to another the filthy smells of their mutual unchastity but none trembled at it because every one was plunged in it He tells us the Clergy was engaged in the same disorders and that there were no imaginable crimes thefts covetousness robberies abominable extorsions voluptuousness but what were in use the corruption then was an overflowing torrent We must repeat the whole work to make an exact description of the miserable state the Church then was in This Bishop seems perswaded that 't was these horrible excesses that drew down the sad judgements of God and that open'd the dore to the barbarous nations which made the Empire desolate In the fifth Age the tyranny of the Bishop of Rome began to be considerable The tyranny and pride of the Clergy and particularly that of Rome were also found very high in the fifth age Leo the first that held the see of Rome in the year 450. hath diffused abroad in his writings an air of pride and domineering wherein it appears that he aspired after tyranny and that he designed to make himself master of the Christian Churches He exalted his See above all others Jer. â— in annivers assumpt ad Pontificatum 't is the Chair of St. Peter who is called the rock and the foundation He saith that God had exalted him viz. himself Leo to a Soveraign degree Humilitatem meam in summum gradum provehit After he had said that Saint Peter was called the rock the foundation the Porter of Heaven the determiner and judge of those that are to be bound and loosed he adds that the power of Peter lives in his See and that his excellent authority resides there And he saith afterwards that Saint Peter was the Prelate and Primate of all the Bishops The Sermon whence this is taken shews that every year he celebrated the day of his exaltation to the Popedom and made it be celebrated in his Church which is great Pride Writing to Flavian Bishop of Constantinople he complains that he had not acquainted him with what Eutyches had done pretends that upon that account he had not been rightly condemned He complains of this especially that they did not shew respect to the appeal to Rome that Eutychus had put in Sometimes to the title of Bishop of Rome he adds that of Ecclesiae Catholicae Ep. 22. Ecclesiae Catholicae Episcopus urbis Romae Bishop of the Catholick Church He opposes the decree of the general Council of Constantinople by which the second place was given to the Bishop of new Rome and a power to exercise the same jurisdiction within his district as the Bishop of old Rome exercised in his Can. 28. The Council of Chalcedon confirmed the decree of that of Constantinople and made the Church of Constantinople equal in all things to that of Rome He was vexed at it and opposed the execution of it as much as he was able This I confess was nothing in comparison of what was afterwards seen however it was much and the Bishop of Rome did not long stay from proceeding further CHAP. V. That we must look for the point of the birth of Antichristianism in the fifth Age. It must end about the year 1710 or 1715. WE have just before seen in the extent of an age from the year 350 to the year 450 the idolatry tyranny and corruption of manners that were establisht and encreased And 't is in the extent of this Age that one may seek for the point to which God would affix the beginning of the Antichristian Empire and whence he would have us reckon the 1260 years of Antichristianism But the difficulty is yet to know the year precisely or within a little of it We must here again make use of the ingenious observation of Joseph Mede which we have already mentioned He thinks that in the words of the 11th Chapter Rise and measure the Temple of God and the Altar and them that worship therein But the Court which is without the Temple leave out and measure it not we have a short representation of the Church and its duration A pretty observation of Ioseph Mede on the first verse of the 11th Chap. By the Altar and the Temple he understands the inward Court and by this inward Court he believes is meant the primitive Church pure in its manners sound in its Doctrine And by the outward Court he understands the Church corrupted by superstition idolatry tyranny and impurity He hath found that the inward Court was much less than the out ward one there was the same proportion between these two Courts as there is between one and three and a half So that the outward Court contained the extent of the inward one three times and a half And he concludes that her extended quantity being the image of the extent of time the duration of the corrupted Church signified by the outward Court was to be three times and a half and the duration of the pure Church was to be but one time Now 't is plain by the Prophecies that the duration of the corrupted Church must be three Prophetical years and a half which are 1260 natural years therefore the duration of the pure Church must be one Prophetical year that is to say 360 years I confess this appears to me as if it were inspired The pure Church lasting 360 years there may be four terms whence to compute these 360 years He adds that one may begin these 360 years either 1. from the birth of Jesus Christ according to the Christian account or 2. from the time of his Passion which makes the beginning of the Christian Church Or 3. from the time of the destruction of Jerusalem because then the Law was perfectly abrogated and the new covenant perfectly establisht Or 4. Lastly from the time in which St. John prophecied The first calculation begins with the first year of Jesus Christ An. Christi 1 The second in the year of our Lord. 33 The third in the year of our Lord. 70 The fourth about the year 94 If we reckon the 360 years which must contain in them the purity of the Church from the first year of Jesus Christ the last year falls on the 60 year of the fourth Age. And this agrees admirably with the event For indeed 't is precisely in this time that we see the footsteps of the superstition of Reliques and the invocation of Saints appearing in the Authors of the fourth Age. If we reckon from the 33th year of Jesus Christ which is that of his death the 360th year will fall upon the end of the fourth Age. In which time Sr. Austin and St. Jerom wrote by whose writings it appears that the superstition of the worship of the creatures had already made great progress If we begin the 360 years from the destruction of Jerusalem which happen'd in the 70th year of our Saviour the years of purity will end in the year 430 a time in which it is also
