this Ecclesia sticall Witnesse and the Key that shutteth the Gate and the Windows of Heaven that the rain of grace and the comforts and consolations of Gods word cannot fall on such a person so long as he continueth in that excommunicate condition And as God hath given unto Moses power by his Rod to turn the Rivers and all the waters of Egypt into blood and to bring all the other Plagues that were brought upon Pharaoh and upon all the Land of Egypt The extent of the power of the witnesses for their obstinate refusall to let Israel go to serve the Lord So he hath given unto his Kings a power and a Sword that is signified by Moses his Rod to punish and to draw blood even the hearts blood of such wicked offendors as will be like Pharaoh rebellious and obstinate against the Commandements of God And herein you may observe the extent of their power which he granted unto them that is to smite the Earth but not the Heaven with all Plagues and that is to punish the earthly and worldly minded men that are wicked and do follow after the vanities impieties and iniquities of this sinful life but not the godly men whose conversation is in Heaven and which are obedient to the Lawes of God and man with fines mulcts imprisonments banishments and death it self for if they smite the Heaven that is the righteous and the innocent with any of these Plagues that power is not given them from God but from the Dragon that is the Devill gives it them Revel 13 2. as the Apostle sheweth And so you see the powers and the abilities that God hath given to these his two witnesses the King and the Bishop the Civill and the Ecclesiasticall Governours of his People the one exercising his power in the Church with the word of his mouth and the other in the Commonwealth with the Sword in his hand And for the time The time that the two Witnesses shall continue to prophesie c. 11. v. 3. Fran. Jun. in loc Ezek. 4.6 Dan. 9.24 Numb 14. v. 34. Mat. 3.2 Luc. 3.3 that these two Witnesses shall quietly and peaceably execute their Offices and Prophesie that is discharge their Duties to govern the Commonwealth and to build up the Church of Christ the Angell saith it shall be 1200 and 60 dayes cloathed in Sackcloath and that is as Junius here and divers others do rightly take a day for a year 1200 and 60 yeares as they do collect out of Ezekiel and Daniel and other places of Scripture where under the number of so many dayes as are expressed so many years are to be understood And so we find that with the favour and under the protection of Christian Emperors and Godly Kings the Orthodox Bishops and true Pastors and Preachers of the Gospel of Christ did freely without fear publish the Doctrine of faith and repentance which was the Doctrine of John Baptist and the Doctrine that Christ continued to preach and commanded his Apostles in like manner to preach the same unto the people and which I take to be signified by their Cloathing in Sackcloth in their so conforming themselves unto their Doctrine as John Baptist did Mat. 3.4 cloathing himself in a Garment of Camells hair and a girdle of Leather about his loines and not mourning for the pollution of the true Church which during the time of their Prophesie was not polluted as Mr. Mede and others do suppose but Mr. Mede part 2. p. 7 8. as I conceive much amiss that we should think the true Church was or that God would suffer his true Church to be so long polluted for the full space of 1200 and 60. years before the persecution of the Antichrist should begin or that his persecution should last so long And that is if you begin to account not as Junius would have it Junius in annotat in loc immediately after the passion of Christ because this power of free publishing the Doctrine of repentance was not yet given them while they were prohibited and persecuted from place to place for preaching the Gospel of Christ but it was given them after the end and determination of the ten former persecutions of the Church by the Heathen Tyrants and after the other storms and afflictions that were raised against them by the meanes and procurement of the Arian Hereticks and were as violently prosecuted by Constantius and other Arian Kings of the Gothes and Vandalls as the persecution of the Heathen Emperours as the life of Athanasius and the story of the Church doth sufficiently testifie when the Church was setled and established in peace and quietness and the governing Bishops freely permitted and royally protected by the Christian Kings and Emperours to preach the faith of Christ and to exhort their people to repentance from dead works yea and to injoyn the transgressors to repent in Sackcloth and to abhorre themselves and their former courses in dust and ashes And this was not The time when the two witnesses received their full power to prophesie about the year 382. till after the death of Valens which was about the year of Christ 382. When Theodosius had vanquished the Huns and the Gothes and the rest of those boysterous Northern enemies of the Empire that exceedingly troubled and brought infinite crosses and molestations not much inferiour if not some wayes worse then the Heathen persecutions upon the Church as you may easily find in those excellent Books of St. August de civitate Dei and others the Ecclesiasticall Writers of those times And from this suppression of those fierce and cruel enemies both of the Orthodox Church and the Roman Empire which was as I said about the year 382. to the beginning of the long Parliament we shall find about the summe of 1200. and 60 years When the time of their prophesying in Sackcloth was ended throughout all which time the true Orthodox Bishops the one of the two witnesses of Gods truth in all the Christian Kingdoms as Spain France Germany Ingland Scotland Ireland and the rest had full power and free liberty to preach the Doctrine of faith and to injoyn penance unto their people and they were not onely protected from the wrongs violence and malice of all their opposers About the year 1642. but they were also assisted to reduce all transgressors to repentance as above all other times in these Kingdoms that are best known unto us the happy Reign of Queen Elizabeth King James and King Charles can sufficiently justifie this truth unto you and the Christian Kings and Princes that were the other witness of Gods truth and the nursing Fathers of the Church were through the faithfull preaching of Gods word and the strict and godly Discipline of the Church most loyally obeyed and religiously observed as they ought to be in all the Christian Kingdoms and so both the witnesses by their mutuall helping and assisting one another were throughly strengthned
of that is such a rebellion as Corah Dathan and Abiram stirred up against Moses and Aaron and such a discession and falling away from the true faith and the right service of God which they formerly professed as neither leaves the fundamentals of Christian Religion undigged up or unshaken nor the appearance of a true visible Church among the people For that all the people of Ingland were very faithfull and loyal Subjects and most respectively obedient unto their Governors both their Kings and their Bishops That the people of Ingland were good subjects true believers and right worshippers of God during all the raign of Q. Elizabeth King James and many years of King Charles as any Nation under heaven I think I do verily believe no man can justly deny So likewise that all the subordinate Clergy did ex animo subscribe and unfainedly profess to uphold and maintain the 39 Articles of the Church of Ingland and the established Discipline thereof and did accordingly for well nigh a century of years use to teach the people to believe that Doctrine and to observe that discipline as the true Christian Faith and the right Government that Christ and his Apostles for the preservation of that faith hath left unto his Church and also that the people and Congregations throughout all this Kingdome had the true faith preached unto them and the right service of God the 3 authentick Creeds repeated the Lords Prayer used the 10 Commandments published the 2 blessed Sacraments administred and all the other prayers and service of God that the Governors of Gods Church prescribed were observed practised and professed by them I am very sure and consident hereof and I believe no man will gainsay the same And therefore this Church had and did profess the true faith and Doctrine of Christ and did use to serve God rightly and to be obedient to their Governors both Magistrates and Ministers for many years according to the form prescribed unto them And you may remember how you read in Revel 6.9 that the soules which S. John saw under the altar and cryed to God to avenge their blood on them that dwell on the earth are said to be slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held and why I pray you doth the holy Ghost make such a distinction betwixt the word of God and the testimony which they held but to shew unto us that these soules had collected out of the Bible which containeth all the word of God the chiefest heads and points that are to be known believed and practiced for the true worship of God and their own Salvation and so compiled an abstract of Gods word into another book which is here called their testimony and that is the communion Book or Book of Common-prayer and publick service of God which is sometimes called the Book of life Revel 22.19 and ch 20.21 as Revel 20.12 and Revel 22.19 where you may observe how mention is there made of 2 special Books and the one is termed the book of this prophesie which is the word of God and the other is termed the book of life because the sum and the substance of all that is in the Bible which is the word of God and which is necessary to attain unto Eternal life is contained in this book of their testimony for which book and the constant practice of Gods service according to this book as well as for the other book of the word of God those faithfull soules were slain and it is well known the Presbyâ—erians caused the Parliament to destroy us for the testimony that we held of these Books but the Answer that God gives unto these slaughtered soules may serve for a sufficient comfort unto us yet this gives occasion to demand Whether the prevalent faction of the long Parliament and their adherents the Sectaries of these 3 Kingdomes have not hereby resisted their Governors whom formerly they had so religiously observed and rebelled warred killed and beheaded both Moses and Aaron that is the supreme Magistrate and the chief Priest I leave it for my Reader to determine And whether the Assembly of Divines at Westminster and all their followers and Adherents contrary to their former oathes practices and profession have not generally apostatized and totally relapsed and fallen away from the most essential and most material points of our Christian Religion and from all the right service of God which themselves formerly taught and observed and have led their Congregations after them to the same apostasie let the observers of our new teachers what Doctrines are now taught and what service is now used in every Church judg hereof For I read it in Arise Evans Arise Evans in his Voice from heaven pag. 15. that you may easily finde it every foolish man gets up into the Pulpit and poureth out his folly and so now the false Christs and false Prophets do appear for the Independant saith here is Christ the Presbyterian saith loe here is Christ but the Anabaptist saith no he is not amongst you but here is Christ with us 1 Cor. 1.13 and so all the other Sectaries crie and have as the Apostle saith divided Christ And you may consider what Tilenus saith Vetus Ecclesia primis temporibus solo Apostolorum quod vocant symbolo ex sacris literis excerpto contenta erat The ancient Church in the first times was contented only with that faith which they call the Aposties Creed that is taken out of the holy Srciptures this was the faith of the Christians in the Apostles time and this was the sun and the substance and the abstract of all the whole Scripture for so much as concerned the saving faith and this faith contained in this Creed is the Faith of Gods elect and sufficient to save all the elect people of God though afterwards for the suppression of those Hereticks that sprang up to corrupt the same formulam illam per novas formulas ex iisdem sacris litteris collectas luculentius copiosius explicuerunt episcopi The Bishops and he saith not the Presbyters did more fully and more clearly out of the same sacred Scriptures explain that form of faith by other new formes as the point in question Tilenus exegesis pag. 57. aphoris 169. and controverted by the Hereticks did require as First in the Council of Nice then in the Constantinopolitan after in the Ephesine and at length in the Chalcedon Council And the whole Catholique Church and all the particular Churches of God the Greek Church and the Latine Church and every other particular national Church of the world have ever professed to observe and to retain this form of faith thus left to us by the Apostles and thus explained by the reverend and godly Bishops in these Councills and never to discede from the same And yet now That our new Preachers have and do recede from the true faith and the right service of
the Civill State decayed and the Power of the Emperors was so usurped and transferred unto the Pope because this Power which they now unjustly exercise was the just Power of the Emperor and of other Kings whom the Pope and his Cardinalls subjected Volater l 22. Authropolog in Alexand. 3. Hoveden Math. Paris in Reg. Joh. ursburgens in Fred. 1. as the Histories do relate unto themselves Sol. I answer that the Holy Ghost meaneth not that this second Beast took away and usurped the Power and Authority of the first Beast but did all Acts and exercised all his jurisdiction and his function by vertue of the power and under the protection and the countenance that he received by and from the authority of the first beast as the Sheriff exerciseth the power of the King for the service of the King for so the words do plainly intimate that this two horned Beast exercised the Power of the former beast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the presence of him or before him that is for the service and to the use and behoofe of the former Beast because that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In conspectu Jehovae saith Tremelius 1 Sam. 2.18 is here equivalent to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the dative case as when it is said that Samuell was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ministring in the presence of the Lord or before the Lord it signifieth as it is also expressed Cap. 3. 1. that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ministring to the Lord so this second Beast exercised all the Power of the first Beast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the use service and setting forward the practises and designes of the first Beast and this appeareth very cleare from the words immediately following in that this second Beast causeth the Earth and them that dwell therein 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cap. 13.12 that they should worship the first Beast that is not to ascribe any Divine Honor but to submit themselves to obey and to serve and assist the first Beast And we know the Pope and his Cardinalls and so all the Roman Clergy That the Bishop of Rome and his Clergy cannot be meant by the second Beast cause all the Rulers of the Earth and all the Iuhabitants thereof to worship Honour and serve themselves as those that are most worthy of Honour for the care that they take to save the soules of the people rather and before the other Beast that is the Civill Magistrate which careth onely for our Temporall estates and the things of this present life and therefore deserves not so much worship as the other that by the Testimony of the Apostle are worthyer of double Honour because they labour to bring us to eternall life in which respect we find how the Popes exacted Platâ—na in vita ejus French Epit. p. 93. and required the greatest Kings and Emperors to serve and to worship them as Gregory the third did to Leo Iconomachus Gregory the seventh to Henry the fourth Pope Zachary the first to Childerick King of France Allexander the third to Frederick Barbarossa Celestine the third to Henry the sixth Speed in the life of King John Hoveden Annal p. 2. sub Rich. 1. Innocent to King John Adrian the fourth that made the Emperor to hold his stirrop and the like that you may find in the Annalls and the lives of the Kings and the Emperors and therefore questionless the Pope Cardinalls and Clergy of Rome cannot be understood by this second Beast But all that is here specified and spoken of the second Beast The Parallel That the Assembly of Presbyterians and the Independant and Lay Preachers of the Parliament are the second Beast and the false Prophet doth in every particular point agree and most aptly cohere with the Parliaments Heterâ—geniall and Laâ—dicean Assembly of Divines that sat at Westminster together with their dispersed Disciples wheresoever inhabiting within these Kingdomes and with the swarme of Independant and Lay-Preachers that sprang up since the beginning of that Parliament for these Presbyterian Divines that contrary to their Oathes contrary to the Commands of their King and contrary to their Faith given in the presence of God and in Gods House when they were admitted to Holy Orders and the rest of the Independant and Lay-Preachers have as the Text saith exercised all the Power of the Parliament they sat in Westminster under the wings of the Parliament and with the rest of their Associates wheresoever dispersed trusting to the Power and Protection of the Parliament they Preached Consulted and Determined all things by the Power and Authority and for the service and advancement and behoofe of the Parliament for the overthrowing of the King See also what the Author of the last Will and Testament of Sir John Presbyter saith Edwards in his Gangraena p. 26. the rooting out of the Bishops and the utter defacing of Gods Church And I think all the people of this Land knoweth this to be so true that I need not use any argument to confirm it and so the Independant Sectaries do avouch that the Presbyterian Government is the false Prophet and the Beast here spoken of and the third part of the great Citty Revel 16.19 and on the other side the proud Presbyterians do as confidently aver that the Independants and Lay-Preachers are this Beast and so Clodius accusat moechum Catelina Caethegum and I out of their own mouthes will take it pro confesso and conclude them both to be partes constitutivas the chiefest constituting parts that make up the second Beast That the false Prophet is three foldâ— and the false Prophet And this false Prophet is like the three-headed Cerberus consisting of three speciall branches or three sort of Preachers 1. The Presbyterians And to begin with the last 2. The Independants And to begin with the last 3. The Lay Preachers And to begin with the last 1. The Lay Preachers may rightly be said to be one of the heads of Cerberus and the false Prophet in two speciall respects 1. In respect of his eutrance into his Office 2. In respect of his ignorance to discharge the duties of his Office For 1. 1. The Lay Preacher a false Prophet in two respects 1. His unjust entrance Malach. 2.7 that the Priest is the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts and the Apostle tells us that no man taketh this Honour unto himselfe that is to be a Messenger and an Embassador sent from God but he that is called of God as was Aaron and how was Aaron called First by the inward inspiration of Gods Spirit Secondly least he should be mistaken in the inspiration of the Spirit because there are many spirits by the appointment and Ordination of Moses that had his Authority from God to approve of his Vocation and to confirm him in his Priestly Office thus was Aaron called and yet more then this Heb. 5.4 the Apostle saith that Christ himself who is the
