things 1st He studies to prove that the Vials have for a long time been pouring forth that the effusion of the six first is already past and that the seventh having been a pouring out for these hundred and sixty years will be suddenly empty and issue in the total ruin of the Papal Empire 2ly He endeavours to refute the reasons by which the Anonymous Author pretends to have proved that there is not so much as one of the Vials yet poured out and that they shall not be untill under the sounding of the 7th Trumpet The foundation upon which Mr. Jurieu hath built his Commentary on the 16th Chapter of the Revelation consists in this that he considers the Seven Vials as Seven Periods of Time. Which Periods he makes to begin in the tenth Century so that according to him the first of the seven plagues which produced the Noisome Sore fell upon the tenth Age and this first period lasted above 150 years and extended a great way into the eleventh Century The Second and Third plagues which fell upon the Sea and upon the Rivers and converted them into Blood and which he will have to be nothing else save the Croisado's reached from the Eleventh Age to the thirteenth The fourth plague that fell upon the Sun and which scorched men with fire is that which according to him befell the Pope upon the increase of his Authority when he became a Tyrant over the World whereas before he had been a Tyrant only over the Church And this Period he say's continued from the year 1074. until the End of the fourteenth Age. The fifth which is that which fell upon the Seat of the Beast he will have to be the translation of the Papal Seat and Court to Avignon that rendred the Papal Kingdom full of darkness and which lasted from 1305. until 1440. The sixth Vial which was poured forth upon the River Euphrates dried up its water and made way for the Kings of the East is according to him the irruption of the Turks upon the Eastern Roman Empire and this 6th period signified by the sixth Vial he affirms to have continued from the year 1420 till the time of Luther which was about a hundred and five and twenty years at which time the seventh Vial begun to be poured forth and will end in the destruction of the Papal Empire This is the great principle that Mr. Iurieu go's upon the seven Vials say's he are certainly seven Periods of time And from this principle he draws three Conclusions 1 That there is a difference between the seven Vials and the seven plagues That the seven plagues are the judgments of God and that the seven Vials denote the seven Periods of time wherein those Judgments are to fall upon the Papal Empire 2 That all the Plagues are designed against the Papal Kingdom and not so much as one of them against the Empire of the Turks 'T is certain say's he that the seven plagues are entirely intended against the Empire of the Beast 3 That there are in all thirteen plagues whereof the 6 first have destroyed the Roman Empire as Civil and that these six plagues fell under the five first Trumpets that the sixt Trumpet which is subdivided into seven Vials shall destroy the same Empire as Ecclesiastical and Papal and that the Vials have been pouring out since the tenth Century that the seventh is not yet wholly poured forth but that it begun at the time of Luthers Reformation where he placeth the Harvest and will end at the general Reformation which is represented by the Vintage I have heard it alway's said that whatsoever is stiled a principle in any Science ought to be clear and of such an evidence as to set it beyond contradiction Whereas Mr. Iurieu's principle that the Seven Vials are certainly seven Periods of time hath not this character being neither certain nor clear to those that are versed in the reading of the Prophets in which there is not so much as one footstep of it to be found 'T is evident and certain says Mr. I. because the Term Vial signifies an hour-Glass and not a Cup. For a Cup is of another form than a Vial in that this hath a large belly and a narrow Mouth But it is not about the form of a Vial that we treat but about the signification of the Term. Nor is there any Greek Author that ascribeth to the word Vial the signification of an hourglass Neither is there one example to that purpose either in Henry Stevens Thesauras or in Favorinus or in Suidas or in Hesychius or in the Glossary But by all Dictionaries it do's appear that the Term Vial signifies a Cup a Chalice in a word a Vessel designed to drink in or any thing rather than a Glass for the measuring of Time. So that Mr. Iurieu's great principle is more than doubtful but then the use to which St. Iohn applyes this Term Vial do's make us plainly see its falshood In the 5th chap. of the Revelation v. 8. the four and twenty Elders fall down before the Throne having Golden Vials full of odours which are the prayers of the Saints Now can Vials there signify hour-glasses Were Hour-glasses used to offer incense in and to scatter perfumes in the places of worship as well as to measure and design time Surely Mr. Iurieu will grant that Vials in the 5th chap. of the Revelation are not hourglasses but Cups the odours whereof they are said to be full determine their signification to be Cups rather than hourglasses We may also affirm that the Term Vial chap. 16. can have no other signification but this in that the Wrath of God whereof they are said to be full adjudgeth the meaning of them to Bowls or Cups out of which the Enemies of Gods Church are made to drink rather than to hour-glasses for the measuring and defining of time It may be likewise told him that it being said chap. 18. v. 3. that Babylon shall drink of the Wrath of God tho the word Vial be not in the original yet it determins the signification of Vials chap. 16. to be cups because they are the judgments of God which are spoken of in the one place as well as in the other It may be farther said unto him that chap. 16. speaketh not simply of Vials but of golden Vials and thereupon he may be asked whether hour-glasses were anciently made of gold so that thereby the Spirit of God might allude unto them It may also be demanded of him whether an hour-glass of gold would be proper to measure time by Was Gold anciently transparent that men could see throw it how the Water run out as we now see throw glass how the sand drains away But Mr. Iurieu objects that the Vials are poured forth upon the Earth upon the Sea upon Fountains and Rivers upon the Sun upon the Seat of the Beast upon Euphrates and into the Air which cannot be said of drink or of
before the last day So that it is the same that St. Iohn meaneth by the first Resurrection and by Reigning with Iesus Christ a thousand years The same Daniel says in the seventh Chap. v. 27. that after the destruction of the Roman Empire represented by the fourth Beast that the Kingdom and Dominion and the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven were given unto the people of the Saints of the most High and that all Dominions shall serve and obey him This cannot be after the general Resurrection because then there will be no Dominions nor hath it hitherto been accomplished so that it must refer to the 1000 years whereof St. Iohn doth here speak But what can we desire more plain than that Prophesie of Isaiah chap. 65. v. 17. c. where God speaketh in these Terms Behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth and the former shall not be remembred nor come into mind But be you glad and rejoice forever in that which I create For behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy And the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her nor the voice of crying There shall be no more thence an Infant of day's nor an old man that hath not fulfilled his day's for the Child shall die a hundred year old And they shall build houses and inhabit them and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them They shall not labour in vain nor bring forth Children for trouble For they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord and their offsprings with them And it shall come to pass that before they call I will answer and while they are yet speaking I will hear There are many things in this