AN EXPOSITION UPON The Thirteenth CHAPTER OF THE REVELATION. By that Reverend and Eminent servant of the Lord, Mr. JOHN COTTON, Teacher to the Church at Boston in NEW-ENGLAND. Taken from his mouth in Shortwriting, and some part of it Corrected by himself soon after the Preaching thereof, and all of it since Viewed over by a friend to Him, and to the Truth: wherein some Mistakes were amended, but nothing of the Sense altered. LONDON, Printed for Tim. Smart, at the Hand and Bible in the Old-Bayly. 1656. TO THE READER. Christian Reader, THE tongue of the just, or righteous (saith Solomon, Prov. 10. 20.) is as choice silver. The words that fall from the tongue of such are very precious and profitable. And truly such are the words that dropped from the tongue and lips of this holy and righteous man Mr. Cotton: As he himself had by his own blessed experience found the tongue of that righteous man (D r Sibbs) as choice silver, yea better than the choicest gold of Ophir, by which the Lord was pleased to convey heavenly and eternal treasure into his soul: Even so also have many precious souls (some now above in glory, others still here below) found the words that have distilled from his tongue to be above much fine gold, and of more weight and value then the greatest treasure of this whole world. Divers that are yet alive, and do remain unto this present, may & can hear witness to the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. But I shall crave leave to name only one now amongst the Saints at rest, who was indeed one of a thousand in his time and place, viz. that great and eminent man, Dr. Preston, whose heart the Lord wrought powerfully upon by the tongue of Mr. Cotton, and that not long after his heart had been seized upon by the tongue of that sweet Singer before mentioned. And because the story is so remarkable, I shall be willing to relate in brief the substance of what I had sometimes in private from the tongue of this our Reverend Author himself. He being according to his course to Preach before the University & Scholars in Cambridg, had a great conflict in himself about the composing of his Sermon, viz. whether after the plain & profitable way, by raising of Doctrines, with propounding the Reasons and Uses of the same. Or after the mode of the University at that time, which was to stuff and fill their Sermons with as much Quotation and citing of Authors as might possibly be. On the one side 'twas suggested to him, that if he should not go the former way, he should not be faithful to the Lord in seeking his glory, but his own, etc. And on the other side, if he should not show his Learning, it would not only be a disparagement unto himself, but also unto the College which had so lately chosen him out of another to be Fellow (for he was chosen Fellow in Emanuel College out of Trinity, where according to his year it fell out so as he could not be capable of a Fellowship) What? is this that Cotton that was so famous, and had such a name, for a great Scholar? what a poor choice hath Emanuel College made? Thus he was tossed too and again, pro and con in his thoughts (as I think he said) about a fortnight, the Lord seeming to try his sincerity at the first; but at length he came to a resolution to deny himself, what ever the world might judge or say of him: His Text (if I mistake not) being in 2 Cor. 2. 16. And who is sufficient for these things? Two or three Doctrines (as it seems) he raised from the words. The Scholars came generally with great expectation to hear a more than ordinary learned Sermon from him that was so famous throughout the University: and thereupon the Masters of Art at the beginning stood up, erectis auribus, amongst whom Mr. Preston was one; but soon perceiving which way he went, which was so extremely contrary to their expectation, they sat them down in great discontent, pulling their hats over their eyes, thereby to express their dislike of the Sermon: but before 'twas ended, something dropped from the tongue of the Preacher, which the Lord made unto Mr. Preston to be as choice silver indeed; whereby he was so affected, that he was made to stand up again, and change his posture, and attend to what was spoken, in another manner than he and the rest had done. These things Mr. Preston afterward, getting to be acquainted with Mr. Cotton (by coming to him under pretence of borrowing a Book of him, which he might have easily had elsewhere, & returning it again) related particularly unto him. Thus our Reverend Author by denying himself for the Lord, had that cast in upon him (viz. the gaining of such an eminent person to Christ) which was a thousand times better than the airy applause of the world, in being accounted a learned man: Yet neither did he lose that way, but had the repute of that too (and not without cause) to his dying day; notwithstanding his continual care to avoid all appearance of affectation in the course of his Ministry, either in regard of showing Learning, or in the manner of expressing what he did deliver: whereby the power and effect of his Preaching did appear to be wholly of God, being desirous to speak to the understanding and capacity even of the meanest, and by manifestation of the Truth, to commend himself to every man's conscience in the sight of God, A taste whereof we have in these Sermons of his here published. It were too great arrogance for me to think to add any authority to these or any other of his precious labours by my commendation of them, I might as well go about to add to the light of the Sun by my Candle: The very name of Cotton is enough to set an high price upon what ever hath that stamp: O●ely (being earnestly desired by the Christian brother, the publisher of this Exposition, who having the pen of a ready Writer, did take those Notes from the mouth of the Preacher, to give my testimony to the world that these were indeed the very Sermons of that holy Servant of the Lord, whose name they bear) I shall willingly affirm and testify (having lived in that American wilderness about 13. or 14. years in the Town next adjoining to Boston, and so had thereby the happy privilege of enjoying the benefit of the precious labours of Mr. Cottons, in his Lecture upon every fifth day in the week) I say I do here declare and testify unto the world that these Sermons upon the 13 th'. Chapter of the Revelation, for the substance of them (giving allowance for such defects of the Amanvensis, which cannot but be expected ordinarily, and yet I confess are but very few in this Treatise) were published by that faithful servant of the Lord, Mr. John Cotton, about the 11. and 12. months (if I mistake not) of the year, 1639. and the first and second of the year 1640. upon his weekly Lecture at Boston in New-England, where he went over the other Chapters of the Revelation, as he did this thirteenth Chapter: and indeed they that were acquainted with his Preaching, may easily discern his very spirit in them all along. Now that the holy spirit of the Lord may breathe in these holy Labours of his precious Servant, so as the Reader may experience the truth of that divine sentence mentioned in the beginning, The tongue of the righteous is as choice silver, is the unfeigned desire of The servant for Jesus sake, Thomas Allen. Norwich, the 1. day of the 1. month, 1654-55. AN EXPOSITION Upon the thirteenth Chapter of the REVELATION. Revel. 13. 1, 2. And I stood upon the sand of the Sea, and saw a Beast rise up out of the Sea, having seven heads, and ten horns, and upon his horns ten Crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the Beast which I saw was like unto a Leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a Bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a Lion: and the Dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. YOU have heard from the last Chapter, that when the Dragon (that is the Devil, as he ruled the Roman Pagan Empire) was cast down out of Heaven, (that is, dethroned from his heavenly and Divine worship) he endeavoured by all means to oppress the Church (that is, the woman) that brought forth a Christian Emperor, her and her seed. 1. By persecution. 2. By an inundation of damnable Heresies, and barbarous Nations. 3. By open War; which open war is expressed in the last verse of the former Chapter, and here more fully described in this Chapter, a whereof hath been now read. The war which is made against the Church, is here described to be managed by two beasts which the Devil raised up; One he calls a Beast rising up out of the Sea, described from the first verse to the end of the tenth. Another Beast he beheld coming up out of the Earth, from the 11 th'. verse to the end of the Chapter. Now the former of these Beasts is described by three arguments. 1. By his Original or Fountain from whence he springs; he riseth up out of the Sea, which is amplified by the place of John's beholding him; I stood upon the sand of the Sea. 2. He is described by his shape, here is his figure and resemblance: For his head, he had seven heads, and they amplified by honourable Ornaments (or rather dishonourable indeed, but honourable in the beasts view) namely upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 2. For his horns, he had ten horns, and they are set forth by their Crowns which he had on his horns; He had so many horns, so many Crowns, upon his ten horns, ten Crowns. And as his shape is set forth by his head and horns, so also by his resemblance, or likeness; the whole shape or bulk of the Beast is like a Leopard: The Leopard is of the feminine gender, and signifies the female of the Panthers; the she Panther, spotted and ravenous, famous for her speedy race, and yet of a good smell, by which she allures other beasts to her, and as she hath occasion, doth devour them. And as his resemblance for his whole shape is like a Leopard, so for his feet he is like a Bear: And for his mouth, he hath the mouth of a Lion: This is the second argument by which he is described. 3. The third argument whereby he is described is his state, and that amplified by three arguments. 1. By the efficient cause. 2. By the variable change of it: And 3ly. by a wise conclusion and observation. For the efficient cause of it, it is said to be the Dragon; he gave him his power and authority. For the variable change of it, it was, 1. Great, for it is here called Power, and Seat, and great Authority. 2. One of his heads was wounded; I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death. And thirdly, this wound was healed: this is the variable change of it. 1. Great authority, honourable seat. 2. Wounded to death. And thirdly, healed of that deadly wound. And this healing is amplified by five Effects, or Consequents. The first was the world's wondering: All the world wondered after the Beast: The admiration was a● this great change (so happily achieved as they thought) that he should recover that desperate danger. The second effect it wrought was, worship both towards himself: And secondly, to the Dragon that gave him power. The third effect of this healing was, liberty to blaspheme: There was a mouth given him to speak great things & blasphemies. A fourth effect was, Authority and Power (to do what?) First, To continue forty two months, vers. 5. Secondly, Power to make war with the Saints, and to overcome them, that was the fourth effect that followed his healing. The fifth effect was amplitude, or largeness of his Dominion: Power was given him over all Kindred's, Tongues, and Nations, vers. 7. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, vers. 8. Which worshippers are described by their estrangement from the number of Gods elect, whose names are not written in the book of the life of the Lamb, and the Lamb set forth by the eternal efficacy of his death, Slain from the foundation of the world. This is the second part of the description of the Beast. The third part is a conclusion, which contains a word of Caution, and Consolation, or a word of Attention and Consolation in the ninth and tenth verses. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear; as if it were a matter worthy of observation and diligent attention, and of exact understanding and of consolation, in the tenth verse. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity; he that killeth with the sword, must he killed with the sword, etc. This is the former Beast and his description. The latter Beast is in the eleventh verse to the end: I beheld another Beast coming up out of the earth, etc. He is described by his variety from the former beast: For his Original, he comes not as the other Beast out of the Sea, but from the Earth: And for his resemblance, he hath two horns like a Lamb, and he spoke like a Dragon. 2. He is described by his power, as in the twelfth verse, but I will not now speak further of him. Now for the meaning of the words; It is that which the holy Ghost calls us diligently to attend unto; He that hath cares to hear, let him hear: If any man have an ear to understand, any apprehension of spiritual mysteries, any capacity of matters of Religion, let him hear what manner of beast the Devil stirred up, and set against the Church, to make war against the Saint●, as if it were a matter that few would understand but such as were of spiritual understanding, and who will listen duly to a diligent observation of this description, the matter whereof is weighty, and challengeth all our intentions; and the more, because it is very rare to meet with that which will satisfy a diligent Reader in the Exposition hereof; But yet so much light God casts almost into the head of every man that takes this Book in hand, especially in his name and fear (according to his promise, Cap. 1. vers. 3) that he adds some light more than hath been before brought to his hand. Here you see are two Beasts, what is the former? Many take it to be the Roman Empire, some take it to be the Roman Pagan, some the Roman Christian Empire, but I fear neither of them are right: It is not the Roman Papan Empire, that is, take the Empire as it was before the conversion of Rome from Pagan to Christian, in the days of Tiberius, and other persecuting Emperors, till Constantine: This Beast was not the Roman Pagan Empire, I will give you a double reason from the Text, the first is this. 1. The Pagan Empire was described as this Beast is, in Rev. 12. 3. Behold a great red Dragon, having seven heads and ten horns; but with this difference, The seven heads had seven Crowns upon their heads: Now this Beast hath also seven heads, which make it like the other, but these Crowns are not upon the heads, but upon the horns, which maketh a great difference, an evident sign it is not the Roman Pagan Empire. 2. Again, it is said of this Beast, that he continues 42. months, and that is as long as the Church was in the wilderness; for the Church continues in the wilderness (as in chap. 12. 6.) a thousand two hundred and threescore days, which is just 42. months: And so Chap. 11. 2. It is said, The holy City they shall tread under foot forty two months, all the time that the two witnesses prophesied in sackcloth, which was a thousand, two hundred and threescore days. Now it is certain the Roman Pagan Empire did not continue as long as the Church was in the wilderness; for the Church went not into the wilderness till the Pagan Empire ceased to be Pagan, and was translated to Christian. Now the Roman Pagan Empire was removed as by a great Earthquake in Constantine's time, and changed from Pagan to Christian; it cannot therefore be the Roman Pagan Empire, though many judicious Divines have gone that way. What then, may it be the Christian Empire? Many have run that way, but neither is it so: 1. For it is said, this Dragon gave to him his power, his seat, and great authority; now the seat of the Roman pagan Empire indeed was Rome, but the Dragon did not give the Christian Emperors Rome for their Seat, they would never sit there; but the●e sat at Constantinople, and prepared it to sit there, and for that end Constantine named it after himself, Constantinople; and if they had occasion to come into the Western parts of Italy, they would sit at Ravenna, but at Rome they would not come, unless it were Guestwise. 2. Though it be true, as they say, the Roman Christian Emperor had a deadly wound given him by barbarous Nations, yet when it was healed, the whole world did not admire him: When Charles the great did heal the wound, yet all the world did not wonder after him; It is true, France, and Germany, and Italy did admire him, but all the Eastern parts did not submit to him, no nor England, nor Scotland, nor Sweden, nor many other parts, they did not acknowledge the Western Emperor, gave him neither civil nor religious worship. 3. Neither doth this suffer it to be the Roman Christian Empire, that it should be a note of perdition and reprobation to honour the Roman Christian Emperors; for they that have lived under the Roman Christian Emperor, have not hazarded their salvation by that subjection: but here it is said in the eighth verse, that they that honour this beast are such, whose names are not written in the book of the life of the Lamb: So that for these reasons I dare not so conceive this Beast to he either Roman Pagan, or Roman Christian Empire. What then, is it Antichrist? The third sort of Interpreters run that way, and I would not exclude that wholly, but yet neither dare I consent to rest in it; for when we open the Oracles of God, we must not always give the Comments and Judgements of men for Scripture truths (though the men be highly to be reverenced:) But in this place their Interpretation doth not satisfy me, I will give my reason; Antichrist doth evidently appear to be the other Beast that comes out of the Earth, which is said to have two horns like a Lamb, etc. You may say, but Antichrist may be more ways considered then one, as he is invested with temporal sovereignty and dominion, and so he may be the former beast: and as he is invested with spiritual supremacy, and so he may be the latter Beast; and indeed so, many Interpreters take it: but consider these descriptions. 1. They differ in number; John saith, I saw a beast rise out of the Sea; and than it is said in vers. 11. I beheld another beast; it is not therefore the same. 2. They differ, as in number, so in their original; the first rose out of the sea, the second out of the earth. 3. They differ in their shape; The first beast had ten horns, the second had but two horns like a Lamb. 4. They differ (and are apparently distinguished in the exercise of their power, for he exerciseth all the power of the first Beast in his presence: And it is said also in the 12th. verse. He causeth the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast: and he causeth them to make an image of the first beast, and he had power to gve life to the image of the beast, etc. So that the description seems to be different; The second beast gives all his power to the first, and yet honours himself too. But that which most of all prevails with me, and which wholly captivates my Judgement to lean another way, is this, That whereas they say the first beast was the Pope, as Dominus in Temporalibus, as Lord in temporals; and the second beast is the Pope, as he is Dominus in Spiritualibus. It is evident that the Pope did not invest himself with temporal authority at the first: But at first claimed spiritual and universal Episcopacy, oversight over all the Churches; he was first supreme head of the Church in his spiritual Jurisdiction, and did not claim dominion in temporals till after his wound was healed, and then he took power to depose the Emperor of the East, and translated his Empire from Greece to France, this was his Dominion in earthly Monarchies which he took in the latter place: And therefore I would rather say, that the second beast is the Pope in both respects, as Lord and Sovereign, high Priest in spirituals, and the high Priest also over the Kings of the world in temporals: He had two horns like a Lamb, as the successor of Peter, and as if he had nothing but from Christ, but he spoke like a Dragon; When he had once power by his Lamblike horns, he then spoke like a Dragon: Therefore to speak that which I conceive to be the truth, I do look at this first beast as indeed of like condition with the Pope, and very nearly joined to him. The Pope is one of the heads and rulers of this Beast, but yet distinguished from the beast itself, and is not the same with the beast. This therefore (all things weighed according to the Text) I conceive to be the first beast, the Roman Catholic visible Church. The seven heads and ten horns are a clear description of the Roman State: 〈◊〉. Now this State here is neither the Pagan Roman Empire, nor the Christian Roman Empire, as hath been showed. And therefore it must needs be a third Roman State distinct from the former, and succeeding in their place; and what is that but the Roman Catholic visible Church? Of this Church the Pope is the head both as universal Bishop over all Churches, and chiefly Lord in temporals, that had both Swords, and obtained both Authorities, to be highest supreme head in Spirituals, as also supreme head in temporals, he was Sovereign Governor in all: And the Roman-catholic visible Church, it comes just in the room of the Roman Empire: how was it described? The beast that had seven heads, and ten horns, this comes in his room; the one governs all the world in his way, and the other all the Churches another way: This is the Beast that the Dragon stirs up to make War with the Saints. Now to appply this description to this Church, for the better understanding of the Text. Q●: I saw a beast rise out of the Sea:] You may ask what is the Sea from whence this beast ariseth? Answ. The Sea is the collection of many waters; The gathering together of the waters called the Seas, Gen. 1. 9, 10. And what are the waters? The waters which thou saw'st are People, and Nations, and Languages, and Tongues, Rev. 17. 15. So then, what is the beast here that ariseth out of the Sea? It is some sovereign State that ariseth out of the connexion of many Nations into one body, as you know the Roman Catholic Church is not confined within the lifts of the City of Rome, (though there the head is seated) but the whole Roman Sea; it is well called a Sea in that respect, it is that which comprehends all Nations, whether subject to the Eastern or Western Emperor; yea and other Nations that did not submit themselves to the one or other, as if they did recollect themselves as into one Sea, all banks are broken down in the Sea, yet there is no distinction, but all is one Sea, one vast body: And such is the Roman Catholic visible Church, all partitions are here broken down, all Churches make but one visible Catholic Church. And again, it is well said to arise out of the Sea, according to the like description which Daniel makes of the four Monarches, in Dan. 7. He saw the four winds of heaven strive upon the great Sea, and four Beasts came up from the sea; divers one from another: From the multiplied agitations of the Sea it came to pass four great Monarches did arise: Just thus, from the tumult of particular Churches did this Beast arise; for when they could not agree in the Churches, but some were of one mind, some of another, it was the wisdom, as they thought, of Christian Princes and Bishops (but it was but humane wisdom, and was indeed from the Dragon, and not from Christ) they thought it would be best to have but one church, and the Bishop of Rome to be the head, though at first they divided them to four, but in the end they would have the Bishop of Rome over all, that so they might have unity; for they say unity springs from one head; and unless you have one head, you cannot have unity: Therefore, from the particular Church of a Congregation, they came to Diocesan, from Diocesan, to Metropolitan; from Metropolitan to Patriarchal, from Patriarchal to Cecumenical: And so it comes to pass, all Churches must be gathered into one Sea, that is, one Catholic Church: For look what reason they had to set Bishops over particular Churches: So having many Bishops, by the same reason they must have some Metropolitan, and of many Metrapolitans, four or five Patriarches, and of them one Chief, that is the Pope, the Father of Fathers, he must be the grand Governor of all: Therefore doth he rise out of the Sea, out of the Sea of Tumult, and Sea of Contention: And if you take Sea for corruption in Doctrine, and worship, and Government (as some good Interpreters do) it was from thence also that this beast did arise; This beast did arise out of them all; for had either pure Doctrine, or worship, or Discipline been well looked unto, it had not been possible that such a beast as the Catholic visible Roman Church should have been raised up. It is further described to have seven heads, and ten horns: The holy Ghost describes them so fully, that we need no further interpretation of them: He tells us in the 17. Chapter of this book, the ninth and tenth verses; The seven heads are seven Mountains on which the Woman sitteth, which are the mountains of the City of Rome, it is built upon seven hills, and the seven heads are also seven Kings, that is, seven Kingly governments, sovereign governments: The first were Kings, than Consuls, than Decemvins, than Dictator's, than Tribunes, and then the Caesars: Five were fallen, that is, were passed in John's time, the sixth were then extant, and they were the Caesars; the Pope he makes the seventh: Now the Pope than is the seventh of these Heads, but the seventh head and the beast are two distinct things, though he be one that rules the beast, and hath a great influence in the guiding of it: He was to receive a deadly wound, and after became an eighth head, whereas he was but one of the seven: So that he is one of the Heads, but there is difference between the head and the beast, and the beast itself: And it is said, He exerciseth all the power of the first Beast; that in conclusion, what the Pope decrees, that stands: So that it is not a general Council that determines any thing authentically without him, but he doth all that the first beast doth; He would have the Catholic Church honoured, but it is that himself may be honoured, as the Lord of the Church: So therefore for the heads, these are the seven Heads. And for the Horns, he tells you they are so many Kings, which were not then risen to Sovereign Power, but John saw it in a Mystery afore hand; But when this Beast ariseth, this Pontifex maximus, than they receive a Kingdom at the same time, Chap. 17. 12. And the several Kingdoms that then were broken off from the Roman Empire (whereof England was one) they were so many several Kings that all gave their dominion to the Beast with one consent, and so were his protectors, ver. 17. They were his Beauty and his Strength, as the Horns are to the Beast: So it is true, here is a great Beast indeed, of a vast comprehension, here is an universal visible Church, and he hath seven Heads; that is, Seven Hills, there he sits, and seven Governments; There are seven Heads, both of the one and other, both Hills and Governments, whereof five were fallen, and the sixth was when John wrote: The seventh was to rise in their rooms, and that is, He that hath two Horns like a Lamb, and spoke like a Dragon, and doth exercise all the Power of the first Beast: what power is in the Church, the Pope hath the ordering thereof; And it is said here, that these Horns had ten Crowns, but so had not the Horns of Pagan Rome. The heads of Pagan Rome had sovereign Authority, and lived like Princes, but so had not the Pope, they did not wear the Crowns though they affect temporal dominion, but leave the Crowns to the horns, leave them to Crowned Kings that give their power to him. Now upon these Heads are names of Blasphemy.] The old Highpriest of the Jewish Synagogue he had a plate of pure Gold, and there was graven upon it, holiness to the Lord, Exod. 28. 36, 37. This Beast hath not holiness to the Lord, but names of Blasphemy, the Pontifex maximus; His head is full of names of Blasphemy; But the Pope exceeds all in this case, for who ever took upon him as he to pardon Sin? A name of Blasphemy; To be Judge of Scriptures, a name of blasphemy: He hath many other names of Blasphemy; he will dispense with Oaths of allegiance, and all civil subjection; he will dispense with marriages most incestuous, and doth exalt himself above all that is called God, especially the Gods of the Earth. His heads are full of names of Blasphemy (as we shall come to speak God willing, in the 5 and 6 verses.) Now it is said of this Beast, he is like a she Leopard.] It is in the 17 Chap. compared to a woman, to show, that the Roman catholic visible Church is as fitly resembled by a woman as a she Panther, & such is this Beast: Can a Leopard change his spots, Jer. 13. 23. Is it not a State full of spots, and the spots are not the spots of God's people, but spots of heresy, and spots of Idolatry, & spots of Tyranny, and great variety of all spots of Blasphemy: To tell the spots of that Sea, were indeed to enter into a Sea of wickedness, which that Church abounds withal. Can a Leopard change his spots; This church they make account cannot err, & so how should they change? for they that cannot err, to what purpose should they change? yet of a very sweet & fragrant smell, as they they perfume their Temples with incense, and love to please ambitious minds, and to fill covetous hearts; they are sweet also, and fair to voluptous spirits, with their Brothel houses, etc. But for the Leopard, Bear, and Lion, I suppose there is special reference to them all, In Dan. 7. 4, 5, 6. where he resembles the Monarch of Babel to a Lion, and the Monarch of Persia to a Bear, and the Monarch of Greece to a Leopard: There the Leopard is the last of the three, here it is the first, to show a direct contrary course that this Beast takes in his rise to the old Monarchies. Of the great Monarchies, the first was a Lion, full of magnanimity, the next was a Bear, full of cruelty, a Bear that devours mucb flesh, and the Leopard, the spotted Beast comes after, cruel as the former: Now here the Leopard is first, the whole shape is sweet and savoury; other beasts would follow him by the smell; and so this church seems in the will bulk sweet and savoury to inveigle all unstable Souls; But where he gets hold, he lays his paw like a Bear, presseth hard, and holds fast, and will not let go; Just like the Persian State, they hold fast; Never did any of the States last so long as the Papal State; The Assyrian lasted, long but yet did not continue above a thousand years; but this is to continue 1260. days, that is, so many years, in a great deal of Power and Authority; And therefore as by subtlety he draws others to him, so them he holds fast, that it is marvellous hard to root out where he hath got hold; you may cut off his head, as it is in England; but it is a wonder to see what pains there is to have the Government of Christ brought in, and of the Beast cast out: they will make so many Statutes in Parliament, that you can have no wills confirmed, nor Marriages made, but by them, nor no parliaments Acts pass but through their hands; you have so many matters in the State depending on them, that one would think it impossible ever to root them out: you may take off the Beast his head; you may thrust the Leopard out at windows, but he will take hold with his feet, that you shall have much ado to root him out: The great profits, and great preferments they sink deep in the hearts of carnal men. And he hath a mouth like a Lyon.] How did the Lion of Babel speak presumptuously; what God is able to deliver you out of the fiery furnace? etc. and he commands all that will not worship his Image should be cast into the fiery furnace: Just such is the mouth of this Beast; who so will not worship the Image of this Beast shall be killed, in the 15 v. of this chapter. So you see this is the Roman Catholic visible church. And the Dragon gave this church power.] All that the Roman Emperor could do before, that doth the Catholic church; that which the old Roman Emperor did by force of arms, that doth the Roman Church by the power of Religion and conscience: The Dragon gave him his power, and Seat, and great Authority. And Satan will work by the power of conscience, making them believe that all must be subject to them: He gave them his Seat: what was the Seat of the old Roman Emperor? It was Rome, Satan gave that to the Beast; There is his Seat, and great Authority, insomuch that all the world were deeply taken with the reverence they owe as to the Imperial mother City; So to this sovereign mother Church, & their holy Father the Pope that was the head of that Church: This is the plain description of this first Beast. I cannot proceed now to open the wounding of one of the heads of this Beast, nor of the healing of that wound, nor of his war against the Saints: I am the longer in this, because the more clearly these things are opened, the more fully will the counsel of the holy Ghost appear in the sequel. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear: do not think that these things concern Students only, and scholars; But what is this to common christians? He that hath an ear, let him hear what the holy Ghost saith: It is the same charge which he gave concerning the Epistles which were common to all churches; If any man have an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches: Those general doctrines necessary for all Christians to understand, the same charge is laid upon all to hear what is spoken concerning this beast; If thou understandest Religion, if thou wouldst be, or art a member of a Church of Christ know this point; If any man have an ear let him hear this. But you will say to me▪ shall we make it an Article of our Creed to believe the Catholic Church; and shall we now make it an Article of Faith to believe it to be a Monster? I believe the holy Catholic Church, and shall we make it a Beast? To this I answer; The holy Catholic Church we make it an Article of our Creed, that is, a company of the Godly called out of the world; we look at them all as those for whom Christ shed his blood: But we must not look at this as a visible Catholic Church, much less the Roman Church as the Catholic Church: we believe the Catholic Church is invisible; we believe no visible Church, but Congregations; and therefore if you come to hear of a Roman Catholic visible Church, whereof the Pope is the head, and who takes upon him all this Sovereignty and power here described, we look at such a body as a great B●ast: Communion of Saints we acknowledge, and that all the Churches of Christ have one and the same power amongst them: The Church of this Congregation hath power within itself equal to what others have, and none have power one over another: None of us are like Leopards to other beasts, perfumed to draw other beasts after us, and then like Bears to clasp them in to be subject to this Church, & then speak like Lions, that all shall be subject to our commands: This is a Beast, and this is no Catholic Church; This is a Catholic Church of the Devil, but not of Christ. Thus have you the two first verses opened unto you. Come we now to gather one brief note from the words: The visible Catholic Roman Church is in the esteem of the holy Ghost a monstrous Beast, Doct. that is the note. That it is the beast here described, you have heard it opened: Some Roman State it must be, and you have heard it can neither be Rome-Pagan, nor Rome-Christian: It must therefore be the Roman Church; for it is described by seven heads, and ten horns, which are the Arms of Rome, as they are described in the Revelations. That it is in the eyes of the holy Ghost a monstrous beast is here evident; for imagine a beast set before you with seven heads, and ten horns, would it not seem a monster, and unnatural? that it should look like a Leopard, all sported, and feet like a Bear? and look at his mouth, and that's like a Lion, is not this a monster? to say nothing of his blasphemies, which makes him a wicked beast: but look at his visage which is here resembled, and what is here deciphered but a monster? It holds forth his description in other places, in Chap. 16. 13. There came forth three unclean spirits out of the mouth of the Dragon (that is the Devil) and out of the mouth of the Beast, & out of the mouth of the false Prophet. And you shall also read, that the beast was taken, and with him the false Prophet; these were two still, they could not be made one, Rev. 19 20. And they were both cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone, both the the first beast and the latter beast, the beast and the false Prophet: He like a Lamb comes in sheep's clothing, but inwardly is a ravening wolf. Now why is it such a monstrous beast? If God had made such a kind of creature; a Leopard is no monster, nor a Bear, nor a Lion: But if you make a Beast of all these, that will be a monster, that is contrary to the course of nature, clear besides the ordinary course of natural generation, that makes a thing monstrous, this then is the reason of the point. A beast engendered against the course of nature, Reason. that is a monster, especially if there be so many uncouth shapes of which it is composed: And it is not so with this universal Catholic visible Church? Do but consider what kind of Church the Lord instituted, the Church of a particular congregation: If thy brother trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him, etc. If he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more, etc. If he shall neglect to hear them, tell it to the Church, Mat. 18. 15, 16, 17, 18. What, the Catholic visible Church, when will that meet think you? And is it ever to be expected that when they do meet, that every brother of this country and other countries must go to Rome, and tell the Trespasses of his brother against him, and send for those that have offended him, and thus and thus plead with them? And when do you think that a Catholic Church will heal all offences between brethren? Will not this be a monstrous beast when the Catholic Church must hear and remove offences? That Church which Christ hath ordained will hear the offences of brethren, and a brother hath liberty to tell his offence to the Church, and at length the matter will be brought to an issue, when they they have two witnesses, than the Church sees what is to be done: Now to have a Catholic visible Church, what a monstrous disturbance will that be to the free dispensation of the government of Christ? and yet the rulers thereof will be the only visible Church-governnours of the world. Again, you read in 1 Cor. 14. 23. When the whole Church (saith the Apostle) shall come together into one place, etc. The Church therefore which the Apostles instituted may be gathered into one place, that all may hear, and all may be edified: Why, is it possible that all Churches should be gathered into one place? or should all hear if they were gathered? or will they be ever so gathered? what a wondrous beast will this be? Again, whereas Christ hath said, his Kingdom is not of this world, and hath appointed to his Disciples, that they should not be Lords over God's heritage, 1 Pet. 5. 3. and in Mat. 20. from 23. to 29. It shall not be so among you: But whosoever will be great among you, let him be your Minister: and let every soul be subject to the authority of the higher powers. Well now, if there must be a Catholic Church, and an Officer that shall rule all Nations, and that in so many Nations with Spiritual and Temporal Dominion, carry all before him, will it not be a Monster? What a disproportion is this to the Churches of Christ, and to the Officers thereof? Not to speak of their other monstrous usurpations of the head of this Church, but take the body as it is, how they speak like a Lion, and hold fast when they get like a Bear, and are spotted like a Leopard, that they are nothing but hotchpotch, and mingle-mangle: If any man have understanding, let him understand what kind of Church this is that is thus deciphered, and described, this visible Catholic Church. For the Use. It may first teach us the great and just reason which all Protestant Churches have to withdraw themselves from the fellowship of the Church of Rome, Use 1. from the Catholic visible Roman Church, though they look at those that submit not to them as Schismatics and Heretics; I pray you consider would they have us submit to this great beast? would they have the Lambs of Christ (for such are the Churches of Christ) to submit to a Lion, Bear, or Leopard? Hath any Lamb in the world (much less a Lamb of Christ) so many Heads and Horns, and such spots, and such fee●, and such a mouth? Therefore I pray you consider, it is not time for the Lambs of Christ, and for all the Churches of Christ to fly off from this Monster, and to abandon them utterly, as having no part nor portion with such a beast as this? Secondly, Use 2. let this be another Use; it may teach us how Christian Protestant Churches wrong themselves that leave any footsteps of this government in their Churches: For that is part of the image of the beast; for the second beast, when he was advanced, he would have an image of the first beast, they must have Provincial and Diocesan Churches, and National Churches, and carry I know not how many hundred congregations into one national Church, and there must be some Diocesan and Metrapolitan church, and the rest must be inferior to that: Though this be not so great a monster as the great Beast, yet it is an image of this beast; can any brother tell his offence to such a church? And will you have him stay till the whole National church meets? Or will you have him stay till the Diocesan church meets, and carry his offences to the Visitation? Do you think they will right his cause then? Are a few such kind of men, the Chancellor, and Register, and Surrogate, and Apparitor, do you think the church that our Saviour bids us tell? Are these they that are gathered together, that all may hear, and all may be edified? Do these serve the Lord Jesus, and not their own bellies? I say therefore, you may see what great reason men have to withdraw from subjection in spiritual matters to the Image of this great beast that in some measure represent the same state as they. Thirdly, Use 3. let it be a seasonable advertisement to all (if I were to speak to Princes) to all Princes, but however to all Magistrates, how to make use of their Authority to be as Protectors of the Church, & in respect of their spiritual estate, as children of the church, but not to give the horns to the church (though horns be for beauty and strength:) you see it makes the Church a monster, and it is to make a beast of the Church: And so if you should make Church-Officers Justices of Peace, or Councillors, or prostitute your own Government to them, that if the Church condemn any, than you must do so too (as heretofore if a man were condemned by the Church, and by them delivered to the secular power, then burn him presently;) this puts your Horns upon the Church's head, unto monstrous deformity: And therefore it is necessary for Magistrates to keep their power in their own hands, and not to take things Ipso facto, from the Church, but to consider what is done, and then they are to confirm what the Church doth according to God; Here are ten horns, and these are ten Kings by the holy Ghosts interpretation, and they add to the monstrousness of this Beast, by giving their power thereto. Why, doth this mishap a Christian Church, for Magistrates to submit their crowns to the Church? No, God forbid, it is an honour and happiness to them, when Kings are nursing Fathers to the church, and bow down their faces to the earth, Isa. 49. 23. But why then doth he put it as a part of the misshapen state of the Church, that it had ten horns, to wit, because these Kings did give their strength and power to the Beast, that the Beast did act these Horns according to the power of his lust, as Chap. 17. v. 17. as it was truly accomplished in all the Kings of Europe, that did submit all their Sceptres, and Thrones, and Crowns, and Dignities to the Bishop of Rome; That if he command this or that, there must be room for him, what ever becomes of Princes, Laws, and Endeavours, and all acts and enterprises of War, or Peace: He had their horns on his head, he might push with them as he would: This made the Church a monster, when sovereign power was obnoxious to the Bishop of Rome, when without Excommunication, whether a cause were of God or no, Magistrates proceeded, if the Church had censured: As a Beast that hath horns on his head, as he turns, so must the power of his horns be set and put forth: If therefore the Catholic Church, or any Officer of it shall condemn a man as an Heretic, and then deliver him to the secular power, they never dispute the cause, but take it for granted; If their holy mother Church condemn him, the Secular Power must push and crush him to the very Earth, and trample him under foot, and rend his bowels from his body, if he once be delivered to them. Now this makes the Church a beast, that hath this power over the Princes of the Earth, that look what is their lust, or their ignorance, or their error, and the contrary adjudged by them to be Heresy, that the Secular power must maintain the one, and condemn the other. It is a comfortable thing for Churches to be strengthened and protected by civil Magistrates: But if they captivate their power to the Church, that what Church Rulers call for not according to the Word, but their Lusts, that the civil Magistrate must confirm, that makes the Church a Beast: And therefore be wise now O ye Kings, be instructed O ye Judges of the earth, serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling, etc. Psal. 2. 11, 12. Kiss the Lord Jesus, submit to him, and in him to the church; Lick the dust off the feet of the church, dispensing his counsel and will: But when by implicit obedience the Commonwealth must he prostitute to the Beast, it makes the Beast more monstrous than it is: The authority of Princes in that kind makes such churches to be very beastly and ugly monsters. Fourthly, Use 4. let it be of this use to raise up our hearts in holy thankfulness to God, that hath delivered us from this Monster, both our Fathers from this great beast, and ourselves from the remnants of the Image of this beast, from all Dioce●san and National Churches, and from Metropollitan & Catholic visible Churches that are Images of this great beast. You know how much the civil Laws of Christian Kingdoms do strengthen Ecclesiastical power, that if once a Church excommunicate a man, you know the power of the Law, if once this or that court excommunicate a man, though it be but for not paying fees, when it may be he hath no money, or thinks it not lawful to maintain them by his purse: yea when he is excommunicate, it may be for going to hear a Sermon in another place, when he hath nothing but reading at home; or if a man fast with his neighbours in his house, than what power there is out of such a Court, civil Courts of Justice confirm, there comes a Significavit, that if he shall live so excommunicate: and if he continue and stay out a certain time, than the Commonwealth apprehends him, and never considers whether the cause be just or unjust: I confess there is a liberty to traverse such a cause; but if a man want money, or want friends, he may be taken and carried to Prison, and there he may lie and rot for any of these misshapen Clergy men: But I say it is a great liberty to be freed from this great beast, that he hath no finger amongst us, we are out of his paw, and out of his smell: It was a matter in question here not long ago, whether the Court should not take a course to punish such persons as stood excommunicate out of the Church, if they should stand long excommunicate, but it was a good providence of God that such a thing was prevented: Let not any Court, Ipso facto, take things from the Church; If such a Law were made (the Fathers live not for ever;) and if such a Law were once established, that a Church-member standing so long excommunicated, the Commonwealth than should proceed against him; were this established, it would make a Beast of the Church; we are subject to err, and our posterity that comes after us may err (it may be feared) worse; It is therefore a mercy to be freed from the beast, from the paw of the Bear, and the mouth of the Lion: It is such a mercy that they that got the victory over these, they stood praising God, as Chap. 15. 1, 2. The Lamb's company that stood on mount Si●on they stand and praise, and wonder at the gracious hand of God in this case; And therefore we should in the fear of God be unfeignedly thankful to God for our present liberties, and withal that we may be so, Let him that hath an ear to hear, hear; If you be of Spiritual discerning, and know what these mercies mean, you will be really thankful; Therefore show this thankfulness, not only in searching the true meaning of the Text, and the true nature of this beast described in it, but also in standing fast in these great liberties wherewith Christ hath made us free, Gal. 5. 1. You shall have many poor creatures that came hither to this Country, and will be ready to go back again, they look at things as mean and poor here; believe it, such a man hath not an ear, nor an eye open, he knows not whether he goes: Hagar, Sarahs' maid, whether goest thou? saith the Lord to her: And so may I say to such, whether will you go? will you be gone back again to Egypt (God forbid I should count all our Native Country as Egypt) but if you go thither, you will have much ado to escape the paw of of the Bear: If you be once incorporated into any of their Parishes, you will find such beastly work in Church Government (I may speak it without wrong to any, but that I may bear witness against what is corrupt) that you will then find the blessing of those that enjoy liberty and piety together, you must worship the beast or the Image of the beast; A Diocesan, or national Church, it is but an Image of the great beast, it is a plain pattern of the same; and you will find the body of the Church rend from you, or you will be rend from the body, if you shall walk roundly and sincerely in the ways of God; you will find sad work to have your own officers or others to rise up against you: but we have here cause to praise God for our present liberties, and therefore you are to be wary what you do. If this be cause of thankfulness, turn not again to that from which the Lord by his stretched out arm hath delivered you: And this let me say further, as it may provoke us to thankfulness, so to forego all the Profits of this life, rather than to be drawn to subjection to such a Spiritual Government; you see what the holy Ghost counts it, seven heads, ten horns, heads full of names of blasphemy, horns crowned, and here is a beast like a Leopard, with feet like a Bear; that all the Government of it looks like rapine and robbery, catching and snatching, rending and tearing, this is the sum and scope of it: And therefore be not deceived; if men shall tender you fair terms that may smell sweet, you shall have liberty in this and that, and protection of a good State, but it is but the smell of a Leopard; when you have yielded to such Conditions as may be tendered, you will find such strong hold got of you, that you will never get out: And then you shall find what ever Conditions are put in at first, the last Edition will be a mouth like a Lion: They will bring you in with subtlety, like a Leopard, lay fast hold upon you like a Bear; and before they have done, there will be a mouth like a Lion: And therefore as we are to be thankful, so we are to be faithful to God, that hath purchased these great liberties for us, and be no more willing to be entangled with your former state, than you would be willing to fall into the mouth of a Lion, or come under the paw a Bear. Q●. But you will say, what is this to me, I am but a private Christian? Answ. Private Christians must not live always in a private State, for that darkens a man's estate, if he knows not the order of God's house, nor addresseth himself to it. It is true, if a man either were in the Temple, or looked towards it, his prayers were accepted; but if a man have no mind to know the orders of God's house, his ignorance of Church matters will darken his own spiritual estate: And therefore whosoever thou be, Son or Daughter; If any have ears to hear, let them listen to what is here spoken, that so by the blessing of God, you may be the more able to find the free passage of joy, and the power of godliness in all your private or public conversation. Revel. 13. the latter part of the 2d. verse. And the Dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. THe next note is this; That the Dragon (that is, Doct. 2. Satan) as he had the government of the Pagan Roman Empire: so being cast out of it, he gave (or procured and obtained) to the Roman Catholic visible Church his power, and seat (or Throne) and great authority. For so it is plainly here said, That the Dragon gave to the Beast his power, and his seat, and great authority. The Dragon, who is that? You heard, the Dragon is the old Serpent called the Devil, and Satan: but the Dragon considered, as he sometimes swayed the Roman Pagan Empire, as in Rev. 12. 3. There appeared a wonder in heaven, a great red Dragon, having seven heads and ten horns; they are interpreted by the Angel, Rev. 17. 3, 4. 9, 10. 12. 18. The seven heads to be the seven hills of Rome, and the ten horns, so many Kings that arose with the last head of the Beast; Therefore he means the Dragon, as he sometimes swayed the City of Rome, and so the Seat and State of the Pagan Roman Empire: And being now cast out, and seeing he cannot maintain his State and divine honour, as before, to whom doth he give his honour? what, to the Roman Christian Empire? No, his rage is against them, and the Church amongst them: Neither did he give them his Seat; they sat not at Rome, but at Constantinople: Neither can he easily fasten upon the civil State such delusions, as to cause the Christian Emperors to take to themselves divine honour, though the Pagan Roman Emperors had so done: But now he doth choose to fasten them upon the Ecclesiastical State, and thinks he shall more prevail with Churchmen (as I may speak) to drink in an inundation of Heresies in Doctrine, and Tyranny in Government, and Superstition in Worship, he thinks he shall sooner prevail with the Ecclesiastical State, then with the Civil; Therefore upon this Beast (which can neither be Roman, Heathen, nor Christian Empire, but the Roman Church) doth he fasten his power, and seat, and great authority. His power.] A threefold power did the Devil fasten upon the Roman Catholic visible Church. 1. The power of signs and lying wonders: He gave him great power to work great wonders, 2 Thes. 2. 9 Of which there is more spoken in the sequel of the Chapter, where some of his miracles are mentioned. 2. He gave him the power of effectual Sophistry, or (as the Scripture calls it, 2 Thes. 2 9, 10.) of deceit, of unrighteousness; partly in the Schoolmen, and partly in their Votaries, or Cloyster-men, and partly in their Canonists. By the efficacy of Sophistry in Schoolmen, he corrupted all Doctrine. By the deceit of the Cloyster-men, the Monks, he corrupted all their devotion and worship: And by the policy of their Canonists, he corrupted all Church-government; and this was carried with such efficacy of deceit, that those School-Divines were accounted the most profound, and the Monks most devout, and the Canonists most judicious, and exquisite Politicians: Now these three did mightily deceive the Christian world by their power, and all this power Satan gave to this Beast. 3. He gave him the power also of making war; for in vers. 7. It was given him to make war with the Saints, and to overcome them; putting into the hearts of christian Kings to give their power to the Beast, and to wage all their Battles at their own charges whiles he sat still; this was the power which was given him by the Dragon. And for his seat, what was it? It was the City of Rome which ruled over the Kings of the earth, Rev. 17. 18. And for that end he would not suffer Constantine, nor other Emperors to dwell at Rome: If they were in Italy, they should dwell at Ravenna: So that the Dragon granted his own Seat or Throne, not to the Emperors, for they never cared for it, but he reserved it for this Beast, to be the centre and chief Seat of the Roman Catholic Church. And he gave him also great authority, transcendently great indeed. Great Authority. 1. Over the Scriptures. 2. Over the consciences of men. 3. Over the treasury of the church: Over Church-Rulers, and Churches, over the merits of Christ, over Kingdoms and Commonwealths, over Purgatory, and for mitigating the pains of Hell: All this he gave to the Roman Catholic visible Church. 1. He gave him power over the Scriptures. 1. As Judge of them. The Church is the Judge of controversies, and the head of that Church is the Judge of all places of Scripture, by his authority it is authentical; This the Catholic Church doth challenge. 2. He doth prefer the vulgar Latin before the Original Scripture, a transcendent power. 3. It is in his power to make Apocrypha Scripture, to be of like power with the canonical Scripture. 4. It is his power and authority that gives unwritten Traditions like power with the canonical Scripture. 5. He takes upon him to be the infallible Interpreter, and Judge of the meaning of Scripture, and that is Blasphemy. 6. He takes upon him power to dispense with Scripture. He hath power to dispense with the moral Law of God in point of Marriages, even in incestuous Marriages, this is a power beyond Scripture. 2. He hath great authority over the consciences of men, making Laws and Canons to bind the conscience, and releasing and losing them from the power of God's Laws, either in point of Marriage, or in point of Oaths and Covenants, or in point of natural relation: He can dispense with children in respect of duty to Parents, if they come into Monasteries, and with duty which Subjects owe to Magistrates. 3. They have power over the Church Treasury, by which they mean the supererogation of the merits of Christ, and of the Saints: They say Christ merited for a thousand worlds: and because he saved but a few, it is free for the Pope to take the surplusage of merit; He can take them and apply them by Indulgences, for the pardoning of them that pay well for them. And thus they who despise God's imputation of the righteousness of Christ for justification, they take upon them to impute it to themselves, and to this and that notorious wicked man. 4. They have power over Kingdoms and Commonwealths, to depose Kings, and to dispose of their Kingdoms as they please, and to absolve Subjects from all Allegiance to civil power, and for that end to nullify their Oath, for that end you know what the Pope sent to Henry the fourth: Christ (say they) gave this power to Peter, and Peter to the Pope, and to that end abuse. Jer. 1. 10. See, I have this day set thee over the Nations, to root cut and pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant. 5. They have power over the estate of the life to come. 1. Over Heaven. He claims transcendent power in that, and doth abuse that place in Mat. 16. 19 To thee will I give the keys of the Kingdom of heaven, that whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; whatsoever thou shalt lose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven: Therefore he can open the gates of Heaven to them that are dead. 2. They have power over Purgatory; Upon so much done and given, they can help them out of Purgatory: They make account the torments of Purgatory are equal to the pains of Hell; but that Hell is for ever, and Purgatory but till the last Judgement. 3. They have power over Hell: they have not absolute power to deliver out of Hell (only Gregory is said to have delivered Trajan's soul out of Hell;) but though they cannot deliver out of Hell, yet they can ease the torment. The witnesses of this will hardly own it, but it is the judgement of the most devout to that Sea. So that he gave to the Catholic church his power of signs and lying wonders, of all kinds of efficacy of delusions, and power of making War, and he gave him great authority over the Scriptures, over men's Consciences, over the treasures of the Church, over Kingdoms, and Princes, and Powers of the world to come, and over Purgatory and Hell: And therefore consider, if this be not a vast power, which is here given, and acknowledged to be given by himself to the Catholic visible Roman Church: You must not wonder that the Catholic Church did not claim all this at first, but came to this by degrees, and more faster grew to this, especially at that time when this second Beast (that received in spirituals his power, speaking like a Dragon) had got all this transcendent power. In the mean time, from the very first you shall find this power in the representative Catholic Church; They quartered them into several Jurisdictions, into Bishoprics; and when they had done that, they rested not till they had set one over the rest, and that was this of Rome: And besides, this was devilish Authority to make Laws to bind all Christian Congregations, to take their Government from them. 3ly. In every Council they devised some new Doctrine, and some new form of worship and Government, which was the seed out of which this transcendent power was hatched. For the reason of the point, you may ask how he should give all this power which he never had himself, how he should give that which never was his to a Beast, so as to carry all things with that transcendent power, for divine power he had not himself, he was cast out from it, how then could he give this to any State in the world? First, Reason 1. from God's divine Justice, and heavy Judgement upon the unthankful world: That look, as God in former times did give up the Roman Pagan world to be ruled by Satan as the god of it (and therefore he is called in 2 Cor. 4. 4. the God of the world) So now God gave up the Roman Christian world, as he did the Pagan world before; the Scripture tells us so, 2 Thes. 2. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved, he gave them up to efficacy of delusions to believe lies: That they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. They loved not the simplicity of the Apostles Institutions, concerning Churches, and Laws, and Doctrine, and Apostolic government, but did affect high preferments, and settled endowments, and carnal excellency. Now the Lord therefore gives Satan wonderful power, that as of old he was once the God of Pagan Rome, so now in the Church he gives them Church-power; that what he could not retain in his own hands, that he substitutes, and gives to the Roman Catholic Church, to carry it along with great success: and that's the first Reason, the judgement of God upon the unthankful world. A second Reason is taken from the effectual means which Satan used to advance the Roman Church by, Reason 2. to exalt his Church above all others; what were the means? The means were these; First, Ignorance, raising a smoke out of the bottomless Pit, darkening all the light of the Church, Rev. 9 2. The Sun and the Air were darkened by reason of it: There was a mighty dark mist as it were: They regarded not the love of the truth, they studied it not, and so the Lord left them to palpable gross ignorance, in so much that at that time when the second beast arose, had we seen any that lived in the former time of Religion, and that lived now, we would not have thought they had been the same men, such palpable darkness were they left unto of ignorance; Now palpable ignorance is the mother of all Superstition and Idolatry, and the misguidance of all things in the Church. A second means which he used, was, terror of Conscience which he set on effectually by the Locusts, Rev. 9 3, 5. There came out of the smoke Locusts, and unto them was given power as the scorpions of the Earth have power: They had such a notable power to sting the Consciences of men, that men would seek for death, and could not find it, and take desperate courses, drowning, or hanging, or any thing, rather than to live in that terror. They that shall read Parson's Resolutions Granatensis, shall find what terrible threats there are applied to terrify, but never showed them the way to come to Christ, to bind up such broken souls: Now the Conscience broken and not healed, is fit to sow any superstition in. A third means was the superstition and hypocrisy of the votaries, and of all afflicted, but unsettled consciences. Terror of conscience makes them greatly devout; They tell them of a state of perfection, and that they shall shroud themselves in such a Monastery, and there they should live devoutly, and be kept from the pollutions of the world; Many Princes have been thus taken, and have given large endowments to pray for their souls, their consciences being wounded. A fourth means was the subtlety and sophistry of the Schoolmen, suppressing the reading of the Scriptures, and mixing Philosophy with Divinity, that they might as well have studied a point of Aristotle as their divinity, and make as good use of the one as of the other. They left studying of Scriptures, and read Peter Lombard, which was mentioned in Latin, and this was a notable means. A fifth means was the policy of the Canonists, who had gathered together all those Canons that tended to Christ's powerful Government, and fastened them upon the Catholic Church, and the Bishop of Rome being head, he had it all committed to him, a notable means to bring in Tyranny. Last of all lying miracles, 2 Thes. 2. 9 Whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, & lying wonders. Thus you see the means how the Dragon gave him his power, and Authority, and such Authority that he exalts himself above all that is called God. The use is thus much; First it serves to show the vanity of all that admiration of the Roman Catholic visible Church, and devotion to that Church, which hath so long for many Ages deluded the world, and with which Jesuits and Seminaries do to this day delude devout, but carnal souls; Here is great power given to them, and great authority; but whence hath the Church all this? They pretend they have it all from Christ, but they have it from the Dragon of the bottomless pit; He gave him his power and seat and great authority: It never came from Christ, he never gave this power to any Church nor State in the world, it is from the Dragon. And whereas they plead it is the keys of the kingdom of Heaven, Mat. 16. 19 It is verily (as the Text calls it, Rev. 9 1.) The key of the Bottomless pit; There fell a star from Heaven to the Earth, and to him was given the key of the Bottomless pit: It is he that hath power to let out smoak out of the bottomless pit; Not to let out men from thence, as some have pretended, or from Limbus, which is the suburbs of Hell; But to let out smoak, damnable doctrine, and false Government; He hath power to open it, but no power to shut it; power to sting men's consciences, but no power to heal them. And therefore when Bellarmine makes the Roman Catholic visible Church to be the true Church, he makes this the first note of a true Catholic Church; whereas our Divines make Preaching of the word, and administration of the Sacraments, and holy Discipline, he refutes them, and sets down three other, universal, Catholic, visible Church, to be the true Church; And the truth is, it is the very Beast, to which the Devil gave this great Authority and power: Wherefore let not men be bewitched with them, but let us know they are all but efficacies of delusions what ever have been in this kind spoken. If any man say, shall we disclaim an Article of our Creed, to despise the holy Catholic Church? God forbid, we do believe the holy Catholic Church spread over all Nations; But a Church Catholic that shall have one visible head, and be the Mother Church, verily we look at it as the greatest and ugliest beast, that ever was raised in the world. Take all other Monarchies that the Scripture describes, the Leopard of Greece, the Lion of Babel, and the Bear of Persiae, and they are either of them but a beastly state, but here all these Beasts are mingled and confounded in one: And besides, It hath seven heads, and ten horns. A Leopard, a Lion, and a Bear, they are orderly creatures, according to some Institution: But here is a Beast that runs besides all institution, and description of Scripture, and societies of men that ever was raised. The Catholic visible Roman Church, is the most monster; God forbid we should blaspheme any Church, but I do but speak Scripture; Let the world be judge, if the Scripture can be accommodated to any but to this Roman-Catholick mother Church. It is evident in Scripture, these seven heads, and ten horns, must be some Roman State, the Roman Pagan State it cannot be, nor yet the Roman Christian State, and a Roman State it is: but there hath been no other Roman State, but the Roman-Catholick visible Church, and that hath claimed such great power and authority, which is doubtless as incompatible to Scripture as may be, which by the wit of man hath not been invented, but by the Dragon; and yet so goodly in the eyes of the world, which great Princes are deluded and besotted withal, and happy they that can be reconciled to that State. Secondly, Use 2. Learn we to magnify the free rich grace of God that hath delivered us from this great Beast, and the worship of it, and hath restored us in a great measure to the government of primative simplicity, that now we may meet every Lord's day, that all may hear, and all may be edified, where every one may brign his offence (if he cannot be satisfied in private) and may be heard, and the case in due time searched into, and healed according to God. This is Primative simplicity, and this is direct proceeding without Lordly Prelacy, which overwhelms all the world like a great Sea; And it i, well called a Sea, for it swallows up all like a vast Ocean. And the more thankful aught we to be, that he hath delivered us from the Image of the Beast, as well as from the beast itself; A Catholic Church that beareth sway over so many hundred Churches, and overwhelms them all: Such Laws they shall make as shall bind all Nations, and whether they give consent or no, they must subscribe to them in point of government. Were we sensible how odious this Beast were in the sight of the holy Ghost, and of the Apostle John, it would affect us with strong thankfulness, and hearty enlargedness to God, that hath delivered us from so great a beast, and from any image and picture of it, unto which all the world is subject, unless in some few places. Thirdly, Use 3. It may teach all Church Officers not to affect any Lordly pomp and state: For Officers of a Church to take upon them any great State, or to see a Church composed in any such form, you see in the eyes of the holy Ghost it is a Beast. There is nothing more disproportionable to us, then for us to affect Supremacy, for us to wear the horns that might push Kings; to throw down any, or to desire Magistrates to execute what we shall think fit, verily it is not compatible to the simplicity of the Church of Christ. Neither may they give their power to us, nor may we take it from them: That when an Excommunication pass in the Church, then to leave it to the Magistrate, that so a man being excommunicated, is left, Ipso facto, to civil censure, upon the Church's censure, this will cause the Magistrates to submit their power to the Church unavoidably; that if a Church censure, the Magistrates must proceed against them: Now it is good to have these two States so joined together, that the simplicity of the church may be maintained and upheld, and strengthened by the civil State according to God, but not by any simplicity further than according to the word. Beware of all secular power, and Lordly power, of such vast inspection of one church over another: Take heed of any such usurpation, it will amount to some monstrous Beast: Leave every church Independent, not Independent from brotherly counsel; God forbid that we should refuse that; but when it comes to power, that one Church shall have power over the rest, then look for a Beast, which the Lord would have all his people to abhor. Fourthly, Use 4. let it be in the fear of God an use to beware how we take Satan's offers. This very offer Christ had once made to him by this Dragon, he came to Christ, and said (Luke 4. 