uttered their voices I was about to write and I heard a voices from heaven saying unto me Seal up those things which the seven Thunders uttered write them not ACcording to the Stile that the Scripture useth to speak in the Earth signifies the East and the Sea signifies the West that is the Isles and countreys that ly near unto the Sea. The Roman Empire was divided into that of the East and into that of the West So that when it is said that Jesus Christ being come down from heaven Set his feet the one upon the Sea and the other upon the Earth the meaning is that he took hold of these two Empires in order to make the light of his word shine there and to establish in them the purity of his worship Moreover according to the Scripture stile whensoever the Earth and Sea are spoken of the Earth is named before the Sea but here the stile is changed and the Sea is both mentioned first and Iesus Christ sets his right foot upon the Sea. Which is as if he would assuredly tell us that he will make the light of the Gospel break out in the West sooner than in the East and that he will begin the work of Reformation in reference to Popery sooner than in reference to Mahometanism This the Event will clear And what we shall see fall out in the West in relation to Popery will be an Earnest of what we may expect will come to pass in the East in relation to Mahometanism The great Cry of the Angel as when a Lion roareth doth threaten all the Enemies of the Gospel alike and the seven Thunders do presage their total ruin The great cry was heard in the work of the Reformation but the entire destruction of the Enemies of the Gospel is put off till another time namely until under the Effusion of the Vials And this is the reason why St. Iohn is forbid to write the things declared by the seven Thunders because there was a considerable space of time to elapse between the cry of the Angel that was heard at the Reformation and the time of pouring out of the Vials For that the Seven Thunders are the same with the seven Vials of the 16th Chap. appeareth evidently from this in that the Thunders do necessarily signify the Judgments of God by which his Enemies are to be overwhelmed and in that the seven Vials do denote the same thing According as it is said chap. 15. v. 1. that the seven Vials are the seven last plagues by which the wrath of God is consummated XIX ILLUSTRATION Of the Angels Oath and of the finishing the Mystery of God. REV. CHAP. 10. V. 5. And the Angel which I saw stand upon the Sea and upon the Earth lifted up his hand to heaven V. 6. And sware by him that liveth forever and ever who created heaven and the things that therein are and the Earth and the things that therein are and the Sea and the things which are therein that there should be Time no longer V. 7. But in the day 's of the voice of the seventh Angel when he shall begin to sound the Mystery of God shall be finished as he hath declareth to his Servants the Prophets IT must needs be that what is treated of under the 7 th Trumpet is both great against all appearances to the contrary and a thing hard to be believed because it is nor only called a Mystery and a Secret but because to render it credible the Lord would give assurance of it by an Oath But this withall do's give us to understand that it is not the last Resurrection nor that Trumpet of the Arch-Angel which is here spoken of to be done under the sound of the Seventh Trumpet is to be understood It must then be the 1000 years Reign as hath been already shewn and that which consisteth in the destruction of Babylon in the calling of the Iews in the reuniting of Iews and Gentiles and in that renowned State on Earth which the Prophet Isaiah hath promised to the Church in his 62 Chap. that these great things which seem to be above all Belief above all Imagination are here meant intended For indeed who of the Papists can imagine that Rome and her Religion are to be destroyed how few Protestants can believe that the Jews are to be united with the Gentiles and that the Church of God shall have an intire peace on the Earth for many ages Nevertheless this is that Mystery which the Angel hath promised with an Oath shall be fulfilled soon after the sounding of the seventh Trumpet And this is the Reason why he declared that there shall be time no longer that is there shall be no more a deferring and a delay but that the seventh Angel shall have no sooner finished to sound the seventh Trumpet than that we shall see the consummation of the Mystery of God. XX. ILLUSTRATION Of the Angel's giving the Book to St. John to be Eaten and of the Effects which Ensue thereupon REV. CHAP. 10. V. 8. And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again and said Go and take the little Book which is open in the hand of the Angel which standeth upon the Sea and upon the Earth V. 9. And I went unto the Angel and said unto him Give me the little Book And he said unto me Take it and eat it up and it shall make thy belly bitter but it shall be in thy Mouth Sweet as honey V. 10. And I took the little Book out of the Angels hand and ate it up and it was in my mouth sweet as honey and as soon as I had eaten it my belly was bitter V. 11. And he said unto me thou must prophesie again before many people and Nations and Tongues and Kings ST Johns taking the little Book from the Angel representeth those whom the Lord shall raise up to re-establish the purity of divine worship through preaching of the Gospel 'T is for this that St. Iohn took the Book out of the hand of the Lord because it is the Lord who gives Ministers theiâ— Mission nor are they to go till they have received it from him according as he himself told the Apostles go teach all Nations teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you Matth. 