the H. Scripture uses such high words to describe the popish Idolatry and higher than those it makes use of to describe the Pagan Idolatry Pag. 183 Chap. XX. The deceiving Spirits which St. Paul speaks of are Evil Spirits The Doctrine of Daemons is that Doctrine that hath Daemons for its Objects and not that which hath Daemons for its Authors There is a perfect conformity between the Theology and the Religion of the Heathens about Daemons and that of the Papism about Saints and Angels mediatory Spirits Pag. 199 Chap. XXI What is the Character of those that were to establish Idolatry in the Christian Religion They are Priests and Monks Authors of the Laws of Celibacy and of Fasts How many fables and fictions have been invented by these men seared in their Consciences Pag. 215 Chap. XXII The Characters of Antichrist in the Papism confirm'd by the great type of Antichrist Antiochus Epiphanes That which is spoken literally of this Antiochus agrees mystically to the Pope and the Papism Pag. 228 Chap. XXIII A notable Prophecy of the Mahuzim that Antichrist was to worship The whole found admirably accomplisht in the Papism What is the literal sense of the Prophecy with respect to Antiochus An Explication of the beginning of the 12th Chap. of Daniel applied to Antiochus and the Papism Pag. 241 Chap. XXIV In which are gather'd together 35. Characters of Antichrist that perfectly agree to the Papism and cannot agree to any but it Pag. 255 Chap. XXV How Antichrist came to be mistaken being so well Characterised in the Prophecies A comparison of I. Christ and Antichrist in the accidental circumstances of their coming Pag. 263 The Table of Chapters of the Second Part. Chap. I. OF the duration of the Kingdom of Antichrist A refutation of that dream that it must last but three years and a half Ten Arguments which demonstrate that that supposition is false and impossible Pag. 3 Chap. II. The last Argument against the Chimaera of three years and half taken from the time during which the Temple was prophan'd by Antiochus Four quite different times set down for that in Daniels Prophecies An Explication and a reconciling of those four times An application of these four times to the Kingdom of Antichrist and the ruin of that Kingdom Pag. 17 Chap. III. What the last times are It doth not signify the end of the World. There are many times with reference to the Church and with reference to the World. If Antichrist must reign 1260 years he is come Mahometanism is not Antichristianism Pag. 29 Chap. IV. Some Principles to discover when the Antichristian Empire began and when it must end Three Characters of that Empire Idolatry Pride and corruption That these three Characters began to appear in the fourth Age and did infinitely encrease in the fifth Pag. 38 Chap. V. That we must look for the point of the birth of Antichristianism in the fifth Age. It must end about the year 1710 or 1715. Pag. 48 Chap. VI. The circumstances of the fall of Antichrist re-establisht in their order An Explication of the fifteenth Chapter Principles for the right understanding the sixteenth Chapter Divers interpretations given of it and their visible faults Pag. 62 Chap. VII An Explication of the three first VIOLS and the three first PLAGVES Pag. 78 Chap. VIII The fourth plague the encrease of the heat of the Sun denoting the encrease of the Papal Authority which had almost utterly ruin'd the World and the Church The fifth plague is the desolation of ROME when the Pope retreated to Avignon and the diminution of the Papal Authority by the grand Schism of the West Pag. 87 Chap. IX The sixth Plague are the Turks who pass over the Bosphorus and invade the Greek and Latin Empires The three unclean spirits which come out from the mouth of the false Prophet are the Papal Laws armed with Excommunications Pag. 97 Chap. X. The seventh Plague is the preaching of Luther and other Reformers by which the Latin Church was divided into three parts Papists Lutherans and Reformed Pag. 216 Chap. XI The Explication of the 14th Chapter The vision of the harvest and the vintage the harvest of the Reformation made in the age last past the vintage is the Reformation which shall be made this present age Pag. 224 Chap. XII The Explication of that part of the 11th Chapter where the last persecution made by Antichrist is fore-told which is the present persecution in France The death of the two witnesses who shall not be buried by means of the succour brought by the enemies of France Pag. 236 Chap. XIII The resurrection of the two Witnesses The Reformation shall within a few years rise again in FRANCE after that it shall be establisht by Royal Authority FRANCE shall renounce Popery and that Kingdom shall be converted Pag. 251 Chap. XIV Observations upon the 17 18 19. Chapt. of the Revelation concerning the fall of Antichrists Kingdom A brief Methodizing of the events which the H. Ghost had displaced in the Visions Pag. 270 Chap. XV. The Reason why in this work we speak of some things so positively The linking together of our Principles suffers us not to doubt that we now are at the end of the reign of the Papacy Pag. 277 Chap. XVI Of the thousand years reign That in all the past time there is not a time to be found wherein Satan hath been bound Four heads of arguments to prove this reign The first is the fifth Monarchy so plainly promised to the Saints Pag. 285 Chap. XVII The second spring of Arguments to prove the thousand years reign is the reign promised to the Iews The promises made to them have not been fulfilled but must be The conversion of St. Paul is a Type of that of the whole Nation Pag. 294 Chap. XVIII The third Head of Arguments for the future Kingdom of Christ and the Church So many Prophecies which concern the compleat Victories of I. Christ the Holiness of the Church and its perfect prosperity which have never yet been accomplisht Pag. 312 Chap. XIX The fourth Head of Arguments for the reign of a thousand years are the Types Four Types of this Period the Principal is the seventh day of the Creation which is not an immediate Type of Eternal Rest but of the Peace of the Church on Earth Pag. 321 Chap. XX. The Type of the Creation hath not been well explained We must make a System of it Principles to establish that System the division of the duration of the Church into seven Periods answering to the seven days of the Creation Pag. 326 Chap. XXI The Explication of the Mysteries signified by the Chaos by the Creation of Light by the separation of the Waters and by the Creation of the Plants The first days of the Creation and the three first Periods of the Church Pag. 334 Chap. XXII Explication of the Mysteries of the four last days of the Creation Pag. 345 Chap. XXIII A farther Confirmation
necessary to premise in the first place an Observation which I call the Key of the Revelation 'T is that this whole Book is nothing but a Paraphrase on what Daniel saith in the seventh Ch. of his revelations touching the fourth Beast Certainly this fourth Beast is the Roman Empire the fourth Monarchy And if some great strange events be found therin 't is always with respect to the Roman Empire that must endure to the coming of the Kingdom of J. Christ on the Earth VVhy God hath nor taken notice of other States in the Revelation The reason why God taking no notice of so many great events that happen without the bounds of the Roman Empire of the great Empires that are establisht the nations that are overturned the bloody Wars that are every where insists only on the fourth Monarchy or the Roman Empire is because god reveals not future events but with respect to the Church which he loveth which he conducts which he will instruct concerning his will. Now the Church was to be enclosed in or very near within the bounds of the Roman Empire I know that there were Christian-Churches in Persia it may be some in the Indies But all this was but a small matter Euphrates was the bounds of Christianity it spread it self but a little beyond it The Church therfore had no need to know that which should happen on the other side Euphrates nor to understand the foundation of the