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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
THE ACCOMPLISHMENT Of the SCRIPTURE PROPHECIES OR THE Approaching Deliverance of the CHURCH Proving that the Papacy is the Antichristian Kingdom and that that Kingdom is not far from its Ruin. That the present Persecution may end in Three years and half after which the Destruction of Antichrist shall begin which shall be Finisht in the beginning of the next Age and then the Kingdom of Christ shall come upon Earth Written in French by Mr. PETER JURIEU one of the present Ministers of the French Church at Rotterdam In two Parts Faithfully Englished from the New French Edition Corrected and Enlarged by almost a third part with the explication of the Visions of Daniel and the Revelation LONDON Printed in the Year 1687. TO THE NATION OF THE JEWS I Desire of that People that they would please to read this book attentively and without prejudice especially from the middle of the second Part to the end they will find nothing there that can irritate ' em I confess the hopes they conceive of a Kingdom of the Messiah which shall be chiefly for them is built upon express and unquestionable Prophecies that even their Ierusà lem should be rebuilt and that they shall be again gathered together in their own Land. And if any thing be capable to recover them from their obstinacy for the establishment of the Law of Moses and against the Law of Christ this is certainly the most likely method which we make use of because it grants them almost all the Advantages which they expect Advice to all Christians concerning the approaching End of the ANTICHRISTIAN Empire of the PAPACY and of the coming of the Kingdom of Christ THE Afflicted Church seeks for consolation where can she find it but in the Promises of God when the present prospect is sad and dolefull we must search for it in what is future The promises of God are either General or Perticular The general Promises are such as assure us in the general that God will not cast off his children that this Grace shall never forsake his Church that he will be with them to the end of the World that though the mountains be overthrown he will not depart from them But afflicted persons would be glad of something more perticular they would be willing to see in some particular Promises near about what Time they may expect the Period of their Calamities Now the Promises and this insight into the future is no where to be had but in the Prophecies They doubtless contain the promises which respect the Deliverance of the Church yea they set forth the very Time and the circumstances of it But as God hath caused the Prophecies to be written more for his own glory than for our sakes 't is almost impossible to dive into the meaning of them till their accomplishment The depth of the Prophecies And experience teacheth us that even after the Things are come to pass we do not well understand the Prophecies which foretold ' em Insomuch that it may be said that God hath rather concealed Things in the Prophecies than thereby revealed ' em He hath reserved to himself the knowledge of Futurity 'T is his Prerogative Nevertheless this is not to be taken in that strict and rigid sense as if we were to reckon all the Prophecies to be unintelligible to all men and in every age to be so As his providence hath presided in a peculiar manner in composing the Prophecies so 't is certain it doth perticularly direct and govern as to what concerns the interpretation of them God will not that they should be understood in every age But from age to age from year to year his Spirit discovers to Interpreters what he thinks fit and leaves the rest under a vail of Ignorance till the fixed time which his wisdom hath appointed shall come for the full and perfect revelation of it They are not Impenetrable We are not therefore to be discouraged by reason of the difficulty we are not to look upon the Prophecies as absolutely impenetrable We must seek that we may find we must ask that we may receive we must humbly and devoutly knock at the Gate of Heaven that it may be open'd to us We are obliged to those Interpreters who have gone before us for if they had discovered nothing it may be no entrance being made we should never have attained the knowledge of these mysterious truths But we are not to stop at their labours and acquiesce in what they have done as if they had succeeded well in every thing This is so far from being true that the contrary is much more so For one Truth which they have hit upon they have miss't several The misforture of other Interpreters hath not disheartn'd me hoping that I have discovered many things which to them were concealed But I may say that I did not out of choice apply my self to the study of the Prophecies I found my self forced to it by a kind of violence which I could not resist Two things led me to it 1. The cruel and horrible Persecution which at this day makes such terrible ravage and desolation in the Church Endeavouring some consolation under the deepest sorrow I ever felt by searching into the grounds we may have to hope for a speedy deliverance of the Church and not finding them other where I inquired after them in the Prophecies which foretell the destiny of the Church and the most remarkable changes through which she is to pass 2. The next thing that made me resolve to dive into these sacred Oracles was the concurrence of so many Prophecies obscure indeed of an uncertain and doubtfull original which fore-tell a speedy and perfect Deliverance of the Church For Example The concurrence of modern Prophecies concerning the fall of Antichrist the famous Prophecy of Vsher Arch-bishop of Armagh who fore-tells a most terrible Persecution at hand the most dreadfull of any which the Church hath suffer'd hitherto but withal the shortest after which shall come the fall of the Antichristian Empire The Prophecies of Cotterus Christina Poniatouski and those of Drabitius and several other more obscure ones which I have heard and considered without giving much credit to 'em I compared these Prophecies so universally spread and coming from so many several places to the general rumours about the time of the birth of Christ that were every where divulged throughout the Roman Empire of a Great King that should be born in the East to whom all the World should pay obeysance I did not find my self much disposed to give credit to those modern Prophecies Credulity being the ordinary source of much delusion I always stood upon my guard in that perticular as much as possible Nevertheless I could not but be toucht with a secret opinion that in all this there might be something more then humane something of an hand of Providence therein As the Holy Virgin I kept these sayings in my heart without passing a judgement
I waited till farther Time which is the only true Touch-stone would distinguish foolish visions from real Prophecies I found something surprizing and extraordinary in the Prophecies of Cotterus Christina and Drabitius which are publisht by Comenius Cotterus who is the first of the Three is Great and magnifick the images of his visions have so much majesty and grandeur that those of the ancient Prophets have hardly more They are also admirably laid together every thing supports it self and one part doth not contradict another I cannot conceive how a simple Artisan could have imagined such great things without Divine assistance The two years of the Prophecy of Christina are in my judgement a train of as great Miracles as have ever been since the Apostles days and even the Life of the Greatest Prophets hath nothing in it more miraculous than what happened to that maid Drabitius hath also his Heights and Excellencies but for the most part he is obscure These three Prophets concur to fore-tell the Ruin of the Antichristian Empire as a thing that shall shortly come to pass but withal they have so many things that offend that no man can satisfy himself to rely upon what they say Therefore I resolved to look into the Fountain it self of the Holy Oracles to see if the Holy Ghost would not teach me something more certain and more exact concerning the approaching ruin of the Antichristian Empire than what other Interpreters have discovered from thence I will freely acknowledge that when I first lookt into the Divine Oracles my opinion was in favour of what I searcht for being altogether inclined to believe that we were near the end of the Kingdom and Empire of Antichrist I was also fully perswaded of this truth that the Papacy is the Antichristian Empire and that the principal Character of that Antichristianism is the superstition which for more than twelve hundred years hath disfigured the Church and made her desolate Many things without reckoning the modern Prophecies made me Hope that we were near the end of that Period of 1260 years at the close whereof Babylon must fall the Heathen be converted and the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ be fully settled First I reflected on the long duration of that Idolatry which hath been establisht in the Christian Religion I saw that it began about the end of the fourth Century that is thirteen hundred years ago it seem'd to me that no instance could be given where God suffered so great a Corruption for so long a time without giving some remedy and relief I considered farther that in the last age God gave a terrible blow to the Antichristian Empire and the Pagan Religion The Kingdoms of England Swede Denmark the Protestant States of Germany the Vnited Provinces the Switzers and a great part of France broke from the Papacy all at once appeared to me so considerable a matter that I could nor perswade my self but that God had made mention of it in the Revelations And yet I found no such thing among the Expositors of that Book or I found that they had lookt for