28. 19 20. It was also for this that he not only took the Book but that he eat it up because no one is properly a holy Minister if he be not full of the Word of God and if he be not possessed of all Truths through having well meditated upon them This Book meditated upon and well understood produceth necessarily two effects One is a consolation that ravisheth the Soul through the knowledg of the Mysteries of salvation and the hope of an happy eternal life The other is the mortification of the flesh by that Law which God hath prescribed of denying our selves and of dayly taking up the cross St.
the cloud not only hindred men from entring but which made that they who went in could discern nothing save darkness In a word they say it is in vain to study Prophesies which it is impossible to know the meaning of unless illuminated by the same Spirit which Revealed them or without attending till we see their completion which is that alone whereby they come to be infallibly interpreted Nor ought we to wonder that a person of parts and abilities and who can spend his time about something else should decline to wast his Spirits in searching out the sense of a Book to whose composition there concurred nothing save human wit and Industry and which eontained only picquant Satyrs upon the brutal Vices of Nero and the profligacies of other depraved Monsters of that unhappy Reign and wherein the best that was to be met with were only some Moral Instructions and a little diverting Railery upon Fools and Villains But the Revelation contains in it the great Mysteries of Divine Providence the Destiny of the Roman Empire the Fate of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and gives us not only a Description of the Romish Church which is the Mystical Babylon and the Spouse of Antichrist but Vouchsafes us a Representation of the True Church which is the Heavenly Jerusalem and the Spouse of the Son of God. All which are matters so Holy and of so great importance to the Consolation of every Believer that knows how to read that none ought to be discouraged from studying it by the darkness wherewith it is envelop'd The Holy Spirit foreseeing the dislike which the obscurity of the Apocalypse might occasion took care to Invite Christians to the reading of it by a most alluring promise registred at the beginning of this Book Blessed is he who readeth and heareth the words of this Prophecy 'T is a matter worthy to be remarked that tho' the Revelation be not the alone Book which is dark and hardly to be understood there being divers parts of the ancient Prophets incircled with no less obscurity yet this is the only portion of the Divine Writings which the Holy Spirit hath tanqa particular care to recommend unto our perusal and study Which doth unquestionably intimate two things 1 That of all Divine Revelations there are none of more Importance than those which are the subject matter of the Apocalypse 2 That whosoever shall read this Book with all due regard and application and in order thereby to be rendred holy and wise he shall not find the study of it useless and unprofitable nor miss the being in some measure and degree guided into an understanding of it For were it otherways the Holy Spirit would not have been guilty of so unaccountable a thing as to tempt and oblige our searching into it by so signal a promise Moreover the Apocalypse like the Cloudy Pillar that conducted the Israelites tho it be dark on the one side yet it is luminous on the other Where the Spirit of God hath given no Explanation of the Prophetick Schem's and where the Event hath not illustrated them there we are still upon the dark and cloudy side of it But where either the Holy Spirit hath expounded any of the Visions or where the accomplishment hath interpreted them we are there furnished with such a light that it is impossible to miss the understanding those portions of this Divine Book without a wilful shutting of our eyes and a chosen muffling of our Intellects When we are to learn crabbed and abstruse Sciences we begin with Common Notions and with principles which are the most evident and so we proceed by degrees till we have advanced unto and have conquered that which is more sublime and difficult This Method is natural and good By obsâ—rving of it the greatest Doctors and the most celebrated Philosophers have arrived both at their knowledg and their renown And if we take the same course in our search into the Apocalyptick Mysteries there will remain little but what we may master and unravel There are some Visions which the Angel who revealed them to St. John Vouchsafed also to explain There are others which the Event hath expounded And there are a third sort in the sense of which all men are agreed So that being first assured of the Scope and meaning of those which are explained and then of the signification of such as there is no contest among Authors about we may afterwards proceed to the rest By this method we shall enter upon the darker places with a Torch in our hand and thereby come to discover all the Mysteries of this Book as far as is either necessary or profitable 'T is evident that there are but three principal Visions in the Revelation in which are contained both all