wholly submit my self to thy blessed will and praise thee for the same while I live And for mine endeavours to explain those mysteries which thou hast revealed unto thy servant John I do most humbly and most earnestly entreat thee to inspire me with thy blessed Spirit and enlighten me with thy grace that I may truly understand them rightly explain them unto thy people and if thou seest it for thy glory and the benefit of thy Church I pray thee help and assist me strengthen and enable me to finish the same and to publish them unto the world or if thou seest it not for thy glory and the benefit of thy Church I beseech thee let them be like the unntmely fruit of a woman that perisheth before it seeth the Sun because I desire nothing hereby neither praise nor profit but onely to discharge my duty to the uttermost of mine ability for the setting forth of thy praise and glory and the benefit of thy Church and people by reducing those that are in errour unto the true faith and the right service of thee O God and confirming those that are in the right to continue constant therein unto the end And to this end I beseech thee to restore our King and Governour and all the exiled persons that are with him unto their places and dignities again that they may be the instruments whereby thy service may be rectified thy people truly instructed and thy name religiously glorified by the acknowledgement of thy justice in our punishment for our transgressions thy great mercy and goodnesse in relieving and helping us in our necessities and thine infinite power wisdome and goodnesse in suppressing our enemies and delivering us out of their hands that we might serve thee without fear in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of our life Hear us O Lord our God and grant these our requests unto us and whatsoever else thou knowest to be requisite and necessary for us for Jesus Christ his sake and dispose of me to do all things according to thy most holy and blessed will so shall I praise and glorifie thee for ever and ever Amen TO THE KINGS Most Excellent MAJESTY May it please your Majesty MY present mean condition bids me to lay my hand upon my mouth to stop my speech to so high a Majesty but my place and calling chargeth me to tell you what you have best reason to know how the long Parliament have put your most religious and renowned Father of ever blessed memory to death the first and chiefest of the two witnesses of Jesus Christ which as the Angel saith the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomlesse pit should kill And now according to his promise God hath raised this first witnesse in your Majesty to stretch forth your royall hand to the other witness and as Christ said unto S. Peter Tu conversus confirma fratres so your Majesty being risen it is our undoubted hope you will put life into the other slain witnesse of Jesus Christ and like another good Josias purge the Church from all false Priests and restore the Episcopal government to its pristine lustre for the building of Gods Church And the good will of him that dwelt in the bush and walked with your Majesty in all your travels will dwell with you and blesse you and preserve you from all dangers for he tells us plainly that he will honour them that honour him and they that honour not him shall be lightly regarded And therefore I could wish that all the Monarchs of the world would consider Davids entrance into his kingdom and Jeroboams entrance into his kingdom how like one another almost they were in all things for 1. 1 Sam. 16. David is said to be the son of Jesse none as I conceive of the prime Princes of Israel 1 Reg 11.26 and Jeroboam is said to be the son of Nebat and to be a mighty man of valour and of an eminent place in King Solomons Court 2. 1 Sam. 16.13 The Prophet Samuel told David that he should be King 2 Reg. 11.31 and the Prophet Ahijah told Jeroboam that God would make him King 3. 1 Chron. 17.23 The Lord told David that he would build him an house and settle the throne on his seed 2 Reg. 11.38 and the Lord told Jeroboam that if he would walk in his wayes he would build him a sure house and would be with him and would give Israel unto him 4. 1 Sam. 13.14 The kingdom was transferred unto David for the disobedience of Saul 1 Reg. 11.12 and the kingdome was conferred upon Jeroboam for the sin of Solomon 5. 2 Sam. 4.7 David took away the kingdom from Ishbosheth the son of Saul and Jeroboam took away his kingdom from Rehoboam the son of Solomon 2 Reg. 12.20 6. David was elected and chosen to be their King by all the tribes of Israel in Hebron 2 Sam. 5.1 1 Chron. 11.1 and Jeroboam was elected and chosen to be their King by all the ten tribes of Israel and the Prophet forbad Rehoboam and all Juda to war against Jeroboam for their revolt 1 Reg 21.20 v. â—4 because this thing was from the Lord. 7. 2 Sam. 17.8 David was a mighty man of war and so was Jeroboam a mighty man of valour 1 Reg. 11.28 But you may observe this difference betwixt David and Jeroboam that David had many wives and concubines which we do not read that Jeroboam had and David committed more personal and particular sins as his adultry and the murdering of Urias and the numbring of Israel and his rash judgement against honest Mephibosheth then we find in all the 22. years reign of Jeroboam And yet David hath this Elogie and commendation to be a man according to Gods own heart and God hath setled and established his kingdom and his throne to him and his seed for ever but Jeroboam is said to have made Israel to sin and the Prophet told his wife that the Lord would bring evill upon the house of Jeroboam and would take away the remnant of his house as a man taketh away the dung till it be all gone 1 Reg. 14.10 And what is the reason of all this that David who seemed to be more vitious and tainted with more sins then Jeroboam was should notwithstanding be so perpetually blessed and the other so severely and so suddenly punished It may be answered that although David had as well as other men many humane frailties wherein it cannot be said he was according to Gods own heart yet his principal care was and his heart was wholly set to see the true God rightly honoured and his service to be duly and truly performed as you may find how zealous he was to bring the Ark of God and to set it in his place in the midst of his Tabernacle that he had pitched for it and to offer burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before the Lord and how
desirous did he shew himself to build God a Temple and notwithstanding all his great affaires and his many and mighty wars and abundance of troubles how he composed his Psalmes and directed them to the chief Musicians Asaph Altaschith Jeduthun and the rest and ordered the Priests and Levites to discharge the service of God and of the Tabernacle according as the Lord had commanded the same to be observed by his servant Moses So careful was he at all times and before all things to have the service of God rightly and duly performed And therefore herein he is said to be a man according to Gods own heart and God blessed him and established him and his seed in his throne for ever But Jeroboam though perhaps he was freer and more abstemious from many other sins then either David himself or many other men were and it may be a very just morall man yet when he came into his kingdom he wholly neglected to see the Lords service truly executed and out of a politick conceit as he conceived to secure himself and his posterity in his newly gotten power and authority he cast out the Priests of the Lord the sons of Aaron that were the lawfull Governours and the true servers of God and gathered together a company of novices and young fellowes the lowest and basest of the people that were not of the sonnes of Aaron and that for some small preferment would both say and do whatsoever he pleased and serve what god soever he commanded and with what service soever he liked he made them Priests of his high places to offer sacrifices to his golden gods And therefore is he said to make Israel to sin and God soon rooted him and his posterity out of that kingdom that God had given unto him And so he can do with all those Kings and Monarchs whatsoever they be that by their timorous conniving with Sects or a popular favouring either the greater part or the stronger side do think it the most politick course to be securely established and so suffer the service of God to be either neglected or perverted and the faithfull Governours of his Church to be suppressed through the impetuous importunity of aspiring emulators or the clamorous desire of ignorant vulgars whereas the best policy in the world to preserve them is to be men of courage to uphold the true service of God this fortitude being a vertue most necessary both for the Prince and the Preacher quia timiditas eorum est calamitas multorum because their fear will become the fall of many when the one dares not say the truth and the other will not do what is just or will do what is unjust for very fear whereas the upholding of Gods right service is able to uphold them against all opponents And therefore that the true service of God might be preserved uncorrupted and unchanged by all Kings and Monarchs which is the chiefest thing that God requireth at their hands and is the principal thing that can preserve them in their Majesty and perpetuate the same unto their posterity it is most requisite they should be very carefull in the choice of their spiritual teachers and guides to direct them for the preservation of the true worship of God for we know the Arian Bishops made Constantius an Arian Emperour and the Priests of Baal made Ahab and Jezabell so zealously affected to the service of Baal and so the Popish Priests make Papists and the Run-a-gadoes out of the Church do when they return make Sects and Factions in the Church and therefore as it had been good for Ahab if he would have hearkened to Elias and Micaiah as he did to the Priests of Baal and good for Constantius if he had as well favoured the Orthodox as he did the Heterodox and Arian Bishops so it will be good and the best course to guide all Kings Monarchs and Governours of the people for the setling of the true service of God to give ear unto and to countenance those who are appointed by God to direct them in Gods service rather then to any others for the grave and reverend Governours of the Church are like the discreet Counsellours of King Solomon and will advise them not to listen nor to relie so much upon the directions of any novices which may prove like the counsel of those young favourites of Rehoboam Thus I have freely exprest my mind to your Majesty so plain that he which runs may read it and reading it may easily understand it and I humbly beseech you to bear with my plain dealing for though it behoves not us to polupragmatize in things that are beyond our line and without the compasse of our calling and to intermeddle with the civil Government yet as John the Baptist told Herod of his duty to God so it behoveth us with the spirit of Elias to inform our Kings our Governours how they should uphold Gods service or if we neglect the same for fear of their displeasure we shall make our selves liable to the displeasure of God Almighty and so as Lucian saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shunning the smoak of mans anger we shall fall into the fire of Gods fury or as Job saith timentes pruinam opprimemur à nive that is as Saint Gregory moralizeth it by fearing the frost of mans hatred which we might tread under our feet we shall be oppressed and swallowed up with the snow of Gods vengeance that falleth down from heaven upon our heads and we cannot avoid it And therefore as Saint Clemens saith quae vobis expedire novimus tacere non possumus we must needs tell you what we conceive makes for your hapinesse so I humbly beseech your Majesty to raise the slain witnesses which the cruel beast hath kill'd and to redresse in Gods service what the long Parliament did amisse and so God will bless you and yours which is the daily prayer of Your Majesties most Humble Faithful and most dutiful Subject Gr. Ossory To the High and most Honourable COURT OF PARLIAMENT The humble addresse of Gruffith Williams L. Bishop of Ossory May it please your Honours THe Spirit of God long agoe hath foretold it out of his grrat love unto his Church what sad accidents and heavie disasters should fall upon her for the times to come even to the end of the world and amongst all the rest of her crosses that she must unavoydably undergoe this is none of the leaft if it be not of greatest importance that the beast which ascendeth out of the bottomlesse pit which is interpreted to be the man of sin and the child of perdition as Saint Paul calleth him that is the Great Antichrist should kill the two witnesses of Jesus Christ that is 1. The Monarchie or supreme Monarch that hath the soveraign Majesty and the supremest power to rule the people and to place other subordinate Magistrates and officers under him for the execution of justice in all the parts of his
the late persecution of the Christians under the Long Parliament how Gangraena-like it spread it self beyond Decius or Dioclesians Tyranny and almost in these parts like Adams sin that went over all so did their Persecution run over all the most Faithful Sons of the Church and the Loyal Subjects of these Kingdoms And I would faign know what Busiris or Phalaris Dionysian Dioclesian or Nero or John Vasilowic the great Russian Tyrant or what other Tyrant of the world hath ever undone so many worthy men without once questioning them for any fault or charging them with any Crime that they had done or who did ever attempt to destroy so many only for being ill affected to their evil deeds But now The unparallel'd Persecution and cruelty of the prevalent Faction of the long Parl. being thus afflicted destitute and deprived of all their Means how shall all these these thousands of most worthy men live These men that were not brought up to work and used not to dig and are ashamed to beg and therefore without a great measure of Gods Grace to support them and to sanctifie their Afflictions they might fall into desperate conditions They will answer as one of them did to me and like as the High Priests the Crucifiers of our Master Christ answered Judas What is that to us Let them live how they list or let them perish sic periere ruinae and so for them they shall all utterly perish And therefore I may well demand what Tyrant did ever live since the day that God created the Heavens What King What Pope What Hildebrand * That is Gregory the 7th that was one of the worst Popes of Rome What Hel-brand What Turk What Jew What Man What Devil would besuch an Apollyon as to cut off not all the necks of the Heathenish Romans with that bloudy Emperor who wished that they all had but unum Collum one neck that so he might chop it off uno ictu with one blow but all those good Christians and the Faithful Servants of God uno halitu with one Vote one Breath and one Act which was an Axe indeed and was laid to the root of every Tree that bare the good fruit of Faith and Obedience in these Kingdoms Surely I think none could have devised such a Plot so full of mischief so far beyond the Sicilian Vespers and Gunpowder Treason and so void of Humanity and stuffed up with all cruelty and abominable Impiety especially if you consider the large extent and the evil Consequents thereof except the infernal Apollyon the great Destroyer of Christianity and the Hellish Misanthropos that laboureth continually to root out all the Christian Faith and the true Service of God out of the world did unmoveably reside in their hearts to prompt them and to spur them on unto the same or else that Beelzebub the chief of the Devils would send a pack of his Prime Captains and best Instruments out of Hell to root out all the true Servants of Jesus Christ For if you compare this our last persecution and afflictions under the Long Parliament with the former Persecutions of the Heathen Tyrants or the Arian Kings which they brought upon the Church you shall find 1. That there was but one Nero one Dioclesian one Constantius and one Julian in all the world at one time to persecute the Christians that were spread over all the world but here amongst us we suppose to have I know not how many hundred Dioclesians and Julians together at one time in one City to vex and persecute the Christians of one poor little Island 2. The Forme◠Tyrants persecuted them for their Disloyalty as they alledged unto their Emperors and Governours which was most false as appeareth by the Apologies of Tertullian Minutius Foelix and others But we were persecuted for being Faithful and Loyal unto our King and to our Governours as all the Kingdom knoweth CHAP. II. That neither the Pope nor the Turk is the great Antichrist that the Antichrist when he should come into the world should arise out of the Truest and Purest Reformed Church on Earth which was the Church of Ingland in King Charles his time being fully reformed of those Errors and Abuses that should creep and had crept into the Church which other Reformed Churches had not so perfectly purged And wherefore they did it not and could not do it THE serious consideration of the former things What moved the Author to enter upon this discourse of the great Antichrist and the sad condition of the Distressed Persecuted Members of Christ and the Testimony of the foresaid Authors touching the Persecution that should happen in the time of the Great Antichrist which I conceived to be now so visibly seen and so universally spread through the Subtilty and Cruelty of the Prevalent Faction of the Long Parliament have moved me to settle my Thoughts upon the search of those Texts of Holy Scripture wherein the holy Prophets and the blessed Apostles had treated and foretold us of the coming of the Great Antichrist and the sufferings of the Saints and true Servants of God in his time and under his unjust and cruel Government and to pray to God most earnestly and constantly night and day for the help of his Grace and assistance of his Holy Spirit to guide me to the true and right understanding thereof And then by reading the best Authors that I could find to explain those obscure Mysteries and to further me to undertake the same I found and saw I. Many good and probable Arguments produced by Luther Calvin Beza 1. That many learned Authors do hold the Pope or Papacy to be the Antichrist Balaeus de vit Pontif. l. 3. Jun. in Apocal. cap. 12. Thomson in the arraignment of Antichrist pag. 90 91. Brightman in Apoc. Downam de Antichristo l. 10. c. 3. 4. Thomson pag. 77. Junius Chytraeus Tilenus Maresius and our own Countrymen Powel Whitaker Brightmen Downam Thomsom Mede and others very Learned Protestants and worthy men to prove that either the Tyrannical State and Polity of the Papacy is that Great Antichrist as some would have it or else Series Paparum the Succession of Popes from Boniface the 3d in Phocas his time that usurping Emperor who got to the Imperial Throne by the Murder of his own Master Mauritius and his Wife and his Brother and his Children and gave to the Pope the Preheminency and the Title of Universal Bishop about the year 605 as Balaeus saith Or from Boniface the 8th that seduced and imprisoned his Predecessor Celestine the 5th about the year 1294 as Junius saith Or else from Vitellianus the Musical Pope about the year 666 as Thomson saith to this present Pope is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great Antichrist spoken of by St. Paul in 2 Thes 2.8 and by St. John in Revel 13.1 And that Rome is the place of his abode and the proper Seat of him as Brightman Downham
