were ever seen Nay if we should interpret these changes which ought to happen onely by those which fell out in the last age surely we may say that never were greater and more surprizing alterations The Earthquake signifies the great change of the world by the Reformation In less then twenty or thirty years a great part of the Christian World was Reformed And at the same time there were dreadfull wars troubles and sheddings of blood in Germany in Flanders in Holland in England and in France as every body knows V. 19. And the great City was divided into three parts Behold something which does furnish us with a plain Character of this last period and of this last viol These words have not hitherto been understood but I perswade my self that it will be judged that they can be understood We have already said and shall hereafter prove it that the great City is not Rome strictly taken but Rome made up and joyn'd with its whole Empire In a word this City is the Antichristian Kingdom otherwise called the Latin Church A remarliable prediction of the division of the Latin Church into three principal parts Papists Lutherans and Reformed This City upon the pouring out of the seventh viol was to be divided into three parts This is exactly come to pass at the preaching of the Reformers the Antichristian Kingdom was divided into three one part remain'd with Antichrist one part did separate from him under the name of the Ausburg Confession A third part did separate under the Confession of those who are barely styled the Reformed Sweden Denmark and a great part of Germany make the second part England the Vnited Provinces the reformed part of France a part of Germany make the third part These are the three grand parts that divide the Western Church which is the great City Let this be attentively minded for I affirm that this passage does as it were speak with a tongue and is able alone to convince that our System of the seven plagues is a most undoubted truth This division of the great City into three parts so clearly points out the three Communions of the Latin Church that to deny it can proceed onely from unreasonable passion and opiniatrety And if we have hit upon the truth in this point we have done so in all for if this Character of the seventh plague is true and is already accomplisht all the other plagues are also accomplisht and if they are accomplisht I do boldly affirm they cannot be apply'd to any other events then those to which we have apply'd them And it must not be hoped that to obscure this evidence a fourth part may be made viz. the Church of England because of the controversies about Church government for the Church of England never refused to receive other Reformed ones into her Communion nor have these again ever refused to receive her into theirs We have alway professed the same Religion with the Church of England on the account of the perfect agreement of our Doctrine notwithstanding the difference of discipline and government When as the Lutherans have constantly refused to receive the Reformed into their Communion There is among the Lutherans themselves a difference in point of government Sweden hath Bishops Denmark hath none at least not such Bishops as those of Sweden and England and nevertheless this makes not a different Sect. There is also the same difference among the Reformed on this side the Sea for the Superintendants who are in many Reformed Churches of Germany are real Bishops and notwithstanding the Reformed are not divided one from another Thus in truth there are but three grand parts into which the Latin Church is divided i. e. Papists Lutherans and Reformed as they are called by one another or Catholiks Reformed Evangelici as they style themselves And the Cities of the Nations fell i. e. they fell with respect to Popery they departed out of the Antichristian Kingdom in the same sense that in the eleventh Chapter 't is said that the tenth part of the City fell And great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath These words let us see that the expression It is done did not signify the very point of the final ruin of the Antichristian Kingdom For behold after 't was said It is done Babylon comes in remembrance before God to give her the cup. Now these expressions signify both the future and the present time And indeed 't is within the duration of this period that God will remember Babylon to give her the last cup of his wrath And observe it that the great Babylon comes not in remembrance before God to give her the cup i. e. the last cup of her ruin till after her dividing into three parts This division is not her total ruin but after that she shall be thus divided into Papists Lutherans and Calvinists then God will prepare to give her the last cup of his wrath Which signifies that the division of the Latin Church into three parts must continue untill the compleat ruin of popery V. 20. And every Island fled away and the mountains were not found This is nothing but a Paraphrase and a description of the Earthquake which he had spoken of a little before for these are the effects of Earthquakes where mountains once stood they are not to be seen new Islands are produced and the old ones are often swallowed up But yet if any will interpret Islands to signify lesser States and Mountains great ones I do not contradict it for 't is really true that the Reformation hath already taken away from the Popedom and shall yet take away all States both small and great V. 21. And there fell upon men a great hail out of Heaven i. e. upon the Subjects of Antichrist this signifies the judgments of God which fall upon this Kingdom and these judgements are well known for it hath suffered of all kinds wars famines pestilences mortalities And men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail The Subjects of the Popedom have not hitherto been converted by all these chastisements but have always stuck firm to the Kingdom and Seat of the Beast whose head is cover'd with names of blasphemies The seven hour-glasses being run out the Kingdom of Autichrist must be at its end This is the seventh and last viol or hour-glass which thanks be to God will in a little time be run out now we have that which we seek namely an evidence that the Antichristian Kingdom is near its end We need not longer wait for the accomplishment either of all the seven plagues as some of our Interpreters say or of some of the seven plagues as others say It is done all is accomplisht we are in the last period of the seven yea we are at the end of the seventh period I am informed that since the first Edition of this work some
