that is alledged of the Rabines for the true saying of Elias The words are these Two thousande vaine Two thousande the Lawe Two thousande christ And for our sinnes which are manie and marueilous some yeres which are wanting shall not be expired By which saying the world is notably deuided into three ages or especiall courses and doth shewe both wheÌ„ Christ should come and how long the state of this world should continue Two thousande yeres was the world without any lawes ordeined expressely by the worde of God which being finished Circumcision and afterward the Lawe was giuen and a certaine gouernment and true manner of woorshipping of God was instituted by the worde of god But about the middle age of the world when as three thousande yeeres were past to wit in the time of Iosaphat King of Iuda and Achab King of Israell did this diuine Prophet vtter this Prophecie by which he did signifie the true and certaine tyme of Moses gouernmeÌ„t and of the coÌ„ming of the Messias or sonne of God which should manifest himselfe preach and be crucified of the Iewes And he shewed that almost a thousande yeeres did remaine before Christ should come and the Gospell begin to be preached about two thousaÌ„d yeres after his coÌ„ming the world should perish and come to nought Nowe sith according to this Prophecie of Elias the euent hath proued two thousande yeeres to haue beene past before Circumcision and manifesting the lawe and two thousande also to haue passed when Christ came for vntill the thirtie yeere of Christes age at which tyme Iohn did prepare the way to the Lord and Christ began to accomplish the will of his father did the fourth thousande continue it is to be thought vndoubtedly that nowe in the olde age of the world the euent will answeare to his prophecie and that as in the middle and flourishing state of the world God carried Elias by a firy chariot into heauen so in the ende and vanishing tyme thereof he wil exalt vs with him self into the celestial habitatioÌ„ of which no doubt Elias was a figure coÌ„stituted of god But as Elias saith some yeres shal be waÌ„ting For the Lord God because of wickednes shall hasten his coÌ„ming so that six thousand yeeres may not fullie be expired Which prophecie was vttered by Elias through the holy ghoste and is no fiction of the Rabines as are manye things in those Thalmudician bookes and may in my iudgement be coÌ„firmed by the answeare of Vriel the Angell vnto the demaunds of Esdras although Hierome and those which followe him doubt hereof But Theodore Bibliander in the explication of Esdras his dreame doth say that Hierome did rather imitate the rashnes of the Iewes than probable reason And proueth by many moste plaine arguments this fourth booke to be Esdras owne booke Prophetical diuine and saith That marueill it is not though this diuine booke bycause it moste plainly telleth of the raigne and cheifest lawfull and euerlasting kindome of Iesus Christ and also of the refusall of the Iewes and conuersion of the Israelites vnto Christ the Lorde be despised of the blinded synagog of the Iewes which do wilfully set themselues against their sauiour And also addeth that this booke is yet extant in the Hebrue tongue and was translated out of the same To this Esdras demaunding of Vriell the Angell whether the time past be greater than the time that is to come or whether that which is to come exceede the tyme past the Angell doth answeare by two similitudes And doth shewe vnto him first a burning fornace and afterwarde a watrie cloude and saith Marke whether the fire do ouercome the smoke and the showre the drops or otherwise To whom Esdras sayth I see Lord that a very great smoke doth passe away I see also a great showre to come powring downe but afterwarde I perceiue the flame to ouercome the smoke the drops the showr Then saith the Angel. Now iudge of the continuance of the world Euen as first the smoke vanquished the fire and the drops the showre so the yeeres of the tyme past shall exceede the tyme which is to come But nowe according to the computation of yeeres it is euident that Esdras liued aboute the thirde thousande and fiâ—e hundred yeere after the worlds creation and a while after Cyrus death from which tyme aboue two thousande yeeres are consumed Wherefore we doo see this prophecie marueilously to agree with that of Elias and the ende of the world to be nigh at hande Moreouer bycause the holy scripture doth witnesse that a thousande yeeres with God is but as one daie and also that the Lord God sixe daies was occupied in framing the world but the seuenth day rested therefore Melancton Osiander and others haue put a greate mysterie in the same and haue perswaded themselues that from this number of daies that saying of Elias was borrowed which me thinkes to be true For euen as God in sixe dayes made all things and rested the seuenth so by the ministerie of his worde in this lyfe within the compasse of sixe thousande yeeres he will gather his Church with which in the seuenth he will celebrate and keepe holy his euerlasting Sabboth Caspar Peucerus thinkes Orpheus to haue been of this opinion whose words Plato did thus recite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Although in all the sacred scripture there be no place as touching the determination of any certaine tyme more agreeing with Elias Prophecie then that answeare of Vriell vnto Esdras yet will we proue the same to be moste true by things alredie paste by the state of things present other tokens as hereafter in their place orderlie shal be showen Neither is it to be doubted but that by the certain prouidence predestination and wisdome of Goâ— al things for his glory the safetie of his Church be marueilously mainteined and to a far other purpose then any man can imagin And therefore vnder the cheâ—f histories of the old testament we see our most blessed mightie God to haue hiddeÌ„ great Mysteries to be types figures and shadowes of the life deaâ—h resurrection and raigne of Christ as the storie of Abrahams offring of Isaac of Ioseph the Patriarch of the brazen Serpent of Samson Dauid Ionas the Prophet which was three dayes in the belly of a whale and so likewise some other learned men very probably haue reasoned that Henoch being from Adam the seueÌ„th was a figure of the last iudgemeÌ„t and of our ascending into heauen For euen as the corporal death bycause of sinne forceably did raigne and beare swaye ouer the sixe fathers of the Church to wit ouer Adam Seth Enos Kenan Mahâ—laliel and Iared but vpon the seuenth which was Enoch could exercise no force or power at all so likewise by the space of sixe thousande yeeres which tyme the world shal endure death shal beare a sway but in the seuenth thowsand which shal be the beginning
