seventh head of the beast with ten Horns is the Pope as Successor of the Emperors The Eight King is also the Pope as he is the Husband of the Roman church which Rules in conjunction with him over all Churches of the Papal Communion And the False Prophet is likewise the Pope as he is a false Teacher one who seduceth the world by his false Doctrines and who hath established the most Despotical Empire that ever was in the World upon the pretence of being the Supream Teacher of the Church 'T is true that the word Prophet signifieth usually one that Fore-telleth things to come but it is also evident that in the Scripture it doth sometimes signify only a Teacher Accordingly St. Paul in his first Epistle to the Corinthians Chap. 14. useth the Term Prophet to signify meerly a Teacher or one that Explaineth a Doctrine And it is in this sense that the Pope is stiled a False Prophet which is as much as to say a False Teacher one that teacheth false Doctrines because that as they are not Revealed so they are contrary to all Revelation We have already proved in the fore-going Illustrations that the Pope is the Seventh Head of the Beast with ten Horns that he is the Beast with two Horns and that he is the eighth King so that he is therefore the False Prophet and consequently Anti-christ Now if it do upon the other side appear that the Pope is Antichrist it will from thence follow that he is the False Prophet the eighth King the Seventh Head of the Beast with ten Horns and the Beast with two Horns And we will endeavour to give that light to these two Truths that all who have eyes to see may easily discern them That the Pope is Antichrist appeareth from this that there is nothing said in the sacred Scriptures concerning Antichrist but what perfectly agrees to the Pope 1 St. John tells us in the 4 th Chapt. of his 1st Epistle v. 3. that he is Antichrist who denieth that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh Now the Papal Doctrine of the Real presence answereth this Character in that Iesus Christ cometh not in Flesh upon their Altars being he is there according to the doctrine of the Romish Church after the manner of a Spirit which hath neither flesh nor bones There is nothing so August and sacred in the Papal Religion as their Eucharist their Host which they call God and Christs Body but a Christ that is not like unto his Bretheren a God that is not manifested in the Flesh. 2 St. Paul speaking of the Son of Perdition who is the Anti-christ tells us in the 2 d Epist to the Thessalonians chap. 2d v. 4. that he exalteth himself above all that is called God. Now Rulers are called Gods in Scripture Psa 82. v. 6. I have said ye are Gods. And the Pope does exalt himself over Kings and Emperors not only in the quality of Spiritual Father but in that of Lord of Lords and of an absolute Soveraign who disposeth of their Crowns and giveth them to whom he pleaseth Of which and acious and lofty attempt History doth furnish many examples 3 St. Paul saith that the Son of perdition exalteth himself above all that is worshipped Now the Sacrament is worshipped in the Church of Rome and to this end it is elevated by the Priest Exposed upon their Altars born about in procession carried to such as are sick by the Priest with a Bell rung before it whereby to give notice to all that are in the streets and in their Houses that they worship the Sacrament But yet the Pope do's Exalt himself above this grand object of the Churches Adoration in that he Travelleth no where without the having it carried before him as the chief of his Guard and with less state than he is born himself Therefore Cardinal Perron stiles the Sacrament the Popes Guard of Defence so that the March of the Son of God who is concealed under the vail of the Sacrament is accomodated unto and Governed by the Popes necessities and occasions and Christs Steps are ordered according to those of his Holiness When the Pope stops the holy Sacrament must stop also which is to say that Christ whom the Angels adore must wait upon the pleasure and depend upon the caprices and humours of the Pope And thus as belongeth unto the Son of Perdition to do the Pope exalteth himself above all that is worshipped 4 St. Paul tell us that the Son of Perdition sitteth in the Temple of God which cannot be meant of the Temple of Ierusalem because there hath been no such thing for these sixteen hundred years And if that Temple were yet it would not be the Temple of God seeing ever since the rejection of the Iews it is called simply the Temple and never the Temple of God. Tho it were to be now again rebuilt and made every way what it was before the time of Vespasian yet there would be no reason why it should becalled the Temple of God forasmuch as since the abolishment of the Levitical Service God dwelleth no more in Temples made with hands Act. 7. 48. So that the Temple here meant is the Christian Church which by the holy Apostles is called the Temple of God. There it is that the Pope sitteth as is here very well expressed And there he is shewed as if he were a God. For they speak of nothing but of the Holy Chair the Chair of St. Peter and of the Roman Chair They use to say that such a one doth now sit or that such a one possesseth the Holy Chair And indeed the Pope sitteth there as a Judg giving out Decrees and Oracles as an Infallible Iudg and as the Soveraign Iudg of Coutroversies So that the Pope as the Son of Perdition sitteth in the Temple of God. 5 St. Paul says further of the Son of Perdition that he sheweth himself that he is or as if he were God. Now the Pope behaveth himself as God not only because he dispenseth with the Law of God and as if he were God requireth obedience to his own Laws under pain of damnation and because he boasteth as a God to have the Keys of Hell and Paradise but because upon the day of his Election he is carried into the great Church and there placed upon the great Altar with the Bible under his feet and worshipped both by all the Cardinals and by all the people with an Adoration that is more than a Civil one 6 St. Paul says moreover of the Son of Perdition that his coming is with all Power and Signes and lying Wonders Which Character of Anti-christ is also as discernable in the Pope as the former are in that his Authority as well as his Doctrine is founded upon Miracles Nor is there amy thing else to be met with in their Legends and in the Lives of those Saints whom the Popes have Canonised But they are Lying Wonders and whose falsity is so
the Heavenly Jerusalem forasmuch as he hath done it himself both in declaring that it is 144. and in discovering 12. to be the Cubical Root of it For not being satisfied to tells us Rev. 7. 5 c. that there were 12000. sealed out of every Tribe he gives us further to understand that all things relating to the Heavenly Ierusalem are to be counted by twelve Thus there are ascribed unto it 12 Foundations 12. Gates 12 Angels 12. Tribes 12000. Furlongs Rev. 21. 12 c. and 12. manner of Fruits of the Tree of life Rev. 22. 