Empires of the Tartars the Kings of Persia the Mogulls the Chinois for all this had no respect to her Wherfore the Revelation saith not one word of them The Spirit of God also had no intention to instruct us in the adventures of the Empire of the Saracens that of the Turks but with reference to the fourth Monarchy Therfore we shall not see these two Empires that of the Saracens that of the Tarcks but only by the by in the fifth sixth Trumpets we shall not see them there but as the Scourges of God that fall on the fourth monarchy to vex to destroy it This observation is the Key of the Revelation For first it removes that difficulty which many make so great a stir about viz. that the Revelation as t is usually explained doth not at all touch on or if it doth 't is but by the by the greatest Revolutions of the World that happen'd in the East since 1200 years Yet once more it was not the work of him who would speak of nothing but the Church those Events that have in immediate reference to the Church Secondly This observation will teach us rightly to divide the times of the Revelation properly to apply the visions to each time to discover the events that are signified by those Visions We must know therefore that the fourth monarchy without comparison the greatest The division of the fourth Monarchy into two Periods most distinguished in the Prophecies is divided into two great periods The first is from the birth of Rome ab urbe conditâ which was the great Epocha of the Romans to the division of the Roman Empire into ten Kingdoms which was after the death of Valentinian the third about the year 455. For then the Empire was torn in pieces between the Greeks the Vandals the Goths the Burgundians c. it was I say divided into ten principal parts The second period of the fourth monarchy is since the division of the Empire among ten Kings the reunion of those ten Kings under one sole head that calls himself the universal Bishop to the end of this monarchy the coming of the fifth which is that of J. Christ on the Earth These two periods are very near of the same length viz. 1200 years or a little more The Lord J. Christ came into the world Anno V. C. 754. or 752. as Dionysius the lesser pretends The Empire was divided into ten Kingdomes about the year of J. Christ 455. i. e. in the year 1209 or 1207 of the city of Rome since that time under the Roman Gothish Kings the counting ab urbe conditâ was continued till the time of Dionysius the lesser a Roman Abbot a Scythian by nation who died in the year 540 according to Baronius who made his Paschal cycle in the year 527. T is about the year 530 that the Christian Aera began to be in use the counting by the years of J. Christ Then men left off counting ab urbe conditâ after they had used this Epocha about 1280 years However that be the period from the building of Rome to the division of the Roman Empire among ten Kings is more than 1200 years The second period of the fourth monarchy since its division among ten Kings to the end must be also above 1200 years The Prophecy makes it 1260 prophetical days i.e. 1260 years Now we must observe that in the time of St. Iohn i. e. in the time when he wrote the Revelation there was above two thirds of the first period of the fourth monarchy past gone For the wrote about the year 850 after the building of the city There remain'd therfore but a little more than 350 years of this first period But he had before him the whole entire second period of 1260 years Wherfore t is not very strange that he enlargeth himself much more on this later part than on the former So that we shall not find properly more than two chapters the sixth the eighth that respect this first period of the fourth monarchy and all the rest from the ninth ch inclusively to the 20th exclusively contains the events that belong to the period of the 1260 Years which is the second of the fourth Monarchy To render this truth more plain that the Prophecy of Daniel touching the fourth Monarchy is the Text on which the H. Spirit treats in the Revelation we must here view the Prophecy of Daniel apply it to divers parts of that of St. John. After this I saw in the night visions Dan. 7.7 behold a fourth beast dreadful terrible strong exceedingly it had great iron teeth It devoured brake in pieces stamped the residue with the feet of it it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it it had ten horns Daniel having asked the explication of this vision the Angel saith to him hereupon The fourth beast shall be the fourth Kingdom on the Earth v. 23. which shall be diverse from all Kingdoms shall devour the whole Earth tread it down break it in pieces This refers to the establishment of this Empire its conquests that were begun under the Consuls Dictators were finisht under the Emperours of which St. John. had seen a part some followed after him under whom also the Empire was always enlarged or at least preserved in its greatness even to the children of Theodosius It broke in
five things are co-temporary in the third Period Five things cotemporary in the Period of the reign of the thousand years I. The reign of the Saints for a 1000 Years Rev. 20.4 II. The Dragon that is bound whose power is broken Rev. 20.2 3. III. The New Jerusalem the description wherof we have Rev. 21. 22. Chapters IV. The company of Saints that are clothed in white garments who carry Palms in their hands singing this song Salvation to our God that sits upon the throne Rev. 7.10 Rev. 7.17 unto the Lamb and of whom it is said they shall hunger no more neither thirst any more neither shall the sun light on them nor any heat the Lamb shall feed them shall lead them unto living fountains of waters For these are not the 144 thousand Sealed persons spoken of in the beginning â—f the 7th Chap. St. John saith expressely After this v. 9. i. e. after these 144 thousand sealed persons I beheld lo a great multitude which no man could number of all nations kindreds people tongues stood before the throne before the Lamb c. This plainly shews that these are not the persons that were Sealed For they might easily be numbred because they were not above 144 thousand wheras these here spoken of are innumerable In truth these are the same that are spoken of in the 20th of the Revel who are there called the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Iesus for the word of God here they are called they which came out of great tribulation C. 7.14 have washed their robes made them white in the blood of the Lamb. They are therfore co-temporary with the reign of Christ for a 1000 Years as the 144 thousand that were sealed are co-temporary with the reign of Babylon for 1260 Days V. The fifth and last thing co-temporary is the duration of the seventh Trumpet And the seventh Angel sounded with a Trumpet there were great voices in heaven Rev. 11.15 saying the Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of the Lord. For at the sound of the Last Trumpet the last blow must be given to the Babylonish Empire at the same time shall begin the reign of Iesus Christ to which is assign'd a Period of 1000 Years And the influence of this seventh and last Trumpet must reach even to the end of the World. Thus you have the Chronology of the twelve last Chapters of the Revelation We proceed to consider the History CHAP. X. A short