were the seuen heades of the Beast And therefore he sayth Bestia quam vidisti fuit non est that is The Beast which thou sawest was and is not that is the Romane Empire is but not such an Empyre as that was which came of the stocke of Caesars and decayed when Nerua dyed And now iâ— the tyme of Domitian of those seuen fiue were dead but the seuenth which was Nero was not yet come And cum venerit opportet eum breue tempus manere nec diu imperare wheÌ„ he commeth he must tary a short tyme and gouerne but a whyle which also came to passe because he raigned but one yeere and three monethes But Traian was the eyght a Spaniard no Romane borne and adopted by the seuenth Wherefore to the purpose sayth the Angell to Iohn in this maner Bestia que erat The beast which was to wit the Romane Empire non est and is not the Romane but a Romanspanish Empire is octauus erit that shal be the eight from Neroâ— e septem est and is of the seuenth to wit adopted of Nerua Wherefore because of this alteration in the Empire and mournful countenance of the Church by reason that her cheife Rulers and Apostles were dead we wil here begin to accompt the fyrst fiue hundred yeres euen vnto the dayes of Heraclyus and Phocas which chanced in the .604 and .602 yeere from Christes Natiuitie About which time Boniface the third was confirmed vniuersall Bishop of all the world and manifested the forerunner of Antichrist as likewyse Gregorie the great not many yeeres before had pronounced of the Patriarch of Constantinople which ambitiously sought to be Priuate or chiefe Byshop of the rest About this time the Romane Empire was much weakened and the Turke began to be of power This first periode may well be referred to the Church of Christ in whose beginning as it were shee suffered most greeuous persecution of the Romane Empire that cruell and blooddie beast and had many godly and learned men which entred most dangerous and continuall conflictes for the ouerthrowe of heresies and yet notwithstanding by litle and litle many Ceremonies were brought into the Church by which at length shee was marueilously polluted the chiefest bringer of those ceremonies into the Church was Gregorie the great vntill Boniface by the helpe of Phocas did playnly declare himselfe to be Antichrist in deede From this time vntil the raigne of Henry the fourth we recken the second periode of fiue hundred yeares in which all Papisticall superstitions Idolatrie blasphemie orders of Monkes power of the Pope wyth the chiefe Senate of Cardinals dyd aboue measure encrease and in the tyme of Henry that impietie came to ripenes euen as also afterward did the Turkes tyrannie and blasphemie Before about a two hundred and fiftie yeares numbring from Phocas the Emperour which also haue their ende to wit in the dayes of the Emperours the Pope of Rome was licensed to be a ciuill Magistrate receyued his chiefe aucthoritie from Pipine and afterwardes from Charles the Great and Lodouike the Godly and was endued with many Prouinces and adorned with double power or with both Swordes both of ruling the Spiritualtie as they saye and Laitie which he obtained vnder the pretence of Religion and therefore Iohn in his Reuelation gyueth to this Beast two hornes like vnto the Lambe About which tyme both the Turkish Empire as in his place it is sayd dayly increased and the olde Romane Empire continually decayed and was diuidâ—d in the Orientall and Occidentall Empire Yet notwithstanding the Occidentall Emperours in respect of the others had full power to create and confirme what Byshops they would But in the tyme of Henrie the fourth that order was altogether chaunged Because the Byshops at the length had brought vnto themselues all power and aucthoritie both of ordaining and choosing Byshops and Emperours to and made a newe Ecclesiasticall or Cardinals Senate to the which was giuen full power to choose whom they would to the Papacie the Pope beyng dead and reserued to themselues all aucthoritie of choosing and crowning Emperours Against this vnspeakable ambition and mightie power of the Pope dyd for the maintaining of his Emperiall aucthoritie according to the decree of his father Henry the Blacke though in other things he dyd ouermuch submit himself to the Popes aucthoritie Henry the fourth stoutely as became a good Emperour resiste For which cause afterward Pope Hildebrande otherwise called Gregorie the seuenrh a wicked and infamous Magician dyd excommunicate him and raised great and greuous wars against him by others in so much that he displacing him chose a newe Emperour named Ralfe to whom he sent a crowne of Gold with this inscription Petra dedit Petro Petrus diadema Radolpho but at length vanquished by Henry hauing lost his right hand he died miserablie But Henry being dead when as now the second Period of fiue hundred yeares from the tyme of Phocas was perfeâ—tly finished the vngodly Pope by his craft and subtiltie at the beginnyng of his raigne obtayned easily of Henry the fift too wicked a sonne for so godly a father all his dâ—sire So that that