lie much of them in Common Well what ever things may be though Christian love will passe by much yet beleeve it if men make no conscience of their bargaines but that they doe defraud others If men make no conscience of heavenly mindednesse of purity and zeale and thinke it needs not but rest in meer formes of Church Ordinances you will unavoydably poure a Viall of Gods wrath as much as in you lyes on all the purity of Gods Ordinances and judge you how dishonourable it is to God and holy religion and how blame-worthy it is in such as are faulty herein however you will answer this before the Lord at his comming For you cannot avoide it this will be the issue either we are counterfeit Professors of Reformation or that our reformation is counterfeit you say you came over for puritie of Ordinances But in truth you did but dissemble however you thought it was not in your hearts the event proves the contrary if you be not sincere but hollow Members of the Church and corrupt livers under the governement and worship of God heere established and ordered I say you will force all whose eyes are on you throughout the Christian world to thinke these are but the inventions of men there is no truth no true heartednesse in the Religion here established and for the Religion established in England what ever you talke of humane inventions we know there is no such unfaithful dealing and hollow heartednesse no such bitternesse between Christians A Ministers Presence is amiable and his feet beautifull and where hee comes it is not thought too homely to be regarded of better then himselfe If Religion in our Native Countrey of them that are sincere if it hold foorth more puritie there beleeve it it beares more evident witnesse to the truth of God there so much as is truth then as we doe that professe greater simplicitie these are but the names of things but the reality is wanting It is never to be forgotten the Argument of the blessed Apostle the Corinthians tooke offence at him as they were humerous though godly men yet a generation of them were haughty by their great gifts Paul said he would come to Corinth he promised to come but he did not and they thought he used lightnesse it was an easie thing with him to be Yea and Nay What saith the Apostle When I said I would come did I use lightnesse that with me there should be Yea and Nay Nay saith the Apostle I pray yon marke it and I could wish it were engraven on the tables of godly mens hearts in the 2 Corinth 1.18 as God is true our word toward you was not Yea and Nay How doth hee prove that For the Sonne of God Iesus Christ who was preached amongst you by us was not yea and nay but in him was yea and all the promises of God in him are Yea and Amen What is this to the purpose If the Gospel he preached be not yea and nay then neither are his prâ—mises yea and nay this is his intendment else his inference is nothing I you will say Ministers and Apostles ought to be such but this that followes wraps in all professours Now hee which stablisheth you with us in Christ it is not Elders onely and he that anointed us is God who anointeth with such oile as falls on every member of his body who hath also sealed us and given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts and makes us every way like himselfe therefore saith he I call God to record that to spare you I came not yet to Corinth otherwise as the Gospell preached by him and Silvanus Timotheus was not yea and nay but in him was yea no more was his promise this is the spirit of Christians and Ministers and so of al that are established together with their Ministers anointed and sealed and confirmed in grace with their Ministers and have received the earnest penny to bind the bargaine of eternall salvation to faithfull soules So looke what a Christian doth promise he is bound by the earnest penny of Gods Spirit hee dares no more alter his words to the discredit of his profession then the Spirit of God to lie So that consider if Professors grow corrupt Religion wil grow corrupt and on the discovery of the corruption of common Christians corrupt religion will be discovered else you will be discovered to be carnall professors But there will be these two events either it will cast aspersion on you and so they will say none are better the spirit of the Country is deceitfull in their bargaines there is no constancie in their words Or else that your Religion is corrupt and this will also follow unavoidably though your Religion bee of God and the Lord himselfe will beare witnesse it is of God and according to the true patterne of the Word yet if we in this generation shall defile it by our unfaithfulnesse unspiritualnesse unheavenlinesse and ungodlinesse this will be the issue on the corruption of the lives of Professors followes corruption of Religion and upon the discovery of the one followes the discovery of the other That Religion which by the blessing of God and the power of his grace is dispensed heere in simplicity will bee corrupted in the very next generation you will finde your Children after you of whose state you ought to have as much care and I thinke I may speake it without inconveniency more then of your owne you may know the worst of it for your selves being neere the grave many of you but verely what will befall your Posterity They will degenerate out of measure by the unfaithfulnesse of your lives and unrighteousnesse of our promises they will fall to bee starke nought in point of Doctrine Worship and Government they will utterly degenerate from their Ancestors let but us bee polluted and all the waters that come from us will be polluted it cannot be sweet water that runnes through a poysonous earth if the earth bee unsavoury the Waters and Deepes and Rivers be poysoned what will the issue bee all will bee corrupt and therefore as you desire to leave Religion with a blessing leave it pure in the conversation of Brotherly love and purity and faithfulnesse and fruitfulnesse and heavenly mindednesse that so as Religion always loves to lye cleane as was a grave speech of an ancient Saint it will not lye nasty as a Swine and a Dogge in a kennell it must lye sweet and cleane if the hearts and waies of men be not pure and holy you shall not alway have the Sea cleane but Religion will grow to Apostacy and that which is our glory will be our confusion It became as the blood of a dead man Doct. 2. The faithful Ministers and Professors of Reformed Religion and Churches by powring out the wrath of God on Popish Religion have discovered it not to hold forth the blood of the Lord Iesus but to bee as the blood of a
Earthly Religion and so to the Princes of Earthly religion they goe forth therefore they goe unto the Kings of the Earth And of the whole World They doe not containe themselves in the limits of Christendome but the other Princes the Princes of the whole world that is to say to Pagan Princes They would have power to prevent if it were possible this great mischiefe to themselves that they might crush these Christian Kings that brought in the reformation Therefore they goe forth to the Kings of the Earth and of the whole World To gather them to battell To the battell of that great day of God Almighty That 's not the last judgement as some have thought there will be no warring then but every day of great execution is called a great day of God Almighty But that we shall speake to God willing when we come to it of that great day of God Almighty But what day is that yee have it expounded in the 19. Rev. 17. It is the day of Gods great Supper that yee may eat the flesh of Kings and the flesh of Captaines and the flesh of mighty men c. This is the great day of God Almighty on which these worldly and wicked these Popish and Pagan Princes with all their power and all their forces and armies they are able to make shall come forth against the Lord Jesus and against these Christian Princes that have beene serious and studious in the reformation of Religion and in the drying up of these streames of corruption Thus you see the words opened and the plaine and true meaning of them I cannot speake of the comming of Christ now and of the gathering together to the great battell of Armageddon and I would not open more then I am able to finish at this present Therefore now consider the Doctrine againe and the truth of it how it doth plainly arise from the words of the Text. Upon the powring out of the sixth Viall that is to say upon the drying up of the current and streames of the corruption of Antichristian religion or Christian religion for Antichristian religion is but the corruption of religion in Christendome The Dragon that is to say the Devill and the Beast that is to say the Roman Catholique visible Church and the false Prophet that is to say the Pope the head of the Church did send forth out of their mouthes that is to say out of their commands three uncleane spirits that is Cardinalls and Bishops and Jesuites To stir up the Princes of the Earth and of the whole World that is both Popish and Pagan Princes to a great battell To what end ye may see by the occasion of it is was upon the powring out the Viall of the wrath of God upon the streames of corruption of religion therefore they would turne the streame againe to prevent the way of the Kings of the East that is the conversion of the Iewes by bringing in old Idolatry and superstition spirituall Adulteries and Whoredomes and Witchcrafts for the maintenance of the Sea of Rome Thus you see the point plaine from the Text neither is there any difficulty that remaines for the opening of it that I doe discerne Now then for the Reasons of the point and so briefly to come to the use The reasons are two why that upon this drying up of the streames of corruption of Religion these three great commanders should thus send forth such kinde of Emissaries instruments that will bee active and nimble to gather such a fearfull Battell against the Lord and against his servants The first reason is taken from the nature of their Kingdome Rea. 1 Antichrists kingdom is contrary to the Kingdome of Christ his Kingdome is not of the Earth theirs are from beneath his Kingdome is not of this World But theirs are of this World These are of the World saith Iohn speaking of Antichrist in the 1 Ioh. 4. Chapter 6 Verse And therefore minde yee the weapons of their warfare are carnall full of malice and full of envy and devillishnesse their instruments are not spirituall but carnall and worldly And therefore being thus shaken as they are their returne is not to Fasting and Prayer or the power of the holy Ghost or the power of spirituall gifts or so forth these are estranged from them And now they fall to carnall policy and worldly power and devillish engines and instruments these are fit for this use This is one Reason Rea. 2 The other reason is taken from their implacable malice and hatred against the reformation of religion and the conversion of either Iew or Gentile to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus there is nothing more grevious to these spirits then the prosperity of religion they gnash their Teeth for paine in the former Viall this is that will vex them more then all the rest to see these Rivers dried up and these streames dryed up and now the holy City of Rome blasted this doth stirre them up to implacable malice and mischiefe and now they care not who they confederate withall so they may crush the Christian Princes and hinder reformation It was truly prophesied of by the Apostle Paul That evill men and seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived 2 Timothy 3 13. So it is with these evill men here if they see they cannot get victory over Protestants though they have pretended warre with the Turke for the recovering of the holy Land yet now they will consent with him they sticke not who they agree with so they may mantaine their war To come then briefely to make some use of what ye have heard the use of the point is thus much Vse 1 First it may teach every noble wit and every active spirit and every man of cleanly conveyance not to pride himselfe much lesse to blesse himselfe in such gifts and parts what ever they be pride not your selves blesse not your selves in them you see heere is a Generation of nimble spirits and active wits cleanly spirits spirits of as neat and cleanly conveyance as ever the World saw men full of wit and full of dexterity men good for Church as they count it notable there and not able for the Common-Wealth they are marvelous fit for all kinds of imployment in their owne wayes and that 's very large for their owne ends and yet see they are but made instruments to the Dragon to the Beast and to the false Prophet so that verily if a man now should take pride in his gifts and blesse himselfe in the activenesse of his spirit and cleanly conveyance aplaud himselfe in such kinde of inlargements as these be I tell you the Devill hath as quick wits as you are and as active spirits as you are and men of as dexterous conveyance as you can be And therefore never pride your selves in these they are such as are as fit instruments for the Devill as for Christ and many times the Lord Jesus takes lesse delight