it in those Places where I saw plainly that it was not Hereupon I suspected that that part of the Apocalypse which describes the degrees and Circumstances of the end of the Antichristian Empire was not well understood and consequently that it was much nearer than was commonly thought Considering the Reformation of the last Age as one half of the ruin of the Kingdom of Antichrist I supposed that the other half could not be far off there being already near 200 years from the one to the other When God makes great Empires fall and not all at once the distance is not commonly so great between the first part of the Fall and the second After this I considered the present posture of the World and it seem'd to me as if all things were prepared for some great Revolution 'T is as easy with God to work in one moment and without preceding dispositions as to take time and prepare the matter Nevertheless we see that by secret methods which men perceive not he opens the way to his greatest works For Example the Fall of Paganism by the preaching of the Gospel and the conversion of the Heathen World was a great Revolution God prepared all things for this great Event many ages before it came to pass by admirable means of which no man then knew the tendency and design 1. He reduced the World to two Languages which were almost universal the Greek and Latine that the knowledge of the Gospel might the more easily be communicated Difference of Languages being a great hinderance of such a communication 'T is true the Apostles had the gift of Tongues and could speak all Languages but we are not to imagine that all the Preachers of the Gospel had the same priviledge 2. The world was almost wholly united under one Empire viz. the Roman which was another means to facilitate the Conversion of the Nations For if the Earth had been divided into many little Principalities under several Soyeraigns as the West is at this day it had been as it were impossible but that divers of them if not the most part would have denied entrance to the Apostles who were the new Preachers Little Lords who have not much to do concern themselves more particularly about every part of their Territories than great Emperors who having the Government of the whole World to mind are forc't to remit the care of less important matters to their Deputies and Lieutenants 3. The dispersion of the Jews by their frequent Captivities was also a means which God made use of to prepare the way for the Conversion of the Gentiles they gave them the knowledge of the true God. 4. Another thing which contributed very much to this design of God was the Translation of the Bible into the Greek Tongue whereby the sacred Oracles became common among the Heathens And about the time of our Saviour's appearance in the World there were multitudes of those Proselites which are called Proselites of the Gate Such as were not really Iews but they ceas't to be Pagans They renounc't their Idolatry they were present every Sabbath day at the reading of Moses and the Prophets they had a distinct place in the Synagogues 'T is of them we so often read in the Book of the Acts under the name of devout and such as feared God among the Gentiles Cornelius was of that number It could not be difficult for them to abandon Paganism for they had already left it and they could not be hindred from becoming Christians by Judaism for they had never imbrac't it So that they became Christians without change or violence The greatest part of the converted Gentiles were such as these 5. And by the same good Providence of God Philosophy began to flourish among the Pagans a little before the coming of Christ which was of great use to refine the minds of men and
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
'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
Christian We do agree that the Prophecies of the Eighth the eleventh of Daniel T is agreed that what is said of Antiochus agrees also to Antichrist that literally respect Antiochus Epiphanes the cruel persecution that he raised against the Church of the Jews belong also to Antichrist so that Antichrist is that King that shall do according to his will shall exalt himself magnify himself above every God Dan. 11.36 37 38. shall speak marvellous things against the God of Gods shall prosper till the indignation be accomplisht Neither shall he regard the God of his Fathers nor the desire of women nor regard any God for he shall magnify himself above all But in his Estate shaell he honour the God of forces a God whom his Fathers knew not shall he honour with gold with silver with precious stones pleasant things v. 41. He shall enter also into the glorious Land and many shall be overthrown c. We are agreed that it is he of whom St. Paul speaks in the 2d Chap. of his second Epistle to the Tessalonians consequently that he is that man of sin that was to be revealed when he that then did let i.e. the Roman Empire should cease to hinder that 't is he that is to sit in the Temple of God as if he were God whose Religion is to be a Mystery of iniquity who is to lift up himself above all that is called God. 'T is confest that the Antichristian Kingdom is to be a temporal Kingdom at the bottom whatever it may be as to outward appearance 'T is agreed that he shall establish this Empire two ways the first is by sword violence the second by cheating seducing 'T is acknowledg'd that he shall be a great Persecutor of the Church Lastly 't is confest all this must come to pass in that Period which the H. Scripture calls the later times 'T is acknowledged that the 11th Ch. of the Revelation contains an Epitome of the History of Antichrist that is is he that is to tread under foot prophane the Holy City for 42 Months afflict the two Witnesses that shall prophesy clothed in sack-cloth for 1260 Days that he is to kill the two Witnesses which are to remain dead on the places of the Great City three Days a half after which they shall rise again It appears by this account of the points wherin the Papists are agreed to that we are all of the same mind first as to all those places whence the main strokes of Antichrists picture are to be taken and secondly as to almost all the main strokes of which this Picture is to be composed It will appear afterwards that these truths wherin our enemies are agreed with us do quite overthrow those things wherin they differ from us CHAP. XII The Characters of Antichrist which we are not agreed about The false Antichrist of the Papists THe things in which we are not agreed are the false Characters of Antichrist which the Papists endeavour to establish with a design to hinder our sight of the true Characters of him and to obscure them The false Characters are these I. That Antichrist must be only one single Man and not a succession of Kings and Tyrants II. That the duration of his Kingdom is to be only three Natural years and a half and not three Prophetical years and half which make up 1260 years III. That he must style himself the Messiah and that the Jews must look upon him as such IV. That his Seat shall be Jerusalem that he shall rebuild the Temple there and that he shall re-establish the Mosaical Service V. According to Bellarmine Cotton the Jesuite he is not to be an Idolater For he is not to worship any Idol but shall worship the Devil in secret VI. He is to be of the Tribe of Dan of an obscure place and to raise himself by Arms. VII He is to deny the coming of Christ in the flesh VIII He shall do nothing in the name of Christ IX He shall abolish the sacrifice of the Mass X. He shall compel the Christians to renounce their Baptism XI He is to overcome three Kings the King of Lybia of Egypt and Ethiopia XII He shall cause sire to come down from Heaven and feign himself to be dead to counterfeit a resurrection XIII He is to hate Idols XIV He is to conquer the whole Worldy by Arms. XV. Enoch and Elias shall be the two witnesses of the eleventh of the Revelation that shall be sent against him XVI He is to kill the two witnesses Enoch and Elias XVII These two witnesses must rise again after they have lain dead three days and a half XVIII He is to possess all sorts of Treasures XIX He shall not only call himself God but the only God. XX. He is not to come till the Roman German Empire be destroyed XXI His coming is not to be till just at the end of the World he shall be defeated five and fourty days before the end of it XXII Before he comes the Gospel must have been generally preached in all parts of the World. XXIII He is to be a Magician Of these 23. Articles there are not above four or five of any importance It would be very tedious to confute all these false characters and it would be a work more unprofitable than long There is a very small parcell of them that are the principal ones which when they are destroyed all the rest fall to the ground of course naturally and necessarily For instance I. That he is to be only one single person II. That he is to reign only three natural years and a half III. That he is to come precisely at the end of the World. IV. That he is to be an open enemy of God and Christ styling himself Messiah and the King of the Jews V. That he is not to come before all that bears the name of the Roman Empire is destroyed These five points being proved to be false all the rest consequently will be so too These are the only things that are worth our taking notice of For as for the rest that Antichrist must be of the Tribe of Dan born in an obscure place that he shall cause fire to come down from Heaven that he shall feign himself dead that he may counterfeit a Resurrection that Enoch and Elias must come out of that earthly Paradise where they are kept in reserve to fight with him that he is to kill them that they must rise on the fourth day All this I say is so fabulous that it would be an injury to so understanding an Age as ours formally to confute such idle visions and so wholly destitute of any foundation All may be reduced to the single question-about the three years and a half of Antichrists duration This controversy may be reduced to one only point and it is that of the duration