diuine Reuelation of Iohn dyd fully take effect bicause that Image of the Beast with two hornes dooth exercise al the power of the former beast and calleth al kings his sonnes and slaues and earnestly dooth keepe the manner of the Gentiles in all kynd of Idolatrie only hauyng altered the names of things Lastly also to this Image of the Beast by the Dragon bycause he speaketh like a Dragon that power is gyuen that he may quicken the other image of the Beaste that is this Germanicall Empire which rather ought to be termed a shadowe of the old Empire than an image of the same For the Pope did giue life to the image of the Beast by his election For vnlesse the Pope did confirme the election none was worthy of the name of an Emperour Therfore vnder the preteÌ„ce of the keies of the kindoÌ„ of heaueÌ„ this vngratious felow hath marueilusly abused this power of the Dragon which power now by the preaching of the Gospell through the grace of God doth threaten an vtter and last destruction whose longest terme of fiue huÌ„dred yeres about the yere a thousand sixe hundred or there about is fully finished Wherefore sith this damnable childe and the image of the Beast with the Dragon in that perfect wickednes must be cut of and cast hedlong into hell a great and infallible argument is it and agreeing to Gods word and to the course of time that this certaine computation of yeeres doth signifie the Lords comming to be very nigh at hand ¶ Of things past already things to come are marueilously gathered BY that which hath ben spoken as wel as a briefe annotation of tymes and thyngs that haue been done could shewe it after a sort appeareth how after the death of Henry the fourth
offred it selfe vnto the King in his sleepe vnder which according to the interpretation of Daniell were fygured all the Empyres of the worlde And the same heauenly Prophet by the same spirit dyd foretell that God would rayse vp an euerlasting and perpetuall kingdome which all the Sainctes of God after iudgement shall possesse world without ende Nowe what let is there Why by lyke certayntie those things shall not be fulfilled which haue been spoken afore of the destruction of this world and eternall gouernment of christ Sith that kingdome is perpetuall and not to be ouerthrowen prepared for the Sainctes of God from euerlasting as fayth and Christian Religion do confirme And from the same spirit of truth are these things vttered Gods prouidence also is certaine His eternal pleasure not chaungeable and in his power which of nothing created the worlde nothing is wanting Where of those things none except either a mad man or possessed with some wicked spirit can raise any doubt Besides the eternall iustice of God the ryghteous iudge dooth greatly exact that euery man be rewarded according to his desertes of which must needes be gathered that the state of good men must be glorious of wicked most miserable Which commeth to passe cleane contrary in this wretched world where most commonly good and well disposed persons are with troubles tormented wyth baniâ—hment molested with losse of goods vnpuniâ—hed and with all miseries ouerwhelmed but the wicked are with delicious fare nourished with goods enriched with offices preferred and for aucthotitie honored As Dauid in these woordes dooth bitterly complayne My feete were almost gone and my treadings had welnigh slipt And why I was greeued at the wicked when I sawe them in such prosperitie For they are in no perill of death but are lustie and stronge They labour not lyke other men neyther are they plagued lyke other folke And therefore pryde compasseth them as dooth a chaine and they haue put on the garment of crueltie Their eyes are swollen with fatnesse and they doo what they lyst They marre others and speake marueilously yea they blaspheÌ„e the most hyghest And a little after Behold these vngodly prosper in the worlde and enriche themselues greatly and I sayde then haue I clensed my hart in vaine and washed my handes in innocencie All the day long haue I been punished chastened euery morning yea and I had almost sayd euen as they but loe then should I haue condemned the generation of thy children And therefore there must of necessitie be another lyfe after this in which according to the iuste iudgement of God euery man must receyue eternall and woorthy recompence for their woorkes be they good or bad eternall glory or eternall infamie Euen as Dauid also in the same Psalme to the comforting of himselfe and the Church telleth vs in these woordes Then thought I to vnderstand this but it was too harde for me vntyll I went into the sanctuarie of God then vnderstoode I the ende of these men Namely howe thou hast set them in slipperie places and wilt make them fal downe into desolation O how suddainely doo they consume vanish and come to a fearefull ende yea euen as a dreame are they when one awaketh Lorde when thou raisest the dead thou wilt dispise their image And besides especially it agreeth to the diuine iustice after all good woorkes or bad committed in this body that all bodies knit with their soules doo rise and receiue that which they haue deserued Which thing Esay most plainly dooth signify in this maner All fleshe shall come to worship before my face sayth the Lord And they shall come foorth and see the dead bodyes of men which haue done wickedly against me there worme shall not dye and their fire shall not be extinguished c. And Iob in plaine wordes dooth witnes that those bodies which we now haue we shall receiue again For thus he saith I know that my redeemer lyueth and that I shall rise in the last day from the earth shall be clad again with my skin and in my flesh I shal see God whom I my selfe shal beholde and mine eyes shal see and none other Then as Esay writeth shal death be vtterly deuoured and the Lord God shal washe away al teares from euery face and will take the reproch of his people from