6, 7.) All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them, for that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give it; if thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. He said thus far true, that he had a great stroke in the Kingdoms of the world (but yet it was limited to him) for its true, he was the god of the world, in the time of Heathenish and Popish apostasy; He offers Christ he will give it all to him, if he will fall down and worship him; The Lord Jesus rejects him, It is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. When he offers such baits, and barbarous temptations as these be, we are to reject him. The Devil comes and offers this to the Vicar of Christ (as they call him) I will give you government over all the Churches in the world, and Kingdoms, and States; and he in very deed takes Satan's offer, and doth take all the pomp and state of the world. Time was when Naaman the Assyrian offered large matters to Elisha for healing him of his Leprosy, but the Prophet would have none of them (though he was no Pagan) for when he came home, they would ask, what did it cost you? he might say, it cost me not a groat, but what it cost me in the Inns where I lay; this is honour to Religion: His servant Gehezi indeed runs after him, As the Lord liveth, he shall not go so away, but he will have a reward; He makes an excuse, There are two sons of the Prophets come, and he desires a talon of silver, and two changes of garments; and he very liberally fastens a great deal more on him than he asks: What, saith Elisha, Is this a time to take money, and to receive garments, and Olive-yards, and Vine-yards, and sheep, and oxen, and man-servants, and maidservants? He meant such money as would buy all these; The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee: And so truly the leprosy of Antichrist, and of the Catholic Church cleave to us, if we take up any thing that derogates from the simple, and naked, and sheep-like government of Christ Jesus; It will be a Leprosy that will cleave to us, & make us grow more & more leprous: And therefore it must teach us not to regard the profits and pleasures of this world: I speak chiefly to men, as we are Church-members; Such simple government, though it hath horns (for the Lamb hath horns, and can tell how to push) yet meekness and simplicity is best: Just and faithful Administrations becomes the simplicity of civil government, but how much more the Church of Christ, that so this great and vast Beast may be kept away from us. Lastly, Use 5. it may teach us all, as ever we desire, not to grow monstrous and ugly in the sight of the Lord Jesus, to take heed of harkening to any power of national Churches, you will find that this will grow to such ugly deformity, that God will turn away his face from you: You will never find him as in times of ignorance; Though God hath pardoned what we did in ignorance, not knowing what we did (as Christ prayed, Luke 23. 34. Father forgive them, they know not what they do.) And I doubt not but he doth the like for many of our dear brethren, who in their ignorance do submit to the Beast, and the image of the Beast, and doth vouchsafe his gracious presence with them: But for us here, if we shall in our hearts turn back again to Egypt, and be content to stoop to these Superstitions, and be thus ruled, for order, and form of worship (believe it) than we may look for an end of all our prosperity, and liberty of the Churches here; Then look we should grow mishapen and monstrous, and look ugly, we shall then soon see an end of all the comforts of the Churches here. As therefore God hath betrusted us with such a handsome body as he is pleased to own, so continue in your profession, and in the maintenance of the same even to death. Revel. 13. 3. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death, and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered after the Beast. IN these words is described the variation of the state of the Beast in respect of one of his heads. 1. John saw it as it were wounded to death, and all men thought it unrecoverable; that is one State. 2. A State of recovery, His deadly wound was healed. 3. The effects of this healing 1. The world's admiration after the Beast. 2. Their worship both of the Dragon & the Beast. For a little opening of the words. I saw one of his heads.] You heard before that the Beast had seven heads: Now as the Scribes asked Christ concerning the woman that had seven Husbands, whose wife shall she be of the seven? So here is a Beast hath seven heads, and one is wounded, which of the seven must it be? To this the Apostle John tells us, Chap. 17. That five of them were gone; they had been, but were not now, and these are the seven governments of the Roman State: These five had been Kings and Consuls, Decemviers, Dictator's, Tribunes. The sixth yet was, and that was the Caesars, the Roman Emperors they were the sixth head, whether Christian or Pagan, it differs not much the state of the Government, for they were all governed by Roman Laws, under one head or other. Now therefore what is this that is here spoken of, One of his heads were as it were wounded to death? was it the Roman Emperor, whether Pagan or Christian? you heard reasons before why it could not be Pagan, nor indeed Christian Rome. 1. That head was crowned, but this hath no Crown; All the seven heads were crowned, they governed and exercised their Administrations in the world, Rev. 12. ●. But here these heads are not crowned, but the Crowns are upon the Horns. 2. Neither can it be they, because of this wound upon this head, The Roman Christian Emperors they never challenged to themselves Head-ship over the Church of Rome. Constantine doth utterly abandon it; He professeth he ought to be judged by them, and not they by him. And Theodosius doth submit himself to Ambrose censure, and doth not exercise any Head-ship over the Church: It was not therefore the Emperors, for they were not heads of the Church. 3. It is said, the wound here given, was healed, to the admiration of the world: Now certain it is, the wound given by the Goths and Vandals, it was never healed to this day: but the Eastern part was swallowed up by the Turk. And for the Emperors of the West, Charles the great, and his Successors, though they healed a branch of it, yet it was far off from healing the wound of the Roman Empire, those wounds have decayed, and fall short of that which was the admiration of the Nations: Nor was it the healing of this wound from the first time it was given, that was the admiration of the world. Therefore it must be some head that was so wounded, as all the world wondered at it, and were captive to it; You heard it was not the Roman Christian Emperors, it must be him that claims to be head over all the Churches, and who is that but Pontifex maximus? It was that which Theodosia's abhorred, he thought it an unworthy style for a Christian Emperor to be accounted the great high Priest of the Church; but what he laid down, they willingly took up, to be accounted the great Pastor of the Church, and therefore he is the head of the Church: For if it be neither Pagan nor Christian Emperors, it must be the government that succeeded them, they were the sixth, and he is the seventh: It is the seventh head that was thus wounded, and whose wound was afterward healed. Qu. 2. Now a second Question will be, If he be the seventh head, the head of the Church of Rome; If he be this head, then when was he wounded? Answ: When the Goths and Vandals, and Huns, and other barbarous Nations overwhelmed Italy, and the western parts. 1. Alaricus about the year 415. took Rome; a●d I remember in a Treatise of Hierom (saith he) The government which then was left of the Church before, was wholly taken away, as if a man were beheaded, and yet it fell after into worse calamity. 2. It was after taken again by Adulphus, who thought to change the name of it, and call it Gothia. 3. It was taken again by Gensericus Vandalus. 4. Odoacer Rugionus reigned in it fourteen years. 5. After him, Theodoricus King of the Goths having slain him, his Successor Totilas destroyed it, and brought it to such desolation, that there was neither man, woman, nor child seen in it for forty days. Now this was such a wound, that all the Bishops in the world that were wont to give homage to him, they now began to neglect his Head-ship, that was but a servant at home: They despised him, to be the head of the Church, that was a servant to Barbarians; Insomuch, that the Bishop of Revenna, he challengeth universal Supremacy, he takes indignation at him, that he will be Lord Paramount: But so great was the wound, that indeed the Roman Bishop was utterly discouraged, and this continued for 140. years together; and though he would have used many means for his cure, and have called in help from the Emperor of Greece, yet he was not willing to help him, for they had fallen out before about worshipping of Images; he was constant for Images, the other was against them, and so he might sink or swim for them; so his wound seemed incurable. Quest: 3. When was this wound cured, and how? Answ: By degrees. 1. In the year 555. the Lord stirred up Justinian, who by his Generals, Belisarius and Morses, drove and destroyed the Goths out of Italy. 2. By Justinians novel Constitutions, we decree according to the Canons of the holy Counsels, the most holy Bishop of old Rome to be the first (or to have the Primacy) of all Priests. 3. Phocas the Parricide about fifty years after, about the year 606. healed up the wound, granting to Boniface the third, that he should be universal Bishop, not only the first in order, but in honour also, and that all the whole world should be his Diocese: And this was the healing of his Head, which was so perfectly cured, that all the world wondered at the preservation of the head of this Church, and began by degrees more and more to adore both the Church, and the Head of it. Obj. There is an Objection made against this exposition; That by this means the Bishop of Rome should be healed before he be a head of Beast, for this was his headship when he was allowed to be chief Lord over all the Churches, and all the rest to be under him; and the Pope was not this head till the Act of Phocas. Answ. I answer, He had not the peaceable possession of this Headship till this time, but yet it is evident in story that he did claim this supremacy before, he sought it ambitiously, and it was given him by the devotion of many Bishops, and Churches, and Nations, it was usually rendered to him long before that time. Socrates saith, that Ballo the Pope had broken forth into the Government over the Churches: And Bellarmine himself confesseth (when he is put to it) that the Bishop of Rome would never go to any Consultation in the East, but sent his Legate; for saith he, it is not meet the head should follow the members: A second reason he gives, the Emperor (saith he) is at least Vicegerent of the East, he well may have the material Seat that was taken up by the Emperors, where shall the Bishop of Rome sit then? and this he gathers out of some of their writings: So that it is evident, that he did ambitiously desire it, and the manner was (being elderly men) all his beloved and dear children they call him Father, and so he takes in good part all their honourable Titles, and he destributes to them such parcels of respect, as may stand with his own Sumpremacy, and their subjection, and therefore they need not say, The wounded head was healed before he was a head of the Beast, for it was in conception long before. He did from Constantine's time seek Supremacy: They confess, little respect was had to him in Constantine's time; But when order was set in Churches, he took all advantages for his exaltation, and did take all appeals from others, that what others did to him in respect of his gravity, & learning, and understanding, he takes as done to him as sitting in Peter's Chair, and so did challenge headship in those times, and they thought it was meet to give it; And after this, he was ratified, and confirmed, and established in peace, than was his wound healed. Come we then to gather a note or two from the word; The first note you may observe is this. The ambition and arrogancy of Church Officers claiming headship over the Church of Christ, Doctr. 1. the Lord plagues it with a mortal wound, and crusheth it even to the death. I gather it out of these words, I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; It was one of the heads of the Catholic Church; As the body was a Monster, so was the head; to set a head over such a vast body it was a Monster in God's sight: The Lord will not suffer him to go on in this ambitious design, but will meet him as he did Balaam, when he crushed his foot against the wall, and if he had gone on, he had sleine him, Numb. 22. 32, 33. So doth the Lord here meet the Bishop of Rome; if he will be the head of the visible Church, and animate such a Body, what will the Lord do? He will wound him to death, and slay him, and crush his spiritual arrogancy, that under pretence of Vicarship to Christ, will yet be the Lord of the Church. The Reason of the point is, From the dishonour put upon Christ, Reason 1. to take the headship from him to whom it belongeth. This honour to be the head of the Church is the proper right of the Lord Jesus: It is his, First by gui●t from the Father, Ephes. 1. 22. To be head ever all things to the Church: and Col. 1. ●8. He is the head of the body the Church. Secondly, it is his by Purchase: He gave himself to death, even the death of the Cross; and God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, Phil. 2. 8, 9 He died and rose again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living, Rom. 14. 9 So that now when the Lord hath this headship of the Church granted him, and also hath purchased it by his own death; now for another to claim headship, it must needs imply, either that the head is a nonresident, or else thrust out of his headship, he doth administer. And though the Lord be not present in body, yet in his spiritual presence, he is as truly present, and more effectually than any that can be devised. And therefore in regard of injury done to Christ, which the Lord will not bear, he will therefore crush, and wound such heads. 2dly, Reason 2. From the sacrilegious injury put upon the Church: It is an usurpation of all power from the Church, that if a Catholic Church be met, they will give power and Laws to other Churches, and look what the second Beast doth, he administers all the power of the first Beast; Look what power is given to the Catholic Church, that doth the Bishop of Rome incorporate to himself, and he causeth an Image of that Church to be made in Provincial Nations; which when they have taken hold, like a Bear's claws, they will not easily be rooted out: Now this is such injurous usurpation, that from that day to this, they have never been free; That where the Pope hath had to do, the Churches are spoiled of the authority that is given to them by Christ; And therefore you must not wonder if the Lord wound the head of such as go on in their wickedness, Psal. 68 20, 21. The jealousy of the Lord riseth against such usurpations: For a visible Catholic Church to be set over the world, who may make Laws to rule conscience, and make Officers for the ordering of all Churches; It is such a Monster, and the Government of it is so odious in the sight of God, that he wounds it to death. For the use of the point, Use 1. It may serve to provoke us all to pray heartily, and faithfully, for the repressing of all such heads as either the Bishop of Rome is, or any Images of him whatsoever they be. You read of a little horn in Daniel, whose root was stubbed up; wherever you read of any horns that will usurp power over the Church, look at it (as it is) abominable to Christ, it provokes the spirit of Christ, Sovereign Authority is his: If the Lord be set upon the hill of Zion, he will wound the Bishop of Rome, or any that shall take his Image; He will give them a deadly blow, especially when they are more arrogant, than his Indignation ariseth against them, to execute judgement on such. The headship of the Church is a singular privilege to the Lord Jesus, and incompitable to any: They must either take Christ's office out of his hands, or think him negligent, or nonresident, and that he doth not sufficiently discharge his headship, and therefore they will usurp an office in his name, but that is abominable to Christ. Obj. But you will say, So we shall pluck the Crown off from the heads of Christian Princes, for they challenge that stile to be head of the Church. Answ. I do not know any Christian Prince that challengeth that stile. That which was sometimes given to Saul, may be given to Princes, 1 Sam. 15. 17. When thou wast little in thine eyes, wast thou not made the head of the Tribes of Israel? That is true, and so the King is head of all the Peers, and head of all the Shires, and the Churches are in some or other of them, that is, 1. They have power over the Church in all civil matters. 2. And I will say thus much, that they have power to redress and reform inordinate abuses in the Church, provoking Church officers to do it; If they do not, other Churches are to treat with them; and if their corruptions be prejudicial either to the doctrine of the Gospel, or if they degenerate to any Tyranny, they are to look to redress such things, but this gives them not headship over the Church; over their persons it doth, but not over the Church, that is, 1. They have no power either to call Church-officers, or to depose them. 2. They have no power to dispense Church-censures. 3. They have no power to suspend Church liberties. 4. They have no power to appoint Church-ordinances; nor power to administer any matter further than any other member of the Church: and this did the Church of England acknowledge, and no more than this was due: Therefore we allow some power and authority to Princes, and Magistrates, in the sense spoken of; If they claim any further, it will so kindle the jealousy of the Lord, that the Lord will certainly wound it to the cracking of the Crowns of all that take it upon them: which may be a notable warning to all Churchmen (I mean Church officers) to beware of cleeking into their hands the power which God hath not given them; the Lord will wound their heads, he will not endure it, 'tis a privilege that he hath purchased with his own blood. I think there is no need here to press it; but this let me say, it is a just motive to pray the more ardently, and faithfully for the crushing of such heads, wherever the Lord finds any arrogant head, that any Churchofficer will undertake to give Laws to the Churches in their diocese, that they will put Officers upon them, that they will suspend them at their pleasure, and put in, and put out, whether the Church will or no; This kind of insolency in such a state, let it look for a wound, for a wound it shall have. And therefore, we are the more encouraged to pray for, and to look for deliverance from these Heads; for John tells us, 1 John 5. 14. that if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us; And this is according to the will of God, that all ambitious heads be wounded: What he hath done he will do, There is no new thing under the Sun; he spares, and changes, and wounds in every change: Persons are changed, but God's administrations are one and the same: If God's indignation have been ardently kindled against the Bishop of Rome, he will certainly visit such powers as take upon them to put doctrine upon the Church; to take away Church liberties; and sometimes to scatter one Church from another, the Lord will certainly visit it, we may pray for it, and comfortably expect it. The next note is this; That though God do wound and crush, Doctr. 2. and repress the arrogance of Church officers, affecting headship over all Churches for a time, yet he doth sometimes again heal their wounds, and bind up their breaches, and give free passage to their ambitious designs. This is evident here, I saw one of his heads, as it were wounded to death (and you have heard when, and how) and yet, which is wonderful, His deadly wound was healed, and that to the admiration of all the world; And all the world wondered after the Beast, to see a wound so really and perfectly healed: when this Church was wounded, afterwards the Pope was perfectly recovered, but the wound of Caesar's head was left bleeding, both in the East and West. This head must therefore be the spiritual head of Rome: God though he repress some insolency, yet he doth many times give free passage to their designs at length. He did so with Balaam, he met with him in the way, and had not the Ass hindered, certainly he had slain him, Numb. 22. 32. Because thy way was perverse before me, saith God: Balaak had sent him word, that if he would come and curse the people that were come out of Egypt, that he would give him this, and that; he saw he had an eye to these outward things; The Lord seeing his way perverse, he would have killed him; but yet at length in v. 35. The Angel of the Lord said unto Balaam, if it be thy mind to go, I will give thee leave, go with the men, but only the word that I shall speak unto thee, that thou shalt speak; And when he comes, he doth bless the people to the Indignation of the King of Moab; but afterwards when Balaam saw that he should lose all that he came for; come, saith he to the King, take some course to invite the Gallants of Israel to a feast (and it was an Idolatrous feast to the honour of Baal Peor) and so the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and there were four and twenty thousand died of the Plague, and at length Balaam was slain also: But yet you see, he gives way to his covetous designs, to satisfy himself to the full, though he afterward visited his Sin upon him. So did the Lord here with the Bishop of Rome; he wounded him as it were to death, and afterwards he heals him, and raiseth him up again, and sent Justinian to destroy the Goths out of Italy; and he being a wise man, gives him his Titles, and makes him Bishop of Bishops, inspector over all the rest, and perfectly cures him; That whereas before he had lost his Titles, and one or other wrote against him; the Emperor being loath to make their own Archbishop (that lived in their City with them) chief, for disturbing their civil Government; They had rather confer all that honour upon him that had been so admired & worshipped for so many years, especially having had 32 Monasteries, & had been more Orthodoxal than all other Churches: These were great inducements to give all honour to the Pope, though they saw him desperately wounded; but when they see him recovered, they wonder at him, and every one submits to him, especially the Western parts; though they in the East also would consult with him, and be led and guided by him, and all their decrees in counsel were referred to him; if he did dislike them, they were antequated; if he did approve them, they were received as Authentical Laws of the Church. You may ask, why the Lord would heal such an abominable and ugly Beast, this visible Catholic Church, and this Beast that was one of the heads of this Church; for he had a beastly shape; take him alone without the other Beast, and take them together, here is a great Beast; afterwards he is called in Chap. 17. the great whore, and she sits upon this Beast, and he hath all his supportance from her; he restores the Church, and the head of the Beast to that state they were in before; The reason why God doth this is double. First, Reason 1. in regard of his just displeasure against the backsliding apostasies of the Church in such times: When the Lord sees the spirits of men are bend to apostasy and backsliding, so as that they reject the simplicity of the Gospel of Christ, and if they might have it they will not; now it is a righteous thing with God to plague them with the arrogance & tyranny of Antichrist: If I come in my Father's name, you will not receive me; if another come in his own name, him you will receive; Now it is a just judgement of God, if Christ come and offer himself in the simplicity of his Ordinances, and they think this is too mean, and doth not reach the state of an Imperial City, but they must have such and such orders in all Churches, and Churches must be distinguished by such Patrons, and it is fit that one be Lord Paramount over them all, and none is so fit as the Bishop of Rome; If people dote upon such (some goodly shape, but drawn by the inventions of men) well you shall have such Bishops: This head that sometimes hath been thus wounded, that some have had cause of solemn praise for his wounding, and God hath by this means given the Church's liberty to take some better way of worship, but they would not, well you shall have enough of him. It is one of Solomon's Proverbs, (Chap. 14. 14.) the Backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways; If you dote after inventions of men, you shall be filled with vain Superstition to the contentment of your own hearts. God out of his tender faithfulness to his Church he will redeem some, and doth give them fair opportunities to undertake their own liberties out of the usurpations of men; but if they will rather sit under the shadow of Egypt, then feed upon Manna, then go you back again saith God, none of you shall eat of that which I have prepared, that is one Reason; Such backsliders that delight in such communion in such heads over their Churches, it is just with God to fill them with their own inventions. The second Reason is taken from the just judgement of God upon such kind of heads, Reason 2. that do affect such ambition; the Lord will show them this favour, he will cross them as he did Balaam; but if their hearts be bend to go on in their mischevous course, he gives them leave to fulfil their own lusts to their own perdition; And thus he did Balaam, he gave him leave not only to bless the people, but to draw them aside from God; for he could not have taken a more ready course to have cast them out of God's favour, then to draw them to offer Sacrifice to Baal, for that was one of the worst dunghill gods. It is out of God's righteous judgement, when a man will not be reclaimed, when the Lord wounds, and crushes him, and brings him to the last gasp, if he have a liquorish affection still; now it is an usual thing with God to pay men to their own perdition: And therefore in Rev. 17. 11. It is said, the beast that was and is not, shall go into perdition, that's the head of this Beast; that is the next news you hear of this second beast here in the Text, and therefore it is called both the beast, and the head of the beast, where the first beast is presented in the form of a great whore, who is to be brought to the last gasp; A whore she was, but he presents her to John as a great beast; Now he gives him leave to rise again to his own perdition, and of many thousands more. Thus you see the truth of the point. Now for the use of it. First, Use 1. it may be a just watchword and warning to all the Sons of men, to beware of God's checks. When the Lord checks you, crushes your Crowns, and exposeth you to this and that danger in one kind or other, beware of this; whether you be the children of God or not, yet come home effectually to him; for this you shall find, if you be in distress, and call, he is ready to hear; He will hear Ishmael; and he hears the Lions that roar, and seek their meat of him; He will many times, once, or twice, or thrice do thus: But if the Lord once strike, and almost crush you, beware now that you lay aside all carnal ends and ambitious designs; for otherwise, if you shall recover again, and persist in your former ways without repentance, than the next news is, you go on to perdition: And therefore when ever the Lord affects us, and afflicts us in any kind, it is heavenly wisdom to be warned by the least phylip of his finger; be warned by any sicknesses, crosses, danger by Land or Sea, by any thing whatsoever the Lord is pleased to exercise you with, this is both children's bread, and the bread of strangers: Beware you go not on still, but if the Lord check you, then turn back again; but if you go forward, be sure you go to God-ward, and according to Gods will, and after God's ends: This is that which God calls for, that you walk more exactly, and more accurately, Ephes. 5. 15. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time; because God hath thus and thus taken pains with you, and hath thus and thus been as a Leopard in your paths. It is a strong speech that in Amos 3. 5. Will a man lay a snare (and the word is a deadly snare) will a man lay a deadly snare, and take it up, and catch nothing? The Lord will catch a prey when he lays a trap for us, and he will not leave till he have girded our loins and our hearts close to him, and made us more exact in our way, or otherwise if he let us slip, it will be to perdition: And therefore let all that hear the word, ever be sensible of the least wounds & checks, especially if they grow to some bulky frame: I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death, and this deadly wound was healed, and it was healed to immortal perdition, and therefore all that wonder after the Beast, they are such as have no part in the Lamb's book of Life, they have no part in Christ. Secondly, Use 2. It may teach us the more earnestly to wrestle with God by faithful and earnest prayer for any of the Churches of Christ in any parts of the world; that if the Lord give them an opportunity to wound the head of any Image of the Beast, any of his heads or horns, than it will be necessary that all such Churches do take the hint and opportunity that God puts into their hands, and that they do not rather close with such heads whom God wounds, and be loath to lay hold of those liberties that he procures for them: But let this be the constant care of Christians to desire that such heads may not be usurping: but if the Lord gives an opportunity, the Lord looks that all Christians should improve it, to vindicate themselves, when the Lord gives any hint thereof: When he gives an opportunity, then is the time; when the iron is hot, then strike; Entreat God, that when he puts a prize into their hands, that they then may learn to get wisdom, and not in their hearts turn to tolerate arrogant designs, and such as are ugly in the sight of God: When God wounds the head of Enemies, and casts shame upon them, and hath rescued his people from them; If Churches shall again comply with them, than what will the end of that be? It is a fearful thing, such kind of Heads go to perdition, and those that dote upon such Heads. It is a check especially for this great beast of Rome, but it will be dangerous for other States too: This will be the final issue, they shall have enough of it, they shall be filled with Hirarchicall power, and with their Agents in Civil States, their feet like a Bear will raven in all, that they shall all be weary of the burden, and shall be so filled with them, as to spew them out of their mouths: And therefore how should we help the people of God to traverse that wounded Head that it never rise up more. Thirdly, Use 3. this may serve to teach such whose Heads have at any time been wounded; As there is none of the servants of God, but sometimes he will have them sacrifice their Isaac, that which is most dear to them: The Lord will rend away our most desirable comforts; he will follow us there, where we most of all are affected: And let this teach the people of God, that if the Lord than bow their hearts to unfeigned repentance, turning from all evil in their hands and hearts, how then? If the Lord will restore the wounded head of a beast, a beastly head, of a beastly shape, will he not much more restore the hearts of his servants that seek to him for healing of all their corruptions, and scattering all their temptations, that they may walk before him according to to his will? What saith the holy Ghost, Hos. 6. 1, 2. He puts words into their mouths, come let us return unto the Lord: He hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up: after two days will he revive us, and the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Wherein he shows the means whereby the Lord will apply this medicine to his own servants, namely by the death and resurrection of Christ, to which he doth allude; that as Christ died, and rose the third day, so shall all that have part and portion in him; They may lie in danger, but they shall come out in due time: but however, it should be a warning to the sons of men how they adventure their lives by going into any danger where God calls them not: But if you be brought into danger when the Lord doth deliver, you have cause to bless him, and to render yourselves and Families back to him, that you may walk with more girt up spirits to God, that so he may not repent of what deliverances he vouchsafeth to you. Rev. 13. the latter part of the 3. & 4. ver. And all the world wondered after the Beast. And they worshipped the Dragon who gave power unto the Beast, and they worshipped the Beast, saying, who is like unto the Beast? who is able to make War with him? I Come now to speak of the sequel of the healing of this wound; upon the healing of it there is a double effect. 1. The admiration of the world after the Beast. 2. A worship, set forth by a double object, the Dragon, and the Beast. 3. The causes are set forth that made them to worship them both; The Dragon in that he gave power to the Beast, and the Beast for his unmatchable power. Who is like unto the Beast? who is able to make war with him? Here might be three or four Notes justly gathered from hence, but because I affect brevity in mystical Scriptures, I shall compact them into one: The note is this; That upon the healing of the Beasts wounded head, Doctrine. all the world fell into an admiration of the Beast, and of his power, yea into an adoration of worship, both of the Beast, and of the Dragon. This contains both the latter end of the third, and part of the fourth verse. For the causes of this Admiration, they will be just reasons of the point. To open the Doctrine [upon the healing of this wounded head of the Beast] Remember the Beast is the Roman Catholic visible Church, whereof Rome was the mother City, and mother Church, accounted of all the Churches in the world, and the Pope is the visible head of this Church, in this Chapter called the seventh head. Observe 2ly. the healing of this seventh Head, wounded by the captivity and calamity it fell into by barbarous Nations. Upon the healing of this wounded Head, by the removal, and scattering, and subduing of these Enemies, as also by the plaster that was put to him, when such Titles of Sovereign Authority, were put upon him by the Emperors: Now this was the Original of that wonder, for so it comes in; His deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered after the beast: And so he expresseth it, Chap. 17. 8. All that dwell upon the earth shall wonder when they behold the Beast that was, and is not, and yet is. He was when he flourished, as that which was the great Authority of the world: He is not, when he is wounded in his head; but as it were trodden under foot, wounded to death, as if he had not been: But yet he is again, that is, he is restored: And they that dwell on the earth, when they saw that, wondered to behold the Beast that was, and is not, and yet is; A Beast that cannot be crushed and beaten down with such desperate calamities, so that's the occasion of their wonderment; now upon this occasion they fell into an admiration of the Beast, and of his power. An admiration implies some high esteem of some great happiness betiding this Beast, not only beyond their expectation, but transcendent, beyond their apprehension and capacity to understand. For a man doth not admire a thing, unless it go not only beyond expectation, but is transcendent above his reason and understanding. Yea, beyond any means he could use to bring such a thing to pass: Therefore when they see this great change, they fall admiring of the Beast, and the head of the Beast, and of the Dragon that gave power to the Beast, and worship them both. For their Admiration then, let me speak something of that; and then of their Adoration both of the Beast, and of the Dragon. It was in a way of Admiration; I will not say what expressions some have made of it, some that were called Fathers of the Church, and have left such things in writing: It would mightily possess one with Admiration of the Sea of Rome, looking at him as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah; looking at him as by his Primacy to be like Adam, for his Faith like Abraham, for his government like Noah, gathering all the world under him; for Order like Melchisedech, for his function, to be Christ himself, deservedly to be God, after sometimes called the Vicar of Christ, and of God; marvellous transcendent strains put upon him, which argues a high esteem of him: But to omit such things as are but flourishes, these are real. 1. That all the Churches of the world are to receive all their doctrine and worship from them; Though it were never so superstitious, as worshipping of Angels, and Saints, and making use of their meditation besides Christ; and they did receive from them more than all this, which is the life and quintiscence of all. They looked from the Father of the Catholic visible Church to receive Indulgences, and pardon of all their sins: If he retained them, than they were retained; if he remitted them, they were remitted: This they looked for from him, not only for Doctrine and worship, but for sealing up their Pardon for so many hundreds and thousands of years, and not sealed with wax, but with a wap of Lead, and a Seal set on that: And this was the chief comfort of troubled minds in those ages, these things they received from them, and admirable honour they put upon that Beast, to receive all such things from them. 2. They made to Rome all their Appeals: What ever government there was in the Christian world, from thence were their Laws, and thither were their Appeals, as out of England and many other places, to the great disturbance of Church and Commonwealth, as also large and bountiful payments were made to them: It were a vast thing to sum up the total sum of constant payments that were from every Kingdom repaid to the Sea of Rome: And as their Appeals & Payments went to Rome, so did their bodies on pilgrimage, and it was thought a great devotion to kiss the feet of the Pope, and to see those blessed Shrines; Thus was their admiration of the Beast. 3. They fetched from Rome the Ordination of all their chief Officers: Any Archbishop, whoever chose him, yet he was not installed, but he must fetch it from Rome, and pay well for it. And from thence they fetched all their Coronation of Kings and Emperors; and sundry fundamental Laws of every Catholic Kingdom were derived from thence. All their Dispensations were fetched from thence, that Princes might marry where they would: And dispensation from Oaths, and from Marriages contracted, all these things they fetched from Rome: It was an admirable honour they put upon the Church of Rome, and upon the Head of it; what ever the first Beast did, the second Beast also did; and so in worshipping the one, they worshipped the other; and in admiring one, they admired both. 4. They express their admiration in this, that they will undertake establishing of Laws from the Sea of Rome, and persecution of such godly persons as did not submit, such as were different in their minds from the Catholic Church, if they never so little swerve from that, they undertook to execute the Laws of the Church: And if the Church declared him him to be an Heretic, there was no more to do, the Commonwealth presently put him to death: And as they took upon them persecution of their Subjects at home, so the Subjects took upon them to depose their Princes, and might depose them, if they would not submit their power to the Pope, so that there was no subsisting without submitting to them. And which is a branch of this, they undertook a vast and costly War abroad, against the common Enemy the Turk, whereas in very deed, whilst the Pope stands, it is not possible any War should prosper against him; for it was for the sin of Rome that the Turk was advanced, a barbarous and beastly Enemy, to punish a beastly Religion: This was their admiration. And all the world wondered after the Beast.] He means as he expounds himself, ver. 8. Those whose names are not written in the book of the life of the Lamb. They that were redeemed from the world, they were not of the world, though they lived in it: but those in the world that were of the world, they did honour this beast, and were subject to him, and gave all their devotion to the Catholic Church: And when I say all the world, I mean all the Christian world, which was the visible face of the world, the reputed world; These barbarous Nations were not then so owned; but as for the Eastern world, they were all willing to give way to this transcendent Usurpation of the Bishop of Rome in a general Council at Asia: They looked at the reigning and Imperial City of Rome, as the chiefest Seat of the Catholic Church, the highest throne of that Church, and were content that no Council should be ratified but by him: If he ratified a Council in so many Canons, it was established; if he did not, than they were not; and the Emperors were willing it should be so, because they found insufficiency in themselves to maintain the Royal City of Rome against barbarous Nations: And therefore they thought it State-policy to maintain the Bishop of Rome, and let him grow up to as great power as he could; It was as they thought, the preservation of their State (but it was indeed their ruin) so they willingly gave their power to the beast: Now the barbarous Nations that had not forsaken the Country, and had builded them houses, they that were not driven out (as many rested in some parts of the Empire) they willingly closed with such a Religion as was pretty savoury to their apprehensions, they began to comply with it, and put their necks under it. Charles the Great having received the Kingdom of France from the Pope, he did his best endeavour to bring the people to yield themselves, but the people were somewhat sour and rugged that way to be wrought upon: Therefore the Pope had another sophistry to help himself; He sends three Apostles, Gregory the Great, he was one Apostle that he sent for England, and he brings great Reformation, that is, he sways the whole State to the Bishop of Rome, and those that would not yield were miserably slaughtered. And Bonifacius he did the like in Genevah, and in France, and Denmark, and Germany; And where ever the world was Christian, it was now Catholic, all submitted to the Church of Rome; and so by this means all the world admired him, they received doctrine and worship from Rome, they will go for pardon of Sin thither: They make Pilgrimages to Rome, Appeals to Rome; From thence they receive their fundamental Constitutions, Dispensations, Persecutions, deposition of Princes; They receive and undertake general war from thence for the recovery of the holy Land: And in one word, in such admiration the Beast of Rome was, that it was a Proverb among them, He ruled all the world; and therefore he ruled all the Churches, and was esteemed to be God on Earth: Thus did all the world wonder after the Beast, and admire him, and so did they also hi● power: They did exc●●dingly admire his power; Who is like unto the Beast? who is able to make war with him? It is not clear adoration, but it is an attributing to the Beast, that which is peculiar to God; Who is like unto the Lord our God? Exod. 15. 11. It is a style of the high and mighty God: This admiration of this wonderful power and holiness it is now added to the Pope: Who is like unto the Beast? who is able to make war with him? Who is the Lord of hosts but our God? as if he were invincible: For they had found, that when some of the Grecian Emperors that had given their power to the Beast did vary in point of judgement (as they did not love to take up the worship of Images) than the Beast is offended, and excommunicates him, and deprives him of his Empire, and gives it to Charles the Great; takes away the Kingdom of France, puts him into a Monastery, removes Frederick, first and second: And what he did with King John of England, you know; He deprived him of his Kingdom, and he makes some of them do very hard penance, whiles he was solacing himself with his Harlot: She being more compassionate than he, besought his Holiness to have compassion on him, and so he sent him back, yet afterwards they made him away: And his Son, when they came to Crown him, it must be with the Pope's foot; and when he hath done, he dasheth it off, to show, that he hath power to take it as easily from him, as to fell it from his head. Though great men, and greatly beloved of the people, all is nothing, if they be alienated from the Pope: All men's affections are his; when he turns, the whole body turns; when the head moves, the whole body doth accordingly: So that it was marvellous admirable power that he had; whom he would he set up, and whom he would he pulled down. Peter, he said, gave it to him, and he did what he would to those that were on the earth, this is great power. They profess, if their holy Father carry many millions of souls to Hell, yet no man must say, Sir, why do you so: All appeals were from him, so that there is transcendent, sovereign power, and indeed divine, such as no man can attain; Power to pardon sin, power to bind Conscience, to dispense with the Law of God, to interpret and judge of Scripture as he sees cause, and this is such power, as is far above the reach of man: None of them all have such power as he, not those that are called Gods: So they admire his power, what he can do to inward or outward man, to public or private States. And they do not only admire the Catholic Church, and the head of it, and adore them; but in both these they adore the Dragon that gave all this power to the Beast. The meaning may be expressed in two branches. 1. The Dragon is expressed as animating heathen Rome, for that hath seven heads and ten horns, which are the arms, both of heathen Rome, and of this Beast: Now he is called the Dragon, as he acted heathen Rome, and as he was Lord of heathen Rome, he gave all this power to the Pope; For they thought it meet, since it was the Imperial City when it was Pagan, that therefore it should be the mother of all Churches: And being the Imperial City, it was the bloodsucker of many millions of the souls of God's servants, that caused the Dragon to put that honour upon Rome. 2. But that is not all, There is another branch comes nearer the full meaning of the Text; that was for the honouring of the Bishop of Rome, and of the Catholic Church, viz. taking another doctrine for the Gospel, their Idolatry for pure worship, their Government for the discipline of Christ, their pardons for Justification of sin by Christ; In all this they do indeed give true worship to the Dragon, for what are all these but Images, they are none of God's Ordinances; if you refer them to the heads of Scripture, they are but Images of Christ; In stead of the Ministry of Christ, you have doctrines of men; In stead of justification by the righteousness of Christ, you have justification by works; In stead of pardon of Sin from Christ, you have it from the Pope; All things are in another form, an Image of another form set up, devised, contrary to what the word establisheth: Now you shall find this to be true; if you do vary from the kingdom of God, and Christ, than you worship the Dragon: You read in 2 Chron. 11. 15. Jeroboam ordained him Priests, for the high places, and for the Devils, and for the Calves, which he had made: he had no Priests but for the golden Calves, and what were they? they were but Images, and his intendment was not to bring in another object of worship, but another manner of worship; Jeroboam worshipped Jehovah in Images, which God had not appointed, and so he worshipped the Devil, and not God. And you shall read, when the Turk was brought in to revenge the Idolatry of Christendom, Rev. 9 20. It is said, The people that were not cut off with the plague, they repented not of the work of their hands, that they should not worship Devils, and Idols of Gold and Silver, and brass, and Stone, and of wood, which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: which shows, that when men worship Images, that is, God in Images; it is not God that is so worshipped, but the Devil, and all such worship doth not advance the kingdom of God, but the kingdom of the Devil, therefore it is real honour to him: and therefore this their taking all this vast honour (all Churches receiving all from them) is none of God's Institution, but the Devil's practice, for it was the Devil that gave him his power and great authority; Therefore saith the holy Ghost, they worshipped the Dragon who gave power unto the Beast, and they worshipped the beast: This worship of the beast they gave it all to him that gave this power to him, which was to the Dragon; and therefore you read that he had the key of the bottomless pit, Rev. 9 1, 2. And he opened the bottomless pit, and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace, and there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: There went out Monks & Friars, and a rabble of all superstition. Now if you shall ask the reason why people upon the healing of this wound did so mightily admire both the visible Catholic Church, and the head of it, and adore both, and Satan himself in both? The reason was, First, Reason 1. from the wrong Interpretation of some Scriptures, which were very frequent with them in those days, and are still; and that was, that the Catholic Roman Church was builded upon a rock, and that rock was the Bishop of Rome, and into his hand the Lord Jesus by Peter had given the keys of the kingdom of Heaven, and these keys had absolute universal power to bind on Earth, and upon his binding on earth, Christ would bind in heaven: this was an error in judgement that did so possess their hearts, that upon the healing of this wounded head, all the world did admire him: Therefore Bellarmine makes a large discourse; Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, and they that trust in him shall never be confounded; and so never was there any man that was an enemy to the Catholic Church, but was confounded; nor never did any man stand for the Catholic Church, but was preserved: and so they did admire him; A great inundation of barbarous Nations were all driven out by the piety of the Bishop of Rome; they were able to overturn the Emperors of the East (and it was overturned) and bring them to his feet, and all to be at his disposing; This was some confirmation to them, that he was the successor of Peter, that now whoever is saved, it must be by the power of this key, or else never look for any saving in this world. A second reason may be taken from the correspondency and plausablenesse of such a kind of Religion and Government to carnal reason. Reason 2. especially when it is subdued by any terrors of conscience: for it was a season (and that held many years together) wherein the Priests, Friars, and Monks, had marvellous power to sting the consciences of men with the loathsomeness of their sin in the sight of God, and they had admirable dexterity therein: These four things were all the matter of their Sermons, Virtue and vice, Heaven and Hell; If you be virtuous, than you shall go to Heaven; If you be vicious, than you must go to Hell: Now they would so convince men's consciences, and upon conviction bind the conscience under terror, as eternally shut out of Heaven, for want of virtue, which they had not; that indeed when these men's consciences are thus perplexed and wounded, here is a Religion that finds them so many salves and medicines, as ease the power, but not remove the cause of the disease; that is, they set men a course; well, though you be vicious, and though Hell be dreadful, yet Purgatory may ease you by Prayer, and you may be dispensed with from going to Hell, especially by the Pope's pardon, or by your own works, by your confessions, by selfe-whipping and scourge, or by going a Pilgrimage, you may be discharged of this burden; This was very plausable to carnal reason, especially if they gave so much to such a Monastery, that they may offer so many Sacraments for them (for they look at the bread in the Lord's supper as a propiatory Sacrament:) here were so many means to satisfy the consciences of those that were superstitious, as nothing could be devised to give better content to the spirits of men in those days: any man that knows it, shall find it true, that when the conscience is terrified with the curse of God's Law, and never showed the true way of fellowship with Christ, no man is so tender and conscionable in the performance of all duties as they: If you will have them kiss the Pope's foot, or give so much to a Monastery; and by this means Hell shall be shut against them, and Purgatory discharged: But for assurance of Salvation in Christ, they could not endure that; they that stood for that, they tell them, what, you will not have men do good works, away with that, faggot and halter for such Heretics. Thirdly, Reason 2. there was a third Reason, and that was from the great reverence of all Counsels, and Synods to the Sea of Rome. The City of Rome had wont to be the imperial City, now in such a case as this they thought it but reasonable; In heathenish Rome they gave all worship to them, and so let Christian Rome give all their worship to the chief Head there, and so to their mother Church, all Catholics would encourage others so to do; and so by this means there were such encouragements laid for admiration and adoration, that you may not wonder at what the holy Ghost saith, That when the wound was healed, all the world wondered after the beast, saying, who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? Not the Emperors of the East and West, not the King of England, France, Spain, nor all that have been of greatest force, they were none of them able to hold up their heads against this great Beast. The use of this point is thus much; First, Use 1. you may observe from hence, that Universality, and Prosperity, though they be given for two notes of a true Church by the Papists, yet indeed they are but sopisticall, deceitful delusions; They are not such marks of a Church as are peculiar to a true Church; here is Universality, All the world wondered after the beast; and here is Prosperity, all the world adore, and admire the Beast; Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? Not all the Princes of the world: So that here is external prosperity, for so they call it; here are both these concur, and they do indeed argue a Catholic Church, as Bellarmine saith; but note this, that Catholic Church which is visible, (which is the Roman visible Catholic Church) the Scripture holds it forth as a great, and ugly, and monstrous Beast: look not therefore at these as any good marks and signs, by which Jesuits, and Seminaries are wont to draw to deep devotion to the Catholic Church, for all the world have run this way, there is but a handful, a few of such as are otherwise minded; what is Genevah and some others to Rome? what have they been able to do in comparison of the Church of Rome, which is the Church of Churches, none have been able to do as they. Secondly, Use 2. we may see the danger of this admiration, and adoration, the deadly and desperate danger of adoring the Catholic visible Church and the Dragon. It is the cunning of these Priests and Jesuits to draw men by all means to be at least devoted to the Catholic Church, and to submit their power thereunto; for they say there is no union with Christ the head, unless you be united to the visible head on Earth; this is their usual plea: Now mark what the holy Ghost speaks in this Text; he doth say, that all the worship of this mother Church is but the worship of the Dragon. Men are devoutly addicted to give up their souls to the Devil, when they give up themselves to the Catholic visible Church, the Lord professeth he is not honoured by them; they profess honour to he-Saints and shee-Saints, and dead Saints, and to all relics and remnants of them; the honour of them is given unto the Devil, and not to God. That look what Paul saith of heathen Rome, John speaks of christian Rome; This I say, saith the Apostle, 1 Cor. 10. 20. That the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to Devils, and not to God; and I would not that ye should have fellowship with Devils; And so this saith John the holy Apostle (equal to the Apostle Paul, or next him, but here guided equally with Paul in the Authentical word of God) he saith, They that worship God according to the prescript of the Church of Rome, they worship the Devils, and not God; they worship the Dragon, the old Serpent. So that it is not so light a matter as Gallants at Court, and great Kings apprehend, they will be reconciled to their mother Church, they will go a Pilgrimage that is devised by the Pope, and perform duties as their ghostly Father directs them, and have their bead-prayers; In all this what do they do? This is a worship to the great beast, but this is the issue, and substance of it, they do indeed worship the Dragon; It is not the Lord Jesus, nor God the Father, nor the blessed spirit that is thus worshipped, but this is indeed the worship of the Devil. Thirdly, Use 3. this may serve to teach us, to bless the name of the Lord, that hath delivered us from this admiration and adoration, from this woeful Captivity and Calamity whereto our Fathers have been enthralled; All those of them whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life, they were all led this way; and it is a marvellous deliverance that God hath wrought for us in taking our Religion from universality, and from outward prosperity. It is sometimes a snare to Christians, this kind of Government that we have, and they are apt to say what do any of the great Nations of the world for worship and Government; did you ever know any such thing authorised in any Kingdom? There is an inward principle in us by nature to do as all the world do: what, are we more wise than they? It is a great temptation, but we have cause to bless God that hath wrought deliverance for us; But what if all the world did worship the Devil, as time was when they did? what if all the world worship the Beast, and the Dragon that gave power to the Beast, must we do so? And as they are not grounds of our worship, so they are fit grounds of unfeigned thankfulness to God that hath delivered us from that Religion by which all the world was bewitched to give their Crowns, Honours, Bodies, and States to the devotion of the visible Catholic Church, and to the head of that Church: It is cause of everlasting thankfulness and watchfulness, not to be deluded by fine shows of worldly men, but let us see and know where true worship lies, as the Lord hath declared himself in Christ, and held him forth in the Gospel of truth. fourth, Use 4. let it teach us all where to bestow our admiration, and adoration; It was a charge that our Saviour gave to the Devil, (and which accordingly he himself practised, and requires us to do) Mat. 4. 10. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve: The Devil asks this of Christ to bow down to him and worship him; The Lord's Indignation is kindled, his holy Zeal is inflamed against such a Sacrilegious request; Get thee hence Satan, for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. And as we are to worship him alone, and no God but him, so we are to admire none but him; Who is like unto thee, O Lord amongst the Gods? who is like unto thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders, Exod. 15. 11. There is matter of admiration; who is a God like unto the Lord that forgiveth Iniquity, Transgression and Sin; of which you read, Mic. 7. 18. and which the Church holds forth there upon this very ground: who is a God like unto thee? why what is there in him that you so magnify him? he is a God that forgives Iniquity, Transgression, and Sin; here is cause indeed of admiration. They admire and adore the Pope, why? Because they had satisfaction to their consciences in their way, and an ungrounded hope of a better state in another world, and pardon of Sin in this, and now they come to fellowship with Christ by the worship of the Devil: But who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth Iniquity, Transgression, and Sin? So that here is indeed matter of due admiration, and let it be fastened there. When a man's soul is brought low with the sense of Sin, and overpoured with the burden that lies upon his conscience by reason of the guilt of Sin; what is matter of admiration now? who is a God like unto thee, that passeth by Iniquity, transgression, & sin? It is not the Pope of Rome that can take away sin, it is not all the cunning of the Dragon that can do it: And therefore to what end are all the admirations, and worships that are put upon the Bishop of Rome and the Dragon that gave him his power? They may please themselves in what satisfaction they apprehend they have, but their own principles possess them, that they can never come to see the admirable goodness of God in forgiving their Sins. But now when the Lord sheds abroad a spirit of grace and peace in the conscience, and applies the goodness of Christ to the discharge of the burden of Sin, and of quickening the heart in the peace of Christ Jesus, this breeds admiration: Blessed be God the Father of mercy, and God of all consolation, that of his abundant mercy hath begotten us again to a lively hope: I say this blessing is worthy of admiration, and not only of wonderment, but of acknowledging all glory and blessedness to him. When the conscience is not pacified by a sorry duty done from man, but by a sealed pardon from the spirit of God, witnessed by the breath of the holy Ghost; this is such a mercy to the soul; as indeed raiseth the heart above all admiration of such a Beast, I, to a true detestation of this Beast, and of the Dragon that hath so long bewitched, and carried them captive to the imaginations of their own hearts, and in the end to their everlasting perdition. But let it be the care of God's people, as ever you desire to be blessed from the admiration of such a wormeaten Religion, so grow to an admiration of the God of mercy and grace: and so we shall do that upon just grounds, which our Fathers did without grounds, to this Beast, and to the head of it. Upon this ground, this head being wounded, and afterwards healed, all the world wondered after him: Here is an Image of Christ, he was wounded to death, and his deadly wound was healed: and he riseth again, and he proclaims all power is given him, in Heaven and Earth; Now see how this Vicar of Christ (as they call him) usurps; as Christ was wounded, and is risen again; so it is with this Beast, he is wounded to death, and afterwards healed and restored, and now all the world admire and worship him: Have they forgotten that Christ died for our Sins, and was raised again for our Justification? and do they stand admiring at this Beast as he that was wounded, and healed? Therefore let it be a ground of true thankfulness to the Lord, for the great change that is wrought in Christendom, and let us give the Lord the admiration that is due to him, that we may be preserved from those delusions, wherewith others have been deceived and may go on in this way constantly which the Lord hath established, and called us unto. Revel. 13. 5, 6. And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things, and blasphemies, and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name, and his Tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. THE events that followed upon the healing of the Beast; the first was, That all the world admired him. The second was, Universal worship given both to the Beast, and to the Dragon that gave power to the Beast, of which we have already spoken. The third event remains now to be spoken to, and that is, the deligation of power to this Beast, upon his recovery, and the power given him is fourfold. 1. There was power given him to speak great things, and in particular, great blasphemies. 2. There was power given him to continue, that is, as the word signifies, to be doing, to be active, to be powerful and efficacious in his work 42. months. 3. There was power given him to make war with the Saints, and to overcome them. 4. Power was given him of dominion over all Kindred's, Tongues, and Nations. First, There was given him a mouth speaking great things. Secondly, There was power given him to continue 42. months, and both these Authorities or Liberties, they are amplified by the effect it wrought in the Beast: He did effectually take that power which was given him, and employed it to the utmost. As he had a mouth given him, so he opened his mouth in blasphemies, and that amplified by the object of his blasphemy against God, and God distributed, his Name, his Tabernacle, and those that dwell in Heaven. The note than that the words do afford first, is this. That after the healing of the wounded head of the Beast, Doctr. 1. there was given to him power to speak great things, even blasphemies, which also he did effectually and abundantly exercise, or put forth. For so it is here said, There was given him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he opened his mouth accordingly, abundantly against God, and against his name, and his Tabernacle, and them that dwell in Heaven: Every thing of God he did with open mouth blaspheme. Let me a little open the words, and the Doctrine, for the doctrine is in a manner the words of the Text. There was given him a mouth.] what mouth had he more than other men? The meaning is, he had such liberty of speech as no man had; There was given him liberty, and power, and authority to speak great things. Given him.] by whom? 1. It was given him by God in his just judgement that gave up men to efficacy of delusions, 2 Thes. 2. 11. 2. It was given him by Satan, in the efficacy of whose power Antichrist comes, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness, 2 Thes. 2. 9, 10. 3. It was given him by the general consent of Princes and States Ecclesiastical and Civil. In Ecclesiastical Counsels, great was the authority that was given him, none of all them thought themselves equal to him: And for the Civil State, God put it into their hearts to give their power and Throne unto the beast, Rev. 17. 17. What power did they give him to speak great things, and in particular blasphemies? It is an allusion to the horn in Dan. 2. 8. There came up a little horn which had a mouth speaking great things; whether it be the same Beast, or a type of him, I will not now stand to determine, but great things he spoke; as indeed this was a great thing that the Catholic Church had power to speak, for he did open his mouth to speak great things, that is, such things, as for other men to speak, were too great arrogance, and too much affectation of inordinate Vainglory; but for this Church, or the head of it to speak, they had a mouth given for the same purpose. And Blasphemies.] They make many distinctions in Schools of Blasphemies, which I will not trouble you with: they may be brought to two heads, either in attributing to God something unworthy of him, things incompatible to his divine nature, as in Acts 17. 29. It is blasphemy to ascribe to God likeness of fourfooted beasts, or creeping things, and the like. Or otherwise, if you attribute to the Creature that which properly doth belong to God, you hurt the name of God, and crush it when you so speak. Now what is it for the Beast to open his mouth, to speak great things and blasphemies? The phrase is very significant in the Hebrew: It implies three things. 1. That a man speaks upon the meditation: He opens his mouth to speak, that is to say, he hath something to say, and power to deliver it, and he sets himself of purpose to speak it: I will open my mouth in wisdom, and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding, Psal. 49. 3, 4. He tells you of his meditation, and then he will open his mouth, and declare it. 2. To open the mouth implies an audable, and full, and bold, and confident expression of a man's mind, that a man doth not whisper, but lift up his voice, and declare with open mouth what he hath to deliver; as in Exod. 3. 23. Open thy mouth and tell them, that is, speak boldly: Though they be a rebellious People, and will brow-beate thee, yet open thy mouth, and speak unto them; speak boldly, and confidently, as one that goes not behind the door, but speaks plainly: And I put in plainly with boldness, because they are ever concomitants. If a man speak boldly, he doth not extenuate what he hath to deliver, but speaks it plainly. 3. This opening of the mouth doth imply that he speaks fully and abundantly, his heart was full of it, and he doth accordingly power out that which he delivers: As Elihu tells you in Job 32. 