his Church whatsoever Eclipse does befall her whether by Heresies or by persecutions And that there shall alway's be Belivers in the Earth who shall worship the one only true God in Spirit and truth even as the Angels and the blessed do adore him in Heaven II. ILLUSTRATION Of the Sealed Book which no Creature could open save the Lion of the Tribe of Judah REV. CHAP. 5. v. 1. And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a Book written within and without sealed with seven seals v. 2. And I saw a strong Angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the Book and to loose the Seals thereof v. 3. And no man in Heaven nor in Earth neither under the Earth was able to open the Book neither to look thereon THis Book can be nothing else but the Apocalypse which containeth every thing remarkable that was to befall either the Roman Empire or the Church of God. It is written within and without for the same reason because within it containeth the destiny of the Church and without the fate of the Roman Empire The form of this Book consisteth in seven leaves rolled after such a fashion that the second was shut up within the first and so of the rest The Seals denote the importance the Authority the stability and the obscurity of the Visions This darkness is such that no Creature how honorable soever could either open the Book or look into it That is to say who could so much as imagin the Events which it containeth v. 5. And one of the Elders saith unto me weep not behold the Lion of the Tribe of Judah the root of David hath prevailed to open the Book and to loose the Seals thereof But what no creature could do Jesus Christ hath done So St. John tells us at the very entrance in that he begun by these terms chap. 1. v. 1. The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass Jesus Christ is here called a Lion because of his Resurrection as he is a little afterward called a Lamb by reason of the sacrifice of his death And a Lion of the Tribe of Judah because he sprung from that Tribe according to the flesh The Root of David because tho he be tru'ly Davids son according to his humane Nature he is nevertheless Davids Father as well as his Lord according to his Divinity III. ILLUSTRATION Of the Lamb with seven Horns and Seven Eyes and of his being worshipped REV. CHAP. 5. v. 6 c. V. 6. And I beheld lo in the midst of the Throne and of the four living Creatures and in the midst of the Elders stood a Lamb as it had been slain having seven Horns seven Eyes which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth THis Lamb is Jesus Christ who tho risen is here represented as dead before the Throne to give us to understand that the merit of his death is alway's present before God and that his sacrifice is of an eternal vertu ' Horns according to the prophetick stile signify glory and power Psa 75. 10. The Lamb is represented having Seven which is a Mystick number to signify that nothing can be added to his glory and that his power hath no limits The seven Eyes and seven Spirits are of the same importance And do denote an omniscient knowledg and an immense wisdom by which he is every where present and conducteth all events as the soveraign Arbiter and Disposer V. 8. And when he had taken the Book the four living Creatures and four and twenty Elders fell down before the Lamb having every one of them Harps and golden Vials full of Odours which are the Prayers of Saints V. 9. And they sung a new Song saying Thou art worthy to take the Book and to open the Seals thereof for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy Blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and Nation V. 10. And hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests c. Here is the same worship given to Jesus Christ by the four living Creatures and by the four and twenty Elders that in the preceding Chapter had been rendred to Him who created all things for his pleasure which shews Christs being acknowledged for the true God by the four living Creatures and by the 24. Elders The Harps which they have in their hands are for the singing the praises of God and the Vials full of odours are for the invocating of him which are the two Acts of Adoration These Odours are called the prayers of the Saints because the Incense offered by the Priests of old were a Symbole of prayers as appeareth in the 141. Ps v. 2. Let my prayer be set forth before thee as Incense Some may possibly infer from hence that the Saints who are in Heaven do pray for those on Earth and that they do present unto God the prayers of such as are here in the world But this is to suppose that the four and twenty Elders are in Heaven and that the Saints spoken of in this passage are to be understood of Souls received into Paradise or as men are used to speak in the world of the Saints that are in Heaven which is a supposition without any ground or foundation For those believers that are in Heaven are not in any part of the