System of the Events foretold in the Revelation concerning the Church as to the Historical part A short explanation of the 11th Chap. IN the 11th Ch. where the Destinies of the Church do begin the H. Ghost in the first place gives us an abridgment of these Destinies Events nothing is more methodical than that First to give a general Idea of those things that are afterwards more particularly to be explained So this Chapter from the 2d. v. to the end contains a short History of the 1260 Years of Antichrist's reign of the 1000 Years of Christ's reign as in the first verse he had described the first Period of 360 Years as we just now observed in the foregoing Chapter This reign of Antichrist is here described by this Paganism that was to tread under foot the Holy City for 42 Months v. 2. The afflictions of the Church its perpetuall subsistence in the midst of those afflictions during this reign of Antichrist are signified by the two Witnesses clothed in sack-cloth A great persecution that must befall the Church at the end of these 1260 Years of Antichrist's reign v. 3. is there also predicted The total suppression of the profession of the truth by that persecution is signified by the death of these two Witnesses v. 7. who must remain dead in the territories of Babylon the great for three prophetical days and a half i. e. three Years a half We shall see afterwards what that means where we must place this great event At the end of three years a half these two Witnesses i. e. the publique profession of the truth shall rise again and be gloriously reestablisht For the H. Ghost saith that the two Witnesses shall ascend again up into Heaven i. e. shall be exalted glorified upon the Earth In the same time the tenth part of the City shall fall v. 13. i. e. one of those ten Kings that gave their power to the Beast shall revolt from him And a little after the seventh Trumpet shall sound which will give the last blow to the Babylonish Empire v. 15. After which the Reign of the Saints shall commence which shall continue to the end of the World. This is the Epitome of the whole History of the Church the sense of the 11th Chapter After this general idea of the History of the Church Ch. 12. its explication the Prophet enters upon the particulars In the 12th Ch. God shews him the vision of the Woman that was with child deliver'd of a Son persecuted by the Red Dragon who fain would devour the Child of the Woman Afterwards there is a battle fought by Michael his Angells against the Dragon The Dragon is overcome and cast to the Earth but as much overcome as he was he ceaseth not to persecute the Woman She is forced to escape into the Wilderness where she is nourisht 1260 Days The Dragon not being able to reach her vomited out a flood after her but the Earth open'd swallow'd up the flood saved the Woman This Woman is the Apostolical Church this Child of which she is deliver'd is pure holy Christianity The Dragon is the Devil who by the authority of the Roman Empire would devour extinguish Christianity in its birth Michael his Angells are Jesus Christ his Ministers celestial as well as terrestrial The combat of the Red Dragon Michael is the combat of 300 Years that was between God the Devil during the ten persecutions of the Roman Heathen Emperours The Devil endeavouring on one hand to destroy the Christian Church by the cruelty of the Emperours God on the other hand defending it by his Martyrs Teachers The victory gotten over the Red Dragon is the casting down of Heathenism which falls to the Earth is cast from Heaven i. e. 't is tumbled down from the throne by Constantine his successors to the reign of Theodosius The great flood which the Red Dragon casts after the Woman when he was thrown down on the Earth is those inundations of Heresies that Arrianism that cover'd the Christian World immediatly after the fall of Heathenism under Constantine The Earth swallowed up this flood in favour of the Woman these Heresies were destroyed swallowed up as in a moment the Church remained deliver'd from them by a kind of
contrary he reckons these to be a victory which they gain over the World and the Devil He speaks of Martyrs when he saith He that overcomes I will make him sit down on my Throne So that when 't is here said that the Beast shall overcome the witnesses this signifies that he shall make them faint under the tryall Which thing ought to be well observed that we may discern the singular Character of this present persecution that hath conquer'd and overcome above a million of souls 3. This victory of the Beast must prevail even to a total extinction of profession there shall remain no more signs of outward life in the faithfull who shall stand for the Truth they shall lye on the ground as dead bodies 4. This murther and the effect of this persecution shall be done in the street of the great City 5. The death of these witnesses must last three years and a half denoted by three prophetick days and a half 6. During these three years and a half the Truth shall remain as it were dead but not withstanding not buried men shall not dare to make profession of it notwithstanding it shall be visible the people who are neighbours of them who shall have stain it shall hinder it from perishing and putrefaction to which the bodies that are in the grave are obnoxious 7. At the end of these three years and a half the faithfull who are oppressed and whose profession shall have been violently suppressed shall rise again after that shall ascend to heaven and shall be exalted in the world 8. At the same time and after the exaltation of the faithfull there shall be an Earthquake i. e. a great emotion and trouble in the World and in the Antichristian Kingdom 9. In this emotion a tenth part of the City shall fall i. e. a tenth part of the Antichristian Kingdom shall be take away from it 10. Seven thousand men shall perish in this Earthquake and be buried under the ruin of the City i. e. that this shall be brought about with some blood shed though not considerable in that part of the City which shall be taken away from the Pope and the Popedom 11. And lastly within a little while this tenth part of the City which shall be taken from the Popedom shall give glory to God and be converted Behold what are the Characters of this last Antichristian persecution Now when I search after the time in which this persecution must happen I cannot doubt but that it is that in which we now are After this persecution shall be over God will begin to strike those sore blows to destroy the Antichristian Kingdom which must be destroyed within 25 or 30. years That the present persecution is the last That none may wonder that I speak so positively about a thing which seems to be as yet hid in futurity I entreat all equitable minds to consider that I have as I think with great evidence proved 1. That the reign of the Popedom must last 1260 years 2. That these 1260 years began about the year 450 or 455 and consequently they must end about the year 1710 or 1715. this being so we are but 25 or 30 years from the end of the Popish Kingdom And if this be so the present persecution must needs be the last since there is no probability that this present persecution being ended the calm restored to the Church should leave room for another persecution which must happen before the