Divines there be that think it is probable and most likely the Mahometan Religion and the Turkish State that profess and uphold the Religion of that false Prophet may be conjoyned in association with the Pope and Papacy to constitute and make up the great and transcendent Antichrist that shall most virulently oppose the State and Kingdome of Christ and oppress the true servants of God for though these two states of the Turk and Pope be opposite ad invicem one against the other in temporalibus in respect of their temporal Rule and Government yet they may both combine and be alike in oppugning the truth of Christ and corrupting his true service though differently respectu mediorum in respect of the wayes and means that either of them doth it B. Montague in his apello Caesarem as the Turk directly and the Pope obliquely the Turk vi aperta by fire and sword and the Pope fraude insidiis by fraud and deceit and yet both of them respectu finis to aim at the same end to uphold their own wicked state and polity by opposing the Gospel and suppressing the Kingdom of Christ And for my part I shall never be any Advocate to plead for either of them neither would I have any man to imagine that I would ever seem to diminish or lessen much less then The Author excuseth neither the Turk nor the Pope to excuse the wickedness and impieties either of Turk or Pope the Christian world knoweth that either of them and both of them are bad enough each of them an Antichrist and a very great Antichrist the best of them that hath much opposed the Kingdome of Christ and blemished the true service of God with many errors Heresies and superstitions Yet as I said of the Pope so I say of the Turk that I cannot believe him to be that great and egregious Antichrist which the Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaketh of because I cannot see him fitted and filled with all the marks signes and actions of that Antichrist Why he believeth neither the Pope nor Turk to be the great Antichrist to the full so as no acception can be taken against the proof thereof in any point or because I cannot finde nor can it be found by any other that all and every one of the marks and Characters and all the actions that are foretold by the Prophets and Apostles should be done and seen in the great Antichrist are fully seen to be done and fulfilled either in the Pope or in the Turk but that there are many particular things and acts foretold us should be done by that Antichrist that can no wayes be found in them nor done by them or fulfilled in either of them as hereafter in this Treatise I shall more fully declare the Particulars that are unful filled by them and the marks and Characters of that great Antichrist that are no wayes applicable to either of them And so Zanchius miscel lib. 3. Lambert in apoc Andren◠tort torti Montagu appello Caes pag. 159. as I said before the more moderate Divines and for learning not inferiour to the best as Zanchius Lambert Andrews Montague and many more are of the same opinion and do believe that neither the Pope nor the Turk is that great transcendent Antichrist but do conceive that out of these two estates polity and Government different in the means the one from the other but agreeing in the end to oppose the Kingdome of Christ or else out of some other estate polity rule and Government in many things like to these and in some things unlike to either of them but in some respects far worse than the worst of both the other the great enormous Antichrist that singular notorious Antichrist prophesied of in the holy Scripture shall arise and come and in fraudulent malicious craftiness and execrable wickedness shall through heretical impostures and lying miracles go beyond all others against the honor of Christ and the service of God and do more mischief unto his servants than any other that ever lived in the world The doings of the great Antichrist more odious to God and more destructive to his church than the acts either of Pope or Turk and so shall do such feats and acts as in some respects are more odious and detestable in the fight of God and more pernicious and destructive both to the bodies and soules of men than are the doings either of the Pope or Turk And therefore seeing we finde so many of the most learned men varying in their opinions and judgements about the Antichrist and the concomitants of that great beast spoken of in Revel 13. and about the Prophesies and mysteries of the holy Scriptures that do concern that man of sin because the secrets of the spirit of God are like the deep ocean not easily wadeable but as St. Gregory faith deep enough for the greatest Elephant to swim that is surpassing the Reach of the quickest wit The Scriptur◠like the deep ocean sea and no waies intelligible unless they be revealed by the same Spirit And because the Prophesies that are contingent and to come are not perspicuous and cannot be well explained by the best expositors before we see them fulfilled Prophesies not well understood untill they be fulfilled and therefore Patrum Doctorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 venia non insectatione dignos censemus but as Riddles are never perceived what they be or what they mean until they are unfolded but are clear enough when they are explained so Prophesies are hidden until they be fulfilled but perspicuous and plain enough to them that will look and search after them when they are accomplished and already past In respect whereof Irenaeus saith most truly that certius sine periculo est expectare usque ad impletionem Prophetiae quam temerè divinare it is a surer and a safer course without danger to expect and wait for the fulfilling of a Prophesie than rashly and presumptuously to go about to explain it before we see it fulfilled And therefore I do not so much wonder that many of the Fathers and the other Learned men afore-named have erred which by seeing some things come to pass that the Apostles said should be done and happen in the time of the Antichrist did presently apply them some to the Pope and others to the Turk and concluded them to be the Great undoubted Antichrist because they did anticipate and made such a Conclusion before many other things of the Prophesies touching the Acts Markes and Characters of the Antichrist were fulfilled and made manifest unto the Church But I hope I may the more freely pass with less censure to set down what I and others that are of my mind do conceive concerning the Great transcendent Antichrist when I shall only treat in this Discourse and set before you these three Points 1. What the Scriptures say by what way the Great Antichrist should
and multiply by the means of Constantine And 2. The Reformation of this Church better then any other Church by the means of those holy Martyrs and godly Bishops that did the same he was fully resolved to be revenged upon this Church of Great Brittain Therefore as not long after Constantines times he stirred up the Picts the Scots the Danes and the Saxons to punish plague and tyrannize over the poor Brittains as it appeareth by the lamentable address that they made unto the Romans for their aid and help against their enemies for the first good service they had done to the honor of God How the devil revengeth the good service that this Iland did to Christ so immediately after that those godly Reformers of this Church had rooted out those evil weeds of Errors and Superstition that the Devil had planted therein he stirred up Penry Martin Marprelate Cartwright Broughton and divers others that in Q. Maryes dayes fled beyond seas to save their lives and there suckt that transmarine poyson that infected both their own and many other mens soules to make invectives against our Church far worse and more bitter than all the Actions that Cicero did against Verres or his Philippicks against M. Antonius to revenge the second good service that this Iland had done to Christ And these that were reasonable good Schollars but fiery mad and furious men did through their violent proceedings get so many Proselites and Disciples after them that as S. Bernard saith of the former Hereticks in a very short space numeri eorum multiplicati sunt super numerum they increased like the rats of Egypt that do super-faetare beget young ones before they be delivered of their old brood And this grand host of his Instruments the Devil perswaded and egged them forward to prosecure their enterprise and never to give over and desist untill they should effect these 3 things The three especial things that the devil perswaded his instruments to effect 1. Unking the Kingdome and make it like the Israelites after the time of the Judges that every man might do what seemed right in his own eyes 2. Unbishop the flock of Christ that the foxes wolves and other savage beasts the Hereticks and Scismaticks might destroy them at their pleasure and so 3. To unchurch this formerly pure and famous Church of great Brittain and to cause it totally to apostatize from the true faith of Gods elect to be divorced from Christ and to be no wayes answerable to the usual and right definition of a true visible Church to which the infidels and unbelievers being converted might be incorporated And then after that they had more than desperately opposed their King and risen up against the pious Defender of the true faith he perswaded them that if he would not consent to defile that faith to abolish the right form of Gods worship to corrupt the Christian Religion and to destroy the witnesses of Christ the governors and upholders of Gods truth in this so well reformed Church with fire and sword to war against him and never leave untill they should bring him to a bitter death and a glorious martyrdome and after that they had like Jannes and Jambres withstood their Governors and cashiered their Bishops and supprest the Articles and Liturgy of the Church he perswaded them to fill the same Church with damnable Heresies not privily as the Apostle saith the former Hereticks would do but most openly How Satan perswaded his instruments to fill the Church with all impiety and villany in the sight of the sun and at last as our Saviour saith out of Daniel to bring the abomination of desolation that is such abominable blasphemies heresies errors and absurd opinions among the people and such wicked deeds of perjury oppression pride lasciviousness and the like corruptions of Gods true service that do more highly provoke the wrath of God than all the sinnes of ignorance negligence or infirmity and cause him to bring utter ruine and desolation upon any Kingdome to stand in the holy place that is in the Churches Chappels and all other consecrated and holy places that were dedicated for the true service of God and for the people of God that did formerly truly and holily serve the Lord in those places And this the Devil did to this end videlicet That so the Kingdome being without a King the flock of Christ without Pastors and the Church of Christ without her Discipline and true Doctrine he might raise that cruel beast which S. John saw rising out of the sea from these narrow seas and bring up the great Antichrist out of this pure Church of great Brittain to root out the true service of God to be the plague of his servants and the death of his saints and to be fully revenged on this Iland for the twofold displeasure it had done to him before Now whether Satan hath by his Instruments done all this or not I leave it to the wise and judicial impartial Reader to determine it only I finde that Mr. Alexander Rose in his animadversions against Mr Hobbs his Leviathan p 18 Alexander Ross saith the Instruments of Satan brought such abominable blasphemies heresies errors and absurd opinions among the people more in these few years than were all the time hitherto since christianity was imbraced which is a shreud suspicion if not an infallible proof that the great Antichrist is come amongst us CHAP. III. That the Antichrist is no single Person but a Collected Multitude of men Who those men might be Of the Grand Apostasie whereof the Apostle speaketh that made way and opened the Door wide for the Antichrist to enter in That it is neither the Apostacy of the Prime Hereticks nor of the East Churches nor of the Roman Church but of some purely Reformed Particular Church supposed to be and demanded if it be not the Church of Great Brittain BUT here it is a great Question among the Learned Whether the Antichrist be one sing le Person or else a multitude of men either succeeding one another or collâ—cted together whether this Great Antichrist be one single and singular Person or a certain Polity Kingdom or Multitude of men Hyperius saith Est multitudo aliqua diversi sibi invicem succedentes qui unum quodammodo Antichristi vastum corpus efficiunt It is a multitude of men succeeding one another which after a sort do all make up the vast Body of the Antichrist and so saith Tilenus and all those that would have the Pope to be the Antichrist Brightman saith the Antichrist must be understood to be a wicked Kingdom Rule or Dominion which he affirmeth to be not the Kingdom of Ingland which in his time indeed could not be but the Papacy the Roman Hierarchy and the Rule and Dominion of the Pope Tilenus exeg de Antichristo p. 9. Achor is 66. in Italy France Spain or wheresoever his Jurisdiction reacheth and Mr. Mede Mr. Potter and
For the Puissance of her Kings and Princes she outwent all other Cities whatsoever Nimrod called Belus by the Gentiles but indeed his Father that was Noahs Granchilds Son being the first and the stoutest man then on earth then Belus Nimrods Son whom the Gentiles honoured as a god in after times and after him Ninus that built the great City of Nineveh then his Wife the Mirrour of all women Semiramis afterwards omitting all those Eighteen Kings which Berosus nameth and Twenty more that Sleidan setteth down Phul-Belochus that swayed the Scepter 48 years 2 Reg 15.19 and Philazzar whom the Holy Scripture nameth Phul-Assur that reigned 23 years and Salmanazar that reigned 10 years and subdued all Phoenicia The Monarchs of Assyria that reigned in this Chaldean Babylon excepting Tyrus and carried away the King of Israel and the Ten Tribes Captives into Media and Sennacherib that for reviling God and the good King Hezekiah by a rayling Rabsheca was forced to return home with dishonour and then slain by his own Sons in the Temple of his Idols after he had reigned seven years and Esar-haddon whom Josephus calleth Asaracoldus reigned Eleven years Esa 39.1 and Berodac whom Esayas calleth Ben-Merodac that after the revolution of Twelve years translated the Kingdom to the Assyrians and reigned afterwards Eighteen years And Nebuchadnezzar that said Is not this great Babylon that I have built that is so great and so glorious as now it is for the House of the Kingdom and for the Glory of my Majesty Dan. 4.30 And then Belshazzar his Son whom Darius did succeed And many other famous Kings and Princes reigned and ruled in and over this Great and Glorious City of Babylon more than we read to have done over any one other City of the world And therefore this City in these and many other respects was the most resplendent of all the known Cities of the whole Universe and is in that respect termed by the Prophet Esay Esa 13.9 and said to be the Glory of Kingdoms But it is yielded of all sides that this Literal Chaldean Babylon is no where meant to be the Seat of the Great Antichrist that must arise in and out of the true Church of Christ and seat himself in a greater and a more Mystical Babylon And therefore II. Babylon mystically understood which must be so understood to be the Seat of the Antichrist is taken two waies 2. Mystically understood two manner of waies 1. Generally for the whole world of Wickedness 2. Particularly for some special Place of this world Generally 1 1. When the Prophet saith By the waters of Babylon we sate down and wept when we remembred thee O Sion And again O Daughter of Babylon wasted with misery yea happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us Ps 137.1 ult and blessed shall he be that taketh thy children and throweth them against the stones Though literally and in the first sense they are to be understood of the Chaldean Babylon yet mystically they are to be taken for this wicked world which is the City of Satan and the Metropolis of his Empire For although God be the King of all the earth both by the right of Creation and Preservation yet Satan is said to be the King of this Babylon by the unjust Title of usurpation and therefore he is called the Prince of this world that ruleth in the hearts of the children of Disobedience And this world is resembled compared and doth symbolize Babylon in very very many things but especially in these five respects The world resembled to Babylon in five respects Propter 1. Amaenitatem Pleasantness 2. Cacitatem Blindness 3. Celsitudinem Height of Spirit 4. Confusionem All kind of Disorder and Confusion 5. Iniquitatem The Multiplicity of all kind of Iniquity For Respect 1 1. Babylon was the delight of the Nations and a most sweet and pleasant place as I shewed to you before even so the world ab ornatu dicitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is so called by the Grecians from the beauty of it Quid enim mundo praestantius For what can be more excellent and pleasanter than this world saith Lucius Apuleius Respect 2 2. The Assyrian Babylon was full of blindâ—ess and ignorance Jer. 59.17 For as the Prophet saith Every man was brutish in his knowledge so is the world as our Saviour sheweth I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter whom the world cannot receive quia non videt eum nec scit eum because it seeth him not John 14.17 and knoweth him not for though the light shined in darkness yet the darkness comprehended it not and though the Ministers of Christ do preach the Truth daily unto the world yet the children of this world are still drowned in Darkness and will not receive the knowledge of the Truth that they might be saved John 1.5 Respect 3 3. The Assyrian Baâ—ylon was full of Pride so high and so haughty that they would build a Tower which should reach to Heaven And the Prophet saith of her Jer. 50.29 She hath been proud against the Lord against the Holy One of Israel And so is the world full of Pride Maxima quaeque domus servis est plena superbis Not a great House but hath a great deal of Pride and proud Servants in it saith the Poet. Respect 4 4. The Assyrian Babylon was full of all Disorder and Confusion the Labourer would be a Director and a Master-worker the Mason would play the Carpenter and the Carpenter would be the Joyner and so none was contented with his own station not any man dutiful in his own Place but when the Masters called for Bricks the Servants brought them Clay when they desired Bread they gave them Stones and therefore it was called Babel because of this disorderly confusion Even so it is in this world no man is contented with his own state none dutiful in his place and none satisfied with his own condition but as the Poet saith Optat ephippia bos niger optat arare Caballus The Oxe would bear the saddle and the Horse would draw the Plow Respect 5 5. Babylon in Chaldea was full of Sins for she hath sinned against the Lord saith the Prophet So the whole world lieth in wickedness saith the Apostle And all that is in the world Jer. 50.14 John 2.16 is either concupiscence of the eyes or concupiscence of the flesh or Pride of life Haectria pro trino numine mundus habet Particularly 2 2. And more Particularly Many other Cities and Kingdomes of this world are and may in this Mystical sense be rightly stiled Babylon And that either Two waies 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Respectively secundum quid For so 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eminently exceeding all the rest For so Respectively 1 1. 1 Pet 5.13 The City of Rome is called Babylon by the Apostle and is
