Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	believe_v	faith_n	power_n	4,181	5	5.2665	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66360	Ho Antichristos the great antichrist revealed, before this time never discovered, and proved to be neither pope, nor Turk, nor any single person, nor the succession of any one monarch or tyrant in any policies, but a collected pack, or multitude of hypocritical, heretical, blasphemous, and most scandalous wicked men that have fulfilled all the prophesies of the Scriptures ... and especially have united ... together by a solemn league and covenant to slay the two witnesses of God, Moses and Aaron ... that is, the supreme magistrate of the Commonwealth, and the chief pastors and governours of the Church of Christ, and the Christian world is requested to judge whether the Assembly of Presbyterians consulting at Westminster, together with the independents, Anabaptists, and lay-preachers be not the false prophet ... and whether the prevalent faction of the long Parliament ... that killed the two witnesses of Jesus Christ, 1. Charles the First ... 2. William Laud ... be not the grosse and visible body of the same antichrist / by Gr. Williams.	Williams, Gryffith, 1589?-1672.	1660 (1660)	Wing W2662; ESTC R25201	504,825	313

they could find to put these offices and the government of the Churches into their hands and they thought it well in such a kingdom as this of Ingland if they found 26. men that with the help and advice of their brethren their Deans and Prebends were sufficient to govern the Churches so wisely and so orderly as they ought to do it and do you think it is as easie to finde 6000. men that are fit to do it that you may place a Bishop in every Parish I think you will faile and your selves at last will see your own folly and smart for your mistaking when every Parish Priest will be as imperious over you as Hildebrand was over Henry the fourth But 2. Touching the working of strange miracles we say it was a great miracle 2. To work strange miracles 1 Reg. 17.23 Acts 9.4 John 11.44 that Elias did to raise the dead child of the widow of Sarepta and a great miracle that Saint Peter did to raise Dorcas an old widow that was dead to life again and it was a greater miracle that Christ did to raise up Lazarus out of his grave when he had been dead four dayes And yet besides their many meaner miracles that these Presbyters say they do they pretend if you will believe them to do things that are far more miraculous and greater wonders then any of these or them either that Moses or Elias or any other of all the Prophets or Apostles ever did for we are sure that neither of all those either did or could raise a soule dead in trespasses and sins to the life of grace but this being as it were a new creation it must be left alone to God for ever whose proper work it is to create a new heart and to renew a right spirit within us yet this beast and the disciples of this false Prophet do boast and brag unto the people of the multitude of Saints that they have begotten to God when as indeed they have of late seduced them to be as false and as rebellious as themselves What wonderful thing the Presbyters do Psalm 51.10 The discourse of a Presbyterian with the Authour Esay 53. ●● And so one of them asked me where were the Seales of our Apostleship the signes and evidences of our Bishops and Prelatical mens ministery how many soules had they converted unto God and where were those converts whereby they might approve themselves unto the people to be the true Ministers of God as they could do by the confession of their Proselytes and I answered that I feared their converts were but perverted and that I conceived it was not in mans power to convert soules when as the Prophet cryeth who hath believed our report and again all day long have I stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and a gainsaying people and if it had been in mans poower to work faith in the hearts of the hearers then questionlesse Rom 10 1. c. 9.3 We have not the power to convert souls this great Prophet would have done it in the children of Israel and Saint Paul would have converted the Jewes his own brethren according to the flesh whom he did so dearly love as himself doth testify to have believed in Christ but we know that although the false Prophets may easily pervert men to disloyalty and wickednesse because the devill is alwayes ready to help them and natural men are prone to evill yet we cannot convert men to the true faith and to goodnesse Acts 15.19 unlesse the Spirit of God cooperateth with us to open the hearts of our hearers as he opened the heart of Lydia when the Apostle preached unto her because as Saint Hierom saith inanis est sermo docentis nisi intus sit qui docet the Preacher may say with the Prophet in vacuum laboravi I have laboured in vain if God by his spirit doth not preach unto the heart And therefore their wonderful brags of converting soules are but lying wonders not to be regarded by any man that regards the truth Psal 15.12 and these hornes are not the hornes of the Lamb but ungodly horns and the horns of the ungodly which as the Prophet saith shall be broken by the Lord all to pieces That the two horns may signifie the two Testaments Torres in sua Philosophia morali pag. 849. Texeda pag. 6. of his miracles unmasked Or else these two horns as Cornelius à lapide saith to whom I subscribe may signify the two testaments which are robora ornamenta Christi the strength and ornament of Christ and the language of the lambe which bring men to believe in Christ rather then