't is necessary to observe in this place that during this Period several things fall out that are co-temporary For this Period is oftentimes repeated its characters are often affixed to diverss subjects to the Woman that dies hid in the Desâ—rt to the Gentiles that are to tread down the Court to the two Witnesses that are to Prophecy clothed in sack-cloth to the Dragon to the Beast to whom it is given to exercise his power for 42 months These are not different Periods that must be fastned one to the end of the other These are different Events or the very same events presented under different ideas which must be accomplisht in the same Period For the right understanding therfore of the Chronology of the Apocalypse it is necessary to know what events things are co-temporary As thus Many things in the Apocalypse co-temporary I. The Court which is to be trodden down by the Gentiles for the space of Forty Two Months Rev. 11.2 II. The Woman to whom are given two great Wings of an Eagle to save her self in the Wilderness where she is fed 1260 dayes a time and times and half a time i. e. one year two years and half a year which make three years and a half or forty two months This is what is said Rev. 12.6 14. III. The two Witnesses that must prophesie clothed in Sackcloth for 1260 days Rey. 11.13 1260 days make just forty two months or three years and a half IV. The Beast with seven Heads and ten Horns Rey. 13.1 0. to whom Power is given to fulfil forty two months But we must observe that these 42 months are affixed only to the seventh head of the Beast which is that of Antichrist the whole entire Roman Empire is signified by that Beast with seven Heads and ten Horns The last Head is that of Antichrist which alone must last as long as the other six The Roman Empire under Kings Consuls Decemvires Tribunes of the People perpetual Dictators and Emperors lasted about 1250 years a little more or less The seventh Head of the Roman Empâ—re is Antichrist and he is to continue 1260 days 'T is evident that we must assign the duration of forty two months to the seventh Head because 't is to that we must affix the ten Horns that signifie ten Kings and 't is to Antichrist that Daniel assigns for his duration a Time Times and Half a Time. All the World acknowledges that he means Antichrist by the little Horn that grows in the midst of the ten and that subdues three of them He shall speak great words against the Most High C. 7. v. 25. and shall wear out the Saints of the Most High and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time We have already observed that this signifies one year two years and half a year This is the duration of the Kingdom of Antichrist 't is also the duration of the seventh Head of the Roman Empire and this is what they ought to take particular notice of that make a scruple to grant that these forty two months express the duration of the whole Beast with seven Heads and ten Horns V. In like manner the second Beast of the 13th chap. of the Revel that hath but Two Horns like to those of a Lamb and that spake like the Dragon is also of the same duration i. e. it must be found in the space of 42 months VI. The Whore also of the 17th chap. sitting upon the scarlet-coloured Beast reigns in this Period of forty two months 1260 days or three years and a half She sits upon the Beast i. e. on the first Beast that had seven Heads and ten Horns and lasts as long as the 7th Head. VII Lastly The 144 Thousand sealed persons that appear in the 7th chapter and are mention'd frequently afterwards are also co-temporary with the Beast and the Court trodden down by the Nations for they are no other than the two Witnesses that prophesie clothed in Sackcloth for 1260 days whilst the outward Court is trodden under foot by the Gentiles they are no other than the Woman that remains in the Wilderness and is nourished there for a time and times and half a time while the red Dragon makes war with the saints The seventh seal contains under it the seven Trumpets For the understanding this Chronology of the Apocalypse it must also be known that the seventh Seal which is open'd in the beginning of the 8th Ch. contains under it the seven Trumpets that the seven Trumpets reach to the end of the second Period which is the Empire of Antichrist even to the reign of Christ inclusively That is to say to the very end of the World. For at the sounding of the last Trumpet C. 11.15 there were great voices in Heaven saying the Kingdomes of the World are become the Kingdomes of our Lord of his Christ he shall reign for ever and ever And the seven Trumpets begin about the time of the fall of the Roman Empire under the Christian Emperors C. 8.7 Upon the sounding of the First Trumpet there followed hail fire mingled with blood they were cast upon the Earth the third part of the Trees were burnt up These are plainly the numberless Northern Armies of the Vandals Goths Hunn's who in the reign of Honorius begun to make dreadfull havock throughout the whole extent of the Roman Empire which is here meant by the Third part because the Roman Empire in truth did contain very near a third part of the World. And so the duration of the six Trumpets even to the seventh exclusively is also very near co-temporary with the 42 Months of the reign of the Beast the Court trodden under foot by the Gentiles The seven Vialls are contained under the sixth Trumpet It must also be observed that the seven Vialls of the wrath of God are co-temporary with the sixth Trumpet do divide it even to the sounding of the seventh The duration of the Kingdom of Antichrist which is 1260 Years is divided into two other Periods The first is that of the birth growth progress of the Babylonish Empire to its perfection And this Period reacheth to the tenth Century i. e. it lasts between 5 and 600 Years The second Period is from the tenth Century to the end of Antichrist's reign Now the seven Vials of the 16th Chap. of the Revelation are the steps by which this Babylonish Empire passes to come to her ruin So these seven Vials are not co-temporary neither with the seven Seals nor with the seven Trumpets as some have imagin'd They are co-temporary only with the sixth the effect of which begins about the tenth Century The Chronology of the third general Period of the Church which is that of the 1000 Years hath no difficulty in it that needs a resolution We need only to observe that these
that Empire to the judgement that God causes to fall on the Kingdom of Antichrist to the harvest and to the vintage i. e. to the total destruction of the Devils Kingdom The following Chapters carry on the matter also to the reign of Jesus Christ the description of which begins in the 20th Chap. of the book There is nothing comes between whereby it is clear there is no interval of time nor any Monarchy between the Roman Empire and the Monarchy of J. Christ and so that the Antichristian Empire that must immediatly procede the reign of Jesus Christ is the continuation of the Roman Empire The same thing is evident from the 17th Chap. which is an explication of the visions of the 13th The 13th Chap. speaks of two Beasts the one had seven heads and ten horns the other hath but one head and two horns The 17th Chapt. speaks no more of the second Beast It speaks only of a woman riding on a Beast of seven heads and ten horns 'T is because the second Beast at the bottom was no more than a continuation of the first i. e. it was no more than the continuation of the Roman Empire Therefore the Holy Spirit in explaining the adventures of the first Beast pretends to explain those of the second also For otherwise if the two Beasts had been different 't is plain the H. Spirit would not have been wanting to have spoken of the one as well as of the other in the 17th Chap. where he explains the visions of the Beasis Now this Beast with seven heads and ten horns i. e. the Roman Empire must reach to the end of the persecutions and to the reign of J. Christ This appears plainly in the 18th and the following Chapters where the ruin of Antichrist is represented and described at large If these proofs did not suffice to prove that the Empire of Antichrist must be a continuation of the Roman Empire one might bring others from the comparison of the two Beasts of the 13th Ch. For 't is clear that 't is one and the same Empire represented by two Beasts And the thing is so plain that the Popish Authors themselves do acknowledg it We have heard Bellarmin confess it and say that Antichrist must be a King possessing the Roman Empire but without the name of the Roman Emperour He that did possess in the time of St. Paul and was to be removed out of the way before Antichrist came is the sixth head of the Beast with ten Horns and seven heads If this be so what must we understand by those words of St. Paul only he that now letteth or possesseth will let or possess till he be taken out of the way and then shall that wicked one be revealed It doth not import till the Roman Empire be abolisht as the Ancients did believe and as the Agents of Antichrist at this day would fain perswade us We must remember that in the Beast in the Revelation with seven Heads and ten Horns the seven Heads are seven forms of Governments under which the Roman Empire hath past 1. Kings 2. Consuls 3. Decemvires 4. The Tribunes of the People 5. Perpetual Dictators 6. Emperours 7. and lastly Popes Every one of these Heads and these Governments hath had its time one hath passed away and another hath come in its place In the time of St. Paul the Head of the Emperours was in possession And 't is of that we must understand those words of his Prophecy only he which now with-holdeth or possesseth i.e. the Head of the Emperors shall cease at Rome and then the Antichristian Kingdom shall be revealed and quickly form the seventh Head which shall be that of the Popes calling themselves the Vicars of J. Christ but being indeed the true Antichrists And thus you have what I thought necessary to be added for the explication of that Prophecy of St. Paul contained in the 2d. Ep. to the Thessalonians CHAP. XV. An explication of the Visions of the thirteenth Chapter of the Revelation and of the two Beasts that appear therin WE come now to the description of the Antichristian Empire according as we find it in the Revelation a book particularly designed to describe it to us 'T is found above all in the 13th Chapter Two Beasts are seen in this Chapter We shall immediately examin both the one and the other following the Text word for word V. 1. And I saw a Beast rise out of the sea having seven Heads and ten Horns and upon his Horns ten crowns and upon his Heads the name of Blasphemy 2. And the beast which I saw was like unto a Leopard and his feet were as the feet of a Bear and his mouth as the mouth of a Lion and the Dragon gave him his power and his seat and great authority There is no need that I should observe here that in the style of the Prophets a Beast signifies an Empire A beast signifies a worldly Empire enemy of God. All the world knows it and confesses it It must only be noted that a Beast signifies an Empire that is worldly terrestrial and an enemy to God. The Kingdom of God and of Jesus Christ that must be given to the Saints after the fourth Monarchy is never represented under the image of a Beast The Beast that appears here is the fourth Monarchy which we have seen described in the text of the seventh Chapter of Daniel The Prophet had said that it was diverse from all the other Beasts And Saint John in the explication of it saith that it was composed of the shape of a Lion a Leopard and a Bear wheras the fore-going Beasts had but one simple shape The First was as a Lion with the wings of an Eagle The second was as a Bear and the third as a Leopard But this fourth Monarchy hath all the strength and all the advantages of the tree others together 'T is couragious and strong as a Lion. It had the swiftness of a Leopard in its conquests It hath the firmness of a Bear whose large feet make a firm basis for its whole body The Holy Spirit lays before the Prophets eyes this Roman Monarchy whole and entire Why the fourth Monarchy appears entire in the Revelation about a third part of it was already past because this Monarchy was to be the subject on which all the great events were to turn And to know and object well it must not be shewn by pieces but all entire So that 't is reasonable the Prophet should see this Beast or this Monarchy in its whole extent He riseth out of the Sea. This is not what was said in the eleventh Chapter he riseth out of the bottomless pit The bottomless pit and the sea are not the same thing The bottomless pit is Hell. Here the sea signifies a great number of people The Roma Monarchy rose from the midst of the people as a monster that should rise out of the sea 'T is because it
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
throughout the whole 18. Chap. The frequent repetition of the same thing is to note the certainty of it The three following Chapters viz. the 20 21 and 22. contain the History of the third last general Period of the duration of Christianity It is the reign of J. Christ upon Earth The matters contained in the 20 Chapter are so remarkable that they deserve a particular attention But seeing that hereafter we shall have occasion carefully to examin them it is not necessary to stay about them at present So much suffices for a general Idea both of the Chronology of the History of the twelve last Chapters of the Revelation which contain the destinies of the Church CHAP. XI Several things that all are agreed on in reference to Antichrist which will serve to clear up those wherin we are not agreed WE seek First the Character of the Babylonish Empire 2dly the time of its duration 3dly Its Establishment end 4thly What must happen after its ruin The two first points respect what is past or present shall be the subject of the first part of this work About the first of these four things there is no controversy among the Orthodox But there is a great dispute about it between the Papists the true Church However we have one great advantage for the determining this controversy viz. there are some certain principles in which both sides do agree In controversies where men are agreed in nothing but where every thing must be proved it is very hard to determin any thing But where men are agreed in many things ordinarily those things which they are agreed in serve for the clearing up of those things wherin they are not agreed I think it best therfore before we enter upon the Characters of the Babylonish Empire to consider those things wherin the Papists as to this matter do agree with the true Catholicks All agree that the little horn in the 7th of Dan. is Antichrist 1st We are agreed about almost ll the places whence we are to draw the pourtraiture of Antichrist and his Empire 'T is confessed that the Little horn in the 7th Chap. of Daniel is Antichrist that 't is of him that the Prophet speaks I considered the horns Dan. 7.8 and behold there came up among them another little horn before whom three of the first horns were pluckt up by the roots and behold in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking great things v. 24 25. The ten Horns out of this Kingdom are ten Kings that shall arise and another shall rise after them and he shall be diverse from the first and he shall subdue three Kings And he shall speak great words against the most High and shall wear out the saints of the most high and think to change times and laws they shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time We are agreed that the First Beast in the 13th of the Revel is the same with the fourth Beast in the 7th Chapt. of Daniel The two Beasts of Rev. 13. are Antichrist and that both the one and the other signify the Roman Empire 'T is acknowledged that the ten Kings that must be born of this Beast which are represented by the ten Horns of the fourth Beast in Daniel and of the first Beast in the 13th of the Revelation are the ten Kings which in the time of Antichrist are to divide the Roman Empire among them and give their power to Antichrist 'T is confest that the little Horn i.e. Antichrist must be grafted on the Roman Empire enter into its place and the last that shall possess the Roman Empire Antichrist saith Bellarmin Bellarm. part 1. c. 3. sect 15. Respondeo priorem c. shall be the last head of the wicked and the last King that shall possess the Roman Empire but yet without the name of a Roman Emperour The same Author in the very same place confesses that the head of the first Beast which received the deadly wound in the 13th Ch. of the Revelation is Antichrist This miracle of a feigned Resurrection saith he must be attributed to Antichrist in the opinion of Primasius Beda and Haymo and many others whom he names We are agreed that the two Beasts of the 13th of the Revelation do both of them signify the Antichristian Empire Bellarm. ubi Supra According to the opinion of Rupert The second Beast in the Revelation signifies the very same Antichrist For Antichrist is represented by two Beasts by the one his royal power and tyranny by which he will offer violence to men is represented And by the other his magical power and crafty tricks by which he will seduce them But according to Richard and Anselm and many others the second beast signifies the Preachers of Antichrist Thus it agrees to the Babylonish Empire to be the seventh head of the Roman Empire however without bearing the name of a Roman Emperour to be a head wounded unto death and raised up again to have ten Horns on its Head ten Kings for its subjects to have a false Prophet with two Horns like those of a Lamb which causes the image of the Beast to be worshipped whose name contains the Number 666 and who makes all those that he causeth to submit to hi Empire to bear his mark in their foreheads We are agreed that a time times and half a time the 42 Months the 1260. days do denote the time of the duration of the Antichristian Empire and that all that while the Church must be afflicted beaten down obscured as it were hidden swallowed up by persecution 'T is acknowledged that the great Whore in the 17th of the Revel and the city with seven Mountains is Rome Some would have it be Rome Pagan The Papists are forced to confess that Babylon in the Revel is Rome but others shewing either more knowledg or more sincerity do confess that Rome in the 14th and the 17th Ch. of the Revelation is not Rome Pagan but of Christian become Antichristian Estius and some others go a little further and are forced to acknowledg that Rome must be the seat of Antichrist Others as Ribera Viega Cornelius a Lapide retaining the common hypothesis among the Papists viz. that Jerusalem must be the seat of Antichrist are however forced to confess that Babylon in the Revelation is the city of Rome wherat the end of the times an Idolatrous Empire persecutor of the Church and Enemy of God must arise who say they shall join himself to the Empire of Antichrist when he shall be come Cornelius a Lapide confesses that the Waters on which the great Whore sits signify all the Nations and people which Rome shall command over who shall agree together in their subjection and in the vanity and idolatry of Rome as their lady and the mistress of the universe i.e. Rome become Idolatrous after having been