fall of the Popish Kingdom For we must allow the space of at least 20 or 25 years in which popery shall be persecuted and attacqued and not be the aggressor and the persecutor And certainly a shorter time cannot serve for the utter destruction of this vast Kingdom For it shall not be destroy'd in a way of violence but in a way of perswasion and because the charm that holds men enchanted cannot cease in a moment The harvest is past a long while ago the vintage must come speedily I have further proved that the fall of this Popish and Babylonian Monarchy is divided into two parts the harvest and the vintage that the harvest is the Reformation of the last Age and the vintage is the Reformation that must be made in this that is present Now the space of time that is already run out since the Reformation of the last Age does already equal the proportion of time that is between the natural harvest and vintage and consequently we must be very near the vintage i. e. the time wherein God will begin the first blows in order to the final destruction of the Babylonian Kingdom These things being so this persecution must be the last and immediately after it shall be ended begin the first events which shall bring the Popish Kingdom to its final fall A time of some length must be assigned for the last fall of popery I have lastly observed that the Holy Ghost hath styled these two parts of the fall of the popish Kingdom harvest and vintage to let us understand that as the harvest and the vintage are not reapt in a moment but require many dayes nay weeks so the two overturnings of the Babylonian Kingdom must not be made in the twinckling of an eye but in several years This hath been already verified in the harvest i. e. the fall which happened to popery in the last Age for this took up five and twenty or thirty years and more And no fewer can serve to compleat the ruin of this Kingdom But if this be so this must needs be the last persecution yea it cannot last a great number of years longer For if the Babylonian Kingdom begin to decline 25 or 30 years before its last and final destruction it must begin to decline and fall within four of five years supposing that it be true that it cannot last longer then the year 1710 or 1715. We must therefore see if the Characters of this present persecution that the Church suffers agree with those of the last persecution which the Church must suffer from the Beast according to the Text of the Revelation And we are about to find these Characters so agreeing and like that what at first seem'd only a conjecture will be able to become a kind of certainty The last Antichristian persecution of which this Chapter speaks must happen when the witnesses shall be almost at the end of their testimony and Antichrist near the end of his reign Now we have proved by the Predictions and Types of the foregoing Chapters that Antichrist is finishing his reign therefore this must be the last persecution It hath already lasted 30 years for it began in the year 1655. when the Duke of Savoy undertook to destroy the faithfull of the Vallies of Piedmont he sent thither Souldiers who made a great massacre but because the time of slaying the Witnesses was not as yet come God raised deliverance for them they defended themselves with success and
it self and its own safety The enemies of France shal hinder the destroying of the Reformation Languages Tribes and Nations always signify several Peoples and never one only people Thus it is evident by this Prophecy that the people who are neighbours to France nay those who are distant from her shall stop her in this furious design of destroying the Reformed Religion But after what manner they shall hinder her this Prophecy speaks not perhaps it shall be by causing some trouble to France during which the persecuted faithful one shall have opportunity of breathing and of giving a new birth to the Truth We shall quickly know whether God is preparing this already all the Protestants every where have united their Interests and it cannot be doubted this good understanding between them which appears is owing unto the persecution in France The house of Austria it self begins to understand its true Interest There is ground to hope that the late Truce which gave opportunity for this persecution will not be calm enough to give the Persecutors leasure wholly to extinguish the Truth Perhaps if shall be by another Method that the several Nations shall hinder the ruin of the Reformation in France Without doubt they do something toward it by the shelters and succors which they afford to the fugitives and particularly to the Pastors whom God reserves that they may again kindle the torch of the Doctrine of Truth Yea in France it self which is the street of the great City God will preserve a number of the faithfull who shall hinder the burial of the two witnesses and the utter perishing of the Truth There have been persecutions in which the Truth hath been as it were quite sunk to the bottom and buried in certain places This must not happen in this last persecution The truth will be oppressed yea suppressed but it shall be most clearly discerned and those who shall hold it in their hearts shall be most evidently seen and known As in dead bodies unburied they are dead and yet men do see them as clearly as if they were alive This persecution shall not come as far as a final suppression of the Truth as happened in the time of the Albigenses when not only the Witnesses were killed but were buried and disappear'd for several Ages for tho some of them being dispersed did preserve and carry the Truth into several desert places nevertheless the body of them was buried and disappeared in the streets of the popish Kingdom which shall not happen in this last persecution And they that dwell upon the Earth shall rejoyce over them and shall send gifts one to another because these two Prophets tormented them that dwell upon the Earth Observe it well these are not the same with those who hindred the dead bodies of the two witnesses from being buried Those are called They of the people and kindred and tongues these are called They that dwell upon the Earth the former hindred the burial out of piety these rejoyce over their death out of impiety In this whole Prophesy the Earth always signifies the territories and extent of the papacy and Antichristian Kingdom They are the Inhabitants of these territories of the Antichristian Kingdom who rejoyce At this day we see this Prophecy fulfilled Popery triumphs every where yea they who live in Protestant States are full of hopes to see quickly their Religion uppermost and nothing is more arrogant and insulting than their carriage But in a few years they shall see their pride brought very low which we are about to shew in the following Chapter CHAP. XIII The resurrection of the two Witnesses The Reformation shall within a few years rise again in FRANCE after that it shall be establisht by Royal Authority FRANCE shall renounce Popery and that Kingdom shall be converted THe bodies of the two Witnesses must remain dead only three days and a half and after these three days and a half the spirit of life from God shall enter into them and they shall stand upon their feet In my Prejud against Popery I fixed these three days and a half upon that space of time which lasted