Iudgments to come and which cannot be cleared up by Events as the Vision of the Trumpets may that therefore he proposed to speak no otherway of them than in way of conjecture which is a deference that we owe to the Author of Prophecy However that what he was to say would appear very probable if the preceding Illustrations which he had delivered were du'ly thought upon 'T is true the Anonymous Author do's believe that the fourth Vial is to be poured out upon the Eastern Roman Empire which is now under the power of the Turks and this agreeable to the relation that is between the Trumpets and the Vials the latter whereof shall overthrow what the former had built But whether the Sun here signify precisely the Turkish Emperor or the Musti who is the Vicar of Mahomet is that which he can only conjecture at but doth not certainly know And tho he had said that this Vial shall shake and distress that Empire yet he had not said that it shall destroy it as Mr. Iurieu chargeth upon him There is a difference between those two Expressions The House of Austria is shaken and brought very low in comparison of what it was under Charles V. but nevertheless it is not ruined The Papal Empire is brought low in respect of what it was under Leo X. but yet it remains undestroyed under Innocent XI 'T is the drying up the River Euphrates foretold to be under the Sixth Vial which signifieth the total ruin of the Ottoman Empire and of Mahometism But to pass all this by saith Mr. Jurieu and only to observe that if the fourth Vial answereth the fourth Trumpet there is then no probability that the fourth Trumpet having lasted several Ages during which time the Turkish Empire was established that the 4th Vial should in so short a space ruin it This is yet another fancy which Mr. Iurieu fathers upon the Anonymous Author namely that the fourth Vial is wholly to destroy the Empire of the Turks Whereas he expresly said that that was not to be till under the sixth Vial. And who knoweth what will be the course of Gods justice when he once begins to execute his judgments And when the Creator shall go about the making of a new world can we think that his Arm is so shortned that he needs more time for this second world than he did for the first Whereas the Anonymous Author had in his Exposition of the Vials followed Mr. de Launay Mr. Iurieu sayth the said Author might have perceived that tho' the Explanation he hath given agree with the hypothesis of Mr. de Launay yet it doth no way's accord with his own And that because Mr. de Launay placeth the End of the Antichristian Empire many ages hence while that Author will not allow above eighteen years for its subsistence Surely Mr. Iurieu would not have made this Reflection if he had minded what that Judicious Expositor had said upon the 2d verse of the Eleventh Chap. of the Revelation Where he makes this Remark that the Scripture in the pointing out a thing of great moment do's not alway's fix the beginning of it to a day or to a year so that it may appear when it shall terminate or when it commenced but takes notice of it sometimes long before and as it were from the first moment of its conception and peeping forth And after he had alledged two examples out of the Old Testament and one out of the New to this purpose he adds I am willing to make this observation that it may thereby appear that it is possible we are not so far from the End of 1260 years as many do imagine Now we are to observe that it is 36 years since Mr. de Launays Book was published and that it had been written 16 years before it was sent to Geneva where it was printed What may we then think that holy man would have said had he lived until our time And if 52 years after he had made that ingenious Remark he had beheld this extraordinary revolution which within these two years is fallen out in France and whereof he had never thought Doubtless he would have look't upon this judgment of God that is fallen upon the Church with a swiftness resembling Lightning and which like a fire from heaven hath so suddenly consumed it as a forerunner of a judgment that shall come alike expeditiously and fall with more swiftness upon Antichrist and his Emissaries who are the Cruel Enemies of his Church Finally whereas the Anonymous Author had stated the Epoche of the Birth of the Antichristian Empire to be the year 445. and had fixed its End to be in the year 1705 so that all the Vials must be poured out within the compass of eighteen years at most Mr. Iurieu cries out against this and says he wonders how such a thought could fall into the mind of a rational man and how any person that had carefully studied the Prophesies as he confesseth the Anonymous