood for them to Drink a Meat and Drink that must last without putrifying so long as the World doth last Manna was but the Type which is always the lesser Christ is the Antitype which is always the greater and better If our Saviour say of himself that he is greater than Solomon Matth. 12.42 We may likewise say of him he is greater and better than Manna Moreover that which more aggravated the Jews Contempt of Christs person and his Miracles is that their knowledge of Moses's Miracles they had upon Credit only they received it by Tradition from their Forefathers But as to the Miracles of our Blessed Messiah they received them not by Hear-say but were personal Eye-witnesses of them therefore doth the Apostle Peter make his
Musitian according to Davids Dedication to many of his Psalms and that he is about to play over some eminent Acts of Providence which he will mannage throughout with most excellent skill upon the Stage of the World even such curious Lessons though consisting of Discords which may prove sad cordoliums to the VVicked yet sweet Cordials to the Godly The second particular in this General Discourse is the Scene whereon the great God shews his marvelous Signs and Wonders and where they have their extraordinary scituation whereof we cannot have a better account from any better Hand than from the sweet singer of Israel Ps 135.6 VVhere after he had declared 1. Gods Goodness v. 3. Then 2. Gods Greatness v. 5. Yea greater than all Gods either Deputed as Magistrates Ps 82.1.6 Or Reputed as Idols Ps 115.4.1 Cor. 8.4 He comes to declare what a most free Agent this good and great God is v. 6. Doing whatever pleaseth him whereby he confuteth three sorts of the Truths Adversaries 1st The Stoicks that bind Gods Almighty Hands under a Fatal necessity as if God could do nothing but as second Causes do move and oblige him 2. The Epicureans who dotingly Dream that God called Actus purissimus is altogether Idle sitting in Heaven at his own ease and altogether unconcerned with the Affairs of this lower World which they say are managed by chance and fortune 3. The Ethnicks who confess God to be concerned in the greatest matters of this lowermost World but not with the least of them saying Non vacat exiguis Rebus Adesse Jovi Jove is not at leisure to be present at small matters David here doth Demonstrate the grossness of all those three mistakes saying God is always at work as John 5.17 and he works freely what he pleaseth Ps 115.3 and under no Constraint or Restraint no second cause can either help him or hinder him even the seeming Impediments he over-ruleth and making them serviceable to his own irresistible Will as Phaorah's Daughter is made to preserve Moses who was to Destroy Pharoah's Kingdom c. And lastly he nameth the three grand Stages or Theaters whereon God worketh what he willeth both his Ordinary and extraordinary works to wit Heaven Earth and Sea the great God is concern'd in all things that come to pass in all these parts of the visible World This leads me from the General to a particular Discourse of those mighty Signs Wonders and Prodigies which the great God hath very lately shewn to the World upon all those three Scenes or Stages And first in the Heavens this Mighty God Jehovah not Jove or Jupiter is declared to be the Maker of all Meteors Jerem. 10.13 Ps 135.7 whether they be Fiery Airy or VVatery and whether they be Ordinary or Extraordinary 1. Ordinary 't is the great God that causeth Vapours to ascend from the ends of the Earth Ps 135.7 And Jerem. 10.13 Those Vapours the Sun Moon and Stars exhaleth out of the Earth and Sea by the Ordinance of the Creator whereon those usual Meteors as Clouds either with Rain or without Thanders and the Rainbow c are made as on their proper matter This may be exemplified in the little World Man in whom Vapours are experienced to Ascend up from below unto the Brain and from thence again do Deseend in a Defluxion of Rheum down upon the Lungs c. Thus it is in the Great World as to the first common Meteor to wit Clouds which are moist Vapours draâ—n up as is aforesaid into the middle Region where being by the coldness thereof condensed and congealed they so continue there until by the warmth of the Sun they come to be dissolved and turn'd into Rain Zanch. de Op r. Dii lib. 3. cap. 6. pag. 381. Hereupon they are called Gods Garden-Pat for watering Plants wherewith he duly watereth the wide Garden of the World Now this though Common is one of Gods mighty Sig s and Wonders that he should bind up such a vast weight of water in his Clouds which are nothing but Vapours knit together and so are Vessels much thinner than the Liquor contained in them 't is a mighty Wonder that the Clouds are not rent under them Job 26.8 And so to cause a Cataclysme or warer Spouts as Marriners call them to drown not only Ships at Sea but also the whole Globe of the Earth This wonderful work of God that such a Massy weight of VVater should be confin'd to a thin Cloud as if a strong man should be conjur'd into a slender Cobweb and there be kept Nolens Voleâ—s If well weighed would be sufficient to convince the greatest Atheist in the VVorld of an Omnipotent Deity no meer man can spread aloft the thinnest Curtain absque fulcris without some solid thing to uphold it Yet the great God spreadeth those thin Curtains the Clouds over the whole Face of the Firmament Job 25.9.36.29 such as have great Floods bound up sometimes in them as in a Garment Prov. â—0 4 Yet have they nothing but the fluid Air to sustain them there be also Clouds without water as well as with which seem to carry the less VVonder in them yet if we Consider that all Clouds are Gods Spunges as Zanchy that Divine Philosopher calleth them which are in time filled with the waters that are above the Firmament and the true reason why some Clouds do Rain upon the Earth and others doe not is because God doth not squeeze all those Spunges with his mighty Hand and thus God saith I will command the Clouds to Rain no Rain upon this or that place Isa 5.7 Those are Clouds without Rain Prov. 25.14 For God presseth them not and those which God squeezeth as man doth a Spunge he doth it not with all his might but gently that they may moderately drop upon the Earth to refresh it but not to Ruine it as was done to the Old VVorld when God opened the Cataracts of Heaven and wrung those Spunges hard upon them the Consideration hereof should bring man to the knowledge of the Power Wisdom and Goodness of God Rom. 1.19 Job 38.37 Jer. 5.22 The second common Meteor is Thunder c. This is also Wonderful that Fire and Water should mingle in one Cloud and that Hard Stones according to the vulgar Opinion should come out of the midst of thin Vapours These are Wonders in Nature far beyond Humane Apprehension that one and the same Cloud should one while be an Aery Sea to powr down a whole Tide of VVater and another while even immediately be as some Aery Furnace which scattereth abroad flashes of Fire into all parts of the Earth astonishing the VVorld with the dreadful noise of that Eruption and that God should fetch Fire out of the midst of Water and hard Thunderbolts out of the midst of such a soft Exhalation as a Cloud is Hac sunt sane Tremenda atque admiranda no less to be Dreaded than Admired The third comman Wonder in Nature is
