mundi veniet in me nihil invenâ—…et de sâ—…o dici poterat qui non nouerat peccatum Onely Iesus could say Behold the Prince of this vvorld commeth and findeth nothing in mee It could bee said of none but of him vvho knevv no sinne Againe Licet Christi conceptio sit munda absque carnalis delectationis peccato Virgo tamen ipsa vnde assumptus est in iniquitatibus concâ—…pta est quia ipsa in Adamo peccauit in quo omnes peccauerunt Albeit the conception of Christ was cleane and without all sinne of carnall delectation yet the Virgin of whom he came was herselfe conceiued in sinne begotten and borne a sinfull woman of sinfull Parents And who can bring a cleane thing out of silthinesse there is not one to wit among men This is the onely prerogatiue of Iesus that he was conceiued of the holy Ghost VERSE 6. Then I beheld and loe in the midst of the Throne and of the foure liuing creatures and in the midst of the Elders stood a Lambe as if hee had beene killed which had seuen hornes and seuen eyes which are the seuen Spirits of God sent into all the world AS before S. Iohn heard of Christ by the eare so now he sees him by the eye Information of the Church by the Word is necessary to goe before but then get we sure comfort when God openeth our heart and our eyes to see to feele those things which we haue heard but in this age there are many Christians by outward information who as yet haue not beene taught of God by by inward inspiration these heare the Testimony of God but it is not confirmed in them Now the place where S. Iohn sees the Lord Iesus is the midst of the throne O what a comfort is heere for vs that our Sauiour and elder brother clothed with our nature sitteth now in the midst of the throne Hee hath sent his Spirit downe into the earth and carried our flesh vp into heauen and thereby hath possessed vs in our heauenly inheritance And againe since wee haue him there an Aduocate an Agent for vs what should we feare or what neede is there to seeke any other to intreate for vs A Lambe Vnder the Law was our Sauiour figured oftentimes by a Lambe and the Paschall Lambe and the Lambe offered in the daily sacrifice morning and euening these were types of Christ Iesus and according thereunto is He heere represented to S. Iohn and by this type first his meekenesse in patient suffering is expressed vnto vs for as a Lambe he was dumbe before the shearer And next the great profit and vtility redounding to vs by him is declared vnto vs for all the good that is in him is imparted and communicate vnto vs Lacte eius pascimur vellere tegimur sanguine purgamur By his milke we are nourished by his bloud wee are purged by the fleece of his wooll we are couered wee put him on as the garment of our righteousnesse Sith Iason and his Argonautâ—…e endured such trauailes for obtaining that golden fleece at Colchis so did fabulous writers call it what shame is it for vs to refuse greater paines that wee may be made partakers of this golden and indeede most precious fleece of the Lambe in whom we may haue all good things whereof we stand in need As if hee had beene slaine This speech renders no patrocinie to those phantastick men who thinke Christ was not slaine but some other for him for in the ninth verse following the chiefe reason why Saints acknowledge praise to be due to the Lambe is Because thou wast killed We are therefore to obserue that these articles do not alway import a similitude but the very certainety and truth of the thing it selfe as when Saint Iohn saith We saw his glory as the glory of the onely begotten Sonne of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The meaning is we saw him shining in such glory as is competent to the onely begotten Sonne of God And againe when the Apostle saith Wee are changed into the same image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is according to the powerfull operation of the Spirit of the Lord. And so here when he saith I saw 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Lambe as if hee had beene killed the meaning is I saw a Lambe who indeed and verily was killed And this manner of speech imports these things first that albeit our Lord was slaine and that Satan and his Instruments thought that by death they had vtterly vndone him yet was it far otherwise for by his resurrection on the third day Hee was declared mightily to bee the Sonne of God and not vnder the power of death and therefore in this Vision hee is represented rather like vnto one that was slaine then vtterly slaine indeed Next as our Sauiour after his resurrection appeared to S. Thomas with the scarres of his wounds in his blessed Body so may wee religiously thinke he appeareth in this Vision to S. Iohn yea euen in the last Day hee shall shew his Body which was pierced to the great terrour of his enemies and comfort of his owne Neither is this to bee thought any dishonour to Christ or impotency that hee appeares in the similitude of a wounded man but rather the high praise of his loue in that for his Church her sake hee was content to be wounded to the death And no lesse great commendation of his power who ouercame his enemies by that same death by which they thought to ouercome him Serpens mortuus viâ—…os Serpentes superabat Christus mortuus Serpentem in corde viuentem superauit That Serpent which had no life ouercame those liuing Serpents which stung the Israelites and Christ by dying ouercame that Serpent the deuill who liued in our heart Magna quidem infirmitas mori sed planè sic mori virtus immensa est It is indeed a great infirmity to die but so to die as by dying to destroy death is an exceeding great power Which had seuen Hornes Hornes in holy Scripture oftentimes signifie power fortitude and Empyring they are taken both in good and in cuill part for to the wicked are ascribed Hornes whereby they push the Saints and here seuen Hornes are ascribed to Christ figuring the perfection of his strength and power and absolute authority whereby he protects his Saints Sometime there is attributed to him onely one Horne for so the Kingdome of the Messia and his exaltation to it is compared by Dauid to the lifting vp of the Horne of the Vnicorne Thou shalt exalt my Horne like the Vnicornes and I shall be anointed with fresh oile Naturalists write of the Vnicornes Horne that of all other it is the most firme and solid secondly the most pleasant and thirdly the most profitable as being
the one to expresse the horror of the other Now because this is a speciall note and maine point the right vnderstanding whereof will giue light to the method of the vvhole Prophecie we are to know that the reason mouing sundry learned Interpreters to thinke that this seale cannot be expounded of the Day of Iudgement is for that there are many Prophecies following which must be fulfilled before that Day but this difficultie shall easily be remooued if they consider the ground we haue already laid out of Primasius that the Reuelation is Prophetia saepius repetita a Prophecie sundry times repeated and diuers wayes diducing the estate of the Church from the daies of Christ to his second Comming againe And euen they vvho vvill haue it one continued Prophecie the later Chapter beeing alway posterior in time to the matter of the Chapter preceding as they thinke are forced to interrupt that course and change their mind when they come to the twelfth Chapter for there they are drawne backe again to the first beginning of the daies of Christ. But to returne this sixt seale concludes this first generall Prophecie with a Propheticall denuntiation of the Day of Iudgement and so wee expound it for these reasons besides others which we haue shewed before First the seuenth seale hath no proper prediction of it owne as the preceding sixe haue but containes in the bosome thereof seuen Trumpets proclaiming for matter a new Prophecy different from the former Next heere is an vniuersall change of all creatures in Heauen and Earth vvhich neuer was nor neuer will be but at the day of Iudgement Thirdly all the persons of the wicked are here vniuersally iudged without exception no Babylonians nor Egyptians nor Israelites onely but all the wicked Euery free man euery bond man Fourthly it is expresly called in the Text The great Day of the Lords wrath And lastly the like prediction made by our Sauiour serues for a cleer Commentary to lead vs to expound this of the day of Iudgement For after our Lord hath foretold of great persecutions apostasies heresies of false Christs which were to come he subioynes And immediatly after the tribulation of those daies shall the Sun be darkned and the Moone shall not giue her light and the starres shall fall from heauen and the powers of heauen shall be shaken Now that these speeches are not to be taken allegorically but properly as contayning a prediction of that fearefull concussion of this Vniuerse which shall be made in that great Day of the Lord is most euident by that which followes Then shal appeare the signe of the Sonne of man in the heauen c. And he shall send his Angels with a great sound of the Trumpet and they shall gather together his Elect from the foure winds and from the one end of heauen to the other Thus is our Commentary made cleare that this mutation of the creature foretold here shall fall out in that great Day wherein the Lord Iesus shall iudge the quick and dead This terror of the day of Iudgment is described from two-fold terrible effects thereof first vpon the creature insensible Earth Iles Mountaines Heauen Sun Moone Stars ver 12. 13. 14. Next vpon the creature reasonable but reprobate of all sorts ver 15. 16. 17. For the first it is said There was a great Earthquake The word in the Originall imports more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a cōcussion of the Vniuerse or whole fabrick of the world As to earthquake it is either ordinary proceeding of naturall causes ayre enclosed in the bosome of the earth or else extraordinary an angry and fearefull God shaking the earth with his powerfull hand as was that when Christ our Lord was crucified The darkning of the Sunne in like manner is either naturall whē by interposition of the Moone between the Sunne and the Earth the light of the Sunne is eclipsed and cut off from some parts of the earth or else it is supernaturall such as vvas that darkning of the Sunne when our Lord was crucified For when the sixt houre was come darknes arose ouer all the Land vntill the ninth Which moueci Dionysius Areopagita then an Ethnick Philosopher but after conuerted by Saint Paul and made a Christian after he 〈◊〉 considered that the darknesse could not be naturall hee guae out this sentence of it Aut Deus nature patitur an t mundi machina dissoluetur Either the God of nature now suffereth or the world now must be dissolued And the Moone was like bloud As the Sunne in that day shall cast downe his countenance vpon the wicked and refuse to giue them light because they refused the most comfortable light of the Gospel so shall the Moone persecure them with the terrible lookes of a bloudy face because they shed the bloud of the Saints of God VERSE 13. And the starres of heauen fell vnto the earth as a fig-tree casteth her greene figges when it is shaken of a mighty wind THe iudgement still increases terror thereof wherin we may see how all creatures both in heauen and earth offer their seruice to the Creator for the execution of his iust vengeance vpon the wicked Euery one of them sights in their course against the enemies of the Lord the earth tembles vnder them and reeles to and fro as vnable any longer to beare the burden of their iniquitie and shall not rest till at length shee open her mouth and swallow them The Sunne the Moone the Starres shall refuse to comfort them with their light Thus at one time shall they finde the Creator and all his creatures against them It is true that euen now the wicked are vnder wrath yet thinke they their estate good enough for they loue the creature more then the Creator So long as they enioy the comfort of the creature feele not the indignation of the Creator as shortly they will doe in their misery they blosse themselues but in the end when all creatures shal forsake them and the Lord the righteous Iudge of the world shall come in anger to pursue them yea and their owne conscience shall also witnesse against them Then shall their vnhappy estate be discouered to themselues and they shall cry as after followes Rocks and Mountaines fall vpon vs and couer vs. And this should serue for a warning to vs sith the comfort of all creatures will faile vs yea thy own heart and flesh will faile thee Let vs seek the Lord in time then shall wee be sure of Dauid his comfort God the portion of my soule will neuer faile mee Set our hearts vpon that which is permanent but let vs not rest in things vanishing Who will dwell willingly in a ruinous habitation Si in habitaculo tuo parietes vetustate nutarent tecta desuper tremerent domus iam fagitata aedificiis
saith When hee shall appeare wee shall see him as hee is Yet euen the sight that now we haue by faith sustaines vs that wee faint not yea makes vs to reioyce in him with ioy vnspeakeable and glorious The first sight is no comfort without the third For oh How pittifull is the estate of that man who hath an eye to see the Sunne and hath not an eye to see Him that made the Sunne Yea the second is not comfortable without the third What auailes it to fore-see and fore-tell things to come and not to fore-see that Wrath which is to come that thou maist eschew it Balaam was a great Prophet to point out Iesus Christ vnto others in whom he had no part himselfe Hee fore-saw that the death of righteous men was happy and wished it to himselfe but hee had not true Light to leade him in that life which might bring him to a happy death Thus in the third sight onely stands the comfort of Christians Simeons sight maketh Simeons Song and sendeth away Saints out of the body reioycing in the middest of the dolours of death All these three sights had Saint Iohn but here hee sees these Visions by the second sight Now this sight is relatiue to the sight hee saw before After this I looked and it renders this lesson S. Iohn hauing vsed well the Reuelation hee receiued in the first Vision and hauing deliuered it faithfully to the Church as he was commanded gets now another Vision reueiled to him Two things increase heauenly reuelations in a Preacher First if he vse well the talent receiued already Nec enim alimonia haec distribuendo minuitur sed potius augetur ministrando For heauenly food is not diminished by the distribution thereof but rather is augmented Next if hee looke vp to God by feruent prayer and seek more as here S. Iohn doth hee shall neuer want comfortable matter to deliuer in God his Name to the Church But alack where men come out Prompt◅ docere quod non didicerunt ready to teach that which they haue not learned looking downe to giue vnto people not first looking vp to seek from the Lord what hope of a blessing is there to such a Ministerie And behold a dore was opened By this Metaphoricall speech S. Iohn will signifie vnto vs that an entrance and cleere sight of these heauenly Mysteries was made vnto him by the calling of God which otherwise were hid and locked vp from him like excellent things in the Palace of a King whereof no sight is gotten till the dore be opened and men licensed to enter in So S. Paul by the Opening of a dore of faith to the Gentiles will expresse that entrance to the faith which Gentiles had gotten by his Ministerie and by the great doore and effectuall opened to him at Ephesus and at Troas and by the opened doore of vtterance to speak the Mysterie of Christ for which hee willes the Colossians to pray hee vnderstands that a cleere and easie entrance to these Mysteries may bee made to him by the Lord and a ready way prepared in the hearts of people to conuay these Mysteries as it were in by a doore vnto them In Heauen Hugo Carthusian and others of that sort by the Doore vnderstand Christ and by heauen the Church it is a truth that Christ and his Church sometime are so figured but it is not the truth of this place I maruell what should haue moued Cotterius a iudicious and learned Writer to follow them This Heauen saith hee is Ecclesia in qua Deus habitat the Church wherein God dwels and the Voice which spake vnto S. Iohn Verbum est quo vocamur in Ecclesiam It is the Word by which wee are called to the Church All by purpose for was S. Iohn now in Pathmos to bee called to the communion of the Church But leauing this when wee shall come if the Lord please to such places of this Prophecie where the Heauen is a type of the Church Militant or Triumphant we shall shew the reason thereof But here that we may vnderstand with sobriety let vs consider how Saint Iohn speakes as hee saw He saw not this Vision in the Earth nor in the Aire but in the heauen was it represented to him It is true most part of things prophesied here were to be performed on the earth but they are fore-shewed in the heauens to tell vs that the earth and all things which fall out therein are ruled by the Decree of Heauen To make this yet more cleere let vs be remembred that in holy Scripture Heauen is sundry waies taken First for the Church Triumphant their place and their persons are both exprest by the name of Heauen as when it is said the two Witnesses were taken vp into heauen Next for the Church Militant in the Gospell in this Reuelation cōmonly called Heauen But in this and many other places of this Prophecie Heauen is taken for that typicall representation of heauen made to him in this Prophecie For it is to bee noted and obserued as a necessary rule that in these Visions S. Iohn speakes of things according as hee saw them represented in types as we haue spoken before yet so that euery type hath a truth correspondent to it and it requires great discretion to accommodate euery Type to the owne truth Which is not done by them who in this place expound heauen to be the Church Militant for S. Iohn saw not nor learned not these Mysteries in the Church nor yet from the Church hee saw them represented to him in heauen to be reuealed to the Church In a word he got it indeed for the Church Militant but not from it Neither is there any more reason to say that heauen here is the Church Militant then to say that these things which S. Paul saw when hee was rauished to the third heauen hee saw them in the Church for at this time also was S. Iohn rauished and transported in Spirit Alway we learne here that wee can haue no knowledge of heauenly things vnlesse the Lord open the doore and discouer them vnto vs. The Iewes euery Saturday read in their Synagogues a part of Moses and the Prophets these point with the finger vnto Christ but they cannot see him for a Vaile couereth their mindes till the Lord illuminate them Wee doe therefore pray the Lord our God who opened the doore to S. Iohn through which hee saw these Visions to open a doore to vs also by which we may haue entrance to vnderstand them for the glory of his name and comfort of his Church And the first Voice which I heard c. Vpon this place Victorinus obserues that it was one Spirit which spake in the Prophets of old and in the Apostles now Cotterius in the first Vision saith hee Iohn heard a Voice speaking
seuocate their mindes from their bodies the function of the soule being suspended toward the body that she might intend all her powers toward the Lord. So did hee with Ezechiel and Daniel Yea euen in our daily Christian conuersation we find that as the fish Remora when it cleaues to the side of the ship vnder saile retardeth the course thereof so is it with the body when the soule would ascend and mount vp to the Lord the body drawes it backe and holds it downe therefore Caro animae est Remora said Nazianzen flesh is the stay and hinderance of the soule And this may be best seene in the exercise of prayer when the spirituall life is strongest then is the naturall weake If the desires of the soule be feruently intended toward God the eye sees not those obiects the eare heares not those sounds which are neere vnto them But when againe naturall necessity forces the soule to returne to a familiarity with the body then her familiarity with the Lord relents and is interrupted This lets vs see first that heauenly Mysteries transcend the capacity of man till God make vs able to conceiue them aboue any ability that is in nature if S. Iohn had not beene rauished in the spirit after a diuine manner he could not haue vnderstood these diuine things And againe we may perceiue the truth of that No man can see the Lord and liue This should make vs well content in the day of death to lay aside our bodies that we may ascend to the Lord for as S. Luke said of the death of Christ it is true of all Christians The day of our death is the day of our assumption vp into heauen And behold a Throne Before Godspake to the eare of S. Iohn now hee offers a Vision to his eye This is the Lords order and we must obserue it Wouldst thou see the Lord bee content first to heare him Auditus gradus est ad visum hearing is a step to seeing As we haue heard so haue wee seene If first we heare as we should no doubt but next we shall see what we would They who delight not now to heare the Lord shall not be delighted hereafter with the sight of his ioyfull face And this for the order now to the matter We haue here in a Vision represented the glorious Maiestie of the Ruler of the world gouerning all things therein according to his gracious pleasure And first S. Iohn sees a Throne figuring Kingly Power and Authority Next a Throne in heauen expressing the supremacy and height of his Gouernment his Throne is aboue all the Thrones of Kings in the world By him the decrees of men are established hee ratifies or reuokes them at his pleasure and is countable vnto none His Holinesse also hereby is expressed God will not do wickedly neither will hee peruert iudgement hee renders the worke of a man vnto him and causes euery man to finde according to his wayes said Elihu The Iudge of all the world cannot do vnrighteously said Abraham Thirdly aboue the Throne is a Raine-bow like a stately seeling Fourthly about the Throne are twenty and foure Elders figuring the Church of the liuing God a glorious Court wherein there are none but Seniors and Kings farre surmounting in glory all the Courts of the world Fiftly between the Throne and the circle of Seniors in the midst of the Throne and round about the Throne were foure liuing creatures full of eyes all hauing wings shadowing the company of innumerable Angels Salomon his Throne was of Iuory vnderpropped with carued Lyons but nothing comparable to these liuing vnderstanding and speedily flying Cherubims which execute the will of this great and euerliuing King Sixthly before the Throne there is a glassie Sea like Christall representing this sragill and waltring world which as it was made by the Lord so also is it ruled and gouerned by him hee sees all things in it and gouerneth all the incident mutations and changes thereof vnto his owne determinate end This is the summe of the Vision Which as I said is a preparatoire vision for the subsequent visions of prediction wherein because the Lord is to foreshew sore troubles many changes greâ—…uous accidents that were to fal out in the world for the exercise of his poore Church In the entry he drawes vs vp to looke to himselfe as vnto a glorious King sitting on his Throne ruling the world which is before him with great power and wisedom so that nothing falls out in it by chance but according to his prouidence neither is it satans malice nor man his vvit that carries sway in the world to drawe the euent of things which way they wil. No no satan and men in all their purposes plots are ouer-ruled by the Lord and he worketh all things according to the good pleasure of his owne will for his owne glory and comfort of his Church Thus in the beginning haue wee a strong confirmation of our faith and are conueniently prepared to receiue the Prophecie following vvith faith and reuerence assuring our selues that according to it the euent of things will be because it comes and is reuealed from him who rules the world And doubtlesse if our eyes were opened to see that glorious sight of the supreme Maiesty ruling all things at his will as here saint Iohn saw it or at least if we will looke into it with the eyes of faith it would dissipate all these doubtings and feares which come in our minds arising from the greatnesse of Mahomet the power of the Pope and of blinded Princes enemies to the Gospel of Christ banding and confederating themselues against the Lord and his anointed When the seruant of Elisha was afraid at the huge Army of Aramites which compassed Dothan his Master comforted him Feare not said he there are moe with vs then are against vs. And when according to the prayer of Elisha the Lord opened his eyes then hee saw that the Mountaines were full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha stronger to defend him then the Aramites were to pursue him No lesse should wee be comforted against all terror of flesh if our eyes were opened to see this glorious Maiestie that saint Iohn saw for what are all Kings of the earth compared with him When he pleases he cuts off the spirit of Princes and is terrible vnto them Let vs rest in him God is our hope and strength and helpe in trouble ready to be found Wee will not feare though the earth should be mooued and Mountaines fall in the middes of the Sea For the Throne of our God stands stable It is a pittifull blindnes that wormes of the earth should take vp a banner against him whose Throne is in heauen Their Propositions are proud Let vs cast off the yoke of the Lord. And againe Let vs build a
