tance. Of whom one is departed a true faythfull seruaunt of the Lord, the other two be yet aliue, and witnes hereof. To whom the number of these foresayd 42. monethes, being propounded and examined by Sabbots of yeares, the whole summe was found to surmount to 294. yeres, conteining the full aud iust tyme of these foresayd persecutions neither more nor lesse.

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Now this one claspe beyng opened, the other numbers that follow, are plaine and manifest to the intelligent reader to be vnderstood. For where mention is made of three yeares and a half: of one tyme, two times, & halfe a tyme, also of 1260. dayes, all these come to one reckoning, & signifie 42. monthes, by which monthes, as is sayd, is signified the whole tyme of these primitiue persecutiōs, as here in order may appeare.

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And so haue ye the iust yeares, dayes, times, & months of these foresaid persecutions vnder the beast, neither shorter nor longer, reckoning from the death of Iohn Baptist vnder Herode the Romain king to the ende of Maxentius, and of Licinius, ij. last great persecutors, the one in the West the other in the East, Who were both vanquished by godly Constantinus. And so peace was geuen to the Church, albeit not in such ample wise, but that diuers tumultes and troubles afterward ensued, but they lasted not long: & the chief brunt, to speake of these Romain persecutions, which the holy ghost especially considered aboue all other, in this his Reuelatiō thus ended, in the time of this Constantinus. Then was the great Dragon the deuill, to witte, the fierce rage & power of his malicious persecuting, tied short for a thousand yeres after this, so that he could not preuaile in any such sort, but that the power and glory of the gospel by little and litle encreasing and spreading with great ioy and libertie, so preuailed that at length it got the vpperhand, & replenished the whole earth, rightly verifiyng therein, the water of Ezechiel,MarginaliaEzech. cap. 47. which issuing out of the right side of the aulter, the farther it ran, the deeper it grew, till at length it replenished the whole Ocean Sea, & healed all the fishes therin. No otherwise the course of the Gospell proceeding of small & hard beginnings kept still his streame, the more it was stopped, the swifter it ranne: by bloud it seeded, by death it quickned: by cutting it multiplied, through violence it sprong, till at last out of thraldome and oppressiō it brast forth into perfect libertie, & florished in al prosperitie, had it so bene, that the christians wisely & moderatly could haue vsed this rest & libertie, & not abused the same, forgetting their former estate to their own pride, pomp & worldly ease, as it came afterward to passe, wherof more is to be seene & said (the Lord willing) in place & time conuenient.

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And thus much touching the propheticall numbers in the Apocalips. Wherein is to be noted and magnified the eternall wisdome, and hie prouidence of almighty God, so disposing and gouerning his church, that no aduersitie or perturbation hapneth at any time vnto it, which his prouident wisedome doth not foresee before & preordaine, neither doth he preordaine or determine any thing, which he doth not most truly perform, both foreseing the beginningof such persecutions, and limiting the end therof how long to continue and when to cease. In much like sort we reade in the bookes of Genesis, how the stocke of Israell, was. 400. yeares in the lande of Egipte.MarginaliaThe persecuted Israelites bearing a figure of the persecuted Church of Christ. During the space of which 400. yeares, after the death of Ioseph, (who beareth a playne figure of Christ) they were hardly intreated and cruelly afflicted of the Egiptians, about the space of. 300. yeares, reckning from atter the death of Ioseph, to their deliuerance out of the bōdage of Egipt, semblably as these Christians, after Christes time suffered the like bondage vnder the Romane tyrauntes.