Christ which was the true substance and to be understood in and by those shadows and so for the Antichrist I sind no Prophesie concerning him in all the Book of Daniel but as he is typified in the person of Antiochus Epiphanes and you know that as Theologia Symbolica non est argumentativa symbolick divinity will not hold argument so types and figures non currunt quatuor pedibus do not hold correspondency in all things but only in such particulars whereunto they are applied and therein you shall find how the Antichrist is typified and declared unto us in the person and by the doings of Antiochus For The Prophet Daniel describing the four Beasts Dan. 7. that typified and signified the four great Monarchies of the world the Assyrian the Persian the Graecian and the Roman and the little horn that sprang up among the other ten horns saith the 10 horns are interpreted by the Holy Ghost to be ten Kings that is saith Tremellius 1. The 10 horns in Dan. 7. who they are Seleucus Nicanor 2. Antiochus Soter 3. Antiochus Theos 4. Seleucus Callinichus 5. Callinicus being expelled Ptolomeus Evergetes 6. Ptolomeus expelled Seleucus Ceraunus 7. Antiochus magnus that was surnamed Hyerax the Hawk for his speedy expedition of the greatest affairs and was the Father of Seleucus Philopater and of Antiochus Epiphanes 8. This Antiochus magnus being ejected Ptolomaeus Philopater 9. This Ptolomaeus Philopater being ejected by Antiochus magnus and his Sons Seleucus Philopater 10. This Seleucus being killed Antiochus Epiphanes that was the little horn that sprang up among the ten horns and was not another horn besides the ten horns but cornu ultimum the last of the ten horns and was at his first beginning but a very little horn indeed that had no right at all unto the Kingdom and is the most lively type of the Antichrist that is to be found in all the Scriptures both in respect of his entrance into his Dominion and of his dealings with the Jewish Church just as the Antichrist should enter into his rule and deal with the Church of the Christians And the Prophet tels us of this Antiochus and under his person of the Antichrist That 1. 1. The things that Daniel saith Antiochus should do As you see how he comes to his power and dominion by the suppression and destruction of others the lawful Kings so should the Antichrist do and we know many of the Popes came to that dignity and authority by the ejection and destruction of other Popes as the Histories do sufficiently declare unto us but whether the Long Parliament came to their rule and dominion by the expulsion and destruction of their lawful King I leave it for my Reader to judge And 2. 2. An opposer of Monarchy and very successful Dan. 7.24 The Prophet tels us that Antiochus shall be diverse from the first Kings that is as some Interpreters do expound it he shall be a grand enemy of regal Government and Kingly Majesty so will the Antichrist ex diametro contradict and oppose the Monarchical Government which the Pope never did but upholdeth the same to the uttermost and you know who turned the Regal Government of these Kingdoms to a Commonwealth or as Montanus reads that place ipse erit major prioribus he shall be greater than the former Kings that is in his successes in his victories in his reveâ—ues in his taxes in his absolute authoritie and in his esteem among his Neighbour-Kings and Princes so was Antiochus so the Antichrist will be So is not the Pope when as many former Popes were greater than this is in all the foresaid respects but whether the Long Parliament laid greater taxes upon the people and had more victories and better successes in their proceedings than many other former Kings 3. An overthrower of three Kings or Kingdoms let them be their own Judges 3. The Prophet saith this little horn that is this Antiochus Epiphanes tres reges humiliabit shall bring to the ground or humble three Kings as Montanus reads it Or tres reges deprimet he shall depress and overthrow or subdue three Kings as Tremellius translates it For he drave out of Syria 1. Ptolomaeus Philopater 2. His own eldest Brother Seleucus And 3. Demetrius the Son of Seleucus to whom the right of the Kingdom did appertain So the Antichrist shall overthrow three Kings saith Cornelius a Lapide And I did not read that any of the Popes have done so yet but I know who is said to have suppressed tres reges in uno rege and to have subdued three Kingdoms as some do expound these words and may well be the mystical meaning of this Prophesie 4. A great blasphemer 4. The Prophet goeth on and saith he shall speak great words against the most High that is saith Tremellius blasphemus erit in Deum he shall utter such blasphemies against the most high God as the Jews could not endure to hear them So the Antichrist should do saith the Evangelist Rev. 13.6 And so no doubt but many Popes have done Rev. 13.6 I will excuse none of them and I have shewed to you before and shall yet shew to you hereafter what intollerable blasphemies have been broached and are published in many places by the Sectaries adherents and off-spring of that Long Parliament which may therefore very well go hand in hand with Antiochus and with the Antichrist whosoever he be 5. 5. A destroyer of the Saints and Servants of God 2 Maâ—h 7. The Prophet saith that this Antiochus Sanctos excelsorum deteret as Tremellius reads it i.e. saith he contumeliosissimus atrocissimus Tyrannus erit in populum Dei he shall be the bitterest and the cruellest Tyrant that ever was far worse than Pharaoh against the people of God And so the Books of the Maccabees and especially the cruel butchering and torturing of the Mother and her seven Children only because they would not eat swines flesh which the Law of God forbad them to do do sufficiently declare that neither the Aegyptian Pharaoh Dan. 7.25 nor the Chaldean Nebuchadnezzar nor any other forreign or domestick enemy was ever so bloody and so cruel unto the Jews as this Assyrian Antiochus was and our Bibles read it he shall wear out the Saints of the most High and so the Antichrist shall do And our Histories tell us the Popes have worn out and been the death and destruction of many of the Servants of God this cannot be denied and it grieves me much to think and it would grieve me much more to set down a Catalogue of what and how many worthy noble and faithful Servants of Christ have been worn out of these three Kingdoms within these few years 6. A changer of the Lawes and of the times by whom and by what meanes you know And I fear that when God maketh inquisition for bloud the Long Parliament will not be found guiltless 6. The Holy Ghost
the Turk could it be done Who then hath done it This Book was written in the time of the Usurper Truly if any Court hath done such an Act I think I need not if I knew it digito demonstrare dieier hic est because such a publick Fact and so abominable in the sight of men that is as the Apostle speaks of the death of Christ not done in a corner is known far and near and talked of by young and old Yet this much I will tell thee my friendly Reader for I think none but my friends will read me that I have read very many Histories both of the Greeks and Latines and many of the Histories of the Church Whence the 9 Speeches in Parliament were collected and the Lives of many Kings and Emperors both of our own Kingdom and of other Nations and the Nine several speeches as I believe of the best anti-regal Orators of the Long Parliament concerning the Power of Parliament to proceed against their King for mis-government The which Speeches if I be not much mistaken were all taken and collected out of Dolmans Book that was the great Jesuite and arch-enemy of Queen Elizabeth Father Parsons that printed a Book full of treason against the Queens Majesty under the feigned name of Dolman and the Book was condemned by Act of Parliament the 35th year of Queen Elizabeth and now with the change of the Title the most of it is reprinted to shew the Power of Parliament to proceed against their King which by that Act of the 25th of the Queen I conceive to be then judged no less than crimen laesae Majestatis a crime of High Treason against the Queen though in the Long Parliament it was thought a point of just proceeding against our Kings especially against King Charles And yet in all the Histories that I have read and in all those Nine Speeches and all those Examples What Kings were deposed or killed by their Subjects that those Orators do produce of the Kings and Princes that were deposed banished or killed by their Subjects for their Tyranny and mis-government as Saul and Ammon by the Jews Romulus Tarquinius Julius Caesar Nero Domitian Heliogabulus Maxentius Constantine the 6th and Irene by the Romans Childereck and Charles of Lorein by the French Flaveo Suintilla Don Alonso el Sabio and Don Pedro by the Spaniards Don Sancho by the Portugals Henry the 3. by the Polonians Gustavus by the Swedes Cisternus by the Danes Edwin John Edward the 2. Richard the 2. Henry the 6. and Richard the 3. by the English Which are all but obliquely and poorly produced and might by a reasonable Historian be fully answered especially because according to that true Rule Vivitur praeceptis non exemplis We are to frame our lives by Precepts as God commandeth us and not by examples as other men have done For I can have examples enough beyond number of men that have committed murders and that have been Robbers and Adulterers and the like And shall I therefore follow their examples God forbid So many Nations have done thus and thus unto their Kings And will that warrant us That we ought not to follow unjust examples do to the like By no means Because we are to look not what other Nations do but what God commandeth us to do and he commandeth us not to touch his Anointed nor to speak evil of the Governour of the people be he good or be he bad for if he be good nutritor est tuus he is thy preserver and thank God for him and if he be bad tentator est tuus God sent him for thy trial and thou must not kick against God but receive thy trial with patience until he that sent him in his anger takes him away in his wrath against him and in his love to thee and he can take him away when he pleaseth till which time with David thou shouldst rest thy self contented as he did to endure the Tyranny of Saul though I say that I read of those foresaid Princes that were deposed or killed by the foresaid Nations and of many others Kings and Princes that as the Poet saith came not to their graves sicca morte And as the Parliament proceeded against King Charles without blood yet I find not any one of them all in any Nation whatsoever to have been proceeded against and to have been condemned and killed modo forma as the Jews proceeded against Christ and the Antichrist would proceed against the Witnesses and the Parliament did against our King And therefore this sin of the Antichrist is not an usual or a common sin as Idolatry blasphemy murder and the like but such a murder as is to be the proper and peculiar sin of the Antichrist and of none else in which respect the Apostle calleth the Antichrist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the man of the sin by which sin so done as I shewed you you might know him to be the Antichrist Object But it may be some will say that I do hereby positively and plainly conclude the Long Parliament to be the great Antichrist and to have committed the proper sin of the Antichrist because that they being the highest Court of Justice have condemned their Superiours their King and chief Pastor judicially as the Jews did Christ unto death Solut. I answer that God hath not made me a Judge to determine whether the Long Parliament hath justly or unjustly condemned them to death for if they have done justly therein they have done well and no waies committed the sin of the Antichrist which is such a condemning as I shewed of an innocent person unto death and of such persons as God requireth not but forbiddeth to be condemned but if they have unjustly condemned them let them look to it and answer to God for it I will not be their Judge let who will determine the question but I will proceed in the Apostles description of this man of sin that is the Antichrist And to shew that the Antichrist is full of other sins though this man-killing thus That the antichrist will be full of other sins as I shewed be his Master sin St. Paul goeth on to set out some other of his sins that tend to produce and to perfect the former sin saying that he should oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped So that He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an opposer or an adversary 1. A Rebel an opposer of his King and of his Passor as both the Syriack and the vulgar Latine reads it and as learned Zanchius saith this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek answereth to the word Satan in Hebrew and as the Son of Perdition which the Apostle here ascribeth unto the Antichrist so this word adversary alludeth unto Judas of whom Christ saith have not I chosen twelve and one of you is a Devil And why a Devil but because he
Priest and to command him to discharge the same as he ought to do and to reprove and correct him when he doth neglect it which are the principal things duties and Prerogatives of any King or prime Magistrate of any Kingdom or Commonwealth And thus all the best Orthodox Interpreters both Papists and Protestants do agree that the Apostle meaneth here Vide Tremellium in Joh. 10.34 that the Antichrist should exalt himself above his King because the Scripture doth most properly and plainly speak it of Kings when God saith Dixi Diiestis I have said you are Gods and our Saviour doth primarily and principally mean Kings when he citeth the same saying against the Pharisees as Beza witnesseth saying Testimonium quod citat Christus in Psal 82. v. 6. Habetur That in Psal 82.6 Kings are understood by Gods ubi expostulat Deus cum regibus terrae qui imperio potentia quam â Deo acceperant abuterentur hoc Christus ad presentem causam accommodat quod deorum nomine ornemur qui ad regendum mundum sunt ministri that is the testimony which Christ citeth against the Pharisees is found in Psal 82. v. 6. where God exâ—ostulateth with the Kings of the Earth which abused that rule and power which they received from God Beza in Annotat in Joh. 10.37 and this Christ applieth to the present occasion that they which are Gods Ministers and Deputies to govern the World are honoured with the name of Gods And so the first words of that Psalm do sufficiently shew that Kings are to be understood there by Gods for God standeth in the Congregation of Princes saith the Prophet he is a Judge among Gods and therefore by God in this place the Apostle meaneth the King that God hath set over this man of sin to rule him as well as others because the Kings are appointed by God to governe and to judge the people of God and therefore he tells his people plainly By me Kings do reign that is Prov. 8.15 not only by my permission and suffering of them to reign as I suffer many disorders and many evills to be done but they reign and rule by my authority and by my appointment that have ordained and set your Kings to reign and rule over you for they do sit in the thrones of judgement as Gods Deputies and Vicegerents in Gods stead to exercise a part of Gods power here on earth which is as the Poet can tell you Parcere subjectis debellare superbos The lawful power of Kings To defend and to reward the good and obedient Subjects and to punish the rebellious the wicked and the wrong doers and to that end as God hath the Keys of heaven and of hell to let the Godly enter into glory and to shut up the wicked within the Chambers of death so Kings have potestatem vitae necis the power of life and death that is to preserve the life of the innocent and to put the transgressors unto death or to pardon them if they see cause and to spare their life which is the greatest power on earth but not to put to death whom they please and for what cause soever they list which is the property and practice of an unjust Tyrant and not the liberty of a good and a righteous King So you see the honour power and prerogative that God hath conferred upon Kings and is warranted and confirmed by our Saviour Christ and therefore ought to be ascribed and yielded unto them by their Subjects especially if they be Christians and such as profess to know the will of God Let the Reader Judge whether this be not fulfilled in the long Parliament And yet the Apostle tells us that this man of sin which is the Antichrist will exalt himself above his King and I will not judge but refer it to the World to judge whether the long Parliament and their adherents have not denied this honour worship and obedience and indeed every part and parcel of that honour which God hath granted and commanded to be yielded unto their King Or whether they have not actually exalted themselves above their King And whether their words in their Petition to the King The words of the Parliament in their Petition to the King wherein they say The humble Petition of the Lords and Commons in Parliament and therein further say That his Majesties most humble and faithful Subjects have represented their most dutiful affections in advising and desiring those things which were most necessary for his Majesties safety and honour and in the Conclusion thereof do say That his Majesties personal safety and royal honour and greatness were much dearer unto them than their own Lives and Fortunes being put in one end of the ballance and the warring against him and especially the cutting off of the Kings head in the other end of the ballance where both their love and their hatred might be seen at once do not prove just like the Souldiers dealing with Christ to bow their knees unto him Mat. 27.29 to put a Crown on his head and a Scepter in his hand and to say Hail King of the Jews as if his personal safety and royal honour and greatness were much dearer unto them than their own lives and fortunes and yet immediately to spit in his face and to hang him up upon a tree Which is the most paelpable the greatest and the grossest hypocrisie and mockery in the World or I may justly say with the words of Agur Prov. 30.2 Surely I am more brutish than any man and have not the understanding of a man For Quid audiam verba cum videam contraria facta Will any wise man believe mens words when their deeds tell them to their faces that they lie And how shall I believe that his personal safety and royal honour and greatness were much dearer unto them than their lives and fortunes when I see them taking away his Life And after they had finished the Tragedy of his life and had taken off his Head to do as the Athenians did with Herostratus that burnt the Temple of Diana that is to extinguish with his Person his Name his Memorial and his Office When they would not suffer his Friends and his Servants to keep their King and their Masters Picture in their private Chambers but searched their houses as they did my house to see if they could find the Kings Picture And when as the Prophet tells us the lawless Jews said Hos 10.3 We will have no King because we fear not the Lord and what then should a King do to us For we that fear not the Lord will never reverence any King no more than they that will have no King will never fear the Lord because God hath coupled the fear of the Lord and of the King together with such an indissoluble knot that whosoever feareth God cannot choose but fear and reverence his King and he