and are neuer at rest So is it with men in this world vncertaine and vnstable is thâ—…ir estate rich this day poore to morrow now a King incontinent a captiue highest in the Court this day like Haman highest to morrow on the gallowes This day the King leanes on the shoulder of the Samaritane Prince the next day the people tramples him vnder their feet Neither is it simply represented by a sea of which type see more chap. 16. verse 3. but by a glassie sea to declare the fragilitie thereof it hath a faire splendent shew but no solidity the best thing in it is man yet is he but like a vessell of glasse most easily broken as daily experience declares And thirdly it is said to be like vnto Christall which is transparent so that a man looking into it sees through it and euery moâ—…e therein is manifest vnto him This doth properly expresse that cleere and liuely sight which the Lord hath of most secret things done in the world All things are naked 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and manifest vnto his sight 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 opened vp and as it were spelled out Naturall men may restraine his prouidence within the heauen This is the voice of Atheists The Lord walks in the circle of heauen the cloudes hide him that hee cannot see They are like vnto foolish children who if they hide their owne face that they see not doc thinke that none sees them But they haue an answere from the Psalmist The Lord hath his dwelling on high yet he abases himselfe to behold things in hoauen and in earth the darknes is no darknesse but to him darknes and the light are both alike This also should waken vs to the practise of that Apostolike precept Vse this world as if 〈◊〉 vsed it not Sith the world is resembled to a sea let vs coÌ„sider how the sea is a good element for nauigation and transportation of men from one Countrey to another but euill for habitation Men are gladdest when their course is shortest on the sea and their hearts are at their hauening place long before their Barks can carry their bodies vnto it Wee should so liue in this world as passing through it to our heauenly harbour soiourning in it but not dwelling in it The greatest pleasures of this world are like the waters of the sea salt bitter and vnwholsome to drinke Hee is in the worst estate that hath his belly most full of them Let vs looke to them with lothsomnesse but aboue all beware we drinke not of them with greedines for they will proue deadly at the length And in the midds of the Throne and c. Followes a description of the third and most excellent sort of creatures pertayning to the Court of the great King these are holy Angels in whom and by whom God ruleth and they are described first from their place next from their nature which is to be taken out of their name thirdly from their number fourthly from their properties and lastly from their function Some by these foure beasts vnderstand the four Euangelists It were easie to shew whom they follow in this opinion but needlesse It was hard for the first Fathers such as Victorine and others who wrote vpon this booke to vnderstand it so long before the accomplishment thereof And as for others in the middle Age wherin the Church was darkned with Popery they are not much to be regarded for no man indued with the spirit of error shall vnderstand this booke yet all these trot on in this common Commentary and will haue these foure beasts foure Euangelists But this is to be lamented that now in so cleare a light so many worthy men should haue been miscarried by them out of the way But leauing them we haue first to cleere that these creatures figure Angels and such Angels as in precellencie of dignity and prerogatiâ—…e of place are neerer vnto the Throne then other Angels be for in the fifth chapter ver 11. after the song of the foure liuing creatures followes the song of many Angels that are said to be there in a circle without them and in the 15. chapter ver 7. one of the foure giueth vnto the seuen Angels their Vials full of the wrath of God their first testimony proueth that the foure being namely put for the whole order haue the precellencie of place the other proues they haue the prerogatiâ—…e of dignitie Yet to come neerer many of the Interpreters do agree that in this Vision allusion is made to that which Ezechiel in his first chapter setteth downe for in this Prophecie the Spirit of God euery where followeth the phrase and alludes to the Visions of Prophecies in the old Testament and of this iudgement are Iunius Foxus Merchiston Grasserus Ribera with many others Now in that Vision is shewed to Ezechiel how hee that sits on the Throne ruleth all by the ministerie of his holy Angels there they are figured the same manner of way to wit by the Lyon a Man a Bullock and an Eagle except that there euery one of them is figured all these foure waies these that here are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 liuing creatures and that in all the English Translations whatsoeuer they are translated Beasts the cause seemes to be in the penury of our Language that hath not any proper word to distinguish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alway that these are Angels Ezechiel expounds himselfe chap. 10. ver 20. And the Beast that I saw vnder the God of Israel I vnderstood that they were Cherubims Ezechiel saw his Vision in the captiuity of Babel at the Riuer Chebar and S. Iohn saw his Vision being banished by Domitian into the I le Pathmos one truth by the same types is represented to both so the one very well may serue for a Commentarie to the other to let vs see that these creatures are indeed neither Beasts nor men but Cherubims or Angels Now to come to their description we haue first to consider the place wherein S. Iohn sees them In the midst of the Throne and round about the Throne For vnderstanding of this take vp the Throne to appeare a little lifted vp from the earth in the midst vnder it are the bodies of these creatures and at euery corner looke out their faces so are they both in the midst of the Throne and round about it This glorious Ruler hath his Throne compassed with holy Angels not that he needs any of them but for the greater comfort of his Church as also to shew the great glory of his Maiestie Many Aramites came against Elisha in Dothan his seruant was discouraged so was not himselfe There are more said he with vs then are against vs. And many may we say are our enemies visible and inuisible
write vpon it It is plaine here that the Saints in heauen offer vp the prayers of faithfull and holy persons on earth and that they haue knowledge of our affaires and desires But this Text offereth not any such thing as we shall shew at length These Saints represent the whole Church Militant and Triumphant euery one of them is said to haue their own Viall and no word here of any prayers made by any of them for others beside that the knowledge of our desires appertaineth to none but the Lord who searcheth the reines and the heart This doubt cannot be loosed by saying that the Saints departed offer vp thanksgiuing for the word vsed here is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some make this answere but indeed it taketh not away the doubt for vnderstanding therefore of this place we must know that there are foure sorts of prayer reckoned here by the Apostle the first is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a prayer for auerting of euill the second is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a prayer for some good that is lacking the third is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a prayer whereby one of vs prayes for another and the fourth is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a prayer whereby we giue thanks to God All these foure sorts are vsed by Saints militant two of them onely are ascribed to Saints triumphant namely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thanksgiuing and supplication for the good which they want Where if it be asked What good want they who are in heauen for which they haue need to pray The answer is They want a two-fold good which God hath promised and they long to enioy First they want their bodies without which the soules in heauen cannot haue full ioy for by their first creation they were ioyned together as inseparable companions not to be diuided if they had not fallen in the transgression therefore it is that the one cannot be fully contented wanting the other for which to fulfill their ioy they pray for restitution of their bodies Secondly they want their brethren the remanent mēbers of Christ his mysticall body requisite necessarily to their perfection for God hath so prouided that they vvithout vs should not be perfected Abraham Isaac Iacob haue great ioy in heauen but not full ioy because they will not be perfected without their brethren That therefore the mystical body of Christ may be cōplete and so their ioy fulfilled they pray for Christ his second comming which cannot be till the last and youngest of the sonnes of God be borne and brought to the fellowship of Iesus Christ. And this is made cleare heereafter when the soules vnder the Altar are brought in crying How long O Lord how long c For this is the voice of them who want something they would faine haue and yet are sure to enioy it Thus we see then that the prayers of Saints triumphant are generall they pray for their bodies and brethren but to gather of this that they know our necessitios our particular tentations farre lesse our secret desires is but a doting dreame and if we shall a little insist in this same metaplior of Odour or Incense it shall discouer their error more clearely For first Incense offred to God might not be made but in such a manner and with such ingredients as God himselfe commanded teaching vs that prayer vnto God should be made not as we fansie to our selues but as hee hath commaunded vs. Now if wee shall looke to this cōmandement it directs vs to pray vnto God and to none other there is the voice of God the Father Call vpon me in the day of thy trouble I will deliuer thee and thou shalt glorifie me There againe is the instruction of God the Sonne When yee pray pray in this manner Our Father which art in heauen and there is the direction of God the holy Ghost hee teacheth vs in our prayer to cry Abba Father No word heere of any prayer to Abraham Moses or Esay to Cherubim or Seraphim to Angels or Saints departed Secondly Incense might not be burnt but vpon the golden Altar onely whereof there was but one figuring the Lord Iesus teaching vs that our prayers may not be offered to God in the name of any other but Iesus Christ onely For there is not any other name vnder Heauen by which wee may be saued and In him onely is the Father well pleased Thirdly it was not lawfull for any man to make an odour for his owne pleasure or priuate vse of those gummes whereof the Lord commanded his Incense to be made and that vnder a most strait penaltie for so stands the Law Yee shall not make vnto you any composition like to this Perfume it shall be holy for the Lord whosoeuer shall make like vnto that to smell thereof euen hee shall be cut off from his people And this doth plainely teach vs that no creature should smell the sauour of our Prayer it is the Incense holy to the Lord and appertaines to our God onely Thus we see how Papists when they seeke patrocinie for their errors from holy Scripture doe it with no better successe then Ioab did when hee made his refuge to the hornes of the Altar hee fled vnto it to seeke the safety of his life but hee was pulled from it and executed to the death so they when they bring in Scripture to defend their errors doe in effect bring it to destory themselues But to leaue them let vs consider for our comfort how our prayer is compared to a perfume All the spices of Myrrhe Cynamon and what is most excellent on earth cannot make such a perfume from heauen it commeth and vnto heauen it returneth O what a great mercy is this wee are not yet able to ascend our selues and yet haue we this liberty and priuiledge as to send our Embassadors in our name before vs which are so welcome to the diuine Maiestie that hee accounts of them as of sweet odour and perfume sent vp vnto him Let vs marke this for many times the weake Christian faints and becomes remisse in prayer because he disesteemes of his own prayer This is a policie and tentation of the old Serpent to make thee neglect that which hee knowes to be most hurtfull to himselfe most helpfull to thee most acceptable to thy God but doe it not Noli vilipendere or ationem tuam quoniam ille ad quem or as non vilipendit Doe not vilipend thine own prayer for he to whom thou prayest vilipends it not it is a sweet odour vnto the Lord. VERSE 9. And they sung a new Song saying Thou art woorthy to take the Booke and to open the scales thereof because thou wast killed and hast redeemed vs to GOD by thy bloud out of euery kindred and tongue
and people and Nation THe fourth point to be considered here is their Song which now followeth It is called a new Song not as some Diuines thinke because it is an Euangelike song for euen vnder the Law they had their new songs Sing vnto him a new song sing cheerefully with a loud voice And againe He hath put in my mouth a new song of praise to our God And againe Sing vnto the Lord a new song and his praise from the ends of the earth Both before the Law and vnder it they had the Gospel yea their ceremoniall law was Euangelium inuolutum a Gospell inclosed in ceremonies and figures It is therefore called a new song first in comparison of the preceding song which wee haue in the end of the fourth chapter there they praysed him for the benefit of Creation heere they prayse him for the benefit of Redemption Secondly it is called a new song as his Maiesty hath well obserued because our Redemption ought to be new and fresh in the hearts of all them that would be accounted thankfull Thirdly it is called a new song in respect of the new affection wherwith Saints praise God and this new affection ariseth of new sight of mercies which are discouered to Saints so oft as they looke into the worke of Redemption the height the depth the length and breadth of this loue of God cannot bee comprehended But as the redeemed Saints get new sight and sense of it so out of renewed affections doe they sing a new song to the Lord. But because Angels also sing their part of this new song wee must see how it is competent to them what benefit they haue by the Redemption of Iesus wee shall heare shortly onely now wee touch the new song they and redeemed Saints glorified in heauen cannot but sing a new song because they find alway in GOD new matter of ioy which mooueth them with renewed affections to praise him So infinite a Good is the Lord that they finde alway new good comming from the Lord to refresh them not that at any time they haue wearinesse but for the variety of ioyes wherewith they are continually delighted for in his face is the fulnes of ioy He satisfies his Saints with the fatnesse of his house and giues them drinke out of the Riuer of his pleasure Properly here is a Riuer of pleasure ascribed to the Lord for his ioyes flowe continually they neuer dry vp nor decay after present ioy succeeds other ioy like water in a liuely Riuer succeeding to water there is change of ioyes without want of ioyes they are not weary of that vvhich they haue and yet by looking on his face are comforted with that which they had not How can they then but sing alway a new song O happy life wherein Angels and the spirits of iust and perfect men are satiate and satisfied by looking to that Image whereunto once they were made and here is our onely comfort that when we awake wee shall be satisfied with that Image O Lord hasten that day There is nothing on earth so excellent but continuall looking on it breeds a lothing and disdain of it Truth it is many are the pleasures vvhich God hath placed in the creatures for the comfort of man euen vpon earth but wee may knowe by experience that the greatest pleasures here and the most beautifull and delectable sights the creature can render if they be perpetuall they become painfull It is not so with the ioyes of heauen it is not so with the sight of the Creator the Angels who for their continuall beholding of his face are called Aphnim are neuer weary to behold him because as wee haue said euery new sight brings with it new delight and new pleasure Thou art worthy The tenor of their song followes wherein as before they cast their golden Crownes before him that sits vpon the Throne so now they ascribe all worthinesse to the Lambe the Angels of heauen acknowledge it Saints militant and triumphant confesse it no other voice is heard in the true Church but Thou art worthy both Angel and man emptie themselues of all praise yea of all opinion or conceit of worthines or merit the contrary voice heard in the Popes Church proueth it Antichristian The chaire of merit is proper to Christ none without Laesae Maiestatis may sit down in it but himselfe The benefit of his merit belongs to all his Saints the praise of worthinesse and meriting is reserued onely to himself eand this appeares more euidently by the reason which they subioyne Because thou wast killed To whom should the praise of a Redeemer be giuen To him onely that was killed for vs. Saint Paul asketh a question of the Schismatiques of Corinth Was Paul crucified for you Hee could not abide that some of them should be called Paulists some Petrists and some Apolimists he would not haue them named from any other but Christians from Christ because neither Paul nor Peter nor Apollo was crucified for them but Christ Iesus onely And this same were good to aske of the Papists of our time Was Franciscus or Dominicus or Bernardus crucified for you How is it then that you will be called some of you Franciscans Dominicans and Bernardins But this is a small thing in respect of these greater iniuries done to him they will haue other Mediators ioyned with Christ other merits mixed with his merits but I pray them answer S. Paul his question Was any other crucified for you And poâ—…der this reason of the Saints Thou art worthy because thou wast killed Why then ioyne ye others in the worke of Redemption with him Sure it is He alone troad the Wine-presse of the wrath of God for vs. When he entred into the Garden to his agonie hee tooke his three Disciples with him Peter Iames and Iohn but did they help him No hee craued no more of them but that they should watch and pray with him yet when hee was sweating bloud for anguish they were sleeping and when he went to the Crosse did they not all forsake him yea did not Peter deny him Sith he onely suffered for vs to whom should wee giue the praise of a worthy Redeemer by whose merits we are saued but to him onely This is the Song of the whole Church Worthy is the Lambe because hee was killed and the worthinesse of another shall we neuer acknowledge Super omnia amabilem te mihi reddit bone Iesu calix quem bibisti opus nostrae Redemptionis amorem nostrum totum facile vindicat sibi Aboue all sweete Iesus the cup which thou drankst makes thee worthy to be loued of me And the worke of our Redemption challenges vnto it selfe all our whole loue no part of it being reserued to our selues or vnto any other Yea when wee haue giuen him our whole loue and all that wee