18, 19, 20. I am full of matter, the spirit within me constraineth me: Behold my belly is as wine which hath no vent, it is ready to burst like new bottles, etc. So the meaning is this, That as the Pope saw (which was the head of this Beast) that he had a mouth given him; that is, uncontrollable liberty to speak what he would: He did not suddenly or rashly speak, some inconsiderate, or erroneous, or arrogant speech which he did eat in again; but he spoke advisedly in his grave and considerate Council, upon advised judgement he did speak great things and blasphemies: And this he did plainly and boldly, not in ambiguous or obscure phrases, but plainly in such expressions as could bear no other meaning; and that with such confidence, that you may see he cared not who heard, nor what Construction might be made of it. And this he did, not in a word or two that dropped from him, but as flowing from him; He was full of matter, as 2 Cor. 6. 11. O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open to you, our heart is enlarged. He did pour forth his matter with no little State; it was stout matter that he did pour forth to the world. What did he speak? that which was given him to speak. What was that? Great things. As for instance, to sum up the great things he speaks: The Catholic Roman Church in Scripture is accounted the mother of Harlots, and abomination of the earth, Rev. 17. 5. There is not such an adulterous Church in the world. 1. And yet is not this a great word and a great blasphmy, for the mother of Harlots to hold forth herself as the only immaculate Spouse of Christ upon the face of the Earth? Is not this a grand word for a common Harlot, the mother of Harlots, the lewdest Harlot that ever the earth bore, for her to arrogate this stile as the only Church of Christ? And that which is parallel to this, that the Pope (who is the head of this Beast) is the head and Husband of this Church, and is without control: He hath a mouth given him, and he is not ashamed to speak great things, and blasphemies. 2. It is a great word to make himself the infallible Interpreter, and absolute judge of Scriptures, that cannot err in derision, or determination of any controversies of Religion; nor may it be for any mortal man to control his judgement nor practice. In Judgement he cannot err: in practice, though he may err, yet other men may be judged; but God hath put such an uncontrollable power upon him, as he thinks that none may meddle with him; Though he should carry millions of souls to Hell, yet no man must say, Sir, why do you so: Counsels may not judge, Princes may not judge, inferior States may not judge him, all the world may not judge him; He stands and falls to the Canonists, his own well-studied Canonists have so determined it: A great word to be infallible judge of Scripture, and to be uncontrollable; it is a great matter, and greater than any man can reach unto: Never did any earthly Prince challenge that he could not err, nor that none must control him if he did: There have been Laws made to control the greatest Princes: Nabuchadnezzar was taught to be controlled, that in the end Shadrach, Mesech, and Abednego go away rewarded, 3. The Catholic Church, and the Pope is the head of it, claims a power of binding and losing. To bind men's consciences by his Laws, and to lose men's consciences by his Indulgences, and that not ministerially, as Ministers do from the Word, but by a Juditiary power, to dissolve the bond of natural Obedience, incestuous Marriages, Oaths and Covenants in Marriage; Natural relations between Parents and Children, and moral Relations between Princes and Subjects: There is not any bond that he cannot lose, nor any liberty which he cannot restrain: And this not over a few only, but over the vast world so far as it is Christian. And 4. It is a great thing he speaks (and he speaks it not behind the door) when he challengeth Sovereign dominion (in way of advancement of Religion) over all Kingdoms, so as to depose their Kings, and dispose of their Kingdoms, leave any State to choose where he hath power: If his Crown be to be fetched from Rome (as it was in former times when it was most active) He will set it on, but dash it off again, out of the plenitude of his power, to ●et up and throw down at his pleasure. He opened his mouth to speak great things; He is never so in his element as when he doth hold forth such vast authority, and divine propriety, proper to the Father, Son, and holy Ghost. Now as he speaks great things, so blasphemes against God, and wherein? Against his Name, and Tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. Against his name: All these are blasphemies against God's name, to attribute all these divine properties to a beastly man, to a great beast. And it is blasphemy to ascribe any divine honour, or to put it upon any creature: Images served, the holy Ghost calls blasphemy. Isa. 65. 7. You have blasphemed me upon every green hill. And in Ezek. 20. 27, 28. he complains of the like blasphemy, that they blasphemed him by their Idolatires. In Mar. 2. 7. Why doth this man speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only? It were to speak blasphemy in any but in Christ. Secondly, It is against his Tabernacle; that may be either meant the body of Christ, as 1 John 14. He tabernacled amongst us. Or it may be meant the visible Churches, such as are instituted by him. For the body of Christ, it is blasphemy to go to every Mass Priest, to make him the body and blood of our Saviour. Or if you understand the Tabernacle to be the Church; that is the Temple of God, 1 Cor. 3. 16. Now to call the Church of Christ a Conventicle of Heretics and Schismatics, it is blasphemy, and so they count all the Churches here: And for the Saints in heaven, to put upon them divine worship, to build Temples to them, to put up Prayers to them, to keep Holidays to them, it is blasphemy to them, it is a great dishonour. Paul and Barnabas, when they saw men to come and offer sacrifice to them, Men and brethren why do you these things? you cannot do us a greater injury. And for the Saints in heaven, that is, pure Churches, he condemns them for Heretics, and Schismatics, and as unworthy of Christian communion, and Christian burial, these are blasphemies: So you see the meaning of this Scripture; There was given him a mouth to speak great things, and to blaspheme God, in his Name, in his Tabernacle, in those that dwell in Heaven: Thus hath he done many years, and thus doth he still. Now for the reason of the point; you see the point stands upon two branches. 1. That such power was given him. 2. That he did effectually and abundantly put it fo●●h, He opened his mouth: Let me give the reasons of both. 1. Why such power was given him; it was First, Reason 1. from God, in his just judgement to punish the unthankful world that received not the love of the truth, Therefore the Lord gave them over to efficacy of delusions to believe lies; That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness, 2 Thes. 2. 10, 11. This is the just judgement of God, that since they refused the simplicity of wholesome Doctrine, and had itching ears, they should have such men as came with the subduing word of the Law to speak great things, and they should have what they ask; This is from God's just judgement. A second Reason is from Satan; Reason 2. for God concurred, and Satan concurred, and Christian Princes concurred herein: Satan concurred for this reason, that he might be avenged of God, and despite the name of Christ, that had cast him out, and dethroned him from his divine power: That whereas he was the great God of the world, and the God of Israel but a puny God of the lesser Nations; now he is to be no God to trust on, but like a Toad or Serpent; this doth so enrage the venom of the old Devil, that he powers forth a flood of malice and venom against the Church and Christ, as much as may be, to testify to the world he would be Lord, and the Lord Jesus should not prevail: And if he may not be God, he will set up a Beast that shall be adored as God: And it is a great despite to Christ, to advance a Beast, that shall carry great State and power, and dare, and will speak greater things than all the Churches of Christ, I, as great as the Lord himself shall speak; look what one speaks, the other will speak it all, and speak it abundantly: As the Devil himself sometimes said to Christ, All these will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. The same doth he speak at this day, and he will speak without control. Another reason that binds Satan so to speak, is not only his old enmity to Christ, but from his malice against the Church. When he saw that the seed of the woman had thus dethroned him, and cast him out of divine power, he powers forth a flood of malice after her, and he sends forth an ugly Beast, that if he can, may root out the face of Christianity, and root her out from the face of the earth, Rev. 12. 15. These are the Devils reasons that moved him to stir up the Beast, and to give him a mouth to speak so boldly as he did. But why will Christian Princes be so prodigal, to submit themselves to him? God had committed to them the care of the Churches, that all Churches should live peaceably and quietly under them, in all godliness and honesty: why would they so degenerate, and suffer the Bishop of Rome so to arrogate and speak such great blasphemies? The reasons were, 1. Because they were ignorantly blind; Reason 1. It was a time of palpable darkness, darkness that might be felt: From the ninth Centuary to the tenth, both Protestant and Popish Divines complain, that had not some lived in the 800. year, and in the thousand year after Christ, they should not have known what had been done in the nine hundred, a whole hundred years together: Men were so full of darkness and ignorance, that scarce any set pen to paper to tell us what was done in those dark times; that men did not know what were principles of Christianity, much less were able to discern of Cases of Church-government, or the mystery of godliness which requires more diligent attendance: And thence it was that they were so taken with the pretended claims of the Catholic visible Church, that it would not err, because it was built upon a Rock, and had the keys of Peter, and he had the keys of heaven: What he bound on earth was bound in heaven; and what he loosed on earth was loosed in heaven; that had there not been palpable gross ignorance, it had not been possible such gross things should have been suffered to come in. And a second thing that moved them was the strange success of the Beast in recovering of his wounded head; Reason 2. for that made them wonder after the Beast, when they saw such a mortal wound so throughly healed: They thought, had it not been above the power of mortal men, it had not been possible it should have been healed, but certainly there was a power above mortal men in it, and that is the reason in the Text to give him a mouth to speak great things, to speak what he would. And a third reason why Princes gave this power, Reason 3. was their devout superstition; many were convinced by Matchivilian policy, of their great sins, and they had in those days a notable dexterity to apply the Law of God, and to sting men's consciences like a Cockatrice, Rev. 9 5. and then they would do any thing for ease out of the bondage they lay under, and this was a great means: Then they directed them to give so much to such a Monastery, or to go a Pilgrimage, or fast such a time, and such devotion which a man's own unsanctified heart could reach: That when this Beast speaks great things, that he can pardon sin, and his Shavelings will take a course for redeeming souls, and preserving them out of hell, this was such satisfaction to them, that you need not wonder if all Princes gave their Kingdoms to the Beast: And so having advanced him as supreme over them all, he hath a mouth he may speak what he will; Princes may make Laws on this hand or on that; but if they do not suit with him, they are disannulled: And they must be reconciled to the mother Church, and so this Harlot gives them all to her, and hath a mouth speaking great things, and therewithal great blasphemies. Thus have you the point, and the reasons of it. For the use of it, Use 1. I might from hence first speak to this point; that it were therefore a necessary counsel to all Roman Catholics, to consider diligently the grounds of the great privileges of the visible Catholic Church, they stretch their authority beyond all degrees of Churches, beyond all Temporal States or particular Churches: Now necessary it were for them to reverse all the great things which are delivered, and which the Pope hath set open his mouth to speak, though they be delivered with never such fullness, and boldness, and plenitude of power: It behoves men to consider whether all these great words be not the words of a Beast, and blasphemies which the head of the Beast had taken upon him to utter, for it is not enough that they are spoken boldly and confidently, and with good advisement and grave Counsel, Provincial Decretals and Decrees, for they are distinct things: It behoves Catholics not to be gulled with Titles and great things; for it is not always that power which God in mercy gives to men when they dare speak great things; they think the Pope is not Antichrist; but when Antichrist comes, will he do greater things than these? as they said of Christ; when Christ comes will he do greater works than these? And so when Antichrist comes can he speak grater things than these? And if I were to speak to Laymen (as they say) in their Religion, I might advise them to take heed they be not taken with the confidence of their Priests, that speak with good advisement even to impudence, and with such resolute courage, that many thousands are carried away with it, and say, certainly men would never be so bold, if they were not possessed with the goodness of their cause: Let them not be deluded, the Beast hath power to speak great things, and he opens his mouth with all courage and confidence, and whispers it not, but speaks with impudence, and abundance of resolution. Secondly, Use 2. This may serve to teach us the danger of allowing to any mortal man an inordinate measure of power to speak great things, to allow to any man uncontrollableness of speech, you see the desperate ●●●ger of it: Let all the world learn to give mortal men no greater power than they are content they shall use, for use is they will: and unless they be better taught of God, they will use it ever and anon, it may be make it the passage of their proceeding to speak what they will: And they that have liberty to speak great things, you will find it to be true, they will speak great blasphemies. No man would think what desperate deceit and wickedness there is in the hearts of men: And that was the reason why the Beast did speak such great things, he might speak, and no body might control him: What, saith the Lord in Jer. 3. 5. Thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldst. If a Church or head of a Church could have done worse, he would have done it: This is one of the strains of nature, it affects boundless liberty, and to run to the utmost extent: What ever power he hath received, he hath a corrupt nature that will improve it in one thing or other; if he have liberty, he will think why may he not use it. Set up the Pope as Lord Paramount over Kings and Princes, and they shall know that he hath power over them, he will take liberty to depose one, and set up another. Give him power to make Laws, and he will approve, and disprove as he list; what he approves is Canonical, what he disproves is rejected: Give him that power, and he will so order it at length, he will make such a State of Religion, that he that so lives and dies shall never be saved, and all this springs from the vast power that is given to him, and from the deep depravation of nature. He will open his mouth, His tongue is his own, who is Lord over him, Psal. 12. 3, 4. It is therefore most wholesome for Magistrates and Officers in Church and Commonwealth, never to affect more liberty and authority than will do them good, and the People good; for what ever transcendent power is given, will certainly overrun those that give it, and those that receive it: There is a strain in a man's heart that will sometime or other run out to excess, unless the Lord restrain it, but it is not good to venture it: It is necessary therefore, that all power that is on earth be limited, Church-power or other: If there be power given to speak great things, then look for great blasphemies, look for a licentious abuse of it. It is counted a matter of danger to the State to limit Prerogatives; but it is a further danger, not to have them limited: They will be like a Tempest, if they be not limited: A Prince himself cannot tell where he will confine himself, nor can the people tell: But if he have liberty to speak great things, than he will make and unmake, say and unsay, and undertake such things as are neither for his own honour, nor for the safety of the State. ☞ Note. It is therefore fit for every man to be studious of the bounds which the Lord hath set: and for the People, in whom fundamentally all power lies, to give as much power as God in his word gives to men: And it is meet that Magistrates in the Commonwealth, and so Officers in Churches should desire to know the utmost bounds of their own power, and it is safe for both: All entrenchment upon the bounds which God hath not given, they are not enlargements, but burden and snares; They will certainly lead the spirit of a man out of his way sooner or later. It is wholesome and safe to be dealt withal as God deals with the vast Sea; Hitherto shalt thou come, but there shalt thou stay thy proud waves: and therefore if they be but banks of simple sand, they will be good enough to check the vast roaring Sea. And so for Imperial Monarchies, it is safe to know how far their power extends; and than if it be but banks of sand, which is most slippery, it will serve, as well as any brazen wall. If you pinch the Sea of its liberty, though it be walls of stone or brass, it will beat them down: So it is with Magistrates, stint them where God hath not stinted them, and if they were walls of brass, they would beat them down, and it is meet they should: but give them the liberty God allows, and if it be but a wall of sand it will keep them: As this liquid Air in which we breathe, God hath set it for the waters of the Clouds to the Earth; It is a Firmament, it is the Clouds, yet it stands firm enough, because it keeps the Climate where they are, it shall stand like walls of brass: So let there be due bounds set, and I may apply it to Families; it is good for the Wife to acknowledge all power and authority to the Husband, and for the Husband to acknowledge honour to the Wife, but still give them that which God hath given them, and no more nor less: Give them the full latitude that God hath given, else you will find you dig pits, and lay snares, and cumber their spirits, if you give them less: there is never peace where full liberty is not given, nor never stable peace where more than full liberty is granted: Let them be duly observed, and give men no more liberty than God doth, nor women, for they will abuse it: The Devil will draw them, and God's providence lead them thereunto, therefore give them no more than God gives. And so for children; and servants, or any others you are to deal with, give them the liberty and authority you would have them use, and beyond that stretch not the tether, it will not tend to their good nor yours: And also from hence gather, and go home with this meditation; That certainly here is this distemper in our natures, that we cannot tell how to use liberty, but we shall very readily corrupt ourselves: Oh the bottomless depth of sandy earth! of a corrupt spirit, that breaks over all bounds, and loves inordinate vastness; that is it we ought to be careful of. Thirdly, Use 3. it may teach us to observe the hand of God in all the vast out-runings of the Sons of men: when you see men outrageous beyond all power, wonder not at the matter, for he that is above is higher than the highest, and he regardeth it, Eccles. 5. 8. A man would wonder that a Bishop should take upon him to control all the Churches, and in very deed all the Commonwealths and Nations of the world, and that in such high things both in nature and measure, that a man would think it were not possible for a mortal man to undertake such a vast enterprise, yet they have done it, the Pope hath done it, and the Bishop of Rome hath done it, but wonder not at it, for he that is higher than the highest hath given him this power, John 3. 27. not given it him in an Ordinance, but in his common Providence; This transcendent power that he is able to carry all before him without control; it is a strange power, he may say what he will, and do what he will, for so many months, the time indeed is limited. So that it will be of this use to us, if we see men outrageous, and break bonds beyond measure is any commonwealth or Church, our way is to see God's hand in it, and to look up to him to muzzle that power: He is able to bridle the high King of Assyria, that whereas he spoke great things, what is the God of Israel that he shall deliver you out of my hand; the Lord can put a bridle in his nostrils and bring him back the way that he came. And therefore when men speak great things against us, from any part of the world, know, that he that is higher than the highest regardeth, and our eyes must be to him, that he will muzzle such, and take order to cut them off. The Lord will cut out the tongue that speaketh proud things, Psal. 12. 4. He hath promised to do it, and he will do it effectually. You have two places where the Lord useth the word to muzzle, the one is about the Sea, Mark 4. 39 the other is spoken to the Devil, Mark 1. 25. Hold thy peace, it is translated; but the word in the Original is, be thou muzzled: Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the Ox that treadeth out the Corn; it is the same word: It shows that the Lord hath a muzzle for the great Sea, and a muzzle for the Devils of hell, when we have to deal with them: If it be the great King of Assyria, he will put his bridle in his nostrils, and make him return back the same way he came: the Lord is above all; when they are above the reach of men, they are not above him; he sits in heaven, and laughs them to scorn. Those that have been most insolent in blaspheming, all Turkish or Popish blasphemies, the Lord will muzzle them: In the mean time it it our part to sanctify his name that gives this vast liberty, that for so long they shall speak great things, and no longer. Fourthly, Use 4. it may teach us that there is a proneness in our natures, to abuse all the providences of God, whether of special mercies, or special judgements; and it warns us to beware of the same, in the enjoyment of any mercy, or in feeling of any stroke of God upon us: Here was this Beast, so wounded in one of his heads, as it seemed to be deadly; he was again healed: The Lord visits this Church with a deadly blow, by acts of his justice; and he also visits it with great deliverances, and acts of his merciful providence, and when he hath done, see his great admiration, and adoration, would you not think this should melt the heart of a Beast? but the Ox knows his owner, saith the Lord, and the Ass his master's crib, but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider, Isa. 13. Though this deadly wound be healed, to the admiration of the world, yet consider what little use he makes of it; when he gives him power to do what he will, what doth he? He opens his mouth to speak great things, and blasphemies, and he makes war with all the Saints of Heaven: he doth much abuse his glory. He was knocked on the head, because he would affect such vast Authority to be Pontefex Maximus; the Lord cracked his Crown, breaks the head of this enemy, and wounds the hairy scalp of such as go on in wickedness: He heals him again, and gives him great power; but what doth he with it? He abuseth it against God, and against the Church of God, and speaks great things, even blasphemies: So there is a nature in us that will abuse every mercy of God, to the corrupting of our hearts, and every judgement of God, and every deliverance from that judgement; one would not think what woeful distempers there are in our natures. If a body be stuffed with choler, it will turn the whole body to feed the humour: So it is with us, we turn all the providences of God into distempers and outrageous licentiousness. But you will say, he was a Beast, and the Church a Beast; we hope Christians shall do better. See it in Hezekiah, when the Lord had wrought great deliverances for him, brought the Sun ten degrees back, and avenged him of his Enemies; afterwards he recovered him from sickness, when his soul was brought to the jaws of death: yet when the Princes of Babylon sent to him to inquire of the wonder, that was done in the Land, God left him to try him, that he might know what was in his heart, and then he shows them his great Treasures, and works, and fortifications, that he had throughout his Kingdom: and it is said, He rendered not according to the benefits done unto him, for his heart was lifted up, 2 Chron. 32. 25. 31. You see good Hezekiah is apt to forget sickness: It argues the depth of the body of Sin which is not only in wicked men (such as these proud Prelates be) but in the Godly, in those that are most eminent in Grace, they are not able to bear great Sails; if God shows us mercy and judgement, it is a wonder to see what poor work we make. Many a carnal heart will say, if he be delivered from sickness, or if he be at Sea in danger, if he get a shore; or if in Prison, if he get but liberty, God and men shall see what a new man he will be: O the bottomless depth of a deceitful heart! let the Lord chastise us, and raise us up again, we forget our humiliation, and grow to exaltation; and if God help us a little, we grow to such out-runings of spirit as we exceed therein: no gift that a man hath, no ordinance of God, but he will thus abuse. And therefore we have cause to sit down in dust and ashes, that we should abuse such mercies as we daily partake in. Fiftly, Use 5. since this is the nature of wicked men, let God give them but liberty, and men give them liberty, and they will take it to the full: let God give a mouth, he will speak great things; and if he have liberty to speak great things, he will speak great blasphemies, against God, and his Tabernacle, and the Saints: Then this will be a shame to Godly men, if the Lord give us great things, a mouth to speak all the good we can, and liberty to do all the good we can, if we do not open our mouths and hearts to be speaking and doing all the good we can; It is not for us to stand snorting out the time which God hath carved out for us, but if a beast have this liberty; if you tether a Beast at night, he knows the length of his tether before morning; he will go to the end of it before he have done: And you see this Bishop the head of the Church, if God give him a mouth, he will open it: wicked men will take the utmost bounds of their liberty; will wicked men do so? why should not the children of God then, and all that fear his name take the like care to improve all their liberties, and power to do all the good we can? doth God give a liberty for laying foundations, for establishing jurisdictions, and liberty for well ordering our Families and Town-ships; if the Lord give us opportunities, why should we want a heart to improve them? If the Beast hath a heart to improve his wickedness to the utmost, why should not we improve all our Talents to God's best advantage, to make it our whole study to do all which the Lord requires, that so we may bear plentiful witness in our Generations to all the liberties the Lord hath betrusted us with. It is not for men that have received five Talents, that is to say, five opportunities, to render to God as those that have received but one or two; To whom much is given of them will much be required, Luke 12. 48. And therefore is behoves us all, as to know the liberties of Church & Commonwealth, so to set hand and affection a work to be doing all the good we can: If it were the Beast, take a pattern from him (but they must go fast that the Devils drives) he would improve all his liberty: And why should they not go fast whom the Spirit of God drives, and improve the liberty they have of God. And therefore it is for us to do all the good we can, and to leave nothing to those that shall come after us, but to walk in the righteous steps of their forefather's. And therefore let us not leave, nor give rest to our eyes, till in Family, Church, and Commonwealth we have set a pattern of holiness to those that shall succeed us. Lastly, Use 6. it may teach us a reverend use of the things of God, for all Blasphemy against the name of God, or h●s Tabernacle, or those that dwell in heaven, it is blasphemy against God. It is said here, there was power given to the Beast to speak great things, and blasphemies: wherein did that lie? against God's name, and against his Tabernacle, and those that dwell in Heaven: So that blaspheme any of these, and you blaspheme God: blaspheme the name of God, the Tabernacle of God, and those that dwell in Heaven, whether Saints above, or Saints on Earth, and you blaspheme God himself. And therefore it should be far from us to abuse any ordinance or providence of God, for it is blasphemy against God himself; they are the name of God; God's name is called on his providences: If we speak evil of God's ordinances or providences, as for a man to say, would to God I had never known such a woman, it is blasphemy; God's wisdom and righteousness hath ordained it. If we be in distress, or in any sickness, and we snarl against God, and mutter at our poverty and sickness, it is to blaspheme the name of God; all these are providences of God. To speak evil of Churches, as if they were Congregations of Heriticks, or Schismiticks, or Congregations of Rebels, or Libertines, and Brownists, and such like, it is blasphemy against the God of Heaven. Besides, it is blasphemy against the Body of Christ in the Sacrament, to think every Baker can make it, that is Popish blasphemy. To speak evil of the Saints of God on earth, to think to take liberty because they are absent; Our tongues are our own, who is Lord over us: Little do we know how tender God is of his people: we cannot speak evil of any in the Church, but we blaspheme God: And so if we speak evil of his providences, it is as much as if we speak evil of God himself. And therefore how precious ought the name of God to be to us, to whom our names are precious: It is but a scandal to a christian brother, but it is blasphemy to God, and therefore speak not evil, as thinking it shall never come to his ear. If we speak evil of Authority, of Churches, of Saints, or evil of them that do evil, unless you may take order to repress it, the Lord himself looks at it as blasphemy: and therefore we must not look at it as a light matter; our tongues are our own, and we may have liberty to speak: I, you have liberty, but not to speak blasphemies, either small or great. There is not the least blasphemy, but it is a great Sin, and therefore greatly to be avoided. Rev. 13. latter part of the 5. verse. And power was given him to continue forty and two months. THis is the continuance of the description of the former Beast which the Apostle John saw rising out of the Sea, to be the instrument of the Dragon's power (that is, Satan's rage) against the Woman, and her feed. Among other parts of the description (which have been opened) this Beast is described by the change that befell him, in his head, wounded, and healed; the effect whereof was, 1. The admiration of the world. 2. The worship of the Beast, and of the Dragon. The third effect or event was the authority or power that the Beast did receive, and did exercise, and that power was, 1. To speak great things and blasphemies; which accordingly he did exercise, in blaspheming the name of God, and his Tabernacle, and the Saints. 2. There was a power of continuance (as it is here translated) forty and two months. 3. There was given to him power to make war with the Saints, and to overcome them. Of the first part, to speak blasphemy, we have already spoken. Now come we unto the second part of the power given him, which is his continuance; There was power given him to continue forty and two months. The note from thence is shortly this; That power and authority was given to this Beast (that is, Doctr. 2. to the Roman Catholic Church) to continue, that is, to be active and doing, to be busy forty and two months. This expresseth the sum and sense of the words; they are obscure as any place in the word, and therefore need your more diligent attention, and the power of the Lord Jesus to clear his counsel and will in this point, who alone openeth the Seals, and none can shut them. To open the words. Power was given to him.] The word in the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which properly signifies the power of Authority or Jurisdiction; a sovereign kind of power (as it is here described in the seventh verse) over all Kindred's, and Tongues, and Nations: Such power that all the world wondered at it, and adored, especially that which they call the Christian world, did exceedingly magnify the power and authority of this Beast, and he speaks here principally of Spiritual Authority, though it grew to Temporal Power in making War, in the 7. vers. for he riseth by degrees to further power, but authority was given him: Given him, by whom? 1. By God, that put it into the heart of the ten Horns (that is, the ten K●●gs) to give their Kingdoms with one consent to the Beast, Rev 17. 17. So God by his wise and just providence gave him authority, such as God hath ordained in his word; but he put it in their hearts by his wise and just providence. 2. This authority was given by Satan, who assisted Antichrist in the mystery of Iniquity, in working signs and lying wonders, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness, till he lift up himself above all that is called God, 2 Thes. 2. 9, 10. And indeed Satan wrought mightily, what by the sophistry of the Schoolmen, and by the policy of the Canonists, and what by the devotion of Cloyster-men and Friars, it was a wonder to see how he gained a mighty power against Churches all the world over. 3. This power was given him by those States, the ten Horns which gave their Crowns with one accord to the Beast, that he should rule in their Dominions. The chief Kingdoms in Europe are in these ten; our Native Country for one, France, and Spain, and Navarre, Sweden, & Denmark, and the rest, they did with one accord give their Kingdoms to the Beast, that in point of Religion they should establish all Ordinances according to the wisdom of his sovereign power: And in Temporal matters they gave him greater power to depose, and dispose of their Kings, than the Roman Emperor had in sundry respects; for his was lim●ed by Laws, but this was without Laws. 2 Thes. 2. 4. He opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God. That without all power of Laws he did outrage out of measure. Given it was by their Devotion and Superstition, God piercing their hearts much in those times by the Ministry of their Friars, that did wound their consciences with the sense of their murders and lusts, that they were willing to do any thing for the peace of their Consciences, and therefore willingly gave up all their power and Kingdoms into his hands; so it was given him. Again further, he is said to continue.] Some Translations do read it, to make War, but War is not in the best corrected Copies, but making War is spoken to in the seventh ver. But making War is not spoken to expressly in this fifth verse; but power was given him to be doing; and as we call it in a general phrase, to be (a Factotum) the only doer of the world forty two months: That what he did was done, and what he did not authorise and allow, it was not done. If the Princes chose an Emperor, if he accepted him, he stood; if he did not accept of him, he was not received. If any decrees be made, if the Bishop of Rome establish them (which is the seventh head) than they are authentical; If he do not, than they are Apocrypha. So it is with Scripture; though it be such as God never ratified, as the Apocrypha, but what sense he gives it is Authentical; He hath power to be active and doing. This word than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which is here translated to continue, doth indeed so signify usually, when it is joined with words of time; you have many examples of it in Scripture, as in Acts 15. 33. it is said, After they had tarried there a space, the word is the same as here, continue. So in Acts 18. 23. it is said, After they had tarried some time; about three months. So in Acts 20. 3. you have there continuance or tarrying expressed by the same word: And Paul saith, Night and day I was in the deep, 2 Cor. 11. 25. the same word; he had his business there, there he was duly, he continued so long. But sometimes the word ever used with this word of time, signifies to be active and busy: So in James 4. 13. You say you will go into such a City, & continue there a year, and buy, and sell, and get gain; the same word here and there; you will be busy and gaining, etc. This same power therefore to continue and be doing, argues that this authority of power, absolute Sovereign power over Kindred's, Nations, and Tongues, this is here said to continue a matter of 42. months. Now for these 42. months.] I would not busy myself in needless speculations: but I find not any word of God a neednesse speculation for the Church to search into, and understand. We have had this number three or four times before: For it is the same number, of which it is said, The Gentiles shall tread under foot the holy City forty two months, Rev. 11. 2. And 42. months, if they be dissolved into days, make up just the sum of a thousand two hundred and threescore days, allowing thirty days to a month as the old account was wont to do, which is the same time of the two Witnesses prophesying, clothed in sackcloth, Rev. 11. 3. And the same time of a thousand two hundred and threescore days, or forty two months, is just the computation of three years and an half; that is, a time, and times, and half a time; which time it is said the woman fled into the wilderness, and was nourished there, Rev. 12. 6. So that all these are manifest to be contemporary (as they call it) to begin together in the same period of time, and to end together; The Beasts rising and continuing in power 42. months: The Gentiles (which is the Roman Catholic Church) treading down the true Church of God forty two months: And the two Witnesses prophesying in sackcloth 1260. days: And the woman's flight into the wilderness, and her continuance and abode there 1260. days, where she was nourished by the prophesying of those two Witnesses: So that expound aright one of these, and you clear the right Interpretation of all. Three questions therefore may be enquired into to open the durance or continuance of the authority of this Beast. 1. Whether this be a definitive, or indefinitive time? 2. Why it is sometimes reckoned by months, and sometimes by days: And 3. When doth this time take his beginning, and where doth it expire and take his ending. These things spoken to, will reach as far as God hath revealed to me. For the first of these Questions. Quest: 1. 1. There be that think this time is not a definite or determinate time, Answ. but indefinite; forty two months shows a good space of time, known, and determined by God, but uncertain to the Church. Now I must confess, that meaning doth not well sink into my heart, to receive it with any faith in God's word; for if God would have put a definite time for an indefinite; a certain time for an uncertain, I think he would rather have chosen (as he is wont to do) some such phrase as is wont to express illimited time, if it had been seven months, or ten months: Thou hast changed my wages ten times saith Jacob to Laban; that is, many times: How often shall I forgive my brother, till seven times? ay, till seventy times seven times: He doth not meanee, to limit us, but as oft as he doth offend, forgive, if he repent; or if he profess such repentance as you have no just exception against, forgive him: But when he saith 42. months, why not 600. months, for that is a definite time for an indefinite: why should he say 1260. days, it is not a speech used in Greek and Latin to express an indefinite number: no more is the time, and times, and half a time, usual in Daniel. Therefore I cannot rest in that Interpretation, though sundry have gone that way. 2. There be that take it indeed for a definite time, but they would confine it to three years and an half, for forty two months, or 1260. days, is just three years and an half, and that is true: But I cannot accept that Interpretation; and though it be common, yet our Divines do with one accord reject it: For this Antichrist which they say is their Beast (in which they say true) that he should come out of Jerusalem three years and an half before the great Judgement day, and prevail against Rome: But that it cannot be taken for three years and an half, may appear from the great authority he shall gain in this time, and the power that he shall exercise over all Kindred's, and Tongues, and Nations; now for any one in three years and an half to overcome all Nations, and to rule them by an Ecclesiastical and Civil power, it is incredible. The Leopard of Greece, which was a swift Beast, and had wings, yet he did not conquer the world but in twelve years, and it was a great matter to overcome it then: But this Beast is described to be a Leopard, but not with wings: now that he should do as much in three years and an half without wings, as Alexander did in twelve years with wings, is not credible. 3. There is a third Interpretation that make indeed the days, and time, and months definite; that is, determined and ●et, and do limit them according to the account of the Prophets that take a day for a year: A like proportion of 42. months, of a time, times, and half a time, and of 1260. days; taking a day for a year, they will all come to the same period, to the same computation of 1260. years. Now that the Prophets do sometimes so reckon them, appears from Ezek. 4. 5, 6. where the Lord did direct the Prophet to lie upon his side 390 days, according to the defection of Israel from the house of David, in all which time the Prophet did bear the burden of the defection of the People; and to represent that: Son of man (saith he) I have given thee to lie so long, I have appointed each day for a year; thou shalt lie so many days, as their apostasy hath continued in years: For from the defection of Jeroboam, to the captivity of the Land, they continued 390. years. And after that (saith he) thou shalt turn thee, and lie upon thy other side forty days, and that was the time of the renewing of the Covenant by Josiah, in which the Lord was reconciled with his people: but the people falling into apostasy again, it proved forty days more. And so when the twelve Spies had gone forty days, and searched out the Land, the Lord saith, They shall bear the provocation of their Fathers forty years, after the number of the days in which ye searched the Land, even forty days, each day for a year, etc. Numb. 14. 34. So that this is a Prophetical phrase in mystical Scriptures; when Ezekiel is to set out a vision for God to express his Justice, he sets it down days for years: Then it is not uncouth, but very agreeable to Scripture, to say 1260. days is so many years, and forty two months being so many days is all one, and those days being three years and an half, if you reckon every day for a year, they will be just 1260. years; that therefore I take to be most agreeable to Scripture phrase, and the sense of the words. But then here grows a second Question. Why doth he reckon some of these times by days, Quest: 2. and some by months? There may be a double reason of that. Answ. 1. When he describes what the Children of God do, he sums up their actions by days. Children of light, it is meet that their actions should be measured out by the period of days: The Witnesses prophesying, and the woman's flight into the wilderness is said to be 1260. days: But as God gave the Sun to rule the day, so the Moon to rule the night, Psal. 136. 8, 9 Now therefore when you are to speak of superstitious devotions, they are works indeed of darkness, and therefore are best reckoned by months, by that Creature in Heaven which measures out Night, the Moon: And therefore it may be, and so the holy Ghost useth it, if he speak of the Gentiles treading under foot the holy City, though it be by daylight, yet it is a work of darkness; They tread under foot the holy City forty two months, Rev. 11. 2. And if Antichrist be to continue long, all his continuance is but a work of darkness, and therefore he is said to continue 42. months: But what the Church do, and what the Witnesses do, is reckoned by days, but it is the same time, the one makes day-work of it, and the other nightwork. There may be also this Reason; That the Apostle in these Prophecies in the New Testament, might allude to the like in the old Testament, as to Antiochus whose dispensation was only a time, and times, and half a time. Now for the third Quest: Quest: 3. when this may be said to begin, and when it may be said to end? There I confess lies the greatest difficulty. Answ. 1. Some of our best interpreters pitch the beginning from the beginning of the Reign of Constantine, when the Manchild was brought forth, that is, advanced to Imperial dignity, which some make in the year 304 after Christ; though it be true, of later times, they will by no means grant his Reign began then, but two or three years after, and an easy mistake grows there; for when they come to measure out a Prince's Reign, they begin in such a time, and a whole year is allowed to it, and it may be the next begins in that year, and so they bring a variation in Chronologies; but you may not wonder in such mistakes, if there be four or five years' variation, that makes no great difference; God knows certainly; but through reckoning the last year of one, and the first of another, applying the same to both, may sometimes make a years difference: But holy Brightman makes the beginning of that time to be in Constantine's coming to the Crown, and thence expires the authority of this Beast in the year 1546. Now though his pains have been most serviceable to the Church of all that have written of this Book, and God is to be exceedingly magnified for him, and his Learning esteemed; that having such a Prophetical spirit, he spoke so homely and plainly, that without pregnant reason I would not pervericate his judgement: Yet as it falls out ordinarily, there is something amiss in the best humane Writers that ever wrote; Therefore let me tell you what doth not satisfy me: The first is this, that neither in the beginning nor end doth it punctually jump and suit with all events described. First, for the beginning, it is said, the woman fled into the wilderness, and continued a time, and times, and half a time, after the Dragon was cast out of heaven, and there was place found for him in heaven; And it is true, Constantine made war against the Dragon, but I cannot say there was no place for him in heaven, for this was the failing of the good Emperor, that he still allowed the Heathens Idols Temples to continue, though he shut the doors; and his Successor Julian the Apostate opened them again, and restored the Dragon to spiritual authority, stated him in heaven as before with a great part of the Empire. And besides this, certain it is till Grecians time, they all kept the title of Pontifex maximus which was an honour belonging to the great Priest of Jupiter, or to the Devil; Only Gracian, and Theodosius after him, being tender in conscience, refused it, than the Senate of Rome said if he will not be Pontifex maximus yet they will have him to Rome, and call him to Rome, and had it not been by a marvellous providence, they had wonderfully prevailed; for at the same time they did restore all the Temples as Julian had done, and established all the Revenues belonging to them, restored them all to the Priests, and the Devil had the place of worship as before; but the Lord putting them down by a mighty providence of his, through the prosperity of Theadosius, he utterly overthrew that title, and through the zeal of his spirit cast down the Temples, would suffer none of them to stand, rooted them out from East to West; Wherever there was any famous Temples, down he throws them; he utterly renounceth the Pontifex maximus, and will have no Temples; he doth confiscate the revenues to the Emperor's treasury; and from that time forward indeed, they never recovered, there was no more place found in Heaven: It is true, Constantine began that war in the Empire: but war, it is not a Skirmish or a Battle, it is not soon done, but many times continues long, as between the house of David, and the house of Saul, and that for some scores of years: So in this case, the war began with Constantine, there holy Brightman takes it most right; but for the accomplishment of it, for the Devil to be wholly cast out, and no more place found in Heaven, that was not till Theodosius time; now from that time the Emperors renouncing the title of Pontifex maximus, the Popish sort thought it was a marvellous providence for the advancing of the Roman Catholic Church, that is this Beast; so the next year the Pope took up that name, and holds it to this day: what ever the Pope's name be, it is Pontifex maximus, that is his ordinary style, not Bishop, or Arch Bishop, or Primate, or Metropolitan, these are but Images of the Beast, but the head of this Beast is Pontifex maximus, the chief Bishop of Rome: Now this was to the best observation that I can find, in the year 395. about 90. years after Constantine's time, or wanting one or two of that: Now that is therefore one Reason why I do not conceive that these 42. months are only at least to be reckoned from Constautines beginning of his reign, for they are reckoned from the time when there was no place found for the Dragon in Heaven, which was afterwards accomplished about 90 years after. Another Reason why I cannot go so fully with that holy man of God, is, because of the end of it, when he comes to 1546. It is evident that in that year the Council of Trent did condemn the Scriptures, and advance the vulgar Latin too be the authentical word of God: And Charles the fifth did prevail against the Landgrave of Hesse, & Prostestant Princes of Germany in the year 1547. So by that reason it cannot end aright, for the Beast hath power given him to continue to make war for 42 months; now he continued longer than so, though it is true, his time was limited soon after; and therefore I cannot with so full assurance go so clearly with him in that, as usually I do in his Interpretation, yet still reserving this liberty, according to the gift of the spirit of Prophecy he had, you may many times read the context of the word of God, it may be sometimes somewhat more exactly according to the true meaning then always is expressed; which I speak not to impeach the faithfulness and learning of the holy man of God, but would give every man the honour that God hath put upon them, make use of their gifts, and leave them where they may at any time mistake, the like liberty God forbid but may be left to others that come after us. 2. Therefore if you do a little more narrowly search the Text, and weigh every circumstance in it, you may observe (as I take it) a double computation of this time in respect of the beginning and ending of it; for you shall read which Mr. Brightman rightly observes; that the woman fled into the wilderness at Constantine's coming to the Crown, it is true, for so it is expressly said, Revel. 12. 6. She fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared of God: and this was before the battle was sought; and then he tells you of the battle that was fought in vers. 7, 8, 9; The end of which was, there was no place for the Dragon in Heaven; and now there is given two wings of an Eagle unto the woman, that she might flee into the wilderness into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time from the face of the Serpent, which is just 42 months. So that take both these places, and it will appear there is a double beginning of this time; the one from Constantine's Reign, the other 96 or 97 years after, there abouts it was, there is the beginning of it. Now if you take it by months, and take it not as holy Brightman doth, the Egyptian year, but the Roman year; methinks it is most probable to take the account of the Roman Affairs to be registered by Roman computation, not Egyptian, though it is true, Rome is spiritually called Egypt, but that's in another sense, they did not follow them in computation; and though the Egyptians count 30 days to a month, which suits well with this, yet it is not usual in Scripture; for roundness of number sake, they pitch a certain time of the month, 30 days for a month; and therefore if you count so may years in the Roman Calendar, you shall come somewhat near the account of the continuance of the Power, and transcendent Authority of this Beast; and if you so reckon 1260. years, if you add them to 300. and the odd four years after before Constantine's beginning, thereabouts it was; and computations are not clear, the expiration will fall somewhat after the beginning of the reign of Queen Elizabeth; And especially if you take the account from more exact Chronologies, it will come in the year wherein the Pope sent a Bull, that is, an excommunication agaist Queen Elizabeth to deliver her to Satan, which brought forth new treasons against her that followed every year, and brought her at length the Spanish invasion, hostile invasion; but from that time it was, that the blast of his power was then broken; that whereas before if he had excommunicated a Prince, it was fatal, he could never have stood out, he had been everlastingly blasted with his hopes, but from that time forward, it hath been truly said by some, that have spoken of this time, that from that time all the Pope's Bulls were but baubles; they could not prevail against her, though they brought the Excommunication, and fastened it upon the Cathedral Church as they call it, and afterwards read it; she going to prayer, used the words of the Prophet, Psal. Though they curse, bless thou, let them be confounded that rise up against me, but let thy servant rejoice: God heard her prayer, and marvellously broke his power, he had not the power that the great Bishop of Rome had, who by his power should rend rocks in pieces, and blast all before him, he never had that power after: God delighting by weak means to bring mighty things to pass: By her hand the Lord did maintain the low Countries, that this beast had great power over, his arm was broken there; and so against the King of Navarre by her assisting him; and so in Scotland, she mightily prevailed to break his power there; and so in Ireland, where she set her hand, she broke mightily his power, and the power of Catholic Prin● though mightier than she. She renounced the Catholic Church, that is this great beast, and cut off his head to her best understanding, which was about the sounding of the seventh Trumpet, Rev. 11. 15. When the Kingdoms of this world became the Kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ: For than did begin the seventh Trumpet to sound, which brought the conversion of Kingdoms and States; that though the beast still continued, yet he still lost his Authority which he had before; what he did approve before, that stood, and what he did not, that fell to the ground. Now he hath so much power, that if France be more pravalent, or Spain, he will take with them, as he thinks he may with his Catholic Sons for his own security: but his power is so blasted, that though he doth continue still, and will continue, yet a great Beast that rules all the world; that power the Catholic Roman Church hath lost, though he prevail with his superstitious inventions with those that are his in a carnal way, or from an opinion of their father's honesty, etc. But yet the power is not left to the Bishop of Rome to do all things, as in those former times he might; his word is not a law, nor his decrees so Authentical, they are now considered of, even among Catholic Princes; It is not now in his power to take up Controversies between France and Spain, if they will make war: Time was, they durst as well have eaten a Bear's foot, as have ventured upon any war without his liking; but that was the time when the arms of his power, and his jaws were not broken. Thus if you take this Scripture as Brightman takes it, from Constantine's coming to the Crown, it will expire then about the time when the Bull came forth against Q●: Eliz. and as they thought would be sufficient to blast her, and all the Huguenots with her: But yet that makes but one beginning and ending of this account, whereas the Text makes two; for in Chap. 12. 6. when the child was caught up to God, and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, than there was a great battle; that battle lasted 90 years, and then was the Devil cast out of Heaven, and his Flamens, and Archflamins were blasted with him, they had no power in Theodosius time: from that time the Dragon was cast out of Heaven, and persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child, and there was given to her two wings of a great Eagle, that she might flee into the wilderness: Now I say according to this, there is another computation of this time, there was no more place found for him in heaven which was in the year 395. for two or three years, we must not pinch much; it is hard to keep exact account by reason of taking up one year from the Predecessor, which in so many years come to sometimes more, sometimes less: Now if you shall take the Computation from that time, ('tis true from Constantine's time, the Church might fly into the wilderness; for it is true, the Church is made a wilderness if you set the doors of the Church so wide and pull down the walls, that whereas before, it was a Garden enclosed, Cant. 4. 12. now you let in vast territories, bring in the whole world, now you make it Catholic; now though it had no Catholic power; a Garden is made a wilderness if you pull down the pales, take down the narrow watch of Officers, and let in all men that will thrust in ambitiously to gratify them; The Church was full of covetousness, whoredoms, adulteries, deceivers, haters of God, and the true power of Godliness, even in his time, and so forward, was almost worn out, and never was so in all the time of persecution; but after that the Bishop of Rome had taken the stile of Pontifex maximus, and Theodosius slept with his Fathers, than the Church grew more transcendantly Catholic, and that they thought he would be Lord Paramount; but yet his transcendent power did spring as he was chief Bishop, than he was universal Bishop, for his power grew by degrees;) Now I say, if you take this latter computation, which also the Text doth, then if you reckon from 395. years, and add to that 1260. years, putting these two together, they will expire in the year, that shall be according to the Roman account 1655. I will not be two confident, because I am not a Prophet, nor the Son of a Prophet to foretell things to come, but so far as God helps by Scripture light, about the time 1655. there will be then such a blow given to this beast, and to the head of this beast, which is Pontifex maximus, as that we shall see a further gradual accomplishment and fulfilling of this Prophecy here. You must not think it strange that some Prophecies receive a gradual accomplishment; Sometimes you have a Prophecy of the 70. years' captivity, which is accomplished by the redemption of the Church out of Babel; yet a more full accomplishment shall be when the Church shall be delivered from this whore of Rome, and the Church of the Jews shall be called again. So it is here, according to the different computation of time, the wise God hath all seasons in his hand, he doth foresee, and foretell to his people when they shall come to pass: So that though the arm of his glorious power be broken, and his bones broken, that he is nothing that beast in power that he was, and hath not been since the sending of that dreadful excommunication, which was thought to be so dangerous to the famous Princess I spoke of; yet a power he hath over many Churches, and the power given him by the ten horns, they are not all broken; as in Chap. 11. 13. The tenth part of the City fell by reason of the earthquake: There was such a fall, that a tenth part fell, but yet a great part stands still to this day in some measure, that will take their Religion from him as they see cause, but not all in Religion neither, for the King of France will not yield to the Council of Trent to this day; it falling out that his Ambassadors did not sit in the chief place, he will not authorise that Council: Thus is his power broken, but yet it continues in some measure till a further accomplishment of it, but for two or three years I cannot limit that, for there may be some uncertainty by reason of the variation of Chronicles that have sometimes more, sometimes less in the beginning and ending of the Reign of Princes: But otherwise, about that time will be the expiration of the power and great authority of this Beast: But already we see, by the blessing of God, his power weakened, but we look for a further accomplishment. The matter hath required somewhat large opening, but it is a counsel of God, and given of him for this end, that it may be expounded and explained: And the Lord hath promised blessedness, Chap. 1. to those that read and search this Book; and therefore he would encourage all to search diligently the meaning of it, especially as God gives opportunity: It was that which John mourned for, that he found none worthy to open this book, and to lose the seals thereof, only the Lion of the Tribe of Judah: I think there is no man shall be diligently studious on this Book, depending upon the Lion of the Tribe of Judah for help, but he shall find something more than he did expect. It is true, if a man go in confidence of his own gifts and knowledge, he may fool himself; but if in modesty of Christian wisdom, and in the fear of God; the spirit of any Christian Minister, or other that lays hold of this Book, he shall not be sent empty away: What light God hath given me in this particular, you have heard opened. The use in a word is thus much. First, Use 1. it is a word of stay to the souls of God's people: It serves to strengthen our faith, that the Lord is exact in his Prophetical expressions: Look what he speaks, though it be many a year or day before, he will not fail to bring it to accomplishment in his time. It is truly observed, if God tarry long, a thousand years with God is but as one day, till the appointed time come: But when his time is come, than one day with God is as a thousand years: God will as soon fail a thousand years, as one day: Indeed till his time be come, he thinks it not long, though it tarry 1260. years; but when it is come, than he will not fail one day. It is a memorable speech that in Exod. 12. 40, 41, 42. The sojourning of the children of Egypt was four hundred and thirty years: And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the host of the Lord went out from the Land of Egypt: It is a night much to be observed, etc. He doth not say they dwelled there so long, but were sojourners there: And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the self same day, it came to pass that all the best of the Lord went out from the Land of Egypt; as if God would put some Emphasis upon it: The word in the Original is, in the bones of the day: It is an usual Hebraism, the strength of a thing they call the bones of it; that is, in the face of all the people, in the strength of the day, even when it was full day: God kept reckoning to a day; he will as well fail a thousand years as one day when his time is come; and till his time be come, we must think it long if he stay a thousand years: It must therefore strengthen our Faith, that God is the same God in the New Testament, as in the Old; that if we could know times as exactly as God knows them, we might write, in the bones of such a year and day, the bones of the Roman Catholic Church is broken, and lies bedrid; as it is foretold, Jezebel shall be cast into the bed of affliction, and all that commit adultery with her into great tribulation. Let it strengthen the faith of God's people in every time; for if God be so exact in every circumstance, what time he sets, he will keep, than it may more strengthen us in substantial promises and threatenings: and what ever the Lord hath spoken, be not discouraged, the Lord will make good what he hath spoken, he will not fail of a minute of time when his period is come. Secondly, Use 2. it may serve to encourage us the more to pray to God for a speedy accomplishment of the power of this great Beast (the Roman Catholic visible Church) that hath bewitched the world for so many ages together, and to grow this way in our prayers for the destruction of him from year to year: and the nearer the time of the accomplishment grows, the more earnest should our expectations be to see the accomplishment, and the more earnest our prayers should be. You read of holy Daniel, that when he understood by books, that the Lord had set the captivity for 70. years, than he set himself by prayer and supplication to seek the Lord, in Dan. 9 1, 2, 3. He takes this very occasion; he found it was written that thereabouts it would be, and he found that time was at hand, therefore he wrestles with God in fasting and prayer for the accomplishment of that deliverance: And so ought we to do; and indeed about that time it is, that in the Exposition of other Scriptures, that holy man of God that hath given light to this Book; somewhat after he encourageth to look for no small changes that may befall the State: So that it may encourage us to look for such a great mercy: It is a great mercy that the Lord hath discovered the vanity of subjection to the Roman Catholic Church, from day to day the Lord discovers it more and more to this country, and hath given us to see the true platform of a true Church, from which the Roman Catholic Church is so far disproportionable (to be governed by a supreme head, instead of a particular Church ordered by Pastors and Teachers, there is such a vast distance) that well doth the holy Ghost call it a great Beast, a lewd Strumpet, to undertake such an Institution. Therefore as the thing hath been odious in God's sight long, so let us pray that he will go on to break the power of this Beast: It hath not been in vain, what a blow he hath given to the Image of this Beast, by the late stirs in Scotland: True it is, before great deliverances, there will be great afflictions, whether here, or elsewhere: It is an usual providence to the most faithful ones of God: But what ever bitter cup the Lord may give us to drink of, yet the day of this great Beast is coming, wherein he is to go to perdition: He hath begun to fall before the Lamb; and if he begin to fall before him, say the Magicians to the King's Favourite Haman, Esth. 6. 13. If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely in falling fall; that is, fall more and more: It's true, there may be some pangs, as a Beast when he is going to his last gasp, he will fling with his tail, and with his horns; but he is falling, and leaves not falling till he finally fall; though there be pangs, as dying creatures, to win the horse, or lose the saddle, but otherwise he will never stand, that there may be a Factotum at that time, and will grow more and more after that time. Rev. 13. 7. And it was given unto him to make war with the Saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all Kindred's, and Tongues, and Nations, WHen the Devil, that is to say, the Dragon, could not find any longer resting place in heaven, that is to say, he could no longer enjoy Sovereign and divine worship as the great God (Constantine and his Successors having brought in Christ and his worship alone instead of all the gods of the Gentiles;) He therefore to revenge himself, makes war against the Church, that were the rooters out of Pagan Idolatry: This war, because he could not manage by himself, it being very strong, he therefore raiseth two Beasts out of his power, the first and second Beasts in this Chapter; the first, from vers. 1. to the 10. The second, from vers. 10. to the end of the Chapter. It was a third Roman State, not Rome-Pagan, nor Rome-Christian, but Rome-antichristian, that is to say, the Roman visible Catholic Church. This is described many ways, by a wound given him upon one of his heads for a season; that when Rome was sacked, he was almost in a forlorn estate, and despairing of recovery; but being healed, the effects were 1. The world's admiration after the Beast. 2. Their worship both of the Beast, and of the Dragon, which is Satan himself. The third event is Power, or as the word signifies, Authority (ver. 5, 6, 7.) And this Power and Authority did stretch forth itself to three employments. First, He had power given him to speak great things and blasphemies; He might speak blasphemy by authority. The second power that was given him, was to continue, or to be doing, to be acting and working all in all, for the number of 42. months, which in the former Chapter is described by days, and the days meant years, 1260. years, which have been at large spoken to. The third power and authority given him, was, To make war with the Saints; and that not a vain and loose war, but an effectual prevailing war, a victorious war: It was given him to make war with the Saints, and to overcome them. There was also a fourth power given him, and that was dominion over all the Kindred's, Tongues, and Nations: All Christian Kingdoms, they did all of them submit their Crowns and Sceptres to this Beast, the Roman Catholic visible Church, whereof the Pope is the seventh head, for he had seven heads, and ten horns: Five of them were fallen, the sixth then which was the Caesars, and the Pope he was the seventh. Two of these Powers have been opened; Power to blaspheme; and Power to continue, and be doing. I come now to the third Power or Authority given to this Beast, and that is, to make war with the Saints, and to overcome them. The note than is shortly this; The Roman visible Catholic Church had power to make war against the Saints, Doctr. 