but we shall be extreamly surprised at the re-establishment of the Reformed Churches in France because we know the King to be of opposite Sentiments to them But as it is the King of France who contributeth most to the Glory of the Papacy So it shall be the King of France that shall contribute most to its ruin It was a Louis XII who in the last age threatned to destroy the Romish Church perdam Babylonis nomen And it shall be a Louis who will execute the threatning of that generous King. The God of heaven and Earth the King of Kings who has the hearts of Kings and of people in his hand raiseth in us this hope because it is further added in the Prophecy 5 That the same hour there was a great Earthquake and the tenth part of the City fell It may be doubted whether this Earthquake may come to pass according to the letter But it is most certain that Earthquakes in scripture signify great alterations that fall out in States And to bring no other example save one that relates nearly to this matter Whosoever remembers that Earthquake which was in France when the King returned from the Pyrenees after the Treaty of Peace and the consummation of his Marriage and considers the great alterations which have since fallen out in that Kingdom not only in reference to Religion as well Popish as Reformed but in reference to Justice to Policy to the Finances and to War will no longer question but that the Earthquake which is to be after the Witnesses have lyen three days and a half dead doth promise as surprising a change in France as to all those regards and an alteration wherewith all the world will be contented except it be the Clergy the Monks and the Jesuites Some will doubless ask what reason I have to understand France rather than any other Kingdom by this tenth part of the City which is to fall after the Eartquake My reasons are these 1 I presuppose that the City here spoken of is Babylon or the Papal Empire or the Romish Church which is the Empire of Antichrist This Truth we have already proved 2 I presuppose that France is One of the ten Horns of the Beast One of the ten Kingdoms that were to be formed out of the ruins of the Roman Empire according to Daniel and which was to begin at the same time with the Beast according to St. John that is to begin with the Papal Empire This is evident in History 3 I presuppose France is one Street and one part of the City i. e. of the Papal Kingdom Nor can any deny but that the Gallican Church or the Church of France stiles it self by the Title of the Catholick Apostolick Roman Church that the Pope Reigns there over what is called Spiritual that he hath there his Ministers and Agents that he receiveth Annates from thence and that there is no Arch-Bishop or Bishop in France but who receives his Mission and Authority from the Pope 4 I suppose that France is the most beautiful and glorious Kingdom of all those Kingdoms which are Tributary to the Pope They do so account it by calling the King of France the most Christian King and the eldest Son of the Church And it is worthy of remark that even in St. Johns time France was by way of excellency stiled the Province because of all the Provinces of the Roman Empire France which was then called Gaul was the best and the most powerful This is so certain that the name do's yet remain and is attributed to the Southern part of France which is stiled Province from the latin Provincia It being therefore said in the Text that the tenth part of the City fell the Holy Spirit did questionless intend by that expression the most excellent part of all So that it is from thence very natural to understand France by the tenth part of the City Lastly we have already observed that it is not said that the two Witnesses were killed and that they lay unburied in the places or Streets in the plural number but in the Street of the great City in the singular which is as much as to say a Popish Kingdom marked out by way of excellency And therefore seeing the Holy Spirit had the most excellent of all the Popish Kingdoms in his Eye and seeing we have seen the death which in so surprising a manner hath befallen the Witnesses in France we may without any difficulty conclude that it is France which is this tenth part of the City that is to fall 6 'T is said that the tenth part of the City shall fall This may at the first view appear a dreadful prediction against France But yet it is not so For we must observe that this threatning is not as it would at first seem denounced against the tenth part of the City but against the City it self Because as that is the alone cause of the death of the two Witnesses so that is also the object of Gods vengeance 'T is then the City the Papal Kingdom