THE POURING OUT OF THE SEVEN VIALS: OR AN EXPOSITION, OF THE 16. Chapter of the REVELATION, with an Application of it to our Times.  
Wherein is revealed Gods pouring out the full Vials of his fierce wrath.  

1. Upon the lowest and basest sort of Catholics.  
2. Their Worship and Religion.  
3. Their Priests and Ministers.  
4. The House of Austria, and Pope's Supremacy.  
5. Episcopal Government.  
6. Their Euphrates, or the stream of their supportments.  
7. Their gross Ignorance, and blind Superstitions.   
Very fit and necessary for this Present Age.  
Preached in sundry Sermons at Boston in New-England: By the Learned and Reverend JOHN COTTON BB. of Divinity, and Teacher to the Church there  
LONDON, Printed for R. S. and are to sold at Henry overton's shop in Popes-head Alley. 1642.   

To the Christian Reader.  
CHristian Reader, Thou hast here presented to thy view, a taste of the ordinary Weekdays exercise, of that Reverend man, taken from his own mouth, whose Pen would have more fully answered thy greatest expectations, could his time (drunk up with continual weighty, and various employments) afforded him more liberty and leisure, to have filed over his own notions: It is hoped they may be of great use unto thee, and the rather, because of the excellency and seasonableness of the Subject, to erect thy hopes, and to put an edge upon thy Prayers, and desires, for the more speedier bringing forth of those great works, which this and the following Age are to produce. The good that may accrue to thyself, and the common cause, produced this Work into the light; which was not intended, when first delivered, for any more public use, then of his own private Auditotie. Now the Father of lights, and God of all grace, fill our hearts with the life and power of faith and zeal, to pray for, long for, speed, and write for the most desired ruin, and speedy begunne-downefall of that most cursed Kingdom of Antichrist, according to the scope and drift of that Prophecy, expressed in the pouring out of these Seven Vials.  
Thine in the Lord, I. H.   

Vial I. The pouring out of the SEVEN VIALS: OR AN EXPOSITION, with an Application, of the 16th. Chapter of the REVELATION.  REVELATION 16.1.2. 
And I heard a great voice out of the Temple, saying to the Seven Angels; Go your ways, and pour out the Vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.  
And the first went and poured out his Vial upon the Earth, and there fell a noisome, and grievous sore upon the men which had the Mark of the Beast, and upon them which Worshipped the Image.  
YOu have heard in the former Chapter, of the Preparation of the Seven Angels, to pour out the seven last Plagues of God upon the Antichristian State. In this Chapter, you read a large Description of their Execution of that work, which is,  
First, Commanded, Verse 1.  
Secondly, Performed, in the sequel of the Chapter.  
Commanded, wherein observe that Commandment set forth, First, by the Jnstrumentall efficient Promulger of it, a great voice [I heard a great Voice.]  
Secondly, By the Subject-place, whence this Voice came forth, out of the Temple. [A great voice out of the Temple]  
Thirdly, By the matter commanded by the voice, [Go your ways and pour out the Vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.]  
This Commandment thus given, was accordingly performed by all the seven Angels, in this whole Chapter.  
The first Angel poureth out his Vial, for 2. and that is, first set forth by the subject upon which he poured it, [upon the earth.]  
Secondly, It is amplified by the effect it wrought [There fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men] What men? They are of two sorts:  

First [Such as had the Mark of the Breast.]  
Secondly, [Such as worshipped his Image.]   
The words are somewhat dark, and there is much variety in the Interpretation of them: I shall shortly open to you, what (by the comparing of this, and other Scriptures together) I take to be the meaning of the Words.  
First, when he saith [I heard a great voice] It is a voice of Authority, and Power. And whose can that be, but his, that hath power over all these Plagues, even God himself, and the Lord jesus Christ, who also have power in the Temple: It is not the voice of one of the four Beasts, the Officers of the Church alone, but a further power doth concur with this voice, such as carried Majesty, and authority with it.  
Secondly, [Out of the Temple] It implieth it was a voice delivered not by one of the four Officers in private, but came out of Public Administration, where only the Lord speaking, did with Authority set forward these Angels upon this work. And it may further Imply, that it sprung upon some Prayers of the Church in the Temple: for all the voices in the Temple, are either, the voice of the Church unto Christ, or of Christ unto the Church: And if the Lord speak graciously in the Temple. It is commonly obtained in the Prayers of the Church, craving answer from him,  
[To the seven Angels] That is to say, Seven sorts of God's Messengers, whether Magistrates or Ministers, or whosoever they be that pour out these Vials, they are Angels of God, as being the Messengers of his wrath. Neither is it meant of seven Individual persons, but seven sorts of Persons, that set forward this work. And withal I do accord with those that say, that in all these administrations, there is some presence of the heavenly Angels accompanying the men in the work.  
Go your ways] [your ways] is not in the Original, but [Go] power out the Vials.] The Vials are vessels of large content, but of narrow mouths, they pour out slowly, but drench deeply, and distil effectually the wrath of God: Vessels they are of full and just measure, as all these judgements are dispensed in weight and measure.  
Of the wrath of God] That argueth, that upon what subject soever these Vials fell, the wrath of God fell together with them, upon the same. And that helpeth not a little to open the place, and to show the danger of some interpretations, which do expound the Sun vers. 8. to be the Scriptures. If these Vials be the Vials of God's wrath, how shall any of them be conceived to be poured out upon the Scripture, is the wrath of God kindled against the Scripture? And for the Earth, vers. 2. Some conceive it to be meant of the common sort of godly Christians; but though some soar plagues might befall some of them, yet how can the wrath of God be conceived to be poured upon them? It cannot therefore be meant (as some of good note say) of the Waldenses, and Albugenses, Huguenots, and Lollards; but the wrath of God falleth upon such, as worship the Beast and his Image: And therefore take that for certain, that what things soever the Vials of God's wrath are poured upon, they are such as God is deeply displeased withal.  
Upon the earth] They thought right, that thought it to be meant of the common sort of Catholics: but let us further consider how it cometh to pass that the first of these Angels poureth out his Vial upon the earth, and the rest upon other things, yet they a●l have a Commission to pour out the Vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. For the opening of this difficulty (which else might exercise some) we must know, that in this Prophecy sometimes [earth] is opposed to Heaven, and then as by Heaven is meant the pure Church, as Revel. 4.1. & 12.1. So by Earth is meant an earthly and corrupt Church. Sometimes also by Heaven is meant, a corrupt state of Religion, wherein heavenly and divine honour is given to Satan, or Idols, as Revel. 12.3.7. Again, sometimes Earth is opposed not unto Heaven, but unto some other Element in the World, and so is it in this Chap. The first Angel poureth forth his Vial upon the Earth, the second poureth his Vial on the Sea, etc. So then in this case, the Earth is to be understood in a double sense. In general, of the Antichristian state, or world, Vers. 1. And in the Antichristian World they have some things that represent the Earth, and some things the Sea, and some things represent the Sun of that World, and some things represent that Air of that world; therefore in the particular execution of this Commission, When the first Angel poureth out his Vial upon the Earth, it is upon the lowest and basest Element in the Antichristian world, and that can be no other, but the lowest sort of vulgar Catholics, and they were the first that had the wrath of God poured upon them, which did afterwards arise higher to the Sea, and then to the Fountains and Rivers of water, then to the Sun, then to the throne of the Beast, then to the River Euphrates, and last of all to the Air, and in all these doth the wrath of God ascend higher and higher, as may afterwards more clearly appear.  
The first Angel went and pour out his Vial upon the earth.] This first Angel must be these first sort of God's Messengers, that did pour out some wrath upon Common Catholics. And doubtless such wrath it was, as being poured out, did work a Noisome and grievous sore upon them that worshipped the Beast, and his Image (as the Text expresseth) They that had the Mark of the Beast (you heard before out of the 13. Chapt.) are such as receive some indeliable Character of the Beast; such are their Secular, or Regular Priests, and all that receive religious Orders from the Church of Rome. Who then are they that worship his Image? The Image of the first Beast (you know) is all Nationall, and Diocesan, and Provincial Churches; and they that rule them are the Image of the second Beast: So than they that worship the Image of the Beast, be such as are devoted to the Canons of Popish Churches, who drink them up, and receive them as Articles of their Faith; these are all afflicted with a noisome and grievous sore by the pouring out of this first Vial: For those who did pour it out, they were such as did convince them of the Damnable estate of a Catholic, and taught them, that by their Religion they could go not beyond a Reprobate; and this was the common practice of the Martyrs of jesus Christ in Queen Mary's time, in Edward the sixth, and in Henry the eight's time, who discovered unto you, that all their Religion was but the worship of God after the devises of men, even Will-worship, such as they were led into by the Man of Sin, who being himself blind, leadeth those that are blind, and both fall into the ditch; those that thus discovered the unsoundness of the Religion of these Catholics, who before seemed to be good Churchmen, and good Housekeepers, and good Christmas-keepers, they were the men that poured out this first Vial upon the earth. And upon this their discovery, there fell a noisome, and grievous sore upon their Catholic Priests, who had borne the common sort in hand, That Ignorance was the mother of Devotion, and such ignorant Devotion was the way of Salvation, when they see that all their People, who were heretofore their honest and good Neighbours, full of benevolence towards them, were now informed, that they lay under a state of deep Damnation, it was an eyesore to their Catholic Priests, and all of that Religious Order, a double sore fell upon them.  
First, a sore of envy, and malice, against all the Martyrs of Christ, and all that sought for Reformation of Religion; against whom their spirits were so strongly embittered, that happy was he that could bring Fire and Faggot to execute vengeance upon them, that did discover the state of the common sort of Catholics to be so dangerous. [It was a public speech of Henry the eight, when he sat in Parliament, Complaining of the stirs that were made about Religion, There are many (saith he) that are too busy with their new (Sumpsimus) meaning those that clavae to that which he counted the new Religion, though withal others he taxed, who doted (as he said not amiss) much upon their old M●mpsimus. The new Religion (though true). He, and they all envied: the Old (though his own) he despised.  
Secondly, there was a noisome loathsomeness discovered, by these true Witnesses, and Martyrs of Christ, unto the people. Whereby they began to see that the common sort of their Religious Orders were full of Idleness, of Ignorance, of Covetousness, of Pride, and of Hypocrisy, and that they had laid such a foundation of Religion, as was not jesus Christ the true Foundation, but had indeed reared up an Antichristian Religion, whereof (as it is said (Isai. 28.19.) it shall be a vexation to hear the Report. A grievous malignant ulcer it was, and the more they stirred in it, the more they were vexed. And this let me further add, for opening the words, it is an allusion to that noisome sore of Egypt that fell upon the Common sort of the people, and upon the Magicians also, Exod. 9.11. So that they could not stand before Moses; and so it was here, these noisome sores of which we have spoken, did so fall upon the common sort of Catholics, and upon their common Religious Orders, that they fell before the Angel that poured out this Vial, as Dagon before the Ark. Thus you see meaning of these words.  
Now for the Notes that arise from them.— You may observe that (Chap. 15 7.) One of the four Beasts gave unto the seven Angels, Seven golden Viols full of the wrath of God, but they went not then, to pour them out, until they hear a great voice out of the Temple, and now they go. So that the Doctrine in the first place to be observed, is this.  
Doct. 1 Though the counsel and instruction, and advise of a Church-Officer may be a good invitement, and inducement, and preparative unto a Calling: yet it is the mighty Voice of Christ, specially in Public Ordinances, that Effectually stirreth up a man to the execution of it. These Angels had council and encouragement given them (as you have heard) to go about this work, and were furnished with the wrath of God for this end: but were not effectually stirred up to fall upon the execution thereof, till they hear a great Voice of Christ out of the Temple, (that is in public Ordinances) than they go to pour out their Vials. You shall find this a very ordinary Practice in some things suitable hereunto in Scripture. Isaac gave jacob a Commandment and Instruction to go to Padan-Aram, Gen. 28 6. And thereupon jacob went on his way, Vers. 7. But the first night that he lodged out of doors, when the Lord appeared to him in the House of God (Verse 15.) and telleth him, That he will be with him, and keep him in all places whithersoever he goeth, and will bring him bacl again into this Land. Then jacob (Chap. 29 1) lifteth up his heels, and goeth on his ways, Like a Giant refreshed with Wine to run his Course. And the like was the Practice of the same Jacob, when they told him that joseph was yet alive, Gen. 45.27.28. his spirit revived, and he said, He would go down to see him; but first he goeth to Beersheba and there offereth Sacrifices, and consulteth with the Lord, Gen. 46.1.2.3 4. and the Lord encourageth him to go● down, bideth him not fear, He will be with him, and there make a great Nation of him, and bring him back again (and so he did to be buried) thus are his hands fully strengthened in his way: The like also was the case of the men of Samaria, joh. 4. When the woman had told them that Jesus was the Christ, because he had told her all that ever she did, they believed, because of her saying, Verse 39 But when they came unto him, and talked with him, than they said unto her Verse 42. Now we believe, not because of thy saying, for we have he●rd him ourselves, and know that this is in●e●d the Christ, the Saviour of the World. Thus the voice of Christ carrieth his people an end in the ways of their callings, with effectual power unto sudden and speedy execution.  
The Reason is taken first, from the greater power of the voice Reason 1 of Christ speaking by his Spirit, then when he speaketh by the gifts of his Servants and therefore Paul putteth a great difference in this case, Acts 19.21. The Text telleth us, That he purposed in his Spirit to go up to Jerusalem, afterwards going on his way, he meeteth with certain Disciples, Act. 21.4. and they by reason of the Prophecy of Agabus concerning Paul, verse. 11. fell upon him and wept, and besought him not to go up to Jerusalem, What mean you (saith he) to weep, and to break mine heart, for I am ready not to be bound only, but to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord jesus. Behold here the Spirit of God had revealed clearly himself in the heart of Paul, to strengthen him to go up to Heirusalem, these Disciples (upon the Prophecy of Agabus, that he should be bound at Jerusalem) said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up: By what spirit? By the gifts of the Spirit, the spirit of love, and their care of the Churches; but Paul waves them all, for he had the mind of Christ, by the voice of the Spirit himself; this was indeed in times of extraordinary Revelation: but it showeth you nevertheless the difference between the voice of the Spirit, and of the gifts of the Spirit, he giveth the greater power to the Spirit, then to the gifts of the Spirit, being such kind of Gifts, wherein humane frailty might be mingled.  
The second Reason is taken from the greater power of God's Reas. 2 voice in Public, then in private Administration; If one of these Elders speak unto them, it may be but a private encouragement: Such as the advice of Nathan was unto David, to build the Temple, 1 Chro. 17.2. But had he come, (as afterwards he did) in way of Public Administration; He could not have been so mistaken as then he was; For therein doth the Lord more specially reveal the presence, and the power of his Spirit, and grace, Matth. 18.18.19 20. Therefore it is, That when there cometh a great voice out of the Temple, it carrieth along the Seven Angels to a speedy dispatch of this great work, of pouring out the Vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.  
Use 1 The first Use may teach us all, that have any private inducements or encouragements to any calling, or work of God, by any Church-Officer, or Church-Member, not to slight the same; for these Angels did not slight the motion, when one of the Church Officers gave unto them the seven golden Viols, but they took the Vials, And when they see their time, when there cometh a public Voice out of the Temple, then do they all follow on effectually with their work, in their seasons. Slight not therefore private encouragements to good callings, but look for further provocation and strengthening in them, from the public Ministry, even from the voice of Christ in the public Ordinances of his Church. Private Revelations without the Word, are out of date, but certain it is, that God doth speak by his Spirit in private Meditation and Prayers, and conferences with Brothers; and in all these, comforteth his people with the manifestation of his fatherly goodness, yet speaketh nothing, but in his word, and according to it. Now these be good hints, and good encouragements, which God giveth his people in them, and by no means to be slighted, when God showeth his presence in them: God forbidden that any of the sons or daughters of God should put them away. Yet this let me say, though such be fair encouragements, (what private duty soever they come in) whether to believe on this or that gracious promise of God, or to stir us up unto any other Spiritual work, the servants of God are hereby led to attend the more upon the public Administrations of the Church, for the further clearing of the mind and will of God; There will the Lord more clearly reveal himself by his Spirit in every Ordinance of his Worship, there doth he delight to pour out all his fresh Springs, Psal. 87. Last, For there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore, Psal. 133.3. Eternal life doth he give in the Public fellowship of his Saints, there doth he confirm their callings to them, look unto the Lord therefore for his blessing in this way, and so shall you be faithful followers of these holy Angels of God, who being privately encouraged, wait for a public voice to carry them an end in their Administrations, wherein the Lord by the mighty power of his Spirit doth confirm all his Promises, threaten, and Commandments, and more throughly stirreth up the hearts of all his people to take hold of all that is spoken unto them; therefore if ever you perceive any voice or spirit to take off a man from Public Ordinances, and cause him to slight them, than ever look at it as a manifest delusion, for every dispensation of God, doth but enkindle a more earnest longing that the Lord should confirm the same by his broad Letters Patents, the Public Word and Sacraments in the Church. Yea so fare do the Saints of God stand hereupon, that whatsoever is in private only brought unto them to believe, they will find much ado to rest satisfied in it, until they see it confirmed in public also. As when men have any special grant from their Prince, and have it confirmed by the Privy Seal, they will not rest therewith, but will go to the Lord Keeper for the Broad Seal, to confirm what was before Sealed to them, though either of them apart be sure, yet both joined together will make it more sure: Shall men be so careful for this world, and for temporal Patrimonies, and shall Christians take up every motion in private and slight public Ordinances? Be not deceived, whatsoever is brought unto you by the spirit of God in private, Will cause you to seek for more clear evidence from his loud voice in Public, where his voice goeth on more strongly and powerfully, convincing the Conscience, and breaking down all Temptations and discouragements that might hinder the comfort of God's people.  
The use in the 2. place serveth to reflect a just reproof therefore Use 2 upon any that shall despise or neglect the Public ordinances of God in the Church, for you see here that what is confirmed in the whole Church is the great voice of God, and that without contradiction to the holy Saints and Angels, if therefore the Public ordinances be undermined and borne witness against by any that cometh not from the spirit of these Angels, but from some evil root in the hearts of the sons and daughters of men, the report of which is a vexation of spirit to hear thereof. Thus much for the first note. Go pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.  
And the first Angel went, and poured out his vial upon the Earth, etc.  
Here is a world you see described, having an earth and sea, and rivers, and fountains, and sun, and air, and they all belong unto the Beast, and therefore the first Vial is poured upon them that had the mark of the Beast, and the last brought in the fall of Babylon: So that from first to last, they are the judgements of God upon the Roman Antichristian state, as six of the seven seals brought in judgements upon the Pagan Roman world, and the seven Trumpets, his judgements upon the Christian world, as they were ruled by Christian Emperors: so are the seven last Vials poured out upon the Antichristian world; From hence therefore you may note thus much.  
Doct. 2 That the whole antichristian world, or state is but earthly and not heavenly. For all these Angels are commanded to pour the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth, and they went not beyond their commission, in pouring them upon the sea, and Rivers, and fountains, and upon the sun, and upon the throne of the Beast, and the River Euphrates, and the Air; whereby the Holy Ghost holdeth forth unto us, that all these are but earthly, the sea is but earthly, the fountains and rivers earthly, their sun an earthly sun, and the throne earthly, etc. And though it is true (as some say) pour out any judgement upon any element, and the earth fareth the worse for it: yet take the description of the Holy Ghost, as it is plain, and it intendeth the antichristian world alone: They are of the world, therefore they speak of the world, and the world heareth them, 1 joh. 4 5. And he that is of the earth, speaketh of the Earth, joh. 3.31. And so also are all their ordinances earthly.  
Reas. 1 The first Reason is taken from the efficient cause of all their frame and state, which is but from the Earth: all their Doctrine, worship, and government, so fare as it is Antichristian is but humane, if not devilish, Rev. 13.18. The whole number of the Beast, whatsoever is numbered to belong unto him, is but the number of a Man, humane inventions and will-wisedome, men will have it so, and this is the Sum of all Popish Religion.  
Reas. 2 As the whole frame of their Religion cometh from the earth, so doth it tend to the earth again, for where doth all drive at, but the maintenance of an earthly Pompious, stately Prelacy; nothing in the world but devices to get money: they are full of covetousness and ambition; both which, what are they but an open door to their earthly liberty? these are sensual (saith jude ver. 19) not having the spirit: There is nothing spiritual in all their orders, nor in their pleasant sights, sweet smells, delightful music, and many goodly Feasts they have, and what are they but to please the tastes of men; and all their carved and painted stocks, and stones, their goodly Images, what do they but please men's fancies, And  
This you shall find in the third place, that their best devotions Reason 3 do but leave a man in an earthly and carnal estate, and therefore the Holy Ghost speaketh boldly, Rev. 13.8. That all that worship the Beast, their names are not written in the book of life, of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world: There is not a man of them, that knowing and believing no more than what he hath from the Beast, can be saved, therefore they thought not amiss who have written, that a Papist by his Religion cannot go beyond a Reprobate, so than whatsoever is meant by these things in the antichristian world, whereon these vials were poured, all is but earthly; an earthly sea, an earthly sun, an earthly light, an earthly air, fit to choke men (so fare as it is Antichristian) then to breathe any life into the souls of Christians.  
To show you the vanity of all their endeavours, that study to reconcile Popish and Protestant Churches together, I will Use 1 say but thus much, you may as soon bring Heaven and earth together, as you can draw Popish and Protestant Religion together; for Popish Religion is all but earthly, and all the Churches of Christ are Heavenly, and therefore when Heaven and earth meet, then will Popery and Protrolemy meet together.  
In the second place let all men beware, lest they have any liquorish affection towards the old Religion, as they call it, if you Use 2 shall hearken to the voice of such charmers, charm they never so wisely, your best Religion will be but earthly, your prayers earthly, your faith earthly, your obedience will be earthly, you shall find nothing therein able to answer an Heavenly and spiritual mind: what though they tell you that Protestant Religion loveth case; but as for them, they have their whip, & scourge, and fastings, and these (they will say) are no such earthly dainties; Truly these so fare as they are Antichristian are but earthly; they fast from flesh indeed, and from white meats, but they have the dainties of the Apothecary's shops, preserves, and conserveses, and such kind of pleasant meats, and what have they done all this while? these their practices are not sanctified of God, and therefore do leave the souls of men still under carnal delusions, being no other, but earthly and bodily exercises. Go and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the Earth, and the first went and poured out his vial upon the earth. This is upon the lowest and basest element, in the antichristian world, Thence we may observe.  
That God in his judgements upon wicked persons, and Doct. 3 states beginneth first with the least and lowest amongst them, this is evident in the Text, first upon the earth, and the sea is next; which like the natural sea is above the earth, and the Rivers, and fountains are higher than it, and the sun higher than they: and then upon the throne of the Beast, and when we come to open the sequel you shall see that all things go in a gradation; And in this sort did the Lord deal when he brought antichrist into the world, Rev. 8.7. The first judgement came upon the earth; The second upon the sea; The third upon the rivers and fountains of water; The fourth upon the Sun, then cometh Antichrist the King of the Bottomless pit, Rev. 9.11. and here in the 5. vial his throne is smitten, and upon the sounding of the sixth angel, the four angels in the River Euphrates were loosened, and here pouring out the 6th Vial, the River Euphrates is dried up. And the consideration yields great light to help us in the exposition of these seven vials: for by the same steps whereby antichrist came into the world, by the same steps doth the Lord undermine him and bring him down. For as first the common sort of Christians were corrupted when antichrist was brought in, so first the Common sort of Catholics are blasted, when antichrist beginneth to fall: The like course did the Lord take in the plagues of Egypt, Exod. 7.19. etc. He beginneth with the lowest, first to turn their waters into blood, and thereby killeth their fish, but still men subsist well enough, but then he bringeth frogs into all the land of Egypt, and they crawl into their kneading troughes, than he changeth the dust of the land into louse, and that was a great deal more loathsome to men, and at length he killeth all their first borne, and at last overwhelmeth Pharaoh and his host in the bottom of the red sea; and all this is according to the old covenant of his justice, Levit. 26.18, 21, 24, 28. If you will not for all this hearken unto me, I will punish you yet seven times more for your sins, so he threatneth again and again in all those verses, until at last he bring upon them such fearful and horrible judgements, that they become an hissing to all nations.  
The Reason of God's dealing thus, is to magnify God's patience Reas. 1 unto all; knowest thou not that the long suffering of God leadeth thee to Repentance, Rom. 2.4. It becometh the Lord to magnify his patience and when he doth strike he will not suddenly stir up all his wrath, therefore when here he cometh to judge Antichrist, he first poureth out his wrath where it is least of all sensible to the great Lords of the Antichristian world, to magnify the equity of his justice, and that he might also leave them without excuse, if the lowest judgements do not prevail: this God doth that he might be justified when he judgeth, Ps. 51.4. Thus though his wrath be revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, Rom. 1.18. yet such is the holiness of God's proceed, that he will show his patience, and will strike gently upon the least and lowest in estate first, and afterwards he goeth on further in wasting to waste, until he have overspread a state with punishment; thus doth he together magnify his patience, and justify his justice, and leave men without excuse.  
This may serve in the first place to teach all men in the fear of Use 1 God, to become wise by light judgements and gentle afflictions, those which you would think may lest of all concern you slight them not: nothing more distant, from the chief men in a State, than the common multitude. A judgement upon them doth not matter much, if a Famine were upon the common sort of people, Princes and Great men would not be much affected therewith. But the least of his judgements should be warnings unto us, to teach us that the Lord hath taken his Sword into his hand, and will go on in judgement, until he make the souls of men to tremble. What if a judgement begin upon men's cattles? That is fare off: It will come next upon your Servants and Children, and it may be, reach to the wife of your bosom; and if all this prevail not, it may be, He will strike you with grievous diseases in your body; and if you harken not for all this, what if he let the Devil lose upon the souls and consciences of men and women? What will the heart of a poor Creature do in such a case? O consider this all ye that forget God lest he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. When the Lord striketh aloof from us, It is but the Vial of the first Angel, but when the Lord beginneth, he will go on further; therefore it must be the wisdom of the sons of men to take heed of his strokes afar off. This also is the Method of Gods dealing with his own Children: He did not fall upon the Conscience of his Servant job at the first, but upon his Cattles, then upon his Servants, after that upon his Children, and nextly, upon his Body, and at last, writeth bitter things against his soul. Be we warned therefore by the first hints of chastisements, by small and gentle visitations, and happy they that learn to profit by such, to turn unto God, and to make their peace with him, before his wrath break forth like a devouring fire, and there be none to quench it.  
Use 2 The second use is unto the common sort of Christians, if there be any more poor and common, and of less esteem than other: Mark what I say, and take it from the word of the Lord, it behoveth you in special manner to take heed to your Religion; for if corruptions grow therein, you will be the first that will suffer by them. And why so? It is because Religion concerneth the common sort of Christians, as well as any other: and yet they commonly leave their Religion, (as they say) to men that are wiser than themselves; well, if you cannot read in the Book of God the broad Characters of Salvation, and the way thereof, look for it, that when the smarting providences of God come upon any State where you are, you shall first taste of them, and then shall you see the necessity of looking unto your Religion. And upon this ground it is that Apostle jude, Verse. 1.3. writeth unto all the faithful, and exhorteth them, That they should contend earnestly for the Faith once given to the Saints: otherwise they shall have the first handsel of God's judgements, for they will be soon corrupted, and shall be soon punished,  
Doct. 4 That the discovery of the loathsome, and shameful sins of men, is from the Vial of the wrath of God. For what was this Vial which is poured out upon the earth (that is upon the common sort of Christians) It was their conviction of their damnable Ignorance, and Superstition, Idolatry, and Hypocrisy; and this the Lord threatneth, as a judgement unto Jerusalem, Ezeck. 16.37. That he will discover her nakedness, that those that loved her, and these that hated her should see her nakedness, Thus is his wrath revealed against all unrighteousness of men.  
For the Lord is the first cause of all the Evil that is done among Rea. 1 the sons of Men, Amos 3.6. So that, is me●s wickedness discovered, is their loathsome, sinful, carnal, corrupt estate laid open? The Lord hath done it.  
Because it is the proper work of the Spirit of God to convince Reas. 2 the World of sin, John 16.8. and he worketh it by the Law, For by the Law cometh the knowledge of sin, Rom. 7.7. And what the Law doth, the same do the servants of God by the Ministry of it, yet all is the work of the Spirit of God.  
The Use may be, first to teach the Sons of men, to take Use 1 heed how you snarl at Instruments of God's wrath, though it may be, they may sometimes deal disorderly; yet is it your part to see the righteous hand of God, and when men walk according to God, in discovering your wickedness, there is it, the righteous hand of God much more. As when the Angels that poured out this Vial, were encouraged by the Officers of Christ in his Church, and so by the Lord himself, to show men that they were full of palpable Ignorance, and superstition: Therefore let men learn in these cases, to sanctify the Lord in their hearts, and to acknowledge his hand on them, in such convictions of their sinful and shameful estate and course.  
Let it teach all such whose sins are discovered at any time, Use 2 to humble their souls under the mighty hand of God, that as their sins have been discovered by an Angel of wrath: so they may be covered again by the Angel of peace.  
That the discovery of the sins of the Common sort of people Doct. 5 doth inflict a noisome Boil upon their corrupt leaders, and guides that allow them therein. There fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the Mark of the Beast, and upon them that worshipped his Image. When all this wickedness is discovered in the common Catholics, then doth the lewdness of their leaders also grow notorious; what say you now to all their Catholic Priests, Their wickedness appeareth, their Idleness, Hypocrisy, Covetousness, and wantonness, breaketh forth. A grievous sore lay upon them all, to see that all their labours are discovered, to be but a building men up in wrath, the Spirits of the Popish Leaders were greatly disturbed and troubled to see men so busy with their new Sumpsimus. A noisome blemish was it to all their Religious Orders, and to all that did countenance them in the same. Evident this is unto all those that read the Stories of our own times, or the times of our Fathers, how this noisome sore fell upon their Guides and Leaders, And so it hath done of old, Esay 9.15.16. The Leaders of this People cause them to err: So Jer. 5.31. The Prophet's prophecy falsely, and the Priests bear rule by their means, and my people love to have it so: Thus are their false guides blemished.  
Reason The Reason is taken from the duty of the guides of the Church and People, which is to turn them from their evil ways, Jer. 23.22. Therefore if they lead them into evil ways, needs must a noisome sore fall upon them, when the wickedness of the people is discovered.  
Use This may teach all the servants of Christ, to whom the Church of God is committed, to be the more vigilant in all the Administrations of the things of God in his House, that there may remain in it no corruptions that are discerned; but that being discerned, they may be also borne witness against, and be seasonably rooted out, and the spirits of God's people healed: else the soreness will fall upon the guides of the Church, the people may perish in their sins, but their blood will the Lord require at the hands of those that should lead them in the way wherein they should go. It is not enough for the people to say, it is the fault of their guides, nor for Ministers to lay the blame upon the people, unless they warn them, than indeed have they delivered their own souls, but if the People perish for lack of knowledge, God will require their blood at the hand of their Guides.   

