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
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
whose number 't is not easie to define and which the Holy Ghost denotes by the number seven which is the number of perfection to signify that the orders of Monks and Nuns shall perish for ever This is an Institution so degenerated from its first Original that 't is become the arm of Antichrist These orders cannot perish one without another If any will have it that these seven thousand slain signifie that there shall be bloodshed it shall not be great for the number seven put for an indifinite number never signifies a great one De Launay is very much mistaken when he sayes that the seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal â— King. 19.18 signified a great multitude on the contrary the signified a very small number indeed the number was so small that Elijah did not know of them he sayd I am left alone The Kings of France at this day do lift their authority so high that nothing can resist it 'T is therefore probable The authority of the Kings of Francs shall prevail over the ruling Religion that every thing will bend under the yoke of their Will when they shall resolve to break with Rome and it seems as if the Providence of God was preparing the way unto this thing by the Clergies Declaration confirmed by that of the King viz. that Kings depend on none in any thing which concerns Temporals and that 't is never lawful to deny obedience to them upon a pretext of Religion For if this be once fixed when ever it shall please the Kings of France to forsake the Communion of Rome by this Principle of the present Bishops it cannot be allowed that the People should rebell against them I look on that which is happened in England as another preparation unto this Event A King of a Religion contrary to that of the State reigns peaceably the reason is that Providence will accustome the subjects to pay subjection to Princes who are enemies of the Ruling Religion And the remnant were affrighted and gave glory to the God of heaven This is the total conversion and reformation of the tenth part of the City i.e. of the Kingdom of France that shall quickly follow after the Kings of France shall have broken with the Bishop of Rome V. 14. The second Wo is past and behold she third Wo cometh quickly namely the second of the three Woes which had been denounced after the sound of the fourth Trumpet Chap. 8.13 And I heard an Angel flying through the midst of Heaven crying with a loud voyce Wo wo wo to the inhabitants of the earth by reason of the other voyces of the Trumpet which are yet to sound The first of these three woes was the Grashoppers Saracens denoted by Grashoppers who came up out of the bottomless pit with their Head Apollyon and in Hebrew Ahaddon These Grashoppers are plainly the Saracens Chap. 14. Arabians with their Head Mahomet The second Wo is the domination of the Turks who passed from the other side of Euphrates at the sound of the sixth Trumpet And the third Wo is the fall of the Antichristan Empire These three great events deserve to be distinguisht from all others for they have changed or shall change the whole face of the world And the seventh Angel sounded c. this which follows concerns the Kingdom or reign of Iesus Christ and the Church and consequently must be reserved to another place CHAP. XIV Observations upon the 17 18 19. Chapters of the Revelation concerning the fall of Antichrist's Kingdom A brief Methodizing of the events which the Holy Ghost had displaced in the Visions THe seventeenth Chapter contains something that relates to the destruction of Antichrists Kingdom V. 16. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast these shall hate the whore and make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire V. 17. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will and to agree and give their Kingdom unto the beast untill the words of God shall be fulfilled There 's nothing in this passage that hath not been opened or is obscure 'T is clear that these Kings who through ignorance or weakness suffer'd their power to be usurped by the Empire of the papacy shall take it again they shall eat her flesh i.e. shall enrich themselves with her benefices revenues and burn her with fire i.e. shall abolish the the memory of this Romish Empire so that nothing but ashes shall remain of it The 18th Chapter is a long description of the ruin of the Antichristian and Babylonian Empire I have no need to enter into this Chap. because I find nothing in it of that which I principally seek which is those certain characters which can inform us of the time of this fall namely whether it be night at hand or afar off There is nothing there concerning it except that which is general As to this Chapter I will say only First We must remember the remarque which hath been often made by us that Babylon here does not signify strictly the City of Rome as most have imagined 'T is the whole Babylonian Empire as appears from these words Come out of Babylon my people I do not think that any great number of Gods people hath come out of the City of Rome hitherto we have not seen it My second remarque is we must not as is usually done over much press the mystical sense of divers merchandises which are reckon'd up and were sold it that City I do not believe VVe must not over much seelt mysteries in the particular merchandises of Babylon that there is any other mystery in this thing than that this Babylonian Empire being set forth under the Emblem of a great City it was necessary to represent it as a City of great commerce for that is inseperable from great Cities Not but that these merchandises and the many instruments of Luxury and pleasures which are said to have been in this City do not very fitly signify and according to the design of the Holy Ghost both the Simony and debaucheries of this corrupted Church in the general But I believe not that 't is necessary to enquire particularly what is meant for example by the silk the precious stones the fine linnen c. The burning of Babylon must not be understood literally My Third Observation upon this 18th Chapter is we must not interpret literally the Metaphors of burning fire blood and slaughter which the Holy Ghost set before us Certainly these are not the Methods which God makes use of to establish his Kingdom I think indeed as I have already said that God will suffer Rome to be sackt as he suffer'd Jerusalem to be I further believe that this great change in Religion will not be made without blood shed as it hapned in the last age But seeing the City in this Chapter and generally in the Revelation take in