passage of Isaiah that there can be no room for in the life to come yea not in an allegorical sense Nor have they been fulfilled from the time of the Prophet till our day's so that they are to be accomplished after the first Resurrection i. e. after the deliverance of the Church from all her Enemies and during the thousand years in which she shall enjoy a perfect peace We can give no sense to these words whereby to adjust them to the state of the glorified There will not be from thence an Infant of day's nor an old man that hath not accomplished his day's Shall it be in Heaven that these words are to be fulfilled the Child shall die an hundred years old Or are the following words to receive their completion in the state of Glory They shall build houses and inhabite them they shall plant vine yards and eat the fruit of them They shall not labour in vain nor bring forth for trouble for they are the blessed of the Lord and their off spring with them And it shall come to pass that before they call I will answer If we take these words in a literal sense as they may without any difficulty it is then certain that they are not hitherto accomplished nor hath any thing like unto this been ever seen on the earth Nor can we affix unto them such a Mystical sense whereby to shew that they have been fulfilled in a state of grace from the establishment of the Gospel till this time and much less can such a sense be proved in reference to a state of Glory Nor can we avoid the fastning the like Exposition upon that other Prophesie of Isaiah chap. 11. v. 1 c. And there shall come forth a rod out of the Stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him In righteousness shall he judg the poor and reprove the meek with equity He shall smite the Earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips shall be stay the wicked The Wolf shall dwell with the Lamb the Leopard shall lie down with the Kid the Cow and the Bear shall feed together and the Lion shall eat straw like the Ox and a little Child shall lead them They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain for the Earth shall be full of the knowledg of the Lord as the waters cover the Seas I dare maintain against the warmest Antimillenarians that this Prophesie is not yet fulfilled and that it shall be accomplished on the Earth after the destruction of Antichrist The fourth verse does plainly guide to this sense he shall smite the Earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked And it evident that St. Paul had these words of Isaiah in his thoughts when he wrote the 2d chap of the 2d Ep. to the Thessalonians For after that he had described Antichrist by his principal Characters he adds v. 8. the Lord shall destroy this wicked one by the breath of his mouth and shall destroy him by the brightness of his coming Of what coming of the Lord doth St. Paul speak It cannot be of the last It must be a coming that may accord what is said by the Apostle with what is predicted by Isaiah And whensoever the Iews come to be brought home and all Nations converted it will then appear so clearly that Iesus Christ is come into the world that if he should descend from heaven unto the Earth we could not be more convinced This coming of the Lord will be magnificent and glorious forasmuch as it will make the Church from that time forward to appear as an Army glorious in holiness and victorious over all her Enemies There are three things promised in this Oracle The first is a perfect union of the Iews with all Nations This is promised under the Embleme of wild beasts dwelling and feeding peaceably with the Lamb and with the Ox. When was it that this was seen In the times of the Apostles when the Iews and Gentiles were converted by St. Peter and his fellow Apostles I do affirm that there was nothing then seen save a small pattern of the accomplishment of this prophecy Nor was that the time of the conversion of the Iews but rather of their rejection And the peace which appeared then in the Church made up of Jews and Gentiles was of too short a continuance to express all the Force and the whole extent of this Union and of this harmony of agreement which the Prophecy before us of Isaiah gives ground to hope for The 2d is an abundance and large diffusion of the knowledg of the true God. This is expresly promised in these words the whole Earth shall be full of the knowledg of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea. From the time of the Apostles till our day's there hath been nothing seen that may answer the greatness of this promise The darkness of Paganism prevailed in the Roman Empire till Constantine That of Arianism-followed soon after that of Heathenism And that of Antichristianism hath reigned for above these twelve hundred years and is not yet dissipated
a very imperfect account of this Divine Book and leave the Reader under great deficiency as to the knowledg of it There are divers of the Refugies who had the sight of this Discourse while they were in France For the Author had finished it near the end of August 1685. about two day 's before the arrival of the new Missionaries the Dragoons who plundred him of all he had So that this was the whole that he was able to save out of that doleful Ship-wreck which since his arrival at a place of security he hath reviewed and corrected in several places And having met with the Accomplishment of Prophecies written by the famous Monsr Jurieu the Author was exceedingly pleased to find that he had explained the 11 th Chap. as promissory of there establishment of the Reformed in France according as that great Man hath done And whereas it may be feared lest this conformity in their opinions seconded with a general hope should make the Protestants who remain still in France the more inclinable to abide there tho they may find opportunities of making their escape he thinks fit to admonish them as from God to obey immediately that Heavenly voice Come out of Babylon my people lest pertaking of her sins ye rereive also of her plagues And to let them know that they cannot go to Mass without either worshipping the Beast or worshipping his Image or without either having his Name or the Number of his Name and without receiving his Mark either in their Foreheads or in their Hands And by becoming inrolled in that list they cease to be of the Number of the 144000. that are sealed and of those who are to Reign with Jesus Christ And as they cannot worship the Host which is but a Creature without being Idolaters so they cannot plead that in their hearts they do it not without the being Hypocrites and through being either Idolaters or Hypocrites they derive upon themselves the Judgments of God. Neither are they to make the Accomplishment of Prophecies nor these Illustrations upon the Apocalypse the Rule of their conduct but they are to govern themselves by the alone Word of God which requires them to beware of Idols to withdraw from Idolaters and to fly from one place to another in time of Persecution and that not only to the hazarding their Estates and their Liberties but their very lives as thousands of Exiles of all qualities Sexes and Ages have done The infinite mercy of God his ineffable and immense Wisdom his Titles of mighty in Power wonderful in Counsel the strong God who can do both above our thoughts and our desires his being a God to whom vengeance belongeth a jealous God who worketh all things for the glory of his Name together with the Intercession of Jesus which is the retreat of an innumerable company of Souls that pray to God day and night for the turning his anger away from his people These I say are Considerations which afford infinitely more solid foundations for the support of our hopes in reference to the re-establishment of the Reformed in France than all human conjectures and reasonings can administer But how firm soever the foundation is that this hope is built upon yet it ought not to hinder those who know the Idolatry of the Romish Church either from withdrawing immediately out of the Kingdom provided they can find a door open to escape or from repairing the injury which through their sacrilegious Abjuration they have done to Religion