Bible called Saints but only stiled Blessed Nor is it said here that these 24. Elders are Blessed The Vision is so far from saying this that it declareth the contrary because the very same persons having Vials full of Odours do say v. 10. Thou hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests and we shall reign on Earth Which sheweth that they who offer up the prayers of the Saints that are on the Earth are themselves likewise upon the Earth and where they hope to Reign So that the four and twenty Elders do represent the Pastors and Guides of the Militant Church who are said to offer up Odours by reason of their praying publickly for all the Congregations of Believers And these Pastors are represented under the number of 24. by an allusion to rhe twelve Patriarchs of the Old Testament and the twelve Apostles of the New as they were in the Vision of the foregoing Chap. These 24. Elders and the 4. living Creatures sing a new Song saying Thou art worthy to take the Book and to open the Seals thereof for thou hast redeemed us c. Which words seem to give light to that saying of Jesus Christ in the 13. Chap. of Mark v. 32. But of that day and hour of Judgment knoweth no man no not the Angels which are in Heaven neither the Son of man but the Father Then the Son as man knew it not because he had not offered the Sacrifice of his death for the satisfying Divine Justice but now he knoweth both the day
the cloud not only hindred men from entring but which made that they who went in could discern nothing save darkness In a word they say it is in vain to study Prophesies which it is impossible to know the meaning of unless illuminated by the same Spirit which Revealed them or without attending till we see their completion which is that alone whereby they come to be infallibly interpreted Nor ought we to wonder that a person of parts and abilities and who can spend his time about something else should decline to wast his Spirits in searching out the sense of a Book to whose composition there concurred nothing save human wit and Industry and which eontained only picquant Satyrs upon the brutal Vices of Nero and the profligacies of other depraved Monsters of that unhappy Reign and wherein the best that was to be met with were only some Moral Instructions and a little diverting Railery upon Fools and Villains But the Revelation contains in it the great Mysteries of Divine Providence the Destiny of the Roman Empire the Fate of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and gives us not only a Description of the Romish Church which is the Mystical Babylon and the Spouse of Antichrist but Vouchsafes us a Representation of the True Church which is the Heavenly Jerusalem and the Spouse of the Son of God. All which are matters so Holy and of so great importance to the Consolation of every Believer that knows how to read that none ought to be discouraged from studying it by the darkness wherewith it is envelop'd The Holy Spirit foreseeing the dislike which the obscurity of the Apocalypse might occasion took care to Invite Christians to the reading of it by a most alluring promise registred at the beginning of this Book Blessed is he who readeth and heareth the words of this Prophecy 'T is a matter worthy to be remarked that tho' the Revelation be not the alone Book which is dark and hardly to be understood there being divers parts of the ancient Prophets incircled with no less obscurity yet this is the only portion of the Divine Writings which the Holy Spirit hath tanqa particular care to recommend unto our perusal and study Which doth unquestionably intimate two things 1 That of all Divine Revelations there are none of more Importance than those which are the subject matter of the Apocalypse 2 That whosoever shall read this Book with all due regard and application and in order thereby to be rendred holy and wise he shall not find the study of it useless and unprofitable nor miss the being in some measure and degree guided into an understanding of it For were it otherways the Holy Spirit would not have been guilty of so unaccountable a thing as to tempt and oblige our searching into it by so signal a promise Moreover the Apocalypse like the Cloudy Pillar that conducted the Israelites tho it be dark on the one side yet it is luminous on the other Where the Spirit of God hath given no Explanation of the Prophetick Schem's and where the Event hath not illustrated them there we are still upon the dark and cloudy side of it But where either the Holy Spirit hath expounded any of the Visions or where the accomplishment hath interpreted them we are there furnished with such a light that it is impossible to miss the understanding those portions of this Divine Book without a wilful shutting of our eyes and a chosen muffling of our Intellects When we are to learn crabbed and abstruse Sciences we begin with Common Notions and with principles which are the most evident and so we proceed by