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
first Forbes would have this be that Period of the Church in which the Church began to reform her self in which the good separated from the evil i. e. the Church from the Albigenses to Luthers time Now I leave every wise man to judge if a small number of Albigenses Waldenses that separated from the Church of Rome that endured so short a time could deserve from the whole Christian Church so generally corrupted the fairest of all the praises that the H. Spirit gives to the seven Churches Thou sufferest that woman Jezabel that calleth her self a Prophetess to teach to seduce my servants to commit fornication This Jezabel I confess very much resembles the Antichristian Church But Why should the Albigenses be blamed for suffering the Roman Church How could they destroy it who were so weak Did they not cry out upon her as Babylon as much as they were able Sardis is the fifth Church to which the H. Spirit writes according to Forbes 't is the Reformed Church in which neither Jezabel nor Balaam nor the Pope nor Popery are any longer tolerated because she broke with the Roman Church But why would we have the Ages of our Reformation since Luther to be branded with so black fatal a Character Thou hast a name to live but art dead Be watchful strengthen the things which remain are ready to dy for I have not found thy works perfect before God. I think our Reformation deserved at least as much praise as that of the Albigenses The Zeal thereof was great the Doctrine pure Philadelphia is the sixth Church signifies according to Forbes the Church that shall carry the Reformation to its greatest height that shall have but a small number of members but they shall be very Zealous Laodicea is the last Church or the last Period The Holy Spirit terribly blames it Thou art neither hot nor cold Thou saist I am rich have need of nothing c. dost not know that thou art wretched miserable poor blind naked According to Forbes this is those Churches that making all their glory to consist in their having quitted Babylon do fall back make Religion to consist in nothing but duties purely external This last Period must be placed at the end of the World. Thus you have Forbes's system Let us proceed to that of Cocceius According to this later Author the Church of Ephesus is the Apostolical Church i. e. that wherin the Apostles preached The Explication of the mystery of the seven Churches according to Cocceius So that this Period must be extended to the death of St. John. The Nicolaitans spoken of in this first Epistle are Hereticks in general Nicolaos in Greek signifies the Conquerour of the People 'T is the Character of Hereticks to make themselves masters of the people by seducing them The Church of Smyrna signifies the Church suffering in all places especially that of the three first Ages The persecution of ten Days according to this must signify the ten Persecutions which the Church suffered during those three Ages under the Pagan Emperours This doth not fall out ill but I fear it was chance that made this hit for the rest doth not fall out in the same manner The holy Spirit saith Some of you shall be cast into Prison that ye may be tryed This is very feebly to express the great number of Martyrs and the cruel Sufferings to which the Church was exposed during these three first Ages of the Church 'T is much more probable that this signifies some light Persecution that was to befal Smyrna in which Persecution the Evil should not go beyond the imprisoning some perticular Persons The Epistle to the Church of Pergamus is the third according to Cocceius 't is the Church from Constantine's time to the birth of Antichrist Pergamus is the name of a famous fortress of Troy. Rome signifies strength or fortress 'T is in Rome that satan's seat is But why should the seat of satan be fixed in Rome converted by Constantine It had been much better to have fix'd it in Rome Pagan or to reserve it for Rome Antichristian that was to follow immediately after Antipas the martyr signifies saith he the Orthodox that maintain'd the consubstantiality of the Son. Antipas for Antipatros Antipatros for Isopatros equal to the Father I have nothing to say hereupon but it doth not please me every well The Church of Thyatira is the fourth signifies according to Cocceius the Church under the reign of Antichrist Jezabel that appears in this Epistle is the Antichristian Church They that suffer Jezabel the Prophetess are the elect mingled among the Antichristian Idolaters That sickness that God would send on Jezabel in casting her on her bed are those mortifications which Antichristianism was to receive by the several disasters that befel the Roman Church till the Reformation This falls out pretty well but 't is by meer chance for how can that magnificent Elogy be applied to this period of the Antichristian church I know thy works thy charity thy patience that thy last works are more than the first Never was the church so void of saints of good works as in this sad Period Sardis is the fifth Church the fifth Period according to Cocceius as well as according to Forbes 't is the Reformed Church But I say hereto as I said before on occasion of Forbes why should we say of our Reformation thou hast a name to live behold thou art dead strengthen the things which remain are ready to dy Philadelphia signifies brotherly Love this is the sixth Church which carries in its name the character of a Church yet to come wherein love and charity shall reign but among a very small number of people This church shall be persecuted Attempts will be made to shut the door against its conversions Yet after this the Kings of the Earth shall submit themselves to it This is in after ages So that we have nothing to say about it Laodicea signifies the Church that shall immediately precede the time wherein God shall pass that judgment spoken of in the 11th ch v. 18. i. e. when the reign of J. Christ shall come to be establisht on the Earth That is to say that immediately before the Kingdom of J. Christ comes on the Earth the Church must fall into that dreadful decay meant by these words Thou art neither hot nor cold thou art poor blind naked I do not well understand how all this hangs together The Church oâ— Philadelphia which is the sixth after it hath been persecuted shall remain victorious over all the Kings of the Earth which signifies that all the nations of the Earth shall be converted see here the reign of J. Christ on the Earth And yet after this comes a seventh Period wherein religion shall almost entirely perish before the Kingdom of J. Christ comes on