by a publick and constant Confession of the Truth for the time to come Finally the Author made use of no Books towards the composure of this Discourse save of Launay's Commentary published under the name of Jonas le Buy Sr. de la Perie and of the Synopsis Criticorum He chiefly follows Launay as having a great esteem for his judgment as well as his Learning and as thinking that so good a Guide could not conduct him amiss He oweth to the Synopsis Criticorum among divers other things the Exposition of the Number of the Beast which he hopes to have so much farther inlightned that Mr. Potters Opinion shall be accounted as solid ' as it appeareth subtile and profound But this Preface is too long for an Author that would equally avoid length as well as obscurity And he hopes there will be no cause of fastning upon him that Reproach Dum brevis esse laborus obscurus fis A TABLE Of all the ILLUSTRATIONS On the APOCALYPSE The FIRST Part. 1 WHat we are to understand by the term Beast Pag. 1 2 What is intended by the Seven Heads of the Beast 5 3 What the ten Horns of the Beast do denote and signify 8 4 What it is that the Holy Ghost represents by Great Babylon 10 5 What the Beast is with the two Horns 14 6 Of the Eighth King. 33 7 Who the false Prophet is 37 8 Of the Dragon with seven Heads and ten Horns 49 9 Of the Woman cloathed with the Sun. 52 10 Of the Combate between Michael and the Dragon 55 11 Of the Flight of the Woman 58 12 Of the Flood which the Serpent cast out of his mouth and of the help which the Earth gave unto the Woman 62 13 Of the War which the Dragon being full of Wrath made against the remant of the seed of the Woman Pag. 66 14 Of Babylon the Great the Mother of Harlots that sitteth upon many Waters carrying upon her Forehead the name Mystery and having a golden Cup in her hand 70 15 Of Babylon making all Nations drunk with the Wine of her Fornication and of her being drunk with the Blood of the Saints 77 16 Of the Lamb on Mount Sion and with him the 144000. having the Fathers Name written in their Foreheads 80 17 Of the Three Angels of the Everlasting Gospel and of the Denunciation against Babylon and her followers 84 18 Of the Harvest and the Vintage 90 19 Of the Sea of Glass mingled with Fire 94 20 Of the Opening of the Temple and of the Smoak wherewith it was fiiled 96 21 Of the Fail of Babylon and the time when 98 22 Of the binding of Satan for a thousand years and of the Millennary Reign 105 23 Of the Marriage of the Lamb. 123 24 Of the Holy Jerusalem 126 The SECOND Part. 1 OF the Throne the twenty four Elders the Sea of Glass and the four living Creatures Pag. 129 2 Of the sealed Book which no Creature could open save the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah 134 3 Of the Lamb with seven Horns and seven Eyes and of his being worshipped 136 4 Of the opening of the first six Seals pag. 140 5 Of the four Angels that withheld the four Winds and of the Angel that had the Seal of the living God. 153 6 Of the Hundred forty and four thousand which were sealed of the Tribes of Israel 156 7 Of the Multitude which no man could number that stood before the Lamb with Palms of
by the 42. Moneths mentioned chap. 13 when we come to examin how long Antichristianism is to continue In the mean while that which is spoken v. 13. is worth the serious considering When she Dragon saith St. John saw that he was cast unto the Earth he persecuted the Woman There had been another Persecution of the Church for during the time of three hundred years She had been persecuted by the Pagans but this is a Persecution begun by Christians or by such who called themselves so The Devil being through the conversion of Rome and her Emperors dethroned and cast from Heaven unto the Earth he left the Church in Peace But it was only for a very short time for he suddenly bethought himself of assaulting her by Error and Superstition The first Persecution which was that by Pagans was open and avowed but this which is by the Antichristian Followers of the Beast is carried on more darkly XII ILLUSTRATION Of the Floud which the Serpent cast out of his Mouth and of the Help which the Earth gave unto the Woman REV. CHAP. XII v. 15. V. 15. And the Serpent cast out of his Mouth Waters as a Flood after the Woman that he might cause her to be carried away of the Floud V. 16. And the Earth helped the Woman and the Earth opened her Mouth and swallowed up the Floud which the Dragon cast out of his Mouth V. 17. And the Dragon was wroth with the Woman and went to make War with the remnant of her Seed which keep the Commandments of God and have the Testimony of Iesus Christ NOW Doctrine being called Prov. 18. 4. Waters of the Mouth this Floud must be a Hellish and Mortal Doctrine because it is the Serpent who casts it out of his Mouth to carry away the Woman and to destroy the Church beyond recovery Yet this Doctrine can be none of the Heresies with which the Church was exercised during the first three hundred years because the Church is here treated of after the time of the casting down of the Dragon from Heaven unto the Earth that is after the conversion of Rome and her Emperors So that it must needs be some Heresie started after the Flight of the Woman forasmuch as it is here said that the Serpent cast this Floud after the Woman as being in the pursuance of her upon her Retreat into the Wilderness Now the Woman as we have shewed withdrew into the Wilderness after the Emperors were turned Christian in that the Church begun then to decay in her purity It must therefore refer to those Errors which were condemned by the first four Councils and especially to that of Arius who denied the Eternal Godhead of Christ and taught that he was meerly a Creature made before all other things 'T is true there had arisen some Hereticks before who had vented the same Heresie in the main but it is likewise true that they never made such a considerable Body as to bring the Church into an extream danger Whereas the Arian Heresie by seising and infecting almost the whole Church had near brought it to pass that there should be no more a Christian Church and that there should be no more hope of Salvation For if Jesus Christ be not a Divine Person his Death can have no more vertue than that of Martyrs It could neither have expiated Sin nor that I may say all in one word have been any ways meritorious seeing common sense tells us that a meer Creature cannot merit at the hands of the Creator who is of infinite Majesty This Heresie prevailed over the whole Eastern Church forasmuch as it was approved by five Councils by that of Tyre that of Syrmium that of Ariminium that of Seleucia and that of Antioch But at length it was condemn'd and extinguished by the last Council that was held in reference to that matter which was that of Constantinople under Theodosius the great After which the Church hath enjoyed rest on that side and Iesus Christ hath been adored as co-essential with the Father For since then there have been no Hereticks owning this Heresie that have appeared in any Body For the Socinians are no more a Body than the Atheists and Deists are The Earth then that helped the Woman and which opened her mouth and swallowed up the Floud were all those Councils that condemn'd the Arian Heresie They are stiled the Earth because they are purely a humane Mean and one which God hath not ordained For Iesus Christ hath promised an infallibility to no Assembly of men or if he have it is to two or three who shall assemble in his Name and not to all who come together If we consider the Heresie of Arius meerly upon that foot and if we put it into the list of Heresies meerly upon the account of its being condemned by several Councils and if we believe that Iesus Christ is in all things equal to God only because Councils have so determined this Faith of ours will be but a Humane Faith and not a Divine For it is not Divine but as it hath a Divine foundation and a Divine foundation is no other thing save the Soveraign Authority of God speaking in the Scriptures I do believe that Iesus Christ is every way equal to his Father not because Councils have so decreed but because the whole Scripture doth declare it