OUR Lord and Saviour hath said, Except men see SIGNS and WONDERS, they will not Be­lieve, John 4.48. There is a natural Itch in­bred in the nature of all Mankind to see some signs and Wonders; Hence it is, That such an universal Aptness is found in all the Sons and Daughters of Men to behold Rare Shows and strange Sights, Thus the Peo­ple Ran forth out of all the Region round about to get a Sight of John the Baptist, as of a burning and shining Light: Matth. 3.5. & 11.7. Luke 3.7. & Joh. 5.35. Seeing they had not any one Pro­phet born to them from the Building of the Second Temple un­til His Birth: Then was [Cathimath Chazon] a Sealing up of Pro­phesy, Dan. 12.4.9. No Prophet 'twixt Malachy and John Bap­tist, Mal. 4.5. Mat. 11.14. with 17.10. Hence that Captivity Psalm, Psal. 74. complains, verse 9. that there was no Prophet amongst them. Hence it is also, that we read so oft in Scripture of ma­ny men (Good as well as Bad) asking after a Sight of Signs:

Indeed (1) It is an evil and Adulterous Generation (according to Christ's Character) that most seeketh after signs, Matt. 12 28, 39. that is, so earnestly, if that were not Done, they were Undone:

• (I.) Those carnal Scribes and Pharisees could call for a Sign after so many Signs. They had been personal Ey-witnesses How Mighty Christ was both in Word and Deed (in Doctrine and Miracles) before God and all the People, Luke 24.19. which were [Page 2]so many Infallible Proofs, Act. 1.3. that he was the Messiah: yet these were but SIGNS on Earth, they would not believe in him, unless he could shew them a SIGN from Heaven, and Doe as Moses, Samuel and Elijah had done: for Moses call'd for Manna, Samuel for Rain, and Elijah for Fire, All from Heav'n, &c. John 2.18. & 6.30. Christ shew'd them many Signs, Jo. 20.30. and wrought many Wonders (which no power but that which is Divine could work, John 9.32.3.) both beyond the Course of Nature, and above the Power of Art, yet (as the Saying is) they could not see VVood for Trees. No, they must have such Signs as were shown and seen upon Mount Si­nai, Exod. 19.16, 19. Such Thunders and Lightnings though they had their Bath-Kol, the Daughter of a Voice (which was, as they say, the only Oracle abiding with the Second Tem­ple) and such a Voice of God (as Thunder is called, Psal. 29.3, to 10) they had from Heaven, John 12.29, 30. Therefore Christ checks and chides them for requiring such Signs as would rather affright these Hypocrites than instruct them. They should have been contented with his Doctrine and Mi­racles which did sufficiently demonstate a Divine Power, and though the Thunder-Claps at the Giving of the Law upon Mount Sinai were most suitable to the Rigour of that Dispen­sation, yet his Miracles of Mercy (confirming his Doctrine) were more suitable to SION, and to the Grace of the Gospel. Therefore went Christ about Doing Good to many by his Mira­cles, Act. 10.38. but never (which is very remarkable) Do­ing Hurt to Any by them, As most other Wonder-Workers Did, for his Name was JESUS a Saviour, not Abaddon) [A bad one] or Apollyon, a Destroyer. In all this those wicked Hypocrites were wittingly, willingly and wilfully blind, and who so blind as they that will not see.
• (II.) Another Time Came the Superstitious Pharisees (leaving behind them the Supercilious Scribes) and conspir'd with the Irreligious Sadduces to tempt Christ by asking a SIGN, Matt. 16.1, &c. Those two Sects were deadly Enemies each to the [Page 3]other, yet can they here combine as loving Friends for con­fronting of CHRIST. The two Good Sticks (Israel and Juda) became one in the hand of God, Ezeck. 37 19. but those two Bad Sticks (the Pharisees and Sadduces) became one in the hand of the Devil, not onely as Herod and Pilate did, Luk. 23.12. but also as the Popish Priests and Jesuites, the Monks and Fry­ars (All which be at deadly Difference amongst themselves in as much as they do notoriously disparage and bespatter one another) yet as Herod and Pilate could joyn hands against CHRIST, so those Miscreants can all conspire against Protestants: Thus Dogs though they be fighting never so fiercely and tear­ing one another, yet if an Hare run by, they can give over, and all run after her, Accordingly those two sorts, though of Heterogeneous Principles, could be enough Homogeneous to Assault Christ with their cavelling Interrogatories, wherein their putid Hypocrisy (courting him at the first, and calling him Master, whom before they had branded with that black name of Belzebub) appeared, desiring him to shew them a SIGN. Them by all means, as more worshipful men than the Multitude, e'n such as might well seem to merit such a signal and singular Fa­vour. They must by all means be the only Men to whom the Messiah must shew a Sign from Heaven, such as Josuah shewed in commanding the Sun to stand still; such as Isaiah shew'd in causing the Sun to run Retrogade ten Degrees, or such as Samuel shewed in calling for Thunder and Rain in Harvest, &c. or rather suchas Moses shew'd in Commanding the Corn of Hea­ven to come down for daily bread to Israel, John 6.31.32. and if the Messiah would do so much for them, none, they pre­tended, should be more willing to own him: yet, all this while, they intended Malice and Mischief against him, contem­ning his Miracles on Earth as if done by Magick Art, &c.
• III. Herod also was of no better Bran than those, who Desired to see Jesus for a long time, that he might shew him some sign, Luke 23.8. Such as would recreate his Eyes and his Mind in behold­ing, for he look'd upon our Lord as no better than a Com­mon [Page 4]Juggler, that would undoubtedly (to ingratiate himself with the King) shew to him the very best Trick in his Budget. Thus that Fox would gladly have been gratified, but he was notoriously deceived, inasmuch as Christ was not so profuse of his Divine power as to put it forth at the pleasure of bad men, mearly to satisfie their vain Curiosity.

But (II.) we do not only find (upon Scripture Record) wicked men Desirous to see Signs, but even Godly men also, as (1.) Moses, Exod. 4.1. who had Experience of his Brethrens reje­cting him, and thrusting him from them, Exod. 2.14. Act. 7.27. and so they might Do again, If he had not something to shew what might well warrant his Extraordinary Call: there­fore, he saith, They will not believe me, &c. that is, I dare not Venture upon a bare Divine Call and Commission, unless some Divine signs be shew'd me for my farther Confirmation: Here­upon God condescends to gratify him with the Two first mi­raculous Signs; Thus, in the first Sign 'tis observable, That the turning of Moses Rod into a Serpent, was a manifest Disclai­ming of any Power borrowed from the Devil, in all those won­ders which he was to work with that Rod, for that Sign did demonstrate Moses power over the Devil or Serpent, (his express Type) and exercis'd against him. in handling him (though not without some Fear at first) through a strengthned Faith at his Pleasure: Moses, indeed, took this Serpent or Crocodile by the Tail only, 'Twas the Work of the MESSIAH to break the Serpents Head: In this first Miraculous sign, the ROD shew'd the flourishing State of Israel while Joseph was Lord of the Land of Aegypt, and so held the Rod or Scepter for their Comfort, but its Turning into a Serpent (or Dragon) did plain­ly portend the Afflicted Estate of that Church, when Pharaoh that Dragon, Ezek. 29.3.) with the Subtlety of the Old Serpent most grievously oppressed Israel; and yet this Serpent must be turn'd back again into a Rod, to signify that the afflict­ed Estate of the Church should be turn'd into a flourishing E­state again by the Ministry of Moses (more glorious than that of [Page 5] Joseph) who was called King in Jesurum, Deut. 33.5. (a Title above that of Joseph) and who was commanded to take the Serpent by the Tail, Exod. 4.4. which was dreadful to be done, because of the Innate Antipathy and probable Danger of the Sting, yet Faith fortifies Moses's Heart against his Fear of this formidable Creature, and carries him through the Difficulty of this Duty; he doth as God bids him, and had no Dammage thereby, but the Serpent was turnd into a Rod again:

Moreover (2.) for Humbling Moses and helping him to know That this miraculous Sign was not wrought by the Power of his own hand, therefore was his hand made a Leprous one, to shew, That such great Wonders could not be wrought by so unclean a Hand, without the Help of a better and greater Hand than his own: and yet the Accomplishment of this Second Sign was a farther Confirmation of Moses's Faith, that Leprous hand of his (as white as Snow) must be return'd to its Natural ruddy Complexion again, Moses found the Leprosy in his Bo­som, and there also he immediately left it: This was to signi­fy to him, That the sore Estate of the Church should present­ly be cured, the Time of Her Healing now was at Hand, tho she had lain long among the Pots (and so were not only as poor de­spis'd Lepers covered over with a white Leprosy, but all blak­ned and besmutch'd in the Bosom of Aegypt their House of Bondage) yet God would restore her again to a Sound Estate and give her Wings of Silver, and Feathers of Yellow Gold, Psal. 68.13. Thus the most high God doth vouchsafe to stoop so low to the meanness of Man, as to give Moses sign upon sign, as he had done before to him, Exo 3.3.12. Giving him then a Double Confirmation (1.) That of the Burning Bush, for the present: (2.) That of Serving God at Horeb for the future. The like Favour the Lord likewise vouchsafeth to us by giving us a frequent Administration of the Lords Supper, whereby he doth Seal and Seal again the Confirmation of our Faith in the exceeding great and precious Promises of Christ, 2 Pet. 1.4. God said to Moses, Such as will not Hear the voice of the first Sign, [Page 6]they will believe the Voice of the latter sign, Exod. 4.8. Lekol Haoth, the voice of the Sign, plainly importeth That every of God's Signs hath a Voice, and therefore the Psalmist faith, That they have not only a Voice, but Words also. [Dibre oth­othau] he shew'd the Words of his Signs, So 'tis in the Hebr. Psal. 105.27. They speak not to our Eyes only, but to our Ears also. Thus doth Sacramental Signs, They have a Voice, as Abel's Blood is said to have, Gen. 4.10. Hebr. 11.4. which yet speaketh, How much more the Blood of Christ, which speak­eth better things than the Blood of Abel, Hebr. 12.24. The sign hath a Voice in it (as Exod. 4.10. Ezek. 1.28. & Job. 4.16. God Annexing his Word with his Sign that it may be the bet­ter heard and understood) because it (as it were) speaketh that to the Eye, which words do to the Eear; and on the contra­ry that which is plainly declared to the Ear, is sometimes re­presented as if it were acted, and exhibited to the Eye, Gal. 3.1. Thus the Administratiom of the Lords Supper is a lively Resemblance of Christ crucified upon the Cross; and thus the stung Israelites were heald by looking upon the Brazen Serpent advanced upon the Pole, Num. 21.8. 'Twas but Look and live then, and, tis but Look and live now, John 3.16. As they that look'd upon their Sores, and not upon the Sign, Dyed for it, So, they that fix their Eyes upon their Sins, and not upon their Saviour, do Despair, and Dye: and, as they that look'd upon the Sign though but with one Eye, though but with a squint Eye, or but with half an Eye, they were presently hea­led, So, those that look up to Christ, though Weak in Faith, yet Faithful in Weakness, are sure to be saved, Isa. 45.22. Look unto me All the Ends of the Earth, and be Saved, as the Moon when she looks most fully in a direct line upon the Sun, then is she in the Full, and most fully inlightned: This is the great Duty Required, to look vpon a Crucified Saviour, Zech. 12.10. and Salvation (in the Extent of it) is in the former Scripture propounded as the Grand Wages of that work and Duty and that Universally to all Right Lookers both Jews and Gen­tiles.

[Page 7]The second Instance of a godly man (desirous to see Signs) is Gideon, as Moses was the first, both of them reckoned among Gods Renowned Worthies. Heb. 11.20.32. This Gideon though but weak in Faith, yet was faithful in weakness, and therefore is he dignified with a Room in that Court-Roll, of the most radi­ant Starrs in Scripture Horizon, yet his Faith though true, be­ing weak, required some Supporters, hence he saith [then shew me a Sign [Judg. 6.17. This Sign Gideon sought not, as that Adulterous and Evil Generation (the Pharises, &c.) did, out of Curiosity and Incredulity, but (as Moses before him, &c.) for far­ther Confirmation of his Faith, concerning his call to so great a Work, whereby he might be satisfied that it was God (and not man or Devil) that called him: A good Cause, a good Call, and a good Conscience, will make a good Courage, and all are ne­cessary to a Captain or Soldier. Especially the Lord looked upon him, as well liking his speech. v. 14. vouchsafes him a Sign, v. 21. signifying, that the Midianites should be Destroyed with­out mans labour, seeing Fire came out of the Rock (as before Water had done, Exod. 17.7.) without any humane help to consume the Sacrifice; therefore did Gideon erect an Altar to the Lord, who had thus confirmed him (not only by these Signs, v. 17. but by two other Signs, v. 36.37.) and thus com­forted him against his despondencies, and called the name of his Altar [Jehovah Shalom] the Lord of Peace, v. 23.24. O that this Inscription were upon all our Hearts, as 2. Thess. 3.16. The Lord of Peace give us peace always by all means, this would answer all Doubts, and advance Faith above Fear. The sign of the Fleece, Gideon desired to be doubled, not out of Incredu­lity to tempt God, but out of Humility to be supported under the sence of his own weakness and unsuitableness to so great an un­dertaking, against which he found marvelous Relief, in the dou­ble Wonder of the Fleece, which intimated two things to him. 1. Concerning Israel. 2. Concerning Midian. (1.) As to Israel, that was represented by the Fleece, being sometimes wet with the Dew of Heaven, and sometimes dry. (2.) As to Midian, they [Page 8]had Fleeced Israel of all their good things, and pull'd all the Wooll from off their backs, as the Shearer (in that Fleece) had don to the poor Sheep, turning him naked out of doors into the open Fields; but now Gideon (with the Lords help) should fleece Midian: the Sword of the Lord and of Gideon should do as much for them, as they had done for Israel, pay them home in their own Coyn, and requite them to the full, after the Law of retaliation: hereby Gideons Faith, weak at first, did gradually grow strong by those confirming Signs; so comes he in as a Candidate in that Apostolical Catalogue, Heb 11.32. Amongst the highest Favourites in the Court of Heaven: Besides those two Godly Men (Moses and Gideon, that desired confirming Signs) there be many others, to whom God vouchsafed Signs, though undesired: as, the Tree of Life to Adam, Gen. 3.22. The Fire of God to Abraham, Gen. 15.17. The budding of the Rod to Aaron, Num. 17.5. The Sun standing still to Joshuah, Josh. 10.13. And its running back to Hezekiah. 2. Kings. 20.8, 9. Fiery Tongues to the Apostles, Acts 2.3, 4. A Draught of Fish to Peter, John. 21.6. A Star to the three Wise men, Mat. 2.2.9. Dumbness to Zechariah, Luke 1.20. and many other Signs to Believers, Mark 16.17, 18, 20.

Yet sometimes we find God forcing Signs, even upon wick­ed men, as upon that branded one Ahaz, Isai. 7.10.11.12.14. &c. Though this was King Ahaz, wicked with an accent, even he shall see, that while he was under the power of a ma­licious Devil, yet hath he to do with a most gracious God, who by a wonderful condeseension will needs give him a Sign; 'tis an unheard of vouchsafement to vouchsafe a Sign to such a no­torious Unbeliever, this is more than Christ would do to the Pharisees, whom he calls a bastardly Brood, for desiring a Sign, as before. Matt. 12.39. [Ask a Sign either in the Depth, &c.] Here was a fair offer to a most foul Sinner, he might have had a sight of Heaven or of Hell for a Sign, yet instead of an humble and thankful asking, he sordidly answered (tantamont) Ile ask no askings, Ille try no Signs, I know a trick worth two of that, I'le [Page 9]send to the Assyrians so help my self, God may keep his Signs to himself, I crave no such courtesy at his hands, &c. Did e­ver any branded Belialist or black-mouthed Bedlam speak worse to God than he in all this: no wonder if God set a black brand upon him, saying, This is that Ahaz, 2. Chron. 28.22. Yet not­withstanding all this ingratitude and provocation, God (of him­self) gave Israel a Sign, Isa. 7.14. A singular Sign, a Sign both from above and from beneath, inasmuch as this Immanuel, born of a Virgin, did joyn pure Heaven and base Earth together, in his two Natures. Again, those Signs which the Scripture men­tions are manifold; as, 1. Such as be meerly Natural, Gen. 1.14. 2. Praeternatural, beside the power of Nature in her ordinary production, such are Prodigies in Heaven and Monsters on Earth, &c. 3. Supernatural, which are either Divine (such as were the Miracles God wrought by the Prophets and Apostles) or Diabolical, as the Lying Wonders. Deut. 13.2.3. 2. Thess. 2.9. and Rev. 13.13. As there be Natural Signs, so there be Instituted Signs, to wit, the Sacraments which are call'd Signs and Seals of the Covenant, Rom. 4.11. Moreover the Signs God shews to men, are either ordinary or extraordinary, commnnia aut Insolita Signa: Except we see (not common, but) unusual signs, we will not believe. John. 4.48. We have a frequent sight of Na­tural Signs, and of Artificial Signs, the former hanging in the Heavens, exposed to open view, the latter hanging over every House (almost) in this great City, yea and such signs as be signifi­cant, indeed some Signs are significant, ex primaria intentione in­stituentis, purposely and primarily Instituted to signify some­thing, whether the Institutor be God or Man. God is the on­ly Institutor of all significant signs in Sacred things, as he Insti­tuted the two Sacraments under the Law, and the two Sacra­ments under the Gospel; other significant Signs or Ceremoni­es, which are only mans Institution (and never came into the mind of God, Jer. 7.31. Nor out of the Mouth of God, Deut. 4.1.2.) ought justly to be exploded. All Divine Worship must have Di­vine Warrant, and Divine Institutions may not be mingled with [Page 10]Humane Inventions: This is to Plow in Gods Field, with an Ox and an Ass, and to sow therein mingled Seeds (even Tares as well as Wheat,) and to worship the Lord in a Linsy-Woolsy Gar­ment, Deut. 22.9.10.11. There be also significant signs in Ci­vil and common things (as well as Sacred) whose proper and primary end in the purpose of their Institutor (man) is to signify something, as the Signs at every Door in the City, and at every Inn in the Country, and the Escucheons at Great mens Houses: And there be other Signs, which be significant only by conse­quence and secondarily, not essentially and from the primary purpose of their Institutors, Thus Steeples and Posts &c. may signify by their shadows what time of the day it is, which is not the proper and peculiar purpose for which they are made, or use of them, as is of Clocks and Dials, 'tis a secundary use only.

But to insist only upon extraordinary Signs and Wonders (cal­led signa insolita unusual Marvels) according to my present De­sign: consider, that as their Ends so their Kinds are various, 1. Their Ends are from their Author and Original) manifold: as, 1. They are intentionally designed, by the great and sole Wonder-working God, for the confirming of that Truth, once delivered to the Saints, Jude 3. Mark 16.17.18.20. and Hebr. 2.4. Those extraordinary Signs, are well called, the Swadling-bands of the Infant Church, therefore was she princi­pally Dignified and Fortified with Miracles, always and only while and when she was young, tender, and needed some corro­boration: Tis true, there were some sprinklings of Miracles upon other emergent occasions, &c. But the main body of them were wrought first by Moses and Joshuah; Moses was the first and new giver of the Law, then the Church in the Wilderness (so called Act. 7.38.) was but a weak Infant, so needed those Signs and Wonders, which Moses wrought, both in Aegypt Act. 7.36. and in the Wilderness, Ps. 105.39.40.41. with 27. to 38. Yet none were wrought after she got into Canaan, though Joshuah did in conveying them thither. 2. By Elijah and Flisha, who were the [Page 11]two new Restorers of the Law, (which amounts almost to a Giver of it, so tantamont a Law-giver) then the Church was newly Born again, and so stood in need of a second swadling, by many more Miracles, after her Recovery from her worse Relaps in Ahabs time, &c. 3. By Christ and his Apostles, who were both new Givers and Restorers of the Gospel inasmuch as the Gos­pel was preached in Paradice, Gen. 3.15.) Then did the Do­ctrine of the Gospel by diverse Miracles, as by the Wings of the Wind, fly abroad and was divulged at first all the World over; and 'tis very remarkable, though John Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah, yet did this Type do no Miracles, as the Anti type did, John 10.41. least he should be mistaken for the Messiah, Luke 3.15. who was to do many, John 7.31. and 11.47. Yet John was a burning and a shining Lighn, John 5.35. burning in himself and shining to others, he Thundred in his Doctrine, and Lightned in his Life without Miracles, there­fore was he so much admired, as a great Reformer in a most De­formed Age. Christ and his Apostles were all Wonder-work­secured by it while it is tender, and 'tis oft watered, but ers, which was as an Hedge to a young Plant, that is when once grown up, the Hedge is removed, and the watering left off. Hence we say to the Romanists, That all the Miracles of the New Testament, are ours of the Reformed Religion, in­asmuch as they all did Demonstrate the same Doctrine, which we do defend, We need no new Miracle, to conform an old Truth that hath been before so confirmed: He that now requi­reth a Miracle, is therefore himself a Miracle. The Establish­ment of our present Reformation is and will be that great Mira­cle, which we are in these times to look for: 'tis that wonder­ful Work which former Ages did despair of, the present Admireth, and the future will stand amazed at: concerning the Lying Won­ders the Romish Church so much boasts of, I have discovered the fallacy of them at large, in my Discovery of the person and pe­riod of Antichrist from page 48. to 55. to which I refer the Reader.

