But because the chaste matron, the spouse of Christ, would not allow this harlot to run away with this name therefore she gets upon the back of her beast, and by him pushes this woman into the dirt; but because her faith and love to her husband remain, she turns again and pleads by her t.i.tles, her features, and ornaments, that she and she only is she whose square answereth to the characters which her Lord had given of his own; and so the strife began. For so soon as this mistress became a dame in the world, and found that she had her stout abettors, she attempts to turn all things topsy-turvy, and to set them and to make of them what she lists.
CORRUPTION OF THE CHURCH BY ANTICHRIST.
Mischief must needs follow this ugly deed of the man of sin. If a house be on fire, though it is not burnt down, the smell of the flame may long remain there: also we count it no wonder to see some of the effects upon rafters, beams, and some of the princ.i.p.al posts thereof. The calf that was set up at Dan defiled that people until the captivity of the land.
For by antichristian darkness, though they might call it light, the true light was darkened, and so the eye made dim, even the eye of the truly G.o.dly. Also the Holy Ghost did much withdraw himself from the church; so the doctrines, traditions, and rudiments of the world took more hold there, and spread themselves more formidably over the face of that whole church.
And this being the effect of light against light at first, is the cause of what to this day we see in the church among the true brotherhood. For as a cause produceth an effect, so oftentimes an effect sets on foot another cause. Witness the jars, the oppositions, the contentions, emulations, strifes, debates, whisperings, tumults, and condemnations, that like cannon-shot have so frequently on all sides been let fly against one another.
The G.o.dly all hold the Head; for there antichrist could never divide them. Their divisions therefore are only about smaller things.
I do not say that the antichristian darkness has done nothing in the church as to the hurting it in the great things of G.o.d. But I say, it has not been able to do that which could sever their Head from them. Otherwise, there appears even too much of its doings there.
For even as to the offices of our Lord, some will have his authority more large, some more strait; some confine his rules to themselves and to their more outward signification, and some believe they are extended further; some will have his power in the church purely spiritual, others again would have it mixed; some count his word perfect and sufficient to guide in all religious matters, others again hold that an addition of something human is necessary.
This darkness could not sever the true church from her Head; yet it has eclipsed the glory of things. By two lights a man cannot see this or that thing so exactly as by one single light; no, they both make all confused, though they make not all invisible. As for instance, sunlight and moonlight together, firelight and sunlight together, candlelight and moonlight together, make things more obscure than to look on them by a single light. The word reflecting upon the understanding without the interposing of man"s traditions, makes the mind of G.o.d to a man more clear than when attended with the other.
Things therefore will never be well in the church of G.o.d so long as there is thus light against light therein. When there is but one Lord among us, and his name one; and when divisions, by the consent of the whole, are banished--I mean, not persecuted, but abandoned in all by a joint consent, and when every man shall submit his own single opinion to those truths that by their being retained are for the health of all--then look for good days, and not till then.
CONFLICT BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND ANTICHRIST.
They that are the church do in G.o.d"s light see light but they that are not, do in their own way see. And let a man and a beast look out at the same window, the same door, the same cas.e.m.e.nt, yet the one will see like a man, and the other but like a beast.
No marvel then if there is here a disagreement; the beast can but see as a beast, but the church is resolved not to be guided by the eye of a beast, though he pretends to have his light by that very window by which the church has hers. The beast is moon-eyed, and puts darkness for light, yea, and hates the light that is so indeed; but the saints will not hear him, for they know the voice of their Lord.
On both sides they are resolved to stand by their way: the church is confident, the man of sin is confident; they both have the same windows--that is, "the word"--to see by, and so they manage their matters; yet not so simply by the windows as by the diverse judgment they make of that which shineth in at them. Each one therefore that hath the true or false profession will be confident of his own way: he that was right, knew he was right; and he that was wrong, thought he was right; and so the battle began: "There is a way that seemeth right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."
Nor is it in man to help it: there has been reasoning, there has been disputing, there has blood also been spilt on both sides, through the confidence that each had of the goodness of his own way: but no reconciliation is made; the enmity is set here of G.o.d; iron and clay cannot mix; G.o.d will have things go on thus in the world till his word shall be fulfilled; the deceived and the deceiver are his. Things therefore must have their course in the church in the wilderness till the mystery of G.o.d shall be fulfilled. G.o.d will get to himself great glory by permitting the h.o.a.r, the man of sin and the dragon, to revel in the church of G.o.d; for they by setting up and contending for their darkness, and calling it the light, and by setting it against that light which is light in very deed, do not only prove the power of truth where it is, but ill.u.s.trate it so much the more; for as black sets off white, and darkness light, so error sets off truth. He that calls a man a horse, doth but fix the belief of his humanity so much the more in the apprehension of all rational creatures.
It is not therefore to be wondered at that we hear both parties plead so much for their authority, crying out against each other as those that destroy religion. So doth the church, so doth the man of sin. The living child is mine, saith one. Nay, but the dead child is thine, and the living child is mine, says the other. And thus they spake before the king.
