first Subject They say 't is the Kingdom of the Father we pray for i. e. of the Heavenly Paradise the Eternal Kingdom But we need only read what follows in the Lords prayer to be assured that it must be understood of a Kingdom upon earth Thy Name be hallowed Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven That clause on Earth as in Heaven is common to all three Petitions Thy Kingdom come upon Earth as it is already come in Heaven 'T is reasonable to think that God hath reserv'd a time for the Kingdom of grace which hath not yet 12-ken place So great a difficulty have these Gentlemen the Antimillenaries to conceive a Kingdom of God upon earth and for my own part I find as great a one not to conceive it How can we reconcile it to the wisdom and goodness of God to have abandon'd and forsaken the World thorowout all the duration of it without preserving a certain time in that duration for himself and his own Kingdom Now when was it that God did reign in the world by his Kingdom of grace It was not in the first World before the Flood where wickedness prevailed to that degree that obliged him to destroy it by the Deluge It was not in the Time from Noah to Moses for in those Ages Idolatry sprung up increas't and multiplied Much less in those Ages from Moses to Iesus Christ for the Devil reigned every where oftentimes not excepting that little corner of the Earth which God had reserved to himself It is not from the Appearance of Christ to that of Antichrist for saving about one hundred years since the Emperors were Christians Paganism hath always been uppermost and the prevailing Religion It cannot be since the birth of Antichrist for the 1260 years of his reign are the Empire of the Beast and of the Dragon and this will lead us even to the end of the World according to these Gentlemen And the course of the World will be finisht and God and his Kingdom of Grace have found no place in it I confess that in all ages God hath saved some persons but that is not to Reign for Truth and Grace have never yet ruled and been uppermost They never had the Empire the number and the multitude of their side The number of wicked and worldly men hath always carried it How much more reasonable then is it to conceive that God after having abandon'd six periods to the World and the Dragon hath at least reserved one seventh to himself wherein Truth and Grace shall rule and prevail whereas in the other preceding they have been supprest The conversion of the nations and of the Iews shall form the Kingdom of Christ I find nothing more odd and singular than the Hypothesis of these Gentlemen They acknowledge that all the Nations hitherto under Infidelity shall be converted St. Paul hath expresly said it in the eleventh Chapter of his Epistle to the Romans according to them also the Iews are to be converted Behold the fairest Empire of Grace which can be imagined why should we make it fall assoon as it is raised and make the World it self to end soon after Is it not more reasonable to conceive that God will preserve the Church in that glorious state for several ages to injoy as it were the fruit of his Labours and see the Intelligible World compleated and brought to its perfection Since the Iews the fullness of the Gentiles are to be brought in to J. Christ as all the World grants is it not reasonable that in that period of the re-union of all People that they who have been an holy People to whom we owe the Patriarchs and the sacred Oracles for observe it there is no one book of the N. Testament any more then of the Old but was made by a Iew is it not just I say that that Nation should then have the Pre-eminence above all other Nations There is then in my opinion a Kingdom of God to be expected and this Kingdom is that of the Messiah the Kingdom of the Iews The Reign of the Messiah which is not yet come for to speak properly we cannot say that Christ hath hitherto reigned upon Earth His party as yet hath been in no place or part of the World the prevailing ruling Party the wheat hath been always buried in the Tares The Kingdom of the Iews promised by the Prophets so often and in so many different manners And these two Kingdoms that of the Messiah and that of the Iews are to take place at the same time 'T is true we may compute the beginning of Christ's Kingdom from the fall of the Kingdom of Antichrist and 't is manifest that from that point God will reckon the thousand years Nevertheless the Kingdom of Christ cannnot be well said to be come till all Nations shall be converted now the Iews are not to be converted till the last of all People J. Christ hath not yet reigned upon earth in a proper sense Ioseph Mede hath a reflection thereupon which I confess I am pleased with 'T is but a Conjecture but I find it to be very well framed 'T is this that the Conversion of St. Paul a zealous and bigotted Iew in the highest degree is the Type of the future conversion of the whole Nation 1. He was a great zealot for the Law and a furious Persecutor of Christianity The Iews are also very zealous for Moses and irreconcileable enemies to Iesus Christ 2. Paul was converted not as other men The conversion of S. Pauls a type of that of the Iewish nation by the bare preaching of the Gospel and the sight of Miracles but by the glorious appearing of Christ to him from Heaven 'T is likewise very probable that the Conversion of the Iews will not be in an ordinary way as by preaching for the Hearts of that People are under an invincible obduracy So that 't is likely that Christ will convert them by some glorious and surprizing apparition and will appear clothed with those Characters the Prophets have given him that they may no longer be able to disown and refuse him 3. Those who accompanied St. Paul saw indeed the Light but Christ did not appear to them the Gentiles and Christians who shall then be may have some part in that glorious Apparition but it may be shall not see it all 4. Paul was instructed by way of inspiration in all Mysteries assoon as Iesus Christ had appear'd to him The Iews shall have their minds inlightned and the vail which is now on their hearts shall be taken away and on a sudden shall see clearly into the Oracles of their Law and Prophets 5. St. Paul was the last of the Apostles who was converted the Iews will be called the last of all People 6. Paul after Conversion was the most zealous of any the Iews when converted shall be the most affectionate and zealous of all Christians 7. St. Paul
17. nor with Babylon chap. 18. The Fathers who lived near the Apostles time it may be heard some discourse of this and that probably gave occasion to the mistake This is the most that can be said with any pretence of reason to excuse St. Irenaeus and those of the Ancients who followed him in the description of Antichrist Gog and Magog are names borrowed from Ezekiel which in my opinion do not signify the same People in both places Here it denotes in general the Enemies of the Church Nevertheless I know nothing concerning it with any great certainty CHAP. XXV An Answer to the reasons of the Anti-millinaries against the Reign of a thousand years ACcording to the Method of a Regular Disputation I come now to answer the Reasons of the Anti-millinaries But most of them are so weak that they hardly deserve to be considered but that the mention of 'em will serve as a further proof to confirm the truth of our seventh Period For 't is a very good Argument for any opinion to be supported on the one hand by powerfull and weighty Reasons and to be opposed on the other by weak and slender ones Those Gentlemen have the plurality of voices on their side and are doubtless men of worth and learning 'T is nevertheless true that they have suffered themselves to be born down with the stream without much minding it First Objection Christ not to come but at the day of jugdment 1. First they say that the Scripture speaking of Christ's second coming never speaks of any other than that when he shall appear in the Clouds of Heaven attended with Angels and Archangels to raise mankind and judge the quick and dead Whereas we suppose a kind of a clandestine coming of Christ to settle a Kingdom upon Earth which the Scripture knows nothing of for it speaks of no future Kingdom of Christ that is yet to be save that which he shall have in Heaven after the distribution of Eternal Rewards and Punishments I answer 1. These men suppose by this Argument a Kingdom of Christ in Heaven after the last judgement but there is no such Kingdom neither shall there ever be any on the contrary St. Paul doth expresly tell us that he shall then cease to reign and give up the Kingdom into the hands of his Father 1 Cor. 17. So that since we are assured from Scripture of Christs coming to reign it must be before the end of the World for the Kingdom of Christ the Mediator shall then be finisht 2. 'T is supposed in this objection that the Scripture speaks of no more than one coming of Christ which shall be accompanied with the voice of the Arch-angel to summon the Dead to judgement This is plainly to suppose the thing in Question and those who have read the fore-going Chapters with attention and without prejudice will still believe that there is a first coming of Christ and it may be a first Resurrection 3. Lastly who can be certain that this coming of Christ to establish his Kingdom upon Earth shall not be in that manner with the voice of an Arch-angel and in great magnificence and Glory Who can prove that at that first coming of Christ he shall not raise some of the dead as St. Iohn seems expresly to have fore-told all the little reasons pretended from Conveniency and Inconveniency which are here alledged will have much ado to resist the evidence of so express a Text and of that Matth. 19. Verily I say unto you that in the Regeneration when the Son of man shall be sat on the Throne of his Glory you shall also sit on twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel 2. Object Christ is to remain in Heaven till the end of the world 2. The next thing alledged is that the Heavens are to contain Jesus Christ till the restitution of all things The restitution of all things that they say is the End of the World and so Jesus Christ must be confined to Heaven till the end of the world and consequently shall not come to settle a Kingdom upon Earth for a thousand years If this were true that Christ must stay in Heaven till the end of the World might he not destroy his Enemies give Peace to his Church and govern it in Peace by his Prophets and Servants without coming in Person from Heaven Moreover in case our Lord should for a short space come down from Heaven to establish a Kingdom for a thousand years and to give his seal to the Conversion of all Nations by some glorious Apparition returning back to Heaven immediately after might it not be said notwithstanding this that the Heavens shall contain him till the end of Time So small an interruption of his abode in Heaven could not hinder but that the heavens may still be reckon'd the place of his abode Lastly how will they prove that by the Restitution of all Things the end of the World is to be understood on the contrary that end is represented as the Overturning and not the Restitution of all things The Heavens the Stars the Elements shall be burnt up and destroyed by fire 'T is true after this there shall be new Heavens and a new Earth but the Scripture doth more frequently describe the end of the world by an universal confusion and Overturning than by the new Heavens which shall follow And the new Heavens in most places of Scripture signify the Renovation of the Church in its last Period of a thousand years So that I hardly make any doubt but that by the Restitution of all things Chap. 8. Acts we are to understand the Establishment of the Church before the end of the World. 3. Argum. Peace and Prosperity are not to be the Lot of the Church 3. The third Argument of the Anti-millenaries is this that such a state of Peace and tranquillity as we promise to the Church doth not at all agree with what the H. Scripture speaks of the Persecution and afflictions that the Church and the Faithfull are always to meet with in this World. 1. Ought not this to be mutually granted that the whole is to be denominated from the major part for six thousand years the Church was to be persecuted and in a low Condition and in a seventh Period she shall have Rest And shall we count it strange that the Holy Ghost doth for the most part speaking of the state of the Church here below as a low and miserable condition and that he saith very little of her state of Glory since the difference between the first and second state is as six to one 2. I answer that they suppose that which is not true viz. that the Scripture speaks of the Church as being alway in a state of suffering On the contrary more places can be brought wherein her Prosperity and Peace are promised than of those where she is threatned with calamity and persecution We may see the truth of this
of the future prosperity of the Church upon Earth The 21 and 22. Chap. of the Apocalypse interpreted that in those Chapters the Church is described as victorious upon Earth and not as Triumphant in Heaven Pag. 357 Chap. XXIV The Characters of the Kingdom of the Church Eight are certain and five doubtfull What shall happen after this Kingdom What is meant by Gog and Magog There shall probably be a lesser kind of Antichrist a little before the end of the World. Pag. 375 Chap. XXV An Answer to the reasons of the Anti-millinaries against the Reign of a thousand years Pag. 388 THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE PROPHECIES OR THE Approaching Deliverance of the CHURCH THE FIRST PART Of the Establishment of the Antichristian-Empire its Characters CHAP. I. Of the Seven Epistles to the Seven Churches That in all probability they are not Prophetical The Thoughts of Interpreters thereupon WHen I undertook this Work I had no Design to make a compleat Commentary on that which is Prophetical in the Revelations as did appear in the first Edition However when I observed that without designing it I had explained almost the whole Apocalypse I did believe that as for three or four chapters that remained to be explained I ought not to leave them behind tho they had no respect to the scope of this book which is to find out Antichrist learn when his Empire must end When one sees a system that is very perfect well attended with all the events foretold in this book this will give such a fair aspect of truth to all the parts of it as will be most easily perceived Moreover the publick may have observed that in the pourtraiture of Antichrist I have referred the Reader in many chapters as in the 13th the 17th to my Book of Prejudices Now us I have promised to epitomize the book of Prejudices I thought it would be more proper to bring out of that book into this present work all that respects the Prophecies their Explication on the subject of the description of Antichristianism than to refer a part of this to another Book So that in this second Edition there will be found an explication of all that is prophetical in the book of the Revelation We believe with the learned Joseph Mede that this book is divided into two parts The first is contained in the book sealed with seven seals which is to be seen in the beginning of the 5th Ch. And the second in the book which the Angel gave to St. John in the 10th Ch. The two little books move upon the same time the one the other reach even to the end of the World but they donot say the same thing have not the same object For the first little book that appeareth sealed with seven seals principally respects the affairs the adventures of the first Period of the fourth Monarchy viz. the temporal Roman Empire And the second book contains the destinies of the Church corrupted during the same ages the same duration of time this is what we call the Spiritual Roman Empire I say that the first book contains properly the destinies of the Empire not but that those of the Church are included in it too For that which God foretold should befall the Roman Empire was always with respect to the Church to its Persecutions the great Changes that befall it So that to speak properly the whole work respects the Church But the second little book which reaches from the 10th Chapter to the end respects the Church what was to befall it much more particularly yea more clearly The first thing that appears in the book of the Revelation is the seven Epistles to seven principal Churches of Asia Q. Whether the seven Epistles are Prophetical contained in the three first Chapters T is very much question'd whether these Epistles are Prophetical or not Some maintain that they are with a great deal of heat others deny it As for me I have nothing certain to say upon it So that I would not raise a prejudice against any person or any opinion by my own tho I am much more enclined to believe that there is nothing of prophecy in them but that all that is said in these Epistles refers to things that had happened in those seven Churches It is certain that the Revelation is nothing but an Epistle This is clear by its beginning end Now it was not usuall with the Apostles to direct their Epistles to the Universal Church in generall of all places all times as some would have St. John here to have done The Apostles were wont in their Epistles to rank in the first place what they had which was dogmatical Prophetical to write of afterward came that which respected what was moral This is the method of St. Paul. St. John on the contrary in this Epistle sets that which is moral therein before that which is Prophetical The reason is because he little design'd to stay upon that which is moral his principal aim was to relate the visions which God had given him Therefore he dispatcheth in the beginning that which was to make the least part of his Epistle which was less important that without diversion he might stick to that which he principally intended therein I see but one thing that seems mightily to favour the opinion of those that believe that the seven Epistles are Prophetical Why the H. Spirit wrote but to seven Churches 'T is the number of seven Why did the H. Spirit write to no more than seven Churches Were there not many more in Asia Were these the only ones in which there was any thing to be reproved or to whom the H. Spirit had something to say It seems therefore that the seven Churches are the Universal Church of all Ages divided into seven Periods But this reason doth not appear strong enough to me First because the number of seven is evidently consecrated in the Revelation The holy Spirit useth it in counting up all things the seven Spirits seven Lamps seven Angels c. Surely whatever we understand hereby 't is certain that the number of Spirits of Lamps of Angells is not reduced to the number of seven Not but that oftentimes the number of seven in the Revelation must be taken for a determinate number as in the seven Seals in the seven Trumpets the seven Vialls but that is when the division of time into Periods is treated of Now this is that which is doubtful that by these seven Churches are meant seven Periods And we shall also see hereafter that what is said to these seven Churches doth not at all agree with the events in what manner soever the times be divided So that this only thing that the H. Spirit maketh here seven Churches doth not prove that they are so many Period's of the duration of the Church 'T is probable that by these he means all
necessary to premise in the first place an Observation which I call the Key of the Revelation 'T is that this whole Book is nothing but a Paraphrase on what Daniel saith in the seventh Ch. of his revelations touching the fourth Beast Certainly this fourth Beast is the Roman Empire the fourth Monarchy And if some great strange events be found therin 't is always with respect to the Roman Empire that must endure to the coming of the Kingdom of J. Christ on the Earth VVhy God hath nor taken notice of other States in the Revelation The reason why God taking no notice of so many great events that happen without the bounds of the Roman Empire of the great Empires that are establisht the nations that are overturned the bloody Wars that are every where insists only on the fourth Monarchy or the Roman Empire is because god reveals not future events but with respect to the Church which he loveth which he conducts which he will instruct concerning his will. Now the Church was to be enclosed in or very near within the bounds of the Roman Empire I know that there were Christian-Churches in Persia it may be some in the Indies But all this was but a small matter Euphrates was the bounds of Christianity it spread it self but a little beyond it The Church therfore had no need to know that which should happen on the other side Euphrates nor to understand the foundation of the Empires of the Tartars the Kings of Persia the Mogulls the Chinois for all this had no respect to her Wherfore the Revelation saith not one word of them The Spirit of God also had no intention to instruct us in the adventures of the Empire of the Saracens that of the Turks but with reference to the fourth Monarchy Therfore we shall not see these two Empires that of the Saracens that of the Tarcks but only by the by in the fifth sixth Trumpets we shall not see them there but as the Scourges of God that fall on the fourth monarchy to vex to destroy it This observation is the Key of the Revelation For first it removes that difficulty which many make so great a stir about viz. that the Revelation as t is usually explained doth not at all touch on or if it doth 't is but by the by the greatest Revolutions of the World that happen'd in the East since 1200 years Yet once more it was not the work of him who would speak of nothing but the Church those Events that have in immediate reference to the Church Secondly This observation will teach us rightly to divide the times of the Revelation properly to apply the visions to each time to discover the events that are signified by those Visions We must know therefore that the fourth monarchy without comparison the greatest The division of the fourth Monarchy into two Periods most distinguished in the Prophecies is divided into two great periods The first is from the birth of Rome ab urbe conditâ which was the great Epocha of the Romans to the division of the Roman Empire into ten Kingdoms which was after the death of Valentinian the third about the year 455. For then the Empire was torn in pieces between the Greeks the Vandals the Goths the Burgundians c. it was I say divided into ten principal parts The second period of the fourth monarchy is since the division of the Empire among ten Kings the reunion of those ten Kings under one sole head that calls himself the universal Bishop to the end of this monarchy the coming of the fifth which is that of J. Christ on the Earth These two periods are very near of the same length viz. 1200 years or a little more The Lord J. Christ came into the world Anno V. C. 754. or 752. as Dionysius the lesser pretends The Empire was divided into ten Kingdomes about the year of J. Christ 455. i. e. in the year 1209 or 1207 of the city of Rome since that time under the Roman Gothish Kings the counting ab urbe conditâ was continued till the time of Dionysius the lesser a Roman Abbot a Scythian by nation who died in the year 540 according to Baronius who made his Paschal cycle in the year 527. T is about the year 530 that the Christian Aera began to be in use the counting by the years of J. Christ Then men left off counting ab urbe conditâ after they had used this Epocha about 1280 years However that be the period from the building of Rome to the division of the Roman Empire among ten Kings is more than 1200 years The second period of the fourth monarchy since its division among ten Kings to the end must be also above 1200 years The Prophecy makes it 1260 prophetical days i.e. 1260 years Now we must observe that in the time of St. Iohn i. e. in the time when he wrote the Revelation there was above two thirds of the first period of the fourth monarchy past gone For the wrote about the year 850 after the building of the city There remain'd therfore but a little more than 350 years of this first period But he had before him the whole entire second period of 1260 years Wherfore t is not very strange that he enlargeth himself much more on this later part than on the former So that we shall not find properly more than two chapters the sixth the eighth that respect this first period of the fourth monarchy and all the rest from the ninth ch inclusively to the 20th exclusively contains the events that belong to the period of the 1260 Years which is the second of the fourth Monarchy To render this truth more plain that the Prophecy of Daniel touching the fourth Monarchy is the Text on which the H. Spirit treats in the Revelation we must here view the Prophecy of Daniel apply it to divers parts of that of St. John. After this I saw in the night visions Dan. 7.7 behold a fourth beast dreadful terrible strong exceedingly it had great iron teeth It devoured brake in pieces stamped the residue with the feet of it it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it it had ten horns Daniel having asked the explication of this vision the Angel saith to him hereupon The fourth beast shall be the fourth Kingdom on the Earth v. 23. which shall be diverse from all Kingdoms shall devour the whole Earth tread it down break it in pieces This refers to the establishment of this Empire its conquests that were begun under the Consuls Dictators were finisht under the Emperours of which St. John. had seen a part some followed after him under whom also the Empire was always enlarged or at least preserved in its greatness even to the children of Theodosius It broke in
dismembred pieces of the ancient Roman Empire as well as the other Kingdoms of Europe It retains the name of the Roman Empire its head is called the King of the Romans What of all this Is it necessary only to retain names and vain titles to be in possession to the thing and to exercise the rights belonging to it The Jews retain the name of the people of God of the chosen people of the Lords inheritance by way of exclusion of all the nations of the Earth but doth it follow that they are what they once were and what to this day they call themselves We therfore may justly say the Roman Empire is destroyed and was abolisht when the Goths the Vandals and the Huns rent it in pieces and divided it into so many parts took away the rule from the City of Rome and made it the chief City only of a part of that ancient Empire And indeed 't is then that the Antichristian Empire was born or at least began to be Revealed that is to say to become sensible and this was in the fifth Age. But this doth not agree with the other Prophecies for according to St. John and Daniel the fourth Monarchy which is that of the Romans must continue till the Kingdom be given to the Saints and all the Nations of the World be reduced to the obedience of Jesus Christ The Roman Empire according to the Prophecy of St. John and Daniel is not yet ended v. 17 18. This is in the seventh of Daniel There he makes four Beasts i. e. four Monarchies or four Empires These four Beasts are four Kings that shall arise out of the Earth But the Saints of the most high shall take the Kingdom and possess the Kingdom for ever even for ever and ever He places nothing at all between the end of the fourth Beast or the fourth Empire and the Kingdom given to the Saints Now if the fourth Monarchy did cease in the fifth Century then the fifth Monarchy which is the Kingdom of J. Christ being not begun there would be the space of 12. or 13. hundred Years between the fourth Monarchy and the reign of J. Christ upon the Earth One can't conceive why the H. Spirit should leave so wide a gap of time in the Prophecy This is yet more evident by what follows The Angell that explains the vision to Daniel saith to him v. 23. The fourth Beast shall be the fourth Kingdom upon Earth which shall be diverse from all Kingdoms and shall devour the whole Earth and shall tread it down v. 24. and break it in pieces And the ten horns out of this Kingdom are ten Kings that shall arise and another shall arise after them and he shall be diverse from the first and he shall subdue three Kings v. 25. And he shall speak great words against the most High and shall wear out the saints of the most High and think to change times and laws and they shall be given into his hand untill a time v. 26. and times and the dividing of time But the judgment shall sit and they shall take away his dominion to consume and to destroy it unto the end And the Kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the Saints of the most High c. He had said before on occasion of the fourth Beast and his little Horn I behold them v. 11. because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake I beheld even till the beast was slain and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame 'T is clear that the ten Horns or the ten Kingdoms together with the little Horn that subdues three Kings are a continuation of the fourth Beast and make but one Monarchy together with it which Monarchy must endure till the Kingdom be given to the people of God. The same thing plainly appears in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar Chap. 2. and the explication which Daniel gives of it Nebuchadnezzar saw in a dream a great Statue whose head was of Gold his shoulders and his arms of Silver v. 32. his belly of Brass his legs of Iron v. 33. and his feet divided into ten Toes were partly of Earth and partly of Iron v. 34. A Stone cut out of the mountain without hands breaks this statue in pieces mingles the Gold the Silver the Iron and the Brass and reduces them all to dust Daniel explaining this dream declares that the head signifies the Monarchy of the Assyrians of which Babylon was then the capital city since the ruin of Nineveh and Nebuchadnezzar the head That the shoulders of Silver signify a second Monarchy and the belly of Brass a third v. 40. And the fourth Kingdom shall be like Iron for as much as Iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things All the World is agreed that this is the Roman Monarchy After which follows not the destruction but the division of that Empire among ten Kings And wheras thou sawest the feet and toes v. 41. part of potters clay and part of iron the Kingdom shall be divided viz. into ten other Kingdoms as the feet into ten toes For the ten toes of the statue and the ten horns of the Beast are the same thing which all Interpreters have acknowledged Among these ten Kings must he come that must subdue three i. e. Antichrist As therefore the ten Toes make a part of the Statue and the ten horns a part of the Beast 't is plain that the ten Kings that must arise from the division of the Roman Empire and the reign of Antichrist that must establish himself by the ruin of three of those Kings are the continuation of the Roman Empire and the Roman Empire it self Now immediately after and without any thing happening between comes the reign of Jesus Christ and of the Holy people signified by the little stone cut without hands out of the mountain And in the days of these Kings shall the God of Heaven set up a Kingdom v. 44. which shall not be left to other people but it shall break in pieces and consume all these Kingdoms and it shall stand for ever The same thing is evident by the Revelations of Saint John. The first Beast in the 13th of the Revelation in certainly the same with the fourth Beast in the 7th Chapter of Daniel 't is the Roman Empire We have seen before that 't is agreed that the second Beast in the same Chapt. which had but two horns is the same with the fore-going Beast that had ten Now the foregoing Beast is the Roman Empire the second Beast is the Empire of Antichrist Whence it is plain that the reign of Antichrist must be the continuation of the Roman Empire Saint Iohn after having described the Roman Empire continued under Antichrist in the 13th Chap. carries on this continuation in the 14th Chap. to the total ruin of
had been either taken away or prophaned To do this no less than 45 days were necessary and these are the 45 days added to 1290 that make the number 1335 days of which the Prophet saith Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the 1335 days And 't is at the end of these 1335 days reckoning from the prophanation in the beginning of the year 148 that the dedication was made in the year 148. on the 25th day of the ninth month Therefore 't is the Prophet cries out Blessed is he c. because it was a great feast and great rejoycing in Israel See I say both the History and the Chronology and the duration of the cessation of the prophanation of the Temple and the interruption of the daily sacrifice made to agree with the Prophecy At present from the type we must in a few words make our conjectures touching that which must come to pass in the duration of the Antichristian Empire The prophanation of the Mosaical Sanctuary by Antiochus lasted three years and a half to the time that Judas Macchabaeus drove the Heathen out of Ierusalem and Paganism out of the Temple the cleansing of which he began To the end the truth may answer to the figure the Antichristian Empire must endure three years and a half consisting of 1260 days which are 1260 years during which the Sanctuary shall be prophaned by the Heathens i. e. the service of God shall be polluted by revived Paganism and the Temple of God possessed by a Tyrant At the end of 1260 day Judas Macchabaeus began the purification of the Temple and spent 30 days about it The cleansing of the Church must be begun the Idol must be cast out the Tyrant expelled after the 1260 years But as Judas Macchabaeus spent 30 days about purifying the Temple after he had taken away the Idol thence and had rescued it out of the hands of the Tyrant 't is propable that after the fall of the Papism of its tyranny and idolatry 30 years more will be spent in purifying the Church from all schisms heresies divisions and etrours Lastly as Judas Macchabaeus spent 45 other days to prepare all things for the consecration of the Temple in like manner after the Church shall have been cleansed from idolatry haeresy superstition schism and errours God will employ yet 45 years more to prepare all things for the consummation of the Church At the end of which time will be the dedication the solemn feast And 't is in my opinion in this last space of 45 years that God is to call the Gentiles and all the Nations of the Earth to the knowledge of himself this is that which the Apostle Saint Paul calls The fullness of the Gentiles For see as I believe the degrees by which the Church must arrive at it perfection 1. Babylon shall fall the Kingdom of Antichrist shall cease 2. The Church shall be reunited in the same opinion schisms and divisions shall be at an end 3. The Idolatrous and Infidel Nations especially the Turks who are at this day scandalized at the divisions manners and the false Doctrines of the Christians shall submit themselves at least the greatest part of them being prevailed upon by the purity of Doctrine and holiness of manners 4. Lastly The Jews overcome by so unanimous a consent and it may be by some glorious apparition of our Lord shall be converted and strongly labour to convert the rest of the Nations far distant and separated from us Then shall be the Dedication the consummation of the Church And blessed is he that shall wait and come to the 1335 days i. e. to seventy five years after the fall of the Popish Empire For he shall see the reign of J. Christ in all its Glory CHAP. III. What the Last time are It doth not signify the end of the World. There are many times with reference to the Church and with reference to the World. If Antichrist must reign 1260 years he is come Mahometanism is not Antichristianism THus much is enough to destroy that Chimaera of the duration of the Kingdom of Antichrist for three natural years and a half 'T is necessary only to answer a difficulty that may be raised from hence that the reign of Antichrist is called the last times which seems to mean the end of the World. And without doubt this is that which gave occasion to the ancient Writers to suppose that the end of this Empire was not to be above forty five days before the day of judgement But to fall into this errour a man must be little used to the style of the Scripture One thousand two hundred and sixty years 't is said can't be called the last times the period is too long 'T is necessary the reign of Antichrist should be nearer the end of the World and the day of judgement than so But what will those Gentlemen say that make this objection St. John calls his time the last time 1 Ep. 2.18 what will they say of Saint John who speaking of Antichrist and precisely of that tradition according to which he was to come in the last times saith Little children it is the last time and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come even now are there many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time 'T is above sixteen hundred years ago that Saint John said so and then from that time he counted the last times With much more reason may we reckon those ages that came not till four or five hundred years after for the last times The last day the last times are not the same thing John. 6.54 â— Neither must we imagine that the last times signify a short space We must well distinguish the last day from the last time When the Holy Spirit speaks of the last day he always means a short time He that eateth my flesh saith our Lord I will raise up again at the last day But the last time and especially the last times in the plural number always signifieth a long period See the proofs of both these things First that the last times signify not the end of the World. The last times doth not always signify the last day The last time in the singular number sometimes doth St. Peter saith that we are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time 1. Pet. 1.5 But it doth not always so signify as appears by that passage of St. John which we quoted a little before 't is the last time As for that in the plural number the last time and the last days we find they always signify a time far enough off from the end of the World. Saint Paul in the second verse of the Epistle to the Hebrews saith 1 Ephes 1.20 that God hath spoken to us in these last days by his Son. The Apostle Saint Peter saith that Jesus Christ was fore-ordained before the foundation of
with blood even to the tops of the mountains The mountains shall be melted with their blood saith Isaiah 34.3 there must be rivers of blood to do this v. 5. And I heard the Angel of the waters say Thou art righteous O Lord which art and wast and shall 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 There will not want some who from these words will object and say that untill this time there had been no persecution on the account of Religion and that the Popedom had in no wise shed the blood of Saints of Prophets To this I answer First 'T is not true that during the time of the Croisades Why God chargeth Antichristian Rome with the blood which she had not yet shed no blood had been shed on the account of Religion for it was exactly in the middle of the Croisades that that horrible barbarity was used against the Waldenses and Albingenses Innocent III. publisht the fifth Croisade at the end of the twelfth Century and at the same time gave sentence of death against the poor Albigenses But that which is especially to be observed in this matter is this that those who make this objection must make a stronger against those words of Jesus Christ Luc. 11.50 51. That the blood of all the Prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation From the blood of Abel c. verily I say it shall be required of this generation What reason to require of the Jews who lived in the times of Christ the blood of Abel and other holy men who were slain before the Flood what reason to require of them the righteous blood shed before Abraham Nay what reason to require of them the blood of the Prophets slain by their fathers since they disapproved the deeds of their fathers Why this is the reason God when he executes judgement ought to hear the cries of all the righteous blood that is shed for these cryes make up but one voyce and the race of murtherers makes up but one people on which God will charge that blood It matters not that it was shed by the Parents or the Children before the one were born or after the death of the others this makes no difference God looking upon this murthering race all in one body will charge the whole upon the whole in the lump Which evidently appears from that which God here speaks of this generation of Antichrist they have shed the blood of Prophets he saith not of Apostles he goes back as far as the Prophets and inflicts the punishment of the blood of the Prophets slain so many ages before upon the Antichristian Empire Rome hath always been a murthering City the holy Apostles Martyrs Doctors Confessors of the first ages of Christianity were slain by its orders and in its Dominions Modern Rome within the circuit of its Jurisdiction hath shed an infinite quantity of holy and faithfull blood The old and new Rome in the account of God and in the executing of his judgements make up but one body because God beholds the whole in one instant or point He looks upon her as one murthering tyrant as one race of manslayers It matters not that as to some particular persons and some particular ages she is not guilty of the blood of the Prophets she is guilty as to her whole in her beginning and her end now the beginning and the end do involve the middle But it will be objected Had not Rome Pagan been sufficiently punisht for the blood of Apostles and Maryrs which she had shed So many sackings and desolations as she had felt did not they suffice Must Antichristian Rome pay once more for that blood I will object on the same grounds Had not Jerusalem the mutherer of the Prophets suffer'd enough for her murthers by that dismal desolation made by the Chaldeans by the captivity of all her Inhabitants by the fire which consumed her Palaces Must God chastise her by the Romans for those crimes which had been punisht by the Babylonians Thus was it necessary that God should punish Rome Antichristian for the crimes committed by Rome Pagan or for the sins which were not committed till the following ages of this Antichristian Rome 'T is to this objection that the other Angel answers who speaks at V. 7. And I heard another out of the Altar say even so Lord God Almighty true and righteous are thy judgements That is though it seem unjust to give blood to drink unto new Rome on the account of the blood that was shed by old Rome or of that which shall be afterward shed by the new notwithstanding thy judgements are righteous and true Behold the three plagues which bring us down unto the thirteenth Age. The last Croisade was the second expedition of St. Lewis who carried out and lost 60000 men at Thunis in the year 1269. CHAP. VIII The fourth plague the encrease of the heat of the Sun denoting the encrease of the Papal Authority which had almost utterly ruin'd the World and the Church The fifth plague is the desolation of ROME when the Pope retreated to Avignon and the diminution of the papal Authority by the grand Schisme of the West v. 8. ANd the fourth Angel pour'd out his viol upon the Sun and power was given to him to scorchmen with fire v. 9. And men were scorched with great heat and blasphemed the name of God who hath power over those plagues and they repented not to give him glory This is the fourth plague in which we see the Sun. 'T is known and confess'd by all who know any thing of prophecies dreams and visions that the Heavens What is the Sun of the Antichristian Empire the Sun the constellations and the Stars are emblems of dignities and grandeurs on earth and the image does bear a lively resemblance for the Heavens are the superior region of the World from whence good and bad Influences do come and supream Authority is the heaven of the lower World from whence both good and evil proceed great dignities are like constellations in Societies The Sun always signifies the Soveraign and the Stars inferior Magistrates Before in the sixth Chapter the fall of the Empire of Rome Pagan and of the imperial dignity is represented to us by the same images Chap. 6 12 13. And the Sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the Moon became as blood and the Stars of heaven fell unto the earth This is a thing which admits not any dispute The Sun of the Antichristian Kingdom is the Pope That the Antichristian Kingdom is treated of here is generally agreed to therefore it cannot be doubted that the Sun is the Soveraign of this Kingdom The heat and beams are the instruments by which the Sun operates 'T is by his beams that he quickens warms
they are at the height of impurity there must have been a number denoting the perfection assigned to them now no other could be found but that of three Besides these unclean spirits are of the number three because of the three springs or sources the Dragon the Beast and the false Prophet as if every one must have one of his own And further 't is a wonderful providence of God that the body of the Canon Law which is the heap of the papal Laws is divided into three parts which appear'd in the World at three different times The Decree of Gratian is the first part Three parts of the Canon Law that answer to these three unclean spirits and it was compiled in the twelfth Century After this came the second part under the title of the Decretals of Gregory IX The third part is made up of the Bulls of Popes called Clementines publisht at the Council of Lions by Clement V. of others called Extravagants others called common and common extravagants These are the three parts of the Canon Law which are in truth three unclean spirits for there is nothing so monstrous and so contrary unto the spirit of Christianity The papas Laws have three unclean spirits pride covetousness unchastity Lastly these papal Laws are set forth by the number of three unclean spirits because there are in effect three spirits of impurity that do reign in them Pride Covetousness and Vnchastity Pride for first nothing is more proud then the design of the Popes in general to give Laws to the World to make Emperors to give a body of Laws which all shall use to call themselves infallible to pretend to pronounce Oracles to thunder out Bulls upon the heads of Kings and of all men Covetousness for in the papal Laws every thing tends to profit the Rules of the Roman Chancery and Penetenciary do make up a part of the Roman Laws and in them every thing is sold not the most abominable crimes excepted If we would examine the Laws of the Popedom they are all for gain and tend to the exercise of a most abominable simony They that will may consult the first part of our prejud against popery without reckoning up many other books where the same matter is treated Vnchastity hath its share for in these Laws such filthiness is to be found as cause horror the rules of the Penitenciary do enough prove this This same is found in the Decree of Gratian in Buchard the famous Canonist First part chap. 28. Apolog. for the Reform VVhy the Oracles of popery are compare to Froggs and in such like Authors I have given some specimen's in my Prejugd and in my Apology for Theodore Beza 'T is for this reason that the Oracles of the false Prophet are compared to Froggs the Oracles of God are Eagles that flye in pure air but the Oracles of popery and false Religion are creatures that love the dirt that descend into pits and live there They make a great noyse in times of darkness as Froggs do in the night but will immediately be silent as soon as the Sun of grace is risen that is when it shall dissipate all the shadows of false Religion These are the spirits of Devils working miracles For these papal decisions these orders of the Antichristian Kingdom that they may establish the adoration of idols the invocation of Creatures the idolatry of bread are supported by signs and a thousand lying miracles But 't will be objected these decisions do not work miracles whereas the Text here saith that these three unclean spirits work miracles A very slight difficulty For seeing the Holy Ghost represents these Laws of the Popedom as spirits i. e. as persons and as intelligent existing substances there must be actions ascribed to them Actiones sunt suppositorum say the Schools Thus Saint John ought necessarily to speak of miracles wrought in favour of the papal Laws and Papists as of miracles that are wrought by them They 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 The Bulls of Popes are as so many thundering messengers who are sent to Princes and who threaten order and command them to make Croisades to destroy pretended hereticks and to employ temporal weapons to execute the orders of the spiritual Authority and also command them to enjoyn the observation in all places of idolatrous worship wicked Canons and the proud government which the Popedom hath establisht by its decrees All this unites together and gathers the Kings of the Earth makes one body one army of persons joyn'd in a bond of a most real conspiracy who fight against God and seek to rob him of his honour and glory The day of battel is the whole duration of the Antichristian Kingdom Interpreters have entertain'd a false notion in imagining that by the day of battel is to be understood the very time in which Antichrist must be destroy'd For 't is the whole time of the Antichristian Idolatry and Tyranny though especially of the last period of Antichrist i. e. of Antichrist declining or approaching to his fall This time is called the day of God Almighty because at the end of this day or time God shall display his vengeance against these Kings who are leagued against him through means of the papal and Ecclesiastick Laws and decrees During three parts of that day and battel against God his Church is worsted but in the last part of the battel God shall overcome These Kings of the Earth are gather'd together in Armageddon The place Armageddon is the place from whence the thunderbolts of excommunications and curses do come forth i. e. the See of Rome and of the Pope or the Vatican whose thunderbolts have so often consumed whole Countries All the Kings who are subject to the Popedom are gather'd leagued and united in this place and by this place Seeing the Prophet had represented the papal Laws as spirits and persons he ought in the same manner to represent the Excommunication or Curse as a place which unites and gathers together the men who are contain'd in it Behold I come as a thief blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame This is a Parenthesis which hath relation to the battel that the papal laws censures interdicts anathema's decisions and Papists do fight against the Truth and the Faith to admonish the faithfull that they be upon their guard against so many assaults and so many lying Oracles which deceive the minds and hearts of men Why God places these three unclean spirits of papery under the sixth viol First reason There remains only one difficulty and that is to know why the Holy Ghost places these papal spirits or Laws under the sixth viol but the reasons are evident enough This sixth viol begins its period in the year 1390. when the Turks began to