from the Council of Basil and destruction of the Taborites untill Luther during which time it seem'd as if the witnesses had been dead But I have wholly abandoned that conjecture after I had seriously considered it First because in that space of time the Witnesses were buried as well as slain 't is true there continued some remainders of Calixtins in Bohemia but they deserve not to be reckoned as a body Again 't is not usual in Scripture to take a broken number as this of three years and a half to denote an uncertain and indefinite number as I observed above so that I am perswaded that these three days and a half are three years and a half a day standing for a year as the three years and a half are 1260 years taking a year for a day 'T is therefore three years and a half during which the external profession of the Truth must be altogether suppressed and after which it shall be rais'd again to life And as I reject my own notions I would not that any should embrace those of Dr. More who hath lately wrote upon the Revelation He will have the three days and a half here to signify the same thing which the three years and a half do viz. 1260 years of the reign of Antichrist But truly he did not well consider this point when he wrote this First this would be an affected and very profound obscurity after he had reduced the 1260 years to 1260 days which make three years and a half then to reduce the same 1260 years to three days and a half We cannot find an example where the Holy Ghost sets forth the same space of time and in the same place after so different a manner But above all we must take notice that the Holy Ghost does here in a most exact manner distinguish these four things 1. The preaching of the Witnesses they shall prophesy cloathed in sackcloth 2. The death of the Witnesses and after this their bodies lye dead in the street of the great City 3. The duration of their Prophecy and testimony they shall prophesy cloathed in sackcloth 1260 days 4. And lastly the duration of their death they shall see their dead bodies in the streets of the City three days and a half He that will confound the two last of these viz. the 1260 years and the three days and a half must also confound the two first viz. the prophesying cloathed in sackcloth and the lying dead in the street of the City but certainly nothing is more different then to prophesy and to lye dead at least it must be supposed that the Witnesses prophesy while they are dead For their prophesying and their death being exactly fixed on the same period denoted by 1260 days and by three days and a half they must happen at the same time But
how can it enter into any mans head that dead men can prophesy And who sees not that their death does imply a cessation and interruption of their testimony But what need is there to reason about this thing when the Text saith expresly and in plain words that the death of the Witnesses must not happen untill after their prophesying and their witness-bearing 1260 days And I will give power to my two witnesses and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days cloathed in sackcloth And when they shall have finish'd their testimony the Beast c. shall kill them And their bodies shall lye dead three days and a half There needs no commentary to let us see that here is spoken of a persecution that must happen at the end of the 1260 years in which the faithful who dwell within the bounds of the Babylonian Kingdom must be brought to an extremity that may be called death We are in my opinion certainly in this persecution which must extinguish the true Religion for three years and a half if we will reckon these three years and a half from the abrogating of the Edict of Nantes in the moneth of October 1685. the deliverance of the Church will fall out in the year 1689 and this is absolutely the conjecture of Monsieur du Moulin in his Accomplishment of Prophecies he hopes that the persecution of the Church by the Antichristian party shall cease in the year 1689. A conjecture of M. du Moulin which may prove true tho built upon false foundations If this should happen it would be a purely casual event for the foundation on which he builds is altogether void of solidity he takes these three days and a half for six hundred and third years He supposeth that the whole duration of Antichrists reign which is 1260 years is considered as one week now a week is seven days the half of seven days is three days and a half and if this signifies the half of 1260 years it is 630 years He supposeth therefore that the Holy Ghost intended to say that the persecution made by Antichrist shall last the half of his reign After this he finds that the first persecution for the sake of Religion was that which was rais'd against Berenger in the eleventh Age on the account of his sentiment concerning the real presence in the year 1059. Add to 1059 the number 630 this makes 1689 in which year all persecution must cease so as never to begin again though in his opinion Antichrists Kingdom and the Papacy must continue still after this above 300 years for he makes them last untill the year 2015. 'T is plain his suppositions destroy themselves or are not strong First 't is not true that the first persecution on the account of Religion was that which the Popes rais'd against Berenger that which was rais'd by the Image-worshippers against those whom they call'd Iconoclasts or Image-breakers was more cruel and happened a long while before Again what probability that the Popedom can reign or subsist 326 years without persecuting the true Christians as this hypothesis supposeth Besides what is meant by that which is said that the Witnesses after three years and a half must ascend into heaven After the year 1689. the faithfull shall reign and be exalted and notwithstanding the Popedom shall last still 326 years these things are incompatible Lastly to take three years and a half for 630 years is a thing that hath no example in all the Prophecies The persecution may cease in the year 1689. Nevertheless after all this 't is not wholly improbable that the persecution may cease in the year 1689. but this depends upon reasons much differing from those now mentioned For God if he pleaseth may reckon the three years and a half of the death of the Witnesses from the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes made in the year 1685. in the moneth of October We know not from what time God will reckon the three years and a half but we have no certainty that God will do so Who knows whether God will not extinguish the Reformation in all the Countries where the Dominion of France does or shall reach Without doubt the Protestant Religion will be extinguisht in Strasburg which depends upon France and in other places But this not being as yet done the death of the Witnesses in the reckoning of God perhaps must not begin till the time in which this work shall be finished The Court of France desires also to extinguish the Protestant Religion in the Vallies of Piedmont which are under the Duke of Savoy and this is now a doing France making herself the executioner of those thundring Arrests which she had procured at the Court of the Duke which perhaps is the most singular example of the spirit of persecution which was ever seen All other persecutors have been content to