neither would I wholly wave that Interpretation of the Imperiall state because the matter is not what Papists will acknowledge or what the Church of Rome will own Whether they will own the Emperour to bee the primest and chiefesf light or others for the holy Ghost speaks of things as they be as well as how they are conceived to be Now in Scripture Interpretation the greatest lights are Magistrates that hold forth the greatest lustre and splendor but yet in the Churches and when you speak of spirituall Administrations they that are to derive light from CHRIST to the Church they are the greatest lights for spirituall things But wee come to speak therefore of the great light they set up they set up him as the chiefest and greatest light which derives light to the very Scriptures for they conceive that they should not bee Authenticall unlesse the B of Rome count them so and if he do count them authenticall then they shall be so though they be Apocrypha and no sence of Scripture allowed for the light of truth unlesse it be acknowledged by him nor no Decrees go for currant unlesse he ratifie them So that that which they take for the light of their world is chiefly the Bishop of Rome If then he be their greatest light then this Angel pours his Vial of Gods wrath upon the Pope his transcendent light whereby he gives authority to the Scriptures to Doctrine to Worship to Government to Councels and whereby he gives power to all his Officers to administer Discipline and Church-power in all Christendom as they call it all Christian Churches over Then they are the Angels that pour out the Vial upon that Sun that take from him that transcendent Prerogative of the Sun which is to rule by day 136 Psal 8. Take then from him his rule by day for you must speak of things metaphorically in this place though in the Psalm is meant another Sun but in this Sun take from the Pope from this Sun Popish rule of Religion the rule of all Churches the Soveraign power in all Ecclesiasticall affairs and what then Then you will pour out a Vial of wrath upon him And so did Queen Elizabeth in her time and the Parliament then by making the Popes Supremacie and the defence of it high Treason against her person and the State of the Kingdom and against the Lord Iesus It poured forth such a Vial of Gods wrath upon this great Light the Antichristian State that it rules no more by day neither in England nor Scotland nor Ireland nor divers other neighbour Nations who by her precedent example did abandon the like usurpation the supreme rule of the Pope in Ecclesiasticall affairs which is the very Rule of the Churches of Christ Thus you see take the one or the other both will stand together Let the house of Austria be the Sun as it is in his kinde and Sphaere the greatest light of all their created Civil power and hath been a great light indeed and both an ornament and nourishment to the See of Rome Or take the Pope himself who will be the greatest Church-light and claims to himself Supreme power not onely in Ecclesiasticall causes but Civil too It is no unusuall thing in Scripture to make a graduall Interpretation of dark Scriptures as in the 17 Chapter The seven beads saith the Text are seven mountains upon which the woman sitteth and in the 10 verse they are also seven Kings the same that represent seven mountains doth represent seven Kings And so both these are great lights of that state the Imperiall and the Spanish power combined in that house by bloud and affinitie and the Pope himself in his sphaere are both the great lights of that state and it hath pleased â—od to pour out his Vial of wrath upon them both and both the one and the other suffer and they shall suffer more and more because they do not repent to give God glory of their due and deserved punishment but continue still in their blaspheming against the Lord and his people and when men grow worse and worse both civil state and Ecclesiastical state both growing worse and worse doubtles their plagues will be multiplied Sweden began with one and hath been followed Queen Elizabeth in England and others elsewhere have begun with the other the Lord by sundry instruments in one kinde or other hath gone forth and will go on stil to let them know that the most high hath power over all the earth and will not be driven out When once he begins to execute judgement he will go on destroying to destroy and though the ministers of this wrath may conflict with doubtfull and various events yet the issue will be blessed and Popish Princes and States shall stand a far off and cry Alas alas that great city Babilon that mighty city for in one hour is thy judgement come That will be the finall issue of the great wrath of God upon it and how far both these have proceeded you cannot chuse but know How far queen Elizabeth scorched that Antichristian state with fiery indignation it is universally known which provoked Catholick Princes so much that what with pouring out the former Vials upon the Rivers and Fountains when she decreed it Treason for any to carry Popish Religion to England and to reconcile men to that See the pouring out of that Vial there and this here so far provoked them that they brought in their whole power against her in 88 and would have swallowed her up quick they were so exasperated with heat and fury and had not the Lord by his out-â—â—retched arm and wisdom prevented there had been no hope of preservation but desolation of her and her Kingdom Thus have I shewed you as shortly and plainly as I could what should be the meaning of this fourth Vial and the Angel by whom it was poured out Let us shortly come to gather a note or two from the words and very briefly First this Doctr. 1 When the wrath of GOD is kindled against a State for corruption of Religion he pours out his judgements against them by degrees first upon the common sort of people then upon Church Officers and then upon the principall Rulers and lights of that State That is the first note This is evident in the Gradation of the Text here is the wrath of the Lord kindled against the Antichristian state called here the earth an earthly Kingdom an earthly state brought forth of the earth and minding earthly things and all their Ordinances savouring of the earth of humane inventions and wisdom and power The Lord then when his wrath is kindled and sends forth Messengers of his wrath on that State how begin they They begin first with the earth the lowest Element they begin not with the Sea nor with the Sun nor with the Air but first the Vial fals upon the Earth Common Catholicks they first feel the shame and confusion thereof as you have
of God that certainly the Popish State is going fast to perdition and the great lights of that State both the lights of that State great like the Sun in the firmament be they Civil Magistrates in their sphaere in highest place or take it as the Popish Prelacie do they will be highest in both kindes be it as it will be as the common people have been visited with judgement their Religion corrupt and Priests and Jesuits plagued and the Lord hath begun to plague their lights in this world and Church lights too So make account of this forasmuch as they repent not to give God glory but break forth to greater wrath and outrage against the Lord and his Church and servants and secret ones what will the end of all this be Never did any man strive against God and prospered what under the mighty hand of God under the Vials of Gods wrath and still blaspheme the name of God and still hope to prosper Verily you may write upon it God wil wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such as go on still in their wickednesse Psal 68.21 Let them look to it the Lord hath begun to pour out his wrath and one Vial hath not done when another begins to work but they are pouring upon the common people and upon Priests and Jesuits and will be more and more and so shall both the house of Austria and the Pope himself in their supremacie and lordly authority and howsoever they may have some refreshing and succour and supply in their declining state yet as their apostacies and backslidings are perpetuall as the Text saith they are seeing they repent not to give God glory the Lord hath set it down and the Scripture must be fulfilled they will go on in their rage and blasphemie against the God of Israel and what will the issue of that be Truly if men prosper in hardnesse of heart and blasphemy then let Pharaoh prosper of old and let all wicked States prosper but the Lord sent judgement upon judgement upon Pharaoh first upon the waters and then upon the fruits of the field at length he came to Murrain of the Beasts and then a plague upon their first-born and when that served not then the wrath of God came upon the red Sea and over-whelmed them all This is Gods manner of dealing and let the Imperiall State and all blasphemers know it that they shall not prosper in stouting it out against the Lord but believe it as they have begun to fall before reformed Churches so they shall surely fall As it was told Haman in Ester 6.13 If this Mordecai be of the seed of the Iews before whom thou hast begun to fall thou shalt not prevail but shalt surely fall before him So fall they will and in falling they shall fall and yet more and more fall till the Lord hath cut them off root branch there is more judgments you shall read of a further Vial upon the throne of the Beast and upon the air and then Babilon is fallen it is not long till then there is but three Vials more and whether some of them be not yet begun to be poured out it is not yet so cleer Let them know it for their terrour and we for our comfort the Lord will go on in destroying to destroy them It is a speech the Lord often useth in Isaiah 9.12 13 14. Yet for all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still Why For the people turn not to him that smites them neither do they seek the Lord of hoasts and when they do not turn to him then the hand of the Lord is not drawn back but stretched out still that is the constant course of Gods providence as the people turn not to him that smites them so the Lord will go on and cut off head and tail branch and rush in one day ancient honorable he is the head and the Prophet that teacheth lyes hee is the tail c. For a second Use of this Point This may serve to teach us that the Lord is the chief Governour Vse 2 and hath the chief power of all the plagues and judgements that do fall upon men And that aggravates the impenitencie of these wicked men that they do not fall under his hand that hath power over these plagues but still go on hardning themselves against him whose plague is upon them Therefore he hath power over them and he will maintain it and the judgements shall go on destroying to destroy till like Vials of quick-silver they have rooted them out from the land of the living Is there any evil in the City which the Lord hath not done Amos 3.6 If a man were to speak to Christian Princes in other parts how might a man call upon them to beware of timerousnesse and fear in provoking the displeasure of the house of Austria or of the Pope For the wrath of God is gone out against that State and the Pope and the Lord hath power over these plagues Why should we fear all the power of the house of Austria or Papall thunderbolts when the Lord hath you under his hand when he means to go on plaguing to plague Shall men underprop this rotten building which the Lord intends to destroy This cursed fabrick which the Lord will ruinate Do you think to strengthen your selves by them when they are not able to help themselves No it is a time of Gods plague and therefore it is a warning and Trumpet to all Christian nations and to us do not think if we shall not yield to this and that of Antichrist then Churches and Magistrates shall never subsist fear it not I tell you all the States that cleave to Popery shall fall with Popery if they continue in it Indeed if the Lord rescue and redeem them with a mighty hand and bow their power and Crown to comply with the Lord Jesus and his people they may save themselves and their Kingdoms but otherwise it is not possible for them to prosper in maintaining this ruinous Babylon that hastens to destruction The Lords plagues they are and it is not all the power of men or Princes no nor of Angels in heaven nor devils in hell that can take off the plagues that God hath set on Thirdly it teacheth us what is the duty of all the sons of men Vse 3 under Gods hand namely to repent of sin which hath brought Gods hand for this is an aggravation of the wickednesse of these lights that they repented not to give God glory when the vials of Gods wrath was upon them but stil grew more wicked even to blaspheme What saith the Apostle Peter Humble your selves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time 1 Pet. 5.6 Hath the Lord begun to smite the common state and it may be the body of the countrey in that which is the sinewes of trading in the scarcities of