that feareth not his King cannot be truly said to fear God Prov. 24.21 So the Parliament said We will have no more Kings but we will be as our Neighbour Nation is a Free State and a Commonwealth But for all this their saying That they will have no King it is demanded If these men proved not apt Schollars of those dissembling Jews and imitate those their good Masters to a hair for as those Jews said We will have no King that is no Kingdom Gods appointment or no lawful King that hath a just right and title unto his Kingdom yet if you look but two Chapters before you shall find how God complaineth they had set up Kings Hos 8.4 but not by him and this was first in their intention before they rejected their lawfull King that God had set over them but last in the execution because the Old King must be first ejected before any new Kings can be established So have nor the Parliament when they beheaded their Old King of Gods appointment and their lawful King without question made themselves new kings over Gods people I do not say Usurping Kings that had no right nor tyrannical Kings that did no right unto the people but as the Prophet saith of the Jews so it is questioned if the Parliament have not set up Princes yea such Princes as were but Bankrupts Shooe-makers and Taylers Drapers and Tinkers Carters and Coblers and the like Scum of men of no learning Job 30.1 of no breeding of no bloud and of no worth but such as Job describeth whom the ancient Gentry and Nobility of this Land would have disdained to have set with the dogs of their flocks and made these or such as these to be Rulers in all Lands the Justices of the peace that as the Prophet saith the Jewish Rulers would sell the poor for a pair of shooes so would these younger brethren that are to make their Fortunes for a Print of Butter or a groars-worth of eggs sell Justice and betray the right of their poor Neighbours Such Rulers and such Princes as no people in any Country would have endured the like to Lord it over them but those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Silly souls and poor spirited men whose hearts and courages the Lord hath taken from them and given up their best nobility and Gentry to be quite befooled besotted and bafled by such Baffoons when he intendeth to plague that Nation and utterly to lay all their glory and honour in the dust even as the Poet elegantly sheweth Hoc placet O superi Lucan Pharsal l. 1. cum vobis vertere cuncta Propositum nostris erroribus addere crimen Thus it pleaseth God when for their sins he intends to plague and to end the glory of any people to blind them so that they commit error upon error adding thirst unto drunkenness basenese unto their beastliness and Pharaoh-like harden their hearts in their follies that they cannot do what is honourable and what they ought untill they be destroyed and made Subjects to those that were their Servants But God tels the Jews that those new Kings of their own election were no Kings of his setting up nor any Princes of his making but of their own establishment Hos 8.4 Usurping Kings no Kings of Gods making and so meer Usurpers through the pride of their hearts and the violence of their hands such as Athalia was among that people and some others of our former Kings That I could name of this Land and therefore the Author of the Treatise of Usurpation saith That the people of any Nation do owe unto such Usurpers such Kings of their own setting up neither reverence nor obedience nor can any Officer with a safe conscience act under them Though I say not this which is true to deny that obedience to any Usurpers or to the unworthiest of our Rulers which may stand with Gods Word and may be yielded unto them without sin because I wâ—â—ld have no weak people stirred up to make an insurrection against their powerful Governours but when God that casteth down one and raiseth up another takes away the right of our former Princes and Rulers and suffereth others how mean or how base soever they be to step into their places and to sit upon the thrones of Majesty and the seats of Justice howsoever this be come to pass Deo permittente my advice is to all private men to rest themselves contented for the present and as the Apostle saith to study to be quiet and for peace and quietness sake to think it far better to obey than to rebel and to leave all things to Gods disposing Dan. 2.21 Rom. 8.28 2. The Antichrist will exalt himself above the Bishops qui disponit omnia suaviter and will set all things right in his good time and as S. Paul saith Worketh all things together for the best to them that love him 2. The Apostle tells us That as the Antichrist will be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and exalter of himself above every one that is called God and that is principally as I shewed to you above his King because that in the first place the King is chiefly termed God so he will likewise be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a lifter up of himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is supra numen as Tremellius reads it or adversus numen as Beza renders it above all that is worshipped saith our last and the Geneva Translation and the meaning is in few words that the Antichrist will exalt himself above the Bishops and the Ecclesiastical Governours of the Church as well as above the King wich is the civil Governour of the Commonwealth for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word which the Apostle useth coming from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is read in prophane Authors as Pasor saith and signifieth colere that is religiously to worship or the thing that we worship for Religion sake from whence a Proselite or a religious man is termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a pious and religious person and all sacred and holy things that are dedicated and consecrated for Divine Service are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Religious things or things that appertain to Religion which made Beza and Tremellius to translate it Numen which appertaineth to God doth sufficiently make it plain and manifest that the Apostle meaneth here not the Emperour nor any other King or civil Magistrate which had formerly exprest under the name of God as some Interpreters without reason would have it because that it is said Act. 27.1 that S. Paul was delivered to Julius that was a Centurion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Augustus Band saith our Translation whereas it should have been translated of the Band of Augusta That by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Apostle meaneth the spiritual Governors of the Church or Augusta's band which was the wife of Casar and was stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
and inabled for this space of 1200. and 60. years to build up the Temple which was commanded to be measured to be reared up But then it is said v. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and when these two witnesses That the two witnesses shall be killed thus orderly strengthning and assisting each other shall have finished or end their Testimony that is accomplish the full space of 1200 and 60 years the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make warre against them and shall overcome them and kill them three short sentences and three great wonders for 1. Three great wonders in these three short Sentences 1. Wonder Zech. 2.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the beaft shall make warre with them and is it not wonderfull that the beast should make warre with Gods witnesses for if he be a Warriour and will needs make warre can he fight with none or finde none to fight withall but with the witnesses of Jesus Christ for this is to fight against God himself and to touch them is to touch the apple of his eye as the Lord professeth most plainly in Zechary 2.8 and therefore hoc magnum est hoc mirum this must needs be a wonderfull thing that any beast should venture to make warre with Gods witnesses but the second thing here said is more wonderfull For 2. 2. Wonder He shall make warre with them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he shall overcome them Indeed they are filii pacis no Swordmen no men of blood though the King weares the Sword because they are the Sonnes of Oyl and the Children of peace and the King weares the Sword principally to preserve peace and the Office of the Bishops is to be evangelizantes pacem the preachers of peace through Jesus Christ and therefore in this respect it is no wonder that the Antich which comes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with all power both of Arms men and money should overcome these harmless men but is it not a wonder that God whose Servants they are and whose witnesses they be should not onely suffer this infernall beast to make warre with them but also to vanquish and to overcome them yes indeed it may seem marvelious in our eyes and it stumbleth many men and makes them to think ill of Gods witnesses to see them subdued by the beast which they would not so mis-judge if they would with the Prophet consult with God why he suffereth the wicked so to prosper and his own Children so to be punished And yet 3. The last point is most wonderfull and far more marvellous then the former 3. Wonder that he should overcome them for it followeth that he shall overcome them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he shall kill them what will nothing serve to quench the thirst of this beast but the blood of these Saints and the death of these witnesses and will God suffer his own dear servants his choycest Officers the rulers of his people and the witnesses of his onely Sonne Jesus Christ How God suffereth many things to be killed and murdered by this beast for this will make men to believe as many do that these witnesses are the beast and the beast to be the best witness of Jesus Christ but they might remember that as God suffereth all this so many times he suffereth much more then this as when he suffered Joseph to be sold into Egypt Vrias to be killed Daniel to be thrown into the Lions Den Shadrach Meshac and Abednego to be cast into the fiery furnace and above all and more strange then all his own dear and his onely Sonne to be killed and crucified by the like beast and they might think that God knoweth what is best and that he doth alwayes what is best and as the Apostle saith worketh all things together for the best for all that love him Rom. 8.28 so that their conquered condition proves to be their happiness and their enemies Victory to be their misery for though God suffered them to be vanquished and killed yet then are they Blessed Psal 116.15 and as the Prophet saith right dear in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints and much deerer is the death of his holy Martyres the Witnesses of his truth whose blood he will most assuredly avenge on them that dwell on the earth to make them most miserable Questi But here the question is that seeing the two Witnesses of Christ are the supreme Magistrate which is the King and the chiefe Priest which is the Bishop the Civil and the Ecclesiasticall Governours of Gods people and it is the Beast that ascendeth from the Bottomless pit which killed them who be they that are killed if they be killed and who is that beast that hath done it if it be done Respon I answer that Mr. Brightman thought that this Prophesie was fulfilled in the Smalcaldick War under Charles the 5th the which mistake Mr Mede doth sufficiently confute so that I need not stand to disprove this errour but if I demand whether King Charles and his Magistrates and the Bishop of Canterbury and his Clergy were not the Witnesses of Jesus Christ I presume none will none can justly deny the same and if againe it be demanded whether the long Parliament and their adherents did not make war with the King and accuse the Bishops and most of the rest of the grave Doctors and faithfull Preachers of this Church for innovation and a high Project of bringing in Popery into this our Kingdome which unjust suspition and groundless jealousie they spread every where among the people to set them on fire and to gallop unto the War against the King to press him to subscribe confirme and ratifie their covenant whose principall scope was to roote out and to overthrow the Hierarchy and the Ecclesiasticall Governors of Gods people which were the Bishops and the other faithfull Witnesse of Christ I beleive all this is so well known to all the Kingdome that every one will confess it and as they cannot deny the War with these Witnesses so they must yield that these two Witnesses both King and Bishop were vanquished and killed I am sure that Parliament hath overcome the King and he is killed which was the supreame Magistrate and one of the two Witnesses of Christ And I find the names of such persons as did actually sit as Judges upon the Tryall of his Magisty with the Councill and attendants on the Court which they called the High Court of Justice to be these JOhn Bradshaw And I do set them down that all posterities and their Childrens Children and whose embrioes are not yet in being may understand who had the honour to be the Judges of this good and Godly King to condemne him to death And I would have it observed that of these 32. were Colonels and three Generals that fought against the King and all of them a party that warred and waged the warr against him and
neither of these can be said to have been and not to be and yet to be at the same time as the Holy Ghost affirmeth of this Beast for though Domitian was chosen by the Souldiers whilst his Father Vespasian was in Judaea Vide Caracott◠pag. 52. and then gave up his right and title to the Empire when Vespasian returned to Rome yet this doth not cohere with he is not and yet is which is affirmed of this Beast and though it might have been said that he was and is not and yet shall be if this Vision of the Beast had been shewed to St. John in Vespasians time but it could not possibly be said that he was if according to Epiphanius his Testimony St John was banished to Patmos and had these visions revealed unto him in the Emperor Claudius his time because that after Claudius Nero reigned 13 years Galba seven moneths Otho four moneths and Vitellius eight moneths before Vespasian was made Emperor nor could it be well said that he was whilst Vespasian was in Judaea when he was but an Vsurper and an Intruder while his Father lived or though it might be truly said in some sence that he was and in some other sence that he was not yet can it not be said in any way or in any sence that he was and is not and yet is as the Holy Ghost saith of this Beast How then shall we unfold this Riddle and untie this Gordian knot I answer That the Words in c. 17.8 do seem most coherent to the long Parliament That 1. Was a true Parliament that I have often thought of it and assayd it divers wayes and yet could never see how this Testimony of the Holy Ghost touching this beast that he was and is not and yet is can be applied either to Domitian or to any other of all the Emperours or Kings or Society of men so fitly and so probably agreeing with the meaning of Gods spirit as it is or may be applycable to the long and lately dissolved Parliament for that was a true Parliament when the King called them together and they sate to consult with their King de arduis rebus regni about the great affaires of the Kingdom and took their Oaths and made their solemn Protestation to protect the Kings Person and to maintain the true Protestant Religion 2. Is believed to be no Parliament But I heard many wise men judge it no Parliament when they did expell and cast out their guides and their leaders the Messengers of Christ from among them and endeavoured as the Giants did of old 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make Warre against God and raised an Army against their head and with all their might did fight against their King and at last like did most disloyally cut off his Head that was the head of them and of us all and as the Prophet speaketh of the like godly King 3. And yet still is a Parliament the breath of our nostrills and yet still it is a Parliament in their own esteem and with their adherents and by their peremptory Acts and Ordinances that are still accounted most excellent and binding and are so urged and observed by their adherents and compelled to be observed by all others and by the greatness of that power and authority which they assumed unto themselves and do by their Acts and Lawes execute over all people to this very day more then any other ordinary Parliament ever used whereby you see how this may be understood that is said of the beast that he was and is not and yet is though I leave it to the judicious Reader to judge whether he conceives this to be the meaning of the Holy Ghost or not or whether all this may be so as may thus be coherent and applicable to that long Parliament or not And as this which I have now expressed doth seem very shrewdly to prove Some conceive it thus to be fulfilled I will not determine it the long Parliament is or may be here signified by this beast so that which is set down by the Angel in the 17th Chapter and the 10th verse which is the explication of this vision that is here shewed c. 13. doth more fully seem to illustrate and confirm the same thing for there he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and there are seven Kings that is which have been and will be great and grievous extraordinary persecutors of my people The 5 Kings that were fallen before this Revelation was shewed whereof five are fallen that is dead and gone which we understand by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fallen and these five saith Junius are 1. Servius Sulpitius Galba the seventh Emperour of the people of Rome 2. Marcus Salvius Otho 3. Aulus Vitellius 4. Flavius Vespafianus 5. Titus the Sonne of Vespasian and one is saith the Holy Ghost that is saith he Flavius Domitian another Sonne of the foresaid Vespasian in whose latter Reign saith he St. John wrote this Revelation and another is not yet come saith the Text that is saith he Cocceius Nerva and the beast that was and is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our Translators render Junius in annotat in c. 17. joyned to Beza's Translation even he is the eighth even he especially to be observed above any of the other seven saith the Angel and this even he saith Junius is Nerva Trajan that is as I conceive him Cocceius Nerva the last that was aforenamed or rather as the stories shew Vlpius Trajanus qui hic vario respectu Septimus octavus appellatur who himself in divers respects is called here the seventh and the eighth for that although in number and order of succession he be the eighth yet saith he because this man obtained his power and authority with Nerva and did execute his consular office with him when Nerva died he is also said to be the seventh c. 17.11 and is reckoned together with Nerva as if Nerva and Trajan were but one head according to which sence our former Translation though very corruptly reads the beast that was and is not is even the eighth and is one of the seven or as the Geneva notes do understand those Kings The 1. is Nero. 2. Galba 3. Dr. Hammond in permonit pag. 907. Ex Hugone Grotio qui conjutatur Maresio pag. 169. Otho 4. Vitellius 5. Vespasian 6. Titus 7. Domitian 8. Nerva or as Doctor Hammond saith which is more likely to be right if St. John was banished to Patmos in Claudius his time and far more unlikely if his banishment was in Domitians time the 1. is Claudins 2. Nero. 3. Galba 4. Otho 5. Vitellius 6. Vespasian 7. Titus 8. Domitian But indeed all these Expositions and the like annumeration of these Kings that were fallen and extant and to come which would be too tedious for me to rehearse do seem to me to be far wide from the meaning of the Holy Ghost in this place