then all the miracles of Christ for as Torres out of Lactantius saith non idcirco à nobis creditur Christus quia mirabilia fecit sed quia vidimus facta esse omnia quae nobis annuciata sunt vaticinio prophetarum Christ is not therefore believed by us because he wrought miracles which Vespasian did and the idolatets of China do and the false Prophets by our Saviours testimony may do but because we have seen all things accomplished which were foretold us of him by the Prophets The paralell This is infallibly fulfilled in the Paesbyterians And the beast layeth claim to these hornes and so of all the Preachers and Prophets Papists or Protestants it is well known that none pretend more love and more right to these hornes then the Presbyterians and the Independant and Lay-Preachers do for they reject all other learning and all authorities of Counsells Fathers Poets Orators Histories and all other Books and will allow of nothing but the pure book of the holy Scripture they will have none other horns but these which they say are the hornes of our Lamb and no Christian will denie them to be so nor gainsay the strength and authority of these hornes And yet as A lapide rightly observeth as I told you before of it A good obserservation of Cornel à lapide in loc this beast is said to have not the two hornes of the Lamb but two hornes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like to the horns of the Lamb and every Sophister can tell you that nullum simile est idem that which only is like a thing is not the thing and therefore though they cry out with the false Prophets of the Jewes os Domini loquutum est the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it for they preach nothing but Gospel and the pure Scriptures of the two Testaments and it is we and not they if you believe them that run to the puddles of humane authorities yet in very deed it is no such matter for the holy Ghost that best understandeth both the language of the Lamb and of this beast tells us plainly in the very next words that although their horns be like the horns of the Lamb yet in truth Why this second beast is said to speak like the Dragon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉

Questio But you will say what shall we do in this case when such men as have not been lawfully called shall come to preach unto us and to do the service of the Lord Solutio I answer that you should do as the Prophet Jeremy adviseth you and as our Saviour Christ counselleth you believe them not and because faith cometh by hearing the Prophet tells you thus saith the Lord of Hosts hearken not unto the words of these Prophets that speak visions of their own heart Jerem. 12.6 Matth. 24.26 Jerem. 23.16 John 10.5 What the Cocarrice useth to do and our Saviour saith my sheep will not follow a stranger neither will they know a strangers voyce but they will stop their ears as the Cocatrice that will not hear the voyce of the charmer charme he never so wisely but will lay one ear close unto the ground and stop the other ear with her tayle that she may not be charmed with his sweetest musick so should we deal with those Preachers that are not lawfully admitted to be the Ministers of Gods word for as a little Colloquiutida spoyled all the pot of pottage 2 Reg. 4.40 that the children of the Prophets cryed out mors in olla and a little poyson infects the whole messe of meat so a few dangerous errours are able to destroy many of the hearers of these Preachers And therefore as it is not safe to taste of a poysoned dish so it is dangerous to hear an heretical or schismatical Preacher and as the Lord demands of them quis requisivit haec who hath required these things at your hands Psal 50.16 and again why takest thou my lawes in thy mouth that is to preach them unto my people when as thou hatest to be reformed that is to go the right way to do thy work so Christ bids us to take heed how we hear Mark 4.24 and so consequently to take heed what we heare and whom we hear for as it is a fin in them to run to preach unbidden and unsent without a warrant and without commission so it is a sin in us to be partakers of other mens sins and we make our selves as guilty in hearing them as they are in preaching to us because they would not preach to us if we did not hear them and the same God that forbids them to preach that are unsent forbids us to bear them that are unauthorized for they that come in by the window and not by the dore that is the usuall accustomed and ordinary way to come to any house John 10. they are thieves and robbers saith our Saviour Christ and Chemnitius whom Brightman saith was prophesied of in the Revelation of Saint John to be the giver of a mighty wound unto the Antichrist saith certum est ex verbe Dei neminem in Ecclesia audiendum esse qui non legitimè sit vocatus it is certain out of the word of God that we ought to hear none in the Church which is not lawfully called Chemnit loc com de Eccles pag. 129.1 Clemens in epi ad Corinth de success ministrorum imo Ecclesia non debent nec possunt cum fructu audire eos qui non habent legitimae voeationis testimonia nay saith he the Churches ought not nor can they with any fruit hear them which have not the testimonials of their lawfull calling and if you look into Saint Clemens which lived about the year of Christ 113. you shall find him to be of the same mind and therefore the Church ordained that Priests and Deacons should not depart from one Diocesse to another without letters demissary from their Diocessans that the Churches might not be deceived by them but be sure of lawfull Ministers O but