Censer and filled it with fire of the Altar and cast it into the Earth and there were voyces and thundrings and lighnings and an Earthquake TRumpets were used under the Law for two uses One was for War and to encourage the people to fight The other was for peace and to stir up the people to a holy rejoicing Those spoken of here are of the first sort The Seven Angels are the denouncers of those Evils which God was to pour out upon the Church to punish her decay in zeal and Charity The other Angel who stood before the Golden Altar with a Golden Censer is Jesus Christ that appeared in the 7. Chap. with the Seal of God and appeareth now as a Priest with a Censer that is to say as an Intercessor And his Intercession appeareth here with two different effects one for his people in obtaining their prayers to be accepted and his giving value to them is figured by incense The other against false Christians upon whom he scattereth fire from off the Altar This is the fire of division whereof Christ speaks Luke 12. 49 51. I am come to send fire on the earth Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on Earth I tell you nay but rather division 'T is said that this fire was taken off the Altar because it was to be kindled in a Church destitute of zeal and charity and because this fire of division was to be about Religion as the subject of it and by reason that Jesus Câ—rist was to be the cause of it or at least the pretence The voices thundrings lightnings and Earthquake that ensued upon the Scattering of this fire do plainly represent the strifes quarrels and troubles which under the Reign of Constantin and his Successors broke out among the Bishops and Pastors Who being given up to covetousness luxury and ambition raised such troubles as shook the Christian Religion and opened a door to Antichristianism which did appear under the Trumpets X. ILLUSTRATION Of the first Trumpet and of the Hail Fire and Blood. REV. CHAP. 8. V. 1. And the seven Angels which had the Seven Trumpets prepared themselves to sound V. 7. And the first Angel sounded and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood and they were cast upon the Earth and the third part of the Trees was burnt up and all green Grass was burnt up WE find not in History any change that befell the Church so near to the withholding the winds and to the Silence for half an hour i. e. so near to the peaceable Reign of Constantin which either more opened a door to Antichristianism or which better correspondeth to this Hail to this fire and to this blood caused by this first Trumpet than that so much noted Heresie of Arius 1 Arianism begun to lift up its head under the Reign of Constantin The Church had no sooner peace than the Devil let loose this Heretick to trouble her 2 This Heresie infected the whole Empire The world saith St. Ierom trembleth and is amased to see it self become Arian It lasted near three hundred years Many Councils were assembled to stop its course And it was in these Councils that the Bishop of Rome laid the foundation of that Supremacy which made him afterward to be considered and feared as the Head the judg and the absolute Monarch both of the world and of the Church 3 The hail the fire and the blood do admirably agree to that Heresie 'T is called Hail by reason both of its violence and of the noise which it made and because of the barrenness and coldness which it begot in mens hearts out of which it drove away godliness and charity 'T is stiled Fire because of the contentions which it kindled And it is called Blood by reason of the bloody persecutions which it raised And whereas she third part of the Trees and every green Herb are said to have been burnt up it is because more than one half of the Pastors who are designed by Trees and the generality of the people signified by all green Grass were infected with it XI ILLUSTRATION Of the second Trumpet A Mountain Burning cast into the Sea and a third part of it became Blood. REV. CHAP. 8. V. 8. And the second Angel sounded and as it were a great Mountain burning with fire was cast into the Sea and the third part of the Sea became blood V. 9. And the third part of the Creatures which were in the Sea and had life died and the third part of the Ships were destroyed 'T Is certain that Mountains do in the language of the Prophets signify the Kingdoms of the Earth Thus Mount Sion signifieth the Church which is the Kingdom of God. And thus 't is said Isaiah chap. 2. v. 14. that the day of the Lord shall be against all the high Mountains that is against all Nations tho' never so fierce and against all Kingdoms how powerful soever So that this burning Mountain thrown into the Sea cannot be better explained than of the Nations of the Goths Visigoths Ostrogoths Vandal's and Gepid's that under the Reign of Valens about the year 378. broke in like an inundation upon the Roman Empire destroyed Rome and who abolished the very Name of the Roman Empire in the West about the year 547. These Nations are stiled a burning Mountain because of their violence and of their swiftness This Mountain was cast into the Sea because it was an effect of the wrath of God that these Nations broke in upon the Roman Empire which was a great Sea a heap of many peoples which the Scripture useth to express by waters Now this burning Mountain is not said to dry up the Sea tho that be the proper effect of fire but it is said to have caused the third part of the Sea to become blood the H. Spirit having a respect to what is here signified by this Mountain namely the fierce and bloody humour of these Nations who drowned a part of the Roman Empire in blood infected the people of this Empire with Errors and destroyed a part of its Cities designed here by Ships XII ILLUSTRATION Of the third Trumpet A great Star fell from Heaven REV. CHAP. VIII V. 10. And the third Angel sounded and there fell a great Star from heaven burning as it were a Lamp and it fell upon the third part of the Rivers and upon the Fountains of Waters V. II. And the Name of the Star is called Worm-wood and the third part of the waters became Worm-wood and many men died of the waters because they were made bitter SEeing Jesus Christ hath in the first chap. v. 20. expounded the seven Stars which he had in his right hand to represent Pastors it must necessarily be that by the Star spoken of here some Bishop or Pastor should be intended And forasmuch as it is a great Star it must be a great Bishop that is designed and the Pastor of some Church which men esteem'd to be the
