Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	believe_v	jesus_n	remission_n	4,257	5	9.2662	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

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

by opportunity of leisure and he that giveth his mind to the Law of the most high is occupied in the meditation thereof and will seek out the wisdom of all the ancient and be occupied in prophesies he will keep the sayings of the renowned men and where subtle parables are he will be there also he will seek out the secrets of grave sentences and be conversant in dark parables But how can he get wisdom that holdeth the plow and that glorieth in the goad that driveth oxen and is occupied in their labours and whose talk is of bullocks for he giveth his minde to make furrowes and is diligent to give the kine fodder so every carpenter and workmaster that laboureth night and day and they that cut and grave seales and are diligent to make great variety the smith also sitting by the anvill and confidering the iron work setteth his mind to finish it and watcheth to polish it perfectly and so the potter sitting at his work turneth the wheele about with his feete and fashioneth the clay with his arme and is diligent to make clean the furnace And all these and all others the like Tradsemen that trust to their hands shall not be sought for in Publick Counsell nor sit on the Judges Seat Ecclesiast 38. and 24. Vsque ad 34. fin cap. for they cannot understand the Sentence of judgement nor declare what is justice and therefore they shall not be found where parables are spoken saith the wise son of Syrach And if such lay men and tradesmen cannot understand justice and judgement in Civill matters nor find out the sayings aphorismes and parables of men how shall they be able to search out the deep things of God and to understand the Mysteries of the Holy Scriptures for 2. It is not an easie matter and of small labour and without learning 2. Because the Scaipture is full of obscurity and very hard to be understood to explaine the Scriptures to reconcile different Texts and seeming contradictions and to unfold the sence and mysticall meaning of the Holy Ghost as you may find by what the Apostles say in 1 Tim. 3.16 Heb. 5.11 and 2 Pet. 3.16 how difficult and hard a matter it is to expound the Great Mysteries of Godliness and how by reason of that difficulty the unlearned and unstable do wrest them to their own destruction for you may observe that although Christ taught the people in the plain yet he taught his Disciples in the Mount Luke 6.17 Matth. 5.1 Luke 5.3 4. and while the people stood on the shore he bids his Apostles to launch forth into the deepe to shew unto us that as Origen saith the Scripture consisteth of an outward barke which is soft and tender and may easily be plained and of an inward substance which is hard and tough and cannot so easily be squared or as S. Gregory saith that the Doctrine of Christ and the Mysteries of the Holy Scriptures are like the Ocean sea where a lamb may wade by the shore where the people stood and the Elephant may swimm in the deep where the Apostles launched forth to Teach us this Truth Many things in Scripture easie to be understood as the heads 1. To be done 2. To be believed that the meanest capacity the vulgar and lay people may understand out of the Scriptures what they should do as to fear God to Honour their Parents to obey the Magistrates not to kill not to commit adultery not to steal and the like and the chiefe necessary Heads of their Christian Faith as to believe in Jesus Christ that thorough him they shall have remission of their sins and Eternall life and that this truth is Sealed unto them by the blessed Sacraments of Baptisme and the Lords Supper and yet the strongest Head the greatest Wit and most exquisite Schollers may find there such depth as cannot easily be dived into but will soon swallow them up and like the Sun in his full strength dazle and confound their fight The reasons of the difficulty to explain and to understand the Scriptures 1. The diversity of Languages if they be not very carefull to go the right way and take great paines and earnestly pray to God for his helpe to understand the same And the reason of this difficulty to explain and to unfold the Scripture is manifold as 1. The diversity of Languages wherein the same was written and the great affinity of the Hebrew with the Syriac and the Chaldick tongue with the very many equivocall words of the Hebrew Language which made the Jewes themselves many times to mistake the meaning thereof as 1. When Christ said destroy this Temple John 2.19 Marck 14.58 and in three dayes I will raise it up they thought he spake it of the materiall Temple when he meant the Temple of his body and the same word signified both the one and the other 2. When he told his Disciples Matth. 