was establisht with a terrible havock such as a hideous monster that should rise out of the sea and of an enormous greatness would cause making the waves to foam blowing the water with his nostrills and sending out terrible bellowings 'T is the emblem of the manner wherby the Roman Empire was establisht This Beast hath seven Heads The Spirit explains this of so many Kings and so many mountains The seven heads are seven Kings and seven Mountains See here the Character of Rome together with its Empire It sits on seven Heads that is to say on seven Mountains and it had seven Kings that is to say seven forms of Soveraign Governments We have already reckon'd them up in the foregoing Chapter 1. Kings 2. Consuls 3. Decemvires 4. Tribunes of the people 5. Perpetual Dictators 6. Emperours 7. Popes He hath ten Horns The Prophet doth not say how these Horns were distributed on the Heads But however it is certain The ten Horns are only on the seventh head that they were all on the seventh Head that is to say on the Head of the Popes For 't is under the Papal Dominion that the Roman Empire is divided among ten Horns that is to say among ten Kings Europe that obeyeth the Pope is divided into ten Principal Kingdoms 1. Germany 2. Hungary 3. Poland 4. Suedeland 5. France 6. Spain 7. Italy 8. England 9. Portugal 10. Scotland The other Kingdomes and States were dependencies on these From the first division of the Roman Empire that happened in the fifth Age the partition was made among ten Kings also as we shall observe afterwards Horns always signify power in the Scripture this is known So that these ten Horns must be powers But no signify that these Powers are Soveraign ones and not subordinate the Spirit gives them Diadems They are Soveraigns in name but in truth they are dependents on the seventh head which is the Pope and the Papism For the Papism subjects all Kings to the Pope On the heads there is a name of blasphemy This is not on one of the heads but on all of them And the name of blasphemy is that of the Queen of the universe which she vvould always bear since she attained to her greatness Terrarum Dea Gentiumque Roma 'T is the title of Rome eternal as Saint Ierome hath observed Ad Algas quaeft 11. The Roman Emperours made themselves be called your Divinity They built Temples to them they burnt incense to their Genius they sacrificed to them The seventh head hath also its names of blasphemy The Pope is called his Holiness Vice-God God on Earth Vicar of Jesus Christ Rome under his Dominion is called infallible Rome eternal Rome The Dragon give him his power 'T is the Devil which gives to the Roman Empire the false Religion the idolatries and heresies by which it makes war against God the ambition the cruelty and the covetousness by which it makes war against men And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death 1.3 and his deadly wound was healed and all the world wondered after the Beast The Prophet doth not say what head was wounded but it can't be doubted but that it was the last save one For that which comes in the place of that which is wounded lasts to the end Therefore the head wounded to death must be the sixth and the resurrection of this head must make the seventh head or the seventh Government The sixth head is that of the Emperours 'T is wounded by the Goths and the Vandals The Roman Empire is destroyed But it rises again under another head and a new kind of government viz. that of the Popes De Donat Constant In the power of the Papacy is brought forth again if not the grandure of the ancient Empire yet at least a form of government that is not very much different from that by which all the nations once obeyed the Emperours 'T is the confession of Steuchus Bishop of Agobio All the World wondered after the beast The Earth being astonisht to see the Roman Empire establisht under the new name of the Roman Church follows this new Beast submits to this Church being ravisht with this dignity that appeared to list up Christianity to the height of grandeur it submitted to this Chimoera of the spiritual and temporal Principality of the Church of Rome And there was given to him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies After this v. 5â— 't is only the seventh head that is treated of which is called the Beast simply because 't is the longest duration of the fourth Monarchy 'T is therefore this seventh head the Pope and the Papism that brings forth these great things Can there be any thing greater than that which the Roman Church saith of it self that she is the Spouse of Christ the Queen of all the Churches the infallible Judge of all controversies the Ark out of which there is no salvation the Divinity to which all nations must pay homage the common mother of all Christians the Soveraign of the Kings of the Earth that can depose them transfer their Crowns and give them to whom she thinks fit see the great things and these great things are blasphemies This is clear For to attribute that to her self which belongs only to God is to blaspheme And power was given to him to continue forty and two months 'T is still the seventh head that is treated of 'T is to it that the period of forty and two months of twelve hundred and sixty days that is to say of twelve hundred and sixty years is assigned 'T is clear that these forty two months do not respect the entire Beast that is to say the seven heads or the seven Governments for after the third verse 't is only the seventh head that is spoken of Moreover the seventh Monarchy in its whole extent hath lasted almost twice forty two prophetical months as we have before observed 'T is therefore the duration of the Antichristian Empire or of the second period of the fourth Monarchy that must be extended to 1260. years He opened his mouth in blasphemy against God. â— 6. 'T is to blaspheme God to attribute to it self his power as the Roman Church doth against his name that is to say against his glory The Papism ravishes away the glory from God to give it to the creatures Against his Tabernacle that is to say against his Temple and his Church in calling the true Children of God which are his house heretiques and schismaticks Against them that dwell in Heaven These are the Saints and Angels of whom the Papism makes idols and whom by consequence it greatly injureth And it was given to him to make war with the Saints v. 7. and to overcome them 'T is well enough known how the Papism hath employed Anathemaes thunders fire and sword to extinguish the truth and to destroy the faithful And I beheld another beast coming out of
of the City of Rome which was 25 thousand furlongs wheras the Jerusalem of St. John hath but 12 thousand furlongs VIII In the number of the fruits of the Tree of Life which are the Articles of faith because the just shall live by faith The fruits in the Ierusalem of St. Iohn are but 12. The Articles of the Christian faith are but 12 also but the Articles of the Popish faith are 25 in number He finds moreover The number of 25 is found in the dependencies of the Papism that the number 25 bears sway in all the dependances of the Empire of the Papism that in the greatest part of the Estates of the Papism they reckon 25 Provinces or principal dignities That upon the great Altar of St. Peter at Rome there is a golden Cross of 25 hands breadth Before the Church there are five Gates and one of them is not open'd but every 25 years In St. Mary Major there are 25 Altars The great Altar of the Church of St. Peters is 25 foot square one every side Besides all this the Popish Altar are marked with 25 Marks in honour of the 5 wounds of I. Christ 5 times redoubled The same number is consecrated in the Mass for the same reason because of the 5. wounds of our saviour He makes divers observations of this nature on the Number 25 bearing sway in all the Papism even in the Council of Trent which began by 25 Bishops had 25 Sessions was subscribed by 25 Arch-Bishops and made 25 Articles of faith And above all he observes that the Number 25 with its square root 5 25 a cursed number of an ill omen were considered by the Heathen as numbers of an ill omen See saith he the reason why the Number 666 represents the whole Antichristian Empire 't is because it hath for its square root the number 25 which is the prevailing number in the Papal Hierarchy Wherers the number 144. that signifies the Church hath for its square root the number 12 which is the sacred number of the Patriarchs and Apostles As for the remainder of 41 which is added to the number 625 arising from 25. multiplied by it self he gives many ingenious reasons for it and which do deserve to be consulted on the place Why God adds a remainder of 41 to 625. to make up 666. Ioseph Mede who is a great Master in these sorts of things gives a very authentique approbation of this discovery And it cannot be denied but that it is very ingenious But I confess I find it a little profound However I would not deny that it is the intention of the Holy Spirit And it may be this is the meaning of the Prophecy Here is wisdom let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast For understanding may signify the wisdom of this World i. e. Arithmetique which makes a part of humane sciences to signify that to penetrate into this mystery of the number 666. we must use the rules of Arithmetique and seek for the square root of this number 666. Besides though one should admit all the observations of Potter as solid this would not destroy the common hypothesis which is that the number 666. alludes to the names of Lateinos and Romiyth in which this number is so precisely found For the product of 25. multiplied by it self makes but 625. Why did the Holy Spirit add a remainder of 41 why did he not leave the round account of 625 the product of the square root 25 or why resolving to add a remainder did he not add 20 to make it 645 or 30 to make it 655 but adds precisely a remainder of 41 to make it 666 I am perswaded it was to make up the sum contained in the names Lateinos and Romiyth So that it is still true that the number 666 refers immediately to the name of the Antichristian Empire But I will not deny but that besides this there are other mysteries in it and those of Potter are very well contrived and very probable To strengthen them Two considerations to strengthen the opinion of Potter these two considerations may be added First That the number 12. signifying very naturally the whole Gospel ministry because of the twelve Apostles who are the first Ministers of the Gospel the number 144. must also naturally signify the body of the whole Church because as the number 144. is produced by the multiplication of 12 in like manner the body of the Church is formed by the multiplication which is produced by the Gospel ministry of which the twelve Apostles are the founders On the other hand as the number 666 is produced by the multiplication of 25 so the Empire of the Papism and of the Beast is produced by the multiplication caused by his false ministry and by his false Pastors who originally were 25. Seoond The other consideration is that the Holy Spirit signifies the Gospel ministry by 12 and the body of the Gospel Church by 144. And on the contrary the body of the Empire of the Papism by 666. to teach us the proportion that is between the false Church and the true 144 is but the fifth part of 666. The true Church in the time of the oppression and reign of Antichrist is almost nothing in comparison of the false Church CHAP. XVI The Explication of the seventeenth Chapter of the Revelation where the Empire of the Papism is plainly described IN pursuing the picture of Antichrist according to the Prophecies to shew that that Empire is found in the Papism we enter on the 17th Chap. of the Revelation which contains an explication of the 13th Chapter 'T is the same thing under less obscure aenigma's In the 13th Chapter we have seen two Beasts Here only one of them is seen but by way of amends for that here is a woman seen sitting on the beast So that here are two persons So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness v. 3. and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-coloured beast full of names of blasphemy having seven heads and ten horns See here the first Beast of the 13th Chapter i. e. the Roman Empire The Beast is of a scarlet colour It was the colour of the Roman Empire Its Emperours its Senators and its Grandees were clothed with purple all the World knows that In the following Chapter it shall be proved that these two Beasts this here and that of the thirteenth Chapter are one and the same Beast On this Beast sits a woman See here a thing that speaks and that loudly A woman who doth not see that this signifies a Church Did any ever see in the Prophets an Empire as an Empire represented under the image of a woman Is not this the Emblem which the Holy Spirit useth every where to represent either the true Church the Spouse of Jesus Christ or the false Church that is become unfaithful to her Spouse A woman sitting on a Beast This is
into perdition See here an eighth King that belongs to the Roman Empire And this eighth King is of the seven he is of the number of the seven Governments It must necessarily be that this eighth King must come from hence that one of the seven is divided into two And 't is the Head of the Roman Emperours divided into two For the Roman Emperours are either Pagans or Christians The conversion of the Emperours made so great a change that the Christian Emperours deserved to be reckon'd for an eighth head However because they last but a short space and because in respect of their Temporal they were perfectly like the fore-going Emperours the Holy Spirit ranks them under the seventh head And when he cometh he must continue a short space That is to say when the second part of the Head of the Emperours shall become viz. the Christian Emperours it shall not continue long Indeed the Christian Emperours did not possess the Empire but from the conversion of Constantine to Valentinian the third about 130 or 135. years Besides the transposition of the words which I have supposed doth not make any difficulty here for if I made a commentary I could easily bring examples much more harsh in the writings only of the N. Testament And the ten Horns which thou sawest v. 12. are ten Kings which have received no Kingdom as yet but receive power as Kings one hour with the Beast These are the ten Kings or the ten Kingdoms into which the Roman Empire was rent when the Imperial power was destroyed in the West And the same time that the ten Kings were made the Beast that is to say the second Beast of the 13th Chapter the Beast with two Horns the Roman Church began to form its Empire This is one of the most remarkable places of the Prophecies to find the point of the birth of the Antichristian Empire Therfore it deserves a larger reflection which shall be found afterwards in its proper place v. 13. These have one mind and shall give their power and strength unto the Beast These ten Kings or these ten Kingdoms shall voluntarily submit themselves to the yoke of the Roman Church For she shall not obtain her dominion by the way of Conquest but by the way of illusion of seduction and perswasion She shall perswade the Kings of the Earth to give her their power In truth this did so happen The Princes doating on this Idol of St. Peter's Chair the Apostolical See raised this throne so high that it was like afterwards to have swallowed them up These shall make war with the Lamb and the Lamb shall overcome them v. 14. They shall lend their arms and their power to the Roman Church to smother the truth But the truth of Jesus Christ shall surmount them shall enlighten them and get such a victory over them as shall be happy for those that are overcome England Sweden Denmark and many other States have been already overcome in this manner And he saith unto me v. 15. the waters which thou sawest where the whore sitteth are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues This Woman this corrupted Church shall have the multitude for her she shall ascribe great honour to her self from thence and make use of that as an argument that she is the true Spouse of Jesus Christ And the ten Horns which thou sawst upon the Beast these shall hate the whore v. 16. and make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire c. We shall have occasion afterwards more than once to reflect on these words Therfore we shall say nothing of them at present The woman which thou sawest is that great City v. 1◠which reigneth over the Kings of the Earth The great City is not precisely the City of Rome 't is the Roman Church that hath its seat at Rome on the seven Mountains This is an important truth that the great City in the Revelation signifies not Rome precisely but Rome conjunctly with its Ecclesiastical Empire It should be proved but we must reserve the proofs for another place where it will be very material for us to fix this what the City signifies CHAP. XVII Babylon in the 17th and 18th Chapters of the Revelation is Rome Antichristian and Papal and not Rome Pagan THe 17th Chapter is one of those wherin the description of the Antichristian Empire is certainly contained We have applied it to the See of Rome with the same success as we have done the foregoing Prophecies But we have some considerations to add to prove that that City spoken of in that Chapter is Rome together with its Empire of Christian become Antichristian That Rome Christian and not Pagan is Spiritual Babylon the seat of Antichrist 'T is a place where the Papists find themselves reduced to mighty straits They have confessed that the 11th and 13th Chap. of the Revelation spoke concerning Antichrist But because in the 11th Chap. the seat of Antichrist is called the City where I. Christ was crucified they will not acknowledg it to be Rome And because in the 13th Chap. Rome is not named they will by no means have it to be found there But in this 17th Chap. they are forced to see Rome in the city on seven Mountains and in that great city that reigned over the kings of the Earth This brings them to the last extremity and we need but see what they say on this point to convince them that their Holy Roman See is the seat of the Antichristian Empire 1st They say that Rome in this 17th Chap. is Rome Pagan and not Rome Christian Bellarm. l. 3. de Pontif Rom. c. 13. The falsness of this supposition is evident First it is clear that the Beast which carries the woman The first Beast of the 13th Ch. and that of the 17th are the same is the same with that Beast that ariseth out of the Sea in the 13th Ch. This had seven heads and ten horns and upon his horns ten Crowns and upon his heads the name of blasphemy The Beast in the 17th Ch. is described after the same manner The Woman sate upon a scarlet-coloured Beast full of names of blasphemy having seven heads and ten Horns Secondly the Beast of the 13th Ch. ariseth out of the Sea. C. 13.1 C. 17.3 And I saw à Beast rise up out of the Sea. That of the 17th Ch. ascends out of the bottomless pit or the deep Chap. 17.8 The Beast that thou sawest was and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit or the deep Now the deep and the sea in the visions are the same thing Thirdly Chap. 13.3 'T is said of the first Beast that all the World wonders after the Beast That all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him v. 8. whose names are not written in the book of Life 'T is said also of that in the
