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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	king_n	law_n	parliament_n	7,328	5	6.6868	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44854	Hē apostasīa, ho antichristos, or, A scriptural discourse of the apostasie and the Antichrist, by way of comment, upon the twelve first verses of 2 Thess. 2 under which are opened many of the dark prophecies of the Old Testament, which relate to the calling of the Jews, and the glorious things to be affected at the seventh trumpet through the world : together with a discourse of slaying the witnesses, and the immediate effects thereof : written for the consolation of the Catholike Church, especially the churches of England, Scotland, and Ireland / by E.H.	Hall, Edmund, 1619 or 20-1687.	1653 (1653)	Wing H325; ESTC R11943	203,833	222

ignorant how much those Worthies that maintained the protestant cause are by a bruitish rabble of degenerate protestants slandered and reproached and how much the cause of God suffers hereby to the causing of many a good Christian to stumble and fall dark providences are as dangerous as deep questions to a weak Christian both make him to stagger Prosperous apostates and successfull predominant hypocrites are like land-markes removed that shipwrack the ignorant marriner that steeres towards them In good truth our land-marks are removed and few Pilots this day are to be found to steere us into the harbour of truth and peace Some say loe here is Christ and others loe there is Christ Some say loe here is Antichrist and others loe there is Antichrist and hereby if 't were possible they would deceive the very Elect. Those called the Presbiterians are decryd by all opposite parties as the Antichristian party and they wittily quibble on one part and say their covenant which they made for the maintaining of Religion in doctrine and discipline against Popery on one hand and Schisme on the other together with the preservation of the Kings person and the fundamentall laws hath just 666 words in it the number of the beast and thence they conclude the Protestant Religion the King and the Fundamentall Laws to be Antichristian Others who seem more rational lay it to their charge as unwarrantable 1. In taking up Armes against the King and inciting the People thereto 2. in making a Covenant contrary to Law and imposing it on the Kings Subjects against his pleasure 3. In robbing of the Church of it's lands 4. In not establishing the King according to their former remonstrances when it was in their power Two things are here to be premised before we proceed 1. That Parliaments are of as great antiquity in a national Church as Monarks over that Church here 's the difference the one is an humane Institution approved of God the other the Monark is a divine Institution immediately ordained of God to be the Ruler of his people This is clear in Moses and the 70 under him chosen by him and afterwards approved by God 2. To our purpose The Parliament of England was called by the King chosen freely by the people assembled at Westminster and established by the King where they sate freely and voted freely Here they became formally our Rulers and Of the Rulers of the people we are not to speak evil Charity hopeth all things and is not easily provoked As to the Parliaments taking up of Arms the Question is whether they did it legally That a Parliament may leavie an Armie in the absence of the King is out of doubt legall for Commune periculum commune auxilium petit But to levie it against the King was absolutely illegall Now the Parliament in their Remonstrances Petitions and Applications to the King acquitted themselves of any such rebellious attempts making their War but meerly Defensive Now whether this were legall in the Parliament is very questionable many good men are divided about the question For say these of the Negative part when those of the Affirmative plead a necessity for what they did making Salum populi suprem●…m esse Legem say they There can be no necessity pleaded against a morall precept neither in the reallity of the thing was there any necessity only and at the most probability of evil to ensue if the King should come without resistance with an Army to London Nor by the rule of Charity was there so much as a probability for the King declared that he would preserve the Lawes the Religion and the Parliament of England as carefully as his own Family and why might not he be beleeved as well if not more and before the Parliament Further say they The Parliament as Subjects ought to keep to the Rule to act within their Spheere leaving the successe to God The King called them not thither to dispute his Authority nor could the people that chose them give them any such Commission Let the guilt of bloud or Injustice or Tyranny lie upon the King there was a righteous God would call him one day to a severe account for such actions when they as loyal Subjects suffering by him would be vindicated and