under Christ Tabernacling in Flesh Then the Roman Empire was in its Zenith or highest Advance The sixth under Charles the Great when the Roman was turned into the German Empire and the seventh draweth nigh which is supposed to have a Sabbatism as the Sabbath of Rest followed the 6 Days labour at the Creation in its Womb. Our Blessed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Master of the Marriage Feast reserveth his best Wine for this last time Although that Universal Schollar Alsted make a little variation of those 6 aforesaid Conjunctions and Revolutions yet he fully agreeth with Tychobrahe in this that the seventh great Revolution of the superior Planers falleth upon our last times and doth certainly portend some great and universal mutation as all the other six hath formerly done especially considering that those Planers in their seventh Return hath perfectly compleated their circular Motion and then are in the same point and posture that they were placed in at the Creation of the VVorld Alsteds Encupl Uranosc Lib. 11. Pag. 125. That which startled the great men of Rome so much at the Blazing out of this Comet was the Mathematicians there observed it to be in the Train of it six times longer than that which did portend the last Pope Alexander the VII Exit out of the World This Discovery put the present Pope into such a cold paroxysm that nothing but a Dutch Stove could keep him warm I doubt not but that cold Sweat which hath seized now upon all the Limbs of Antichrist will in due time carry off not only him but such as should succeed him by the Breath of Christs Mouth and by the brightness of his coming 2. Thes 2 8 A prodigious Comet and a Climacterial Conjunction Astrologers say are a double Seal of the great God to aseertain this great Truth In that lesser Conjunction of the two superior Planets in the year 1664. The Comet followed the Conjunction as a Seal for Confirmation that dreadful Effects were portended thereby which not only this Land in Fire Plague and Plots c. but also most of Europe in most Desolating Wars smarted under but as to the Total Greatest or Clymacterical Conjunction approaching which cometh to pass only every 800. year this hath as its Seal a Dreadful Comet as its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Harbinger going before it and shewing it self first to awaken and amaze the Drowzy Secure World c. However we well enough may call it a Divine Preacher or Preco sent from God to point out some sacred Truth out of Heaven to the Inhabitants upon Earth 't is an Orthodox and Authentick Preacher backed with such insuperable Authority as neither the proud pashur of Rome nor any of his popish Prelates can suspend from its Office or put to Silence until it hath delivered its message and done its Work that its Creatour gave it to do It cannot be obscured in its astonishing light and lustre or dwindle away by any created Hands but only by the hands of its own Maker And now when it is gone off the Stage Oh that the loud Sermons it hath preached may still Sound in our Ears and Sink down into our Hearts taking deep Impressions there though it be a good while after as did those Sermons loudly and lustily cryed out by Christs Cryer or Fore-runner John the Baptist who did lift up his Voice like a Trumpet Isa 58.1 and those sacred Truth he had preached long before had their blessed and saving Effect long after as John 10.41 The Word preached sometime before sometimes Works and that considerable after Yea may we not say of this late Comet that it was some Prince-Peracher having such Attendants before it and after it all as so many Curats under it God himself speaking to Job out of the Whirlwind Job 38.1 doth magnify Arcturus that Star of the first magnitude and that always Riseth upon the 10th of March exactly when the Sun Setteth by describing how Stately he is attended with his Sons the little Stars that wait upon him Job 38.32 In like manner the great God hath so Ordered that this late Blazing-Star of a prodigious Magnitude in its Train should have other Apparitions attending it as small Curats to that Illustrious Preacher the Comet especially that Fiery Dart which followed its extinction within a few weeks after This is the second Phaenom non or Apparition which the great God shewed to poor man as a Sign from Heaven seeing none shewn on Earth will convince us it being with us as it was with those Christ-Tempters in the Gospel Luke 11.16 They must have a Sign from Heaven over and above all those mighty and matchless Miracles that Christ wrought amongst them upon Earth They must have the Messiah to Thunder from Heaven upon them as Samuel had done upon their Forefathers 1. Sam. 12.16.17 to convince them of their Sin in asking a King and to bring them to Repentance for as Johns Baptist was Christs Fore-runner into the World so Repentance must be his Fore-runner into Mens Hearts Houses Cities and Countries c. Therefore to bring men to it when they will not comply with the Council of Mortal Ministers upon Earth as those would not with that of Samuel God sends some Signs Extraordinary from Heaven seeing signa de Caelo sunt Formidanda such Signs as God sends from Heaven are most formidable Samuel bids that people first stand and Hear v. 7. that is Bustle not Bristle not but suffer a word of Exhortation Heb. 13 22. When this would not do the good old man being contemned by them both in his person preaching and power he set GOD at work to speak to them by Signs and Wonders and then Samuel saith Secondly Stand and see v. 16. that so those two Learned Senses as Aristotle calls Hearing and Seeing being both Affected might be also Instructed so God saith likewise Heartye Deaf look ye Blind Isa 42.18 Thus the Lord saith to us in our Day so gives us not only the Word to Hear but also Signs to see and that one Sign upon another that they which will not Hear the Voice of the first Sign might be moved to hear the Voice of the second Exod. 4.8 Therefore did God send a second sign the Bolis or Fiery Dart immediately after the first to wit the Comet as a Seal annexed to it in its direful prospects and prognosticks 'T is true I cannot say of this latter as I can of the former that â—â—isce Oculis Vidi I saw it with my own Eyes but sundry spectators of it doth assure me that it was a long str am of Fire pointing down towards the Earth and appearing but two or three nights which was the cause of my not beholding it Letters also from the Hague and from Copenhagen give a dark account of this Blaze about the 27th of February This Liery Lance or Dart Philosophers calleth Bolis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jacit to Cast as if it were Gods Javelin
at which time a white glittering Bullet appeared which seemed to yeild some drops of water being attended with two great flashes of Lightning The Bullet was seen by many spectators to fall down but none of them could tell where it fell only in this all do unanimously agree that the said Bullet in its saling gave a greater light into their Houses than the greatest lights they burned for three or four Miles round the place I know not how to Exemplify this Apparition with a more suitable Paralel out of Scripture Record than with Zachary's Flying Roll Chap. 5.1.2 c. This Roll is called a Volumn or a Scroll of Paper or Parchment rolled up as the Heavens seemed to be in this Prodigy yet Flying and flecting swiftly all a long as a Bird of Prey in a ready posture to seize on his Prey Volans Velocissimum ultionis incursum denotat This very posture of Flying doth demonstrate some sudden Incursion of Divine Vengeance saith Chrysostome but God only knows where it will fall Nemo scelus gerit in pectore qui non idem Nemesin in Tergo No man can carry any divellish wickedness in his Breast but the same man must bear Nemesin so was the Goddess of Revenge called or Divine Vengeance upon his Back This the blind Heathens could say by the light of Nature into whose Hearts the Remarks how the Holy God Revengeth himself upon wicked men cast a greater light than could this Flying Bullet into the Houses of those Villages which were enlightned with it Hereupon they called Vengeance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies unavoidable because no Offender can either Avert or Avoid the Revenging hand of God there is no escaping its coming nor abiding it when it cometh This Flying Roll is described by the Prophet to be ten yards long and five broad This Remarkable Measure of the Flying Roll is 1st Commensurate to the Porch of the Temple which is exactly described to be of the same Breadth and Length 1. Kin 6.3 And as it bore a proportion in measure to the Porch so it may be supposed to come out from thence as a Voice from the Temple Isa 66.6 And unfolding as it came thence it appeared in the Air in a Flying posture hastning and hovering over the Heads of wicked Persons 2ly It bears likewise a proportion to the Land of the Jews which Geographers Describe to be twice as long as it was broad and now it being covered all over with the Guilt and Filth of Mens Sins it was ready to be covered all over with the sence and smart of Gods Judgments 3ly 'T is commensurate also to the whole World of Gentles the length whereof take it from East to West much exceeded the breadth of it from North to South as Geography observeth and thus it signified that as all the Habitable Lands had filled themselves with all kind of Sins so God would now fill them with all kind of punishments 'T was every way large enough to plague all sorts of Sins and to punish all sorts of Sinners whether in every corner of Judea or in the utmost parts of the Habitable World