The Second End of Extraordinary Signs and Wonders is for [Page 12]Awakning a droufy, sluggish and secure World, which will not know the Signs of the Times, Matt. 16.3. yea, and for Rousing up the Slumbring Virgins of the Church, both the Wise and the Foolish, As the Midnight Cry did. Matt. 25.2, 5. 6. This is certainly the great End why the great Wonder-working God worketh Wonders and sheweth signs such as are Extraordinary and Universally astonishing, to Alarm, as with those Trumpets, both Saints and Sinners, that none might be surprized, He therefore doth most graciously sound his Trumpet in and by them, that his Judgments may not come as a Thief in the Night upon us, as he hath oft foretold us, Matth. 24.44. 1 Thess. 5.3. Revel. 3.3. and 16.15. The Thief gives no Warning, but comes unexpectedly: So doth not a Gracious God who giveth Warning, for which Charles the Great blesseth God for Rebuking his Sluggishness out of his Tender Mercy by those his Signs, as a Blazing Star, &c. As I shew in my little Book of this late Comet, pag. 22. 'Tis undoubtedly most dear Divine Clemency to give timely Warnings of Approaching Judg­ments, for, Humane Calamity the more sudden, the more gric­vous it is, as (1.) It amates, (or Daunts,) and Exanimates a man, as the sudden Storm doth the Marriner, and as the Devil de­sign'd Job's Messengers should do him, in coming, one at the Heels of another, so unexpectedly upon him. 2. It surprises him at unawares, he stands not upon his Guard, so can no more prevent it, than unweildly Eglon, could Ehud's deadly thrust.

As Signs and Wonders are Various, 1. In their Ends, so, 2. In their Kinds; as, 1. There are Miracula & Miranda. Many things are miracula, much marvelled at, as exceeding the common Course of Providence which yet are not, Ex natura Rei, Mira­cula, of the proper Nature of Miracles. The latter exceedeth the Power of all created Agents, but the former doth not so, A true and proper Miracle is the Stopping or Altering the com­mon Course of Nature, and 'tis a producing of some such E [...] ­fects as do transcend Natures Law, Power, and Capacity: 'tis [Page 13]indeed, an Extraordinary operation of the Almighty Creator in Nature, either without the Interposition and Concurrence of Second Causes, or Above their natural Capacity: In a word, 'tis the production of Something out of Nothing, either as to Matter or as to Manner of production, so that the Almighty can only work true Miracles either in himself or in his Ser­vants impour'd by him. 2. There are mira ceu miranda, marvelous Works and Wonders, 1. of God's Working, and 2 of the De­vil's, who is God s Ape herein, and who by his Impression, which, through his Angelical Nature, he is able to make up­on matter, can do wonderful things to cheat the blind world, as he did Pharaoh and the Aegyptians by his Vassals the Sorcerers. But he cannot work such a Wonder as is a Miracle. The Lending Power will never accommodate the Borrowing party with such a Power as may be prejudicial to his own ho­ly and glorious Design. The only wise Creator will never gra­tify his Creatures, nay the worst of his Creatures, such are all Sorcerers) for any such end as either to obstruct his WORK, or to cheat the World Hereupon Austin, de Unit ate Feeles. cap. 16. saith excellently, That the pretended Miracles of his time were either figmenta mendacium Hominum, aut Portenta fallacium Spirituum, either the Forgeries of lying Men, or the Portents of Deceitful Devils: for a true Miracle is the work of an In­finite Power, whether primarily or Secondarily performed: and hence David saith. That God only doth wondrous Things, Ps. 72.18. Indeed God somtimes useth men as moral Instruments, but never as natural Causes in working VVonders, which sur­pass the Power of Nature. Hence also Nebuchadnezzar, when God drove him from men by his own Courtiers and subjects, and so had tam'd him, and taken him a loop or link lower, by ma­king him graze among the Beasts, himself becomes a Catho­lick Preacher to the VVorld, publickly proclaiming the Great God to be the only Author of Signs and Wonders; 'Tis the Lord only that sheweth them, And they are all His, with an Em­phasis, and not only So, but they are [Rab Rabbin] Great [Page 14]many, and Magnificent, as the word signifies, Dan. 4.2, 3.33, 34, 37. Mark how he enlargeth upon this point again and again, and he calls God's great Acts towards him, (in his Ex­pulsion from his Throne) 1. SIGNS, as they did signify Gods Wisdom Power and Justice to him; and 2. VVONDERS, as worthy to be Wondred at by him, when yet in the High­est Ruffe of his Pride and Prosperity, should have both a Visi­on and Execution of his Downfal from the Highest Pinacle of his Arch Triumphant: Mark, Nebuchadn. hereupon celebrates God's Kingdom only, had David handled this, he had added (as in his Hilled Gadol, or great Gratulatory Psalm, the 136.) He doth often, His Mercy endureth for ever, which is the foot and burthen of the whole Song, not as an idle tautologie, or vain Repetition, but as a most notable intimation of the Saints unsatisfiableness in praising GOD, for his never-failing mercy, his Covenant-mercy, his special mercy in CHRIST (who was the most signal Sign, Isa. 7.14.) in and by whom God only worketh wondrous things. Ps. 72.17.18. Where David bles­seth God, for all the forementioned Benefits by the Lord Christ, of whom his Son Solomon was but a Type: hereof Nebuchad­nezar was Ignorant, However 'tis admirable, he could go thus far, as to acknowledge the Lord Jehovah to be the true and wonder-working-God, whereby he testified his Repentance in his admiring (as in a Rapture) the mighty and matchless pow­er of God, he was constrained to give God the Glory of all his wonderous Works, hence some think he was truly and throughly Converted here, seeing he falls so kindly under the mighty hand of God, whereby (as he penitently acknowledg­eth) those great Signs and Wonders, were wrought concerning him, that such a mighty Monarch (as he was) should be chased from his Kingdom, yea and from among men, and live among brute Beasts, feeding upon Grass as they fed (who had former­ly fed on the choicest fare, the chiefest Cates and Delicates in the World) and that for 7 long years, yea deprived of his Hu­mane Understanding all this time (oh that the proudest Poten­tates [Page 15]of the World, would well ponder this wonderful Work) and yet after all this, be restored to his right Intellectuals, and to his Royal Dignitys. How well doth he stile them Gods great Signs and Wonders for who but God can look upon the proud and bring them low, Job 40.11, 12, 13. God did abate his Pride, and abase his Power, to bring him to Repentance [...] God hath a most powerful Eye, both for Eversion as here, and for Conver­sion as [...]nk. 22.61. and here (probably) also. The whole work being a supernatural change both forward and backward, out­ward and inward) and every circumstance (occasion, manner, degree and time, &c.) seeming no less then a new Creation.

Again 3ly. The Wonders of Gods working are either Or­dinary or Extraordinary. 1. Ordinary, God often shews himself maximum in minimis, the greatest Artist in the smalest matters, not only in that miraculous plague of Lice (made of the Dust) upon the Land of Aegypt, which so fainted under these poor Vermin (armed with the power of God) that they were forced to cry out, This is the very Finger of GOD, Exod. 8.17, 18, 19. where­in 'tis very Admirable to observe how this Act of Omnipoten­tency in such base and vile Creatures, as are Dust and Lice consounded the Imposture and Power of Jannes and Jambres 2 Tim. 3.8, 9. yea, and of the Devil their Master) yet th [...] Great God was highly honored thereby, for, 'tis said, All th [...] dust of the Land was made Lice by Moses, ver. 17. then the Magi­cians had no matter lest them to try their Diabolical Art upon unless they could create Dust, and suppose they had some Du [...] left them for an Experiment, yet, though they stretch'd ou [...] their hands with Rods, and did their utmost Endeavours, The could not, vers. 18. They could neither Create Dust where there was none, nor, where there was some, convert it into Lice▪ Neither could these Magicians save their own Skins, &c.

Thus it plainly Appeareth, That the power and Providence of God extendeth even to the lowest and vilest things in the Creation, and that God can, after a Miraculous manner, f [...] the Greatest power either of Men or Devils therewith at [...] [Page 16]Pleasure. And this is Gods shewing himself the greatest Ope­rator in the least of his Operations, and not only, I say, in ex­traordinary, but also even in ordinary Cases: Indeed the [...], the eternal Power and God head is manifest and know­able in the whole Creation, yea in the Decimo-Sexto's as well as in the Great Folio's thereof: Every Creature hath Aliquid Dei aeque ac aliquid Nihili, Something of God in it as well as something of Nothing; otherwise it could not be said to be created out of Nothing by the Creator, and many times we Ad­mire that there should be more of Art and Activity, in a Dwarf, Bee or Ant, than in a Giant, or Elephant, most great Souls are sometimes couch'd in most little Bodies. Amd the truth is, True and real Wonders are God's daily work (upon which Account they may be called Ordinary) as I shew in my Crown of a Chri­stian, upon that Book with Three leaves (the Creation of God) viz. Heaven, Earth or Sea, Psal. 135.6. There be Wonders without number in all those Three, Job 9.10. Such as the Wisest may well wonder at, and more observable than either the most are aware of, or affected with: 'Tis manifest, That Jehovah is the true and only Thaumaturgus the great and ordinary Wonder-worker: To omit the Wonders of the Creation (for which see Psalm 136, 4, 5, 6, 7. and my little Book aforesaid upon Meditation, pag. 125. to 145. and give but a Specimen, or small Scantling of them: (1.) 'Tis a Wonder to be won­dred at, How the Bones grow in her that is with Child, Eccles. 11.5. Solomon himself, who was Natures Secretary, wonders at this; and so did David before him, Psalm. 139.14. 2. The double Motion of the Lungs, call'd Systole and Diastole, and of the Pulse in mans Body, is a Wonder which that Famous Physician Galen, tho an Heathen, was so amazed with, that he would needs offer Sacrifices to that God whom he knew not, who yet as he supposed must be the Original of that Wonder, 3. The Strength of the Nether Chap is a Wonder, whereof no man could ever give a Sufficient Natural Reason. Nor 4. of the Heat in the Stomach for Digestion, of all Meats in Suc­cum [Page 17]& Sanguinem, into juice and Blood in a little time. Nor. 5. Of the various Colours in the Rain-bow: Nor, 6. of the Flux and Reflux of the Sea: Nor, 7. of the Magnetick Vir­tues of the Loadstone; to let pass many others, that are Wonders all, though ordinary: No nor 8. of this common case, that Chaff should be so cold, as to keep Snow (hid within it) from melting, and yet so warm as to hasten the Ripning of Apples which are coverd with it. Gods wonders are without Number: But 2. Instances more. The 9th wonder is, God's turning water into Wine, as his Daily Work. 'Tis true, this is called, The Beginning of Christs Miracles, Joh. 2.11. and 'twas a mighty Miracle, yea better than that of Moses, for, the Giver of the Law turn'd Water into Blood, but the Giver of the Gospel turn'd Water into Wine; the former could not be drank without danger of dying, the latter was delightful to Drink, and Heart-Reviving: yet this VVonder of turning water into VVine, is a daily work with God, as Augustin excellently observeth, Inasmuch as the Rain water which falls upon the Root of the Vine and nourisheth the Tree, Doth in time turn into the Grape, The Juice, Blood or VVine is originally VVater. In the 10th and last place, Augustin excellently also maketh Gods multiplying a grain of Corn, sown in the Earth, to 30, 60, or 100 Corns, a more miraculous wonder than Christs multiply­ing the few Loves to feed 5000 persons: his words are, mirabili­or est Grani in Terra multiplicatio, quam illa quinque panum; Tract. 24. in Joh. 6.9, 10, 11. yet was that miracle of the 5 loaves exceeding marvelous, Inasmuch as the Loaves, by a strange kind of Arithmetick, were Multiplied by Division, as they were distributed among the Multitude, and an Addition to them was made by Substraction: As each person had his piece sub­tracted from the Loaves, yet were they augmented thereby: Notwithstanding all this. That Reverend Father prefers the common Experience of every Husband-man, the multiplying of one grain, as a greater wonder:

Thus, something may be known of God in the whole Creati­on, Rom. 1.19. and much more in Divine Providence, God [Page 18]never leaves himself without Witness, Acts 14.17. yet, leaves he all men without excuse, [...], without any Apology, Rom. 1.20. for though natural light is not available to bring faln Man into the Favour of God, yet it is sufficient to convince him of Moral wickedness both against God and Man: oh then what pity it is, that Christ should still say, Ye will not believe, except ye see Signs and Wonders, whereas men live in the very midst of many such like Signs and wonders (as are the afore­said: &c. yet, they come not up to so much as amounts to an Old Testament Faith, of Believing in GOD, (though a New Testament Faith is requisite also, as Christ saith, Ye believe in God, believe also in Me, John 14.1.) but are Intoxicated with Atheism, and live according to their Lusts, as if they were all become David's Fools, which say in their Heart, There is no God, though they Daily see God sufficiently sealing up his General Goodness to Man, in doing him Good pro victu & amictu, be­stowing upon him Daily Bread and Daily Cloathing.

2. Besides those Ordinary, God hath also his Extraordina­ry Wonders: The [...], the very great and Won­derful Works of GOD, Act. 2.11. for, though the Great GOD doth limit Nature to her Common Products, yet will he never limit himself, but Will Do whatever pleaseth him, Psal. 115.3. without either the Help or the Hindrance of any Whether it be Miracles or Marvels, or Ordinanary Occurrences: As to the first of those, I have spoke so largely already, and shall only add, that there were never any Miracles for Weight, Measure and Number (for God is said to do all things pondere men­sura & Numero) equal to those in the time of the Gospel: none of those either before or under the Law, can be parralel'd with those under the Gospel, upon all those three accounts, they are not like them for weight, measure and number, It may easily be Demonstrated how far Law-Miracles come short of Gospel Miracles, in all these respects. To Instance only in that one asorenamed; Moses indeed turned Water into Blood, but the Messi­ah turned Water into Wine, and how much the latter exceeds and [Page 19]excels the former, is obvious to every ordinary understanding, inasmuch as the former was made pestiferous the latter salutife­rous Drink: therefore the captious and carnal Jews were excee­dingly irrational, in rejecting those Miracles the Messiah wrought amongst them, and requesting some such as Moses had wrought for their Forefathers (as giving them Manna from Heaven, &c.) Seeing those of the Messiah did far surmount those of Moses both in quality and quantity and in ponderesity, Inasmuch as that Manna Moses gave their Forefathers melted, putrified, bred Worms, and perished in the using, but the Messiah gave himself the true Bread from Heaven, to feed them up to Everlasting Life, his own Flesh for them to eat, and his own Blood for them to Drink, a Meat and Drink that must last (without putrifying) so long as the World doth last, Manna was but the Type, which is al­ways the lesser, Christ is the Antitype, which is always the great­er and better; If our Saviour say of himself, that he is greater than Solomon, Matth. 12.42. We may likewise say of him, he is greater and better than Manna. Moreover, that which more aggravated the Jews Contempt of Christs person and his Mira­cles, is, that their knowledge of Moses's Miracles they had upon Credit only, they received it by Tradition from their Fore­fathers: But as to the Miracles of our Blessed Messiah, they re­ceived them not by Hear-say, but were personal Eye-witnesses of them, therefore doth the Apostle Peter, make his Solemn Appeal to their own Knowledge and Consciences, Act. 2.22. So that he leaves them no liberty of doubting, for CHRIST was by so many manifest Demonstrations Approved of GOD (to be his grand Embassad or to the World) and should therefore be also approved of men, especially of those men who could say [Hisce oculis ejus miracula Vidimus] we have seen with our very Eyes, the wonderful Works which he wrought, and which ne­ver any Man before him did Work. John 9.32. No not Moses whom they called their Master, so that even the very Stran­gers in Jerusalem did know that Christ was mighty in Word and Deed (as well as Moses Act. 7.22.) both before God and before all the People, in [Page 20]whose very presence Christ wrought his Miracles. Luke 24.18.19. for he did nothing in a corner, as Act. 26.26 but before mul­titudes of Spectators and Eye-witnesses thereof. As to the third, to wit, Ordinary Occurrences which cometh to pass commonly and usually by the power of Nature (and often by the dexterity of Art) is not my designed Subject in this short Discourse, though there be whole bundles of Wonders, even in the common course of Natural (if not Artificial) productions, as I have Instanced in ten particulars aforementioned, which at this time may be sufficient. As to the second, to wit, Marvels (which are certain middle things, betwixt Miracles and Ord ina­ry Occurrences) those are the principal matter intended to be Discussed in this little Treatise (which though it be little in its Bulk) yet Treateth upon the great things of GOD. 'Tis a Theo­logical Maxim, that an increated liberty is an Attribute of the Divine Essence, and this being Infinite, (as well as Increated) cannot be limitted by any of its objects, but Acts freely and out of his meer good pleasure, and not out of any necessity of Nature. Ps. 115.3. Dan. 4.25. Jer. 27.5. and 18.4. &c. Hereupon the Great God, being a Free Agent may sometimes step out of his common Road, and ordinary course of Provi­dence, and so work beyond the reach of Nature, and above the skill of Art, to the producing of not only Miracles (as above) but also Marvels or Wonders. Thus God is Described to be one that doth great things and unsearchable, yea marvelous things with­out number, Job 5.9. Thus Eliphaz here spake the Truth, con­cerning the wonderful Wisdom and Almighty Power of God; and Job himself doth readily set his Seal to that great Truth, Job 9.10. He is a God Glorious in Holiness, fearful in Praises, and doing Wonders, Exod. 15.11. 'Tis a most stately Description of God, crying who is like thee, and David cryes also Who, is a God like our great God, a God that doth Wonders. Ps. 77.13.14. Sua mirabilia sunt omnimodo memorabilia, He maketh his marve­lous Works, all worthy to be remembred. Ps. 111 4

In Sacred Scripture, we find Miracles and Marvels or VVon­ders, [Page 21]are promiscuously taken for each other, yet are they not convertible Terms: All Miracles are indeed Marvels, but [vice versa] on the other hand all Marvels are not Miracles: there is this difference [Ex parte Rei] betwixt them, Miracles do exceed the power of Created Agents, but Marvels do not so, yet are they extraordinary Productions of Divine Providence, over­ruling Natural Agents: God is said to work three ways: 1st. [...] according to Nature: 2ly. [...] besides Na­ture: 3ly [...] above Nature; but never (as some say) [...] directly against Nature: The ordinary products of Pro­vidence, are according to Nature: Extraordinary Miracles are above Nature: and extraordinary Marvels are only beside Na­ture; but should the Great God put forth his power against Nature, Nature would be destroyed, and the Destruction of Nature would be the Destruction of the World, for it is as a round chain consisting of many links all linked one to another) and if one of those links be loosed, the whole chain falls in pie­ces and becomes useless: As to those Marvels or Wonders, which are beside Nature (the present Subject of my Discourse.) A right understanding may be had hereof, in this manner; we must suppose the God of Nature is above Nature, so can over­rule it at his pleasure: No Natural Agents can possibly. Act without the leave of Supernatural Providence. The Fire cannot burn (as in the Case of the Bush, Exod. 3.2. and of the three Nobles of Babylon, Dan. 3.28.) nor can the water drown (as in the Case of the Red-Sea and of Jordan) without (as Philoso­phy phraseth it) a Divine concurse: God is the primus motor, and his Providence is the primum mobile of all Created things, and have their Dependency upon their Creator (both as to be­ing and as to motion and as to all-things, Act 17.25.28.) and no created being can make any motion, more than the lesser Wheels can move in a Clock or Watch, without the Impulsion of the greater Wheels thereof: yet still we must know, when this Great Creator worketh any Marvels (yea or Miracles) he still holdeth Nature as a Pen or Pencil, in his Hand, and draws his [Page 22]own Models or Platforms (either Ordinary or Extraordinary) ac­cording to his own pleasure, yea 'tis all one with GOD whe­ther he act with it or without it, by a power that is Almighty, All sufficient (of it self) and infinitely Superior to it, for he is under no obliging necessity of being confined to use Nature as his Pen or Pencil. Though this general Discourse hath (beyond my expectation) swoln much upon my Hand, yet have I all along judged it necessary to say all that I have said, for a fuller Explication of my present Subject (which ought to be distinctly discoursed) before any Application can be made thereof: there­fore to avoid any farther prolixity, I shall (for brevity sake) confine my self to three Heads. 1st. The Sorts. 2ly. The Scenes. 3ly. The Significations of those marvelous Signs and wonders, &c. 1. Of the Sorts or Kinds of them: 1. Philoso­phy telleth us of three sorts of Signs: 1st. Such as are memora­tive (called [...]) which recalleth something that is past, to present remembrance, as the Rain-Bow is a standing Sign and Monument of the past Flood, and as that stately and lofty Pil­lar, lately Erected nigh London-Bridge, is a Monument (so called) of the late dreadful burning of London. 2ly. Such Signs as are Demonstrative (called [...]) which do shew something that is present, as Smoak doth Demonstrate some Fire to be present, and the Bush, that Wine is then and there to be sold, and such like, as are Ordinary; and so those Signs Extraordinary, which accompanied the primitive Believers: Mark 16.17.20. did all signify Gods presence co-working with them, working wonderful Works, both in Preachers and Hearers, &c. 3ly. Such Signs as are Predictive (call'd [...]) which presa­geth or foresheweth something that is Future, and will come to pass, as redness of the Sky, at the Evening, betokens a fair day approaching; but in the morning the same is a Sign of Rain or Wind, Mat. 16.3. This is proved and approved, by Univer­sal Experience, the probable Reason whereof in the course of Nature, may be this, the Setting-Sun carries off those red Clouds all along with it, out of our Horizon, into the other [Page 23]Hemisphere, and there disperseth them, either to a Consumpti­on or to a Rainy day unto our Antipodes, but the Rising Sun, carries the Red Clouds up alost along with it, into our Meridi­an, and then dissolves them into Wind or Rain; not unlike to this, is that Prognostick Monastick of the Poet, from the vari­ous colour of the Firmament.