that was to befall the Kingdom of Jesus Christ which is the True Church and all that hath relation to the Papal Empire which is the false These Visions are those of the Seals those of the Trumpets and those of the Vials The rest are only Tablets and Draughts wherein what had been represented in those of the Seals Trumpets and Vials is reassumed inlarged and more particularly deduced and explained The number Seven being Mystical and marking perfection serveth to inform us that these three Visions do comprehend all For it is found in the Seals in the Trumpets in the Vials and in the Thunders which are the Fore-runners of the Vials Moreover these three Visions are so link'd one to another that the Second which is that of the Trumpets begins under the seventh Seal and the third which is that of the Vials commence under the seventh Trumpet Finally 't is upon the Effusion of the Vials that the Mystery of God is to be finished whereof there is mention chap. 10. which consisteth in the deliverance of the Christian Church from all that She suffered by and under the Roman Empire and in the reduction of all the Kingdoms of the World to Jesus Christ which will usher in the Millennian peace of the Church Being fully perswaded that this Division which I have laid down is the true Key of the Apocalypse I shall therefore distribute this Work into two parts The first shall explain the Visions of Chapters 12 13 14 15 17 18 19 20 21. The second shall illustrate those of Chapters 4 5 6 7 8 9 11 and 16. By this means there will be found here an entire Systeme of the whole Apocalypse where one may see the Disposition of all the Visions and the Order of the several Events therein fore-told and all this in so compendious a manner as is not to be met with elsewhere For whether they be Commentaries or other Tracts in which all these Visions are explained they are either of a length sufficient to weary and discourage the Reader or if they be so short as by reason of their brevity to invite one to peruse them they do at most but expound a part of these Visions and afford
hast to put it into practice which succeeded to them according to their desires Calcondyla reports that Mahomet II. being besieging Constantinople caused Canon to be cast of so extraordinary a bigness that there needed seventy couple of Oxen and two thousand men to draw one of them 7. The Third part of men killed intimateth the Progress and Spreading both of the Turkish Empire and of their Religion which reunited all their different principalities in the person of Tangrolipix To him succeeded Asan in the year 1059. just about the time that Pope Gregory VII raised the Papacy to the highest top of grandure And it was this Asan that rendred himself Master of all the Countries from the City of Laodicea in Syria even to the Hellespont of Antiochia of Cappadocia of Bithynia of Lycia of Pesidia of Lycaonia of Paphlagonia of Galatia of both the Celicia's of Pontus and of Anatolia And from that time the Sultans have alway's advanced their conquests and have destroyed the Roman Empire in the East having made Constantinople which was formerly the Imperial Seat of it to be that of the Turkish and Mahometan Empire 8. It was upon the Christians that the Turks made all their Conquests and of this the Holy Spirit gives such a reason as might serve to open the eyes of the Papists because it convinceth them of being guilty of Idolatry This accusation the Papists do account the most sensible injury that can be done them but it is a condemnation that they must bear For saith the Holy Spirit The rest of the men that were not killed by these plagues repented not of the works of their hands that they should not worship Devils and Idols of Gold and Silver and Brass and Stone and of Wood which neither can see nor hear nor walk At whose cost was it that the Mahometans erected their Empire Against whom were they the Scourges of God for the punishment of their Idolatry It was not against the Heathens for there were none such within the whole extent of the Eastern Roman Empire It was at the expence of Christians that the Turks extended both their Empire and their Religion And therefore seeing the Holy Ghost declareth that the punishing the Idolatry of Christians was the reason of loosing of the four Angels in the River Euphrates to commit so many Murders it is from thence evident that the Christians who were subdued were Idolaters and also apparent wherein their Idolatry consisted Namely in this that they worshipped Devils and Idols of Gold of Silver of Brass of Stone and of Wood. Nor can it be denied but that the Roman Church is guilty of the same crime If it shall be said that the Roman Church doth not worship Devils as those mentioned in the Text are said to have done I answer first that the word in the Original is Demons which signifieth properly inferior and lower Gods Gods who are Mediators between men and the Supream God which is a Title liberally given to the Saints in the Church of Rome And in which sense the Word used in this place ought necessarily to be expounded seeing there were never any Christians that made profession of worshipping Devils neither could the very Heathens be said to do that forasmuch as Devils were wholly unknown among Pagans I answer secondly that all Religious worship given to a Creature is judged by the Scripture to be rendred to Devils This appeareth fully Ps 106. v. 37. where it is said that they sacrificed their Sons and Daughters unto Devils The Roman Church does