even from Moses to St. Iohn and from Genesis down to the Revelation The Councils did undoubtedly determine well when they condemned the Heresie of Arius and in that they asserted the Godhead of our Saviour but in the mean time their Decree was only so far just and true as it was conformable to the Word of God. The Councils are therefore no other but a humane Mean because Infallibility doth not reside in them but in the alone Word of God that is the Rule by which they do judg And forasmuch as they are a human mean they are the Earth that helped the Woman and that swallowed up the Flood XIII ILLUSTRATION Of the War which the Dragon being full of Wrath made against the Remnant of the Seed of the Woman REV. CHAP. 12. v. 17. THE Serpent saith St. Iohn was wroth with the Woman and this was upon the finding himself disappointed of that effect which he expected from the Floud which he had cast out of his Mouth and upon his seeing that the Earth had opened her mouth and swallowed it up And being enraged with wrath he went to make War with the remnant of her Seed which keep the Commandments of God and have the Testimony of Iesus Christ But what was not the Dragon wroth with the Woman before the Earth had swallowed up the Floud and before the condemnation of the Arian Heresie Hath he not alway's made War with those that are of the Seed of the Woman It is so nor is the contrary intended here but it is the Scripture way of speaking to express the increase of a thing as if it were
and Antichristian Each of them had its Vicar Babylon her Caliph who calls himself the Vicar of God and of Mahomet and Rome her Pope who stiles himself the Vicar of Iesus Christ and of St. Peter Finally Heathen Babylon was a Type of Rome Papal and Antichristian as the Redemption of the Iews from the Babylonish Captivity was a figure of the Departure of the Reformed from the Communion of Rome So that we are not to be surprised that the Holy Ghost should under the name of Babylon intend Rome But we must examin all the Lineaments of this Portraiture that so if it thereby appear that all of them do agree to Rome we may no longer doubt but that it is Rome which is here signified by Babylon In the first place St. Iohn says that he saw a Woman Now as the Church of God is represented under the Idea of a Woman being the Spouse and Wife of the Lamb so Rome is also a Church but She is the Spouse of the Pope whom we have proved to be Antichrist 2. The Woman which St. Iohn saw sat upon a Scarlet-coloured Beast full of the Names of Blasphemy having seven Heads and ten Horns Rev. 17. 3. And we have already proved that this Beast is the Roman Empire Which as it is represented under a Scarlet Colour because both its Senators and Emperors chose to wear that colour so the Beast is said to be full of Names of Blasphemy because the Empire was stiled Eternal Rome a Goddess and the Emperors Gods. The Church of Rome sitteth also upon this Beast because she hath succeeded unto and is possessed of the Majesty of the Roman Empire and hath revived all its Blasphemies through calling her self Eternal and Infallible 3. St. Iohn stiles Babylon a Harlot and the mother of Harlots which is as much as Idolatrous and the Mother of Idolaters Now Rome calleth her self the Mother of all Churches and as she stands convicted of being Idolatrous by the adoration that she giveth to Bread and the accidents of it in the Eucharist and the Worship which she rendreth to the Cross to the holy Virgin to Images and to the Pope himself so all Churches within her Communion are Idolatrous as she is Which proves her to be the Harlot and the Mother of Harlots which St. John describeth 4. He further adds that this Woman sitteth upon many Waters Which Waters the Angel explaineth to be Nations the Waters says he which thou sawest where the Whore sitteth are peoples Nations and Tongues Rev. 17. 15. Now all do know that Rome pretendeth to have a Right of jurisdiction over the whole World and in truth She was heretofore reverenced by all Europe as the Seat of the everlasting Kingdom of the Son of God. 5. Babylon carrieth in her fore-head a Name Written MYSTERY Nor can any deny but that this agreeth to the Church of Rome For the Pope carried heretofore the Name Mystery upon the Brim of his Myter which exactly answered to the forehead Julius the second was he who took it away out of his and since then it hath been no more used nor seen And King James the first of great Brittain having affirmed that persons who were worthy of credit had seen the Name Mystery upon the Miter of the Popes that were before Julius the second the Jesuite Lessius contenteth himself with bare answering that we are not to seek for a Mystery in a Mystery Which is an acknowledgment of the matter of Fact and a confession that it used to be there In a word there is no one thing in the Papal Church but what is Mysterious The Habit 's of the Popes of the Cardinals of the Arch-Bishops of the Bishops of the Priests and of the Monks are all full of Mysteries that are wholly unintelligible to the people Nor doth the Priest use the least Gesture nor the least Motion at the Altar or in any part of their Divine Service which is not Mysterious and hid from the understanding of the Vulgar 6. Of what other but of Rome can that be understood which is said of Babylon namely that she hath a Golden Cup in her hand full of Abominations and Filthiness of her Fornication The Scripture doth elsewhere compare Doctrines to Drink or to diet that is fit to nourish so that these Abominations which are in the Golden Cup are abominable Doctrines such as the Forbidding Priests to Marry and the commanding to abstain from meatâ— The Church of Rome findeth it to be more to her purpose that a Priest should keep a Harlot rather than that he should have a lawful Wife which is an Abomination She imposeth a greater Punishment on them that shall eat Flesh in Lent upon Friday than upon those who commit Adultery and Murther which is an Abomination She taketh away the Cup in the Sacrament both against the express command of the Son of God who sayth drink ye all of it Matth. 26. 27. and contrary to the practice of the Apostles and of the whole Church for the first five Centuries as themselves do aknowledg Which is an Abomination She teacheth that Christ is not really present in the Eucharist unless it be the Priests pleasure to have it so and keth the Presence of the Son of God to depend upon the Intention of a wretched creature which is an Abominable Doctrine She every day Sacrificeth the Lord of Glory and offereth him up to the Honor of Saints which is an Abomination In brief all the Doctrines of the Papacy and all their Worship are an Abomination because they all tend to the Worship of the Creature But the Golden Cup by means of which she makes the people receive and swallow them is her Infallibility It is with this that She Guilds over her false Doctrines and her Superstitious Worship They do ingenuously acknowledg that neither Transubstantiation nor the Sacrifice of the Mass nor the Adoration of the Host nor the Worship of Images nor any of their other Doctrines and Errors are founded on the Scripture but the Church of Rome having decreed and enjoined them and She being Infallible we are to receive them implicitely and without examination or otherway's we are to be eternally damned By means of this glistering Cup all is submissively received by the deluded people This serveth to make them swallow down the greatest Abominations such as the prohibition of reading the Scripture and of serving God in a language which they understand and the doctrines of Worshipping the Host the Cross the Pope the with-holding the Cup and a thousand other Superstitions 7 Moreover it is said of Babylon chap. 18. v. 7. that She saith in her heart I sit a Queen am no Widow and shall see no sorrow Which is the very language of the Church of Rome She stiles her self the Soveraign Lady and Mistris of all Christians not only of inferior people but of Princes Kings and Emperors And indeed She is an Empire having for her Monarch the Pope for her
