that is not the way by which the Reformed Religion planteth it self in the hearts of men That is a method only sutable to the Popish Religion and to the Mahometan But the meaning is that they shall no more dare to write or to speak in favour of Popery against the Reformation that their Societies shall be put down and that they shall banish themselves out of the Realm upon their not finding it to be their interest to continue all which will be a death unto them But we may take the words of the Text litterally and without a Figure Seeing there shall be killed seven thousand names of men that is there shall be no more of that kind of Doctors who are distinguished by their Societies and Fraternities no more Monks no more Jesuites and it may be no more Arch-Bishops no more Abbots and no more Cardinals in the Kingdom The 2 d Event marked in the Prophecy is that the remnant shall be affrighted by the resurrection and ascention of the Witnesses i. e. by seeing the reestablishment of the Reformed Churches and shall give glory to God. Which questionless denoteth unto us the conversion of all those people who belong to France For there is nothing by which God is more eminently glorified than by the conversion of men And that expression of their giving glory to the God of Heaven deserveth to be remarked Why is it not said they shall give Glory to God why to the God of Heaven This beyond all contradiction strikes at them who put themselues in the place of God. Every one knoweth the Station which the Pope and the Roman Church hold in all parts of the Papal Kingdom They make a God of the Pope and of the Church both in ascribing to them the glorious Attribute of being Infallible which appertaineth to none but to the Deity and in making the Authority of the Church the Foundation of the Faith of Christians But this is a perishable Divinity a God of the Earth a false God from which men shall turn to the God of Heaven the living and true God whose Word shall then be the alone Foundation of Faith. 'T is well known how they have made the great Louis a God through their compelling Protestants to change their Religion for this only reason because it was the Kings Will to have it so But affairs will alter and all France shall give Glory to the God of Heaven They shall give to Cesar the things that are Cesar's but not the things which belong to God. Yea Cesar himself shall give glory to the God of Heaven If what we have said in reference to the Resurrection of the two Witnesses and of that which is to ensue thereupon be no more than a Conjecture as we will give it no other Title yet it may be affirmed that it is a conjecture accompanied with great probability and that there is some Foundation for it For if we dare not say that St. John foretold the Event which is actually come to pass we may say that such a thing is fallen out which may be called both the death of the two Witnesses and their lying without being put into Graves Seeing what we have seen befall the Reformed in France does exactly answer to the Terms of the prediction And if the death of the Witnesses be what we have explained it then it cannot be denied but that all which we have said in reference to their Resurrection is a conjecture that hath a Foundation and a probability As to the Time when we are to see their Resurrection there is no doubt but that we are to reckon from the period at which their death fell out And it may be said with great appearance of truth that the Edict of Fontain bleau which repealed that of Nantes that was the Foundation of the Liberty of the Reformed was the fatal stroke which gave the Witnesses their death For the Edict of Fontain bleau declareth that of Nantes to be now useless seeing there remain but few Protestants to be converted to the Catholick Religion and they hope these will be soon reduced as others have been Forasmuch then as the Edict of Fontain bleau was registred towards the end of October 1685. and that it speaks of the extinction of the Reformed Religion and of the Protestants which was that foretold by St. John under the death of the two Witnesses as a thing done and that what remained of them were not to be reckoned upon we may then very probably say that upon counting the three years and a half from the forementioned October the Witnesses shall again rise and the Reformed shall be re-established XXV ILLUSTRATION Of the Seventh Trumpet The Arkopened in Heaven The Kingdoms of this world become the Lords REV. CHAP. 11. V. 14. The second Wo is past and behold the third Wo cometh quickly V. 15. And the seventh Angel sounded and there were great voices in Heaven saying the Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign for ever and ever V. 16. And the four and twenty Elders which sate before God on their Seats fell upon their faces and worshipped God saying V. 17. We give thee thanks O Lord God Almighty which art and wast and art to come because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned V. 18. And the Nations were angry and thy wrath is come and the time of the dead that they should be judged and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy Servants the Prophets and to the Saints and them that fear thy Name small and great and shouldest destroy them which destroy the Earth V. 19. And the Temple of God was opened in Heaven and there was seen in his Temple the Ark of his Testament and there were lightnings and voices and thundring and an Earthquake and great hail ALtho this be the seventh Trumpet yet it can no way's be the last Judgment that is spoken of here as it might seem to be at the first view For the pouring out of the seven Vials is to be followed with the destruction of Babylon and that is to be followed with the conversion of all Nations and with the Reign of a 1000. years After which shall come the War of God and Magog And all these things being to go before the Judgment of the last day it is not possible that that should be the subject of this seventh Trumpet under which the seven Vials are to be poured out Nor do the 24. Elders say that the time of Judging the quick and the dead was come but they only speak of the Dead which sheweth that is not the Judgment of the last day that is spoken of where the Living shall be judged as well as the Dead And withall 't is here said that the Kingdoms of this world are to become the Kingdoms of Jesus Christ which admirably agrees to the Millennian Reign when all Nations shall be converted but no
plagues and that by them the wrath of God is consummated Now against whom is it consummated Without doubt it is against Babylon against Rome and the Papacy against the Kingdom of Antichrist And the wrath of God cannot be said to be consummated until that prophecy chap. 18. v. 20. be fulfilled Rejoice over her thou Heaven and ye Holy Apostles and Prophets for God hath avenged you on her And a mighty Angel took up a stone like a great milstone and cast it into the Sea saying thus with violence shall that great City Babylon be thrown down and shall be found no more at all This Oracle is not yet fulfilled Babylon is yet standing The Kingdom of Antichrist doth yet continue From whence it does at the least follow that the last Vial is still to be poured out and as I may say that there is not one drop of it yet fallen But the same do's appear as evidently in reference to the sour first as it do's in relation to the three last For besides that it is said of them all in general that they are the last plagues and the consummation of the wrath of God against Babylon St. John further tells us ch 8. v. 13. that he heard an Angel flying thorow the midst of Heaven saying with a loud voice Wo wo wo to the Inhabitants of the Earth by reason of the Trumpets that are yet to sound And chap. 9. v. 12. after the sounding of the fifth Trumpet St. John adds one Wo is past and behold there come two Woes more hereafter One of these two Woes fell undoubtedly out under the sixth Trumpet under which Mahometanism and the Turkish Armies destroyed the whole East And therefore the third Wo must come to pass under the seventh and the last Trumpet St. Iohn accordingly