to beleeue his Word we are strong to resist Satan and he is not able to ouercome vs but if we forget the counsell of his Word we easily become a prey to our Aduersarie If we consider that we are called to be Kings to our God and hope to raigne for euer with him in heauen we will thinke shame to render our selues captiues to Satan Let vs looke backe to our first creation Animal es O homo principatu decoratum vt quid seruis affectibus Princeps creaturarum constitutus es dignitatem tuam abiicis Thou art a creature O man in thy first creation decored with Princely power why seruest thou thy affections Thou wast made the Lord of all creatures and castest away thy owne dignity Will we againe looke forward to our future glorification Non sperare potest coeleste regnum cui supra propria membra regnare non datur What hope can he haue to enioy the Kingdome of heauen who reigneth not ouer his owne members vpon earth Thus our first creation our present vocation our future glorification all of them require of vs that like spirituall Kings wee should subdue and ouercome the Deuill the world and the flesh Hee that ouercommeth shall sit with me in my Throne Our Priesthood againe consists in offering vp sacrifices to God and these may be reduced to three sorts first that we offer vp our hearts to the Lord this is the great sacrifice without which the Lord will accept nothing from vs My sonne giue me thy heart Next that we offer vp our bodies vnto him I beseech you brethren by the mercies of God that yee giue vp your bodies a liuing sacrifice holy and acceptable vnto God which is your reasonable seruing of God and this is done when we make the members of our bodie weapons of righteousnesse to God These are two then Cor Corpus the heart and the body the Lord will haue the seruice of them both Thirdly that we offer our goods vnto him as his glory and the necessity of his Saints do require it and this third sacrifice willingly followeth where the other two go before My sonne honour God with the first fruits of all thy encrease To do good and to distribute forget not for with such sacrifices God is pleased But now the hearts of men are locked vp and their hands are linked they feare to giue lest they haue not enough for themselues and the poore also but it is farre otherwise thy portion shall neuer perish by giuing out in ordinary charitie to the poore Quic quid in pauperes contuleris in coeli thesauris reconditum inâ—…enies what-euer thou bestowest on the poore thou shalt finde it laid vp in the heauenly Treasures Clementia dum licet clementiam acquire by shewing mercy when thou mayst purchase mercy to thy selfe These are all agreeable to holy Scripture Make thee friends of the riches of iniquity that they may receiue you into the euerlasting Tabernacles said our Sauiour So also the Apostle that by distributing and giuing to the poore men lay vp in store for themselues a good foundation for the time to come And we shall raigne vpon earth Vpon this place the Chiliasts ground their errour that after the Day of Iudgement the Saints shall dwell on earth a thousand yeeres at which time that Prophecie and others like it shall bee sulfilled The meeke shall possesse the earth And with this opinion many worthy Fathers in the Primitiue Church were ouertaken The Turkes also dreame of an earthly Paradise But let them passe For vnderstanding the true sense and meaning of this place we are to know that the earth in holy Scripture is sometime taken for the men that are in it Dauid cals them the men of this world these are they who as our Sauiour saith haue their portion in this life Saint Iohn commonly cals them in this Booke The Inhabitants of the earth These men are enemies to the children of God and persecute them with all their power they account them the Off-scourings of the earth and vnworthy to dwell in it But the Lord at length shall exalt his Saints and their enemies shall be made their foot-stoole Yea the soles of their feet the Lord shall lift vp aboue the heads of their greatest enemies for the wicked shall stand still vpon the earth when the godly shall be rauished and caught vp into the Aire yea the wicked themselues shall see it and shall be vexed with horrible feare when they see the man honoured whom they despised and shall say within themselues This is he whom sometime wee had in derision wee sooles thought his life madnesse and his end without honour how is hee counted among the children of God! and his portion is among Saints Now for this benefite which the Saints are sure to enioy to wit their finall victory and glorious exaltation aboue all their enemies they here praise the Lord and so hath his Maiestie most iudiciously expounded this difficult place Wee shall raigne ouer the earth at the last and generall Iudgement And this exposition is both very comfortable for Saints now lying vnder the oppression of their enemies and agreeth well with the Analogie of faith Otherwise if we take the word properly for this same earth wherein we soiourne then S. Peter tels vs that we haue to looke for new heauens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousnesse They lost their originall vertue and beautie by our transgression and shall receiue it againe and more at our restitution So are we taught by S. Paul The feruent desire of the creature waiteth when the sonnes of God shall be reucaled for then The creature also shall be deliuered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sonnes of God and then both heauen and earth renewed shall bee the proper possession of Saints renewed Where if any man demand To what vse shall this earth and visible heauens serue in that Kingdome of glorie The answer is We shall know it when we shall see it for if the Lord will restore them to stand as monuments and witnesses of that first goodnesse which hee shewed vs in the Creation and we lost in the Transgression and he hath restored againe with much more in our Redemption who can say against it But lest we seeme to pry within the Arke let our care be rather to prepare our selues then before-hand curiously to enquire of it that which now we cannot vnderstand and let vs remember that answer which Photinus the predecessor of Irenaeus gaue to the Proconsull when he demanded of him who God was He answered Et tu si dignus â—…ueris videbis Euen thou if thou be worthy or meet for it shalt see him So we if we be renewed men shall know to what vse in that Day these new heauens and new
earth shall serue vnto vs. Now there remaines one doubt to be cleared here how is this Canticle conuenient for Angels seeing they fell not how can they praise God for Redemption by his bloud The answer is first in the Song the Thankes-giuing may be distinguished from the reason of the Thankes Thou art worthy to take the Booke and open the Scales thereof there the thankes-giuing which is fitting both for Angels and redeemed Saints to giue vnto the Lambe but the reason Because thou wast killed more proper for redeemed Saints Secondly the Angels are also members of the Church they call themselues our brethren I am thy fellow seruant and one of thy brethren which haue the testimonie of Iesus And againe by the Apostle to the Hebrewes they are reckoned to be of one body and one fellowship with vs Wee are come to the coelestiall Ierusalem and companie of innumerable Angels Now as in the naturall body all the members haue their owne mutuall compassion when one is wounded the rest mourne with it and for it and againe all of them haue their owne mutuall contentment and congratulation in the good of others so that if one member be restored which was hurt the rest albeit they were not hurt reioyce with it So may we thinke that it is in the Mysticall Bodie and that the Angels being of one fellowship with vs glorifie God for our restitution for sith our Sauiour teacheth vs that they haue ioy in the conuersion of one sinner much more may we think they haue ioy in the Redemption of the whole company of Gods Elect. Thirdly the Angels haue their owne interest in the benefite of Redemption As all things were created by him which are in heauen and in earth visible and inuisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers so by him are all things reconciled and set at peace by the bloud of his Crosse both the things in earth and things in heauen Caluin expounds this both of Angels and Men let the iudicious Reader wisely consider his words and hee shall see that albeit there was no enmitie betweene Angels and the Lord because they sinned not yet for the setting of them at a perfect peace it was needfull they should bee made sure of their perseuerance in the state of innocencie which benefite they had not by their creation for the fall of some of them proues that of their owne nature they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mutable by will but that same grace of Iesus which raised vp Elect Men when they had fallen confirmes Elect Angels that now they cannot fall Qui erexit hominem lapsum dedit Angelo stanti ne laberetur I leaue that of Cyrillus Dicimus nos ex parte quadam de Deierga nos bonitate sed nescimus quanta ille Angelis condonauerit indulget enim illis quandoquidem ipse tantùm vnus est qui peccare non possit who thinkes that the Lord vseth his owne indulgence toward Angels it being his owne onely and proper glory that hee cannot sinne Fulgentius agrees with Bernard none other keepes the Angels that they fall not but the same grace which restored man when he had fallen Vna in vtroque gratia operata est in hoc vt surgeret in Angelo ne caderet One grace wrought in both in Man that he might rise and in the Angell that hee did not fall Thus are Angels benefited by the death of Iesus Christ. VERSE 11. Then I beheld and heard the voyce of many Angels round about the Throne and about the liuing creatures and the Elders and they were thousand thousands THe second part of the thanksgiuing is sung by Angels onely where we haue these foure circumstances First who they are that sing Secondly in what place of the Heauenly Court appeare they to Saint Iohn Thirdly their number and lastly what is their song They who sing this part are plainly called Angels different both in place and as it seemes in dignitie from the foure liuing creatures whom we expounded to be a principall chiefe company of Angels neerest to the Throne And S. Iohn ranketh them as they appeared vnto him That there is order among Angels is out of question Some hath been bold to set downe the manner therof out of Dionysius Areopagita whom the learned iustly suspect for the Fathers of that age had not so soone forgotten that Apostolike precept Let none presume aboue that which is written Elias who comments vpon Nazianzen distinguisheth the whole company of Angels into three ranks and placeth three orders in euery one of them In the first Cherubims Seraphims and Thrones In the second Dominions Armies and Powers In the third Principalities Archangels and Angels But these are naked speculations neither warranted by Scripture nor reason It had been better for him to haue kept the bounds of Nazianzen his modestie Angelis pro suae naturae et ordinis ratione tanta pulchritudinis copia est impressa vt secundaria quaedam lumina sint There is imprinted in Angels according to their nature and order such abundance of shining beautie as maketh them secondarie lights he acknowledges among them a distinction and an order yea diuersitie of orders but takes not vpon him to determine it And the like modestie vseth Augustine Qui fatetur se rationem huius distinctionis ignorare who confesseth that hee knowes not the reason of this distinction Their place is described to be about the Throne because they are the Gard of the great King which attend him not for his defence but for the execution of his will For thousand thousands minister vnto him and tenne thousand thousands stand before him But about the Church represented by foure and twenty Elders are they placed as a Gard appointed for our protection and defence The Angels of the Lord pitch their tents round about them who feare him These compassed Elisha in Dothan to keepe him from inuasion of the Syrian horses and Chariots How great their power is the destruction of Pharao his first borne by one Angel and of Senacherib his Armie by another may witnesse vnto vs. Dauid had a strong gard of Cherethits and Pelethits but the best of his Worthies were not comparable to one of these Warriers Here then is our comfort that as Damones Ecclesiam circumeunt ad deuorandum ita Angeli eam circumeunt vt custodiant As Satan with his legions of wicked spirits goeth about seeking to deuoure vs so these Angels and heauenly Armies stand about vs to defend are as an inuincible hedge between Satan and the Saints The third circumstance is of their number of it we haue spoken Chap. 4. 6. VERSE 12. Saying with a loud voice Worthy is the Lambe that was killed to receiue power and riches and wisedome and strength and honour and glory
Professors thinke needlesse now to be required but for mine owne part I would wish them in this and other laudable customes to be lesse nyce and scrupulous then they are The stile they giue vnto the Lord hath beene intreated before Our GOD is a liuing Lord in him selfe In Deo idem sunt viuens et vita and hee giues beeing and life to all things that are and liue A threefold life flowes from the Lord First of Nature Secondly of Grace Thirdly of Glorie Natures life is either Vegetatiue Sensible or Reasonable Little cause haue they to reioyce who haue no more but it For in the Vegetatiue life plants trees of the earth excell man In the Sensitiue life beasts and fowles are quicker in any sense then man And for the Reasonable life Pagans and heathen Philosophers haue farre exceeded euen those who are named Christians All our comfort then stands in this life of Grace now and life of glory hereafter The Lord make vs partakers of them for Christs sake CHAP. VI. VERSE 1. After I beheld when the Lambe had opened one of the Scales and heard one of the foure liuing creatures say as it were the noise of Thunder Come and see THE Vision of Preparation being ended in the two preceding Chapters as we haue declared before now followes the Visions of Prediction fore-telling things which shortly must be done And these are three euery one of them diducing the estate of the Church to the second comming of Christ vnto Iudgement As at more length wee haue shewed in Prolegomenis wherein the generall Method of the Reuelation is shortly set downe The first Propheticall Vision is contained in this sixt and the seuenth Chapter following for the seuenth is an appendix of this and hath in it a larger explication of the fifth and sixth Seale as God willing we shall heare so then the first Prophecie is absolued in six Seales whereof the last concludes with the Day of Iudgement for the seuenth Seale hath in her bosome the seuen Trumpets which make vp the second Prophecie of this Booke beginning at the eighth Chapter for till then the seuenth Seale is not opened and continuing to the end of the eleuenth there it concludeth with the Day of Iudgement The third Prophecie beginnes at the twelfth and continues to the one and twentieth whereof if the Lord please we will speake hereafter This first Prophecie as I said is generall for it containes a generall Prognostication and presents to vs a view of the estate of things as they will be to the worlds end whereof the summe is Christ shall go thorow the world vpon the Ministerie of his Word preaching the Gospell where and when it best pleaseth him This is prophecied in the first Seale like a crowned King and Conquerour hee hath gone out long agoe vpon his White Horse and so shall hee continue till hee ouercome But this victorie let not the Church looke that it shall be without bloud for Satan and his Instruments figured by the Red Horse and one riding on it shall in most cruell manner persecute the Preachers and Professors of the Gospell and this is fore-shewed in the second Seale but they shall not escape vnpunished for the Lord shall send out the Blacke Horse as is told in the third Seale and the Pale Horse who comes out at the opening of the fourth Seale By these two famine and pestilence vnder which all other horrible plagues of God are comprehended shall the Lord be reuenged on the world for contempt of his Gospell And because in these troubles many of the Saints of God shall suffer bodily death it is declared in the fift Seale how their soules rest in peace with God till the number of their brethren be fulfilled and then as they cry for iudgement so the great and last Day of Iudgement shall come as we see in the sixt Seale for we shall see in the next Chapter that the onely cause why Angels delay the execution of the last wrath for which the Soules of Martyrs vnder the Altar cry vnto God is that the seruants of the Lord are not yet sealed which being once done then shall the Lord recompense trouble to them that troubled his Church as in most fearefull manner is declared in the sixt Seale but shall render to his troubled Saints rest when the Lord Iesus shall shew himselfe from heauen with his mighty Angels as at length and most comfortably is set downe in the next Chapter from the tenth verse to the end And this any iudicious man that will reade without pre-conceiued opinion may easily consider that the seuenth chapter hath in it no Propheticall Prediction but onely a larger explanation of the fifth Seale in which Martyrs are willed to waite till their fellow-seruants be sealed and the secure and happy estate of Saints euen in suffering yea their glorious and ioyfull estate after suffering is at great length expressed before the comfortlesse estate of the wicked whereunto the sixt Seale deliuers them be touched at all Thus haue we the summe of this first and generall Prophecie Now before the opening of the first foure Seales S. Iohn is prepared where we haue these circumstances first what was S. Iohn doing when this Vision was presented to him to wit Beholding secondly who prepares and wakeneth him One of the foure liuing Creatures and thirdly what saith he to him Come and see The first is noted in these words After I beheld S. Iohn hitherto hath seene many glorious Visions and yet now hee lookes for more Sure it is that euery sight of heauenly things which Saints get prouokes them to a desire of more for there is not a greater argument of grace receiued then a feruent desire of further grace Beside the desire this beholding imports a constant consideration without wearying or wauering a stable and fixed minde with a perfect heart is required in them who would learne things heauenly The naturall eye if it bee closed or if it bee Circumactus tumbling and waltring in the head or then if it looke negligently cannot see nor take vp those things which are before it and so is it with the eye of the soule if it attend not stedfastly and carefully to heauenly things it cannot perceiue nor vnderstand them The second circumstance is by whom is hee prepared that is by one of the foure liuing creatures that is the first of the foure as the learned Interpreters haue sufficiently cleared They who expound these foure liuing Creatures to signifie the vvhole order of Preachers by the first of them vnderstand the first Preachers after the Apostles namely Quadratus and Aristides Ahentenses of the Church of Athens By the second againe Iustinus Martyr and Melito Sardenses of the Church of Sardis But this vnto me with the reuerence I owe to so laborious men seemes an idle speculation or if they will a Diuination without
se conformando de cuius impletione gaudent ita enim sunt coniuncti Deo vt de omni volito Dei gaudeant etiam in poenis parentum iuxta illud Laetabitur iustus cùm viderit vindictam so they pray not wishing punishment to euill men but conforming themselues to the will of God for they are so conioyned vnto God that they reioyce in euery thing which is his will yea and it were the punishment of their parents according to that The righteous shall reioyce when he sees the vengeance and men shall say Verily there is fruit for the righteous and there is a God that iudges in the earth They giue vnto the Lord two Titles Holy and True It is customable to Saints in their prayers vnto God to giue vnto the Lord such stiles as in effect containe arguments both to moue the Lord to heare them and to confirme themselues in the assurance of a fauourable answer and so do they here Because thou Lord art Holy thou canst not let iniquity escape vnpunished for euer The Lord will not take the wicked by the hand neither hath his Throne any fellowship with iniquitie And because thou art True thou canst not but performe thy word of Mercy promised to thine owne and of Iudgement threatned against the wicked How long Is the voice of them who want something which they would earnestly haue and assuredly expect they want their bodies they want their brethren for these they cry as we haue shewed before They haue now peace and ioy in heauen but not perfect so long as they want these two God hauing so prouided that they without vs should not be perfected Neque enim praestari decâ—…t integram beatitudinem dâ—…nec sit homo integer cui detur nec perfectione donari Ecclesiam imperfectam For it was not seemely that complete felicitie should be giuen till the man be complete to whom it is to be giuen nor yet that an imperfect Church should bee gifted with perfection But because the Iesuite Ribera sees this sentence to destroy the Inuocation of Saints he will haue it Hereticall and spareth not to charge Irenaeus Teytulltan Origen Ambrose Bernard with Luther and Caluin as Heretiques because according to the manifest truth of holy Scripture they maintaine with the Apostle that Saints departed howsoeuer they be glorified yet are not perfected till the day of Iudgement and resurrection come Now concerning prayers made by them who are in heauen wee haue spoken before Iudge and auenge These are two workes proper to the Lord first he iudges this pertaines to Cognition then he auenges this pertaines to Execution This order of processe the Lord alwaies keepes as yee may see in his first Iudiciall Court against Adam Euah Satan Serpent as likewise in his proceeding against Sodome learning all Iudges to try before they giue sentence Abraham called him The Iudge of all the world who cannot do vnrighteously The Psalmist againe stileth him O God the Auenger It is a sacrilegious violation of his glory for any flesh to vsurpe these offices Iudge not lest yee be iudged saith our Sauiour Who art thou that iudgest another mans seruant he stands or fals to his Master saith the Apostle And as for vengeance It is mine saith the Lord and I will repay Yet proud flesh will presume to iudge where it cannot auenge and oft-times is stirred vp to auenge if not with the hands at least with the tongue where they cannot iudge These know not they offer strange fire to the Lord with Nadab and Abihu which at length will not faile to returne and consume themselues On them that dwell in the earth Oftentimes in this Booke are the wicked described to be indwellers of the earth Non solum corporis habitatione sed mentis affectione not onely in regard of their corporall habitation but much more for their affection which is altogether set vpon earth it is their Iericho pleasant for situation but let them remember the waters thereof are deadly their ground barren their diuitiae and deliciae will both deceiue them at length But of this see VERSE 11. And long white Robes were giuen vnto them and it was said vnto them that they should rest for a little season vntill their fellow seruants and brethren that should be killed euen as they were were fulfilled IN the last Verse we heard the prayer of Saints now followes the answer which the Lord giueth them Their prayer is not powred out in vaine when the Lord disposeth the heart to pray it is a sure token of a fauourable answer to follow this is the Lords praise Thou preparest the heart and bendest thine eare vnto them The answer of their supplication is two waies giuen first by a signe long white Robes were giuen vnto them next by plaine speech it was said vnto them that they should rest till their fellow seruants were fulfilled The white Robe is sometime a type of the righteousnesse of Christ and sometime a type of the reward thereof Hee that ouercommeth shall be clothed in white Aray no darkenesse nor sorrow in heauen all is full of light ioy and happinesse and these Robes are said to be giuen vnto them What before they knew by faith now they know by feeling that promised reward is now put in their hand and possession here they had it in spe there they haue it in re and more particularly it is said that the Robes were giuen to euery one innumerable Saints shall be gathered together into heauen euery one of them shall haue a Crown euery one of them shall haue a white Robe none of them all shall be ouerseene but all shall be filled with ioy and glory And it was said vnto them Dictum est id est inspiratum est for the Voice whereby the Lord speakes vnto the soules of his Saints is the inspiration of his Spirit This for the manner of the answer The matter or effect is that they should rest for a little season The whole time from the daies of S. Iohn to the Lords second Comming is called a little Season and by this same Euangelist in his Epistles The last Time it was little then and short it must needs be far lesse now The number of Saints sealing the testimonie of Christ with their bloud hath beene greatly augmented since the daies of Domitian euery Kingdome and Nation that hath receiued the Gospell hath rendred their Witnesses and Martyrs in confirmation of the truth thereof The day of the Lord is not now farre of God prepare vs for it Againe it is cleere out of this place that the onely cause why Christs second Comming is delayed is because the number of his Saints is not yet accomplished The blind world vnderstands not this and therefore persecute they the Saints of God and would haue them cleane rooted out of