one or more particulars and that this Iudgment was executed by means of the Reformation which begun in the last Age thro the Ministry of Luther and Zuinglius But that the Vintage signifies a definitive Judgment which shall ruin the Papal Empire beyond recovery thro a general Reformation that shall take place in the beginning of the next Age when the 42. Months and 1260. days will be accomplished These two Reformations seem to be promised by that repetition of the voice from Heaven Bayblon is fallen is fallen However they may be solidly established upon the History of the ancient People of God the Iews The Children of Israel had a twofold coming out of Babylon of the Chaldees One in vertue of the Edict of Cyrus under Zerubbabel and Iehosuah a second in the virtu of the Edict of Artaxerxes and Nehemiah and Ezra Now that the Antitype may correspond with the Type there must be two remarkable Reformations of the Christian Church to answer the two deliverances out of the Captivity of old Babylon The one was about 160. years ago and was effected by the Ministry of Zwinglius and Luther The other is to be when God comes to execute his decree against Rome and to make her drink the Cup of his fury Upon the first return of the Israelites out of Captivity all they did was to erect the Altar and rebuild the temple but upon that which was the second they built the Walls of Ierusalem which made the re-establishment of the Church of Israel entire and perfect 'T is to be much after the same manner in the two Reformations In the first the worship of God was restored which was like the building of the Altar and the rearing up of the Temple But the walls of Ierusalem are not yet restored that is the Church of God is not setled in peace and safety Nor will that be till the next coming out of Babylon thro a general second Reformation In a word the Reformation of the Church is at present very imperfect It hath neither the extent nor that perfection which it ought to have Not the Extent in that it reacheth only towards the west and towards the North. Not the perfection because the Reformed are much divided and there are many Sects which disfigure the Reformation But the last Reformation shall be perfect both in its Latitude and in its purity In its extension in that it shall reach into the South and into the East and to all parts In its purity because there shall be no more Sects no more fondness for parties no more Quarrels no more disputes The Wolf shall dwell with the Lamb the Lion and the Ox shall feed together and a little Child shall lead them They shall not hurt nor destroy in all the holy mountain of the Lord. For the Earth shall be full of the knowledg of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea Isa 11. 6 7 8 9. Then shall this prophecy of Isaiah be fulfilled when the Vials of Gods wrath are fully poured out and when the Lord shall have executed his last judgment against Babylon which is here expressed by the Vintage This judg'ment is denounced in Terms that are certainly Hyperbolical But yet we have a hyperbole parallel to it both in the 8 chap. of Isaiah v. 7. and in the 30. chap. v. 27 28. The words of St. Iohn are these and blood came out of the Wine-press even unto the horse-bridles by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs The meaning of which is this that there hath not hitherto been so terrible a judgment as God will bring upon Rome the Seat of the Papal Empire And if the Observation of a certain Learned English man be true that the Ecclesiastical State which is called Romania and which extends it self from Rome to Ancona and to the Ponds of Verona be in length two hundred Italian miles we need not doubt but that this is the place here intended seeing 200 Italian Miles make just 1600 furlongs He who is said here to appear like unto the Son of Man sitting upon a white Clowd and having on his head a Golden Crown is Jesus Christ as is evident by comparing the 14. v. of this chap. with v. 13. of the 1. Chap. and with v. 2. of the 19 ch The Angel that is represented coming out of the Temple saying to him that sate upon the Cloud thrust in thy sickle is the Church calling for vengeance As in Luke chap. 18. v. 7. where it is said shall not God avenge his own Elect which cry night and day unto him Now the delaying to thrust in the sickle till called upon and commanded contains an allusion to the custom of the Iews who were not to put the Sickle into the corn till the High Priest who was in the Temple had given order for it Moreover this is the very same judgment with that which is described chap. 19. where the Wine Press of Gods wrath is also spoken of And the same likewise with that denounced in the Effusion of the Vials only with this difference that what the Vintage expresseth in general the Vials declare in particular XIX ILLUSTRATION Of the Sea of Glass mingled with Fire REV. CHAP. 15. v. 2. IT being the Scripture Stile of speaking to compare people to waters and a great multitude of people to the Sea we need not doubt but that it is the Church of God that is intended by the Sea here spoken of Now the Church of God is stiled a Sea because she is an Assembly of people And she is called a Sea of Glass in opposition to other Societies of the world which are tempestuous and muddy whereas the Society of Belivers is clean and peaceable being justified thro the blood of Jesus Christ and Sanctified by the Spirit of Regeneration Fire is mingled with this Sea because of the afflictions and persecutions which the Church hath suffered from Babylon As for those who had gotten the Victory over the Beast and over his Image and over his mark over the number of his Name and who stand upon this Sea of Glass with the harps of God in their hands and who sing the song of Moses of the Lamb. They can be no other than the Confessors and Martyr's who died in the faith of the Lord victorious over all the persecutions of Babylon And who are here compared to the Israelites that sung a song to the honor of God upon their having passed through the red Sea and seen the entire destruction of their Enemies And whereas 't is said of these conquerors over the Beast that they stood upon a Sea of Glass he meaneth no more than their being upon the shore For it is certain that this phrase upon the Sea doth else where signify the being meerly upon the Seashore 1 Kings 4. 20. where the sand by the Sea shore is spoken of as being upon the Sea. For these blessed Martyrs may be said to be
Censer and filled it with fire of the Altar and cast it into the Earth and there were voyces and thundrings and lighnings and an Earthquake TRumpets were used under the Law for two uses One was for War and to encourage the people to fight The other was for peace and to stir up the people to a holy rejoicing Those spoken of here are of the first sort The Seven Angels are the denouncers of those Evils which God was to pour out upon the Church to punish her decay in zeal and Charity The other Angel who stood before the Golden Altar with a Golden Censer is Jesus Christ that appeared in the 7. Chap. with the Seal of God and appeareth now as a Priest with a Censer that is to say as an Intercessor And his Intercession appeareth here with two different effects one for his people in obtaining their prayers to be accepted and his giving value to them is figured by incense The other against false Christians upon whom he scattereth fire from off the Altar This is the fire of division whereof Christ speaks Luke 12. 