The Apostasy of the Latter Times, Part · Section 1

The Apostasy of the Latter Times · Part · Section 1

p. 54TINEΣ, Some.

NOw I come unto the second point expressed in this description of the great Apostasie, viz. the Persons Revolters, they shall not be all, but foreign, some, foreign, some shall Apostatize: some, that is not, as we in ou… English doe often use it, a few, but some, that is, not all, yet some, that is, so many as that the whole visible Church should be said thereof to be Apostatized; so many as should like a cloud overspread the face of the Christian firmament, in such sort, as the starres and lights therein should not easily be discerned. For the great defection so much prophesied of, was to be a solemne and generall one; such a one, as wherein the chiefest of the Churches, honoured as a mother in Israel, should become a Babylonish whore, a mother of harlots, and of the abominations of the earth, Rev. 17. such a one as whereby the outmost court of the Temple of God should not onelyonly be prophaned, but trodden downe by Gentilisme, Rev. 11. such a one as the world is said to wonder after the beast, and to worship him; and such a one as should not onelyonly make warre with the Saints, but overcome them, Rev. 13. Otherwise if our Apostle here, and Saint John there, should meane no more than the errours of some particular ones, and their revolt from the faith of the Church, they should make either no prophesie at all, or at the best, but a needlesse one.

For who knowes not, that in Saint Pauls, Saint Johns, and the Apostles owne times, were many Heresies and Hereticks growne up as weeds in the wheat field of Christ? but as yet the wheat overtopped them, and the visible body of the Church disclaimed them. If these had beene the worst the Church should look for, the Apostles should seeme to prophesie of things present, and not, as they doe, of things to come, yea and more than p. 55this, they should foretell of a thing as proper and peculiar to the last times, which was no novelty in their owne times.

We must take notice therefore that the Apostasie and corruption of faith so much prophesied of, was another manner of one, than that which was so frequent in those first times; such a kind of one as should not be disclaimed by the visible body of the Church, but should surprise, e…lipse, and overcloud the beautifull face thereof: which manner of defection never had beene before, nor should there be the like after it.

Now that the word foreign, or some, useth in Scripture to to imply no small number, but onelyonly serves to intimate an exception of some particulars, though there were but two or three to be excepted, I will make manifest by a few examples, lest our English use might deceive us.

First, Iohn 6.60. Many of the Disciples (saith the Text) when they heard this, said, This is an hard saying: and verse 66. Many of his Disciples from that time went back and walked no more with him; neverthelesse concerning these many Christ himselfe saith verse 64. foreign, but there are some of you which beleeve not: here we see that some is a great many: So Rom. 11. S. Paul there saith of the rejection of the Jewes, some of the branches are broken off; now what a some this was, appeares in the same chapter, when he saith, God hath included them all in unbeleefe, that he might have mercy upon all: but to search no further, 1 Cor. 10. will store us with examples, as verse 7. neither be yee Idolaters, foreign, as some of them were, this was a great some, for Moses saith of it, Exod. 32.3. And all the people brake off their golden earerings and brought them to Aaron: in verse 8. Neither let us commit fornication as some of them, which were so many, Numb. 25.4. that the Lord said to Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the Lord, that the fierce anger of the Lord may p. 56be turned away from Israel: and verse 5. it is said in generall, And Israel joyned himselfe to Baal-Peer: againe in the same Epistle verse 9. it is said, Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of Serpents: and verse 10. Neither murmure as some of them also murmured; this some was a great some indeed, even all the people, save Moses, Joshua, and Caleb; whereof is said Numb. 14.1. And all the Congregation lifted up their voyce and wept: and verse 2. And all the Congregation murmured against Moses and Aaron, and the whole Congregation said unto them, would God that wee had died, &c. wherefore they were as largely punished, all of them dying in the wildernesse, Joshua and Caleb excepted. These places of many will suffice, to shew that the word [some] in my text, intends not to extenuate the number of Apostates, as implying they should be but few, but only shews they should not bee all, for where the Apostates are but foreign, some, there some also are not Apostates but exempted from the common defection, wherewith the rest were miserably overwhelmed. The observation therefore which this foreign affords us, is, That the true Church of Christ was never wholly extinguished, nor the light of his Gospell ever quite put out, no, not in the greatest darknesse that ever was to overwhelme it. By the true Church of Christ I understand that holy society and company of beleevers, which as they accord and are joyned together in one common faith of all divine truths needfull to salvation, so are they also free from the fellowship of such erroneous abominations and mortall errours as destroy and overturne it. This is that society, whereof by the grace of Almighty God, we glory to be the members; this that society, which in the primitive times grew and flourished: this that society, which (when the times foretold of the Churches eclipse came, and the great Apostasie had over-spread the face thereof) was indeed much impaired, indangered, and obscured, but p. 57never was totally extinguished, but continued even under the jurisdiction of the man of sinne, yea in Babylon it selfe where he had this throne; for doth not Christ at length say? Apoc. 18.4. Come out of her my people: how could they come out thence unlesse they had beene there? or how should Antichrist sit in the Temple of God, 2 Thes. 2.9. unlesse Gods Temple were even there where Antichrist sate? as a few living embers in a heape of dying ashes: as a little wheat in a field overgrowne with weeds: as the lights of the heaven in a firmament overcast with clouds: as a little pure gold in a great masse of drosse and mixed metal: such was the faithfull company of Christ in the Apostate body of Christendome, the **Apoc. 14 4.Rev 14:4Virgin Church in the midst of Babylon.

But will our adversaries say, this is not sufficient to make you the true Church of Christ, because some of you have alwayes beene; but you must prove also that you have alwayes visibly beene; for the true Catholick Church must not only never have beene interrupted or extinguished, but it must have beene a society visibly knowne unto the world, and not as embers in the ashes, but as a burning and shining flame.