Thus the Flying Roll is said to go forth yea Fly more swiftly than the Eagle the Arrow or a Flash of Lightning over the Face of the whole Earth v. 2.3 And the Curse of God contained in the Roll within and without is as the Fiery Bullet that burns on all sides being like Ezekicls Book filled with such contents as Lamentation and Mourning and Woe Ezek. 2.9.10 This Curse of God when it falleth upon the People of Gods Curse Isa 34.5 hath a more mighty and mortal fall than the bulkiest Bullet in the World far beyond the Burthen of that mountanious Bullet which History telleth us was shot out of that monstrous murdering-piece called Grand Diabolo or the great Divel Inasmuch as the mighty Hands of the Almighty and All-Creating God in Heaven can give a greater and more fatal Blow than can the created Hands of the greatest Divel in Hell This is the Fiery Bullet that Droppeth the bitter Water which causeth the Curse Num. 5.18 and which will make the Thigh to Rot and the Belly to Swell v. 21.23 Neither let any man say that the Curses written in Gods Book are but Bug-bears and that words are but wind as they said Jer. 5.13 for the words written in that Book or Hebrew Scroll should cause the waters thus to work which in themselves had neither any discerning Virtue nor any destroying Vigour yet the Divine Institution made the same potion either Poyson or Medicine according to the cleaness or uncleaness of the party Thus also Gods Word which Scoffers call but Wind yet may have Dreadful Effects for even Wind when gotten into the Bowels of the Earth may cause an Earth-quake so this Word of the Curse when gotten into the Bowels of a mans mind may make an Heart-quake Besides that very Word which those Mockers made light off as Wind should become Fire and themselves Fuel to feed it Jer. 5.13.14 And as Fire slyeth upon Fuel that is fully dryed and consumeth it in an instant Nah. 1.10 So Gods Flying-Roll will lick up wicked Livers as that Fire from Heaven did the Sacrifice the Wood the Stones and the Dust with all the Water in the Trench 1. Kin. 18.38 Divine Threatnings in Gods Flying-Roll are as Erasmus saith of Ezek. 3.18 Fulmina potiùs quà m Verba Hot Thunderbolts rather than such Words as be but Wind The same God that hath denounced it will certainly do it he will see his own Law Executed Zach. 5.4 and will himself Execute the Judgment written in this Roll Ps 149.9 Yea and more than is written Deut. 28.61 Upon the Head of the Thief great as well as small as the Pyrate told Alexander under which is comprised all other Sinners against the second Table and upon the Head of the Swearer comprehending all against the first God hath Sworn that Swearers shall not enter into his Rest We live in the Dreggs the last and worst of Times wherein Blasphemous Oaths are belched out of Black Hellish Mouths both ordinary and openly yea some Oaths are become Rhetorical Inrerjections of Speech to the Vulgar sort and other some meer Phrases of Gallantry to the Damme-Gallants but mark the end The direful Curse comes flying with a Divine Commission breaks into the Houses of those Thieves and Swearers which they call their Castles wherein they think themselves out of the reach of Gods Rod there it remains as a troublesome Inmate in despight of them they cannot rid or remove this cursing Roll untill it hath not only sauced their Meat and spiced their Drink with the Wrath of God as Job 20.23 but until also the Fire thereof hath kindled the Brimstone that lay scattered upon their Habitations Job 18.14.15 This puts their All into a light Flame consuming both Timber and Stones their persons and their Estates which they have raked together by Rapine
Sacriledg Perjury and other wicked ways Such Balls of Fire Resembling this Flying Roll c. have been seen faling out of Heaven Gods Temple upon Woods Ground yea Houses here in England The bigness of which Fire Balls have seemed to Spectators as large as the greatest Chaldrons these must be predictive Signs to us as Jeremys Boyling-Pot was to the Jews Jer. 1.13 and as Ezekiels was Ezek. 24.3.4.13 Representing Jerusalem which then had a mighty Scum in her but the Fire of Gods Wrath set the Pot on boyling by the Chaldeans until it had boyled out all the Bones and the Flesh the Stoutest and Richest at which they had Scoffed Ezek. 11.3.7 But when they go to the Poâ— and boyl lustily there their Scoffs are forced back down their own Throats and their Hearts might then bespeak them as the Heart of the Tyrant Apollodorus who dreamed he was taken and flead by the Scythians and boyled in a great Chaldron did cry out of the Kettle or Chaldron to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 't is I that am the Cause of all this thy Misery No less a Sign was Ezekiels Iron Pan to the Hard-Hearted Jews Ezek. 4.3 both which Hieroglyphicks and Emblems did not only signify their City should be hardly Besieged but also that God would so seeth them in a Pot and so fry them in a Pan as that they should pine away in their Iniquitys Levit. 26.39 The good Lord Divert this sore Judgment from London and Direct it to Rome or mystical Babylon for she is worthy Revel 16 6. The fifth wonderful Signs in the Heavens is the Several Suns that have been seen in the Firmament at some due distance one from another as hath been Testifyed to me but I shall not Insist upon this as I have upon the former not only because my Book begins to swell beyond my Expectation but also because I have resolved to enlarge upon nothing no nor insert here any thing upon slender Evidence without evident and sufficient Testimony It shall therefore suffice to say but little to this save only that such an Apparition need the less to be doubted of seeing natural Phylosophy mentioneth it as one of Natures Products though not ordinarily calling them parelia or Mock-Suns yet that Divine Philosopher Zanchy doth not only in concurrence with Heathen Philosopers suppose such Apparitions to prognosticate abundance of wet weather but also as he saith further various Judgments as Famine Sword c. Zanch. de Oper. Dei Pag. 348. Yea our own English Chronicles tell us that such an Apparition was seen in the Heavens in the beginning of Queen Maries Reign as there had been the like before to presage the Death of that insolently proud Prelate Thomas Becket Arch-Bishop of Canterbury In a word both time and room and it may be Credit too would fail me should I insert the other Apparitions in the Air we hear off if not see as the Dreadful Thunders and Lightnings the Impetuous Wind and Whirlwinds and many strange Meteors which I designedly omit until I get better prooff which I truly desire from all good Hands well knowing my Brethren that went before me in this Work 20 years ago some do blame for credulity Alterius perditto mea fit cautio The Censure passed upon my Predecessors in the like work for being over Credulous hath been cogent to make me a little the more Cautelous Therefore I pass on to the second Scene or Theatre whereon God shews his Wonderful Signs or Prodigies to wit on the Earth as well as the first in the Heavens or Air And first of the Prodigious Hail-stones which God cast out of the Air down to the Earth which cannot be called Apparitions in the Air and so belong to the first Scene seeing their prodigious bulkiness could not be distinctly discerned until they appeared faln taken up and measured upon Earth This same Prodigy or Wonderful Sign happened upon the 18th of May 1680. which became so mischievous to all the Sky-Llights all over London c. and knockt down many Rooks by their vast weight and bigness some of them being measured were found seven Inches about c. This Sign also may be exemplified both out of Sacred and Civil History 1st Sacred and 1st The Plague of Hail slones upon Aegypt Exod. 9.18 to 27. Such as that Land never saw or felt before for this seventh Plague was 1st More General than any being over the whole Land at once 2ly None ever was so Temper'd with Fire which ran along the Groun v. 23. Though Fire and Hail be of two contrary Tempers yet in this they made a Peace betwixt themselves that they might obey the Will of their Creatour This was a strange mixture and a Miracle within a Miracle saith Rab. Solomon such Hail-stones and Coals of Fire mingled together are mentioned Ps 18.13.14.15 and Isa 30.30.31 as here and Ps 78.47.48 and Ps 105.32.33 3ly None ever so punctually Predictied and as punctually Performed according to the Prediction v. 18.23.24.25 4ly None ever so Destructive