the people are glad to be eased and to be freed from those large Salaries and payments of their tythes and offerings which they were wont to pay to their old Pastors and do esteem it better to have the word of God brought unto them by these men that do it as the Apostles did it freely then by those that look so plentifully to be rewarded for it To this Saint August briefly answereth that neither the covetous worldling nor the miserable Christian shall go free but quod non capit Christus rapit fiscus Hag. 1.16 what the Minister of Christ shall not get the soldier and perhaps thine enemy will have and what they have by their exchange they may ere long well put it as the Prophet saith into a broken bagge But were it so that the soldiers and Lay-Elders would still continue and preach alwayes to them for nothing which I shall scarce believe yet I would desire all good Christians to remember what the Prophet David said unto Araunah when he offered as a King unto the King his ground and his oxen his instruments and his wheat 2 Sam. 24. 1 Chr. 21.24 to bestow them freely upon him to serve the Lord nay saith King David but I will buy them of thee at the full price neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord of that which cost me nothing because the Lord commandeth us to honour God with our riches and we ought not to love our gold better then the service of our God And so you see by their intrusion into this sacred function uncalled and unauthorised these Lay-Preachers are one especial head of Cerberus and a principal branch of this false Prophet And 2. 2. The inability of the Lay-Preachers proves them to be the false Prophet 1 Tim. 1.6 7. As their usurpation of this office and their false entrance into it is one main argument to prove the same so their ignorance and weaknesse to discharge this office is another argument to confirm it and Saint Paul speaking of such teachers telleth Timothy that before his departure divers had swarved from the true faith and had turned aside into vain jangling desiring to be teachers of the Law but understanding neither what they said nor whereof they affirmed and so now these Lay-Preachers of the Gospel whose office is as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth import to publish the glad tidings of salvation by Jesus Christ unto the people will be alwayes jangling in the harsh musick of the Law to bring men as they do many tender consciences into fearful desperation because as the Apostle saith they understand not the right use of the Law The twofold reason why the Lay-preachers do misinterpret the Scriptures nor how to make the right application of it and so the do in like manner misapply the promises of the Gospel and pervert many places of the holy Scriptures and the reason hereof seems to be two fold 1. Their ignorance and want of arts languages and learning to search and to find out the truth 2. The obscurity and difficulty to understand the holy Scripture 1. Because they are ignorant and unlearned men 1. The wisdom of a learned man cometh

just rights again As for their enemies cloath them with shame confusion And for those that trouble them wrong them open their eys that they may see their own most odious most abominable sins touch their hearts with the finger of thy holy Spirit that they may be truly penitent and sorrowful for all their wicked ways and that they may turn unto thee with weeping fasting and prayer And though we be a sinful nation a nation laden with iniquity corrupt children and the seed of evill doers yet do not thou cast us off from being thine inheritance Let not thy wrath burn like fire and let not thine anger continue from Generation to Generation but be thou pleased and reconciled with us in the death passion of Jesus Christ and for his sake be thou merciful unto us and forgive us all our sins and give us thy grace that ever hereafter we may serve thee in holinesse and righteousesse all the dayes of our life make us more and more thankful unto thee for all those favours and mercies and loving kindnesses that thou hast continually so graciously and so mercifully bestowed upon us increase our faith more and more stirre up our hope and kindle our charity both towards thee and our neighbours for thy sake give us true repentance for our former sins and a constant resolution ever hereafter to lead a holy and an upright life Grant us that meanes and maintenance whereby we may be inabled to serve thee not too much lest we be too proud and so forget thee nor too little lest we should want and so despaire of thy mercy but of thy goodnesse grant us that competencie and sufficiencie whereby we may be inabled to serve thee and not be chargeable but rather helpfull unto others Blesse O Lord my family my wife and children and all that belong unto me Blesse the two Universities of Cambridge and Oxford And blesse likewise the Tribe of Levi the Ministers of the Gospel that do continually wait at thine Altar and especially those reverend Bishops that are yet alive in these dominions and thou that art the Judge of all the world be a just and a righteous Judge betwixt us and them that have taken away the reward of our labours and have hindred us to discharge our duties and caused us that have sate in scarlet to imbrace dunghils we do acknowledge and confesse that we have most worthily deserved all the miseries that are come upon us and much more if thou shouldest deal with us according to our deserts and punish us according to the multitude of our sinnes But we know Lord that thou desirest not the death of a sinner thou takest no pleasure