stain and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame St. Iohn declares the same of the Beast that carried the Woman Rev. 19. v. 20. how that he was taken and cast into a Lake of Fire burning with Brimstone So that after the agreement of the one Beast with the other in so many particulars there is no room left for suspition but that Daniel's fourth Beast is the same with the Beast described by St. Iohn upon whom the Woman stiled Babylon the Great sitteth and that all the Revelations of St. Iohn are nothing else but a continuation of the Prophetical History which Daniel had begun of the Roman Empire and of the Church of God. II. ILLUSTRATION What is intended by the Seven Heads of the Beast REV. CHAP. 17. v. 20. THe Seven Heads ascribed to the Beast in the Vision of St. Iohn serve to explain the Vision in Daniel and do make it clearly appear that the fourth Beast which the Prophet Daniel describes and which is the same with that described by St. Iohn can represent nothing save the Roman Empire For proof of this we are only to observe the Explication which the Angel gave of that Vision to Saint Iohn Rev. 17. v. 9. Here is the mind say's he that hath wisdom the seven Heads are seven Mountains on which the Woman sitteth And they are seven Kings five are fallen and one is and the other is not yet come These seven Hills do so plainly point out and characterise the City of Rome that the Angel could not have more evidently declared it if he had directly mentioned it the Terms wherein he represents it being so agreeable to the Character of the City buils upon seven Hills which is the stile whereby their own Poets Ovid Propertius Horace and Virgil do describe it Septemque una sibi muro circumdedit Arces Virg. Dîs quibus septcm placuere colles dicere carmen Horat. Septem urbs alta jugis toti qui praesidet Orbi Propert. Sed quae de septem totum circumspicit Orbem Montibus Imperii Roma Deûmque locus Ovid. Accordingly that learned Roman Varro being speaking of a Festival called Septimentium that was dedicated to the Honor of Rome of which they had made a Goddess say's that this Feast took its name from the seven Mountains on which Rome was built Nor are there any but who do know these Hills to have been the Palatine the Capitoline the Aventine the Celian the Esquiline the Viminal and the Quirenal So that from and by means of these Mountains we come to be assured that the Beast with seven Heads according to the exposition given by the Angel can be nothing but the Roman Empire And this is made further evident by the seven Kings which as the Angel tells us are also signified by the seven Heads Rev. 17. v. 10. And there are seven Kings five are fallen and one is and the other is not yet come Which seven Kings do most infallibly denote the seven Forms of Government under which Rome hath been and through which it hath passed since its Foundation For it is the Scripture method of expression to signify by Kings all sorts of Supream Governors As appears both from the 36. of Genesis v. 31. where Moses having reckoned up the Kings that reigned in Edom before there reigned any King over the Children of Israel means no more than before there was any Soveraign Magistrate in Israel and from Deut. 33. v. 5. where Moses is said to have been King in Ieshurun Now the seven kinds of Supream Magistrates by which Rome hath been governed are Kings Consuls Decemviri Military Tribunes Dictators Emperors and Popes Five whereof the Angel says were fallen and that the sixth which was that of Emperors now is namely in the time of St. Iohn but that the seventh was not yet come forasmuch as the Bishop of Rome was not at that time what he is since grown up unto by his Usurpations of being as well the Soveraign Master over Kings and Emperors as Monarch over the Church But we are not yet come to prove the Pope to be meant by the seventh Head it being necessary before we advance to that to explain divers other particulars so that it is enough for the present to have shewn that the Beast with the seven Heads can represent nothing else save the Roman Empire III. ILLUSTRATION What the Ten Horns of the Beast do denote and signify REV. CHAP. 17. v. 12. THE Lamb by which our Saviour is represented is said to have Horns as well as the Beast but the signification of the Horns of the one is somewhat different from the meaning of the Horns of the other Those of the Lamb do denote the Power of Jesus Christ and the number seven intimates the perfection of it Rev. 5. v. ◠So that the Lamb 's being represented with seven Horns is to signify the Fulness of his Power or as it is in the language of St. Paul Phil. 2. 9 10. His having a Name given him above every name that at the Name of Iesus every Knee should bow But the Horns of the Beast do signify Kingdoms and Dominions as appears by their being applied to such a sense in the Visions of Daniel Thus the Ram by which was signified the King of Persia Dan. 8. 3. is represented with two high Horns and whereof the one was higher than the other because the Kingdom of Persia was more powerful than that of the Medes And accordingly the Angel tells St. Iohn that the Ten Horns of the Beast are Ten Kings Nor is it of any great moment whether the number Ten do signify punctually so many it being sufficient to take the word indefinitely for the intimating a considerable number it being so used elsewhere And thus it both signifies the great Extent of the Roman Empire and serves to demonstrate that it is only this Empire which we have represented in the Revelation there being no other in St. Iohns time that could answer the vast importance of this Phrase or at least none that was known and with which the Church of God had any concernment And it is by reason of its greatness that the Sacred Writers call it by the stile of all the World and of the whole habitable Earth Luc. 2. 1. Rev. 13. 3 8. Rev. 17. 18. As if all Nations had been under the jurisdiction of the Roman Emperors But whereas there seems to be a contradiction in the Explication given by the Angel in that after he had said that the Ten Horns of the Beast are Ten Kings he adds Rev. 17. 12. that these ten Kings had received no Kingdom as yet but were to receive power as Kings one hour with the Beast Seeing if he intend by the Beast the Roman Empire as it florished in St. Iohns time how can he say that these Kings had received no Kingdom as yet and that they were only to receive their power at the same season with the Beast I
