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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66982	The fall of Babylon, or, Seasonable reflections on the novelties of Rome with the rise, growth, and final overthrow of Antichrist now at hand, occasioned by the preface to a treatise called Nubes testium, or, A collection of primitive fathers giving testimony to the faith once delivered to the saints, being (as the author stileth it) a full discovery of the sentiments of the ancient fathers in the chief points of controversy at present under debate : written upon the first coming forth of the said treatise (but not permitted to be then made publick) for the benefit of all who abominate the corruptions of the great whore and would not be partakers of her sins of plagues / by B.W.	Woodroffe, Benjamin, 1638-1711.	1690 (1690)	Wing W3467; ESTC R27594	163,329	256

pass then look up and lift up your Heads for your Redemption draweth nigh the Epocha of it is set and it is but three days and an half i. e. So many Years and an half and Deliverance will come the People and Kindreds and Tongues and Nations shall see their dead Bodies three days and an half and shall not suffer their dead Bodies to be put in Graves ver 9. And therefore which I note by the by that last Persecution is not to be Universal for if it were where would be the People and Kindreds and Tongues and Nations which should not suffer them to be buried No as it is ver 11. the Spirit of Life from God shall enter into them and they shall stand on their Feet and great Fear shall fall on them which see them So that were there no other prediction of the End of Antichrist's Reign in this whole Book than this alone whenever this comes to pass it is easy to see how short his time is and being so we cannot wonder as it is Rev. 12. 12. He should have great Wrath. Again As to the time of the Womans Flight who is cloathed with the Sun and hath the Moon under her Feet and upon her Head a Crown of twelve stars into the Wilderness where it be proper to date the beginning of it but after the Serpents casting out of his Mouth Water as a Flood that might cause her to be carried away of the Flood i. e. When after the ceasing of the ten persecutions the Devil endeavoured to fill the Church with Heresies those are the Flood cast out of his Mouth and when he could no longer Prosecute his Rage with open Violence to try what could be done by making her persecute herself i. e. As it is in the Parable by those Tares he sowed in the Field destroy the good Seed and this seems to look to that Deluge of Arianism which came in upon her in its full Torrent but against which the Earth the secular powers pious Emperors Constantine Theodosius Junior c. came into her Aid and helped her as by their interposing for her present Rescue so taking Care for her future safety herein in particular by calling the four first general Councils by their Authority to condemn that and the other Heresies which grew up under it the last of which was Anno 451 and from this time or thereabouts till I find reason to change this opinion I scruple not to reckon the Woman in the Wilderness whither that she might Fly were given to her two Wings of a great Eagle i e. of the Eastern and Western Empire both which belonged to the Romans whose Standard that is This I say seems to be that date of the Churches Wilderness-Condition in which she was to be nourished for a time and times and half a time the same measure with that of 1260 Days from the Face of the Serpent and it is observable if I may so speak that the Eagle it self flew along with her into his Wilderness it being not long after that Rome was taken the second time and but twenty four Years when Augustulus was forced by Odoacer to renounce the Empire but of this by the by Once more As to the time of the Beast's rising to make War against the Saints Rev. 13. 7. That Beast which as as it is ver 12. exercised the Power of the first Beast before him Where can that be more probably fixt than where the Holy-Ghost hath as I have already observed with so many Remarks fixed it viz. After the taking of Rome Rev. 13. 4. 10. And the gradual expiring of its Soveraignty that being then taken away which was to let as the Apostle to the Thessalonians expresses it till removed And that however the taking of Rome were so notable a Period we may not just fasten it to the point of Time the Holy-Ghost gives us another note which will bring this nearer to the time where it is to be fixed and that is by making the rise of the Beast and of the ten Kings to be at the same time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at one and the same hour 't is Rev. 17. 12. the Chapter in which he expresly Interprets this Mystery 10 St. John ver 7. c. And when that was History will easily resolve We have already observed it 't was in or about the 455th Year of Christ Nor will the account be different if we take it in the Words of the Angel Dan. 12. 