degrees till we have advanced unto and have conquered that which is more sublime and difficult This Method is natural and good By obsâ—rving of it the greatest Doctors and the most celebrated Philosophers have arrived both at their knowledg and their renown And if we take the same course in our search into the Apocalyptick Mysteries there will remain little but what we may master and unravel There are some Visions which the Angel who revealed them to St. John Vouchsafed also to explain There are others which the Event hath expounded And there are a third sort in the sense of which all men are agreed So that being first assured of the Scope and meaning of those which are explained and then of the signification of such as there is no contest among Authors about we may afterwards proceed to the rest By this method we shall enter upon the darker places with a Torch in our hand and thereby come to discover all the Mysteries of this Book as far as is either necessary or profitable 'T is evident that there are but three principal Visions in the Revelation in which are contained both all that was to befall the Kingdom of Jesus Christ which is the True Church and all that hath relation to the Papal Empire which is the false These Visions are those of the Seals those of the Trumpets and those of the Vials The rest are only Tablets and Draughts wherein what had been represented in those of the Seals Trumpets and Vials is reassumed inlarged and more particularly deduced and explained The number Seven being Mystical and marking perfection serveth to inform us that these three Visions do comprehend all For it is found in the Seals in the Trumpets in the Vials and in the Thunders which are the Fore-runners of the Vials Moreover these three Visions are so link'd one to another that the Second which is that of the Trumpets begins under the seventh Seal and the third which is that of the Vials commence under the seventh Trumpet Finally 't is upon the Effusion of the Vials that the Mystery of God is to be finished whereof there is mention chap. 10. which consisteth in the deliverance of the Christian Church from all that She suffered by and under the Roman Empire and in the reduction of all the Kingdoms of the World to Jesus Christ which will usher in the Millennian peace of the Church Being fully perswaded that this Division which I have laid down is the true Key of the Apocalypse I shall therefore distribute this Work into two parts The first shall explain the Visions of Chapters 12 13 14 15 17 18 19 20 21. The second shall illustrate those of Chapters 4 5 6 7 8 9 11 and 16. By this means there will be found here an entire Systeme of the whole Apocalypse where one may see the Disposition of all the Visions and the Order of the several Events therein fore-told and all this in so compendious a manner as is not to be met with elsewhere For whether they be Commentaries or other Tracts in which all these Visions are explained they are either of a length sufficient to weary and discourage the Reader or if they be so short as by reason of their brevity to invite one to peruse them they do at most but expound a part of these Visions and afford
hast to put it into practice which succeeded to them according to their desires Calcondyla reports that Mahomet II. being besieging Constantinople caused Canon to be cast of so extraordinary a bigness that there needed seventy couple of Oxen and two thousand men to draw one of them 7. The Third part of men killed intimateth the Progress and Spreading both of the Turkish Empire and of their Religion which reunited all their different principalities in the person of Tangrolipix To him succeeded Asan in the year 1059. just about the time that Pope Gregory VII raised the Papacy to the highest top of grandure And it was this Asan that rendred himself Master of all the Countries from the City of Laodicea in Syria even to the Hellespont of Antiochia of Cappadocia of Bithynia of Lycia of Pesidia of Lycaonia of Paphlagonia of Galatia of both the Celicia's of Pontus and of Anatolia And from that time the Sultans have alway's advanced their conquests and have destroyed the Roman Empire in the East having made Constantinople which was formerly the Imperial Seat of it to be that of the Turkish and Mahometan Empire 8. It was upon the Christians that the Turks made all their Conquests and of this the Holy Spirit gives such a reason as might serve to open the eyes of the Papists because it convinceth them of being guilty of Idolatry This accusation the Papists do account the most sensible injury that can be done them but it is a condemnation that they must bear For saith the Holy Spirit The rest of the men that were not killed by these plagues repented not of the works of their hands that they should not worship Devils and Idols of Gold and Silver and Brass and Stone and of Wood which neither can see nor hear nor walk At whose cost was it that the Mahometans erected their