Baxter - BV669 B3 1681

( 84 ) he had faid, we will firlt feparate, and that fhallbring perfecutionon you, I= tillwe do that it is withheld. so. Or that the faid feparation was not done by degrees, fome before this, and fome after. rr. Orz-hat.,the difference between the Yews perfecution ofthe Chriftians, before theApo-, files Apoftafie, and after it, was indeed fogreat as to be the Çrifs ofthe An. tichrifts Revelation. r 2. And that poor Simon fhouid be the Man that fitteth in the Templeof God, and oppofed and exalted himfelf above all that is caledGod, when as the Scripture never once nameth him after his depre- cationof the Apoftles curfe or threatning ; though Nisolaitanes are na- med, and Alexander. Hymeneus and Philetus named, andother Adverfa- ries, and all the terrible things foretold, which are here fuppofed to be done by Simon, and hisDoftrine? What, were all the Sacred Writers afraidto name him when they recited all the Evils that he muff do, and are fuppofed to make it a great part of all the Epiftles, ad the Hiftory in Alas j. and when hehad been fo (ha rply rebuked and humbledbefore,, AEi.8. s 3. That the 4 tviizot,, he that with-holdeth, till he be tab« out of the way, isnotmeant ofany perfon, power or Hate, but the aforefaid fe- paration of the Apoftles. 14. That verfe 8. that the breath of Chrifi's - own mouth, fignifieth St. Peter's words that caft down Simon when he fell and hurt him; and that the brightnefs"of this coming, or the appearingof his own prefençe, is nothing but the forefaid Deftrufton of 7erufalem. r5.- And fo many of the Gnofiiclks andHeretieks, that troubled all the Chur- ehesof Alta and other Countries, were got together into yerufalem, as that they might be faid to be confumed and deftroyed there, who fo long after troubled theChurches. 16. And when I can believe that the Reve- lation is made upof fuch a fence, and that moltor much of it, was fulfilled before it was revealed andwritten, andall the reft fulfilled long ago (a- bout Confiantine's days) except one Parenthefis, or a fewVerfes in the 2oth Chapter. And that theRefurre &ion and Thoufand Yearsreignofthe Mar- tyrs is that soonYears fromConfiantine's beginning, in which the Bifhops hadWealthand Honour, and fate on Thrones, and judged the People in COurts, as our Lay-Chancellors now do; and that this Glory, Wealth, and Grandure of Prelates, is the ChurchesRefurreftion, Gloryand Feli- city Andthat happy thoufand Years continued 700 Years after the riling of Mahomet; and included thofe 8th, 9th, Toth, and r ich Ages, which Erafmus and all learned men (even Bellarmine himfelf) fodolefully bewail. And that when Boys, and Whores, and Sorcerers, and Murder- ers, andHereticks, andSchifmaticks ruled the Church, they were happy that had a part in this fir(l furre£ lion fo all this Glory, yea,,that there are ll..ÿ too, Rtv. 20.6. And that the fecond death (hall have no power on rhem ; that is while theyarc drowning the true Churches of Chriftin the Floois of all abomination, andbringing in all corruption, and laying the grounds of all divilion, fubdiiing Kings, and murdering Chriftians by thoufands, till the Year L 300. Bleffed and holy and happy are they, be- caufe though they perfecute*the Godly, they are free from being perfe- cuted

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