CHAP. I. To what end Christ foretels the Afflictions and Persecutions of his Church; that her greatest Persecution should be in the time of the great Antichrist: and of the strange Persecution, and extream Cruelty, Oppression and In­justice, that have been lately acted against Gods servants in these parts, and in our daies by the Ministers of the Antichrist.

OUR blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, out of his great and infinite love to his Church, forertels her of the many troubles, afflictions and persecutions that his best servants, and her chiefest members should finde and must undergo here in this world, To what end Christ foretels the persecuti­ons of his Church. amongst the sons of men, to this end, that she might earnestly pray to God, he would be pleased, either to avert them from her, or to strengthen her with patience, most constantly to endure them; and still to keep her garments clean, and her conscience undefiled in the midst of this froward and crooked generation. Euseb. Eccles. Histor. l. 4. c. 5. & l. 5. c. 1. And after this pre­diction of our Saviour Christ, St. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles, and Eusebius, So­crates, and others in their Ecclesiastical Histories have left it recorded to all Posterities, what direful Torments the poor harmless Christians have endured in the first ten grie­vous Persecutions, under Nero, Domitian, Dioclesian, Decius, and others, Heathen Tyrants, that were so cruel and so tyrannical to the Saints and Servants of God, that most good men and religious minds cannot read their Sufferings without weeping, nor remember them without pity; For,

It is not credible for Infidels that know not the Gospel, to believe so many slaugh­ters, and such exquisite Tortures, as the Christians endured, when as alii flammis [Page 2]exusti, alii ferro perempti, alii patibulo cruciati; or that they can be looked upon by any humanity with dry eyes.

And yet Isidorus tells us, August de civ. Dei, l. 20. c. 8. Cyrillus catech. 15. & Hypolit. Orat. de fine seculi. The time of the greatest persecution. and so doth S. Aug. S. Cyril, and Hyppolitus the holy Martyr, in his Oration de consummatione mundi, that in the time of the Antichrist, which would be towards the end of the world, and not long before the Coming of Christ to Judgment, the Synagogue of Satan and the worldly Senate, or Citizens of this world, should more furiously rage, and more cruelly persecute the true Church of Christ, and the most Faithful Servants of God, than ever was done in the Primitive Times.

And besides the accession of above 5000 years experience unto Satans natural and in­bred sagacity and sharpness of knowledge and understanding, to find out new waies and subtiller devices to afflict Gods Servants, they render this Reason for their Assertion; because that, The reason of the foresaid assertion. as the Scripture testifieth, Satan was to be bound and fettered, as a dog in a chain, for 1000 years; that is after the end and determination of the first 10 great Persecutions, and the Persecutions of the Goths and Vandals, and the other Arian Kings, that were no less Persecutors and Tormentors of the Orthodox Fathers, and the Professors of the Faith of one Substance, which is the right Catholick Faith, than the Heathen Tyrants were of the Faithful Christians: In all which time of 1000 years, Satans 1000. years binding how under­stood. that is, either the full and determinate number of 1000 years, as some Expo­sitors would have it, or else a very long season, and much about the time of 1000 years, though not precisely such a term, as others would have it, the Malice of Satan was so locked up and chained, and his Power so abridged, that he could not destroy as many, nor persecute the Saints so much as he desired, and would have effected, si potu­isset quantum vellet; had he been suffered to do what he would.

But when his 1000 years Imprisonment should be expired, and he loosned out of his Chains, and more Liberty granted to him, then his inveterate spite and his revenge­ful Malice for his former Imprisonment, would devise the Means and find out the waies to vex and persecute the Servants of God, and the Witnesses of Jesus Christ, more than ever he had done before, in any of the former Persecutions.

And truly I think, Francisc. Ju­nius & Tilenus ad Bellarm. l. 3. c. 7. de Rom. Pontif. & Ba­l [...]us de Antich. cap. 6. that although Satan was not fully loosned and set at liberty till now of late; yet whosoever readeth Thuanus, Tilenus, and Chamier, and the Book of the Martyrs of our English Church, written by Mr. Fox, and other Authors, that have written the History of these two last Centuries, and doth rightly consider the Sufferings and Massacres of those Christians, that they within the Compass of those years, have undergone, in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and other places round about; and that only for their Religion, and not for any worldly Dominion, which was the Sufferings of the People in former ages, D^r Abbots in his brief de­scription of the world, pag. 141. in the time of the first 4 Monarchies; and is still the condition both of the Jews and Christians within the Territories of the Turk, that tolerateth any Sect, and permitteth all Religions and all Nations, to live peace­ably and quiet, throughout his whole Dominion, so they yield themselves subject to his Rule, and pay to him their allotted Contribution; and meddle not with the Maho­metan Laws and Superstition; he must ingeniously confess the Truth of this Asserti­on, and the unquestionable Certainty of this Prophetical Prediction of Isidorus, and the other Fathers aforenamed; videlicet, that the sorest Troubles and the greatest Per­secution of all, that Satan raised or shall stirre up against the Christians, as they are Christians, hath been, is, and will be that, which he hath, and still doth prosecute, and will persevere to do it, by the Ministers and Ministry of his prime General, and his dearly beloved Son of Perdition, the great Antichrist.

And if according to the Counsel of Moses and Job, Deut. 4.32. &c. 32. v. 7. Job 8.8. S^r Walter Raw­leigh in his Preface to the History of the world, and M. Fox in his book of Martyrs. we ask the daies of old, and en­quire of our Fathers that were before us, what they suffered, and how they were hand­led heretofore, either in France, Italy, Spain or Germany; or else, nearer home, where the Truth may be sooner found and better known of us, in Ingland, and that, under K. Hen. 8. and Q. Mary, the two greatest Persecutors of Gods Servants, for their Religion, that our Chronicles do mention; and compare their sufferings in the just and even Ballance of an impartial judgment, with that Oppression, Persecution, Injustice and cruelty, and that joyned with such subtilty and a pretence of Piety, as [Page 3]cannot by my dull Pen be expressed; which, for the space of 14 or 15 years, hath been acted and continued here in this Island of Great Brittain, against Loyal Sub­jects, none can deny, and Faithful Christians, as we hope God will bear witness; and that only for their Loyalty unto their King, and their Piety towards God, in the constant retaining of the true Faith, wherein they were baptized and Christened, and a good Conscience, wherein they lived; we shall find the Cruelties of those two forena­med Princes, to be favourable and great mercies; and all the Favours and Mercies of our new and now pretended Saints, towards the true Ministers of Christ, and the Faithful Servants of God, to be the greatest Cruelties that ever were recorded in any History, and I think, such Injustice and so great, as was never heard of in any Na­tion: For,

1. When King Hen. the 8. became sacrilegious, 1. The Perse­cution of the Clergy and wrongs done in K. Hen. the eighth's time. I have no other term for his Do­ings, to rob the Church, and to take away the Lands and Possessions of the Abbies, and the Priories, he did the same with the leave and consent of many, if not of most of the chief Abbots and Priors, whom, with other rewards and compensations, he had allured thereunto; & volenti non fit injuria; and so, though they ought not to have consented to such an impious Act, to be Partakers in his Sacriledge; yet the in­jury that was done unto themselves, cannot be deemed so great, because they were consenting; and those honester men, How K. Henry the 8 provided for the Abbots and Priors. whom he could not perswade with other better Preferments, to yield their consent to his desire, to pass away their Patrimony, he took that course and care for them, that they should be very competently provided for, some one way, and some another way, and many of them with Pensions out of his own Exchequer, that they might not want what was necessary for them, while they lived; And as I am credibly informed, Mr. John Pymme, a most Noted and Notorious Member of the Long Parliament, when he was in that Office, hath paid the Pension, alotted to one of them that lived to these our own times: And this kind of proceed­ing cannot be thought so great a Persecution, or so grievous an Oppression of them, or so odious an Impiety in the King, especially if you consider the Lazy life and little good that many of them did, and the single condition of these men, that lived with­out Wives, without Children, without Families.

But the Long Parliament, How the long Parl. dealt w^th all Bishops, Deans and Prebends. without the least colour of the Consent of any one of all our Bishops, Deans or Prebends, but altogether against their wills, and against the will of the King, that should have a Vote in every Act, and a Negative Passage, as we conceive, hath taken all, even from all and every one of them, that had, for the most part Wives and Children and Servants, and allowed them not one Half-Penny out of all the great Means they took from them, to relieve themselves and their Fami­lies; but let them live as they will and as they can, dig, or beg, or starve and die, when they can live no longer; and so I my self have seen many worthy Divines, and some Reverend Bishops in great want and misery: And this was worse dealing than the Pirate, that took me at Sea, dealt with me, when he took away all my Money, and yet gave me as much as might well carry me home to my House. And

2. In Q. Maries time, 2. The Perse­cution of the Protestants in Qu. Mari [...]s time. when our Godly Bishops and other Grave Doctors were burned, and many good Protestants imprisoned and persecuted for their Religion and the Profession of the true Faith of Christ, by the Instruments of the Dragon, the old ene­my of mankind; yet then they were cited to the Courts of Justice, they had Arti­cles exhibited against them, they had time alotted them for to answer, and all the Proceedings against them, passed on, as against all others, in forma Juris, according to the Law. And they had neither suffered nor been deprived, if they had recanted, Some of the Lay Protestants, I presume, from their Ignorance and want of under­standing of the School-terms and Scholerlike distinctions, wherein their Adversaries were most Skilful; and although the Constancy of these Pious Martyrs, and the Resolu­tion of those, whose Zeal to the Protestant Religion, and Desire of Reformation, and perhaps Ambition to be Martyrs, transported them, it may be in some things beyond their Knowledge, have moved them rather to suffer themselves to be deprived of their estates, and to suffer death, than to deny their Faith, which the more Learn­ed sort knew, and the other good-meaning men believed to be the true Faith of Gods [Page 4]Elect: yet the death that was imposed on them, and the punishment that they suffer­ed, The Martyrs in Q. Maries daies far more fairly dealt withall than we are. was not, if you consider all circumstances, especially the extent of the persecution, and the fewness of the persons suffering, in comparison of the sufferers in these times, near so bitter and so bad, nor any waies so cruel and so insufferable, as this most in­humane dealing, which hath been used, and the punishment that was inflicted, so extensively and universally upon all the Reverend Bishops, Deans, Prebends, and abun­dance more of most Learned Divines and other Loyal Subjects and good Christians of these Kingdoms, by the subtle tormentors and new tyrants of these daies; For seeing as the Poet truly saith,

Dulce mori miseris,—To die is sweet, and a favour to them that are in mise­ry, either through want, sickness, sorrowes, or the like insufferable disasters; and as another saith, ‘Mors (que) minus poenae, quam mora mortis habet,’ Death is a lesser punishment, than to be alwaies, as we are, at the door of death, and still in fear, Job 7.15. Ecclesiasticus 41.2. and expecting when death shall come to attache us; which is the very same in effect, that both holy Job, which had most reason to know it, and the Son of Syrach, that so well understood the state of our mortanty, do testifie unto us; for both of them do affirm, that an honourable death is far better than a miserable life, and will sooner be chosen by any Heroick and Noble mind; the [...]efore Claudian demands, ‘Nonne mori satius, Claudian. vitae quans ferre pudorem?’ Who would not chuse rather to die, than to endure shame, and be in contempt and dis­grace while he liveth, as they must needs be, that from the height of honour, are tumbled down to the lowest pit of Confusion, to become the scorn of the vilest in the world, which the Long Parliament hath made us to be.

Therefore it is apparent to all the world, at least to all understanding men, that those Martyrs were in a far better condition, and used by those Tyrants after a far bet­ter manner than our Ministers and others were, Their Com­mittee men were told they were ill affected; that was enough. Sed, si satis accusasse. quis innocens? by the now pretended Saints; they were more justly proceeded against, more fairly handled, and less cruelly dealt with­al, than our men are, the poor Christians that have been utterly undone by the Long Parliament: For I speak by the Experience of some that I knew my self to be thus handled and thus dealt withal, before ever they were called in question, or charged with any crime, or accused for any fault, or have leave to answer for themselves, or be suffered to speak one word in their own behalf, and for the relief and support of their Wives and Families, to be adjudged, yea and oftentimes contrary to their own Articles and Engagements to be deprived of all their Means, their Lands and their Livings and all that they had, to be taken from them: And because they had done no­thing worthy of death or of bonds, Act. 23.29. they shall not have the honour, I speak of many that were thus used, either to be imprisoned, where it is likely that some good men would relieve them, or to be put to death, whereby they should have had an end of their mise­ries, and enjoy the Glory of Martyrdom; but to make their Tyranny to exceed all cruelty, and the miseries of the distressed and ejected persons the more miserable, when their enemies, as the Prophet saith, whom they ever honoured as friends, chased them sore like a Bird without cause, Lament. 3.52.and they that did feed delicately, even with Kings Dishes, Cap. 4. v. 5. must now lie desolate in the streets; and they that sate in their Robes of Scar­let, even with the best Lords in the Kingdom, must now embrace Dung-hils; and when the Parliament are told of the unjust and cruel proceedings of their Committee men, yet that must not be regarded, not their injustice so much as questioned; be­cause they are not to consider now, quid sit honestum, but quid utile; what is just and honest, but what is availeable, be it never so vile and so wicked, to further their de­sign; and if they did not uphold and countenance these their Instruments, and not check them, their own Projects might be obstructed.

And therefore, The seeming mercies of ty­rants most cruel. as Tiberius and other Fox-like cruel Tigers, worse than the bloudy Nero, would never put them to a present death, whom they hated most, but said, they loved them not so well, as to take away their life; and therefore in a seeming favour [Page 5]and mercy, they suffered them to enjoy some space and liberty; but it was in ex­tream cruelty and malice, to make them the more miserable, by thus inflicting upon them a daily death; So the subtle Tiberians of these times, have dealt with Gods Servants, to prolong their miseries, and to make their lives more grievous than any death could be unto them, cos (que) sibi-ipsis graves ponere; And as one saith, to set themselves to be the heaviest burdens and the greatest Maladies, that possibly could be, unto themselves; when as all men may be assured of that truth, What it is to be most mise­rable. quod miserrimum est fuisse foelicem; nothing can be more miserable than to have been most happy, and then to fall into the depth of infelicity; for what other thing is this, but to make themselves to become the lingring Executioners of themselves? Which is a death worse than any other death, even by the Testimony of the holy Prophet: For they that are slain with the sword, saith he, are better than they that are slain with hunger, Lament. 4.9.be­cause these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruit of the field.

And that nothing might be wanting to fill up the measure of this part, The persecu­tion of the Church under the long Par­liament, how great and how general it was. of the ini­quity of that Long Parliament, and to make their cruelty most cruel, and the persecu­tion of Gods Servants most bitter; because the more general, and the more extensive and spreading the mischief is, the more it prevents the persecuted persons of all shel­ter, and deprives them of all Relief and Comfort; this course must be taken, not with a few of the choicest men of this or that Calling, as Capita rerum, which might be thought to be the Heads of any disorder, after the manner that the Severest of the best Generals in war use to do, when they decimate the Mutinous in their Army to be punished, ut poena ad paucos, metus ad omnes; that the punishment of some few, might strike a terrour, and cause amendment in them all; How well the Parliament was acquain­ted with all Church-Mini­sters. but they must deal more universally, with all the most Reverend Bishops, all the worthy Deanes, Sub-Deans, Deans and Chapters, Arch-Deacons, Priors, Chancellors, Chauntors, Sub-Chauntors, Treasu­rers, Sub-Treasurers, Succentors, Sacrists, Prebends, Canons, Canon-Residents and non-residents, Petty-Canons, Chorals, Vicars-Chorals, Choristers, Old Vicars or New: These be the very words of their Act; they were so well acquainted with all the Par­ticulars of the Church-Officers, that as Jehu dealt with the Idolatrous Priests of Baal, so they might deal with the Faithful Messengers of Jesus Christ, and suffer not one of them all to escape, but they must all down in Ingland and Wales, yea, in Scotland and in Ireland, in all these Three Kingdoms; and you may be sure, if their power could reach, neither Bishop, Dean nor Prebend, nor any one of all that depended on them, should remain in Italy, France, Spain, or any other part of all the Christian world, they must all down, and down with them, even to the ground; and then being cast down,

they may be never able to rise up again, until they rise in Judgment against them: The long Par­liament deal with Christs servants, as the Jews dealt with Christ. For as the Jews, when they had laid Christ in his Grave, were afraid he would rise again, and therefore laid a huge Stone upon the door of the Sepulcher, and hired the Watch-men to keep him down; so these men, their Scholars, for fear that the fore­said Servants of Christ might rise again, must sell all their Lands and Possessions, and put them into the hands of Captains and Collonels, and other men of Armes, that with the edge of the Sword, should keep them bare enough, and naked of all support, if ever they should chance to arise: Good God, saith a Father, Si Diabolus nocere posset, quantum vellet, aliquis justorum non remaneret: If the Devil had power to de­stroy as many as he would, and as he desireth, there should not remain any one righ­teous man upon the face of the earth.

And yet this is not all that the prevalent Faction of the long Parliament have de­stroyed and extirpated out of house and home; for to these afore-named Church-men, whom the Devil spited most of all, you may add the Catalogue of such Heads and Fellows of Colledges, and other Learned and Religious Gentlemen, of the famous University of Cambridge, as have been plundered, that is, robbed, ejected, impri­soned and banished, only for their constancy in the True Religion and right Service of God, and their Loyalty and Faithfulness to their Lawful King: And the like Ca­talogue [Page 6]of the Heads and Fellowes of the other Famous University of Oxford, The great and large extent of the late Persecution of the Parl. besides the great number of Grave Doctors and other Learned Divines in and about the City of London, and throughout these Three Kingdoms, that have been deprived of all their Means and Livelihoods, and many of them most barbarously killed: Of all which, you may see such a number, as is scarce credible, yet nothing more than is true, in a little Book printed at Oxford, in Anno 1647: and entituled Mercurius Rusticus & Querela Cantabrigiensis: A-Book worthy to be read of all that desire to know the Extent and to understand the Greatness of the late persecution of the Christi­ans under the Long Parliament; how Gangraena-like it spread it self beyond Decius or Dioclesians Tyranny, and almost, in these parts, like Adams sin, that went over all, so did their Persecution run over all the most Faithful Sons of the Church, and the Loyal Subjects of these Kingdoms.

And I would faign know, what Busiris or Phalaris, Dionysian, Dioclesian or Nero, or John Vasilowic, the great Russian Tyrant, or what other Tyrant of the world hath ever undone so many worthy men, without once questioning them for any fault, or charging them with any Crime, that they had done; or who did ever attempt to de­stroy so many, only for being ill affected to their evil deeds?

But now, The unparal­lel'd Persecu­tion and cru­elty of the prevalent Fa­ction of the long Parl. being thus afflicted, destitute and deprived of all their Means, how shall all these, these thousands of most worthy men live? These men that were not brought up to work, and used not to dig, and are ashamed to beg, and therefore without a great measure of Gods Grace, to support them, and to sanctifie their Afflictions, they might fall into desperate conditions? They will answer, as one of them did to me, and like as the High Priests, the Crucifiers of our Master Christ, answered Ju­das, What is that to us? Let them live how they list, or let them perish; & sic pe­riere ruinae, and so, for them, they shall all utterly perish.

And therefore I may well demand, what Tyrant did ever live since the day that God created the Heavens, What King, What Pope, What Hildebrand That is Gre­gory the 7th. that was one of the worst Popes of Rome., What Hel-brand, What Turk, What Jew, What Man, What Devil, would besuch an Apollyon, as to cut off, not all the necks of the Heathenish Romans, with that blou­dy Emperor, who wished that they all had but unum Collum, one neck, that so he might chop it off uno ictu, with one blow, but all those good Christians and the Faith­ful Servants of God uno halitu, with one Vote, one Breath and one Act, which was an Axe indeed, and was laid to the root of every Tree, that bare the good fruit of Faith and Obedience in these Kingdoms?

Surely, I think none could have devised such a Plot, so full of mischief, so far be­yond the Sicilian Vespers, and Gunpowder Treason, and so void of Humanity, and stuffed up with all cruelty and abominable Impiety (especially if you consider the large extent and the evil Consequents thereof) except the infernal Apollyon, the great Destroyer of Christianity, and the Hellish Misanthropos, that laboureth conti­nually to root out all the Christian Faith and the true Service of God out of the world, did unmoveably reside in their hearts, to prompt them and to spur them on unto the same; or else that Beelzebub, the chief of the Devils, would send a pack of his Prime Captains and best Instruments out of Hell, to root out all the true Servants of Jesus Christ.

For if you compare this our last persecution and afflictions under the Long Parlia­ment, with the former Persecutions of the Heathen Tyrants, or the Arian Kings, which they brought upon the Church, you shall find,

1. That there was but one Nero, one Dioclesian, one Constantius, and one Julian in all the world, at one time, to persecute the Christians that were spread over all the world; but here amongst us, we suppose to have, I know not how many hundred Dio­clesians and Julians together, at one time, in one City, to vex and persecute the Christians of one poor little Island.

2. The Forme [...] Tyrants persecuted them for their Disloyalty, as they alledged, unto their Emperors and Governours, which was most false, as appeareth by the Apologies of Tertullian, Minutius Foelix, and others: But we were persecuted for being Faithful and Loyal unto our King, and to our Governours; as all the Kingdom knoweth.

CHAP. II. That neither the Pope nor the Turk is the great Antichrist; that the Antichrist when he should come into the world, should arise out of the Truest and Purest Reformed Church on Earth; which was the Church of Ingland, in King Charles his time, being fully reformed of those Errors and Abuses that should creep, and had crept into the Church, which other Reformed Churches had not so perfectly purged: And wherefore they did it not, and could not do it.

THE serious consideration of the former things, What moved the Author to enter upon this discourse of the great Anti­christ. and the sad condition of the Distressed, Persecuted Members of Christ, and the Testimony of the fore­said Authors, touching the Persecution, that should happen in the time of the Great Antichrist, which I conceived to be now so visibly seen, and so universally spread through the Subtilty and Cruelty of the Prevalent Faction of the Long Parlia­ment, have moved me to settle my Thoughts upon the search of those Texts of Holy Scripture, wherein the holy Prophets and the blessed Apostles had treated, and fore­told us of the coming of the Great Antichrist, and the sufferings of the Saints and true Servants of God in his time, and under his unjust and cruel Government; and to pray to God most earnestly and constantly night and day, for the help of his Grace and as­sistance of his Holy Spirit, to guide me to the true and right understanding thereof: And then, by reading the best Authors that I could find, to explain those obscure Mysteries and to further me to undertake the same, I found and saw,

I. Many good and probable Arguments produced by Luther, Calvin, Beza, 1. That many learned Au­thors do hold the Pope or Papacy to be the Antichrist. Balaeus de vit. Pontif. l. 3. Jun. in Apocal. cap. 12. Thomson in the arraignment of Antichrist. pag. 90, & 91. Brightman in Apoc. Downam de Antichristo. l. 10. c. 3. & 4. & Thomson pag. 77.Juni­us, Chytraeus, Tilenus, Maresius, and our own Countrymen, Powel, Whitaker, Brightmen, Downam, Thomsom, Mede and others, very Learned Protestants, and worthy men, to prove that either the Tyrannical State and Polity of the Papacy is that Great Antichrist, as some would have it; or else Series Paparum the Succession of Popes, from Boniface the 3^d, in Phocas his time, that usurping Emperor, who got to the Imperial Throne by the Murder of his own Master Mauritius, and his Wife, and his Brother, and his Children, and gave to the Pope the Preheminency and the Title of Universal Bishop, about the year 605, as Balaeus saith: Or from Boniface the 8^th, that seduced and imprisoned his Predecessor Celestine the 5^th, about the year 1294, as Junius saith: Or else from Vitellianus the Musical Pope, about the year 666, as Thomson saith, to this present Pope, is that [...], the great Antichrist spoken of by St. Paul in 2 Thes. 2.8. and by St. John in Revel. 13.1. And that Rome is the place of his abode and the proper Seat of him, as Brightman, Downham, Thomson, and many others do unanimously affirm, and is, according to the Saying of St. John, in Revel. 17.18. meant by St. Peter, where he saith, The Church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you, 1 Pet. 5.3. and is so interpreted by many of the Ancient Fathers, to signifie the City of Rome in that place, as Papias apud Euseb, l. 2.15. Tertul. adversus Judaeos. S. Hieron. in Esaiam. c. 47. August. de Civit. Dei. l. 18. c. 22. Oros: Synchron. l. 2. c. 3. & l. 7. c. 2. And divers others of our late Writers.

And their Reasons (to reduce them as brief as I can to certain heads) that induce them to believe the Popes and Papacy to be the Antichrist, The reasons why the Pope is believed to to be the An­tichrist. are of two sorts;

• 1. Their Blasphemies, Heresies and Impieries against God.
• 2. Their Tyranny, Cruelty and Iniquity against man.

1. The Popes Impiety against God, is seen by their undermining, 1. The Popes impiety a­gainst God. crossing and corrupting all the Articles of our Creed, and by a high transgressing of all the Ten Commandments of the Moral Law, as Thomson very orderly and largely setteth down; [Page 8]and more especially, Thomson in his arreign. p. 96. I. W. pag. 8.9, 10. & Deinc. Mares. de An­tichristo. p. 101. M. Mede in the apost of the last times. their Blasphemies, either by their own mouths and proper as­sertions, or by their giving priviledge, countenance and approof to the Blasphemies of their Minions and Flatterers, which are plentifully set down by J.W. the Au­thor of Roma ruina finalis, in Anno 1666. And their Idolatry; when Pope Marcel­linus sacrificed to the Idols of the Painims; and all of them in worshipping their breaden God in the Mass, and their Mahuzzims or Deastri, their Saints departed, and their Relicks, as Mr. Mede sheweth in his Learned Treatise of the Apostacy of the last times, and his Apocalyptick Key.

2. The Popes iniquity to­wards man. Vid. Mares [...]um pag. 140. Their Injustice and Iniquity against man is evidenced by their Pride in their exalting and lifting up themselves above all that is called god; that is, above Kings and Princes; as Gregory the 3. excommunicated the Emperor Leo Iconomachus: Zachary the 1^st deposed Childerick the lawful King of France, to set up Pipin in his room: Leo the 3. created Charles the Great to be the Emperor. Anastasius durst presume to excommunicate the Emperor Anastatius Grandfather to Justinian, about 490. Martin 1. performed the like censure against Constantius the Emperor about 650; but he was therefore brought by Theodorus Calliopa unto the Emperor in Chains, and banished into Pontus, where he died: And Gregory the 7th. formerly called Hildebrand, about 1080. out-matched all the rest of his Predecessors in pride and boldness, by compelling the Emperor Henry the 4th. to come barefooted, in an humble manner to him, to give satisfaction unto his Holiness, or else to be deprived of his Kingdom. Alexander the 3. trode upon the neck of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, and as he was setting his foot upon his neck, he abused that place of Scripture which saith, super Aspidem & Basiliscum ambulabis; by applying it to justifie this his Luciferian Pride and Tyranny: Volater. l. 22. Anthropolog. in Alex. 3. Roger Hov [...]don annal. pag. 2. sub Richard. 1. And it is recor­ded that Alex­ander 6. poy­soned Gemes the great Turks brother, that was commit­ted to his trust Hildebrand hi­red one to kill the Emp. John the 13. and committed in­cest with his two fifters. The 31 Article of the Confes­sion of the Sy­nod of Gappe. And Adrian the 4th. made the said Emperor to hold his stirrop while he got upon his Palfrey; And Celestine the 3. was so insolent, as to put the Crown upon the head of Henry the 6th. and of the Empress, with his foot, and pushing it off again in like manner, to say, I have power to make and to unmake Emperors at my pleasure; a Pride surpassing the pride of Lucifer, Prince of pride, and Diameter-wise opponent to the Humility of Christ: And as the Pride of these Popes puffed up their hearts to swell above all earthly Powers, so the Injustice and Cruelty of the Roman Bishops and that Hierarchy, were no whit less towards their Inferiours, as appeareth by the unjust and barbarous burning of John Hus and Hierom of Prague, and the rest of those bloody Massacres that were acted in France, by the Popes Procurements and Assassinats, and in Belgia, by the Duke de Alva, that was the Popes prime Instrument of Cruelty against the Protestants.