Caeruleus pluvias, Denuntiat Igneus Euros. A watery Sky fore­telleth Rain, and a red fiery Sky foresignifies high, boisterous and tempestuous VVinds. These (and such like) are call'd na­tural and ordinary Prognosticks, and not at all unlawful in their own nature, for CHRIST did not reprove the Pharises and Sad­duces (in Matt. 16.3.4.) for their being weather-wise (though it belonged not to their Profession) and for their discerning the Face of the Sky, concerning fair and foul Seasons, to the more aptly ordering their secular Occasions, he did not blame them for this absolutely but comparatively only, because they could be so skilful in the Book of Nature, yet were so unskilful in the Book of Scripture; saying, certainly, you Leaders of the Peo­ple cannot be ignorant what the Scripture testifies, that the Messiah shall make the Deaf to Hear, the Dumb to Speak, the Dead to Live, &c. Such [signa insignia] VVonders hath been wrought by me, as never were seen or heard of, and ye your selves cannot but acknowledg it, John 11.47. Besides, the Testimonies 1. of Angels. 2. Of the Star. 3. Of the Dove. 4. Of my Father. 5. Of John Baptist. 6. Of the very De­vils. Yea 7ly. Of the Multitude, yet cannot yee Discern the Signs of the Times. Yee must all therefore be (saith our Lord) either a sort of sordid sorry Sots, or deep Dissemblers and Hy­perbolical Hypocrites, or both, in sceming so criticall to enquire after the Messiah, so curious to search after the Truth, which yee are neither careful to know, nor consciencious to obey. Yet there be other Signs, which are) besides those Natural and Or­dinary, even preternatuacl and extraordinary, which are progno­sticks also of future things, Neither is it Unlawful, to pass a General Judgment, tho a Particular without a Special Gift [Page 24]may be) upon them, as will be made more Distinctly manifest in the Application of the whole. Again, Those prognostick or presaging SIGNS are Reduc'd to Three Heads, They are ei­ther 1. Omens, or 2. Monsters, or 3. Prodigies. As to the 1. to Omit all the Omens observed by the Superstitious in a way of Divination, as, Sneezings, Valentines, stumbling upon the Threshold in the Morning at first going out, stepping over the Threshold with the left leg first, or knocking the Knees or Leggs one against another, even to a Fall, &c. The Su­perstition whereof I have Demonstrated in my Antidote against Popery, pag. 14, to 18. However Dreams appear to be omi­nous either for Good or for Evil, or for both, not only out of the Platonick, Stoick and Pythagorean Philosophers, but also out of the Scriptures as in Pharoah's, young Samuels, Daniels, and Joseph's Dreams, there was an Omen in them all: now, They are either 1. Natural, and such are very Deceitful, Eccles. 5.7. So not to be Regarded unless, for such and such Ends, as I have mentioned in my Treachery of the Heart. pag. 92.2. Dia­bolical such as (some supposes) Pilate's Wives was, whereby the Devil might endeavour to hinder the Work of our Redem­ption. 3. Divine Dreams, which sometime be doubled, and so do make a deep impression, as that of Pharaoh, &c. Gen 41.1, 5. &c. Thus 'tis said, God came to Abimelech in a Dream, Gen. 20.3. This was frequent under all the Old Testament, and at the beginning of the New: but now since God has spoke his Will, in his Word, to us by his Son, Hebr. 1.1.2. We must not now expect any New Revelation about any Divine Truth from God in Dreams: yet possibly God may communicate some Infor­mation about Humane Events to his Godly Servants by Dreams: Instance Monica's Dream concerning her Son Augustin while he was a Manichee, That her Son should return to the true Faith of his Mother, which she construed as a good Omen, and ac­cordingly the Lord heard her Prayers and Tears for him, and caused him to return: There be sundry others in Ecclesiasti­cal History which I pass-by, and pitch only upon blessed Pareus's [Page 25]Dream, related by his Son Philip writing his Fathers Life, as a Preface to his Comments. Saying this, I dream'd in the year 1618. (The very year of a great Comets appearing,) that I saw all Hildeberg in a thick Smoak, but the Princes Pallace all on a light fire: Hereupon I Prayed, Oh most merciful GOD! divert from us this most sad Omen, and save thy Sarepta from these Desolations by the E­nemy, both within and without. Thus the Good man dream'd, and thus he pray'd, but the Decree was gon forth, and shortly af­ter executed acccording to his Dream. Yet this is a most certain Truth, That all Dreams are not significant, much less have any thing Divine in them: Therefore 'tis not only Fol­ly but iniquity also to put such an Universal Stress upon them, as if God alwayes warn us in and by them concerning future Events: This is not only Vain Curiosity, to search into Secrets, but also a Sinful Superstition.

The Second Predictive Sign are Monsters, so called à monstran­do, because they do premonstrate some future Events, though it be not every ones part to assign them in particular; as be­fore the Destruction of Jerusalem, a Cow did bring forth a Lamb; the Destruction of the City was presag'd by it, &c. Phi­losophers telleth us, That there are no Monsters properly among Plants, but only among Animals, and among them, 'Tis not barely Excess, as in Gyants, or Defect of Quantity, as in Pygmees) that make a Monster: but when the Animal doth so much vary from the Right Disposition of its own Kind, as to make it either Horrible or Miserable, then 'tis a Monster. Those Animals are Monsters, that have two Heads and but one Heart, which is the Fountain of Life: this makes but one Animal, yet Monstrous: but, If there be two hearts as well as Two Heads, This make 2 Monstrous Animals, for in such 'tis observed, when the one sleeps, the other can wake, when the one laughs, the other can weep, when the one Dyeth, the other may over-live, as Buchanan observeth, Rer. Scot. lib. 3. Some, indeed, do make those excesses and Defects of Nature (mentioned, Lev. 21.17. to 23.) monstrous marks of Disgrace, [Page 26]as if Nature had See her black Brand of Disgrace upon them, and as if those monstrous Deformities of the Body did Demon­strate the like Defects and Deformities in the Soul: 'Tis true, concerning those that are crook'd-back'd (which is one of those brands of Nature mentioned in Levit. 21.) Plutarch saith, They do [Nemesin propriam portare] carry upon their Backs their own Destinies, and so, indeed, our crook-back'd Richard did, &c. But the Tenderness of God in the Levitical Law, towards such is very observable, that tho none such must be admitted to of­fer up fire-offerings to the Lord, lest they should pollute Gods San­ctuary, both as they were to be Types of a Comely Christ, Ps. 45.3. and Cant. 5.10. &c. and as they should be better than their Sacrifices, which were to have no blemish, Levit. 22.20. The Offerer must be no more blemished than the Offering, yet might they eat the Bread of their God, Levit. 22.22. which shews us, That our Involuntary weaknesses shall not Debarr us of the Seals and Benefits of Christ: But the other Priests for Voluntary Uncleanness were Depriv'd of that Priviledge which the Deformed ones (wherein they were not blamable) had Admission unto, Levit. 22.3. yea further, The Scripture telleth us, That Halting Jacob was true hearted, that Blear eyed Leah was both fruitful and faithful, Stammering Moses was the meekest man upon Earth, and Mephibosheth tho he was lame, yet was he loyal, &c. as if the God of Nature did commonly compensate and Recompence all the Defects of the Body, with a better and more blessed Surplussage in the Sůl: But to pass-by all the Defects in Nature, and Speak only of the Excess, which Philosophy phancyeth cannot make a Monster, Seeing 'tis no more than the Highest Vigour of Na­ture, wherein she exerteth her utmost strength for producing of Gyants, yet those prodigious mighty men, the Scripture mentions, Gen. 6.4. Numb. 13.28, 33. Deut. 1.18. and 3.11. Amos 2.9, &c. were probably Monsters, being both monstrous in their Manners, and in their Mightiness: Some as tall as Oaks and Cedars, Amos 2.9 and one of them, viz. Og, was so massy, that a Bed of wood was not strong enough to bear the [Page 27]Vast Weight of his overgrown Body in turning himself upon it, but he must have a Bed-stead of Iron, and that too, that it might be as a just Proportion to his Bulky Body, must be fif­teen foot, that is, five yards eight Inches long and seven foot broad, Deut. 3.11. yea so great some of them were, that the Greatness of the great God himself is ascribed to them, com­pare Numb. 13.33. with Isai 40.22. where other men were said to be as Grashopppers, poor, low, contemptible things in com­parison of those Monstrous Gyants, as well as in comparison of the Mighty God.

So that Theology (more noble than Philosophy) doubteth not to call that Race of Rephaims Monsters, such as great Goli­ah, who could not only bear and wear Weapons which (at the least) weighed above two hundred pounds weight, and walk with them, but he was able to weild them and to War with them. 1. Sam. 17.4, 5, 6, 7. Oh what a prodigious Monster was this man, Arm'd Cap-a-pee, and stalking in the Field like a whole walking Armory. However that Gyant (call'd [ish middah] a man of mighty measure) having twenty four Fingers and Toes. 2. Sam. 21.20. 1. Chron. 20.25. may well enough be dee­med a Monster among men, yet notwithstanding those two mighty Monsters aforenamed went into the Field like Thunder and Lightning (defying the God of Israel) they went off (both of them) like sooty smoak, and stinking Snuff: Now the God of Nature never sent any of these mighty Monsters into the World, in those ancient times, but it was to praemonstrate that much Rapine, Violence, Arbitrary Oppression and Tyranny should be perpetrated by them amongst men, as Nimrod, that mighty one or Gyant (according to the Greek) that Magnifico, or Grand Rebel (as Hebr. Nimrod signifies) and that first Babel­builder, was a crafty and cruel Hunter (not so much of Beasts as) of men, whom he sacrificed to his Lusts, he was the first who (after the Flood) set up an Arbitrary and Violent Domination o­ver Men (pursuing those that would not submit to his Tyran­nical Yoak) with no more pitty than Hunters shew to Beasts, [Page 28]which they Hunt for their Pot or Spit: Hereupon Tyranny is in Scripture alluded to Hunting. Jer. 16.16. Lam. 4.18 Monsters in magnitude prove mostly Monsters in manners too, this Nimrod who was a Rebel to God his Superior (as his name signifies) was also a Tyrant to Men that were his Inferiours, haveing a Belluine not a Genuine greatness: and though our present Times doth not produce such litteral Monsters, as the ancient Times did, yet God knows) we have too many mysti­cal and moral Monsters, both Inferiours who become Monsters in Iniquity, (none such Sinners and matchless among men) and Supe­riours who become Monsters in Tyranny, grinding the Faces of their poor people, both those sorts of Monsters do premonstrate the Judgments of God against them, they are link't together: but above all, the greatest Monster, that this day affordeth is that Behemoth, that Beast of Beasts, the Antichr [...]st who may well be call'd a Monster (according to the Philosophers definiti­on of it) A Monster (saith he) est peccatum naturae, &c. A Trans­gression of Nature, wherein strange Members in the Body, and Strange qualities in the Mind, are produced and exposed to o­pen view: how well this doth [quadrare] and accordeth with the Romish Beast, appeareth by considering two Scriptures. Dan. 7.7. and Revel. 13.2. &c.) 1 [...]. Daniels 4th. Beast (which was the Roman Power (is not likened to any certain Beast (as the other three aforementioned are) because no particular Beast (amongst the most savage the World bringeth forth) can be named so cruel and so monstrous as to express the Cruelty and Mon­strousness of that fourth Monarchy, no not, although it were [...] as H [...]mer saith, a Lion before, a Dragon behind, and in the midst a Chimera: 'tis therefore a nameless Monster, made up of all the cursed properties of the forenamed Beasts: This Beast is said to be diverse from all the Beasts, not only for its monstrous qualities in the mind (having all and more of all the other Beasts) but also for its monstrous Mem­bers in the Body, Described by Daniel, and 2ly. by John. Revel. 13.1.2.11. Having 7 Heads (to Plot with) and 10 Horns (to [Page 29] push with) the Feet of a Bear, and the Mouth of a Lyon, Himself like a Leopard, and the Dragon giving him Power, as if all Mon­strous Immanity were met together in him; This is the man of Sin, and the mighty Monster of present times, which doth plain­ly premonstrate, nothing can be expected but Barbarous and Savage Out-rages, until Christ (our true Hercules) come to cut off all the Heads of this Lernean Monster, and his Carpenters come to saw off all his Horns. This is that Ahaz, 2. Chron. 28.22. This is that Nimrod (or Rebel against Christ, even Anti­christ) of our Day, that mighty Hunter (even of the Lives and Souls of men) before the Lord, who dare Hunt thus, in spight of an All-seeing God, who beholdeth all his bold, boisterous and brutish Huntings, Ezod. 3.7. This is that mystery of Ini­quity, and mother of Harlots, that has made so many Kings of the Earth drunk, with the Intoxicating Cup, of her (both of cor­poral and spiritual) Fornications. I have sometimes wondred why Sir Edward Cook (that strenous Lawyer and Lord Judge) used to call Royal Prerogative, a mighty Monster, and I cannot tell how to put a sounder sense on it, than by Interpreting his Words thus; That Popery in all Kings and Kingdoms brings forth Tyranny, [...] Evil Bird, Evil Egg, as is the Mother so is the Daughter; This Monstrous Beast brings forth most Monstrous Births: no doubt but there is a just Prerogative (well butted and bounded) belonging to Kings, yet may it be said of it, as Naturalists say of the Dragon [serpens serpentes vo­rando-fit Draco] as when an overgrown Serpent hath devoured other Serpents, that are lesser and below him, thereby he be­coms a Dragon. So when Royal Prerogative hath swallowed both Priviledge of Parliaments and Liberty or Property of Subjects, then doth it Degenerate into a Tyrannical Monster, and this is evident in Popish Kingdoms, where the King is called a King of Asses, their Subjects being as so many Vassals, Peasants, and sil­ly Asses, tamely couching down under every Burden, that an unlimi­ted Prerogative Imposeth on them: As that Creature is com­monly Reputed a Monster wherein the common Rules of Na­ture [Page 30](which never intendeth any monstrous thing) are prevari­cated: so this Prerogative (that Sage Judge so Styleth) may well be accounted a Monster, when there is any notorious pre­varication from the known Fundamental Laws of the Land there y when all Law becomes swallowed up with an Abso­lute and Arbitrary Domination, and when no rule is observed therein, but Sic Volo sic Jubco, stat pro ratione voluntas. And quod libet licet which are the Proposals of Popish Parasites to Popish Princes, Thus one Monster begets and brings forth another in its own Monstrous likeness. The beastly Religion of that Monstrous Beast of Rome, both begets and brings forth Mon­strous Tyranny, changing Due Prerogative into a true Monster. God Almighty bless this poor Land from all such Prerogative-Monsters, which have so long infested Europe: Though Affrica hath been always accounted famous for affording most Men­slers, according to that old Adage [Africa semper aliquid novi sen Monstra Assert] and I find this Story in Record, That in Africa near Nilus were found a few Mice, only one half made up, Na­ture was there taken in the very Nick, how she was prevented from perfecting her Work I know not, yet this (saith my Au­thor) I know, she had wrought Life in the foreparts thereof (Head and Breast) but the hinder parts still remainedunform'd, unquickned, still abiding in the fashion of a little lump of Earth, and so she lest them; but by the Premises it appeareth that Europe as well as Africa aboundeth with Monsters, and not so much with monstrous Mice which marr the Land, as 1. Sam. 6.5. Or as Pliny writes, with such Mice which drove out the Inha­bitants out of Troas and the Island Gyarus. Pliny lib. 8. cap. 28. and 10. and 10. cap. 65.68. Nor with such Mice as Speed in Essex mentioneth in the year 1581. (just an hundred years ago) which came in a great Army and over-ran the Marshes of Den­gy Hundred, near unto South Minster, shearing the Grass to the very roots, and so tainted the same with their venemous Teeth that a great Murrain sell upon their Cattel that grazed there­on. Alas Europe is now Infested not only with Land Marring [Page 31] Mice (which threatneth both a Famine of Bread, and a Famine of the Word too, Amos. 8.11.) but also with monstrous and Land­marring Beasts, such as are butting pushing Rams and slinking nausty Goats, Ezek. 34.17.18.19.20. to wit, the Popish Clergy, who eat up the Best, and beat down the rest, with their foul Feet, and for wholesom, obtrude Brakish water upon men, to quench their Thirst, muzling and misleading some silly Souls, to feed upon Traditions, lying Legends, cheating Indulgences, vowed Pilgrimages, hard Pennances, &e. They are glad to eat such as they can catch, but other more enlightned Souls as cannot touch, tast nor handle with them, they thrust with the side, and with the shoulder, v. 21. and push them with their Horns of Ex­communications and Persecutions, until they have scattered them ahroad. They force them out of the Fold, Flock, and Pasture of Gods Ordinances, administred in power and purity: in such a case what can the Righteous do? Ps. 18.3. They are not able to abide the pushings of those Monstrous Beasts, they must either Fly or Dye, they have not a Third for their choice, oh pray, that Christ (the good Shepard) may come and save his Flock from being a Prey to those Monsters, and to Judge between Cattle and Cattle, and to cause those unclean Beasts to cease out of this Land, and other Lands in Europe, v. 22 to 26. The Lion Nero, and other Slaughter-Slaves of Satan, assuredly shall not worry Gods Flock for ever. Tis Gods promise I will cause the unclean Spirit (of the monstrous Beast) to pass out of the Land, Zech. 13.2. But what a deadly Bite this deadly Beast may give at pas­sing and parting we know not, morsus Bestiae moribundae sunt maxi­me mortiferi, the good Lord give us a good Deliverance from the last Bite. The third Predictive Sign or Wonder, is prodigi­es prodig [...]um, some Etymologizeth quasi predicium, because 'tis predictive and prognosticating: others quasi porro agendum [more and further to do] as a Prodigy portends God hath some more and further great Work to do in the World: in Greek 'tis cal­led [...] terren, because a Prodigy is an affrightful pro­spect. In Hebrew 'tis called [Mopheth] a Jasaph Splenduit, fulsit, [Page 32]Illuxit, because Prodigies (especially those in the Heavens) have a shining spendour, which do dazle the Eyes of beholders, and oft Astonisheth their Minds with their sparkling and shining Lustre. The word [Mopheth] Deut. 13.2. Is Translated por­tentum (quia Indicat quid porro tendatur, because it portends some further tendency of Providence) though there it be used for fal­lacious Wonders, which the Devil (by Jannes and Jambres) wrought, through Gods permission, for the further hardning of Pharoah's Heart. True Portents, Prodigies, or Wonders (that do exceed the common course of Nature) are always Gods Seals, which he never sets on for confirming an untruth: they have (in the general) a perswading power to believe, and prompting us to awake out of our lazy slumbers; hence one wittily compares Prodigies exposed to View, unto a Musitians first strokes upon his Instrument, to try in what tune it is: and then he puts forth his most excellent dexterity in playing over sundry choice Lessons, with most melodious and Ravishing Mu­sick: Thus when the great God doth expose his wonderful Prodigies unto Publick view, and the knowledge of Mankind, it plainly portends that he therein is tuning his Instrument, (as he is the chief Musitian, according to Davids Dedication to ma­ny of his Psalms) and that he is about to play over some emi­nent Acts of Providence (which he will mannage throughout with most excellent skill) upon the Stage of the World, even such curious Lessons, (though consisting of Discords) which may prove sad cordoliums to the VVicked, yet sweet Cordials to the Godly.

The second particular in this General Discourse, is the Scene whereon the great God shews his marvelous Signs and Wonders, and where they have their extraordinary scituation: whereof we cannot have a better account from any better Hand, than from the sweet singer of Israel Ps 135.6. VVhere after he had declared. 1. Gods Goodness, v. 3. Then 2. Gods Greatness, v. 5. Yea greater than all Gods, either Deputed (as Magistrates, Ps. 82.1.6.) Or Reputed as Idols Ps. 115.4.1. Cor. 8.4. He comes [Page 33]to declare what a most free Agent, this good and great God is. v. 6. Doing whatever pleaseth him, whereby he confuteth three sorts of the Truths Adversaries: 1st. The Stoicks that bind Gods Almighty Hands, under a Fatal necessity, as if God could do nothing but as second Causes do move and oblige him: 2. The Epicureans, who dotingly Dream, that God (called Actus purissimus) is altogether Idle, sitting in Heaven at his own ease, and altogether unconcerned with the Affairs of this low­er World which (they say are managed by chance and fortune: 3. The Ethnicks, who confess God to be concerned in the great­est matters of this lowermost World, but not with the least of them, saying, ‘Non vacat exiguis Rebus Adesse Jovi.’ ‘Jove is not at leisure to be present at small matters.’