Therfore the three Last Trumpets are preceded by an Angel that cries Wo Wo Wo they are the three last blows of the Fall of the Roman Empire After this Cry follows the fifth Trumpet Ch. 9. And the fifth Angel sounded v. 1. I saw a star fall from Heaven to the Earth to him was given the Key of the Bottomless pit And he open'd the Bottomless-pit v. 2. there arose a Smoke out of the Pit as the smoke of a great Furnace the Sum the Air were Darkned by reason of the Smoke of the Pit. v. 3. And there came out of the smoke Locusts on the Earth And the sequel of the history the Characters of this Prophecy perswade me that by the Locusts we must understand the Arabians and Saracens for after the fall of the Imperial dignity in Italy the greatest event that happen'd with reference to the fourth Monarchy and Religion is the Empire of the Arabians The imperial dignity falls in the fifth Age. In the sixth Age the Arabians are raised up to weary and torment the Roman Empire divided into ten Kingdoms but above all for the punishment of the Empire of Constantinople the most remarkable part of the tâ—n We shall see that the words of the Prophecy agree very well with this discovery of those modern people The falling star in the fifth Trumpet is noâ— a grandee or a Prophet A star falls from heaven 'T is a presage of some great event By this star we must not understand a great Lord or a false Prophet as some have imagin'd For this star doth nothing appears no more in this fifth Trumpet 'T is very improperly that De Launay many others apply to this Star these words to him was given the Key of the Bottomless-pit as if a star could carry a Key use it and open a door The Prophecies are continued Metaphors and Allegories Now according to good Rhetorick Actions in Metaphors must be attributed to Subjects according to the nature of those subjects Here an Angel a star are spoken of 'T is the Angel that opens the Bottomless-pit and not the star 'T is the proper office of Angells in the Apocalyptical Visions to open and shut and bring in on the stage So in the 20th Ch. of the Revelation 't is an Angel that closes the Bottomless-pit on the Dragon This star therfore doth nothing else here but only presage a great insurrection against God that was to happen under the fifth Trumpet The bottomless-pit being open'd The Religion of Mahomet meant by the black smoak there comes out a Smoke black and thick like that of a Furnace and the Sun was darkned therby 'T is the unhappy Religion of Mahomet that fills the world with his thick darkness of Error there arose out of the smoke of the bottomless pit Locusts on the Earth And this unhappy and detestable doctrine formed an Empire and united the Arabians together under the detestable Mahomet By the Locusts the Saracens are meant One can't better represent the Arabians than by Locusts First because of their innumerable multitude So 't was the Author of the book of Judges called them many ages before St. John. And the Midianites the Amalekites all the Children of the East were in the valley as Locusts for number 2. 'T is from Arabia that these inundations of locusts come that often cover both Egypt and Ethiopia and the other neighbouring places round about 3. The prodigious swiftness of the Conquests of the Saracens is most admirably represented by Clouds of Locusts that fall on the fields in one night and almost in a moment 4. One can't better represent the hideous desolations which the Saracens made every where than by the hideous condition that the meadows and fields are in when the Locusts come on them It is commanded these Locusts â— 4. not to hurt the Grass of the Earth nor any green thing but only those men which have not the seal of God in their forheads This is to express that these Locusts are men that are sent against other men wheras true Locusts fasten on the green things And to them it was given not that they should kill men but torment them five months We must know always remember the foundation we have laid that the whole Revelation is a history of the Roman Empire that all the events refer to that Empire So that the sense is the Saracens by the permission of God should have a great power to torment harrass the Roman Empire divided into ten Kingdoms but not to destroy it Indeed the Saracens tormented both Greeks Latins most cruelly But both the Empire of Constantinople the other parts of the Roman Empire defended themselves against their assaults What the five mouths of the reign of the Locusts signify The duration of these Locusts is limited to five months these make 150 days But these days do not signify an 150 years a day for a year according to the prophetick style Joseph Mede that follows this hypothesis assigns 150 years to the time during which the Saracens particularly afflicted Italy from the year 830 to the year 980. But 't is not so We must observe that the reign of the Locusts is in the five months of the summer May June July August September that is their longest reign For oftentimes they last not so long because sometimes in the midst of summer a great wind carries them away or a long rain makes them burst So that the Prophet means that the Sarazens shall fulfill their reign in its greatest extent that God will not abate any thing of it in favour of the men that are the subjects of the Roman Empire The description of these Locusts is notable Their shape was like unto horses prepared to the battle 'T is to signify the wars fights wherby the Saracens were to establish their government On their heads were as it were crowns like gold All the Empires that at this day take up the East came from them that of the Turks that of the Persians that of the great Mogull that of the Tartars Their faces were as the faces of men they had hair as the hair of women their teeth were as the teeth of Lions the sound of their wings was as the sound of Chariots That is to say they are as great women with their hair dishevelled a hideous countenance wings on their shoulders I question not but the Prophet had respect to the description which the Poets make of the Harpyes Tristius haud illis monstrum Aeneid 3. nec saevior ulla Pestis ira Deûm Stygiis sese extulit undis Virginei volucrum vultus faedissima ventris Ingluvies Vncaeque manus pallida semper Orafame VVhence comes the name and fable of the Harpyes Where 't is very observable that the name of Harpyes comes from the Hebrew word Arbim or Arpim which