And therefore according to the judgment of the said Writers, the Synod of Gappe in France, that was held in Anno 1064. in the 31 Article of their Confession, saith, Cum vero Episcopus Romanus, erecta sibi in orbe Christiano Monarchia, sibi arroget Prin­cipatum in omnes Ecclesias & Pastores; us (que) adeo inflatus, ut deum ipsum se appellet, Can. satis. Dist. 96. lib. 1. Sacrar. Cerem. cap. de Benedic. ensis. velit adorari. Concil. Lateran. ult. Sess. 1, 3, 9, 10. Ipse sibi tribuat omnem potestatem in Coelo & in Terra, Res Ecclesi­asticas ad libitum componat, condat Articulos Fidei, Authoritatem Scripturae velit pendere à sua, eam (que) ad libitum interpretetur, animarum mercaturam exerceat, liberet adstrictos votis & juramentis, novos Dei cultus instituat; & quod ad civilia attinet, legitimam Magistratuum authoritatem conculcet, dans, adimens, & transferens Regna, credimus & asserimus eum esse verum illum & germanum Antichristum, filium perditionis, praedictum in Dei verbo, Zachar. 11.16, 17. 1 Joh. 4.3. Apoc. 13.2, &c. Meretricem Pur­puratam, Apoc. 17.1. insidentem septem monitbus, in magna civitate, Apoc. 17.9. obtinentem Regnum in Reges terrae, Apoc. 17.18. & expectamus donec Deus, prout promisit & jam coepit, eum fractum & victum spiritu oris sui, tandem deleat fulgore ad­ventus sui, 2 Thes. 2.8.

And this Article Tilenus analizeth, Tilenus exegis. pag. 45. Aphor. 165. and prosecuteth the same at large, to prove the Pope to be, as they say, the great Antichrist: And I will not at this time examine the truth and validity either of this proposition or assumption, though I might very well deny them both, as well the one as the other. But I confess that these things which the Synod chargeth the Popes withal, being true, are transcendent sinnes; and questionless [Page 9]the great enormities of the Roman Hierarchy and Papacy, especially of the Court of Rome, confronting the Kingdome of Christ, and corrupting the true service of God, do infallibly evince, that the Pope is an Antichrist, and the Church of Rome blemished with much Antichristianisme; for every one that oppugneth Christ, and opposeth himself against his Kingdome, his Word, and his Doctrine, can be none other than an Antichrist; and so was Simon Magus, Elimas, Menander, Ebion, Cerinthus, and other Heriticks, that sprang up in the Apostles times; and of whom; and the like, 1 John 2.18. It is confessed, that the Pope is an Antichrist, but not the great transcendent Antichrist. S. John saith, And now there are many Antichrists; each one of them an Antichrist: and such indeed are all, Antichrists, more or less, according as their opposition is more or less, unto Christ, his Church, and his Gospel; and no doubt but the Pope, and Papacy oppugneth Christ, corrupteth his truth, and oppresseth his Church, in very many things: and therefore he cannot be denied to be an Antichrist, and one of them that are great Antichrists.

But though these things do sufficiently prove the Pope and Papacy to be an Antichrist, and a very great Antichrist too; yet they come too short to prove him to be the great, eminent, egregious, transcendent, and especially designed Antichrist, which the Scripture saith should come before the end of the world; and I never saw yet any Arguments, alledged by the best of the aforesaid Authors, B. Montague in his apello Caesarem. pag. 143. that was sufficient to evince him to be the same, nor indeed, as Bishop Montague saith, That I could not sufficiently answer, at least-wise to mine own satisfaction, to hinder my belief therein.

And though the Synod of Gappe and Mr. Powel, and some other rigid Puritans of Ingland, transported with the height of their zeal to a prejudicate opinion against the Pope, do put it amongst the Articles of their Faith, to believe him and his Hierarchie to be that great, transcendent Antichrist; yet I am sure, that, The Church of Ingland hath not determin'd the Pope to be the great Antichrist. neither learned Zanchius, nor Grynaeus, nor Faius, nor any of the most learned, and more moderate Divines of Ingland, do think him to be the same; neither is it the Doctrine of our Church; when as no Synod of ours hath resolved it, nor any one of all our Convocations assented to it, as learned and reverend B. Montague well observeth.

And although S. Peter calleth Rome, as it was then in his time, Ethnick, idolatrous, and full of confusion, Babylon; yet, quia de cet Scripturam proprie accipere, How the Scriptures ought to be expounded.ubi non cogit fides ad tropos descedere; because it ought to be an infalible Rule, which all Divines should immutably observe, That the holy Scripture is to be taken, and expounded properly, where the Analogy of Faith doth not compel us to recede unto Tropes and figures, as here it doth, when S. Peter wrote this Epistle; but not so when Rome became all Christian, and was rather Hierusalem then Babylon; And because I see Bellarmines Arguments to prove the Pope not to be that great and long expected Antichrist, unsufficiently answered, The main Reasons why we cannot believe the Pope to be the great Antichrist. and the answers unsatisfactory to many men, notwithstanding all the endeavours of Bishop Downham, and others of our best learned men, to do the same; and especially because that, although many of the marks, signes, and actions of the great Antichrist may be rightly applicable, and properly belonging to the Pope; yet, seing none can be truly said to be that very Antichrist, but he that shall have all the marks, tokens, and characters of that Antichrist, and shall by his actions fulfill all the Prophesies, and Predictions that are foretold us in the Scripture, the great Antichrist should do; and all the markes and actions foretold us of that great Antichrist, are no wayes applicable to the Pope, nor fulfilled by the Pope, as in the prosecution and sequel of this Discourse, I shall make it as clear as the light, to any impartial man, that is not peevishly transported, and obstinately wedded, to his own groundless opinion; and for many other reasons, that in the explication of those Scriptures that speak of him, I shall hereafter set down unto you, all the men in the world shall never make me believe, that the Pope, E. H. de Antic. pag. 81. 2. That many other learned men do believe the Turk to be the great Antichrist. or succession of Popes or popish state, and Polity, is that great enormous Antichrist, that should come into the world, or that the city of Rome is, or must be the proper seat and throne of that Antichrist: and so E.H. in his Treatise, de Antichristi, Pag. 81. saith these very same words that I do.

2. As the foresaid Authors concluded the Pope and Papacy, to be that great Antichrist, so many other learned men, and great Divines, finding the invalidity of [Page 10]the former mens Arguments, and the insufficiency of their reasons, to confirm their Opinion, and to justifie their allegation, to prove the Pope to be Antichrist, have thought the Turk to be the same, that should come into the world, to destroy the flock of Christ, and they do judg Constantinople to be that Babylon, which is prophesied and spoken of in the Revelation, to be the seat, and throne of that bloody beast, ever since Mahomet the 2. took the City of Constantinople, and turned the great and famous Church of San-sophia, in anno 1455. to be for the service of the false Prophet Mahomet, Mahomet, who he was. that was the son of Abdalla, a Merchant in Mecca, of Arabia, and was born post-humus, in anno 571. as the Lord Verulam collecteth. And that learned Bishop Montague setteth down 10 special reasons, that might prove his Successor, and upholder of his Blasphemies, the great Turk, and his wicked, tyrannical state and Polity, directing all his Lawes and Practices ex diametro, to oppose the state and Kingdome of Christ, and to oppress his servants, to constitute, and to be that great Antichrist, rather, and far more likely than the Pope; as to abbreviate the same unto you.

Reason. 1 B. Montague his 10 Reasons to prove the Turk Antichrist 1. In his Apostacy, whether you understand it from the Doctrine and Gospel of Christ, or from the Rom. Empire; for both himself, and all his Sectaries have relapsed from Christ, and Apostatized from the Profession of his name; and have received the mark and stamp of the Beast; and he is much more interessed in the Rom. Empire than the Pope is, or then any of the Popes that ever was.

Reason. 2 2. For his deceiving signes and wonders, from the first Mahomet to the present Turk, the stories are most manifest, how he and all his, took that course to deceive the people, and to make himself to be believed, and to be esteemed a [...], some great one, like Simon Magus; the which thing secundum literam, & [...], was never personally verified in any Pope of Rome to this day, as it was in that false prophet, who is amongst all his followers accounted the great power of God, and their Saviour, to these very times.

Reason. 3 3. For the number of the beast, whether you take it from the time of his rising, as Thomson, and some others think it should be understood, or for the proper name of the man that should be the Antichrist, it is more agreeable to that false Prophet, than to the Pope, or it may be, to any of all the Popes that have been; for Mahomet's rising against Christ, to obscure the true light of his Gospel, was in the sixt Century, as divers Authors do affirm; and Hierusalem was taken by Homar, his Successor, about the year 666. and the name of Mahomet, written in Greek, the Language in which S. John wrote his Revelation, The name of Mahomet containeth the number of 666. doth make up the just number of 666. as

which is in all just 666. as well as [...], which is so much insisted upon by them, that make the Pope to be the Antichrist.

Reason. 4 4. It is observed by the Learned in the Eastern Languages, that the word Turca, which is the name of the chief Prince of Gog and Magog, doth signifie the same thing that Apollion and Abaddon doth, which is a Destroyer, and is a name ascribed to the King of those Locusts, Revelat. 9.11. that came out of the bottomless pit, and are interpreted by the best Authors to be the Arrabians, that were the prime Subjects, and the first setters up of Mahomet, that great Impostor.

Reason. 5 5. The Mahometans, in these dayes, and the Saracens of old, are the grand professed enemies of the Christians, qua tales, as they are Christians, and do call themselves Musulmans, that is, the right believers, which I confess the Pope and Papists likewise do, as indeed the Arians, Donatists, and all other Hereticks did.

Reason. 6 6. That Deceiver and false Prophet, Mahomet, though he made a great shew of Sanctity and a strict holy life, as all such Deceivers do; yet personally, as a private man, he was a man of sin, given up to all Licentiousness; and in his Alcoran tolerating all prostitutions, unto his Sectaries; and promising unto them a Paradise of all carnal pleasures after death, which as yet no Pope, that we read of, ever did.

Reason. 7 7. That great Lyar Mahomet, and his heir and successor the Turk, literally [Page 11] exalteth himself above Christ, above all the holy Prophets and Apostles of Christ, and above all the Kings and Monarchs of the earth, and as St. Paul saith, [...], above all that is called God, and stileth himself the Lord of Lords, and the God of the earth, that hath the power and right to dispose all the things of this world at his pleasure, as it is to be seen in divers of the Letters of Solyman, Amurath, and others: And his Alchoran, which is but a tyrotarichon, an hotch-potch of lies and fables, patched together by his Jew-Scribe, and the Nestorian Sergius, of Jewish, paganish, Manichaean, and Arian Heresies, and Superstition, he commended, as received from his friend, and old familiar acquaintance, the Angel Gabriel, to his followers, above the Law of Moses, and above the Gospel of Jesus Christ: and he promised his carnal Paradice to all the observers thereof, and threatned eternal torments to all the despisers of it; and I think, no Pope exceeded this impiety.

Reason. 8 8. The Heir and Successor of Mahomet, the Turk, is and hath been a long time possessed of Hierusalem, the Temple of God, and the land of Promise, ever since Homar took it; except some few years that the French held it from him, after that, in the Holly War, Godfrey of Bulloigne took it; and because that Mahomet was circumcised, and the Turk, and all his followers in like manner, the Jews flocked unto this Conquerour, when he wan the holy City, as unto their Messias, and advancing his Enterprise, they paid him Tribute, and assisted him in all his impiety, and proceedings against the Christians, which they never did, in the like manner, to any Pope whatsoever.

Reason. 9 9. Having thus taken and possessed the holy City, he now sitteth [...], in the Temple or Church of God, take the Church in what sense you will, materially, formally, or figuratively: for he was buried in the Church of God at Meca, and they make Pilgrimages to his Sepulchre, and adore his reliques to this very day: and Homar his Successor, having taken Hierusalem, templum acquisivit, quod Solomon extruxerat, ad blasphemiae suae oratorium constituendum: he made the Temple which Solomon first built, and afterwards Zorobabel, and Herod, exceedingly beautified, to be the oratory of his blasphemy, saith Theophanes; and Sophronius, then Patriarch of Hierusalem cryed out, in veritate, ista est abominatio desolationis, stans in loco sancto; in very truth, that is the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel and our Saviour, standing in the holy place; and afterwards, when Mahomet the great took Constantinople, he made his Pallace in the great cathedral Church of san Sophia, and made the Bishops house, and the Priests lodgings, his seràglia, to this very day.

And if you take the [...], the Church, or Temple for the living Temples of God, and the faithfull servants of Christ, he sitteth upon them, and against them more than the Pope ever did; for he hath brought into confusion many many Christian Churches, and Congregations, in Syria, Palestina, Egypt, Persia, Armenia, Arabia, Affrica, Grecia, Thracia, and Asia the less, and in many other Countryes besides; whose candles he hath put out, and removed their candlesticks out of their places; and instead of the Gospel of Christ, he hath taught them to blaspheme his name; and hath set the mark of the beast upon those that were the servants of Christ, by circumcising them in their flesh, and renouncing their former Baptisme, which is the marke and badg of the lambe; and those, that will not thus renounce their Saviour Christ, though he suffereth them to live quietly, so long as they pay him their allotted Contribution, as I shewed to you before: Yet he doth extreamly tyrannize over them in those taxes and contributions; and especially in that barbarous tribute of the Christians children, which every third year are to be taken away from their Parents, from their Religion, and from their God, to become the worshippers of Mahomet, and to be his seraglian Eunuchs.

Reason. 10 10. He is seated in Constantinople, which is new Rome, and so termed by the old Writers, ever since Constantine made it the Imperial throne of the Roman Emperors, and is now made a greater Babylon, and fuller of confusion than ever old Rome was since Constantines time.

And surely, in my judgment, these Reasons do sufficiently and demonstratively evince, that the great Turk is a great, and a very great Antichrist: and indeed a far [Page 12] greater Antichrist than the Pope, or any Pope that hath yet been, take the very worst of them.

3. 3. Others conceive, that out of the Turkish and Pepish polity, conjoyned together, the Antichrist shall arise. Some other Divines there be, that think it is probable and most likely, the Mahometan Religion, and the Turkish State, that profess and uphold the Religion of that false Prophet, may be conjoyned in association with the Pope and Papacy, to constitute and make up the great and transcendent Antichrist, that shall most virulently oppose the State and Kingdome of Christ, and oppress the true servants of God; for though these two states of the Turk and Pope, be opposite, ad invicem, one against the other, in temporalibus, in respect of their temporal Rule and Government; yet they may both combine and be alike, in oppugning the truth of Christ, and corrupting his true service, though differently, respectu mediorum, in respect of the wayes and means that either of them doth it; B. Montague in his apello Caesarem. as the Turk directly, and the Pope obliquely; the Turk, vi aperta, by fire and sword, and the Pope fraude & insidiis, by fraud and deceit; and yet both of them respectu finis, to aim at the same end, to uphold their own wicked state and polity, by opposing the Gospel, and suppressing the Kingdom of Christ.

And for my part, I shall never be any Advocate to plead for either of them, neither would I have any man to imagine, that I would ever seem to diminish or lessen, much less then, The Author excuseth neither the Turk nor the Pope. to excuse the wickedness and impieties either of Turk or Pope; the Christian world knoweth, that either of them, and both of them are bad enough; each of them an Antichrist, and a very great Antichrist, the best of them, that hath much opposed the Kingdome of Christ, and blemished the true service of God with many errors, Heresies, and superstitions.

Yet, as I said of the Pope, so I say of the Turk, that I cannot believe him to be that great and egregious Antichrist, which the Scripture [...] speaketh of; because I cannot see him fitted and filled with all the marks, signes, and actions of that Antichrist, Why he believeth neither the Pope nor Turk to be the great Antichrist. to the full; so as no acception can be taken against the proof thereof in any point; or, because I cannot finde, nor can it be found by any other, that all and every one of the marks, and Characters, and all the actions, that are foretold by the Prophets and Apostles, should be done and seen in the great Antichrist, are fully seen to be done and fulfilled either in the Pope, or in the Turk; but that there are many particular things and acts foretold us should be done by that Antichrist, that can no wayes be found in them, nor done by them, or fulfilled in either of them, as hereafter, in this Treatise, I shall more fully declare the Particulars that are unful filled by them, and the marks and Characters of that great Antichrist, that are no wayes applicable to either of them.

And so, Zanchius miscel. lib. 3. Lambert in apoc. Andren [...] tort. torti. Montagu. appello Caes. pag. 159. as I said before, the more moderate Divines, and for learning, not inferiour to the best, as Zanchius, Lambert, Andrews, Montague, and many more, are of the same opinion, and do believe, that neither the Pope, nor the Turk, is that great transcendent Antichrist, but do conceive, that out of these two estates, polity, and Government, different in the means, the one from the other, but agreeing in the end to oppose the Kingdome of Christ; or else, out of some other estate, polity rule and Government, in many things like to these, and in some things unlike to either of them, but in some respects far worse than the worst of both the other, the great enormous Antichrist, that singular, notorious Antichrist, prophesied of in the holy Scripture, shall arise and come, and in fraudulent malicious craftiness, and execrable wickedness, shall, through heretical impostures and lying miracles, go beyond all others, against the honor of Christ, and the service of God, and do more mischief unto his servants, than any other that ever lived in the world, The doings of the great Antichrist more odious to God, and more destructive to his church than the acts either of Pope or Turk. and so shall do such feats and acts, as, in some respects, are more odious and detestable in the fight of God, and more pernicious and destructive, both to the bodies and soules of men, than are the doings either of the Pope or Turk.

And therefore, seeing we finde so many of the most learned men varying in their opinions and judgements about the Antichrist, and the concomitants of that great beast, spoken of in Revel. 13. and about the Prophesies and mysteries of the holy Scriptures, that do concern that man of sin; because the secrets of the spirit of God are like the deep ocean, not easily wadeable, but as St. Gregory faith, deep enough for [Page 13]the greatest Elephant to swim, that is, surpassing the Reach of the quickest wit, The Scriptur [...] like the deep ocean sea. and no waies intelligible, unless they be revealed by the same Spirit: And because the Prophesies that are contingent and to come, are not perspicuous, and cannot be well explained by the best expositors, before we see them fulfilled; Prophesies not well under­stood untill they be fulfil­led, and there­fore Patrum & Doctorum [...] venia non insectatio­ne dignos cen­semus. but as Riddles are never perceived, what they be, or what they mean, until they are unfolded, but are clear enough when they are explained; so Prophesies are hidden, until they be fulfilled, but perspicuous and plain enough to them that will look and search after them, when they are accomplished and already past: In respect whereof, Irenaeus saith most tru­ly, that certius & sine periculo est, expectare us (que) ad impletionem Prophetiae, quam temerè divinare; it is a surer and a safer course, without danger, to expect and wait for the fulfilling of a Prophesie, than rashly and presumptuously to go about to explain it before we see it fulfilled.

And therefore I do not so much wonder, that many of the Fathers, and the other Learned men afore-named, have erred, which by seeing some things come to pass, that the Apostles said should be done and happen in the time of the Antichrist, did presently apply them, some to the Pope, and others to the Turk, and concluded them to be the Great undoubted Antichrist; because they did anticipate, and made such a Conclusion, before many other things of the Prophesies, touching the Acts, Markes and Characters of the Antichrist, were fulfilled and made manifest unto the Church.

But I hope I may the more freely pass with less censure, to set down, what I and others that are of my mind, do conceive concerning the Great transcendent Anti­christ, when I shall only treat in this Discourse and set before you these three Points;

1. What the Scriptures say, by what way the Great Antichrist should come, The three spe­cial things that the Author doth in this book. where he should be seated, and what he should do, when he cometh.

2. To enquire of the diligent Searchers of things, and to demand by way of satis­faction, and not of resolution, of the unpartial Observers of the Affairs, Passages and Transactions of our times, whether the things and doings that they have seen acted, and done in our daies, be not answerable, and in every point sutable and correspon­dent to the Prophesies and Predictions of the Acts and Doings of the Great Anti­christ?

3. If by paralleling the Acts and Doings of the Great Antichrist that he should do, with the Actions that they have seen done in our time, they find, The best way to judge of the Antichrist. that no Garment was ever more fitted to any mans Body, nor any line straighter to the Rule, than are the Acts, Doings and Proceedings of these times, from the Year 1640, and so forward, correspondent and answerable to all the Prophesies of the Scripture, that are left unto us by the Prophets and Apostles of Christ, concerning the Doings and Proceedings of the Great Antichrist; then I leave it to the discreet and judicious Reader, to deter­mine and judge, whether the Great Antichrist be already come, and who he is; and I know no better way to judge of it, than this; For

As our Saviour Christ, when the Disciples of John asked him, Matth. 11.4. whether he was the Christ, or should they look for another? He gave them none other Answer, but go, tell John what you do hear and see, the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the Lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached unto them; the which things were Prophesied, Isa. 55.6. & ch. 61.1, &c. that they should be done by the Messias when he came into the world: And again he saith, Opera quae ego facio, testantur de me, The Works that I do, do bear witness of me, whether I be the Christ or not: So say I to them that would know, whether the Great Antichrist be come or not, or whether they shall look for another? and in another place? How to know whether the Antichrist be come or not. Consider well what you hear and see, whether the things, and all the things, that were prophesied should be done by the great Antichrist, were not all acted and done modo & forma, as they were fore-shewed, here in Ingland, even in these our daies or not? And then judge your selves, whether he be come or not; and who he is, and where seated: For I shall do no more, but shew you, what was prophesied of the Antichrist, that he should do; and demand, if you have not seen and heard of all those things that he [Page 14]should do, acted and done in these our daies here in these Dominions.

First Then I say, That the An­tichrist shall arise out of the true Chur. that it is agreed upon of all sides, not only by Bellarmine, and the rest of the Popish writers, but also by the most learned of our Protestant Divines, that the Scriptures testifie, how that as the Darnels grow from, and among the Wheat, so the Antichrist and his Adherents shall spring out of the true Church of Christ, even when it is the true Church: So that Ineed not to stand long to confirm this Point; for as Christ by his spiritual Fishermen catcheth Souls in the Devils Pond, that is, the world, & feeds them in his own, that is, the Church; so the Devil goeth about with his Net, and by his Instruments, to catch men in Christ his Pond, that is, the Congregation of Saints and true Servers of God, and then carrieth them to swim in the Dead Sea of eternal misery.

And so E. H. E. H. de Anti­christo p. 80.confesseth and consenteth rightly with me, that it is an undeniable truth, that the Antichrist must and shall arise in the midst of the Purest Church in the world, even when it is and remaineth, that is, in respect of very many of her Members, pure: and then, as Christ turned the cold water into sweet wine, so will the Devil, by the Ministry of the Antichrist, turn the Pure Wine of Gods Word into bitter Water, and the sweet milk of Gods Truth into a sower and stinking Puddle of all Errors, Dan. 7.25. Heresies and Blasphemies: For in Dan. 7.25. Which many Divines hold to be a Prediction of the coming of the Great Antichrist, and I yield him to be therein typically prophesied of: Antiochus the type of the Antichrist. It is said of Antiochus Epiphanes, which was the greatest enemy and the cruellest persecutor that ever the Church of the Jews had, and was indeed a very lively Type and the most perfect Pattern of the Antichrist, that he should wear out the Saints of God, and change their Lawes and Customes, and abolish the times of their Sabbaths, their Feasts and their Circumcision; and as Tremellius saith, Tremell. in Dan. 7.25. Legem ipsam Dei, Jura (que) omnia nefarie convellere, most wick­edly to pluck asunder and tear the very Law of God and to trample all Rights under­feet; and so the Antichrist, that is there typified by Antiochus, should do the like unto the Christians: Which doth sufficiently shew, that he must appear and reign in the Purest Church on earth; for so the Church of the Jews was then, in the Reign of Antiochus; and because, there be the best Saints, and they have the best Lawes and Customs, even those, which Christ himself and his Apostles have prescribed unto them, and which therefore the Antichrist goeth about to change, and by all means laboureth with all his might to destroy.

And thus Bellarmine produceth argumentum ad hominem, and argueth against the Protestants, by an argument taken from our selves and from our own assertion, to prove that the Pope cannot be the Antichrist; because it is yielded of all sides, that the Antichrist must arise out of the truest Church, Bellar. de Rom. Pontif. l. 3. c. 13. and must reign and rage in the same; therefore if the Pope be the Antichrist, the Church of Rome must needs be acknowledg­ed and confessed to be, and not that it was, but still is, the true Church, yea, and the truest Church of Christ, and both the Calvinists and the Lutherans are out of the true Church, because of the schisme and separation that they made from the Roman Church: The which Argument I see not well answered, though Bishop Downam and others attempted to do it, to this very day; And St. Aug. speaking of the Anti­christ, sitting in the Temple of God, saith, they understand it right, qui putant etiam Latine dici, sicut in Graeco est, non in templo Dei, sed in templum Dei sedeat, tanquam sit ipsetemplum Dei, S. Aug. de civ. Dei, l. 20. c. 19.quod est Ecclesia; sicut dicimus, sedet in amicum, id est, velut amicus; vel si quid aliud isto locutionis genere dici solet; which think, it may be spoken in Latine, as it is in the Greek, he sitteth not in the temple of God, but for the temple of God, as if he were the temple of God, which is, the Church of God, as we say, he sitteth for our friend, that is, as our friend.

Whereby you may see, St. Aug. understandeth that the Great Antichrist would pretend to be the only great friend of the true Church, and so in the true Church, and [Page 15]not out of it, and consequently not to be the Turk in any wise, that pretendeth not to serve Christ; nor the Pope, if we deny the Church of Rome to be the true Church of Christ; and therefore we may conclude with Bellarmine, Bp Downam de Antichrist. lib: 10. cap. 3. & 4. that the Pope cannot be said to be the Great Antichrist, nor Rome the proper Seat of the Antichrist, as Down­am, Thomson, and others would have it to be; because as I said before, the Anti­christ must arise in the midst of the truest and purest Church of Christ, which we utterly deny Rome to be; For the Apostle saith, 2 Theff. 2. the man of Sin and the child of Perdi­tion, which all Interpreters do expound to be the Antichrist, shall sit in the temple of God, which as, the greatest of the School-Doctors, Aquinas saith, Aquin. in loc. and so Tilenus Exegesis. 74. pag. 21. must not be un­derstood of the Jewish Temple at Hierusalem, that hath been destroyed, and shall never be re-edified, as some of the best Jewish Rabbines do believe; but as S. Chry­sostom and the Greek Scholiast. pag. 333. and Gorhan, and many others do under­stand it of the true Church of God, The Antichrist riseth and reigneth where God dwelleth. where the Gospel of Christ by his Faithful Bi­shops and Painful Ministers is truly preached, the Sacraments duly administred, and the Flock of Christ rightly Governed and instructed to serve God as they ought to do, there the Antichrist will seat himself, and there Satan will assist him, to overthrow the Bishops, to persecure the true Ministers, to neglect and nullifie the holy Sacraments, to corrupt the Truth of the Gospel; and to ruine that Church which Christ thus build­eth: For it is observed, that the Apostle useth in this place the word [...], Observ. which is derived from the Verb [...], that signifies to dwell, or to inhabit; God dwelleth in the best Saints and where they dwell. because that is the House or place where God resideth, that is, among his Saints and in his Saints, as God himself doth testifie unto his People, that will truly serve him.

And therefore Constantinople, where the Turk resideth, and hath made the Chan­cel of San Sophia, where the High Altar and the Patriarchal Throne stood, to be a Turkish Moschy, whither the Grand Signior goeth to the Blasphemous Ceremonies of their False Prophet; and the City of Rome, where the Pope sitteth, and hath aposta­tized from the true Faith in many Points, and corrupted the Gospel of Christ, at least­wise, with many Superstitions, cannot be said to be that [...] where God resideth, and the Antichrist sitteth as god, to destroy it; but it must be that Church, wherein God in the most Special manner dwelleth and delighteth in it; and that is in the Purest Church that can be found on earth, in respect of all the outward things that do con­stitute the same; for you must know, that the Church is to be considered two man­ner of waies,

1. Respectu divinae illius [...], and so God only knoweth his Church, The Church considered two waies. and who are the Members thereof, as the Apostle sheweth.

2. In respect of that Discipline, Rule and [...], which is apparent to our eyes, and consisteth chiefly in these four special things. Four things do constitute a true outward visible Church

1. In the Prayers of the Saints.

2. The Preaching of the Gospel.

3. The Administration of the Sacraments. And

4. Obedience to the Discipline of the Lawful Governours; And that Church which in these respects is the truest and purest, is that [...], the Temple and House of God, where he dwelleth, and which the Devil, by his dear Servant the Antichrist, laboureth by all means to overthrow.