justified in the eyes of all the people On the other side say they of the Affirmative part The Case is far otherwise for the Parliament kept to the rule they legally attached those persons of Treason who had endeavoured to overthrow the Magna Char●…a of the Kingdom and to overthrow the Protestant Religion these guilty persons fled from a legall trial prevailed with the King to remove himself from his Parliament that so he might be a Sanctuary to them The Parliament in their legall proceedings against them found resistance and perceived that these guilty persons under a false pretence of defending the Kings Person bandied themselves against their legall Iudges and gathered great numbers of armed men in a rebellious manner to oppose those two supreme Courts from whom they fled To suppresse and apprehend these persons the Parliament might command aid from the Kings Subjects otherwise wee shall deny that priviledg to the Parliament which the law in such a case allows a petty Constable For the King to protect such armed men is contrary to Law et quicquid contra legem fit pro infecto habetur say the most learned in our Laws in such a case the Kings Commission is invalid for Nihil potest Rex quam quod de jure potest saith Comines Who should protect the Magna Charta of England in the absence of the King but the Parliament of England and who should defend the Courts of Iudicature in the absence of the King against those of their prisoners that were broke from them and now making head against them but the Parliament and how should they defend them against men in arms but in raising men in arms against them Whereas 't is objected They raised men against the King They answer negatively and bid us read their Declarations their Remonstrances their Commissions to their Generals their Protestations and their Covenant which they solemnly swore to God with their hands lifted up to him to preserve the Kings P●…rson Honour and Estate 2. As to that of the ill●…gality of the Covenant in making it without the King and imposing it on his Subj●…cts against his will They answer that they did it to declare to his Majestie and the world how sincerely they were knit in loyal affection to his Person and Dignity that without any compulsion they would solemnly swear to God when they could not to him that they had no intention to diminish his just rights and that they never ordered that any should take that Covenant but such as entered into their service or were conversant with them that so all their servants might be the Kings true Subjects however some presumptuous Committees without any order from them and severall other

pragmatick fellows made it a snare to tender consciences of the Kings party by pressing it upon them and oppressing those that refused it This was doubtlesse a grosse sinne but it cannot properly be laid to their charge as if they thereby intended to make a party for themselves against the King but to make all within their Garisons and Commands both Ministers and People true Subjects to the King to the Lawes and the Protestant Religion Whiles this was strictly observed in the Parliaments Quarters Iesuites and Popish Priests were not so frequent nor so bold as since they have beene amongst us 3. As to that of throwing down of Bishops a double scandal is taken if not given thereby 1. In their manner of proceeding without and against the King which in it self was absolute usurpation for though they did send to the King to passe it yet they resolved upon his denyal to proceed which was an absolute denyall of his Negative voyce in which implicitely they denyed him to be their Soveraign 2. In throwing down the ancient Government of the Church by Bishops which Government hath continued in the Church since the Apostles time unquestioned until within these hundred yeers and then the Orthodox onely questioned their Persons not their Office onely the Anabaptists cryed down the Office as Antichristian Now for the Parliament under pretence of Reformation of Religion to cast off that primitive Government universally received in the Churches without and against the consent of the King and solemnly ingage others in the same thing seems to be a most rash and inc●…nsiderate act done out of blinde mislead zeale or an ungodly act done wilfully to bring to ruine the Protestant Church of England to rob the Church of its Maintenance and ruine the learned Clergie of the Nation Here we must answer le●…t both innocent persons and a good Cause suffer 1. The Parliament intended not by throwing down the English Hierarchie to throw down any Worship Discipline or Government according to the word of God for then their second Article would clash with the first in the Covenant so that their meaning is they will extirpate so much of Prelacy as shall be found contrary to the word of God and the Example of the best reformed Churches I suppose by Churches they meant the purest Primitive Churches for all these late Reformed Protestant Churches did before we thought