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
they are at a prodigious distance from it So the Prophet looking on these two resurrections the first and the last it is not strange that beholding them at so great distance he looked on them as joined together though they are a 1000 years distant from each other Moreover the H. Spirit from this first resurrection in which the Church must be deliver'd and which it may be is but a figurative resurrection would raise us up to the contemplation of the last and general resurrection because this first resurrection that must be before the 1000 years of the reign of Jesus Christ must be but an Embleme of the great deliverance of the Church when it shall be in one body translated from earth to heaven by the last resurrection 'T is usual with the Prophets to have holy sallies that from temporal things do transport them to spiritual and eternal ones Isaiah speaking of a sign that God would give to Ahaz and which he refused passes over many ages leaves there Ahaz and his sign Esai 7. and saith the Lord God shall give you a sign behold a Virgin shall bear a son The rest of the twelfth Chapter is not less profound but as it respects the duration of the persecution of Antiochus literally and mystically the time of the duration of the Kingdom of Antichrist we shall reserve it for that Chap. where we must speak of the duration of his Kingdom 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 A short portraiture of Antichrifi and his fearures AFter sounding all the fountains whence the pourtaiture of Antichrist is drawn I believe it will not be unuseful to gather together here all the strokes that we may see them all with one view and that we may discern the perfect conformity that is between that Antichrist and the Papism 1. It must be an Empire Rev. 13.1 for it is called a beast now in the Prophetick style a beast always signifies an Empire when Kings are treated of The Papism is an Empire in all the forms of worldly Empires ancient and modern We have proved it with the greatest evidence in our prejudices 2. It must also be a Religion 2 Thes 2. for it is called a mystery and it must be a false Religion for it is called a mystery of Iniquity and an apostacy There is only the Papism in which an Empire and a Religion are found both together 1 Tim. 4.1 8. 'T is true Mahomet made an Empire and a Religion at the same time But in Mahometanism the Religion is not the Empire nor the Empire the Religion and the Priests are not Soveraign Lords under the pretext of Religion Mahometanism is divided into many Aempires and yet there is but one Religion a proof that the Religion and the Empire are not the same thing The Papism is the only Religion that boasts of a Prophet always living Rev. 19.20 3. Antichrist must have a Prophet i. e. a man that saith he is infallible and that pretends to pronounce Oracles as well as the ancient Prophets For with the beast is joined the false Prophet The beast was taken and together with him the false Prophet that wrought signs before him There is no Religion in the World but the Papism that pretends to have an infallible head always pronouncing Oracles when it is necessary always speaking and always living This is a very peculiar Character and which should make us well discern him 4. The corruption of the Religion of Antichrist must principally consist in Idolatry 1 Tim. 4. 2 Thes 2. Rev. 17. for it is called apostacy a Doctrine of Daemons spiritual whoredom The Papism is a Religion in which Idols are re-establisht under new names We have also clearly proved it The Idolatry of Antichrist must be an idolatry of Christians Rev. 17. 5. This Antichristian Idolatry must be an idolatry of Christians which must be exercised in the Church and not without by the Spouse of Jesus Christ and not by a stranger For this idolatry is called adultery and conjugal unfaithfulness The Papism with its Idolatry retains the foundation of the Church and preserves Christianity 6. The chief City of this Empire and of this Religion must be a City seated on seven Mountaïns Rev. 17.9.18 and the great City which in the time of Saint John ruled over the Kingdoms of the Earth that is to say Rome The Papism hath for the capital of its Empire and Religion new Rome built where the ancient one was 7. This Empire was to form it self not by force but by craft by seduction and by the consent of the Kings of the West Rev. 13.13 that were to give their power to the beast The power of the Papism and the Bishop of Rome come by illusion rather than by the violence that both Kings and people have suffer'd 8. This Antichristian Empire must be a continuation of the fourth Monarchy which is that of the Romans Dan. 2.7 Rev. 13. as hath been shewn by the vision of Daniel's Statue by that of the four beasts and by the beast of the 13th of the Revel The Papism is a true continuation of the Roman Empire having the very same seat and very hear the same Provinces 9. This Empire must be only an Image of an Empire an Image of the Roman Empire Rev. 13.14 15. Yet this Image must speak and must be worshipped in all the Earth The Papism hath no arms nor citadels that really make an Empire it hath nothing but superstition and foolish fondness for all its arms however it speaks it threatens it promiseth it teacheth it seduceth and by this means it reigns 10. The Empire of Antichrist must have ten horns Rev. 13. end 17. that is to say ten Kings vassals and subjects props and upholders of its throne The Papism hath always had under it ten principal Kings that have worshipt and maintain'd its power 11. Antichrist must speak great things in his own behalf Rev. 13.5 but against God for they must be blasphemies The Papism saith of it self and its capital great and mighty things saying that Rome is eternal that she is infallible that the Pope is Superiour to all the Kings of the Earth the Spouse of the Church the Vicar of J. Christ God upon Earth his Holiness and most holy Lord. And these arrogant pretensions are true blasphemies against God against J. Christ and against the true Church the Spouse of J. Christ 12. Antichrist must raise wars and cruel persecutions on the account of Religion Rev. 13.7 For 't is given to him to make war against the Saints and to overcome them The Papism hath bathed it self in humane and Christian blood for six or seven hundred years 13. The Empire of Antichrist must be an Empire raised up again Rev. 13.3 an head mortally wounded but healed again The Empire of