19.24 Luke 19.25 it was easier for a Cammell to go thorough the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and this was a proverbiall speech among the Jewes when they spoke of any hard and unlikely thing to be done it was easier for a Cammell to go thorough the eye of a needle as Caninius observeth out of their Talmud and yet most men and many good interpreters and of no small learning have understood the word of that great and large fiz'd foure-footed beast called a Cammell whereas the word indeed quo hic utitur paraphrastes funem anchoratum significat which the Paraphrast saith our Saviour used signifieth a Cable rope which being untwifted may easily pass thorough an needles eye and so may the rich man enter into the Kingdom of Heaven if he disperseth his wealth and give them to the poore though as our Saviour saith it is easier for us to untwist the Cable rope then to perswade the rich men to part with their goods and give them to the poore or to any pious uses 3. When he cried out Math. 27.46 Eloe Eloe Lamasabacthany the Jewes said he calleth for Elias when as the words fignified My God My God why hast thou forsaken me 4. When John 20.16 after the resurrection of Christ Mary turned her selfe towards him and said Rabboli which is Master Tremelius saith that in this word either the letter Lamed is put for Nun and so Rabboli for Rabboni or else it is a composition of the Noune with the Pronoune and Rabboli is put for rabbonli and it is not properly any Hebrew word but a Chaldaic and Syriac and it is said to be an Hebrew word quia tunc temporis Syriaca lingua hebraeis esset vulgaris because that the Syriac Tongue was then common amongst the Jewes when they had lost the use of their own Tongue in their Captivity and had learned in that space of seventy yeares the Idiomes and the phrases of the Conquerors and the

' Ο ΑΝΤΙΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ The Great ANTICHRIST REVEALED Before this time never discovered AND Proved to be neither Pope nor Turk nor any Single Person nor the Succession of any one Monarch or Tyrant in any Policie BUT A collected pack or multitude of Hypocritical Heretical Blasphemous and most scandalous wicked men that have fulfilled all the Prophesies of the Scriptures which have forespoken of the coming of the great Antichrist and especially have united and combined themselves together by a solemn League and Covenant to slay the two witnesses of God Moses and Aaron as Christ interpreteth them They have Moses and the Prophets Luke 16.29 that is The supreme Magistrate of the Common-wealth and the chief Pastors and Governours of the Church of Christ And the Christian world is requested to judge Whether the Assembly of Presbyterians consulting at Westminster Together with the Independents Anabaptists and Lay-Preachers be not the false Prophet and the mystical soul of that great Antichrist And Whether the prevalent Faction of the long Parliament termed of late the Rump Parl. and their Adherents that killed the two witnesses of Jesus Christ 1. Charles the first King of Great Britain and in him civilly all his Magistrates 2. William Laud Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and civilly all the suppressed Bishops and silenced Preachers of these 3 kingdoms be not the grosse and visible body of the same Antichrist By Gr. Williams L. Bishop of Ossory Impii homines qui dum volunt esse mali nolunt esse veritatem qua condemnantur mali August Me me adsum qui feci in me convertite ferrum Virg. Jehovae Liberatori London Printed at the charge of the Authour 1660. A strong faith fenced with a golden helmet Need not fear the beast his hatchet But his wicked deeds will ring And shew the prayses of the King Whom the cruell beast hath kill'd And all the Prophesies fulfill'd Of our blessed Saviour Christ Touching the accursed Antichrist The Authours Protestation I Call God to be my witnesse and heaven and earth to testifie against me if I aym at any thing or desire any thing by the publishing of these books but the glory of God the true service of Jesus Christ and the good the peace and the happinesse of the Church of Christ and the people of these Kingdomes without envie to any mans good or hatred to any mans person or the ambition and desire of any place profit or preferment for that I thank God I have learned in any state to be contented Et contemnere contemni The Authours Prayers which Morning and Evening he useth to say to Almighty God and to his Saviour Jesus Christ The Authours first addresse to Almighty God Our Father which art in Heaven c. O Eternal Almighty Lord God our good God sweet Saviour Jesus Christ Holy and blessed Spirit glorious Trinity three persons and one God have mercy upon us most miserable sinners have mercy upon us most miserable sinners O Lord God pardon and forgive us all our sins those great and many sins that we have most hainously committed against thy divine Majesty Lord enter not into judgement with us thy servants for no flesh is righteous in thy sight and deal not not with us according to the multitude of