A Preparative to Contention, Book
rible confuſions and wofull Diſcontentations.
The miſeries of this laſt age of the world, vnderunder the raigne of Antichriſt.2. And as all men of all ages before vsus hauehave ſeene, and might the ſame confeſſe: ſo we alſo that liue in theſe deſperate and daungerous dayes, do now ſee, and may alſo the ſame confeſſe, that not onelyonly Heuah by her fall hath her conceptions multiplied, and her ſorrows encreaſed: but alſo the ſonnes of Adam hauehave conceiued opinions, trauailed with miſchiefes, and brought foorth iniquities, whereof (as ſuch which hauehave ploughed wickednes) they hauehave reaped wretchednes, drawing not only from Adam, by diſcent naturally, but alſo from the Angell apoſtate, by immitation wickedly, the cankered humour of Diſcontentation, to the prouocation of the God of heauen, to the diſquiet of the Church, and to the ſhame of their owne faces. Whereupon, the godly are moued to ruminate Salomons concluſion,Eccle. 1.2. & 12.8. Vanitie of vanities: yea, and enforced they are to confeſſe, that againſt the inhabitours of the Earth, and of the Sea, there is a roll of a Booke written without and within,Eze. 2.10. Apo. 12.12. full of Lamentations, Mourning, and VVoe: for that the Authour of all Diſcontentation, the Diuell, is come downe vntounto them, and hath great wrath, (yea more then euer hee had) for that his time is but ſhort.
3. For although this diſcōtented diuel, euer enuying the ſtate of the Saints, hath ben long time (euen from the fall of Adam, vntounto this day) buſied, tripping on the heele of the promiſed Seede: yet is he nothing wearie, he giueth not ouer: but he continueth as nimble, as ſubtile, as ſtrong, as diligent, and as terrible, as hee was in the beginning of the world: and this waning age too well prooueth the deepeneſſe and extremities of his moſte peſtilent practiſes: wherewith (poaſting from coaſt to coaſt,Iob. 1.7. and compaſsing the earth rounde about) hee ſtrugleth with tooth and nayle moſt eagerly, and that often vnderunder the faire face of a bright Angell, to ſeduce, drawe away, and keepe captiue (as for his owne) the Soules, which Ieſus Chriſt the king of righteouſneſſe by his conqueſt hath redeemed. Such is his mightie force! ſuch is his madde furie! ſuch is his eager bent! and to this purpoſe, he vſeth ſuch bottomleſſe deuiſes, as thereby (if poſsible it were) hee woulde deceiue the holie choſen people of God.
So it pleaſeth the Lorde of heauen to permit and ſuffer (for a time) this inſtrument of his wrath to rage in the worlde:Why God ſuffreth the Diuell to rage in the world. partly for the exerciſe of the Church in this her pilgrimage through the huge wilderneſſe of this worlde: that the godly being tryed, may runne vntounto his merciemercy for comforte,2. Tim. 3. Apo. 2.10.11.17.27. Auguſtine. and by the ſame reſiſt the enemie, and reſiſting, may get the victorie, and hauing the victorie, they may bee crowned: for were there not an enemy, there could bee no battaile: Were there not a battaile, there ſhoulde bee no victorie: and were there not a victorie, there would bee no Crowne:Eccle. 1.13. & 2.26. Rom. 1.21. partly, hath the Lorde thus ſuffered this Enemie to raigne ouer the children of diſobedience, and to rage in the worlde for the puniſhment of tranſgreſsions and ſinnes, for a ſcourge to beate and to humble the children of men, chiefely them which knowing God, doo neither glorifie God, as God; nor bee thankfull in their hearts for the benefite of his Sonne; but waxing full of Vanitie in their carnall imaginations, doo walke their owne wayes in the lewdneſſe of their mindes. But aboue all, that the higheſt God might be glorified, as well in the horrible confuſion & deſtruction of his proud enemies; as in the wonderfull deliuery and ſaluation of his elected Saints.