to Man Beast and Trees v. 25. Ps 66.46.47.48 and 105.33 5ly None ever so Distinguishing though it was over all the Land of Aegypt yet the Land of Goshen a part of it was exempted v. 26. Such an Exemption was that Torrent of Fire which ran down from Mount Aetna vouchsafed to those Religious Children which ventured to Rescue their Aged Parents from those fearful Flames made Aristotle say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It extorted from him an acknowledgement of Gods good Providence for the Godly here on Earth when he saw the Flames of Fire dividing themselves and making a Lane for those Godly Rescuers of their Helpless Parents The second sacred Instance of Prodigious Hail-Stones Josh 10.11 Observed the like exemption or distinction as that in Exod. 9.26 't is said the Lord cast down great Stones from Heaven explained there beebeni Habarod Hagedeloth such huge Hail-stones as brained the Canaanites but hurt not the Israelites that were not only at their Heels but also mingled amonst them as they flew them in their Flight and dreadful Thunder and Lightning came along with those Hail-stones also as not only Josephus saith but Habaccuck likewise Habbac 3.11 Where God shot off his shining Arrows and darted from him his Glittering Spears yea he level'd them whether Huge Hail stones or Hot Thunderbolts with so even an Hand to their several marks that he hit the one and missed the other even when they were intermingled together this was Digitus Dei 2ly Civil History mentions strange Hail-stones both Ethnicks as Livy Decad 1. Lib. 1. and Decad. 3. Lib. 10. Claudian c. And Ecclesiastick as Eusebius Lib. 5. Tertullian Cap. 5. Apolog. And Dio in the Life of Marcus Antonius the Philosopher so called who fought against the Quades and by the prayers of the Thundring Lâ—â—â—on as in Aurelius the Emperors time they were called of Christians Ingens Gr ando complur aque fulmina in Hostes Ceciderunt c.
Such huge Hail-stones and hot Thunderbolts falleth upon the Enemy doth that Heathen Historian say as if he had been an Ecclesiastick Writer and Fire and Water did fall down from Heaven the Christians and their Party drank of the water and were Refreshed but the Quades their Enemies were Burnt by the Fire and Perished while it fell not at all upon the other or if it did it was presently quenched Neither did the Waters Relieve the Quades but Inflame them as if it had been Oyl so that they called for Water to cool them when the water fell upon them yea and wounded their own Bodies to quench their burnings with their own Blood many more such strange Stories have we in the Magdeburg Centurists and in Ostanders Epitome too long to Relate I add only that out of Pererius the Jesuite who tells us of a most grievous Hail shower in France in the Reign of Lewis Son to Charles the Great which was so prodigious in the weight and bulk of the Stones that it slew both Man and Beast and at that time a peice of Ice of 12 foot long fell with the Hail out of the Air c. If there be such Wonders in a Hail-shower 't is the less Wonder that God proposeth this great Wonder to Job asking him Hast thou seen the Treasures of the Hail which I have Reserved against the time of Trouble as the Day of Battel and War Job 38.22.23 Shewing that the Inspection and Administration of all these marvelous Meteors do only belong to the Great God he hath vast Treasures of them many Arrows laid up in his Quiver which can never be emptied as the Poet saith of Joves against the appointed time for Punishing his Adversaries then he brings forth his upper and lower Troops as the Rabbins Phraise it ready prest for his Service and this he will do against Babylon against which God hath a most Dreadful Shower of Hail-stones Revel 16.17.18.21 where the seventh Plague upon Aegypt is compared to the seventh Plague upon Babylon yet this latter far worse as more weighty than the former every Hail-stone weighed a Talent far bigger than those that Brain'd the Cananitish Kings Josh 10. See my Church-History pag. 507. When our Joshua or blessed Jesus shall come forth Conquering and to Conquer the World as that Typical Joshua did Canaan he hath a worse Shower of Hail-stones wherewith to knock down not only all the Romish Rooks that would Rook us of our Reformed Religion but also to Brain all the Grandees of the Earth that lend their Power to uphold the tottering Whore of Babylon those prodigious Hail-stones shall drop down out of Heaven and descend upon the Earth Revel 20.9 as if both conspired to destroy Christs Enemies as they had done Davids before Ps 18.13.14.15 and the Churches Isa 30.30.31 Such as never were seen upon Earth Revel 16.18 The second Wonderful Sign upon Earth is that strange Apparition to the Maid at Hatfield Elizabeth Freemans Relation taken before Sir Joseph Jordan Kt. and Richard Lee D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty and Rector of Hatfield on Jan. 31.80 I. SHE saith That Jan. 24. Sitting by the Fire side about 5 in the Evening which was its constant time of appearing she heard a voice behind her mildly saying Sweet-heart She turning back saw the appearance of a Woman as she thought all in white with a white Vail so that she saw no Face but a very white Hand was laid on the back of her Chair which said to Her The 15th of May is appointed for the Royal Blood to be Poysoned and further said be not afraid for I am sent to tell thee II. That on Jan. 25. coming home it appeared in White and Vail'd as before saying Do you remember what I said she Answered yes She farther said In the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost what art thou It immediately appeared in a very glorious shape with a very Beautiful Face and with a Crown on its Head and harshly said Tell K. Charles from me not to remove his Parliament and stand to his Council and charging her to obey its Command to which she answered yes c. III. On Jan. 26. It came again she being at home and her Mother perceiving her troubled said Daughter seest thou any thing she not being able to speak nodded her Head and waving her Hand the Mother said shall I go out she being enabled to speak and the Apparition nodding to her she said yes The Mother going out the Apparition bid her do her Message she answered I will so soon as God shall enable me it said be not afraid and so Vanished IV. It appeared Jan. 27. at a Neighbours House but spake not V. It appeared again at home as formerly Jan. 28. her Mother and two Neighbours being present seeing her begin to be troubled they all kneeled down to Prayer it commanded her to do her Message saying the Lord will go with you but the persons by did neither hear nor see it VI. Jan. 29. It appeared as she was praying but said nothing VII Again the 30th it appeared but said nothing VIII Jan. 31. It appeared to her again at her Brother-in-Law's House being in a very glorious shape as on the Tuesday before and said God hath sent me to bid you do as he hath commanded you c. IX It appeared on Feb. 1. again in white but said nothing X. Feb. 2. The day she came to London it appeared again and commanded her to bid K. Charles keep to his Nobles and them he takes to be his Enemies and keep the Parliament in the City XI Feb. 3. She being at Whitehal could not be admitted to speak to the King as she was coming back faw the Apparition in white but it said nothing XII On the same day it appeared again and said You have done your endeavour to the utmost that God hath commanded you you shall be troubled no more Feb. 9th This Maid accompanied with Sir Joseph Jordan Dr. Lee Mr. Wilkinson her Mother and others attended the King and Council where his Majesty asked her many Questions and heard her Relation patiently after which bidding her Go home and serve God and she should see no more such Visions or to that effect and so she was dismissed Yet about the middle of April 81. She Relates that the Vision hath appeared again to her and hath commanded her once more to present her self to his Majesty The first grand Enquiry is whether this Apparition were a good or an Evil Angel Answer 1. In general A Visible Apparition of Invisible Spirits is preternatural and therefore a Prodigy whether the Spirit that appears be good or bad 2ly Learned men give this Character of Distinction betwixt the Apparition of a good and of an evil Angel That the good always appear in the shape of Beautiful Persons or Clean Creatures as of a Lamb to Clement of an Hart to Eustace and of a Dove to Gummarus c.
