pain for grief and Vexation that all they can say in the defence of their Superstition and Idolatry will never be able to silence Truth Let them do all they can to hold the World in Darkness still by the denying them the use of Scripture but the Day is dawned and the Light is broken forth and will dazzle the Eyes of those Bats and Owls who so much fly from it The Knowledge of God's Word blessed be his holy Name for it will not suffer Men to be so Blind as to be led any longer by such dark Guides let them seeing it is their black doom so to do Blaspheme the God of Heaven let them continue in their Impenitency and not repent of their Deeds but that God whom they Blaspheme is able to recover his own Glory and will give them but too too long a day to repent when they who have so much laboured to support their Kingdom by it shall themselves be reserved in Everlasting Chains of Darkness CHAP. XVI Of the sixth Vial Rev. 16. 12 13 14 15 16. 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 be prepared 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 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 Battle of that great Day of God Almighty Behold I come as a Thief blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his Garments lest he walk naked and they see his Shame And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew Tongue Amageddon This Vial contains a great variety of matter and Subjects to whom it relates and seems to point at Events which concern not only the fall of Antichrist under the restriction we have hitherto been speaking of him but of all others though not so precisely under that Denomination who with him rise up against the Lord and his Anointed Psal 2. 2. And 't is but necessary we should have this notion of it the business of this Vial being to usher in the Kingdom of Christ on Earth i. e. To open a way for the Return of the Jews and the fulness of the Gentiles which is what that Kingdom will consist in And if so it cannot be imagined how there should be any left to oppose the Purity of the Christian Religion which will be the great Glory of our Lords Reign any of his Enemies remain who shall not be destroyed That indeed his Enemies shall be willing to make a push for it to make their last attempt against his Power is scarce to be doubted for if as it is in the former Vial they repent not after all his Plagues of their Deeds what can be expected but that their Impenitency will hide the things that belong to their Peace from their Eyes and they will use all endeavours to assert their unrighteous Cause What can be expected but that they will band and league together to oppose their common Enemy or if they band not if they enter not into common Leagues and Alliances to this purpose if they continue still at a distance and Enemies to one another yet that they will all conspire in the same Malice against Christ i. e. That the Dragon the Beast and false Prophet will all unite in the common cause of Hell and gather themselves together to the Battle of that great day of God Almighty Such is the precipitate Malice such the blind Envy such the unaccountable Despair of the Devil and his wicked Instruments that though they are certain nothing but ruin can be the Consequence they cannot deny themselves the satisfaction of the attempt Lucifer under whom they have listed will ascend and be like the most high will in his boundless Pride and Ambition be aspiring to set himself above God although he thereby be but preparing his own Hell and fitting himself for everlusting Chains of Darkness But then Chains and Darkness will be their Lot Ruin and Destruction will attend all their Enterprises and that in the Extent Manner and Circumstances of it is what is here more particularly to be considered Now that I shall do in the Method the Vial is delivered 1. I shall consider what is to be understood by the great River Euphrates and the water thereof and how that is to be dried up 2. What by the way of the Kings of the East to be prepared and how the drying up of the Water of the great River Euphrates will prepare their way 3. What is to be meant by the three unclean Spirits like Frogs coming out of the Mouth of the Dragon and out of the Mouth of the Beast and out of the Mouth of the false Prophet 4. Why Christ is said to come as a Thief at this time and to declare those Blessed that shall then Watch 5. The turn he shall give to Affairs in gathering them into a place called in the Hebrew Tongue Amageddon 1. What is to be understood by the great River Euphrates and the Water thereof and how that is to be dried up Euphrates may be taken either literally or in a figurative sense either for the River it self and its Waters in the common Notion we have of these or for those who are Borderers on it and it is the stile the Holy Ghost makes use of Rev. 17. 15. to express Peoples Multitudes Nations and Tongues by Waters If in the first sense we take this viz. For the River it self and its Waters in the common notion we have of these then the drying up the Water thereof under this Vial will be either like what happened in the drying up the Red-Sea for the Children of Israel to pass through it towards Canaan or what hath already happened to Euphrates it self at the taking of Babylon by Cyrus who made wide and deep Trenches whereby to divert it Streams and so came upon that City unawares in the night of their solemn Feast the same Stratagem by which Semiramis and Alexander are likewise reported to have taken it as Frontinus relates l. 3. c. 7. i. e. This will be Either By Miracle God immediately interposing as he then did for the deliverance of his People the same People of Israel as we shall afterwards shew for whom he wrought the former Miracle and in order to his bringing them into the same Canaan or Land of Promise Or By some artificial Stratagem whereby they shall be enabled to open to themselves a passage thorow it But if in the latter Sense Euphrates and its Waters are to be taken viz. for those who are Borderers on or Inhabitants near or about it Then The drying up the Water thereof will be causing the People who thus inhabit or border on or about it like
refuse to restore both their Ecclesiastical and Civil Rights He might by Execrations or Censures and Arms be compelled to his Duty Being assisted by this Opportunity some Bishops and Princes of Germany who had been long aggrieved by this wild Beast into the place of Henry who by his great wickedness and forseited the Kingdom chose Duke Rodulphus who with that modesty and integrity which becomes a King forthwith sent Messengers to me by whom I might understand that He was forced to undertake the Government of the Kingdom but however that He was not so desirous of Reigning but that he had rather obey us than those who had promised the Kingdom that He would be always in the Power of God and us and that we might believe that He will do this hath promised to give his Sons Hostages At this Henry began to be incens'd and to beseech us at first that by * * Banning Cursings we would hinder Rudolphus from seizing the Kingdom I said I would see to whom the Right belonged and for that Reason would send Messengers who should take Cognizance of the whole Affair and would judge thereupon whether of them had the better Cause Henry forbad that our Messengers should declare him King and slew many of the Clergy and Laity Robbed and Profaned several Churches and by this means bound himself the faster with the Bonds of an Anathema or Excommunication denounced against him Wherefore trusting in the Judgment and Mercy of God and the Patronage of the Blessed Virgin and supported also with your Authority Henry himself and his Abettors do I bind with the Bonds of an Anathema and the second time deprive him of Royal Authority and forbid all Christians absolved of that Oath whereby Fealty is used to be Sworn to Kings in any thing to obey Henry and that they accept Rudolphus for King whom many of the Princes of the Province or Empire rejecting Henry have chosen to be their good King For 't is fit that as Henry for his Pride and contumacy is deprived of all his Privileges so Rudolphus who is acceptable to all should for his Piety and Religion be endowed with Royal Dignity and Power Go to now therefore ye most most Holy Princes of the Apostles and what I have said interpose your Authority to confirm that all men at length may understand whether you can bind and loose in Heaven and also on Earth are not able to take away or give Empires Kingdoms Principalities or whatever else mortal Men can enjoy For it ye can judge those things which belong to God what are we to think of inferiour and profane things It it belongs to you to judge the Angels who rule over proud Princes what doth it become you to do to their Servants Let Kings and all the Princes of the World now learn by the Example of this Henry what your Power is in Heaven and how great you are with God and let them hereafter dread to contemn the Commands of Holy Church And this Sentence forthwith execute ye on Henry that all may know that 't is not by mere chance but through your Assistance that the Son of Iniquity hath fallen from