seventeenth Chap. 17.8 That they that dwell on the earth shall wonder whose names are not written in the book of Life when they behold the beast that was and is not and yet is Fourthly The Beast in the 13th Chap. makes war with the Saints Chap. 13.7 and 't is given to him to overcome them That in the 17th Chap. carries a Woman Chap. 17. â— that makes her self drunk with the blood of the Saints Fifthly The Beast of the 13th Chap. receives a deadly wound in one of his heads which dies and rises again The Beast in the 17th Chap. was and is not Chap 7.7 8. and must ascend out of the bottomless pit or the deep was and is not and yet is Who doth not see that the latter is an explication of the former The Beast was and is not because his head hath been mortally wounded He is however and must ascend out of the bottomless pit because his deadly wound shall be healed and the Beast shall rise again Sixthly The Beast in the 13th Ch. hath ten horns which signify ten Kings That in the seventeenth hath likewise ten Horns and the ten Horns which thou sawest are ten Kings Why there is not a Woman sitting on the Beast of the 13th Chap. as there is on that of the 17th These so exact and perfect resemblances plainly shew that these two Beasts are one But why is there a Woman seen sitting on the second Beast and none upon the first we have already hinted the reason In the thirteenth Chap. there are two Beasts which by the confession of all Interpreters even the popish ones themselves signify one and the same thing only the Beast with the seven heads signifies the Empire and the Beast with two horns like those of a Lamb signifies the Religion And these two Beasts together signify the Roman Empire raised up under the name of the Church and under the outside of Religion In the 17th Chap. the second Beast which signifies the Religion doth not appear but in the place thereof appears a Woman riding upon the Beast to signify the Religion And this for the greater clearness because the seventeenth Chap. is an explication of the visions of the thirteenth For the greater clearness I say for the corrupted Church is much more clearly signified by a Woman than by a Beast In all the Scripture the Church is always represented to us as a Spouse and a Woman and the corrupt and idolatrous Church as a debauch'd Woman and an Adulteress This is too well known to need any proof Behold therefore this corrupted Woman this adulterous Spouse of J. Christ And the H. Spirit could not have described her in a more lively manner and more proper for us to know her This being supposed that the Beast in the thirteenth Chap. of the Revelations is the same with that in the seventeenth the later cannot be Rome Pagan because by the consent even of all the popish Interpreters the two Beasts in the thirteenth Chap. represent the Empire of Antichrist On this confession and upon what we have just now proved we argue thus The Woman in the seventeenth Chapter by the consent of the popish Interpreters is Rome And by the consent of the same Interpreters the Beast in the thirteenth Chap. is Antichrist Now according to what we have just now proved the Beast of the seventeenth Chapter and the thirteenth are one and the same Beast Whence it is clear that Rome must be the seat of Antichrist and that Rome in the seventeenth Chapt. is not Rome Pagan That Rome in the seventeenth Chapter is not Rome Pagan appears not only by the comparison Rome in the 17th Chap. is not Rome Pagan which we just before made of the two Beasts but also if we consider the Beast of the 17th Chap. all alone and without reference to that in the 13th Chapter God never calls the Pagan Societies VVhores and Adulteresses I. First of all there is a prostitute adulterous and debauch'd Woman sitting upon this Beast Every one knows that in the Holy Scriptures Adultery figuratively signifies Idolatry Now we shall never find any one single instance where the Holy Spirit calls the Pagan Societies Women and Spouses Whores and Adulteresses This name is given only to a corrupted Church And the reason is plain because the Pagan Societies having never plighted their faith to God have not broken it and never were his Spouse they are not therefore unfaithful and adulterous in his account So that this adulterous Woman cannot here be Rome Pagan but that Rome that hath plighted her faith to Jesus Christ and broken it that Rome that styles her self the Spouse of Jesus and yet doth prostitute her self to others Secondly This Women is represented to us as having in her hand a Cup of abominations of her whoredoms of which she makes all the World to drink i. e. she endeavours to draw all the Nations of the Earth to her Idolatry Now Rome Pagan never troubled her head to change the Religion of those people she had conquer'd nor to force them to worship the same Gods as she did On the contrary every one knows she carried strange Gods in Triumph and built Temples for them within her own walls Thirdly These words the Beast which thou sawest was and is not and must ascend out of the bottomless pit or the deep can by no means agree to Rome Pagan For this plainly signifies that the Empire spoken of must perish and be swallowed up and afterwards be re-established Now Rome Pagan and its Empire have been swallowed up but as Rome Pagan it is not raised up again Besides we may observe by the by that we do not deny but that Rome Pagan is represented by this Beast for the Beast represents the Roman Empire in its whole duration and in both its periods the Pagan period and the Antichristian period The Beast which thou sawest was and is not there is the Pagan Period and must ascend out of the bottomless pit or the deep there is the Antichristian period Fourthly It is said of this Beast And the Inhabitants of the earth whose names are not written in the book of Life shall wonder seeing the beast which was and is not and yet is This signifies that men shall give him homage and that this homage shall be given to him only by the enemies of Jesus Christ and the Reprobates It is not therefore Rome Pagan for the true Christians obeyed and gave a voluntary homage to the Roman Empire in its Pagan period just as the other subjects of the Empire But since it was raised up again and is no longer what it once was they have no longer obeyed it Fifthly That which is said of the ten Kings can by no means agree to Rome in its Pagan Period The ten Horns which thou sawest are ten Kings which have not yet begun to reign but shall receive power as Kings one hour with the Beast v. 12.
see what they say viz. that that Rome that now is towards the end of the World shall be corrupted become idolatrous debauched that she shall shake off the yoke of Jesus Christ and carry her disorders as far as Rome Pagan But yet however that it must not be the seat of Antichrist who must be accompanied with his ten Kings have his habitation at Jerusalem and come to Rome when it is turn'd Idolatrous and Pagan to destroy and ruin it as he will also do See the words of Viega on the eighteenth of the Revelation One may plainly gather from the infinite number of precious merchandises and of all sorts that are here noted that Rome in the last times after her Apostacy shall attain to soveraign power and great riches and that her Empire shall extend it self throughout the World upon the ten Kings so often named For that these mighty riches do not belong to Rome Pagan it is clear by these words Come forth of Babylon my people For this shews that 't is not ancient Rome that is here spoken of in which there were no faithfull ones but that Rome that shall flourish in the last times Then therefore the City of Rome shall greatly flourish and its Empire shall be very large She shall live in pleasures and have great abundance of all things And at the same time she shall be enslaved to Idolatry be full of Superstitions sacrifice to Doemons and false Deities And by reason of the vast quantity of the blood of the Saints that shall be shed by her under the Emperours of Rome by a terrible but a very righteous judgement of God she shall at last be made desolate and burnt by ten Kings See what the force and evidence of the truth hath drawn from the mouth of the worshippers of Rome What prodigious whimsies are these To what extremity must these men have been reduced The Scripture speaks of but one Antichristian Empire The Church never imagin'd there was more than one and lo here are men that make a couple The first shall be in Rome corrupted for according to them Rome in the last days must have a great Empire must subdue Kingdoms and draw them together with her self into a revolt from Jesus Christ Lo therefore there 's one Antichristian Empire at Rome what need have we of another Antichrist sitting at Jerusalem Moreover this Chimaera is founded on this principle that the Beast in the 13th Chapt. which according to them represents Antichrist is not the same with the Beast in the 17th Chap. with the great City that ruleth over the Kings of the Earth and with Babylon spoken of in the 14th and the 18th Chapt. Now we have confuted this ridiculous imagination and have demonstrated that Babylon the great City the Beast of the 13th and the 18th Chapter are the same thing This Chimaera is so ill to be defended that the more modern Papists have abandon'd it and at last have been forced to acknowledge that Rome must be the seat of Antichrist that the great City spoken of in the 11th Chapter where Jesus Christ was crucified is not Jerusalem but spiritual Babylon spoken of afterwards and Bernard de Montreuil that hath write since the rest though he retains that ancient dream that Antichrist must come out of Jerusalem yet he confesses however that the Babylonish Empire and the Antichristian are not two Empires that must succeed one another and the one destroy the other according to the supposition of those we were just now speaking of He confesseth that Rome shall be the chief City of Antichrist's party that Antichrist must defend it and that the ten Kings of the Beast are the subjects of its grandeure and that of Antichrist the head of the League the Monarch of the time He calls Antichrist the Prince of the Apocalyptical Babylon And he confesseth that this Babylon is Rome therefore he acknowledgeth that Rome must be Antichristian and the capital City of Antichrist Babylon saith he is the Mistress the Queen the Empress of the kingdom of Antichrist Not daring to call Rome Babylon On the 24. Chapt. he defines it however by Western Babylon who being perverted instead of obeying the Laws of the piety of the first age shall in her pride cause her self to be called the great and the independant and shall become much worse under the reign of Antichrist than ever Eastern Babylon was After these confessions there remains no other help for the popish Doctors to hinder their Rome from being acknowledged to be Rome Antichristian but the Chimaera of the three years and a half 's duration of Antichrists kingdom It is true say they that Rome must be possessed by Antichrist that he must establish Idolatry there that Rome must become worse than Rome Pagan was in the time of St. John and than Eastern Babylon in the time of the Prophets but this must last but three years and a half When therefore we have destroyed this ridiculous dream of three natural years and a half we shall have demonstrated that Rome at this day is the true Seat of Antichrist and then I shall make them this Argument Babylon in the Revelation is the seat of the Antichristian Empire the same thing with the prostitute Woman with the Beast with seven heads and ten horns All this is Rome become Antichristian and the seat of Antichrist Which is plain either by what hath been invincibly proved or what the Papists themselves have confessed Now this Antichristian Roman Empire must endure not 1260. natural days but 1260. prophetical days i. e. 1260. years Therefore it is evident that the Antichristian Empire which must be at Rome cannot be that chimerical Empire of Antichrist of three years and a half that must conclude 45. days before the end of the World and that 't is that of Rome which hath endured so long already The consequence is plain because all do acknowledge the World must not and cannot according to the decrees of God endure yet twelve or thirteen hundred years to make room for the reign of Antichrist and a thousand years more at the end of that to make room for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ the truth and certainty of which we shall prove So that if the reign of Antichrist must endure 1260. years it is necessary that it subsist at this present time and that it hath begun a long time since This is I say a demonstration which I have in readiness for these Gentlemen when I shall have proved the only thing in this argument that can be called in question viz. that the 1260. days of Antichrist cannot be understood of so many natural days I would prove this truth presently were it not that it regards the time of the duration of the Antichristian Empire of which we shall have occasion afterwards to speak Wherefore now we shall continue to give you the explication of the Prophecies that contain the Character of this Antichristian Empire CHAP. XVIII
usurpation is joined with Idolatry seeing they make an Idol of the Pope I say there is in Antichristianism an Empire and a Religion The Empire is Diabolical Tyrannical Antichristian and may well be called and Empire of Devils as having them for its Authors And 't is in this respect of an Empire and a Tyranny that St. Paul principally considers Antichristianism in the second Chapter of the second Epistle to the Thessalonians For there he represents the head of this Empire as a Tyrant that sits himself down on the Throne of God and was to possess the Empire when he that then held it was cast down 'T is true that he considers siders it also a little as a Religion for he calls it a Mystery and saith it shall be establisht by false signs and false miracles But in this fourth Chap. of the first Epistle to Timothy he considers Antichristianism purely as a Religion and not as an Empire Therefore he speaks only of Apostacy Spirits Deceivers and of Doctrines Now that which is most abominable in the Papism as 't is a Religion is without doubt its Idolatry and not its heresies and consequently this is what we must here understand by the Doctrine of Devils or of Daemons For the Apostle intends by that to note that which is most criminal in the Papism Seeing therefore we must necessarily understand by these words Doctrine of Daemons the Antichristian Idolatry why should we not believe that the Apostle Saint Paul calls it so by way of allusion and comparing it with the heathen Religion and Theology Antichristianism is considered in the Prophecies sometimes as a Religion somtimes as an Empire I have just before made a distinction which I desire may be observed because 't is of great use for the understanding the Prophecies of the Revelation on this argument of the estate of Antichrist 'T is this that the H. Spirit sometimes speaks of it as of a Religion sometimes as of an Empire Indeed he considers it much oftner under the notion of an Empire than under that of a Religion In the 13 14 16 17 and 18th of the Revelation where Antichristianism is represented as a Beast vith two horns or seven heads and ten horns â—nd as a City called Babylon 't is under the Idea of an Empire For in the Prophetical visions Beasts always signify Kings and Empires But in the 11th Chap. Antichristianism is represented as a Religion for it is called Paganism and is shadowed forth under the emblem of a Temple that is prophaned Leave out the Court which is without the Temple and measure it not for it is given to the Gentiles In those places where it is represented as a Whore where the Cup of its abominations is spoken of and where it is said it shall seduce the inhabitants of the Earth by the signs that it shall work it is consider'd as a Religion because worship idolatry miracles and signs belong to Religion The Doctrine of Daemons Antichristian Paganism are the same thing III. The H. Spirit 's representing the Antichristian Religion as a Paganism is to me a new reason that perswades me that in the Text of St. Paul which we are now discoursing of by the Doctrine of Daemons we must understand that doctrine of which Daemons are the object For I look on these two Texts as Parallel this of the Revelation the out ward Court is given to the Gentiles and this the apostacy of the son of perdition shall be a Doctrine of Daemons Now it is certain that in that Text in the eleventh of the Revelation is precisely meant that Paganism that Pagan Theology and that Pagan service that were introduced into the Christian Religion and consequently here by the Doctrines of Daemons we must understand the Pagan Religion that worshipt Daemons or Antichristianism that hath made for it self a Religion altogether like it in worshipping new Daemons God could not but predict the introduction of Paganisin into the Christian Church IV. But the principal reason that persectly perswades me is the â—â—â—…ent which is always the best or rather the oâ—â— sure Interpreter of prophecies One thing is curtain viz. that there is a perfect conformity between the Thelogy and worship of the ancient Paganism and the Antichristian Religion of the Papism This was not done by chance God permitted it God foresaw it and without doubt God hath predicted it For there is no likelihood that having carefully marked in the Prophecies events incomparably less considerable he should forget this 'T is true one may say that the Prophecy of it is found in these words of the Revelation the outward Court shall be given to the Gentiles and in those places where the Antichristian and popish Religion is compared to adultery and the corrupted Church to a whore But the first seems to me to be too obscure and the second too general I can't believe but that God would leave us some Oracles more clear and less general to predict this admirable conformity which is between the worship of the ancient Paganism and that of Antichristianism Now this Text more express and more clear then the others I do not find elsewhere To set forth this last proof in all its strength we must consider some points of this conformity They may be seen already in those two Chapt. of the second part of our Prejudices where we have shewn the conformity between Popery and Paganism But not to give any the trouble of leaving this book to find out the proof of this truth that the worship of Daemons among the Heathens and this of the Saints in the Papism are alike we will here give an abstract of it The Articles of the Pagan Theology Religion touching Daemons The Pagan Theology about good Daemons is reserred to these Articles I. They said that besides the great Gods there were inferiour Divinities that received all their power from the superiour Gods. II. The inferiour Divinities were either consecrated Heroes and deified souls or spirits naturally and originally separated from matter III. Their office was to be mediatours between men and the great Gods to execute their orders in favour of men and carry the prayers of men to those superiour Gods. IV. To the honour of the one and the other i. e. of Daemons or spirits as well those that were consecrated souls as those that were naturally separated from matter they made Images built Temples and by vertue of the consecration they made them come and dwell in those Images and Temples V. Besides this they did adore and worship the ashes and the reliques of their Heroes These are the Articles to which the Theology of the Pagan Daemons was reduced Paganism acknowledg'd inferiour Gods called Daemons First They held inferiour Divinities that were infinitely beneath the great Gods. 'T is a thing so known that there is no need to prove it They called their great Gods Dii superi Dii coelestes Soveraign Gods and heavenly