antichristian state and such things therein against which Gods wrath is kindled Now the anger of God is not kindled against the river Euphrates more then against any other river his wrath falles not upon rivers though sometimes for mans sake it may but Euphrates lieth not neere to the Romane antichrist nor to any state subject to him What thē would you say is it not most likely to hould forth the Turkish Dominion which God is angry with Shall not Christian Princes powre out the wrath of God upon the Turkish Dominions I would by no meanes say so But let us consider what is the Fountaine and what are the streames of this river which did and doe still wash upon the Turkish Dominion and which are indeed as Walles and Bulwarks to the Turkish state For this Euphrates though it be not here the Turkish Dominion yet it is of the same use to them and unto the Pope as Euphrates was unto old Babylon which made glad the same and conveyed maintenance unto it Let us therefore consider what was the Originall of the Turkish Dominion and you shall finde that it sprung from five severall streames Rev. 9.20.21 where having described the loosing of the foure Angels which were bound by the great river Euphrates ver 14. and those were the foure Families of the Turkes which at length were swallowed up by the house of Othoman He saith the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the workes of their hands that they should not worship Divels and Idolls of Gold and Silver and Brasse and Stone and of Wood which neither can see nor heare nor walke this was their Idolatry neither repented they of their murthers nor of their Sorceries nor of their Fornications nor of their thefts So these were the five streames of this river Euphrates that gave power to the Turkish Dominion to wit the Idolatries Murthers Sorceries Fornications and Thefts of Christendome for by reason of these barbarous wickednesse of Popish Churches and states cloaked under a face of Religion God brought upon them a barbarous Nation that hath a Face of government and yet knoweth not well what it meaneth yet did not the Papists whose sinnes these were repent of their Idolatries nor of their Murthers which they committed upon the soules of men and upon the bodies of Gods faithfull servants nor of their Sorceries of which many of the Popes themselves were guilty nor of their Whoredomes their stewes and beastly uncleannesses nor of thei◠Thefts Indulgences and pardons for money by which they dreyned Christendome of their substance Now if these were the sinnes which the Lord upbraideth Christian Churches for not repenting of though this barbarous nation did prevaile against them yet doubtlesse these are the walles of the Turkish Dominion even those streames of corruption of Religion which are the maintenance of the Sea of Rome to this day thus by admirable wisdome the Lord hath expressed his holy Counsell that his instruments by drying up these streames of Euphrates these corruptions of Religion shall prevaile at once both against the Turkes and the Pope together 2. Who then shall be the Angell that shall power out this sixt Viall if they shall not be the Iewes as before we prooved then it must needs be some Christian states and these are no other then the 10 Christian Kings spoken of Rev. 17.16 17. That shall hate the whore and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burne her with fire and so you have all these expositions fall in together they will runne in the right channell and fully reach all that interpreters have sought after 3. These Christian Kings shall so farre fall off from Rome as that they shall dry up all her revenewes when as they shall see and abhorre the vanity of their Images and Temples and Monasteries and the unprofitablenesse of their expences when they shall see the wickednesse of their bloudy inquisitions the unnaturalnesse of all those murders of Gods blessed servants and shall see their witchcrafts and sorceries the horrible fornications and whoredomes of their stewes and when they shall see that all their devises to get mony are so many thefts and robberies as it is the complaint of Pareus a German interpreter that two parts of the revenewes of the Empire did goe to the Bishop of Rome and but one third to the Christian Princes and a world of worke would be to tell you of all their Theeveries in England of old and other Christian Kingdomes Now when these Christian Kings are so far converted unto God as that they shall see the wickednesse of all these abuses of Religion they will then dry up all these revenewes then will they suffer no more Image worship no more sorceries nor murders and when these things are thus remooved then is Euphrates dryed up that maintaineth old Babylon then is the Fountaine of the Turkish maintenance cut off also For their rise was by these corruptions and they stand and wil stand whilst these corruptions stand but if these fall then is the river Euphrates dryed up and a ready way made indeed for the Kings of the East 4. Whom the most judicious Interpreters doe understand to be the Iewes 1. Because they are so by Gods calling Exodus 19.6 Yea shall be to me a Kingdome of Priests And Daniel foretelleth that when the Roman Monarchies are broken in peeces by the stone cut out of the Mountaines without handes Daniel 2.45 which is the Lord Jesus then the Dominion shall be given to the people of the Saints of the most high Daniel 7.27 Therefore they are called Kings of the East in the Greeke Testament Kings from the rising of the Sunne they shall have great power and place when God shall bring them to it Neither can any man tell but that some of these Easterne Kings in the East Judges may be of the Families of the House of Israel Sure I am when Ioseph was lost though his Father thought him to have beene utterly cast away yet when he was found he was found to be a great man in Egypt and the Prophet Ezekel understandeth by Ioseph all the 10 Tribes Ezech. 37.16 And who can tell whether some of these 10 Tribes may not be found to be great men of the East And I remember Iunius an exact Translator and commentor upon the Bible saith that which is called the Land of Sinim Isay 49.12 May more probably be meant of China and that the Greeke Geographers doe call them Sinea'es not China'es which if it be the meaning there may be there many of them and indeed he that readeth their story shall finde sundry memorable things in them that may agree to such as have sometimes beene Gods people for though they worship other Gods yet they have records that their fathers did not so in ancient times and it is reported of them that they make account that those are the best bookes that
come to passe that there will be a way made for the Kings of the East to come in for yee heard that by the Kings of the East are properly meant the Iewes as being of old called Kings A royall Priesthood so that way is made for them by this reformation of religion in Christendome The removing of those abuses to wit of the corruption of religion and popish superstition and idolatry way is made for their conversion and doe but dry up those streames and then you leave Babylon dry and you leave the Turkish Monarchy weakened for the staffe of the Turkish Monarchy is the superstition of Antichristianisme From hence therefore yee have heard already these two notes gathered and handled the first is this that the dayes are comming wherein Christian Princes shall dry up the streames of antichristian corruption in Religion And thereby also dry up the Fountaines of the streames of the Turkish tyranny Secondly yee have heard this note also gathered and handled That upon the drying up of the streames of corruption of Antichristian religion and of Turkish Tyranny way is made for the conversion of the Iewes the antient people of God Of these two wee spake the last day and thus much was needfull to be repeated that yee might understand where wee are To proceede to the next note then the third that concernes this Viall but the first at this time Let me first gather the note and then shew you how it rises out of the Text then give some grounds of it and make use of it as the Lord shall helpe the note is this Upon the drying up of the streames of the corruption of religion Doct. 3 in Christendome the Dragon the Beast and the false Prophet shall send forth their choisest instruments to stir up and gather together both Popish and Pagan Princes unto a great battell to withstand the reformation of Christians and the conversion of the Jewes This is the summe See all these points expresly and distinctly delivered and fully in these two Verses the 13 and 14. For further then so I shall not goe at this time And this one note opens both these Verses and all the passages therein First yee see upon the powring out of this Viall upon the river Euphrates and the drying up the streames thereof that is upon the drying up of the corruptions of religion superstition Idolatry Murthers and Whordomes restraining and drying up all such Fountaines what followes He saith the Beast the Dragon and the false Prophet sent out of their mouthes three unclean spirits like Frogs which goe forth unto the Kings of the Earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battell of that great day of God Almighty To open this doctrine and the words a little First for the Dragon yee have heard it noted before from the 12. Rev. 9. verse him to be the old Serpent Satan but taken chiefly as he doth act and govern and dwell in the Roman state And therefore he is described to have seaven hads and ten Hornes in the third verse of the 12 Chapter But take him as he is Satan spiritually and he hath neither heads nor hornes Take him as he governes Rome and so he hath seven heads and ten hones The seven heads are seven hilles And the ten hornes are ten governments who then is the Beast the Beast as ye have heard he is described by the very same Characters seven heads and ten hornes 13. Rev 9. verse It is said to be him to whom the Dragon hath given his power and his seat and great authority it doth therefore hold forth the Roman state not Rome Pagan nor Rome Christian as yee have heard It remaines therefore to be Rome antichristian which is that The Roman visible Catholique Church that 's the first Beast which claimes all the power by pretence of religion which old Rome and the Roman Monarchy claimed by force of armes Who is then the false Prophet The false Prophet hee is never mentioned before in this booke not by name and yet hee is spoken of here as well knowne It appeares therefore this false Prophet is the 2 Beast in 13 Rev. 11 verse to the end The second Beast there is said to worke Miracles in the 13 Verse he doth great wonders c. And 18 Verse he deceiveth them that dwell on the Earth by the meanes of these miracles c. And the same yee shall reade of the false Prophet in the 19 Rev. 20 Verse The Beast was taken and with him the false Prophet that wrought miracles before him with which he deceived them that had received the marke of the Beast And them which worshiped his Image c. The description is the same of the false Prophet and of the Beast both of them holding forth the head of the Roman Church The false Prophet Balaam the Bishop or Antichrist of Rome So that it doth imply thus much that the Dragon and the Devill himselfe did stir up not the Pope onely but the whole Catholicke Church to gather into some councill or some other solemne meeting some chiefe concurse of them who by common content shall out of their mouthes that is to say by their commands their Cannons and Decrees for that is out of their mouthes out of their commands out of their edicts out of their injunctions shall send forth their uncleane Spirits Spirits they be for nimblenesse and activity Spirits they bee for impetuousnesse and strength Spirits they be also for close and cleanly conveyance There is no stoping the gates against Spirits yee cannot so stop the Cinque-ports but they will in they will enter into any Court Princes Palaces or great mens Houses there 's no hindering of them they have a cleanly conveyance and secret and close passage And they are also Spirits of Devills It is not the ordinary word Devill but Daemon the which is wont to expresse Spirits for their knowledge and learning They are learned spirits and yet Devills for their deceit and mischeife Ye are of your Father the devill the works of your Father ye will doe Iohn 8 44. Liers for deceit Murtherers for mischeif these are the spirits he sends forth which surely comming as they doe out of the mouth of the Dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false Prophet they are not spirits properly so called They are therefore Emissaries sent forth by them men of nimble wits and parts active for nimblenesse and close conveyance and full of deceit and mischiefe And these are the spirits are sent forth and here said to be three spirits comming out of their mouthes not as if one came out of the mouth of one and another came out of the mouth of another but all three of them came out of all their mouthes together at once It is not rightly translated here that he saith he saw them comming out for the word comming out is not in the originall but hee
in such as these then hee doth in plainer and simpler men Yee see your calling Brethren saith the Apostle Paul in the 1 Corinthians 1.26 How that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called It is I say therefore an abasement unto all flesh and unto all the glory of the flesh all flesh is as Grasse and the goodliest of flesh and bloud is but as the flower of the Field that fadeth away take it at the best it s but a Flower but take them as they may bee improved by Satan none more mischeivous none more active instruments for the Devill for sinne for Corruption then these fine quicke wits and spirits bee These nimble wits these active spirits pride not your selves in these things I say these are the most dangerous if the Lord set not in to take hold of them pride not your selves therefore in these things The more learned and witty you bee the more fit to act for Satan will you bee if the Lord leave you the more neat handed and quicke witted and nimble spirited you bee the more notable and profitable will you bee for the Devill if hee take hold of you pride not your selves therefore in these much lesse allow your selves in sacrificeing of these to Satan But see you doe sacrifice your wts and spirits and dexterity and what ever you bee or have as a living sacrifice to Christ Jesus to his advantage or else they will bee improved to the service of the Devill and his instruments The great and monsterous Beast the Roman Catholique visible Church and the head thereof the holy Father the Pope as they call him Secondly it may take off the fond doting of the sonnes Vse 2 of men upon the lesrning of the Jesuites and the glorie of the Episcopacy and brave estate of the Prelates I say bee not deceived with these pompes and empty shewes and faire representations of a goodly condition before the eyes of flesh and blood bee not taken with the applause of these persons yee have many at this Day that stand and wonder upon the reading of the Jesuites at the witty inventions and marvelous dexterity of judgement They are strong perswaders and strange practitioners of what they take in hand marvelously are men taken with the strength of their judgements and the strength of their wits And dote mervalously upon the Cardinalls and upon the Bishops and upon the Jesuites and upon holy Catholique Mother Church and their holy Father the Pope These are the gods many of them doe adore I pray doe but looke well