declareth expresly chap. 11. v. 14. that the second Wo is past and behold the third Wo cometh quickly And after that he immediately subjoins that the seventh Angel sounded and that there were great voices in heaven saying the Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall Reign for ever and ever This is a wo for the Papacy but it is a happiness for the Church of God. For it is exactly the general Reformation which shall comprehend in it the conversion of the Jews of the Mahometans of the Pagans and of the Papists and the uniting of all Sects of Christians into one belief and into one Worship together with the final End of the Papal Kingdom Whence it uncontroably follows that all the Vials being contained under this third Wo they are yet to be poured out Forasmuch as we are this year 1687. still under the sixth Trumpet and are groaning under the pressures of the second Wo. Which over and aboye all the Massacres that were seen in the former ages hath made us to see in this age the two Sackcloth Witnesses overcome and killed by the Beast So that here we have a new proof that all the Vials from the first to the last are yet to be poured out forasmuch as the Vials are no other thing but the seven Thunders which are spoken of Chap. 10. And indeed the Thunders are seven in number as well as the Vials are And as the Thunders do signify the judgments of God against the Enemies of the Church so the Vials do signify the same in that by them the Wrath of God is to be consummated Moreover the things threatned by the Thunders are delayed from being executed until the sounding of the Seventh Trumpet For St. Iohn tells us Chap. 10. v. 4. that being about to write he heard a voice from Heaven saying Seal up those things which the seven Thunders uttered and write them not Why was this Because they were not to be executed until the Mystery of God should be finished which is not to be till under the Seventh Trumpet For the Mystery of God is the bringing in of all Kingdoms to Jesus Christ the conversion of all Nations and the uniting of all Christians from whence that peace of the Church shall arise which is to continue during the thousand years that Satan is to be bound And if there be any difference betwixt the Vials and the Thunders it consisteth only in this that the Thunders are the denunciation of the Judgments of God and that the Vials are the execution of them For tho the Thunders were heard by St. Iohn under the Sixth Trumpet yet they were not to be executed till under the Seventh under which it is that all the Vials shall be poured out I do know that there are famous Writers who pretend to demonstrate the effusion of most of the Vials as already past by that conformity which they observe in Events with the Terms that exptess the Evils which each Vial doth contain But that conformity doth not necessarily prove that they are all poured forth nor indeed that any part of them is what hath been now said proves the contrary in a manner that comes near to demonstration All that agreement does only prove that they shall be poured out in their proper times and that of this we are not to doubt seeing what is already come to pass is an assurance of what is to ensue So that what fell out in the time of Luther tho' conformable to the prediction about the ruin of Babylon does not serve to prove that Babylon is entirely fallen but is as it were an Earnest put into our hand whereby the total fall of it is promised unto us and which is to be a pledg of the full payment of all that is promised us in reference thereunto Forasmuch then as it is certain that not so much as one of the Vials is yet poured forth it becometh us in point of Wisdom to affirm nothing dogmatically in the expounding of them That which may be affirmed as certain and indubitable is first that as the Trumpets declared the manifestation of Antichrist and his advances in the establishment of his Empire together with the rise of the Mahometan Religion and the growth of the Turkish Empire so the Vials shew the fall and ruin of these two Enemies of the Christian Religion Secondly That when the Vials come to be poured out there shall be no long distance between the pouring nut of one of them and the effusion of the rest Because it is said in the 10th Chapter v. 6. that the Angel sware that there should be time no longer That is to say that there should be no more delay that the Judgments of God shall overtake the Beast without any respit betwixt one and another and that the seven Thunders shall break forth and fall as it were close and near together And consequently that the Vials which are nothing but the seven Thunders shall be so poured out that before the pouring forth of the first be ended the second shall begin and so the rest Thirdly That there shall be scarce any distance
five speaketh of nothing save of War against the Church of God. So long as it lasts Antichrist abates nothing of his fury but constantly makes the same efforts for the oppressing of the Truth and such as do profess it and while it endureth all things go ' on at the same rate against the Church of God. But as soon as the seventh Trumpet comes to be sounded by the seventh Angel the case will quite alter the wrath of God will break forth and the Vials empty themselves And this is the true Reason why the Vials are called the last plagues by which the wrath of God is fulfilled So that all which Mr. Jurieu hath said upon the Term last tho in it self very good and very ingenious yet it is altogether impertinent His curious remarks and comparisons which amount to the fourth part of his Apology are very incongruously placed For all he saith is founded upon a principle that is false namely that the seven Vials are contemporary with the seven Trumpets Whereof as the falsehood is already demonstrated so it will farther appear in what is hereafter â—o be said The 3d Argument which the Anonymous Author made use of was this that St. Iohn Rev. chap. 8. v. 13. declareth how he heard an Angel flying thorow the midst of heaven saying with a loud voice Wo wo wo to the Inhabitants of the Earth by reason of the Trumpets that are yet to sound and that he adds chap. 9. v. 12. after the sounding of the fifth Trumpet one Wo is past and behold there come two Woes more hereafter For as one of these two last woes did undoubtedly arrive under the sixth Trumpet under which Mahometism and the Arms of the Turks subverted Christianity in the East so it must needs be that the third Wo is to arrive under the seventh Trumpet This also St. Iohn expresly declares chap. 11. v. 14. the second Wo say's he is past and behold the third cometh quickly after which he immediately subjoins the seventh Angel sounded and there were great voices in heaven saying the Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall Reign forever This is a Wo for the Papacy and for Mahometism but a great happiness here in this life for the Church of God. For 't is plainly the general Reformation which shall comprehend the conversion of all Nations by giving them to see the total destruction of the Papal Empire From whence it clearly followeth that all the Vials are contained under the third Wo and consequently that they are yet all to be poured out forasmuch as we are still under the sixth Trumpet groaning under the pressures of the second Wo. Mr. Jurieu say's he doth not apprehend how these can be stiled invincible Proofs and he do's withal add that it is not true that the third Wo is confined to the seventh Trumpet To which I answer that it is as clear that the third Wo is contained under the seventh Trumpet as 't is evident that the second Wo is comprehended under the sixth and the first Wo under the fifth But by what doth it appear that the first Wo is contained under the fifth Trumpet and the second Wo under the sixth This appeareth by its being said that after the sound of the fourth Trumpet the Angel cried Wo wo wo to the Inhabitants of the Earth by reason of the Trumpets of the three Angels which are yet to sound It likewise appears in that after the sounding of the sixth Trumpet St. Iohn declares chap. 11. v. 