3. yea and to overcome them. They are in a manner the words of the Text, explained in their true meaning. The war that he speaks of (as I conceive) in this place, is not a spiritual war (though that also this beast did make, for he caused all that dwelled upon the Earth to admire and adore him, and that was spiritual war:) But he speaks of such a war here, the effect whereof is killing with the Sword; He that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword, vers. 10. As if God would reward him in his own kind: He that slays many thousands of Christians with the sword, that is, by the power of war, he himself shall at length be destroyed by war also: So that he speaks of a war fought by Arms, by slaughter and bloodshed, by open expedition of Military persons fight in the quarrel of this beast against the Saints of God. There is another war mentioned in the 17. Chap. of this book, where it is said, this Beast, and the ten Horns, that is, the Christian Kings, that shall give their power and authority to this Beast, shall make war with the Lamb; and they which are of the Lamb's side, are called, and chosen, and faithful, and here they are called Saints: But there you shall see it is not the same kind of war, but differing there from what is here; for there it is said, They shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them; but here it is said, He shall make war with the Saints, and overcome the Saints: So that one of these wars he speaks of, when he that hath smitten others, he shall be smitten himself; that is, towards the end of his Authority; then the Lamb shall make war, and overcome him; but in the mean time he hath power to make war, and overcome them, it is therefore a bloody war: And it is not said that he began this war as soon as he began to do; for here are sundry acts and passages of Authority, before he comes to this transcendent power to violent war: He was admired and adored in the consciences of all Roman Catholics; He had done many things, spoke great blasphemies many a day, and year together: And in the end he receives also this power, to make war with the Saints; that he was able to muster up such an Army of his own, or his Horns, that is, those Princes that were obedient to him, as he was able to make war. Now this Scripture (I conceive) was accomplished in his wars against the Waldenses and Albingenses in the 12. Century after Christ, they held all things conformable to the Scriptures, and the Fathers, as they called them, and every way Orthodoxal, only they blasphemed the Church of Rome, this Beast could not tell what he had against them otherwise; but otherwise he commended them for their honesty, piety, and good dealing, and there was nothing culpable in their doing, but that they spoke against the Church of Rome: now against them did the Pope and the Catholic Church procure many expeditions of sore war for many years together, and in conclusion rooted them out of the Country, and scattered them up and down, some to some part of France, some to Bohemia, some to Germany, some to England, and some to one place, and some to another: though the Papists did confess that the people were not rooted out, but scattered; and wherever they came, they propagated their Religion, that it was more and more spread where they came; but they overcame them, for they slew (as stands upon Record) about ten hundred thousands of them, and did burn up their Cities, and cattle, feled their wood, that there might be no more Heretics nestled in that wilderness; and they did take a course that Midwives, and Mothers, and Infants in the womb, all should be slaughtered by fire and sword, that there might be no more continuance of that Generation: So that in this War the Pope did mightily prevail, and prospered so far, that he spread all Christendom, and in one battle did overcome a great many of the Saints: Whereupon the Waldenses being warned by a Religious man sent by the Bishop of Tholouse, to confess the hand of God against them for Heretical pravity, in blaspheming the Roman Catholic visible Church, and continuing so long in it, and to turn to the Catholic Church: For their defence, to answer the Temptation that was put upon them, said they, it is written, The Beast shall make war with the Saints and overcome them; therefore it is no argument of Gods being against us, in respect of our Religion, for he may acknowledge us Saints, though we be slain to this day; and therefore though there were but a handful left, they would rather die, then yield to conformity to the Church of Rome. So you see the point opened: For the Reasons, First, how this Beast comes to have this power to make war. Secondly, how the Saints come thus to be warred upon. And thirdly, how they come to be overcome (for all these would be opened.) First, Reason 1. this beast had power given him to make war by several hands; First, the devout subjection of the ten Christian Kings to him, that gave their kingdoms and swords into his hand, Rev. 17. 17. God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their Kingdoms unto the Beast: The principal Kings of Christendom in those days came and gave their power to the beast, and by their power he was able to do wonders against all. A second reason and cause of his power to war against the Saints, Reason 2. was, because of the prosperous success which they had in the war against Christians a hundred years before, and that was in an expedition of Godfrey of Bulloign in Greece, and Duke Dalbo, that went forth to recover the holy Land (as they call it) to overcome the Turks and Saracens, and Godfrey Bullen, a Christian Prince, as they call him, they made him King at Jerusalem, there he continued, and prospered mightily in this war, and held it for many years together: and Christian Princes seeing the prosperous success of this War which he had raised up to recover the holy Land, and the Sepulchre of Christ; therefore upon the same terms that he did procure that Expedition against Infidels, he doth procure war against these Heretics, and out of the same notion there were gathered an innumerable company. A third Reason was from the zealous Sermons of Friars and Monks, Reason 3. exciting all Christendom to this War under the Standard of the Cross in promise of equal pardon, as if the Expedition had been against the Saracens, thence came he to make such authority to make War with the Saints, that if he call for it, it is done: He agrees upon it in his own Council, and he gives instruction to all Abbots and Friars, and Governors of religious Orders, that they should send out chief Preachers to call upon all the people, as in Psal. 94. 16. Who will rise up for me against the evil doers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of Iniquity? Sometimes complaining of the slackness of men to holy zeal for God's glory, and maintenance of purity of Religion, and sometimes a necessity of taking part with those that are Infidels abroad, and Heretics and Schismatics at home; They found their Explication amounting to that use, that whereas there had been many Heretics nestled up in this Country, therefore it pleased him and the Apostle Peter to stir up the Bishop of Rome to vouchsafe the like plenary pardon to those which would go to war against these Heretics, as those which had prevailed against Infidels; and the premise of pardon did so far prevail, that they shortly gathered together 300000. that in hope of plenary pardon of sin did give up themselves to go on upon their own charges; they would sell goods and Lands for pardon of sin, and peace of conscience: And in those day's men were wont to be troubled at the Sermons of the Friars and Monks, and never found settled peace by pardon from Christ Jesus, and never thought to look for pardon where it was: and they told them it was to be had by bestowing their goods and lands thus; and those Friars and Monks did so inculcate and drive the nail to the head in the hearts of people, that they were never at rest till they went about this Expedition, there were raised a matter of ten Captains, Simon Munford was one, a notable instrument for the Devil and this great Beast. The last Reason was, Reason 4. the superstition of those times, the deep devotion and dejection of spirit that was in the bodies of Christians in those days in regard of their spiritual estate: They being deeply convinced of sin, and sharply reproved by the Friars and Monks, who had a notable dexterity to sting the consciences of men, and wound them by the terror of God's wrath, sometimes for their great exactions, sometimes for their incest; sometimes for their whoredom, and neglect of the Ordinances of the Church; and they had things so full against them, that it made them strictly devout, and so were taken up in devotion to this great Beast, and the head of it, that all the world admired and adored him for his admirable and transcendent power, and keys that he had to heaven (as they thought●) they all yielded themselves, some their bodies to fight, and some that had not sufficient to maintain themselves, other good Catholics were ready to cast in some more, some less, to maintain them, according to their abilities, and happy he that could make something to make war against these Heretics: So that lay all these together, and you will see how he had this great power to make war with the Saints. Here was a great and vast change from the Institution of Christ, who confined all Churches into one Congregation, that all may hear, and all may be edified, that one Parish Church should grow to that vastness, to levy 300000. to the war, and that by a word of his mouth to have them all maintained without grudging, for every man did think the work as pious, a marvellous change: and well doth the holy Ghost say, He had great power, that the power of that Church should reach over all Churches, and shall have such an influence into Kings, that look what they shall dictate, all shall be ready, body, and goods, and life, and all to maintain them; you see the reasons of it, how he comes by this power. But secondly, how comes he to make War against the Saints? There is a double reason for that, Reason 1. one is taken from the profession, and practice, and conversation of these Saints: This was their practice, They followed the Lamb, as in the next Chapter; I looked, and lo a lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads: These are they which are not defiled with women, for they are Virgins: These are they which follow the Lamb whether soever he goeth: They kept themselves undefiled of this Antichrist of Rome, were not defiled with the whoredom of this great beast; in all things they consented with the Doctrine of the Primitive Church, and their hypocrisies, and whoredoms, and covetousness, were things that would by no means be borne; therefore the Pope, who was the great head, discerning he was thus contested against, and (as they say) blasphemed, he thinks he does nothing, though he destroy Turks, and Saracens, and Egyptians, and whoever took the Sepulchre of Christ, as long as those Heretics at home were not subdued, therefore he thinks it as meritorious a work to subdue them, as ever to fight for the holy Land. But there was another thing that made the war, for no war can be made but by levying of Forces on both part●. And therefore a second was, Reason 2. their taking up of Arms, in the just defence of their liberties, both of conscience and outward man: For if the Catholic Church had raised up all these Forces, and they had quietly submitted themselves like sheep to the slaughter, there had been no war then, there had been massacres: It would have amounted to that as the massacre in Paris, that a man did not lift up his hand, but they were slaughtered like dogs in the street: Though they come with fire and sword, yet unless they resist with fire and sword, it cannot be said to be war: Some set in against them, though their weakness caused them to presume, but it was to weak a business for flesh and blood; We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against Principalities and Powers, and spiritual wickednesses: They which trust to flesh and blood shall be deceived; as these men, they stood out, and sometimes prospered, while the Earl of Tone, and some other Princes joined together, though they were but few, they prospered; but war is not one Battle or two, and in the end they were overcome, and this Beast prevailed; and that's the reason of the 2d part, how he came to make war against the Saints. For the 3d, How came he to overcome them? Truly not by strength, he had very little that way; but First, Reason 1. he overcame them by their a little too much confidence in the arm of flesh: when they see the King of Arragon set on, they come to be a little set on by the power of the King, and a great Battle recoiled by trusting to the arm of flesh. You read in Heb. 11. 34. That by faith the Saints waxed valiant in Fight, turned to flight the Armies of the Aliens; but when our faith run in another channel, that we grow confident not in the Lord Jesus, by trusting in him, but on the arm of flesh; we know what is said in Jer. 17. 5. Cursed be the man (ye though he be a good man) that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord: It withers, it cannot stand against the potent Army that rise up against them; though their enemies were never less in number, nor never less provided, yet they prevailed more than ever before. The second Reason was, by their attention to politic and deceitful Treaties of peace; for when they saw the men were good Soldiers, valiant in battle, and able to fight it out, and they found the 3000. that were to fight for plenary pardon three years, had served out their time, and they had got as they thought, their souls saved, they would go home now, and they had got peace by this carnal confidence of theirs: So they perceived this war would be troublesome, and the Heretics were like to prosper, therefore they gather in the chief Leaders to Treaties about peace, and great pity that such blood should be shed; therefore for the honour of Rome it were needful to cease the war, and so would draw their chief Leaders to firm leagues of Peace, and then they kept their best Generals in Prison; and thus when they had got them to yield to their pretences, than they had their necks under their girdles, and their throats under their axes, they might hew them out of measure: Insomuch that the King of France hearing of such cruel massacre, he sent to know what their Religion was; and though he sent express charge that none of his Soldiers should offer violence to them, yet they concealing his Letters, they went on in massacring the poor Saints, and scattering them up and down, in so much that they prevailed, partly by the Saints cleaving to the arm of flesh, and by trusting their false pretences. And there is a third Reason mentioned in the 10. vers. saith he, Here is the Faith and Patience of the Saints: It was God's pleasure to make it the season of the Patience of the Saints: Reason 3. It was the season wherein Antichrist should swell to his height, and the Saints be brought low, and their Patience be tried to the utmost; and it being a time of the Saints Patience, it must needs be a time of their suffering; and suffer they did with much patience: but yet they were not utterly exterpated, for some fled to France, and some to England, and so propagated Christian Religion, which after turned to the conversion of many, John Husse, and Jerome of Pragues Doctrine grew and spread more, till God raised up Luther to set forward the power of the Gospel. Thus you see the truth of the Doctrine. For the use then, Use 1. First it may serve to let us see whence is the power of waging war; for the Text saith, it was given; To him it was given to make war with the Saints: All men cannot receive this, as our Saviour saith in another case, but they to whom it is given. It is not an easy matter for any to be 〈◊〉 to wage war, it requires great store of persons, and great store of Treasury, and Fountain to maintain both; And besides all this, it require● no small measure of Wisdom and Policy to undertake such designs: all these you see the Lord gives, and gives them to those that his soul take no pleasure in, and to those that in his esteem are men of beastly spirit●, yet he gives them power to make war: He may bless himself in his rule and bravery that they were able to 〈◊〉 against Infidels, and after against Heriticks as they called them, but indeed the Saints of God: but you see God gave power unto this Beast, which is therefore no cause of triumph or glorying that he hath received such a power, for you see it may be given to these that are enemies to the Lord Jesus. Secondly, Use 2. observe this much, That the Lord himself doth acknowledge even his poor children on Earth to be that which is commonly by privilege sequestered to the holy Saints in Heaven; He calls them Saints. We think Saint-ship is a peculiar privilege to the Saints in Heaven, when they have ended their days in peace and a good conscience, than they are accounted Saints and Angels; but the Lord accounts them Saints while they live upon the Earth, whiles they are the Church Militant, a warfaring Church; while men undertake war against them, and overcome them by war, even than they are called Saints. And which is wonderful, Saints when they are overcome, and that by their own sinfulness; for they lose not the Saintship, when they lose the victory. The Lord looks at his poorest children here as Saints, though there be a miserable body of death hang about them, that they cry out, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this Body of Death, Rom. 7. 24. Yea though they complain of their Pride, and Passion, and Lusts, and Hypocrisy, and many offences they find against themselves, though they think themselves more flesh than any, though they think themselves (as Paul did) Carnal, sold under Sin, (Rom. 7. 17.) yet then the Lord accounts them Saints when they are encompassed about with a body of Sin: Yea which is worse than that, when they give way to their own Sins for a time, and do withdraw their confidence from the Lord in this and that act, and put their trust in the arm of flesh: When they are so childish as to trust Popish pretences, when they are warred against, and overcome by enemies, and by their own folly; as David saith in Psal. 69. 5. O God, thou knowest my foolishness, and my Sins are not hid from thee. The Lord knew it, but yet he did not know it to hurt them, and loathe them, and dishearten them: but yet they are Saints, and such as he account to be his, and not only in regard of Regeneration, and the holiness of Christ, but in regard of the fruits of holiness begun in them, as he saith, Rev. 14. 4. These are they which are not defiled with women. They are sincere in their course, and keep faith and a good conscience in the main, and where they do fail, they judge themselves: Indeed in darkness of Temptation they may be surprised, but they judge themselves for it, and God looks at them as though they were without fault before his Throne; when it comes to the Throne of God, the Lord Jesus covers it with the Robe of his Righteousness; and in the intentions of their hearts and endeavours they are according to God; if they be carried aside, it is by humane frailty. Now this is comfort that the Lord accounts them Saints when they are warred against, (as here in the Text) and all the world thinks it a matter justly deserving Salvation to shed their blood like water, then doth the Lord bear witness they are Heriticks. So that let every christian soul carry this home with him, that it is not every act of unbeleif that makes a man no Saint, for these trusted too much upon the forces of others, and if they had prevailed, for God never fails any that put their trust in him; never do the Saints fail in any expedition to men but when they fail in trust to God, 1 John 5. 4. This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our Faith: He that believeth in the Son of God for Redemption and Protection, and turns not aside, whether he go forth with many, or with few, it is all one for that; if it were but David with a sling and a stone, he shall prevail against Goliath: The Lord is faithful, never did any faithful soul perish till his faith failed and shrunk; and then when Peter's faith shrinks, he begins to sink. But it may be a ground of much consolation to any Saint of God, the Lord doth not dissaint a man, or cast him out of the Catalogue of Saints for this and that failing, but still they are Saints, a Saint in peace, and a Saint in war, even when they are overcome; when they are in calamity, and the plowers plow upon their backs, and make large furrows, they are the Saints of God, still leaning to the Voice and Council of the Lord; and when they start aside to Popish pretences: Only when they cleave to the Lord, and trust steadfastly upon him, than they prosper and flourish; but if they begin to shrink in their faith, and to hearken to pretences and terms of peace, then wonder not if you see them overcome, yet still faith is invincible, and their cause and Religion is propagated by their dispertion, it was not destroyed. And therefore if the Lord accounts us Saints, it behoves us to be ashamed of every passage of our lives that doth not become the Saints of God. When Religion came low, and Antichrist overspread the world, the Lord accounted his faithful ones to be Saints; in this battle there was a Generation of Saints whom he owns: and therefore how much more should we that live in days of peace and liberty, bring forth fruits of holiness in our conversation, that the Lord may account us his Saints whoever came to make war against us. Thirdly, Use 3. this may serve to teach us the lawfulness of christians waging war in their own just defence. You see it evident here, the Beast did make war against the Saints, and did overcome them at length, though at first the Saints overcame them, and killed divers of them; they stood upon their own defence, and it it is not laid to their charge, but still they are accounted Saints while they make war: It is true, their confidence in the arm of flesh, and listening to Popish pretences was an argument of weakness, and timorousness, but it was not their failing to resist: and had they not harkened to those suggestions brought to them by those that lie in wait to deceive; had they not leaned to humane policy, and trusted to humane strength, they had certainly prospered. It is true indeed, when the Laws of a State are armed against Religion, though christians be fewer, or more in number, they are to submit, and not take up arms; and that was the constant practice of the Primitive Church, the Laws of the Empire being for Idolatry, they willingly suffered, though they were more than the rest. Or secondly, when the Laws of a State are ordained for Religion, private christians must lift up their hands, to right the abuse of the Laws, and therefore David being a private person, he would not lift up his hand against Saul, the Lords Anointed, though he did against Law. But yet nevertheless, if the Law be for the maintenance of Peace and Truth, and true Religion; and Governors and Princes will against Law, and beyond Law, and consequently against the Oath which themselves have taken to maintain the Laws and Religion, if they will make war against the Saints, and Religion, and Truth, or against the way of Justice and happiness, which they are sworn to maintain; now in such a case as this, It is as lawful to take up arms of defence, as it was for these men to take up war in their own just defence. Now they are not private persons, but in the place of the Country: The Lord he put the power of the sword into the head of their Guides & Leaders where they lived; and though they were by former Laws engaged by way of Homage, yet now they may take up the sword of their own defence and maintenance, in witness bearing to the Truth to the last blood: In such cases the case is much altered, for their Princes and supreme Governors, they are all subject to the Laws and Oath of the Kingdom, and they have no power but according to the Laws which are made: If therefore they take up a power against Law, and contest with the people of God, than this power which these holy men did exercise to maintain their peace against all opposition to be raised against them is lawful. For a fourth use; Use 4. it may teach all the people of God not to measure a cause by the event, nor persons by accidents that do befall them, lest they should condemn the generation of the Just. It was a grievous temptation Asaph lay under, to see the ungodly prosper, and have what their hearts could desire, and himself plagued all the day long, and chastened every morning, Psal. 73. 3. to 13. and by this means he condemned the generation of God's children: But no matter though the Beast prosper, and the Saints are overcome, yet the Beast is a Beast when he prospers, and the Saints are Saints, though they be overcome; therefore let us not judge of things according to their appearance. Fifthly, Use 5. It may teach all the Saints in this Country, or wherever, not to trust the pretences of deceitful men, especially such as are not sound in Religion, and take heed also how you trust upon your own strength (let me put them both together for brevity sake): We know not how soon any of us may be tempted in this kind, what wars may be raised against this Country (though we have none for the present, nor fear none) yet in time we know not what may come: what, are we better than our Fathers? The Beast of Rome still lives, his 42. month's is not yet out (though his power he much weakened) but his Agents still live: He is able to blow a coal to those that look for salvation from him, to do this great and glorious service to the Catholic Church and cause: And if it please the Catholic Church, than it grows a great business to root out Heretics, to blast them by censures of Excommunication, and Civil State; if it were so, we stand upon our own defence you see. It behoves you therefore, as you desire to be faithful to God, to Religion, to your Churches and Commonwealths, to your Wives, Children, Estates, as you desire to be faithful to his Ordinances, to the Kingly, Priestly, and Prophetical Office of Christ, to attend to that which these Saints neglected, that is to say, to attend to the word of Faith, and to the wisdom of God: Trust not upon the experience of your Captains or Soldiers, to fight by Land or Sea: Trust not upon your Castles or Vessels by Sea, any thing you have, or may have: Trust not upon the pieces of Ordnance, they are all vain things to save if you stand in need (and yet of use.) Be prepared in this kind, that you may be instrumental to God's providence, but trust not in them, they are but the Arm of flesh: And if Wars come against New-England, it will be from Principalities and Powers, and flesh and blood will not be able to withstand them: They will be Principalities from Hell, or the great Beast, the Catholic Church, or from the Image of this Beast, otherwise there is no fear of any War: but if any War do come, trust not in those means you have, nor though all the Natives in the Country were on your side: and if any great Protestant States should offer you help, use them, but do not trust in them. It was the way of overcoming the Saints of God, they trusted on the arm of Flesh, and that was their great folly, and that brought the hand of God against them; therefore see your Faith be sincere, and upright to him. Secondly, Lean not to the wisdom of carnal reason, nor trust not to fair pretences, you shall have your liberties longer established, only something or other you must give way to, and some principal ones must be singled out to treat of peace, but it was the ruin of this State: It behoves the Saints to sanctify God in their hearts, to trust upon his grace, to cleave to the word of God; trust what the Lord saith, and not what deceitful men say: It was a grave saying of an ancient Prince in England; Obey according to the Law, and you obey the King: but if you obey what comes suddenly out of his mouth, or against Law, you obey not me as King: And that is it which Christian Religion teacheth; no Religion teaches a man more to obey Kings in wholesome Laws; to obey them, it to obey God in them, for Princes are subordinate to God himself. The people do concur in making some Laws in every Commonwealth, and Princes have transcendent power over the People; and God forbid any should spring out of this Country to plead against their Governors, and weaken their forces, but keep their Sceptres fresh from one Generation to another; yet this is the best service done to Kings, service according to God: If Laws be made, let a man yield active obedience to them, if they be good, and passive if they be evil; but against Law, contrary to the stream of Law, to make a man think himself bound, in such a case it is to flatter Princes and Powers, and not to yield professed subjection to them. Therefore it behoves the people of God to know upon what terms they stand, that we may carry ourselves like loyal Subjects and Christians, that the name of God may not be dishonoured by any weakness of ours, and starting aside on any hand or other. Rev. 13. latter part of the 7. verse. And power was given him over all Kindred's, and Tongues, and Nations. We come now to the fourth thing which these words hold forth, and that is the power (or as the Greek word hath it) the authority which is here said to be given to the Roman Catholic Church, and that is, over all Kindred's, and Tongues, and Nations. The note is this, To the Roman Catholic visible Church was given very ample jurisdiction and authority over all the Christian world (if we may so speak) or as in the Text, Doctr. 4. over all Kindred's, Tongues, and Nations. And he means Kindred's, Tongues, and Nations of such Countries which were wont to be subject to the Empire of Rome, which were then counted all the Civil Nations of the world. To open it briefly: It was given him over all kindreds, tongues, and nations. Here are three words, and one include another: Nation is the largest; for in a Nation there may be many Tongues, and in one Tongue there may be many Kindred's. He had dominion and sovereignty over all Nations, or over the ten Kings; that is to say, the body of Christian Princes, and all the Nations subject to them, they all gave their power unto the Beast, Rev. 17. 17. No nation professed Christianity, but professed also subjection to the Sea of Rome, that is, to the Romon Catholic visible Church: And the Papists are large in this; Bellarmine makes it a 4 th'. note of the visible Church, amplitude of power, and he gives sundry instances: Stories are evident, that all Nations did profess this Religion (specially after the subduing of the Waldences, though they did before) setting aside that remnant of the woman's seed that were fled into the wilderness: Now no Nation in Christendid profess other Religion than Popery, especially from the time of Charles the Great, to Charles' the fifth, which was a matter of 720. years: There was no visible profession open, unless in some secret corners of the world: no Nation held forth any other Religion then Popish, nor professed subjection to any other Church. Now in every Nation there are, or may be divers Tongues, as in England, you have the English, and Welsh, and Cornish Tongues, besides others that are discrepant from English: But he saith not only every Nation, but every Tongue, that is, every Language, they all gave their power to the Beast: And in every Tongue we have many Kindred's, and there is no man that could ever say but some of his kindred have been Popish, or are Popish to this day, if not all, yet some of the ancientest, and those the greater part, here is the universality of it. And (I say) further, he had ample and great power; for to have power over all argues amplitude. It is said in the beginning of the 8 vers. (which I will take in, and open here) it is said, They shall worship him: That's a great power when it doth amount to inward worship, not civil, but divine worship. It was divine worship that he challenged, and all Nations gave him. To give Laws of faith, and worship, and government to all Churches in Christendom, that was divine power peculiar to the Lord Jesus. It was divine power to challenge toihimselfe imposition of Kings, and deposition of Kings without consent of the people: To provoke the people to do it whether they liked their Prince or no, this is transcendent above all created power. Besides, it was divine worship they gave, in giving him power over their Consciences, challenging to himself (and they also yielding freely) a power to bind Conscience with the Laws he gave them, to lose their consciences either from the Laws of God, in matter of Oaths; to lose them from guilt of sin, to lose their consciences from Contracts, from Confederacies, this is divine power; They all worship him, whose names are not written in the book of the Lamb, and some of them too for a season, but they continue not, God opens their eyes to repent of it, and to rise from under it. It was divine power to challenge infallibility of Judgement, to judge of Scripture out of the Oracle of his own brains: These were all divine worship they gave to the Catholic Church, and to the head of it, the Bishop of Rome. So that marvel not (as the Text saith) there was given, Exasia, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not a lame power, but an unlimited power over all people in Church and Commonwealth, and over conscience. There is nothing wherein the Catholic Church had not power throughout all Christendom. Now further, the Text tells you, All this power was given: He did not wholly arrogate this power to him (though he did so too) but it was given him, though he took it, and took all advantages to get it. No man can receive any thing, except it be given him from above. But he had it given him: Given him, by whom? by God, by the Devil, and given him by Christian Kings, Churches, and Commonwealths, and Families. First, Reason 1. it was given by God in his just judgement: God gave them up to delusions to believe lies, 2 Thes. 2. 11. And he gave two reasons why God gave them up to those delusions. 1. To avenge their want of entertainment of the truth in love. Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved, vers. 10. 12. Because they would not receive Christ, nor the simplicity of his government and worship (in Church-state) therefore God gave them up to Satan, and to the man of sin, and to the Catholic visible Roman Church. 2. That they all might be damned that have pleasure in unrighteousness, in the same verse. The Lord gave them up therefore to damnable distempers, damnable usurpations and Ordnances; the Lord gave them up for these two Reasons, and they are one subordinate to another. Secondly, Reason 2. this power was given by Satan also. For it is said, The coming of Antichrist shall be after the working of Satan, with all powers, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness, 2 Thes. 2. 9, 10. By the efficacy of delusion, which was by the juggling of those great men in those times, for efficacy of delusion is by miracles, so by deceivableness of unrighteousness, which is threefold; The sophistry of Schoolmen, the policy of the Canonists that made their Laws out of the Pope's decrees, still advancing the Popish Church, and the head thereof, partly by the devotion of Monks and Friars: And if you ask why Satan did this, there is a double reason of that. First, to revenge the injury which the Church did him by bringing forth a Manchild, a Christian Emperor to depose him from his glory, wherein he was worshipped as the great God of the world. Now when he sees he is cast off from the honour he had, and there was no more place left for him in heaven, it comes to pass that he pours forth a flood of barbarous nations and damnable Heresies after the woman, and makes war with the remnant of her seed, Rev. 12. 13. 15. 2. A second Reason that stirred up Satan, was out of the ancient enmity against Christ, and the seed of Christ, Gen. 3. 15. I will put enmity between thy seed and her seed, which is Christ; and all the seed of Christ, which are both public and private Christians, he hath an inveterate enmity against them all; and therefore he gives the Church of Rome all the power that Pagan Rome had. The third sort of givers of this large power to this Beast, and the head of it, the Pope was. The voluntary devotion of Christian Princes and States. Reason 3. They did voluntarily resign themselves up, and their Kingdoms, and States, and Churches, and Commonwealth, and Consciences and all, to the obedience of the Sea of Rome, Rev. 17. 17. They with one accord gave their Kingdoms to the Beast; God put it into their hearts to do it; that is true, but they were left of God, and acted by Satan, and so were they brought about to give this power unto the Beast. Some were brought unto this by the Pope's favour, and large gifts he bestowed upon them. Charles the Great had his Empire from the Bishop of Rome, and translated it from Constantinople to France, and Germany, and therefore he had reason to stand to the Authority that set him up. And the ten Kings of Christendom that rose upon the demolition of the Grecian Empire, which was then called the Empire of Rome, their absolute authority did much depend upon the Bishop of Rome; if the Grecian Empire had not yielded, they had been liable in conscience to restore these ten Kingdoms: In point of State-policy, they had cause to be much observant to the Pope: But that is not all, for they could never have done it, had not the Subjects yielded: And what moved them? Truly they were all taken with the Religion of the man of sin: That flood of Heresies and Abominations which the Catholic Church did hold forth (as in a cup of poison to the world) these earthly sort of Christians swallowed it all up. They were carnal, and yet superstitious and devout: Carnal, for want of saving grace and regeneration: And devout, for then generally Christians lay under the terror of the Law, as in Rev. 9 5, 6. The locusts came in, which were the Friars and Monks, and they had this power to sting their Consciences even to the death, that a man would give all he had for pardon of sin: Now having power to sting men's Consciences, but not to heal them; to kill, but not to make alive, they were now fitted to receive the Impression of the Popish Religion; and that religion to men so qualified and disposed, was fit to heal them overly, and to skin the wound of Conscience; and there are three things in that Religion that helped to skin over the Conscience. 1. The suitableness of it to humane and natural senses. 2. To carnal natural reason. 3. To natural Conscience. For these three concur, and that strongly in this Religion, to carry all Christendom after it. First, for natural sense: All that have travailed into Popish Country's know that their Religion is composed to natural sense. 1. To satisfy the eyes with goodly Images, and Pictures, and gorgeous Temples, and Vestures, that young and old are taken with these goodly spectacles. 2. For the ears; you know in their cathedrals what curious music they have, both vocal and instrumental. 3. For the smell, you have Incense and sweet perfumes to entertain you. 4. For the taste, you have double Feasts and solemn Feasts, many Feasts full of luxury and riot. 5. For the Touch; there is toleration of Stews, to give up their names to Stews: They will not suffer men to live, unless they give up their names to be free of such unclean houses: And if you commit any lewdness, than it is easy to come off with some light penanc●s; and especially the purse, that will do all. These things marvellously please the sense. Secondly, for natural Reason, it suits marvellously with natural reason. 1. To hold forth an historical & implicit faith▪ Historical the Devils may have: and implicit, for a man to believe as the Church believes, and he believes this Faith hath power to quench all temptations of the Devil. 2. To hold forth such a repentance as consists in Contrition, Confession, and Satisfaction; Judas reached all this: For contrition, his heart was humbled in sense of his sin. For confession, I have sinned in betraying innocent blood: And for satisfaction; He brought again the thirty pieces of silver; He would not meddle nor make with them. 3. To hold forth such an obedience as a man may be able to perform and keep the whole Law of God, which he thinks to be easy: And this doth please natural Sense to work our own salvation. 4. To hold forth pardon of sin for money, and for bodily exercises. 5. Uncertainty of Salvation. 6. Such a frame of Church-government as keepeth all in a politic order and unity: That all Popish Churches be subordinate to such a Bishop, as he is to some Metropolitan, and they to some Primate, and all to the Bishop of Rome. And why? From one unity ascends, and it is good to keep unity: And so to look at a man's self as unworthy to come into the presence of God, and to call upon Christ, and therefore manners would make a man cleave to some he-Saints or she-Saints, and they shall present their prayers to Christ, and Christ to the Father, which is very plausable to natural reason: And for our Fathers which grew zealous of that Religion, we should not damn them to hell, Reason abhors that. Thirdly, for natural Conscience; it will counter-work with God, and walk in equipage with God all the way, that is to say, for a man to look to find according to his works, natural Conscience hath this in Nature, it is engrafted in nature from the God of Adam, from his Ordinance in Nature, or the rudiments of it restored. 1. Election of Faith, or works foreseen. 2. Redemption of all men alike. 3. Conversion by the power of freewill. This is in the natures of all men, by the very Law and works of Nature. 4. Justification by works, natural Conscience dictates that; Do this and thou shalt live; do it not, and thou dost forfeit the favour of God; but receive it, and thou hast fellowship with God. 5. Perseverance by our own endeavours. 6. Glorification by merits of works. All these suit with natural Conscience, that Conscience is satisfied if the work be accomplished; if not, than they make satisfaction: If they fail in these works by giving way to this o● that arrogance that the work is not complete, than Conscience hangs in some dispense and demur: And if they cannot satisfy all in this world, yet they should do what they can by giving to this and that good use, and do penance for their sin: And if all fail, they may make satisfaction in Purgatory, and not sink down to the nether most Hell: These things be very acceptable to natural Conscience. Thus we see how it comes to pass, that to this Beast was given authority and power over all Kindred's, Tongues, and Nations. Obj. You will say to me, But doth not this cross some other Text, in Rev. 5. 9 where it is said, the Lord hath redeemed his people out of every Kindred, and Tongue, and Nation? If the Pope had this power over every Kindred, tongue, and Nation, where stands Christ's redemption? I answer, Answ. for Christ's Redemption, it is some out of every Kindred, Tongue, and Nation, whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life, but it was but a remnant: There is at this time a remnant according to the Election of Grace, Rom. 11. 5. But otherwise all Kindred's, Tongues, and Nations have been swallowed up by the usurpation of this Beast, and by their subjection to him: So that Christ hath his number out of all these; but it is the Beast that carries away the body of them, for that season especially: He did rule over them by a kind of sacred Authority, in the consciences of men, because he had this absolute power in Churches, a great power for 1260. years together: whether you reckon from Constantine's time, or Theodosius his time, he had a marvellous power in Kingdoms, Nations, and Commonwealths. But notwithstanding he had this power in those times, yet Christ kept the interest in his own chosen, as in Rev. 14. 1. where he had 144000. that were spotless virgins. Answ. ●. The Lord Jesus will at length challenge all his own, purchase them into his own hand, when at the calling of the Jews, all the Kingdoms of the world shall be given to the Saints of the most high, Dan. 7. 26, 27. The Lord will take them all into his own hand, and power and jurisdiction, but he must first throw down this enemy that hath usurped over his purchased possession: But in the mean time this Beast swallows up all for so many Ages together. For the use of the point. First, Use 1. it may be to refute the Papists that give this as a true note of the Church, namely, amplitude of dominion, as the Catholic Church had: They give this for an infallible note of the Church; now that note you see is here evidently ascribed to the people that worship the great Beast, of whom the Lord saith here (ver. 8.) their names are not written in the book of the Lamb. So that this is a note, not of an Apostolical Church, but it may be a note of an Apostatical Church that is fallen away from the Apostles Doctrine: It is a true description of that State of the Church. You see here Power was given over to the Beast over all Kindred's, Tongues, and Nations: And therefore amplitude of dominion is not an inseparable character of the Spouse of Christ; for it may be given to those that are not the Church of Christ, even to those that are but a Beast in the sight of God, not his Spouse. I may rather say the contrary, that amplitude of Dominion was never a note of a Church of Christ since the world began: For in the old Testament the State of the Church was national, and they had power over one Nation, and sometimes conquered others, as in David, and Solomon's time, they conquered the Philistims, & Ammonites, and Moabites, and Edomites, but it was never over all the whole world, and that dominion which they had, they did not challenge it by Church power, but left them still to their own Religion, for the Commonwealth propagated their power by arms, having first occasion of war given them by their arrogance to them. In the days of the new Testament, the Church that Christ instituted reacheth no further than to their own members, and their own members reach no further then to one Congregation, that all might hear, and all might be edified, 1 Cor. 14. 23. So that if Church power extends no further than the bounds of one Congregation; then that Church that swelleth and stretcheth forth her power all the world over, Kindred's, and Tongues, and Nations; what an outrageous swelling Beast is that, that reacheth such vast dominion beyond the proportion that the Lord gave to his Church? If you should see a body swell to such a vast bigness, that his arms shall reach from one end of the world to another, would it not be counted a monster? So in this case, the Lord hath limited the power of the Church within itself; it is a great power that they have, but not so great as to bind conscience, unless it be Ministerially, and so they have power to bind Kings in chains, and Nobles in links of Iron; but to have power, judiciary power over the Scriptures, and over the conscience, over and above the application of the word; it is such as the Lord never gave to any Church, but it is arrogated, and usurped by the man of Sinne. Secondly, Use 2. it may serve to teach you the proveness of your natures to that which is evil, above that which is savingly and spiritually good. This power over all Kindred's, and Tongues, and Nations, the Lord hath purchased by his death, Rev. ●. 9 He died and rose again that he might be Lord both of quick and dead, Rom. 14. 9 And upon his resurrection, all power was given him in Heaven and Earth, Mat. 28. 18. He prayed for this power, and the Lord promised to give him it. Psal. ●. 8. Ask of me, and I will give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance; and the uttermost parts of the Earth for thy Possession. This hath the Lord bought with his precious blood, and paid for by the power of his eternal Spirit; and yet never did the Lord Jesus enjoy this power to this day, which the man of Sin hath enjoyed for so many years together. He will enjoy it at length, when he shall call in the Jews, and with them the fullness of the Gentiles, and reign in Sovereign Authority both in Church and Commonwealth, according to all the Council of his word and will: But yet it was never known to this day that so many Nations did submit their thrones to the Dominion and Government of Christ, and to the Truth of Christ, and to worship him with the servants of God, notwithstanding the purchase which Christ hath made of this Sovereignty, and notwithstanding the efficacy of his prayer for obtaining this power, that he might have dominion over all. As soon as Constantine brought the world to become Christian, the woman she fled into the Wilderness: The true worshippers of Christ were soon trodden under the hatches, a mountain of corruption in Church Government overwhelmed them amain, that you cannot set the time when so many Nations served him, and were as ready to take up arms in his quarrel, as they have done for the man of Sinne. You will say, did they not for the recovery of the holy Land, many Churches conspire and lay their heads together, and engaged themselves for this War? why, when they they undertook that War, was it Christ that commanded any such thing, that Churches should engage themselves, and their Estates, and Lives, and Souls, and all for the recovery very of the holy City; was it not merely undertaken by the Bishop of Rome, and by the motion of the Catholic Church in a General Council? The Roman Catholic Church met in a General Council, and they agreed to set about this expedition; They promised pardon of Sin to the people, and in hope of that, and such like things they went about it. It was service to the Beast, not to Christ: God never acknowledgeth it as any service to Christ's Kingdom: It was for the advancement of the head of the catholic Church▪ but as any grew more wise, they grew more afraid of them. So that it is a wonder to see; never did the the Christian world give that Authority to Christ, as they have done unto the Pope, and his Institutions, which are not Ordinances of Christ. Yea let me say another word (which is above what I said:) It hath been a very rare and singular case when any man would acknowledge a particular visible Church, depending on no power, but Independent within itself: It is such a rarity that a man may here and there indeed find it in times of persecution (in 3000. years): But after the Church come to peace, it is very rare to hear such a matter till you come down to the Waldences, and Albedences, and those poor Churches that were scattered in the Wilderness. It is very hard to find the Church of Christ's Institution to remain in the world, whereas this Roman Catholic Church reigns in the world: This is a great power, and yet this power the Church of Rome had. The Harlot reigns over Kindred's, Tongues, and Nations, whereas the true Spouse of Christ hath scarce a subsistence in the world. So that consider, if it did not smite with our hearts to close with the Inventions of men, with satanical power rather than with Christ, it were not possible there should be such aberations from the Institutions of Christ, were it not for the impetuous licentiousness of the hearts of the Sons of men. And therefore when there is such a vast swelling, that many Congregations shall be but one Church; how shall we go home edified by such discourse? This belongs to all the Churches, to take the opportunities that we have, that we may not run headlong upon the devices of men, or our own wits, to that which is suitable to sense, and natural reason, and walking according to the light of natural conscience. Conscience was never so corrupt as in corrupt nature it is; and reason never so blind as in corrupt nature it is, and sense never so luxurious. A man is ready to please sense, his palate, his nostrils, his eye, and hand, and touch, and natural reason, and conscience, a manis marvellous free that way; so free, that the less a man discern it, the more he is captivated to it. And therefore let every man know that we carry about with us a principle of subjection of ourselves to the Ordinances of men rather than to Christ. If it be to speak to our own honour and applause, we have words at will, and hearts that run full stream that way; If it were to set out ourselves, or our friends, we are open hearted, and open mouthed that way: but if it shall be to give glory to God, in the presence of a particular visible Church of Christ's Institution, there we are marvellous unwilling to submit to edify our brethren, and glorify God. If it were to an Ordinance of man, it is a wonder to see how men will run and ride to give satisfaction to this and that Episcopal Court higher, and lower, and clear all scores there, that we may not be debarred of Christian burial, or Church Communion, though it may be we cannot have it with mixture of corruption, and can scarce close with it, especially those that are enlightened: But when we come to sanctify God, & his praise, and holding forth our own shame, there is an inward principle in us to consider whether it stands with our honour, and credit, with our peace, and safety; a world of carnal reason and conscience will work together in this case, and inwardly so reply, and muzzle the hearts and consciences of men, that it is a wonder to see what shifting and daubing there is, which they willingly give up themselves to, when they are called about the inventions of the Sons of men. Thirdly, Use 3. it may teach us, if the whole world have runthus mad and wild, to give their Crowns and Sceptres, Churches, Commonwealths, and consciences, to have power put upon all these of their own choice by the man of Sin, every Kindred, Tongue, and Nation: what a shame will it be if we be not as truly devout in our Religion? as it is said of Cornelius, Acts 10. 1. He was a devout man, a Godly man given up to God; So should we give up ourselves to the Lord, and sacrifice our credit, and profit, and whatever we have to the Lord. There have been men that have been content to forfeit all their Kingdoms to the man of Sin; The Emperors in Germany have given their Crowns; The Kings of England, King John in his time did as much to the Pope's Legate: And it hath been frequent with him, to set the Crowns upon their heads, and dash them down with his feet: These 42. months it hath been frequent with them to give up their Crowns to him, but much ado to run any hazard for Christ, though a petty jurisdiction: And yet none did ever truly run hazard for the Lord, but the Lord took up their Crowns, and maintained their cause and honour, and recovered what honour they lost. David by making known his Adultery, and by his repentance for it, did recover what Power and Authority he might seem to lose in the hearts of his subjects: It is true, he had lost his Kingdom, but was it for his Repentance? No, but for his natural affection to his rebellious Son Absolom, and his incestuous Son Amnon, that should have been cut off: He lost his Crown, not for his Repentance, but for want of executing the Law of God upon his own children, as upon others, there was his Sin: otherwise had he executed judgement upon his rebellious Son Absolom, as the Lord required (thou shalt pluck him from mine Altar, that Rebel) he had not lost his Kingdom: But if so be his natural affection overrule him, that he do not execute judgement, than no marvel though they cast him out of his Kingdom, and cut his throat at length, if God do not come between, as he did to David: But believe it, no man did ever loose by sanctifying God in his heart, by giving honour to him, and taking shame to himself: The Lord hath maintained peace in the conscience, & hath given it when it hath been wanting, and the Lord hath been pleased to sanctify their names, as they have sanctified his before men; whoever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words in this adulterous and sinful Generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the Glory of his Father, with the holy Angels, Mark. 8. 38. And it will shortly be the ruin of those things they would preserve, the ruin of a man's name and state, the ruin of his body and soul together, if a man shall dare in the presence of God to give the Glory do to his Name to a Beast: The Lord will be a swift witness against all the workers of iniquity. Trust God with your honour and estate; did he ever ●aile any man to this day? Theodosius did submit himself, and gave glory to God, and acknowledged his offence to Ambrose the Pastor of his Church, and to the people of God, because he had sinned against the Lord, to the offence of the Church of God: did it weaken his esteem? did not all the Churches hear of his repentance? Though there were some ruffinly Captains that would have had him cut off Ambroses head; no saith he, let him alone, he does it out of love to God and my soul: Therefore with many tears, and much dejection of soul, he sanctifi●d God in his heart, and was afterwards received again into the Church, not only to the great comfort of the Church where he lived, but of all others that were under his Government, and he never lost the honour of his Government. No man ever lost by submitting to the Authority of Christ, we may trust the Lord for that: Authority is more worth than our hairs, and yet he numbers our hairs, and all the comforts of the world are not answerable to it: trust him with it, as he that is faithful, and he will certainly provide that nothing shall be lost: commit your souls to him, as to a faithful Creator; and the Lord finding his name sanctified in it before the people, he will certainly sanctify us and our names before them as we sanctify his. Let us yield up ourselves to the service of his Kingdom: when men have been contrary minded, the Lord hath pursued them with fearful judgements. You know the case of Nadab and Abihu, Leu. 10. 1. They came before God with strange fire, and the Lord makes a strange work, and consumes them with fire. Annanias and Saphira that dealt deceitfully with the Church, some part they delivered, but kept back part of their substance: what followed upon that? The Lord struck them dead; you will say, those were in those days in which God was near to his Church. Believe it, the Lord is as near to his Church now (though not in miracles as then, there needs not miracles now:) The Lord will confirm his Truth, Rev. 2. 23. All the Churches shall know, that I am he which searcheth the reigns and hearts, and I will give to every one of you according to your works: As men deal subtly, he will deal subtly; with the faithful, with plain hearted, with conscionable men, he will deal faithfully, and all the Churches shall know it: the Lord will not have his judicature in his Church baffled down with partial, and Annanias his confession. The Lord will set his face against those men, and cut them off from the land of the living, that shall disregard his throne and Crown. And therefore it behoves all men whom it may at any time concern, to sanctify his name; My son give glory to God, and tell me what thou hast done, Josh. 7. 19 And he ingenously tells him from first to last, which no body ever could tell: but saith he, I saw among the spoils a goodly Babilonish Garment, and two hundred sheckels of Silver, and a wedge of Gold of fifty sheckels weight, than I coveted them, and took them; well saith he, thou hast troubled Israel, and the Lord shall trouble thee: but yet this acknowledgement was the valley of Anchor for a door of hope (Hos. 2. 15.) for their prosperity, and victory over all their enemies. So that if all Nations and Languages be thus ready to submit to the inventions of men, how justly doth the Lord challenge due subjection to his will, to sanctify him in our hearts, to throw down our Crowns (if we have them) at his feet, and glad we may do so. It is evident, Rev. 4. 10. that all the Church, (the four Officers, and 24. Elders) they all cast their Crowns down before him: Though they all did wear Crowns, all had Authority, yet they cast them all down at his feet, when they came before him that sat upon the throne, and before the Lamb: There they stooped; In the presence of Christ they threw down their Sovereignty; and let the name of Christ be magnified, and his Ordinances have free passage, but for them let their honour fall down. Lastly, Use 4. let it learn us thus much, to take to heart in these days the estate of our Ancestors and Fathers of old in those days: For if every Kindred have worshipped the Beast, than thy Kindred have done it, or Ancestors. We speak not in dederision of them, but they have all done it, the body of them (though here and there some may be left out) and all their power they have given to the Beast, to rule Families, Churches, and Commonwealths, and all our Kindred, and especially our Tongues have done it; not only those that speak Dutch and Spanish, but we have been more devoted than any Christian Nations, in giving such vast revenues, and Monasteries, and so large devotion to the man of sin, none have been so devout as English: It is incredible to tell the great payments they made to the Pope, it is not to be numbered. And if all Tongues have submitted to the Beast, than they that speak English, as well as those that speak Scottish, or Welsh, or British, the body of all Kindred's if not to this day. It must therefore humble us in regard of this their sin, which will be set upon our score, unless the Lord humble us for it: the contagion of their sin reaches to us, and his jealousy will cut off root & branch. God's jealousy is kindled by Images and superstitions; I will visit the iniquities of their Fathers upon their children: men may suffer much for their Ancestors, and for their Kindred, Tongues, and Nation. And therefore it behoous us all to be humbled for the sin of our Ancestors; and they hoped to be saved by the intercession of Saints, etc. This provokes the jealousy of God. Therefore if we would not have our teeth set an edge by these sour Grapes, it behoves us to be humbled, that the entail of God's curse may be cut off from us though it lay heavy upon them that went before us. Rev. 13. 8. And all that dwell on earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb, etc. YOu have heard that upon the recovery and healing of the wounded head of the Catholic Church, sundry effects followed; the Dragon gave unto the Beast a four fold power, Power to speak great things, power to continue and to be active 42. months, power to make war with the Saints and to overcome them; Power of sovereignty and Authority over all Kindred's, Tongues, and Nations, and that even to worship, that all that dwell on the Earth shall worship him, believing as the Church believes, and neither more nor less, submitting themselves in conscience to all their decrees, and expecting their salvation in the fellowship of that Church, which is divine worship peculiar only to the Lord Jesus. In the words now read, you have these that worship the Beast, that is, that give this divine honour to the Catholic Church, to believe as they believe, to submit their consciences to the power of this Beast, taking up all their observations for worship, for Government from them, not from God, and looking for their salvation in reconcilement with this Church; I say these men that do thus worship this Beast, they are described here by their state, by their spiritual and eternal state; that is to say, they are described by a denial of their elect estate, and that is expressed in a denial of the proper adjunct of that state, and that is, the writing of their names in the Lamb's book of life, for that is the proper adjunct of all the elect people of God, that their names are written in the book of life of the Lamb; these men men therefore being denied this proper adjunct of an elect state, they are the refore here described by their damnable condition and state; now this therefore is here predicated of them all, that their names are not written in the book of the life of the Lamb, who ever they be that worship this Beast; and he saith, All did worship him, save only they whose names were written in the Lamb's book of life: They that did worship the Beast, had not their names written in the Lamb's book of life. So then this book in which their names are said not to be written, it is set forth by the end, and by the subject of it. 1. By the end, It is the Book of life: Not that it was a living book, but because they that are written in that book, are written unto life, that they may live to eternity to grace and glory. 2. It is described by the subject, It is the Lamb's Book of life; either he is the possessor of it, God giving it to him that he might take notice of all the names therein, and keep them safe to salvation: or else he is the subject of it, as being the first and principal person who is written in it; for he of old hath been observed to be the head and chief of the elect of God, in Ephes. 1. 4. He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, therefore he chose him first, and us in him, as he is well pleased, first with Christ, and in Christ with us, Mat. 3. 17. whether you speak of God's everlasting complacency, or of the manifestation of it in effectual vocation, it is in Christ that he is well pleased; first with Christ, and in his name with us, so he is said to be fore-ordained before the foundation of the world, 1 Pet. 1. 20. So therefore it is said to be the book of the Lamb, the Lamb's book of life, because that the book is given to him, and because also that he is the principal person, that is first, and primarily, and fundamentally written in this book. I say it is first given to him, as if all the persons that God intends life unto, he did give them as it were in a scroul or book to the Lord Jesus, (but of that I shall speak a little more by and by.) In the mean time I speak now to the Analysis of the Text; but if you shall not tras●●●e it, whose names are not written in the Lamb's Book of life (but as it is here and indeed so it holds in the Original) the Book of life of the Lamb; Though it be the like sense, than it may hold out a further notion and meditation, and that is this. 1. That the Lamb is the subject of that life whereof it is said, it is the Book of life of the Lamb. 2. He is the Author of it, to the elect people of God, in John 14. 19 that holds forth both that he is that life to us: Christ as God-man is the subject of this spiritual and eternal life; and his manhood, so receives it as a common vessel to all his elect members, and because he lives, we shall live also, therefore he is the Author both of giving and preserving this life to his heavenly Kingdom. Now by this Lamb, I need not tell you is meant Christ the Lamb, without spot, John 1. 29. We are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without spot, 1 Pet. 1. 19 This Lamb is here described by his suffering which was slain, was put to death, a violent death: and that suffering of his is amplified by the ancient vigour and efficacy of it, slain from the beginning of the world. Now the note that first offers itself from this verse is this. That such whose names are written in the lambs book of life, Doctr. 1. they all and they only are preserved from the worship of the Beast: For here it is said, That all that dwell upon the Earth shall worship him, saving they whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of life, they shall not worship him; but all whose names are not written in the book of the life of the Lamb, they shall worship the Beast: So than they whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life, they do not worship him; (for if their names be written there, they are expressly exempted;) but they that do worship him, they are said not to have their names written in the Lamb's book of life: So that such whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life, they and all they, and they only are preserved from the worship of the Beast. It is a speech to the like purpose that you read in Rev. 17. 8. and upon the like occasion: The Beast that thou sawes● was, and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition, and they that dwell on the Earth shall wonder (whose names were not written in the Book of life from the foundation of the world, etc.) They admire and adore him, where he tells you of an ancient act, he doth not tell here when it was written, there he doth, that ancient book wherein from the foundation of the world they were written, and therefore before the world such as were written in the Lamb's book of life, were locked up to be preserved from the adoration of the Beast, and all the rest were left to worship the Beast. For opening this point, here a Question or two may be moved for explication of the terms of the Doctrine (which have been a little expounded before.) First▪ Quest. 1. Then it may be demanded, what is this Book of life? Answ. You read in Scripture of sundry books according to which our eternal state stands or falls (if I may so call them) that are said to be opened at the judgement day, whether at the last judgement, or some representation of the last judgement, it is all one for the Doctrine: In Rev. 20. 12. it is said, When the Thrones were set, the Books were opened; and another book, which is the Book of life: So here is one book, according to which, his Saints were judged, besides the book of life, but that also was opened. These books are truly observed by others, to be first the book of God's Providence, in Psal. 139. 16. which is also called in Mal. 3. 16. the book of God's Remembrance, wherein he takes notice of all persons and actions; that is, keeps as exact account of them as if they were written before him in a book, which day by day were fashioned, etc. In the providence of God there was a deliniation of all creatures and actions that should come to pass. There is truly also the book of conscience; for also in that God registers all our actions, according to which we shall be judged, the conscience bearing witness about our persons and actions, so far as they are enlightened by God. And you read also of another book; The word that I have spoken, that shall judge them at the last day, John 12. 48. he shall judge all the world by it, Rom. 2. 16. In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my Gospel: These books will be opened; the book of God's Providence, the book of the Scripture, and the book of conscience, by which we shall be judged. But there is also the book of Life, by which we shall be judged, in Rev. 10. 12. Now for the book of life that hath a double exception in Scripture, for sometimes it is put for the Church register, in which all are registered, as those that were the living in Jerusalem. Isa. 4. ●. It is said, Every one that remaineth in Jerusalem shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: Or as the word is in the margin or bigger Bibles written, To life in Jerusalem; In the Original it is capable of both constructions, Every man capable of life is written in Jerusalem: There is a book written of them that live there, of which it is said, Psal. 87. 6. the Lord will recount when he writeth up the people, that this or that man was born there: Of this book also you read in Ezek. 13. 