2. And because 12. times 12. make 144. he therefore expresly tells us that the Wall of the Mystical Ierusalem was 144. Cubits This the Holy Ghost hath not done in reference to the Beast for contenting himself with the having revealed his Number he doth not discover the Cubical Root of it but requireth us to search it out Let him that hath understanding says he count the Number of the Beast Let us then obey this command and search out the Cubical Root of 666. and we shall find it to be 25. Because 25. multiplied by it self makes 625. to which the Fraction of 41. being added there results the number of 666. Now it is most evident that the number 25. is Sacred in the Romish Church being to be found every where both in her Hierarchy and in her Doctrine According to Onuphrius Rome which is the Seat and Throne of the Papacy hath 25. Material Gates and as many Mystical Ones or 25. Churches wherein they do baptize According to Baronius Ciaconius Pot. Virgil Onuphrius and Platina Rome had at first but 25. Cardinals 25. Curates and 25. Parishes According to Onuphrius and Lipsius the Compass and Circumference of Rome is 25. Furlongs According to Bzovius She hath 25. Penitentiaries There are in St. Peters Church at Rome 25. Altars and the great Altar hath according to Aug. Rocca a Cross upon it that is 25. Span high And if we may believe Baronius and Onuphrius each side of that Altar is 25. Foot large There is also upon all their Altars the number of 25. imprinted in that the five Wounds Christ are graven upon them in five several places There are usually 25. Monks in their Cloisters And for some Ages they have held their Jubilee every 25. years There are 25. Articles of the Papal Faith for so many the Bull of Pope Pius the fourth containeth And the Council of Trent which gave us the last Summary and account of their Doctrine was both finished in 25. Sessions and signed by 25. Archbishops So that 25. being the Cubical Root of 666. and this number being found in the Popish Church running thro all that is Sacred and August both in their Hierarchy Doctrine and Ceremonies it doth undeniably follow that 666. is the Number of the Papacy and by consequence that the Romish Church is the Beast with two Horns And as the Number 12. thro being the Cubical Root and the Foundation of 144. which is the Number of the true Church giveth us to understand that the Church of God is founded alone upon the Doctrine of the 12. Apostles so the Number 25 which exceeds twelve by above a half being the Cubical Root and foundation of 666. which is the Number of the Beast serves to teach us that the vast multitude of Traditions which are the Basis of the Papacy should not make us take her for the true Church as the Papists groundlesly pretend but to look upon her as the Beast with two Horns and as great Babylon If the Reader should now demand why the Holy Ghost gave the Number 666. for the Mark of the Beast rather than the Number 625. seeing 25. maketh the just Square Root of 625. without a Fraction whereas to raise 666. from a multiplication of 25. there must be added a Fraction of 41. I answer that if the Holy Spirit had intended to mark out unto us only the Number of the Beast he would have satisfied himself with the Number 625. but designing to point out unto us also the Number of his Name it became his Wisdom to give us the Number 666. that so by these two delineations he might the better paint him out unto us it being evident that the Letters of the Beasts Name do contain and produce that Number And here likewise we are to attend unto and serve our selves of the advice of the Spirit who says Let him that hath understanding count the Number of the Name of the Beast for it is the Number of a Man. Now every one knows that they were men who at first invented the use of the Letters of the Alphabet in numbring and computing and who gave to every Letter its value 'T is true the Apocalypse is the only Scripture Book where the Letters are applyed to this use but that custom had obtained among the Grecians before St. John wrote The Holy Ghost himself declares that it is the Number of a Man and by imploying three Letters of the Greek Alphabet to express the Number 666. he doth by his own example teach us to search for this Number in the Name of the Beast Now the Name of the Beast as we have already shewed is the Roman Church and Papal Empire and in the Greek which is the Language wherein the Revelation was written the Name of the Roman Church is Lateinos For the Roman Church is called the Latine Church to distinguish it from the Greek and its Religious Service is thro the whole Papal Dominion performed in the Latine Tongue Nor doth the Pope emit his Bulls nor Briefs nor Dispensations nor Excommunications in any Language save the Latine Now if we take the Letters in the Name Lateinos according to their value in the Greek Alphabet we shall therein precisely find the Number 666. A 30 A 1 T 300 E 5 I 10 N 50 O 70 Σ 200  666 What can be said against this computation Was it not Ireneus one of the Holiest as well as one of the most Ancient of all the Fathers that made it One that had been the Disciple of Polycarp who had conversed with St. Iohn There may indeed be found some other Greek Names whose Letters make that Number but then the other Features of the Image of the Beast which do all agree to the Papal Church and Kingdom are not found in any of those other subjects So that we must necessarily conclude that the Papal Empire is the only thing which the Holy Spirit had a mind to represent in this description Besides the Holy Ghost hath afforded us more Representations of the Papacy than one that he might both make it the more discernable and render those inexcusable that will not know it In the 13. Chapter he describes it both under the Image of a Beast i. e. of a Power and Empire and of a Beast with two Horns i. e. that hath a twofold Iurisdiction a Spiritual and a Temporal Of which twofold Authority
in Woods or in Holes of Rocks and were accused of committing there execrable Crimes and Murders and of being guilty of Conspiracies against the Government and of Uncleannesses and incestuous Converses as doth appear by the Apologies of Tertullian and other Writers of that time And whereas it is said that the Dragon was cast out of Heaven unto the Earth and that there was no place found any more for him in Heaven nor for his Angels this was verified by the conversion of Rome and her Emperors because Paganism being then destroyed both in Rome and through the whole Empire and the Devil being neither any more Worshipped under the name of Mars nor his Angels which are they that were his persecuting Emissaries respected and dreaded as they had been before there was no place found any more for him in heaven ` For in Rome he had no more a Temple where he was worshipped nor were there throughout the whole Roman Empire any more Pagans who did adore him so that he is thenceforth accounted of as fallen from Heaven to Earth according to the Prediction of the Son of God Luc. 10. 18. I beheld Satan as lightning fall from Heaven And forasmuch as St. John farther says I heard a loud voice saying in heaven now is come salvation and the Kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ for the Accuser of our Brethren is cast down This is a description of the joy that was among believers when they saw Iesus Christ victorious and triumphant over the Dragon the subversion of Idols the down fall of paganism and the Church come out of Caves Woods and the Holes of Rocks and to assemble openly in the very Temples where the Dragon had been worshipped and there to worship the true God Creator and Redeemer So that if it be asked who those Angels of the Dragon are that fought for him I answer that they are the Philosophers the Orators the Priests of the Idols Gods and Magistrates who made use of all sort of Tricks Frauds Outrages of blind Zeal Violence Fines Banishments Imprisonments and Executions As upon the other hand Michaels Angels are the Pastors and Teachers who made use of no other Weapons nor Defence but that of the Sword of the Word of God of Faith of a holy Life and of Patience As it is said v. 11. that they overcame the Dragon by the Blood of the Lamb and by the word of their Testimony and they loved not their lives unto the death XI ILLUSTRATION Of the Flight of the Woman REV. CHAP. 12. v. 14. THis Flight of the Woman had been mentioned v. 6. where it is said that after the Man child was caught up unto God and to his Throne the Woman fled into the Wilderness where she hath a place prepared of God that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore Days But it appeareth by the 14 verse that this was spoken there by way of Anticipation and that the Flight of the Woman fell out after the fall of the Dragon that is after the destruction of Heathenism and the conversion of the Emperors Which gives us to understand that the Birth of Atichristianism followed soon after the deliverance from the Persecutions of the Pagan Emperors For ever since the Church decayed in her Purity the prosperity which She enjoyed under the Christian Emperors having suddenly and insensibly corrupted her And Platina tells us that a voice was then heard Hodie venenum funditur in Ecclesiam i. e. Poison is now poured forth upon the Church Nevertheless this Flight of the Church did not lye in a change of Place but in a change of her external State. In a word it was an Eclipse rather than a proper Flight a Darkness rather than a Retreat and discovered it in the pride Covetousness Luxury and Dissoluteness of the Churches Guides and in the Doctrines Worship and Ceremonies which She borrowed from the Pagans The Place which God had prepared for her was a little Corner of that Temple which is spoken of Rev. 11. 