14. the second Wo is past and behold the third cometh quickly And that we may know when it is to come St. John adds and the seventh Angel sounded and the Kingdoms of this world became the Lords and his Christs Now can the Kingdoms of this world be made subject to Christ before the destruction of Mahometism and of Popery 'T is then evident that the 3d Wo is comprehended under the seventh Trumpet as the 2d is under the sixth and the 1st under the fifth which renders the Argument of the Anonymous Author unanswerable The weakness of this proof saith Mr. Jurieu which is given us for invincible is that it supposeth a thing which is not true and which the Anonymous Author cannot evince by any sort of reason viz. that the plagues and the Vials are all comprehended under the third Wo. To whom that Author Answereth that he hath proved the third Wo to be contained under the seventh Trumpet as the 2d is comprehended in the sixth and the first in the fifth And forasmuch as the seventh Trumpet comprehendeth all the Vials because they are not poured out till after it hath sounded it invincibly follows that the third Wo is comprehended in the seven Vials and that the seven Vials do execute the third Wo. Nor is it to be helped if Mr. Jurieu will not see what St. Iohn so plainly declareth unto him To demonstrate saith Mr. Jurieu that the seven Vials are not comprehended in the 3d Wo 't is sufficient to prove as we have done that the seven Vials are seven Periods of time which run along as water runneth out of an hour-glass This principle of Mr. Iurieu that the Vials are seven Periods of time we have fully refuted have made it appear that both his principle and the reasons by which he endeavours to maintain it are worth nothing So that if he hath nothing else to alledg whereby to make it appear that the Third Wo is not contained in the Seventh Trumpet the Anonymous Author's argument may be still called invincible Moreover Mr. Iurieu's supposition that the sixth Trumpet under which we are hath been exerting its Influences for almost eight hundred years and that it s subdivided into seven Vials is a most false principle and unto which we have opposed that which is uncontrolable Namely that all the 1st 6 Trumpets do sound before the effusion of any Vial because according to St. Iohn there is not one of them poured out till under the seventh Trumpet which hath not yet begun to sound For as none of the Trumpets sound till after the opening of the seventh Seal so none of the Vials are to be poured forth till under the sounding of the seventh Trumpet Mr. Jurieu confesseth that the H. Spirit hath not evidently declared that the sixth Trumpet is subdivided into 7 Vials but he say's it may be inferred from this that whereas the seventh Trumpet was sounding when the Turks invaded the Grecian Empire which was about the tenth Century and that we find the first Vial to have fallen about that time upon the Empire of the Beast and that therefore the course of the Vials must be contained under the sixth Trumpet To which I answer that nothing of all this ariseth from the words of the Prophesie unless in the vertu ' of his principle that the Vials are periods of times and hour-glasses which run along with the sixth
of the Militant Church forasmuch as the Church Militant and Triumphant are but one and the same Mystical Body Tho in the mean time they be not in the Church Militant but retired and withdrawn For they are not any more upon the Sea but they are gotten upon the Shore XX. ILLUSTRATION Of the opening of the Temple and of the Smoak where-with it was filled REV. CHAP. 15. v. 5 10. THe whole House built upon Mount Moriah is called the Temple and yet only that Appartment called the Holy of Holies where the Ark stood was properly the Temple and which is otherway's stiled the Tabernacle of Witness The opening of the Temple which is here spoken of is an allusion to the Church of the Iews For under the Reign and Idolatry of Ahaz the Temple was shut up but under Hezekiâ— the Reformer it was again opened So that this is as if St. John should say I saw the time of the Reformation when the Idolatry and Superstition of Rome were condemned and the Truth of the Gospel was publickly preached From thence these three things are to be gathered 1 That the Vials which are mentioned in this 15 chapter and poured out in the following do belong to this state of the Church wherein Antichrist is made manifest and wherein there shineth a measure of light in the Church 2 That the Vials are all contained under the seventh Trompet seeing we have the same fact that is here mentioned repeated under that Rev. chap. 11. v. 19. And 3 the Temple is not here Represented open in order to give a passage to the seven Angels that pour out the Vials but to give way for all Nations to enter in according as it is said v. 4. that all Nation shall come and worship before God. And this may be collected from v. 8. where it is said that no man could enter into the Temple till the seven plagues of the seven Angels were fulfilled Which plainly shews that the Temple is therefore opened that there may be a way made for men to enter into it against whom it had been so long shut The Smoak that filled the Temple answereth to the Cloud that covered the Tabernacle of Moses and to the Divine Glory which so filled the Tent of the Congregation that Moses himself was not able to enter into it Exod. chap. 40. v. 34. which thing is also reported of the Temple of Solomon 1 Kings chap. 8. v. 10 11 Now as the Cloud was a Symbol ' of Gods gracious presence in the midst of Israel so the Smoak here spoken of is a presage of the Lords Return again into his Temple which he had for so song time abandoned to the Gentiles i. e. to the followers of the Beast and to the Citizens of Babylon chap. 11. v. 2. 'T is added that this Smoak caused that no man was able to enter into the Temple till the seven plagues of the seven Angels were fulfilled Which intimateth that tho the time of the destruction of the Churches Enemies draweth near and the time wherein the Gospel shall shine bright in the world yet that the Gospel will not be universally received and followed of all Nations till after the Subversion of Babylon which will not be until the Vials have been poured out XXI ILLUSTRATION Of the fall of Babylon and the Time when REV. CHAP. 18. THe Destruction of Babylon is described at length in the 18th Chapter But whereas Babylon may be taken either for the City of Rome or for her Empire which is the Papacy or Popery the Destruction described in the 18th chap. do's respect her only in the first sense to wit as She is the Seat of the Beast According as She is intended in the effusion of the fifth Vial that is as She is the Seat of the Papal Kingdom For after that the Angel had said that her plagues shall come in one day death and mourning and famine and that she shall be utterly burnt with fire because strong is the Lord God who judgeth her he then addeth that the Kings of the Earth who have committed fornication and lived diliciously with her shall bewaile her and lament for her when they shall see the smoak of her burning that the merchants also shall mourn over her because none buyeth her Merchandise any more and that every Ship-master and all Sailers in Ships shall cast dust on their heads when they shall see the smoak of her burning Now who are these Kings these Merchants these Shipmasters and these Sailors that do thus mourn and lament upon the seeing the subversion of Rome and the total ruin of her that was both the mother of their Faith and of all Churches The Kings are partly the Cardinals who do esteem themselves equal to Princes and partly Kings themselves and Soveraign's that are Secular The Masters of Ships are Archbishops and Bishops The Sailers are the inferior Clergy The Merchants are the Friers that sell the dispensations the Indulgences the Relicks the Agnus Dei's c. and who do vend those Triffles as the most precious of all commodities making people believe that the peace of their consciences and the salvation of their Soul 's pend upon them So that there shall be papists