Object. But you will say, Constantinople was [...], the true Church and dwelling place of God, and so was Rome, when her Faith was published throughout the whole world; Rom. 1. and so both continued until the Antichrist suppressed the Truth, and seated himself therein.

To this usual Objection I answer,

Solut. 1. That it is agreed of all sides, and by all Interpreters, old and new, Papists and Protestants, that the Great Antichrist should come towards the end of the world, 1. That the Antichrist should come towards the end of the world. 1 Tim. 4.1. and in the last Period of the [...], last times, as the Scriptures testifie the same most evidently; for though the Mystery of him and his iniquity began by those Hereticks, that sprang up in the Apostles time; yet was not he to be revealed in his strength and fulness until the last and latter end of times: and therefore not any waies like to come and to appear so many Hundred years agone, as they prescribe, which make [Page 16]either the Turk or the Pope to be the Antichrist.

2. 2. That God suffereth not the enemies of his Church to tyrannize long. I say, that God being so good and so gracious a God, especially to his Church and true Servants, will not alwaies be chiding, neither will he shut up his loving kind­ness in displeasure; but as the Poet saith, ‘Nocte pluit tota, redeunt spectacula mane.’ Which in the Prophets words, I may express, that although heaviness may endure for a night, yet joy cometh in the morning; and he may be sure of it; because God himself tells his Church, that for a moment in mine anger have I forsaken thee, but with ever­lasting compassion will I have pity upon thee; and so accordingly, he suffered not Antiochus that was the most lively type of the Antichrist that is in all the Scripture, to rage against the Church of the Jews, for all their wickedness, any longer than Three years and a half; neither did he suffer the Captivity of his People in Babylon, for their great sins recorded, 2 Chron. 36.14, 15, 16. to last any longer than 70 years; nor the Children of Israel to be opprest by Pharaoh, for the wrong they had done to their Brother Joseph, any more, after the Death of Joseph, than about 200 years, as Helvicus collecteth, which is the longest time that I find God seems to sleep, and to forget the Afflictions of his Church: And therefore I cannot sufficiently wonder, that Mr. Mede, Maresius, Tilenus, the Gappe Synod, and others of the Divines afore­named, should imagine that God would be so regardless, so unmindful, and so se­vere (though in Justice, we confess, he might be much more severe) unto the Chri­stian Church, Note this well. as to suffer the Great Antichrist, the greatest and the cruellest enemy unto his Church, that ever the world bred, to reign and rage against his Saints and Servants, for so many hundred of years, as the Pope and Turk have now ruled, since they conceive them to be the Antichrist, and the Great Antichrist that should be so signally revealed.

3. 3. That the An­tichrist was to arise, not out of a true plan­ted Church, but out of a truly reformed Church. I say, that it is manifest, the Antichrist should arise, not out of a true con­verted Church from Paganisme and the serving of their Idols to Christianity, as both Constantinople and all the rest of the Eastern Churches were, when Mahomet corrupted them; and also Rome, and the Western Churches, when the Pope replenished them with his Superstitions; but the Antichrist was to spring and to appear out of the true and purely Reformed Church, after it should be purged and cleansed from all Heresies, Errours and Superstitions.

For it was prophesied and fore-shewed by the Apostle St. That it was foretold us, se­ducers & false prophets should come into the Church. Acts 20.29, & 30. 1 Pet. 2.1. Paul, that after his de­parture Seducers, Corrupters of Gods Word, and false Prophets should creep into the Church, and introduce many damnable Doctrines amongst Gods people, to poyson the Souls of the Flock of Christ: And St. Peter likewise foretels us, that there should come False Teachers into the Church, who should privily bring in damnable Heresies: And so we find that not only Ebion and Cerinthus, two Here­tical Jews, and after them, Arius, Pelagius, Manichaeus, Nestorius, Entyches, and the like, brought in most wicked Errours, and Heresies, that did most palpably and grossely infest and trouble the Church of God, and therefore were the sooner perceived, and the easier prevented and confuted by the Grave and Godly Fathers; but also the Church of Rome, the Popes and their Parasites, have privily, that is, insensibly and unperceived by the very Doctors of the Church, brought in many strange Doctrines, and thereby corrupted in many things the true Faith of Christ, and defiled the Church of God with many most Pernicious Errours, as specially, in forbidding the Priests to marry, commanding us to abstain from Meats, besides many other Superstitions and Points of less moment, and most of all, in that strange Metaphysical and incredible Doctrine of Transubstantiation, and the consequents of that Doctrine, in the Idola­trous adoration of the consecrated Host, and other very frivolous Superstitions, which have brought much Misery, and have been most Pernicious unto the Church of Christ. That a refor­mation of the abuses in Gods service was foreshewed.

And after that the Field of Gods Church should be thus overgrown with Tares, and with Thornes and Thistles, the same Apostle sheweth, that God would look upon his Church, and there should come a Reformation, and he would raise Reform­ers, [Page 17]to root out those erroneous weeds and Bastard Plants, and to prescribe a form of Godliness, or a set form of Gods Worship, whereby the Church of Christ and Servants of God should be guided and directed how to serve God aright in the true Faith of Je­sus Christ: And these Reformers of the foresaid Errours, and Prescribers of that set form of Gods Service, and Teachers of the People, to worship God according to that form of wholesom Doctrine, are stiled by St. Paul, as they were indeed, good men, and the good Ministers of Jesus Christ, 1 Tim. 4.6. 1 Tim. 4.6. Hypocritical proud Saints the worst of all sinners.

And because the Devil can never rest quiet, but when we strive to be best, then will he labour and strive to make us worst of all, and to become proud Saints, that are more odious in the sight of God, than the greatest sinners, when they be humbled for their sins, as our Saviour testifieth, the same quick-sighted Argos being illuminated by the Divine light of Gods Holy Spirit, saith, there should spring up a company of Hypocritical Professors, that would be proud and boasting of their knowledge, though it were never so erroneous, and proud of their Godliness, though they were never so great worldlings and Hypocritical Dissemblers: And these E. H. rightly termeth, the black guard of the Antichrist; and he counteth eighteen Troops, or as I think, he might have rather said eighteen Legions of them.

1. Self-Lovers, which is the Root of all Mischief. That abun­dance of hypo­critical profes­sors, no lesse then 18 troops or legions, should under the pretence of Religion, corrupt Gods service, and de­stroy his ser­vants. 2 Tim. 3.2, 3, 4 E. H. de Anti­christo. p. 145.

2. Covetous men, that long for the Lands and Livings both of King and Priest.

3. Boasters, of what great things they would do.

4. Proud men, of their strength, of their Knowledge, and of their Goodness and Holiness.

5. Blasphemers, of God, of the King, and of the Saints of God.

6. Disobedient to Parents, especially to their Spiritual Parents, the Bishops and the Church.

7. Unthankful men, to those that have best deserved and done them most good.

8. Unholy men, without any spark of true Holiness or Religion in them.

9. Without natural Affection, to their Kins-folk and those of their own flesh and blood.

10. Truce Breakers, without any regard of their Oaths, Promises or Articles of Agreement.

11. False Accusers, and Make-bates, by charging men with those things that they never knew.

12. Incontinent, and given over to all uncleanness and all fleshly lusts.

13. Fierce, and cruel men, thirsting after the Lives and blood of those whom they hate, and nothing satisfying them but their death.

14. Despisers, and so haters of those that are good.

15. Traytors, that is, Betrayers of their King, of their Governours, and of their Friends.

16. Heady, that is, obstinate and wilful men, that will have nothing done nor said, but what they themselves think good.

17. High-minded men, and such as from a low estate and mean extract, aimed at great matters, and aspired to high places, to be Knights, Lords, and Princes.

18. Lovers of Pleasures more than Lovers of God, whatsoever Pretence they made, of their love to God, yet indeed their own Pleasure was and is their god, and their main end is for their own good.

And all these eighteen Troops, which the Apostle cloatheth in the same Livery, that is, a pretended form or shew of Godliness, and a Directory to seem more zealous in Religion, and to bear a greater love and care of Gods Honour, than all others; but should, notwithstanding all their Pretences, their Zeal and their Saintship, deny the Power and vertue of the right and true Form of Godliness, 2 Tim. 3.5. and thereby, 2 Tim. 3.5. saith the Apostle, they shall turn the Grace of God into wantonness, that is, turne the true Service of God into vain jangling, and a foolish senceless prating; and so proba­bly prove themselves to be just like Jannes and Jambres, that resisted Moses, who was their chief Governour, and King in Jeshuron; and like Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, that, as the Prophet saith, angred Moses in their Tents, and Aaron the Saint of the Lord; Psal. 106.16. [Page 18]and so despised, rebelled, and would have destroyed both the Civil Magistrate, and the Ecclesiastical Governours of Gods Church, which Offices themselves desired and aimed at, and would have obtained, if God by his fearful Judgment had not prevent­ed them.

And according to these Prophesies and Predictions, That all the aforesaid things came to pass according as they were foreshewed. and the like;

1. Of Deceivers and Corrupters of Gods Truth.

2. Of a Faithful Reformation of all in-crept Errours and Abuses. And

3. Of a Faithless Apostasie and Rebellion against the Reformers of the same, and the Defenders of Gods Service, by a company of Hypocritical Zealots, we find by the successes, saith one, and I think very right, that all these things happened just as they were fore-shewed by the Apostle, as in other places, so likewise in this our Church of Ingland: For after that the Pope and the Church of Rome had fallen away from some Points of the true Faith, Arise Evans in his voice from Heaven, p. 18, & 19. and had privily, as I shewed before, brought in divers Errours, Abuses and Superstitions, which defiled the Purity, and blemished the Beauty of our Church, as of many other particular Churches besides, Martyn Luther steps up, and falls out with the Pope, for and about the Sale of his Indulgences, by his Factor Tercelius, whom the Pope then employed for that business; and then he bitterly inveigheth against his Holiness for this, and the other Corruptions of the German Church, that were no less, as they said, than centum gravamina, a hundred grievances, Fasciculus re­rum extenda­rum. King Hen. the 8. writes a­gainst Luther. which were presented to Pope Adrian the 6th. with an earnest desire of a speedy redress, as you may find it in fasciculo rerum expetendarum: Hereupon King Henry the 8. it may be in Requital of the Popes favour, that granted him a dispensation to marry his Brothers Wife, writes a Book against Luther, and therein blames him very much for apostatizing and starting aside from his Mother, the Church of Rome, and contrary to his Faith, and Oath, and all good manners, so eagerly to oppose, and so bitterly to rail against his holy Father the Pope; and so to the uttermost of his Learning, that was both an understanding, wise and Learned King, he defends the Faith together with the Corruptions of the Roman Church; or rather maintaines the Errours and Superstitions of that Church, together with so much of the true Faith, as the Pope and the Church of Rome did then profess; King Hen. 8. his double re­compence for his book a­gainst Luther. 1. Recompence and for this Royal Engagement of the King against Luther, the King receives a double Recompense.

1. The one from Luther, his great Antagonist.

2. The other from the Pope, his dear Client. For

1. Luther in the heat of his Fury, and the heighth of his German spirit, railes as much against the King, (and calls him, as I read it in his own Book, and not out of any other Transcriber, asinissimus Rex, an unseemly term, as I conceive, for a poor Monk to give to so great a King, and as I said, none of the meanest Clerks,) as he had for­merly done against the Pope; which bitter Invectives against a Father in the Church, and the Patriarch of all the Western Churches, Tilenus exeges. pag. 29. Aphor. 104. & p. 20. as the Primitive Counsels term him, & qui in ordine primus fuit inter Patriarchas, & primum ordine in Apostolorum collegio eum esse, non inviti concedimus, saith Tilenus, and such uncivil behaviour towards Kings, Luther blamed for his too much bitter­nesse and un­seemly terms. Matth. 11.29. that are the Lords Anointed, be they what they will, when I read, not upon the credit of others, but in his own Tractates, as I thought very well of many things, that he wrote, so I should have thought much better of all the rest, but that I con­ceived so much bitterness, mingled with such a measure of Gall and Vinegar, as drop­ped from his Pen, not against the sins, but against the Persons of men, could not be distilled from the spirit of God, which is a Spirit of Meekness and Lowliness, as our Sa­viour testifieth; But

2. 2. Recompence. The Pope, for this Scholastick Defence of the Faith of the Roman Church, by the King, (which the Pope himself should have done by his Pen, and desired the King to have assisted him by his Sword,) gives to him, and to his Successors, the Kings of Ingland, the just, good and honourable Title of Defender of the Faith; that is, the True and Christian Faith, or the Faith of Gods Elect, which was pretended to be then in Rome, and is now defended by the King.

And though King Henry obtained this Eulogy, this Title and this Authority upon a wrong ground, because he defended a wrong Faith; yet as Jacob got the blessing, [Page 19]upon an untrue suggestion, that he was his father Isaac's eldest son, even his first-born Esau; but being once gotten, he still retained it: So did the King, Genes. 27.19. when he fell out with the Pope, and fell from the Pope about his divorce from Queen Katherine, which the Pope, upon good grounds would not admit, still retain that Title, How the Faith was defended in Ingland. and especially the truth and substance of that Title, and maintained the same, as a King, with his sword, which he had gained, as a Priest, with his pen; and so did his son, and his Successor after him, Edward the 6th continue a royal defender of the true faith; and when Queen Mary would have remitted the Title, and permitted the faith to be undefended, and the truth to be corrupted in this Kingdome, the witnesses of Christ his Gospel, the holy Martyrs of our Church, (Cranmer, Latymer, Ridley, 3 reverend Bishops, and the rest of those holy Champions) stood up, and defended the same unto death, with the sheding of their blood, and the loss of their dearest lives.

And after Queen Maries time, Q. Elizabeth, like another Deborah, with the advice and assistance of all the godly Bishops, and the best of all the Divines in her Kingdom, concluded and set forth the Articles of our Church, and that perfect form of Godliness, the Liturgy, and book of common prayer, and service of God, which they composed with a free liberty from her majesty at home, and without any fear either of Pope, or any other forraign Authority abroad; And this faith concluded and expressed in our 39 Articles, to which all Ministers subscribed, and this uniformity of Gods worship thus purged from all abuses, errors, and Superstitions, and so perfectly composed by all those holy men, for the honor and service of God, was fully authorized by the Queen, and all the Parliaments, that were convened, and held in her time, to be observed, without any omission or alteration, in all Churches; as you may see by the Act prefixed before the Book of common Prayer: And afterwards it was continued and preserved by that wise and learned King, K. James; and above all, and more strictly than all, by that ever blessed King, and glorious Martyr of Jesus Christ, Charles the 1. that defended the true faith, and this true form of serving God, against all opposers, both the superstitious Papists, and the apostate Puritanes and Separatists, even to the loss of his life;

And I presume, all good Protestants will yield unto me, and I am perswaded, That the Church of Ingland in King Charles his raign was the purest Church on earth. that the Pope and his Cardinalls, if they would speak according to their consciences, could not deny, but that the Church of Ingland, as it was purged from Idolatry, and Superstition, and established in such purity of Doctrine, and excellency of Discipline, in the raign of King Edward the 6th, and especially in Queen Elisabeths time, and so continued in the raign of King James, and King Charles, was the truest and the purest Church (unless they did except their own Church) that way-fared, and was militant here on earth, where the faith of Gods elect might infallibly be found, the service of God was rightly observed, and was the [...], the Temple, the House, and the Church, which he hath purchased, and wherein he dwelleth. And

So E. H. truly confesseth, that amongst all the reformed Churches, E. H. in his Preface to the Reader. the Church of Ingland hath alwayes been esteemed the purest, as being most conformable to primitive purity, and the word of God, both in Doctrine and Discipline. B. Montague in apello Caesarem c. 5. p. 47, 48. And this appears even from the pens of the heads of other reformed Churches; as Bucer Melancthon, Calvin, Camerarius, Beza, Zanchius, Molinaeus, Casaubon, Sergevil, Saravia, and others, who, many of them confess in plain words, and all by consequence conclude, that the Church of Ingland, of any particular national Church in the world, cometh nearest to the apostolick rule; for though all the Churches, that protested against the superstitious tenents, and errors of the councill of Trent, and the Church of Rome, have borne the name of reformed Churches; yet neither all, nor any of them all are indeed well and perfectly reformed; when as many of them are corrupt in many points of Doctrine, as I could shew you amongst the Calvinists, and especially the Lutheran Churches, that maintain that foul error of the ubiquity of the humanity of Christ, their consubstantiation of his body in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, and their many mistakes about the communication of the Properties of both his natures, as Danaeus sheweth most excellently against Chemnitius; and most [Page 20]of them are deficient in the rule of primitive Government; not any one of them indeed, following the Apostles Discipline.

And the reason of their deficiency is, The reason of the deficiency of the Reformation of the other reformed Churches. because that in the French and German Churches, and the Churches beyond the Seas, the Reformers of them, by reason of the innumerable number of their potent enemies, and the civil broyles and diffentions, that were then in those parts, and especially the want of a King in Israel, that is, a supream Monarch, in some of those places, over the people, which made way for every one of the vulgar sort, to do, as we read in the Book of Judges, what seemed right in his own eyes, Judges 21.25. were constrained to do, what they might, and not what they would have done; what could be effected, and not what they desired to be performed.

But the Church of Ingland, not by popular, or any one particular mans reformation, as John Knox, that furious puritane, did in the Church of Scotland, but by a national Synod of all the Bishops and best Divines, called by the King, and confirmed by the King, Peers, and Commons of the whole Kingdome, reformed her self; not as other Churches did, tumultuarily, but with a great deal of advice, diligence and deliberation, that so it might be effected, as the Apostles left it, as the sacred rule required, and as it was premonstrated it should be performed, and weeded from all the dross, the tares, and the darnells, that should spring to choak the pure wheat.

And therefore, seeing the Church of Ingland, until these late times, was the truest, and the purest reformed Church on earth, it is conceived, and I do believe it, that the [...], the great Antichrist should arise, not out of Rome, that hath corrupted many truths, and superadded many errors and Superstitions upon the fundamentalls of our Religion, and is as yet unreformed; nor out of Constantinople, which hath likewise apostatized from the true faith of Christ, and doth still continue unreturned to Christ, from their false Prophet; nor out of Hierusalem, as some men do most fondly dream; but out of this Church, this very Church of great Brittain.

For as heretofore, Speed, l. 6. cap. 45. Camden britan. pag. 74. Euseb. in vita Constant. Zechar. 10.11. this Iland of great Brittain brought forth Constantine, the son of Helen, the daughter of King Coylus, which was the best instrument that ever the Church of Christ had, to further, and to honor the Christian Religion, as Eusebius sheweth the same at large. And as according to the Septuagint, the Prophet saith, [...], he hath passed through the narrow sea with affliction; and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the scepter of Aegypt shall depart away; which may signifie, that Christ hath first of all purged this Church, that lyeth within the narrow seas, and hath made the purest Reformation here, that was made in any place, by the afflictions and sufferings of the aforenamed Martyrs in Queen Maries dayes, and hath thereby brought down the pride of the Pope, and of the Roman Church, that were then as powerfull as the Assyrians were when the Prophet wrote the same, and hath driven away his usurpation, and freed us from his tyranny, as the Israelies were delivered from the bondage of the Aegyptians; so the devil, bearing an inveterate hate and infinite malice against this Iland, more than against any other place, The 2. special Reasons why the devil beareth a greater malice to this Iland, more than to any other place. for these two grand services, that it did to God, 1. The toleration of the Christians, to profess their faith in peace, and the Plantation of the Church of Christ, to encrease and multiply by the means of Constantine; And 2. The Reformation of this Church, better then any other Church, by the means of those holy Martyrs, and godly Bishops that did the same, he was fully resolved to be revenged upon this Church of Great Brittain:

Therefore, as not long after Constantines times, he stirred up the Picts, the Scots, the Danes, and the Saxons, to punish, plague, and tyrannize over the poor Brittains, as it appeareth by the lamentable address that they made unto the Romans, for their aid, and help against their enemies, for the first good service they had done to the honor of God; How the devil revengeth the good service that this Iland did to Christ. so immediately, after that those godly Reformers of this Church had rooted out those evil weeds of Errors and Superstition, that the Devil had planted therein, he stirred up Penry, Martin Marprelate, Cartwright, Broughton, and divers others, (that in Q. Maryes dayes fled beyond seas, to save their lives, and there suckt that transmarine poyson, that infected both their own and many other mens soules,) to make invectives [Page 21]against our Church, far worse, and more bitter, than all the Actions that Cicero did against Verres, or his Philippicks against M. Antonius, to revenge the second good service that this Iland had done to Christ.

And these that were reasonable good Schollars, but fiery, mad and furious men, did, through their violent proceedings, get so many Proselites, and Disciples after them, that, as S. Bernard saith of the former Hereticks, in a very short space, numeri eorum multiplicati sunt super numerum, they increased like the rats of Egypt, that do super-faetare, beget young ones before they be delivered of their old brood; And this grand host of his Instruments the Devil perswaded, and egged them forward to prosecure their enterprise, and never to give over and desist, untill they should effect these 3 things. The three especial things that the devil perswaded his instruments to effect.

1. Unking the Kingdome, and make it like the Israelites after the time of the Judges, that every man might do what seemed right in his own eyes.

2. Unbishop the flock of Christ, that the foxes, wolves, and other savage beasts, the Hereticks and Scismaticks, might destroy them, at their pleasure; and so

3. To unchurch this formerly pure and famous Church of great Brittain, and to cause it totally to apostatize from the true faith of Gods elect, to be divorced from Christ, and to be no wayes answerable to the usual and right definition of a true visible Church, to which the infidels and unbelievers, being converted, might be incorporated;

And then, after that they had more than desperately opposed their King, and risen up against the pious Defender of the true faith, he perswaded them, that if he would not consent, to defile that faith, to abolish the right form of Gods worship, to corrupt the Christian Religion, and to destroy the witnesses of Christ, the governors and upholders of Gods truth, in this so well reformed Church, with fire and sword to war against him, and never leave, untill they should bring him to a bitter death, and a glorious martyrdome; and after that they had like Jannes and Jambres withstood their Governors, and cashiered their Bishops, and supprest the Articles and Liturgy of the Church, he perswaded them to fill the same Church with damnable Heresies, not privily, as the Apostle saith the former Hereticks would do, but most openly, How Satan perswaded his instruments to fill the Church with all impiety and villany. in the sight of the sun; and at last, as our Saviour saith out of Daniel, to bring the abomination of desolation, that is, such abominable blasphemies, heresies, errors, and absurd opinions among the people, and such wicked deeds, of perjury, oppression, pride, lasciviousness, and the like corruptions of Gods true service, that do more highly provoke the wrath of God, than all the sinnes of ignorance, negligence, or infirmity, and cause him to bring utter ruine and desolation upon any Kingdome, to stand in the holy place; that is, in the Churches, Chappels, and all other consecrated, and holy places, that were dedicated for the true service of God, and for the people of God, that did formerly truly and holily serve the Lord in those places; And this the Devil did to this end, videlicet, That so, the Kingdome being without a King, the flock of Christ without Pastors, and the Church of Christ without her Discipline, and true Doctrine, he might raise that cruel beast, which S. John saw rising out of the sea, from these narrow seas, and bring up the great Antichrist out of this pure Church of great Brittain, to root out the true service of God, to be the plague of his servants, and the death of his saints, and to be fully revenged on this Iland, for the twofold displeasure it had done to him before.

Now, whether Satan hath, by his Instruments, done all this or not, I leave it to the wise and judicial impartial Reader, to determine it; only I finde, that Mr. Alexander Rose, in his animadversions against M^r Hobbs his Leviathan. p 18 Alexander Ross saith, the Instruments of Satan brought such abominable blasphemies, heresies, errors and absurd opinions among the people, more in these few years, than were all the time hitherto, since christianity was imbraced; which is a shreud suspicion, if not an infallible proof, that the great Antichrist is come amongst us.

CHAP. III. That the Antichrist is no single Person, but a Collected Multitude of men; Who those men might be; Of the Grand Apostasie, whereof the Apostle speaketh, that made way, and opened the Door wide, for the Antichrist to enter in; That it is neither the Apostacy of the Prime Hereticks, nor of the East Churches, nor of the Roman Church; but of some purely Reform­ed Particular Church, supposed to be, and demanded if it be not the Church of Great Brittain.

BUT here it is a great Question among the Learned, Whether the Antichrist be one sing le Person, or else a multitude of men, either succeeding one another, or coll [...]cted toge­ther. whether this Great Anti­christ be one single and singular Person; or a certain Polity, Kingdom, or Mul­titude of men? Hyperius saith, Est multitudo aliqua, & diversi sibi invicem succedentes, qui unum quodammodo Antichristi vastum corpus efficiunt; It is a multitude of men, succeeding one another, which after a sort do all make up the vast Body of the Antichrist; and so saith Tilenus, and all those that would have the Pope to be the Antichrist: Brightman saith, the Antichrist must be understood to be a wicked Kingdom, Rule or Dominion, which he affirmeth to be, not the Kingdom of Ingland, which in his time indeed could not be; but the Papacy, the Roman Hierarchy, and the Rule and Dominion of the Pope, Tilenus exeg. de Antichristo, p. 9. Achor is, 66. in Italy, France, Spain, or wheresoever his Ju­risdiction reacheth; and Mr. Mede, Mr. Potter, and others are of the same judg­ment, and do take the Antichrist to signifie the Papal State and Kingdom; and so Bishop Downam, Thomson, Shelden, and many more, do say, he can be no single and one singular Person, but a multitude of men, which many of the best Authors do con­ceive, to be made up of single Persons succeeding one another, as Hyperius saith; and they can be none other, as they suppose, than Series Paparum, the whole Classie of the Popes.

On the other side, E. H. de Anti­christo, p. 82. E. H. doth constantly and confidently affirm, that not only the restrictive Article [...] prefixed to each one of his Names and Titles, as [...], and the like, but also the things attributed to him, and like­wise the time of his continuance, and many other particular Circumstances and rea­sons do evince, Bellarm. de Romano Ponti­fice, l. 3. c. 2. Montagu appel­lo Caesarem, P. 148. that the Great Antichrist can be but one single, singular and individu­al Person; and so Cardinal Bellarm. though he confesseth, that somtimes this name of Antichrist is taken communiter, for any wicked Opposer of Christ and his Kingdom, as Bishop Montagu likewise saith, and as it is most true; yet he averreth, that where the Apostle prefixeth the Article, [...], it signifieth none, or no more than one only single and singular Person; because as Epiphanius saith, Articuli Graeci contr ahunt sig­nificationem ad unam rem certam, the Greek Articles do contract and tie the significa­tion to one certain thing, Epiphan. Hae­resi, 9. quae est Samaritano­rum. John 5.43. as [...] signifieth any man in common, but [...] noteth this or that singular man.

And the Cardinal would needs prove him to be, but a singular and single Person; because our Saviour saith, I came in my Fathers name, and you receive me not, [...], but if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive; but indeed here is a Fallacy, saith Thomson, [...]; for though [...] be the Singular number, yet the Grammarians tell us, that [...], the word [...], which signifieth another, as well as [...], noteth the second of any two, but [...] intimateth any one of many; and so our Saviour meaneth not here to single out any one only opponent to him; Acts 5.35 36. Eusch. l. 4. c 6. D^r Abbats de Antichristo. but he speaketh of any one indefinitely, whether Theudas, or Judas of Galilee, whom Gamaliel mentioneth, or Barchochebas, of whom Euseb. speaketh, or any other false Impostor whatsoever.