pass over the Archipel and the Bosphorus they went still forward untill the year 1526. when they ceased to gain ground upon the West Now 't was at this time that the body of the papal Laws styl'd the Canon Law was compleated the Clementines had been publisht by John XXII about the year 1320. he likewise publisht the Extravagants But the Common or the common Extravagants appeared not nor were compiled till the end of the fifteenth Century So that 't is properly in this sixth period of the viols that this work of darkness was wholly finisht Now 't is natural when something is to be brought upon a great Theatre that it may be shown to stay till it be finisht and therefore the Prophet ought not to speak sooner of these papal Laws Second reason The 15th Censury was an Age of Excommunications Besides there never had been any age or time wherein there were more Armageddons Anathema's and Excommunications then in this period The Popes at Rome and Avignon did excommunicate one another Within this period the Councils of Pisa Constance Basil Florence and the Lateran under Julius II. and Leo X. were held and it s was nothing but anathema's excommunications canons decisions censures either against Popes or pretended hereticks as the Wickliffites Bohemians Taborites and lastly against Luther c. Lastly these spirits are most fitly placed under the period of the sixth viol because then the Bulls Third Reason decisions decrees of the Church of Rome gathered the Kings of the Earth to battel against the Bohemians And Zisca having gain'd such signal victories that they might well be called the battels of the great day of God Almighty a Croisade was publisht against him and all those who stood for the Truth in Bohemia and the neighbouring Countries CHAP. X. The seventh plague is the preaching of Luther and other Reformers by which the Latin Church was divided into three parts Papists Lutherans and Reformed ANd thus behold we are come to the seventh and last viol V. 17. And the seventh Angel pour'd out his viol into the air and there came a great voyce out of the Temple of Heaven from the Throne saying It is done It is done does not signify the final ruin of Antichrist This expression It is done hath deceived all the Interpreters who have confounded this moment or space of time with that of the seventh trumpet when it must be proclaim'd It is done the Kingdoms are brought under our Lord Jesus Christ The great Babylon is wholly destroyed c. They have believed that this expression It is done signified the total destruction of the Antichristian Kingdom at that very moment But certainly they are mistaken It is done is nothing else but It is done with the viols The viols comprehend and signify periods of some length this is the last this is the last period of the Antichristian Kingdom and which shall comprehend its total ruin We have remarkt already that every period contained in every viol took in a considerable space of time a hundred a hundred and forty a hundred and fifty years and more Therefore there is no reason not to allow some length of time to this seventh viol it ought to have as much as least as the others yea more because 't is the last and consequently it must have about two hundred years allowed to it And this is the period that comprehends the total ruin of Antichrist which ruin as we shall see anon is divided into two parts the harvest and the vintage the harvest hath been in the age last past the vintage must be at the end of this and the beginning of the next age This last viol begins exactly at the preaching of Luther and as an hour-glass must run untill the total destruction of popery And I hope none will doubt of this when we shall have made out how exactly all that follows in the Prophecy agrees with the times and things which have been seen since the Reformation This seventh viol is pour'd not upon the Earth or the Sea or the Sun or the Seat of the Beast as the others were but on the air which is the seat of the voyce of sounds and thunders and we shall presently give you the reasons V. 18. And there were voyces 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 These voyces The seventh viol raiseth Preachers and voyces for the ruin of Antichrist these lightnings and these thunders are the voyces of Preachers who labour'd in Reforming the Church we shall afterward see that there are three ways of Reforming the Church the way of Inspiration the way of Authority the way of Preaching this last is signified by voyces and thunders And 't was this way that God used to reform the Church in the last age These voyces glittered like lightnings and passed with a prodigious swiftness from one end of the Antichristian Kingdom to the other All men saw them and would see them men studied Religion The very Grandees of the World persons who despise knowledge were concerned in these affairs Henry VIII wrote a book against Luther Charles the fifth made Laws about Religion now on the account of these lightnings i.e. the voyces of Preachers this seventh viol is said to be poured on the air for the air is the seat and vehicle of the voyce There was a great Earthquake In the Prophetick style this signifies a change of the face of the World the Earth plainly signifies here the frame and face of the Antichristian Kingdom We have already seen and shall afterward have occasion to see that Earthquakes in the figurative style of the Prophets always signify a change of the face of the World because Earthquakes do overturn not only Cities but Mountains Forrests hilly Countries and Vallies they set Mountains where Vallies stood and Vallies where Mountains stood in so much that the face of a whole Country is changed Now all know what a change the reformation made in the face of popery It took away from it at one clap several Kingdoms and a great number of Soveraign States And this Earthquake i. e. this change of affairs was so great that there had not been such since men were upon the Earth This may be truly spoken without any exaggeration For we must observe that this last period comprehending the harvest and the vintage the first and last destruction of Antichrist 't is undoubted that the face of the World was never so changed as it shall be changed after the total ruin of Antichrist the time of the first establishing of Christianity not excepted For at that time there were great numbers of men converted up and down among the Nations But at the time we speak of all the Nations and whole Nations shall submit themselves to the Faith. And thus this period shall make greater changes in the World then
persons that they might be taken notice of will yet affirm that not so much as one of these seven plagues is hitherto come to pass This singularity is neither too edifying nor too comfortable I earnestly entreat them to lay aside the desire of contradicting and to consider without prejudice these two things First that in the whole explication of this 16th Chapter there is not the least forced application the Emblems which the Prophet makes use of do exactly resemble the events set down in History The second that in the application of these seven plagues unto the events every thing does hang together no part of this System contradicts another This being supposed I entreat them to consider if chance can do this and hath ever done it chance may hit right in some points but never does so in all I say again that we are at the end of the seventh period for it ought to be well observed that there is not one viol which distinct and seperated from others lasts 200 years the greatest part does not come near that number This hath already lasted 170 years it cannot last much longer 'T is true the papal authority whose beams so scorched men under the fourth viol lasted above 200 years but this was because it was inlayd or jointed in those that preceded and those that followed And its particular strict period must be reckon'd to be onely 108 years which begun at the year 1270 when the Croisades ended and continued untill the grand Schisme which happen'd in the year 1378. for then began the diminishing of the papal authority and the darkning of the Kingdom of the Beast The seventh viol hath already lasted longer then any of the rest and 't is probable that it must last about 200 years which none of the others hath done but we shall see the reason of this in the next Chapter where we shall shew that this seventh period is it self divided into three other periods the harvest the vintage and the time that is betwixt the harvest and the vintage The harvest is already past the time betwixt the harvest and the vintage is almost expired we are approaching to the vintage and at this day ought to say Come Lord Jesus come but within a little while we shall say He is come he is come CHAP. XI The explication of the 14th Chapter The vision of the harvest and the vintage the harvest of the Reformation made in the age last past the vintage is the Reformation which shall be made this present age THe fourteenth Chapter is the second of those wherein we find the circumstances of the fall of the Babylonian Kingdom In the beginning of the Chapter we find the 140 thousand marked ones who are the same with the two witnesses whom we shall discourse of hereafter the small number of faithful ones whom God preserved in spiritual Babylon and who did not partake of her Idolatries We find them I say who sing a song which none was able to learn but they i. e. they tast peculiar joyes and pleasures which the Antichristian Christians were notable to taste In the following verses an Angelappears flying in the midst of heaven Chap. 14.6 having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth and to every nation and kindred and tongue and people This is the preparative unto that preaching of the Gospel which must be made to all Nations when the Antichristian Kingdom shall be ablosht This preaching is said to be of the everlasting Gospel because it shall last untill the end of the world All Nations shall be converted and their purity shall suffer no alteration as long as the world shall last And to signify that the Kingdom of Antichrist shall fall through the preaching of this everlasting Gospel immediately after another Angel cryes Babylon is fallen is fallen that great City Which proves that in the vision that follows the harvest and the vintage are the two parts of the fall of the Babylonian Kingdom The persecution of the Waldenses Albigenses foretold in the 14th Chap. vers 9.10 11. In the third place we have in this Chapter an Angle who denounces the terrible judgments of God that must fall on those who worship the Beast and his image and receive his mark in their foreheads or in their hands And at the same time by these words here is the patience of the Saints is signified a sore persecution that must go before the fall of Antichrist not that persecution which we suffer at this day and which must be the last but that which the Church endured in the Waldenses the Albigenses the Bohemians c. For this is the persecution which happen'd before the Reformation of the last age because the fall of Babylon which is spoken of in this Chapter begins by the Reformation made in the last age Therefore the persecution here spoken of must be that which went before our Reformation but there is no other besides that against the poor Waldenses which lasted a full 100 years before the preaching of Luther All these things are onely a preparative unto the last vision of this Chapter which contains a new prediction of the fall of Antichrist with new circumstances and 't is this V. 14. And I lookt and behold a white could and upon the cloud one sate like unto the son of man having on his head a golden crown and in his hand a sharp sickle V. 15. And another Angel came out of the Temple crying with a loud voyce to him that sate on the cloud Thrust in thy sickle and reap for the time is come for thee to reap for the harvest of the earth is ripe V. 16. And he that sate on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth and the earth was reaped V. 17. And another Angel came out of the Temple which is in Heaven he also having a sharp sickle V. 18. And another Angel came out from the Altar which had power over fire and cryed with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle saying Thrust in thy sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth for her grapes are fully ripe V. 19. And the Angel thrust in his sickle into the earth and gather'd the vine of the earth and cast it into the great wine-press of the wrath of God. V. 20. And the wine-press was trodden without the city and blood came out of the wine-press even unto the horse bridles by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs A distinction of circumstances and substance in this vision In this vision there are circumstances and substance the circumstances are these the Angel who sits on a white cloud and his cloathing another Angel who bids him thrust in his sickle another Angel who appears likewise having asickle the ripeness of the corn and grapes the wine-press of the wrath of God the blood that flows out by the space of 1600 furlongs These I
the Revelation sets forth the Dragon as broken loose giving his power to the Beast and devouring the whole world Once again this is a blindness which I cannot conceive If there was no other argument against these two Hypotheses this alone would be enough to convince me of their falsity namely the terrible confusion into which these Authors do put the Visions of the Revelation To any one who hath studyed them it is evident that the Prophet hath observed the Order of History at least in the gross of events He had several visions concerning the same thing and in the order of these vision the order of all their circumstances does not alwayes in every thing agree with the order of events and this we have observed and cleared But I say it again the gross is alwayes according to the order of history this order is observed in the Revelation that the birth and progresses of Antichrists Kingdom are laid down before its fall Now the Authors we have spoken do make St Iohn guilty of a Parachronisme of two thousand years After he had finisht the narrative of the ruin of Antichrist and gone through a Period of 1260 years which if we add to them the space from the Incarnation of Christ unto the revelation of the son of perdition make almost two thousand years After this I say they make him on a sudden to go back as far as the beginning of the Christian Church Is there any other instance of such confusion in this book Let them shew it What mean those words After this so the French version which begin the 20 Chapter and denote always not only the succession of visions but of times This work is already large than I intended to make it but notwithstanding I cannot forbear to lay down a few of our arguments there are so many that one might crush the contrary opinion with number but I shall only urge the principal ones I shall open as it were four springs of arguments Four springs of arguments that demonstrate the trath of Christs reign upon earth which I shall leave every man liberty to sound and dive into contenting my self with producing them and drawing from them the principal evidences which clearly discover this future reign of our Lord Iesus Christ The firs spring is the fifth Monarchy promised to the Saints My first spring or source of arguments will be in the Prophecies that speak of a fifth Monarchy reserved for the Saints 'T is impossible to find a rational sense in them without supposing this thousand years reign There are two remarkable ones in the book of Daniel In the 2. Chapter Nebuchadnesar sees a statue whose head was of gold the shoulders of silver the belly of brass the leggs of iron the feet and toes partly of iron and partly of earth The Prophet interprets to him these four metals of the statue that they are four great Monarchies The iron leggs by consent of all signifie the fourth Monarchy which is the Roman The feet and the ten toes partly of iron and partly of earth signifie the ten kings or Kingdoms which were to divide the Roman Empire and weaken it at the same time And wheras thou sawest the feet and the toes Dan. 2. v. 41 42. part of potters clay and part of iron the kingdom shall be divided but there shall be in it of the strength of iron forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixt with miery clay And as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken These ten toes are the ten Kings which were to make up the Kingdom of Antichrist and reign together with him in the last Period of the Roman Empire during the 1260 years marked in the Revelation Now hat happens at the end of the reign of these ten Kings and of the fourth Monarchy v. 44. And in the dayes of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a Kingdom which shall never be destroyed and the Kingdom shall not be left to other people but it shall break in pieces and consume all these Kingdoms and it shall stand for ever Behold a fifth Monarchy different from the ten Kings The Monarchy promised to Christ cannot be placed in the Ages by past which must break them in pieces and must continue after them for ever i.e. untill the end of the world 'T is granted that this Kingdom that shall never be destroyed is that of Iesus Christ But is it not as clear as the day that this Kingdom must not appear untill after that the ten Kings and the ten Kingdoms shall have been broken ' in pieces by this fifth Monarchy I confess I have nothing to say to them who are incapable of beholding this evidence and I do not conceive how it can be said that we must go back beyond the ten Kings that we may place the Monarchy of Iesus Christ before them when the Prophet so plainly placeth it after the ten Kings Is it not expresly said that his fifth Monarchy must break in pieces and destroy these ten Kingdoms How therefore can it go before them or have its duration parallel to theirs In the seventh Chapter of the same Prophecy we have the same four Monarchies under the Images of four Beasts 'T is confessed that the fourth Beast that had ten horns is the Roman Empire all our writers grant that these ten horns that signifie ten Kings are the ten Kingdoms into which the Roman Empire was divided after the time of Valentinian the third and that those ten horns reign together with the little horn which is Antichrist When the Prophet had seen both the fourth Beast and the three first wholly destroyed and their bodies burnt with fire he adds And I saw in the might-visions Chap. 7. v. 13. and behold one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven and came unto the Ancient of dayes and they brought him near before him and there was given him dominion and a glory and a Kingdom that all people nations and languages should serve him his dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed And to the same purpose in the explication of the vision v. 24.25 And the tend horns out of this Kingdom are then Kings that shall arise and another shall arise after them and he shall be diverse from the first c. And he shall speak great words against the most high and shall wear out the saints of the most high and think to change times and lawes and they shall be given into his hand untill a time and times and the dividing of times c. All are agreed that Antichrist is here intended and all Protestants grant that this is the Papacy and that its reign is to last 1260 years Now what is to happen after this time and times and a dividing or half
that hath mercy on them shall lead them even by the springs of water shall he guide them I will make all my Mountains a way c. 55.12 13. and my high ways shall be exalted ye shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace The Mountains and the Hills shall break forth before you into singing and all the Trees of the Field shall clap their hands Instead of the Thorn shall come up the Firr-tree and instead of the Bryer shall come up the Myrtle-tree and it shall be to the Lord for a Name and for an everlasting Sign that shall not be cut off The Sun shall be no more thy Light by day neither for brightness shall the Moon give Light unto thee Is 60.19 but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting Light and thy God thy Glory The Sun shall no more go down neither shall thy Moon withdraw it self for the Lord shall be thine everlasting Light and the days of thy mourning shall be ended Is 54.9.10 This shall be as the waters of Noah unto me for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more go over the Earth so have I sworn that I would not be wrath with thee nor rebuke thee for the Mountains shall depart and the Hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the Covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee What is meant by all these prophecies All these and the like Expressions which we read in the Prophets do import 1. A profound Peace which shall never be interrupted by war. 2. Plenty and Abundance of all sorts of Goods 3. An Exemption from all Evils 4. Such a Prosperity where are Riches and Plenty and Joy. 5. A Felicity that is not to be interrupted by the return of Calamities This must be fixt that all these Prophecies respect the State of the Church under the Messiah for as to those who endeavour to turn them to another sense and apply them to the Temporal blessings of the Iews I cannot consider them as Christians but reckon them enemies to Christianity These promises have not been accomplisht We must therefore search for the accomplishment of these Prophecies in the History of the Church that no such thing can be found there the Antimillenaries themselves confess For they constantly tell us that these thousand years of Rest are altogether inconsistent with the orders of Divine Providence and the condition of the Church which is appointed to be always calamitous and afflicted upon Earth that Sorrow and Suffering Persecution and the Cross do inseparably belong to it that we must judge of what is to come by the History of what is past 'T is true in the three first Ages the Church was under the Cross of the Pagans in the fourth under that of the Arrians in the fifth she began to sink into superstition and hath remain'd overwhelm'd with it during the whole reign of Antichrist Where then shall we place those happy days the Prophets promise 'T is trifling to apply those promises of Peace and Tranquillity to certain little intervals of Quiet which from time to time the Church hath had in some places for it would be a very ill use of Rhetorick and a strange force put upon figures to represent so imperfect a calm by such terms as give us an Idea of the greatest and most perfect Prosperity imaginable Moreover the Prophets speaking of an endless Peace to which no affliction shall succeed it must be such a one as is like the waters of Noah which shall never return to cover the Earth it must be a peace so firm that though the Mountains be overthrown shall never be changed These Prophecies not accomplisht by the spiritual graces which the Church hath received We may not say that all this hath respect only to spiritual Graces the stability of God's Covenant and the Joy of the Faithfull I will not deny but the Holy Spirit may have some reference thereto but it is false that those spiritual favours in that weak degree wherein we see them at this day can comprehend the full signification of such great Expressions which clearly import a peace in reference to Earth as well as Heaven Add to this that though these Promises should not be applied but to Spiritual Blessings there must yet be a new Kingdom and a new Age for the fulfilling of them for we have never yet seen any wherein Spiritual Peace and invisible Graces have been so abundantly poured out to satisfy in any measure the greatness of such Expressions CHAP. XIX The fourth Head of Arguments for the reign of a thousand years are the Types Four Types of this Period the Principal is the seventh day of the Creation which is not an immediate Type of Eternal Rest but of the Peace of the Church on Earth I Come now to the fourth Head of Arguments viz. the Types They as well as the Prophecies are Pictures and representations of future Events They are not vain speculations of Divines and the Great wits that look upon them to be so approach very near to Impiety 'T is very certain that God hath been pleased to shadow forth his Mysteries in certain dispensations of his Providence Saint Paul teacheth us that Hagar the servant of Sarah Sinai a Mountain in Arabia were Types of the legal Institution As Sarah and Sion were also Types of the Covenant of Grace That Melchisedeck was a Type of our Lord Jesus Christ and in general that the Law had shadows of which the substance is to be found in Christ The Types therefore are no false or deceitfull Light whereby to judge in case they be rightly used Now I pretend that all the Types make for the Reign of Christ before the end of the World. We may find a great number of them The Captivity of Israel in Egypt was certainly a Type of that bondage under which the Church should groan The deliverance of Israel out of Egypt figured that of the Church from under the bondage of Antichrist during the Reign of Antichrist The Antichristian Empire is therefore called Egypt Now after the Israelites were come out of Egypt they entred into Canaan the Land flowing with Milk and Honey which did certainly prefigure the happy State of the Church after all her enemies should be subdued 'T is supposed that the Land of Canaan was the Image of that great and Eternall Dwelling to which the faithfull should be transported after the last judgement I deny it not But you must know 1. Type the Rest in the Land of Canaan that in the Old Testament the descriptions of the future Blessedness of the Church by Emblems Types Figures and metaphorical resemblances have not their immediate relation to Eternal Blessedness St. Paul hath told us that eye hath not seen it nor ear heard it nor can it enter into the heart of man to conceive and consequently
makes this renewed Paganism of Popery to be in less credit and esteem than formerly Men begin to disgust the popish superstitions They speak of the Invocation of Saints with contempt and boldly condemn the excess of it and call it Idolatry when they speak of it in private They wish Images were banisht from their Churches that it might not be a scandal and an offence to us They begin to confess that there was no necessity for the taking away the Cup. They acknowledge that a man may be saved without Indulgencies by the sole merit of I. Christ They would restore the reading of the Holy Scriptures to the People They suppress the Authority of the Pope and speak of it with scorn They despise his Thunders and if he begin to murmur they talk as loud or louder than he They indeavour to establish this Doctrine that under pretence of Religion or for the preservation of it 't is not permitted to subjects to take up arms They mollify and sweeten all the Doctrines of Popery I have taken notice of this in another place and again observe it this cannot hold long this state and posture of the Papacy is violent Since it is freely confest that the adoration of one God is sufficient without that of Saints and Images they must shortly conclude that for things unnecessary they ought not to scandalize one half of the Christian World and shut the Gate against the Iews and the Mahometans Never were there so many in the Church of Rome as now who acknowledge the vanity impurity of their Superstitions Every man hath the liberty of his own thoughts but I profess that to me these are great presages of the approach of the last work of God for the establishment of his Kingdom and the ruin of that of Antichrist My spirit was in this frame when this last and great Persecution in France began I therein took notice of several Characters that confirmed me in the belief that we were in the last times of the Period of 1260 years and that this is the last Persecution spoken of in the 11th Chap. Revel Singular Characters in the present persecution which presage that it shall be this last And when they shall have finiht their Testimony the Beast who ascendeth out of the bottomless Pit shall make war against them and shall overcome them and kill them And their dead Bodies shall lye in the street of the great City three days and a half For there are so many things singular and irregular in this Persecution that without prophaness and a denial of Divine Providence we cannot but acknowledge the hand of God therein 'T is singular and more than usual whether we consider the Authors of this Persecution and the manner of it or whether we consider the Subjects that suffer it and in what manner they suffer As to the Persecutors themselves There is First a Prince who hath the chiefest obligation to us for the Crown he wears which entred into his Family by the person of his Grand Father a Prince to whom we have always paid obedience and submission without the least shadow of Rebellion a Prince for whom we preserved the Crown in his minority and who hath not scrupled to testify that we did so a Prince who is wise and understanding as to his own Interests and those of the States of Europe who yet in despite of his own Interest hath done all that which the House of Austria would have dictated to him to do if she had imployed her Emissaries in his Council who destroys his own Subjects who makes innumerable Male-contents who throws eternal seeds of rebellion and war in his own Dominions who disobliges his Protestant Allies and alienates them in such a manner almost as never to be reconciled The Protestant States and Princes have been always the principal Allies of France Swede Denmark England the Low-Countries the Switzers and the Protestant Princes of Germany These are they that have supported it when the House of Austria threatned the liberty of all Europe And these are they who assisted France to humble the House of Austria so low as now it is and consequently that have advanced France to that point of Grandeur she is now at But Time will shew how great a wound France hath now made in the heart of all her ancient Allies We see already that this Persecution makes the discord and dissention cease that was between the Protestants and brings them nearer an union and reconciliation than before God will let us see something farther of that kind However it must be confest that there is something therein which is not to be understood by man that so wise a Court should violate all the rules of good policy which is the Soul of States and the spring of all their motions If we look upon the Clergy that seems to have been the Sollicitor of this Persecution it will appear no less extraordinary 'T is not an Ignorant and superstitious Clergy as was that of the last Century These are understanding and knowing persons Men of learning and prudence freed from the ridiculous affectation and prejudice of a Monastic Spirit who have little zeal for the Romish Ceremonies who flight their worship at least for the most part of it who have much knowledge of the Truth and at the bottom but very little Religion In a word they are such as know very well that we are not in the wrong or at least that altogether and in every thing we are not Nevertheless they persecute us more cruelly than the most furious Monks or inraged Inquisitors have ever done They act therefore against their own light which is so far very strange and surprizing But what is more astonishing they act against the most sacred Principles of their Religion There is nothing among them more venerable than the Sacraments and nothing esteemed more criminal than the violation of them To administer the Sacrament of Pennance to give absolution to a Sinner to an Heretick who is not penitent who saith and declares openly without hiding or concealing it that he perseveres from his very heart in his sin and Heresy and never renounc't it but by constraint and violence to give I say absolution to such a man according to the definition of their loosest Casuists 'T is Sacriledge to give the Sacrament of the Altar to a man that professeth he believes nothing of it and acknowledgeth nothing there but meer Bread 't is a Sacrilegious Communion Should it not affect the Hearts and even the Imaginations of those persecuting Bishops and Priests to think of the innumerable Sacriledges that by this means are every day committed They absolve a multitude of wretched People who protest that by meer force and violence they were constrained to sign the abjuration of their Religion and to get out of the hands of a thousand Executioners who devour'd and destroyed 'em and gave them no rest day or night The Priests and Bishops who
forbid all Assemblies to leave us in ignorance and deprive us of all the other advantages which others Subjects injoy the Reformed Religion would have been almost extinguisht before ten years were over such being the coldness and declension of Piety to which the Protestants were already come But God who would not that his Truth should perish suffer'd not that things should remain in that posture 'T is well known that humane passions are a great help to Christian vertues The fury which these persons are now in who feel this violence the torment they suffer in their Consciences the rage which they are in for being forced do all concur to fortify the hatred they had of Idolatry and their love and inclination for the Truth So that by means of these violent Passions the Truth makes the more indelible impressions on their hearts He must be very ignorant in the History of the World and of the Heart of man who can think this to be a likely way to extinguish a Religion The means to extirpate an Heresy pretended or real is to cut off the Heads to shed a great deal of blood and to stifle the most zealous of them by a massacre for if you suffer them to live and are content only to draw from them a feigned abjuration you thereby make them irreconcileable Hereticks 'T was by fire and sword the Albigenses were destroyed There is yet another very effectual way of extinguishing an Heresy which is to take away from them all means of increase and growth by preaching and instruction after this manner the Arrian Heresy was supprest by the Emperors This way they began to take in France for these twenty years last past and which could not have failed of success as I observed if it had been continued But he must be very blind that can believe that Persons into whose Heads and Hearts you would force the Truth by blows and violence will not recover themselves again assoon as possible and by all manner of ways But it will be said there are other methods used which you grant to be effectual The People are deprived of all the means of Instruction and so in a little time the Truth must dye This would prove so if their Consciences were not under such a violence as they are and if that posture of things could last long the Truth would then be extinguisht by little and little But that state of things is too violent to continue long and within a few years you will see the Light of that fire which is shut up without being extinguisht There is another thing very extraordinary in this Persecution and wherein the finger of God doth manifestly appear that is the way they have taken in their dealing with the Pastors These are the men that must be supprest if you would extinguish a Religion because they are capable of recovering it Therefore in all former Ages the severest part of the storm hath fallen on them and even in this Age likewise witness the History of the Persecutions in Hungary But here is the quite contrary the People ruined and the Ministers suffered to go free They must carry nothing away with them but their Souls and Consciences are given them as a prey which so many Laiks would desire and rejoyce to obtain These banished Pastors carry the account of the miseries of their several Flocks into all parts of the World. They are in all the Protestant Courts of Europe the unreproveable Witnesses of the violence of the Persecution their miseries stir up compassion towards the afflicted and Indignation against their Persecutors Besides this they are always ready and kept in reserve to return into France and bring back the Light of Truth again there whenever God shall please to open the door This is such a thing as speaks plainly that God preserves them in safety in order to his great work and till then This is not the effect of the Compassion of their Persecutors for they are destitute of any and are cruel to the utmost degree 'T is not a piece of policy neither for that would have made them secure the Pastors in such a place wherein they should have been condemned to an eternal silence 'T is then a secret Providence of God which leads persons farther than they would go and to do that which they would not have otherwise done and 't is observable that Bishop Vsher in his prophecy doth expresly take notice of this particular that in this last persecution the Pastors shall be spared God reserving them for the Great work he hath farther to do which makes me give the more heed to that prophecy Lastly that we may see how extraordinary this persecution is in all its Circumstances let us consider it in its success and with respect to those on whom it hath succeeded I look upon that general Desertion an whole Kingdom in a manner changing its Religion in four moneths time as a thing that cannot be parallel'd 'T is true the Roman Empire hath been seen to become Arrian in a very little while by the persecution of the Emperors But Arrianism was a speculative Heresy and the Arrians cheated the People by equivocal Confessions of Faith which taken in good sense might now be subscribed unto And for other things their Worship Prayers Ceremonies Altars Bishops Government 't was all alike and so the passage from one to another was very easy But here is the greatest difference imaginable in worship the object of adoration the manner of it in Ceremonies Government and Discipline The Reformed Religion and the Roman differ as Day and Night so that there must have been a prodigious Current for the passage from one to another in so little time 'T is a frightfull and surprizing thing to see People make less difficulty to change their God than good Subjects would do to change their Prince in case an Enemy break into any Country he would not find People so ready to abjure their former Oath of Fidelity 'T is true this kind of persecution which is made use of against the reformed seems to me more cruel and more likely to overcome their constancy then Massacres and Fires Wheels and Gibbets When a man can see to the end of his sufferings though that end be death he may be able to stand his ground but when he is given over to an hundred Executioners who are commissioned to torment him by turns without giving him the least repose I confess this is the ready way to despair If they did nothing more than hinder a man from sleep it were sufficient to make him distracted and to make him do what ever they would have him 'T is certain then that several of those who have yielded would more willingly have suffer'd death for their Religion and have earnestly and seriously desired it But what is very strange is that the greatest part have not tarried for these Persecutors At the very approach of the Dragoons they cowardly complied and a
small number of True Believets remain'd victims exposed to the Rage of an Army of an hundred thousand men which were let loose upon the Kingdom This I say again is without Example in any Histsry S. Cyprian in his Treatise de Lapsis seems to say that some such thing happened in the persecution of Decius but he himself in his Epistles makes it evident that the Apostacy was not so general for he remits those who had fallen to be judged at the return of Peace in the Assemblics of the Faithful who persevered so that the number of those that persevered must have been considerable In our time it would be difficult out of every Flock to make up an Assembly of such as persevere to judge the rest 'T is therefore an Event wherein we must admire the depth of Divine Providence 'T is a speaking Prodigy which tells us we are now in those last days when Christ should come and not find true Piety or true Faith upon Earth This is a Touch-stone for all Protestants their Brethren of France were not more wicked than others Wherefore we may believe that the same thing would happen in any other place on supposition of the same Circumstances and consequently that Christian courage and true Faith are at this day very rare and few Instances to be found Lastly this Affair tells us that God would melt the Heart of that People and suffer them to sink and be swallowed up that he may shortly raise to himself another a new People These are the Characters of this persecution which makes me regard it as very singular and extraordinary in its kind and consequently as a presage that God will shortly finish the establishment of his Kingdom and the Ruin of that of Antichrist If we only consider how this Persecution hath been more effectual than any the Church ever suffer'd it were enough to make us judge that the Devil now imploys his utmost force and power as apprehending 't is the last Time and that the ruin of his Kingdom is at hand When Paganism was ready to fall under Constantine he then excited the sharpest persecution under the Emperor Dioclesian These are the different Reflexions that conspired to possess me that the coming of our Lord was near to destroy the wicked one by the Breath of his Mouth I had a strong inclination to be certain and assured of the truth of these Thoughts which could no otherwise be done but by finding in the Apocalypse the accomplishment of those Circumstances which were to precede and accompany the fall of the Babylonish Empire With this design I betook my self to read over the Apocalipse not the several Commentators on that Book but the Book it self only with the Exposition of Ioseph Mede whom I formerly look't upon as a man inspired for the Interpretation of the Prophecies His Key of the Apocalypse and annexed commentary did heretofore charm me I could find nothing like it in all the other Expositors I added that of his Chronicles and his Book called The Apostacy of the latter Times which is a large Commentary on 1 Tim. Chap. 4. v. 1 2 3 4. And the Spirit saith expresly that in the last times there shall be some who shall depart from the Faith. Besides several excellent and curious things a part whereof you will find in this Treatise I met with in that Author the thing which I so eagerly sought for viz. the true Epocha of the 1260 years during which Time the Antichristian Empire should last he makes them to begin about the year of our Lord 450. or 455. by dateing them from thence they must end about the year 1710 or 1715. which agrees very well with my conjecture But Ioseph Mede who set me right at first in the beginning of the true path forsook me in the middle of the way and when the circumstances and preliminaries of the fall of Babylon were to be adjusted according to this Calculation which are so exactly described in the Apocalypse I found no assistance at all from him on the contrary he led me out of the way wherin he himself had put me and to make me wander and go astray According to the Epocha which he himself had mark't for the beginning of the 1260 years for the reign of Antichrist I should see the end of it in 25 or 30 years but according to Mr. Mede there must be many Ages to accomplish all things which are to be fulfilled before the period of the Kingdom of Antichrist In the 11th 14th 16th Chapters we have an account of the Circumstances and degrees of the Fall of that Empire the Eleventh Chapter speaks of the death of the two Witnesses for three days and half of their Resurrection and of the fall of the tenth part of the City c. In the 14 Chap. where the Fall of Babylon is divided into two Acts one is called the Vintage the other the Harvest In the 16th Chap. where the seven Periods of the declension and Fall of the Antichristian Empire are set forth by seven viols and seven Plagues of all this Ioseph Mede understood nothing yea supposing as he doth that of those seven Plagues not above two or three were come to pass in his Time he remits us far enough off for the accomplishment of the five others The Periods described by every Viol are each of them more than one Age so that we should have four or five hundred years yet to come before the end of the Kingdom of Antichrist If every one of the four viols that remain to be poured out were but of fifty years we should have yet two hundred years longer to wait I confess that after having read those places of the Apocalypse and reviewed them twenty times I understood nothing more therin I was only more and more confirmed that no man had rightly understood them In the midst of these distractions I yet begun my work without knowing well where I went. But I can say that God so opened mine eyes in the way that gave me unexpressible consolation for after having consulted the Eternal Truth above an hundred times with a deep Humility and very great Attention at length I received an answer at least I believe so and think it very plain that all that must precede the last Fall of the Antichristian Empire is fully accomplisht I have no right to require the same assurance from others neither do I require it But that which I demand at least is a little of that attention which I imployed in the meditation of those divine Oracles and then I am perswaded that if you are not as fully convinc'd as I am you will yet see reason enough not to condemn me of rashness In the first part of this work you will find nothing new for the substance of it for 't is a long time that Rome hath been called Babylon and that the Characters of the Antichristian Empire have been confest to be found in the Papacy I
believe nevertheless that you will find that Truth better cleared and made more manifest than hitherto it hath been This Controversie about Antichrist hath languisht for an hundred years it hath been unhappily abandon'd on a politick account and in obedience to Popish Princes 'T is a wicked Complaisance for which we are punisht and which hath cost us very dear for if we had perpetually exposed this Great and important Truth before the Eyes of the Protestants that the Papacy is Antichristianism they would not have fallen into that degeneracy and apostacy which we see at present How could they have resolved within themselves to submit to Antichrist and return to his Party But 't is so long since they heard it so called that they have forgot it They thought it was only a transport of zeal in the first Reformers from which we were now come off There was something in that neglect and forgetfullness which seems to discover the finger of God He would that this horrible catastrophe should happen and to that end permitted that this important Truth should be neglected and those controversies only which were but accessory should be minded and that this should be pass't over that the Papacy is the Antichristian Empire they who for want of giving heed to that Truth are fallen ought now to think of it and tremble to consider that they have voluntarily plung'd themselves again into that Babylon out of which God had so wonderfully delivered them In my opinion this is so fundamental a Truth that without it a man cannot be a true Christian to confound the Kingdom of J. Christ with that of Antichrist is an unsufferable Fault in some Ages for certain God hath permitted that Ignorance but we are not now in those times we must now declare for one party and stand our ground There is no Communion between Christ and Belial between the Prince of light and that Destroyer who is truly an Angel of Darkness that Controversy was so much stifled and laid asleep that our Adversaries believed it dead and thought that we had renounc't that Principle and the ground of all our Reformation for I cannot believe the Reformation to have been on a good foundation but on this account Some Protestants the reproach and shame not only of the Reformation but of the Christian name have contributed to efface these Ideas from the minds of men by turning to another sense what the H. Ghost saith of the Antichristian Empire making such Commentaries of the scripture as overthrow the design and meaning of it forging Histories at pleasure by that means to find the accomplishment of S. Iohn's Prophecies in the first ages of the Church At present therfore we must revive that Truth which we had almost suffered to dye This is the Time when we must indeavour to open the Eyes of the Princes and People of the Earth for behold now is the Time when they ought to eat the flesh of the Beast and burn it with fire strip naked the whore and tear off her ornaments and make a full end of Babylon Within a little while these great Things must come to pass 't is high time then to awaken men in order to it This is what I attempt in the first part of this work wherein I discover after another manner than hath been done hitherto the true Characters of that Antichristian Empire In which I must acknowledg my great obligations to my forementioned Author Joseph Mede for no man hath taken pains upon that subject with so much success as he You will see the admirable Type of Antichrist in the famous Antiochus carried farther than ever it hath been and the explication of the three years and half or 1260 days much clearer than ever hitherto it hath been made But I must here advertise that to comprehend the full force of my Arguments to prove the Papacy to be the Antichristian Empire to the reading of this work you must add that of my Lawful Prejudices against Popery for in that book you will find the proof of all the Characters of the Antichristian Empire inlarged I mean not only those Chapters wherein the explication of some passages in the Prophecies concerning Antichrist I apply them to the Pope and his Empire I speak principally of those Chapters where I describe the Corruption Covetousness Pride Idolatry Paganism the fabulous and lying Spirit of Popery all characters of Antichristianism as in this work is shown I desire all those who have any care of their salvation to Read those two pieces and I dare be confident that all those who have not a seared Conscience will be sensibly affected with what they shall there find and conceive a just Horror for that Religion which hath held the Truth under so long and cruel a Captivity That I may render my Lawfull Prejudices the more usefull to my design which is to make the Papacy appear to be the true Antichristianism I am resolved according to the advice that hath been given me to abridge it but instead of making a pure and simple abridgment I shall in contracting it change the Prejudices into so many Characters of Antichristianism and show that there is no one of those Prejudices but is a character of the Antichristian Empire If any thing retards this design it will be my desire to see whether Mr. Arnaud will make good the promise of F. Simon and reply to that Book So that when I Abridge that Book I may at the same time refute the Sophisms Mr. Arnaud is preparing This first part regards the Time past The second part contains the explication of Things Future or rather of those which we believe are yet to come there are many things therin which will certainly be surprizing to you as they were to me and if you read with any favourable opinion what I say upon the 11th 14th and 16th Chapters of the Apocalyps I cannot believe you will have much different Thoughts from mine I will not call them Conjectures let them be such to others I consent but as to me there is something more for I think I have discovered which are the two parts of the Fall of Babylon whereof one is called the Harvest the other the Vintage I believe that I have found the seven viols of the 16th Chap. to be already poured out which were supposed to be yet to come which to me is an argument that the Reign of Antichrist is near its end I know not whether others have discovered any thing of this before me I pretend not to have perused all the Modern Commentators on the Apocalyps on the Contrary I have read very few of them having experienc't that the diversity of Ideas that remain in the mind serve but to obscure the Truth and cause one to lose it Some I consulted before I made this second Ediction but I found nothing capable to make me alter my sentiments or that could furnish me with any new light Dr. Moore is