in the destruction of the living but rather that they should turn from their wicked ways and live and if thou Lord shouldst be extream to mark what is done amisse O Lord who may abide it when as the best of us all is not able to answer Thee one of a thousand and therefore we do most humbly and most earnestly beseech thee not to deal with us according to our deserts nor to punish us according to the multitude of our sins but according to the multitude of thy mercies to do away our offences and to give us thy grace that ever hereafter we may serve thee in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of our life Make an end of this wasting division that is amongst us free us from these dangers and deliver us from these troubles O let not our enemies still prevail to triumph over us and to trample us under feet as mire and clay in the streets but let the light of thy countenance shine on us let thine ears hear our prayers let our cry come unto thee and let thine eyes behold our miseries and our troubles which we suffer at the hands of them that hate us And as thou didst deliver the Israelites thy people from the oppressions of the Egyptians so deliver us O Lord our God out of all our troubles and afflictions and let not our sins hinder thy mercics towards us but be thou gracious and merciful unto us to pardon and to forgive all our sins and to make speed to save us to make haste to help us because we have none in heaven nor in earth to make our complaint unto but only unto thee O God and therefore we do most humbly and most earnestly beseech thee to be our good God gracious and mercifull unto us to pardon and to forgive us all our sins to deliver us out of all our troubles and to restore every man to his full and perfect right again So shall we praise and glorify thee O Lord we shall honour and magnify thee in the great congregation through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with thee O Father and thee O blessed Spirit three persons and one immortal invisible indivisible and onely one wise God be given and ascribed from the botof our hearts as is most due unto thee all possible thanks praise power might majesty dominion and glory both now and evermore world without end Amen O eternall God Son of God Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world I pray thee take away my sins and call them not to remembrance to lay the punishment thereof either upon me or upon any other for my sake but be thou gracious and merciful unto me to pardon and forgive me all my sins and to give me thy grace that I may lead all my life according to thy most holy and blessed will And now Lord I do most humbly and earnestly beseech thee to accept this morning sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving which I offer unto thy divine majesty from the bottom of my heart for all those mercies favours and loving kindnesse both spiritual and temporal which thou hast shewed unto me from the hour of my birth to this very day and aspecially for these favours that thou hast delivered me from all dangers both by Sea and Land and hast brought me hither safe to give thanks and praise unto thy holy name thou hast also freed me from the fiery purgatory from the Laborinth of Law-suits and thou hast finished my businesse according to my desire and far better then I could expect thou hast helped and assisted me to preach thy word unto thy people and hast granted me their love and favour for the same O Lord my God I do thank thee with all my heart and praise thee with all my soule for these as for all other thy mercies that thou hast shewed unto me and if it be thy blessed will to grant me that favour which I desire of thee that I may not offend thee I shall thank thee while I live and praise thee while I breath but let thy will be done and not mine for mine is fraile and thou knowest what is best which I do not and therefore I humbly beseech tee to give me thy grace that whatsoever thou doest I may

Thomson and many others do unanimously affirm and is according to the Saying of St. John in Revel 17.18 meant by St. Peter where he saith The Church that is at Babylon elected together with you saluteth you 1 Pet. 5.3 and is so interpreted by many of the Ancient Fathers to signifie the City of Rome in that place as Papias apud Euseb l. 2.15 Tertul. adversus Judaeos S. Hieron in Esaiam c. 47. August de Civit. Dei l. 18. c. 22. Oros Synchron l. 2. c. 3. l. 7. c. 2. And divers others of our late Writers And their Reasons to reduce them as brief as I can to certain heads that induce them to believe the Popes and Papacy to be the Antichrist The reasons why the Pope is believed to to be the Antichrist are of two sorts 1. Their Blasphemies Heresies and Impieries against God 2. Their Tyranny Cruelty and Iniquity against man 1. The Popes Impiety against God is seen by their undermining 1. The Popes impiety against God crossing and corrupting all the Articles of our Creed and by a high transgressing of all the Ten Commandments of the Moral Law as Thomson very orderly and largely setteth down and more especially Thomson in his arreign p. 96. I. W. pag. 8.9 10. Deinc Mares de Antichristo p. 101. M. Mede in the apost of the last times their Blasphemies either by their own mouths and proper assertions or by their giving priviledge countenance and approof to the Blasphemies of their Minions and Flatterers which are plentifully set down by J.W. the Author of Roma ruina finalis in Anno 1666. And their Idolatry when Pope Marcellinus sacrificed to the Idols of the Painims and all of them in worshipping their breaden God in