David here doth Demonstrate the grossness of all those three mistakes; saying, God is always at work, as John 5.17. and he works freely what he pleaseth. Ps. 115.3. and under no Constraint or Restraint, no second cause can either help him or hinder him, e­ven the seeming Impediments he over-ruleth, and making them serviceable to his own irresistible Will: as Phaorah's Daughter is made to preserve Moses, who was to Destroy Pharoah's King­dom, &c. And lastly, he nameth the three grand Stages or Thea­ters whereon God worketh what he willeth, both his Ordinary and extraordinary works, to wit, Heaven Earth and Sea, the great God is concern'd in all things that come to pass in all these; parts of the visible World: This leads me from the General to a particular Discourse of those mighty Signs, Wonders and Pro­digies, which the great God hath very lately shewn to the World, upon all those three Scenes or Stages. And first in the Heavens, this Mighty God (Jehovah not Jove or Jupiter) is de­clared to be the Maker of all Meteors, Jerem. 10.13. Ps. 135.7. whether they be Fiery, Airy, or VVatery, and whether they be Ordinary or Extraordinary. 1. Ordinary, 'tis the great God that causeth Vapours to ascend from the ends of the Earth. Ps. 135.7. [Page 34]And Jerem. 10.13. Those Vapours the Sun, Moon and Stars exhaleth out of the Earth and Sea (by the Ordinance of the Creator) whereon those usual Meteors (as Clouds either with Rain or without, Thanders and the Rainbow &c) are made as on their proper matter: This may be exemplified in the lit­tle World (Man) in whom Vapours are experienced to Ascend up from below unto the Brain, and from thence again do Deseend in a Defluxion of Rheum down upon the Lungs, &c. Thus it is in the Great World, as to the first common Meteor, to wit, Clouds, which are moist Vapours dra [...]n up (as is aforesaid) in­to the middle Region, where being, by the coldness thereof, condensed and congealed, they so continue there, until by the warmth of the Sun they come to be dissolved and turn'd into Rain. Zanch. de Op r. Dii. lib. 3. cap. 6. pag. 381. Hereupon they are called, Gods Garden-Pat for watering Plants, where­with he duly watereth, the wide Garden of the World. Now this, though Common, is one of Gods mighty Sig s and Won­ders that he should bind up such a vast weight of water in his Clouds, which are nothing but Vapours knit together, and so are Vessels much thinner than the Liquor contained in them, 'tis a mighty Wonder, that the Clouds are not rent under them, Job. 26.8. And so to cause a Cataclysme (or warer Spouts, as Mar­riners call them) to drown not only Ships at Sea, but also the whole Globe of the Earth. This wonderful work of God, (that such a Massy weight of VVater, should be confin'd to a thin Cloud, as if a strong man should be conjur'd into a slender Cob­web, and there be kept Nolens Vole [...]s) If well weighed, would be sufficient to convince the greatest Atheist in the VVorld, of an Omnipotent Deity: no meer man can spread a­loft the thinnest Curtain [absque fulcris] without some solid thing to uphold it. Yet the great God spreadeth those thin Curtains (the Clouds) over the whole Face of the Firmament, Job. 25.9.36.29. such as have great Floods bound up, some­times in them, as in a Garment, Prov. [...]0.4. Yet have they no­thing but the fluid Air to sustain them; there be also Clouds [Page 35]without water (as well as with) which seem to carry the less VVonder in them: yet if we Consider, that all Clouds are Gods Spunges (as Zanchy, that Divine Philosopher calleth them) which are in time filled with the waters that are above the Firmament, and the true reason, why some Clouds do Rain up­on the Earth, and others doe not, is, because God doth not squeeze all those Spunges with his mighty Hand: and thus God saith, I will command the Clouds to Rain no Rain upon this or that place. Isa. 5.7. Those are Clouds without Rain Prov. 25.14. For God presseth them not, and those which God squeezeth (as man doth a Spunge,) he doth it not with all his might, but gently, that they may moderately drop upon the Earth to re­fresh it, but not to Ruine it, as was done to the Old VVorld, when God opened the Cataracts of Heaven and wrung those Spunges hard upon them: the Consideration hereof should bring man to the knowledge of the Power, Wisdom and Goodness of God, Rom. 1.19. Job. 38.37. Jer. 5.22. The second common Meteor is Thunder, &c. This is also Wonderful, that Fire and Water, should mingle in one Cloud, and that Hard Stones (ac­cording to the vulgar Opinion) should come out of the midst of thin Vapours. These are Wonders in Nature far beyond Humane Apprehension, that one and the same Cloud should one while be an Aery Sea, to powr down a whole Tide of VVater, and ano­ther while, (even immediately) be as some Aery Furnace, which scattereth abroad flashes of Fire, into all parts of the Earth, astonishing the VVorld with the dreadful noise of that Erupti­on, and that God should fetch Fire out of the midst of Water, and hard Thunderbolts out of the midst of such a soft Exhalati­on as a Cloud is: Hac sunt sane Tremenda, atque admiranda, no less to be Dreaded than Admired: The third comman Wonder in Na­ture is the Rain-Bow, fixed upon a watery Cloud, by the Refle­ction of the Sun upon it, This is such a wonderful work of God, that the very Heathens feigned it to be the Daught­er of Thaumantias (which signifies VVonderment. This is a work top-full of VVonders, witness 1st. The beautiful Form [Page 36]and Fashion of it, a Semi-Circle, the ends whereof were never seen by any Mortal, but as 'tis terminated by the Horison. 2ly. The Various Colours it carrieth exceeding the splendour and lively­ness of the deepest Dye in the World) which have (as some con­ceive) their various Significations, as the two grand Destructi­ons of the Old World, and of this New by Water and by Fire, the watery colour of the Rain Bow signifying the former, and its fiery colour the latter. 3ly. The several Prognosticks of it, ac­cording to Scalage, saying, a morning Rain-bow portends Rain, but an evening one, fair weather. 4. The Shape of it, being that of a Bow (therefore called the Rain-bow) which yet never shoot­eth any man, unless it be with Admiration, Delight, &c. 5. The posture of it, the Bent of the Bow is from the Earth and towards Heaven, as if man were shooting at God, and not God at man. This Bow with both ends downwards and its back to Heaven; must needs be [nuntius faediris & serenitatis] an Emblem of Peace, and a messenger of Mercy to mankind, for he that shoot­eth holdeth the Back of his Bow always from him, and this may be the Signification of its third (to wit Green) colour, that is, the merciful preservation of the VVorld, betwixt those two grand Destructions of it, signified by its watery and fiery colours aforesaid. 6ly. The unreadiness of it, as to any Execu­tion of Divine Displeasure. David saith, God hath bent his Bow, and made his Arrow ready, Ps. 7.12.13. But here, though the Bow seem bent, yet we see no String, neither do we either read of (as Ambrose well observeth) or behold any Arrow ordained for this Bow: If he doth so at any time, 'tis, (as the Psalmist there tells us) against Persecutors, and not against his People: The time would fail me to speak of the Wind, both Tempestu­ous and VVhirlwinds (whereof I have spoke something of it in my Crown of a Christian, in Chapter of Meditation) and of o­ther Meteors, in the Firmament, that are ordinary products of Nature, yet Marvelous Wonders in Nature, as to mans Capacity and Apprehensions; It shall suffice to say only this in General at this time, which is no less a signal and singular Wonder, that [Page 37]out of one and the same equal matter (to wit, out of those same Vapours, which are exhaled out of the Earth and Water) so ma­ny several and differing Meteors should be engendred by the Al­mighty Power, and unsearchable VVisdom of God.

Come we now to those that are Extraordinary, and confine our selves to this past year (1680.) only which God hath made Annum Mirabilem, a wonderful year, as he did that past year (1660) also. How those two famous years run in Paralel lines, and yet how that Congruity hath also its Disparity, is made manifest in the Application: The 1st. Sign from Heaven or Pro­digy in the Heavens that this VVonder-working God shewed to the VVorld, was according (to my now modell'd method) that prodigious Comet, or Blazing-star, seen all over Europe, upon which I have Published, (for publick good) a little stitcht Book of three sheets, Entituled, A Philosophical and Divine Discourse Blazoning upon this Blazing-Star, unto which, I must here refer the Reader, for a distinct discerning of the Product, Form, Colour, Motion, Scituation, and Signification or Probable Prognosticks, &c. Thereunto Here adding this little supplement, at this time: This last Comet (in the year 1680.) was so prodigious, that the like hath not been seen (for length and breadth of its Train) this 800 years. I have consulted O­siander's Epitome of the Centuries, who (indeed) mentioneth a Comet of an unusual magnitude, a little before the Death of Con­stantine the Great, which (he saith) was exposed to publick view, [tanti principis obitum Destgnâsse] as a Prognstoick of the period of so great and so good a Prince, Cent. 4. Lib. 2. Cap. 25. pag. 214. And the same Author tells of another Comet, of a prodi­gious greatness, shooting his Dreadful Rays above the City Constantinople, and reaching almost (as he saith) from Heaven to that City, which was (as he addeth) to give warning of Gajan the Scythian and Arrian's Design to set that great City on Fire, yet through the goodness of God (at the pray­ers of his People in it, that Hellish Plot (as he sayth) was most graciously prevented) and that by an Apparition of an Host of [Page 38]Angels, which terrified this Cursed Arian, from his burning project. See Cent. 5. Lib. 1. Cap. 19. Pag. 89. I would to God the same mercy may be shown to London, for the prayers of many in it. Gen. 18.32. Isay 65.8. The same Author al­so telleth of another Comet, in the 6th. Century, which did por­tend the Overthrow of the Metropolis of Cilicia by an Earth­quake, and much more mischief done in the East. Cent. 6. Lib. 1. Cap. 34. and of another Horrible one of an unusual Longi­tude in Justinian the Emperors time, which fore-ran that hor­rible Butchery the Hunns made over most of Europe. Cent. 6. Lib. 3. Cap. 9. in the year 557. after Christ. But I do not find (in my Reading any such prodigious Comet (as to its Train) save only that one which was the fore-runner of the Turkish Monarchy in the 6th. Century, and who knows, but this para­lel Blaze may likewise presage the Approach of the fifth Mo­narchy of our Dear Redeemer, who will (sooner or later) take to himself his great power and Reign. Rev. 11.17. He will certain­ly Divide the spoil with the strong, Isa. 53.12. He will not al­ways be an underling in the World, but will put in for his part which his Father gave him. Ps. 2.8. in despight of a strong Turk, strong Pope, and strong Potentates, and a strong Devil, (who is the Master of them all) for his Father will make all his Sons Foes his Footstool. Ps. 110.2. and Matth. 22.44. He will put down all power that is opposite to the power of this Prince of Glory. 1. Cor. 15.24. and put them (who now Crest it high against Christ) into the fittest place for them, to wit, under Christs Fect. Tis beyond doubt, that this present Comet, put Rome into a strange Consternation; oh pray, pray, pray, that the Influence of it may consume all the dreggs of the Roman Church, in all that B [...]asts Dominions, as Kep­lerus foretold long ago, should be the effect of that Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter, in Leo, a sign of the Fiery Trigon. And the reason why such an Effect was expected, may be this; The various Returns of those eminent Trigons, fall out very rarely in the World. Acute Tychobrahe, thus reckons [Page 39]them. The first was under Enoch. The second under Noah. The third under Moses. The fourth under Solamon. The fifth under Christ, Tabernacling in Flesh. Then the Roman Empire was in its Zenith or highest Advance: The sixth under Charles the Great, when the Roman was turned into the German Em­pire, and the seventh draweth nigh, which is supposed to have a Sabbatism (as the Sabbath of Rest, followed the 6 Days la­bour at the Creation) in its Womb. Our Blessed [ [...] or] Master of the Marriage Feast, reserveth his best Wine for this last time: Although (that Universal Schollar) Alsted make a little variation of those 6 aforesaid Conjunctions and Revo­lutions, yet he fully agreeth with Tychobrahe in this, that the seventh great Revolution of the superior Planers, falleth upon our last times, and doth certainly portend some great and uni­versal mutation (as all the other six hath formerly done (espe­cially considering that those Planers in their seventh Return, hath perfectly compleated their circular Motion, and then are in the same point and posture that they were placed in at the Creation of the VVorld. Alsteds Encupl. Uranosc. Lib. 11. Pag. 125.

That which startled the great men of Rome so much, at the Blazing out of this Comet, was, the Mathematicians there ob­served it to be in the Train of it, six times longer than that which did portend the last Pope Alexander the VII. Exit out of the World: This Discovery put the present Pope into such a cold paroxysm, that nothing but a Dutch Stove could keep him warm: I doubt not but that cold Sweat which hath seized now upon all the Limbs of Antichrist, will (in due time carry off, not only him, but such as should succeed him, by the Breath of Christs Mouth, and by the brightness of his coming. 2. Thes. 2 8 A prodigious Comet, and a Climacterial Conjunction (Astrologers say) are a double Seal of the great God, to aseertain this great Truth.

In that lesser Conjunction of the two superior Planets, in the year 1664. The Comet followed the Conjunction as a Seal, for [Page 40]Confirmation that dreadful Effects were portended thereby, which not only this Land (in Fire, Plague and Plots, &c.) but also most of Europe (in most Desolating Wars) smarted under, but as to the Total, Greatest, or Clymacterical Conjunction ap­proaching (which cometh to pass only every 800. year) this hath as its Seal) a Dreadful Comet as its [ [...]] or Har­binger going before it, and shewing it self first to awaken and amaze the Drowzy Secure World, &c. However we (well e­nough) may call it a Divine Preacher (or Preco) sent from God, to point out some sacred Truth out of Heaven, to the Inhabi­tants upon Earth; 'tis an Orthodox, and Authentick Preacher, backed with such insuperable Authority, as neither the proud pashur of Rome, nor any of his popish Prelates, can suspend from its Office, or put to Silence, until it hath delivered its message, and done its Work, that its Creatour gave it to do: It cannot be obscured (in its astonishing light and lustre) or dwindle a­way by any created Hands, but only by the hands of its own Maker. And now when it is gone off the Stage, Oh that the loud Sermons it hath preached, may still Sound in our Ears, and Sink down into our Hearts, taking deep Impressions there, though it be a good while after, as did those Sermons loudly and lustily cryed out by Christs Cryer, or Fore-runner (John the Baptist) who did lift up his Voice like a Trumpet, Isa. 58.1. and those sacred Truth, he had preached long before, had their bles­sed and saving Effect, long after, as John 10.41. The Word preached sometime before, sometimes Works, (and that consi­derable) after. Yea, may we not say of this late Comet, that it was some Prince-Peracher, having such Attendants before it and after it) all, as so many Curats under it, God himself (speaking to Job out of the Whirlwind, Job 38.1.) doth magnify Arcturus that Star of the first magnitude, and that always Riseth upon the 10th. of March exactly when the Sun Setteth) by describing how Stately he is attended with his Sons (the little Stars) that wait upon him. Job 38.32. In like manner the great God, hath so Ordered, that this late Blazing-Star (of a prodigious [Page 41]Magnitude in its Train) should have other Apparitions attend­ing it (as small Curats to that Illustrious Preacher the Comet) especially that Fiery Dart which followed its extinction, within a few weeks after: This is the second Phaenom non or Apparition, which the great God shewed to poor man as a Sign from Hea­ven, seeing none shewn on Earth will convince us, it being with us as it was with those Christ-Tempters in the Gospel. Luke 11.16. They must have a Sign from Heaven, over and above all those mighty and matchless Miracles that Christ wrought a­mongst them upon Earth; They must have the Messiah to Thunder from Heaven upon them, as Samuel had done upon their Forefathers. 1. Sam. 12.16.17. to convince them of their Sin (in asking a King) and to bring them to Repentance: for as Johns Baptist, was Christs Fore-runner into the World, so Re­pentance must be his Fore-runner into Mens Hearts, Houses, Cities and Countries, &c. Therefore to bring men to it, when they will not comply with the Council of Mortal Ministers up­on Earth (as those would not with that of Samuel) God sends some Signs Extraordinary from Heaven, seeing [signa de Caelo sunt Formidanda] such Signs as God sends from Heaven are most formidable: Samuel bids that people first stand and Hear, v. 7. that is, Bustle not, Bristle not, but suffer a word of Exhor­tation, Heb. 13 22. When this would not do (the good old man being contemned by them, both in his person, preaching and power) he set GOD at work to speak to them by Signs and Wonders, and then Samuel saith, Secondly Stand and see, v. 16. that so those two Learned Senses (as Aristotle calls Hearing and Seeing) being both Affected, might be also Instructed: so God saith likewise Heartye Deaf, look ye Blind, Isa. 42.18. Thus the Lord saith to us in our Day, so gives us not only the Word to Hear, but also Signs to see, and that one Sign upon another, that they which will not Hear the Voice of the first Sign, might be moved to hear the Voice of the second, Exod. 4.8. Therefore did God send a second sign (the Bolis or Fiery Dart) immediately after the first, (to wit, the Comet) as a Seal annexed to it, in its direful pro­spects [Page 42]and prognosticks: 'Tis true I cannot say of this latter, as I can of the former, that [ [...]isce Oculis Vidi] I saw it with my own Eyes, but sundry spectators of it doth assure me, that it was a long str am of Fire, pointing down towards the Earth, and ap­pearing but two or three nights, which was the cause of my not beholding it; Letters also from the Hague and from Copenhagen give a dark account of this Blaze, about the 27th. of February: This Liery Lance or Dart, Philosophers calleth Bolis, [...] Ja­cit, to Cast, as if it were Gods Javelin which he casteth at sinful men, as Saul did his against David. 1. Sam. 18.11. The He­brew word [chanith] signifies also a very long Spear to thrust through at distance, yet no mortal man is armed with so long a killing Spear, as the great God is, no not great Goliah (himself) whose [chanith] or Spear was of a prodigious length and thick­ness. [...]. Sam. 17.7. It was 26 foot in length, and like a Wea­vers Beam for thickness, besides its head, which according to the Hebrew [lahab] Flamed and which weighed twenty five pound: yet this long Flaming Spear is nothing to Gods Glittering Spear, Habb. 3.11. Which he draweth out, to stop the way of his peo­ples Persecutors, Ps. 35.3. Where the word [chanith] is used. And although the great God is able to cut off the Greatest men with a bare nodd of his Head or frown of his Face, Ps. 80.16. Yea to blow them away as so many small Dust-Heaps, Job 4.19. Yet the Holy Ghost here atributeth to him, Armour both De­fensive and Ofensive, that his appearing for his people might appear sufficient, Ps. 35.2, 3. Notwithstanding God needs no bigger a [chanith or] Lance to kill an Atheist with than an Hair, as the dying Noble-man once acknowledged upon this occasion: He sitting in the Great Moguls Court, dallying with one of his Misses, she pluck't an Hair out of his Breast, this little Wound, (made by that small means) presently Festered, and turning in­to an incurable Canker soon killed him: yea, suppose, man be as great as the Great Pope, yet Adrian the IV. (an English man) can tell them by woful Experience, that though his name (before he was Pope) was Break-spear, yet could he not break Gods Spear, [Page 43]though it be no stronger then an Hair or Fly (in Gods Hands) wherewith he was Choaked: The word [ [...]] Jaculum. A Dart, is used Heb. 12.20. Yet it also signifies that Plummet of Lead which Marriners cast down with a long Line to plum the depth of the Waters, least the Ship run upon the shallow and there be shut up in the Sands and be broken; or which Carpen­ters use, to measure and mark out that part which they intend to Hew off or Plain. If we take it (in the first Sence) as a Fiery Dart, Philosophy saith, it signifies Drought, and portends War. Alsted Encyclop. Lib. 7. Cap 9. Pag. 469. If (in the second) as 1st. The Mart [...]ers Plummet, then it may signify God is sound­ing the Depth of Religion in our Land, Oh that the Ship (the Church) may not be found upon the shallows running all Religi­on into a Form only, denying the Power of it. 2. Tim. 3.5. Alas then the Quick Sands will swallow us up, or we shall run upon some splitting Rock. 2ly. As the Carpenters Plummet, then God Bless us from the dreadful Divine Threatning menti­oned 2. Kin. 21.13. That God wip not our Jerusalem (or London) as one wipeth a Dish when tis dirty, and turn it upside down. This he will do, If he lay judgment to the Line and Justice to the Plummet. Isa 28.17 This should make wicked mens (who shall certainly have their Due) Ears tingle, and their Hearts tremble, through Terror, Horror and Dolor, for God will not give over wiping untill all the Dirt be done away; yet loveth he to fore-signify it, thus threatning that he may not strike, as [...]brose observeth, God giveth us many warnings hereof, If God say to us as he did to Amos ch. 7.9. What seest thou? The sight of this second Apparition was, as Gods Line and Plummet, to measure [...]ut how much is to be cut off, yet the Square Tim­ber or Stone shall be spared: Christ (that Skilful Carpenter, Mark. 6 3) will not cut an Hair-breadth beyond his Mark or Measure, when he gives the wicked their Due, it may be done without damage to the Godly. May we but see the Line or Plummet once in the Hands of our Z [...]r [...]bba [...]ls, as Zech. 4.10. The Perpendicular put once into Parliamentary Hands, the [Page 44]wicked may be pulled down, and the Godly built up. But if nor, and God [...] upon our Iniquity. Ps. 130.3. We can expect nothing but the Line of consusion, and the stones (or Plumm [...],) of Em [...]ti [...] s [...]. Isa. 34 11.