But this objection deserves no answering: because our adversaries, howsoever they would dissemble it, doe but play upon the present advantage which they think their owne Church hath in this point above ours: otherwise▪ when they forget the contention they have with us, and are in a calmer mood, they can bee pleased to deliver other doctrine, which (if they would be ingenuous so much as to remember it) we needed not such a stirre about the point of the Churches visibility; for the difference betweene them and us hereabout, is not so great as they would make it seeme: They themselves and the Fathers also teach, that when Antichrist commeth, the visibility of the Church shall be eclipsed: nay, they affirme more than we usually in that case require; for then they p. 58say the use of the Sacraments shall cease, no Eucharist, no Masse, no publick Assemblies, yea all Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction shall be extinguished; but here lies all the difference, they hold the glorious visibility of the true Church to have continued from the beginning unto this present, and the overshadowing of the light, and eclipse of the glory thereof under Antichrist to be yet to come; we on the contrary maintaine, the clouding of the Churches visibility under the man of sinne to have beene already, and some part of the visible splendor thereof to be yet to come: both agreeing in this, that in the fatall Apostasie the Churches visibility and glory should cease; but we say that the time hath been already, they say that it is yet to come; we say, that time of darknesse was to continue many ages, they say, when it comes it shall last but three single yeares, and a halfe. Seeing therefore the whole controversie lies in the point of time, whether the Churches fatall Apostasie be already past or yet to come, it would be much the shorter and quicker course both for them and us to decide this controversie, to examine the condition and quality of both religions by the holy Scripture, where we have also, as Saint Peter speakes, a most sure word of prophesie, whereunto wee shall doe well if wee take heed, as to a light shining in a dark place.

Now though this answer be sufficient enough for the objection of our Adversaries, yet for the better understanding and clearer insight into the matter questioned, we will further consider whether and in what manner or measure our Church may be said to have been visible, during the prevailing Apostasie, and in what respects again it was not visible, and in both agreeable unto the state of the true Church under the frequent Apostasies of the Church of Israel.

First therefore we must know that by a visible Christian society in this question is meant a society or company of Christian beleevers joyned together in one externall p. 59fellowship, and communion of the same publike profession, and rule of faith, use of Sacraments, and Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction; for these make the outward forme, and as it were the shape of a Church, whereby this society is discernable from other societies of men: so that a society by this outside severed and distinguished from other societies, is a society visible and conspicuous to other societies of men. The question therefore is, whether that holy society of beleevers before mentioned, who accorded together in one common faith with us of all divine truths needfull to salvation, and kept themselves free from such enormious abominations and mortall errours which we now disclaime, as utterly annihilating that common faith; whether such a society as this has beene in all ages, joyned and distinguished by such a common outside from other companies, either of men in generall, or Christians in speciall? or in shorter and perhaps plainer termes thus: whether the society of men of our Christian beleefe hath beene in all ages for the outside a distinct ecclesiasticall corporation from other societies of men?

My answer is, That for the first ages it was so not only thus visible, but easily discernable from all other societies of men whatsoever; but afterward when the great Apostasie we spake of surprized and deformed the bountifull Spouse of Christ, then was not that virgin company of Saints, our Mother, a distinct externall society from the rest of Christendome, but a part, yea and the only found part of that externall and visible body whereof our adversaries boast their predecessors to have beene members: for howsoever this our Virgin-mother, for the internall and invisible communion of her sincere and unstained faith, we…e a distinct and severed company from the rest with whom she lived, yet, for the common principles of the Christian faith still acknowledged in that corrupt body of Christendome, she retained communion p. 60with them; and for the most part of that time of darknesse continued an externall part of the same visible body with the rest in grosse call'd Christians, as being begotten by the same Sacrament of Baptisme (as the Israelites in like case of Circumcision) taught in some part by the same word, and Pastours still continued amongst them, and submitting to the same jurisdiction and government, so farre as these or any of these had yet some soundnesse remaining in them; but for the rest which was not compatible with her sincere and unstained faith, and which annihilated in those it surprised, even those common grounds of Christianity otherwise outwardly professed, she with her children either wisely avoided all communion with it, or if they could not, then patiently suffered for their conscience sake under the hands of Tyrants, called Christians, untill that Tyranny growing insupportable, and that mortall contagion unavoidable, it pleased God, lest we might have beene as Sodome and Gomorrah, to begin to call us thence at the time appointed, unto a greater liberty, as we see this day. As therefore when a little gold is mixed with a great quantity of base and counterfeit metall, so that of both is made but one masse or lump; each metall we know still retaines its nature diverse from the other, and yet outwardly and visibly is not to be discerned the one from the other, but both are seene together as they are outwardly one, but cannot be distinguished by the eye, as they are diverse and severall; the gold is visible as it is one masse, and under the same outside and figure with the rest, yet it is truly invisible as it is diverse from the rest: But when the Refiner comes and severs them, then will each metall appeare in his own colours, and put on his own outside, and so become visible apart from the rest. Such is the case here, and such was the state and condition of the Church in the prevailing and great Apostasie; the purer metall of the Christians visible body outwardly was not discernable from the base p. 61and counterfeit, while one outside covered them, and so much the rather, because the Apostate part in a great proportion exceeding the sound, made it imperceptible; but when the time of refining came, then was our Church not first founded in the true faith (God forbid) but a part of the Christian body newly refined from such corruptitions as time had gathered, even as gold refined begins no then first to be gold, though it begin but then to be refined gold.