the other Churches of Asia and if any will have it so all those that were at that time in the world And he chose among these seven the names of the principal ones intending that the other lesser Churches should reckon that as spoken concerning their present estate which is spoken to the seven principal ones among them 2dly Who knows whether there were at that time more than seven considerable Churches in Asia The other were so very much below these for Dignity Grandure Excellency that the H. Spirit judged it not proper to make any account of them the Advertisements that he gives to these seven Churches being sufficient for the Disorders which might be in all the others which Disorders were apparently the same For 't is usuall enough for little flocks to follow the examples of the greater ones Lastly it doth not appear that the holy Spirit in what follows hath divided the duration of the Church since J. Christ's time to the end of the world or to the coming of Jesus Christ's Kingdom into seven Periods For the seven seals the seven Trumpets the seven Vialls do not each of them take up all time They succeed one another The seventh seal brings forth seven Trumpets the sixth Trumpet is subdivided into seven Vialls It had been very methodical in a Revelation after having obscurely mark'd out the seven Periods of the Church by the seven Epistles to describe the same times by seven other Characters more observable more distinct This is indeed what some modern writers do believe that God hath done pretending that the seven seals the seven Trumpets are co-temporary divide the duration of the Christian Church into seven Periods as the seven Epistles to the seven Churches do But this opinion will not appear probable to those that study the Prophecies the events with any application of mind I look on that as nothing that is said to support the mystery of the seven Churches viz. that we do not see that such things happened in the seven Churches of Asia which are there named as have any resemblance with what the H. Spirit saith to them How should we see it seeing we have not the particular History of those Churches in that time Besides tho we do not know the particulars of those events yet there is nothing in the seven Epistles which doth not very well agree with the Estate of the Church that then was without any necessity to seek out events mystically meant in future ages The applications that are made of the seven Epistles to the seven Periods are not happy The principal thing that hinders me from closing with the opinion of the Prophetical sense of the Epistles is that I do not find that the applications which are made of them to the Ages that have past since the Apostles do answer expectation 'T is true there are some places where the applications are not unhappy But seeing this is not to be met with every where I believe that they have hit luckily by chance Otherwise the Prophecy should every where agree with the events To the end one may better judge of the force of this last reason I shall set down two or three of the mystical interpretations that are given to these Epistles This will please those who cannot or will not go to seek them in their Springs I begin with that of Patrick Forbes a Scotch Divine The explication of the mystery of the seven Churches by Forbes that lived died in the beginning of this age According to him the Church of Ephesus signifies the Primitive Church of the three first Ages The Praises which the H. Spirit gives it I know thy works thy labour how thou canst not bear them which are evil c. These praises I say may well agree to the Church of the three first Ages But those which God gives to the Church of Thyatira afterwards are greater Yet 't is certain that the fourth Period of the Church did not come near the Church of the three first Ages in fervency purity The Nicolaitans that are spoken of in this Epistle to the Church of Ephesus may signifie all the Hereticks all the kinds being meant by one But seeing the Church of all Ages hath had its Hereticks this character can't distinguish this Period from the others The second Epistle is to the Church of Smyrna Forbes would have this to be the Period in which the Arrians Macedonians Nestorians Eutychians reigned That is to say that this Period will comprehend the fourth the fifth Age. But how can these words be applied to those Ages I know thy works thy Tribulation thy poverty but thou art rich I know the blasphemy of those that say they are Jews but are not but are the Synagogue of Satan See here are praises that are no whit inferiour to those that were given to the Church of Ephesus Yet 't is certain that the Church in these Ages was corrupted lost all the beauty it had in the three first Ages of the Church Its manners were corrupted its worship was marred by the invocation of Saints the worship of Reliques What will become of that Persecution of ten days that God predicts to this Church of Smyrna 'T is true the Church was persecuted under the Arrian Emperours but it doth not appear very well why this is described by number of ten days The third Epistle is directed to the Church of Pergamus according to Forbes this is the Period of the reign of Antichrist The foregoing Periods were but of two or three hundred years this must be above a thousand years Here is found something that is pretty like this Period I know where thou dwellest even where Satan's seat is To which may be added that the martyr Antipas spoken of in this Epistle signifies Anti-papa an Enemy opposing the Pope that this signifies all those that have opposed the tyranny of Antichrist But the rest doth by no means agree to this Period I know thy works that thou holdest fast my name hast not denied my faith These praises do by no neans belong to a Church so corrupt as was that of the third Period under the reign of Antichrist Thou hast them that hold the Doctrine of Balaam who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the Children of Israel to eat things sacrificed unto Idols to commit fornication By this must be meant those evil Christians that joined in with the Antichristian Idolatry Now these people are not well described by thou hast them for this imports that it was not the body of the Society And on the contrary under the Antichristian Empire the greatest part of men did partake of his abominations The fourth Epistle is directed to the Church of Thyatira to which the H. Spirit gives these great praises I know thy works Charity service Patience that thy last works are more than the
miracle But the Dragon doth not yield for all that but goes to make war with the remnant of the seed of the Woman v. 17. i. e. he endeavours to cause to be brought forth an Antichristian Empire for the ruin of the Church the thing which he will further explain in the following Chapter We have therfore in this the History of the Church to the end of the fourth Century or the beginning of the fifth For it is in the space of these 400 Years that the Apostolique Church did bring forth Christianity that Christianity was persecuted by the Emperours that J. Christ did miraculously preserve it that it remained victorious under Constantine that the Church was almost ruin'd by Arrianism that she saw her self happily deliver'd from it St. John spends but one Chapter about the first Period of the Church of 400 Years because the great events were design'd to be in the following Periods The 13th C. 13.1 2 3. c. Chapter according to the most exact rules of method begins where the 12th ended We have in the 13th Chapter the birth of the Babylonish Empire An Epitome of the History foretold in the 13th Ch. which is grafted on the Roman Empire this is the first Beast that ariseth out of the Sea having seven Heads ten Horns the seventh of these Heads is laden with ten Horns each of which is adorned with a Crown to signify that these were so many Kings These ten Kings are the continuation of the Roman Empire under the seventh Head which is that of Antichrist These ten Kings are subject to this seventh Head together with it compose one Empire A second Beast arises out of the Earth it is the same Empire the same Beast or rather 't is the seventh Head of the first Beast This Empire of Antichrist that was represented in the first vision as one of the Heads is represented in the second vision as a new Beast because it is the ancient Empire of Rome yet nevertheless 't is a New one 'T is the continuation of the Roman Empire having the same seat viz. the City of Rome extending it self very near over the very self-same Provinces It is a New Empire because it is in another form under another name is called the Empire of the Church an Ecclesiastical Empire These two Beasts therfore fill up but one the same Period in which the Head of the Emperors that was mortally wounded is healed again by Antichrist in which Period ways of worshipping and doctrines full of impiety blasphemy are advanced in the Church In which Period the Saints are overcome the Truth is buried in which all the inhabitants of the Earth worship the Beast submit themselves to the Babylonish Empire in which Antichrist whose name contains the Number 666. makes an image of the first Roman Empire causeth it to be worshipped lastly in which all liberty to buy sell live is taken away unless men will bear the Image of the Beast All this is the History of the 1260 Years that begin about the time that the 400 Years of the first Period do end This is according to the rules of History A short explication of the 14th Chap. The 14th Ch. begins also where the 13th ends It contains the Prophecy of the fall of that Babylonish Empire represented by the two Beasts of the 13th Chap. 