a very imperfect account of this Divine Book and leave the Reader under great deficiency as to the knowledg of it There are divers of the Refugies who had the sight of this Discourse while they were in France For the Author had finished it near the end of August 1685. about two day 's before the arrival of the new Missionaries the Dragoons who plundred him of all he had So that this was the whole that he was able to save out of that doleful Ship-wreck which since his arrival at a place of security he hath reviewed and corrected in several places And having met with the Accomplishment of Prophecies written by the famous Monsr Jurieu the Author was exceedingly pleased to find that he had explained the 11 th Chap. as promissory of there establishment of the Reformed in France according as that great Man hath done And whereas it may be feared lest this conformity in their opinions seconded with a general hope should make the Protestants who remain still in France the more inclinable to abide there tho they may find opportunities of making their escape he thinks fit to admonish them as from God to obey immediately that Heavenly voice Come out of Babylon my people lest pertaking of her sins ye rereive also of her plagues And to let them know that they cannot go to Mass without either worshipping the Beast or worshipping his Image or without either having his Name or the Number of his Name and without receiving his Mark either in their Foreheads or in their Hands And by becoming inrolled in that list they cease to be of the Number of the 144000. that are sealed and of those who are to Reign with Jesus Christ And as they cannot worship the Host which is but a Creature without being Idolaters so they cannot plead that in their hearts they do it not without the being Hypocrites and through being either Idolaters or Hypocrites they derive upon themselves the Judgments of God. Neither are they to make the Accomplishment of Prophecies nor these Illustrations upon the Apocalypse the Rule of their conduct but they are to govern themselves by the alone Word of God which requires them to beware of Idols to withdraw from Idolaters and to fly from one place to another in time of Persecution and that not only to the hazarding their Estates and their Liberties but their very lives as thousands of Exiles of all qualities Sexes and Ages have done The infinite mercy of God his ineffable and immense Wisdom his Titles of mighty in Power wonderful in Counsel the strong God who can do both above our thoughts and our desires his being a God to whom vengeance belongeth a jealous God who worketh all things for the glory of his Name together with the Intercession of Jesus which is the retreat of an innumerable company of Souls that pray to God day and night for the turning his anger away from his people These I say are Considerations which afford infinitely more solid foundations for the support of our hopes in reference to the re-establishment of the Reformed in France than all human conjectures and reasonings can administer But how firm soever the foundation is that this hope is built upon yet it ought not to hinder those who know the Idolatry of the Romish Church either from withdrawing immediately out of the Kingdom provided they can find a door open to escape or from repairing the injury which through their sacrilegious Abjuration they have done to Religion by a publick and constant Confession of the Truth for the time to come Finally the Author made use of no Books towards the composure of this Discourse save of Launay's Commentary published under the name of Jonas le Buy Sr. de la Perie and of the Synopsis Criticorum He chiefly follows Launay as having a great esteem for his judgment as well as his Learning and as thinking that so good a Guide could not conduct him amiss He oweth to the Synopsis Criticorum among divers other things the Exposition of the Number of the Beast which he hopes to have so much farther inlightned that Mr. Potters Opinion shall be accounted as solid ' as it appeareth subtile and profound But this Preface is too long for an Author that would equally avoid length as well as obscurity And he hopes there will be no cause of fastning upon him that Reproach Dum brevis esse laborus obscurus fis A TABLE Of all the ILLUSTRATIONS On the APOCALYPSE The FIRST Part. 1 WHat we are to understand by the term Beast Pag. 1 2 What is intended by the Seven Heads of the Beast 5 3 What the ten Horns of the Beast do denote and signify 8 4 What it is that the Holy Ghost represents by Great Babylon 10 5 What the Beast is with the two Horns 14 6 Of the Eighth King. 33 7 Who the false Prophet is 37 8 Of the Dragon with seven Heads and ten Horns 49 9 Of the Woman cloathed with the Sun. 52 10 Of the Combate between Michael and the Dragon 55 11 Of the Flight of the Woman 58 12 Of the Flood which the Serpent cast out of his mouth and of the help which the Earth gave unto the Woman 62 13 Of the War which the Dragon being full of Wrath made against the remant of the seed of the Woman Pag. 66 14 Of Babylon the Great the Mother of Harlots that sitteth upon many Waters carrying upon her Forehead the name Mystery and having a golden Cup in her hand 70 15 Of Babylon making all Nations drunk with the Wine of her Fornication and of her being drunk with the Blood of the Saints 77 16 Of the Lamb on Mount Sion and with him the 144000. having the Fathers Name written in their Foreheads 80 17 Of the Three Angels of the Everlasting Gospel and of the Denunciation against Babylon and her followers 84 18 Of the Harvest and the Vintage 90 19 Of the Sea of Glass mingled with Fire 94 20 Of the Opening of the Temple and of the Smoak wherewith it was fiiled 96 21 Of the Fail of Babylon and the time when 98 22 Of the binding of Satan for a thousand years and of the Millennary Reign 105 23 Of the Marriage of the Lamb. 123 24 Of the Holy Jerusalem 126 The SECOND Part. 1 OF the Throne the twenty four Elders the Sea of Glass and the four living Creatures Pag. 129 2 Of the sealed Book which no Creature could open save the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah 134 3 Of the Lamb with seven Horns and seven Eyes and of his being worshipped 136 4 Of the opening of the first six Seals pag. 140 5 Of the four Angels that withheld the four Winds and of the Angel that had the Seal of the living God. 153 6 Of the Hundred forty and four thousand which were sealed of the Tribes of Israel 156 7 Of the Multitude which no man could number that stood before the Lamb with Palms of
he cometh he must continue a short space And the Beast that was and is not even he is the Eighth King and is of the seven and goeth into Perdition He of whom the Angel saith one is was the Roman Emperor who was Master of the Empire in St. Iohn's time He of whom it is said the other is not yet come is the Pope who was not in the time of St. Iohn but hath been since the fifth Century The Angel predicteth concerning the Elevation of this Bishop to his Grandure when he cometh i. e. when he shall usurp the Soveraignty and Domination that he must continue a short space The Pope became Master of Rome and Temporal Lord over it when Gregory the second excommunicated Leo the Emperor Then saith Sigonius Rome past from the Greeks by reason of their Heresie about Images into the hands of the Pope And for seventy years it remained in the same condition under the Popes that it had been formerly under the Emperors and was the subject and Slave of these new Lords But that Form of Government continued not above seventy years for so saith the Angel it must continue for a short space Afterwards the Soveraignty became divided betwixt the Pope and the City of Rome For if the Pope was Temporal Lord and Master Rome was also Lady and Mistriss And this is exactly what the Angel says to St. Iohn and the Beast that was and is not even he is the eight King. This bears no difficulty because he adds he is of the Seven For seeing the Pope is the seventh Head and the seventh King and that the Angel says that the Eighth King is of the seven it cannot otherways be but that he understandeth the Pope as exercising his Domination after two different manners The first alone in the quality of Temporal Lord of Rome and after the manner of the Emperors whose Seat with all their Rights and Soveraignty he had usurped The other in conjunction with Rome which continueth to this day and hath from the time of Pope Leo the third in whom the first sort of Domination ended 'T is in vertue of this union between the Pope and the City of Rome in their Government that upon the one hand Rome is reverenced as the Chair of St. Peter as the Mother and Mistriss of all Churches the Guardian of Faith having her Senate made up of Cardinals qualified with the Title of Cardinals of the Roman Church and by