the same method as the 7th did And I heard it demanded very often if any Beast any like them with whom St. Paul fought at Ephesus or any other Beast in the world did or could possibly more evenly immitate passibus aequis even to a haire and over immitate that wicked Apostata in all points of subtlety and cruelty and specially in this preposterous and most odious course now specified against the Messengers of Christ for the quite rooting out of them and their Message the Gospel of Christ as the Rump Parliament hath done for as Julian did before them The Parallel so did not they by the same course of plundering and ejecting the Clergy and taking away all livelihood from the Bishops and other grave Doctors and Preachers cause many learned men even all whose names are not written in the Book of life as the Holy Ghost speaketh and some that seemed Starres and not of the least lustre in the firmament of the Church to fall from Heaven and to start aside like a broken Bowe and rather to follow the indirect Directory of the Parliament then for the observance of the direct form of serving God to forgoe their rich Rectories yea and did they not cause them to take the mark and Livery of that Beast and against their Consciences to take the Covenant of the Beast and so to forswear themselves that they might preserve their Lands and their Livings which otherwise they must have forgone as they saw others do in every place Quam sunt laudandi qui te florente juventa sprevere luxus deliciasque tuas So bewitching a thing is the love of this World as Demas can well testifie and all that have not learned St. Peters lesson to forsake all and to follow Christ and so you see how the 8th that is the Beast is of the 7th and practiceth the same acts and the same wayes as the 7th did Or else we may understand these words the 8th is of the 7 to signifie that this Beast is of the same subtlety cruelty and condition and hath as much gall and bitterness in him against the true Church and the true servers of God as all or any one of all the other 7. had So that you can finde no villany or mischief in any or in all the other 7. but you shall finde the same fully in this Beast that hath as many heads and more heads himself then all the other 7. Kings had and indeed this Exposition is most agreeable to the Originall Text that doth not say the 8th is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the 7th but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the seven And whosoever readeth the first and second part What the Authour of the History of Independency saith of the long Parliament and especially the third part of the History of Independency I should wonder if he finde it not there shewed that all the devices conspiracies hypocrifies and cruelties of those Kings or Emperours here mentioned yea and Parallel 7 times 7 more unto them are not reaching and answerable to the plots and devices iniquity and impiety of the long Parliament conceived by some men as I said before to be this beast to possess the estates destroy the liberties take away the lives of Gods Servants and to overthrow the true service and Religion of Jesus Christ for the Authour of that History proveth evidently as he saith by the very Acts and Votes the Ordinances and writings of that long Parliament that they are more bloody and cruel then the proscriptions of Sylla more unreasonable then the Articles of High Treason that were made by the Duke de Alva then which the Devill could not devise much worse and that their High Court of Justice is a new Slaughterhouse for the murthering of the free Subjects of Ingland without any just proceeding but in all things contrary to all the Lawes and Statutes of this Land which are there abundantly produced by that Authour to make good his assertion and to condemn that Court and their proceedings therein for usurpation treason tyranny The History of Independency part 3. p. 42. theft and murther for which illegall arbitrary and most barbarous bloody proceedings every mans hands would be about their eares if they did not keep an Army of Janizaries to suppress them saith that Authour And what viler baser and more abominable things then these could any beast any Antichrist or any Devill devise to do I cannot tell but I leave it to my Reader to judge whether these things be true or not CAP. II. The 10 Horus of the Beast who they are and what they may signifie their Crowns what they signifie their blasphemy the three chief properties of the Leopard how agreeable to the long Parliament of the feet and mouth of the Beast what they betoken of the power and authority of the Beast and the head that was mortally wounded who or what is meant thereby and how the Beast shall continue to make Warre 2. 2. Of the 10. Horns of the Beast IT is said that the beast had ten horns and the Holy Ghost expoundeth the meaning of this expression in the 17th Chapt v. 12. saying that these 10 horns are 10 Kings which have received no Kingdom but receive power as Kings with the Beast whereupon Junius to make good his former Interpretation of the Beast saith hos decem Reges jam olim numeraverunt circumscripserunt multi these Kings long agoe many have numbred and described to be 10 which did arise and spring out of the Roman Empire Junius in annotat in c. 13. in c. 17. quum politicum illud imperium arte pontificum maxime capit labascere when that civill Empire began by the craft and subtlety of the Popes to fall unto decay and Mr. Mede names these Kings to be 1. Vortimer 2. Hengist 3. Childeric 4. Gunderic 5. Theodoric 6. Viciarins 7. Gensericus 8. Sumanus 9. Theodomir 10. Marcianus Alcazar saith that these 10 Horns do signifie Polyarchiam Romanorum Mr. Mede in his Apostat of the latter times p. 82. Anno 456. the multitude of the Roman Senators which gave their strength and power by which they formerly ruled unto the Emperour and Cornâ—a Lapide saith these 10 Horns are 10 Kings equibus tres profligabit antichristus caeteri septem territi ei sponte se subdent whereof three shall be vanquished by the Antichrist as Daniel saith of the little horn tres Reges deprimet he shall suppress three Kings and the other seven being terrified that is by the humbling of those three shall willingly submit themselves unto him and it may be the three Kings that A Lapide speaketh of might be 1. The King of Ingland The Parallel A Lapide his Exposition how fulsilled M. Mede names the other three which the Pope suppressed p. 83. 2. The King of Scotland 3. The King of Ireland and the other seven that is most of the Neigh
bour Kings and States being made afraid of that power that could so suddenly subdue these three Kingdoms should very gladly yield themselves to become friends and Associates and to make a league of friendship with this Beast which Exposition may possibly be very near unto the truth when we see little lesse then this already come to passe The Commentator supposed to be Grotius makes these 10 Kings to be the Kings of Armenia Thracia Galatia Judaea Arabia c. which were under the Roman Empire and the Ministers of their Idolatry Et sic alii atque alii aliud atque aliud opinati sunt And truly I do not wonder that these learned men transported with a desire to make the World believe that the Pope is the great Antichrist and so misunderstanding whom the Holy Ghost meaneth by this Beast should in like manner mistake what or whom they should conceive to be the heads and horns and all other parts of this Beast quia uno absurdo dato mille sequuntur one absurdity draweth on another But how far those Expositions of Junius and Alcazar and that likewise of Mr. Mede and of all others that would have these 10 horns to signifie 10 Kings pertaining to the Roman Empire are from the meaning of the Holy Ghost in this Text will most evidently appear if you consider that the particulars of the description of these 10 horns do no wayes square and cohere with these 10 Kings that they speak of for these 10 Kings The former expositions rejected and the reasons shewed in the Text have interest but in one kingdom as you may see in the 17th Chapt. v. 12. and 17. where the spirit of God speaks in the singular number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they had received no Kingdom as yet v. 12. and in the 17. v. it is said that God hath put it in their hearts to fulfill his will and to agree which those Kings never did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to give their Kingdom unto the beast and not their Kingdoms whereas the Kings that were under the Emperour and are become under the Pope were and are properly Kings and have every one of them his own proper and peculiar Kingdom neither can it be said of them as it is said here of these Kings that they have received power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one houre with the beast that is a very very small time when as they came to their power and dominion by descent or by Conquest and did not receive it as these did from any Master that gave it them and they continued therein during their life some of them very long and some of them at one time and some at another time yielded themselvee unto the Pope and all of them were of so different a time one from another that it can never agree The unlikelihood of Mr. Medes Exposition with this one houre or a short space wherein these 10 horns do agree to give their strength and power and Kingdom which they have received unto the Beast Neither is there any likelihood that those 10 Kings which Mr. Mede nameth should be the 10 Kings here meant because they were but transient by the success of Warre and of small Provinces half or quarter of a Kingdom as Vortimer and Hengist here in Ingland Childerick and Gunderick and Theodorick in Gallia and Sumanus but in a little Continent between the Rhene so that they might be better termed Reguli then Reges and because also they were as I said before of a different time one from another which might be the reason as I conceive that made Junius to passe them over un-named because he saw the unlikeliness of these men to be the 10 Kings that are here meant neither could they be said to be the horns of the Roman Empire because they revolted from it and became horns against it and pushed very hard to overcome it but as I said dato uno absurdo mille sequuntur so these learned men mistaking the beast did easily mistake both his heads and his horns But if that by this Beast you understand the long Parliament The 10 horns paralelled with the Parliament you shall finde that as all the other particulars which are here set down in this Prophesie do in every point seem to accord and agree with that Parliament so doth all the description of these 10 horns that is these 10 Kings that had no Kingdom The 10 Horns may be taken to signifie one of these three things 1.10 Of their prime Commanders but the power Authority and strength of Kings which is potestas vitae necis the power of life and death and is the greatest power that any King can have and which they give unto the Beast v. 13. that is use for the service of the Beast doth agree with the Parliament if we understand by these 10 horns either 1. Ten of the prime Generalls and Commanders of that long Parliament which you will confess had no Kingdom and yet had the honour and power of Kings Or 2. If by these 10. horns we understand all their Chieftains 2. All their Chietrains and Commanders whereof not one of them had any Kingdom and yet each one of them had the power and authority of Kings for one hower that is for a small time and you may well remember the best and greatest of them had it not very long and you know likewise they all devoted this their power and strength for the service of them from whom they had received it and they were all of them as the Holy Ghost saith of one mind Gen. 31.7 41. 1 Sam. 1.8 Job 19.3 Eccles 17.19 Revel 2.10 and did all run the same way to fight against the Lamb to overthrowe the true Church and to slay the witnesses of Christ and yet they did all of them as they said hate the Whore the Whore of Babylon that is as they expound it the Church of Rome and all the Romish superstition for 10. being a perfect number the Holy Ghost doth in many places put down this number as he doth many other perfect numbers for an uncertain number as when Jacob said unto Laban Thou hast changed my wages ten times that is many times and the Holy Ghost saith unto the Church of Smyrna thou shalt have tribulation ten dayes that is sever all times so by these 10 horns or 10 Kings we may understand many Chieftains that had the power of Kings which they all imployed for the service of that long Parliament or else 3. If by these 10 horns we understand the greatness and perfection of that power strength and authority which was given and was shewed in those Generalls The horn an Emblem of Strength Psal 18.2 Psal 22.21 Psal 75.10 and they used for the advancement of the Parliament for the Scripture useth to express our strength and power by the Epithite of a horn as you may most frequently finde it in
the Book of Psalms where the Prophet calleth God the horn of his salvation and thanketh God that he had delivered him from the horns of the Vnicorns that is from the strength and power of his enemies and he saith that the horns of the ungodly shall be broken but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted that is the strength and power of the former shall vanish away but the strength of the other shall flourish the horn being an emblem of power as we see the strength and confidence of all horned Beasts are in their horns and by ten is signified the perfection of a thing The number of 10. a note of perfection and comprehends all numbers be they never so many as all numbers are contained under 10. or made of their reduplication as when we give the 10th to God we intend to ascribe all perfection unto him because as Aquinas well observeth after we reckon and account by figures unto 9. we add the Cipher o which is circular and as God hath neither beginning nor ending to make up 10 and then we have no more figures but to duplicate and triplicate the former figures in infinitum and the Cipher onely makes up the number And so by the 10. horns of the Beast we may very aptly understand the great strength and the perfect power of the Parliament that was able to subdue the King whose strength is so amplified by Zorobabel and his Companion as you may see in the 1. of Esdras 4.1 and v. 28. and which the Holy Ghost had set down in the 2d verse and yet repeateth the same again here by this Epitkite v. 4. to shew the greatness of their strength and the perfection of their power which is no lesse then 10. horns and so a perfect power But lest we might mistake by the sight of their great power from whence and by whom the Beast had received his great strength the Holy Ghost omitteth not to set down it was from the Dragon which doth every where denotate the Devil though the Beast braggeth and boasteth all his Victories and Successes are from God when as indeed all just Histories are from God but when injusties gets the best Judges 20.25 as it useth to do not seldome God doth justly suffer the Devil to give power and strength unto the wicked to prevail against the righteous as the Tribe of Benjamin did and many others in like manner against the prosecutors of truth and right and the true servants of God 3. 3. The ten horns had ten Crowns c. 13.1 The Parable It is said that these ten horns though they had no Kingdome yet they had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ten Crowns that is all the honour service and observance that could be given to any Kings the same was done and shewed to these horns wheresoever they came and this was agreeable to the Generals and Commanders of that Parliament their Excellencies did expect as much and the people durst offer them no lesse nor deny them whatsoever they required when their lives were in their hands and all their Estates and goods were at their disposal this needs not many Arguments to prove it And thus from all the aforesaid particulars I hope it is apparent that the Roman Empire cannot be signified by this Beast which was the error that brought forth many other errors after it as to recapitulate all in brief 1. The recapitu lation of the reasons that prove the Roman Empire cannot be the Beast here spoken of Because this Beast is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little diminutive creature and the Roman Empire one of the greatest States in the world 2. Because the seven heads of this Beast had no Crowns whereas the seven Orders of the Roman Government especially those of the Kings and Emperors should have the Crowns upon their heads rather then the horns if they had been meant by these heads and so should the seven Emperors that others make to be the heads if the Holy Ghost had meant them for the heads 3. Because the seven heads of the Beast which Mr. Mede saith are the seven Orders of Rulers of the Roman Government The Decemviri ruled but two years and the Tribunes but fifteen years and all of them to Augustus not above 700 years and they make the sixt to cease in the time of Boniface the third which was an 607. or thereabouts so that the Popes Government is almost as long as all the other 6 which was but 1300. and since Boniface there is above 1000. years and which Junius and others make to be seven of the Roman Emperors are no where either in the Vision or in the Exposition of it stiled seven Kings but after the Holy Ghost had expounded what these heads are namely seven Mountains he addeth immediately and there are seven Kings meaning as I shewed that had been and would be great persecutors of Gods children to signifie unto us that he meant not that these seven heads are those seven Kings nor indeed any Kings at all otherwise he needed not to have said any more but the seven heads are seven Kings whereof five are fallen and one is 4. Because that if this Beast be the eight and the Caesarean Order of Government be but the sixth and in respect of the changed Caesarianship but the seventh then this Beast is not signified by the seventh and the changed Caesarean order of Government cannot be this Beast but as the Holy Ghost tells us plainly this Beast is the eighth and of the seventh 5. Because that if either the seven Orders of the Roman Rulers or any other seven Emperors or Kings be the seven heads of the Beast then are they some part of the Beast but not any of them is termed the Beast nor said to be any part of the Beast but they all are stiled Kings and the eighth onely is said to be the Beast therefore they are not meant by these heads of the Beast 6. Because that if the Roman Empire be signified by this Beast then the ten Kings must be the horns that is the strength of the Roman Empire but these Kings having rebelled and fallen off from the Roman Empire they cannot be said to be the horns of the Empire but rather horns against the Empire which I take to be an Argument unanswerable 7. Because that if the Beast of seven heads and ten horns be the Roman Empire then the Roman Empire and not the Pope must needs be the Antichrist but according to these men the Pope is the Antichrist and not the Roman Empire therefore the Roman Empire is not the Beast And I hope I have more clearly shewed unto you who may be conceived to be the Beast and what we may understand by the seven heads and ten horns of the Beast But to proceed Fourthly it is said 4. Upon the heads of the Beast were names of blasphemie which may be committed two wayes 1. Way John 10.33