And therefore it is well observed by Dr. Abbats, that what our Saviour speaketh [Page 23]here, in the singular number, indefinitely, of any one, he delivereth the same thing expresly in the Plural number, when he saith, Many shall come in my Name, Matth. 24.5.saying I am Christ, and shall deceive many, though our Saviour doth not in this Chapter, speak of the Great Antichrist, but of those false Prophets that should come and de­ceive the Jews; and so likewise [...] doth not determinate any one single Person, nor mean here the Great Antichrist, but indefinitely signifieth, that the Jews, which refused to receive Christ, would receive, as they did, any other false Christ, that came in his own Name; which is the very Exposition of Maldonat: Maldonat. in Johan. c. 5.43. and yet the truth is, that as Ecclesia Credentium, corpus cum Capite, the whole Church of the Faithful, the Body with the Head, is said to be, and is but one Christ; as where our Saviour saith, no man ascendeth up to Heaven, [...], but he that came down from Heaven, the Son of man, which is in Heaven; John 3.13. where I hope the Article [...], twice prefixed, doth not so sinifie the Person of Christ, as to exclude the rest of his Faithful Servants, his Members from ascending thither; but this [...], Son of man signifieth Christ mystically understood, that is, That Christ the head, and the Church his members are termed Christ. whole Christ, the Head and all his Members; and so taken, none ascendeth, but he that descend­ed; though as St. Bernard saith, aliter ascendit quam descendit, he ascendeth otherwise than he desended; for he descended naked, only in his Divinity, but he ascendeth cloathed with our Humanity; and he descended only as the Head of his Church, but he ascendeth with all his Members and his whole Body, that is, his Church, which together with the Head, do make but one Son of man, and one Christ; for so Christ saith unto Saul, Why persecutest thou me? because, in good propriety of speech, Acts 9 4. that may often be well spoken of the whole, and so understood, which is truly proper to any one part, as, I am ill, when my Head only aketh, or they have put me into the stocks, when my feet alone were set therein: And so in Gal. 3.16. Gal. 3.16. By Christ is understood, the whole Church of Christ, united unto Christ, as to her Head: And so likewise, when the Dragon is said to stand before the Woman, that when she was delivered, he might devour her Child; the Child, saith Junius, Junius in An­not. in Apoc. 12. signifieth Chri­stum, quem vocant mysticum, id est, totum, ex Persona Christi, velut capite, & ex cor­pore cum capite, per spiritum adunato, constantem; that is whole Christ, which they call mystical Christ, consisting of the Person of Christ, as the Head, and of the Body, as is the Church, united unto the Head, by the spirit; and so (saith he) the appellati­on of Christ is taken, in 1 Cor. 12.12. Where the Apostle saith, as the Body is one, 1 Cor. 12.12. and hath many Members, and all the Members of that one Body, being many, are but one Body, so also is Christ.

And I say, That the great Antichrist is a collected mul­titude of most wicked men, and an Arma­geddon; which being com­pounded of cherem and gedud, fignifi­eth exercitus maledictus, an accursed Army. that as thus Christ our Saviour and the whole Company of the Godly and Faithful Christians, are termed Christ; so likewise Ecclesia Malignantium, the Congrega­tion of the wicked, and (as Primasius calls them) the whole Body of the Devil, which are all the Company of wicked Reprobates and ungodly men, are in the singular number, somtimes termed the City of Babylon, somtimes the Beast, somtimes the great whore and Jezabel, the painted Harlot, as if they were all but one woman, and one spouse of their Head and Husband, the Devil; somtimes the Synagogue of Satan, where they meet and combine themselves to serve and to worship him; and somtimes the Antichrist, that is, the adversary and opposer of Christ, and the man of sin, as if they all were but one man; because they all do either reject or neglect Christ, and refu­sing to believe his Words and to obey his Voice, by submitting themselves to his Or­dinances, they do all of them, as one Army, and one grand enemy fight against him, and his Servants under the Banner of his Capital enemy, the Devil.

And as this coetus impiorum, the whole Multitude of these wicked Reprobares, is, by venerable Beda, termed the Beast, and the Antichrist; and the whole Assembly of the Lying Prophets, and all the rest of the fawning, flattering and dissembling Preachers of the Beast, are in the singular number, and with the Restrictive Article, Junius in An­notat. in Apoc. cap. 13.11. [...], termed and said to be, [...], the false Prophet, as Junius testifieth; so specially the pessima pars hujus coetus, the worst pack, the vilest confederates, Senatus consultus, the great Synedrion, the supream Council and the highest Court, of great­est Authority in the Kingdom, and the Synagogue of Satan, which is the Representative [Page 24]and Synechdochically the Mystical Body of the present dispersed multitude, and the main summe of the Antichristian company, is, and may more rightly be termed the Beast, and the Antichrist, or the man of sin and Child of Perdition, as if they were all but one man.

And the reason, The reason why a multi­tude of men is termed one man. Acts 4.32. Revel. 17.13. why the whole conglutinate Pack, and united Senate of wicked men, are spoken of, in the singular number, quasi unus homo, as if they were all but one man, is, because they all have but one Head, that is, the Devil; and as all the Believers are said to have but one heart, and one Soul, that is, to serve Christ; so the holy Ghost saith, these wicked Senators and Members of the Beast, have but one mind, that is, one will, one course, one end, and one main scope and desire, to de­stroy the Truth, to overthrow the Church of Christ, to wear out his Servants, and to root out the right Service of God, and all Piety from off the earth.

And as for their unanimous proceedings against Christ and his Church, That the worst pack of all the present wicked reprobates, when it com­eth, is termed the Antichrist. 1 Sam. 10.23. they are spoken of, as if they were but one man; so for their transcendent Impiety, their egregious [...] wickedness, their unparalleld plots, and exceeding all former Presidents in their abominations, they are most especially and properly stiled the Beast that ascendeth out of the Bottomless Pit, the man of sin, and the Antichrist, that is, the great Adversary of Jesus Christ; because that, as Saul was higher by the head and shoulders, than all the rest of the People, so the wicked company of this collected and united Troop of the Servants of Satan, is, quasi unus è decem millibus, such a tran­scendently abominable Senate, as that you cannot find the like and such another among ten Thousands; when as all the Precedent Hereticks, all former Tyrants, and all the subtil, cruel and bloody Persecutors of all ages, were but Fooles and Dwarfes or Pig­mies, in respect of this crafty Fox and great Golias, that doth so Giant-like defie the whole Army of Christ, and so Nimrod-like tyrannise, and so Julian-like persecute all the Faithful Worshippers of God.

And thus the Geneva notes, The Geneva Annotat. on 2 Thess. 2. do understand the man of sin, to signifie, the Body of the Tyrants and persecuting Church; and the Parliaments Ministers in their Answer to his Majesties first Paper, P. 180. in the Isle of Wight, do confess, that a number of Persons are, in the Mysterious and Prophetick Writings, exprest in Singulars, as the Letters or Epistles that are directed to Collective or Representative Bodies, use to be written and directed to one, when as they are intended and are meant to all the whole Body in the Meeting assembled; and in Pag. 235, they say, that many Mi­nisters, making up one Presbytery, is represented by one Angel, as I say hereafter, they are, August. de civ. Dei. l. 20. c. 19. by that one Beast, in Rev. 13.11. And St. Aug. speaking of the Anti­christ, sitting in the Temple of God, saith, Nonnulli, non ipsum Principem, sed uni­versum quodammodo corpus ejus, id est, ad eum pertinentem hominum multitudinem, simul cum ipso suo Principe, hoc loco, intelligi Antichristum volunt; Some will have in this place, understood by the Antichrist, not the Prince himself, but his whole Body in a certain manner, M^r Mede in clavi Apoc. pag 65. D^r Hammond in 2 Thess. 2. Magdeburg. cent. 1. l. 2 c. 4. coll. 435. Calvin. in 1 John c. 2. that is, the multitude of men, that belong unto him, together with their Prince and prime Leader himself: And Mr. Mede saith, the Beast, in REv. 13.1. doth signifie a Company of men, composed of a certain order of Members, like as a Beast, and not one man alone: And Dr. Hammond conceives the man of sin, which we conceive to be the Antichrist, to signifie not any one singular Person, but the Grand Captain of all Impostors, together with all the whole Sect of Gnosticks and Idolaters, that follow him: And the Magdiburgenses, and Calvin, and Beza, and most of our Protestant Divines, do understand the Beast and the Antichrist to signifie more than one particular man.

Yet I cannot yield, that the Antichrist, should signifie, as they conceive, a mul­titude of Particular and singular men, succeeding one another in the same Throne of Impiety, as many Kings do succeed one another in one and the self same Kingdom; because herein I see as many Improbabilities and Disagreements with the Scriptures, to take the Antichrist for the Series and Succession either of Popes or of any other the like Person, Turk or Tyrant, as I see Incongruities and Errours in taking him for one single and singular Person; when as the Succession of any such Person, that is, of any one single Person succeeding the like wicked Impe, that preceded him, cannot be [Page 25] correspondent to all those particular places of Scriptures, that are properly to be applyed to the Antichrist; nor any one of all the series, i.e. not any one of all that succeeded one another, did or could act all those transcendent enormities, that are singularly to be effected, that is, to be done by the singular person of the Antichrist, or with respect to an unity of the agent, at the very time of their acting, and within the compass of the time allotted, and prescribed to the Antichrist for the doing thereof; is to instance a few things out of many, to make war with the witnesses, & to kill them, which no one Pope or Turk ever did, and to make war with the saints, & to overcome them, which one single person, be he what and whom you will, of all the series & classy either of Pepes or Turks, could never do.

And therefore questionless, these men must yeild, that the Antichrist signifieth not any one single person in the series, and succession of Popes, but the Prince or prime leader with his followers, and so it must signifie a multitude together, Who are to be understood by the Antichrist. and not any one singly and alone; And so it comes to what I say, that the beast, and the Anitchrist doth betoken a collected multitude of wicked men, army or Senate, whereof one may be the ringleader; and this multitude, knit and combined together is, and will be the worst pack, and the most wicked, totius coetus diaboli, of all the servants and souldiers of the devil; and they are like the choicest Legion or regiment of Caesars veteran souldiers unto the dragon, his life-guard, and a confederacy of the prophanest hypocrites, and corruptest wicked men, that ever assembled, and continued to consult, and act together, since their elder brother, the Synedrion and council of the Jews, condemned Christ himself; John 5.43. such another pack or company of men as killed Christ, I take the Antichrist to be; for they were [...], one and the first great adversarie of Christ, and this confederate pack is the [...], the other, which Bellarmin speaketh of.

And the restrictive Article, [...], to each one of his names, as [...], and the like, doth not so infallibly evince, that he must be one single person, (which, as I shewed you, could not effect and do all that the Antichrist doth) as E. H. thinketh, Epiphan. quo supra haer [...]s. 9. and the cardinal endeavoureth to prove, as it doth most certainly contract the signification, as Epiphanius saith, huic coetui, huic senatui, vel huic Ecclesiae malignentium, to this singular pack, this very Senate, this peculiar and particular company and association of wicked men, that do consist of many single persons, whereof, as in all other confederation, one may be the prime and principal leader in all exploits. Eudaem. p. 151.

For it is observable, that, as Eudaemon truly admitteth, the article [...] doth give a double limitation, the one to designe the nature only, the other to limit the universal nature, to this or that particular of that nature, yet so as it may agree to any other of the same kinde; and thus the Greek article [...] or [...] or [...] designeth and compriseth, not only the head, but also every particular member of the beast; and so, they do indeed tie the signification, ad unam rem certam, to some one certain thing, as I say, that [...] and [...] signifieth here, this one pack, knot, company and society of men, and every particular member, head and tail, of that association, and none other.

And it is more agreable to all reason, that [...] the Antichrist, That united malice and a confederate power do alwaies the greatest mischief, should rather designe this very society and collected pick and multitude of men, than this or that single man; because we all know, by experience daily seen, that united malice, and confederate powe [...], do alwayes the strangest villanies; and we finde it in the devil himself, that although he be the Prince of darkness, and hath alone a very great and powerfull malice, yet even he, without fellowes, raging about, cannot do nigh so much mischief, as he doth in conjunction with more associates; and therefore, when he hath any great and notable villany to effect, as to subvert kingdomes, to ruine Churches, to suppress Gods true service, and to destroy the prime and chiefest servants of Christ, [...]e associates himself with many hands and heads, and saith unto them, venite, come my dear friends, and le [...]us joyn our wits and powers together to do such and such acts, as will well produce so much pleasure and profit both unto me and you, and I shall reward you very liberally besides.

And we finde it also, that, in such an association of wicked instruments, and the combination both of infernal and terrestrial malice, where the devil is the devicerr [Page 36]and councellor, and men the actors, and the more men do unite themselves to produce the mischief, God permitteth a great deal of mischiefs and villanies, more abundantly to be done, both to the Church and state, both to private and publick persons, than he usually doth, to any single malice; as he suffereth more slaughters to be done by a multitude of blood-thirsty men, than he doth by any single, though never so bloody a tyrant; and more roberies by a company of robbers, than by any one of the greatest thieves.

And therefore we do confidently avouch, that the great Antichrist is a great company of men collected together, and combined together in association, by a solemn League and Covenant, to do such and such feats and facts, as shall prove the greatest prejudice, mischiefs and villanies to Christ and his servants, that ever were done, since the crucifying of the Son of God; That the great Antichrist is like a great oak that hath many boughs and branches. And so the great Antichrist is like a great and a might oak-tree, consisting of many many boughes and branches; of whom we may justly say, as the Poet doth of the like case,

when one branch of that tree, or one member of that corporation decayeth, another presently, as bad or worse, springeth up, and succeeds in the place thereof; and so you see who is meant by, and to be understood by the great Antichrist.

Question. But then the Question is, who should be this association, and collected multitude of such wicked men, so trascendently wicked above all others?

And I finde many men answering this Question, Who should be that collected company? as our Saviour answered the Jews, when they questioned him, and asked of him, by what authority he did those things; by demanding of them, Whether the baptism of John was from heaven or of men? so do they answer this question, by demanding the question, whether it may not be conceived, that the Assembly of Presbyterians, consulting at Westminster, together with the Independant and lay-Preachers, are not, as it were, the soul, that moveth, guideth, and directeth to all actions; and the prevalent faction of that long Parliament, that beheaded their King, and suppressed their Bishops, be not, as it were, the body and organical instrument, that produced and effected all the acts of that great Antichrist, the man of sin, and the childe of perdition, that was to come into the world? For you must observe, that as a man consisteth of body and soul, so the man of sin, the great Antichrist, must be confest to consisteth of body and soul; and as sometimes the mysticall body of Christ, that is, the church, is termed Christ, as in Act. 9.4. and sometimes the head alone is called Christ; A necessary Observation.as Christ hath also once suffered, 1 Pet. 3.18. and thus Christ is most usually taken; and sometimes the head and the body joyned together, by the Spirit, is called Christ, as Galat. 3.16. and 1 Cor. 12.12. So the Antichrist, and the beast, sometimes signifieth all the pack, knot, or company that are, as it were, the body of the beast and of the Antichrist, as 2 Thess. 2.8. sometimes it is put for the visible head, Revelat. 11.2. and Ch. 13.5. or most polypragmatical actor of that company, the General of that army, the Speaker of that Senate, and the ringleader of all that association: as in Revel. 11.7. and sometimes it signifieth both the head and the body of the beast, as Revel. 13.6, 7, 8. and so likewise the beast and the Antichrist is sometimes put to signifie only the soul, as it were, of the Antichrist; and sometimes it is put for that pack, which is, as it were, the body of the Antichrist; and sometimes it signifyeth both the body and soul of the Antichrist;

And if you would rightly understand the actions, and the things that are spoken of the Antichrist and the beast in general, you must distinguish, in particular, of the acts that are applicable and ascribed unto him, as they are in respect of these several significations, and several agents; because many things are done by the head of the army, or the ring­leader of a company, alone, and are only applicable to him alone, and to none else; other things are done by the body alone, and are applicable only to the body, though they could not be effected by the body without a head; and other things are so done, that they are applicable, and may be ascribed to be done, both by the body and the head; and as the acts and operations of the body and the soul are different and must be thus rightly distinguished, if you would understand the proper acts and operations of each of them: [Page 27]so are the acts and operations, that are ascribed to the Antichrist, different, How the actions of the Antichrist are to be considered, if we would rightly understand them. and must be rightly applyed to the proper agents, either in respect of his head or members, or in respect of his body or soul, if you would truly and rightly understand them; because that, as I said before, the man of sin consisteth both of body and soul, that is, an assembly of Divines, which are as the soul of the beast, and are called the false Prophet, and a pack, or company of most wicked laicks, that are as the body of the beast, and are most commonly termed the Antichrist; because they are the more visible, and the instrumental agents of all or most of the impieties and wickednesses that are committed;

And the not observing of these distinctions and proper application of the acts, and things done, to the right agents, when as in the general, they are produced by such mystical and compound agents, hath caused many men to erre in their Exposition [...], and to misapply the acts and doings of the Antichrist; but being thus distinguished, and all the acts and operations of the Antichrist rightly understood, and properly applyed to the right agents, head or members, body or soul, it is further demanded; The desire of satisfaction in this Question moveth the demand of the former question. Whether all the notes, arguments, acts, sayings, and testimonies of the Scriptures, which the pen-men of Gods word have set down, as the marks, badges, fignes and tokens, whereby the saints and true servants of Christ might know the Antichrist, when he came into the world, that they might avoid him, (which cannot all be found applicable and fulfilled, either in the Pope or Turk, or in the series and succession of either of them, or any single tyrant whatsoever,) are not all, and every one of them most properly, and punctually found sutable and agreeable in all things, and in every point, with the acts, sayings, doings and proceedings of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, and the swarm of Independants, and lay-preachers, and the prevalent faction of that long Parliament, that have agreed to slay the witnesses of Gods truth?

Neither do they mean in this Question, or think it requisite, that the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, and the prevalent members of that long Parliament, should do all, and fulfill every point, that is prophesied should be done, and fulfilled by the Antichrist, themselves; but that all and every thing should be acted, and fulfilled by them, and by those, that were their confederates, and assisted and adkered to them, as being the members of the beast, though not of the Assembly, nor of the Parliament; Neither do they comprehend, nor understand all the members of the Parliament, in this Question, but as I say the prevalent party only. For you must know, that it is certain, without question, that as a righteous Lot was in Sodom among those wicked Citizens, and a godly Joseph among the idolatrous Aegyptians, and many good Christians in bloody Nero's Court; That many good and godly men were in the long Parliament. so many good and godly men were members of that very Parliament, that we call the long Parliament, and did no more consent, nor like of those wicked actions, and proceedings of the rest, than Nicodemus and Gamaliel did approve of the wickedness of the high Priests, and the rest of the Council, that condemned Christ to death; therefore you must conceive, that under the name of that long Parliament, they the demand the question before specified, do understand only the prevalent faction of that Parliament, which, like a violent stream, have carried things, and either through their subtlety, or by the absence of some of the members of the House, in a thin Assembly, have out-voted the rest of the more honest and sober men in every wicked vote; and so, wheresoever I speak of that Parliament, without adding the prevalent faction, as sometimes in many writings totum denominatur à parte praestantiori, the woole takes his denomination from the better part, and sometimes à parte minus praestantiori, from the worser and viler part; so here, in this Discourse, the whole is named from the worser part, as being indeed in the absence of the resr, Who are to be understood, and whom the Author meaneth, under the name of the long Paliament. the major part; and I mean only the prevalent party, and partial faction of that Parliament, clergy and laity, and their disciples, abettors and adherents, wheresoever dispersed over all Ingland, Scotland, and Ireland; for otherwise, if you speak of the long Parliament in general, as it consisted of King, Lords, and Commons, or of the 2 Houses of Lords and Commons, as compleat, and not partially taken, or subtilly circumventing one another, I honour that Parliament, and do approve of all their acts and Ordinances, that they have so made; and therefore wheresoever I name that [Page 28]Parliament, without adding the prevalent faction, as sometimes for brevity sake I may omit, I desire my Reader to remember, that I mean only those, and that party of whom it is demanded, Whether they have not all, and every one of the notes and marks of the great Antichrift, and have done all the things, and fulfilled all the Prophesies, that should be fulfilled and done by the Antichrist.

And because the event of things are the best commentaries upon Prophesies, The Events of things are the best Comments upon Prophesies. if so it be apparent, that all the things, sayings and doings that are prophesied, and foretold should be done by the great Antichrist, are all manifestly seen to be done, and fulfilled in them, and by them, aforenamed, and by their confederates and adherents; I know not how to give satisfaction to them that demand this question: or how to deny them to be the Antichrist; and to acquit them from that suspicion.

But I will leave the answer of these demands, and resolution of those Questions to be de ermined by those unpartial Judges, that are quicker sighted than I am: and I will proceed, not to foretel any thing, but to explain unto you what the Prophets have foretold us should come to pass, and should be done in the time, and by the members of the great Antichrist; and for the application of those Prophesies, as fulfilled in these dayes, and by these men, I leave it to the better observers of the transactions of our time, whether they can rightly do so, or not.

And first, That Apostasie or rebellion is the door through which the Antichrist entereth into the Church. I finde the Apostle telling us, that the door, and breach, or gap whereby the Antichrist shall have way to enter into the Church, and sheepfold of Christ, to destroy his flock, will be apostasie, or rebellion; for when the Thessalonians had heard, that such a great egregious Antichrist should come, and thereupon did presently expect him, and then thought the day of Christ his coming to judgment should instantly follow; because they had heard, that his coming should be, towards the end of the world, and but a little before the day of Christ his coming; the holy Apostle, to rectifie their misapprehension, of what they had heard, and to explain the truth and time of both their comings, saith, the day of Christ shall not come, [...], quin venerit defectio prius, until there be first a failing, or falling away, 2 Thess. 2.3. as Beza translates it; or, nisi venerit prius rebellio, unless there comes a rebellion first, as the Syriac hath it; and, as very many of the best Interpreters say, the word [...] signifieth; because every rebellion is a falling away from what we should be.

And this rebellion is conceived by some Authors, to be that, which the people made in Rome against Nero; and by others it is thought to be that, which the Jews made against Florus, or that which the grand rebell Barchochebas made against Rufus, in the time of the Emperour Adrian, who did therefore sufficiently chastice the Jews for their apostasie and revolt; and others of no small esteem, do understand it of the ruine of the Roman Empire, and the Provinces revolt from the Roman Empire, under the Turk, and other apostate Governors of the Provinces, as Niger, Albinus, and the rest, that proved false against their Emperors; but Mr. Calvin, which is ever held the best textuary, B. Hall in his Revelation unrevealed. Ensebius, l. 4. c. 6. even since the Apostles time, as B. Hall saith, wonders that so many learned men, as understood these words of the Apostasie, or rebellion of those revolters from the Roman Empire, should so far mistake the Apostles meaning, nisi quod cum errasset unus, turmatim alii, sine judicio, sequuti sunt eum; unles sit be, that when one hath erred, others, without judgement, or any further search for the truth, have followed him; which is an usual fault, and a great fault, amongst many writers, where they see one run, they are often ready, like sheep, without reason, to follow after him.

And yet I wonder not so much herein, as Mr. Calvin doth; because the Apostle might well mean; The rebellion against the Magistrate doth ever precede a recession from the faith and Gods service. both the apostasie and rebellion from the temporal Monarchy of Rome, as the type or Prodromos, and also from the spiritual Kingdome of Christ, which is the Church, as Estius, Anselmus, and very many more of our best Protestant writers do interpret it; because commonly, they that rebel against the one, will never stick at the other, but when they kick against the Magistrate, they will presently spurn against the Priest, and God requireth obedience to be observed towards the civil Magistrate, as well as to the spiritual Minister: neither shall you ever finde, that any departed [Page 29]from his true and obliged obedience to his lawfull Governor, but he presently apostatized, and made a recession from the true service of God; as when Jeroboan [...] rebelled, and made a recession from his obedience to his King, he presently made a defection from the true God, and a discession from his worship to serve his golden calves; and when the Satrapasses, and Tetrarchs of the Provinces rebelled against the Roman Emperors, they presently fell away from the Church, and instead of Christ took Mahomet for their Prophet; and the Jews tell us plainly, we have no King, or will have no King, because we feared not the Lord, to shew unto us, Hosea 10.3. that a discession from Gods service doth ever accompany the rebellion from the civill Government, and the rebellion against our Governors is the fore-runner of our discession, from the true service of God and the faith of Christ: because that our Governors, which have the charge, to see that the true faith and right service of God be preserved, do, while they are obeyed, hinder this Apostasie and falling away from Gods service; but when they are resisted, and the bond of our obedience to them broken, there is no stop of this apostasie, but that every one may be of what faith, and do what service he pleaseth, and as he pleaseth, unto God.

And therefore, I take this apostasie and rebellion that the Apostle speaketh of here, What apostasie or rebellion is here meant by the Apostle. to be chiefly meant for a civil rebellion against the supreme Magistrate, as he is custos utriusque tabulae, the defender of the faith, and preserver of Gods publique service, and a spiritual opposition, or withstanding of our spiritual Governors, and the discipline of Christ his Church; and so a falling from the true Doctrine, and the faith of Christ, which is the end of that progression, and last step of this apostafie, that begins in our disobedience and rebellion against Moses and Aaron, and ends with our discession from God and Gods service; for thus S. Paul saith, the Spirit speaketh evidently, that in the later times, [...], 1 Tim. 4.1. some shall depart from the faith: and so, in Acts 21.21. it is said, they heard of thee, quod [...], that thou teachest a defection or discession from Moses: that is, from the lawes and Ordinances of Moses: and so Theodoret calleth this apostasie [...], a secession and departure from God, which is the last step and period of our rebellion against the King or civil Magistrate.

And this falling away from God, and from Gods service, must be of such men, as formerly have made shew to be the true subjects unto their Governors, and the Professors of the Gospel of Christ, and the obedient children of his Church; because apostasie or rebellion is a falling away off and from that, which we either were or seemed to be before: as subjects, that pretend obedience, and not strangers of another kingdome, are said to rebell against their Governors, This Apostafie is of such as have professed the Gospel. which strangers never acknowledged to be their Governors; but as Julian was termed the Apostata; because that, during all the time of his Predecessor Constantius, he professed himself a Christian, and afterwards, when he himself came to be the Emperor, he renounced the faith of Christ, fell into the Heathenish idolatry, and persecuted all the best Christians: and therefore this Apostasie cannot be ascribed to Caius Caligula, as some think; because that he, being bred up in Idolatry, cannot be said to depart from the worship of the true God, which he never professed: nor can it indeed be ascribed to any manner of men, The Turks and Papists cannot be guilty of this Apostasie. but to such as have receded and departed from that faith and service of God which they professed, or seemed to profess before; and therefore also, the Turks, that are bred in the Mahometan Religion, and the Papists that are misled up in idolatry and superstition, cannot be guilty of this apostasie, nor be said to apostatize, and to depart from the true faith and service of God; because they never had it, nor profest it; for, how can he be said to depart from the truth, that never knew nor understood the truth? or how can any man be said to depart and recede from London, that never was in London? therefore it is most certain, that this apostasie is a discession and departure from that true faith and service of God, Object. which men professed or seemed to profess before. E. H. de apostas. pag. 36. cornel. [...]lapide in loc.

And whereas E. H. and some others say, that this Apostacy whereof the Arostle speaketh here, 2 Thes. 2.3. must be understood of an universal and a general Apostasie, & universalis defectis, as Cornelius à lapide termes it, an universel falling away, that [Page 30]is, of all the particular national Churches in the world, both the Western and the Eastern Churches; because the Apostle speaks indefinitely, and limiteth not the apostasie to this or that particular Church.

Solut. I answer, with the leave of so great and so learned a Clerk as Cornel. à lapide is, that, as here the Apostle intendeth not to speak of the Antichrists in general, when as then, Eusebius l. 3. c. 7. & l. 4. c. 14. Apoc. c. 2. Clemens Alexand Stromat. lib. 3. in his time, there were many Antichrists, as St. John sheweth; such as were the Ebionites, Cerinthians, Marcionites, Nicholaitans, and the like; but he speaketh of an [...], a particular Antichrist, that should be an Antichrist [...], and a more eminent, egregious Antichrist than all other precedent or subsequent Anti­christs whatsoever, were, or should be; so he meaneth here by this Apostacy, not every petty apostacy, or single Heresie, or any small and little stubbornness of some particular Churches, that should fall away, and rebel against their Governours and Teachers, and so make a defection from some Points of the true Faith, or corrupt the Profession and Faith of Christ by their evil Manners and wicked Conversations; as in St. Pauls time, the Church of Corinth did; by denying the Resurrection, pro­phaning the Lords Supper, and suffering the incestuous Corinthian to communicate amongst them; which was no small apostasie: And in St. Johns time, the Churches of Asia did not much less than the Church of Corinth fall away from the Truth; but the Apostle would have us to understand, that the Day of the Lord shall not come, [...], until there shall come, that falling, or the falling away first; that is, such and so great, so eminent and so full a falling away, and so foul a rebellion against their Governours, and from the Faith of Christ and the true Service of God, as the like rebellion and falling away from the Truth, and specially from the right worshipping of God, was never known before in any Church, Greek or Latine, Eastern or Western Church, nor ever shall the like be seen after it, until the day of Christ his coming.

