i8z fÇeìelationofthe Apocalyple. C A '.8, matter : But the Eagle that was thefourth living creature, was onely one,wherefore it were fuperfluous to fay,/ rave one Eagle: Therefore one Angel doth ferve more aptly, which is a commonword, and may by right be circumfcribed with fome addition, even as Andreas reads it, and other CreekeCopies : Betides, is he alfocalled an Angel that fieth through themidt of Heaven, as afterwards, Chap. a+ 6. Now one Angel is fome one fingular man, chofen and exemptedout from the reff, to force peculiar office ; the midft of Heaven, is not filch a middle as the Aflronomers fpeak of, who call Mid-day by that name; but middle between earth andheaven, towit, amiddle ofhei hth, not of length,afcer whichmanner the eAngelappeared to David, I Chro. 21.16. Now feeing Heaven is theHolyChurch,but theearth is that which is falfe and counterfeit, bearing the name and Phew onelyof the true,this Angel that appeared between both, feemethneither to have attained to the purity of that,and tohave flowneup beyond the filth and dregs of this. He cryeth Withagreat voyce, that he may be heardof all men, that greater calamities byfar, are to come oat of the three Trumpets that remaine, then thofe that are already pat. But yet fo, as that thofe calamities fhould befall the Inhabitants of the earth onely, who doe counterfeit holineffe, when as indeed they be withered branches, and rottenmembers. The time and agreement of thematter,doe makeme to think that this angel is gregory the Great, the Bilbopof Róme ; This man was one, as it were, excepted out of the rabbleof many Popes, whofe labourGod would ufe, toprofit his Church. Now althoughhe unwittingly fate in theChaire ofWicked- neffe, yet God knewhow to drawout his fervants, even out of the jawes ofHell. And indeed,he is fignificancly called one,as if it were miraculous,that in fo degeneratearout-, any one man fhould be found ought worth. This gregory flew beti.'ecna heaven and earth, as being weighed downe with many fuperftitions and errors, that he could not fo fully be reckoned for a Citizen ofthe heavenly City; and yet his notable good will, clefire, diligence, found judgement in many things, did lift him up onhigh-far above the reffof the common fort, and that troopeof fuperffitious men : he cryed With'a load voyce, by denouncing unto the world a great calamity that was to infue from Anticbri/t, who was ffraightwa=yes about to come; The King of prideù neere, faith he, and that Which is not lawfull to be fpol_en, there is an army of Priefr ready to fight his battels, Book, 4. Epiff. 34. Againe, the Icing of pride is at the doores, in thefame Bookc,Epiff:3 8; In the fame place, Where is that Antichrif#,Who fbali challenge tohim- f l fe
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