of a Reformation yeild that we were better reformed then they We hold the Calvinists the best reformen Churches but saith learned Beza to the praise of the English Protestant Bishops Let the Church of England injoy this singular bounty of God which I wish may be hers for ever So far was he from thinking it a piece of Reformation to pull them down Calvin Bucer Luther Melancton Z●…nchy Chamier are all of them no enemies to Bishops though professed enemies to the Superstitious Idolatrous Practices of Bishops in that Age. Every solid Protestant is so far from thinking the Office of a Bishop to be Antichristian that he rather thinks it a high degree of Antichristianism to oppose that Office this is as we have shewed to deny the Father and the Son for he that denyeth an Apostle or the Successo●…s of an Apostle in the Office of the Ministry denyeth Christ and he that denyeth Christ denyeth God that sent him Charity therefore makes me hope that the sincere Protestants what ever other subtil Foxes designed intended no otherwise by that second Article in the Covenant then to reduce the Church of England to a Primitive Purity by removing Popish Prelates and all those humane Institutions depending on the English Hierarchy if through Error they were mis-led from the right means to this end the discovery of that Error may seasonably reduce them into a right way for wise men never think it a shame to repent It is most certain that the intent of the sincere Covenanters was to re●…ine not ruine the Ministry by pulling down the English Hierachy they struck not at the order of the Ministry but at the degree of Episcopacy they struck at the Discipline of the English Church therein more then at the Ministry for they pulled down Bishops as they were Superintendants over their brethren not as Ministers so that they took away their degree above their brethren but left them standing in their order as Ministers Bishops lost not their Order by the Covenant but their Degree for though they are in a distinct degree above the Presbyters which have ever been allowed them in the purest Churches since Christ time yet they never were a distinct order from the Presbyters neither the Scripture nor the Fathers make them so so that Aerius an ancient Writer in that saith truth a Bishop and a Presbyter are joined in the same Commission the Bishop imposeth hands so doth the Presbyter the Bishop administers the Sacraments and dispenseth the Ordinances so doth the Presbyter so that essentially there is no difference betwixt them what is is only gradual Now here lies the great question Whence they had this degree above their fellow Ministers in the Church If they had this from Apostolical Institution then without all doubt it was a grieveous sin in any Civil Power to pull it down and they that convenanted so to do did unadvisedly and foolishly But if this degree of Episcopacy be but an Ecclesiastical Institution though of great Antiquity the case is altered there cannot be an absolute necessity of its immutability Meer humane Institutions admit of alterations Hierom and Epiphanius say They were set up as a remedy against Schism and Heresie long after Presbytery But to come to the thing suppose this degree to be as probably it is an Apostolical Institution which continued unquestionable in the Church for many hundred years Yet here the question will still be Whether since the grand Apostasie that Paul prophesies of there hath not been an Apostasie from this Institution whether this Institution in the Apostasie did not contract much corruption This is granted by all the Protestant English Bishops especially by the late Lord Primate of England B. Laud in his Conference with Fisher Bishop Jewel and Bishop Downam hence these two latter conclude That the Hierarchy of Rome is so corrupted and apostatized from its Primitive Institution that it is become the Antichristian State nay more then that they call it the Antichrist That question then which concerns us is Whether the Hierarchy of England were so exactly conformable to the Primitive Institutution as that it needed no alteration These two things are granted 1. That the persons in that Hierarchy needed to be reformed for some of them were prof●…ssed Papists and the most of them bitter enemies to a powerful and a painful Orthodox Ministry 2. That whatsoever is built upon an humane foundation may upon humane or divine considerations be taken down again if so then those Titles Offices and Dignities conferred meerly by men may be taken away but

