A Revelation of the Holy Apocalypse, Part 2 · Chapter 19
CHAPTER XVIIII.As old Iſratel prayſed the Eternall IAH for their deliuerāce frō Aegypt Canaars; Babel, Antiochus & all their enemies; ſo heere the holy doe, for deliuerāce frō Rome, which is called and compared with Aegypt, &c. becauſe that the cruelty & Idolatr of all the enimies the the Goſpel ſince the beginning was in Rome.
I ſay Ieremy and Ezekiell compared with this ch. bring great light.
And after this I heard a great voice of much people in heauen; ſaying, Allelu-iah, ſaluation, and glorie, and honor, and power, belongeth to the Lord our God: for his iudgements are right and iust: becauſe hee hath iudged the great whoore, which corrupted the earth by her fornication, and reuenged the blood of his ſeruants out of her hand: And againe they ſaid Allelu-iah: And her ſmoke aſcended for euer and euer, &c.
WHEN the Angell filled the earth with his glorie, then much people prayſeth GOD, for reuenge againſt Rome, and the 24. Biſhopps, ſage learned, and the ſpeciall rare, the foure wightes full of eyes, and tell of the Lambs ſupper, and his mariage with the Church: which matter, Pſalm. 45. and Cantic. directly handleth, and all the ſcripture runneth vponupon that. Now for the terme, Hallelu-iah. It is vſed firſt in Pſalm. 104. where the verſe afore, wiſheth the wicked to bee deſtroyed out of the earth. And the old Hebrewes turne that ſpeach of the Pſalm, to hauehave beene the preaching in the dayes of Noë; when the flood came: and Midras Tillin noteth, that Allelu-iah was neuer vſed till Pſal. 104. after prayer that the wicked ſhould be taken away, out of the earth. The auctoritie of the book is litle, but the peiſe of the argument is much. So in the New Teſt. Aleluiah, is neuer vſed, till ſpeach commeth of the Popes deſtruction. The ſinfull, to hauehave Pyrrha the wife of Deucalion. The fable which made Noë Deucalion, foreign & his wife foreign conteined a fable which Ouid hath.
Eſſe quoque in fatis reminiſcitur affore tempus
Quo mare, quo tellus, immenſa que regia coeli
Ardeat, & mundi moles operoſa labores.
That is,
Iupiter bethought him, how tyme ſhould come,
When Sea and Land and great Heauens pallace
Should burne, & the worlds workemanſhip decay.
As once, the world periſhed by water: ſo it ſhould by fire. Sem and Iaphet taught that, in ſadneſſe. But their ſonnes turned it into a fable: yet S. Pet. 2 Epi. 3. reſtoreth the matter vntounto old trueth: And as the Midras turneth in fable Halelu-iah, to be vſed at holy preaching, in Zohar vponupon Gen. 6. by the argument: and firſt, Pſal. 104. vponupon the deſtruction of the wicked: ſo heere, firſt vponupon the deſtruction of the man of ſinne, the word is vſed: And that, foure tymes.
Of the Hebrew terme.
God, only wiſe, contriued the world vntounto Macedonian victories, and reigne of 300. yea. from Weſt, vntounto all partes: that Greeke was made common ouer all the world, by the tyme that the Apoſtles were to write the Goſpell: that in the Greeke tongue, and only in the Greeke tongue, they might write it for all nations. Yet God would hauehave the tongue, which Adam ſpake and Heber kept: and that in which the Law was penned, to be ſtill ſtudied. Therefore, the N. Teſt. hath many, yea full many wordes, that require Ebers helpe: and in expreſſed letters about 50. And whereas, Eſai. 19. telleth, that in Egypt they ſhall ſpeake the tongue of Chanaan: he meaneth, that with the Goſpell, they ſhall hauehave the Hebrew tongue: and Origens Octaplun, eightfold worke, in Epiphanius Ancorato, had Hebrew in Hebrew letters, and the ſame ſpelled in Greeke: and ſix Greeke tranſlations: ſo here, the ſtudie of the Hebrew Prophetes, to open the Goſpell, doth fell the Pope: and the Pope is cloſely touched by the word, Allelu-iah; Pſal. 135.Praiſe God, in whom wee breath: and not Idoles which hauehave no breath in their noſtrills.
Of the beſt way to ouerthrow the Pope.