Empire Against whom were they the Scourges of God for the punishment of their Idolatry It was not against the Heathens for there were none such within the whole extent of the Eastern Roman Empire It was at the expence of Christians that the Turks extended both their Empire and their Religion And therefore seeing the Holy Ghost declareth that the punishing the Idolatry of Christians was the reason of loosing of the four Angels in the River Euphrates to commit so many Murders it is from thence evident that the Christians who were subdued were Idolaters and also apparent wherein their Idolatry consisted Namely in this that they worshipped Devils and Idols of Gold of Silver of Brass of Stone and of Wood. Nor can it be denied but that the Roman Church is guilty of the same crime If it shall be said that the Roman Church doth not worship Devils as those mentioned in the Text are said to have done I answer first that the word in the Original is Demons which signifieth properly inferior and lower Gods Gods who are Mediators between men and the Supream God which is a Title liberally given to the Saints in the Church of Rome And in which sense the Word used in this place ought necessarily to be expounded seeing there were never any Christians that made profession of worshipping Devils neither could the very Heathens be said to do that forasmuch as Devils were wholly unknown among Pagans I answer secondly that all Religious worship given to a Creature is judged by the Scripture to be rendred to Devils This appeareth fully Ps 106. v. 37. where it is said that they sacrificed their Sons and Daughters unto Devils The Roman Church does believe that She worshippeth God in worshipping Images of Gold of Silver of Brass of Stone and of Wood but the Prophets do instruct us by the example of the Israelites that this Worship is given to Devils They sottishly flatter and deceive themselves in distinguishing betwixt an Idol and an Image foraâ— much as the Greek Term Idol signifieth the same that the word Image doth in our vulgar languages Moreover they who were killed by the Turks worshipped not Devils They only did as the Roman Church doth towards her Images of Gold and Silver c. Yea She doth worse than those Oriental Idolatrous Christians did For she worshippeth as God the Sacrament which must therefore necessarily be a Creature because it is a Sacrament and which cannot be Jesus Christ because it is Instituted by him For that which is Instituted must necessarily be something different from him that Ordains it XVII ILLUSTRATION Of the Angel with the Book Open. REV. CHAP. 10. V. 1. And I saw another mighty Angel come down from Heaven clothed with a Clowd and a Rain-bow was upon his Head and his Face was as it were the Sun and his Feet as Pillars of Fire V. 2. And he had in his hand a Little Book Open and he set his right foot upon the Sea and his left foot on the Earth THe Rain-bow which appeared upon the Angels Head doth place Him out of the rank of created Angels and gives us to understand that this is the Angel of the Covenant the Angel who is the Creator of whom there is mention at the opening of the Seventh Seal namely Iesus Christ And whereas it is added that his Face was as the Sun and his Feet as Pillars of Brass that is a demonstration that he is the same with him who revealed himself to St. Iohn in the first Chap. to wit the Son of God. He appeareth having in his hand a Book open Which Book is not that of the Apocalypse but that of the Holy Scripture in general For the Six Trompets having represented the spoil which popery had done in the Western Church and Mahometanism in the Eastern this Vision doth foretell how this ravage shall be repaired by the preaching of the Gospel For this is an open Book to all such as do in sincerity seek to be instructed in what it revealeth and who seek for nothing besides what is there If our Gospel be hid saith St. Paul it is hid to them that are lost whom the God of this world hath blinded 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. Mahometanism and Popery have shut this Book by exacting a blind Obedience by forbidding the examination of their Doctrine and by interdicting people from reading of the word of God. But the time will come that this divine Book shall be opened and when all men shall be allowed to read it in order to the Reforming those abuses which through the impudence of Mahometanism in the East and the craft of the Papacy in the West have abounded in the Church XVIII ILLUSTRATION Of the Voice of the Angel that had his Right Foot upon the Sea and his left upon the Earth and of the seven Thunders REV. CHAP. 10. V. 2. And he set his right Foot upon the Sea and his left foot upon the Earth V. 3. And cried with a loud Voice as when a Lion roareth and when he had cried Seven Thunders uttered their voices V. 4. And when the Seven thunders had