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
Simon the Grammarian that not long since hath set up for an Interpreter of the Revelations His new lights do well deserve a particular Chapter by themselves But for the present we must follow on our way and shew that if the 1260 days be 1260 years then all that the Papists say of Antichrist is false and all that we say of him is true It being proved that the 1260 days are 1260 years the Papists Antichrist is a Chimaera If it be false that this Empire must last but 1260 natural days it is true that it must last 1260 years for I have proved there is no middle way to be taken And if it be true that Antichrist must reign 1260 years he can no longer be only one single man nor a revolted Jew nor a salse Messiah nor a man of the Tribe of Dan nor a Tyrant that must re-establish the Mosaical worship and rebuild Jerusalem to cause the Iews to reign there For it would be absurd to suppose that one man should live 1260 years that the reign of the Law of Moses should return for 12 Ages and that Iudaism for so long a time should oppress the Christian Religion If the Empire of Antichrist must last 1260 years it must necessarily be already come If his duration be 1260 years Antichrist is come For 't is to go against the general opinion of all men to suppose that before the reign of Jesus Christ comes we must yet expect a tyrannical Monarchy of 1200 years If the Antichristian Empire be come it must be either Mahometanism or the Papism Antichristianism can't be found among the Arri-ans for they have been extinct a long time and their reign did not come to near 1260 years We can't find him among the Athigenses who never reign'd who appear'd but for a little time and who were always oppressed He cant ' be found neither among the Lutherans nor Calvinists for none of the Characters of Antichristianism do agree to them and the Papists would not acknowledge that our reign should be for 1200 years There 's nothing remains but Mahometanism on which one can cast ones yes Mahometanism hath not the Characters of Antichristianism to seek out Antichristianism 't is indeed an Antichristian Sect because 't is an enemy to Jesus Christ and hath already subsisted above a 1000 years But we can't find therein the Characters of Antichristianism so as 't is described in the Prophets First Antichristianism must be an Apostacy and a revolt of men that formerly were obedient to the faith The Saracens Arabians and Turks the founders and preservers of this Sect never were Christians and are not Apostates Mahomet and the Arabians were Heathens Secondly Antichristianism must be an Idolatry for it is called a Whoredom and must teach the Doctrine of Daemons and mediatory spirits Now the Mahometans are not idolaters on the contrary they abhor the adoration of Images and 't is this that greatly scandalizeth them against the Christian Religion Thirdly In the name of Antichrist we must find the number 666. In the name of Mahomet and Mahometan Arabians and Saracens in any language this number is not found Fourthly Anchristianism was to have its seat in the great City which in St. Iohns time ruled over the Kings of the Earth That is Rome as all Interpreters unanimously acknowledge Mahomet and his Partizans never did possess the City of Rome and do not possess it Fifthly The Empire of Antichrist must be the Roman Empire continued the Empire of the Arabians is so far from being the continuation of the Roman Empire that it hath been the destruction of it in the East Sixthly Antichrist must sit in the Temple of God i. e. in the Church Mahomet and his Successors are out of the Church and do not belong to Christendom Seventhly Ten Kings must voluntarily give their power to Antichrist But the Arabians and Saracens have conquer'd all Kingdoms by meer violence none did voluntarily submit to them Eighthly Antichrist must be the seventh head of the Beast in the Revelation i. e. Of the Roman Empire Mahomet hath nothing in common with the Roman Empire Ninethly The Empire of Antichrist must be properly nothing else but the image of an Empire which yet however must be worship and obedience be given to it The Empire of the Mahometans is not an image but rather the most despotical and arbitrary Empire that ever was in the World. Tenthly The Antichristian Empire must have under it ten horns i. e. ten Kings Ten horns every one having his crown and his Royal power So far is the Empire of the Mahometans from suffering any vassal Kings to subsist that it hath destroyed all the great Lords In India in Persia in Turky every one of these Mahometan Empires hath but one only Lord. Eleventhly The Empire of Antichrist must be but one it must not be divided For the Kings that are to submit to him shall acknowledge him for their only head But the Empire of Mahomet is divided into many Empires The Empire of the Tartars the Empire of the Turks the Empire of the Persians the Empire of the Mogulls and these four Empires are not only different but always opposite and almost always enemies Twelfthly Antichrist must have two horns i. e. two powers like to the Lamb. 'T is notorious the Mahometans have nothing in common with Iesus Christ with his Religion and with his power Thirteenth Antichrist must excommunicate persecute take away liberty of commerce from all those that will not take on them his name and his mark in their fore-heads i. e. that will not follow his Religion The Mahometans suffer all sorts of Religions Heathens and Christians Fourteenth The Antichristian Empire must be a head i. e. a Kingdom hurt with a deadly wound and revive again This can by no means agree to Mahometanism which is a Religion wholly new and which hath formed Empires wholly new It was necessary to make these observations against those that greatly desiring to take Antichrist from Rome would fain place him among the Mahometans 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 HItherto we have discoursed on what is past now we proceed to treat of what is future or at least of those things that are believed so to be For we shall see that many things that are looked upon as future are already past 'T is the ruin of Antichrist and his Empire that we are now about to speak of And the first question that is asked thereupon is this When shall that Empire be destroyed A great question and which hath hitherto been looked upon as a thing that none could penetrate into 'T is certainly very difficult to be penetrated into but yet however I do not think 't is impossible to find