he cometh he must continue a short space And the Beast that was and is not even he is the Eighth King and is of the seven and goeth into Perdition He of whom the Angel saith one is was the Roman Emperor who was Master of the Empire in St. Iohn's time He of whom it is said the other is not yet come is the Pope who was not in the time of St. Iohn but hath been since the fifth Century The Angel predicteth concerning the Elevation of this Bishop to his Grandure when he cometh i. e. when he shall usurp the Soveraignty and Domination that he must continue a short space The Pope became Master of Rome and Temporal Lord over it when Gregory the second excommunicated Leo the Emperor Then saith Sigonius Rome past from the Greeks by reason of their Heresie about Images into the hands of the Pope And for seventy years it remained in the same condition under the Popes that it had been formerly under the Emperors and was the subject and Slave of these new Lords But that Form of Government continued not above seventy years for so saith the Angel it must continue for a short space Afterwards the Soveraignty became divided betwixt the Pope and the City of Rome For if the Pope was Temporal Lord and Master Rome was also Lady and Mistriss And this is exactly what the Angel says to St. Iohn and the Beast that was and is not even he is the eight King. This bears no difficulty because he adds he is of the Seven For seeing the Pope is the seventh Head and the seventh King and that the Angel says that the Eighth King is of the seven it cannot otherways be but that he understandeth the Pope as exercising his Domination after two different manners The first alone in the quality of Temporal Lord of Rome and after the manner of the Emperors whose Seat with all their Rights and Soveraignty he had usurped The other in conjunction with Rome which continueth to this day and hath from the time of Pope Leo the third in whom the first sort of Domination ended 'T is in vertue of this union between the Pope and the City of Rome in their Government that upon the one hand Rome is reverenced as the Chair of St. Peter as the Mother and Mistriss of all Churches the Guardian of Faith having her Senate made up of Cardinals qualified with the Title of Cardinals of the Roman Church and by whose Counsel as Affairs are managed so it is by their votes that the Pope is chosen and it is from this upon the other hand that the Pope is worshipped as Successor of St. Peter as Vicar General of Iesus Christ the Husband of the Church as God on Earth and as Soveraign Iudge of all and who can be judged by none This is what we have represented in the 13. Chapter v. 12. where it is said That the second Beast excrciseth all the power of the first Beast and that he causeth them that dwell on the Earth to worship the first Beast For upon the one side Rome and her Senate do all they can to maintain the Soveraign Authority of the Pope and upon the other side the Pope useth his utmost endeavour to make all men Reverence the Church of Rome as the Mother of the Christian Faith and the Mistriss of all Churches Thence it comes also to pass that as the Pope is not stiled the Christian Bishop but the Roman Bishop so Rome is not called by the name of Christian Church but by the name of Roman and Apostolick which is as much as Papal Church For according to the stile of the Court of Rome Apostolick signifies the same that Papal doth so that the Popes Miter his Slipper his Mule his Habit his Bulls his Notaries and in a word all that relates to the Popes Person are called Apostolick There is not one from the highest to the lowest that belongs to him even to the Buffoons that accompany his Nuncio's and Legats but affects to be so stiled He that attended the last Legate into France said to the Dorekeeper of the Playhouse Io sono il Bouffono Apostolico Moreover these two kinds of Government that of the Pope alone and that of the Pope in conjunction with Rome are clearly marqued and recorded in History It was Gregory the second saith Sigonius that took away the Dominion of Rome from the Greeks Gregory the second saith Onuphrius being more couragious than his Predecessor Constantine took from Leo the Emperor all that he had left of the Kingdom of the Lombards in Italy which was done in the year 729. And this Domination of the Pope alone lasted to the year 798. But then saith Vignier certain Citizens being incensed against Pope Leo the third they did under pretence of restoring Rome to its ancient Freedom flirr up the people who seising upon the Pope at a procession put out one of his Eyes and threw him into prison whence being delivered by the Duke of Spoletto and brought to Charlemain that Prince carried him back to Rome the year following and reconciled him with the Romans This reconciliation being made the Popes travelled so well for the re-establishment of their lost Soveraignty that they recovered it but in conjunction with Rome having to this purpose setled there before hand the Primacy and Chair of St. Peter so that if the Pope was from thenceforth respected as the Soveraign Bishop the Head and Royal Judg of the Christian Church Rome also was honoured as the Mother of the Faith and Mistriss of all Churches So that this point cannot be rendred clearer seeing both the seventh and the eighth King appear so plainly in History and particularly in the Popish Historians Sigonius Vignier and Onuphrius do exactly marque the two ways wherein the Popes have exercised their Domination The first from Gregory the second till Leo the third who was so ill handled upon that account and the second from the re-establishment of that Pope by Charlemain upon the condition that Rome should Reign in conjunction with him VII ILLUSTRATION Who the False Prophet is THE False Prophet is spoken of in two places of the Revelation First in the pouring out of the sixth Vial Rev. 16. 13. Three unclean Spirits like Frogs came out of the Mouth of the Dragon and out of the Mouth of the Beast and out of the Mouth of the False Prophet And then in the 19. Chapter where it is said that the Beast was taken and with him the False Prophet and they were cast alive into a Lake of Fire burning with Brimstone Now this False Prophet is nothing else but the Beast with two Horns mentioned in the 13. Chapter but the seventh Head of the Beast with ten Horns and the eighth King that are spoken of in the 17. Chap. v. 11. The Beast with two Horns is the Pope with his twofold power the one over that which is Spiritual the other over that which is Temporal The