which is to receive a terrible loss by the falling away of France Whereas France it self will increase both its strength and Glory by that falling off and withdrawing So that upon the whole I do not doubt but that it is the conversion of that beautiful Kingdom which is promised in this place And that which confirmeth me the more in this conjecture is what followeth namely that there i. e. in the tenth part of the City which was to fall by an Earthquake there shall be slain of men seven thousand and that the remnant shall be affrighted and give glory to God. In which words we have two Events represented unto us whereof the one is very different from the other both of them worthy of observation The one is an effect of the vengeance of God the other an effect of his Mercy The first event is the death of seven thousand names of men Which is a figure where seven thousand names of men are put for seven thousand men of name that is of quality reputation and dignity These Men of Name are doubtless either the Doctors who make a great deal of noise in France in the Sorbone in the Society of the Oratory in the Society of the Jesuites and among the Clergy or else persons of quality who are distinguished from others by their birth and by their honor The Number of seven thousand denotes an indefinite number but very considerable And the death of these men will be a death parallel to the Death of the Witnesses that so like may be returned unto them for like For that the same shall be rendred unto Babylon which She rendred unto Sion is both threatned in the Prophesies of Isaiah and in the Revelations of St. John Isa 14. 6. Rev. 18. 6. Not that these seven thousand men shall be compelled by the fury of Missionary Dragoons to abjure Popery and to embrace the Reformed Religion For
general Councils which were constituted of the Bishops of the whole Empire these Councils contributed to the Exaltation of the Bishop of Rome So that Gregory I. spake according to his interest when he said that he had the same regard for the 4. Councils viz. of Nice Constantinople Ephesus and Calcedon that he had for the four Gospels Which was a plain Blasphemy and very suteable to Antichrist 6. St. John delivereth the Explication which the Angel gave of the Vision of the 17th Chapter v. 12. in these Words The ten Horns which thou sawest are ten Kings which have received no Kingdom as yet but receive power as Kings one hour with the Beast For we are not to seek for these Kings in the Eastern Empire that continued until the Turks became Masters of it which is something more than two hundred years but we are to seek for them in the Western Empire And the reason of it is because there were not several Kingdoms formed out of the ruins of the Eastern Empire as there have according to the Terms of the Vision been formed out of the Western We are not to confine our selves positively to the number of ten seeing that number is taken indefinitely in the Revelation Thus chap. 2. v. 10. the tribulation of ten days that is spoken of is to denote a long persecution All that is essential to be remarked is that these ten Kingdoms or Soveraignties are formed out of the ruins of the Western Empire Which Daniel says positively chap. 7. v. 24. as well as St. John who from the Angels Interpretation of the Vision saith that the ten Kings receive their power in the same hour with the Beast After these observations from Scripture it will be of advantage to consider the following matters of Fact which are all expresly recorded in History It was in the fourth Age that the Fasts Abstinences of the Montemists came to be received in the Church of Rome And in that Age Pope Syricius condemned the Marriage of Priests It was in the fourth Age that Pope Mark wrote Letters to Anastasius and to the Bishops of Egypt in these words The Church of Rome hath always been without afault and through the grace of God and the protection of St. Peter for ever shall be so Which words favour both of Idolairy and of Blasphemy 'T was in the 4th Age that the 2. first Councils of Nice and Constantinople were held as those of Ephesus and Chalcedon were kept in the fifth And although as these Councils did not greatly exalt the Bishop of Rome we may truly say that they opened a way and served as a Bridg to the following Councils which have made it their business to advance the Pope to what he is at this day 'T was in the fourth Age that the Emperors embraced the Christian Religion that they were so liberal to the Bishop of Rome and that they stript themselves of the dignity of Supream Pontiff in favour to him From the time of Iulius Cesar they had always retained it that they might thereby render their persons