The third Dreadful [ [...],] or Apparition in the Air, was on Dec 17. 1680. at Ottery nigh Exeter, near 5 at night, then ap­peared two great A [...]mies, the one out of the North, whose Leader had a Coronet on his Head) the other out of the South, seeming furiously to joyn Battle, and a little Retracting, charg­ed again most vigorously, this continued about an hour, till at last there came a Reserve and joyning with the Southern, beats back the Northern in great Disorder, many were Tertified at it, and 'tis as true as it was terrible, &c. This Account came from a Reverend Minister, who (with many others) was an Eye­witness of it, while viewing the Amazing Comet, as published in Print.

And the like before had appeared on Sept. 12. Though the Relation and Confirmation thereof, came not to Hand till Jan. 14. after. The same year near Portsnet, in Monmouth-shire, as the Scheme and Letter Testimonial of a judicious Minister of that Place, doth abundantly Testify: The Narrative is as follows.

The first things that appeared were a Grove of Trees, a House on a Mountain, and a Church on its South-side. Next we saw a Hill on the North side, with a Grove and Houses therein. Then we noted a green square Meadow, between the two Hills, then void of men. We saw many great Rocks towards the bottom of the South Hill, and a great Golden Globe, glittering gloriously on the top of the Spire of the Church, and a red Vane upon it. Then a great River broader on the North than on the South, in which were Ships Sayling, from North to South under the Moun­tain with the Tide, where one of the Ships which was hinder­most tacked about, and Sailed through the Fleet, and got before the rest. Then we observed the other Fleet Sayling with the Wind and against the Tide, from the South Point of the South Hill, and then meeting the other Fleet under the Grove, then [Page 45]the great Ship in the North Fleet, first shot, and the rest in order; then the South Ships shot at them, the Fire and Smoak we clearly discerned, and we heard the noise of Guns, after this we observed the Army marching under the foot of the Hill along the Cliff, by the Sea-side; consisting both of Horse and Foot, from the South-point of the South-hill, towards the Square Meadow, then the North Army over the top of the Hill on the North-side, towards the square Meadow, where the Armys met, and after a shout, fought: the Swords and Pikes we cleerly discerned. We noted more Ships in the North Fleet, and most men in the South Army, when we drew to the upper end of the Field, and after the Land Battle, we heard o­ver our Heads three lamentable and sad Groans, Oh, Oh, Oh, at which we were much affrighted.

Now this Apparition of Armys (yea and ex abundanti of Na­vies too) was doubled as was Pharoah's Dream: Gen. 41.32. on a three fold account, 1st. To shew the certainty of its Prog­nosticks accomplishment. 2ly. The celerity, or speediness of these things coming to pass. 3ly. To strike the greater Terror and Astonishment in right thinking minds, which Joseph the In­terpretor of the 2 Dreams) prudently concealed from that In­fidel Pharoah, yet though the Visions or Apparitions (in the Roy­al Dreams) were two, the signification was but one. v. 25. Im­porting one and the same matter; Thus it may be in this Aery Apparition (which was doubled) as it is thus also in many Di­vine Revelations, whereof we find in Scripture some srequent Re­petition, which yet have their singular use, to wit, a making more deep Impression upon the minds of Men, and importing both Assurance and Expedition of the matters foretold therein: Alas we need Line upon Line, and Precept upon Precept, Here a little and there a little, Isa. 28.13. and all little enough to praepon­derate the dulness of our Hearing, and the deadness of our Hearts: to write the same things to the Philippians, though 'twas grievous to the Apostle, yet was it safe and advantagious to the People. Phil. 3.1. Twas not a vain Repetition or an idle Tautology, but [Page 46]served to set forth the Necessity, Difficulty and Excellency of the matter so reinforced. Nunquam satis Dicit, quod Nunqu [...]m sa­tis Discitur, Truth is never enough said, till it be enough learnt. And because mens Breaits are Brawny, and their Heart-strings Horny, therefore are the Apparition of Armys in the Air Doubled upon us, the more and better to beat upon, in­culcate and imprint those Divine warnings in the minds of men: Upon my diligent Search for Scriptural Paralells, and exempli­fication of Apparitions of Armys, I do find three especially: The first of them is very [...], yet such as might have been prevented by a timely and true Repentance: the other are very comfertable: The first is that of Joel the Prophet who had such a Prophetieal Vision or p [...]arition of the Bab [...]am Armys, that should so swarm in upon Judaea, as to make that very Day a Day of Darkness, and of Gloominess a Day of Clouds and of thick Darkness. Joel 2.2. As if it had been (no light matter as they made it, but) a light-less Day, and (as it were) a doleful Dooms-day. Their numerous Armys should come in great Swarms, which, as the Cloud of Locusts would Darken the Air, so as to turn Day into Night and spread far and near all the Country over, and that so suddenly, as the morning spread over the tops of the Mountains: and in this Apparition Joel boheld Flames and Flash­es of Fire, burning up all before them. v. 3. Those Locust, should so consume the Country, as they go along with their vast Armys (as if all had been burnt up by Fire) turning the [...] Eden into a Barren Wilderness &c v. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. wherein the Baby­lonians are Described. 1st. In their persons to be [...], numerous, swift, terrible, skilful orderly couragious and Innumerable. 2ly. In their Actions, to wit, Depopulating the Land (which occasioned Famine,) Destroying their strong Forts, and filling all (both Church and State) with Confusion.

The Lord God Almighty preserve this Land from such Per­sons and such Actions. Oh pray, pray, That God may not Hiss for the Fly of Aegypt, and for the Bee of Babylon. Isa. 7.18. for those Flys would Bite us, to disturbus in our peace, but those [...]ees [Page 47]would sting us to deprive us of our lives. God Bless us from those Romish Locusts (so called Rev [...]. 9.3) to wit, the Popish Priests, Monks, Fryars and Jesuites, being (all) both numerous and voracious Creatures. Oh that such Pestilent Vermin may never have Commission from God to Marr our Land: As the Prophet proposed Repentance as a Remedy (before the Decree brought forth) to them. v. 12.13.14. saying, now, though it be late, yet not too late, Nunquam serô si seriô. Though some Locusts be already come, as Kimchy senseth it. So your Re­penting for Sin, be but proportionable to your Rebelling against GOD. So sweet is his Nature, so gracious, so merciful, so flow to Anger, &c. He will Repent of the Evil, and who knoweth, if he will not leave a Blessing behind him. Yea he will certainly turn to those that turn to him. Zach. 1.3. Oh that England know such things as belonged to her Peace. Luke 19.42. Before the Gate be shut, the draw-bridge taken up, and the Taper of Mercy be quite burnt out, &c. Then God would send out his Mandamus: Ps. 44.4. and come with his Non Obstante, Ps. 106.8. and Isa. 57.15. Yea and turn things to the contrary, as in Hamans Day. Est. 9.1.

The second Instance of a Scripture Apparition, is that of Jacob. Gen. 32.1. Which was not Terrible, but Comfortable to him, for it was not a visible Apparition of Armys of men fighting one a­gainst another, but 'twas an Army of Angels: neither must we think (with the Hebrews and some others) that one Troop or Company of those Angels (which appeared as armed Soldiers) were for Jacob and the other against him, or yet that those two Armys appeared under the command of two distinct Generals, the one under the President Angel of the Country of Mesopota­mia (from whence Jacob was coming) and the other under the President Angel of the Country of Canaan whither Jacob was now returning: this is a presumptuous fancy, and as false as presumptuous, for this would have rather affrighted than com­forted Jacob, as to the Issue, but we find that Jacob without any fear, said upon the first sight of it [This is Gods Host] v. 2. Ma­hanaim, [Page 48]Hebr. or two Armys: The Hebrew Rabbies say well in this, that Jacob in this third Apparition knew them to be the same Angels whom he had seen (in his Apparition) Ascending and Descending upon the lofty Ladder. Gen. 28.12 The Scope of this Apparition of Armys to Jacob was to strengthen his Faith in the way of his Obedience: Jacob was now going whether God had commanded him to go. Gen. 31.3. Labans lowring look, makes Jacob look homeward (Oh that the Frowns of the World had this blessed effect on us) Laban pursues him, which put Jacob to a fright. v. 25. But God had whispered a word in Labans Ear. v. 24. So was better to him than his own Fears. God had spoke for him (and so he can for us) in the Heart-of his Enemys. Now, 'twas not true that Laban said [it is in the power of my Hand, &c.] v. 9. Jacob was now as one that Fled from a Lyon (Laban had some shamefacedness) and a Bear (that had none) to wit, Esau met him, saith a Rabby, This Apparition of an Host of Angels came to fortify his Faith, against his next and worst Fear; that he should now hope the same power which had protected him from the Lyon Laban, would also preserve him from the Bear Esau, though he had sworn his Brothers Death, and came armed with 400 Cut-Throats (at his Heels) against him.

Jacob (who in his excellent Wrastlings) had power with God and prevailed. Gen 32.26. &c. could not want power to prevail with men. Hos. 12.4. Let Persons, yea Parliaments go but that way God bids them as Jacob did, and they shall not want a Ma­hanaim, or Heavenly Host to convoy them through a boisterous Sea, where the Winds are contrary. Math. 14.24. and to con­duct them through a wayless Wilderness, through never so ma­ny Prophane Esau's, with Hundreds and Thousands of Cut-Throats do way-lay them: Jacob was back-set by Lowring La­ban, and fore-set by bloody Esau, yet this Host of Angels carry him through both and all.

The third Scripture Instance of Apparitions of Armys, was that in 2. Kings 6.17. which was a comfortable Apparition also, [Page 49]being an Army of Angels too, not of Men. Benhadad suspected his Councellor of Treachery: Some Courtier (that had been with Naaman ch. 5) tells him, it was Elisha that disclosed his Secrets, and so frustrated them by his Prophetick Spirit; there­fore the King sends Horses and Chariots to fetch him. v. 12.13.14. as soon his Spys brought him Word, he was come to that little Town Dothan; the Town is presently begirt with the Syrian Army. Gehazi's Successor (being yet but a little ac­quainted with his Masters Miracles) could see the Danger (so crys, alas my Master, what shall we do. v. 15.) but could not see the Deliverance, Elisha was no more concerned than to have his Servants Eyes opened, (that his Faith also might be above his Fear) God opened them, and then he saw better Horses and better Chariots for their Defence; Their Remedy would over­match their Malady, v. 17. The same Horses and Chariots that had carried up Elijah, were now come to protect Elisha, from the Horses and Charriots of Benhadad: Horses and Chariots of Fire, must needs be too hard for the Syrians of Flesh: Elisha thus guarded, goeth out to his Adversaries, and as he prayed open his Servants Eyes, he prayed his Enemies Eyes into blindness. v. 18. so led them thence to Samaria, where he entrapped them, that thought verily they had entrapped him in Dothan, not far from Samaria. v. 19.20. &c. While the Prophet staid in Samaria (his place of chiefest Residence and the chief City of the Kingdom) he was secure from the Syrians Assaulting him, but if he be Removed to Dothan (to a place of desection, as the Hebrew word signifies) a lesser Town of lesser strength, there and thither may the Syrian Host better Assemble, but they can­not Assault, the P. is safe there also, having more for than against, v. 16. They that be with us are more than they be with them. 2. Chron 32.7. more Friends than Adversaries.

There is yet a fourth Scripture Apparition of Armys, which, according to the Sentiments of some, is an Army of Men, but of others an Army of Angels, so seems a mixture of both, to wit, Zech. 6. from v. 1. to 9. 1st. Some sence that Apparition of 4. [Page 50]Charriots, to signify the four Empires [in ordine ad Ecclesiam] all ordered from their Rise to their Ruin (in each of them) by the Decrees of God, which lay hid as it were in Mountains of Brass, and ran like a River under ground, till they broke forth, and shewed themselves in their due execution, with respect (all along to the Church of God. And if we admit of this Inter­pretation, then this Apparition was an Army of Men, yea of four several sorts of Men, The Assyrian, The Persian, The Grecian And the Roman. Thus the four Empires (coliectively taken) must be understood: But the second Sense is, that it was an Apparition of four Squdaron of Angels, and this is more probable, as more agreeable to the Interpretation which the Prophets-Tutor (rather than Tutelar Angel) gives of it. v. 5. calling them the Spirits of Heaven, &c. And though the word [Ruachoth] Signify Winds, by which Daniel prefigures the four Monarchys, Dan. 7.2. Yet more emphatically, Angels are called Spirits. Hab. 1.7.14. And the Spirits of Heaven, Math. 24.36. and Gal. 1.8. Who as Ministring Spirits doe Stand before the Lord of the whole Earth. Mat. 18.10. To serve his Providence and to be sent out (as his Agents and Instruments) upon various Er­rants, at his pleasure: and therefore are they Described here Gods Chartots, as Ps. 68.17. and of diverse colours, 1. Black, when their Errands are Sorrowful. 2. White, when Joyful. 3ly. Red, when Bloody. 4. Grizled, when mixt of both Joyful and Sorrowful, as to contrary Subjects. 'Tis very Remarkable here. 1. That Divine Decrees are unsearchable, insuperable, unavoi­dable, unremoveable, they stand like Mountains of Brass, which can never be removed: 2ly. All Humane Events are ordered in the World by Divine Decrees: Therefore tis our part to put our Amen to Gods Amen; and to say in the Language of the pri­mitive Christians (the will of the Lord be done) Act. 21.14. 3. An­gels are Gods Agents for moveing the wheel of Providence, in all Events, The Spirit of the living Creatures is in the Wheels. Ezech. 1.20. and 10.9.11.13. 'Tis a Comfort to Holy Men, that all Occurrences are managed by the Holy Angels, [Page 51]4. The Work God Employs Angels to work in the World, is various work, 'tis Black work and White work, Red work and Mingled work. 5. Their Black work is upon Babylon, and their White work is upon Sion: The Black Horses were sent to destroy Babylon, that lay North of Judea, and the White Horses were sent after them into the same Northern Country to deliver Sign, which then in a great part lay among the Pots in Babylon. 6. Their grizled or mingled work, was upon Aegypt and Ara­bia, which lay South from Judea, the Punishment whereof was somewhat mixed and mitigated, they should be in some better case than Babylon, yet not so good as to retain the Jews there from their own Country. 7. Their Black work done upon Ba­bylon is said to quiet Gods Spirit. v. 8. To ease him of his Adver­saries, Isa. 1.24. to pacify his Anger and to give God full con­tent. 8. The Errand of the Red Charriot, is wholy omitted, probably because 'tis a work reserved for the last times, as the Black Charret did destroy Babylon Literal, so the red Charet (not mentioned as to its going out here) may be Reserved to destroy Babylon Mystical, and to give her Blood to Drink, for she is worthy. Revel. 16.6.9. After all this is done, comes in the Kingdom of the Branch. v. 12. Thus the Prophet here concurrs with Daniel, who after he had mentioned the downfal of the four Monarchys brings in the Kingdom of the Stone, Dan. 2. (the Kingdom of Christ our dear Redeemer) Daniel had such Appari­tions of mighty things, as Zachary had.

The fourth fearful Phaenomenon was that fiery flying Bullet, falling from the Firmament, whereof this Account from Rostock in Silecia is given, that in Jan. last, the Heavens seemed to be Ruffled up like a sheet of Paper, at which time a white glitte­ring Bullet appeared, which seemed to yeild some drops of wa­ter, being attended with two great flashes of Lightning; The Bullet was seen (by many spectators) to fall down, but none of them could tell where it fell, only in this all do unanimous­ly agree, that the said Bullet, in its saling, gave a greater light in­to their Houses than the greatest lights they burned for three [Page 52]or four Miles round the place. I know not how to Exemplify this Apparition with a more suitable Paralel, out of Scripture Record, than with Zachary's Flying Roll: Chap. 5.1.2. &c. This Roll is called a Volumn, or a Scroll of Paper or Parch­ment, rolled up (as the Heavens seemed to be in this Prodigy) yet Flying and flecting swiftly all a long as a Bird of Prey in a ready posture to seize on his Prey. Volans Velocissimum ultionis incursum denotat. This very posture of Flying doth demonstrate some sudden Incursion of Divine Vengeance, saith Chrysostome, but God only knows where it will fall: Nemo scelus gerit in pe­ctore, qui non idem Nemesin in Tergo. No man can carry any di­vellish wickedness in his Breast, but the same man must bear Nemesin (so was the Goddess of Revenge called) or Divine Vengeance upon his Back. This the blind Heathens could say, by the light of Nature, into whose Hearts the Remarks how the Holy God Revengeth himself upon wicked men, cast a greater light, than could this Flying Bullet, into the Houses of those Villages which were enlightned with it. Hereupon they called Vengeance [...] which signifies unavoidable, because no Offender can either Avert or Avoid the Revenging hand of God, there is no escaping its coming, nor abiding it when it cometh: This Flying Roll is described by the Prophet to be ten yards long and five broad.

This Remarkable Measure of the Flying Roll is 1st. Com­mensurate to the Porch of the Temple, which is exactly described to be of the same Breadth and Length. 1. Kin 6.3. And as it bore a proportion in measure to the Porch, so it may be suppo­sed to come out from thence, as a Voice from the Temple. Isa. 66.6. And unfolding as it came thence, it appeared in the Air in a Flying posture, hastning and hovering over the Heads of wicked Persons. 2ly. It bears likewise a proportion to the Land of the Jews, which Geographers Describe to be twice as long, as it was broad, and now it being covered all over with the Guilt and Filth of Mens Sins, it was ready to be covered all over with the sence and smart of Gods Judgments. 3ly. 'Tis commen­surate [Page 53]also to the whole World of Gentles, the length whereof, (take it from East to West) much exceeded the breadth of it from North to South, as Geography observeth, and thus it signified that as all the Habitable Lands had filled themselves with all kind of Sins, so God would now fill them with all kind of punishments: 'Twas every way large enough to plague all sorts of Sins, and to punish all sorts of Sinners, whether in every corner of Judea, or in the utmost parts of the Habitable World. Thus the Flying Roll is said to go forth, yea Fly (more swiftly than the Eagle, the Ar­row, or a Flash of Lightning) over the Face of the whole Earth, v. 2.3. And the Curse of God (contained in the Roll within and without) is as the Fiery Bullet, that burns on all sides, being like Ezekicls Book, filled with such contents as Lamentation and Mourning, and Woe, Ezek. 2.9.10. This Curse of God when it falleth upon the People of Gods Curse, Isa. 34.5. hath a more mighty and mortal fall than the bulkiest Bullet in the World, far beyond the Burthen of that mountanious Bullet, which (Hi­story telleth us) was shot out of that monstrous murdering-piece, called Grand Diabolo, or the great Divel: Inasmuch as the mighty Hands of the Almighty and All-Creating God in Heaven, can give a greater and more fatal Blow, than can the created Hands of the greatest Divel in Hell. This is the Fiery Bullet that Droppeth the bitter Water which causeth the Curse. Num. 5.18. and which will make the Thigh to Rot, and the Belly to Swell. v. 21.23. Neither let any man say, that the Curses writ­ten in Gods Book, are but Bug-bears, and that words are but wind, as they said, Jer. 5.13. for the words written in that Book (or Hebrew Scroll) should cause the waters thus to work, which (in themselves) had neither any discerning Virtue, nor any destroy­ing Vigour, yet the Divine Institution made the same potion, either Poyson or Medicine, according to the cleaness or un­cleaness of the party: Thus also Gods Word which Scoffers call but Wind, yet may have Dreadful Effects, for even Wind, when gotten into the Bowels of the Earth, may cause an Earth-quake, so this Word of the Curse, when gotten into the Bowels [Page 54]of a mans mind, may make an Heart-quake. Besides, that very Word which those Mockers made light off as Wind, should be­come Fire, and themselves Fuel to feed it. Jer. 5.13.14. And as Fire slyeth upon Fuel that is fully dryed, and consumeth it in an instant, Nah. 1.10. So Gods Flying-Roll will lick up wicked Livers, as that Fire from Heaven did the Sacrifice, the Wood, the Stones, and the Dust, with all the Water in the Trench, 1. Kin. 18.38. Divine Threatnings, in Gods Flying-Roll, are (as Erasmus saith of Ezek. 3.18.) Fulmina potiùs quàm Verba. Hot Thunderbolts, rather than such Words as be but Wind) The same God that hath denounced it, will certainly do it, he will see his own Law Executed. Zach. 5.4. and will (himself) Exe­cute the Judgment written in this Roll: Ps. 149.9 Yea and more than is written: Deut. 28.61. Upon the Head of the Thief (great as well as small, as the Pyrate told Alexander) under which is comprised all other Sinners against the second Table; and upon the Head of the Swearer (comprehending all against the first) God hath Sworn that Swearers shall not enter into his Rest. We live in the Dreggs (the last and worst) of Times, wherein Blasphemous Oaths, are belched out of Black Hellish Mouths, both ordinary and openly, yea some Oaths are be­come Rhetorical Inrerjections of Speech to the Vulgar sort, and other some meer Phrases of Gallantry to the Damme-Gal­lants: but mark the end. The direful Curse comes flying with a Divine Commission breaks into the Houses of those Thieves and Swearers) which they call their Castles, wherein they think themselves out of the reach of Gods Rod) there it remains as a troublesome Inmate in despight of them, they cannot rid or remove this cursing Roll, untill it hath not only sauced their Meat and spiced their Drink, with the Wrath of God, as Job 20.23. but until also the Fire thereof hath kindled the Brimstone that lay scat­tered upon their Habitations, Job 18.14.15. This puts their All into a light Flame, consuming both Timber and Stones, their per­sons and their Estates, which they have raked together by Ra­pine, Sacriledg, Perjury, and other wicked ways: Such Balls [Page 55]of Fire (Resembling this Flying Roll, &c.) have been seen fal­ing out of Heaven (Gods Temple) upon Woods, Ground, yea Houses here in England, The bigness of which Fire Balls, have seemed to Spectators as large as the greatest Chaldrons, these must be predictive Signs to us, as Jeremys Boyling-Pot was to the Jews, Jer. 1.13. and as Ezekiels was, Ezek. 24.3.4.13. Representing Jerusalem which then had a mighty Scum in her, but the Fire of Gods Wrath set the Pot on boyling (by the Chaldeans) until it had boyled out all the Bones and the Flesh (the Stoutest and Richest) at which they had Scoffed. Ezek. 11.3.7. But when they go to the Po [...], and boyl lustily there, their Scoffs are forced back down their own Throats, and their Hearts might then bespeak them, as the Heart of the Tyrant Apollodo­rus (who dreamed he was taken and flead by the Scythians, and boyled in a great Chaldron) did, cry out of the Kettle or Chal­dron to him [...] 'tis I that am the Cause of all this thy Misery. No less a Sign was Ezekiels Iron Pan, to the Hard-Hearted Jews. Ezek. 4.3. both which Hieroglyphicks and Emblems did not only signify, their City should be hardly Besieged, but also that God would so seeth them in a Pot, and so fry them in a Pan, as that they should pine away in their Iniquitys. Levit. 26.39. The good Lord Divert this sore Judgment from London, and Direct it to Rome or mystical Babylon, for she is worthy. Revel. 16 6.