the Mass and their Mahuzzims or Deastri their Saints departed and their Relicks as Mr. Mede sheweth in his Learned Treatise of the Apostacy of the last times and his Apocalyptick Key 2. The Popes iniquity towards man Vid. Mares●um pag. 140. Their Injustice and Iniquity against man is evidenced by their Pride in their exalting and lifting up themselves above all that is called god that is above Kings and Princes as Gregory the 3. excommunicated the Emperor Leo Iconomachus Zachary the 1st deposed Childerick the lawful King of France to set up Pipin in his room Leo the 3. created Charles the Great to be the Emperor Anastasius durst presume to excommunicate the Emperor Anastatius Grandfather to Justinian about 490. Martin 1. performed the like censure against Constantius the Emperor about 650 but he was therefore brought by Theodorus Calliopa unto the Emperor in Chains and banished into Pontus where he died And Gregory the 7th formerly called Hildebrand about 1080. out-matched all the rest of his Predecessors in pride and boldness by compelling the Emperor Henry the 4th to come barefooted in an humble manner to him to give satisfaction unto his Holiness or else to be deprived of his Kingdom Alexander the 3. trode upon the neck of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and as he was setting his foot upon his neck he abused that place of Scripture which saith super Aspidem Basiliscum ambulabis by applying it to justifie this his Luciferian Pride and Tyranny Volater l. 22. Anthropolog in Alex. 3. Roger Hov●don annal pag. 2. sub Richard 1. And it is recorded that Alexander 6. poysoned Gemes the great Turks brother that was committed to his trust Hildebrand hired one to kill the Emp. John the 13. and committed incest with his two fifters The 31 Article of the Confession of the Synod of Gappe And Adrian the 4th made the said Emperor to hold his stirrop while he got upon his Palfrey And Celestine the 3. was so insolent as to put the Crown upon the head of Henry the 6th and of the Empress with his foot and pushing it off again in like manner to say I have power to make and to unmake Emperors at my pleasure a Pride surpassing the pride of Lucifer Prince of pride and Diameter-wise opponent to the Humility of Christ And as the Pride of these Popes puffed up their hearts to swell above all earthly Powers so the Injustice and Cruelty of the Roman Bishops and that Hierarchy were no whit less towards their Inferiours as appeareth by the unjust and barbarous burning of John Hus and Hierom of Prague and the rest of those bloody Massacres that were acted in France by the Popes Procurements and Assassinats and in Belgia by the Duke de Alva that was the Popes prime Instrument of Cruelty against the Protestants And therefore according to the judgment of the said Writers the Synod of Gappe in France that was held in Anno 1064. in the 31 Article of their Confession saith Cum vero Episcopus Romanus erecta sibi in orbe Christiano Monarchia sibi arroget Principatum in omnes Ecclesias Pastores usque adeo inflatus ut deum ipsum se appellet Can. satis Dist 96. lib. 1. Sacrar Cerem cap. de Benedic ensis velit adorari Concil Lateran ult Sess 1 3 9 10. Ipse sibi tribuat omnem potestatem in Coelo in Terra Res Ecclesiasticas ad libitum componat condat Articulos Fidei Authoritatem Scripturae velit pendere à sua eamque ad libitum interpretetur animarum mercaturam exerceat liberet adstrictos votis juramentis novos Dei cultus instituat quod ad civilia attinet legitimam Magistratuum authoritatem conculcet dans adimens transferens Regna credimus asserimus eum esse verum illum germanum Antichristum filium perditionis praedictum in Dei verbo Zachar. 11.16 17. 1 Joh. 4.3 Apoc. 13.2 c. Meretricem Purpuratam Apoc. 17.1 insidentem septem monitbus in magna civitate Apoc. 17.9 obtinentem Regnum in Reges terrae Apoc. 17.18 expectamus donec Deus prout promisit jam coepit eum fractum victum spiritu oris sui tandem deleat fulgore adventus sui 2 Thes 2.8 And this Article Tilenus analizeth Tilenus exegis pag. 45. Aphor. 165. and prosecuteth the same at large to prove the Pope to be as they say the great Antichrist And I will not at this time examine the truth and validity either of this proposition or assumption though I might very well deny them both as well the one as the other But I confess that these things which the Synod chargeth the Popes withal being true are transcendent sinnes and questionless the great enormities of the Roman Hierarchy and Papacy especially of the Court of Rome confronting the Kingdome of Christ and corrupting the true service of God do infallibly evince that the Pope is an Antichrist and the Church of Rome blemished with much Antichristianisme for every one that oppugneth Christ and opposeth himself against his Kingdome his Word and his Doctrine can be none other than an Antichrist and so was Simon Magus Elimas Menander Ebion Cerinthus and other Heriticks that

