,A1gevelationoftheApocalypse. z port ofthem ifhe would, when as the inaruments of their wicked- neffedid confèffe, that they were not able to fliy fo many, as didof theirown accord flock and flow unto punifhment. For fo one Tide- rianus who was fet over thofeofPale/tina, reported untoTrajan, as Suidas records in the life of Trajan. Pliny a Heathen man, being mo- ved tb fee the multitude of fuck as were flaughtered, obtained a kind. of ceaiïng from it, or at leaf} acertaine moderating ofit,the condition ofthe Chriftians was fo pitìfull,that it pitied the enemiesto fee them fo diftreflèd. Reade Eufeb. lib. ;,4,5,6,7. Every page almofl is red, as ifit were washed inblond. It is no marvell indeed that the Saints being fo tired out withcontinuall flaughters,did require fome delive- rance at length. So much for the meaning ofthis verfe. But the words are as yet to be illuftrated, and to be delivered from thecavils of adverfaries. Whence then is this fpeech Etched, that thefoules of the Martyrs fhonld lye under theAltar ? Doubtleffe fromthe reafon whichDavid often utèd,as Pial. 27.5. For he Will hide me in the time oftrouble inhis Tabernacle,in thefecret place ofhis Tent Will he cover me, andWilllet me ona rccke. So againe,Thou ¡halt hide them in the fecret placeof thy prefence Pons the pride ofmen, thou /halt keep them clofe in thyTaber- nacle, from theJi-rife oftongues, Pfal.3 t.2o. Now it iswell knowne, that the Tabernacle both in the parts ofit, and in the whole, was a thadowifh figure of Chrift. Wherefore to be hidden in the Taberna- cle is to have a. receptable, and a refuge pitched in Chrift alone, as with whom onely we are covered. and fenced agairiff all affaults of the aduerfaries. Hence it is manifel} why the Souses are Paid to le under the Altar, namely, that from thencewee might fir ft under - ftand that all the Salvation even of Martyrs is placed only in the deathof Chrit}, under which the Holy Champions lyinghid as un- der a buckler, may fafely and without terrour appeasebefore God, and that they did not merit eternal' life for themfèlves by fhedding of theirbloud for Chrift,as the Papifts do wickedly doting teach,but that they have need of this-coveringof the Sonof God, as without which theyare not able toRand in the fight ofGods Maj; And then that wemight know,thatald thefoes of God o'ts ht to be made conformable to the Image oftheirfrft-bornbrother, Roln.8.2g, And ought togo into heaven the fameway,whichhe went before us, that is, by being made through fufferingofafflitions, hcritccs and oblations andbybeing killed with many forrowes.In regard Where of Paul faith that be didfulfillby his f efh that Which was wanting in the
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