our transgressions but according to the multitude of thy mercies and compassion do away our offences and give us thy grace that ever hereafter we may serve thee in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of our life make us truly thankfull unto thee for all those mercies and favours and loving kindnesses that thou hast continually so graciously and so mercifully bestowed upon us for thou hast created us after thine own image thou hast redeemed us with the precious blood of thy dear Son Jesus Christ and thou hast called us and sanctified us in some measure with the graces of thy most blessed Spirit thou hast delivered us out of all our troubles from all dangers and from the hands of all that hate us from the snare whereunto we were fallen and from those dangerous Sea-voyages wherein we had utterly perished if thou hadst not most mercifully preserved us thou hast given us meanes and maintenance whereby we were inabled to serve thee and thou hast restored the same to us again when we had utterly lost it thou hast given us faith to believe in thy Son Jesus Christ hope to attain to eternal life love and charity both towards thee and our neighbours for thy sake repentance for our former sins and a resolution ever hereafter to lead a holy and a godly life thou hast blest us in all our wayes prospered all our journeys delivered us from all evill helped us in all our necessities preserved us in health and restored thy servants to life when they were at the point of death for all which and for all other thy mercies and loving kindnesses both spiritual and temporal we heartily praise thy glorious name and magnify thee with all our souls we honour thee we blesse thee we praise thee we thank thee and we will magnify thee for the same for ever and ever And we do most humbly beseech thee of thy goodnesse O Lord to continue still thy loving kindnesse towards us and to preserve us still from all evill and mischief from all sin from the crafts and assaults of the devil from thy wrath and from everlasting damnaation save and defend us from shame reproach and discredit in this world from violent and sudden death and from the malice and hatred of all our enemies O let them never prevail against us let them never have the upper hand over us and let them not say There there so would we have it neither let them say We have devoured them but be thou with us be our helper and defender be our shield and our buckler be our strong Tower whereunto we may alwayes resort and we will not fear what man can do unto us We pray thee also good God give me wisdom and understanding O Lord I beseech thee give me wisdom and understanding memory boldnesse and utterance help and assist me at all times and in all places to preach thy holy word for the glory of thy name and the benefit of thy people And as thou hast helped and assisted me the last time and all other times heretofore for which I do heartily praise and thank thy glorious name so I do most humbly beseech thee to help and assist me the next time and at all other times hereafter that I may set forth thy praise and glory blesse O Lord the holy Catholick Church blesse and preserve thy servant Charles that is our lawful King and all the servants of Jesus Christ that are with him comfort them now after the time thou hast chastised them and for the years wherein they have suffered adversity give them patience to endure whatsoever thou layest upon them and in thy good time deliver them out of all their troubles and restore them to their

patience in all these our sufferings and to assist us for our constancy and perseverance in our duties that we neither murmure at our present condition nor start aside one inch from the truth of our Christian Profession Non me videre superbum prosper a fatorum nec fractum adversa videbunt said Pompey and how much rather should a Christian say it either for fear of losses or for love of gain and preferment but to proceed on codem vultus tenore with the same cheerful countenance as well in these stormy thundring dayes of Adversity and Persecution as we would do in the cleerest Sun-shining dayes of pleasure and prosperity and to remember that Rebus in adversis facile est in contemnere vitam Fortiter ille facit q●i miser esse potest 3. To abhor the wayes of the wicked 3. To abhor the wayes and to fly from the service and allurements of these Beasts as from a Serpent because the third Angel that S. John saw sayd with a lond voice so that all men might hear him and plead no excuse If any man worship the Beast and his Image that is serve and follow the two horned Beast which is the false Prophet and the ten horned Beast that is the Image of the false Prophet and assist them in their Impieties or imitate and follow them in their blasphemous doctrines and their wicked wayes or receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand that is take an Ingagement and oblige himself to assure the Beasts that he will uphold assist and