whose Counsel as Affairs are managed so it is by their votes that the Pope is chosen and it is from this upon the other hand that the Pope is worshipped as Successor of St. Peter as Vicar General of Iesus Christ the Husband of the Church as God on Earth and as Soveraign Iudge of all and who can be judged by none This is what we have represented in the 13. Chapter v. 12. where it is said That the second Beast excrciseth all the power of the first Beast and that he causeth them that dwell on the Earth to worship the first Beast For upon the one side Rome and her Senate do all they can to maintain the Soveraign Authority of the Pope and upon the other side the Pope useth his utmost endeavour to make all men Reverence the Church of Rome as the Mother of the Christian Faith and the Mistriss of all Churches Thence it comes also to pass that as the Pope is not stiled the Christian Bishop but the Roman Bishop so Rome is not called by the name of Christian Church but by the name of Roman and Apostolick which is as much as Papal Church For according to the stile of the Court of Rome Apostolick signifies the same that Papal doth so that the Popes Miter his Slipper his Mule his Habit his Bulls his Notaries and in a word all that relates to the Popes Person are called Apostolick There is not one from the highest to the lowest that belongs to him even to the Buffoons that accompany his Nuncio's and Legats but affects to be so stiled He that attended the last Legate into France said to the Dorekeeper of the Playhouse Io sono il Bouffono Apostolico Moreover these two kinds of Government that of the Pope alone and that of the Pope in conjunction with Rome are clearly marqued and recorded in History It was Gregory the second saith Sigonius that took away the Dominion of Rome from the Greeks Gregory the second saith Onuphrius being more couragious than his Predecessor Constantine took from Leo the Emperor all that he had left of the Kingdom of the Lombards in Italy which was done in the year 729. And this Domination of the Pope alone lasted to the year 798. But then saith Vignier certain Citizens being incensed against Pope Leo the third they did under pretence of restoring Rome to its ancient Freedom flirr up the people who seising upon the Pope at a procession put out one of his Eyes and threw him into prison whence being delivered by the Duke of Spoletto and brought to Charlemain that Prince carried him back to Rome the year following and reconciled him with the Romans This reconciliation being made the Popes travelled so well for the re-establishment of their lost Soveraignty that they recovered it but in conjunction with Rome having to this purpose setled there before hand the Primacy and Chair of St. Peter so that if the Pope was from thenceforth respected as the Soveraign Bishop the Head and Royal Judg of the Christian Church Rome also was honoured as the Mother of the Faith and Mistriss of all Churches So that this point cannot be rendred clearer seeing both the seventh and the eighth King appear so plainly in History and particularly in the Popish Historians Sigonius Vignier and Onuphrius do exactly marque the two ways wherein the Popes have exercised their Domination The first from Gregory the second till Leo the third who was so ill handled upon that account and the second from the re-establishment of that Pope by Charlemain upon the condition that Rome should Reign in conjunction with him VII ILLUSTRATION Who the False Prophet is THE False Prophet is spoken of in two places of the Revelation First in the pouring out of the sixth Vial Rev. 16. 13. Three unclean Spirits like Frogs came out of the Mouth of the Dragon and out of the Mouth of the Beast and out of the Mouth of the False Prophet And then in the 19. Chapter where it is said that the Beast was taken and with him the False Prophet and they were cast alive into a Lake of Fire burning with Brimstone Now this False Prophet is nothing else but the Beast with two Horns mentioned in the 13. Chapter but the seventh Head of the Beast with ten Horns and the eighth King that are spoken of in the 17. Chap. v. 11. The Beast with two Horns is the Pope with his twofold power the one over that which is Spiritual the other over that which is Temporal The
the Adoration that all men should be laid under an obligation unto 3. The Body of Christ is according to the Papal Doctrine shut up in a Ciborium or Cupboard And this the Greek word here used doth signify 4. Nor is the Body of Christ according to the Doctrine of the Romish Church shut up meerly in one Cupboard which they call a Pix but in many which the Term here being in the plural number doth also denote 5. The Real Presence is built upon Miracles This every one knows by the many stories which we have of the Hosts having appeared in the Form of an Infant and that it hath been seen all Bloody Which our Saviour also foretold in saying that they who should teach this Real Presence should shew great Signs and Wonders insomuch that if it were possible they should deceive the very Elect. Moreover our Saviour forbids us to believe this invisible Presence of his Body Behold says he I have told you before believe it not And withal he declares that the Presence of the Son of man shall be like unto Lightning which shineth from one end of Heaven unto the other And forasmuch as he declareth that they shall be false Prophets who shall teach this Doctrine it does necessarily follow that tho the Pope through putting it into the Romish Creed and entorcing it by Anathema's is that very same False Prophet of whom St. John speaks in the Apocalypse Nor is the Real Presence of Christ's Body upon their Altars and that singular Adoration which they give unto the Sacrament the only false Doctrine in the Papacy whereby to prove the Pope to be this false Prophet But there are many more which serve to give evidence unto it And particularly that of the Worshipping of Images than which there cannot be a Doctrine more notoriously false 'T is most certain that God had forbid three things in his Law the making Images of things that are in Heaven or things that are in the Earth the bowing down before them and the serving them see Exod 20 4 5. Deut. 5. 8 9. All which the Church of Rome not only practiseth but persecutes all those as Hereticks and wicked persons who do in reference to this matter both obey the Injunctions of the Law and imitate the Example of the Jews since the time they returned from the Babylonish Captivity Is it not a false and an Heretical Doctrine to apply to the Virgin Mary in order to our being saved and to invocate her as the Gate of Paradise the Fountain of Grace and the Mother of Mercy If that Doctrine which overthroweth the Foundation be a Heresie Then it cannot be denied but that this is a gross one in that the Foundation of all Salvation is Iesus Christ alone Other Foundation saith St. Paul can no man lay than that that is laid which is Iesus Christ 1 Cor. 3. 11. And St. Peter saith that there is not Salvation in any other nor any other Name given among men save that of Iesus Christ whereby we may he saved Act. 4. 12. Beside can there be a Doctrine more evidently false than that of Popery which affirmeth the Mass to be a proper Sacrifice wherein our Redeemer is every day sacrificed Seeing the Apostle tells us expresly in the Epistle to the Hebrews chap. 10. v. 10. that we are sanctified through the offering of the Body of Iesus Christ once for all And he maketh this difference between the Sacrifices of the Law and that of our Saviour that they by reason of their imperfection were dayly offered whereas that of our Saviour because of its being infinitely perfect was offered but once And he addeth further in the same place v. 18. that there being under the Gospel Remission of Sins there is no more offering for Sin. So that here is enough to make it appear that the Pope who teacheth Doctrines so notoriously false and Heretical as these are can be no other than that False Prophet whom the Revelation of St. Iohn threatneth the World with VIII ILLUSTRATION Of the Dragon with Seven Heads and ten Horns REV. CHAP. 12. v. 3. IF we should take up with Appearances we should presently believe that this Dragon is the Devil and the rather seeing he is in the ninth verse called the Old Serpent the Devil and Satan who deceiveth the World. But yet the seven Heads and ten Horns which the Dragon is here said to have will not suffer us to doubt its being the same Roman Empire which is spoken of in the 13. Chap. because they are the same Heads and the same Horns of the Beast upon which the Woman sitteth in the 17. Chapter There is this only difference that the Horns of the Beast upon which the Woman sitteth are adorned with Crowns i. e. are Kings whereas the Horns of the Dragon have not these Marks of Soveraignty Which doth not prove them to be two different Beasts and two different Powers but only that the same Beast and the same Power is represented in relation to two different Times and two different Estates The ten Horns of the Beast upon which the Woman sitteth are according to the Explication given by the Angel ten Kings i. e. many Dominions formed out of the Ruins of the Roman Empire Which serveth to prove that Beast to be Rome and its Empire under the seventh Head and making profession of the Christian Religion Whereas the ten Horns of the Dragon are not adorned with Crowns because they were nothing save bare Provinces of Heathen Rome under the Emperors From whence it doth appear that the Dragon with his seven Heads and his ten Horns must necessarily represent the old Roman Empire and exactly denote Rome under the Emperors who are the sixth Head. 