the title of Lord Bishop Dean Arch-Deacon Chancellor Vicar Generall Commissary Officiall Surrogate Register Promoter c. Of which our English Hierarchical politie was compacted were meerly humane titles and offices as appears upon record In 16 of Rich. 2. Chap. 1. we find the English Bishops first putting on the title of Spiritual Lords though as Barons long before in William of Normandy's time who conferred that temporall honor on them they claimed a place in the house of Peeres These acts of grace conferred by the Kings of England on their Clergy argued their piety and true affection to religion Nor did those honours they conferred on the Clergie make those persons much lesse their office as some foolishly affirm Antichristian only thus much it argues them mutable that civil power that changeth them so farre changeth not a divine institution So farre therefore as the alteration that the Parliament of England made in the Hierarchy of England was not against the primitive institution so farre for the matter of it it was lawfull but as for their manner of proceeding in it without and against the Kings consent let him that hath skill vindicate them I am sure none that know the duties of the second Table and are sincerely pious will dare to applaud it or once open their mouth to plead for it My aym is onely to vindicate the Parliaments Cause from that fowl aspersion of Antichristianisme cast upon it as for many of their particular acts they are inexcusable 4. Another great Scandall taken and given is that the Parliament not only took away the dignities of the Clergy but the estates of the Clergie What shall we make for an answer to this monstrous Crime Before we say any thing to this we wil make a step back to former times We shall find the house of Commons alm●…st as full of envie as of age against the Clergies wealth In the ninth of Hen. 4th We shall find the lower House exhibited a bill against the riches of the Clergie wherein they signifie to the King that he may possesse so much of th●… temporall possessions of the Clergie as will maintain One hundred and fifty Earles One thousand five hundred Knights six thousand two hundred Esquires and One hundred Hospitals had the King been as covetous as the Commons were base the Clergy had not been lef●… a prey to his successors In Henry the Eighth his raign the Lords and Commons fell upon the Clergy for their fleece took from them as saith Cambden in England and Wales Six hundred forty five Monasteries they dissolved ninety Colledges and of Chanteries and fire Chappels two thousand three hundred seventy four of Hospitals One hundred and ten The yearly value being 161100l. Besides the stocks of Cattel which the poor men and their families possessed which they took and sold. Also the timber lead bells the plate and other rich Ornaments of the Church which they robbed and spoiled the Church of And in the Reign of King Charles the last Parliament that that King called which was the gladding of the hearts of all the people of the Kingdom whose eyes were fixed upon them in hopes of enjoying some eminent good from them these alone without and against the consent of the King fell upon the Clergies Estates and swept all that away which King Henry left What shall we say here That we may not condemn the righteous with the wicked we answer 1. They never pretended at the first to any such thing Ab initio non ●…uit sic they convenanted no such thing and the most of those that were secluded and imprisoned were professed enemies to the alienating of the Church Lands from the Church and alwayes so declared themselves Lands given to the Church are sacred things and he that al●…enates them steals from God Indeed it is the part of the Civil Magistrate to restore to the widow the fatherlesse and the oppressed those Lands that the Clergie fraudulently got from them though they have long possessed them And also to restore that Land they have got●…en from the Crown But to take away by force the lawfull rights and possessions of the Church under pret●…nce of Reformation is both grosse Hypocrisie and abominable Sacriledg For my owne part I really beleeve That God is this day punishing the Royall Family for that sin of their Fore-fathers Henry the Eighth's sins are not yet forgot chiefly that of Sacriledg God will punish to the third and fourth generation except we repent of those sins by endeavouring a reformation And as for the Church-robbers of this age wait but a while and without their repentance you shall see misery and shame upon them God will find them out It hath been ●…bserved that scarce any prospered an age with the alienated Lands of the Church In Henry the Eighth's time many who before they griped it lived well after they got it decayed and were brought to beggery and great want That sacred flesh stollen from the Altar had a cole in it which burnt up their nests where their other store lay God grant the guilty of this age repentance for this crying sin otherwise let David's deprecation be fulfilled upon them Psalm 83. 