'T is no longer a Beast with seven Heads ten Horns 't is no longer the Beast with two Horns 't is Spiritual Babylon But this Babylon is the very same thing as the first the second Beast She is fallen v. 8. she is fallen Babylon that great City because she hath made the nations drunk with the wine of her fornication The seven foregoing verses are a preparation for this great fall the following ones to the end of the Chapter are a description of the ruin of Babel The Man that sits on the white cloud v. 14. is Jesus Christ The sickle that is put in first among the corn to mow it down and afterwards into the vintage to cut down the grapes are the two degrees of Babylons fall which we shall afterwards explain This is the Analysis of the 14th Chap. The H. Ghost thought it not enough to have foretold the fall of the Babylonish Empire in general Chap. 15. he will also instruct us in the steps by which it must pass in falling And as this is a great affair the vision of the 15th Chapter is employed to prepare mens Spirits for it The seven Vialls of the wrath and vengeance of God that must overwhelm the Babylonish Empire are distributed to seven distinct Angels to pour them out at different times The 16. Chap. contains the pouring forth of these Vialls Chap. 16. which are the several punishments by which the Empire of the Beast is afflicted till it be entirely brought to nothing And these seven Vials contain all the time of the fall of the Babylonish Empire Of this we will treat in a particular Chapter by it self afterwards It is enough to know that this Chapter leads the afflicted Church to the very point of her deliverance And thus you have the whole History of the Church during the 1260 Years But because these things had been expressed in figurative terms Chap. 17. and prophetical symbols of Beasis Horns Harvest Vintage Vialls God will explain these things in terms less figurative more intelligible Therfore the 17th Ch. is spent in explaining the Visions of the two Beasis to give us to understand that the Beasis signify an Empire that the ten Horus are ten Kings that these ten Kings out of weakness and complaisance would give their power to the Beast and that at last they would ruin him take away that power they had formerly given him As in the 17th Ch. the H. Ghost declares the establishment the progress of the Babylonish Empire in a more clear and less figurative manner than he had done in the 13th Chap. in the like manner in the 18th Chap. he gives us the particulars of the ruin of this Babylon Chap. 18. more largely more clearly more largely I say more clearly than he had done in the 14th Chap. This hath no need of proof In the process of this discourse we shall explain the circumstances of this fall The 19th Chap. is as it were a recapitulation of all that respects the ruin of Babylon Chap. 19. Therin J. Christ appears riding on a White horse is called the faithful and true the Word of God. He assembles all his forces the Babylonish Empire assembles all its forces the fight begins the Beast and the false Prophet i.e. the Antichristian Empire and Antichrist that is the head are taken and utterly destroyed 'T is the same thing we met with before in the 14. Chap. at the end of the 16. at the end of the 17. and
'T was there that was the most famous Temple of the most infamous of all the Heathen Divinities viz. Venus the Goddess of prostitutions And 't is plain that by way of allusion to this infamous Goddess Spiritual Babylon is represented in the 17th of the Revelation as a whore sitting on a beast and offering her self from on high to every comer For Women did expose and prostitute themselves in the most visible places of the Temple of the Venus of Babylon These three things Tyranny Idolatry and corruption of manners we meet with in all the descriptions of Antichrist So then these are the three Characters by which the Antichristian Empire is represented to us in those places that speak of it In the second Chapter of the second Epistle to the Thessalonians the head of this Empire is called the man of sin and the son of perdition i. e. utterly lost and plunged into a mighty sink of corruption Behold Sodom 'T is said that he should exalt himself above all that is called God that he should sit in the Temple of God behaving himself as though he were God Behold Egypt pride and tyranny His Religion is called a mystery of iniquity and he is to establish it by signs and lying wonders behold Idolatry and behold Babylon All the Heathens called their Religion and their Ceremonies by the name of Mysteries Ceres had her mysteries Bacchus had his and Venus of Babylon had hers also but these Mysteries were abominable and idolatrous In the eleventh of the Revelation this Empire is called a Gentilism a Paganism The outward Court is left to the Gentiles for them to tread under foot for 42. months Behold Babylon behold Idolatry By the prophaning of the outward Court is also meant the corruption of manners because the Heathens were wont to make the Temples of their Idols the place of their most filthy debauches v. 7. In the same Chapter it is said that the beast which comes out of the bottomless pit shall make war with the Saints and overcome them and kill them There is the tyranny and cruelty of Egypt In the two Visions of the 13th Chapter of the Revelation this Antichristian Empire is represented as a Beast In the first as a beast compounded of a Leopard a Bear and a Lion three cruel Beasts This is to set forth its cruelty and tyranny It is given to him to make war with the Saints and to overcome them Here again is Egypt that oppresses the children of God and makes a cruel war upon them Men worship this Beast and the Dragon that gave him his power And they worshipped the Dragon which gave power to the Beast and they worshipped the Beast Behold Babylon where a Dragon was worshipped to which it may be the Holy Ghost alludes Lastly to this Beast was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies against God his Name his Tabernacle and them that dwell in Heaven There is pride and idolatry The second Beast works great signs to seduce men Rev. 13.14 And deceiveth them that dwell upon the Earth by means of those miracles which he had power to do in sight of the beast 'T is therefore a false Prophet that works false Miracles to cause his false Gods to be worshipped 'T is a Prophet of Babylon and of Idols He causes all them to be killed that do not worship the image of the beast It s cruelty and tyranny makes this Empire a true Egypt In the 14th Chapter 't is said of this Babylon that she made all nations drunk with the wine of the wrath