the Kingdom Only this I would request from you that being led to Repentance He may through your intercession obtain Grace in the Day of Judgment And now And now Whether this be not to have a Mouth speaking great things and Blasphemies Whether this be not to speak as a Dragon let the World judge Nay I was going to say the World hath already judged it For so Aventinus tells us l. 5. p. 352. Annal. Boior that upon this and the great outrages thereon committed by Rudolphus and his Adherents most Men openly as well as privately began to cry out against so great a Villany in publick to curse Gregory and wish all Mischief to this Hildebrand publishing that 't was out of Malice and an intemperate lusting after Rule that he was thus hurried on Headlong and declaring him to be Antichrist Nay farther yet He hath herein judged Himself For was it not hereupon that He undertook to foretel that before the Feast of St. Peter and he did all He could to verifie what he had foretold by tampering with Assassines to murder him Henry should die or lose his Kingdom this He did publickly in a Sermon to the people ascending the Pulpit of St. Peter's and in his Pontifical Habit adding that He would no longer be accounted Pope if this Prophecy should fail as Benno is cited to attest it Histor Magd. Cent. 11. cap. 8. p. 435. Shew any thing like this in any other History whether Civil or Ecclesiastical besides that of Rome and we will give up the Cause and allow any to be Antichrist besides Him whom this concerns we will strike Hildebrand out of the List and He shall not be so much as thought of neither He nor any of his Proud Successors in the day when Babylon is to come into remembrance Rev. 16. 19. It may seem a long Digression what we have here run but it being of so high import towards the clearing up so great a part of the Book of the Revelation as what relates to Antichrist in his Rise Progress and full Growth is I could not well pass by what is here said of Hildebrand especially considering How at the same time that we erre no longer in the Person 't is decreed by the third Roman Council under Him Ut Papae nomen Unicum esset in Universo orbe Christiano nec liceret alicui seipsum vel alium eo nomine appellare that there should be but one who should have the Name of POPE in the whole Christian World and that it should not be lawful for any other to call himself or any one else by that Name so then here 's the mark of the Beast the Name and Number of his Name all concurring in One Anno 1076. For then it was viz. in the same Council in which Hildebrand and depos'd the Emperor that this Name was thus appropriated to the Bishop of Rome As Longus à Coriolano relates p. 317. And 't is very observable what we meet with to this purpose in Aventinus Annal. Boior l. 7. p. 420 421. where the Covetousness Luxury Strife Hatred Envy Ambition c. of the Romish Chair is most highly inveighed against in opposition to the Humility Meekness Patience Charity which the great Shepherd of our Souls gave as the Rules of his Religion and was Himself the great Pattern of them And in particular this Hildebrand of whom we have been speaking is pitcht upon as most guilty of the contrary Vices and that under the express stile of Antichrist the Person who there charges Him is the Chief Priest of Juvavia his words are Hildebrandus ante annos centum atque septuaginta primus specie Religionis Antichristi imperii fundamenta jecit Hoc bellum nefandum speaking of what opposition the Emperors had constantly found from the Popes after
THE Fall of Babylon OR Seasonable REFLECTIONS ON THE Novelties of Rome WITH The Rise Growth and Final Overthrow of ANTICHRIST now at Hand Occasioned by the Preface to a Treatise called NVBES TESTIVM OR A Collection of Primitive Fathers giving Testimony to the Faith once delivered to the Saints Being as the Author stileth it A full Discovery of the Sentiments of the Ancient Fathers in the chief Points of Controversy at present under debate Written upon the first coming forth of the said Treatise but not permitted to be then made Public For the Benefit of all Who abominate the Corruptions of the Great WHORE AND Would not be partakers of her SINS or PLAGVES By B. W. D. D. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 London Printed for George Powel and to be sold by Randal Taylor near Stationers-Hall MDCXC TO THE KING OF ENGLAND And all Crowned Heads and Soveraign Princes whatever IT is the Advice of the Royal Prophet to you his Royal Brethren Psal 2. 10 11 12. Be Wise now therefore O ye Kings be instructed ye Judges of the Earth Serve the Lord with Fear and rejoice with Trembling Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his Wrath is kindled but a little Blessed are all they that put their trust in him And the reason of it was beeause he that sitteth in the Heavens who is so much Superiour to the highest of them all had set his King upon his holy Hill of Zion ver 6. and as the result of his Eternal Decree had bid him ask of him and he would give him the Heathen for his Inheritance and the uttermost parts of the Earth for his Possession ver 7 8 and as the Effect of that his Royalty he should break them with a Rod of Iron and dash them in pieces like a Potters Vessel Now the time seems to draw on when this is to befully accomplish'd and is it not the duty of the Watchman to give the warning before it is too late For what will it advantage to be told of Danger when it will not be in your Power to prevent it To be minded of the Approach of Christ's Kingdom when his Iron Rod shall be shaking over you and your Power your Interests your Alliances your Glory your Wealth and Kingdoms all dashing in pieces against one another For if you chance to be of those who give your Power to the Beast this will unavoidably be your Fate both yours and Babylon's in one Hour to come to Confusion Rev. 18. 10. For the preventing whereof this following Treatise is here with all humility presented and may it among those many Voices and Trumpets which have of late sounded to the World have that good effect to awaken your most Serene Majesties to what alone is your true interest of State and that is to hate the Whore and make her desolate and naked Rev. 17. 16. for otherwise there can be nothing better expected than to partake of her Plagues Rev. 18. 4. Would you Soveraign Princes as it befel Nebuchadnezzar your Golden Head as he is called Dan. 2. 38. be contented it should be be said to you the Kingdom is departed from you and they shall drive you from amongst Men Dan. 4. 31 32. Would you be contented to see the Hand put forth before you and MENE MENE TEKEL written on the Walls of all your Palaces as it was to Belshazzar when he lifted up himself against the Lord of Heaven Dan. 5. 23 c. If not then vouchsafe to take the Warning and submit in time to that Kingdom which it is said the God of Heaven should set up in their Days and in the days of those other Monarchies which were to succeed in the World Dan. 2. 44. For it was not for nothing that so much Scorn and Contempt was thrown upon those mighty Monarchs Monarchs who were so indeed for they wanted no Allies or Confederates to support them for they were Kings of Kings Dan. 2. 37. and all People Nations and Languages trembled and feared before them whom they would they slew and whom they would they kept alive and whom they would they set up and whom they would they put down Dan. 5. 19. Believe it great Sirs it was not for nothing that such memorable Examples were set forth it was for your Admonition upon whom the Ends of the World are come as it is 1 Cor. 10 11. 'T was that after Ages might grow Wife as knowing there is no resisting that Soveraign who is higher than the highest no withstanding that Power which can so easily break in pieces and consume all other Kingdoms but it self shall stand for Ever Dan. 2. 44. It hath in Effect done all this already the Babylonian the Persian the Greek Monarchies have already been utterly destroyed by it and the Roman so far as to stand upon its last Legs or rather to express it in the words of the Vision Dan. 2. 33. to have both its Legs and Feet so broken as to stand only on some of its Toes Some of those ten Kings I mean which after the taking of Rome became the parts and support of that Empire And as Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar Thou art this Head of Gold Dan. 2. 38. So to you O Kings may it be said you are those Toes it is on you subsists what is still behind of the last Monarchy as it hath been divided into several Kingdoms and of how great concern must it be to you to be rightly informed how you may perpetuate your Royalty and so establish your Thrones that you may not be of those whom the Stone cut out without Hands shall smite and break in pieces Dan. 2. 34 Think let Men what they will of the outward Weakness of Christs Kingdom of the little Assistance it hath or is like to meet with in the World let there be no Hand seen to cut out this Stone no humane Strength or Policy that is ready to contribute toward the forming of it yet it will grow into a great Mountain and fill the whole Earth ver 34 35. The Gold the Silver the Brass the Iron and Cley must all give place to it it is a goodly Image indeed which these make in Nebuchadnezzar's Vision but it is but an Image and must vanish before this Stone as the Dream that first prefented it Be Wife now therefore let me again repeat it O ye Kings be instructed ye Judges of the Earth let nothing draw you from what is your true Interest let none of the Allurements none of the Sorceries of the great Whore of her who hath glorified her self and lived deliciously who hath said in her Heart I sit a Queen and am no Widdow and shall see no Sorrow but whose Plagues notwithstanding shall come in one Day let no tenderness for her with whom any of you have lived deliciously make you pity bewail and lament her lest your Judgment too come in
