in the preceding Chapters where I have shown that Empire and a Kingdom Peace and Prosperity are promised to the Church of Christ in such a manner as hath never hitherto been fulfilled Object VVhen Christ shal come the Church shall be most corrupt 4. After this they tell us that when God describes those Times which shall immediately precede the end of the World instead of representing them as a golden Age they are painted out as an Age of Iron and darkness Iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold false Prophets and false Christs shall arise they shall work signs and wonders to deceive if possible the very Elect. Math. 24. v. 12.24.37 The coming of the Son of man shall be as the days of Noah When the Son of man shall come Luke 18. c. 8. he shall not find faith upon Earth And 2 Ep. Thessal 2. chap. 't is said the Lord shall destroy the man of sin by the brightness of his coming But all this is grounded on a false supposition viz. that there shall be no other coming of Christ but for the last final Judgement which is not true the coming of Christ here spoken of is that to settle the Peace and Glory and Kingdom of his Church and we may be certain that this is meant in almost all the Passages where the coming of Christ is spoken of It is true that when Christ shall come to destroy the Antichristian Kingdom he shall not find true Faith upon Earth that is very little of it Experience confirms this for we are now in that very time Farther when Christ shall come the third and last time for the last Judgment it may well be that there shall be a great scarcity of faith piety in the World at that time for Gog and Magog shall be increas't there shall be a great seduction upon Earth and a great affliction upon the Church So that these Prophecies shall have their accomplishment whenever Christ comes They were fulfilled at his first coming when he came in the flesh for the Church was then exceedingly corrupted and so at his second coming when he shall come to destroy the Antichristian Kingdom For in our days there is a very great corruption and shall be at his third coming for at the end of the world there shall be an Insurrection against the Church and against the Son of God. 5. Object The day of Judgement would not then be unknown 5. It will farther follow say these Gentlemen that the Hour and the day of Iudgement would not then be unknown as our Lord J. Christ hath said it is For if just after the fall of the Antichristian Empire the reign of Christ for a thousand years must take place we likewise know that at the end of that Reign of a thousand years shall be the day of Judgment First you must know that our Lord J. Christ saith not that the day of the last Judgment shall be alway concealed he only saith that no man then knew it concerning that day saith he knoweth no man. That depends on the fixing the time of the 1260 years for the reign of Antichrist Now no man knew for certain at that time when the 1260 years should begin God did not permit that it should be well known till this last Age which is as also the last of the reign of Antichrist for 1260 years Moreover after having well fixt the Epocha of the birth of Antichrist that we may discover his end yet can we not thereby come to the exact knowledge of the day of Iudgement 1. Because we know not whether the thousand years of the reign of the Church must begin just at the end of the 1260 years of the reign of Antichrist We may say the contrary without saying any thing that is improbable that the thousand years are not to be computed but from the compleat establishment of the Kingdom of Christ 2. We cannot tell whether the Period of a thousand years is to be exactly so much neither more or less for the H. Ghost is not so critical and precise and often makes use of a round and certain number to signify one that is uncertain unless when he makes use of a broken number as three and half for then we cannot doubt but we are to reckon exactly so much So that these two things being always doubtfull we can never know the precise time of the Judgement day 6. Object The world would then last a long while 6. After this they say that if the Church must reign a thousand years on Earth the World is yet to last for a long time which is not likely it should because the Apostles even in their days spoke of the end of the world as a thing approaching and near at hand We are in the last times saith St. Paul. The coming of I. Christ is at hand saith St. James My littie children It is the last time saith St. John. They ought to confess that these passages make against them instead of being for them The Apostles called their Days the last times and the last hour and yet almost two thousand years have passed since Those Texts therefore must not be taken in too rigid a sense We have spent one Chapter on purpose in this Book to explain those Passages 7. Object The Scripture speaks but of one Resurrection 7. Lastly they tell us that according to the Scriptures at the coming of our Lord J. Christ All the Dead must be raised at once the Righteous and the Wicked which agrees not with the supposition of the Millenaries who would make one part of the Dead to rise at the beginning of the reign of a thousand years and the rest at the end of it But how can any one say that the Scripture saith that when it speaks the quite contrary that one part of the Dead must rise first which is the first Resurrection and that the Rest of the Dead are not to rise till the thousand years are