11 12. Make them like Oreb and Zeeb as Zeba and Zalmunna who said Let us take to our selves the houses of God in possession c. As to that scandall That when the Parliament had an opportunity to declare to the world that all their Remonstrances Declarations Vows Protestations and Covenants proceeded from a sincere heart by establishing the King when they had drove evill Counsel from about him that then directly Contrary to those declarations and vows they began upon new termes with him they must have the sword put into their hands else they could not trust him and necessity and self preservation put them upon it The self same arguments that were used as a just judgement upon them in their overthrow which soon followed To this there is a double answer by divers persons a witty one and a pious one Some say that the King desired for the Satisfaction of all parties a treaty with his Parliament before he came to be reestablished and that upon the surest grounds of reason and policie it was on both sides thought most fit for to have it yet it had been most Religious in the Parliament and more for the honour of their cause if not for the safety of it to have kept to their former Declarations and performed their word and publick promises made therein Others more piously say and those formerly of the House God in justice hath overthrown our policie with others sinful policie God shews us our own sins in their lively pictu●…e acted by others against us God Punisheth our foregoing sins with these present sins as they dealt with others so others dealt with them they would not trust their superior and their inferiors would not trust them Thus have we wafted over a rough Sea wherein we have discov●…red

enemies superstition and profanenesse have in all ages been to a powerfull and orthodox Ministry Which Ministry was hereby not onely exposed to the scorn and hatred of the people but also made liable to the Prelates persecution for did they but withstand their popish Innovations or but a little swerve from their rigorous injunctions immediately followed bitter persecutions thereby many eminently learned and godly Ministers as you may read in Mr. Clarks Lives an impartial Writer were silenced suspended vexed discouraged sequestred imprisoned and some inforced to leave the Kingdome Mean while superstitious scandalous popish and profane persons were admitted into Orders countenanced encouraged and preferred Thus did the prevailing Faction of popish Prelates for all were not so prove like those Angels Revel 7. 1. holding the winde of the Gospel from blowing on the Church of England Nor was this all but needs must these Popish Reformers go to Scotland an ancient Reformed Church that was no enemy to the ancient primitive Government of Bishops and kept the Doctrine of Christ pure though God for her security and profaneness had many things against her of which this rod was a special warning The Church of Scotland rejecting the usurpation of the English Prelates who did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in going about to exercise an unknown Iurisdiction over them these revengefull Prelates putting off all humanity and Christianity to satisfie their hellish lusts thought it more fit that their Soveraign the Lords Annointed should hazzard his own life and the lives of his Nobles together with the losse of the bloud of innocent Protestants the Kings faithfull Subjects on both sides in an unnatural War to the reproach of Religion the endangering of both Kingdoms and the infinite expence of treasure then they be crossed in carrying on their designes against the innocent Church of Scotland This War begun by them was the beginning of the Brittish Wars which Wars have ruined the Brittish Royall Family the Brittish Nobles with many of their Families the ancient Brittish Laws and the Brittish reformed Church and all begun by a brutish Clergie in that Church Cursed be their wrath for it is cruell These fire-brands of State made the Bishops odious to the Gentry and Commonalty of both the Nations insomuch that when a Parliament was called which they were accidentally the cause of a certain party of the Commons of the Parliament animated by the preposterous Petitions of the over-zealous people and 't is more then probable incouraged by some of the covetous Nobility who thereby intended to make purchase of their Lands resolved to be satisfied with nothing but the utter extirpation of Episcopacy Here a fallacy was put upon the honest hearted Protestants in the Kingdome for the subtil Lawyers of the House of Commons whose Speeches were alwayes most prevalent in that House envying the wealth and dignity of the Clergie vehemently pressed that in stead of questioning the guilty they would accuse all the Bishops and in stead of questioning their persons they would pul down their Order purposely to take away the Iurisdiction This was carried on by a private faction of Polititians in the House who drew in many honester then themselves into the Designe which although not then yet since hath been discovered The Prelates it mainly concerning them at that time clearly discovered the Designe and thereupon were most firmly united Whereas had it been for a personall reformation amongst them which the grave and moderate Members desired or removing Innovations brought in by the Popish Faction amongst them they would many of them have hung more loose if not altogether