of her fornications They are her Idolatries that are so called And in the 17th Chap. she is more largely described as a prostitute woman arrayed in purple and scarlet colour and decked with gold and precious Stones and Pearls having a golden Cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication And upon her fore-head was a name written MYSTERY i. e. Religion and for the explication of this word Mystery 't is added the mother of fornications or idolatries this is Babylon She is also the mother of the abominations of the Earth This is Sodom whose corruption spreads it self even to the end of the World. She makes her self drunk with the blood of the Saints this is Egypt 't is cruelty and tyranny Wheresoever these three Characters are found there is Antichristianism It is not confined only to the Empire of the Pape One cannot question whether these be the Characters of the Babylonish Empire But we must carefully observe that in all places of Christendom where these Characters are found the pride and tyranny of Egypt the filth and abominations of Sodom and the Idolatries of Babylon there is the Antichristian Empire in whole or in part And hereupon we must conclude that this Empire is not confined to what we call the Papism the Places subject to the Pope the Latin Church In the Greek Church there is Idolatry there is Babylon The Greek Church makes a part of Babylon for there they invocate Saints and worship Images and Relicks There is Sodom for the corruption of manners there is great and this corruption when the Eastern Church was not under the Turkish Cross appeared much more than it doth at this day Lastly There is Egypt for there were tyranny and pride in that Church The Patriarchs and Prelates of the East in their time and in their prosperity carried themselves like Masters and Tyrants though in that respect they did not go so high as the Bishop of Rome The Greek Church did not separate from the Latin before the tenth Century when the Latin Church was already become Sodom by the horrible corruption of her manners Egypt by her Tyranny and Pride Babylon by her Idolatries These two Churches made but one Body and one Babel And we must not imagine that the Greek Church by her separation became a Jerusalem seeing she retained the corruption of Babel But this doth not hinder but that we may look for the capital of this Anti-christian Empire in Rome Yet Rome ceaseth not to be the head of the Babylonish Empire and find the man of sin the head of the Babylonish Empire in the Pope The Greek Churches and those of the Eastern Communion do no longer obey him They are revolted Provinces over which he pretends a right and who indeed ought to obey him seeing they have taken his mark and sign which is Idolatry The Pope always keeps his Titles and as he pretends he keeps his ancient rights over these separate Churches calling himself the universal Bishop Besides we must consider all the Churches that have revolted from their obedience to God as united under one spiritual head which is Satan just in the same manner as Churches of different communions remain united under one spiritual head which is Iesus Christ if they hold the fundamental Doctrines In like manner the corrupt Societies are united under one spiritual head which
forced to it by the vertue of Reliques and merit of a Saint A blind man received his sight by putting a cloth to his eyes that had touched the Coffin of the Martyrs The people by their credulity make such sort of Miracles every day The Miracles were false ones St. Austin had a good share of this credulity But though it were true the Devil might do things much harder than this of restoring sight to a man that had not seen for some time Besides God that was willing that his decrees should be accomplish'd let loose the rains to the spirit of illusion We need but follow the History of the Church and the Legends of the Saints and there we shall find every where these dreams these visions these apparitions of Souls Saints speaking the Virgin Mary appearing to her devotoes the whole designed not to confirm the Doctrines of Christianity but the invocation of Saints the adoration of the Virgin the adoration of Images the Mass Purgatory and other parts of the Antichristian abomination And this fountain of seduction was open'd in part by deceiving spirits among men wicked superstitious wretches Priests and Monks in part by the wicked spirits that perpetually surround men to deceive and mock them The last Character of the Religion of Antichrist here express'd is the Doctrine of Devils or of Daemons giving up themselves to deceiving spirits and to Doctrines of Daemons The Doctrines of Devils or of Daemons what they are The common opinion is that by the Doctrines of Devils or of Daemons we are to understand those Doctrines of which the Devil is the Author and inventor and that bear upon them a Diabolical Character Joseph Mede hath made a new conjecture upon it and which I believe we owe to him He understands by Daemons not wicked spirits that are represented as dwelling in Hell but those spirits which the Heathens worshipt as Mediatours between God and men whom in truth in their Theology they called Daemons For then the word was not taken in an ill sense and Daemons were properly in the Heathen Religion secondary Gods subject to the great Gods. By the Doctrine of Daemons he understands a Doctrine of which Daemons are the object not the authors And according to him the sense is that men in the Antichristian Religion would renew the Divinity and the worship of these mediatory spirits called Daemons that Paganism shall be introduced into the Religion of Jesus Christ that therein shall be establisht a second order of Divinities besides the three adorable persons of the Trinity that dead men shall be invocated in this new Paganism in the same manner as was practised under the old that their Reliques shall be honour'd Statues shall be erected to them Images shall be consecrated for them which shall be worshipp'd that Temples shall be built for them and sacrifices be offer'd to their honour that apotheoses or canonizations shall be renew'd that Miracles shall be feign'd to be done by these Images and these Demy-Gods that Trees shall a new be set up with Trophies which are the Crosses before which men shall prostrate themselves that it shall be pretended that God comes to dwell here below in a piece of consecrated bread just as in the ancient Paganism it was pretended that the Gods by vertue of the consecration came to dwell in their Images Popery hath certainly Devils for its Authors Which interpretation soever we follow 't is certain that Antichristianism is found here It is composed of Doctrines that are truely Diabolical and that have Devils for their Authors 'T is a Doctrine of Devils that hath establisht that Tyrant in the Church who hath exercised so much fury there who pretends to be King of Kings and Lord of the Lords of the Earth who exalts himself above all that is called God who saith he can't be judged by any one but though he should lead men to Hell by troops he must be suffer'd to do it and be left to God to be judged 'T is a Doctrine that hath the Devil for its Author which sets up other objects of worship besides God that gives Iesus Christ companions and believers other Saviours It was no other than the Devil that could inspire Christians with the thoughts of adoring Images and bringing in afresh that Paganism that was once buried 'T was the Devil the father of lies that form'd that monster of Transsubstantiation that hath contrived that prophane sacrifice of the Mass and who of a Sacrament hath made a wretched