Author to have succesfully done should in this point so forget himself The said Author hath neither forgotten himself here nor elsewhere He considered his Illustrations oftner than once and his assigning so short a time for the Effusion of the Vials is so far from being strange or absurd that it is most natural rational The 7 Thunders do naturally raise an Idea of a storm that shall be extraordinary terrible and that there shall be nothing wanting to make its horror perfect forasmuch as the number seven notes perfection Now a Storm or Hurrican is accompanied with these two qualities one that 't is rapid and the other that it doth not endure From whence it followeth that if the Thunders are to manifest themselves in the Effusion of the Vials or that they are the Vials as the Anonymous Author thinks he hath proved that then the space of 18 or of 15 years may be time enough for the pouring them out In a word this Storm will in its rise resemble Elijah's Cloud which at first was but as the Palm of a mans hand mounting out of she Sea but whose growth was so swift and rapid that Ahab was forced to get hastily into his charriot that he might not be overtaken by the abundance of rain that fell 2 Kings 18. 44 45. But if the seven Vials should have no relation to the seven Thunders as Mr. Jurieu imagines they have not yet it cannot be denied but that they manifestly allude to the Plagues of Egypt because they are called plagues as well as they are stiled Vials And this will suffice to shew the Anonymous Author's opinion to be extreamly natural Seeing the plagues with which God smote Egypt did not take up fifteen years 'T is true the sacred History doth not express the time that elapsed from the first plague until the last all that it doth being to note that there past one Month from the death of the first born till the time of passing through
a potion But why Is it more usual to say that there are hour-glasses cast into the Air upon the Sun upon the Sea upon the Earth and upon the Rivers 'T is most true that the phrase should it be taken in a literal signification is both contrary to custom and common sense but yet it serves to conduct the Reader to a Mystical sense and the rather in that it is expresly said that the Vials are full of the wrath of God which renders the Trope clear and intelligible to all persons And if there be any difficulty in the expression it consists chiefly in knowing the meaning of the Earth the Sea the Fountains the Sun the Seat of the Beast the Air and Euphrates which are the Subjects upon which the Vials are poured forth For after we have once attained to the Sense of the Subject there remains no room for doubt out that the effusion of the Vials signifies the judgments of God against that which is called the Air the Sun Euphrates the Seat of the Beast c. Forasmuch then as the Prophesie saith expresly that the Vials are full of the wrath of God Mr. Iurieu acts both unreasonably and wholly against the genius and spirit of Prophecy in making them to be hour-glasses and Periods of Time. To give some probability to his Notion and some kind of evidence to his principle he saith that the Seals and the Trumpets denote periods of time The Seals by vertu of an Allusion to Tables or Chronological Books where Times are marked and registred The Trumpets by an Allusion to the Iubile Trumpets of the old Law whereby the Period of fifty years was marked out And that therefore because the Visions of the Seals and Trumpets signify periods of Times we are to conclude that the Vision of the Vials doth the same All this is very easily said but 't is impossible to be proved 'T is most true that St. Iohn do's allude to the expressions of the Prophets and to their Visions but no Prophet hath made mention of a Sealed Book and if he had yet it would remain still to be proved that the Seal of that Book signified a certain Period of time which it is not so easie to do as to say There is somewhat more likelihood in the Allusion to the Trumpets that proclaimed the Iubilees because they recurred upon the revolution of every fifty years But then in order to our being convinced that St. Iohn made this allusion we ought to be first satisfied that Trumpets were applied to no other use save to the publication of the Iubilees which is most evidently false seeing they were used among the Israelites as well as in the time of St. Iohn in the proclaiming of War. And it is clear that St. Iohn do's rather allude to the Trumpets that proclaimed War than to the Trumpets whereby the Iubilees were published Because the Trumpets of St. Iohn represent the rise and progress of Popery and Mahometanism which are Wars against the Church and Truth of