Antichrist have in all likelihood committed this sin and the sinners as may be feared and are suspected for such as was Julian Spira and the like are registred unto us in good Authors 2. 2. Reason Because they that commit this sin are altogether so unknown unto us to be such sinners that it is too great a presumption for any man to say such a man hath committed the sin against the holy Ghost and therefore we can but fear and are not certain that either Julian the Apostata or the despairing Spira have sinned the sin against the holy Ghost and therefore this sin is not the sin whereby the Antichrist may be known his badge and character must be more perspicuous And 2. 2. Not the sin of Idolatry What shall we think of Idolatry which is either the taking of that which is no God for the true God and the giving of the service and honour of the true God to those false Gods which are but Idols of stocks or stones that as the Apostle saith are nothing and therefore deserve no service nor any honor in the world or else the giving of a false worship of our own invention unto the true and everliving God without question this is a very haynous sin In the 2 Com. Exod. 20. and such idolaters are rightly termed the haters of God and no doubt but very hatefull unto God as himself professeth in several places yet this sin which was not known in the world usque dum Ninus parentis Beli idolum erigit Rubenus de idolatr l. 1. c. 3. for 2000 years together is not as I believe the sin that is most hatefull unto God or most destructive unto mankinde or the proper and peculiar sin of the Antichrist because thousands are guilty of this sin and most of us more or less are offenders in this point when as some make gold to be their God and others make a God of their belly and the like 3. What say we then to Infidelity which is the sin of the Atheist that believes not in God Psal 14.1 but as the Prophet witnesseth saith in his heart there is no God and imagineth that as Claudian saith Incerto fluerent mortalia casu All mortal things fall out by chance I Answer that this sin of Diagoras that is said to be such a fool as to deny there was a God and of the like fools and prophane Atheists is a most fearfull sin and most damnable to them that foster it and no doubt but harboured continually in the heart of the Antichrist or else he would never be such an adversary unto Christ 3. Not the sin of Infidelity or of Blasphemy and so fearless of his God yet I say that this sin is neither the sin that is most destructive to man and most hatefull unto God nor the proper and peculiar sin of the Antichrist that is here meant by the Apostle Reason 1 1. Because that this sin which as the Prophet shewesh lurketh in the heart of the sool cannot be so easily discerned by us but is only known to God And Reason 2 2. Because that if this sin were the proper and peculiar sin of the Antichrist we should have more than 10 thousand Antichrists in the world and the very like may be said of the sin of Blasphemy and of many other fearfull sinnes But But the highest and the worst kind of degree of man killing or murder which is passing over all these and all the rest of the most abominable and fearfull sins that may be all accumulated in the Antichrist and yet are not the proper sin of the Antichrist whereby he may be known to be the Antichrist I say that his proper and peculiar sin that is palpable visible and sensible to us all and is most destructive to mankinde and therefore most hatefull unto God is the worst and highest degree of manslaughter or the malicious killing and unjust murdering of such an innocent person after so vile a manner and for so base an end as that a worser and a fouller taking away of mans life could not be committed this is the sin that I conceive to be that sin whereof the Apostle saith 1. Most destructive to mankinde the Antichrist shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the man of the sin For 1. It is apparent that the greatest mischief that one man can do unto another is to take away his life as Cain did Abels life with bloody hands for though he should take away all my goods yet I may get more as Job did after all was taken from him if I be slandered and falsly accused as Joseph and Susanna were yet with Joseph and Susanna I may recover my reputation again if I be cast into prison yet at last with Manasses I may be set at liberty and so if I be banished my Country yet with the Israelites I may live to return out of captivity but when I am killed and my life is taken from me there is no hope of recovery quia ab inferis nullaredemptio there is no return from the grave this is a wound that cannot be cured and a mischief that cannot be paralleld for now I can neither serve God for who will give him thanks in the pit nor help my friends nor do any good unto my self Numb 35.33 and therefore the Lord saith that blood defileth the land and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is thus unjustly shed but by the blood of him or them that have shed it 2. It will appear unto you how odious and how abominable any 2. Most odious unto God the least unjust killing of a man is in the sight of God if you consider what you may finde in the 3. Book and the 2. Chapter of the true Church It is a sin where the hainousness of this sin is treated of at large as to abreviate the summe thereof that it is 1. A sin against nature which many other sinnes are not 1. Against nature because every creature loves his like saevis inter se convenit ursis and as the naturalist saith serpens serpentem non laedit one serpent will not sting another neither will the very Devills kill one another 2. It is a sin against reason which saith that every man should do to another 2. Against reason as he would have done to himself and no otherwise 3. It is a beastly sin quia ferina rabies est sanguine vulnere laetari 3. A beastly sin it is a point of savage cruelty to delight our selves with the wounds and blood of others saith Seneca 4. It is a devilish sin and a sin of the Devil who 4. A devilish sin though he be not termed an adulterer or idolater or a covetous person nor inticed men to these sins for many years as not to idolatry untill Ninus set up the image of his father Nimrod Rubenus de idolatr l. 1.