Idol of it and so to keep to the common opinion the true Religion will not lose any thing by it By Doctrines of Daemons we must understand Doctrines that have Demi-Gods for their object However I confess I have resolved on Joseph Mede's sense It hath not been without weighing things and I did a long time believe that this interpretation was much more ingenious than solid But after I had well thought on it I judg'd the quite contrary and that for these reasons I. First This expression Doctrine of Daemons doth not more naturally signify that the Doctrine spoken of hath Daemons for its Authors than it doth that it hath them for its Object For it is certain that in all languages these sorts of propositions are aequivocal We say the love of God to signify the love of which God is the object more naturally than to signify that love of which he is the Author We say the knowledge of bodies to signify that knowledge of which bodies are the objects the knowledge of the stars to express Astrology a treatise of Angels to express a book not made by the Angels but treating of them The same aequivocal speech and the same usage is to be met with in the sacred books In the sixth Chapt. of the Epistle to the Hebrews the Apostle speaks of the Doctrine of Baptisms Heb. 6.2 i. e. of the Doctrine that hath Baptism for its object St. Luke saith that the Pro-consul Sergius was astonished at the Doctrine of the Lord Act. 13.12 i. e. the Doctrine treating of the Lord. Gal. 2.20 Acts 3.16 The faith of the Son of God and faith of his name is the faith not which hath Jesus Christ for its Author but its object And thus you see we have already gain'd one point viz. that Grammar can put in no obstacle to this Interpretation By the Doctrine of Daemons must be understood the Idolatry of Popery II. My second reason is because explain it how you will I am perswaded that by the Doctrine of Devils or of Daemons is meant the Idolatry which Antichrist was to re-establish in the Church For this is that which distinguishes that Religion from the Christian Religion and which renders it abominable It will be said that there are some things in the Papism which are not less abominable than its Idolatry that is the usurpation of Jesus Christs power by the Pope I confess it But besides that this
payed Tribute And his being Hostage at Rome many years going to render Homage to this God even in his own seat makes the servitude and the homage principally fall on him and they may be justly attributed to him Thirdly Though the servitude began in the time of his father nevertheless the Prophecy particularly fixes it on the Son because of that pride which was peculiar to him As if the Holy Spirit would have said the Kingdom of Asia shall feel the force of the Romans for the mortification of this proud Antiochus who shall endeavour to exalt himself above all the Kings of the Earth This is an accident that to me seems marvellous that this prophecy found its accomplishment in Rome and in the Romans as well in the temporal as in the spiritual sense I said above that Antiochus was not a type of Antichrist but in the things he did against the Jewish Nation Because the strange Nations having no reference to the Church nothing that Tyrants do against the Nations is mystical Therefore we must not seek after a mystery in that which the Prophecy fore-tells that Antiochus should do against the Egyptians against Ptolomee and in reference to other people But 't is reasonable to except the Romans from this rule Though they then were a nation estranged from the Church yet however they had a reference to the Church For Rome was to be the head of the Antichristian Church And already in the Prophecies Rome Pagan that then was made but one beast i. e. one Empire with Rome Christian and Antichristian so that it was proper to the genius of the Prophecy that the type of the Roman Antichrist should be a type in what he did with respect to the Romans Besides it can't be thought strange that the same prophecy should have two prospects and consequently two accomplishments For so it is always in those Prophecies that turn on a typical subject That which may make some difficulty is that the temporal adventures of the type have usually their figurative respect to the spiritual adventures of the thing represented by the type Which doth not appear here for the homages which Antiochus rendred to the Romans do not appear to have any typical reference to the homages which the new Romans give to their Demi-gods They have however and it is certain that the homage which the new subjects of the Roman Empire do render at Rome to its head to its Saints and Idols have respect of a figure and the thing figured to the homage which the people of the world did render to ancient Rome whose Citizenship they did under-hand labour for and whose Eagles and other military Ensigns they worshipt Religio Romanorum tota castrensis Tertul Apolog. c. 1â— Signa veneratur signa jurat Signa omnibus Diis praeponit St. Peter and St. Paul and the H. Virgin at this day are in the banners of Rome just as the Eagles were heretofore and all the world gives homage to these banners and to that which is represented by them just as during the Empire of ancient Rome men did prostrate themselves before the Eagles I hold that the twelfth and last Chapter of Daniel The 12th Chapt. of Daniel respects also Antiochus Epiphanes doth also refer to Antiochus and Antichrist And at that time shall Michael stand up the great Prince that standeth for the children of thy people and there shall be a time of trouble such as nevey was since there was a nation even unto that same time and at that time thy people shall be delivered every one that shall be found written in the book of life This Prophecy literally respects Antiochus's last persecution of the Jews that was terrible and cruel but ended by the victories of the Macchabees This Michael is the Son of God himself who always watched for the preservation of his Church Spiritually and mystically this agrees to Antichrist and respects the last persecution that he must cause the Church to suffer after which he himself is to be ruin'd and the people of the Saints deliver'd 'T is the same victory as is described to us in the 19th Chapter of the Revel The words that follow make it very plain that this Prophecy must be understood of that victory that J. Christ must obtain over Antichrist at the end of the Antichristian Empire Daniel brings in the resurrection here to shew that he speaks of the victories of J. Christ over Antichrist And many of them that sleep in the dust of the Earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to everlasting shame and contempt And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to Righteousness as the stars for ever and ever What I pray should the resurrection do here in the middle of the Chap. in which the adventures only of Antiochus Epiphanes are spoken of 'T is plain that this is perfectly the same Prophecy as that of St. John in the 20th Chapt. of the Revel where the Apostle predicts the deliverance of the Church and the coming of the Kingdom of Christ by a resurrection They that were beheaded for the Name of Jesus must be raised up and reign with him a 1000. years This is what Daniel saith here that they that have turn'd many to Righteousness by their Doctrine and by their Martyrdom shall be as shining and ruling Stars in the Kingdom of J. Christ The Prophecy of Daniel joins together the two resurrections the first the second though they are distant each from the Other a 1000 years 'T is not the last resurrection nor the last coming of Jesus Christ that