God. Whereas the Iubilees were years of Prosperity blessing for which reason Isaiah calls the year of Jubilee the acceptable year of the Lord chap. 61. v. 2. Mahomet and Antichrist are the two wild Bores that spoil the vineyard of the Lord. They are the two great Enemies of the Gospel and the sound of each Trumpet is a signal of the Battles which those two Enemies fought against the Church of God the one of them in the East and the other in the West They denote rather years of lamentation and tears than of Jubilation and joy So that it is not true that the Trumpets of St. Iohn intimate periods of Time by an allusion to the Trumpets which published the Iubilees And it is yet less true that the Vials are hour-glasses to mark these periods by Mr. Iurieu's principle being false all the Conclusions which he draws from it must necessarily be false also 1 'T is false that there is a difference between the seven plagues and the seven Vials Seeing they are the same Judgments of God against the Enemies of his Church represented chap. 15. under the name plagues and chap. 16 under that of Vials For as by the plagues the wrath of God is fulfilled so the Vials are not full of divine wrath but in order to be accomplished upon his Enemies when they come to be fully poured forth The seven Angels who are said to have the seven Vials receive from one of the four Living Creatures seven golden Vials full of the Wrath of God. In a word the Effect and result of the plagues fore-told chap. 15. is the same with the effect of the Vials when fully poured forth chap. 16. namely the opening of the Temple of God that all Nations may enter in 2 'T is false that all the plagues are designed only against the Empire of the Beast and that there is not any of them intended against the Mahometan Empire For as Mahomet hath infected the Eastern Roman Empire so St. Iohn do's nothing but declare as a prophet what was to befall the Roman Empire therein pursuing the History which Daniel had begun And from thence we may conclude that both the Vials and the Trumpets have in part for their object the Turkish Empire and the Mahometan Religion 3 'T is false that the sixth Trumpet is subdivided into the seven Vials and that the seven Vials have been pouring out since the tenth Century For it is the 7th Trumpet that is subdivided into the Seven Vials because 't is under the Seventh Trumpet that the Vials shall be poured out Whosoever well considers what is to arrive under the sixth Vial according as St. Iohn has described it and thereupon compares it with what is to come to pass under the Seventh Trumpet may from thence prove that the judgments of God represented by pouring forth of the Vials agree admirably with the effect of the Seventh Trumpet but do no way's accord with that of the sixth and may from thence conclude that the subdivision which Mr. Iurieu attributes to the sixth Trumpet agrees only to the Seventh The Anonymous Author might here give over if he intended no more than to discover how ill Mr. Iurieu hath explained the 16th Chap. of the Revelation and that the applications which he hath made of Events to the Vials are all forced and constrained But because he hath so unhandsomly treated the Anonymous Author's reasons against the effusion of the Vials as not to account them worthy of the name of difficulties it will be convenient before we advance to the examination of Mr. Iurieu's application of Events to the Vials and to the Defence of the Anonymous Author's reasons to represent to the Reader the principles and foundations upon which the said concealed Author hath built the Systeme of his Illustrations The 1st foundation upon which he go's is that the Apocalypse is nothing but a continuation of the Prophetical History of Daniel concerning the fourth
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
a very imperfect account of this Divine Book and leave the Reader under great deficiency as to the knowledg of it There are divers of the Refugies who had the sight of this Discourse while they were in France For the Author had finished it near the end of August 1685. about two day 's before the arrival of the new Missionaries the Dragoons who plundred him of all he had So that this was the whole that he was able to save out of that doleful Ship-wreck which since his arrival at a place of security he hath reviewed and corrected in several places And having met with the Accomplishment of Prophecies written by the famous Monsr Jurieu the Author was exceedingly pleased to find that he had explained the 11 th Chap. as promissory of there establishment of the Reformed in France according as that great Man hath done And whereas it may be feared lest