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Thus much by the way I thought to insinuate, least any should muse, or take any offēce in himself, to see or read of the Church, so long & so many yeares to be vnder so miserable & extreme afflictions. Wherin neither chaunce nor fortune, nor dispositiō of man, hath had any place: but onely the forecounsaile & determination of the Lord so gouerned and desposed the same.MarginaliaFrom the first persecution of the primitiue Church to the last persecution 294. yeares. Vniuersall persecution ceaseth for a 1000. yeares in the Church. Apoc. 10. From the tyme of Licinius. to Wickliffe 1000. yeares. Sathan bound vp for a thousand yeares. Who not only did suffer thē to fall, and foresee those persecutions before they fell: but also appointed the times and yeares how long they should last & when to haue an ende. As by the foresaide. 42. monethes in the 13. and 11. chap. of S. Iohns Apocalips haue beene declared. Which monethes conteyning. 294 yeares, if they be rightly gathered, make the full time betweene the first yeare of the persecution of Christ vnder the Iewes & Herode, till the last yeare of persecution vnder Licinius, which was from the natiuitie of Christ, an. 324. from the fyrst persecution of Christ, an. 294. as is aforesaide. After the which yeare, according to the preordinate counsel of God, when his seueritie had bene sufficiently declared vpon his own house, it pleased him to shew mercy againe, & to bind vp Sathan the old serpent, according to the xx. chap. of the Reuelation for the space of a thousand yeares, that is,MarginaliaThe time of Sathans binding opened. frō this time of Licinius, to the time of Iohn Wickleffe, and Iohn Husse. During all which time, albeit certaine conflicts and tumults haue bene among Christian byshops themselues in the church, yet no vniuersal murdering persecutiō was stirring, before the preaching of Iohn Wickleffe, of Husse, and such other, as in the further processe of this history (Christ willing and aiding vs) shall more appeare hereafter.

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Thus hauing at large discoursed these horrible persecutions past, and heauy afflictions of Christian Martyrs, now by the grace of God, cōming out of this redde sea of bloudy persecution, leauing Pharao and his host behynde:  

let vs sing gloriously to the worthy name of our god, who through the bloud of the lambe, after long & tedious afflictiōs at length, hath visited his people with comfort, hath tide vp Sathan shorte, hath sent his meeke Moses (gentle Constantine I meane) by whom it hath so pleased the Lord to worke deliueraunce to his captiue people, to set his seruants at liberty, to turne their morning into ioy, to magnifie the church of his sonne, to destroy the Idoles of al the world, to graunt life and liberty (and would God also not so much riches) vnto them which before were the abiectes of all the world: and all by the meanes of godly Constantinus, the meeke and most christian Emperour of whose diuine victories against so many tyraunts and Emperonrs persecutors of Christes people, and lastly against Licinius, an. 324. of whose other noble actes & prowesses of whole blessed vertues and his happy birth and progeny, part we haue comprehended before, part now remaineth (Christ willing) to be declared.

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This Constantine was the sonne of Constantius the Emperour, a good and vertuous childe, of a good and vertuous father,MarginaliaDoxologia. borne in Britaine, as saith Eutropius whose Moother was name Helena, daughter, in deede of King Coilus, although Ambrosius in his funerall Oration of the death of Theodosius, sayth was an Inhoulders daughter. He was a most bountifull and gracious Prince, hauyng a desire to nourishe learning and good artes, and did oftentimes vse to read, write, and study himselfe.MarginaliaThe good qualities of Constantinus. He had marueilous good successe & prosperous atchieuing of al things he tooke in hand, which then was (and truely) supposed to proceede of this, for that he was so great a fauourer of the Christian fayth.MarginaliaThe cause of all hys prosperous successe. Which faith when he had once embraced, he did euer after most deuoutly and religiously reuerence: and commaunded by especiall commission and proclamations, that euery man shoulde professe the same Religion throughout al þ^e Romaine Monarchy.MarginaliaConstantine sometime by meanes of hys wife was an Idolater.The worshipping of Idoles, whereunto he was addict, by the allurement of Fausta his wife: in so much that he did sacrifice vnto them: after the discomfite of Maxentius in battaile, he vtterly abiured. But Baptisme he deferred euen vnto his olde age, because hee had determined a iourneye into Persia, and thought in Iordan to haue beene baptised. Eusebius. lib. 4. de vita Constantini.MarginaliaEuseb. lib. 4. de vita Constant.

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As touching his naturall disposition and wit, he was