tree that hath many boughes and branches or rather like a long Ladder that hath many staves before you can come to the top of it and the highest degree of this mischief the uppermost staffe in this Ladder and the worst kind of all the many many kinds of murders and man-killing is the proper and peculiar sin of the Antichrist which since the death of Christ never any man nor any degree of men committed but the Antichrist And therefore that we may more perfectly see and the more plainly understand the sin of the Antichrist we must untwist the Cable and unfold the multiplicity of this many-headed Monster Two kinds of hom cide or man killing 1. Lawful the murdering and slaughtering of a man And First of all we must remember that this man-killing or shedding of humane blood is distributed into two several species 1. The one lawful and required by God himself to be done as of those that maliciously kill any man or those that prove Traytors Idolaters or any such high transgressors of the Law of God or of the Kingdom or Commonwealth that enjoyn such penalties upon such obstinate and great Offenders as will not submit themselves to observe the Law And this kind of man-killing comes not within the sphear and compass of my discourse neither is it the sin of the Antichrist nor any waies if rightly done distastful but most acceptable in the sight of God 2. The other kind of man-killing 2. Unlawful three waies is that which is altogether unlawful and most odious in the sight of God and all good men And this kind of man-killing may be done three manner of waies that is 1. With the Heart and this is very bad 2. With the Tongue and this is far worse 3. With the Hand and this is the worst of all 1. We may kill our neighbour 1. With the heart in our heart and with our heart four special waies 1. By Desire 2. By Anger 3. By Envy 4. By Hatred For 1. Psal 5.6 The Prophet saith the Lord abhorreth the blood-thirsty and deceitful man that is the Lord hateth him that desireth and longeth after a mans death as he that is thirsty desireth drink and I fear that too too many are guilty in this kind the Lord rectifie our desires 2. Our Saviour saith Mat. 5.22 Whosoever is angry with his Brother without a cause he shall be in danger of the judgment and therefore we should study to suporess our anger which is furor brevis and doth rest in the bosom of fooles saith the wise man 3. The Apostle speaking of the wickedness of the Gentiles saith They were full of envy Rom. 1.29 Sap. 14.4 murder debate And the wise man saith alius alium per invidiam occidit one man slayeth another through envy as Cain through envy slew his own Brother Abel and the Jews through envy crucified our Saviour Christ and therefore periere quia maluerunt invidere quam credere Cyprian in sermone de livore 1 John 3.15 they perished saith St. Cyprian because they chose rather to ervy him than to believe in him 4. St. John saith that whosoever hateth his brother is a manslayer and the Lord saith thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart For as he that looketh on a woman to Iust after her hath committed adultery in his heart so he that hateth his brother hath killed him in his heart 2. The Tongue killeth many men and killeth them many waies yea 2. With the Tongue Jam. 3.6 7. plures lingua quam gladio periere the Tongue hath slain more than the Sword for as S. James saith the tongue is a fire and a world of wickedness it is an unruly evill full of deadly poyson and the Son of Syrach saith It hath destroyed many that were at peace And the Tongue besides those that it killeth by bearing false witness against them Eccles 28.13 as the men of Belial did against Naboth and the Jews against Christ killeth men two special waies 1. By Flattery 2. By Detraction And 1. S. Augustine saith that Plus nocet lingua adulatoris quam gladius persecutoris the Tongue of the Flatterer doth more mischief than the Sword of the persecuter and Antisthenes was wont to say It was better for a man to fall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among Ravens than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among Flatterers that do fasten men in their faults 2. The Prophet saith Viri detractores fuerunt in te ad effundendum sanguinem Ezek. 22.9 In thee are men that carry tales to shed bloud and Job saying to his friends that slandered his integrity Why do you persecute me as God and are not satisfied with my flesh Doth intimate thereby that Detractors and Slanderers are like cruel Canibals that eat mens flesh and drink their bloud Nam qui aliena detractione pascitur procul dubio alienis carnibus saturatur for without doubt saith S. Gregory whosoever delighteth himself with detraction and the slandering of his neighbours doth feed and satisfie himself with mans flesh And these murders and killing of men with the heart and with the tongue are but steps stairs and progresses to the murder of the hand For first we begin to distaste and to dislike the man then we grow angry with him for some thing that displeaseth us and if he hath any vertue or good part in him or any honourable place or preferment or any love and good opinion from the people then presently we envy him and then hate him and so hate him more and more The steps progress and ascent of this sin of man-killing and now the Tongue will begin to play his part and though in his presence it will flatter him whom the heart detesteth yet in his absence it will lay loads of scandalous imputations upon his person and upon his actions even as Absolon did upon the government of his own father King David and Maion against the Government of William the King of Sicily and abundance of such varlets as I could name have done the like against the Government of some other Kings and most excellent men And when those bloud-thirsty men have proceeded thus far to envy his happiness and to hate his person as Cain hated Abel and the way is thus made by scandalous aspersions and false imputations to make him odious and distasted among the people 3. With the hand there wanteth nothing but the stroke of the hand to effect the tragical murder and killing of that man whom they desire to destroy be he King Priest or Prophet for so Zimri killed his King and his Master Ela So Phocas slew his Master Diodorus Siculus lib. 11. the Emperour Mauritius So the Servants of King Amon slew their King and their Master So Artabanus Captain of his Guard killed his own King and his Master Xerxes after he had retired out of Greece So Brutus and Cassius with their Associates killed Julius