Whatsoever we have hitherto spoken of the state of the true beleevers under the Apostasie of Antichrist, is the same which befell the true Israelites in the Apostasie of Israel. And doth not Saint Peter intimate that the Apost…sie which should betide Christians should be like to that which we reade to have befallen Israel, 2 Pet. 2.1. There were (saith he) false Prophets also among the people i e. Israelites) even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them. If the Apostasie of Christians were to be of the same stamp with that of Israel, and the Heresies brought into Christendome by the false Doctors of Babylon, like unto those wherewith the false Prophets of Israel infected and poysoned the ancient people of God; surely we cannot finde a better patterne whereby to know what was the estate and condition of the unstained Christian beleevers under that Apostasie of the man of sinne, than that which was of the true Israelites under the Apostasie of Israel: for the right understanding whereof we must alwayes remember, That the Israelitish Church did at no time altogether renounce the true and living God, not in their worst times, but in their owne conceit and profession acknowledged him still, and were cald his people and he their God, though they worshipped others beside him: so Christians in their Apostasie neither did nor were to make an absolute Apostasie from God the Father, and Christ their Redeemer, but in an p. 62outward profession still to acknowledge him, and to be cald Christians, though by their Idolatry and spirituall whoredomes they denied the Lord that bought them (i. e.) whom they profest to be their Redeemer; just as Israel for the like is said to have forsaken the Lord their God that brought them out of the Land of Egypt: here therefore the case of both is alike, let us also see the rest. You ask, where was the true Church we speake of in Antichrists time? I ask likewise, where was the company of true worshippers in Ahabs time? was it not so covered and scattered under the Apostate Israelites, that Elias himselfe, who was one of it, could scarce finde it? I am very jealous (saith he) for the Lord God of hoasts, because the children of Israel have forsaken thy Covenant, throwne downe thy Altars, and slaine thy Prophets with the sword, and I even I alone am left, and they seeke my life to take it away, 1 Kings 19.14. yet the Lord tells him verse 18. I have yet left me 7000. in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him: yet I trow these 7000. were not outwardly severed from the rest of Israel, but remained still externall members of the same visible body with them. But you will except, that the true and unstained Church in Judah was still visible and apparent: I aske you then, where was the company of the true worshippers of Jehovah in Manasses time, the worst time of all others? when the ten Tribes were carried captive, and but Judah and Benjamin only left, and they, as far as the eye of man can see, wholly and generally fallen from the Lord their God to all maner of Idols and Idolatries,2 Chron. 33.2 Chr 33 like unto the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel, when in the Temple it selfe, the only place where the true God was to be worshipped legally, were Idolatrous Altars erected, even in the house whereof the Lord had said, In this house and in Jerusalem will I put my name for ever; even in this house, this holy p. 63house, were Idols and graven Images erected, and in both Courts Altars to Baalim, the Sunne, the Moone, and the whole hoast of heaven, the like whereof never had beene untill that time. Besides also, who is able to name the man almost 50 yeeres together that remained a faithfull servant and true worshipper of the living God in the midst of this hideous profanation? Nor is it easie to be conceived how it was possible all that time to offer any legall sacrifice without Idolatry, when Gods owne Temple and house was made a den of Idols, nay his Altar, the onelyonly Altar of Israel destroyed, to make roome for Altars erected to Idols, as may be gathered 2 Chron. 33.15, 16. where was the true Church of Israel now? or had the Lord no Church at all? yes certainely, he had a Church and a company which defiled not their garments, a company (I say) but not visibly distinguished from the rest of their nation, but hidden as it were in the midst of that Apostate body, and yet knowne together with the rest to be Israelites and people of Jehovah; but knowne to God only and themselves to be true Israelites and faithfull servants to Jehovah their God. And that such a company there was, and a strong party too, though not seene, appeared presently upon the death of Manasses and his wicked son, when Josiah began to reign at eight yeares of age, for they then prevailed even in the Court it selfe, and so brought up the King, that even yet while he was young, in the eighth yeare of his reigne, he began to seek after the Lord God of David his father, and in the twelfth yeare to make a publick and powerfull reformation, such as the like was never done before him. Could all this have been done so soon, and by a King so young in yeares, and to carry all before it like a torrent, unlesse there had beene a strong party, which now having a King for them, began quickly to shew themselves, and to sway the state, though before they were hardly to be seene.

p. 64When therefore our adversaries ask us where our Church was before Luther, we see by this what we have to answer.

OF the two first particulars of the foure, whereby the great Apostasie of Christian beleevers is here deciphered, I have spoken sufficiently; viz. first, for the kind and quality thereof, it should be a new Doctrine of Daemons: secondly, that for the persons revolting, they should not be all, but some. Now I am to speak of the third, the time when, foreign, in the latter times.

For the easier understanding whereof, we must know that speeches of last times in Scripture meane sometimes a continuation or length of time, sometimes an end of time: A continuation of time I meane, as when we say the winter is the last time or season of the yeare, or old age the latter time of life, neither of them being the very end, but a space of time next the end, which therefore, in respect of some whole systeme of time, whereof it is the last part, is truly termed the last time thereof. Mans life is a systeme of divers ages, the last space whereof is the last time of life. The yeare is a systeme of foure seasons, and therefore the last season thereof, winter, may be cald the last time of the yeare. But by an end of time I meanethe very expiring of time, as the last day of December is the end or last time of the yeare; the moment when a man dies, is the last time (i. e.) the end of his life. Now in the New Testament, when by mention of last time is meant an end or terminus temporis, I observe it to be exprest in the singular number ▪ as foreign being foure times mentioned in the sixth of John, and once in the eleventh, is in every one of them meant of the day of the resurrection at the end of the world; I will raise him up, saith our Saviour, foreign, in the last day, John ….39, 40.44, 54. And Marthae of her brother Lazarus, I know (saith she) he shall rise againe in the resurrection, foreign p. 65at the last day, John 11.24. So 1 Pet. 1.5. foreign the last time, is used in the selfe same sense, being spoken of the incorruptible inheritance reserved in heaven, and to be revealed (saith the Apostle) foreign in the last time; in all which is meant the end of the world. But in 1 John 2.18. we have foreign the last houre; Little children it is the last houre, where no doubt he meaneth an end of some time, but not an end of the world, which was then afarre off; but an end of their time, to whom he then wrote his Epistle (i. e.) an end of the Jewish state, and religion, which was then at the very doore: which exposition I will make more plain hereafter.

But when a continuation or longer space of time is signified, then I find the plurall number to be used, as 1 Pet. 1.20. of the Incarnation of Christ it is said, that he was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest foreign in the last times, which times have continued these 1600 yeares at the least: so Heb. 1.2. God (saith Saint Paul) foreign in these last dayes hath spoken unto us by his sonne; and 2 Tim. 3.1. This know also foreign that in the last dayes perillous times shall come. Again, Acts. 2.17. In the last dayes I will poure out my spirit upon all flesh; and in 2 Pet. 3.3. foreign in the last dayes shall come scoffers. And so in my Text, foreign, In the latter times some shall revolt from the faith, and give heed to doctrines of Daemons.

Whatsoever the validity of this observation be, for the rest I make no question but it will be granted, that foreign in my Text means some continued space of time, and not terminus temporis, or the very end of time: which therefore presupposed, I approach one step neerer, laying this for a second ground of our discovery, that these foreign, whereof Saint Paul speakes and meanes, were times not then present, but afterward to come; for the words of the Text are not a narration of things present, but a prediction p. 66(as I have already admonished) of what should betide the Christian faith in after times, yet notwithstanding were the times wherein Saint Paul lived, and all the times of Christianity, the last times, and so stiled in Scripture even by our Apostle himselfe, as by some of the fore-cited examples evidently appeareth: wherefore it must needs follow, that times here meant and mentioned in my Text, are not the last times in generall and simply, but the last times in speciall and comparatively (i. e.) the latter times of the last times. That as the last times in generall were the times wherein Christ the Sunne of righteousnesse was to be revealed, and his kingdome founded in the world; so the latter times of these last times should be the times wherein the Apostasie of the Christian faith should prevaile, and that wicked one usurp the throne of Christ.

Before therefore that we can know what are the last times comparatively (i e.) the latter times, or the last of the last, we must first understand, what are the last times simply and in generall, why so called, whence reckoned, and how limited; for then will these latter times in my Text, which are the last part of them, be easily found, and in a manner demonstrated.