fullfilled There are some passages 't is true wherein the Resurrection of the Good and Bad is spoken of as that which shall be at the same time and so it shall accordingly be for this first Resurrection will be but of a very few viz. of the Ancient Martyrs The remainder of the Faithful shall not be raised till the end of the World. Many Dead were risen with Christ when he rose and are certainly with him body and soul in Heaven Notwithstanding this the Scripture speaks of the Resurrection of all the Dead as a thing deferr'd and adjourn'd to the last Day because one little Exception destroys not a general Rule 'T is strange that these Gentlemen find so much difficulty in this first Resurrection Methinks they should remember the many Saints who were raised with Christ Why may not Christ raise some of the New Testament Saints at the coming of his Kingdom as well as raise some of the Ancient Patriarchs when he rose from the Grave However notwithstanding all that I have said on this subject of that first Resurrection I once again declare that I am not sollicitons to decide it Therefore I have and do again place it among those things which are doubtful I am informed that the learned and famous Prof. Mr. Witsius of Vtrecht hath thought fit to declare his mind on this subject in some publick Lectures I am told that he agrees with me concerning a great change which is to be in the Church before the end of the World with respect to Manners Union in Doctrine and the spreading of the Christian Faith as well among the Iews as among the Nations which as yet are Pagan He is also willing De X Tribubus Israelis c. 9. §. 1. cap 11. § 17 that the Iews should hope to return to their own Land and rebuild Ierusalem I would ask no more and am more rejoy't to meet with the concurrence of so great a man in that which is Essential than I can be troubled that he differs from me concerning that first Resurrection for I must acknowledge that I meet with very great difficulties about it But when I look upon it on that side and in that manner as I have represented it I find it to be very probable Nevertheless I am far from being fully perswaded of the Truth of it as I am concerning those Arâ—â—cles wherein we two agree These I think are all the Objections wherewith these Gentlemen oppose us For I regard not what they say when they tell us That this Reign of a thousand years is a Iewish vision a Fancy derived from the impure Fountain of their Traditions This is to declaim and not to prove 'T is not impossible but there may remain something that is good among the Traditions of the Iews at least St. Paul and St. Iude believed so The first learnt from their Tradition the names of the Magicians of Aegypt who opposed Moses and likewise those words of Moses I exceedingly quake and fear which we no where read in the Old Testament And St. Iude learnt from thence the combat of Michael the Arch-angel with the Devil for the body of Moses also the Prophecy of Enoch They urge likewise against us a multitude of ancient and modern Authors But I had rather give credit to Iustin Martyr and Papias who might have seen St. Iohn than to all those who have wrote since God hath his particular reasons why he will not that the Prophecies should be understood in every Age. FINIS
render them capable of receiving celestial and sublime Truths 6. Lastly God possest the Heathen with a contempt of Idolatry and Idols They were disgusted and sick of their Gods The false Oracles of Daemons ceas't their Priests lost their reputation and all the World breath'd after a change without knowing why I find something like this at present 1. Since the last Age God hath revived the Light and knowledge of the Sciences which was almost stifled and extinguisht under the barbarism of Scholastick Learning In the last Century God caused the knowledge of the Greek and Hebrew Tongues to revive which was of such use for the understanding of the Holy Scripture and the confutation of Heresy and Idolatry that the Papists do not scruple to say that 't is that which hath undone them In this Century the Providence of God hath carried the acuteness and delicacy of mens minds to that degree that it may truly be said that the most inlightned and refined Ages past were barbarous in comparison with this The speculative Sciences and true Philosophy are brought to that Perfection that all that we had before may be reckoned simplicity and ignorance This new Philosophy doth open and inlarge the mind and the light we receive from modern Philosophers doth help very much to scatter that thick darkness which the Philosophy of the Schools had cast upon the Doctrines of Religion We shall shortly know of what use the new Philosophy may be to destroy those Monsters of Transsubstantiation and the Real Presence 2. I look upon the long Voyages of our Europaeans the discoveries made of new Countries in the East and West and the improvement of the Art of Navigation to be a means which God prepares for the fullfilling that great Promise that concerns the full Conversion of the Gentiles Why did God reserve the Invention of the Sea Compass to these last times why was it not known three or four hundred years ago what it was to sail upon the Ocean far from the shore was there less curiosity covetousness or industry among men formerly than now for what reason would God that one half of the World should live in ignorance of the other for so long a time Why hath God in these latter days more visibly favour'd the designs which