St. Iohn speaks of no more than Daniel 'T is of that coming that St. Paul speaks of when he saith that Jesus Christ shall destroy Antichrist by the brightness of his coming when he shall come to establish his Kingdom of a 1000 years on the Earth 'T is that resurrection which the Revelation calls the first resurrection And therefore Daniel doth not say And ALL those that sleep in the dust shall awake but he only saith MANY of those that sleep in the dust even as St. Iohn saith so expresly that then all the dead shall not arise 'T is true that Daniel also joins the resurrection of the wicked and some shall awake to shame and everlasting contempt But we must not conclude that this resurrection of the wicked must be at the same time one Prophecy must be explained by the other The resurrection of the wicked which Daniel joins here with the first resurrection is distant from it at least a 1000 years But he speaks of it as of two things joined together because he who speaks is God before whom a 1000 years are but as one day Besides this when our eyes look on things very far off always those things that are far from one another seem to be near The Stars seem to us to be near the Moon and yet
had been either taken away or prophaned To do this no less than 45 days were necessary and these are the 45 days added to 1290 that make the number 1335 days of which the Prophet saith Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the 1335 days And 't is at the end of these 1335 days reckoning from the prophanation in the beginning of the year 148 that the dedication was made in the year 148. on the 25th day of the ninth month Therefore 't is the Prophet cries out Blessed is he c. because it was a great feast and great rejoycing in Israel See I say both the History and the Chronology and the duration of the cessation of the prophanation of the Temple and the interruption of the daily sacrifice made to agree with the Prophecy At present from the type we must in a few words make our conjectures touching that which must come to pass in the duration of the Antichristian Empire The prophanation of the Mosaical Sanctuary by Antiochus lasted three years and a half to the time that Judas Macchabaeus drove the Heathen out of Ierusalem and Paganism out of the Temple the cleansing of which he began To the end the truth may answer to the figure the Antichristian Empire must endure three years and a half consisting of 1260 days which are 1260 years during which the Sanctuary shall be prophaned by the Heathens i. e. the service of God shall be polluted by revived Paganism and the Temple of God possessed by a Tyrant At the end of 1260 day Judas Macchabaeus began the purification of the Temple and spent 30 days about it The cleansing of the Church must be begun the Idol must be cast out the Tyrant expelled after the 1260 years But as Judas Macchabaeus spent 30 days about purifying the Temple after he had taken away the Idol thence and had rescued it out of the hands of the Tyrant 't is propable that after the fall of the Papism of its tyranny and idolatry 30 years more will be spent in purifying the Church from all schisms heresies divisions and etrours Lastly as Judas Macchabaeus spent 45 other days to prepare all things for the consecration of the Temple in like manner after the Church shall have been cleansed from idolatry haeresy superstition schism and errours God will employ yet 45 years more to prepare all things for the consummation of the Church At the end of which time will be the dedication the solemn feast And 't is in my opinion in this last space of 45 years that God is to call the Gentiles and all the Nations of the Earth to the knowledge of himself this is that which the Apostle Saint Paul calls The fullness of the Gentiles For see as I believe the degrees by which the Church must arrive at it perfection 1. Babylon shall fall the Kingdom of Antichrist shall cease 2. The Church shall be reunited in the same opinion schisms and divisions shall be at an end 3. The Idolatrous and Infidel Nations especially the Turks who are at this day scandalized at the divisions manners and the false Doctrines of the Christians shall submit themselves at least the greatest part of them being prevailed upon by the purity of Doctrine and holiness of manners 4. Lastly The Jews overcome by so unanimous a consent and it may be by some glorious apparition of our Lord shall be converted and strongly labour to convert the rest of the Nations far distant and separated from us Then shall be the Dedication the consummation of the Church And blessed is he that shall wait and come to the 1335 days i. e. to seventy five years after the fall of the Popish Empire For he shall see the reign of J. Christ in all its Glory CHAP. III. What the Last time 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 THus much is enough to destroy that Chimaera of the duration of the Kingdom of Antichrist for three natural years and a half 'T is necessary only to answer a difficulty that may be raised from hence that the reign of Antichrist is called the last times which seems to mean the end of the World. And without doubt this is that which gave occasion to the ancient Writers to suppose that the end of this Empire was not to be above forty five days before the day of judgement But to fall into this errour a man must be little used to the style of the Scripture One thousand two hundred and sixty years 't is said can't be called the last times the period is too long 'T is necessary the reign of Antichrist should be nearer the end of the World and the day of judgement than so But what will those Gentlemen say that make this objection St. John calls his time the last time 1 Ep. 2.18 what will they say of Saint John who speaking of Antichrist and precisely of that tradition according to which he was to come in the last times saith Little children it is the last time and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come even now are there many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time 'T is above sixteen hundred years ago that Saint John said so and then from that time he counted the last times With much more reason may we reckon those ages that came not till four or five hundred years after for the last times The last day the last times are not the same thing John. 6.54 â— Neither must we imagine that the last times signify a short space We must well distinguish the last day from the last time When the Holy Spirit speaks of the last day he always means a short time He that eateth my flesh saith our Lord I will raise up again at the last day But the last time and especially the last times in the plural number always signifieth a long period See the proofs of both these things First that the last times signify not the end of the World. The last times doth not always signify the last day The last time in the singular number sometimes doth St. Peter saith that we are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time 1. Pet. 1.5 But it doth not always so signify as appears by that passage of St. John which we quoted a little before 't is the last time As for that in the plural number the last time and the last days we find they always signify a time far enough off from the end of the World. Saint Paul in the second verse of the Epistle to the Hebrews saith 1 Ephes 1.20 that God hath spoken to us in these last days by his Son. The Apostle Saint Peter saith that Jesus Christ was fore-ordained before the foundation of
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