Targ. Eccles. 1.11. expounds In novissimis diebus Regis Christi.Eccl 1:11As for the last times therefore in generall, most use to describe them onelyonly thus, to be the times of the kingdome of Christ which began at his passion to continue to the end of the world, which in respect that it succeeds the legall worship and no other shall succeed, it is therefore the last time. In like manner the foreign allotted to the man of sinne are (as I take it) usually no otherwise described, then to be the times wherein the Apostasie should appeare, which in that it should immediately precede the second coming of Christ, is therefore to be esteemed the last times of all; but these descriptions are obscurum per magis obscurum, they doe declare an obscure thing by that which was and is more obscure than it, and therefore p. 67come short of making good the intent of the Holy Ghost in his so often mention of the last times, especially in the New Testament; for the lact times or fulnesse of time were both a ground of the Jewes expectation of Christ when he came, and are without doubt so often propounded and alledged by the Apostles for a confirmation of the truth of his comming:foreign, 1 Tim. 26. but if the last times could not be knowne but by his comming, how should his comming be knowne by them? so also the Holy Ghost in my Text mentions these foreign for an argument or signe of the Apostasie to fall out therein, or for a note or mark of time wherein we should look for it, and therefore as forewarned beware of being carried away in that defection; but if these times cannot be knowne nor described any other way than by the defection to fall out in them, we should be never a whit the nearer, and this mark of time which the Holy Ghost gives us would stand us in no stead at all. Let us therefore now take this as a truth to be supposed, that the times are set out unto us to be as markes to informe us when that should come to passe which was to fall out in them, and not the things which were to befall, intended for signes to know the times by; and therefore we are not to doubt but that the Holy Ghost hath somewhere else, by some other marks and grounds of computation, made knowne unto us when to reckon both the last times, wherein was foretold that Christ should be anointed, and these latter times of them wherein the Christian Apostasie should be revealed, that so we might have a sure beliefe in the one, and a certaine and sufficient mark when to beware of the other.

The prophanation of the legall Sanctuary, and trampling down the holy people by Antiochus Epiphanes was marked out in Daniels prophesie by the like circumstance and determination of time, as is this Apostasie here in our Apostles prediction, Dan. 8.23. In the latter time, or, in the p. 68latter end of the kingdome of Graecia, foreign LXX. foreign.a King of a fierce countenance shall stand up, viz. he who should magnifie himselfe against the Prince of the hoast of heaven, and take away the daily sacrifice, &c. as it is in the vision which was foreshewed of him ver. 10.11. where it would be preposterous to think, that this latter time or end of the Greekes kingdome could not be defined otherwise than by the event to fall out therein, and not rather conceive that this determination of time, being such as might otherwise well enough be knowne, was therefore intended for a character to observe the event by. For when was this latter end of the Greekes kingdome to be taken notice of, but then when they should see that kingdome begin to be given to another people? when the fourth kingdome, the Romane state, should once begin to encroach upon the third, especially when they should see the head Province thereof Greece it selfe to come under their obedience: when they should see this, then were they to prepare themselves for the abomination of desolation that was now at the door. And surely the event was most punctuall; for this Roman encroachment, having beene for 28 yeeres together attempting manifestly and advancing, was at length accomplished, when Aemilius the Consul having quite vanquished Perseus the King of Macedon, all Greece came under the Romane obedience, 166 yeers afore the birth of Christ; which no sooner was come to passe, but the very selfe same yeere, within lesse than three moneths after, Antiochus sets up the abomination of desolation in the Temple of Jerusalem. Why should we not then beleeve that the Holy Ghost intendeth here to give us as sure a watch-word, when to beware of the man of sinne, by this circumstance of latter times here in my text, as we see he gave the Jewes to look for the persecution and prophanation by Antiochus.

Therefore without any more preambles, I come now directly to resolve what was before propounded, viz. p. 69what is meant by last times in generall, whence and how we are to reckon them; and then in the second place what are these foreign in my text, which must be, as I said before, a latter part of that generall.

For the true account therefore of times in Scripture, we must have recourse to that SACRED KALENDAR and GREAT ALMANACK of PROPHESIE, the foure kingdomes of Daniel, which are a propheticall chronology of times measured by the succession of foure principall kingdomes, from the beginning of the captivity of Israel, untill the mystery of God should be finished; a course of time during which the Church and Nation of the Jewes, together with those whom by occasion of their unbeleefe in Christ, God should surrogate in their roomes, was to remain under the bondage of the Gentiles, and oppression of Gentilisme; but these times once finished, all the kingdomes of this world should become the kingdome of our Lord and his Christ. And to this great Calendar of times, together with that other but lesser Calendar of 70 weekes, all mention of times in Scripture seemes to have reference. Now these foure kingdomes, according to the truth infallibly to be demonstrated if need were, and agreeable both to the ancient opinion of the Jewish aaVide Targ. Habac. 3.17.Church whom they most concerned, and to the most ancient and universall bbVide Cyril. Hierosol. foreign, …. p. 337. & Hieron. locum infra ci…atum.opinions of Christians derived from the times of the Apostles (untill now of late time some have questioned it) are, 1 The Babylonian. 2 That of the Medes and Persians. 3 The Greekes. 4 The Romane. In which quaternary of kingdomes, as the Romane, being the last of the foure, is the last kingdome, so are the times thereof these last times we seeke for, during which times saith Daniel, cap. 2. v. 44. The God of heaven shall set up a kingdome which shall never be destroyed, nor left unto another people, but it shall breake in pieces, and consume all these kingdomes, and it shall stand for ever: which is figured by a p. 70stone hewen out of the mountaine without hands, before the times of the Image were yet spent: which stone at length smote the Image upon his feet of Iron and Clay, and so utterly destroyed it; that done, the stone that smote the Image upon the feet became a great mountaine, and filled the whole earth: the meaning of all which is, that in the last times, or under the times of the last kingdome, (the Romane) should the kingdome of Christ appeare in the world, as we see it hath done; and this is that which the Apostle saith Heb. 1.2. God in these last dayes, or last times, hath spoken to us by his Sonne: and Saint Peter 1 Ep. 1.20. that he was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifested in these last times. This is that fulnesse of time whereof the Apostle speaks Gal. 4.4. When the fulnesse of time was come, God sent forth his Son made of a woman: and Ephes. 7.10. Having made knowne to us the mystery of his will, that in the dispensation of the fulnesse of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ.