men have always had to inrich themselves by Commerce and Trade going in pursuit of riches to the end of the World for my own part I cannot but look upon this as a work of a most wise Providence discovering to us unknown People whose Conversion he intends to bring about within a short Time. 3. I consider the great number of half Christians which the Popish Missions make in the Indies to be just as those Proselytes of the Gate which the Iews made they were properly neither Iews nor Christians but were the seed of Christianity These Eastern Converts which are made by Papists are neither Heathens nor Christians but they will be the first part of the Harvest which God intends to have among those People and after they are fully converted they will be very serviceable for the Conversion of those who as yet are altogether Pagans 4. I admire the depth of Divine Providence that by insensible steps and degrees disposeth the Mahumetan Nations for Conversion For this we need but consult the second Book of the Present Stave of the Ottoman Empire Lib. 2. Chap. 2. by Mr. Ricaut In that History we meet with a Sect of Mahumetans called Haictites who believe that the Messiah took a true natural Body and that being Eternal he became Incarnate as the Christians believe Wherefore they have inserted this Article into their confession of Faith that Christ shall come to judge the World at the last day For the proof whereof they cite a Text out of the Alckoran in these words O Mahomet thou shalt see thy Lord who shall come again in the Clouds For though they dare not positively interpret this of J. Christ yet they boldly affirm that this is fore-told of the Messiah and in their ordinary discourse they confess that this Messiah can be no other than Iesus who is to return into the World with the same flesh which he assum'd The same Author tells us That there is an opinion generally received among the Turks within a few years Chap. 12. which is entertained by the best people of the Seraglio common enough at Constantinople They who profess to believe it are called Chup Messahites i. e. the good Partisans or followers of the Messiah They hold that Christ is God and that he is the Redeemer of the World. The young Scholars in the Court of the grand Seignior are generally of this opinion perticularly the most polite and civilized and well bred among them Insomuch that 't is a form of speech very much in use among them when they would praise any one to say to him Chup Messahisen you are very civil and obliging as he should be who makes profession of the service of the Messiah There are a multitude of these People Constantinople and there have been some who have maintained this Doctrine which so much courage that rather than quit it they have chosen to suffer martyrdom There is another Sect called Eschrakites P. 407. They who profess it addict themselves very much to the contemplation of the Idea of the Divinity and the numbers that are in God. For though they hold the Vnity of God they nevertheless admit the Trinity also as a number proceeding from Unity They explain that thought by the example of three Pleats or folds in an Handkerchief which may be called three though it be but one piece of cloth when it is unfolded These are no great Admirers of the Alchoran they only make use of that which they find agrees with their Principles and reject the rest as if it were abolisht Believing that the chief Good of man consists in the Contemplation of the Majesty of God they despise the dreams and gross imaginations of Mahomet concerning the Pleasures of Paradise All the Schecs and the most able Preachers of the Royal Mosques are of this Sect. They are very diligent in their devotions and sober in their dyet c. They have also a great deal of Charity for their Neighbours saying they are the Creatures of God c. They instruct their Scholars to be moderate wise and grave in a word to abstain from all evil Actions and to practise all Vertues One step farther and these People will be much better Christians than the Greeks who have the name and Profession of Christians A general disposition in the world to despise and forsake Popery 5. The sensible Fall and declension of the Papacy is a fifth sign of that great work which God is making way for It seems to be furious to reign and get ground nevertheless in truth it is falling for as God discredited the Religion of the Pagan Idols a little before the coming of our Lord Iesus Christ so he
seventeenth Chap. 17.8 That they that dwell on the earth shall wonder whose names are not written in the book of Life when they behold the beast that was and is not and yet is Fourthly The Beast in the 13th Chap. makes war with the Saints Chap. 13.7 and 't is given to him to overcome them That in the 17th Chap. carries a Woman Chap. 17. â— that makes her self drunk with the blood of the Saints Fifthly The Beast of the 13th Chap. receives a deadly wound in one of his heads which dies and rises again The Beast in the 17th Chap. was and is not Chap 7.7 8. and must ascend out of the bottomless pit or the deep was and is not and yet is Who doth not see that the latter is an explication of the former The Beast was and is not because his head hath been mortally wounded He is however and must ascend out of the bottomless pit because his deadly wound shall be healed and the Beast shall rise again Sixthly The Beast in the 13th Ch. hath ten horns which signify ten Kings That in the seventeenth hath likewise ten Horns and the ten Horns