the most Faithful who the most Dutiful the Event it seems not to be far off may e're long declare Besides because the insinuating the want of Loyalty and just Reverence to Majesty is the likeliest Engine to undermine the best of designs it was this Crucified our Lord himself and gave the great hindrance to that Work he came into the World for John 19. 12 13. 'T was this was the accusation they charged his Disciples with Acts 17. 7. Acts 25. 7 8. This too that every day robs Princes of the Services of the best of their Subjects had I not long trod in Court and seen the worthiest of Men run down by such Artifices I should not have so touched this Topick But because this so often happens the base and unworthy have no other Arts to uphold themselves by let me beg Pardon Mighty Princes for it is your Interest is herein pursued if I farther represent to you in the Reigns of those who formerly sate on the Thrones you do who they were who were still the best Friends to Majesty Whether those fine Gentlemen who are always making their Court the constant Attendants at the Levees and Couchees of their great Masters still pressing on to be in the Eye of the Prince and like the Sun-flower look gay and hold up their Heads bravely whilst all shines on them but as soon as the Shadows begin to appear humbly made their Leg begged their Conge and with as good a Grace wheeled about to the Presence of the rising Sun and it may be were as busy and officious there as if every one of them had been that Phosphorus which opened the Day for their Rise Were these now the better Subjects or those who when they saw the Storm approaching in all Humility forewarned them of the Danger but had nothing but the Bread of Affliction and the Water of Affliction for it like solitary Micaiah many times were ordered to Prison till they returned in Peace though to return in Peace had they hearkned to the despised Messengers it might have been so was never their Lot It was otherwise decreed as in Ahab's Case and Micaiah with all the Ignominy they cast on him was in the mean time the Favourite of a much better Court the Secretary of their greater Prince of God himself to declare it And now judge you Dread Soveraign whom you ought to preser in your Thoughts Whether those false Sycophants Men made to undo Princes and Courts and then to desert them or those who must always be steddy as that Truth with which they are intrusted Who cannot but do what in them lies to prevent those changes which the others are no farther concerned in than to make good their Post in them who ever falls Who really mourn for the Sins that bring them on and whatever be the Fate of the Prince make it so far their own as to lament both his and the Misfortunes of the Publick which cannot but suffer with him Who is the best Subject he who with his Prayers with his Tears with those warnings he thinks he is in Conscience-bound to Administer to you follows you in every Change Or he who cares not what becomes of your Persons your Crowns your Kingdoms your Souls provided he can but secure that Mammon of Vrighteousness to which alone he is a true Homager For if it be not so how hath it come to pass that your Predecessors have been Betrayed and Murthered some of them by their greatest Favourites Others however adored whilst living so deserted at their Deaths as scarce to have found a charitable Hand to lay them in the Grave and those who have gone off the Stage with the greatest applause soon forgotten amidst the gratulations and glories of the next Reign So unhappy of all Men are you in this Great Princes and how almost should it be otherwise Such being the Arts by which Men rise such the designs of the Ambitious a name that is big with all that is ill so much falshood so much Envy so much Pride so much Intemperance so much not to dissemble Vice of every sort that like the mixt Multitude coming out of Egypt with the Israelites is always to be found in your Retinue Not that this is what is therefore presently to be reflected on your Majesties but on the Corruption of humane Nature and those great Bodies you govern which like great Vessels cannot be without great Dregs But this is still your Vnhappiness that you can make Men no better that when you have imployed your best Care and Circumspection Mankind will be still Mankind and the wickedness of a false Heart will not always be concealed Not that I would be so dis-ingenuous as not to acknowledge what is due to those brave and worthy Men that have in all Ages been bred up in or Retainers at Court I know there were and are the Saints in Caesar's House Philip. 4. 22. And it is great Pity where Vertue and Honour are so much Professed there should be any others it is great Pity for it is to you Christian Princes this is chiefly addressed where Religion and the Gospel are owned what is so contrary to both should be so much entertained but most of all unhappy that Religion that the Gospel at least the high Pretensions to both should produce these Effects For is not this the case that it is the Holy Man the Confessor the Zealous Bigot he that talks of nothing so much as of the Church and the Veneration due to its Laws and Authority who is the worst of Sycophants Are not these the Men who get into your Secrets and are factoring for another Court whilst they tread in yours Are not these the Men who Cabal and Consult and never rest satisfied till Prince and People do them their Homage But it is to be hoped this will not always be 't is to be hoped let me use the allusion of that name by the succession into whose Authority they pretend to all this Luke 5 6 7. the greatness of Peter ' s Draught may at last break the Net and their Ships and themselves sink with it But then for I must not forget what gave the occasion to these Remarks who shall have the Honour who the Hardiness to speak such Truths Or must they not be received at Court because they flatter not because they shew you what is your present danger What your greater Vnhappiness still behind if you shall after all think it a matter of State and Majesty to be above the Address of the Sincere For my part if I Perish I Perish but it shall not be in being one of those the worst Disloyalty towards you and your Crowns who shall flatter you into that Ruine which cannot but attend the most mighty of you all if you should be so miserable as to be found with the Beast and false-Prophet when to be cast into the Lake of Fire burning with Brimstone Rev. 19. 19 20. For what
Rome Boasts can stand in stead in the day of Wrath No Think of nothing but the Blood of Christ and that Sacrifice offer'd by him our only Advocate and Mediator but whose True Members Rome hath so long Persecuted And let me in all Humility beseech you once more to think and that is on those who have been using all their Sorceries to deceive you in these weighty matters and to rob you and your Subjects of the benefit of that Blood Think too Great Princes how they have entrenched on your Royal Dignity in every advance they made towards their Greatness It was by taking him out of the way that hindred that Antichrist the Man of Sin and Son of Perdition i. e. By the removing the Roman Emperor that he was first capable of Exalting himself Consider how by their siding one while with the Eastern another while with the Western Emperor after the Empire ceased at Rome they made these to clash against one another themselves still gaining by the Rupture Consider how it was in the Prosecution of this their wicked purpose they called in first the Emperor of Constantinople and then Pepin against Aistulphus King of Lombardy And what became of his Territories and the Exarchat of Ravenna in the Issue which instead of being restored to the Emperor as was demanded by his Ambassadors were decreed by Pepin to the Pope Consider they are Contemplations worthy your Royal Thoughts what was their Design in beginning a new Empire in the VVest and clapping the Crown by surprize on the Head of Charles the Great as it is reported to have been done whilst he was upon his Knees at his Devotion What indeed but to lessen the Eastern Empire and from the Authority Leo the then Pope assumed to himself to Found for the future a Right in Creating and Confirming all Princes See the Tenure Great Monarchs they prescribe for all your Royalties to be held by And if whilst it was to serve them they call you the Vicars of Christ for there was