the earth because the Lorde hath spokeÌ„ it Neither as Iohn saith in his reuelation shal their be death any more nor weeping nor cry neither anye more griefe because the former things are past Moreouer the Lord God is not onely iust but also truth it selfe And therefore all those things which by the Prophets and Apostles through the instinct of the holy Ghost he hath reuealed touching the end of the world the Resurrection of the flesh the last iudgement of Christ and the eternall lyfe of the godlye and the eternall death of the wicked which is to come shall so certainely come as nothing ought to be more certaine vnto vs notwithstanding that mans reason and the doctrine of the Philosophers cannot sufficiently conceaue the same For if he be truth how can he lie Or sith all which hath been spoken afore of Christes comming in the flesh of his death and resurrection of alteration of Empires be sufficiently fulfilled How can we otherwise thinke but that these things which of the ruine of the world and of Christes eternall kingdome reuealed vnto vs of our most mightie and blessed God must lykewyse come to passe Especially syth all which hath been spoken was to no other end spoken but to proue this and the summe of Christian religion consistes in these things Which demonstration going before and true testimonies of holy Scripture in my iudgement maye suffice both to the strengthening of our faith and cutting of all doubting of that noble coming of Christ our Lorde to iudgement of the ende of this sinfull world of the glorious exhortation of his Church and of the vtrer damnation of the reprobate Wherefore now I will endeuour by testimonies of diuine Oracles probable reasons and coniectures to shewe that the world cannot passe the time of sixe thousande yeares Of the second comming of Christ a comfortable Discourse That the world shall not endure aboue sixe thousande yeares SAint Austine and manie moe of antiquitie together with moste learned men of our tyme and my masters excellentlie seene in all things Philip Melancton and Regner Predin a man of ripe lerning and iudgement Moderator of Groningane haue been of this opinion that that Prophecie of Elias concerning the worlds continuance sixe thousande yeres is without all doubt true and to be credited Notwithstanding that Prophecie is not to be read in the holy scripture but in the books of the Rabines as in the firste Chapter and firste booke Abodazara also in the fourth part of the Thalmudician work in the Sanhedrin book and last Chapter of the same and other places where
dissentions of people and continuall warres of Princes to the ouerthrow of the Gospell by the Popes setting on will subdue all kingdomes But I trust the Lord God by his speedie comming will bring to naught these endeuours of Turke and Pope agaynst his Church and will cast that beast with the litle horne which hath mightely encreased and all those vngodly and dragonish kingdomes arising from the sea and that false Prophet into that fornace which burneth with fire and Brimstone Many reasons and probable coniectures from the course of tyme. HEtherto by meane diligence I haue recited those fore tokens of the induring of times which Christ hath taught vs And also I haue showeÌ„ other signes and coniectures out of Gods worde and condition of the tyme that now is by which we may know the oldnes and sodayne finishing of tymes to which when they come to passe the Lord commaundeth vs to looke backe and lyft vp our heades For in that the Lord God declareth his most ardent goodwill towardes vs in that he would not signify the day and hour but foreshewed the tokens going immediatly before the same And therefore sith by these it is manifest that it is the expresse will of our Sauiour that out of the written word of Christ we should with all diligence search out the last tyme of our redemption I doubt not but I shall doo a good deede and gratefull both to God and his Church if I vtter foorth some cogitations of myne fetcht from the course of tyme yet agreeing to thâ— holy Scripture for the proofe of the opinion about the speedye conclusion of tyme Not that I am in that mynde that I thinke these to be Demonstrations which through a necessitie of that which is to come must needes be but as probable things so long to be imbraced tyll we learne more certayne And therefore in these and the lyke things I submit my selfe to the better iudgement of the Church and of the learned and I perswade my selfe that these and other singuler Prognostications which followe whereby somewhat â—igher I approch than as yet I haue doone to shewe the sodayne comming of the Lord shal be so farre from terryfying of the godly that the consideration of these things will be most pleasaunt and comfortable But yet I take not vppon me as before also I haue protested to know the day which Christ sayth himselfe he dooth not know as he lyke a man beareth the office of an Apostle For the signes foretold we may know but not the day and houre not the very moment of his comming but the tokens of that moment doo we search out as farre foorth as it is lawfull for man so to doo The holy Scripture euery where maketh some collation between the first Adam the sinner the sonne of God Christ our Sauiour the second Adam also betweene the floud the vtter ouerthrowe of the world euen as Christ dooth signifie in these woordes Et erit sicut in diebus Noe c. And it shal be as in the dayes of Noe c. Wherefore I fell first into this consideration and afterwardes from one to another into those which ensue whether the tymes past in equalitie of the same nomber aunsweared alike For the Lord God hath ordayned all things by a singuler and euerlasting wisdome and experience dooth teach by a certaine concurring of the Starres that in such things e great lykenes of tymes is woont oftentymes to happen as in the birth of Isaac and of his offering which is a figure of