most eminent So that this Bishop is without doubt he of Rome who from the very beginning was lookt upon as above others by reason of the City which was the Seat of the Empire and consequently the Lady and Mistriss of all other Cities This was the ground of the precedency granted to that Bishop as appears both by the Council of Calcedon and by the second Council of Constantinople Among the Bishops of Rome Gregory the first is particularly here represented by this great Star. And that not only because he was stiled great but because he truly fell from Heaven through abandoning the care of heavenly things to pursue and cleave to those of the Earth This we may the rather believe because he gives this account of himself in the fifth Epistle of his first Book writing to Theotista the Emperors Sister Under the Colour says he of a Bishoprick I am sunk into the world and am become more enslaved to the cares of the Earth than ever I was when but a Laick person Since I was outwardly advanced I am inwardly fallen And I bewaile my own state as being thus driven from the presence of my Creator He writ the same to Anastasius Bishop of Antioch namely that he was so depressed by the load of multiplicity of affairs that he could not raise his mind to heavenly things The fall of this Gregory the Great does yet more appear in that it was he who changed the Service of the Church into that which from his name is called to this day the Gregorian 'T was he likewise who most blasphemously equalled the four first Councils to the four Gospels and who in his four Books of Dialogues brought the belief of Purgatory into the Church But we are to take care that we do not restrain our selves only to one Bishop This great Star is to be taken as representing collectively all the Bishops of Rome since they first begun to depart from the Truth and from Christian Humility And indeed before Gregory the Great Mark who was elected Pope anno 335. did so highly exalt the Rights of the Sea of Rome that he had the confidence to write to the Bishops of Egypt in these prophane words that follow The Roman Church hath forever been without a Spot and through the Grace of God and the protection of St. Peter forever shall be so For says he the Lord spake thus to the Prince of the Apostles Peter I have prayed for thee that thy Faith do not fail Julius I. took upon him by his own meer Authority to re-establish several Oriental Bishops that had been justly deposed Liberius by subscribing to the condemnation of St. Athanasius subscribed to Arianism which drew upon him the curses of St. Hilary After the death of Liberius Damasius and Ursicinus caused such an effusion of blood by their struglings for the Roman Chair that Ammianus Marcellinus a Heathen Author reports that in the Temple where the Election of Damasus was held there were 137. slain at one time The greatest persons among the Heathen coveted the grandure of the Popes so that the Pagan Pretextatus being designed Consul offered to Damasus to turn Christian upon condition that he might be made Pope Siricius who succeeded to Damasus forbid Ecclesiastical Persons to marry shamefully perverting to that purpose the words of St. Paul Rom. 8. 8. they who are in the flesh connot please God. After Gregory I. Boniface III. assumed the Title of Universal Bishop Boniface IV who succeeded to him consecrated the Pantheon to the blessed Virgin and to all the Saints having been before a Temple dedicated to Cybele and to all the Heathen Gods. And the Monastick life became so highly valued and advanced under all these Popes that they taught it to be the true Evangelick way of living and the most sure means of salvation These Doctrines together with others added by the Bishops of Rome and which they either themselves invented or else authorised and decreed made them to be this Wormwood that hath corrupted the saving Doctrine and which hath rendred all the Waters of Grace and the Fountains of Salvation bitter XIII ILLUSTRATION Of the fourth Trumpet The third part of the Sun and of the Moon and of the Stars smitten REV. CHAP. VIII V. 12. And the fourth Angel sounded and the third part of the Sun was smitten and the third part of the Moon and the third part of the Stars so as the third part of them was darkned and the day shone not for a third part of it and the night likewise THE wo denounced by this fourth Trumpet hath two Characters The one is Error and Superstition in that the Fountains of light are so strangely changed The other is Violence and Force because these Sources of light are smitten For the Term of Smiting is often used in the Scripture to signify killing and destroying As in Deut. chap. 4. v. 46. Ios chap. 8. v. 22. 1 Kings chap. 15. v. 29. and elsewhere These two characters do perfectly agree to the Religion of the Mahometans The Error in it is most palpable in that it denieth both Christs Divinity and the merit of his death and in that it promiseth such a felicity in the life to come as can be pleasing to none save unto Souls sunk into sensuality And its Violence is so well known that all who have heard of Mahomet do know that that Impostor boasted the being sent by God with a Sword to force the belief of his Religion And the event was according for within the space of 40. years after Mahomets death his four Successors Ebubeker Oâ—hmar Osman and Haly whom they stile Gods four sharp Swords planted that abominable Religion by force of Arms in Syria Palestine Egypt Mesopotamia Persia Africk Barbary and Numidia It was in the year 622. that Mahomet published his damnable Errors which is another character whereby to adjust it with the Wo or this fourth Trumpet For the Bishop of Rome was already fallen under the third These are the two Enemies of the Christian Religion the one a hidden Enemy and the other an avowed The one established himself as a Fox the other as a Lion. The one assaulted Religion in the West the other in the East The Bishop of Rome begun to fall away in the fourth Age Mahomet appeared in the seventh His abominable Religion followed the fall of the Roman Bishop as the Wo of the fourth Trumpet followeth the Wo of the third XIV ILLUSTRATION Of the fifth Trumpet The Key of the bottomless Pit given to the Star that fell from Heaven REV. CHAP. IX V. 1. And the fifth Angel sounded and I saw a Star fall from Heaven unto the Earth and to him was given the Key of the bottomless Pit. V. 2. And he opened the bottomless Pit and there arose a Smoke out of the Pit as the smoke of a great Furnace and the Sun and the Air were darkned by reason of the smoke of the Pit. WE have seen the Fall