the H. Scripture uses such high words to describe the popish Idolatry and higher than those it makes use of to describe the Pagan Idolatry Pag. 183 Chap. XX. The deceiving Spirits which St. Paul speaks of are Evil Spirits The Doctrine of Daemons is that Doctrine that hath Daemons for its Objects and not that which hath Daemons for its Authors There is a perfect conformity between the Theology and the Religion of the Heathens about Daemons and that of the Papism about Saints and Angels mediatory Spirits Pag. 199 Chap. XXI What is the Character of those that were to establish Idolatry in the Christian Religion They are Priests and Monks Authors of the Laws of Celibacy and of Fasts How many fables and fictions have been invented by these men seared in their Consciences Pag. 215 Chap. XXII The Characters of Antichrist in the Papism confirm'd by the great type of Antichrist Antiochus Epiphanes That which is spoken literally of this Antiochus agrees mystically to the Pope and the Papism Pag. 228 Chap. XXIII A notable Prophecy of the Mahuzim that Antichrist was to worship The whole found admirably accomplisht in the Papism What is the literal sense of the Prophecy with respect to Antiochus An Explication of the beginning of the 12th Chap. of Daniel applied to Antiochus and the Papism Pag. 241 Chap. XXIV In which are gather'd together 35. Characters of Antichrist that perfectly agree to the Papism and cannot agree to any but it Pag. 255 Chap. XXV How Antichrist came to be mistaken being so well Characterised in the Prophecies A comparison of I. Christ and Antichrist in the accidental circumstances of their coming Pag. 263 The Table of Chapters of the Second Part. Chap. I. OF the duration of the Kingdom of Antichrist A refutation of that dream that it must last but three years and a half Ten Arguments which demonstrate that that supposition is false and impossible Pag. 3 Chap. II. The last Argument against the Chimaera of three years and half taken from the time during which the Temple was prophan'd by Antiochus Four quite different times set down for that in Daniels Prophecies An Explication and a reconciling of those four times An application of these four times to the Kingdom of Antichrist and the ruin of that Kingdom Pag. 17 Chap. III. What the last times are It doth not signify the end of the World. There are many times with reference to the Church and with reference to the World. If Antichrist must reign 1260 years he is come Mahometanism is not Antichristianism Pag. 29 Chap. IV. Some Principles to discover when the Antichristian Empire began and when it must end Three Characters of that Empire Idolatry Pride and corruption That these three Characters began to appear in the fourth Age and did infinitely encrease in the fifth Pag. 38 Chap. V. That we must look for the point of the birth of Antichristianism in the fifth Age. It must end about the year 1710 or 1715. Pag. 48 Chap. VI. The circumstances of the fall of Antichrist re-establisht in their order An Explication of the fifteenth Chapter Principles for the right understanding the sixteenth Chapter Divers interpretations given of it and their visible faults Pag. 62 Chap. VII An Explication of the three first VIOLS and the three first PLAGVES Pag. 78 Chap. VIII The fourth plague the encrease of the heat of the Sun denoting the encrease of the Papal Authority which had almost utterly ruin'd the World and the Church The fifth plague is the desolation of ROME when the Pope retreated to Avignon and the diminution of the Papal Authority by the grand Schism of the West Pag. 87 Chap. IX The sixth Plague are the Turks who pass over the Bosphorus and invade the Greek and Latin Empires The three unclean spirits which come out from the mouth of the false Prophet are the Papal Laws armed with Excommunications Pag. 97 Chap. X. The seventh Plague is the preaching of Luther and other Reformers by which the Latin Church was divided into three parts Papists Lutherans and Reformed Pag. 216 Chap. XI The Explication of the 14th Chapter The vision of the harvest and the vintage the harvest of the Reformation made in the age last past the vintage is the Reformation which shall be made this present age Pag. 224 Chap. XII The Explication of that part of the 11th Chapter where the last persecution made by Antichrist is fore-told which is the present persecution in France The death of the two witnesses who shall not be buried by means of the succour brought by the enemies of France Pag. 236 Chap. XIII The resurrection of the two Witnesses The Reformation shall within a few years rise again in FRANCE after that it shall be establisht by Royal Authority FRANCE shall renounce Popery and that Kingdom shall be converted Pag. 251 Chap. XIV Observations upon the 17 18 19. Chapt. of the Revelation concerning the fall of Antichrists Kingdom A brief Methodizing of the events which the H. Ghost had displaced in the Visions Pag. 270 Chap. XV. The Reason why in this work we speak of some things so positively The linking together of our Principles suffers us not to doubt that we now are at the end of the reign of the Papacy Pag. 277 Chap. XVI Of the thousand years reign That in all the past time there is not a time to be found wherein Satan hath been bound Four heads of arguments to prove this reign The first is the fifth Monarchy so plainly promised to the Saints Pag. 285 Chap. XVII The second spring of Arguments to prove the thousand years reign is the reign promised to the Iews The promises made to them have not been fulfilled but must be The conversion of St. Paul is a Type of that of the whole Nation Pag. 294 Chap. XVIII The third Head of Arguments for the future Kingdom of Christ and the Church So many Prophecies which concern the compleat Victories of I. Christ the Holiness of the Church and its perfect prosperity which have never yet been accomplisht Pag. 312 Chap. XIX The fourth Head of Arguments for the reign of a thousand years are the Types Four Types of this Period the Principal is the seventh day of the Creation which is not an immediate Type of Eternal Rest but of the Peace of the Church on Earth Pag. 321 Chap. XX. The Type of the Creation hath not been well explained We must make a System of it Principles to establish that System the division of the duration of the Church into seven Periods answering to the seven days of the Creation Pag. 326 Chap. XXI The Explication of the Mysteries signified by the Chaos by the Creation of Light by the separation of the Waters and by the Creation of the Plants The first days of the Creation and the three first Periods of the Church Pag. 334 Chap. XXII Explication of the Mysteries of the four last days of the Creation Pag. 345 Chap. XXIII A farther Confirmation
the other Churches of Asia and if any will have it so all those that were at that time in the world And he chose among these seven the names of the principal ones intending that the other lesser Churches should reckon that as spoken concerning their present estate which is spoken to the seven principal ones among them 2dly Who knows whether there were at that time more than seven considerable Churches in Asia The other were so very much below these for Dignity Grandure Excellency that the H. Spirit judged it not proper to make any account of them the Advertisements that he gives to these seven Churches being sufficient for the Disorders which might be in all the others which Disorders were apparently the same For 't is usuall enough for little flocks to follow the examples of the greater ones Lastly it doth not appear that the holy Spirit in what follows hath divided the duration of the Church since J. Christ's time to the end of the world or to the coming of Jesus Christ's Kingdom into seven Periods For the seven seals the seven Trumpets the seven Vialls do not each of them take up all time They succeed one another The seventh seal brings forth seven Trumpets the sixth Trumpet is subdivided into seven Vialls It had been very methodical in a Revelation after having obscurely mark'd out the seven Periods of the Church by the seven Epistles to describe the same times by seven other Characters more observable more distinct This is indeed what some modern writers do believe that God hath done pretending that the seven seals the seven Trumpets are co-temporary divide the duration of the Christian Church into seven Periods as the seven Epistles to the seven Churches do But this opinion will not appear probable to those that study the Prophecies the events with any application of mind I look on that as nothing that is said to support the mystery of the seven Churches viz. that we do not see that such things happened in the seven Churches of Asia which are there named as have any resemblance with what the H. Spirit saith to them How should we see it seeing we have not the particular History of those Churches in that time Besides tho we do not know the particulars of those events yet there is nothing in the seven Epistles which doth not very well agree with the Estate of the Church that then was without any necessity to seek out events mystically meant in future ages The applications that are made of the seven Epistles to the seven Periods are not happy The principal thing that hinders me from closing with the opinion of the Prophetical sense of the Epistles is that I do not find that the applications which are made of them to the Ages that have past since the Apostles do answer expectation 'T is true there are some places where the applications are not unhappy But seeing this is not to be met with every where I believe that they have hit luckily by chance Otherwise the Prophecy should every where agree with the events To the end one may better judge of the force of this last reason I shall set down two or three of the mystical interpretations that are given to these Epistles This will please those who cannot or will not go to seek them in their Springs I begin with that of Patrick Forbes a Scotch Divine The explication of the mystery of the seven Churches by Forbes that lived died in the beginning of this age According to him the Church of Ephesus signifies the Primitive Church of the three first Ages The Praises which the H. Spirit gives it I know thy works thy labour how thou canst not bear them which are evil c. These praises I say may well agree to the Church of the three first Ages But those which God gives to the Church of Thyatira afterwards are greater Yet 't is certain that the fourth Period of the Church did not come near the Church of the three first Ages in fervency purity The Nicolaitans that are spoken of in this Epistle to the Church of Ephesus may signifie all the Hereticks all the kinds being meant by one But seeing the Church of all Ages hath had its Hereticks this character can't distinguish this Period from the others The second Epistle is to the Church of Smyrna Forbes would have this to be the Period in which the Arrians Macedonians Nestorians Eutychians reigned That is to say that this Period will comprehend the fourth the fifth Age. But how can these words be applied to those Ages I know thy works thy Tribulation thy poverty but thou art rich I know the blasphemy of those that say they are Jews but are not but are the Synagogue of Satan See here are praises that are no whit inferiour to those that were given to the Church of Ephesus Yet 't is certain that the Church in these Ages was corrupted lost all the beauty it had in the three first Ages of the Church Its manners were corrupted its worship was marred by the invocation of Saints the worship of Reliques What will become of that Persecution of ten days that God predicts to this Church of Smyrna 'T is true the Church was persecuted under the Arrian Emperours but it doth not appear very well why this is described by number of ten days The third Epistle is directed to the Church of Pergamus according to Forbes this is the Period of the reign of Antichrist The foregoing Periods were but of two or three hundred years this must be above a thousand years Here is found something that is pretty like this Period I know where thou dwellest even where Satan's seat is To which may be added that the martyr Antipas spoken of in this Epistle signifies Anti-papa an Enemy opposing the Pope that this signifies all those that have opposed the tyranny of Antichrist But the rest doth by no means agree to this Period I know thy works that thou holdest fast my name hast not denied my faith These praises do by no neans belong to a Church so corrupt as was that of the third Period under the reign of Antichrist Thou hast them that hold the Doctrine of Balaam who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the Children of Israel to eat things sacrificed unto Idols to commit fornication By this must be meant those evil Christians that joined in with the Antichristian Idolatry Now these people are not well described by thou hast them for this imports that it was not the body of the Society And on the contrary under the Antichristian Empire the greatest part of men did partake of his abominations The fourth Epistle is directed to the Church of Thyatira to which the H. Spirit gives these great praises I know thy works Charity service Patience that thy last works are more than the
first Forbes would have this be that Period of the Church in which the Church began to reform her self in which the good separated from the evil i. e. the Church from the Albigenses to Luthers time Now I leave every wise man to judge if a small number of Albigenses Waldenses that separated from the Church of Rome that endured so short a time could deserve from the whole Christian Church so generally corrupted the fairest of all the praises that the H. Spirit gives to the seven Churches Thou sufferest that woman Jezabel that calleth her self a Prophetess to teach to seduce my servants to commit fornication This Jezabel I confess very much resembles the Antichristian Church But Why should the Albigenses be blamed for suffering the Roman Church How could they destroy it who were so weak Did they not cry out upon her as Babylon as much as they were able Sardis is the fifth Church to which the H. Spirit writes according to Forbes 't is the Reformed Church in which neither Jezabel nor Balaam nor the Pope nor Popery are any longer tolerated because she broke with the Roman Church But why would we have the Ages of our Reformation since Luther to be branded with so black fatal a Character Thou hast a name to live but art dead Be watchful strengthen the things which remain are ready to dy for I have not found thy works perfect before God. I think our Reformation deserved at least as much praise as that of the Albigenses The Zeal thereof was great the Doctrine pure Philadelphia is the sixth Church signifies according to Forbes the Church that shall carry the Reformation to its greatest height that shall have but a small number of members but they shall be very Zealous Laodicea is the last Church or the last Period The Holy Spirit terribly blames it Thou art neither hot nor cold Thou saist I am rich have need of nothing c. dost not know that thou art wretched miserable poor blind naked According to Forbes this is those Churches that making all their glory to consist in their having quitted Babylon do fall back make Religion to consist in nothing but duties purely external This last Period must be placed at the end of the World. Thus you have Forbes's system Let us proceed to that of Cocceius According to this later Author the Church of Ephesus is the Apostolical Church i. e. that wherin the Apostles preached The Explication of the mystery of the seven Churches according to Cocceius So that this Period must be extended to the death of St. John. The Nicolaitans spoken of in this first Epistle are Hereticks in general Nicolaos in Greek signifies the Conquerour of the People 'T is the Character of Hereticks to make themselves masters of the people by seducing them The Church of Smyrna signifies the Church suffering in all places especially that of the three first Ages The persecution of ten Days according to this must signify the ten Persecutions which the Church suffered during those three Ages under the Pagan Emperours This doth not fall out ill but I fear it was chance that made this hit for the rest doth not fall out in the same manner The holy Spirit saith Some of you shall be cast into Prison that ye may be tryed This is very feebly to express the great number of Martyrs and the cruel Sufferings to which the Church was exposed during these three first Ages of the Church 'T is much more probable that this signifies some light Persecution that was to befal Smyrna in which Persecution the Evil should not go beyond the imprisoning some perticular Persons The Epistle to the Church of Pergamus is the third according to Cocceius 't is the Church from Constantine's time to the birth of Antichrist Pergamus is the name of a famous fortress of Troy. Rome signifies strength or fortress 'T is in Rome that satan's seat is But why should the seat of satan be fixed in Rome converted by Constantine It had been much better to have fix'd it in Rome Pagan or to reserve it for Rome Antichristian that was to follow immediately after Antipas the martyr signifies saith he the Orthodox that maintain'd the consubstantiality of the Son. Antipas for Antipatros Antipatros for Isopatros equal to the Father I have nothing to say hereupon but it doth not please me every well The Church of Thyatira is the fourth signifies according to Cocceius the Church under the reign of Antichrist Jezabel that appears in this Epistle is the Antichristian Church They that suffer Jezabel the Prophetess are the elect mingled among the Antichristian Idolaters That sickness that God would send on Jezabel in casting her on her bed are those mortifications which Antichristianism was to receive by the several disasters that befel the Roman Church till the Reformation This falls out pretty well but 't is by meer chance for how can that magnificent Elogy be applied to this period of the Antichristian church I know thy works thy charity thy patience that thy last works are more than the first Never was the church so void of saints of good works as in this sad Period Sardis is the fifth Church the fifth Period according to Cocceius as well as according to Forbes 't is the Reformed Church But I say hereto as I said before on occasion of Forbes why should we say of our Reformation thou hast a name to live behold thou art dead strengthen the things which remain are ready to dy Philadelphia signifies brotherly Love this is the sixth Church which carries in its name the character of a Church yet to come wherein love and charity shall reign but among a very small number of people This church shall be persecuted Attempts will be made to shut the door against its conversions Yet after this the Kings of the Earth shall submit themselves to it This is in after ages So that we have nothing to say about it Laodicea signifies the Church that shall immediately precede the time wherein God shall pass that judgment spoken of in the 11th ch v. 18. i. e. when the reign of J. Christ shall come to be establisht on the Earth That is to say that immediately before the Kingdom of J. Christ comes on the Earth the Church must fall into that dreadful decay meant by these words Thou art neither hot nor cold thou art poor blind naked I do not well understand how all this hangs together The Church oâ— Philadelphia which is the sixth after it hath been persecuted shall remain victorious over all the Kings of the Earth which signifies that all the nations of the Earth shall be converted see here the reign of J. Christ on the Earth And yet after this comes a seventh Period wherein religion shall almost entirely perish before the Kingdom of J. Christ comes on
pieces the whole Earth stamped the residue with the feet of it For it mortifyed all its neighbours whom it did not Subdue The 6th Ch. of the Revel belongs to this first part of the Prophecy of Daniel The 8th Ch. of the Revelation addeth to the Prophecy of Daniel for it shews the degrees wherby the Roman Empire was brought to its division into ten Kingdoms 8. It had ten horns I considered the horns behold there came up among them another little horn before whom three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots behold in this horn were Eyes like the Eyes of a Man a mouth speaking great things 24. The Angel explaining this place saith The ten horns out of the Kingdom are ten Kings that shall arise another shall arise after them he shall be diverse from the first shall subdue three Kings 25. And he shall speak great words against the Most High shall wear out the saints of the Most High think to change Times laws they shall be given into his hand untill a time times the dividing of time See the division of the fourth Monarchy into ten others which was made after the year 450. We shall see afterwards which are these ten Kingdoms From the midst of these ten comes up a little horn a Monarch that appears as nothing a Priest that insensibly encreases his power over these ten Kings so far as to take away the third part of their Demains Jurisdiction Power This is what hath been exactly accomplisht in the Papacy which hath taken away from the Western Kings more than a third part of their Estate which is become Church Lands dependant on the Church more than a third of their jurisdiction by the Tribunals of Bishops Officials who drew almost all causes to them under the pretence that there was something mingled with them that respected the Church the Sacraments or the Conscience Lastly more than a third part of their Power by the Usurpations of the Popes who have made Kings their Vassals a hundred ways Besides this the Popes have particularly overthrown these three Kingdoms that of the Greeks in Italy that of the Lombards that of Germany which they have made dependant on the Roman Church This little horn speaks words of blasphemy against God exalts it self above all that is called God against the Kings of the Earth It destroys the saints of the most high That is to say it persecutes them even to blood It thinks to change the Times the Law it makes attempts against the divine laws it destroys Gods Commands dispenseth with them It commands the adoration of images Creatures which God forbids It permits crimes which God abominates against which he hath made severe laws This also is the true description of the Pope the Papacy To this horn is given a time times the dividing or the half of a time one year two years half a year three years half in all 360. prophetical days to a year that is to say 1260. years See the text on which the 11th 13th 17. Ch. of the Revel are a comment I beheld till the Thrones were cast down v. 9. the Ancient of days did sit whose garment was white as snow the hair of his head like the pure wool his throne was like the fiery flame his wheels as burning fire A fiery stream issued came forth from before him v. 10. thousand thousands ministred to him ten thousand times ten thousands stood before him the judgment was set the books were open'd I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake v. 11 I beheld even till the beast was slain his body destroyed given to the burning flame In the explication which the Angel gives Daniel we read But the judgment shall sit v. 26 they shall take away his dominion to consume to destroy it unto the end And the Kingdom do minion v. 27. the 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 all dominions shall serve obey him The judgment here spoken of is not the last judgment God appears sitting on a magnificent throne not to judg the whole world but to judg the Empire of the Beast the fourth Monarchy in its Antichristian Period to deal forth the various punishments that befall this Monarchy for 7 or 8 hundred years to bring it to its end This Fire these Flames these Wheels burning like fire on which the throne moves represent the greatness of those punishments And behold the Text of the 9th Ch. in which St. John presents to our view the Saracens the Turks that make desolate the Roman Antichristan Empire of the 14th 15th 16th 18th 19th where God in divers visions represents the different steps of the ruin of the Roman Antichristian Empire As for what is said here of the Kingdom given to the Saints 't is the matter Text of the end of the 11th Ch. of the 20 21 22. throughout So it will appear in following the path which we are entred into that the whole Revelation is a commentary on ten or twelve verses of the 7th Ch. of Daniel CHAP. IV. The systems of the seven seals the seven Trumpets that denote the great events bring the world to its end IN the 4th Ch. the H. Spirit open'd the scene the 5th is a preludium for the vision of the seven seals which is contained in the 6. Ch. The first book is sealed with seven seals that is to say 't is very obscure Indeed it is so to that degree that never will any thing be said on this first part of the Revelation that goes beyond conjecture probability Wheras as for the second I hold that one may attain to the true sense of it certainly know that one hath found it See what in my judgment may best be said on the seven seals How far the seven seals teach The seven seals certainly reach to the end of the world but not in that manner as the greatest part of our Interpreters have imagin'd in dividing the duration of the World from J. Christ to its end into seven Periods almost equal The six First seals do not go beyond 300. years But the seventh seal is subdivided into seven Trumpets doth produce them Now these seven Trumpets bring the events even to the last judgment the first not beginning till after the 6th seal So that these seven seals are as six branches that shoot forth from the body of a Tree with a seventh great branch which it self becomes a great arm shoots forth seven other branches As for this it cannot be doubted by any that read the beginning of the 7th Ch. with any attention
And when the seven Thunders had uttered their Voices v. 4. I was about to write A sealed vision is an obscure vision I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me seal up those things which the seven Thunders uttered write them not A Sealed Book a Writing a Word sealed according to the Style of the Scripture is a word that is not understood 1s 29.11 The Vision of all is saith Esay as a book that is sealed that is to say you shall not understand it God saith to Daniel seal up the vision Dan. 8.26 for it shall be for many Days And in another place O Daniel shut up the words Dan 12.4 seal the book even to the time of the end many shall run to fro knowledg shall be encreased That is to say God will not have the Prophecies be understood till a certain time In like manner the Prophecy that respected Antichrist was Sealed up till an appointed time For above ten whole ages nothing of It was understood or so little that 't is to be reckon'd as nothing And write them not that is to say do not express them in such terms that in them the events may be read at least not very soon V. 5. And the Angel which I saw standing upon the Sea and upon the Earth lifted up his Hand to Heaven V. 6. And sware by him that liveth forever and ever who created Heaven and the things that therein are and the Earth and the things that therein are and the Sea and the things which are therein That there should be Time no longer V. 7 But in the days of the Voice of the seventh Angle when he shall begin to sound the Mystery of God should be finisht as he hath declared to his Servants the Prophets VVhen the last Trumper must sound The Voice of the seventh Trumpet is that which must sound at the moment of the last Fall of the Antichristian Empire when Popery shall be destroyed Then all the Nations shall turn unto God to make up the Kingdom of Jesus Christ that is yet to come as appears by these words The seventh Angel sounded Ch. 11.15 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 and ever Here our Angel swears that in that time that is to say when the Kingdoms shall be reduced to Jesus Christ Time shall be no longer Time in this place is not opposed to Eternity as if the Angel would say that then the World shall end and Eternity begin but his meaning is that the times afforded to Antichrist shall be ended shall be no more It must be remembred that the Holy Spirit as well by the mouth of Daniel as by that of St. John assigns to Antichrist a time times half a time This shall be no more There shall not be neither time nor times nor half a time for Antichrist Time shall be no more for his reign it shall be the time of his total destruction Then the mystery of God shall be finisht as he hath declared to his servants the Prophets viz. The mystery of this glorious reign of Jesus Christ on the Earth which hath been foretold by all the Prophets in so magnificent a manner as we shall shew in the process of this work which Daniel saw so clearly as to mark the time circumstances of it And the voice which I heard from heaven v. 8 spake to me again said Go take the little book which is open in the hand of the Angel which standeth upon the sea upon the Earth And I went unto the Angel v. 9 said unto him give me the little book And he said unto me take it eat it up it shall make thy belly bitter but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as Honey The voice which he heard from Heaven is the same as spoke to him in the beginning of the book I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day heard behind me a great voice as of a Trumpet saying I am Alpha Omega the First the Last And this also shews that this here is a new prophecy not the continuation of the first For the same voice of God the Father that began the First Revelation returns begins the second as the same Jesus Christ also appears again a second time Saint John receives the book from the hand of the Angel that is to say of Jesus Christ because 't is he that sends the Prophets that inspires them by his Spirit This little book is Saveet in Saint John's Mouth because the Spirit of prophecy the glory of being the mouth of God from heaven pleases the inclination of men that love honour But this little book Made his belly bitter because that after having reflected on the events which he was about to fore-tell after having digested consider'd them in his own breast he found them so dreadful that they filled his soul with sorrow And he said unto me v. 11. thou must prophecy again before many people nations tongues Kings These words do no longer leave any cause of doubting whether this be a new prophecy not a continuation of the First Thou must make a Second Prophecy to Kings People Nations wheras what thou hast prophecied to them respected their Temporal state for the future that which thou shalt foretell them respects their Spiritual state the things of Religion CHAP. IX A short System of all the Events of the Church which are noted in the Apocalypse first of all an Epitome of the Chronology The history of the Church is not to be found but in the last eleven Chapters of the Apocalypse WE must not seek for the History of the Church in the First Nine chapters of the Apocalypse Joseph Mede is the first that hath discover'd that the Apocalypse consists of two bodies of Revelations meant by two Books the first of which we find in the beginning of the fifth Chapter v. 1. And I saw in the right hand of him that sate on the throne a book written within on the back side sealed with seven seals The other we find in the 10. Chap. v. 2. And he had in his hand a little book open he set his right foot upon the sea his left foot on the Earth It is plain that these two Books are two bodies of Revelations perfect in their kind different each from the other that both the one the other run through all reach to all the times from the beginning of the Revelation of St. John even to the end of the World. One cannot imagine any thing more reasonable than this that the First Book contains the destinies of the World the Empire the Church also in respect to her Temporal as far as she is
't is necessary to observe in this place that during this Period several things fall out that are co-temporary For this Period is oftentimes repeated its characters are often affixed to diverss subjects to the Woman that dies hid in the Desâ—rt to the Gentiles that are to tread down the Court to the two Witnesses that are to Prophecy clothed in sack-cloth to the Dragon to the Beast to whom it is given to exercise his power for 42 months These are not different Periods that must be fastned one to the end of the other These are different Events or the very same events presented under different ideas which must be accomplisht in the same Period For the right understanding therfore of the Chronology of the Apocalypse it is necessary to know what events things are co-temporary As thus Many things in the Apocalypse co-temporary I. The Court which is to be trodden down by the Gentiles for the space of Forty Two Months Rev. 11.2 II. The Woman to whom are given two great Wings of an Eagle to save her self in the Wilderness where she is fed 1260 dayes a time and times and half a time i. e. one year two years and half a year which make three years and a half or forty two months This is what is said Rev. 12.6 14. III. The two Witnesses that must prophesie clothed in Sackcloth for 1260 days Rey. 11.13 1260 days make just forty two months or three years and a half IV. The Beast with seven Heads and ten Horns Rey. 13.1 0. to whom Power is given to fulfil forty two months But we must observe that these 42 months are affixed only to the seventh head of the Beast which is that of Antichrist the whole entire Roman Empire is signified by that Beast with seven Heads and ten Horns The last Head is that of Antichrist which alone must last as long as the other six The Roman Empire under Kings Consuls Decemvires Tribunes of the People perpetual Dictators and Emperors lasted about 1250 years a little more or less The seventh Head of the Roman Empâ—re is Antichrist and he is to continue 1260 days 'T is evident that we must assign the duration of forty two months to the seventh Head because 't is to that we must affix the ten Horns that signifie ten Kings and 't is to Antichrist that Daniel assigns for his duration a Time Times and Half a Time. All the World acknowledges that he means Antichrist by the little Horn that grows in the midst of the ten and that subdues three of them He shall speak great words against the Most High C. 7. v. 25. and shall wear out the Saints of the Most High and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time We have already observed that this signifies one year two years and half a year This is the duration of the Kingdom of Antichrist 't is also the duration of the seventh Head of the Roman Empire and this is what they ought to take particular notice of that make a scruple to grant that these forty two months express the duration of the whole Beast with seven Heads and ten Horns V. In like manner the second Beast of the 13th chap. of the Revel that hath but Two Horns like to those of a Lamb and that spake like the Dragon is also of the same duration i. e. it must be found in the space of 42 months VI. The Whore also of the 17th chap. sitting upon the scarlet-coloured Beast reigns in this Period of forty two months 1260 days or three years and a half She sits upon the Beast i. e. on the first Beast that had seven Heads and ten Horns and lasts as long as the 7th Head. VII Lastly The 144 Thousand sealed persons that appear in the 7th chapter and are mention'd frequently afterwards are also co-temporary with the Beast and the Court trodden down by the Nations for they are no other than the two Witnesses that prophesie clothed in Sackcloth for 1260 days whilst the outward Court is trodden under foot by the Gentiles they are no other than the Woman that remains in the Wilderness and is nourished there for a time and times and half a time while the red Dragon makes war with the saints The seventh seal contains under it the seven Trumpets For the understanding this Chronology of the Apocalypse it must also be known that the seventh Seal which is open'd in the beginning of the 8th Ch. contains under it the seven Trumpets that the seven Trumpets reach to the end of the second Period which is the Empire of Antichrist even to the reign of Christ inclusively That is to say to the very end of the World. For at the sounding of the last Trumpet C. 11.15 there were great voices in Heaven saying the Kingdomes of the World are become the Kingdomes of our Lord of his Christ he shall reign for ever and ever And the seven Trumpets begin about the time of the fall of the Roman Empire under the Christian Emperors C. 8.7 Upon the sounding of the First Trumpet there followed hail fire mingled with blood they were cast upon the Earth the third part of the Trees were burnt up These are plainly the numberless Northern Armies of the Vandals Goths Hunn's who in the reign of Honorius begun to make dreadfull havock throughout the whole extent of the Roman Empire which is here meant by the Third part because the Roman Empire in truth did contain very near a third part of the World. And so the duration of the six Trumpets even to the seventh exclusively is also very near co-temporary with the 42 Months of the reign of the Beast the Court trodden under foot by the Gentiles The seven Vialls are contained under the sixth Trumpet It must also be observed that the seven Vialls of the wrath of God are co-temporary with the sixth Trumpet do divide it even to the sounding of the seventh The duration of the Kingdom of Antichrist which is 1260 Years is divided into two other Periods The first is that of the birth growth progress of the Babylonish Empire to its perfection And this Period reacheth to the tenth Century i. e. it lasts between 5 and 600 Years The second Period is from the tenth Century to the end of Antichrist's reign Now the seven Vials of the 16th Chap. of the Revelation are the steps by which this Babylonish Empire passes to come to her ruin So these seven Vials are not co-temporary neither with the seven Seals nor with the seven Trumpets as some have imagin'd They are co-temporary only with the sixth the effect of which begins about the tenth Century The Chronology of the third general Period of the Church which is that of the 1000 Years hath no difficulty in it that needs a resolution We need only to observe that these
five things are co-temporary in the third Period Five things cotemporary in the Period of the reign of the thousand years I. The reign of the Saints for a 1000 Years Rev. 20.4 II. The Dragon that is bound whose power is broken Rev. 20.2 3. III. The New Jerusalem the description wherof we have Rev. 21. 22. Chapters IV. The company of Saints that are clothed in white garments who carry Palms in their hands singing this song Salvation to our God that sits upon the throne Rev. 7.10 Rev. 7.17 unto the Lamb and of whom it is said they shall hunger no more neither thirst any more neither shall the sun light on them nor any heat the Lamb shall feed them shall lead them unto living fountains of waters For these are not the 144 thousand Sealed persons spoken of in the beginning â—f the 7th Chap. St. John saith expressely After this v. 9. i. e. after these 144 thousand sealed persons I beheld lo a great multitude which no man could number of all nations kindreds people tongues stood before the throne before the Lamb c. This plainly shews that these are not the persons that were Sealed For they might easily be numbred because they were not above 144 thousand wheras these here spoken of are innumerable In truth these are the same that are spoken of in the 20th of the Revel who are there called the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Iesus for the word of God here they are called they which came out of great tribulation C. 7.14 have washed their robes made them white in the blood of the Lamb. They are therfore co-temporary with the reign of Christ for a 1000 Years as the 144 thousand that were sealed are co-temporary with the reign of Babylon for 1260 Days V. The fifth and last thing co-temporary is the duration of the seventh Trumpet And the seventh Angel sounded with a Trumpet there were great voices in heaven Rev. 11.15 saying the Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of the Lord. For at the sound of the Last Trumpet the last blow must be given to the Babylonish Empire at the same time shall begin the reign of Iesus Christ to which is assign'd a Period of 1000 Years And the influence of this seventh and last Trumpet must reach even to the end of the World. Thus you have the Chronology of the twelve last Chapters of the Revelation We proceed to consider the History CHAP. X. A short System of the Events foretold in the Revelation concerning the Church as to the Historical part A short explanation of the 11th Chap. IN the 11th Ch. where the Destinies of the Church do begin the H. Ghost in the first place gives us an abridgment of these Destinies Events nothing is more methodical than that First to give a general Idea of those things that are afterwards more particularly to be explained So this Chapter from the 2d. v. to the end contains a short History of the 1260 Years of Antichrist's reign of the 1000 Years of Christ's reign as in the first verse he had described the first Period of 360 Years as we just now observed in the foregoing Chapter This reign of Antichrist is here described by this Paganism that was to tread under foot the Holy City for 42 Months v. 2. The afflictions of the Church its perpetuall subsistence in the midst of those afflictions during this reign of Antichrist are signified by the two Witnesses clothed in sack-cloth A great persecution that must befall the Church at the end of these 1260 Years of Antichrist's reign v. 3. is there also predicted The total suppression of the profession of the truth by that persecution is signified by the death of these two Witnesses v. 7. who must remain dead in the territories of Babylon the great for three prophetical days and a half i. e. three Years a half We shall see afterwards what that means where we must place this great event At the end of three years a half these two Witnesses i. e. the publique profession of the truth shall rise again and be gloriously reestablisht For the H. Ghost saith that the two Witnesses shall ascend again up into Heaven i. e. shall be exalted glorified upon the Earth In the same time the tenth part of the City shall fall v. 13. i. e. one of those ten Kings that gave their power to the Beast shall revolt from him And a little after the seventh Trumpet shall sound which will give the last blow to the Babylonish Empire v. 15. After which the Reign of the Saints shall commence which shall continue to the end of the World. This is the Epitome of the whole History of the Church the sense of the 11th Chapter After this general idea of the History of the Church Ch. 12. its explication the Prophet enters upon the particulars In the 12th Ch. God shews him the vision of the Woman that was with child deliver'd of a Son persecuted by the Red Dragon who fain would devour the Child of the Woman Afterwards there is a battle fought by Michael his Angells against the Dragon The Dragon is overcome and cast to the Earth but as much overcome as he was he ceaseth not to persecute the Woman She is forced to escape into the Wilderness where she is nourisht 1260 Days The Dragon not being able to reach her vomited out a flood after her but the Earth open'd swallow'd up the flood saved the Woman This Woman is the Apostolical Church this Child of which she is deliver'd is pure holy Christianity The Dragon is the Devil who by the authority of the Roman Empire would devour extinguish Christianity in its birth Michael his Angells are Jesus Christ his Ministers celestial as well as terrestrial The combat of the Red Dragon Michael is the combat of 300 Years that was between God the Devil during the ten persecutions of the Roman Heathen Emperours The Devil endeavouring on one hand to destroy the Christian Church by the cruelty of the Emperours God on the other hand defending it by his Martyrs Teachers The victory gotten over the Red Dragon is the casting down of Heathenism which falls to the Earth is cast from Heaven i. e. 't is tumbled down from the throne by Constantine his successors to the reign of Theodosius The great flood which the Red Dragon casts after the Woman when he was thrown down on the Earth is those inundations of Heresies that Arrianism that cover'd the Christian World immediatly after the fall of Heathenism under Constantine The Earth swallowed up this flood in favour of the Woman these Heresies were destroyed swallowed up as in a moment the Church remained deliver'd from them by a kind of
throughout the whole 18. Chap. The frequent repetition of the same thing is to note the certainty of it The three following Chapters viz. the 20 21 and 22. contain the History of the third last general Period of the duration of Christianity It is the reign of J. Christ upon Earth The matters contained in the 20 Chapter are so remarkable that they deserve a particular attention But seeing that hereafter we shall have occasion carefully to examin them it is not necessary to stay about them at present So much suffices for a general Idea both of the Chronology of the History of the twelve last Chapters of the Revelation which contain the destinies of the Church CHAP. XI Several things that all are agreed on in reference to Antichrist which will serve to clear up those wherin we are not agreed WE seek First the Character of the Babylonish Empire 2dly the time of its duration 3dly Its Establishment end 4thly What must happen after its ruin The two first points respect what is past or present shall be the subject of the first part of this work About the first of these four things there is no controversy among the Orthodox But there is a great dispute about it between the Papists the true Church However we have one great advantage for the determining this controversy viz. there are some certain principles in which both sides do agree In controversies where men are agreed in nothing but where every thing must be proved it is very hard to determin any thing But where men are agreed in many things ordinarily those things which they are agreed in serve for the clearing up of those things wherin they are not agreed I think it best therfore before we enter upon the Characters of the Babylonish Empire to consider those things wherin the Papists as to this matter do agree with the true Catholicks All agree that the little horn in the 7th of Dan. is Antichrist 1st We are agreed about almost ll the places whence we are to draw the pourtraiture of Antichrist and his Empire 'T is confessed that the Little horn in the 7th Chap. of Daniel is Antichrist that 't is of him that the Prophet speaks I considered the horns Dan. 7.8 and behold there came up among them another little horn before whom three of the first horns were pluckt up by the roots and behold in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking great things v. 24 25. The ten Horns out of this Kingdom are ten Kings that shall arise and another shall rise after them and he shall be diverse from the first and he shall subdue three Kings And he shall speak great words against the most High and shall wear out the saints of the most high and think to change times and laws they shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time We are agreed that the First Beast in the 13th of the Revel is the same with the fourth Beast in the 7th Chapt. of Daniel The two Beasts of Rev. 13. are Antichrist and that both the one and the other signify the Roman Empire 'T is acknowledged that the ten Kings that must be born of this Beast which are represented by the ten Horns of the fourth Beast in Daniel and of the first Beast in the 13th of the Revelation are the ten Kings which in the time of Antichrist are to divide the Roman Empire among them and give their power to Antichrist 'T is confest that the little Horn i.e. Antichrist must be grafted on the Roman Empire enter into its place and the last that shall possess the Roman Empire Antichrist saith Bellarmin Bellarm. part 1. c. 3. sect 15. Respondeo priorem c. shall be the last head of the wicked and the last King that shall possess the Roman Empire but yet without the name of a Roman Emperour The same Author in the very same place confesses that the head of the first Beast which received the deadly wound in the 13th Ch. of the Revelation is Antichrist This miracle of a feigned Resurrection saith he must be attributed to Antichrist in the opinion of Primasius Beda and Haymo and many others whom he names We are agreed that the two Beasts of the 13th of the Revelation do both of them signify the Antichristian Empire Bellarm. ubi Supra According to the opinion of Rupert The second Beast in the Revelation signifies the very same Antichrist For Antichrist is represented by two Beasts by the one his royal power and tyranny by which he will offer violence to men is represented And by the other his magical power and crafty tricks by which he will seduce them But according to Richard and Anselm and many others the second beast signifies the Preachers of Antichrist Thus it agrees to the Babylonish Empire to be the seventh head of the Roman Empire however without bearing the name of a Roman Emperour to be a head wounded unto death and raised up again to have ten Horns on its Head ten Kings for its subjects to have a false Prophet with two Horns like those of a Lamb which causes the image of the Beast to be worshipped whose name contains the Number 666 and who makes all those that he causeth to submit to hi Empire to bear his mark in their foreheads We are agreed that a time times and half a time the 42 Months the 1260. days do denote the time of the duration of the Antichristian Empire and that all that while the Church must be afflicted beaten down obscured as it were hidden swallowed up by persecution 'T is acknowledged that the great Whore in the 17th of the Revel and the city with seven Mountains is Rome Some would have it be Rome Pagan The Papists are forced to confess that Babylon in the Revel is Rome but others shewing either more knowledg or more sincerity do confess that Rome in the 14th and the 17th Ch. of the Revelation is not Rome Pagan but of Christian become Antichristian Estius and some others go a little further and are forced to acknowledg that Rome must be the seat of Antichrist Others as Ribera Viega Cornelius a Lapide retaining the common hypothesis among the Papists viz. that Jerusalem must be the seat of Antichrist are however forced to confess that Babylon in the Revelation is the city of Rome wherat the end of the times an Idolatrous Empire persecutor of the Church and Enemy of God must arise who say they shall join himself to the Empire of Antichrist when he shall be come Cornelius a Lapide confesses that the Waters on which the great Whore sits signify all the Nations and people which Rome shall command over who shall agree together in their subjection and in the vanity and idolatry of Rome as their lady and the mistress of the universe i.e. Rome become Idolatrous after having been
to re-establish the law of Moses that he must set on foot again the Levitical worship How would the Iews receive him for their Messiah if he were so wicked a person as not to believe there were a God To what purpose should he rebuild the Temple of Ierusalem and why should he offer sacrifices to God in it if he made himself to be worshipped as the only God Besides it is clear enough that the Pope causes himself to be adored like a God tho he doth not call himself either the only God or the great God. Germany is not the Roman Empire that must be divided among ten Kings under Antichrist XVI He is not to come till the Roman Empire be entirely destroyed We shall afterwards take an occasion to examin this In the mean time consider what absurdities these men run themselves into According to them the Roman Empire doth yet subsist viz. in the branch of Germany According to them at the end of the World the Roman Empire shall be divided among ten Kings that shall be the Friends the co-temporaries and the supporters of Antichrist That is to say the Empire of Germany shall be divided into ten Kingdoms Those will be notable Kingdoms those ten Kingdoms on the other side the Rheine and do well deserve a place even ten times over in the Prophecies of Daniel and St. Iohn If Antichrist must not come till the Roman Empire be destroyed why did they confess that the little Horn in the 7th Chapt. of Daniel is Antichrist This Horn doth it not play the part of the fourth Beast i.e. of the Roman Empire Why do these Gentlemen agree to this that Antichrist is the seventh Head of the first Beast in the 13th of the Revelation which they together with us acknowledg to be the Roman Empire Why did Bellarmine grant that Antichrist is to be the last Roman Emperour The Roman Empire therfore shall not be destroyed when Antichrist shall come because that Empire shall continue under him Antichrist must come before the end of the World. XVII He is not to come but just at the end of the World. He is not to come till the last times But we shall hereafter examin whether the last times signify the three last years before the day of judgment And when we shall have proved that the 1260 Days of Antichrists reign are so many Years this point will be cleared up The Gospel hath been preached almost throughout the VVorld XVIII Before he comes the Gospel must have been preached throughout all the World. Indeed before the Antichristian Empire did appear and was perceivable the Gospel had been preached in that which they called the whole World from the time of the Apostles in all the extent of the Roman Empire and beyond it in all the then known World in the countries which they knew were inhabited and where they could enter without being hindred by the barbarity of those that dwelt there But this universal preaching throughout all the Earth without Exception must be consequent upon the fall of Antichrist and not a sign of his coming Further this term of Vniversal preaching even then must not be taken in the strictest sense For it may be there will be some Exceptions It is not necessary that Antichrist should be a Magician XIX Lastly Antichrist must be a Magician And that because he must work great signs and miracles by the help of Magick 'T is sufficient for the fulfilling of these Oracles that he doth his signs by illusion and the enchantment of mens senses by cheating and deceit and also by the help of the Devil without his making any compact with the Devil either direct or indirect The false miracles of Popery also are wrought by the cheats of the Priests or purely by lies or by the Devil that makes himself sport with their miserable devotion Seeing all these Characters of the Antichristian Empire are all false we must for the future examin and seek out what are the true Characters of it CHAP. XIII What are the true Characters of the Antichristian Empire They are three Tyranny Idolatry and great corruption of manners That we must not look on Tyranny alone as the sole Character of Antichrist The Antichristian Empire hath three names that note its three Characters WE are seeking after the Characters of the Antichristian Empire I believe we may hope to find them in the names which the Holy Spirit gives it For assuredly names are given by God to signify the nature of things I find that the Holy Spirit gives three names to that Empire He calls it Egypt and Sodom and lastly Babylon Egypt and Sodom in the eleventh of the Revelation where speaking of the death of the two witnesses C. 11.8 he saith their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great City which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt Babylon in as many places of the same book as 't is said in she is fallen she is fallen Babylon the great Come out of Babylon my people These three names signify the three Characters of that Babylonish Empire The name of Egypt signifies the pride Tyranny and Cruelty of Antichrist Egypt is the embleme of Tyranny Pride and Cruelty Of Tyranny because there the Israelites did groan under hard bondage in the chains of Pharaoh who tyrannised over them Of Cruelty because that cruel Prince did vex them sorely with hard labour and the death of their children whom he caused to be drowned in the river Nile Of Pride because this proud Tyrant rebelled against God with an intolerable pride saying Who is the Lord that I should obey his voyce Sodom signifies the great corruption of manners in the Antichristian Empire Sodom signifies the mighty corruption of manners and the reason of it may be easily apprehended It was neither Tyranny nor Cruelty that destroyed Sodom We do not read that she did aspire after the dominion It was not Idolatry at least we have no reason to believe that she was more notorious for it than the other Canaavites round about It was therefore only dissoluteness luxury and debauchery ease and abundance of bread as the Prophets speak Therefore when they would set forth a mighty corruption of manners they borrow an expression from hence and use the names of Sodom nd Gomorrha â—s 1.10 Hear the word of the Lord ye Rulers of Sodom give ear unto the Law of our God ye people of Gomorrha After which Isaiah falls not upon their Idolatry but upon their corrupt manners He reproaches them with nothing but their injustice and violence Babylon signifies the Idolatry of Antichristianism Lastly Babylon signifies Idolatry All do agree that Babylon was the fountain of all sorts of Idolatry From Chaldaea it spread it self over all the Earth That is the fountain and spring of men 't is also of false Gods. As she was the first fountain so she did continue the chief Seat of it