persecute their own Subjects or Countrey-men But behold persons who after they have reduced the Subjects of their own King to the utmost extremities go and make themselves the Hangmen Murtherers of the Subjects of Forreign Princes If the three years and a half of the death of the Witnesses must be reckon'd from the destruction of these Waldenses here is one years delay of the deliverance of the French Churches Who knows whether there be not other Countries which we do not know or are not willing to name in which the Profession of the Truth must be extinguisht before we enter upon the three years of the death of the Witnesses Who knows if God will not reckon these three years and a half from the time in which there shall not be so much as one in France who stands firm and is not fallen We know not whether such a misery must come tho I hope it shall not There are as yet in France more then a hundred thousand persons who either have not signed or have repented after their signing If all these must fall off there is yet a long time to tarry Lastly who knows whether God will not begin to reckon the three years and a half untill other Princes have wholly extinguisht the Reformation in their Dominions 'T is therefore rashness to affirm that deliverance must exactly come in such a year But that which I am perswaded of and believe that others may be perswaded of without rashness is that we are now in the last persecution that this persecution shall be most effectual as it is the most terrible that was even see that the Witnesses of the truth that is to say all preaching of the purity of the Gospel under the Cross and under popish Princes will shortly be suppressed that from that time the three years and a half must be reckon'd at the end of which we shall see come to pass the most wonderful events of our days Many now alive shall without doubt see them for I believe the thing is very near at hand
beast From which 't is clear that the tenth part of the City signifies here one of those ten Kingdoms under the authority of the Antichristian Kingdom A tenth part of the City fell i.e. one of these ten Kingdoms which make up the great City the Babyonian Empire shall forsake it This therefore is exactly that which must happen within a little while after the three years and a half of the total suppression of the Truth shall be exspired and a while after that the Witnesses shall be rais'd i.e. after the profession of the Truth shall be rais'd to life again in France and elsewhere And then the same hour immediately after that the Reformation shall be establisht by a Royal Edict without delay There shall be an Earthquake and a tenth part of the City shall be overturn'd Mark that the Earthquake i.e. the great alteration of affairs in the Land of the Papacy must for that time happen only in the tenth part of the City that shall fall for this shall be the effect of this Earthquake Frahte shal shortly fall not by a ruin of the Monarchy but by a ruin of Pepery Now what is this tenth part of this City which shall fall In my opinion we cannot doubt that 't is France This Kingdom is the most considerable part or piece of the ten horns or States which once made up the great Babylonian City it fell this does not signify that the French Monarchy shall be ruin'd it may be humbled but in all appearance Providence does design a great elevation for her afterward 'T is highly probable that God will not let go unpunisht the horrible outrages which it acts at this day Afterward it must build its greatness upon the ruins of the papal Empire and enrich it self with the spoils of those who shall take part with the Papacy They who at this day persecute the Protestants know not wither God is leading them this is not the way by which he will lead France to the height of glory If she comes thither 't is because she shall shortly change her road Her greatning will be no dammage to Protestant States on the contrary the Protestant States shal be enricht with the spoils of others be strengthned by the fall of Antichrists Empire This tenth part of the City shall fall with respect to the Papacy it shall break with Rome and the Roman Religion One thing is certain that the Babylonian Empire shall perish through the refusal of obedience by the ten Kings who had given their power to the Beast The thing is already come to pass in part The Kingdoms of Sweden Denmark England and several Soveraign States in Germany have withdrawn themselves from the Jurisdiction of the Pope They have spoyl'd the harlot of her riches They have eaten her flesh i.e. seiz'd on her Benefices and Revenues which she had in their Countries This must go on and be finisht as it is begun The Kings who yet remain under the Empire of Rome must break with her leave her solitary and desolate But who must begin this last revolt 'T is most probable that France shall Not Spain which as yet is plunged in superstition and is as much under the tyranny of the Clergy as ever Not the Emperor who in Temporals is subject to the Pope and permits that in his States the Archbishop of Strigonium should teach that the Pope can take away the Imperial Crown from him It cannot be any Countrey but France which a long time ago hath begun to shake off the yoke of Rome 'T is well known how solemnly and openly war hath been declared against the Pope by a Declaration of the King ratified in all the Parliaments by the decisions of the Assembly of the French Clergy by a Disputation against the Authority of the Pope managed in the Sorbon solemnly and by order of the Court. And to heighten the affront the Theses were posted up even upon the gates of his Nuntio Nothing of this kind had hitherto happened at least in a time of peace and unless the Pope had given occasion by his insolences Besides this Superstition and Idolatry lose their credit much in France There is a secret party though well enough known which greatly despiseth the popular Devotions Images worship of Saints and is convinced that these are humane institutions God is before-hand preparing for this great work To this it may be objected that for the last hundred and fifty years the Popes Empire hath not been made up of ten Kings because the Kings of England Sweden Denmark c. have thrown off his Government and consequently France is not at this day the tenth part of the Babylonian Empire for 't is more then a tenth part of it But this is no difficulty for we must know that things retain the names which they bore in their original without regarding the alterations which time does bring along Tho at this day there are not ten Kingdoms under the Babylonian Empire 't is notwithstanding certain that each Kingdom was called and ought to be called in this Prophecy the tenth part because the Prophet having described this Empire in its beginning by its ten horns or ten Kings 't is necessary for our clear understanding that every one of these ten Kings and Kingdoms should be called one of the ten Kings or of the ten Kingdoms with respect to the original constitution of the Antichristian Empire Seeing the tenth part of the City which must fall is France this gives me some hopes that the death of the two witnesses hath a particular relation to this Kingdom 'T is the street or place of this City i.e. the most fair and eminent part of it The Witnesses must remain