was establisht with a terrible havock such as a hideous monster that should rise out of the sea and of an enormous greatness would cause making the waves to foam blowing the water with his nostrills and sending out terrible bellowings 'T is the emblem of the manner wherby the Roman Empire was establisht This Beast hath seven Heads The Spirit explains this of so many Kings and so many mountains The seven heads are seven Kings and seven Mountains See here the Character of Rome together with its Empire It sits on seven Heads that is to say on seven Mountains and it had seven Kings that is to say seven forms of Soveraign Governments We have already reckon'd them up in the foregoing Chapter 1. Kings 2. Consuls 3. Decemvires 4. Tribunes of the people 5. Perpetual Dictators 6. Emperours 7. Popes He hath ten Horns The Prophet doth not say how these Horns were distributed on the Heads But however it is certain The ten Horns are only on the seventh head that they were all on the seventh Head that is to say on the Head of the Popes For 't is under the Papal Dominion that the Roman Empire is divided among ten Horns that is to say among ten Kings Europe that obeyeth the Pope is divided into ten Principal Kingdoms 1. Germany 2. Hungary 3. Poland 4. Suedeland 5. France 6. Spain 7. Italy 8. England 9. Portugal 10. Scotland The other Kingdomes and States were dependencies on these From the first division of the Roman Empire that happened in the fifth Age the partition was made among ten Kings also as we shall observe afterwards Horns always signify power in the Scripture this is known So that these ten Horns must be powers But no signify that these Powers are Soveraign ones and not subordinate the Spirit gives them Diadems They are Soveraigns in name but in truth they are dependents on the seventh head which is the Pope and the Papism For the Papism subjects all Kings to the Pope On the heads there is a name of blasphemy This is not on one of the heads but on all of them And the name of blasphemy is that of the Queen of the universe which she vvould always bear since she attained to her greatness Terrarum Dea Gentiumque Roma 'T is the title of Rome eternal as Saint Ierome hath observed Ad Algas quaeft 11. The Roman Emperours made themselves be called your Divinity They built Temples to them they burnt incense to their Genius they sacrificed to them The seventh head hath also its names of blasphemy The Pope is called his Holiness Vice-God God on Earth Vicar of Jesus Christ Rome under his Dominion is called infallible Rome eternal Rome The Dragon give him his power 'T is the Devil which gives to the Roman Empire the false Religion the idolatries and heresies by which it makes war against God the ambition the cruelty and the covetousness by which it makes war against men And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death 1.3 and his deadly wound was healed and all the world wondered after the Beast The Prophet doth not say what head was wounded but it can't be doubted but that it was the last save one For that which comes in the place of that which is wounded lasts to the end Therefore the head wounded to death must be the sixth and the resurrection of this head must make the seventh head or the seventh Government The sixth head is that of the Emperours 'T is wounded by the Goths and the Vandals The Roman Empire is destroyed But it rises again under another head and a new kind of government viz. that of the Popes De Donat Constant In the power of the Papacy is brought forth again if not the grandure of the ancient Empire yet at least a form of government that is not very much different from that by which all the nations once obeyed the Emperours 'T is the confession of Steuchus Bishop of Agobio All the World wondered after the beast The Earth being astonisht to see the Roman Empire establisht under the new name of the Roman Church follows this new Beast submits to this Church being ravisht with this dignity that appeared to list up Christianity to the height of grandeur it submitted to this Chimoera of the spiritual and temporal Principality of the Church of Rome And there was given to him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies After this v. 5â— 't is only the seventh head that is treated of which is called the Beast simply because 't is the longest duration of the fourth Monarchy 'T is therefore this seventh head the Pope and the Papism that brings forth these great things Can there be any thing greater than that which the Roman Church saith of it self that she is the Spouse of Christ the Queen of all the Churches the infallible Judge of all controversies the Ark out of which there is no salvation the Divinity to which all nations must pay homage the common mother of all Christians the Soveraign of the Kings of the Earth that can depose them transfer their Crowns and give them to whom she thinks fit see the great things and these great things are blasphemies This is clear For to attribute that to her self which belongs only to God is to blaspheme And power was given to him to continue forty and two months 'T is still the seventh head that is treated of 'T is to it that the period of forty and two months of twelve hundred and sixty days that is to say of twelve hundred and sixty years is assigned 'T is clear that these forty two months do not respect the entire Beast that is to say the seven heads or the seven Governments for after the third verse 't is only the seventh head that is spoken of Moreover the seventh Monarchy in its whole extent hath lasted almost twice forty two prophetical months as we have before observed 'T is therefore the duration of the Antichristian Empire or of the second period of the fourth Monarchy that must be extended to 1260. years He opened his mouth in blasphemy against God. â— 6. 'T is to blaspheme God to attribute to it self his power as the Roman Church doth against his name that is to say against his glory The Papism ravishes away the glory from God to give it to the creatures Against his Tabernacle that is to say against his Temple and his Church in calling the true Children of God which are his house heretiques and schismaticks Against them that dwell in Heaven These are the Saints and Angels of whom the Papism makes idols and whom by consequence it greatly injureth And it was given to him to make war with the Saints v. 7. and to overcome them 'T is well enough known how the Papism hath employed Anathemaes thunders fire and sword to extinguish the truth and to destroy the faithful And I beheld another beast coming out of
payed Tribute And his being Hostage at Rome many years going to render Homage to this God even in his own seat makes the servitude and the homage principally fall on him and they may be justly attributed to him Thirdly Though the servitude began in the time of his father nevertheless the Prophecy particularly fixes it on the Son because of that pride which was peculiar to him As if the Holy Spirit would have said the Kingdom of Asia shall feel the force of the Romans for the mortification of this proud Antiochus who shall endeavour to exalt himself above all the Kings of the Earth This is an accident that to me seems marvellous that this prophecy found its accomplishment in Rome and in the Romans as well in the temporal as in the spiritual sense I said above that Antiochus was not a type of Antichrist but in the things he did against the Jewish Nation Because the strange Nations having no reference to the Church nothing that Tyrants do against the Nations is mystical Therefore we must not seek after a mystery in that which the Prophecy fore-tells that Antiochus should do against the Egyptians against Ptolomee and in reference to other people But 't is reasonable to except the Romans from this rule Though they then were a nation estranged from the Church yet however they had a reference to the Church For Rome was to be the head of the Antichristian Church And already in the Prophecies Rome Pagan that then was made but one beast i. e. one Empire with Rome Christian and Antichristian so that it was proper to the genius of the Prophecy that the type of the Roman Antichrist should be a type in what he did with respect to the Romans Besides it can't be thought strange that the same prophecy should have two prospects and consequently two accomplishments For so it is always in those Prophecies that turn on a typical subject That which may make some difficulty is that the temporal adventures of the type have usually their figurative respect to the spiritual adventures of the thing represented by the type Which doth not appear here for the homages which Antiochus rendred to the Romans do not appear to have any typical reference to the homages which the new Romans give to their Demi-gods They have however and it is certain that the homage which the new subjects of the Roman Empire do render at Rome to its head to its Saints and Idols have respect of a figure and the thing figured to the homage which the people of the world did render to ancient Rome whose Citizenship they did under-hand labour for and whose Eagles and other military Ensigns they worshipt Religio Romanorum tota castrensis Tertul Apolog. c. 1â— Signa veneratur signa jurat Signa omnibus Diis praeponit St. Peter and St. Paul and the H. Virgin at this day are in the banners of Rome just as the Eagles were heretofore and all the world gives homage to these banners and to that which is represented by them just as during the Empire of ancient Rome men did prostrate themselves before the Eagles I hold that the twelfth and last Chapter of Daniel The 12th