'T is called by the name of a Dragon which is a Beast because it is a Dominion and an Empire 'T is stiled Satan and the Devil by reason of the Devil 's being there worshipped under the name of Mars And from hence we see upon what ground Rome was called Martia and the City of Mars namely because the Devil was there as the Soul which acted that vast Body Even as he is called the Serpent in the seduction of the first Woman because he was as the Soul of the Serpent and that it was he that spake to Eva and who seduced her But the question is what is meant by the Tail of the Dragon drawing the third part of the stars of Heaven and casting them to the Earth They who understand the Scripture-stile of speaking cannot be detained a moment by this difficulty Seeing it appears in Isaiah chap. 9. v. 14 15. and chap. 19. v. 15. that whensoever the Scripture speaks of Head and Tail it does by Head intend a person of Rule and Authority and by Tail meaneth a False Prophet Therefore as the seven Heads signify the seven sorts of Rulers that have Governed Rome so the Tail signifieth the Lies False Doctrines Frauds and Impostures upon which the
and that this doth not conclude that the Vials are to be poured out so near one to another nor with so great celerity I Answer unto him that this cannot be the meaning of it because the three Woes are confined to the three last Trumpets the 1st to the fifth the 2d to the sixth and the third to the seventh For according to Mr. Iurieu the sixth hath been exerting its Influences for almost these 800 years and the 3d Wo is not yet come nor shall come till under the sound of the seventh Trumpet So that the whole course of the fifth Trumpet was not so far distant from the sixth Trumpet to which the 2d Wo is attributed as the whole Course of the 6th is distant from the beginning of the 7th under which the 3d Wo is to arrive And therefore it must be owned that the word quickly being used only in reference to the 3d Wo signifieth that all the plagues or which is the same thing that all the Vials shall be poured out close upon one another and that it doth as much as import that there shall not be so much time employed for destroying the Empire of the Beast as there was for the raising of it Mr. Iurieu had obliged the Anonymous Author if he had answered that which occurs in the Preface to his Illustrations and which is layd down in these Terms 'T is evident that there are in the Revelation three principal Visions in which are contained all the great Events that relate to the Roman Empire and to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ i. e. which concern the True Church and the False These Visions are those of the Seals those of the Trumpets and those of the Vials All the other are but Draughts in which what is represented in the Visions of the Seals Trumpets and Vials is reassumed enlarged and more circumstantially explained For the name Seven which is Mystical and which implies perfection do's inform us that these three Visions comprehend all For 't is found in that of the Seals in that of the Trumpets and in that of the Vials and also in that of the Thunders which are the Forerunners of the Vials Moreover these three Visions are immediately link'd one to another so that the second which is that of the Trumpets beginneth under the 7th Seal and the 3d which is that of the Vials beginneth under the 7th Trumpet As this is the foundation of the Anonymous Author's Systeme and as he hath there declared the Key of the Revelation Mr. Iurieu who knows the art of Reasoning might have observed in that Preface a chain of Ratiocination able to dazle the Eyes of the Reader For if it be true that the Vials are not poured out till under the Seventh Trumpet as the Trumpets sound not till upon the opening of the Seventh Seal then it is most certain that all the Vials remain still to be poured out forasmuch as the Seventh Trumpet hath not yet sounded and that we are hitherto under the Sixth Even as it might be justly said that none of the Trumpets had sounded provided it were true that we were yet under the Sixth Seal and that the Seventh were not until this time opened This Reason doth necessarily naturally follow from that which the Anonymous Author had layd down in his Preface and which is the foundation of his Systeme And if Mr. Iurieu hath vouchsafed no Answer to it doubtless it is because he could find no difficulty in it To the foregoing Arguments the Anonymous Author will add two more which whether he shall call proofs or difficulties is to him indifferent The first ariseth from the comparing Rev. chap. 11. v. 19. with chap. 15. v. 5 6 7. In chap. 11. we read that the Temple of God was opened in Heaven and that there was seen in his Temple the Ark of his Testament and that there were lightnings and voices and thundrings and an Earthquake and great haile And chap. 15. we read that St. Iohn looked behold the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony in Heaven was opened and the seven Angels who had the seven plagues came out of the Temple and one of the four Living Creatures gave to the seven Angels seven golden Vials full of the Wrath of the Living God. 'T is evident that these two Visions are parralel and that they both tend to one and the same End. For in each of them we find the opening of the Temple of God which had been shut against the Jews but is now opened to receive them In the one we see the Ark of the Covenant in the other the Tabernacle of Testimony This Ark and this Tabernacle of Testimony are Iesus Christ whom the Iews shall come to Adore Popery and Mahometism are the two great obstacles which hinder the conversion of the Iews and which confirm them in their obstinacy but behold seven Angels who receive seven Vials for the destruction of the Papacy and Mahometism Now the Temple of God not being opened till under the seventh Trumpet which hath not yet sounded it invincibly followeth that none of all the Vials are hitherto poured out The Anonymous Author's other new Argument which he addeth to the former is taken from that which St. Iohn says chap. 15. v. 1. I saw another great Sign in Heaven He had said the same thing chap. 12. v. 3. with respect to the Subject of the Beast with seven Heads and ten Horns which represent the whole extent of the Roman Empire as well Civil as Ecclesiastical i. e. Papal taking this Extent and duration down from the time that these Revelations were given to St. Iohn For the 12th chap. is a commentary upon the Vision of the Trumpets because we find in that chap. the same thing that we find in the Vision of the Trumpets namely the War of the Dragon against the Woman and against those that are of her Seed So that St. Iohn coming to say chap. 15. with respect to the Subject of the seven Plagues which are the Seven Vials I saw another great Sign in Heaven 't is plain that this Sign is different from the first and represents quite another thing So that if the Holy Spirit do promise in this the ruin of the Papal Empire as he had predicted in that the birth and growth of the said Empire we cannot make the Vials to be poured forth under the Sixth Trumpet without mixing what the Spirit of God would separate and without confounding two different Signs and the different things which are represented by those Signs To which Arguments there may be yet a third subjoined grounded upon chap. 15. v. 8. For 't is there said that after one of the four living Creatures had given to the seven Angels seven Vials full of the wrath of the Living God the Temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his Power and no man was able to enter into the Temple till the 7 plagues of the seven Angels