they are at the height of impurity there must have been a number denoting the perfection assigned to them now no other could be found but that of three Besides these unclean spirits are of the number three because of the three springs or sources the Dragon the Beast and the false Prophet as if every one must have one of his own And further 't is a wonderful providence of God that the body of the Canon Law which is the heap of the papal Laws is divided into three parts which appear'd in the World at three different times The Decree of Gratian is the first part Three parts of the Canon Law that answer to these three unclean spirits and it was compiled in the twelfth Century After this came the second part under the title of the Decretals of Gregory IX The third part is made up of the Bulls of Popes called Clementines publisht at the Council of Lions by Clement V. of others called Extravagants others called common and common extravagants These are the three parts of the Canon Law which are in truth three unclean spirits for there is nothing so monstrous and so contrary unto the spirit of Christianity The papas Laws have three unclean spirits pride covetousness unchastity Lastly these papal Laws are set forth by the number of three unclean spirits because there are in effect three spirits of impurity that do reign in them Pride Covetousness and Vnchastity Pride for first nothing is more proud then the design of the Popes in general to give Laws to the World to make Emperors to give a body of Laws which all shall use to call themselves infallible to pretend to pronounce Oracles to thunder out Bulls upon the heads of Kings and of all men Covetousness for in the papal Laws every thing tends to profit the Rules of the Roman Chancery and Penetenciary do make up a part of the Roman Laws and in them every thing is sold not the most abominable crimes excepted If we would examine the Laws of the Popedom they are all for gain and tend to the exercise of a most abominable simony They that will may consult the first part of our prejud against popery without reckoning up many other books where the same matter is treated Vnchastity hath its share for in these Laws such filthiness is to be found as cause horror the rules of the Penitenciary do enough prove this This same is found in the Decree of Gratian in Buchard the famous Canonist First part chap. 28. Apolog. for the Reform VVhy the Oracles of popery are compare to Froggs and in such like Authors I have given some specimen's in my Prejugd and in my Apology for Theodore Beza 'T is for this reason that the Oracles of the false Prophet are compared to Froggs the Oracles of God are Eagles that flye in pure air but the Oracles of popery and false Religion are creatures that love the dirt that descend into pits and live there They make a great noyse in times of darkness as Froggs do in the night but will immediately be silent as soon as the Sun of grace is risen that is when it shall dissipate all the shadows of false Religion These are the spirits of Devils working miracles For these papal decisions these orders of the Antichristian Kingdom that they may establish the adoration of idols the invocation of Creatures the idolatry of bread are supported by signs and a thousand lying miracles But 't will be objected these decisions do not work miracles whereas the Text here saith that these three unclean spirits work miracles A very slight difficulty For seeing the Holy Ghost represents these Laws of the Popedom as spirits i. e. as persons and as intelligent existing substances there must be actions ascribed to them Actiones sunt suppositorum say the Schools Thus Saint John ought necessarily to speak of miracles wrought in favour of the papal Laws and Papists as of miracles that are wrought by them They go forth unto the Kings of the Earth and of the whole World to gather them to the battel of that great day of God Almighty The Bulls of Popes are as so many thundering messengers who are sent to Princes and who threaten order and command them to make Croisades to destroy pretended hereticks and to employ temporal weapons to execute the orders of the spiritual Authority and also command them to enjoyn the observation in all places of idolatrous worship wicked Canons and the proud government which the Popedom hath establisht by its decrees All this unites together and gathers the Kings of the Earth makes one body one army of persons joyn'd in a bond of a most real conspiracy who fight against God and seek to rob him of his honour and glory The day of battel is the whole duration of the Antichristian Kingdom Interpreters have entertain'd a false notion in imagining that by the day of battel is to be understood the very time in which Antichrist must be destroy'd For 't is the whole time of the Antichristian Idolatry and Tyranny though especially of the last period of Antichrist i. e. of Antichrist declining or approaching to his fall This time is called the day of God Almighty because at the end of this day or time God shall display his vengeance against these Kings who are leagued against him through means of the papal and Ecclesiastick Laws and decrees During three parts of that day and battel against God his Church is worsted but in the last part of the battel God shall overcome These Kings of the Earth are gather'd together in Armageddon The place Armageddon is the place from whence the thunderbolts of excommunications and curses do come forth i. e. the See of Rome and of the Pope or the Vatican whose thunderbolts have so often consumed whole Countries All the Kings who are subject to the Popedom are gather'd leagued and united in this place and by this place Seeing the Prophet had represented the papal Laws as spirits and persons he ought in the same manner to represent the Excommunication or Curse as a place which unites and gathers together the men who are contain'd in it Behold I come as a thief blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame This is a Parenthesis which hath relation to the battel that the papal laws censures interdicts anathema's decisions and Papists do fight against the Truth and the Faith to admonish the faithfull that they be upon their guard against so many assaults and so many lying Oracles which deceive the minds and hearts of men Why God places these three unclean spirits of papery under the sixth viol First reason There remains only one difficulty and that is to know why the Holy Ghost places these papal spirits or Laws under the sixth viol but the reasons are evident enough This sixth viol begins its period in the year 1390. when the Turks began to