fore-heads and for confirmation thereof they cite Augustine What vse the signe of the Crosse had among the Ancients wee are not now to dispute but to say that the signe of the Crosse is this Seale of the liuing God is a childish and ridiculous folly for the Seale of God here spoken of is proper to Gods Elect and so cannot be the signe of the Crosse wherewith many Reprobates may be marked Qui malè operatur si se emendare noluerit quando se signat peccatum illius non minuitur sed augetur He who liueth euill and amendeth not when he signeth himselfe his sinne is not diminished but augmented And againe Nesciunt miseri quod dum se signant de malo opere se non reuocant includunt in se daemones magis quà m excludunt Those miserable men who will not recall themselues from doing of euill and yet will signe themselues with the signe of the Crosse they know not that by so doing they rather include Deuils within them then exclude them So that the signe of the Crosse cannot bee this Seale of God wherewith none but the seruants of GOD are marked Now that we may know what it is let vs consider that a Seale is a note of appropriation whereby a man marketh that which is his own with his owne marke that it may bee discerned from that which is not his Thus Marchants put their marke on their owne Wares in a Ship and Sheepe-heards likewise put their marke on their owne sheepe to distinguish them from others of the Flock which are not theirs It imports also a conforming of the thing sealed vnto the scale wherewith it is sealed as we shall heare Hitherto tends that of Saint Augustine Signare quid est nisi proprium aliquid ponere Ideo rei ponis signum ne res cum aliis confusa à te non possit agnosci What is it to seale a thing but to put something or some note of thine owne vpon it whereby it may be discerned from others The Father is said to haue sealed the Sonne the Sonne againe is said to seale his Saints and Seruants by the holy Spirit The first is cleere for him hath the Father sealed that is Proprium quiddam dedit ne caeteris comparetur hominibus Hee gaue him something of his owne to distinguish him from other men It is true the Lord Iesus is a Man indeed yet such as hath an incomparable note of super-excellence aboue other men For this Seale of the liuing God Christ hath it first Essentially then Ministerially Essentially hee hath it for hee is the Image of the inuisible God and ingrauen character of his Person Hee hath life in himselfe as the Father hath life in himselfe Hee hath it also as Mediator ministerially to communicate it vnto others not in that degree whereby hee possesseth it himselfe that is impossible but in a certaine similitude for hee giueth life to whom hee will as the Father quickneth whom hee will And thus hee sealeth his owne by imprinting in them his owne similitude and image by the holy Spirit What then is the Seale of the liuing God but the Image of the liuing God which the Lord Iesus by his holy Spirit stampes and engraues in the soules of his Saints This the Apostle tels vs plainely It is God who stablisheth vs with you in Christ and hath anointed vs and hath sealed vs and hath giuen the earnest of his Spirit in our hearts And againe After that yee beleeued ye were sealed with the holy spirit of promise And yet againe Grieue not the holy Spirit of God by whom yee are sealed vnto the day of Redemption Of all these it is cleere that as I haue said The Seale of God is the Image of God stamped in the soules of his children by the holy Spirit This was our first glorie that we were created to the Image of our God Satan and our selues did miserably deface it but now by the grace of Iesus in our Redemption it is againe graciously restored They who want this Seale the Lord will not acknowledge them to be his Away from mee yee workers of iniquitie I know you not And if wee our selues would know whether this Seale hath stamped vs or not let vs looke to our owne disposition for euery seale leaues such an imprinted forme in that which it sealeth as it hath in itselfe The Lord is holy hee is light hee is iust mercifull meeke long-suffering if hee hath communicated his Image to vs then will hee make vs some way to resemble our Father we shall become holy light in the Lord righteous toward all men mercifull meeke long-suffering and readie to forgiue for what else is Christianisinus but imitatio diuinae naturae Christianity but an imitation of the Diuine Nature In a word looke the fruits of the Spirit and of the flesh as they are reckoned out and opposed to other by the Apostle If the Lord haue sealed vs with his Seale then shall the fruits of the Spirit be manifest in vs if otherwise the fruits of the flesh be predominant sure it is thou are not sealed by the holy Spirit for such as are sealed by him hee maketh them like vnto himselfe Now this Seale they are said to haue it in their fore-heads because it emboldeneth them to stand to the publike confession of Christ First as I haue shewed hee sealeth them in their hearts and next in their fore-heads No terrour no intreatment can moue them to deny the Lord Iesus Hee that denyes me before men I shall deny him before my Father in heauen I am not ashamed of the Gospell of Iesus said S. Paul Innumerable proofes hereof we haue in Confessors and Martyrs of all times There is a notable example giuen hereof by Sanctus the Martyr in the persecution vnder Commodus when it was demanded of him what his name was Hee answered Christianus sum and to all questions demanded of him of his Countrey and Parents he gaue onely this answer Christianus sum Let vs try our selues whether we haue this seale or not where wee find a beginning thereof let vs carefully conserue it that the lineaments of that image be not defaced by the deepnesse of Satan and deceit of our owne sinfull corruption for the want of this seale will make the Lord deny his owne creature in that Day Depart from me ye workers of iniquity I know you not The siluer which is not strucken with the Kings stampe is counted adulterous and not receiued in his treasure Sic anima que imaginem Christi non habet in coelestes thesauros non ingredietur so the soule which hath not the image of Christ shall not be layd vp in the heauenly treasures And he cryed By his crying with a loud voice nothing else is noted
fifteene hundred thousand and moe of men able to draw sword And here of all ages onely a hundred and forty foure thousand are sealed to eternall life to teach vs they are few in comparison of the rest So Augustine vnderstands that place of Ieremy I shall take you one of a Citie and two of a Tribe and shall bring you to Sion There is a narrow shifting few are taken in respect of them who are left Though the number of Israel were as the sand of the Sea yet shall but a remnant be saued This is more plainely for all spoken by our Sauiour It is the wide gate and broad way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which goe in there at but the gate is strait and the way is narrow that leadeth vnto life and few there be that finde it This should waken vs to take heed to our selues the fewer they be who are to be saued the more carefull should we be to make sure our calling and election by well dooing As to the order obserued in the reckoning out of these Tribes wee are to knowe that sometime they are reckoned according to that order which Iacob their Father kept in blessing them Sometime againe they are reckoned according to their excellencie as heere Iuda had the prerogatiue of dignitie for it is certaine The Lord sprang out of Iuda Sometime the order of their natiuity is obserued and so Aaron had them grauen in twelue precious stones vpon his brest to present them vnto the Lord Figuring by a sweer relation the Lord Iesus presenting his Saints to the Father in more effectuall and comfortable a manner and then Ruben is first Simeon second Leui third Iuda fourth but here they are not so numbred for in the kingdome of Heauen prerogatiues of birth or bloud will not be respected It is good reason that in this life such dignities should make a distinction among men and cause one to be preferred before another but it will not bee so there There is neither Iew nor Grecian there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female for ye are all one in Christ Iesus VERSE 5. Of the Tribe of Iuda were sealed twelue thousand Of the Tribe of Ruben vvere sealed twelue thousand Of the Tribe of Gad were sealed twelue thousand VERSE 6. Of the Tribe of Aser were sealed twelue thousand Of the Tribe of Nephtali were sealed twelue thousand Of the Tribe of Manasse were sealed twelue thousand VERSE 7. Of the Tribe of Simeon were sealed twelue thousand Of the Tribe of Leui were sealed twelue thousand Of the Tribe of Issachar were sealed twelue thousand Of the Tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelue thousand VERSE 8. Of the Tribe of Ioseph were sealed twelue thousand Of the Tribe of Beniamin vvere sealed twelue thousand COncerning these Tribes it is needlesse for vs to speake particularly of that which may be found written of them in the holy storie Primasius and others runne out here vpon Allegories not very pertinent to this purpose we wil onely speake a little of the nomination of Leui and the omission of Dan. Leui had no inheritance in earthly Canaan they were dispersed in Iuda and scattered in Israel that they might teach Iacob the iudgements and Israel the Law of the Lord yet now haue they their portion in heauenly Canaan with the rest Let this serue for a comfort to the Lords seruants vvho are set ouer others to teach them the way of saluation and to minister spirituall things vnto them who will not so much as requite them with corporall entertainment of their worldly things what thou wantest at the hands of men the Lord shall recompence it Laban defrauded Iacob of his vvages notwithstanding that he serued him faithfully but the Lord payed him and recompenced all his losses Again albeit the Tribe of Leui as we haue said had the charge to teach all the rest of the Tribes yet are no moe sealed then of other Tribes all were Teachers but all are not sealed Heereof ariseth a caution for Preachers and a comfort for Professors They are not all saued who are of the holy calling not all Priests not all Prophets not all Apostles not all Preachers à profane man may be in the holy calling but will it profit him No more then the Arke did Ophni and Phinees Yet Preachers if they be faithfull shall not vvant their great reward For they vvho turne many to righteousnesse shall shine as the Starres for euer Professors againe let them not be discouraged though they be not called to be Preachers they are not of Leui his Tribe yet is it sufficient for their saluation if they be of Iuda his Tribe and called to be Saints Neither shall they be depriued of this dignitie to be Fellovv-helpers of Preachers if they loue them pray for them helpe them counsell them comfort them that they may doe the worke of God vvith ioy and not with griefe So Saint Paul giueth this commendation to Aquila and Priscilla that they were â—…his fellow-helpers in Christ they could not preach the Gospell yet receiue they this praise that they were Saint Paul his fellow-helpers in preaching Now as concerning the omission of Dan the reason of this giuen by Iesuites is because as they alledge Antichrist was to come of Dan. But with as good a warrant might they say that Antichrist shall come of Ephraim for he is omitted also Antichrist say they shall come three yeeres and an halfe before the second comming of Christ and no sooner At this time the Tribe of Dan had not brought out the Antichrist and will Iesuites haue the Lord here to depriue them of their dignity for sinnes to be done it being a common equitie which the Lord keepes in all his waies the sinne is first coÌ„mitted by the wicked before that iudgement by the Lord be executed vpon them Hee hath spared wicked men as he did the Amalekites many yeeres after they had sinned they sinned in the dayes of Moses they are punished in the dayes of Samuel foure hundred yeeres after but that the Lord hath punished a people sixteen hundred yeeres and more before they committed the sinne as this doting diuinitie of Iesuites would make vs to belieue it hath not been heard and is without all example But when the Iewes shall get another Christ for whom they looke to come out of the Tribe of Iuda then shall the Iesuites get another Antichrist for whom they looke out of the Tribe of Dan and that shall neuer be They cite Ambrose for confirmation of their opinion he saith it indeed but shewes no warrant for it we willingly embrace the Fathers gold but will not gather their drosse according to that ancient rule of Vincentius Lirinensis Doctors should be receiued with the Faith of the Church but we must not with the Doctors
multitude for it is said No man could number them Next their varietie they are of all Nations and people Thirdly their vnity in their action and song common to them all These three coniunctly doe greatly augment the glory and felicity of Saints redeemed As for their multitude The Lord promised to make the seed of Abraham in number like the stars of heauen and sand of the sea Some of the Fathers by the starres of heauen will haue Israelites to be figured and by the sand of the sea Gentiles Howeuer that be it is plaine out of this place that the number of elected Gentiles doth farre exceed the number of elected Iewes Multitude as I said doth greatly increase the glory of Saints Euery one of them by themselues are beautifull glorious and maruelous creatures but all of them coniunctly in one multitude and fellowship make their beautie and glorie farre greater For one of them hinders not another one of them derogates not from another it is so with multitudes of men on earth but not so with the multitude of Saints in heauen the moe in nuÌ„ber they be the greater is the ioy glory of all Thus in the first creation the Lord considering euery one of his works seuerally said of them And the Lord saw it was good But when he looked vpon all coniunctly then it is said And God saw all that he had made loe it was very good Their variety is noted here that they were of all nations kindreds people tongues and yet their variety is no impediment to their vnity for they all sing one song as we shal heare shortly Of this we learn that the Church in not bound to any one nation or place as the Donatists of old would haue it included in such places of Afric as pleased them and Papists now will acknowledge no church but Romane Shall Churches of other Nations Tongues be no Churches because they are not Romane I know all Churches are of one communion but the band of their coÌ„munion is their faith in Christ who is the head of them all and not their profession of subiection to the Sea of Rome that is but the Beast his vsurpation and can no way be shewed or proued to descend from Diuine dispensation Shall that most ancient Church of the East composed of Grecians a Nation acknowledged by her aduersaries to be a Mother Church in whose language the new Testament was written of Syrians in which tongue the Son of God pronounced his Oracles of Slauonians Russians 〈◊〉 and others in whose bosome are almost all the Apostolike Seas and in whose Iurisdiction were celebrate souen Vniuersall Councelâ—… shall 〈◊〉 East Church I say be no Church because it speakes not the Romane tongue Or shall the Patriarch of Constantinople President thereof be no Patriarch because he is not subject to the Pope of Rome No sure it is many thousands of good Christians are among them Or shall the South Church which containeth the Nubians the Abyssines subiects of the King of Ethiop otherwise called Prester-Iohn beside many other scaâ—…ered in Egypt Arabia Caldea with their Primate resident in Caire called Patriarch of Alexandria and his deputy or substitute in Ethiop called Abuâ—… that is Our Father who look for the remission of their sins in the bloud of Iesus haue their Leiturgies not so agreeable to the Church of Rome as to the Churches reformed And beside those shall the Christians of Tartaria in the North Persâ—… and the Kingdomes of the East Indies with their Prelate resident at Seleucia Shall all these bee no Churches no Christians Sith they hold the Christian faith suppose with different Ceremonies Shall these be reiected because they are not Romane and professe not subiection to the Bishop of Rome I speake not of the Churches reformed in Germany England Scotland France Flanders Swethia Poland I know the Church of Rome accounts these for hereticall But it is now more then three hundred yeeres since Reinerius an Inquisitor gaue vnto them this testimonie atleast to their fathers and predecessors They called them Waldenses Leonistae and by other such like opprobrious names But this Sect hath beene of longer continuance then any other for some say it hath endured since the time of Siluester others say it hath endured since the Apostles time Secondly it is more generall then any other for there is almost no Land to which this Sect doth not creepe Thirdly all other Sects do bring in an horrour with the haynousnesse of their blasphemies against God but this Sect of the Leonists hath a great shew of godlinesse because they liue iustly before men and beleeue all things well concerning God and all the Articles contained in the Creed Onely they blaspheme and hate the Church of Rome It is not then to be thought that the Christian Church of Gentiles is to be restrained to the Church of Rome No but the Christian Church hath in her bosome some of all Nations Kindreds People and Tongues who keep the faith of Iesus and are not for that no Christians because not Romane Stood before the Throne Their standing notes their firmenesse and stabilitie in glory they shall neuer fall from it againe Adam was created in a happie estate hee continued not long in it hee had his saluation in his owne keeping and he easily lost it but with Saints redeemed it is not so Secondly it notes that they are in great fauour with the Lord gracious and acceptable to him They are not licenced to stand in the presence of Princes with whom Princes are displeased therefore Haman when they saw the King angry with him they couered his face and carried him out to the Gibbet and hanged him In the end of the last Chapter the wicked cryed out Who can stand but heere Saints are brought in standing before the Throne For the Lord loueth them hee delights in his Saints yea he hath promised that hee himselfe shall bee a Crowne of glory and Diademe of beautie to his people But of this God willing more hereafter And thirdly their standing may imporâ—… their promptnesse and readinesse to attend the praise and the seruice of the Lord our God Cloathed in long white Robes The white Robe is ascribed to them to note first that they are holy pure and vndefiled for Christ loued his Church and gaue himselfe for it that hee might sanctifie it and clense it by the washing of water through the word that he make it vnto himselfe a glorious Church not hauing spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blame So are the soules glorified in heauen and so shall our bodies be also without any spot of vncleannesse and therefore represented to S. Iohn couered with white Robes Next the white Robe hath in it some signification of their blessed estate in glory immortality
open their mouth to praise him themselues And further sith Angels reioyce and giue thankes to God for our saluation yea at the conuersion of one sinner they are said to reioyce how much more should we reioyce in our owne saluation They are ioyfull that we are adioyned to their fellowship from which many of their fellow-Angels in respect of creation fell away and shall not we reioyce that the Lord hath raised vs vp and made vs companions to the Angels The heap of words which they vse noteth againe their zeale and as it were insatiable delight in praising God there can neuer enough be said to his praise but we must beware of babbling and idle repetitions then are the words of our mouth acceptable vnto God when they are thrust out by the affections of our heart Otherwise let vs remember Salomon his warning Bee not rash with thy mouth nor let thine heart be hasty to vtter a thing before God for God is in the heauen and thou art on the earth therefore let thy words be few VERSE 13. And one of the Elders spake saying vnto me What are these who are arayed in long white Robes and whence come they IN the remanent of this Chapter wee haue the felicity of sealed Saints some-way described vnto vs The occasion hereof is offered by a question moued by one of the twenty foure Elders and S. Iohn his answer vnto it The Senior moues the question to S. Iohn Who are these not that he was ignorant who they were but that hee might teach S. Iohn as after followeth this is the end of all diuine Interrogatories The Lord demanded of Adam Where art thou And of Caâ—… What hast thou done Hee knew where Adam was and what Cain had done better then themselues but he asketh not to get knowledge but to giue it to them of whom he asketh Concerning the Senior let the Reader who pleaseth look backe to the fourth Chapter VERSE 14. And I said vnto him Lord thou knowest and hee said to me These are they which came out of great tribulation and haue washed their long Robes and haue made their long Robes white in the bloud of the Lambe IN S. Iohn his answer we haue two things his humility in acknowledging his own ignorance Lord thou knowest as for me I know not He was an Apostle best beloued of Iesus hee was excellent for the notable reuelations which he had from the Lord yet wee see glorified Saints doe farre exceed in knowledge the most excellent men that are vpon earth for we doe but know in part wee walke by faith not by sight but they behold the glory of the Lord with open face Let vs hasten and prepare our selues to be in that company whom the brightnesse of the Lord doth fully illuminate where no errour no darkenesse is no ignorance of any thing which is either needfull or comfortable for them to know In the meane time if we would grow in knowledge let vs with S. Iohn professe our ignorance It is for such onely who are meeke schollers to learne heauenly things Them that bee meeke will the Lord guide in iudgement and teach the humble his way Conceite of knowledge is a fore enemie vnto true knowledge Wisedome cannot enter into a proud heart We see none more emptie of heauenly knowledge then are they who in their owne conceite and opinion excell others in it Againe his reuerence may bee seene in the stile which hee giues him Lord thou knowest Hee knew hee was one of these Elders whom hee heard confesse before that they were redeemed by the bloud of the Lambe hee saw Crownes vpon euery one of their heads and therefore giues him a stile of honour properly competent vnto him Indeed glorified Saints are truely Kings and Lords They are freed from all seruitude and bondage they triumph victoriously and are more then Conquerours ouer the Deuill the World the Flesh and all their spirituall enemies And hee said vnto mee That is Ad animâ—… meae admirationem seu dispositionem conuenienter loquutus est hee spake conueniently to the disposition of my soule and I did cleerely vnderstand him Hee told mee that those whom I saw cloathed in white with Palmes in their hands were redeemed Saints who had come out of great tribulation This cannot as Ambrose hath obserued on these words be vnderstood of Saints Militant as some do expound it for so long as their warfare lasts they are still in tribulation and cannot be said in this life to come out of tribulation Man is borne vnto trauatle as the sparkes sâ—…ye vpward but vnto the godly death puts an end to all their troubles Neither can this bee meant of Martyrs onely as some will haue it but of all blessed Saints washed and cleansed in the bloud of the Lambe Qui etsi Martyrium non in publico actu habere videntur coram Deo tamen habere probantur in habitu who albeit in respect of the publique act they seeme not to haue the honour of Martyrdome yet in respect of the habit and their willing disposition to it they are approued before God to haue it as saith Primasius Which came The word being read as it may be in the present time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that come leades vs to consider that in all ages froÌ„ all parts of the world there is an ascending of soules vp into heauen that Court of the great King encreaseth continually till the number of his Saints be fulfilled the Mansions of our Fathers house be plenished Some Angels forsooke their first Habitation but we see the Lord wants not seruants to praise glorifie him His Court shall not be the thinner though reprobate men desperatly forsake him and comfortable is it to meditate heere what great ioy elect Angels and glorified Saints haue in the continuall comming and increasing of others their fellow-seruants to praise and serue the Lord with them Out of great tribulation There is the Lords working with his Owne from the crosse hee carries them to the Crowne from tribulation to the Throne hee intreates them most hardly on the earth whom hee intends to exalt most highly in the heauen Let vs not therefore feare nor be offended at our afflictions For by many tribulations must we enter into the kingdome of God Tribulation is like that furnace of Egypt wherin the Lord fined his Israelites and Nebuchadnezar his Ouen the fire whereof burnt their bands but not themselues It is the Lords Flayle whereby he beats away the chaffe from the wheat he threshes it that he may purge it prepare it make it meet to be layd vp in his Garner It is the Lords Wine-presse out of which hee presseth wine and oyle for himselfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sicut pondere praelorum adhibito oleum diligenticura conficitur et per trituram