49 51. I am come to send fire on the earth Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on Earth I tell you nay but rather division 'T is said that this fire was taken off the Altar because it was to be kindled in a Church destitute of zeal and charity and because this fire of division was to be about Religion as the subject of it and by reason that Jesus Câ—rist was to be the cause of it or at least the pretence The voices thundrings lightnings and Earthquake that ensued upon the Scattering of this fire do plainly represent the strifes quarrels and troubles which under the Reign of Constantin and his Successors broke out among the Bishops and Pastors Who being given up to covetousness luxury and ambition raised such troubles as shook the Christian Religion and opened a door to Antichristianism which did appear under the Trumpets X. ILLUSTRATION Of the first Trumpet and of the Hail Fire and Blood. REV. CHAP. 8. V. 1. And the seven Angels which had the Seven Trumpets prepared themselves to sound V. 7. And the first Angel sounded and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood and they were cast upon the Earth and the third part of the Trees was burnt up and all green Grass was burnt up WE find not in History any change that befell the Church so near to the withholding the winds and to the Silence for half an hour i. e. so near to the peaceable Reign of Constantin which either more opened a door to Antichristianism or which better correspondeth to this Hail to this fire and to this blood caused by this first Trumpet than that so much noted Heresie of Arius 1 Arianism begun to lift up its head under the Reign of Constantin The Church had no sooner peace than the Devil let loose this Heretick to trouble her 2 This Heresie infected the whole Empire The world saith St. Ierom trembleth and is amased to see it self become Arian It lasted near three hundred years Many Councils were assembled to stop its course And it was in these Councils that the Bishop of Rome laid the foundation of that Supremacy which made him afterward to be considered and feared as the Head the judg and the absolute Monarch both of the world and of the Church 3 The hail the fire and the blood do admirably agree to that Heresie 'T is called Hail by reason both of its violence and of the noise which it made and because of the barrenness and coldness which it begot in mens hearts out of which it drove away godliness and charity 'T is stiled Fire because of the contentions which it kindled And it is called Blood by reason of the bloody persecutions which it raised And whereas she third part of the Trees and every green Herb are said to have been burnt up it is because more than one half of the Pastors who are designed by Trees and the generality of the people signified by all green Grass were infected with it XI ILLUSTRATION Of the second Trumpet A Mountain Burning cast into the Sea and a third part of it became Blood. REV. CHAP. 8. V. 8. And the second Angel sounded and as it were a great Mountain burning with fire was cast into the Sea and the third part of the Sea became blood V. 9. And the third part of the Creatures which were in the Sea and had life died and the third part of the Ships were destroyed 'T Is certain that Mountains do in the language of the Prophets signify the Kingdoms of the Earth Thus Mount Sion signifieth the Church which is the Kingdom of God. And thus 't is said Isaiah chap. 2. v. 14. that the day of the Lord shall be against all the high Mountains that is against all Nations tho' never so fierce and against all Kingdoms how powerful soever So that this burning Mountain thrown into the Sea cannot be better explained than of the Nations of the Goths Visigoths Ostrogoths Vandal's and Gepid's that under the Reign of Valens about the year 378. broke in like an inundation upon the Roman Empire destroyed Rome and who abolished the very Name of the Roman Empire in the West about the year 547. These Nations are stiled a burning Mountain because of their violence and of their swiftness This Mountain was cast into the Sea because it was an effect of the wrath of God that these Nations broke in upon the Roman Empire which was a great Sea a heap of many peoples which the Scripture useth to express by waters Now this burning Mountain is not said to dry up the Sea tho that be the proper effect of fire but it is said to have caused the third part of the Sea to become blood the H. Spirit having a respect to what is here signified by this Mountain namely the fierce and bloody humour of these Nations who drowned a part of the Roman Empire in blood infected the people of this Empire with Errors and destroyed a part of its Cities designed here by Ships XII ILLUSTRATION Of the third Trumpet A great Star fell from Heaven REV. CHAP. VIII V. 10. And the third Angel sounded and there fell a great Star from heaven burning as it were a Lamp and it fell upon the third part of the Rivers and upon the Fountains of Waters V. II. And the Name of the Star is called Worm-wood and the third part of the waters became Worm-wood and many men died of the waters because they were made bitter SEeing Jesus Christ hath in the first chap. v. 20. expounded the seven Stars which he had in his right hand to represent Pastors it must necessarily be that by the Star spoken of here some Bishop or Pastor should be intended And forasmuch as it is a great Star it must be a great Bishop that is designed and the Pastor of some Church which men esteem'd to be the
Zechariah And they are withal said to be two in Allusion to their Testimony the old Testament which beareth witness of Christ to come and the new Testament which testisieth of Christ as come They are moreover stiled two because the Christian Church which had subsisted in the Valleys of Angrogna and Piedmont from the time of Sylvester and Constantin became at last divided into two Branches that are called Protestants as if you would say Attestants and Witnesses against the usurpation of the Church of Rome and these two are the Calvinists and Lutherans who together make up one and the same Body with those that were stiled the Waldenses and the Albigenses The Sackcloth in which these two Witnesses prophesied for 1260 days which is the same time with that designed by 42 Months signifieth the contempt and persecution which the Defenders of the Truth underwent all that time from and by the Antichristian party Nor was there any kind of injuries and vexations which was not put in practice to weary them and to stop their Mouths They were called Berengarians Stercorists Waldenses Albigenses Leonists Petrobrusians Henricians Wicliffists Lollards c. as they are now stiled Lutherans Zuinglians Calvinists Sacramentarians Hugonots Hereticks Schismaticks c. And to these reproaches there were added Fines Confiscations Imprisonments Banishments and Condemnations to death But if they were treated with that contempt and rage by the Antichristian Church the Angel of the Covenant who hath given them in command to Measure the Temple and to leave the outward Court of the Temple out will both advance their honor and avenge the outrages that they have suffered when he comes to pour forth the plagues of his wrath upon their persecutors The Holy Spirit do's ascribe unto these two Witnesses the vertue and power of Moses and Elijab of turning waters into bliod and of shutting heaven The Heathens used to accuse the primitive Christians of being the Cause of all the Calamities that befell the Empire And in one sense they had reason for it seeing the motive to Gods inflicting Civil wars Famine and Pestilence upon them was to punish the Empire for the miseries that they made the Church to suffer The case is the same in reference to these two Witnesses to whom God says as he did to Jeremiah chap. 5. v. 14. I will make my words in thy mouth fire and this people wood and it shall devour them Finally whereas these two Witnesses are called two Olive Trees and two Candlesticks standing before the God of the Earth it is an Allusion to the 4th Chapter of Zechariah where it is said that he saw a golden Candlestick standing between two Olive Trees which distilled down oyl into the Candlesticks The Candlestick there represents the Church and the two Olive Trees represent Zerobabel and Iehoshua by whom the Church of Israel was then conducted So that Ministers who Teach the pure word of God are the Olive Trees of Zechariah and the Flocks that hearken unto and obey them are the Candlesticks XXIII ILLUSTRATION Of the Witnesses being overcome and Slain and left unburied REV. CHAP. XI V. 7. And when they shall have finished their Testimony the Beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them and shall overcome them and kill them V. 8. And their dead Bodies shall lie in the street of the great City which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt where also our Lord was crucified V. 9. And they of the People and Kindreds and Tongues