desend them and so be true and faithful unto them to further their proceedings or to justifie their doings either plainly or covertly directly or indirectly the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God The heavy punishment of them that assist and adhere to the Beasts which is poured out without mixture that is of any comfortable thing to allay the fierceness or to sweeten the bitterness of it into the Cup of his indignation and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy Angels and of the Lamb which will encrease his Torment to see their happiness and himself in such extream misery and the smoak of that torment ascendeth up for ever and ever to keep God still in minde of the odiousness and stinking savour of their wickedness and they have no rest day nor night that is no manner of ease or abatement of their Torment at any time that worship the Beast and his Image that is serve and adhere to the false Prophet and the ten horned Beast Revel 14.9 10 11. and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name that is engageth himself to adhere and to assist them which pathetical and fearful expressions of the wrath of God and the unspeakable Torments of them that serve and assist these Beasts if men did believe the Scriptures should as I think make all men affraid to receive the mark The 2 Beasts often termed in the singular number the Beast and why or to do any service to any that is like to have any affinity or society with these Beasts which though they be two as the soul and body are yet by reason of their coberency and conjunction like Samsons Foxes or rather Herod Pilate to crucisie Christ to consume all the Corn in Joabs field as being subservient one to another they are most commonly spoken of in the singular number and tearmed the Beast whose undeniable notes and indelible characters and whose words and works testified by the spirit of God in the holy Scripture I have in all particulars parallel'd and expressed by the doctrines and doings of the Assembly of Presbyters at Westminster and their associates the Independant and Lay-preachers and the long Parliament that beheaded the two Witnesses of Jesus Christ and is therefore believed by very many to be the great Antichrist and the man of the sin that is spoken of by the Apostle from whose impiety iniquity and cruelty I earnestly and humbly beseech Almighty God night and day to preserve me and all the true Servants of Jesus Cstrist Amen Obs 2 The pious works of the long Parliament But secondly Against all this that I have written and shewed in the Application of the description and doings of the Antichrist to the Actions and determinations of the Presbyterians and long Parliament and the just paralleling of the one with the other to be as a man and his Image or shadow in a Glass I know it will be objected and demanded how it can be possible that that Parliament which protested they made their War against the Antichrist to root out Popery Idolatry and Superstition from the Church and made so many Orders and Ordinances for Gods Service and Acts for the propagation of the Gospel and to restrain the prophanation of Gods Name and appointed so many Fasts to beg a blessing upon their Endeavours and so many Thanksgivings unto God for their good snccesses which they ascribed only to God and not to themselves and did many other such like acts of piety and devotion should be the great Antichrist and the greatest enemies that ever were to the honour of Christ and of his Church since his ascention into Heaven as you seem to make theworld to believe they are Are these things the works of the Antichrist or can they be compatiblc with the Antichrist Sol. I answer briefly If they had not done these things they could not have been the great Antichrist for Christ himself doth tell us that the Antichrist and his false Prophets would say Matth. 24.23 Lo here is Christ that is with them and there is Christ that is where they meet in the Desart and in the secret Chambers that is in their private Conventicles and not in his consecrated Church where we pray unto him and hereby sayth Christ they should deceive the World and as S. Revel 13.14 John sayth All them that dwell upon the earth i.e. All earthly men yea Mar. 13 21. and if it were possible they should by this their great profession of Piety deceive the very Elect and the true Servants of Christ and you know the old Rule which is infallible decipimur specie recti Fallit enim vitium specie virtut is umbra We are soonest and oftnest deceived with the shew of piety and under the profession of the greatest holiness Si. Walter Rawleigh in the life of Mabomet pag. 7.8 so Mahomet the great Impostor by embracing a solitary life free from the ordinary conversation of men and his speeches mixed with gravity teaching holiness and a good life and beating down Idolotry and injustice gained such an extraordinary opinion of sanctity among the Arabians that they which saw him admired him and they that heard of him held him to be a Saint and thereby he deceived the greatest part of this side of the world and so all Hypocrits do seem to be