upon them all what are they all of them Let but the holy Ghost give his judgement of them who is onely wise let his Counsell bee taken and what They are spirits indeed but uncleane spirits spirits of Devills that come out of the mouth of the Dragon and out of the mouth of the Beast the Roman visible Catholique Church is in the esteeme of the Holy Ghost a monsterous Beast as yee heard in the 13 Chapter Revel 1 Ve. And the head of the Popish Church a false Prophet And what are these nimble wits and goodly glorious persons yee speake of uncleane spirits neither fit for meat nor sacrifice neither fit for Church nor Common-Wealth Oh ye will say they are fit for both But saith the holy Ghost they are Frogs and not Church-men as they call them and uncleane and not fit for civill use neither fit for Church nor State but fit to corrupt both and breed corruption in both Frogs they are and their Songs are much what as Frogs are if yee mind them their note is alwayes much at one either visible succession and that 's one note the Judge of controversies which they say must bee the Bishop of Rome and the Roman Catholike visible Church the holy Mother Church as they call it these are their notes their Song but it is but a Frog-like Song what ever they thinke and yee shall ever finde it that when Religion hath been most lightsome and Princes and States-men have beene most warme in Religion then yee shall here no noise of these Frogs they ly close in the mud But when Religigion growes darke once the shadow of the Sunne growes low and large when Christians wax cold and Courtiers begin to be Popish or carnall or I cannot tell how conformable to the corruptions of the times then they begin to croke loud and all things must be as they will have them but I say take them as they be and they are but uncleane Frogs that doe corrupt both Church and State And mind yee they are confederate with the Dragon the Beast and the false Prophet Yee shall finde it in time that they will be confederate with Turke or Russian Indian or Infidell they will be ready to confederate with them all and make no scrupill of these things And yet they as men thinke are the onely Patriarkes and make the greatest shew of religion bee not deceived you see how the holy Ghost describes them And let those that are of God learne what they are And thirdly this may serve to teach Christian Princes Vse 3 and States that when Religion comes to bee reformed they must looke for battells and great battells There is no hope that Satan will rest the Dragon cannot rest when his Kingdome is shaken And hee hath such of his confederacy the Beast and the false Prophet that cannot be still Especially when the streames of Rome begin to decay the streames that doe water and refresh Rome Then looke for Warres and Tumults of Warres great Warres mustering up of Popish Princes and their Armies and pagan Princes and their Armies there will be no backwardnesse in these earthly spirits in this case to the captivating of all if it were possible to the maintenance and supportance of Rome And last of all and so I make an end Let this bee Vse 4 the last use It may serve to be some ground of stay unto Christian Princes and such as shall bee instruments of this reformation which this sixth Angell brings with him Instruments of this wasting and drying up of the corruptions of Religion which shall waste Rome I say though great Warres may arise from all the chiefe Princes of the VVorld both Popish and Pagan and a great day of battell it will bee when ever those dayes doe shine forth as hasteing they be why yee shall finde this to be the comfort of it a great day it shall bee It is so said in my Text but not a great Day to the Beast nor a great Day to the Dragon nor a great Day to the false Prophet They looke for a Day of it but it shall be a great day of GOD Almighty men are afraid if they stirre they shall bring Warres about their Eares true they shall doe so they will arise at once but though the battell will bee great and terrible yet never the lesse most comfortable to the People of
give her the wine first of distraction secondly of destruction Secondly the cities of the Nations fell the great Citie was destroyed it fell to ruine The second sort of subjects upon which this distraction fell were Every Island and every mountaine the Islands fled away the mountaines were not found The third sort was the sonnes of men and the plague that fell upon them was a great haile out of heaven which is amplified 1. By the measure or weight of it every stone about the weight of a Talent 2. By the effect it wrought in men They blasphemed the God of heaven set forth by the cause of their blaspheming againe repeated because of the plague of the haile for the plague thereof was exceeding great 3. Let us first open the words and then summe them up into some doctrinall observations 1. What in the first place is here meant by Ayre doubtlesse not the element of ayre that wee breath in for all the Vials are Vials of wrath therefore poured upon subjects of Gods displeasure Now God is not offended with the ayre which is his creature but as you reade in the first verse of the Chapter All these Angels received a commandement to poure out their Vials upon the earth and that is meant of the earthly Antichristian Church and they all fulfill this Commandement upon whatsoever they poure out their Vials it is still upon the Antichristian state nor are the messengers of Gods wrath which come out of the Temple and have their loynes girded with golden girdles provoked against the Ayre which themselves doe breath in nor could a plague be upon the Ayre but it would fall upon Christian Churches as well as Popish Others doe interpret it with much more probabilitie to be upon the kingdome of Sathan for he is called the Prince that ruleth in the ayre Eph. 2.2 he also rayseth up stormes in the ayre and fiery meteors therein Job 1.16 So they conclude that wheresoever the Devill hath to doe whether it be in Popery or Paganisme this Viall is poured upon all his kingdome I thinke the doctrine is truly gathered from this place that the holy Ghost intendeth to poure out a judgement upon all his kingdome yet I cannot say that the words doe so properly hold forth a judgement upon the Element of ayre for all the Vials are to be poured upon the earth the Antichristian Church called earth in opposition to the heavenly and pure Church mentioned Revel 15.5 there being in it the whole Fabricke and Systeme of the world there is an earth and that is the lowest and basest common sort of Catholickes in that world and there is a Sea their corrupt Religion there be Rivers and fountaines of water those that derived their corruptions into all countries Priests and Monkes c. there is a Sunne in this world the great light thereof the family of Austria in the common wealth and the Popes supremacy in the Church there is the throne of the beast the forme of their government and manner of judicature Afterwards comes in Euphrates the streame of all those corruptions that make glad the Citie of Rome Therefore this Ayre seemeth to be the Ayre of that Antichristian Church Looke therefore what you can conceive to be the Ayre which this Antichristian Church doth breath in and that is the subject whereupon this Viall is poured And although indeed Mahumetry and Paganisme come to be afflicted here by it yet is it but an effect of pouring out this Vial upon the Ayre Now if you looke into Chap. 9.1 2. of this booke you shall finde that the Ayre of this worldly Church is the smoake which arose out of the bottomlesse pit and darkned the Ayre so that you could not see the Sunne much lesse the Moone and Starres and what was that smoake out of the bottomlesse pit but the darkenesse of ignorance from whence sprung all those Locusts and that King over them vers 11. the angel of the bottomlesse pit whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon he destroyeth the hope of the conversion of the Jewes and in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon he destroyeth them also and sprung out of this ignorance There is a double use of Ayre and this darkenesse corrupted both 1. There is an use of it for sight for through the Ayre if is bee cleare you see all the heavenly lights and by their help all inferiour bodies 2. It is the breath of life which maintaineth the life of men and is the supportance of their vitals And in both these things doth it fitly resemble heavenly and saving knowledge by which 1. In the first place we see Jesus Christ the Sun of righteousnesse to our justification by which we see the Moon that is the true state of Churches according to the Gospell by which we see the Stars the people of God and who indeed are his people that shine like lights in the world And hereby they see all things here below and judge rightly of them And 2. by the same saving knowledge doe we breathe in our vitals that we may so speak our spirituall life By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many Esay 53.11 And this is life eternall to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent John 17.3 Now if this Ayre be choaked you can neither see Jesus Christ to your justification nor breath in any ordinance of his to your salvation nor can you see what is the true Church nor who are the true Saints of God you can rightly discerne of nothing if once the Sun and the whole body of the ayre be darkened but if how there come an Angel that shall poure out his Vial upon his smoke of the ayre and dispell thereby the clouds of darknesse and ignorance then shall you clearly see Jesus Christ and the true state of his Church and of all visible Saints then shall you draw in true and lively breath from every ordinance of God This is therefore the ayre whereupon this Vial shall be poured and that will be the dispelling of the darknesse of it The Lord will send forth such a bright and cleare knowledge of his Christ and Church and Saints and holy things which will prevaile so far as to dispell all the fogs and mists of darknesse not alone in the Antichristian State but in all the world so that all Nations shall be brightened with the knowledge of God All Asia shall see the vanity of Mahumetry and all the Pagan Nations the fondnesse and blindnesse of their Superstitions And the Jews shall then see and bewaile their blindnesse and wretchednesse in standing out against Jesus Christ So that most true it is which godly Interpreters have said that hereby all the kingdomes of Satan are threatened though it be rather an effect of it then the true and proper sence 2. What is then the adjunct that followeth or goeth along with it There came a great voice out of the Temple
Merchants of the earth doe mourne for when she is destroyed and say Chap. 18.10 Alas alas that great city Babylon that mighty city c. and that also by their confession is Rome And so this Latter mention of it doth but shew the reason why it commeth to be divided into three parts and why the cities of the Nations fell for Babylon came up into remembrance c. The great city then is Babylon and that is divided into three parts I should not thinke that it is spoken of the breach of the naturall walls of the city by the earthquake but it will be divided into three factions some will sticke fast unto Popery and others of the people of God that before durst not openly professe Religion will now renounce Popery for such there shall be in Rome when it is neere to be destroyed unto whom it shall be said Rev. 18.4 Come out of her my people c. and what the third part may be there is not light for in this place what light other places may give we shall if God please see hereafter meane while it is sufficient to understand that it will be divided into three parts and what if the third part be a Neutrall betweene both the other 7. What were the cities of the Nations Those are they that trod the Church of God under foote Rev. 11.2 such they were who did subject themselves to Popish Government the cities of those Nations shall fall whosoever they be that are found adoring Rome they shall fall for Babylon her selfe shall come up into remembrance before God to give unto her the Cup of the wine of the fiercenesse of his wrath which shall infatuate her untill she be utterly destroyed by those ten Kings that shall hate her and eate her flesh and burne her with fire 8. And every Island fled away and the mountaines were not found He speaketh not of earthly Islands but you must understand that he speaketh of the mountaines and Islands of the Antichristian state what are the mountaines They are the places where they went a whoring after their Gods in old time Jer. 3.6 She is gone upon every hight mountaine and under every greene tree and there hath played the harlot there they had built them Chappell 's and there they had placed their confidence in respect of which when they come to repent they shall returne and say ver 23. Truely in vaine is salvation hoped for from the hills and from the multitudes of mountaines answerable unto which are the great temples built unto false Gods they shall flee away In the new Jerusalem Rev. 21.22 there was no Temple seene no Temple consecrated to this or that Saint shall be found therein What are the Islands They are grounds separated from the earth by the Sea The Sea is the corruption of Religion upon which the second Viall was poured Therefore such places as are consecrated by Popish Devotions as Church yards and such other Popish grounds they are these Islands that shall flee away you shall no more heare tell of consecrated Church-yard or any such matter all the world over Then will fall to the ground all your Cathedrall Churches and all those high Places that over-toppe the people of God and hinder the growth of the things of God neere about them though those things that be superstitiously set apart for holy ends be never so glorious they shall be all banished and vanish away there