dead childe and reserue nothing for the other Si melioricuncta dare nolueris diuide saltem ex aequo If thou wilt not giue all to the best and eldest at least diuide it equally between them Thy two children are thy two liues the one temporall the other eternall the eldest is life eternall it was ordained for vs before the foundations of the world were laid this childe is liuely neither subiect to death nor any kinde of disease the yonger childe is life temporall a languishing life deadly diseased is this childe and will not liue Shall wee therefore be so foolish as to care for that which cannot be conserued and neglect the other which endureth for euer and is able if it be ours to conserue vs also in a most happie and immortall fellowship with our God in Christ for euer and euer The Lord make vs wise in time to consider this that we may make choise of the best AMEN FINIS A Table of the principall points of Doctrine handled in this Treatise A ABsolute Authority due to God p. 281 Adam knew the creature by the Creator Now his sonnes are sent to the creature to learne the Creator 88 Eternity is God his proper praise and of the comfort by it cōming to the Church 106 Affliction makes a Christian stronger 302 Altars honoured with reliques of Martyrs 238. Altar vnder which soules rest what it is 239 Amen what it signifies and how vsed in the Primitiue Church Angels described 109. Why they are said to compasse the Throne 103. Their properties 105. their nature and number 104. 105. Why represented by Men Lyons Bullockes and Eagles 107. Their three-fold Eyes 105. Their sixe wings what they are 111. 112. Their function 112. Angels and men were at variance but now they sing one song 151. Angels stand and neuer fell Man fel and is raised vp to stand 180. How they praise God for Redemption 179. What benefit they haue by it Ibid. Their Order 181. Their Place 182. Their Song 183. They are our Patterns 249. Foure Angels at the foure corners of the earth what they signifie 271 Antichrist defended by Papists by such arguments as wherewith the Iewes impugned Christ. 10. He is not to come from Dan. 290. His name hated by Papists but himselfe honored 9. Then shall Iesuites get another Antichrist then the Pope when Iewes get another Christ then Iesus 290 Arrowes of iudgement and mercy 206. 207 Aire a necessary Element for all liuing creatures 273. Angustine his memory how it failed him in a Sermon 203 Atheists answered who cry for one from the dead 4. Their mouthes stopped 104. B BAnquet in heauen 334 Beasts foure signifie not Preachers nor yet the foure Euangelists 193. Two Beasts by which Satan ◅ights against the Church 50. Why the first Beast is described with seuen heads sith two of them onely persecuted the Church 51 Deuouring Beasts a plague and examples thereof 234. 235. The foure Beasts cannot be the foure Euangelists 103. 104. But are Types of principall Angels 103 Bloud of Christ medicinall ◅20 All bloud pollu◅ but the bloud of Iesus cleanseth 321. It hath a three-fold vertue 323 Bodie a burden depressing the soule 76 Booke two waies taken in holy Scripture 126. The opening thereof a ioy to Christians a griefe to Antichristians 136 Booke written within and without what it meanes 128 How God is said to haue a Booke 124. Strange opinions concerning it 125. What it is 126. Two scandals laid on the Booke of the Reuelation 6. Vse Author and time of it 2. 3. 4. 5 Booke of the Reuelation authentike 5. Obscurity thereof 6. A proper methode thereof taken out of it selfe 35. 36. 38 Bread of life 222 Brother-hood Christian. 248 C CAndlestick of gold what it sigureth 148 Catalogue of Writers on the Reuelation 13 Christ his name loued by the Iewes but himselfe hated 10 his Office◅ 133. From him commeth all comfort none from the creature 137. Why a Lyon and a Lamb. 138. 139. His description 137. Hee is the root of Iesse Iesse the roote of Christ. 139. He was made man of the seed of man once sinfull 140. Hee i◅ on the Throne with the Father 143. Christ was really slaine 194. yet liued againe Ibid. Hee hath seuen Eyes 146. Why he appeared with scarres of his wounds 145. No impotencie but power shewed therein Ibid. His Eyes of Prouidence and Eyes of Grace 147. His Diuinity 146. Hee receiued full grace that he might giue it 147. Hee is the great Doctor 149. Christ Angels and Saints redeemed are all in one fellowship 282. How he is an Angell 274 Christ keepes his Fathers priuy Seale 276. How hee commeth from the East 269. His feruent loue 281. Hee repaires euery losse that Satan hath inflicted by sinne 260. Hee is the Sacrifice the Sacrificer and the Altar 239 Christ many waies figured 205. A good Archer and what are his Bow and Arrowes 206. Two waies crowned 208 Christians by information not inspiration 142. None should ride on a Christian but Christ. 201. Hee should make sure his owne saluation 249 Christians are Lambes but Christ is a Lambe in another sense 320. They are Kings and Priests and should not serue sinne 174. 175 Church cannot be consumed by the Crosse. 215. nor hurt by her enemies Ibid. It is not bound to one place 296. 297. Churches professing Christianity in the world 298. The Church is a circle 92. Compared to the Moone 94. Prosperity thereof deare to true Christians 135. The true Church worships no creatures 119. Church on earth conserued from heauen 184 Come and see 192 Comforts and crosses intermixt 212 Corrections 229 Conscience corrupted dare not runne to God 265. 266 Condition of good and euill men contrary in this life and after it 270 Con◅ntine the Great made too great 274 Court of heauen encreaseth daily 313. The comely order of it 89. 314 Conuersion 1 Contrition 160 Concord by Christ made among creatures of most contrary kinds 152 Consolation 2. It followes mourning 137 Confirmation 2 Couenant temporall and common 86 Creatures declare that God is but define not what he is 87. They teach more then man can learne 88. What a voice the insensible creature hath 185. All creatures concurre to punish the wicked 256 Creation is a short Prouidence 120. Creation is common not so the comfort of Creation Ibid. How it bindes vs to serue God 121 Crosse a way to the Crowne 306 Crying sinnes 242 D DAN why omitted 291. 292 Day of Iudgement 247. 248. 264. Scorned by the wicked 266. Delayed vntill Saints be perfected 269. Terrible to the wicked 266 Death figured by an Horseman and why 228. His Page Ibid. 231. It is double Ibid. Comfort against it 236. It is compared to Nebuchadnezzars◅e ◅e ◅40 It ends our misery 331 Doctrine of Christ and Antichrist two Mysteries 10 Doctors of the reformed Church agree all in the matter differ onely in the Methode of the Reuelation 11 Dwelling of God
to men Who can patiently heare this that the Angel hauing the seale of the liuing God is Constantine the Great Or that the Angel who offers vp the prayers of all Saints is Constantine the Great This is as it seemes to put violent hands in the booke and force it to follow the phantasie of man as hereafter by this and many other more shall bee God willing at greater length declared I reserue â—…o the man that Christian loue and reuerence that becommeth in the Lord but hee must giue me leaue to pleade for this prophecie which as a most precious pearle our Lord in these last times hath presented in a Loue-token to his Church It is a griefe to see how the comfort giuen therein is empaired the maiestie and amplitude thereof restrained by binding it to particular persons and times Peter du Mouline Minister of the reformed Church in Paris his booke printed at Oxford in the yeere 1613. intreates and shewes the accomplishment of the Prophecie from the twelfth chapter to the eighteenth Piscator printed Herbornae in the yeere 1613. diuides this booke into three parts first a preface or preparation to the seuen Epistles in the first chapter Next a Narration of the estate of the Church first Militant present then and that was after to follow then Triumphant Thirdly a conclusion from the sixt verse of the two and twentieth chapter to the end Patrike Forbes Laird of Corse our Countrey-man a godly and learned Pastor his book printed at London in the yeere 1613. layes downe a plaine and easie method of this prophecie Beside the Inscription and conclusion the body of the booke consists for the most part saith hee of a propheticall Narration and it is two-fold First of things which then were Next of things to be done thereafter And this Prophecie of things to be done hath first a generall Introduction in the fourth and fifth chapters then a speciall Storie in the rest In the Seales are types of the first sorrowes wherewith God shall plague the world for reiecting the Gospell the sixe Trumpets denounce second sorrowes and the seuenth affoordeth seuen Vials of the last wrath for full and finall destruction of the enemies Piscator hath a short Analysis with Notes on euery chapter printed Herbornae Nassouiorum anno 1613. Cotterius a learned Writer his booke printed at Somer in the yeere 1615 makes this Reuelation threefold 1. Apocalypsis expansa 2. Contracta 3. Restricta A Reuelation extended contracted restrained The large or extended Reuelation containes a cleere Exposition of all things this continues from the fourth chapter to the ninth verse of the nineteenth and it is diuided into ten Classes The Reuelation contracted repeats these same things more shortly and is contained in the rest of the nineteenth chapter this he diuides into three Classes The Reuelation restricted is yet more narrow then the preceding this hee places in the one and twentieth and a part of the two and twentieth chapters and this containes but one singular Classe Petrus Artopaeus hath first a short Introduction for vnderstanding this Prophecie after a short explication of euery chapter in order The summe of all hee comprises in these few words Christus quia olim discedens in coelos promisit se semper Ecclesiae suae adfore consolabundus apparens reuelat ei suae Ecclesiae formam fortunam successionem ad finem mundi vsque Because Iesus Christ when hee ascended to heauen promised that hee would bee with his Church at all times in comfortable manner he appeares here vnto her and reueales her forme fortune or accidents to befall her her succession vnto the worlds end And this he doth vnder seuerall types images or representations partly particular as in the first second and third chapters partly generall as in the fourth fifth sixt and seuenth c. whereof some figureth heretiques some tyrants some the Church and some the Monarchie His booke is printed at Frankford in the yeere 1549. Ioannes Auentrotus a Gentleman as it seemes of good credit hath some discourses vpon this Prophecie by way of an Epistle sent to the King of Spaine and presented as he writes by the Duke of Lerma and graciously receiued of the King hee seemes to restraine it somewhat strictly to the Belgic Battell the blame whereof hee casts on the Pope not sparing to affirme that these wars shall hasten the end of Antichrist his grandeur Hee witnesseth of himselfe that hee liued a long time in the Canarie Iles plunged in the puddle of Papistry at length by reading the Councell of Trent and conferring it with holy Scripture he found a direct discordance of the one from the other and thereupon resolued to transport his house into the Low Countries By the way hee visited the Court of Spaine where he spared not to communicate his minde to the Duke of Lerma and Andreas de Prada the Kings Secretarie not onely concerning matters pertaining to State but Religion also these concerning Religion the Duke of Lerma willed him to communicate by himselfe to the King the King for that cause appointed Andreas de Prada to conferre with him for his better information As the Authour reports this Secretaric was a man who feared God loued truth and was not far from the knowledge thereof In the conference hee was twice moued to confesse By your Arguments saith he it is not impossible but that the Pope must be Antichrist yet did he counsell him rather to write his minde in his owne Countrey then there whereupon the Authour went forward in his iourney and hauing accomplished it he writes from England in the yeere 1610. Octob. 12. another pithic Epistle against the Kingdome of Antichrist which as he saith the fore-said Secretary according to his promise presented to the King of Spaine In it he boldly affirmes Romanam Religionem falsam esso doctrinam Papam Antichristum Bellum Belgicum regni Antichristi sinem suturum esse In this last point onely as I said he seemeth too strictly to restraine this Prophecie I haue written this at the greater length that we may remember how in all parts of all sorts of persons God hath his owne yea euen there where Satan hath his Throne and that it is not a difficill thing to the Lord to open a dore for the Reuelation of his Gospell among the most desperate enemies thereof when his appointed time shall come Let the Pope and his Tulipantic Frogges assure themselues that they who this day are their greatest friends shall ere it be long become their most fearefull foes for so long shall the Kings of the earth giue their Kingdome to the Beast vntill the words of God be fulfilled That being done They shall hate the Whore and make her desolate By the course of things to naturall men it may seeme to bee farre otherwise but let vs waite vpon the word of the Lord which is most sure and cannot faile His Epistle
come The warning premitted to the Viall is the ordinary and accustomed warning before the day of Iudgement Behold I come as a Thiefe Beside that the speech there is like vnto the speech heere Euery I le fled away and the Mountaines were not found But more cleerely in the twentieth chapter where none will deny that hee speaketh of the day of Iudgement where he saith I saw one from whose face fled away both earth and heauen The similitude of phrases vsed in all these places sheweth that this sixt seale also is to be vnderstood of the day of Iudgement But most cleerely of all doth it appeare out of that prediction made by our Sauiour in which after he hath made mention of great Persecutions Apostasies Heresies and false Christs which were to come hee sub-ioynes Immediately after the tribulation of these daies shall the Sunne be darkned and the Moone shall not giue her light and the Starres shall fall from heauen There hee vseth the same speeches which are vsed here and that in them hee pointeth at the day of Iudgement is plaine out of that which followeth Then shall appeare the signe of the Sonne of man in heauen and then shall all the Tribes of the earth mourne and they shall see the Sonne of man comming in the cloudes of heauen with Power and great Glory and hee shall send his Angels with the great sound of a Trumpet and they shall gather together the Elect from the foure windes from the one end of heauen to the other These places conferred one with another let vs see that the sixt seale is to be expounded of the day of Iudgement The most iudicious Interpreters are of this minde also as God willing shall be declared when we come to the opening vp of the Seales Now as for the other difficultie concerning the seuenth chapter we resolue it thus that the seuenth chapter is a pendicle of the sixt containing per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a larger explication of the fifth and sixt Seales which the iudicious Reader will easily perceiue In the fifth Seale Saints cry for iudgement on their enemies The answer is giuen them that they should rest for a little season tâ—…ll their brethren were fulfilled Incontinent in the sixt Seale S. Iohn sees represented vnto him that terrible day of Iudgement for which Saints cryed The cause why the Iudgement longed for by Saints and seene by S. Iohn is delayed is plaine out of the seuenth chapter For in the beginning of that chapter he sees the Angels executors of that last Iudgement prepared Standing at the foure windes as S. Mathew speakes Or at the foure corners of the earth as S. Iohn speakes ready to fold it vp like an old Garment as the Psalmist cals it but that they are commanded to stay till the seruants of God be gathered and sealed as was answered to the cry of Saints in the fifth Seale This is the onely difficulty in the method of this first Prophecie the like whereof occurres not in any of the rest yet let that be pondered without preiudice which I haue said and the matter shall be plaine Needfull was it that the Seale shewing out the cry of slaine Martyrs and the answer giuen them should be explayned by a more full declaration of their felicity in heauen and that the Tragicall end of the wicked in the sixt Seale should haue set against it the Triumphant estate of the godly in heauen all which at length is done in the seuenth chapter and therefore I count it a pendicle of the sixt To conclude then in the sixt and seuenth chapter we haue the first Prophecy of this Booke and it is Generall The second Prophecie which is more Speciall THE second Prophecie commeth out of the bosome of the seuenth Seale It beginnes at the eighth chapter and continues to the twelfth It consists of seuen Trumpets whereof sixe containe six seuerall Proclamations made from heauen by Iesus Christ the great Captaine of his Church fore-warning his Saints and Souldiers vpon earth of battels which hee fore-saw comming against them hee sends out his Heralds to blow the Trumpet and sound the Alarum that his Saints might be wakened and armed to resist their enemies The seuenth Trumpet in the end of the eleuenth chapter concludes this Prophecie with a denunciation of that great Day of Iudgement which shall decide this Controuersie betweene the Church and her enemies and shall put an end to all This Prophecie I call more Speciall then the former The former hath fore-warned vs especially of troubles by violent persecution that shall follow the preaching and professing of the Gospell Here we are fore-told of somewhat more to wit that the Church hath to fight against sundry fraudulent heretiques by whom Satan shall labour to peruert the faith of Iesus Which I will not so to be vnderstood as if the first violent troubles of the Church were altogether voide of fraudulent heresies or that the second troubles of the Church by fraudulent heresies were without all violence but we so distinguish them because in the one the enemy fights against the Church especially by the sword in the other he fights against it especially by heresie The first ground we laid before is still to be kept wee must not knit this Prophecie to the former according to the course of time I meane as if it were posterior to the other in respect of time For the first Trumpet in respect of time goeth vp as high as the first Seale yet containing a new Reuelation of another matter then that which was fore-shewed in the Seales to wit as I said the troubles which the Church was to suffer euen to the darkening of her light and obscuring of her visible face by deceitfull heresies Where we are to obserue another thing which hath in this point miscarried many learned Interpreters They haue conceited that in the TruÌ„pets the Lord commeth forth in hostility against the enemies of his Church take these things sounded by the Trumpets to be great euils plagues and punishments denounced to the world for contempt of the Gospell whereas in very deed they point out the enemy comming in hostility ranged in seuerall battels to fight against the Church It is true the Lord after this commeth out in open battell against his enemies but not here in this place Marke it yet ouer againe for these grounds wherupon the Prophecy standeth would be deeppondered if once we vnderstand them the Prophecie will be the plainer The Trumpets and Vials differ this manner of way In the Trumpets Satan by his Instruments commeth out in arrayed battell against the Church Lest they should annoy her by suddaine inuasion or secret ambushment the Lord Iesus Captaine of his people warnes them by sound of Trumpet of the enemy approaching hee tels what troupes they are what stratagems they vse what armour they fight with that his Saints