THE SECOND VIAL:  REVEL. 16.3. And the second Angel poured out his vial upon the Sea, and it became as the blood of a dead man, and every living soul died in the Sea. 
THis Verse describes the pouring out of the Vial of the second Angel: For the subject, He pours it on the Sea; and the effect was, the Sea became as the blood of a Dead man, and the effect of that, on the living souls in the Sea, they all died. The allusion is, to a like plague upon Egypt, in the 7. of Exod. 20 21. Where Moses struck the River Nilus, and it was turned to blood, as here The Sea became as the blood of a dead man; and all the fish in the Rivers died; that is, of all sorts some.  
Now for the meaning of this second Vial. First, for the Sea, What is here meant by the Sea? And what by the Sea becoming blood, and as the blood of a dead man? And how is every living soul in this Sea, said to die by this means? The Sea cannot be meant the ordinary Sea of waters, for you cannot bring any judgement on that sea, that can afflict Antichristians more than Christians; if you should corrupt all the Sea (as the Papists expound it, and yet they believe all these evils redound to Antichrist.) What hurt will it be to Antichrist more than to the Church of Christ? If all the fish in the sea died, What would it hurt Antichrist more than Christian Nations? cannot Antichrist be supplied with other dainties on the shore, out of the Flocks and Herds, and out of the Fields and Woods, and out of the Air from the Fowls there, though he never had any Fish at his Table? That therefore cannot be the meaning. But the sea is the sea of the Antichristian world, a distinct world from that heavenly state wherein other Reformed Churches stand. The Sea, as you know, is the confluence of all the Rivers and Fountains of waters; they all finally are gathered together into one place, and are called Sea. And truly the confluence & concourse of all the springs of the Churches, they do meet together in one Religion, that is the common receptacle of all; All my fresh springs are in the Lord, Psal. 87.7. In that Religion which the Church professeth: And therefore Religion was resembled in the 4 of the Revel. vers. 6. By the sea of Glass like unto Crystal, that is, all the Ordinances of God they were so clear, as that you night see Christ's face in them as in a mirror or glass, 2 Cor. 3.18.  
Wherein the state of Religion in the New Testament differed from the state of Religion in the old Testament, Where the Brazen sea in salomon's Temple was indeed bright as brass, but thick and not transparent, you could not see so clearly the blood of Christ in it; and yet there was a sea of Waters: What to do? In the 2 Chron. 4.2. to the end of the 6. verse, which was for the Priests to wash in. Now what is it that can cleanse the Priests, but only the blood of the Lord jesus. Now that was resembled by the water in the Brazen sea. Therefore all the Ordinances of Christ, which did hold forth the blood of Christ, to the washing and purging of the Priests and people of God, that is the sea. Now this sea, as you heard in the 15. Chapter of the Revelation, the 2. verse, In the Reformed Churches is a sea of Glass, though mingled with Fire; mingled with some contention, yet the face of Christ might be clearly seen in it. But this sea here, that is, the Popish Religion, is the confluence of all their Ordinances, as they do administer the worship of God: And upon this sea, upon this Religion, is the second Vial poured. In the former Vial, First, men stumbled at the lives of Papists, and thereupon at the lives of them that led them, at their Priest's covetousness, ignorance, and hypocrisy, they liked not their lives, though at first they stumbled not at their religion, but thought it was the fault of their lives; but soon after, they stumble at their Religion; so that the next Vial is poured on their Religion, the Ordinances themselves, as they are dispensed by them: the Vial is poured on them so fare as they differ from Reformed Churches. Then what? This being the sea, how is this sea come to be as blood? That is this Religion of theirs is convinced, and discovered to be, not such as holds forth the cleansing blood of the Lord jesus, as the Sea in salomon's Temple did: and as the sea of Glass like unto Crystal did, but holds forth the blood of a dead man: A dead Christ, and dead Ordinances to any spiritual life. There is no life, no power, no savour of goodness in it; as the blood of a dead man, which is not like the living blood of Christ, to cleanse and purify, and to give life; Whosoever eats my flesh; and drinks my blood hath eternal life, John 6.54 But this is the blood not of the living God, but of a dead man, there is the best of it, and what is that? Fit to pollute and defile, fit to choke a man, but not to feed him; not to cleanse and purge him. And every thing living in that sea died: Every thing, That is every soul that had no other life, but what was bred and fed in that Religion; and had no other Christian life but what he sucked and derived from that Religion, they all perished everlastingly, this is the meaning of the words of the Text.  
Now than it may be further demanded for clearing of this meaning, who is this Angel that pours out this vial of God's wrath on this sea? the sea (you say) is Antichristian religion, for the first began with the earth; this goes up higher, and so higher, and higher, till it come to the throne, and till at length Babylon be fallen: So that all these plagues fall on the antichristian state. But who is this Angel that poureth out this Vial? There be some conceive that they are they who met in the council of Trent, and gathered all the streams of Popish priests, and their doctrine, and practise, and ratified them all in that Council; yea some think that Bellarmine hath done the Church of God good service, in gathering the body of Controversies, between protestants and popish Churches, and hath delivered them in so many volumes that you might have a whole sea of antichristian doctrine, worship, and government by him confirmed, though I do not dislike the notion, and it will fall into the true meaning, yet that holds not close to the letter of the Text, for the Text makes all the Angels to be such as come out of reformed Churches, 
* Rev. 15 5.6.  the Temple open in heaven; members of reformed Churches, all clothed in pure and white linen, godly Christians, righteous souls, and girded with golden girdles, established in the truth of the Gospel, therefore they cannot be the Bishops, and Doctors of Rome, nor Bellarmine nor any of them that have held forth Popish Religion in a Popish Church; What then? Then it must be other Ministers and Professors of reformed religion, who have discovered the religion of the antichristian state to be as it is.  
Object. You will say can they turn Popish Religion to blood.  
Answ. The Doctors of Trent indeed have, Bellarmine makes it worse by maintaining and confirming of it. True but can Ministers of reformed Churches be said to do so. Mark they are said to pour out a vial, not by making their religion worse, but making it appear as bad as it was; They being righteous men, they could not corrupt religion, but discover it, and make it appear, that all the decrees of the council of Trent, and of Bellarmine, and such Popish writers; they discovered them to be nothing but a sea of corrupt doctrine, and worship: all the streams that run in that sea, are all polluted and filthy, that who so lives and dies in them, perisheth everlastingly. And such were all those worthy servants of Christ, that have written either against the Trident Council, or against Bellarmine, that have convinced their Doctrine and worship to be all polluted and corrupted, and to be such that if a man know and practise, and believe no better he cannot be saved, such hath been Chenmitius, and Junius, Chamier, Whitaker, and Reignolds, Perkins, and Ames, and the rest of the holy Saints of God, that have poured out this vial of God's wrath, that is, that by their doctrine, and writings from the word have poured out such clear conviction, and refutation of their doctrine and worship, that to all that are not partial, it appears to be not the blood of the Lord jesus, but of a dead man, and therefore who ever lives and dies, in that religion, he cannot die better than a reprobate, nor live better than an hypocrite, this is the true meaning of the second vial.  
The first note that we may gather (I will not be long in it, nor Doct. in this place the matter requires it not, in some places it might.)  
As upon the corruption of common Christians follows the corruption of religion, so by the discovery of the corruptions of Christians, or upon the discovery of the corruption of common Christians, follows the discovery of corruption in Religion.  
This note follows upon the former words, compare this verse with the second trumpet, upon the sounding of the second trumpet, there was brought in corruption of religion, in the Imperial Christian world, as in the 8. Chapter of this book, and the 7.8.9. ver. The first Angel sounded, and there followed ●aile and fire mingled with blood, whereby all the green grass was burnt up, etc. The first Angel poured out fire and blood, that is uncharitableness, and contentiousness, and so corruption grew in the spirits of common Christians, and what followed upon that? And thereupon the second Angel founded, and there fell a great mountain burning with fire, cast into the sea, on the contentiousness, and quarrelling of common Christians and their ambition. There grew contention, about primacy in Church Governors, and that so far corrupted the sea (A mountain of high preferment being cast into the sea) that a third part of the sea became blood, here was a third part a great part of their religion, specially that which concerns government, became blood, very noisome, both their doctrine and government: so that look as on the corruption of the lives of Christians, presently religion grew corrupt, so on the discovery of corruption in common Christians. In this second vial follows the discovery of corruption in religion itself, in this second vial: and look by what degrees, the trumpets sounding, brought in corruption into the Church; by the same degrees, the vials bring forth the discovery of corruption in the Church the vials of God's wrath discover corruption & pollution in Religion.  
The reason of this point is taken from the powerful efficacy Reason of all religion, to transform the sincere professors of it, to the like nature with itself, look what the religion is, such is the spirit of all that are sincere, and serious professors of it, and therefore if there come in any corrupt doctrine, & corrupt religion, our Saviour tells us, by their fruits ye shall know them, for such as their corruption is in judgement, such will it be in their lives, in Mat. 7.15. Beware of false prophets, etc. by their fruits you shall know them, a good tree cannot bring ●orth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good f●uit, and so it was with the Pharisees, though they were the strictest sect of the jewists Religion, Act. 16.5. Yet as they were corrupt in their lives, so their Religion was corrupt, and those that were Proselytes to it. Mat. 23.15. They made them twofold more the children of hell than themselves, 2 Tim. 3.13. Evil men and deceivers wax worse, and worse, deceiving and being deceived; and the ground of that is this, the concurrence of the spirit of God with his own word, and the concurrence of the spirit of Satan, with his ordinances and instructions, there is a spirit goes with both, that doth assimilate and transform a powerful professor of sincere Religion, to be sincere in heart. And the Professors of corrupt Religion to transform them into the nature thereof: In the 59 of Esay, verse 21. My Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not departed out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed, from henceforth and for ever. God's spirit goes with his own Ordinances, where ever they are rightly and sincerely received, as always by some they are, where ever they have free passage, they will have some good issue, and some persons or other, on whom they will work such a change, in 2 Cor. 3 18. We all with open face beholding, as in a glass, the glory of God are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the spirit of the Lord. Consequently if Antichrist come with his delusions, he shall come with all the power of Satan, whose coming (saith the Apostle, 2 Thess. 2.9.10.) is after the working of Satan, and with all power of signs and lying wonders, with efficacy of delusions; a sign these delusions are not merely Nationall, but effectual, to transform the heart like unto the mind, their will like unto their judgement, and their life like unto both, that you shall have the whole frame of their state, such as is their Religion: if the lives of Catholic Professors be corrupt, an evident argument their Religion is corrupt, and if their Religion be corrupt, their lives cannot be sound, they that live by that Religion must needs be corrupt: so that upon the discovery of the corruptions of the lives of Catholics, than men began to scruple their Religion; at first it was fairly interpreted of some Catholics, that were reform, and brought to the truth, they thought that all abuses found in the Friars & Monks was but from the lives of men, their religion was better, their religion did not teach them so: and therefore thought still, they might appeal to the Pope himself, as Luther did, they thought it was the ignorance of the Priests, that brought Pardons into the Country to sell them, for groats and shillings; but this was but a charitable opinion, and in truth, the Priests the ministers of that Religion, did but act the spirit of that Religion, the whole heart was sick, and the whole head and body mortally distempered.  
The Use is thus much, it must be a word of holy admonition and warning to all Professors, Use 1 in this Country, and Church members, to all that profess they came out of England for purity of Ordinances, to be very circumspect, pure, and faithful, and zealous in all their whole conversation: for believe it, you will find this true, and remember it while you live, if you be corrupt in New-England, if you be unfaithful here, if you be worldly minded here, false of your words and promises here, injurious in your deal here, believe it one of these two will unavoidably follow, either all England will judge your Reformation but a delusion, and an invention of some of your Magistrates, or Elders, or otherwise look at you, as not sincere but counterfeit. This avoidable you will find true, you cannot pour forth a Vial of more wrath on Religion, as it is here reformed and established, through the blessing of God, you cannot load it with a heavier Vial of God's wrath; then if here you shall grow worldly and covetous, deceitful and contentious, and unbrotherly. Are these your Church members, such & such things were done, but I hope it was not your Church Members, are we not all brethren? Doth our Estates lie much of them in Common? Well, what ever things may be, though Christian love will pass by much; yet believe it, if men make no conscience of their bargains, but that they do defraud others. If men make no conscience of heavenly mindedness of purity and zeal; and think it needs not, but rest in mere forms of Church Ordinances, you will avoidable, pour a Vial of God's wrath, as much as in you lies, on all the purity of God's Ordinances, and judge you how dishonourable it is to God and holy religion, and how blame-worthy it is in such as are faulty herein, however you will answer this before the Lord at his coming? For you cannot avoid it, this will be the issue; either we are counterfeit Professors of Reformation, or that our reformation is counterfeit, you say you came over for purity of Ordinances: But in truth, you did but dissemble, & however you thought, it was not in your hearts, the event proves the contrary; if you be not sincere, but hollow Members of the Church, and corrupt livers, under the government and worship of God here established and ordered, I say, you will force all whose eyes are on you, throughout the Christian world to think, these are but the inventions of men; there is no truth, no true heartedness in the Religion here established: and for the Religion established in England, what ever you talk of humane inventions, we know there is no such unfaithful dealing, and hollow heartedness, no such bitterness between Christians. A Minister's Presence is amiable, and his feet beautiful, and where he comes, it is not thought too homely to be regarded, of better than himself, If Religion in our Native Country, of them that are sincere, if it hold forth more purity there, believe it, it bears more evident witness to the truth of God there, so much as is truth, then as we do, that profess greater simplicity; these are but the names of things, but the reality is wanting, It is never to be forgotten, the Argument of the blessed Apostle, the Corinthians took offence at him (as they were humorous, though godly men) yet a generation of them were haughty by their great gifts, Paul said he would come to Corinth, he promised to come, but he did not, and they thought he used lightness; it was an easy thing with him to be Yea and Nay: What saith the Apostle? When I said I would come, did I use lightness, that with me there should be Yea, and Nay? Nay, saith the Apostle, (I pray yond mark it, and I could wish, it were engraven on the tables of godly men's hearts) in the 2 Corinth. 1.18. as God is true, our word toward you was not Yea and Nay: How doth he prove that? For the Son of God, jesus Christ, who was preached amongst you, by us was not yea and nay, but in him was yea, and all the promises of God in him, are Yea and Amen. What is this to the purpose? If the Gospel he preached be not yea and nay, than neither are his pr●mises yea and nay: this is his intendment; else his inference is nothing.  
I you will say, Ministers and Apostles ought to be such, but this that follows wraps in all professors. Now he which stablisheth you with us in Christ (it is not Elders only) and he that anointed us is God, who anointeth with such oil as falls on every member of his body? who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts, and makes us every way like himself, therefore saith he, I call God to record that to spare you I came not yet to Corinth, otherwise as the Gospel preached by him and Silvanus & Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea, no more was his promise; this is the spirit of Christians, and Ministers, and so of all that are established together with their Ministers, anointed, and sealed and confirmed in grace with their Ministers, and have received, the earnest penny, to bind the bargain of eternal salvation, to faithful souls; So look what a Christian doth promise, he is bound by the earnest penny of God's Spirit, he dares no more alter his words, to the discredit of his profession, than the Spirit of God to lie.  
So that consider, if Professors grow corrupt, Religion will grow corrupt; and on the discovery of the corruption of common Christians, corrupt religion will be discovered, else you will be discovered to be carnal professors.  
But there will be these two events, either it will cast aspersion on you, and so they will say none are better; the spirit of the Country is deceitful in their bargains, there is no constancy in their words.  
Or else that your Religion is corrupt, and this will also follow avoidable, though your Religion be of God, and the Lord himself will bear witness, it is of God, and according to the true pattern of the Word; yet if we in this generation shall defile it, by our unfaithfulness, unspiritualnesse, unheavenlinesse, and ungodliness, this will be the issue; on the corruption of the lives of Professors, follows corruption of Religion, and upon the discovery of the one, follows the discovery of the other.  
That Religion, which by the blessing of God, and the power of his grace, is dispensed here in simplicity, will be corrupted in the very next generation; you will find your Children after you (of whose state you ought to have as much care, and I think, I may speak it without inconveniency) more than of your own: you may know the worst of it for yourselves, being near the grave many of you: but verily, what will befall your Posterity? They will degenerate out of measure, by the unfaithfulness of your lives, and unrighteousness of our promises, they will fall to be stark nought in point of Doctrine, Worship, and Government, they will utterly degenerate from their Ancestors, let but us be polluted, and all the waters that come from us will be polluted, it cannot be sweet water that runs through a poisonous earth, if the earth be unsavoury, the Waters, and Deeps, and Rivers be poisoned, what will the issue be, all will be corrupt: and therefore as you desire to leave Religion with a blessing, leave it pure in the conversation of Brotherly love, and purity, and faithfulness, and fruitfulness, and heavenly mindedness; that so as Religion always loves to lie clean, as was a grave speech of an ancient Saint, it will not lie nasty as a Swine, and a Dog in a kennel, it must lie sweet and clean: if the hearts and ways of men be not pure and holy, you shall not always have the Sea clean, but Religion will grow to Apostasy, and that which is our glory, will be our confusion.  
It became as the blood of a dead man.  
Doct. 2.  
The faithful Ministers, and Professors of Reformed Religion, and Churches, by pouring out the wrath of God on Popish Religion, have discovered it, not to hold forth the blood of the Lord jesus, but to be as the blood of a dead man. That is the Sea, the Antichristian Sea, the confluence of all Ordinances in it, not to be the blood of the Lord jesus, which is only able to purify and to pacify the Conscience, no such thing to be found in it. But a blood fit to quicken and give life, John 6.50.51. He that drinks of my blood, shall live for ever: but they have discovered it to be the blood of a dead Man.  
It was the speech of Master Perkins often in his Sermons, and throughout his Writings (who was one that poured out this Vial) he would say to his hearers, Young Scholars: Popish Books in holding forth the blood of the Covenant, they hold it forth in a moral manner, but without the life and power of his death; he expounds it thus: They will very evidently set forth the cruelty and treachery of judas, that betrayed him, and the Wordly-mindednesse, and Covetousness, and Ambition, of the High Priests, that bought and plotted his death; they will (saith he) make bitter invectives against the profaneness of the jews, that were ready to renounce him, Away with him, away with him, Crucify him, and declaim agaist the timorousness of Pilate, and base-mindedness, that could not deliver an Innocent; and declaim of the cruelty of the Soldiers, and magnify the Innocence of Christ jesus, and make the people many times to weep, that jesus an Innocent man, had been thus profanely sold and bought, and thus basely condemned, and cruelly hardly: All this might be done, and all but to show forth the blood of an Innocent man. But to show the need of Christ's blood, and how they should walk worthy of it, and how they should obtain it, it is the least part of their discourse, and indeed, no part at all: What is this but the blood of a dead Man, to raise up bitter detestations against the jews, and Soldiers, and Pilate, etc. But to raise it up to any powerful effect in the hearts of Christians, it is not their endeavour that are most devout.  
Reas. The reason is first taken,  
From their holding forth, not indeed the true Christ: Whether you speak of their Doctrine, Worship, or Government, they do not hold forth the true Christ. They hold forth Christ God and Man, that is true; so fare the go with us, and hold that Christ died and risen again, as we do, but when they come to speak of the Offices of Christ, in which indeed, he is savingly held forth to the people, there they bring in another Christ, and renounce him; For either take the true Christ, as the true Christ, or else none, for he will not divide stakes. Look at all his Offices, (And I will give you but a touch of them) Take the Mediatourly Office of Christ; they will have other Mediators, of Reconciliation, and Intercession, besides the Lord jesus. Doth not the Priest every Sacrament of the Lords Supper, offer a Propitiatory Sacrifice (if I may call it a Sacrament of the Lords Supper) this is constant with them.  
Now this is to bring in other Christ's for Reconciliation, besides the Lord Jesus, Whereas the Apostle in the 10 Chapter to the Hebrews, the 14. Verse, saith, By one offering, he hath for ever perfected them that are sanctified: and he professeth, that only the Sacrifices of the Law were oft repeated, because they could not make the comers thereunto perfect, Hebr. Chapter 10. vers. 1. to the 14. verse. So that to bring in any other Sacrifices, is absolutely to renounce his Mediation and Reconciliation; and they are not ashamed, I confess, a man might stand and tremble, those that are more devout and zealous Catholics, they will not own that Doctrine; but they will own this, they are not ashamed to entreat Christ by the Merit of the blood of Thomas, to give them a blessed Resurrection; by the blood of Thomas, which for us he did spend, make us to rise whither he did ascend.  
Now, if they put on Christians the blood of Thomas, and give them to rise by the blood of Thomas, there is another reconciliation joined with the blood of the Lord Jesus: and indeed, all Satisfactory Penance, and Whip, and Masses, what are they all but Copartners with Christ, in helping forward his fatisfaction, as if it were not sufficient; other sacrificers, and other sacrifices, every Priest is a sacrificer, and every new sacrifice is to make atonement.  
And so do I say for his mediatorship of intercession, you know they join saints, and angels, especially the Virgin Mary as the mothers and fathers of grace, and pray the Lord to hear for their merits sake, so that take the whole mediatourly office of Christ, for reconciliation, and intercession; you must have more Christ's then one, and then he is of none effect, if he may not do all in point of merit and fatisfaction: even all the righteousness that he hath taught us to do, it is unprofitable for such ends, we may profit our brethren, and help ourselves by his grace, for many spiritual good ends, but for satisfaction, for merit and the like it is to set up a New Christ, besides the Lord jesus, thus is his priestly office evacuated. And so his Prophetical office, to bring in other scriptures, as the Apocrypha that he confirms not, besides scriptures, of unwritten tradition carried from h●nd to hand, and yet many great points of their Religion are built thereon, even all the corrupt doctrine which they deliver by tradition. For his Kingly office, you know they set up other Lords and Governors of the Church besides him, I mean such governor's as neither are the Lords, nor ever were instituted by him, as the Pope, and Cardinals and Primats, and Metropolitans, and the whole rout of Popish Hierarchy from the Apparritor to the Pope, they are of his invention and appointment; and as they have other Lords so other laws; the whole cannon Law is none of the ordinances of the Lord jesus, for the government of his Church, much of it contrary to the word of God, and as they have other Lords and laws, so they have other frames of C urches, Ecumenical, Catholic Church, Metropolitan, Patria●c●all, Archipiscopall, Episcopal, Diocesan, which Chest never ordained in the New Testament, and they have brought Kingly or Monarchical power into the Churches which Christ never gave them, and that not only to excommunication, but to dethrone Princes, and to substitute others in their rooms; and in one word, they are not ashamed to say, it is lawful for the Pope to dispense with the Apostle Paul, and he doth dispense with incestuous Marriages, and with absolutions and notorious sins, for such sums of money, given for some religious, or rather superstitious use, and they will dispense with oaths which God himself will not, nor can, he will not suffer josuahs' oath, and the Princes with the Gibeonites to be broken, because it was the oath of God with them, therefore they must keep it, so that here is not more than civil, but more than spiritual power, brought into the Church; so that well doth the holy Ghost say, here is not the blood of Christ but the blood of a dead man.  
Again, I might show the like in other the chief streams, whereof their sea consists, that Faith which they have, it is built on the Scripture, and the authority thereof they have from the Church, their faith is built on the Scripture, and the Scripture on the Church, and so the last resolution of it, is but humane authority, and so that saith is no assurance, (for that they say were presumption) but humane credulity, and so for justification and salvation, they will have it by merits, and for worship, worshipping Saints and Angels, and in a strange language, which common people understand not, an unreasonable service, so that here is nothing but as the blood of a dead man they want the vitals of Christianity.  
Use For the Use of it.  
It may serve to show the weakness of their imaginations that do believe Popish and Protestant religion may be reconciled together, and Popish and Protestant Churches, may be brought to be one, were it not for hot spurred jesuits on the one side, and for hot spirited Protestants, Puritants, on the other side, if moderate spirits had things in hand, they have hoped to bring both ends together. Alas to bring heaven and earth together, go your ways, pour out your vials on the earth, their sea is but an earthly sea, their sun is but an earthly sun, and their rivers, and fountains are but earthly, and yet all may be reconciled, the blood of a dead man, and God, life, and death, heaven and hell, and all shall be reconciled.  
Use 2.  
It shows what great reason we have everlastingly to stand out against all compromising with them, and all subjection to any thing that pertains to that Religion, for they have sacred truths, as they believe, Father, Son, and Spirit, and that Christ is God and man, but otherwise, for the body of all their other Ordinances, they are such, as in very truth, have not the blood of the Lord jesus in them, but are as the blood of a dead man, as they have them, and corrupt and pollute them.  
Lastly, Every living soul died in the Sea, why did none live on the earth, but were all dead in this Sea? All that live on the earth, all Catholics, they live in that Religion, jesuits, Friats, Every living soul died in that Sea.  
The last note than is.  
Doct. 3.  
A Popish Catholic that lives according to this Religion, and no better, he lives and dies in a state of Death and Damnation: For so saith the Text, Every living Soul in that Sea died, If he had no other life, then by that Religion, no other goodness then that which he got from that Sea, living in those waters, which they sucked from that Religion, from the Ordinances there: if he have no more than that, he cannot come to a State of Salvation, he dies in that Sea.  
The Reason of the point,  
Is taken, First, from the Grace held forth in that Religion: Secondly, from their Faith. Thirdly, from their Repentance: and Fourthly, from thei● Obedience; they are all such as are but dead: their very Grace holds forth dead Works; the Faith of a Catholic, is a dead Faith; their Repentance, is dead Repentance, their Obedience, is dead works, and that is all their Religion: and in these is the life of a Christian, the life of Grace, the life of Faith, the use of Repentance, and the life of Obedience, if these be dead, what life is there? For the grace of God, By grace ye are saved, not of Works, Ephes. 2.8.9. Now they will not have it of Grace but of Works, not of living Grace, but of Works, that is the most general opinion. Nor no redemption of Christians, but common to all alike, Reprobates and true Christians, and the difference ariseth in vocation, and that is out of works, out of merit of Congruity, and their justification is out of Merit of Works, and Perseverance in Grace, is out of Concurrence of Free will, and Glorification is from Merit of Condignity of Works, and if all these be of works, here is all the grace of God to seek, (what saith the Apostle?) If it be of Works, it is not of Grace, Rom. 11.6. And verily, this is the best grace of Popish Religion: all their grace is of Works, and then it is utterly evacuated.  
What shall I say to their Faith, it is no other but Historical. As that all that is contained in the Word is true: and verily, the Devil believes as much, he knows it to be true, and will tremble, james 2.19. And if that be the Devil's faith, as james saith it is, than woe worth all Popish Faith; and that faith if you come to apply it, That it shall be a confidence on Christ to salvation, they look at that as Heretical presumption; what hope is Use there, that by Faith such should ever be justified, or saved? And for repentance it is like their Faith; such repentance as judas held forth: as great they require, Confession, contrition, and satisfaction, he did it all; he was not a little broken with the sense of his sin, and the horror of it: He makes confession of it, I have sinned in betraying the Innocent blood: he made satisfaction, he brought again the 30. Pieces of silver, and throws them down; away with them, I have sinned, in betraying the innocent blood, this is the best repentance they have: for any repentance that springs from the sight of God's favour, applied to the faith of God's people, this they will by no means hear tell of, and yet without faith applied to the soul, by a promise, or word of grace, there is no life in repentance. They see him, whom they have pierced, and mourn for him; they see him pierced by them, and for them, and this mourning is Evangecall and saving.  
For their obedience, they look at it, as such as is able to keep the whole Law of God, and if they can do that, they seek life, then by Works, not of Grace: and that Obedience that is able to keep the whole law of God, is the Obedience of the Scribes and Pharisees, for they so taught: and therefore our Saviour tells his disciples, Matth. 5.20. Except your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; Such obedience, as that a man is able to keep the whole Law, and by that to merit, and do no more than the Law requires, it is the obedience of Heretical presumption, not of confidence and affiance of Faith: that is, obedience of heretical presumption, that is able to keep the whole law, and make satisfaction to the justice of Christ, and then Christ died in vain, unless he died to make us Saviour's of ourselves, and that is as notorious as the former.  
The Use of this point is.  
Use 1.  
To reprove a wicked practice of many Protestants that are not ashamed, to sow pillows under the elbows of Catholics that make them believe, they may be saved in that religion, so they live honestly and well; Oh Brethren! doth not the Text expressly say, every one that lived in that Sea, died, and died everlastingly; there is no living blood of the Lord jesus there, there is no saving grace there, but works all, and there is no lively faith there, but dead saith, no repentance, but hardness of heart, or legal contrition at the uttermost, nor obedience, but such as is too good for him to apply the Blood of Christ unto, for it is able to keep the whole Law, and make satisfaction for the breaches of the Law, or if their own obedience be not so perfect, they have some other saints, whose obedience may be imputed unto them; so that though they abhor Christ's Righteousness, to be imputed to them, they have found out a way, that the righteousness of Saints may be applied, to make others righteous so that they put more honour upon the servants of Christ, (if some of them were the servants of Christ) then upon Christ: and say it were well their righteousness should be imputed, but that Christ's own righteousness should be imputed, they look at it as aputative righteousness, as they are not ashamed to call it so, that see the desperate danger of living and dying in that state, in the Romish religion, in that Sea.  
Use 2.  
Secondly, Let me exhort all Christians to hold steadfastly to the purity of Religion, whether in our public Ministrations, or private conversations, let all savour and reak forth the warm blood of the living Lord jesus, for there is the difference of our Religion from Popery: Their religion holds forth such a Christ as leaves him and his blood, like the blood of a dead Man: The soul is dead for any true Grace, or Faith, or Repentance, or Obedience, or living Comfort; the heart is still dead, no life of God's favour, no life from the Word, no hope of Salvation, but all conjectural, there is indeed the life of Papists, no live-blood of Christ Jesus among them: But for Christians, It is for us to live, as those that are made partakers of the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things then that of Abel, that doth pacify, and purify the Conscience, and both work effectually more and more, until the soul be established in perfect peace, thou wilt keep them in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. I speak of perfection that may be attained in our measure, in Esay 26.3. So that be diligent to look up to the Lord Christ, still as out of Grace, to accept us, and by the grace of Faith to receive us, and so drawing the soul to lively repentance from dead works, and quickening and awakening us to lively obedience. In this lively estate, we may walk before him according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his Grace in Christ jesus.   