this conformity in their opinions seconded with a general hope should make the Protestants who remain still in France the more inclinable to abide there tho they may find opportunities of making their escape he thinks fit to admonish them as from God to obey immediately that Heavenly voice Come out of Babylon my people lest pertaking of her sins ye rereive also of her plagues And to let them know that they cannot go to Mass without either worshipping the Beast or worshipping his Image or without either having his Name or the Number of his Name and without receiving his Mark either in their Foreheads or in their Hands And by becoming inrolled in that list they cease to be of the Number of the 144000. that are sealed and of those who are to Reign with Jesus Christ And as they cannot worship the Host which is but a Creature without being Idolaters so they cannot plead that in their hearts they do it not without the being Hypocrites and through being either Idolaters or Hypocrites they derive upon themselves the Judgments of God. Neither are they to make the Accomplishment of Prophecies nor these Illustrations upon the Apocalypse the Rule of their conduct but they are to govern themselves by the alone Word of God which requires them to beware of Idols to withdraw from Idolaters and to fly from one place to another in time of Persecution and that not only to the hazarding their Estates and their Liberties but their very lives as thousands of Exiles of all qualities Sexes and Ages have done The infinite mercy of God his ineffable and immense Wisdom his Titles of mighty in Power wonderful in Counsel the strong God who can do both above our thoughts and our desires his being a God to whom vengeance belongeth a jealous God who worketh all things for the glory of his Name together with the Intercession of Jesus which is the retreat of an innumerable company of Souls that pray to God day and night for the turning his anger away from his people These I say are Considerations which afford infinitely more solid foundations for the support of our hopes in reference to the re-establishment of the Reformed in France than all human conjectures and reasonings can administer But how firm soever the foundation is that this hope is built upon yet it ought not to hinder those who know the Idolatry of the Romish Church either from withdrawing immediately out of the Kingdom provided they can find a door open to escape or from repairing the injury which through their sacrilegious Abjuration they have done to Religion by a publick and constant Confession of the Truth for the time to come Finally the Author made use of no Books towards the composure of this Discourse save of Launay's Commentary published under the name of Jonas le Buy Sr. de la Perie and of the Synopsis Criticorum He chiefly follows Launay as having a great esteem for his judgment as well as his Learning and as thinking that so good a Guide could not conduct him amiss He oweth to the Synopsis Criticorum among divers other things the Exposition of the Number of the Beast which he hopes to have so much farther inlightned that Mr. Potters Opinion shall be accounted as solid ' as it appeareth subtile and profound But this Preface is too long for an Author that would equally avoid length as well as obscurity And he hopes there will be no cause of fastning upon him that Reproach Dum brevis esse laborus obscurus fis A TABLE Of all the ILLUSTRATIONS On the APOCALYPSE The FIRST Part. 1 WHat we are to understand by the term Beast Pag. 1 2 What is intended by the Seven Heads of the Beast 5 3 What the ten Horns of the Beast do denote and signify 8 4 What it is that the Holy Ghost represents by Great Babylon 10 5 What the Beast is with the two Horns 14 6 Of the Eighth King. 33 7 Who the false Prophet is 37 8 Of the Dragon with seven Heads and ten Horns 49 9 Of the Woman cloathed with the Sun. 52 10 Of the Combate between Michael and the Dragon 55 11 Of the Flight of the Woman 58 12 Of the Flood which the Serpent cast out of his mouth and of the help which the Earth gave unto the Woman 62 13 Of the War which the Dragon being full of Wrath made against the remant of the seed of the Woman Pag. 66 14 Of Babylon the Great the Mother of Harlots that sitteth upon many Waters carrying upon her Forehead the name Mystery and having a golden Cup in her hand 70 15 Of Babylon making all Nations drunk with the Wine of her Fornication and of her being drunk with the Blood of the Saints 77 16 Of the Lamb on Mount Sion and with him the 144000. having the Fathers Name written in their Foreheads 80 17 Of the Three Angels of the Everlasting Gospel and of the Denunciation against Babylon and her followers 