believe that She worshippeth God in worshipping Images of Gold of Silver of Brass of Stone and of Wood but the Prophets do instruct us by the example of the Israelites that this Worship is given to Devils They sottishly flatter and deceive themselves in distinguishing betwixt an Idol and an Image foraâ— much as the Greek Term Idol signifieth the same that the word Image doth in our vulgar languages Moreover they who were killed by the Turks worshipped not Devils They only did as the Roman Church doth towards her Images of Gold and Silver c. Yea She doth worse than those Oriental Idolatrous Christians did For she worshippeth as God the Sacrament which must therefore necessarily be a Creature because it is a Sacrament and which cannot be Jesus Christ because it is Instituted by him For that which is Instituted must necessarily be something different from him that Ordains it XVII ILLUSTRATION Of the Angel with the Book Open. REV. CHAP. 10. V. 1. And I saw another mighty Angel come down from Heaven clothed with a Clowd and a Rain-bow was upon his Head and his Face was as it were the Sun and his Feet as Pillars of Fire V. 2. And he had in his hand a Little Book Open and he set his right foot upon the Sea and his left foot on the Earth THe Rain-bow which appeared upon the Angels Head doth place Him out of the rank of created Angels and gives us to understand that this is the Angel of the Covenant the Angel who is the Creator of whom there is mention at the opening of the Seventh Seal namely Iesus Christ And whereas it is added that his Face was as the Sun and his Feet as Pillars of Brass that is a demonstration that he is the same with him who revealed himself to St. Iohn in the first Chap. to wit the Son of God. He appeareth having in his hand a Book open Which Book is not that of the Apocalypse but that of the Holy Scripture in general For the Six Trompets having represented the spoil which popery had done in the Western Church and Mahometanism in the Eastern this Vision doth foretell how this ravage shall be repaired by the preaching of the Gospel For this is an open Book to all such as do in sincerity seek to be instructed in what it revealeth and who seek for nothing besides what is there If our Gospel be hid saith St. Paul it is hid to them that are lost whom the God of this world hath blinded 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. Mahometanism and Popery have shut this Book by exacting a blind Obedience by forbidding the examination of their Doctrine and by interdicting people from reading of the word of God. But the time will come that this divine Book shall be opened and when all men shall be allowed to read it in order to the Reforming those abuses which through the impudence of Mahometanism in the East and the craft of the Papacy in the West have abounded in the Church XVIII ILLUSTRATION Of the Voice of the Angel that had his Right Foot upon the Sea and his left upon the Earth and of the seven Thunders REV. CHAP. 10. V. 2. And he set his right Foot upon the Sea and his left foot upon the Earth V. 3. And cried with a loud Voice as when a Lion roareth and when he had cried Seven Thunders uttered their voices V. 4. And when the Seven thunders had
way's agreeth to the last Judgment when all Kingdoms shall come to an End. We must therefore by the Term Dead understand the Church of God but as afflicted by reason of the War which the Beast was to make against her for the space 1260 years ere he came to be destroyed For Afflictions are in the Scripture stiled a death 2 Cor. 1. 10. and 2 Cor. 11. 23. And by the Term to judg we are to understand to deliver In which sense David say's to God Ps 35. v. 24. Judg me according to thy rightoousness that is deliver me because he addeth and let not mine Enemies rejoice over me To which purpose there are many other places in the Scripture Because therefore the Church shall be delivered from all her Persecutions at that time when Babylon comes to be destroyed and the Kingdoms of this world brought in to Jesus Christ it is here said upon the arrival of these two great Events that the Dead shall be judged But if we have a mind to retain the natural signification both of the Term Dead and of the Term judged the sense will be that when Babylon shall be destroyed and the Kingdoms of this world converted to Jesus Christ then the Martyrs shall be judged and have justice done them through the whole extent of the Papal Empire Whereas they are now accounted of as damned Hereticks they shall be then reckoned and esteemed blessed and to have died true Martyrs So that this is exactly the first Resurrection whereof we have spoken in the Illustration about the thousand years and of the judgment which is there mentioned The opening of the Temple which this Seventh Trumpet promiseth accordeth fitly with the Sense that we have given Under the Reign of Ahaz when the Apostacy was Universal the Temple was shut But when a Reformation came to be made by Hezekiah the first thing that was done was the opening of the Temple 2 Chron. 29. 