general Councils which were constituted of the Bishops of the whole Empire these Councils contributed to the Exaltation of the Bishop of Rome So that Gregory I. spake according to his interest when he said that he had the same regard for the 4. Councils viz. of Nice Constantinople Ephesus and Calcedon that he had for the four Gospels Which was a plain Blasphemy and very suteable to Antichrist 6. St. John delivereth the Explication which the Angel gave of the Vision of the 17th Chapter v. 12. in these Words The ten Horns which thou sawest are ten Kings which have received no Kingdom as yet but receive power as Kings one hour with the Beast For we are not to seek for these Kings in the Eastern Empire that continued until the Turks became Masters of it which is something more than two hundred years but we are to seek for them in the Western Empire And the reason of it is because there were not several Kingdoms formed out of the ruins of the Eastern Empire as there have according to the Terms of the Vision been formed out of the Western We are not to confine our selves positively to the number of ten seeing that number is taken indefinitely in the Revelation Thus chap. 2. v. 10. the tribulation of ten days that is spoken of is to denote a long persecution All that is essential to be remarked is that these ten Kingdoms or Soveraignties are formed out of the ruins of the Western Empire Which Daniel says positively chap. 7. v. 24. as well as St. John who from the Angels Interpretation of the Vision saith that the ten Kings receive their power in the same hour with the Beast After these observations from Scripture it will be of advantage to consider the following matters of Fact which are all expresly recorded in History It was in the fourth Age that the Fasts Abstinences of the Montemists came to be received in the Church of Rome And in that Age Pope Syricius condemned the Marriage of Priests It was in the fourth Age that Pope Mark wrote Letters to Anastasius and to the Bishops of Egypt in these words The Church of Rome hath always been without afault and through the grace of God and the protection of St. Peter for ever shall be so Which words favour both of Idolairy and of Blasphemy 'T was in the 4th Age that the 2. first Councils of Nice and Constantinople were held as those of Ephesus and Chalcedon were kept in the fifth And although as these Councils did not greatly exalt the Bishop of Rome we may truly say that they opened a way and served as a Bridg to the following Councils which have made it their business to advance the Pope to what he is at this day 'T was in the fourth Age that the Emperors embraced the Christian Religion that they were so liberal to the Bishop of Rome and that they stript themselves of the dignity of Supream Pontiff in favour to him From the time of Iulius Cesar they had always retained it that they might thereby render their persons sacred and inviolable 'T was the Emperor Gratian that surrendred it and since that time none of his Successors have claimed it 'T was in the fifth Age that the Emperors withdrew from Rome and chose Ravenna and Milan for their residence 'T was in the beginning of the fifth Age that the Western Empire was destroyed by the Barbarians and that out of the ruins of it they formed several Soveraignties in Germany Gaul Spain and Italy 'T was in the fifth Age that in order to allure the Pagans to Christianity the Church espoused many of their Ceremonies such as the Invocation of Saints the Worship of Images the Veneration of Relicks and Prayers for the dead 'T was in the beginning of the fifth Age that Pope Innocent I. defended the Right of Appeals to the Sea of Rome Finally it was in the fifth Age that the Controversy between Pope Leo 1. and other Bishops about the matter of Appeals was in the most solemn and authentick manner that the Bishop of Rome could desire ended and determined in his favour When the two Emperors Theodosius and Valentintan granted unto him and issued out an Edict in the following terms We by this perpetual Edict have ordained that no Bishop whether they be of Gaul or of any other Provinces shall contrary to the ancient customs attempt any thing hereafter without the Authority of the venerable Pope of the Eternal City But that whatsoever the Authority of the Apostolick Sea shall ordain shall be submitted to by all others as unto a Law. So that whosoever of the Bishops having appealed shall neglect to appear at the Tribunal of the Roman Bishop shall be obliged to appear before the Governor of the Province where he lives provided always that whatsoever things our Sacred Predecessors have granted to the Church of Rome shall be unchangeably and universally preserved We need go no farther in order to seek for the birth of the Antichristian Empire or to find the fatal Date where the 1260. days or the 42. Months of the continuance of the Beasts Reign doth begin For in what is already mentioned we find every thing that goes to the constitution of Antichristianism namely Error in Doctrine Idolatry in Worship and Tyranny in Government Forasmuch as we find the Roman Church at that time guilty of Forbidding Marriage and of Commanding to abstain from Meats which are the two characters of the Apostacy fore-told by St. Paul. And because we find her defiled with prayers for the dead with the Worshipping of Images with the Invocation of Saints with the veneration of Relicks and brought into a subjection to a Bishop who was by an Imperial Edict established Soveraign Judg of all other Bishops within the Circle of the Roman Empire That Edict was published anno 445. in favour of Leo I. and of his Successors It is then in that year at the soonest and at the latest also that we are to fix the fatal Epoche of the birth of the Antichristian Empire and consequently may hope to see the End of it in the year 1705. For if unto 445. which was the year of the Edict of Valentinian and Theodosius there be added 1260. the total will be 1705. And if from 1705. there be substracted 445. the Remain will be 1260. which is the time of the duration of the Beasts Reign The Historian Florus hath considered the Roman Empire passing through the different Ages and periods of human life and according to that Idea he hath marked the Birth and Infancy of that Empire under Kings its youth from Brutus and Collatinus who were the first Consuls till the time of Appius Claudius its Manhood from Appius Claudius till the time of the Emperor Augustus and its Old Age from Augustus till the time of Trajan under whose Reign that Historian lived and under which he says that the Empire tho' verging to a decrepitness bestirred it self as if it