sacred and inviolable 'T was the Emperor Gratian that surrendred it and since that time none of his Successors have claimed it 'T was in the fifth Age that the Emperors withdrew from Rome and chose Ravenna and Milan for their residence 'T was in the beginning of the fifth Age that the Western Empire was destroyed by the Barbarians and that out of the ruins of it they formed several Soveraignties in Germany Gaul Spain and Italy 'T was in the fifth Age that in order to allure the Pagans to Christianity the Church espoused many of their Ceremonies such as the Invocation of Saints the Worship of Images the Veneration of Relicks and Prayers for the dead 'T was in the beginning of the fifth Age that Pope Innocent I. defended the Right of Appeals to the Sea of Rome Finally it was in the fifth Age that the Controversy between Pope Leo 1. and other Bishops about the matter of Appeals was in the most solemn and authentick manner that the Bishop of Rome could desire ended and determined in his favour When the two Emperors Theodosius and Valentintan granted unto him and issued out an Edict in the following terms We by this perpetual Edict have ordained that no Bishop whether they be of Gaul or of any other Provinces shall contrary to the ancient customs attempt any thing hereafter without the Authority of the venerable Pope of the Eternal City But that whatsoever the Authority of the Apostolick Sea shall ordain shall be submitted to by all others as unto a Law. So that whosoever of the Bishops having appealed shall neglect to appear at the Tribunal of the Roman Bishop shall be obliged to appear before the Governor of the Province where he lives provided always that whatsoever things our Sacred Predecessors have granted to the Church of Rome shall be unchangeably and universally preserved We need go no farther in order to seek for the birth of the Antichristian Empire or to find the fatal Date where the 1260. days or the 42. Months of the continuance of the Beasts Reign doth begin For in what is already mentioned we find every thing that goes to the constitution of Antichristianism namely Error in Doctrine Idolatry in Worship and Tyranny in Government Forasmuch as we find the Roman Church at that time guilty of Forbidding Marriage and of Commanding to abstain from Meats which are the two characters of the Apostacy fore-told by St. Paul. And because we find her defiled with prayers for the dead with the Worshipping of Images with the Invocation of Saints with the veneration of Relicks and brought into a subjection to a Bishop who was by an Imperial Edict established Soveraign Judg of all other Bishops within the Circle of the Roman Empire That Edict was published anno 445. in favour of Leo I. and of his Successors It is then in that year at the soonest and at the latest also that we are to fix the fatal Epoche of the birth of the Antichristian Empire and consequently may hope to see the End of it in the year 1705. For if unto 445. which was the year of the Edict of Valentinian and Theodosius there be added 1260. the total will be 1705. And if from 1705. there be substracted 445. the Remain will be 1260. which is the time of the duration of the Beasts Reign The Historian Florus hath considered the Roman Empire passing through the different Ages and periods of human life and according to that Idea he hath marked the Birth and Infancy of that Empire under Kings its youth from Brutus and Collatinus who were the first Consuls till the time of Appius Claudius its Manhood from Appius Claudius till the time of the Emperor Augustus and its Old Age from Augustus till the time of Trajan under whose Reign that Historian lived and under which he says that the Empire tho' verging to a decrepitness bestirred it self as if it
considered two ways First more grossly and in the bulk as it comprehendeth all the Seven Heads and in that sense it is nothing but a Regency under the seven Forms of Government which Rome hath passed throw since its Foundation and so it indefinitely and at large designs the Roman Empire Secondly As it is used precisely or strictly to denote the Beast under the seventh Head which is the Pope or Papal Power and so it is represented by the Beast with Two Horns 'T is most evident that it is Rome under the seventh Head which is the Pope that is here spoken of in that it is the Healing of the Wound which the Beast had received under the sixth Head. For he both speaks of this Wound in the third Verse and then of the Healing of it by the Beast with two Horns which is the Papacy in the 12. Verse Now that the Papal Empire is the Seventh Head or the Beast with Two Horns will be demonstratively proved by observing the conformity which is between that Beast and the Papal Kingdom 1. For whereas the Term Beast does signify a Domination and an Empire it cannot be denied but that the Romish Church is an Empire and that it may be stiled the Papal Kingdom and the Roman Empire 2. Forasmuch as Horns according as we have proved do denote Iurisdictions and Powers so the Papal Authority comprehends a twofold Power and two kinds of Domination one over that which is Temporal and another over that which is Spiritual One over this Life and another over that which is to come So that the Papal Kingdom must be that which is meant by the Beast with Two Horns 3. Whereas 't is said Rev. 13. 