Add here that of Christ himselfe, Mar. 1 15. The time is fulfilled, and i. e kingdome of God is at …and Hue quoque p…r…inet illu…, 1 Tim. 2.6: foreign.Mark 1:151 Tim 2:6Agreeable unto all which is that Heb. 9.26. Christ hath once appeared foreign in the end of times, or ages, to put away sinne by the sacrifice of himself: where these last times, fulnesse of time, and conclusion of ages, are nothing else but the times of the fourth kingdome, whose times are the last period of Daniels foure; the fulnesse of propheticall chronologie, and conclusion of the sacred Calendar: during these times, Christ was looked for, and accordingly came, and reigned; whose kingdome shall at length abolish the brittle remainder of the Romane state, according to the other part of the prophesie, when the fulnesse of the Gentiles shall come in, and our Lord subdue all his enemies under his feet, and at the last death it selfe.

Having thus found what times are termed the last times in generall, let us now see if we can discover which are the latter times of these last times, or the last times in p. 71speciall, which are these foreign in my Text: which will not be hard to doe; for if the last times in generall are all the times of the fourth kingdome, then must our latter times as a part thereof needs be the latter times of that kingdome. Let us therefore againe to our propheticall Calendar, and survey Daniels description of the fourth or Romane kingdome as it is cap. 7. from ver. 29. where we shall finde the latter times thereof to be that period of a time, times, and halfe a time, foreign.during which that prodigious Horne with eyes like a man, and mouth speaking great things, should make warre with the Saints, prevaile against them, and weare them out, and thinke to change times and lawes, untill the judgement should sit, and his dominions be taken away; and in him that long-liv'd Beast finally be destroyed, and his body given to the burning flame, v. 11. for this Hornish soveraignty is the last Scene of that long Tragedy, and the conclusion of the fourth beast, and therefore the times thereof are those foreign whereof the Spirit speakes expresly, that in them there should be an Apostasie from the Christian faith.

Concerning these times thus found, we will now further enquire, 1 What durance they may be of. 2 When they take beginning, and by what mark their beginning may be knowne. For the first, we will make no question but these are the selfe same times whereof Saint John speakes, telling us the Church should be in the wildernesse a Time, Times, and halfe a Time; the same with those two and forty moneths wherein Johns restored beast should domineere, and play the selfe-same reax which Daniels hornish tyrant doth; the same time with those two and forty moneths during which the Church is trodden downe of the Gentiles: lastly, the same times with 1260. dayes, during which the witnesses of Christ prophesied in sackcloth, for a time, times, and halfe a time; or a yeare, two yeares, and halfe, are 42 moneths, and 42 moneths make 1260. dayes: if therefore we can finde p. 72the beginning and continuance of any of these, we have found the beginning and continuance of them all. For the duration and length of them, they must imply some definitive times, because the Scripture followes that use of speech, and useth no number indefinitely, but those which the use of speech had made such, as 1.10.1000. but mixt and compound numbers, as these are, 3 ½.42.1260. are neither in the Hebrew, nor I think in any other language used indefinitely.

Our adversaries would have them literally understood for three single yeers and a half, as though it were an History, and not a Prophesie: but besides the use of prophesie to reckon dayes for yeers, I think it would trouble any man to conceive how so many things as should be performed in this time, should be done in three single yeeres and a halfe. 1 Ten kingdomes founded at the same time with the Beast. 2 Peoples, and multitudes of nations and tongues to serve and obey him. 3 To make warre with the Saints and overcome them. 4 To cause all that dwell upon the earth to worship him. 5 Babylon to ride the Beast so long, that all nations shall drinke of the wine of her fornication, the Kings of the earth commit fornication with her, yea the Merchants and all those that had ships in the sea, to grow rich by trading with her. Me thinks all this should ask much more than three yeeres works, or foure either. To which I adde moreover, that that state of government, soveraignty or seigniory, or what you will, of the Beast, under which the whore should ride him, followeth immediately upon a former, which in comparison is said to last but a short space, Rev. 17.20. But if the Antichristian state should continue but three yeers and a half literally taken, how short must the time of that foregoing King or soveraignty be which should occasion the Holy Ghost to insert so singular a note of the difference thereof from that which followed, that it should continue but a short space: doth not this imply, that p. 73the next state wherin the whore should ride the beast, was to continue a long space: therefore 3 yeers & a half historically taken, cannot be the time of the Churches Apostasie, and the Antichristian soveraignty of Rome: and if it cannot be taken historically, it must be taken prophetically, every day for a yeer, & so 1260 dayes counted so many yeers, shewes the extent of those foreign to be 1260 yeers.