The church will not give place, for she knows she has the truth; the dragon and his angels, they will not give place, but as beaten back by the power of truth. Therefore there will, there must, there cannot but be a spiritual warfare here, and that until one of the two is destroyed, and its body given to the burning flame.
FALL OF ANTICHRIST.
Antichrist had a time to come into the world, and so must he have a time to go out again. For although he saith that he is a G.o.d, yet he must he subject to the will of G.o.d, and must go as well as come according to that will. Nor can all the fallen angels, with all the members and limbs of antichrist, cause this, that their brat should abide so much as one day longer than our G.o.d"s prefixed time. The Lord Jesus shall consume him, and cause him to melt away; not all at once, but now this part and then that, now his soul and after that his body, even until soul and body are both destroyed.
And that you may be convinced of the truth of this thing, do but look back and compare antichrist four or five hundred years ago, with antichrist as he is now, and you shall see what work the Lord Jesus has begun to make with him, even with the spirit and soul and life of antichrist, both in confounding and blasting it by the Spirit of his mouth, as also by forcing it to dishonorable retreats, and by making it give up to him as the conqueror, not only some of his superst.i.tious and diabolical rites and ceremonies to be destroyed, but many a goodly truth which this vile one had taken from his church, to be renewed to them. Nay, further, he has also already begun to take from him both kingdoms and countries, though as to some not so absolutely as he shall do by and by.
And how has this long ago been fulfilled here in England, as also in Scotland, Holland, Germany, France, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, and other places. Nor has this spirit of antichrist, with all his art and artifices, been able to reduce to antichrist again those people, nations, or parts of nations, that by the Spirit of Christ"s mouth and the brightness of his coming have been made to forsake him, and to turn from him to Christ.
The reason is, that the Lord has not retreated, but is still going on in the Spirit of his mouth and in his brightness to make that conquest over him that is determined, in the way that is determined; for the pathway that he goeth is as the shining light which shines more and more unto noon.
The first and chief proceeding of the Lord with the man of sin is to slay his soul, that his body may also be consumed; and when the spirit of antichrist shall be made to leave both the body and ordinances of antichrist, it will be easy to deal both with the one and the other.
And first, for the ordinances of antichrist, because the spirit of error is in them as well as in the body itself. When that spirit has left them, they will of themselves even moulder away and not be; as we have seen by experience here in England, and as others also have seen in other countries.
For as concerning his ma.s.ses, prayers for the dead, images, pilgrimages, monkish vows, sinful fasts, and the beastly single life of their priests, though when the spirit of antichrist was in them they did bear some sway in the world, yet now of what esteem are they, or who has reverence for them? They are now blown together under hedges as the dry leaves, for the mice and frogs to harbor in.
By ordinances of antichrist, I do not intend things that only respect matters of worship in antichrist"s kingdom, but those civil laws that impose and enforce them also, yea, enforce that worship with pains and penalties, as in the Spanish inquisition.
These are the very pillars and sinews by which antichristianism remains; and were these dispirited, the whole building would quickly become a ruinous heap.
What could the king of Babylon"s golden image have done, had it not been for the burning fiery furnace that stood within view of the worshippers? Yea, what could that horrible command to pray for thirty days to neither G.o.d nor man but to the king, have done, had it not been for the dark den and the roaring lions there in readiness to devour those that disobeyed it?
As therefore the burning fiery furnace and the den of lions were the support of the horrible religion of the Babylonians of old, so popish edicts are the support of the religion of antichrist now; and as long as there is spirit, that is, authority in them, they are like to those now mentioned. The spirit of such laws it is that makes them dreadful: for as the furnace would have been next to nothing if void of fire, and the den as little frightful if dest.i.tute of lions, so these laws will be as insignificant when Christ has slain the spirit that is in them--that spirit which causes that as many as will not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
MANNER OF ANTICHRIST"S DESTRUCTION.
Antichrist shall be brought to ruin gradually; a part after a part: here a fenced city and there a high tower, even until she is made to lie even with the ground.
As for the order of the angels that pour forth this wrath, they plainly show that this enemy must come down by degrees; for these vials are by them poured out one after another. Now, since by these vials antichrist must fall, it is evident that this man of sin, this son of perdition, is to fall and die by degrees. He would not die at all, as is manifest by his wrestling with it; but it is an almighty G.o.d that judges, and therefore he must come down. His friends also, with what cordials they can, will labor to lengthen out his tranquillity; but G.o.d hath set his bounds, and he cannot go beyond the time appointed.
We must also put a difference betwixt his being fought with and wounded, and that of his dying the death. Michael and his angels have been holding him in play a long season, but yet he is not dead; but, as I said, he shall descend into battle and perish, and shall be found no more for ever.