And this the Particle [...], That the Apo­stle [...]peaketh of some particu­lar eminent re­bellion and apostasie of some particular well reformed Church, and not of a gene­ral apostasie of the Catho­lick Church, against which the gates of Hell shall ne­ver prevail, Mat. 16.18. set before [...], doth sufficiently shew unto us, that as [...] doth de [...]gn and particularize some great transcendent Antichrist, so [...] doth shew a particular, and a most egregious, foul and enormous Apostasie; and so the meaning of the Apostle in few words seems to be this; that before the day of the Lord, that is the great day of Judgment, there shall arise a grand rebellion against the Governours of the people, and against the Pastors and Discipline of the Church, and a huge apostasie, defection and falling away from the true Faith of Christ, and especially from the form of wholsom Doctrine, and the right worship, and usually accustomed and received Service of God: And then, when you see such an unnatural rebellion, as the like was scarce ever known, if ever; and such a corruption of the true Doctrine of Christ, and opposition to the chief Governours of the Church, as the like was never seen in any age, nor found in any other Church, nor read in any History; the whole Church of Christ, and all the Servants of God, then in being, may know for certain, that an exceeding great Antichrist, greater than any of all the other former Antichrists, that were seen before, will arise in that Church, which formerly was the best and pu­rest Reformed Church of all other Reformed Churches, though now it doth recede and thus apostatize from the Faith of Christ, and her own former purity: And af­ter the Coming and appearance of that Great Antichrist, and the Tragical Acts that he shall do, within a while and some short space, best known to God, how long or how soon, Christ will come to Judgment, to make a final end of the Antichrist, and to deliver his Servants out of all their troubles, And this Au­thor wrote a Book entituled The Grand Rebellion. that they shall suffer by the Means and procurement of the Antichrist.

And so first the grand Rebellion will shew it self, and the great Apostasie will ap­pear; then the great Antichrist will come and settle himself in the Church of Christ, and he shall be revealed and made known, not to all men, no more than Christ was, when he came into the world, but to as many as the Spirit of God shall enlighten and open the eyes of their understanding to take notice of him, that they may avoid him, and not be seduced by him, E. H. de Anti­christo, c. 6. pag. 101. to follow his pernicious waies, as E. H. hath most truly declared: And then, as the Apostle saith, the Day of the Lord will come, and we may certainly expect it, and believe it will not be long before he cometh.

Question Now it is demanded, where, in what Kingdom, and in what Reformed Church, or in what other Church, this Grand Rebellion and huge apostacy hath happened and appeared? And it is answered,

Respons. That the apo­stacy here spo­ken of, cannot be, 1. The aposta­fie of the prime grand Here­ticks. 1. That this apostacy here spoken of, cannot be meant of the apostasie of the prime grand Hereticks: For though the Nicolaitans, the Ebionites and the Ce­rinthians, in the time of St. John, and afterwards, the Montanists, Valentinians, Arians, Nestorians, Eutychians, and the succeeding Hereticks, Manichaeans, Pelagi­ans, Donatists, and all the other Brood of the prime Hereticks, fell into many most fearful errours, and so rebelled against their Governours, and drew many Disciples after them, to make a defection from the true Faith, and have by their apostasie and subtilty corrupted whole Churches and Congregations of Christ; yet, that their back­sliding and apostasie cannot be said to be this [...], the grand Rebellion, and the special great falling away from the Faith, which the Apostle here speaketh of; be­cause their apostasie was not so general, and so extensive from the most and the chiefest points of Faith, as this is; but each Heretick and each Sect of those Hereticks, start­ed aside from some particular point of the true Catholick and Christian Faith: as Arius denied the Divinity of Christ; Nestorius made Christ to subsist of two Persons; and Eutiches on the other side to confute him, confounded the true Properties of both Natures; Manichaeus would have God to be the Author of evil, or that there be two Gods; the one good, and the author of all goodness; and the other evil, and the author of all the evil that is; Pelagius taught the too large extent of mans Free-will; All the prime grand Here­ticks far better than our pre­sent Presbyte­rians. and others with the Stoicks, ascribed all events to a fatal necessary; and so the rest of those Heresiarchs, defiled themselves, and their Churches with some particular errour, or with some very few at the most; and yet still they retained the rest and the most points of the true Faith, and especially the setled Form of Gods Service, and de­fired alwaies to be in the Commnion, and to keep the unity of the Catholick Church; and they ever observed the right Government and Discipline of the Church; (none of all the Hereticks until Aerius, nor, after he was therefore condemned for an Heretick, as Epiphan. sheweth, any other Heretick, (till this last Century, produ­ced a Brood of Aerius Proselites) were ever found to deny the Episcopal Govern­ment of the same) and they all generally retained the established Creeds and Arti­cles of wholsom Doctrine, Lyturgies, Catechismes, and the right manner of the Worship of God, with that reverence and devotion, as he ought to be worshipped, though they started aside, and apostatized from some particular points of the Founda­tion of the Catholick Faith. And

2. 2. Nor the apostasie of the Eastern Chur­ches. The like may be said of all the Asiatick and Affrican Churches that succeeded them, and were many of them corrupted by those grand Hereticks, that they profes­sed the Creeds, observed the Lyturgies, and reverenced their Governours, as the Apostle enjoyneth, and receded only like their Leaders, from some few Points of the true Faith; and therefore the grand apostacy here spoken of, cannot be fastned nor applied to any of them. And

3. As the Eastern Churches are free from this apostacy, so the Church of Rome, 3. Nor the apostasie of the Church of Rome. and all the rest of her subordinate Western Churches, though they have corrupted the Doctrine of Christ with many Errours, Ceremonie; and Superstitions, yet because they retain the main Heads, the true Scriptures, the Catholick Creeds, and the gross sum of the Christian Religion, though mingled with many erroneous accessions, and is therefore rightly compared to a field of goodly Wheat, but very full of Tares and Darnels, cannot be said to be guilty of this grand Rebellion and apostasie.

Reason 1 1. Because all their Errours and Superstititions are not so foul as those of the fore­said Hereticks, and the additions, which they agglutinate unto the Truth, as a bad super-structure upon a good Foundation, cannot be liable to this transcendent apostasie; when as all the errours of the Church of Rome, are rather Superstitions and additions of more Articles, than ever the Apostles left, or the Primitive Church professed, to the true Faith and Catholick Creeds, than a defection, or discession and departure from the Faith; and therefore that Church cannot be guilty of this apostasie and departure from the Faith, but rather of creating a new Faith, and new Articles of Faith, which God never requireth us to believe.

Reason. 1 2. Because the now Church of Rome, of France, Spain, and other Churches under the Popish Jurisdiction, did never profess all the Articles of our faith in the true and right sence, as they ought to be believed and interpreted; but they were born, nursed; and nusled in the errors and Superstitions that they are in continually; and how can they be said to recede and depart from the faith, and from the truth, that never knew them, nor profest them? and therefore seeing they never were in the true faith, they can no wayes be said to be guilty of this apostasie from the faith.

Object. But you will say, (as E. H. doth, and many others with him) that, when after Constantines time, E. H. in the Preface of his book, de Autic. the Church began to be wealthy, and as the envious said, venenum intravit in Ecclesiam, poison, that is, the poison of riches, honors, and authority, especially after Ph [...]cas his time, that gave unto the Pope the title of universal Bishop, entred into the Church, and among the Clergy; then the Monks brought tapers into the Church, and they induced the trisagium, that is, sancte Deus, sancte fortis, sancte immortalis, which as the Monks say was first uttered by an Angel in the Cathedral Church of Canstantinople: and about the year 605. Boniface the 8. usurpeth the Title of Universal Bishop: and after that, the Churches became Sanctuaries for malefactors, holy-dayes were appointed, Priests were forbidden to marry, Latine-service was injoyned, the Lyturgies were augmented, the Pax was commanded to be kissed, Images were adored, the Saints were invocated and prayed unto, which Mr Mede saith, is the Doctrine of Daemons, that makes the Apostasie which the Apostle speaks of, 1 Tim. 4.1, 2. Vestiments, and other Church Utensils were consecrated, M^r Mede, in his Apostasie of the latter times. the Emperours and other civil powers were shouldered out by the Pope and Church, Indulgences were sold, and abundance more of such absurdities were brought into the Church: And when the godly Christians petitioned unto his Holiness, the Pope, The manifold Errors of the Church of Rome confirm'd by the Council of Tre [...]t. for a reformation of these abuses, did not the Council of Trent confirm them? Did it not, in their first meeting, Sess. 3. decree, that the vulgar Translation, that hath some errors, and much rude Latine in it, should be authentical in all places? and Sess. 4. That original sin is so taken away by Baptisme, that concupiscence, or lust, in renatis, the regenerate, is no sin, untill they give consent unto it? and Ses. 5. That there remains in us a freedome of mans will to good, which being excited and stirred up by grace, concurs with grace to do the good we do? and Sess. 7. That seven Sacraments were to be received? Vide etiam Ti [...]num exegesis de Antichristo. pag. [...]5. & d [...]inceps. And then, at their second meeting in Bononia, Sess. 2. did they not establish the Doctrine of Transubstantiation? And Sess. 3. have they not made Penance, and extream Unction two Gospel-sacraments, or Sacramenta novae legis, as they term them? And 9 years after, at their third meeting, Sess. 5. have they not impowered the Pope to mutilate the holy Sacrament of the Eucharist, or Lords Supper, and to take away the cup from the Laiety? and Sess. 6. have they not concluded the whole Masse to be a propitiatory Sacrifice both for the quick and the dead? and Sess. 8. Did they not give full power unto the Church, to dispense with Gods Law in Levit. 18. concerning Marriages? And at their last Sess. Have they not confirmed the Doctrine of Purgatory, invocation of Saints, worshipping of images, giving of Indulgences, and preservation of Reliques?

And was there, ever since Christ his time, or could there be a greater, and a more general extensive apostasie and departure from the truth, and true faith than this, where the Pope and his Faction have thus prevailed against the Protestants, to put out the light of truth, to corrupt the Gospel of Christ, and to defile the service of God in this manner?

Respon. To this great and bitter charge against the Church of Rome, I answer, That some men are so addicted to this Church, that they see nothing to be evil in her, but all truth, and all to be imbraced without question; and others are so transported with passion, such hatred unto the Pope, and such a prejudicate opinion of that Church, that they think nothing good in her, and nothing to be followed, that she holdeth; so that they are willingly ready to reject the Gospel, as they do all Prayers and service the Papists use to God, because they are approved by the Church of Rome: it is an Argument sufficient, to cast away all the service of God, all good works, and all the acts of Pie [...]y and Charity, if they be but once perswaded they are Popery.

For my part, The Authors resolution touching the Roman Church I do unfeignedly from my heart profess my self a true and right Protestant, and an obedient Son of the Church of Ingland, as it was reformed, and the 39 Articles of our faith approved, and confirmed in Q. Elizabeths time, and so continued in King James and King Charles his time, untill the Beast, that ascendeth from the bottomeless pit, I may mean the Devil, endeavoured to remove our candlestick, and to put out the light of Israel: And for the Church of Rome, I do perfectly and throughly hate and renounce all the errors and Superstitions of it; and for her truths, and good things that she holdeth and doth, I do heartily love and embrace them, and will therein joyn the right hand of fellowship, and desire communion with them; as a man, that will not refuse a pearl, because it was taken up from a dung-hill: but for the aforesaid things and points that E.H. and others speak of, and object against her; I believe some of them may in some sence be justified, some others not altogether so offensive, as a groundless ha [...]red against Popery makes them seem to be, to such as Martial speaks of,

And for most of them, I confess they are either enormous, or superstitious, or some way or other justly offensive to Gods people, and do sufficiently prove, that the Church of Rome hath apostatized, and receded from many points of the true Doctrine of Christ, that her self had formerly professed, especially when S. M^r. Mede, in his Apostasie of the later times. Plato in cratilo, Apuleius de deo Socratis, & Plutarchus, de defect, oracul. Paul wrote unto her: and, as that learned and worthy Divine Mr. Mede hath fully shewed, how that Church hath backslided in worshipping Mahuzzims, invocating of Saints, and adoring of their Images and relicks; so I confess the same to be a foul and mighty error, and a great abuse of Gods service in them; and not much inferior or less fault, than the Gentiles adoring of their Deastri or Daemones, which was the deifying of their deceased Heroes, such as Hercules, Romulus, Numa Pompilius, and the like, were; as Plato, Apuleius, Plutarch, and others testifie the Heathens did.

Though notwithstanding, I am so far from blaming S. Basil, S. Chrysostome, Fortunatus, S. Gregory, S. Hilary, James Bishop of Nisibis, Eucherius, Theodoret, and others, that Mr. Mede chargeth to have done, too undiscreetly, (to say no more) for so much commending the holy Martyrs, and calling them walls, and fortresses, and as Gregory Nyssen termes them, [...], Guardians, and Protectors of those Cities, and places where those Martyrs were interred; Mr. Mede's crimination of the Fathers answered. that I do exceedingly approve their discretion, and commend their wisedome and piety herein; because those times were times of Persecutions, and Christianity sought by the enemy of mankinde, and his Instruments, to be expunged and rooted out of the world; and therefore to encourage all the Christians to be constant in their Profession unto their death, it was requisite to use all the Eulogies and praises that might well and rightly be given, especially in the funeral Orations of the Martyrs, unto those holy men, that had so manfully fought the good fight of faith, and so christianly died for the defence of the Gospel of Christ; when as the contrary would have been a great disheartening of the weak Christians, but these Eulogies a spur to inflame them, to all readiness to undergo the like Martyrdome, rather than to start aside from their Christian profession. Neither do I see how those Eulogies and praises that these Fathers gave unto the Martyrs, are any wayes contrary to the truth of our faith, or the Word of God; because we know, that, as the Prophet saith, Psalm. 116.15. right dear in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints; and no doubt but he hath some love and care of their dead bodies, to preserve them from that spirit of malice, and contempt that the Devil and his wicked assassinates bear against them; and therefore as he preserved all that were in the ship for S. Paul's sake, Act. 27.24. so he may be pleased to preserve others his servants with the preservation he extendeth, and would have shewed to the bodies of his Saints, and especially of his holy Martyrs, the which he would have no wayes to be abused, as [Page 34]the Prophet sheweth, and doth exceedingly complain of them, that give the dead bodies of Gods servants to be meat unto the fowles of the air, Psal. 79.2. and the flesh of his Saints to the beasts of the field, as now I have seen it in many places, how the hogs are rooting in their graves, and the dogs gnawing the bones of Gods servants.

That the aforesaid Errors make not this Apostasie. And I say that, although the Roman Church hath failed in the Premises, and erred in the points aforenamed; yet all that doth not make this grand apostasie, which the Apostle here speaketh of:

Reason. 1 1. Because here, in the Roman Church, we finde no rebellion against their Governors; but qui ducunt eam seducunt eam, the leaders of that Church deceive the Church, and so her apostasie is not so odious, but the more excusable, and the less abominable in the sight of God.

Reason. 2 2. Because these Errors and Superstitions aforenamed, and the like, have only defaced, but not nullified; bespotted and polluted, but not destroyed that Church, which is now like unto a false woman that hath played the whore, but is not divorced, nor run away from her husband; That the Church of Rome holdeth all the foundation and preservation of the Christian Religion. for so long as they profess to believe, as the three authentick Creeds, that is, the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed, teach us; and use the Lords Prayer, and publish the ten Commandements, and receive the two Gospel Sacraments, that is, Baptisme, and the Lords Supper, and retain the wholesome form, and reverent manner of Divine worship, and service of God, with the rightly authorized, and lawfully called Pastors and Governors, and a dutifull submission to the established Discipline of the Church; which things are both the foundation and preservation of the Christian Religion; and which, they say, are all observed and performed in the Roman Church; I believe no good Christian can deny her to be a true Church, though not a pure Church of God; because that while the foundation remaineth sure and undigged up, all superstructures of wood, hay, stubble, doth not evert and overthrow the whole edifice, but is rather a going beyond, Eccl. 7.16, 17. than a going back, from the faith of Christ, like the being too righteous, and not too wicked, as Solomon speaketh, that is, the being too precise, and making more sinnes than ever the Law of God made, and not too prophane, and so exceeding in the works of supererrogation and observing many other commandments of men, besides the commandments of God; M^r Mede, P. 612. just as the precise Pharisees required the people to do in the time of Christ: and Mr. Mede resolves Mr. Hartlib, that the Roman Church hath not erred in the fundamental Articles of the Faith, but in the assumentis, which they added unto the foundation: so likewise D. Crakenthorp, B. Hall, and most of our best Divines are of the same minde.

And therefore questionless the Church of Rome cannot be guilty of this grand rebellion and Apostasie here spoken of. And

4. 4. Nor the falling away of the Protestants from the Church of Rome. As the African and Afiatick Churches of the East, under the Greek Patriarchs, and the Europaean Churches of the West, under the Pope of Rome, are not liable to this grand Apostasie; so neither can the Church of Rome, nor any other Master of that Church say, and say truly, that the falling away of Luther, Calvin, Beza, and the rest of the Protestants and protestant Churches from the Roman errors and superstitions, and from their obedience to that Church, can be this falling away, and apostasie here spoken of; because we with them, and they with us, do hold and profess the same 3 authentick Creeds, that do contain the sum and substance of our Christian Faith; and are agreeing in all, or at least in most of the essential and fundamental points of the Christian Religion; and the differences betwixt us in the most points, that are of moment, are not so capital, but that, for the most part, a charitable construction, and a right distinction might well and fairly reconcile most of them, especially as they are held by the best Interpreters of the Scripture in that Church, and by the most temperate and soberest Divines of our Church; because as the Apostle saith, charity is kinde, and [...], charity is not rash, that is, in her judgment, no more than in her actions, 1 Cor. 13. but beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, and endureth all things: and the want of this divine grace of Charity maketh those faults, that are indeed but mole-hils, to appear like mountains; and this want of charity is too too common a fault, both among the popish and the Protestant writers, [Page 35]which doth make the breach wider, and the differences to seem far greater, and far worse than indeed they are; which made me often to pray, that God would send more love betwixt us, and suffer not the devil to send so much misprision and distaste betwixt us, as there is.

Question. And now, the foresaid Churches being freed from being liable to this apostasie, the question is, What Church can be said to be found guilty of it? What Church is guilty of this Apostacy. and instead of answering it, it is now demanded, If this now present Church of great Britain be not liable to this charge, of a grand Rebellion and apostasie, such as the Apostle speaketh of, that is, such a rebellion as Corah, Dathan, and Abiram stirred up against Moses and Aaron, and such a discession and falling away from the true faith, and the right service of God, which they formerly professed, as neither leaves the fundamentals of Christian Religion undigged up or unshaken, nor the appearance of a true visible Church among the people?

For, that all the people of Ingland were very faithfull and loyal Subjects, and most respectively obedient unto their Governors, both their Kings and their Bishops, That the people of Ingland were good subjects, true believers, and right worshippers of God. during all the raign of Q. Elizabeth, King James, and many years of King Charles, as any Nation under heaven, I think, I do verily believe, no man can justly deny.

So likewise, that all the subordinate Clergy did ex animo subscribe, and unfainedly profess to uphold and maintain the 39 Articles of the Church of Ingland, and the established Discipline thereof, and did accordingly, for well nigh a century of years, use to teach the people, to believe that Doctrine, and to observe that discipline, as the true Christian Faith, and the right Government, that Christ and his Apostles, for the preservation of that faith, hath left unto his Church; and also, that the people and Congregations, throughout all this Kingdome, had the true faith preached unto them, and the right service of God, the 3 authentick Creeds repeated, the Lords Prayer used, the 10 Commandments published, the 2 blessed Sacraments administred, and all the other prayers and service of God, that the Governors of Gods Church prescribed, were observed, practised, and professed by them: I am very sure and consident hereof, and I believe no man will gainsay the same.

And therefore this Church had, and did profess the true faith, and Doctrine of Christ, and did use to serve God rightly, and to be obedient to their Governors, both Magistrates and Ministers for many years, according to the form prescribed unto them: And you may remember how you read in Revel. 6.9. that the soules, which S. John saw under the altar, and cryed to God, to avenge their blood on them that dwell on the earth, are said to be slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held, and why I pray you doth the holy Ghost make such a distinction betwixt the word of God, and the testimony which they held, but to shew unto us, that these soules had collected out of the Bible, which containeth all the word of God, the chiefest heads and points that are to be known, believed, and practiced for the true worship of God, and their own Salvation, and so compiled an abstract of Gods word, into another book, which is here called their testimony; and that is, the communion Book, or Book of Common-prayer, and publick service of God, which is sometimes called the Book of life, Revel. 22.19. and ch. 20.21: as Revel. 20.12. and Revel. 22.19. where you may observe how mention is there made of 2 special Books, and the one is termed the book of this prophesie, which is the word of God; and the other is termed the book of life, because the sum and the substance of all that is in the Bible, which is the word of God, and which is necessary to attain unto Eternal life, is contained in this book, of their testimony, for which book and the constant practice of Gods service, according to this book, as well as for the other book of the word of God, those faithfull soules were slain: and it is well known, the Presby [...]erians caused the Parliament to destroy us, for the testimony that we held of these Books; but the Answer, that God gives unto these slaughtered soules, may serve for a sufficient comfort unto us: yet this gives occasion to demand,

Whether the prevalent faction of the long Parliament, and their adherents, the Sectaries of these 3 Kingdomes have not hereby resisted their Governors, whom formerly they had so religiously observed, and rebelled, warred, killed, and beheaded both Moses and Aaron, that is, the supreme Magistrate, and the chief Priest, I leave it for my Reader to determine.

And, whether the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, and all their followers and Adherents, contrary to their former oathes, practices, and profession, have not generally apostatized, and totally relapsed, and fallen away from the most essential, and most material points of our Christian Religion, and from all the right service of God, which themselves formerly taught and observed, and have led their Congregations after them to the same apostasie? let the observers of our new teachers, what Doctrines are now taught, and what service is now used in every Church, judg hereof. For I read it in Arise Evans, Arise Evans, in his Voice from heaven. pag. 15. that you may easily finde it, every foolish man gets up into the Pulpit, and poureth out his folly: and so now the false Christs, and false Prophets do appear: for the Independant saith, here is Christ; the Presbyterian saith, loe, here is Christ; but the Anabaptist saith, no, he is not amongst you, but here is Christ with us: 1 Cor. 1.13. and so all the other Sectaries crie, and have, as the Apostle saith, divided Christ: And you may consider what Tilenus saith, Vetus Ecclesia, primis temporibus, solo Apostolorum, quod vocant, symbolo, ex sacris literis excerpto, contenta erat; The ancient Church, in the first times, was contented only with that faith, which they call the Aposties Creed, that is taken out of the holy Srciptures; this was the faith of the Christians in the Apostles time, and this was the sun and the substance, and the abstract of all the whole Scripture, for so much as concerned the saving faith; and this faith, contained in this Creed, is the Faith of Gods elect, and sufficient to save all the elect people of God; though afterwards, for the suppression of those Hereticks, that sprang up to corrupt the same, formulam illam per novas formulas, ex iisdem sacris litteris collectas, luculentius & copiosius explicuerunt episcopi; The Bishops, (and he saith not the Presbyters) did more fully, and more clearly, out of the same sacred Scriptures, explain that form of faith by other new formes, as the point in question, Tilenus, exegesis pag. 57. aphoris. 169. and controverted by the Hereticks did require: as First in the Council of Nice: then in the Constantinopolitan: after in the Ephesine: and at length in the Chalcedon Council.

And the whole Catholique Church, and all the particular Churches of God, the Greek Church, and the Latine Church, and every other particular national Church of the world, have ever professed to observe, and to retain this form of faith, thus left to us by the Apostles, and thus explained by the reverend and godly Bishops in these Councills, and never to discede from the same.

And yet now, That our new Preachers have and do recede from the true faith, and the right service of God. I would have all wise men to consider, whether the Presbyterians, Independants, and all the brood of our new and lay-Preachers have not moved and preswaded the long Parliament, to suppress the Governors of the Church, and to lay aside the ancient Discipline and Government thereof? and have they not themselves abandoned and cast off, not only the Apostles Creed, and the other 2 authentick Creeds, so that you shall seldome or never hear any one of all three repeated by the Minister, to any of their Congregations, but also the Lords prayer, the 10 Commandements, and all the whole former service of God, which was formerly used in the Church, and is now wholly neglected, and seldome or never used to be read, and practiced to be done, by these men unto the people? which in divers Parishes have not had the holy Sacraments in many years administred unto them, Et non ignota cano.

And the Reason hereof is, What Pope did ever cast away the whole publick service of God? as I conceive it, because the service-book, as we term it, that is, the Book of common Prayer, that containeth these 3 Creeds, and the Lords Prayer, and the Decalogue, and the form of the Administration of the Sacraments, and all the other Prayers, that are the principal and most essential parts of Gods publick service, is so straitly prohibited and rejected. And the Disciples of these new masters, and the Adherents of that long Parliament, tore the Bibles, threw down the fonts, The enormities that were done by the disciples of the Presbyterians. cast away all crosses, spoyled all pictures, prophaned the Churches, and did many other sacrilegious and outragious things, whereby (as many men conceived) the whole reformation of this Church is nullified, and the apostasie, that is here spoken of by the the Apostle, is fully come to pass and accomplished: and they pray, that there may never come to any national Church, (as they hope, there shall not come) a greater apostasie and falling away, both from the truth of faith, and the service of God, than this is, whereof the like, as many good men and great Schollars do believe, [Page 37]hath never been hitherto, by the worst, and the most dangerous Sect of Hereticks.

Because, the Church being, as the Scripture testifieth, acies crdinata, Bellarm. de Ecclesia milit. cap. 2. like an army that is well ordered under their lawful Commanders: Or as Bellarm. saith, Coetus hominum ejusdem christianae fidei professione colligatus, sub regimine legitimorum Pastorum, ac pracipuè unius Christi in terris Vicarii Romani Pontificis: In stead of which last Sentence, I say, sub legitime regimine, or regimine legitimorum Pastorum, And they are no lawfull Pasters, nor Ministers of Gods Church, that have not their lawfull Ordination. and go no further; that is, a Company of men gathered together, and professing the same Christian Faith, under the rule and government of their lawful Governours; the true and lawful Government being dissolved, and the Governours suppressed, and the Symboles of our Faith rejected, the true Doctrines corrupted, and the right Service of God cast away, and the like enormities, that are used, do eradicate the foundation, and not only pollute, but also destroy and unchurch the Church of Christ, and make it not to be, as it should be, visible here on earth; and do provoke the Lord to leave his Habitation, and to remove our Candlestick to another place.

For you may remember what the Prophet Zechary saith, I took unto me two staves, Zech. 11.7.the one, I called Beauty, the other I called Bands, and I fed the Flock; this flock is the Church of God, and the two staves are the Doctrine and the Discipline of the Church; the Doctrine is the Beauty, and the Discipline is the Bands and preservation thereof; and therefore, when the Discipline is rejected and rebelled against, the Doctrine must needs then be corrupted with Heresies and Errors, and the service of God neglected and prophaned: For, as a Garden or Vineyard, which the Church of God is, Esa. 5. cannot be kept undestroyed from the wilde boar, and the beasts of the field, without their fence; so no more can the beauty of the Church, the service of God, nor indeed the Church herself be preserved, without her bands, which are the Lawes, Canons, and Discipline of the Church; and therefore the Devil instigateth all his instruments, to break these bands asunder, and to cast away the cords from them. Psal 2.3.

And so you may remember, we presently found, that when the Bishops, the Governors of our Church, that preserved the Discipline, which was the fence and the hedg of Christ his vineyard, to keep out the foxes, that is, the Hereticks and Schismaticks out of the Church, and the hoops of Gods barrel, to keep in the wine, Judges 9.13. that cheareth God and man, that is, the true Doctrines of faith, and the right service of God, were thrown down, nay, thrown away, and the Government of this our Church dissolved by that long Parliament, (which never happened to the Church of Rome,) then instantly the beauty of this Church, which formerly, for learning, Doctrine, Cant. 2.1. and Discipline, was the flower of all the Churches in Christendome, as the rose of Sharon, and the lilly of the valies, became quite defaced; and the Church her self became Lo-ammi; her whole usual service was rejected, the service-book, Hos. 1.9. that was the rule of Gods worship, broken all to pieces, and straightly prohibited to be used, the Creed, Lords Prayer, and Decalogue seldome or never repeated, the fundamental points of our faith either corrupted, or omitted to be taught, and all sorts of damnable long­buried Heresies, were revived, preached, and printed in every place; whereby our well-reformed, and lately glorious Church became, like an Army routed, a barrel unhooped, and a vineyard unfenced, and then filled with all corruptions both of life and doctrine, to make way for the man of sin, as John Baptist did to Christ, to enter in.