Now for the second thing proposed, the beginning of these foreign; Saint John tells us in the Revelation, that his blasphemous Beast of 42 moneths continuance should succeed upon the mortall wound of the Caesarian or Imperiall soveraignty of Rome: And Apoc. 17. the Idolatrous Beast which carries the great Whore upon his back, should have a plurality of Kings start up at the same time with him, who should agree to submit their power and kingdome unto this whore-ridden Beast; and would not he also in the same chapter have us take notice, that the Antichristian state of the Beast which was to come, should be next to that of the Caesars which then reigned? for the Angell there tels him, that that state of the beast, wherein the Whore should ride him, which was then not in being, but should afterward ascend out of the bottomlesse pit, and goe into perdition; that this state or head of the beast should succeed so immediately upon the sixth state or head, viz. the Caesarian then reigning, that howsoever in some respects it might be called an eighth, yet should in very deed be but the seventh; for how could it be otherwise, when the Beast in the vision hath but seven heads and no more? vide ver. 8.10.11. Agreeable to this is Saint Pauls Epocha, 2 Thes. 2.7. who tels us, that as soone as the Imperiall soveraignty of Rome, which then hindered, should be taken out of the way, then should that wicked one be revealed: **Tertul. de resurrect. c. 24. Ambros. comment▪ in hunc locum. Hieron. q 11. ad Algasiam. & prasat. in l. 8. comment. in …zek. Chryso…l. comment. in hunc locum. Aug. lib. 19 c. 20 de Civit. Dei, sed non tam asseverantèr ut caeteri Cyrillus Hierosol…m foreign.thus the Fathers generally expound it. Hence was that custome in the Church, in the most ancient times of it, to pray in their Lyturgy for the lasting of the Roman Empire, that p. 74so Antichrist might be long acomming, Tertul. apol. cap. 32. & 39. Ad Scap. c. 2. Upon this ground Saint Jerome, when ho heard of the taking of Rome by Alaricus the Goth, presently expected the comming of Antichrist, Ad Ageruchiam de Monogamia; Qui tenebat (saith he) de medio sit, & non intelligimus Antichristum appropinquare. Idem praefat. l. 8. Comment. in Ezec. Pascitur animus, & obliviscitur saeculi calamitatum, quòd in extremo fine jam positum congemiseit, & parturit, donec qui tenet de medio fiat, & pedes statuae quondam ferrei fragilitate digitorum fictilium conterantur: Cadit mundus, & Cervix erect a non flectitur, &c. Thus he. Postquam clarissimum terrarum omnium Lumen extinctum est, imo Romani Imperii truncatum caput, & in una urbe totus orbis interiit, as he elsewhere deplores that wofull calamity, Praef. l. 1. Comment. in Ezek. Answerable to that which Saint John told us; Daniels Calendar also informes us, that the hornish Tyrant who was to act the foreign, should then begin to appeare, when ten kings should arise in the fourth kingdome, for the ten horns which at last he espied upon the Beasts head, and observed a little horn with eyes & a mouth to spring up amongst them, & displant three of them, v. 8. the Angel v. 24. expounds to be ten kings which should arise out of that kingdome, and another, to wit Antichrist, should arise **Chald. foreignbehind them, so it should be translated as the 70 doth foreign, which should be diverse from the first; (that is, a King of another nature) and should bring downe or humble three Kings,foreign à Vulg. humiliabit. LXX. foreign Irenaeus, deminorabit, vol, (ut in alio exemplari) dehonorabit. Va…ab. opprimet. Iunius, deprimet. and play those reax which follow in the Text. Thus the Fathers universally and from the utmost antiquity expound this Scripture: Justin. Mart. Dialog. cum Tryphone takes it for granted that this horne is foreign ▪ qui iniqua in nos Christianos andebit. Irenaeus scholar to Policarp, l. 5. c. 21. aliis 25. saith, Daniel novissimi regni finem respiciens, id est, novissimos decem reges, in quo divideretur regnum illorum, super quos filius perditionis veniet, p. 75cornua dic… dec…m …asei bestiae, &c. Yea a little after hee tels us, that Saint John in his ten Kings which should rereceive their kingdomes at one houre with the Beast, expounds this of Daniel, Manifestius adhuc d… novissimo tempore & de his qui sunt in eo decem regibus, in quos divid…tur quod nunc regna… imperium; significavit Johannes Domini discipulus in Apocalypsi edisserens quae fuerint decem cornua qu… à Daniele visa sunt, &c. Nay Saint Jerome in his Comment upon this seventh chapter of Daniel will give us to understand, that all the Ecclesiasticall Writers delivered this to be the true exposition; for having there confuted Porphyrie, who to derogate from the divinity of this prophesie would have it meant of Antiochus Epiphanes, and therefore written when the event was past: he concludeth thus, Ergo dicamus quod omnes Scriptores Ecclesiastici tradiderunt: in consummatione mundi, quando regnum destru…ndum est Romanorum, decem futuros reges, qui orbem Romanum inter se dividant, & undecimum surrecturum esse Regem parvulum, qui tres reges de decem regibus superaturus sit, in quo totus Satanas habitaturus sit corporaliter. Who these three Kings were which this horne displanted to make himselfe elbow-roome, you shall heare more anon: but I will not conceale what I have heard of another exposition, which fits our turne for the beginning of the Apostasie no lesse than that of the Fathers; namely, that by ten kingdomes may be meant the full plurality of the Romane Provinces, so much whereof as three is of ten should have the Imperiall power rooted out of them, and fall under the Dominion of the Antichristian Horne, who should act the soveraignty of the latter times, or the last soveraignty of that kingdome. Now it is most true that the Popes Patriarchdome in the West holds just that scantling of the ancient Territory of the Roman Empire, which a man may judge by his eyes, or compasses in a Mapp: and yet I preferre the other exposition before it.

p. 76To come up to an issue: It is apparent by all that hath bin said, that these foreign, with that wicked soveraignty which should domineer in them, was to take beginning from the wound, the fall, the ruine, the rending in pieces, or rooting up of the Imperial soveraignty of the City of Rome, when that City should cease to be the Lap of that soveraignty which the Casars once held over the Nations; and many new upstart Kings should appeare in the place and Territory of that once one Empire; then should the Apostasie be seen, and the latter times with that wicked one make their entrance. Now in what age this fell out I think no man can be ignorant, who hath but a little skill in Historie.

But you will say, The Imperiall soveraignty of old Rome fell not all at once, but had divers steps and degrees of ruine, so that the doubt will be notwithstanding, from which of these steps of the fall thereof these latter times must be reckoned?

I answer, From any of them. For as the Imperiall soveraignty fell by degrees, so the Apostasie under the lattermost soveraignty grew up also by degrees; and for every degree which the ruinous Empire decayed, was the rising sonne of perdition a degree advanced. Secondly, all the maine and evident degrees of the Empires ruine fell in the compasse of an age, and the knowledge and observation of that age onelyonly, within which the times of this fall were comprehended, was sufficient both to warn them which then lived, that that which was to come, was then a comming, and to informe us who now live, that it is already come.

Now which were these maine and evident degrees of the Empires falling, and at what time, I will tell you as soon as I have removed an usuall mistake in this businesse, which is to reckon the time of the Empires ruine, and so likewise the Apostasie attending, onelyonly from the foreign or full heigth thereof; but this is too much against reason, p. 77and not agreeable to the course wee otherwise use in the like: for as when we reckon the age of a man, we reckon not from the time since he came to mans estate, but from his birth; so should we doe here for the times of the man of sinne: I say not, we should begin to count his age from his conception, for that we use not in other things; but from the time he was first editus in lucem, when he first began to appeare in the world: and so likewise the fall of the Empire and the Apostasie, not from the time they were consummate, but from the time they first evidently appeared; as therefore I hold their opinion the best and most agreeable to truth, who begin the 70 yeeres of the Jewish captivity in Babylon, not from the consummation thereof under Zedekiah, when the City and Temple were utterly rased, for that is impossible, there being not **As infall…bly appeares in that long wanting Mathem…ticall Canon of Ptol…my, now of l…te bro…ght to light out of one of our Libraries.60 yeeres in all betweene the nineteenth of Nebuchadnezzar, and the last of Cyrus; but from the beginning thereof under Jehojakim, eighteen yeers before, or at the most but from Jehojakim. So are these foreign of the Romane state to begin when the Empire first began to fall, and not when it was utterly rooted up. Take for another example, that computation of the time allotted to the calamity of the Jewes under Antiochus, which I the rather alledge, because he is commonly counted for a type of Antichrist: the beginning of that 2300 evenings and mornings, or six yeeres, or somewhat more than a quarter, which that calamity was to continue, from the beginning thereof, untill the Temple should again be cleansed, Dan. 8.13, 14. was not to be reckoned from the heigth thereof, when the daily sacrifice should be taken away (for thence it is but three yeers, 1 Mac. 1.54. &c. with c. 4.52.) but from the beginning of the transgression which occasioned this desolation, and is described 1 Mac. 1.11 &c. so likewise the end of the kingdome of the Greekes, wherein this calamity was to happen, is not to be counted onelyonly then when Aemilius the Consul had p. 78quite finished the conquest of Macedon (for this points out onelyonly the heigth of that calamity) but from the beginning of the last fatall Bellum. Macedo icum secu…dum.warre which put an end to that kingdome; which was about some three yeeres and an halfe before, and jumps with the beginning of the transgres…ion of desolation, as the finishing of the conquest doth with the taking away of the daily sacrifice.