3. Thus the Mystical Temple which had been shut up under the Reign of Antichrist shall be opened and the worship of God shall be restored And which is worthy of our observation 't is not said that a new Temple was built but that the ancient Temple was opened So that the Church which is the Mystical Temple hath in despight of the attempts of Antichrist alway's subsisted That which we are to see in the great and general Reformation which the Seventh Trumpet promiseth is not a new Church but a re-establishment of the old As for the Ark which was seen at the opening of the Temple it may be either considered as a figure of Iesus Christ or as containing the two Tables of the Law of God. With respect to the first the sight of the Ark signifies that Jesus Christ who had been obscured during the Reign of Antichrist through an addition of copartners with him both in offices and in the work of Redemption and through the joining another sacrifice to that of his death shall be perfectly revealed to all the world as the word represents him when once the Kingdoms of the Earth are converted and brought in With respect to the second the Sight of the Ark signifies that the Word of God the reading whereof had been forbidden by Antichrist as of a Book dangerous and hurtful to Salvation shall be put into all mens hands and every one shall be allowed and have full liberty to read it and meditate upon it Moreover the Sight of this Ark does also fore-tell and promise the Conversion of the Iews For the Ark having been lost since the Captivity in Babylon of the Chaldees the Sight of it do's promise that when Gods people shall be delivered out of Antichristian Babylon that the Iews shall be converted and recalled The opening of the same Temple is spoken of chap. 15. v. 5. as we have observed in the 20th Illustration of the 1st part But there are two differences between the opening of the Temple in that place and the opening of it in this One is that the Ark doth not appear there as it doth here because at the first Reformation the Iews were not Converted as they shall be at the second The other is because the Smoke that proceeded out of the Temple upon the first opening of it hindred all from coming into it because the time of the conversion of all Nations was not then come whereas upon the opening of it now and that time being come there is mention of no smoke whereby any should be indred to enter Finally the Lightnings the Voices the Thundrings and the great Hail which accompanied this opening of the Temple comprehend the third Wo which was not to arrive till under the Seventh Trumpet and which design nothing else save the judgments that are to be inflicted through the pouring out of the Vials XXVI ILLUSTRATION Of the Pouring out of the Vials REV. CHAP. 16. THere are some who think the fifth Vial is poured forth and consequently that the four first are likewise poured out and this because of that conformity which seems to appear betwixt the fifth Vial that denounceth Darkness that is to say some great disaster to the Seat of the Beast and between that which befell the Papal Empire from the time of the great Schism till the time of the Council of Constance which put an End to that Schism Seeing the Seat of the Beast was during that whole time as it were smitten and his Kingdom was become full of darkness through the great decay of the Papal Authority which Decay of Authority was much increased by the Reformation that begun under the Popedom of Leo X. But this Reason is not of that strength as to perswade me that the fifth Vial was at that time poured out Forasmuch as the Affliction signified by Darkness which befell the Papal Empire through the Reformation begun by Luther hath not been so great as to answer fully the force of the Terms used in reference to that Vial namely that the Kingdom of the Beast was full of darkness and they gnawed their tongues for pain Rev. 16. 10. Besides it was only the Seat of the Beast it was the City of Rome which is the Beasts Seat that was afflicted by Luthers Reformation but the Papal Kingdom was not so afflicted on the Contrary great part of that Empire rejoiced at the Reformation Whereas it is to be observed that it is not said that the Seat of the Beast but that the Kingdom of the Beast was full of darkness So that the fifth Vial doth as once threaten both Rome and its Empire with another Affliction that shall befall them when the general Reformation shall be accomplished when all the Western Nations shall come to be delivered from the Papal Tyranny and to be perfectly inlightned with the Light of the Gospel And therefore the fifth Vial is not poured out nor by consequence the two last 'T is expresly said chap. 15. v. 1. that the Seven Vials are the seven last
the ten persecutions of which that of Diocletian was the last That of Pergamus hath a reference to the time when Antichrist sitteth in the Temple of God and when the Church of God is hardly visible through her dwelling as the Church of Pergamus did where Satan had his Throne That of Thyatira hath a great conformity to the condition of the Church when Antichrist both begun to fall and begun to raise himself again According to the Testimony given by our Saviour to that of Thyatira Thou hast not the Doctrine of Jezebel and thou hast not known the depths of Satan That of Sardis hath a resemblance to the Reformed Church degenerating and falling into corruption of manners Thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead Yet thou hast a few names which have not defiled their Garments That of Philadelphia is a protrature of that of the Church when She shall be perfectly Reformed when Sion shall be perfectly re-established when the alone Key of David shall open and shut when the voice of Iesus Christ shall be perfectly followed and that both with respect unto manners and to faith This is the State wherein the Church will be during the time of the Millennian Reign whereof we have before