times and half a time are the same poriod times and half a time The 42 months during which the Court must be left to the Gentiles according to what is said in the 11th Chap. The 1260 days during which the two witnesses are to prophecy clothed in sackcloth as 't is fore-told in the same 11th Chapter And lastly the 42. months given to the first beast of the 13th Chapter of the Revel to excercise his power All these different periods I say are one and the same period and signify the duration of the Antichristian Empire This can't be disputed The second principle is this that in that Prophecy the days the years and the months may be taken for natural days months and years or for prophetical ones a day for a year Sometimes the Prophets count the time as other men do This might signify natural days for sometimes the Prophets do so speak they reckon the time as other men do Jeremy reckon'd 70 years for the duration of the captivity and these years are natural ones 'T is certain also that in the period of the thousand years designed for the reign of the Church after the destruction of Antichrist the years are taken for natural years But it is not less certain The Papists cannot deny but that the 1260 days may signify 1260 years Chap. 9. Chap. 4. v. 4.6 that these days and these years may be taken mystically for prophetical days and years 'T is confest that the 70 weeks of Daniel signify 70 weeks of years God said to Ezekiel Thou shalt sleep on thy left side and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it according to the number of the days that thou shalt lye upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity I have appointed thee each day for a year Numb 14.34 God said to the Israelites according to the number of the days in which ye searched the Land even 40 days each day for a year shall you bear your iniquities even 40 years This could not be obscure to the Israelites who were accustom'd to this style and who knew there were weeks of years in their Calendar as well as weeks of days and that a week of years answered to that of days one year for one day The third principle is this that here the number of three years and a half 42 months and 1260 days cannot signify an indefinite time As it sometimes happens The number 1260 must be a definite number not an indefinite one that the Holy Spirit by a determinate number means an undetermin'd one A way that would be extreamly advantagious to the partisans of Rome For when one shall have demonstrated that 't is absolutely impossible that that which is predicted concerning the Antichristian Empire can be fulfilled in the compass of three years and a half it would be very useful for them if they could say we must not take this so strictly in the literal sense that it may signify three times ten three times twenty or more according as the Holy Spirit oftentimes means an indefinite number by a definite one But here that cannot be There are certain numbers by which the Prophets use to describe an indefinite time by reason of a certain priviledge those numbers have As that of three because 't is the first odd number the number of the persons of the Trinity that of seven because of the seven days of the creation that of twelve because of the twelve Patriarchs the twelve Tribes and the twelve Apostles that of 100 and that of 1000 because these are numbers that according to the custome of men are often designed to signify a great undetermin'd quantity But we shall not find any examples of broken numbers as that of three and a half of 42 and 1260 taken for indefinite numbers 'T is true the Revelation speaks of the 144 thousand sealed ones Now the number of 144 is not less a broken one than that of 42. But 't is because 144 is the product of that of 12 multiplied by it self The Holy Spirit takes twelve thousand sealed persons of every Tribe 12 times 12 make 144. Here a reason can't be given why God should choose 1260 days to mark out an indefinite time There is no middle way therefore they must be so many years It must be 1260 years or 1260 days and no more or so many simple days So that when we shall have proved that the course of this Empire is not three years and a half we shall have proved also that 't is 1260 years To prove that 't is not three years and a half we need but run through the History of this Empire according as we find it in the book of the Revelation The first Argument against the three years and half One half of the Revelation would be taken up in giving an account of the events of only three years and a half First of all we must know that according to the greatest part of Interpreters almost the whole Revelation is spent in fore-telling us and setting in order the events that must happen to the Church during this reign of Antichrist At least it is certain that 't is the subject of one half of this book the 11th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th and 19th Chapters contain the birth progress finishing ruin and fall of this Antichristian Kingdom Let any one judge if there be any likelyhood that this only prophetical book which the Apostles have left us for the time of the N. Testament moves but upon three years and a half and hath omitted the events of almost two thousand years So that the general Idea of this Prophecy can't bear this imagination but let us come to particulars Second Argument these three years and a half can't agree with what is said of the first beast in the 13th Chap. of the Revelation Second The 11th Chapt. begins to speak of this Antichristian Empire but because this is but as a general History and an abridgement 't is in this general account that the vision of the three years and a half is hid and 't is from hence it hath been taken Let us see if this can agree with the places where the Prophet enlargeth this short description We have in the 13th Chap. a representation of this Empire under the emblems of two beasts of which one had seven heads and ten horns and the other but one head and two horns We there see in the first place a beast with seven heads and ten horns It hath been confessed to us that this is Antichrist We have proved that the word beast signifies an Empire consisting of a founder and his successors Now see a fine succession and a very considerable time that same of three years and a half to be called an Empire and to be meant by a beast Certainly this beast with seven heads and ten horns is the Roman Empire in its whole extent from its founder Romulus even to Antichrist who
must be according to Bellarmine the last Roman Enperour though without the name of a Roman Emperour And this Roman Empire is brought in anew expresly for the seventh head with ten horns which make Antichrist i. e. the ten Kings his vassals which give him their power In truth three years and a half would they well deserve that the Holy Spirit should represent them to us and lay before our eyes afresh all this great Empire of almost 3000 years duration For by the confession of our adversaries the Roman Empire doth yet last and shall continue even to Antichrist who shall be the last King of it Now there is about two thousand four or five hundred years since the first foundation of Rome Moreover Antichrist is the seventh head of the Roman Empire This is so evident that it can't be gain-sayed Now must there not be some proportion between the heads and their durations The head of the Kings lasted near 200 years that of the Emperors above 500 years what proportion is there between so long a duration and this of three years and a half As for us we pretend that the last head must endure as long as the other six Rome under Kings Consuls Decemvirs Tribunes of the people perpetual Dictators and Emperors hath lasted about 1250 years it must be as long under the Popes But at least the head of Antichrist should last at Rome some ages to have its duration proportionable to that of the other heads It signifies nothing to us what period is assigned to it provided it be not that of three natural years and a half For we have proved that if it can't be taken for three natural years and a half it must necessarily be taken for prophetical years Third Arg. in three years and a half Antichrist can't prevail over the Nations of the earth neither by violence nor by seducing them Thirdly In the same Chapter the same Antichristian Empire appears again under the form of a second beast that hath but one head and two horns Yet once more see a great mystery for a matter that is to endure but three years and a half in a period of 2000 years Of the first beast the Prophet saith that it was given to him to make war with the Saints and to overcome them and also to him was given power over every Tribe Tongue and Nation And of the second that he should deceive them that dwell on the Earth by reason of those miracles which he had power to do c. and that all both small and great free and bond should receive his mark in their hand and in their foreheads Afterwards 't is said of this Antichristian Empire under the emblem of a woman sitting on a beast with seven heads and ten horns that all the Kings of the Earth have committed whoredom with her that she made drunk all the Inhabitants of the Earth with the wine of her whoredoms and that all the Nations drank of the wine of her whoredom This signifies two things one that this Antichristian Empire must subdue all Nations the second that it must seduce them by its signs and false miracles Now can any one imagine that three years and a half suffice first to conquer an Empire and overcome all Nations secondly to seduce and pervert them and bring them to deny the Christian Religion If Antichrist were to use that method that is used in France and were to use no other but that it may be in three years and a half he could make many Kingdoms abjure Christianity as in six months he hath made the reformation be abjured by more than a million of persons But 't is plain the Antichrist of the Papists is not to use this way So that one may say the Clergy of France have outstript their Antichrist and that there never was a more hellish sort of persecution It is clear I say that Antichrist is to carry away men by seducing them for otherwise why should he work signs and miracles and though he were to pervert the Christians with Dragoons at least certainly he ought to have conquer'd them by arms before hand and have overturn'd every other Empire Can he conquer all the World in three years where are the examples of so swift a conquest Alexander the Great is represented in the vision of the four Beasts as a Leopard by reason of the speediness of his conquests Yet he spent more than three years and a half and had conquer'd but one part of Asia when he died Are three years and a half sufficient to reassemble the Jews from all the Countries of the World to make them masters of the whole Vniverse to re-establish the mosaical worship and rebuild the Temple of Solomon Only the building of the Temple the first time took up seven years The labour'd more than 40 years about that of Herod and this of Antichrist which will apparently be more magnificent shall be finisht in a few months If there were therefore nothing else but what were to be done by the violence of Antichrist according to the very supposition of the popish Doctors it would be impossible to be done in 30 years How much more impossible is it that he should attain his end in so short a time in what he is to do by the means of seducing His false Prophet must seduce all the inhabitants of the Earth i. e. all the Subjects of the Roman Empire according to the style of the Writers in those times who defined the Roman Empire by the habitable earth There must be much more time to seduce the Nations than to conquer them If Antichrist was to establish his Religion by violence only it might be said that in building up his Empire he would build up his Religion but it is clearer than the day that he must perswade and seduce 'T is for this purpose that he worketh Signs There 's no need of miracles to establish a Religion by arms The Prophecy saith expresly that he shall make drunk the Nations of the Earth with the wine of his whoredoms Which signifies great obstinacy drunkeness of mind perswasion Now behold a strange thing in less than three years and a half a seducer utterly destroys the whole Christian Religion and by the means of perswasion seduces all the Christians and perswades them to become Jews Fourth Argument the meer fall of the Antichristian Empire must take up more years according to the 14th Chap. of the Revel Fourthly We have in the 14th Chap. an abridgement of the History of the ruin of spiritual Babylon She is fallen she is fallen Babylon that great City We have proved before that Babylon and the Antichristian Empire are the same thing Now the Prophet in this Chapt. concerning the end of the Antichristian Empire makes two periods of his last ruin the first is called the harvest Then he that sate on the Cloud thrust in his sickle on the Earth c. 14.8 and the Earth was reaped
v. 16. The second is called the vintage v. 19. And the other Angel thrust in his sickle into the Earth and gathered the Vine of the Earth and cast it into the great wine-press of the wrath of God. It is plain at least that these two periods must be distant one from the other as much as ordinarily the harvest is from the vintage Now 't is well known that the prophecies represent in a little what the events shew in the great and consequently as the harvest is many days distant from the vintage it will be necessary that the two parts of the fall of the Antichristian Empire should be many years distant one from the other Now if meerly the fall of the Babylonish Empire takes up many years the flourishing and the strength of this Empire must take up much more time An Empire so strong can't be ruin'd in the twinckling of an eye and in one months time Moreover there must be an interval of rest between the harvest and the vintage All this necessarily supposeth more than three years and a half The 15th and 16th Chapt. contain the vision of the seven viols of the wrath of God that must be poured out on the Earth It is evident that all these seven viols respect the Antichristian Empire The first plague is an ulcer that seizes on the men that had the mark of the beast c. 16.2 The 15th viol is cast on the seat of the beast v. 10. at the seventh v. 19. the great City which is the same beast c. 15.2 is divided into three parts And before the viols were given to the seven Angels they that had obtained victory over the beast over his image over his mark and over his name are represented as rejoycing in the presence of the seven Angels that had received the seven plagues The fifth Argument the seven viols of the 15th Chap. are seven periods of the fall of the Antichristian Empire every one of these periods contains more than an Age. Fifthly All this makes it appear that these seven viols are seven periods included in the duration of Antichrists Empire under which God must pour out his terrible judgements on that Empire These seven periods must divide his duration into seven parts very near equal even though one should suppose that the seven periods contain this whole duration every viol and every period would have but six months to last according to the supposition of the Romish Doctors The truth is that these seven viols are included in the half of the duration of Antichrists Empire or a little more For 't is the History of the fall of that Empire If it lasts but three years and a half it is necessary that at the least it should be two years a growing so there will remain no more than eighteen months for these seven viols and to every period we must assign a little more than two months This is very plainly absurd There is no example of the like matter in all the Prophecies The seven seals the seven trumpets of the Revelation contain many ages 't is ridiculous to suppose that the seven viols contain but some months We shall see afterward that every viol extends it self to more than a 100 years The sixth Argument what is foretold in the 17th Chap. cannot come to pass in three years and a half Sixthly The 17th Chapt. represents to us the Empire and the Religion of Antichrist under the emblem of a woman sitting on a beast with seven heads and ten horns 'T is said this woman must make her self drunk with the blood of the Martyrs That first of all the ten