were ever seen Nay if we should interpret these changes which ought to happen onely by those which fell out in the last age surely we may say that never were greater and more surprizing alterations The Earthquake signifies the great change of the world by the Reformation In less then twenty or thirty years a great part of the Christian World was Reformed And at the same time there were dreadfull wars troubles and sheddings of blood in Germany in Flanders in Holland in England and in France as every body knows V. 19. And the great City was divided into three parts Behold something which does furnish us with a plain Character of this last period and of this last viol These words have not hitherto been understood but I perswade my self that it will be judged that they can be understood We have already said and shall hereafter prove it that the great City is not Rome strictly taken but Rome made up and joyn'd with its whole Empire In a word this City is the Antichristian Kingdom otherwise called the Latin Church A remarliable prediction of the division of the Latin Church into three principal parts Papists Lutherans and Reformed This City upon the pouring out of the seventh viol was to be divided into three parts This is exactly come to pass at the preaching of the Reformers the Antichristian Kingdom was divided into three one part remain'd with Antichrist one part did separate from him under the name of the Ausburg Confession A third part did separate under the Confession of those who are barely styled the Reformed Sweden Denmark and a great part of Germany make the second part England the Vnited Provinces the reformed part of France a part of Germany make the third part These are the three grand parts that divide the Western Church which is the great City Let this be attentively minded for I affirm that this passage does as it were speak with a tongue and is able alone to convince that our System of the seven plagues is a most undoubted truth This division of the great City into three parts so clearly points out the three Communions of the Latin Church that to deny it can proceed onely from unreasonable passion and opiniatrety And if we have hit upon the truth in this point we have done so in all for if this Character of the seventh plague is true and is already accomplisht all the other plagues are also accomplisht and if they are accomplisht I do boldly affirm they cannot be apply'd to any other events then those to which we have apply'd them And it must not be hoped that to obscure this evidence a fourth part may be made viz. the Church of England because of the controversies about Church government for the Church of England never refused to receive other Reformed ones into her Communion nor have these again ever refused to receive her into theirs We have alway professed the same Religion with the Church of England on the account of the perfect agreement of our Doctrine notwithstanding the difference of discipline and government When as the Lutherans have constantly refused to receive the Reformed into their Communion There is among the Lutherans themselves a difference in point of government Sweden hath Bishops Denmark hath none at least not such Bishops as those of Sweden and England and nevertheless this makes not a different Sect. There is also the same difference among the Reformed on this side the Sea for the Superintendants who are in many Reformed Churches of Germany are real Bishops and notwithstanding the Reformed are not divided one from another Thus in truth there are but three grand parts into which the Latin Church is divided i. e. Papists Lutherans and Reformed as they are called by one another or Catholiks Reformed Evangelici as they style themselves And the Cities of the Nations fell i. e. they fell with respect to Popery they departed out of the Antichristian Kingdom in the same sense that in the eleventh Chapter 't is said that the tenth part of the City fell And great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath These words let us see that the expression It is done did not signify the very point of the final ruin of the Antichristian Kingdom For behold after 't was said It is done Babylon comes in remembrance before God to give her the cup. Now these expressions signify both the future and the present time And indeed 't is within the duration of this period that God will remember Babylon to give her the last cup of his wrath And observe it that the great Babylon comes not in remembrance before God to give her the cup i. e. the last cup of her ruin till after her dividing into three parts This division is not her total ruin but after that she shall be thus divided into Papists Lutherans and Calvinists then God will prepare to give her the last cup of his wrath Which signifies that the division of the Latin Church into three parts must continue untill the compleat ruin of popery V. 20. And every Island fled away and the mountains were not found This is nothing but a Paraphrase and a description of the Earthquake which he had spoken of a little before for these are the effects of Earthquakes where mountains once stood they are not to be seen new Islands are produced and the old ones are often swallowed up But yet if any will interpret Islands to signify lesser States and Mountains great ones I do not contradict it for 't is really true that the Reformation hath already taken away from the Popedom and shall yet take away all States both small and great V. 21. And there fell upon men a great hail out of Heaven i. e. upon the Subjects of Antichrist this signifies the judgments of God which fall upon this Kingdom and these judgements are well known for it hath suffered of all kinds wars famines pestilences mortalities And men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail The Subjects of the Popedom have not hitherto been converted by all these chastisements but have always stuck firm to the Kingdom and Seat of the Beast whose head is cover'd with names of blasphemies The seven hour-glasses being run out the Kingdom of Autichrist must be at its end This is the seventh and last viol or hour-glass which thanks be to God will in a little time be run out now we have that which we seek namely an evidence that the Antichristian Kingdom is near its end We need not longer wait for the accomplishment either of all the seven plagues as some of our Interpreters say or of some of the seven plagues as others say It is done all is accomplisht we are in the last period of the seven yea we are at the end of the seventh period I am informed that since the first Edition of this work some