uttered their voices I was about to write and I heard a voices from heaven saying unto me Seal up those things which the seven Thunders uttered write them not ACcording to the Stile that the Scripture useth to speak in the Earth signifies the East and the Sea signifies the West that is the Isles and countreys that ly near unto the Sea. The Roman Empire was divided into that of the East and into that of the West So that when it is said that Jesus Christ being come down from heaven Set his feet the one upon the Sea and the other upon the Earth the meaning is that he took hold of these two Empires in order to make the light of his word shine there and to establish in them the purity of his worship Moreover according to the Scripture stile whensoever the Earth and Sea are spoken of the Earth is named before the Sea but here the stile is changed and the Sea is both mentioned first and Iesus Christ sets his right foot upon the Sea. Which is as if he would assuredly tell us that he will make the light of the Gospel break out in the West sooner than in the East and that he will begin the work of Reformation in reference to Popery sooner than in reference to Mahometanism This the Event will clear And what we shall see fall out in the West in relation to Popery will be an Earnest of what we may expect will come to pass in the East in relation to Mahometanism The great Cry of the Angel as when a Lion roareth doth threaten all the Enemies of the Gospel alike and the seven Thunders do presage their total ruin The great cry was heard in the work of the Reformation but the entire destruction of the Enemies of the Gospel is put off till another time namely until under the Effusion of the Vials And this is the reason why St. Iohn is forbid to write the things declared by the seven Thunders because there was a considerable space of time to elapse between the cry of the Angel that was heard at the Reformation and the time of pouring out of the Vials For that the Seven Thunders are the same with the seven Vials of the 16th Chap. appeareth evidently from this in that the Thunders do necessarily signify the Judgments of God by which his Enemies are to be overwhelmed and in that the seven Vials do denote the same thing According as it is said chap. 15. v. 1. that the seven Vials are the seven last plagues by which the wrath of God is consummated XIX ILLUSTRATION Of the Angels Oath and of the finishing the Mystery of God. REV. CHAP. 10. V. 5. And the Angel which I saw stand upon the Sea and upon the Earth lifted up his hand to heaven V. 6. And sware by him that liveth forever and ever who created heaven and the things that therein are and the Earth and the things that therein are and the Sea and the things which are therein that there should be Time no longer V. 7. But in the day 's of the voice of the seventh Angel when he shall begin to sound the Mystery of God shall be finished as he hath declareth to his Servants the Prophets IT must needs be that what is treated of under the 7 th Trumpet is both great against all appearances to the contrary and a thing hard to be believed because it is nor only called a Mystery and a Secret but because to render it credible the Lord would give assurance of it by an Oath But this withall do's give us to understand that it is not the last Resurrection nor that Trumpet of the Arch-Angel which is here spoken of to be done under the sound of the Seventh Trumpet is to be understood It must then be the 1000 years Reign as hath been already shewn and that which consisteth in the destruction of Babylon in the calling of the Iews in the reuniting of Iews and Gentiles and in that renowned State on Earth which the Prophet Isaiah hath promised to the Church in his 62 Chap. that these great things which seem to be above all Belief above all Imagination are here meant intended For indeed who of the Papists can imagine that Rome and her Religion are to be destroyed how few Protestants can believe that the Jews are to be united with the Gentiles and that the Church of God shall have an intire peace on the Earth for many ages Nevertheless this is that Mystery which the Angel hath promised with an Oath shall be fulfilled soon after the sounding of the seventh Trumpet And this is the Reason why he declared that there shall be time no longer that is there shall be no more a deferring and a delay but that the seventh Angel shall have no sooner finished to sound the seventh Trumpet than that we shall see the consummation of the Mystery of God. XX. ILLUSTRATION Of the Angel's giving the Book to St. John to be Eaten and of the Effects which Ensue thereupon REV. CHAP. 10. V. 8. And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again and said Go and take the little Book which is open in the hand of the Angel which standeth upon the Sea and upon the Earth V. 9. And I went unto the Angel and said unto him Give me the little Book And he said unto me Take it and eat it up and it shall make thy belly bitter but it shall be in thy Mouth Sweet as honey V. 10. And I took the little Book out of the Angels hand and ate it up and it was in my mouth sweet as honey and as soon as I had eaten it my belly was bitter V. 11. And he said unto me thou must prophesie again before many people and Nations and Tongues and Kings ST Johns taking the little Book from the Angel representeth those whom the Lord shall raise up to re-establish the purity of divine worship through preaching of the Gospel 'T is for this that St. Iohn took the Book out of the hand of the Lord because it is the Lord who gives Ministers theiâ— Mission nor are they to go till they have received it from him according as he himself told the Apostles go teach all Nations teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you Matth. 