But the Evil Angels Appear as Deformed men or as Filthy Beasts Thus the Devil appeared to an Assembly of Witches in the Shape of a Stinking Goat and of a filthy Hog in these Churches of Agatha prophaned by Arrians Thus Satan soon after his Fall took the likeness of a Serpent and is call'd so yea a Dragon and thus he is said to appear in the ugly shape of all loathsome Creatures to Hillary Anthony c. As Athanasius and Hierome in their supposititious Relations have Reported yea some do further say Hoc est admodum mirahile nunquam Visos esse Daemones utroque pede Humano ullâ—bi apparuisse c. Saith Fornerus De Angelis Serm. 9. 'T is a very Wonderful thing saith he that Devils never are seen appearing any where in mans shape with both Feet alike but either with one Foot cloven or with a whole club Foot All this seems not an infalibly distinguishing Character for 't is true the great God can put such discriminating Brands upon such deceitful Apparitions of Evil Spirits and possibly doth often mark them so yet this will not hold Universally true for that Devil who can as the Scripture of Truth saith turn himself into an Angel of Light 2. Cor. 11.14 may also Tranform himself into the shape of some comely Man or lovely Beast 3. That which the Apostle there affirmeth was then taken for granted among the Learned such as Pauls opposers deemed themselves and this was acknowledged by Porphyry Jamâ—lichus c. That the Devil the Prince of Darkness could Transform himself into an Angel of Light either by assuming to himself a lightsome comely and glorious Body as if he were an Angel of Heaven or by suggesting something that seemeth to savour of Piety and Zeal for God as if it came from some blessed Angel whereas his suggestions as he suggesteth them do indeed tend to Gods Dâ—shonour and the Souls Ruine 4 The Character that even Porphyry giveth Satan calling him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one of many Forms and Fashions doth Evidence that it was the Opinion of the Ancients how he doth not always appear in one and the same Form but hath as many several shapes as Proteus had among the Poets This is made more manifest in the History of the Acts of the Apostles as first at Lystra he appeared as a Comedian as if a Scene of Plautus were to be Acted upon the Stage Act. 14.11.12 c. Secondly at Antioch he appeared like a Jesuite with Traditions in his Mouth v. 26. and Act. 15.1 Thirdly at Athens he sallyes out like a Philosoper Act. 17.18 Fourthly at Ephesus he takes the likeness of a Master Artisicer Act. 19.24 And fifthly ot Corinth he tranforms himself into an Angel of Light 2. Cor. 11.14 with Act. 18.6 c. In all those places the Devil Acted the parts of all the aforesaid though he did not visibly assume their shapes 5ly As to the latter Times touching visible Apparitions Severus Sulpitius in the Life of Martinus chap. 25. gives this Account that Satan appeared in the form of a good Angel among other Apparitions to Anatholius a young Monk c. He telleth how the Devil appeared to St. Martin so called as he was praying in his Monastick Cell the apparition seemed very glorious sparkling with a dazeling light having upon it Royal Robes upon its Head a Golden Crown bespangled with Jewels upon its Feet gilded Shoes and with a benign Aspect out of a comely mouth spake as followeth Oh Holy Martin acknowledg me whom thou beholdeth I am Christ coming down to the Earth and I would first manifest my self to thee c. and the Apparition oft Repeating those Words the man Martin Answered that Christ had no where foretold he would come again in so glittering and glorious a posture upon Earth before the last day I will not believe that it is Christ who is come now to me unless he appear in the same Form and Habit wherein he suffered and having his five Wounds wherewith he was stigmatized upon the Cross upon this Answer the Devil vanished out of sight leaving an horrible stink behind him as saith the Author See him of sundry other Stories of the like Delusions and Johan Wierus de praestigijs Domonum Lib. 11. Cap. 16. 6. There is another Character whereby the Discourse of an Evil Angel to us may be discerned from that of a good one which Peter Thyreus Lib. 4. of Apparitions Chap. 16. Numb 17. mentioneth saying The Discourse of a good Angel doth at the beginning affright a person but afterwards leaves that mind quieted and comforted but on the contrary when an Evil Angel appeareth and discourseth them 't is pleasing and insinuating at the first but it ever leaves the mind disturbed and in little ease at the end The same Sign doth Pineda give in his Notes upon Job 4. v. 16 This also is no Infalible Note but a falacious Sign also for the Apparition of a good Angel 1st To Sampsons Mother was no way affrightful to her but rather comfortable encouraging her to run to her Husband to acquaint him with the glad Tidings Judg. 13.3.6 Neither was her Husband terrified with this Apparition speaking boldly to it art thou he which spake to the Woman v. 11. Though after his departure a Trembling Seiz'd upon Him through want of Faith v. 22. not upon her whose Faith was strong v. 23. and 2ly The Apparition of an Evil Angel or Devil to Saul as the good Angel was Christ to Sampsons Parents Jud 13.22.30 cal'd Elohim and Jehovah did drive the King into a Swoon 1. Sam. 28 20 preaching to him his Funeral Sermon yet at the close he had some small comfort from the Witches fatted Calf not so much to refresh him as to get him safe out of her House and least his qualm of fear should drive him quite off from the Devil Both these two Instances are point-blank contradictory to Thireus and Pinedas distinguishing Character 7ly Neither is that Sign which some say is distinguishing any better than the former to wit It must be a good Angel that suggest good things whereas the Devil can give good Counsel and put upon good Duties but always for evil Ends as Bodinus observeth in Lib. 23. de Daemonomania cap. 6 and Samuel himself could not have spoken more gravely and severely than Satan did 1. Sam. 28.16 I have read a Story of a good man who was very weak and after his Solemn calling upon God on his Knees by his Bed-side he betakes himself to his Bed for Rest but being about to sleep an Apparition speaks to him saying rise up to Prayer The poor Tempted Soul bravely answered the Tempter I 'le pray at Gods bidding not at the Divels c. And 't is a known case Satan suggests to his Vassals Witches and Wizzards to frequent places of Gods Worship but all in Hypocrisy least they should seem to be so bad as they are indeed yea sometimes to receive