But leaving this, let us returne againe and see which were these maine and evident degrees of the Empires downfall, and when they befell; which I suppose may not unfitly be sampled by those of the Babylonish captivity. As therefore the Babylonish captivity had three steps or degrees, the first in the dayes of Jehojakim, when Daniel went captive; the second under Jehoiachim, or Jechonias, when Ezechiel went captive; the last under Zedekiah, when the Temple and City were wholly razed and consumed: so (omitting the Politicall change under Constantine) the chiefe and principall moments of the ruine of the Empire by the sword (and by the sword the Beast had his deadly wound, Apoc. 13.14.) may fitly be reduced unto three.

1 The first was presently after the death of Julian, the last of heathen Emperours, about the yeere 365. ominously marked with that universall, stupendious, and never but then sampled earthquake, aaAmmian. Marcel. lib 26. c. 31. Horrendi tremores per omnem orbis ambitum grassati sunt subitò, quales nec fabulae nec veridi ae nob…s antiquitates exp…nunt, &c. Hieron. in vita Hilarionis.whereby the waters of the Sea were rolled out of their channels, and left ships hanging upon the tops of houses. From this time forwards all the nations on every side seeme as it were with one consent to have conspired the ruine of the Empire. bbH…c tempore velut per universum Orbem Romanum canentibus buccinis, excitae gent…s saevis…imae, …mites sibi proximos persuliabant, Gallias, Rhetiasque, simul Alemanni po…ulabantur; Sarmatae, Pannonias, & Quadi, Picti, Saxones, & Scoti, & Attacotti Britannos, aerumnis vexavere continuis: Thracias deripiebant praedatorii Globi Gotthoru…, &c. Ammian. ibid. cap. 10.Now that terrible and fatall storme of the nations of the North, Almaines, Sarmatians, Quades, Picts, Scots, p. 79and Saxons, especially the Goths, began to break in upon it almost without intermission, harrying, burning, wasting, destroying the most part of the Provinces thereof almost for ccHieron. epist. 3. Ante annum 400. viginti & co amplius anni sunt quòd inter Constantinopolin & Alpes Iulias quotidiè Romarus sanguis effunditur. Scythiam, Thrac…am, Macedoniam, Daciam, Dardaniam, Thessalonicam, Achaiam, Epiro…, Dalmatiam, cunctasque Pannonias, Gothus, Sarmata, Quadus, Alanus, Hunni, Vandali, Marcomanni vastant, rapiunt, Romanus orbis ruit▪ Quid pu…as nunc animi habere Corinthios, Athenienses, Lacedaemonios, Arcadas, cunctamque Graeciam, quibus imperant Barbari?45 yeeres together. And to mend that matter, the Goths sonne after their comming were admitted as Inhabitants, and dispersed as free Denizens into the bowels and heart of the Empire, advanced to be Commanders, and bore the greatest sway in their Armies. ddSynesius Orat. ad Arcadium August. Quomodo enim ferre possumus partes vir…les, in nostra Republica, alienorum & externorum esse, & fortissimū Imperium concedere aliis bellicae gloriae principatum? neque enim dubitandum est sore, ut illi aliquando armis instructi hominum urbanorum se Dominos esse velint. Quod priusquam eveniat, revo…and… sunt nobis Romanorum anim…, & ita assuefaciendi, ut ipsi suo Marte vincere & possint & velint▪ ne… omnino societatem cum Barbaris incant, sed eos omnes despiciant, omnique loco funditùs pell…nt. Primùm igitur Magistratu ejiciantur, & procul à Curiae honoribus arceantur, quibus per suminum dedecus ea obvenerunt, quae diu apud Romanos habita sunt, & reipsa fuerunt apud eos honestissima: Nam & Deam Themidem, quae Senatui, & Bellon…m, quae Exercit…i praesidet, obvelare se arbi…ror, cùm cernant hominem penulâ scorteâ indutum ducem esse chlamydatorium, & villosam penulam exuentem, togam sumere, & de summa rerum cum Romano Magistratu consulere, propè ipsum consulem sedentem, longè post eum sedentibus iis, quibus honos ille jure optimo debebatur. Paulo post. Apud nos Exercitus magni sunt, nostrisque servis Scythis sanguinae conjuncti, qui nescio quo infoelici fato in Romanum Imperium irruerunt, illi suos duces habent magnae authoritatis viros non solùm apud eos ipsos, sed etiam apud nos, quod malum nostra dedit socordia nobis. Paulo post de Theodosio. Ille supplicantes (scil. Gothos) erexit, & belli socios ascivit, & civitate donavit, & omnium bonorum par…icipes fecit, & partem Romani agri iis attribuit; At …lli quod pater tuus mit…m se iis praebuit, nos in hun… usque diem derident, sed id prius fecerat Valens, Anno 374.—(Vide Socratem lib. 4. cap. 27.)—De quo sic Paulus Diaconus Histor. Miscell. lib. 12. cap. 14. Hunnos, Gothi, transito Danubio, fugientes, à Valente sine ulla faederis pactione suscepti sunt, …ribuens eis terras Thraciarum ad habitandum, arbitratus praepar… u…solatium ab eis habere contra omnes barbaros; hâc pro re Milites de coe…ero negligebat, & eos qui dudum contra hostes …laboraverant, Imperator despiciebat, &c.—Hoc ergo …uit initium, ut in illo tempore Romana Re…publica calamitatibus subdere…ur. Barb…ri nam…ue c…m Thracias tenuissent, licenter Romanorun va…tabant pro…inc…s, &c.By which fatall errour the Empire received her bane, and the Romanes were no longer masters of their owne strength, which they quickly and often repented; but even that cost them deare, when they had indeed eyes to see it, but never ability to amend it. This was the first degree of the Empires ruine.

p. 802 The second was about the yeere 410, when Alaricus the Goth sacked Rome it selfe, the Lady of the world, when, as Saint Jerome saith, Capiebatur urbs quae totum cepit orbem, imo fame periit antequam gladio, & vix pauci qui caperentur inventi sunt. And from th…s very yeere the plurality of Kings foretold of, began to come upon the stage; five or six new kingdomes presently appeared within the Territories of the Empire, of the Goths, of the Burgundians, and though somewhat later, of the Franks in Gallia, of the Suevians and Alans, and of the Vandals in Spaine, and, as Sigonius thinks, of the Huns in Pannonia: certainly they could not be much later than this very yeere. But this number of Kings we will leave till they be better increased, as continually they did. And thus you see the second degree of the ruine of the Empire.