is the Devil as far as they follow the Doctrine of Devils which is Idolatry though they are of different communions yea and excommunicate each other I therefore make no scruple to affirm that the Babylonish Empire is in all places where-ever tyranny pride corruption of worship manners and Government mingled with Christianity are to be found And that which I say in respect of places must be extended to times also 'T is in those ages where pride tyranny corruption of manners and idolatry have been visibly establisht in the Church that we must look for the birth and beginning of the Antichristian Empire And in the process of this discourse this observation will be usefull to us to find out that which we principally seek for in this work i. e. the time where we are to begin the 1260. years that are assigned for the duration of Antichristianism Mens mindings no other Character but that of tyranny hath made them mistake the time of Antichrists birth 'T is this chiefly that hath caused our Interpreters to be at a loss about the time of the birth of the Antichristian Empire They have looked only to Tyranny as if that were the only Character of this Empire Monsieur du Plessis hath made a great Book about it with this Title The Mystery of Iniquity in which he traces this Tyranny of the Church of Rome and the Popes from its birth to its perfection as if the Mystery of Iniquity signified nothing else Whereas on the contrary the mystery of Iniquity doth not so much as principally signify that He that says a Mystery saith a Religion This ought to have been minded So then in this term the Papism is described with respect to its Religion and Idolatry And its tyranny and impiety is properly meant in these words that exalts himself above all that is called God. Some mens heads have run so much upon this Character of Antichrist viz. Tyranny as if that were the only one that they will not find Antichrist even in the Papism before the time that the Pope began to act the part of a temporal Prince which they find he did towards the Year 755. This is the opinion of Monsieur du Moulin in his accomplishment of the Prophecies This also is the reason that he hath so widely mistaken the time of the birth of Antichristianism and that he hath set the time of his ruin so far off For he thinks that Antichristianism will not be at an end before the year 2015. so we should have yet 330. Years longer to suffer He should have remembred that Idolatry is more Antichristian than Tyranny or at least as much And therefore that there is no reason to exclude out of the Antichristian Period the sixth seventh and eight centuries wherein Idolatry was so strongly established Corruption and looseness of manners were introduced into the Church and were the way for Antichristianism its progress followed by the introduction of Idolatry And at last Antichristianism was consummated by Tyranny These are the three true Characters of that Empire the union whereof will shew us the true point of its birth CHAP. XIV That the three Characters of the Antichristian Empire do perfectly agree to the Empire of the Papism Proofs out of History and Prophecies Reflections upon the Prophecy in the second Chapter of the second Epistle to the Thessalonians and upon the end of the Roman Empire WE have seen in the fore-going Chapter that the names of the Antichristian Empire are Egypt Sodom Babylon and that its Characters signified by these names are Tyranny Pride Cruelty extream corruption of manners Idolatry and Paganism We have fixed this Babylonish Empire every where where these Characters are to be found We have reckon'd the Papism for the center and the body Rome for the capital place and the Pope for the head We must now prove that these Characters do perfectly agree to the Papism to its capital place and its head But we do pretend that as to us this thing hath been already done we have done it in our just prejudices against Popery aswell as we are able and indeed that whole work is but a proof of this proposition that all the Characters of the Antichristian Empire do agree to the Papism The Character of Tyranny agrees to the Papism If any desire a proof of this that the Papism is an Egypt and that tyranny is exercised there he need only read the twelfth and thirteenth Chapters of the first part where he will see that the Empire of the Papism is an Empire purely temporal under the shew of a spirituality and the fourteenth Chapt. where its purely humane politiques are so clearly brought to light that not so much as a shadow remains unscatter'd If any would be assured that the conduct of the Papism is a most horrible Tyranny he need but read the 21. and 22. Chapters of the first part where is an account of the insolent tyrannical and proud actions and speeches of the Popes towards all men without excepting even Soveraign Princes That of Pride agrees to it also In the same Chapters will be found the proof that Pride another Character of the Antichristian Empire perfectly agrees to the Papism For there its Pride will be seen in its opinions and Divinity the pride of its Clergy and Priests that call themselves the Kings and Emperours of the World the Pride of its head who calls himself a God upon Earth who causes Divine honour to be given to him who domineers with authority over the Kings of the Earth who spoils them of their Crowns who gives away their Kingdoms to others who dispenses with their Subjects Oaths of Allegiance who treads them under his feet and puts his foot upon their throat who as for his own person is clothed with purple and all the pomp of the Roman Emperours The Empire of the Papism is an Egypt for cruelty In the 26th and 27th Chapters of the second part it will plainly be seen that cruelty perfectly agrees to this Empire For there you will find an Epitome of all the cruel persecutions which the Church hath suffered by this mystical Babylon the blood she hath spilt the fires she hath kindled the witty punishments she hath invented and the incredible number of the faithful that she hath murder'd If enough of this be not found in that piece you may have recourse to our History of Popery The 2d recrimination is wholly spent in shewing that the Papism since more than 700. Years ago is like a cruel beast armed vvith teeth claws that tears in pieces devours all that opposes its greatness and that one cannot follow it in History but by the track of innocent blood that it hath shed It will appear in all those places that the Papism is always the same and that at this very day as well as formerly it is cruel bloody and tyrannical which we have proved by the persecutions of Bohemia Hungary
that Empire to the judgement that God causes to fall on the Kingdom of Antichrist to the harvest and to the vintage i. e. to the total destruction of the Devils Kingdom The following Chapters carry on the matter also to the reign of Jesus Christ the description of which begins in the 20th Chap. of the book There is nothing comes between whereby it is clear there is no interval of time nor any Monarchy between the Roman Empire and the Monarchy of J. Christ and so that the Antichristian Empire that must immediatly procede the reign of Jesus Christ is the continuation of the Roman Empire The same thing is evident from the 17th Chap. which is an explication of the visions of the 13th The 13th Chap. speaks of two Beasts the one had seven heads and ten horns the other hath but one head and two horns The 17th Chapt. speaks no more of the second Beast It speaks only of a woman riding on a Beast of seven heads and ten horns 'T is because the second Beast at the bottom was no more than a continuation of the first i. e. it was no more than the continuation of the Roman Empire Therefore the Holy Spirit in explaining the adventures of the first Beast pretends to explain those of the second also For otherwise if the two Beasts had been different 't is plain the H. Spirit would not have been wanting to have spoken of the one as well as of the other in the 17th Chap. where he explains the visions of the Beasis Now this Beast with seven heads and ten horns i. e. the Roman Empire must reach to the end of the persecutions and to the reign of J. Christ This appears plainly in the 18th and the following Chapters where the ruin of Antichrist is represented and described at large If these proofs did not suffice to prove that the Empire of Antichrist must be a continuation of the Roman Empire one might bring others from the comparison of the two Beasts of the 13th Ch. For 't is clear that 't is one and the same Empire represented by two Beasts And the thing is so plain that the Popish Authors themselves do acknowledg it We have heard Bellarmin confess it and say that Antichrist must be a King possessing the Roman Empire but without the name of the Roman Emperour He that did possess in the time of St. Paul and was to be removed out of the way before Antichrist came is the sixth head of the Beast with ten Horns and seven heads If this be so what must we understand by those words of St. Paul only he that now letteth or possesseth will let or possess till he be taken out of the way and then shall that wicked one be revealed It doth not import till the Roman Empire be abolisht as the Ancients did believe and as the Agents of Antichrist at this day would fain perswade us We must remember that in the Beast in the Revelation with seven Heads and ten Horns the seven Heads are seven forms of Governments under which the Roman Empire hath past 1. Kings 2. Consuls 3. Decemvires 4. The Tribunes of the People 5. Perpetual Dictators 6. Emperours 7. and lastly Popes Every one of these Heads and these Governments hath had its time one hath passed away and another hath come in its place In the time of St. Paul the Head of the Emperours was in possession And 't is of that we must understand those words of his Prophecy only he which now with-holdeth or possesseth i.e. the Head of the Emperors shall cease at Rome and then the Antichristian Kingdom shall be revealed and quickly form the seventh Head which shall be that of the Popes calling themselves the Vicars of J. Christ but being indeed the true Antichrists And thus you have what I thought necessary to be added for the explication of that Prophecy of St. Paul contained in the 2d. Ep. to the Thessalonians CHAP. XV. An explication of the Visions of the thirteenth Chapter of the Revelation and of the two Beasts that appear therin WE come now to the description of the Antichristian Empire according as we find it in the Revelation a book particularly designed to describe it to us 'T is found above all in the 13th Chapter Two Beasts are seen in this Chapter We shall immediately examin both the one and the other following the Text word for word V. 1. And I saw a Beast rise out of the sea having seven Heads and ten Horns and upon his Horns ten crowns and upon his Heads the name of Blasphemy 2. And the beast which I saw was like unto a Leopard and his feet were as the feet of a Bear and his mouth as the mouth of a Lion and the Dragon gave him his power and his seat and great authority There is no need that I should observe here that in the style of the Prophets a Beast signifies an Empire A beast signifies a worldly Empire enemy of God. All the world knows it and confesses it It must only be noted that a Beast signifies an Empire that is worldly terrestrial and an enemy to God. The Kingdom of God and of Jesus Christ that must be given to the Saints after the fourth Monarchy is never represented under the image of a Beast The Beast that appears here is the fourth Monarchy which we have seen described in the text of the seventh Chapter of Daniel The Prophet had said that it was diverse from all the other Beasts And Saint John in the explication of it saith that it was composed of the shape of a Lion a Leopard and a Bear wheras the fore-going Beasts had but one simple shape The First was as a Lion with the wings of an Eagle The second was as a Bear and the third as a Leopard But this fourth Monarchy hath all the strength and all the advantages of the tree others together 'T is couragious and strong as a Lion. It had the swiftness of a Leopard in its conquests It hath the firmness of a Bear whose large feet make a firm basis for its whole body The Holy Spirit lays before the Prophets eyes this Roman Monarchy whole and entire Why the fourth Monarchy appears entire in the Revelation about a third part of it was already past because this Monarchy was to be the subject on which all the great events were to turn And to know and object well it must not be shewn by pieces but all entire So that 't is reasonable the Prophet should see this Beast or this Monarchy in its whole extent He riseth out of the Sea. This is not what was said in the eleventh Chapter he riseth out of the bottomless pit The bottomless pit and the sea are not the same thing The bottomless pit is Hell. Here the sea signifies a great number of people The Roma Monarchy rose from the midst of the people as a monster that should rise out of the sea 'T is because it
the Earth v. 11. and he had two horns like a Lamb and he spake as a Dragon The second Beast hath two hoths In the fore-going vision the Holy Spirit represented the fourth Monarchy in its two Periods and its whole extent by only one Beast We have seen more-than once that this Monarchy hath two periods very near of the same duration The first is from the birth of Rome to the ruin of the Imperial dignity and the division of the Empire into ten Kingdoms The second from the destruction of the Imperial dignity to the entire ruin of the Roman Church 'T is this second period which the Prophet here represents under the image of a second Beast 'T is another Beast because it is another name another sort of Empire an Empire hidden under the name of the Church 'T is a matter that begins again all anew As the City of Rome in its birth was little insensible a small matter in a word during two or three ages so this new Roman Empire that was to be brought forth again was to commence also from weak beginnings and to be but a very little thing for some ages As this later period of the fourth Monarch was to last as long as the other and was to have a form wholly different from it it deserved to be called another beast This second Beast ascends out the Earth and not out of the Sea. 'T is the same Beast that is spoken of in the eleventh Chapter that it ascends out of the bottomless pit that is to say from Hell. The one hinders not the other The Papism comes from Hell but not by the same means as the first beast did These two Empires come not from the same place The first Empire springs from the people and their ambition The second Empire proceeds from the Clergy and their ambition It springs from the Earth as a plant that shoots out small and becomes great insensibly without effusion of blood and without spoil He had two horns like a Lamb. The Roman Church calls her self the Spouse of the Lamb usurps his power the name of Jesus Christ is always in her mouth and if she may be believed she doth but exercise the power of Jesus Christ that hath been lawfully conferred upon her Jesus Christ hath two powers in Heaven and in Earth All power is given me in Heaven and Earth saith he The Roman Church saith the same thing of her self She ascribes to her self the temporal power and the spiritual one He speaks as a Dragon For he utters blasphemies against God and terrible threatnings against his Children And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him v. 12. The Papism hath re-establisht all the authority of the ancient Emperours The Roman Church causes her self to be served by Kings She takes away their demeauss she disposes of their Crowns she draws tribute from them and exerciseth jurisdiction in all their States The first Beast that is to say the Roman Pagan Empire did no more in the countries that were subject to it And causeth the Earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first Beast Raising up in her self the power of the ancient Empire she makes that ancient Empire be raised up again under a new name viz. that of the Roman Church be adored and served v. 13. And he doth great wonders so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on Earth in the sight of men We shall have occasion to observe and prove several times hereafter as we have already done before that in the style of the Prophets Heaven when an Estate and an Empire is treated of always signifies the soveraign region of those dignities The Sun is the Soveraign the stars are the Grandees Here an Empire a State is treated of under the name of a Beast The Soveraign region of that State is the Heaven from that State falls fire that is to say thunders It can't be doubted but this is what the Roman Church it self calls thunders and thundring Bulls 'T is those decrees and those Papal Bulls which proceed from the Court of Rome These are no other than Past-board thunders and artificial fire-works However 't is known that they have set Kingdoms is a flame a hundred and a hundred times and have may times thought to set all Europe on Fire To this are added Signs that is to say prodigies of pride ambition madness policy carnal weapons and other means by which the Beast of Rome hath used to establish its dominion and subject Kings to its self This doth not exclude the false miracles which the Papism hath used to establish it self But as it is here consider'd much more as a Kingdom than as a Religion by these signs 't is much better to understand the wicked means it hath employed to establish its tyranny than the lying miracles which it used to establish its false mysteries And deceiveth them which dwell on the Earth by the means of those miracles That is to say v. 14. he induced them by all the ways of deceit and violence to do homage to him and submit themselves to his dominion Saying to them that dwell on the Earth that they should make an image to the beast v. 15. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast that the image of the beast should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the Beast should be killed This here is an admirable place The Roman Church is an Empire However it is but an image of an Empire an imaginary Empire founded only on the deceived imagination of men They need but say NOT to destroy this Empire The reality of an Empire consists in citadells in fortresses in armies The Roman Church hath none of all this For the little armies that the Pope might raise is not that which secures his Empire 'T is not therfore a true Empire The Convents of the Monks are his Citadels The Monks are his Souldiers and Armies The Priests are his Emissaries The Bishops and Arch-Bishops are his Lievtenanis But all these are but images Nevertheless this image of an Empire speaks acts makes decrees raises all Europe and causes all those to be killed that will not pay it the like homage which was render'd to the ancient Roman Empire And he causeth all v. 16. both small and great c. to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads And that no man might buy or sell save he that had the mark or the name of the Beast The Forehead is the seat of profession Thence it came that ancient Christians signified their profession of Christianity by a sign of the Cross on the forehead The Hand is the instrument of action The inhabitants of the Earth can neither buy nor sell under the dominion of the Papism that is to say partake of its favours and its riches unless they have the Profession of a Papist
into perdition See here an eighth King that belongs to the Roman Empire And this eighth King is of the seven he is of the number of the seven Governments It must necessarily be that this eighth King must come from hence that one of the seven is divided into two And 't is the Head of the Roman Emperours divided into two For the Roman Emperours are either Pagans or Christians The conversion of the Emperours made so great a change that the Christian Emperours deserved to be reckon'd for an eighth head However because they last but a short space and because in respect of their Temporal they were perfectly like the fore-going Emperours the Holy Spirit ranks them under the seventh head And when he cometh he must continue a short space That is to say when the second part of the Head of the Emperours shall become viz. the Christian Emperours it shall not continue long Indeed the Christian Emperours did not possess the Empire but from the conversion of Constantine to Valentinian the third about 130 or 135. years Besides the transposition of the words which I have supposed doth not make any difficulty here for if I made a commentary I could easily bring examples much more harsh in the writings only of the N. Testament And the ten Horns which thou sawest v. 12. are ten Kings which have received no Kingdom as yet but receive power as Kings one hour with the Beast These are the ten Kings or the ten Kingdoms into which the Roman Empire was rent when the Imperial power was destroyed in the West And the same time that the ten Kings were made the Beast that is to say the second Beast of the 13th Chapter the Beast with two Horns the Roman Church began to form its Empire This is one of the most remarkable places of the Prophecies to find the point of the birth of the Antichristian Empire Therfore it deserves a larger reflection which shall be found afterwards in its proper place v. 13. These have one mind and shall give their power and strength unto the Beast These ten Kings or these ten Kingdoms shall voluntarily submit themselves to the yoke of the Roman Church For she shall not obtain her dominion by the way of Conquest but by the way of illusion of seduction and perswasion She shall perswade the Kings of the Earth to give her their power In truth this did so happen The Princes doating on this Idol of St. Peter's Chair the Apostolical See raised this throne so high that it was like afterwards to have swallowed them up These shall make war with the Lamb and the Lamb shall overcome them v. 14. They shall lend their arms and their power to the Roman Church to smother the truth But the truth of Jesus Christ shall surmount them shall enlighten them and get such a victory over them as shall be happy for those that are overcome England Sweden Denmark and many other States have been already overcome in this manner And he saith unto me v. 15. the waters which thou sawest where the whore sitteth are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues This Woman this corrupted Church shall have the multitude for her she shall ascribe great honour to her self from thence and make use of that as an argument that she is the true Spouse of Jesus Christ And the ten Horns which thou sawst upon the Beast these shall hate the whore v. 16. and make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire c. We shall have occasion afterwards more than once to reflect on these words Therfore we shall say nothing of them at present The woman which thou sawest is that great City v. 1◠which reigneth over the Kings of the Earth The great City is not precisely the City of Rome 't is the Roman Church that hath its seat at Rome on the seven Mountains This is an important truth that the great City in the Revelation signifies not Rome precisely but Rome conjunctly with its Ecclesiastical Empire It should be proved but we must reserve the proofs for another place where it will be very material for us to fix this what the City signifies CHAP. XVII Babylon in the 17th and 18th Chapters of the Revelation is Rome Antichristian and Papal and not Rome Pagan THe 17th Chapter is one of those wherin the description of the Antichristian Empire is certainly contained We have applied it to the See of Rome with the same success as we have done the foregoing Prophecies But we have some considerations to add to prove that that City spoken of in that Chapter is Rome together with its Empire of Christian become Antichristian That Rome Christian and not Pagan is Spiritual Babylon the seat of Antichrist 'T is a place where the Papists find themselves reduced to mighty straits They have confessed that the 11th and 13th Chap. of the Revelation spoke concerning Antichrist But because in the 11th Chap. the seat of Antichrist is called the City where I. Christ was crucified they will not acknowledg it to be Rome And because in the 13th Chap. Rome is not named they will by no means have it to be found there But in this 17th Chap. they are forced to see Rome in the city on seven Mountains and in that great city that reigned over the kings of the Earth This brings them to the last extremity and we need but see what they say on this point to convince them that their Holy Roman See is the seat of the Antichristian Empire 1st They say that Rome in this 17th Chap. is Rome Pagan and not Rome Christian Bellarm. l. 3. de Pontif Rom. c. 13. The falsness of this supposition is evident First it is clear that the Beast which carries the woman The first Beast of the 13th Ch. and that of the 17th are the same is the same with that Beast that ariseth out of the Sea in the 13th Ch. This had seven heads and ten horns and upon his horns ten Crowns and upon his heads the name of blasphemy The Beast in the 17th Ch. is described after the same manner The Woman sate upon a scarlet-coloured Beast full of names of blasphemy having seven heads and ten Horns Secondly the Beast of the 13th Ch. ariseth out of the Sea. C. 13.1 C. 17.3 And I saw à Beast rise up out of the Sea. That of the 17th Ch. ascends out of the bottomless pit or the deep Chap. 17.8 The Beast that thou sawest was and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit or the deep Now the deep and the sea in the visions are the same thing Thirdly Chap. 13.3 'T is said of the first Beast that all the World wonders after the Beast That all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him v. 8. whose names are not written in the book of Life 'T is said also of that in the
Let them inform us a little where are and who are the ten Kings that shall reign the same time with Rome Pagan who in Saint Iohns time had not begun to reign and who yet were to begin their reign at the same time with the Roman Emperours Is it not plain that these are ten Kings that must receive their birth from the ruin of the Roman Pagan Empire and compose an Antichristian Roman Empire under the rule of the prostitute and adulterous Woman i. e. the revolted Church and Spouse of Jesus Christ Sixthly v. 13. How can these words agree to Rome Pagan these i. e. these ten Kings have one mind and shall give their power and strength to the beast Did those Kings whose Kingdoms were conquer'd by the Roman Pagan Empire voluntarily give their power to the Beast Did not Rome Pagan by meer violence ravish away those great Estates of which she formed her Empire Can it be said that the Kings that were conquer'd and subdued had one mind Did they reign together with Rome Pagan were they not destroyed and their Kingdoms reduced into Roman Provinces This therefore can in no wise agree to the Pagan Period of Rome but doth very well to the Antichristian and Papal one For it is true that the ten Kings compose this Ecclesiastical Empire and submit themselves unto it It is true that they have one mind and that they have given their power unto the Beast For it was not by Force of Arms that Rome hath acquired this second Empire but by perswasion by illusion by the false religion by the communion of idolatry and by the Chimaera of an Empire of Jesus Christ on the Earth This is the only thing to be met with which the popish Interpreters have to oppose to prove that Antichrist must not sit at Rome and that Rome in this Chap. is Rome Pagan say they the ten Kings shall hate the Whore How the ten Kings shall destroy Antichristian Rome after they have built it C. 17. v. 8 16. De Rom. Pontif. l 3. cap. 13. sect 2. and make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire 'T is the Argument of Bellarmin which all the rest have adopted St. Iohn saith he predicts that the ten Kings that shall divide the Roman Empire and under the reign of whom Antichrist shall come shall hate the whore clothed in purple i. e. Rome and shall make her desolate and burn her with fire How then shall she be the Seat of Antichrist if in that very time she must be overthrown and burnt A mighty riddle hard to be solved We need but read on Saint Iohn immediately adds v. 17. For God shall put it into their hearts to fulfill his Will and to agree and give their Kingdom to the beast untill the Word of God shall be fulfilled Who doth not see that these are two distinct times In one of them the ten Kings shall give their power to the Beast by the cheat of a false piety and in the other being better instructed and recover'd foolish fondness they shall spoil that Empire which they shall have formed by their complaisance Men must be hardly prest upon that have recourse to such vain evasions as these The foolish self-contradiction of the Papists But observe their foolish self-contradiction Here Bellarmin and his adherents say that the ten Kings which shall divide the Roman Empire shall come in Antichrists time and that these are the same that shall make the Whore desolate i. e. that shall destroy the City of Rome viz. Rome that is here spoken of and which Bellarmin himself defines by the Whore clothed in purple that is to say Rome Now how will the ten Kings that must not come till the end of the World according to them be able to make desolate and burn Rome Pagan which hath no longer been in being for above 1300. years The ten Kings associated with Antichrist only three years and a half before the end of the World will be able to make desolate no other Rome than what will then be in being Now Pagan Rome will be no more it will be Rome Christian whose Empire he supposes must subsist to the end of the World and to the reign of Antichrist Men must have lost their understanding and be given up to a reprobate sense so to contradict both themselves and the Truth with so much dishonesty Lastly it is clear by the following Chapter which is the 18th that the great City which reigneth over the kings of the earth cannot be Rome Pagan but Rome Antichristian In the 18th Chap. he calls her Babylon whom just before he called the great city and even the popish Interpreters agree also that that Babylon is Rome Now he describes the fall of that Babylon i. e. of Rome in such a manner as cannot agree to any other but Rome Antichristian First He saith v. 3. that all Nations have drank of the wine of the wrath of her fornication We have already seen that this signifies that Idolatry to which Babylon hath drawn the Nations by her Charms and Enchantments which doth not agree to Rome Pagan Secondly v. 4. He saith come out of Babylon my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues 'T is plain this cannot be understood of any thing but of an Idolatrous Church whence God would draw forth his Elect. God never commanded his faithful Servants to go out of Rome Pagan they always remained in it Thirdly and lastly the manner in which the ruin of this Babylon is described can by no means agree to Rome Pagan The Holy Spirit represents it as a City burnt and entirely reduced to ashes the Merchants whereof and they that gained by her behold her desolation and her burning afar off And to conclude he signifies that it must be such a fall from which she shall never rise again And a mighty Angel took up a stone like a great Mill-stone and cast it into the sea saying Thus with violence shall that great City Babylon be thrown down c. 18. v. 21. and shall be found no more at all Now this is not yet happened to Rome she hath been taken and retaken and pillaged several times but yet she subsists still so that this can't be understood but of the last ruin that must happen to Rome Antichristian And thus you have the proofs that shew that that Rome which all the popish Interpreters as well as we do find in the 17th and 18th Chap. of the Revelation cannot be Rome Pagan proofs which I call a demonstration for I maintain there is no man that can resist the force of them The confession of the modern Papists that Rome must be the seat of Antichrist Ribera Viega Cornelius à Lapide And the modern popish Interpreters have felt the force of them At this day they do confess that it is not Rome Pagan But
see what they say viz. that that Rome that now is towards the end of the World shall be corrupted become idolatrous debauched that she shall shake off the yoke of Jesus Christ and carry her disorders as far as Rome Pagan But yet however that it must not be the seat of Antichrist who must be accompanied with his ten Kings have his habitation at Jerusalem and come to Rome when it is turn'd Idolatrous and Pagan to destroy and ruin it as he will also do See the words of Viega on the eighteenth of the Revelation One may plainly gather from the infinite number of precious merchandises and of all sorts that are here noted that Rome in the last times after her Apostacy shall attain to soveraign power and great riches and that her Empire shall extend it self throughout the World upon the ten Kings so often named For that these mighty riches do not belong to Rome Pagan it is clear by these words Come forth of Babylon my people For this shews that 't is not ancient Rome that is here spoken of in which there were no faithfull ones but that Rome that shall flourish in the last times Then therefore the City of Rome shall greatly flourish and its Empire shall be very large She shall live in pleasures and have great abundance of all things And at the same time she shall be enslaved to Idolatry be full of Superstitions sacrifice to Doemons and false Deities And by reason of the vast quantity of the blood of the Saints that shall be shed by her under the Emperours of Rome by a terrible but a very righteous judgement of God she shall at last be made desolate and burnt by ten Kings See what the force and evidence of the truth hath drawn from the mouth of the worshippers of Rome What prodigious whimsies are these To what extremity must these men have been reduced The Scripture speaks of but one Antichristian Empire The Church never imagin'd there was more than one and lo here are men that make a couple The first shall be in Rome corrupted for according to them Rome in the last days must have a great Empire must subdue Kingdoms and draw them together with her self into a revolt from Jesus Christ Lo therefore there 's one Antichristian Empire at Rome what need have we of another Antichrist sitting at Jerusalem Moreover this Chimaera is founded on this principle that the Beast in the 13th Chapt. which according to them represents Antichrist is not the same with the Beast in the 17th Chap. with the great City that ruleth over the Kings of the Earth and with Babylon spoken of in the 14th and the 18th Chapt. Now we have confuted this ridiculous imagination and have demonstrated that Babylon the great City the Beast of the 13th and the 18th Chapter are the same thing This Chimaera is so ill to be defended that the more modern Papists have abandon'd it and at last have been forced to acknowledge that Rome must be the seat of Antichrist that the great City spoken of in the 11th Chapter where Jesus Christ was crucified is not Jerusalem but spiritual Babylon spoken of afterwards and Bernard de Montreuil that hath write since the rest though he retains that ancient dream that Antichrist must come out of Jerusalem yet he confesses however that the Babylonish Empire and the Antichristian are not two Empires that must succeed one another and the one destroy the other according to the supposition of those we were just now speaking of He confesseth that Rome shall be the chief City of Antichrist's party that Antichrist must defend it and that the ten Kings of the Beast are the subjects of its grandeure and that of Antichrist the head of the League the Monarch of the time He calls Antichrist the Prince of the Apocalyptical Babylon And he confesseth that this Babylon is Rome therefore he acknowledgeth that Rome must be Antichristian and the capital City of Antichrist Babylon saith he is the Mistress the Queen the Empress of the kingdom of Antichrist Not daring to call Rome Babylon On the 24. Chapt. he defines it however by Western Babylon who being perverted instead of obeying the Laws of the piety of the first age shall in her pride cause her self to be called the great and the independant and shall become much worse under the reign of Antichrist than ever Eastern Babylon was After these confessions there remains no other help for the popish Doctors to hinder their Rome from being acknowledged to be Rome Antichristian but the Chimaera of the three years and a half 's duration of Antichrists kingdom It is true say they that Rome must be possessed by Antichrist that he must establish Idolatry there that Rome must become worse than Rome Pagan was in the time of St. John and than Eastern Babylon in the time of the Prophets but this must last but three years and a half When therefore we have destroyed this ridiculous dream of three natural years and a half we shall have demonstrated that Rome at this day is the true Seat of Antichrist and then I shall make them this Argument Babylon in the Revelation is the seat of the Antichristian Empire the same thing with the prostitute Woman with the Beast with seven heads and ten horns All this is Rome become Antichristian and the seat of Antichrist Which is plain either by what hath been invincibly proved or what the Papists themselves have confessed Now this Antichristian Roman Empire must endure not 1260. natural days but 1260. prophetical days i. e. 1260. years Therefore it is evident that the Antichristian Empire which must be at Rome cannot be that chimerical Empire of Antichrist of three years and a half that must conclude 45. days before the end of the World and that 't is that of Rome which hath endured so long already The consequence is plain because all do acknowledge the World must not and cannot according to the decrees of God endure yet twelve or thirteen hundred years to make room for the reign of Antichrist and a thousand years more at the end of that to make room for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ the truth and certainty of which we shall prove So that if the reign of Antichrist must endure 1260. years it is necessary that it subsist at this present time and that it hath begun a long time since This is I say a demonstration which I have in readiness for these Gentlemen when I shall have proved the only thing in this argument that can be called in question viz. that the 1260. days of Antichrist cannot be understood of so many natural days I would prove this truth presently were it not that it regards the time of the duration of the Antichristian Empire of which we shall have occasion afterwards to speak Wherefore now we shall continue to give you the explication of the Prophecies that contain the Character of this Antichristian Empire CHAP. XVIII
Elias are transformed into those two witnesses that were to prophecy clothed in sack-cloth for three years and a half which are the days of Antichrist There was no colour for making Enoch and Elias sojourn on the Earth 1260. years So that it was necessary to take the 1260 years of which the Revelation speaks for so many natural days which make three natural years and a half The name of Antichrist made them believe he would call himself Christ The Temple of God where St. Paul saith that the son of perdition must sit hath made them think of the Temple of Solomon and they have concluded that Jerusalem was to be the seat of this Empire Consequently that Antichrist must be a Jew and for the reasons we have observ'd above he must moreover be of the tribe of Dan and by consequence a single person Behold the visions which St. Irenaeus vends in his fifth book against Haeresies Why Antichrist was not known fooner The Fathers did copy one another without consideration visions for which we are apparently indebted to him that forged the false Oracles of the Sibyls in the second age They that came after him adopted these vain imaginations and added others to them The Ancients did copy one another almost without any judgement and always without consideration Those that were very fond of this vain phantome of a Chimerical Antichrist could not discern the Character of the true Antichrist The later ages have been much more enlightned The differences of the Popes with the Kings of Europe particularly with the Emperors open'd the eyes of many and made them see the Antichristian Empire in Rome Christian But being in part very fond of the old Idea of Antichrist in part being kept in by that respect they had for a See which they believed was once the Chair of Saint Peter in part through cowardice and want of zeal and above all because the time designed by providence was not yet come they stopt in the way and never reached to a perfect Idea of the Antichristian Empire And in this manner the prejudices the ignorance the passions the interest of the flesh and the subtilty of the Devil have detain'd the truth in profound darkness till in these later times God hath set them in a perfect light But one can't sufficiently wonder that in so great a light yet there have been two persons sufficiently prepossessed or ill enough disposed for the mistaking this Antichrist The learned Grotius and Dr. Hammond have unhappily and to the scandal of all Protestants used great endeavours to turn these prophecies of the Revelation another way The one through his being wedded to the papism which he defended with all his might against the late Andrew Rivet And the other apparently for the same reason as Grotius and it may be so through his jealousy for the Episcopal order imagining that if the Pope who caâ—â—â— himself the head of the Bishops should be made Antichrist some disgrace would redound thence to the whole Episcopal order But Joseph Mede the learned Vsher Arch-bishop of Armagh the learned Andrew Willet and so many other learned English men that appear so zealously for the government and order of Bishops have continued to find Antichrist and the Pope in the descriptions which the prophecies have left us of him And to speak freely I am so strongly perswaded of this as an Article of the faith of the true Christians that I can't hold them for good ones who deny this truth after the events and the labours of so many great men have made it so very evident I reckon the blindness of the papists and of their favourers in this point among those prodigies wherein we must acknowledge something super-natural The end of the First Part. THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE PROPHECIES OR THE Approaching Deliverance of the CHURCH A work wherein it is proved that the Papism is the Antichristian Empire that that Empire is not far from its ruin that the present persecution may end in three years and a half After which the destruction of Antichrist shall begin which shall be finished in the beginning of the next Age and lastly the Kingdom of Jesus Christ shall come on the Earth The second Edition Corrected and Enlarged by almost a third part and the explication of all the Visions of the Revelation and of many Chapters concerning mystical Theology Tome the second Written in French by Mr. PETER JURIEU the present Minister of the French Church at Rotterdam And from this second Edition faithfully Englished LONDON Printed in the Year 1687. THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE PROPHECIES OR THE Approaching Deliverance of the CHURCH THE SECOND PART Of the end of the Antichristian Empire when it must be destroyed the circumstances of its ruin and what shall be the Estate of the Church after the ruin of that Empire CHAP. I. Of the duration of the Kingdom of Antichrist A refutation of that dream that it must last but three years and a half Ten Arguments which demonstrate that that supposition is false and impossible IN the First Part of this Work we have found Antichrist and the Antichristian Empire in this we proceed to seek out the time and the circumstances of its end That we may succeed well in this enquiry we must do four things I. We must know how long the Antichristian Empire must last II. We must see where we ought to begin the 1260 days which the Holy Spirit assigns it III. After-wards we shall see where they must end IV. And lastly we shall seek for that which hath not yet been found in the Revelation that is the circumstances of the fall of that Antichristian Empire We shall begin with that question which we have above laid down as the chiefest one that is The time of the duration of that Antichristian Empire The importance of this question whether Antichrist must reign 1260 days or 1260 years The Roman Church supposeth that this duration cannot be above three years and a half i. e. 1260. natural days and we pretend this must be understood of 1260. prophetical days which are 1260. years 'T is so important a matter that on this all the rest depends If this supposition of the duration of Antichrist meerly and simply for three years and a half be false all that the Roman Church saith of Antichrist is false And if we have reason to say that the Antichristian Empire must endure 1260. years this Empire must of necessity have begun a long time since and having begun a long time ago it must of necessity also be the papism This is therefore a particular which we must carefully mind and in the beginning we must lay down these three indisputable principles I. That the duration of the 1260. days wherein the woman in the 12th Chapt. of the Revelation must be fed in the desart which is also called in the same place a time The 1260 days The 42 months The three years and half a time
times and half a time are the same poriod times and half a time The 42 months during which the Court must be left to the Gentiles according to what is said in the 11th Chap. The 1260 days during which the two witnesses are to prophecy clothed in sackcloth as 't is fore-told in the same 11th Chapter And lastly the 42. months given to the first beast of the 13th Chapter of the Revel to excercise his power All these different periods I say are one and the same period and signify the duration of the Antichristian Empire This can't be disputed The second principle is this that in that Prophecy the days the years and the months may be taken for natural days months and years or for prophetical ones a day for a year Sometimes the Prophets count the time as other men do This might signify natural days for sometimes the Prophets do so speak they reckon the time as other men do Jeremy reckon'd 70 years for the duration of the captivity and these years are natural ones 'T is certain also that in the period of the thousand years designed for the reign of the Church after the destruction of Antichrist the years are taken for natural years But it is not less certain The Papists cannot deny but that the 1260 days may signify 1260 years Chap. 9. Chap. 4. v. 4.6 that these days and these years may be taken mystically for prophetical days and years 'T is confest that the 70 weeks of Daniel signify 70 weeks of years God said to Ezekiel Thou shalt sleep on thy left side and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it according to the number of the days that thou shalt lye upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity I have appointed thee each day for a year Numb 14.34 God said to the Israelites according to the number of the days in which ye searched the Land even 40 days each day for a year shall you bear your iniquities even 40 years This could not be obscure to the Israelites who were accustom'd to this style and who knew there were weeks of years in their Calendar as well as weeks of days and that a week of years answered to that of days one year for one day The third principle is this that here the number of three years and a half 42 months and 1260 days cannot signify an indefinite time As it sometimes happens The number 1260 must be a definite number not an indefinite one that the Holy Spirit by a determinate number means an undetermin'd one A way that would be extreamly advantagious to the partisans of Rome For when one shall have demonstrated that 't is absolutely impossible that that which is predicted concerning the Antichristian Empire can be fulfilled in the compass of three years and a half it would be very useful for them if they could say we must not take this so strictly in the literal sense that it may signify three times ten three times twenty or more according as the Holy Spirit oftentimes means an indefinite number by a definite one But here that cannot be There are certain numbers by which the Prophets use to describe an indefinite time by reason of a certain priviledge those numbers have As that of three because 't is the first odd number the number of the persons of the Trinity that of seven because of the seven days of the creation that of twelve because of the twelve Patriarchs the twelve Tribes and the twelve Apostles that of 100 and that of 1000 because these are numbers that according to the custome of men are often designed to signify a great undetermin'd quantity But we shall not find any examples of broken numbers as that of three and a half of 42 and 1260 taken for indefinite numbers 'T is true the Revelation speaks of the 144 thousand sealed ones Now the number of 144 is not less a broken one than that of 42. But 't is because 144 is the product of that of 12 multiplied by it self The Holy Spirit takes twelve thousand sealed persons of every Tribe 12 times 12 make 144. Here a reason can't be given why God should choose 1260 days to mark out an indefinite time There is no middle way therefore they must be so many years It must be 1260 years or 1260 days and no more or so many simple days So that when we shall have proved that the course of this Empire is not three years and a half we shall have proved also that 't is 1260 years To prove that 't is not three years and a half we need but run through the History of this Empire according as we find it in the book of the Revelation The first Argument against the three years and half One half of the Revelation would be taken up in giving an account of the events of only three years and a half First of all we must know that according to the greatest part of Interpreters almost the whole Revelation is spent in fore-telling us and setting in order the events that must happen to the Church during this reign of Antichrist At least it is certain that 't is the subject of one half of this book the 11th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th and 19th Chapters contain the birth progress finishing ruin and fall of this Antichristian Kingdom Let any one judge if there be any likelyhood that this only prophetical book which the Apostles have left us for the time of the N. Testament moves but upon three years and a half and hath omitted the events of almost two thousand years So that the general Idea of this Prophecy can't bear this imagination but let us come to particulars Second Argument these three years and a half can't agree with what is said of the first beast in the 13th Chap. of the Revelation Second The 11th Chapt. begins to speak of this Antichristian Empire but because this is but as a general History and an abridgement 't is in this general account that the vision of the three years and a half is hid and 't is from hence it hath been taken Let us see if this can agree with the places where the Prophet enlargeth this short description We have in the 13th Chap. a representation of this Empire under the emblems of two beasts of which one had seven heads and ten horns and the other but one head and two horns We there see in the first place a beast with seven heads and ten horns It hath been confessed to us that this is Antichrist We have proved that the word beast signifies an Empire consisting of a founder and his successors Now see a fine succession and a very considerable time that same of three years and a half to be called an Empire and to be meant by a beast Certainly this beast with seven heads and ten horns is the Roman Empire in its whole extent from its founder Romulus even to Antichrist who