the Eucharist but to reserve it for some of their Magick and Diabolical Charms So that 't is best judging of such Suggestions from the end proposed The Devils evil end in prompting the Sick man to the Good Action of Prayer was to discompose him from sleep and to destroy him thereby 8. But much less may an Evil spirit be distinguished from a good one by the place where the Apparition is appearing for the Devil sometimes can thrust himself in among the Sons of God or Elect Angels Job 1.6 and when Satan thus maketh himself one among the Holy Angels 't is by Divine permission and not without the over-ruling power of God The good Angels came into Gods presence for good to Job but this evil one for evel to him to wit for a Commission to hurt him yet even this God over ruled for good Jam. 5.11 though the beginning was the Devils yet the End was the Lords So Zech. 3.1 2. yea and long before that that Evil Angel was got into Pardice the best place that was then in the World yea and long after that he could not only accompany but even carry Christ himself to the Holy Temple when he placed him upon a Pinacle of it thus it appeareth from Scripture-Record that evil Spirits may appear even in good places as well as bad ones to this Drexelius Vision gives a farther confirmation saying He saw ten Devils at a Sermon and but one at a Market the Reason whereof he giveth is that at a Sermon men stand in Awe of Gods presence there Act. 10.33 and therefore ten Devils Satan thinks few enough to tempt them that they may not serve the Lord without Distraction 1. Cor. 7.35 But at a Market the Tempter needs not so many tempting Tools for there one man will fast enough Tempt another The Buyer the Seller and the Seller the Lyer The second great Enquiry is Whether God useth the Ministry of good Angels to his Servants now under the Gospel Answer 1st without all controversy he doth yet in an insensible and in an invisible manner that God might draw up our Hearts Heaven-ward and have our Gonversation in Heaven while our Commoration is on Earth Phil. 3.20 Devils are not more ready to tempt and devour us than the Angels are to succour and deliver us As Evil Angels do suggest Evil Motions so do good Angels good ones and as our good endeavours are oft hindred by the Evil Spirit 1. Thes 2.18 So are our evil undertakings oft by the good Angels otherwise our Protection were not equal to our Danger The Devil moved Balaam to go and curse Israel a good Angel resists him and speaks in the mouth of his Ass to convince him c. Here Bishop Hall noteth well in his contemplation on that Scripture If an Heavenly spirit stands in the way of a Sorcerer Sins how much more are all those Caelestial powers ready to stop the miscarriages of Gods dearest Children how oft yet more had we fallen had not these Blessed Guardians upheld us in their Arms. Ps 91.11 whether by removing the occasions and opportunities of Evil or by injecting contrary instincts and motions to Good As Michael opposed Satan about the Body of Moses so do the good Angels about the Bodies and Souls of the Saints while they live and carry their Souls immediately into Abrahams Bosom when they Dye therefore should we bless God for Angels Ministry as a part of Christs Purchase Heb. 1.6.7.14 who have their Commission from him to keep the Saints in their way as well as their Confirmation by him in their own Everlasting go dness hence he is their Head Col. 2.10 and that Jacobs Ladder on which they Ascend with Mens Desires and Descend with Gods Answer Gen. 28.12 much more I might add but I avoid prolixity The Second Answer It must be granted that in the times of the Old and New Testament God did use the Visible Ministry of good Angels as in the Old to Abraham Gen. 18.17 to Lot Gen. 19.15 to Gideon Judg 6.12.14 and to Manoah Judg. 13.3 c. and in the New Testament to Joseph Matt. 1.20 to Zachary Luke 1.13 and to the Blessed Virgin Luke 1.26 c. Then did God speak to his Servants at Sundry times and in diverse manners that is in Dreams and Visions by his Angels but now he hath spoke to us by his Son Heb. 1.1.2 and therefore all Visible Apparitions are ceased but not their Invisible Operations They still Act for Gods Church and Children though invisibly therefore their Hands are represented to be under their Wings Ezek. 1.8 because their Actions are for the most part insensible and invisible For God now Governs his Church in a spiritual manner without the visible Apparitions of Angels though they be present with the Church in an invisible way Eccles 5.6 and 1. Cor. 11.10 'T is true the Retired Saints of the primitive Times as well as the Holy Martyrs since the New Testament Times had sometimes good Angels appeared to them for their consolations in their forced solaudes and sufferings as the best Ecclesiastick Historys Record concerning the Holy Virgin Theophyla Agnes Lucia Caecilia and others to prorect them in their Chastity whilst driven into Desarts by Persecution as also concerning Theodorus who had an Angel wiping off his Sweat with a soft Handkerchief while he was under hard Torments by his Tormentors and many others but the Elder the Church grew the more rare became those Apparitions as of other miraculous Signs not because Gods Arm was shortned c. but because his Church was through his gracious Providence now setled in an ordinary way Thus it was with the Infant Church in the Wilderness there she had the Food of Angels rain'd down daily upon her but when come into Canaan that Ceased and then Israel must purvey for themselves so now we must not expect either the Food or the Apparition of Angels The Third Answer Goulartius in his Collections of the memorable Histories of later than those primitive Times makes his Reports of several such Apparitions yea Melancton in his Coment upon Daniel tells us of his own knowledge how holy Grynoeus was delivered from a bloody Popish Priests intention to Murder him for reproving him of false Doctrine by an Angels appearing to Melancton like a grave goodly old man and warning him to bid Grynoeus hasten out of Spyres quickly who no sooner had got a Boat upon the Rhine but he was immediately and eagerly sought for at his Lodging by his very name which it seems the good man had told the Priest upon his dissemblingly desiring some farther Conference with him Answer the Fourth The best Casuists I can consult with do say that it is neither pious nor profitable now for men to affect either the Apparition or Conference with Holy Angels indeed the carnal Jews did of Old attribute much to this John 12.29 thinking that Bath-kol or Daughter of a voice from Heaven was the Voice of
Alciats Emblem and the Greek Epigram 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thouth the Lyon while living be the Noblest of Beasts Prov. 30.30 yet when Dead this Noble Beast is exposed to the Scorn of the most weak and timorous Hares Hence arose the Hebrew Proverb that a living Dog with them the basest of Creatures was better than a Dead Lyon both as to Use and as to Essence Eccles 9.4 Importing that the meanest man Living is better than the greatest man Dead Answer the third The Death of a Tower Lyon is more portentous than the Death of many Lyons in the Wilds of Lybia whereof no notice would be taken but a Tower Lyon is the Darling as well as Emblem of Princes and the Delight as well as Wonder of the People that have been admitted to behold them and seeing they naturally live longer than the oldest of Men scarce any one Age brings Tidings of the Death of a Tower Lyon as before so carefully attended c. This occasions the general Opinion that such an Occurrence is a Fore-runner of some Fatality Answer the fourth How much more the Death of 3 Tower Lyons at once as if a Lyon Pestilence that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Divine Thing had been sent to kill three Lyons at one blow this hardly finds a Paralel in History the strong Tower it self with all its high Walls deep Trenches brass Guns great Guards and warded Gates could not be a Tower of Defence to them or to any one them and if Tria had been Omnia here as it is in Philosophy the Tower had been left a Lyon-less Tower Sacred Story speaks of one Prodigy not altogether dissonant to this to wit Samson turned aside to see the Carcase of the Lyon and behold there was a Swarm of Bees and Honey in the Carcase Judg. 14.8 prodigiosum est saith Lovater quòd Meilificarunt Apes in Cadavere c. 