The fifth wonderful Signs in the Heavens, is, the Several Suns that have been seen in the Firmament, at some due distance one from another, as hath been Testifyed to me: but I shall not Insist upon this, (as I have upon the former) not only because my Book begins to swell beyond my Expectation, but also be­cause I have resolved to enlarge upon nothing, no nor insert here any thing upon slender Evidence, without evident and sufficient Testimony: It shall therefore suffice to say but little to this, save only, that such an Apparition need the less to be doubted of, seeing natural Phylosophy mentioneth it, as one of Natures Products, though not ordinarily, calling them parelia [Page 56]or Mock-Suns: yet that Divine Philosopher Zanchy, doth not only (in concurrence with Heathen Philosopers) suppose such Apparitions to prognosticate abundance of wet weather, but also (as he saith further) various Judgments, as Famine, Sword, &c. Zanch. de Oper. Dei. Pag. 348. Yea our own English Chro­nicles tell us, that such an Apparition was seen in the Heavens in the beginning of Queen Maries Reign as there had been the like before, to presage the Death, of that insolently proud Prelate, Thomas Becket Arch-Bishop of Canterbury.

In a word, both time and room (and it may be Credit too) would fail me, should I insert the other Apparitions in the Air (we hear off if not see) as the Dreadful Thunders and Light­nings, the Impetuous Wind and Whirlwinds, and many strange Meteors which I designedly omit, until I get better prooff, (which I truly desire from all good Hands) well knowing my Brethren that went before me, in this Work 20 years ago, some do blame for credulity: Alterius perditto mea fit cautio. The Censure passed upon my Predecessors (in the like work) for be­ing over Credulous, hath been cogent to make me a little the more Cautelous: Therefore I pass on to the second Scene or Theatre, whereon God shews his Wonderful Signs or Prodigies, to wit, on the Earth (as well as the first in the Heavens or Air) And first of the Prodigious Hail-stones, which God cast out of the Air, down to the Earth, which cannot be called Apparitions in the Air (and so belong to the first Scene) seeing their prodigious bulkiness could not be distinctly discerned, until they appeared (faln, taken up, and measured) upon Earth. This same Prodigy or Wonderful Sign, happened upon the 18th. of May, 1680. which became so mischievous to all the Sky-Llights, all over London, &c. and knockt down many Rooks, by their vast weight, and bigness, some of them (being measured) were found seven Inches about, &c. This Sign also may be exempli­fied both out of Sacred and Civil History. 1st. Sacred and 1st. The Plague of Hail slones upon Aegypt, Exod. 9.18. to 27. Such as that Land never saw or felt before, for this seventh Plague was: [Page 57]1st. More General than any, being over the whole Land at once. 2ly. None ever was so Temper'd with Fire which ran along the Groun. v. 23. Though Fire and Hail be of two contrary Tem­pers, yet in this they made a Peace betwixt themselves, that they might obey the Will of their Creatour. This was a strange mixture, and a Miracle within a Miracle, saith Rab. Solomon: such Hail-stones and Coals of Fire mingled together are menti­oned: Ps. 18.13.14.15. and Isa. 30.30.31. as here and Ps. 78.47.48. and Ps. 105.32.33. 3ly. None ever so punctu­ally Predictied and as punctually Performed, according to the Prediction. v. 18.23.24.25. 4ly. None ever so Destructive to Man, Beast and Trees, v. 25. Ps. 66.46.47.48. and 105.33. 5ly. None ever so Distinguishing though it was over all the Land of Aegypt, yet the Land of Goshen (a part of it) was exemp­ted. v. 26. Such an Exemption (was that Torrent of Fire which ran down from Mount Aetna) vouchsafed to those Religi­ous Children, which ventured to Rescue their Aged Parents, from those fearful Flames, made Aristotle say, [ [...]] It extorted from him an acknowledgement of Gods good Providence for the Godly here on Earth, when he saw the Flames of Fire, dividing themselves and making a Lane for those Godly Rescuers of their Helpless Parents. The second sacred Instance of Prodigious Hail-Stones. Josh. 10.11. Ob­served the like exemption or distinction (as that in Exod. 9.26.) 'tis said [the Lord cast down great Stones from Heaven] ex­plained there [beebeni Habarod, Hagedeloth] such huge Hail­stones as brained the Canaanites, but hurt not the Israelites that were not only at their Heels, but also mingled amonst them as they flew them in their Flight and dreadful Thunder and Light­ning came along with those Hail-stones also, as not only Jose­phus saith, but Habaccuck likewise Habbac 3.11. Where God shot off his shining Arrows, and darted from him his Glit­tering Spears, yea he level'd them (whether Huge Hail stones, or Hot Thunderbolts) with so even an Hand to their several marks, that he hit the one and missed the other, even when they [Page 58]were intermingled together: this was Digitus Dei. 2ly. Civil History mentions strange Hail-stones, both Ethnicks, as Livy De­cad. 1. Lib. 1. and Decad. 3. Lib. 10. Claudian, &c. And Ec­clesiastick, as Eusebius Lib. 5. Tertullian Cap. 5. Apolog. And Dio in the Life of Marcus Antonius (the Philosopher so called) who fought against the Quades, and by the prayers of the Thun­dring L [...]on (as in Aurelius the Emperors time they were cal­led) of Christians, Ingens Gr ando complur aque fulmina in Hostes Ce­ciderunt, &c. Such huge Hail-stones, and hot Thunderbolts falleth upon the Enemy doth that Heathen Historian say, as if he had been an Ecclesiastick Writer) and Fire and Water did fall down from Heaven, the Christians and their Party drank of the water and were Refreshed, but the Quades (their Enemies) were Burnt by the Fire and Perished, while it fell not at all up­on the other, or if it did, it was presently quenched. Neither did the Waters Relieve the Quades, but Inflame them, as if it had been Oyl, so that they called for Water to cool them, when the water fell upon them, yea and wounded their own Bodies, to quench their burnings with their own Blood: many more such strange Stories have we in the Magdeburg Centurists and in Ostanders Epitome (too long to Relate) I add only that out of Pe­rerius (the Jesuite) who tells us of a most grievous Hail shower in France in the Reign of Lewis Son to Charles the Great, which was so prodigious in the weight and bulk of the Stones, that it slew both Man and Beast, and at that time a peice of Ice of 12 foot long, fell with the Hail out of the Air, &c. If there be such Wonders in a Hail-shower, 'tis the less Wonder that God proposeth this great Wonder to Job, asking him, [Hast thou seen the Treasures of the Hail, which I have Reserved against the time of Trouble, as the Day of Battel and War.] Job 38.22.23. Shewing that the Inspection and Administration of all these marvelous Meteors, do only belong to the Great God, he hath vast Treasures of them, many Arrows laid up in his Quiver (which can never be emptied, as the Poet saith of Joves) against the ap­pointed time for Punishing his Adversaries, then he brings forth [Page 59]his upper and lower Troops (as the Rabbins Phraise it) ready prest for his Service, and this he will do against Babylon, against which God hath a most Dreadful Shower of Hail-stones, Revel. 16.17.18.21. where the seventh Plague upon Aegypt is compa­red to the seventh Plague upon Babylon, yet this latter far worse, as more weighty than the former, every Hail-stone weighed a Talent, far bigger than those that Brain'd the Cana­nitish Kings. Josh. 10. See my Church-History pag. 507. When our Joshua or blessed Jesus shall come forth Conquering and to Conquer the World (as that Typical Joshua did Canaan) he hath a worse Shower of Hail-stones wherewith to knock down not only all the Romish Rooks (that would Rook us of our Refor­med Religion) but also to Brain all the Grandees of the Earth, that lend their Power to uphold the tottering Whore of Baby­lon; those prodigious Hail-stones shall drop down out of Hea­ven and descend upon the Earth. Revel. 20.9 as if both con­spired to destroy Christs Enemies, as they had done Davids be­fore. Ps. 18.13.14.15. and the Churches Isa. 30.30.31. Such as never were seen upon Earth. Revel. 16.18.

The second Wonderful Sign upon Earth, is that strange Ap­parition to the Maid at Hatfield.

Feb. 9th. This Maid, accompanied with Sir Joseph Jordan, Dr. [Page 61] Lee, Mr. Wilkinson, her Mother and others, attended the King and Council, where his Majesty asked her many Questions, and heard her Relation patiently, after which bidding her Go home and serve God, and she should see no more such Visions; or to that effect, and so she was dismissed. Yet about the middle of April 81. She Relates, that the Vision hath appeared again to her, and hath commanded her once more to present her self to his Majesty.

The first grand Enquiry, is whether this Apparition were a good or an Evil Angel. Answer, 1. In general: A Visi­ble Apparition of Invisible Spirits, is preternatural, and therefore a Prodigy, whether the Spirit that appears be good or bad: 2ly. Learned men give this Character of Distinction betwixt the Apparition of a good and of an evil Angel. That the good always appear in the shape of Beautiful Persons or Clean Creatures; as, of a Lamb to Clement, of an Hart to Eustace, and of a Dove to Gummarus, &c. But the Evil Angels Appear as Deformed men, or as Filthy Beasts. Thus the Devil appeared to an Assembly of Witches in the Shape of a Stinking Goat, and of a filthy Hog, in these Churches of Agatha, propha­ned by Arrians. Thus Satan (soon after his Fall) took the likeness of a Serpent, and is call'd so, yea a Dragon, and thus he is said to appear in the ugly shape of all loathsome Crea­tures to Hillary, Anthony, &c. As Athanasius and Hierome in their supposititious Relations have Reported. yea, some do further say, Hoc est admodum mirahile nunquam Visos esse Daemones utroque pede Humano ull [...]bi apparuisse, &c. Saith Fornerus De Angelis Serm. 9. 'Tis a very Wonderful thing saith he, that Devils never are seen appearing any where in mans shape, with both Feet alike, but either with one Foot cloven, or with a whole club Foot. All this seems not an infalibly distinguishing Cha­racter: for, 'tis true, the great God can put such discriminating Brands upon such deceitful Apparitions, of Evil Spirits, and possibly doth often mark them so: yet this will not hold Uni­versally true, for that Devil who can (as the Scripture of [Page 62]Truth saith) turn himself into an Angel of Light. 2. Cor. 11.14. may also Tranform himself into the shape of some comely Man, or lovely Beast: 3. That which the Apostle there affirmeth, was then taken for granted among the Learned (such as Pauls oppo­sers deemed themselves) and this was acknowledged by Porphy­ry, Jam [...]lichus, &c. That the Devil (the Prince of Darkness) could Transform himself into an Angel of Light, either by assu­ming to himself a lightsome, comely and glorious Body, as if he were an Angel of Heaven, or by suggesting something that see­meth to savour of Piety and Zeal for God, as if it came from some blessed Angel, whereas his suggestions (as he suggesteth them) do indeed tend to Gods D [...]shonour and the Souls Ruine. 4 The Character that even Porphyry giveth Satan (calling him [...]) one of many Forms and Fashions, doth Evidence, that it was the Opinion of the Ancients, how he doth not always appear in one and the same Form, but hath as many several shapes as Proteus had among the Poets: This is made more manifest in the History of the Acts of the Apostles, as, first at Lystra he appeared as a Comedian, as if a Scene of Plautus were to be Acted upon the Stage, Act. 14.11.12. &c. Secondly, at Antioch he appeared like a Jesuite with Traditions in his Mouth. v. 26. and Act. 15.1. Thirdly at Athens, he sal­lyes out like a Philosoper, Act. 17.18. Fourthly, at Ephesus he takes the likeness of a Master-Artisicer. Act. 19.24. And fifthly, ot Corinth, he tranforms himself into an Angel of Light. 2. Cor. 11.14. with Act. 18.6. &c. In all those pla­ces the Devil Acted the parts of all the aforesaid, though he did not visibly assume their shapes. 5ly. As to the latter Times touching visible Apparitions; Severus Sulpitius in the Life of Martinus, chap. 25. gives this Account, that Satan appeared in the form of a good Angel, among other Apparitions to Anatho­lius a young Monk, &c. He telleth how the Devil appeared to St. Martin (so called) as he was praying in his Monastick Cell, the apparition seemed very glorious, sparkling with a dazeling light, having upon it Royal Robes, upon its Head a [Page 63]Golden Crown bespangled with Jewels, upon its Feet gilded Shoes, and with a benign Aspect out of a comely mouth spake as followeth [Oh Holy Martin, acknowledg me whom thou beholdeth, I am Christ coming down to the Earth, and I would first manifest my self to thee, &c.] and the Apparition oft Repeating those Words, the man (Martin) Answered, that Christ had no where foretold, he would come again in so glittering and glorious a posture (upon Earth) before the last day. I will not believe that it is Christ (who is come now to me) unless he appear in the same Form and Habit wherein he suffered, and having his five Wounds wherewith he was stigmatized upon the Cross; upon this Answer the Devil va­nished out of sight, leaving an horrible stink behind him, as saith the Author. See him of sundry other Stories of the like Delusions: and Johan. Wierus de praestigijs Domonum Lib. 11. Cap. 16. 6. There is another Character whereby the Dis­course of an Evil Angel to us may be discerned from that of a good one, which Peter Thyreus Lib. 4. of Apparitions, Chap. 16. Numb. 17. mentioneth, saying [The Discourse of a good Angel doth at the beginning affright a person, but afterwards leaves that mind quieted and comforted, but on the contrary, when an Evil Angel appeareth and discourseth them, 'tis pleasing and insinuating at the first, but it ever leaves the mind disturbed and in little ease at the end. The same Sign doth Pineda give, in his Notes upon Job, 4. v. 16 This also is no Infalible Note, but a falacious Sign also, for the Apparition of a good Angel 1st. To Sampsons Mother was no way affrightful to her, but rather com­fortable, encouraging her to run to her Husband, to acquaint him with the glad Tidings, Judg. 13.3.6. Neither was her Husband terrified with this Apparition, speaking boldly to it [art thou he which spake to the Woman] v. 11. Though after his departure, a Trembling Seiz'd upon Him, through want of Faith v. 22. not upon her, whose Faith was strong v. 23. and 2ly. The Apparition of an Evil Angel (or Devil) to Saul (as the good Angel was Christ to Sampsons Parents, Jud 13.22.30. cal'd Elohim and Jehovah) did drive the King into a Swoon. 1. Sam. [Page 64]28, 20 preaching to him his Funeral Sermon, yet at the close he had some small comfort from the Witches fatted Calf, not so much to refresh him, as to get him safe out of her House, and least his qualm of fear should drive him quite off from the Devil. Both these two Instances are point-blank contradicto­ry to Thireus and Pinedas distinguishing Character. 7ly. Nei­ther is that Sign (which some say is distinguishing) any better than the former, to wit, It must be a good Angel that suggest good things, whereas the Devil can give good Counsel, and put upon good Duties, but always for evil Ends, as Bodinus observeth in Lib. 23. de Daemonomania cap. 6 and Samuel (himself) could not have spoken more gravely and severely than Satan did. 1. Sam. 28.16. I have read a Story of a good man, who was very weak, and after his Solemn calling upon God, on his Knees by his Bed-side, he betakes himself to his Bed for Rest, but being about to sleep, an Apparition speaks to him, saying, rise up to Prayer; The poor Tempted Soul bravely answered the Temp­ter, I'le pray at Gods bidding not at the Divels, &c. And 'tis a known case Satan suggests to his Vassals (Witches and Wiz­zards) to frequent places of Gods Worship but all in Hypocri­sy) least they should seem to be so bad as they are indeed: yea sometimes to receive the Eucharist, but to reserve it for some of their Magick and Diabolical Charms. So that 'tis best judg­ing of such Suggestions from the end proposed, The Devils e­vil end in prompting the Sick man to the Good Action of Prayer was to discompose him from sleep and to destroy him thereby. 8. But much less may an Evil spirit be distinguished from a good one by the place where the Apparition is appearing; for the Devil sometimes can thrust himself in among the Sons of God or Elect Angels, Job 1.6. and when Satan thus maketh himself one among the Holy Angels, 'tis by Divine permission, and not without the over-ruling power of God: The good An­gels came into Gods presence for good to Job, but this evil one for evel to him, to wit, for a Commission to hurt him, yet even this God over ruled for good: Jam. 5.11. though the begin­ning [Page 65]was the Devils, yet the End was the Lords, So Zech. 3.1 2. yea and long before that, that Evil Angel was got into Pardice the best place that was then in the World; yea, and long after that he could not only accompany, but even carry Christ himself to the Holy Temple, when he placed him upon a Pinacle of it, thus it appeareth from Scripture-Record, that evil Spirits may appear. even in good places, as well as bad ones: to this Drexelius Vision gives a farther confirmation, saying, He saw ten Devils at a Sermon, and but one at a Market; the Reason whereof he giveth, is, that at a Sermon, men stand in Awe of Gods presence there, Act. 10.33. and therefore ten Devils Satan thinks few enough to tempt them, that they may not serve the Lord without Distraction. 1. Cor. 7.35. But at a Market the Tempter needs not so many tempting Tools, for there one man will (fast enough) Tempt ano­ther, The Buyer the Seller, and the Seller the Lyer. The second great Enquiry is, Whether God useth the Ministry of good Angels to his Servants now under the Gospel? Answer 1st. without all controversy he doth, yet in an insensible and in an invisible manner, that God might draw up our Hearts Heaven-ward, and have our Gonversation in Heaven, while our Commoration is on Earth. Phil. 3.20. Devils are not more ready to tempt and de­vour us, than the Angels are to succour and deliver us: As Evil Angels do suggest Evil Motions, so do good Angels good ones, and as our good endeavours are oft hindred by the Evil Spirit: 1. Thes. 2.18. So are our evil undertakings oft by the good Angels, otherwise our Protection were not equal to our Dan­ger. The Devil moved Balaam to go and curse Israel, a good Angel resists him, and speaks in the mouth of his Ass to con­vince him, &c. Here Bishop Hall noteth well, in his contempla­tion on that Scripture, If an Heavenly spirit stands in the way of a Sorcerer Sins, how much more are all those Caelestial pow­ers ready to stop the miscarriages of Gods dearest Children: how oft (yet more) had we fallen, had not these Blessed Guar­dians upheld us in their Arms. Ps. 91.11. whether by remo­ving the occasions and opportunities of Evil, or by injecting [Page 66]contrary instincts and motions to Good. As Michael opposed Satan about the Body of Moses, so do the good Angels about the Bodies and Souls of the Saints while they live and carry their Souls immediately into Abrahams Bosom when they Dye; there­fore should we bless God for Angels Ministry, as a part of Christs Purchase. Heb. 1.6.7.14. who have their Commission from him (to keep the Saints in their way) as well as their Confirmation by him in their own Everlasting go dness: hence he is their Head, Col. 2.10. and that Jacobs Ladder on which they Ascend with Mens Desires, and Descend with Gods An­swer. Gen. 28.12. much more I might add, but I avoid pro­lixity.