Kings must give their power to the beast that afterwards c. 17.6 they must fight against the Lamb in favour of the beast v. 13. and that at last v. 14. these very same Kings must change their side and their opinion v. 16. Strip the whore make her desolate eat her flesh burn her with fire can so many changes in mens spirits and in the world can so many revolutions happen in three years and a half In the same Chapt. we find a head that lasts a little v. 10. The seven heads are seven Kings five are fallen the other is not yet come and when he cometh he must continue a short space I once believed that he that was to come and was to continue a little time was Antichrist But looking more carefully into the Text with reference to the events 't is plain that that can't be We must therefore v. 11. by him that was to continue a little time understand the eighth King. And the beast that was and is not even he is the eighth King. And this King is the second part of the head of the Emperors which being divided into two Christian Emperors and Pagan ones makes eight heads or eight Kings together with the other six This eighth head which is that of the Christian Emperors in truth lasted but a very little while viz. from Constantine to Valentinian who was assassinated by Maximus about 130 or 140 years See what the Holy Spirit calls a little time Judge if the Empire of Antichrist that must last longer than the eighth head must last but three years and a half The 7th Argument the duration of the Empire of old Babel is the figure of the duration of the Antichristian Empire Seventhly The 18th Chap. contains a larger description of the last ruin of this Antichristian Empire 'T is there represented as a great City called Babylon rich merchandizing pufft up with the concourse of people and of their riches carried thither for many ages Its inhabitants are described as Merchants grown rich by its commerce She is described as a City abounding in pleasure as well as in riches For all that contributes to pleasure and luxury enters into this description Chap. 1â— v. 12.15 Gold silver precious stones pearls purple silk sweet smelling vessels and most precious wood brass iron marble cinnamon v. 22. perfumes ointments incense wine oil musicians players on the harp pipers trumpetters In conscience is this the description of an Empire and of a City that must last but three years and a half that in that little space of time must be built raised enriched and ruined First of all the Antichristian Empire is called Babylon because ancient Babylon was its type and figure That Empire of old Babel lasted many ages and should these many ages be the type and figure of these three years and a half Can this be said or thought It happens well that the Prophets represent future things that are great by types that are much less This is the very nature of types They are little draughts of that which the event must produce at large So days in the types must naturally represent years But 't is absurd to say that years in the types represent but days in the things signified by the types
the World but was manifest in these last times for us 2 Pet. 3.3 4. The same Apostle tells us in the last days shall come scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying where is the promise of his coming 'T was the very time in which Saint Peter spoke and wrote For 't is spoken as of persons that were in being already And it appears by the second Chapter of the Epistle to the Thessalonians that there was an opinion spread abroad that the end of the World was at hand which made prophane ones say where is the promise of his coming which they tell us is nigh The Prophet Ioel saith Acts 2. in the last days I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh St. Peter applies this Oracle to that which happen'd on the day of Pentecost and in the ages of the Primitive Church 2. Tim. 3.1 St. Paul saith to Timothy Know this that in the last days perillous times shall come for men shall be lovers of their own selves c. These last days began a little after St. Paul For the Church was not long before she corrupted her manners These very same Texts prove also the other thing we have laid down which is that the last times do not signify a short duration For the manifestation of Jesus Christ made in the last times and God speaking to us in the last days by his Son and the last days wherein the prophane shall bear sway all this I say signifieth the time that passeth from I. Christ to the end of the word The times divided into three parts in reference to the Church To understand why the Period that passeth from Jesus Christ to this present time is called the last time we must observe that in the Scripture the times are divided either with reference to the Church or with reference to the World. With reference to the Church there are three times A time when the Church was without the Law and without the Gospel this is the first time that passed from Adam to Moses A time wherein the Church had the Law of Moses that was the time from the departure out of Egypt to I. Christ that 's the second time Lastly A time wherein the Church enjoys the light of Iesus Christ that 's ours and that 's the third time The times in reference to the world are divided into four With reference to the World the time is divided into four great Monarchies that must precede the last reign of I. Christ The first was the Monarchy of the Assyrians which had its seat first at Niniveh and afterwards at Babylon The second is that of the Persians the third that of the Greeks and the fourth that of the Romans whose reign must be prolong'd till the Kingdom be given to J. Christ and his Saints Since Jesus Christ we are in the last times Now whether we refer it to the first division or the second 't is still true that we are in the last times that I. Christ came in the last times and that the Empire of Antichrist must be in the last times J. Christ came in the third and last time with reference to the times of the Church seeing he came since the Law of Moses ceased to be in its vigor And Antichrist also hath his reign in the third and last period of the Church Jesus Christ also came in the last times with respect to the World for he came in the time of the fourth Monarchy Antichrist with much more reason may be assigned to the last times of the fourth Monarchy because he himself is but a continuation of that fourth Monarchy But to be so much the more fully perswaded that 't is a very proper expression it must be observ'd that the fourth Monarchy figur'd by the fourth beast was to have two great periods one of six heads the other of a seventh head having ten horns The Period of the six first heads is the Roman Empire under Kings Consuls Decemvirs Tribunes of the people perpetual Dictators and Emperors And this first Period contains about 12 or 1300 years The period of the little horn or the seventh beast with ten horns is that of Antichrist and the ten Kings which must also be between 12 and 1300 years Antichrist therefore is come in the last time of the last time i. e. in the last period of the fourth and last worldly Monarchy And consequently the Holy Spirit might with very great reason call his reign the last times And thence it can by no means be concluded that this Kingdom must last but a few years before the end of the World. Having said all that I had to say to destroy this false imagination that the Empire of Antichrist must last but three years and a half I might justly reassume and urge all those Arguments I formerly mentioned to prove that the Idea of Antichrist which the Papists frame to themselves is false and that the popish Roman see is the true Antichrist But before that I must use them yet once more to confound the dishonesty of the Translators of the Port-Royal Rev. 17.10 The dishonesty of the translation of the Port-Royal about the duration of Antichrists reign who say of the ten Kings that they shall take power for one hour or for a little time with the beast instead of translating in in the same hour or at the same time with the beast They found this translation or rather this notorious falsification very proper to take away from the Reformed this Text that proves so clearly that the birth of Antichrist must be reckon'd from the division of the Roman Empire among ten Kings and into ten Kingdoms But afterwards we shall see that though we should let their translation pass our proof would not in the least be weakned by it But as they will not agree that 1260 years may be called a little time see here they are engaged to prove that all that we have said to prove that the 1260 days of Antichrists reign are so many years is illusion a Chimaera a dream and a sophism For if our proofs do subsist how will they maintain their version that the Kings shall take power for a little time with the beast Seeing all Interpreters do agree and 't is clear of it self without their consent that the power of the ten Kings must last as long as that of the beast And also these ten Kings must reach beyond the beast for after they have clothed him with their power they must strip him of it eat his flesh and burn it with fire If therefore they duration and continuance of the beast be 1260 years as we have demonstrated it 't is necessary that the reign of the ten Kings be 1260 years and consequently this reign will not be for one hour and for a little time 'T is here that these Gentlemen the Interpreters will have great need of the Arabique Rabbinical learning and Hebrew of Father
of the Antichristian Empire If it can be made very plain and certain that the three years and a half of the duration of this Empire must not be taken for natural years but for three prophetical years and a half it will also be very certain that all which the Papists say concerning Antichrist is false For if the Antichristian Empire must last 1260 years Antichrist can never be only one single man seeing there is no man that hath lived doth or can live 1260. years Nor will it be more true that Antichrist must not come but just at the end of the World For the duration of 1260. years and the end of the World are not one and the same thing Neither will it be more true that the Gospel must have been preached in all the Nations of the World before the coming of Antichrist For there is no prophesy that saith or doth so much as insinuate that the Gospel must be preached every where 1260. years before the last coming of our Lord Jesus Christ It will be as false that Antichrist is not to come till after the total ruin of the German Empire For although we do not exactly know the time the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ however this is held for certain that the World is not to endure yet two or 3000. years longer as it must do if Antichrist be not yet como and must reign 1260. years For besides these 1260. years we must find out a 1000. years of peace for the Church before the end of the World. Neither will it be true that Antichrist must be a false Messiah received by the Jews an enemy of God and of all Religion For God would not suffer that His wisdom would not permit it There is nothing in the Scripture that gives us any ground to presume that an Infidel an open enemy of Jesus Christ and of his Religion must remain master of all the World for 1260. years 'T is plain therefore this is the principal controversy on which all the rest do depend Let this be remembred We will handle this controversy in its proper place In the mean time we shall say something in this Chapter to lay open the falseness of the other pretended characters of Antichrist Antichrist is not only one single man. I. He must be onely one single person and not a series of men If this be so why did Saint Paul say that the mystery of iniquity began in his time Why did Saint John say in his first Epistle that Antichrist was already come into the World He was come in his fore-runners saith Bellarmin I acknowledge it But do the fore-runners use to go 2000. years before him whose fore-runners they are Types indeed are and may be two or 3000. years before those persons of which they are Types But 't is not so with fore-runners Why is Antichrist represented as a Beast if he be but one single man Is it not usual in Prophetical visions to represent an Empire i. e. all the successive Kings of that Empire by a Beast So the Monarchy of the Babylonians and Assyrians with all their Kings is represented to us by the first Beast in the seventh Chapter of Daniel which was like to a Lion The Empire and Emperors of Persia by only one Bear and so of the rest At least this makes it undeniably clear that there is no necessity that we should understand one single person by those two Beasts in the Revelation that represent Antichrist How can this be reconciled with that which these men have confessed that the fourth Beast of Daniel and the first Beast in the thirteenth of the Revelation all are the same beast Seeing the fourth Beast in Daniel by their own confession signifies an Empire and a series of men 't is necessary also that the first Beast in Saint John should signify a series of Kings and Tyrants 'T is true the Scripture often speaks of Antichrist as of a particular person It calls him the man of sin a King a Horn c. But it speaks of Empires also in the same manner They are Kings the ten Horns are ten Kings They are beasts and one Beast in the singular number The Empire of Persia is one Beast that of the Greeks is another the Empire of the Romans makes the fourth Beast The Spirit saith concerning the seven Heads of the Roman Empire the seven Heads are seven Kings i. e. they are seven sorts of Governours and Governments That Antichrist must not be a Jew II. Antichrist must be a Jew of the Tribe of Dan. of a mean birth and must style himself the Messiah of the Iews Where are the proofs of this He must be a Iew and of the Tribe of Dan because it is written Gen. 49.17 Jer. 8 16. Dan shall be a Serpent by the way and an Adder in the path that biteth the Horses heels The snorting of his Horses was heard from Dan. Doth this deserve a confutation And because some of the ancients have been taken with these visions must we therefore receive them as Oracles Among the things that are certain Bellarmin places this that Antichrist shall be a Iew but doth not give us any shew of proof for it besides the testimony of the Ancients But as to that we must take all or nothing Either the Authority of the Ancients must be wholly received in this matter or else be wholly weak If we must admit what the Ancients have said concerning Antichrist we must believe that it will be the Devil that shall incarnate himself in the bosom of a false Virgin as the Son of God did in the bosom of a chast one We must believe that Nero was Antichrist In a word we must admit of a hundred dreaming opinions about it which at this day are unanimously rejected If the Authority of the Fathers be not good in many places 't is good in none 't is doubtfull every where We must have proofs drawn from the Scriptures to shew us that Antichrist must be a Iew. But see Bellarmines great proof III. Antichrist must be received by the Jews as their Messiah Antichrist must not be received by the Jews as their Messiah And the Jews would never acknowledg any for their Messiah that was a stranger uncircumcised and one that was not of their own nation But where do they find this that the Jews must receive Antichrist for their Messiah These Gentlemen that have a more piercing sight than the Angells themselves find it in those words of our Saviour I am come in my Father's name and ye have not received me if another come in his own name him you will receive He that will come in his own name and whom the Jews will receive shall be Antichrist who will call himself the Messiah Have these men any shame left in them Bellarm. l. 3. de Rom. Pontif. Cap. 12. Sect. praeter to put this at the head of such a proof viz. Sunt alia
to re-establish the law of Moses that he must set on foot again the Levitical worship How would the Iews receive him for their Messiah if he were so wicked a person as not to believe there were a God To what purpose should he rebuild the Temple of Ierusalem and why should he offer sacrifices to God in it if he made himself to be worshipped as the only God Besides it is clear enough that the Pope causes himself to be adored like a God tho he doth not call himself either the only God or the great God. Germany is not the Roman Empire that must be divided among ten Kings under Antichrist XVI He is not to come till the Roman Empire be entirely destroyed We shall afterwards take an occasion to examin this In the mean time consider what absurdities these men run themselves into According to them the Roman Empire doth yet subsist viz. in the branch of Germany According to them at the end of the World the Roman Empire shall be divided among ten Kings that shall be the Friends the co-temporaries and the supporters of Antichrist That is to say the Empire of Germany shall be divided into ten Kingdoms Those will be notable Kingdoms those ten Kingdoms on the other side the Rheine and do well deserve a place even ten times over in the Prophecies of Daniel and St. Iohn If Antichrist must not come till the Roman Empire be destroyed why did they confess that the little Horn in the 7th Chapt. of Daniel is Antichrist This Horn doth it not play the part of the fourth Beast i.e. of the Roman Empire Why do these Gentlemen agree to this that Antichrist is the seventh Head of the first Beast in the 13th of the Revelation which they together with us acknowledg to be the Roman Empire Why did Bellarmine grant that Antichrist is to be the last Roman Emperour The Roman Empire therfore shall not be destroyed when Antichrist shall come because that Empire shall continue under him Antichrist must come before the end of the World. XVII He is not to come but just at the end of the World. He is not to come till the last times But we shall hereafter examin whether the last times signify the three last years before the day of judgment And when we shall have proved that the 1260 Days of Antichrists reign are so many Years this point will be cleared up The Gospel hath been preached almost throughout the VVorld XVIII Before he comes the Gospel must have been preached throughout all the World. Indeed before the Antichristian Empire did appear and was perceivable the Gospel had been preached in that which they called the whole World from the time of the Apostles in all the extent of the Roman Empire and beyond it in all the then known World in the countries which they knew were inhabited and where they could enter without being hindred by the barbarity of those that dwelt there But this universal preaching throughout all the Earth without Exception must be consequent