Chapt. of Daniel respects also Antiochus Epiphanes doth also refer to Antiochus and Antichrist And at that time shall Michael stand up the great Prince that standeth for the children of thy people and there shall be a time of trouble such as nevey was since there was a nation even unto that same time and at that time thy people shall be delivered every one that shall be found written in the book of life This Prophecy literally respects Antiochus's last persecution of the Jews that was terrible and cruel but ended by the victories of the Macchabees This Michael is the Son of God himself who always watched for the preservation of his Church Spiritually and mystically this agrees to Antichrist and respects the last persecution that he must cause the Church to suffer after which he himself is to be ruin'd and the people of the Saints deliver'd 'T is the same victory as is described to us in the 19th Chapter of the Revel The words that follow make it very plain that this Prophecy must be understood of that victory that J. Christ must obtain over Antichrist at the end of the Antichristian Empire Daniel brings in the resurrection here to shew that he speaks of the victories of J. Christ over Antichrist And many of them that sleep in the dust of the Earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to everlasting shame and contempt And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to Righteousness as the stars for ever and ever What I pray should the resurrection do here in the middle of the Chap. in which the adventures only of Antiochus Epiphanes are spoken of 'T is plain that this is perfectly the same Prophecy as that of St. John in the 20th Chapt. of the Revel where the Apostle predicts the deliverance of the Church and the coming of the Kingdom of Christ by a resurrection They that were beheaded for the Name of Jesus must be raised up and reign with him a 1000. years This is what Daniel saith here that they that have turn'd many to Righteousness by their Doctrine and by their Martyrdom shall be as shining and ruling Stars in the Kingdom of J. Christ The Prophecy of Daniel joins together the two resurrections the first the second though they are distant each from the Other a 1000 years 'T is not the last resurrection nor the last coming of Jesus Christ that St. Iohn speaks of no more than Daniel 'T is of that coming that St. Paul speaks of when he saith that Jesus Christ shall destroy Antichrist by the brightness of his coming when he shall come to establish his Kingdom of a 1000 years on the Earth 'T is that resurrection which the Revelation calls the first resurrection And therefore Daniel doth not say And ALL those that sleep in the dust shall awake but he only saith MANY of those that sleep in the dust even as St. Iohn saith so expresly that then all the dead shall not arise 'T is true that Daniel also joins the resurrection of the wicked and some shall awake to shame and everlasting contempt But we must not conclude that this resurrection of the wicked must be at the same time one Prophecy must be explained by the other The resurrection of the wicked which Daniel joins here with the first resurrection is distant from it at least a 1000 years But he speaks of it as of two things joined together because he who speaks is God before whom a 1000 years are but as one day Besides this when our eyes look on things very far off always those things that are far from one another seem to be near The Stars seem to us to be near the Moon and yet
the Papism is the Roman Empire that was brought to nothing by the Goths and Visigoths but is raised up again by the Popes 14. Antichrist must ascribe to himself two powers Rev. 13.11 like to those which J. Christ hath Now the Lord hath temporal and spiritual power There is no Potentate in the World that saith he hath this double power but the Pope the head of the Papism 15. Antichrist must be an Empire Rev. 13.18 as hath been proved and the name of this Empire must contain the number 666. The number 666. must be in the name of an Empire and not in the name of a man. There is no Empire in the World whose name contains 666 but that of the Latin and the Roman which is the name that the Papism glories in And this should be well observed to lay open the vanity of the observations of the Papists who to elude this so plain a Character seek for certain names of men in which they would find 666. They would fain find it in the name of Luther and very lately M. Simon would find it in Roterodami We must let them know they do nothing that here 't is not the name of a man but of an Empire that is treated of Now they will search in vain they will not find any Empire in the world whose name contains 666 besides the Roman or Latin Empire 16. The Kingdom of Antichrisi must be a Sodom Rev. 11. full of impurities and abominable crimes The Papism in all the fore-going ages hath been a sink of all the abominations of the Earth There are no filthy and odious crimes of which its Clergy and its subjects have not made themselves guilty The proof of it at large may be seen in our just prejudices 17. This Antichristian Empire must be a cruel Egypt a Babylon Rev. 18.4 in which God will preserve his people notwithstanding its corruptions Come forth of Babylon my people There is no false Religion that hath possessed the Church more ages and in which God hath been able to preserve his Elect than the Papism 18. Antichristianism must be establisht in the Temple of God i.e. in the Church There is no Kingdom Empire and corrupt Religion together with it that is establisht in the Christian Church but the papism 19. The Antichristian Empire must be exceeding proud 2 Thes 2. For its head must sit in the Temple of God as if he were God. The papism hath carried pride beyond whatsoever can be imagin'd 'T is notorious 20. Antichrist must worship Mahuzim i. e. Patrons and Protectors The Papism worship its Guardian Angels and Saints under whose protection it puts it self 21. Antichristianism must be a Paganism raised up again Rev. 11. For the outward Court must be left to the Gentiles for 42 months The Papism hath all the parts of a paganism built on Christianity as hath been so evidently proved 22. Antichrist must usurp the power of J. Christ For he shall have the horns of a Lamb Rev. 13.11 and shall speak as a Dragon The Papism hath usurp'd all the power of J. Christ The Pope acts speaks censures absolves damns dethrones Kings c. in the name and by the authority of J. Christ The Empire of the Papism ascended out of the Earth by little and little 23. The Antichristian Empire must not be formed with noise this beast must not ascend out of the sea as a monster that comes out of the deep very great and wholly formed in the twinkling of an eye and which devours as soon as it is on the Earth It must arise out of the Earth as a plant that is nothing in the beginning and which after many years grows a great Tree Rev. 13.11 For the second beast ascendeth out of the Earth and not out of the Sea. The Empire of the papism came by little and little as a Tree which for many years hath been but a little herb 24. The Empire and the Religion of Antichrist must be establisht by false signs and false wonders 'T is impossible to reckon up the false miracles Popety is the only religion that boasts of working signs and miracles which the papism hath produced to establish its superstitions and its power 'T is at this day the only religion in the World that pretends to work miracles 25. The Christian Apostacy must be promoted by persons given to lies lovers of fables 'T is the true signification of the word which St. Paul uses Pseudologoi 1 Tim. 4. There never was a religion in the World that hath produced so many fables as the papism I have proved it in my just prejudices 26. The Teachers of Antichristianism must have a great appearance of Austerity they must despise and discredit marriage and command abstinence from meats The Teachers of the papism make it necessary for them to remain unmarried and think they merit greatly by abstinence from meats 27. Antichristianism was to appear in the world when the head of the Roman Emperors was beaten down The papism in the time that the Roman Empire was destroyed by the Goths and the Vandals began to be sensible in its idolatry and its tyranny 28. This Empire must have its course in the later times 1 Tim. 4. It is unquestionable that we are in the later times therefore the Empire of the papism at this day subsisting is the Empire of Antichrist 29. The Antichristian Empire must subdue three Kings of the ten The Empire of the papism Dan. 7. besides that it hath subdued more than a third part of the temporal power of the Western Kings it hath actually subjected to it self in fief and temporal homage many Kingdoms Among others that of the Lombards of which he possesseth one part the City of Rome and its jurisdiction and the Kingdom of Naples for which even at this day he makes homage be paid him every year 30. The Antichristian Empire must put to death the Witnesses of the Truth of God. Rev. 11. The papism uses all imaginable attempts to extinguish those Societies that give testimony to the truth and that oppose Superstition and Idolatry 31. The Antichristian Empire must interdict fire and water Rev. 13. i. e. all commerce with those that will not pay homage to it and carry its mark and its name The Papism excommunicates damns proscribes and puts under interdict all those that will not submit themselves to its Laws and that will not bear the names of Roman Catholiques 32. Spiritual Babylon must be a Merchant Rev. 18. and there must be great traffique in all precious things even in souls Therefore they that live of its Traffique shall weep bitterly upon her ruins Of all the Religions in the World there was never any where avarice simony and the sale of spritual things reigned to that degree as they have done in the papism If any one can tell of any one they would much oblige us to