The Second Answer. It must be granted that in the times of the Old and New Testament, God did use the Visible Ministry of good Angels, as in the Old to Abraham, Gen. 18.17. to Lot, Gen. 19.15. to Gideon, Judg 6.12.14. and to Manoah, Judg. 13.3. &c. and in the New Testament, to Joseph, Matt. 1.20. to Zachary, Luke 1.13. and to the Blessed Virgin, Luke 1.26. &c. Then did God speak to his Servants at Sundry times and in diverse manners, that is, in Dreams and Visions by his Angels, but now he hath spoke to us by his Son, Heb. 1.1.2. and there­fore all Visible Apparitions are ceased but not their Invisible Opera­tions: They still Act for Gods Church and Children, though invisibly, therefore their Hands are represented to be under their Wings, Ezek. 1.8. because their Actions are for the most part insensible and invisible: For God now Governs his Church in a spiritual manner, without the visible Apparitions of Angels, though they be present with the Church in an in­visible way: Eccles 5.6. and 1. Cor. 11.10. 'Tis true, the Retired Saints of the primitive Times (as well as the Holy Martyrs) since the New Testament Times, had sometimes good Angels appeared to them, for their consolations in their forced solaudes and sufferings as the best Ecclesiastick Historys Record, concerning the Holy Virgin, Theophyla, Agnes, Lucia, Caecilia, and others, to prorect them in their Chastity, whilst driven into [Page 67]Desarts by Persecution; as also concerning Theodorus (who had an Angel wiping off his Sweat, with a soft Handkerchief, while he was under hard Torments by his Tormentors) and many others: but the Elder the Church grew, the more rare became those Apparitions, as of other miraculous Signs, not because Gods Arm was shortned, &c. but because his Church was (through his gracious Providence) now setled in an ordinary way: Thus it was with the Infant Church in the Wilderness, there she had the Food of Angels rain'd down daily upon her, but when come into Canaan that Ceased, and then Israel must purvey for themselves: so now we must not expect either the Food or the Apparition of Angels.

The Third Answer, Goulartius in his Collections of the memo­rable Histories of later (than those primitive) Times, makes his Reports of several such Apparitions, yea Melancton in his Coment upon Daniel, tells us of his own knowledge, how holy Grynoeus was delivered from a bloody Popish Priests intention to Murder him (for reproving him of false Doctrine) by an Angels appearing to Melancton (like a grave goodly old man) and warn­ing him to bid Grynoeus hasten out of Spyres quickly, who no sooner had got a Boat upon the Rhine, but he was immediate­ly and eagerly sought for at his Lodging, by his very name, which (it seems) the good man had told the Priest, upon his dis­semblingly desiring some farther Conference with him.

Answer the Fourth, The best Casuists (I can consult with) do say, that it is neither pious nor profitable now for men to af­fect either the Apparition or Conference with Holy Angels: in­deed the carnal Jews did of Old, attribute much to this, John 12.29. thinking that Bath-kol, or Daughter of a voice from Heaven, was the Voice of some Angel, not only because the Decalogue (which God himself is said to speak) was ascribed by them to be spoke by Angels, Act. 7.38. and Hebr. 2.2. but also because they did not think God would speak to Christ in his own person, being they looked upon Moses, as greater than Christ, and Eusebius Hist. Lib. 5. Cap. 15. Tells us, how the [Page 68] Montanists (as well as Jews) were great pretenders to Angels-Apparition, from whom they ventured to foretel sundry things which came not to pass, so event proved them Lyars, &c. Yea Mahomet (that Grand Cheat) pretended he received his Hodg-Podg Archaron from Gabriel the Angel, and the Romanists boart (even our-vying Mahomet) of a mighty power over Angels, Insomuch that they pretend to shew a Plume of Feathers, that was pluckt out of Gabriels (that Arch-Angels) Wings: possibly it might be got when Angels (as common Fowls) do Mowt and cast their I eathers: yea Popery (at this day) ascribeth much to the Apparition of Spirits, from whom they understand the state of their Friends in Purgatory: Thus are they (for rejecting the Truth) judicially given up of God to believe Lyes, as Ex­perience (the School Mistriss of Fools) do suffciently Teach, 2. Thess. 2.12. This is a part of the Romish Apostacy, to give heed to seducing Spirits, and to Dectrine of Divels. 1. Tim. 4.1.

Answer the Fifth, To receive any new Doctrine from an An­gel is now abominable, Gal. 1.8. For Angels have no Divine Institution to be Teachers of Men in the Church, they have no Sacred Mission or Function thereto, Rom. 10.15. 1. Cor. 12.28. Eph. 4.11. God hath Instituted the Ministry of Man (not of Angels) to Build up his Church, this Honour God gives to Man, and the Word Preached by Man is called the Word of God. 1. Thess. 2.13. and they that Hear Man (according to the Gospel are said to hear God. Luke 10.16. yea 'tis so far the power of God, as to pull down the power of the Divel, therefore let none he beguiled into a voluntary Worship of Angels, Col. 2.18.

Answer the Sixth. The very light of Nature among the Hea­thens, did lead them to speak of both Lares, or good Angels, the Guardians of Good Men, and of Lemures, to evil Angels, the pur­suers and vexers of Evil Men, thus a Devil entred into Judas and an Evil Spirit oft Vexed Soul. 1. Sam. 16.14. &c. Yea, 'tis not scarce yet out of the Memory of some men, how frequent were the Apparitions of Evil Spirits, Phayrie, Hebgeblins, and many frightful Spectrums, wherewith many places were fre­quently [Page 69]Haunted, and many persons horribly distracted in Times of Popery and gross Superstition; and the rareness of such scaring Visions, in these latter times of Reformation, is sufficient to discover the difference (as Bishop Hall excellently saith betwixt the state of Ignorant (Popish) Superstition, and the clear Light of the Gospel. Bishop Hall of Evil Angels, pag. 993. And Camerarius (with others) tell us, how usual those Strange Apparitions were in times of Darkness, although now (blessed be God) the Relation thereof is terrible to us. Camer­rarius his History Obser. Lib. 4. Cap. 15. pag. 288. Theatre of Gods Judgments pag. 531. to 437. Mr. Baxter's Rest, Edi. 2. pag. 271. Lavater de spectris per totum, &c. 'Twas frequent then before the Reformation in Europe (where the Gospel hath not come to Dethrone the Devil) The Ignorant Indians see and hear strange Spectrums and Spirits in bodily shape, Night and Day, whereas in New England (by the Light of the Gospel) is much delivered from that Prince of Darkness: Sozomen writes of one Apelles (a famous Aegyptian Smith) who was tempted to uncleanness, by a Divel in the shape of a Woman, in which shape (saith Trimethius) never any good Angle Appea­red; hereby we may make some guess at Dr. Dees Galitah the Maid, one of his Spirits, which after appeared as a Man. Dr. Dee, pag. 12.16. and at his Friend E. Kelly, who could not a­bide his own Wife, but abhorr'd her. pag. 30. and at his Uriel (a­nother of his Spirits) that oft swore [marry] pag. 411. yea and himself who condemns Calvin, Luther, &c. and denys the [...]ope to be Antichrist, &c. Joh. Bromiar. Sum proedict. v. superbia. Tells a famous Story of an Angel, and an Hermite walking together, there laid in their way some stinking Carrion, at this the Her­mite stops his Nose, turns away his Head and hasts out of that offensive Smell, but the Angel held on his way, without any shew of dislike: straightway they met with a very proud, pragmatical man, gayly adorned, deeply perfumed, looking loftiy, and strutting along in a most stately posture, the Hermite gave this man great reverence and admiration, but the Argel [Page 70]stop't his Nostrills, turn'd away his Head, &c. Rendring this Reason, that the stench of Pride was more loathsome to God and his Angels, than that stinking Carcase could be to him: Here was a better Character of the Apparition of a good An­gel than of those Spirits, that Dr. Doe mentioneth: I might add much more, &c.

Answer the Seventh: Suppose an Apparition of Evil Spirits, Ca­suists conclude it unsafe to confer with them: our Grandmother Eve got a fall by holding Chat with the Divel in Paradice. That Fort or Castle which yields to a Parley, is accounted half lost, they are too wily for us, having much advantage over us, standing upon higher ground to us, &c. Bishop Hall's Cases of Conscience, pag. 161. ctc. Saying he admired at the Jesuite Cottons considence, who provided many Questions to propound to a Demoniack, some whereof were matters of State, concerning the then French King, and the King of England, pag. 165. and Cotton being questioned for this, answered he had Licence from Rome for his so doing, ibid. and much more of Romes trash. As to this Apparition in particular, though at first sight, it see­med to me dressed up like the Divels Oracle at Delphos, in am­biguous Expressions, yet upon second thoughts (which should always be the best, as being most deliberate) I shall not take upon me to Determine, either its goodness or badness, as to kind or thing, but shall refer my Reader to a serious comparing it with the Circumstances of the aforegoing general Answers, sub­joyning only, that it is Gods declared Will, we should Live by Faith, and not Walk by Sence or sight of such Apparitions, where­in there may be much Daceptio Visus. History (indeed) tell us, that in some extraordinary case, God hath given out some Ap­paritions for the discovery of some secret heinous Murder, &c. and this he may do by Devils, who are reputed ready to make such Discoveries, that their Prey may come sooner into their Hands, by the stroke of Justice. As to the Predictions of fu­ture Events, which Apparitions do pronounce; some few things (for Brevity sake) only, shall be said here. As first, 'tis God and God alone (who is Omniscient) that himself can foretel fu­ture [Page 71]Events, Isa 41.22.23. The Prophet convinceth the Heathen of the Vanity of their Gods (or Idols, saying, That all certain Predictions of future Providences (which yet have no assured natural Cause or significant Sign) belongeth on­ly to the true God. Thus the Prophet Argues, ch. 44.7. and 45.20.21. and 46.10. and 48.14. Idols cannot declare things to come. Secondly. The Devil (though a most Intelli­gent Spirit can know nothing of what shall befal for the future, save only those things he seeth in their Causes, or in the light of participation: The Devil can better Discover what is past and done, by his own Instigation, as that Murder committed on a Stranger, at an Inn in Exeter, 30 years before the Discovery was made by an Apparition: as was likewise the Fraud of an Exe­cutor converting a Gentlemans Estate from his Children to his own use, who was affrighted by an Apparition unto a Restituti­on to the right Heirs, both hapned lately, and seem to be well attested by Godly Ministers. 'Tis certain that future Contin­gents are not within the compass of the Devils Cognizance a­ny other way, seeing they are wholy at Gods disposing: yet Satan in some Cases, and at some times, can foretell things to come, as 1st. He being a Mighty Naturalist, able (by his Angeli­cal sagacity) to dive into the deepest causes and secrets of Nature which men cannot do) and so accordingly to frame his Predi­ctions, such as seem supernatural to us he is also an Exact Ar­tist, attained (both by his acute Observations, and almost 6000 years Experience) to an acquaintance of all natural, moral, and political causes of things, as the Premisses, hence may he give shrewd guesses (though he know nothing Infalibly) and gather such consequences, as may probably come to pass, if the great God be not pleased to interrupt this Chain of Causes, as he sometimes doth, by his over-ruling Power. Though Satan be a Prince of Darkness, yet may he have secondly such a par­ticipation of some light by Divine (not only pirmission, but) Com­mission, when God makes him the Executioner of his Judg­ments, and in such a case 'tis easy for him to foretel future [Page 72]things, as in the Case of Job, he could predict (without dif­ficulty) that such and such Evils would shortly befal that good man, when he had got a Commission from God for them, and wanted no tools to work them: and as in the Case of the 400 false Prophets of Ahab, in whose Mouth he had a Commissi­on from God to be a Lying Spirit, and delude them. 1. Kin. 22.6 [...] 22. which shews King Ahab's Death, was revealed to the Devil, and then he could Reveal it to whom he pleased. The Devil Deceived those Deceivers the false Prophets, and they Deceived Ahab, and draws him (as the Mouse) into the Trap, where he Perished, not only for his Cruelty to Nabeth, but by his Credul [...]ty to those many cursed Sycophants: yea, and in the Case of Saul (which is yet higher) he only could have foretold the [...]a [...] of King [...]ha [...] (ut supra) but he actually did foretel the Death of King Saul. 1. Sam. 28.19. Naming the time, though in ambiguous Words, as [to morrow] is indefinitely used, Exod. 13.14. and Matt. 6.34. Thus the Devil Equivocates in all his Oracles (as in this and in that of Ahab) The Lord shall deliver into the Hands of the King) 1. Kin. 2.26. where the Particle [it] is not in the Original: The word [thee] may as well be sup­plyed: and this Lying Spirit names not which of the Kings he meant, whether Ahab or Benhadad, yea his quibling O­racle (as the Delphick Devil had many) might be construed in a quite contrary Sense: either 1st. The Lord will deliver [thee] Ahab into the hands of Benhadad, or 2ly. [It] to wit, Ramoth Gilead into the hand of Ahab: thus the deceitful Devil will save his Credit, what ever hapned, and yet as bad as this Abaddon is, he shews more ingenuity here than doth the Jesuits, for he ingeniously acknowledgeth his Equivocating Oracle, to be no bet­ter than a Base Lye, saying I will go and be a Lying Spirit, in the Mouth of all Ahabs Pa [...]asytical Prophets. v. 22. However Satan (that mock-Samuel) seems more positive and peremptory in his Pre­dictions of Sauls Dow [...]fal (as above) yet this was no more than what a prudently-thinking man might have conjectured from the concurrence of secundary Causes how much more might [Page 73]an acutely observing Devil make up a shrewd Guess (by com­paring things with things) of Sauls approaching Ruine: He could not be ignorant both of Sauls Rejection, and of Davids E­lection, the Courage and Confidence of the Philistines Army, the Despondenties and Diffidence of Saul and his Souldiers (both which had been formerly Valorous) were not unknown to him, or pos­sibly he might peep into those Prophetick Predictions concern­ing Saul and David, in ch. 15. and 16. of the first of Sam. Yea he well knew, what himself designed to do in the day of Battle (with Gods Permission) against Saul who had forfeited Gods Protection. The third Consideration I shall conclude with is, that the Devil hath his Instruments or Vassals amongst Mankind, to whom he imparts his Predictions, that they may impart them to others; and those are mostly Women (of the Devils choice) more than Men, because they are Weaker Vissels, whose credulity is sooner imposed upon, and easilyer abused and deluded by the Devil: we have two samous Instances one in the Old the other in the New Testament) the 1st hereof is 1. Sam. 28.7. where Saul said, seck me out a Woman that hath a familiar Spirit not a Man but a Woman, he had put down Witches before, yet hoped he some might be remaining (though not of Men, yet) of Women, which are wont to be lighter and proner to Superstition, not only because of weaker Wits and apter to be Deceived, but, see­ing they cannot compass any Fame or Glory by Noble Ex­ploits (as men can) they therefore would become Famous by Magick Art: hence this Woman became a Dame to a familiar Spirit, and thither Saul comes, who rather than fail would crave help from Hell, &c. And the second Instance is not unlike this first, Act. 16.16. The Divining Damosel, who probably foretold many things that came to pass, otherwise she could never have brought so much Gain to her Masters, as that Scripture saith: she might make unhappy Hits sometimes, from the sa­gacity of (her grand Master) Satan; yet miss too at other times; for if the Divel himself cannot foretel all future Events, nor any thing Infalibly himself, but either as it is Revealed to him [Page 74]by God (as was Ahab's Fall at Ramoh Gilead) or as be foreseeth them in the Causes, Signs or Prophecies of Holy Scripture, wherein he is not a little skil'd, and out of which he sometimes stealeth a parcel. Far be it from me to apply our present Apparition to either of these aforementioned, especial­ly upon these Grounds. 1st. We do not find that this Apparition required any Adoration; when Saul bowed himself to Satan (that Mock-Samuel) 1. Sam. 28.14. That Adoration was the main thing that the Devil chiefly aimed at: 2ly. We do not find (in our Case) any seeking to this Apparition, for that is (Tantamount) a Worshipping, though there be no bowing, and how far amounts holding Conference with Apparitions (see above) but yet it seems an higher step to obey their Commands, especially such as are dissonant to the Law of Nature or Nations, or Scripture, which is not our Case, nei­ther doth this comport with the latter Instance, though here's a Divining Damsel, yet not such an one as the Septuagints usually call [...] because the Devil spake out of their Bellys; for which cause also the He­brews call them Oboth or Bottles, because the Bellys of those Women (thus made use of by the Devil) swelled as big as Bottles, when they began to Pro­phesy. 2ly. Neither do we hear of any gain either to her self or to her Masters here, as appeareth there. 3ly. Neither do we find any Disturbance given to Gods Worship under specious pretences here, as is found there. They that desire to know more of those Divining Intrigues, let them consult Baldwins Cases of Conscience. Lib. 3. Pag. 533. to 620. &c. too long here (so much as to abridge in this small Treatise) and other Casuists; I add this on­ly, 1st. If the Death of any be foretold by the Devil we ought not to believe it, as from him (the Lyar) God can Cross it, 2ly. If God permit it, 'tis to harden the superstitious Observers of it: 3ly. 'tis enough Gods Word. fore­tels that all shall fall out for the best to them that love God, Rom. 8.28. So ail's welcome: so far as Gods Word guideth us, we walk safely, but if we step farther into a By-way 'twill lead us down into the Chambers of Death.

I Omit the strange Apparitiors at Pons Town in Tipperary in Ireland, at­tested by 16 persons Eye Witnesses, and Printed. The last and latest of Land-Prodigies (omitting many others that come not yet well proved to my Hand (is the Death of 3 Tower-Lyons; called Old Charls, Queen and Duke which is the more Remarkable, because we do not find (scarce in a whole Age) any Record of the Death of so much as one of those Royal Long Lived Creatures (the Keeper whereof is so much obliged both by Loyalty and Advantage to preserve them) much less of so many and that within few days, as if they had conspired to march off together, the more to amuse and amaze this Tripple Realm, for every Kingdom one: to Exemplify it in our Eng­lish Chroniels, though something like it is said to happen in King Ri­chards [Page 75]Reign, yet I cannot find a fit Paralel unto this strange Prodigy upon Record, save only in Henry the sixths Reign, Whereof Sir Richard Baker (who is generally owned as an Impartial Chronicler of former Times) giveth us this Account. That in the 18th. year of Henry the sixth all the Lyons in the Tower Dyed. Bakers Chron. pag. 199. This Kings Reign was at­tended with many mischiefs betwixt him and the then Duke of York. Henry the Fifth after he had Conquered France, and kept his Court with incompa­table Magnificence for some time, then he Returns with his Queen into Eng­land, who was delivered of a Son at Windsor, called therefore Henry the 6. of Windsor (upon whom at his Birth his Father spake Prophetically [I Henry of Monmouth have gain'd much and shall remain but a short time: but Henry of Windsor shall Reign long and loose all] and acording to this Paternal Pro­phesy the Son first lost His All in France, and after, 2ly. His All in Eng­land. In this Henry the sixths time, France, Normandy, Aquitain, were all lost from the English, and in England such were the bloody Contentions be­tween the two Houses of York and Lancaster, that ten several fierce Battels were fiercely fought between the two Factions, whereof 5 were fought in Henry the sixths time. The first at St. Albans in which Yorks prevailed: the second at Black-Heath, in which the Confederate Lords were Conquerors: the third at Northampton, in which Henry the sixth was again overthrown: the fourth at Wakefield, in which the King was Victorious: the sixth at Tow­ton, in which the new Duke of York carried it, who became thereby King Edward the IV. In whose time also five more several set Battels were fought upon the same Quarrel: as first, that at Exham: secondly, that at Ban­bury: thirdly, the Battel of Loose-Coats: fourthly, that in Barnet Fields: and fifthly that at Tewxbury. Thus even the White Rose was Dyed Red, over and over again, with the blood of many brave men, and a Period was never put to this Contention twixt the White and Red Rose, until that conclu­ding Battel at Bosworth Fields, in which the Plantaginets expired, and both the Houses were after united in Henry the VII. Rosse's History of the World, pag. 534. &c. and Dr. Prideaux's History of Successions in our own Land, pag. 333. Who tells a memorable Story of those such Catch­ing Times (as he calls them) of one Burdet a Mercer in Cheap. side, who jo­cularly said to his Son, if he would ply his Book, he should be Heir to the Crown (meaning his own House, which had the Crown for its Sign, and had no Relation to the Crown of the Kingdom) for this Jest the Man lost his Life: assuredly an Honest Jury would not have given him such hard Measure. God bless us from such Contentious and such catching Times, which were pre­saged not only by the Death of the Tower Lyons, as above, but also by seve­ral other Prodigies, as a Blazing Star, Monstrous Births, a prodigious [Page 76]C [...]k out of the Sea at Portland, crowing three times, and turning his Head to the South, North and West, and Pauls Steeple was fired with Lightning: See Ra [...]es History of the World, pag. 534. And Sir Richard Bakers Chrono­logy of the same time, all these Prodigies were Presages of sad future Cala­mities. Enquiry, Why must the Death of Lyons be made a Prodigy, seeing they are M [...]r [...] as other Beasts, and Dye only in the common course of Na­ture? Answer the first, Consider in the general, A Lyon 1st. For his Ma­jesty, that sits enthroned in his looks. 2ly. For his Magnanimity, as disdain­ing to go out of his stately pace, though Danger pursue him, Prov. 30. v. 30. 3ly. For his Formidableness, insomuch that when the Lyon Roareth, all the Beasts Tremble, Am. 3.8. and have not power to fly from him, though they can out run him; hence he is the Hyeroglyphick of Dominion, and wor­thily as well as vulgarly is called the King of Beasts. Hereupon the Fall of a Lyon is as the Fall of Abner, the Fall of a Prince, 2. Sam. 3.38. 'Tis look­ed on as a Fatal Fall, the Death of a Lyon was the presage of Julian's death, saith Ammianus Marcellinus, Answer the second, more specially as the living Lyon Resembleth Majesty Domineering (according to Aesops Apologue) over the Ass and the Fox in sharing the Prey they had joyntly caught in Hunting: So the Dead Lyon representeth Majesty Deceased (according to Alciats Em­blem and the Greek Epigram [...].

