2 jo ,Titevelatton oftheApocálypie. C A r.7. did live and flourifh in the Eaff. But when the Saracens did at length lay this vineyard alto wafte, our Britany,and the North-Coact coun- tries, that look toward the weft. did fiourith out as it were Afcher,and Nephralim,when as two thoufand Monks of Bangor and more, refuted ro bear the R mifh Poke. For which caufe the Bri- tanes did indure that grievous perfecution, which e.1u/pin the Mon/es rent fromRome flirted up againft them. 'I he Age following brought in Mani,fes, partly Eaflerne,partly wefterne,whenas bothLeo I /èax- rur, and Charles the great with joynt endeavours, though fomewhat disjoyned inplaces and times, didcondcmne the WorJhip of Images by Synodes, which they called together. The timesnext to thefe were molt miferable, when as Antichrifl had now come tohis higheft top ofAuthority, and power. Now did the truethfo lie trodden under foot almoft every where, that the Church could not be confpicuous, as havingany certain fetling, but thofe who were fealed did lurke and lie confufedly,and fcatteringly, as it were Simeon and Levi,known to Godalone, but altogether re- mote from the eyes of the world. In after Ages the feat went over to Iffachar, and Zabulon, namely to the North-Coaft part, that is , to people bending towards the Summer Sun-rife. For there are fa- mous converfions read of about this time , of the men of 'Poland, Saxony, NorWay, &c. Now though thefe converfions were màde through the labours offuperftitious men,y et it was thefeal ofGod,and that a faving one for his Elec`f. For where the Doetrine is cor- rupted and defiled with errours, there the firft blade is more excel- lent then the ftalke, thefeed newly fowen, is more fincere then when it is growing t.oa green hearb. For at their firft converfon they heare onely the Doctrine of Faith, and ofthe way of Salvation by Chrift, but when they are grownmore ripe in knowledge, they are wont to be corrupted, and depraved with the Superftitions of their Tea chers. Lail ofall, when the end now approachedof thofe that were to be fealed, true Citizens were chofenout of the middle Regions, as it were out of the Tribes of Benjamin andfofeph. For about the yeer n thoufand two hundred, there arofe at Lyons inFrance, the walden- res, who making a departure from the Church of Rome, profeffed the more fincere Y)ottrine, with the Joffe of their living and lives. From thefe did theAlbingenfes flow about rolofa, who afterwards were propagated', through the whole countreyes of Germany, and Bohemia, whofe lot it was to dwell neither in the furtheft part of the
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