THE THIRD VIAL.  REVEL. 16. VER. 4, 5, 6, 7. And the third Angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters, and they became blood. And I heard the Angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and waste, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus: For they have shed the blood of Saints and Prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink, for they are worthy. And I heard another out of the Altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgements. 
THese seven Angels (as you heard) that had the vials of the last wrath of God to pour out, they pour it all out upon the Antichristian world, upon the Beast, or something or other pertaining to the Beast; for the first that poured his vial on the earth, vexed them that had the mark of the beast; he gins therefore with the beast, And the fift Angel poured forth his vial upon the throne of the beast, in the 10. ver. and when the seventh Angel poured forth his vial, Great Babylon came up in remembrance before God, etc. in the 19 ver. So that (in a word) all these vials being poured out from first to last upon the earth, and the earth being the Antichristian state, opposite to heavenly and pure Churches, all the vials are poured upon the Antichristian world or state. And (as you see) they begin with the lowest elements first; The first upon the earth, the next upon the sea, the third upon the rivers and fountains, the fourth upon the sun in that world, the fift upon the throne of the Beast, the sixth upon Euphrates, the seventh upon the air. Now the second Angel (of which you heard the last day) having poured out his vial upon the sea, it became as the blood of a dead man, and all that lived in that sea, died.  
The sea (you heard) is the confluence of waters anld rivers, and doth hold forth the confluence or concurrence of all the oracles, and ordinances, and means of grace and salvation, or those that are pretended so to be. The concurrence, or confluence of them all to one body, which in one word was their Religion in the old Temple, it was resembled to a brazen sea, wherein the Priests washed themselves; In the Apostolic Church of the New Testament, it is resembled unto a sea of glass, like unto crystal, wherein you might see the face of Christ, as in a mirror; In Reformed Churches, it is as the of glass, mingled with fire; In Popish Churches, it is as the blood of a dead man; no living blood is there to be found to wash the people in, but as the blood of a dead man, without life, to them that are washed in it, and rather fit to choke, and poison, and kill, then to give life. Now that being the sea; Then here the next vial is poured out upon the rivers and fountains of waters that run into this sea, and derive this sea up and down the earth, The third Angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters: And the pouring out of his vial, is described, First, by the subject on which it is poured, Upon the rivers and fountains of waters: Secondly, by the effect, and they became blood: Thirdly, the pouring out of this vial is amplified by the testimony given to it, and the effect of it; What is the testimony? It is double, 1. Given by the Angel of the waters, in the 5. ver. I heard the Angel of the waters say, what doth he say? he gives to God the glory of his righteousness, and of his unchangeable righteousness, which art, and waste, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus: And the reason of it (he gives) is taken from the equity of the law of retaliation, in the 6. ver. For they have shed the blood of Saints an Prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink, for they are worthy. The second Testimony by which this pouring out of the Vial is amplified, (and the effect of it is justified) is by another Angel out of the Altar in the 7. ver. who saith Amen to this: Even so Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgements. For the meaning of the words.  
The sea being Religion, the confluence of ordinances, such ordinances as are dispensed in any religion: The rivers and fountains of water that spring from the sea, and return to the sea, and derive all their springs and waters from thence, they are (and it is generally so received, and therefore with more freedom of spirit a man may declare it) these rivers, and fountains of waters are generally conceived to be the Priests, and Ministers of the Popish Church, who carry Popish Religion, as Fountains and Rivers do the Sea, up and down the earth; so do they Popish Religion, up and down the Nations, carry it to and fro, only there is this difference between them, and ordinary rivers and fountains, ordinarily rivers and fountains are fresh, though the sea be salt, but here the fountains & rivers are salt and brackish also; as those salt springs be, that run through salt minerals, which are of like nature with the sea, and these keep their brackishness still: And so it is with these rivers and fountains, they run through the earth, on which the first Angel poured out his vial; they run through the cursed earth, as it is plagued of God, and therefore still retains the like unwholesome streams which are found in the bloody sea: And therefore it is said, that as the sea became blood, so these rivers also became blood, and carried but the like kind of water which they received from the sea, corrupt. As the Religion itself is corrupt, so are these fountains and rivers, the Priests and Jesuits, whether secular or regular, that is, the Parish Priests of their Churches, or Regular Monks that are in Religious Orders, or who ever are sent forth by these, they are these rivers and fountains of waters that run to and fro to fill all the world with their sea, with their Religion. It is the same word which the Apostle Peter hath in expressing the nature of false teachers, though there it is wells, yet the words are both one, They are wells without water, meaning without water of life, carrying their own drugs and dregs, 2 Pet. 2.17. A fit expression (therefore) of such kind of Priests or Prophets, as do convey unwholesome liquor or water up and down a country. Now of these it is said, that on the pouring out of this vial, they became blood, not only in regard that their waters themselves are blood, the doctrine and worship which they do hold forth to the people are corrupt, as their sea is, (like the plague in Egypt, when their waters and rivers were turned to blood) but that chief in regard of the punishment which they inflict on them for so doing, which is a bloody death, as blood is expounded in the 5. and 6. verses, where the Angel of the waters saith, Thou art righteous, O Lord, etc. because thou hast judged thus: Why? For they have shed the blood of Saints and Prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink, for they are worthy: So this is blood which God hath given them to drink. And that is an usual phrase, to give a man blood to drink, is to kill him: As Tomyris of old said to King Cyrus, Thou hast been a bloodthirsty man, drink thou blood which thou hast thirsted. When you give a man blood to drink, you put him to death. So this Angel, who ever it was, that poured out this vial, he puts these Priests to death, he gave them blood to drink, both made themselves to undergo a bloody death, to drink blood, and also made all that received and entertained them, to drink blood too; and this was effectually accomplished by Queen Elizabeth, when in the 27. year of her reign, in the year 1581. by the consent of the Parliament, she made it a Law, that if any Priest or Jesuit, that had received Orders from the Sea of Rome, or any authority from that Sea, should come into the Realm, and go about or practice to seduce any of the Queen's loyal Subjects from their allegiance, to the obedience of the Sea of Rome, or practice to draw them to that religion, he should be judged guilty of high treason, and suffer in the case of a Traitor; And this was another branch of that Statute, That if any gave entertainment to such Priests and Jesuits (after certain days,) and knew them to be such, should suffer as in case of Felony, without the benefit of his Book; so that both of them must drink blood, both the Jesuits and Priests themselves, and their abettors and entertainers; and the ground was, because they had bloody intendments in their coming, intending to kill the Queen, or corrupt the State with unwholesome and pernicious Doctrine, to draw the people from their allegiance, to the obedience of the Sea of Rome, that so as it was said, a generation of Catholics was the corruption of her subjects: To prevent which mischief, this Law was enacted, and so upon this occasion, many suffered that year, and others in after years, most part of her Reign.  
Now what is then the meaning of the next words, I heard the Angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and waste, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus: so it was blood recompensed with blood. This Angel of the waters, it was he or she that poured out this vial on these waters: She with the consent of her Council, and Parliament, they were this Angel of the waters that had this power over these rivers and fountains, and this was accomplished two or three years after, when she set Secretary Cicill on work to write a Book with this Title, JUSTITIA BRITANNIAE, The justice of Britain, wherein Secretary Cicill, by her appointment, doth make it clear to all neighbour Nations, (and for that end published his Book in sundry Languages, French, Dutch, and Spanish) that what was decreed in that Parliament was just, according to the Law of God, and the true principles of Christian State Policy, that there was no hope of safety to the Queen's Person, or of peace to the Common wealth, or of liberty to true Reformed Religion, if such persons were suffered to go up and down in that pestilentious manner, to pervert and corrupt the people, and withdraw them from their Allegiance, and subject them to the Bishop of Rome; that they did not suffer merely on point of Religion, though on those points of their Religion which gave them occasion so to work, he doth not deny that neither, but in respect that the frame of their Religion was not compatible to any Protestant State: And the very Book itself holds forth this in effect, that the Lord was just herein; and as the Text here tells us, Thou art righteous, O Lord, because thou hast judged thus: And he attributes not only righteousness to God in this, but immutability, and constancy, which art, and waste, and shalt be always. The same from the ancient Law of retaliation, in the 24. of Leviticus, 19, 20, 21. it is there ordained, that look what a man doth to others, it shall be so done to him, Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, etc. They gave thy Prophets and Saints blood to drink, and now thou hast given them blood to drink: This is the reason why he acknowledgeth this not only righteous, but according to his old and ancient proceeding, his righteousness ever since Moses his time, and since the world began: that is God's manner, Gen. 9.4, 5. He that sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: God always hath been of that mind: They that put others to death, that shed innocent blood, Their blood shall go for their blood, Gen. 9.6. to that purpose justly speaks that book; it is that which they have found, for they are worthy.  
And when he adds further, I heard another Angel out of the Altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgements: That is another Angel, a Minister and Messenger of God's justice. This phrase, out of the Altar, in this Book, doth usually hold forth some under-persecution, either going, or new come out of persecution: for so it is expressed in the 6. Rev. 9 I saw under the Altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held. The Altar is Christ, and Christ suffering; and those under the Altar, are they that suffered with Christ for the Word of God, speaking of the Primitive Christians in their first persecution: But here he doth not say, they were under Martyrdom, but they were come out from under the Altar; And that holds forth those Christians in the Low-countreyes, who of a long time had been under persecution by Duke Dalva, and other Spanish Princes; Duke Dalva boasts of it, there were 36000. that he had put to death, Hugonites and Protestants; Judge you what the rest might also do; and all for the testimony of jesus, for holding forth true Protestant Religion; but they were all rescued by the faithfulness of God; giving and blessing the courage of Q. Elizabeth: and now they are got out from under the Altar, and now they are freed from wrestling with such great difficulties as had been like to sink them, if God had not by his stretched out arm rescued them. And look as in 1584. Cicill set forth that book, so this Angel from under the Altar set forth a Law in 1586. wherein by the consent of all the States generally of the confederate Provinces, they enact and enjoin, that none of the bloody sect of the Jesuits, nor any of their Scholars, whether he be stranger, or borne in the Land, shall have liberty to come into the Country, but be put to capital punishment as an enemy to the State; and they have been in some measure careful of that Law, though more in Grave Maurice his time, then since; and so they justly say Amen to the Queen's Law, that as she put those Popish Emissaries to the pain of High Treason, hanging, drawing, and quartering, and thus gave them blood to drink; so this Angel from out of the Altar saith Even so, he saith Amen to it, let it even be so with them, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgements; they acknowledge Gods Almighty power, that had given them power to make that Law against them, who had so lately suffered under them; and acknowledge Gods righteous judgements; for that State that makes a Law to the same purpose, which they have found enacted in another State, they do say Amen to what hath been done, and both the one State and other acknowledge it to be a righteous judgement of God, and the administration, a just law, and a just execution. This (as others have done before me) I take to be the natural and true meaning of this Vial in the several parts thereof, without wresting of the words, nor need it be offensive to any that such particular persons are named as the accomplishers of this Vial, considering the matters were not of small importance, but of great consequence and admiration, all states rang of these laws, and it raised all Christendom in combustion, the wars of eighty eight, the Spanish invasion had special respect to this, and had not the Lord borne witness to his people and their Law, in defeating the intendments of their enemies, against both the Nations, it might have been the ruin of them both: So you see the meaning of the words of the Text.  
The words are many, and though containing much matter in 4. verses, I shall shortly contract and recollect the substance contained in them into one note, and handle that one at this time, as conceiving all the doctrine of these words may be grasped together in one Observation; For though there be liberty of entering into common places of God's righteousness and immutability, and of his justice in retaliation, and of his omnipotency, out of this Text; yet all these particulars have been spoken to in the former Chapter, in the third verse, and in the fourth, Lord God Almighty, just and true are thy ways, thou King of Saints. That for God being ever the same, which was and is to come, we have spoken to it divers times before in this book; and therefore though they be Catechism points, which my place calleth me to attend upon; yet I shall not here speak to them, having so lately handled the most of them, but therefore I will only speak to this Doctrine, which contains all the verses. This is the note then,  
Doct. That upon the discovery of the deadly corruption of the Religion of the Sea of Rome, it was a righteous judgement of God, and such as argued him unchangeable ever, like himself; That the Priests and Jesuits who carried that Religion up and down the Nations, should be adjudged or condemned to a bloody death. This is the sum.  
For so you see it is upon the discovery of their sea of blood, of the Religion of the Sea of Rome, to be a Sea of blood. We opened and shown before, that The second Angel poured out his vial on the sea, that is, on the Religion of the Sea of Rome, and discovered it to be as the blood of a dead man, made it manifestly appear, that both their doctrine, and worship, and government, was deadly, and such as was utterly unwholesome, both for private families and States, Church and Commonwealth; and so corrupt, as was deadly; who ever lived and died in that Religion, lived an hypocrite, and died a reprobate. Now the next Angel that comes, upon this discovery, he pours his vial on the rivers and fountains of waters, and they became blood: That is, they make Laws to adjudge all that carry that Religion up and down the Nation, to be guilty of blood, and therefore to be put to death, as Traitors and Rebels against the State. And this is acknowledged by the Angels of God, I mean those that are Ministers of God's Justice, and approve this testimony as authentical; they acknowledge this a righteous judgement of God, as he that is, was, and shall be always one and the same. Thus he was wont to carry it, and thus he doth still. In old time, if a man played the false Prophet, and suggested such devices as these, the Lord judged him to death, this was his manner: And so in the New Testament, as in the Old, he condemns all such to death, (and he is most righteous in so doing.) This is the sum.  
It was a great while before this, though not full two thousand years, when Zachary prophesied, that God would cut off the false Prophet, in the 13. Zach. 2, 3. and if there were any false Prophet should arise, his father and mother should thrust him through, because he spoke lies in the name of the God of truth, he should not live. And they speak not of his Typical death, that is, of his death by Church censure, or banishment, which have a kind of death in them; but they speak of such a death, as that he was not worthy to live; To cast a lie upon the God of Truth, the Oracle of Truth. But long before Zachary, this was an ancient law of Moses in the 13. Deut. this was a law, that false Prophets, they that turned Religion to the blood of a dead man, that did fundamentally pervert Religion, they should not live. And mind the reason that God gives here, partly in this text, and partly in other Scriptures.  
It is taken from the heinousness of blasphemy in the 24. Leu. Reas. 1 16. He that blasphemeth the name of God, shall surely be put to death. Every blasphemer shall be put to death. Now we cannot excuse Popish Priests and Jesuits from gross blasphemy, they that are acquainted with the Lady's Psalter and Orisons made to her, cannot but acknowledge sundry blasphemous speeches in it, they make their Prayers to the Virgin Mary that she would request her father, and command her Son, and that by the power of a mother's right to forgive their sin, which if this be not blasphemy, I confess I know not what is, and in a high degree, unless they should say, he were no God at all, and that falls not far short of it, to set a creature above God, and yet this is allowed as good devotion in the Church of Rome: It is true, if a man blaspheme out of ignorance, as Paul did, in the 1 Tim. 1.13. or if a man blaspheme unwillingly, as he did unwittingly, not knowing what he did, and he did compel some to blaspheme, Act. 26.11. why if he compel them to Blaspheme, those that are compelled, they do it unwillingly, but if men wittingly blaspheme, knowing what they do, knowing Jesus is God as well as man, and hath power to forgive sins as he is God, and know the Virgin Mary hath need of a Saviour, as all the daughters of men have, that they shall put upon her the power to command her Son to forgive sins, this is such blasphemy, that he that will stand to it, let him die the death; his blood shall be upon him: If high treason against Princes on earth, may justly be punished, by death, verily, this is as dishonourable to the Lord of Heaven, and Prince of all the Princes of the earth.  
Reas. 2 A second reason is taken from the point of seducement: As all blasphemous heretics, so seducing heretics are to be put to death. In that respect that whole 13. of Deut. is spent about the seducing of false prophets: and he puts a threefold gradation, If he be a Prophet, (therefore though never so seemingly holy by his place and gifts,) yet if he turn you away from the Lord your God, and draw you from the ways of God, what then? thine eye shall not spare him, he shall surely be put to death, from the 1. ver. to 5. from the 6. ver. to 11. he will have no nearness of blood to hinder from due execution of justice: but if it be thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy daughter, or the wife of th' bosom, or thy friend, which is as thy own soul that shall go about to seduce thee secretly, saying, let us go and serve other Gods which thou hast not known, thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him, thine eye shall not spare him, neither shalt thou conceal him, but thou shalt surely kill him, thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, etc. from the 12. ver. to the end. If there be never so many that shall join, if a whole City shall join together in such a course, thou shalt rise against, and destroy the City, and burn it with fire, and leave not a stone upon a stone which shall not be thrown down, in utter detestation of that wickedness: And he gives a notable reason for it, why a seducer should be thus dealt withal, because, saith he, he seeks to turn thee away from thy way, and to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God, to turn thee off either by deceit, or to thrust thee off by eanest persuasions; and therefore lest you should think these false prophets fail only in the object of worship, and not in manner of worshipping, therefore consider in the 22. Iosh. when the two tribes and a half set up an Altar by jordan, although they thought not they would bring in another object of worship, but another manner of worship, (here is but another way of worship, whether mediation or satisfaction of God's wrath devised) the whole ten Tribes rise up, and send a sufficient Company or Troop of Military men to go and expostulate with them, and know whether it were true; and either they would reclaim them from it by argument, or make war against them; and they had cut off two Tribes and an half, if they had found another Altar for worship: Now he that sets up another Mediator or Mediation, Saint or Angel, he sets up as great a matter as another Altar; or he that brings in other men's merits, he brings in another Altar: Therefore by the ancient Laws of that unchangeable God that thought it unsufferable in those days, he thinks it unsufferable now that Priests and Jesuits should bring in other Altars, other Mediations and Mediators, as Prayers of Saints and Angels; the Lord looks at it as deeply meritorious of a bloody death, as in former times. He is the same God, and his zeal and jealousy is deeply provoked against the like kind of viciousness now as ever it was then. That is a second Argument.  
And yet in point of seducement, this I will say, that if a man upon conviction shall see the wickedness of his way, and humble his soul before God, and give satisfaction to the Church and State where he shall be convinced, on such conviction and repentance, we find liberty to pardon; but yet stigmatize him, as in the 13. of Zach. If the Prophet, shall repent, and say, I am no Prophet, nor the son of a Prophet, but an Husbandman, and my father taught me to keep beasts or sheep, and therefore he will not wear a rough garment to deceive; And if any man ask him, What are those wounds in thine hands? he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends, Zach. 13.4, 5, 6. That shows in such a case they saved his life, but they inflict some punishment on him, to carry away with him. And this is spoken not of the days of the Old Testament, but it is written to be done when there is a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the Inhabitants of jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness, in the 1. ver. And in the 7. ver. when the Lord calls for a sword against his Shepherd, and against the man that is his fellow, the Lord Jesus Christ, and his companions his disciples, He will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered, (and those are the days of the New Testament) in those times it is, when the Prophets shall be thus cut off that rise up to seduce the people of God.  
And a third Reason is taken from the due desert of soul-murther: Reas. 3 There is none of all these Priests, or Jesuits, or Heretics, that sin in the like kind, corrupting the precious truth of God, in the very foundations of it; but they worry and devour the souls of God's people, I mean those that should not die, (though Gods elect cannot be seduced) yet those whom we ought to look at, that should not be thus murdered, and brought to death by such means. In the 7. Mat. 15. Beware of false Prophets which come unto you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves: Is it not an acceptable service to the whole Country to cut off the ravenous wolves? what is the wolf to the sheep? is he not the very death of them all that he lights on, or fall in his jaws? so is it with the sheep of Christ, that fall into the jaws of these Romish ravenous wolves.  
It is said of those false teachers, 2 Timoth. 2.18. They destroyed the faith of some, who concerning the truth, have erred: And in the 2 Pet. 2. 1, 2, 3. he tells us, There shall be false teachers amongst them, that shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and shall bring upon themselves swift destruction, etc. They shall make merchandise of you, as the Church of Rome, and her fountains and rivers do; they make merchandise of the souls of men, Rev. 18.13. Now to make merchandise of an Israelite, as in the 21. Exod. 16. it is a capital crime, He that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. Now these sell men, and engage them to perpetual bondage, under their tyranny, both in doctrine, and worship, and government. This murder of souls is juftly a capital crime; as Moses said before, If they thrust thee from thy God, and will not let thee walk with him, let not thine eye spare such kind of corrupters and desperate deluders.  
Reas. 4 The fourth reason is taken from that which the justitia Britanniae stands most upon, and becomes Statesmen to do; and that is the conspiracy and treason against the State: And that avoidable, by suffering such locust to run up and down the Country, to poison the hearts of men, by their corrupt ways and means: for these Ministers, they do unavoidably, not accidentally, but they unavoidably draw men from their Allegiance due to their Native Prince, to a foreign State: For if a Prince should profess Protestant Religion, (which is the true Religion) and thereupon be excommunicate by the Bishop of Rome, what then? then by the Laws of their State he is deposed from his throne.  
And they do notably abuse the old type of Leprosy for this: Vzziah being once smitten with leprosy, than the High Priest removes him from the Temple of the Lord, and he may not be suffered any more to govern; for if once the Lord finite a man with leprosy in his judgement, (and indeed, let heresy be one kind of leprosy) if the Priest pronounce him so, than he is cut off from the government of the Country, than his people are not subject to him, and so subjects are freed from their fidelity to their natural Prince, which is a notable abuse of that place: For God doth not intent that the authority of any Minister or Priest in the Old or New Testament should so fare prevail, that what they did in the Old Testament to Vzziah, should take off Princes from their Government in the New: For even in the old Testament they still retained the Crown, though their power of execution was delegated to another; and that not by the High-Priests appointment, but by himself.  
But as things were with them, so though not in the same kind, but in a typical way, it befalls Princes in the New Testament. If a man were found a Leper in the Old Testament, he was sequestered from the administration of his Kingdom, and from his own house, Leviticus 13.46. he must not live in the Camp, or in the Town or Village, but alone, and in a separate place by himself, (as those that are sick of the Pestilence in our Native Country) they are not suffered to live in the town, but in Pest-houses, unless there be a general infection.  
But this thing must not be applied in the letter to the state of the Church, in the New Testament; for Leprosy was not only a type of scandalous, infectious sins, but it was also a bodily, noisome, infectious disease, and made a man unfit for civil commerce.  
Moreover, as Leprosy was also a type of scandalous and infectious sins, so the sequestering of Vzziah from the Temple, doth type forth, not that Christian Kings should be separate from their thrones; For he that gives to a man a Kingdom, or any earthly estate, doth not debar that man from his house, if he be a private man, nor from his government, if he be a public person.  
But what is the Kingdom that is typed out?  
It is the Kingdom of the glory of CHRIST JESUS: If therefore he be shut out from the holy Temple of Israel, he is shut out from the Kingdom of Heaven indeed, that is true; for what is done by the Churches of God on earth, is bound in Heaven: But yet Christ Jesus never thought it meet to separate any by any Church power, from communion with his wife and children, those whom nature bond him to; nor from his servants and subjects, whom civil engagements bound unto him; but only from interest in the spiritual communion of the seals of immortality, and yet but for a season, for the healing of his soul, not for the destroying of his person or state, but otherwise to exclude them from their own houses, or Kingdoms, or from any civil right, it was never God's counsel nor meaning in the New Testament: But now the contrary being the doctrine of the Church of Rome, and on that ground justified. When Princes are excommunicated, they do depose them, and being deposed, discharge subjects from their allegiance, and then judge you what treason redownds to Christian Princes, and what conspiracy and rebellion groweth in the state of a Kingdom, when some take part with the King deposed, and others with him that is substituted by the Pope; and so there is Treason both against Prince, and State, and Kingdom. And therefore it is an ancient justice of God, that hath so ordered it, that those that shall draw God's people from the Allegiance of their Prince, shall be judged Traitors, and suffer pain of death.  
Reas. 5 And for a fift reason, (mentioned in the Text) it is taken from the law of retaliation; that look how men have dealt with others, they should be so dealt withal themselves. Now these Priests and Jesuits, and their Abettors, in the time of Queen Mary, and Henry the eighth, and all the Kings since, the Statute against Lollards in England, as also against the Hugonites in France, if a man were suspected of heretical pravity, and pronounced guilty thereof by the Church, he was to be delivered to the secular power; only he might have leave to consider of it: But if he fell again, there was no hope of mercy, but he must look for blood, as if he were no better than a child of death: And yet they were men that never troubled the State, but quietly suffered for their Religion and Conscience: So that these Jesuits and Priests, delivering up so many innocent Lambs of Christ, Ministers of the Gospel, and holy Saints, to the Secular power, to be burnt at the stake in Smithfield, and elsewhere, and the Abettors of these Priests and Jesuits, being very zealous to cut off such Lollards from the land of the living, it is just and right with God, They have given thy Saints and Prophet's blood to drink, and therefore look as they have measured to others, it is measured to them, by the ancient Law of God, that is the same, and will be for ever, Rev. 13.10. He that killeth with the sword, must be killed by the sword. So you see this point is plain, That upon the discovery of the deadly corruption of the Religion in the Romish Sea, it was the righteous judgement of God, and such as argued him to be unchangeable, and ever the same, that the Priests and's Jesuits which carried the waters of that Sea, that Religion up and down the Nation, should be condemned to a bloody death: you see the truth of the point, and the reasons of it.  
For the use of the point, it may first serve to justify the holy Use 1 and righteous equity of all those laws above mentioned, whether in England or Holland, for putting Popish Priests and Jesuits to death, and there was a like law also made in France, upon the murder of Henry the fourth, that all Jesuits should be put away out of the Country, and their studies demolished, etc. but they made it in policy: But the Text speaks of England and Holland, it was a just and righteous law, that these rivers and fountains of waters should become blood: you see there is blasphemy in their worship against the Lord Jesus Christ, they do seduce the people of God, and turn them from the Lord, and thrust them from him, by their justification by works, by their callings on Saints and Angels, and trusting in other Mediators besides the Lord Jesus in the intercession of Saints and Angels: It hath been a just hand of God, that they that worry (like ravenous wolves) the souls of God's people, should themselves be worried: that they that have made firebrands of Christians, should drink blood themselves; they that overwhelmed Christians in confusion and tumult, it is just with God, that they should be overwhelmed; they that have been so busy in putting to death innocents', that they should also be put to death: you see this is just with God, it is well becoming to the unchangeable righteousness of God: thus it was in the old Testament, and why should it be changed in the new?  
You will say it was but a typical matter then, and you Ob. must look for a spiritual death in the New Testament.  
Why I pray you Brethren consider,  
1. Answ. The Papists are not of that mind, but they execute it in the letter; they have put to death the Prophets and servants of God in the letter; hunted them up and down; the Inquisition is incomparably more bloody than any other other Butchery. They do not, nor may not plead any such thing; they believe it is true in the letter. And let me say further, the holy Ghost makes it as true in the letter; this Text is in the New Testament, not in the Old, Thou hast given them blood to drink, for they are worthy: and he speaks of the very blood of the hearts of men: And it is parallel with God's justice of old; it was just then, and it is just now. Zachary intends the days of the New Testament, though written in the Old, that when a fountain is opened to the house of David, and inhabitants of jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness, than the father and mother of a false Prophet shall accuse him to the Magistrate, and shall say unto him, He shall not live. Was it an abomination then to speak lies in the Name of the Lord, and no less than blasphemy, and shall it be more favourably interpreted now? A man may now speak a lie, and bring in a false Christ, a false Mediator, and false means of satisfaction, and false merits, now he may without peril of his life, in the Old Testament he might not. Why but was it not sufficient to have a spiritual judgement? Even they had spiritual judgements then; but God saw it meet to inflict some temporal judgement as well as spiritual, and is now his judgement changed?  
Besides, are not Moses Moral Laws of perpetual equity, and therefore to be observed in all Ages? Is blasphemy more tolerable in the New Testament, or thrusting men away from God? is it not as odious now as then? Is not murder of souls as damnable now as then? Is not conspiracy and sedition as damnable and capital now as then? Is not the law of retaliation as just in the New Testament as in the old? and therefore a man would wonder that such frivolous interpretations should come into the hearts of men, to hinder the free passage of the justice of God, on such notorious offenders.  
Ob. But you will say, Conscience should not be forced, and men should not be put to death for their conscience.  
Answ. Why do you think Heretics were not as conscionable in the Old Testament as now? If any man had a conscience to turn men from God, he would have men of as much conscience to cut them off; if they make no conscience of the blaspheming the name of God, the Lord would have, men make no conscience of cutting them off from breathing in the air of God; If men make no conscience of murdering souls, or raising sedition, and tumult, and murdering men better than themselves, the Lord would have men make no conscience of paying every man in his own kind.  
But let me answer again, But mark what I say, the Lord will easily provide for this, and so he doth: and in England I am sure he hath, (what in Holland I know not, but) he hath provided there, That if a Jesuit or Priest, or their abettors, shall come in, and take the oath of fidelity to the State, and so carry matters before some Justice of Peace, the Law dischargeth them from capital punishment: And the Law of God in the New Testament is, that such should be once or twice admonished, but if he still continue, the Apostle would have him cast out of the Church; the Church hath no farther power; if they be proceeded with farther, it must be by the Magistrate: Him that is an heretic, ofter once or twice admonition, reject, knowing that he that is such, is subverted, etc. So that it must be for Fundamental Articles of Religion in doctrine or worship, which are so clearly delivered in the Word, that no man that understands Scripture, and the ways of salvation, but may be satisfied in conscience what is the holy and acceptable will of God in such points; and therefore he takes it for granted, if a man be once or twice admonished, he is convinced of himself, he is subverted, he is turned off from the foundation, that now no man is put to death for his conscience, but for sinning against the light of his conscience; his own conscience hath convinced him, and the light of the Word is so clear, as cannot but convince him, that the way of God runs just quite contrary to his interpretation and seducement: And therefore now if you sin, you sin against conscience, and therefore you justly suffer for being subverted, and turned off from the foundation, from Chrift Jesus, and holding another foundation, and persisting therein obstinately. So there are two things in an heretic, he is both subverted himself, as an house from the foundation, it is against the foundation of Religion; and he holdeth out obstinately against light of conscience, with stubbornness; and now in such a case thine eye shall not spare him. A soul that sins of ignorance, may be pardoned, but if he still continue obstinate, thine eye shall not spare him; the wrath of God now goes out against a person, against a City; if it were against a Tribe, they go about by force of Arms to redress it; they shall not suffer such in a Country. This is then the Answer to the second Objection, and still justifies the equity of that Law.  
Obj. 3 There is a third Objection, Ay, but is it not written, that you shall suffer tares to grow with the wheat, lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them? Mat. 13.30. Now our Saviour tending to clemency and moderation, he saith, Let both grow together until the harvest, etc.  
Answ. Ay, but tares and wheat, they may grow together, but he doth not say, ye may suffer briars and thorns to grow with them, for than you choke all the wheat: And therefore it hath been a false interpretation of the Popish sort, and taken up by the Anabaptists, that tares signify indifferently all sorts of wicked men; but I know none that expound them better than Jerome, and none so well; the tares are very like the wheat in Jury; what they are in other Countries I know not, but they are like to the wheat there, and you will not know the difference in the green blade, nor in the spindling, until it grows towards the harvest, than you will find it but an empty ear and thin, and yet it grows so close with the other wheat, and like it, that if you pluck it up, you may pluck up the wheat with it, let therefore both grow together till the harvest.  
What is then meant by Tares? Not such as sin through obstinacy, but hyhocrites that are like the servants of God, that you would think they are such; after you discover them, they are empty ears; and hollow, have no fatness of grain, and that is indeed none of the wheat. Now let Hypocrites grow together with the Elect, do not cast them out merely for hypocrisy, though you find them halting, unless they break forth to scandalous behaviour, either in doctrine, or worship, or conversation, as they appear to be briars and thorns; if they be manifest fruits of the curse, away with them, Why cumber you the ground? for else you shall neither have Church censure, nor cavil to stand. Such notorious wicked persons, adulterers, Idolaters, railers, refractory and scandalous persons, drunkards, and the like, are not tares; we must not abuse Scripture, that because tares and hypocrites are suffered, therefore refractory, scandalous, notorious wicked men and heretics may be suffered; no, that is not the meaning, they are not ears, you may see them afar off; you shall not need to fear rooting up the wheat by cutting off them, the wheat is nothing like them. So you see the first Use, to justify the equity and sovereignty of such capital punishments on Priests and Jesuits, and consequently on such as bring in other Gods, or another way of worshipping the true God, then that wherein we may enjoy fellowship with the true God, the justice and suitableness of it to the holy will of God, since there were any Laws made amongst God's people.  
For a second Use, it may serve to reprove the carnal and sinful Use 2 foolish pity that is found in any State, that shall be sparing, of spilling such blood of the Priests and Jesuits: It is you see contrary to the unchangeable justice of God; the Lord loathes this kind of lenity, and gentleness, and indulgence, and toleration of such kind of persons, and ordinary receivings of them; if men will suffer such in the State, truly they shall do it to the subversion of their own safeties and dignities, and disturb their whole State. It is a very sad speech which the Lord utters in the 48. jer. 10. Cursed is he that doth the work of the Lord negligently; and cursed is he that keepeth back his sword from blood, when the Lord calls us to sheathe the sword of Authority in such kind of delinquents as these be; if we shall now spare them, and neglect this work of God, cursed be such. A State shall be separate from God, and a Kingdom more and more corrupt and leavened, by such toleration; the wrath of God will break forth, tumults, and seditions, and all kind of scandalous, and unrighteous, and ungodly proceed will set a whole Kingdom in combustion, Church and Commonwealth at variance: There can be no peace to such a State, where such persons are tolerated: And therefore we may fear the righteous hand of God, in disturbing the Country whereto we own so much love and faithfulness, if there be a suspending of the holy and righteous Law of God; that these rivers and fountains should drink of blood, for they are worthy.  
Thirdly, this may serve to teach all Magistrates and Governors Use 3 in every Commonwealth, to look that all your Laws, be righteous laws: If you will act any thing justly, the Lord takes it as his act, he is the actor of it. And therefore though this Law was made by Queen Elizabeth, with the consent of the whole body of the Parliament, and though her Secretary, by her direction and consent, published the justice of the Law, the Text saith, it is the Lord, Thou art just and righteous, just and true are thy ways, because thou hast judged thus: They have shed the blood of Saints and Prothets, they have given them blood, and thou hast given them blood to drink, for they are worthy. Even so, saith another Angel, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgements. If there be any wholesome and just Law in a Kingdom, the Lord owns it as his own, and it is to be obeyed as a righteous Law of God; if it be unjust, it is not Gods, for his law is just, an adequate rule of righteousness. So that what ever is less than the Law of God, if it suit not with the Law of God, and keep correspondency therewith, you cannot say it is a Law of God: Therefore Law givers, and Law makers, should ever have respect what doth the Lord our God say; If it be God's Law, and Gods will, let it be established; if not, let it be antiquiated: But if you can find a hint from the Law of God for it, then let it stand.  
Use 4 And fourthly, this must teach confederate States, or such States, whether near for co-habitation, or farther off; if they hear of others proceed, it is good to confirm what they have justly done. Queen Elizabeth makes a Law in the year 84. against Priests and Jesuits, the Decree is righteous, when others hear of this righteous section, they make it also a capital crime for any such persons to be found amongst them; if it be capital in England, it is so in Holland, they will require it of the necks of them that shall be found delinquent. What then? This is Even so, one State must say Even so upon the just act of another; and they must record it in their Statutes, unless there be some apparent dissimilitude, which is not in case of this nature; for there is the same equity in all Ages, and all Nations, and therefore it is for them to say Amen, or Even so to it: And what is that? It is no more but this, If you enact a Law which is in another Country, you say Amen to God's justice in your own Country, as others do in theirs.  
Use 5 The fift Use that you may make of this Point, is, to teach you a tender respect in all laws to the judicials of Moses, to all the judicial laws of Moses, that are built upon moral equity; that is, where the reason of a Law holds in one Nation as well as in another; in the New Testament as in the Old. There are sundry Laws particular to that Polity, which had peculiar reasons for them, as to marry in their kindred, to keep their inheritance to their Tribe, we have not that reason: But where the Laws are of like moral reason, as will hold in all Ages, and in all countries', as it is in all the capital Laws of Moses, there is no reason why a Jew should be put to death for point of Adultery, or Incest, or for stealling a man, and selling him to a Pagan, more than a Christian. I say therefore look what was the Law of God by Moses, if it were of perpetual reason and equity, it lies on every Commonwealth to establish the same, and to take yourselves as much bound to it as the Jews, why? for the Text tells us, the very righteousness of God is in it: And look as he was then a hater ofall wickedness with a perfect hatred, and as he was just, so he is still, heresy is no more pleasing to him, nor blasphemy, nor seducing, nor to change the way of his worship, and to draw men to ways wherein they cannot enjoy the Lord in peace; murder of souls is no more welcome to him now, then of old. And therefore if there were a Law to punish such with capital punishment, it is a like justice of God to enjoin such Laws in every Christian Commonwealth. And therefore if we look at God's justice as unchangeable, we may not prevaricate judicial laws, setting aside some typical considerations, or some peculiar consideration, in regard of their Polity: But such as were to punish men by death, or were received on moral equity and ground, look what was for them to do there, is the same proportion for us; put the same case, and you will find the like reason for the same punishment. It is true, some ceremonies were there punished with death, and so the like kind of profaning the Sabbath, is as justly punishable with us, if profaned with an high hand; to gather sticks with an high hand, in contempt of the Sabbath of the Lord, is as justly punishable with death now as then. And so you may say of any other law justly punishable by death, and that are built on perpetual moral equity, Our God is the same God that he was; and so you shall have him count that righteous whiles the world stands.  
For a sixth. This may serve to take off a corrupt interpretation Use 6 which some have made of this place, or a collection that they have gathered from hence, that the Angels of God are deputed to several offices; here is one Angel of the waters; and some are deputed to govern the earth, some fire, some the waters and sea, as I might tell you, if it were meet to trouble you with humane inventions, and collections of men's brains; the collection is chief grounded on this place, but it is wholly mistaken, for the Angel of the waters here is not any particular Angel of God, any of those heavenly spirits, but the Angels and Ministers of God's justice, upon metaphorical seas and waters. It is true, those here were Governors of the narrow seas, and the that gave commission to execute the righteous judgement of God upon those rivers, she was Admiral of the narrow seas, but that is not the meaning. But the Angel that poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters, it is he or she that did execute the righteous judgement of God upon the Popish Priests and Jesuits; and that did both Queen Elizabeth, and he that had a great hand in executing that judgement, and the Angel from under the Altar, they ratified that Law, and justified it when they had done. Now it is true, the Angels of God assist the servants of God in this glorious work, but they are sent forth, indifferently, to protect God's servants by sea or by land: And I find no Scripture to show that they are more particularly sent to the sea, or to the earth, but indifferently to protect God's servants in their out-going and incomming.  
Use 7 Lastly, it may serve to teach us a true estimation of Ministers. If Popish Priests be rivers and fountains of waters, drinking blood, because they have made God's servants and Prophets drink blood, than it shows what place other Ministers be in, where the sea is clear as glass, like crystal, where you may see the face of Christ as in a glass, 2 Cor. 3.18. what then? where the sea is pure, all Ministers of the Country, and Elders of Churches, carry forth the doctrine and worship of Christ, they are as rivers and fountains, and being living water, rivers of fresh water, and water all the Country. This is the office of of them, in opposition to those in 2 Pet. 2.17. that are wells without water, without sweet water. Godly Ministers therefore are fountains of sweet water, and from them issue forth streams of living water. In Psal. 88 ult. All my fresh springs are in thee. I would only apply it thus, and leave it and the Text with the time: That therefore look as a man when he would go forth to a new Plantation, or sit down in any place, or if he would set his dwelling house in a place, he would wisely forecast to have a fountain of living water, a living spring near to his house, or some sweet spring run near him. Why? If he be without fresh water, it is a great want for the provision of his household: Water they must have, either a fresh tiver, or a fresh spring, the one of the two; if they can have both, they covet both: and there is great need of both, not only to quench fire, and water gardens, etc. but for boiling of meat and drink, washing of , and sundry victuals. Water is ever necessary, as any thing; nothing more. This is men's care, when they go about Plantations, or whether they plant towns or villages, or their own dwelling houses, they have a care to provide for fresh water. All I would say is this, Take heed you do not provide for fountains of ordinary water, and neglect rivers of sweet water: That is, beware of going about such work, without carrying such fountains with you, as may from the sea of pure Religion, pure doctrine, and pure worship, carry forth some such sweet streams as may make glad the hearts of your families, and Church of God where you go.  
But you will say, Have not Christians so much liberty, a Ob. company of godly men liberty to enter into covenant, and make some beginning of things, and so call some or other, whom they know are well gifted men, furnished with gifts, may we not call them to come and help us, and have we not that liberty purchased by the blood of the Lord Jesus?  
All this is true brethren, I would infringe no part of it: Only Answ. this let me say, you would be loath to provide no better for temporals, you would be loath to set a town where there are no rivers nor fountains; and if you do sit down where there are no fountains, yet you have liberty to fetch water from other places, Christ hath purchased it: True, he hath purchased all liberties for his Church, but you will not think it wisdom to sit down where there are no rivers, because you have no right to them by the blood of Jesus; that would not be a sufficient reason in things concerning this natural life: why then do not build further on the blood of Christ for spiritual rivers, than you will do for natural; but rather prise spiritual rivers above natural, as more worthy than all natural comforts to be looked after. Therefore when ever you are about such a work as this, take the Lord Jesus Christ along with you, and take rivers and fountains of waters; that as you look for rivers and fountains for the refreshment of your cattle, and servants, and children, you may find a living fountain of the blood of Christ, conveyed and running in the plantation where you intent to sit down; otherwise you will find the springs there, and the fountains and rivers you sit down by, rise up in judgement against you, that these are the things you sought for, and out of regard to these, you left the fountains and rivers of God's house, the ordinances of God behind you, and go and live in the outmost corners of a country, or in some other country, all is one; Therefore sit down no where without good Ministers, if it be possible, and sure possible it is, else Christians may resolve to tarry where they are, as Ezra tarried by the river Ahava, in the 8. of Ezra 15. till he had got some Levites to go with them, that they might go and make a comfortable work of it, that they might not leave the Ordinances behind them; and yet there were some there before, whither they went. It is true, some may go and make a beginning, but yet never make a beginning, but where you may come and partake of the waters of God's house every Lord's day, and let them that cannot so travel, let them continue where they are, and drink of the waters of eternal life, rather than run such hazards. You have seen when some have made a beginning without Ministers, they have stayed three or four years before they have got any help, and when they have got them, they have had much ado to settle: they have been suddenly unsettled, though they have not gone rashly about it, but with good advice: but for want of this there, not taking these rivers and fountains with them, they have been at a loss, and therefore in such a case let it be the wisdom of sincere hearted Christians, that come from old England for liberty and purity of Ordinances, not to leave them now for fresh meadows and fountains: and for want of planting ground, and the like, it will not be suitable to these ends for which you left your native Country.   