Christ there is a great concent of the tyme For from Isaac vntill Christ were two thousand yeeres fully expired But when from Adam orderly vntill the floud we doo consider the yeeres of the generations of all the fathers and gather them all into one summe laying aside the false computation of Eusebius and others following the Greeke translation of the seuentie Interpreters from the first yeere of the worlds foundation to the floud are iudged to be a thousand sixe hundred fifty and sixe yeeres From this number the yeeres of Christes birth vnto this present yeere a thousand fiue hundred seuentie and fiue doo differ eightie and one yeere if truly that number were filled But I doo not thinke the world shal continue so long that the latter time should in number exceede the former for many coniectures which follow but what may come to passe the Lord knoweth Lykewyse Moyses is a figure of Christ that marueilous deliuering of Israell by Moyses out of the handes of Pharao is a figure of the victorie of Christ which in our behalfe he hath by his death on the Crosse and resurrection from the dead obtayned agaynst the diuell and death and the whole gouernment of Mâ—yses is a shadowe of Christes kingdome His destruction and the Iewes is no doubt a token of the worldes ouerthrowe And here we shall see a wonderfull concente and agreeing of tymes that so by things past we may looke for the euent of things to come vndoubtedly by the singular prouidence counsayle and ordinance of god For no other reason can I render sith I cannot perswade my selfe that these things can by chance so wonderfully agree togeather First by the true accompt of yeeres it is playne that from the comming out of Aegypt and publishing of the lawe vnto the Natiuitie of Christ are numbred a thousand fiue hundred and nine yeres Now if the yeeres from the Natiuitie of Christ vntill this time in which Christ began agayne to be borne to the world and to be brought into the light as it were through the preaching of the Gospel by Luther and other famous men were numbred they are in summe a thousand fiue hundred and seuenteene Agayne from the departure out of Aegypt vntill the death of Christ the yeeres are accompted to be a thousand fiue hundred fortie and two And this number also dooth marueilously agree with that generall Persecution in Germanye made by Charles the fift and the Pope which happened in the yeere a thousand fiue hundred fortye and seuen So that these numbers of yeeres beyng compared togeather wil be found not much to differ in quantitie of number But from these poore mentions I will goe higher to those things which especially doo agree to our purpose It is manifest that Moses gouernment vntyll the last destruction of Hierusalem by Titus did stand in all one thousand fiue hundred eightie three yeeres Neyther is it to be doubted of any but that that destruction and wasting of Hierusalem is a manifest figure of the last ruine of this world And therfore doth our Lord speake of these things together and sayth those dayes were the dayes of Noe in respect of manners and the securitie of mans lyfe Nowe at length what shall we gather of these things That the terme of the worlds destructioÌ„ should agree with the former number of yeeres of Moses gouernment Which not the sonne of an Emperour or chiefest Monarch as was
and againe those yeeres from rhe death of Christ vntill the destruction of Hierusalem wyth these yeeres which came since that general persecution vntill the eightie and eight yeere were compared we shall see also that in number of yeeres they doo not much differ For between Christes birth and his preaching there was thirtie yeeres and so to his death .33 yeeres and somewhat more But from that seuenteene yeere when the Euangelicall doctrine began to shine againe vntill the fortie and sixe yeere in all when Charles the Emperour began to arme himself against the states of the Empire so to abolish the doctrine of Christ are numbred twentie and nine yeeres Againe from the death of Christ to the ouerthrowe of Herusalem there was fortie yeeres And from that generall persecution which happened in the fortie and sixe yeere vntill the eightie and sixe yeere are accompted fortie yeeres which is the middle yeere between the eightie foure when that exceeding straunge vniting together of the Planets shall appeare and the eyghtie eight about which that coniunction shall take his full force Moreouer I find that these tymes in which those two wonderfull coniunctions dyd appeare sixe yeres before the byrth of Christe and in the dayes of Charles the Great and the thyrd and last which shal happen before the ful expiryng of sixe thousand yeres the thousand fiue hundred eighty and foure beyng at hand do fyll the same number For Cyprian Leouitius doth write that that other vnityng of Planets in the tyme of Charles the Great chaunced in the yeare seuen hundred eighty and nyne after the natiuitie of christ If to this number so many moe were added the yeares would be one thousand fyue hundred seuenty and eight Nowe if to these were added those sixe yeares before Christ was borne when the first of these three coniunctions happened there shall aryse countyng from the Natiuitie of Christ as it were from an effect of the former coniunction the same number of yeares in full quantitie agreeing with that dreadfull yeare eighty foure aboue a thousande fiue hundred onely that first from this last which is to come differyng those sixe yeares before Christes byrth I confesse my selfe not to be skilfull in Astronomie although I do greatly esteeme that Arte if it be soberly vsed and not vainely abused which some because they are not acquainted therewith as commonly it happeneth doo not onely despise but also with euyll wordes because it is abused of some deface But if the writyngs of Leouitius and which was a great while before his tyme Iohn Stoffler and other Astronomers