sided with the Parliament against the upholders of any Doctrines or Discipline against the true Reformed Religion especially since the King declared himself at this time for a reformation of abuses crept into the Church and having respect unto tender consciences But here lieth such a mystery of iniquity that the wisest and most scruti●…ous in States mysteries cannot discover On whom to charge the overthrow of Episcopacy and the Church Government of a long time continued in their hands in the general wee know but on whom to charge the designes against the Protestant Religion in their overthrow we know not or at least wise nunc non est narrandi locus It is true the Primate of England with the insolent faction at Court became odious to the Nobility and Gentry about the Court and those of his faction elsewhere stepping up into civill Offices in the State made them odious to the Lawyers of the Kingdome whose Offices they usurped The schismaticall Separatists made it one of the chief principles of their Religion to oppose them concluding that man to have true illumination to salvation that had his eyes opened to see Episcopacy to be Antichristian The generality of the sincere Professors of the Gospel were much grieved at the barbarous rigour of their Discipline in suspending silencing and molesting learned godly orthodox Ministers because they would not wear a Surplice signe with the Crosse stand at the Creed kneel at the Sacrament observe a superstitious holi-day but most of all they were grieved that such persecution should befall them for refusing to read the book of Sports to their people a most abominable book giving liberty to people to profane the Lords day The people also generally disliked their rigour in citing them to their Courts for working on Holi-dayes or marrying without a Licence or upon a groundlesse suspicion of inchastitie Many such poor pretences meerly to drain the peoples purses did their Officers make Thus had the Prelatick party drawn the odium of the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty upon them and now a Parliament being called and in that Parliament severall Members of both Houses professed enemies to their Degree and not onely to their degree in the Church as Bishops but to their Office as since they professe as Ministers upon what designe may easily be conjectured These members also being popular took the opportunity of lifting these Protestant Churches off their hinges whiles the eyes of all men were on them for a Reformation Here I say was the fallacy that whiles they pretended to root out Popish pollution they struck at the very root of Primitive purity whiles they pretended to reform Episcopacy they struck at the very Office of the Ministry as now that wound being searched to the bottom discovers to us The King and his party saw to the bottom of this wound many yeers since Those Remonstrances now seem full of Prophecies which we have seen fulfilled But lest we should seem to throw dirt upon the Parliament and the Purliaments cause we must distinguish of a threefold party which sate in the house in plain truth the Parliaments covenant distinguisheth them There was a Popish party a Protestant party and a Schismaticall party the Protestant party made this covenant against the other two parties This Protestant party maintained the Protestant cause against all other parties No Protestant can be

the end of the Chapter Rev. 14. 14. to the end of the Chapter Rev. 15 16 17. all for the most part a preparatory vision of the seventh Trumpet The 15. Chapter tells us who shall execute the wrath of the seventh Trumpet and whence they come The 16. Chapter sheweth the manner and matter of the seventh Trumpet The 17. Chapter sheweth the two grand Enemies of the Church on whom the wrath and woe of the seventh Trumpet falls These are the great Whore ver 1. and the Beast of the bottomless pit ver 8. that carries her ver 7. From hence t is clear that the Beast of the bottomless pit and the Pope are distinct persons for if by Whore of Babilon be meant the Pope as the most learned Protestants truly affirm then the Beast of the bottomless pit which beareth the Pope cannot be Pope himself My inference hence is this Ergo The Pope is not the Antichrist for he that slayes the Witnesses is the Antichrist but the Beast of the bottomless pit slayes the Witnesses Ergo the Pope is not the Antichrist being distinct from the Beast of the bottomless pit I do not disprove that the Pope is not an Antichrist but not the Antichrist whose reign over the slain Witnesses is to continue but three dayes and the half of three dayes at the utmost as there are many Witnesses and have been in all ages yet they are quite distinct from the two Witnesses so there have been and are many Antichrists which notwithstanding are distinct from that Antichrist the Fathers and the after Churches have from Iohn to Paul desciphered In the end of the Chapter we have a vision of the Instruments of inflicting the wrath of