The 8th Argument spiritual Babel is represented as a City en riched by a long commerce Eighthly Moreover doth a City become rich in three years and a half What kind of commerce then must that of this Antichristian Empire be that shall make the fortunes of her merchants in so little a time The H. Spirit borrows these figures from what is done and seen inhumane life 'T is seen therein that Cities become rich and powerful by long commerce But never were any of them seen to attain to a surprizing greatness by two or three years commerce Lastly A City and an Empire that are raised and destroyed in three years and a half have not time to gather together voluptuous things The 9th Argument spiritual Babylon is represented as having enjoyed a long peace and to enjoy them It must always fight to conquer to grow greater or to defend it self If the Antichristian Empire lasts but three years and a half this is not too much to establish its greatness by sword and by fire and to repell that force that must destroy it Of necessity Antichrist and his adherents must always be in violent motion in trouble and in war. Whereas the description of spiritual Babylon imports the possession of a long peace during which she must heap together both all the riches and all the pleasures of the World. The 10th Argument the ruin of the Babylonish Empire according to its description in the 19th Ch. cannot be wrought in three years and a half The 19th Chapt. is the last where in the ruin of this Empire is described to us We there see him who is called the faithful and the true and the Word of God i. e. J. Christ that prepares himself for the combat that causes the armies of Heaven to follow him that calls all the birds of Heaven and all the beasts of the Earth to the slaughter that gives battels that obtains the victory that casts the beast and the false Prophet into the lake of fire and brimstone For this alone more is necessary than three years and a half For an Empire so vast so large and so strong as that of Antichrist must be is not destroyed in a few days CHAP. II. The last Argument against the Chimaera of three years and half taken from the time during which the Temple was prophan'd by Antiochus Four quite different times set down for that in Daniels Prophecies An explication and a reconciling of those four times An application of these four times to the Kingdom of Antichrist and the ruin of that Kingdom I Draw my last Argument against this chimerical duration of three years and a half from the most famous of all the types of Antichrist viz. Antiochus Epiphanes 'T is he that persecuted the Church that oppressed it that defiled the Temple that caused the daily sacrifice to cease for the space of three natural years and a half Wherein it is evident that God hath set him as a type of Antichrist who during the space of three prophetical years and a half was in like manner to seize on the Church to fill the Temple of God with Idols and make the pure service of God the continual sacrifices of praises and prayers which God hath reserved for himself alone to cease Now we must remember this maxime which we have already advanced in the fore-going Chapter viz. that types are oenigmatical and short pictures of great events great in their extent as well as in their qualities Types are short pictures in a little This maxime is evident it hath no need of proofs And according to this principle seeing the times must be short as well as the other strokes it is clear that contracted years cannot be better represented than by days not by months for a month is the revolution of the Moon and consequently it can't be proper to represent the revolution of the Sun which is a quite different Star. But the day and the year are the revolutions of the Sun the year is the great revolution the day the little one If one would represent in short the great revolution of the Sun one can't do it better than by the small revolution of the same Star. And thence I conclude that the oppression of the Church by Antiochus who was the type having lasted 1260 little revolutions of the Sun they must represent so many of the great revolutions of the same Star. I spend a Chapter on this last proof because in the duration of the oppression of the Jewish Church by Antiochus Epiphanes there are considerable difficulties which spring from the differences of the Prophecies of Daniel and the events such as the first book of the Macchabees represents them to us I hope that the clearing these difficulties about the duration of the persecution of Antiochus will give us such light into the duration of the Kingdom of Antichrist as will please the curious Four times noted by Daniel for the duration of Antiochus's persecution We must therefore observe that the Prophet Daniel describes the time of the duration of the persecution that was to befall his nation in four different manners First of all he saith in the eighth Chap. after having spoken of Antiochus Epiphanes under the embleme of the little horn C. 8. v. 13. Then I heard one Saint speaking and another Saint said unto that certain Saint that spake How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice and the transgression of desolation to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot And he said unto me unto 2300 days then shall the Sanctuary be cleansed v. 14. Daniel reassuming the affair of Antiochus in the eleventh Chapter and continuing it in the twelfth observes three time Cap. 12. v. 6 7. And one said to the man clothed in linnen which was upon the waters of the river How long shall it be to the end of these wonders And I heard the man clothed in linnen which was on the waters of the river when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven and swore by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time times and a half It is plain this signifies one year two years and half a year three years and a half So then you see the second time The third is observed in the same Chapt. C. 12. v. 11. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away and the abomination that maketh desolate set up there shall be 1290 days Lastly The fourth time is found in the following verse Blessed is he that waiteth v. 12 and cometh to the 1335 days See then four different numbers Two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings 2300. A time times and half a time 1260. that make three years and a half and days One thousand two hundred fourscore and ten days 1290. And lastly 1335. one thousand three hundred and thirty
the World but was manifest in these last times for us 2 Pet. 3.3 4. The same Apostle tells us in the last days shall come scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying where is the promise of his coming 'T was the very time in which Saint Peter spoke and wrote For 't is spoken as of persons that were in being already And it appears by the second Chapter of the Epistle to the Thessalonians that there was an opinion spread abroad that the end of the World was at hand which made prophane ones say where is the promise of his coming which they tell us is nigh The Prophet Ioel saith Acts 2. in the last days I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh St. Peter applies this Oracle to that which happen'd on the day of Pentecost and in the ages of the Primitive Church 2. Tim. 3.1 St. Paul saith to Timothy Know this that in the last days perillous times shall come for men shall be lovers of their own selves c. These last days began a little after St. Paul For the Church was not long before she corrupted her manners These very same Texts prove also the other thing we have laid down which is that the last times do not signify a short duration For the manifestation of Jesus Christ made in the last times and God speaking to us in the last days by his Son and the last days wherein the prophane shall bear sway all this I say signifieth the time that passeth from I. Christ to the end of the word The times divided into three parts in reference to the Church To understand why the Period that passeth from Jesus Christ to this present time is called the last time we must observe that in the Scripture the times are divided either with reference to the Church or with reference to the World. With reference to the Church there are three times A time when the Church was without the Law and without the Gospel this is the first time that passed from Adam to Moses A time wherein the Church had the Law of Moses that was the time from the departure out of Egypt to I. Christ that 's the second time Lastly A time wherein the Church enjoys the light of Iesus Christ that 's ours and that 's the third time The times in reference to the world are divided into four With reference to the World the time is divided into four great Monarchies that must precede the last reign of I. Christ The first was the Monarchy of the Assyrians which had its seat first at Niniveh and afterwards at Babylon The second is that of the Persians the third that of the Greeks and the fourth that of the Romans whose reign must be prolong'd till the Kingdom be given to J. Christ and his Saints Since Jesus Christ we are in the last times Now whether we refer it to the first division or the second 't is still true that we are in the last times that I. Christ came in the last times and that the Empire of Antichrist must be in the last times J. Christ came in the third and last time with reference to the times of the Church seeing he came since the Law of Moses ceased to be in its vigor And Antichrist also hath his reign in the third and last period of the Church Jesus Christ also came in the last times with respect to the World for he came in the time of the fourth Monarchy Antichrist with much more reason may be assigned to the last times of the fourth Monarchy because he himself is but a continuation of that fourth Monarchy But to be so much the more fully perswaded that 't is a very proper expression it must be observ'd that the fourth Monarchy figur'd by the fourth beast was to have two great periods one of six heads the other of a seventh head having ten horns The Period of the six first heads is the Roman Empire under Kings Consuls Decemvirs Tribunes of the people perpetual Dictators and Emperors And this first Period contains about 12 or 1300 years The period of the little horn or the seventh beast with ten horns is that of Antichrist and the ten Kings which must also be between 12 and 1300 years Antichrist therefore is come in the last time of the last time i. e. in the last period of the fourth and last worldly Monarchy And consequently the Holy Spirit might with very great reason call his reign the last times And thence it can by no means be concluded that this Kingdom must last but a few years before the end of the World. Having said all that I had to say to destroy this false imagination that the Empire of Antichrist must last but three years and a half I might justly reassume and urge all those Arguments I formerly mentioned to prove that the Idea of Antichrist which the Papists frame to themselves is false and that the popish Roman see is the true Antichrist But before that I must use them yet once more to confound the dishonesty of the Translators of the Port-Royal Rev. 17.10 The dishonesty of the translation of the Port-Royal about the duration of Antichrists reign who say of the ten Kings that they shall take power for one hour or for a little time with the beast instead of translating in in the same hour or at the same time with the beast They found this translation or rather this notorious falsification very proper to take away from the Reformed this Text that proves so clearly that the birth of Antichrist must be reckon'd from the division of the Roman Empire among ten Kings and into ten Kingdoms But afterwards we shall see that though we should let their translation pass our proof would not in the least be weakned by it But as they will not agree that 1260 years may be called a little time see here they are engaged to prove that all that we have said to prove that the 1260 days of Antichrists reign are so many years is illusion a Chimaera a dream and a sophism For if our proofs do subsist how will they maintain their version that the Kings shall take power for a little time with the beast Seeing all Interpreters do agree and 't is clear of it self without their consent that the power of the ten Kings must last as long as that of the beast And also these ten Kings must reach beyond the beast for after they have clothed him with their power they must strip him of it eat his flesh and burn it with fire If therefore they duration and continuance of the beast be 1260 years as we have demonstrated it 't is necessary that the reign of the ten Kings be 1260 years and consequently this reign will not be for one hour and for a little time 'T is here that these Gentlemen the Interpreters will have great need of the Arabique Rabbinical learning and Hebrew of Father
out the truth There is a particular Providence that presides over the the understanding of Prophecies as we have observed God would not have them understood in every age because this would hinder their accomplishment But when they are just ready to be fulfilled God permits them to be penetrated into and the things which we see come to pass from day to day open mens eyes The great point is to know where we must begin the 1260 years In this matter the whole depends on our knowing where we must begin the 1260 years that are assigned for the reign of the papism And there are as many opinions about that as there are men Some begin them with Boniface the third Successor to Gregory the great because they would be favourable to Gregory the first who seems to have had very good things in him And because his Successor was the first that assumed the name of Vniversal Bishop Others descend lower and begin the 1260 year at the time when Images were establisht Some come as far as to the 11th Age and to the reign of Gregory the seventh who was insolent to a higher degree than any of his Predecessors dared to advance themselves unto There are some also that come as far as to the 12th Age. The fountain of their errour that descend so low for the beginning of the 1260 years I shall not amuse my self with mentioning much less with confuting all these Opinions I shall only say this boldly that they who go so low to find out the beginning of the 1260 years are in an errour That which hath deceived them is this they imagine we must not begin the Antichristian Empire till the time that Idolatry and Tyranny were arrived to their height in the Church in which I am throughly perswaded they deceive themselves Another cause of their being deceived is this having this truth in mind that Rome must be the head of the Antichristian Empire they will not begin that Empire before the Roman Church was most notoriously remarkable for her pride among all the Churches When any make a history of an Empire they must begin it from its original Totally to remove these two mistakes it must be observed that in every country and in every language when any would make a History of an Empire and a Kingdom they begin it from its orginal They that make the History of the Franks or Frenchmen among the Gauls do not fix their beginning on that time when the French were masters of all the Gauls from the frontier of Flanders to the Alps and the Pyrenaean mountains For that happen'd very late But they begin with the first entry of the Franks into Gaul and their first establishment on this side the Rhine When any make a History of the Empire of Rome they begin the Roman History from the first foundation of that City so they reckon'd in Rome it self ab Vrbe Conditâ And this way of reckoning continued till the fifth age when the Christian account began to be in use and men reckon'd by the years of Jesus Christ Moreover 't is the custome of the Scripture and of the Holy Spirit as well as of the World 'T is said the sojourning of the Israelites in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years yet they were not in that slavery above 210 years But the Holy Spirit reckons from the time of the calling of Abraham and his passing into Canaan where he and his off-spring were strangers 'T is therefore all the time of the pilgrimage of the family of Abraham which God begins from its original Lastly 't is the stile of the Prophets and particularly in the Prophecy we are treating of The fourth Beast is the Roman Empire all the World agrees in that where doth the Holy Spirit begin the History of that Beast or of that Empire not at the point of its grandeur which happen'd not till above 400 years after its original but from the point of its birth and that is clear because he ascribes seven heads to that Beast Heads which signify so many Governments under which Rome hath passed Now the first of these Governments is that of Kings under whom Rome in the beginning was no more than a great Village and afterwards a very little City without dependencies This principle therefore must be supposed that the H. Spirit dates the Antichristian Empire from its original 'T is not necessary that the first seeds of Antichristiaenism should have been conceived at Rome The other mistake that we must get rid of is this that Rome is precisely the place where the Empire of Antichrist must have its birth 'T is not so Antichristianism is born every where and it might very well be born in the East before it came to fix its seat in the West That which makes men affix the birth of the Antichristian Empire precisely to Rome is because being struck with what Saint Paul saith that the man of sin must exalt himself above all that is called God they have confined Antichristianism principally and almost solely to tyranny and Pride and have imagined that the birth of Antichristianism was not to be found but in that City which had always been and which afresh was to be the Throne of Pride But herein they have been deceived Antichristianism consists no less in idolatry and corruption of manners than in tyranny in such a manner that in all places where we see the birth of Idolatry Superstition and Corruption there without doubt Antichristianism is born These principles being laid down the three Characters which we have affixed to the Antichristian Empire by reason of its three names must be remembred Idolatry because 't is called Babylon the mother of fornications and abominations corruption of manners because 't is called Sodom Pride and Tyranny The three Characters of Antichristianism began in the fourth Age and first of all superstition because 't is called Egypt When these three sins began to be establisht in the Church Antichristianism began to enter into it Now 't is certain it was towards the end of the fourth and in the whole fifth Age that these disorders received their birth The superstition of Reliques the veneration and worship of them and immediately after the invocation and intercession of the Saints were introduced about the year 360. or 380. Already before this time that superstition had begun among the people I do not at all doubt but that women and simple persons especially those that were but newly converted from Paganism were the first Authors of it Devout ignorant people easily fall into superstition It had been a very ancient custome to frequent the Martyrs tombs there to celebrate their memory to pray for them and there to pray for themselves For in Eusebius's time men were wont to assemble themselves at the sepulchers of the Martyrs to say their prayers upon their sepulchers and there to honour their most happy souls The Papists in this passage would
certain that the corruption was greatly encreased Lastly if we take the last account and reckon from the year 94 in which Saint John composed his Prophecy the 360 years will end about the year 454 and 't is about that time that Theodoret wrote in whose words we have seen that the false worship of the Saints and the Doctrine of secondary intercessors were so well formed Which of the four points we must chuse If we place the birth of Antichristianism in the 360 year of our Lord when men began to render a religious worship to Reliques this Antichristian Empire being to last 1260 years 't is clear that they should have ended in the year 1620. i. e. 65 years ago If we began it according to the second computation in the year 393 or 394 it should have ended in the year 1653 or 1654. If we began it according to the third calculation at the year 430 it should end in the year 1690 about four or five years hence Lastly if following the last computation we begin it about the 450 or 454th year it must end in the year 1710 or one of the following years to 1714. 'T is clear by the event that we must not begin the 1260 years neither from the year 360 nor that of 393. For the Antichristian Empire did not fall in the years 1620 and 1653 as it should have done according to these calculations In those times in the year 360 and the year 393 superstition was yet but in its birth the worship of the creatures was not yet establisht in the publick service Great cautions also were used not to confound the service of God with the service of the creatures which was just ready to receive its birth Moreover the pride of the Bishops of Rome was moderate and their tyranny did not yet extend it self very far Men reckon the years of the life of a man from the time of his birth not from that of his conception Idolatry and tyranny were as yet but like a faetus's that were forming and perfecting but were not yet perfected The principal reason why God will not have the 1260 years of the reign of Antichrist begin but in the 4th Age. Rev. 17.12 But the principal reason why God would not have us count the birth of Antichristianism from the years 360 and 393 is because there was a fourth Character of the birth of that Antichristian Empire that had not yet happen'd that is the ten Kings that were to take their power together with the Beast These ten Kings are ten Kingdoms into which the Roman Empire was to be subdivided And 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 These words are admirable to me they appear express and I am astonisht that it hath not been observed that they precisely mark the time wherein we must begin to reckon the reign of the Beast Especially if we consider them with the words of St. Paul he who now letteth or possesseth will let or possess untill he be taken out of the way then shall that wicked one be revealed That is to say till the time that the head of the Roman Emperors be destroyed These two passages signify expresly from what time we must compute the 1260 years 'T is from the time that the Goths Vandals c. after having a long time harrassed and rent the Roman Empire at last divided it into ten pieces Moreover the falsification of the translation of the Port-Royal that render it thus the ten Kings shall take power for a little time with the Beast would not destroy the evidence of the Oracle though we should suffer the ill translation of these Gentlemen to pass For if we must translate it for a little time by that little time we must understand the three years and a half of Antichrist's duration And seeing we have invincibly proved that these three years and a half consist of 1260 Prophetical days i. e. 1260. years 't is clear we must understand that little time in a prophetical and compendious sense for three years and a half That which is essential here and which the rashness of men hath not been able to take away is that the ten Kings were to receive their power together with the Beast that is to say at the same time Whethey it be for a short or a long one 't is still certain that this Oracle plainly teaches us that we must seek for the birth of the Antichristian Empire in the time when we find ten Kingdoms arise from the dismembred Roman Empire We must therefore see when that was thus dismembred The greatest part of men make the Roman Empire to subsist till the year 475 under certain petty Kings that retained the name of Roman Emperors because they did yet possess the City of Rome from Valentinian the third to Augustulus But the truth of it is that the Roman Empire was parcelled out and rent in pieces and entirely destroyed immediately after the death of this Valentinian who was killed by Maximus Genseric King of the Vandals comes from Africk being called in by the Empress Eudoxia to revenge the death of her husband He takes Rome carries away all the riches precious things and rarities of it They spent fifteen whole days in spoiling it of its treasures Genseric transported them into Africa together with the Empress her daughters and the principal men of Rome Just in the same manner as Nebuchadnezzar carried away the vessels of the Temple and led the flower of the people into captivity 'T is assuredly from this very time that we must compute the entire ruin of the Empire of the City of Rome though it had still a shadow of a Kingdom under the images of Emperours that lasted about twenty years Jeremy reckons 70 years for the captivity of Babylon Yet it is certain the from the last ruin of Jerusalem till the return there were not sixty years But the Prophet counts upon Jerusalem as destroyed and its Kingdom as entirely ruined from Jehojakim's time under whom in truth was the first transportation of the people And since whose time the Kingdom of Judah under Zedekiah was but a shadow of that of his Predecessors because he was the Chaldaeans vassal On this account I say God reckons it for nothing By the like reason we must reckon for nothing those petty Kings of Rome who having as it were nothing more than the City of that name retained however the name of Roman Emperors to Augustulus's time We must reckon the dismembring of the Roman Empire into ten Kingdoms from the death of Valentinian the third Then therefore from the wrecks of the Roman Empire were formed 1. The Kingdom of the Britains in Britanny 2. Of the Saxons 3. Of the Franks 4. Of the Burgundians in the Gauls 5. Of the Visigoths in the South of Gaul and in Spain 6. Of the Sueves in Gallicia
a consequent from what we have said of Antiochus Epiphanes and the duration of the persecution to which the Prophet assigns four times 2300 mornings and evenings that is to say 1150 days Three years and a half that is to say 1260 days 1290 days and 1335 days We have said that the number of 1260 days is that of the time of the duration of the prophanation of the Sanctuary till the time that Judas Macchabaeus having taken out of the Temple the Idol of Jupiter Olympius began the cleansing of the Sanctuary that he was a month in taking away all the impurities wherefore Daniel after the number of 1260 days adds 30 thereunto and saith that it shall be for 1290 days Lastly we have supposed that Judas Macchabaeus spent 45 other days in preparing all things for the dedication of the Temple The order in which the enrite restoration of the Church must be effected That the type may answer the truth if the Empire of the Papism must fall and be abolisht about the year 1710 we may believe the Church shall not be perfectly reformed and cleansed for all that It may be that all Christians although they agree to chase away Idolatry and beat down Tyranny yet they will not agree in every thing So that I suppose 30 years shall pass for the reuniting all Christians in the same communion and that this union shall be effected about the year 1740. This reunion shall be a path-way for the calling the rest of the Pagan and infidel Nations who are yet almost innumerable For we must not hope that Pagans and Infidels shall enter into the Church while they see it divided Into what part of it should they put themselves It shall be the unanimous consent of all Christians in one only Religion that shall overcome the obstinacy of the enemies of Jesus Christ To effect this reunion of all Christians no less than 30 years as I suppose will be necessary and that was figured by the 30 days which Macchabaeus employed in purifying the Temple of Jerusalem After the purgation of the Temple he spent 45 days to prepare the vessels for the dedication I suppose that in like manner when the re-union shall be effected no less than 45 days that is to say 45 years will be requisite to run overall the Earth and convert the Nations that are strangers to the Covenant to prepare them for the last dedication Add 45 to 1740 that will fall on the year 1785 in which shall come the glorious reign of I. Christ on the Earth of which we shall speak afterwards And 't is in these 45 years that the Jews shall be converted and shall finish the conversion of the Infidel Nations their obstinacy shall hold out to the end and shall not be overcome but by an extraordinary event and more extraordinary than the fall of Babel shall be The Empire of Anchrist must be destroyed before J. Christ comes There is no ground to believe that the Kingdom of Jesus Christ shall come in the time that God shall employ in the destruction of the Antichristian Empire For that Empire shall fall with noise wars troubles effusion of blood Now the Spirit of God is not in the wind that breaks the rocks 't is in the thin and gentle one When Jesus Christ shall come there must be a profound peace on the Earth Neither shall he come in the time wherein men shall endeavour the conversion of the Infidel Nations for that shall be a time of contesting and disputings those things must cease when Jesus Christ shall come A type of the time in which images were introduced The number of 2300 evenings and mornings which make 1150 days to me seems to signify precisely the days in which the daily sacrifice was interrupted an interruption that began not till some months after the Sanctuary had began to be prophaned by impure sacrifices added to the daily sacrifice that yet was continued And even the Idol of Jupiter Olympius seems not to have been brought into the Temple till two months after the cessation of the daily sacrifice So that the introduction of the Idol was not till six or seven months after the prophanation of the Temple This seems to me to have a typical relation to that which happened in the Christian Church by the introduction of the adoration of Images They were brought into the Churches in the fifth Age but we do not find that Images were adored and served before the sixth Age from the year 560 to the year 600. Now one may say that then the abomination the Idol of Jupiter Olympius was introduced into the Temple and placed on the Altar one may say that then the daily sacrifice entirely ceased whereas the Divine service had been only polluted by the invocation of Saints it was entirely spoiled by the adoration of Images Compute this cessation of the daily sacrifice that is to say of the service of God from the year 560 or thereabouts add thereunto 1150 years of interruption by the adoration of Images this will fall on the year 1710 or thereabouts the time wherein Images shall be entirely abolisht with Popery Although Antichristianism began in the fifth Age all the Christians of that time were not damned See what I had to say to confirm my notions about the time in which I do believe that the 1260 years of the Antichristian Empire must begin and end Without doubt some Protestants together with all the Papists will judge that I ascend very high and that in placing the birth of this Empire in the Popedom of Leo the first I haye made Antichrists of many good Bishops of Rome to Gregory the great inclusively and all the Christians since that time the subjects of the Antichristian Empire But they that make this objection do not consider that Antichristianism is properly nothing but the corruption of Christianity that all corruptions go gradually and that the first degrees of a corruption are not mortal There was Antichristianism mingled with the Christianity of the Christians of the fourth fifth and sixth Age but it doth not follow that this Antichristianism did from the beginning ruin the salvation of those that did partake of it When the Antichristian corruption was come to its full and became mortal then God by his mercy and the means that are known to him shewed grace to the Elect that were in Babylon so that they did not participate of her mortal idolatries The good Bishops of Rome in the fifth and sixth age were no more Antichrist than the Christians then were Antichristian and if God did tolerate the first beginnings of Antichristianism in the faithfull people he may also as well have born it in the Bishops Before Boniface the third Successor of Gregory the Great no Pope called himself Bishop of Bishops or Vniversal Bishop and so till that time the Bishops of Rome were not Antichrists perfected they were only Antichrists begun Degrees of the
encrease of the papal Tyranny 'T is known this papal Tyranny had its degrees since Leo the first that sate in that See in the year 450 to Gregory the Great the Bishops of Rome endeavoured to arrogate to themselves a superiority over the Universal Church but yet however without desiring to be called Oecumenical Bishops After Gregory the first to Gregory the seventh the Popes called themselves Vniversal Bishops but without styling themselves Soveraigns and Masters of Kings and Kingdoms This Gregory was the first that endeavoured to depose Emperors and Kings This is Antichrist perfected Those also that did not know him when he was yet in his first periods did know him when he arrived to this We have many testimonies of the German Bishops of that time who profess that this Gregory the seventh and his successors were Antichrist CHAP. VI. The circumstances of the fall of Antichrist re-establisht in their order An explication of the fifteenth Chapter Principles for the right understanding the sixteenth Chapter Divers interpretations given of it and their visible faults AFter having seen the time in which the fall and last ruin of the Antichristian Empire must happen 't is time to see the circumstances of that fall and I am very well satisfied that therein we shall find what will confirm that which we have affirmed touching the approaching end of Antichristianism I pretend to improve my conjecture to a kind of demonstration by the full agreement there is between my hypotheses and the Prophecies The circumstances of the fall of the Antichristian Empire are to be found in the 11 14 15 16 17 18 and 19th Chapters 'T is certainly that part of the Revelation that hath been least understood I mean as to what respects the circumstances of the ruin of the Antichristian Empire For as for the Characters of that Empire which are also contain'd in those Chapters they have been well enough apprehended But as to the fall of that Empire the time and progress of that fall God would not let men hitherto be so happy in their conjectures I hope that in what I shall now say something shall be met with that shall much more bear upon it the Characters of truth Divers circumstances of the fall of Antichrist which the H. Spirit hath not pleased to put into one vision The H. Spirit 's so often repeating the prophecy of the fall of Babylon and the ruin of its Empire is not only to give us a perfect certainty of the event 't is principally to mark out unto us that fall by divers circumstances But it hath not pleased God to give us all these circumstances in one vision that so the Prophecy might not be too plain For it is not at all the intention of God to inform us clearly of things to come with respect to their circumstances But only as to the substance of the thing The fall of the Antichristian Empire is the substance that which is necessary to support the hopes of the Church Hence it is that there is no obsecurity in the prophecy with respect to this no more then there was in the Prophecies concerning the Messiah with respect to the substance of it and the certainty of his coming but there was much as to the circumstances of that coming Therefore God hath misplaced the circumstances in the visions that they might be obscure because God was willing that the circumstances of the fall of the Kingdom of Antichrist should be obscure he hath for this reason divided them into several visions And for the same reason that is that he might put a venerable veyle upon that which he was not willing that we should know before the time He hath not placed the circumstances exactly according to the order of their coming to pass The vision which marches fore-most contains things which ought not to come to pass till afterward and the visions which follow contain things which ought to come to pass before Therefore that we may place these adorable obscurities in such a Light as is necessary to pierce into them we must bring things into their natural order and explain the visions according to the order of those events which they fore-tell In doing this we will begin with the 16th Chapter of the Revelation which contains the admirable vision of the seven viols which are the seven periods through which the Antichristian Empire ought to pass to come to its fall God does ordinarily prepare for greater visions by lesser The fifteenth Chapter is nothing but a preparation for the vision of the sixteenth Where are the seven last plagues as the twelve first verses of the 14th are nothing but a preparation unto the vision of the harvest and vintage which is very evident from the beginning of the 15th Chapter which is And I saw another sign in Heaven great and marvellous seven Angels having the seven last plagues As a preparation unto the vision of these seven last plagues God does make the Prophet see a sea of glass or of chrystal mingled with fire that is a sea where ice and fire are mingled and them that had gotten the victory over the beast and over his Image that is them that had escaped his corruption and idolatry stand upon the sea of glass or of ice and they sung the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb Great and marvellous are thy works It is clear A lively Image of those who escape the corruption of Popery its persecutions that the Prophet does make an allusion unto the passage through the red Sea and unto the Children of Israel who being got upon the shore of that Sea sung the song which Moses composed for them The Sea of glass mingled with fire answers to the red sea they who had gotten the victory over the Beast answer to the Israelites who had overcome the Egyptians Egypt out of which the Israelites marcht answers to this Antichristian Empire out of which the Elect do escape Therefore as the red sea and its waves were the danger out of which the Israelites coming out of Egypt were deliver'd so this sea of glass mingled with fire represents the evils which the Faithful who leave Babylon do escape These evils are called a sea on the account of their greatness and bitterness my breach is great like the sea said Jeremy they are called a sea of glass or a sea of ice because of their hardness 'T is more easy to escape out of a sea of water because the liquidity of waters does make it possible to swim through them but if a sea was glass or ice it would be impossible to get out of it There is also fire mingled with glass to represent the burning and extream dolours of those evils Fire and Ice are two extreams in evil yet they are joyn'd in the description of the calamities of the Church though they seem inconsistent if it be a sea of ice there cannot be fire there and if
hath hit upon the truth Principles for the understanding the 7. viols in the 16th Chap. of the Revel 1. Principle The 7 viols are 7 judgements of God upon the Kingdom of Antichrist The Principles are there 1. The pouring out of the viols and the several plagues which follow upon their effusion do certainly signify the judgements of God upon the Kingdom of Antichrist But we must not imagine that they are as so many steps which sensibly carry it to its ruin God does afflict Common-wealths by Pestilence Famines and Wars and yet they do not perish by these calamities They continue a long time under them and sometimes do regain their former lustre after them This principle must be carefully minded because all other Interpreters have been mistaken either through their not attending to it or their not due understanding of it This they have understood that we ought not to place the beginning of the pouring out of the viols untill after that we see the Empire of Popery sensibly to fall Hence some have not placed their beginning till after the preaching of Luther 2. Principle These 7 viols signify 7 periods of time 2. The second Principle That these seven viols do certainly signify seven periods of time which ought to be distinguisht one from another As the seven Seals and seven Trumpets in the preceding Chapters did signify seven periods which succeeded one to another the figurative expression of viols borrowed from hour-glasses which measured time signifies this thing more naturally then the Seals and Trumpets And this again is a Principle which other Interpreters have not at all regarded whence it is that they confound the viols and make either all or almost all of them to be poured out in the same Period 3. Principle The viol does differ from the plague 3. The third Principle That to every Period or viol a plague is annexed but we must distinguish between the viol and the plague The viol signifies the period of time the plague signifies the judgement of God which falls out during the period 'T is true that the plagues are not alwayes restrained unto the duration of the viol or of the Period marked by the viol but sometimes do reach both before and after it the reason of which we will give hereafter This again is a Principle which hath not at all been taken notice of the viols and plagues have been confounded by Interpreters as if they were one and the same thing and almost all of them have been placed in the same time 4. Principle Nothing but evil is denoted by the viols never any good 4. The fourth Principle That all that is denoted and signified by these viols is evil to be inflicted on the Antichristian Kingdom So that nothing but Judgements can be found in them But it must be considered that these Judgements do fall sometimes upon the head of the Antichristian Kingdom alone and sometimes upon the body alone and sometimes upon both together And we must not imagine that all those plagues do denote evil or mischief unto Antichrist i. e. the head of the Antichristian Kingdom This again is a Principle which hath not been minded for men have imagined that every one of these seven viols must be fatal to the power of the Beast 5 Principle The Antichristian Empire is represented under an Emblem of the systeme of the World. 5. The fifth Principle That the Antichristian Kingdom is here represented under a figure drawn from the Systeme of the World Hence it is that mention is made of the Earth of the Sea of Rivers of the Sun. The Earth is the entire Globe composed of Land and Water and this signifies the whole mass of the Antichristian World both the head and the members The Sea and the Rivers signify the people according to the constant style of the Prophets But the people distinguisht from their head and soveraign the Sun denotes the soveraign of this Kingdom as will be made out clearly in the sequel All these Principles in my judgement are clear and whoever will examine them well by the Text and the Commentaries annexed will not doubt of their truth Let us see how ill the modern Interpreters have followed them Seven Interpretations of the first plague The first Plague is a noysom and grievous sore upon the men that had the mark of the Beast 1. Forbes understands by this the filthiness of the Clergy their pride covetousness and other vices but he does not restrain this to any period affirming that this corruption is to be considered as taking in or reaching unto the whole duration of the Antichristian Empire 2. Cocceius understands this of the schisms and divisions and disputes which have been and still continue in the Popedom Instances disputes about Images about the single life of the Clergy about Investitures the several schisms of Popes the grand schisme of the West the disputes between the Scotists and Thomists the quarrels about the Authority of the Pope So that according to him this plague hath lasted near a thousand years i. e. ever since the contentions betwixt the Iconoclasts and the Iconolatres or Patrons of Image-worship untill our times It is not possible that a man should be more mistaken then this Author and I wonder that an Author who had so much studied Prophecies should not perceive that the viols signify here Periods and different times and consequently that we must not make run the same plague to all these times Besides there is no exactness in this conception nor any agreement between divisions and a noysome sore 3. Joseph Mede takes this noysome sore to be the fury and rage with which the papists were seised upon the preaching of the Waldenses 4. Dr. More follows him in this as almost in all other things 5. De Launay also will have it to be that vexation of Spirit which the subjects of Antichrist must feel when they shall see his compleat ruin 6. Testard is of the same opinion 7. James Durrham a Scotish Minister at Glascow asserts that the Earth in this first plague is the Authority of the Pope and that this noysome sore signifies the diminution which that Authority hath suffer'd by the Reformation Seven Interpretations of the second plague The second Plague is The sea turned into blood and the fishes dying in the sea One would think that Authors have with earnestness strove who should keep farthest from the very likeness of truth in this matter 1. According to Forbes this sea turned into blood is the universal reproach under which the worship of Popery is fallen together with its doctrines for instance its worship of Images its Purgatory its sacrifice of the Mass c. Behold what an agreement there is between this and a sea of blood 2. Cocceius asserts that this sea signifies the reduction of the Lombards Hungarians Poles Bohemians Vandals Goths Danes Saxons Franks c. in a word of all the Western
the hand of God to inflict the plagues Thus in the second and third plagues which are the Croisades the Pope is not the sufferer 't is he who makes others suffer 't is he who sends many millions of his subjects to be murther'd and slain yea this very thing proved a great augmentation of his power In the same manner this fourth plague falls upon the Antichristian people and therefore in the following plague the Spirit saith that the viol was pour'd on the seat of the Beast to signify that the people or subjects of the Beast should not be the chief sufferers by it The abuse of the papal Authority did tend to its ruin I answer in the second place that the prodigious advancement of the papal Authority which in truth brought Antichristianism unto its perfection yet not withstanding was one step to its ruin If the Popes had kept within the bounds which they did in the preceding ages if they had not medled with secular affairs to dispose absolutely concerning them perhaps the See of Rome had not been thought to be Antichrist but then it was that this truth became so sensible that every one perceiv'd it The abuse of the Ecclesiastical power in the ninth age made some perceive that Rome was the mystical Babylon Thus Gontier Bishop of Colen and Thetgaut Arch-bishop of Triers nam'd it in the ninth Age. But after the eleventh Age this truth was so demonstrated that we of this Age do not speak it more plainly and confidently We may judge by that excellent passage of Eberard Bishop of Saltsburg See Aventin Annal. Boior lib. 4 pag. 330. which we cited out of Aventin in the tenth Chapter of the first Part of our Prejudg After that time there never wanted those who asserted the same thing Thus the dismal abuse of the papal Authority was and is still a sore plague to that See for 't is one of the strong Arguments by which we prove that it is Antichrist Men were scorcht but they repented not to give glory to God. The Germans cryed out very much against Babylon and Antichrist but they did not forsake them or renounce their Idolatry on the contary they blasphemed the name of God who had power over these plagues for those Ages were exceeding wicked and corrupt v. 10. And the fifth Angel pour'd out his viol upon the seat of the Beast and his Kingdom was sull 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 This is the fifth plague I ask not any favour for my conceptions about it let them be examined with the utmost rigour if they are not liked let them be disregarded but for my part I cannot abandon them untill the times and events do undeceive me but those events shall never be seen Who can doubt that by the seat of the Beast is meant Rome and when was it that the viol of the wrath of God fell upon this seat i.e. Rome It was when it lost its Sun the Sun which is spoken of in the preceding plague i.e. its Pope the papal Court that like a gulf or whirle pool drew to it all the riches of the Kingdoms of Europe A prophecy of what fell out when the Popes left Rome to go to Avignon In the year 1305 Clement V. left Rome to go and dwell at Avignon The City that was mistress of the World became desolate a very desert and a shadow of its self during those 74 years when its Masters kept their Seat at Avignon The viol fell upon the Seat of the Beast and his Kingdom was full of darkness 'T is not only said that his Seat was darkned but his Kingdom And indeed till that time the Kingdom of the Beast the Authority of the Pope the Glory of the Holy See as'tis call'd had never suffer'd such a strange and terrible an eclipse This removal of the papal Seat unto Avignon was the cause of a Schism At the end of 74 years Gregory XI compelled by the complaints of the Romans brought back the Seat to their City But after his death the Cardinals who were â—lmost all French resolved to have a Pope of their own Nation the Citizens of Rome fearing lest a French Pope should return into France forced the Colledge of Cardinals to chuse an Italian to be Pope who call'd himself Vurban VI. The Cardinals incensed at the force which was used in the election contrived to revolt which they did and chose another Pope who call'd himself Clement VII he held his Seat at Avignon and his Successors for 40 years in the mean while Vrban VI. and his Successors at Rome had one part of the Church of Rome under their obedience At that time the Sun of the Antichristian World was divided into two The great Schism of the West was a terrible plague to the Antichristian Empire as it happens to the Sun and the Moon when they are eclipsed it was eclipsed and darkned The Church of Rome suffer'd the greatest reproach imaginable Jesus Christ had no less then three or four Spouses at one time This is a piece of History which confounds popery even at this day which destroys its foolish pretences unto an uninterrupted succession an undivided unity and infallibility from hence we draw a conclusion against it which cannot be avoided Then the Kingdom of the Beast was darkned Princes despised the Popes and made themselves their Judges whereas formerly Popes had judged Kings They made them be deposed they call'd by their own Authority the Council of Constance where Popes were subjected to Councils and accounted deposable as in effect there were three who were there actually deposed Till that time Censures and Excommunications had been the strongest beams of the Antichristian Sun the most efficacious methods of his domination But then men began to despise them There was nothing but excommunicating of one another the Western Church was divided into two Obediences that which obeyed one Pope was excommunicated by the other and by this means all Europe lay under excommunication which made it contemptible and the people who once respected the Censures with incredible trembling began to discern that these thunderbolts were vain and empty things And this brought a considerable darkness upon the seat of the Beast and the papal power for all Europe groaning under the slavery of the Popes every one began to think of recovering their liberty Germany refused to submit to Reservations and Expectations means which the Court of Rome make use of to make her self Mistress of all Benefices France not only rejected Reservations and Expectations but annull'd Annats Provisions and all other exactions of the Court of Rome Then were laid the foundations of the pragmatick Sanction which gave the Popes so much trouble because it cut off all the simonaical tricks which the Court of Rome used to enrich her self even Italy it self during