onely but here a Voice speaking with S. Iohn quo non obscurè innuitur verbi quod personam suam habet nostri communio whereby the communion of the Word with vs is not obscurely declared Both these are good points of Diuinity but too hardly picked out of this place The more soberly wee handle the Prophecie we shall vnderstand it the better S. Iohn heere tels vs no more but that by a Voice sounding lowdly in his hearing hee was prepared to behold these things which God was to shew him How God did vtter this Voice to him it were but curiosity for vs to enquire Deo namque qui nostris loquendi legibus astrictus non est liberum est loqui quomodocunque voluerit The Lord is not bound to our manner of speaking as Cotterius hath well obserued it is free to the Lord to speake what manner of way hee will This we may be sure of and it should content vs that his seruant vnderstood very well what the Voice said to him which we may perceiue by his owne declaring of it vnto vs. And now out of this the lesson ariseth The Apostle looked vp to God in the beginning of this Verse desirous to see more and now the Lord offers not onely new sight to his eye but new information to his care Wee neuer turne our hearts truely to the Lord but hee is readie to meete vs All his children finde this in experience Certainely if wee would be more homely with our God we should soone finde him more familiar with vs. But alas our sinne is we wait not vpon him and intertaine not a spirituall fellowship with him How shall wee see that delight not in the light And how shall we bee replenished with that grace which ouerflowes in him so long as we are carelesse and negligent to come to him This is the ground of all our euill neglect of the spirituall worship neglect to waite vpon the Lord. God giue vs eyes to see it and hearts to mend it As it were of a Trumpet The Voice soundeth said one like a Trumpet Quia inuitabat Ioannem ad praelium contra diaboli temptamenta contra mundi blandimenta contra carnis oblectamenta because it inuites S. Iohn to battell against the tentations of the deuill the allurements of the world the pleasures of the flesh No question S. Iohn was a good Souldier of Iesus and had fought these battels couragiously but this goes further hee is stirred vp by this Trumpet to heare a Proclamation made in heauen of such battels as his Saints had to fight vpon earth to the worlds end that hee might fore-warne the Church of them The lesson here arising is that the Voice whereby God speakes to his owne is loud liuely and powerfull to waken them out of the dead sleepe of their sinne That same Word of the Lord preached which to a naturall man is but foolishnesse and a dead letter which he vnderstands not to the childe of God is the power of God it is liuely and mighty in operation The houre shall come and now is when the dead shall heare the voice of the Sonne of God and they that heare it shall liue O how miserable are they to whom this Voice sounds and they heare it not and the Trumpet of the liuely Word wakneth them not For if they continue in this estate and their sleepe bee vnto death what remaines but a fearefull Trumpet of doome which whether they will or not they shall be forced to heare denouncing to them the iudgement of endlesse condemnation But to returne our ground is God in his mercifull dealing with his seruants what euer hee haue to doe with them speakes to them in such sort that hee causes them both to vnderstand and also to obey him This S. Iohn declares when hee saith the Voice was like the voice of a Trumpet because by it hee was wakened moued and stirred vp to heare attentiuely and with reuerence Saying Come vp hither Non corporis motu sed mentis intuitu Come vp not by motion of the body but attention of the mind Here then Saint Iohn his calling is renewed to him againe he must be a separate man and after a sort go out of himselfe and go vp vnto God to bee familiar with him who would see the things of God This is required of euery Christian if hee would be the Spouse of Christ ioyned in marriage with him Forget thy owne people and thy fathers house so shall the King haue pleasure in thy beauty How much more then is it requisite in Christian Preachers Did Moses see the patterne of the Tabernacle till he went vp to the Mount Or did the Lord talke familiarly with Ioshua and Moses till first they put off their shooes And shall any Preacher now thinke to be familiar with God and powerfull with his people vnlesse he learne this lesson first that here first is giuen to S. Iohn Come vp hither Againe the voice of God when he talkes to his people is Come vp Satans voice on the contrary Fall downe Cast thy selfe downe That presumptuous Beast durst speake so to our Sauiour what maruell then he dare speake so to his seruants The Lord would haue thee to come vp and enioy all the good which hee hath to communicate to thee Satan would haue thee to go downe that thou mayst be partaker of his remedilesse condemnation He himselfe for his sinne was cast out of heauen He is now reserued in chaines vnder darkenesse to the iudgement of the great Day And he knowes that when the time of his complete iudgement shall come he will bee cast into vtter darkenesse and all his care is to draw man downe-ward with him into the same condemnation There is no restitution for him mercy neuer was neuer will be preached to him neither can he seeke it neither will he get The most that euer he craued was a Supersedere Why wilt thou torment vs before the time he is condemned in his own conscience and knowes that intolerable ineuitable torment abides him We reade that the Lord talked with Satan but neuer called vpon him to come vp since that first he fell down But blessed be the Lord it is his voice to his owne Come to me notwithstanding yee haue fallen from me yet Come to me yee haue sinned but if yee be weary of sinne I will refresh you It was the answer of Christ to the Disciples of Iohn Baptist when they asked Master where dwellest thou Come and see said our Lord and still hee speaketh vnto all his beloued as here hee doth to one of his beloued Come vp hither not to get new reuelations to be shewed vnto others but Come vp hither to get a new and a full sight of my promised glory to your selfe Yea such is the goodnesse of our God that not onely hee cals vpon
but more and stronger are the seruants of our God who stand for vs. Salomon builded a Throne the like of it was not in any Kingdome it ascended by sixe steps and on euery side were grauen Lyons ouer-guilt with gold but they were without life and could not punish the Kings enemies But our King his Throne is compassed with Angels more terrible and strong then Lyons to teare his enemies in peeces at his commandement He sent but one of them against Senacheribs Army and another against the Kingdome of Egypt no power of man could resist them This for their place the second thing in their description is their nature to be taken vp as I said out of their names 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 liuing creatures figured by Men and Lyons but indeed as I haue shewed are Angels Their name here is generall and common to all creatures that haue life but compare it with other places and yee shall see they are Spirits Hee createth his Spirits his Messengers An Angell then is a Spirit but Spiritus creatus completus When I call him a Spirit I distinguish him from Lyons Bullockes Eagles that haue bodies without spirits when I call him a created spirit I distinguish him from God who is a Spirit but the Spirit the Creator of all or as Moses cals him The God of the Spirits of all flesh And when I say that an Angel is a spirit complete it is to distinguish him from the spirit of man which to the complete subsistance thereof requires a bodie which Angels do not called therefore by Augustine Personae The third thing pointed at in their description is their number they are said to be foure to shadow their sufficiency for their administration and execution of Gods will through all the foure corners of the world but not as if they were onely foure and no more for thousand thousands minister to him and ten thousand thousands stand before him The Chariots of God are twenty thousand yea The company of Angels is innumerable saith the Apostle and so they are indeed in respect of vs howsoeuer to the Lord their number be definite and certaine The fourth thing in their description is their properties many manner of waies figured to vs they are said to haue eyes before eyes behind and in the eighth verse eyes within figuring their manifold knowledge for which also Nazianzen called them Secundaria lumina secondary lights there is a three-fold sight which they neuer want a sight of God a sight of themselues and a sight of the creature by their eies before they looke vnto God delighting to behold his face continually from it are they styled Aphnim By their eyes within they looke alway to themselues by their eyes behind they looke to the creature whereunto God sends them they know and vnderstand them and what they haue to do with them If at any time according to the commandement giuen them they come forth to execute their message either of Mercy or Iustice on the creature then do they in such sort looke to the creature that their eye is neuer turned from the Lord their Creator Nunquam sic for as exeunt a diuina visione vt internae contemplationis gaudijs priuentur they neuer come out in such sort from the sight of the Diuine Maiesty that they are depriued of the ioyes of internall contemplation which they haue by beholding him Oh! that we had these three-fold eyes that we might know the Lord and delight continually to behold him that we might know the creature so that in looking to it we were not intangled with it and thirdly that we might know ourselues But alas here is our misery our eyes are behind vs wee see the workes of God better then we see God himselfe whereof it comes to passe that we delight our selues more in the creatures then in the Lord who made them we looke so to the creature that we lose the sight of the Creator yea by beholding things without vs we forget those which are within vs. Salomon saith A wise mans eyes are in his forehead and his heart is at his right hand What wisedome then can be in vs who are still looking back to those things which of force we must leaue behind vs and will not look forward to the Lord with whom we hope to remaine for euer VERSE 7. And the first Beast was like a Lyon and the second Beast was like a Calfe and the third Beast had a face like a man and the fourth Beast was like a flying Eagle HE insists still in the description of their properties he saith that they were represented to him like Men Lyons Bullockes and Eagles not that Angels haue any such shape of themselues as I haue shewed before but to declare vnto vs that whatsoeuer is excellent in the best creatures of the world Angels haue it they haue vnderstanding like Men they haue animositie and courage like Lyons strength for labour like the Bullocke or Oxe celerity and swiftnesse like the Eagle thus are they vnderstanding couragious laborious and agill creatures And it is to be obserued that these properties which are seuerall in the creatures are coniunct in the Angels and therefore in Ezekiel his Vision to euery one of them all these foure faces faces of these creatures are ascribed The manifold wisedome of God appeares in the variety of his creatures All the Naturalists in the world haue not shall not attaine to this one thing to know how many sorts of creatures the Lord hath made but this doth yet much more commend his wisedome that hee hath distinguished euery one of them from another so that euery creature hath in it a seuerall stampe of the singular goodnesse and wisedome of God not they of the greater sort onely such as the Elephant in the Land and Leuiathan in the Sea but the smaller sort such as the Bee and the Emmet for our God is not mole sed virtute magnus in his biggest creatures he hath left some token of his incomparable strength in his smaller creatures againe hath he left some shadow of his maruellous wisedome But as I said all these sparkles of diuine goodnesse and wisedome which here are scattered seuerally among the creatures on earth are all to be found amassed and conioyned together in the Angels of heauen All which should leade vs vp further to consider Sith such variety of good things are prouided for vs and we see them in this world what shall we looke for in the world to come Through faith we vnderstand that the worlds were framed by the word of God Let vs not thinke there is not a world after this far be that from vs but let vs look for a better we see the beauty of this world but let vs be assured the beauty of the other is such as the eye saw neuer Our best things here are
hath reueiled out of this Booke to my Saints This is the summe of all The rage of man shall turne to the praise of GOD The LORD shall haue glory his Church victorie and the Enemies therof shame and confusion Three things haue we in this chapter first a description of this Booke of the Reuelation secondly a description of the Lambe of God who openeth it thirdly thankes giuing for it both of men and Angels And I saw Wee may perceiue heere in the entry how new sights and new Reuelations are multiplied vpon Saint Iohn the Lord beganne to be familiar with him and still he continues for whom he loueth he loueth to the end and causes them to encrease with the increasings of God like the Sunne ascending to the noonetyde of the day Balaam and Balac both may conspire to curse Israel but it cannot be Putiphar may imprison Ioseph but God shall be with him Domitian may banish S. Iohn vnto Pathmos from the fellowship of men but not from the fauour of God euen there shall the Lord be familiar with him What Isaac spake of Iacob stands as a sure decree to all the Saints of God I haue blessed him and he shall be blessed Of the manner of this sight wee haue spoken once for all in the beginning of the fourth chapter No doubt many of the Lords deare children wish they could see the like such a sight as S. Iohn saw or S. Paul saw when he was rauished into the third heauens The one tels vs what he saw for it was shewed vnto him that hee might shew it to the Church The other tels not what hee saw yea professes that the sight hee saw is more then euer man heard or saw or man his heart is able to vnderstand and this is to prouoke vs to long for that Day wherin we shall be capable of this sight In the meane time if we see not such sights as they saw let vs reuerence the Lords dispensation now we walke by faith not by sight the time when wee shall see is comming now happy are wee if we do beleeue A Booke We must still remember that in all this Prophecie the Lord dimits himselfe to vse such formes and representations as we are best able to conceiue Properly God hath no booke â—…e needs not any such help of memory but allusion here is made to Kings who haue beside them bookes containing Lawes whereby they rule their people or else the ancient Acts and Monuments of their Kingdom as was that booke out of which Ahasuerus learned what good seruice Mordecai had done vnto him The Lord hath his booke also but farre exceeding theirs for they haue onely a Register of things which'are done they cannot tell what is to be done and farre lesse can they preuent it but the Lord hath in his Booke a perfect record of all things which haue beene are or shal be to the worlds end they are all appointed by himselfe Now what is meant by this book is not agreed vpon by the Interpreters Victorine whom many follow calls it the old Testament Others more generally the whole Scripture But was not that Booke opened till now And is it not plainly told Saint Iohn by the Angel that the things foretold in this booke are such as were shortly to come to passe not such as had beene done before What Cotterius had for him by this booke to vnderstand vitam life and by the strong Angel to vnderstand Legem or the Law which none can fulfill we leaue it to himselfe and his opinion also The matter is so plaine out of the course of the Text that it is strange men will not take light out of Gods hand when he offers it vnto them for doth not the Sonâ—… take this booke from the Father Doth he not open the seales thereof and let Saint Iohn see what was written in it Is it not the very first and authentike volume of this Booke of the Reuelation the copy and transumpt whereof Saint Iohn drawes out as he is commanded and sends it to the Church al the whole circumstances of the Prophecie make it so cleere that it is strange how men too much enamored with their own coÌ„ceptions should not haue perceiued it But because in holy Scripture often mention occurres of sundry Bookes which are ascribed to God let vs once for all remember they are to be reduced to one of these two sorts they are either metaphoricall or materiall the first so called in respect of the metaphor or borrowed speech the other so called in respect of the matter The metaphorike bookes are either vniuersall or speciall vniuersall are two one mentioned by Dauid In thy booke were all things written which in continuance of time were fashioned And this booke is the most large as being a perfect register of all things all persons of all times and this is the Booke of Prescience The other is the booke of Conscience which albeit it be not so large as the first yet I call it Vniuersall because all men without exception haue it they write it with their owne hand haue it in their owne custodie and therefore shall not be able to speake any thing against the testimony thereof Speciall bookes againe are also two one called by Moses The booke of life contayning a roll of all Gods Elect the other called by Malachy A booke of remembrance wherein the Lord registers the words and workes of the wicked this booke God hath in his keeping and it is euery way conforme and varies not from the booke of conscience that the wicked haue The booke materiall is the Bible whereof this booke of the Reuelation is a part S. Iohn sees it first heere in this vision and then as I said extracts the iust copy of it and sends it to the Churches Written within and without For vnderstanding of this wee must know that the forme of bookes they vsed of old was not like ours they were long Roules euery sheet at the end of another extending in length folded and rouled vp about a peece of tree or some other such thing they might conueniently bee distinguished by seales for the seale of the first being opened all written in it might easily haue been read the rest not so vntill the remaining seales were opened also they were commonly written on the one side except where the aboundance of matter forced them to write on the backe then were they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the sixt chapter it is said that the heauens passed away like a scrole for a scrole of parchment beeing opened and spred out in length if it be let goe by him that holds it returns speedily into a round againe Ezekiel makes mention of the like Roule of a booke spred before him written within and without And as to Ezekiel the Lord presented a roule containing that which
he had to shew vnto Israel and was after written in the booke of Ezekiel It a hoc loco per librum Iohanni ostensum intelligitur scientia ◅orum quae Iohanni fuerant de futuro statu Ecclesiae reuelanda quae nunc in hoc Apocalypsis volumine sant descripta So heere by a booke shewed to S. Iohn is vnderstood the knowledge of these things which were to bee reuealed to Saint Iohn concerning the estate of the Church to come and which now are described in this booke of the Reuelation Alway that S. Iohn sees this book written within and without it is to declare vnto vs that it is a complete Prophesie there is no blanke paper in this booke to be filled vp by any other or if there were who is this in heauen or in earth that can reueale that vnto vs which Iesus Christ our blessed Sauiour hath not reuealed None at all wee are not to looke for any other Reuelation or Prophecie after this til the Day come wherein Christ our Lord shall be reuealed in his glory Sealed with seuen Seales The Seales declare first the surety next the secresie of this Prophecie Surety it is the manner of Kings to seale their decrees which they will haue executed so this book is sealed to shew that the Lord will surely accomplish that which is written in it It is a Decree more sure then any of the Medes and Persians Againe the Seales declare the secrecie thereof here are mysteries locked vp from the vnderstanding of Angels and men if the Lord had not opened them and reuealed them vnto vs. The Iesuite Viega carpeth aduantage heere to instifie that calumnie of the Church of Rome whereby they blot the Scripture with obscurity he brings many reasons to proue that it was expedient the holy Scripture should be penned in obscure māner But I pray you lis not this vnsure reasoning The book of the Reuelation is obscure therfore al the books of holy Scripture are obscure And sith they can looke to the Seales wherewith the book is closed complain of obscurity why will they not looke to the Lambe who openeth the booke giue him thankes who of a closed booke makes it an open booke and giues to it the name of a Reuelation Lastly as we haue said before this booke was written not so much to informe vs in the faith as to confirme vs in it that wee should not leaue the faith for these manifold troubles which in this book are foretold vs that were to follow our faith It is sufficient for vs that in these books wherin the Lord teaches vs the way of saluation hee speakes so plainely that the entrance into his Word sheweth light and giueth vnderstanding to the simple The waters thereof in some places are so shallow that a childe may goe thorow though in others so deepe that an Elephant may swimme In his quae aperte posita su◅t in Scriptura inueniuntur illa omnia quae continent fidem moresque viuendi spem scilicet charitatem What neede men carpe at these places which are obscure sith in these which are plainely written all things are to bee found that containe Faith and good manners to wit Hope and Charity said Augustine Num igitur Deus mentis vocis linguae Artifex diserte loqui non potest imo vero summa prouidentia carere voluit fuco ea quae diuina sunt vt omnes intelligerent quae ipse omnibus loquebatur Shall we think said Lactantius that God who is the Artificer and Maker both of the minde and voyce and of the tongue cannot speake plainely No but by the contrary hee hath most wisely prouided that his words should bee plaine without coloured deceit that all men may vnderstand these things which hee speaketh vnto all I will not therefore answere Viega and his associates with Chrysostome Praetextus iste pigritiae vetamen but rather will say it is malitiae velamen this pretext of the obscurity of Scripture is but a couering of their slothfulnes but rather it is a couering of their maliciousnesse because the Scripture rebukes them therefore they rebuke it they doe what they can to obscure it because it obscureth their kingdome VERSE 2. And I saw a strong Angell who preached with a loud voyce Who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seales thereof IN the first verse we haue seene the description of this booke now beginnes the second part of this chapter wherein we haue him described who openeth the booke first from his singular supereminence that none other was found able to open the booke this appeares by the Angell his proclamation Who is worthy to open the Booke The answer is subioyned in a negation None in heauen c. So this doth greatly magnifie the glory of Iesus that He and He onely hath done that vnto vs and for vs which none in heauen nor in earth were able to haue done The Offices of the Messias are three hee is the King the Priest and Prophet of his Church If these bee compared among themselues the Propheticall Office will bee found the least As our High Priest hee had to satisfie the iustice of God for vs and make atonement for our sinnes As our King hehath deliuered vs from the oppression of our enemies visible and inuisible and ruleth our hearts by the scepter of his Grace As our Prophet he hath reuealed to vs in his holy Scripture the whole counsell of God concerning our saluation and in this Prophecie hath forewarned his Church of such troubles as were imminent vnto her which none in heauen nor in earth was able to doe Now since the last and least of the three cannot be done by any creature what blasphemy is it to say that men may doe the greatest that is by their owne sufferings and doings make satisfaction to the iustice of God as the Romish Church vainly and wickedly doe affirme For they teach that Christ hath not reuealed the whole counsell of God that the Scriptures are imperfect and are to be supplyed by Traditions quas Ecclesia Catholica suscipit ac veneratur pari pietatis affectu reuerentia scilicet atqui ipsum verbum scriptum which the Catholike Church embraces and honoureth with the same affection of piety and reuerence which is due to the written Word it selfe But I pray them Who is able to teach that which the great Doctor of the Church hath not taught If there be any Seale of the Booke which Christ hath not opened who is this that is able to open it Either they must confesse none in heauen sarre lesse in earth can do it or else they must falsifie this Angell which is impossible or then manifest themselues to bee falsisiers which is euident All Antiquity pleads the perfection of holy Scripture against them Religio vera in scriptis Apostolorum Prophetarum continetur