and Roman Catholicks subsisting after that Rome is destroyed and who shall worship that Idol tho reduced into ashes Thus 't is said in the 16th chap. v. 10. that the fifth Angel poured out his Vial upon the Seat of the Beast and his Kingdom became full of darkness The Seat of the Beast is the City Rome which is now the Seat of the Papal Kingdom as it was heretofore of the Roman Empire But this Kingdom shall subsist for a while after that Rome it self is destroyed Forasmuch as it is said that after the pouring out of the fifth Vial the Kingdom of the Beast became full of darkness i. e. sorrowful dejected full of affliction and mourning without that pomp and splendor which it had enjoyed before the effusion of that Vial. Yea St. Iohn tells us in the 19. chap. v. 19. that he saw the Beast and the Kings of the Earth and their Armies gathered together to make war against him that sat upon the white Horse and against his Army And that the Beast was taken and with him the false Prophet that wrought miracles before him with which be deceived them that had received the mark of the Beast and them that worshipped his Image and that these two were cast alive into a Lake of fire burning with brimstone So that it shall be after the destruction of the City of Rome ere the Papal Hierarchy and the Pope come to be entirely abolished The Time that is to run out between the one and the other is not expresly marked by the H. Spirit no more than the Time wherein Rome is to be destroyed But in all probability this destruction can not be far off For of the two signs which are to precede it we do already see one
their Felicity and whence they same 159 8 Of the Silence in Heaven for half an hour 162 9 Of the seven Angels with the seven Trumpets and of the Angel who cast the Censer into the Earth 163 10 Of the first Trumpet and of the Hail Fire and Blood. 165 11 Of the second Trumpet a Mountain burning cast in the Sea and a third part of it became Blood. 167 12 Of the third Trumpet A great Star fall from Heaven 169 13 Of the fourth Trumpet the third part of the Sun and of the Moon and of the Stars smitten 172 14 Of the fifth Trumpet the Key of the bottomless Pit given to the Star that fell from Heaven 174 15 Of the Locusts 179 16 Of the sixth Trumpet the loosing of the four Angels in the River Euphrates 194 17 Of the Angel with the Book open 201 18 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 203 19 Of the Angels Oath and of the finishing the Mystery of God. 205 20 Of the Angels giving the Book to S. John to be eaten and of the effects which ensue thereupon Pag. 207 21 Of the measuring of the Temple and of the outward Court to be trodden under foot of the Gentiles 209 22 Of the two Witnesses their Sackcloth State the time of their Prophecying and their Dignity 212 23 Of the Witnesses being overcome and slain and left unburied 216 24 Of the rising of the Witnesses their Ascending into Heaven and of what follows upon their triumph 227 25 Of the seventh Trumpet The Ark opened in Heaven the Kingdoms of this world become the Lords 240 26 Of the pouring out of the Vials 245 27 Of the time that the Beasts Reign is to continue 265 28 Of the time when the Beasts Reign or the Papal Empire began 269 29 Of the Destruction of Gog and Magog 278 30 Of S. Johns Offence in falling at the Angels feet to worship him 280 31 Of Christs directing his Epistles and his Revelation to the seven Churches and why 284 ◠Defence of the Illustrations upon the Apocalypse concerning the Effusion of the Vials Page 1 Reasons for the Non-Effusion of the Vials 27 A NEW SYSTEME OF THE APOCALYPSE OR A Plain and Methodical Explanation of all the Visions of the REVELATION of St. JOHN The FIRST Part. I. ILLUSTRATION What we are to understand by the BEAST SAint John having in the 17. Chapter v. 1 2 3. told us how he was carried into the Wilderness by one of the Seven Angels that had the seven Viols and how he there saw a Woman sitting upon a Scarlet Beast full of Names of Blasphemy having seven Heads and ten Horns and having in the Vision related in the 13. Chapter described this Beast unto us we are therefore in the first place to inquire what is meant by this Beast with Seven Heads and Ten Horns that we may be able thereby to know with the more certainty and with the greater plainness who this Woman is that is called Babylon the Great whom the Beast carries Nor will it be difficult to understand the meaning and import of this Term Beast it having been explained in the Visions of Daniel For that Prophet having in the 7 th Chap. v. 3 4 5 6 7. declared how that he beheld Four Beasts rising out of the Sea the first whereof resembled a Lion the second a Bear the third a Leopard and the fourth different from the three former He adds that having asked one of the Angels that stood before the Ancient of Day 's what the meaning of that Vision might be it was answered him v. 17. that these four Beasts were four Kings which should arise upon the Earth So that this Explication vouchsav'd by the Angel unto Daniel concerning the Vision of the four Beasts do's fully inform us that this Term Beast in the Revelations of St. John signifies a Power à n Empire a Succession of Kings and Rulers as the four in Daniel's Visions represented the four Empires the Assyrian Persian Grecian and Roman with which the Church of God was concerned and which four Empires had been before represented by the Image that appeared to Nebuchadnezzar in his Dream Dan. 2. 31 c. The word Beast being then used in the Visions of Daniel to denote an Empire or a Succession of Soveraign Rulers it can have no other signification affixed unto it in the Visions of St. John forasmuch as one Spirit inspired both the Apostle and the Prophet And this is the more evident in that Daniel's fourth Beast is the same with that in St. Johns Visions as do's plainly appear by the universal and perfect Agreement that is between the one and the other 1. Whereas Daniel tells us c. 7. v. 7. that the Fourth Beast which is the Roman Empire and to which he gave no Name was different from the three former from the Lion the Bear and the Leopard so St. Iohn represents the Beast upon which the Woman sitteth not only as diverse from those three but as that which there is none that bears any resemblance unto and which as he says Rev. 13. 2. had the Body of a Leopard and whose Feet were as the Feet of a Bear and his Mouth as the Mouth of a Lion. 2. Whereas Daniel Chap. 7. 7. says of the fourth Beast that he had ten Horns St. Iohn says the same of the Beast that carried the Woman Rev. 17. 12. 3. And as Daniel informs us Chap. 7. 24. that the ten Horns of the fourth Beast were ten Kings that should arise out of that Kingdom St. Iohn likewise assures us Rev. 17. 12 that the ten Horns of the Beast upon which the Woman sitteth are ten Kings which had not then received any Kingdom 4. Whereas Daniel says Chap. 7. v. 8. 25. that the little Horn of the fourth Beast had a Mouth speaking great things and uttering words against the Most High. St. Iohn also say's of the Beast that carried the Woman Rev. 13. 5 6. that there was given unto him a Mouth speaking great things and that he opened his Mouth in Blasphemies against God. 5. Forasmuch as Daniel tells us Chap. 7. v. 21. concerning the little Horn of the fourth Beast that he made war with the Saints and prevailed against them St. John say's the same of the fourth Beast upon which the Woman sitteth Rev. 13. 7. namely that it was given unto him to make war with the Saints and to overcome them 6. And whereas Daniel declares Chap. 7. v. 25. that the Saints shall be given into the hands of the fourth Beast a time times and the dividing of time St. John declares also of the Beast upon which the Woman sitteth Rev. 13. 7. that Power was given unto him to continue forty and two moneths which make just three Prophetical years and a half 7. Lastly Forasmuch as Daniel says of the fourth Beast chap. 7. v. 11. that he was