spoken Lastly that of Laodicea is a Mirour wherein we may behold the State of the Church towards the End of the world When zeal shall have become cold Charity scarce to be found and corruption shall abound and be universal and thereby draw upon the world that Deluge of Fire which shall give a renovation unto it These Reflections do shew us the reason why the Lord directed the seven Epistles and all the Visions of the Apocalypse of St. Iohn precisely to the Seven Churches But it is matter of surprise that Iesus Christ hath made no mention nor spoken one word of the Church of Rome nor of the Pope How comes it to pass that he forgets his Vicar and the Mother of all Churches which either have been or are to be to the end of the world How comes he to be unmindful of the Apostolick Sea of the Seat of Infallibility of the alone Fountain of all lawful Vocation and Mission and of the Centre of Religion For seeing the Lord the Son of God is not man that he should lye or the Son of man that he should repent it is the more remarkable that he should have forgot in a Book purposely writen to mark out the destiny of the Church and to distinguish her from Babylon points which according to the Roman Catholicks are fundamental and such as men cannot be ignorant of without hazarding Salvation So that now it is not possible that the Church of Rome should be what She pretends O that God the Father of Mercy and Light would remove from the hearts of men the vail of prejudices and passions that all Christians may come to see the danger of maintaining Communion with the Romish Church the necessity of Reformation and the Conformiry of the Worship which Protestants render unto God with the sacred and inviolable Rule of the Gospel FINIS A DEFENCE OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS Upon the Apocalypse of St. Iohn Concerning the EFFUSION of the VIALS In Answer to Mr. Jurieu ' s Apology for the Accomplishment of the Scripture-Prophesies Printed in the Year 1688. The PREFACE 'TWere to be wished that all who publish their Meditations upon the Revelation were found to agree in their Explication of that Divine Book as much as they do in their Exposition of the other Sacred Writings But how desirable soever this be it hath not hither to come to pass And an uniformity of Opinions about the sense of Prophesies whose Accomplishment is yet to come is no less impossible to Interpreters that are not divinely inspired than the knowledg of those future things is which they do predict So that it is not strange that Mr. Jurieu in his Accomplishment of Prophesies and the Anonymous Author in his Illustrations upon the Apocalypse do not universally accord and that in their Exposition of the 16. Chap. they are found to contradict one another Nay it would be a kind of miracle should they upon the many various subjects of the Revelations of St. John be found in all things to have the same sentiments But possibly some will be surprised that two Reformed Divines should write against one another And probably some may not only be surprised but scandaled throw their seeing two Brethren differ and throw an apprehension that the Papists may draw some advantage from their disagreement And it must be acknowledged that if mens surprise at their difference should have that effect it had been a thousand times better that both those Authors had forever concealed their thoughts than to give the least matter of scandal to their Brethren by publishing of them The design therefore of this Preface is to obviate these two difficulties and to justify not only those two Antagonists but all others who may embark in this quarrel by espousing the one side or the other As to the first difficulty I do affirm that if any are offended at the seeing two Reformed Divines write against each other in the Exposition of the 16. Chap. about the Effusion of the Vials the Offence is taken and not given And I do withal maintain that 't is lawful for every one in his Exposition of Prophesies to pursue that way which seems best unto him If in his Explication he contradict any Article of Faith necessary to Salvation I do confess that in this case all men have reason to be offended with him who shall by his Interpretations overthrow any of those Articles and they have cause to treat that Expositor as an Innovator and to disclaim his Exposition as a Heresie But which Article of Faith is subverted or so much as opposed or any ways injured by the either saying that the Vials are poured out or that they are not poured out Mr. Jurieu apply's all the Events since the tenth Century to the Vials as if they had been all this while pouring forth and the Anonymous Author of the Illustrations applieth them to the Trumpets which have sounded and not to the Vials which he believes to be still to be poured forth Now what Article of Faith is either gain-said or wronged by these two different Expositions But one may say that it will at least beget a Dispute about the Explication of a Book which all Christians ought to pay a deference unto as a Divine Book and a Dispute which being begun at such a conjuncture as that wherein we are may in all probability not have a good issue Whereas on the contrary this Dispute will stirr up the Curiosity of divers Adversaries who by coming to read these two Works will from thence learn very important Truths which they are yet ignorant of They will thereby understand that the Pope whom they worship as a Deity is the Original Picture of the Son of perdition who is