iudgements of those rare coniunctions of all the Planets in the end of watry Trigon be true as certesse I beleue and verily perswade my selfe I say plainly it is a thyng greatly to be marueyled at that those collations of tymes in which the Lord God eyther hath bestowed singuler benefites vppon his Church and also wyll bestow or altered kyngdomes and wyll alter by such a certaine wonderfull equalitie and quantitie of number should answer between themselues euen as those causes of Astronomers in euery respect haue doone Of which it is most euidâ—ntly gathered that the Lord God by a singuler prouidence and eternal Counsaile dooth guyde and gouerne all thyngs And also it is plainly to be seene that he hath made the Starres and the course of them to be as it were Clockes of his eternall counsaile and gouernments of such things in his Church and common Weales euen as the Lord God also dooth witnesse hym selfe that those lights in the Firmament of heauen should be for Signes of tymes and dayes and yeares And therefore from these thyngs doo cunnyng Astronomers fetch their coniectures bycause through a certayne order which the Starres doo keepe they haue by long vse obserued very many thyngs that so from a true obseruation of principles they may bring foorth generall coniectures whose euents doo marueylously agree togeather And that there is a certaine order or a true course of the Starres that wonderfull agreeyng togeather of yeares continually in great alterations of Kyngdomes and Religion which hath beene marked is a great proofe as by that which is already spoken shal more plainly appeare Truely as oft as I consider these things I am not only exceedingly troubled in mynd but as it were compelled to beleue that that especiall tyme of the end of this world is nigh at hand because the Lord among other things also hath gyuen as certayne tokens these to wyt that before his commyng there shal be a darkenyng of the Sunne and Moone and that the qualities of the heauens shal be troubled By which woords no doubt he would signifie that the whole Firmament of Starres should be altered and as it were threaten a destruction ¶ An application of Histories and other Testimonies with a short repetition of that which is spoken THerefore in my iudgement herein is conteyned a woonderfull Mysterie yea greater then may be vttered by any man in that our mercyfull father if any credit may be gyuen to Mathematicians to these three tymes betweene those two thousand yeares of the last age which according to Elias Prophesie were appoynted to Christ hath annexed the same coniunction of all the Planets vnder the same Signes Because if these Mathematicall obseruations togeather with that agreement of tymes already spoken of were compared with the Prophesies of the Prophetes of Christe and of Paule we shall fynd a marueylous concent of al these thyngs Which thing by the Prophets by Christ and by the Apostles the Starres signifying the same through the vnspeakeable loue of God towards his Châ—rch is therfore doone that these three tymes as it were by a most necessary obseruation should be marked to wyt about what time Christ tooke vpoÌ„ him our nature also about what tyme by the comming of Antichrist the true doctrine of Christ was obscured and that sonne of perdition obteyned the chiefe place in the Church and Empire of the world and finally about what tyme that glorious commyng of the sonne of God to iudgement is to be looked for But that we may the better open these things let vs consider after what manner the euents of those two former tymes haue happened in which the same constellation of the Starres accordyng to the opinion of Cyprian Leouitius dyd come that of those two past we may the better iudge of that most ioyfull commyng of the sonne of God to all his elect and may certainely perswade our selues that he wyll make hast and come shortly and with speede and also let vs consider that tyme in which the same constellation shall appeare againe which was twise before in multitude of yeres as is aboue sayd is like these past When the godly about Christs time did see the gouernment should be taken not onely from the stocke of Dauid but also from the Iewes and translated to strange rulers to wit to the house of Antipater the Idumite no doubt they supposed
the Pope became the chiefe Monarch of all the worlde ruled all kyngs and obteyned all authoritie of chusing Bishoppes Also howe that third Periode of fiue hundred yeares about the yeare of our Lord one thousand and sixe hundred should be fully perfect that so without all doubt we may looke for a new Metamorphosis of these things if things to come may well be gathered of things past already And what other I beseech you can we looke for but euen that which was seene and heard of Iohn in his Reuelation from hym which sate on the Throne among the foure and twenty Elders saying Behold I make al things new a newe heauen a newe earth behold the Tabernacle of God with men and he shall dwell with them and they shal be his people and he shall be a God with them euen their God. But when those vngodly Decrees and blasphemies which the Romanes froÌ„ the fifty seuen vnto the thousand one hundred yeare in all the tyme that Henrie the fourth raigned by litle and litle brought in are considered and withall compared with our dayes we shall find all those things continually to haue had as it it were peculiarly their fiue hundred yeares a peece Wherefore in my iudgement by the tymes past and state of things present I am the more confirmed to thinke the full and perfect end of all vngodlynesse to be very nigh at hand after which shall ensue that perpetuall and euerlasting world in which the Lord God shall raigne and rule in iustice truth and mercy for euer In the tyme of Henry as out of histories we gather these Decrees of the Bishoppes were published first that the Emperours shoulde haue no aucthoritie to chuse Bishoppes nor Pope for which cause the Senate of Cardinals to whom was geuen that power was instituted and preferred to great honour then also they tooke vppon them to chuse and refuse Emperours at their pleasure as plainly appeared by Hildebrandes electing of Rodolph and displacing of Henry Moreouer vnder this Emperour that horrible Idolatrie of the woorshippyng and carrying about of the bread came into the Church Lastly in the yeare one thousand nyntie and three al the lawes of Popes were gathered set forth by one Iuon B. of Carnot And therfore no doubt but the Lord God also at his certayne tyme wyll briâ—g to nought cut of and by his commyng to iudgemeâ—t to the perpetuall shame of all papistes vtterly abolish all that impietie and wickednes which the Diuell by his ministers to the reproch of God hath caused increased and confirmed For we haue examples both in the people of the Iewes and Gentiles For when as their superstition and obstinate vngodlynes was come to the top then sprang vp the true doctrine and preaching of the Gospell by which their false doctrine was reproued yet in the meane while through the iust and horrible displeasure of God against them most greeuously were they plagued euen as also happened to the Iewes by Ierusalems destruction and also to other nations and lastly to Rome in the miserable spoyling of the Gothes and vandolles But if the tyme since the preaching of the Gospell were well marked we shâ—ll see most euident beginnings of the ruine and ouerthrow of the Pope and Papacie which perchance eyther shall go before the last end of tyme or els in that third space of fyue hundred yeeres or somwhat after by the Lords comming shall come to naught So doo I perswade my selfe thinke you what you will at your pleasure and yet take heede ye rhinke not falsly But if in other places I erre the matter is not great For it is certayn out of the word of God that this errour shall not long continue For Christ is the very truth and cannot erre But let vs note what hath happened and dayly dooth happen among Christians in this our age and playnly and euidently we shall see all things forespoken to haue and daily to come to passe about this very tyme of fiue hundred yeeres For we haue a notable example hereof in the Electors and states of the Empire which in the yeere one thousand fiue hundred fiftye and eight which was about the fiue hundred yeere after the Popes began their tyranny ouer Kings and Princes did chuse Ferdinandus the Emperor maugre the Pope and for euer disanulled that decree of the Cardinals for the confirmation of his election How I beesech you hath Lotharinge a Guisian Caâ—dinall in Fraunce and Granuellus another Cardinal in Belgia for al their Cardinalshippes preuayled in their laboring to confirme the Popes authoritie and to bring in the Spanishe Inquisition haue not the Frenchmen and Belgians by that meane rather rebelled agaynst them cast froÌ„ their shoulders that intollerable yoke of the Popes bondage By which no doubt it is euident that that space of fiue hundred yeeres in which the Cardinals bare the swaye is now passing and will shortly be expired euen as the other peeuish and idolatrous doctrine of the Papistes is well and to their perpetuall prayse banished out of the Dominions of manye good Kings and Princes And now ye Princes deale wisely and with iudgement consider how that Antichrist of Rome hath most shamefully abused your authoritie to the suppressing of the truth and persecuting of innocentes Beare in minde how long you haue been Ministers and slaues to that blooddie beast in crucifying Christ agayne in his members Be learned ye Iudges of the earth be sorye for these things Serue the Lord in feare and reioyce with trembling For the horrible day of the Lord hangs vppon your shoulders Therefore kisse the Sonne least he be angry and so ye perish when his fury shalbè but a little kindled Blessed are all they which trust in the Lord. Now if in that spoken already and other particular lawes the number of fiue hundred yeeres be so rightly filled what shall we iudge of the whole body of all the Popes decrees which afterwarde by Iuon Byshoppe of Carnot after whom Gratian followed in the yeere of the Lord one thousand nintie and three at the commaundement of the Pope was truly collected into one booke as it were by imitating Iustinian the Emperour which by the ayde of Tribonianus and other noble men gathered the Ciuill lawe into an order and made thereof a newe booke But how with absurdities in number infinite blasphemies not to be vttered those decrees of the Pope doo filthily deface the woord of God none of a ryght iudgement is ignorant And yet alas these haue had more aucthoritie now many yeares than the very immutable worde and will of god Which things although they doo agree very well together yet for the sakes of the ignorant we will proue the same both by a Canon of holy Scripture and the Popes decrees manifestly contrarie between themselues Paule sayth to Timothie Spiritus disertè dicit fore c. That is The Spirit saith plainly that in the latter tymes