speeches to gain love and favour 3. Wit and Eloquence to perswade men to aide and to assist him 4. Large promises and great gifts to win them unto him 5. Signes and wonders all pretended to be done from God to draw men to a good belief of all his actions And if all these cannot serve the turn to make men to become his adherents and assistants then 6. Terrors and torments must do the deed and it is demanded If this sixfold Art was not most exquisite in the Presbyterians and the prevalent faction of the long Parliament But to go on to shew you the sins of the Antichrist Aretius as E. H. quoteth him doth thus paint him out saying Invadet imperium Antichristus ac dominabitur titulo justae possessionis ac verae pietatis sed ubi revelari caeperit publicè his notis or nabitur quas Apostolus hic ei tribuit videlicet homo peccati filius perditionis Upon which words of Aretius E. H. doth thus paraphrase E.H. De Antichristo pagina 78. that the Antichrist is called the man of sin because he is the Protector and Patron of many gross sins he rollerates Idolatry and Rebellion he invadeth Kingdoms and under pretence of setting up Piety and promoting Saintship he takes possession of the Throne as if he were the right heir thereof and none is so great a Saint as he if you will believe his words or the flaettering Titles of his Followers that adorn him with most goodly Eulogies but when he shall begin to appear publikely that is to be revealed as the Apostle saith and to be made known by his marks and sins unto the Saints he shall have none other ornaments to put on that is from those Servants of God to whom only he shall be revealed but what the Scripture gives him that is the man of sin and the Son of perdition which is the Title of Judas that betrayed his Master his King and his Saviour and what we read in the Revelation Rev. 11. the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit which will make war with Gods Witnesses that is the Magistrates and the Governours of Gods Church the faithful Pastors and Preachers of his Word and will overcome them and kill them and of whom the Holy Ghost principally saith Rev. 22.11 He that is unjust let him be unjust still and he that is filthy let him be filthy still and never go about to strive to make him clean because it is but lost labour Aethiopum lavare to wash a Blackmoore to make him white And so it is to seek to amend that man of sin and all his wicked followers that think themselves better and more righteous than all others and therefore as our Saviour saith that the Publicans and harlots shall go into the Kingdom of heaven that is be sooner converted before the High Priests and the Pharisees that think themselves to be the only Saints and the bringers of others into heaven so the Drunkards Swearers Whore-mongers Sabbath-breakers Robbers and the like lewd livers and prophane persons may be sooner converted and brought to repentance than this hypocritical Saint and those Saint-like sinners that think themselves most wise and more holy than all others and from this confidence do act all the Villanies Cruelties and abominable Impieties against the Service of God and do such intollerable injuries to the Servants of Christ as that greater cannot be devised Thus you see how this man of sin is described unto you by these Learned men for a most notorious transcendent sinner but all this while it is not agreed upon of all sides whom the Apostle meaneth in this place by this man of sin that should be such an extraordinary sinner for Dr. Hammond and some others would have us hereby to understand Simon Magus because that Justinus Irenaeus and some other Authors do avouch there was a Statue erected unto him and an Altar with this Inscription Simoni sancto deo to Simon the holy God But the truth is that Justinus being a Grecian and not so well vers'd in the Roman Antiquities mistook the Inscription Varro lib. 4. which was Semoni Sanco Deo to Semo Sancus the God for so Varro that was most skilful in the Roman Histories saith Inter Deos Romanorum non obscurus fuit Deus Semo qui Sancus appellabatur Among the Gods of the Romans the God Semo which was also called Sancus was none of the obscurest or meanest God and accordingly Ovid saith Ovid. fast lib. 6. Quaerebam nonas Maresius p. 79. Caracotta p. 25. Sanco fidione dicarem or referrem An tibi Semo pater tu mihi Sancus ait Or as some Copies have it Tu mihi Sancus eris And therefore others as the Commentator upon this place conceived to be Hugo Grotius perceiving this mistake of the Greek Interpreters doth understand Caius Caligula to be this man of sin Sueton. c. 10. of whom Suetonius saith Nec Servum meliorem ullum nec deteriorem Dominum fuisse There could not be a better Servant or Subject than he was and a worser Lord or Master could not be found So that