The Fourth VIAL.  Revel. 16.8, 9 
And the fourth Angel poured out his vial upon the Sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire.  
And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which had power over these plagues; and they repent not to give him glory.  
ALl the seven Angels that are described to pour out the seven Vials of the last fierce wrath, are all of them said to come out of the Temple of the Tabernacle opened in heaven in the 5 Verse of the 15 Chapter: That is to say, all of them to proceed, and to come forth out of reformed Churches, such as had gotten the victory over the Beast, and his Image, and his Name, and the number of his Name. In the 6 Verse of this Chapter, they are all of them further described, to be clothed with pure and white linen, and to have their breasts girded with golden girdles; that is to say, all of them to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ (which is pure linen) both justifying and sanctifying of them, the one imputed, the other inherent, and all of them to be sincere professors of the truth of Christ, their breasts girded with the golden girdles of truth. Further, they are all of them said to receive a command from God to pour out the Vials of his wrath, and all of them to pour out the Vials of his wrath upon the earth; in the first Verse of this Chapter: and yet it was but the first that poured out his Vial upon the earth; for the second is said to pour it out upon the Sea; and the third upon the rivers and fountains; and the fourth (you read in my Text) upon the Sun; and the fifth upon the Throne of the Beast; and the sixth upon the great river Euphrates; and the last upon the air: yet all are commanded (the whole seven) to pour out the wrath of God upon the earth, in the first verse. The earth being opposed to the Church in heaven, the visible Church open in heavenly purity; it is so taken for some earthly, carnal, Antichristian state, or Church: but when it is not opposed to heaven, but other elements, than it is the lowest of all the rest; and so it is according to this double opposition interpreted in this Chapter. If you look at the earth, as opposite to heaven, the heavenly pure Churches, so he means the earthly and Antichristian Church, the Romish Popish Church that then was. Now if you say, as in the first verse it is said, The first only poured out his vial upon the earth; now you mean the lowest element of the Antichristian state, the common Catholics, whereupon there fell a grievous sore upon all that received the mark of the Beast, and worshipped his Image. When those holy servants, and faithful Ministers of Christ did discover the corruption of Religion in common Catholics, the Catholics were afflicted with much confusion and indignation; as being convinced, they were bedabled with gross superstition, ignorance, and idolatry, and many other evils which you have formerly heard: So that you see, the first of them fell upon the Beast; and so from the first to the last, the first began with the Beast; and in the last, Babylon is fallen, in the 19 Verse of this Chapter. So that all these Vials poured out the wrath of God upon something or other of the Beast; the first upon the common worshippers of the Beast; the second upon the Sea; that is, the confluence of all the Ordinances, that is, such Ordinances as the worshippers of the Beast have in their Religion; and they discovered that Sea to be but the blood of a dead man, not to have the life of Christ in it: And the third poured out his Vial upon the Fountains and Rivers of water, which are the Priests and Jesuits of that Church, which carry that Religion up and down the earth, as the Rivers and Fountains do the water of the Sea (and of these you heard at large the last day:) And look as the opening of the Seals (mentioned before in this Book) did open the wrath of God, and his judgements against the Roman-Pagan Empire, and the seven Trumpets did sound out the wrath of God against the Roman-Christian Empire and Church; so these last Angels, with the last wrath in the seven Vials, they pour it all out upon the Antichristian Roman state: So that all the judgements in this Book are still upon Rome; either Rome Pagan, or Rome Christian, or Rome Antichristian; the one falls under seven Seals, the other under seven Trumpets, and this last under seven Vials: So that if the earth, upon which the first Angel poured out his Vial, be the common sort of Catholics; and the Sea, upon which the second Angel poured out his Vial, be their Religion, and convinced it to be the blood of a dead man, and no life of the blood of Christ in it, to wash sin from the souls and consciences of men, nothing else but unwholesome and unsavoury choking corruptions, ready to destroy all that were washed in it, or drank of it. And the third Vial being poured out upon the Jesuits and Priests, they were thereby adjudged to capital punishment (as you have heard) for they were forced to drink blood, as they were worthy, having caused the Martyrs of CHRIST JESUS to drink blood.  
This fourth Vial therefore comes to be poured out upon something of the Beast, as all the rest of the Vials were: The fourth Angel poured out his Vial upon the Sun, to wit, something of the Beast, which resembles the Sun in his world, even as the Sun is the greatest light in this material world, which GOD created in the beginning. In these words than you may see described, the pouring out of the Vial of the fourth Angel, which is set forth by the subject upon which it is poured, Upon the sun: Secondly, by the effect which followed upon that, He had power given him to scorch men with fire; and secondly, Men were tormented with great heat upon it. And a third Argument, by which this Vial poured out, is described, is the event which followed, and that is double, Men blasphemed the name of God; and God here described to have power over these plagues, as an aggravation of that blasphemy, to blaspheme the name of God, that had power over these plagues. And secondly, they are described by another event, their Impenitency, their not repenting, they repent not to give him glory: So that here the fourth Vial is poured out, Upon what? Upon the Sun. What is the effect of that? Power is is given to that Angel, to scorch men with fire; and men were scorched with heat: and the event of it was, they that were so scorched, continued still impenitent, they repent not to give God glory; but on the contrary, blasphemed the name of the great God, that had power over these plagues.  
For opening the meaning of the words briefly; By the Sun cannot here be meant, that body of the Sun that gives light to us in these visible heavens: For how shall an Angel coming out of the Temple, out of a reformed Church, pour out his Vial upon that Sun? Or if he should be able so to do, how should he work any distempered heat in it, but it would annoy reform Churches as well as Antichristian? How will it reflect a peculiar plague upon Antichrist? It must therefore be some other Sun, and indeed such a Sun as is wrapped up under the general Notion of Earth; for all the Angels poured out their Vials upon the earth; they had no other Commission given them to pour out their Vials, but upon the earth, in the first Verse. And therefore he that poured out his Vial upon the Sea, it was but an earthly sea, a worldly sea; and he that poured his Vial upon the rivers and fountains, did but pour it out upon earthly rivers and fountains: and therefore he that pours his out upon the Sun, doth but pour it out upon an earthly Sun, not an heavenly Sun; I mean not any spiritual Sun of heavenly brightness or glory: Mind therefore, that it cannot be allowed to interpret this Sun to be the Lord jesus Christ, as some good Interpreters have expounded it, (he is indeed the Sun of true visible reformed Churches, but not of Antichristian:) Now will it be in like sort allowed, to interpret it of the Scriptures, (as some of our best Interpreters have expounded it) for these are but one; for the Scriptures reveal Christ, and the woman clothed with the Sun, that is Christ, she is clothed with him as he is revealed in the Scripture, 12 Revel. 1. But I do not see how it should well be allowed, that that should be the Sun here meant: For first, the Angels that pour out these Vials, are all godly men, at least generally so reputed, and accounted, and acknowledged by the Churches; they are clothed with pure white linen, which is the righteousness of the Saints, inherent and imputed: They are also girded with gelden girdles, sincere professors of the truth; and how these can be imagined to pour out wrath upon the Lord jesus, or the Scriptures, it is not to be believed or conceived.  
And besides, all these had command to pour out the wrath of God on those subjects, upon which they poured out their Vials, as in the first Verse. Now God forbidden we should conceive, that any wrath of God should be poured out upon Christ ever since his Resurrection, or that any wrath of God should be poured out upon the Scriptures: For although they that thus expound this Vial to be poured out upon the Sun, do not say that the wrath of God was poured upon the Sun, but upon the Antichristian state; yet the Text tells us, they poured out the Vials of the wrath of God upon that subject; that they poured them on, they poured them all upon the earth: So that all these things are but earthly matters, and such earthly matters as have been open justly to the wrath of God. It is therefore but an earthly sea, and they are but earthly rivers and fountains, and it is but an earthly Sun, and an earthly air, corrupt air, an unwholesome Antichristian air, upon which the Vials are poured. So that I cannot go so freely along with that Exposition, that the Sun here, is Christ revealed in the Scriptures, or the Scriptures revealing Christ.  
If any man shall say, but the Sun spoken of in the Trumpets, was Christ in the Scriptures, or the Scriptures revealing Christ, & those Trumpets hold forth a like degree of judgement upon the Roman-Christian Empire, as here upon Antichristian Rome: For upon the sounding of the first Trumpet, judgement falls upon the earth, common Christians: The second Trumpet sounding, judgement falls upon the Sea, (as in the 8 Revel. 7, to 12.) And the third upon rivers and fountains: And the fourth Trumpet sounding, did bring an hand of God upon the Sun, a third part of the Sun was smitten; that is, the Son Christ jesus was much darkened in that degenerated Christian-state, and so it was with the Scriptures, with the Church state, and with humane Learning, they were all darkened, as it is there described: But (mind you) the Sun is one thing to a Church that hath truth in it, though degenerated; CHRIST was their light, though they were darkened, in a third part: But now when Religion is wholly corrupt, that all the whole Sea is the blood of a dead man; now the world is altered, and if you have a new world, you must have a new Sun: That was a Christian world, and CHRIST might still be the Sun, and light of that, though in many degrees corrupted; and the Scriptures might be still the light of the world. But now when you come to an Antichristian world, so wholly degenerated, that there is no power of CHRIST to be seen, as they administer any Ordinance; now the case is so far changed, that you must look for another Sun in another world: Here is another earth, and another Sea, that Sea was not like the blood of a dead man (though corrupt) but this is; and those waters, though their Teachers were corrupt, yet it was but a third part; but here all is become blood, and they drink of blood, for they are worthy. And here is another Sun in this new world, and what must that be? In a word, there be others that interpret it of the greatest and most illustrious light, most eminent and glorious light in the Antichristian world: And what may that be? If you look through all the Antichristian world, what should be the most eminent, and most glorious, and most illustrious light that shines in the greatest glory amongst them all? What doth more readily offer itself then the house of Austria, the chief governor in the Antichristian state, of eminent lustre, and hath been so for 200 years, as they call it, the Lumen, and Columen of that state, the light and pillar of that state? And they that so expound it, they wrote just in this time when the king of Sweden came forth to represent the Angel, he with his followers, to pour out a Vial of GOD'S wrath upon the Imperial state of Germany, and consequently upon the rest of that house that were allied to them, whether Spaniards or others; and that to the provoking of so much indignation, you know what scornful derisions they put upon him, as if he came in like a Tinker with his Copper money, rather than a worthy General; and you know what indignation and wrath hath been kindled by that means against all Germany; what a world of blood hath been spilt; how fire and sword hath pursued those attempts to this very day? What might be said against this Interpretation, is not much, but yet so much, as to make some addition to this Interpretation.  
The Papists will by no means bear and acknowledge it, that any Civil state should be the most Illustrious light of their Religion; they will tell you that the Emperor is but a borrowed light from the Sun, and doth owe homage to the Pope for his Imperial Crown, that have translated the Empire from Greece to France, and from France to Germany; They will tell you, the Pope is as much above the Emperor, as the Sun is above the Moon. And they are not ashamed to speak to the Pope, in the amplification of his glory, Thou art the light of the world, the flower of Paradise, the gate of Heaven: And if they make the Pope their greatest light, their most transcendent and Illustrious light, the Sun in the primest and chiefest glory, than you must look and search somewhat further, for some further Interpretation then merely the Imperial state, or the state of that same Family combined and united unto it.  
And yet neither would I wholly wave that Interpretation of the Imperial state, because the matter is not what Papists will acknowledge, or what the Church of Rome will own, Whether they will own the Emperor to be the primest and chiefesf light, or others; for the holy Ghost speaks of things as they be, as well as how they are conceived to be.  
Now in Scripture Interpretation, the greatest lights are Magistrates, that hold forth the greatest lustre and splendour, but yet in the Churches; and when you speak of spiritual Administrations, they that are to derive light from CHRIST to the Church, they are the greatest lights for spiritual things: But we come to speak therefore of the great light they set up, they set up him as the chiefest and greatest light, which derives light to the very Scriptures; for they conceive that they should not be Authentical, unless the B: of Rome count them so; and if he do count them authentical, than they shall be so, though they be Apocrypha; and no sense of Scripture allowed for the light of truth, unless it be acknowledged by him; nor no Decrees go for currant, unless he ratify them: So that that which they take for the light of their world, is chief the Bishop of Rome: If then he be their greatest light, than this Angel pours his Vial of God's wrath upon the Pope his transcendent light, whereby he gives authority to the Scriptures, to Doctrine, to Worship, to Government, to Counsels, and whereby he gives power to all his Officers, to administer Discipline and Church-power in all Christendom, (as they call it) all Christian Churches over. Then they are the Angels that pour out the Vial upon that Sun, that take from him that transcendent Prerogative of the Sun, which is to rule by day, 136 Psal. 8. Take then from him his rule by day; for you must speak of things metaphorically in this place, though in the Psalm is meant another Sun; but in this Sun, take from the Pope, from this Sun Popish rule of Religion, the rule of all Churches, the Sovereign power in all Ecclesiastical affairs; and what then? Then you will pour out a Vial of wrath upon him: And so did Queen Elizabeth in her time; and the Parliament then by making the Pope's Supremacy, and the defence of it, high Treason against her person, and the State of the Kingdom, and against the Lord jesus: It poured forth such a Vial of God's wrath upon this great Light, the Antichristian State; that it rules no more by day, neither in England, nor Scotland, nor Ireland, nor divers other neighbour Nations, who by her precedent example did abandon the like usurpation, the supreme rule of the Pope in Ecclesiastical affairs, which is the very Rule of the Churches of Christ. Thus you see, take the one, or the other, both will stand together: Let the house of Austria be the Sun, as it is in his kind and Sphere, the greatest light of all their created Civil power, and hath been a great light indeed, and both an ornament and nourishment to the See of Rome: Or take the Pope himself, who will be the greatest Church-light, and claims to himself Supreme power, not only in Ecclesiastical causes, but Civil too. It is no unusual thing in Scripture, to make a gradual Interpretation of dark Scriptures; as in the 17 Chapter, The seven beads (saith the Text) are seven mountains, upon which the woman sitteth; and (in the 10 verse) they are also seven Kings; the same that represent seven mountains, doth represent seven Kings. And so both these are great lights of that state, the Imperial and the Spanish power combined in that house, by blood and affinity, and the Pope himself in his sphere, are both the great lights of that state, and it hath pleased ●od to pour out his Vial of wrath upon them both, and both the one and the other suffer; and they shall suffer more and more, because they do not repent to give God glory of their due and deserved punishment, but continue still in their blaspheming against the Lord and his people; and when men grow worse and worse, both civil state, and Ecclesiastical state, both growing worse and worse, doubtless their plagues will be multiplied: Sweden began with one, and hath been followed: Queen Elizabeth in England, and others elsewhere have begun with the other, the Lord by sundry instruments in one kind or other hath gone forth, and will go on still, to let them know that the most high hath power over all the earth, and will not be driven out: When once he gins to execute judgement, he will go on destroying to destroy; and though the ministers of this wrath may conflict with doubtful and various events, yet the issue will be blessed; and Popish Princes and States shall stand a far off, and cry, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city; for in one hour is thy judgement come: That will be the final issue of the great wrath of God upon it; and how far both these have proceeded, you cannot choose but know: How far queen Elizabeth scorched that Antichristian state with fiery indignation, it is universally known; which provoked Catholic Princes so much, that what with pouring out the former Vials upon the Rivers and Fountains, when she decreed it Treason for any to carry Popish Religion to England, and to reconcile men to that See, the pouring out of that Vial there, and this here, so far provoked them, that they brought in their whole power against her in 88, and would have swallowed her up quick, they were so exasperated with heat and fury; and had not the Lord by his outstretched arm and wisdom prevented, there had been no hope of preservation, but desolation of her and her Kingdom. Thus have I shown you, as shortly and plainly as I could, what should be the meaning of this fourth Vial, and the Angel by whom it was poured out, Let us shortly come to gather a note or two from the words, and very briefly. First this;  
Doctr. 1 When the wrath of GOD is kindled against a State for corruption of Religion, he pours out his judgements against them by degrees; first upon the common sort of people, then upon Church Officers, and then upon the principal Rulers and lights of that State. That is the first note.  
This is evident in the Gradation of the Text, here is the wrath of the Lord kindled against the Antichristian state, called here, the earth, an earthly Kingdom, an earthly state, brought forth of the earth, and minding earthly things, and all their Ordinances savouring of the earth, of humane inventions, and wisdom and power: The Lord then when his wrath is kindled, and sends forth Messengers of his wrath on that State, how begin they? They begin first with the earth, the lowest Element; they begin not with the Sea, nor with the Sun, nor with the Air, but first the Vial falls upon the Earth: Common Catholics, they first feel the shame, and confusion thereof, (as you have heretofore heard:) Then, as he discovers their Religion to be generally corrupt, as the blood of a dead man; so he pours out the next Vials upon the Rivers and Fountains of water, those that carry this Religion up and down the Countries and Nations, the Lord exasperates Civil States so far against them, that they force them to drink blood, their own blood, as they made Martyrs to drink blood; so the Lord gave them to drink blood, for they are worthy, (as you heard it opened this day seven-night.) He first gins with the common Catholics, then with Priests and Jesuits: Well, doth he here stay, when the Lord sees what little fruit groweth hereby? Verily no, for here is no Reformation of the common sort, they still continue in their Ignorance, and Superstition, and Idolatry: And what are the Priests and Jesuits any thing reform? It is nothing so, nor do the lights of that State, either the lights of the Imperial world, of the Provinces, or their general and grand holy Father the Pope (as they call him) none seek Reformation, what then? Then let the Imperial state, and Pope, that claims Lord Paramountship over all, let him look it, the next Vial falls upon his head, and the Lord doth this by degrees; first upon his supreme lustre and glory, as he rules by day: And the next falls upon his Throne, and that is a great blow to him; and still the Lord goes on pouring to pour out, and striking to strike, till at length he crusheth the man of sin, and all his abettors. For, their religion is corrupt, and all that drink of it perish, and the common people, Priests & Jesuits shall smart; and then the Pope & Emperor, whoever are their great lights, let them be lights in Church or Commonwealth, (for I will exclude neither) they both partake in the sin, and shall partake in the punishment of it: The four Angels, they may be several persons, but they have one common work, they pour Vials upon the lights of both States, and truly so the Lord did in Christian Rome, this is Antichristian, but when Rome was once Pagan, and then became Christian in Constantine's time, and under the Christian Emperors, Constantine and the rest opened the doors of the Church so wide, that all the garden of God was become a wilderness by an inundation of carnal people, Christians in name, but Pagans in heart, that were let in; and than that which was once a garden enclosed, was now made a wilderness, when they took down the Pale, and let in all dogs and swine that will come in, the wrath of God breaks out against them, than the Trumpet sounds a shrill sound, and what was that? In the 8 of Revel. 7. The first Angel sounding, there followed hail, and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth, etc. and that is upon the lowest sort of Christians, there was given grievous hail, cold hail-storm, they received not the truth in love, and being cold in Christianity, they were hot in Emulation and Contention. And then the second Trumpet sounding, there was as it were a great Mountain burning cast into the Sea, and there was a third part of the Sea became blood; there was high preferment cast into the Officers of the Church, and a great part of the Administrations grew corrupt. Then the third Angel sounded, and there falls a Star from Heaven, called Wormwood, Wormwood of Heresy, and corrupts the Priests; many were infected with the Heresy of Arrius, and Nestorius, and Eutyches: Afterwards all Scriptures came to be darkened with Allegorical, and Heretical, and corrupt Interpretations, that Christ is scarce discerned in all their writings, and the light of Scripture is darkened, and the light of humane Learning, that there is little light left. And then the next Angel, he sounds, and smoke comes out of the bottomless pit, and there comes Locusts upon the earth, and they have a King set over them, which is the Angel of the bottomless pit, which is the Pope over the Friars and Monks. So, thus the Lord gins to deal with men, first he falls upon them in one degree, upon the earth first, and then upon Religion in them, and then upon Ministers, the publishers of that Religion, and after grows higher and higher, till in the end there comes the Antichristian state, the seventh head, and he surmounts all Christian Emperors, leads them all captive, and hath the Key of the bottomless pit to destroy their souls, whose name is Abaddon in Hebrew, but in the Greek Apollyon, and then comes the Turk in the sixth Trumpet, and he destroys and swallows up all: So the Lords manner is, first he breaks forth against the common people, then against the Ministers, then at last he riseth to the great Lords of the world, the Rulers of the State, they smoke for it at last. What should be the Reason of the Point? The Reason is,  
Reas. 1 First, because ordinarily the first beginning of corruption is with the people, and they being first corrupted, then indeed it is meet that they should first be plagued; for look as the Church grew to be corrupted in the Christian Emperors time, so the Church came to be plagued in Antichristians time; the earth was first corrupt, in the Christian Emperors time, and the first that is plagued, is the earth, than the sea, than the rivers, & so by degrees; The Lord goes the same way in plaguing, as they did in degenerating, the same way in executing judgement as they in sinning.  
Reas. 2 And secondly, when the common people are corrupted, for their sin sake it pleaseth God either to send them corrupt Rulers like themselves, or else to lead their good leaders into temptation, to corrupt themselves and their people. You read, Prov. 28.2 For the wickedness of a land, many are the princes thereof; many and wicked Rulers too; They never lived long, nor well, after once the house of Israel had cried out, What portion have we in David, or what inheritance in the son of jesse? The Lord never gave them good King in Israel after, not in Israel I say, Judah indeed had sundry times good Kings, but for Israel (the 10 Tribes) that rejected the yoke, and the house of David, in regard of the hard payments that Solomon's son put upon them; and therefore in their profaneness cried out, What portion have we in David? etc. Then immediately after that, the Lord never gave them any good King, 1 King. 12.16. So there grows Religion to be corrupted in the people, and then for their wickedness God gives them wicked Princes; I gave them a King in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath. O Israel thou hast destroyed thyself, Hos. 13.9, 10. Israel corrupts itself, & provokes God, and he gives them a King in his anger, and takes him away in his wrath: And it is written as a heavy curse of God, in Leu. 26.17. If you still trespass against me I will set Princes over you, that shall hate you: Mischievous Princes, odious Princes that shall be odious to God, and malignant to the people. If you still provoke me, and for all this turn not to me, I will set such over you, them that shall be odious to me, and odious to you, that shall make you more and more to corrupt your ways: And if God at any time give them good Princes, he will lead them into temptation for their sin. In 2 Sam. 24.1. you read there, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he provoked David against them to say, Go number Israel and judah: The wrath of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he provoked David, etc. To what end? That so a plague might come upon Israel: So that (mind you) how the sins of the time rise from the contagion of the hearts and lives of the people; That look as a man catcheth cold on his feet, it fills the head with distempers: Catch but cold in the lowest part, about the ankles or feet; or suppose the stomach be somewhat annoyed through ill diet, or ill digestion, what then? It strikes up to the head presently; you cannot annoy the feet, ankles, or middle parts, but the head will feel both: So, if either Ministers be corrupt, or common people, the head, the Rulers will straightway be corrupt, it will not be otherwise; If the Prophet's prophecy lies, and the Priests bear rule by their means, and the people love to have it so, what will be the end? Do you think there will come any Princes that will reform them? Do you think the Lord will take any course to reform such great evils as these be? As evil first gins with the common people, so they are first plagued.  
For a third Reason, As evil first gins with the people, and they are first plagued, and as for them it is derived to the Priests and Princes, and they are by that means corrupted, either are not good, or led into some temptation.  
Reas. 3 So thirdly, the Lord is deeply provoked against the lights and guides of the Church, whether Civil, or Ecclesiastical Church-m●n, or Commonwealth's men, the Lord is provoked against both, for suffering their people to bedable themselves with some corruption in Religion and religious conversation: In the 34. Ezek. 7, to 10. Hear this, O ye Shepherds of Israel; and he speaks (as best Interpreters expound it) both to Ecclesiastical and Civil Shepherds, to the Priests in the Church, and the Princes in the Commonwealth, he speaks expressly to both: Hear O ye Shepherds, because you have suffered my people to wander, and my flock to be a prey, therefore I am against you, and he professeth he will rend his people from them, and rend the very cause of their heart, and execute judgement upon them, and he will judge between the Rams and the He Goats, and tender Kids, and will deliver them, and set them one Shepherd over them, that shall be more faithful to him and his people, even his servant David, he means Christ, and they that are of David's spirit, that shall in his name rule his people. So that (mind you) the wrath of God is carried an end in this course, he gins with the people first, because they are first corrupt, and then with Rulers, for had not they been soon corrupted, it had not been possible that the Church should so quickly have become a wilderness. So here he gins with the common sort, and then with Ministers, and then with the great Lights that rule by day, that rules the affairs of the Church and Commonwealth.  
For the use of this point briefly;  
Use 1 It may serve then to be a watchword and warning to the common sort of Christians: First look you to it, men and brethren, and beloved in Christ Jesus, look you to it tenderly and seriously, that neither doctrine, nor worship of God, nor Church Government be corrupt, to your best discerning, but preserved by diligent examination of all things, according to the pattern shown in the Word, as it hath been hitherto held forth to you: Look to it, that the Sea you wash and bathe your souls in be not defiled, let it be so clear that the virtue of the blood of Christ may be discerned in it; otherwise (believe it) though you may think, it lest concerns you: Let Church-officer look to it, and let Civil Magistrates see to it, it is their calling to look to Worship and Government in their time and place: though that be true, they must look to it, and God will require it else at their hand, yet if you look not to it, the wrath of God will be poured out upon you: If men unprepared shall most giddily rush into the Church, what will the issue be? The Lord will pour a cold hailstorm upon you: never such coldness fell upon men, as there will be, when they rush into Churches before they be warmed with the blood of Christ Jesus, Revel. 8.7. that was the first Trumpet of God's vengeance there, heavy, grievous hailstones, great hailstones; and which is wonderful, you will think it marvellous, but it is true, as they were cold in Religion, so they were zealous for contention and covetousness and Ambition, and personal respects, that if they got an opinion by the end they contended for it, as (pro aris & focis) for fire on the hearth, as if there were no warmth but in that, though the opinion were never so unsavoury: when men thrust into the Church and take it very ill if they be examined; What will the issue be? Nothing but cold, shill, dead-heartedness falls upon them, and then a wild fire of rage and crotchetly opinions, and then grow so zealous therein, as if religion lay in some quintessence notions of theirs: therefore first look for, and beware of corruption in the common people.  
Then secondly, let the Lords Ministers (I speak to myself, Use 2 as much as any other) in a special manner look to these things, that we diligently look to religion, and the purity of doctrine and worship, and of every ordinance of God with circumspection, and faithfulness, and diligence, and sedulity, and watchfulness, that nothing of the holy things of God may be corrupted that are committed to us, for we shall next feel the smart of it: For as religion will be corrupt in the people first, and so far as that you shall have no power nor life of godliness in it, and the blood of Christ will be as the blood of a dead man: So than the Ministers of the Gospel must look to it, for the next thing will be some heavy judgement or other God will bring upon them if they be not vigilant to see that all things be done according to the true platform left to us in the word: you know the Prophet Malachy complains of it in Malac. 1.11, 12, 13. that men began to wax weary of sacrifices, and snuffed at the cost of it, and brought the blind and lame, and any thing for Sacrifice, and the Table of the Lord was polluted, and what then And now (saith the Lord) O ye Priests this Commandment is for you, in the first verse of the second Chapter (it is a very sad word which the Lord speaks) if you will not hear and lay it to heart; what should they lay to heart? This hailstone Corruption of the people, this snuffing at the Ordinances if you lay not this to heart, I will send a curse upon you, and will curse your blessings, yea, I have cursed them already, because you do not lay it to heart, and I will corrupt your seed, etc. in the 1, 2, 3, verse, and so he goes on very sadly in threatening the Ministers of God upon this point: The people corrupted their ways, and were weary of holy duties, cold hearted, and only quick for contention and division; and what then? because the Ministers of God do not bestir them, the Lord brings a curse upon their blessings, their best gifts in heart, and outward blessings, he blasts both, and therefore it marveilously concerns Ministers to be most tender this way, to see that all be carried exactly according to the word of God.  
Use 3 And thirdly, this may be a word of warning to Magistrates as the greatest lights in the Common wealth, for (as I said before) I will exclude neither, for both are the Sun in their several Sphere, a great light, and he speaks of the greatest light the Antichristian state had, and so I speak of the greatest light this State hath: Thus much let me say to you, if religion be corrupted, the people may first smart for it, (if there be any corruption it springeth there) and we shall smart for it before you; yet if this be not redressed, God will reserve a vial for you, he will pour out a vial upon the very Sun, that you would think were out of gunshot, but how high soever they be among the Stars of God, exalted above all their brethren, yet the Lord can tell how to cast some vial upon your authority to eclipse, and darken, and stain it, if the Lord help you not to continue watchful in this kind: It is true there is an order to look to all corruption in doctrine, and worship, and government that are stirring in the Country: And it is true, matters of religion are first and properly considerable in the Churches themselves, by the officers and brethren of the Church: But if Magistrates shall find Brethren or Officers defective, or neglective, it will be their parts to give free passage to all undertake for redress, and if any thing come to your cognizance before it come to the Church, than it will concern you to stir up the Church to look to doctrine, worship, and government, and you will find in this case you will deliver your souls from danger, and Church-officers and people too, otherwise you see the danger of corruption in religion; if the earth be corrupt, the sea will be corrupt, and the rivers and fountains, and the Sun will be corrupt, and all alike more or less afflicted and plagued of God, for toleration of such evils as are found amongst them. So much for the first point, let me speak a word of another, and so come to an end. The next note is this:  
A wicked heart will not repent of sin, no not under the wrathful Doct. 2 hand of God, who hath power over his own judgements, to give him the glory, but will rather break forth to further wickedness, even to blaspemy against the name of God. It was said of Ahaz, that when he was in distress on every hand, yet in his distress he did trespass more against the Lord, 2 Chron. 28.22. This is that King Ahaz: as who should say, brand him for an hypocrite and a reprobate, that in his distress trespasseth yet more, why? for he went and sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which smote him, because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, etc. In stead of humbling himself under God's hand to give him glory, he breaks forth into blasphemy, and hardens his heart, and reputes not to give him glory, but waxes more fierce against the Lord, to blaspheme. And another profane King of Israel, joram, 2 King 6.31, 32, 33. He wears sackcloth indeed upon his loins, but being in distress, by reason of the famine, he breaks forth into fury and rage; God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha shall stand on him this day; he meant to cut off Elisha's head by reason of the famine, when an Ass' head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver; and in the 33 verse, Shall I wait for the Lord any longer? There he breaks forth into blasphemy, he is full of fiery indignation and blasphemy against the God of Israel; see you this son of a murderer? While he yet spoke this, the Messengers came down unto him, and he said, Behold this evil is of the Lord, what should I wait for the Lord any longer? So you read in Isa. 8.21. They in their distress shall curse the Lord and their King, and look upward: This is the frame of carnal and wicked hearts. And the Reason is,  
Reas. 1 First, from the Ignorance of such wicked spirits; their Ignorance is such, they know not who smites them, but think it is some chance; as the Philistims in 1 Sam. 6.9. If he go up the way of his own coast to Bethshemesh, than he hath done us this evil, but if not, than we shall know it was but some chance that happened to us: They neither see the hand of God that smites them, nor their own desert that provokes the Lord thus to smite them; and so, they repent not to give him glory, but blaspheme him. And a second Reason is,  
Reas. 2 Secondly, from the profane pride of a carnal heart, some kind of carelessness, and it is incident to all profane kind of spirits, that they will not see the hand of God, nor own their own sinfulness: when the judgements of God are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness, Isa. 26.9, 10, 11. But they will not behold the majesty of the Lord; When thy hand is lifted up, they will not see it, but they shall see it, and be ashamed, etc. They will not see it a good while, that either their own sin hath brought this judgement, or that it is a just hand of God upon them, they will not see such things as these. So you see the Reasons of the point; not to speak of what high reasons might be given, of God's heavy vengeance upon men's unprofitableness under the hands of God, they grow worse and worse, 2 Tim. 3.13. That the Lord leaves them to hardness of heart, and gives them up to themselves to obstinate their spirits, as Pharaoh, that they will exalt themselves against him; and though you bray a fool in a mortar, yet his folly will not departed from him. The Use of the Point is thus much;  
Use 1 First, it may report to you from the Oracle of God, that certainly the Popish State is going fast to perdition, and the great lights of that State, both the lights of that State, great like the Sun in the firmament, be they Civil Magistrates in their sphere, in highest place; or take it as the Popish Prelacy do, they will be highest in both kinds, be it as it will be, as the common people have been visited with judgement, their Religion corrupt, and Priests and Jesuits plagued, and the Lord hath begun to plague their lights in this world, and Church lights too: So make account of this, forasmuch as they repent not to give God glory, but break forth to greater wrath, and outrage against the Lord and his Church, and servants, and secret ones, what will the end of all this be? Never did any man strive against God, and prospered; what, under the mighty hand of God, under the Vials of God's wrath, and still blaspheme the name of God, and still hope to prosper? Verily you may write upon it, God will wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such as go on still in their wickedness, Psal. 68.21. Let them look to it, the Lord hath begun to pour out his wrath, and one Vial hath not done when another gins to work, but they are pouring upon the common people, and upon Priests and Jesuits, and will be more and more, and so shall both the house of Austria, and the Pope himself, in their supremacy and lordly authority; and howsoever they may have some refreshing, and succour, and supply in their declining state, yet as their apostasies and backslidings are perpetual, as the Text saith they are, seeing they repent not to give God glory, the Lord hath set it down, (and the Scripture must be fulfilled) they will go on in their rage and blasphemy against the God of Israel, and what will the issue of that be? Truly, if men prosper in hardness of heart and blasphemy, then let Pharaoh prosper of old, and let all wicked States prosper; but the Lord sent judgement upon judgement, upon Pharaoh, first upon the waters, and then upon the fruits of the field, at length he came to Murrain of the Beasts, and then a plague upon their firstborn; and when that served not, than the wrath of God came upon the red Sea, and overwhelmed them all: This is God's manner of dealing, and let the Imperial State, and all blasphemers know it, that they shall not prosper in stouting it out against the Lord, but (believe it) as they have begun to fall before reform Churches, so they shall surely fall: As it was told Haman in Ester 6.13. If this Mordecai be of the seed of the jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail, but shalt surely fall before him: So fall they will, and in falling they shall fall, and yet more and more fall, till the Lord hath cut them off, root & branch: there is more judgements, you shall read of a further Vial upon the throne of the Beast, and upon the air, and then Babylon is fallen, it is not long till then, there is but three Vials more, and whether some of them be not yet begun to be poured out, it is not yet so clear: Let them know it for their terror, and we for our comfort, the Lord will go on in destroying to destroy them. It is a speech the Lord often useth, in Isaiah 9.12, 13, 14. Yet for all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still: Why? For the people turn not to him that smites them, neither do they seek the Lord of hosts; and when they do not turn to him, than the hand of the Lord is not drawn back, but stretched out still: that is the constant course of God's providence, as the people turn not to him that smites them, so the Lord will go on, and cut off head and tail, branch and rush in one day, ancient, honourable, he is the head; and the Prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail, etc.  
For a second Use of this Point,  
This may serve to teach us, that the Lord is the chief Governor, Use 2 and hath the chief power of all the plagues and judgements that do fall upon men: And that aggravates the impenitency of these wicked men, that they do not fall under his hand that hath power over these plagues, but still go on hardening themselves against him whose plague is upon them. Therefore he hath power over them, and he will maintain it, and the judgements shall go on destroying to destroy, till like Vials of quicksilver they have rooted them out from the land of the living: Is there any evil in the City, which the Lord hath not done? Amos 3.6. If a man were to speak to Christian Princes in other parts, how might a man call upon them, to beware of timorousness, and fear, in provoking the displeasure of the house of Austria, or of the Pope? For the wrath of God is gone out against that State, and the Pope, and the Lord hath power over these plagues: Why should we fear all the power of the house of Austria, or Papal thunderbolts, when the Lord hath you under his hand, when he means to go on plaguing to plague? Shall men underprop this rotten building which the Lord intends to destroy? This cursed fabric which the Lord will ruinated? Do you think to strengthen yourselves by them, when they are not able to help themselves? No, it is a time of God's plague; and therefore it is a warning and Trumpet to all Christian nations, and to us, do not think if we shall not yield to this and that of Antichrist, than Churches and Magistrates shall never subsist, fear it not; I tell you, all the States that cleave to Popery, shall fall with Popery, if they continue in it: Indeed if the Lord rescue and redeem them with a mighty hand, and bow their power and Crown, to comply with the Lord Jesus and his people, they may save themselves and their Kingdoms; but otherwise it is not possible for them to prosper, in maintaining this ruinous Babylon that hastens to destruction. The Lords plagues they are, and it is not all the power of men, or Princes, no nor of Angels in heaven, nor devils in hell, that can take off the plagues that God hath set on.  
Thirdly, it teacheth us what is the duty of all the sons of men Use 3 under God's hand, namely to repent of sin, which hath brought God's hand, for this is an aggravation of the wickedness of these lights, that they repent not to give God glory, when the vials of God's wrath was upon them, but still grew more wicked, even to blaspheme: What saith the Apostle Peter? Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, 1 Pet. 5.6. Hath the Lord begun to smite the common state, and it may be the body of the country, in that which is the sinews of trading, in the scarcities of monies? Brethren do you think it is not a judgement of God? Is not the silver and gold his? and hath he it not for this state as well as for others, if we had not some ways provoked him? Did he not take it away from them in Hag, when they neglected Temple work? And did not he say, The silver and gold is mine, 1 Hag. 6. and 2 Hag. 6.7, 8? Hath not the Lord blasted us, because we grew cold hearted, and formal in Church-fellowship, and confident, and warm, and bold-hearted in matters pertaining to ourselves and to the world, and in matters that tended only to tumult? What then? In such a case marvel not, if the Lord send forth a Vial of his wrath upon us, and curse our blessings, that that which within these 4, or 5, years was but a drug, and men would not labour for money, they would have corn, and be glad of it, they would have provisions. Now provisions are a drug, Beef and Butter, it is not currant now, men will give no money for it, they will not part with it: Is it not a Vial of his wrath, or at least a twig of his rod? And is it not meet now to repent, and give him glory, that hath power over this plague, that we be not senseless, and obdurate? And doth not the Lord say he will curse our blessings, he saith so to Ministers, and will any be free? Will any prosper when they lay not God's hand to heart, but make a trifling business of it? but make account the Lord calls men to serious consideration of it.  
To make an end, Let this be the last Use.  
Use 4 To teach you what the nature and practice of Repentance is: What is the nature and practice of it? It is lively set forth in the Text (I might be large herein) they repent not to give God glory: So there is the proper act of repentance, when it runs right, in a right channel, it gives God glory: What glory doth it give God? First, it gives him the glory of his Sovereignty, the Text is plain, as They gave not glory to God that hath power over these plagues; they are Gods plagues, and he hath power to send them, and we see his hand in them, his plagues they are, and that is the first thing in repentance, to see it is the hand of God in this kind, and that kind, in any kind that may befall us, Give God the glory of his sovereignty, who hath sent these plagues, and this will help us to repentance.  
2. Give him the glory of his Justice, that hath sent them most justly for his part, and on our part most deservedly: Neh. 9.33. The faithful in Israel say, Thou art just in all that is come up n us, we have dealt wickedly, and thou hast done righteously. Thus repentance gives God the glory of his Justice, as well as of his Sovereignty: we have provoked God to plague us in this or that kind, whether I speak to public States or private persons, if any evil lies upon us, it is the hand of God, whether it come for one end or other, and (believe it) it is for us to give him the glory of his justice, as well as of his sovereignty: We have given him just cause by our worldly mindedness, by our estrangement from the Lord, and spiritual work, and falling short of our spiritual aims and ends: we cut short our growth in Christianity, and the Lord cuts short our outward estate: Do you think a Christians outward estate shall prosper, when his inward estate grows leaner and leaner? And as you give him the glory of his justice and sovereignty. So,  
3. Give him the glory of his truth, which these wicked persons would not give him the glory of: To acknowledge their religion was a dead sea, like Mare mortuum, to acknowledge the bloodthirstiness of their Priests and Jesuits, they shall drink blood therefore, they would not acknowledge reformation, but blasphemed it as heretical innovation, and therefore the Lord had poured a vial upon their great lights in Church and Commonwealth, and will do it more and more till they be consumed; they give not God the glory of his truth: As joshuah said to Achan. josh. 7.19 My son give glory to God, and tell me truly what thou hast done: And he told him truly, there was some hope of some seed of repentance; and it is not possible a man should truly repent before God, in confessing what hath been wickedly done, if he denies any thing that his conscience tells him is truth: Nay, some give God the glory, and tell me now what thou hast done? If a man hid it under his tongue, it is not possible he should repent, why? for he cannot give God glory, he gives him not the glory of his truth, and then there is no repentance. And,  
4. What doth repentance give God the glory of? as of his sovereignty, and justice, and truth, in making humble confession of it where we are called, if we have just occasion; so the Lord requires that we should give him the glory of his mercy and grace, that we look for all our pardon and mercy in the blood of the Lord Jesus, and in unfeigned seeking after fellowship with him, believing on his grace, confessing what is sinful, turning from our evil ways, laying hold of eternal life, & of every gift of the Spirit, that might quicken us in every spiritual duty, that we might depend upon his grace for pardon, and healing of our bottomless depth of unbelief for the changing of our hearts, and quickening of our spirits; this gives God the glory of his grace, thus repentance doth: In the 130. Psal. 3, 4. If thou Lord shouldest mark iniquity, who then should stand? There they give him the glory of his justice; but there is pardon with thee that thou mayst be feared, there they give him the glory of his pardoning mercy; thus ought all to do, that unfaignedly desire to walk in the serious practice and use of repentance: You never repent kindly whiles a spirit of bondage lies upon you, and makes you sensible of the wrath of God and hell, that alone will never bring forth kindly repentance, but when the Lord helps us to give him the glory of his power, that he sways and rules in all, and that we give him the glory of his justice, that hath righteously plagued us, and the glory of his truth to confess truly what is done amiss, and the glory of his grace to pardon sin, and heal the soul, this is repentance, and without this there is no repentance: It is a wonder to see when people provoke God and the Church, how little able they are to give God glory, but take glory to themselves still, it was thus and thus, and might have been interpreted thus and thus, it is a wonder to see how little they give God the glory, our own glory lies so near us: And therefore it behoves us, as we desire sincerity, to repent; so to make conscience of giving him glory, let all run in that stream, that we acknowledge his justice, and truth, and mercy, and grace, and look up to him for receiving from him whatever is of his mercy and grace needful for us, and then we shall avoid those plagues and judgements which are threatened or gone forth against us, and shall recover from under God's hand, like gold out of the fire.   

THE FIFT VIAL.  REVEL. 16.10, 11. And the fifth Angel poured out his Vial upon the seat of the Beast] or, as the word is in the Original, the Thrones and his Kingdom was full of darkness, and they gnawed their Tongues for pain, And blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their pains, and their sores, and repent not of their deeds. 
IN these words you have described the pouring out of the Vial of the fifth Angel, and described it is,  
First by the subject on which it was poured [On the throne of the Beast.]  
Secondly by the effect of it, which is double.  
1. Proper and primary [His Kingdom was thereby darkened]  
2. The secondary and accidental events were three.  