stain and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame St. Iohn declares the same of the Beast that carried the Woman Rev. 19. v. 20. how that he was taken and cast into a Lake of Fire burning with Brimstone So that after the agreement of the one Beast with the other in so many particulars there is no room left for suspition but that Daniel's fourth Beast is the same with the Beast described by St. Iohn upon whom the Woman stiled Babylon the Great sitteth and that all the Revelations of St. Iohn are nothing else but a continuation of the Prophetical History which Daniel had begun of the Roman Empire and of the Church of God. II. ILLUSTRATION What is intended by the Seven Heads of the Beast REV. CHAP. 17. v. 20. THe Seven Heads ascribed to the Beast in the Vision of St. Iohn serve to explain the Vision in Daniel and do make it clearly appear that the fourth Beast which the Prophet Daniel describes and which is the same with that described by St. Iohn can represent nothing save the Roman Empire For proof of this we are only to observe the Explication which the Angel gave of that Vision to Saint Iohn Rev. 17. v. 9. Here is the mind say's he that hath wisdom the seven Heads are seven Mountains on which the Woman sitteth And they are seven Kings five are fallen and one is and the other is not yet come These seven Hills do so plainly point out and characterise the City of Rome that the Angel could not have more evidently declared it if he had directly mentioned it the Terms wherein he represents it being so agreeable to the Character of the City buils upon seven Hills which is the stile whereby their own Poets Ovid Propertius Horace and Virgil do describe it Septemque una sibi muro circumdedit Arces Virg. Dîs quibus septcm placuere colles dicere carmen Horat. Septem urbs alta jugis toti qui praesidet Orbi Propert. Sed quae de septem totum circumspicit Orbem Montibus Imperii Roma Deûmque locus Ovid. Accordingly that learned Roman Varro being speaking of a Festival called Septimentium that was dedicated to the Honor of Rome of which they had made a Goddess say's that this Feast took its name from the seven Mountains on which Rome was built Nor are there any but who do know these Hills to have been the Palatine the Capitoline the Aventine the Celian the Esquiline the Viminal and the Quirenal So that from and by means of these Mountains we come to be assured that the Beast with seven Heads according to the exposition given by the Angel can be nothing but the Roman Empire And this is made further evident by the seven Kings which as the Angel tells us are also signified by the seven Heads Rev. 17. v. 10. And there are seven Kings five are fallen and one is and the other is not yet come Which seven Kings do most infallibly denote the seven Forms of Government under which Rome hath been and through which it hath passed since its Foundation For it is the Scripture method of expression to signify by Kings all sorts of Supream Governors As appears both from the 36. of Genesis v. 31. where Moses having reckoned up the Kings that reigned in Edom before there reigned any King over the Children of Israel means no more than before there was any Soveraign Magistrate in Israel and from Deut. 33. v. 5. where Moses is said to have been King in Ieshurun Now the seven kinds of Supream Magistrates by which Rome hath been governed are Kings Consuls Decemviri Military Tribunes Dictators Emperors and Popes Five whereof the Angel says were fallen and that the sixth which was that of Emperors now is namely in the time of St. Iohn but that the seventh was not yet come forasmuch as the Bishop of Rome was not at that time what he is since grown up unto by his Usurpations of being as well the Soveraign Master over Kings and Emperors as Monarch over the Church But we are not yet come to prove the Pope to be meant by the seventh Head it being necessary before we advance to that to explain divers other particulars so that it is enough for the present to have shewn that the Beast with the seven Heads can represent nothing else save the Roman Empire III. ILLUSTRATION What the Ten Horns of the Beast do denote and signify REV. CHAP. 17. v. 12. THE Lamb by which our Saviour is represented is said to have Horns as well as the Beast but the signification of the Horns of the one is somewhat different from the meaning of the Horns of the other Those of the Lamb do denote the Power of Jesus Christ and the number seven intimates the perfection of it Rev. 5. v. ◠So that the Lamb 's being represented with seven Horns is to signify the Fulness of his Power or as it is in the language of St. Paul Phil. 2. 9 10. His having a Name given him above every name that at the Name of Iesus every Knee should bow But the Horns of the Beast do signify Kingdoms and Dominions as appears by their being applied to such a sense in the Visions of Daniel Thus the Ram by which was signified the King of Persia Dan. 8. 3. is represented with two high Horns and whereof the one was higher than the other because the Kingdom of Persia was more powerful than that of the Medes And accordingly the Angel tells St. Iohn that the Ten Horns of the Beast are Ten Kings Nor is it of any great moment whether the number Ten do signify punctually so many it being sufficient to take the word indefinitely for the intimating a considerable number it being so used elsewhere And thus it both signifies the great Extent of the Roman Empire and serves to demonstrate that it is only this Empire which we have represented in the Revelation there being no other in St. Iohns time that could answer the vast importance of this Phrase or at least none that was known and with which the Church of God had any concernment And it is by reason of its greatness that the Sacred Writers call it by the stile of all the World and of the whole habitable Earth Luc. 2. 1. Rev. 13. 3 8. Rev. 17. 18. As if all Nations had been under the jurisdiction of the Roman Emperors But whereas there seems to be a contradiction in the Explication given by the Angel in that after he had said that the Ten Horns of the Beast are Ten Kings he adds Rev. 17. 12. that these ten Kings had received no Kingdom as yet but were to receive power as Kings one hour with the Beast Seeing if he intend by the Beast the Roman Empire as it florished in St. Iohns time how can he say that these Kings had received no Kingdom as yet and that they were only to receive their power at the same season with the Beast I
Censer and filled it with fire of the Altar and cast it into the Earth and there were voyces and thundrings and lighnings and an Earthquake TRumpets were used under the Law for two uses One was for War and to encourage the people to fight The other was for peace and to stir up the people to a holy rejoicing Those spoken of here are of the first sort The Seven Angels are the denouncers of those Evils which God was to pour out upon the Church to punish her decay in zeal and Charity The other Angel who stood before the Golden Altar with a Golden Censer is Jesus Christ that appeared in the 7. Chap. with the Seal of God and appeareth now as a Priest with a Censer that is to say as an Intercessor And his Intercession appeareth here with two different effects one for his people in obtaining their prayers to be accepted and his giving value to them is figured by incense The other against false Christians upon whom he scattereth fire from off the Altar This is the fire of division whereof Christ speaks Luke 12. 