9 where the Lord doth threaten the false Prophets, that his hand shall be upon them that see vanity, and divine lies; they shall not be as members of my people, nor shall they be written in the writing of the house o● Israel; they shall neither have fellowship with Church nor Commonwealth: There is a writing, therefore a Register, a Record of them, which in the Old Testament were counted Geneologies, and very carefully did they keep them; that if they could not show their pedigree from this Geneology, they were as polluted. Ezra 2. 59 as also vers. 62. where he tells you of sundry that came in among the people of Israel; but because they could not find their names in the Register, they were left aside till they could find further proof of their pedigree; they might be received as other Proselytes, but not as native Israelites, who were counted of the Church from the line of their Parents, and some of the sons of Barzilli, some of the Priests, they thought it more honour to fetch their pedigree from their father Barzilli, whom David had advanced to sit at his Table; and they thought it more honour to be counted of the house of Barzilli, then of the order of Aaron: And they, when they would have presented themselves to the Priest's office, they were not received: why? because they were not found in the Church's Register, and they had no direction from the Word to take Noble men's sons to be Priests, but only of the sons of Aaron: So this is the book of Life, it is called The writing of the living in Jerusalem; This is the book of life, the Church-book, it is nothing but a counterpane of the book of life, but not exactly agreeing to it; sometimes we put in more than God doth, and sometimes less: There be that belong to life whom we do not receive: Others they do not present themselves, or we do not receive through some failings in them or us; but if they belong to life, they are written in the Lamb's book of life, they may not be written in the Church book; but this is not the book here spoken of, the book of the life o● the Lamb: The Church is the body of the Lamb, but they cannot discern who are his: The Lord knows who are his, so do not we, nor the members of the Church, therefore you hear here of a distinct book of the Lamb's book of life, of which book it is expressly written, Rev. 20. 15. That whosoever was not found written in the Lamb's book of life, was cast into the lake of fire. All men therefore that are written in the book of Life, or in the book of the Lamb, they are written to life. Now this we cannot say of the Church-book; for as hath been observed of ancient time, there are many wolves within, and many sheep without: Sometimes the Church hath cast out her most precious members, both Officers and Members, sad experience hath made it true in our times, therefore that is not a certain rule, that if a man be left out of the Church, he is left everlastingly, unless there be such contempt of means of grace, as in those whom the Lord hath branded for such whom he takes no pleasure in to eternity: For it is said, whoever was not found written in the Lamb's book of life was cast into the lake of fire; Therefore this is some other than that book of the Church: What book is that? no other but the eternal record and register of God's election, that is, the Lamb's book, whoever is not found, he is indeed cast out into the lake of fire, being shut out from salvation by Christ, and then what hope of salvation is there in himself? Now of this book it is, of which Moses speaks, Exo. 32. 33. If thou wilt not forgive the sin of thy people, then blot me out of the book which thou hast written; not which the Church hath written, but which thou hast written, which the Lord hath written of life in Christ, in which the Lord hath written all the names of his Elect: This is the book out of which he desires to be blotted out of; such was the ecstasy, I cannot say of his zeal, but he was filled with such ardent zeal, that rather than such a reproach should be cast upon God, that he was not able to bring them to the Land of Canaan, let him be blotted out of the book which he had written, let damnation itself fall upon him, rather than the name of the Lord should be reproached by the uncircumcised Heathens; and in that sense Paul wisheth himself separate from Christ, for his brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh, Rom. 9 3. He doth not say, he would be cast out of the Church; but he found, that zeal for the whole Church, and for the Lord Jesus, that rather than the Gospel of Christ should be hindered, if it may stand with God's liking, he could rather wish such a wretch as he should be cut off, then that the whole body of his people should be cast off: This is the Lamb's book of Life, called the book of Life, not because the Lord stands in need of a book, but because those whom in his eternal purpose he hath decreed to save, his unchangeable purpose doth fix them as fast in his remembrance, as if they were written in a book before him: For that end his decree hath taken such particular notice of them, that if they were written in a book before him, they could not be more steadfastly and particularly recorded. It is a phrase borrowed from men, that when they would remember such a man, or such a friend, they set them down in a book; God stands not in need of books, but his clear, and everlasting love to them is such, that they are engraven as on the palms of his hands, as the Shewbread was present before the Lord continually, which represented the 12. Tribes, that his eye might be upon them from one end of the week to another, and the word which the Septuagints use for Shewbread, it is translated as the word which the Apostle useth, Rom. 8. 28. and the Greek Translators and Hebrew express it, it is the bread of God's purpose, or of God's face, and what is his purpose? it is not with him as it is with us, that whiles we speak of one man, we forget another; but his purpose is always the same; and these being the bread of God's purpose, they are ever before him from one end of the week to another, and from one end of the year to another, now that is the meaning of the Question, what is the Book of life? It is the book of God's eternal election, that is, it is the register or record of the names of all whom God hath chosen to life and salvation in Christ. Quest. 2. If you shall ask why it is called the Lamb's Book of life? Answ. First, because the Lord hath given this book to Christ, and all the names of his elect by name to be brought to salvation, and kept in a state of salvation to imortality, and therefore you shall read in Scripture, when God puts forth an eternal love to his people, wrought eternal salvation for us, I mean when he did eternally elect us to grace and glory in this eternal election of his, there was accompanying an eternal donation in giving them to Christ, Christ knew his father's counsel from eternity, and the Lord gave them to Christ by him to be brought, and he undertaking that they shall be brought to salvation, the Lord requiring that he should keep them to immortality; he shall work the means and apply the same effectually to the end of the world: This is evident from those Scriptures that speak of the grant, and of the gift of them to Christ before their effectual calling, though donation go before that; for from that love of God by which he gives us to Christ in our effectual calling, he gives us Christ, and faith to receive Christ; but before this, there is a giving, a donation of us to Christ, as John 6. 37. All that the Father giveth me, shall come unto me; So this coming to Christ is believing on Christ, and it is so expressed in ver. 35. He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that beliveth on me shall never thirst: To come to Christ, is to believe on his name; thus much doth he express himself; that all that the Father give him in his eternal counsel, they shall come unto him, to wit, in effectual calling him: the Father will draw none but whom in his eternal counsel he hath given to Christ; and whom he draws, I will not cast out, in ver. 37. to 44. So then when this act of Gods eternal election passed on those whose persons are designed to grace and glory, he gave all by name to the Lord Jesus, as if they were particularly registered in a book: And he promised, that in fullness of time, he would draw them to him, and required that the Lord Jesus should keep them under his wing to imortality; it is called therefore the Lamb's book of life, because he is the subject receptive of it. Answ. 2. And again, it is called the Lamb's book of life, because he is the head of all Gods elect; they are all elect in him, not besides or out of him, not as actually believing in him, for it is long before any work of ours, Rom. 9 11. Not of works, but of him that calleth, the children being not yet born, neither having done good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand. Election i● before any work of ours, God gives us in his eternal council to Christ, but we are not then in him by faith; faith is an effect of our election, not the cause of it: As many as were ordained to eternal life believed, Acts 13. 46. 48. But this is the thing; It is a true distinction that some give in that case; we are in Christ, not by actual existence in believing; nor as so considered, but by virtual comprehension: the Lord looks at us as in him, we are not in him by faith; but the Lord comprehending us in his everlasting decree, we are in him by God's charter, even children not born, the Lord hath wrapped us in his everlasting arms, in his electing love, promising in time to give us faith to believe on him, and therefore to come to him, and to give him to us that we may live in his sight; therefore it is the Lamb's book of life, as he is the son of man, the son of the Virgin Mary, to be united to the second person in Trinity, long before his humane nature was in being. Answ. 3. And it is called also the book of the life of the Lamb; if you have respect of referring to Christ this life, than you take Christ as he is the subject of this life, in John 14. 19 Because I live, you shall live also; I live, and then you live: and he is the author, the efficient, the procreant, and conservant cause of life in us to eternity; the Lord hath given us eternal life, and this life is in his son; He that hath the son hath life, 1 John 5. 12. So you see the meaning of these words, these persons that are thus given to Christ, elect vessels to grace and glory that are given to Christ, they are preserved from the worship of the Beast, and none but they, they only; for this purpose you read that false Christ's (whereof Antichrist is chief) Mat. 24. 24. They shall deceive many, yea if it were possible the very elect: It implies thus much, that none of them shall be deceived by all false Christ's, but all others shall be deceived; earthly minded men, and such whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life, they shall be deceived, the Beast shall go into perdition, and they with him, Rev. 17. 8. Not but that for a time they that are Gods elect may be taken with a fond admiration and adoration of the Beast, to believe as the Church of Rome believes, and may look for peace of conscience from the dispensations of the Church of Rome; it may be so as Bilney and Latimer, that were marvellous devout to that Church; though it pleased God that Bilney, you may read it in his Epistle to Bishop Tonstall, that being troubled in conscience, he had taken all the courses that their Religion enjoined him; had made confession to the Priests, and they enjoined him penance and whipping of himself, but for all these his wound bled as fresh as before; till in the end he took an English Testament, as it was translated by Erasmus, not with any intent to find any thing in it that might ease his trouble, but because he was a perfect Latinist; but reading that place in 1 Tim. 1. 15. these words did so affect him, that immediately the Lord letting him see his love in Christ Jesus: The Lord (saith he) let me see that I had taken a wrong course all this while; I have sought for salvation where it was not to be had, and prayed those to whom he spoke, not to take it ill, for it was not out of any neglect of them, but out of his faithfulness, having had experience, that the course they prescribed, that was not the way; but it so far prevailed, as that he was marvellously esteemed; but he was taken up by Latimer, he made Bilney hear him Preach a most fearful Sermon against Lutherans, that were then better than he; yet Bilney saw that he had zeal, but not according to knowledge, and he knew not how to come within him; but he went to him in private, and desired to speak with him, and he must not say him nay; then he up and tells him what a miserable wretch he had been, how he had wounded his conscience; how he had confessed his sin to this and that Priest; how unprofitable all those means were to him which they prescribed; and there was no means in the world to find peace till the Lord applied that everlasting redemption in the blood of Christ; why saith Latimer, he comes to seek for pardon from me to his soul; and saith he, I saw I stood in more need of being taught by him, and therefore styles him in his Sermon Saint Bilney, that caught his soul, and revealed that to him which he never heard of. Therefore it is possible that Latimer and Bilney may be devout Catholics for a time; but now when this electing love of God puts forth itself in the fruits of it, which is effectual calling; now they are fully satisfied that all this devotion, believing as the Church believes, they see they are so far out of the way, as faith is contrary to sense and reason: So that those whom God reserved and chosen to life, they are preserved from total and final adoration of the Beast, they may for a time through ignorance worship the Beast, as the best of God's servants in those times did, and many times have been most zealous for the Catholic cause; and yet when the Lord hath called them effectually to his grace, then, not one that are written in the Lamb's book of life do worship him; so that though they worship him before, yet now they do not, when they come to see their folly, and have the love of God made known to them. The Reason is first taken from the experimental knowledge of every child of God effectually called, Reason 1. from the evident experience that he hath of the vanity of the Roman Catholic Church, and of the emptiness of calling on any to look from Church power, to heal or wound the conscience, as of themselves, further than they dispense the Ordinances of Christ: and then it is not they, but Christ in them, and for them to look for salvation in the communion of that Church, and in reconcilement to that Church; They are so experimentally beaten off from that, and possessed of the contrary by their own experience, that you need not take them from adoring the Beast; for they see it is a Beast, and they shall as well utterly destroy their souls, as worship the Beast; and therefore the love of Christ constrains Bilney, and he draws Latimer, and Latimer draws others, till they have propogated the truth of God to all ages. But that, though it be one reason, yet it is the least. Let me show another reason why the elect of God, Reason 2. after the electing love of God comes to be dispensed to them in outward execution: For, before it may come to pass, they may worship the Beast, but then they will not do it finally: but when the electing love of God is shed abroad in their hearts, than they will not do it; and the reason of that (you cannot give a demonstrative reason but from this) to prevent impossibility, it is not possible that they should: now there are three fundamental reasons of the impossibility of it; two properties there are in God's electing love: There is in God's election, first, immutability, as God himself is unchangeable, Mal. 3. 6. so are his decrees unchangeable, the foundation of God stands sure, 2 Tim. 2. 19 and what he hath purposed, he will bring to pass: The counsel of the Lord is true for ever, in Psal. 33. 10, 11. he disappoints all the decrees of men, but his own counsels they take place for ever in every age, therefore it is not possible that any of his should perish; and perish they should, if they should worship the Beast; but it is not possible, his unchangeable decree keeps them. Again, there is another property in his electing love, which is the efficacy of it, for God's electing love doth choose us out of the world, John 15. 19 And if he choose us out of the world, the efficacy of that is, that it delivers us from the evil world: God electing us out of the world, hath redeemed and delivered us from this present evil world, Gal. 1. 4. Now if the electing love of God be of such efficacy, that when he elects men of his grace, he will in fullness of time deliver them from the world, than they shall not run headlong to the worship of the Beast, whom their hearts cannot close withal; the Lord redeems them from that vain conversation received by tradition from their Fathers, I, though there be such efficacy in the blood of Ancestors, yet the electing love of God redeems them from that: But that will more appear in the second Reason. And that is the faithfulness of Christ, and the efficacy of of his redeeming blood. All that the Father hath given me shall come unto me, and those that do come unto me, I will by no means cast out, John 6. 37. Of those that thou hast given me, I have lost none, but the son of perdition, that (but) is not an exceptive, but an adversative; he that was never given, was lost, he did not bring him on to salvation; For this is the will of the Father that sent me, that of all that he hath given me, I should lose nothing, etc. John 6. 37, 38, 39 That is, his faithfulness, and with his faithfulness there is such efficacy in his blood, that though the blood of Ancestors run very warm, that a man would choose to live no better life, nor keep a better house than his Father or Grandfather, but wish their souls might be but as safe as theirs, when men are once redeemed by the blood of Christ, and that is sprinkled upon their consciences, than the blood of Christ is warmer than the blood of Ancestors: though the Religion of our Fathers should be strong in the hearts of devout Catholics, as in Bilney or Latimer, then alas for our poor Fathers, what is become of them? they pity them, and see plainly, that unless the Lord led them a further way than the Religion of those that taught them, they are gone everlastingly, and then they wonder that God should ever choose such a dunghill, thee and me, that they see a broad difference between the Religion of their Ancestors, and that which they see now; but that is the efficacy of the blood of Christ, there is that efficacy in it, that it washeth away all relations to Fathers, to antiquity, and universality, he is crucified to them all; God forbid (saith the Apostle) that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world, Gal. 6. 14. So that though all the world run after the Beast, they will not; the world looks at them as base unworthy creatures, and so they look at the world. And there is a third fundamental Reason, Reason 3. and that is taken from the power and presence of the Spirit of God's grace, in the hearts of his people. We are kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation, 1 Pet. 1. 5. That is, by the spirit of God, and by the power of that spirit, he keeps our faith, and by faith keeps us in the way of his ordinances, and in the way of sanctification to salvation: Little children, ye are of God, and you have overcome these Antichrists; why? for greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world, 1 John 4. 4. The power of God is in you, they are of the world, and the world is carried away with them; you are of God, and you hear them not; for greater is he tha● is in you, than he that is in the world. These are three fundamental Reasons which are indeed the demonstrative cause of the impossibility of them to be finally carried to the worship of the Beast, the election of God will not suffer it, the unchangeblenesse thereof, the faithfulness of Christ, the efficacy of the blood of Christ, and the power of the spirit, and that which flows from it is the experience of God's love, and the virtue of their faith in Christ: Their faith is unchangeble, not possible to be rooted out, in Luke 22. 31, 32. I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not: It may be shaken, but it shall not finally fail; I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me, Jer. 32. 40. and that is the proper act of faith: Be not high minded, but fear; his mercy is sufficient for us, trust steadfastly on the grace of Christ; and though Peter seemed not to trust on the grace of Christ, yet in his worst state he knew that all the courses of Satan were vanity, and he durst not but in his heart believe that Christ was the Messiah: so all the elect of God know the Beast is a Beast, and the Catholic Roman Church is a Beast, and the head of that Beast is a beastly head, and they know that their Doctrine is sensual, and carnal, and that they all shall go into perdition; and withal, their experience doth evidently convince them, that were it not in a pang of temptation in which they are not able to abide by it, yet by a renewal of the blood of the Lord Jesus sprinkled on their souls, they are brought a fresh to see the work of God's grace stirred up in them; but otherwise their constant course is, as in Rev. 14. you hear them coming as on a stage, representing the Lamb in their carriage and conversation, and follow the Lamb wheresoever he goes: but for the Beast, a stranger, they will not follow; but both their faith and experience yield them a third cause, and that is, the spirit of God carrying them an end: My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me; but they know not the voice of strangers, they see a difference between good and evil; and therefore if they hear a man speak, and doth not speak of salvation by him, but of the world, or of himself, they will not follow him, John 10. 45. Thus you see the Reason why none of them worship the Beast: But on the other side, all the rest of the world do, meaning where Antichrists power comes, speaking of those times when there was great power given to him, to speak great things, and no man might say, Sir, why do you so: in that time when he had power to be active forty & two months, when he had power to make War with the Saints, and to overcome them, and when all Nations worshipped him, and did not shake off that Religion; but in former times, before reformation of Religion, this was an universal practice; they all, Nations, Kindred's, and Tongues gave their power to the Beast; and the reason of that was, from God's just judgement, for their not receiving the truth in love, therefore he gave them over to strong delusions to believe lies. Secondly, from the efficacy of Satan in the power of deceitful sophistry, and doing wonders. And thirdly, by the plausibleness, trumpery, and bravery of that Religion, so suitable to carnal reason, that they were carried away thereto, and it could not be, but they should be carried away by the man of Sinne. The use first may then be thus much; Use 1. If all that dwell on Earth, whose names are not written in the book of life, do worship the Beast, and none are excluded but those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life, than this will unavoidably follow, that a Papist by his Religion cannot go beyond a Reprobate; what he may, and renounce his Religion, is another matter, as Bilney and Latimer sometimes did; they were written in the Lamb's book of life: but by his Religion, take them that do believe, as the Catholic Roman Church believes, and believe no more, but practice that which that Religion directs them to, and go no further, and they continue and live and die in that, than I must pronounce it from the Text, they cannot go beyond a Reprobate, the reason is evident from the Text; for if none of them whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life do worship the Beast, and only they do worship the Beast, whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life, then if they be not written in the Lamb's book of life, the Text is very strong & clear in Rev. 20. 15. Whosoever was not found written in the Lamb's Book of life, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone: But those that worship the Beast, are not written in the Lambs, book of life, that is in the Text: Here are two propositions very evident; All that are written in the Lamb's book of life do not worship the Beast: But those that worship the Beast, are not written in the Lambs baok of life. Then the conclusion is, They shall be cost into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone: That if it appear that this Beast is the Roman Catholic Church, and the head of this Beast is the Pope: The conclusion will be most evident, that no man living and dying a Papist, can go beyond a Reprobate: I dare not say, but some that are ignorant, whom devotion hath carried to that Religion; it is possible some of them when they come to death, may see the vanity of that Religion of worshipping Saints, and of confining their Faith to them, but that is not by their Religion: but if they die in that Religion, and if their faith and worship be thrust upon them from the Roman Catholic Church, and they worship Saints and Angels, and believe in their own merits for their justification, I do pronounce to you, that a Papist, living and dying a Papist, cannot go beyond a Reprobate; I mean such an one was not written in the Lamb's book of life: And they that are not, are cast into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, that is the issue: And therefore what a fearful thing is it in such that do all they can to reconcile Nations to the Church of Rome, and are mad upon Romish religion? what desperate service do they undertake, to bring men to such a religion as destroys many millions of souls? It is true, Those that are written in the Lamb's book of life; God looseth none of his sheep: but it is evident they are bloody Butchers of many Christians not chosen, yet devout Christians, many an one under pang of Conscience, with sense of many sinful passions and lusts, are not able to get out but by a Priest's absolution; and if they be covered with a Friar's cowl, they hope they shall do well enough: Such a conscience as can be opened and healed by such wooden keys as these, if they know no more, such cannot be saved. I will not enlarge it, but it were necessary to be pressed and urged in some places, look not at it as a matter of curiosity and circumstance what Religion a man dies in, and think as some Statesmen do, that if it were not for hot-spured Jesuits on the one side, and hot-spured Puritans (as they call them) on the other side, Protestants and Papists might be easily reconciled. These are the whisper of flesh and blood; but that which is written in the word, doth bear express testimony against such a conclusion: For if Jesuits were removed, and Puritans too, yet if there were any left that thought they could worship the Church of Rome, as they require, that you must believe as they believe, your faith is built upon the Church, and upon the dispensation of the keys of that Church, such a faith and obedience as falls short of Christ Jesus, that all salvation is to be expected from him, if both Jesuits, and those they call Puritan were removed, if there were none, but that take up their faith and obedience in that worship they hold forth: I say there is not any one of them that so live, and so die, knowing what they believe, that can be saved. Indeed you read in Rev. 3. many know not the depth of Satan, and it is another matter what God may dispense to them in private; but men that know what they do, and believe according to the doctrine of that Church, and worship according to the direction of it: I say, men living, and so dying, there is not one of them whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life, and therefore shall be cast into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. This may teach us a true ground of any man's preservation from the pollutions of the world, Use 2. bewitching pollutions; sometimes a Catholic Strumpet carries all the world after her, as in those times: Sometimes the world swallows up the Church, and every man thinks him happy, if he may be clad with thick clay; others are taken up with provisions for their belly, and sensual Epicurean lusts, there be a world of such people: Now what doth preserve the people of God, that they are not carried away either with the Catholic religion, or with worldly ambition, they are not taken with these: but see the vanity of them; what, are any of us better than those that have been bewitched by these? but what puts the difference? The original difference is, God hath written them in the Lamb's book of life, and what he hath written, he hath written, as Pilate said: He hath written such to life, and his decree is irrecoverable: My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure, Isa. 46. 9, 10. Therefore there is the Original, from thence it flows, the Lord Jesus Christ concurring with the Father's counsel, he hath given us redemption from the blood of Ancestors, and redeemed us from the present evil world, and will seek up every straggling Lamb, and presents us spotless to his heavenly Father, and then the spirit of God, by which he works all in the hearts of his people that receives us, for Christ and the spirit; for Christ comes and takes possession of us, and so thereby girds up our loins to a dependence on him, and his grace, that we are preserved and saved from those fearful temptations that overcome others, and all the world are overwhelmed withal. It may teach us the marvellous freedom of the love of God; Use 3. and therefore to admire the wonderful love of God, the cause of all this our preservation from such prevailing evils as swallow up the whole world; how doth it appear? why, I pray you consider, when the Lord wrote down thy name, or mine, or any man's name, who stood by at his elbow (if I may so speak) to put him in mind of my name or thine? he thought of us, if our names be there, and he set us down, and he delivered us to Christ Jesus by name; what ever thy name is, he took notice of thy name; such a man in such a place, he will live in this or that Country, he is one, take notice of him, lay down a price for him; in fullness of time send a spirit into this heart; if he live in a Popish Country, save him from Popery; If in a worldly Country, save him from the world: where ever he lives, save him from himself, and bring him to my heavenly Kingdom; but what was there in us that could commend us to God? or what could there in us but what he appointed, but what he should put into us; he could not foresee any thing, but that he must work it, therefore it must certainly be his undeserved love that must take notice of them, and give them so to come to Christ, and all that the Father hath given him shall come unto him. The Lord will draw them, and then they shall come; in the mean time he keeps them from his Father's eternal donation, in John 17. 17. Those whom thou hast given me, I have kept. He hath not lost any, but one that was not given him to keep, he prays to God to keep them through his own name, he keeps them by his own spirit, and this was agreed on from the foundation of the world, when this book was written; and it was not written yesterday, but before the foundation of the world, Rev. 17. 8. His thoughts were about thee and me; and whoever is written therein, a matter of much praise and glory to God, that he should have such marvellous precious thoughts to us. Psalm. 139. 17. How precious are thy thoughts to me O God. And so in Psal. 40. 5. we read of the precious thoughts of God towards us; that he should have such thoughts, when time yet was not, neither we nor our fathers; and all he did foresee in thee and me, would but provoke his wrath; what was good he must work, and that was from his counsel: If you see any vanish away, or fall away from his grace, and from his Saints, and he hath no pleasure in them, they are not given to Christ, you see he is the giver of them; but if men be not given to Christ, they will fall away: All that the Father gives me shall come unto me, it is my Fathers will I should not lose one of them. If men will not hearken to the Bishop of their souls, the Lord Jesus Christ, see the desperate danger thereof, and the original root, They are not written in the Lamb's book of life. It may be of singular comfort to all the elect of God, Use 4. whose names are written in the book of Life: It is a great comfort that a man is written to life, he might have been written to death, had not the Lord been pleased so to do: You read in the Epistle of Judas, vers. 4. Of certain men crept in unawares, who were of old ordained to condemnation: The word in the Original is, forewritten, written afore-time to destruction: Now I say, that a man is not written to destruction, but to life, and to life in Christ; not as Adam, that was to stand by his own strength, and so long as he useth grace well, he shall live; but if not, he shall die: and he so used it, that if God give him not life in Christ, he died for ever: This is in Adam's covenant, not in Christ's, that was for a man to live by his own righteousness: Do this and thou shalt live, Levit. 18. 5. How woeful was our condition in this case, but to be written to life, and to life in Christ; that is, Because he lives, we shall live also: I am the way, the truth, and the life: And by this being written in the Lamb's book of life, that the Lord should think upon us, when we had no thoughts of him; nay had no being, that he should then undertake for us; that when the Father gives us, he will receive us; and by receiving us, keep us spotless to his heavenly Kingdom, that he will preserve us from possibility of damnable Errors: They shall seduce if it were possible, the very Elect, Mat. 24. 24. But there is no possibility; what a marvellous matter is it, that it is not possible that any of those that are given to Christ should be seduced; it is such a mercy that may swallow up all discouragements, all afflictions, all blasphemy of a man's good name and state, and wealth, and health, and all whatsoever; this may support him, that it is not possible he should be seduced: For the Lord knows who are his, the foundation of God stands sure; the Lord hath written it, and he is more constant than Pilate, or the Kings of Persians and Medes: The Law is written and established by the King's Ring, and God is more steadfast than any of the Kings of the Earth, what he hath written shall be accomplished; the Lord will draw them to Christ, and Christ will keep them, not one of them shall perish, not one of them shall worship the Beast; or if they do, they soon see their folly, and are recovered out of all snares, they shall not prevail against them. It may be of instruction and exhortation, Use 5. to provoke you to make your election sure, than you make your salvation sure, and preservation from Popery and the world, and from the Devil, and from your own corrupt Nature, sure that you shall not be carried captive with the pollutions of the times and places you live in, though hundreds run from God one way, and ten thousands another way, & fall off hither and thither, yet you shall still be preserved: in John 6. 68 where our Saviour asked his Disciples, will ye also go away? when many of those that were his Disciples went away and fell off from him, being offended from something which he had spoken to them, and that was that Doctrine that we have now in hand, and some other corollaries from it, they walked no more with him; then saith Christ to the rest, will ye also go away? Peter answered in the behalf of the rest; Lord, to whom shall we go, thou hast the words of eternal life: As who should say, whether shall a man go to mend himself? Thou hast the words of eternal life? and having the words of eternal life, how shall they do better else where? so it behoves us then as we desire, to be preserved from all apostasy and backsliding from God, notwithstanding all the temptations of the flattering world, or busy world, or from the destroying world, by persecution, and flattering by prosperity, and busy world, by the cares of the world, and continual cumber about the world, and distempers in our hearts on that ground, in such a case as this what shall preserve us? If our names be written in the Lamb's book of life, truly we shall be preserved, that neither the world, nor our passions and lusts shall prevail against us. My father (saith Christ) is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand: and I and my Father are one, my Father and I will keep them, Joh. 10. 27, 28. Obj. You will say, it is a needless exhortation to make our election sure, if that be not done long ago; for it is not begun in this world, but long before; it is concluded long before, or else we are not written in the Lamb's book of life; one of these two is concluded in Heaven: Christ knows those that are given to him by his Father, before he knows them by name, John 10. 14. It is worthy of memory that Christ knows them all by name, that argues the particularity and singularity of them, as he knows all the Stars in Heaven, so doth he much more know all his elect; if he know them all by name, he then particularly observes them, and prevents us with blessings of goodness, and preserves us from prevailing evils, but if it be recorded of God, is it not in vain to exhort to make it sure. Answ. If it were in vain, methinks the Apostle should not have used it, 2 Pet. 1. 10. Then that is it that lies upon all Christians; some think it is not possible, but than it were a vain exhortation, Make your calling and election sure; if you do, a wide and open door of entrance shall be minished unto you; well than though I cannot make sure my election in itself, for it is sure in itself; but the Question is, whether it it is sure to me, that is my duty, for he knows who 〈…〉, and knows them by name, and keeps them in his name, and hath given his Angels charge over us, and they will all watch over us, and therefore our Saviour in Luke 10. 20. saith to his Disciples, Rejoice not in this that the Devils are subject unto you, but that your names are written in Heaven. Our election is sure enough in heaven, no storms will alter it there: But now (in a word) can we make our election sure? the Apostle intimates when you make your calling sure, you make your election sure: your calling, that is but the actual execution of this eternal election; but they are so near, that many the Lord puts them one for another, he tells his Disciples, you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, John 15. 16. he means of his selection, his calling them out of the world, than he doth communicate his electing love to such; it is wrought for us before in Christ's death, in God's council, and in his effectual redemption, wrought for us on the Cross: but yet it is not manifest to our consciences till calling, but make your calling sure, and then election is sure: When you are called according to his purpose, Rom. 8. 28. that is this book of life, that is his purpose, that we are in God's purpose written to life, look to that he hath saved us, and called us, Not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus, 2 Tim. 1. 8. that is the book of life and grace; of free grace, purposing us to life; and you read in Rom. 8. 30. Whom he predestinated, them he hath called; and whom he called, them he justified: now if a man be effectually called to grace that doth search election, let me briefly touch it, that which makes sure calling. 1. In our effectual calling, there is a declaration of God's love to the soul in Christ Jesus by the spirit of grace, in the doctrine of the Gospel, for that is Gods call; in our calling, God calls for his part by his grace and spirit, and we answer that spirit, by that faith, which by the call of God is wrought in our hearts; I say, God calls effectually to his grace by manifesting the rich grace of God in Christ, electing freely, calling freely, from the obedience of sin and Satan, to the liberty of the sons of God, as to those in Queen Mary's time, when they wandered up & down like Lambs in a large place: Bilney he fetches in that one word in his lost and forlorn condition; He read this promise, and the spirit of God applies it; Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief: This being applied by the spirit, it falls on him with power, and he sees the goodness of God in Christ, and the vanity of all things else: and seeing so much glory in Christ, and in particular to him also, this lets him see the vanity of all other courses; for this manifestation of God's spirit doth effectually and manifestly open our eyes to see, and hearts to believe what the Lord offers, for faith is said to receive what the Lord gives of grace; here is then that which makes calling sure, for otherwise how can we know it, but by the manifestation, and declaration, and revelation of the Spirit: The things that eye never saw, nor ear heard, nor ever entered into the heart of man, but he hath revealed them by his spirit, 1 Cor. 2. 9, 10. As no man knows the things of man, but the spirit of man, so no man knows the things of God, but the spirit of God: And we have not received the spirit of this world, but the spirit which is of God, that we may know the things that are freely given us of God. The spirit of God it is that searcheth all things, even the deep things of God, and reveals them to us, and lets us see the treasures of grace, and lets us see them thus applied, this is the ground of effectual calling, God calling by his spirit, and we answering that call, and from both these springs another fruit of our effectual calling, which is likewise a certain pledge of it that being thus called: Blessed be God (saith the Apostle) that hath called us to the fellowship of his son actually and effectually. 2. Thence it comes to pass, that we choose the Lord for our God: We have none in heaven but him, nor none on earth that we desire in comparison of him: Away then with those beautiful Strumpets, and all works of iniquity, and ways of darkness, ways of ambition, these are all blasted; now I desire to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified, 1 Cor. 2. 2. and now it is, that he rejoiceth in nothing, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, Gal. 6. 14. Now this electing love in that we elect God, we could never choose God, had not he chosen us, and in some measure discovered what his electing love was to us, this brings the heart back again to choose him, and none but him: now that is another security of our election, and therein it differs from all others; a man may have a kind of sanctification by common gifts, which will leave him still to work for himself, but this is to abuse the very gifts of God, which the spirit hath wrought in us, though they be not such as accompany salvation, still we are not lift up above ourselves, but when we are called effectually to Christ; now no motion sways us, but as we see the will of God in it, we cannot believe as the Church believes: but we believe our brethren and the Church, as we see the Church follows the footsteps of the will of God; If I now please men (saith the Apostle) I am not the servant of Christ, 1 Thes. 2. 4. Nor of men sought we glory, when we might have been burden some, as the Apostles of Christ: If a man be left to fast for himself, or pray for himself, or work for himself, and all is for himself, that he work● from a principal respect unto himself, truly this will darken a man's effectual calling; and if it be his constant course, doubtless his heart is not right with God: It is true, in a pang of temptation a man may be wheeled about, as Peter and David, yet the sight of God's electing love quickens them to see their sin, how far they are turned aside from God; but there 〈◊〉 soul is bend, as it were, with the point of a compass touched with a Loadstone, it may be jogged by winds and storms, yet it looks still to the North pole; though you may shake it from its course, yet let it but stand a while, it will directly look to the North pole, there it will stand; so it is with all the children of God, they cannot but work; for Christ in John 16. 14. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and give it unto you: So that the heart that is sincere, it works from Christ, and for Christ, and with Christ; I laboured more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me, 1 Cor. 15. 10. So that you see what the manner of God's people in this case is, they are from Christ, and for Christ, and with Christ, and it is a seal of God's election; the highest seal is, God knows who are his, and that seal he manifests by his spirit in the Gospel, it is the spirit that seals up our adoption, and here is another seal we set to our seal, while we cleave to him with all our heart and soul, and seek after him, and have none in heaven but him, nor on Earth that we desire in comparison of him. And thirdly, the last assurance of a man's election and calling (which I shall name at this time) is that which Peter himself doth express, in 2 Pet. 1. Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure; How shall they do that? he tells us in ver. 5. Moreover add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, etc. He reckons sundry sorts of graces, and he calls upon them to add grace to grace and one degree of grace to another; and (saith he) if these things dwell in you, and abound, by this means an open entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as if men that did not grow in grace, and g●ow from grace to grace; if they get to heaven at length, they must mend their p●ce, thrust and crowd for it; but if these things be in you and abound, so an open entrance shall be ministered unto you; as if the great gates of Heaven were opened to you: there must be a growing, you are blind else, and cannot see afar off; you shall not see your state, unless you grow from faith to faith, and from knowledge to knowledge, than an open entrance shall be ministered to you, that you shall die in full assurance of faith, and of the love of God: And thus shall a man make his calling and election sure; and by so doing, he shall make sure to himself his preservation from this world, and shall be translated to everlasting rest wi●h the Lord in due time, where there shall be neither false Prophet, nor Jesuit●, nor worldlings, whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life. Rev. 13. 8. latter part of the vers. The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. THere remains now the latter part of this vers, which is a description of Jesus Christ: and he is described. 1. By the similitude of a Lamb. 2. By his passion; He is slain: And 3. By the antiquity of it; He is slain from the foundation of the world. The note is this: The Lord Jesus Christ was as a Lamb; Doctrine 2. and though a Lamb, yet was slain: and though slain in fullness of time (about 4000 years after the world began) yet in effect he was slain from the foundation of the world. This is the sum of this latter part of the verse. Not to stay long in any of these things, and put to stay upon them, because they are principles of our Christian faith; and principles may not be passed over in haste, especially considering the handling of them is a special branch of our calling. Behold the Lamb of God (saith John) that taketh away the sins of the world, John 1. 29. 36. It was his particular office to point at Christ, and he doth it under the notion of a Lamb: So it is said, A Lamb stood upon mount Zion, Rev. 14. 1. Now why a Lamb? In a double respect (and I speak of no more than what the Scripture hath respect unto:) First, in respect of his innocency. 2ly. In respect of his meekness and patience. 1. His innocency. 1. In his birth: That holy thing which shall be born of thee, shall be called the son of God, John 1. 35. 2. Innocent in his life. It behoves us (saith Christ to john) to fulfil all righteousness, Mat. 3. 15. And in 1 Pet. 2. 22. He did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. 3. Innocent also in his death. Pilate bore him that record, Mat. 27. 24. when he had heard all things that were born witness against him, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person. And as he was thus innocent as a Lamb: So he was meek and patient as a Lamb: and the holy Ghost hath respect unto it, Acts 8. 32. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a Lamb dumb before the shearers, so opened he not his mouth. And therefore there is something respected in his silence and quiet subjection to the slaughter knife: And his patience or meekness doth express itself in two things chiefly. 1. In submitting not himself only, but his will to his fathers will. Father, saith Christ (in his agony in the Garden) if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. And if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, thy will be done, Mat. 26. 39 42 And that is properly after Gods own heart, when a man's heart is subdued to the will of God; in which respect he did not murmur at his Father's hand, nor did expostulate his being delivered into the hands of wicked men, 1 Pet. 2. 23. Who when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: And so meek was be in this very kind, as that be prayed for his very enemies and persecutors. Luk. 23. 34. Then said Jesus, Father forgive them, for they know not what they do. 2. His patience and meekness stood in keeping silence in his own just defence. As a Lamb dumb before the shearer, keeping silence before his Accusers, and Judges, and Condemners. He answered nothing before the high Priest; any thing that might tend to his crucifying, as he doth express: If they will make it a point to crucify him, because he said, He was the son of God: Saith he, I came into the world to bear witness unto that. When Pilate did accuse him, he answered nothing, and the Governor wondered at it, knowing that he could tell what to answer: He marvailed that so just a man, in so just a case did not answer a word which did so narrowly concern him: But he did not know what the cause was, that he was as a Lamb dumb before the shearer, and before the slaughter also. What might be the reason then of this Lamb like innocency and meekness of Christ? (They are principles, and aught to be incultated often:) The first ground is, To fulfil the types that went before of him, Reason 1. Exod 12. 5. The paschal Lamb was without blemish. And Exod. 29 39 The daily Sacrifice was to be a Lamb without spot and blemish, therefore Christ must be such. The second Reason is taken from his personal union with the second person in Trinity: Reason 2. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, Col. 2 9 that is personally: So that Christ must be a sinner, if in any thing Christ had failed either in doing or suffering (which were blasphemy to say): And hence springs an utter impossibility of his manhood, acting any thing without the G●d head acting by him; for the Son can do nothing of himself, but as he seeth the Father do. Thirdly, Reason 3. there is a further necessity of his Lamblike innocency: From our necessity of such a Sacrifice, and such an high Priest as was holy, and blameless, and undefiled, Heb. 7. 26, 27, 28. Such an high Priest it behoved us to have: Yea, it was requisite the Sacrifice should be blameless, Levit. 1. 3. And the Priest that offered it to be so also, Levit. 21. 18. For otherwise he could not make atonement for us, nor could his atonement be accepted. But why was he thus patient, silent, and meek? a double reason of that. First, Reason 1. That his Sacrifice might be voluntary, and so accepted of the Father. Sacrifice and offering for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure therein, which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo I come to do thy will, O God, Heb. 10. 8, 9 Whoever was to offer a Sacrifice, was to bring it himself, and deliver it up, and himself with it, and it must be offered willingly: Wheeher it was the Congregation that had committed a sin, or whether it were any particular person, they were to bring their oblation: Any Sacrifice that a man would have accepted, he must bring it to the door of the Tabernacle, Leu. 4. 4. 14. 23. The Priest must not fetch it: If any would bring their Sacrifice they might; but if they were extorted from them, they were not accepted: So the Lord Jesus must come and freely offer up himself, as one that was to be presented in the stead of all the Elect: He offered himself a Surety of the Covenant; we should have brought it, but we had it not in our hearts: But he brings himself, and lays down his life of himself, and takes it up again, John 10. 18. And 2ly. why did he express his patience in that silence of his? The reason was from this very cause, even From the want of sufficient matter to give a just Answer in our behalf by all things that he could allege for us. Reason 2. If he had stood in his own person, and had had nothing to do but to clear himself, he had had a world to have answered for himself, and this Pilate saw; for he said that he was a King, but a King of another world, and Pilate knew that there was no Cesarian Law that did forbid a Kingdom in another world: but standing in our persons, he knew not what to answer: What could there be charged upon Christ, but we have been guilty of it? Can it be said that none of the Elect of God did blaspheme? and that none of them did destroy the Temple of God? and can it be justified that all the Elect of God have been freed from commotions? Can any undertake that defence for the elect of God? What sin can you charge upon him, but some of the servants of God have been guilty of it? Therefore it is, that the Lord Jesus answers not: He doth not deny, he doth not outface them in the business: It is not so with him; He is not such an Advocate: He pleads with a good conscience when he pleads, and he is clear, but he cannot clear his Elect ones from Church-censure, and Civil censure: Nor doth he plead with God about any kind of hard-ship, in putting upon him that extremity, he knew the elect of God had deserved such: And though he knew that they dealt wickedly, yet standing in our room, he had not a sufficient plea, let them charge him with what they will: A man cannot charge him with any sin, but some of his Elect have been guilty of it, and therefore what can be answered? Therefore he was not willing to excuse himself: He doth neither deny nor extenuate any Crime that can be laid against him; but take it in its full rigour, and the accusation doth stand good: They stand not good against the Principal, but against the Surety, as he is a Surety, they stand good against him; for as it is in Job 9 2, 3. How should man be just with God? If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand. Let a man stand before the Tribunal of the justice of God, and he cannot answer one of a thousand: And if Christ be to stand for all the elect of God, he cannot answer one of a thousand: And therefore when the King came to see the man in the room that had not on the wedding Garment, the man was speechless; which plainly shows us, that if Christ stand in the room of God's people, the case stands so, that Christ cannot answer for us, to excuse us. Job could not answer one of a thousand, though he was the perfectest man in his Generation (and I know not whether any man after him that was more innocent than he:) And what shall others of Gods called ones be able to do? and what they are not able to do, the Lord Jesus Christ he doth carry it in the same manner, as one that cannot excuse them from being guilty of those sins, no more than himself can. Thus you see the reasons both of Christ's innocency and patience. The use of the point is, First, Use 1. to convince us of the guilt of all the elect people of God, and their guiltiness even of violent death, and unexcusablenesse under that death. If so be we had been innocent, what needed Christ to have been so patient as he was, so Lamblike in his innocency? His Lamblike innocency is an argument of our guiltiness: The servants of God, especially such as take any more narrow search of their own waves, they see themselves full of blemishes, spots, and wrinkles, and many such things, Isa. 64. 6. We are all as unclean things, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. They are all as the clouts of a mensteruous woman, even all our best righteousness: This this the condition of us all, full of uncleanness, and pollution, and deformity: And wh●ch is worse than that, unexcuable in all: for if we cou●d have told what to say, and to say justly, Christ would have said it much more fully than we could; for he is our Advocate, and it were a shame for an Advocate, if the party of the cause could defend his cause better than his Advocate: Christ is more skilful in the Law then we; but his silence doth profess, that he knows not what to say, to stand out in our defence. He might have excused some of Gods elect from this or that actual gross Sin; but he could have excused none from a guilty proneness to all manner of Sin: There is a vicious proneness in us to all sin, and therefore Christ could not tell what to say. And as there is a proneness in us to all sin, so there is an actual commission of many sins, And in many things we sin all, James 3. 2. And there are few or none of Gods elect; that if so be a man that is privy to all their dealings, were to give an account of them, he could not justify them from the guilt, and slain of all sin. Now this is the case of Christ, he hath been acquainted with all our ways; and if he be examined of what hath been done wickedly, before the Church, and before the Commonwealth, he is not able to deny, but both Church and Commonwealth might proceed against us all. And this may cast a holy blushing upon us in the presence of the Lord, and of this Lamb: Christ could have told what to have answered, if aught had been to be answered; but when he stands in our room, he stands silent: he could not with truth bear witness unto any of us touching our guiltiness: knowing what he knew by us, it would make us unfit for both societies, either of Church or Commonwealth. And it is a just humiliation for a man to know that he stands in such a state, of which no good account can be given: A man that is skilful indeed, and knows the Law as well as Christ did, standing in our room, he hath nothing to answer for himself, and the Lord knows it, and time was when this considered did muzzy his mouth, he was like a lamb dumb before his shearer: you cannot rake up such a base accusation against him, but he knows where the dint of it will fall, and therefore he is very sensible of the truth of all that is laid unto his charge. Let God come upon us with spiritual dissertions, we must know that it is just with God to dissert us; and though the Church should spew us out, and the Commonwealth cut us off from the land of the living, who can plead for us? If Christ stand in our persons, he hath nothing to plead. Secondly, Use 2. it doth teach us, where to look for all our justification and reconcilement with the Father. Truly brethren not in our own righteousness, for the Lord himself that knows it better than we do, he knows that it will not hold out before the judgement seat of God. He might have pleaded, that David was a man after Gods own heart; he might have pleaded the wisdom of Solom●n; and the truth of Josias heart, and the zeal of Phineas, and the patience of Job: but he knowing the Law well enough, and what th●y have been, (and we have all been) he hath nothing to plead; and therefore we must not plead our own righteousness: let no man think that his own pleading will reach his own justification, whereas Christ himself could not reach it for him. All have sinned, all have been out of the way, and there is none that doth good no not one, Psal. 14. 1, 2, 3. he speaks of us by nature, and we were natural, before we came to be spiritual: Therefore saith the Apostle, What things soever the Law saith it saith to them who are under the Law, that every mouth may 〈…〉, and all the world may become guilty b●fore God, Rom. 3. 19 〈…〉 use the Apostle himself makes of it, Vers. 23, 24, 25▪ We have all sinned, and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness, for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God. So that (I say) this 〈…〉 of our justification; the Lord J●sus hath borne, and suffered for us when he was silent in our behalf, and could not tell what to say. Papists can bring you many arguments 〈◊〉 justify themselves; they will bring you many instances of this Saint, and that Saint, (and of the Virgin Mary above all others) of their purity, and righteousness, and how able they are to plead for others: They may be wise for themselves, and do as Proctors are wont to do, regard their fees, and not their Cause: but the Lord Jesus is faithful, and yet he cannot plead as guiltless: Nor must you think, as sometimes poor christians will do; I cannot say much for myself, but such a brother, such a sister, they may indeed give a better account of me than I can do of myself; but truly, nothing to satisfy God's justice, can any give account, for Christ himself could not do it: And indeed so marvellously did God accept this kind of defence that our Saviour makes, that he hath crowned this faithfulness of Christ with everlasting honour unto all ages: he hath so fully, so graciously accepted him, as that he hath for ever ratified it in Heaven, that no man shall ever pass away righteous from the judgement seat of God that can plead any righteousness of his own: Whoever he be that will not stand righteous before the judgement seat of God by any righteousness of his own, he must stand mute as Christ himself stood: and if he be just, he must be just by his righteousness. Christ could plead nothing for us of our own, not our active obedience, nor any passive obedience of ours: but he having suffered for us, the punishment that all the wickedness of the Elect have deserved, Now he doth ever live to make intercession for us, Heb. 7. 25. Now he hath arguments enough to plead: If any man sin now, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, 2 John 2. 1. Why did he not plead before? Truly he could not open his mouth before, because he had not yet suffered: but now he hath suffered, the just for the unjust, and now that he hath borne the censure of Church and Commonwealth, now he hath enough to plead in the behalf of the poorest christian. And if so be that any plead against his Saints and servants, and say that they are guilty of these & these sins, God will say, Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom, Job 33. 24. He now pleads satisfaction to the justice of his Father; and having satisfied for all, there is a sufficient plea in his mouth for all the Elect of God: whatever our actual transgressions have been, the Lord hath abundant plea for all his people: that so he may both obtain of the Father, the spirit to bestow good things upon us; and having given us such things, as faith, and love, and repentance, he may plead our sincerity of heart, and that argues communion with himself, and saith in his blood: But that which doth make us stand righteous before him is this, that he himself was a Lamb without spot, and yet did not plead his own innocency, but did bear all for us, and for us all, that we might ever be righteous in the sight of God. And thus will God have all his servants plead, or else they shall not have salvation. First to plead silence; That then thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more, because of thy shame, when I am pacified towards thee, for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God, Ezek. 16. 63. Secondly to plead our iniquity, Psal. 51. 3, 4. I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is ever before me: Against thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest etc. But purge me with by soap and I shall be clean. Look therefore unto this point mainly and principally, that if we come to plead before the Lord our God, he doth require we should examine ourselves, and in the end be so surprised (when we have done) as not to have what to answer. Christ could not tell what to answer, and we must not wonder, if we do not find what to answer: For here God magnifieth his love in setting forth himself unto a believer, to be a God justifying him that cannot justify himself: He seeth there is the way of the grace of God, the Lord hath done this in Christ; and the manifestation and declaration of it doth so possess the hearts of God's children, that it causeth them to cleave unto him for all their righteousness and peace: And this is of great necessity, and of continual practice for the Saints of God to attend unto, that we might not be at a loss in this great question of our souls. Conscience cries out unto us, and we know not in the world what to say, for we are wicked beyond measure in the sight of God, our own sincerity will not plead our righteousness before God: But all it will do, will come to this end, that we shall be convinced, we have nothing to say: (Nay an Angel, nay the Son himself could not tell what to say for us) but we look to be justified freely by his grace: And the God of all grace doth so justify Christ's cause, that all the world that are justified, shall be justified by his plea, who hath done all things for us that concern our everlasting salvation. For a third use of the point, Use 3. it may be for reproof to unconscionable Advocates (but I have not I think so much cause to speak of it here, but in most places of the world I might speak of it) It might teach all Advocates to take heed of bolstering out a bad Case by qui●ks of wit, and tricks and quilets' of Law, the Lord abhors such things. If you will have the Lord to smell a savour of rest, plead the cause of the faithful, and of the widow, but thou shalt not accept the person of the poor, nor of the rich. And for men that profess Religion (as many Lawyers do) to use their tongues as weapons of unrighteousness unto wickedness, it is a professed practice against the doctrine of mortification; For a man to give his tongue (his glory, as David calls it) to become a member of unrighteousness, to plead in corrupt Causes, and to strain the Law to that purpose, were I to speak in place where, I should think it meet to speak more. But I shall not be accounted a good Lawyer, may some say: No, Christ was the best Advocate that ever was, and yet he could not answer: Let the cause be what it is, where the tree falls, let it lie: If Christ do keep silence in point of our righteousness, let us keep silence also in point of our own. Fourthly, Use 4. It may be a use of instruction unto all those that profess fellowship with Christ, and the saving knowledge of Christ Jesus: You see here how Christ is described, a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world; None more innocent, and yet none more me●k and pa●ient. If you speak of Christ as a Minister, the spirit of a Dove doth come upon him. For the Sacrifice, he is a Lamb. The wolf shall dwell with the Lamb, and the Leopard shall lie down with the Kid; and the Calf, and the young Lion, and the Fa●ling together, and a little child shall lead them. And the Cow and the Bear shall feed, their young ones shall lie down together; and the Lion shall eat straw like the Ox, and the sucking child shall play on the hole of the Asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the Cock-atrice den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, Isa. 11. 6. to 9 Do you see a man boisterous in his spirit, and in his own will and ways, and will not be willing to see a difference in himself from the spirit of Christ Jesus (as it is possible that a child of God may be rough in his way, yet he dare not allow himself long in it, it is a body of death: But) if you see a man that doth allow himself in a passionate frame of spirit, that a man will have his own will (and will not be crossed in it) whether it be right or wrong, doubtless this is not the spot of God's children; It is not the spirit of those whose names are written in the Lambs b●ok of life. God did not indeed elect us, because either we are such, or would be such, but he did elect us to be made such first or last, before we come to enjoy the everlasting Inheritance which this book hath written us down unto. And therefore it must cut off all our boysterousnes and churlishness of spirit; all this ruggedness and churlishness it must be taken off; The wolf shall dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard shall lie down with the kid, and a little child shall lead them: Therefore all bitterness of contention, and pangs of passion that prevail, that are far from the spirit of love, must be removed: But this will prevail in all God's people, that God will carry an end your spirits, in conformity to the spirit of his own. Be of that spirit therefore in all your Transactions, that is to say, mild, and patient, and innocent: And so it will require all the children of God in the same kind, to keep Lamblike silence, when you are charged with any fault whereof you are guilty. It is a dangerous sin when men are found in a fault, they have a thousand excuses for it, and utter denial of such things, so as they will cut you a Weavers beam unto a very moat: But you see the spirit of Christ Jesus will not do it, nor will he confess it, for they charged it upon him in his own person, and so he could not confess it: He could not deny it, because than he should not have stood in our room as he did. And therefore it behoves those that are young or old; if you be innocent, than you may excuse it; if you be guilty, beware of denying, for if you do, you shall leave a difficult travayl upon Jesus Christ to plead your cause: He that knoweth the heart, and the truth of the thing, he is ashamed of such a proud spirit, that so defends himself as you do. Lastly, Use 5. it is a ground of singular comfort to all whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life, and brought on to this Lamblike frame of heart, in the greatest horror of spirit, whereas the soul in this or that man is confounded, and he knows not what to say: Here is comfort for such a soul laid up, for here is a sufficient plea before God's Judgement seat, the Lord Jesus Christ hath been silent at it, he hath born and suffered for it. It will come unto this pass with a soul under spiritual confusion: We shall lie down in our shame, with our confusion upon our faces, as in Jer. 3. 