must be according to Bellarmine the last Roman Enperour though without the name of a Roman Emperour And this Roman Empire is brought in anew expresly for the seventh head with ten horns which make Antichrist i. e. the ten Kings his vassals which give him their power In truth three years and a half would they well deserve that the Holy Spirit should represent them to us and lay before our eyes afresh all this great Empire of almost 3000 years duration For by the confession of our adversaries the Roman Empire doth yet last and shall continue even to Antichrist who shall be the last King of it Now there is about two thousand four or five hundred years since the first foundation of Rome Moreover Antichrist is the seventh head of the Roman Empire This is so evident that it can't be gain-sayed Now must there not be some proportion between the heads and their durations The head of the Kings lasted near 200 years that of the Emperors above 500 years what proportion is there between so long a duration and this of three years and a half As for us we pretend that the last head must endure as long as the other six Rome under Kings Consuls Decemvirs Tribunes of the people perpetual Dictators and Emperors hath lasted about 1250 years it must be as long under the Popes But at least the head of Antichrist should last at Rome some ages to have its duration proportionable to that of the other heads It signifies nothing to us what period is assigned to it provided it be not that of three natural years and a half For we have proved that if it can't be taken for three natural years and a half it must necessarily be taken for prophetical years Third Arg. in three years and a half Antichrist can't prevail over the Nations of the earth neither by violence nor by seducing them Thirdly In the same Chapter the same Antichristian Empire appears again under the form of a second beast that hath but one head and two horns Yet once more see a great mystery for a matter that is to endure but three years and a half in a period of 2000 years Of the first beast the Prophet saith that it was given to him to make war with the Saints and to overcome them and also to him was given power over every Tribe Tongue and Nation And of the second that he should deceive them that dwell on the Earth by reason of those miracles which he had power to do c. and that all both small and great free and bond should receive his mark in their hand and in their foreheads Afterwards 't is said of this Antichristian Empire under the emblem of a woman sitting on a beast with seven heads and ten horns that all the Kings of the Earth have committed whoredom with her that she made drunk all the Inhabitants of the Earth with the wine of her whoredoms and that all the Nations drank of the wine of her whoredom This signifies two things one that this Antichristian Empire must subdue all Nations the second that it must seduce them by its signs and false miracles Now can any one imagine that three years and a half suffice first to conquer an Empire and overcome all Nations secondly to seduce and pervert them and bring them to deny the Christian Religion If Antichrist were to use that method that is used in France and were to use no other but that it may be in three years and a half he could make many Kingdoms abjure Christianity as in six months he hath made the reformation be abjured by more than a million of persons But 't is plain the Antichrist of the Papists is not to use this way So that one may say the Clergy of France have outstript their Antichrist and that there never was a more hellish sort of persecution It is clear I say that Antichrist is to carry away men by seducing them for otherwise why should he work signs and miracles and though he were to pervert the Christians with Dragoons at least certainly he ought to have conquer'd them by arms before hand and have overturn'd every other Empire Can he conquer all the World in three years where are the examples of so swift a conquest Alexander the Great is represented in the vision of the four Beasts as a Leopard by reason of the speediness of his conquests Yet he spent more than three years and a half and had conquer'd but one part of Asia when he died Are three years and a half sufficient to reassemble the Jews from all the Countries of the World to make them masters of the whole Vniverse to re-establish the mosaical worship and rebuild the Temple of Solomon Only the building of the Temple the first time took up seven years The labour'd more than 40 years about that of Herod and this of Antichrist which will apparently be more magnificent shall be finisht in a few months If there were therefore nothing else but what were to be done by the violence of Antichrist according to the very supposition of the popish Doctors it would be impossible to be done in 30 years How much more impossible is it that he should attain his end in so short a time in what he is to do by the means of seducing His false Prophet must seduce all the inhabitants of the Earth i. e. all the Subjects of the Roman Empire according to the style of the Writers in those times who defined the Roman Empire by the habitable earth There must be much more time to seduce the Nations than to conquer them If Antichrist was to establish his Religion by violence only it might be said that in building up his Empire he would build up his Religion but it is clearer than the day that he must perswade and seduce 'T is for this purpose that he worketh Signs There 's no need of miracles to establish a Religion by arms The Prophecy saith expresly that he shall make drunk the Nations of the Earth with the wine of his whoredoms Which signifies great obstinacy drunkeness of mind perswasion Now behold a strange thing in less than three years and a half a seducer utterly destroys the whole Christian Religion and by the means of perswasion seduces all the Christians and perswades them to become Jews Fourth Argument the meer fall of the Antichristian Empire must take up more years according to the 14th Chap. of the Revel Fourthly We have in the 14th Chap. an abridgement of the History of the ruin of spiritual Babylon She is fallen she is fallen Babylon that great City We have proved before that Babylon and the Antichristian Empire are the same thing Now the Prophet in this Chapt. concerning the end of the Antichristian Empire makes two periods of his last ruin the first is called the harvest Then he that sate on the Cloud thrust in his sickle on the Earth c. 14.8 and the Earth was reaped
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
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
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
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
appearance will be the last And as Peter de Lune after he had been deposed by the Council of Constance went and held his Seat in the mountains of Arragon where he continued a Schism ten or twelve years so 't is probable that the Popes being driven out of the rest of Europe will shelter themselves among the Spaniards from whose hearts it will be a hard matter to pull popery away Lastly it must be observed that 't is true the harvest does spoil the Earth of a part of her fruits but it doth not of all it remains to be a fair and pleasant season the Autumn which follows hath its beauties its profits and advantages it is a second Spring the medows are crown'd with an after-growth the trees put forth new flowers But the vintage makes all waste A lively Emblem in harvest and vintage of what hath happen'd and shall happen in the ruin of popery it spoils the Earth of the very remainders of its fruits and beauty and immediately Winter comes that puts on the Earth the very complexion of death and destruction This is an Emblem of what fell out in the first destruction of popery and of what shall in the second The Reformation cut down several fair Countries in the last age but notwithstanding many were left to it nay it had great success massacred an infinite number of the faithful procured to it self the confirmation of a famous Council engaged those Kings who were its vassals to double their endeavours for the preservation of its Worship and Doctrines It hath gain'd ground in the East in China in the Indies in the West in America by the conquests of the Spaniard and Portuguese It hath sent Missions even to the end of the World hath made an infinite number of false Christians it hath regain'd on one side as much as it had lost on the other and hath made its worship and Idolatry to reign as much as ever For Spain and Italy were never more deeply plunged in Idolatry then since the Reformation It hath strengthned its tyranny for the Popes since the Council of Trent have domineer'd and acted as Soveraigns over Kings and as Superiors over Councils In the reforming of the Calender Gregory XIII did an act of an Vniversal Monarch which the Popes had never done in the ages of their greatest insolence They have deposed Kings of England and in France Henry III. and Henry IV. They have laid an Interdict upon the Common-wealth of Venice and the Kingdom of Portugal In a word Popery hath had great prosperities that have comforted it under its disgraces But as for the blow or stroke which God is ready presently to give it it will be a dispatching blow it will be a vintage that shall spoil it of all its fruits and utterly take away all its beauty the Winter shall come upon it and its desolation shall be irrecoverable This is the substance of the vision let us view the circumstances And I looked and behold a white cloud 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 J. Christ himself often appears in the visions of the Revelation This personage like unto a man is probably the Son of God found in fashion as a man on the account