The Turkes Princes moued Q. Elizabeths agent, L. Barton, of godly memory, to the known way, by common witt, to open the trueth; in cauſing a Rabbin to demand a proofe of the New. Teſt. by Ebrewes. The Apoſtles proued all by Ebrews: & ſo ſhould all expounders of them: And the Pope vnable therin falleth, and all his Cardinales, and Archbuyſhops. And our King tooke once a noble courſe that way: the hinderer, ſhall abide iudgement: and that a moſt heauy: & ſhall not hauehave his ſhame forgiuen in this world, nor in the world to come. An Ebrew explication of the N. Teſt. by ſayings granted of Iewes, would moue Iewes & Gētiles to hold one truth. My Hebrew explicatiō of Nathans houſe, Mat. 1. & Luc. 3. from Dan. 7. fold ſhield, and the Hebrew chayning of the Chronicle, hath moued Salem and Rome: though Nazaret would bring the auctor to the top of a Rock. This matter is worthie of record: that Gods vengeance may bee marked while the world ſtandeth, how he will deale with ſo gratefull babes. But now let vsus abridge the text: People, Biſhops, rare godly praiſe God, for calling to the Mariage: that the Church is married to Chriſt: and clothed in white iuſtice: and Chriſt warreth, to ouerthrow Rome.
Amen, Aleluiah: And a voice came from the throne, ſaying: praiſe our God all his ſeruants, and they that feare him both ſmall and great.
This ſhort ſumme of Diuinitie, diſtinguiſheth vsus from Papiſts, who make Gods of Creatures: and giuegive praiſe to them where God only will be feared.
And I heard the voice of a great multitude: and as the voice of many waters, & as the voice of ſtrong thunders, ſaying, Halelu-iah: for the Lord God of hoſtes doth reigne: let vsus reioyce and be glad: and let vsus giuegive him glory. For the mariage of the Lambe is come: and the wife hath praepared her ſelfe: and it was giuen her to put on white linen, pure and ſhining. For the linen is the iuſtice of the ſainctes.
When whole kingdomes call vponupon God: and fight for the Goſpell with ſucceſſe, it is fitted to continual noiſe of waters: as Ezekiel 1. 24. the kingdomes that made Gods iudgements knowen:Pſal. 136. 9. 15. 24. are likened to much water: & the thunder of Gods power, is well expreſſed, by thunder of the ayer, Pſalm. 29. All tendeth to Aleluiah; Pſal. 78.Praiſe God in whom wee breath, for reſcuing vsus from Satan, with manifeſtation of his kingdome: And let not England forget the goodneſſe of the Lord: but acy remember it: and not hide it from their children: but to the generation to come to ſhewe the prayſes of the Eternall, his power alſo, & his wonderfull workes that he hath done. The light of the Goſpell now theſe hundred yea. hath bene exceeding great, & to greater knowledge, then euer ſince the Apoſtles tymes the Church had. And all reformed Countreies flow with learned men. And ſage cariage is heere laid out to the eye; in white linen. This ſhort rule muſt alwayes hold:2 Tim. 2. God will make known who bee his: and all muſt depart from ſinne that call vponupon the name of God.
And he ſaith vntounto mee, write: Bleſſed are they that are called to the ſupper of the mariage of the Lambe.
This ſhould be written in all hearts: that they only be happie, which in the Lords Supper, proteſt the aboundance of grace of the gift of iuſtice. The bread bare, & wine bare, taken in the ſage vſe: that our ſoules feed vponupon his incarnation and redemptiō; is as ſtrong, as the frame of the world, to ſtay vsus in Chriſt. The auctority of the ſpeaker, who made the world by his word, muſt be looked vntounto: and as our eyes, iudge of the frame of the world; and our minde, to what inuiſible vſe all was made ſubiect to a man: ſo our eyes, muſt iudge of bread & wine, & our minds, that Chriſt ſuffring for vsus, ended ſacrifice & offring. By ſeale of things without life: by bread and blood of the grape: by the terme ſupper: the whole tenor of Chriſtianity is meant: but the acceptation of the ſeale is an open action, to diſtinguiſh vsus frō others. The Pope corrupted, from the playneſſe that is in Chriſt: and making Prieſt & ſacrifice: hath miſſed wholy of the trueth in Chriſt: as Iannes …nd Iambres reſiſted Moſes.