upon the fall of Antichrist and not a sign of his coming Further this term of Vniversal preaching even then must not be taken in the strictest sense For it may be there will be some Exceptions It is not necessary that Antichrist should be a Magician XIX Lastly Antichrist must be a Magician And that because he must work great signs and miracles by the help of Magick 'T is sufficient for the fulfilling of these Oracles that he doth his signs by illusion and the enchantment of mens senses by cheating and deceit and also by the help of the Devil without his making any compact with the Devil either direct or indirect The false miracles of Popery also are wrought by the cheats of the Priests or purely by lies or by the Devil that makes himself sport with their miserable devotion Seeing all these Characters of the Antichristian Empire are all false we must for the future examin and seek out what are the true Characters of it CHAP. XIII What are the true Characters of the Antichristian Empire They are three Tyranny Idolatry and great corruption of manners That we must not look on Tyranny alone as the sole Character of Antichrist The Antichristian Empire hath three names that note its three Characters WE are seeking after the Characters of the Antichristian Empire I believe we may hope to find them in the names which the Holy Spirit gives it For assuredly names are given by God to signify the nature of things I find that the Holy Spirit gives three names to that Empire He calls it Egypt and Sodom and lastly Babylon Egypt and Sodom in the eleventh of the Revelation where speaking of the death of the two witnesses C. 11.8 he saith their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great City which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt Babylon in as many places of the same book as 't is said in she is fallen she is fallen Babylon the great Come out of Babylon my people These three names signify the three Characters of that Babylonish Empire The name of Egypt signifies the pride Tyranny and Cruelty of Antichrist Egypt is the embleme of Tyranny Pride and Cruelty Of Tyranny because there the Israelites did groan under hard bondage in the chains of Pharaoh who tyrannised over them Of Cruelty because that cruel Prince did vex them sorely with hard labour and the death of their children whom he caused to be drowned in the river Nile Of Pride because this proud Tyrant rebelled against God with an intolerable pride saying Who is the Lord that I should obey his voyce Sodom signifies the great corruption of manners in the Antichristian Empire Sodom signifies the mighty corruption of manners and the reason of it may be easily apprehended It was neither Tyranny nor Cruelty that destroyed Sodom We do not read that she did aspire after the dominion It was not Idolatry at least we have no reason to believe that she was more notorious for it than the other Canaavites round about It was therefore only dissoluteness luxury and debauchery ease and abundance of bread as the Prophets speak Therefore when they would set forth a mighty corruption of manners they borrow an expression from hence and use the names of Sodom nd Gomorrha â—s 1.10 Hear the word of the Lord ye Rulers of Sodom give ear unto the Law of our God ye people of Gomorrha After which Isaiah falls not upon their Idolatry but upon their corrupt manners He reproaches them with nothing but their injustice and violence Babylon signifies the Idolatry of Antichristianism Lastly Babylon signifies Idolatry All do agree that Babylon was the fountain of all sorts of Idolatry From Chaldaea it spread it self over all the Earth That is the fountain and spring of men 't is also of false Gods. As she was the first fountain so she did continue the chief Seat of it
visibly a Church engraffed and sitting upon an Empire 'T is the Roman Church engraffed on the Roman Empire But we shall touch again on this reflection in the following Chapter And the woman was arrayed in purple v. 4. and scarlet colour and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls 'T is not the Beast only that is of a scarlet colour the woman also is clothed with purple The Church which is engraffed on the Empire hath taken the colour of the Empire The Pope the Cardinals the Ministers of the Court of Rome are distinguisht by the imperial purple and scarlet The gold the pearls and the stones encrease the magnificence Nothing is more proud than the pomp of the Roman Court. She holds a golden cup in her hand full of abominations Poculum Aureum Plenum Abominationum 'T is a wonderful accident that the four initial letters of these four words P.A. P.A. make the name of Papa in the Bible of the Latins and of the Roman Church Let him believe it that will that this was purely by chance but I can't believe it This Woman is a Prostitute an adulterous Woman a Church unfaithful to Jesus Christ her Spouse She is represented to us making the Kings of the Earth drunk with the Wine of her Fornications These are her Abominations her Superstitions her false Worship her Idols and her false Religion wherewith she makes people and Kings drunk by her unhappy perswasions The figure is borrowed from those debauched Women that give delicious liquors to their Gallants to enflame them The cup of gold into which all these abominations are poured out is the pretended infallibility This Doctrine contains all the superstitions and the errours of the Roman Church as a Cup. It retains and unites them together Without this all would run out as wine out of a vessel 'T is a Cup of gold for this pretended priviledge of infallibility would be the most precious thing in all the World to him that should have it This Cup of gold signifies also that pompous out-side of ceremonies and those so glittering externals which contain disguised abominations and idolatries The People drink the poison by favour of the Cup. They receive the idolatry by favour of the pomp and the fair out-side Vpon her fore head was a name written MYSTERY Babylon the great v. 5. the Mother of Harlots and abominations of the Earth 'T is the description of the Roman Church She bears written on her fore-head MYSTERY for it is the mystery of iniquity as we have seen before All there is Mystery all there appears like Religion 't is the proper name of Religions but the truth is 't is a mystery of iniquity a Religion full of abominations 'T is a very remarkable thing that the Popes did sometimes bear this name MYSTERY written in the fore-part of their Miter A Venetian Author assures us of it and Ioseph Scaliger saith that he had seen them so marked 'T is the great Babylon We have seen why she is so called Babylon was once the Fountain of all Idolatries And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the Saints v. 6. 'T is no longer the Beast that sheds the blood of Martyrs 't is the Woman 'T is no longer the ancient Roman Empire 't is the false Church 't is the Roman Church that uses the paws of the Beast the Arms of the Empire and of Kings to persecute the Church As in the second Beast of the 13th Chapter the image of the Beast the Roman Church though she is but an image of an Empire gives order for the killing of the Saints The Beast that thou sawest was and is not v. 8. 'T is the Angel that speaks explaining the vision to Saint John. The Empire which thou hast seen represented by the beast is the Roman Pagan Empire that tends toward its end and of which two thirds are already past He must ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition That Empire must very speedily be brought to nothing But after it shall have been destroyed it shall arise again out of Hell under another form under the name and the form of a Church 'T is the head that was wounded to death and which was to revive But this second Empire that must raise up the first again and spring from its ashes shall finally perish whereas the Empire that shall be given to the Saints shall never perish And they that dwell on the Earth c. shall wonder when they behold the Beast that was and is not and yet is And the Inhabitants of the Roman Empire shall comprehend nothing of this mystery They shall see that the Roman Empire shall be abolisht Rome shall cease to be the Mistress of the World by the fall of the Emperours and all on a sudden they shall again see Rome mounted up again to the same dignity The Beast was The Roman Empire hath been He is not the Empire hath ceased And yet is and yet they shall see this Empire return without knowing how This prodigy will make them dizzy and enchaunt them Here is the mind which hath wisdom The seven heads are seven mountains v. 9. on which the woman sitteth We have seen seven Heads on the Beast on which the Woman sate These seven Heads signify two things 1st Those seven Mountains on which the Roman Church is raised by reason of the seven Mountains of Rome which is its Metropolis 'T is a Character that makes her remarkable for she hath always been called Septicollis These seven heads are also seven Kings v. 10. five are fallen and one is and the other is not yet come These seven Heads signify also the seven Kings that is to say the seven sorts of Soveraign Governments under which this Empire hath passed and must pass along First Kings 2d Consuls 3d. Decemvires 4th Tribunes of the people 5th Perpetual Dictators These five are fallen these five Governments were passed in St. John's time The one is viz. the sixth that is the Government of the Emperours and the other is not yet come that is to say the seventh Head which is that of the Popes is not yet come And when he cometh he must continue a short space I formerly believed that these words might be applied to the Pope and to the Papism but I believe it no longer and to understand them we must read the following verse And the Beast that was v. 11. and is not even he is the eighth and is of the seven and goeth into perdition 'T is it may be designedly that is to say to render the Prophecy more obscure that the H. Spirit hath inverted the words We must therfore resume the last words of the foregoing verse join them with these here and place them all thus And the eighth King is also of the Beast which was and is not He is of the seven and when he shall come he must continue for a short space and then goeth
part of that homage that is due to him 'T is not without a great mystery of Providence that such extravagant Ideas and such as are not according to the intention of the H. Spirit should be affixed to the names designed to signify the Antichristian Empire and its head For example the man of sin the son of perdition the Beast with seven heads full of blasphemies the great Whore the Cup of abomination Antichrist Excessive Ideas I say have been affixed to these names as if hereby it were signified that the person and the Empire designed by these names should have nothing of the Christian yea nothing of humane in it and that they should be prodigies of impiety madness blasphemy and impurity The same thing hath happen'd in the term Apostacy to which hath been affixed the Idea of an utter renunciation of the faith And this hath not come to pass without a singular Providence of God who would not have Antichrist to be known to the end that during his birth and establishment no man might oppose him Our second Observation is that the word apostacy in the Scripture use of it answers to the Hebrew word mered rebellion The word Apostacy properly signifies rebellion and marad to rebel 'T is very usual with the 70. Interpreters to render these Hebrew words by those of to apostatize and apostacy whether it be rebellion against God or rebellion against men that is treated of The Reubenites and Gadites returning home after they had assisted their Brethren to settle themselves on the other side of Jordan built an Altar on the bank of the river The other Tribes imagining that the Reubenites Gadites intended to sacrifice on that Altar against the commandment of God they say to them ye rebel against the Lord. Josh 22.18 19. Timeredou which in the Greek is rendred you are become Apostates from the Lord. On the other hand the Reubenites justifying themselves say the Lord knows if this thing be done in rebellion They use this word mered and the septuagint have rendred it by that of apostacy When the Spies returned Joshuah and Caleb being desirous to induce the Israelites to pursue their journey to endeavour the conquest of the Land of Canaan according to the intention of God they say to them revolt not al timeredou and the Greek hath it do not turn apostates Instances are without number and 't is sufficient to have intimated it According to this use of the word which is certainly the Scripture use of it 't is evident that the Papism is a true apostacy a rebellion a revolt To be an Apostate in the Scripture sense Apostacy doth not always signify a total defection it is not necessary that a man should utterly abandon the true God. When the Israelites on this side Jordan accuse the Reubenites of an intention to turn Apostates do not revolt they do not so much as suspect that they intend entirely to renounce God but only to build an altar against the Altar of Moses to sacrifice to that God that brought them out of Egypt Do not apostatize say they to them in building you an Altar besides the Altar of the Lord our God. When Caleb and Joshuah say to the Israelites on the occasion of their refusing to go towards the Land of Canaan do not apostatize they did not apprehend that the Israelites were minded to chuse another God but only that they would revolt from the orders of the true God but yet without renouncing him for their God. How the Papism destroys the Articles of faith It is not therefore necessary that the Papism should be a formal and entire renunciation of the faith it is enough that 't is a revolting from the faith Now certainly the Papism is so There are none of the Articles of the Christian faith which it doth not destroy and against which it doth not plant its engines There are rebels that do in words acknowledge a Prince for their King who yet do not cease to make war against him This is the ordinary way of rebels The Papism doth perfectly the very same thing It doth homage in words to the principal Articles of the Christian faith but indeed it fights against them it destroys them It acknowledges a God manifest in the flesh but it revolts from this Article and destroys it by another carnal God or a God in the flesh i. e. the Bishop of Rome to whom it ascribes a double power which agrees to Jesus Christ alone and which even Jesus Christ himself would not exercise while he was here upon Earth It destroys also this God manifest in the flesh by another Jesus Christ incarnated breaden transubstantiated indivisibly united to the accidents of the bread and of this false Christ it makes a true Idol It believes one Jesus the redeemer of the World but it destroys this article of faith and revolts from it in saying the Saints are our mediators in offering to God their merits besides the merits of Jesus Christ and in praying to God in their name and by their intercession It believes one only God but it revolts from this article in supposing new objects of worship to which it renders a truly religious worship It believes that the blood of J. Christ cleanseth us from all sin but it revolts from this Article divers ways in seeking out strange satisfactions and in supposing a purgatory the use of which is to expiate the sins of men 'T is an Apostacy from the faith to introduce that Which is beside the faith And that we may clearly understand that all these things and others of the like nature may very well be called an Apostacy from the faith we must again make use of that passage in the 22th Chapt. of the book of Joshua where the Israelites say to their brethren do not apostatize in building an Altar besides the Altar of the Lord. These words shew that one may be an apostate not only by bringing things into Religion which are against Religion but also in promoting things that are besides Religion For they do not say against the Altar but besides the Altar Now in this sense it is clear that the Papism is an Apostacy For besides the true object of worship it introduces new objects of religious adoration besides the sole and only Jesus it introduces many saviours besides the sole Intercessor many intercessors besides the sole sacrifice another sacrifice besides the true Sacraments false ones The Papism introduceth doctrines worship both against the faith besides the faith therfor 't is a true revolting or apostacy from the faith The Papism is an Apostacy if it he considered alone My third Observation is this that to have a right knowledge of the Papism we must not look upon it as is usually done as compounded with the opinions and worship of Christianity which it hath retained This is one of the great artifices of the Devil and his Agents to make us