their Felicity and whence they same 159 8 Of the Silence in Heaven for half an hour 162 9 Of the seven Angels with the seven Trumpets and of the Angel who cast the Censer into the Earth 163 10 Of the first Trumpet and of the Hail Fire and Blood. 165 11 Of the second Trumpet a Mountain burning cast in the Sea and a third part of it became Blood. 167 12 Of the third Trumpet A great Star fall from Heaven 169 13 Of the fourth Trumpet the third part of the Sun and of the Moon and of the Stars smitten 172 14 Of the fifth Trumpet the Key of the bottomless Pit given to the Star that fell from Heaven 174 15 Of the Locusts 179 16 Of the sixth Trumpet the loosing of the four Angels in the River Euphrates 194 17 Of the Angel with the Book open 201 18 Of the Voice of the Angel that had his right Foot upon the Sea and his left upon the Earth and of the seven Thunders 203 19 Of the Angels Oath and of the finishing the Mystery of God. 205 20 Of the Angels giving the Book to S. John to be eaten and of the effects which ensue thereupon Pag. 207 21 Of the measuring of the Temple and of the outward Court to be trodden under foot of the Gentiles 209 22 Of the two Witnesses their Sackcloth State the time of their Prophecying and their Dignity 212 23 Of the Witnesses being overcome and slain and left unburied 216 24 Of the rising of the Witnesses their Ascending into Heaven and of what follows upon their triumph 227 25 Of the seventh Trumpet The Ark opened in Heaven the Kingdoms of this world become the Lords 240 26 Of the pouring out of the Vials 245 27 Of the time that the Beasts Reign is to continue 265 28 Of the time when the Beasts Reign or the Papal Empire began 269 29 Of the Destruction of Gog and Magog 278 30 Of S. Johns Offence in falling at the Angels feet to worship him 280 31 Of Christs directing his Epistles and his Revelation to the seven Churches and why 284 ◠Defence of the Illustrations upon the Apocalypse concerning the Effusion of the Vials Page 1 Reasons for the Non-Effusion of the Vials 27 A NEW SYSTEME OF THE APOCALYPSE OR A Plain and Methodical Explanation of all the Visions of the REVELATION of St. JOHN The FIRST Part. I. ILLUSTRATION What we are to understand by the BEAST SAint John having in the 17. Chapter v. 1 2 3. told us how he was carried into the Wilderness by one of the Seven Angels that had the seven Viols and how he there saw a Woman sitting upon a Scarlet Beast full of Names of Blasphemy having seven Heads and ten Horns and having in the Vision related in the 13. Chapter described this Beast unto us we are therefore in the first place to inquire what is meant by this Beast with Seven Heads and Ten Horns that we may be able thereby to know with the more certainty and with the greater plainness who this Woman is that is called Babylon the Great whom the Beast carries Nor will it be difficult to understand the meaning and import of this Term Beast it having been explained in the Visions of Daniel For that Prophet having in the 7 th Chap. v. 3 4 5 6 7. declared how that he beheld Four Beasts rising out of the Sea the first whereof resembled a Lion the second a Bear the third a Leopard and the fourth different from the three former He adds that having asked one of the Angels that stood before the Ancient of Day 's what the meaning of that Vision might be it was answered him v. 17. that these four Beasts were four Kings which should arise upon the Earth So that this Explication vouchsav'd by the Angel unto Daniel concerning the Vision of the four Beasts do's fully inform us that this Term Beast in the Revelations of St. John signifies a Power à n Empire a Succession of Kings and Rulers as the four in Daniel's Visions represented the four Empires the Assyrian Persian Grecian and Roman with which the Church of God was concerned and which four Empires had been before represented by the Image that appeared to Nebuchadnezzar in his Dream Dan. 2. 31 c. The word Beast being then used in the Visions of Daniel to denote an Empire or a Succession of Soveraign Rulers it can have no other signification affixed unto it in the Visions of St. John forasmuch as one Spirit inspired both the Apostle and the Prophet And this is the more evident in that Daniel's fourth Beast is the same with that in St. Johns Visions as do's plainly appear by the universal and perfect Agreement that is between the one and the other 1. Whereas Daniel tells us c. 7. v. 7. that the Fourth Beast which is the Roman Empire and to which he gave no Name was different from the three former from the Lion the Bear and the Leopard so St. Iohn represents the Beast upon which the Woman sitteth not only as diverse from those three but as that which there is none that bears any resemblance unto and which as he says Rev. 13. 2. had the Body of a Leopard and whose Feet were as the Feet of a Bear and his Mouth as the Mouth of a Lion. 2. Whereas Daniel Chap. 7. 7. says of the fourth Beast that he had ten Horns St. Iohn says the same of the Beast that carried the Woman Rev. 17. 12. 3. And as Daniel informs us Chap. 7. 24. that the ten Horns of the fourth Beast were ten Kings that should arise out of that Kingdom St. Iohn likewise assures us Rev. 17. 12 that the ten Horns of the Beast upon which the Woman sitteth are ten Kings which had not then received any Kingdom 4. Whereas Daniel says Chap. 7. v. 8. 25. that the little Horn of the fourth Beast had a Mouth speaking great things and uttering words against the Most High. St. Iohn also say's of the Beast that carried the Woman Rev. 13. 5 6. that there was given unto him a Mouth speaking great things and that he opened his Mouth in Blasphemies against God. 5. Forasmuch as Daniel tells us Chap. 7. v. 21. concerning the little Horn of the fourth Beast that he made war with the Saints and prevailed against them St. John say's the same of the fourth Beast upon which the Woman sitteth Rev. 13. 7. namely that it was given unto him to make war with the Saints and to overcome them 6. And whereas Daniel declares Chap. 7. v. 25. that the Saints shall be given into the hands of the fourth Beast a time times and the dividing of time St. John declares also of the Beast upon which the Woman sitteth Rev. 13. 7. that Power was given unto him to continue forty and two moneths which make just three Prophetical years and a half 7. Lastly Forasmuch as Daniel says of the fourth Beast chap. 7. v. 11. that he was
stain and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame St. Iohn declares the same of the Beast that carried the Woman Rev. 19. v. 20. how that he was taken and cast into a Lake of Fire burning with Brimstone So that after the agreement of the one Beast with the other in so many particulars there is no room left for suspition but that Daniel's fourth Beast is the same with the Beast described by St. Iohn upon whom the Woman stiled Babylon the Great sitteth and that all the Revelations of St. Iohn are nothing else but a continuation of the Prophetical History which Daniel had begun of the Roman Empire and of the Church of God. II. ILLUSTRATION What is intended by the Seven Heads of the Beast REV. CHAP. 17. v. 20. THe Seven Heads ascribed to the Beast in the Vision of St. Iohn serve to explain the Vision in Daniel and do make it clearly appear that the fourth Beast which the Prophet Daniel describes and which is the same with that described by St. Iohn can represent nothing save the Roman Empire For proof of this we are only to observe the Explication which the Angel gave of that Vision to Saint Iohn Rev. 17. v. 9. Here is the mind say's he that hath wisdom the seven Heads are seven Mountains on which the Woman sitteth And they are seven Kings five are fallen and one is and the other is not yet come These seven Hills do so plainly point out and characterise the City of Rome that the Angel could not have more evidently declared it if he had directly mentioned it the Terms wherein he represents it being so agreeable to the Character of the City buils upon seven Hills which is the stile whereby their own Poets Ovid Propertius Horace and Virgil do describe it Septemque una sibi muro circumdedit Arces Virg. Dîs quibus septcm placuere colles dicere carmen Horat. Septem urbs alta jugis toti qui praesidet Orbi Propert. Sed quae de septem totum circumspicit Orbem Montibus Imperii Roma Deûmque locus Ovid. Accordingly that learned Roman Varro being speaking of a Festival called Septimentium that was dedicated to the Honor of Rome of which they had made a Goddess say's that this Feast took its name from the seven Mountains on which Rome was built Nor are there any but who do know these Hills to have been the Palatine the Capitoline the Aventine the Celian the Esquiline the Viminal and the Quirenal So that from and by means of these Mountains we come to be assured that the Beast with seven Heads according to the exposition given by the Angel can be nothing but the Roman Empire And this is made further evident by the seven Kings which as the Angel tells us are also signified by the seven Heads Rev. 17. v. 10. And there are seven Kings five