had been grown young again We may very rationally form such an Idea of the Papal or Antichristian Empire But we may according to the Scripture go a little further than the Historian Florus hath done and ascend to the very Conception of this Antichristian Kingdom For it was conceived in the time of St. Paul because he writes to the Thessalonians 2 Ep. chap. 2. v. 7. that the Mystery of Iniquity did then work It was then as an Embrio and a Foetus but it began to stir in the second Century when Victor the Bishop of Rome upon a very frivolous occasion namely about the day on which Easter should be kept Excommunicated the Churches of Asia but he was too feeble to continue and justify what he had done After the conversion of the Emperors who chose to bring heathenish Superstitions into the Church in order to facilitate the conversion of the Pagans Antichristianism begun to acquire considerable strength and strove to come into the world and to shew its head Especially when Pope Mark in the 4th age wrote those bold and blasphemous letters which we have mentioned and when Innocent I made that bold effort in reference to the matter of Appeals whereof he claimed to be Judg. But yet Antichristianism did not openly appear nor come abroad because it had not the assistance of the Secular power to midwife it into the world It was then born and came into the world when the two Emperors Theodosius and Valentinian came in to its succour and when by an Edict wherein these two Emperors joined and exerted their Authority the Bishop of Rome was established Soveraign Judg of all Bishops Since that Edict it hath been always growing It s Infancy was from Leo I. until Boniface III who improving the favour of the Emperor Phocas boldly assumed the Title of Universal Bishop which his predecessor Gregory I durst not challenge because that Iohn Bishop of Constantinople had taken it before him It s youth was from Boniface III until the time of that famous Hildebrand called Gregory VII under whose Popedom it arrived at its manly State. For to this day there was never a Pope more haughty nor a Tyrant more terrible than he was He brought Henry IV. to come and demand pardon of him in the Castle of Canoss where he made him attend three whole days without shewing the least regard to his dignity and when he had admitted him to audience treated him with the like haughtiness that the most absolute Master would treat the meanest domestical Servant It s Manhood extended from thence until the time of the great Schism which endured 50 years and was at last ended by the Council of Constance in the year 1415. And then began its Old age which is now so far advanced that it may be said to be decrepit and extreamly feeble and to have as it were one foot in the Grave XXIX ILLUSTRATION Of the Destruction of Gog and Magog REV. CHAP. XX. V. 7. And when the thousand years are expired Satan shall be loosed out of his prison V. 8. And shall go out to deceive the Nations which are in the four quarters of the Earth Gog and Magog to gather them together to Battel the number of whom is as the Sand of the Sea. V. 9. And they went up on the breadth of the Earth and compassed the Camp of the Saints about and the beloved City and fire came down from God out of Heaven and devoured them V. 10. And the Devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brim-stone where the Beast and the false Prophet are and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever THe destruction of Gog and Magog being not to arrive until after the imprisonment of Satan for a thousand years and till after the Millennian peace of the Church we cannot discourse of it otherway's than by conjecture This prediction is unquestionably the same with that of Ezekiel For there hath not hitherto been any Defeat like unto that which Ezekiel chap. 39. relates concerning Gog and Magog which he representeth to be such that they shall be seven Months in burying their dead Bodies and that the fire in which their Arms are burnt shall last seven years v. 9 12. Since Ezekiels time until this day there hath been seen nothing proportionable unto it nor any thing in the whole known world that comes near it This then being a Sealed Prophecy we must wait for the sense of it till it come to be accomplished Nor will it be fulfilled until after Satans Imprisonment and the Churches rest for a thousand years and until after the ruin of the Beast and the false Prophet who are in this Vision supposed to be in the lake of fire and brimstone So that it is highly probable that St. Iohn doth only repeat the prophecy of Ezekiel For as Ezekiel doth not relate the Destruction of Gog and Magog until after he had described the Resurrection of the Church of Israel so St. Iohn doth not treat of this Affair till after the description of the Church's re-establishment and of her peace for a 1000 years And as Ezekiel represents the people of God before they came to be assaulted by Gog and Magog as a People that were in the enjoyment of an entire peace that dwelt void of fear and who had neither Walls nor Gates nor Barrs and who without being troubled lookt after their Herds and their fields so St. Iohn do's in the same manner represent the Peace of the Church before the breaking out of the War which Gog and Magog were to be ingaged in Finally As Ezekiel after he had recounted the Defeat of Gog and Magog describes the Mystical Temple and with that finisheth his Prophesie so St. Iohn after he hath recited the destruction of Gog and Magog describes the same Temple which Ezekiel had described and which is nothing else save the Church and Mystical Temple of the Son of God and with that he finisheth his Apocalypse If it be demanded who these Gog and Magog are I answer that it appears by Ezekiel that they are a people on the north of Judea as the Tartars and Scythians are And in all likelihood they and others sprung from them are the people who being deceived by Satan loosed out of his prison shall raise the most dangerous War against the Church that she ever met with and that therefore God shall deliver her after a more illustrious manner than ever he had done before XXX ILLUSTRATION Of St. John's Offence in falling at the Angel's feet to Worship him REV. CHAP. 19. V. 10. And I fell at his feet to Worship him and he said unto me see thou do it not I am thy fellow servant and of thy Brethren that have the Testimony of Jesus Worship God for the Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophesie SEeing the Angel reproveth St. Iohn for having east himself at his feet it must needs be that that Apostle