he was brought forth as it seemeth Ut ostenderet quid summa vitia in summa fortuna possent that in him might be seen what the greatest vice or the most vicious men might do in the highest fortune as Seneca writes of him unto Albinus And it is true that Caligula was insigniter scalestus Hyppolitus in Orat de sins seculi Caracotta pag. 6. deinceps a most notorious wicked Emperour yet not meant here by the Apostle under the Title of the man of sin as Maresius and Caracotta prove at large and do shew that the best of all Interpreters both Old and New do assent that the Apostle meaneth the Antichrist that should come into the World a little before the End of the World and not any of these Antichrists that came so soon as the Apostles time But though we cannot digito demonstr are dicier hic est name the man and say This is he Yet from Daniels explication of the acts of Antiochus and from these Comments and Paraphrase of the aforesaid Divines upon the words of S. Paul you may as Moses did from Mount Nebo view the Land of the Canaanites behold some of the sins of the Antichrist and thereby have a shrewd guess who he is For that collected multitude and pack of wicked men which as I shewed to you must be understood by the Antichrist The doings of the great Antichrist shall as you have heard oppose the Kingly Government protect Rebels Hereticks and Blasphemers tyrannize most lawlesly over Gods Servants usurpe the supream Authority change the Laws the Times and the good Customes of the Saints and People of God subdue three Kings or Kingdoms suppress the Governours of Gods Church and the Preachers of his Word and do all this and the like feats upon pretence of Zeal to

propagate the Gospel for the honour of God and the service of his Son Jesus Christ even as Christ hath formerly told us by his Apostles and Prophets that the Antichrist would do And if you have observed any collected multitude to have done these things you may know what to judge though you may not say what you think And though these demoxstrations are very plain A special thing to be observed by most Commentators yet methinks I do observe somewhat in this description of the Antichrist by S. Paul that I find not observed by any of the Interpreters that I have read save what is briefly touched by E. H. in Pag. 76. De Antichristo For the Apostle in this Character of the Antichrist seems to set such an astarisme or as it were a dash with his pen whereby he should be made most palpable unto our hands and most visible unto our eyes if we would but diligently observe it we should not miss to know who he were For 1. The Apostle speaking of the wickedness of this Antichrist speaketh in the singular number and calleth him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the man of sin and not the man of sins the which expression besides the Hebraisme that signifieth he should be a very sinfull man as the childe of death signifieth one that is destined and condemned to death doth most certainly give us to understand that the Apostle meaneth that the Antichrist should commit some singular peculiar sin that should only and properly be the sin of the Antichrist and of none else And therefore 2. To inforce the particularity of his sin his proper and peculiar sin That as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 noteth and designeth thi● proper and particular Antichrist so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 designeth the proper peculiar and particular sin of the Antichrist Epiphan heresi 9. the Apostle doth not simply say that he should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the man of sin but with the Article of a special designation both of the man and of the sin that you might take notice as well of the one as of the other he saith he should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the man of the sin or the man of that sin by which sin he may undoubtedly and apparently as by a proper badg and character be known to be that great Antichrist that should come into the world when as he only committeth that sin which none but he did ever commit the like for as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie God King and man that is any one of them indefinitely but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do determinately note forth unto us this particular person of God or King or man because as I said before out of Epiphanius the Greek Articles contrahunt significationem ad rem certam leave not the thing they spoke of like an individuum vagum but do tie the signification to a proper and a certain thing so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth any one sin whetsoever but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 noteth and pointeth out this very particular sin and not another And therefore they that would know who is the Antichrist 2 special things to be inquired after must consider and inquire diligently after these 2 special things 1. What sin is