1. Anguish and indignation● They gnawed their Tongues for pain.]  
2. Blasphemy [They blasphemed the God of Heaven.]  
3. Impenitency [They repent not of their deeds.   
This Scripture and the interpretation of it, is the more difficult, because it is generally conceived that the execution of God's judgements upon the Beast, hath not yet gone beyond the pouring out of the fourth Vial, therefore conjectures about it, will be the more difficult, and it may be more uncertain: yet because the Scripture in itself is not dark, how dark so ever we may be in our apprehensions: The Kingdom of the Beast is dark, but not the Kingdom of Christ. And the Lord hath promised a gracious blessing upon all that read, and hear the words of this prophecy, Chap. 1. verse 3. so that by the comparing of one part of this prophecy with another, and observing the due poise of every word in his place, with holy fear and reverence, the Lord is wont to lead his people into truth, according to the promise made to the Apostle, john 16.13. (which is fulfilled to every successor of theirs in some measure) Let us therefore go on in the fear of God to consider of these things.  
First the difficulty chiefly lieth in opening the subject whereon this Vial will be poured, for open that, and the rest will be clear. The seat of the Beast is generally taken for the City of Rome, and it is confirmed from the like speech, Rev. 13.2. Where the Dragon gave the Beast his power, and his seat, (or throne) and great authority, and therefore they gather from hence the ruin of Rome, applying also hereunto some prophecies of the Sibyls, who in their Language tell us thus much, that Rome shall then be desolate, and be as if it had never been a state. Now though we have much cause to glorify God for the labours of such of his servants as have given that exposition, yet I must confess I cannot rest satisfied with that interpretation: for I find it clear in the sequel of this Chapter, that Babylon (which is doubtless meant of Rome [As throughout the seventeenth Chapter it is also] is said to come up into Remembrance before God in the 19 verse of this Chapter, And that is in the pouring out the seventh Vial; which implieth that before, it came not up in remembrance before God in point of actual punishment, for things are said to come up into ●●●●●brance before God, when he taketh in hand either to show mercy to them, or to pour out wrath upon them, a sign that the Vial and fierceness of his wrath was not yet poured out upon Rome: besides it is expressed in this Text, that upon the pouring out of this Vial, the Kingdom of the beast was darkened, but there is a great difference between darkening, and destroying; Egypt was darkened, before Pharaoh was destroyed, or the body of Egypt overwhelmed in the red Sea. Upon these grounds therefore I cannot conceive that it is meant of Rome, but of something else, which in Scripture is to be understood by [Throne] sometimes it is put for that form of government and authority which any person or state sitting on that throne doth administer, as it is said of Christ, that his throne is a throne of Righteousness, and that is not so much spoken of the place where he governeth, as of the government itself, so in the 89 Psalm 29. & 36, 37. I will make his throne as the days of Heaven, and again his throne shall be as the Sun before me; It shall be established for ever as the Moon, and in Psalm 122.5. Thrones of judgement are distinguished from the thrones of the house of David, to wit, such as David hath erected: so by the like proposition it is here meant of that form of government, which the beast exerciseth in the Church both subjectively, that which himself doth occupy over the Church's subject to him, and effectively, that which proceedeth from him, and is exercised by others in other Churches according to the frame and form of government received from him, and that is such a peerless kind of government, as wherein one alone doth rule; for a throne is such a kind of seat wherein one of peerless authority doth govern; as a Monarch in his own Dominion.  
Indeed the universal supremacy of the Pope both in spiritual and temporal things, whereby he challengeth transcendent authority over all Kings and Princes, that was violated by the fourth Vial of these Angels: but yet still here is another throne which yet hitherto remaineth unplagued, and that is his singular sole authority, and monarchical government, whereby he sitteth chief and only Judge in Ecclesiastical causes in his own jurisdiction, and like unto which he hath established the government of all National, Provincial and Diocesan Churches, and so this interpretation doth very fitly suit with the proper effect of the pouring out of this Vial expressed in the Text [his Kingdom was darkened] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; and what kind of government is that? such as wherein one doth reign, as they are wont to say there must be but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, One Prince in a state: this form of government himself doth exercise still in his own jurisdiction inviolately, and this he hath brought into all national and Provincial and Diocesan Churches in the world where popery hath prevailed; and which still continueth in some Protestant Churches, where though the Doctrine, and worship of Popery be abolished, and the transcendent supremacy of his government, yet the form of his government, monarchical, or sole and singular government by one, that is Episcopacy, is still continued. Who is then the fifth Angel that hath poured out his Vial upon this peerless government the Episcopacy? Though it be said this Vial is not yet poured out, and though it haply was not poured out with the writings of such men (who so conceived) were under their hands: yet Beza, and Cartwright did sprinkle some drops of this Vial upon this government, though the power and strength of the Episcopacy in their time was such as drunk them up like the dry Earth, that drinketh in the rain; yet will not God be so put off from his word, he poureth out more drops upon them by holy Baines his trial of Diocesan government, and godly learned Parker's Ecclesiastical Polity, but these were drops: you now see whole Vials full of wrath poured out by the whole Church of Scotland, who have engaged themselves, and their state for ever in this quarrel, and have been carried along herein, not in a way of popular tumult, but with such wisdom, courage, judgement and Piety, that you may see and say that it is not a Vial poured out by an unadvised multitude, but by an Angel of God, by the Heavenly Ministers of his wrath.  
It hath been taken in hand with serious and deep and general humiliation, judging themselves for their toleration of such a government amongst themselves, and so seconded in their constant fruits of Reformation, as that their very adversaries stand amazed to behold them, and these are not drops alone, but like unto great ground showers which grow unto a flood and overflow all for they have turned away the flood of superstition in their own Country, by the Rivers of the power of God, and his Evangelicall truth, so now they have also flowed into England, insomuch that a great many of the Commons of England and many noble Peers, do begin to say that Episcopacy is an antichristian frame and form, which he brought in, and doth still countenance and animate, and while it continueth, popery will not fall: whereupon, It hath come to pass (if your intelligences fail not) that many sad considerations have been taken up in England, whether it be not best to abandon all such thrones: men will not fight for the defence of these thrones, nor draw their purses to maintain such war, but men begin generally to be taught of God, that this is not the form of the government of Jesus Christ. Nor do I know that any of the former Vials have been poured out by any men, whose loins have been more girt with truth, and whose clothing hath been more pure, and white, than these servants of God have been girt, and clothed withal. These things being thus understood, take you the sequel, and it will easily interpret itself; for doth not hereby the Kingdom of the beast (his monarchical form of Church government) grow full of darkness? Is not Episcopacy now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉? the very word of the Text, as it were alluding to the Nation that darkeneth it? Episcopal government doth it not grow dark? yea full of darkness? Is it not scotized, darkened and beclouded with a Scottish mist? so as that it groweth base and vile, not only in the eyes of godly, wise, and judicious Divines, but in the eyes of good people; nor of godly people alone, but of many civil, and orderly minds: marvel not therefore if it be said that the Kingdom of the beast (that is, this form of his government be full of darkness: And hath not this darkness procured other secondary effects? do they not gnaw their tongues for very indignation, what do you think of the chief Church governors of Scotland? and some of the chief of that order in England, and their chief companions (if your reports be true) do they not get themselves into dark corners?  
2. And for the second event [They blasphemed the God of Heaven] have you not heard that the pouring out of this Vial hath been by them accounted nothing else but Rebellion against the state of the Kingdom? have they not taxed that (which is the reviving of the Church and Common wealth) to be the ruin of both?  
And for the third event [They repent not of their deeds] have they no cause think you to repent of all their oppressions and tyrannies over godly men, through many ages? for that their governments have been formidable to none but the peaceable men of the Land: if it be a drunkard or some base fellow that cometh to their Courts, they say to him, what dost thou here thou simple fellow? pay thy fees, and be gone: but for the people of God, nothing will satisfy but their extirpation from their Ministry, live and dwellings; they shall not be allowed to breath in the free air, if any prison in the Country will hold them. And is it not to be repent of the invasions of the liberties of Church, and of civil liberties which have been by some of them desperately impeached, so as that neither subject nor Prince shall know what belongeth to either of them; and some of the throne of the beast will tell you, that between Prince and subject there is no meum, & tuum, but the Prince may say omne meum, are not these things to be repent of? And is there no superstition to be repent of? And have they repent of these things? doth any semblance of repentance appear? have they not still gone an end, even while this Vial hath been in pouring out to put new inventions upon God's people? have they not imposed an Antichristian Oath, that this is the only government, and that they neither do acknowledge nor ever will acknowledge any other, and is not this a blasphemy against the name and Crown of Christ Jesus? and yet they repent not of these deeds: therefore they have said not much amiss, that said that all the mischiefs that have sprung up in any state in the World, where these thrones have been set up, have sprung from them that sat upon these thrones. Thus you see what is the true and simple meaning of these words, and I durst not have spoken it, but that no other interpretation will well abide by the words of the Text. Babylon will not abide it, for that cometh up into remembrance in the seventh Vial; do but consider all things together, and weigh the words of the Text well with what goeth before, and with what will follow after by the help of God, and you shall find this to be the true meaning. Nevertheless though these former and late attempts against Episcopacy may be the beginning of this Vial, and some good measure also of the pouring it forth, you may believe that it will not rest here, but as Moses said Deut. 32.4. Perfect is the work of God, and as the Lord spoke concerning Elimine 1 Sam. 3.12. When I begin, I will also make an end, so (reserving all due honour unto those interpreters who rest from their labours and their works do follow them) I do conceive, and believe, that this Vial will go on from our native Country to all the Catholics Countries round about them, until it come unto the very gates of Rome itself. In the mean time all these Vials are at work, and one is not ended when another is begun, though that which most excelleth is most in observation, and the pouring out thereof, is the work which the Lord calleth men principally to attend upon, and wherein God hath manifested his presence most, and will go on still to manifest more of the presence of his wrath unto other states: now the points that arise from the words are two.  
That form of government, wherein one by sole and singular Doct. 1 authority doth govern the Church specially many Churches and most of all, all Churches doth spring from the Earth and savoureth of the Earth, for so it appeareth to be from the Text, for all these Angels poured out their Vials upon the Earth: Verse 1. Not as Earth is opposed to other elements, but as it is opposed to Heaven: so that as their Earth is earthly, so is their Sea, and their Rivers, and Fountains, and their Sun: and this throne is but an earthly throne, you see no such throne in the Tabernacle of the Testimony opened in Heaven: so fare as Churches are Heavenly, these thrones are not set up in them: for this is it which john reproveth (3. Io. 9) in Diotrephes, that he loveth to be a primate and would not regard a letter from john himself though an Apostle; & for the brethren he would not receive them himself, and forbade them that would, and cast them out of the Church, the true spirit of an earthly Primate, for they savour of earthly ambition and covetousness, love Balaams' wages, they stick not to buy their places for silver, care not what they give for them, but having gotten them with buying, they must maintain them by selling, they must sell Ordinations and Absolutions, and Dispensations, and must be maintained by the benevolences of their obedient Clergy, and in truth the sum of the matter is, quid mihi dabis? and what is all this but earthly bravery, if ever you have been at their thrones (though it were but the thrones of their chauncellors and officials) you shall see nothing but that which savoureth of the Earth, earthly pride, or pleasure or Covetousness, I am, (and have less cause than many others from my last Diocesan, who being more learned, was more ingenuous and favourable than many others) not wont to speak these things, yet when the necessity of clearing my Text leadeth me to them, I may not without unfaithfulness to God and his Church, keep silence, we came not hither to speak hardly of other Churches: but when the Word of God calleth for it, we should be wickedly silent if we should not let the people know, what the mercy and blessing is, which we do enjoy, and what we are delivered from.  
Rea. 1 The first Reason of the Doctrine is from that form of Church estate, which Christ hath instituted in his Word, which is no other, but the government of a Church of a particular visible Congregation; He owneth no other, nor giveth any government to any besides them. If thy brother offend thee, go and tell the Church, and must the offence stay till all the world be gathered together; or if it were meant of one Diocesan or provincial Church, when will they meet? therefore the Church that must hear all offences is the Church of a particular Congregation, which may all of them meet together in one place (1 Cor. 14.23.) and then though offences come thick, they may all be orderly heard and remooved. And consider moreover (that which further clears up this first ground) what variety of officers God hath given to this Church, not many Parishes to one Bishop, but many Bishops to one Church, so as that Paul writteth to the Saints at Philippi, with the Bishops and Deacons, Phil. 1.1. And he sendeth for the Elders of the Church of Ephesus Acts 20.17. Whom he calleth Bishop's Verse 28. And they were more than one in every Church, according to Acts 14.23. They ordained them Elders in every Church, directly contrary to the practice of the Lord Bishops of these days; These things we speak, that the people may know we set forth no new inventions, though it be true that there is a newness in all the blessings of the new Testament, whereas all the inventions of men wax old as doth a garment, and there is no new thing under the sun, as touching men's inventions, but they will grow old and vanish away, as all Diocesin Churches will do, which the Lord hath not instituted: Though indeed in the old Common wealth of Israel the Church was Nationall, and there was but one high Priest who was a type of Christ, but now Christ is come he hath delivered all his counsel to his 12. Apostles, and they have left the ordering of his Church to some pastors, and some teachers and some ruling Elders, and some Deacons. But besides these the Gospel knoweth no other.  
The second ground is taken from the kind of power which Rea. 2 God hath given to his officers in his Churches, hath he given to them a Lordly or a Ministerial power? surely no Lordly power, neither over their fellow Elders nor over the Church, But he hath in his Word prohibited both these. Math. 20.25, 26, 27. The Princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, & they that are great exercise authority upon them, but it shall not be so amongst you, but whosoever will be great amongst you let him be your Minister, and whosoever will be chief amongst you let him be your servant. Amongst the Officers of Christ honour is carried by the most labour, and not by most outward splendour: But those that sit upon the throne of of the Beast do not labour in any kind of government but that, which is merely antichristian, to foment sin and let lose the reins of all profaneness: neither do the officers which Christ hath set in his Church reach after outward honour, but the chief of them make themselves equal with them of the lower sort, as Peter (though an Apostle) when he writeth to the Elders styleth himself a fellow Elder 1. Pet. 5.1. and exhorteth them to feed the flock of God, not as Lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock; so the Apostle in his second and third Epistle styleth himself an Elder, so fare is he from affecting Lordly authority: by all which we may see that all this kind of Lordly, and stately government is no way compatible to that government, which Christ hath instituted in his Church.  
The third reason is taken from that authority which the Lord Rea. 3 hath given to every Church over their Bishops, as well as to their Bishops over them, which cannot stand with Episcopal sovereignty, It is true, the Lord hath given them power over the Church, let the Elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, etc. 1 Tim. 5.17. A power they have to call the Church together, as the Apostles did for the choice of Deacons, Acts 6.2. And to open the doors of speech, and shut the doors of silence, Act. 13.15. A power they have also to dismiss the assembly as they see cause, for they that begin they also make an end, and send away the people with a blessing, Num. 6.24, 25, 26. Power they have to direct, to admonish privately, publicly, to rebuke with all authority Tit. 2.15. And sundry branches of rule may be deduced out of these: yet as true it is also that the Lord hath given power to the Church over their Rulers, as first to choose them, they ordained them Elders by lifting up their hands, Acts 14.23. And when there was an Apostle to be chosen in judas his room, they out of an 120 persons chose two men, and presented them to the Lord, Acts 1.23. Secondly they have power to send them forth about the Church's service, as they sent Paul and Barnabas to jerusalem, Acts 15.2. And without controversy he that sendeth is greater than he whom he sendeth, joh, 13.16. Secondly they have power to admonish them, if they do offend, say to Archippus, take heed to they Ministry, etc. Col. 4.17. And the Church contended with Peter for eating with the heathen, Acts 11.2, 3. And had he not given them the better answer, they would have proceeded against him: These things then laid together, what a beastly power is that of the Church of Rome, and of such as imitate them, as usurp authority, and judgement over so many Churches, and will be judged by none?  
Use 1 For use in the first place, this may be a ground unto us of just acknowledgement of the Lords faithfulness and truth, who is not unmindful of all that he hath spoken by his servants the Prophets, but in due season doth fulfil his word. The Apostle john hath been dead above 1500 years, he died with the end of the first hundred years after Christ, but the word spoken by him died not with him, according to what we read Zach. 1.5, 6. Your fathers where are they? and the Prophets do they live for ever? but my words and my statutes which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your Fathers? So (though john be dead) whatsoever john hath spoken with his mouth he will fulfil with his hand, and will not leave till he hath finished all the words that are written in this book. And what marvellous stay in this to the souls of those that build their faith upon the word of God: He will ever be mindful of his Covenant, Psalm 111.5. He did let none of the words of Samuel fall to the ground. 1 Sam. 3.19. He will not leave fulfilling, to fulfil until he hath fulfilled all, and then Christ will come to gather his people to himself, therefore let not your hearts fail, because God remaineth faithful and whether Zachary believe or no, the Lord will fulfil his Word, Luke 1.20.  
The second use may be, to take off that amazement which hath Use 2 been found in the hearts of some, concerning the undertake of the Scots in our native Country, since the world began was it never known (for there are no Histories of note but are commonly known) such a pattern as this, that ever a whole Nation did rise to take up such a quarrel, with so much justice, wisdom and piety, a thing to be wondered at, that a whole Nation should carry such a matter in such a way: many things have been done in Holland, in Geneva, for reformation, but with much more tumult, which when the Papists have objected, our Divines have been wont to answer, that they do not excuse mens thrusting in their own weaknesses into God's Work: but wonder not overmuch if you find it otherwise in this matter, for the Angels of God are their guides, so that their foot shall not swell, but they shall keep their ranks, and places, and remember that they are subjects through they carry their swords in their hands. Just care is taken that there be no robbery nor pilfering, no oppressions, no violation of any man's bed, nothing taken up but it shall be duly paid for, and yet the proceeding made with such constancy, that (in a way of humility) the end must be attained, or else there will be no place in the conclusion. These are great things: but if men take them in hand that are girded with golden girdles, when their Bibles go along with them, when Fasting and Prayers steer along their course, you need not much wonder in such a Case.  
Thirdly, this may serve to teach us, that surely this work will Use 3 prosper, because the Lord's Angel is in it: and the Vial of God's wrath in his Hand, and he will not be beaten off; though some instruments may quail, yet will he still raise up more in their stead till those plantations be rooted out, according to the word of Christ, Mat. 15.15. Every plant which mine heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up. In vain therefore is it for men to uphold such sandy buildings, which will in the end be shaken down; whatsoever dams men may make to uphold the Episcopacy, it will befall unto them as when men make dams to stop water courses, others come and cast in some small quantity of quicksilver, or Aquafortis, which eats such holes through the stones that it will soon issue out the water, so this Aqua omnipotentis, the vials of the wrath of God will at last consume and waste all things whatsoever stand up against them.  
Use 4 Fourthly, let it teach us to praise the Lord, for our gracious deliverance from the power of this Government, brought in by the beast, unto the government of Christ in his Church, let those that count it new Wine refuse it, it is old Wine unto us, let us therefore in the name of the Lord rejoice with trembling, for our great liberties, and pray that God will never leave, until he have rooted out not only the throne of the Beast, but the Beast himself, that the world may never more be pestered with them.  
Now from the effects that follow upon the pouring out of this Vial we may observe this second note.  
Doct. 2 That upon the pouring out of the Vial of God's wrath upon the throne of the Beast, their place, the Pope himself and the rest of their Prelates, and all their favourites and followers have not turned to God by Repentance, but have broken forth against him in indignation and blasphemy. His Kingdom was full of darkness, but what profit have they made of it? they gnawed their tongues through vexation, rage, and malignity of spirit against the Lords holy providence, and the successful proceed of these holy Angels, they blasphemed the God of Heaven, and look at reformation, as Rebellion, as if it were the dissolution of all goodness, and at length they will say, that they fear Christ himself is become a Puritan, and have they repent of their tyrannies, and usurpations over Ministers and over Churches? but they have broken forth still more, and more against the Lord, his servants and Churches, and what more may come forth I know not, judge you what they speak in secret, when they writ such things as these openly: we speak of the generality of Prelates, not of some to whom God hath given a better spirit, than the spirit of the throne they sit upon.  
Reason The first ground hereof is taken from the nature of all these judgements, they are the last plague, Rev. 15.11. The very dregs and sediments of the wrath of God; and there is no grace of Repentance laid up in them, for the wrath of God is come upon them to the uttermost, wonder not therefore if you do not hear of many Bishops or Pariters repentance though God may bring some of them to Repentance, yet the body and state of them is not like to repent, but to belch out blasphemings against the Lord.  
Rea. 2 Secondly, the reason is taken from the cause that moveth God to give men up to such delusions; Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved, therefore doth God give them up to the efficacy of delusions, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness; those that preached the truth and Doctrines of Repentance, and reformation, they branded them with the name of Puritans, they hated them with a perfect hatred, they loved not blessing therefore it is far from them, it is the nature and common fashion of superstition to leave men besotted in their own Religion.  
This may teach us to look at it, as a ground of Faith, that the Use 1 Lord will go on to destroy the throne of the Beast; for when God taketh a sword into his hand, it is not his manner to put it into his sheath again, according to that which Amos saith Chap. 3.5. Shall one take up a snare from the Earth, and have taken nothing at all? noe, the Lord will either subdue their spirits to unfeigned Repentance, or else he will go on ensnaring to ensnare them till he have swept them like dung from the face of the Earth, For when Israel turneth not to him that smiteth him, then is not his anger turned away, but his hand is stretched out still, Isai 9.12.13 Therefore men cannot more dishonour nor oppose the Lord then by seeking to underprop this sandy building.  
The Second one of this point may be to teach us all in the fear Use 2 of God, what to do whensoever we feel but drops of wrath poured upons us you see to whom it belongeth to be impenitent, to whom it belongeth to blaspheme the name of the Lord, even to those that sit upon the throne of the Beast, it is an Episcopal sin, an● Hierarc●icall wickedness, a beastly frame of spirit, for men whiles they are under God's Hand to grow more froward and discontented and filled with indignation. If therefore the Lord afflict the whole state of the Country, with any drops of his displeasure, let us not cry out upon the Lord and his dealing, nor upon the Churches, but let our unthankful hearts for his mercies, bear the burden, and learn we to repent of our deeds, that know not how to keep ourselves close to the ordinances of God, when we grow not thankful nor fruitful under light and liberties received.   

THE SIXTH VIAL.  REVEL. 16.12, 13, 14, 15, 16. And the sixth Angel poured out his Vial upon the great River Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the Kings of the East might be prepared, etc. 
IN these verses the pouring out of the Vial of the sixth Angel is described.  
First by the subject upon which it is poured, the River Euphrates, which is amplified by the adjunct of greatness, [The great River Euphrates.]  
Secondly, by the effects of it which are two,  
1. First the water thereof was dried up, and that is amplified by the end which God aimed at in it [That the way of the Kings of the East might be prepared.]  
2. Secondly, the warlike preparations unto a great battle; and those are described,  
1. By the principal commanders in that preparation, and war, which are said to be three [The Devil, the Beast, and the false Prophet.]  
2. By the instruments, and Ministers of it, who are certain spirits, and they are described many ways, as,  

1. By their nature and quality [Unclean spirits.]  
2. By their number [three.]  
3. By, by their resemblance [Like Frogs.]  
4. By their original descent, which is threefold, [They come out of the mouth of the Dragon, and out of the mouth of the Beast, and out of the mouth of the false Prophet. And that descent is amplified by the Cause of it, for they are the spirits of Devils.  
5. They are described by their effects, which are threefold. 

1. They work miracles.  
2. They go forth to the Kings of the Earth, and of the world, to gather them to the battle of that great Day of God Almighty, Ver. 14.  
3. They are efficacious and successful herein, they do gather them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. Ve. 16.     
3. These warlike preparations are described by the watchword which the God of Israel giveth unto his own troops, and that is a word of watchfulness, behold I come as a thief, blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. Thus standeth the Text.  
Now for the meaning of it: It is the more dark, because it is, (though not altogether) yet in a great part to come; and such as shall seriously consider what is the meaning shall (happily) find it no small difficulty to satisfy themselves, and much more to satisfy others, yet (by the help of God) let us endeavour to open some such part of the words, as we may be likely to finish at this time. First what is meant by the river Euphrates? Secondly, who are the Angels that pour out this Vial upon this river? Thirdly, what is the drying up of this river? Fourthly, who are these Kings of the East? These things contain the principal difficulties in the parts of this Vial, other things may more easily be opened, if these things be premised and cleared.  
1. What is meant by the great river Euphrates: Some of our host interpreters (to whom God hath given most light in these spiritual mysteries) do understand it, properly for the river that did run along by the walls of old Babylon in Chaldea, which made the City impregnable, and yet by the stratagem of Cyrus was dried up, by turning the Course of the streams to run in other channels, whereby the channel before the City was dried up; and the reeds burnt by the Soldiers, and the City sacked when as Belshazzar was quaffing in the vessels of the Temple: this was foretold by Jeremy Chap 50.38. A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up, for it is the Land of graven Images, and they are mad upon their Idols. And jer. 51.31, 32. One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the King of Babylon that his City is taken at an end, and that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burnt with fire, etc. Now they that interpret Euphrates to be the same river, do understand that when God calleth home his ancient people, he will dry up Euphrates before them, so that they may assault the Turkish monarchy, and recover their ancient inheritance out of his hand. The reason which they give of it is, 1. Because they read of no Nation for whom God dried up any rivers but only for the Israelites for whom he dried up the red Sea, and the waters of Jordan. 2. They say it hath been anciently foretold by the Prophet jer. 44.27. & 51.10. & 63.11. In all which places God is described to have dried up the waters, and rivers for them, that as a pledge of the like power to be manifested for them hereafter. 3. (Say they) the prophet Isay (Chap 59.20. alleged by the Apostle Paul Rom. 11.26.) foretelleth the calling of the jews. and if this Vial speak not of their calling, it is spoken of no where in this book, which is not credible.  
Now although their reasons are not to be slighted, yet they do not seem to carry force enough to understand Euphrates literally, for God's Hand may as well be seen in drying up the metaphorical rivers; Besides, Isay 44.27. Doth properly speak of Gods drying up the river Euphrates before Cyrus, which was then to come, but is not meant of this drying up in the Text, which is to be many hundred years after, and for the two other places mentioned, Isay 51.10. & 63.11. They only recount what God had done for their Fathers of old, whereupon they desire that he would not forsake them now, and so they are reported of as ancient passages of his power for them, but not as promises what he would do for them afterward: Save only as encouragements to their Faith, to expect great deliverances from the same hand.  
And for the third reason: It is not necessary that it should be foretold in this Vial, or else not foretold in this book: for the whole 21, and 22 Chapters of this book do hold it forth, which are events of the pouring forth of the seventh Vial, and not of this sixth.  
If then it be not meant of the natural river, Euphrates, of what then may it be understood? There are some that understand it of something that is unto Rome, as Euphrates was to old Babylon, I shall tell you what I most incline unto, as far as the Text will permit.  
Some say it is meant of Nations, and Tongues, and People, and Languages, for they are sometimes understood by waters: but Euphrates is but one river among many, and therefore why should it be meant of many Nations that should fall off from Rome? I cannot well close with that, nor is it necessary that Euphrates should be a name given to any one Nation, unless it were some one that might lie near Euphrates, which not Christian Nation doth. And others there are that do understand by it another resemblance, as it was a means to convey much maintenance to old Babylon, and therefore conceive it meaneth all the revenues of the Bishop of Rome whereby he is made rich, and wealthy; now Christian Kings shall dry up this river Euphrates by taking away this kind of maintenance, and so by these Kings of the East they understand those Christian Kings, that shall take away these revenues; but neither can I well close with that interpretation; for you may consider it, that all these seven Vials are suitable to the seven Trumpets, though they fall out in different ages of that Church: The seven Trumpets brought in judgements upon Christian Rome, and these Vials are the plagues of God upon those very corruptions, which the Trumpets brought in: Now you shall find that the effect of the sounding of the sixth Trumpet was, there were four Angels loosed which were bound in the great river Euphrates, and th●●● Angels were ready with an Army of two hundred thousand thousand; and they by general consent of all interpreters, are to be understood of the four Families of the Turks, that were bound by some encumbrances at the river Euphrates, but afterward broke fourth upon all Christendom, and got Constantinople into their hands, and overwhelmed all Asia. And besides to understand the Kings of the East to be the 10 Christian Kings will not accord, for they are not seated East from Rome, or if some of them be, yet nothing near the number of ten. Therefore there be that say, that the river Euphrates doth here mean the Turkish Dominion, and that this river Euphrates shall be dried up by the power of the Kings of the East, whom they interpret to be the jews, (and I would not hinder that) thereby to make way for the recovery of their Land; And true it is that Euphrates in the first Trumpet did signify the Turkish power that lay by that river: In like manner it is expounded of the Assyrian monarchy, Isa. 8.7. When the Lord bringeth upon them the waters of the river strong and many, even the King of Assyria, and all his glory, and he shall come over his channels, and overflow all his banks, because they refused the help which God had given them at home. Now that Euphrates, and Mesopotamia, which then the Assyrian Monarchy had in dominion, is at this day possessed by the Turks, and if the Assyrian Monarchy may be resembled unto it, so may the Turkish also: this cometh nearest to the Text, yet I cannot say that altogether it suiteth with the context, nor that this sixth Angel should be meant of the jews; And let me give you some reasons, why it cannot be the jews, that must pour out this Vial, nor that the drying up of Euphrates can be meant only of the Turkish Monarchy, though they also shall be plagued by the drying of it up.  
First, that the sixth Angel cannot be the jews appeareth from what is said, Chap. 15. ult. That no man was able to enter into the Temple till the seven plagues of the 7 Angels were fulfilled, therefore the jews cannot come into the visible Church in the time of this sixth Vial, till the seventh be poured out. But certain it is these Angels who power out the Vials, do all of them come out of the Temple,) and are clothed in pure, and white linen, having their breasts girded with golden girdles, therefore they are all professors of the truth, and sincere professors.  
Secondly, it is evident in the Text, that the way of the jews is prepared, by the pouring out of this Vial. And therefore they are not this Angel who power out this Vial, but have a way prepared, only for their Conversion, as an effect of this Vial.  
Thirdly, all the Subjects whereupon these Vials are poured are such against which the wrath of God is kindled: for they are the Vials of the wrath of God that are poured: and they are all poured upon the Earth, by which is meant the antichristian state, and such things therein against which Gods wrath is kindled. Now the anger of God is not kindled against the river Euphrates more than against any other river, his wrath falls not upon rivers, though sometimes for man's sake it may; but Euphrates lieth not near to the Roman antichrist, nor to any state subject to him. What then would you say? is it not most likely to hold forth the Turkish Dominion? which God is angry with? Shall not Christian Princes pour out the wrath of God upon the Turkish Dominions? I would by no means say so: But let us consider what is the Fountain, and what are the streams of this river, which did, and do still wash upon the Turkish Dominion, and which are indeed as Walls, and Bulwarks to the Turkish state? For this Euphrates though it be not here the Turkish Dominion, yet it is of the same use to them and unto the Pope, as Euphrates was unto old Babylon, which made glad the same, and conveyed maintenance unto it. Let us therefore consider what was the Original of the Turkish Dominion, and you shall find that it sprung from five several streams. Rev. 9.20.21; where (having described the losing of the four Angels, which were bound by the great river Euphrates ver. 14.) and those were the four Families of the Turks, which at length were swallowed up by the house of Ottoman; He saith the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues, yet repent not of the works 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 (this was their Idolatry) neither repent they of their murders, nor of their Sorceries, nor of their Fornications, nor of their thefts: So these were the five streams of this river Euphrates, that gave power to the Turkish Dominion to wit, the Idolatries, Murders, Sorceries, Fornications, and Thefts of Christendom, for by reason of these barbarous wickedness of Popish Churches, and states, cloaked under a face of Religion, God brought upon them a barbarous Nation, that hath a Face of government, and yet knoweth not well what it meaneth, yet did not the Papists (whose sins these were) repent of their Idolatries, nor of their Murders, which they committed upon the souls of men, and upon the bodies of God's faithful servants; nor of their Sorceries, of which many of the Popes themselves were guilty; nor of their Whoredoms, their stews, and beastly uncleannesses; nor of thei● Thefts, Indulgences, and pardons for money, by which they drained Christendom of their substance.  
Now if these were the sins, which the Lord upbraideth Christian Churches for not repenting of, though this barbarous nation did prevail against them, yet doubtless these are the walls of the Turkish Dominion, even those streams of corruption of Religion, which are the maintenance of the Sea of Rome to this day: thus by admirable wisdom the Lord hath expressed his holy Counsel: that his instruments by drying up these streams of Euphrates, these corruptions of Religion shall prevail at once both against the Turks, and the Pope together.  
2. Who then shall be the Angel, that shall power out this sixth Vial? if they shall not be the jews (as before we proved) than it must needs be some Christian states, and these are no other than the 10 Christian Kings spoken of Rev. 17.16, 17. That shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate, and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire, and so you have all these expositions fall in together, they will run in the right channel, and fully reach all that interpreters have sought after.  
3. These Christian Kings shall so fare fall off from Rome, as that they shall dry up all her revenues, when as they shall see and abhor the vanity of their Images, and Temples, and Monasteries, and the unprofitableness of their expenses, when they shall see the wickedness of their bloody inquisitions, the unnaturalness of all those murders of God's blessed servants, and shall see their witchcrafts, and sorceries; the horrible fornications, and whoredoms of their stews: and when they shall see that all their devises to get money are so many thefts, and robberies, (as it is the complaint of Pareus, a Germane interpreter, that two parts of the revenues of the Empire did go to the Bishop of Rome, and but one third to the Christian Princes) and a world of work would be to tell you of all their Theeveries in England of old, and other Christian Kingdoms. Now when these Christian Kings are so far converted unto God, as that they shall see the wickedness, of all these abuses of Religion, they will then dry up all these revenues, then will they suffer no more Image worship, no more sorceries, nor murders, and when these things are thus remooved, then is Euphrates dried up, that maintaineth old Babylon; then is the Fountain of the Turkish maintenance cut off also: For their rise was by these corruptions, and they stand, and will stand whilst these corruptions stand, but if these fall than is the river Euphrates dried up, and a ready way made indeed for the Kings of the East.  
4. Whom the most judicious Interpreters do understand to be the jews. 1. Because they are so by God's calling, Exodus. 19.6. Yea shall be to me a Kingdom of Priests: And Daniel foretelleth, that when the Roman Monarchies are broken in pieces, by the stone cut out of the Mountains without hands, Daniel 2.45. (which is the Lord Jesus:) then the Dominion shall be given to the people of the Saints of the most high, Daniel 7.27. Therefore they are called Kings of the East, in the Greek Testament Kings from the rising of the Sun, they shall have great power, and place when God shall bring them to it; Neither can any man tell but that some of these Eastern Kings in the East, Judges may be of the Families of the House of Israel: Sure I am when joseph was lost, though his Father thought him to have been utterly cast away, yet when he was found, he was found to be a great man in Egypt, and the Prophet Ezekel understandeth by joseph, all the 10 Tribes. Ezech. 37.16. And who can tell whether some of these 10 Tribes may not be found to be great men of the East. And I remember junius an exact Translator, and commentor upon the Bible, saith that which is called the Land of Sinim, Isay 49.12. May more probably be meant of China, and that the Greek Geographers do call them Sinea'es, not China'es, which if it be the meaning there may be there many of them; and indeed he that readeth their story shall find sundry memorable things in them that may agree to such as have sometimes been God's people; for though they worship other Gods, yet they have records, that their fathers did not so in ancient times; and it is reported of them that they make account that those are the best books, that bring a man to that estate wherein he was first made, which is no gentile-like principle, and the greatest preferents among them are of their Bookish men: It may be some of the ten Tribes or buried among them: yet it is not material to the Text, though if it be true, their Eastern situation will suit well with the Text: but however it be, the truth is God doth by Covenant, account the whole Nation to be a royal Nation, and promiseth the Kingdoms of the World to be their Dominion, and that all enemies God will sweep them off from the face of the Earth, as it is prophesied at large Rev. 19 Now than if these be the Kings of the East, you will easily understand the evidence of other things in the Text: for what is the great stumbling block that hindereth the jews from closing with Christianity? They abhor Images, and the juggling of the Friars, and Monks, who are not so cunning to devise miracles as the jew is cunning to search them out, and to discover the legerdemain of the Priests in them. To worship Idols of Gold and Silver is an abomination to them, and so are the rest of those five streams of wickedness, which uphold the Turkish state: Let Christian Princes once arise and overthrow Images, repress their murders, remove away their Fornications, Thefts, delusions, which they put upon Christianity, then shall there be a ready way prepared for their conversion, & no remaining impediment but their own corruption which God will mightily overpower; if once Euphrates be dried up, down falls Popish, and Turkish tyranny together, and the jews shall come forth marching to fight that great battle of the Lord God Almighty, then shall they see him whom they have pierced, and be zealous for God, as ever they have been outrageous against him. And hereby you shall clearly see the agreement between Romans 11.12.15. (Where it is said, If the casting away of them be the reconcilement of the World: what shall the receiving of them be but life form the dead?) and 25. Where he saith, blindness in part is happened unto Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in; The reconcilement lieth here: The hardness of the jews lieth upon them until the Christian Nations of the Gentiles, that have with the Pope apostatifed from Christ, be come in, until they have dried up this River Euphrates, hardness lieth upon the jews, but then all Israel shall be saved, and after that look for the rest of the Gentiles that never yet received the Gospel, to come in also: then will God bring them home mightily, and not till then: Thus you see the meaning of these words, wherein I have been the more large, because in such Scriptures, the explication is as much to be attended as the application. Let us shortly touch upon a note or two.  
Doct. 1 That the days are coming wherein Christian Princes, and States shall pour out the wrath of God, upon Popish superstition, and Idolatry, and upon all the Fountains, and streams of Turkish Tyranny.  
For this sixth Angel are those 10 Christian Kings spoken of Chap. 17.16. They shall pour out this wrath. Therefore those Christian Kings went a wrong way to work, when they thought to have overcome the Turk, and regayned the holy Land; It is strange to see how the Turks prospered against them, and how much Christian blood Christian Princes spent to no purpose, in fight against them? The way had been, first to have dried up all those streams of Superstition, and Idolatry, and to have thrown down that man of Sin; that had been the ready way to prevail against the Turk; but the season was not then come, it is now coming, and how soon it will come I know not, the Lord knoweth, but coming it is, as appeareth by the Context of this Vial with the former; yea they are in part fulfilled, and like the spear of joshua they will not return, nor cease till all the Lords enemies be overcome; The judgements of God upon their common Catholics; their worship and government, their secular, and regular Priests, upon the Sun the House of Austria, and the Pope's supremacy, you have heretofore heard the judgements of God upon the throne of the Beast, which is the Episcopacy, is already begun, as you lately heard darkened it hath been by the going forth of the Scots, and doubtless the Lord will not let it rest there until it have gone over the Seas, and come to the Gates of Rome, yea to the Bishop of Rome himself, for after the Lord hath been pleased to scum the Churches from their hierarchical monarchy, than the next news you shall hear of, will be, that Christian Princes begin to see the lewdness that is found in their worship, the wickedness of their Murders, Sorceries, Fornications, and Thefts, whereby they rob their souls, as well as their bodies, then will they dry up these streams, and so Euphrates (that did wash this Rome, and the Turkish Empire also) will be dried up: for this work will go on prospering to prosper, and though it may now and then be interrupted, yet when it beginneth, it will also make an end, for the Lord is Almighty, when he beginneth he will go on to perfect his work, and he will not leave unto old Eli root or branch. It is easy with the Lord to advance the work a little higher, and then the streams of their maintenance will be dried up by the hatred, wherewith they will hate the whore, and make her desolate, and naked for the time is approaching.  
The reason why the Lord will thus dry up the streams of Euphrates Reason is, that he may untwist his own judgements in the same way wherein himself did twist them; we have before heard how his judgements fell upon the Christian World by the sounding of the sixth Trumpet the four Angels that were bound in the great river Euphrates were loosed, and by this means the Turkish Tyranny was brought in. Now by the pouring out of the Vial of the sixth Angel, the spirits of Christian Princes are stirred up to dry up the River Euphrates, thereby to make way for the subversion of the Turk and Pope, and to prepare a way for God's ancient people to come in, that there may be no more wrath upon the face of the Earth.  
Use 1 In the first place this may serve to provoke us all earnestly to call upon the Lord, that he would stir up the hearts of Princes to consider, and open their Eyes to see how needful their attempts are to rise up against the Pope: and for that end that they may see that the juggle of Popery are but Thefts, and Murders, and Superstitions: For when once those things are throughly discovered, the means of the maintenance of the man of sin must needs be dried up: How much cause therefore have we to wrestle with God for such mercy, and that our prayers may be so much the more effectual, strengthen we our Faith, in this, that the Lord will do it for he hath promised it, and hath begun to power out this Vial, and will not cease until he have left the Pope neither root nor branch.  
Use 2 Secondly, this may serve to teach us, the ready way to subdue the Tyrants of the World, and to take away all their supportance, their walls and Bullworkes: How should you take Babylon? dry up Euphrates, and Babylon is taken with a wet finger, as when they dried up Euphrates, they found it but a work of burning of Reeds, to take old Babylon. And how shall you overcome the Turks? dry up but the Fountains of the Corruptions of Religion, and you remove Antichrist, and make the Turks easily Conquerable, he will not be defenceable then, whereas now he standeth like a wall of brass, and so will do until these streams of corruption be dried up: It was a notable practice that which the Lord directed his people unto judges 10. When they cried unto the Lord to deliver them from their enemies that oppressed them: The Lord recounteth the gracious deliverances which he had showed them; yet (saith he Verse 13.) you have forsaken me and served other Gods; wherefore I will deliver you no more; go and cry unto the Gods which you have chosen, and let them deliver you in the time of your Tribulation. When they heard that they confessed their sin and put away the strange Gods from among them, and served the Lord; and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel; then the Lord stirreth up the people to think upon jephthah, and they easily go through the work of vanquishing the oppressing Enemies: In like manner bring but in false Doctrine, worship, and government into the Church, and you bring in monsters of men among you, the grand seigniours of the World will oppress, and rule over you: On the other side let the Churches be reform in France, in England, in Scotland, etc. Whatsoever other nations there be by that have defiled themselves with Popish doctrine, worship and government, let them but fall to this work of reformation, and verily the Lords Soul will be grieved for their misery, that they are so oppressed with a base Priest and his Clergy, who is in the mean while nothing else but a dunghill of corruption, and what need have we earnestly to strive in prayer with God for these things? and as great Nations are healed so are particular persons also by being purged from their Idolatries, Fornications, Thefts, and Murders, they are preserved from those personal evils which by Sea or Land might prevails against them. And the Lord is able to do it for great Nations as well as for particular persons; for as he puts it into the hearts of Princes to agree and give their Kingdoms unto the Beast; so he can as easily withdraw their hearts from him, and cause them to see the vanity of their subjection to him: Let us therefore give the Lord no rest, until he have fulfilled his word, and overturned all his Enemies.  
That the pouring out of the wrath of God upon the Romish Doct. 2 Superstition and Tyranny, as it will be the drying up of the Popish and Turkish Tyranny, so it will prepare a ready way for the conversion of the jews.  
When they shall see Christ riding upon a white horse, and going forth conquering to conquer, then shall they be gathered unto him, Rev. 19  
Because popish delusions, Idolatry and Superstitions are the Reason greatest impediments of their conversion. No man is acquainted with their writings but knoweth that these things stand in their way: when the streams of Idolatry, Sorcery, Martyrdom of the Saints of God, Fornication, and robbery be dried up, then will there be a prepared way for the glorious conversion of the jews, together with the rest of the Nations which cannot enter into the Temple until the seven plagues of the seven Angels are fulfilled, and then will they come in as honourable maids attending upon the Queen; it will be like unto the resurrection from the dead unto them; many devises there are in the minds of some to think that Jesus Christ shall come from Heaven again, and reign here upon Earth a thousand years, but they are but the mistakes of some high expressions in Scripture, which describe the judgements poured out upon God's enemies, in making a way for their conversion, by the pattern of the last judgement.  
Use This may serve to provoke us and all the Churches of Christ, to hold fast the purity of Doctrine, worship, and government in the Church of Christ: let no streams of Idolatry, nor love of the world, run in our hearts: If our Cows be our Gods, the Lord will power out a Vial upon them, that from 25l. they shall fall to 5l. price; the Lord hath sometimes threatened that he will famish all the Gods of the Earth Zeph. 2.11. So that all the Gods of the Gentiles shall not be able to provide, any more offerings to be brought unto their Altars, neither Apollo, nor jupiter, nor Hercules can have any victuals: and so will God deal with our Cattles if they be our Gods, they shall either be worth little, or else he will deny us todder for them; if they devour our spirits, and take off our minds from the Ordinances of God; he will rend away any thing that standeth between him and our souls; Therefore as ever we desire that we may prosper, and that their may be a ready way prepared for our comfort, let no streams of Idolatry, be found among us, then will the Lord make way for many of his deserved ones to come in among us, or else will make us well without them; For all the silver and gold in the world is his, as the Cattles are his on a 1000 Hills. Only let us take part with this Angel in pouring out Vials upon the corruptions that are found in our own hearts; look that their be no corruptions in us, but such as are still drying and drying up, and see if God be not faithful and gracious to us abundantly; stir we up ourselves therefore, and one another hereunto, and pray that God would stir up other Nations and People hereunto, then shall we see Gods ancient people brought home, and the Lord shall be one over all the Earth, and his name one, which will prove a Resurrection unto all the Churches of the Saints.   