And to shew the enormities of these times, more plainly, I will, out of their own mouth, and from their own books, quote unto you what a Presbyterian, Tho. Hall, in his Book, intituled The pulpit guarded, in E [...]ist. dedicat. Domino Jo [...]nr. Trap, pastoride Bello-vado. as I conceive him to be, saith, Vetus est illa oratoris quarela; proveniebant oratores novi, stulti adolescentuli; pr [...]veniunt hac nostra tempestate, non oratores, sed aratores novi, stulti fabri ferrarii, aerarii, lignarii, rastris quam rostris aptiores: pistores nunc pastores, textores & tonsores, sutores & sartores, coquinarii & cupedinarii, milites & mulieres, puelluli & puelluiae, &c. necnon quamplurimi alii ejusdem furfuris, quos vulgo vocamus, Gifted brethren, hem, lingua utendum est belluina, ne belluae ist a nos dilacerent: and whom, I pray you, doth this man mean should be the beast, and these beasts that he speaks of, and is afraid to betorn in pieces by them? unless he means those locusts that assisted and adhered to the long [Page 38]Parliament? but Mr Hall, to make good his charge, sets down the names of their Preachers in margine, as Paul Hobson, a Taylor; and Rice, a Tinker; and Lambe, a Soap-boyler; and Symmes, a Shoemaker; and Oates, a Weaver; and Web, a Souldier; and Heath, a Coller-maker; and Field, the bodies-maker; and Green, a Felt-maker; and Potter, the Smith; and Spencer, a Coach-man; and Durance, the Wash-ball-maker; and Debner the Cooper, that can neither write nor read; besides many women-preachers: and he quoteth Edwards, Edwards, in his gangraena, part. 2. pag. 81. another Presbyterian, in his Gangraena, part. 2. page 81, and 88. and in the 1 page of his Book he nameth Lawrence Williams, a Naylor, publick Preacher; Tho. Hinde, a Plowright, publick Preacher; Tho. Palmer, a Baker, Preacher; Sergeant Oakes, a Weaver, Preacher; and Humfrey Rogers, lately a Bakers boy, publick Preacher: and how many more such Preachers might he have found, if he had further searched into Ingland and Ireland; so many, as I think, would fill a Volume, of no small size: And if these brave Preachers be not the false-Prophet, and the Preachers of the Antichrist, I know not who shall be the Prophets of Christ: so my good Presbyterian, ex tuo ere, out of thine own mouth, and from your own books, I believe it is apparent, that these men sprung, from the proceedings of the long Parliament, and the Adherents of it, and ch. 19.20. are the false Prophet spoken of in the Revelat. 16.13. and the second Beast that the Apostle saw arising out of the earth, and is as the soul, and the very life of the Antichrist; and of which Prophet the same Tho. Hall saith,

And all the preaching of these men, and these women Preachers, is but a tyrotarichon, and hotch-potch of all errors, Heresies, and Blaspemies, as Alexander Ross in his Animadversions upon Mr Hobbs his Leviathan, and Edwards, in his Hell broke loose, and his Gangraena, do partly shew unto you, what stuffe they bring, and what manner of men they are; how blinde, and how ignorant, and yet, how impudent they be; for, who so bold as blinde bayard? A Story shewing how an impudent preaching Trooper affronted and disturbed a reverend and learned Bishop in his Sermon.

And here, I must crave leave to tell you a story, and some doings belonging to this business, quorum pars magna fui, and an eye-witness of the same my self: Not long ago, a grave and a reverend Bishop, that had been a Doctor of Divinity, admitted in Cambridg, Oxford, and Dublin, of above 40 years standing, and well known for his learning and abilities in many Kingdomes, travelling from Ireland towards London, came on the Saturday night to a Gentlemans house of good quality, and his special good friend; which, then told the Bishop, how they had, for their Parson, and Preacher, a man, that, as they were informed, had been a Trooper in the Parliaments Army, and he only preached unto them, and received their Tythes, but did neither baptize their children, not bury their dead, nor deliver the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, nor let them have any other service of God, but to preach, or expound some Chapter; and thus they had been for 7 or 8 years, without any of these things, but what they procured by some of their neighbour Ministers; and he desired the Bishop, that he would bestow a Sermon upon the Parishioners on the morrow, which was the Lords day; the Bishop answered, that he loved not, that any man should intrude himself into another mans charge; but if they would send unto their Preacher, and he gave way to it, he would willingly preach the next day; which the Gentleman did that night, and the Preacher was contented the Bishop should have the place; but when the Bishop had done his Prayer, and read his Text, in Nehem. 8.2, and 3. and divided the same, and had past over the 1 part, that the Preacher was Ezra the priest, and thereupon shewed, That none should prefume to intrude themselves to do the publick Offices of Gods service in the Church of God, but they that were lawfully called, as was Aaron; and then had entred upon the 2. part, the place, were Ezra preached, which was in the street before the water-gate; and thereupon shewed, that either in the time of plague, or war, [Page 39]or persecution, or sailing at sea, or demolition of Gods Temple, as now the Temple of Solomon was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, and was not as yet fully re-edifyed, or the like just occasion, the Preacher might pray and preach, as Christ and his Apostles did, in any place; but when neither of these, nor any other exigent like unto these, did require it, he said, the Church, that was appointed and consecrated, as Solomon did the Temple, for Gods publick service, was the fittest, and the enjoyned place for the Preacher to preach and pray, and the people to come to hear, and to do the service of God: and, as he was amplifying this point, the more at large, because, on that very day, the Preacher had moved the Parishioners, according to a brief from the Lord Protector, to a liberal contribution, towards the repairing of a famous neighbour Church, that was ruined by the warrs, the Preacher steps out of his seat among the people, and opening his book, said, The Bishop preached lies, and false Doctrine unto them, which he would prove to be so, and read a place of Scripture, that was nothing at all against the Bishops Doctrine; and after he had, for a good space, stood in confuting the Bishop, and the Bishop silent all that while, and had made an end of his confutation; the Bishop demanded, if he would now give him leave quietly to go on, and to make an end of his Sermon; the Parson and his Disciples answered, he had preached false Doctrine, and lies enough already, and therefore he must come down, and proceed no further; which the Bishop presently did; and the Parson got up into the pulpit; but thereupon the Gentlemen and the Parishioners on the one side, and the Parsons Proselites and Disciples on the other side, rose up in a tumult, and very bitterly out-bearding, and chiding one another, so that the Bishop was mightily afraid, they would have gone together by the ears, and have done some great mischief, and had much adoe for a very great while, to perswade them, and to entreat them for Gods sake on all sides to be quiet. And this tumult ended; the Gentlemen, and the better sort of the Parishioners, that were much offended, and grieved for this affront that was done unto the Bishop, resolved to prefer a Bill of inditement against the Parson, and his Disciples, at the Quarter-Sessions, which was on that week; and so they went to the Clerk of the Peace, and drew a bill, preferr'd it to the bench, and had 3 or 4 witnesses sworn, to prove the disturbance of the Preacher in his Sermon; but one of the Justices of the Peace, upon the bench, that is a Presbyterian and the son of a Presbyterian, understanding that the Preacher disturbed was a Bishop, called the Prosecutor of the Bill, and told him, he could do nothing in that bill, which he should have rather preferred against the Bishop for preaching, than against the Parson and his followers for disturbing him; because the Bishops are all prohibited, and must not preach; and therefore advised him, to take up his Bill; and the other Justices wished him to follow his advice: and so after all their pains and cost, he did; because he wisely foresaw it was but vain, contra stimulum calcitrare, to swim against the stream: Yet afterwards, in the General Sessions, held for the County of Denbigh, the Grand Jury, consisting of 24 good Gentlemen, indited the preaching trooper, for disturbing the Bishop in his Sermon: but the Judg, after he had thundered his threatnings against some of the Jury, and pleaded for the Trooper, as if he had been his Advocate, quasht the inditement: a very good Judg, and is not he a member of the beast? yet the Bishop would question him in another place but for fear of meeting such another Judg. And I would very fain know, when such a thing was done, or suffered to be done in the Church of Rome, and that with the approbation of the Governors of that Country?

But to proceed, and to shew unto you the enormities and Apostasie of the men in these times, a little more plain: Revel. 13.16. Revelat. 14.1. as the servants of the Antichrist are said to bear the mark, and the name of the beast in their foreheads, or in their right hand; so the servants of Christ are said to have the name of the Lambe, and of his father, written in their foreheads; and that is, the vow and promise, wherewith they have bound themselves in their baptisme, to serve the Lambe, as their Lord and General, Canstitut. Apost, l. 12. c. 6. and never to backslide from him, to the service of Satan, and to follow his pomps and devices, and the lusts of our own flesh;

For, as S. Chrysostome, and others of the Fathers do witness, this was the practice, and the ancient custome in most Churches, that every one which gave himself to Christ, to [Page 40]be baptized, and to receive his badg, and mark in his forehead, should profess, and say, [...]. Chrysost. ad populum Antio. Hom. 22. August. in Joan. tract 6. & contra. lit. petil. that is, I do renounce Satan, and all his works, and all his pomps, and all his worship; and after he had made this Profession, he should receive the Sacrament of Baptism, as the seal of the Lord, and the mark and name of the Lamb, and of his Father in his forehead; the which mark S. Augustine calleth the royal mark, and the mark of the Redeemer, wherein the Christians so much gloryed and rejoyced in;

And, as Epiphanius saith, that those Jews, which ran after the Idol-service, and to that end, Joseph. antiq. l. 12. c. 6. Epiphan. de ponder. & mensur. Tertul. de spect. c. 4. Origen, de spect. execrat. l. 8. c. 59. & Aug. in Joh. tract. 7. by the Art of Chyrurgery blotted out their circumcision, & praeputium per attractionem patiebantur, as Josephus witnesseth, many of them used to do; they did it, ad dei ipsius abnegationem, & patrum characteris abolitionem, to the denial of God himself, and for the abolishing of the mark and character of their forefathers; so Tertul. Isidore, Origen, and S. August. tell us, that they have lost the Mark of Christ, and have blotted out the seal of the Lamb, and cast away his name, which have received the mark of the devil, and are become revolters or apostata's from the Christian faith, which renounce their baptisme, and covet that, which they profess to renounce in their Baptisme.

And I know none of all the old Hereticks, backsliders, and apostate Churches, or persons any where, whether you look into the Greek Church, or the Roman Church, or any other national Church in all the Christian world, (not the Donatists, which came nearest, excepted,) that used this ancient form of renouncing Satan and his pomps, and adhering to Christ, and receiving his seal, and his marke in their foreheads, and did afterward so execrate and abhor that form, refuse the mark, and renounce the very seal, the Sacrament of their baptisme, and receive the mark of the beast, and follow after the works of the devil, the pomps of the world, and the lusts of their own flesh, as many in the long Parliament, many Presbyterians, Independants, Anabaptists, and other Sectaries, and adherents to the long Parliament have done; or especially any hereticks, or apostata's in this Church, that have made their apostasie wider, and more general than these men have done.

For you may observe, that although T. Cartwright, and Penry, and the frantick Parker, that indicted the innocent signe of the cross, which the primitive Christians commonly used, to shew, that they were not ashamed of their crucified Saviour, of fellony, adultery, murder, and all other sinnes of the Decalogue, and some other particular Calvinists, their Proselites, did, in their puritanical zeal, start aside from the discipline, and some points of the Doctrine of this our Reformed Church, as especially that Article of Christ his discension into Hell; yet all the Clergy, and the whole Church were never comprized within this apostacy, neither did they so generally consent, unto it, and adhere unto these Masters; but the Assembly of Presbyterians at Westminster, concluded all the Clergy, and all the other people, by their binding Directory and Determinations, that were comfirmed by the Parliament, and required them strictly to recede from all the whole established form of Gods worship, and to follow their Directory, and manner of praying, preaching, and other service of God, which is conceived to be more destructive to the true Christian faith, and more derogatory to the honor of the just God, then were any of the Heresies of the greatest Heresiarchs; as is partly manifested against their Doctrine, B. Montague, in his apel. Caesar. by B. Montague, in his appello Caesarem, and by Dr. Stearne, in his medela animi, and in Dr. Taylors vindication of Gods attributes, against the desperate and most dangerous Doctrines of this false Prophet, the Prebsbyterians, Independants, and Anapabtists, and their Disciples, that, by the aforesaid means, 2 Sam. 3.39. are now so multiplyed, that as David said of the sons of Zervia, so may we say, of them; the sword is not able to suppress them, but they must have places of credit, and Titles of honor conferred upon them, for fear of further inconveniences:

And therefore, Jerem. 3.22. as the Lord saith, that backsliding Israel hath justifyed her self more than treacherous Judah; so have these men given way to the Roman Church, to justifie her self more than the now English Church; because these men did not purge our Lyturgy, and weed the errors and faults, that they pretended to be found in our service Book, but did wholly reject it, and cast it quite away, and never brought any other in the room thereof: And the Roman Church can never be taxed with the like [Page 41]proceedings, when as they often mended their Missalls, and Breviaries, but never quite exploded any of them; and the Reformers of our Church did the like, which is indeed a reformation; and the other a rejection of Gods worship.

And if these things do not make up the grand rebellion, and the huge Apostacy, that the Apostle here speaketh of, I only wonder at it, and leave it to better Judges than I am, to determine it.

CHAP. IV. Of the Literal and Mystical Babylon: That Rome is a Babylon: That neither the great Babylon in Assyria, nor old Rome, nor Constantinople, which was called new Rome, is that Babylon spoken of Rev. 17. and where the Antichrist seateth himself, but that is to be mystically and not literally understood, for some City of confusion: and what the Pro­phet Daniel intimateth the Antichrist should do, by the doings of Antiochus, that was the most lively type of the great Antichrist, in his rebellion against his Superiours, and his persecution of Gods People, the Jews.

2. THE Antichrist well perceiving the Apostasie, 2. That the Antichrist will set up his throne in the City of Baby­lon. the relapse and falling away of the true and purest Reformed National Church, from her Lawful Government, and from the true Faith of Christ, and the right Service of God, by her rebellion both against the civil Magistrates and the spiri­tual Pastors thereof, begins to shew himself; and finding the door so wide opened, entreth upon the stage, and will establish his Court and set up his Throne and princi­pal Seat of his Residence, as the Scripture sheweth in the City of Babylon. Jer. 50.14. And therefore the Prophet Jeremy saith, Put your selves in array against Babylon round about, all ye that bend the Bow, shoot at her, spare no arrowes; cap. 51.8.for she hath sinned against the Lord: And all the children of God are charged not to go to Babylon, but to get out of her, because she came in remembrance before God: Rev. 18.4. &c. 16.19. &c. 18.5. &c. 14.8. &c. 18.3. And he determined to destroy her, and to give unto her the wine of the fierceness of his wrath; for that her sins have reached unto Heaven; and she hath made all Nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her Fornication.

But here the question is, what Place or what City, is to be understood by this great and glorious proud City of Babylon, which is so sinful, and from which we are com­manded to flee away, and to fight against her.

For the better understanding of which point, what Place is specially meant by this Babylon spoken of Rev. 17. Babylon taken two manner of waies. you must remember that the Scripture speaketh of a two-fold Babylon, or of Babylon two manner of waies, that is,

• 1. Literally.
• 2. Mystically.

And 1. For the Literal Babylon.1. We find two Great Cities specially of this Name; the one in Egypt, 1. Literally. 1. The Assyrian Babylon not to be under­stood here. Justin l. 1. Herodot. l. 1. the other in Chalde: That of Egypt, was the lesser, and less famous than the other, which was the Greater, and far the more glorious City; whereof the Poet saith,

Which was not that Babylon, which is in Egypt; but that ancient and famous Baby­lon, which Nimrod founded, Ninus enlarged, Semiramis walled about, Nebuchad­nezzar amplified, Nitocris beautified and enriched, and Cyrus reduced to his obedi­ence: For this Old Babylon, the Metropolis of Assyria, That the Assy­rian Babylon excelled all o­ther Cities in four respects. and the Seat of the Assy­rian Emperors for many years, might for Four special things,

That is,

• 1. For Strength and Bigness,
• 2. For commodious Scituation,
• 3. For the pregnant wits of her Inhabitants,
• 4. For the puissance and the might of her Kings,

compare with a­ny one City in all the world: For,

1. After the death of Nimrod and his Son Ninus, her chief Foundress, 1. For strength Coelius Rhodi­gin. antiquit. l [...]ct. l. 8. c. 12. Semira­mis, the Wife of Ninus, that was a Woman of more than Masculine Wit and Cou­rage, whose Garb of wrapping her head in Lawn, after the death of her Husband, [Page 42]the Persians imitate to this very day, did first surround this City with walls of 32 foot thick, and 50 cubits high, betwixt the Turrets, the Towers being raised 10 cu­bits higher; Plin. l. 8. c. 26. and in compass, the walls were 355 Stadia; and every Stadium being 139 Paces: Or according to Plinie's description of it, the breadth of the wall was 50 foot, Julius Solinus, c. 69. and the heighth of it 200, each foot containing 3 fingers breadth more than our ordinary measure; and in circuit it was 60000 paces; so bigge, that Aristotle thought it might have an equal dimension with all Peloponesus; because that when it was first taken by Cyrus, the furthest part of the City, knew not in three daies after, what had happened.

2. 2. For scitua­tion. For the Scituation of this City, the great and famous River Euphrates, that was of a stadium broad, brought his Channel through the midst of it; and it was so arched over, and adorned with such beautiful pensil Gardens, that it seemed afar off, to be like a wood upon the top of a mountain; and the Lands about this City, were so ex­ceeding fruitful, that the ground commonly produced 200 for one, and somtimes more, Gen. 10.9. &c. 11.2. as Caelius and Curtius write; for Nimrod that was the mightiest hunter living, would have the finest and the best place, that could be found, even the very Plain of Shennar.

3, For the Wits and Ingenuity of her Breed, her wisdom and her knowledge were such and so great, Es. 47.10. that, as Esayas testifieth, they caused her to fall, and to say with the Poet, ‘Ingenio perii, qui miser ipse meo!’ Mine own too much wit hath undone me: For this City had the honour to produce the first Teachers of Astronomy, and they were so expert therein, that neither the Indian Gymnosophists, nor the Egyptian Priests and Magicians were any waies com­parable unto them, as you may observe it out of Daniel, c. 2. v. 2, & 4, & 10. And this City likewise bred the first Inventers of that curious Art of working with needles, those rare and specious works, Josh. 7.21. that were done of divers colours, which enticed Achan the Israelite, to hide the gay and goodly Babylonish Garment.

4. For the Puissance of her Kings and Princes, she outwent all other Cities what­soever: Nimrod (called Belus by the Gentiles, but indeed his Father) that was Noahs Granchilds Son, being the first and the stoutest man then on earth; then Be­lus, Nimrods Son, whom the Gentiles honoured as a god, in after times; and after him Ninus, that built the great City of Nineveh; then his Wife, the Mirrour of all women, Semiramis; afterwards, omitting all those Eighteen Kings, which Berosus nameth, and Twenty more, that Sleidan setteth down, Phul-Belochus, that swayed the Scepter 48 years, 2 Reg 15.19. and Philazzar, whom the Holy Scripture nameth Phul-Assur, that reigned 23 years; and Salmanazar, that reigned 10 years, and subdued all Phoenicia, The Monarchs of Assyria that reigned in this Chaldean Ba­bylon. excepting Tyrus, and carried away the King of Israel, and the Ten Tribes Captives into Media; and Sennacherib, that for reviling God and the good King Hezekiah, by a rayling Rabsheca, was forced to return home with dishonour, and then slain by his own Sons in the Temple of his Idols, after he had reigned seven years; and Esar-haddon, whom Josephus calleth Asaracoldus, reigned Eleven years: Esa. 39.1. and Berodac, whom Esayas calleth Ben-Merodac, that after the revolution of Twelve years, translated the Kingdom to the Assyrians, and reigned afterwards Eighteen years: And Nebuchadnezzar, that said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built, that is, so great and so glorious as now it is, for the House of the Kingdom, and for the Glory of my Majesty? Dan. 4.30. And then Belshazzar his Son, whom Darius did succeed: And many other famous Kings and Princes reigned and ruled in and over this Great and Glorious City of Babylon, more than we read to have done over any one other City of the world.

And therefore this City, in these and many other respects, was the most resplen­dent of all the known Cities of the whole Universe, and is, in that respect, termed by the Prophet Esay, Esa. 13.9. and said to be the Glory of Kingdoms.

But it is yielded of all sides, that this Literal, Chaldean Babylon is no where meant to be the Seat of the Great Antichrist, that must arise in and out of the true Church [Page 43]of Christ; and seat himself in a greater, and a more Mystical Babylon: And therefore

II. Babylon mystically understood, which must be so understood to be the Seat of the Antichrist, is taken two waies: 2. Mystically understood two manner of waies.

• 1. Generally, for the whole world of Wickedness.
• 2. Particularly, for some special Place of this world.

Generally. 1 1. When the Prophet saith, By the waters of Babylon we sate down and wept, when we remembred thee, O Sion: And again, O Daughter of Babylon wasted with misery, yea, happy shall he be that rewardeth thee, as thou hast served us, Ps. 137.1. & ult. and blessed shall he be, that taketh thy children, and throweth them against the stones: Though literally and in the first sense, they are to be understood of the Chaldean Babylon, yet mysti­cally they are to be taken for this wicked world, which is the City of Satan, and the Metropolis of his Empire: For although God be the King of all the earth, both by the right of Creation and Preservation, yet Satan is said to be the King of this Ba­bylon, by the unjust Title of usurpation; and therefore he is called the Prince of this world, that ruleth in the hearts of the children of Disobedience.

And this world is resembled, compared, and doth symbolize Babylon in very very many things, but especially in these five respects; The world re­sembled to Ba­bylon in five respects. Propter

• 1. Amaenitatem, Pleasantness.
• 2. Cacitatem, Blindness.
• 3. Celsitudinem, Height of Spirit.
• 4. Confusionem, All kind of Disorder and Confusion.
• 5. Iniquitatem, The Multiplicity of all kind of Iniquity. For,

Respect. 1 1. Babylon was the delight of the Nations, and a most sweet and pleasant place, as I shewed to you before; even so the world, ab ornatu dicitur [...], is so called by the Grecians, from the beauty of it: Quid enim mundo praestantius, For what can be more excellent and pleasanter than this world? saith Lucius Apuleius.

Respect. 2 2. The Assyrian Babylon was full of blind [...]ess and ignorance: Jer. 59.17. For as the Prophet saith, Every man was brutish in his knowledge; so is the world, as our Saviour shew­eth, I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, whom the world can­not receive, quia non videt eum, nec scit eum, because it seeth him not, John 14.17. and knoweth him not; for though the light shined in darkness, yet the darkness comprehended it not, and though the Ministers of Christ do preach the Truth daily unto the world, yet the children of this world are still drowned in Darkness, and will not receive the knowledge of the Truth that they might be saved. John 1.5.

Respect. 3 3. The Assyrian Ba [...]ylon was full of Pride, so high and so haughty, that they would build a Tower which should reach to Heaven: And the Prophet saith of her, Jer. 50.29. She hath been proud against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel: And so is the world full of Pride. ‘Maxima quae (que) domus servis est plena superbis:’ Not a great House, but hath a great deal of Pride, and proud Servants in it, saith the Poet.

Respect. 4 4. The Assyrian Babylon was full of all Disorder and Confusion, the Labourer would be a Director and a Master-worker, the Mason would play the Carpenter, and the Carpenter would be the Joyner, and so none was contented with his own station, not any man dutiful in his own Place, but when the Masters called for Bricks, the Servants brought them Clay, when they desired Bread, they gave them Stones; and therefore it was called Babel; because of this disorderly confusion: Even so it is in this world, no man is contented with his own state, none dutiful in his place, and none satisfied with his own condition; but as the Poet saith, ‘Optat ephippia bos niger, optat arare Caballus.’ The Oxe would bear the saddle, and the Horse would draw the Plow.

Respect. 5 5. Babylon in Chaldea was full of Sins, for she hath sinned against the Lord, saith [Page 44]the Prophet: So the whole world lieth in wickedness, saith the Apostle: And all that is in the world, Jer. 50.14. John 2.16. is either concupiscence of the eyes, or concupiscence of the flesh, or Pride of life.

Particularly, 2 2. And more Particularly, Many other Cities and Kingdomes of this world are, and may, in this Mystical sense, be rightly stiled Babylon.

And that either, Two waies.

• 1. [...], Respectively, secundum quid. For so,
• 2. [...], Eminently, exceeding all the rest: For so,

Respectively, 1 1. 1 Pet 5.13. The City of Rome is called Babylon, by the Apostle, and is acknowledged by the Rhemists, and the Fathers and Jesuits before cited, to be understood in that place of S. Peter, 1 Pet. 5, 13; and I think none can well deny it to be the Symbole, similitude and resemblance of the Chaldean Babylon, Rome resem­bled to the Chaldean Baby­lon in two re­spects. 1. In respect of her excel­lencies. Terrarum Dea gentiumq. Roma cui [...]nl par ni­hil secundum, saith Martial. in two special respects;

1. In respect of the Excellencies,

2. In respect of the Impieties thereof: For,

1. As Babylon excelled all other Cities for strength and bigness, commodious scituation, pregnant wits and puissant Kings; so the City of Rome, was strong and big enough, sited in Italy, the very Garden of Europe, and upon the famous River Tiber, not much inferiour to Euphrates, and for the Pregnant wits of the Romans, I presume, their Poets, Orators and Lawyers might well compare with Athens or Baby­lon, or any other City of the world, and as the Assyrian Empire continued for above a 1000 [...]e [...]rs from Nimrod to Belshazzar; so the Roman Emperors have ruled from Julius Caesar, to this very day, above sixteen hundred years: And we may well say, that what other excellencie soever was in Babylon, the same might be found in Rome.

2. In respect of her impie­ties and ini­quities. 2. As the City of Rome doth thus parallel Babylon in her excellencies, so the Church of Rome doth equalize or exceed the City of Babylon in all Impieties: For to make this plain, the sins of Babylon were of two sorts:

• 1. Against God.
• 2. Against Man. And

1. Against God three waies. Her sins against God, were principally three;

1. Ignorance, that she knew not God: For every man was brutish by his Knowledge.

2. Jer. 51.17. c. 50.29, & 38. Pride, that she contemned God: For she hath been proud against the Lord, saith the Prophet.

3. Idolatry, in worshipping those that were not gods: For it is the Land of Graven Images, to shew their Idolatry, and they are mad upon their Idols, saith our Prophet, Dan in the sto­ry of Bel and the Dragon. and those Idols were Bell and Succoth-Benoth, 2 Reg. 17.20. These were the sins of Babylon which Jeremy noteth; and to these Esay addeth Sorcery and En­chantments, c. 47. v. 9, 12, 13.

And in all these things the Church of Rome may shake hands with the City of Ba­bylon. For,

1. The Igno­rance of the Roman Church. 1. Though as Babylon abounded in many Arts, and was excellent in all humane Learning, when they had their Astronomers, Magicians, and many other Sects of Learned men, that while their Empire flourished, did likewise flourish in all Learn­ing; and from hence Learning first proceeded unto the Greeks, as afterwards it spread it self from the Greeks unto the Romans: And this the Prophet Esay plainly acknowledgeth, Esay 47 10. when he saith, Thy wisdom and thy knowledge O Babylon, have caused thee to rebel: And yet as the Prophet Jeremy noteth, She was most brutish in the true knowledge of God: So in the Church of Rome, I confess they are Scholars, and Scholars great enough in all Arts and Sciences, and they that deny the same, do ei­ther bewray their own Ignorance of their works, or their partial judgment of their worth; c. 47. v. 9, 12, 13. and therefore I will never deny the truth and their due; they are for the most part, great Scholars, good Artists, expert Linguists, and politick States-men: And no marvel, because they have better helps and means to attain unto these things, than any other Scholars have, in any other parts of Christendom: Yet, in the [Page 45]knowledge of many points, of the greatest moment, and mysteries of the Divine Verity, they come short of their poorer Brethren: And no wonder neither; be­cause, as it is in Job, God taketh the wise in their own craftiness, Job 5.13. and the counsel of the froward he carrieth headlong: And as Christ saith. He hideth these things from the wise and prudent, and revealeth them unto Babes; when as the Apostle saith, Mat. 11.25. 1 Cor. 1.27, 29. God chu­seth the foolish things of the world, to confound the wise, and the weak things, to con­found things that are mighty, that no flesh should glory in his presence. And there­fore let no man wonder, that they are great Scholars and very learned men, and yet overwhelmed in great errours: For so Arius, Pelagius, and divers others were great Scholars, and yet great Hereticks: And so doctissimus Patrum Tertullianus, ingeni­sissimus Origines, Tertullian was the most Learned of the Fathers of his time; Euscbius. and as Euseb. writes of him, Origen the wittiest and most excellent; and yet both of them were tainted with foul Errours, condemned since for foul Heresies: For the truth is, that non ni si ex magnis ingeniis magni errores; great errours could never be so insen­sibly ingendred, and so probably defended, without great Learning and good wits.