a time when themselves told you this was your Stile yet how soon did they forget the Allegiance due to it and under that very Stile since usurpt the Power over you and your Kingdoms Will it not be too great an humbling to you Mighty Princes to shew you no fewer than seven Emperors i. e. Henry the Fourth Henry the Fifth Conrad Frederic Barbarossa Philip Otho Frederic all almost successively Excommunicated some of them deposed and others brought to that degree of Submission as to hold the Pope's Stirrup one having his Crown kicked off of his Head by him all spurned and trampled on as if they had been the vilest Vassals And is it any wonder that Kings and other Princes have the honour to follow their Emperors herein Baronius in his Annals Anno 1162 brings in the Kings of France and England at once performing the Office of Yeomen of his Stirrup and leading his Horse one by one Rein the other by the other till from the place where they met Him they had conducted Him to the place of his Reception And lest full Homage should not be paid to Him he gives an account at the same time of a Prince of the Saracens bowing the knee before him kissing his feet and this in the Name of his Master the King of the Mahometans 't was to Alexander the third whom Baronius so much magnifies for his meekness moderation and goodness Ann. 1177. that these Ceremonies were perform'd in which he likewise joins all Orthodox Kings and Princes as crowding in for a part in so glorious a service And the Truth is your own Records great Prince will give you but too many Instances of that Injustice that Insolence those Indignities of all sorts with which the Romish See hath so often treated the most Royal Persons Sicily Lombardy Sardinia Portugal Spain France and indeed almost what Christian State is there for the Eastern Empire hath not been free from their Pretensions that yields not Precedents of this Nature Scarce any War any Contest any Rebellion of Subjects against their Princes any difference between Princes in which they have not been Parties if not the Promoters Scarce any Boat in which this Fisherman this Peter let me use the Stile he pretends to hath not had his Oar scarce any troubled Waters in which he hath not Fished But I must not pass by what by us of these Kingdoms must not be forgotten viz. The treatment of Innocentius the Third towards King John by his Legate Pandulphus when having interdicted the Kingdom for six Years together an admirable way to propagate Faith by shutting up the Church Doors denying the use of the Sacraments refusing Christian Burial to all c. And in a word treating the whole Nation as well as the King who had offended him as if they were Heathens or Dogs excepting such only whom the purchase of their Money i. e. the Mammon of Vnrighteousness had made good Christians He forced him to take off the Crown from his Head and lay it down at his Feet to be disposed of as the Pope should please and taking it up kept it three or four Days not restoring it but upon condition that he and his Successors should hold the Kingdom of the See of Rome at the annual Tribute of a thousand Marks viz. Seven Hundred yearly for England and three Hundred for Ireland whereupon they both became subjected to the Pope To what degree that Exaction grew ought to all concerned in either Kingdom to be the lasting Subject of their Indignation To this I might add that great Diminution it is to you in the exercise of your Royalty in what of your Kingdoms you do enjoy to rule by the Laws of those who have so unworthily usurped upon you the Canon-Law I mean and other their Constitutions brought in upon some of you to the subversion of all the ancient Rights of your Countries I was going to say to the dis-inherison of you and your People And how are those of you in effect deposed whilst you still seemingly sit on your Thrones where the Inquisition a name at which Humanity startles is made the standing Law of your Kingdoms or where the Decrees of Draco are recalled and whatever can drain your Subjects of their Wealth or Blood made the false Eulogies of flourishing Kingdoms Says St. Paul Let no Man deceive you by any means speaking with reference to Antichrist that Man of Sin and Son of Perdition 2 Thes 2 3. And let me in all humility make the same Address It is too long already that this great Impostor hath been so audaciously enterprizing upon you wait no longer Royal Sirs for the decision of the point it is manifest and you have but too many Demonstrations of it who is this Man of Sin and Son of Perdition viz. He who thus hath opposed and exalted himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of
upon the Altar and builded Idol-Altars throughout the Cities of Judah on every side vers 55. And burnt Incense at the doors of their Houses and in the Streets vers 56. And when they had rent in pieces the Books of the Law which they found they burnt them with Fire vers 57. And whosoever was found with any of the Books of the Testament or if any consented to the Law the Kings Commandment was that they should put him to Death ver 58. Thus did they by their Authority to the Israelites every Month to as many as were found in the Cities Which happened to be before Christ 167 Years Now take 167 out of 1290 and you leave 1123. But as the learned Mede observes we are not to take it from the first but any of the Years of the Profanation of the Temple which lasting 6 Years if we take it from the middle will fall on 1120 the very Year when the forementioned Treatise was set out by the Waldenses or Albigenfes declaring Antichrist to be come Or If we understand it of the Time his Reign was to continue then 't will not point out so much to the time of the setting up the abomination that maketh desolate by Antiochus Epiphanes as to that time whereof the other was the Type i. e. As we observed before to the time when Antichrist for of him Antiochus is generally agreed to the be Type began to exalt himself which we shewed to belong to the times of Leo Magnus and to fall in with the time the ten Horns or ten Kings were to take their Kingdoms and that was in or about 455. From whence reckoning 1290 we are brought to the 1745 th year after Christ But this exceeding 1260 the Years the Angel had before mentioned by 30 If we take out the said 30 will leave 1715 Concerning which it may be worth our while to enquire whether in likelihood that be not the time for the expiration of the Reign of Antichrist A Period which we are led to from the other measures of Prophetick time which we shall have occasion to take notice of in this following Discourse As whether with respect to the Jews for whom Daniel there puts the Question a thing never yet taken notice of by any whom I have yet met with the Year 1745 be not a likely Epocha for their return to the true Worship of God in its full Purity As the other is for the downfal of Antichrist and the beginning of those happy Times to them and the fulness of the Gentiles which shall be in very great Glory at this Period As also Whether from thence reckoning the Millennium to ensue we have not the full Period of the Worlds duration Or If we take it in the Answer the Angel had before given to Daniel chap. 8. 14. Of 2300 Days reckoning them from the time when Daniel saw the Vision which was as Calvisius gives it us in his Chronology Anno Mundi 3393 or before Christ 555 we fall again upon the same number of 1745 for the time of the Vision concerning the Daily Sacrifice and the transgression of Desolation to give both the Sanctuary and the Host to be trodden under foot vers 14. And then shall the Sanctuary be cleansed Which being as I have observed the answer given to Daniel Sollicitous of the Welfare of his People may very well point out the time for their being called again and to be received into the Enjoyment of those Glorious things which were promised them in the times of the Messias And the Calculation of it is thus 555 before Christ added to 1745 after Christ gives 2300 the Time assigned for the fulfilling of those things by the Angel And whatever we are to understand by that Phrase whether it relate to the Millenium so much spoken of or the Resurrection foretold vers 1 2 3. Or whatever else I leave it to the more Learned at present to determine but whatever we are to understand by that Phrase 't is then 't is promised to Daniel That he shall stand in his Lot vers ult But go thou thy way till the End be for thou shalt rest and stand in thy Lot at the end of thy Days But then this number exceeding the other in the same place of Daniel viz. Dan. 12. 11 12. by 45. If we take out the said 45 will leave us to consider what may happen with relation to that People in the Year 1700 And the issue of the Wars that are at present between the Imperialists and the Turks with those other Commotions which may be very shortly expected in the Eastern part of the World will in all likelihood explain this I would not be too positive in things of this Nature but who can be silent where God speaks What I have farther to remark hereon may be seen afterward in that scene of Affairs which is offered at in the Explicatiou of the sixth Vial to which I refer the Reader 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The next thing to be spoken to is How this great Eclipse in the Church was to clear up again CHAP. VII How this great Eclipse in the Church was to clear up again AND now we are again to follow Daniel in his Prophesy who tells us Chap. 7. 