'T was no less than a Prodigy that Bees should breed and make Honey so soon in such a place seeing they are naturally driven away by an ill Smell as abhorring all stinking things such as this Carcase must needs be upon its Putrefaction herein Pliny Columella Aelian Varro and all Naturalists do unanimously concurr Indeed some as Virgil Ovid c. do say Bees may breed in the Carcase of a Bullock raturally but never in the Carcase of a Lyon which hath a more foetid flesh and a more stinking smell however not in so short a time as was between Samsons Contract and the solemnizing of his Marriage It therefore only came to pass by the special Providence of God producing this Prodigy not only by a praeternatural but also by a Supernatural power Now that the Tower Lyons be dead though we had no hand in their Death as Samson had in his let us turn aside a little to view these Carcases as Samson did this and behold both the Congruity and Disparity of them As 1st God Bless us that no Swarms of those Bees of Babylon Isa 7.18 may breed out of their Carcases nor out of them whose names they bore to Sting us with their Fatal Stings And God bless us not only from those Honey-less Wasps and Dronish Robbers but also that the right Honey may be bred in the body of the superviving Lyon call'd Charles the II. and in him whose name he beareth 3ly Though we find no Honey in any of those 3 Carcases as Samson did in his one yet may we find such a Riddle in them which may puzzle and Non-Plus all the uncircumcised Philistins Judg. 14.12.14 Out of those Eaters may came forth Meat and out of the strong sweetness This Problem as many of Gods Providences is made up of contraries yet the aenigmatical Sentence seems to signify that it should come to pass the Philistins which ruled with rigour over the Israelites at that time should be subdued and eaten up by the Israelites and when they were most strong they should not damnify but accommodate the Hebrews The good Lord grant the same Priviledges to the Protestants over the Papists who have eaten us up as their Daily Bread with the like voracity as the Hungry devour Bread Ps 14.4 Yea those cruel Cannibals makes Flesh as well as Bread of poor Protestants and do as barbarously and brutishly worry them with open Mouth as the bloody Lyons do the helpess Sheep Ps 27.2 O that they may now stumble and fall in attempting it and both they and their Leviathan the Pope with his broken Head may be given as meat to the people Inhabiting the Wilderness Ps 74.13.14 Then would God unriddle how out of the grand Eater cometh Meat and out of the strong cometh Sweetness This Leads me to the third and last Scene or Theatre whereon God thews his Wonderful Signs to wit as in Heaven and on the Earth so upon the Waters As I do designedly omit many marvelous things mentioned in Forreign and Domestick Letters such as the Earth-quake at Malago which overturn'd their Religious Houses and put all Spain into a Fright c. And such as have lately hapned also in our Lands because they come not well Attested to make them enough Authentick in the foregoing Stage or Theatre so I must do in this last omitting many Stories and pitch first upon that which hath unquestionable Testimony of the Truth thereof to wit the Drying up of the River Wye in Wales between Radnorshire and Brecknock-shire where 't is near as broad as Thames at Brainford about a stones cast over and of a sierce Current yet on the 25th of January last at Lewysford it stop't its course and parted it self and became dry so that several persons walked over Dry-shod some gathered up Fishes for several Miles this continued for several Hours This is Attested for Truth by Mr. Probat High Sherriff of Radnorshire and Mrs. Jones whose letter hereof I had to assure me both Eye-Witnesses and it was also observed that the two Rivers I thou and Yrvon which fall into that River Wye were at the same time likewise suddenly dry but after a few hours flowed with more Violence and higher than usual and as my Letter addeth no natural Reason could be rendred hereof Now to exemplify this Prodigy by Paralel Instances from Sacred and Civil History 1st Satred Story saith that when God brake the Heads of the Dragon Satans sworn Sword-men and Pharoahs chief Captains and the Head of the grand Leviathan or Pharoah himself then did God also Divide the Sea and clave also the Fountains and the Flood Ps 74.13.14.15 Drying up mighty Rivers as Jordan Euphrates and the Red Sea which in respect of the Main Ocean was but a mighty River This the Angel of God Divided and dryed up for six hundred Thousand to pass over in Rank and File Exod 14.21.22 Ps 136.13 and 106.9 Gods Rebuke was upon the Waters clove them in twain and bound them up with his Swadling Band as easily as a Nurse doth her Infant Job 38.9 so that they
his Head and give him to be meat to his People There be many more Signs and Wonders I omit though mentioned in publick Intelligences because not to me enough Authentically Attested I would also subjoyn here the many marvelous and prodigious Providences not only reported but likewise Recorded in our own Land of late were it not to avoid prolixity such as the Wonderful Discovery of Justice Godfreys Death The Wonderful delivery of Justice Arnolds life The Wonderful disappointment hitherto of all the Popish Plots both Sham and Real against King and Kingdom The Wonderful Death of three grand Enemies to an honest Alderman in Hull who all dyed in three Weeks time in the heat and height of their Persecutions against him with many more such marvelous Occurrences befalling several Persecutors and Prophane Scoffers as him whose Eyes dropt out of his Head immediately after his Scoffing at the late Comet not yet plenarily proved The Application in short after a long Explication general and particular yet Applicatorily Explained all along is twofold 1st General 2ly Particular the latter of those to be possitive and peremptory in without a peculiar Gift which we pretend not to is by the best Casuists called Nefas and no better than presumption to pry too curiously into the Ark of Divine Secrets for which fifty Thousand Bethshemites were slain 1. Sam. 6.19 Arcana Dei sunt Arca Dei we may not search into Gods Secrets Deut. 29.29 Mirari oportet rimari non licet 't is as unmannerly to pry into our Neighbours House as 't is to press into it said Xenocrates how much more may men be paid for peeping into Gods House as the men of Bethshemesh were contrary to Gods Command Num. 4.20 Eorum que scire nec Datur nec fas est Docta est ignorantia istius scientiae Appetentia est insaniae species saith Austin 'T is a learned Ignorance not to know what we ought not to know and 't is a kind of madness to desire it Funccius sings well saying Tufuge seu pestem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Peter giveth charge against this Impious Curiosity as against Theft and Murder 1. Pet. 4.15 't is a being too buisy with Gods matters Baldwin therefore concludes this point praestat Ergo c. 