dead upon this Street and upon it they must be raised again And as the death of the Witnesses and their Resurrection have a relation to the Kingdom of France it may well fall out that we may not be far distant from the time of the Resurrection of the witnesses seeing the three years and a lalf of their death are either begun or will begin shortly And in the earthquake were slain seven thousand in the Greek it is seven thousand names of men and not seven thousand men I confess that this seems somewhat mysterious in other places we find not this phrase names of men put simply for men Perhaps there is here a figure of Grammer called Hypallage casus so that names of men are put for men of name i.e. of raised and considerable quality be its on the account of riches or of dignity or of learning But I am more inclined to say that here these words names of men must be taken in their natural signification and doe intimate that the total Reformation of France shall not be made with bloodshed nothing shall be destroyed but names such as are the names of Monks of Carmelites of Augustines of Dominicans of Iacobins Franciscans Capucines Iesuites Minimes and an infinite company of others
a time v. 26. But the judgment shall sit and they shall take away his dominion to consume and to destroy it unto the end Behold the destruction of Antichrists Kingdom Immediately after the Prophet adds And the Kingdom and dominion v. 27. and the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High whose Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and all dominions shall serve and obey him Behold the reign and Kingdom of the Saints and a reign which succeeds to that of Antichrist In truth we must give the lye to the Holy Spirit if we suppose that we must go back two thousand years before the end of Antichrists reign to place the beginning of this reign of the Saints and of Jesus Christ Here we have the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven after that the four Beasts i. e. the four Empires have been broken to pieces to receive the Kingdom from the hand of God his Father and reign for ever untill the end of the world We must speak without any judgment The fifth Monarchy cannot be understood of the Kingdom of glory after the day of judgment if we say that this everlasting Kingdom of Jesus Christ is to be understood of the heavenly reign after the end of the world and the last judgment For the Apostle St Paul saith in plain terms that Jesus Christ shall then reign no longer and that he shall deliver up the Kingdom to God even the Father Besides Daniel speaks of a Kingdom that is to be under the Heavens and not of one that is above them Further 't is a meer triffling to mingle eternal things with temporal and bring down the Heavenly Kingdom of Paradise into the rank of earthly and temporal Monarchies by making it to be a fifth Monarchy Thus 't is plain that the Prophet treats here of a Kingdom that indeed is heavenly on the account of its purity but is earthly on the account of its Seat and because it must be upon earth I am willing to joyn unto these Prophecies only that in this 20th Chapter of the Revelation which is so clear that it needs not any commentary The Prophet saith expresly After this so the first verse is rendred in the French i.e. after the last victory over the Beast and his false Prophet the Devil shall be bound and the Saints shall live and reign with Christ a thousand years But 't will be objected that this passage is too plain and this very thing makes our sense of it suspicious The Prophets are not wont to express future things so clearly But if this reason holds the Iews are not to be blamed for rejecting our Oracles concerning Iesus Christ for example this A Virgin shall conceive a Son and this other And thou Bethelehem out of thee shall come a Ruler c. and the whole 53. Chapter of Isaiah and that Prophecy of Daniel that Messiah must be cut off but not for himself And that very clear Oracle he shall make his soul an offering for sin For 't is evident that these Oracles are not less plain in speaking of Christ and the circumstances of his birth his life and his death than those in Daniel and the Revelation which speak of the thousand years reign Others instead of confessing that this Text is too clear to be understood in the literal sense say that it is too obscure and must be explain'd by others that are more clear Truly I do not conceive how men can speak at this rat 'T is obscure because it saith the contrary to that which these Gentlemen imagin and because 't is inconstant with their Hyphotheses CHAP. XVII The second spring of Arguments to prove the thousand years reign is the reign promised to the Iews The promises made to them have not been fulfilled but must be The conversion of St. Paul is a Type of that of the whole Nation THe second spring of my Arguments shall be the Prophecies and Oracles which promise unto the Iews extraordinary blessings a reign upon Earth a prosperity that shall be visible to all Nations yea an elevation to a Kingdom unto which all Nations must pay homage These Oracles are without number we must only produce some of them Isal 2.2 3 4. Sacred Oracles that promise great prosperities to the nation of the Jews And it shall come to pass in the last days that the Mountain of the Lords house shall be establisht in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and all Nations shall flow unto it 3. And many people shall go and say Come ye and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Iacob and he will teach us of is ways amp c. And he shall judge among the Nations and rebuke many people And in Chapter 25 v. 8. He will swallow up death in victory and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth for the Lord hath spoken it And in the beginning of the 32 Chapter Behold a King shall reign in righteousness and Princes shall rule in judgement And a man shall be a hiding place from the storm and a covert from the tempest And in the 41 Chapter v. 8. But thou Israel art my servant Jacob whom I have chosen the seed of Abraham my friend c. v. 10. Fear not for I am with thee be not dismay'd for I am thy God I will strengthen thee yea I will help thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness v. 12 Thou shalt seek them and shalt not find them even the men that contended with thee c. v. 15. Behold I will make thee a new sharp threshing Instrument having teeth thou shalt thresh the mountains and shalt make the hills as chaff In the 43. Chapter vers 1 2 3 c. But now thus saith the Lord that created thee O Jacob and he that formed thee O Israel Fear not for I have redeemed thee I have called thee by name When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee For I am the Lord thy God the holy one of Israel thy Saviour Fear not for I am with thee I will bring thy seed from the East and gather thee from the West I will say to the North Give up and to the South keep not back bring my sons from far and my daughters from the ends of the Earth And in the 44 Chap. v. 2 3. Thus saith the Lord that made thee and formed thee from the womb who will help thee Fear not O Jacob my servant for I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground I will pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine Off-spring And in the 45 Chap. v.