1. when the outward Court was trodden under foot by the Gentiles that is by those who had adopted and brought in Human Traditions and Heathenish Rites and Ceremonies into the Christian Religion The Two Wings given unto the Woman to forward her Flight and to render it the more expeditious and safe do denote the same thing that the measuring of the Temple doth in the eleventh chap. For he speaketh here of the same persons to wit the Church and of the same Time namely that which succeeded soon after the End of the Churches Persecution by the Heathen Emperors and of the same Design which is the Preservation of Believers against the Calamities threatned by the Trumpets The Wilderness into which She fled Intimateth unto us the Churches Obscurity Poverty and Distress of which there were different degrees For at some seasons the Church was not so much as visible no more than the seven thousand of the ten Tribes were under Ahab and Iesabel that were unknown to the Prophet Elias She fled into the Wilderness with the Wings of an Eagle as the Church of Israel is said to have been carried upon Eagles Wings Exod. 19. 4 which both shews the speediness and the safety of her Flight and that She should remain and be entertained within the Bounds of the Roman Empire And as the Eagle's being the Arms of the Roman Empire putteth this out of all doubt so the Two Wings of the Eagle do denote the Empire of the East and that of the West where the Church of God hath been kept hidden and had been fed during the time of her Poverty and great Distress And She hath been Fed not with the unsavoury and poisonous Food of Human Traditions and Ceremonies or Doctrines drawn from the Pagan Religion but with the sound and wholsom Food of the Word of God. Nor can She be fed with any other Nourishment so that this is the same thing with that which is said in the 11. chap. v. 2 3. viz. that while the Holy City should be trodden under foot by the Gentiles the Lord should cause his two Witnesses to prophesie a thousand two hundred and threescore dayes cloathed in Sack-cloth For this Prophecy of the two Witnesses is nothing else save the Bread and Food of the Church which he speaketh of here From which it necessarily followeth that this Flight of the Woman into the Wilderness is of the same Date with the treading down of the City by the Gentiles which is mentioned chap. 11. v. 2. The Time that the Church was to be nourished in the Wilderness is expressed by Time Times and half a Time. Which amounts to the 1260. dayes of the sixth verse Nor can this be gainsaid in that no man can deny but that the Flight spoken of v. 6 is the same with the Flight that is discoursed of v. 14. Now we shall see elsewhere what is meant both by the 1260. Dayes and
by the 42. Moneths mentioned chap. 13 when we come to examin how long Antichristianism is to continue In the mean while that which is spoken v. 13. is worth the serious considering When she Dragon saith St. John saw that he was cast unto the Earth he persecuted the Woman There had been another Persecution of the Church for during the time of three hundred years She had been persecuted by the Pagans but this is a Persecution begun by Christians or by such who called themselves so The Devil being through the conversion of Rome and her Emperors dethroned and cast from Heaven unto the Earth he left the Church in Peace But it was only for a very short time for he suddenly bethought himself of assaulting her by Error and Superstition The first Persecution which was that by Pagans was open and avowed but this which is by the Antichristian Followers of the Beast is carried on more darkly XII ILLUSTRATION Of the Floud which the Serpent cast out of his Mouth and of the Help which the Earth gave unto the Woman REV. CHAP. XII v. 15. V. 15. And the Serpent cast out of his Mouth Waters as a Flood after the Woman that he might cause her to be carried away of the Floud V. 16. And the Earth helped the Woman and the Earth opened her Mouth and swallowed up the Floud which the Dragon cast out of his Mouth V. 17. And the Dragon was wroth with the Woman and went to make War with the remnant of her Seed which keep the Commandments of God and have the Testimony of Iesus Christ NOW Doctrine being called Prov. 18. 4. Waters of the Mouth this Floud must be a Hellish and Mortal Doctrine because it is the Serpent who casts it out of his Mouth to carry away the Woman and to destroy the Church beyond recovery Yet this Doctrine can be none of the Heresies with which the Church was exercised during the first three hundred years because the Church is here treated of after the time of the casting down of the Dragon from Heaven unto the Earth that is after the conversion of Rome and her Emperors So that it must needs be some Heresie started after the Flight of the Woman forasmuch as it is here said that the Serpent cast this Floud after the Woman as being in the pursuance of her upon her Retreat into the Wilderness Now the Woman as we have shewed withdrew into the Wilderness after the Emperors were turned Christian in that the Church begun then to decay in her purity It must therefore refer to those Errors which were condemned by the first four Councils and especially to that of Arius who denied the Eternal Godhead of Christ and taught that he was meerly a Creature made before all other things 'T is true there had arisen some Hereticks before who had vented the same Heresie in the main but it is likewise true that they never made such a considerable Body as to bring the Church into an extream danger Whereas the Arian Heresie by seising and infecting almost the whole Church had near brought it to pass that there should be no more a Christian Church and that there should be no more hope of Salvation For if Jesus Christ be not a Divine Person his Death can have no more vertue than that of Martyrs It could neither have expiated Sin nor that I may say all in one word have been any ways meritorious seeing common sense tells us that a meer Creature cannot merit at the hands of the Creator who is of infinite Majesty This Heresie prevailed over the whole Eastern Church forasmuch as it was approved by five Councils by that of Tyre that of Syrmium that of Ariminium that of Seleucia and that of Antioch But at length it was condemn'd and extinguished by the last Council that was held in reference to that matter which was that of Constantinople under Theodosius the great After which the Church hath enjoyed rest on that side and Iesus Christ hath been adored as co-essential with the Father For since then there have been no Hereticks owning this Heresie that have appeared in any Body For the Socinians are no more a Body than the Atheists and Deists are The Earth then that helped the Woman and which opened her mouth and swallowed up the Floud were all those Councils that condemn'd the Arian Heresie They are stiled the Earth because they are purely a humane Mean and one which God hath not ordained For Iesus Christ hath promised an infallibility to no Assembly of men or if he have it is to two or three who shall assemble in his Name and not to all who come together If we consider the Heresie of Arius meerly upon that foot and if we put it into the list of Heresies meerly upon the account of its being condemned by several Councils and if we believe that Iesus Christ is in all things equal to God only because Councils have so determined this Faith of ours will be but a Humane Faith and not a Divine For it is not Divine but as it hath a Divine foundation and a Divine foundation is no other thing save the Soveraign Authority of God speaking in the Scriptures I do believe that Iesus Christ is every way equal to his Father not because Councils have so decreed but because the whole Scripture doth declare it even from Moses to St. Iohn and