had therein done amiss Otherwise the fault were in the Angel in rebuking that as a sin which was an action that ought not to have been blamed Which is a thing that we are neither to say nor to think of an Angel of light But what was this fault of St. Iohn Can we say that he failed in reference to the Law and to matter of Right Certainly this Apostle was sanctified to the knowledg of the Truth by that Spirit which inspired him in his divine Writings yet sanctification being not perfect save in heaven there is no danger in confessing him to have been liable to infirmities and the rather because he himself saith 1 Epist chap. 1. v. 8. that if we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us Nevertheless seeing that if St. Iohn had failed in matter of Right he must have been guilty of Idolatry a thing he was not capable of committing neither as he was a Iew by his birth and less as he was a Christian who had received a greater measure of the light of Grace and least of all as he was an Apostle that had preached against Idolatry and who had shut up his first Epistle with that Exhortation Little children keep your selves from Idols it is therefore safest to say that he failed in matter of Fact and that being struck with the luster of the Angel he took him for one of the Persons of the Godhead for which the Angel doth rebuke him And what the Angel saith in his reprehending of him do's plainly favour this account See thou do it not say's he for I am thy fellow servant and of thy Brethren that have the Testimony of Iesus Worship God. The Angel saw that he took him not for a Creature but for the Creator For he doth it in the same manner that St. Paul and Barnabas reprehended the Lycaonians Act. 14. 15. when they would have sacrified to them as unto Iupiter and Mercury why do ye these things we also are men of like passions with you The Relapse of St. Iohn into the same fault chap. 22. v. 8. for which he was again rebuked do's invincibly prove that his sin was a faileur in matter of Fact. For who can with any probability believe that St. Iohn would have worshipped a creature if he had known him to be such or who can think but that if the Angel had thought so of him he would have rebuked him with greater severity than he did Whereas even upon that miscarriage he contenteth himself with producing the same reason a second time thar he had alledged unto him before That which the Angel addeth for the Testimony of Iesus is the Spirit of Prophecy is nothing but an Illustration of the reason which he had assigned for not suffering St. Iohn to worship him namely that I am thy fellow Servant For it is all one as if he should have said the Testimony of Iesus which is in thee as an Apostle is the same thing with the Spirit of Prophecy that is in me We are equal and therefore you deceive your self in taking me for an object which ought to be worshipped The Bishop of Rome is not so Scrupulous as the Angel was nor do's he carry it after that manner forasmuch as upon the day of his Election he suffereth himself to be set upon the high Altar where he is worshipped by all the Cardinals and by all the people By which we come to know what agreement there is between the Bishop of Rome and an Angel of light And that there is a great deal more betwixt him and the Angel of Darkness that had the impudence to require of Iesus Christ that he should fall down and Worship him XXXI ILLUSTRATION Of Christ's directing his Epistles and his Revelation to the seven Churches And why AFter that we have explained all the Visions of the Apocalypse we are not to forget to inquire the Reason why Jesus Christ judged it convenient to direct it together with the Epistles particularly to the seven Churches of Asia Ephesus Smyrna Pergamus Thyatira Sardis Philadelphia and Laodicea There is unquestionably a Mystery in it that Jesus Christ should direct this divine Book to Seven Churches neither to more nor to fewer For 1 the number seven is a Mysterious Number through this whole Book It signifieth the universality the fulfilling of all Times as appeareth by the consideration of the seven Seals the seven Trumpets and the seven Vials Because that number denoteth the whole Train of things which the Seals Trumpets and Vials fore-tell are to come to pass till the very destruction of the Antichristian Empire 2 Christ appeareth having in his hand Seven Stars which are the Seven Pastors of the Seven Churches aud walking in the midst of Seven Candlesticks which are the Seven Churches that we have mentioned But why Seven Doth he not promise to be the Protector but of these seven Pastors and the Overseer and Defender but of these Churches 3 There is a Conformity between that Vision in the first Chapter and those of the seven Seals and of the opened Book For we there find the same pomp the sound of a Trumpet and the glorious presence of our Saviour in the midst of his Church And withal he appeareth there walking in the midst of the seven Candlesticks and sitting in the midst of the four living Creatures and the 24. Elders By which conformity we are given to understand that this first Vision is of equal weight and of an equal extension with all the other And that this of the Seven Churches reached to the End of the world as all the following together do 4 Jesus Christ saith to St. John. v. 19. Write the things which thou hast seen and the things which are and the things which shall be hereafter Which is as much as if he had said write not only things which concern the Churches that are mentioned and which ought to be instructed as these are but which also concern all Churches to the End of the world and whereof the seven that are named are a model and Type 5 The Epistles which Jesus Christ directeth to the seven Churches do contain Instructions and Reprehensions which agree unto and exactly express all the different and several conditions in which the Christian Church will be found until the end of the world The State of the Church of Ephesus doth lively represent the condition of the Primitive Church where Truth prevailed and where at the last the decay of Charity became a disposition and a step to a more doleful State. Whosoever well considers what is said to the Church of Ephesus will therein find the condition of the primitive Church painted forth to the life That of Smyrna represents the State of the Church during the fourth and fifth Ages wherein Arianism had the upperhand and wherein the Orthodox were outragiously persecuted That is the Tribulation of ten days wherewith Smyrna is threatned not