7. Holding up his Right-hand and his Left hand unto Heaven and swearing by Him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time and times and an half i. e. That till then the Power of the Holy People should be scattered but then an end was to be put to it by Michael the great Prince which stands saith the Angel speaking to Daniel for the Children of thy People i. e. For the Jews who were then to be on their Restauration but so as I have before offered it in this Treatise that some time is to succeed for their full coming in possibly that Interval which is afterward notified ver 11. where it is said that from the time of the daily sacrifice shall be taken away and the Abomination that maketh desolate shall be set up there shall be a Thousand two hundred and ninety Days and whereas it is added Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the Thousand three Hundred and five and thirty Days I am apt to think that is the Per●od that will fully accomplish the Calling of the Jews and fulness of the Gentiles till the end of which Daniel is told that he shall rest and stand in his Lot at the end of the Days Which end if the Abomination that maketh desolate be the same with Idolatry brought into the Church in that degree which we have observed about the Year 455 will be about the Year 1715 to which adding for those other two Periods mentioned by the Angel i. e. what makes 1260 to be 1290 i. e. 30 Years then we shall have for the Yeas there signified 1745 or what advances the said 1260 to 1335 i. e. 75 the whole will be 1790 and as the Angel so say I Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to that time for it will be a Blessed time for the Church of God and the Glory of the Gospel One Remark more I have to add to this before I leave it that the several Periods we have been mentioning for the ending the Reign of Antichrist fall in likewise with what we read Dan. 8. 14. 'T is the Answer is there given to the Question put by one Angel to another asking How long shall be the Vision concerning the Daily Sacrifice and the transgression of Desolation to give both the Sanctuary and the Host to be trodden down but returned to Daniel in these Words And he said unto me Unto two Thousand and three Hundred Days then shall the Sanctuary be cleansed For consider

the Explication or rather Illustration of the respective Points I think that is a liberty of Prophesying let me so express it no good or wise Man will Condemn as being but agreeable to that variety of Sense in which all allow the Scripture to abound Besides were it only for the resreshing the Reader that a Variety is sometimes given it is certainly what at least might be excused that his Curiosity and Pleasure are but hereby served And as for the Author of Nubes Testium whose Preface chiefly occasioned these Reflections I hope he will not look upon it as an improper Answer to his whole Book to shew how those Corruptions we blame in the Romish Church came in how the Romish Church it self grew to that heighth at which it is or hath been in any time of the Reign of Antichrist for what will it avail to urge Authorities of Fathers Men subject to Errors as our selves for those Corruptions were they in their testimony all with him if it be proved that those points he brings them to confirm are part of those Corruptions for which she is so highly to be Condemned I would do all the Right imaginable to Antiquity but there 's a great difference between what bears the title of such and what really is true Antiquity The Fathers themselves have they not been corrupted by the crafty Forgeries of temporizing Hypocrites Or if they had not been corrupted is it not enough to abate their Credit that in what the Author brings them against us they either differ from themselves in other parts of their Writings or what is much more they differ from the Holy Scripture The Holy Scripture I say which must be allowed to be the Judge in this Case Nor will it serve their Turn what they usually answer us with here that by giving thus much to Scripture and making every one Judge of the Sense of it we put all upon the Issue of a private Spirit For we make no private Person any more a Judge here than they do we suppose to be able to reach the sense of Scripture all means must be used for the attaining it only this we are sure whether this or the other Person hit it or no yet it is the true sense of Scripture ought to prevail beyond the Authority of Councils Fathers or any other Doctors whatever And whatever the Person be who is so happy as to shew most Reason for the Sense he gives of it this is He whose Opinion ought to obtain 'T is true indeed with respect to any private Person at the first View the names of Councils and Fathers and the like seem to carry with them a notion of what is more publick in Opposition to a private Spirit but all this is but Fallacy and no way the Inference that ought to be made from that which is urged in this matter viz. That no Prophesy of the Scripture is of any private Interpretation Pet. 2. 1. 