of his Incarnation the golden crown which he wears on his head does prove that 't is he though he executes his judgements by his Angels notwithstanding he often himself appears on the scene of the World in the book of the Revelation He is probably the Heroe in the sixth Chapter who appeared sitting on a white horse Chap. 6.2 and had a bow and a crown was given him and he went forth conquering and to conquer He is the same who appears again in the 19 Chapter sitting a second time upon a white horse and was called faithful and true and in righteousness doth he judge and make war. He always sits upon something that is white sometimes upon a white horse sometimes upon a white cloud White is the symbol of innocence and mercy A white cloud is a throne of mercy a red cloud is that of justice But mark it must be some grand work for which Jesus Christ himself comes for the Holy Ghost does not bring him upon the stage for some mean matter Now since the Apostles age no work had been done so great as that of the last age He had a sharp sickle in his hand He comes upon a white cloud intending favour to his children but with a sickle for his enemies 'T was a great mercy to his own when he took them out of Bahylon the last age But 't was a terrible stroke of a sickle to Antichrist 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 He who sits upon the cloud gives out orders to the Angels and receives none from them but he recieves from his Father and the Angels may be charged to carry these orders to the Son. Thus the Angel who here gives orders to Jesus Christ speaks not in his own name but in the name of him that sent him The time to reap is come Their iniquity is come to its height Their measure is full Another Angel came out of Heaven he also having a sharp sickle This is the destroying Angel who went through Egypt the executioner of the judgements of God this Angel comes onely as a second for he who sits upon the white cloud disappears not he is the Master and 't is under his direction that this second Angel gives the last blow to popery 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 c. Here mention is made of an Angel who hath power over fire and in the 16. Chapter we find the Angel of the waters Shall we conclude that every Element hath its Angel who presides over it and the events which fall out by its means so that one Angel presides over the Sea and shipwracks another over fire and burnings This seems very probable to me for the providence of God makes the winds his Angels and a flame of fire his Ministers The Angel of the fire comes out from the altar which popery had prophaned by its prophane sacrifices and false worship And 't is the Angel of the fire who is here employ'd to signify that now the fire shall consume the Antichristian Kingdom without any hopes of recovery 'T is not necessary that the Kingdom of Antichrist should be destroyed with great shedding of blood The wine-press was trodden without the City and blood came out of the wine-press even unto the horses bridles by the space of a thousand six hundred furlongs 'T is a great question
how can it enter into any mans head that dead men can prophesy And who sees not that their death does imply a cessation and interruption of their testimony But what need is there to reason about this thing when the Text saith expresly and in plain words that the death of the Witnesses must not happen untill after their prophesying and their witness-bearing 1260 days And I will give power to my two witnesses and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days cloathed in sackcloth And when they shall have finish'd their testimony the Beast c. shall kill them And their bodies shall lye dead three days and a half There needs no commentary to let us see that here is spoken of a persecution that must happen at the end of the 1260 years in which the faithful who dwell within the bounds of the Babylonian Kingdom must be brought to an extremity that may be called death We are in my opinion certainly in this persecution which must extinguish the true Religion for three years and a half if we will reckon these three years and a half from the abrogating of the Edict of Nantes in the moneth of October 1685. the deliverance of the Church will fall out in the year 1689 and this is absolutely the conjecture of Monsieur du Moulin in his Accomplishment of Prophecies he hopes that the persecution of the Church by the Antichristian party shall cease in the year 1689. A conjecture of M. du Moulin which may prove true tho built upon false foundations If this should happen it would be a purely casual event for the foundation on which he builds is altogether void of solidity he takes these three days and a half for six hundred and third years He supposeth that the whole duration of Antichrists reign which is 1260 years is considered as one week now a week is seven days the half of seven days is three days and a half and if this signifies the half of 1260 years it is 630 years He supposeth therefore that the Holy Ghost intended to say that the persecution made by Antichrist shall last the half of his reign After this he finds that the first persecution for the sake of Religion was that which was rais'd against Berenger in the eleventh Age on the account of his sentiment concerning the real presence in the year 1059. Add to 1059 the number 630 this makes 1689 in which year all persecution must cease so as never to begin again though in his opinion Antichrists Kingdom and the Papacy must continue still after this above 300 years for he makes them last untill the year 2015. 'T is plain his suppositions destroy themselves or are not strong First 't is not true that the first persecution on the account of Religion was that which the Popes rais'd against Berenger that which was rais'd by the Image-worshippers against those whom they call'd Iconoclasts or Image-breakers was more cruel and happened a long while before Again what probability that the Popedom can reign or subsist 326 years without persecuting the true Christians as this hypothesis supposeth Besides what is meant by that which is said that the Witnesses after three years and a half must ascend into heaven After the year 1689. the faithfull shall reign and be exalted and notwithstanding the Popedom shall last still 326 years these things are incompatible Lastly to take three years and a half for 630 years is a thing that hath no example in all the Prophecies The persecution may cease in the year 1689. Nevertheless after all this 't is not wholly improbable that the persecution may cease in the year 1689. but this depends upon reasons much differing from those now mentioned For God if he pleaseth may reckon the three years and a half of the death of the Witnesses from the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes made in the year 1685. in the moneth of October We know not from what time God will reckon the three years and a half but we have no certainty that God will do so Who knows whether God will not extinguish the Reformation in all the Countries where the Dominion of France does or shall reach Without doubt the Protestant Religion will be extinguisht in Strasburg which depends upon France and in other places But this not being as yet done the death of the Witnesses in the reckoning of God perhaps must not begin till the time in which this work shall be finished The Court of France desires also to extinguish the Protestant Religion in the Vallies of Piedmont which are under the Duke of Savoy and this is now a doing France making herself the executioner of those thundring Arrests which she had procured at the Court of the Duke which perhaps is the most singular example of the spirit of persecution which was ever seen All other persecutors have been content to persecute their own Subjects or Countrey-men But behold persons who after they have reduced the Subjects of their own King to the utmost extremities go and make themselves the Hangmen Murtherers of the Subjects of Forreign Princes If the three years and a half of the death of the Witnesses must be reckon'd from the destruction of these Waldenses here is one years delay of the deliverance of the French Churches Who knows whether there be not other Countries which we do not know or are not willing to name in which the Profession of the Truth must be extinguisht before we enter upon the three years of the death of the Witnesses Who knows if God will not reckon these three years and a half from the time in which there shall not be so much as one in France who stands firm and is not fallen We know not whether such a misery must come tho I hope it shall not There are as yet in France more then a hundred thousand persons who either have not signed or have repented after their signing If all these must fall off there is yet a long time to tarry Lastly who knows whether God will not begin to reckon the three years and a half untill other Princes have wholly extinguisht the Reformation in their Dominions 'T is therefore rashness to affirm that deliverance must exactly come in such a year But that which I am perswaded of and believe that others may be perswaded of without rashness is that we are now in the last persecution that this persecution shall be most effectual as it is the most terrible that was even see that the Witnesses of the truth that is to say all preaching of the purity of the Gospel under the Cross and under popish Princes will shortly be suppressed that from that time the three years and a half must be reckon'd at the end of which we shall see come to pass the most wonderful events of our days Many now alive shall without doubt see them for I believe the thing is very near at hand
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
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
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.