worthy of credit assure me they are for what Blasphemy in the world can there be greater then to make the Holy Spirit of God that flieth from deceit and dwelleth not in the body that is subject unto sin to be the foul Spirit of Darkness and the Author mover and promoter of such most horrid and execrable acts acts never acted by any Christians and but seldome if ever known by the worst of Pagans and never before adventured or invented as I conceive to be justifiable by the most impudent of all the Hereticks And besides all this have not their Assembly and Preachers Wisdome 1.5 as I told you before by consequent and in effect denyed the Father and the Son and so the Holy Ghost which is amor nexus spiritus patris filij Let the Reader judge what Blasphemous acts the Assembly of Divines and the adherents to the Parliament did and have they not obliterated and cashiered some of the chiefest heads and maine points of the long received truths of our Christian Religion and did not that Parliament Authorize that Apostate assembly and countenance the swarms of their lay-sword-Preachers to discountenance the 39 Articles of our Church to dispute about the expunging of the fift Article of the Apostles Creed to Antiquate the Lords Prayer out of the Church Service for fear that if they should use to say the same they should quench the Spirit as if the spirit of Christ would be offended with the Prayer of Christ and to turne out the long setled service of God and the book of Common-prayer out of the Church to give way as one saith well to a long-winded extemporary non-sence and Blasphemous repetitions Such Blasphemies as never were in the Church of Rome are broached in the books and Sermons of the Presbyterians and most sawcy expostulations with God in the steed thereof which is the readiest way to introduce Athiesme and to abrogate Christianity out of the world which is the desire of the Dragon and the proper work of the Antichrist And therefore the Religion of the Fauterers and adherents to that Parliament being but a meer complication and a syncretisme or rather a sink and common sewer of all errors Heresies and Blasphemies may we not well say that upon the heads thereof there is not onely the name but in the plurall number the names of Blasphemy especially if I should set down which would swell to a huge Volume all the Blasphemous tenents that some of their members many of their Preachers and more of their adherents have broached scattered and printed throughout these three Kingdomes since the unhappie birth of that most unhappy Parliament to most of the Kings most Loyall Subjects and so you see how this Appendix of the Beast may be said to cohere with that long Parliament Fiftly It is said v. 2. that this Beast was like a Leopard 5. The Beast was like a Leopard Jun. in annotat in loc As after the 2d Pun warr Maced Grec syria caeteraque omnia quasitorrente sequnta sunâ— Dan. 7.6 Vt loquitur florus l. 2. c. 7. Diodorus siculus de success Alexandr 2. and Junius following his former exposition saith this ought to be understood of the Roman Empire that was like a Leopard propter velocitatem by reason of their swiftness and speedy expeditions and their extraordinary successes to subdue their Enemies when their Generalls might say with Caesar veni vidi vici assoone as I came I overcame all the adversaries that opposed me whereby they have suddenly prevailed to inlarge their dominions over the better part of the then known world But indeed that Empire cannot be understood by this Leopard for Daniel speaking of the four great Empires of the world saith that the third Beast which betokened the Macedonian or Greek Empire was like a Leopard that is propter velocitatem by reason of the sudden increase and speedy inlargement thereof when Alexander the great did most suddenly in less then 10 years space subdue the Persian Monarchy and brought under his subjection the most part of the visible Dominions of the world and his Empire was as suddenly divided when he bequeathed the same to the Worthyest of his Captaines and almost as quickly againe translated unto the Romans and therefore I say that not the Roman Empire Eodem c. v. 7. 23. which was the fourth beast in Daniels Vision and had Iron teeth and stamped the residue of the Kingdomes with the feet of it but the beast that is the Antichrist which was typified by the little horne that came up among the hornes of the fourth beast â— v. 8. that Daniel saw is here likened to a Leopard and that not only propter velocitatem for the great speed that he maketh in all his actions but also in respect of all the other chief properties of the Leopard which is observed to be 1. The three properties of the Leopard Velox very swift 2. Crudelis very Cruel 3. Maculosus very much spotted And so was that many-headed beast that our Evangelift saw And truly I may justly demand if that these three properties of the Leopard might not be perfectly seen in the long Parliament The parallel for 1. 1. The great speed of the Parliament Were they not most swift in their expeditions and executions and subduing all that have opposed them either Domestick and homebred Enemies or any other forreigne foes and have they not conquered these three Kingdomes and prevailed more in less then ten years space then either the Warlike King of Sweden or any other King or Common-wealth if you consider all circumstances since Alexanders time 2. 2. The cruelty of the Parliamen As they were most speedy in their actions so I may demand if they were not as cruel in their executions and more cruell then all the examples that ever I found in any History to parallel them more cruel as it is conceived then John Vasilowich that was the greatest Tyrant of Russia and as they say greater then any other former Tyrant and yet he never persecuted any man as these men did onely for being loyall Subjects unto their King and faithfull Servants unto their God though we might say of Vasilowich that Saevior est tristi Busiride Saevior illo Qui falsum lento torruit igne bovem And therefore when I duly weigh the decenniall slaughters practised in these Christian parts by those that profest themselves to be the best Saints on earth especially when I consider not the bloudy killing of men but the many deaths that in a lingring death they have imposed on many good men and the piece-meale taking away of the lives of many quos oderunt gratis whom they hated without cause but only for seeking to do them the greatest good and to prevent the greatest evil that can be imagined from falling on them I cannot choose but cry out with the Poet O mites Diomedis equi Busiridis arae
the holy City under foot as the Holy Ghost setteth down the time in the self same phrase c. 11.2 But Mr. Mede excepts against this time of three years and a half because all the things that are to be acted in the time of the Beast could not be performed in so short a time as that 1. Ten Kingdoms to be founded in that time 2. Peoples and Nations and Tongues to become to serve the Beast 3. To make war with the Saints and to overcome them 4. Mr. Medes exception against the continuance of the Beast three years and a half Sixfold The foresaid exceptions answered To cause all that dwell upon the earth to worship the Beast 5. The whore of Babylon to ride the Beast so long that all Nations shall drink the wine of her fornication and the merchants that had ships should grow rich by trading with her And 5. That the time of the Beast followed immediately after him that is said to continue but a short space c. 17.10 therefore if the time of the Beast be but three years and a half how short must the other that preceded him be or doth not this expression of his precedents short space imply that the other which is the Beast should continue a long space when the Holy Ghost doth insert so singular a note of difference to the time of the former from the time of the latter To which I answer that all the things requisite to be acted in the time of the Beast may very well be accomplished as we see it already acted within three years and a half for 1. There is no such thing to be done as the founding or setting up of 10. 1. Exception answered Kingdoms as I shewed to you before But Mr. Mede produceth many Authours of the old Fathers to prove that the Beast should rise when 10. Kings should spring out of the Roman Empire and that was in Anno 456. when Gensericus took the City of Rome I confess that divers of the ancient Fathers supposing that the Roman Empire was that 2 Thes 2. which the Apostle meaneth to be the lette which hindered the rising of the Antichrist and therefore prayed in their Liturgies that the Roman Empire might long continue Tertul. in apolog cap. 32. Aug. de civit dei l. 20. c. 19 that the coming of the Antichrist might be deferred and be long before it came did imagin that when the Empire should be shared among 10. Kings the Beast would then shew himself as you may see in St. Hierome in Dan c. 7. and ad Ageruchiam de monogamia and in Ireneus l. 5. c. 21. 25. and others But the Roman Empire being not the thing that hindered the rising and the manifesting of the man of sin that is the Beast who is the Antichrist it followeth not that the Beast must then rise when the Empire falls to be divided among those 10. E. H. de Antichristo part 3 p. 114 Kings for the stop and remora that hindered the man of sin to be revealed is clearly and sufficiently proved by E. H. to be not the Roman Empire but the two witnesses that were as a Serpentine barre in his way that he could not rise and tyrannise over Gods flock untill they were killed and you know when they were killed as I have shewed to you before 2. I say that peoples and Nations and Tongues 2d Exception answered might well serve the Beast in a lesse time then three years and a half as we see they have done to the long Parliament 3. He might as Antiochus that was his type did warre with the Saints 3d Exception answered and overcome them in that or lesse then that time and the issue of that Parliaments Warre ending much about that time proves this to be true 4. He might by an hyperbolicall speech which is not unusuall in the Scripture 4th Exception answered cause all that dwell on the Earth that is to cause abundance of people and most of his Neighbour Nations to worship him that is to reverence and to respect him to send Embassadors unto him and to court him for otherwise all that dwell on the Earth will never worship him nor reverence him as the true Servants of Christ that never did nor ever will and therefore by all that dwell on the Earth we must understand all the earthly minded men or else as the Evangelists say Matth. 3.5 Mark 1.5 there went out to John Baptist all Judaea and all the Region round about Jordan that is most of the people of those parts or a great many out of all the parts of Judaea and this we have seen done in lesse then three years to the long Parliament 5. It is not requisite that Babilon or the Whore should ride the Beast 5th Exception answered so long as Mr. Mede saith neither doth the Text alot any time nor determine how long the Whore should ride the Beast but saith I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured Beast c. 17 3. 5. And I will tell thee the mystery of the woman verse 7. and the Beast that carrieth her and this doth not shew but that the Whore which signifieth the superstitious and Idolatrous Church might be of a long continuance and yet that she hath not rid the Beast all that while for I do not find that the beginning of the Whore and of the Beast do synchronize and are of the same time but that the Whore began to play the harlot that is the Church began to apostatize long before the Beast rose out of the Sea and when the Beast did rise and began to appear then the Whore began to ride him the meaning of which riding I shall hereafter declare unto you 6. I say that the precedent Kings continuance is termed a short space 6th Exception answered not in opposition to the long space of the Beast but for the consolation of those distressed Christians that suffered under that seventh King and I shewed you that Julian which I conceive to be understood by that seventh King continued not in all his whole Reign and likely not so much in persecuting the Saints above three years which certainly is but a short space neither doth it follow that because this is said to continue a short space it implieth that the other shall continue a long space nor that the Holy Ghost doth insert this as a singular note of difference of the formers time Why the Holy Ghost saith the Antichrist should continue a short space from the time of the latter but that the spirit of God for the comfort of his Servants foretells them that as well this as the other shall continue but a short space God having alwayes this respect to his Children Si languor longa sit levis est Si gravis brevis est when their afflictions are long as the Israelites vexation in Egypt and in Babilon was then are they but light and when
and offences in our Church contrary to the Doctrine that we learned and contrary to all the established Lawes of this Land and they would never have disdained to be Canonically subject to their Diocessan Bishops and so make shipwrack of their faith and a good Conscience and through their pride that aspired to be free Masters and no lesse then a Pope in every Parish and through covetousness and hope to share the Episcopall Revenues among themselves so eagerly to have proceeded to deface the most Glorious Nationall Church that was on Earth And as the Apostle bids us to marke them that cause division and offences as he did himselfe by name marke and made known unto the people Hymeneus and Philetus and Alexander the copper smith and as St. John marked Diotrephes and our Saviour Christ the Scribes and Pharisees 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let the Reader judge if this be not fulfilled in the Presbyters that the people might avoid them as they are commanded so I could name to you such Presbyterians that are so earthly so worldly so covetous and such extortioners if printed books say true of them as would make men wonder that any Christians should be such but I love not to throw dirt in any particular mans face onely I let you know that I conceive this to be the meaning of the rising of this beast out of the earth that he is earthly minded as in generall I say and am sure of it the Presbyterians are Then secondly it is said in the same v. 11. 2. What is meant by the two hornes of this beast that this Beast had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 two hornes like a Lambe or like unto the Lamb and that is the Lambe which was spoken of in the eighth v. And these two hornes saith Grotius do signifie the chastity and the abstinence of Apollonius and the rest of the Magicians by which vertues so greatly commended by the Christians they made themselves most acceptable unto them but while Grotius applyeth this Prophesie to Domitian and Apollonius as he doth the other of St. Paul 2 Thes 2. to Caius and to Simon Magus he makes the Apostles to Prophesie of things already done and extending themselves no further then their own time which is contrary to the sence of all Expositors and cannot properly be said to be Prophesies as I shewed to you before Mares p. 139. They that mistake this Beast and take him for the Pope do likewise mistake these hornes for the two fold sword the Temporall and the Spirituall Power of the Pope Acosta saith they are insignia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acosta de tempor nouis l. 2. p. 17. the ensignes of the Episcopall Dignity that was expressed by their Miter which seemed like Moses his hornes that were but the radiant beames of Glory which like the sun-beames reflected from his face and forehead when he descended from the Mountain where he had been in conference with Almighty God and this dignity this Beast assumed to himself which was onely peculiar to the Episcopall Function And did not the Assembly of Divines at Westminster The Parallele The Presbyter challenge the Episcopall Dignity and more and every one of the Presbyterians arrogate and challenge this Dignity unto himselfe when he refused to be subject and to be directed by his Diocessan and with the Heretick Aerius did stiffely maintain that there was no difference in Gods word betwixt a Presbyter and a Bishop yes their own writings and the whole Kingdom are sufficient witnesses of this truth yea they affected indeed far more then the Episcopall Power as it hath been fully shewed in the Diurnalls and the weekly intelligence of the Parliament and as King James found it in Scotland and the Independants and Lay-Preachers shall finde it to their cost if ever the Presbyterian Government should be established But Mr. Mede saith that by these two hornes Mr. Mede p 66. we may understand the Power of binding and loosing which Christ left to his Apostles and to their Successors here on earth and which this Beast doth assume unto himsef but if this Power had been here to be understood the Holy Ghost had not said these hornes were like the hornes of the Lambe but that this Beast had the two hornes of the Lamb because the Power of binding and loosing are the two right hornes of Christ Revelat. 3.7 that onely hath the Keyes of David which openeth and no man shutteth and again shutteth and no man openeth and this two-fold Power Christ hath given to his true and lawfull Ministers Cornelius a lapide in loc and they truly and rightly have the two bornes of the Lambe which this beast had not but had counterfeit hornes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like the hornes of the Lambe as Cornelius a Lapide well observeth therefore this two-fold Power cannot be here understood But because strength and Power is commonly understood by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the horne and our Saviour Christ that is here understood by the Lambe shewed his Power while he walked here on earth chiefly in two main things that is The 2 things that are fignified by the two hornes 1. In his Propheticall Office of foretelling things to come 2. In his Supernaturall working of wonders and miracles among the people So this beast pretendeth to be indued with the same double Power of the Lambe as The Paralele Let the reader judge if Presbyters do not arrogate them to themselves 1. Of Foretelling hidden and future things 2. Of Working strange miracles And Though I know the Presbyterians and their associates will deny that they challenge these hornes and the Power of doing these things unto themselves yet res ipsa loquitur let their doings be the Judges of this point 1. To foretell things to come For 1. Do they not presume but most impiously though not directly in words yet obliquely by their deedes to tell you who are Saints and who are sinners who are Elect and who are Reprobates who shall be the Heires of Heaven and who must be the fire-brands of hell not plainly it may be but by their deeds I say it is plainly seen they do it and such knowledge is too excellent for us we cannot attain unto it when the Apostle tells us in plain termes that the Lord 2 Tim. 2.19 and the Lord onely and not any man knoweth who are his that is his Elected Saints They are so well versed in the hearts of men and can so finely distinguish betwixt the Saint and the sinner the elect and the reprobate that herein no Tricotomist can be more acute that shall inherit his Kingdom and yet these wise eagle-sighted Presbyterians contrary to this Testimony of the Apostle when they Administer the Holy Eucharist besides other times at their pleasure can distinguish betwixt the sheepe and the goates and admitting the sheep to partake thereof they can exclude the goates from the