27. That the Kingdom Dominion and greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven shall be given to the People of the Saints of the most high whose Kingdom is an Everlasting Kingdom and all Dominions shall serve and obey him Which the Angel thus expresses Revel 11. 15. The Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall Reign for ever and ever Whereupon the twenty four Elders which sate before God on their Seats fell upon their Faces and worshipped God saying 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 vers 16 17. Agreeable to what is ascribed to him Revel 19. 12. Allelujah Salvation and Glory and Honour and Power unto the Lord our God for True and Righteous are his Judgments for he hath judged the great Whore which did corrupt the Earth with her Fornication and hath avenged the Blood of his Servants at her hand And again vers 6. Allelujah for the Lord Omnipotent Reigneth So that as to the clearing up this Eclipse the delivering the Church from that Cloud which so long was over it 't will be by the ruin of Antichrist and Christs taking to Himself the Kingdom his Enemy had so long usurped What manner of Kingdom that shall be Whether Temporal or Spiritual or both VVhether so as that himself shall Personally Reign or only by his Sub-Administrators is not my business here to determine though I think too the distinction of Reigning Personally or by his Sub-adminishrators how great Disputes and Controversies soever it hath bred in the World is very trifling for 't is his personal
Reign what he now hath it is as He is Jesus who was Crucified that He is made both Lord and Christ Acts 2. 36. And 't is the same thing for Him nay it may be more effectual to sit as King in his Throne in Heaven and from thence influence his Subjects by encouraging strengthning comforting and giving Success to what they undertake as if in Person He were to appear at Jerusalem and there begin his Kingdom to march at the Head of his Armies and so go on Conquering and to Conquer No his personal Reign in the Sense those who are so much for it would have it to be would be rather to lessen his Kingdom to confine the Glory of it to his Presence as Man i. e. Where he should chuse to reside on Earth for every where He could not be if He were so to Reign no we know when He was here Place and Time He was subject to which whilst He sits in Heaven at the Right-hand of his Father can be no more restrained than that Power and Majesty to which he is there admitted But I may not digress What manner of Kingdom soever it shall be that it shall be introduced with the Confusion of Antichrist that it shall bring Freedom and Deliverance to his People that it shall be ushered in with binding Satan for 1000 Years is no doubt Revel 20. 1 2 c. Happy Age of the Church when she shall be so set free from the heavy Yoak of Babylon as never to be in danger to come under it again For so likewise the Apostle assures us 2 Thess 2. 8. He shall consume him by the Spirit of his Mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming But then are there no other degrees of the fall of Babylon Is there nothing more particular whereon in the long tract of time Antichrist is to Reign and before he comes so near his Fall the true Believer may exercise his Faith and see that what is promised to be at last thus fully accomplished hath its Beginning in the mean time at least some certain Prognosticks of His final Ruin in its due Season Yes for that Reason it hath pleased Him who was found worthy to open the Book with seven Seals to give us a double Account hereof one more general the other more particular in the 14th and 16th Chapters of the Revelation And for the better satisfaction of the Author of Nubes Testium and all others who are under the same Cloud with him I shall not think it tedious to say something on both and then leave it to Them and all Mankind to judge where the charge of Novelty lies and how great their danger is on whom the Scandal rests The more general Account of this is what we read Revel 14. Where having provided for the security of true Believers by the Mark of his Father's Name written in their Foreheads vers 1. Thereby directing us to the pure Profession of the Faith maintained by them amidst the Corruptions embraced by those who worshipped the Beast and his Image and had received his Mark in their Forehead or their Hand vers 9. Exprest by their not being defiled with Women for they are Virgins by their following the Lamb whithersoever he goeth by their having no guile in their Mouth and being without Fault before the Throne of God vers 4 5. He proceeds vers 6. to shew what it was by which he would advance his Kingdom and that was the Everlasting Gospel to be Preached unto them that dwell on the Earth and to every Nation and Kindred and Tongue and People the effect whereof on Antichrist should be to declare his certain Ruin in these Words Babylon is fallen is fallen that great City because She made all Nations drink of the Wine of the Wrath or poison of her Fornication vers 8. This as the general Fate that should attend her which with respect to the several Advances towards it is farther described vers 9 10 11. By that constant Succession of God's Judgments on those who should worship the Beast and his Image and receive his Mark in their Forehead or their Hand for the smoak of their Torment was to ascend for Ever and Ever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one Age after another and they to have no rest Day nor Night never to be in any fixed state of Ease and Prosperity till the Divine Judgment the Hour whereof is said to be come ver 7. Shall be fully executed on them in their final Ruin And that again exprest in the two great Parts of it when He who sat on the white Cloud all things clear and serene about Him like unto the Son of Man having on his Head a golden Crown and in his Hand a sharp sickle shall first thrust in his Sickle to reap the Harvest and then to gather the Clusters of the Vine of the Earth The more particular is what we read Revel 16. And that too ushered in with the great Care God in his Providence hath for those who should have resisted the Corruptions of Antichrist who though they stand on the Sea of Glass mingled with Fire to signifie the sharp Tryals and Persecutions of the true Church yet 't was so as to be assured of Victory over the Beast and over his Image and over his Mark and over the number of his Name ch 15. 2. They had it all the time of their Sufferings as they were born up against these Corruptions should have it at last as they were to triumph over those their Enemies which had thus beset them which being presented to St. John in his Vision he is farther made to hear a great Voice out of the Temple saying to the seven Angels Go your ways and pour out the Vials of the Wrath of God upon the Earth chap. 16. 1. Which are what are now to be spoken to in their order Only before that can be done with that clearness such a Discourse as this should carry with it 't will be necessary we premise some previous Remarks CHAP. VIII Some Remarks necessary to be premised for the clearing up what will afterwards be said of the several Vials 1. THat as to the time of pouring out the Vials it cannot be till Antichrist should be so far advanced as to have made an Image to the Beast that had the wound by the Sword and did live Revel 13 14. And to have imposed his Mark though his name and number of his name were not then compleated for 't is on those who had received the Mark of his Name and worshipped his Image that the first Vial was to be poured out Rev. 16. 2. 2. That it is not necessary the Trumpets and Vials it being their several Objects and the distinct Capacities of those on whom they were to take place in which they chiefly differ should be all of them restrained to distinct times Some of the Trumpets undoubtedly had sounded before any of the Vials were to be poured