11. that the Two Horns of the Beast were like the Two Horns of the Lamb. All do know that Jesus Christ hath a twofold Authority or two kinds of Soveraignty One over the Soul and another over the Body One over that which is Temporal and another over that which is Spiritual And seeing the Pope boasts of this twofold Authority under pretence of being the Vicar of Jesus Christ it does therefore follow that he is the Beast with the Two Horns 4. And whereas 't is said Rev. 13. 11. that the Beast with two Horns spake as a Dragon 't is undeniable that the Pope speaks in the same manner and not only like the Devil Matth. 4. 9. assumeth to himself a Right of Disposing of all the Kingdoms of the World and of forbidding men to obey the Commandments of God but as the calumniating Spirit he reproacheth Gods Word both by accusing it of falsehood and by robbing it of its perspicuity integrity perfection sufficiency and of its Authority which he challengeth to himself 5. It being said Rev. 13. 12. that the Beast with two Horns exerciseth all the power of the first Beast whose deadly wound was healed This does perfectly agree to the Papal Power For the Roman Empire that flourished in St. Iohn's time having received a Deadly Wound it became healed thro the application of the Papal Authority as a Plaister unto it Now that Wound consisted in two things in the Subversion of the Pagan Idolatry and in the Abatement of the Glory of Rome And the Heathens were wont to observe in their Disputations against the Christians that as the ancient Religion fell from its splendor so the Glory of Rome did proportionably decay And as the Pagan Idolatry became in effect destroyed by the conversion of Constantine and the care of his Successors so Rome as to its Glory being first much darkned and almost extinguished and then being destroyed by the Goths tho it came afterwards to be restored yet it was never honored to be the Residence of the Emperors in that they fixed their abode at Ravenna and Millan These two Wounds seemed to be incurable but the Papal Soveraignty did perfectly heal them both For in the room of the God's Worshipped under Paganism there was set up the Adoration of Angels Saints the Consecrated Bread and of Relicks So that by this new Idolatry Panagism became again restored And withal Rome hath recovered a Glory not only equal unto its former but greater than what it had seeing the Pope thro having made it the Seat of his Empire appears there as the true Successor of the Heathen Emperors as the Commander of Kings and as the Supream Pontife as well as Chief Cesar who hath united the Priesthood to the Imperial Dignity In a word the Pope is the Head of a Senate attired in Purple and challengeth a Right of Deposing Kings and of disposing Crowns and who receives Tribute from all People and makes himself to be adored not only with a Civil but with a Religious Adoration as the Emperors of old used to be Both Blondus and Steuchus Bishop of Egubium do ingenuously describe without being aware of it how the Wound which Rome had received is again healed thro means of the Soveraignty that is come to be vested in the Pope The first says That the Majesty of Rome is now greater than ever it was because the Princes of the Earth do now worship the Successor of St. Peter as perpetual Dictator that is as Soveraign Pontife and as Vicar of the High Priest Jesus Christ And the other tells us That if after the Subversion of the Roman Empire God had not raised up the Papacy in which the ancient Majesty of Rome is revived that City had been a Habitation of Brute Beasts whereas by the establishment of the Papacy it hath recovered a grandure very little different from that which it had in the time of the old Empire seeing all Nations do now no less Reverence the Bishop of Rome than heretofore they obeyed the Roman Emperors So that by this it appears that the Beast with Two Horns is nothing but the Papacy forasmuch as the Papal Power hath healed Rome of the Wound she had received under the Emperors and rendred her again both Idolatrous and Mistriss of the World as she was heretofore 6. Whereas 't is said of the Beast with Two Horns Rev. 13. 