20. For that is not the meaning of that Place that one Person is more private than two than a whole Council than all ancient Writers whatever but that he and they too are Private and their Interpretation is such if it agree not with the Analogy of Scripture and the sense of the Holy Spirit himself 'T is this Sense taking it without respect to any Persons makes it not to be private and so the antithesis there lies for the Prophecy came not in old time by the Will of Man But Holy Men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy-Ghost It is not the Will of Man the Decrees of Councils the Sentiments of Fathers the pretended Infallibility of any Chair all this is but the Will of Man if they concur not with what the Holy-Ghost hath spoken And as for what I differ from others in who have given up themselves to the same sort of Studies I hope it will not be imputed so much to an affected Singularity as to the force of Truth I having industriously avoided to consult the Hypotheses or Explications of others whilst this was Writing that so I might not be drawn to lean to any humane Authority and served my self only with such general Notions as were before imprinted on my Mind without any particular applying my self to such who might have been apt to lead me The Reverend Mr. Mede's Writings I confess I had long since been acquainted with and Napeir's ingenious and methodical Treatise I had many Years ago perused and was extreamly quickned by them to a desire of being better acquainted with these excellent Mysteries Brightman I had not so great a Reverence for and therefore in a manner wholly declined spending any of my Thoughts or Time on him and as for any thing that is more Modern I studiously declined it as not being willing to tincture the Glass through which I hoped to take the Prospect of so fair a Country Only Monsieur Jurieu's Books I could not well avoid the perusing they being in the hands of an Ingenious and Learned Protestant French Minister who then did me the favour of spending some time with me at my House and would be often speaking of him to him I had communicated some of my Thoughts on these matters and had the opportunity of discoursing over some of the Arguments of Monsienr Jurieu's Chapters particularly that of his seventh Chapter Tom. 1. Concerning the number of the Beast in which I could no way agree with that worthy Person as I could neither with Potter or any other I have met with on that Argument upon which occasion I wrote these following Reflections in the Margin of the Book he put into my Hands which I shall give in the same Words I then wrote them Vereor ne toto hoc capite nimis incertis conjecturis abduci se passus sit Doctissimus vir nec ergo aliquid istis reponens inquirendum relinquo an non potius ad Hildebrandum sive Gregorium VII Tota res referri possit in quo compleri videntur quaecunque de homine peccati vel filio Perditionis praedixerit Paulus ad Thessal 2. 2. 3. c. Et ne dubitemus quin ille designetur Spiritus Sanctus quasi digito indicat Apocal. 13. 10. Qui ducit in Captivitatem in captivitatem ducetur qui occidit gladio occidetur gladio hic est patientia fides Sanctorum Quod sic quoque praefatur v. 9. Si quis habeat aurem audiat quorsum autem ista Nisi magnum quid esset quod indigitaret at quid illiud magnum nisi Captivitas illius qui duxit Captivitatem Quis autem ille qui duxerat Captivitatem nisi Romanus Imperator qui ipse captâ Româ quod contigit Anno Christi 410 Imperante tunc in occidente Honorio in captivitatem duci intelligatur Cepit tum Romam Alaricus Rex Gothorum post quod tempus sic imminui coepit Romanum Imperium ut nihil ejus nis nomen plane umbra permanserit a

p. 71. De l'Histoire generale des Eglises Vaudoises c. the Title of the Chapter is Eschantillon de la Doctrine des Vaudois expliquant leur Sentiment touchant l'Antichrist 't was in the year 1120 that what is there quoted was first Publish'd the Learned Mede mentions the MS. under this title Qual Cosa sia l'Antichrist en datte del An Mille cent vigint unâ cum Symbolo tali sicut fumus praecedit ignem sic gloriam Christi tentatio Antichristi And then goes on to give a brief Extract of it in these words viz. In this Book the Faithful are admonish't that that great Antichrist was already come that 't was in vain now to expect him any longer that by the Permission of God He was grown up to full maturity That the present State of Ecclesiastical Affairs consisted in the Government of false Prophets and Ministers of Lyes together with the People subjected to it's Error That those who are armed with both Powers and are furnisht with all other Helps to found Error and propagate it abroad under the specious Title of the Spouse of Christ and the vizard of Christian Worship and Holiness with their fraudulent Errors and damnable Doctrines oppose the way of Salvation by Christ revealed to the World derogate from Christ's Merits and the Grace and Office of a Mediator ascribing to themselves to Creatures and the Works of Men what things are due only to God and Christ worshipping Saints of both Sexes as if they were Deities and giving Divine Veneration to Relicks and Images Adoring the Eucharist for God and Christ Jesus himself In a word under the title of Christianity they do in reality practice Idolatry Lastly they rage with Hatred and Persecutions against those who love God and are the true Members of Christ That this State of Men not one single man is Antichrist The Whore of Babylon the 4th Beast of Daniel namely in his last state as 't is said that Man of Sin and Son of Perdition who is extolled above every God so that He sits in the Temple of