Ierusalem but the sonne of God much mightier than all Emperours an euerlasting king can bring to naught Which thing Melancthon seemeth plainly to point at in the lyfe of Vespasian in his Chronicles and the like reason is here which is in the former comparison of nuÌ„bers if things to come may be gathered by things past already The figure doth altogether in this place agree the chiefest signe of Christes comming to wit the preaching of the Gospel hath gonne before and we to sticke in the midst of all the other foretolde calamities and euery yeere expect more miserie Finally also the Astronomers write if euery skilfull man in his owne facultie is to be credited that the starres in the beginning of the thousand fiue hundred eightie foure yeeres which almost altogether doth agree with the number aboue mentioned doo threaten very fearefull and horrible things eyther a greeuous alteration of Empires and other wonderfull things or els an vtter destruction of this world The wordes of Cyprian Leouitius a Bohemian a most excellent Mathematician in a certaine booke of Prognostications for twentie yeeres from the yeere sixtie foure to the eightie foure be these Anno Domini .1583 mense Maio. c. Which is In the yeere of our Lord 1583. in the moneth of May there shall happen a great coniunction of the superior Planets in the last ende of Pisces after which straightwayes in the yeere eightie foure shall ensue a wonderfull mixture of all the Planets almost in Taurus about the ende of March and beginning of Aprill And which is more a little after that shal be seen an Eclypse of the Sun in the twentie degree of Taurus about the head of Algol a most cruell and hurtfull fixed starre gouerned by Venus which shal be linked to fiue Planets in Aries tending toward the twelfe Here sayth he must we watch and I thinke it meete that all earthly cogitations be cast of least we be destroyed beyng vnreadie for this great coniunction is of all the laâ—t which shall happen in the ende of watrie Trigon and watrie Trigon shall perish and be turned into fire Neyther any more it the space of eyght hundred yeeres the end of watrie Trigon shall be nigh But because about the ende of watrie Trigon this Monarchie shall begin it is likely that the same also in the ende of the same â—rigon shall haue an ende sith the sonne of God himselfe Iesus Christ our Lorde euen in the ende of watrie Trigon tooke vppon him the nature of man For sixe yeeres before his most glorious Natiuitie the same verie coniunction in the extremitie of Pisces and in the beginning of Aries happened Neither came the lyke from since that time but when Charles the Great helde his Empire which was in the yeere of our Lord seuen hundred eightie and nyne And now the second tyme such a great and straunge coniunctioÌ„ shal come which vndoubtedly doth foreshewe the other comming of the sonne of God man in Maiestie of his glory at which time wee must render an accompt of our lyfe and conuersation And a little after he sayth But vnder Charles the great the ende of the world could not be because at that tyme fiue thousand yeeres were not expired But now the operations of this great coniunction continuing the number shall tende to sixe thousand yeeres which agreeth with the holy Prophet affyrming that this world should stand sixe thousand yeeres of which summe of yeeres the sonne of God shal take somwhat saying the last time for the elected of God shal be shortned But if there remained yet another coniunction of the former Planets like to the first then should there be required almost eight hundred yeeres moe which added to the tymes of this great coniunction do make the nuÌ„ber of sixe thousand almost foure hundred yeeres which is plainly against that prophesie These coniectures howsoeuer they are I thought good to recite which doo agree with the learned Prophesies of most auncient Astrologers Hytherto Cyprian which also by his Latine verses doth showe that old and common prophesie turned into Germanical Rhythmes by Iohn Stoffler which also aboue nineteene yeeres agoe I haue heard recited by Melanthon The wordes in the Germane tongue be these Tawsent fnuffhundert achtzich acht Das ist das Iar das ich betracht Geeth im dem de Welt nitt vnder Geschicht doch grosz mercklich wunder The Latine verses are thus Post mille expletos à partu virginis annos Et post quingentos rursus ab orbe datos Octogesimus octauus mirabilis annus Ingruet is secum tristia fata feret Si non hoc anno totus malus occidet orbis Si non in nihilum terra fretumque ruet Cuncta tamen mundi sursum ibunt atque retrorsum Imperia luctus vndique grandis erit In Englishe thus When after Christes birth there be expirde Of hundreds fifteen yeeres eightie and eight Then comes the tyme of daungers to be ferde And all mankind with dolors it shall fraight For if the world in that yeere doo not fall If sea and land then perish ne decaie Yet Empires all and Kingdomes alter shall And man to ease himselfe shall haue no way Now by this it appeareth howe the number of yeeres of Moses gouernment which endured a thousand fyue hundred eyghtie and three yeeres and of this yeere a thousand fyue hundred eyghty and foure in whose beginning that prodigious coniunction of the Planets in the ende of watry Trigon dooth happen agree togeather so that the quantitie and number of the tymes foretold the signes and starres seeme to agree togeather and without all doubt to pretend the same thing In lyke manner may we bring foorth other comparisons of tyme which by reason of lyke euentes agree togeather wonderfully Of which this one is not of least wayght To witte that same tyme from the natiuitie of Christ vnto the ouerthrow of Hierusalem is almost equall with that when Luther first of all set himselfe agaynst rhe Popes Indulgences and began to preach the Gospell to this yeere eyghty and eyght in which or about the same by this marueylous ioyning togeather of Planets which shal be foure yeeres before by the singuler prouidence of God so direful destinies of the world shall meete togeather For from the byrth of Christ vntyll the destruction of Hierusalem are numbred seuentie and three yeeres and from the tyme Luther and others first began to preach Christ and his Gospell vntill the eyghtie and eyght yeere are acompted seuentie and one The number is iust with that before and speaking allegorically theÌ„ may Christ be sayd to be born againe when as his doctrine so long by Papisticall dreames darkened fond illusions so deeply buried is as it were borne anewe and doth clearely shine among vs But if those yeeres from the birth of Christ vntill his preaching and suffering of death with that generall persecution done by Charles the fifte and the Pope