from Genesis down to the Revelation The Councils did undoubtedly determine well when they condemned the Heresie of Arius and in that they asserted the Godhead of our Saviour but in the mean time their Decree was only so far just and true as it was conformable to the Word of God. The Councils are therefore no other but a humane Mean because Infallibility doth not reside in them but in the alone Word of God that is the Rule by which they do judg And forasmuch as they are a human mean they are the Earth that helped the Woman and that swallowed up the Flood XIII ILLUSTRATION Of the War which the Dragon being full of Wrath made against the Remnant of the Seed of the Woman REV. CHAP. 12. v. 17. THE Serpent saith St. Iohn was wroth with the Woman and this was upon the finding himself disappointed of that effect which he expected from the Floud which he had cast out of his Mouth and upon his seeing that the Earth had opened her mouth and swallowed it up And being enraged with wrath he went to make War with the remnant of her Seed which keep the Commandments of God and have the Testimony of Iesus Christ But what was not the Dragon wroth with the Woman before the Earth had swallowed up the Floud and before the condemnation of the Arian Heresie Hath he not alway's made War with those that are of the Seed of the Woman It is so nor is the contrary intended here but it is the Scripture way of speaking to express the increase of a thing as if it were
Council the Colledg of Cardinals for her Castles Convents for her Armies Monks for her Governors of Provinces Bishops and Arch-Bishops for her Ambassadors Nuucio's and Legat's for her Merchants Priests for her Merchandises Dispensations and for her Revenues Annates and Benefices So that it was with good reason that Gregorius Leâ—i begun his pleasant History of Pope Sixtus the fifth after this manner That the Popedom is the most considerable Monarchy that hath been established from the Creation of the World to this day and that no Princes whether Idolatrous or Christians have reigned more absolutely than the Roman Bishops do at whose Feet the greatest Potentates have laid down their Scepters and Crowns So that it may be said this sodering together of Temporal and Spiritual power this mingling of things Secular and Religious this conjunction of the Cross with the Sword this Union of Body and Soul and in brief this Authority over Earth and Heaven which meet and center in the Popes have raised and established a Soveraignty which almost all the People and Princes of the World do reverence Withal the Church of Rome saith I am no Widow in that She boasts of having a visible Head and spouse which is the Pope And She say's I shall see no sorrow for pretending to be the only Spouse of the Son of God how can she miscarry Or how should She be so forsaken as to be able to fall seeing it is to her alone that Jesus Christ hath made that promise the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against my Church Matth. 16. 18. XV. ILLUSTRATION Of Babylon's making all Nations Drunk with the Wine of her Fornication and of her being Drunk with the Blood of Saints REV. CHAP. 14. v. 8. THese two Actions of Babylon charactarise and mark out the Roman Church Seeing it is Idolatry that is spoken of which is Spiritual Adultery and dissolveth Gods Covenant as Adultery doth the Covenant of Marriage Now the Roman Church is guilty of too gross Idolatry to be any ways able to justify her self She worshippeth not only the Holy Virgin in giving her the Titles of the Gate of Paradise the Queen of Heaven and the Fountain of Grace but in advancing her above Jesus Christ through begging of her in one of their prayers that she would jure matris imperare i. e. use the authority of a Mother in Commanding her Son. Nor doth she only Adore Images according to the Decree of the second Council of Nice which is confirmed by the Council of Trent but she also Adores the Sacrament which Jesus Christ instituted to be a memorial of his death and which therefore must be something else than Christ himself Nor can she according to her own Doctrine have any assurance either divine or human that the Bread is the Body of Christ forasmuch as she cannot be assured of the Intention of the Priest upon which the whole Consecration doth depend To which may be added her Worshipping the Cross and that with the highest kind of worship called Latria having to this purpose set apart and assigned Good Friday The Doctrine of the Roman Church that leads men to Idolatry may be justly compared to Wine and not to water and to Wine of Wrath i. e. furious Wine because they who drink it become intoxicated and deprived of their senses So that they not only furiously pursue the Objects of their Superstition as so many mad men whom none can hinder or withdraw from it but they are transported with hatred rage against all those who do not approve their false and abominable devotion And it is worth our observing what the difference is between true Doctrine and false Wholsome and true Doctrine is usually compared to Water because it rendreth such as embrace it meek gentle patient under injuries ready to teach those who are otherwise minded with mildness and filled rather with Pity and Compassion towards them than transported with hatred But in reference to the effects of false Doctrine all is otherwise For it maketh such as entertain it violent cruel quarrelsom outragious ready to assault and fall upon those that contradict them and who refuse to follow their example And therefore it is resembled to Wine and to Wine of wrath i. e. heady Wine that inflameth and distracteth men and in a word rendreth them that are possessed with it persecutors to the outmost Nor can the Church of Rome deny but that she doth after this manner persecute all those whom she calls Hereticks and for this only reason because they will not own her to be the Empress of the world and the Mother and Mistriss of Faith and acknowledg her Bishop to be the Vicar of Jesus Christ and the Center of Christian Unity The Croisado's against the Valdenses and Albigenses of whose success Bellarmin triumpheth to that degree as to say that in one only Croisado there were a hundred thousand killed the Massacres committed in England France and the Low Countries in the forego'ing Age those perpetrated in Poland the Valleys of Piedmont and in Ireland within these forty or fifty years I say all these do make it but too evidently appear that the Church of Rome is this Woman whom St. John saw drunk with the Blood of Saints Rev. 17. 6. The Holy Scripture putteth this honor upon all those that follow sound Doctrine and of whose Faith the Gospel is the only Rule as to give them the glorious Title of Saints Nor can it be gain-said but that Rome is drunk with the Blood of Saints forasmuch as all the barbarous Croisado's against the Albigenses and all the Butcheries perpetrated upon Protestants have been for no other reason but for their making the Gospel the alone Rule of their Faith. Neither were they persecuted and destroyed but because of their disclaiming Human Traditions which are the mischievous Fountain of all Errors XVI ILLUSTRATION Of the Lamb on Mount Sion and with him the 144000. having the Fathers Name written in their Foreheads REV. CHAP. XIV v. 1. HERE we have a Description of the State of the True Church and that during the time in which Babylon was drunk with the Blood of the Martyrs For whereas one might have questioned whether the Church was not wholly lost seeing all the world not only wondred after the Beast but that they who refused to receive his mark and to worship his Image were killed therefore the Holy Spirit represents a Vision to St. John in which he might clearly see that the Church did subsist in despight both of the Victories of the Beast of the extent of his Empire and of the Violence of his Persecutions I looked saith St. John and lo a Lamb stood on the Mount Sion and with him 144000. having his Fathers Name written in their Foreheads and I heard a voice from Heaven as the voice of many Waters and as the voice of a great Thunder And I heard the voice of Harpers harping with their Harps and they sung as it were
