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A52999 A new systeme of the Apocalypse, or, Plain and methodical illustrations of all the visions in the Revelation of St. Iohn written by a French minister in the year 1685. and finisht but two days before the dragoons plunderd him of all, except this treatise ; to which is added, this author's Defence of his illustrations, concerning the non-effusion of the vials, in answer to Mr. Jurieu ; faithfully Englished. French minister. 1688 (1688) Wing N780; ESTC R40048 187,478 388

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by the 42. Moneths mentioned chap. 13 when we come to examin how long Antichristianism is to continue In the mean while that which is spoken v. 13. is worth the serious considering When she Dragon saith St. John saw that he was cast unto the Earth he persecuted the Woman There had been another Persecution of the Church for during the time of three hundred years She had been persecuted by the Pagans but this is a Persecution begun by Christians or by such who called themselves so The Devil being through the conversion of Rome and her Emperors dethroned and cast from Heaven unto the Earth he left the Church in Peace But it was only for a very short time for he suddenly bethought himself of assaulting her by Error and Superstition The first Persecution which was that by Pagans was open and avowed but this which is by the Antichristian Followers of the Beast is carried on more darkly XII ILLUSTRATION Of the Floud which the Serpent cast out of his Mouth and of the Help which the Earth gave unto the Woman REV. CHAP. XII v. 15. V. 15. And the Serpent cast out of his Mouth Waters as a Flood after the Woman that he might cause her to be carried away of the Floud V. 16. And the Earth helped the Woman and the Earth opened her Mouth and swallowed up the Floud which the Dragon cast out of his Mouth V. 17. And the Dragon was wroth with the Woman and went to make War with the remnant of her Seed which keep the Commandments of God and have the Testimony of Iesus Christ NOW Doctrine being called Prov. 18. 4. Waters of the Mouth this Floud must be a Hellish and Mortal Doctrine because it is the Serpent who casts it out of his Mouth to carry away the Woman and to destroy the Church beyond recovery Yet this Doctrine can be none of the Heresies with which the Church was exercised during the first three hundred years because the Church is here treated of after the time of the casting down of the Dragon from Heaven unto the Earth that is after the conversion of Rome and her Emperors So that it must needs be some Heresie started after the Flight of the Woman forasmuch as it is here said that the Serpent cast this Floud after the Woman as being in the pursuance of her upon her Retreat into the Wilderness Now the Woman as we have shewed withdrew into the Wilderness after the Emperors were turned Christian in that the Church begun then to decay in her purity It must therefore refer to those Errors which were condemned by the first four Councils and especially to that of Arius who denied the Eternal Godhead of Christ and taught that he was meerly a Creature made before all other things 'T is true there had arisen some Hereticks before who had vented the same Heresie in the main but it is likewise true that they never made such a considerable Body as to bring the Church into an extream danger Whereas the Arian Heresie by seising and infecting almost the whole Church had near brought it to pass that there should be no more a Christian Church and that there should be no more hope of Salvation For if Jesus Christ be not a Divine Person his Death can have no more vertue than that of Martyrs It could neither have expiated Sin nor that I may say all in one word have been any ways meritorious seeing common sense tells us that a meer Creature cannot merit at the hands of the Creator who is of infinite Majesty This Heresie prevailed over the whole Eastern Church forasmuch as it was approved by five Councils by that of Tyre that of Syrmium that of Ariminium that of Seleucia and that of Antioch But at length it was condemn'd and extinguished by the last Council that was held in reference to that matter which was that of Constantinople under Theodosius the great After which the Church hath enjoyed rest on that side and Iesus Christ hath been adored as co-essential with the Father For since then there have been no Hereticks owning this Heresie that have appeared in any Body For the Socinians are no more a Body than the Atheists and Deists are The Earth then that helped the Woman and which opened her mouth and swallowed up the Floud were all those Councils that condemn'd the Arian Heresie They are stiled the Earth because they are purely a humane Mean and one which God hath not ordained For Iesus Christ hath promised an infallibility to no Assembly of men or if he have it is to two or three who shall assemble in his Name and not to all who come together If we consider the Heresie of Arius meerly upon that foot and if we put it into the list of Heresies meerly upon the account of its being condemned by several Councils and if we believe that Iesus Christ is in all things equal to God only because Councils have so determined this Faith of ours will be but a Humane Faith and not a Divine For it is not Divine but as it hath a Divine foundation and a Divine foundation is no other thing save the Soveraign Authority of God speaking in the Scriptures I do believe that Iesus Christ is every way equal to his Father not because Councils have so decreed but because the whole Scripture doth declare it even from Moses to St. Iohn and from Genesis down to the Revelation The Councils did undoubtedly determine well when they condemned the Heresie of Arius and in that they asserted the Godhead of our Saviour but in the mean time their Decree was only so far just and true as it was conformable to the Word of God. The Councils are therefore no other but a humane Mean because Infallibility doth not reside in them but in the alone Word of God that is the Rule by which they do judg And forasmuch as they are a human mean they are the Earth that helped the Woman and that swallowed up the Flood XIII ILLUSTRATION Of the War which the Dragon being full of Wrath made against the Remnant of the Seed of the Woman REV. CHAP. 12. v. 17. THE Serpent saith St. Iohn was wroth with the Woman and this was upon the finding himself disappointed of that effect which he expected from the Floud which he had cast out of his Mouth and upon his seeing that the Earth had opened her mouth and swallowed it up And being enraged with wrath he went to make War with the remnant of her Seed which keep the Commandments of God and have the Testimony of Iesus Christ But what was not the Dragon wroth with the Woman before the Earth had swallowed up the Floud and before the condemnation of the Arian Heresie Hath he not alway's made War with those that are of the Seed of the Woman It is so nor is the contrary intended here but it is the Scripture way of speaking to express the increase of a thing as if it were