will be no more noise of them 9. And upon men there fell a great haile out of heaven The Allusion by some is thought to be unto the hayle spoken of Josh 10.11 which the Lord cast downe from heaven upon the Cananites so that moâ—e died with hailestones then they which the children of Israel slew with the Sword but I cannot say that haile storme is here alluded unto for here men did not die upon it but blasphemed onely unlesse it should be spoken of their everlasting death in hell but that were a common judgement to all the wicked but I rather thinke it is an allusion to the haile storme in Aegypt whereof the effect was that they sinned and hardened their hearts yet more Exod. 9.34 Well then if it be such an hayle as doth not kill men but provoke them to blaspheme what kinde of judgement might it be Interpreters doe not tell us So that we can take no better course to know it then to see what allegoricall haile stones meane in Scripture for by comparing Scriptures together you shall have the full meaning of every part of Gods Counsell For this end let us look in Esay 28.17 where the Prophet telleth us that the haile shall sweep away the refuge of lies when once Christ is laid in the foundation ver 16. then all the rest of the refuges of the sons of men that are lying refuges shall be swept away There is also another allusion suting hereunto in Ezek. 13.11.13 where the Lord threateneth against the wall that is dawbed with untempered morter there shall be an over-flowing shower and ye O great haile stones shall fall and a stormy winde shall rent it So then this kinde of haile storme is such a plague of God upon men as shall destroy all their lying refuges and men shall then insult over them and say where is the dawbing wherewith you have dawbed it So then at this time the Lord will send an haile storme that shall discover all the counterfeit Religions in the world all the juggelings of their Miracles all the faire seeming pretences of Popery or any other Religion all their doctrines of merits and confidences in their prayers to Saints and Angels and superstitious Devotions an haile storme shall fall upon them all in such sort that you shall see the vanity of them And all the world shall see that all Relgions besides Christianity are but a refuge of lies and in the end their jugglelings and sophistry shall be blowne up and blasted Some shall be shaken out of them setled upon better bottoms others will be provoked to blaspheme they will so vex themselves with extremity of anguish for that they are thus bereaved of their old comfortable good dayes and oh the joyfull festivals that they were wont for to keep in their Abbies and superstitious places for the losse of which they shall blaspheme the Lord and true Religion and all the instruments of the Gospels propagation Such a thing as this we reade of Rev. 11.15 When as the seventh Angel sounded there were great voices in heaven saying The Kingdomes of this world are become the Kingdomes of our Lord and of his Christ c. There it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the thing was then in doing but now it is done Then the Nations were angry saith the Text ver 18. and a great haile there fell when they began to become the Kingdomes of Jesus Christ and there was an earthquake ver 19. but never
but let us further consider how it commeth to passe that the first of these Angels poureth out his Viall upon the earth and the rest upon other things yet they aâ—l have a Commission to poure out the Vials of the wrath of God upon the earth For the opening of this difficulty which else might exercise some we must know that in this Prophecie sometimes earth is opposed to Heaven and then as by Heaven is meant the pure Church as Revel 4.1 12.1 So by Earth is meant an earthly and corrupt Church Sometimes also by Heaven is meant a corrupt state of Religion wherein heavenly and divine honour is given to Satan or Idols as Revel 12.3.7 Againe sometimes Earth is opposed not unto Heaven but unto some other Element in the World and so is it in this Chap. The first Angel poureth forth his Viall upon the Earth the second poureth his Viall on the Sea c. So then in this case the Earth is to be understood in a double sense In generall of the Antichristian state or world Vers 1. And in the Antichristian World they have some things that represent the Earth and some things the Sea and some things represent the Sunne of that World and some things represent that Ayre of that world therefore in the particular execution of this Commission When the first Angel poureth out his Viall upon the Earth it is upon the lowest and basest Element in the Antichristian world and that can bee no other but the lowest sort of vulgar Catholiks and they were the first that had the wrath of God pour'd upon them which did afterwards arise higher to the Sea and then to the Fountaines and Rivers of water then to the Sunne then to the throne of the Beast then to the River Euphrates and last of all to the Ayre and in all these doth the wrath of God ascend higher and higher as may afterwards more clearely appeare The first Angel went and poure out his Viall upon the earth This first Angel must be these first sort of Gods Messengers that did poure out some wrath upon Common Catholikes And doubtlesse such wrath it was as being poured out did worke a Noysome and grievous sore upon them that worshipped the Beast and his Image as the Text expresseth They that had the Mark of the Beast you heard before out of the 13. Chapt. are such as receive some indeliable Character of the Beast such are their Secular or Regular Priests and all that receive religious Orders from the Church of Rome Who then are they that worship his Image The Jmage of the first Beast you know is all Nationall and Diocesan and Provinciall Churches and they that rule them are the Image of the second Beast So then they that worship the Image of the Beast be such as are devoted to the Canons of Popish Churches who drink them up and receive them as Articles of their Faith these are all afflicted with a noisome and grievous sore by the pouring out of this first Viall For those who did poure it out they were such as did convince them of the Damnable estate of a Catholike and taught them that by their Religion they could go not beyond a Reprobate and this was the common practise of the Martyrs of Iesus Christ in Queene Maries time in Edward the sixth and in Henry the eight's time who discovered unto you that all their Religion was but the worship of God after the devises of men even Will-worship such as they were led into by the Man of Sinne who being himselfe blinde leadeth those that are blinde and both fall into the ditch those that thus discovered the unsoundnesse of the Religion of these Catholikes who before seemed to be good Church-men and good House-keepers and good Christmas-keepers they were the men that poured out this first Viall upon the earth And upon this their discovery there fell a noysome and grieveous sore upon their Catholike Priests who had borne the common sort in hand That Ignorance was the mother of Devotion and such ignorant Devotion was the way of Salvation when they see that all their People who were heretofore their honest and good Neighbours full of benevolence towards them were now informed that they lay under a state of deepe Damnation it was an eye-sore to their Catholike Priests and all of that Religious Order a double sore fell upon them First a sore of envy and malice against all the Martyrs of Christ and all that sought for Reformation of Religion against whom their spirits were so strongly embittered that happy was he that could bring Fire and Faggot to execute vengeance upon them that did discover the state of the common sort of Catholikes to be so dangerous It was a publike speech of Henry the eight when he sate in Parliament Complaining of the stirs that were made about Religion There are many saith he that are too busie with their new Sumpsimus meaning those that clave to that which he counted the new Religion though withall others he taxed who doated as he said not amisse much upon their old Mâ—mpsimus The new Religion though true Hee and they all envied the Old though his owne he despised Secondly there was a noysome loathsomenesse discovered by these true Witnesses and Martyrs of Christ unto the people Whereby they began to see that the common sort of their Religious Orders were full of Idlenesse of Ignorance of Covetousnes of Pride and of Hypocrysie and that they had laid such a foundation of Religion as was not Iesus Christ the true Foundation but had indeed reared up an Antichristian Religion whereof as it is said Isai 28.19 it shall be a vexation to heare the Report A grievous malignant ulcer it was and the more they stirred in it the more they were vexed And this let me further adde for open ng the words it is an allusion to that noysome sore of Egypt that fell upon the Common sort of the people and upon the Magitians also Exod. 9.11 So that they could not stand before Moses and so it was here these noisome sores of which wee have spoken did so fall upon the common sort of Catholikes and upon their common Religious Orders that they fell before the Angell that poured out this Viall as Dagon before the Arke Thus you see meaning of these words Now for the Notes that arise from them You may observe that Chap. 15 7. One of the foure Beasts gave unto the seven Angels Seven golden Viols full of the wrath of God but they went not then to poure them out untill they heare a great voice out of the Temple and now they goe So that the Doctrine in the first place to be observed is this Doct. 1 Though the counsell and instruction and advise of a Church-Officer may be a good invitement and inducement and preparative unto a Calling yet it is the mighty Voice of Christ specially in Publike Ordinances that Effectually stirreth up a man to the execution
a man from Publike Ordinances and cause him to sleight them then ever looke at it as a manifest delusion for every dispensation of God doth but enkindle a more earnest longing that the Lord should confirme the same by his broad Letters Patents the Publicke Word and Sacraments in the Church Yea so farre doe the Saints of God stand hereupon that whatsoever is in private onely brought unto them to beleeve they will finde much adoe to rest satisfied in it untill they see it confirmed in publike also As when men have any speciall grant from their Prince and have it confirmed by the Privy Seale they will not rest therwith but will go to the Lord Keeper for the Broad Seale to confirme what was before Sealed to them though either of them apart be sure yet both joyned together will make it more sure Shall men be so carefull for this world and for temporall Patrimonies and shall Christians take up every motion in private and sleight publicke Ordinances Be not deceived whatsoever is brought unto you by the spirit of God in private Will cause you to seeke for more cleare evidence from his loud voice in Publike where his voice goeth on more strongly and powerfully convincing the Conscience and breaking downe all Temptations and discouragements that might hinder the comfort of Gods people The use in the 2. place serveth to reflect a iust reprofe therfore Vse 2 upon any that shall despise or neglect the Publike ordinances of God in the Church for you see here that what is confirmed in the whole Church is the great voyce of God and that without contradiction to the holy Saints and Angels if therefore the Publick ordinances be vndermined and borne witnesse against by any that commeth not from the spirit of these Angels but from some evill roote in the hearts of the sonnes and daughters of men the report of which is a vexation of spirit to heare thereof Thus much for the first note Goe poure out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth And the first Angel went and poured out his viall vpon the Earth c. Here is a world you see discribed having an earth and sea and rivers and fountaines and sunne and aire and they all belong unto the Beast and therefore the first Viall is poured upon them that had the marke of the Beast and the last brought in the fall of Babilon So that from first to last they are the judgments of God vpon the Roman Antichristian state as sixe of the seaven seales brought in judgements upon the Pagan Romane world and the seven Trumpets his Iudgements upon the Christian world as they were ruled by Christian Emperours so are the seven last Vials powred out upon the Antichristian world From hence therefore you may note thus much Doct. 2 That the whole antichristian world or state is but earthly and not heavenly For all these Angels are commanded to poure the vials of the wrath of God vpon the earth and they went not beyond their commission in pouring them upon the sea and Rivers and fountains and vpon the sunne and upon the throne of the Beast and the River Euphrates and the Aire whereby the Holy Ghost holdeth forth vnto us that all these are but earthly the sea is but earthly the fountaines and rivers earthly their sunne an earthly sunne and the throne earthly c. And though it is true as some say poure out any iudgement upon any element and the earth fareth the worse for it yet take the description of the Holy Ghost as it is plaine and it intendeth the antichristian world alone They are of the world therefore they speake of the world and the world heareth them 1 Ioh. 4 5. And he that is of the earth speaketh of the Earth Ioh. 3.31 And so also are all their ordinances earthly Reas 1 The first Reason is taken from the efficient cause of all their frame and state which is but from the Earth all their Doctrine worship and government so farre as it is Antichristian is but humane if not divellish Rev. 13.18 The whole number of the Beast whatsoever is numbred to belong unto him is but the number of a Man humane inventions and will-wisedome men will have it so