chosen Emperor in the place of Lewis whom he had deposed they deny him to be lawfully chosen as being neither chosen nor Crowned in the Places proper for either as also because it was all a clancular proceeding and when there was no Vacancy of the Empire whereupon they chuse King Edward the third of England but he having Affairs of his own to mind returns his Thanks for the great honour done him and waves it The Pope however sends his Legate after the Death of Lewis to absolve the Princes of the Empire who adhered to Lewis on condition they would swear that the Emperor had no Power to depose the Pope and that from thenceforward they would not obey their Emperor unless he be approved as Emperor by the Pope The Ecclesiasticks most readily approve this and the Laicks as fiercely oppose it whereupon the Pope is forced to abate something let me so express it of this great Heat with which they had so long scorched Men and remit this Oath and absolve them from the Excommunication And this may be sufficient to explain this Vial Only here as before it will be asked what is this to the Fall of Antichrist These and such like Instances for many more might be given and particularly in our own Story witness 1. the Controversy between William the second and Urban the second Anno 1097. in the Case of Anselm's appealing to the Pope who was thereupon about to Excommunicate the King but having a little before excommunicated the Emperor Henry the fourth he forbore it lest otherwise Excommunications by being made common might be slighted as also 2. between him and Henry the first in the case of Investitutes in which Anselm likewise opposed the King in behalf of the Pope's Pretensions to them 3. Between him i. e. his Legate and King Stephen and again 4. in the case of the Legatine Powee between him and Henry the Second 5. Between him and King John whom the Excommunicated and Interdicted the Kingdom and upon his submission to him at the instance of Pandulphus at whose Feet he laid down his Crown to be disposed of as the Pope should please which Pandulphus took up and kept it three or four days nor restoring it then but upon condition that he and his Successors should hold the Kingdom of the See of Rome at the annual Tribute of 1000 Marks which was the great occasion of that Slavery in which Rome so long held this our Nation all tending to aggrandize him in his most insolent Tyranny but if so yet 't is too for the Encrease of that Guilt which will at last be so thorowly avenged as will appear by that time we shall have rellected on the following Vials The first whereof i. e. the fifth is directly on Antichrist i. e. The very Seat of the Beast The second or sixth is likewise on Antichrist though so as to affect the whole Seat of the Roman and Mahometan Empires i. e. The Eastern and Western Empires thus joined again for they shall be both then hastening towards the day of Vengeance And as for the third or seventh it is to end in the final Ruin of both and all the Antichristian Powers under them or rather in the Kingdom of Christ set up against Antichrist in its utmost extent in that lasting Triumph he shall then give his Church over him and all other her Enemies But then as in this Vial we have been now speaking of so in that which next follows this will be again to be observed that it is not necessary it should immediately succeed the other or not to be to begin till the other is fully expired no it is necessary in the nature of the thing that several of the Vials should be contemporary with one another forasmuch as they are Punishments for Sin and did not the Sin continue to which Men are often judicially given up the Punishment inflicted for it would not be so agreeable to the manner of Gods proceeding in the ways of his Judgment the Rule being Isaiah 27. 9. By this therefore shall the Iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his Sin Now then these being spoken of as distinct Vials i. e. The Punishment and Sins which bring them on if instead of having their Iniquity purged Men shall run into more gross and hainous Iniquity if instead of that Fruit they ought to bring forth upon the Chastisement which is to take away their sin they shall fructifie only in Malice and Wickedness if which is the case in these Vials they who are punished for having the Mark of the Beast on them and worshipping his Image shall continue still to wear that Mark and worship his Image which I take to belong to the second third and fourth Vials for on such it is not so properly on the Beast himself they are poured out what can be expected but that the Plague should go along with the Sin that calls for it down And that if the Beast himself do not so immediately suffer in those Vials that it should be because to Him more particular Judgments are reserved or both He and they to go on from one wickedness to another till there be no Remedy 2 Chron. 36. 16. CHAP. XV. Of the fifth Vial Rev. 16. 10 11. AND the fifth Angel poured out his Vial upon the seat of the Beast and his Kingdom was full of Darkness and they gnawed their Tongues for Pain And blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their Pains and their sores and repented not of their Deeds What is the seat of the Beast but Rome What the Vial poured out upon his seat but the depriving it of what gives it its Lustre Dignity and Wealth i. e. as it is exprest in the former Vial of its Sun the Pope I mean whose more benign aspect and influence were so highly beneficial to it whilst it was the place of his Residence but being removed thence how is its Greatness and Glory forthwith Eclipsed How all things black and dark and under the thickest Cloud Now when happened this but when Clement the fifth Anno 1305 being chosen Pope in his absence in France called the Cardinals thither and settled his Residence at Avignon 'T was now the City that was full of People sat solitary and became as a Widdow now she that was great among the Nations and Princess among the Provinces became Tributary Lam. 1. 1. She that before received the Riches of so great a part of the World that had so great Honour and Devotion paid to her now sends her Wealth and pays homage herself to another shrine This lasted for seventy four Years together till Gregory the Eleventh brought back his See to Rome but so that after his Death the French Cardinals would have a Pope of their Nation and accordingly chose Clement the 7 th the rest of the Cardinals having chosen Urban the sixth Urban keepeth at Rome but Clement at Avignon The Schism continued
their Territories and striking so great a Consternation into them for it is upon Euphrates in the Sense we give of it in this Vial that the Vial is poured that they every where fly and are scattered should affect to look towards Constantinople or Asia and in the success of such Wars should give that Apprehension to the Eastern and other Princes round about whereupon or for what other cause God in his wise Providence shall think fit they the Princes and Countreis might be named too for they seem to be noted in the Scripture of Truth but I forbear to be too curious in such a matter should forthwith gather together to dispossess them but with that fatal disaster to them all that in this high Project they should clash between themselves and as it is Prophesied Psalm 2. 9. Be dasht in pieces like a Potters Vessel Whereupon the Jews whose right it is and who about that time shall in all likelihood be gathering thitherward should without any the least Opposition seat themselves in their own Land according to the Prophecy given out Zechar. 4. 6. Not by Might nor by Power but by my Spirit saith the Lord of Hosts Suppose too that at or about the same time some Christian Prince leaguing with the Mahometans or otherwise weakning the Papacy by his or his Peoples falling off from Rome should be instrumental in the Downfal of Babylon or those Princes who have already deserted that great Where as she is called Rev. 17. 1. joined with the other of the ten Horns which shall likewise in due time desert her They have no other way to keep their Crowns on their Heads should all conspire to hate her and make her desolate and naked and eat her Flesh and burn her with Fire Rev. 17. 16 Not that I will exclude from hence the Concurrence of the two Witnesses themselves i. e. Those suffering Christians who were to prophecy a Thousand two Hundred and threescore days in Sackcloth as it is said Rev. 11. 3. The same time for 42 Months are made up of so many days that the Court without the Temple was to be given to the Gentiles and the Holy City to be trod under Foot ver 2. of that Chapter For as it is said of them That if any will hurt them fire proceedeth out of their Mouth and devoureth their enemies and if any Man will hurt them he must in this manner be killed v. 5 and ver 6. These have power to shut Heaven that it rain not in the days of their Prophecy And have power over Waters to turn them into Blood and to smite the Earth with all Plagues as often as they will with reference to those Judgments which for their sakes shall be brought upon the Antichristian World so when they shall have finished their Testimony have had War made against them by the Beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless Pit and shall be overcome and killed by him ver 7. But so that their Bodies shall not be suffered to be put in Graves ver 9. No by the Peoples and Kindreds and Tongues and Nations they shall be still kept above Ground for those three days and half as is there exprest they are to lye in the street of the great City The Spirit of Life from God is to enter into them they to stand upon their Feet and great fear to fall upon them which see them ver 11. And they to hear a great Voice from Heaven saying unto them Come up hither and to ascend up to Heaven in a Cloud and their Enemies behold them ver 12. And the same Hour to be a great Earthquake and the tenth part of the City to fall and the names of seven thousand Men to be slain and the Remnant to be affrighted and give Glory to the God of Heaven Which what it can signifie but the reinstating them in the enjoyment of their Rights and Religion for so standing upon their Feet and ascending up to Heaven may import with the great Change that shall thereon ensue in the falling off of one of the ten Kings or Kingdoms into which at the Rise of Antichrist the Roman Empire was divided for that is the tenth part of the great City or Rome as she is said afterwards ch 17 18. to Reign over the Kings of the Earth from all subjection to the Beast And the Names of seven thousand men being to be Slain many point at the overthrow of those who as to any commerce and good they bring to the World are but us the meer Names of men the Priests and Monks I mean with the other parts of their corrupt Hierarchy which in all probability must be then quite extinct slain not so much in their Natural as Politic or Religious Capacity however we shall call it which I suppose to be understood by their being said to be slain in the Earthquake and not with the Sword i. e. abolisht in that great change and Revolution there shall then be And the Remnant being affrighted and giving Glory to the God of Heaven must signifie the Conversion of that 10th part of the City the great City as 't is before v. 8. which in the Book of the Revelation signifies the Antichristian Empire i. e. Rome in the full extent of its Territories as said to Reign over the Kings of the Earth Revel 17. 