Papiſts would make fooles belieue, that Calvin bread this; ſymbolum corporis: and in other matters, if Calvin hath foreign. a raſh word: they vrge that vponupon whole Churches. Their eyes might tell, that the ancient Grecians neuer made queſtion heere: neither had combat with haeretiques heere: Euſebius after Origen, recorder of the whole Churches opinion, in praep. calleth Bread and Wine, Icones, & ſymbola. Neither did any after him, ſtriue againſt that: but full many followed him. God is light: and all the Bible is ſo plaine, to a ſound ſtudent, that none can moue doubt, but to his plague. The Papiſts cary in a ſiluer cheſt, a wafer of meale, as the bodie of Chriſt: making themſelues a ſcoffe to God and his Angels: and the barbarous thinke by vnlearned prating, to make their cauſe good. They come 40. yer. ſhort of learning, to defende the common groundes, againſt a ſubtill Iew, or Turke, as to this ſyllogiſme of Machmad.
If the ſcripture be corrupted, another iudge muſt be had (The Pope not only granteth, but vrgeth alſo this: & this.)
But the ſcripture is corrupted.
Therefore another iudge muſt be had.
I will ioyne with Turke, Iew and Pope, to grant the Prepoſition. But againſt Turke, Iew and Pope, & our ſide; I deny the aſſumption: and hold the text pure. This no Romiſt yet euer ſaw. Therefore their ſtudies muſt bee holden vnfitt to rule in Diuinity.
And he ſaith to mee: theſe words of God be true.
By reaſon that the carnall man cannot ſee the glorie of the wiſedome, which is in the couenant of CHRIST, in plaine ſimplicitie full of heauenly trueth: The Angell ſtayeth vponupon this doctrine, as oppoſite to Rome: & working Romes fall: handled chap. 18.
And I fell downe at his feete, to hauehave worſhipped him: & he ſaith to me, do not. For I am fellow ſeruant to thee, & to thy brethren which hauehave the teſtimonie of IESVS: Worſhip God: for the ſpirite of prophecie is the teſtimonie of IESVS.
Heere, Iohn ſheweth mans weakneſſe to Idol-ſeruice, in his tranſe, ready to worſhip the Angel. And telleth, that, Angells be miniſtring ſpirites for our ſaluation: God only muſt bee worſhipped. The ſpirites that teach, teach of Chriſt: that he only muſt bee worſhipped: In the old Teſtament, Chriſt is called an Angel: and is worſhipped; but no created Angel is worſhipped.
The warres of Chriſt and Chriſtians: againſt the Empire and Pope.
And I ſaw the heauen opened: and behold a white horſe, and hee that ſate vponupon him, was called faithfull and true: and in Iuſtice doth he iudge & war. And his eyes were like a flame of fire: & he had vponupon his head many Diademes: hauing a name written, which none knew but himſelfe: and clothed in a garment dipped in blood: and his name is called the WORD OF GOD.
The heauen opened, ſheweth what ſhall be opened in the Church: the white horſe, is ſincere might: the Ryder is called faithfull and true, to aſſure vsus of victory againſt mighty ſtates: and he iudgeth & warreth in righteouſneſſe, vnable to abide ſinne, ſtill to reigne: his eyes bee a flame of fire, ſearching in iuſtice to the bottome:This is made famous in 1588. and 1605. for our Albion. as Daniel 10. for the ouerthrowe of Xerxes armie: and Apo. 1. and 2. And his many Diademes, ſheweth that he will rule Kinges in many Countreyes. And the name written which none knoweth but himſelfe, ſignifieth the Godhead, dwelling in light that none can come to.
His garment dipped in blood, is expounded Eſai. 63. ſhewing, that the enemies blood ſhall make him known, as vnderunder old Aſſur and Cittim. And his name is the WORD OF GOD: as in Iohn the firſt: and infinitely in Onkelos. Iehouah, is the WORD of IEHOVAH. Theſe mightie titles comfort the Church: that they ſhall bee ſure of a victorie. Reigne ſtill, O King MESSIAS, for we reſt on thee: reigne ſtill, O King of Sainctes, and wee will folow after thee.
And the armies, in the heauen folow him, vponupon white horſes, clothed in linen, white and cleane.
The valiant Chriſtians with ſpeed and courage folow Chriſt: and in ſynceritie of truth: though Lutherans Vbiquitie, and others iourney to hell, be great ſpotts: yet many are free from theſe: and mo wil be in tyme.
And out of his mouth commeth a ſharpe ſword: to ſtrike the nationes with it: and hee ſhall bruiſe them with an yron Sceptre.