84 18 Of the Harvest and the Vintage 90 19 Of the Sea of Glass mingled with Fire 94 20 Of the Opening of the Temple and of the Smoak wherewith it was fiiled 96 21 Of the Fail of Babylon and the time when 98 22 Of the binding of Satan for a thousand years and of the Millennary Reign 105 23 Of the Marriage of the Lamb. 123 24 Of the Holy Jerusalem 126 The SECOND Part. 1 OF the Throne the twenty four Elders the Sea of Glass and the four living Creatures Pag. 129 2 Of the sealed Book which no Creature could open save the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah 134 3 Of the Lamb with seven Horns and seven Eyes and of his being worshipped 136 4 Of the opening of the first six Seals pag. 140 5 Of the four Angels that withheld the four Winds and of the Angel that had the Seal of the living God. 153 6 Of the Hundred forty and four thousand which were sealed of the Tribes of Israel 156 7 Of the Multitude which no man could number that stood before the Lamb with Palms of
the beginning of it Thus 't is said 1 Sam. 23. 18. that David and Ionathan made a Covenant that is they renewed it for they had made it before So St. Iohn tells us in his first Epist chap 5. v. 13. that he wrote to those who believed that they might believe i. e. that they might increase in Faith. So that that which the Spirit of God would plainly say is that the wrath of the Dragon became inflamed and that he went to make a more dangerous war than he had made before But who are this Remnant of the Seed of the Woman which keep the Commandments of God and have the Testimony of Christ Is there any difference betwixt them and the Church Is not the Church made up of such as keep the Commandments of God and have the Testimony of Jesus Christ There is the same difference between the Woman and those who are her Seed as there is betwixt a Mother and a Daughter The Oriental or Greek Church that had been distressed for about 200 years by the Heresie of Arius is the Mother and the Western or Latine Church is the Daughter and the Remnant of the Seed of the Woman The Bishop of Bitonto used this Distinction in a Sermon which he made before the Council of Trent The Greek Church saith he is our Mother to whom the Latin is indebted for all that She hath And in truth the Terms Church Bishop Priest Deacon Baptism Eucharist and Christian it self are all Greek Terms and plainly shew that our Religion is derived from them from whom we have borrowed the Terms They then who are said to be the Seed of the Woman against whom the Serpent went to make War is the Latine or Western Church where the Dragon all along since that time hath been labouring to accompish the Mystery of Iniquity which was at work in St. Pauls days 2 Thes 2. 7. And this is nothing else save Antichristianism or the Papacy But since the time that a Church of God Separated it self from that which had received the Mystery of iniquity the Church that so withdrew is the remnant of the Seed of the Woman And particularly the Waldenses are this Seed and whose Separation is acknowledged both by Historians and Inquisitors of the Church of Rome who speak of the Waldenses as of Christians who have been Separated from the Roman Church from the time of Sylvester and of Constantine the great Claudius Sesselius Arch-Bishop of Turin tells us in a Book which he writ against the Waldenses that the Sect of the Waldenses took its rise from a most religious person called Leo that lived in the time of Constantine the great and who detesting the covetousness of Pope Sylvester and the immoderate bounty of Constantine chose rather to embrace poverty with the simplicity of the Christian Faith than with Sylvester to be defiled with a Fat and rich benefice and that all they who were seriously Religious joined themselves to him The famous Inquisitor Reynerus Sacco as he is quoted by the Jesuite Cretzer in his Bibliotheck of the Fathers speaks much to the same purpose Amongst all the sects sayth he that either are or have hitherto been there is none that hath been so pernicious to the Church of Rome as that of the Leonists and that for three Reasons 1 Because it is she most ancient and hath continued longest For some affirm that it begun in the time of Sylvester and others in the time of the Apostles 2 Because it hath spread it self farthest there being no place where it is not to be found 3 Because they who are of it have a great shew of piety live vertuously before men believe rightly of the Deity and observe all the Articles of the Creed The Frier Belvedoras in his Relation al consilio de propaganda fide de Extir pandis Hereticis printed at Turin anno 1636. pag. 37 being excusing himself and those Missionaries that were