Sense of this Prophecy 1. Because that did not extend very far the number was not great of those who did pertake of it 2. That did not last but a little while for even before the death of the Apostles the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit became rare So that what was then was properly but a presage and type of that large effusion of the Spirit which should be in the last Period of the Church not that all men shall then become Prophets and be inspired but all shall be assisted and led by an extraordinary and all-powerfull influence of the H. Spirit The second Character great Holiness 2. From this first Character will arise a second viz. great Holiness Great in respect of the degrees and of the extent of it In respect of degrees for such as shall then be Holy shall be incomparably more so than any are now who are reputed such and as to the extent of it because the number of Holy persons shall be greater Nevertheless 't is not to be understood as if men shall then be altogether without sin for they must dye There must therefore be some remainders of sin even the Holy Apostles did not cease to be Men by being Saints The like shall be in reference to men in this last Period Neither is it to be hop't that all men without exception shall then be holy but 't is credible that the number of the Good shall exceed that of the Wicked as much as 't is now inferior to it By Good men I intend not those who are commonly called Honest men of such there is yet a considerable number in the World but such as shall be distinguisht by an extraordinary Piety and Holiness The number of such is now but very small but the greatest part of Men shall then be so And for the Men of another Character they shall then be as rare as now they are common This great Holiness of Men in those days is abundantly proved by the many Prophecies already mentioned and which certainly have not hitherto been fullfilled The third Character Purity of worship Doctrine 3. From thence follows a third Character viz. Purity of worship and Doctrine Corruption in Religion follows the corruption of manners God cannot permit that any Church which is greatly corrupted in manners should for any long time preserve Purity of Doctrine and worship and therefore we find in the Papacy that natural conjunction of a great Idolatry with a great corruption in manners So on the other hand God cannot suffer that a Church that is eminent for Holiness should decline from the Purity of Religion wherefore we may be confident that the Church in its last Period shall not admit any alteration in the purity of its worship or of its Doctrine or in any thing of its Religion There shall no Heresy be received in that Church and I am perswaded that Pelagianism which is now so common shall be quite extirpated for then all men shall be full of God and perceive and acknowledge him in every thing Whereas the Pelagians who prevail in so many places do not see and own him any where but make a God of Man by making him Independent These men are far enough from having a right Idea of a Being infinitely perfect I dare say that God is not much in those men who feel and perceive so little of God. 4. Character Great Peace 4. The fourth Character of this Reign of Christ is a Soveraign Peace This is plainly revealed by many express Prophecies That the Wolf shall feed with the Lamb and swords be turned into plough-shares and men shall not hurt or destroy one another The Art of War which sprung from Hell shall return thither Nothing but the corruption and wickedness of the World doth now make it necessary The Devil of Covetousness and of Ambition the spirit of Revenge and the like shall return to the bottomless pit whence they came And it shall no more be a point of honour to know how to massacre mankind to storm Towns and gain Battels and destroy Countries and cover the Fields with dead Bodies 5. Character Deep Humility 5. This shall be a Kingdom of Humility All those vain Titles which now serve for ornament and pride shall then be vanisht Brotherly Love shall make all men equal not that all distinction and all dignities among men shall cease This Kingdom is no Anarchy there shall be some to govern and others to obey But Government shall then be without Pride and Insolence without Tyranny and without Violence Subjects shall obey their Rulers with an humble spirit and Governors shall rule their Subjects with a spirit of meekness and gentleness 6. Character The abolishing of unlawfull vain Arts. 6. All those Arts which now serve the Pride and Vanity of mankind shall then be abolisht 'T is a mysterious and deep design of God that his Providence permits the Reign of Vanity in the place of Charity which is retired and gone What a multitude of People are maintained by this Reign of Vanity for how could the Poor subsist without the vanity of the Rich who will have stately Houses gawdy furniture pompous garments of Gold Silk Point Lace and fanâ—â— deliciously and keep many attendants and domestick Servants by all these doth subsist that great Company of Artificers Goldsmiths Painters and those that work in Tapistry in Stuffs of Wool Gold and Silk Cooks Pastry-men Architects Taylors and such as make Point and Lace c. These comprehend above three quarters of the World and all these must dye of hunger if the several branches of humane vanity were not as so many secret and under-ground chanels whereby Divine Providence distributes food and nourishment to so many persons They therefore who would cut off all this Vanity before the season of returning Charity do confound the times and Characters of the different Periods of the Church These are the Vanities of the World and while the World reigns they must have their course but 't is certain withal that assoon as the Reign of Charity shall return all these shall be quite banisht 7. Character The return of Charity 7. And this is the seventh Character of the reign of Christ on Earth that fervent charity shall be restored and supply all the necessities of inferior persons By this a thousand Channels shall be opened for the relief of the Poor like those of vanity And they who now live upon the Vanity of worldly men shall then live upon the charity of the Saints Inferiors are now vain and proud as well as Superiors they learn and derive their vanity from that of those above 'em and as Diogenes trampled under his feet the Houshold-stuff and pride of Plato with a greater Pride and his so oftentimes the Pride and vanity of those who grow rich by the vanity of others is greater than that of the Rich themselves It shall not then be thus Every man shall