are fallen and one is and the other is not yet come Which seven Kings do most infallibly denote the seven Forms of Government under which Rome hath been and through which it hath passed since its Foundation For it is the Scripture method of expression to signify by Kings all sorts of Supream Governors As appears both from the 36. of Genesis v. 31. where Moses having reckoned up the Kings that reigned in Edom before there reigned any King over the Children of Israel means no more than before there was any Soveraign Magistrate in Israel and from Deut. 33. v. 5. where Moses is said to have been King in Ieshurun Now the seven kinds of Supream Magistrates by which Rome hath been governed are Kings Consuls Decemviri Military Tribunes Dictators Emperors and Popes Five whereof the Angel says were fallen and that the sixth which was that of Emperors now is namely in the time of St. Iohn but that the seventh was not yet come forasmuch as the Bishop of Rome was not at that time what he is since grown up unto by his Usurpations of being as well the Soveraign Master over Kings and Emperors as Monarch over the Church But we are not yet come to prove the Pope to be meant by the seventh Head it being necessary before we advance to that to explain divers other particulars so that it is enough for the present to have shewn that the Beast with the seven Heads can represent nothing else save the Roman Empire III. ILLUSTRATION What the Ten Horns of the Beast do denote and signify REV. CHAP. 17. v. 12. THE Lamb by which our Saviour is represented is said to have Horns as well as the Beast but the signification of the Horns of the one is somewhat different from the meaning of the Horns of the other Those of the Lamb do denote the Power of Jesus Christ and the number seven intimates the perfection of it Rev. 5. v. ◠So that the Lamb 's being represented with seven Horns is to signify the Fulness of his Power or as it is in the language of St. Paul Phil. 2. 9 10. His having a Name given him above every name that at the Name of Iesus every Knee should bow But the Horns of the Beast do signify Kingdoms and Dominions as appears by their being applied to such a sense in the Visions of Daniel Thus the Ram by which was signified the King of Persia Dan. 8. 3. is represented with two high Horns and whereof the one was higher than the other because the Kingdom of Persia was more powerful than that of the Medes And accordingly the Angel tells St. Iohn that the Ten Horns of the Beast are Ten Kings Nor is it of any great moment whether the number Ten do signify punctually so many it being sufficient to take the word indefinitely for the intimating a considerable number it being so used elsewhere And thus it both signifies the great Extent of the Roman Empire and serves to demonstrate that it is only this Empire which we have represented in the Revelation there being no other in St. Iohns time that could answer the vast importance of this Phrase or at least none that was known and with which the Church of God had any concernment And it is by reason of its greatness that the Sacred Writers call it by the stile of all the World and of the whole habitable Earth Luc. 2. 1. Rev. 13. 3 8. Rev. 17. 18. As if all Nations had been under the jurisdiction of the Roman Emperors But whereas there seems to be a contradiction in the Explication given by the Angel in that after he had said that the Ten Horns of the Beast are Ten Kings he adds Rev. 17. 12. that these ten Kings had received no Kingdom as yet but were to receive power as Kings one hour with the Beast Seeing if he intend by the Beast the Roman Empire as it florished in St. Iohns time how can he say that these Kings had received no Kingdom as yet and that they were only to receive their power at the same season with the Beast I
say this seeming contradiction in the Explanation given by the Angel will easily vanish when we shall have expounded the Vision of the Beast with Two Horns Which before we proceed unto it is necessary that we explicate that of Babylon the Great IV. ILLUSTRATION What it is that the Holy Ghost represents by Great Babylon REV. CHAP. 17. 'T IS not a matter any longer disputed whether Rome be intended by Great Babylon it being acknowledged both by Bellarmin and by the most famous Iesuites that have commented upon the Revelation And Cardinal Perron as well as several others conclude Peter's having been at Rome from his having dated his Epistle from Babylon 1 Pet. 5. 13. Which confession confirmeth all that we have said concerning the Beast with seven Heads and Ten Horns So that there remain only two Questions to be decided whereof one is whether we are to understand by Babylon Rome as it was Heathen or Rome as it is Christian And after we shall have demonstrated that it is Rome Christian that is intended by Babylon the second Question will be whether by Babylon we are to understand Rome as it now is or as it is to be under the Reign of a certain pretended Antichrist whom the Advocates for the Pope will have yet to come As to the first Question namely that by Babylon as St. Iohn describes â—t we are to understand Rome Christian and not Rome Heathen the following Arguments will be sufficient to demonstrate it 1. 'T is certain that the Holy Ghost in describing the Apocalyptick Babylon does allude to Babylon of the Chaldees where the People of Israel were held captive seventy years Babylon of the Chaldees was a Type of this whereof St. Iohn speaks And it being of the nature of Types to be of a different constitution and frame from those things which they typify and whereof they are Emblems it does necessarily follow that the Chaldean Babylon being Heathen this whereof St. Iohn speaks must be of a Religion differing from that and consequently Christian And withal that as the Bondage of the Israelites in Babylon of the Chaldees was Corporal so that of Christians in the Apocalyptick Babylon must be Spiritual 2. St. Iohn describes Rome not as it was under the Emperors which were the sixth Head but as it was to be under the seventh Hoad and under the eighth King which must necessarly be the Succession of the Popes 3. The Babylon which St. Iohn describes Rev. 17. 8. is one that ascended out of the Bottomless Pit and which is an infernal Power and contrary to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and to his Word which cannot be affirmed of the Soveraignty of Rome as it was Pagan in that all the several Governments of this World were ordained by God Rom. 13. 1. but may very well be said of Rome as it is Antichristian 4. St. Iohn describes Rome as it was to be after the destruction of the Empire and its division among Ten Kings who were to receive their pomer at the same with the Beast Rev. 17. 12. which as it can no ways agree to Rome as Heathen so the event hath shewed that the Popes grew up to their Domination at the same time when thro the subversion of the Roman Empire by the Northern Nations many Kingdoms were formed out of it 5. St. Iohn Rev. 18. 13. describes Babylon as a Merchant that bought the Souls of men which is not applicable to Rome as Pagan it being certain that it never used that abominable Traffick It bought Slaves to serve it self of their Bodies but it never bought Souls nor sought to purchase men by money to be of the Heathen Religion that was never practised but by Rome Christian It is notoriously known that the Clergy of France have for divers years advanced a Fond for the buying the Souls of Protestants and have drove that Traffick and made Purchases of them in all the Provinces of the Kingdom So that from this Topick also it must be Rome Christian that is the Babylon here meant 6. St. Iohn foretels Rev. 18. 2. that Babylon shall be destroyed and become the Habitation of Devils But it did not befal Rome Heathen to be destroyed and when it was taken by the Goths it was Christian So that the Babylon here meant must be Rome Christian and which for becoming Antichristian and the Habitation of Devils is to be utterly destroyed 7. St. Iohn says Rev. 19. 3. of the Babylon that he intends that after its subversion it shall never be built again but that it shall be a perpetual desolation Which forasmuch as it did not befal Rome Pagan it must therefore be Rome Christian that is the Babylon threatned to be so thrown down as that She shall be found no more at all Rev. 18. 21. 8. St. Iohn upon his beholding Babylon Idolatrous and drunken with the Blood of Saints and Martyrs he was surprised and astonished when I saw says he Rev. 17. 