his companions why they could not convert so much as one of the Waldenses do's assign this reason for it namely that that Heresie is too firmly rooted there for any to be able to do good among them in that say's he le Valli d'Angrogna sempre ad in omni tempo hanno havuto Heretici i. e. they of the Valleys of Angrogna have been alway's and through all times accounted Hereticks So that this Woman is exactly the Church of the Valdenses which as Claudius Seysellius tells us did in the person of the forementioned Leo separate from the Church of Rome in the time of Pope Sylvester and of the Emperor Constantine There being two Wings of an Eagle given unto her to assist her in her flight into the Valleys of Piedmont which lye at the foot of the Alp's And from thence they were stiled Valdenses long before the time of Peter Valdo as John Leger hath sufficiently proved in his History These then are the Remnant of the Seed of the Woman who as in France they have been stiled Vaudois from the word Vaux that signifies a Valley so in the Low Countries they have been called Valons which is to say those of the Valleys XIV ILLUSTRATION Of Babylon the great the Mother of Harlots that Sitteth upon many Waters carrying upon her fore-head the name Mystery and having a Golden Cup in her hand REV. CHAP. 17. v. 1 4 5. HAving proved in our Fourth Illustration that Babylon can be nothing else but Rome as professing her self Christian we are now to consider the Description which the Holy Spirit hath given of Babylon and to see how that Picture of her doth agree to Rome There is such an affinity and so many exact Resemblances between Rome and Babylon of the Chaldees that we are not to think it strang that the Holy Spirit hath given unto Rome the name of Babylon They were both founded by persons that were Captains over Robbers and who were great Shedders of blood Babylon by Nimrod who is said to have been a mighty hunter before the Lord Gen. 10. 9. And Rome by Romulus who as another Cain murthered his Brother They were both of them the Seats of great Empires The one as well as the other have had Monarchs who have stiled themselves Kings of Kings For this Title the Pope doth no less claim than Nebuchadnezzar did Both the one and the other have been the Subject of the Visions in the Prophet Daniel As the Babylonish Empire was the first Beast and the Head of the Image so the Roman was the Fourth Beast and the Feet of the Image that were part of Clay and part Iron The one as well as the other hath kept the people of God in Bondage Babylon the Israelites and Rome the Christians The one and t' other have Killed and burnt such as would not worship their Gods. The one as well as the other have been overthrown and after their subversion have past from one Religion to another Babylon being become Mahometan and Rome Popish
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.
of the plague of the Hail for the plague thereof was exceeding great We have already observed in the Explication of the fifth Trumpet that the Air signifies Religion But there it signified Religion darkned by the Smoke which came out of the bottomless pit whereas here it signifieth Religion it self which was begotten by that Smoke namely the Papal and Antichristian Religion For it shall be drove away as Smoke by this last Vial. Then there was the Voice of the Angel heard saying it is done that is the Mystery whereof there was mention chap. 10. v. 7. namely the Mystery of the total ruin of the Papacy of the Conversion of the Jews of the reduction of all the Kingdoms of this world to Jesus Christ and of the universal peace of the Church As this will be the greatest and the most happy Change that ever was seen in the world therefore it is not only said that there shall be Lightnings and Thunders but that there shall likewise be a great Earthquake such as was not since men were upon the Earth For Earthquakes as we have already taken notice signify always in Scripture a change that shall fall out in the world in reference to Religion And therefore there was both an Earthquake at the gioing of the Law and at the publication of the Gospel because by that the Iudaick Religion was established and by this the Christian So that we are not to be surprised to find in this prediction a greater Earthquake than ever had been before seen from the beginning of the world because the Iews are now to be recalled the Mahometans are to be converted all Nations are to be Enlightned with the splendor of the Gospel and the Papacy is irrecoverably to be destroyed The Division of the City into three parts threatneth the Papacy which is this great City with three plagues of the Wrath of God. It hath been