2. For the Pride of the Church of Rome, I will not stand so much upon that, 2. The Pride of the Church of Rome. Esa. 47.5, 7, 8. whereby, as Babylon of old exalted her self above all her sister-Cities, and said, I shall be a Lady for ever, I am and none else beside me, I shall not sit as a Widow, nei­ther shall I know the loss of children: So the Church of Rome doth arrogate unto her self, the prime Title, and exalt her self above all other Churches of the world: Though this be so great a sin, that St. Gregory saith, quicun (que) desiderat primatum in terris inveniet confusionem in coelis; Seeing our Saviour exhorteth him, Mat. 20.27. Jer. 50.29. that would be chief of all, to become the Servant of all: But I will insist upon that Pride of hers, whereby, as Babel exalted her self in Pride against God, so this Church doth lift up her self against God, and spurn against the Grace of Christ; and that, as in many other Points, so especially in these Four principal Points. The pride of the Roman Church against God in four points.

• 1. Of Free-will.
• 2. Of Justification.
• 3. Of Satisfaction.
• 4. Of Merits and the works of supererrogation. For,

1. Though our Saviour tells us, sine me nil potestis facere, without me, 1. In the Do­ctrine of free­will. you can do nothing, that is, nothing that is good; no, not to think a good thought, saith the Apostle: For as St. Bernard saith, Homo in Paradyso male utens suo arbitrio, perdidit se & arbitrium; man in Paradise, abusing his free-will, lost himself and his will; that is, to do any good that can be acceptable to God: And therefore the Apostle saith, that God worketh in us both, velle & agere, as well to will good, as to do good: Philip. 2.13. And St. August. saith, nolentem prevenit, ut velit, volentem subsequitur, ne frustra velit; he prepareth and preventeth the unwilling mind, to make him willing, and he followeth it being willing, to do the good, that he may not will in vain: How God en­clineth our wills to will good. And yet, we deny not, but man hath freedom of will, to will the things that he willeth; for the will is alwaies free, and not compelled, else should it be no will: And therefore when God moveth us to will that which is good, he doth it not by forcing or compel­ling our will to will such and such things, but proponendo bonitatem & suavitatem Ob­jecti; by laying the Objects of good before the eyes of our understanding, and then, inclinando voluntatem, by inclining our minds, and enticing our wills to yield and to embrace that good; and that, by a kind of a sweet influence and secret perswasion, in our apprehending the sweetness of the Object, and no compulsion at all; but even as we pray in our Lyturgy, Lord have mercy upon us, and encline our hearts to keep this Law: But to say, that a man can will good of himself, without this help of the Grace of Christ, we do utterly deny; because all the cogitations of mans heart are prone to evil continually: And the Apostle saith, that we were dead in trespasses and sins: Gen. 6.5. Col. 2.13. Aug. de corde & gratia. And if we were dead in sin, then sure we must needs be without any life of Goodness in us: And therefore we say with St. Aug. to will any thing freely, is the work of nature, to will evil, is the work of corruption, but to will well, and that which is good, is the work of Christ and of his Grace.

And yet the Church of Rome ascribeth so much power to the will of man, that Bellarmine saith, Bellar. l. 6. c. ult. de grat. our conversation is in the power of our free-will; and that before all Grace, we have free-will, even in the works of Piety, and may by this our will, leviores quas (que) titillationes superare, overcome all the slighter motions of sin, and dispose our selves to receive Grace, Scotus 2. d. 28. Durand. 16. q. 4. as Aquinas and Suarez say; yea, and to keep Gods Commandments, as Scotus and Durandus do affirm.

And what is this, but in a humane Pride, to rob God of his Glory, due to him for the Grace of Christ, and to give it to the freedom of our will? to lessen the bounty of Christ, and the goodness of his Grace towards us, and to magnifie the goodness of our selves towards him? At hoc piarum mentum est, ut nihil boni sibi tribuant; But it is the part of every good man to ascribe no good unto himself, but with St. Paul, to confess, all good to be due to the Grace of Christ; because as St. James saith, Every good and perfect gift is from above, James 1.17.and cometh down from the Father of Lights: And therefore we say with Sr. Bernard, that aliud est velle, & aliuà est velle bonum; it is one thing to will, and that we have from our selves, and it is another thing to will that which is good, and this we have from the Grace of Christ, and thanks be unto him for his Grace.

2. 2. In the Do­ctrine of our Justification. For our Justification: The Apostle proveth by many arguments, that we are freely justified by the Faith of Jesus Christ, and that it proceedeth meerly of Grace, and not of works, lest any man should boast, if it had been of works: And therefore St. Ambrose saith, Rom. 3.24. &c. 4.16. &c. 5.1. & Gal. 2.16. non gloriabor quia justus sum, sed quia redemptus sum, non quia vacuus sum peccato, sed quia remissa sunt peccata; I will neither glory nor rejoyce, that I am just, but because I am redeemed, not because I am free from sin, but be­cause my sins are forgiven me: And St. Aug. saith, that credendo in Christum, justi­ficantur homines, men are justified by believing in Christ: And so not only these men, and all the Classie of the Fathers, St. Basil, Nazianzen and the rest of that age, but also the godliest sort of the Church of Rome, as Aquinas, Cassander and Arius Montanus do ingeruously confess, that Faith is reputed for righteousness, to every one that believeth in Jesus Christ, and that we cannot be justified by our own works or merits, but only by the Faith of Jesus Christ.

And yet the Council of Trent doth anathematize all them that teach and defend this Truth; Concil triden. Sess. 6. c. 7. and it affirmeth, that the formal cause of our justification, is our own inherent righteousness; and so Bellarmine and the whole Schools of Jesuits do eagerly defend the same Tenent.

But it may be some will say, this point might easily be reconciled; because that, as they affirm, we are justified by our good works; So we teach, that we cannot be justified without good works: For though sola fides justificat, Faith alone doth justifie us, yet we say, that fides nunquant est solitaria, Faith never goeth alone, but is al­waies accompanied with all good works: And therefore the difference betwixt us, is but in name and explication, seeing what they call inherent righteousness, we call Sanctification; and we preach the necessity of good works for Sanctification, as much and as earnestly as they do for justification: And therefore all this strife and stir about this point, may seem to be but a [...], a meer strife about words, and nothing else, when as both sides do agree about the Substance and the necessity of good works.

Alas Beloved, decipimur specie recti, we do many times think that to be of great moment, which is indeed but of little consequence; and many times we judge that to be of nothing worth, which in very deed is most material; So many men think this point of difference to be but of small account; but I am of Mr. Calvins mind herein, The difference betwixt our te­nent and the Church of Rome explain­ed. that this point of all others, is one of the most importance, and our difference herein to be very great; for they make our good works to be causas essicientes, the precedent causes of our justification, and we make them to be fructus assequentes, the subsequent fruits and effects of our justification: and so, they ascribe to man, the greatest part of the Salvation of man, when they ascribe justification to the inherent works of man; for what is inherent in us, must needs be ours; and therefore, if we be justified, as they say, by our inherent righteousness, it must needs follow, that [Page 47]we do justifie our selves; and so we do arrogate more unto our selves, than we do as­cribe unto the Grace of God: For si hominem te fecit Deus, & justum tu te facis, melius aliquid facis quam fecit Deus; quia melius est, justum esse quam hominem esse; if God made thee a man, and thou by thy good works makest thy self a just man, thou makest somthing better than God maketh; because it is better to be a just man, than to be a man; But we ascribe nothing to our selves, but all to our Saviour Christ, when we say with the Apostle, that we are justified freely by his blood: Rom. 5.9. And so we make our justification perfect, because it is Christs; and our Sanctification we ac­knowledge to be imperfect, because it is ours, for that it is done by us, though by the help and assistance of the Grace and Spirit of Christ.

And therefore you see the difference to be so great, as it is to say, Christ justifieth us by his righteousness, made ours by Faith, and to say, we justifie our selves, or are justified by our own inherent righteousness or good works: the former we reach, to the praise of God and glory of Christ, and that no man should boast of any thing that is in himself: and the latter the Church of Rome stiffly defendeth, to the praise, as we conceive, of themselves, and that they might boast in the Lord, as Bellarmine saith, and so exalt themselves herein, like Babylon, in pride, against the Lord, as we say.

3. In the point of Satisfaction, they are as injurious to Christ, 3. In the point of Satisfacti­on. as in the other point of our Justification: For, though our blessed Saviour, Jesus Christ, by the shedding of his most precious blood and the suffering of the most bitter and accursed death of the Cross, hath made there, by his own oblation of himself once offered, a full, The excellent confession of our Church herein.perfect, and sufficient Sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world; as our Church doth most Christianly confess in our Lyturgy: Yet the Coun­cil of Trent doth affirm, that by this satisfaction of Christ, made upon the Altar of his Cross, the fault is only pardoned, but the punishment is not remitted, until that by our own Penance and other sufferings, it be fully satisfied for: But because this seemeth too reproachful to the Justice of God, to remit the fault, and yet to inflict the punishment, which would be nothing else but a meer mockery, as if a King should say to a Traytor, I will forgive thee thy Treason, but thy Head must be cut off for a punishment; therefore the Learned Cardinal, wiser than the rest, Bellar. l. 1. c. 4. de indulgentiis, distinguisheth betwixt the temporary and the eternal punishment of our sins: and he yields the eternal punishment to be fully satisfied for, by Christ, but the temporary punishment, he saith, must be discharged and satisfied for, by our selves, that is, by our penance and other sufferings and satisfaction.

But I answer, that if this were true, then must it needs impeach that [...], the great propitiatory Sacrifice, which Christ hath offered for our sins, of some great imperfection; because it was but in part, and for a part, and not for all; and we must needs thereby conclude, that either Christ could not discharge us from these tem­poral punishments, or else, could, and would not do it; but to say either of these, is most injurious unto Christ: For, to say, he could not do it, denieth his Power, that is Almighty; and to say, he would not do it, is to deprave his Goodness, who is goodness it self: And indeed, this dimidiatory satisfaction were to cross the very Rules of reason, that he which had done so much for us, John 1.18. Phil. 2.7. as to descend from the Bosom of his Father, to take upon him [...], the form of a Servant, and to suffer the most bitter death of the Cross, to make satisfaction for our sins, and to deliver us from eternal vengeance and the wrath of God, would be unwilling to satisfie his Father for our temporal punishment, especially, when it would cost him no more to satisfie for all, than for part of all; nay, when as the satisfaction made by Christ, is of far more worth, than the Justice of God could require for all the punishments we had or could deserve; quia modicam guttam sanguinis Christi propter unionem hypostaticam, pro redemptione totius mundi sufficisse necesse est; because it must needs be, that the least drop of Christ his bloud, by reason of the hypostatical union, of the manhood of Christ with the Godhead, should be sufficient to make satisfaction to the wrath of God, and to procure the redemption of the whole world, as St. Clemens saith: and there­fore this partition of satisfaction is both false and frivolous.

But you will object, that God pardoned the guilt of Davids sin, and yet he in­flicted a punishment upon him for his fault, and so he did and doth upon many others of his chosen Saints and dearest Children.

I Answer, and confess that many times after the offence is remitted, we see pu­nishments inflicted upon the Offendor; Why God in­flicteth punish­ment after the fault is remit­ted. but we say, that is not to satisfie the Justice of God for that sin, for which Christ hath fully satisfied, but to amend us, and to confirm us unto God, that is, not to make satisfaction unto God for the sns that are past, but to be for a prevention unto us against all other sins, that are to come, and would other­wise be acted by us.

And this is the end for which we perswade men to fast and pray, and to perform all the exercises of true Penance, to shew the fruits and truth of their repentance for their sins past and offending God, and to declare the willingness of their minds to do any Service, and to undergo any labour, and patiently to suffer any cross or disaster, that might any waies be available for the prevention of all sins to come.

But to say that any penance or punishment imposed by the Priest, or voluntarily as­sumed by our selves, should any way satisfie Gods wrath for our sins committed against him, we do utterly deny and detest, as a most derogatory Doctrine to the all-sufficient satisfaction of Christ.

And the truth of this Doctrine sufficiently sheweth, No need of Purgatory. that there is no need, and there can be no place nor use of any Purgatory, to make satisfaction for sins after this life.

4. 4. In the Do­ctrine of Me­rits. In their Doctrine of Merit, they exceed in Pride, above all the rest: For though our Saviour tells us, that when we have done all what we can, we are but un­profitable Servants, and far short of what we should be; And the Apostle plainly saith, that by Grace we are saved through Faith, Eph. 2.8,9. and that, not of your selves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast, And the Holy Fathers are plentiful in the justifying of this point, and teach, quod sufficit ad meritum scire, quod non suffi­ciunt merita, that it sufficeth us to know, that no merits can avail us any thing, to me­rit any thing at the hands of God, but the Merits of Jesus Christ, as St. Bernard saith.

Yet such is the Pride of these men, that some of them do say, a just mans work is of value worthy of Heaven, and that abs (que) ullo respectu meriti Christi, without any respect to the merits of Christ, as I read it alleadged, Suarez. was not ashamed to write: Nay more, they teach that men are able not only for to merit, but also to supererrogate; that is, to merit for themselves and for others likewise, when they do more service unto God, than God commandeth them to do, and do more good works, than God requireth at their hands. Mat. 25.9. I remember the five wise Virgins would not im­part with one jot of their Oyle unto their Fellowes, lest they should want the same themselves; but these men think they have enough both for themselves and others: And therefore, because they would have nothing lost, they have invented that gainful Doctrine of Indulgences and pardons, whereby they transfer the surplusage and re­mainder of the merits of those Saints, which have supererrogated, and have done more good works than will serve their own turn, or that God requireth at their hands, unto those, The Doctrine of Merits and Supererrogati­on very bene­ficial to the Church of Rome. that want them, and can pay them for them: the which point of their Doctrine, I dare say, is no Gospel, but a very profitable Kitchin-Divi­nity.

And so you see how they derogate all from Christ, and ascribe all this unto them­selves: And as Constantine saith of Acetius, do erigere sibi scalas, set up Ladders of their own framing, to climb alone to Heaven, without the help of their Saviour, or but with a very little of his help: And what is this, but as the Poet saith turgescere fastu, to swell with pride, and to become insolent against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel, as the Prophet speaketh of Babylon? For our Saviour saith, if any man will be his Disciple, he must forsake all, and deny himself and follow him; but these men will neither deny their own errors, nor forsake their own Pride to rely on their Saviour Christ.

3. As the Chaldean Babylon was full of Idolatry, the Land of Graven Images, The Idola­ [...] the Ro­man Church. Jer 50. th [...] was mad upon their Idols, as the Prophet peaketh, so is the City and Church of Rome: Of whom we may justly say with Baptista Mant.

And this Idolatry of the Roman Church we affirm to be committed two waies, In two Re­spects. 1. Respect, two waies. and and in two special respects.

1. In giving the true honour and worship of God to faise Gods

2. In worshipping the true God with false worship. [...] For,

1. They give the Divine Worship, 1. Giving the true Worship of God to false gods. which they themselves confess to be only due to the true God, unto the Creatures. [...] As,

1. To the consecrated Bread of the holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper here on earth: [...] And

2. To the Saints and Angels that are in Heaven.

1. When the Priest hath consecrated the Bread, he lifts it up above his head, 1. To the con­secrated bread. and saith three times, that one of the most comfortable Sentences in all the whole Book of God, and ever proper and peculiar to Christ alone, O the Lamb of God, which ta­keth away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us; and then immediatly all the people fall down and prostrate themselves unto that Wafer Cake, as unto the everli­ving God: And what greater and more palpable Idolatry can there be, than to worship Bread, in stead of God? Indeed the Heathens adored Ceres, that they say, first invented the sowing of Corn, for a Goddess, but they counted her the lowest of all their Goddesses, and her Daughter Proserpina, they feigned to be married to Pluto the King of Hell, the fittest place for such Goddesses: But these men adore, not the makers and authors of bread, but the bread it self, and count that bread to be the true and living God: and therefore seeing their Idolatry is the greater, let them take heed lest their judgment shall be the severer, and that they shall not, with Pro­serpina, be either Kings or Queenes, or have any Dignity in Hell, but with the rest of the wicked Idolaters, shall be slaves of Hell, if they repent not, for ever­more.

But these men, to salve this sore, and to quit themselves from this high charge of Idolatry, do say, they worship not any bread, either hallowed or unhallowed, but the Body of Christ, which is the blessed God for ever and ever: For after the Priest hath consecrated the bread, and said, this is my Body, it is no more bread, but it is changed and transubstan iated into the very true and natural body of Christ, according to the words of Christ himself, this is my Body; So, as the water was no more water, Mat. 26. [...]6. John 2.9. after Christ had changed the same into wine, the bread is no more bread, after the Priest transubstantiates the same into the Body of Christ; and therefore they commit no Idolatry nor offence by this their adoration of the Host, Why the Body of Christ is to be worshipped. which is now become the true Body of Christ; because the Body of Christ, though not as it is a Creature, and the Son of Mary, yet as it is hypostatically united to the Son of God, and is a nature of that Person, which is the true God by nature, is to be worshipped and adored.

I answer, that if they could well prove the former point, that the consecrated bread is transubstantiated into the body of Christ, we would willingly, as we do, rea­dily yield unto the latter, as I shewed unto you, how the body of Christ is to be worshipped: But for the truth of their Transubstantiation of the Sacramental bread into the body of Christ, it resteth to be discussed.

We read in St. John, that the Word was made flesh, John 1.14. Gal. 4.4. and so flesh was united unto the Word: And St. Paul saith, the Son of God was made of a woman, and so the seed of the Woman was made the Son of God; but we never read it in all the Scrip­ture. [Page 50]ture, The first In­venters of transubstant [...]a­tion. that the Son of God was made of bread, nor that bread was made the Son of God; For it was those Antichristian Popes, Leo, Nicholas, Innocentius and Hono­rius, that were the first Fathers, which begat this new Doctrine of Transubstantiation; and the Council of Lateran, not much above 400 years ago, was the first Council that confirmed and gave life unto the same.

But how far this new devised Doctrine of theirs, The falshood of the Do­ctrine of tran­substantiation shewed three waies. is from the old received Faith of the Church, and from the Divine Truth of God, I shall briefly shew unto you.

1. From the Holy Scriptures.

2. From the Ancient Fathers.

3. From pure and sound reason. And a threefold cord is not easily broken; For

1. Christ told his Disciples, 1. From the Scriptures. John 14.3. & v. 28. Mark 16.19. Acts 7.56. Acts 9.4. Acts 3.21. before his passion, that he must leave the world, and go to his Father, as he was man: And St. Mark saith, that after his resurrection, he was taken up into Heaven, and sitteth on the right had of God: And so Saint Stephen saw him in heaven, standing on the right hand of God; and Saint Paul heard him from Heaven, saying, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And St. Peter saith, that the Heavens must receive or contain or hold him, until the times of re­stitution of all things: that is, until the last day, the day of Judgment. How then can he be corporally present here on earth, and be still residing in Heaven? But to make the Point more clear; John 6.53. our Saviour saith, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his Blood, ye have no life in you: that is, none can attain unto eternal life, but only those that do eat the flesh of the Son of man and do drink his bloud; but all the Patriarchs, Fathers and Prophets of the Old Testament, and all those Christians that are baptized and die before they receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, The Fathers of the old Te­stament could not eat the natural flesh of Christ. could not, nor cannot eat the very natural flesh of the Son of man: For as yet, in the time of the Fathers of the Old Testament, he had not assumed his Body; and therefore, either all those Fathers can have no life; or else our Saviour meaneth it of a spiritual eating of his flesh, by the mouth of Faith, and not of any carnal eating of him by the mouth of our Bodies.

But to deny eternal life to these Fathers, is most absurd and injurious unto them; therefore our Saviours meaning must needs be granted to be of a spiritual eating of his flesh; and no thanks to grant it: For the Apostle proves it, saying, that they did ali eat the same spiritual meat, 1 Cor. 10.3, 4. and they did all drink the same spiritual drink, that is, as we do now; for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ, whose flesh they did thus spiritually eat, that so they might have eternal life: And St. Aug. in Johan. tract. 26. Aug. expounds it in the same manner, saying, visibilem cibum, hoc est, Man­na, spiritualiter intellexerunt, spiritualiter esurierunt, spiritualiter gustaverunt, they understood that visible meat, that is, the Manna, spiritually, they hungred after it, spiritually, and they did eat the same spiritually.

And of all Christian Children and others that are baptized, and die before they re­ceive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, the same Father saith, nulli est aliquatenus ambigendum, tunc unumquem (que) fidelium corporis & sanguinis Domini participem fieri, quando in baptismate efficitur membrum Christi, Aug de Symbol. fidei ad catech. to. 9. no man ought any way to doubt, but that every one is then made partaker of the body and blood of our Lord, when by Bap­tism he is made a member of Christ: Therefore the words of Christ are not to be understood of any oral eating of his flesh, or drinking of his blood.

2. 2. From the Fathers. The whole stream of the first Fathers of the Christian Church are against this new-found Doctrine of Transubstantiation of the bread into the flesh of Christ, and of the wine into his blood, and for the spiritual eating of the flesh of Christ and the spi­ritual drinking of his blood: For Origen saith, si secundum literam sequaris id quod dictum est, Origen. in Le­vit. hem. 7.nisi manducaveritis carnem filii hominis, non habebitis vitam in vobis, litera illa occidit, if you follow the letter of that which is said, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, ye have no life in you, that letter killeth; for it is the Spirit that giveth life, the flesh profiteth nothing: Theoder. Dia­log. 7. And Theodoret saith, Christus naturam panis non mutat; Christ changeth not the nature of the bread: So Tertullian contra Marcionem, l. 4. August. contra Adamant. Manich. to. 6. c. 12. & in epist. 221. Cyprian. de coena Domini. Hesichius in Levit. l. 3. c. 2: Amb. de Sacrament. l. 1. c. 5. Chrys. in [Page 51]Johan. Tract. 25, & 26. And all the rest that write of this Point, are of the sam [...] minde, and do expound it in the same manner.

And so many of the Popish Writers themselves do either ingenuously confess, or else tacitely yield unto this very truth; for Pope Gelasius saith, non desinit esse substantia vel natura panis & vini, the substance or nature of the bread and wine doth not cease to be: and Roffensis yieldeth, that the very presence of Christs body, in the Masie, Fisher, Bishop of Roches. cont. Capt. Babylon. Tonst. de Euch. l. 1. Pag 65. Ar. Mont. in Luc. 22. cannot be proved by any place of Scripture; and therefore sure we need not believe it for any truth; and Tonstall confesseth, it was no heresie to deny the Doctrire of Transubstantiation before the Council of Lateran: And Arias Montanus, upon the words of our Saviour, this is my body, saith, it is no more, but, my body is sacramentally contained in this Sacrament: and this we do all affirm, and accursed be he that denieth it: for we say, with Clemens Alexandrinus, that, duplex est sanguis Domini, alter carnalis, quo redempti sumus, alter spiritualis, quo scilicet unctisumus, and so the fiesh, or body of Christ, is understood to be,

• 1. Carnally, or corporally, in heaven.
• 2. Mystically, and spiritually in the Sacrament.

and in the first sence none did or can eat him; but, in the second sence all the godly men have, and do, and will eat him, and drink him; nam hoc est bibere Jesu sanguinem, incorruptionis domini participem esse; for this is to eat the flesr of Christ, and to drink the blood of Jesus, to be partakets of the incorruption of our Lord; as S. Clemens, saith, and as S. August. August. in Johan. saith, credere in Christum est manducarc panem vivum, to believe in Christ, is to eat the bread of life, which is the flesh of Christ.

3. Reason it self disproveth, 3. From reason. 1. Reason. John 3.9. and is fully against this their doctrine of Transubstantiation. For,

1. If the bread, upon the pronouncing of those words, this is my body, be turned into the flesh of Christ; then the Apostles did eat his body, and yet saw it whole and intire before their faces; and if so, it is a wonder, that they did not, with Nicodemus, ask him, how can these things be? for, I am sure they asked him many questions of less moment, and easier to be understood, than this great and high point of the transubstantiating of the bread, to become his flesh.

Reason. 2 2. If the bread be changed to flesh, and the wine into the blood of Christ, and we eat and drink the same; then it is carryed through our mawes, and passeth through the draught, or it is turned to our nutriment, which notwithstanding must at last, together with us, see corruption; but that is contrary to the saying of David, that God will not suffer his holy one, no, not his mortified, much less his glorified body to see corruption; Psal. 16.10.

Reason. 3 3. If the bread be turned to flesh, and the wine into blood, then the dogs and mice may eat, with reverence be it spoken, the most glorious body of the Son of God; and poyson may be mingled with the most precious blood of Christ; as we read one of the Emperors was poysoned in receiving the Sacrament; but it is most absurd to say, that the blood of Christ should poyson any man.

Reason. 4 4. If the body of Christ doth sit in heaven, and doth lie under the accidents of the bread; then either he took no true body of the blessed virgine; or now, after his afcention he hath put away all truth of a natural body; for a true natural body cannot subsist without its quantity and quality: Casman. in his Chiolog. part. 2. pag. 13. Scalliger in Cardan. Every true body must be in a place. Aug. ad Dard. Epist. 57. and every quantity must be measured and bounded by place alone; quia numerica unitas corporis finiti non potest subsistere sine continuitate; as Julius Scaliger saith, and therefore, if you take away locallity from a body, you must take away quantity, & trinarum dimensionum terminos, and the bounds of the threefold dimensions, longitude, latitude and profundity; and so you make a body to be no body, and take away the finiteness and definition of a body, saith the same Scaliger; and so S. Augustine saith, tolle spatia locorum corporibus nusquam erunt, & quia nusquam erunt, non erunt; If you take away the spaces of places from bodies; they can be no where; and what is no where is not at all: and therefore, by this rule, which is most certain, the opinion of Aquinas and Lombard, who do affirm that the very body of Christ is there in the bread, sed non ut in loco, non qualitativè, aut quantitativè; but not as in a place, not with quality or quantity, is utterly false, and overthrown; for that, as I said before, every true body must have quantity, and every quantity must have place.

But to this Bellarmine answereth, Bellar. de cuchar. l. 3. c. 4. pag. 297. that it followeth not, that a true natural quantative body cannot be in two places at once; quia ad esse circumscriptivè in loce nihil requiritur, nisi ut locatum sit commensur atum suo loco, & non ut non sit alibi, in alio loco; because to the being circumscriptive in a place, there is no more required, but that the thing placed should be fitted and measured according to his place, and not that it should not be else-where, in another place; and therefore the acute Cardinal, Bellarmine, and all the whole School of Jesuits, say, that the body of Christ though it be commeasured, bounded and fitted to the place, wherein it is placed, yet may the same body be else­where in another place: And to confirm this, that may be alledged, which Tursellian saith, Credat Judaeus appella non ego. that one Xavier was seen at the self same time in two several places, both in a ship, and in a boat, far distant from that ship; and Bellarmine relateth the like story of S. Anthony of Padua, as, that he was seen preaching in a Town of Italy, and at the same time, he was seen in another place.

For Tursellian's instance, Plautus Amph. Thom. in ma. l. 1. d. 32. q. 1. r. 1. of the locall [...]y of Angels. I say, not only with Plautus, tune id dicere audes, verbere, quod nemo unquam hemo vidit, nec potest fieri, tempore uno homo idem duobus ut locis simul sit; But I will also say with Aquinas, that by the same reason, that he might be in 2 places, he might be in a thousand places at once: and therefore if Xavier was in one place, it must needs be the Devil that was in the other place (by such impossible things, and improbable fictions,) to delude the credulous people; and to Bellarmines reasoning; I answer, The absurdities of Bellarmine's reason. that the absurdities of his reasons do quite overthrow the possibility of his Doctrine; because that, for the same body to be circumscribed in one place, and yet to be at the same time in a 1000 places; and for one place to fit, bounden, and commensurate a body, the which very body, notwithstanding is in 10 thousand several and far distant places at the same time; it overthroweth and nullifyeth not only the humanity of our saviour Christ, but also the order of things, and the very principles of nature, and it exceedeth the bounds of all sense and reason.