18. which is said to fall fall from Rome from her Superstitions and Idolatries fall from her as she is Spiritually called Sodom and Egypt where also our Lord was Crucify'd as she in her Corruptions and Tyranny is what the two former were and by her Power for 't was the Roman Governour who sentenced our Lord to the Cross crucified the Lord and hath ever since been crucifying his Members But then how much of this Transaction shall belong to the Witnesses I am not capable to say that they shall have their part in it not only in being themselves restored but in striking Terror into their Enemies in dismaying and disabling them from all opposition I make not the least question The Event must shew how this shall be and things are not so far off that we should be discouraged to wait for the Completion Behold saith our Lord I come as a Thief And how will men wonder that they were so much in the dark as to the Mystery How will they be ashamed that they have no better watcht and kept their Garments That they have walk'd so naked so unprovided for such a day That though the work hath been doing they observ'd it not But if they had it would not have been said Behold I come as a Thief 'T will notwithstanding all the warnings God hath given of it all the preparations there are towards it be sudden be surprizing I repeat it again Behold I come as a Thief I said just now notwithstanding all the warnings God hath given of it i. e. of what is to happen under this Vial viz. the recalling the Jews the
Lightnings and Voices and Thunderings and an Earthquake and great Hail in the other And there were Voices and Thunderings and Lightnings and there was a great Earthquake c. And there fell upon Men a great Hail c. So that it is the same thing they in the main aim at the chief difference there seems to be is that in the one it is said the Temple of God was opened in Heaven which in the other is exprest only by a great Voice coming thence without restraining its opening to the time of the Vial but then is not that supplied by what weread Rev. 15. 8. where 't is said And the Temple was filled with Smoak from the Glory of God and from his Power and no Man was able to enter into the Temple till the seven Plagues of the seven Angels were fulfilled If none were able to enter in till then then certainly it was not open till then i. e. Opened it was in neither in the Sense I give of it as relating to the free publication of the Gospel i. e. The Word of God or his Testament which in the times of Antichrist was lockt up but now to be seen and perused of all And to this Opening of the Temple seems to agree what we have Rev. 11. 1. Where St. Iohn is bid to rise and measure the Temple of God but to leave out the Court which is without the Temple and measure it not for it is given unto the Gentiles who should tread down the holy City for forty two Months Measuring is the setting certain bounds to any thing accordingly what Iohn is bid to do may be understood of definite and certain Bounds set to the Church in its Purity so that it was not to appear as such again till the Interval that was to Intervene should expire viz. the 42 Months there spoken of that being expired the Limits and Boundaries so set are again removed i. e. The Temple is again opened Religion in its purity professed the Ark of the Testament seen in the Temple the Law which was deposited there so it was commanded Exod. 25. 16. 21. published and to be obeyed by all And its being poured into the Air methinks very plainly speaks this to us for what is the Air but the whole Medium or Vehicle of Light and so may denote all who are capable of being enlightned by the Truth to be the subjects of that clearer or more universal Revelation which is now to be made of it Before which I take to be at the first breaking forth as it were of this Light whether at the Reformation or whatever other time that be applied to 't is said Rev. 14. 6. I saw another Angel fly in the midst of Heaven having the everlasting Gospel to preach to them that dwell on the Earth c. To signifie that it was but a part of the great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or transparent Orb was then enlightned it was but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the middle part or half of Heaven but now it is the whole Orb is made lucid the Gospel every where so shining in its Purity that they must be very much in Love with darkness who shall not now receive the Light the Air will be full of it and it s being so with respect to its Enemies who are to be destroyed by the brightness of our Lord 's coming 2 Thes 2. 8. is sufficient to denominate it one of the Vials of Gods Wrath on them 't is but opening the Eye and all will be clear and transparent no Clouds now to interpose no Storms to divert the Beholders And this possibly is what we are farther directed to by the Voices Thunders and Lightnings in allusion to what was done at the first publishing of the Law Exod. 19. 16. to declare that now the Gospel should be the Law of the World published as by the Voice of God he appearing in the defence of his Truth so by that of his Ministers which may be the reason why it is Voices in the Plural carried on with that Power and Evidence so clear so irresistible in all its Truths that like Thunder and Lightning there should be no stopping the Ears no shutting the Eyes against it no opposing it but at the peril of falling under the immediate stroke of Heaven The Thunder doth not so loudly proclaim the Gospel but that it will as loudly revenge if neglected the Lightning can as well blast the Gainsayers as discover the Truths they ought to receive such will be the Terror and Conviction that will now go along with the Gospel And is it any wonder when this shall be that a great Earthquake should follow saith the Text it shall be such as was not since Men were upon the Earth so mighty an Earthquake and so great An Earthquake we know shakes and unsettles all Houses Villages Towns Cities Hills Valleys Forrests whole Countries with the Inhabitants have felt the Effects thereof This is to be such an Earthquake so mighty and so great as was not since Men were upon Earth I will not say it is to be a meer natural Earthquake though such often have been observed to forerun or accompany great Iudgments and I am apt to think this sort of Earthquakes may usher in or accompany this Vial there have great and extraordinary things of that nature happened in our own times But to such prodigious Events only I do not imagine this to be confined but rather I believe it to direct to something like what God speaks by his Prophet Haggai 2. 6 7. Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the Heavens and the Earth and the Sea and dry Land and I will shake all Nations which St. Paul thus refers to Heb. 12. 26 27. whose Voice then shook the Earth he speaks of the Earthquake that accompanied the giving of the Law of Moses but now he hath promised saying Yet once more I shall shake not the Earth only but also Heaven and this Word yet once more signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken The business of this Earthquake will be utterly to remove what in the times of Antichrist prevailed quite to change the whole Face of things and bring in that Evangelical State which to follow the Apostles Expression in the next verse will be a Kingdom which cannot be moved Would we see what were to be the effects of this Earthquake It follows v. 19 20. 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. And every Island fled away and the Mountains were not found The great City what it is is sufficiently described in the next Chapter ver 18. where it is said and the Woman which thou sawest is the great City which Reigneth over the Kings of the Earth 'T is Rome that in that Chapter is 1.
