Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
Ver. 3. Hurt not] Reprobates often fare the better for those few righteous that are among them; they are therefore singularly foolish for seeking to rid them, and root them out, as the heathen emperors did. These resemble the stag in the emblem, that fed upon the leaves which hid him from the hunter and Samson-like, by pulling down the pillars, they bring the house upon their own heads.
In their foreheads] Not in their hands only, as the vassals of Antichrist, Rev 13:16 who have free liberty to dissemble, deny their religion, do anything, so the Catholic cause be thereby advanced. My son, give me thy heart, said Gregory XIII to our English Papists, let who will have thy tongue and outward man.