and Nations shall see their dead Bodies three day's and an half and shall not suffer their dead Bodies to be put in graves V. 10. And they that dwell upon the Earth shall rejoice over them and make merry and shall send gifts one to another because these two Prophets tormented them that dwelt on the Earth THis Beast is the same with that which arose out of the bottomless pit having two horns described Rev. chap. 13. v. 11. c. It is said also of the first Beast that arose out of the Sea and which is described Rev. chap. 13. v. 1. that he should make war with the Saints and overcome them but not that he should kill them as it is of the Beast mentioned here of whom it is said that he shall slay the Witnesses But whereas 't is said that the Beast shall kill the Witnesses when they have finished their Testimony this is not to be understood absolutely as if they were not to be overcome and slain till after the 42 Months or the 1260 days which the Reign of the Beast is to continue But when they are about to finish their Sachcloath Testimony and when the Beast beginneth to fall and when the Witnesses appear in some degree of honor through the Reformation's being supported by publick Authority then the Beast growing inraged and transported with fury shall make war with them overcome them and kill them So that this War is different from that which had been during the time of the Witnesses prophesying cloathed in Sackcloth That is said to have been made against them as cloathed in sackcloth because there was no Sovereign Prince who did then protect them or gave them liberty to bear their Testimony But this War is made against them after they have put off their Sackcloth and while they are countenanced in their Profession of the Gospel by the Edicts of Soveraign Rulers In that their Enemies made use of Massacres and Gibbets and put the Witnesses actually to death in this they neither use Massacres nor Gibbets but suffer them to live only they put them to a civil Spiritual death as hath been done to the Protestant Churches in France Savoy c. I call that a Civil Death in those Churches that they have no more Pastors that they can no more assemble neither publickly nor privately neither in secret nor apart that they can no more sing Psalms nor read the Word of God that they dare neither stile themselves Protestants nor Reformed nor Hugenots For when a witnesses mouth is shut that he can no more plead for the Truth that is such a kind of death as may be termed a Civil Death I call that a Spiritual Death in those Churches to be forced by the violence of armed Troops and by Dragoons sent forth as Missionaries by the great Dragon compelled to abjure the Reformed Religion to enter into the communion of the Roman Church and to practise their Worship The present State of the Churches in France c. is then a Captivity which the Holy Spirit representeth to us under the Image and Emblem of a Death So the Prophet Hosea stiled the Babylonish Captivity in that he says chap. 6. v. 1 2. Come let us return unto the Lord he will revive us and we shall live in his sight And the Church being in that Captivity is introduced speaking in the same manner Psal 85. 6. Wilt thou not O Lord revive us again that thy people may
his Vial upon the Seat of the Beast and his Kingdom was full of darkness and they gnawed their tongues for pain V. 11. And blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their pains and their sores and repented not of their deeds There is nothing here dark provided it be true that the Beast is the Papal Empire according as we have proved and that Rome is the Seat of this Empire as all men do see So that it is the City of Rome which is here threatned by God with an eternal and irrecoverable Ruin. Or rather this is the execution of that denunciation contained in the 18th Chap. and which we have explained in the first Part. Rome is threatned to be destroyed as Egypt as Babylon and as Sodom This fifth Vial shews us the fulfilling of all this Rome being destroyed the Beasts Kingdom becomes full of darkness Which in the Scripture signifies Sadness and Mourning 'T is easie to apprehend the dejection which the Papal Empire will be under and the afflication that they will be in who have the Mark of the Beast his Name or the Number of his Name when they see that Rome is no more 'T is said that they shall gnaw their tongues and blaspheme the God of Heaven i. e. they shall complain that God is wanting in making good his promises namely that Rome should not perish while the world stood and that she should be alway's the Lady and Mistriss of all Churches of Faith and of Religion Which is a horrid blasphemy for where hath God promised any such priviledg to the City of Rome The sixth Vial. V. 12. And the sixth Angel poured out his Vial upon the great River Euphrates and the water thereof was dried up that the way of the Kings of the East might he prepared V. 13. And I saw three unclean Spirits like Frogs come out of the mouth of the Dragon and out of the mouth of the Beast and out of the mouth of the False Prophet V. 14. For they are the Spirits of Devils working miracles which go forth unto the Kings of the Earth and of the whole World to gather them to the battel of that great day of God Almighty V. 15. Behold I come as a Thief blesseth is he that watcheth and keepeth his Garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame V. 16. And they gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew Tongue Armageddon The sixth Vial destroyeth the Empire of the Turks and their Religion which the sixth Trumpet had advanced to the highest pitch of its grandure For the River Euphrates does undoubtedly signify the people of that part of the world as its being dried up denoteth the End of their Empire and of their Religion After which there will be nothing to hinder either the King 's of the East who shall be enlightned and converted or the Iews who are there dispersed in great numbers from marching into the West to help to finish the destruction of the Beast 'T is remarkable that the Prophet Isaiah doth in the place where he promiseth the conversion of the Iews stile them Kings which as it hath a reference to the Millennian Reign so it induceth to a belief that the Iews are these Kings who are here spoken of The prosperity of Mahometanism and Popery hath kept back the Iews from the Christian Religion which those two Religions have so much disfigured But when through the destruction of Rome they shall behold the Seat of the Beast overthrown and when they shall see the Kingdom of the Beast become full of darkness the great River Euphrates dried up then they will open their eyes and be converted The Conversion of the Jews is unquestionably promised in this place in that St. Iohn useth an expression like to what Isaiah useth chap. 11. v. 15. where their conversion is promised For if St. Iohn speaks of the drying up of Euphrates Isaiah sayth that God will shake his hand over the River Moreover it is plainly in favour of the Jews that St. Iohn useth the Hebrew term Armageddon And there came three unclean Spirits like frogs out of the mouth of the Dragon and out of the mouth of the Beast and out of the Mouth of the false Prophet Who can doubt but that these are the spiritual Fathers of the three Orders of Monks who have made most noise and have done must hurt namely the Jacobin's the Cordeliers and the Jesuites Are not these Spiritual Fathers Do they not depend upon the Pope as upon a Deity Doth not the command of that false Prophet send them to the East-Indies to America and to all places Are they not troublesome and importunate as the Frogs are and are not the Mansions where they are Cloist'red nasty and stinking like the dirty pudles When the Pepe shall find himself threatned with a total ruin he shall send to all parts he shall hunt out these three Orders of Ghostly Fathers in order to assemble all his forces But this rendevouz is said to be in a place called Armageddon because they together with all the Enemies of the Church shall there irrecoverably perish as the Nations that were execrated and excepted from pardon for having made War against Israel Moreover what we have