in the preceding Chapters where I have shown that Empire and a Kingdom Peace and Prosperity are promised to the Church of Christ in such a manner as hath never hitherto been fulfilled Object VVhen Christ shal come the Church shall be most corrupt 4. After this they tell us that when God describes those Times which shall immediately precede the end of the World instead of representing them as a golden Age they are painted out as an Age of Iron and darkness Iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold false Prophets and false Christs shall arise they shall work signs and wonders to deceive if possible the very Elect. Math. 24. v. 12.24.37 The coming of the Son of man shall be as the days of Noah When the Son of man shall come Luke 18. c. 8. he shall not find faith upon Earth And 2 Ep. Thessal 2. chap. 't is said the Lord shall destroy the man of sin by the brightness of his coming But all this is grounded on a false supposition viz. that there shall be no other coming of Christ but for the last final Judgement which is not true the coming of Christ here spoken of is that to settle the Peace and Glory and Kingdom of his Church and we may be certain that this is meant in almost all the Passages where the coming of Christ is spoken of It is true that when Christ shall come to destroy the Antichristian Kingdom he shall not find true Faith upon Earth that is very little of it Experience confirms this for we are now in that very time Farther when Christ shall come the third and last time for the last Judgment it may well be that there shall be a great scarcity of faith piety in the World at that time for Gog and Magog shall be increas't there shall be a great seduction upon Earth and a great affliction upon the Church So that these Prophecies shall have their accomplishment whenever Christ comes They were fulfilled at his first coming when he came in the flesh for the Church was then exceedingly corrupted and so at his second coming when he shall come to destroy the Antichristian Kingdom For in our days there is a very great corruption and shall be at his third coming for at the end of the world there shall be an Insurrection against the Church and against the Son of God. 5. Object The day of Judgement would not then be unknown 5. It will farther follow say these Gentlemen that the Hour and the day of Iudgement would not then be unknown as our Lord J. Christ hath said it is For if just after the fall of the Antichristian Empire the reign of Christ for a thousand years must take place we likewise know that at the end of that Reign of a thousand years shall be the day of Judgment First you must know that our Lord J. Christ saith not that the day of the last Judgment shall be alway concealed he only saith that no man then knew it concerning that day saith he knoweth no man. That depends on the fixing the time of the 1260 years for the reign of Antichrist Now no man knew for certain at that time when the 1260 years should begin God did not permit that it should be well known till this last Age which is as also the last of the reign of Antichrist for 1260 years Moreover after having well fixt the Epocha of the birth of Antichrist that we may discover his end yet can we not thereby come to the exact knowledge of the day of Iudgement 1. Because we know not whether the thousand years of the reign of the Church must begin just at the end of the 1260 years of the reign of Antichrist We may say the contrary without saying any thing that is improbable that the thousand years are not to be computed but from the compleat establishment of the Kingdom of Christ 2. We cannot tell whether the Period of a thousand years is to be exactly so much neither more or less for the H. Ghost is not so critical and precise and often makes use of a round and certain number to signify one that is uncertain unless when he makes use of a broken number as three and half for then we cannot doubt but we are to reckon exactly so much So that these two things being always doubtfull we can never know the precise time of the Judgement day 6. Object The world would then last a long while 6. After this they say that if the Church must reign a thousand years on Earth the World is yet to last for a long time which is not likely it should because the Apostles even in their days spoke of the end of the world as a thing approaching and near at hand We are in the last times saith St. Paul. The coming of I. Christ is at hand saith St. James My littie children It is the last time saith St. John. They ought to confess that these passages make against them instead of being for them The Apostles called their Days the last times and the last hour and yet almost two thousand years have passed since Those Texts therefore must not be taken in too rigid a sense We have spent one Chapter on purpose in this Book to explain those Passages 7. Object The Scripture speaks but of one Resurrection 7. Lastly they tell us that according to the Scriptures at the coming of our Lord J. Christ All the Dead must be raised at once the Righteous and the Wicked which agrees not with the supposition of the Millenaries who would make one part of the Dead to rise at the beginning of the reign of a thousand years and the rest at the end of it But how can any one say that the Scripture saith that when it speaks the quite contrary that one part of the Dead must rise first which is the first Resurrection and that the Rest of the Dead are not to rise till the thousand years are fullfilled There are some passages 't is true wherein the Resurrection of the Good and Bad is spoken of as that which shall be at the same time and so it shall accordingly be for this first Resurrection will be but of a very few viz. of the Ancient Martyrs The remainder of the Faithful shall not be raised till the end of the World. Many Dead were risen with Christ when he rose and are certainly with him body and soul in Heaven Notwithstanding this the Scripture speaks of the Resurrection of all the Dead as a thing deferr'd and adjourn'd to the last Day because one little Exception destroys not a general Rule 'T is strange that these Gentlemen find so much difficulty in this first Resurrection Methinks they should remember the many Saints who were raised with Christ Why may not Christ raise some of the New Testament Saints at the coming of his Kingdom as well as raise some of the Ancient Patriarchs when he rose from the Grave However notwithstanding all that I have said on this subject of that first Resurrection I once again declare that I am not sollicitons to decide it Therefore I have and do again place it among those things which are doubtful I am informed that the learned and famous Prof. Mr. Witsius of Vtrecht hath thought fit to declare his mind on this subject in some publick Lectures I am told that he agrees with me concerning a great change which is to be in the Church before the end of the World with respect to Manners Union in Doctrine and the spreading of the Christian Faith as well among the Iews as among the Nations which as yet are Pagan He is also willing De X Tribubus Israelis c. 9. §. 1. cap 11. § 17 that the Iews should hope to return to their own Land and rebuild Ierusalem I would ask no more and am more rejoy't to meet with the concurrence of so great a man in that which is Essential than I can be troubled that he differs from me concerning that first Resurrection for I must acknowledge that I meet with very great difficulties about it But when I look upon it on that side and in that manner as I have represented it I find it to be very probable Nevertheless I am far from being fully perswaded of the Truth of it as I am concerning those Arâ—â—cles wherein we two agree These I think are all the Objections wherewith these Gentlemen oppose us For I regard not what they say when they tell us That this Reign of a thousand years is a Iewish vision a Fancy derived from the impure Fountain of their Traditions This is to declaim and not to prove 'T is not impossible but there may remain something that is good among the Traditions of the Iews at least St. Paul and St. Iude believed so The first learnt from their Tradition the names of the Magicians of Aegypt who opposed Moses and likewise those words of Moses I exceedingly quake and fear which we no where read in the Old Testament And St. Iude learnt from thence the combat of Michael the Arch-angel with the Devil for the body of Moses also the Prophecy of Enoch They urge likewise against us a multitude of ancient and modern Authors But I had rather give credit to Iustin Martyr and Papias who might have seen St. Iohn than to all those who have wrote since God hath his particular reasons why he will not that the Prophecies should be understood in every Age. FINIS