Thouth the Lyon while living be the Noblest of Beasts, Prov. 30.30. yet when Dead, this Noble Beast is exposed to the Scorn of the most weak and timorous Hares. Hence arose the Hebrew Proverb, that a living Dog (with them the basest of Creatures) was better than a Dead Lyon (both as to Use and as to Essence) Eccles. 9.4. Importing that the meanest man Living, is better than the greatest man Dead. Answer the third, The Death of a Tow­er Lyon is more portentous than the Death of many Lyons in the Wilds of Lybia, whereof no notice would be taken, but a Tower Lyon is the Darling as well as Emblem of Princes, and the Delight as well as Wonder of the Peo­ple that have been admitted to behold them; and seeing they naturally live longer than the oldest of Men, scarce any one Age brings Tidings of the Death of a Tower Lyon (as before) so carefully attended, &c. This occasions the general Opinion, that such an Occurrence is a Fore-runner of some Fa­tality. Answer the fourth, How much more the Death of 3 Tower Lyons at once, as if a Lyon Pestilence (that [...] or Divine Thing had been sent to kill three Lyons at one blow, this hardly finds a Paralel in History, the strong Tower (it self) with all its high Walls, deep Trenches, brass Guns, great Guards, and warded Gates, could not be a Tower of Defence to them or to any one them, and if Tria had been Omnia here (as it is in Philosophy) the Tower had been left a Lyon-less Tower. Sacred Story speaks of one Prodi­gy, [Page 77]not altogether dissonant to this, to wit, Samson turned aside to see the Car­case of the Lyon, and behold there was a Swarm of Bees and Honey in the Carcase, Judg. 14.8. prodigiosum est (saith Lovater) quòd Meilificarunt Apes in Cadavere, &c. 'Twas no less than a Prodigy, that Bees should breed and make Honey so soon in such a place, seeing they are naturally driven away by an ill Smell, as abhorring all stinking things, such as this Carcase must needs be upon its Putrefaction; herein Pliny, Columella, Aelian, Var­ro, and all Naturalists do unanimously concurr: Indeed some (as Virgil, O­vid, &c.) do say, Bees may breed in the Carcase of a Bullock raturally, but never in the Carcase of a Lyon, which hath a more foetid flesh and a more stinking smell; however, not in so short a time as was between Sam­sons Contract and the solemnizing of his Marriage. It therefore only came to pass, by the special Providence of God producing this Prodigy, not, only by a praeternatural, but also by a Supernatural power. Now that the Tow­er Lyons be dead (though we had no hand in their Death, as Samson had in his) let us turn aside (a little) to view these Carcases, as Samson did this) and behold both the Congruity and Disparity of them: As 1st. God Bless us, that no Swarms of those Bees of Babylon (Isa. 7.18.) may breed out of their Carcases, nor out of them whose names they bore, to Sting us with their Fa­tal Stings: And God bless us not only from those Honey-less Wasps and Dronish Robbers, but also that the right Honey may be bred in the body of the superviving Lyon, call'd Charles the II. and in him whose name he beareth: 3ly. Though we find no Honey in any of those 3 Carcases, as Samson did in his one, yet may we find such a Riddle in them which may puzzle and Non-Plus all the uncircumcised Philistins, Judg. 14.12.14. Out of those Eaters may came forth Meat and out of the strong sweetness. This Problem (as many of Gods Providences) is made up of contraries, yet the aenigmatical Sentence seems to signify, that it should come to pass, the Philistins which ruled with rigour over the Israelites at that time, should be subdued and eaten up by the Israelites, and when they were most strong, they should not damnify but accommodate the Hebrews: The good Lord grant the same Priviledges to the Protestants over the Papists, who have eaten us up as their Daily Bread, with the like voracity as the Hungry devour Bread, Ps. 14.4. Yea, those cruel Cannibals makes Flesh as well as Bread of poor Protestants, and do as barbarously and brutishly worry them with open Mouth, as the bloody Lyons do the helpess Sheep, Ps. 27.2. O that they may now stumble and fall in attempting it, and both they and their Leviathan (the Pope) with his broken Head, may be given as meat to the people Inhabiting the Wilderness, Ps. 74.13.14. Then would God unriddle, how out of the grand Eater cometh Meat, and out of the strong cometh Sweetness.

[Page 78]This Leads me to the third and last Scene or Theatre, whereon God thews his Wonderful Signs, to wit, (as in Heaven and on the Earth, so) upon the Waters: As I do designedly omit many marvelous things, mentioned in Forreign and Domestick Letters, such as the Earth-quake at Malago, which overturn'd their Religious Houses, and put all Spain into a Fright, &c. And such as have lately hapned also in our Lands) because they come not well Attested to make them enough Authentick, in the foregoing Stage or Theatre: so I must do in this last, omitting many Stories, and pitch first up­on that which hath unquestionable Testimony of the Truth thereof, to wit, the Drying up of the River Wye in Wales, between Radnorshire and Breck­nock-shire (where 'tis near as broad as Thames at Brainford) about a stones cast over, and of a sierce Current, yet on the 25th. of January last at Lewys­ford, it stop't its course and parted it self, and became dry, so that several persons walked over Dry-shod, some gathered up Fishes for several Miles, this continued for several Hours: This is Attested for Truth, by Mr. Probat High Sherriff of Radnorshire, and Mrs. Jones, (whose letter hereof I had to assure me) both Eye-Witnesses, and it was also observed that the two Rivers (I thou and Yrvon) which fall into that River Wye, were at the same time like­wise suddenly dry: but after a few hours flowed with more Violence, and higher than usual: and (as my Letter addeth) no natural Reason could be rendred hereof: Now to exemplify this Prodigy by Paralel Instances, from Sacred and Civil History: 1st. Satred Story saith, that when God brake the Heads of the Dragon (Satans sworn Sword-men and Pharoahs chief Cap­tains) and the Head of the grand Leviathan or Pharoah himself, then did God also Divide the Sea, and clave also the Fountains and the Flood, Ps. 74.13.14.15. Drying up mighty Rivers, as Jordan, Euphrates and the Red Sea, which (in respect of the Main Ocean) was but a mighty River. This the Angel of God Divided and dryed up, for six hundred Thousand to pass over in Rank and File. Exod 14.21.22. Ps. 136.13. and 106.9. Gods Rebuke was upon the Waters, clove them in twain, and bound them up with his Swadling Band (as easily as a Nurse doth her Infant) Job 38.9. so that they could neither wave, nor swell, nor flow, but became as a firm Wall (fro­zen into hard Ice) on both sides of Israel, Ps. 78.13. Thus the fluid Waters, were fixed and became as Stone Walls, on each hand of them, while they pas­sed through with ease and safety. This the Psalmist Wonders at, and asks the Waters, What ailed thee, O thou Sea, &c. Ps. 114.5. and thence he pas­seth to Jordan, (more Paralel to our Case) asking what was the matter with you both, that the one Fled and the other was Driven back: can there be any natural Reason given? or was't the powerful presence of God that affrighted you into this Retrograde Run or Motion, v. 7. This Instance sheweth we may [Page 79]many times ask Questions, and yet neither doubt of the matter, nor be igno­rant of the Cause: This more Paralel Case of the drying up Jordan, Josh. 3.13. The Waters of that River were cut off, that is, the Waters that came from above were cut off so as to stand still as on a Heap, and the waters that were below (according to their ordinary course) ran away into the Dead Sea, so the Channel was left Dry, having no waters coming down from above to feed and fill it. This was a wonderful Work of God, and much admired by the Psalmist in his Ps. 114. Now this Jordan was a compound of two Rivers (Jor and Dan) as our Welsh River was, yet the Course of both the streams were stop't for some Hours, so the Channel was dry, though ('tis true) the Camp of Israel was not there with the Ark to pass over into Canaan: The Chaldee Paraphrase Addeth the drying up of Arnon and Jabbok, whereof see Num. 21.14. and Deut. 2.37. as Revel. 16.12. mentions the drying up of Eu­phrates for the Kings of the East to pass over, &c. but leaving Sacred, come we to Civil Story: Our Famous Cambden Reports of another River in Merionith shire in Wales, the River Dee that runneth through Pimble-Meer or Lake, it mingles not her Streams with the Waters of the Lake, though this be a great Marvel, and hath also a good Moral (to wit, that we should not mingle the streams of our Affections with the puddle Water of Corrupt Company, when carried headlong at unawares among them) yet it is far short of our present Prodigy: and the same Cambden relates, how the River Ouse near Bedford (in the last year of King Richard the II.) stood still, and ceased his Course, so as the Channel remained dry for the space of three miles together. Cambden Brit. pag. 399. which was then adjudged to signify the Revoltings of the Subjects from their Prince. Bakers Chron. pag. 154.167. He being mislead by his Favorite Michael de-la-pool and other Sycophants, did incurr the hatred of his People, Prideaux Introduction, pag. 324. In his time was the marvelous Parliament, and that which wrought Wonders. See Baker of his Reign. Also in the Reign of Henry the VI. The same River Ouse (on New-Years Day) suddenly stood still and divided it self, which (as was conceived) did portend the prodigious Broyls between the Houses of York and Lancaster, see Bakers Chron. among the Casualties (as he calls them) of his Reign. The like hapned in the year 1660. to the River Derwent near Darby, which was dryed up upon Nov. the 29. for many miles and some hours, so that the Mills stood, the Boats were on ground, the Fishes taken up upon the Sand by Children, and men walked over dry shod. This was the greater Prodigy, not only because 'tis a broad River and runs with a fierce and full Stream (as Cambden Britt. pag. 554. relateth) but also because the Waters of the Sanctuary were dryed up soon after, by the Silen­ting of some thousands of Orthodox Ministers: As those Rivers returned (all of [Page 80]them) to their course again, so the good Lord know us in our Wilderness and [...] the Land of great Drought, Hos. 13.5. and make us again as a watered Garden, whose Waters fail not: Isa. 58.11. That our Fleece, as Giacons may not still be Dry. Judg. 6.39. but the Lord be as springs of Water to us, [...] all our fresh springs are in him, Ps. 87.7. an everflowing and over­fl [...]ng Fountain of Grace and Comfort.

Were not my Book already swoln too bulky, I might insist also upon the pr [...]gious Whale, which was found lately in the River Wevner, within 6 miles of Chichester, 50 foot in length, and 28 in thickness, who broke off his own Tail with strugling, and turn'd the River into Blood with his Blood: an undoubted Prodigy, for the Whale never breaks forth out of her beloved Ocean (which is her peculiar Dominion) into narrow Rivers, but it presages Storms, where such a thing hapneth: Assuredly Jonah's was the greatest of Prodigies, who ship'd him to the shore, and in the mean time afforded him an Oratory a place to [...] in. Four Prodigious Wonders were concurring therein saith Mercer, est. That the Heat of the Whales Stomach did not Consume Jonah as it did other [...]. 2ly. That in so close a Prison he could both breath and live, without the common use of Air and light. 3ly. That be was not choaked with the Stench of so fifthy a Jakes as the Whales Belly. 4ly. That he had his Senses (as well as Life) there, to pour out such an excelient Prayer and Praise to God. Jonah was the true Arion (the Poets mention) out of whose History Christ gathers the Mystery of his own Death, Burial, and Resurrection, Jon. [...]. and 2.10. with Matt. 12.40. This great Sea-Monster (that never useth to come near the Shore, but Sports himself in the deep Waters Ps. 104.26.) yet when the Great God (the chief Centurion) commands him thither; he must go and Vomit up Jonah upon dry Land. He breaks the Head) as well as Tail) of this Monstrous Leviathan, and gives him to be Meat to the People inhabiting the Wilderness Ps. 74.14. Though no Mortal man can Ring him like an Hog, or Rule him like a Bear, Job. 41.2. &c. yet the Im­mortal God can and did so, to Senacherib that crooked Leviathan. Isa. 27.1. & 37, 29. and doth so, both to the Great Turk, who would Devour Europe, and to the Great Pope, who would destroy the Reformed Countrys: Proco­pius tells of a great Whale in his Time, that much Infested the Coasts of Constantinople, and did much Mischief for fifty years together, but at last was taken and tamed (by slaughter) though 30 Cubits long and ten bread. Thus Jehovah will Take and Tame both Behemoth, the Turk who Eats up men like Grass upon the Mountains. Job. 40.15. &c. and Leviathan the Pope who Sports himself in his See to devour Protestants, God will pull those 2 Kings of the Children of Pride out of their Seats (though they have Infe­sted the Church many fifty years, and both Saddle and Bridle them. Job. 41.13.34. In due Time God will make this latter (Leviathan) to break his [Page 81]own Tail, and let out his own Blood, as that Colchester Whale did, and God will break his Head, and give him to be meat to his People: There be many more Signs and Wonders I omit (though mentioned in publick Intelligences) because not (to me enough Authentically Attested, I would also subjoyn here the many marvelous and prodigious Providences, not only reported, but likewise Recorded in our own Land of late (were it not to avoid prolixity) such as the Wonderful Discovery of Justice Godfreys Death: The Wonderful delivery of Justice Arnolds life. The Wonderful disappointment (hitherto) of all the Popish Plots (both Sham and Real against King and Kingdom. The Wonderful Death of three grand Enemies (to an honest Alderman in Hull) who all dyed in three Weeks time, in the heat and height of their Per­secutions against him: with many more such marvelous Occurrences, befal­ling several Persecutors and Prophane Scoffers (as him whose Eyes dropt out of his Head, immediately after his Scoffing at the late Comet) not yet plenarily proved.

The Application in short (after a long Explication general and particu­lar, yet Applicatorily Explained all along) is twofold, 1st. General. 2ly. Particular, the latter of those to be possitive and peremptory in (without a peculiar Gift, which we pretend not to) is by the best Casuists called Nefas, and no better than presumption to pry too curiously into the Ark of Divine Secrets, for which fifty Thousand Bethshemites were slain, 1. Sam. 6.19. Ar­cana Dei sunt Arca Dei, we may not search into Gods Secrets. Deut. 29.29. Mirari oportet, rimari non licet, 'tis as unmannerly to pry into our Neigh­bours House, as 'tis to press into it, said Xenocrates: how much more may men be paid for peeping into Gods House, as the men of Bethshemesh were, contrary to Gods Command. Num. 4.20. Eorum que scire nec Datur nec fas est, Docta est ignorantia, istius scientiae Appetentia est insaniae species, saith Austin: 'Tis a learned Ignorance not to know what we ought not to know, and 'tis a kind of madness to desire it, Funccius sings well, saying, Tufuge seu pestem [...]. And Peter giveth charge against this Impious Curiosity as against Theft and Murder, 1. Pet. 4.15. 'tis a being too buisy with Gods matters. Baldwin therefore concludes this point, praestat Ergo, &c. 'tis better to pass over prodigies in silence, and leave the particular Application of them to the most Wise God, than by an over-curious Divining to betray our own temerity, Bald. Cases of Conscience, Lib. 3. Pag. 813. However to make a general Application (which is the former) of them, is to be Wise unto Sobriety, seeing Events in all Ages do evidence, that Prodigies do portend (in the general) a Futurition or Approach of some things (not yet existent) and such as bear some proportion in quality to the Predigies themselves: as Armies portend Wars, &c. This is acknowledged by Hero­dotus [Page 82]and Machiavel, that no extraordinary Calamities befal Nations or Cities, but 'tis foreshewn by some Extraordinary Signs and Wonders, as the Reverend Dr. Jackson (in his Sermen preached before King Charles the I.) quoteth them. pag. 9.10. Yea, our Saviour himself did Institute Signs and Wonders, as immediate forerunners of that final Destruction of Jerusalem, so forely threatned and so severely executed by Titus Vespasian, Matth. 24. Mark 13. and Luke 21. and Josephus hath a good Note upon it, lib. 4. cap. 12. of the Wars of the Jews, that it was Gods Clemency to Mankind to fore­shew by those extraordinary Signs and Wonders, what wasting Desolations were approaching that his people being forewarned might be forearmed also and take the best Course for their own safety. The General Application of Prodigies, (which are unquestionable) be principally two, according to Cor­nelins à Lapide's Notion, on Joel. 2.30. Prodigia sunt Credentibus benefica, incredulis vero Malefica & Horribilia. 1st. They do portend much mischief to that part of the World, which wallows in Wickedness without Repentance: The Signs and Wonders God shewed to Pharoah were not only Messengers, but even Harbingers of his and his Peoples Destruction, so was the Hand­writing upon the Wall a Prodigy portending Belshazzars Downfal for his Drunken and Debauched Quaffings, Dan. 15.22.23. So were the Prodi­gies in Heaven, Earth and Sea (as Luke ranks them Luke 21.25.) Infallible portents and presages of the final fall of the Jews and their Jerusalem, for Persecuting Christ and his Apostles, &c. Thus it was of latter times in Ger­many, as their wickedness and Debauchery increased, so did their Prodigies, Signs and Wonders, Hist. Iron-Age, pag. 66. Yea and in our Land Sir Rich. Baker hath worthily Recorded. How the many Mischiefs (that have befallen this Nation) were all foreshewed by many foregoing Signs and Wonders (which he calleth Casualties) in every Reign, whereof I have extracted an Epitome, and thought to have inserted it here, were not my Book too bulky already. 2ly. They do Prognosticate Relief and Remedy to the Religious part of the World. Aegypts Overthrow was Israels Deliverance, and so was and will be Babylons to Sion. Therefore Christ encourageth his Servants at the sight of such Signs, to lift up their Heads for their Redemption draweth nigh, Luke 21.25.28. All men ought therefore to Regard the Works of the Lord and to consider the Operations of his Hands, least by neglect there­of they provoke a Jealous God to Destroy them and not build them up. Ps. 28.5. How oft doth God call on Zechary, lift up thine Eyes and behold, &c. and what seest thou? &c. God shews his Signs and Wonders, not that men should cast scurrilous Scoffs at them, (who knoweth whether such have a mi­nute betwixt his last Jest in this World, and his Everlasting Earnest in a worse World) but to make serious Contemplations on them: what curious [Page 83]Artist can endure (when he exposes some special peice to publick View) to see sottish men take no notice of it, or silly spectators (that cannot understand its Admirable Art) Deride it. God is Certainly Tuning his Instrument (as I say in pag. 32.) and will shortly play some choice Tune, though made up of Discords. The good Lord help us to Dance after his Pipe, and to meet him in the way of his Judgments, or in the way of his Mercies, Isa. 26.8. Otherwise the Great Turk (who ('tis said) is so allarm'd with those Pro­digies that he hath proclaimed a Fast to be kept throughout all his Domini­ons) will rise up in Judgment against all Scoffers, as the Queen of Sheba will against the Jews, Math. 12.42. The Heavens, those Catholick Preachers: Ps. 19.1. The spangled Curtains of the Bridegroomes Chamber, hath Read such a Divinity-Lecture to us in Signs and Wonders, and so hath the Earth and the Sea, all terrifying and testifying Gods Anger against Mans Sin, yea in his own people, in whom he will pardon, but not patronize Evil: and shall we look on those Signs of the times, to be Inania Terriculamenta, insignificant Scar-crows, which the Sorcerers of Aegypt (were they here to see them) would acknowledge to be the Finger of God. As Jerusalem (that Slaughter-house) of Saints) had her Signs of Destruction. So Rome (the like Slaught­er-house) had (at the Rise of Luther) such a Storm upon her chief Church, as struck the Keys out of Peters Hands, while the Pope was creating Cardi­nals in it: ever since a cold Sweat hath stuck upon all the Limbs of Anti­christ, as Bellarmine (his great Champion) confesseth, assuredly the pouring out of the seaven Vials (mentioned Revel. 16.) will produce such a prodigi­ous Storm upon Rome, as will not only blow down her Keys, but her Images also, yea blow away all the Trash and Trumpery of that Scarlet Whore, and the Whore her self with all her proud helpers; all Christs Foes shall then be made his Foot-stool (the fittest place for them) in all Lands: yet before the accomplishment hereof, sad Calamities, (if not the Salaughter of the Witnes­ses) may be seen, yea such Tribulation as hath not heretofore. Matt. 24.21. The very Time may seem nothing else but Affliction it self. Mark 13.19. So befel it to the Jews that (had not God cut short those Days Matth. 24.22. No Flesh had been Saved) no Jewish Flesh had been left alive. What Woes may befal the Gentile World, after such prodigious presages, we know not. 'Tis good for us to get into Augustus's posture, (who once sitting 'twixt Virgil (a frequent sigher) and Horace (that had watery Eyes) pleasant­ly said, he sat inter Suspiria & Lachrymas, betwixt Sighs and Tears: sure I am, Our Day calls upon us, not only to say so, but also to sit so, with all seri­ousness: Christs Council to the Jews was [pray ye] Matth. 24.20. 'Tis no less the Duty of us Gentiles, Prayer is the best Ordinance and Artillery, wherewith to Batter Heaven, Flecti [...]ur Inatus Voce Rogante Deus: Wher God [Page 84]seems most bitterly bent, yet will he yield something to prayer, which is the best lever at a dead lift, provided it be the Prayer of Faith, for as Gods mer­cy is the Mother, so the Churches Faith is the Midwife of Deliverance, Hereupon Joel in setting down the Dreadful Signs of direful Days (least a­ny should despondingly say, as Mark 10.26. Who then can be saved) con­cludeth with this comfortable Corollary, whoever calleth on the Name of the Lord shall be saved. Joel 2.31.32. That such may be Reserved as a Rem­nant for Royal Use being accounted worthy to escape those things that may yet come to pass: Luke 21.36. Is the Hearty prayer of C. N.