The second part of the sixth Vial. VIAL.  16. REVEL. 12, Ver. to 14. XII. And the sixth Angel poured out his Vial upon the great River Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the Kings of the East might be prepared. (13.) And I saw three unclean spirits like Frogs come out of the mouth of the Dragon &, out of the mouth of the Beast, and out of the mouth of the false Prophet, (14.) For they are the spirits of Devils working miracles, which go forth unto the Kings of the Earth, and of the whole World, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. 
IN these words (as ye have heard) is described the pouring out of the sixth Vial of God's wrath. Described it is by the subject, upon which it was poured forth, and secondly, by the effect which ensued. The subject was the great River Euphrates. The effect that followed it, was first the drying up of the waters thereof: and that amplified by the end, that the way of the Kings of the East might be prepared. The second effect was a warlike expedition, or preparation thereunto; set forth by the principal Commanders, the Dragon, the Beast, and the false Prophet, and by the instruments, who are here said to be for their nature Spirits for their quality Unclean, for their number three, for their resemblance like Frogs, for their original coming out of the mouth of the Dragon, and out of the mouth of the Beast, and out of the mouth of the false Prophet: And that amplified by the cause; for they are the spirits of Devils. And Lastly, they are described by their effects; which are three. 1 They work miracles. 2 They go forth to the Kings of the earth, and of the World to gather them to Battle, and thirdly they do gather them into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. Thus is this war here especially described by their principal Commanders, and instruments It is described also by the watchword, which the Lord giveth unto his servants against the battle in that time, B hold I come as a thief, blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.  
We entered into these words the last day; And shown you whom this Angel was, what is meant by the River Euphrates, who are the Kings of the East, and the way prepared for them: in a word (only to make way to that which remains) you heard this sixth Angel that poured out this Vial upon the great River Euphrates, cannot well be understood of the Jews pouring out the wrath of God upon the Turkish Dominions; For it is evident from the last verse of the 15 Chapter, that no man can enter into the Temple till these 7 Vials be poured out. The jews therefore shall not be called till the seventh Vial be poured out.  
And they that poured out these Vials were such as came out of the Temple, 15 Chapter 6 Verse, Out of reformed Churches, girt with golden girdles of truth; and clothed with pure, and white Linen, which is the righteousness of the Saints. They that power out of these Vials are godly Christians, professors of the truth in sincerity. Now the jews cannot enter into that estate till the seven plagues be fulfilled. Again suppose the Kings of the East be the jews, as they are more than probably conceived by enterpreters; yet they cannot be the Angel that poured out this Vial: For the Angel that poured out this Vial he dries up the waters, and makes way for their coming in, therefore it is not they that poured out this Vial.  
Ye have heard that the River Euphrates cannot be properly meant of that River Euphrates that watered old Babel; because the wrath of God is not upon material Rivers, and Fountains of waters, but only upon such persons as dwell near them, or may be watered by them: but the R●ver itself cannot be it. It is not taken here for one of those Rivers and Fountains of water which were turned into blood, in the 18 Verse of this Chapter by the third Angel: for than if it had been so understood the wrath of God had been poured upon him in the third Vial, not in this sixth. The rivers there meant are such popish Emissaries, and Priests, as do carry the popish Doctrine up and down the Country; now Euphrates washed Babylon; and his rivers are dried up when Babylon is taken: now Babylon comes to be taken, and destroyed in the next Vial, not in the sixth Vial, as some have heretofore taken it: But Euphrates therefore being that which watered the City of old Babel, it must be something that doth the like office unto this new Babel, unto Rome: that waters the throne of the Beast; that waters the seat of antichrist. And yet (mind ye) so waters it, that if the waters thereof be dried up, there is way made for the Kings of the East to come in, and consequently way made for the ruin of the Turkish Empire, and Monarchy; For as ye heard these seven Vials come in, in order as the seven Trumpets did; to remove the seven judgements they brought in; look how the seven Trumpets sounded, and by their sounding brought in several gradual judgements, so just in the same order are these Vials poured out, and the former judgements removed. As the first Trumpet brought a plague upon the Earth, so the first Angel poured out a Vial upon the Earth, to remove that plague. The second Trumpet sounding brought a judgement upon the Sea; The second Angel powers out his Vial upon the Sea; and so the rest: The sixth Trumpet (as ye heard) let lose the four Angels, the four Turkish Families bound by the river Euphrates, which brought in the Turkish apostasy, and tyranny into the World. This Euphrates is such a river as waters Babel; and the drying it up did of old make way for the ruin of Babel. So will the drying up of this Euphrates dry up the force, and strength of the new Babylon; and so of the Turkish tyranny also. In one word, ye have heard, that which hath been the strength and fence of the Turkish Dominion hath been the streams of corruption and false worship in the Babilonish, for so ye read in the ninth Chapter of this book, and the 20 and 21 verse: That for all this saith the Text, notwithstanding the letting lose of the Turks from Euphrates, yet they repent not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship Devils, and Idols of Gold, and Silver, and Brass, and Stone, and of Wood, etc. Neither repent they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornications, nor of their thiefs: So that its evident the Turkish Empire was raised up, and stands to this day, as a scourge of God upon the idolatries, and superstitions of the Church of Rome, and upon their murders, and witchcrafts, and thefts, by which the whole Christian world hath been abused these many hundred years.  
So that then the Angel that poured out this Vial ye heard to be those ten Christian Kings, of whom ye read more at large in the next Chapter: that shall dry up this Fountain: that is to say, the streams of antichristian worship, and pollution; shall stop the course of it. They shall stop the course of those Murderous inquisitiones; They shall stop the course of those Thefts; and indulgences and pennances: they shall stop the course of of those Whoredoms, wherewith Babylon hath been made drunk; the cup of her Fornication. Now when this stream of corruption is dried up by the reformation of protestant Kings; it shall come to pass, that there will be a way made for the Kings of the East to come in: for ye heard, that by the Kings of the East are properly meant the jews: as being of old called Kings, A royal Priesthood: so that way is made for them by this reformation of religion in Christendom; The removing of those abuses (to wit) of the corruption of religion, and popish superstition, and idolatry, way is made for their conversion: and do but dry up those streams, and then you leave Babylon dry; and you leave the Turkish Monarchy weakened: for the staff of the Turkish Monarchy is the superstition of Antichristianisme.  
From hence therefore ye have heard already these two notes gathered, and handled: the first is this, that the days are coming, wherein Christian Princes shall dry up the streams of antichristian corruption in Religion; And thereby also dry up the Fountains of the streams of the Turkish tyranny.  
Secondly, ye have heard this note (also) gathered, and handled. That upon the drying up of the streams of corruption of Antichristian religion, and of Turkish Tyranny, way is made for the conversion of the jews, the ancient people of God.  
Of these two we spoke the last day; and thus much was needful to be repeated, that ye might understand where we are. To proceed to the next note then, the third that concerns this Vial, but the first at this time: Let me first gather the note and then show you how it rises out of the Text: then give some grounds of it, and make use of it as the Lord shall help, the note is this.  
Upon the drying up of the streams of the corruption of religion Doct. 3 in Christendom, the Dragon, the Beast, and the false Prophet, shall send forth their choicest instruments to stir up, and gather together, both Popish, and Pagan Princes, unto a great battle, to withstand the reformation of Christians, and the conversion of the Jews.  
This is the sum. See all these points expressly, and distinctly delivered, and fully, in these two Verses, the 13 and 14. For further than so I shall not go at this time. And this one note opens both these Verses, and all the passages therein.  
First ye see upon the pouring out of this Vial upon the river Euphrates, and the drying up the streams thereof, that is upon the drying up of the corruptions of religion, superstition, Idolatry, Murders, and Whordomes: restraining and drying up all such Fountains, what follows? He saith the Beast, the Dragon, and the false Prophet, sent out of their mouths three unclean spirits, like Frogs; which go forth unto the Kings of the Earth, and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.  
To open this doctrine, and the words a little.  
First for the Dragon ye have heard it noted before (from the 12. Rev. 9 verse) him to be the old Serpent, Satan: but taken chief as he doth act, and govern, and dwell in the Roman state: And therefore he is described to have seven hadst, and ten Horns, in the third verse of the 12 Chapter. But take him as he is Satan spiritually, and he hath neither heads, nor horns. Take him as he governs Rome and so he hath seven heads, and ten hones. The seven heads are seven hills: And the ten horns are ten governments, who then is the Beast? the Beast (as ye have heard) he is described by the very same Characters, seven heads and ten horns, 13. Rev 9 verse. It is said to be him to whom the Dragon hath given his power, and his seat, and great authority; it doth therefore hold forth the Roman state; not Rome Pagan nor Rome Christian (as ye have heard) It remains therefore to be Rome antichristian: which is that? The Roman visible Catholic Church: that's the first Beast, which claims all the power by pretence of religion, which old Rome, and the Roman Monarchy claimed by force of arms. Who is then the false Prophet? The false Prophet he is never mentioned before in this book, not by name; and yet he is spoken of here as well known: It appears therefore, this false Prophet is the 2 Beast in 13 Rev. 11 verse to the end: The second Beast there is said to work Miracles: in the 13 Verse he doth great wonders, etc. And 18 Verse he deceiveth them that dwell on the Earth, by the means of these miracles, etc. And the same ye shall read of the false Prophet in the 19 Rev. 20 Verse, The Beast was taken, and with him the false Prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the Beast.  
And them which worshipped his Image, etc. The description is the same of the false Prophet, and of the Beast: both of them holding forth the head of the Roman Church: The false Prophet Balaam, the Bishop, (or Antichrist) of Rome. So that it doth imply thus much, that the Dragon, and the Devil himself did stir up, not the Pope only, but the whole Catholic Church, to gather into some council, or some other solemn meeting, some chief concourse of them, who by common content shall (out of their mouths) that is to say, by their commands, their Cannons, and Decrees, for that is out of their mouths: out of their commands, out of their edicts, out of their injunctions, shall send forth their unclean Spirits; Spirits they be for nimbleness and activity, Spirits they be for impetuousness, and strength, Spirits they be also for close and cleanly conveyance: There is no stopping the gates against Spirits, ye cannot so stop the Cinque-ports but they will in; they will enter into any Court, Prince's Palaces, or great men's Houses; there's no hindering of them, they have a cleanly conveyance, and secret and close passage. And they are also Spirits of Devils. It is not the ordinary word Devil, but Daemon, the which is wont to express Spirits for their knowledge, and learning: They are learned spirits, and yet Devils for their deceit and mischief: Ye are of your Father the devil, & the works of your Father ye will do, john 8 44. Liars for deceit, & Murderers for mischief; these are the spirits he sends forth, which surely coming as they do, out of the mouth of the Dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false Prophet, they are not spirits properly so called: They are therefore Emissaries sent forth by them, men of nimble wits, and parts, active for nimbleness, and close conveyance: and full of deceit and mischief. And these are the spirits are sent forth: and here said to be three spirits coming out of their mouths, not as if one came out of the mouth of one, and another came out of the mouth of another; but all three of them came out of all their mouths together at once. It is not rightly translated here, that he saith he saw them coming out; for the word coming out, is not in the original: but he saw them out of those mouths, out of those mouths they had came; thence they had their original, and from thence they sprang.  
Much inquiry there is who they should be: I will not trouble you with variety of men's judgements, The Dragon is no more here the Turkish Empire then before, but the Dragon here is he that is before called Satan, acting Rome, and so hath seven Heads, and ten Horns; which are the Arms of Rome, as ye have heard before, not of Constantinople: And it is he that consults, and conspires with the Beast of Rome to send forth these three unclean Spirits. Now if you shall put all together that hath been observed by different Interpreters, and consider withal what kind of spirits the Catholic Church, and the head thereof (the Bishop of Rome) hath troubled the Church withal, ye shall find they all fall under three sorts: three sorts of spirits they do all issue from; and these have all inspired and breathed into them the very Character of the nature which is found in the Dragon, the Beast, and the false Prophet. There are many rabbles of popish orders, which were endless to name now: But they are all summed up in three Heads: for all the other are but hangbies, and trains to them: all the Emissaries of Rome, the spirits whereby she hath troubled the Church, they all fall under these three, either Cardinals, Bishops, or Jesuits: and under the Jesuits I rank all regular Friars, they are all of them of one nature, regular men, Cloyster-men; of which the Jesuits are the chief; and I would rather instance the Jesuits, because the rest of that rabble (the other orders of Friars and Monks) they are described not under the name of Frogs, but under the name of Locusts, chirping Creatures, as the Frogs are Croaking: and both come out of the bottomless pit: But the other are more like to Locusts, in the 9 Revelations 3 to 11. They be both of them mischievous, both the Locusts, and the Frogs too; but the Frogs are a little too dull for this kind of employment, which is attributed to the Frogs: but these three the Dragon, the Beast, and the false Prophet, send forth the Cardinals, the Bishops, and the Jesuits: ye shall find the quintessence of nimble wits in these Spirits; active and nimble spirits, ye shall find them close and secret in their conveyances, like spirits: no part can be so secretly watched but they will enter in, no Gates of Prince's Palaces so secret but thy will enter them. And unclean they be as neither fit for meat nor for sacrifice: as unclean Beasts were. They are neither fit for Church nor Commonwealth: neither fit for the one nor the other, neither for meat nor sacrifice: unclean also arising out of the mud; unclean in their Doctrine, rooting out the Doctrine of Life; unclean in their conversation, as all false Teachers more or less be, jude 8. and 10 Verse. And making the Country's unclean where they come: they let lose the reins and open a door unto all Licentiousness and profaneness. Three unclean Spirits like Frogs. This description of them likening of them to Frogs doth exclude them from the Locusts, for they are not Amphibia (as they call them) such as can live upon the Waters or Earth: for Locusts love not to be in the Waters; but these are indifferent on Earth or Waters: Therefore these three can indifferently live either upon the waters, or upon the Earth; and even as well in the one as in the other. It is indifferent to them whether ye employ them in Church work, they can domineer there; or whether you employ them in state matters, they are as free, and as busy there, in the Courts of Princes, and the states of Commonwealths, and as impetuous there, and as active there, and as cunning, and as domineering, and Lordly there as they are in the Church.  
And therefore look as were the plagues of Egypt (which is called Sodom) so are these plagues of spiritual Sodom. The Frogs they came upon them cunningly, and would come into the King's Palaces, and no place could be kept free from them: Even such are these three unclean spirits, no place can they be kept out from. And like unto Frogs are they for their continual croaking; nothing but one kind of tune: their own matters they never leave croaking of not like these Frogs here in America that have a several tune in each part of the year, but they are always in one, or two, or three at the most; either the Catholic visible Church, or the Pope the Judge of controversies, or of visible succession. And then look as ye see it is with Frogs they are most busy with their notes when it grows dark, and in the heat of the day they are a great deal more silent, for than they get them down into the mud; so it is with these unclean spirits, they lie close if the light of the Gospel shines forth brightly; And if it grow warm in the zeal of the spirits of Christians, than ye hear no news of them, but they are in some muddy places then, they are hushed then: I if you should come with a Torch in the midnight they are silent and still then.  
But now when there is want of light, or want of heat of Religion, than it is indeed that these spirits are most croaking, and tumultuous, and unquiet: but otherwise if the spirits of Christians and Statesmen grow warm in Religion, there's no noise nor news of these spirits; so these are the three unclean spirits that come out of the mouth of the Dragon, and out of the mouth of the Beast, and out of the mouth of the false Prophet. And these three have left a spice of their own nature in them, the Devil hath left a spice of his murder and malice against religion, and well ordered government tending to disorder; the Catholic Church hath left them her state and pre-eminence, her Lordly Dominion and spiritual supremacy, and authority, carrying all before him; The false Prophet hath left them corrupt Doctrine and corrupt worship; These corrupt all where they come, and with cleanly conveyance in the Name of the Lord, and thus saith the Lord: when indeed it is nothing but the mere inventions of the sinful false hearts of the sons of men. To go on a little further in the exposition of these spirits.  
They are the spirits of Devils, That is to say all of a devilish nature; they are not Gods spirits: men they will be accounted to be, but they are spirits of the bottomless pit, the spirits of Devils, Devils for learning, and Devils for deceit, and Devils for mischief.  
Working miracles,] It is a proper work of the second Beast, but they are all but lying wonders, they come (saith the Apostle Paul) with all power of signs and lying wonders. 2 Thes. 2.9. And these being all thus furnished, the Text tells you,  
They go forth unto the Kings of the Earth] by Earth in this book is meant the Earthly Religion, and so to the Princes of Earthly religion they go forth, therefore they go unto the Kings of the Earth, And of the whole World] They do not contain themselves in the limits of Christendom, but the other Princes, the Princes of the whole world (that is to say) to Pagan Princes, They would have power to prevent (if it were possible) this great mischief to themselves, that they might crush these Christian Kings that brought in the reformation; Therefore they go forth to the Kings of the Earth, and of the whole World, To gather them to battle, To the battle of that great day of God Almighty.] That's not the last judgement, (as some have thought) there will be no warring then; but every day of great execution is called a great day of God Almighty. But that we shall speak to (God willing) when we come to it, of that great day of God Almighty.] But what day is that? ye have it expounded in the 19 Rev. 17. It is the day of God's great Supper; that ye may eat the flesh of Kings, and the flesh of Captains, and the flesh of mighty men, etc. This is the great day of God Almighty, on which these worldly and wicked, these Popish and Pagan Princes with all their power, and all their forces, and armies they are able to make, shall come forth against the Lord Jesus, and against these Christian Princes, that have been serious, and studious in the reformation of Religion, and in the drying up of these streams of corruption. Thus you see the words opened, and the plain and true meaning of them. I cannot speak of the coming of Christ now, and of the gathering together to the great battle of Armageddon, and I would not open more than I am able to finish at this present. Therefore now consider the Doctrine again, and the truth of it, how it doth plainly arise from the words of the Text.  
Upon the pouring out of the sixth Vial (that is to say) upon the drying up of the current, and streams of the corruption of Antichristian religion, or Christian religion (for Antichristian religion is but the corruption of religion in Christendom,) The Dragon (that is to say the Devil) and the Beast (that is to say the Roman Catholic visible Church,) and the false Prophet (that is to say the Pope the head of the Church) did send forth out of their mouths (that is to say out of their commands) three unclean spirits, (that is Cardinals, and Bishops, and Jesuits.)  
To stir up the Princes of the Earth, and of the whole World, (that is both Popish, and Pagan Princes) to a great battle. To what end? ye may see by the occasion of it, is was upon the pouring out the Vial of the wrath of God upon the streams of corruption of religion, therefore they would turn the stream again, to prevent the way of the Kings of the East (that is) the conversion of the jews, by bringing in old Idolatry and superstition, spiritual Adulteries and Whoredoms, and Witchcrafts, for the maintenance of the Sea of Rome.  
Thus you see the point plain from the Text, neither is there any difficulty that remains for the opening of it, that I do discern.  
Now then for the Reasons of the point, and so briefly to come to the use. The reasons are two, why that upon this drying up of the streams of corruption of Religion these three great commanders should thus send forth such kind of Emissaries, instruments that will be active, and nimble to gather such a fearful Battle against the Lord, and against his servants.  
The first reason is taken from the nature of their Kingdom. Rea. 1 Antichrists kingdom is contrary to the Kingdom of Christ, his Kingdom is not of the Earth, theirs are from beneath; his Kingdom is not of this World, But theirs are of this World, These are of the World, saith john speaking of Antichrist, in the 1 joh. 4. Chapter 6 Verse. And therefore (mind ye) the weapons of their warfare are carnal, full of malice, and full of envy, and devillishnesse; their instruments are not spiritual, but carnal, and worldly. And therefore being thus shaken as they are, their return is not to Fasting and Prayer, or the power of the holy Ghost, or the power of spiritual gifts, or so forth; these are estranged from them: And now they fall to carnal policy and worldly power, and devilish engines, and instruments, these are fit for this use. This is one Reason.  
Rea. 2 The other reason is taken from their implacable malice and hatred against the reformation of religion, and the conversion of either jew or Gentile, to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus, there is nothing more grievous to these spirits than the prosperity of religion, they gnash their Teeth for pain in the former Vial, this is that will vex them more than all the rest, to see these Rivers dried up, and these streams dried up, and now the holy City of Rome blasted; this doth stir them up to implacable malice, and mischief: and now they care not who they confederate withal, so they may crush the Christian Princes and hinder reformation; It was truly prophesied of by the Apostle Paul, That evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. 2 Timothy 3, 13. So it is with these evil men here, if they see they cannot get victory over Protestants, though they have pretended war with the Turk for the recovering of the holy Land, yet now they will consent with him; they stick not who they agree with, so they may maintain their war. To come then briefly to make some use of what ye have heard: the use of the point is thus much.  
Use 1 First, it may teach every noble wit, and every active spirit, and every man of cleanly conveyance, not to pride himself, much less to bless himself, in such gifts and parts: what ever they be pride not yourselves, bless not yourselves in them; you see here is a Generation of nimble spirits, and active wits; cleanly spirits, spirits of as neat and cleanly conveyance as ever the World saw; men full of wit, and full of dexterity; men good for Church (as they count it) notable there; and not able for the Commonwealth; they are marvellous fit for all kinds of employment in their own ways, and that's very large for their own ends; and yet see they are but made instruments to the Dragon to the Beast, and to the false Prophet: so that verily if a man now should take pride in his gifts, and bless himself in the activeness of his spirit, and cleanly conveyance, applaud himself in such kind of inlargements as these be, I tell you the Devil hath as quick wits as you are; and as active spirits as you are; and men of as dexterous conveyance as you can be; And therefore never pride yourselves in these, they are such as are as fit instruments for the Devil as for Christ, and many times the Lord Jesus takes less delight in such as these, than he doth in plainer and simpler men; Ye see your calling Brethren. (saith the Apostle Paul) in the 1 Corinthians 1.26. How that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. It is I say (therefore) an abasement unto all flesh, and unto all the glory of the flesh; all flesh is as Grass, and the goodliest of flesh and blood, is but as the flower of the Field that fadeth away: take it at the best it's but a Flower, but take them as they may be improved by Satan none more mischievous, none more active instruments for the Devil, for sin, for Corruption then these fine quick wits and spirits be, These nimble wits, these active spirits; pride not yourselves in these things I say; these are the most dangerous if the Lord set not in to take hold of them; pride not yourselves (therefore) in these things, The more learned and witty you be, the more fit to act for Satan will you be if the Lord leave you, the more neat handed, and quick witted and nimble spirited you be, the more notable, and profitable will you be for the Devil, if he take hold of you: pride not yourselves (therefore) in these, much less allow yourselves in sacrificeing of these to Satan; But see you do sacrifice your wts, and spirits, and dexterity, and what ever you be, or have as a living sacrifice to Christ Jesus, to his advantage: or else they will be improved to the service of the Devil, and his instruments, The great and monstrous Beast, the Roman Catholic visible Church, and the head thereof, the holy Father the Pope as they call him.  
Secondly, it may take off the fond doting of the sons Use 2 of men upon the lesrning of the Jesuits, and the glory of the Episcopacy, and brave estate of the Prelates. I say be not deceived with these pomps, and empty shows, and fair representations of a goodly condition before the eyes of flesh and blood, be not taken with the applause of these persons, ye have many at this Day, that stand and wonder upon the reading of the Jesuits, at the witty inventions, and marvellous dexterity of judgement. They are strong persuaders, and strange practitioners of what they take in hand: marvellously are men taken with the strength of their judgements, and the strength of their wits; And dote mervalously upon the Cardinals, and upon the Bishops, and upon the Jesuits, and upon holy Catholic Mother Church, and their holy Father the Pope. These are the gods many of them do adore.  
I pray do but look well upon them all, what are they? all of them? Let but the holy Ghost give his judgement of them, (who is only wise) let his Counsel be taken, and what? They are spirits indeed, but unclean spirits, spirits of Devils, that come out of the mouth of the Dragon, and out of the mouth of the Beast, the Roman visible Catholic Church is in the esteem of the Holy Ghost a monstrous Beast (as ye heard in the 13 Chapter Revel. 1 Ve.) And the head of the Popish Church a false Prophet. And what are these nimble wits, and goodly glorious persons ye speak of? unclean spirits neither fit for meat nor sacrifice, neither fit for Church nor Commonwealth. Oh ye will say they are fit for both; But saith the holy Ghost they are Frogs, and not Churchmen (as they call them) and unclean, and not fit for civil use: neither fit for Church nor State; but fit to corrupt both, and breed corruption in both: Frogs they are and their Songs are much what as Frogs are, if ye mind them their note is always much at one, either visible succession, and that's one note; the Judge of controversies, which they say must be the Bishop of Rome, and the Roman Catholic visible Church the holy Mother Church as they call it, these are their notes, their Song, but it is but a Frog-like Song what ever they think: and ye shall ever find it, that when Religion hath been most lightsome, and Princes and Statesmen have been most warm in Religion, than ye shall here no noise of these Frogs, they lie close in the mud; But when Religigion grows dark once, the shadow of the Sun grows low, and large, when Christians wax cold, and Courtiers begin to be Popish, or carnal, or I cannot tell how conformable to the corruptions of the times, than they begin to croak loud, and all things must be as they will have them: but I say take them as they be, and they are but unclean Frogs, that do corrupt both Church, and State. And (mind ye) they are confederate with the Dragon, the Beast, and the false Prophet. Ye shall find it in time that they will be confederate with Turk, or Russian, Indian or Infidel, they will be ready to confederate with them all, and make no scrupill of these things. And yet they (as men think) are the only Patriarches, and make the greatest show of religion: be not deceived, you see how the holy Ghost describes them. And let those that are of God learn what they are.  
And thirdly, this may serve to teach Christian Princes, Use 3 and States, that when Religion comes to be reform, they must look for battles, and great battles: There is no hope that Satan will rest, the Dragon cannot rest when his Kingdom is shaken; And he hath such of his confederacy, the Beast, and the false Prophet, that cannot be still, Especially when the streams of Rome begin to decay: the streams that do water and refresh Rome. Then look for Wars, and Tumults of Wars, great Wars, mustering up of Popish Princes, and their Armies, and pagan Princes, and their Armies, there will be no backwardness in these earthly spirits, in this case, to the captivating of all (if it were possible) to the maintenance and supportance of Rome.  
And last of all, and so I make an end. Let this bee Use 4 the last use. It may serve to be some ground of stay unto Christian Princes, and such as shall be instruments of this reformation which this sixth Angel brings with him, Instruments of this wasting and drying up of the corruptions of Religion which shall waste Rome; I say though great Wars may arise from all the chief Princes of the World, both Popish and Pagan, and a great day of battle it will be when ever those days do shine forth (as hasteing they be,) why ye shall find this to be the comfort of it, a great day it shall be, It is so said in my Text, but not a great Day to the Beast, nor a great Day to the Dragon, nor a great Day to the false Prophet, (They look for a Day of it,) but it shall be a great day of GOD Almighty: men are afraid if they stir they shall bring Wars about their Ears, true they shall do so, they will arise at once: but though the battle will be great and terrible, yet never the less most comfortable to the People of God: It will be a great Day indeed, but a great Day of the Lord God Almighty, that he may offer a great sacrifice to himself by the hands of his servants, that all the souls of prey and the beasts of prey may all of them come, and eat the flesh of Kings, and the flesh of Captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of Horses and of them that sit on them; and the flesh of all men, both free and bound, both small and great; It will I say be a great Sacrifice to the Beasts of prey, and the fowls of prey: It shall be a great day indeed, but it shall not be a great day to the Papists, not a great day to the Dragon, nor to the Romish Catholic Church except it be a great day of their destruction, and that it will be indeed, as ye shall see when this battle is to be fought in the nineteenth Chapter, and they shall never trouble the World more, that will be the issue of it; The Dragon is reserved to a further day; but he shall be bound for a thousand years, and afterwards shall make a great battle with the Saints, but after that shall be taken, and then cast into the lake forever: But this will be a great day of God Almighty, wherein he will pour cut all the Vials of his wrath upon the enemies of God, and his people; that the Name of the Lord GOD Almighty may be praised from the rising of the Sun to the going down thereof.  
And therefore great and wonderful are the Works of the Lord that he doth reserve for after ages, wherein the loftiness of man he will lay low, but his name only shall be exalted Esay 2.2. Speaking of a fare less day than this that I am now speaking of; It will be a great day to the glory of God, and the good of his people; To the enlargement of the Church of Christ, but of destruction to the enemies of the Lord Jesus: That they may be overthrown, and taken and cast into the bottomless pit, never to rise up again.   