24, 25. We cannot deny it, nor excuse it, and therefore we are ready to conclude, woe to us that ever we were born; That is not a just conclusion though, for truly this we must come unto, if ever we come unto Christ: And therefore it is a way of justification, and of life for a man to be confounded in himself for his sin, for the Lord doth never justify a sinner, until he hath confounded him. Many a man many times will say, it is true, godly friends have had a good opinion of me, but they are deceived by my expressions, performances, and outward carriage; Here the soul is mady times apt to sink, and would sink, if the Lord Jesus stood not at a nonplus in his room; for Christ could not tell what to say, till he had made satisfaction; neither could he acknowledge the faults that were laid to his charge, because himself was guiltless; not deny them, lest he should falsely justify us. We cannot tell now what to say to our own estates sometimes; The Church complains, all our Prophets are gone, and our signs are gone, the case is now desperate, when we are in a desperate taking: But though we cannot tell presently what to say, yet the Text and the Gospel tells you, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. He himself could make no words about our justification, it was a case past words, excuses would not heal us, than there was something to be suffered, and that to the utmost: This he hath suffered, wherefore he is able to save them to the utmost that come unto God by him, Heb. 7. 25. He is now able to do it; but when he stood before Pontius Pilate, he could not tell what to say, but now he hath suffered in Family, C●u●ch and Commonwealth. In his family, they forsook him, and denied him, and forswore him; therefore now having made perfect satisfaction unto the exact justice of his heavenly Father, by being condemned to death, crucified upon the Cross, dead and buried, now his mouth is ever open to make intercession: There is a stay and staff unto a Christian: Look unto me, and be ye saved all the ends of the earth, Isa. 45. 22. Now here is the brazen Serpent lifted up, That whosoever believeth in him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life, John 3. 14, 15. Rest not now in a naked knowledge of this, but look up to Heaven with your inner man, be confounded because of your shame, and yet see the Lord offering you Christ, and giving you grace to receive him and to rest there, that whatever cavils and temptations the Devil may make, and your own consciences may make, yet there is hope in Israel concerning this: The Lord is righteous, but I and my house are wicked, may a man say, my ways are corrupt, and my heart worst of all: But the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquities of us all, and by his stripes we are healed, Isa. 53, 5, 6, 7. There is nothing that will clear him before God, when he stands in our case, but he must stand ashamed and confounded for us all: And though we be thus and thus guilty in our own apprehensions, and culpable in the sight of men, yet the Lord hath made satisfaction for us, and therefore saith, Deliver him, for I have received a ransom: And where there is any seed of God, there will be a secret quieting of the heart upon this very ground, which the Lord doth dart into the soul, by causing it to rest upon him, and cleave to him, and hang about him, where only Redemption, Reconciliation, and Atonement for us are to be found. Rev. 13. 8. latter part of the vers. The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. CHrist is here described. First by the similitude of a Lamb. 2. By his passion, a Lamb slain. Thirdly, his passion is amplified by the antitiquity of it, slain from the foundation of the world. We showed the last time, that Christ was as a Lamb. Now we come to the next part of the description of Christ; the next note then concerning Christ's passion is this. Christ though a Lamb was slain and slaughtered. Though a Lamb.] That is to say, though innocent, meek, and patient, yet slain and slaughtered: So you read in Acts 2. 23. Him being delivered by the determinate council and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain; and in Acts 7. 52. You have slain them which showed before of the coming of the just one, of whom you have been now the betrayers and murderers. He was a Lamb murdered, slain, and slaughtered; He was led as a Lamb to the slaughter. Slaughter implies a violent death put upon him, partly by the justice of God, partly by the wickedness of men, and partly by the malice of Satan. By the justice of God: the word is very strong in Isa. 53. 10. It pleased the Lord to bruise him, it is translated, but it signifies properly to grind him: the same word is translated destruction in Psal. 90. 3. Thou turnest man to destruction: and so it pleased the Father thus to grind him to powder that he might have nothing of chaff; he ground him to dust with grief, and horror, anguish, and agony, and terror, and pain, Isa. 53. 6. The Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all: and so he ground him to dust for our transgressions, I mean to dissolution of soul and body. And so by the wickedness of men, he was accused, condemned, and accordingly executed. What think you of him saith Caiphas, you have heard his blasphemies; and they answered and said, he is guilty of death, Mat. 26. 66. And Pilate himself, though he thought him to be guiltless, yet delivered him to be crucified, Mat. 27▪ 26. And the people said, We have a Law, and by our Law he ought to die, John 19 7. Thus was he delivered by the wickedness of men: and Pilate knew they did it of envy, Mat. 27. 18. So that it was a great wickedness in Pilate to gratify the people, and to suffer such an innocent Lamb to be crucified; yet rather than he will lose the favour of Caesar, and of the people, he delivers him to be crucified. And which is more than so; as he died by the justice of God, and the wickedness of men, so by the malice of Satan: for our Saviour saith in Luke 22. 52. This is the very hour and power of darkness. The gates of Hell were opened to pour upon him all the vengeance they were able. It was foretold in Gen. 3. 15. It shall bruise they head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. The Serpent should bruise his heel, that is Christ, the seed of the woman. His heel, you will say that falls far short of death; to pinch a man on the heel, it may make him go lamely, but not kill him: but the holy Ghost intends, that all the mischief that Satan works against Christ or any of his members, it doth but reach to the bruising of the heel. It bruised his heel, that implies, that Christ should have a body like ours: and his heel, that is the lower part of Christ, his humanity, Satan should bruise it. And he shall break thy head; it is the same word, and therefore you may take them both for breaking, or both for bruising: therefore Peter expounds it well (in 1 Pet. 3. 18.) when he tells you Christ suffered for sin, The just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh: His heel was bruised, that is, his flesh. So that though the Lord suffered unsupportable misery, to be forsaken of his Disciples, betrayed by one, and forsworn by another, to be forsaken of his Father in regard of any comfortable fellowship he had with him: Though he suffered all this, in inward and outward man, to such extremity that made him sweat drops of blood, and in the end to g●ve up the ghost, yet all this was but the heel, the lower part of Christ as it were; for his personal union is not in the least measure intercepted: his head and council stands sure, and all his endeavours will find a blessed accomplishment. Whereas the Lord breaks the head of Satan, not only cuts him off from all hope of fellowship in grace, but all his plots shall be disappointed at length, and all execution of his designs, they shall be bruised: the Son of God comes to dissolve the works of Satan, to undo them. Thus comes the Lamb to be slain. The reason of the point is double. First, Reason 1. to fulfil all the former types of the Legal Sacrifices. The Israelites were to slay the Paschal lamb in the evening (at the ninth hour of the day) Exod. 12. 6. about the same time he was slain: And all other Sacrifices for reconciliation were to be killed, necessary therefore he should be slain; The daily Sacrifice which consisted of a Lamb in the morning, and a Lamb in the evening, were both slain, though without blemish, and so was Christ. But that was but a shadow, for Christ's suffering was rather the cause of them: but it is the Scripture phrase, this was done, that this and that may be fulfilled, because such a thing in after times was fulfilled. Secondly, the chief reason why it was requisite Christ should be slain, and why he would be slain, was That he might lay down his life for a ransom or price for his people, Reason 2. Mat. 20. 28. The Son of man came to give his life a ransom for many. A ransom of what? or price of what? The Scripture holds forth a price of Redemption, and a price of Purchase. A price of Redemption; We are not redeemed with Silver and Gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot, 1 Pet. 1. 18, 19, 20. He paid a price for our redemption, that so he might discharge the debt of our sins which lay upon us, Rom. 6. 23. Gen. 2. 17. What day soever thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. And partly by this means to satisfy the justice of God, who had threatened according to the curse of the Law, that cursed is every one that continues not in all things written in the Law to do them: Behold, saith the Lord, I set before you life and death; obey it and live, do it not, and die; This is the sanction and ratification of the Law of God throughout the books of Moses. And therefore that he might satisfy the Law, and the wrath of God (Ezek. 18. 20. The soul that sinneth, it shall die) that he might discharge the debt we ran into, and satisfy for our defects, it was necessary to pay this price of redemption, to save us from death, and all evils that drew on death. And consequently therefore he hath saved us from sin, Rev. 1. 5. He hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his blood. He hath redeemed us also from the world, Gal. 1. 4. Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world: and he hath also given himself unto the death, that he might destroy through death, him that had the power of death, that is the Devil, Heb. 2. 14. So this is one part of the reason, and the sum of the ends why Christ gave himself to be slaughtered, and his life as a price of redemption to redeem us from evil, for redemption is from captivity and bondage from sin and Satan, and the world. This was a principal end of his death; but it was but part of it. Here is a price to redeem us from evil, from so many captivities wherein we were overwhelmed. But there is a price given of purchase, to the praise of his glory, Ephes. 1. 14. It is a price of purchase of some glorious possession: and for that end it was also given in a principal manner. Now what is the purchased possession which the Lord hath given his blood as a price to pay? Truly as the Lord hath redeemed us from the three great enemies of our souls, so he hath purchased the three greatest blessings the sons of men are capable of, and they are the greatest blessings they can reach to. 1. He hath purchased reconcilement with the Father. He hath reconciled us by the death of his Son, Rom. 5. 10. God loved us indeed from eternity when he chose us, but we were by nature children of wrath as well as others. How came we to be restored and reconciled to the Father, from whom we fell as much as we could, by the blood of the Lamb, that hath reconciled us to God. Secondly, by his death, he hath paid a price of purchase for union, and possession of union with the Son. So doth the holy Apostle teach us, Ephes. 2. 13. to 16. You that were sometimes far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ: For he is our peace who hath made both one (Jew's and Gentiles both one) and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us: So that he hath made Jew's and Gentiles one household of God, and hath built us upon Jesus Christ the chief corner stone. This is the second purchase which the Lord hath given his blood for the price of. We had never been united to Christ, nor by Christ been brought to the Father, but by the blood of his cross: his blood hath slain all enmity between God and us. Thirdly, by the same price he hath also purchased us the holy Spirit. These are the three persons in Trinity, a possession of Christ to be our head: of the Father to be our God and King, and our Father, as his Father; therefore he tells his Disciples in John 20. 17. saith he, Touch me not, for I go to my Father, and your Father, to my God, and your God. As soon as he had by death overcome death, now I go to my Father and your Father: He hath purchased the possession of God's fatherly love: he hath also purchased union with himself, and therefore he prayed that his passion might be available to this end, that all that should believe through the Apostles preaching should be one with them, John 17 21, 23. That they all might be one, as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one. So that this is the purchase which the Lord by his blood hath purchased, reconciliation with the Father, and union with the Son, and also the inhabitation of the holy Ghost, as 1 Cor. 3. 16, 17. Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you. And as he tells us in Ephes. 2. 18. Through him we have an access by one spirit unto the Father. So that this is a purchase of unspeakable blessings which the Lord hath given his blood for. It was not meet the blood of the Son of God should be spilt in vain (it were abomination to God) therefore he gives it to avoid the greatest evil that can befall us, to cleanse us from sin, and Satan, and to redeem us from the curse of God; and to free us also from death, and hell, and the world, and all the enemies of our souls. He gave his blood for all this, not to redeem us from crosses, but from the curse in crosses, and that is the part which drives us from God, Matth. 25. 41. Depart from me ye cursed. So far as any affliction might separate us from God, he hath redeemed us from it. Now from thence, as Christ hath given his blood for reconciliation with the Father, and for union with the Son, and for communion with the holy Ghost; so he hath given his blood for the purchase of some blessings that flow from these. For by communion with the spirit we have. 1. First communion with Christ in his death, mortifying sin, and communion with him in his resurrection raising us up to righteousness. Whence the Apostle professeth, that he desires to rejoice in nothing but the cross of Christ, whereby the world is crucified to him, and he unto the world, Gal. 6. 14. And in Rom. 6. 6. Our old man is crucified with him, that the body of death might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. So there is the power of the spirit of Christ applying his death, killing and crucifying sin and the world in us, crushing the head of the Serpent, and consequently all the power of the Beast, of the Catholic Church of Rome, and the head of that Beast which is the Pope. He did therefore shed his blood that he might destroy all the power of the enemy, That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear all the days of our life, Luke 1. 74. This is the mighty power of the spirit applying the warm blood of Christ to our fowls. 2. The second fruit that flows from union with the blessed Trinity, is ratification of the Covenant of Grace. And Christ laid down his blood for that end to ratify all the promises that a reconciled God hath made; and that is God in a Covenant of Grace, That he will write his law in our hearts; that he will forgive our sins, and remember our iniquities no more; that we shall know him, Jer. 31. 33, 34. Christ gave his blood to ratify this Covenant, Heb. 9 15, 16, 17. And as the Testament of a Testator stands not in force till the death of him that made it, so the death of Christ ratifies this Covenant: and as all the Covenants were confirmed by blood, so hath Christ's blood done in a special manner. And when he speaks of ratifying the Covenant, he doth not only speak of ratifying of it in word, but chiefly in the hearts of God's people; and no price could have done that, but the blood of the Son of God, by which he hath ratified all the promises of God to the consciences of God's people: That when the heart and conscience of a sinner is overwhelmed with inward agony, and fear of the wrath of God, and the curse of the Law, the fear of death and Hell: now what shall satisfy a christian in this, but the death of Christ? and what shall ratify it? His death hath purchased reconciliation with the Father, union with the Son, and communion with the holy Ghost; now he hath shed his spirit in our hearts, whereby we cry Abba Father, Gal. 3. 14. This spirit of God works faith in the hearts of God's people, whereby all these promises are confirmed: they are all certainly made good, because such is the value and virtue of the death of this innocent lamb of God, they are now free from the terror of death. It was not possible the blood of Bulls and Goats should take away sin, therefore still they had new sacrifices, for the conscience had lost the copy by which it pleaded reconciliation by the spirit of God: now he applying the death of Christ to the soul, doth fully pacify the conscience, and ratify the Covenant to the soul, that now all the promises of Grace belong to this or that servant of Christ: and I pray mark it, because it is as weighty as any point of Religion: And of all the doctrines of Religion, there is none sanctified so effectually, and immediately to beget faith in the soul, as the preaching of the cross of Christ: All the doctrines of the Gospel are for the begetting of faith, but they have no efficacy this way, further than they are sprinkled with the blood of Christ: other promises do confirm faith, and they may also beget it, but it is with reference to the cross of Christ. That which gives satisfaction to God's justice, that gives satisfaction to our consciences, for conscience is convinced, that if God deal in justice (as he knows no reason but he should) than he of all men is most miserable: the burden of th●s lies heavy, and is ready to plunge him to hell: what will satisfy the conscience now? nothing in the world except it see some reason why God's justice should be satisfied; and how shall that be done? only by the death of the lamb of God. So that well doth the Apostle make the cross of Christ the ratification of the Covenant, for that cuts of all sin, and curse, and the rigour of the Law, hell and death, and devil, and damnation, and all evil that can befall us in this or another world, and doth satisfy the justice of God that it might remove all these, and bears the whole burden of the desert of our sins, purchaseth reconciliation with the Father, union with the Son, communion with the holy Ghost. But what is all this to me, will the soul say, unless these be so given that faith be wrought in my heart to discern all these, and find them? The Lord doth indeed all these; the spirit of God comes and so preacheth the Gospel, and so applies the Gospel, as that in preaching these things, he doth beget faith in the heart to believe that all these things are indeed belonging to such a soul, and to every one whom he is pleased to accept, to the benefit of the cross of Christ, and to fellowship therein: and now indeed is the whole Covenant of Grace confirmed when by the death of Christ the virtue of it is applied by the spirit to the soul: Not that there is a reconcilement to God before faith, and union with the Son, and communion with the holy Ghost before faith: It is before in God's purpose, and Christ's purchase, but when the spirit comes to apply this (whose work it is to give accomplishment to the work of the other persons;) he applying this, works saith, and ratifies the Covenant, and thereupon the heart is satisfied, and the justice of God satisfied, and the spirit at rest from unsupportable anguishes which did before plow up the tender heart of a christian that he lay sprawling as it were in his blood. 3. A third benefit that flows from the former in respect of the price paid, and in regard of the virtue and efficacy of the price when it comes to be applied: you have not only lawful right unto the creatures to eat and drink, etc. but some right and title to them by the blood of Christ. And he hath also paid a price for the possession of eternal glory. Until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory, Ephes. 1. 14. Until doth argue, that there is a purchase we do not yet receive: and when shall that be received? when both we ourselves, and the creatures shall be redeemed to the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Then shall we receive the full benefit of the price which he hath paid whiles he suffered upon the Cross. Therefore wonder not, that though Christ being a lamb yet he was slain, that he being slain we might be redeemed, and might enjoy the purchased possession, redemption from all evil in every kind, from sorrow, pain, etc. from the evil of them. And his blood also was a price for a purchased possession of reconciliation with the Father, of union with the Son, of communion with the holy Ghost; dominion over all sin, ratification of the Covenant to our souls, and at length the possession of everlasting glory. This was the reason why the lamb was slain, and had it not been for these divine, and supernatural, and blessed ends, he would not have prostituted his life to such a bitter and shameful death, as the death of the Cross was. It was not meet the only begotten Son of God should come down into the world to lead a miserable life, and to die an accursed death, but for noble and glorious ends, and you have the sum in these particulars. For the use of it. First, Use 1. it is a cause of just humiliation to us, whose sins were so out of measure sinful, as that there is no ransom to be given for them, but such an invaluable price, as the blood of the Son of God. All the Gold of Ophir; all that the world can give, what is it, to this invaluable blood of the Son of God? Yet this was our case, and estate, that if we had had many worlds for our inheritance, and given them all for the redemption of one soul, it had not been sufficient. This was our estate, and this is the estate of all such as yet live in sin to this day. It is a desperate estate that cannot be repaired, nor themselves rescued from by ransom, but the blood of Christ. If our sins had been of a less nature, a less price might have made satisfaction: And yet such is the pride of the hearts of the sons of men; that because we live civil lives (though yet natural) we have good natures, are so well bred, do so many good offices, that we think it is not so dreadful a matter, nor that we are so dangerous for our estate as others: If it go ill with us, what will become of desperate roaring ruffians? whatever becomes of them, it is a frivolous matter to you, or to such as are civil, and hinder the free passage of the grace of God: but if our natures be so good, and our carriage so comely, I pray you what need such an invaluable price be given? If a small matter would have saved us from the world, what need such an invaluable price be given to rescue us from it? You will say, I hope I am not so addicted to the world, I would drive a bargain home to the head, and would not be cheated. But is that all you know by yourselves? certainly there is more; for if the Lord did not see that inveglement which the word hath of us, and that close combination of us to it, the Lord would not have thought it needful to send his only Son to redeem us from this present evil world. Frugality is not a vice in any, but a virtue; and if there were no more but good husbandry, surely there need not such a price to be paid to redeem us from the world: But certainly the Lord sees such power of worldliness, and untemperance in us, and such power of passions and lusts, that no means would rescue us therefrom but the power of the blood of his Son: and the world hath such hold of us, and we of it, that if it were not for the blood of the Son of God, we should never be rescued from that engagement. And therefore let all flesh know, there is that power of sin, and of the world, in the best natures, and best education, that unless the Lord come with the blood of his Son, we should be wedded to the world, and our sins, and lusts, and perish everlastingly. And for the Devil, you say you defy him, and did renounce him in Baptism, and promise it, or some other in your stead. But if there were not a strong power of Satan in us, how comes it that the blood of Christ must be shed, to destroy him that had the power of death, that is the Devil, Heb. 2. 14. And therefore consider of it, so strongly did the cu●se of the Law threaten us, such power hath sin over the best nature, that were it not for the blood of the Son of God, is were not possible we should be redeemed from them. Therefore if thou hast a good opinion of thyself, that the world hath no hold of thee, nor thy passions and lusts, and the Devil lest of all, whatever the Law of God saith: know that there was nothing could redeem us from this, but the blood of the Son of God; and if thou dost not believe this (however thou art thus naturally born) the truth is, thou tramplest under foot the blood of Christ, as not worth the spilling: If men be thus exact in their courses, so equal in their dealings, if the Devil have no power over you, to what end did he through death destroy the Devil that had the power of death? If sin have no dominion over you, wherefore did he shed his blood, that the power of sin should be destroyed? And therefore all the while a man is out of Christ, and the warm blood of Christ is not applied thee, thy soul is a bleeding to death. That look as it is with some men when in a consumption, & have little hope of recovery, than they will kill some lamb, and while it is warm, will take the warm body of the lamb and fasten it to them that they may be repaired: Truly thus doth the Lord with us, he knows we are far consumed, in a state of worldliness, and a state of sin, and Satan: how shall the Lord rescue us, and repair us? No way but this, here is an innocent Lamb, he wraps him about us, warms us with his blood, and so he recovers us again from our consuming condition, consuming with sinful lusts, and passions, and Satanical delusions. Look as Physicians, they will soon guess what the disease is by the receipt: If the Lord prescribe such a receipt as this, the blood of the innocent Lamb of God, then know it for a certain truth, we were in a desperate condition, consuming and wasting, and dead too, overspread with the world and Satan, and so had everlastingly perished, had not the Lord provided such a plaster as this. And indeed this will yet humble us the more, in case the Lord make it appear that all this is done for me, and thee; we may say as Mephibosheth, 2 Sam. 19 28 what are we, but as dead dogs in the sight of God, that the Lord should give his only Son to recover such dead dogs as we from that woeful estate in which we and our fathers lived, and many of them died in, yet the Lord hath been more merciful to us; but what are we all but that the Lord might have cut us off? Herein the Lord commends his love to us, that when we were sinners Christ died for us, Rom. 5. 8. Secondly, Use 2. it may serve to teach us, the wonderful and unspeakable love of God and of his Christ to us; the one, that was thus willing to send his Son, the other thus willing to go, that his blood should be thus spilt like water upon the ground, and himself cast aside of men for the while (but for ever accepted of God) that we might be saved. Herein the Lord magnifies his mercy to mankind; his justice, that he will be satisfied; his mercy, that he will have satisfaction in his Son, and doth not require it of our persons. It is rich Grace, that so we may stand, and wonder that the Lord should ever do it to such as we, to give his Son (an innocent Lamb) for us. Thirdly, Use 3. it may teach us for ever to loathe and abhor all sin, as that which so deeply displeaseth God, so as no satisfaction might be made for sin, but the blood of his own Son; and no blood could satisfy but that, and this sin hath been the slaughterer of the innocent Lamb of God. It provokes God greatly, and slaughters his own Son; this is the power and venom of Sinne. And therefore unless we take delight in the deep displeasure of God, which is unappeasable, but in the blood of his Son, how shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Rom. 6. 2. He means dead through Christ; Christ is dead, and we in him, and with him, all that have fellowship with him. Can we see the wrath of God rising again, first in our souls, and breaking forth in fierceness of the Lords indignation? How shall we dare to tread under foot the blood of the Covenant, as if it were an unholy thing? If there were no other argument to discourage from sin, this alone might prevail, the nature of sin, that so deeply displeaseth God, as there is no satisfaction but by the blood of Christ; and to consider, that sin hath slaughtered Christ Jesus. And therefore the meditation of the slaughter and death of Christ, should be as a slaughtering knife to cut asunder all temptations to sin. What is it that all pleasures and profits can put upon us, to countervail the loss of the favour of God, and the blood of the Lamb? can any sin procure the favour of God, or any thing answerable to the favour of God? or can any allurements of the world, or temptations that can put upon us, or Satan's suggestions; can they make the blood of Christ an unworthy thing? or give us greater matters than the blood of Christ hath purchased? And therefore how shall we sin against the love of God? how shall we commit this great wickedness, and sin against God? sin against the blood of this immaculate Lamb of God. These very considerations are enough to cut off all sin. Fourthly, Use 4. this may serve therefore to teach us all to give up ourselves back again to Christ, that we may now live to him. That we may now live to the father, and to the Son; that we may not live to sin, to Satan, to the world, But to him that hath died for us, and given himself for us; I live by the faith of the Son of God, Gal. 2. 20. Christ suffered for sin, he died for us, that we might not now live to ourselves, nor to the lusts of men, but to the will of God, 1 Pet. 4. 1, 2, 3. 2 Cor. 5. 15. So that this is that which the Lord now calls us to, to wit, to live now no longer to those things from which we were redeemed by an invaluable price. We are redeemed from the bondage of sin, and Satan, and from the world: and not only redeemed from these, but purchased to life, as a reconciled people to God, to be as the friends of God: Abraham was called the friend of God. Though a man make no bones of breaking out against an enemy; yet now being reconciled especially to him in whom we live, or move, and have our being, it is for us to walk as those that are reconciled to God, as those that are united to Christ, as those that are sanctified by his Spirit, as those that have the grace of Christ applied to our souls, as those that are dead to sin, and alive to righteousness; It is for us to walk as those that look for a purchased possession to the glory of God's grace when this life shall be no more. If we be dead with Christ, why are we not free from all that which is evil, and free to all that is good? Col. 2. 20. It is a stain and blemish to the blood of Christ, to see a child of God live in any dirty corruption, to see a child of God a worldling, to yield to any temptation, it is a stain to the blood of Christ: To see a child of God set loose from the Father, or the Son, or the Spirit, it is a stain to the blood of Christ; for the blood of Christ is a purchase to redeem us from all evil, and to purchase to us all good. For a fifth use, Use 5. it may teach us to apply effectually the blood of Christ: as we for our parts in our Ministry, so you in your meditations, and repititions; there is the ground of your peace. No conscience that hath been troubled with sense of sin, but there lies his grief, the wrath of God that is upon his unbeleiving soul. He is condemned; the wrath of God abideth on him. If you ransack it to the bottom, there is it that crusheth the spirit: all other will be cast off in case we be clear in this principle, about the satisfaction of God's justice provoked against us by our many and great transgressions: what shall satisfy the soul now? There is nothing in the world so fit to beget faith, as the preaching of the cross of Christ: If I be lift up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me, John 12. 32. If Christ be drawn up on the Cross, held forth for his drawing of people that are troubled about the wrath of God, and the removing thereof, and about satisfaction to God about all our iniquities, this will draw souls unto him: For how will you uphold any man to bear his burden of the apprehension of God's wrath with any tolerable ease? No way but by holding forth Christ the innocent Lamb of God, crucified upon the cross, and his blood spilt as a price of satisfaction to God's justice, as a price of redemption from all evil, and purchase of all good: then saith the soul, methinks there is some hope, even for me; For who shall hinder the power of the blood of Christ? and who shall hinder the free passage of God's grace? if the Lord Jesus hath undertaken it, and hold it forth especially to men that are sick, and oppressed, and cast down, and ready to perish for want of succour: In such a case, while this is held forth, there is the blood of Christ held forth, which was shed to purchase the spirit of grace; as it is written in Gal. 3. 13, 14. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a cu●se for us, that we might receive the promise of the spirit. The same blood of Christ, that hath redeemed us from the curse, and hath purchased the communion of the spirit, he is wont in the preaching of the cross of Christ, to open Heaven to the soul, to open the doors of the heart to believe on this blood, thus h●ld forth, and so by this means you shall find a support, some satisfaction to all turmoils, and agonies of consciende. It is a wonder to see how this blood of Christ is mighty through God to make our peace, while the spirit doth convey the efficacy thereof to the quieting, and establishing the soul, In fellowship with Christ, and reconcilement with the Father; that the soul sees, Christ hath not died in vain, that he hath not heard the word in vain, nor waited upon Christ in vain, but sees there is life, and peace, and all in the blood of Christ. And therefore wonder not now that the Apostles were so careful in preaching the cross of Christ, there's the ground of all our reconciliation: That satisfies the justice of God, and that satisfies the soul, the spirit applying it begets faith to receive it; and there is they stay of the soul. So this is the principal duty, as for us to teach, so for the people of God continually to attend unto, to ponder upon this: especially those whose hearts are at a loss about satisfaction of God's wrath, and pardon of their sin; It is that which in a special manner they stand in need to attend unto. For a sixth use: Use 6. If any man shall ask, how shall I know that all this belongs to me? what it is for thee we cannot yet tell, in case a man have had no impression upon his soul yet it may be to thee for aught thou canst tell, because all the Elect are not yet called home, but are to be called: Therefore it is not the thing, to say they have no hope in it, because they are not yet washed by it, for they may be before they die. But if for the present you would know whether you have part in it or no: you see what the nature of it is, where the blood of Christ comes, where it is sprinkled, you see what it doth; it hath a redeeming power in it, and a purchasing power: It doth redeem thee from all evil, from the power of sin, and Satan, and of this world, and of thine own heart, and withal from the wrath of God, and the curse of the Law, so that the Conscience is more pure and peaceable then before, and both these go together. But mind what I say further, if this blood hath had this free passage in thine heart, it hath purchased reconcilement with the Father, union with the Son, communion with the Spirit, conformity to Christ, and comforting thee in Christ: Conforming thee to Christ in his death, and comforthing thee in Christ and the fruits of his death, the favour of God, and the pardon of sin, and the blessed privileges that his death hath purchased. I say this is the efficacy of the blood of Christ where it is received in power: If these fruits be in us, they are lively pledges of the love of God in our hearts: If these things be smothered and daubed, and overwhelmed with many Temptations, and worldly businesses, distracting cares, and temptations; though it is true, the children of God may be at many losses, yet mark what I say, the blood of Christ is a living Spring, and a running Fountain; though it may be troubled, yet it will run clear again; if it do not, it is a sign it was not from the blood of Christ, but from a delusion: But if it were from the blood of Christ, thou shalt find he will purify and pacify thy conscience, for he will not lose the value and efficacy of that rich blood; great is the power of it, and he will not lose the virtue of it. I know there may be many pangs to Temptations, and Christians in this new world may meet with new Temptations, and Christians are at a loss because passions break in, we have lost all our peace, and comfort of our union, and the power of it; it may be so, it is not unusual; but (mind what I say) truly if the blood of Christ have any efficacy in us, or power upon us, you will find that the fountain of the blood of Christ is higher than any other fountain A fountain that springs from a low place may be stopped, but if it comes from a high place, higher than the highest, no creature here below can hinder it, nor created thing below it can intercept the flowing of it: The Lord will redeem thee from the world, and from these passions and lusts, and from the Satanical, and malignant distempers, and the Lords blood will restore thee to reconcilement with the Father, and bring thee to union with the Son, and the comfort of the Spirit, and the sense of it. And therefore know, if he have left thee to live in such distempers, and thou dost bless thyself in them, and canst not look further, and there is nothing in the blood of Christ that much takes up thy heart, for redemption from evil, or purchasing good, it is much to be feared thou hast not yet tasted of the blood of Christ: what there may be in heaven we know not, but no man on earth can give thee a comfortable sign of a good estate. If a man bless himself in these engagements, and in these imbondagements to the enemies of his soul, and thinks his captivity is his liberty, he doth not know what the Lord Jesus hath purchased, there is little hope such a man hath redemption from the blood of Christ. This is the condition of all the people of God in the greatest temptations, unless it be in some extreme hurry of passion, it is a captivity to him, and a burden to him that he wants Christ Jesus, and that is a good sign of a man's liberty purchased by Christ: This Christ who hath reconciled others to God, and done great things for them in a way of grece, and hath also reconciled him to God, and delivered him from death to see this captivity, and to groan under it, it is a sign this man hath had some other liberty in times past: For otherwise there is no man naturally but he thinks this is his freedom to have his own mind not crossed, to have his full liberty in the world, to have good bargains, and not to be pinched in this and that, and not for conscience to fly in his face; it is a sign a man is yet a natural born captive. But when a man feels his captivity, and looks at it as his burden, that he feels not the favour of God, and union with Christ, and communion with the Spirit: It is a sign God hath called him to liberty, but he hath sold himself for a captive again; & now he cries as the Apostle, Rom. 7. 24. O miserable man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death: There he is carried captive. I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my memebers, vers. 23. Here is a sign of redeeming love by the blood of the Lamb. O the woeful captivity that natural corruption is to a redeemed soul, and the great liberty it is to a carnal heart, that he thinks it a liberty to have his thoughts free, and none to tell him: But to a good conscience that hath been washed and redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, the body of death is a woeful bondage to him. This body of death it is not actual transgressions, but a powerful body of carnal corruption that hangs about us; that though we do not break out into actual sins as other men do, yet we see a body of death in us, and this is our captivity. So then, if the Lord hath redeemed a soul, and purchased these comfortable blessings as brings us to the sense of our woeful condition by reason of the loss of this liberty, all these are witnesses of the redeeming love of Christ. Lastly, Use 7. it may be a use of consolation to every such soul thus far (even so far as there is no bounds and limits to it) it is a marvellous satisfaction to a soul in temptation, nothing more than this I now speak of. One would think it were a great misery to live in horror of conscience continually, and so it is: but if a man be redeemed by the blood of this Lamb, than it is not terror of conscience that can separate thee from God; for Christ himself was under terror of conscience as much, and more than thou art without sin, that he sweat drops of blood, and cries out and bemoans it in a holy manner. Why will you say, but will you have me set such things at my heel? the desertions of God at my heel? Is the favour of God to be set a● the heel? it will not hinder your union with your head, though you have lost the sense of it. All that Christ suffered, all his desertions, it did not hinder his fellowship with the second person in Trinity, neither will it hinder yours. The Serpent bruiseth our heel, makes us go heavily and lamely. Psal. 43. 2. Thou art the God of my strength, why dost thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? It makes us go heavily while God forsakes us, as a man goes that is crushed by an enemy, but yet it will not break his head. And what great consolation is this, it is not terror of conscience that can separate a man from Christ: Nay I may speak a greater thing than that, it is not the power of your corruptions that can break your head, though they will make you go more lamely and heavily, yet pride and passions, etc. do not separate union. It must therefore raise up the heart of a Christian above his temptations, above corruptions, above the world, above all the enemies of his soul, what can they all do? If the Lord be with us, who can be against us? He that delivered up his own son to death for us, how shall he not with him freely give us all things? Rom. 8. 31, 32. So that we are freed from all annoyance from the curse of the Law, the rigour of the law, free from desertion and corruption, and the Lord hath given us himself, and his Son, and his Spirit, and his Covenant, and Kingdom, and his Church and people, and Ordinance, and all is yours, 1 Cor. 3. 22, 23. And how comes all to be ours? By the blood of the Lamb that hath purchased all good things, and the removal of all evil, therefore how comfortable may the souls of God's people be, if they did attend to the blood of the Lamb. And therefore let not those that have any part and portion in the blood of Christ Jesus be discouraged; let them in Gods fear meditate more of this blood, and of the power and virtue of it: As you desire your lives may be more comfortable and serviceable to God and man, and your death more peaceable, so be much in meditation of this blood: And if you be doubtful of your spiritual estate, then more seriously meditate of it, who hath suffered, and what, and for what end he laid down his life, and lay all together, and see if all will not amount at length to the begetting of Faith where it is wanting, and to the reviving of it where it is, that we may live fruitfully, and holily, and die comfortably. Rev. 13. 8. latter part of the vers. The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. HERE is something yet to be handled in this Verse, and that is the antiquity of the sufferings of Christ. He doth not only say that Christ was a Lamb, and slaughtered, but his death is described by the antiquity of it, From the beginning of the world: Or as it is here translated (and very fitly) from the foundation of the world; though I would not put any great weight in the very nick of the foundation, for the foundation of the world was laid the first day of the creation, when the Lord made the highest heavens, and the lowest earth: the highest heaven, the kingdom of the blessed Saints and Angels, of whom it is said, Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world: There was a kingdom in the foundation of the world, and therefore the Angels were created the first day: and it is true Christ was slain even then also, else those Angels had not been in that kingdom: But whether you take it for the foundation in the creation, or in the nick of the creation, it is not greatly material, for the death of Christ reached both to the fall of Adam, and in some respect before it, and the explication of that will show the truth thereof, and I would not be exquisite nor curious in opening of it. The Note is this. The slaughter of Christ was from the foundation of the world. Doct. 4. So it is said here, The Lamb (that is Christ, The Lamb of God) slain from the foundation of the world: the Lamb is Christ, evident it is that in fullness of time he was slaughtered about 4000 years after the world was made, but yet the holy Ghost saith, He was slain from the foundation of the world; so that though it was actually accomplished and performed in fullness of time, yet as time began, the suffering of Christ began also; slain he was therefore from the foundation of the world. First, In respect of Gods eternal purpose, who from the foundation of the world, and before the foundation of the world appointed Christ to this slaughter. We are redeemed, (saith Peter) not with silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without spot, who verily was fore-ordayned before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times, etc. 1 Pet. 1. 18, 19, 20. Before the foundation of the world, and from the foundation of the world, many times in Scripture are both one in meaning; before the foundation of the world he was ordained to be slaughtered, the Apostles words are expressly so, as of a lamb slain he was ordained, and from the foundation of the world implies long before the time he was slaughtered, and then you know not where to put the period, but some reference it hath to the foundation of the world. Secondly, He is truly said to be slaughtered from the foundation of the world, in regard of the promise of God made to Adam since the world began; the same day that Adam was created he fell, or certainly soon after, but most probable the same day: the same day that he fell, it is clear the Lord gave him a promise of the death of Christ, in Gen. 3. 15. for that is the meaning of the promise: He shall break thine head, speaking to the Serpent, he shall crush the head of the Serpent: For the seed of the woman shall break the Serpent's head; Thou shalt bruise his heel. he'll implies the humanity of Christ, which was to be truden upon, and indeed it was all that the tempter could do, but that bruising the heel was the crushing of his humanity, his soul and body was rend asunder, that was promised from the foundation of the world. Thirdly, From the foundation of the world, Christ was slain in the foreruning types of him; for it is said, that Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof, and that was a type of this Lamb, Gen. 4. 4. the sacrifice of Abel was a type of Christ suffering: now because offering that sacrifice was by faith, Heb. 11. 4. And faith hath ground from the word of God, though there was no written word, yet there was from the mouth of God to Adam, that taught Adam, he and his sons to offer sacrifice in type of Christ that was to be slain, who should break the head of the Serpent, and therefore as a type of the bruising of the heel of the promised seed which God had set before them, they were to offer sacrifice, to shadow forth that great work of Christ: Abel believed on Christ, how far expressly or distinctly I do not know; but had he not believed, he had not sacrificed by faith, nor had not been accepted. Fourthly, He was slain from the foundation of the world, in regard of the virtue and efficacy of his death: from thence, the lively virtue and efficacy of the death of Christ did express itself from the very foundation of the world, that Abel did offer a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, it was from his faith; what was his faith fastened on, by which his sacrifice was accepted? (for it is said, the Lord had respect to him, and to his offering) it is Christ alone, it implies he looked not for acceptance by his sacrifice; it is impossible that the blood of bulls should take away sin, but he looked to be accepted in Christ Jesus: so Enoch is said to have walked with God, Gen 5. 24. and no man can walk with God except he be reconciled with God, Amos 3 3. And is there any reconciliation but in the blood of the Son of God? We are reconciled to God by the death of his Son, Rom. 5. 10. It is said of Abraham, that by faith he left his country and his father's house, and his kindred, and went out, not knowing whether he went, Heb. 11. 8. Gen. 12. 1. How comes Abraham to be redeemed and rescued from the blood of his Ancestors and from his father's house? We are redeemed from our vain conversation received by tradition from our fathers, not with silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, 1 Pet. 1. 18, 19 Which argues plainly and evidently that Abraham himself, if he had not been washed in the blood of this Lamb, he could not have been saved from hankering after the blood of his Ancestors; if the blood of Ancestors had been more warm in him then the blood of Christ, he would not have been redeemed from his father's house: but now in his old age he leaves his country and goes to seek that seed in whom they all should be blessed in that country. It is said in Gen. 15. 6. That he believed in the Lord, and it was counted to him for righteousness: and all justiffication is by faith (saith the Apostle) in the blood of Christ, Rom. 3. 23, 24, 25. We all have sinned, and are deprived of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, etc. For all the sins that have passed us from the beginning of the world, the Lord received atonement for them in the blood of his son: and our father Abraham, if he were justified, it was by faith in the son of God. How came it to pass that Joseph was able to overcome the strong and subtle temptations of his Mistress, in Gen. 39 9 How shall I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? Can he mortify a lust by any power of his own? No, let the Apostle answer it, in Gal. 5. 29. They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the passions and lusts; for so it is, it is not affections, but all the sinful passions that hang about the souls of men, the Lord frees us from them all by the blood of his Son: So that if you see Joseph crucified to his lust, and Abraham 〈◊〉 from his father's house and justified; if you see Abel offering a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain: Look at all these as lively fruits of the blood of the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world, whence also springs their faith? heavenly mindedness, their sanctification? their power of godliness was as great (and in many things greater) as in those that have lived since his crucifying on the cross. Now if it had not been as effectual and real before his coming, as when he did come, doubtless the efficacy of his death would have been less powerful and more weak in them that lived before his coming; but when you see such liveliness spring from the virtue and power of it, than you see the efficacy of it from the foundation of the world, only the manifestation of it was not so clear as afterwards, whence it comes to pass that the generality of Christians now are, or aught to be, more clear and more pure than the generality of Christians then; but in some men, you have had them that exceeded those that lived in Christ's own time, and since. 5. There is a fifth respect in which Christ is said to be slain from the beginning of the world, and that is in respect of the faith of Gods elect who lived from the beginning of the world: As soon as there was a man on the earth, the same day the Lord put enmity between the seed of the woman and the Serpent; now the seed of the woman looks for salvation in the seed of the woman, and they did even then look to the Lord Jesus the Messias as much as we do since in John 8. 56. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, he saw it and was glad: that was the day of the coming of Christ into the world to be an atonement for the sins of his people: If Abraham saw it, than Enoch, Noah, Abel, and Adam, and Eve; and who ever lived by Jesus Christ, they all saw Christ afar off, yet they saw him notwithstanding, they saw his day, the day of his Incarnation, and Passion, and Resurrection: and it is said in Heb. 11. 1. That faith is the subsistence of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen; that is, it did give the Fathers before Christ, as clearly to see Christ already present to them, as if he had been actually come in the flesh, and so it is with all the Saints at this day; look as we do, as really believe the Resurrection of the body, that by faith gives it substance as verily as if it were present, and as we believe the salvation of our souls, as verily as if it were accomplished; and it is as clear, I mean, as certain as if it were already done, and in some measure as evident; for so he saith, It is the evidence of things not seen; he speaks in the Apostle words, The confidence and evidence of things not seen. Hence it comes, That the fathers saw the promises & embraced them, but did not receive them, Heb. 11. 39 That is, did not receive them accomplished (for they never saw Christ in his death) but they were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and did verily look for them in expectation, as if they had been present with them; that is, if Christ had been come, they would not have done nor suffered more than they did; which argues that faith gives a basis and subsistence to what it lays hold on; and makes it so real, that we shall neither do more, nor suffer more, if it were present; They did believe that the time would come, when the Messias being bruised himself, he would break the Serpent's head. These are the several respects in which Christ is said to be the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world; In regard of the purpose of God, in regard of his promise, in regard of the types of him, in the Sacrifices that were shadows of Christ, and did really hold him forth; in regard of the virtue of it, and in regard of the faith of God's people that lived from the beginning of the world; in regard of all these Christ was slain from the beginning of the world, For the Reasons of the point; All the ways and respects I have spoken to, Reason 1. are as so many Reasons; yet if a man should stand upon a Reason, I would first say this; the first may be from the eternity of that which is infinite; what ever is infinite, is eternal: Now the value and virtue of the death of Christ is infinite, as being the blood of the son of God, Acts 20. 28. Now that which is infinite, as well reacheth that which is before, as after it; infinite it is, or else it cannot be eternal: and infinite it had need to be, or else the infinite wrath of God could not be satisfied thereby; but being infinite, it was of eternal efficacy, and therefore he was a Lamb slain, and slain from the foundation of the world: So that all that are elect were in Christ before the foundation of the world. Ephes. 1. 4. He hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world; in Christ, and in Christ crucified before the foundation of the world; for being of infinite value, it must of necessity be eternal; there is nothing infinite, but is eternal, they are co-incident; that which is finite will end, it began in time, and will end in time: But that which is infinite must needs have respect to eternity; and therefore saith our Saviour, John 8. 38. Before Abraham was I am: So that take him whether as God, or in point of the virtue and efficacy of his mediation, he was before Abraham; it could not be eternal, if it be not infinite; and if it be infinite, it must needs be eternal. From the presence of all future things to Christ, Reason 2. I speak in proper speech, it is truly said, there is nothing future to Christ: I confess the point is unconceivable to finite capacities, but to God all things to come are present, as if they were in actual being: All things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do, Heb. 4. 13. It is an ancient speech, Eternity is like a circumference about a Centre that compasseth it round about, that if you fit on the Centre, you see all the lines: Suppose a great tower as high as the clouds, and one sitting thereupon, he sees one man coming this way, and another another way, he sees they will meet in one place; they know nothing of it, it is future to them, but present to him: So the Lord that sits upon the clouds of eternity (if I may use such a word) he sees all things as if they were present to him: and certain it is, God is not one day older than he was from the beginning; the Angels are older, and Satan, but God is not older, nor is capable of being older; time adds nothing to him, his eternity swallows up all; that which hath been, is, and shall be, it is fresh still to him; that which is past, and that which is to come, whence it is said, Before Abraham was I am, he doth not say I was; but his past time is not lost to him, no time is passed with God; Before Abraham was I am: a thousand years are but as yesterday; when it is past, all are one time to God, Psal. 90. 4. So then, if you look at God's account of things that hath entered into such a Covenant from eternity, hath written so many in the book of life to be brought on to God by the death, and resurrection, and ascension of Christ, he knew the person of the Godhead would certainly take the humane nature of Christ; it was present to him, and therefore he doth so elect, and govern, and dispose of creatures as he that had received a ransom before the world began: And therefore Elihu his speech is weighty, in Job 33. 23. That if an interpreter, one of a thousand come to a sick man, and show to a man his righteousness, and that then God is gracious to him, and saith, deliver him, for I have found a ransom (to wit, in the blood of the Lamb) then will he say, deliver him: What, had he received a ransom in Jobs time? Job lived before Abraham? truly than he hath a ransom, as a man hath a bond from a good surety: but so it was in his apprehension, not only because Christ was a good surety, and would make good payment in time, but the thing was as present with God, and really performed; All times with God are but as now, past, present, and to come; all times with God are one and the same, Jesus Christ yesterday, and to day, and for ever; Yesterday before the Law, and to day, both under the Law, and especially under the Gospel, and for ever the same, of the same virtue and efficacy, and power: So you see the truth of the Point. The use is shortly thus much. First, Use 1. it shows you the dangerous and damnable estate of the world from the foundation of the world; the deep depravation and corruption of the world from the foundation of it; it is said by John, 1 John 5. 19 We know we are of God, and all the world lies in wickedness: Did it lie so in John's time, when all the great Nations of the world worshipped the Devil, Apollo, Hercules, and Jupiter, and such dunghill gods? Did it not then lie in wickedness? Truly it was so since the world began, it was never better from Abraham to Moses, from Moses to Christ's time, and from Christ's time to this, the whole world lies in wickedness; for otherwise to what end should Christ be slain from the foundation of the world, if there were no need of a Redeemer, else there had been no need of his sacrificing from the foundation of the world There were all errors in the world, not as God made it, but they suddenly corrupted themselves. Man being in honour abideth not, but is like the beast that perisheth, Psal. 49. 20. The word in the Original is, he shall not sleep in it, nor lodge in it, meaning that he shall not take one nights rest, but become like a beast, and clad with the skin of a beast: So this is the condition of civil men that are like bruit beasts from the foundation of the world: The Lord looked down from heaven, and beheld the children of men: And the Apostle interprets it of all men; He looked down and beheld all the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand and seek God: They are all gone aside, they are all become filthy, etc. Psal. 14. 2, 3, 4, 5. This is the case of all men by nature. The Apostle expounds it of all, Jews and Gentiles by nature, in Rom. 3. 10. to 16. And in Gen. 6. 5. The Lord looked upon the earth, and beh●ld it was corrupt. And in Gen. 11. v. 12. The earth also was corrupt before God, etc. And God saw that all the imaginations of man's heart were evil, only evil, and that continually. The word translated, Imaginations, in the Original is, The frame and bent of his thoughts is evil, and only evil, and that continually; bend to back-sliding from God, not a good thought in any man's heart since the world began; take him as he is by nature, not a good thought riseth in any man's heart, not a good word from his lips, nor a good action from his hands; Take him without the virtue of Christ since the world began, there never rose a good thought in all men's hearts; if there did, it was by the virtue of this Lamb of God that was slain from the foundation of the world. The heart of man, (Jeremiah complained long before Christ's time) is deceitful above measure, and desperately wicked, who can know it, Jer. 17. 9▪ Who can know the bottomless depth of it. This is the very state of all the world since the world began; the whole frame and state of the world is enmity against God, Rom. 8▪ 7. It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be, and that in such a deep measure, you may see by the medicine that the Lord prepares for it; it shows the depth of the depravation of the world from the beginning, it hath been corrupt and incurable, unless it were by the virtue of the death of Christ, by the son of God made man, taking upon him man's nature; and the greatness and infiniteness of the virtue of this remedy doth evidently argue the bottomless depth of the corruption of the world since the world began: No man would bespeak a Smith's great hammer to break an eggshell, a man would think it a marvellous vanity if he should. Truly the Lord hath prepared the strongest iron hammer to break the Serpent's head; and which is wonderful, this iron hammer, the Lord Jesus, that breaks all before it; The stone cut out of the mountain, that breaks the iron mountain of Rome, Dan. 2. 34. It is the same it was: it makes men many times wonder how they came to be well conceited of the old Religion, when Antichrist reigned; then were golden days (as they say) then there was nothing, but every man regarded other men's good as their own; precious golden seasons in the old world, than an easy matter would have persuaded them all: but to what end was Christ slain from the beginning of the world, if it were not full of wickedness? if it were not so tough that this hammer of hammers must come to break it in pieces? If men were so tractable, children to Parents, servants to Masters, and yoke-fellows so abundantly in sweetness and amiableness, what needed Christ to be crushed in pieces? Say not, saith Solomon, Eccles. 7. 10. what is the cause that the former days were better than these, for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this: It is not a wise question; for the truth is, thou art deceived to think the elder times were better; it is true, it is possible men by the policy of Satan may grow worse; But take them at the best, had there not been a Lamb slain to rescue the same from the corruption of it, no flesh had been saved. It is true, in some ages, when the Gospel found free passage, there was some difference. It was so in David's time, better than in Saul's and solomon's, for a time better than in david's; and so in Hezekiah's time, better than in Zedekiah's, and so it hath been up and down: but take it the best, all flesh have corrupted their ways, there is not a good thought, not a good word, nor a good practice since the world began. Sometimes in moral virtues men have more exceeded, when the Devil knew they were far off from spiritual grace; he tempted them not when he knew he had them fast in a golden and silken chain, or cord of moral virtues (so I may call them) he led the prisoners of those days in a golden chain. The strong man armed kept the house all the time of the Grecian and Persian Monarchy long before Christ: and if any were delivered, it was by the death of Christ as well as now. It is true, we read in ancient Poets, I think it was fetched out of Daniel from Nebuchadnezars dream; there was a golden world, and then a silver world, and then a brass, and sometimes iron, there was all. The Babylonian Monarch was gold: but when it was gold, it was but golden fetters of sin, and a land of wickedness that held men close to the Devil; and the silver Monarch of Persia was but silver fetters; and the brass Monarch of Greece it was but brazen fetters. It is true, when Religion broke forth, than he put upon them more chains, strong beastly lusts, men with men committing filthiness, Rom. 1. 17. These were iron chains to carry men captive to Satan: He sees Learning break forth, and therefore he lays stronger chains and bands upon them: Be no more stiffnecked, lest your bands increase, saith the Lord: and so from golden bands you have silver, and from silver, brass, and from brass, iron, and all to lead you captive to your last execution: And what is the difference? if a man be pinioned with a golden cord, or a silver, or a brazen and iron cord, the one is more glittering than the other, but all bring to destruction: Therefore look at all the world living in wickedness since the world began, or else in vain was the Lamb slain: The very frame of man's transgression brought in a necessity of a like remedy, and therefore a like need of the blood of Christ. And it is a vain Question, as Solomon saith, why the former times should be better than these: so it is a vain apprehension that men have of themselves as good, to say, I thank God I have a good heart, and you shall find me tractable, and reasonable, (though they be but natural) and so their children are very tractable, you may lead them with a twined theerd, and need not use violence, you may soon break them; what then are you but eggshells? what need then a iron hammer to crush all the power of the enemy? do not you and your children stand in need of the virtue of the blood of the Lamb as much as others have since the world began? That men have stood in need of the blood of the Lamb from the foundation of the world to rescue them from the power of the strong man, if they were so tractable, young or old? I know there is a great difference between spirits. God forbid we should defame the work of God in nature, but take the best spirit, there is unconceivable enmity in the best natured man against Christ; there is an inbred enmity against him ever since the world began, as is impossible to be healed, but by the blood of Christ; Christ came to crush them whiles they are in the shell, and unless he heal them, verily children of a span long cannot be saved: Therefore let no man flatter themselves in their good inclination; there is that in us since the world began, that Christ must be broken and crushed to break the league between us and the Devil: Christ himself in his soul and body must be stricken, he kills himself by the stroke he gives to the enemy. Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, and it is no● goodness of nature, or what ever else you can talk of, that will root it out; nor the rod of correction, unless the blood of the Lamb be sprinkled upon it, and then it may be of great use, and any other ordinance to bring them to the ways of Christ Jesus. Now if this were well stamped and revetted into the spirits of men, it would humble proud flesh, and not only take them off from the free will of Popery, and Arminianism, and a pack of such; but I hope there is less need of speaking against such heresies, but to set it home upon our own hearts; whatever our fathers have been, we their children are not better: Some accidental difference there may be, but setting aside such accidental differences for the substance of prevailing corruptions, they have ruled and reigned in the hearts of men, since the world began, by invincible power unable to be subdued, but only by the blood of the Lamb: And therefore you that are children of godly Parents, hear this word and know it; you bring such engagements into the world with you to the strong man, and now are so engaged, that unless Christ be broken for you, and his death suffered for you, and his blood shed for you; you see how it is with younger and elder people, and let all Parents tell it to their children, and Masters to their servants, and all that have to do with the world; be not deluded with a good affection to your own nature you are in, this is the state of all since the world began; they are all sprawling in wickedness, and there is such a league between the Devil and them, that unless the Lamb be slaughtered, we cannot be saved. Secondly, Use 2. Let all the sons of nature, and all other sons of grace, know, that if Christ was slaughtered from the beginning of the world, and only to break the Serpent's head, which had plotted our destruction from the foundation of the world, then certainly it is not possible we should live in those sins by which we have slaughtered Christ; can any man that knows the difference between the right hand and left, commit sin that slaughters Christ Jesus, and live and die in it well enough? and think with himself, that notwithstanding the lewd lusts that hurry me, I shall do well enough with it? an oath is not such a great matter, or to sit ●ippling till we be drunk, or gaining too much in bargains, it is no such great matter: I tell thee, if it be breach of the law of God, thou canst not live in it; Christ himself could not, it cost his breaking. I speak nothing to the difference between mortal and venial sins; was it a venial sin, think ye, that slaughtered the Son of God? they have been breaking him since the world began; and is it possible that if he lie a bleeding for sin, is it possible that this or that sin should be venial and aught to be passed over? be not deceived, look what slaughter it hath brought of the chiefest of the world, even the God of the world, it slaughtered him; and there are none of all his people that shall be saved by him, but must be slaughtered in his lusts and passions, they must be crucified with Christ, if they have any part in him; he was slain from the beginning, and so from first to last, they must be crucified from the power of sin, or else they cannot be saved. And therefore let no man bless himself, and think he shall do well enough though he continue in sin; for the truth is, there is no sin but cost Christ's breaking and crushing, and either thou must lay hold on his death, and be conformable unto him, or else thou shalt never have part in him; it is tough work to slaughter sin; let this slaughter of Christ cut off all out-running of sin, whether in thoughts, words, and deeds; let it be as a slaughtering knife to all our lusts, considering there is no taking leave in this and that; for the truth is, it cost the very blood of Christ. Thirdly, Use 3. It may teach us the unity of our Religion with the Religion of the ancient Patriarches since the world began; how did they look to be saved? In Acts 15. 