and this is the Summe of all Popish Religion Reas 2 As the whole frame of their Religion commeth from the earth so doeth it tend to the earth againe for where doth all drive at but the maintenance of an earthly Pompious stately Prelacy nothing in the world but devices to get money they are full of covetousness and ambition both which what are they but an open doore to their earthly libertie these are sensuall saith Iude ver 19. not having the spirit There is nothing spirituall in all their orders nor in their pleasant sights sweet smells delightfull musique and many goodly Feasts they have and what are they but to please the tasts of men and all their carved and painted stocks and stones their goodly Images what doe they but please mens fancies And This you shall finde in the third place that their best devotions Reason 3 doe but leave a man in an earthly and carnall estate and therefore the Holy Ghost speaketh boldly Rev. 13.8 That all that worship the Beast their names are not written in the booke of life of the Lambe slaine from the foundation of the world There is not a man of them that knowing and beleeving no more then what he hath from the Beast can be saved therefore they thought not amisse who have written that a Papist by his Religion cannot goe beyond a Reprobate so then whatsoever is meant by these things in the antichristian world whereon these vials were poured all is but earthly an earthly sea an earthly sunne an earthly light an earthly aire fitter to choake men so farre as it is Antichristian then to breath any life into the soules of Christians To shew you the vanity of all their indeavours that study to reconcile Popish and Protestant Churches together I will Vse 1 say but thus much you may as soone bring Heaven and earth together as you can draw Popish and Protestant Religion together for Popish Religion is all but earthly and all the Churches of Christ are Heavenly and therefore when Heaven and earth meete then will Poperie and Protrolemy meete together In the second place let all men beware lest they have any licourish affection towards the old Religion as they call it if you Vse 2 shall hearken to the voyce of such charmers charme they never so wisely your best Religion will be but earthly your prayers earthly your faith earthly your obedience will bee earthly you shall find nothing therein able to answer an Heavenly and spirituall mind what though they tell you that Protestant Religion loveth case but as for them they have their whippings scourgings and fastings and these they will say are no such earthly dainties Truely these so farre as they are
stand The Sea as you know is the confluence of all the Rivers and Fountaines of waters they all finally are gathered together into one place and are called Sea And truly the confluence concourse of all the springs of the Churches they do meet together in one Religion that is the common receptacle of all All my fresh springs are in the Lord Psal 87.7 In that Religion which the Church professeth And therefore Religion was resembled in the 4 of the Revel vers 6. By the sea of Glasse like unto Chrystall that is all the Ordinances of God they were so cleare as that you n ight see Christs face in them as in a mirrour or glasse 2 Cor. 3.18 Wherein the state of Religion in the New Testament differed from the state of Religion in the old Testament Where the Brazen sea in Salomons Temple was indeed bright as brasse but thicke and not transparent you could not see so clearly the blood of Christ in it and yet there was a sea of Waters What to doe In the 2 Chron. 4.2 to the end of the 6. verse which was for the Priests to wash in Now what is it that can cleanse the Priests but onely the blood of the Lord Iesus Now that was resembled by the water in the Brazen sea Therefore all the Ordinances of Christ which did hold forth the blood of Christ to the washing and purging of the Priests and people of God that is the sea Now this sea as you heard in the 15. Chapter of the Revelation the 2. verse In the Reformed Churches is a sea of Glasse though mingled with Fire mingled with some contention yet the face of Christ might be cleerely seene in it But this sea heere that is the Popish Religion is the confluence of all their Ordinances as they doe administer the worship of God And upon this sea upon this Religion is the second Viall poured In the former Viall First men stumbled at the lives of Papists and therupon at the lives of them that led them at their Priests covetousnesse ignorance and hipocrisie they liked not their lives though at first they stumbled not at their religion but thought it was the fault of their lives but soone after they stumble at their Religion so that the next Vial is poured on their Religion the Ordinances themselves as they are dispenced by them the Viall is poured on them so farre as they differ from Reformed Churches Then what This being the sea how is this sea come to be as bloud That is this Religion of theirs is convinced and discovered to be not such as holds forth the cleansing blood of the Lord Iesus as the Sea in Salomons Temple did and as the sea of Glasse like unto Christall did but holds forth the blood of a dead man A dead Christ and dead Ordinances to any spirituall life There is no life no power no savour of goodnesse in it as the blood of a dead man which is not like the living blood of Christ to cleanse and purifie and to give life Whosoever eats my flesh and drinks my bloud hath eternall life John 6.54 But this is the blood not of the liveing God but of a dead man there is the best of it and what is that Fit to pollute and defile fit to choake a man but not to feed him not to cleanse and purge him And every thing living in that sea dyed Every thing That is every soule that had no other life but what was bred and fed in that Religion and had no other Christian life but what he sucked and derived from that Religion they all perished everlastingly this is the meaning of the words of the Text. Now then it may be further demanded for clearing of this meaning who is this Angell that poures out this viall of Gods wrath on this sea the sea you say is Antichristian religion for the first began with the earth this goes up higher and so higher and higher till it come to the throne and till at length Babilon be fallen So that all these plagues fall on the antichristian state But who is this Angell that poureth out this Viall There be some conceive that they are they who met in the councell of Trent and gathered all the streames of Popish priests and their doctrine and practise and ratified them all in that Councell yea some thinke that Bellarmine hath done the Church of God good service in gathering the body of Controversies betweene protestants and popish Churches and hath delivered them in so many volumes that you might have a whole sea of antichristian doctrine worship and governement by him confirmed though I doe not dislike the notion and it will fall into the true meaning yet that holds not close to the letter of the Text for the Text makes all the Angels to be such as come out of reformed Churches * Rev. 15 5.6 the Temple open in heaven members of reformed Churches all cloathed in pure and white linnen godly Christians righteous soules and girded with golden girdles stablished in the truth of the Gospell therefore they cannot be the Bishops and Doctors of Rome nor Bellarmine nor any of them that have held forth Popish Religion in a Popish Church What then Then it must bee other Ministers and Professors of reformed religion who have discovered the religion of the antichristian state to be as it is Obiect You will say can they turne Popish Religion to bloud Answ The Doctors of Trent indeed have Bellarmine makes it worse by maintaining and confirming of it True but can Ministers of reformed Churches be said to doe so Marke they are sayd to poure out a viall not by making their religion worse but making it appeare as bad as it was They being righteous men they could not corrupt religion but discover it and make it appeare that all the decrees of the councell of Trent and of Bellarmine and such Popish writers they discovered them to bee nothing but a sea of corrupt doctrine and worship all the streames that run in that sea are all polluted and filthy that who so lives and dies in them perisheth everlastingly And such were all those worthy servants of Christ that have written either against the Trident Councell or against Bellarmine that have convinced their Doctrine and worship to be all polluted and corrupted and to be such that if a man know and practise and beleeve no better he cannot be saved such hath been Chenmitius and Junius Chamier Whitaker and Reignolds Perkins and Ames and the rest of the holy Saints of God that have poured out this viall of Gods wrath that is that by their doctrine and writings from the word have poured out such cleare conviction and refutation of their doctrine and worship that to all that are not partiall it appeares to be not the bloud of the Lord Iesus but of a dead man and therfore who ever lives and dies in that religion hee cannot die better then a reprobate nor
live better then an hypocrite this is the true meaning of the second viall The first note that we may gather I will not be long in it nor Doct. in this place the matter requires it not in some places it might As upon the corruption of common Christians followes the corruption of religion so by the discovery of the corruptions of Christians or upon the discovery of the corruption of common Christians followes the discovery of corruption in Religion This note followes upon the former words compare this verse with the second trumpet vpon the sounding of the second trumpet there was brought in corruption of religion in the Imperiall Christian world as in the 8. Chapter of this booke and the 7.8.9 ver The first Angell sounded and there followed â—aile and fire mingled with bloud whereby all the green grasse was burnt up c. The first Angell poured out fire and bloud that is vncharitablenesse and contentiousnesse and so corruption grew in the spirits of common Christians and what followed upon that And thereupon the second Angel founded and there fell a great mountaine burning with fire cast into the sea on the contentiousnesse and quarelling of common Christians and their ambition There grew contention about primacy in Church Governours and that so far corrupted the sea A mountaine of high prefermâ—nt being cast into the sea that a third part of the sea became bloud here was a third part a great part of their religion specially that which concernes governement became bloud very noisome both their doctrine and governement so that looke as on the corruption of the lives of Christians presently religion grew corrupt so on the discovery of corruption in common Christians In this second viall follows the discovery of corruption in religion it self in this second viall and looke by what degrees the trumpets sounding brought in corruption into the Church by the same degrees the vials bring forth the discovery of corruption in the Church the vials of Gods wrath discover corruption pollution in Religion The reason of this point is taken from the powerfull efficacy Reason of all religion to transforme the sincere professors of it to the like nature with it selfe looke what the religion is such is the spirit of all that are sincere and serious professors of it and therefore if there come in any corrupt doctrine corrupt religion our Saviour tells us by their fruits ye shall know them for such as their corruption is in judgement such will it bee in their lives in Mat. 7.15 Beware of false prophets c. by their fruits you shall know them a good tree cannot bring â—orth evill fruit neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fâ—uit and so it was with the Pharisees though they were the strictest sect of the Iewists Religion Act. 16.5 Yet as they were corrupt in their lives so their Religion was corrupt and those that were Proselites to it Mat. 23.15 They made them twofold more the children of hell then themselves 2 Tim. 3.13 Evill men and deceivers waxe worse and worse deceiving and being deceived and the ground of that is this the concurrence of the spirit of God with his owne word and the concurrence of the spirit of Satan with his ordinances and instructions there is a spirit goes with both that doth assimulate and transforme a powerfull professor of sincere Religion to be sincere in heart And the Professors of corrupt Religion to transforme them into the nature thereof In the 59. of Esay verse 21. My Spirit that is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed from henceforth and for ever Gods spirit goes with his owne Ordinances where ever they are rightly and sincerely received as alway by some they are where ever they have free passage they will have some good issue and some persons or other on whom they will worke such a change in 2 Cor. 3 18. We all with open face beholding as in a glasse the glory of God are changed into the same image from glory to glory as by the spirit of the Lord. Consequently if Antichrist come with his delusions hee shall come with all the power of Satan whose comming saith the Apostle 2 Thess 2.9.10 is after the working of Satan and with all power of signes and lying wonders with efficacie of delusions a signe these delusions are not meerely Nationall but effectuall to transforme the heart like unto the minde their will like unto their judgement and their life like unto both that you shall have the whole frame of their state such as is their Religion if the lives of Catholike Professors be corrupt an evident argument their Religion is corrupt and if their Religion be corrupt their lives cannot bee sound they that live by that Religion must needs be corrupt so that upon the discovery of the corruptions of the lives of Catholikes then men began to scruple their Religion at first it was fairely interpreted of some Catholikes that were reformed and brought to the truth they thought that all abuses found in the Friars Monks was but from the lives of men their religion was better their religion did not teach them so and therfore thought still they might appeale to the Pope himself as Luther did they thought it was the ignorance of the Priests that brought Pardons into the Countrey to sell them for groats and shillings but this was but a charitable opinion and in truth the Priests the ministers of that Religion did but act the spirit of that Religion the whole heart was sicke and the whole head and body mortally distempered The Use is thus much it must be a word of holy admonition and warning to all Professors Vse 1 in this Countrey and Church members to all that professe they came out of England for purity of Ordinances to be very circumspect pure and faithfull and zealous in all their whole conversation for beleeve it you will finde this true and remember it while you live if you bee corrupt in New-England if you be unfaithfull here if you be worldly minded here false of your words and promises here injurious in your dealings here beleeve it one of these two will unavoidably follow either all England will judge your Reformation but a delusion and an invention of some of your Magistrates or Elders or otherwise looke at you as not sincere but counterfeit This unavoidably you will finde true you cannot poure forth a Viall of more wrath on Religion as it is heere reformed and established through the blessing of God you cannot load it with a heavier Viall of Gods wrath then if heere you shall grow worldly and covetous deceitfull and contentious and unbrotherly Are these your Church members such such things were done but I hope it was not your Church Members are we not all brethren Doth our Estates