"And the cities of the nations fell," Rev. 16:19; the cities of the nations, the antichristian churches, otherwise called the daughters of the mother of harlots. This is a second stroke that G.o.d will give this man of sin, and a third cometh quickly.
Wherefore it follows, upon the downfall of those cities of the nations, that great Babylon came into remembrance before G.o.d, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
Now then, strike at great Babylon. Great Babylon! What is that? Why, I take it to be the mother, the metropolitan, the great harlot herself. For though sometimes by great Babylon we may understand the church of antichrist in general, yet by it is meant more properly the mother of the daughters, of whose overthrow we have spoken before.
We are now, then, come to the threshold of the door of the house of the old one--to the door of the mother of harlots and abomination of the earth. This then that but now is said to come into remembrance with G.o.d, is that which gave being to the cities destroyed before, to wit, the ministers, the queen, the mother-church as she calls herself.
And this is the wisdom of G.o.d concerning her, that she should not be the first that should die, but that she should live to see the destruction of her daughters, and pine away under the fright and sense of that, even until judgment also shall overtake herself.
Thus Pharaoh and his chief ones did live to see the greatest part of Egypt destroyed, before judgment overtook them; but at last it came to their doors also. Zedekiah lived to see his children slain before his face, before judgment overtook him to his own personal destruction.
Babylon also, when G.o.d sent the cup of his fury unto her, yet was to live to see the nations drink before her.
From all which I conclude that the mother, the metropolitan, the lady of kingdoms, shall live to see her daughters executed before her face; after which, she shall come into consideration herself, for she must a.s.suredly drink of the cup.
This destruction must be last for this reason also, because she most deserves the bottom of the cup. The bottom is the dregs, the most bitter part, and that where the most heat and fiercest wrath of G.o.d do lie. And great Babylon came into remembrance before G.o.d: "To give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath."
Now then is the time of iniquity, when it will be come to the full; and now also is the time of G.o.d"s anger, when it will be come to the full. Now therefore must the murders and thefts and blasphemies and fornications belonging to this mother of harlots, be recompensed to the full, to wit, with the dregs of this cup. Yet since the hailstones come by weight and the wrath comes by measure--for so a talent and a cup imports, Rev. 16:17-21--it follows that the almighty G.o.d, even in the midst of the heat of all this anger, will keep to the rules of justice and judgment while he is dealing with this enemy: he has not pa.s.sions to carry him beyond rules of judgment, nor weakness to cause him to fall short of doing justice; therefore he has his judgments for her by weight, and his indignation by measure. But yet this weight and measure are not suited to her const.i.tution, not with an intent to purge or refine her; but it is disposed according to the measure and nature of her iniquity, and comes to sweep her as with the besom of destruction, until she is swept off from the face of all the earth.
Now since she is dying, let us ring her pa.s.sing-bell; for when she is dead, we that live to see it intend to ring out.
PRESENT STATE OF ANTICHRIST.
Now I saw in my dream, that at the end of this valley lay blood, bones, ashes, and mangled bodies of men, even of pilgrims that had gone this way formerly; and while I was musing what should be the reason, I spied a little before me a cave, where two giants, Pope and Pagan, dwelt in old time; by whose power and tyranny the men whose bones, blood, and ashes lay there, were cruelly put to death.
But by this place Christian went without much danger, whereat I somewhat wondered; but I have learnt since, that Pagan has been dead many a day; and, as for the other, though he be still alive, he is, by reason of age, and also of the many shrewd brushes that he met with in his younger days, grown so crazy and stiff in his joints, that he now can do little more than sit in his cave"s mouth, grinning at pilgrims as they go by, and biting his nails because he cannot come at them.
SLAYING OF THE WITNESSES.
Thus, as to sense and reason, all shall be hush, all shall be quiet and still, Rev. 11:7-15: the followers of the Lamb shall be down; the followers of the beast shall be up, shall cry, Peace and safety, and be as secure as a hard heart, false peace, and a deceitful devil can make. them. But behold, while they thus sing in the window, death is striding over the threshold! While they are crying peace and safety, sudden destruction cometh. By that they have well settled themselves at their table with Adonijah, 1 Kings, 1, they shall hear it proclaimed with sound of trumpet, The witnesses are risen again.
Now the Christians" pipes will go again, and surely the earth will be rent with the sound of their shouts and acclamations, while they cry with joyful sound, "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever."
REASONS FOR ANTICHRIST"S DESTRUCTION.
Antichrist must be destroyed, for that he has usurped the name and attributes of G.o.d upon himself. He hath said, I am G.o.d. For that antichrist has thus taken the place of G.o.d, prescribed and imposed a worship as a G.o.d, got the world to worship and wonder after him as after a G.o.d; therefore he shall die the death of the uncirc.u.mcised, both in the soul, spirit, body, or flesh of antichrist. Therefore will G.o.d enlighten and gather and set the kings and nations against him, that both he and his may be buried, and have their dolesome withdrawing-rooms from the world in the sides of the pit"s mouth.