of the R E_V E L A T I 0 N. 45 rxpreffed unto us. The falfe Gods of the Heathens are called in Scripture, the ~ Hoft of Heavm, as Dwt. 17. 3· not only f?ecaufe fome of then\ worfhip_p_ed the~ Sun and Stars Immediately, but alfo becaufe the Roma11r and GrCCiam drd emitle the Stars by the Names of their Gods, or Men famous among them, whom they worlhipped, and fo they worfhipped both at once, under one and the -G 1me Name. The Sun they entitled .ApoUo, and the qther Planets by the Natne-s 'Of other Gods and Goddelfes, as S,ztum, ]Hpiter, Marr-, f/emn, and the Muon they called Pha:be, or the great Goddefs Di<ma: All which had once bee!) Men and Women among them, though now being dead, they were worfhip'd for Gods and Goddefles. So that they wodhipped the Hofl: of Heaven under the Names of Men; though really, and indeed, under both thefe, they worfhip'd Satan and his Devils, (though not immediately, yet interpretatively). Thus fpeaks the Apofl:le, 1 Cor. 10. 20. The Thi11grwbich tbe CJe~ttiler facrifice, they fa· c•·ifce to Devilr. Now then, this advancement of Satan, under the Names and Titks of the Hell of Heaven, was truly hir Heavm, wherein the Devils, by that Religion, were fet up as the Gods of this World, as 2 Cor. 4· 4· And anfiverably the tHrowing down of Satan's Worfhip and Religion, is expreffed by a change of the Heavens, ·even as Chrifl: exprelfeth the throwing dowh the Heathenilh Worfhip by the Apoflle's preaching, to be, its faUmg from HeavefJ li~ Ligbt11ing; which Chrifl fpeaks, of their cafling out Devils then, when fent out to preach, as a certain Omen which his Faith had before-hand, that Satan in like manner, with all his Worlhip, fi1ould be thrown down by the preaching the Gofpel in the Empi:e; and fo accordingly, chap. I 2. Satail and his Angels are f.1id to be cafl down from Heaven, when he and they were acknowledged for Gods no longer. Now the alteration of this Heathenifh Worfhip, and change of this Religion in the Empire, is the jbaking the Heavens and Earth here meant. The word for Earthq11ak._e is not only to be confined to the Earth, (in Englifh we have no word large enough) for it imports the concuffion;or throwing down by a commotion of that Heathenifh World, the Heavens and Earth 1 and all of that Religion, even of all that had a fl:ation in that accurfed Frame. Thus, Haggai 2. 17. you have the like Allufion for the alteration of the Jewilli. Worlhip into the Gofpel Worfhip; and then, that alteration yet to come, of this Gofpel Worlhip, when the Kingdom of Chrifl: !hall be fet up : The one is expreffed by jhakj11g the Earth, the other the Heavens. And that fhaking is interpreted, verf 27. to be, re11Jovi11g away of the things Jba~n. And fo the throwing down Satan and his Devils from being worfhipped any longer, under the Names of the Hofl of Heaven, and tllo[e Appellatives given the Stars, and Titles to Men departed, (whereof he received all the real honour) may fitly be here underflood to be the dark._ning the Snn and Moon, and the falling of theft Stars fro11J Heaven. As Chrifl is the Sun in his Heaven; So Satan the Prince of Devils, the Prince of thir Hojl of Heaven, (as Daniel's phrafe is) wJ< the Sun in this Firmament. And the leffer Devils, with him worlhipped under the Title of the Leffer Gods, and ofthe Starr, are the Stars here, which fall from Heaven, And as the Moon is Chrifl's Church, and the ~een in his Heaven; fo the Colledg ofPriefts (who were then in Rome,as the Pope and Cardinals are now) that were the Inflrumems of his Worfhip, they were the Moon in his Heaven, 'And [o his confecrated Places, hi5Iflands and Mountains, tbe high Places of his Worlhip were removed out of their place; that is, diverted from that ufe which they were once put to in that Idolatrous Worfhip. So then this mutation of the Heathenifi1 Religion from Conflahtine's Time downward, during the fpace of an hundred Years (for [o long was it e're Hea– ~heni[m could be utterly extirpated, and wholly abolifh'd, for ever riling again) IS here fetforth unto us by two Things here diflinClly and apart laid down. Firfl, The overthrowing the Worfuip and Religion it felf, expreffed by thofe Metaphors before-mentioned. As, I. By the eclipfing of the Sun and Moon, [the S11n became Black._,......: and the Moon tU Blood] that is, the glory of thefe their chief falfe Gods, and the Priefls of them, was darkned,
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=