Object. But I know, they will reply against this, and say, that we must not conceive of divine things by the rule of humane reason, when as so, we should never believe the world to be made of nothing, or that a virgin should bear a son; for subtle Philosophy doth many times pervert pure divinity, and Aristotle seduced many a Doctor, and caused Aetius to become Arius, Socrat. l. 2. c. 28. saith Socrates; and that may be true according to the rules and Principles of Phylosophy, which cannot be true in Divinity, which made Paul bid us, beware least any man spoil us through phylosophy, Colos. 2.8. and therefore we must seek to attain to the knowledg of those things, not by the reach of reason, but by the rule of faith, which Philo calleth fidem oculatam, so well sighted, that, as the eagles eye, being aloft in the clouds, can notwithstanding espie, sub frutice leporem, & sub fluctibus piscem, under the shrubs a hare, and under the waves a fish; so quick-sighted faith, here on earth, can, notwithstanding sore up into the deep things of God in heaven, and can most perfectly see those things, and believe those mysteries, which humane sence and reason can no wayes perceive, nor possibly reach unto them.

Solut. We believe not these things, not because we know not how they can be done; but because we do know they cannot be done. I answer with S. August. that we easily yield, and do undoubtedly believe, Deum posse multa, qua nos intelligere non possumus, that God can do many things which we can not understand; as to create things of nothing, to make the sun to stand still, to cause the fire not to burn, and the water not to drown, to assume our nature into the unity of his person, to be born of a virgin, to raise up himself from the grave, to ascend to heaven, and many other such things we believe by faith, though we cannot search and finde out the reasons thereof, especially in all the books of nature; but we cannot yield, nor believe that those things may or can be done, which we understand and know, and can bring many Reasons to prove, that they cannot be done; as for the same thing to be and not to be; when as all the Schooles do affirm, Deum contradictoria efficere non posse; God cannot do contradictories, as, he cannot lie, because he is truth: and he cannot die, because he is allwayes, and eternally life; and therefore, though we grant, he can make creatures of nothing, and reduce all creatures into nothing, and change the nature of any one thing into another thing, as Lots wife into a pillar of salt, of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham, to turn Moses rod into a [Page 53]serpent, and water into wine; and, Ovid. in his Metamorphosts. if he pleased to Metamorphose all those transformations that Ovid writes of; yet, that he can make any one thing, to be two distinct things at once, and still to remain one, as to make Moses rod, to be both a rod and a serpent at once, and to be still a rod, and yet a serpent; the same one numerical thing, to be bread and flesh, wine and water, ston [...]s and the children of Abraham, at the self same time, we utterly deny, and can no wayes grant it; because such things are meer contradictions, and do overthrow the truth of God,

And therefore, that Christ should sit in heaven, and be the bread that we eat in the Sacrament here on earth, that he should be visibly there, and invisibly here, and that he should be one and many, continued and discontinued, intire in one place, and at the self same time intire in 10 thousand places, and such like, we cannot believe; because these things are not onely contrary to all reason, but do also exceed all faith: and therefore in all sayings of the holy Scripture, that do seem to contrary one another, we must finde out such expositions of either place, as, that neither of them do overthrow the truth of the other, nor yet be contrary to the analogy of the faith.

And this sheweth, that the Church of Rome, adoring the consecrated bread in the Eucharist with divine worship, commits palpable idolatry; like unto Babylon, by giving the true worship of God to that which is no God: and so,

2. They give the same divine worship of the true God unto the Saints and Angels, 2. To the saints and Angells. that are no God; for though that by their Doctrine and distinction, [...], and [...] and [...], they would clear themselves from this idolatry; yet, if they will erect temples, observe dayes, and make prayers for the honor of the Saints and Angells, thereby to be helped and relieved by them, all the streames of Tiber can never wash away their Tdolatry; because, as Prosper saith, the dedication of Temples and Altars, and Prayers, and the like, are proper and peculiar parts of Gods divine worship.

2. 2. In worshiping the true God with false worship. As the Roman Church giveth the true worship of God to those things that are not God; so, by their superstitions and many foolish inventions of their will-worship, they worship the true God with false worship, such as he neither commandeth, nor is pleased with them, and which, to ease my Reader, I must pass over.

2. The Sinnes of Babylon against man, were especially of 2 sorts;

• 1. Covetousness, from whence proceeded their fraud and deceit, which the Prophet setteth down, c. 51. v. 13.
• 2. Cruelty, which diminished and destroyed the children of God, and caused them to be scattered like sheep, and to be driven away: and so truly the iniquity of the Church of Rome is every way equal, if not exceeding the iniquity of Babylon, and resembles the same, as in many other things, so especially,

in respect

• 1. Of their Confusion, and division among themselves. For,
  Rome resembling Babylon in three Respects. 1. Their Division.
• 1. Of their Covetousness and collusion against all. For,
• 3. Of their Injuries, and oppression of the best men. For,

1. Though they bragge much of their unity, and say, this is a special Argument to prove them to be the true Church of Christ, which is a vision of peace, and like unto Hierusalem, that was a city in unity within it self, according as it was afore prophesied of it, that God should keep the sheep, and servants of Christ secretly, within his Tabernacle, from the provoking of all men, and from the strife of tongues; when as yet every unity, or rather confederacy, is not the Character, and true note of Caristianity; Psal. 2.2. for the Kings of the earth stood up, & Principes convenerunt in unum; and the Rulers took counsel tegether against the Lord, and against his anointed; and all cryed, crucisie him, Mat. 27.22. Exod. 32.1. Act. 19.34.crucifie him; and all agreed to make the golden calf, and all the whole multitude said, great is Diana of the Ephesians: and all covenanted and conspired against — And no marvel; for if Satan should be divided against Satan, his Kingdome could not stand; and therefore we say with S. Augustine, that, sicut est Dei una Ecclesia, sic est Diaboli [...]na Babylon; as God hath one Church, so the Devil hath one Babylon.

Yet, if we look into the Church of Rome, we shall finde, that, howsoever, in things that may concern the preservation of their hierarchy, they hold together; yet, in many other things there is such oppositions, contentions, and consusions amongst them, as [Page 54]will plainly shew them to be a Babilon; and that, as the Poet saith in another case, so we may say, of them; ‘Scinditur incertus studia in contraria clerus.’ For we finde their Councills, Popes, and Orders, crossing, thwarting, and contradicting each other, as,

1. 1. The contradictions of the Councils. The First Councel of Nice allowed the communion under both kindes, unto the people; But the Council of Constance, and the Council of Basil, and that Council of Trent have forbidden to give the cup unto the Laity. So the third Council of Carthage accursed him that would call himself universal Bishop; but the Council of Trent curseth all them, that will not acknowledg the Bishop of Rome to be so. And the great oecumenical Council of Constantinople condemned all Images, from the divine Worship; but the second Council of Nice allowed them, and then again the Council of Frankfort accurseth that Nicene Council, and accounteth it flat idolatry to worship them, or God by them.

2. 2. The contradictions of the Popes. Their Popes do follow the same steps; for Stephan the 6. abrogated all his Predecessors Decrees; but Formosus took up his body, after his burial, for it, and cut off two of his fingers, and then buried his body again; and the next succeeding Popes Theodorus the 2. Ex Polychron. Romanus, and John the 10. confirmed all the Acts of Formosus; but Sergius disannulled them all again, and took up Formosus his body, and threw the same into Tiber.

3. 3. The contradictions of their Orders. The Oppositions among their Orders is never a whit less, than betwixt their Popes; for, the difference betwixt the Dominicans and the Franciscans, about the conception of the blessed Virgin Mary, (the Dominicans holding, that she was conceived in original sin, and the Franciscans denying the same) was so great, and their fury was so hot, Anno 1476. against each other, that Pope Xistus the 4. joyning with the Franciscans, burned 4 of the Dominicans for defending that truth.

Neither are their Schooles free from this fault; for the Scotists, Ochamists, and Thomists could never be reconciled, Erasmus, in loc. contr. Laton. Alphoas. l. 1. c. 6. Genchrard. in Chron. untill the Thomists got the conquest; and at this day, the Seculars and the Jesuits can never agree; nor the Jesuits, that are indeed the better learned, accord well among themselves; for Alphonsus de Castro, and his Adherents do hold the Council above the Pope, but Card. Bellarm. and all his Schollers do hold the contrary; and it is observed by Genebrard, that there were 20 several Sects and Schismes amongst the Romanists at the same time; and others have collected 80 several different Opinions amongst them, about that one only point of the Eucharist.

And I could yet further inlarge this point, how they do not all agree in the Doctrine of our Justification, nor in many other points beside; nor indeed any one of them long with himself; quia oportet mendacem esse memorem, because the teacher of errors and false Doctrine had need to have a good memory, & ea falsitatis atque erroris est natura, ut nemine repugnante, a seipsa tandem juguletur, and that is the nature of Error and falsehood, that a length it will overthrow it self, though there were no man to speak against it; and therefore we finde Bellarmine himself confuting and contradicting himself in many places, as our learned Bishop Morton hath most excellently observed; but I stood too long on this point already.

2. 2. The collusion of the Roman Church. There Collusion is, and especially in former times, was such, that they did not onely deceive one another, but almost all the world besides, Presbyter amplectens faeminam, presumitur benedicendi causa fecisse: and old Lyra saith, fit aliquando in Ecclesia dei maxima deceptio, in fictis miraculis, à sacerdotibus, the greatest decepts and cosenage shall happen sometimes in the Church of God by the false and faigned miracles, that shall be done by the Priests; and so indeed, as our Presbyters do now, so their Priests and Jesuits, by their faigned sanctity, false miracles, and subtle insinuations into the hearts and bosomes of the vulgar people, seduxerunt gentes, have seduced them, and made them drunk with the wine of their abominations and abominable flatteries.

3. 3. The oppression of the Romanists. For their oppression, vexation, and cruelty towards the servants of God, it exceeded all humanity; and the Chaldean Babylon must not compare with them [Page 55]herein; for they did not only vex the children of God, and lay heavy yokes upon their necks, which was all that Babylon did unto the Israelites, but they did also per­secute the best Protestants with sword, fire and faggot, burning them, as they did John Hus and Hierom of Prague, and take their bones out of their Graves; if they can­not lay hands on them alive, as they did the bones of Bucer and Phagius, in the time of Queen Mary. ‘Scaeva sic in manes manibus arma dabant;’ And so they warred: Amos 2.1. And as the King of Moab burned the bones of the King of Edom, so they raged against the very Ghosts of the Saints.

And therefore, if we had nothing else to say against them but this, their cruelty against the Saints and Servants of Christ, yet this alone is a sufficient argument to prove their City and Church a Babylon, and themselves rather Citizens of Babylon, than Members of the Church of Christ; for as he that was born after the flesh, Galat. 4.29. perse­cuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now, saith the Apostle: The Church of Christ doth never persecute, but doth alwaies suffer Persecution; for Chri­stian Religion is to be maintained, enlarged and defended, non occidendo sed monendo, non saevitia, sed patientia, not by killing, but by monishing, not by cruelty, but by patience; nam si sanguine & tormentis religionem defendere velis, jam non defendetur, Lact. l. 1. c. 19. Religion not to be planted by the sword.sed polluetur, saith Lactantius: For if thou wouldst defend Religion with shedding of blood and inflicting torments, it is not defended, but polluted; and thou dost defile it and spoil it, in seeking to maintain it.

And this is plainly seen by the example of Christ himself, who neither instituted his Kingdom by any foreible meanes, nor would have himfelf defended by any outward power of the sword, but biddeth S. Peter to put up his sword into his sheath; Matth. 26.52. and he sheweth the reason of it unto the Governour, because his Kingdom is not of this world, nor like unto the Kingdoms of this world; for they are enlarged and defended by force of Armes and by the sword; Rom. 10.14. but the Kingdom of Christ is encreased and con­tinued by the reading and the preaching of the word; and Faith cometh ex auditu, non ex metu, by hearing, not by threatning, ex dono Dei, non ex imperio hominum; from the Gift of God, and not by the Command of any man.

And therefore S. Bernard saith, that suadenda fides, non cogenda; Faith is to be perswaded and not compelled: And S. Paul saith, 2 Cor. 10.4. Damasc. 3. sent. c. 32. that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but spiritual: And Damascene saith, that the Gospel was preached through­out all the world without weapon, armour or Battel, by a few naked, poor, afflicted men; and if men believed, they saved their souls; if not, the Apostles were to take none other revenge, but to shake off the dust of their feet to be a witness against them, that refused their Doctrine.

Object. But the Romanists against this, do answer for themselves and say, that our Saviour bids his Servants to go to the high waies, and compel the people to come into his Wedding, that his House might be full. Luke 14.23.

Solut. I answer, 1. That the Word compell, doth not alwaies imply a forcible compul­sion, but a continual perswasion, and an undeniable intreaty and importunity; until our request be granted; for so the two Disciples going to Emmans, Luke 24.29. are said to have compelled or constrained Jesus to stay with them, that is, by their importunity, and not by any forcible way: And so we are to compel all men, by entreating them with continual importunity, to believe in Christ, and by him to be reconciled unto God, and by captivating their understanding to the obedience of Christ, which is the best compulsion in the world.

2. I say, that we are in some sense to compel them, that is, quoad media, to the nieanes of Faith, though not to the Faith it self; to come into the House, but not to eat; to come into the Church, but not to believe; because this men may do, but the other God alone must do: And therefore we say with S. Aug. against the Donatists, that in this sence, Kings within their Kingdoms, and every man within his House, is to compel and to cause his Children and Servants and all that are under his Jurisdiction, to come into the Church, to hear the Word of God, and to make every one to per­form [Page 56]the outward service of God, at least in shew, so far as man can judge; for so the Commandment is, that thou shalt keep holy the Sabbath Day, and shalt do no man­ner of work, thou, and thy Son and thy Daughter, thy Man-servant and thy Maid-ser­vant,Exod 20.and the Stranger that is within thy Gate.

But the Church of Rome would compel us to believe what they believe, and to pro­fess, that we believe whatsoever their Church professeth; and this their compulsion is with no light hand, as appeareth by their Inquisition, and the French Massacre: And yet they will answer, that they compel no man to believe, but only punish those that do erre and revolt from their Belief.

I confess, that some of the Learned do affirm, haereses spirituali gladio jugulatas esse, that Heresies and apostasies are to be punished only with the spiritual sword, and not with the temporal sword of the Civil Magistrate; because our Saviour said unto his Disciples, John 6.66, 67. after he saw many departing from him, nunquid & vos vultis abire? and will you go away likewise? As if he said, I hold you not, use your own judg­ment, and he that will depart, let him depart, he may go for me. And therefore St. Paul doth but excommunicate and deliver such men unto Satan, 1 Cor. 5.3, 5. that they might learn not to blaspheme; to shew unto us, that there should be no bloodshed nor temporal punishment for the Faith, in the Church of Christ:

But for the better clearing of this point, A twosold con­sideration to be had about the suppression and punishing of Schismaticks Hereticks and Apostata's. 1. Of the time 1. When the Members and true Professors are but few. Mat. 13.30. of compelling men to Christianity and to believe, I say, that great wisdom and discretion is to be adhibited in this case of mens consciences, and that a double consideration is to be had herein.

• 1. Of the Time, when these Offenders do appear in the Church.
• 2. Of the Persons, who they be that do thus offend. For,

1. There is a time, when such Offenders, Hereticks or Apostata's should be spa­red, and there is a time, when they should be punished and not spared: For,

1. In the Infancy of the Church, that is of any Church, when the true orthodox Christians are but few, and it may be fewer than the Herericks and Apostata's, it is not the safest way to be too severe and rigid against these men; but in a Christian poli­cy, rather to give some scope to these mens Consciences, and so to suffer the Tares to grow with the wheat, as our Saviour speaketh;

1. Because they are not able, being few, or fewer, to struggle against many. And I know no reason why the Roman Ca­tholicks should not be tolera­ted as well and assoon as Ana­baptists and other worser Schismaticks. That these times do re­quire some toleration of Religion. 2. When the true Professors are many.

2. Because their unseasonable severity and rigidness towards these Offenders might be a meanes to raise other enemies against them, whereby more wheat should perish, than Tares should be destroyed; and perhaps hinder those that are in aequili­brio, and as yet unsetled, to embrace the Truth and that Profession wherein they see, so little mediocrity and so much severity used. And truly, in these very times, where­in the true Professors are so few, and the Sectaries so many, I suppose this gentleness, moderation and some scope of Christian Liberty ought to be given, until, by the goodness of God, and a painful preaching of the truth, we shall reduce them to the full and perfect imbracing thereof. But,

2. When any Church is established, the Magistrates setled, and the true Profes­sors many and plentiful; then all such offenders are to be corrected, and not permit­ted to corrupt others, and to seduce the weaker sort of the true Professors; or other­wise the Christian and civil Magistrate cannot be free from sin, if he suffer such offen­ders to go free from punishment; for if he punish Theevery, and spare Idolatry, the Rebels and Runagadoes from him, and not the Revolters from Christ, how shall he answer this to God?

And therefore King Asa gathered both Judah and Benjamin and all the stran­gers from Ephraim, 2 Chron. 15.8, 13.Manasses and Symeon, and did enact with them, that whosoe­ver would not turn from his Idols and his Idolatrous waies, to seek the Lord God, should be slain: Exod. 32. [...]7. And Moses caused them to be put unto the sword that had worshipped the Golden Calf: And Jehu did put all those Priests unto the sword, that had for­saken the Lord to worship Baal: 2 Reg. 10.25. And so should every Christian Magistrate do the like, when he seeth the time serveth that he may and can do it: For, [Page 57]

The Rule of nature tells us, that the scab'd sheep must be separated from the Flock, lest she infect the sound ones; and so must Hereticks and Schismaticks from the flock of Christ: but a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump, and one lewd fellow may spoil many, and one subtle Heretick or Schismatick may seduce many of the simple people; and therefore, I would they were cut off from you, that trouble you, saith the Apostle.

II. As a wise consideration must be had, of the time, when and how this rooting out of the weeds may be done, 2. Of the per­sons. so the like consideration must be had of the Persons that do offend and are themselves led out of the way. For,

1. Some are private, 1. Tacit Offen­ders. quiet and peaceable men, that tacitly keep their errors and misbeliefs unto themselves, and so do no great hurt, but only unto themselves. And,

2. Some are more active and do corrupt others, and speak of wicked blasphemy, 2. Active Of­fenders. as the Psalmist speaketh; and to the first, we should be more indulgent; but on the Se­cond, we should inflict the severer punishment.

3. Some do erre and revolt of infirmity, 3. Offenders through infir­mity. for fear of imprisonment or loss of their meanes and livelihood; as St. Peter denied his Master, for fear of what the High Priests might do unto him; & many honest men now do many things that otherwise they would not do, for fear of the present Power; and should these be presently punished or cut off for their slips and slidings? God forbid: I remember Epiphanius writeth, that in the reign of Dioclesian and Maxim. which was a time of great persecution, divers Christians were imprisoned, of whom some were martyred, some revolted, and some were still detained in durance; and these that still were imprisoned, dispu­ted amongst themselves, whether those that had revolted, through the violence of the Persecution, should be received into the Church again, or not, when God eased them of that Persecution; and Peter Bishop of Alexandria, misericordia motus, moved with pity (saith Epiphanius) said, he would refuse none immediatly upon the confes­sion of their repentance; but Meletius Bishop of Thebais, said, Epiphan. l. 2. to. 2. p. 321. he would receive none, except that by a long Trial and a manifest proof of their amendment, they shew­ed the fruits of their true repentance: Where, you see, they dispute of the receiving of them that fall through fear, but not of their sudden cutting off from all favour; because of their amendment there is so great hope, and Peter in my judgment had the better end of the staffe, for those that fell through Infirmity and fear. But,

4. There be some that revolt and start aside for novelty and of wantonness, 4. Offenders through ma­lice, obstinacy and wanton­ness. and it may be of malice, and are obstinate in their errors; and herein Meletius was in the right, that they should not be so easily pardoned nor so gently dealt withal, that thus erre, relapse and forsake the true Service of their God: For if we punish a woman that through wantonness, adulterates and breaks faith with her Husband, shall we not severely punish them that do thus start aside from God? Yes surely, such men must be severely censured and punished, and not pardoned, until, as Meletius saith, they do fully shew the fruits of their repentance.

And so you see this point, how far we may compel men to the Faith, discussed; and how the Weapons of Gods Church are spiritual; and that the City of God doth never exercise any cruelty upon any one, nor any temporal punishment for spiritual points, save only in some particular cases of meer necessity and of great moment, as I shewed before, and that also on those that were her children, and not on strangers, that never were within the Pale of the Church.

But the Church of Rome compelleth all men to submit to her, The outward civil and teni­poral persecu­tion of the Roman Church. more with the out­ward sword of the Magistrate, than with Aarons Rod and the spiritual censure of the Word of God; and that likewise without any respect of Persons, and without all shew of Clemency, as witnesseth their cruelties against the poor Indians, their Massa­cres in France, their Inquisition in Spain, and those unmerciful persecutions here, [Page 58]in Ingland, in the daies of Queen Mary, and their new-devised plot of the Gun­powder Treason.

And therefore, though we had none other Argument, yet this their usual cruelty against their Brethren and good Christians, might serve for a sufficient testimony to prove the Church of Rome to be none of the best Saints of God, but the Citizens of Babylon: For it is an infallible truth, that Heresie, apostasie and cruelty are ever joyned and combined together; and whereas mercy and clemency do compass about the true Servants of Christ, severity and cruelty do fill the hearts of the Hereticks, Schismaticks and Apostata's.

And so we read that the cruelty of the Arians against the orthodox, was more than barbarous; The usual cruclties of hereticks and apostata's nam damnis gravissimis efficiebant Ecclesiam, armati diversis telis, they in­fested and afflicted the Church with most grievous damages, being armed with seve­ral weapons, saith Eusebius: And Novatus exceeded all the rest; for he would neither give bread unto his Father, when he was ready to be starved, nor burial unto his Corps, when he was dead; but to shew the heighth of his impiety and cruelty, he spurned his own Wife out of doors, when she was great with child, and so killed his own child in her belly: And Possidonius relates the like cruelties in the Circumcelli­ones, Socrat. l. 2. c. 21 & 30. Cypr. l. 2. epist. 8. Chrys. operis impert. ho. 19. which were a most savage Sect in the time of S. Augustine, and therefore could not be any good Members of the Church of Christ; nam quem videris sanguine ganden­tem, Lupus est, saith S. Chrysostom: For whomsoever thou seest rejoycing and taking his delight in blood, is a Wolf, and no sheep; quia caedi, Christianorum proprium est, caedere autem Christianos, Pilati & Caiphae officia sunt: because it is proper and a com­mon thing, for Christians to be beaten: but to beat Christians, is the property and the office of Pilate and Caiphas, saith Athanasius, ad solitariam vitam agentes.

And yet, touching the Church of Rome, lest that in seeking to reform your judge­ment, I should wrong your Charity, you must distinguish betwixt the Church of God in Rome, and the Church of Rome: For as Satan hath his Synagogue in the midst of Gods Church, so God hath his Church and his Elect in medio inimicorum, in the midst of their enemies, as a righteous Lot among the wicked Sodomites, Israel in E­gypt, and Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in Nebuchadnezzars Court, and many Thousands in Israel, that bowed not their knees to Baal, when notwith­standing the rest of the Israelites ran a whoring after their own inventions: So we assure our selves, there may be, and there are, many thousands in Rome and of the Romish Church, that retaining the Foundation of their Faith, according to their know­ledge, do adhere to the Roman Church, as many did in Israel follow Absolon, with a simple heart and good meaning: 2 Chron. 15.17. And so as the Lord said of King Asa, that, al­though he had not taken away the High Places out of Israel, yet his heart was perfect all his daies: It may be, that although they cannot, through their Ignorance, or dare not, through Fear, or be not able, through their mean estate and poor condi­tion, excutere phaleras, and to cast off the Romish Garments, as blind Bartymaeus did his Cloak, yet may their hearts be sound and perfect towards Christ and his Church: and to reject these from the Communion of Saints, were no better than a proud cruelty, or at least, a defect of Christian Charity.

And therefore we adhere to these in love and pity, and deem them as our Brethren in Christ Jesus: But for the rest, that are the wilful and obstinate Abettors of the Romish Idolatry and impiety, we will not only follow the counsel of our Lord and Master, and of his blessed Prophets and Apostles, to get out of this Babylon, and to se­parate our selves from amongst them, and to have nothing to do with their stool of wickedness; Jer. 50.14. but we will also do as our God commandeth us by his Prophet Jeremy, lay siege against it and spare no arrowes, because she hath sinned against tho Lord.

And thus I have shewed unto you, that [...], respectively, yea, and in many respects, that Rome and the Church of Rome, is a Babylon, a City of Confusion, and the Popish Hierarchy full of many iniquities and impieties: And I have been the more large and ample in this Point, to let the world see, how falsly and unjustly the Presbyterians, Puritans and their Adherents, have and do throw their scandalous im­putations and aspersions upon my self, and the rest of our Reverend Bishops, for be­ing [Page 59] Papists, and Popish, and Popishly affected, when as indeed all wise men know, that none propagated and defended the Gospel of Christ and the true Protestant Reli­gion, and impugned the Romish Babylon, and shewed, confuted, and here with us, Bishop Bilson. Bishop Baclow. Bish. Montagu. Bish. Abbats. suppressed the Superstitions, Heresies and Idolatries of the Church of Rome, better and more learnedly, than Bishop Jewel, Bishop Babington, Bishop Horne, Bishop Andrews, Bishop Downam, Bishop Usher, Bishop Prideaux, Bishop Hall, Bishop Morton, Bishop White, Bishop Laude, and the rest of our Reverend Bishops: And on the other side, the Presbyterians and Puritans, that hated and opposed our Bi­shops, though they railed against the Pope and Popery, and stuffed their Sermons with Invectives against them, yet, through their Ignorance, for want of Learning, have insensibly against their own wills, dispersed and taught many Popish points, and the flat Errours of the Romish Church unto their Auditors, who, as the blind do swallow many a flie, so do their simple Proselites suck those poysonous Tenets, which are thus insensibly by their ignorant Teachers infused into them.

But to return, you see Rome and the Church of Rome is a mystical Babylon: And yet, 2. The City of Rome not to be understood, to be the Seat of the Anti­christ and the Babylon spo­ken of in Rev. c. 17. 1 Pet. 5.3.

2. As the Chaldean City of Babylon cannot be said to be the Babylon that is spoken of in Revel. 17. and the proper peculiar Seat of the Antichrist; so no more can the Italian City of Rome be said to be the same: And though that after the eclipsing of that great Assyrian Babylon, first by Cyrus the Persian, then by Alexander the Graecian, that was here poysoned by Thessalus, with poyson in a horse hoof, and after that exhausted and almost unpeopled by Seleucus; Rome was for the splendor, strength and dominion thereof, termed Babylon, and for her Pride, Idolatry and confusion in the service of her Idol Gods, is so stiled by S. Peter; and is acknow­ledged by the Fathers afore-cited, and by most of the Learned Jesuits, that confess the Assyrian Babylon to be the Type and figure of the Italian Rome, and to be so un­derstood by the Apostle in that place. Yet I say; it cannot be meant by any place of Scripture, to be the Seat and Throne of the great Antichrist, and the Babylon spoken of in Rev. 17. For though Martial saith,

And Though Rome be somtimes signified by this name of Babylon, as I said before, and is therefore interpreted, by all those that would have the Pope to be the Anti­christ, to be that great City, and that great Babylon spoken of in Rev. 17. And Ovid saith imperii Roma deum (que) locus l. 1. trist. eleg. 4. Athenaeus l. 1. Tacitus Annal, lib. 4. and else­where in that Book: And I confess, it is often called [...], that great City; yet not simply, in respect of the quantity or circuit thereof, when we read of many Cities that were bigger than it; but in respect of the Power and Authority, that her Consuls and Emperors had over all other Cities and Dominions, in which sense, she is said by Athenaeus, to be [...] & [...], an Heavenly City: and by Julius frontinus, she is said to be Domina & Regina orbis terrarum, the Lady and Queen of the world, which made the Smyrnenses to erect a Temple, and dedi­cate the same to the City of Rome, as to a Goddess: Yet I say, this is not that great City, nor that Babylon which is to be understood in Rev. 17. and is to be the Seat of the great Antichrist, 3. The City of Constantino­ple cannot be the Seat of the Antichrist. that must have a greater room than the great City of Rome. And,