THE THIRD SERMON UPON THE SIXTH VIAL.  REVELAT. 16.15. Behold, I come as a thief: Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. 
YOu have heretofore heard that these words set forth a description of the pouring out of the sixth Vial. Set forth it is by the subject, upon the great River Euphrates. By the effects, they were double: First, Immediate, the waters thereof were dried up. The second was Accidental, and mediate, warlike preparation. The former effect of drying up the River, was amplified by the end; That the way of the Kings of the East might be prepared. The accidental effect, (which was warlike preparation) was set forth by a double argument: First, by the efficients, Principal and Instrumental. Secondly, by the watchword which the Lord gives his people. The efficients were (principally) the Devil, the Beast, and the false Prophet. The Instrumentals were certain spirits, for nature: three spirits for number: Unclean for quality: Like Frogs for similitude: Out of the mouth of the Beast, the Dragon, and the false Prophet: For their original which are described by their effects, which are three: They work miracles; They go forth to the Kings of the earth, to gather them to battle: And thirdly, They do gather them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. The watchword which is the second Adjunct, observed in this warlike preparation, is the watchword of the Lord Jesus to his people (in the words of my Text) there are two parts of it: First, a description of the manner of his coming: by a comparison taken from the manner of a thief: Behold I come as a thief. The second is a word of promise, unto such as watch and keep their garments at that time. The promise is first of blessedness to them: And secondly, the prevention of the discovery of their own nakedness and shame: Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, left he walk naked; and they see his shame. Not to repeat what hath been delivered, that which offereth itself here to our consideration, is a twofold doctrine. the first is this:  
Doct. 1 When Frogs, and unclean Spirits, (that is to say) when Popish Instruments shall go forth To gather the Princes of the earth, and of the whole world, unto battle: And those Princes shall go forth to battle against the Lord and his people. It is behooveful for the people of God, to behold the Lord Jesus coming against them, or coming to them as a thief. That's the note: when the Lord exposes his people to great trials, by the busy diligence of those Frogs, or by the violent rage of the Beast and Kings of the earth, against Religion: The Lord than calls his people to behold him coming upon them, (I mean upon all the professors of the Gospel) the Lord calls them to look upon him coming at them, or coming to them as a thief. Behold (saith he) I come as a thief. When doth he say so? when these Frogs were let forth: Those unclean spirits of Devils sent forth to stir up the Kings of the earth, and of the world to gather them to battle, against the Lord, and against his people, and against Christian Religion, and them that maintain it. Then, Behold, I come as a thief: They are the words of the Lord Jesus. Because the notes are double, that the Text holds forth; I must be brief in either of them.  
As a thief] The Scripture hath respect to a fourefould manner of a thief coming. He doth not come as a thief in Justice or robbery: That the holy Spirit of the Lord Jesus cannot be capable of. How can he steal any thing from us, which is not his own: There is nothing but it is his, and therefore in that sense he cannot be said to come as a thief, (But yet) as a thief he can come suddenly, and he can come secretly and slily, yea, and he can come also violently, and terribly, as a thief.  
Thus he can come, and thus he is described in the Scripture to come; which, though some think it to be at the last judgement, yet I cannot so conceive it; for here's a world of business that is to be translated after this Vial is poured out: above a thousand years after this, before the coming of Christ to the last judgement, but his coming in any notable judgement, his coming, especially if it be a coming suddenly, and secretly, and powerfully: It is coming as a thief, as ye have an instance of it in Rev. 3.3. to the Church of Sardis, I will come on thee as a thief. How like a thief? Thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. And so in Luke 12.39. If the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. But coming suddenly, and secretly, at unawares therefore it comes to pass, that the good man of the house is asleep, and the thief breaks thorough and steals, when all is bisht then he comes, like a thief in the night, 1 Thes. 5.2. Your selv as know perfectly, that the day of the Lord so cometh, as a thief in the night. So like a thief he comes suddenly, and secretly. Thirdly, he comes as a thief, to take away, and bereave a man of such goods as he carnally keeps, not to steal from him, but to recover his own: Though not as a lawless thief stealeth, yet as a just recoverer of his father's goods, out of the hands of those that have not been faithful in improving of them. John 10.10. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come, that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.  
And so he may come also to kill; but not unjustly, as a thief, but verily as a just Judge, upon those that do not watch, and keep their garments: He may take their garments, and leave them naked, that men may see their shame, and justly too, because they have not watched, but have suffered themselves to be defiled.  
Thus than Christ will come at that time (ye shall have many men serious of Reformation, when the Lord shall dry up the River Euphrates, that makes glad the city of Babel) when the ten Kings shall come to make the Whore desolate: the Lord will then come and try all those Kings and their soldiers, who ever they are he will try them: in the Frogs he will try them, secretly and slily, for they will not cease to be enchanting, as secretly as they can, into the hearts of Kings, and all godly spirits; to turn things bacl again into the former course of corruption: into those idolatries and thefts, which made glad the City of Rome, and which did uphold the Turk.  
And in the Kings of the earth, and of the world, he will come upon them as a thief violently and terribly, to shake the hearts of all the Kings of Christendom (as it's called) to withdraw them from the Reformation of Religion, which they shall be zealously addicted to; suddenly to drive them to their former superstition of their forefathers. So in one sort of these he will come as a thief, secretly and slily; In the other sort of these, he will come as a thief, violently and terribly.  
Reas. 1 If ye shall ask the Reason of the Point, the Reason is shortly this; First, it is taken from the instrument in which Christ doth come, for Christ is many times resembled by the instruments which he useth; if he useth instruments of a still voice, than he comes not with a rending, but with a still voice: so ye read in 1 Kings 19.12. So here he comes in these unclean spirits, for the Lord acts them; he comes in Potent Princes, for he is said to come in the likeness of these, he comes in them both; and he is said to come as a thief, in the likeness of these Frogs, because they come in his likeness. Ye shall have many false Prophets come in my name, (saith Christ) Mat. 24.24. Take heed of them, for they shall deceive many; they shall come secretly, and slily, and play legerdemain, and by that means deceive many; and they shall come outrageously, first against the Lord and his people; and the Lord comes forth in their rage: that look as it is said (by some Interpreters) of Paul, 1 Cor. 15.32. He fought with beasts at Ephesus, after the manner of men; they interpret it thus, not that ever he was put to any such trial (that any probable Story's mention) in Ephesus, or any where else; but he fought with beasts at Ephesus, after the manner of men; because, the men of Ephesus fought with him after the manner of beasts: So Christ is said to come in these men, because they come in the name of Christ, and plead for the Catholic Church of Christ, and the Vicar of Christ. Behold, I come as a thief; they are all but thiefs, though they pretend to come in the name of Christ; that may be one part of the meaning: But yet notwithstanding, this that followeth do I most of all cleave unto, not excluding that.  
This may be another, taken from the authority of Christ, and power of Christ, in leading a people into temptation, what ever the instruments be; I say it is the Lord Jesus that leads his people into all kinds of temptation, whatsoever the instruments be: If any Prophet be deluded, it is Christ the Lord hath deluded that Prophet: Or if any Tyrants be set up, it is the Lord that sets them up: Or what ever unclean spirits come against his Church, it is the Lord that stirred them up, it is the Lord that stirred them up unto this battle against his Church, it is the Lord that stirred them up, what ever the instruments be, be they Frogs, or unclean spirits that gathers to the battles of Pray; And therefore we are taught to pray in (that which is commonly called) the Lord's Prayer (Mat. 6.13.). Led us not into temptation: We pray to the Lord, that he would not lead us into temptation: As who should say, to the Lord it belongs, to bring one creature against another; the devil against Eve, and Eve against the devil; the Lord it is that brings the evil, whoever be the instruments; it is the Lord that brings his challenge into the field, he brings Goliath into the valley of Elah. And therefore when it is said, 1 Chron. 21.1. that Satan risen up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel. In 2 Samuel 24.1. it is said, The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them, to say, Go number Israel and Judah. The Lord was angry with the people, and then he let Satan lose to tempt David to number the people: It was the Lords do, though it was Satan's act. And so, when Micaiah in his Vision saw the Lord sitting on his Throne, and all the host of Heaven standing by him, on his right hand, and on his left. And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up, and fall at Ramoth-Gilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. At length (saith the Text) there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his Prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: (saith the Lord) Go forth and do so. 1 Kings 22.19, 20, 21, 22. So that (mind you) whoever goes forth, the Lord sends him, the Dragon, the Beast, and the false Prophet, may give one Commission, but the Lord gives him permission; yea, and (I may say) Commission too: For in effecting the thing, the Lord doth it; that as David saith of Shimei, The Lord hath bid him curse me: (that is to say) he hath given him effectual liberty, and opportunity to do the thing, as if he had given him a command to do it. If a false Prophet arise (saith the Lord in Deuteronomie, Chapter 13. Verse 12.) and give thee a sign, and a wonder;) saying, Let us go after other gods, Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of the Prophet, or unto the dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your hearts, and with all your souls  
The Lord will suffer such to come, and this he doth to try his people, so that (mind you) it is the Lords do, it is he that commands a thief, when he comes like a thief: it is the Lord that sends forth such that are clothed with sheep's skins, but inwardly are ravening wolves; though they have no direct commission from God, yet they have such secret permission from God, and commission by giving them opportunity to do that which they come for; that indeed the Lord comes: Beloved, think it not strange (saith the Ap: Peter, 1 Pet. 4.12.) concerning the fiery trial, which is come to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you. He means the ten Persecutions, the Persecutions in Nero's time, and those that were to follow. Let no man think it strange; why? for judgement must begin at the house of God, to that (mind ye) all the fiery trials, what were they but the judgements of God: God sends them forth in his fatherly wisdom, and by his Sovereign Authority, to try the patience, and wisdom, and watchfulness of his people: And therefore it becomes the people of God, when they see such creatures budge, and when they see the Kings of the earth stir: then, Behold, saith the Lord, I come as a thief, suddenly, secretly, slily, and violently.  
Use 1 And the use of this point serves to teach us neither to justify men, nor to condemn the Lord Jesus, for that were a sinful violating of the Scripture. Let it be therefore a caution to teach us to avoid both these, and neither to justify theft, nor to condemn the Lord; it is not the Lords meaning, but make account of this, though the Lord come as a thief, that doth not justify theft, but aggravate the sin of theft: If a thief shall make use of the opportunities, which the providence of God puts into his hand, of the nimbleness of his wits, and the authority he hath in his speech, and the power he hath with Princes: I say that man that shall abuse such things as are given him of the Lord, this doth not excuse their sin, much less justify it, but it aggravates it, and they shall find it so one day. It is a very divine speech of our Saviour, john 19.10, 11 Pilate saith to him, Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to lose thee? jesus answered, Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. And it implies also (and it had been a wholesome lesson for Pilate to have sucked out of it) that it was the greater sin in Pilate, to abuse his authority, to condemn the Lord Jesus.  
For judas to betray Christ to the Jews Ecclesiastical Authority: and for the Jews to deliver Christ into the hands of Pontius Pilate, it was a great sin, and so much the greater, because pilate's authority was of God; and they would arm the sword of God against the Lord Jesus: And if Pilate had the power given him of God either to crucify Christ, or lose him: if he shall abuse his authority, in putting Christ to death, as he did: Then he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sins: But thou then that dost abuse thy power, to crucify me, shalt be found very sinful in the end: So that, that will not excuse any Instrument for abusing the power for such an end. If God raise up Pharaoh (Exod. 10 16.) to make his power known, and to declare his name throughout all the world: If he shall abuse this Authority, the more heavy will the wrath of God be upon him; and it will not be for him and such like to complain against God; and say he hath ordained me to it; Oh man who art thou that disputest against God: for God never doth it, but being over-justly provoked by the creature. Therefore so much the greater is the sin of any that will abuse their wits and parts in a way of sin against God: And therefore it must teach men to beware of excusing theft: And neither is their unrighteousness in Christ, For the Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works, Psal. 145.17.  
He doth not these  spirits, (Cardinals, Bishops and Jesuits) any wrong; but even as the Seraphims cried one to another, so let us learn, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory. When is this? When he sends Isaiah to harden the hearts of the people, and make their ears deaf, Isa. 6.3, 10. So that let the Lord and his Throne be guiltless, and let guilt lie upon these thiefs; thiefs and robbers, let them bear the burden of their own sins.  
If we ask how this can be imagined? Ans. All this acting with theeeves is an accidental concurring; in all these things the Lord doth no act but holy and good: neither his efficacy in coworking with them; all this efficacy is only an accidental concurring. God gives them the gift and the opportunity which they will abuse: And so these Kings of the earth are justly deluded, because they received not the truth in the love of it, 2 Thess. 2.10, 11, 12. Thus is the Lord and his Throne guiltless, but all the theft and robbery lies on the instruments (which the Lord doth use) in their own abuse, he that rides a horse which halts, every step he takes, the halting is not the owners that rides him, but the horses. And so when the Sun hardens clay, it softens wax; and when it draws stinking savours out of the dunghill, it draws sweet savours out of the garden: hardening to the clay, and stinking savours to the dunghill, is not properly from the Sun, but in themselves, occasionally from the Sun. Even so it is in this case. This evil lies not in the proper act of the Lord Jesus, but accidentally only from him. Thus therefore the first Use; for a second Use,  
Use 2 It may serve to teach the people of God thus much, when ever you see evil spirits, the spirits of error, let lose; and when you see great men come on you with violence and rage, how then? why then to behold the Lord coming upon you himself: He comes upon you, and he comes then upon you as a thief: you must therefore behold the Lord in all the changes that befall you; look at the Lord in them, The Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken, blessed be the name of the Lord: Thus job, (in job 1.21. and Chap. 2.10.) when the Lord sorely visited him, in his cattles, and servants, and children, and in his own body, he sees the Lord's hand in all the sad changes that passed over him: and it is a notable speech he hath in job 16.11, 12, 13, 14. God hath delivered me up to the ungodly, and turned me into the hands of the wicked, and God hath delivered me. He sees the hand of God in all, and there's marvellous benefit in that: First, it keepeth a man (always) patiented and meek in all: Psal. 39.9. I was dumb, I opened not my mouth because thou didst it. He sees it is God's hand, and therefore he patiently submits thereto, he hath not a word to say, but meekly submits; the Lord doth all, comes upon me as a thief, Blessed be the name of the Lord.  
I was worth thus much within this twelve month, and now not worth half so much; Blessed be the name of the Lord. I was rich in cattles, or in this or that commodity, but now the prizes are fallen, they are not worth half, nor (it may be) one third of that they were; the Lord hath done this, he hath come upon us on a sudden like a thief, and blessed be his name for it.  
Secondly, it helps us in the use and improvement of them all, it naturally leads men by the hand, to humble themselves under the hand of God: and this is the only way to obtain deliverance, 1 Peter 5.6. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: It's not the casualties or calamities of the Country that comes either by chance, or fortune, but from the Lord, he taketh away all, by one means or another, takes away all; whether by our pride, that we must have every new fashion, and be like the men of the world, in houses, apparel, and the like, or daintiness, that we must have our varieties, be it what it will be, though it cost never so much; and no matter what follows, though it eat up our estates, and brings us into want: The Lord hath made use of our folly, and pride, and daintiness, our idleness, our covetousness, (or what ever it be) to bring us into poverty, the Lord hath done it; and let the people of God see the hand of God in it.  
Thirdly, it leads you by the hand in all the sad changes that pass over you, to look to the Lord, and to wrestle with the Lord, and not to stand wrestling with men: Jacob he is in trouble, and he wrestles with the Lord, Genesis 32.26. And so it behoves the Lord's people to wrestle with the Lord, and not to stand contesting with the Bishops, nor with the Jesuits, as it may be men may do: No, no, prevail with the Lord, and get him to turn all things about; and if Jacob get God to bless him, Esau shall not (then) curse him. I will not let thee go till thou bless me; and if the Lord bless Jacob, Esau shall be cursed.  
And lastly, it will help you to quit yourselves like men in all the things that do befall you; as Paul saith in 1 Corinthians 16.13. God hath set us (saith the Apostle) upon a Theatre, (as the word is in the original, 1 Corinthians 4.9.) unto the world, and unto Angels, and unto men; therefore saith he, quit yourselves like men, as Heb. 10.35.) Cast not away your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward; for ye have need of patience, etc. It behoves Christians to quit themselves like men, sanctifying the Lord in all conditions, in afflictions and crosses, wrestling with him to turn away these things, and to turn us from all our evil ways; and then walking in a holy self-denial, and integrity of heart and life, giving every man his own: And so while we walk in paths of holiness and righteousness, in humility and meekness of spirit; unclean spirits may come out against us, and the Lord come as a thief upon us, and yet when he doth, we shall keep our own garments. So much for the first Point.  
The second Note is this; that  
Doctr. 2 A watchful Christian keeps his garments in times of fraudulent, or violent calamities, or trial, enjoys his own blessedness, and prevents the shameful discovery of his own nakedness.  
It's evident in the Text, Behold, I come as a thief: Blessed is he that watcheth, and keep th' his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. He that watcheth, and keeps his garments, when Christ cometh he is blessed, that is, he enjoys his own blessedness, and increaseth it, and establisheth it; and he shall by this means prevent the discovery of his own shame and nakedness, or his shameful nakedness.  
Quest. What are these garments, garments in the Plural Number?  
Answ. They are interpreted briefly in the 19 Chapter of the Revelation, Verse 8. The fine linen is the righteousness of the Saints. There is a double righteousness of the Saints; there is an inherent righteousness, and an imputed righteousness: An inherent righteousness, He that doth righteousness, is righteous, 2 John 3.7. There is a righteousness therefore of a man's own, to wit, spiritual graces; as, Zachary and Elizabeth were both righteous before God, Luke 1.6. And it is well observed by some holy Divines, that he puts a double Epithet upon this righteousness of the Saints, a double commendation; they are pure, and they are bright, this fine linen it's both pure and bright; for the words are in the original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (and they well observe it) pure, because imputed, righteousness is pure indeed, and hath no spot in it, but it is not bright, you can see no great matter in it, it maketh no great show before men: A man may be very much defiled, and be subject to many scandals, and yet clothed with the garment of imputed righteousness; the righteousness inherent, is the righteousness of a godly heart and life before men; Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, Matth. 5.16. The righteousness of Christ imputed (I mean the righteousness of Christ received by faith, and imputed by grace, is a pure righteousness hat shines before God, and not before men. But the righteousness inherent, that's not pure, (but very bright) before men. There is therefore a righteousness that is very bright, that's the righteousness inherent, expressed in our conversation; and there is another righteousness, to wit, the righteousness imputed, which is incomparably more pure: As it hath been said of old, There is not the poorest Saint, though Lazarus on the dunghill, but is as pure as the Virgin Mary, Phil. 2.8. So then those are the garments, clothed in bright and in pure garments: And these garments are the righteousnesses of the Saints. Garments, why? To  our nakedness, for our natural corrupt estate is nakedness: Now both these are given to cover this nakedness of ours; these Indewments, rightly so called; Endowments, or Induments, Knowledge covers the nakedness of our ignorance; Zeal covers the nakedness of our Luke warmness; Wisdom covers the nakedness of our Folly, Faithfulness covers the nakedness of our unfaithfulness and falsheartednesse; Humility covers the nakedness of our Pride; Patience covers the nakedness of our Passion; Chastity covers the nakedness of our Wantonness; and the Righteousness of Christ covers all: And as garments cover the nakedness, so they keep us from the injuries of weather, wet and cold, etc. so do these garments keep us from all injuries in the world; all temptations from the devil, or our own corrupt lusts: And they do adorn us also, in the sight of men, and make us beautiful, amiable, and glorious, as our garments which are not only for necessity, but comeliness.  
Now, Bl●ssed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments. Which argueth, that our garments are kept by watchfulness; watcheth unto what? Watcheth unto prayer, 1 Pet. 4.7. Watch, (saith our Saviour to his sleepy Disciples) Mat. 26.41. And, Watch unto the Word: Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy W●rd. Psal. 119.9. Watch unto Prayer, and watch unto the Word, and watch unto your conversation and ways, and then keep your garments and yourselves clean; and then watch to the special duties of your calling: Blessed are those servan s, whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching, (Luke 12.37.) Verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down at meat, and will come forth and serve him. Then Peter said unto him, (ver. 41.) Lord speakest thou this Parable to us, or even to all? And the Lord said, Who is that faithful and wise Steward, whom his Lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing: in the 22 and 43 verses of the same Chapter. When a man watches to the improving of his calling, unto those good ends, for which God hath given him it. Why? Blessed is that man, which when the Lord cometh, he shall find so doing. And fourthly, he watches unto his own heart, that he does not trust to his own righteousness; and runs away from God by deceitfulness and unbelief of his own heart: Take heed (saith the Apostle) lest there be in any of you an heart of unbelief, to departed from the living God, Heb. 3.12. And so, Watchfulness is opposed unto Drowsiness, especially in good duties, Luke 6.41. it is opposed to Sensuality, Luke 21.34, 35, 36. it is opposed also to carnal Security, 2 Thess. 5.2, 3, 4. So see now by this means, whilst a man watcheth unto prayer, watcheth to the Word, watcheth to his calling, and watcheth over his own unclean, corrupt, and deceitful heart; Hence it comes to pass, that he keeps his garments so bright; in one word, he keeps faith and a good conscience, and faith helps him to keep his garments: He keeps holiness and righteousness, and all is kept in this holy way. So that by this means, what ever thiefs or robbers come, a man's garments are kept clean; he is not gulled out with those Frogs, nor frighted or tired out with these Kings of the earth. So that by this means he doth not show his own nakedness, but doth enjoy his own blessedness.  
Reas. 1 For the Reason of this Point briefly, and so come to the Use. The Reason is taken from the Lords graciousness, and tender respect to a watchful spirit.  
It is (as I remember) one of the aboundantest promises of grace that is made to any estate of God's people, that he makes to a watchful heart, in the forenamed place in Luke 12.37. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching: why, wherein lies their blessedness? The Lord (saith the Text) shall gird up himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. A wel-girt Christian hath ever a well-girt Christ to minister to him; that as his garments are girt to him, and the loins of his mind girt up, and his Spirit attentive to watch over himself, and to watch to his calling; The Lord Jesus will watch over him, and he shall enjoy him, and his blessedness: And wherein lies our blessedness? but in the enjoyment of Christ: Christ will be ever with us to help us to pray, and to hear our prayers: He will be with us to serve us, he will supply us, and carry an end all our works for us.  
And a second Reason is taken from the woeful nakedness of Reas. 2 corrupt nature, especially in a Christian profession: A wel-girt Christian will blush and be ashamed for any miscarriage before God and men. O my God (saith Ezra) I am ashamed, and blush to lift up my face to thee my God, for our iniquities are increased over our head, etc. Ungirtnesse, or looseness, fills a Christian with shame. I say, if this be the shamefulness of sin, the nakedness of it, that a man is not so ashamed of the nakedness of his body, as a Christian of the ungirtnesse of his spirit; why then (mind ye) he that watches and keeps his garments, he enjoys his own blessedness, and prevents the shameful discovery of his own nakedness. The use of this point is thus much.  
First, it may teach us, how to esteem truly and rightly of the Use 1 nature both of sin and righteousness, how to take a true estimation of both. Look at your passions, and look at your lusts, and look at all your natural parts: what are they all? (if they be not overpowered with holy gifts of grace) they are the very nakedness and shame of a man. If a man will have his own will, and not Gods will, the shame of stubbornness lies upon that man's heart. A spirit that is not lively and wakeful, but heavy and drowsy, it is a shameful nakedness. Covetousness is the very shame of a man; Pride is the very shame of a man. A man thinks himself the goodliest of all, and is shameful in the eyes of all. Wantonness is the very shame of a man. A man thereby makes himself one of the fools in Israel. So all errors in a man, they are the shame of a man; and so all the sinful miscarriages of a man, they are the shame and nakedness of a man, that he may blush to behold, and to think, and to hear of. And it will be a greater shame not to behold them, not to be willing to see them, when he is justly taxed with them. You think you will have your own will, and will shift off well enough all that is laid against you, verily it is the shame of your nakedness. All passionate, and proud carriages expressed in word or deed, are the shame of a man's nakedness. And idleness in a man's calling, is the very nakedness and shame of a man So on the other side, what is righteousness? the white linen of a Christian●? pure shining garments? They are such, that if the Lord look upon a man, he is pure in his eyes; if the world look upon him, he is bright, yea, it even dazzles the eyes of wicked men. I say, it is the honour of a Christiam, it is the comeliness of his person. There is no garment, that becomes a Christian so well, as to be clothed from top to toe with the pure g rments of Christ's righteousness imputed. Inherent righteousness is not so comely, save in the eyes of men. A tender conscience, a spirit easy to be entreated, is a comely spirit; a man void of passion, that hath the bridle and reins of his affections, it is a great beauty to a man; both righteousness inherent, and righteousness imputed, they make us walk so, as no man shall see our nakedness and shame. Diligence in a man's calling, and trustiness and faithfulness are comely things in Christians. A well-girt Christian the Lord will keep, that men shall not see his nakedness; though in many things he may fail and be ashamed, yet the Lord keeps him that men see not his nakedness. That is the first Use. And the second is this;  
Use 2 It must teach us holy watchfulness in all our Christian conversation, especially in such times when these frogs are croaking, and these ●●●ive spirits are le●ping up and down. There are many spirits of Error, as it is generally complained of (and I fear too justly) up and down the country: Some ye know, and more will know, and the sooner the better. Beware of them, look well to your garments, keep faith, and keep a good conscience: Keep them too, and you keep all your garments: I aith looks to your holiness, and a good conscience to your righteousness: Be watchful to Prayer, and watchful to the Word, and wathfull to your callings, and watchful to your own deceitful heart; when you see the false Prophets stir when you see errors stir: Keep your garments close, and so much the closer, when you see such spirits stirring; and now (I doubt not) it is a time when evil spirits are busy, and stirring in our native country. Oh that the people of God might be but watchful. Now Jesuits, and carnal hearts will be busy. Oh that all, high and low, of all the Nations of the earth were awaked, not to be entreated by them, that will strive to carry Religion in the old streams of Euphrates, that makes glad none but Cardinals, and Bishops, and carnal hearts; whatsoever is a support to new Babylon, or old; whatsoever maintains Popish Idolatry, or Turkish Tyranny: But to bestir themselves like men, that so the work of the Lord may go forward, and the streams of the River Euphrates may be dried up; what ever maintains Popish Idolatry, or Turkish Tyranny, that all this were dried up. What a cause of joy would this be to all the people of God If ye hear any ill news from our native country, you will hear nothing but shamefulness discovered. If men be not watchful, shamefulness in Doctrine, and shamefulness in Worship, and shamefulness in Government will be discovered, if men be not watchful at this day: For now is the time that God goes about to pour out the Vials of his wrath upon the Throne of the Beast, to dry up the Episcopacy. And ye shall find great way made for the drying up of the river Euphrates, for it will suddenly be dried up. I say (therefore) it behoves men in this time especially to be watchful; and therefore let us pray for our Brethren, and for ourselves in this regard, that the Lord would gird them and us close, that our lamps may be burning, as men that are bound to dry up this river Euphrates, that makes glad Rome, but sad the hearts of God's people.  
Last of all (to make an end) it will be a ground of comfort to Use 3 all watchful souls, to whom Christ comes as a thief; and yet when he doth come he finds them watching, and girt; (If the good man of the house did know when the thief would come, he would surely watch, and not suffer his house to be broken through, etc.) I say in such a case as this is; if the Lord give up the spirits of men (as I doubt not but he doth) those that are so, take it for your comfort; ye that are close girt, carry it home as an encouragement unto continual watchfulness. Such as walk before him spiritually and watchfully, mark what the Lord promiseth you, for ye see what the blessedness is which the Lord promiseth. He shall not have blessedness only, but he is a blessed man. Blessed is he that watcheth, he shall enjoy the Lord jesus Christ, and all Sovereign good. He will gird himself, and will sit down at table and minister unto you, Luke 17.7. A man will not say so to his servants. But (mind ye) here's a difference, that if so be a man have walked with a watchful frame of spirit, the Lord will serve him. A man that hath kept his garments without spot, the Lord so well approves the frame of his spirit, as that he will gird himself, and will serve him, (that is) ready prepared to do such a soul good.  
He shall find him at supper, he shall find him at the ordinances, at every spiritual duty he shall find him; at least, it will not be long, but he shall find him. I set aside extraordinary cases of trial, times of temptation and trial, which may come upon any of God's servants; and these shall not be long. The Lord will hid them under the shadow of his wings, and preserve them from shameful falls; or will hid the shamefulness of them; and the Lord will for the present be girt close to you: He will be ever and anon helping you in all trials and temptations, when you have most need of him, then shall ye find him ready to be most near you. And therefore it is a marvellous comfort, and stay to a Christian whom the Lord helps to be thus watchful: He will be a Sun, and a shield; and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk thus uprightly with him, Psalm 84.11.   

THE FOURTH PART, UPON THE sixth VIAL.  REVEL. 16.16: And he gathered them together into a place, called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. 
THESE words are the last part, of the description of the Event that followeth, upon the pouring out the Vial of the sixth Angel, and in them is set forth the Efficacy of those three Spirits of Devils: who as they are described, by their effect of working miracles, and going forth to gather men to the Battle of the great day of God Almighty, ver. 14. So they do prevail, they did gather them together into a field, wherein the Battle was fought, and that is called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.  
The place itself is of much difficulty, and much variety of Interpretations hath been made of it, I may not so much as reckon them up, much less spend time to refute them.  
In a word, two things are chief to be opened; First who is that [He] of whom it is said, [He gathered them together etc.] Secondly what is this place. Thirdly why is it described in the Hebrew tongue. Fourthly what is this unto Christian Kings. And fifthly wherefore is this Battle fought here?  
He gathered them together.] Some understand it of the Lord God Almighty, and so it might well be meant, for it is he that gathereth the Nations together into the Valley of jehosaphat; joel 3.2. Though that be not meant of this Armageddon, but is spoken of, Revel. 20.8, 9 The Lord indeed, may not be excluded from this work, yet because the same word is used, ver. 14. and it is an usual phrase in that language, to join Verbs of the singular number to neuter Substantives of the plural, therefore I would translate this Verb of the singular Number in the plural, and say [they gathered them,] they went forth to persuade them, and they did prevail mightily with them. For the word in the native and proper meaning of that Language, is to be translated in another Language in the plural Number rather than in the Singular.  
Into a place called [Armageddon] there be that translate it to signify the destruction of a Troop, now than may agree to any place under Heaven; And I know not then why it should be expressed in Hebrew: A Greek word might have expressed it as well. Some do interpret it to be the Mount of delights, which the Turks shall compass; but you shall find that this is not that Battle; that is it which shall be fought in the Valley of jehosaphat (though they be usually confounded by Interpreters) but that Battle to which they are here gathered, is fought in the 19 chap. ver. 17. to 21. The Battle of Gog and Magog, which is in the valley of jehosaphat, is spoken of in the 20. chapter of this book; therefore you read that the Devil was bound a thousand years, and then loosed out of Prison, and at length cast into the Lake that burneth with fire, and brimstone; (Rev. 20.10.) where he found the Beast and the false Prophet, who were both cast in before, Rev. 19.20. So that I dare not understand it to be meant indefinitely, nor of the Mount of delights; for I know not why they here spoke of (to wit Christian Kings) should go to jerusalem to fight this Battle; their business will lie nearer home. And whereas many think that the jews shall have a great stroke in this Battle, I dare not consent unto that, because there is but a way prepared for them in this Vial; they shall come in the seventh Vial; These things put me off from closing with these, and such like Interpretations: what then may be the meaning hereof?  
Armageddon doth signify the hill of Megiddon, for Maygeddon, and Megiddon are but different writings holding forth the same thing: But why should it be called thus? shall this battle be fought there? there is no light for that. But as he sometimes calleth Rome by the names of Sodom, and Egypt; and Babylon, because of their near resemblance one to another: So this is called Armageddon, because of the near resemblance of that battle fought in this field, unto those battles which were fought in Megiddon in old time; For it is usual in the Prophecies of the New Testament, to allude unto things spoken of in the Old: Now you may remember that three great battles have been fought in Megiddon, and I conceive that the Holy Ghost maketh the events of the battle here fought, to be like the events of those battles.  
First there was fought the battle of Deborah and Barak against jabin and Sisera which (the text saith) was by the waters of Megiddo, judg. 5.19. This battle ended in a memorable and joyful victory, celebrated with a joyful Psalm, judg. 5. This overthrow there given was dreadful to all their adversaries, they destroyed them all, and saved not a man of them: an eminent victory it was, and therefore Deborah prayeth, so let all thine Enemies perish O Lord, ver. 31. And David prayeth concerning Gods Enemies, do unto them as unto Sisera, as to jabin at the brook Kison, which perished at Endor etc. And like hereunto will this battle in Armageddon be, when those Canaanites which have oppressed the Church of God shall be oppressed, and crushed in pieces by the 10. Kings that shall rise against them.  
There was a second battle fought at Megiddon, and that by josiah and Pharaoh Nechoh who met josiah at Megiddo, and slew him there, 2. Kings 23.29. whereupon there grew a great Lamentation, in so much, that all judah and jerusalem mourned for josiah, and jeremiah lamented for josiah, and all the singing men and singing women spoke of josiah in their Lamentations, 2 Chron. 35.24, 25. And hereupon jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations, as if he had seen the City ruined, their wives ravished, their children tossed upon the spears of their Enemies, because the breath of Church and Commonwealth, and every Family was choked in the death of josiah. And the like Effect of mourning shall this battle fought in Armageddon work in the jews, and shall become the rise of their calling, when as they shall see the mighty power of Christ in rooting out all Image-worship, and worshippers that have so long time hindered them, from coming to the knowledge of the Messiah; then shall there be a great mourning amongst them, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Mageddon, Zach. 12.10, 11. Therefore it is spoken of in the Hebrew tongue, because this shall befall the Hebrew people, as when you read, Rev. 9.11. that the King of the bottomless pit hath his name in the Hebrew Abaddon, and in the Greek tongue Apolion, it is to be understood that he is a destroyer both unto the Jews and Gentiles: and if you shall afterward hear of some tnat sing hallelujah, know of a truth that it principally concerneth those, in whose language it is spoken, (for every Nation is to praise God in his own Language:) so the battle will be fought in Armageddon, because as it will be a great destruction to God's Enemies, so it will produce a peninentiall, and comfortable mourning at the length unto the jews.  
But why is it called the Hill of MEGIDDON, these battles were fought in the valley? therefore the Holy Ghost would not express it barely by the name of Magiddo, that so he might point besides these, at another battle which was fought in the hill of Megiddon: now the hill that looked over this valley, was Mount Gilboa, where the battle was fought by the Philistines against Saul, upon whose overthrow David was established in the Kingdom; The men of Israel and Saul, and his sons fell down slain in Mount Gilboa, 1 Sam. 31.28. From hence went Saul to inquire of the Witch at Endor, and that was in the valley of Megiddon; so they were nigh one to another, for Baraks' battle with Sifera was fought near Endor, Psal. 83.9, 10. Thus we have an allusion to all these three notable and memorable battles, whereas had he said in a place in the Hebrew tongue Gilboa, then had he limited the allusion unto saul's battle, who was indeed a destroyer of Religion, but so other effects of this battle fought in this Text, had not been pointed at. Therefore that he might grasp in all those Events, which those battles that were fought about Megiddon brought forth, he saith the place was called Armageddon; and it is an usual thing that battles in the hill are pursued to the valley, and in the valley to the Hill: the hill and the valley lying near together. And indeed the same Events will this battle bring forth, which fell out upon all the former battles at Megiddo. So then the sum is, that these spirits went forth to gather these Popish and Heathen Princes together, into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon, where the battle shall have the like success, that it had of old unto the destruction of God's Enemies, the utter ruin of Antichrist, as of Saul, the settling of the Kingdom of Christ upon David, unto the conversion of the jews, who shall upon this occasion mourn bitterly over him, whom they have pierced. Only let us a little further clear one scruple which may somewhat remain; why shall the jews come in mourning at this victory? shall they mourn with Indignation for the success of Christian Princes, and States? or shall it be a mourning of compassion for the destruction of Rome? no verily, the text is plain, they will rejoice for both, and join together with the rest of the Christian Churches to praise the name of the Lord with Hallelujahs in the 19 chapter of this book and the 1. ver. After these things, (that is after the destruction of Babel) I heard a great voice of much people in Heaven saying Hallelujah: So again ver. 3.6. they shall praise God with an Hallelujah, as well as the Latins with a Laudate Dominum: It is therefore neither a mourning of Indignation for the succ sse of the Saints, nor of compassion for the Rivers of Babel; but (what is it then?) It is a mourning of compunction whereby they, (seeing in this battle that Christ is indeed the true Messiah) they shall mourn that they have been so long estranged from him; for two main stumbling blocks will this battle remove out of their way.  
First, that which is their great stumbling block, to wit, the Pope who is counted the Father of Christian Churches, and yet himself liveth like an Epicure, and maintaineth Idolatry and superstition; and though many in the world abhor his ways, yet they look at them but as Sects, and inferior people and States, in respect of the Pope and Popish Princes; but when they shall see that the Zeal of Christian Princes hath dried up those streams of Superstition, to the utter confusion of the man of sin, then will they also see that, that jesus whom they have resisted all this while, even that jesus is the Messiah.  
2. There is also another stumbling block, which some of their more learned stand upon, that when the Messiah comes, he shall destroy the four Monarchies spoken of, Dan. 2.45. The stone that was cut out of the Mountain without hand, broke in pieces the Iron, the Brass, the clay, the Silver, and the Gold: Now (say they) if your jesus be the Messiah, how cometh it to pass the Monarchy standeth upon his two feet, the Turk and Pope? but they might have considered that the Lord jesus hath been crushing them a great while together, and he never told them that he would do it as soon as he came, though he will never leave until he hath crushed them to the dust, and when once this battle is fought, that there shall be no more remaining, but what is the Jews work to do: then shall they see the Prophecy of Daniel fulfilled, when the battle in Armageddon shall end in the destruction of the man of Sin and then shall they see Jesus Christ held forth in the purity of the Gospel, contrary whereunto no word of the Prophets shall be found, and then shall they see him whom they have crucified to be indeed both Lord and Christ: Then shall they see that the name of the Lord jesus, which they now curse in their Liturgies is blessed for ever, now they will grieve that they have cursed his name blasphemously, praying that it might perish from under these Heavens, and from above this Earth: for these things will they mourn bitterly.  
Object. But you will say, that to see the success of a battle, is not a sufficient means to convert a people to the Lord, that are fully possessed with their own ways: Here indeed may be a removens prohibens, that may somewhat help forward; but it is needful unto their Conversion, that some word of God be set home to their hearts to convince them, that the curse of the Law which belongeth unto them, it is Christ only that hath borne it for them.  
Ans. It is no small means of conversion, to see the Lord bearing witness against the corruptions of Religion, in destroying the Enemies of his people. You know the story of jethro (who was a Prince or Priest of Midian,) when he cometh to see his son Moses, who told him of all the great deliverances that God had wrought for his people, Exod. 18. 8.9, 10. what saith he? now I know that the Lord is greater than all Gods: for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them: This is the effect of his hearing of the wonders that God had wrought for his people: so that you need not doubt it, but when these battles are fought (though they shall be no parties on the one side nor on the other) yet they shall hear what will be reported upon this occasion, in the public Ministry of the word, which will be sufficient to convince (as a Priest of Midian; so) a jew, that this is the Lord jesus, who hath so fulfilled all that he hath spoken of in his word. And moreover I do believe, that great will be the power of the Ministry of the word in fight of this battle, by declaring the powerful presence of Christ with them, and for them; thus shall the sword of the Ministry of the Gospel prevail mightily, by animating Christian Princes and people, according as it is said, chap. 19.21. of this book; the remnant were slain with the sword that proceedeth out of his mouth, that is, out of the mouth of jesus Christ, and when the word of Christ goeth along with the sword of Princes, you need not wonder if it do not only prevail against the Beast, and false Prophet, but also to make Satan fall down from Heaven like lightning, even out of the hearts of the jews, from deceiving them any longer.  
Thus much for the opening of the words, which though it have been long and difficult, yet many times things most difficult to open, are sweetest to chew upon, as in all bones, and the like; let us therefore from hence observe this note.  
That the Event and success of the great, and last battle, Doct. which Christian Princes shall fight against Antichrist, and his Adherents, shall be like in success to the battels fought at Armageddon: that is to say, desperate destruction to the Enemies of God's people; joyful victories, and Triumphs to the Churches of Christ; godly sorrows and penitential mourning to the jews.  
All these several Events are inclusively spoke unto, in this word Armageddon, and each branch of them are expressly mentioned in this book, and other Prophecies of Scripture.  
First, that there shall be great and desperate destruction to the Enemies of God's people, you read in chapter 19, that it will be so great that the Angel standing in the midst of the Sun, cried with a loud voice saying to all the fowls, that fly in the midst of Heaven, come, and gather yourselves together to the Supper of the great God, that ye may eat the flesh of Kings, and the flesh of Captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men both free and bond, both small and great: therefore this battle must not be sought only with the Ministry of the Gospel, (though that will mightily concur) but with the sword, and Weapons of war, else the fowls of Heaven would have little flesh to eat, upon battles fought by the Ministry of the word: but Word and Sword fight together. Thus will there be wrought a great destruction to God's Enemies, to satiate all the fowls of Heaven.  
And there will be great rejoicing and Triumph to the Churches of Christ, as you read of their songs of praise, for the victory gotten by Deborah and Barak, over jabin and Sisera, judges 5. So here there will be many Hallelujahs, chap. 19.1. to the end of 7. which they sing again and again to the Lord.  
And thirdly it will be matter of penitential mourning to the Israel of God, Zach. 12.10, 11. when they shall see Christ coming in his glorious power, it will break their hearts with holy mourning over them, and this shall be fulfilled when the new jerusalem shall come from God out of Heaven, as is prophesied in this book, chapter 21.2.10. Then shall the Tribes of the Earth mourn bitterly after jesus Christ.  
Why will the Events of these battles be the same?  
Reas. 1 First, because God's Enemies will be like in their sins, unto those that fought against Israel of old; Therefore they must partake in the like Judgements, wherein are they like in their sins? In their oppressions of the people of God; so Jabin mightily oppressed the children of Israel, judges 4.3. And Saul was a malicious persecuter of David: So hath the man of sin, and his Adherents been malicious persecuters of the Saints of God. And Saul took Counsel of the Witch at Endor; So have these been famous for their witchcrafts, neither did they repent of their sorceries, chap. 9 ult. Now as their sins are like, so shall their punishments be, because of the unchangeable wisdom and justice of God, who punisheth now as he did of old, Psal. 83.9, 10. The likeness of their sins, the likeness of God's justice, bring forth the like kind of judgements, now as of old.  
If you shall ask the Reason why there shall be the like occasion of rejoicing.  
It is because the Lord shall in like manner avenge his people Reas. 2 now, as he did of old, judg. 5.2. where she calleth upon God's people to praise the Lord for the avenging of Israel: so shall he now judge the Whore, and avenge the blood of his servants at her hand; Rev. 19.2. And look as of old they went on destroying, to destroy the Enemies of the people of God until they had consumed them: so shall the people of God now do until they have extinguished utterly the name of Popery, and made it like dung upon the face of the Earth: and as there was way made of old for the glorious Kingdom of David; so shall there be way made by these Wars, for David to be the Prince of God's people for ever, as the Prophet Ezechiel foretelleth, chap. 34.23, 34. and 37.24.25. not in visible presence; I dare not take up such carnal Imaginations, as that Christ shall come bodily, and reign here upon the Earth, but by his Spirit, and in his Servants, he shall reign on the Earth: And all these things shall give the people of God great, and wonderful causes of rejoicing.  
If you shall ask in the third place, why Gods ancient people the jews shall be called to such penitential mourning. Reas. 3  
1, The Reason first is taken from the sense, which they shall have of their own sin, a sprinkling whereof we find Act. 2.37. when they were pricked in heart, and said unto Peter, and to the rest of the Apostles, Men and Brethren, what shall we do? such will the sense of their sin be hereafter, as will affect, and afflict them with affliction like that of the jews, for the death of Josiah; yea it is set forth in Zach. 12.10, 11. by the deepest mourning that can befall a family: they shall mourn as one mourneth for his only son, and be in bitterness, as one that is in bitterness for his first borne; It is true, the loss of some wife may be greater than the loss of some son: but he speaketh there of the mourning of Husband and Wife together, and they can lose no greater outward blessing, than their first borne: And such was mourning for the death of josiah, wherein they saw, the ruin of Family, Church, and Commonwealth: Therefore jeremy complaineth, that the breath of their Nostrils was taken away, Lament. 4.20. They mistake that think it was spoken of Zedechiah, for the Lamentations were written upon the death of josiah, 2 Chro. 37.25. which was a bitter mourning to them all: and such shall be their mourning in their return to the Lord, when they shall see that the death of Christ hath been the ruin, & desperate destruction, and damnation of all their Families for these many Generations, & that all the Calamities that have come upon them for these 1600. years, have sprung from this, that their Fathers have put Christ to death, by which means they have been runagates upon the face of the earth, the sense of that horrible sin & misery which they have brought upon themselves and theirs, by the death of their josiah, & Messiah shall thus deeply afflict them.  
2. The second ground of their mourning, will spring not only from the sight and sense of their sin, but of the wonderful & unspeakable grace & mercy of God unto them to give them that Son of his who hath given himself to death for them: they shall be so ashamed, & confounded, with the sense of God's tender mercy & loving kindness towards them that have been such bloody Butchers of him as that they shall be swallowed up in the sense of such unspeakable grace. Conviction for sin doth greatly help forward legal humiliation; but for a kindly and spiritual mourning, men must look upon Christ not only as killed by them, but as killed for them: Thus shall it be with them according to what is foretold, Mat. 24.30. When the sign of the son of man shall appear in heaven, then shall all the Tribes of the Earth mourn▪ speaking of the twelve Tribes of Israel who shall mourn because of him that cometh to show such mercy to them who have dealt so unworthily with him. This is the mourning which will befall this people, like that of Megiddon, when this great battle shall be fought.  
Use 1 For use in the first place, were I to speak to such people as were likely to be ensnared with these Frogs, and spirits of Devils: This might teach them diligently to beware of such, and in case any of them should come over into this Country, jesuits, or Cardinals, or Bishops, do not hearken to their whisper, whatsoever they shall present unto you, for this will be the issue of it, whosoever they be that hearken unto them, they will never leave them, till at length they have brought them to this field of destruction, they will go forth to gather the Princes of the Earth, and whither will they gather them? even thither where will be the Fatal ruane of them all: And therefore let all Christian Princes understand it, that they cannot listen unto these Frogs, Popish Bishops or Cardinals, or jesuites, or who ever they be, that come unto them on this errand, but they will by this means bring their Kingdoms to utter destruction: Be wise now therefore O ye Kings; be instructed ye Judges of the Earth: you see what woeful work will be made at length by these Frogs, they will bring you into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. King James (who made a Paraphrase upon it) doth interpret it to signify destruction by deceit, as if it were compounded of two Hebrew words, which may so hold it forth; But oh that it had been as well believed as told; how many sad changes, and Agitations throughout all Christendom, might have been prevented that have risen upon harkening to these Frogs? destruction and Calamity are in their ways; keep yourselves therefore fare from all fellowship with them, that will be your wisdom.  
In the second place; this may teach us to rejoice at home, Use 2 though we do not live to see these victories obtained: I know not what you that are young may live unto, for the nearer these things come unto their accomplishment, the swifter their motion will be, as it is with all natural motions: but however let us rejoice together in beholding them by Faith, although they be yet to come; when David rejoiced in Christ, Psal. 16.9▪ 10. and faith, therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoiceth, my flesh also shall rest in hope, for thou wilt not leave my dead body in the Grave, neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see Corruption; this David in spirit ●eeth long before, and looketh at his own Resurrection as sea●ed up unto him in the Incorruption of the body of jesus Christ: If David can rejoice so long before in beholding this, than ought we to rejoice in beholding beforehand the destruction of God's Enemies, and his gracious deliverances of his people; for we may see it beforehand by Faith, and behold it with confidence in the truth of him that hath promised it; for so also did Abraham, john 8 56. Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was glad; and why should not the Fa th' of Christians be now more clear eyed, then at that time it was, to behold the truth of his promises, and rejoice in the accomplishment of them?  
Thirdly we may from hence gather some ground of Faith, to Use 3 believe that there will come a time, when the jews will generally mourn for the sight and death of Christ, as much as ever they mourned of old for the death of josiah: and lest you should say that parabolical Scriptures are not Foundations of Faith, (and yet any Scripture truly expounded is ground sufficient for the truth it holdeth forth; yet you may find sundry other Scriptures that speak expressly to their Conversion, Rom. 11.12.15.25, 26. I would not Brethren that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, that blindness in part is happened unto Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in, (that is, until men turn bacl from Antichrist unto Christ, until they see Christian Princes more sincere in the work of God) and then all Israel shall be saved, for though they were cast off for their own sakes, yet are they beloved for their Father's sake, v. 28. For if thou wert cut out of the Olive Tree which is wild by Nature, and wert grafted contrary to Nature into a good Olive Tree: how much more shall these which are the natural branches be graffed into their own Olive Tree? for (saith he) God is able to graft them in again; and he will do i●, or else the Apostles Argument will not hold. Also that of the Apostle to the Corinthians, 2. Cor. 3.14.15.16. Even unto this day when Moses is read the Veil is upon their heart: but when it (that is, Israel) shall turn unto the Lord the Veil shall be taken away: this is not spoken of two or three sprinklings of Israel; that doth not make up an Israel, much less all Israel, as Paul speaketh in the place forenamed, and what mystery were it, if it were meant only of those that were brought home by Peter's Ministry? But that blindness is come upon them, till the fullness of the Gentiles be come in, and that then all Israel shall be saved, this is indeed a Mystery to the Gentiles, as the calling of the Gentiles was a Mystery to the jews. Thus we see there are clear Scriptures for it, which when we do see, we may more freely take up parabolical Scriptures, perceiving what they work upon, and build our Faith on them, thereby, to be strengthened in Prayer, for such a blessing, that they may come and sing Hallelujahs with us, and we may sing praises with them.  
Fourthly, we may learn from hence, the true nature of Use 4 Godly sorrow, both in the cause of it, and in the measure of it. For the cause of it we must see him from whom all saving repentance doth flow, even Christ whom we have pierced, and then indeed we mourn aright, when we mourn over him. It is not saving Repentance, that which the Law worketh, though it doth indeed make way for it, but they see him and mourn over him; the sight of him worketh godly sorrow in the heart.  
And what is the measure of it? it is even such as for the loss of a man's only Son, and his first borne, the staff, and and stay, of his name and life, and of his prosperity: Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, saith Abraham? such as was the mourning of judah, and jerusalem, when they saw Family, Church, and Commonwealth all plucked up by the roots in the loss of one man: such is the mourning of every godly soul, seethe all his hopes plucked up by the roots for the want of Christ.  
But you will say, is it not godly mourning unless it be Obj. so great? may not a man mourn more for loss of Church, and Commonwealth, and for his only Son then for Christ?  
I answer, mourning for one of these may indeed make more Answ. noise; but not be a greater mourning: when a man mourneth for his first borne, the windows of Heaven are open, the Judgements of God are open, and the Fountains of the great deep are open; this or that deep Affliction seizeth upon a man, nature setteth a man on work to mourn, and grace doth not hinder it, but when a man mourneth for want of Christ, the windows of Heaven indeed are open; but this mourning findeth much opposition, below even from our hearts within: a small shallow channel coming down from a Hill, will make a great noise; when a man mourneth for his only Son, it cometh down from God as a Judgement, down hill, nothing hindereth: but this mourning for Christ is like a stream that goeth up hill, (as it were) and through many reeds and flags, and therefore no wonder if it maketh not such a noise, though it be a fare greater stream than the other. Such is this spiritual mourning: for in these things it doth exceed all other griefs and mournings whatsoever.  
It is more durable than any other sorrow, our time in this world will never wear it out; whereas other sorrow, though it be for a man's only Son will not last always, time will wear it out.  
It is an Increasing sorrow: other sorrows are more moderated every day than other, but this groweth still more and more powerful, and will eat up all other griefs: If a man have but a wound in his conscience, it will wear out all other Crosses, but a wounded Spirit who can bear? Prov. 18.14. It is a very strong mourning, as we may perceive, Ps. 102.3.4. etc. where the Holy man complaineth, that his days are thereby consumed like smoke, and his bones burnt as an hearth, his heart is smitten and withered like grass, so that he forgetteth to eat his bread, etc.  
This godly sorrow is also more pure than any other sorrow, having not so much mixture with lusts, and Carnal Affections; when David mourns for Absalon, there is much Carnal Affection in it, in so much that joab doth perceive it, and dealeth sharply with him for it, but this mourning for Christ being heavenly, is not so clogged with those boisterous distempers which other mournings are filled withal.  
See a broad difference in the cause and object of this mourning: when a man mourneth for Christ as wronged by him; and yet seethe himself saved by Christ: as this object is transcendent, so is the mourning transcendent also, therefore it is said, Rom. 8 26. The Spirit maketh Intercessions for us with groans that cannot be uttered. Thus being set upon Christ, and fomented by his Spirit, it is eternal in the causes of it, and will lift up the soul above all undermoone discouragements, that a man will look upon them as things, which God hath given and taken, and his grief concerning them will vanish away; but this being settled upon eternal obj cts can end no sooner than life itself: And if our life in this world were eternal, so would this mourning be, although indeed when this life shall have an end, it will be swallowed up in a perfect fruition of jesus Christ.  
In the last place, I would commend this unto all the children of God, that they Regulate their mourning according to this mourning: Let us mourn for Christ, and for his death, and be truly sensible of the great Injuries which we have done unto him, that so our grief may swallow up all the baseness of our hearts, and all worldly sorrows which cause death, 2. Cor. 7.10. But godly sorrow worketh Repentance never to be repent of: Let us therefore in all our private and public Administrations mourn after him, and mourn for him, that thereby we may be kept from such entanglements, and discouragements as might interrupt us in our Christian Course upon other meaner occasions.   