is plain the Prophet borrowed his Characters of it from that Happy state of the first Man wherein he was filled with the knowledge of God and his Righteousness And during which the brute Animals were innocent kind and gentle as himself 'T is also undeniable that this Prophecy respects the days of the Messiah But I would fain be told sincerely whether this oracle hath ever yet been accomplisht in what time in what place in what age or generation of the world It will doubtless be answered that it was in the Apostolical Church and in the time of the Apostles for only in that new-born Church could it be said that there was none to hurt or destroy that Wolves and Lions and Bears became Lambs The Prophecies which fortold the great holiness of the Church are not accomplisht Yet even in that new-born Church Wolves and Lions might be found But it cannot be of that Church which the Prophet there speaks because he speaks of a time when the knowledge of the Lord should fill the Earth which then it did not For this great Holiness this admirable union is represented to us only in the Church of Ierusalem Moreover we see not that this lasted for any considerable time There is a great deal of difference between the Church in the first Chapters of the Acts when Believers had but one heart and one soul and the Church we read of towards the end of the same Book where were false zealots who opposed St. Paul for having preached to the Gentiles Besides Isaiah speaks not of the Holiness of some particular persons but of a general Sanctification That a time shall come when Righteousness shall universally cover the societies of men as the waters cover the bottom of the Sea. I know well enough that the Prophets do oftentimes make use of the figure called Hyperbole But in truth the Hyperbole here would be forc't and carried too far and would not be intelligible if the Holy Spirit should so describe the Church of the first Ages where wee some Incestuous some Adulterers some Heretiques Schismaticks Apostates and all sorts of crimes We need but read the writings of St. Cyprian De Lapsis to be assured that in the good days of the Church there were already things very horrid and abominable Every one may think as he shall please but for my own part I expect from this prophecy such an age wherein Holiness shall as much exceed vice as vice now doth exceed and overtop vertue We read also in the same Prophet Chap. 32. v. 15 16. that the Spirit shall be poured from on high upon us and the wilderness be a fruitfull field and the fruitfull field a forrest Judgement shall dwell in the wilderness and Righteousness remain in the fruitfull field The work of Righteousness shall be Peace and the effect of Righteousness quietness and assurance for ever An high way shall be there and a way and it shall be called the way of Holiness the unclean shall not pass over it but it shall be for those the wayfaring men Chap. 35.8 9. though fools shall not err therein No Lion shall be there nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon Chap. 54.13 14. it shall not be found there All thy Children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be the Peace of thy Children thou shalt be establisht in Righteousness Chap 59.21 22. This is the Covenant I will make with you saith the Lord my Spirit that is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth or out of the mouth of thy seed nor of thy seeds seed saith the Lord from henceforth and for ever And they shall call them Chap. 62.12 the Holy People the redeemed of the Lord and thou shalt be called sought out a City not forsaken Chap. 31.33 Add to this the Prophecy of Ieremy This shall be the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my People and they shall teach no more every man his Neighbour and every man his Brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest saith the Lord. These Prophecies speak four things 1. They paint out the State of the Church under the Messiah 2. They describe it by a more then ordinary Holiness that shall every where be poured out 3. By a persevering Holiness to which no return to vice or no apostacy shall succeed For 't is said the Spirit of God shall not depart from them or their seed or seeds seed 4. Lastly This is a Holiness whereof the Jewish Nation is to have the chiefest part For 't is to that People and concerning them that God speaks Now I demand whether any one can show me that age of the Church wherein such an Holiness which answers the Idea given us by these Prophecies can be found where we shall meet with a persevering Holiness If the Church for any time hath been pure that hath not continued from one Generation to another yea let such an Age be named wherein the Israelitish Nation did pertake of this Evangelical Holiness Hath not that People been always obstinate unbelieving Enemies to Christ without faith in respect of men as well as in reference to God we must than open our eyes and confess that there shall be a Kingdom of Holiness such a one as shall fill all Nations and not subject to those unhappy Revolutions that by corruption have changed the face of the Church from year to year Thus far Righteousness and Holiness Next we are to consider the Peace and Prosperity of the Church Glorious Prophecies of the peace of the Church whereof the Prophets speak more largely and in an higher strain because under the Images of Temporal Prosperity they set forth that Spiritual Prosperity which we have spoken of under the names of Holiness and Righteousness Concerning Peace Is 2.4 the Prophet Isaiah saith that they shall beat their swords into Plough-shares and their Spears into pruning-hooks that Nation shall not rise against Nation neither shall they learn war any more Concerning its future Prosperity he saith c. 41.18 19. The eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstop't the lame shall leap as the Hart and the tongue of the Dumb shall sing for joy I will open Rivers in high places and Fountains in the midst of Valleys I will make the wilderness a Pool of water and the dry Land springs of water I will plant in the wilderness the Cedar the Pine the Myrtle and the Olive-tree and I will set in the desert the Fir-tree the Pine and the Box-tree together c. 49.10 11. They shall not hunger nor thirst neither shall the heat or Sun smite them for he
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
be content with what is necessary so that they to whom God shall have given plenty of wealth shall make no difficulty therewith to supply the necessities of the Indigent A community of Goods shall then take place like that which was seen in the first years of the Church at Jerusalem Not that Men shall lose their property in the Goods they have but every one shall dispense largely to such as need As they who gathered more Manna than the rest and nothing over and those who gathered less had no want That which thus happened in the Wilderness was not only an Emblem but a true Type of what shall be in this last Period of the Church They who have more than others in regard of possession shall have no more than others in respect of Vse 8 Character Uniformity in worship Religion 8. The face of the Church as to the external part of it shall be uniform in its worship in its Government and Ceremonies For that diversity and mixture of colours which is at present proceeds not from the Spirit of God. This uniformity it may be shall not be such as to remove every little difference but there shall be none left that is essential none that may be called evil all that which savors of Pride and Tyranny shall be banisht from the Government of the Church and that which serves only for Pomp shall not be admitted into its Ceremonies Thus much for the certain Characters 1. Doubtfull Character Christ shall descend from Heaven 1. The doubtful Characters are First The Descent of Christ into this World to reign visibly here The Prophecies of Saints Iohn and of Daniel seem to import thus much The latter saith that the Son of man i. e. Jesus Christ came to the ancient of days and that Dominion and a Kingdom was given him And St. Iohn saith that the Saints shall reign with Christ a thousand years I would not be too confident that this ought to be understood of a visible descent and abode of Christ upon Earth yea I do not believe it probable But to me it seems very Evident that this Reign shall begin with some miraculous appearance of our Lord in his Glory After which he shall go back to Heaven and from thence govern this victorious Church Mr. I. Mede and others after him would make this reign of Christ for a thousand years to be the Day of Iudgement and that within this time shall be the Resurrection of the dead Others say that the Resurrection and last Iudgement shall be before this Reign of Christ but I dare not determine that 2. Doubtfull Character whether all earthly Powers shall be abolisht Dan. 7.11 12. 2. It is likewise dubious whether all the Powers of the World must then be abolisht Which those words of Daniel seem to signify The Beast was slain and his Body destroyed and given to the burning flame Concerning the rest of the Beasts they had their Dominion taken away yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a Time. Beasts do certainly denote States and Empires so that it seems as if all Soveraign Power i. e. Monarchical should be taken away and that Christ alone should rule by his Vicegerents I leave this undesided But to me it seems probable that the government of the World shall assume the ancient form of the Commonwealth of Israel That it shall be a Theocrasy that God will establish Iudges and Governours by a a perticular instinct of the People and their guides that he will instruct them in his will by inspired Persons whose orders shall be punctually followed 3. Doubtfull Character whether the Martyrs shall be raised Rev. 20.4 3. 