esteem that they who before had been called Arnoldians Henricians and Petrobrusians are supposed to have gotten from him the name of Valdenses Tho that is a mistake forasmuch as long before the time of Valdo they who made profession of the true Doctrine had been so stiled from the name of the Valleys of Angrogna and Piedmont where the Church of God had been harboured from the day 's of Constantin as hath been already observed These Teachers are represented crying with a loud voice Fear God because at that season Babylon alone was dreaded it being the common language of every one at that day Who is like unto the Beast who is able to make war with him as the Holy Ghost hath marked Rev. chap. 13. v. 4. They are farther represented crying Give Glory to God because then the Honor due to God was transferred to Creatures which according to St. Paul is a with-holding or a not-giving Glory to God. For that Apostle being speaking of the Pagans he accuseth them of not having glorified God by reason of their giving that honor to the Creature which belonged to none save to the Creator Rom. 1. 21 23. Moreover they are here introduced threatning the men of that Age with the Judgments of God The hour say they of his judgment is come Which Denunciation was fulfilled in the same Century For the Quarrels between the Emperor Frederick and the Pope filled all Christendom with Civil Wars and overwhelmed it with Desolation Besides the Voiage of Louis the seventh into the Holy Land proved most unhappy and then Saladin towards the end of that Age conquered the Kingdom of Jerusalem so that all the Christians became defeated and droven out of Palestine They are further introduced preaching the Gospel to every Nation and kindred and Tongue and People that is through all parts of the Papal Kingdom which in these Visions is signified by the Kingdom of the Beast Of whom it is said Chap. 13. v 7. that power was given unto him over all kindreds and Tongues and Nations and that all who dwelt upon the Earth worshipped him Which can be meant of nothing else but of the Roman Papal Empire In the fourteenth Age about the year 1360. Iohn Wicklif assaulted the Pope and both called him Archheretick Antichrist the Impostore of the Church and proved him to be so by Scripture History and his own Actions He preached likewise against the Sacrifice of the Mass against Indulgences and against the Worship of Images Relicks and Saints The voice of this Angel was so powerful and efficacious that Edward the third King of England ordained in Parliament that from thence forward Bishops should not go to Rome for confirmation but be confirmed at home by their own Metropolitans This Wicklif upon his withdrawing into Bohemia had Iohn Hus for his Disciple Which Hus by the alone power of his Doctrine drew the Kingdom of Bohemia off from obedience to Rome And thence it is that this Angel is introduced crying Babylon is falling is falling Because that was a presage of the falling away of Nations from her which should ensue in the next Age. John Hus was burnt by the Council of Constance contrary to the publick Faith and the safe Conduct that had been given him by the Emperor Sigismond And History reports of him that he should say to his Judges ye are putting a Goose to death for so Hus in the Bohemian Language signifies but a hundred years hence God will raise up a Swan whom tho ye would never so fain destroy ye shall not be able Which Prophecy was exactly fulfilled at the time For as Iohn Hus was burnt anno 1415. so Luther begun the work of the Reformation by writing against Indulgences in the year 1515. And tho the Court of Rome did all they could both to stop his mouth and to destroy him yet they could never effect it It was therefore in the 16. Century that the voice of the third Angel was heard saying loudly If any man worship the Beast and his Image and receive his mark in his Forehead or in his Hand the same shall drink of the Wine of the Wrath of God c. This Angel is Luther who writ with that strength and preached with that efficacy and with such success against the Errors Idolatry and Tyranny of the Church of Rome that near one half of the Nations and People who reverenced her as their Mother and feared her as their Queen withdrew from her Communion and look't upon her with detestation as the Mother of uncleanness and Abominations And as Rome could not behold the success of the voice of the third Angel but with despite and rage so Believers could not escape suffering a great deal from a power which saw it self so dangerously weakned by their Separation This is what the H. Spirit declareth was to be when he saith Here is the patience of the Saints here are they that keâ—p the Commaudments of God and the Faith of Iesus But the Holy Spirit in the message directed thereupon to St. Iohn do's likeway's animate and fortify them against all those evils that Babylon should be able to do unto them And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me write Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them There being no where else and express command given unto St. Iohn to write except in the first Chap. v. 19. It serves to shew the great importance of this Doctrine both in discovering the falsehood of the Romish Doctrine about the State of Dead about the Worship given unto them about Purgatory to which they are adjudged and about the Mass which is made use of for fetching them thence and also for the comfort and encouragement of those who assert the dignity of the Everlasting Gospel and who are persecuted by the Beast for defending of it XVIII ILLUSTRATION Of the Harvest and the Vintage REV. CHAP. 14. v. 14 15 c. THese two Visions do without doubt signify the Judgments of God against his Enemies and the Persecutors of his Church Accordingly Ieremiah useth the similitudes of Vintage and Harvest against Babylon of the Chaldees Chap. 51. v. 33. The Daughter of Babylon saith he is like a threshing floor it is time to thresh her yet a little while and the time of her Harvest shall come Ioel also makes use of them both Chap. 13. 3. Put in the Sicle saith he for the Harvest is ripe come get you down for the Press is full the fats overflow for their wickedness is great There are some who do think that the Harvest respecteth and threatneth the Mahometan Empire but all are agreed that the Vintage referreth unto and threatneth the Papal Kingdom As for me I think it most probable that both these Judgments do threaten the Papal Empire And that the Harvest signifies an Initial Judgment or a Decision as to some
Church They are in their Hearts sealed of the Spirit but outwardly they have no other Mark save that of the profession of the pure Doctrine of the Apostles By the Mark that is in their Hearts they are known of God and by that in their Foreheads they are known of men VII ILLUSTRATION Of the Multitude which no man could number that Stood before the Lamb with Palms of their felicity and whence they came REV. CHAP. 7. V. 9. After this I beheld and lo a great multitude which no man could number of all Nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the throne and before the Lamb clothed with white Robes and Palms in their hands V. 10. And they cried with a loud voice saying Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb. V. 11. And all the Angels c. V. 12. Saying Amen Blessing and Glory and Wisdom and Thanksgiving Honor and Power Might be unto our God for Ever and Ever Amen V. 13. And one of the Elders answered saying unto me what are these which are arayed in white Robes and whence are they V. 14. And I said unto him Sir thou knowest And he said to me these are they which came out of great Tribulation and have washed their Robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. V. 15. Therefore are they before the Throne of God and serve him day and night in his Temple and he that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them V. 16. They shall hunger no more neither thirst any more neither shall the Sun light on them nor any heat V. 17. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters and God shall wipe away all tears from their Eyes THis multitude that could not be numbred are the companions of those Souls who cried under the fifth Seal How long O Lord before thou avenge our blood and white Robes were given unto them and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season untill their fellow servants also and their bretheren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled chap. 6. v. 10 11. These Martyrs are represented innumerable and there are two reasons intimated for it First because they were of all Nations kindreds people and Tongues 2ly because they were come out of great Tribulation And this great Tribulation is so called from the long duration of it Nor could it be otherway's for that it was to continue as long as the Papal Kingdom namely two and fourty months or a 1260 day 's which are 1260 years as we shall afterwards see They are represented clothed in white Robes as they under the fifth Seal were to intimate both their dignity and their Joy. But besides this they are represented standing before the Throne and before the Lamb with Palms in their hands whereas they under the fifth Seal were represented under the Altar and without Palms The reason of that difference is this because under the fifth Seal the Enemies of the Martyrs had the upper hand of them and persecuted their memories to that degree as to dig their bodies out of the ground and to throw their ashes into the wind as accounting them an abominable crew whereas in the place of that these here their great Tribulation's being finished and the 1260 years expired and the Beast and the false Prophet being cast into the bottomless pit are represented standing before the Throne of God and with Palms in their hands as conquerors over all their Enemies They shall be acknowledged blessed in Heaven and such who after the End of this Tribulation shall be found on the Earth walking in their faith shall Reign with Christ a thousand years So that the Holy Spirit doth by way of Anticipation describe here the felicity of the Church of God on the Earth whereof we have spoken upon the Subject of the first Resurrection that the terrible calamity which is to be represented under the Trumpets might not discourage believers being strengthened and fortified before hand by a promise of the victory which the Church shall at last obtain over her Enemies The Prophet Isaiah hath promised the same happiness to the Church of Israel For he hath said chap. 25. v. 8. that God will wipe away tears from off all faces And he hath said chap. 41. v. 10. that they shall not hunger not thirst neither shall the heat nor Sun smite them 'T is likewise to the Church made up of Iews and Gentiles that the Holy Spirit doth here promise the same felicity The Terms used by Isaiah do equally agree with the happiness in Heaven for the Souls of the Martyr's and with the happiness on Earth for those who shall have part in the first Resurrection and who shall Reign a thousand years VIII ILLUSTRATION Of the Silence in Heaven for half an hour REV. CHAP. 8. V. 1. And when he had opened the Seventh Seal there was silence in Heaven about the space of half an hour V. 2. And I saw the Seven Angels which stood before God and to them were given seven Trumpets AFter that the Idolatry of the Roman Empire was overthrown and after that the Christian Religion was established by publick Authority and that an end was put to persecution St. Iohn saw heresies and superstitions breaking in upon the Church But this did not come to pass immediately there was a space before that had the face of a peace or truce In a word there was a a short intervall That is it which had been already represented by the holding back of the four winds whereof we have spoken in the fifth Illustration And it is the same which is represented by the silence mentioned here at the opening of the 7 th Seal For when no wind blows there is a general calm And a great silence in the Air which is called Heaven in Scripture But in this place Heaven signifies the Church and Silence denoteth the peace that was established under the Reign of Constantin Called a Silence for half an hour because that peace continued only for a few years So that if the holding the winds from blowing signifies a general peace the Silence for half an hour marks the short while that it lasted IX ILLUSTRATION Of the seven Angels with the seven Trumpets and of the Angel who cast the Censer into the Earth REV. CHAP. 8. V. 2. And I saw the seven Angels which stood before God and to them were given seven Trumpets V. 3. And another Angel came and stood at the Altar having a golden Censer and there was given unto him much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all Saints upon the golden Altar which was before the Throne V. 4. And the Smoke of the Incense which came with the prayers of the Saints ascended up before God out of the Angels hand V. 5. And the Angel took the
with casks upon their heads It nigrum campis agmen 3 'T is said of the Locusts of the bottomless pit that they have on their heads as it were Crowns of Gold. All Priests wear a Crown which the Canonists prefer as much above those of Kings as Gold is above lead But that of the Iesuites is esteemed by them far beyond that of all others Thence it is that they despise all Episcopacies only they will put that honor upon the Cardinals Hat as not to refuse it 4 'T is said of these Infernal Locusts that their faces were as the faces of men And are there any in the world who are more courteous more meek more kind than the Iesuites are in shew and appearance What sweetness what humanity what love appeareth in their Countenances in their manner and in their language 5 But it is said of the Locusts of the bottomless pit that they had breast-plates of iron All who have had to do with the Jesuites know that their hearts are covered with Corslets They find by experience that they are as hard and inflexibl ' as Iron and that when their interest is concerned they have neither pity upon Widow nor Orphan 6 'T is said of these Locusts that they had hair as the hair of Women Which signifieth the flatteries and carresses by which they cajole those that are young and such as are wealthy In a word their adulations are like unto those of women But in this there is something monstrous that after the H. Spirit had given unto the Locusts the faces of men of men of war he should also give them the hair of a woman Thus these Locusts are of an Ambiguous Sex. And there is the like ambignity in the Society of the Iesuites 'T is not known whether they be Monks or whether they be not Pasquier reports that upon their being asked by the Parliament of Paris what they were they answered they were tales quales i. e. they were something between both they were either the one or the other So that according to their own Answer they are a kind of Hermâ—phrodites like unto these Locusts partly men partly women Men by their faces women by their Hair. In their profession they are of the number of the Religious but in their Practice they are Secular being Bankers Merchants States men Souldiers Presbyterians Prelatists Quakers and in truth all that men can say and every thing that it is possible to be 7 'T is said of these infernal Locusts that they had Teeth as the Teeth of Lions And the Iesuites have something resembling this and equivalent to it For you may sooner pull the prey out of the Lions Teeth from between his Paws than recover that out of the Iesuites hands whereof they are once possessed 8 'T is said of these Loeusts of the bottomless pit that they make a noise with their wings as if it were the noise of Chariots of many horses running to Battel Sabellicus reports that the General of the Cordeliers offered Pope Pius II. that provided he would make war against the Turk to furnish him with thirty thousand Souldiers out of that order and this without any hindrance to the Service which they are bound to perform in their Convents Judg then Reader what the General of the Jesuites is able to do their Houses being so full and numerous And what the Pope may expect from a Society who both know so well the Art of Ingeniers as they made appear in the beginning of this Age by the mine which they laid under the Parliament House in England whereby to have blown up the whole Royal Family the Senate