the seventh Trumpet which are called ten horns who v. 17. gave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Kingdome t is not Kingdomes but Kingdome by which it appears that it is that Poliarchy or supream authority in those dominions under one supream head where Antichrist slew the Witnesses that shall destroy Rome that government or that policy which through their oversight put all their power into the Antichrists hands these when the Witnesses rise shall also arise indeed their rising from under the Antichrists Tyranny is a great part of the Witnesses rising though these are profound Texts I touch upon yet my doubts are not greater then my hopes of great things and glorious for the Church of England Ireland and Scotland's good from them and that speedily In Revelations 18. is the Vision of the effect of the seventh Trumpet upon the great Babilon that is Rome say many Papists and all the Protestants And ver 9. The great lamentation of the Kings of the Earth for her ruin these Kings which committed Fornication with her i. e. were of the same Popish Idolatrous Religion with Rome the Romish Catholique Princes Observe here not the Popish Kings of Europe eat the Whores flesh and burn her with fire for they weep and wail for her I am very prone to believe that the ten horns which destroy Antichrist are those Peers or Princes who in those dominions where the Witnesses are slain arise from under the Tyranny of Antichrist after the great Commotion Revelations 11. 12 13. and Revelations 17. 16. shall destroy Rome for I beseech thee Reader observe the ten horns that Antichrist gets on his head Revelations 17. 12. they are not ten Kingdomes nor no where so called but ten Kings i. e. a certain company assuming Kingly power would that were all but have no Kingdome but receive power as Kings one hour with the Beast who set them up in the slaying of the Witnesses These usurpers are overcome in a battell with the Lamb ver 14. and after that ver 16. that lawfull power which Antichrist threw down yet pretended to set up purify and establish therefore called the ten hones on the Beast shall arise and destroy the Whore 'T is clear that both the ten horns here mentioned are those that are within the power and dominon of the Antichrist he getting power from the ten horns ver 17. to invest those other ten horns ver 12. of his faction with power to make war with the Lamb sure I am this is a clearer exposition of these Texts then that which makes the ten horns ten Kings of Europe who being Papists shall turn they say from the Pope and destroy him I wish it may be so but I can find no ground for it in Scripture In the next Chapter the quite contrary is most true In chap. 19. and chap. 20. we have the white side of this Trumpet the rejoicing of the Church for Gods glorious deliverance of it and after the finall overthrow of the three grand enemies which is parallel with Rev. 14 4. 20. the Church hath a large respite of rest from all its both secret and open enemies from Gog and Magog and the Witnesses are firmly seated in the Throne and the 12. Tribes restored to their own land Thus have I as I could endeavoured to remove all Objections to clear those Doubts and Obscurities which I find obnoxious to the mind in finding out truth or embracing that which from the written Word is laid before it There are two other Questions arise from this Discourse the one is 1. Whether the Antichrist in person shall be at the great battell at Armagedon and whether Turks and Papists shall joyn together to resist the Jews Restoration and the true Christian Reformation the Antichrist being a chief leader in this battell against them 2. Whether Rev. 21. and 22. be meant of the state of the reformed Church under the seventh Trumpet or it be a resemblance of that state of bliss which the Saints are made partakers of in the life to come To this last much may be said against what is confidently by some asserted but I wave it lest I be accounted both bold and tedious both which I disaffect in others and hate in my self Whether this Reverend Person whose Paper hath drawn all this from me will take it well or ill I know not but with humble thanks I do acknowledge his favour as the first that ever I received of this kind in shewing and correcting of my Errours for which I shall ever subscribe my self his Disciple humbly submitting whatsoever I have writ to his and such like learned prophetick Text-mens Censures FINIS 2 Pet. 1. 12. 2 Sam. 4. 7 8. As the bead of the g●…and Apostasie arose out of the purest Church Rome so the Antichrist ariseth out of the purest Churches at that time when they goe about to shake off the Apostasie for it is at that time when the Witnesses have finished their testimonie 1. Tim. 4. 12 Greg. Mor. 4. cap. 40. Hormisd Excommunic of Anastasius the Emperor A●…n 510. Herein the Antichrist the son resembles the Pope his Father 1 Tim. 4. 1 2 3 In fascicul rerum expetendarum Fru●…tur sanè i stâ Dei singulari beneficentiâ quae utiuam illi