5 6. that Babylon was become a Harlot and an Idolatress and that She was drunken with the Blood of the Martyrs I wondred with great admiration Now he must be under more than a natural blindness who does not perceive that St. Iohn would not have been astonished to see Rome Pagan and as She was in his time an Idolatress and a Murtheress seeing he had never known her otherwise than with these two Qualities whereas he had reason to be amased that the Vision should represent unto him what was to be afterwards and how that Rome as Christian was to be immerged in Idolatry and to persecute Christians for not being Idolatrous as She was So that there cannot be a more foolish imagination than by Babylon to understand Rome as it was Heathen 9. Lastly The Beast and Babylon are one and the same power so that St. Iohn Rev. 19. 21. joins the Beast with the false Prophet which proveth beyond all possibility of rational Contradiction that Babylon which is nothing else save the Beast is in truth a Temporal Power but founded upon a specious pretence of Religion and upon the Vicarship of Iesus Christ and upon St. Peter so that thereby also it appeareth that it is She in whom the Mystery of Iniquity is fulfilled 2 Thess 2. 7. Rev. 17. 5. As for the other Question whether that seeing Babylon signifies Rome Christian we are therefore to understand thereby Rome Christian as She is now and hath been for many Ages past or as She is to be under the Reign of a certain Antichrist whom the Partisans for the Pope will not have to be yet come I say that Question will be fully resolved when we have made it appear that the Beast with the Two Horns is the Papal Empire the Pope the Eighth King the false Prophet and Antichrist V. ILLUSTRATION What the Beast is with the Two Horns REV. CHAP. 13. v. 11. THE Beast whereof we have hitherto discoursed and which as we have proved signifies the Roman Empire may be
considered two ways First more grossly and in the bulk as it comprehendeth all the Seven Heads and in that sense it is nothing but a Regency under the seven Forms of Government which Rome hath passed throw since its Foundation and so it indefinitely and at large designs the Roman Empire Secondly As it is used precisely or strictly to denote the Beast under the seventh Head which is the Pope or Papal Power and so it is represented by the Beast with Two Horns 'T is most evident that it is Rome under the seventh Head which is the Pope that is here spoken of in that it is the Healing of the Wound which the Beast had received under the sixth Head. For he both speaks of this Wound in the third Verse and then of the Healing of it by the Beast with two Horns which is the Papacy in the 12. Verse Now that the Papal Empire is the Seventh Head or the Beast with Two Horns will be demonstratively proved by observing the conformity which is between that Beast and the Papal Kingdom 1. For whereas the Term Beast does signify a Domination and an Empire it cannot be denied but that the Romish Church is an Empire and that it may be stiled the Papal Kingdom and the Roman Empire 2. Forasmuch as Horns according as we have proved do denote Iurisdictions and Powers so the Papal Authority comprehends a twofold Power and two kinds of Domination one over that which is Temporal and another over that which is Spiritual One over this Life and another over that which is to come So that the Papal Kingdom must be that which is meant by the Beast with Two Horns 3. Whereas 't is said Rev. 13. 11. that the Two Horns of the Beast were like the Two Horns of the Lamb. All do know that Jesus Christ hath a twofold Authority or two kinds of Soveraignty One over the Soul and another over the Body One over that which is Temporal and another over that which is Spiritual And seeing the Pope boasts of this twofold Authority under pretence of being the Vicar of Jesus Christ it does therefore follow that he is the Beast with the Two Horns 4. And whereas 't is said Rev. 13. 11. that the Beast with two Horns spake as a Dragon 't is undeniable that the Pope speaks in the same manner and not only like the Devil Matth. 4. 9. assumeth to himself a Right of Disposing of all the Kingdoms of the World and of forbidding men to obey the Commandments of God but as the calumniating Spirit he reproacheth Gods Word both by accusing it of falsehood and by robbing it of its perspicuity integrity perfection sufficiency and of its Authority which he challengeth to himself 5. It being said Rev. 13. 12. that the Beast with two Horns exerciseth all the power of the first Beast whose deadly wound was healed This does perfectly agree to the Papal Power For the Roman Empire that flourished in St. Iohn's time having received a Deadly Wound it became healed thro the application of the Papal Authority as a Plaister unto it Now that Wound consisted in two things in the Subversion of the Pagan Idolatry and in the Abatement of the Glory of Rome And the Heathens were wont to observe in their Disputations against the Christians that as the ancient Religion fell from its splendor so the Glory of Rome did proportionably decay And as the Pagan Idolatry became in effect destroyed by the conversion of Constantine and the care of his Successors so Rome as to its Glory being first much darkned and almost extinguished and then being destroyed by the Goths tho it came afterwards to be restored yet it was never honored to be the Residence of the Emperors in that they fixed their abode at Ravenna and Millan These two Wounds seemed to be incurable but the Papal Soveraignty did perfectly heal them both For in the room of the God's Worshipped under Paganism there was set up the Adoration of Angels Saints the Consecrated Bread and of Relicks So that by this new Idolatry Panagism became again restored And withal Rome hath recovered a Glory not only equal unto its former but greater than what it had seeing the Pope thro having made it the Seat of his Empire appears there as the true Successor of the Heathen Emperors as the Commander of Kings and as the Supream Pontife as well as Chief Cesar who hath united the Priesthood to the Imperial Dignity In a word the Pope is the Head of a Senate attired in Purple and challengeth a Right of Deposing Kings and of disposing Crowns and who receives Tribute from all People and makes himself to be adored not only with a Civil but with a Religious Adoration as the Emperors of old used to be Both Blondus and Steuchus Bishop of Egubium do ingenuously describe without being aware of it how the Wound which Rome had received is again healed thro means of the Soveraignty that is come to be vested in the Pope The first says That the Majesty of Rome is now greater than ever it was because the Princes of the Earth do now worship the Successor of St. Peter as perpetual Dictator that is as Soveraign Pontife and as Vicar of the High Priest Jesus Christ And the other tells us That if after the Subversion of the Roman Empire God had not raised up the Papacy in which the ancient Majesty of Rome is revived that City had been a Habitation of Brute Beasts whereas by the establishment of the Papacy it hath recovered a grandure very little different from that which it had in the time of the old Empire seeing all Nations do now no less Reverence the Bishop of Rome than heretofore they obeyed the Roman Emperors So that by this it appears that the Beast with Two Horns is nothing but the Papacy forasmuch as the Papal Power hath healed Rome of the Wound she had received under the Emperors and rendred her again both Idolatrous and Mistriss of the World as she was heretofore 6. Whereas 't is said of the Beast with Two Horns Rev. 13. 12. That he causeth the Earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first Beast this agrees also to the Papacy which causeth that Rome being healed of its Wound is as much if not more reverenced than ever it had been upon an alledged pretence of having been the Chair and Seat of St. Peter As the Pagans made a Goddess of Rome Heathen by consecrating a Temple and dedicating a Feast unto her which they called Septimontium so Christians do no less make a Goddess of Rome Christian both by stiling her the Mistriss of the World and thro attributing to her the Priviledg of Infallibility that does belong to none save unto God. 7. 'T is further said Rev. 13. 13. That the Beast with two Horns doth great Signs and Wonders so that he maketh Fire come down from Heaven Now all men do not only know that the Romish Legends are full