11. they all looked to be saved by grace, and by the blood of the Lord Jesus, as we do in doing and suffering all for them, and we know no other way: There is no name under heaven whereby we must be saved, but only the name of Christ, and by that we are saved from the guilt and filth of sin, and supplied with grace to conform● us to Christ Jesus, and to make us like to him our head and husband; there is the old way of salvation, and it is the same now; there is unity and true antiquity. The Papists speak much of antiquities, but let them bring no other way of salvation but the blood of the Lamb, and we will look at them as Churches for point of salvation; we will grant them the right hand of fellowship if they will look for no salvation neither from free will, nor from merits of their own, nor from the intercession of Saints and Angels, nor from dispensations of the Pope, nor from the going on pilgrimage, nor from the satisfaction of Saints, but that they look for salvation only from the blood of the Lamb; truly we will give them the right hand of fellowship; let them have errors, there may be many errors otherwise: but let them hold there, and look for all salvation there, and rest not upon any other hopes of salvation, but what they receive from the blood of the Lamb by faith in him (for so alone it is received) faith in the blood of the Lamb, breeds and sheds abroad every grace in some measure and makes fruitful. No man hath washed his robes in the blood of the Lamb, but is fit to walk with Christ in white to justification to his sanctification, Rev. 7. 14. And so you shall have a true and perfect agreement in Religion, if that we agreed upon looking there for salvation, and put not salvation elsewhere: but when men magnify nature, and pinch upon, and extenuate the blood of Christ, and in their deep devotion you shall have pictured, here is the blood of Christ, and the blood of the son of the Virgin; when he looks upon the son of the Virgin, he thinks there is perfect salvation; but when he looks upon other things, to the mi●k of his mother; oh there is more sweetness in milk then in blood! when he looks again to the passion of Christ, than he prizeth that; but when he looks to the tenderness of his m●●her, he thinks there is more in that: And thus doth their blasphemous devotion hang between the milk of the mother, and the blood of the Lamb, which argues their religion is transported to a notion of the blood of the Lamb, and they are captive hither and thither, and any whether, rather than to the blood of Christ. Fourthly, Use 4. It may be of instruction to us, that never any evil can befall us, but there is a remedy prepared before it come upon us: The Lamb was slain from the beginning of the world. Though we lived before Christ's time, and much more, if after it: there is no sin that Adam nor his wife committed, but there was a remedy prepared for it before the foundation of the world; it was of infinite value, it was provided from eternity, and promised from the foundation of the world; it was shadowed in types, and exhibited in sundry representations, and in the lively efficacy of it in the hearts and lives of his people since the world began: All that we read of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of David, and Solomon, of Kings, Priests, and Prophets, and Apostles, what have they all been, but lively representations and footsteps of the power of the blood of the Lamb: the Lord provided his slaughter of the Lamb, for the redemption of all his people, out of the world, before the world began. It is many a conceit that Christians have; this and that might have fallen out better, if such means had been taken in time, such a man's life had been saved; according as Martha said unto our blessed Saviour in John 11. 21. Lord if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died; why so? Christ had been able to heal him; By what virtue shall he raise a man from death to life? Is it not by the virtue of his death and resurrection? If it be, was not his death and resurrection before the world began? For it is of infinite value; and therefore though he came four days after Lazarus death was past, yet he came timely enough, for he brought virtue with him; and so let no man say, if I had known as much now as before, I should not have done thus: By what virtue should you have been preserved? if there be any saving benefit, it must be by the blood of the Lamb, for it is from that, that we look for all our redemption from all afflictions and temptations from his blood, then there was remedy enough before, but it was not applied, because God hath some other work more heavenly and spiritual and useful to us then the accomplishment of our hearts desire, than the repairing of our losses and crosses. So then this is of special use to us, that if his blood be shed from the foundation of the world, than the remedy is never too late: If we think if we had not known many things, we might have saved a world of sorrow: why did we not? was it because there was no balm in Gilead, or no vettue in the blood of the Lamb, or that the virtue of it is dried up? No, God forbid; but the Lord hath some other exercise for us to make us conformable to Christ, he would have us more weaned from the world, and more Christ-like, and more Lamblike; more spiritual, and every way more conformable to Christ, and for that his blood was sufficient, for he came not to save us from crosses, but from curses from any thing that might hurt our souls, as might break our heads, as might hurt our union with Christ, and communion with his spirit, for that it may be of value; it was of value 4000 years before his coming in the flesh; and do you think it is not of value 4000 years after? it is not yet 2000 years since his coming, but 1600. and some odd: then be persuaded that the blood of Christ is still lively and fresh to remove all sin and crosses, and to leave a gracious Tincture on all crosses, to do us more good than if we were without them; This is the efficacy of this blood which is a stay to Christians that are troubled with the power of their corruptions and temptations, they are not able to overcome and resist such temptations; why not able? If all the powers of hell come against you, verily there was a remedy provided long ago, and it was abundantly efficacious four thousand years before, and it is of more efficacy now, though they had the Gospel before, yet not in that clear manifestation: and therefore if you read that Abraham sacrificed, and he pleased God; but I doubt my prayers and my prophecying● please not God; why do they not? Abraham knew of the means whereby he should please God. 〈◊〉 walked with God, but I shall never keep ●uch fellowship with him; he was reconciled to God, and there was no means of reconciliation but by the blood of the Lamb, it is able to put strength 〈…〉 faith. Abraham 〈…〉 Country and his Fathers he use, only because 〈…〉 blood of the Lamb: and if he prevailed so far, why not we? ●f he was fully satisfied in the 〈◊〉 of his 〈◊〉 by believing him that had promised, what 〈◊〉 it that his death i● not of infinite value 〈◊〉 as well as before? If Joseph was able to withstand his wanton 〈◊〉, doubtless there is the like power now; how shall I crucify the Son of God, and put him to open 〈◊〉? Thus poor Christians work upon this infinite virtue, and lively power of the death of Christ; it wonderfully calms and purifies the heart, it mightily strengthens against all corruption: and what ever riseth in the hearts of God's people that prevails against them, it is because the blood of the Lamb is not applied, otherwise it could not be they should be dead-hearted and blind-spirited, and many times at a loss in this and that practice, and wrestling with this and that temptation, it springs only from want of applying the efficacy of this blood which hath been of such infinite virtue from the beginning of the world. Rev. 13. 9, 10. If any man have an ear let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: He that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword, here is the patience and the faith of the Saints. IF any man have an ear, let him hear: What should he hear? For when he doth often use this phrase in the second and third Chapter, he tells you what they shall hear: Hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches. Now he doth not put in that object of hearing; but yet taking his meaning, he means that which the Spirit hath said unto you in the former description of the Beast, especially that which he said to them in the words before going, to wit, the universality of the worshippers of the Beast, and the certain destruction of those that do worship him, and the preservation of the elect children of God from that contagion. It is meet to be heard that such a Beast would come into the world as the Roman visible Church, and that he hath in him the resemblance of all the old Empires, of the Lion of Babel, of the Bear of Persia, of the Leopard of Greece, and of other Beasts, and of that other Beast the old Roman Pagan Empire: And it is not unworthy to be heard, the wound that should be given gim by the Goths and Vandals, and the time of his greatness, and that those that worship him shall not be saved, only Reprobates shall worship him: And those whose names are written in the book of life, they shall either not be worshippers of him, (but bear witness against him) or else they shall be rescued from it, and not live and die in that worship. So these two verses are corollaries, or uses, which the holy Ghost makes (in the former verses) of the description of the Beast. The first is a word of attention, and due consideration to every intelligent reader of this Prophecy: If any man have an ear, let him hear. The second is a word of consolation to all the Church and people of God, and that is double. 1. From the violent destruction of this great Beast, a double destruction. 1. Captivity. 2. Slaughter; and both amplified by the equity of both, the Lord rendering the like vengeance unto this Beast, which hath rendered unto the Saints: He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity. And again, He that killeth with the sword (as this Beast had done by his War, some millions of Saints) must be killed with the sword. The second Consolation is a word of acknowledgement of the Patience, and Faith of the Saints that have, or shall suffer from this Beast: Here is the patience and the faith of the Saints; not only of the Saints acknowledged as Sufferers in the time of the Pagan, Roman Empire, but even such as suffer under his Holiness (as they call it) and that suffer under this Catholic visible Church: These sufferings are here acknowledged for witness bearing, against the Heresies, Idolatries, and Tyrannies of that State. The Lord doth acknowledge their Sufferings to be the patience and faith of the Saints: As he did acknowledge it when the Saints were put to death in the ten Persecutions, so likewise doth he acknowledge these. And this is some part of the meaning of the words: That which more concerneth it may be further opened in handling the notes that arise from them. If any man have an ear to hear.] That is, an intelligent, understanding ear: If any man be taught of God to hear; if any man have learned of the Father to hear; if any man have a spiritual understanding (for that is the meaning of it) let him hear what God hath said: For it was a great word he said, that all the Reprobates in Christendom should worship this great Beast, and none of all the Saints of God should do it. This none can hear, but those that have ears given them to hear. The note arising first from thence is this: It is a point worthy of due and deep Attention and Consideration, Doct. 1. and yet such as none but intelligent Christians (●aught of God) will or can understand; That a Roman Catholic by his Religion cannot go beyond a Reprobate: and that an elect child of God cannot live and die a Roman Catholic. This is the sum and true meaning of the words: These two points were the sum of the former verses which the holy Ghost had delivered with much evidence and strength; and yet lest it should be slighted over by some careless Readers, he doth therefore set it on as he is wont to do the weightiest matters that concern a State: If any man have an ear let him hear: If he have the ear of a Christian, that discerns the voice of Christ the Shepherd of his soul, let him hear it, and mind it well, worthy it is therefore of due and deep attention, and he doth never use the phrase but in matters of singular importance; and it doth imply, That every man hath not an ear to hear, but only those to whom God hath given ears. What shall they hear? They shall hear this, That none of all the devou● Catholics have their names written in the Lamb's book of life, but their devout worship in the end will leave them in no better estate than a reprobate state. If they go no further than their Religion, it leads them to the worship of this Catholic Church, but never leads them further than a reprobate condition: But for such, whose names are written in the Lamb's book, he excepts them from this generality of worship, they are not of this number: It doth expressly hold forth, That a sincere hearted Christian, an elect Christian brought home to God, and brought to fellowship with Christ, and the fruits of his Election are expressed in his Justification, and Sanctification, he cannot live and die a Roman Catholic. He may for a time worship the Beast in his ignorance, and do as the rest of the world do, and show no difference between himself and the rest of the world: but when this electing love of God doth shed itself abroad into his heart, it doth make him see the counsel of God more; and it doth discover the delosions of the man of Sin, that he cannot, nor dare not worship him: He seeth that God requires more to Salvation, than the subjection unto the injunctions of this Beast of Rome. And this is the point which the Holy Ghost tells you as of so great, and necessary, and due attention and censideration, which none but understanding ears can or will understand, but all the world will run admiring after the Beast. The Lord did foresee that Doctrine would be thought a harsh, and peremptory, and sensorious sentence, that mortal men, and they sometimes but an handful too, should dare to bid defiance to the whole Catholic Church to look at them as Reprobates: and to look at those whom they condemn for Heretics, as the elect servants of God. This the Holy Ghost did see would be accounted great arrogance, and almost scurrility, and therefore the Holy Ghost doth put it on with a watchword, Let him that hath an ear hear: And he puts it on with strength, that all Christendom should worship the Beast, and yet none should worship him whose names were written in the Lamb's book of life. It might be of singular use in some places, nor here of so much: Yet it being a part of the counsel of God, I may not lightly pass it over, because we know not what times may come, nor whether some of us may have occasion to travel, it is meet therefore that Christians should know something of it, more briefly, and plainly. If you should desire any further testimony to confirm it, consider what the Holy Ghost saith, in Rev 11. 2. where he tells you of the Court that is without the Temple: Measure it not (saith he) for it is given to the Gentiles and to the holy City, they shall tread under foot forty and two months. Where you shall see that he speaks of the same persons, and of the same distance of time: He would have a Temple of God measured, even in the darkest times of Popery: But for the Court (alluding to the outward Court of Solomon's Temple where a●l the people came in) do not measure that: Look at them ● not capable of measuring b● the rule of the word of God, count them as given to the Gentiles: And the holy City shall they tread under foot forty and two months, the same time that here the Beast is to rule: Now Gentiles are accounted without Christ, and without God in the world, Ephes. 2. 12. He means Pagan Gentiles, nor Christian Gentiles, for such are we. And in Rev. 11. 8. The dead bodies of the witnesses, they shall lie in the street of the great City; and he doth account it spiritually Sodom and Egypt: Sodom for lewednesse, and beastly lusts: and Egypt for barbarous and base idolatry, and oppression of God's people; This is the esteem the holy Ghost hath of him. And in Rev. 17. 5. He calls her a great whore, and the mother of harlots: And the Text is plain, and holds forth this doctrine plainly, and the Holy Ghost would have all the Churches of Christ to know it, That none do worship this Roman Catholic Church (that is, are reconciled to it, and give up themselves to the fidelity of it) that go beyond the state of a Reprobate: And all the Churches of God cannot do thus, and therefore cannot live and die Roman Catholics. Let me name you some popular reasons: I will not make any subtle discourse of it, though it would require strong Judgement, and sinews of Reason: but take popular Reasons, and yet such as will bear some wait. The first is from their want of Christ Jesus, Reason 1. in whom all our life and salvation is laid up. He that hath not the Son, hath not life; it is a plain and peremptory principle of the Gospel, 1 John 5. 12. No Christ, no salvation. There is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved, Acts 4. 12. Now this Roman Catholic Church, and they that worship the same, they have not Christ: How prove you that? For Christ is not had, nor received, but by faith in the Gospel, in a free promise of Grace unto the soul. As many as received him, to them gave he power, to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, John 1▪ 12. Christ dwells in our hearts by Faith, Ephes. 3. 17. The faith therefore by which we receive Christ whether have they that faith or no, let themselves be Judge? They do profess that the Catholic Faith is no more but a persuasion of the truth of all the doctrines of the Gospel, and of the whole word of God: but for a particular application of Christ unto the soul, they do not acknowledge it as that which is the means of receiving of Christ. So that the Faith which they do in this case hold forth, is in very truth no other, but that which James saith of the faith of Devil's; they have received as much. James 2▪ 19 Thou beleivest that there is one God, thou dost wed, the Devils also believe and tremble. A Roman Catholic believes the whole doctrine of the world; He does well; the Devils know as much, and believe as much as they do, yet no man will say that the Devil's faith receives Christ. Now where there is no Christ, there is no salvation. Where there is no Faith, there is no Christ: And where there is no Faith but that which the Devils may reach unto, there is no true Faith at all. It would be endless to run into all the objections that they make: but let any that know Faith aright, judge whether the Faith of theirs is such a Faith whereby a man can receive the Lord Jesus. Secondly, Reason 2. Without Grace there is no salvation. For saith the Apostle, By Grace are ye saved through Faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast, Eph. 2. 8, 9 If therefore the Roman Catholics say that they are saved by works, and they say so, if we take works in the worst tenor of works, that is by the meri● of works: The Apostle saith, Not of works, lest any man should boast, and say, that he hath wrought his own salvation,: And the Apostle tells you, If it be of works, it is not of Grace, Rom. 11. 6. For works cannot be joined with grace in the merit of salvation; they are only the way of salvation. And in that sense it is said, Work out your salvation with fear and trembling: For it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do, of his good pleasure, Phil. 2. 12, 13. But if a man look for salvation out of the merit of works, he hath it not from grace. Papists reply, they have it from works and grace also; for they have it not from works of nature, but from works of grace, and they are not opposite, but subordinate. But what saith the Apostle? He saith, works and grace are not subordinate, but opposite one to another: and if it be of grace, it is not of works: and if of works, than not of grace. And the Apostle tells you, Gal. 5. 4. If ye be justified by the works of the Law, you are fallen from grace: you have no part nor portion of the grace of Christ: And therefore they are fallen from grace; and if from Grace, then from salvation. These are principles of Religion; and he that hath any understanding to hear what the holy Ghost saith in this case, may easily perceive the truth of what we speak. In very truth you will find that all which they hold, is but in a tenor of the Covenant of works. Their election they hold is from works and faith foreseen: Some of them indeed are afraid of it, as the Dominicans; but the most prevailing are those that think Gods electing love, is but out of faith and works foreseen. They look as the grace of effectual calling to be founded upon the good inclination of a man's will, and co-operation of it with the grace of God's calling. They profess that Simon Peter had no more grace given him then Simon Magus to become a christian. And what cut the scantling between the one, and the other? Peter had received so much grace, that if he would, he might be saved; and so they say, Simon Magus did receive the same, but God did not bow & change his will, or reason, but left them both so far suffered, as they might believe if they would. How comes it then, that Simon Peter did believe, and was saved? and Simon Magus did not believe (with a lively faith) and was damned? They will confess it really (the body of them) that it did spring from Peter's will; he did out of the freeness of his will choose it. This is vocation from the working of a man's will: whereas the Covenant of Grace doth confess, that it is not of our will, but of the Lords, that takes away our strong heart, and gives us a soft heart before any preparation. Justification they look for none, but by works: nor perseverance in a state of grace but by their works: and everlasting salvation, from the merit of their works: And this is the very doctrine of a Covenant of works. And this is all the doctrine of the Arminians: only they do acknowledge justification by faith, and differ in point of Faith, and the merit of works. A third Reason may be this: Reason 3. The worship of creatures is a going a whoring from God, and so of destruction unto such as go a whoring from the Lord in that way. All worship of creatures with divine worship is called going a whoring from God, Hos. 4. 12. They have gone a whoring from under their God: so in Psal. 73. 27. Thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee. And the Church of Rome is known to go a whoring after the worship of Saints, and Angels, and Images, and thi● great Beast mentioned in the Text, and the Pope the head of it. They place their salvation in believing as the Catholic Church believes: They place their salvation in reconcilement to the Catholic Church▪ and are more solicitous of it, then of reconcilement unto God by Christ. Col. 2. 18, 19 You read of some there that do not hold the head, but lay hold upon Angels, and that is Idolatry: now that is spoken of the Church of Rome. For a fourth reason of the point. Without unfeigned repentance and lively faith there is no hope of salvation, Reason 4. Luke 13▪ 5. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish. And without faith it is impossible to please God, Heb. 11. 6. Now the repentance which the Roman Catholic Church holds forth, what is it but such as Judas did perform? They require contrition: Judas he was deeply wounded and broken, Mat. 27. 3. And they require confession: He came unto them before whom he had done evil, and said, I have sinned in betraying innocent blood. And they require satisfaction: He came and brought the money, and threw it into the Temple, and would by no means meddle with it. Here is the repentance of the Church of Rome, and all (for aught I know) that they require. I find no rule of repentance in this Catholic Catechise, but I find it in Judas, which will end in despair (which is the common end of an hypocritical repentance) as Stephen Gardner came unto it: and so they will do, or else die in Nabals' stoniness. And for their faith: The faith of the Elect is described to be a confidence, and evidence, Heb. 11. 1. So expound Heb. 3. 14. If we hold fast the confidence, the word is all one with subsistence, it is such a confidence as doth give a being, and subsistence unto the thing believed: it doth as truly make them to be as if they were actually extent: But what say they to this? They look at is as presumption, and an abomination: yea it will cost a man his life to hold forth such a Faith. And for evidence, they do profess it to be incompatible to a christian; and their Faith is some conjecture but no certainty. Now gather up these things; If the Roman Catholics have no better Faith, no better repentance than their Religion holds forth, if they receive Christ no otherwise, and worship God no better, and have no more interest in God then their Religion leads them to; let all the world look to it, for there is none of all the elect of God can live and die so. But why is this a point of so serious and deep consideration and attention? that is taken First, Reason 1. from the weight of the point, as most concerning our salvation. Secondly, Reason 2. it is a point that generally men are deaf to hear, and sl●w to understand, and believe: And therefore he doth cry out, and make a solemn proclamation; If any man have an ear to hear, let him hear. Why are they so unable and unwilling to understand? They look at it as a monstrous blasphemy, to speak thus of the Roman visible Catholic Church. Then the Reason why men are so slow of heart to believe it, and none believe but them which are taught of God, is taken First, Reason 1. from the spiritualness of the things themselves. They are spiritual matters, and cannot be discerned but by spiritual understanding, 1 Cor. 2. 14. A natural man doth not discern the spiritual mysteries of iniquity, nor the spiritual mysteries of discerning Grace; nor can they, because they are spiritually discerned. The second Reason why none but faithful intelligent christians do understand it, 〈◊〉 taken From God's gift of Grace unto them to understand it. Reason 2. To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, Mat. 13. 11. But being not given unto the world, the world doth not understand it. For the use of the point. First it may serve to refute the damnable principle of the Use 1. Roman Catholic Religion which is this: That for every Nation and Kingdom to be reconciled to the Church of Rome i. is of necessity to salvation. Whoever he be that hath ears to hear let him hear saith the holy Ghost, that to be reconciled to the Catholic Church, and subject to that Church and the head thereof, it is of necessity the way to damnation, if a soul so live and so die. For this purpose the Text is as plain as possible, Rev. 20. 15. Whoever is not found written in the book of life is cast into the lake of fire. This Roman Catholic Church hath not his name written in that book of life, and therefore of necessity, they must be cast into the lake of fire. Let all Noble men, and Gentlemen hear this, that they may not listen unto the whisper, and croakings of the Locusts of the bottomless pit. Much God hath borne with men in their ignorance; but if ever men have belonged unto God, they have known the way of a better faith and repentance, than ever Popish Religion have taught them, and the holy Ghost hath helped them in their private prayers, and reading, or in conference with others, to understand the same. Obj. 1. You will say unto me, but this is a very uncharitable censure. Answ. Whether do you think it more charity to forewarn men of a desperate danger, or to be indulgent to men, and to tell them they may be saved in both Religions, when the word of God is plain against it? What charity count you that to gull men in a charitable, but a foolish conceit of their own good estate? It is cruel charity, and most uncharitable, when the Holy Ghost doth profess▪ Their names are not written in the Lamb's book of life, whosoever worship the Beast. Obj. 2. But you will say, Are not all the Catholics in the world persuaded of it, that the devotion to the Catholic Roman Church is a way of salvation? Catholics are confident of it, and you Protestants dare not deny it: And then I pray you whether is it not safer to be devoted to that Church, wherein all confess there is a possibility of salvation, then unto that Church in which one say there is salvation, the other not? Answ. We answer: So far as there is any charity, it is in God, but God hath no such charity: And if any Protestants be so charitable, they are more charitable than the word of God allows them: If they say that a man may live and die in that Religion, and be saved; The holy Ghost doth profess the contrary, and would have all the world to know and believe it. Therefore let no man build upon the policy of State Protestants. Let God be true, and every man be a liar. If that the voice of the Lord speak, let it be heard, and let the voice of John be heard, That if any man be devoted to that Church, he cannot live and die a child of God. Obj. 3. But what an opinion is this, to cast away our forefathers, that kept such good houses, and such good Christmasses, and Festivals, and double Festivals, to damn them all to hell: Is it not a cruel, and barbarous opinion? Answ. I answer, for our Forefathers, their souls are in God's hand: They lived in those times; but how far they were devoted unto the Catholic Religion, we know not: This we know, that there was a Temple of God; a company of God's people in the darkest times of Popery that did see their vanity, and did bear witness against them, otherwise we must not out of natural affections destroy divine Revelation. A man must in this case forsake father and mother, Luk. 14. 26. I speak of it the more, because I know not whether some of you may have occasion to travel where you shall find some that will tell you a quite contrary tail to these that you have now heard out of the word of God. For a second Use. It may serve to teach us the darkness of our hearts, Use 2. which is in us generally to believe this: and indeed the impossibility that any natural man should hear it, that is to say, so to hear it as to believe it. He that hath an ear to hear let him hear; That is, let him know and understand it: And this doth argue evidently, that all that have not hearing ears do not believe this, else would they see the truth of these things. And let this take away all admiration from poor Christians, who do often admire; why do not such great Doctors and Bishops believe these things, and see them as well as some poor despicable Puritans? and why doth not the Catholic Church see it? The reason is plain why they do not see it, they want ears to hear, and how should they hear it? Now the Text tells you, They that worship the idols are like unto them, Psal. 115. 6, 7, 8. They have mouths, but they speak not: Eyes have they, but they see not. They have ears but they hear not, &c They that make them are like unto them, so is every one that trusteth in them. If they that worship the Beast be like unto the Beast, than it is not great Learning in the Tongues that can give men ears to hear. And let not any man be offended, if so be they see the world of another opinion, if they be but natural men; the natural man receiveth not these spiritual mysteries, 1 Cor. 2. 14. Thirdly, Use 3. how much will it lie upon the people of God, what a weight will it lay upon us all (whether in Church-fellowship, or out of Church-fellowship) to bless God who hath delivered us from the fellowship of this Religion: And to be everlastingly thankful, that our next Fathers (though not our Grandfathers) have been separated from the worship of the Church of Rome? And how are we bound to stand for ever steadfast from communion with them, what ever pretences are put upon us? Be not deceived, you forsake your own salvation if you harken to their whisper. If you think your souls precious, then know it, you cannot be reconciled unto Rome, but your names are blotted out of the Lamb's book of life. Vers. 10. He that leadeth into captivity, shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. The next note is this. THat as the Roman Catholic Church have led the Churches and people of God into captivity, Doctrine 2. and have slaughtered many of them with persecution, and war: So that state at length shall go into captivity, and finally be destroyed with war and slaughter. You heard before, she made war with the Saints, and overcame them, and slaughtered many thousands of them, and showed no mercy neither to man, woman, nor child: No more will the Lord show compassion upon her. In Psal. 137. 8, 9 O daughter of Babylon who art to be destroyed! Happy shall he be that rewardeth thee, as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones. It was spoken of old Babylon in Caldea, and is verified also in this Babylon. Happy shall he be that rewardeth her as she hath served us: and that taketh her young children and dasheth them against the stones. Rev. 17. 11. The beast that was, and is not, shall go into perdition. And vers. 16. They shall hate the whore, and make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her with fire. They shall drink of war and slaughter. Obj. But how is it said, that Christ shall consume him with the breath of his mouth there? 2 Thes. 2. 8. Answ. I answer, these things are subordinate, but not opposite, for ever since Luther they have been wasting: But after his coming in the brightness of the Gospel, men shall be clearly convinced, that this is the great whore and Beast that destroys all the world: The Lord will then mightily discover her unto Princes, that have been darkened, and vailed in their judgements about her, they shall see the state of her, and grow to hate her with utter detestation. The reason is from the wisdom and equity of God's justice, Reason. expressly mentioned in the Text: For, he that leads into captivity, must go into captivity; he that kills with the sword, must be killed with the sword. What measure a man meets, it shall be measured to him again, Mat. 7. 2. Who so sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, Gen. 9 6. Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled, and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee: when thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled: and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee, Isa. 33. 1. All that take the sword, shall perish with the sword, Mat. 26. 52. Meaning in an unlawful way, and for unlawful ends. The use is, Use 1. first of terror to all Roman Catholics; what ever their devotion may be, let them know, and understand, the issue of it will be utter desolation, and blood and slaughter will be their portion one day: And when Gods appointed is come, it will be measured unto them, as they have measured unto the Church of God. Secondly, Use 2. It may be a great comfort unto the Churches and Saints of Christ, that have been overcome, or have suffered any hard-ship from any of these. Those that have been troublesome to God's Churches and people, the Lord will one day visit them all, and he will one day root them out of the land of the living. They shall one day know what pillars and scourges, and fire and faggot means, what torments mean, what bloody inquisitions mean: They shall be recompensed sevenfold into their bosoms. Here is the patience and faith of the Saints. The third note is this. The Lord doth as much acknowledge and accept the patience and faith of his Saints that have suffered under the Roman Catholic Church, Doct. 3. as he did the faith and patience of the Primitive Saints, that suffered under the Roman Pagan Emperors, against Heathenish idolatry. The Papists themselves are full of acknowledgement of the Primitive Martyrs, and will write many Legends of them; as the Pharisees, they did build the Sepulchers of the Prophets, and yet killed their Successors: Fulfil (saith Christ) the measure of your fathers: You garnish the sepulchres of the dead bodies, and yet you kill their Successors. They will acknowledge them the Primitive Martyrs; but what are those that suffered in Switzerland, in France, in England, in Germany? They look at those as Lolards, and Heretics: But what saith the Lord of them? Even of them as well as of those that suffered in former times; the Lord doth accept their sufferings, and saith of them, Here is the patience and faith of the Saints. Wherein the Lord doth acknowledge the faith by which they overcome this Beast, and patience, to be the patience and faith of the Saints. The world saith otherwise: but the Lord saith of those that suffered under this Beast, Here is the patience and faith of the Saints. So in Rev. 12. 13. Here is the patience of the Saints: Write, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth, as well as in ancient times: Blessed are they that die in the faith of Christ Jesus, in the hottest and highest times of Popery. The Reason is evident, First, Reason 1. because the faith of such Christians, and their patience, was the faith and patience of Christ: That is to say, that which both fastened upon Christ, and bore witnsse unto Christ, and suffered patiently for Christ as did the Primitive Christians in the ten Persecutions: And it was such a faith, as by which they overcame the world, 1 John 5. 4. It was faith in Christ Jesus, even that faith by which they chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, Heb. 11. 24, 25. It was that faith by which they despised honour. Even the same case of Christ in Moses hand, and in their hands, and the point is of like nature: Roman Idolatry is but another Edition, and their Errors are as fundamental subvertions to that which should be the faith of Gods elect: And their Government is directly contrary unto the Gospel-government of Christ Jesus as light is to darkness. When their faith in the cause of Christ do carry them along in suffering for him, it is then the patience of Christ. It was the like faith and patience of Christ to suffer under Annas and Caiaphas, as under Herod. It is true, in the one he suffered as an enemy to Caesar, in the other as a blasphemer, but the case is all one. No matter what the persons 〈…〉 Christian in profession; I● the cause be the 〈◊〉 of Christ, it is the patience and faith of Christ which is in his 〈…〉 whomsoever they suffer. 〈…〉 Reason is from the greater exercise of saith and 〈◊〉 to discern, Reason 2. and suffer under Christians, against Christians, 〈…〉 Pagans' 〈◊〉 Heathen persecutors. For the use of the point. Fi●st, Use 1. it cries down all the scandalous sentences that Courts have given against the Saints of God; they say here are the suffering of Lolards and Heretics: Jesus Christ from heaven saith, Here is the faith and patience of the Saints. Do not therefore count it obstinacy, and contumacy in heresy, nor pravity: It is the faith and patience of the Saints; if Chr●st calls it so, his word must carry it. When they shall all appear before his Judgment-seate, whose word shall stand then, his or theirs? He will say, here is the cruelty and outrage of the persecution of Antichrist that puts the Lambs of Christ to death. Secondly, Use 2. It may serve to teach us, how much the Lord delights to honour his patient and faithful servants: He writes upon their Toomb-stones as it were, so many Saints, or faithful Martyrs of Christ, are those who have thus suffered: This doth the Lord Jesus Christ write upon their stakes where they are burned (in Smithfield or elsewhere) and upon the chains wherewith they are bound. A great encouragement it is unto Christians to be constant in the profession of the Gospel, and to contend earnestly for the faith once given to the Saints. We must not therefore be afraid to stand fast in the profession of the Truth, and to hold it to the death: If we should die in his Cause in a way of persecution to be slaughtered by the outrage of ungodly men; what ever the world say of it, the Lord will from heaven bear this witness to it, That it is the patience and faith of the Saints. Thirdly, Use 3. it must teach all who would suffer for the name of Christ to be well assured of their cause, and then to add constancy to their suffering in their cause. Otherwise, unless it be the cause of Christ, it is no patience, but obstinacy, blindness, and ignorance: But see that your cause be the cause of Christ, and then cleave unto it by the invincible ●aith of Gods elect, to overcome the world, and look Lions and Dragons in the fac●, without fear and astonishment; and look at punishment and torture, as not worthy of the glory that shall be revealed: It looks at them as things that Christ hath endured greater, and other of the Saints of God have gone before u● in the like, or a greater martyrdom. Therefore, first, look to the cause, and then believe in the truth of the cause, and the faithfulness of Christ that will maintain his servants stable and firm, and cause them to hold out unto the end. But do not take up your reformation upon custom, nor side with any thing for custom of the country where you are, because your Magistrates and Elders do commend it to you; for it behoves every christian man to know well, what he believes, and practise, and to know the doctrine of Christ, and the Government and the worship of Christ; and that not because men say so, but because you see light for it from the word of the Son of God. Then your next care is, to look that you depend upon Christ for strength, that as he suffered for you, you may be able to suffer for him; there's the faith of God's children: And for patience (I pray consider it) I do not enter into a common place of faith, and patience; but let me say thus much of it, Patience is a virtue, mortifying and moderating griefs, and fears, or afflictions, and subduing our wills to the will of God, not only in contentment, but comfort. My brethren (saith James) count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations, James 1. 2. That whereas other men, or ourselves in time of prosperity, when as God applies his will to our wills, are joyful (and this is no great matter.) This is the joy of God's people when God shall apply our wills unto his. As Christ did comforme his will unto his Father's will, and say, O my God, I delight to do thy will: It is written in thy book▪ I came to do thy will, Psal. 40. 8. This indeed doth make us complete christians. A man is a happy man that hath his will and Gods will together in all that his heart does desire: If God would have me suffer, then certain it is best it should be 〈◊〉. And 〈◊〉 should christians come armed with faith and patience, and with wills subdued to the will of the most high; not only to be contented, but comfortable in suffering all things for Christ: And let your faith fasten upon it, and let your patience moderate your griefs, and make your hearts comfortable also, and this is that which God delights in; Here is the patience and faith of the Saints. And so I will end with that speech of the Apostle; My brethren, be ye followers of them, who through faith and patience inherit the promises, Heb. 6. 12. Both by faith of well doing, and of suffering evil by faith and patience. Ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise, Heb. 10. 36. You have need of patience, that ye may be faithful: and you have need of faith, that you may be patient: When a man is confident in Christ above all creatures, this works patience. So we shall follow the steps of our blessed Ancestors; we shall still go on in maintaining the same faith, and worship, and Government, wherein our Fathers were taught of God to walk, and whereby they did inherit promises both in life and death. Rev. 13. 11. to the end of the 17. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had horns like a Lamb, and he spoke as a Dragon, etc. We come now to the description of the second Beast; I beheld another Beast, etc. I do not love to be large in those Scriptures that do not so narrowly concern us, as knowing how far, and what a vast distance by the grace of God we stand in here from them: but yet because it is a part of God's counsel, and somewhat largely described, give me leave to declare the meaning of the words, and gather such notes from them as they hold forth. Observe then, here is a description from the 11th. verse to the end of the Chapter, of the second Beast; I saw another Beast. The Original sets him forth by his nature; they that know the language, knows it signifies only a wild beast, and in proper speech it signifies such a wild beast as was venomous; and therefore the remedy for the venom of this beast, they call it Therion, a proper preservative against venom or poison. This beast is described by four arguments. 1. By his original; He comes out of the earth. 2. By his similitude (or resemblance) in three things. First, to a Lamb in his horns; He hath two horns like a Lamb. Secondly, he is resembled to a Dragon in his speech; He spoke like a Dragon. Thirdly, he is resembled to the former beast in the exercising of his power; He exerciseth all the power of the first beast. 3. This beast is described by the particular exercises 〈…〉 power, or the effects of his power which are these: 1. He causeth the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed; he procures adoration to the first Beast. 2. He doth great wonders, making fire come down from heaven in the sight of men, vers. 13. 3. He deceives them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles. 4. He doth prevail with them that are on earth to make an Image to the Beast, which had the wound by the sword, and did live, vers. 14. 5. He doth animate and give life to this image of the Beast, that this image of the Beast should have both power to speak, and to cause as many as would not worship the image of the Beast to be killed. A sixth effect is, he causeth all sorts of men, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their hand, etc. or at least his name, or the number of his name, or otherwise he excludes them not only from spiritual, but civil commerce, vers. 16, 17. For the Notes that these words afford, I will handle them all in two: They will not need much enlargement, the Explication and Application of them will reach the meaning, and scope of the words. Remember what the first Beast was, and then you will more easily know what this Beast must be. You know this first Beast being described to have seven heads, and ten horns, was taken by all for the Roman Empire; and this being not that, but another that comes in his room after him: Is is evident then that this Beast must either be the Roman-Heathen Empire, or the Roman-Christian Empire, or the Roman-catholic visible Church; one of these three Roman States it must be. Not the first, for this rose after that was cast down; after the Dragon was cast out of Heaven, and had no more to rule that State. Also you heard in Chap. 12. that Beast had ten crowns on the heads; this hath not Crowns on the heads, but on the horns; the Princes and heads of that State were crowned: This doth not wear the temporal Crown, but those Princes that maintain him, they wear the Crowns. Again, that Beast, Pagan Rome, did not begin his time of prosperity, and flourishing, with the woman's flight into the wilderness, and the two witnesses prophesying in sackcloth, a thousand two hundred and sixty days; for their government ended, when the Christian State began, and therefore it could not be Pagan-heathen Rome; Nor could it be the Christian Imperial Roman State: For 1. It is said in the second verse. That the Dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority; but that he did not to the Christian Emperors, for they would not live at Rome, but at Constantinople. 2. It was never made a sign of reprobation to worship the Roman Christian Emperors, but it is made a sign of reprobation to worship this Beast. It remains therefore, that this Beast described in the former pare of the Chapter, is the third Roman State; which being not Rome-Pagan, nor Rome-Christian, it must needs be the Roman Papal State, under the government of the Pope, and that is no other but the Roman Catholic visible Church, to which all the description you have heard opened doth naturally belong. Now that being the first beast, what is this second beast? This is apparently distinct from it; and it is not so proper to say, that the first beast was the Pope, as he had sovereign authority in temporals; and that he is the second Beast as he hath supreme power in spirituals, for he had his Temporal power l●st: and therefore that would not agree to the P●p●ll State; he first had supreme power in Spirituals, before he had supreme power in Temporals. Now the beast here being not the Roman Catholic Church, what is it then? It is the head of that Church; and what is that? It is no other but the Pope of Rome; The heads of the Roman Catholic visible Church, from one succession to another, they are this second be●st; and that will appear in a double note, which will both clear that, and the rest of the Text. First then, take this note; That the Bishop or Pope of Rome is in the sight of God, Doctrine 1. and of his Saints, no better than a wild beast, for his Original, arising out of the earth; for his resemblance, like to a Lamb in his borns; like to a Dragon in his speech; like to the whole Roman Catholic Church in his power. This is the former part of the description by his Adjunct, by his Similitude, and by his Original: However he seems to Catholics a holy Father, and a god on earth; yet in the sight of God, and of his Saints, he is no better the● a wild Beast, whose offspring is from the earth; who though he have horns like a Lamb, yet speaks like a Dragon, and thus John guided by the holy Ghost, saw him. Let me shortly open these points. 1. He is here described to be a wild beast▪] The word so signifies; that is to say, not so tame a beast as those in Isa▪ 11, 6. to 9 that a child may lead them: Wolves, or Leopards, or Lions that can sleep with Kids, and Calves, and little children, and they may play on the hole of the Asp, and put their hand on the Cockatrice den: He is not so tame, that he can be tamed by the word of Truth, or by the censures of the Church, no nor by the power of Princes; he is above them all, and beyond them all; a wild beast he is therefore. For his Original, He ariseth out of the earth.] That implieth, he hath it not from Heaven, but from below; not from Christ, but from Satan; You are from beneath (saith Christ) I am from above, John 8. 23. He springs from the earth, especially from earthly and carnal policy; that for keeping of good agreement in the Churches, they must be folded up into certain Metropolitans or Patriarches; and to keep unity, you must have one over them all, and that was the Bishop of Rome, for all unity they say springs from knits; if you have more than one Governor, you will have no peace: Now this being a carnal principle, some carnal reason being the ground for the preservation of the Church of Rome; for that the Emperor's thought, if the Bishop of Rome were advanced, it would be a means to strengthen them against the barbarous Nations that come against them; this carnal reason brought him to be exalted: And though his Original was earthly for the cause, yet he ascended above the earth to Ecclesiastical power. And 2. He arose out of the Earth, because he rose up insensibly by degrees, he makes no great noise; As any thing that comes out of the earth, it makes no great noise in its growing, but at length comes to a vast height: So it was with the Bishop of Rome, this is his descent out of the Earth. For his resemblance, He hath horns like a Lamb.] Horns express his power: Like a Lamb; that is, like the Lamb of God. Church-power he claims directly, no other at least for a long time; The power of binding and losing were his two horns, to bind all, and lose all, and that lay in the closet of his own breast when to put it forth; this is but the power of the Lamb. But he spoke like a Dragon.] You have two or three several speeches of the Dragon. In Rev. 12. 9 The old Serpent is called the Dragon: What did he speak? 1. Venomous words to our first Parents; You shall not die at all, Gen. 3. 4. And so the Pope he draws the hearts of men from conscience of the word. 2. The speech of the Dragon, it is imperious and arrogant: All the kingdoms of the earth will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me, Luk. 4. 6, 7. And that is the speech of the Pope in Jer. 1. 10. I have set the● this day over the Nations, and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, and to build, and to plant: And the Pope sends a Crown with this inscription to Frederick the Emperor; Christ gave this power to Peter, and Peter gave it to the Pope, this is Imperial State. And 3. The Dragon hath a devouring and ravenous mouth, whereby he speaks ravenous words: Whoever will not worship the Image that I have set up, shall be cast into a hot fiery furnace, and who is that God that is able to deliver you? Dan. 3. 15. And you have heard what worship the Pope claims, and what he threatens if it be neglected. Thus you see in God's account, and in the sight of John, the Pope is a wild Beast: and the holy Ghost as he inspired John, he directs him what to say; The holy Apostle he stood upon the sand of the Sea, and few two beasts; one arising out of the Sea of corruption in doctrine, etc. And another out of the earth, out of earthly pretences; He sees no holiness in this Beast, nothing but beastly cruelty, and beastly blasphemy, nothing but argues a wild beast that will not be tamed, neither by the Church of God, nor by the word of God, nor by Princes and States: He sees him rising out of ●●ire pretences, pretending nothing but Lamblike power; but ●ee speaks like a Dragon, venomous and devouring words: Damnable heresies, as being spewed out of the Dragon's mouth, such a volume of false worship, and doctrine, and government, as destroys the faith of the Church, and subverts the foundation of the Church: This is the very state of the Pope as John beheld it, as he was wrapped up in a vision by the Spirit, and he judged of it as he saw it. Now because I cannot so well make use of this, before I have spoken of the rest, because they are co-incident, take this for a second Note, and so make use of both together. The note is long, but it is but the collection of the sum of these verses, the words of the Text will bring the Doctrine easily to remembrance; This than is the note. The Bishop of Rome exerciseth all the Authority of the first Beast, Doct. 2. that is, of the Roman visible Catholic Church, he causeth all that dwell on the Earth to worship that Church, he doth work wonders, even to the fetching of fire from Heaven, and by his wonders procures all christian States to make an Image to the first Beast, and gives such life and power to the Image of the Beast that it is able to speak, and it shall cause such as do not worship it to be put to death, and finally he leaves an impression, or imprints a character upon all sorts of christians, and will suffer none to enjoy spiritual or civil communion with them, unless such as will receive either his mark, or his name, or the number of his name. I put them into a doctrinal frame, because they are the sum of the words of the Text. Let me briefly open them all. First, He doth exercise all the Authority of the first Beast. Let all that are acquainted either with the writings of the Romanists, or of our Divines that bear witness against Rome, be testimonies in this case; what is there that the Catholic Church claims, but the Pope can do it all: There are six or seven trascendant acts of power, which that Church claims, and the Pope familiarly exerciseth them all. 1. The Pope hath power to convent general Counsels; or if the Emperors will call a general Council, it shall not stand in ●o●ce unless the Catholic Church and the Bishops meet in a representative Synod, it concludes with their determination; this he pleads for to this day, it belongs not to the Emperors, nor to Christian Princes, but to the Bishop of Rome: It is one of Bellarmine's affirmations, that one Church shall have power to call all Churches, be it to Florence, or Basseil, thither they must go whether he will. 2. As the Catholic Roman Church did usurp power to make Laws and Canons to bind all Churches; So the Pope doth challenge the same power to make Laws to bind all Churches; he pleads for it, and will not be content without it. 3. Look as the Catholic visible Roman Church doth claim Authority of ratifying Scriptures; if they put in the Apocrypha, it shall be good Scripture; and if the Church do not approve the Gospel of Matthew in Greek, but in Hebrew, it shall be that; or if they refuse both them, and take the vulgar Latin, that shall stand: This power the Catholic Church challengeth power to do, and the same doth the Pope. 4. If the Roman Catholic visible Church challenge a power of interpreting Scripture, and judging of controversies with infallibility of judgement: The Pope challengeth that to himself when he interprets Scripture, or decides controversies about Religion, he cannot err, and so they make account he is a fit Judge therein. 5. Look as you see the Roman Catholic visible Church had power of binding and losing, challengeth all appleal● and great things they will do by that privilege, excommunicate some of many Churches that are absent, some they excommunicate for seven years, some to their death, that the shall not be reconciled: All this the Pope challengeth in a larger measure than the old Roman visible Church did challenge. This the Roman Bishop challengeth to bind conscience, to loose oaths and covenants between Prince and people, between man and wife, to loose vows, and oaths, and natural relations, between parents and children, if they will shroud themselves in a Monastery, and will dispense against the Apostle Paul in case of incest: this is such a power to lose the bonds of God's commandments, and Gods oaths, and relations to God and his servants, it is such Transcendent power, the Roman visible Catholic Church never challenged greater. 6. The Roman visible Catholic Church never challenged so great power till it was animated and acknowledged by the Pope, to take upon them to set up one King, and to take down another; King John in England, Frederick the first, and Frederick the second, Henery the fourth, and Henery the fifth; he crowns and discrowns whom he will, and this out of the plenitude of his power. And lastly, he doth challenge this beyond the Church itself, Immunity, and Impunity from all Civil and Ecclesiastical power, and judicature. The Church is above all judicial power, and the Pope the head of it is above it, and therefore may not be brought into order by any censure of any Church, nor by the civil sword: And therefore he 〈◊〉 well called one that exerciseth all the power of the first Beast, and rather puts more power to it; whatever the Catholic Church may do, that he can do; where they can dispense and make Laws, where they can bind or lose, etc. So far as they may go, he can go, and he doth all in the name, and sight of the Church. And he causeth all that dwell on the Earth.] That is, carnal christians, whose conversation is not in Heaven. To worship the first Beast.] How to worship? He speaks of divine worship not civil adoration: This is an aberation from a Church; but a beastly Church, it is a monster; The Church of the first institution was of one particular congregation; and for all the Churches of the world to be subject to one Cathedral, it is far beyond all comprehension of rule: Now he causeth all that dwell on the Earth to worship that Beast. Wherein are they to worship him? 1. It is made a matter of necessity to salvation to be reconciled to that Church; and more care is had of being reconciled to that Church, then of being reconciled to God in Christ: All pleas of being reconciled to Christ will not stand in their judgement, unless you be reconciled to them. 2. Except you be bound in conscience to that state, he will allow you no communion; he will have all the decrees of the Church as binding the conscience. 3. This is divine worship, you shall take no doctrine but that is of his stamp, nor worship, nor Government but of his acknowledgement, nor no dispensation of them but according to his Canons: And all that dwell on the Earth must worship him, all run upon the Beast; the Pope doth not so much challenge it to himself as to the Church, and that which is given to the Church he takes to himself. Thirdly, He doth great wonders, so that he makes fire come from Heaven on the Earth in the sight of men: And it is said, Antichrist shall come in all power of signs and lying wonders, 2 Thes. 2. 8, 9 Their Legions are full of these wonders: And in particular, for this point, of causing fire to come down from Heaven: It is an allusion sure to the fire that the old Prophet fetched from Heaven: As Eliah fetched fire from Heaven to consume the sacrifice, 1 Kings 18. 38, 39 And that was a fire that expressed Gods gracious acceptance, that made all the people cry, the Lord he is God: But this the Pope did not fetch sure, he never fetched any acceptance from Heaven. But you read of another fire fetched from Heaven by Eliah, and that was, to destroy those that mocked him, 2 Kings 1. 10. 