12. That he causeth the Earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first Beast this agrees also to the Papacy which causeth that Rome being healed of its Wound is as much if not more reverenced than ever it had been upon an alledged pretence of having been the Chair and Seat of St. Peter As the Pagans made a Goddess of Rome Heathen by consecrating a Temple and dedicating a Feast unto her which they called Septimontium so Christians do no less make a Goddess of Rome Christian both by stiling her the Mistriss of the World and thro attributing to her the Priviledg of Infallibility that does belong to none save unto God. 7. 'T is further said Rev. 13. 13. That the Beast with two Horns doth great Signs and Wonders so that he maketh Fire come down from Heaven Now all men do not only know that the Romish Legends are full
our Translation rendreth it And in the 9th of Daniel v. 24. the seventy weeks are put for Weeks of years which make 490 years And in Ezek. chap. 4. v. 4. 5. God saith to the Prophet Lie upon thy left side and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shall bear their Iniquity For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity according to the number of the days I have appointed thee a day for a year According then to the Style of the Prophets which is that of St. John in the Apocalypse the Reign of the Beast is to continue 1260 years And this is a definite Number because broken Numbers are in the Scripture put alway's for definite Numbers as well as they are so used among the Latines and the Greeks So that it is certain that the Reign of Antichrist which is the same with that of the Beast is to last 1260 years and neither more nor less The Doctors of the Romish Church pretehd that this Reign shall endure only three years and a half And it is their Interest to defend that opinion that they may thereby withdraw the eyes of men from the Pope But in this they commit two gross mistakes 1 In that they take the 1260. days of Saint Iohn for natural day's whereas they should understand them of Mystical days according to the custom of the Prophets which we have proved 2 In that they suppose that Antichrist will be only a single person whereas he is a Succession of persons that make war against the Gospel of Jesus Christ This the alone passage of St. Paul in his second Epistle to the Thessal chap. 2. is sufficient to demonstrate The Papists are at an accord with Protestants that the Son of perdition who sitteth in the Temple of God as God and who exalteth himself above all that is called God is Antichrist Now this Son of perdition is not considered by St. Paul as a single person but as a Succession of persons in one and the same Seat. This doth evidently appear by the opposition which the Apostle makes betwixt the Son of perdition and him who hindred him from appearing whom he designeth by him who now letteth All are likewise agreed that St. Paul intends by him that letteth the Roman Emperor but now by that Emperor he could not design one Emperor personally but he understood all the Emperors collectively that were to succeed till the time that they gave their room to the Son of Perdition And in the same manner is the Son of perdition to be taken He is not to be understood personally but collectively for all those who should successively possess that Seat. And why should they be unwilling that Antichrist should signify the Antichristian Empire under a Succession of so many Heads seeing according to themselves the Name of St. Peter designeth all the Popes and the Papal Empire That verse of Pope Gregory VII is generally known Petra dedit Petro Petrus Diadema Rodolpho And why is it that since the time of Sergius II. when the custom begun of the Popes changing their Names on the day of their Election no one Pope hath assumed the name of Peter There can be no other reason assigned for that conduct but that all the Popes in the quality of Supream Bishops pretend to be Peter And that therefore it would not only be a needless but an useless and an absurd thing to take upon them the name of Peter For it is to the Popes as that of Pharaoh heretofore which was a common Name to the Kings of Egypt XXVIII ILLUSTRATION Of the time when the Beasts Reign or the Papal Empire began IT seemeth long to Protestants and to a great many others that they do not see the End of the Beasts Reign And they have reason to be weary seeing the Tyranny of old Babylon was not near so severe to the Children of Israel as that of new Babylon is to them Therefore they do earnestly enquire when the Reign of the Beast began