a soueraigne preseruatiue against all poyson The Beasts of the field as they record attend till the Vnicorne dip his horne in the water then come they and drink Properly therefore is the Kingdome of Christ expressed by the Vnicornes Horne of all other the most firme and durable the most beautifull the most profitable Hee hath changed the bitter waters of Marah and made them sweete neither is there any thing so deadly which his Horne healeth not and makes it to serue for the saluation of his owne And seuen eyes As in his seuen Hornes his complete power is signified so in his seuen Eyes his complete Wisedome These two do greatly commend the royall authority of our King Hee is wise and will do nothing that he should not for hee sees all and knowes perfectly the quality of euery creature the estate of euery cause Againe he is strong and able to do whatsoeuer he will His Eyes are of two sorts Eyes of Prouidence and Eyes of Grace by his eyes of Prouidence hee lookes vnto all things and there is no place nor people in the world to whom these Eyes are not extended but by the Eyes of his Grace hee lookes to his owne as hee did to Ierusalem restored and sends them this blessing Grace Grace be vnto it And heerein hath the Lord magnified his mercy toward vs aboue many other more mighty Kingdomes in the world that where by the Eyes of his Prouidence hee lookes vnto the rest he hath cast the Eyes of his Mercy and Grace vpon vs The Lord hath not dealt so with euery Nation Yet more plainely In the Text these seuen Eyes are expounded to be the seuen Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth Seuen is the number of perfection noting that fulnesse of grace which is in the Lambe for hee receiued not the Spirit by measure and what hee hath receiued hee retaines not to himselfe but as here is said hee sends it out that of his fulnesse we might all receiue grace for grace And hereof commeth the continuance and conseruation of the Church vpon earth because it is continually furnished with grace frō the Lamb hee hath the seuen Starres in his hand and holds them out to such parts of the world as pleaseth him he furnishes graces of his Spirit to his seruants the Preachers according to the times wherein they liue yea and to euery one of his Saints in particular This same Lord who once according to his promise sent downe the holy Spirit in a visible manner vpon his Apostles in the similitude of fierie clouen Tongues doth daily send him from the Throne of Grace in an inuisible manner And this was properly figured in a Vision to Zacharie wherein hee saw a golden Candlestick with seuen Lampes euery Lampe hauing a seuerall pipe through the which Oyle for intertainement of the light in euery Lampe is conueied from the two Oliues which stand before the Ruler of the world Let therefore Satan and his instruments rage as they list let them labour what they can to put out the light of the Candlestick yea let them presume that it is possible for them to roote out the very name of Israel from vnder heauen yet it cannot be for the stability and continuance of the holy Ministerie in the Church with light and grace in it stands in this that it is furnished from heauen the Eyes of the Lamb looke on his Saints and he sends downe his Spirit vpon them and from the Ruler of the world the oyle of Grace is by secret pipes and conduits conueied to his Candlesticke on earth And who is able to interrupt the course thereof VERSE 7. And he came and tooke the Booke out of the right hand of him that sitteth vpon the Trone HEre in effect no other thing is represented then that which was openly proclaimed from heauen first at Iordan next vpon Mount Tab◅ This is my beloued Sonne in whom I am well pleased heare him For by this Type the Lord Iesus is declared to bee the onely Doctor of his Church who receiues the Booke from the Father and out of it reueales to his Church the counsell of God which neither Angell nor man was able to doe As Moses went vp to the Mount and receiued the Tables of the Law and gaue them to Israel so our Mediator who came from the bosome of the Father hath brought downe to vs the knowledge of his Will Let vs not presume to go vp to the Mountaine to enquire any thing which our Moses hath not taught vs left wee die let vs remember our place and stand low wee are disciples bound by diuine Proclamation to heare him whom the Father hath sent vnto vs if we would be saued VERSE 8. And when hee had taken the Booke the foure liuing creatures and the foure and twenty Elders fell downe before the Lambe hauing euery one harps golden vials full of odours which are the prayers of the Saints NOw followes the third part of this Chapter containing a three-fold thanksgiuing for the benefit of this Reuelation The first song is sung by Angels and redeemed Saints coniunctly in the eight ninth and tenth verses The second is sung by Angels seuerally in the eleuenth and twelfth verses The third by all creatures in their kind in the thirteenth verse whereunto Angels againe and redeemed Saints say Amen in the last verse Cotterius confesseth that this place did trouble him greatly and no maruell for the foure beastes he expounds to be Veritas Euangelit quadri◅ormis the fourefold verity of the Gospell No maruell therefore as I haue said that both he and others who expound the foure and twentie Elders to be foure and twenty bookes find themselues straited with this place wherin the Spirit of God plainly expoundeth himselfe that the foure and twenty Elders are they whom God hath redeemed by his bloud out of euery kindred tongue people and Nation But leauing them this comes heere first to bee obserued that as before they fell downe and worshipped the Ruler of the World that sits vpon the Throne so now they fall downe and worship the Lambe Saint Paul vseth this as an argument to proue the diuinitie of Christ Iesus taken out of the 97. Psalme Consider how great is hee of whom it is said Let all the Angels of heauen worship him Let Heretiques therefore be silent sith the vvhole Congregation of Angels and Saints redeemed worship him as GOD. In this thanksgiuing these foure circumstances are to be considered First who are the Musicians that sing Next with what gesture Thirdly what are their musicall instruments And lastly vvhat is their song The Musicians are foure liuing creatures representing the principall order of Angels neerest vnto the Throne and foure and twenty Elders representing the whole Church and companie of Saints redeemed By nature Angels and men were at
variance for man hauing become by sin an enemy vnto God had the Angels enemies vnto him a figure whereof wee haue in that Angel who stood with a sword in the entry of Paradise to hold Adam out of it but now man beeing reconciled to God by Iesus Angels are also reconciled with man For it pleased the Father to set at peace through the bloud of his Crosse both the things in earth and the things in heauen so that now they agree in one harmony to praise the Lord. Yea strange it is that they who before were figured by Lyons Bullocks Eagles and men are now brought in singing one song This is to magnifie the effectuall vertue of the Redeemer who hath reconciled God and man Angel and man yea man with man so that most sierce and barbarous natures are now made peaceable meeke and louing one to another by the power of his grace And this is it which was foretold by Esay of the kingdome of the Messia The Wolse shall dwell with the Lambe the Leopard shall lye with the Kidde the Calfe and the Lyon shall feede together Therefore Clemens Alexandrinus speaking of Christ Iesus calls him Nouum quendam Citharaedum What the Grecians spake of their Orpheus that by the sweet harmony of his musike he did mitigate and tame the most wild and furious beasts is onely and in truth done by our Christ Solus ipse feras mansuefacit for wild beasts of all sorts are tamed by him Volucres flying fowles that is wicked men carried aloft vpon the wings of vanitie them he makes solid and establisheth their hearts by grace Serpentes creeping things figuring deceiuers with their subtill wiles them he makes vpright Hee tameth Leones Lupos Lyons rauening wolues cruell and bloudy men he turneth into meeke and mercifull men Such a rauening Wolfe was S. Paul of the Tribe of Beniamin but Christ Iesus of a Persecuter conuerted him to a Preacher Yea lapides et ligna such as worshipped stocks and stones and had no more spiritual life in them then stones haue hath he raised quickned and made them children to Abraham What then shal we say of these men who for small offences by no means can be reconciled to their brethren Surely they are yet strangers from this grace in conceit they flye higher then Angels in stubbornnesse harder then stones in fiercenes of nature more barbarous then beasts are they who by the grace of Iesus are not tamed and made louing to their brethren The second circumstance is their gesture in worshipping noted in these words They fel down before the Lambe for still Saint Iohn speaketh of these things as they appeared to him in the Vision Alwaies by their example they learne vs with humbled hearts and bodies to praise the Lord which as it is a dutie whereunto we are bound for so saith the Apostle Yee are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and spirit for they are Gods so it renders to our selues very great cōfort for the time is at hand wherein our bodies must be committed to the graue then the tongue will be silenced the eye closed and no member of the body will be able to doe as now it may So long therefore as we haue the vse of them let vs make them vveapons of righteousnesse for the seruice of our God let the eye mourne for sinne and looke vp for mercy let the hands be lifted vp as an euening sacrifice let the tongue speake to his praise let the knees bow vnto him that made thē Thus if we vse them so long as wee haue them to his honor we may rest assured that he will honor them sith his promise is I will honour them that honour me Euen in the graue shal the Lord watch ouer them to keepe the very dust of them And howsoeuer the body be sowne in dishonour yet shall it be raised in glory it was the temple of the holy Ghost and he will not faile to restore and reedifie it If the Spirit of him that raised vp Iesus from the dead dwell in you hee that raised vp Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortall bodies because that his Spirit dwelleth in you The third circumstance is of the instruments which they vse in his praises It is said Euery one of them had Harps and golden Vials full of odours none of them wants euery one of them haue It contents them not that their companions prayse God beside them euery one of them haue their owne Harpe and praise God for themselues Let vs learne of them how we should behaue our selues in the assembly of Saints Vnder the Law no man might appeare emptie before the Lord it is now a greater sinne vnder the Gospell to come to the House of God and no sacrifice in our heart to offer vnto the Lord. Let vs take heede to our selues the Lord knowes his owne Israelites in whom there is no guile when they sacrifice then hee smelleth a sweet sauour hypocrites he knoweth also that sit in the seate of sacrificers but offer no sacrifice to the Lord they may maske themselues but the Lord cannot be deceiued for hee knowes them as they are and wil deale with them as they deale with him With the vpright thou wilt shew thy selfe vpright and The Lord will doe well to those that be good and true in their hearts But those that turne aside by their crooked waies the Lord will lead with the workers of iniquitie Their Harps note two things first the great ioy they haue in praysing GOD. There is no ioy on earth comparable to that vvhich is found in the praysing of GOD and praying vnto him When our Sauiour prayed then was his countenance changed when Dauid played vpon the Harpe the euill spirit that troubled Saul departed from him and when wee get hearts to pray or praise the Lord doe we not find by experience that then our troubles are mitigated our perturbations pacified then Satan is confounded and we our selues are comforted these are the sweet effects of the soules harping vnto God Againe it noteth the sweet harmonie and concent that is among them They are many and haue seuerall Harpes but all agree in one sound and Song O how good and how comely a thing it is for brethren to dwell together O how great is the glory of Saints when they all speake one thing and all minde one thing This was the happinesse of the Primitiue Church the multitude of beleeuers was of one heart but shortly after were they diuided by an vnnecessarie schisme Some said I am Pauls and some I am Apollos The like preposterous zeale makes a great distemperature and discordant sound in many Professors of our time without any cause The euill is more then we can mend at least let vs mourne for it and pray
Thy will O Lord be done in earth as it is in heauen And let euery man take heed vnto himselfe hee is a sacrilegious renter of the Church who breakes the bond of loue with his brother in whom hee sees no rupture of the vnity of faith But for our further instruction let vs know that the Harpe of a Christian wherewith he praises God is his Heart the strings of the Harpe are the affections of the Heart which must be well tuned and prepared before they can make any melodie to the Lord My heart is prepared and I will sing said Dauid Then is the heart like vnto a ten stringed Instrument when it is inclined to the obedience of God his ten commandements for as a Musicall Instrument makes no pleasant complete sound if any string thereof be broken so the heart of man if it be possessed and thralled with any vice cannot rightly praise the Lord. The truth is we can keepe no commandement of the Law as we should this is the perfection of degrees which in this life no man can attaine vnto yet hath the Christian a begunne obedience to all the commandements of God which is the perfection of parts Both these are true the most perfect Christian cannot keepe one of the Lords commandements as hee should and so we deny vnto him the perfection of degrees and yet hee keepes all the commandements of God by a begunne obedience and so wee grant to him the perfection of parts for there is no grace needfull to saluation but euery true Christian hath some part and measure thereof Bastard Professors cannot make this melodie they flatter themselues because they are free of some sinnes when notwithstanding they are captiued by other great sinnes which raigne in them and command them The commandements of the Law are so linked together that he who transgresseth one transgresseth all If one string of this Instrument be broken all the rest are distempered and therefore do tehy farre deceiue themselues who diuide the Law In some things they are content to subiect themselues vnto it in others vsurpe a liberty to breake it which will neuer be allowed These answer the Lord as an Eccho doth the voice of a man it resounds in part but not wholly or like Naaman are content to serue God but with an exception or reseruation of some sinnes which they cannot nor will not cast siom them There is no man so euill but in some things he will seeme to bee good but this is not the good which the Lord requireth such euill diuiders can make no concord of spirituall Musick to the Lord. Now with their Harpes they are said to haue golden Vials full of Odours and those Odours are expounded by the Lord to be the Prayers of the Saints which openeth a cleere entrance to these words which otherwise had beene more obscure A Viall is a vessell narrow beneath wide aboue now this Viall being also a figure of the Heart sheweth how the heart of man should be inlarged toward things which are aboue but contracted beneath open towards God but closed towards the world and things therein Therefore the Church is compared to a Garden enclosed wherein nothing can enter but that which comes from aboue And the Vials are said to bee of gold because the Heart that praises the Lord should be holy and pure I will that men pray euery where lifting vp pure hands As also to shew that a pure heart praysing the Lord is precious and honourable in the eyes of God For vessels of gold and vessels of honour are put by the Apostle for one and the same These Vials are said to be full of Odours which are expounded to bee the prayers of Saints So were they figured vnder the Law by sweete Incense and such as were spirituall among the Iewes vnderstood this very wel that it was not the externall sweet Odour wherein the Lord delighted they vsed the Ceremoniall Incense but neglected not the Spirituall Incense figured thereby as is euident out of Dauid his prayer Let my prayer be directed before thee as Incense And properly is prayer figured by Incense Quia sursum fertur oratio coelestia quaerit for the fume thereof ascends and seeks heauenly things As also because it is sweete and pleasant to the Lord. The prayers of Saints are odoriferous and pleasant smels vnto the Lord as when Noah sacrificed the Lord smelled a sweet sauour of rest But the Bride and the Bridegroome haue their owne Odours which either of them presents to other The Perfumes and sweet Ointments of Christ are two first his Merits for hee is the Angell hauing a Golden Censor full of Odours and these ascend to his Father secondly his Compassions are called sweet Ointments and these descend vpon his brethren Thy Name is as an Ointment powred out saith the Church to her Sauiour His Compassions are not locked vp in his Treasurie like precious Ointment enclosed in a Boxe but they are compared to Ointment powred out the fragrant smell whereof should allure vs to loue him and runne after him His sweete mercies declared vpon so many stand for examples to vs to confirme vs in assurance of the like mercy if repenting of our sinnes we turne to the Lord. The Lepers came to him and were cleansed the Blind cryed to him and receiued their sight the Paralitique was carried to him and was healed the Adulteresse was brought to him and was absolued the Persecutor of Saints was pardoned his owne disciple that denyed him yea the Iewes who crucified him were conuerted and receiued to mercy In odore horum curremus post te There are sweet Ointments powred out and in the sauour of them will we run after thee Wee are more then senselesse if the sweet smell of them allure vs not also to come that we may be refreshed by them The Church hath in like manner her two-fold Odours First the Odour of Contrition next of Thankes-giuing the ingredients whereof the Odour of Contrition is made are our sinnes and a godly sorrow for them euery childe of God gathers together in one handfull his sinnes not sparing any that he knowes or can remember and in the Mortar of a sorrowfull heart he brayes them with the Pestell of Contrition and with the Publican beateth on his brest whereof a sweete and pleasant sauour ascendeth to the Lord. The other Perfume hath no ingredients but Gods sweet Mercies with a godly reioycing in them Now these Mercies are so many that none can count them in order yet the Saints so farre as of weaknesse they may gather them together in one masse by diligent meditation of them they are stirred vp to thankes-giuing and this is a sweete smelling sacrifice vnto the Lord. The Iesuites of Rhemes abuse this place to proue the lawfulnesse of their prayers vnto Saints departed for so they
and praise THe fourth circumstance in this second thanksgiuing made by Angels onely is the song it selfe wherein we haue to consider two things the matter and the manner For the manner of their singing it is said to be with a loud voice How voices are ascribed to them they being spirits we haue spoken before onely now the loud voyce noteth their intention readinesse and great feruencie in praising the Lord. The matter of their song is subioyned Worthy is the Lambe Where still it is to be remembred how both Angels and elect Men denude themselues of all worthinesse and ascribe it to the Lambe to the great shame of these wretched wormes vpon earth who dare vsurpe to themselues the praise of worthinesse and glory in the merite of their works These Angels differ in place and order from the first company but all agree in one song Worthy is the Lambe And againe that Angels worship the Lambe but refuse to be worshipped of men condemnes that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the blind Papists who will inforce a worship on Angels which they refuse and acknowledge onely to be due to the Lord. As before the Lambe appeared with seuen Eyes and seuen Hornes so now a seuen-fold praise doe Angels giue vnto him 1. Of power 2. Riches 3. Wisedome 4. Strength 5. Honour 6. Glory and praise They vnderstood the types which they saw they make their song respondent to his apparition In his Eyes they acknowledge his wisedom in his Hornes power and strength and riches and for these praise and honor and glory they giue vnto him Hee is a full and complete Sauiour woorthy of seuen-fold praise because of his seuen-fold that is his manifold yea his full and complete grace which superabounds in him and is powred forth abundantly vnto vs. He hath not loue but hee hath also power what craue we more but that he is most willing because of his loue He was killed for vs and most able because of his power to helpe vs in all our necessities Againe this redundant speech in praysing of God naming one thing many manner of waies is to teach vs how Saints inflamed with the loue of God cannot find words enow nor satifie themselues in praysing of God And this was shadowed before when it was said They sung with a loude voice for what is the loud voice of a spirit but â—…ruens desâ—…erium the feruent desire of it et tantò maioreÌ„ voceÌ„ in aureÌ„ incircumscripti spiritus exprimit quantò se in eius desiderium plenius â—…undit And here that one thing is named many manner of waies as power and strength praise honour and glory their like feruent desire in praysing God is declared And all this may most iustly rebuke our coldnesse in praysing God we discharge all that whole seruice many a time with one word which were yet tolerable if our affections were greater though our words are few but in these exercises how readily faint we we pray as if we desired not to preuaile and wee praise as if wee were not carefull whether the Lord heare or not and therefore wee send our thanksgiuing away but our feruent affection goes not with it such a prayer cannot pierce the cloudes farre lesse bring downe an answere Is there any thing thou shouldest thinke more vpon in prayer then that thou art speaking vvith God or is there any thing thou shouldest desire more then to finde thy selfe accepted of him Quomodo te à Deo audiri postulas cùm te ipse non audias How canst thou desire the Lord to hear thee in praying when thou hearest not thy selfe Vis Deum memorem esse tui cùm rogas cùm tuipse memor tui non sit wilt thou haue the Lord mindfull of thee when thou requestest him and thou in requesting him hast no mind of thy selfe This is a common sin of this age the Lord remoue it VERSE 13. And all the creatures which are in heauen and on the earth and vnder the earth and in the sea and all that are in them heard I say Praise honour and glory and power be to him that sits on the Throne and vnto the Lambe for euermore THe third part of the thanksgiuing is sung by creatures and that of all sorts and vvith one common consent for this distribution of the creatures in these which are in heauen in earth vnder the earth and in the sea is a propheticall amplification frequently vsed in Scripture to shew the coÌ„course of all creatures to praise God in their kind as ye may see Psalme 148. Now these creatures here are such as are without sense or reason to wit the Sunne the Moone the Fire the Aire the Water the Earth and all that in them is after their sort doe praise the Lord and they haue a voice of their owne which is well enough vnderstood by him that made them As they grone for the bondage vnder which our sin hath subdued them so long they to see the sonnes of God restored to their liberty for then shall they be restored also and for this benefit the creatures haue by our Redemption as they were cast into bondage by our transgression they haue their owne reioycing and praysing of God But for this we referre the willing Reader to that which we haue written on the eighth to the Romanes and now proceed to the conclusion of this Song VERSE 14. And the foure liuing creatures said Amen And the foure and twenty Elders fell downe and worshipped him that liueth for euermore NOw are wee come to the conclusion of the Song they who beganne it to wit Angels and redeemed Saints coniunctly doe also conclude it In all this heauenly action we still see that the example of one prouokes another to prayse God teaching vs our dutie not to be silent when others beside vs are praising the Lord. If we cannot with our mouthes at least let vs with our harts make melodie to the Lord and say Amen to the song of our brethren The Angels ratifie the praises giuen to God by saying Amen This particle is sometime a note of affirmation as when our Sauiour saies Amen Amen I say vnto you all these things shall come vpon this generation that is certainly and without doubt they shall come Sometime againe it is a note of confirmation or comprecation as when the Apostle reproues preaching or praying in an vnknown language he vseth this reason How shall hee that occupies the roome of the vnlearned say Amen at thy giuing of thanks seeing he knowes not what thou saist Of this it is cleare that in the Primitiue Church after preaching and prayer the custome of the people was to say Amen in token that not onely they consented but also wished from God the same good things which hee before had either mentioned in the Preaching or desired in the Prayer But this many of our