God i. e. in the Church shewing Himself as if he were God Who is now come in all manner of Deceivableness and lyes in them that perish Wherefore that they ought as God commanded both inwardly and outwardly to depart from this Mystery of Iniquity and to exhort all to whom the great and good God hath revealed the same Truth to do the same that they do that they would joyn themselves to the Holy City Jerusalem to the Truth of Christ and his little Spouse To which purpose they now make known to the world what manner of Society theirs is and what causes they have of departing This is the sum of that Writing which by the Providence of God the Remainders of the Waldenses who Inhabit the Alps have preserved to our times from whom Joannes Paulus Perrin having received the Ancient Manuscript of it hath publisht it in Print in his History of the Waldenses and Albigenses by him written in French See his first Book Chapter the 7th and Third part which treats of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Waldenses The whole MS. for its Curiosity is such that for the Satisfaction of them who understand any thing of the stile in which 't is written or are willing to take it in the French Translation I shall not scruple to insert it here at large in the same manner as I find it in the foremention'd L'Histoire generale des Eglises Vaudoises ou des Eglises des Vallees de Piemont par Jean Leger Pasteur Moderateur des Eglises des Vallees Ce livre est datté de l'an 1120. Voicy le titre qu'ily met devant le traité de l'Anti-Christ En ayma lo fum vay derant lo fuoc la battailla derant la victoria en ayma la tentation de l'Ante-Christ derant la gloria C'est à dire comme le fumée va devant le feu le combat devant la victoire ainsi la tentation de l'Anti-Christ va devant la glorie Et puis il suit de la sorte Que c'est que l'Anti-Christ Ante-Christ ès falsetà de damnation aeterna cuberta de specie de la Verità e de la Justitia de Christ e de la soa Sposa contrapausà à meseime la via de Verità de Justitia de Fè d'Esperanza de Carità e à la vita moral e à la verità ministerial de la Gleisa menistrà per li fals Apostols e defendua opiniosament de l'un e de l'autre bras ô Anti-Christ ès engan rescondù de la verità de salù de cosas substantials e ministerials ô ès fraudulenta contrarietà de Christ de la soa Sposa e à un chascun mambre fidel Non une personne particuliere Et enaymi non ès alcuna special persona ordena en alcun gra o uffici o menestier e aizò regardant universalment Ma meseima la falsetà pausà contra la verità quilli se cuebre e se orna de belleza e de pietà de fora de la Gleisa de Christ enaima de Christ enaima de Nom de Officies de Scripturas e de Sacramèns e de motas autras cosas La Iniquità d'aquesta maniera com li seo Ministre majors e menors cum li seguènt ley de maluàs cor e cec Ses Noms aital congregation ensemp presa ès appellà Anti-Christi o Babylonia o quarta Bestia o Meretrix o home de peccà Filli de perdition Et dè ses Ministres Li seos Ministres son appellà fals Prophetas Maistres mesongers Ministres de tenebras Sperit d'error meretrix Apocalyptica maire de fornication niolas senza aigua arbres auctomnals morts arancàs per doas vez undas del crudel mar errans Balaamitiens e Gissiptiens Pourquoy dit Anti-Christ Sa Livre El ès dit Anti-Christ emperço ca cubert o ornà sot specie de Christ e de la Gleisa e de li seo fidel membre contraria à la salù faita per Christ e aministrà veramènt en la Gleisa de Christ e participà de li fidel per Fè per Esperança e per Charità en liqual modo el contraria per sapientia del mond per falsas Religions e per enfeinta bontà per podesta spiritual per tyrannità secular per riguessas honors de degnetâs per delicanças e per deleit del mond e contraria per aquesti modi Quant manifesté Per aizò sia manifest à un chascun que per neun l'Ante-Christ non po esser compli ni venir sinon quant aquestas cosas nommàs foron conjointas ensemp per far parfect hypocrita e falsetà zò ès cum li Savi del mond Religios Pharisios Ministres Doctors la potestà secular cum lo poble del mond foron ensemp conjoint Adonca

if it be said of the first of these Beasts that the Dragon gave him his Power and his Seat and great Authority verse 2. as we just now observed 't is said of the other Beast that he spake as the Dragon But that the name of Dragon for so I suppose it to be in this Vial is here given to the one and not to the other I am apt to think may be from the different Grounds on which they act the former Beast i. e. The Emperor standing upon the same Foundation and exercising the same sort of Power that the former Emperors or whatever other his Predecessors did i. e. what is properly Civil The other Beast pretending his title from Religion the title he holds under Christ as his immediate Vicar on Earth said therefore to have two Horns like a Lamb And therefore where they come to be distinctly spoken of as I presume them to be in this Vial the Name of Dragon the common Emblem of the whole Roman Power is given to the one that of Beast for the Dragon he cannot be properly speaking because at the most he is but one of his seven Heads a●d that under another Capacity than the others are as pretending to hold from Christ for other ends and purposes than the other Heads received their Power to the Other The first is the Beast too ver 1. But the Beast that was to be as it were wounded to Death and ever after not to live but in that Image this other Beast should give him ver 15. And therefore more eminently may this Beast which gave the other that Life it hath be stiled the Beast as 't is in the following part of this whole Book of the Revelation Distinct indeed they are in all their Actings and therefore may very well be distinctly spoken of the first Beast i. e. The Emperor in the Exercise of Civil Power as he now enjoins it for his distinguishing Character be very well remitted to what the Holy-Ghost makes the common Stile of all the seven Heads or forms of Government in the whole time of the Roman Power i. e. The stile of Dragon the other Beast i. e. the Pope for his Usurpations over the Civil Powers with that Jurisdiction he exercises over them as well as others and that dependance they have on him more eminently and solitarily be said to be the Beast So then by this time it will not be difficult to apprehend whom we are to understand by the Dragon and the Beast Not so much the Old Serpent the Devil or Satan himself as those who act under him The one the more directly under the Relation of a Dragon as to him he the Dragon so expresly is said to give his Power the other under the stile of Beast as it is more particularly ascribed to him that came up out of the Earth i. e. As is before shewed at large as he was to usurp upon the former and come up upon the Ruins of the Empire And this as a Lamb though in the Event he should shew himself to act as a Dragon Which being granted the only difficulty will be whom we are to understand by the false Prophet Whether the deluding Spirit by which these Acted those false Teachers and Seducers which act with or under them or some other Person or state of Men distinct from both And for my part I am inclined to think it must be some third Person or State distinct from the two other For I cannot be of their Opinion who make the Dragon and Beast and false Prophet to be the same no more than I can the three unclean Spirits which come out of their Mouths to be one which being in it self a Contradiction I hope it will not be accounted one to distinguish them But who then shall be this false Prophet Who indeed but he who hath falsly arrogated it to himself Mahomet I mean who is known to have assumed it and it is always given him by his Followers and that in preference to Christ himself the great Prophet of his Church and he who was promised under that Name Deuter. 18. 18. Besides it is a Stile the Dragon and Beast Emperor and Pope let me now call them never assumed And I cannot see why this should not be admitted here if we observe either where the Vial is said to be poured out viz. on Euphrates in which the Turks or Mahometans are so much concerned as is at large shewed in this Chapter and what the work assigned to the three unclean Spirits is viz. To go forth unto the Kings of the Earth and of the whole World a larger district than is any where given to the Roman Empire alone to gather them to the Battle of that great Day of God Almighty 'T is true indeed that the false Prophet afterwards viz. Revel 19. 20. and Revel 20. 10. is a stile under which Antichrist is expressed but then 't is to distinguish him from the Beast not to make him the same with him as also to shew how it was the Beast or Roman Empire was deceived by him as he was a false Prophet in the Doctrines he taught and the Miracles whereby he pretended to confirm the same and what was the consequence thereof that the Deceiver and deceived were to perish together Indeed I can scarce forbear to conjecture at least that this Vial looks farther than is yet exprest for when we have given the utmost Extent we can to the Roman and Mahometan Empires they will come very much short of what is set down here I mean the Kings of the Earth and the whole World which is of too wide a compass to be contained in either of the former Only the Dragon the old Serpent or Satan who is called the God of this World and is most properly so in those places where their Jurisdictions do not reach for it is there to this day the Devil is professedly Worshipped at least he is so in some parts of the Pagan VVorld in the extent of his Territories will take in the whole And I would be willing to hope that the Day is coming when there shall be an end put to such his Usurpations I would hope at the end of this Vial to see the Jews in their Return and the fulness of the Gentiles coming in I would hope to see it is an Event methinks but agreeable to the Battle of that great Day of God Almighty our Lord taking to himself his great Power and Reigning Rev. 11. 17. Or as it is Psal 2. 8. 9. Asserting to himself the Heathen for his Inheritance and the uttermost parts of the Earth for his Possession breaking them with a Rod of Iron and dashing them in pieces like a Potters Vessel And that such a time seems to be at hand will appear by that time we shall have gone though this Vial. This as to the first of these Questions viz. VVhat we are to understand by the Dragon Beast and false Prophet The