honourable women upon thy right hand did stand the Queen in gold of Ophir v. 14. c. She shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needle-work the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee Supposing the Spouse to be the Church it will be very difficult to tell what these daughters signify that are introduced to Jesus Christ different from the Church I know well indeed one may easily imagine something thereupon but I do not believe that it would be solid 'T is the fault which they fall into that do explain the types they stretch the parallels and fain would have the pictures in every thing resemble the original Whereas we must not search after the resemblance but in the principal subject All the rest is but as the leaves that do adorn the picture 'T is according to these principles that we must explain the Prophecies of the eighth eleventh and twelfth of Daniel As to the latter 't is the history of Antiochus This Antiochus having been the most considerable type of Antichrist as David was the most glorious type of Iesus Christ 't is not to be doubted but that there are in the Prophecies that respect Antiochus many things that must have a mystical reference to Antichrist But 't is not necessary that all that is said of Antiochus in the literal sense must be applied to Antichrist in a mystical sense In some places Antichrist is there with Antiochus in some other places Antiochus is there alone and it may be there are some places where Antichrist is alone Let us briefly review them From one of the four hsrns of the he-goat Ch. 8. v. 9. Why Antiochus is called a litle horn which signified the Empire of the Greeks came forth another little horn toward the South and toward the East and toward the pleasant Land. 'T is certain this little Horns is Antiochus He is described by a little Horn because he climbed the throne not by the lawful right of succession publickly and with full right but by subtilty he ravisht the Kingdom from Demetrius the son of his brother Seleucus Therefore the H. Spirit explaining the Prophecy in the following part of the 8th Ch. saith and at the end of their Kingdom v. 23. a King of a fierce countenance and understanding dark sentences shall stand up And in the 11th Ch. where the History of Antiochus is more large it is said v. 21. And in his estate shall stand up a vile person to whom they shall not give the honour of the Kingdom but he shall come in peaceably and obtain the Kingdom by flatteries It was because Antiochus was an hostage at Rome that he was reputed as a stranger and that he had no right to the crown of Asia having an elder Brother who left a Son a lawful heir of his Estate Antiochus being returned from Italy applies himself to be liberal to the people He was affable and familier he bathed in the publick baths and by these means he got away the Kingdom from his Nephew This agrees well enough to the head of the Antichristian Empire who is also called a little Horn in the 7th Ch. This is plainly that which hath deceived two of our Interpreters who would have the little Horn in the 17th Ch. also to be Antiochus The little Horn in the 17th Ch. is not Antiochus A strange oversight of some Interpreters Which I call a mighty great oversight and utterly unworthy of great men For for this we must metamorphose the 4th Beast and wheras by the consent of all Interpreters it signifies the Empire of the Romans it must be made the Empire of the Greeks in despight of as great evidence as can be found in the Prophecies For one must be blind not to see the Roman Empire the 4th Monarchy in this 4th Beast The Pope is mystically the little Horn. The Empire of Antichrist therfore is a little Horn despicable in appearance that raiseth it self up from a low place and from a beginning that seemed to promise nothing that was great is mounted to that grandeur that hath given it both the form and the power of an Empire The head of this Empire is of understanding in dark sentences c. it is by subtilty that he made himself master of the Western Empire The little Horn of the 8th Ch. which signifies Antiochus The Pope exalts himself against God. waxed great even to the host of Heaven cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground and stamped upon them Yea he magnified himself even to the Prince of the host These words agree to Antiochus and to Antichrist To Antiochus because he insolently exalted himself against God the head of the heavenly armies and of the Church made a great part of the nation and even some of the Priestly race fall into Apostacy To Antichrist and the Papism because he hath exalted himself against J. Christ and engaged the whole Church in his revolt The Pope makes the daily Sacrifice to cease Antiochus makes the daily sacrifice to cease by reason of transgression and casteth down the truth to the ground and prospers The history of the Macchabees informs us that this was accomplisht according to the literal sense of it And the same thing hath been accomplisht by the Antichristian Empire that hath abolisht the continual service because it hath destroyed the true service of God and the sacrifices of pure prayers in mingling with them the worship of creatures the invocation of he and she saints the adoration of Images and their reliques and in establishing a new continual sacrifice in the room of the true one It hath prosper'd for its successes have been prodigious for 8 or ten Ages In the 11th Ch. the Prophet begins from the 21th verse to speak of Antiochus But we must not look for Antichrist therein till the 34. v. The ten first verses are a description of the victories which Antiochus obtain'd over his neighbours and of his quarrels with the Kings of Egypt quarrels which in my opinion had nothing Typical in them And the reason of it is clear because Antiochus was not a Type but in what he did against the Church For the strange nations had no reference to the Church nothing that the Tyrants did against them is mysticall At the 31. v. begin the violences which this persecuting Prince was to offer to the Church of Israel Arms shall stand on his part and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength and shall take away the daily sacrifice This is what was already said in the 8th Ch. and what we have applied to the Papism and its head The Prophet adds v. 32.33 And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatterier and they that understand among the people shall instruct many He continues to the 36th v. to describe the ways full of fraud and violence The Papism was established by
they are at a prodigious distance from it So the Prophet looking on these two resurrections the first and the last it is not strange that beholding them at so great distance he looked on them as joined together though they are a 1000 years distant from each other Moreover the H. Spirit from this first resurrection in which the Church must be deliver'd and which it may be is but a figurative resurrection would raise us up to the contemplation of the last and general resurrection because this first resurrection that must be before the 1000 years of the reign of Jesus Christ must be but an Embleme of the great deliverance of the Church when it shall be in one body translated from earth to heaven by the last resurrection 'T is usual with the Prophets to have holy sallies that from temporal things do transport them to spiritual and eternal ones Isaiah speaking of a sign that God would give to Ahaz and which he refused passes over many ages leaves there Ahaz and his sign Esai 7. and saith the Lord God shall give you a sign behold a Virgin shall bear a son The rest of the twelfth Chapter is not less profound but as it respects the duration of the persecution of Antiochus literally and mystically the time of the duration of the Kingdom of Antichrist we shall reserve it for that Chap. where we must speak of the duration of his Kingdom CHAP. XXIV In which are gather'd together 35. Characters of Antichrist that perfectly agree to the Papism and cannot agree to any but it A short portraiture of Antichrifi and his fearures AFter sounding all the fountains whence the pourtaiture of Antichrist is drawn I believe it will not be unuseful to gather together here all the strokes that we may see them all with one view and that we may discern the perfect conformity that is between that Antichrist and the Papism 1. It must be an Empire Rev. 13.1 for it is called a beast now in the Prophetick style a beast always signifies an Empire when Kings are treated of The Papism is an Empire in all the forms of worldly Empires ancient and modern We have proved it with the greatest evidence in our prejudices 2. It must also be a Religion 2 Thes 2. for it is called a mystery and it must be a false Religion for it is called a mystery of Iniquity and an apostacy There is only the Papism in which an Empire and a Religion are found both together 1 Tim. 4.1 8. 'T is true Mahomet made an Empire and a Religion at the same time But in Mahometanism the Religion is not the Empire nor the Empire the Religion and the Priests are not Soveraign Lords under the pretext of Religion Mahometanism is divided into many Aempires and yet there is but one Religion a proof that the Religion and the Empire are not the same thing The Papism is the only Religion that boasts of a Prophet always living Rev. 19.20 3. Antichrist must have a Prophet i. e. a man that saith he is infallible and that pretends to pronounce Oracles as well as the ancient Prophets For with the beast is joined the false Prophet The beast was taken and together with him the false Prophet that wrought signs before him There is no Religion in the World but the Papism that pretends to have an infallible head always pronouncing Oracles when it is necessary always speaking and always living This is a very peculiar Character and which should make us well discern him 4. The corruption of the Religion of Antichrist must principally consist in Idolatry 1 Tim. 4. 2 Thes 2. Rev. 17. for it is called apostacy a Doctrine of Daemons spiritual whoredom The Papism is a Religion in which Idols are re-establisht under new names We have also clearly proved it The Idolatry of Antichrist must be an idolatry of Christians Rev. 17. 5. This Antichristian Idolatry must be an idolatry of Christians which must be exercised in the Church and not without by the Spouse of Jesus Christ and not by a stranger For this idolatry is called adultery and conjugal unfaithfulness The Papism with its Idolatry retains the foundation of the Church and preserves Christianity 6. The chief City of this Empire and of this Religion must be a City seated on seven Mountaïns Rev. 17.9.18 and the great City which in the time of Saint John ruled over the Kingdoms of the Earth that is to say Rome The Papism hath for the capital of its Empire and Religion new Rome built where the ancient one was 7. This Empire was to form it self not by force but by craft by seduction and by the consent of the Kings of the West Rev. 13.13 that were to give their power to the beast The power of the Papism and the Bishop of Rome come by illusion rather than by the violence that both Kings and people have suffer'd 8. This Antichristian Empire must be a continuation of the fourth Monarchy which is that of the Romans Dan. 2.7 Rev. 13. as hath been shewn by the vision of Daniel's Statue by that of the four beasts and by the beast of the 13th of the Revel The Papism is a true continuation of the Roman Empire having the very same seat and very hear the same Provinces 9. This Empire must be only an Image of an Empire an Image of the Roman Empire Rev. 13.14 15. Yet this Image must speak and must be worshipped in all the Earth The Papism hath no arms nor citadels that really make an Empire it hath nothing but superstition and foolish fondness for all its arms however it speaks it threatens it promiseth it teacheth it seduceth and by this means it reigns 10. The Empire of Antichrist must have ten horns Rev. 13. end 17. that is to say ten Kings vassals and subjects props and upholders of its throne The Papism hath always had under it ten principal Kings that have worshipt and maintain'd its power 11. Antichrist must speak great things in his own behalf Rev. 13.5 but against God for they must be blasphemies The Papism saith of it self and its capital great and mighty things saying that Rome is eternal that she is infallible that the Pope is Superiour to all the Kings of the Earth the Spouse of the Church the Vicar of J. Christ God upon Earth his Holiness and most holy Lord. And these arrogant pretensions are true blasphemies against God against J. Christ and against the true Church the Spouse of J. Christ 12. Antichrist must raise wars and cruel persecutions on the account of Religion Rev. 13.7 For 't is given to him to make war against the Saints and to overcome them The Papism hath bathed it self in humane and Christian blood for six or seven hundred years 13. The Empire of Antichrist must be an Empire raised up again Rev. 13.3 an head mortally wounded but healed again The Empire of
Simon the Grammarian that not long since hath set up for an Interpreter of the Revelations His new lights do well deserve a particular Chapter by themselves But for the present we must follow on our way and shew that if the 1260 days be 1260 years then all that the Papists say of Antichrist is false and all that we say of him is true It being proved that the 1260 days are 1260 years the Papists Antichrist is a Chimaera If it be false that this Empire must last but 1260 natural days it is true that it must last 1260 years for I have proved there is no middle way to be taken And if it be true that Antichrist must reign 1260 years he can no longer be only one single man nor a revolted Jew nor a salse Messiah nor a man of the Tribe of Dan nor a Tyrant that must re-establish the Mosaical worship and rebuild Jerusalem to cause the Iews to reign there For it would be absurd to suppose that one man should live 1260 years that the reign of the Law of Moses should return for 12 Ages and that Iudaism for so long a time should oppress the Christian Religion If the Empire of Antichrist must last 1260 years it must necessarily be already come If his duration be 1260 years Antichrist is come For 't is to go against the general opinion of all men to suppose that before the reign of Jesus Christ comes we must yet expect a tyrannical Monarchy of 1200 years If the Antichristian Empire be come it must be either Mahometanism or the Papism Antichristianism can't be found among the Arri-ans for they have been extinct a long time and their reign did not come to near 1260 years We can't find him among the Athigenses who never reign'd who appear'd but for a little time and who were always oppressed He cant ' be found neither among the Lutherans nor Calvinists for none of the Characters of Antichristianism do agree to them and the Papists would not acknowledge that our reign should be for 1200 years There 's nothing remains but Mahometanism on which one can cast ones yes Mahometanism hath not the Characters of Antichristianism to seek out Antichristianism 't is indeed an Antichristian Sect because 't is an enemy to Jesus Christ and hath already subsisted above a 1000 years But we can't find therein the Characters of Antichristianism so as 't is described in the Prophets First Antichristianism must be an Apostacy and a revolt of men that formerly were obedient to the faith The Saracens Arabians and Turks the founders and preservers of this Sect never were Christians and are not Apostates Mahomet and the Arabians were Heathens Secondly Antichristianism must be an Idolatry for it is called a Whoredom and must teach the Doctrine of Daemons and mediatory spirits Now the Mahometans are not idolaters on the contrary they abhor the adoration of Images and 't is this that greatly scandalizeth them against the Christian Religion Thirdly In the name of Antichrist we must find the number 666. In the name of Mahomet and Mahometan Arabians and Saracens in any language this number is not found Fourthly Anchristianism was to have its seat in the great City which in St. Iohns time ruled over the Kings of the Earth That is Rome as all Interpreters unanimously acknowledge Mahomet and his Partizans never did possess the City of Rome and do not possess it Fifthly The Empire of Antichrist must be the Roman Empire continued the Empire of the Arabians is so far from being the continuation of the Roman Empire that it hath been the destruction of it in the East Sixthly Antichrist must sit in the Temple of God i. e. in the Church Mahomet and his Successors are out of the Church and do not belong to Christendom Seventhly Ten Kings must voluntarily give their power to Antichrist But the Arabians and Saracens have conquer'd all Kingdoms by meer violence none did voluntarily submit to them Eighthly Antichrist must be the seventh head of the Beast in the Revelation i. e. Of the Roman Empire Mahomet hath nothing in common with the Roman Empire Ninethly The Empire of Antichrist must be properly nothing else but the image of an Empire which yet however must be worship and obedience be given to it The Empire of the Mahometans is not an image but rather the most despotical and arbitrary Empire that ever was in the World. Tenthly The Antichristian Empire must have under it ten horns i. e. ten Kings Ten horns every one having his crown and his Royal power So far is the Empire of the Mahometans from suffering any vassal Kings to subsist that it hath destroyed all the great Lords In India in Persia in Turky every one of these Mahometan Empires hath but one only Lord. Eleventhly The Empire of Antichrist must be but one it must not be divided For the Kings that are to submit to him shall acknowledge him for their only head But the Empire of Mahomet is divided into many Empires The Empire of the Tartars the Empire of the Turks the Empire of the Persians the Empire of the Mogulls and these four Empires are not only different but always opposite and almost always enemies Twelfthly Antichrist must have two horns i. e. two powers like to the Lamb. 'T is notorious the Mahometans have nothing in common with Iesus Christ with his Religion and with his power Thirteenth Antichrist must excommunicate persecute take away liberty of commerce from all those that will not take on them his name and his mark in their fore-heads i. e. that will not follow his Religion The Mahometans suffer all sorts of Religions Heathens and Christians Fourteenth The Antichristian Empire must be a head i. e. a Kingdom hurt with a deadly wound and revive again This can by no means agree to Mahometanism which is a Religion wholly new and which hath formed Empires wholly new It was necessary to make these observations against those that greatly desiring to take Antichrist from Rome would fain place him among the Mahometans CHAP. IV. Some Principles to discover when the Antichristian Empire began and when it must end Three Characters of that Empire Idolatry Pride and corruption That these three Characters began to appear in the fourth Age and did infinitely encrease in the fifth HItherto we have discoursed on what is past now we proceed to treat of what is future or at least of those things that are believed so to be For we shall see that many things that are looked upon as future are already past 'T is the ruin of Antichrist and his Empire that we are now about to speak of And the first question that is asked thereupon is this When shall that Empire be destroyed A great question and which hath hitherto been looked upon as a thing that none could penetrate into 'T is certainly very difficult to be penetrated into but yet however I do not think 't is impossible to find