concernment to the whole Church it should be very well plainly and sufficiently proved and manifested and not darkly and improbably demonstrated or else it ought hardly to be received and not at all to be beleeved 4. Whereas pag. 2. of this interpretation he saith that because oppositorum eadem estratio and that the mysterie of 144. to which this number of 666 is opposed is contained in the roote thereof which is 12 therefore the mysterie of this 666. must be contained in the roote thereof which is 25. I say that the misterie of 144. is indeed interpreted to consist in the roote thereof which is 12. which being 12 times multiplied doe make up just 144. and yet the Holy Ghost maketh no such interpretation of it but that those spirits which beleeve nothing but the expresse text of scripture may as easily reject it as receive it but being granted that this is rightly interpreted because the twelve Apostles St. Paul left out that laboured in the building more then any if not then most of them all were the foundations of the wall of the new and spirituall Jerusalem yet it followeth not that because this mysterie must be explained by the extraction of the roote of 144. therefore the other mystery that denoteth the beast must consist in the roote of 666 no more then the mysteries of many other numbers expressed in scripture can be said to consist in their extracted rootes and though the beast be opposite to Christ and the Synagogue of Satan opposite to the Church of Christ or Babylon to Jerusalem yet this doth not in any understanding prove that 666 is more opposite to 144. as it is a set number then it is to 444 or to any other definite number 333 being as I conceive a more oppofite number in respect of division to 666. Onely this 666 is said to be the number of the beast in direct and plain termes and the other number of 144 is interpreted by some authors to be understood of the Church militant here on earth and by others of as good repute to be the typicall expression of the Kingdome of Heaven Besides the twelve Apostles were but the foundations of this wall as having their names in them v. 14. the wall being made up of other stones that is of all the beleeving christians and so it comprehendeth the whole Church and then the opposition must be not betwixt the Hierarchie of the Pope and his Cardinals and the Hierarchie of the Christian Church but betwixt the whole Church of Christ whose wall and not whose foundation v. 17. was 144 cubits and the whole Synagogue of Satan that is made up of theeves infidels and all other wicked reprobates therefore the Pope and his Cardinals cannot be the the beast that by this exposition of opposites must fignifie all the whole companie of reprobates which is far contrarie to the meaning of the Holy Ghost that plainly differenceth the beast and the worshipers and followers of the beast as the Lambe and the followers of the Lambe are not the same But indeed contrarie to the opinion of Mr. Forbes and some other that make this vision of the new Ierusalem to be typus presentis ecclesiae a type of the militant Church I shall with many of the most ancient interpreters denie this discription of the new Ierusalem to be the type of the Christian militant Church and say that ad captum nostrum that can reach no higher then demonstration this admirable explication of this citty is thus set down to shew unto us those ineffable excellencies and most glorious estate which the servants of Christ shall enjoy in the kingdome of Heaven for if you observe the coherence of this 21 c. with the former you shall finde there c. 20. that the beast and the false prophet and the devill are cast into the lake of fire to be tormented for ever and ever v. 10. and the dead both smale and great were all judged according to their works v. 12 and death and bell and all that were not written in the booke of life were cast into the lake of fire which can be no other then the last judgement against all the reprobates this is the end of them And then after St. Iohn had shewed the end of them and their sad condition for ever he proceeds in the 21 c. to shew unto us according to the best of our apprehension the most happie state and condition of the children of God in heaven which he expresseth under this type that he saw a new heaven and a new earth even as St Peter and before him the prophet Esay long agone had prophysied and foretold the servants of God how happie they should be and because that which is no where is not at all as St. Aug. Tolle spatia locorum corporibus nusquam erunt et quia nusquam erunt non erunt saith therefore he describeth the place where they shall remain in bliss under this type of the new Ierusalem whose excellent frame and figure he doth here so amply describe unto us wherein you may observe that the things attributed to the Cittizens of this new Ierusalem are incompatible with the members of the church militant for it is said that God shallwipe away all teares from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more paine v. 4. which cannot be referred and applied to the members of the purest church on earth and so many other things are set down c. 22. to be in this heavenly Cittie which cannot without apparant violence unto the text properly be thought to be in the militunt church but are most elegant expressions by way of allusion of those incomprehensible excellencies that the saints shall finde in the kingdome of heaven 5. Whereas he saith pag. 3. that it is not said as it is observed by many let him that hath understanding count the name of the beast but count the number of the beast I answer that in c. 13. v. 17. it is said that no man might buy or sell but he that had the marke or the name of the beast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the number of his name therefore the number of the beast and the number of his name are all one and so both the one and the other both signifying the same thing are said to contain therein the just number of 666 when as the number of the beast is put down for the number of the name of the beast 6. Whereas he saith c. 2. pag. 5. that the mysterie of 144. consisteth in the square roote of it which is 12. I answer as before that I doe not gain-say it but for the oppositio of 666 to this 144 that the mysterie of the 666. must consist in the square roote of it which is 25. as the mysterie of a 144 confisteth in the square roote of it which is 12 I utterly denie untill he can bring me
a King and a Priest and so in denying him to be Christ he denieth him to be Jesus and a Saviour which he saith he beleeveth him to be and therefore he must needs be a great Lyar in saying that now which he presently denieth Question But here the question may be demanded How is it or how can it be that the Antichrist which professeth himself to be not a Jesuit from the name of Jesus but a Christian as they were first termed in Antioch from the name of Christ and saith he doth acknowledge and beleeve and will not and doth not deny Jesus to be both a King and a Priest yea his King and his Priest whom he doth above all others both honour reverence and obey as his King and as his Priest should notwithstanding be said and said truly without any unjust impuration laid upon him to deny Jesus to be the Christ that is the King to rule and the Priest to govern and to instruct his Church I answer that the Apostle meaneth not Respons That the Antichrist should in plain words positively and peremptorily deny Jesus to be a King and a Priest He that sayeth thou art my King and I am thy Subject but thou shalt not rule me neither will I obey thee is not he a Lyar as the Jews Turks and other Infidels do when as he confesseth publikely and in plain terms and never denieth with any manner of words that Jesus is not the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and that he is not a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchizedech but professeth the same as much and more than any man living and yet herein he is the great Lyar because that what he saith in words Factis negat he apparently denieth by his deeds which are the chiefest affirmation or negation of any truth and the best witnesses to confirm both what we say and what we deny as both our Saviour and his Apostle St. Paul do sufficiently testifie And so What it is to deny Jesus to be the Christ the meaning of denying Jesus to be King and Priest is not to be understood of any verbal denial but that the Antichrist though he doth in words confess him to be his King and his Priest and denieth him not to be anointed by God with the true Oyle of grace He that denieth Jesus to execute the Office of King and Priest denieth him to be King and Priest the oyntment of Gods Spirit above and beyond all others that ever were anointed to be the King and the Priest of the whole Church yet by his deeds and his actions he would most treacherously and maliciously deny and hinder Iesus to exercise and execute those Offices that is his Kingly Offices and his Priestly Office by those his deputies and Vicegerents whom he appointeth and placeth under him and in his stead to rule govern and to instruct his people here on earth for he being ascended into heaven executes these Offices of King and Priest none otherwise now in his personal absence than by his Substitutes and Deputies that he placeth to be Kings and Priests under him and whosoever denieth and hindereth them to discharge their duties and to execute those Functions and Offices of King and Priest denieth Jesus to execute the same and to discharge the duties of his Kingly and Priestly Office And we must not understand the Apostles words that the Antichrist denieth Jesus to be the Christ or his denial of him to be the true Messias and Saviour of the World and for that end to be anointed both for a King and a Priest which he never denieth or otherwise if this were his denial of him to be a King and a Priest to this end That thousand thousands deny Christ to be Jesus but the Antichrist only denieth him whom he confesseth his Jesus to be the Christ we should have ten thousand thousands of such Antichrists as Iews Turks and all the Infidels over all the World that deny Iesus the Son of Mary to be anointed for a King and a Priest to become the true Messias and to save his people from their sins for we know that all those do thus peremptorily deny Iesus to be the Christ or to be thus and to this end anointed to be King and Priest and yet they are not said to be the Antichrist nor the great Lyar which the Antichrist is said to be because their lye doth not contra mentem ire nor deny that which they affirm deny by their doings what they affirm by their sayings but their hearts and their tongues do conceive and confess the same thing that Iesus is not the Christ neither their King nor their Priest and the Antichrist doth the clean contrary saying in words that he is his Jesus and yet by his deeds utterly deny him And therefore by this ample Explanation of this mystical Sentence that the Antichrist is a great Lyar because he denieth Iesus to be the Christ I hope it is made plain enough that the meaning of the Apostle is that the Antichrist which mendaciously and falsely like a great Lyar professeth himself a Christian and acknowledgeth in his words that the Lord Iesus is the Christ that is his King and his Priest and himself his loyal Subject and the most faithful Servant of Christ will notwithstanding all this great profession maliciously deny and most rebelliously hinder and oppose the lawful Deputies Lieutenants and Servants of Christ our King and Priest to execute and to discharge their Kingly and Priestly Offices under Christ and in Christ his stead and will as I shewed you from the force and true meaning of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so deny them to execute their functions that nothing will satisfie or serve his turn untill he hath utterly destroyed both King and Priest and so denied them both to serve their Offices and to live in their places that is to be King and Priest Thus the Antichrist denieth Iesus to be the Christ by denying his Deputy-Kings and Priests He that resisleth Christ his Deputies resisteth Christ himself to execute their Kingly and Priestly Offices under him for as he that resisteth the lawful Magistrate resisteth the Ordinance of God saith the Apostle and so far as he resisteth Gods Ordinance he resisteth God himself because Man can make no other visible resistance of God than by the resistance of his Ordinance So he that revolteth from or rebelleth against the execution of these Offices of Christ by those deputies that he sets under him here on earth is rightly said to revolt from and rebel against Christ and so he that denieth them to execute their Offices of Kings and Priests under Christ may justly be said to deny Iesus to execute his Office of King and Priest even as you see he that resisteth against the Kings Sheriffe or Lieutenant is justly said to rebell against the King For though Christ be now in heaven yet he hath his Kingdom here
on earth and he is still our King as the Prophet saith The Lord is King and hath put on glorious apparel Psal 93.1 and he placeth other Kings to be his Substitutes and Vicegerents to guide and to govern his people according as he doth command and therefore he saith By me Kings do raign Prov. 8.15 and as he is still our King so S. Peter saith He is still the Bishop of our souls 1. Pet. 2.25 and the Priest that maketh an atonement to God for us and he placeth other Bishops and other Priests under him to teach and to govern his Church in the truth of his Service and Religion And you know what Christ saith to these his Deputies and Vicegerents Luk. 10.16 He that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me So he that denieth and hindereth you to execute your Offices denieth me mine Offices to be both King and Priest and so denieth me to be the Christ and in denying me he denieth him that sent me Psal 2.8 and gave me the Gentiles for mine Inheritance and the uttermost part of the earth for my Possession and also Sware that I should be a Priest for ever Psal 110.4 after the Order of Melchizedech Therefore it is most plain and apparent that whosoever professeth himself a Christian and yet maliciously opposeth and trayterously denieth the execution of the Kingly and Priestly Offices of Christ to be performed by his Deputies Kings and Priests that he appointeth under him and so far denieth them to do it as utterly to destroy them and deny them to live as the Jews denied Christ before Pilate to be Kings and Priests in Christs stead to Govern and to Teach his Church is here meant by the Apostle to be the Grand Lyar and the Great Antichrist that denieth Jesus to be the Christ and so you have seen what is the meaning of denying Jesus to be the Christ 2. The other Point to be considered is to enquire and search if we can find 2. Whom can we find to have denied Jesus to be the Christ Neither Pope nor Turk who have thus as I shewed you denied Jesus to be the Christ and if you find who hath done so you shall find out the Antichrist and I beleeve we shall find him neither in Rome nor in Constantinople for the Pope I am sure of it denieth not the Bishops as Christs Depuâ—ies to execute their Priestly Office when he professeth himself to be Christs Deputy and Vicar to discharge that Office to instruct and to govern his Church and for the Turke he will not extirpate Monarchy nor cast down Kings when he professeth himself to be the chief Monarch of the earth and a King of Kings as his own Letters testifie But whether the Long Parliament and their adherents Let the Reader judge whether the long Parliament hath not fulfilled this saying of the Apostle that in words do constantly affirm and profess that Jesus is the Christ and themselves good if not the best Christians that are on earth have not by their deeds in opposing their King the Substitute and Vioeroy of Christ and denying him either to execute his Regal Office or to live and in suppressing all the Bishops and so many Orthodox Loyall Preachers so that they shall never as Bishops execute the Priestly Office of Christ denied Iesus to be Christ by denying those Substitute Officers of Christ to execute those Offices or to live in those Offices I leave it to them that can judge who is the Lyar and the Antichrist and that denieth Iesus to be the Christ Only I must say That if I were a Pagan and an Infidel and had seen no more of the Parliaments doings but these two things i.e. 1. Their words and great profession of holiness and Christianity And The two chiefest things that do most of all regret the mind of the Author 2. Their deeds in the cutting off of their own just and lawful Kings head and the head of their chief Priest and the suppression exclusion and extirpation of all the godly Bishops in these three Kingdoms and likewise the prohibition and sileneing of them and the rest of the Orthodox Preachers from preaching of the Gospel of Iesus Christ not for any supposed Errour in their Doctrine but for a suspition they had that those faithful men would publish the truth and villanies of their Acts and Proceedings unto the People I should beleeve none could be a greater Lyar or a greater Antichrist than they that did such things Being confident that neither Decius nor Dioclesian nor any other of the primitive Persecutors nor Pope nor Turk nor any later Tyrant hath ever done the like And yet herein That the Author can very well endure dissentients I am not so wedded to mine own opinion as that I cannot endure dissentients for I am not of their mindes that hold him not for their friend and will bear no correspondence with him that will not per omnia in omnibus in all things be of their minde neither do I propose my conceptions notions and Expositions as infallible Articles of faith for others sub paena to be believed but I only set down what I conceive and do verily believe to be true and my Reasons and Arguments that induce me thereunto leaving to all others the liberty of their own conscience to believe what they will and whom they will to be the Antichrist Pope or Turk or whomsoever they please 3. 3. That the Antichrist denying Jesus to be the Christ denieth the Father and the Son which may be done 2 waies 1. Way Mat. 10.40 Luc. 10.16 S. John proceedeth and saith that the Antichrist not only denyeth Jesus to be the Christ but also by this denial he denyeth the Father and the Son and this as I conceive may be done two manner of wayes 1. By separating himself from the rule Government and Ministry of Christ and maliciously suppressing the ordinances and the substitute Governors of Christ which is a most observable and inseparable mark of the Antichrist and of all his followers for thus our Saviour tells us that whosoever despiseth rejecteth and suppresseth the officers Embassadors and Ministers that Christ sendeth and setteth over us to ruâ—e us and to instruct us despiseth rejecteth and by as much as in him lieth suppresseth Christ himself and whosoever despiseth rejecteth and denyeth him despiseth and denieth God the Father that sent him and therefore you may plainly see hereby Vide R. W. in lib. The Doctrine of the Scripture touching the original of Government pag. 117. that the rebellious risers against their King Prince or any other their supream Governor that Christ placeth over them and the suppressors of the Apostles Bishops and Pastors of Gods Church the successors of the Apostles that Christ sends to teach and to govern his Church throughout all ages do rebell reject and deny Christ which is