Facta caput imiiido, (|iiici]iiid iion |>ossitlet ariiiis, Relligiono tonct." — rrosp., cle In;4rat. < John X. IC; Isa. xxxvii. 31; Jcm-. xxx. 0; Ezi-k. xxxiv. 23. xxxvii. 21, 2."; lies. iii. 5; Amos ix. II.
OF HEAVEN AND EARTH. 267
Is^, Real: the great river Euphrates, the strength and fuhiess of Avhose streams doth yet rage so high that there is no passage for the kings of the east to come over. Wherefore this must be dried up, as other waters were for their forefathers in the days of ok], Rev xvL 12. ^Doubtless this is spoken in aUusion to Abraham's coming over that river into Canaan, when the chiu'ch of God in his family Avas there to be erected, — whence he was called the Hebrew (that is, the pas- senger, to wit, over that river. Gen. xiv. 13); — and then it may well enough denote the Turkish power; which, proud as it is at this day, possessing in peace all those regions of the east, yet God can quickly make it wither and be dried up; — or the deliverance of the Jews from Babylon, when it was taken and destroyed by the drying up of the streams of that river, and so the yoke of her tyranny broken from the church's neck;^ — and so it can be no other but the power of the Romish Babylon, supported by the kings of the nations, which must therefore be shaken and dried up.
2dly, Moral, or the idolatry of the Gentile worshippers.^ The Jews stick hard as yet at this, that God should abolish any kind of worship which himself had once instituted ; but, that he should ever accept any false worship, which he had once strictl}^ prohibited, and nowhere to this day appointed, — to this they will never be i-econciled. Now, such is all the invented idolatrous worship which the kings of the earth have sucked in from the cup of fornication held out to them in the hand and by the authority of the Roman whore; this still they cleave close unto, and will not hearken to the angel preaching the everlasting gospel, that men should worship Him who made the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. Rev. xiv. 6, 7, — that is, the God of heaven in Jesus Christ, — in op- position to all their iconolatry,* artolatry, hagiolatry, staurolatry, and mass abominations. This, then, must also be removed ; and because, as you saw before, it is so rivetted and cemented into and with all the orbs of the nations, heaven and earth, they must be shaken, and brought ilg iJ^iruhaiv, before it can be effected.
[2.] The second thing he hath to accomplish is the tremendous, total destruction ol Babylon,^ the man of sin, and all his adherents, that are not obedient to the heavenly call. Rev. xviii. 4." Now, as Samson, intending the destruction of the princes, lords, and residue of the Philistines, who were gathered together in their idol-temple, effected it by pulling away the pillars whereby tlie building was sup- ported, whereupon the whole frame toppled to the ground;'' so the
' Exod. xiv. 21, 22; Josh. iil. 1.5, 16; Hab. iii. 8. ' Jer. li. 31, 32.
* Rev. xi. 2. * Worshij) of images — bread — saints — the cross. — Ei>.
« Ts. cxxxvii. S, 9; Isa. xlvii. 7-9.
« Jer. li. 25, 26; llev. xvii. 1, 2; Zecli. ii. 7; Jer. H. 6.
" Judges xvi. 28, 29.
268 THE SHAKING AND TRANSLATING
Lord, intending the ruin of that mighty power, whose top se6ms to reach to heaven, will do it by pvdling away the pillars and supporters of it, after which it cannot stand one moment. Now, what are the pillars of that fatal building ? Are they not tlie powers of the world, as presently stated and framed? Pull them away, and, alas! what is Antichrist? It is the glory of the kings put upon her that makes men's eyes so dazzle on the Roman harlot. Othenvise she is but like the Egyptian deities, whose silly worshippers through many glorious portals and frontispieces were led to adore the image of an ugly ape.
Add liereunto, that in this mighty work the Lord Jesus Christ will make use of the power of the nations, the horns of them ; that is, their strength, Rev. xvii. 16. They must hate the whore, and make her desolate and naked, and eat her flesh, and burn her witli fire. Now, whether this can be accomplished or no in their present posture, is easily discerniljle. Doth not the jDapal interest lie at the bottom of all, or the most ruling lines of Christendom?^ Can that be ejected without unbottoming their own dominion ? Do they not use the effi- cacy of the Roman jurisdiction to balance the powers of their adver- saries abroad, and to awe their subjects at home? Hath not the pope a considerable strength in every one of their own bosoms? Are not the locusts of their religious orders (all sworn slaves to him) for num- ber sufficient to make an army to fight the gTeatest emperor in the world? Are not most potentates tied by oath, or other compact, to maintain either the whole or some pait of the old power, under the name of rites of holy church, prelates, and the like? And can any expect that such as these should take up the despised quarrel of the saints against that flourishing queen? Doubtless no such fruit will grow on these trees, before they are thoroughly shaken.