of the Kingdom and who have insinuated and wrought themselves into all Princes Councils are vastly rich have those in all places who are Pensionaries to them and who by the Maxims of their Morality can Inspire the Barriers the Chastells and the Ravailac's to rid them of Kings when they find that their designs are inconsistent with theirs 9 'T is said of these Infernal Locusts that they had Tails like unto Scorpions Tail in Scripture signifieth a Teacher one that teacheth false Doctrine Isaiah chap. 9. v. 15. The Iesuites indeed are Teachers but whose doctrine is false and a manifest subversion of the whole Morality of Jesus Christ There is no pollution nor Crime which they have not warranted by their famous Rules of the Doctrine of probability and of directing the Intention Do but observe some of the Maxims of the Iesuitick Morality Such as that to ly with a married Woman is not adultery provided the Husband do consent unto it That bare Fornication is no Sin. That a woman is not guilty of murther in forcing her self to miscarry That a Son may lawfully kill his Father in order to injoy his Estate c. The Doctrine taught by the Iesuites resembleth very well the Tails of Scorpions whose sting is mortal 10 'T is said of the Locusts of the bottomless pit that in those days i. e. while they Reign men shall seek for death and shall not find it and shall desire to die and death shall flee from them Which is as much as to say that these Locusts shall be insupportable and that the Evils which they cause shall be beyond all remedy and that they shall force the people over whom they have power to curse the day of their birth as Iob did when his patience was put upon the utmost trial And it may be said in general that the Iesuites have imposed such a yoak both upon the publick and upon particular persons that life is become very disagreeable and uneasie They who know that Famons Society will find nothing that is hyperbolical in this description but that every thing is literally true The Iesuites do by their carriage strangely provoke and enrage men for while they are officious and adulatory beyond what one can say they are in the mean time mischievous and wicked to the highest degree They are the plague of Families and Estates and yet none can secure their Families and Estates from them men dread them and flee from them as much as they can but notwithstanding all endeavours to avoid them they are found every where They insinuate and intrude into all places and mingle themselves in all companies and affairs Wo to them that trust them They are a pot of iron and in comparison of whom all others being but earthen pitchers who cannot avoid being broken into shivers if they rub against and justle with them But we may ascribe to the Iesuites the art of giving a home blow witness the invention of the new persecution whereby all France is rendred Catholick in three months time and the Protestants are reduced to a condition of desiring death In all former persecutions they inflicted death men sought to avoid it but in this death is desired they refuse to grant it In those they made Martyrs but in this they make Hypocrites An Invention worthy
of time betwixt the sounding of the sixth Trumpet and the sounding of the seventh Seeing 't is said chap. 11. v. 14. The second Wo is past and behold the third Wo cometh quickly For we are to observe that this is not said in the prediction of the two first Wo's under the fifth and sixth Trumpets All that is there said is only that they shall come but this quickly is not added save in the prediction of the third Wo. Whence we may conclude that the seventh Trumpet shall immediately follow the Resurrection of the two Witnesses Whose Death as it fell out in 1685. so their Resurrection shall ensue within three years and a half from that time because the three days and a half wherein they are to lie dead being prophetick days are equivalent unto so many years And then in a short time after the Resurrection of the Witnesses whom the Beast hath killed we shall see the arrival of the third Wo that is to avenge the Lambs Wife for all the evils which the Mother of Harlots hath made her to suffer Nor ought we to forget that the Term in the Original which signifieth a Vial signifieth also a Cup in which sense the Term is undoubtedly here used For besides that it is the Judgments of God which are here treated of and which are expressed in the Scripture by the word Cup as appeareth both Ps 75. v. 8. and by the prayer of our Saviour in his Agony Let this Cup pass from me Matth. 26. v. 39. I say besides this it is evident that the vengeance wherewith Babylon is threatned is expressed by the same Term Rev. chap. 18. v. 6. Reward her even as she rewarded you and double unto her double according to her works in the CUP which she hath filled fill to her double So that the Cups of God's Wrath are set in opposition to the golden Cup with which Babylon made drunk the Nations of the Earth Babylon's Cup is full of the furious Wine of her fornications Rev 17. 2. These Cups which are to be poured out are full of the wrath of Almighty God by which he will make her desolate I will again repeat that seeing these Vials or Cups contain Judgments yet to come and which cannot be explained from the Events as hath been done in expounding of the Visions of the Trumpets that therefore I design not to speak otherway's than by way of Conjecture This is a deference which should be pay'd to the Author of Prophesies Howsoever we shall see what may be best alledged and what carrieth the greatest probability by having our eye upon remembring the Explanations that have been already given The first Vial. V. 2 And the first Angel went and poured out his Vial upon the Earth and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the Beast and upon them which worshipped his Image The Earth upon which the first Vial fell is the Antichristian Church the Christian Church become Earthly which is no longer constituted of those that are Citizens of Heaven as the true Church of Jesus Christ is but is made up of worldly persons who have nothing else in their aim but to satisfy their ambition avarice and carnal desires These will be fretted and grieved to see the loss of their Church Revenues and to be deprived of the means of gratifying their Iusts This vexation and sorrow which is the noisome and grievous sore upon them will increase their rage against the Church of God. They who have the mark of the Beast represent the Clergy the Prelates and the Priests who are not only distinguished by their Habits and shaving their Crowns but who likewise boast of an indelible Character that is to say of a mark which nothing can efface These who worship the Image of the Beast signifie the false zealots who are intoxicated with the belief of the Infallibility of the Romish Church as the ancient Romans were with the Eternity of Rome which they stiled the Eternal City These are the Bigots who are transported with a blind zeal the Ignorants who are swallowed up in Superstition and who yield a greater and a more submissive obedience to their Guides than that which God requireth of his People For God doth not require a blind Obedience which is that which they do render to their Clergy The second Vial. V. 3. And the second Angel poured out his Vial upon the Sea and it became as the Blood of a dead man and every living Soul died in the Sea. The Sea is the Papal Kingdom in its utmost extent not only the countrey whereof the Pope is Soveraign but likewise all those Princes who acknowledg him for their Spiritual Head and Father This Empire shall become as the Blood of a dead Man so that every Soul which liveth in it shall die That is the Government of Popish Princes shall grow so intolerable that their people shall not be able to endure their Yoke As the Fish cannot live in waters which are turned into Blood. The third Vial. V. 4. And the third Angel poured out his Vial upon the Rivers and Fountains of Waters and they became Blood. V. 5. And I heard the Angel of the Waters say thou art righteous O Lord which art and wast and shalt be because thou hast judged thus V. 6. For they have shed the blood of Saints and Prophets and thou