all men know that the Papal Kingdom does consist Tho there be some Popish Princes that cannot bring themselves to confess it because their Ambition will not suffer them to acknowledg a Master But in the 17. chap. he sets it before us under the Portraiture of a Woman to give us to understand that this Kingdom represented by the Beast is a Church and a Religious Society For it is the stile of the Prophets as well as of the Apostles to speak of the Church as of a Spouse Nor doth the Holy Spirit describe it only to us as a Woman but as a Harlot and an Adultress to intimate her Spiritual Adultery which is Idolatry and by which she hath violated her Covenant with God. Which is enough to convince the most obstinate Papists that St. Iohn neither speaketh in the 17. Chapter nor in the 13. of a Heathen Society God having never honoured any such with the taking it into Covenant with him But upon the whole it appears to be a Christian Society which thro its Idolatry is become Antichristian Nor doth this Portraiture represent her only as a Woman that is an Adulteress but as a Woman that is the Mother of Harlots Rev. 17. 5. to declare thereby the more plainly unto us that it is the Roman Church which is meant who calls her self as well the Mother as the Mistress of all those Christian Churches that are become Idolatrous as She is Moreover the Holy Ghost represents this Woman that is the Mother of Harlots sitting upon many Waters Rev. 17. 1 15. to point out as it were with the finger unto us the Church of Rome which extendeth and exerciseth her Domination both Spiritual and Temporal over multitudes of People and Nations Finally he describes this Woman sitting upon a Beast with seven Heads and ten Horns Rev. 17. 3. that he may tell us thereby plainly and without shift or evasion that it is the Papacy and the Papal Kingdom which is meant which is risen up in the room and hath taken the place of the ancient Roman Empire According as hath been already demonstrated That we may yet better know this Papal Empire let us take a view of the Image of Gold Silver Brass and Iron which the King of Babylon beheld in his Dream and which Daniel expounded unto him These are the words of the Prophet Chap. 2. v. 20. The fourth Kingdom shall be strong as Iron for as Iron breaketh in pieces all things so shall the fourth Kingdom break in pieces and subdue all That fourth Kingdom is the Roman Empire under Consuls and Heathen Emperors But Daniel adds Whereas thou sawest the Feet and Toes part of potters Clay and part of Iron the Kingdom shall be divided but there shall be in it the strength of the Iron This Division arrived after the Death of Theodosius For then the Empire became divided into the Eastern Empire and the Western Empire Now as the Feet are united with Legs so the Papal Kingdom is united with the Western Empire For it hath both succeeded to it and is possessed of all the Soveraign Rights and Majesty of it The ten Toes of the Feet answer to the ten Horns and to the ten Kingdoms over which the Papal Empire is established and extends its Domination This Empire saith Daniel shall be strong as Iron and weak as Potters Clay Which agrees fully to the Papal Kingdom Upon the one hand there was never an Empire more formidable as it hath proved towards Kings and Emperors who have suffered themselves to be rob'd and derived of their Estates and Dominions by the meer Force of Papal Excommunications And upon the other hand there was never an Empire more feeble in that there needs no more to destroy it but not acknowledg it It s great weakness appeared in the loss and disaster which the bare Writings of Luther brought upon it The Kings who now depend upon it need do no more to be delivered from its yoak but to disclaim its Headship There is one considerable thing more which Daniel adds in reference to the Feet of the Image and which no Expositors have rightly understood The Prophet says Chap. 2. v. 43 that as Iron cannot cleave to clay so they shall not cleave to one another but they shall mingle themselves with or by means of the seed of men Those whom Daniel intends by saying they shall not join together are either the two Empires the Eastern and the Western or the ten Toes the ten Horns and the ten Kingdoms which belong to the Western Empire 'T is probable that the Spirit of God designed both but more especially and principally the latter And the event hath made it certain that the Division of the Roman Empire could never be accommodated and repaired For even while it was Christian it had two Heads one in the East at Constantinople and another in the West at Rome The difference that arose in their Creeds caused that the Greek Church could not unite with the Latine Yet these two Empires did sometimes mingle by the seed of men in that they mutually assisted each other with Forces When the Eastern Empire became Mahometan it was then impossible to unite that Empire with the Empire of the West which is the Papal Nevertheless they have mingled by the seed of men i. e. by the Greeks educated in the Roman Church with whom the Pope fills the Greek Church under the Dominion of the Turks For to this purpose there are Seminaries maintained at Rome from whence there are Missionaries sent every year into the Turkish Empire As to the ten Kingdoms represented by the ten Toes it is certain that if they minded their interest they would never unite with the Pope seeing he hindreth them from being Soveraigns through challenging to be above them and yet even they mingle and unite by the Seed of men Which Seed of men is nothing but the unwritten Word Humane Doctrines and Traditions called by the Prophet the Seed of Men in opposition to the Divine Seed the Seed of which we are born again which is the Word of God 1 Pet. 1. 23. Nor is it any thing save Bigotry in reference to human Traditions that maketh Kings to mingle and unite with the Pope as Children with their Father and causeth them to court him for obtaining his Favour and Pontifical Benediction VI. ILLUSTRATION Of the Eighth King. REV. CHAP. 17. v. 11. AFter that we have explained the Vision of the Beast with seven Heads and ten Horns and that of Babylon the Great and that of the Beast with two Horns which is the seventh Head to wit the Pope it will be easie to know who this Eighth King is of whom there is mention made Chap. 17. v. 11. To this purpose let us first hearken to the Exposition of the Angel Rev. 17. v. 9 10 11. The seven Heads says he are seven Mountains and seven Kings Five are fallen one is and the other is not yet come And when
and Antichristian Each of them had its Vicar Babylon her Caliph who calls himself the Vicar of God and of Mahomet and Rome her Pope who stiles himself the Vicar of Iesus Christ and of St. Peter Finally Heathen Babylon was a Type of Rome Papal and Antichristian as the Redemption of the Iews from the Babylonish Captivity was a figure of the Departure of the Reformed from the Communion of Rome So that we are not to be surprised that the Holy Ghost should under the name of Babylon intend Rome But we must examin all the Lineaments of this Portraiture that so if it thereby appear that all of them do agree to Rome we may no longer doubt but that it is Rome which is here signified by Babylon In the first place St. Iohn says that he saw a Woman Now as the Church of God is represented under the Idea of a Woman being the Spouse and Wife of the Lamb so Rome is also a Church but She is the Spouse of the Pope whom we have proved to be Antichrist 2. The Woman which St. Iohn saw sat upon a Scarlet-coloured Beast full of the Names of Blasphemy having seven Heads and ten Horns Rev. 17. 3. And we have already proved that this Beast is the Roman Empire Which as it is represented under a Scarlet Colour because both its Senators and Emperors chose to wear that colour so the Beast is said to be full of Names of Blasphemy because the Empire was stiled Eternal Rome a Goddess and the Emperors Gods. The Church of Rome sitteth also upon this Beast because she hath succeeded unto and is possessed of the Majesty of the Roman Empire and hath revived all its Blasphemies through calling her self Eternal and Infallible 3. St. Iohn stiles Babylon a Harlot and the mother of Harlots which is as much as Idolatrous and the Mother of Idolaters Now Rome calleth her self the Mother of all Churches and as she stands convicted of being Idolatrous by the adoration that she giveth to Bread and the accidents of it in the Eucharist and the Worship which she rendreth to the Cross to the holy Virgin to Images and to the Pope himself so all Churches within her Communion are Idolatrous as she is Which proves her to be the Harlot and the Mother of Harlots which St. John describeth 4. He further adds that this Woman sitteth upon many Waters Which Waters the Angel explaineth to be Nations the Waters says he which thou sawest where the Whore sitteth are peoples Nations and Tongues Rev. 17. 