that which is the formalis ratio that gives esse 1. What is the peculiar sin of the Antichrist the very being unto the Antichrist and by which sin he may be undoubtedly known to be the Antichrist and without the committing of that sin no sinner be he never so great or tainted with never so many sins can properly be said to be this great Antichrist 2. If we can finde the sin that makes the great Antichrist we are in the next place to enquire and search whom we can finde if we can finde any 2. Who hath committed that sin that have committed that sin and when we have found the sin and who hath committed that sin if we can finde them we have found out the great Antichrist that is spoken of by the Prophets and hath been long expected and much feared by the Church for as John Baptist saith of Christ I knew him not but he that sent me to baptize with water John 1.33 said unto me upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost and is the Messias and the Christ so whosoever co●●itteth this proper and peculiar unusual sin the sin of the Antichrist only the same is he because the Antichrist only is the man of that sin that is which only committeth that sin and none else but the Antichrist committeth it 1. Then we are to ask and seek and to search disigently to know what sin is the proper and peculiar sin of the Antichrist and I shall with the help of Gods holy Spirit do my best to finde it out and I am sure this sin of the Antichrist is like the Antichrist himself a most notorious eminent and transcendent sin unheard of among the Heathens unknown in the world and uncommitted by any other sinner That all sinnes are not equal untill committed by the Antichrist and a sin when it is committed so perspicuous to all mens eyes as is the beacon upon a hill so destructive unto mankinde so odious so abominable and so hatefull in the fight of God as that no other sin whatsoever is altogether so destructive unto mankinde or so hatefull unto God as is this sin of the Antichrist for it is a paradox among the Philosophers and much more among the Divines to say that all fins are equal when as this sin of the Antichrist is more detestable in the sight of God than any other sin whatsoever as I hope to make it very plain unto you before I have done the canvassing of this beast And what sin may that be which is so transcendent so destructive unto man 1. Oservation and so odious unto God as none more May it not be the sin against the Holy Ghost which is a known wilfull malicious What sin is the peculiar sin of the Antichrist total and final Apostacy from the formerly professed truth of the Gospel and faith of Christ and a perpetual persecuting of the same impenitently unto the end with a most obstinate refusal of all grace and a despair of all pardon from God Surely this must needs be a most haynous sin and I believe the most hurtfull and destructive to the sinner that commits it of all sins because as our Saviour saith it shall never be forgiven him either in this world 1. Not the sin against the Holy Ghost 1. Reason or in the world to come yet I am perswaded this is not the sin that is most destructive to mankinde and most hatefull unto God or that is the proper sin of the great Antichrist 1. Because many others besides the

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

Bellarmine well observeth out of Ar●thas this beast is said to do his wonders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the sight of menj that is so appearing to men whose sight and judgement are thereby deceived for that they do nothing of what they pretend and seemed to do but the things that they do are no such things indeed in the sight of God 4. 4. Difference Whereas true miracles do exceed all naturall causes tam occultas quam manifestas as well the hidden secrets of nature as those causes that are knowen to us and are done onely by the hand and Power of God and therefore they are wonders and not onely in the fight of men but also in the sight of Angells and Devills the wonders of the Antichrist and his adherents the Presbyterians and Lay-Preachers have all of them their naturall causes though they be hidden from the sight and understanding of the people as the victories of the beast and his successes are obtained meerely by his subtle tricks his cunning carriage of the war and the desperate valour of his soldiers God giveth them leave so to prevaile over the pufillanimity and security of his children that offendeth him and they are not obtained by the immediate hand of Gods active Power The Presbyterians gaining so many Proselites to what it is ascribed and a miraclous effecting Providence from heaven as the beast pretendeth and so desperately blasphemeth God in making him the author of all his bloody cruelties and the shedding of all the innocent blood that was spilt which can no wayes stand either with the goodness or justice of God and the Presbyterians winning of so many simple men to follow after them