Constantinople against the Turks But they leapt over this barriere and spread themselves as far as the Euxine Sea and the Bosphorus and the Aegean Sea or the Archipelago The Croisades about the end of the eleventh Age drove them back took from them Nice and a part of the lesser Asia But afterwards they came again and wasting the Grecian Empire they took all away from it as far as the Sea called Bosphorus and as far as the Archipelago Behold these are the Kings of the East which appear again in our sixth viol behold the Euphrates which again comes upon the stage But what is this Euphrates Here Euphrates is the Thracian Bosphorus the second barriere of the Turks In this Prophecy whatever serves as a barriere to the Turks is called Euphrates because this River was the first barriere which did seperate that people from Christendom After the Turks had got over that River they find another Euphrates viz. the Bosphorus This in their last irruptions was the same that Euphrates had been in their first namely a barriere that for a little while stopt their course though at last they leapt over it This figure is very ordinary in Orators and consequently there is ground to seek it in Prophets whose style is much more figurative Thus one will say Here are my Herculis's pillars meaning here I will bound my conquests another will say Here are my East-Indies meaning here I will bound my longest voyages A third says This is my Louure meaning this is my Palace or residence So it might be said of the Turks stopt behind the Bosphorus This was their Euphrates therefore the Sea call'd Archipel and the Bosphorus of Thrace in the thirteenth age were the barriere that parted the remainder of the Greek Empire and the Empire of the Turks But at the end of the 14th age the Turks under the conduct of the proud Bajazet and by means of the treachery of the Genuese who let their Gallies to them they passed the Bosphorus made themselves masters of all Thrace fixed the Seat of their Empire at Adrianople and plundred all Greece insomuch that the Greek Emperor had scarce any thing left besides the City of Constantinople Tamerlain tamed the pride of Bajazet and for a while stopt the fury of this torrent But the Children and Successors of Bajazet soon after carried on their conquests and 50 years after quite ruin'd the remainder of the Greek Empire Mahomet II. took Constantinople in the year 1452. After which the Turks overflowed as a torrent conquer'd all Greece Macedonia Albania Slavonia Croatia Bulgaria Hungary and extended the bounds of their Empire even unto the borders of Germany Here therefore the Archipel and the Bosphorus which is joyn'd to it are called Euphrates because this Sea served as a barriere against the Turks as Euphrates formerly had done this was the Euphrates of that time and the Holy Ghost kept the name of Euphrates in this second barriere that we might in this Text the more certainly discern the Turks who had passed over Euphrates when they first invaded the Greek Empire and Christendom The Latin Church suffered infinitely by the passage of the Turks into Europe This is the sixth plague which may be well called the plague upon the Kingdom of the Beast for that Kingdom did infinitely suffer by it 'T is true the first desolations fell upon the Greek Empire but as I have already remarkt the great Idolatries which reigned in the Greek Church had made it become a Province of the Antichristian Empire it was indeed separated by a schisme from the Latin Church notwithstanding it was a Province Besides this the Latin Church the Kingdom of the beast was infinitely a loser How many fair Provinces and brave Kingdoms were rent off from the West by the Turks How often have the Turks vexed Italy nay even Christian Princes have used them to mortify the Popes besides what they have already done we know not what they must do hereafter The Holy Ghost seems to intimate that God hath placed them there for some greater work than that which they have already performed for the Spirit saith that the way of the Kings of the East might be prepared without telling us what work they are to do and the reason is because their greatest work must not be done under the sixth plague but at the end of the seventh God hath thought it sufficient to tell us that he hath placed them on this side the Bosphorus and brought them even to the borders of Germany to be the instruments of his great work at least this is the opinion of many who are taken with the Prophecies of Drabicius They are perswaded that the Turk must destroy Rome The present state of his affairs does not promise this for since the Ottoman Empire was founded he was never brought so low But I confess that this is far from weakning my opinion that the Turk must be the Instrument of the vengeance of God against Rome for 't is this that does confirm me in it for I look on this year 1685 as a Critical year in this great affair God hath brought low the Protestants and the Turks at the same time that he may raise them up at the same time and make them the Instruments of his vengeance against the Babylonian Empire Notwithstanding as I do not found my predictions upon the visions of Drabicius but upon those of Saint John and he saith nothing that does determine me I am in suspence whether the Turks have been placed so nigh the Kingdom of the Beast to bear a part in destroying him or to be honoured with the blessing of conversion upon the sight of that great work of God. I am perswaded that a few years will inform us which of these is the truth From 1390 until 1526. The duration of this period is about 125 or 130 years In the year 1529 the Turks came and besieged Vienna Charles the fifth made them raise teir siege Since that time they have not made any great progress into the Kingdom of the Beast And this sixth plague exactly brings that Kingdom unto the time of Luthers preaching of which the consequences are fore-told in the seventh plague as I hope a Parenthesis of a great depth and obscurity 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 c. V. 16. And he gathers them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armegeddon Behold great affairs untill now finding nothing better I was contented with the conjecture of those who by these three unclean spirits understand the
were ever seen Nay if we should interpret these changes which ought to happen onely by those which fell out in the last age surely we may say that never were greater and more surprizing alterations The Earthquake signifies the great change of the world by the Reformation In less then twenty or thirty years a great part of the Christian World was Reformed And at the same time there were dreadfull wars troubles and sheddings of blood in Germany in Flanders in Holland in England and in France as every body knows V. 19. And the great City was divided into three parts Behold something which does furnish us with a plain Character of this last period and of this last viol These words have not hitherto been understood but I perswade my self that it will be judged that they can be understood We have already said and shall hereafter prove it that the great City is not Rome strictly taken but Rome made up and joyn'd with its whole Empire In a word this City is the Antichristian Kingdom otherwise called the Latin Church A remarliable prediction of the division of the Latin Church into three principal parts Papists Lutherans and Reformed This City upon the pouring out of the seventh viol was to be divided into three parts This is exactly come to pass at the preaching of the Reformers the Antichristian Kingdom was divided into three one part remain'd with Antichrist one part did separate from him under the name of the Ausburg Confession A third part did separate under the Confession of those who are barely styled the Reformed Sweden Denmark and a great part of Germany make the second part England the Vnited Provinces the reformed part of France a part of Germany make the third part These are the three grand parts that divide the Western Church which is the great City Let this be attentively minded for I affirm that this passage does as it were speak with a tongue and is able alone to convince that our System of the seven plagues is a most undoubted truth This division of the great City into three parts so clearly points out the three Communions of the Latin Church that to deny it can proceed onely from unreasonable passion and opiniatrety And if we have hit upon the truth in this point we have done so in all for if this Character of the seventh plague is true and is already accomplisht all the other plagues are also accomplisht and if they are accomplisht I do boldly affirm they cannot be apply'd to any other events then those to which we have apply'd them And it must not be hoped that to obscure this evidence a fourth part may be made viz. the Church of England because of the controversies about Church government for the Church of England never refused to receive other Reformed ones into her Communion nor have these again ever refused to receive her into theirs We have alway professed the same Religion with the Church of England on the account of the perfect agreement of our Doctrine notwithstanding the difference of discipline and government When as the Lutherans have constantly refused to receive the Reformed into their Communion There is among the Lutherans themselves a difference in point of government Sweden hath Bishops Denmark hath none at least not such Bishops as those of Sweden and England and nevertheless this makes not a different Sect. There is also the same difference among the Reformed on this side the Sea for the Superintendants who are in many Reformed Churches of Germany are real Bishops and notwithstanding the Reformed are not divided one from another Thus in truth there are but three grand parts into which the Latin Church is divided i. e. Papists Lutherans and Reformed as they are called by one another or Catholiks Reformed Evangelici as they style themselves And the Cities of the Nations fell i. e. they fell with respect to Popery they departed out of the Antichristian Kingdom in the same sense that in the eleventh Chapter 't is said that the tenth part of the City fell And great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath These words let us see that the expression It is done did not signify the very point of the final ruin of the Antichristian Kingdom For behold after 't was said It is done Babylon comes in remembrance before God to give her the cup. Now these expressions signify both the future and the present time And indeed 't is within the duration of this period that God will remember Babylon to give her the last cup of his wrath And observe it that the great Babylon comes not in remembrance before God to give her the cup i. e. the last cup of her ruin till after her dividing into three parts This division is not her total ruin but after that she shall be thus divided into Papists Lutherans and Calvinists then God will prepare to give her the last cup of his wrath Which signifies that the division of the Latin Church into three parts must continue untill the compleat ruin of popery V. 20. And every Island fled away and the mountains were not found This is nothing but a Paraphrase and a description of the Earthquake which he had spoken of a little before for these are the effects of Earthquakes where mountains once stood they are not to be seen new Islands are produced and the old ones are often swallowed up But yet if any will interpret Islands to signify lesser States and Mountains great ones I do not contradict it for 't is really true that the Reformation hath already taken away from the Popedom and shall yet take away all States both small and great V. 21. And there fell upon men a great hail out of Heaven i. e. upon the Subjects of Antichrist this signifies the judgments of God which fall upon this Kingdom and these judgements are well known for it hath suffered of all kinds wars famines pestilences mortalities And men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail The Subjects of the Popedom have not hitherto been converted by all these chastisements but have always stuck firm to the Kingdom and Seat of the Beast whose head is cover'd with names of blasphemies The seven hour-glasses being run out the Kingdom of Autichrist must be at its end This is the seventh and last viol or hour-glass which thanks be to God will in a little time be run out now we have that which we seek namely an evidence that the Antichristian Kingdom is near its end We need not longer wait for the accomplishment either of all the seven plagues as some of our Interpreters say or of some of the seven plagues as others say It is done all is accomplisht we are in the last period of the seven yea we are at the end of the seventh period I am informed that since the first Edition of this work some
say are circumstances The substance is the harvest and the vintage which are reapt at two different seasons by the Angels who have commission thereunto The understanding of the circumstances depends upon the understanding of the substance therefore this later must be explain'd before we go about to explain the former I cannot tell by what spirit it is but at last I am strongly perswaded The harvest in the vision is the Reformation already made the vintage is the Reformation that shall be shortly made that the harvest and the vintage are the Reformations of the Church that which happened the last age and that which shall happen in the end of this age and the beginning of the next The harvest therefore is past the vintage must presently come In this matter Joseph Mede seems to be not more happy in his conjecture than others He makes the harvest signify the ruin of the city of Rome and the vintage the total ruin of the Antichristian Kingdom which must happen a little while after Rome shall be sackt But I am perswaded that they who will read me with some attention and without prejudice will prefer my thoughts before his Harvest taken in an ill sense Jerem. 51.33 The word harvest in the style of the Spirit sometimes signifies good and sometimes evil God speaks by Jeremy The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor it is time to thresh her yet a little while and the time of her harvest shall come And the Prophet Isaiah speaking of the desolation which should befall the ten Tribes by the Assyrians saith And it shall be Isa 17.5 as when the harvest-man gathereth the corn and reapeth the ears with his arm Ioel 3.13 The Prophet Joel also represents the day of Gods vengeance Put in the sickle for the harvest is ripe come get you down for the press is full the fats overflow for their wickedness is great In all these places the word harvest signifies destruction and ruin In other places harvest signifies something that is good The harvest is great said our Saviour Mat. 9.33 but the labourers are few speaking of the conversion of the Gentiles Lift up your eyes and look on the fields for they are white already to harvest Ioh. 4 35a 38. I sent you to reap that whereon you bestowed no labour Lastly sometimes harvest signifies both Good and evil together As in the Parable of the Tares in the field Matt. 13.30 Let them grow both together until the harvest And at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers Gather first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them but gather the wheat into my barn The harvest is the end of the world the tares are the wicked the wheat is the good the reapers are the Angels the same harvest that shall cast the chaff into the fire shall lay up the corn in the garner The same judgment that shall adjudge the wicked unto Eternal flames shall gather the elect into glory The harvest therefore may signify something that is good but we cannot find that any where the term vingate is taken in a good sense The juyce that comes out of the grape The word vintage always signifies some evil hath the colour of blood which comes out of the veins of them that are murthred For this reason vintage always signifies anger wrath destruction vengeance shedding of blood I have trod the winepress alone their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments Isa 63. my own arm saved me my fury it upheld me In the 19 Chapter of the Revelation 't is said of him who sits upon the white horse that he treadeth the winepress of the wrath of God Almighty The term vintage that is never taken in a mild sense in this place determines the sense of the harvest that it must likewise signify a time or season of destruction And these are the two parts of the fall of the Antichristian Kingdom Already one half almost of its subjects hath been taken away in the last age the other part shall be taken away in this and the next which is the vintage But observe God hath exactly put the distance between these two parts of the fall of the Popish Kingdom in proportion unto that which is between harvest and vintage In our climates The distance of the two Reformations answers to that of harvest and vintage harvest ordinarily begins at the end of Iuly the vintage at the middle of September The same proportion is every where found where harvest begins sooner the vintage begins sooner also They are about fifty days distant one from another or a little more let us take fifty which is a sacred number made up of seven times seven Fifty days make the seventh part of a year which is the period of the sowing budding springing growth and ripeness of grains and fruits only there are ten days over Now divide the period of 1260 years which is that of Antichrist's reign of his budding his first birth his progress his consummation the steps of his declining and his destruction divide I say these 1260 years into seven parts and every seventh part makes exactly 180 yeas If now you reckon these 180 years from the year 1517. in which Luther began to preach against popery this brings us to the year 1697 If you reckon them from the year 1520 the date of Leo the tenths Bull this will bring us to the year 1700. from which last if you take away ten years because seven times 50 make but 350 whereas the prophetick year is 360 days or 360 years this will exactly fall upon the year 1690. And this is the time that I judge must be the beginning of the vintage for the witnesses shall then rise after which France must break off from the Pope in my opinion before the end of this age and in the beginning of the next the remainder of the Antichristian Kingdom shall be every where abolisht Thus every thing agrees with my calculation viz. that we cannot be far from the end of the Kingdom of Popery 'T is also to be observed that harvest and vintage are not gathered in a day Harvest vintage require some space of time The first and second Reformation must also take up some space of time there must be some time spent in reaping and gathering in the corn as also the grapes The first ruin of the Antichristian Kingdom in the last age took up about 30 or 40 years Germany began in the year 1520 Denmark and Sweden followed in 1525 and the following years England drove out the Pope in 1534. France embraced the Reformation under the reign of Henry II. In the same manner without doubt will the Reformation that we expect be carried on All those Countries that remain under the papal Empire will not fall off all at the same time this shall be done in the space of several years Spain in all
whether the Antichristian Kingdom shall be destroy'd by sword fire and bloodshed I see nothing in the whole Revelation which obliges us to believe so for though in this and several other passages the ruin of popery is painted out in expressions borrowed from war slaughter and bloodshed yea in the most terrible and high expressions nevertheless this may very well be understood figuratively for the destruction of Paganisme is painted out in almost the same expressions by the Prophets though it was brought to pass without bloodshed As the Kingdom of the Beast was formed without war by the sottish complaisance of the Kings of the Earth who suffered their power to be snatcht from them or rather did voluntarily surrender it so this Antichristian Kingdom may perish without weapon by a word of two Letters The Princes of the Earth need onely say NO and the tyranny of Antichrist will fall to the ground And as for Idolatry which is the other part of Antichristianism the word and grace of God must destroy it Nevertheless I am willing to submit to the general consent of Interpreters of both Communions who unanimously hold that in the ruin of the Antichristian Kingdom there shall be a great effusion of blood and that Babylon the capital City of that Kingdom shall be laid in ashes I am willing therefore to believe that there shall be some bloodshed not for any passages in the Revelation but for these two Reasons Rome must be miserably destroyed 1. The first that 't is not probable that the Pope and his Partisans will yield without resistance they will stand out and in defending themselves will attaque in which attaque they shall perish 2. The second it seems agreeable to the Divine justice that the City of Rome that for two thousand years is the Mistress of the World the tyrant of the universe which hath shed so much blood and has bin delug'd with so many impurities should be overwhelmed and the World be avenged Ierusalem who was not guilty of such excess is ruined by a dreadful destiny 'T is not probable that God makes ready a less destruction for the City of Rome Here the last lacking of Rome is fore-told If this be so this passage without doubt is one of those that foretell this bloody Tragedy The City which is spoken of here without the City must be Rome But we have said before and shall hereafter prove that this word ought to be taken only for Rome in conjunction with her Empire Here 't is Rome alone and not her Empire 'T is true but the reason is that when she shall be laid waste in the manner that is mention'd here she shall have no more any Empire all her Provinces shall be revolted she shall be left alone of her whole party so that in this place she ought to appear all alone And the City cannot signify any more then the City of Rome because she shall have no more any dependent Provinces excepting that which is called the patrimony of St. Peter which Joseph Mede believes is meant by these thousand six hundred furlongs For he saith that the Countrey that reaches from the walls of Rome unto the river Po contains 200 Italian miles which make exactly 1600 furlongs If this conjecture be true as 't is probable this signifies that all the forces which the Pope shall be able to get together shall be wholly destroy'd without the City i. e. without Rome in that part of the Country which lyes betwixt Rome and the River Po. CHAP. XII The explication of that part of the eleventh Chapter where the last persecution made by Antichrist is fore-told which is the present persecution in France The death of the two witnesses who shall not be buried by means of the succour brought by the enemies of France THe first Chapter in the Revelation where the ruin of Antichristianism is fore-fold is the eleventh We passed over it for the reasons above mention'd We come again to it at present and place it the last that we may place it according to the order of events We have observed that there is found in it an Epitome or short draught of the whole History of the Church from the resurrection of Jesus Christ untill his coming into the World to erect his Kingdom there The pure Church of the three first ages is hid under these words measure the Temple and the Altar and those that worship therein And the corrupted Antichristian one under the Gentiles who must tread under foot the holy City forty and two months That is the outward Court but the Court that is without the Temple leave out and measure it not for it is given to the Gentiles This outward Court as Vsher hath divinely explain'd it in his Prophecy signifies Christians in appearance whose Religion consists in the performance of some external duties of Christianiâ—y without having the inward life or the true Faith which should unite them to Jesus Christ But those who worship in the Temple and before the Altar are those who sincerely worship God in spirit and truth whose souls are his Temples in which he is adored and honoured with the most inward thoughts of their hearts and who offer unto him a constant sacrifice not onely of their lusts but of their whole selves Thus this holy man speaks and I confess that I see in his words the Character of the spirit of God. These are the true worshippers whom God does measure and whom he makes account of and these are those who possessed the Church during the three or four first ages But afterward the Church became an outward Court was filled with feigned worshippers who made Christianity to consist in an appearance of piety and in external Ceremonies Then God pronounc'd concerning this Court let it be given to the Gentiles for forty and two moneths Then Paganism Idolatry the worship of subordinate Gods Mediators and a thousand heathenish Ceremonies were introduced into Christianity And this outward Court these formal outside worshippers were given up to a spirit of error and superstition to begin Antichristianism and make it continue twelve hundred and sixty years We have also in this Chapter the Church under the Cross persecuted and hid in Babylon in the two Witnesses who prophesied cloathed in sackcloth a thousand two hundred and sixty days We have in it the sound of the last Trumpet and the thousand years reign of Jesus Christ and the Church For at the sound of the seventh Trumpet the Kingdoms of the Earch become Gods and his Christs Lastly we have in it a remarkable event which must come to pass at the end of the reign of Antichristian popery and 't is expressed in these terms V. 7. And when they shall have finisht their testimony the Beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them and shall overcome them and kill them V. 8. And their dead bodies shall lye in the street of the great City
which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt where also our Lord was crucified V. 9. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three dayes and a half and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put into graves V. 10. And they that dwell upon the Earth shall rejoyce over them and make merry and send gifts one to another because these two Prophets tormented them that dwelt upon the Earth V. 11. And after three days and an half the spirit of life from God entred into them and they stood upon their feet and great fear fell upon them which saw them V. 12. And they heard a great voyce from heaven saying unto them Come up hither and they ascended up to heaven in a cloud and their enemies beheld them V. 13. And the same hour was there a great earthquake and the tenth part of the City fell and in the earth-quake were slain of men seven thousand and the remnant were affrighted and gave glory to God. The Witnesses who prophecy cloathed in sackcloth are the faithful who preach under the Cross As to what concerns these two witnesses i.e. what is signified by them I have not changed my opinion since I wrote the book intitled Lawfull prejudices against popery Though as to all the rest the studious attention which I have used in reading these Prophecies hath given me quite different apprehensions I do therefore still believe that these two Witnesses who must prophesy 1260 days cloathed in sackcloth are the small number of the faithfull who during the reign of Antichristianism must keep themselves from its corruption and condemn its idolatries and tyranny God calls them witnesses because these are they who bore witness to the Truth which but for them would have been forgotten They prophesy cloathed in sackcloth i. e. they preach under the Cross For we must well observe that these two Phrases one used in our language the other in that of the Holy Ghost to prophesy cloathed in sackcloth and to preach under the Cross are absolutely of the same signification He makes them onely two in number to express that those faithfull who shall preserve themselves from the corruption of Idolatry shall be but a very small number And indeed experience hath too much verified this prediction Nevertheless he makes them two in number to signify that however small the number of true Christians is it shall notwithstanding be great enough to support the Truth and keep it from falling for in the mouth of two witnesses every word shall be establisht How these witnesses have power to change water into blood and shut up heaven v. 6. God ascribes to these two witnesses power to shut Heaven that it rain not in the dayes of their prophesy and power over waters to turn them into blood and to smite the Earth with all plagues as often as they will. Joseph Mede gives a very ingenious reason of this which I believe is very solid viz. That the Holy Ghost borrows his Emblems from the histories of the Old Testament and alludes unto several Pairs of eminent witnesses which God raised up at several times as Aaron and Moses at the coming out of Egypt Joshua and Caleb at the conquering of the promised Land Elijah and Elisha at the time of the grand Schism of the ten tribes Zerubbabel and Jehoshua at the return from the captivity Among these witnesses Elijah and Elisha had power to shut Heaven to hinder rain for three years and to make fire come down from Heaven Moses and Aaron turn'd the waters of Egypt into blood Joshua and Caleb brought the people of Israel into the Land of Canaan and smote the ancient Inhabitants with a sore plague To this the Holy Ghost alludes But we must further add that God ascribes to these witnesses 1. The shutting of Heaven that rain no in the days of their prophecy to signify that during the 1260 years of their Prophecy and of the reign of Antichrist there should be a great drought of grace and a barreness of virtues and gifts in the Church 2. The turning of waters into blood and the smiting of the Earth with all plagues Because all the heavy judgements of God that during the course of these 1260 years came upon the Antichristian Church were sent on the account of these two witnesses and to punish oppression under which it held both the Truth and those who were willing to profess it Here is fore-told a last persecution that must happen before the end of Antichrists reign The seven verses which we even now have read concerning the persecution which these two witnesses must suffer and the consequent of that persecution contain a grand event which must come to pass before the last fall of the Antichristian Kingdom And 't is one of the principal circumstances of this fall First we must observe the circumstance of time and when they shall have finish their testimony Mark this testimony must last a thousand two hundred and sixty days My two witnesses shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days cloathed in sackcloth Now these thousand two hundred sixty days of the prophesying of the witnesses are the forty two moneths of the Antichristian reign for forty two moneths make exactly 1260 days All the World is agreed that these are the three years and a half of the reign of Antichrist and that Antichrist and these two witnesses are absolutely and exactly contempories 'T is therefore the very same as if the Holy Ghost had said And when the Beast or the man of sin shall have finisht his reign of 1260 years it shall make war against the two witnesses This is therefore a persecution of Antichrist against the faithfull and a persecution that must happen before the end of Antichrists reign These words when they shall have finisht must not be understood as if the Holy Ghost would say when the 1260 years shall be finisht For after the 1260 years are finisht there can be no persecution seeing the Beast shall have lost his power So that this persecution must begin and end within the 1260 years but yet at the end of them 't is the ordinary custome not only of Scripture but of all men to say that something comes to pass when this or that is finisht because it happens when that things is finishing and very near its end This is therefore the last persecution of Antichrist against the Church This persecution hath its Characters 1. It must continue a long time Characters of the last persecution for 't is compared to a war The Beast that comes up out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them 2. This war or persecution must end in a victory over the two witnesses and shall overcome them and kill them Mark that God does not reckon the death and martyrdom which the faithfull suffer for the Truth as a victory that the Devil gains over them on the
contrary he reckons these to be a victory which they gain over the World and the Devil He speaks of Martyrs when he saith He that overcomes I will make him sit down on my Throne So that when 't is here said that the Beast shall overcome the witnesses this signifies that he shall make them faint under the tryall Which thing ought to be well observed that we may discern the singular Character of this present persecution that hath conquer'd and overcome above a million of souls 3. This victory of the Beast must prevail even to a total extinction of profession there shall remain no more signs of outward life in the faithfull who shall stand for the Truth they shall lye on the ground as dead bodies 4. This murther and the effect of this persecution shall be done in the street of the great City 5. The death of these witnesses must last three years and a half denoted by three prophetick days and a half 6. During these three years and a half the Truth shall remain as it were dead but not withstanding not buried men shall not dare to make profession of it notwithstanding it shall be visible the people who are neighbours of them who shall have stain it shall hinder it from perishing and putrefaction to which the bodies that are in the grave are obnoxious 7. At the end of these three years and a half the faithfull who are oppressed and whose profession shall have been violently suppressed shall rise again after that shall ascend to heaven and shall be exalted in the world 8. At the same time and after the exaltation of the faithfull there shall be an Earthquake i. e. a great emotion and trouble in the World and in the Antichristian Kingdom 9. In this emotion a tenth part of the City shall fall i. e. a tenth part of the Antichristian Kingdom shall be take away from it 10. Seven thousand men shall perish in this Earthquake and be buried under the ruin of the City i. e. that this shall be brought about with some blood shed though not considerable in that part of the City which shall be taken away from the Pope and the Popedom 11. And lastly within a little while this tenth part of the City which shall be taken from the Popedom shall give glory to God and be converted Behold what are the Characters of this last Antichristian persecution Now when I search after the time in which this persecution must happen I cannot doubt but that it is that in which we now are After this persecution shall be over God will begin to strike those sore blows to destroy the Antichristian Kingdom which must be destroyed within 25 or 30. years That the present persecution is the last That none may wonder that I speak so positively about a thing which seems to be as yet hid in futurity I entreat all equitable minds to consider that I have as I think with great evidence proved 1. That the reign of the Popedom must last 1260 years 2. That these 1260 years began about the year 450 or 455 and consequently they must end about the year 1710 or 1715. this being so we are but 25 or 30 years from the end of the Popish Kingdom And if this be so the present persecution must needs be the last since there is no probability that this present persecution being ended the calm restored to the Church should leave room for another persecution which must happen before the fall of the Popish Kingdom For we must allow the space of at least 20 or 25 years in which popery shall be persecuted and attacqued and not be the aggressor and the persecutor And certainly a shorter time cannot serve for the utter destruction of this vast Kingdom For it shall not be destroy'd in a way of violence but in a way of perswasion and because the charm that holds men enchanted cannot cease in a moment The harvest is past a long while ago the vintage must come speedily I have further proved that the fall of this Popish and Babylonian Monarchy is divided into two parts the harvest and the vintage that the harvest is the Reformation of the last Age and the vintage is the Reformation that must be made in this that is present Now the space of time that is already run out since the Reformation of the last Age does already equal the proportion of time that is between the natural harvest and vintage and consequently we must be very near the vintage i. e. the time wherein God will begin the first blows in order to the final destruction of the Babylonian Kingdom These things being so this persecution must be the last and immediately after it shall be ended begin the first events which shall bring the Popish Kingdom to its final fall A time of some length must be assigned for the last fall of popery I have lastly observed that the Holy Ghost hath styled these two parts of the fall of the popish Kingdom harvest and vintage to let us understand that as the harvest and the vintage are not reapt in a moment but require many dayes nay weeks so the two overturnings of the Babylonian Kingdom must not be made in the twinckling of an eye but in several years This hath been already verified in the harvest i. e. the fall which happened to popery in the last Age for this took up five and twenty or thirty years and more And no fewer can serve to compleat the ruin of this Kingdom But if this be so this must needs be the last persecution yea it cannot last a great number of years longer For if the Babylonian Kingdom begin to decline 25 or 30 years before its last and final destruction it must begin to decline and fall within four of five years supposing that it be true that it cannot last longer then the year 1710 or 1715. We must therefore see if the Characters of this present persecution that the Church suffers agree with those of the last persecution which the Church must suffer from the Beast according to the Text of the Revelation And we are about to find these Characters so agreeing and like that what at first seem'd only a conjecture will be able to become a kind of certainty The last Antichristian persecution of which this Chapter speaks must happen when the witnesses shall be almost at the end of their testimony and Antichrist near the end of his reign Now we have proved by the Predictions and Types of the foregoing Chapters that Antichrist is finishing his reign therefore this must be the last persecution It hath already lasted 30 years for it began in the year 1655. when the Duke of Savoy undertook to destroy the faithfull of the Vallies of Piedmont he sent thither Souldiers who made a great massacre but because the time of slaying the Witnesses was not as yet come God raised deliverance for them they defended themselves with success and
all the Protestant States of Europe did concern themselves to obtain from the Duke a Peace for those poor people A persecution began in Poland a while after and the Reformed were involved in the same ruin with the Hereticks Socinians and Antitrinitarians they were driven out of that Kingdom and were scattered in Transilvania Hungary and Germany At the same time a persecution begun in France immediately after the Pyrenaean peace the project of the ruin of the Protestants was laid at Court and hath been prosecuted till it hath been executed as we see at this day In the year 1671. began the persecution of the Churches of Silesia Moravia Hungary the consequents of which are the almost utter extinction of the true Religion in the Territories of the Emperor The two witnesses will in a little time be dead through the total extinction of the profession of Religion The Beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them This Beast is the papacy where ever it is for 't is not only in Rome that the Beast is found but 't is in the whole extent of the jurisdiction of the ten Kings 'T is not therefore necessary that a persecution should be exactly rais'd by the Bishop of Rome that so it may be ascribed to the Beast 't is enough that it be raised in the extent of the popish Kingdom And their bodies shall lye in the street of the great City 'T is evident from these words that this last persecution must be rais'd only within the circumference of the great City i. e. the Babylonian and popish Kingdom in the Countries where it reigns On this account probably those Kingdoms Countries and States who are out of the jurisdiction of the Popedom and whose Soveraigns are Protestants must have no share in it Further the Prophecy saith that the war must be made against the two witnesses that prophesy cloathed in sackcloth which is the same with what we call preaching under the Cross this therefore only concerns the faithful who preach and are under the Cross so that the persecution must onely be rais'd within the bounds of the City i. e. the Babylonian Kingdom and against those who preach under the Cross Holland Sweden Denmark and all other States which have Reformed Princes and where the Reformation is the ruling Religion shall not feel it And we have ground to hope that the torch of the Reformation shall not be extinguisht And though at present the King of England is of the Romish Religion I dare notwithstanding perswade my self that his Kingdom cannot be reckoned as one of the streets of the great City seeing popery is not the ruling Religion there though it be the Religion of him that rules Therefore I do not believe that we must understand the prophesy of Vsher in the letter or strictest sense who says that the persecution must be general over all the Churches of Europe for we may understand it of all those where popery does rule 'T is true he fore-tells a massacre in England but besides that those who wrote this prophesy from his mouth might be mistaken 't is also possible that this holy man through the violence of his sorrow went further than the Spirit did carry him Notwithstanding the English ought to remember the massacre in Ireland circumstances then were not near so favourable to popery as they are now Men must not trust to this that the King of England will never consent to so barbarous an action I believe he will not but the Papists do not trouble themselves about the pleasure of their Soveraigns when they see any prospect of advancing their cause by any kind of Methods Therefore if the Protestants be wise they will not put weapons into the hands of their enemies The bodies of the two witnesses shall lye in the street of the great City 'T is to be observed that in the Text 't is not in the streets in the plural as the French translation reads 't is in the street in the singular And I cannot hinder my self from believing that this hath a particular regard to France which at this day is certainly the most eminent Countrey which belongs to the popish Kingdom Her King is called the eldest Son of the Church the most Christian King i. e. the most popish according to the dialect of Rome The Kings of France have by their liberalities made the Popes great at this day it is the most flourishing State of Europe It is in the middle of the popish Empire betwixt Italy Spain Germany England exactly as a street or place of concourse is in the middle of a City 'T is also foursquare as such a place i. e. almost as long as broad In a word 't is the place or street of the great City And I believe that 't is particularly in France that the witnesses must remain dead i.e. that the profession of the true Religion must be utterly abolisht This is already done by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes and by the enormous cruclties of the Souldiers who have bin let loose upon the Protestants of whatsoever sex quality and condition If any stand firm they must either leave the Kingdom or be destroyed Thus within a little while the external profession of the Reformed Religion will be wholly abolisht there And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and Nations shall see their dead bodies and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put into graves i.e. The Truth shall be slain but it shall not be buried Burial is a degree beyond death and is always joyn'd with a total corruption and destruction And so 't is not an office of charity which is denyed to these two witnesses but a degree of ruin from which they are exempted The witnesses shall not be buried i.e. the Truth shall not be destroy'd And observe who they are who hinder their burial they are not the same with those who killed them Those who killed them are the Inhabitants of the street of the great City i. e. those who dwell in the most eminent part of the popish Kingdom which at this day is France Those who hinder their burial are the Tribes Languages People and Nations i.e. several neighbour nations yea 't is to be observed that the Propheey saith not simply The Tribes Languages and Nations but they of the Languages Tribes and Nations i. e. some chosen and elected out of the Nations the faithfull scattered in all the Nations of Europe shall hinder the burial and total destruction of the Reformation in France Nevertheless this does not wholly exclude those among the Tribes Languages and Nations who are not Elect. For 't is probable that all Europe shall contribute to hinder France from executing her design of extirpating the Truth But this signifies that the Reformed and the true Christians shall awaken Europe as well that part which is Roman Catholick as that which is Protestant to oblige it to look to
it self and its own safety The enemies of France shal hinder the destroying of the Reformation Languages Tribes and Nations always signify several Peoples and never one only people Thus it is evident by this Prophecy that the people who are neighbours to France nay those who are distant from her shall stop her in this furious design of destroying the Reformed Religion But after what manner they shall hinder her this Prophecy speaks not perhaps it shall be by causing some trouble to France during which the persecuted faithful one shall have opportunity of breathing and of giving a new birth to the Truth We shall quickly know whether God is preparing this already all the Protestants every where have united their Interests and it cannot be doubted this good understanding between them which appears is owing unto the persecution in France The house of Austria it self begins to understand its true Interest There is ground to hope that the late Truce which gave opportunity for this persecution will not be calm enough to give the Persecutors leasure wholly to extinguish the Truth Perhaps if shall be by another Method that the several Nations shall hinder the ruin of the Reformation in France Without doubt they do something toward it by the shelters and succors which they afford to the fugitives and particularly to the Pastors whom God reserves that they may again kindle the torch of the Doctrine of Truth Yea in France it self which is the street of the great City God will preserve a number of the faithfull who shall hinder the burial of the two witnesses and the utter perishing of the Truth There have been persecutions in which the Truth hath been as it were quite sunk to the bottom and buried in certain places This must not happen in this last persecution The truth will be oppressed yea suppressed but it shall be most clearly discerned and those who shall hold it in their hearts shall be most evidently seen and known As in dead bodies unburied they are dead and yet men do see them as clearly as if they were alive This persecution shall not come as far as a final suppression of the Truth as happened in the time of the Albigenses when not only the Witnesses were killed but were buried and disappear'd for several Ages for tho some of them being dispersed did preserve and carry the Truth into several desert places nevertheless the body of them was buried and disappeared in the streets of the popish Kingdom which shall not happen in this last persecution And they that dwell upon the Earth shall rejoyce over them and shall send gifts one to another because these two Prophets tormented them that dwell upon the Earth Observe it well these are not the same with those who hindred the dead bodies of the two witnesses from being buried Those are called They of the people and kindred and tongues these are called They that dwell upon the Earth the former hindred the burial out of piety these rejoyce over their death out of impiety In this whole Prophesy the Earth always signifies the territories and extent of the papacy and Antichristian Kingdom They are the Inhabitants of these territories of the Antichristian Kingdom who rejoyce At this day we see this Prophecy fulfilled Popery triumphs every where yea they who live in Protestant States are full of hopes to see quickly their Religion uppermost and nothing is more arrogant and insulting than their carriage But in a few years they shall see their pride brought very low which we are about to shew in the following Chapter CHAP. XIII The resurrection of the two Witnesses The Reformation shall within a few years rise again in FRANCE after that it shall be establisht by Royal Authority FRANCE shall renounce Popery and that Kingdom shall be converted THe bodies of the two Witnesses must remain dead only three days and a half and after these three days and a half the spirit of life from God shall enter into them and they shall stand upon their feet In my Prejud against Popery I fixed these three days and a half upon that space of time which lasted from the Council of Basil and destruction of the Taborites untill Luther during which time it seem'd as if the witnesses had been dead But I have wholly abandoned that conjecture after I had seriously considered it First because in that space of time the Witnesses were buried as well as slain 't is true there continued some remainders of Calixtins in Bohemia but they deserve not to be reckoned as a body Again 't is not usual in Scripture to take a broken number as this of three years and a half to denote an uncertain and indefinite number as I observed above so that I am perswaded that these three days and a half are three years and a half a day standing for a year as the three years and a half are 1260 years taking a year for a day 'T is therefore three years and a half during which the external profession of the Truth must be altogether suppressed and after which it shall be rais'd again to life And as I reject my own notions I would not that any should embrace those of Dr. More who hath lately wrote upon the Revelation He will have the three days and a half here to signify the same thing which the three years and a half do viz. 1260 years of the reign of Antichrist But truly he did not well consider this point when he wrote this First this would be an affected and very profound obscurity after he had reduced the 1260 years to 1260 days which make three years and a half then to reduce the same 1260 years to three days and a half We cannot find an example where the Holy Ghost sets forth the same space of time and in the same place after so different a manner But above all we must take notice that the Holy Ghost does here in a most exact manner distinguish these four things 1. The preaching of the Witnesses they shall prophesy cloathed in sackcloth 2. The death of the Witnesses and after this their bodies lye dead in the street of the great City 3. The duration of their Prophecy and testimony they shall prophesy cloathed in sackcloth 1260 days 4. And lastly the duration of their death they shall see their dead bodies in the streets of the City three days and a half He that will confound the two last of these viz. the 1260 years and the three days and a half must also confound the two first viz. the prophesying cloathed in sackcloth and the lying dead in the street of the City but certainly nothing is more different then to prophesy and to lye dead at least it must be supposed that the Witnesses prophesy while they are dead For their prophesying and their death being exactly fixed on the same period denoted by 1260 days and by three days and a half they must happen at the same time But