this Ecclesia sticall Witnesse and the Key that shutteth the Gate and the Windows of Heaven that the rain of grace and the comforts and consolations of Gods word cannot fall on such a person so long as he continueth in that excommunicate condition And as God hath given unto Moses power by his Rod to turn the Rivers and all the waters of Egypt into blood and to bring all the other Plagues that were brought upon Pharaoh and upon all the Land of Egypt The extent of the power of the witnesses for their obstinate refusall to let Israel go to serve the Lord So he hath given unto his Kings a power and a Sword that is signified by Moses his Rod to punish and to draw blood even the hearts blood of such wicked offendors as will be like Pharaoh rebellious and obstinate against the Commandements of God And herein you may observe the extent of their power which he granted unto them that is to smite the Earth but not the Heaven with all Plagues and that is to punish the earthly and worldly minded men that are wicked and do follow after the vanities impieties and iniquities of this sinful life but not the godly men whose conversation is in Heaven and which are obedient to the Lawes of God and man with fines mulcts imprisonments banishments and death it self for if they smite the Heaven that is the righteous and the innocent with any of these Plagues that power is not given them from God but from the Dragon that is the Devill gives it them Revel 13 2. as the Apostle sheweth And so you see the powers and the abilities that God hath given to these his two witnesses the King and the Bishop the Civill and the Ecclesiasticall Governours of his People the one exercising his power in the Church with the word of his mouth and the other in the Commonwealth with the Sword in his hand And for the time The time that the two Witnesses shall continue to prophesie c. 11. v. 3. Fran. Jun. in loc Ezek. 4.6 Dan. 9.24 Numb 14. v. 34. Mat. 3.2 Luc. 3.3 that these two Witnesses shall quietly and peaceably execute their Offices and Prophesie that is discharge their Duties to govern the Commonwealth and to build up the Church of Christ the Angell saith it shall be 1200 and 60 dayes cloathed in Sackcloath and that is as Junius here and divers others do rightly take a day for a year 1200 and 60 yeares as they do collect out of Ezekiel and Daniel and other places of Scripture where under the number of so many dayes as are expressed so many years are to be understood And so we find that with the favour and under the protection of Christian Emperors and Godly Kings the Orthodox Bishops and true Pastors and Preachers of the Gospel of Christ did freely without fear publish the Doctrine of faith and repentance which was the Doctrine of John Baptist and the Doctrine that Christ continued to preach and commanded his Apostles in like manner to preach the same unto the people and which I take to be signified by their Cloathing in Sackcloth in their so conforming themselves unto their Doctrine as John Baptist did Mat. 3.4 cloathing himself in a Garment of Camells hair and a girdle of Leather about his loines and not mourning for the pollution of the true Church which during the time of their Prophesie was not polluted as Mr. Mede and others do suppose but Mr. Mede part 2. p. 7 8. as I conceive much amiss that we should think the true Church was or that God would suffer his true Church to be so long polluted for the full space of 1200 and 60. years before the persecution of the Antichrist should begin or that his persecution should last so long And that is if you begin to account not as Junius would have it Junius in annotat in loc immediately after the passion of Christ because this power of free publishing the Doctrine of repentance was not yet given them while they were prohibited and persecuted from place to place for preaching the Gospel of Christ but it was given them after the end and determination of the ten former persecutions of the Church by the Heathen Tyrants and after the other storms and afflictions that were raised against them by the meanes and procurement of the Arian Hereticks and were as violently prosecuted by Constantius and other Arian Kings of the Gothes and Vandalls as the persecution of the Heathen Emperours as the life of Athanasius and the story of the Church doth sufficiently testifie when the Church was setled and established in peace and quietness and the governing Bishops freely permitted and royally protected by the Christian Kings and Emperours to preach the faith of Christ and to exhort their people to repentance from dead works yea and to injoyn the transgressors to repent in Sackcloth and to abhorre themselves and their former courses in dust and ashes And this was not The time when the two witnesses received their full power to prophesie about the year 382. till after the death of Valens which was about the year of Christ 382. When Theodosius had vanquished the Huns and the Gothes and the rest of those boysterous Northern enemies of the Empire that exceedingly troubled and brought infinite crosses and molestations not much inferiour if not some wayes worse then the Heathen persecutions upon the Church as you may easily find in those excellent Books of St. August de civitate Dei and others the Ecclesiasticall Writers of those times And from this suppression of those fierce and cruel enemies both of the Orthodox Church and the Roman Empire which was as I said about the year 382. to the beginning of the long Parliament we shall find about the summe of 1200. and 60 years When the time of their prophesying in Sackcloth was ended throughout all which time the true Orthodox Bishops the one of the two witnesses of Gods truth in all the Christian Kingdoms as Spain France Germany Ingland Scotland Ireland and the rest had full power and free liberty to preach the Doctrine of faith and to injoyn penance unto their people and they were not onely protected from the wrongs violence and malice of all their opposers About the year 1642. but they were also assisted to reduce all transgressors to repentance as above all other times in these Kingdoms that are best known unto us the happy Reign of Queen Elizabeth King James and King Charles can sufficiently justifie this truth unto you and the Christian Kings and Princes that were the other witness of Gods truth and the nursing Fathers of the Church were through the faithfull preaching of Gods word and the strict and godly Discipline of the Church most loyally obeyed and religiously observed as they ought to be in all the Christian Kingdoms and so both the witnesses by their mutuall helping and assisting one another were throughly strengthned