THE SEVENTH AND LAST VIAL OPENED.  Revel. 16.17, 18, 19, 20, 21. 
And the seventh Angel poured out his Vial into the Air, and there came a great voice out of the Temple of heaven from the Throne, saying, It is done.  
And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.  
And the great City was divided into three parts, and the Cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came into remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the fierceness of his wrath.  
And every Island fled away, and the mountains were not found.  
And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talon, and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, for the plague thereof was exceeding great.  
THese words describe unto us the pouring out of the seventh Vial, by the seventh Angel; and set forth it is by a threefold Argument.  
1. First by the subject upon which it fell, it fell upon the Air It is translated [into the Air] but the same word in the third and fourth Verses is translated upon (the Sea) and upon (the Rivers and fountains of water:) so it fell upon the Air, otherwise to say, into the Air, might seem to look at some further subject, whereupon it fell, but that is not the meaning.  
Secondly, by an adjunct accompanying the same, to wit [A great voice out of the Temple of heaven, etc.] for I cannot call it an effect, but an adjunct it was.  
Thirdly, by the effects, and they are threefold.  
First, of Terror and Horror. [There were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings] all which do strike Terror and Horror into the hearts of men.  
Second effect was changes, and alterations of states [And there was a great earthquake] amplified by an argument taken from the less [Such as was not since men were upon the earth] so great for amplitude, so mighty for power.  
Third effect was, the working of distracting, and destroying calamities upon three several sorts of subjects.  
First upon Cities, and among them,  
First, the great City was divided into three parts, which (with leave of Interpreters that take it to be a distinct City from Babylon) I take to be meant of Babylon, which now came up into remembrance before God, and that is rendered as a reason how she came to be destroyed, for she came up into remembrance before God, to give her the wine, first of distraction, secondly of destruction.  
Secondly, the cities of the Nations fell, the great City was destroyed, it fell to ruin.  
The second sort of subjects upon which this distraction fell, were [Every Island, and every mountain] the Islands fled away, the mountains were not found.  
The third sort, was the sons of men, and the plague that fell upon them was a great hail out of heaven, which is amplified.  
1. By the measure or weight of it [every stone about the weight of a Talon]  
2. By the effect it wrought in men, [They blasphemed the God of heaven] set forth by the cause of their blaspheming again repeated, because of the plague of the hail, for the plague thereof was exceeding great.  
3. Let us first open the words, and then sum them up into some doctrinal observations.  
1. What (in the first place) is here meant by [Air] doubtless not the element of air that we breath in: for all the Vials are Vials of wrath, & therefore poured upon subjects of God's displeasure: Now God is not offended with the air, which is his creature, but as you read in the first verse of the Chapter. All these Angels received a commandment to pour out their Vials upon the earth, and that is meant of the earthly Antichristian Church, and they all fulfil this Commandment upon whatsoever they pour out their Vials; it is still upon the Antichristian state: nor are the messengers of God's wrath (which come out of the Temple, and have their loins girded with golden girdles) provoked against the Air which themselves do breath in; nor could a plague be upon the Air, but it would fall upon Christian Churches as well as Popish. Others do interpret it (with much more probability) to be upon the kingdom of Satan, for he is called the Prince that ruleth in the air, Eph. 2.2. he also raiseth up storms in the air, and fiery meteors therein, Job. 1.16. So they conclude that wheresoever the Devil hath to do, whether it be in Popery or Paganism, this Vial is poured upon all his kingdom. I think the doctrine is truly gathered from this place, that the holy Ghost intendeth to pour out a judgement upon all his kingdom: yet I cannot say that the words do so properly hold forth a judgement upon the Element of air: for all the Vials are to be poured upon the earth, the Antichristian Church, called earth in opposition to the heavenly and pure Church mentioned Revel. 15.5. there being in it the whole Fabric and Systeme of the world: there is an earth, and that is the lowest and basest common sort of Catholics in that world; and there is a Sea, their corrupt Religion; there be Rivers, and fountains of water, those that derived their corruptions into all countries (Priests and Monks, etc.) there is a Sun in this world, the great light thereof: the family of Austria in the common wealth, and the Pope's supremacy in the Church: there is the throne of the beast, the form of their government, and manner of judicature: Afterwards comes in Euphrates, the stream of all those corruptions that make glad the City of Rome: Therefore this Air seemeth to be the Air of that Antichristian Church: Look therefore what you can conceive to be the Air, which this Antichristian Church doth breath in, and that is the subject whereupon this Vial is poured: And although indeed Mahumetry, and Paganism come to be afflicted here by it; yet is it but an effect of pouring out this Vial upon the Air. Now if you look into Chap. 9.1, 2. of this book you shall find that the Air of this worldly Church is the smoke which arose out of the bottomless pit, and darkened the Air, so that you could not see the Sun, much less the Moon and Stars: and what was that smoke out of the bottomless pit, but the darkness of ignorance from whence sprung all those Locusts, and that King over them, vers. 11. the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, he destroyeth the hope of the conversion of the Jews: and in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon, he destroyeth them also, and sprung out of this ignorance. There is a double use of Air, and this darkness corrupted both. 1. There is an use of it for sight; for through the Air, if is be clear, you see all the heavenly lights, and by their help, all inferior bodies. 2. It is the breath of life, which maintaineth the life of men, and is the supportance of their vitals. And in both these things doth it fitly resemble heavenly, and saving knowledge, by which, 1. In the first place, we see Jesus Christ the Sun of righteousness to our justification; by which we see the Moon, that is, the true state of Churches according to the Gospel; by which we see the Stars, the people of God, and who indeed are his people, that shine like lights in the world: And hereby they see all things here below, and judge rightly of them. And 2. by the same saving knowledge do we breathe in our vitals (that we may so speak) our spiritual life; By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, Esay 53.11. And this is life eternal to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent, John 17.3. Now if this Air be choked, you can neither see Jesus Christ to your justification, nor breath in any ordinance of his to your salvation, nor can you see what is the true Church, nor who are the true Saints of God; you can rightly discern of nothing, if once the Sun, and the whole body of the air be darkened; but if how there come an Angel that shall pour out his Vial upon his smoke of the air, and dispel thereby the clouds of darkness, and ignorance; then shall you clearly see Jesus Christ, and the true state of his Church, and of all visible Saints, then shall you draw in true and lively breath from every ordinance of God. This is therefore the air whereupon this Vial shall be poured, and that will be the dispelling of the darkness of it: The Lord will send forth such a bright and clear knowledge of his Christ, and Church, and Saints, and holy things which will prevail so far, as to dispel all the fogs and mists of darkness, not alone in the Antichristian State, but in all the world: so that all Nations shall be brightened with the knowledge of God: All Asia shall see the vanity of Mahumetry, and all the Pagan Nations, the fondness and blindness of their Superstitions. And the Jews shall then see, and bewail their blindness, and wretchedness in standing out against Jesus Christ: So that most true it is which godly Interpreters have said, that hereby all the kingdoms of Satan are threatened, though it be rather an effect of it, than the true, and proper sense.  
2. What is then the adjunct that followeth, or goeth along with it: [There came a great voice out of the Temple of heaven from the Throne] And that Throne is set in the Church. Rev. 4.2, 3. Behold, a Throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the Throne, which is the Lord himself: who is resembled by three precious stones, holding forth the three persons in Trinity: A Jasper having (as they say) a white circle round about it; representing the Eternity of the Father; a Sardine stone, of a fleshy colour, representing Jesus Christ, who took our flesh upon him. An Emerald being of a green colour, refreshing the eyes of those that look upon it, representing the Spirit, who is (as the Rainbow) a token of fair weather, and is a comfortable refresher wheresoever he cometh. Now this voice coming from heaven, and from the Throne, it cometh also apparently from God, saying, It is done; that so all men may see it to be the revealed, and holy will of God, that all these things should be thus accomplished.  
3. It is done] what is done? for here is no nominative case before the verb. But this is that which is done, the mystery of iniquity is abolished. And the mystery of God is fulfilled: For of this it was spoken, which you read Rev. 10.7. where the Angel (that stood upon the Sea, and upon the earth) telleth us, That in the days of the seventh Angel, when he shall sound (whose Trumpet is sounding to this day) the mystery of God should be fulfilled; And that standeth chief in two things.  
1. In the destruction of all his enemies.  
2. In the accomplishment of all his gracious promises to the conversion of the Jews; and both these shall be accomplished in the pouring out of this Vial, as we may read at large, Ezek. 39.17. to the end of the Chapter; where the holy Prophet speaketh of this very time, when the enemies of the Church shall come out against them, there will be a final accomplishment of all the mysteries of iniquity, and of all the hostility of the Lords enemies against his Church: It is also the accomplishment of all his gracious promises, and therefore he saith Rev. 21.6. When once the new Jerusalem cometh down from God out of heaven, than Christ himself saith, It is done. All his promises are now performed, and his great works now fulfilled; this is meant, when it is here said, It is done; And the Lords voice it is, for had it been the voice of some Church-Officers alone, it might have reached to the Church, but not to the ends of the world: but when the Lord himself speaketh, whose voice is like the voice of thunder, then is it heard from one end of the earth unto another. All men shall see the great works that he hath done upon the face of the earth, Popery, and all false Religion abolished; the Kingdom of Christ established, from the rising of the Sun to the going down thereof. This is the Adjunct.  
Now for the Effect: There is an Effect of Terror, and of agitations▪ and changes, and an effect of destroying calamities, for I cannot well gather the notes that arise, unless these things be all opened, than I conceive they may be handled with brevity.  
4. For the effect of terror: the thunderings, and lightnings, and the voices, are the same with those that are said to come out of the Throne, Rev. 4.5. Like unto that dispensation of old, Exod. 20.18. Wherein were thunderings, and lightnings, and in stead of voices, there is put in, the noise of the Trumpet, and these held forth the terror of the Lord in giving of the Law, in so much that Moses himself said I exceedingly fear, and quake, and much more did the people fear and tremble: for such is the convincing dreadful power of the Law of God, that let a man but hear it, and have it effectually applied, and it will make the meekest and most innocent of the servants of God to tremble; It will make the mountains and hills to tremble. The voice of God's servants is like the voice of a trumpet, Esay 58.1. piercing deep into the ears and hearts of men, but the voice of himself exceedeth. So the meaning is, That upon the pouring out of this Vial upon the air, there shall be terrible thunderings, and lightnings, and voices like found'st of Trumpets upon the hearts of men, that shall make them tremble and quake: The Lord will so terribly affright, and amaze the sons of men with the power of his holy word, and will, as that it shall suddenly break forth all the world over; for in this manner doth the Lord begin his saving dispensations towards men, even with terrible lightnings, and thunderings, and earthquakes, thereby partly convincing men of sin, and subduing their hearts, and confounding their malicious enemies. For the next Effect.  
5. There was great earthquake, etc.] And that importeth agitatations and changes, and not terror only; they are such as will not cease, until they have removed the things that are shaken, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain, so doth the Apostle, Heb. 12.26.27. Interpret the Prophecy of Haggai. 2.6. It argueth (saith he) the removing of those things that are shaken; and he interprets it concerning the Church estate in that place; and he will also shake all the Kingdoms of the world, as the same Prophet Haggai told Zerubbabel, Chap. 2.21, 22. saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth: and I will overthrow the throne of Kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the Kingdoms of the Heathen, etc. And so the Lord did overthrow the great Persian Monarchy by the Grecian, and the Grecian Monarchy by the Roman, and the Roman by barbarous Nations, and the Lord hath been shaking them eversince, and will shake them hereafter with such a shaking as never was the like: you read of a great earthquake, when as Rome, of Pagan, became Christian, Rev. 6.12. But that was a small shaking, unto this earthquake, for still the Persians are Idolaters, and many Pagans in the world; that shaking brought in a form of Christianity, but the saving knowledge of Christ was yet in a great, measure wanting; that form of Christianity which then came in, made way for Popery to creep in fast into the Churches, but this will shakeout Popery, and when by it the Popish air is smitten, the Lord will also shake all the world by it; and the time doth hasten.  
6. Now for the third effect, which is a distracting, and destroying calamity, upon Cities, upon Islands, and Mountains, and upon men: Among cities, here is the great City, and the cities of the Nations, and Babylon. Some good Interpreters look at Babylon to be Constantinople: For my part I dare not think but one of these is put expositively for the other; Babylon for the great city: Now that great city which is spiritivally called Sodom, and Egypt, Rev. 11.8. is that great city, which reigneth over the Kings of the earth, and that is Rome, as all confess; and that Babylon, Chap. 17.18. and this is the same city, which the Kings of the earth, and the Merchants of the earth do mourn for when she is destroyed, and say, Chap. 18.10. Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city, etc. and that also by their confession is Rome. And so this Latter mention of it, doth but show the reason why it cometh to be divided into three parts, and why the cities of the Nations fell, for Babylon, came up into remembrance, etc. The great city then is Babylon, and that is divided into three parts: I should not think that it is spoken of the breach of the natural walls of the city by the earthquake; but it will be divided into three factions; some will stick fast unto Popery, and others of the people of God that before durst not openly profess Religion, will now renounce Popery, for such there shall be in Rome when it is near to be destroyed, unto whom it shall be said, Rev. 18.4. Come out of her my people, etc. and what the third part may be, there is not light, for in this place, what light other places may give, we shall (if God please) see hereafter, mean while it is sufficient to understand that it will be divided into three parts: and what if the third part be a Neutral between both the other?  
7. What were the cities of the Nations? Those are they that trod the Church of God under foot, Rev. 11.2. such they were who did subject themselves to Popish Government, the cities of those Nations shall fall, whosoever they be that are found adoring Rome, they shall fall: for Babylon herself shall come up into remembrance before God, to give unto her the Cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath, which shall infatuate her until she be utterly destroyed by those ten Kings that shall hate her, and eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.  
8. And every Island fled away, and the mountains were not found.] He speaketh not of earthly Islands, but you must understand that he speaketh of the mountains, and Islands of the Antichristian state; what are the mountains? They are the places where they went a whoring after their Gods in old time, Jer. 3.6. She is gone upon every height mountain, and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot, there they had built them Chappells, and there they had placed their confidence, in respect of which when they come to repent; they shall return, and say, ver. 23. Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitudes of mountains, answerable unto which are the great temples built unto false Gods they shall flee away: In the new Jerusalem, Rev. 21.22. there was no Temple seen, no Temple consecrated to this or that Saint shall be found therein.  
What are the Islands? They are grounds separated from the earth, by the Sea: The Sea is the corruption of Religion, upon which the second Vial was poured. Therefore such places as are consecrated by Popish Devotions, as Church yards, and such other Popish grounds, they are these Islands, that shall flee away; you shall no more hear tell of consecrated Churchyard, or any such matter all the world over. Then will fall to the ground all your Cathedral Churches, and all those high Places that over-toppe the people of God, and hinder the growth of the things of God near about them, though those things that be superstitiously set apart for holy ends be never so glorious, they shall be all banished and vanish away, there will be no more noise of them.  
9 And upon men there fell a great hail out of heaven] The Allusion by some, is thought to be unto the hail spoken of Josh. 10.11. which the Lord cast down from heaven upon the Canaanites, so that mo●e died with hailstones, than they which the children of Israel slew with the Sword: but I cannot say, that hail storm is here alluded unto: for here men did not die upon it, but blasphemed only; unless it should be spoken of their everlasting death in hell, but that were a common judgement to all the wicked: but I rather think it is an allusion to the hail storm in, Egypt, whereof the effect was, that they sinned, and hardened their hearts yet more, Exod. 9.34. Well then, if it be such an hail as doth not kill men, but provoke them to blaspheme, what kind of judgement might it be? Interpreters do not tell us: So that we can take no better course to know it, then to see what allegorical hail stones mean in Scripture, for by comparing Scriptures together, you shall have the full meaning of every part of God's Counsel. For this end let us look in Esay 28.17. where the Prophet telleth us that the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, when once Christ is laid in the foundation, ver. 16. then all the rest of the refuges of the sons of men, that are lying refuges, shall be swept away: There is also another allusion suiting hereunto in Ezek. 13.11.13. where the Lord threateneth against the wall that is daubed with untempered mortar: there shall be an overflowing shower, and ye O great hail stones shall fall, and a stormy wind shall rend it. So then, this kind of hail storm is such a plague of God upon men as shall destroy all their lying refuges, and men shall then insult over them, and say, where is the daubing wherewith you have daubed it? So then, at this time the Lord will send an hail storm that shall discover all the counterfeit Religions in the world, all the juggelings of their Miracles, all the fair seeming pretences of Popery, or any other Religion, all their doctrines of merits, and confidences in their prayers to Saints, and Angels, and superstitious Devotions, an hail storm shall fall upon them all in such sort, that you shall see the vanity of them: And all the world shall see, that all Relgions besides Christianity, are but a refuge of lies, and in the end their jugglelings, and sophistry shall be blown up, and blasted: Some shall be shaken out of them, & settled upon better bottoms, & others will be provoked to blaspheme, they will so vex themselves with extremity of anguish, for that they are thus bereft of their old comfortable good days; and oh the joyful festivals that they were wont for to keep in their Abbeys, and superstitious places, for the loss of which they shall blaspheme the Lord, and true Religion, and all the instruments of the Gospel's propagation. Such a thing as this we read of Rev. 11.15. When as the seventh Angel sounded, there were great voices in heaven, saying, The Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, etc. There it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, but here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (the thing was then in doing, but now it is done) Then the Nations were angry saith the Text, ver. 18. and a great hail there fell, when they began to become the Kingdoms of Jesus Christ, and there was an earthquake, ver. 19 but never such an earthquake as this will be; so mighty, and so great, that will blast, not Popery alone, but all the Hotamocks in this country, and all that are found among other Indians in other parts of the world, an Hail storm shall fall upon them all, and blast all their green groves and arbours, wherein they were wont to be worshipped: Thus have you seen (as the Lord hath been pleased to help) the meaning of these words: Let us now gather one note from them; For I would not long dwell upon there Enigmatical, I mean parabolical Scriptures.  
The Doctrine is, That when the darkness of Popish, and hellish Doct. ignorance is dispelled, so that a man may clearly see heavenly light, and breath in heavenly knowledge, then, It is done: That is to say, than all the mystery of iniquity is abolished, and the mystery of God is fulfilled. For thus you see it is evidently here expressed in the Text. The seventh Angel did pour out his Vial upon the Antichristian air, and that was such an air as was darkened with the smoke of the bottomless pit, as with a foggy mist: Now when this air shall again be cleared, and the foggy darkness thereof dispelled, so that men may have the true use of it, to see through it those heavenly bodies which were darkened by that smoke, Rev. 9.2. then shall men see Jesus Christ to be all in all unto Justification, Sanctification, Consolation, which in Popery you could not: then shall the true Church be seen, which like the Moon, borroweth all the light it hath from the Sun: (true indeed if the Moon be taken for the world, than she treadeth it under her feet, Rev. 12.1.) In Popery you could not see what a true Church was, they will tell you of this and that Church, but they are no true Churches. But when this veil shall be removed, then shall you clearly know that the true Church is not a Catholic visible, nor a Cathedral, nor a Diocesan, nor a Provincial Church. Then shall you see the Stars of heaven, you shall know who are the true officers of the Church, not Paratours, and Proctors, Deacons, and Archdeacon's, Bishops, and Archbishops over many Churches, they are not the lights which the Lord hath set therein: And you shall then see who were the true members of the Church, Not the Canonised Saints, not such as Saint George, who was an ancient Heretic, but you shall see them to be such as are spoken of, Phil. 2.15. blameless, and harmless, the Sons of God, without rebuke, shining as lights in the world; then shall you see the Scripture more clearly, true doctrine, and worship, and government as it is held forth in the Gospel of Christ, and when you shall see these things, then, It is done; Even all that God hath to do in the world, for any further Reformation expect it not, Rev. 10.7. when the time is come that the seventh Angel hath blown his Trumpet, the Lord will not delay, but it shall then be fulfilled, and the Lord will clearly manifest to all Nations the great grace which he hath to show to the sons of men, and this is long ago foretold, Esay 25.6, 7, 8. In this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the Lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the Lees well refined: And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and that is the pouring out of this Vial upon the air, for the face of the covering, is the air in my Text, Then will the Lord make a feast of fat things, then will he swallow up death in victory, and wipe away tears from off all faces, and the rebuke of his people shall be taken away from off all the earth: this is also prophesied of, Esay. 11.6, 7, 8, 9 They shall not hu●t nor destroy in all mine holy mountain, and the reason is: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the Sea: and then, It is done: The mystery of iniquity is abolished, there is no more darkness, nor destruction, and the calling of the Gentiles, which was a mystery to the Jews, shall be then fully accomplished, and the calling of the Jews, which the Apostle calleth a mystery to us Gentiles, Rom. 11.25. shall be then fulfilled, and so the mystery of God is finished.  
Reas. 1 Three Reasons doth the Text give us hereof. 1. First, from the manner of the entrance of this heavenly glory into the hearts of men, whether it come into private persons, or public States; It cometh terribly with lightnings and thunderings, the which coming from God, do so terrify the hearts of men, and the state of the world, that they shall see plainly how they have been deluded with desperate follies, and when men are put unto such an earthquake in their spirits; this will be the point they come unto: Men and brethren what shall we do to be saved? as did the Jailor when he had been sound shaken with the earthquake, Acts 16.26.30. and so it will be with Kingdoms, when God hath in like sort shaken them, they will contend for true Religion, and will not then be baffled out and deluded with vanities, as now they be: when the spirits of men are terrified, and they feel no salvation in their Religion, they know not what shall become of their precious souls, this will set all the world on work to look about them: for upon this ground you shall see Indians, and Jews, and Pagans gaping after salvation, when they see by these terrible storms, and thunders, that all their Religions are but so many refuges of lies, then is there work in hand indeed, which when God hath begun he will also finish it unto the day of Christ, and it will be such an earthquake, as was never heard of in the world: Heretofore so long as this work was found among poor Christians, the great Lords of the world persecuted them, and devised all manner of cruel torments for them: but when they felt that the wrath of God was kindled against them, than their hearts fell, and they were all in a combustion for the state of their souls before the Lord: now they were glad to renounce their Jupiter's, and Juno's, and to embrace Christianity, and to hearken to a better Covenant, this is the effect of thunderings and lightnings, and voices it soon blasteth Idolatry, and forceth man to seek after a clearer passage to heaven.  
The second Reason is taken from the power of the saving knowledge Reas. 2 of Christ to dispel this Popish ignorance, and to carry an end the heart of a man with such power, that he can no longer lie at quiet in his natural estate; but it worketh in men these four effects.  
1. It subdueth and tameth the hearts of men that now they will join themselves unto the people of God, Esa. 11.6.7, 8. the Wolf shall lie with the Lamb, the Leopard shall lie down with the Kid, etc. So great is their change in their hearts, that men's Ravenous tyrannies are taken away, and there is wrought in them, a kindly sweet unshaken frame, that will so break forth against God's people as formerly; thus doth the earthquake shake out dross, and corruptions, and establish the heart in a sweet gracious frame of Spirit.  
2. Secondly, The knowledge of Christ will breed division, as well as conjunction; Think you (saith Christ) that I am come to send p●ace, I tell you nay, but the sword: To set men at variance among themselves, the father against the son, and the son against the father, and the mother against the daughter, etc. And this division is made in Cities, and in Kingdoms, Act. 14.4. The city was divided, and part held with the Apostles, and part held with the Jews: so it is in the Text, the great city was divided into three parts, some are hardened in their ignorance, and some are drawn out of it, and a third part will stand Neuters between both to see, which way the balance will turn, and these are also hardened in their blindness.  
3. Thirdly the saving knowledge of Christ hath in it this power to cause men to rise up in arms against all the enemies of the Gospel of Christ in a lawful way of God: There is a power in true Religion, th●t maketh the hearts of the timorous to be stiff, and strong, that where as men were before afraid of the power of the house of Austria, and of the King of Spain, and of the rest of the Catholic Princes, there is a power in the Spirit of Christ, that will dispel all these, had but men the zeal of God in their hearts, it would make all these fears to be like Scarecrows, and makes men bold to bid battle unto all those that stand out against Religion, so fare as the Laws of a State may bear them out.  
4. A fourth power of this knowledge, is to blow up all the inventions of men in the worship of God, whereby men have deluded themselves and others; when once men's hearts are lifted up in the waves of the Lord, as it is said of Johoshaphat that his heart was, 2 Chro. 17.6. and then he took away the High places, and groves out of Judah: So when the zeal of God lifteth up the hearts of his people, then will they not endure a consecrated place in all the world where they come. And when this Vial is poured out, the earth shall be full of this knowledge of God, and then all the Chapels of Ease, and Churches of state, and Temples of glory, whereby the world hath been deluded, they will not leave them a stone upon a stone that shall not be thrown down: This is the second Reason, taken from the power of saving knowledge, which subdueth men's wild natures, worketh holy division, giveth courage, and the power of zeal against all superstitions, and inventions of men, though now in some places you may not pass through with a burden, nor look upon the wall thereof: The zeal of the Lord of host will blow them up, those places will be laid open to the rest of the streets, and become but common soil, they will not then be regarded but trampled upon.  
Reas. 3 The Third Reason is from the just judgement of God upon all that are not effectually wrought upon by this saving knowledge of God, if men come not in on some measure to a perfect accomplishment of God's work in their hearts, there will fall such a plague of hail upon them, as will tear away their veil, and rend away their hypocritical shifts, and goodly pretences, and wash down their untempered daubings, wherewith they have daubed the walls of their standing in the Church of God: He will so rend them to pieces, that if they will not come in, he will leave them to such open blasphemies, that you shall clearly see there is no more hope of their conversion, nor salvation.  
The Use of this point in the first place, may serve to teach Use 1 you a just reproof of the Popish conceit, That ignorance is the mother of Devotion, unless they mean it of their own devotion; True, it is the mother of their devotion indeed: so long as their people are hood-winked with it, they will think they do God good service, if they be in the Church, though they understand nothing there, and if when they die, they be buried in a Churchyard, they think they are the better, and yet better if they be buried in a Church, and yet better, if it be in a Chancel, and better than so, if it be under the Altar, and better than that, if a Friars Cowle be wrapped about them. This is indeed the mother of whip, and scourge of auricular confessions, and of all Popish superstitions; for in truth, take away this ignorance, and all Popish devotion doth of itself fall to the ground, if once this veil be removed from the face of all Nations.  
Secondly, Learn from hence to see what great need we Use 2 have all of us to grow up in saving knowledge, and in prayer, for the increase thereof, that we may propagate the same daily more and more; you see what wonders it will do, God's people of old prayed for us; Psal. 67.1. God be merciful to us, and bless us, and cause his face to shine upon us: And for what end? That thy way may be known upon earth, and thy saving truth among all Nations. And when once the light of the Gospel is dispersed, it will bring in all Nations, it will thunder upon them, and never leave until it have changed them. If this knowledge of God come amongst an army of men, they will not touch any thing that is their brethren's, not meddle, not make with any to do them harm, no man's purse shall be taken from him, no man's goods taken away without due recompense, only they will not be deluded with shadows, nor suffer mountains to overtop them, neither will they be encompassed with hands: they will raise such an earthquake first, in Church, and Commonwealth, as you will at length wonder at, for though it begin in a corner of the world, it will not cease till it have shaken all Christendom, for when men once begin clearly to see which is the true Church of God, that it is not Cathedral, nor Provincial, nor Diocesan, but congregational only, the officers whereof are godly Pastors, and Teachers, and ruling Elders, and Deacons. And when they see that the Saints which they have embraced, and esteemed, are not the true Saints of God, nor these the Churches, nor those the officers of Christ wherewith they have been gulled: but they see now who are the Saints of the most high; and can put a difference now between precious and vile: In this way men will go on to raise such an earthquake (and that not besides the Law neither) that if any City rise up against them, fall it must, and stoop unto them, and at length Rome itself shall fall, and all the Cities of the Nations that cleave unto her, and every mountain shall be rooted up, and all their consecrated places shall lie level with the common soil, this will the Lord bring to pass, and will not leave till he hath wrought his great work in the world, this is his revealed will, and it will not fail until every jot and tittle of it be fulfilled. Let us therefore pray both night and day, in season, and out of season for our brethren in our native country, for whom God hath wrought all these great things, and for whom greater things yet remain to be done, for whom our work is to wrestle with God, that they may not perish for lack of knowledge, nor mistake a false Church for a true, (and false it is, if it be either Cathedral, Provincial, Nationall, or Diocesan) But pray we, that they may see the Moon, which God hath set in the Firmament, even the true form of a Church of the new Testament. And also that Christ may be better known in all the parts of his Kingly office, and government in his Church, that they may see who are Papists, and who are the true Saints of God, and who are counterfeit, that they discern between clean and unclean: for if the saving knowledge of God grow up unto any ripeness among them, it will not bear many things that are there remaining, many daubings with untempered mortar there are that must be beaten down: And great pity were it that they should want any light which might possibly be afforded unto them, and marvellous useful will it be that we should not be wanting on our parts to help with what light we have, that so there may be no more refuges of lies in that land, I say this is mightily to be wrestled for, both in prayers, and in all Christian endeavours: for verily this is the work of God, meet for every man to set his heart, and hand unto, even to pull away the veil of darkness from all faces, and from all the minds of men, and to discover clearly the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and all the holy ways of his sactuary, that every man may see, and see clearly, that men may not make a daubing of part Reformation, and part of Superstition, part Popery, and part Protestanisme, part uniformity, and part conformity; O that an hail storm might not be wanting to batter down such daubing, that the work of God might not cease, but amount unto the praise of the glory of his rich grace in Jesus Christ, and extend unto the accomplishment of every holy word of his truth.  
The third use may serve to instruct you in the wonderful Use 3 success of small beginnings in the things of God; that a woman's throwing of a sorry chair at a man's head (though the part i● might be punishable for such a miscarriage) should raise such a consending for reformation, that both kingdoms must either stand by reformation or else fall to ruin: First, the woman bacl on the men, and then the men must for shame bacl on their wives, and greater men bacl the meaner, to bring forth such a great reformation: And how should this come to pass? Truly in the eyes of men it is wonderful. But you know the least thing you cast into a stream, will run down the stream, you need not force it; you have cast it in where nature hath set a course to carry it along: And how much more shall things run an end, when the God of nature hath set them a course? when he poureth a Vial upon the ignorance and darkness of Popish superstition, then great works therein, will be done, for now a man underworkes the Lord, when he doth what his word hath spoken, and what his hand hath gone before us in: And when the ordinances of God say, it is spoken, than the providence of God will say, it is done, and then if you fail long with God's providence in God's ordinance, you need not fear, nor wonder, if weak beginnings come unto great issues: For now you take opportunity by the foretop (as they are wont to say) if you carry along business according to the word, the Lord will carry things an end mightily in your hands beyond all your expectations, or imaginations, for there is no resisting, nor controlling the work of God.  
Use 4 The fourth use may show you the great danger of such, as stand out against the reformation of Religion, the Lord will throw down his hail upon them, and rend their hearts and indignation, and blasphemy: He will go an end with his work, though they swear, and storm, he will pursue the enemies of his grace with his wrath, till he have utterly confounded, and consumed them from off the face of the earth.  
Use 5 In the last place this may serve to teach every man in particular (I am forced to speak unto kingdoms and states: but let it not be in vain; let us be acquainted with every part of his counsel, and will, and this is a main part thereof, and we may not shut our eyes from any known truth; for God would have the veil taken from all faces) you may have a true platform of this work in any godly man's heart: If the Lord mean to finish the mystery of his grace in thee, he will power out a Vial upon the veil of thine ignorance, and will open thine eyes to see that thou hast run a carnal cursed course of life, he will come in with thunderings, and lightnings, and voices, such as wherewith Moses himself shall be terrified. He will come in with an earthquake into thy heart, terribly shaking thy sinful corruptions, and then he will work a real change in thee, that nothing in heaven but Christ, nor in the earth in comparison of him. The Lord will not suffer you to rest, until you have closed steadfastly with him, the knowledge of God hath given you will bring this matter to pass, he will not leave you until you have gone forward to a division from your sinful lust, and carnal companions. And whatsoever his work be, you must do it, even unto the fulfilling of the mystery of God; and whosoever riseth against you, you must plead for Christ with the weapons of your tongue; and whatsoever High mountain riseth in you, any gifts, or parts, good duties, any green grass that groweth in you; the hail storm of God's wrath will drive you from trusting on any such common grace; all dawbings with untempered mortar you cannot skill of: whatsoever doth not make to the building you up in away of saving grace you are unskilful in, therefore you are desirous still to close with Christ; nor can ye rest, until you come to settled peace in him: This is such a mystery of God, as he will not rest, nor suffer you to rest until it be done; and if his Word will bring it to pass in a whole country; then sure it is enough to effect it in thine heart: See therefore that you do not daub up yourselves, nor others with untempred mortar; satisfy not yourselves until you be shaken out of all such common apprehensions as hypocrites are wont to rest in: rest you not, until you find Christ manifested to your spirit as yours; grow up in a Lamblike frame of spirit and way, until the mystery of God be finished in you; and until that mystery of Iniquity that hath been wrought in you be abolished.  
FINIS.