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
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
Maimbourg should publish one history upon another of the declining of the Empire Of the Croisades Of the Schism of the Greeks Of the great Schism of the West Of Lutheranism and Of Calvinism for this purpose to raise our attention unto these great events of the seven plagues which without this perhaps none would have thought of I earnestly beseech them I say seriously to consider this heap of circumstances and to tell me in their Consciences whether Chance can produce and agreement of above a hundred or two hundred points relating to the same subject None can ever make this reflection seriously but he must be convinced CHAP. XVI Of the thousand years reign That in all the past time there is not a time to be found wherin Satan hath been bound Four heads of arguments to prove this reign The first is the fifth Monarchy so plainly promised to the saints WE have done examining that which relates to the fall of the Antichristian Kingdom That we may keep our word that we gave in the Title of our second part we must now enquire what must happen to the Church after that great event This laid down in the 20 chapter of the Revelation in these terms v. 1. And I saw an Angel come down from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand v. 2. And he laid hold on the dragon that old serpent which is the devil and Satan and bound him a thousand years v. 3. And cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled and after that he must be loosed a little season v. 4. And I saw thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was given unto them and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Iesus and for the word of God and which had not worshipped the beast neither his image neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years v. 5. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished This is the first resurrection Behold the Text which is the subject to so many doubts and so many controversies Behold that which hath made the pretended Hereticks who are call'd Chiliasts and Millenaries I mean not those Chiliasts who have believed a thousand years reign of the Church during which time it must enjoy according to their opinion the carnal and sinful pleasures of the world these were filthy spirits which came out of the Dragons mouth A distinction between carnal and spiritual Millenaries But as for those who believe that after the ruin of Antichrist and before the end of the world God reserves to himself a period of a thousand years in which he must reign by himself and his people pour out upon them an abundance of his spirit bring al Nations to his knowledge govern them with a golden scepter and no longer with an iron one secure them from all evil and from all danger of corruption as for these I say the time is coming and that very shortly that men shall be ashamed that they have branded them with the names of Chiliasts of Millenaries and fifth Monarchymen I have former by observed that there is something that is surprizing and divine in the due understanding of Prophecies We wonder at the strange stupidity of the Jews who do not discern in their own Oracles our Jesus and their Messias We are Astonisht at the dismal blindness of the Papists who do not see the Beast and Antichrist in that which they call their Holy See and their Holy Church God hath had reasons why he hath given these men eyes that they should not see and a heart void of understanding Certainly here is the same thing There must be a blindness greater then can be imagined 'T is surprising that men have not seen in the Scripture the Reign of Jesus Christ on the earth in those who see not this Kingdom of Iesus Christ and the Church which must make the seventh Period of the world There is something supernaturall in this blindness I had this favour from God that I saw this Reign in the Scriptures ever since I was able to read and understand them without having read either any Commentaries upon the Revelation or writings of the Millenaries I hope to make out the truth of this Reign with such clearness that if shall be difficult to shake any doubt of it It is impossible to find in the time by-past room for the Period of a thousand years in which Satant must be bound First it is agreed on all hands that within the duration of the Church we must necessarily find a Period of a thousand years in which it may be said that Satan hath been bound i.e. hindred in his designs which are seduction and persecution This it too plain to be denyed But where shall we find this Period I am sorry to see so great so learned and so holy a person as Vsher Archbishop of Armagh to place this period of a thousand years within the time of Christs Incarnation and the eleventh Age. How can any one say that the Devil was bound during that space Is it with respect to seduction In the three first Ages did he not seduce men Were not the Pagans seduced Their Religion was it not the Ruling Religion There were Christians I grant but I am perswaded that they were not the fiftieth part of the whole Roman Empire In the succeeding Ages hath he not set on foot that grand seduction that is called the Beast the False Prophet the Kingdom of Antichrist Hath he not brought Idolatry into the Church the abomination into the sanctuary such tyranny pride and corruption of manners that there was never greater among the Pagans With respect to persecution hath he been bound how much blood hath shed how many Butcheries hath he acted how many Massacres what a great number of Martyrs Can it enter into any mans thoughts that this should be called the Period of Satans binding He was never so broken loose The falsity of their hypothesis who begin them at Constantin What do those gain who come three hundred years lower and hold that Santan began to be bound at the time of Constantin They must upon that principle place their ending at the year thirteen hundred and so include within their Period of the thousand years the rage of the Beast who hath fed upon the blood of the saints the seductions of the false Prophet who makes the Image of the Beast to be worshipped and the whole world to run after him who obligeth all men to bear his mark upon their foreheads who makes war against the Saints and overcometh them In one word they must take in into their Period of Santans binding that space of time in which