'T is also uncertain whether the Martyrs shall rise to be the Administrators of this Kingdom 'T is true St. Iohn seems to say so in express words the Souls of those who were beheaded for the Testimony of Iesus c. shall live and reign with Christ a thousand years Though I have some difficulty to be of that opinion yet I know not what to answer to that Text for if it intend only the deliverance of the Church in general under the Emblem of a Resurrection what need was there to mention only the Martyrs It is said that the discourse is not of Bodies but of Souls and that the original word doth not signify to rise again but only to live and the Souls of those who were beheaded shall live But first 't is well known that Souls dye not and consequently cannot be said to rise but as they reassume their Bodies 2. The learned know also that the Soul is often put for the whole person especially when the resurrection is spoken of witness that passage Thou wilt not leave my Soul in the Grave Lastly I am not subtile enough to discern the difference between living again and rising I always thought they were two words of the same import And I think it were easy to prove that those who have been beheaded cannot live again but by a Resurrection 'T is true in the fourth Verse 't is only said they shall live but 't is plain by the fifth Verse that to live and to live again in the Text are the same thing For 't is added that the Rest of the dead should not live again till the thousand years were accomplisht The other dead men spoken of v. 4. must then live again at the beginning of the thousand years Farther without this I know not what our Lord Jesus Christ would say to his Apostles in those words Verily I say unto you that you who have followed me in the regeneration Matth. 19.28 when the Son of man is sat on the Throne of his Glory you shall sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel What ever sense is given to these words I cannot find any thing that gives me satisfaction Should it be understood of the last Iudgement to the same effect as St. Paul speaks We shall judge the World and we shall judge the Angels that seems to be but a small matter that deserved not to be so solemnly ushered in with a verily I say unto you For after all 't is but in a figurative sense that we shall then judge the World by approving the sentence of Christ who alone shall be the Iudge Moreover I know not why our Lord should restrain that judgement to the twelve Tribes of Israel judging the twelve Tribes of Israel for the Saints as the words are taken shall judge the whole World even the wicked too Wherefore it cannot be said that the Church is to be understood by the twelve Tribes of Israel Once more the Saints shall judge the World more than they shall the Church for besides their approbation of the sentence given against the World they shall bear witness against them which they shall not do in reference to the Church I do not find much more reason for another sense of this Text which some
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
Savoy and lastly that of France which at this day is driven on to extremity and is the most terrible of all that ever the Church endured The Empire of the Papism is a Sodom for corruption of manners As to corruption of manners one may be convinced that it cannot go further than it hath already gone in the Papism by reading what we have written in the sixth and ninth Prejudice In the sixth we have proved the corruption of the heads of the Papism by a short History of the abominable immoralities of the Popes And in the ninth we have given an account of an infinite number of witnesses in all Ages who do depose that all the most horrible and filthy things that can be imagined are to be met with in the carriage and manners of the Monks Priests and Laity in the Papism To perfect the description of the corruption of the Papism the eighth Prejudice may be added in which the filthy sordid simoniacal and sacrilegious covetousness of Rome and all its Agents are discover'd The Empire of the Papism is a Babylon for idolatry To be assured that Idolatry one of the principal Characters of the Antichristian Empire agrees to the Papism you may read the 33. Chap. of the last part where you will find a short description of the extravagant and abominable worship which the Church of Rome gives to the Holy Virgin and all the Saints in which worship we have plainly discovered an evident Character of reprobation and Antichristianism Lastly for the proof of the Paganism of that Church you may read the 12th of our prejudices We have there made a very exact Parallel between Popery and Paganism enough to convince any one that they both had the same spring and Author because they have the same objects distinguisht into the very same classes and very near the very same ceremonies To which may be added the History of the fables of the Papism more filthy and more numerous than those of Paganism You will find it in the sixteenth Prejudice Besides all this we have taken our second Prejudice from the perfect conformity that is between the Prophecies concerning the reign of Antichrist and the things we see in the settlement and the nature of the Kingdom of the Papism We have alledged all the Prophecies wherein 't is agreed that Antichrist and his Empire are both fore-told and described and we have justified it that all the strokes of these descriptions do agree to the Pope to his Seat to his Religion and to his Empire The Roman Religion is that falling away and that Apostacy of which St. Paul speaks in the second Chap. of the second Epist to the Thessalonians 'T is the first Text we have produced against it The Papism is an Apostacy That Religion is an Apostacy because there is in it Idolatry prophaning of holy things an introduction of new Gods and the abomination of Images set up in the Sanctuary It s head is the man of sin and the son of perdition because his throne is the throne of pride of covetousness of ambition of Simony There we find the Politiques of the World and of the spirit of darkness cheating deceit violence blood fornication sodomy brutishness magick and all manner of imaginable wickedness This head of the Papism sits in the Temple of God i. e. in the Christian Church where Jesus Christ dwelt who is the foundation He sits there as a God for he makes his feet be kiss'd by men yea even by the highest powers of the Earth He is called God the Lievtenant of God the Vicar of Jesus Christ and a Vice-God In the quality of a God and as one clothed with his power he changes the times and the Law. He dispenses with things against the Law of God Dan. 7. against the Canons of the Church against the Apostle against the Old and New Testament He lifts up himself above all that is called God for he exalts himself above all the Kings of the Earth that are the Gods of this lower World. He exalts himself also above the true God in making such laws as make void the Laws of God for instance in commanding to worship Images which God hath forbidden us to worship He exalts himself above the Saints which are his Demy-Gods For in the quality of a Judge and consequently of a Superiour he Canonises them he places them in the Heavens he causes them to be honoured with Temples and Altars or he refuseth it to them The Papism is a Mystery of Iniquity His Religion is a mystery of iniquity for all that is in it is unrighteous unjust wicked 'T is usurpations violences and Idolatries It ravishes away from men their just rights and from God that worship that belongs to him alone to appropriate it to a Tyrant or give it to subjects that do not deserve it 'T is a Mystery for it hath all the appearance of a Mystical Religion It hath ceremonies in abundance a pompous worship a mighty out-side but 't is a Mystery of iniquity This mystery was establisht by the efficacy of Santan with all power signs and lying wonders For one can't reckon up either the Diabolical illusions or the Cheats of the Priests or the lying Miracles by which this false worship and this false Religion was establisht in the World. The explication and application of that place of St. Paul to the Empire of the Papism have been already made so exactly that we shall not do it over again except only that Article in which the Apostle saith 2 Thess 2.6 7. Ye know what with-holdeth that he might be revealed in his time c. He who now letteth will let till he be taken out of the way and then shall that wicked one be revealed All the world did formerly believe and so it doth still that by him who Held and possessed or did let in St. Pauls time we must understand the Roman Empire And it hath been generally apprehended that the Apostle intended to say that the Antichristian Empire would not appear in the world before the Roman Empire was abolisht and destroyed Tho we should stick to this without any other explication our cause would be much better than that of the Church of Rome For to demonstrate that the Romish Antichrist is not yet come she is obliged to prove that the Roman Empire doth yet subsist Germany is not an Empire nor the Roman Empire doth yet subsist She finds it in the Empire of Germany But nothing is more vain than this nor more easy to be confuted The Government of Germany is neither an Empire nor a Roman Empire 'T is not an Empire There is nothing Despotical in it nor any thing that savours of an Emperour 'T is rather a Republique or an heap of many different Monarchical Aristocratical and Democratical States 'T is not the Roman Empire no more than the Kingdom of France or that of Spain For 't is one of the