Among the considerations laid down by me in the Preface which induce me to believe that this persecution is the last I mention'd the singularities of it I named several such Behold one which in my judgement deserves to be added to the rest 'T is the horrible Edict which commands that the new Converts being sick shall communicate after the popish way This is the worst effect that ever was produced by the spirit of rage and reprobation And 't is not conceivable how a Clergy that will be called Christian can do such horrible actions The Edict ordains that they who will not communicate shall be sent to the Galleys if they recover There is none who is so mortally sick that is sure that he shall dye and fearing to recover he will also fear to go to the Gallies and this affrighting object is able to induce a sick man to communicate without faith and to worship that which he judgeth to be a piece of bread that is to say to commit a horrible sacriledge and an act of Idolatry and consequently to damn himself certainly So that properly this Edict is a trick of the Clergy to procure the damnation of all the new Converts This is perfectly to imitate that Italian who that he might take a compleat vengeance having his enemy in his power promis'd him his life on condition that he would deny God which having done he murther'd both his body and soul Will men never open their eyes to behold such objects as these The Reformation is foretold by three figures signifying three Methods And the spirit of life from God entred into them These words teach us how the Reformation shall be re-establisht in France for in these Prophecies I find three ways by which the Truth is establisht or re-establisht The first is by lightnings voyces and thunders thus after the seventh viol was pour'd on the air the Reformation in the last Age was made by lightnings voyces and thunders i. e. by the preaching of the Divine Oracles And the seventh Angel pour'd out his viol into the air and there were voyces and lightnings and thunders In this Prophecy thunders always signify the Divine Oracles The seven thunders that uttered their voyces in the tenth Chapter are the Oracles of God which ought to be uttered in the sequel Thus the Reformation was made in the last Age in a most sensible manner by the preaching of the word The Reformation shall come into France by way of internal grace But behold a second way of reforming A Spirit of life from God enters again into the dead Witnesses i. e. those who are at this day under oppression shall suddenly rise up again by a secret operation of grace and an extraordinary motion not by the means of preaching the word not by the ministry of some new Preachers but by a heavenly operation that shall open the eyes of them who are as yet in darkness and strengthen again the hearts of those who at this day have fallen through weakness At that time in all appearance the yoke of the Persecutor shall be broken a time of ease shall come and all those who at this day groan under the Captivity of Babylon shall lift up their heads and shall improve that season of calm to repair that which they are now forced to do by violence 'T is these words signify a Spirit of life from God not from any man nor by the ministry of any man but from God entred into them and their zeal was enlivened again But things shall not stay there God is preparing other wonders There is a third Reformation which shall be set on foot by way of Authority by the Royal power and this is expressed in the words that follow And the Witnesses heard a great voyce from heaven saying unto them Come up hither and they ascended up to heaven in a cloud and their enemies beheld them What heaven and lifting up to heaven signify in the Prophecies In the style of the Prophets heaven and lifted up to heaven is the Throne and to be exalted to dignity greatness and power even in the language of heathen Prophets for Apomasar in his Apostelismata insomniorum saith If a King dreams that he sits upon the clouds and is carried where ever he pleaseth this signifies that his enemies shall serve him But if he fancieth that he is carried up to heaven where the stars are this presages that he shall be lift up above all Kings The Prophets of God do also make use of these representations to signify the same thing Isa 14.13 Isaiah describes the exaltation of the King of Babylon by an ascending up into heaven I will ascend into heaven I will exalt my Throne above the stars And Jesus Christ saith of Capernaum that she had been lift up unto heaven but should be brought down unto hell 'T is therefore evident that God does here signify that some time after these three years and a half of death the Reformation shall be lifted up to a great glory but not every where 't is only in that place which is called the street of the great City and is after called the tenth part of the City for the total destruction of the Antichristian Kingdom must not happen untill some years afterward There will shortly be a Reformation in France by the Royal Authority And after These words signify that when the Reformation shall be establisht again in France by way of Divine immediate operation by which the zeal of the Apostates and of others who know the truth but with-hold it in unrighteousness shall be quickned again some space of time shall pass probably some years before France shall wholly throw off the yoke of popery That Kingdom shall not be entirely Reformed by way of Authority immedately after out Reformation shall be again set on foot by way of inspiration and recovering of zeal For and after signifies an interval of time but whether it shall be short or long is not expressed notwithstanding I see no likelihood that it shall be very long nor do I believe so They heard a great voyce from heaven Yet once again Heaven is the Throne 't is the Soveraign dignity which in a State is exactly the same that Heaven is to the Earth in light in lustre in good or bad influences in scituation and in elevation From Heaven i.e. from Authority and the Prince who reigns they heard a voyce they received an order not a small clandestinsilent voyce but a great voyce i.e. a publick command a solemn Edict and this voyce said to them Come up hither Then the Truth shall get up into the Throne and as God hath contrary to all probability given a popish Prince to England so God will give a Protestant Prince to France in spight of all oppositions of the Papists And the ascended up to heaven in a cloud i.e. Their elevation and that of the Reformed Religion shall be made publickly as the
elevation of Elijah and of Jesus Christ who were lift up above the clouds And their enemies beheld them Popery shall not as yet be destroy'd in France when this shall happen The Priests the Clergy and Monks shall be spectators of this great work But the end of popery in France shall come quickly after For the same hour-there was a great Earthquake mark the same hour he saith not and after as he had said to express a space of time between the resurrection of the witnesses and their ascending up even to the Throne But he saith the same hour to signisy that assoon as the Reformation shall be establisht by a solemn Edict of the Prince as by a great voyce from heaven the total destruction of popery shall happen as we are about to shew And the same hour there was a great Earthquake I will not spend time upon the signification of this representation an Earthquake For 't is known by all who are versed in the Prophets See Isa 170 13. and 24.19 20. Jer. 4.24 and 49 20. that in the Prophetick style an Earthquake signifies a great commotion of Nations that must change the face of the World because Earthquakes do overturn Cities Mountains and wholly change the face of a Countrey make Valleys where there were Mountains and Hills where there were Valleys and Lakes which were dry Land before and deserts of Countries which were inhabited so that 't is certain that according to this Prophesy in a very few years the face of the Antichristian Kingdom shall be changed but not every where It shall be only in the tenth part of the City which shall fall by this Earthquake The City signifies the Roman Antichristian Empire and not Rome alone And the tenth part of the City fell This is a passage where Interpreters have been short sighted not excepting our Joseph Mede who often hath so quick a sight To understand this we must first know what the City is Joseph Mede is mistaken together with all the rest when he understands this to mean precisely the City of Rome 'T is a truth which must be held as certain being one of the keys of the Revelation that the City the great City signifies in this book not Rome alone but Rome in conjunction with its Empire The name of this great City is Babylon Now 't is clear that Babylon is the whole Babylonian Kingdom Come out of Babylon my people 'T is not from the City of Rome that the Holy Ghost invites his Elect to come out 't is from the Church of Rome from the Babylonian Empire This passage alone together with that in this eleventh Chapter v. 8 And their dead bodies shall lye in the street of the great City which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt where also our Lord was cruicified are enough to prove that the Babylonian City is not Rome alone Our Lord was not crucified in Rome and if we should here take crucifying in a figurative sense for the crucifying of the Religion of Jesus Christ this hath been sacrificed at Rome no more than in other places of the Latin Church In the 14th Chapter the Holy Ghost describes the fall of this City of Babylon Babylon is fallen is fallen that great City and in the same vision he fore-tells the ruin of the Antichristian Empire under the Metaphors of an harvest and a vintage which proves that this City is nothing else but the intire Kingdom of Babylon In the 18th Chapter the Prophet makes a long description of the desolations of this City under the Metaphors of a City of Merchandise which had a great traffick and was fill'd with pleasures and delightfull things Now 't is certain that the shamefull simony the wicked pleasures of the Papacy have not reigned less in the Provinces of the Babylonian Kingdom than in the Capital City from whence 't is again evident that the City signifies the whole Antichristian State. Lastly the constant opposition between the Holy City and the great City proves that the City includes the whole Antichristian Church even as the Holy City signifies the whole Christian Church De Launay hath confessed this in the eleventh Chapter of the Revelation and in the 16th but no exception is to be made every where the City and the great City Babylon signifies the intire Kingdom of the Papacy And the reason of this is evident old Rome made her whole Empire to be one only City by means of that right of citizenship which she bestowed on all who were of some considerable quality though they dwelt in the Provinces The citizens of Rome dwelt in all Countries now where the citizens of a City dwell there is the City this made Rutilius say Dumque offers victis proprij consortia juris Vrbem fecisti quod prius Orbis erat Thus it goes exactly in the Church of Rome which hath re-establisht the Roman Empire All those who are members of this Church are citizens of her capital City The Church of Rome is but one City Persons of all Nations are admitted into her Senate or Colledge of Cardinals The Tribunal which is called the Rota is constituted of Councellors taken out of all the Provinces which pay subjection to Rome Every Forreigner may come to be a Cardinal and every Cardinal may come to be Pope Therefore there are properly no Forreigners in that State no Papist is a Forreigner to the Church of Rome and that which they call the holy See. That which hath deceived Interpreters v. 9 1â— is the 17th Chapter where the City is called the Woman which sitteth on seven Mountains and that great City which reigneth over the Kings of the Earth This say they is the City of Rome and the Papists themselves do grant it and without doubt 't is Rome and we have above proved it but 't is Rome conjointly with her Empire Babylon signifies the whole Antichristian Empire and this Antichristian Empire is said to sit upon seven Mountains and to rule over the Kings of the Earth Rome must always be considered together with her Empire because this is true of its Capital City Nothing is more ordinary not to add that 't is constantly used than to denote a whole Kingdom by the ruling City Thus men always spoke of Rome Rome hath conquered the Nations Rome hath enlarged her Empire to the end of the World this signifies that the Roman Empire hath subdued all Nations and extended its bounds even to the utmost parts of the Earth The tenth part of the City is one of the ten Kingdoms that make up the Empire of the Papacy Chap. 17.12 13. This being supposed and proved that the City is the whole Babylonian and Antichristian Empire it must be remembred that this Empire of Antichrist is made up of ten Kingdoms and ten Kings who must give their power to the beast The ten horns which thou sawest are ten Kings These have one mind and shall give their power unto the
beast From which 't is clear that the tenth part of the City signifies here one of those ten Kingdoms under the authority of the Antichristian Kingdom A tenth part of the City fell i.e. one of these ten Kingdoms which make up the great City the Babyonian Empire shall forsake it This therefore is exactly that which must happen within a little while after the three years and a half of the total suppression of the Truth shall be exspired and a while after that the Witnesses shall be rais'd i.e. after the profession of the Truth shall be rais'd to life again in France and elsewhere And then the same hour immediately after that the Reformation shall be establisht by a Royal Edict without delay There shall be an Earthquake and a tenth part of the City shall be overturn'd Mark that the Earthquake i.e. the great alteration of affairs in the Land of the Papacy must for that time happen only in the tenth part of the City that shall fall for this shall be the effect of this Earthquake Frahte shal shortly fall not by a ruin of the Monarchy but by a ruin of Pepery Now what is this tenth part of this City which shall fall In my opinion we cannot doubt that 't is France This Kingdom is the most considerable part or piece of the ten horns or States which once made up the great Babylonian City it fell this does not signify that the French Monarchy shall be ruin'd it may be humbled but in all appearance Providence does design a great elevation for her afterward 'T is highly probable that God will not let go unpunisht the horrible outrages which it acts at this day Afterward it must build its greatness upon the ruins of the papal Empire and enrich it self with the spoils of those who shall take part with the Papacy They who at this day persecute the Protestants know not wither God is leading them this is not the way by which he will lead France to the height of glory If she comes thither 't is because she shall shortly change her road Her greatning will be no dammage to Protestant States on the contrary the Protestant States shal be enricht with the spoils of others be strengthned by the fall of Antichrists Empire This tenth part of the City shall fall with respect to the Papacy it shall break with Rome and the Roman Religion One thing is certain that the Babylonian Empire shall perish through the refusal of obedience by the ten Kings who had given their power to the Beast The thing is already come to pass in part The Kingdoms of Sweden Denmark England and several Soveraign States in Germany have withdrawn themselves from the Jurisdiction of the Pope They have spoyl'd the harlot of her riches They have eaten her flesh i.e. seiz'd on her Benefices and Revenues which she had in their Countries This must go on and be finisht as it is begun The Kings who yet remain under the Empire of Rome must break with her leave her solitary and desolate But who must begin this last revolt 'T is most probable that France shall Not Spain which as yet is plunged in superstition and is as much under the tyranny of the Clergy as ever Not the Emperor who in Temporals is subject to the Pope and permits that in his States the Archbishop of Strigonium should teach that the Pope can take away the Imperial Crown from him It cannot be any Countrey but France which a long time ago hath begun to shake off the yoke of Rome 'T is well known how solemnly and openly war hath been declared against the Pope by a Declaration of the King ratified in all the Parliaments by the decisions of the Assembly of the French Clergy by a Disputation against the Authority of the Pope managed in the Sorbon solemnly and by order of the Court. And to heighten the affront the Theses were posted up even upon the gates of his Nuntio Nothing of this kind had hitherto happened at least in a time of peace and unless the Pope had given occasion by his insolences Besides this Superstition and Idolatry lose their credit much in France There is a secret party though well enough known which greatly despiseth the popular Devotions Images worship of Saints and is convinced that these are humane institutions God is before-hand preparing for this great work To this it may be objected that for the last hundred and fifty years the Popes Empire hath not been made up of ten Kings because the Kings of England Sweden Denmark c. have thrown off his Government and consequently France is not at this day the tenth part of the Babylonian Empire for 't is more then a tenth part of it But this is no difficulty for we must know that things retain the names which they bore in their original without regarding the alterations which time does bring along Tho at this day there are not ten Kingdoms under the Babylonian Empire 't is notwithstanding certain that each Kingdom was called and ought to be called in this Prophecy the tenth part because the Prophet having described this Empire in its beginning by its ten horns or ten Kings 't is necessary for our clear understanding that every one of these ten Kings and Kingdoms should be called one of the ten Kings or of the ten Kingdoms with respect to the original constitution of the Antichristian Empire Seeing the tenth part of the City which must fall is France this gives me some hopes that the death of the two witnesses hath a particular relation to this Kingdom 'T is the street or place of this City i.e. the most fair and eminent part of it The Witnesses must remain dead upon this Street and upon it they must be raised again And as the death of the Witnesses and their Resurrection have a relation to the Kingdom of France it may well fall out that we may not be far distant from the time of the Resurrection of the witnesses seeing the three years and a lalf of their death are either begun or will begin shortly And in the earthquake were slain seven thousand in the Greek it is seven thousand names of men and not seven thousand men I confess that this seems somewhat mysterious in other places we find not this phrase names of men put simply for men Perhaps there is here a figure of Grammer called Hypallage casus so that names of men are put for men of name i.e. of raised and considerable quality be its on the account of riches or of dignity or of learning But I am more inclined to say that here these words names of men must be taken in their natural signification and doe intimate that the total Reformation of France shall not be made with bloodshed nothing shall be destroyed but names such as are the names of Monks of Carmelites of Augustines of Dominicans of Iacobins Franciscans Capucines Iesuites Minimes and an infinite company of others
the whole Babylonian Empire we must not imagine that all this great circuit of Countries shall be laid desolate The 19th Chapter is the last in which mention is made of the destruction of Antichrists Kingdom The ten first Verses of this Chapter must not be disjoyned from the fore-going Chapter for they are only the continuation of it The solemn rejoycings of the Elect after the ruin of Babylon and the consummation of the Christian Church here below upon Earth The eleven last Verses of the Chapter contain a wonderful vision wherein Jesus Christ appears sitting upon a white Horse having the titles of faithfull of true of the word of God of King of Kings of Lord of Lords He gathers his armies together to fight against the Beast and against the false Prophet An Angel stands in the Sun and calls to all the fowls of Heaven to come and eat the flesh of those men that must be slain in that great battel which was to be fought On the other side the Beast and the false Prophet gather their forces the battel is fought the Beast and Kings are overcome he is taken with his false Prophet both are cast into the lake of fire and brimstone together with all those who had worshipt the Image of the Beast And this is magnificent and the Figures are lofty But there is nothing new in this and in my judgement 't is nothing but a recapitulation of the fore-going visions concerning the ruin of Antichrists reign The vision of the eleventh Chapter is an Epitome of the visions that follow and this is properly an Epitome of the visions which went before therefore I do not judge it necessary to insist upon it Especially seeing nothing is found of that which we seek for namely the signs and marks by which it may be known when and at what time the reign of Antichrist must end 'T is in the 11 14 and above all in the 16th Chapter that we find the Characters of this end and of the time in which it must come to pass Therefore it was necessary only that we should insist upon those Chaters The slaughter and murthers in the 19th Chapter must nor be understood literally I will only make the observation upon this Chapter which I made upon the fore-going That we must not understand literally the expressions of war and destroying that are used here for example that Iesus Christ must tread the wine-press of the wrath of God that he must give to be eaten by the fowls the flesh of Kings of Captains of mighty men of Horses of free and bond c. These are Metaphors borrowed from war and must be understood surably to the nature of this spiritual war which Jesus Christ must make against Idolatry Superstition Heresies and Tyranny his quarrel is with these and not with men Besides the reasons alledged we have here a convincing one that the Instrument of so many victories and which must make such a slaughter Vers 15. is the sharp sword that comes out of the mouth of him who sitteth upon the white horse And the remnant was slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse and all the folws were filled with their flesh Now all know that this sharp sword that comes out of the mouth of Jesus Christ is the Word of God a spiritual sword which must act only spiritual slaughters and which does not destroy the lives of men but their manners and Idolatries So that I fear lest those are mistaken who hope to render to Babylon that which we have received form her and in the cup which she hath filled to fill to her double i. e. to give her blood for blood torment for torment This is not the spirit of the true Church I have now done with this subject and I think there remains but one thing to do that I may give a clear Idea of our prophecies and that is to Epitomize and rank according to the order of time the various events which relate to the ruin of Antichrists Kingdom which the Holy Ghost displaced and confounded to the end that the prophecies might not be clearer than God did intend they should be As for the seven plagues of the seven viols they are perfectly ranked according to their order and according to their times A commendious Methodizing of the events which must bring Antichrist's Kingdom to its ruin 1. The first plague of the first viol begins about the year of our Lord 900. it lasts almost 150. years and ends under the Popedom of Leo IX about the year 1050. 2. The second and third plagues which are the Croisades begin at the end of the eleventh age and end at the going out of the thirteenth in the year 1270. or 1292. For till then some of the Latins kept possession in Palestine so that they take up the space of about two hundred years 3. The fourth plague begins before the Croisades but if we please we may place its beginning where the foregoing ends This fourth plague is the encrease of the Papal yoke and this Period beginning at the year 1270 shall continue untill the year 1378 when the consequent of the fifth plague begins namely the weakning of the Papal reign by the schism Therefore this Period will contain 108 years 4 The fifth plague is the removing of the Popes to dwell at Avignon and the grand Schism of the West It begins in the year 1305 and lasts untill the year 1440. This Period being a little jointed within the former shall last 130 or 135. years 5. The sixth plague which is the passage of the Turks into Europe and the desolations which they made in the Popes Dominion and in the Latin Church beginning towards the end of the fourteenth Age about the year 1370. and lasting untill the siege of Vienna under Charles the fifth in 1529 this Period will be 150 years 6. The seventh plague beginning about the year 1520 and lasting untill the end of our Age and the beginning of the next must last about 190 years This last Period is longer then the rest because God intended to subdivide it into three other Periods 7. The first Period of this last viol is the harvest which lasted 30 or 40 years from the year 1520 until 1560 when all the Countreys which were to be Reformed had embraced the Reformation 8. The second period of this seventh viol is that season and state of rest and victory which the Papacy regain'd and this period lasts from 1560 or 1570 for since that time Popery hath received no considerable check but rather hath much prevailed it hath made war against the saints had hath overcome them 9. Towards the conclusion of this second period of the seventh viol a sore persecution must happen The Witnesses clothed in Sackcloth i.e. the faithful who are under the Cross shall be oppressed and remain dead in the street of the great City for three years and a half That is the profession
of the Truth shall be wholly suppressed but the Truth it self shall not be buryed nor layd in the grave nor forgotten 10. At the end of the three years and a half shall begin the third period of the seventh viol which the Holy Ghost calls the vintage This is the total ruin of Antichrists Kingdom and this period shall last 20 or 25 years 't is probable that it will begin about the year 1690 or a little while after 11. the first thing which shall be done in the third period of the seventh vial is the Fall of the tenth part of the City i. e. of the Kingdom of France which shall break with the Kourt of Rome and wholly change the face of Religion in that Kingdom This is the first action of the vintage 12. The Beast and the false Prophet the Pope and his Agents shall rally all their forces but God shall muster all his together and give the last blow to Popery then the Beast and the false Prophet shall be thrown into the lake and plunged into the bottomless pit Babylon shall wholly fall and it shall be said she is fallen she is fallen CHAP. XV. The Reason why in this work we speak of some things so positively The linking together of our Principles suffers us not to doubt that we now are at the end of the reign of the papacy IN the first Edition of this work I did here finish what I had to say about those events past and future which concern the ruin of Antichrists Kingdom Second Editions have this advantage that they may be suted to the pallates of the Readers of whom a tryal hath been made And were it possible for me to do it I would gladly use this piece of prudence with respect to a Remarque which very many have made namely that in this discourse we speak over positively and which too much confidence concerning things which at the most ought to be propounded only as conjectures Perhaps some time or other men shall know the principal reason which made me speak in so confident a manner and with such tokens of assurance In the mean while I desire their attention to several things which I have to say There are some things that are propounded only as strong conjectures The first is That I do not speak so confidently as 't is believed concerning the most part of those things which are yet to come for example I say not down the exact time of the resurrection of the witnesses I do not say that it shall be exactly in such a year for I have declared and do still declare that I know not from what time God shall please to begin the reckoning of the three years and a half Not but that I strongly hope that God intends to begin it at the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes but this doth not rise to a full assurance That which concerns the rising again of our Reformation by way of inspirations the approaching Reformation of France by way of Authority the fall of the tenth part of the City i. e. of France which shall forsake the papal Kingdom this I say seems to me to be more than a conjecture I confess it and if things should fall out otherwise I should be very much mistaken But however if the fall of popery should begin in some other place I would ingenously confess that I was deceived That the Countries Kingdoms and States which are not under the papacy ought not to be accounted the streets of the great City and that they must not feel an persecution seems to me more than probable and I believe it But notwithstanding I declare that I do not make it an Article of faith and if it should fall out that God should send his desolating scourge upon all the Reformed Churches in Europe without excepting the places where our Religion at this day bears sway I grant that men will have right to accuse me that I have guess'd wrong but not that I made rash conclusions And truly when I consider the horrible looseness which every where prevails I confess that I cannot but fear lest Good should throw all into the same furnace What is propounded as certain Behold therefore what I assert namely that this is the last persecution which Antichrist must raise against the Church and that we are near the end of the twelve hundred and sixty years which is the Period of his Empire and that in the beginning of the next age this Empire must see its end If I should be mistaken nine or ten years and that this Empire should instead of ending in the year 1710 or thereabouts run on untill the year 1720 I do not think that any could justly treat me as a false Prophet and accuse me of rashness Many will not forbear to judge me rash because I propound my conjectures about these things as certain conclusions To this I have a second thing to say That none hath reason to be offended that I am possessed with and perswaded of that which I think I evidently see and that I find the proofs of what I propound convincing to my self I should do ill to demand of others the same assurance and oblige them to entertain the same perswasion I declare the contrary in express terms I am well content as I have said that my Readers should account these assertions to be conjectures provided that I may have the liberty to believe what I see or what I believe I see in the writings of the Prophets Besides it seems that there is no great necessity of punishing me for this pretended rashness seeing if so be that I am mistaken Time is preparing for me a mortification sore enough Let us leave Providence to work it will discover who is guilty of rashness and fond credulity Our principles must be considered The last thing which I would say for my justification is that before any condemns me of rashness as to what I hold that we are at the end of the 1260 years of Antichrists reign my principles must be duely weighed and that not each apart as perhaps some have done but conjointly Behold the principles and their connexion 1. The first is that the papacy is the Antichristian Empire of which these Prophecies speak 2. That Idolatry is the principal Character of this Antichristian Empire 3. That this Empire of the Beast must begin when the Roman Empire was divided into ten Kingdoms and when that Heads the Emperors which was in the Apostle Pauls time was destroyed Here are three principles which I know not how any Protestant can doubt of We shall presently see whither they will lead us 4. My fourth principle is that I have hit the truth in the explication of the seven viols so that stinking ulcer in the first is the horrible corruption of the Church of Rome in the tenth Age. The Sea and rivers of blood in the two following plagues are the Butcheries acted
by the Croisades The encrease of the Sun's heat in the fourth plague is the encrease of the papal authority the Ecclipse and darkning of this Sun in the fifth plague is the grand Schism between Rome and Avignon the Kings of the East who pass over Euphrates in the sixth plague are the Turks who pass over the Bosphorus to invade the remainder of the Greek Empire and a part of that of the Latins and lastly the dividing of the great city into three parts in the seventh plague is the dividing of the Latin Church into three Communions Papists Lutherans and Reformed I lay down as a principle which I cannot doubt of that I have it the mark in the explication of these plagues But this 't is said seems rash to assert so confidently that which can only be a strong conjecture Men may object what they please against this exposition but I cannot recant it And I desire the World seriously to consider only these two things 1. That my explications very well agree with the words and Metaphors of the prophecy 2. That 't is impossible that chance should produce an explication so universally lucky It must be remembred what we said concerning the Epistles to the seven Churches on the question whether they are Prophetical We granted that there are some passages that agree well with the applications which are made but we observed that these applications are far from being universally true 't is therefore chance that produced those lucky agreements But if any one comes who shall make such a measured division of times and such a just application of these times and the events in them unto the Characters with which these seven Churches are marked so that nothing is defective then I shall remain perfectly satisfyed that this last Interpreter hath exactly hit the truth it will be no longer a conjecture Let me therefore be permitted to remain perswaded that I have hit the truth as to the seven plagues seeing they so perfectly agree with tho events which are past My fifth Principle is that I have not been less happy in hitting the true sense of the harvest and vintage in the fourteenth chapter A man must be blind if he sees not that these are the two parts of the fall of Babylon Babylon is fallen is fallen that great city and immediately after this fall is divided into harvest and vintage I cannot hinder my self from seeing that this signifies the first fall of Popery by a first Reformation which certainly is come to pass and the final fall of Popery by a second Reformation which must come to pass None can I think seriously consider the perfect agreement between the representations and the Original but be will be perswaded that 't is so 6. My sixth and last Principle is that we are in the last Persecution which the Church must suffer from the Kingdom of Antichrist And this last conclusion so naturally and necessarily flowers from the foregoing ones that none can acknowledge the preceding but he must likewise own the truth of this Let us now see whither these Principles do lead us All our Principles lead us unto the eighteenth Age to find the end of Antichrists reign If the Papacy be the Antichristian Kingdom then certainly the period of 1260 prophetick dayes or 1260 years which are assigned to the duration of the Kingdom of the Beast belong to it If the principal Character of this Kingdom is Idolatry 't is clear we must begin to reckon the duration of this Kingdom from that time in which Idolatry was set up in the Church Now 't is certain that the Idolatrous worship of Reliques and of Saints was fully establisht in the fifth Age Reckon 1260 years since the fifth Age this will bring you to the beginning of the eighteenth Age. If the Empire of the Papacy be the Empire of the Beast we must begin it at the time when the Roman Empire was divided into ten Kingdoms Fore the Holy Ghost speaks so in express and clear terms Reckon 1260 years since the division of the Roman Empire into ten Kingdoms which was done in the fifth Age and this will lead you to the eighteenth Age. If the Roman-papist See is that man of sin of whom St. Paul speaks in the 2d Chap. of the Epist to the Thessalonians we must reckon the 1260 years assigned to his Empire from the time that the Imperial dignity which held at Rome ceased to hold â— 6 7. or withhold which happened in the fifth Age. Reckon again your 1260 years since that time and you will see that you fall upon the eighteenth Age. If we have hit right in explaining the seven viols and the seven plagues the last viol hath been poured out since the time of Luther and its influence is running still according to the proportion of the preceding viols it cannot be running out above two hundred years Reckon again by this rule and you will fall into the eighteenth Age. If the harvest and the vintage in the fourteenth chapter are really the first and second part of the fall of the Antichristian Papacy which must be produced by as many Reformations then the Reformation in the last Age must have been the harvest lengthen as much as you please the space of time between the harvest and vintage you cannot make it longer than two hundred years Reckon and you will fall upon the eighteenth Age the find there the vintage and the final ruin of the Papacy Lastly if all that we have said is rational 't is impossible that this should not be the last persecution for the Reformation cannot be raised again so as to fall down a second time seeing we have proved that the Period of 1260 years is about to expire therefore reckon this persecution as the last and make it to be as long as you will provided you observe the measure which God hath set to the longest persecutions that the Church hath suffered and this however will bring you unto the eighteenth Age. Observe I pray you how many things do bring you to this eighteenth Age. Admire the meeting of so many paths which do all bring you to the same point And remember this undoubted Principle that 't is impossible that false conjectures should hit right in every thing I entreat above all the Roman-Catholicks to consider seriously this Principle How can they perswade themselves that system of lyes and false suppositions should hang well together That we should find in their Roman See exactly all the Characters which are given to the man of sin to the Beast in the Revelation to spiritual Babylon to the whore clothed in scarlet that â—ve should meet with the Characters of the Papacy in its birth exactly in the time that the Prophets have markt out for the birth of the Antichristian Kingdom that we should find so exact these seven great judgments of God denoted by seven plagues that God should exactly at this time permit that F.
Maimbourg should publish one history upon another of the declining of the Empire Of the Croisades Of the Schism of the Greeks Of the great Schism of the West Of Lutheranism and Of Calvinism for this purpose to raise our attention unto these great events of the seven plagues which without this perhaps none would have thought of I earnestly beseech them I say seriously to consider this heap of circumstances and to tell me in their Consciences whether Chance can produce and agreement of above a hundred or two hundred points relating to the same subject None can ever make this reflection seriously but he must be convinced CHAP. XVI Of the thousand years reign That in all the past time there is not a time to be found wherin Satan hath been bound Four heads of arguments to prove this reign The first is the fifth Monarchy so plainly promised to the saints WE have done examining that which relates to the fall of the Antichristian Kingdom That we may keep our word that we gave in the Title of our second part we must now enquire what must happen to the Church after that great event This laid down in the 20 chapter of the Revelation in these terms v. 1. And I saw an Angel come down from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand v. 2. And he laid hold on the dragon that old serpent which is the devil and Satan and bound him a thousand years v. 3. And cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled and after that he must be loosed a little season v. 4. And I saw thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was given unto them and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Iesus and for the word of God and which had not worshipped the beast neither his image neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years v. 5. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished This is the first resurrection Behold the Text which is the subject to so many doubts and so many controversies Behold that which hath made the pretended Hereticks who are call'd Chiliasts and Millenaries I mean not those Chiliasts who have believed a thousand years reign of the Church during which time it must enjoy according to their opinion the carnal and sinful pleasures of the world these were filthy spirits which came out of the Dragons mouth A distinction between carnal and spiritual Millenaries But as for those who believe that after the ruin of Antichrist and before the end of the world God reserves to himself a period of a thousand years in which he must reign by himself and his people pour out upon them an abundance of his spirit bring al Nations to his knowledge govern them with a golden scepter and no longer with an iron one secure them from all evil and from all danger of corruption as for these I say the time is coming and that very shortly that men shall be ashamed that they have branded them with the names of Chiliasts of Millenaries and fifth Monarchymen I have former by observed that there is something that is surprizing and divine in the due understanding of Prophecies We wonder at the strange stupidity of the Jews who do not discern in their own Oracles our Jesus and their Messias We are Astonisht at the dismal blindness of the Papists who do not see the Beast and Antichrist in that which they call their Holy See and their Holy Church God hath had reasons why he hath given these men eyes that they should not see and a heart void of understanding Certainly here is the same thing There must be a blindness greater then can be imagined 'T is surprising that men have not seen in the Scripture the Reign of Jesus Christ on the earth in those who see not this Kingdom of Iesus Christ and the Church which must make the seventh Period of the world There is something supernaturall in this blindness I had this favour from God that I saw this Reign in the Scriptures ever since I was able to read and understand them without having read either any Commentaries upon the Revelation or writings of the Millenaries I hope to make out the truth of this Reign with such clearness that if shall be difficult to shake any doubt of it It is impossible to find in the time by-past room for the Period of a thousand years in which Satant must be bound First it is agreed on all hands that within the duration of the Church we must necessarily find a Period of a thousand years in which it may be said that Satan hath been bound i.e. hindred in his designs which are seduction and persecution This it too plain to be denyed But where shall we find this Period I am sorry to see so great so learned and so holy a person as Vsher Archbishop of Armagh to place this period of a thousand years within the time of Christs Incarnation and the eleventh Age. How can any one say that the Devil was bound during that space Is it with respect to seduction In the three first Ages did he not seduce men Were not the Pagans seduced Their Religion was it not the Ruling Religion There were Christians I grant but I am perswaded that they were not the fiftieth part of the whole Roman Empire In the succeeding Ages hath he not set on foot that grand seduction that is called the Beast the False Prophet the Kingdom of Antichrist Hath he not brought Idolatry into the Church the abomination into the sanctuary such tyranny pride and corruption of manners that there was never greater among the Pagans With respect to persecution hath he been bound how much blood hath shed how many Butcheries hath he acted how many Massacres what a great number of Martyrs Can it enter into any mans thoughts that this should be called the Period of Satans binding He was never so broken loose The falsity of their hypothesis who begin them at Constantin What do those gain who come three hundred years lower and hold that Santan began to be bound at the time of Constantin They must upon that principle place their ending at the year thirteen hundred and so include within their Period of the thousand years the rage of the Beast who hath fed upon the blood of the saints the seductions of the false Prophet who makes the Image of the Beast to be worshipped and the whole world to run after him who obligeth all men to bear his mark upon their foreheads who makes war against the Saints and overcometh them In one word they must take in into their Period of Santans binding that space of time in which
a time v. 26. But the judgment shall sit and they shall take away his dominion to consume and to destroy it unto the end Behold the destruction of Antichrists Kingdom Immediately after the Prophet adds And the Kingdom and dominion v. 27. and the 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 Behold the reign and Kingdom of the Saints and a reign which succeeds to that of Antichrist In truth we must give the lye to the Holy Spirit if we suppose that we must go back two thousand years before the end of Antichrists reign to place the beginning of this reign of the Saints and of Jesus Christ Here we have the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven after that the four Beasts i. e. the four Empires have been broken to pieces to receive the Kingdom from the hand of God his Father and reign for ever untill the end of the world We must speak without any judgment The fifth Monarchy cannot be understood of the Kingdom of glory after the day of judgment if we say that this everlasting Kingdom of Jesus Christ is to be understood of the heavenly reign after the end of the world and the last judgment For the Apostle St Paul saith in plain terms that Jesus Christ shall then reign no longer and that he shall deliver up the Kingdom to God even the Father Besides Daniel speaks of a Kingdom that is to be under the Heavens and not of one that is above them Further 't is a meer triffling to mingle eternal things with temporal and bring down the Heavenly Kingdom of Paradise into the rank of earthly and temporal Monarchies by making it to be a fifth Monarchy Thus 't is plain that the Prophet treats here of a Kingdom that indeed is heavenly on the account of its purity but is earthly on the account of its Seat and because it must be upon earth I am willing to joyn unto these Prophecies only that in this 20th Chapter of the Revelation which is so clear that it needs not any commentary The Prophet saith expresly After this so the first verse is rendred in the French i.e. after the last victory over the Beast and his false Prophet the Devil shall be bound and the Saints shall live and reign with Christ a thousand years But 't will be objected that this passage is too plain and this very thing makes our sense of it suspicious The Prophets are not wont to express future things so clearly But if this reason holds the Iews are not to be blamed for rejecting our Oracles concerning Iesus Christ for example this A Virgin shall conceive a Son and this other And thou Bethelehem out of thee shall come a Ruler c. and the whole 53. Chapter of Isaiah and that Prophecy of Daniel that Messiah must be cut off but not for himself And that very clear Oracle he shall make his soul an offering for sin For 't is evident that these Oracles are not less plain in speaking of Christ and the circumstances of his birth his life and his death than those in Daniel and the Revelation which speak of the thousand years reign Others instead of confessing that this Text is too clear to be understood in the literal sense say that it is too obscure and must be explain'd by others that are more clear Truly I do not conceive how men can speak at this rat 'T is obscure because it saith the contrary to that which these Gentlemen imagin and because 't is inconstant with their Hyphotheses CHAP. XVII The second spring of Arguments to prove the thousand years reign is the reign promised to the Iews The promises made to them have not been fulfilled but must be The conversion of St. Paul is a Type of that of the whole Nation THe second spring of my Arguments shall be the Prophecies and Oracles which promise unto the Iews extraordinary blessings a reign upon Earth a prosperity that shall be visible to all Nations yea an elevation to a Kingdom unto which all Nations must pay homage These Oracles are without number we must only produce some of them Isal 2.2 3 4. Sacred Oracles that promise great prosperities to the nation of the Jews And it shall come to pass in the last days that the Mountain of the Lords house shall be establisht in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and all Nations shall flow unto it 3. And many people shall go and say Come ye and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Iacob and he will teach us of is ways amp c. And he shall judge among the Nations and rebuke many people And in Chapter 25 v. 8. He will swallow up death in victory and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth for the Lord hath spoken it And in the beginning of the 32 Chapter Behold a King shall reign in righteousness and Princes shall rule in judgement And a man shall be a hiding place from the storm and a covert from the tempest And in the 41 Chapter v. 8. But thou Israel art my servant Jacob whom I have chosen the seed of Abraham my friend c. v. 10. Fear not for I am with thee be not dismay'd for I am thy God I will strengthen thee yea I will help thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness v. 12 Thou shalt seek them and shalt not find them even the men that contended with thee c. v. 15. Behold I will make thee a new sharp threshing Instrument having teeth thou shalt thresh the mountains and shalt make the hills as chaff In the 43. Chapter vers 1 2 3 c. But now thus saith the Lord that created thee O Jacob and he that formed thee O Israel Fear not for I have redeemed thee I have called thee by name When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee For I am the Lord thy God the holy one of Israel thy Saviour Fear not for I am with thee I will bring thy seed from the East and gather thee from the West I will say to the North Give up and to the South keep not back bring my sons from far and my daughters from the ends of the Earth And in the 44 Chap. v. 2 3. Thus saith the Lord that made thee and formed thee from the womb who will help thee Fear not O Jacob my servant for I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground I will pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine Off-spring And in the 45 Chap. v.