that having discovered when it commenced they may know how to mark when it shall end The Spring of Nile was unknown for many Ages and furnished occasion to the warm disputes of Philosophers But it is at last discovered by Travellers and all those Disputes are ceased It is much the same about the beginning of the Antichristian Empire or the Beasts Reign The Learned are divided about it Some have placed it in Gregory the Great others in Boniface that succeeded him and a third sort have raised it to the eleventh Age and have sought for it in Gregory VII Yea there are others who do assert it to be as unknown as the Source of Nile was heretofore But I do think that I have discovered it by a Voyage I have made through the Lands of Antiquity that is by means of the light of the Sacred Scriptures and through the assistance of History And that I might succeed in this undertaking I have made the following observations 1. That the Antichristian Empire or the Reign of the Beast consisteth in three things In Errors in Doctrine in Idolatry in Worship and in Tyranny in Government 2. These three corruptions did not steal into the Christian Religion together and at once but separately and one after another Error was the first that crept into Christianity Idolatry followed Error And Tyranny thrust it self in under the favour of Error and Idolatry 3. The Time which St. Paul fore-tels of the falling out of an Apostacy 1 Tim. 4. 1. is the time of the manifestation of Antichrist Now that Apostacy hath two Characters One is the forbidding of Marriage The other is the the commanding to abstain from meats created to be received of them that do believe 4. St. Paul having drawn the portraiture of Antichrist whom he stileth the Son of Perdition 2 Thess chap. 2. he addeth v. 6. Ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time Now the Apostle could understand nothing by that which withholdeth but Heathenism for the Bishop of Rome could not raise himself to any grandure so long as the Empire continued Pagan The Apostle subjoineth For the Mystery of Iniquity doth already work only he who now letteth will let until he be taken out of the way By him who letteth he plainly intends the Roman Emperor who so long as he continued Pagan hindred Antichrist from declaring himself but as soon as he became Christian suffered him to rise and advance partly by the immoderate bounty he exercised towards the Bishop of Rome partly by increasing his Authority instead of leaving it within the bounds which he found it partly by granting him the Title of Supream Bishop and lastly by withdrawing from Rome and yielding that place to that Bishop through his retirement to Ravenna and Milan 5. From the time that Constantin the first Christian Emperor begun to hold Oecumenick or
ill condition And this holds more tru'ly in reference to a Political Body than a Natural Moreover whereas 't is a Spiritual Empire that is spoken of namely Antichristianism the judgments that are to be executed upon it are to be physical and penal evils which as punishments are to weaken and subvert it The judgments of God against an Empire whose criminalness from the very nature of it lyes in its Errors Idolatries Tyranny which comprehend in them the corruption of manners cannot consist in Evils of Offence But the first four Vials according to the sense put upon them by Mr. Iurieu import Evils of Crime and not of punishment and do strengthen and advance that Empire in all that is essential unto it instead of depressing and enfeebling it For it never had so great power and splendor as it enjoyed from the tenth Age to the 14th that is from the effusion of the first Vial till the pouring out of the 4th So that Mr. I. hath very ill applied the Events which he mentioneth to the 4 first Vials His 2d Answer is that the prodigious advancement of the Papal Authority which raised Antichristianism to its height proved a step to its ruin If the Popes saith he had continued within the bounds wherein they were in foregoing Ages and had not medled in the affairs of the world to dispose of them at their pleasure the Roman Sea would not have been known to be Antichrist But thereupon that Truth became so palpable that all mankind grew convinced of it This Answer indeed is subtil but is not of that force as to deceive those who make a right use of their Reason All Earthly Empires have their beginning their progress and their perfection according as it pleaseth the providence of God to suffer them to increase and when they are risen to such a height that they can advance no farther they then of themselves fall into decay and ruin And therefore the Antichristian Empire being Earthly 't is not strange if we find