hast given them blood to drink for they are worthy The Rivers and the Fountains are beyond all peradventure the Doctrines wherewith they nourish Souls The Doctrine of the Romish Church is a Doctrine of Blood against all those whom they account Hereticks And it is very probable that the same Doctrine shall prove bloody against themselves And that their Maxims such as that Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks that men are to be compelled to go to Mass because it is written compel them to come in and that it is lawful to do evil that good may come of it together with others of that kind shall one day serve to make their members arm against and tear one another And by that means like shall be returned unto them for like The fourth Vial. V. 8. And the fourth Angel poured out his Vial upon the Sun and power was givrn unto him to shorch men with fire V. 9. And men were scorched with great heat and blasphemed the Name of God which hath power over these plagues and they repented not to give him glory This Sun is in all likelyhoood the Ottoman Emperor who is the Sun of the Eastern Empire For as the fourth Trumpet raised and established him so the fourth Vial shall shake him and pull him down The Subjects of that Empire shall be mortally afflicted but instead of being thereby converted they shall blaspheme the Name of God through not acknowledging his providence as the Supreme and righteous cause of their Judgments The fifth Vial. V. 10. And the fifth Angel poured out
the ten persecutions of which that of Diocletian was the last That of Pergamus hath a reference to the time when Antichrist sitteth in the Temple of God and when the Church of God is hardly visible through her dwelling as the Church of Pergamus did where Satan had his Throne That of Thyatira hath a great conformity to the condition of the Church when Antichrist both begun to fall and begun to raise himself again According to the Testimony given by our Saviour to that of Thyatira Thou hast not the Doctrine of Jezebel and thou hast not known the depths of Satan That of Sardis hath a resemblance to the Reformed Church degenerating and falling into corruption of manners Thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead Yet thou hast a few names which have not defiled their Garments That of Philadelphia is a protrature of that of the Church when She shall be perfectly Reformed when Sion shall be perfectly re-established when the alone Key of David shall open and shut when the voice of Iesus Christ shall be perfectly followed and that both with respect unto manners and to faith This is the State wherein the Church will be during the time of the Millennian Reign whereof we have before spoken Lastly that of Laodicea is a Mirour wherein we may behold the State of the Church towards the End of the world When zeal shall have become cold Charity scarce to be found and corruption shall abound and be universal and thereby draw upon the world that Deluge of Fire which shall give a renovation unto it These Reflections do shew us the reason why the Lord directed the seven Epistles and all the Visions of the Apocalypse of St. Iohn precisely to the Seven Churches But it is matter of surprise that Iesus Christ hath made no mention nor spoken one word of the Church of Rome nor of the Pope How comes it to pass that he forgets his Vicar and the Mother of all Churches which either have been or are to be to the end of the world How comes he to be unmindful of the Apostolick Sea of the Seat of Infallibility of the alone Fountain of all lawful Vocation and Mission and of the Centre of Religion For seeing the Lord the Son of God is not man that he should lye or the Son of man that he should repent it is the more remarkable that he should have forgot in a Book purposely writen to mark out the destiny of the Church and to distinguish her from Babylon points which according to the Roman Catholicks are fundamental and such as men cannot be ignorant of without hazarding Salvation So that now it is not possible that the Church of Rome should be what She pretends O that God the Father of Mercy and Light would remove from the hearts of men the vail of prejudices and passions that all Christians may come to see the danger of maintaining Communion with the Romish Church the necessity of Reformation and the Conformiry of the Worship which Protestants render unto God with the sacred and inviolable Rule of the Gospel FINIS A DEFENCE OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS Upon the Apocalypse of St. Iohn Concerning the EFFUSION of the VIALS In Answer to Mr. Jurieu ' s Apology for the Accomplishment of the Scripture-Prophesies Printed in the Year 1688. The PREFACE 'TWere to be wished that all who publish their Meditations upon the Revelation were found to agree in their Explication of that Divine Book as much as they do in their Exposition of the other Sacred Writings But how desirable soever this be it hath not hither to come to pass And an uniformity of Opinions about the sense of Prophesies whose Accomplishment is yet to come is no less impossible to Interpreters that are not divinely inspired than the knowledg of those future things is which they do predict So that it is not strange that Mr. Jurieu in his Accomplishment of Prophesies and the Anonymous Author in his Illustrations upon the Apocalypse do not universally accord and that in their Exposition of the 16. Chap. they are found to contradict one another Nay it would be a kind of miracle should they upon the many various subjects of the Revelations of St. John be found in all things to have the same sentiments But possibly some will be surprised that two Reformed Divines should write against one another And probably some may not only be surprised but scandaled throw their seeing two Brethren differ and throw an apprehension that the Papists may draw some advantage from their disagreement And it must be acknowledged that if mens surprise at their difference should have that effect it had been a thousand times better that both those Authors had forever concealed their thoughts than to give the least matter of scandal to their Brethren by publishing of them The design therefore of this Preface is to obviate these two difficulties and to justify not only those two Antagonists but all others who may embark in this quarrel by espousing the one side or the other As to the first difficulty I do affirm that if any are offended at the seeing two Reformed Divines write against each other in the Exposition of the 16. Chap. about the Effusion of the Vials the Offence is taken and not given And I do withal maintain that 't is lawful for every one in his Exposition of Prophesies to pursue that way which seems best unto him If in his Explication he contradict any Article of Faith necessary to Salvation I do confess that in this case all men have reason to be offended with him who shall by his Interpretations overthrow any of those Articles and they have cause to treat that Expositor as an Innovator and to disclaim his Exposition as a Heresie But which Article of Faith is subverted or so much as opposed or any ways injured by the either saying that the Vials are poured out or that they are not poured out Mr. Jurieu apply's all the Events since the tenth Century to the Vials as if they had been all this while pouring forth and the Anonymous Author of the Illustrations applieth them to the Trumpets which have sounded and not to the Vials which he believes to be still to be poured forth Now what Article of Faith is either gain-said or wronged by these two different Expositions But one may say that it will at least beget a Dispute about the Explication of a Book which all Christians ought to pay a deference unto as a Divine Book and a Dispute which being begun at such a conjuncture as that wherein we are may in all probability not have a good issue Whereas on the contrary this Dispute will stirr up the Curiosity of divers Adversaries who by coming to read these two Works will from thence learn very important Truths which they are yet ignorant of They will thereby understand that the Pope whom they worship as a Deity is the Original Picture of the Son of perdition who is