lye so he was their Saviour If the Jews have nothing else to look for but the conversion of some thousands of them who shall not be damned could it be said that the goodness is great that is bestowed upon the house of Israel and that God will deal with them according to the multitude of his loving-kindnesses If we compare the whole Nation which for almost two thousand years was to be loft would such a conversion deserve to be counted any thing Above all we must take notice in this 63 Chapter that the six first Verses represent in a magnificent manner the bloody victory of a Conqueror Who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Bozrah this that is glorious in his apparel travelling in the greatness of his strength I that speak in righteousness mighty to save Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine-fat I have trodden the wine-press alone and of the people there was none with me for I will tread them in mine anger and trample them in my fury and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments and I will stain all my raiment For the day of vengeance is in my heart and the year of my redeemed is come And I looked and there was none to help and I wondred that there was none to uphold therefore my own arm brought salvation unto me and my fury it upheld me And I will tread down the people in my anger and make them drunk in my fury and I will bring down their strength to the earth Ordinarily this passage is interpreted of the Passion of Jesus Christ and I do not oppose that it should be apply'd to it by a pious allusion The victory over Antichrist fortold in the 63 of Isaiah and in the 19th of the Revelation But I much wonder that none hath discryed its true meaning and that none hath perceived that the same event exactly is fore-told here and in the 19th of the Revelation from the 11th verse to the end 'T is so plainly the same thing that the expressions are in a manner the same 'T is clear that the Holy Ghost alludes to this passage of Isaiah when he saith Revel 19. â—5 And he treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. The figures are the same borrowed from war slaughter combats and bloodshed So that without doubt the same thing is signified in both places Namely that great victory that the Lord Jesus must gain over all the enemies of the Church before the period of the thousand years An unbloody victory and which must be gain'd by the sword of his mouth i. e. his Word But 't is represented under the figure of war according to the custome of the Holy Ghost who paints out spiritual victories with colours borrowed from temporal ones Now I would fain know for whom this victory discribed by Isaiah must be gain'd Without doubt 't is on the behalf of the people of the Iews 't is to the Jews that he speaks the year of my Redeemed is come and presently after followeth that which we have cited I will mention the loving-kindnesses of the Lord c. which belongs to the people of the Jews and can't belong to any other 'T is therefore for the Iews and on their behalf that the great battel in the 19th of the Revelation shall be fought 't will be to get a crown for them and to raise them upon a Throne Therefore this Nation is not in so great an error as men have hitherto imagined upon the subject of the nature of the reign of their Messiah It is certain that it must advance their Nation to very great glory But they are mistaken 1. In that they have not own'd the Messiah in his state of Humiliation and will not till his glorious Appearance 2. They doubtless mistake in the nature of their Kingdom fixing thereto too much of what is Temporal whereas it shall be very Spiritual and not at all consist in commanding over Nations to assemble them for War to receive of them Tribute and Subjection It will rather consist in this that this Nation shall be the most glorious of any in the World the most zealous the most Holy which shall give Pastors and it may be Governors to all other People In this we have the true reason why in the book of Revelations there is nothing formally spoken of the Recalling of the Iews It would have been a very surprizing thing that the Holy Ghost should have omitted one of the most considerable events of the Church in a book of Prophecies containing the History of it So our Interpreters would willingly find it every where and really can find it but in very few places The reason is because 't is only to be met with in the 20th Chapter of the Revelations and in the 11th Chapter of that Book The Kingdom of the Messiah and of the Saints which is spoken of in those places is that Kingdom which is to be given to the Holy People according to the Prophecies of Daniel for in the style of the Prophets there is no other Holy People but the People of Israel So that the Iews are to be the principal part of the fifth Monarchy This is the Kingdom that was promised to Jesus Christ by the Angel who fore-told his birth to the B. Virgin. God will give him the Throne of David his Father I would feign know how that Oracle hath been accomplisht The converted Gentiles of whom Jesus Christ hath been King for sixteen hundred years are they the Kingdom of David while the Jews who are Children and Brethren of David are the avowed Enemies of this Kingdom It may well be said that Jesus Christ hath received a Kingdom whereof that of David was the figure but that doth by no means satisfy But what doth the Answer of our Lord Jesus Christ to his Apostles signify They demanded of him I. Christ promis'd his Apostles to re-establish the Kingdom of the Zews Wilt thou at this time restore the Kingdom again to Israel Jesus replyed by remitting them to another time 'T is not for you saith he to know the Times sand Seasons which the Father hath put in his own Power If the Kingdom should never be restored to Israel why doth not our Lord tell them so and why doth he hold them in suspence if the Kingdom of Israel be nothing else than the Calling of the Gentiles and our Christian Church why doth he refer them to a longer time saying that God hath reserved to himself the knowledge of that Time that was a thing should be effected within a few years in their own time before their eyes and by themselves Lastly why hath he commanded us to pray daily Thy Kingdom come since that Kingdom is already come for by that Kingdom cannot be understood the eternal Kingdom of Paradise where Jesus Christ so far as man is only the
converted becomes an Apostle and the instrument of the conversion of the Gentiles the converted Iews shall compleat the conversion of the most remote Pagan Nations in the utmost corners of the World. This doubtless is that admirable return of the Iews and their advancement to the Soveraign dignity of the Church which Ezekiel represents in the 37. Chapter of his Prophecies under the Image of a Resurrection This also is that which St. Paul calls Life from the Dead Ezekiel saw a large Valley covered with dead Bones These dead Bones are the House of Israel saith the Holy Spirit They came together and sinews and flesh came upon them and the Spirit of the Lord entred into them The Prophet speaks farther in the following Chapters of the Victories this renewed Israel should obtain over Gog and Magog the Enemies of the Church After which in the nine last Chapters he makes a figurative description of this Kingdom of the Iews and of the Messiah and of the Church perfected upon Earth under the Emblem of a magnifick Temple whereof he describes the Parts the Apartments and several Buildings the Altar Priests Victims the Land of their possession and a new division of it This in my opinion is the mystery of the nine last Chapters of Ezekiel Chap. 45. which have appeared so unintelligible to most Interpreters I conclude this Chapter by saying that the Papism makes it hereby plain that it is the true Kingdom of Antichrist by their cruel persecution of the Iews That Mystery of iniquity comprehends nothing of the Mystery of Godliness and sees not that God hath reserved that Nation to manifest in them his greatest wonders and consequently that they ought not to be destroyed by flames as in Spain and in those Countries where the inquisition is in force CHAP. XVIII The third Head of Arguments for the future Kingdom of Christ and the Church So many Prophecies which concern the compleat Victories of Jesus Christ the Holiness of the Church and its perfect prosperity which have never yet been accomplisht MY third Head of Arguments to show that we are to expect a Kingdom of Christ upon Earth are the Prophecies not yet accomplisht and which cannot be fulfilled unless such a Kingdom do come This would be a large subject and yield matter for several books and those good ones too whereby the World might be informed of several things they know not But this Book is larger already then I would have had it I shall therefore content my self briefly to show and endeavour to perswade that there must be a Time which we have not yet seen for the fulfilling of several Prophecies which were delivered on purpose to describe the Kingdom of our Lord Iesus and give us the Characters of it The most ancient Oracles are not perfectly fulfilled The most ancient and most remarkable of all the sacred Oracles is that which God himself pronounc't to Adam The seed of he Woman shall bruise the Serpents head and â—hee shall bruise his heel 'T is agreed that the Head signifies Empire and Power So that Prophecy imports the victory of Christ and his Children over the Kingdom of the Devil and that they shall destroy it Now this is a promise not yet accomplisht in the History of the Church we have no age wherein it could be said that the Kingdom of Christ prevailed over that of Satan It is an observation we cannot mind too much that we must carefully distinguish here between Life and Kingdom or Reign Life signifies existence but Reign imports actual Domination and Rule Iesus Christ 't is true in every age hath had a party subsisting in the World and in that respect hath been victorious over all the attempts of Satan whose end was to destroy him and 't is some kind of victory over an Adversary to prevent him from attaining his end but this can never be called a full and compleat Victory It is necessary to that to be the predominant prevailing Party whereas that of Iesus Christ hath alway been opprest either by Paganism or by Mahometanism or by Antichristianism Such a time therefore is to be expected wherein the party of true Christianity shall prevail over and utterly extinguish the Empire and Kingdom of the Devil All the nations of the earth have not been blessed in Christ 49 Gen. The second Prophecy is that which was given to Abraham In thy seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blest which signifies that the righteousness of Christ shall spread it self over all Nations to the same sense is that other Prophecy Shiloh shall come and to him shall the gathering of the People belong 'T is true almost all Nations have been invited to the knowledge of God many have been actually brought to it but many have not yet been called much less converted And among those Nations which have been converted the Bad hath so far exceeded the good that it cannot be truly said that the multitude of the People belong to Christ Nevertheless I am confident that shall come to pass and that the number of the Good shall one day as much exceed that of the wicked as now the number of the wicked doth that of the Good. But that these Oracles are not accomplisht we shall be fully convinc't if we proceed to those Prophets who were sent on purpose to Characterize the Kingdom of J. Christ Among whom the Prophet Isaiah shines as a Sun among the Stars It would be necessary to make a just Commentary on all his Book to make it plain that what he fore-told is not come to pass For most of his Prophecies have for their object this glorious and blessed state of the Church in its last Period But to be as short as may be I shall reduce all that he hath said of the Church under the Messiah to these two Articles 1. It s Righteousness and Holiness 2. It s Peace and Prosperity and shall make it evident that neither the one or the other have been fulfilled to that degree which they ought to be fulfilled according to those Prophecies For the Righteousness and Holiness of the Church Chap. 11.6 c. Prophecies of the future Holiness of the Church the Prophet Isaiah saith That the woolf shall feed with the Lamb the Leopard lie down with the Kid the Calf and the young Lion and the Fatling together and a little child shall lead them The Cow and the Bear shall feed their young ones shall lie down together and the Lion shall eat straw like the Ox And the sucking Child shall play on the hole of the Asp and the weaned Child shall put his hand on the Cockatrice den They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy Mountain for the Earth shall be full of the Knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea. Behold the most ravishing and fair description of it that can be seen It amounts to a return of the State of Innocence 'T
In the sixth Period near the end whereof we now are God will compleat his Church by the ruin of Antichrist and bring the Kingdom of Christ upon Earth to its perfection This should be well remembred that the Church in the Type of the Creation appears under four Emblems 1. As the Earth buried and covered under waters 2. As a dry Land above the waters and bearing fruit 3. As a Moon inlightened by the Sun. 4. And lastly as the Woman And our Lord Jesus appears there under three Emblems 1. As the Light of the first day without or before the Sun. 2. As the Sun. 3. Under the Emblem of the Man. The Church in her first state before the Law was as the Earth under water she was obscure and as it were buried among the Nations In her second state under the Law she was as a discovered Land distinguisht and known and bearing fruit but yet she was but Earth i. e. not very considerable In her third state under the Gospel she appears as a Moon a rival of the Sun imitating his Light and therein she is more glorious than the Earth This is the Apostolical Church so glorious and full of knowledge In the fourth state she appears as the woman taken out of the side of Adam closely united with him being one Body and one Flesh 'T is in the last Period that she shall be more united to Christ than before In the fourth Period she is as the Moon and notwithstanding the nearest approaches of the Sun there remain vast distances between them But towards the end of the sixth Period and throughout the seventh her union unto Christ shall be immediate and intimate as that of a Wife with her Husband therefore the Church in this seventh Period is represented as a Spouse which was to be brought to the Lamb. On the other hand Jesus Christ appears under three Emblems In the fourth Period as a Sun which scatters the darkness of Idolatry Paganism and Ignorance that covered the face of the Earth This Sun is plac't in the fourth point just in the middle of the seven to let us know that he is the Center of the Church the Sun which gives light before and behind to the preceding Ages and to those which follow him Towards the end of the sixth Period and throughout the seventh he is A man to whom God gives dominion over the Fowls of the Air the Fish of the Sea and creeping things and four-footed Beasts i. e. That Christ in this last Period shall be Lord and King who shall rule over the Birds tame the boldest and most aspiring spirits who mount even unto the Heavens he shall humble them and keep 'em within the bounds of their duty over the Fish of the Sea to deliver'em from their corruption over Creeping things to destroy the influence of their poison over wild Beasts to tame their fierceness and render them meek as Lambs In the first day Jesus Christ was figured but by a dim Light because in the first Period of the Church he vouchsaf't her but a very imperfect knowledge of himself This methinks is the Mystery of the six days which way well serve as a favourable omen in reference to the seventh day The mystery of the seventh day of the Creation because every thing therein seems to accord well what then is wanting to the World after the works of the six daye to render it perfect Holiness and Rest and these are the two Things which God added on the seventh day Holiness for he Sanctified the seventh day and thereby the rest of the World. Rest for till then God had been at work and the World in Motion Now God gave the World that Rest which it wanted in that he himself rested on the seventh day All this is an admirable Emblem of our seventh Period for the sake whereof all this explication of the Type of the Worlds Creation hath been given During the six days God made the Church to pass through several changes he will bring it to perfection at the end of the sixth by the ruin of the Antichristian Kingdom and by the Conversion of all Nations What then is wanting to it Rest and Holiness Rest for hitherto she hath always been in toyl and Travel Holiness for she hath alway been imperfect We must therefore look for a seventh Period which shall be a Kingdom of Rest and Holiness wherein the Church shall no more be persecuted either by Fire and Sword or by Heresy and Idolatry wherein also there shall be a plentiful effusion of the H. Spirit to produce a great degree of Holiness and Sanctification among men This mystery shall be accomplisht upon Earth We must not say that the accomplishment of this Type will be found in Heaven where is Rest and Holiness and that therein is the mystery of the seventh day I say again that cannot be meant because this seventh Period must be of the same kind and order with the other six We even now observed that the Sun was created on the fourth day there are three days before and three after exactly in the middle of the seven to signify that Christ the Son of Righteousness is the Center of the intelligible World. If he be the Center of the seven Periods he must certainly have an equal reference to all the points of that Circumference Now what relation can he have to the seventh day if Eternity be meant by it In that Eternal abode Christ shall have no more the relation of a Center a Sun and a King. For St. Paul tells us that then God shall be all in all and Christ shall deliver up the Kingdom again to his Father Moreover 't is certain there ought to be a proportion between the seventh Period and the six fore-going ones Now there is none between Eternity and the duration of the Church upon Earth And lastly I am bold to say that the ancient Types were not establisht by God immediately to figure Heavenly Things but only the Graces and Favors of God in this World under the Kingdom of the Messiah You cannot show me any one of the ancient Types which hath an immediate relation to the glories of the Heavenly Paradise The marriage of Adam and Eve was the immediate Type of the Vnion between Christ and his Church in the Kingdom of his Grace It did only mediately typify their Vnion in the Kingdom of Glory By consequence this seventh day which all acknowledge to be Typical must have its immediate relation not to the Sabbath of the Church in Heaven but to its State of Rest upon Earth CHAP. XXIII A farther Confirmation of the future prosperity of the Church upon Earth The 21 and 22. Chap. of the Apocalypse interpreted that in those Chapters the Church is described as victorious upon Earth and not as Triumphant in Heaven WE may not pass from the Apocalyps without saying somewhat concerning the last Chapters If we needed another Head of Arguments to
not contemporary with 'em the seven seals carry the Prophecy almost as far as the fall of Paganism unto Constantine the first Christian Emperor The seven Trumpets divide the rest of the Time between Constantine and his Christian Successors to the end of the World. And the seventh Trumpet that sounds here is the beginning of the last Period which comprehends the fall of the Empires of the World and particularly that of the Antichristian Kingdom or the Papacy The seventh Angel sounded and there were great voices These are voices of Acclamation and joy That Thunders and Lightnings are joyned to those voices signifies the preaching of the Gospel And the four and twenty Elders who sat before God on their seats fell upon their faces and worshipped God saying we give thee thanks O Lord God Almighty c. 'T is the Song and subject matter of thanksgiving wherewith the Holy People should praise God during the reign of a thousand years when God shall have subdued all their Enemies Observe here that the four and twenty Elders appear alone and begin the Song whereas in the first Vision the living Creatures begun the Song and the Elders followed ' em 'T is not to exclude the living Creatures and the Ministry in the last Period of the Church but to signify that then the People shall be so filled with the Divine Spirit that they shall not need to wait the inspiration and assistance of the Holy Ministry to ingage them to praise God and perform holy duties The Nations were angry and thy wrath in come i. e. the Nations of the Antichristian People have executed their malice and fury and thou hast avenged it by destroying their Empire 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 This doth not signify the last judgement or the last Resurrection 'T is the first Resurrection the Deliverance of the Church her coming to the expected Kingdom This is set forth after the same manner in the 20th Chapter of the Apocalyps as hath been already seen The Time of the Dead to be judged he saith not the Living and the Dead or all the Dead but speaks of the Church which lay as dead during the reign of Antichrist and shall rise again when that Kingdom is destroyed The Dead shall be judged And how 't is God will reward the faithfull and the Church by giving them Peace and a Kingdom 'T is a judgement of Grace and of Beneficence He speaks not of eternal Rewards as appears by what follows and to destroy those who destroyed the Earth Which is not a proper term to signify eternal punishments wherein nothing is destroyed men continue under them for ever so that the ruin of the Antichristian Empire must be here meant V. 19. Chap. 11. And the Temple of God was opened in Heaven and there was seen in his Temple the Ark of his Testament The Ark is the sign of God's Covenant with the Iews so this Prophecy of the Ark in the Temple of God signifies the recalling of the Iews The Temple of God was open The Church shall be open to all Nations all People shall resort to it and among others we shall see that People who derive their Glory from the Ark of the Covenant CHAP. XXIV The Characters of the Kingdom of the Church Eight are certain and five doubtfull What shall happen after this Kingdom What is meant by Gog and Magog There shall probably be a lesser kind of Antichrist a little before the end of the World. HAving confirmed the Truth of this Reign of Christ upon Earth we ought now to consider the Nature and Characters of it they may be divided into two Classes some that are doubtful and others certain It is fit that we begin with the certain We are not to reckon among the Characters of this Reign either the fall of the Babylonish Empire or the conversion of the Iews or the conversion of the remaining Gentiles For these three things are to go before it They can never be brought about but with confusion and Tumult The Popish Empire cannot fall but it must cost blood and make a mighty noise The conversion of the Iews must needs be attended with great Commotions among the People and it may be violent contradictions 'T is likewise impossible to conceive that the Conversion of the Gentiles can be brought about without the utmost endeavours of the Devil to hinder it he will raise all his forces every where to hinder the last establishment of this Kingdom of Christ as he did in the first Ages of the Christian Church So that we cannot doubt but he will cause great opposition not only by words but it may be blows Now this cannot belong to the Kingdom of Christ whereof the principal Character is Soveraign Peace Insomuch that we thus conceive of it 1. The Papal Empire shall fall 2. After that some years will be necessary to abolish Sects and Parties and compose the differences among Christians 3. That after this many Heathen Nations and the Iews shall be converted for it cannot be thought that they should be converted while Christians are so much at variance among themselves and seeking the destruction of one another 4. After the Conversion of the Iews the remainder of the most remote Nations shall also be converted Now for all this there must be time for should we think that God will act in a more miraculous manner in this than in the establishment of the first Christian Church Wherefore as the Christian Church was near an hundred years in its first setling no less will be necessary perfectly to resettle it and then shall that blessed Kingdom come which we expect not but that there is some probability that God may begin to compute the thousand years from the fall of Antichrist even before the Conversion of the Iews and Gentiles and so the fall of the Antichristian Kingdom and the Conversion of the Nations may in some sort be comprehended within the Reign of Christ for a thousand years But when we speak here of the Kingdom of Christ we speak of it as in its perfection which will not be till after these things are come to pass An extraordinary effusion of the Spirit the first certain Character Chap. 2.28 29. The first certain Character of this reign of Christ is the plentifull effusion of the Spirit of God upon men The Prophecy of Ioel to this purpose is one of those which is but in part accomplisht hitherto I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh and your Sons and your Daughters shall prophecy your old Men shall dream dreams and your young Men see visions also on the servants and the hand-maid in those days will I pour out my Spirit That lesser effusion of the Spirit which the first Christians experienc't is not enough to fill up the
of late have given it They say the Time of the Regeneration is the Time of the Church from Jesus Christ to the end of the World. That during all that time for 1600 years the Apostles have sat as it were on Thrones to judge the Church because we consult them and have recourse to their Oracles But 1. 'T is a strange abuse of words to call by the name of Regeneration such corrupted times as those of the Church for the last twelve hundred years 2. 'T is to take the words in a very figurative sense indeed to call that which the writings of the Apostles do at this day sitting upon Thrones and judging the twelve Tribes of Israel 3. Lastly I know not why the twelve Tribes of Israel should come into this promise and why they only since they are altogether excluded from the Covenant and are not governed by the writings of the Apostles I confess then that I find nothing therein but what is obscure But all is plain if by Regeneration I understand the happy Reign of Peace and Righteousness and Charity For the Church must be greatly renewed to reach that blessed state Then indeed the Son of man shall be sat on the Throne of his Glory He shall then have the full Dominion whereas now he reigns as it were but by halves and after the end of this World he shall reign no longer for then he shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God his Father If we suppose that then the raised Apostles shall be at the head of the twelve converted Tribes and shall govern them and send their orders by them to the rest of the World according to which all other Governours throughout the Earth shall manage themselves If I say this be supposed no Text can be plainer The word Thrones will then be taken in its natural signification and to Iudge will signify the same as it doth throughout the Scripture perticularly in the book of Iudges where we read that Iephta and Sampson and Samuel judged Israel so many years Lastly by this means we shall understand why the twelve Tribes of Israel are mentioned 't is because the Apostles are to have a perticular care and oversight of them as being their own People although their authority shall be universal I confess this seems to me most probable Nevertheless I determine nothing but suspend my judgement 4. Doubtfull Character Whether Jerusalem shall be rebuilt 4. I leave it also as doubtful whether Ierusalem shall be rebuilt to be the seat of Christ's Kingdom to say the truth as I believe that the Iews shall meet together in their own Country I see no reason why they should not rebuild the City of Jerusalem Which being rebuilt will doubtless be the most illustrious City in the World and if you will the seat of the universal Empire not of an Earthly Monarchy that hath its Armies Tributes Customes Forts and Governours spread throughout the Earth but it shall be the principal seat whence shall flow the Orders and Oracles of Iesus Christ whereby the whole World shall be governed 5. Doubtfull Character The duration of this Kingdom 5. Lastly I will not determine how long this Kingdom shall last A thousand years are exprest oftentimes determinate numbers are put for indefinite But I see no inconvenience will follow if we take that number in its natural signification and I am of that opinion After this Reign of a thousand years there is a great Event to be brought about set forth in these words V. 7. Chap. 20. And when the thousand years are expired Satan shall be loosed out of his prison V. 8. And shall go out to deceive the Nations which are in the four quarters of the Earth Gog and Magog to gather them together to battel the number of whom is as the sand of the Sea. V. 9. And they went up on the breadth of the Earth and compassed the Camp of the Saints about and the beloved City and fire came down from God out of Heaven and devoured them VVhat shal happen after the thousand years explained I see but one sense can be given to this that you may comprehend it you must know that we are not to take those promises of the conversion of all Nations and of all men in perticular in such a strict and rigid sense as to admit of no exception I have already told you that the Church shall then as far exceed the World and the Good the wicked as now the World and the Men of the World do the Good. Therefore there shall then be some remaining people not converted They shall be supprest and kept under during the thousand years and shall not molest either the Peace or Purity of the Church But at the end of this Period their numbers shall be increast and become very considerable And before the end of the World a cruel persecution against the Church shall arise from them and because the number of three and half is fatal for persecutions 't is not unlikely that this shall also last three years and half before the end of the World. During three natural years and half the Sanctuary was shut up and prophaned by Antiochus For three years and half Iesus Christ preacht in an afflicted state for three prophetical years and half the two witnesses prophecied clothed in sackcloth for three prophetical days and half i. e. three natural years and half these two witnesses should remain dead in the streets of the City So to me it seems probable that the last Persecution after the thousand years of Rest shall last three years and half and then may come the Antichrist of St. Irenaeus whom I will so far honour as to believe that he had learnt the Mystery of this last Persecution from some Apostolical Persons which he confounded with the reign of the Apocaliptical Beast for 1260 days Neither is it improbable but that the Ring-leader of this last Persecution may be a Iew for there is no mean to be found among that People they are all either very Good or very Bad. They who shall live when the Iews shall be converted shall be able to Divine something of it For if they then see a remnant of obstinate Iews cantonize themselves in some corner of the World and resist the general stream of Conversion there will be some ground to believe that this shall be the first bud of that Great Rebellion which the Providence of God reserves for the end of the World. And so it may be there shall arise a Iew as St. Irenaeus said pretending to be the Messiah who shall persecute the Church and reign for three years and half before the end of the World and be destroyed within a few days before the last Iudgement This shall be the Diminutive of the great Antichrist which should not be confounded with the Man of sin of whom Saint Paul speaks nor with the Beast in Revel 13. nor with the Woman chap.
in the preceding Chapters where I have shown that Empire and a Kingdom Peace and Prosperity are promised to the Church of Christ in such a manner as hath never hitherto been fulfilled Object VVhen Christ shal come the Church shall be most corrupt 4. After this they tell us that when God describes those Times which shall immediately precede the end of the World instead of representing them as a golden Age they are painted out as an Age of Iron and darkness Iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold false Prophets and false Christs shall arise they shall work signs and wonders to deceive if possible the very Elect. Math. 24. v. 12.24.37 The coming of the Son of man shall be as the days of Noah When the Son of man shall come Luke 18. c. 8. he shall not find faith upon Earth And 2 Ep. Thessal 2. chap. 't is said the Lord shall destroy the man of sin by the brightness of his coming But all this is grounded on a false supposition viz. that there shall be no other coming of Christ but for the last final Judgement which is not true the coming of Christ here spoken of is that to settle the Peace and Glory and Kingdom of his Church and we may be certain that this is meant in almost all the Passages where the coming of Christ is spoken of It is true that when Christ shall come to destroy the Antichristian Kingdom he shall not find true Faith upon Earth that is very little of it Experience confirms this for we are now in that very time Farther when Christ shall come the third and last time for the last Judgment it may well be that there shall be a great scarcity of faith piety in the World at that time for Gog and Magog shall be increas't there shall be a great seduction upon Earth and a great affliction upon the Church So that these Prophecies shall have their accomplishment whenever Christ comes They were fulfilled at his first coming when he came in the flesh for the Church was then exceedingly corrupted and so at his second coming when he shall come to destroy the Antichristian Kingdom For in our days there is a very great corruption and shall be at his third coming for at the end of the world there shall be an Insurrection against the Church and against the Son of God. 5. Object The day of Judgement would not then be unknown 5. It will farther follow say these Gentlemen that the Hour and the day of Iudgement would not then be unknown as our Lord J. Christ hath said it is For if just after the fall of the Antichristian Empire the reign of Christ for a thousand years must take place we likewise know that at the end of that Reign of a thousand years shall be the day of Judgment First you must know that our Lord J. Christ saith not that the day of the last Judgment shall be alway concealed he only saith that no man then knew it concerning that day saith he knoweth no man. That depends on the fixing the time of the 1260 years for the reign of Antichrist Now no man knew for certain at that time when the 1260 years should begin God did not permit that it should be well known till this last Age which is as also the last of the reign of Antichrist for 1260 years Moreover after having well fixt the Epocha of the birth of Antichrist that we may discover his end yet can we not thereby come to the exact knowledge of the day of Iudgement 1. Because we know not whether the thousand years of the reign of the Church must begin just at the end of the 1260 years of the reign of Antichrist We may say the contrary without saying any thing that is improbable that the thousand years are not to be computed but from the compleat establishment of the Kingdom of Christ 2. We cannot tell whether the Period of a thousand years is to be exactly so much neither more or less for the H. Ghost is not so critical and precise and often makes use of a round and certain number to signify one that is uncertain unless when he makes use of a broken number as three and half for then we cannot doubt but we are to reckon exactly so much So that these two things being always doubtfull we can never know the precise time of the Judgement day 6. Object The world would then last a long while 6. After this they say that if the Church must reign a thousand years on Earth the World is yet to last for a long time which is not likely it should because the Apostles even in their days spoke of the end of the world as a thing approaching and near at hand We are in the last times saith St. Paul. The coming of I. Christ is at hand saith St. James My littie children It is the last time saith St. John. They ought to confess that these passages make against them instead of being for them The Apostles called their Days the last times and the last hour and yet almost two thousand years have passed since Those Texts therefore must not be taken in too rigid a sense We have spent one Chapter on purpose in this Book to explain those Passages 7. Object The Scripture speaks but of one Resurrection 7. Lastly they tell us that according to the Scriptures at the coming of our Lord J. Christ All the Dead must be raised at once the Righteous and the Wicked which agrees not with the supposition of the Millenaries who would make one part of the Dead to rise at the beginning of the reign of a thousand years and the rest at the end of it But how can any one say that the Scripture saith that when it speaks the quite contrary that one part of the Dead must rise first which is the first Resurrection and that the Rest of the Dead are not to rise till the thousand years are fullfilled There are some passages 't is true wherein the Resurrection of the Good and Bad is spoken of as that which shall be at the same time and so it shall accordingly be for this first Resurrection will be but of a very few viz. of the Ancient Martyrs The remainder of the Faithful shall not be raised till the end of the World. Many Dead were risen with Christ when he rose and are certainly with him body and soul in Heaven Notwithstanding this the Scripture speaks of the Resurrection of all the Dead as a thing deferr'd and adjourn'd to the last Day because one little Exception destroys not a general Rule 'T is strange that these Gentlemen find so much difficulty in this first Resurrection Methinks they should remember the many Saints who were raised with Christ Why may not Christ raise some of the New Testament Saints at the coming of his Kingdom as well as raise some of the Ancient Patriarchs when he rose from the Grave However notwithstanding all that I have said on this subject of that first Resurrection I once again declare that I am not sollicitons to decide it Therefore I have and do again place it among those things which are doubtful I am informed that the learned and famous Prof. Mr. Witsius of Vtrecht hath thought fit to declare his mind on this subject in some publick Lectures I am told that he agrees with me concerning a great change which is to be in the Church before the end of the World with respect to Manners Union in Doctrine and the spreading of the Christian Faith as well among the Iews as among the Nations which as yet are Pagan He is also willing De X Tribubus Israelis c. 9. §. 1. cap 11. § 17 that the Iews should hope to return to their own Land and rebuild Ierusalem I would ask no more and am more rejoy't to meet with the concurrence of so great a man in that which is Essential than I can be troubled that he differs from me concerning that first Resurrection for I must acknowledge that I meet with very great difficulties about it But when I look upon it on that side and in that manner as I have represented it I find it to be very probable Nevertheless I am far from being fully perswaded of the Truth of it as I am concerning those Arâ—â—cles wherein we two agree These I think are all the Objections wherewith these Gentlemen oppose us For I regard not what they say when they tell us That this Reign of a thousand years is a Iewish vision a Fancy derived from the impure Fountain of their Traditions This is to declaim and not to prove 'T is not impossible but there may remain something that is good among the Traditions of the Iews at least St. Paul and St. Iude believed so The first learnt from their Tradition the names of the Magicians of Aegypt who opposed Moses and likewise those words of Moses I exceedingly quake and fear which we no where read in the Old Testament And St. Iude learnt from thence the combat of Michael the Arch-angel with the Devil for the body of Moses also the Prophecy of Enoch They urge likewise against us a multitude of ancient and modern Authors But I had rather give credit to Iustin Martyr and Papias who might have seen St. Iohn than to all those who have wrote since God hath his particular reasons why he will not that the Prophecies should be understood in every Age. FINIS
the Earth Besides all other inconveniencies this system hath this further viz. that besides these seven Periods an eighth must be added for the reign of the Church on the Earth This is a thing that was never heard of the times were never in any prophecy divided into eight The mystery of the seven Churches according to Dr. Hen. More Dr. Henry More is one of the last that hath spent his Labours on the Revelation He believes also that these seven Epistles are mystical prophetical see how he understands them The Church of Ephesus is the Period that ran out from J. Christ's time to the tenth year of Nero's Empire See here a Period short enough There is not usually so great an inequality between the Periods that divide the times in the Prophecies Moreover one may be assured that there is not so much as one word in this Epistle that may not as happily be applyed to the two following Ages as to the first so that this Application is purely Arbitrary and without any Ground The Church of Smyrna is the Period from the tenth year of Nero to the year 324. i. e. to the Reign of Constantine and the Council of Nice This falls in with Cocceius's Notion wherefore I cannot approve of it for the Reason above-mention'd Pergamus according to Dr. More signifies the Church from the year 324. to the year 1242. during which time the Empire of Antichrist was establisht taking in the time in which the Waldenses and Albigenses appear'd in the World and were extinguisht The Foundation of this Explication is the Seat of Satan I know where thou dwellest even where Satan's Seat is And the Martyr Antipas that signifies according to this Author Anti-Pope or contrary to the Pope This is a little glittering Light but I am much afraid 't is a Deceitful one For First Why should we comprehend in this Empire of Satan the Reigns of Constantine and Theodosius which were so happy for the Church 2dly Why should it be said to this Antichristian Period I know thy Good Works and that thou hast not Denyed my Name seeing there never were fewer that made profession of the Truth than in this Period If ever the Church may be accused of having renounced the Name of Jesus Christ 't is in the time of Antichristianism which is called an Apostacy so that this Article doth not hit well but that which follows doth much worse Thyatira according to this Author is the Church from the time that the Albigenses were destroyed to that time that entire Nations abandon'd the Communion of Rome 'T is it may be a time the most barren in Virtue and the most overwhelm'd with Superstition that ever was since Jesus Christ yet must this great Praise be attributed to it I know thy Works and thy Patience and thy Charity and that thy last Works are more than the first What is said to the Church of Ephesus which 't is pretended is the Apostolical Church is not so honourable nor so great Thou sufferest the Woman Iezabel that calls her self a Prophetess How can this be applied to those Ages that have run out since the Ruin of the Albigenses to the Reformation Jezabel that Roman Whore hath not only been suffer'd and tolerated she hath reigned with less Contradiction than in any Age. Sardis is the fifth Church which signifies the fifth Period according to Dr. More and this Period is that of the Reformation to the last Vial i.e. to the last Ruin of Antichrist 'T is to this Church that the Holy Spirit saith Thou hast a Name to live but behold thou art dead Can it be imagin'd that God should give such great Praises to the Church that was since the Ruin of the Albigenses till the Reformation and that the Holy Spirit should be made to speak with so much Disdain of the Reformed Church What comparison is there between the Church in its Reformation that corrupted Church wherein hardly any was to be found that preserv'd himself from the mighty Corruption of Error and Vice Philadelphia which is the sixth Church signifies a sixth Period wherein Antichrist shall be entirely ruin'd and the Infidel Nations be converted This is to divine and that which the Holy Spirit saith to the sixth Church doth not exactly import any such thing Lastly Laodicea of which the Holy Spirit speaks in such disadvantageous terms is the Church that must fall into decay after the Fall of Antichrist and the Conversion of the People And this Decay must bring the Church to the coming of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ on the Earth See here a new Period and of which there is not the least foot-step in all the Prophecies 'T is a Period that must run out from the Ruin of Antichrist and the Conversion of the People All the Prophecies foretell that the Reign of Jesus Christ shall come immediately after the Fall of Babylon and the Fulness of the Gentiles Yet here behold a Period that separates these two Events which ought to be joyned together Lastly this System is subject to the same inconveniencies as that of Cocceius There must be supposed an eighth Period for the reign of the thousand years which Dr. More acknowledges Now it must be confessed that this eighth Period is altogether unknown to the Prophets for we do not any where find that the time hath been divided into Eight parts Those that will attentively reflect on what we have just now said will confess if I am not much mistaken either that these Epistles to the seven Churches are not prophetical or that the Mystery hath not yet been discovered For nothing that hath been said about them hath this certain Character of Truth which is obvious to every one The Prophecies must be like Aenigma's which till they have been well explained seem unintelligible but when one hath hit right upon them they appear so clear that they cannot otherwise be understood CHAP. II. An Explication of the Vision of the four living Creatures of the twenty four Elders contained in the fourth Chapter SEeing there 's nothing propheticall in the three first chapters of the Revelation we may go on to the fourth Chapter One may say that this is the opening of this great divine Theater on which these admirable prophetical Visions will immediatly appear The entrance is like that of the Prophet Ezekiel God appears in the Temple which is in heaven sitting on a magnificent Throne Round about the throne there is a Rainbow this is the Symbol of Peace Before the Throne there was a Sea of Glass like to Chrystal This may signify the Purity of the Doctrine of the Gospel by which we are washed justified It is of Glass of Chrystal because of its firmness For the Gospel is an eternal Covenant that shall not be done away by a new covenant But that which is most considerable here is the four living Creatures the twenty four Elders that are round about