but we shall be extreamly surprised at the re-establishment of the Reformed Churches in France because we know the King to be of opposite Sentiments to them But as it is the King of France who contributeth most to the Glory of the Papacy So it shall be the King of France that shall contribute most to its ruin It was a Louis XII who in the last age threatned to destroy the Romish Church perdam Babylonis nomen And it shall be a Louis who will execute the threatning of that generous King. The God of heaven and Earth the King of Kings who has the hearts of Kings and of people in his hand raiseth in us this hope because it is further added in the Prophecy 5 That the same hour there was a great Earthquake and the tenth part of the City fell It may be doubted whether this Earthquake may come to pass according to the letter But it is most certain that Earthquakes in scripture signify great alterations that fall out in States And to bring no other example save one that relates nearly to this matter Whosoever remembers that Earthquake which was in France when the King returned from the Pyrenees after the Treaty of Peace and the consummation of his Marriage and considers the great alterations which have since fallen out in that Kingdom not only in reference to Religion as well Popish as Reformed but in reference to Justice to Policy to the Finances and to War will no longer question but that the Earthquake which is to be after the Witnesses have lyen three days and a half dead doth promise as surprising a change in France as to all those regards and an alteration wherewith all the world will be contented except it be the Clergy the Monks and the Jesuites Some will doubless ask what reason I have to understand France rather than any other Kingdom by this tenth part of the City which is to fall after the Eartquake My reasons are these 1 I presuppose that the City here spoken of is Babylon or the Papal Empire or the Romish Church which is the Empire of Antichrist This Truth we have already proved 2 I presuppose that France is One of the ten Horns of the Beast One of the ten Kingdoms that were to be formed out of the ruins of the Roman Empire according to Daniel and which was to begin at the same time with the Beast according to St. John that is to begin with the Papal Empire This is evident in History 3 I presuppose France is one Street and one part of the City i. e. of the Papal Kingdom Nor can any deny but that the Gallican Church or the Church of France stiles it self by the Title of the Catholick Apostolick Roman Church that the Pope Reigns there over what is called Spiritual that he hath there his Ministers and Agents that he receiveth Annates from thence and that there is no Arch-Bishop or Bishop in France but who receives his Mission and Authority from the Pope 4 I suppose that France is the most beautiful and glorious Kingdom of all those Kingdoms which are Tributary to the Pope They do so account it by calling the King of France the most Christian King and the eldest Son of the Church And it is worthy of remark that even in St. Johns time France was by way of excellency stiled the Province because of all the Provinces of the Roman Empire France which was then called Gaul was the best and the most powerful This is so certain that the name do's yet remain and is attributed to the Southern part of France which is stiled Province from the latin Provincia It being therefore said in the Text that the tenth part of the City fell the Holy Spirit did questionless intend by that expression the most excellent part of all So that it is from thence very natural to understand France by the tenth part of the City Lastly we have already observed that it is not said that the two Witnesses were killed and that they lay unburied in the places or Streets in the plural number but in the Street of the great City in the singular which is as much as to say a Popish Kingdom marked out by way of excellency And therefore seeing the Holy Spirit had the most excellent of all the Popish Kingdoms in his Eye and seeing we have seen the death which in so surprising a manner hath befallen the Witnesses in France we may without any difficulty conclude that it is France which is this tenth part of the City that is to fall 6 'T is said that the tenth part of the City shall fall This may at the first view appear a dreadful prediction against France But yet it is not so For we must observe that this threatning is not as it would at first seem denounced against the tenth part of the City but against the City it self Because as that is the alone cause of the death of the two Witnesses so that is also the object of Gods vengeance 'T is then the City the Papal Kingdom which is to receive a terrible loss by the falling away of France Whereas France it self will increase both its strength and Glory by that falling off and withdrawing So that upon the whole I do not doubt but that it is the conversion of that beautiful Kingdom which is promised in this place And that which confirmeth me the more in this conjecture is what followeth namely that there i. e. in the tenth part of the City which was to fall by an Earthquake there shall be slain of men seven thousand and that the remnant shall be affrighted and give glory to God. In which words we have two Events represented unto us whereof the one is very different from the other both of them worthy of observation The one is an effect of the vengeance of God the other an effect of his Mercy The first event is the death of seven thousand names of men Which is a figure where seven thousand names of men are put for seven thousand men of name that is of quality reputation and dignity These Men of Name are doubtless either the Doctors who make a great deal of noise in France in the Sorbone in the Society of the Oratory in the Society of the Jesuites and among the Clergy or else persons of quality who are distinguished from others by their birth and by their honor The Number of seven thousand denotes an indefinite number but very considerable And the death of these men will be a death parallel to the Death of the Witnesses that so like may be returned unto them for like For that the same shall be rendred unto Babylon which She rendred unto Sion is both threatned in the Prophesies of Isaiah and in the Revelations of St. John Isa 14. 6. Rev. 18. 6. Not that these seven thousand men shall be compelled by the fury of Missionary Dragoons to abjure Popery and to embrace the Reformed Religion For