and to become their disciples to believe their erronius heresies and damnable positions it is to be ascribed to their sedulity vehemency and good oratory wherewith Aeschines Demosthenes and Cicero perswaded their Auditors to follow them and not to the powerfull working of Gods Holy Spirit who though for their sins he permitteth the simple people to believe strong delusions and to be misled into most damnable conclusions by this beast yet he never worketh and leadeth them into the same And therefore what Vulteius Remensis saith of some Franciscan Monkes that played many jugling tricks in Orleance Anno 1534. the same may be rightly applyed to these Presbyterians Cum clamat larvas furiosa caterua leonum Infestare suam nocte dieque domum Res vera est falsi larvati denique fratres Quos vestis sanctos prodigiosa facit Sunt lemures larvae furiae vulpesque lupique Qui infestant vitiis seque suamque domum Which I may very well thus translate When Presbyters do cry that scisme and heresie Do spoile the Church of Christ The thing is true for so these Saints in shew Are furious Fiends the limbs of Antichrist That with their Lies and Heresies given in a golden Cup Have poysoned all the whole Flock of Christ And so themselves are the Mischief that have spoyled all things both in the Church and Common-wealth But though all the wonders and workings of this false Prophet be but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lying wonders and no truth in them yet hereby he deceiveth the people and especially when as the Holy Ghost sayth He maketh fire to come down from heaven on the earth Touching which fire What is here meant by the fire that the beast maketh to come down from heaven 1 Reg. 18.38 we must not understand it to be such a fire as Elias brought down to consume the two fifty men that the King sent to fetch him nor such a fire as by his prayers came down to consume the Sacrifice upon Mount Carmel because those fires were true fires and truly miraculously brought down by the Prophet when as the sire that this false Prophet pretendeth to bring down is no such thing neither must we take it for such a fire as Philostratus sayth Apollonius Tyanaeus fetched down from Heaven in the fight of many people because this was some elfe-fire that he procured to appear as the flash of a Meteor by the help and procurement of the Devil when as this false Prophet pretendeth not to bring down any such a fire neither yet can I yeild it should be taken as Mr. Mr. Medes Expofition rejected Mede and others of our late Writers do expound it for the lightnings and thunders of the Popes Buls and Excommunication against those that submit not themselves to him and to his Decrees because as I shewed to you before the Pope and his Cardinals cannot be understood by this false Prophet But I take it as a proverbial Hyperbole for the application of that which was sayd before That this Beast doth great wonders so that he maketh fire to come down from Heaven The parallel The fire that Christ came to send on earth the Beast pretendeth to bring from heaven because the Jews do commonly attribute so much to the miraculous fire of Elias that they use for all wonderful works proverbially to say He bringeth down fire from heaven sayth Graserus Or else it must be taken as I rather conceive in that sense as our Saviour takes it when he sayth I came to send fire upon the earth because this Prophet would fain seem to imitate Christ and to do all the things that he should do and can do as Christ did and therefore he pretendeth to bring the same fire that Christ brought down and that is the fire of zeal and a most ardent affection to Christ and to the truth of his Religion and this fire the Presbyterians and the Independant and Lay-preachers pretend to bring down from heaven to the earth above all other men whatsoever but in very deed this fire of their is but an ignis fatuus a deceitful fire and their seeming zeal as well as all the rest of their doings is but as the Apostle saith a lying-wonder for the true fire that these men do bring is of another kinde from another place and to another end and that is the fire of hatred and persecution which they bring from Hell Not the fire of persecution and not from Heaven and they bring it into the Church and upon the true Members of Christ and not on the earth but this their fire is not to be understood in this place Reason 1 1. Because the Holy Ghost sayth The Beast bringeth the fire upon the earth that is the earthly minded men whom only he perswadeth to worship the Beast and to adhere unto him as being deceived by his false wonders and this he doth by the fiery zeal of Gods worship which he pretends to bring unto them and the persecution of the Beast is against the Saints and not against these earthly men that by the sight of this fire are perswaded to serve and assist the beast and to afflict the Saints Reason 2 2. Because it is immediatly sayd that hereby he deceiveth them that dwell