The ſword of his word, hath in all ages told; that, eueryevery treſpas ſhould receiue iuſt recompence: and by ſtories paſt wee ſhould aſſure vsus, of them that be to come: and the yron Sceptre, Pſalm. 2.taught by Dauid, how Chriſt his enemies ſhould fall. And the Image beaten to duſt, Dan. 2. and the Romane ciuill warres taught them, what it was to meddle with the Iewes: and with Tully to ſay: Barbara Iudaeorum ſuperstitio: Gens nata ſeruituti. So Diui Caeſares for 300. yeares were bruſed: and now the Pope for 400. to come, may ſtill looke to bee plagued, that by 6000. yeeres of the world he ſhall be as the Macedonians at our Lords birth, voyd of all authoritie.
This ſhort viſion may endure a long time, as that in Ezekiel, of Gog and Magog, 38. and 39. contayned matter of 300. yeeres.
And hee treadeth the preſſe of the wine of the anger and indignation of God of hoſtes, and hee hath vponupon his garment and vponupon his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
Eſay 63. telling of the winepreſſe, teacheth now by ſtory, of old euents: and the other Attributes, Nabuchad. Dan. 2. giueth to Daniels God: and the ſtories ſhew the works. And ſtudents of iudgement, would bee ready in heathen which open the holy Bookes, from the firſt Greek ſtories to the laſt. By garment, and thigh written vponupon: open dealings of Chriſt, teach men to contemne his mediation: and to feele that hee ruleth all.
An open proclamation of the Popes destruction.
And I ſaw an Angell ſtanding in the ſun; and hee cried with a great voice: ſaying to all the birds that flee in the ayer: come and aſſemble vntounto the ſupper of the great God: to eate the fleſh of Kings: and the fleſh of Coronels: and the fleſh of the Mighty and the fleſh of horſes, and of their Riders, and the fleſh of all free and bound.
This ſpeach Ezekiel vſed, ch. 38. ſpeaking of Macedonians, that ſhould afflict Iuda: ſpecially, vnderunder Antiochus Epiphanes, after whom, that Kingdome fell dayly, more and more, with horrible deſtruction. And as the ſpeach in Ezekiel is caried hither, ſo the names of Gog and Magog, be in the next Chapter: where the Popes chiefe ripeneſſe commeth to let Satan looſe.
And I ſaw the beaſt and the Kings of the earth, and their armies to make warre, with him that ſate vponupon the horſe, and with his armie.
This ſhort prophecie telleth, that the Pope and Empire ſhall fight againſt the Reſtorers of the Goſpell: and ſtill hauehave the worſe. Albion and Ierne hauehave ſhaked him off: and much of Germanie: and Netherland: and halfe Zwitzerland: and all Denmarke: and his murthering of the French King, will hauehave reuenge. In Ireland his ſtirring of Papiſts, vnderunder Deſmond, to rebell, made greater death, then kites, wolues & doggs could deuoure, or men bury: or riuers waſh without poyſoning their fiſh. And Brabant, now 40. yer. hath ſeene great ſlaughters, and the Kinges putting of his owne ſon to death, was more loſſe to his houſe, then many millions: And his owne death, was of a ſtrange ſickneſſe: So many French that perſecuted the Goſpell, had ſtrange death. And one after another, while they fight againſt Chriſt, ſhall hauehave ſtrange ſucceſſe: as the Popes hauehave ſtrange deaths, and boyles at home.
An abridgement of all Gods iudgements in one.
And the beast was caught, and with him the falſe prophet: which worketh ſignes before him, by which he deceiueth them that receiue the marke of the beaſt, and worſhippeth his image: Both were cast aliue into the lake, burning with fire and brimstone.
Andreas, vponupon chap. 13. teacheth plainely, that Antichriſt ſetting vp the Empire, is there meant: So Pope & Emperor, muſt needes be meant heere, to as euident deſtruction, as if they were caſt aliue into eternall flames: this ſhould be a faire warning, for men to come out of Babel, to vſe no garments, no prayers, no lawes, of the Popes making.
And the reſt were killed with the ſword of him which ſate vponupon the horſe, which went out of his mouth, and all the foules were filled with their fleſh.
The principall had open terrible miſerie: the others, in viſion, had but death. So, in Daniel chap. 7. the fourth beaſt, was caſt into the fire: and the common ſort in Ezek. are eat of foules.