28. 19 20. It was also for this that he not only took the Book but that he eat it up because no one is properly a holy Minister if he be not full of the Word of God and if he be not possessed of all Truths through having well meditated upon them This Book meditated upon and well understood produceth necessarily two effects One is a consolation that ravisheth the Soul through the knowledg of the Mysteries of salvation and the hope of an happy eternal life The other is the mortification of the flesh by that Law which God hath prescribed of denying our selves and of dayly taking up the cross St.
Antichrist that the Papal Empire is the Portraiture of the Beast with two Horns that the Romish Church is the Picture of Babylon the Great that the spirit of persecution that reigneth in the Papacy is that of the Dragon and of Satan and that suffering has been the character of the true Christian Church for above these 1500. years Moreover this Dispute will influence many to Read and Study the Revelation who usually read no more of it but the three first Chapters being afraid to look into the rest Finally this Dispute will beget Emulation and give occasion for new discoveries and for the making of new Systemes I am not ignorant what the Illustrious Moros heretofore said in his Eloquent Panegyrick upon Calvin namely that that great man had Expounded all the Books of the Scripture except the Revelation which his not doing of was an excellent Commentary This is a piece of wit where we may see an ingenïous draught of the Eloquence of that admirable Orator but the Theologues of our time ought not to be discouraged by the Example of the incomparable Calvin We know that Doctor who had written so many other learned Commentaries was capable to have explained the Revelation as well as he had done other Prophesies And if he did it not 't was either because he thought he could employ his time better or because he had designed to do it before he should die which his dying so soon hindred the Execution of which hapned when he was but â—5 years old or a few day 's over 'T is to be hop'd that this Dispute will cause many through Emulation to lay out their labours upon this Divine Book For tho they who have preceded have for the most part been incomparable men both by reason of the profoundness of their Learning and the greatness of their wit except the Author of the Illustrations who is and will alway be unworthy to be named yet there is ground to hope that they who come after will see a great deal farther than the former have done as a Pygmee mounted on the shoulders of a Giant is able to see farther than the Giant himself And is not all this of more considerable advantage than all the Scandal can be of prejudice that some curious Spirits have taken at the Dispute between Mr. Jurieu and the Anonymous Author And as to the advantage which some sear this Dispute will afford the Papists both the Catholicks that expect benefit by it and the Reformed that fear it will find it to be only chymerical and not real Therefore I must again repeat that it is not about an Article of Faith that these disagreeing Authors contend To say the Vials Are poured out or that they are Not poured out do's equally leave the Reformed Doctrine in its perfection and integrity And how Learned soever he may be and how much soever conversant in the Art of Sophistry that attacks the Reformation from thence he will not be able to make the least breach upon it Would it not be extreamly pleasant to see a Doctor carrying the Mark of the Beast libellously triumphing by reason of this Dispute betwixt two Protestants and in the mean time taking no Notice of all those Sections where both these Author's do unanimously and demonstratively prove that the Church of Rome is Babylon the great that the Papal Empire is the Beast with two horns that the Pope is the Son of Perdition the False Prophet and the seventh Head of the Dragon and that the City of Rome is the Seat of the Beast Herein both the Authors have just matter of glorying and as for that little difference between them concerning the Effusion of the Vials they have ground enough for Reprisals and a large field for recrimination upon the account of the difference betwixt the