A Complete and Compendious Church History, Chapter 26
The Twenty-Sixth Plot in the New-Teſtament, againſt the Church, in the Apoſtles, Defeated by God.
CHAP. XXVI,
THe laſt and longeſt Liver of all the Apoſtles, was, John the Divine, who is well called the Daniel of the New Teſt▪ as Daniel is call'd the John of the Old; for as Daniel Wrote not onelyonly an Hiſtory of the Church, what it was in his Day, but alſo a Prophecy what it would be after to Chriſts firſt Comming: ſo John Wrote 1ſt. an Hiſtory of the Church, what it was in his Day, (in the Three firſt Chapters of his Revelation,) then 2ly. a Prophecy what it would be, from his time to the Second Comming of Chriſt, in all the following Chapters of that Book from the 6th. to the laſt, the 4th. (alluding to the Old Teſt.) and the 5th. (alluding to the New.) being but a Preludium or Preface to his Seal, Trumpet, and Vial-Prophecy concerning Things that muſt after come to paſs. This Apoſtle the Envious One (Satan) Envy'd above all; 1. becauſe he was Beloved above all, he was as Daniel, [Iſhchamudoth] a Man of Deſires and Delights, greatly Beloved, Dan. 9. 23. Hence is he called the Diſciple whom Jeſus loved, Joh. 19. 26. and 20. 2. and 21. 7, 20. Chriſt loved all his Diſciples, Joh. 13. 1. but Iohn more ſingularly and ſignally, therefore did he lean on his Boſom, v. 23. and Chriſt committed his dear Mother to his peculiar charge; for this he was the more Hated by the Devil: and (2) for his being a Boanerges, a Son of Thunder, Mark 3. 17. a moſt powerful Preacher, whereby he did Thunder down the Devils Kingdom. (3.) for his joyning in Commiſſion with Peter in Cureing the Cripple, Act 3. and in Confirming the Samaritans, and Conferring upon them the Gifts of the Spirit, yea, and Confounding Satans Grand Sorcerer there, Act. 8. (4.) for his out-Living all the Apoſtles, (as Chriſt Intimates, Ioh. 21. 22, 23, 24. who Lived to 120 Y. old,) and ſo Succeſ…fully Watering thoſe Churches in Aſia the leſs, which Paul had Planted; he after Pauls Death comes from Ieruſalem thither, and takes them for his Province and Dioceſs: Hereupon the Devil makes his 8th. Aſſault upon him, ſo begins his 26th. Plot againſt the Church. (1.) Satan ſtirrs up Domitian to caſt Iohn into a Veſſel of Boyling Oyl, out of which he came out Ʋnhurt, as the Antients tell us; however, the Scripture of Truth truly lays, (2) that he was Baniſh'd (by Domitian, at the Devils Inſtigation) into the Iſle Pathmos, Revel. 1. 9. that he might Preach no more, he having none to Preach unto in that Deſart-place. (3) The Devil ſets upon thoſe Golden-Candle ſticks, and Corrupts them moſt Horribly in this Apoſtles Abſence, inſomuch as (1.) the Church of Smyrna was Peſter'd with a Synagogue of Satan, to wit, the Unbelieving Iews, Rev. 2. 9. but (2) more eſpecially Pergamus, where their Diveliſh Maliciouſneſs is ſtiled the very Throne or Seat of Satan, v. 13. and where Attalus (the Devils Agent) had Martyr'd Antipas. (3) Falſe Apoſtles had Worm'd themſelves in among them, pretending Apoſtolick Power, and perhaps practiceing Magick, to make themſelves look more Apoſtolical like, Revel. 2. 2. Thoſe troubled the Church at Epheſus, but they were Tryed and found Lyars there. (4) other Seducers crept in by the Devils Craft, (though not by the Magick Miracles of Devils, as the others did, yet) by the Doctrines of Devils, as that of the Nico Laitans, Rev. 2. 14. and 6. teaching Community of Wives, and that things Sacrificed to Idols might be Eaten. (5) a Jezabel, (either of her Name, or Nature, or both, was foiſted into Thyatira by Satan, both a Whore and a Witch, therefore ſhe and her Children (to wit, Diſciples) are Threatned to be Deſtroyed, Revel. 2. 20, 23. (6) Formality and Hypocriſie had Leavened Sardis, Revel. 3. 