Angell out of the Altar in the 7. ver who saith Amen to this Even so Lord God Almighty true and righteous are thy iudgments For the meaning of the words The sea being Religion the confluence of ordinances such ordinances as are dispensed in any religion The rivers and fountains of water that spring from the sea and returne to the sea and derive all their springs and waters from thence they are and it is generally so received and therefore with more freedome of spirit a man may declare it these rivers and fountains of waters are generally conceived to be the Priests and Ministers of the Popish Church who carry Popish Religion as Fountains and Rivers do the Sea up and down the earth so do they Popish Religion up and down the Nations carry it to and fro only there is this difference between them and ordinary rivers and fountains ordinarily rivers and fountains are fresh though the sea be salt but here the fountains rivers are salt and brackish also as those salt springs be that run through salt mineralls which are of like nature with the sea and these keep their brackishnesse still And so it is with these rivers and fountains they run through the earth on which the first Angel poured out his vial they run through the cursed earth as it is plagued of God and therefore still retaines the like unwholsome streams which are found in the bloody sea And therefore it is said that as the sea became bloud so these rivers also became bloud and carryed but the like kind of water which they received from the sea corrupt As the Religion it selfe is corrupt so are these fountaines and rivers the Priests and Jesuites whether secular or regular that is the Parish Priests of their Churches or Regular Monkes that are in Religious Orders or who ever are sent forth by these they are these rivers and fountaines of waters that run to and fro to fill all the world with their sea with their Religion It is the same word which the Apostle Peter hath in expressing the nature of false teachers though there it is wells yet the words are both one They are wells without water meaning without water of life carrying their owne drugs and dregs 2 Pet. 2.17 A fit expression therefore of such kind of Priests or Prophets as doe convey unwholsome liquor or water up and downe a countrey Now of these it is said that on the pouring out of this vial they became bloud not onely in regard that their waters themselves are bloud the doctrine and worship which they doe hold forth to the people are corrupt as their sea is like the plague in Egypt when their waters and rivers were turned to bloud but that chiefly in regard of the punishment which they inflict on them for so doing which is a bloudy death as bloud is expounded in the 5. and 6. verses where the Angel of the waters saith Thou art righteous O Lord c. because thou hast iudged thus Why For they have shed the bloud of Saints and Prophets and thou hast given them bloud to drinke for they are worthy So this is bloud which God hath given them to drinke And that is an usuall phrase to give a man bloud to drinke is to kill him As Tomyris of old said to King Cyrus Thou hast been a bloud-thirsty man drink thou bloud which thou hast thirsted When you give a man bloud to drink you put him to death So this Angel who ever it was that poured out this vial he puts these Priests to death he gave them bloud to drink both made themselves to undergoe a bloudy death to drinke bloud and also made all that received and entertained them to drinke bloud too and this was effectually accomplished by Queene Elizabeth when in the 27. yeare of her raigne in the yeare 1581. by the consent of the Parliament she made it a Law that if any Priest or Jesuite that had received Orders from the Sea of Rome or any authority from that Sea should come into the Realme and goe about or practice to seduce any of the Queenes loyall Subjects from their allegeance to the obedience of the Sea of Rome or practice to draw them to that religion he should be judged guilty of high treason and suffer in the case of a Traitor And this was another branch of that Statute That if any gave entertainment to such Priests and Jesuites after certain dayes and knew them to be such should suffer as in case of Felonie without the benefit of his Booke so that both of them must drinke bloud both the Jesuites and Priests themselves and their abettors and entertainers and the ground was because they had bloudy intendments in their comming intending to kill the Queene or corrupt the State with unwholsome and pernicious Doctrine to draw the people from their allegeance to the obedience of the Sea of Rome that so as it was said a generation of Catholiques was the corruption of her subjects To prevent which mischiefe this Law was enacted and so upon this occasion many suffered that yeare and others in after yeares most part of her Raigne Now what is then the meaning of the next words I heard the Angel of the waters say Thou art righteous O Lord which art and wast and shalt be because thou hast iudged thus so it was bloud recompenced with bloud This Angel of the waters it was he or she that poured out this vial on these waters She with the consent of her Councel and Parliament they were this Angel of the waters that had this power over these rivers and fountaines and this was accomplished two or three yeares after when she set Secretary Cicill on worke to write a Booke with this Title JUSTITIA BRITANNIAE The Iustice of Britaine wherein Secretary Cicill by her appointment doth make it cleare to all neighbour Nations and for that end published his Book in sundry Languages French Dutch and Spanish that what was decreed in that Parliament was just according to the Law of God and the true principles of Christian State Policie that there was no hope of safety to the Queenes Person or of peace to the Common wealth or of liberty to true Reformed Religion if such persons were suffered to goe up and downe in that pestilentious manner to pervert and corrupt the people and withdraw them from their Allegeance and subject them to the Bishop of Rome that they did not suffer meerely on point of Religion though on those points of their Religion which gave them occasion so to work he doth not deny that neither but in respect that the frame of their Religion was not compatible to any Protestant State And the very Booke it selfe holds forth this in effect that the Lord was just herein and as the Text here tels us Thou art righteous O Lord because thou hast iudged thus And he attributes not onely righteousnesse to God in this but immutability and constancie which
sea and hee that poured his Vial upon the rivers and fountains did but pour it out upon earthly rivers and fountains and therefore he that pours his out upon the Sun doth but pour it out upon an earthly Sun not an heavenly Sun I mean not any spirituall Sun of heavenly brightnesse or glory Minde therefore that it cannot be allowed to interpret this Sun to be the Lord Iesus Christ as some good Interpreters have expounded it he is indeed the Sun of true visible reformed Churches but not of Antichristian Now will it be in like sort allowed to interpret it of the Scriptures as some of our best Interpreters have expounded it for these are but one for the Scriptures reveal Christ and the woman cloathed with the Sun that is Christ she is cloathed with him as he is revealed in the Scripture 12 Revel 1. But I do not see how it should well be allowed that that should be the Sun here meant For first the Angels that pour out these Vials are all godly men at least generally so reputed and accounted and acknowledged by the Churches they are cloathed with pure white linnen which is the righteousnesse of the Saints inherent and imputed They are also girded with gelden girdles sincere profâ—ssors of the truth and how these can be imagined to pour out wrath upon the Lord Iesus or the Scriptures it is not to be beleeved or conceived And besides all these had command to pour out the wrath of God on those subjects upon which they poured out their Vials as in the first Verse Now God forbid we should conceive that any wrath of God should be poured out upon Christ ever since his Resurrection or that any wrath of God should be poured out upon the Scriptures For although they that thus expound this Vial to be poured out upon the Sun do not say that the wrath of God was poured upon the Sun but upon the Antichristian state yet the Text tels us they poured out the Vials of the wrath of God upon that subject that they poured them on they poured them all upon the earth So that all these things are but earthly matters and such earthly matters as have been open justly to the wrath of God It is therefore but an earthly sea and they are but earthly rivers and fountains and it is but an earthly Sun and an earthly air corrupt air an unwholsome Antichristian air upon which the Vials are poured So that I cannot go so freely along with that Exposition that the Sun here is Christ revealed in the Scriptures or the Scriptures revealing Christ If any man shall say but the Sun spoken of in the Trumpets was Christ in the Scriptures or the Scriptures revealing Christ those Trumpets hold forth a like degree of judgement upon the Roman-Christian Empire as here upon Antichristian Rome For upon the sounding of the first Trumpet judgement fals upon the earth common Christians The second Trumpet sounding judgement fals upon the Sea as in the 8 Revel 7 to 12. And the third upon rivers and fountains And the fourth Trumpet sounding did bring an hand of God upon the Sun a third part of the Sun was smitten that is the Son Christ Iesus was much darkned in that degenerated Christian-state and so it was with the Scriptures with the Church state and with humane Learning they were all darkened as it is there described But minde you the Sun is one thing to a Church that hath truth in it though degenerated CHRIST was their light though they were darkened in a third part But now when Religion is wholly corrupt that all the whole Sea is the bloud of a dead man now the world is altered and if you have a new world you must have a new Sun That was a Christian world and CHRIST might still be the Sun and light of that though in many degrees corrupted and the Scriptures might be still the light of the world But now when you come to an Antichristian world so wholly degenerated that there is no power of CHRIST to be seen as they administer any Ordinance now the case is so far changed that you must look for another Sun in another world Here is another earth and another Sea that Sea was not like the bloud of a dead man though corrupt but this is and those waters though their Teachers were corrupt yet it was but a third part but here all is become bloud and they drink of bloud for they are worthy And here is another Sun in this new world and what must that be In a word there be others that interpret it of the greatest and most illustrious light most eminent and glorious light in the Antichristian world And what may that be If you look through all the Antichristian world what should be the most eminent and most glorious and most illustrious light that shines in the greatest glory amongst them all What doth more readily offer it self then the house of Austria the chief governour in the Antichristian state of eminent lustre and hath been so for 200 yeers as they call it the Lumen and Columen of that state the light and pillar of that state And they that so expound it they wrote just in this time when the king of Sweden came forth to represent the Angel he with his followers to pour out a Vial of GODS wrath upon the Imperiall state of Germany and consequently upon the rest of that house that were allyed to them whether Spaniards or others and that to the provoking of so much indignation you know what scornfull derisions they put upon him as if he came in like a Tinker with his Copper money rather then a worthy Generall and you know what indignation and wrath hath been kindled by that means against all Germany what a world of bloud hath been spilt how fire and sword hath pursued those attempts to this very day What might be said against this Interpretation is not much but yet so much as to make some addition to this Interpretation The Papists will by no means bear and acknowledge it that any Civil state should be the most Illustrious light of their Religion they will tell you that the Emperour is but a borrowed light from the Sun and doth owe homage to the Pope for his Imperiall Crown that have translated the Empire from Greece to France and from France to Germany They will tell you the Pope is as much above the Emperour as the Sun is above the Moon And they are not ashamed to speak to the Pope in the amplification of his glory Thou art the light of the world the flower of Paradise the gate of Heaven And if they make the Pope their greatest light their most transcendent and Illustrious light the Sun in the primest and chiefest glory then you must look and search somewhat further for some further Interpretation then meerly the Imperiall state or the state of that same Family combined and united unto it And yet