Jansenists and the Molinists and between the Theologues of Italy and of other places upon the one hand and those of France upon the other who have made a Sacrifice to Louis the great of the Infallibility of the Pope of his Supremacy over Councils and of his power over that Soveraigns Person Temporal Rights That I may not speak of an infinite number of differences amongst Papists in reference to other Subjects And these are all fundamental points in the Romish Religion and in reference to which they cannot differ without one side 's falling into Heresie But whether a Reformed Divine believe the Vials to be already poured out or believe that none of them are yet poured out he is in both cases equally Orthodox and the Reformed Religion is by reason of none of them lyable to be impeached So that I may conclude that this Dispute if it be rightly apprehended can do no prejudice and that it is of advantage upon many accounts that the Anonymous Author should defend his opinion about the Non-Effusion of the Vials which Mr. Jurieu hath attack'd in his Apology And this he intends to do as becomes a Reformed Divine and as a Lover of peace so that all who read his Defence shall have cause to be satisfied except it be such whom Interest and a false Zeal keep united to the Papal Religion He were neither an honest nor a Wise man who maintaining the Non-Effusion of the Vials should from thence take occasion to vent his passion against a Writer whose labours are of wonderful Edification to the whole Protestant Party So that if there occur any Expressions which may seem somewhat rude as 't is not true it is false and a few more of that Kind he doth declare that they are only intended against the matters in debate and that he would not have used them were they not customary Terms in all Polemical writings and did not the common usuage render them necessary and in a manner inevitable Mr. Beverly in his Scripture-Line of Time in Quarto printed at London 1684. speaking of the Vials page 187. says BUt that we may know they are not yet begun whenever they begin they move with so swift a Course that it is impossible there should be any delay in them after they are begun or that any of them should be enter'd and not all of them in their Order Swiftly pour'd out A DEFENCE OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS Upon the APOCALYPSE Of St. JOHN concerning the Effusion of the Vials MR. Iurieu having in his Accomplishment of the Scripture-Prophesies asserted the first Six Vials to be already poured out and that the seventh hath been pouring forth all along since Luther's Reformation he could not indure that the Anonymous Author of the Illustrations upon the Revelation should endeavour to prove that all the Vials are still full of the wrath of God and that all of them remain yet to be poured out tho he had therein no design of contradicting Mr. Iurieu more than he had several other Divines that before him had been of the same opinion However Mr. Iurieu thought fit to attacque that Author in his Apology in which he attempts two
A NEW SYSTEME OF THE APOCALYPSE OR Plain and Methodical ILLUSTRATIONS Of all the VISIONS in the Revelation of St. IOHN Written by a French Minister in the year 1685. and Finisht but two days before the Dragoons plunderd him of all except this Treatise To which is added This Author's Defence of his Illustrations concerning the NON-EFFUSION of the VIALS In answer to Mr. JURIEU Faithfully Englished London Printed in the Year 1688. THE TRANSLATOR To the READER AS the knowledg of things to come not visible in their Causes is the alone priviledg of God and which he so peculiarly challengeth as to distinguish himself thereby from all those Beings to whom thro the fallacy of the Devil and their own ignorance the sottish and deluded part of Mankind had ascribed a Divinity so the predicting those things before their accomplishment and the Events coming afterward to correspond with the Prophecy is an infallible evidence of the Divine Original of that Book wherein they are foretold recorded In which respect as the Scripture only can lay claim unto boast of God as its Author so upon that account as well as many other it ought to be received and submitted unto with a humility veneration and faith due unto writings that proceed from divine Inspiration But tho many other Books of the Sacred Scripture do sufficiently proclaim whose Oracles they are by this divine and infallible Signature yet there is not one all whose parts and every line do so eminently carry this heavenly character and impression upon them as the Apocalypse of St. Iohn doth For God being to shut up the Declaration which he thought fit to Vouchsafe unto mankind for the Regulation of their Faith Worship and Obedience and for encouraging them unto self-denial patience hope hath been pleased by these Prophesies not only to affix his Seal to all the other parts of the Scripture so as to acknowledg himself for the Author