said concerning these three unclean Spirits doth not interfer with nor lessen the probability of the Conjecture which we made about the Monks being the Locusts For we have not said that the Monks are to be totally abolished before the effusion of the 6th Vial but all we have said was that the power which was given them to torment men five Mon'ths shall come to an End within an 150 years signified by five prophetick Mon'ths counting from October 1540. when the first Bull was emitted for the establishing the Society of Iesuites who are principally designed by the Locusts as being they who have advanced the Monastick Order to the highest pitch of their power But this doth not hinder but that both they and the other Monks and Friers shall make a last effort to uphold their own power and that of the Papacy about the time when the Sixth Vial shall come to be poured out The Seventh Vial. V. 17. And the seventh Angel poured out his Vial into the Air and there came a great voice out of the Temple of Heaven from the Throne saying It is done V. 18. And there were Voices and Thunders and Lightnings and there was a great Earthquake such as was not since Men were upon the Earth so mighty an Earthquake and so great V. 19. And the great City was divided into three parts and the Cities of the Nations fell and great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the Cup of the Wine of the fierceness of his Wrath. V. 20. And every Island sled away and the Mountains were not found V. 21. And there fell upon men a great Hail out of Heaven every stone about the Weight of a talent and men blasphemed God because
were fulfilled From thence there clearly result two Truths One that the seven plagues and the seven Vials are one and the same thing and that they signify the same Judgments of God Which is against the opinion of Mr. Iurieu who pretendeth that the plagues are a different thing from the Vials that the plagues are the judgments of God and the Vials periods of Time. The other that the Prophecy doth not say no man could enter into the Temple until the seventh Vial of the seventh Angel was fulfilled but untill the seven Vials of the seven Angels were fulfilled Which sheweth us that none of them are yet poured out because it is only under the Seventh Trumpet which hath not yet sounded that the Seven Angels receive the seven Vials to pour them out And that it is not until then that the Temple is to be filled with Smoke from the glory of God and his power which as it denotes an extraordinary mark of the Gracious presence of God in the midst of his Church so 't is that which we have not yet seen This prophecy doth manifestly allude to the Cloud that filled the Tabernacle of Moses and the Temple of Solomon Exod. 40. 34 35. 1 Kings 8. 10. After that Mr. Iurieu had essay'd to overthrow the Reasons by which the Anonymous Author had proved that all the Vials are still to be poured out he in the next place endeavours to confute the signification of a Cup or Boul which that Author had ascribed to the Vials How is it says he that he doth not perceive that the figure of Vials is not borrowed from the cups of Gods wrath but from hour-glasses This we have already refuted and made it appear that tho the Term Vial should sometimes signify an hourglass yet it cannot have that sense here Because Hour-glasses of Gold are no way 's fit to indicate Time which is measured by the running of Water or Sand. And especially because the term Golden Vial is used Chap 5. v. 8. to import a Cup and not an hour-glass Let us see whether what Mr. Iurieu adds next be more to the purpose The form of Cups saith he is altogether different from that of Vials For these have a large belly and a narrow mouth whereas Cups on the contrary are wide above and narrow below which make some say that the Vials are poured into Cups that so men may drink what was in the Vial as I have observed in reporting the common opinion There can be nothing more impertinent than this speculation For whatsoever opposition he supposeth between the form of Vials and of Cups yet 't is certain that all the best Greek Author's call that which we drink in by the name of Vial. And whosoever hath observed Labourers at their refreshment must needs know that they carry nothing into the fields with them save Bottles which have a large belly and a narrow mouth and that by the strait mouth they are so able to drink the liquor out of the Bottle as to empty it But this saith Mr. Jurieu after I have better thought upon it is not the point for I affirm that the figure of a drinking Cup hath no room in any part of this Vision Because the Vial falls alway's on the Earth or on the Sea but never into a Cup. But how could he forget that both the Term to drink and the Term Cup are used chap. 18. 3 6 Which chapter is at least a Commentary upon the fifth Vial seeing we find nothing in it save a description of the ruin of Babylon Doth he not know that Vials being used in this Vision in a Mystical sense do signify nothing but the judgments of God by which the Enemies of his Church are to be destroyed And that unless it be in a Mystical sense neither the Term Vial nor that of a Cup nor that of drinking are any way to the purpose The Anonymous Author had said in the explaining of the fourth Vial that the Sun upon which it falleth is in all probability the Eastern Roman Empire and that as the fourth Trumpet raised the Turkish Empire so the 4th Vial shall shake and afflict it I may observe saith Mr. Jurieu that this Interpretation is contrary to all kind of principles For whereas the seven Vials are alone designed against the Empire of the Beast i. e. for Antichristianism behold one of the Vials is said to fall upon the Empire of the Turks which is no part of the Antichristian Empire That Interpretation is not therefore contrary to all sort of Principles because 't is contrary to Mr. Jurieu For 't is according to this Principle that the Revelation continueth the History of the fourth Monarchy which Daniel had begun And that this Monarchy being the Roman Empire as it was in the time of St. Iohn the Holy Spirit doth in the Visions of the Seals of the Trumpets and of the Vials represent unto us every thing of importance that was to befal it Now whereas the Turks invading the Eastern part of the Roman Empire and their establishing there both an Empire and the Mahometan Religion was foretold in the Vision of the Trumpets 't is but reasonable to affirm that the Vials shall destroy that which the Trumpets had raised in the East as well as that they shall destroy that which the same Trumpets have built in the Western Roman Empire The Anonymous Author had said that the Subjects of the Turkish Empire shall be mortally afflicted by the Effusion of that Vial but that instead of being converted they shall blaspheme the name of God. In opposition to this Mr. Jurieu saith that the Prophets give us to understand that upon Babylons falling all the Infidels and consequently the Mahometans shall be converted I do acknowledg that after Babylon shall be fallen the Mahometans shall be converted but then it is not the fourth Vial which falleth upon Babylon seeing it subsisteth after that is poured out and 't is only the fifth Vial that destroyed the Antichristian Empire I may add saith Mr. Jurieu that it being the Papal Empire which is intended in this Vision the Sun therefore of the fourth Vial can signify nothing but the Soveraign of that Empire which is spoken of and so can only signify the Pope and not the Turkish Emperor But the falsity of this Principle we have made appear by the Evidence we have given to a principle opposite unto it Mr. Iurieu farther adds I may also observe say's he that this is so far from signifying the ruin of the Turks that granting them to be here spoken of it would import their Exaltation Forasmuch as 't is said of the Sun mentioned in the fourth Vial that power was given unto him to scorch men with fire which implies their destroying others rather than the being themselves destroyed The Anonymous Author before his entring upon the Exposition of the Vials had made a declaration which should not be forgotten namely that seeing the Vials contain