out the truth There is a particular Providence that presides over the the understanding of Prophecies as we have observed God would not have them understood in every age because this would hinder their accomplishment But when they are just ready to be fulfilled God permits them to be penetrated into and the things which we see come to pass from day to day open mens eyes The great point is to know where we must begin the 1260 years In this matter the whole depends on our knowing where we must begin the 1260 years that are assigned for the reign of the papism And there are as many opinions about that as there are men Some begin them with Boniface the third Successor to Gregory the great because they would be favourable to Gregory the first who seems to have had very good things in him And because his Successor was the first that assumed the name of Vniversal Bishop Others descend lower and begin the 1260 year at the time when Images were establisht Some come as far as to the 11th Age and to the reign of Gregory the seventh who was insolent to a higher degree than any of his Predecessors dared to advance themselves unto There are some also that come as far as to the 12th Age. The fountain of their errour that descend so low for the beginning of the 1260 years I shall not amuse my self with mentioning much less with confuting all these Opinions I shall only say this boldly that they who go so low to find out the beginning of the 1260 years are in an errour That which hath deceived them is this they imagine we must not begin the Antichristian Empire till the time that Idolatry and Tyranny were arrived to their height in the Church in which I am throughly perswaded they deceive themselves Another cause of their being deceived is this having this truth in mind that Rome must be the head of the Antichristian Empire they will not begin that Empire before the Roman Church was most notoriously remarkable for her pride among all the Churches When any make a history of an Empire they must begin it from its original Totally to remove these two mistakes it must be observed that in every country and in every language when any would make a History of an Empire and a Kingdom they begin it from its orginal They that make the History of the Franks or Frenchmen among the Gauls do not fix their beginning on that time when the French were masters of all the Gauls from the frontier of Flanders to the Alps and the Pyrenaean mountains For that happen'd very late But they begin with the first entry of the Franks into Gaul and their first establishment on this side the Rhine When any make a History of the Empire of Rome they begin the Roman History from the first foundation of that City so they reckon'd in Rome it self ab Vrbe Conditâ And this way of reckoning continued till the fifth age when the Christian account began to be in use and men reckon'd by the years of Jesus Christ Moreover 't is the custome of the Scripture and of the Holy Spirit as well as of the World 'T is said the sojourning of the Israelites in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years yet they were not in that slavery above 210 years But the Holy Spirit reckons from the time of the calling of Abraham and his passing into Canaan where he and his off-spring were strangers 'T is therefore all the time of the pilgrimage of the family of Abraham which God begins from its original Lastly 't is the stile of the Prophets and particularly in the Prophecy we are treating of The fourth Beast is the Roman Empire all the World agrees in that where doth the Holy Spirit begin the History of that Beast or of that Empire not at the point of its grandeur which happen'd not till above 400 years after its original but from the point of its birth and that is clear because he ascribes seven heads to that Beast Heads which signify so many Governments under which Rome hath passed Now the first of these Governments is that of Kings under whom Rome in the beginning was no more than a great Village and afterwards a very little City without dependencies This principle therefore must be supposed that the H. Spirit dates the Antichristian Empire from its original 'T is not necessary that the first seeds of Antichristiaenism should have been conceived at Rome The other mistake that we must get rid of is this that Rome is precisely the place where the Empire of Antichrist must have its birth 'T is not so Antichristianism is born every where and it might very well be born in the East before it came to fix its seat in the West That which makes men affix the birth of the Antichristian Empire precisely to Rome is because being struck with what Saint Paul saith that the man of sin must exalt himself above all that is called God they have confined Antichristianism principally and almost solely to tyranny and Pride and have imagined that the birth of Antichristianism was not to be found but in that City which had always been and which afresh was to be the Throne of Pride But herein they have been deceived Antichristianism consists no less in idolatry and corruption of manners than in tyranny in such a manner that in all places where we see the birth of Idolatry Superstition and Corruption there without doubt Antichristianism is born These principles being laid down the three Characters which we have affixed to the Antichristian Empire by reason of its three names must be remembred Idolatry because 't is called Babylon the mother of fornications and abominations corruption of manners because 't is called Sodom Pride and Tyranny The three Characters of Antichristianism began in the fourth Age and first of all superstition because 't is called Egypt When these three sins began to be establisht in the Church Antichristianism began to enter into it Now 't is certain it was towards the end of the fourth and in the whole fifth Age that these disorders received their birth The superstition of Reliques the veneration and worship of them and immediately after the invocation and intercession of the Saints were introduced about the year 360. or 380. Already before this time that superstition had begun among the people I do not at all doubt but that women and simple persons especially those that were but newly converted from Paganism were the first Authors of it Devout ignorant people easily fall into superstition It had been a very ancient custome to frequent the Martyrs tombs there to celebrate their memory to pray for them and there to pray for themselves For in Eusebius's time men were wont to assemble themselves at the sepulchers of the Martyrs to say their prayers upon their sepulchers and there to honour their most happy souls The Papists in this passage would
certain that the corruption was greatly encreased Lastly if we take the last account and reckon from the year 94 in which Saint John composed his Prophecy the 360 years will end about the year 454 and 't is about that time that Theodoret wrote in whose words we have seen that the false worship of the Saints and the Doctrine of secondary intercessors were so well formed Which of the four points we must chuse If we place the birth of Antichristianism in the 360 year of our Lord when men began to render a religious worship to Reliques this Antichristian Empire being to last 1260 years 't is clear that they should have ended in the year 1620. i. e. 65 years ago If we began it according to the second computation in the year 393 or 394 it should have ended in the year 1653 or 1654. If we began it according to the third calculation at the year 430 it should end in the year 1690 about four or five years hence Lastly if following the last computation we begin it about the 450 or 454th year it must end in the year 1710 or one of the following years to 1714. 'T is clear by the event that we must not begin the 1260 years neither from the year 360 nor that of 393. For the Antichristian Empire did not fall in the years 1620 and 1653 as it should have done according to these calculations In those times in the year 360 and the year 393 superstition was yet but in its birth the worship of the creatures was not yet establisht in the publick service Great cautions also were used not to confound the service of God with the service of the creatures which was just ready to receive its birth Moreover the pride of the Bishops of Rome was moderate and their tyranny did not yet extend it self very far Men reckon the years of the life of a man from the time of his birth not from that of his conception Idolatry and tyranny were as yet but like a faetus's that were forming and perfecting but were not yet perfected The principal reason why God will not have the 1260 years of the reign of Antichrist begin but in the 4th Age. Rev. 17.12 But the principal reason why God would not have us count the birth of Antichristianism from the years 360 and 393 is because there was a fourth Character of the birth of that Antichristian Empire that had not yet happen'd that is the ten Kings that were to take their power together with the Beast These ten Kings are ten Kingdoms into which the Roman Empire was to be subdivided And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten Kings which have received no Kingdom as yet but receive power as Kings one hour with the Beast These words are admirable to me they appear express and I am astonisht that it hath not been observed that they precisely mark the time wherein we must begin to reckon the reign of the Beast Especially if we consider them with the words of St. Paul he who now letteth or possesseth will let or possess untill he be taken out of the way then shall that wicked one be revealed That is to say till the time that the head of the Roman Emperors be destroyed These two passages signify expresly from what time we must compute the 1260 years 'T is from the time that the Goths Vandals c. after having a long time harrassed and rent the Roman Empire at last divided it into ten pieces Moreover the falsification of the translation of the Port-Royal that render it thus the ten Kings shall take power for a little time with the Beast would not destroy the evidence of the Oracle though we should suffer the ill translation of these Gentlemen to pass For if we must translate it for a little time by that little time we must understand the three years and a half of Antichrist's duration And seeing we have invincibly proved that these three years and a half consist of 1260 Prophetical days i. e. 1260. years 't is clear we must understand that little time in a prophetical and compendious sense for three years and a half That which is essential here and which the rashness of men hath not been able to take away is that the ten Kings were to receive their power together with the Beast that is to say at the same time Whethey it be for a short or a long one 't is still certain that this Oracle plainly teaches us that we must seek for the birth of the Antichristian Empire in the time when we find ten Kingdoms arise from the dismembred Roman Empire We must therefore see when that was thus dismembred The greatest part of men make the Roman Empire to subsist till the year 475 under certain petty Kings that retained the name of Roman Emperors because they did yet possess the City of Rome from Valentinian the third to Augustulus But the truth of it is that the Roman Empire was parcelled out and rent in pieces and entirely destroyed immediately after the death of this Valentinian who was killed by Maximus Genseric King of the Vandals comes from Africk being called in by the Empress Eudoxia to revenge the death of her husband He takes Rome carries away all the riches precious things and rarities of it They spent fifteen whole days in spoiling it of its treasures Genseric transported them into Africa together with the Empress her daughters and the principal men of Rome Just in the same manner as Nebuchadnezzar carried away the vessels of the Temple and led the flower of the people into captivity 'T is assuredly from this very time that we must compute the entire ruin of the Empire of the City of Rome though it had still a shadow of a Kingdom under the images of Emperours that lasted about twenty years Jeremy reckons 70 years for the captivity of Babylon Yet it is certain the from the last ruin of Jerusalem till the return there were not sixty years But the Prophet counts upon Jerusalem as destroyed and its Kingdom as entirely ruined from Jehojakim's time under whom in truth was the first transportation of the people And since whose time the Kingdom of Judah under Zedekiah was but a shadow of that of his Predecessors because he was the Chaldaeans vassal On this account I say God reckons it for nothing By the like reason we must reckon for nothing those petty Kings of Rome who having as it were nothing more than the City of that name retained however the name of Roman Emperors to Augustulus's time We must reckon the dismembring of the Roman Empire into ten Kingdoms from the death of Valentinian the third Then therefore from the wrecks of the Roman Empire were formed 1. The Kingdom of the Britains in Britanny 2. Of the Saxons 3. Of the Franks 4. Of the Burgundians in the Gauls 5. Of the Visigoths in the South of Gaul and in Spain 6. Of the Sueves in Gallicia
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
of the Truth shall be wholly suppressed but the Truth it self shall not be buryed nor layd in the grave nor forgotten 10. At the end of the three years and a half shall begin the third period of the seventh viol which the Holy Ghost calls the vintage This is the total ruin of Antichrists Kingdom and this period shall last 20 or 25 years 't is probable that it will begin about the year 1690 or a little while after 11. the first thing which shall be done in the third period of the seventh vial is the Fall of the tenth part of the City i. e. of the Kingdom of France which shall break with the Kourt of Rome and wholly change the face of Religion in that Kingdom This is the first action of the vintage 12. The Beast and the false Prophet the Pope and his Agents shall rally all their forces but God shall muster all his together and give the last blow to Popery then the Beast and the false Prophet shall be thrown into the lake and plunged into the bottomless pit Babylon shall wholly fall and it shall be said she is fallen she is fallen CHAP. XV. The Reason why in this work we speak of some things so positively The linking together of our Principles suffers us not to doubt that we now are at the end of the reign of the papacy IN the first Edition of this work I did here finish what I had to say about those events past and future which concern the ruin of Antichrists Kingdom Second Editions have this advantage that they may be suted to the pallates of the Readers of whom a tryal hath been made And were it possible for me to do it I would gladly use this piece of prudence with respect to a Remarque which very many have made namely that in this discourse we speak over positively and which too much confidence concerning things which at the most ought to be propounded only as conjectures Perhaps some time or other men shall know the principal reason which made me speak in so confident a manner and with such tokens of assurance In the mean while I desire their attention to several things which I have to say There are some things that are propounded only as strong conjectures The first is That I do not speak so confidently as 't is believed concerning the most part of those things which are yet to come for example I say not down the exact time of the resurrection of the witnesses I do not say that it shall be exactly in such a year for I have declared and do still declare that I know not from what time God shall please to begin the reckoning of the three years and a half Not but that I strongly hope that God intends to begin it at the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes but this doth not rise to a full assurance That which concerns the rising again of our Reformation by way of inspirations the approaching Reformation of France by way of Authority the fall of the tenth part of the City i. e. of France which shall forsake the papal Kingdom this I say seems to me to be more than a conjecture I confess it and if things should fall out otherwise I should be very much mistaken But however if the fall of popery should begin in some other place I would ingenously confess that I was deceived That the Countries Kingdoms and States which are not under the papacy ought not to be accounted the streets of the great City and that they must not feel an persecution seems to me more than probable and I believe it But notwithstanding I declare that I do not make it an Article of faith and if it should fall out that God should send his desolating scourge upon all the Reformed Churches in Europe without excepting the places where our Religion at this day bears sway I grant that men will have right to accuse me that I have guess'd wrong but not that I made rash conclusions And truly when I consider the horrible looseness which every where prevails I confess that I cannot but fear lest Good should throw all into the same furnace What is propounded as certain Behold therefore what I assert namely that this is the last persecution which Antichrist must raise against the Church and that we are near the end of the twelve hundred and sixty years which is the Period of his Empire and that in the beginning of the next age this Empire must see its end If I should be mistaken nine or ten years and that this Empire should instead of ending in the year 1710 or thereabouts run on untill the year 1720 I do not think that any could justly treat me as a false Prophet and accuse me of rashness Many will not forbear to judge me rash because I propound my conjectures about these things as certain conclusions To this I have a second thing to say That none hath reason to be offended that I am possessed with and perswaded of that which I think I evidently see and that I find the proofs of what I propound convincing to my self I should do ill to demand of others the same assurance and oblige them to entertain the same perswasion I declare the contrary in express terms I am well content as I have said that my Readers should account these assertions to be conjectures provided that I may have the liberty to believe what I see or what I believe I see in the writings of the Prophets Besides it seems that there is no great necessity of punishing me for this pretended rashness seeing if so be that I am mistaken Time is preparing for me a mortification sore enough Let us leave Providence to work it will discover who is guilty of rashness and fond credulity Our principles must be considered The last thing which I would say for my justification is that before any condemns me of rashness as to what I hold that we are at the end of the 1260 years of Antichrists reign my principles must be duely weighed and that not each apart as perhaps some have done but conjointly Behold the principles and their connexion 1. The first is that the papacy is the Antichristian Empire of which these Prophecies speak 2. That Idolatry is the principal Character of this Antichristian Empire 3. That this Empire of the Beast must begin when the Roman Empire was divided into ten Kingdoms and when that Heads the Emperors which was in the Apostle Pauls time was destroyed Here are three principles which I know not how any Protestant can doubt of We shall presently see whither they will lead us 4. My fourth principle is that I have hit the truth in the explication of the seven viols so that stinking ulcer in the first is the horrible corruption of the Church of Rome in the tenth Age. The Sea and rivers of blood in the two following plagues are the Butcheries acted