CAP.'2. AZeyelation o, fthe.Apocalypfe. 83 are they that fay fo ? Thofe felffame Wafters of this abominable and Growing filthyart, as far as it feemeth; as if they fhouldboaft that they alone Thyatira. do know the profundities of Satan ; that they are perfec} in all his craftie conveyances and fubz lties; & that they do likewife know the way to witl{ft ,d'his devices;& that they thertorehave permitted tins brutifh lu$t without difference offex, age , orperfon , at leaff tnis whorilh leachery , to avoyd a greater inconvenience ; that other tcacíters, whom the common people hold for the only trueminders, are Pimple unskilful! fellowes, altogether unacquainted with Satans enterprizes. The nwe Satan fcemeth not to be upbraided by Iolon,but to bevoliintarily taken up by themfelves in thatfen ce we have fpoken of. Thus is impietie wont to vaunt ofher felf; arro- gating toher felfe the facultie of letting loofe,and ridding others out, of the fnares of the devill,when as the herfelf is every way faft bound . in them. Wherefore it is more fitly tranflated, as it is-by th old in- terpreter, Who havenot kyoWn,r c. For the Holy ÇhoJt cloth' rather reprove fharply the bragging infoleneyof the wicked,thencommend the integrity of the faithhill. _ I Will lay no other burthenupon you. That is, I will denounce no more grievousjudgment againft you; as Theodoret Beta dothwell ex- plaine the words. AProphecie that threatned force calamitie enfu- ing,was wont to be called a burden. There words do fhew,that nono- table calamitie fhould invade this church. Which is meet tobe be. leeved fo to have happened in the citie ofThyatira:Inour partof the world, we know it fell out fo,there falling out no change ofnote un- to it, betides that which was fpoken of, from the ycer t 3 oo. for two hundred yeers and more afterwards. The Turke indeed prevailed, from that time, but thisdidbelong to the affiftion of the Kings that committed adultery with this Whore, as we have (hewed on the22. verf. The true.church rececived no great damage from hence;fave on- ly that it couldnot but bebitter for them to heare how thofe ofthe Chriftianname, (houldbe fo cruelly trampled upon by a moft cruel! enemy. Otherwife, while the Turke did foundly punifh the RomiJl, Whore, and her adulterers, the truth beginning to fpringup againe, had means hereby to grow the fatter. , 25. Tet that Whichye have, hold itfall- till I come. He exhorteth them hereunto conftancy, that they would keepe thole things faith- fully which theyhad gotten. Neither is this exhortationonly a corn- mandinq of themwhat they ought to :do, but a prophecy alto, what fhouldbe done ; as often elfwlere. Therefore they fhould go on N 2 in i
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