which thou sawest are ten Kings Why there is not a Woman sitting on the Beast of the 13th Chap. as there is on that of the 17th These so exact and perfect resemblances plainly shew that these two Beasts are one But why is there a Woman seen sitting on the second Beast and none upon the first we have already hinted the reason In the thirteenth Chap. there are two Beasts which by the confession of all Interpreters even the popish ones themselves signify one and the same thing only the Beast with the seven heads signifies the Empire and the Beast with two horns like those of a Lamb signifies the Religion And these two Beasts together signify the Roman Empire raised up under the name of the Church and under the outside of Religion In the 17th Chap. the second Beast which signifies the Religion doth not appear but in the place thereof appears a Woman riding upon the Beast to signify the Religion And this for the greater clearness because the seventeenth Chap. is an explication of the visions of the thirteenth For the greater clearness I say for the corrupted Church is much more clearly signified by a Woman than by a Beast In all the Scripture the Church is always represented to us as a Spouse and a Woman and the corrupt and idolatrous Church as a debauch'd Woman and an Adulteress This is too well known to need any proof Behold therefore this corrupted Woman this adulterous Spouse of J. Christ And the H. Spirit could not have described her in a more lively manner and more proper for us to know her This being supposed that the Beast in the thirteenth Chap. of the Revelations is the same with that in the seventeenth the later cannot be Rome Pagan because by the consent even of all the popish Interpreters the two Beasts in the thirteenth Chap. represent the Empire of Antichrist On this confession and upon what we have just now proved we argue thus The Woman in the seventeenth Chapter by the consent of the popish Interpreters is Rome And by the consent of the same Interpreters the Beast in the thirteenth Chap. is Antichrist Now according to what we have just now proved the Beast of the seventeenth Chapter and the thirteenth are one and the same Beast Whence it is clear that Rome must be the seat of Antichrist and that Rome in the seventeenth Chapt. is not Rome Pagan That Rome in the seventeenth Chapter is not Rome Pagan appears not only by the comparison Rome in the 17th Chap. is not Rome Pagan which we just before made of the two Beasts but also if we consider the Beast of the 17th Chap. all alone and without reference to that in the 13th Chapter God never calls the Pagan Societies VVhores and Adulteresses I. First of all there is a prostitute adulterous and debauch'd Woman sitting upon this Beast Every one knows that in the Holy Scriptures Adultery figuratively signifies Idolatry Now we shall never find any one single instance where the Holy Spirit calls the Pagan Societies Women and Spouses Whores and Adulteresses This name is given only to a corrupted Church And the reason is plain because the Pagan Societies having never plighted their faith to God have not broken it and never were his Spouse they are not therefore unfaithful and adulterous in his account So that this adulterous Woman cannot here be Rome Pagan but that Rome that hath plighted her faith to Jesus Christ and broken it that Rome that styles her self the Spouse of Jesus and yet doth prostitute her self to others Secondly This Women is represented to us as having in her hand a Cup of abominations of her whoredoms of which she makes all the World to drink i. e. she endeavours to draw all the Nations of the Earth to her Idolatry Now Rome Pagan never troubled her head to change the Religion of those people she had conquer'd nor to force them to worship the same Gods as she did On the contrary every one knows she carried strange Gods in Triumph and built Temples for them within her own walls Thirdly These words the Beast which thou sawest was and is not and must ascend out of the bottomless pit or the deep can by no means agree to Rome Pagan For this plainly signifies that the Empire spoken of must perish and be swallowed up and afterwards be re-established Now Rome Pagan and its Empire have been swallowed up but as Rome Pagan it is not raised up again Besides we may observe by the by that we do not deny but that Rome Pagan is represented by this Beast for the Beast represents the Roman Empire in its whole duration and in both its periods the Pagan period and the Antichristian period The Beast which thou sawest was and is not there is the Pagan Period and must ascend out of the bottomless pit or the deep there is the Antichristian period Fourthly It is said of this Beast And the Inhabitants of the earth whose names are not written in the book of Life shall wonder seeing the beast which was and is not and yet is This signifies that men shall give him homage and that this homage shall be given to him only by the enemies of Jesus Christ and the Reprobates It is not therefore Rome Pagan for the true Christians obeyed and gave a voluntary homage to the Roman Empire in its Pagan period just as the other subjects of the Empire But since it was raised up again and is no longer what it once was they have no longer obeyed it Fifthly That which is said of the ten Kings can by no means agree to Rome in its Pagan Period The ten Horns which thou sawest are ten Kings which have not yet begun to reign but shall receive power as Kings one hour with the Beast v. 12.