already observed that Rome which is the Seat of the Papal Empire shall be destroyed by three different Judgments of God to wit as Sodom as Egypt and as Babylon And the same shall befall the Papacy which shall be subverted by three means which we do not yet know The Prophet Daniel says that after the fourth Beast which representeth the Romam Empire shall be slain and after that his body shall be given to the burning flame that then the Dominion shall be also taken away from the other Beasts and that after the Image by which the Empire of the world are represented shall be broken into pieces the other Beasts shall have domination no more chap. 7. v. 12. chap. 2. v. 44. That is the very same which St. Iohn fore-tells in this place and every Island Fled away and the Mountains were not found For by Islands are understood Commonwealths Kingdoms are meant by Mountains All which is as if he should have said that there shall be no more any State neither Republick nor a Kingdom but what shall be governed by the holy Laws of the Gospel and which shall be a Theocracy as the State of Israel was under the Government of the Judges So that this here is not the last and Universal Iudgment no more than that chap. 11. v. 18. but it is the particular Judgment of Babylon that is the Antichristian Empire which the peace of the Church shall follow The Hail of an extraordinary bigness that shall fall at the effusion of this last Vial ' can no way 's agree to the last judgment forasmuch as that being the day of the Resurrection of the Dead no Hail shall fall to kill men Whereas it is here said that the Hail fell upon men that unquestionably signifieth the overwhelming them by reason of their obduration For it will come to pass that some men upon their seeing the vengeance of God against Babylon and against its Empire will instead of being converted break forth into blasphemies These hardned men are such as have no sense of Religion but are tied to Babylon by the bonds of gain and by the alone chains of interest There are at this time a great number of these who savour nothing of the word of God who have no more knowledg than Babel of the Christian Religion and yet they pass in the Church of Rome for great Devoto's They are the men of this complexion that shall be overwhelmed by the Hail of the seventh and last Vial. This Hail may be very well said to threaten the rich and innumerable Benefices of the Roman Clergy For the vast riches of the Prelates and of the other Ecclesiasticks being the strong Buttresses of the Papacy the loss of their Revenues may very well be one of the Means which God in his providence will make use of to destroy and abolish them For this is the property of Hail to destroy Revenues and the Papacy being adhered unto only for its riches when it comes to be stript the whole world will abandon it which will cause its ruin XXVII ILLUSTRATION Of the Time that the Beast's Reign is to continue THE Holy Spirit marketh the duration of the Reign of the Beast in five several places In the 11. Chap. v. 2. 't is said that the Gentiles shall tread the Holy City under foot forty and two Mon'ths And in the 3d verse of the same chapter 't is said that the two Witnesses shall prophesie a thousand two hundred and threescore days clothed in sackcloth And in the 12 Chap. v. 6. 't is said that the Woman fled into the Wilderness where she had a place prepared of God to be fed there 1260 days And in the 14th verse of that Chapter She is said to be there fed for a Time Times and half a Time. And chap. 13. v. 5. 't is said power is given unto the Beast to continue forty and two Mon'ths From all which we are to observe 1 That the 42 Mon'ths and 1260 Day 's are one and the same thing Because according to the Greeks whose language the Revelation was written in every Mon'th contained thirty day's and 42 times thirty make 1260. 2 That one Time Times and half a Time are one year two years and half a year which making three years and a half amounteth just to sorty and two Months and to 1260 Day 's 3 That whereas it is expresly said that power was given unto the Beast to continue 42 Months this declareth his Duration during the Time that the Gentiles shall tread the holy City under foot and during the Time that the Woman shall be in the Wilderness where she is to be fed while that the Witnesses prophesie clothed in Sackcloth 4 That the 1260 Days are not to be taken literally for common Days but Mystically for so many years This we cannot doubt of when we have considered that Days are applied so in the Books of the Prophets In the 4th Chap. of Amos v. 4. the Prophet bids them bring their Sacrifices and Tyths after three Days i. e. after three years as