1. and (7) Lukewarmneſs was on Laodicea, ver. 15, 16. ſo to be Spu'd out. But mark how God Baſſles the Devil in ali this, by laying limits upon him: Rather than fail, Satan (himſelf) will execute the Office of a Juſtice Rev. 2. 10. Behold the Devil will caſt ſome of you into Priſon, &c. either he acts thus in Perſon, or (at leaſt) by a Proxy, to wit, by his Imps and Inſtruments, yet all Satans Actings (in the Children of Diſobedience, by whom he Works, Eph. 2. 2.) are under a Divine Limitation, as 1. 'tis but ſome of them, and not all of them, 2. into Priſon, not into Hell, 3. 'tis onelyonly to Try them, not to Deſtroy them, 4. 'tis for Ten Days onelyonly, not for Ever: and though the Devil got John the A poſtle caſt into a Veſſel of Boyling Oyl, yet he came out thence without harm, as before; And though Domition (the Emperor of Rome) Baniſh'd him to Pathmos, yet there he Wrote thoſe Seven Epiſtles to the Seven Churches which were not un-Churched with all thoſe Corruptions, but are Written to as Churches ſtill, and as Golden-Candleſticks in thoſe Epiſtles, wherein ſweet Cordials and Comforts are Intermingled with ſundry ſad Corraſives and Cordoliums as (1) God threatens the Removal of the Candleſticks, id eſt, to another place, not the quite Extinguiſhing of the Light ſet up thereon, Rev. 2. 5. (2) Chriſt ſtemms himſelf from that Removal, becauſe he ſaw ſome Goodneſs in the Church, v. 6. becauſe thou Hateſt, &c. ☞ God may do ſo to England, &c. (3) Deus minatur, ut non puniat, Ambroſe, God Threatens, that he may not Strike, he hath ſet his Bow in the Clouds, but there is never an Arrow in it, and the Bent of that Bow is towards Heaven, not towards Earth, or us. (4) Chriſt ſaith, Fear none of thoſe things, ver. 10. promiſing withal a Crown of Life. (5) He promiſeth alſo, the Hidden Manna, and the White Stone with the New Name, to wit, Abſolution, as well as Aſſurance, v. 17. (6) not to lay any other Burden, than what they already ſuffer'd, v. 2. ☞ Oh! that God may ſay ſo to his Churches in this great City and Nation. (7) that They ſhall walk with him in White, Revel. 3. 4. to wit, in pure Ordinances in a better Day and Diſpenſation, (8) and have an open Door, v. 8. yea, and (9) Good Counſel, v. 18. to ſhew they were not Incorrigible, and (laſtly) Chriſt was not gone from them, much leſs had deliver'd them up unto Satan, but ſtill Walked in the midſt of His Golden Candleſticks, Revel, 1. 13. and ſtanding at the Door Knocking both by Outward Means, and Inward Motions, by the Hammer of his Word, and by the Hand of his Spirit, Revel. 3. 20. with thoſe Seven Epiſtles (together with His own Return and Perſonal Preaching to them after the Death of Domition) he marvelouſly Repaired, Refreſhed, and Eſtabliſhed thoſe Seven Churches well-nigh laid waſte by the Cruelty and Tyranny of that Perſecuting Emperour. In that Iſle alſo (whither he was Baniſh'd from all Humane Society) Chriſt came to him and gave him to Write (not onelyonly that Excellent Goſpel, ſo uſeful for Defence of Chriſts Divinity againſt the Blaſphemies of Cerinthus, &c. And thoſe Bleſſed Epiſtles of His, the 1ſt. 2d. and 3d. but alſo) the Revelation of things to come, Rev. 1. 19. and 4. 1. Even all the Wretched Maladies that ſhould befall the Church, and all the Bleſſed Remedies for Her Deliverance to the End of the World. Thus in all this alſo, God over-Shoots Satan in his own Bow, and left not himſelf without Witneſs, Act. 14. 17. This Bloody Wretch (Domitian) was Murder'd by his own Men and the ſtiff-necked Jews (which had all along oppos'd Chriſt and his Goſpel with the utmoſt Outrage) were pay'd Home (at laſt with Matchleſs Miſeries, as before, both under Vespaſian (the Father) and Titus (his Son) that were Predeceſſors to Domitian; and this John onelyonly (of all the Apoſtles) lived to ſee (in Deſpight of the Devil and all his Cruel Cut-Throats) the Wrath of God come down upon thoſe Chriſt-Killers to the utmoſt, as Chriſt had foretold.