contrary he reckons these to be a victory which they gain over the World and the Devil He speaks of Martyrs when he saith He that overcomes I will make him sit down on my Throne So that when 't is here said that the Beast shall overcome the witnesses this signifies that he shall make them faint under the tryall Which thing ought to be well observed that we may discern the singular Character of this present persecution that hath conquer'd and overcome above a million of souls 3. This victory of the Beast must prevail even to a total extinction of profession there shall remain no more signs of outward life in the faithfull who shall stand for the Truth they shall lye on the ground as dead bodies 4. This murther and the effect of this persecution shall be done in the street of the great City 5. The death of these witnesses must last three years and a half denoted by three prophetick days and a half 6. During these three years and a half the Truth shall remain as it were dead but not withstanding not buried men shall not dare to make profession of it notwithstanding it shall be visible the people who are neighbours of them who shall have stain it shall hinder it from perishing and putrefaction to which the bodies that are in the grave are obnoxious 7. At the end of these three years and a half the faithfull who are oppressed and whose profession shall have been violently suppressed shall rise again after that shall ascend to heaven and shall be exalted in the world 8. At the same time and after the exaltation of the faithfull there shall be an Earthquake i. e. a great emotion and trouble in the World and in the Antichristian Kingdom 9. In this emotion a tenth part of the City shall fall i. e. a tenth part of the Antichristian Kingdom shall be take away from it 10. Seven thousand men shall perish in this Earthquake and be buried under the ruin of the City i. e. that this shall be brought about with some blood shed though not considerable in that part of the City which shall be taken away from the Pope and the Popedom 11. And lastly within a little while this tenth part of the City which shall be taken from the Popedom shall give glory to God and be converted Behold what are the Characters of this last Antichristian persecution Now when I search after the time in which this persecution must happen I cannot doubt but that it is that in which we now are After this persecution shall be over God will begin to strike those sore blows to destroy the Antichristian Kingdom which must be destroyed within 25 or 30. years That the present persecution is the last That none may wonder that I speak so positively about a thing which seems to be as yet hid in futurity I entreat all equitable minds to consider that I have as I think with great evidence proved 1. That the reign of the Popedom must last 1260 years 2. That these 1260 years began about the year 450 or 455 and consequently they must end about the year 1710 or 1715. this being so we are but 25 or 30 years from the end of the Popish Kingdom And if this be so the present persecution must needs be the last since there is no probability that this present persecution being ended the calm restored to the Church should leave room for another persecution which must happen before the fall of the Popish Kingdom For we must allow the space of at least 20 or 25 years in which popery shall be persecuted and attacqued and not be the aggressor and the persecutor And certainly a shorter time cannot serve for the utter destruction of this vast Kingdom For it shall not be destroy'd in a way of violence but in a way of perswasion and because the charm that holds men enchanted cannot cease in a moment The harvest is past a long while ago the vintage must come speedily I have further proved that the fall of this Popish and Babylonian Monarchy is divided into two parts the harvest and the vintage that the harvest is the Reformation of the last Age and the vintage is the Reformation that must be made in this that is present Now the space of time that is already run out since the Reformation of the last Age does already equal the proportion of time that is between the natural harvest and vintage and consequently we must be very near the vintage i. e. the time wherein God will begin the first blows in order to the final destruction of the Babylonian Kingdom These things being so this persecution must be the last and immediately after it shall be ended begin the first events which shall bring the Popish Kingdom to its final fall A time of some length must be assigned for the last fall of popery I have lastly observed that the Holy Ghost hath styled these two parts of the fall of the popish Kingdom harvest and vintage to let us understand that as the harvest and the vintage are not reapt in a moment but require many dayes nay weeks so the two overturnings of the Babylonian Kingdom must not be made in the twinckling of an eye but in several years This hath been already verified in the harvest i. e. the fall which happened to popery in the last Age for this took up five and twenty or thirty years and more And no fewer can serve to compleat the ruin of this Kingdom But if this be so this must needs be the last persecution yea it cannot last a great number of years longer For if the Babylonian Kingdom begin to decline 25 or 30 years before its last and final destruction it must begin to decline and fall within four of five years supposing that it be true that it cannot last longer then the year 1710 or 1715. We must therefore see if the Characters of this present persecution that the Church suffers agree with those of the last persecution which the Church must suffer from the Beast according to the Text of the Revelation And we are about to find these Characters so agreeing and like that what at first seem'd only a conjecture will be able to become a kind of certainty The last Antichristian persecution of which this Chapter speaks must happen when the witnesses shall be almost at the end of their testimony and Antichrist near the end of his reign Now we have proved by the Predictions and Types of the foregoing Chapters that Antichrist is finishing his reign therefore this must be the last persecution It hath already lasted 30 years for it began in the year 1655. when the Duke of Savoy undertook to destroy the faithfull of the Vallies of Piedmont he sent thither Souldiers who made a great massacre but because the time of slaying the Witnesses was not as yet come God raised deliverance for them they defended themselves with success and
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