12. Which practice when James and John would have followed in Luke 9 54, 55, 56. You shall read, that they being offended with the Samaritans because they would not receive them; Master say they, shall we call for fire from Heaven to consume them as Eliah did? Our Saviour utterly rejects that; You know not, saith he, of what spirit ye are: Now mind you, that fetching fire from Heaven, which is to destroy men's lives, and not save them, that James and John are taught to refuse, as being incompatible to the Gospel: But that which they refuse, the Successor of Peter, as they call him, takes up; if any Scribe, or Pharisee, or Samaritan refuse him, than fire comes down from Heaven, consuming fire, and vengeance, and wrath, and bloodshed, and extremity of outraged evils he causeth to come down upon them; and in pretence from Heaven, to destroy the Church and people of God, that I take to be the chief par● of the meaning of that. But if any man will urge the letters of the Text (which you need not in mystical Scriptures) yet it is not without truth therein. Gregory the seventh he declares this, that he had strange power, when he had much people about him, he would have shaked the sleeve of his ground, and caused fire to come down; Now it is evident it might be, for he was a Conjurer, and 22. Pope's together (as their own stories do record) they were witch's, and gave their souls to the Devil, that they might obtain the Popedom, but they were but lying wonders; for miracles require divine power, but the Devil cannot go beyond the power of nature; so that you may take it in the proper meaning; their own men do much magnify it, and make it one of the marks of their Church, whereas Protestants that want miracles are not Churches: So that those censures by which they thundered against christian Emperors, they did follow with such success, that they made all wonder, that none could stand against them, not Henery the fourth, nor Henery the fifth, not Leo the Emperor, nor the King of France, none of them all were able to take up arms against him; they did all admire him; Who is able to stand against him, end to make War with him? And that gave such free passage to his Laws, that all christian States presently took up what injunctions he put upon them. Fourthly, by these miracles, and the mighty success of them, he had power to cause them that dwell on the earth to make an Image to the Beast, that had the deadly wound, and was healed; that is, the Roman Catholic visible Church: What is this Image of the Beast? he causeth all the earth, that is, all earthly States to receive it; he will suffer none to be without it: what is this Image? an Image not of their own making, they must make an Image by his appointment: It is an Image of the first beast, not of the second directly, and consequently the officers of that Beast must represent this second Beast, but be an Image of the first: if the first Beast was the Roman Catholic visible Church; then if he causeth all the Earth to make an Image to that Beast, than he causeth all Churches and Commonwealths, to frame their State and platform, according to the Image of the Roman Catholic visible Church, and therefore he causeth all Christian Princes to erect all their Churches in a Roman Catholic way: what is that? Metropolitan, National, Prounciall, Diocesan, Cathedral, and Provincial Churches; These are all lively characters of the Roman Catholic Church, reserving still pre-emenency to their mother Catholic Church of Rome; but otherwise they are the lively Image of such a Church, even as daughters are of their mothers: and being overcome with the power of his miracles, and deceits, and delusions (as you heard) by the Policy of Canonists, by carnal Policy, and by their Votaries, and by working miracles, signs, and lying wonders; it is a wonder to see what power he had, that all the power of the Popedom, and of the Catholic Church was in a model and representation drawn in all Churches in Christendom during the time of 42. months, which is 1260. years, and then a great part of his Image was marred in a great part of Christendom, but yet he still continues; so then there is a lively Image of the Roman Catholic Church, though it may be, some are drawn from subjection thereunto; and yet though they be drawn off from subjection to it, yet still the Image, and representation is written in the very foreheads of such Churches; that is a fourth thing. Fiftly, He had power to give life to the Image of the Beast; what life? that it should both speak, and cause, That as many as would not worship the Image of the Beast should be killed: How doth he put this life into the Image of this Beast to speak? It is, to speak with authorty, as in verse 5. A mouth speaking great things; He would speak, and speak with authority; that now these Diocesan, Metropolitan, and Provincial Churches, they can speak with authority, as the Roman Catholic Church doth, and their words must take place, and he puts that life into it by his own canons and laws which they take up; the canons and laws made by the Church of Rome, do so animate Provincial, and Diocesan Churches, that they speak the same language, not altogether so corrupt, but with like authority, and require like subjection of all persons; and by your leave, they grow to it for very conscience sake; that those things which were indifferent before, yet being laws of the Church, now they must bind conscience; this is to speak great things. Now they have power likewise to cause as many as will not worship the Image of the Beast, they shall be killed; a sign none of them took that power like the beast; but yet though they have not power to kill them, yet to deliver them to the Secular power, and they must kill them ● whatever the Diocesan Church doth agree on against her Heretics, that will not obey the Government or doctrine of the Church; what then? The deliver him to the Secular power, than they cause him to be put to death, and they deliver him to fire and faggot, so you see the mighty power of this Beast. There is one thing remaining of his power, and that is the sixth and last effect, He causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: Kings, and Princes, Ministers and Clergy men (as they call them) high and low, whatever they be, he causeth them all to receive a character, or mark, either in their right hand, or in their foreheads. A mark in the hand; that character themselves call an indelible character, and they receive that who receive any orders from the Pope, and are reconciled to the Roman Catholic visible Church; This Beast causeth all to receive a mark, that is, they shall swear fidelity, and loyalty to the Roman Catholic visible Church, this they make indelible; wherever they come, they are Priests for ever after the order of Melchesidech. Or on their foreheads; they have a mark answerable to their name; their name, what is that but Roman Catholics? or else there is no fellowship with them; and all must at length have that name, and go under the number of that name, Roman Catholics; there is the number of that name: but I leave that to the next time (as being too large to enter into at present.) In the mean time, you see these things thus opened, touching the nature and character of this second Beast. Now to make some use of all. First, Use 1. it may be an evident conviction, and demonstration, and designation of this Beast who it is: Is hath been much disputed, but all the parts of this description doth directly fall upon the Bishop of Rome; that if John had lived in these days, he would have seen all this with his eyes, which he saw in a vision: No man can tell where to bestow all this description for 1260. years, but upon the Bishop of Rome, that is of such a wild nature, that no Church, no law of God, no society of men, no Kings, nor Princes can rule; and all the world that knows this Beast, knows this to be true of the Pope, whose Original (all Christians know) springs from the Earth, to keep men in unity, and to preserve the Empire from inundations of Barbarians, to keep Christian Princes closer together, and in better order, all carnal policy out of which he springs, yet incensibly, and slowly, that he is not discerned for many years together. And he hath horns like a Lamb, that he pretends nothing but (Saint Peter as they call it) the Keys of the kingdom of Heaven; But he speaks like a Dragon, as if he had the Keys of the bottomless pit; he thunders such sentences, gives dispensations both against the laws of Paul and Moses, to dissolve oaths, and covenants, and relations, they shall marry whom they will, their own sisters: he will venom with such noisome doctrine, as the breath of them will stink: he will speak so terrible, that time was, when Princes were to tremble; he hath spoken as a Dragon: The Devil himself as he ruled the Roman Pagan Empire, hath not spoken greater words than he: Those that spoke, Whoever will not worship an Image set up, shall be cast in a fiery furnace, it is not a greater word than he speaks. Secondly, V; see 2. this doth justly reprove all the Popish admiring and adoring of the man of Sin; They look at him as their holy Father, and Bishop of Christ, and Vicar of God, as one that hath an infallible judgement, that cannot err, that he is above all power of censure: If he should draw missions of souls to hell, no man must say, Sir, why do you so? they have this opinion of him: No matter what they conceive, he must be judged by the King of Kings, and by the God of Gods, and by the Saints of that God that judgeth according to the word; and they look at this Father as a Monster, as a wild beast, whom no Scripture, no Church can keep in awe, but he is Lord paramount above them all; they look at him as the Dragon of the bottomless pit, as he that destroys the Christian world: and however he may pretend, as if he had nothing but Lamblike power, yet he speaks like a Dragon; thus John saw him. Thirdly, Use 3. Observe from hence a reason of a note that troubles many Interpreters; That if this beast have such power, why doth he not cause the earth to worship himself? why doth he not provide for his own honour, but for the first beast? The reason is plain; the first Beast being the Roman Catholic Church, and the head of that Beast, all the honour that redounds to the beast, falls upon the head of the beast, and it is upon himself; He exerciseth all that power that the first beast hath, and therefore no marvel if he labour to draw all men what he can to worship, not himself, but the Roman Catholic Church, to be reconciled to it, and receive decrees from it, and submit in conscience thereunto, and receive no worship nor doctrine but from them, nor government, but established by them; no Laws to be enjoined and transacted but by them, for he knows that this honour will redound to him; He knows all this power doth rest in his own breast, and it is he that acts the Roman Catholic Church, and he can do with a Council, and without a Council what the Church can do, and he fails not to do it from time to time. Wonder not therefore that he puts off the honour to the first beast, the old Roman Church, there he lays all his devotion, but in conclusion it is all for himself. Fourthly, Use 4. you may see the corrupt Original, and dangerous State of corrupt religion, and of such kind of Churches as are drawn out by the model of the Roman Catholic visible Church, any image of that beast: I do not trouble you with what others think to be the image of the Beast (I should but weary myself in so doing) but if the first beast be the Roman Catholic Church, as it must needs be, than the image must be according to it, though not of equal authority, yet of the like frame; whereas the Lord hath instituted no other but particular Congregations to bring in a whole Nation (that may contain a thousand Congregations) into one Church, what an image is this of the Roman visible Catholic Church: It is not Catholic indeed, it is short of that, but so large as it carries a Nation, it exceeds Diocesan, and Diocesan exceeds particular Congregations: Now see the danger of this; you see the first rise was from the power of this beast, He causeth all the earth to make an Image of this Beast: He did not bring them to make one in number, but one in England, and one in Scotland, and one in France, and one in Germany, and in every Country according to their divisions, and Princely Potentates; that all that dwell in the limits of that Jurisdiction, they have one Cathedral Church, to which all other Parochial Churches do belong; this he causeth them to do: and when he hath done it, giveth it the very like breath of the Roman Order; though not in so vast a measure, yet in a fair model, that they are like the image of this holy Father, and so by this means it comes to pass, by his Laws and Canons which he persuades all to receive, and which is a wonder, since they have cut him off from being head of the Church, yet still they reteyn the life of Papacy, in the State of such Chancellors, and Parators, and such kind of Civil, and Ecclesiastical power mingled together; that a Cathedral Church forty or fifty miles off, shall send terrible censures to cut off the poor Saints of God, and they must obey it; and if they stand in an Heretical course (as they call it) there is no living for them, they will kill their Prophetical life, as they did the two Witnesses; or if they do in any effectual manner work, they will not stick to call them to account, and cast them out, and deliver them to the Secular power, and they shall deliver them to fire and sword. So then, see the danger of such Constitutions, it was wrought by the Bishop of Rome, and lives by life from him, the life of the Law of God breathes not in the pulses of it; any that know them, know how far they be from the pattern of the Scripture, how ridiculous they be to such as discern the state of them; You see also what mighty power they have, that all civil States have been contented to deliver such to fire and sword, whom they have delivered up as Heretics: They soon lose the protection of the Civil State, if they lose the favour of imaginary Churches; well doth he call them images, they are images of the Pope, and images which God forbids, and the inventions of the sons of men; Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven Image, in the second Commandment: You shall make no Images of Officers, nor Government, nor worship, but that which Christ himself hath set up. Fifthly, Use 5. it lets us see how dangerous it is, to annex civil penalties, ipso facto, upon such as are cast out of the Church; an usual thing in Popish Churches, or in the Images of such. First, they suspend them from the Sacrament, but than it comes with an Excommunication, no man must buy nor sell, he hath refused to honour the image of the Beast: It is dangerous to bring in civil Authority immediately upon Church-censure: A warning to us here, that if men be excommunicated, not to deny them civil Commerce, or to say such as stand out excommunicated so long, shall no longer enjoy the privileges of the State: The Church may cut them off from fellowship with itself, there may be just reason so to do; they may discover such hypocrisy as may make them unfit for the Church, but yet they may not altogether be unfit for the Commonwealth. Sixthly, Use 6. It may serve to humble us so far, as in times past we had any thing to do with this Beast, either in the loins of our Fathers with this first Beast, the Roman Catholic visible Church, or as in our own time we have had any communion (I mean Ecclesiastical communion) with the image of this first Beast, that is, with Provincial, Diocesan, Cathedral, National Churches. You know it is not my manner to fall into speeches of Christ's in other parts, it is best for us to look to our own; but when the Text is just so fit, now to be silent, were to deny the children of God the bread of their portion: If it be such a Church as is of the Pope's devising, as hath provoked the jealousy of God, and hath not been derived from the primitive institution that Christ hath established; then so far as we have had to deal with them, either in office, or out of office, receiving their Sacraments, and their Censures, or have published their Censures, though God (it may be) mercifully kept us from publishing such as we did conceive unjust; yet forasmuch as there hath been any submittance in this kind, any Church-communion, whereby we have been admitted into Church-office by the Image of this beast, or installed by the ordination of the first beast, or so far as we have submitted to the first or second Beast; so far as we have partaked in the holy things of God, which flow from Church-communion, as Sacraments and Censures do, verily so far we have cause to be humbled; though the Lord kept any of us from thinking it any necessity to be reconciled to the Church of Rome, or kept us from sundry things in our practice, which the Image of the Beast required; and though he kept us also from receiving all their Dictates without control; yet for our practice in entering into our calling, and our dispensations which have been but images of the first beast: and so far as our fellowship in Ordinances with them have cleaved to that Church, verily the guilt of that will lie upon such souls as have not unfeignedly bewailed it before the Lord. What think you might be the cause that Christians do complain of so much deadness, under such plenty, and (as some say) power of Ordinances? I might as justly blame the world for as great part, that men think they are forced to launch out in building and planting; an evil haunt and custom hath been rivetred into men's spirits, that they have much ado to be content any where; but this is not all: Nor can I lay it wholly upon overmuch confidence in Ordinances; we have heretofore thought men happy that had liberty of Ordinances, though out in a duty of humiliation; God will let you see the emptiness of all Ordinances, & that there is no life in them further than he puts in them; but I will not put in neither of both these, though both these may challenge a part of the deadness of the Countrrey, and may because of humiliation: But give me leave to say, I fear this chiefly, that men thought it enough that they were got out of the reach of Summoners, and Pariters, and such like, whose offices have been by the power of the beast, the remnants whereof hang in those places where they should not stand; I fear men have rested in turning their backs upon such troubles as they were put unto, when they have not been serious in judging themselves for these Images of jealousy, when they are so loft to be rend from them, I fear the Lord hath not humbled them for their old contagion, and therefore they are not so dead, for what is an Image but deadness? truly because we are rather in bodily presence, then in heart departed from them, therefore there is such deadness: what's the reason, that upon the least motion, men are ready to remove to a new Plantation, as if they removed from old England to New in a pang: If men had a calling upon just grounds to come hither, then when we come where the Ordinances of God are, we should sit down under the Ordinances, under the shadow of the Almighty, and never look for more: But when that doth not satisfy that we enjoy Ordinances, all that liberty we did desire, we do enjoy, and yet it doth not satisfy; certainly there is some sin lies in the breast still, for which the Lord pursues men with a restless frame, they are not yet purged from the image of Romish pollution, and therefore the Lord sees it not meet to give us rest, no not in Zion, because in heart we are not returned from Babel, but every new occasion puts us to a new plantation, and when we are there we cannot rest: And therefore I fear, because we have not judged ourselves for our inordinate walking in polluted Churches, but have rather sought for our own peace, than purity from these pollutions, which there have defiled us, or do not see any great need of judging ourselves in that kind; thence it is, that to this day the Lord hath much ado to quiet our hearts in his peace and purity, and in power, but still we are much destitute of inward purity and power of godliness, and therefore dead heartedness hangs about us to this day. And therefore as we desire the power, and purity, and peace of Ordinances stamped upon our hearts, so we are to bewail the contagions we have had in this Image of the beast with Officers or people, that so the Lord may give a reviving according to the desire of our hearts. Lastly, Use 7. let it be of much praise and thanksgiving to God, that hath delivered us and ours, from these Contagions and pollutions, in which you see all that dwell on the earth have been entangled and polluted in time past: That he hath delivered us from the power of this Beast (the Roman Catholic Church) that he hath freed us from making an Image to that Beast; we own none of his Ordinances, and that God hath removed us from the mark of this Beast, that we desire not to be accounted Catholics, nor Hirarchies, nor stand members of a Diocesan, or Provincial, or Cathedral, or national Church, but bear witness against them all: And also that he hath freed us in some measure from the number of his name; that many things that are of number and account with them, are not of any number with us, if there be any thing of the Beast in it. And therefore it is matter of great praise to God; You shall read of the hundred and forty four thousand, that God had gotten victory over the Image, and mark of the Beast, and over his name, and the number of his name, or had not left them in any bondage, they sung as it were a new song before the Throne; It is great matter of praise that here we may enjoy no head but the Lord Jesus. (Saul indeed was head of the Tribes of Israel, but not of the Church, 1 Sam. 15. 17.) That the Lord hath given us to enjoy Churches, and Congregational Assemblies by his Covenant, to worship him in all his holy Ordinances; that he 〈◊〉 given us to look for no Laws but his word, no rules nor forms of worship, but such as he hath set down in his word; no platforms of Doctrine, but such as are held forth in the word of the Prophets and Apostles: It is such a privilege, that for 1260. years, the Christian world knew not the meaning of it, unless it were here and there a few whom God had sealed (this was the privilege of a few sealed ones) but this the Lord vouchsafeth to us this day, above all Nations that have power of the civil sword: It is true, there is a great deal of these things in sundry other Churches, but yet there is a tang of the image of the Beast, that a company of Elders and Ministers, they shall have power to impose Officers upon Churches, and to excommunicate Officers and Members; It is too much the image of the first Beast, and too much of the power of both Beasts, and therefore it is to be lamented: but that the Lord should give us such liberty, that all our Churches are not subordinate one to another, and none arrogate nor plead Supremacy, but are preserved and kept from all contagion of the first and second beast, this calls us to abundant thankfulness, and we are to desire that the Lord would keep us at such a distance, that we may never return to the image of either of the beasts. Rev. 13. the last verse. Here is wisdom, Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is six hundred threescore and six. THese words are some part of the description of the second Beast which arose after the former, continued from the 11th. verse of this Chap. unto the end of it. The former beast (as you have often heard) is the Roman-Catholick visible Church, described at large from the first verse to the end of the 10th. The latter Beast is the head of the Catholic Church, the Bishop, or Antichrist of Rome, and he is here described, 1. By his Original; He came out of the earth. 2. By his resemblance; which is threefold; To the Lamb in his horns; To the Dragon in his tongue and speech, and to the first beast in his power; He exerciseth all the power of the first beast. 3. As he is described thus by his Original, and by his resemblance, so he is described by his great power, and his power exerciseth itself in divers acts. First, He exerciseth all the power of the first beast. Now the first beast being the Roman Catholic Church, he exerciseth all the power of the Roman Catholic Church, that look what the Roman Catholic Church can do, the Pope can do with them, or without them: He can call Counsels, and make their Canons authentical; He can make Laws to bind Conscience, he can make Laws to bind whole Churches, as well as the Aecumenicall power of the whole Council: He can forbid any other doctrine, or worship, or government, but what himself establisheth: He can add to the Scriptures the Apocryphas, and he hath infallible power to judge Controversies: He can bind and lose Conscience; he can depose Kings, and dispose of their Kingdoms, and he can absolve Subjects from the oath of Fidelity: He hath power to pardon sin, and to sell out pardons to them that buy them. All that the first beast can do, he will do, and more; but yet he doth it (as the Text says) in the sight of the first beast; that is, in the face and countenance of the first b●ast; He is so modest, that he will not take all that honour to the head, but the whole body, and derives all that honour expressly to himself. The second act of his power, He causeth all that dwell on the earth to worship the first beast. The third act of his power; He doth great wonders, even to call down fire from Heaven in the sight of men. Not the fire of Acceptance, which Eliah brought to consume the Sacrifice; but the fire of Vengeance upon the Rebellious, as the Prophet called for fire upon the Captains that came to attach him. 4. He doth by his miracles deceive all that dwell upon the earth. 5. He causeth them all to make an Image like unto the first beast. The first beast (as you heard) was the Roman visible Catholic Church, than the image of the beast are all such like models and forms of Churches as are Diocesan Churches, National Churches, and Provincial Churches. 6. He causeth all men to worship that Image, that if any will not worship that Image (Churches of that mould) they shall be delivered to the secular power, and so they shall be killed. Lastly, He will not suffer any Commerce, nor civil Commerce, much less Ecclesiastical communion, but to them that have the mark of the beast, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name, vers. 16, 17. They must swear, or perform some loyalty to the Church of Rome. The mark of the beast, the carriage of the beast in the Original: All that have received Religious Orders, have received the mark of the beast, all their religious Orders leave an indelible Character upon them, so that all that are entered into religious Orders, are sworn Catholics. The name of the beast, what is it? Though they be not of the religious Order, yet they profess themselves to be Roman Catholics, and profess subjection to the head of that Church, and so to his doctrine and worship, though it be be to Saints and Angels, and to his government, as that which binds the conscience, the name of the Beast is a Roman Catholic, submitting himself both to the Church, and to the head of that Church, and that for conscience sake. But for the number of his name, it was reserved to this day's exercise: Whereas the holy Ghost having said that he would permit no man to buy or sell, but such as had received the mark, or his name, or the number of his name; he doth in this last Verse declare what this number of his name is, which at least they must have, or else they cannot have commerce: Now this number he first doth amplify or illustrate, and then express it. He doth illustrate or amplify it, First, by the adjunct of wisdom needful for the understanding of it; Here is wisdom. Secondly, the duty of men that have understanding to count it. And thirdly, He doth amplify it by the subject, or by the efficient of it, It is the number of a man: This is his illustration: It requires wisdom to count it: It is the duty (though) of them that have understanding to search it out. And when they do count it, they find it the number of a man. In the Second place he doth expressly design or decipher out the number, and that is in the last word, his number is six hundred threescore and six. The place is very obscure as any in the word, and therefore the holy Ghost tells us, here is wisdom to find it out: but withal, here is a command that every one that hath received the least measure or talon of wisdom should endeavour it, and he doth encourage men to find it out. But were it not that the Lord hath said, If any man want wisdom let him ask it of God, and it shall be given him, James 1. 5. And were it not that God hath given Christ to be our wisdom to declare to us the whole council of his Father, 1 Cor. 1. 30. And were it not that the providence of God in the invitation of sundry brethren, hath put me upon the handling of this book, and now it falls in order to be opened; for my own part, I think I should never have chosen this Text to have spoken to whilst I had lived: But now since we are come to it, in our interpretation of this book, and the wisdom of God is perfected in the weakness of his servants, I shall therefore endeavour by the help of God, and by the light of his wisdom, to express such meditations as God hath suggested to men, and leave them to your further consideration, and spiritual discerning and judgement. The note than is shortly thus much. To find out the number of the Beast requires heavenly wisdom, Doctrine. and yet such as have received any wisdom ought to count that number, and upon the acount shall find it to be the number of a man, in sum six hundred threescore and six. This is the sum, I wrap up all in one Doctrine, that handling the Doctrine in the parcels, all the parts of the verse may be opened therewith. First, I say to find out this number is wisdom, it requires heavenly wisdom; Here is wisdom: And God accounts not the wisdom of this world wisdom, but foolishness; he speaks therefore of that which in Scripture language is wisdom, not Mathematical, nor Airthmetical wisdom; for what great wisdom would it require to count this number, it ariseth out of six, and is multiplied by ten, this is such wisdom as any mean Arithmetition might count, six times ten is 60. and ten times 60. is 600. and six times one is six, the wisdom therefore lies not there. But to see how this count deciphers the Beast, and by that means to give more perfect intelligence of the Beast, and of his nature, then by his mark and name alone could be gathered, that requires heavenly wisdom, but wisdom therefore it doth require▪ It requires a man's best understanding to inquire what the holy Ghost hath said of this number: and though it require much wisdom, yet the counting of this number is both possible, and necessary: if it were not possible, the holy Ghost would not say, Let him that hath understanding, count the number of the Beast: He is wont to say, Let him that hath an ear, hear what the spirit saith: but here he saith, Let him tha● hath understanding count the number of the Beast. And it is also necessary for him, not of necessity to salvation, without which a man cannot be saved, but (necessitate precepti) necessary in regard of God's command: Now because there are none of God's commandments that are vain things, but weighty, therefore they are either very necessary to salvation, or very expedient: so that a man shall be much weakened in his spiritual progress, (especially in Popish times, or in such times where men live in the Image of Popish Churches, National or Diocesan,) if he be ignorant thereof, he shall find it to be much expedient to count the number of the Beast. And further I add, it will be found to be but the number of a man: What is the meaning of that? I will not trouble you with variety of interpretations, briefly the number of a man: I suppose it is here opposed to that which ye read of in Rev. 21. 17. where he tells us, The new Jerusalem was measured, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is of the Angel: here he doth not say so, the number of a man, that is of the Angel: but it is the number of a mere man, a carnal man, and therefote in sum this number will prove but an humane invention, it is therefore called the number of a man. And finally, he saith this number is six hundred threescore and six. Six hundred sixty six is not in the Original in so many words, only three greek letters are put for these three numbers, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Now it is true in the Greek account they do reckon numbers by the letters of the Alphabet, and from the first letter Alpha to jota, they are for singular units, for Alpha is one, and Beta is two, etc. and they put in Sigma and make that six, jota is the tenth letter, and so is ten in number; and from jota to Rho, they are reckoned by ten, as Cappa is twenty, Lambda thirty, Mu forty, etc. and so till you come to Rho and that is one hundred, and then the rest that follow are so many multiplied, as Sigma is two hundred, Tau three hundred, etc. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 six hundred. So that if these be understood as holding out the numbers, as here the words express, than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is six hundred, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is sixty, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is six; which being summed together they make up six hundred sixty six. Now a man would wonder that the holy Ghost should delight in such Arithmetical riddles; but since it pleaseth him thus to express himself, we must not look at it as a cabalistical curiosity, nor as an unsearchable mystery: but they that labour herein, shall find that which may solace themselves and others: For though by the arm of flesh no man shall be strong, yet by the wisdom of God the servants of Christ shall see light, and babes shall see the mystery of it. Therefore to clear up this point, so far as God shall give light, consider with me I pray you six or seven several observable passages of the holy story of the Revelation, that may h●lp us in some measure in enquiring and counting this sum of six hundred three score and six, what it may point at. Let it not be wearisome to you; for though to us that are Ministers, we think we are most properly in our element when we preack Christ, and the need of Christ; yet forasmuch as Antichrist is opposed to Christ, and is an enemy to Christ, the one contrary may be the better known by the other, and no part of Scripture but is worthy our consideration, we may not be so squeamish as to neglect to seek what may be the council of the holy Ghost in this point. Observe therefore what the Scripture doth observe about this number. First, you shall observe this, to find out the meaning; that such as have this number they all have liberty of commerce, either in the Catholic Roman Church or in the Image of that Church; they may trade with them, whether in spiritual or temporal businesses, they will not grudge you; you are a currant market man among them; you are a vendable commodity, and you may pass with them, and your money is good silver, as in Verse 16, 17. But if you be not a Priest of their order, nor a Roman Catholic, nor have his number, you may not buy, nor sell; that is something then. Secondly, Mark this, that this number of the name is the degree of commerce with the Roman Catholic Church, for so he doth descend, Verse 17. No man may buy or sell but those that have the mark, or the name of the Beast, or the number of his name: As who should say, they were of the lowest, they were the least sort of them, yet to them it did pertain that had the number of the name: yet there is so much real difference between them, that he saith plainly, They that receive the mark or his name, they shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation: And they shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy Angels, and in presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment shall ascend up for ever and ever, and they shall have no rest day nor night, Rev. 14. 9, 10, 11. Which shows if they continue in it, they cannot be saved: There was a cry of the Angel with a loud voice, If any man worship the Beast and his Image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, etc. It shows the danger is very great to receive the mark of the Beast or the name of the Beast: But the number of his name I do not read of any such judgement pronounced to be inflicted upon them: though it be great wisdom to avoid it, and it will wonderfully advance their heavenly good to get free from it: For wherein lies wisdom but in attaining our chief good, and to know the best means that leads to that good, & that is in communion with God in his Ordinances purely dispensed; that is a second thing. Thirdly, there is this recorded of this number of the name, that the choicest christians and the best christians, they gave God thanks for victory over the number as well as over the Beast, Rev. 15. 2. They got victory over the Beast, and over his Image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, so that they sung the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, great and marvellous are thy works Lord God almighty, etc. They had got the victory over the number of the name of the Beast, and they are more abundant in thanksgiving for deliverance, than they that had only victory over the mark, and that is their Priestly order or profession of Roman Catholic Religion; so that this will come near some Churches, conformed to the Image of the Beast, that is, National, Diocesan, or Cathedral Churches; but these have got victory over that, not only over the Beast and his Image, and his mark, and his name, but also the number of his name. The fourth observable thing in Scripture is (I am occasioned to gather up little bea●s of wisdom which the holy Ghost hath scattered that so we may gather up this account) that this number of his name is not said to be the number of his years; It is neither the number of his years when he began, nor the number of his years when he shall end: They cannot make it the beginning of his years; for though there be some that thought that Antichrist did first arise to a name in the year 606. yet they cannot clear it by story. It is 〈◊〉, in 606. or rather 604. Boniface took upon him the title of chief Bishop, that is, spiritual advancing, which was a part of Antichrist, yet Antichrist was begun; and 606 is not 666. there is 60. years' difference; and it is like the holy Ghost would not have varied so much in such an express number, therefore this number is not for the time of the beginning of this beast. Neither is it the end of his years, for the beast continues still to this time, which hath been almost a thousand years since 666. But some say in this round number, something is omitted, as when we say 88 we mean 1588. yet in Scripture phrase such small numbers are not regarded, we speak to those that know what we speak. But the Scripture requires us to use wisdom in finding out this number: but what wisdom were it for the holy Ghost to leave out a thousand, as we leave out when we say 88 for 1500. the holy Ghost doth not so here. And besides, I would fain learn of any man of that judgement, what victory the Saints got, either the year when Antichrist began, or when he shall end. What victory have we got? or shall no body conflict with this number of the beast but those that lived in the year 666? or that shall live in the year 1666? In Rev. 15. 2. They got victory over the Beast and his Image, and over his name and number of his name, before the pouring out of the seven vials; So that I cannot say this is the number of the period of the beast, that those are the number of his name. And for a fifth thing, there is this further to be observed in it, that it is not the number of the followers of the beast, but the number of the beast: If it were the number of his followers, than it would be less than the number that followed the Lamb; for they are said to be an hundred forty and four thousand, in Chap 14. 1. And had the beast had no more but 666. then he had a less number to fight for him, than the Lamb had to fight for him: but in Verse 8. of this chapter, he tells you, All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life: And the world was never so happy, as to leave but 666. reprobates in it in any generation, therefore that cannot be the meaning. Sixthly, whereas he saith, this number is the number of a man, and the number is six hundred threescore and six, he doth apparently put a difference between that and the name of the beast; for he doth expressly distinguish them in the former verse, for he saith, The mark of the Beast, and the name, and the number of his name, Verse 17. They are three distinct things: So in Chap. 15. 2. where he saith, They got victory over the beast and his Image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name: And more yet, expressly in Chap. 14. 9, 10, 11. He denouceth vengeance to them that receive his mark or name, and yet not damnation to all that receive his number; so that the number is not his name, it is a distinct thing from the name, as the adjunct is from the subject. Then it will follow, me thinks (but I refer it to men of better judgement) it cannot be that either Latinuses should be the number of the name, or (Ecclesia Catholica) the Roman Catholic Church; yet upon these points do our chief and late Expositors run: But (leaving them their due honour) it doth not satisfy me, because Ecclesia Catholica is the name of the first beast; and the name is one thing, and the number is another thing. And Latinus is one of the names of the second beast, of Latinus Episcopus, the name of the Bishop of Rome; therefore it being his name, it is not the number of his name: So than all these things be considered, these observations being laid down, attend to a seventh observation for the clearing of the meaning of the text, and for opening the true 〈◊〉 of it; Observe this, 7. That this number is expressly opposite to the number of the Lamb in the next verse, in the following Chapter: The number of the Beast is one thing, and the number of the Lamb is another thing: For enough this be not the number of the Beasts followers, six hundred threescore and six, yet it is the number of the Beast; and the number of the Lambs followers is an hundred forty & four thousand, what will that hold forth? You shall find what the Holy Ghost intends expressly in that number in some other parts of this book, that this hundred forty and four thousand hath his original and rise from 12. And 12. multiplied by 12. will arise from so many scores to so many hundreds, and 12. times twelve-thousand is an hundred forty and four thousand. So that that is the number of an hundred forty and four thousand, the basis of the number is 12. and multiplied by 12. it will still be derived into the same 12. Now thus doth the Holy Ghost lead us by the hand to consider of more distinctly; In Rev 12. 14. 16. He tells us, The walls of the City had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb, and the City lieth foure-square, and the length is as broad as the breadth, etc. He measured the City with the read, 12000. furlongs, the length, and the breadth, and the height of it are equal. There he lays the number according to the number of the 12. Apostles, the foundation of the Church of the living God: And further, ma●k how he multiplies on that 12. saith he, They are all equal, twelve thousand furlongs in breadth, twelve thousand furlongs in length, twelve thousand furlongs in height: Which argueth still, that as the City of the new Jerusalem is built upon them, so it is multiplied from them: And when he comes to measure the wall, he tells you in vers. 17. that it was an hundred forty and four: Just the Lamb's company; Still the whole Fabric of Jerusalem is 12. the foundation of the number is Apostolical, it is numbered by 12. and multiplied by 12. It ariseth still but to Apostolical simplicity, their number, and their measure, and their order, in all their dimensions; when you have summed it up to the highest, their Laws and Orders that they set up, you shall find 12. there, and you shall find no more. Now than what is the number of the Beast? You see what the Lamb's number is, An hundred forty and four thousand: what is the Beasts number? It is six hundred threescore and six, it falls short in the beginning, six of the first 12. There is nothing Apostolical in it from the first rise: And as the rise is not the Apostolical number, and constitution, so neither is the multiplication of it, for six is not multiplied by 12. but by ten; for six unites being multiplied by ten, make 60. and ten times sixty is 600. So all the multiplications is by ten, not by 12. the Apostolic number is not here. It is true, 666. runs roundly, and hath a comely proportion in it; where ever ye look, ye have six, and it is pretty pleasing to the fancy, and easy to remember; 144. is not so round a number, neither for apprehension, nor for memory. But yet we are not at the bottom: What should be the reason that the Holy Ghost should fingle out the number six, and multiply it by ten? why doth the Holy Ghost put it upon six? Seven had been no Apostolical number, nor 10. multiplied by 20. But why doth the H. Ghost pitch upon six, and the multiplication of six by ten? Why you that are conversant in the Latin Bible look Junius his notes, and he tells you; whereas all the Catholic Church was formerly governed by five books of decretals, Boniface he did compile a sixth book of decretals, and called it Sextus (you that have the book of Canons may find it) which being (said the Pope) a perfect number, and therefore being added to the former books of decretals, it maketh up a certain platform of direction for all matters of practice and manners in the discipline of the Church, and so it is a perfect number of all things to be done in the Church, both for doctrine, worship, and government: so the Pope's Canons are summed up in his Sextus, there is the reason why he makes six the foundation; all their Administrations are founded and measured out from their Canon●Lawes, which are all wrapped up in six volumes, and the sixth is the most complete of them all. Now if you will ask why this six comes to be multiplied by ten? If ye observe it, all the government and maintenance of the Roman State is by tenths, by tithes; all the people must give the tenth to the Priest, and the Priest to the Bishop for the maintenance of the Catholic Church, and so the whole Government comes to be multiplied, maintained, and established. Thus you see what the number is, and the reason why the Holy Ghost calls it so, and how he doth oppose it to the contrary number of that which is delivered by the blessed Apostles, and followed by the holy Saints of God from one generation to another. Put then all these together, and all will amount to this; That whereas the number of Christ upon which both his followers are built, and his Church, and all the Dimensions and Administrations of it: Their foundation, their gates, their length, height, and breadth, all of them are founded in the Apostolical doctrine: For Christ prayed for his twelve Apostles, and all that should believe in his name through their word, John 17. 20. It is the comprehension of all Saints to the end of the world, whereas they are built upon Apostolical simplicity, both for their State and Church-administrations, they are all built upon twelve, and multiplied and enlarged by 12. On the contrary, all the Roman Catholics they are built upon the Popish Laws and Decrees, all which require subjection to the Popish Church, and submission to that Church, and to the Pope as the head of that Church, receiving doctrine, and worship, and discipline from that Church, and that was founded in six, on the six books of their Decrees, and it is multiplied according to the same books, to maintain all the Clergy, from the Pope to the lowest Parish priest: And it is wisdom to find this out, and it requires heavenly wisdom to see the dangerous state of this, and yet they that have wisdom may find this out; and when they search it out, They will find it but the number of a man, not of the Angel, or of the Apostles, or of any messenger of God. I remember the speech of one of the Saints of God, Parker. That it is a most unworthy thing that the Church of Christ should be governed by the Laws of Antichrist (and such were all their six books) and it is most unworthy, that both the Church itself, and all the Images of it, that they are all governed by these six books; and it is most unworthy that Antichrist should govern all the Administrations of the Church; that if a man be cited, it shall be by a Latin writ; and if he appear, he shall be proceeded against according to Canon Laws; and if he be censured, it shall be a Canon Law, and in Latin, and so shall his Absolution be; and what pertayns to their whole government, it is but founded in these six books of Decretals, and count them, and you shall find them but the number of a man; nothing but merely the wit and policy of men, either to keep unity as they say (but tyranny in government) or to enrich men with fees, or maintain the honour of some Cathedral person, it is all but mere humane invention. Now for a man to see not only the Roman Catholic visible Church to be a Beast, but that the Pope the head of it is a beast, and the image of that Church is a beast; Diocesan, Provincial, national, and Metropolitan Churches are but images of this great beast, and to see all the numbers and rights they thrust upon the Church by Canons, they are but the number of the beast, the number of a man, humane inventions; what is appointed by the Church, whether Cross or Surplice, or kneeling at the Sacrament, they are but the multiplication of Canons, Canon multiplied on Canon, but it is still but the power of the Canon, this is great wisdom to find it out: And it behoves those that have wisdom to consider it; and they that consider it, shall find it but a mere humane device, one as well as another; and they will consider which way the State goes, and which way the State leans: Though some poor hearts think they are bound to obey the Laws of the Kingdom, and some good souls many times will be tampering with them too much; but he that shall observe it, shall find it but the number of a man when he doth find it: He shall find thus much, that if he do believe as God is wont to teach to his people, they shall not have the liberty of Commerce in buying and selling, nor leave in spiritual or temporal occurrences and dealings with them. For the use of it: Use 1. First, let it be some word of encouragement and comfort unto all the servants of God, that have got the victory over this number, though with their loss, not to look at their losses as an unexpected thing, or new matter, but prophesied of above 1500. years agone. John wro●e of it in his time, what you lost in your liberties in the Church wherein you lived, it is no more than what the Lord foretold you, that you should not have liberty to buy and sell if you did bear witness against the beast, and his mark, and name, and number of his name; then there is no abiding for you in any Church in Christendom, which is either Catholic, or framed after the image of it, as national, Diocesan, or Cathedral, or Provincial, it is not possible you should get the vict●over these things, and have liberty of commerce. It is not enough that we have cast off the Pope: and what is an image of Popery (which we sometimes have submitted unto) and have born against it, and it is not enough to abhor the name of a Papist so far as we have been corrupted: It is well that ye have born witness against the Hierarchy and the papal government; but may we not hearken to the Canon of the Church maintained by a whole National Council? and may we not yield to the orders of these Canons, and bear witness to the number of the Name? Suppose the Cross, or Surplice, or kneeling at the the Sacrament, many Christians have strong reasonings about this, that they may keep their liberty of Commerce, their buying and selling, and will not God have mercy and not sacrifice? Though such Godly christians in their weakness have such reasonings, yet believe it we are to bless God that hath given us to see that there is no correspondency to be kept with Rome: If you have the number of his name, this is not that which the holy Ghost speaks of as damnable heresy, you may live and die in that judgement, and be saved, therefore he doth not pronounce fire and brimstone to such; they think in conscience they may yield to this and that, as being the command of Caesar, or of the Church; the Lord spare you as the Apostle saith; But if a man will adore the Roman Catholic Church or the Pope the head of it, and submit in conscience to be guided by their Laws, he renounces his salvation in such a case; that a man shall pin his faith upon the Church's sleeve, and his hope, and Government, and course of life on the Church's sleeve, this is the way to everlasting damnation: And therefore in those Churches that are even Images of Antichrist, it pleaseth God to keep his servants so far, that they dare not take all their Laws for doctrine without question, nor all the ways of their Government as the Government of Christ, that God opens all the hearts of his faithful servants to see: But yet for the number of his name; It is (say they) but a few trifling things, they are made a matter of six, as Cross, and Surplice, and kneeling at the Sacrament, and bowing to Altars, and the name of Jesus, and ye will have six in the end, and what will be multiplied on that six, the Lord knows: But for you here, look at it as a special mercy, that you see the vanity of receiving the number of his name, and that you have this deliverance from it; that though you have lost your buying and selling, that if you were there, you might hardly be seen in the Market, and in many of those Churches you will hardly be allowed, yet you have lost no more than ought to be forsaken. There are that have sometimes put X for the cross, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a long letter in wrinkles for the Surplice, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the proportion of a man bowing, but I would not limit the counsel of the holy Ghost so strictly: But take all that is numbered by their Canon Law, and it will come all to one reckoning; they are but the number of the beast, whether the Pope dictate them, or they receive them; and though they cut of his head for saith, yet for discipline, and order, and circumstances they still retain him, and these are the number of the Beast; therefore bless the Lord that hath showed you these to be evils, and saved you from such prevailing evils. Secondly, Use 2. for your present condition, learn thus much, It will not be safe for ye to receive the Image of any other Church, then that which Christ hath established, and this is grounded upon 12. upon the Apostles doctrine, and multiplied by 12. increased with the increasings of God, blessed be his name, therefore it being so, hold fast this form, and be not removed from it: If you fall to adore National, or Diocessan, or Provincial, or Cathedral Church-government, than you will fall to number by 6. and multiply 6. by 10. in the end it will come to pass all this shall be maintained by tenths, such settled endowments and preferments, and then it may be you shall have liberty of buying and selling, of traffic and trading; the Beast of Rome will allow you some liberty that way; yet believe it, it is a special part of your wisdom to know this, and the danger of it. If a man in his ignorance shall yield to these things, God will pardon it; but if a man know these things, and willingly give way to them, the Lord will require it at his hands: Consider therefore this number, and avoid it, though it cost you all your liberties, the Lord will say, this only is a wise people, that renounce not only the Beast, but the Images of him, and his mark, and the name Catholic, and Roman Catholic, and conformity to all the number of his name; If ye establish your hearts in these spiritual resolutions, here is wisdom; and thereof how should it provoke the hearts of God's people to be settled in conscience about such points as these, though it may be your countrymen will count you fools in running such desperate ventures, that you would hazard your fortunes, and at length bring a noble to nine pence; you shall bring your six hundreds to sixties, and your sixties to six: No matter what they think of it, so long as ye shall keep the Apostolical number, and multiply by their rule; the holy Ghost saith, Here is wisdom, and he that hath understanding, let him so esteem that here is wisdom; and it was wisdom to come hither: and he that came for this end, never made a better bargain in his life, then to come over for this, because he would have no more to do with the Beast, and his Image, and his name, and the number of his name; I say thou hast made a wise bargain, if thou wilt take the word of the holy Ghost for thy security; he saith, here is wisdom. Thirdly, Use 3. it may teach us that are come hither to see that the Lord acknowledgeth our wisdom in the abrenuntiation which we have made from these inventions of the sons of men: The Lord did foretell us what should be our case, we should not have liberty to buy nor sell, neither be seen in Church nor Market, and he counts it wisdom to remove on these terms: but if we shall have flittering minds to go back again, the Lord will write upon it, here is a fool, this their way is their folly, Psal. 49 13. When men in their hearts wax weary of the Churches of Christ, and of the discipline of Christ, and look at them as fulsome and empty things for want of feeling the life of Christ, and wisdom of Christ, run on foolishly and preposterously, and truly take a course to overthrow their communion they have with Christ, and make shipwreck as much as in them lies of all that which they have undergone, of all our sufferings and trials: Saith the Apostle to the elect Lady and her children, in 2 John 8. Look to yourselves, that ye lose not those things which ye have wrought but that ye receive a full reward. That as you have made a wise bargain and a safe, & been at so much charge, and have been freed from the image of Antichrist, and the remnant of his image, and the remnant of his number (we have cause to bless God for it.) And though we may think of mending ourselves here or there, yet you will find it a difficult thing to find 12. multiplied by 12. in any place under Heaven, that is, either your foundation shall not be Apostolical institution, or your administration apostolic doctrine: That christians should be the foundation of Churches, as the Apostles require, Saints by calling, and to build on such, and to administer such according to the word of God: Yea though the Lord should be pleased to give our Countrymen free passage of a Parliament, (as now we have speech of it) and though they be a wise Nation, yet such is the very frame of the State, and of the Sons of men, that if the Lord give free passage of a Parliament, you will find it a very difficult thing, to have the State ruled by Apostolical judgement, to reject all devices of men, to shut out the greatest part of a kingdom from the Lords Table, you would find rebellions multiplied exceedingly, if they were of the spirit that they were of in Edward the sixths' time. And when you are gone out of the Country (not that I would flatter the Country, the Lord knows we ourselves here, have need to grow more spiritual daily; but yet in respect of the Churches of God, and administration of things here, though we fail and go aside, we have the rule to show us the way back again:) I say when you are gone, go whether you will, you will have much ado to find materials, and more ado to find form and administration: as that it may be in cold blood, you will fit and mourn by the waters of Babylon, and hang your Harps upon the willows, and say, how shall we sing the Lords song, the song of Zion in a strange La●d? Therefore let it provoke us to hold fast what we have received and not to be taken off with fair pretences, to turn aside to one hand or the other; if we be in a state of wisdom, let us keep in it, and believe it, whatever takes you to a contrary course to things as they stand; if the holy Ghost say this is wisdom, than I am sure the contrary of it must needs be folly. Fourthly, Use 4. it may teach us (in the fear of God) to have an eye to our brethren in our native Country, to consider those defects that those which reform religion before us did leave in the recovery of the Country out of the jaws of Antichrist; (you see what the Lord requires of us, that we should have nothing to do with the number of the Beast) Though they cut off the head of the Beast, from being of any sovereign power to them, yet they took too much liberty for form of worship, and for the number of the Pope's name, and of Government by Canon Laws, yea the whole Church discipline by the Popish Canon Law, only with this distinction, that whereas the Pope enjoyed it before, now the King he claims headship over the Church aswel as the civil State, and he deriveth the Church-power to the chief Bishops, and they work upon it more and more; and though it be true, both Henery the eighth, and much more Edward the sixth, and Queen Elizabeth, all these did set so many Councillors, so many Divines, and so many common and civil Lawyers to cull out of the Pope's Decretals such Canons as were most fit for Government, and most of such as cut off Popish supremacy, yet they could never agree of it, and so they admit them as the Pope's Canons only; yet so that whereas reference of Ecclesiastical matters was to the Pope, now it is to the King as supreme head and Governor, but the Pope's Canons are the government of the Church. Now what was the reason? There was an unsafe principle in their hearts, that they thought it lawful to take the Laws of the Roman Church, and that any King might have power to make Laws to govern the Church, as well as the Pope had. It is true, he hath power to make Laws as well as the Pope had, and better; but the truth is, neither the Pope, nor King hath power to make Laws to rule the Church, but it must be by the Laws of Christ. Whatsoever is not of the number of 12. is superadded, and will never prosper; but this principle making them willing to admit such things, though they were the chiefest of the Kingdom, that were appointed for that work, yet they could never agree: But had they received a little more light and wisdom to cut off the number of the Beast aswel as his head, it would have prevailed for the liberty of God's Ordinances and purity of Doctrine: I say this being wanting to them, let it not be wanting to us; but through the mercy of God, the servants of God have taken no small pains to clear up such things; what the Laws are in the Church of Christ by which Magistrates and others are to be guided, how far civil Government may reach, and how far it may not go, still reserving this fundamental principle, to hold them close to the direction of the holy Ghost by the 12. Apostles; and this being the pious care of our Magistrates, and of the Churches, this wisdom will by the blessing of God be established; that that which other Nations have not attained to this day, may by the blessing of God be reached by us: and yet though the Elders are to inquire and to commend to them such rules as may establish it, it pleaseth God not to give as yet passage to our purposes; appoint one day, a storm of rain hinders; appoint the second day fortnight, than a storm of snow prevents, that it is tough work to establish things of this nature; it is difficult, as if the Lord would have them established in a spiritual way, as Moses the Law by 40. days fasting, he had the spirit of God and larger measure by much then we, yet the Lord requires serious humiliation of him. And therefore since I heard that there hath been a seasonable motion to commend such a thing to the State that the whole country do in special manner seek God at such a time against the consultation of the general Court; and this weighty point falling in for ripening of men's thoughts for the Laws of the Country and limitation of jurisdictions both of Church and Commonwealth, the Lord saith, he will be sought unto by the house of Israel. Therefore I think the motion is seasonable and was glad to hear of it; and thought to commend it to our honoured Governors that sit at Stern, and all other Churches (but we that are present have no power but in our own Church, nor that but with the consent of the Church) that if it be thought convenient this day seven-night might be set apart to seek the face of God, that we may take time both to ripen our consultations, and to prevail with the Lord to prosper our consultations and administrations, that this matter which so much concerns posterity may be established; for my own part, while we live I am not greatly solicitous thereabout, yet for future we know not what Governors may arise, and what may be put upon our posterity; needful therefore that things were put in a right frame, that whatever men say, yet the Lord may say here is wisdom, and here is neither mark, nor name, nor number of name, but all carried according to the laws of the 12. Apostles, and this will require some humiliation, and if Moses stood in need of 40. days, we much more of one day. And for our native country, we do not know what conflicts there may be there about the number of the name of the Beast; we are come from them in bodily presence, and therefore cannot help them by a word of advice; but this we may do, put up supplications to heaven, and we may entreat the God of wisdom, and the Prince of peace, that he would put in amongst them that they may see the whole fabric, root and branch of the man of sin, that so there may be a perfect combination of the two great Nations, that the Parliament may be for the better, not for the worse, but purity of ordinances (if it be the blessed will of God) may be established; however we shall find a blessing, and some of our brethren shall far the better: and if things wax clearer and zeal warmer▪ they will begin to suspect the number as well as the name, and as the head of the beast; otherwise the three innocent ceremonies (as they call them) they are grown to six; and being multiplied by ten, they may grow to 60. yea to 600. for aught I know: Let us help them what we can by Prayer. FINIS. A TABLE of the principal Heads contained in this Book. A▪ THe amplitude of the Pope's power, page 113 Amplitude of dominion, not an inseparable character of the Church, 121 Angels created the first day of the week, 188 Antichrist described, 243 It is Antichristian to assume God's titles, 52 Transcendent authority dangerous to be admitted, 72 Albingenses and Waldenses slain, to the number of 1000000. 100 B. Backsliders punished, page 43 The first Beast what it is, page 7. Described, p. 2. Not the Pagan Empire, p. 4. Not the Christian Empire, pag 5. Whence it did arise, p. 9 The Beast and the head of the beast is one and the same, 44 The Beasts head, when wounded and cured, p. 35. his great words p. 62. the Beasts time how long, p. 80. Why counted by months, p. 86. When it did begin, p. 86 The Beasts power, p. 98. From whence, p. 115. Why Saints worship not the Beast, 139 The second Beast described, 223 Bishoply power to be prayed against, 38 Blasphemy what, 67 Blessed are the sufferers for Christ, page 219 Body of death what, 185 Book of Providence, and book of Conscience, and the book of life, what, 132 The Pope's Bulls are but baubles, 90 C. IT is a Character of the second Beast to be without control, p. 236 Christ's Government over all Nations, 12● Christ both the subject and the author of life, 130 Why Christ answered not Pilate, 157 Christ the Lamb slain, p. 154. Christ slain from the beginning of the world, how? 189 Christ the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, p. 196. the head of the Church, 37 Christians may make a defensive war, 108 The Church Catholic is not visible, 13 The power of the Church, 13 The Roman Catholic visible Church a beast, p. 14. They receive their power from the Devil, 22 national and Diocesan Churches an Image of the beast, 16 Christ's Church is such as meet in one Congregation, 15 No Communion to be held with Antichristian Churches, 239 Scripture Computations most exact, 95 D. THe Pope's Decretals the number of the Beast, page 253 Dwellers on the earth, who? 230 Defensive war of Prorestants, p. 104. Defensive war lawful, 108 Denmark one of the ten horns, 81 Devil cast out of heaven when and where, 88 92 E. Ear to hear, what it means, 206 Election, a book of life, p▪ 135. in what sense it is said to be sure, p. 150. How we are said to make it sure, 150. 153 England one of the ten horns, p. 10. 81. F. FAith the victory whereby we overcome the world, page 108 The Faith of Romanists is the saith of the Devil, 210 No Falling from grace, 149 France one of the ten horns, 81 Friars are Incendiaries, 101 Fundamental power is in the people, 72 G. GRace and works opposite, page 210 God most exact in his computations, 94 Christ's Government over the world, p. 122. It is hard to be set up in England, 12 Governors are subject to law, p. 109. they may be resisted, and when, 109 Gregory sent for England, 51 H. HEadship of the Church is Christ's privilege, page 39 Hints of Providence should be taken, 45 To keep Holidays is blasphemy, 67 Ten Horns of the Beast, 81 I. IMmunity and impunity from all censures is the Beasts claim, page 230 Image of the Beast, what? p. 223. that all Officers, Governments, and worship (not instituted by Christ) are but Images, 238 Diocesan, Cathedral, and national Churches are Images of the Beast, 239 It is impossible for Saints to fall finally, 148 The Judgement upon persecutors, 217 Justification is from free grace. 163 K. THe Kingly power of Christ, page 122 L. CHrist the Lamb slain, p. 154. 168. Why called a Lam p. 155. Why slain? p. 170. What the book of the Lamb? p. 135 Lex 〈◊〉, unto persecuting Tyrants, 98 Boundless Liberty dangerous, 71 The Lion of Babel's language, 12 The Love of God most free, 146 M. Magistrate's power should be limited, page 73 Magistrates subject to the Church's censures, 126 The fifth Monarchy, 120. 122 The 42. Months, the same with 1260. days, 83 Why the Beasts time is numbered by Months, 86 When these Months began, 93 Opening of the Mouth, what it means, 64 Moral virtue is but a silken or golden chain, 197 N. NAva●● one of the ten Horns, page 81 No Name whereby to be saved but Christ, 201 Number of the Beasts name, 247 O. What Obedience Subjects owe to Princes, page 111 Opening the mouth what it means? 64 Opportunity to wound the Beast ought not to be neglected, 45 P. PArishes a part of the beasts Image, page 20 A Papist by his Religion cannot go beyond a reprobate, 143 The People can give no power, but what the word of God allows, 72 Peace with Idolaters dangerous, 105 Persecutors rewarded in their kind, 98 Gods judgement on Persecutors, 217 Pontifex Maximus, the Pope's style, 88 Pope, the head of the Beast that was wounded, p. 34. When wounded, p. 35. When cured, 35 Pope is the seventh head, p. 47. He rules the world, p. 52. He assumes divine power, 53 Pope is the head of the second Beast, p. 215. Why compared to a wild beast, p. 226 what power he challengeth, 229 Popes have been Conjurers, 232 Popery a wormeaten Religion, p. 60 why pleasing to the flesh, 117 Power of the Beast whence it i●, p. 22. 115. and what it is, 23 What Power Princes have over the Church, what not? 39 Prince's Power ought to be limited, 73 We should pray for the Beasts ruin, 95 Christ's Purchase for his people, 171 R. THe blood of Christ a Ransom for sin, page 176 Popish repentance no better than Judas repentance, 212 Reconciliation with God, the purchase of Christ's blood, 171 Roman Catholic visible Church described, p. 2. 7. And whence this first Beast did arise, 9 When Rome-Pagan ended, and Rome-Christian began, 5 S. SAints always victorious, page 106 No Salvation in the Romish Church, 215 What is meant by Sea, 8 Christ slain, p. 168 and wherefore, p. 170. and how slain from the beginning of the world? 189 The Spirit is purchased by Christ's death, 172 Sufferers for Christ and his cause are blessed, 219 Sweden is one of the ten Horns, 50 T. TEnths is the number of the beasts name, pag. 253. 257 Th●odosius overthrew the Temples, 88 The Turk invincible whilst the Pope stands, 50 V. UNiversality and prosperity no notes of a true Church, page 57 Union purchased by Christ's death, 172 W. Waldenses and Albingenses slain, to the number of 1000000. page 100 Saints are Saints in War as well as in Peace, 108 Such as War against Antichrist are called Saints, 106 A warning from checks of Providence, 44 The Beast makes War with the Saints, 98 The great words of the Beast, 65 Works and grace opposite, 210 Popish worship is the worship of the Devil, 58 ERRATA. PAge 2. l. 2. r. a part. l 17. r. they are. p 4. l. 17. r. Pagan. p 8. l. 19 r. partions. p. 9 l. 26. r. Decemviri. l. 28. r. was. p. 14. l. 34. r is it. p. 16. l. 17. r. is it. l. ult. r. edified. p. 18. l. 3. r. examination. p. 29. l. 34. r. edified. & l. 35. r. bring. p. 30. l. 25. r. passeth p 31. l. 37. r. Church will p. 32. l. 3. r. they. p. 33. l. 24. r. Decemviries, p. 34. l. 23. r. some such. l. 35. r. must therefore. p. 43. l. 32. r. sacrifice. p. 62. r. delegation. p. 6● l. 27. r. Dan. 7. 8. p. 64. l. 16. r. audible. p. 82. l. 28. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. l. 38. r. there. p. 37. l. 17 r. prevaricate p. 90. l. 14. r. many. p. 91. l. 22. r. talk. p. 123. l. 21, r. Albigenses. l. 29. r. sui●●. p. 124. l. 24. r. without. p. 129. l. 29 r. men. p. 132. l 24. r. acceptation. p. 145 l. ult. r. irrevocable. p. 159. l. 6. r. unexcusable. p. 157. l. 31. r. many. p. 160. l. 6. r. antiquity p. 178. l. 23. r. applied to p. 181. l. 19 r. repetitions. p. 182. 29. r. the. p. 184. 36. r. grace. p 211. l. 28. r. stony, p. 229. l. 36. r. appeals. FINIS. The Analysis of this 13. Chapter of the Revelation. This Chapter contains the War which the Dragon or Devil made against the Woman or Church (mentioned in the last verse of the foregoing Chapter) which is managed by two Beasts as his Instruments. First beast is described, v. 1. to 11 by his 1 Original, or Fountain whence he springs, viz. the Sea, vers. 1. 2. Sh●pe or Figure, having 7. Heads, with the Title of blasphemy upon them, ib. 10. Horns with Crowns upon them, ibid. A Body like unto a Leopard, or Panther, v. 2. Feet, as of a Bear, ibid. A mouth, as of a Lion, ibid. 3. State, which is set forth by 1. The efficient Cause, viz. the Dragon, he gave his power and authority, ibid. 2. The variable change of it. 1. 'Twas great, being called Power. Seat. Authority. 2. One head was wounded as it were to death, v. 3. 3. That Head was healed, ib. and the effects thereof. 1. The world's wondering, ibid. 2. The worshipping of the Beast and Dragon, v. 4. 3. Liberty to blaspheme, v. 5. 6. 4. Power to continue 42. months. overcome the Saints, v. 7. 5. The amplitude or largeness of his Dominion, v. 7, 8. 3. A Conclusion containing a word of Attenttors and Consolation v. 9, 10. 1. His Original, He comes on't of the earth, vers. 11. 2. A Similitude or Resemblance in 3. things. viz. to 1. A Lamb in his horns, ibid. 2. A Dragon in his speech, ibid. 3. The first Beast, in the exercise of his Power v. 12. 3. The particular Exercises of his Power, or effects of it, viz. He 1. Procures Adoration to the first beast, ibid. 2. Doth great wonders, making fire come down from heaven in the sight of men, ver. 13. 3. Deceives them that dwell on the earth by those miracles, v. 14. 4. Doth prevail with them that are on earth, to make an Image to the Beast, which had a wound by the sword, and did live, ibid. 5. Animates, and gives life to the Image of the Beast, that it should have both power to speak, and to cause as many as would not worship the Image of the Beast, to be killed, v. 15. 6. Causeth all sorts of men (small and great, rich and poor, free and bond) to receive a mark in their right hand or forehead, or at least the Name of the Beast, or the number of his name, or otherwise he excludes them not only from spiritual but also civil Commerce, v. 16, 17. The number of his Name is also, ver. 18. illustrated, 1. By the wisdom needful to the understanding of it. 2. By an exhortation to search out and count it. 3. To be the number of a man expressly deciphered to be 666. The Reader is desired to correct with his pen these faults (amongst others) which through precipitance of the Press have fallen to the prejudice of the sense. Page. Line. Read. 2 2 a part. 6 31 give. 9 26 Decemvirs. 11 30 much. 34 whole. last lasted long. 13 34 presumed. 14 36 is it not. 16 17 is it not. 29 Metropolitan. last edified. 29 35 bring. 37 primitive. 36 11 head of the. 37 Supremacy. 37 6 incompatible. 64 10 premeditation. 16 audible. 65 29 derision. 66 10 Pope that is the 69 6 Cantury. 20 could not for would. 73 11 clouds to keep them from the earth. ib. Firmament to the clouds. 31 blot out a. 75 27 Pontifex. 82 2 limited. 28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. blot out ever. 83 35 a definite, or indefinite time. 87 17 prevaricate. 25 there was no place. 88 8 Theodosius. 20 for scores of, r. number. 90 13 time for the month. 14 many for may. 95 1 the children of Israel in the land of Egypt. 101 36 readiness for necessity. 102 2 even for him and 107 32 they are not heretics. 35 if not, they 109 13 not lift up. 22 holiness. 28 hand for head. 115 6 blot out Exasia. 116 24 the Pope; was. 117 10 Abominations. 123 21 Waldenses and Alb●ngenses. 29 suit for smite. 124 24 Without mixture. 129 penult. of life for of the life. 134 1 else they may not. 3 the book of life of. 25 Wherein whoever is not. 33 blot out out of. 141 34, 35 the world it carrieth away them. 145 l●st irrevocable. 146 8 receive him. 31 there be in us. 148 13 blasting. 150 10 how for now. 13 many times. 30 seal for search. 32 after work for Christ make; 155 34 that for as. 159 4 This is for this this. 6 unexcusable. 165 31 many times 23 applied to thee. 178 29 the stay. 182 1 of temptations. 184 36 way of grace. 19 in Saul's, and solomon's. 197 ●● take it at the best. 198 ●9 And 〈…〉 201 2 blot out in doing and suffering all for them. 206 12 which be ha●h. 208 21 not for nor. 29 tells you of the. 30 blot out to in that sentence [and to the holy City they] 209 4 not for nor. 210 19 subtle. 211 7 word for world. 215 28 ●●ony for strong. 218 27 tale for tail. 229 15 appointed time is come. 231 36 appeals. 236 12 the Church. 237 23 the head of this beast. 239 10 Congregations to. 4, 5 speech of the sins of Christians in, etc. 35 blot out as. 36 for a great 240 16 loath for loft. 241 28 given for gotten. 246 9 me for men. 2 account. 247 27 〈…〉. 249 25 as well. 251 31 then let all. 252 14 of it more. 253 8 pretty. 256 6 victory. 10 born witness against. 11 a Papist; so far. 257 6 six more in. 259 17 in the foundation.