49 51. I am come to send fire on the earth Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on Earth I tell you nay but rather division 'T is said that this fire was taken off the Altar because it was to be kindled in a Church destitute of zeal and charity and because this fire of division was to be about Religion as the subject of it and by reason that Jesus Câ—rist was to be the cause of it or at least the pretence The voices thundrings lightnings and Earthquake that ensued upon the Scattering of this fire do plainly represent the strifes quarrels and troubles which under the Reign of Constantin and his Successors broke out among the Bishops and Pastors Who being given up to covetousness luxury and ambition raised such troubles as shook the Christian Religion and opened a door to Antichristianism which did appear under the Trumpets X. ILLUSTRATION Of the first Trumpet and of the Hail Fire and Blood. REV. CHAP. 8. V. 1. And the seven Angels which had the Seven Trumpets prepared themselves to sound V. 7. And the first Angel sounded and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood and they were cast upon the Earth and the third part of the Trees was burnt up and all green Grass was burnt up WE find not in History any change that befell the Church so near to the withholding the winds and to the Silence for half an hour i. e. so near to the peaceable Reign of Constantin which either more opened a door to Antichristianism or which better correspondeth to this Hail to this fire and to this blood caused by this first Trumpet than that so much noted Heresie of Arius 1 Arianism begun to lift up its head under the Reign of Constantin The Church had no sooner peace than the Devil let loose this Heretick to trouble her 2 This Heresie infected the whole Empire The world saith St. Ierom trembleth and is amased to see it self become Arian It lasted near three hundred years Many Councils were assembled to stop its course And it was in these Councils that the Bishop of Rome laid the foundation of that Supremacy which made him afterward to be considered and feared as the Head the judg and the absolute Monarch both of the world and of the Church 3 The hail the fire and the blood do admirably agree to that Heresie 'T is called Hail by reason both of its violence and of the noise which it made and because of the barrenness and coldness which it begot in mens hearts out of which it drove away godliness and charity 'T is stiled Fire because of the contentions which it kindled And it is called Blood by reason of the bloody persecutions which it raised And whereas she third part of the Trees and every green Herb are said to have been burnt up it is because more than one half of the Pastors who are designed by Trees and the generality of the people signified by all green Grass were infected with it XI ILLUSTRATION Of the second Trumpet A Mountain Burning cast into the Sea and a third part of it became Blood. REV. CHAP. 8. V. 8. And the second Angel sounded and as it were a great Mountain burning with fire was cast into the Sea and the third part of the Sea became blood V. 9. And the third part of the Creatures which were in the Sea and had life died and the third part of the Ships were destroyed 'T Is certain that Mountains do in the language of the Prophets signify the Kingdoms of the Earth Thus Mount Sion signifieth the Church which is the Kingdom of God. And thus 't is said Isaiah chap. 2. v. 14. that the day of the Lord shall be against all the high Mountains that is against all Nations tho' never so fierce and against all Kingdoms how powerful soever So that this burning Mountain thrown into the Sea cannot be better explained than of the Nations of the Goths Visigoths Ostrogoths Vandal's and Gepid's that under the Reign of Valens about the year 378. broke in like an inundation upon the Roman Empire destroyed Rome and who abolished the very Name of the Roman Empire in the West about the year 547. These Nations are stiled a burning Mountain because of their violence and of their swiftness This Mountain was cast into the Sea because it was an effect of the wrath of God that these Nations broke in upon the Roman Empire which was a great Sea a heap of many peoples which the Scripture useth to express by waters Now this burning Mountain is not said to dry up the Sea tho that be the proper effect of fire but it is said to have caused the third part of the Sea to become blood the H. Spirit having a respect to what is here signified by this Mountain namely the fierce and bloody humour of these Nations who drowned a part of the Roman Empire in blood infected the people of this Empire with Errors and destroyed a part of its Cities designed here by Ships XII ILLUSTRATION Of the third Trumpet A great Star fell from Heaven REV. CHAP. VIII V. 10. And the third Angel sounded and there fell a great Star from heaven burning as it were a Lamp and it fell upon the third part of the Rivers and upon the Fountains of Waters V. II. And the Name of the Star is called Worm-wood and the third part of the waters became Worm-wood and many men died of the waters because they were made bitter SEeing Jesus Christ hath in the first chap. v. 20. expounded the seven Stars which he had in his right hand to represent Pastors it must necessarily be that by the Star spoken of here some Bishop or Pastor should be intended And forasmuch as it is a great Star it must be a great Bishop that is designed and the Pastor of some Church which men esteem'd to be the
of time betwixt the sounding of the sixth Trumpet and the sounding of the seventh Seeing 't is said chap. 11. v. 14. The second Wo is past and behold the third Wo cometh quickly For we are to observe that this is not said in the prediction of the two first Wo's under the fifth and sixth Trumpets All that is there said is only that they shall come but this quickly is not added save in the prediction of the third Wo. Whence we may conclude that the seventh Trumpet shall immediately follow the Resurrection of the two Witnesses Whose Death as it fell out in 1685. so their Resurrection shall ensue within three years and a half from that time because the three days and a half wherein they are to lie dead being prophetick days are equivalent unto so many years And then in a short time after the Resurrection of the Witnesses whom the Beast hath killed we shall see the arrival of the third Wo that is to avenge the Lambs Wife for all the evils which the Mother of Harlots hath made her to suffer Nor ought we to forget that the Term in the Original which signifieth a Vial signifieth also a Cup in which sense the Term is undoubtedly here used For besides that it is the Judgments of God which are here treated of and which are expressed in the Scripture by the word Cup as appeareth both Ps 75. v. 8. and by the prayer of our Saviour in his Agony Let this Cup pass from me Matth. 26. v. 39. I say besides this it is evident that the vengeance wherewith Babylon is threatned is expressed by the same Term Rev. chap. 18. v. 6. Reward her even as she rewarded you and double unto her double according to her works in the CUP which she hath filled fill to her double So that the Cups of God's Wrath are set in opposition to the golden Cup with which Babylon made drunk the Nations of the Earth Babylon's Cup is full of the furious Wine of her fornications Rev 17. 2. These Cups which are to be poured out are full of the wrath of Almighty God by which he will make her desolate I will again repeat that seeing these Vials or Cups contain Judgments yet to come and which cannot be explained from the Events as hath been done in expounding of the Visions of the Trumpets that therefore I design not to speak otherway's than by way of Conjecture This is a deference which should be pay'd to the Author of Prophesies Howsoever we shall see what may be best alledged and what carrieth the greatest probability by having our eye upon remembring the Explanations that have been already given The first Vial. V. 2 And the first Angel went and poured out his Vial upon the Earth and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the Beast and upon them which worshipped his Image The Earth upon which the first Vial fell is the Antichristian Church the Christian Church become Earthly which is no longer constituted of those that are Citizens of Heaven as the true Church of Jesus Christ is but is made up of worldly persons who have nothing else in their aim but to satisfy their ambition avarice and carnal desires These will be fretted and grieved to see the loss of their Church Revenues and to be deprived of the means of gratifying their Iusts This vexation and sorrow which is the noisome and grievous sore upon them will increase their rage against the Church of God. They who have the mark of the Beast represent the Clergy the Prelates and the Priests who are not only distinguished by their Habits and