't is better to pass over prodigies in silence and leave the particular Application of them to the most Wise God than by an over-curious Divining to betray our own temerity Bald. Cases of Conscience Lib. 3. Pag. 813. However to make a general Application which is the former of them is to be Wise unto Sobriety seeing Events in all Ages do evidence that Prodigies do portend in the general a Futurition or Approach of some things not yet existent and such as bear some proportion in quality to the Predigies themselves as Armies portend Wars c. This is acknowledged by Herodotus and Machiavel that no extraordinary Calamities befal Nations or Cities but 't is foreshewn by some Extraordinary Signs and Wonders as the Reverend Dr. Jackson in his Sermen preached before King Charles the I. quoteth them pag. 9.10 Yea our Saviour himself did Institute Signs and Wonders as immediate forerunners of that final Destruction of Jerusalem so forely threatned and so severely executed by Titus Vespasian Matth. 24. Mark 13. and Luke 21. and Josephus hath a good Note upon it lib. 4. cap. 12. of the Wars of the Jews that it was Gods Clemency to Mankind to foreshew by those extraordinary Signs and Wonders what wasting Desolations were approaching that his people being forewarned might be forearmed also and take the best Course for their own safety The General Application of Prodigies which are unquestionable be principally two according to Cornelins à Lapide's Notion on Joel 2.30 Prodigia sunt Credentibus benefica incredulis vero Malefica Horribilia 1st They do portend much mischief to that part of the World which wallows in Wickedness without Repentance The Signs and Wonders God shewed to Pharoah were not only Messengers but even Harbingers of his and his Peoples Destruction so was the Hand-writing upon the Wall a Prodigy portending Belshazzars Downfal for his Drunken and Debauched Quaffings Dan. 15.22.23 So were the Prodigies in Heaven Earth and Sea as Luke ranks them Luke 21.25 Infallible portents and presages of the final fall of the Jews and their Jerusalem for Persecuting Christ and his Apostles c. Thus it was of latter times in Germany as their wickedness and Debauchery increased so did their Prodigies Signs and Wonders Hist Iron-Age pag. 66. Yea and in our Land Sir Rich. Baker hath worthily Recorded How the many Mischiefs that have befallen this Nation were all foreshewed by many foregoing Signs and Wonders which he calleth Casualties in every Reign whereof I have extracted an Epitome and thought to have inserted it here were not my Book too bulky already 2ly They do Prognosticate Relief and Remedy to the Religious part of the World Aegypts Overthrow was Israels Deliverance and so was and will be Babylons to Sion Therefore Christ encourageth his Servants at the sight of such Signs to lift up their Heads for their Redemption draweth nigh Luke 21.25.28 All men ought therefore to Regard the Works of the Lord and to consider the Operations of his Hands least by neglect thereof they provoke a Jealous God to Destroy them and not build them up Ps 28.5 How oft doth God call on Zechary lift up thine Eyes and behold c. and what seest thou c. God shews his Signs and Wonders not that men should cast scurrilous Scoffs at them who knoweth whether such have a minute betwixt his last Jest in this World and his Everlasting Earnest in a worse World but to make serious Contemplations on them what curious Artist can endure when he exposes some special peice to publick View to see sottish men take no notice of it or silly spectators that cannot understand its Admirable Art Deride it God is Certainly Tuning his Instrument as I say in pag. 32. and will shortly play some choice Tune though made up of Discords The good Lord help us to Dance after his Pipe and to meet him in the way of his Judgments or in the way of his Mercies Isa 26.8 Otherwise the Great Turk who 't is said is so allarm'd with those Prodigies that he hath proclaimed a Fast to be kept throughout all his Dominions will rise up in Judgment against all Scoffers as the Queen of Sheba will against the Jews Math. 12.42 The Heavens those Catholick Preachers Ps 19.1 The spangled Curtains of the Bridegroomes Chamber hath Read such a Divinity-Lecture to us in Signs and Wonders and so hath the Earth and the Sea all terrifying and testifying Gods Anger against Mans Sin yea in his own people in whom he will pardon but not patronize Evil and shall we look on those Signs of the times to be Inania Terriculamenta insignificant Scar-crows which the Sorcerers of Aegypt were they here to see them would acknowledge to be the Finger of God As Jerusalem that Slaughter-house of Saints had her Signs of Destruction So Rome the like Slaughter-house had at the Rise of Luther such a Storm upon her chief Church as struck the Keys out of Peters Hands while the Pope was creating Cardinals in it ever since a cold Sweat hath stuck upon all the Limbs of Antichrist as Bellarmine his great Champion confesseth assuredly the pouring out of the seaven Vials mentioned Revel 16. will produce such a prodigious Storm upon Rome as will not only blow down her Keys but her Images also yea blow away all the Trash and Trumpery of that Scarlet Whore and the Whore her self with all her proud helpers all Christs Foes shall then be made his Foot-stool the fittest place for them in all Lands yet before the accomplishment hereof sad Calamities if not the Salaughter of the Witnesses may be seen yea such Tribulation as hath not heretofore Matt. 24.21 The very Time may seem nothing else but Affliction it self Mark 13.19 So befel it to the Jews that had not God cut short those Days Matth. 24.22 No Flesh had been Saved no Jewish Flesh had been left alive What Woes may befal the Gentile World after such prodigious presages we know not 'T is good for us to get into Augustus's posture who once sitting 'twixt Virgil a frequent sigher and Horace that had watery Eyes pleasantly said he sat inter Suspiria Lachrymas betwixt Sighs and Tears sure I am Our Day calls upon us not only to say so but also to sit so with all seriousness Christs Council to the Jews was pray ye Matth. 24.20 'T is no less the Duty of us Gentiles Prayer is the best Ordinance and Artillery wherewith to Batter Heaven Flectiâ—ur Inatus Voce Rogante Deus Wher God seems most bitterly bent yet will he yield something to prayer which is the best lever at a dead lift provided it be the Prayer of Faith for as Gods mercy is the Mother so the Churches Faith is the Midwife of Deliverance Hereupon Joel in setting down the Dreadful Signs of direful Days least any should despondingly say as Mark 10.26 Who then can be saved concludeth with this comfortable Corollary whoever calleth on the Name of the Lord shall be saved Joel 2.31.32 That such may be Reserved as a Remnant for Royal Use being accounted worthy to escape those things that may yet come to pass Luke 21.36 Is the Hearty prayer of C. N. FINIS The Reader is requested to correct these following Faults that have escaped the Press Errata PAg. 1. line 19. read Math. 12. p. 6. l. 14. r. Ear p. 11. read line 20. before line 19. p. 18. l. 25. for 80. r. to p. 31. l. 16. for 18. r. 11. p. 37. l. 27. r. prognostick p. 40 d. 24. r. Truths p. 48. l. 29. for through r. though p. 49. l. 2. for Councelor r. Councel p. 55. l. 16. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 57. l. the latter r. 65 66 67 c. to 71. in p. which should be 96. l. 11. r. next Answer as Messengers only not as Mediators according to the Popish Doctrine and l. 22. after are r. mostly and l. 34. for Virgin r. Virgins p. 69. l. 20. for Trimethius r. Trithemius the Sheet L. should begin with 73 and so on p. 76. falsly paged 68. l. 20. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