4. To let paſſe the recitall of a thouſand ſubtile ſeductions and mightie encounters of that grand enemy, which heere to tell would be tedious and irkeſome: what is hee in all the world, that hath not in one time or other of his life, either felt or perceiued his practiſes, his deuiſes, his bent againſt Chriſt, and his rage in the world? Beyond all other, his wayes and means to aſſault & annoy the Church of Chriſt, his Satanical ſhifts and diuelliſh conueyances, practiſed by thoſe his two miſchieuous miſcreants, aCouered.Gog and bDiſcouered. The two mighty enemies of Chriſt and his Church in the world Reu. 12.1.Magog: that is to ſay, the Pope, and the Turke, are plainly diſcouered. Theſe two, though they be enemies the one to the other of them, hauehave yet conſented, the former couertly, the latter openly, to perſecute and purſue with all bloudie crueltie, the myſticall Woman and her ſonne, now little leſſe then a thouſand years, according as the Prophets, the Apoſtles, and Chriſt himſelfe hauehave moſt truly foretold of them to come in this latter age & wane of the world. Lo! ſuch two outcaſt hands hath that direfull diuel, to contend and ſtriue for him in his deadly quarrell! Theſe, and ſuch like Antichriſtiā perſons (ſaith Chryſoſtome) are the very weapons of the damned diuel: for as a man cannot do any thing againſt his enemy without weapons or inſtruments, ſo neither can the diuell without the miniſtery and ſeruice of ſuch vngodly & wicked perſons, vexe, perſecute, and trouble the Saints of God in the world.Lodolf. de vita Chriſti, Cap. 5.2. Theſe vngodly and wicked miſcreants be indeed the powers of the diuell, without whom hee cannot ſowe his wicked ſeedes in the world: for in the Saints hee findeth no place. Neither hath this ſubtile Serpent inuented any fitter way to combine Gog and Magog in league, and to reconcile Herod with Pilate, then by the perſecuting, the crucifying, the blaſpheming, the tormenting, and vexing of Ieſus Chriſt in his members.Pſal. 2.1. & 83.56. And therefore he hath vehemently ſuggeſted, and furiouſly prouoked the Heathen to rage, the People to imagine vaine things, the kings of the earth to ſtand vp, and the Princes to aſſemble togither againſt the Lord, and againſt his annointed.
5. But, to the great terror of all the vngodly, that thus oppoſe themſelues againſt the Lorde and his Saintes; and to the endleſſe comfort of all his holy Elect, we heare what he ſaith: He that dwelleth in heauen ſhall laugh them to ſcorne: the Lord ſhall hauehave them in deriſion: he ſhall ſpeake to them in his wrath, and vexe them in his ſore diſpleaſure: yet hauehave I ſet my king vppon my holy hill of Sion. Thus,Gen. 11.1. though Nimrod that mightie hunter before the Lord, with his folowers, do incite and ſtirre vp one another in this ſort: Let vsus make brick, Laterificemus. aedificemus.and therewith let vsus build vsus a Citie and a Towre, whoſe toppe may reach vntounto heauen: and let vsus make vsus a name: and wil not be reſtrained from that, which they hauehave imagined to doo: yet will the Lorde God himſelfe come downe to viſit and confound them, with this meete alluſion to their incitation:Deſcendamus. Confundamus. Let vsus go down & confound their language: and hee will ſcatter them from that place vponupon all the earth. Thus hath the Lorde God derided Sennacherib, Pharao, Herod, the high Prieſtes, the Romane Potentates, and all others, that hauehave exalted themſelues & raged in the world againſt his Church. The whiles, as the ſhip in the Sea, which after many tempeſtuous ſtormes arriueth into the hauen of peace: and as the trauailing woman, after many wofull throwes, is deliuered of a ſonne, to her exceeding conſolation, ſo the Church of God, ſtandeth; flouriſheth, and obtaineth at length that eternall peace which the Sonne of God hath purchaſed for his Saintes, mawgre the tyrannie, the hypocriſie, and the Sophiſtrie of the wicked world: and the horrible rage and furie of that damned and diſcontented diuell.