shaving their Crowns but who likewise boast of an indelible Character that is to say of a mark which nothing can efface These who worship the Image of the Beast signifie the false zealots who are intoxicated with the belief of the Infallibility of the Romish Church as the ancient Romans were with the Eternity of Rome which they stiled the Eternal City These are the Bigots who are transported with a blind zeal the Ignorants who are swallowed up in Superstition and who yield a greater and a more submissive obedience to their Guides than that which God requireth of his People For God doth not require a blind Obedience which is that which they do render to their Clergy The second Vial. V. 3. And the second Angel poured out his Vial upon the Sea and it became as the Blood of a dead man and every living Soul died in the Sea. The Sea is the Papal Kingdom in its utmost extent not only the countrey whereof the Pope is Soveraign but likewise all those Princes who acknowledg him for their Spiritual Head and Father This Empire shall become as the Blood of a dead Man so that every Soul which liveth in it shall die That is the Government of Popish Princes shall grow so intolerable that their people shall not be able to endure their Yoke As the Fish cannot live in waters which are turned into Blood. The third Vial. V. 4. And the third Angel poured out his Vial upon the Rivers and Fountains of Waters and they became Blood. V. 5. And I heard the Angel of the Waters say thou art righteous O Lord which art and wast and shalt be because thou hast judged thus V. 6. For they have shed the blood of Saints and Prophets and thou hast given them blood to drink for they are worthy The Rivers and the Fountains are beyond all peradventure the Doctrines wherewith they nourish Souls The Doctrine of the Romish Church is a Doctrine of Blood against all those whom they account Hereticks And it is very probable that the same Doctrine shall prove bloody against themselves And that their Maxims such as that Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks that men are to be compelled to go to Mass because it is written compel them to come in and that it is lawful to do evil that good may come of it together with others of that kind shall one day serve to make their members arm against and tear one another And by that means like shall be returned unto them for like The fourth Vial. V. 8. And the fourth Angel poured out his Vial upon the Sun and power was givrn unto him to shorch men with fire V. 9. And men were scorched with great heat and blasphemed the Name of God which hath power over these plagues and they repented not to give him glory This Sun is in all likelyhoood the Ottoman Emperor who is the Sun of the Eastern Empire For as the fourth Trumpet raised and established him so the fourth Vial shall shake him and pull him down The Subjects of that Empire shall be mortally afflicted but instead of being thereby converted they shall blaspheme the Name of God through not acknowledging his providence as the Supreme and righteous cause of their Judgments The fifth Vial. V. 10. And the fifth Angel poured out
of the plague of the Hail for the plague thereof was exceeding great We have already observed in the Explication of the fifth Trumpet that the Air signifies Religion But there it signified Religion darkned by the Smoke which came out of the bottomless pit whereas here it signifieth Religion it self which was begotten by that Smoke namely the Papal and Antichristian Religion For it shall be drove away as Smoke by this last Vial. Then there was the Voice of the Angel heard saying it is done that is the Mystery whereof there was mention chap. 10. v. 7. namely the Mystery of the total ruin of the Papacy of the Conversion of the Jews of the reduction of all the Kingdoms of this world to Jesus Christ and of the universal peace of the Church As this will be the greatest and the most happy Change that ever was seen in the world therefore it is not only said that there shall be Lightnings and Thunders but that there shall likewise be a great Earthquake such as was not since men were upon the Earth For Earthquakes as we have already taken notice signify always in Scripture a change that shall fall out in the world in reference to Religion And therefore there was both an Earthquake at the gioing of the Law and at the publication of the Gospel because by that the Iudaick Religion was established and by this the Christian So that we are not to be surprised to find in this prediction a greater Earthquake than ever had been before seen from the beginning of the world because the Iews are now to be recalled the Mahometans are to be converted all Nations are to be Enlightned with the splendor of the Gospel and the Papacy is irrecoverably to be destroyed The Division of the City into three parts threatneth the Papacy which is this great City with three plagues of the Wrath of God. It hath been already observed that Rome which is the Seat of the Papal Empire shall be destroyed by three different Judgments of God to wit as Sodom as Egypt and as Babylon And the same shall befall the Papacy which shall be subverted by three means which we do not yet know The Prophet Daniel says that after the fourth Beast which representeth the Romam Empire shall be slain and after that his body shall be given to the burning flame that then the Dominion shall be also taken away from the other Beasts and that after the Image by which the Empire of the world are represented shall be broken into pieces the other Beasts shall have domination no more chap. 7. v. 12. chap. 2. v. 44. That is the very same which St. Iohn fore-tells in this place and every Island Fled away and the Mountains were not found For by Islands are understood Commonwealths Kingdoms are meant by Mountains All which is as if he should have said that there shall be no more any State neither Republick nor a Kingdom but what shall be governed by the holy Laws of the Gospel and which shall be a Theocracy as the State of Israel was under the Government of the Judges So that this here is not the last and Universal Iudgment no more than that chap. 11. v. 18. but it is the particular Judgment of Babylon that is the Antichristian Empire which the peace of the Church shall follow The Hail of an extraordinary bigness that shall fall at the effusion of this last Vial ' can no way 's agree to the last judgment forasmuch as that being the day of the Resurrection of the Dead no Hail shall fall to kill men Whereas it is here said that the Hail fell upon men that unquestionably signifieth the overwhelming them by reason of their obduration For it will come to pass that some men upon their seeing the vengeance of God against Babylon and against its Empire will instead of being converted break forth into blasphemies These hardned men are such as have no sense of Religion but are tied to Babylon by the bonds of gain and by the alone chains of interest There are at this time a great number of these who savour nothing of the word of God who have no more knowledg than Babel of the Christian Religion and yet they pass in the Church of Rome for great Devoto's They are the men of this complexion that shall be overwhelmed by the Hail of the seventh and last Vial. This Hail may be very well said to threaten the rich and innumerable Benefices of the Roman Clergy For the vast riches of the Prelates and of the other Ecclesiasticks being the strong Buttresses of the Papacy the loss of their Revenues may very well be one of the Means which God in his providence will make use of to destroy and abolish them For this is the property of Hail to destroy Revenues and the Papacy being adhered unto only for its riches when it comes to be stript the whole world will abandon it which will cause its ruin XXVII ILLUSTRATION Of the Time that the Beast's Reign is to continue THE Holy Spirit marketh the duration of the Reign of the Beast in five several places In the 11. Chap. v. 2. 't is said that the Gentiles shall tread the Holy City under foot forty and two Mon'ths And in the 3d verse of the same chapter 't is said that the two Witnesses shall prophesie a thousand two hundred and threescore days clothed in sackcloth And in the 12 Chap. v. 6. 