of them but to compensate for denying the Spirit of Prophecy any more unto men in order to their guidance and conduct of the Church he hath left us in this Divine Book an unerring account of all things that were either eminently to befall the Empires of the World or to be the lot and portion of the Church till the time of the consummation of all things And tho it be no extenuation of the neglect of those with whom our Lord Jesus Christ had intrusted with the care and instruction of Believers and to whom he had committed the Pastoral office that these Prophetical Visions were not anciently more studied and efforts made to explain and enlighten them yet the Wisdom of God display's and magnifies it self in the sloath and omission of men and his tender compassion towards his people manifests it self in th neglect of their overseers seeing had the many tragical things here predicted with which the Saints were so long to conflict and wrestle been clearly known and understood before they were hastening towards their period these blessed Oracles which administer comfort to us might have disanimated and discouraged those whose lot was cast in the first and more early times And among other evidences that the persecutions with which the Church hath been so long exercised are drawing towards an End we have this considerable proof of it that so many persons of Eminent learning and singular piety have of late applied themselves to the Explication of these Prophesies and who have not only with so much pains and industry but with so much success inquired into the sense and meaning of them In which list this Author deserveth not the last place who as he hath given us a compleat Systeme of the Revelation so he hath done it with wonderful succinctness coherence and perspicuity Nor do I know any who seemeth to have more happily guessed at the meaning of the Visions which are still to be accomplished or who enforceth his conjectures with more probable reasons and all accompanied with such a modesty as became an Inquirer into things not only future but extreamly Mysterious The presenting my countrymen with it in their own language cannot be ungrateful unto them it being the glory of the English that their piety as well as Genius have disposed them to researches of this natute of whom some have had the happiness of affording that light into these Mysteries that Forraigners are not asham'd to acknowledg the having kindled their Torches at their Lamps 'T is true there are some things wherein our Author differs from the Eminent Mr. Jurieu who hath so well merited of the Churches of Christ by his many accurate and learned writings particularly by his late Treatise of the Accomplishment of Prophesies But as their harmonising in so many and material things is much more to be admired than their differing in that particular about the Effusion of the Vials so their managing the difference with that Christian meekness with that deference to one anothers learning and worth is a singular commendation to themselves and ought to be a pattern for all others to Imitate The present posture of affairs in great Brittain as well as elsewhere render this discourse and others of the like complexion exceeding seasonable For while the Factors for Rome are endeavouring to put such a varnish upon the Papal Church as may serve to allure and delude the silly into her communion behold she is here represented in lines and colours originally drawn by the H. Spirit that are fit to excite and kindle all mens loathing and abhorrency of her And while the Popish Missionaries flatter themselves with hopes fright others with menaces of their bringing the world into slavery and bondage again to the Triple Crown lo we have not only the approaching downfal of Babylon here demonstrated unto us but an account both of the ruin of all that would support her and of the speedy and triumphant resurrection of the Witnesses that lye slain for the Testimony of Jesus and the word of his patience To whose glorious revival in other parts I do not doubt but that the stedfastness courage and victory of the Witnesses in England and Scotland over the Beast will be found not only conduceable but instrumental Which I pray God to grant Farewel THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE 'T Is reported of a great person that being reading Persius and not able to comprehend what he meant by reason of the obscurity which that Poet seems to have studiously affected he thereupon threw away the book in anger and disdain saying that it was not worth his pains to imploy himself about an Author who had writ in so dark a stile as if he had a mind not to be understood non vis intelligi debes negligi There are many and even good men who treat the Revelation of St. John much after the same manner They complain that this Divine Book is full of unintelligible Mysteries and of Ridles darker than that of Samson That is resembleth the Tabernacle into which