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
that is not the way by which the Reformed Religion planteth it self in the hearts of men That is a method only sutable to the Popish Religion and to the Mahometan But the meaning is that they shall no more dare to write or to speak in favour of Popery against the Reformation that their Societies shall be put down and that they shall banish themselves out of the Realm upon their not finding it to be their interest to continue all which will be a death unto them But we may take the words of the Text litterally and without a Figure Seeing there shall be killed seven thousand names of men that is there shall be no more of that kind of Doctors who are distinguished by their Societies and Fraternities no more Monks no more Jesuites and it may be no more arch-Arch-Bishops no more Abbots and no more Cardinals in the Kingdom The 2 d Event marked in the Prophecy is that the remnant shall be affrighted by the resurrection and ascention of the Witnesses i. e. by seeing the reestablishment of the Reformed Churches and shall give glory to God. Which questionless denoteth unto us the conversion of all those people who belong to France For there is nothing by which God is more eminently glorified than by the conversion of men And that expression of their giving glory to the God of Heaven deserveth to be remarked Why is it not said they shall give Glory to God why to the God of Heaven This beyond all contradiction strikes at them who put themselues in the place of God. Every one knoweth the Station which the Pope and the Roman Church hold in all parts of the Papal Kingdom They make a God of the Pope and of the Church both in ascribing to them the glorious Attribute of being Infallible which appertaineth to none but to the Deity and in making the Authority of the Church the Foundation of the Faith of Christians But this is a perishable Divinity a God of the Earth a false God from which men shall turn to the God of Heaven the living and true God whose Word shall then be the alone Foundation of Faith. 'T is well known how they have made the great Louis a God through their compelling Protestants to change their Religion for this only reason because it was the Kings Will to have it so But affairs will alter and all France shall give Glory to the God of Heaven They shall give to Cesar the things that are Cesar's but not the things which belong to God. Yea Cesar himself shall give glory to the God of Heaven If what we have said in reference to the Resurrection of the two Witnesses and of that which is to ensue thereupon be no more than a Conjecture as we will give it no other Title yet it may be affirmed that it is a conjecture accompanied with great probability and that there is some Foundation for it For if we dare not say that St. John foretold the Event which is actually come to pass we may say that such a thing is fallen out which may be called both the death of the two Witnesses and their lying without being put into Graves Seeing what we have seen befall the Reformed in France does exactly answer to the Terms of the prediction And if the death of the Witnesses be what we have explained it then it cannot be denied but that all which we have said in reference to their Resurrection is a conjecture that hath a Foundation and a probability As to the Time when we are to see their Resurrection there is no doubt but that we are to reckon from the period at which their death fell out And it may be said with great appearance of truth that the Edict of Fontain bleau which repealed that of Nantes that was the Foundation of the Liberty of the Reformed was the fatal stroke which gave the Witnesses their death For the Edict of Fontain bleau declareth that of Nantes to be now useless seeing there remain but few Protestants to be converted to the Catholick Religion and they hope these will be soon reduced as others have been Forasmuch then as the Edict of Fontain bleau was registred towards the end of October 1685. and that it speaks of the extinction of the Reformed Religion and of the Protestants which was that foretold by St. John under the death of the two Witnesses as a thing done and that what remained of them were not to be reckoned upon we may then very probably say that upon counting the three years and a half from the forementioned October the Witnesses shall again rise and the Reformed shall be re-established XXV ILLUSTRATION Of the Seventh Trumpet The Arkopened in Heaven The Kingdoms of this world become the Lords REV. CHAP. 11. V. 14. The second Wo is past and behold the third Wo cometh quickly V. 15. And the seventh Angel sounded and there were great voices in Heaven saying the Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign for ever and ever V. 16. And the four and twenty Elders which sate before God on their Seats fell upon their faces and worshipped God saying V. 17. We give thee thanks O Lord God Almighty which art and wast and art to come because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned V. 18. And the Nations were angry and thy wrath is come and the time of the dead that they should be judged and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy Servants the Prophets and to the Saints and them that fear thy Name small and great and shouldest destroy them which destroy the Earth V. 19. And the Temple of God was opened in Heaven and there was seen in his Temple the Ark of his Testament and there were lightnings and voices and thundring and an Earthquake and great hail ALtho this be the seventh Trumpet yet it can no way's be the last Judgment that is spoken of here as it might seem to be at the first view For the pouring out of the seven Vials is to be followed with the destruction of Babylon and that is to be followed with the conversion of all Nations and with the Reign of a 1000. years After which shall come the War of God and Magog And all these things being to go before the Judgment of the last day it is not possible that that should be the subject of this seventh Trumpet under which the seven Vials are to be poured out Nor do the 24. Elders say that the time of Judging the quick and the dead was come but they only speak of the Dead which sheweth that is not the Judgment of the last day that is spoken of where the Living shall be judged as well as the Dead And withall 't is here said that the Kingdoms of this world are to become the Kingdoms of Jesus Christ which admirably agrees to the Millennian Reign when all Nations shall be converted but no