represented under the Figure of a Woman and that as with respect to the several successions of Government in the Roman Empire so too with respect to the great Corruptions in the Church which was to be seated in it 2. Her Cruelties likewise are there set forth as under the emblem of a scarlet-coloured Beast ver 3. So by her being drunken with the Blood of the Saints of the Martyrs of Jesus ver 6. And 3. How she is said to come to her End ver 16. viz. By those very Horns or ten Kings who had given their Power and Strength to her ver 13. Hating her and making her desolate and naked and eating her Flesh and burning her with Fire So then the great City here spoken of is Rome as she Reigneth over the Kings of the Earth not Rome as confined within the Walls of the City which bears that name but as she extends her Territories as far as the Roman Empire or as it is now changed into Papal reaches And as to the dividing this City into three parts I shall offer these two Conjectures the first is Monsieur Jurieu's whose Learning Piety and Zeal I extreamly reverence and it is this viz. That upon the Preaching of the Reformers the Antichristian Empire was divided into three Parts one part remained to Antichrist himself one sepaated from him under the name of the Confession of Ausburgh the third under the Confession of them who are simply called the Reformed Sueden Denmark and a great part of Germany make the 2d Part England the united Provinces the Reformed in France the Suisses and port of Germany make the third Here saith he are the three great Parts which divide the Western Church which is the great City The second Conjecture I have to offer in this matter is the Division of it as it is that City which reigneth over the Kings of the Earth And that is as at present and since the Reformation there have been these three distinct Parts of this great City The first of such Kings or Kingdoms that have wholly fallen from her such are all who profess the Protestant Religion Secondly of such which however they have not left her Communion yet have cast off her Supremacy and Infallibility i. e. As the distinction is since taken up are of the Church tho' not of the Court of Rome This I suppose to be verified where-ever the Council of Trent by which Rome subsists is not received and where the Regalia Investitures c. are disputed and where too these or any other the Arcana Imperii the secret Grounds and Foundations by which the Papacy upholds it self have been prosessedly disputed contradicted and by the publick Decrees of their Universities or otherwise declared against or rescinded And then Thirdly of such as still continue in their Obedience to her What follows And the Cities of the Nations fell I take to be but the Consequence of the former for if the great City be Rome in the extent of her Empire or Government lesser Cities will import lesser Governments and their falling with respect to Rome must be a falling from her Laws in being no longer governed by the Papal Decrees the Canon Law or whatever else she Rules by but by their own Models both for their Civil and Religious Government But if still we would have something more particular here why may not the united Provinces and Hans Towns in Germany afford us a Comment on it Sed monum de Tabulà 'T is added And great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the Cup of the Wine of the fierceness of his Wrath. And every Island fled away and the Mountains were not found This seems to be the great Catastrophe of all every thing else is but preparatory this the consummating of the Judgment of the great Whore And may she soon have this Cup to drink I perswade my self it is not far off What the Cup is is more expresly set down chap. 18. 2. 8. Babylon the Great is fallen is fallen and is become the Habitation of Devils and the hold of every foul Spirit and a Cage of every unclean and hateful Bird this was her Sin this is her Doom Therefore shall her Plagues come in one day Death and Mourning and Famine and she shall be utterly burnt with Fire For strong is the Lord God who Judgeth her When it comes to pass it will explain it self nor shall I therefore add any thing farther on it Only what is to be meant by every Island flying away and the Mountains not being found which is yet behind to be spoken to would be known And for that I content my self with applying the notion of Islands to those numerous Monasteries and Convents and Religious Houses of any sort among them For what is an Island but a part of the Earth environed by the Waters and having no Commerce or Union with the Continent And are not such Houses and Places with respect to the several Countries in which they are divided as it were from the Earth Do they not subsist by Laws and Constitutions of their own Do they not pretend to be sequestred from the rest of the World To have no converse in Worldly Affairs but to be wholly separated to observe the Rules of their several Orders These to me are the Islands here spoken of Islands in respect to their distinct Governments in the same Sense that the great City is the whole Roman or Papal Empire And as for what we are to construe these Mountains of I can see nothing more proper to answer this Allusion than the great and eminent Men among them who in Scripture are so often exprest by Hills or Mountains as Men of low Estate are by the Valleys such are their Bishops Archbishops Cardinals Abbots Priors Generals of their several Orders and highest of all the Pope himself and his Legates Now the flying away of the one and the others not being found signifies the sudden Destruction and Confusion that will overtake them all in that day when all States and Orders their whole Hierarchy with all its Dependants shall at once Vanish And such a Storm follow them that adhere to them exprest by Men i. e. Men of ordinary rank and station the Laity of that Religion such Hail out of Heaven fall upon them as it were by the immediate Hand of God bringing these Judgments on them that wicked and impeniteut Wretches as they are for otherwise they would have taken the Warning and come out of Babylon as it is ch 18. 4. would not have been Partakers of her Sins that they might not have received of her Plagues but cursed Wretches as they are still to adhere to her in her Abominations nothing but Blasphemy is left them they Blasphemed God in the prophane use of his name all the time of their Apostacy they now without looking up to that Heaven from whence these Plagues come Blaspheme him because of the plague of the Hail