though thou hadst them were not able to vphold thee if the Lord in his anger look downe vpon thee A fearfull example hereof we haue in Baltasar the last of the Assyrian Monarches who hauing about him all worldly comforts that the heart of man could craue yet when the Lord wakened his conscience and wrote his doome with three fingers of an hand vpon the wall ouer against him his countenance changed his flesh trembled his knees smote one against the other his spirit was perturbed and none of his comforts could comfort him Sith it is so that we cannot endure to want his creatures farre lesse can we liue if wee want himselfe will we still prouoke the Lord to wrath by our sinnes Are we stronger then hee that any way we should be able to beare the force of his indignation Why then are we not more carefull to make peace with him Thou canst not resist him why wilt thou not bee reconciled with him God giue vs wise and vnderstanding hearts that in time wee may consider of it This plague of famine comes in into the third roome and is not to be limited within any definite time for as the course of the white Horse shall continue to the worlds end so where he is reiected the Black and the Pale shall follow ac-according as it pleaseth the Lord to appoint them Cotterius who assigneth seuen yeares and no more to euery Seale confesseth hee cannot proue that this plague of famine threatned heere should be restrained to seuen yeares onely and so it is indeed for where the red Horse followes the White to persecute the Preachers and Professors of the Gospell it is a righteous thing with God to send in the Blacke and the Pale Horses to plague them They who despise the Bread of Life are iustly punished when bread needfull for the body is taken from them Seek first the Kingdome of heauen all other things shall be ministred vnto you And on the contrary where men will not receiue the Kingdome of God offered vnto them all other things which they would haue shall be taken from them They shall not enioy the comforts of the earth who despise the pleasures of heauen proclaimed and preached by the Gospell The blind world blameth the Gospell most wrongfully as if it were the cause why men are plagued with famine and pestilence but we see the true cause is the persecution and contempt of the Gospell So the Iewes of old ignorantly gloried as the Papists do now that there was wealth enough when they worshipped the Queene of heauen And Infidels in the Primitiue Church imputed Famine Pest and such like to the Christians But heere the true causes of wealth and of want are discouered to vs. And yet still they obiect that Famine and Pestilence cannot be plagues sent vpon the world for contempt of the Gospell because Preachers and Professors of the Gospell are not exempted from them But this is easily answered for good men and euill as in one and the selfe-fame action so also in one and the selfe-fame passion are farre different one from another Cain and Abel sacrificed yet was the one accepted the other reiected their hands wrought alike but not their hearts Iudas said I haue sinned in betraying Christ Peter I haue sinned in denying Christ Alike in confession but not in contrition and confidence Two Malefactors crucified with Christ the one continuing in his sinne blasphemed him the other by grace conuerted from his sinne blessed him There yee haue in like action and like passion an vnlike disposition Quicunque boni malique pariter afflictâ—… sunt non ideo ipsi distincti non sunt quia distinctum non est quod vtrique perpessi sunt manet tamen dissimilitudo passorum etiam in similitudine passionum licet sub eodem tormento non est idem virtus vitium Good and euill men are not therefore not distinguished because it is not distinguished which they suffer There is a great dissimilitude of the sufferers euen in the similitude of suffering and vnder one and the selfe-fame torment yet are not vertue and vice one and the same The same answer before him gaue Cyprian to the Ethnickes when they obiected the like to Christians Thinke not saith he that yee and wee because we both suffer in the like afflictions are therefore alike when we are stricken like you yet are we not like Ne putes participem esse poenae tuae quem non vides participem doloris tui thinke him not partaker of thy punishment whom thou seest not partaker of thy paine Now the Rider on this blacke Horse is said to haue a Ballance in his hand first in token of penurie and scarcity he giues bread vnto men not by measure but by weight which is according to the curse threatned in the Law When I shall break the staffe of your bread then ten women shall bake your bread in one Ouen and they shall deliuer your bread againe by weight and yee shall eate and not bee satisfied A token of great scarcity when in one Ouen as much bread is baked as must serue seuen Families and which yet is worse They shall eat and not be satisfied Secondly the Ballance in the hand of him who brings this plague of Famine notes the equity of God in the execution of his Iudgements hee makes his plagues proportionall to the sinnes of men and in punishing them doth nothing vnrighteously Hitherto tend these borrowed speeches of Lines Measures and Cups vsed in holy Scripture to expresse the moderation and equity of God euen in punishing hee keeps a measure a rule and order But in the execution of mercy it is farre otherwise for our best seruice is not worth the least of his mercies our recompence is not by lines nor measures but as our Sauiour speaketh A good measure pressed downe and shaken together and running ouer shall bee giuen vnto you The Lord shall doe to vs aboundantly aboue all wee can aske or thinke Much more aboue all that we haue done VERSE 6. And I heard a Voice in the midst of the foure liuing creatures say A measure of Wheate for a peny and three measures of Barly for a peny and Oile and Wine hurt thou not NOW followes the exposition of the former Type wherein by a Proclamation from the Throne or the Lamb that sits thereon the plague threatned here is declared to be famine dearth The Choenix in the iudgement of all Interpreters is such a measure of dry corne as might serue to be bread for a day vnto one man The penie againe was the ordinary wages of a common Labourer for a day as is cleere out of the Parable of the Vineyard and those who laboured in it So great then shall the Dearth be that a man labouring all the day long shall be able to gaine no more bread
not be esteemed the greatest good and such euill as godly men suffer should not be esteemed the greatest euill That great good prepared for the godly wicked men shall neuer see it and that great euill prepared for the wicked shall neuer come vpon the godly The last plague threatned here is the plague of deuouring beasts one of God his ordinary iudgements wherby he punisheth the pride of man The creatures are appointed to serue vs yea al of them from the Angell to the creeping worme offers their seruice to vs if wee will serue the Lord our God so hath he promised I will make a couenant for them with the wilde beasts and with the fowle of the heauen and with that which creepeth vpon the earth Otherwise if we rebell against him they are all armed against vs to execute his vengeance vpon vs. This plague of deuouring beasts we shall find threatned in the Law executed also on the idolatrous Samaritans on the disobedient prophet on the two and forty children who mocked Elisha two Beares out of the wood deuoured them And since the time of this Prophecie how God hath punished men by most contemptible beasts see Plinius he records that a towne of Spayne was vndermined by the Conies another in Thessalia by the Modewart a towne in France oppressed with Paddocks they forced the inhabitants to forsake their own houses and in Gyaro a Citie in the I le of the Ciclades the inhabitants were so persecuted with the Mice that they were also faine to leaue it Thus can the Lord by his basest creatures abase the high and lofty conceits of men Now to conclude these first foure seales this is to be obserued there is one thing which God offreth and the world will not receiue it there are three things for this that the world would haue and God will not giue them The Lord offers by the ministery of his Gospel mercy and grace this is one thing and yet such a one as hath all needfull things following it but the worldly sort careth not for it Instead of it three things they seek 1. Outward peace 2. Worldly wealth 3. Bodily health But none of these three shall they enioy They will not accept of peace offred from heauen and the Lord takes from them the peace of the earth they disdaine and lothe the bread of life and God takes from them the bread of corne they care not for the health of their soule and the Lord takes from them the health of their bodies Let vs be wise and welcome the first message for they who despise it multiply sorrowes vpon themselues VERSE 9. And when hee had opened the fift seale I saw vnder the Altar the soules of them that were killed for the Word of God and for the testimony which they maintained BEcause both good men and euill are inuolued in the same externall calamities the sword famine and pestilence which are sent vpon the wicked ouertakes also many a time the children of God therefore for their comfort their happy state after this life is here discouered by the opening of this seale and a difference is declared between their death and the death of the wicked euen when their death to the iudgement of man seemeth to be one for where Hell followes the death of the one the other by the same death are transported to a blessed fellowship with Christ in heauen I saw the soules Hee saw not this sight with his naturall eyes his bodily senses at this time were suspended and he was rauished in the Spirit and by it he saw this sight A strange maner of speech that a soule should see soules yet comparing this sight with the sight vvhich Saint Paul saw vvhen he was rauished to the third Heauen it teacheth vs that there is a sight vvhich Saints out of the bodie haue of GOD and a mutuall sight also vvhereby soules know one another which wee are not able to conceiue nor know till we learne it by experience It is commonly asked by many vvhether if or not vve shall know one another in heauen but it were better for vs all carefully to purge our hearts in time and prepare them for that sight Blessed are the pure in spirit for they shall see God and Whosoeuer hath this hope in him purges himselfe as God is pure Let it be an answer to vs all which Photinus Bishop of Lyons gaue to the Proconsull when hee demaunded who God was the other answered Et tu si dignus fueris videbis Thou if thou bee meet for it shalt see who he is Adam was sleeping when God formed Euah of a ribbe of his side hee knew it not but when he wakened incontinent he knew her albeit none informed him what she was This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh and in the transfiguration wherein our Lord gaue to his disciples a glance of the glory to come Peter Iames and Iohn knew Moses and Elias whom they had neuer seene before By these examples learned Diuines haue beene induced to thinke that Saints shall know other in Heauen yea Adam Abraham and that blessed fellowship of Patriarchs and Prophets shall not be vnknowne to vs. The Lord shall let vs want nothing that may increase our ioy yet so that our knowledge shall be without all carnall affection and all our ioy shall euer be in God the fountaine and Father of mercy to them and vs also Alway here we haue an euident argument for the immortality of the soule it dyes not with the body it sleepes not but liues without the body a blessed life albeit not perfit without it Yea euen when it is in the body to giue life vnto it we may perceiue by experience that it hath a life of it owne without it for when the body is asleep and lyes vnder the shadow of death and all the senses thereof are suspended from their naturall functions the soule hath its owne liuely operation meditation and discoursing And sith so is that Connexa corpori extra corpus viuit when it is knit to the body it liueth without the body why shall we doubt but that when it is dissolued and separate from the body it shall still liue by it selfe The place wherein he sees them is noted to be Vnder the Altar by which the Iesuit Viega wandring cleane frō the truth vnderstands the places where the bodies of Martyrs lye buried It contents him not to haue their superstitious Altars honoured with the bones or reliques of Martyrs he will haue their soules there also at least comming to it when they are inuocated and called vpon But this Altar is called in the next verse A place of their rest or residence from which they haue not a going nor a returning againe vnto it But to leaue such Doctors with their doting dreams this altar
Corn 〈◊〉 Bitâ—…n in 〈◊〉 Trident. The South Church a famous Church albeit no Romane Christian Churches in the North East such like The reformed Churches of Europe are not Romane yet neither new nor Hereticall See Fulke on the Reuel c. 17 Standing of Saints noteth two things 1 Their stability in glory 2 Their gracious acceptance and fauour which they haue of God Esay 28. 5. The white Robe noreth first their purity Ephe. 5. 25 26 27. Reâ—… 14. 5. Secondly their immortality and glory Gregor in Psal. Aug. scr 11. de Saâ—…ct Godâ—… Spirit borrowes similitudes from most excellent things in Nature Linum asbestiâ—…um A rare sort of linnen recorded by Panâ—…irol Pancirol And by Plinius also Plin. lib. 19. c. 1. Palme Tree a signe of victorie Gregor hom 17. in Ezech. Aul. Gell. nâ—…ct Attic. li. 3. ca. 6. Plin. lib. 13. c. 4. lib. 16. c. 24. Christians are made stronger by afflictions Rom. 8. An. bâ—…os epist. lib. 2. epist. 7. ad Sâ—…plicianum The Palme is not without the white garment 2. Tim. 2. 5. And victorie comes not without fighâ—… in a good conscience Ver. 6. Reu. 21. 27. In their thankesgiuing see first the manner next the matter Praises of God should be with feruencie Prayers lowd not for the voice but the affection Aug. ad ProbaÌ„ Amb. sâ—…r 46. de poenit Pet. In prayer teares ate better then talk Leuit. 6. The heart must bee the Altar of Burnt Offering before it can be the Altar of Incense 3 Their variety with vnity makes a pleasant harmonie Aug. in Psal. 148. All the glory of saluation Saints ascribe to the Lord. Popish Hymns are discordant from the song of Saints 1. Cor. 11. 19. Song of Saints is seconded by Angels The comely comfortable order of the Court of heauen Angels stand and neuer fell Man fell and of mercy irraised vp againe to stand Iude 6. 2. Pet. 2. 4. Ephes. 1. 6. Bodily humiliation required in Diuine worship The practice of S. Iames in prayer Chrysost. in Mat. hom 5. Worship belongs to God onely Angels approue the Song of Saints Papists account vs heretiques for singing with Angels and Saints Not enough to heare God praised by others thou must also by thy selfe praise him Sith Angels giue God thankes for our saluation much more should we giue thankes for our owne Luke 15. 7. Babbling in prayer reproued Eccles. 5. 1. How and why God is said to demand any thing Gen. 3. 9. Gen. 4. 10. Most heauenly and holy creatures are most humble 2. Cor. 5. 7. 2. Cor. 3. 18. Psal. 25. 9. Conceite of knowledge a sore enemie to knowledge Glorified Saints are indeed Kings and Lords Rom. 8. How the Lord speakes to a soule Carthus This cannot be vnderstood of Militant Saints they are not yet come out of tribulation Iob. 5. 7. Neither can it be meant of Martyrs onely Primas in Apoc. How the Court of heauen encreases continually Ioh. 14. By the crosse God brings his children to the crowne Tribulation coÌ„pared to the surâ—…ace of Aegypt and Nebuchadnezzar his ouen How it is the Lords Flayle and his Wine-presse Primas in Apoc. Tribulation as it hath an ingate so it hath an outgate Psal. 34. 19. After the bitter station of Marah commeth a sweetâ—… station in Helim Tribulation of Saints is measured by the Lord. Iob. 28. 25. Psal. 89. 9. Patience in in affliction recommended Man by nature two waies is vncleane 1 In respect of conception Psal. 51. 5. Iob 14. 4. Ezec. 16. 6 8 9. 2 In respect of conuersation Prou. 20. 9. Zach. 12. Sin is a lothsome vncleannesse Leuit. 13. 27. 39 Esay 64. 6. Delicate men can abide no vncleannesse in any thing that serues them And yet are not gricued to carry an vncleane soule Reuel 21. 27. Ioh. 13. 8 9. Threefold washing needfull for vs 1. of the feet 2. of the head 3. of the hands Felicity of man beginnes at the forgiuenesse of sinnes Nazi orat 26. in plagam grandâ—…s Psal. 32. 1. How Saints are said to wash themselues Psal. 51. 2. Phil. 2. 12. In all the work of saluation we must be doers Acts 3. Acts 16. God is the principall worker of our saluation Phil. 2. 13. Hereby wee know that he is working our saluation when he worketh in vs both the will and the deede Mal. 2. 15. What neede haue the robes of Saints of washing sith Christ is their garmenâ—… Rom. 13. Our impured righteousnesse needes no washing but the inherent onely Rom. â—… 3. Christians are all Lambes Mat. 10. Ioh. 1. 9. But Christ is a Lambe in another sense Aug. in Ioan. tract 7. Ibid. The bloud of Christ is medicinall to them who shed it Act. 2. 36 4. Aug. in Ioan. tract 92. How all the workes of our redemption are wonderful Aug. de verb. Apostoli Ser. 8. Other bloud desiles the bloud of Christ cleanseth Esay 1. 18. Thâ—… sprinkling of his bloud is spirituall Heb. 10. Papall purgations are filthy pollutions Ier. 2. 22. 1. Iohn 1. 7. Purgatorie expurgat out of the Bible by the Fathers Optat. Milcuiâ—…inus Macar hom 22. Cyprian ad Deâ—… Câ—…p-Ser de immort Aug. in Ioan. Tract 49. Chrysost. hom 2. de â—…azaro Christs bloud hath a threefold vertue 1 A purging vertue 2 A protecting vertue 3 A pacifying vertue Rom. 5. Heb. 12. 24. Felicitie of Saints glorified is two waies described 1 They haue aboundance of all good 2 They haue deliuerance from all euill Three things touched concerning Saints glorified Why this can not bee vnderstood of any state of the Church here on earth Mat. 5. 6. A warning to presumptuous professors Life of the godly and wicked haue different courses and different ends Psal. 1. Without sanctification we cannot stand before the Lord. Gen. 41. 14. Hest. 2. 12. A threefold presence of God 1 A presence of his goodnesse this is granted to all men Mat. 5. 45. Rom. 1. 20. Aug. de ciu Dei lib. 8. ca. 6. Rom. 1. â—…1 â—… A presence of his grace this is granted to none but his Saints Psal. 85. 9. Ezech. 11. 16. And that especially in the holy asseâ—…blies Psal. 42. 2 4. 3 A presence of his glory granted to Saints in heauen Psal. 84. 11. Psal. 16. 10 11. Psal. 36. 7 8 9. There are riuers of pleasure flowing from an euerlasting fountaine 1. Kings 10. 8. Psal. 84. 4. Exercise of Saints glorified is to serue God without intermission Aug. ser. 11. dâ—… Sanct. No change neither of time nor state in heauen Their seruice is sweet no way laborious Aug. Ibid. Carthus Seruants of God are most honorable creâ—…turos Act. 9. 15. For hee is a King a freeman who is Gods seruant Psal. â—… A seruant of seruants is he who is not a seruant of God Ambros. The seruant of sin desires not to change his Master He gets no leaue to rest him Aug. in Ioan. tract 41. And hee may look for a miserable reward Familiarity with God encreases a reuerence of God Ioh. 15. 15. Ioh. 8. 25. How are Saints said to serue God for euer seeing Christ said that seruants abides not in the house for euer Aug. in Ioan. tract 41. They are in such sort seruants that they are also sonnes Ibid. Ioh. 8. 36. The reward of Saints is that God dwels among them Where Kings dwell there is aboundance of all good that is in the Kingdome Est. 1. 4 5. The Banquet made by King Ahasuerus was very glorious But not comparable to the Banquet which the Lord shall make to his Saints How God dwelleth with his Saints on earth 2. Cor. 6. 16. Carthus How he dwelleth with his Saints in heauen The good of all seruice that Saints make to God redoundeth to themselues Psal. 16. 1. 1. Chro. 29. 14 Iob 22. Our seruice is not profitable to the Lord and can doâ—… him no good Iob 35. 6. Yet hee seekes it that hee may doe vs good for it Mal. 1. 10. Felicity of Saints still described Many are the wants and miseries of this life 2. Cor. 11. 37. â—… Cor. 6. 4. Rom. 8. 35. But they all take an end at death Aug. in fesâ—…o â—…mnium Sanct. ser. 37. Aug. ad frat in eâ—…mo ser. 49. The vanity of this present life wherein may it be perceiued All our life is but a course of exchaÌ„ges like the Sea and Sunne Aug. dâ—… temp sâ—… 74. The life to come is not so Ephes. 5. 15. Sun here signifies not heat of persecutioÌ„ Saints glorified feele neyther the commodity nor incommodity of the creature Reuel 21. 23. Aug. in sesto omniâ—… Sanct. sâ—…r 37 Heat of the Sun hurtfull to many people In that life we shall need no helpe of the creature for God shall be al in all vnto vs. Aug. 〈◊〉 Dei lib. 10. 〈◊〉 28. Aug. Sâ—… 4. What a Pastor Christ Iesus is He hath none in his Flocke but Lambes Gen. 50. Act. 9. 1. Yea hee turneth Wolues and Lyons makes them Lambes Ioyes of heauen figured by water Ioh. 4. 14. Ioh. 10. 10. Psal. 36. Reuel 22. 1. How God shall leade vs in heauen we cannot now vnderstand Psal. 43. 3. Ber. in Cant. sâ—…r 47. A comfortable change of our state from misery to immortall glory 2. Cor. 1. 15. The glorious change of Saints in the life to come illustrated by similitudes Ber. Ser. de diligendo Deum Mourning here is meetest for Saints Math. 5. 4. Mourning for sin pleases the Lord. Psalm 6. What great cause of mourning haue we Ber. in cap. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Hardnes of heart the Mother-sinne of this age Gen. 4. The heart of man would be laboured continually Life to come should be longed for Psal. 137. Folly to neglect the life to come for loue of this Basil. Ser. 3. in diuitâ—…s auaros