the like fate and parallel decay to befal it But Right Reason cannot fathom how an Empire should be punished and depressed by the plagues of divine justice at a time when 't is advancing and mounting to the highest pitch of its grandure We may as reasonably say that what the School of Hypocrates stiles an Athletick health is a punishment of God because according to the judgment of Physicians whosoever possesseth it is in danger to lose it and fall into some mortal disease This nevertheless is what Mr. Iurieu is forced to affirm because he cannot otherway's maintain that the first four Vials are already poured out Let us now come to the fifth Vial which is to be poured forth upon the Seat of the Beast This Vial saith Mr. Iurieu fell upon Rome which is the Seat of the Beast when she lost her Sun that Sun which is spoken of in the fourth Vial when she lost her Pope and the Papal Court which as a whirlpool drew unto her all the Riches of Europe Clement V. having left Rome in the year 1305 and fixed his Residence at Avignon the City which had been the Mistris of the world remained desolate and became a Wilderness for the space of 74 years and this transferring of the Papal Seat to Avignon was the cause of that Schism which lasted till the year 1415. The Anonymous Author had said that the translation of the Popes Seat from Rome to Avignon and what ensued thereupon was not an Evil of that extent and greatness as to answer the whole force of the words of the Prophecy The contrary whereof Mr. Iurieu should have shewn which he hath not done Wherefore that Author doth again say that the removing of the Papal Court to Avignon with all that followed upon it beareth no proportion to the greatness of the judgment of God predicted to fall upon the Seat of the Beast under the fifth Vial. For by that Rome is to be totally destroyed and the 18th Chap. of the Revelation which describeth her destruction is nothing but a Commentary upon that Vial as the 13th Chap. is a Commentary upon the 8th and 9th Chapters which are those of the Trumpets When Rome is destroyed the Papal Kingdom will lose much of its splendor and strength which is the reason why 't is said that his Kingdom became full of darkness because a great many of the followers of the Beast will forsake him upon the seeing the destruction of his Seat. Upon that they will open their eyes and be converted and they who continue to adhere to popery will gnaw their tongues through despite grief blaspheme God by saying that he hath failed in performing his word by which he had promised that Rome should forever be the Infallible Rule of Faith the Centre of Unity and the Fortress of Truth But we must hereafter speak more amply of this fifth Vial. Let us proceed to the sixth Vial which falleth upon the River Euphrates and which drieth up its waters that a way may be prepared for the Kings of the East Mr. Iurieu following the learned Mr. Mead explaineth it in reference to the irruption of the Turks whose irruption he will have to be a judgment of God against the Antichristian Kingdom So that he pretends this sixth Vial to be contemporary with the 6th Trumpet which described this Invasion of the Turks I do acknowledg that he hath reason to say that the Turks are spoken of both under the Sixth Trumpet under the 6th Vial seeing the Turks have possessed themselves of near one half of the Roman Empire which is Daniels 4th Monarchy whose History is carried on by St. Iohn But he ought not to confound the 6th Trumpet with the sixth Vial as if they were only one and the same Vision For there is as much difference betwixt these two as there is between the time of building and the time of destroying between the Patience of God which suffereth and permits his Enemies to become great to the prejudice of his own Kingdom and his Vengeance which ruineth overwhelmeth and abolisheth his Enemies Those two Empires namely that of Antichrist and that of the Turks were formed and grew up under the Trumpets whereas the Vials threaten to beat down and overthrow them This the Anonymous Author lays for a foundation that cannot be shaken and upon this he defends against the learned Mr. Mead that the drying up of Euphrates signifieth not the Irruption of the Turks upon the Antichristian Empire but on the contrary the end both of the Turkish Empire and of the Mahometan Religion 'T is the prophetick way of speaking to understand Nations by those Rivers that run through their Countries and the destruction of Nations by the drying up of their Rivers This appeareth by Isaiah Chap 19 v. 4 5. where the Lord saith he will deliver Egypt into the hands of a fierce King and the waters shall fail from the Sea and the Rivers shall be