God It will bee a great Day indeed but a great Day of the Lord God Almighty that hee may offer a great sacrifice to himselfe by the hands of his servants that all the soules of prey and the beasts of prey may all of them come and eate the flesh of Kings and the flesh of Captaines and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of Horses and of them that sit on them and the flesh of all men both free and bound both small and great It will I say bee a great Sacrifice to the Beasts of prey and the foules of prey It shall be a great day indeed but it shall not be a great day to the Papists not a great day to the Dragon nor to the Romish Catholique Church except it be a great day of their destruction and that it will be indeed as yee shall see when this battell is to be fought in the nineteenth Chapter and they shall never trouble the World more that will be the issue of it The Dragon is reserved to a further day but hee shall bee bound for a thousand yeares and afterwards shall make a great battell with the Saints but after that shall be taken and then cast into the lake forever But this will be a great day of God Almighty wherein hee will powre cut all the Vialls of his wrath upon the enemies of God and his people that the Name of the Lord GOD Almighty may bee praysed from the rising of the Sun to the going down thereof And therefore great and wonderfull are the Workes of the Lord that hee doth reserve for after ages wherein the loftinesse of man hee will lay low but his name onely shall be exalted Esay 2.2 Speaking of a farre lesse day then this that I am now speaking of It will bee a great day to the glory of God and the good of his people To the inlargement of the Church of Christ but of destruction to the enemies of the Lord Jesus That they may be overthrowne and taken and cast into the bottomlesse pit never to rise up againe THE THIRD SERMON UPON THE SIXTH VIAL REVELAT 16.15 Behold I come as a theefe Blessed is hee that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he walke naked and they see his shame YOu have heretofore heard that these words set forth a description of the pouring out of the sixth Vial. Set forth it is by the subject upon the great River Euphrates By the effects they were double First Immediate the waters thereof were dryed up The second was Accidentall and mediate warlike preparation The former effect of drying up the River was amplified by the end That the way of the Kings of the East might be prepared The accidentall effect which was warlike preparation was set forth by a double argument First by the efficients Principal and Instrumentall Secondly by the watch-word which the Lord gives his people The efficients were principally the Devill the Beast and the false Prophet The Instrumentals were certaine spirits for nature three spirits for number Unclean for quality Like Frogs for similitude Out of the mouth of the Beast the Dragon and the false Prophet For their originall which are described by their effects which are three They work miracles They goe forth to the Kings of the earth to gather them to battell And thirdly They doe gather them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon The watch-word which is the second Adjunct observed in this warlike preparation is the watch-word of the Lord Jesus to his people in the words of my Text there are two parts of it First a description of the manner of his comming by a comparison taken from the manner of a theefe Behold I come as a theefe The second is a word of promise unto such as watch and keepe their garments at that time The promise is first of blessednesse to them And secondly the prevention of the discovery of their owne nakednesse and shame Blessed is hee that watcheth and keepeth his garments left he walke naked and they see his shame Not to repeat what hath been delivered that which offereth it selfe here to our consideration is a two-fold doctrine the first is this Doct. 1 When Frogs and uncleane Spirits that is to say when Popish Instruments shall goe forth To gather the Princes of the earth and of the whole world unto battell And those Princes shall go forth to battell against the Lord and his people It is behovefull for the people of God to behold the Lord Jesus comming against them or comming to them as a theefe That 's the note when the Lord exposes his people to great trials by the busie diligence of those Frogs or by the violent rage of the Beast and Kings of the earth against Religion The Lord then cals his people to behold him comming upon them I meane upon all the professors of the Gospell the Lord cals them to looke upon him comming at them or comming to them as a theefe Behold saith he I come as a theefe When doth he say so when these Frogs were let forth Those unclean spirits of Devils sent forth to stirre up the Kings of the earth and of the world to gather them to battell against the Lord and against his people and against Christian Religion and them that maintaine it Then Behold I come as a theefe They are the words of the Lord Jesus Because the notes are double that the Text holds forth I must be briefe in either of them As a theef The Scripture hath respect to a foure-fould manner of a theefe comming He doth not come as a theefe in Justice or robbery That the holy Spirit of the Lord Jesus cannot be capable of How can hee steale any thing from us which is not his own There is nothing but it is his and therefore in that sense he cannot be said to come as a theefe But yet as a theefe he can come suddenly and he can come secretly and slily yea and he can come also violently and terribly as a theefe Thus he can come and thus he is described in the Scripture to come which though some think it to be at the last judgement yet I cannot so conceive it for here 's a world of businesse that is to be translated after this Vial is poured out above a thousand yeers after this before the coming of Christ to the last judgement but his coming in any notable judgement his coming especially if it be a coming suddenly and secretly and powerfully It is coming as a thief as ye have an instance of it in Rev. 3.3 to the Church of Sardis I will come on thee as a thief How like a thief Thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee And so in Luke 12.39 If the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come he would have watched and not have suffered his house to be broken through But coming suddenly and secretly at unawares therefore
such an earthquake as this will be so mighty and so great that will blast not Popery alone but all the Hotamocks in this countrey and all that are found among other Indians in other parts of the world an Haile storme shall fall upon them all and blast all their green groves and arbours wherein they were wont to be worshipped Thus have you seen as the Lord hath been pleased to help the meaning of these words Let us now gather one note from them For I would not long dwell upon there Aenigmaticall I meane Parabolicall Scriptures The Doctrine is That when the darknesse of Popish and hellish Doct. ignorance is dispelled so that a man may clearely see heavenly light and breath in heavenly knowledge then It is done That is to say then all the mystery of iniquity is abolished and the mystery of God is fulfilled For thus you see it is evidently here expressed in the Text. The seventh Angel did poure out his Vial upon the Antichristian ayre and that was such an ayre as was darkened with the smoake of the bottomlesse pit as with a foggy mist Now when this ayre shall againe bee cleared and the foggy darknesse thereof dispelled so that men may have the true use of it to see through it those heavenly bodies which were darkened by that smoake Rev. 9.2 then shall men see Jesus Christ to be all in all unto Justification Sanctification Consolation which in Popery you could not then shall the true Church be seen which like the Moon borroweth all the light it hath from the Sun true indeed if the Moone be taken for the world then she treadeth it under her feet Rev. 12.1 In Popery you could not see what a true Church was they will tell you of this and that Church but they are no true Churches But when this vaile shall be removed then shall you clearely know that the true Church is not a Catholike visible nor a Cathedrall nor a Diocesan nor a Provinciall Church Then shall you see the Stars of heaven you shall know who are the true officers of the Church not Paratours and Proctours Deacons and Archdeacons Bishops and Archbishops over many Churches they are not the lights which the Lord hath set therein And you shall then see who were the true members of the Church Not the Canonized Saints not such as Saint George who was an ancient Heretick but you shall see them to be such as are spoken of Phil. 2.15 blamelesse and harmlesse the Sons of God without rebuke shining as lights in the world then shall you see the Scripture more clearely true doctrine and worship and government as it is held forth in the Gospell of Christ and when you shall see these things then It is done Even all that God hath to do in the world for any further Reformation expect it not Rev. 10.7 when the time is come that the seventh Angel hath blowne his Trumpet the Lord will not delay but it shall then be fulfilled and the Lord will clearely manifest to all Nations the great grace which he hath to show to the sons of men and this is long agoe foretold Esay 25.6 7 8. In this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things a feast of wines on the Lees of fat things full of marrow of wines on the Lees well refined And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people and that is the pouring out of this Vial upon the ayre for the face of the covering is the ayre in my Text Then will the Lord make a feast of fat things then will he swallow up death in victory and wipe away teares from off all faces and the rebuke of his people shall be taken away from off all the earth this is also prophesied of Esay 11.6 7 8 9. They shall not huâ—t nor destroy in all mine holy mountaine and the reason is for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea and then It is done The mystery of iniquity is abolished there is no more darknesse nor destruction and the calling of the Gentiles which was a mystery to the Jewes shall be then fully accomplished and the calling of the Jewes which the Apostle calleth a mystery to us Gentiles Rom. 11.25 shall be then fulfilled and so the mystery of God is finished Reas 1 Three Reasons doth the Text give us hereof 1. First from the manner of the entrance of this heavenly glory into the hearts of men whether it come into private persons or publique States It commeth terribly with lightnings and thunderings the which comming from God doe so terrifie the hearts of men and the state of the world that they shall see plainely how they have beene deluded with desperate follyes and when men are put unto such an earthquake in their spirits this will be the point they come unto Men and brethren what shall we doe to be saved as did the Jaylor when he had been soundly shaken with the earthquake Acts 16.26.30 and so it will be with Kingdomes when God hath in like sort shaken them they will contend for true Religion and will not then be baffled out and deluded with vanities as now they be when the spirits of men are terrified and they feele no salvation in their Religion they know not what shall become of their precious soules this will set all the world on worke to looke about them for upon this ground you shall see Indians and Jews and Pagans gaping after salvation when they see by these terrible stormes and thunders that all their Religions are but so many refuges of lies then is there worke in hand indeed which when God hath begun hee will also finish it unto the day of Christ and it will be such an earthquake as was never heard of in the world Heretofore so long as this worke was found among poore Christians the great Lords of the world persecuted them and devised all manner of cruell torments for them but when they felt that the wrath of God was kindled against them then their hearts fell and they were all in a combustion for the state of their soules before the Lord now they were glad to renounce their Jupiters and Junoes and to embrace Christianity and to hearken to a better Covenant this is the effect of thunderings and lightnings and voyces it soone blasteth Idolatry and forceth man to seeke after a clearer passage to heaven The second Reason is taken from the power of the saving knowledge Reas 2 of Christ to dispell this Popish ignorance and to carry an end the heart of a man with such power that he can no longer lie at quiet in his naturall estate but it worketh in men these foure effects 1. It subdueth and tameth the hearts of men that now they will joyn themselves unto the people of God Esa 11.6.7 8. the Wolfe shall lie with the Lambe the Leopard