3 The third was about the yeere 455, presently upon the death of the third Valentinian, the last (as Sleidan well observed) of the Emperours of the West, and consequently of the ancient Rome; then when Gensericus the Vandall tooke the City now the second time, fired it, and spoiled it of all the goodly and glorious ornaments which Alaricus had spared, amongst which were the golden and silver vessels of the Temple of Jerusalem, **Paulus Diaconus His. Misc. prout ex c…dice Palatino edidit Ianus Gruterus. Quatuordecim interim dies securâ & liberâ direptione omnibus opibus suis & miraculis Roma vacua… est. In quibus erant Ecclesiastica foreign tota ex auro & lapidibus pretiosis ornata, & vasa Hebrai…a quae Titus V…spasiani filius post captivitatem Hierosolymitarum Romam detulerat; multaque millia captivorum. —Cum Regina Eudoxia quae Gensericum ad hoc sacinus invitaverat, duabusque ejus filiabus, Carthaginem abducta sunt.brought thither p. 81by Titus: All which, with an innumerable multitude of Roman captives, he carried away with him. Now was the prediction which Varro reports that Vect…us Valens the Augur made of 12 Vulturs to Romulus the founder, that his city should continue 12 hundred yeeres, fulfilled, and those yeeres newly expired; and, which is more to be heeded, now was the plurality of Kings lately risen in the ancient Territorie of the Empire, as Daniel and Saint Iohn had prophesied, increased unto the full number of ten, which, together with the Provinces wherein they were seated, and the names of the Kings which reigned the next yeare after the City was taken, are these which follow.

p. 82ANNO DOMINI 456.

p. 83Thus was the Empire divided and shared An. 456. the yeere after Rome was sacked by Gensericus, and the off-spring of these Nations through many alterations (partly by the inconstancie of humane things, unions and dis-unions, partly by the further enlargement of the Christian faith) are the body of the most of the Kingdomes and States of Christendome at this day. Three of these Kings, saith Daniel, should the Antichristian horne depresse and displant, to advance himselfe, which three are those whose dominions extended into Italy, and so stood in his light.

1 That of the Greekes, whose Emperour, Leo Isaurus, for the quarrell of Images, he excommunicated, and revolted his subjects of Italy from their allegiance,

2 That of the Longobards, successours of the Ostrogoths, whose kingdome he caused, by the aid of the Franks, to be wholly ruinated, thereby to get the Exarchate of Ravenna (which since their revolt from the Greekes they were seized on) for a Patrimony to Saint Peter.

3 The last was the kingdome of the Franks it selfe, continued in the Empire of Germany, whose Emperours from the day of Henry the fourth he excommunicated, deposed and trampled under his feet, and never suffered them to live in rest, till he made them not onelyonly quit their interest in election of Popes, and investiture of Bishops, but that remainder of jurisdiction in Italy, wherewith, together with the dignity of the Roman name, he had once infeoffed their Predecessors,

These are the Kings, by displanting, or, as the Vulgar hath it, by humbling of whom the Pope by degrees got elbow-roome, and advanced himselfe to the heigth of temporall Majesty, and absolute greatnesse, which made him so terrible in the world.

This third blow therefore I suppose is to be counted the last of the ruine of the Roman Empire, the Imperiall p. 84power of ancient Rome (untill the Pope some 345 yeeres after revived the name) henceforth ceasing; for as for those who yet for some twenty yeeres after our date scuffled for that name, one of them deposing another, they were indeed but shadowes of Caesars, and as it were struglings with the pangs of death, untill with Augustulus it gave up the ghost: yea it is to be observed, that two of them, Avitus (the very next) and Glycerius, being deposed from the Empire, were made Bishops, the one of Placentia or Piacenza, the other of **S…lona …orna…des, quem vide c…m Paulo Dia…ono.Portus, as a signe perhaps that the Emperour of Rome henceforth should be a Bishop, and a Bishop the Emperour.

To conclude therefore with the application of our Apostles prediction, whether the Christian Apostasie in worshipping new Daemon-gods began not with the first of these degrees, notably increased with the second, and was established by the last, I leave you to judge, when you shall have surveyed the monuments and records of those times.

It is commonly and truly affirmed by our Ecclesiasticall **Vide Can. 9. Concil La…dicen. 3 an. …64. foreign.Antiquaries▪ that before the yeere 360, there is no word to be found of the invocation of Saints glorified, or worshipping their Reliques, to which I add, no not of any miracles done by them; but presently after that yeere, when our first date of the Empires ruine began, search and you shall finde: I spare to name the Authors, not willing to discover the nakednesse of the Fathers; but whoso reads them, will admire to see so truly verified what the Spirit foretold should be foreign, in the latter times▪ And to make an end, if any shall think this speculation of times to be a needlesse curiositie, I desire him to remember how our Saviour reproved the Jewes for neglect hereof, Mat. 16.3. O ye Hypocrites, ye can discerne the face of the skies, but can ye not discerne the signes of the times? or as Saint Luke 12.56. How is it that yee doe not discerne this time? they through neglecting the p. 85signes of the times, when Christ came, received him not: how many through ignorance of these foreign, when the Apostasie hath appeared, eschewed it not?

From which of these three beginnings of the Apostaticall times, or whether from some other moment within or betweene them the Almighty will reckon that his computation of these foreign, which ended, will finish the dayes of the man of sinne, I curiously enquire not, but leave unto him who is Lord of times and seasons: nor doe I think that the Jewes themselves could certainly tell from which of their three captivities to begin that reckoning of 70 yeeres, whose end should bring their returne from Babylon, untill the event assured them thereof.