't is said that the Woman fled into the Wilderness where she had a place prepared of God to be fed there 1260 days And in the 14th verse of that Chapter She is said to be there fed for a Time Times and half a Time. And chap. 13. v. 5. 't is said power is given unto the Beast to continue forty and two Mon'ths From all which we are to observe 1 That the 42 Mon'ths and 1260 Day 's are one and the same thing Because according to the Greeks whose language the Revelation was written in every Mon'th contained thirty day's and 42 times thirty make 1260. 2 That one Time Times and half a Time are one year two years and half a year which making three years and a half amounteth just to sorty and two Months and to 1260 Day 's 3 That whereas it is expresly said that power was given unto the Beast to continue 42 Months this declareth his Duration during the Time that the Gentiles shall tread the holy City under foot and during the Time that the Woman shall be in the Wilderness where she is to be fed while that the Witnesses prophesie clothed in Sackcloth 4 That the 1260 Days are not to be taken literally for common Days but Mystically for so many years This we cannot doubt of when we have considered that Days are applied so in the Books of the Prophets In the 4th Chap. of Amos v. 4. the Prophet bids them bring their Sacrifices and Tyths after three Days i. e. after three years as
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
his Vial upon the Seat of the Beast and his Kingdom was full of darkness and they gnawed their tongues for pain V. 11. And blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their pains and their sores and repented not of their deeds There is nothing here dark provided it be true that the Beast is the Papal Empire according as we have proved and that Rome is the Seat of this Empire as all men do see So that it is the City of Rome which is here threatned by God with an eternal and irrecoverable Ruin. Or rather this is the execution of that denunciation contained in the 18th Chap. and which we have explained in the first Part. Rome is threatned to be destroyed as Egypt as Babylon and as Sodom This fifth Vial shews us the fulfilling of all this Rome being destroyed the Beasts Kingdom becomes full of darkness Which in the Scripture signifies Sadness and Mourning 'T is easie to apprehend the dejection which the Papal Empire will be under and the afflication that they will be in who have the Mark of the Beast his Name or the Number of his Name when they see that Rome is no more 'T is said that they shall gnaw their tongues and blaspheme the God of Heaven i. e. they shall complain that God is wanting in making good his promises namely that Rome should not perish while the world stood and that she should be alway's the Lady and Mistriss of all Churches of Faith and of Religion Which is a horrid blasphemy for where hath God promised any such priviledg to the City of Rome The sixth Vial. V. 12. And the sixth Angel poured out his Vial upon the great River Euphrates and the water thereof was dried up that the way of the Kings of the East might he prepared V. 13. And I saw three unclean Spirits like Frogs come out of the mouth of the Dragon and out of the mouth of the Beast and out of the mouth of the False Prophet V. 14. For they are the Spirits of Devils working miracles which go forth unto the Kings of the Earth and of the whole World to gather them to the battel of that great day of God Almighty V. 15. Behold I come as a Thief blesseth is he that watcheth and keepeth his Garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame V. 16. And they gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew Tongue Armageddon The sixth Vial destroyeth the Empire of the Turks and their Religion which the sixth Trumpet had advanced to the highest pitch of its grandure For the River Euphrates does undoubtedly signify the people of that part of the world as its being dried up denoteth the End of their Empire and of their Religion After which there will be nothing to hinder either the King 's of the East who shall be enlightned and converted or the Iews who are there dispersed in great numbers from marching into the West to help to finish the destruction of the Beast 'T is remarkable that the Prophet Isaiah doth in the place where he promiseth the conversion of the Iews stile them Kings which as it hath a reference to the Millennian Reign so it induceth to a belief that the Iews are these Kings who are here spoken of The prosperity of Mahometanism and Popery hath kept back the Iews from the Christian Religion which those two Religions have so much disfigured But when through the destruction of Rome they shall behold the Seat of the Beast overthrown and when they shall see the Kingdom of the Beast become full of darkness the great River Euphrates dried up then they will open their eyes and be converted The Conversion of the Jews is unquestionably promised in this place in that St. Iohn useth an expression like to what Isaiah useth chap. 11. v. 15. where their conversion is promised For if St. Iohn speaks of the drying up of Euphrates Isaiah sayth that God will shake his hand over the River Moreover it is plainly in favour of the Jews that St. Iohn useth the Hebrew term Armageddon And there came three unclean Spirits like frogs out of the mouth of the Dragon and out of the mouth of the Beast and out of the Mouth of the false Prophet Who can doubt but that these are the spiritual Fathers of the three Orders of Monks who have made most noise and have done must hurt namely the Jacobin's the Cordeliers and the Jesuites Are not these Spiritual Fathers Do they not depend upon the Pope as upon a Deity Doth not the command of that false Prophet send them to the East-Indies to America and to all places Are they not troublesome and importunate as the Frogs are and are not the Mansions where they are Cloist'red nasty and stinking like the dirty pudles When the Pepe shall find himself threatned with a total ruin he shall send to all parts he shall hunt out these three Orders of Ghostly Fathers in order to assemble all his forces But this rendevouz is said to be in a place called Armageddon because they together with all the Enemies of the Church shall there irrecoverably perish as the Nations that were execrated and excepted from pardon for having made War against Israel Moreover what we have said concerning these three unclean Spirits doth not interfer with nor lessen the probability of the Conjecture which we made about the Monks being the Locusts For we have not said that the Monks are to be totally abolished before the effusion of the 6th Vial but all we have said was that the power which was given them to torment men five Mon'ths shall come to an End within an 150 years signified by five prophetick Mon'ths counting from October 1540. when the first Bull was emitted for the establishing the Society of Iesuites who are principally designed by the Locusts as being they who have advanced the Monastick Order to the highest pitch of their power But this doth not hinder but that both they and the other Monks and Friers shall make a last effort to uphold their own power and that of the Papacy about the time when the Sixth Vial shall come to be poured out The Seventh Vial. V. 17. And the seventh Angel poured out his Vial into the Air and there came a great voice out of the Temple of Heaven from the Throne saying It is done V. 18. And there were Voices and Thunders and Lightnings and there was a great Earthquake such as was not since Men were upon the Earth so mighty an Earthquake and so great V. 19. And the great City was divided into three parts and the Cities of the Nations fell and great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the Cup of the Wine of the fierceness of his Wrath. V. 20. And every Island sled away and the Mountains were not found V. 21. And there fell upon men a great Hail out of Heaven every stone about the Weight of a talent and men blasphemed God because