15. Now all do know that Rome pretendeth to have a Right of jurisdiction over the whole World and in truth She was heretofore reverenced by all Europe as the Seat of the everlasting Kingdom of the Son of God. 5. Babylon carrieth in her fore-head a Name Written MYSTERY Nor can any deny but that this agreeth to the Church of Rome For the Pope carried heretofore the Name Mystery upon the Brim of his Myter which exactly answered to the forehead Julius the second was he who took it away out of his and since then it hath been no more used nor seen And King James the first of great Brittain having affirmed that persons who were worthy of credit had seen the Name Mystery upon the Miter of the Popes that were before Julius the second the Jesuite Lessius contenteth himself with bare answering that we are not to seek for a Mystery in a Mystery Which is an acknowledgment of the matter of Fact and a confession that it used to be there In a word there is no one thing in the Papal Church but what is Mysterious The Habit 's of the Popes of the Cardinals of the Arch-Bishops of the Bishops of the Priests and of the Monks are all full of Mysteries that are wholly unintelligible to the people Nor doth the Priest use the least Gesture nor the least Motion at the Altar or in any part of their Divine Service which is not Mysterious and hid from the understanding of the Vulgar 6. Of what other but of Rome can that be understood which is said of Babylon namely that she hath a Golden Cup in her hand full of Abominations and Filthiness of her Fornication The Scripture doth elsewhere compare Doctrines to Drink or to diet that is fit to nourish so that these Abominations which are in the Golden Cup are abominable Doctrines such as the Forbidding Priests to Marry and the commanding to abstain from meatâ— The Church of Rome findeth it to be more to her purpose that a Priest should keep a Harlot rather than that he should have a lawful Wife which is an Abomination She imposeth a greater Punishment on them that shall eat Flesh in Lent upon Friday than upon those who commit Adultery and Murther which is an Abomination She taketh away the Cup in the Sacrament both against the express command of the Son of God who sayth drink ye all of it Matth. 26. 27. and contrary to the practice of the Apostles and of the whole Church for the first five Centuries as themselves do aknowledg Which is an Abomination She teacheth that Christ is not really present in the Eucharist unless it be the Priests pleasure to have it so and keth the Presence of the Son of God to depend upon the Intention of a wretched creature which is an Abominable Doctrine She every day Sacrificeth the Lord of Glory and offereth him up to the Honor of Saints which is an Abomination In brief all the Doctrines of the Papacy and all their Worship are an Abomination because they all tend to the Worship of the Creature But the Golden Cup by means of which she makes the people receive and swallow them is her Infallibility It is with this that She Guilds over her false Doctrines and her Superstitious Worship They do ingenuously acknowledg that neither Transubstantiation nor the Sacrifice of the Mass nor the Adoration of the Host nor the Worship of Images nor any of their other Doctrines and Errors are founded on the Scripture but the Church of Rome having decreed and enjoined them and She being Infallible we are to receive them implicitely and without examination or otherway's we are to be eternally damned By means of this glistering Cup all is submissively received by the deluded people This serveth to make them swallow down the greatest Abominations such as the prohibition of reading the Scripture and of serving God in a language which they understand and the doctrines of Worshipping the Host the Cross the Pope the with-holding the Cup and a thousand other Superstitions 7 Moreover it is said of Babylon chap. 18. v. 7. that She saith in her heart I sit a Queen am no Widow and shall see no sorrow Which is the very language of the Church of Rome She stiles her self the Soveraign Lady and Mistris of all Christians not only of inferior people but of Princes Kings and Emperors And indeed She is an Empire having for her Monarch the Pope for her
seventh head of the beast with ten Horns is the Pope as Successor of the Emperors The Eight King is also the Pope as he is the Husband of the Roman church which Rules in conjunction with him over all Churches of the Papal Communion And the False Prophet is likewise the Pope as he is a false Teacher one who seduceth the world by his false Doctrines and who hath established the most Despotical Empire that ever was in the World upon the pretence of being the Supream Teacher of the Church 'T is true that the word Prophet signifieth usually one that Fore-telleth things to come but it is also evident that in the Scripture it doth sometimes signify only a Teacher Accordingly St. Paul in his first Epistle to the Corinthians Chap. 14. useth the Term Prophet to signify meerly a Teacher or one that Explaineth a Doctrine And it is in this sense that the Pope is stiled a False Prophet which is as much as to say a False Teacher one that teacheth false Doctrines because that as they are not Revealed so they are contrary to all Revelation We have already proved in the fore-going Illustrations that the Pope is the Seventh Head of the Beast with ten Horns that he is the Beast with two Horns and that he is the eighth King so that he is therefore the False Prophet and consequently Anti-christ Now if it do upon the other side appear that the Pope is Antichrist it will from thence follow that he is the False Prophet the eighth King the Seventh Head of the Beast with ten Horns and the Beast with two Horns And we will endeavour to give that light to these two Truths that all who have eyes to see may easily discern them That the Pope is Antichrist appeareth from this that there is nothing said in the sacred Scriptures concerning Antichrist but what perfectly agrees to the Pope 1 St. John tells us in the 4 th Chapt. of his 1st Epistle v. 3. that he is Antichrist who denieth that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh Now the Papal Doctrine of the Real presence answereth this Character in that Iesus Christ cometh not in Flesh upon their Altars being he is there according to the doctrine of the Romish Church after the manner of a Spirit which hath neither flesh nor bones There is nothing so August and sacred in the Papal Religion as their Eucharist their Host which they call God and Christs Body but a Christ that is not like unto his Bretheren a God that is not manifested in the Flesh. 2 St. Paul speaking of the Son of Perdition who is the Anti-christ tells us in the 2 d Epist to the Thessalonians chap. 2d v. 4. that he exalteth himself above all that is called God. Now Rulers are called Gods in Scripture Psa 82. v. 6. I have said ye are Gods. And the Pope does exalt himself over Kings and Emperors not only in the quality of Spiritual Father but in that of Lord of Lords and of an absolute Soveraign who disposeth of their Crowns and giveth them to whom he pleaseth Of which and acious and lofty attempt History doth furnish many examples 3 St. Paul saith that the Son of perdition exalteth himself above all that is worshipped Now the Sacrament is worshipped in the Church of Rome and to this end it is elevated by the Priest Exposed upon their Altars born about in procession carried to such as are sick by the Priest with a Bell rung before it whereby to give notice to all that are in the streets and in their Houses that they worship the Sacrament But yet the Pope do's Exalt himself above this grand object of the Churches Adoration in that he Travelleth no where without the having it carried before him as the chief of his Guard and with less state than he is born himself Therefore Cardinal Perron stiles the Sacrament the Popes Guard of Defence so that the March of the Son of God who is concealed under the vail of the Sacrament is accomodated unto and Governed by the Popes necessities and occasions and Christs Steps are ordered according to those of his Holiness When the Pope stops the holy Sacrament must stop also which is to say that Christ whom the Angels adore must wait upon the pleasure and depend upon the caprices and humours of the Pope And thus as belongeth unto the Son of Perdition to do the Pope exalteth himself above all that is worshipped 4 St. Paul tell us that the Son of Perdition sitteth in the Temple of God which cannot be meant of the Temple of Ierusalem because there hath been no such thing for these sixteen hundred years And if that Temple were yet it would not be the Temple of God seeing ever since the rejection of the Iews it is called simply the Temple and never the Temple of God. Tho it were to be now again rebuilt and made every way what it was before the time of Vespasian yet there would be no reason why it should becalled the Temple of God forasmuch as since the abolishment of the Levitical Service God dwelleth no more in Temples made with hands Act. 7. 48. So that the Temple here meant is the Christian Church which by the holy Apostles is called the Temple of God. There it is that the Pope sitteth as is here very well expressed And there he is shewed as if he were a God. For they speak of nothing but of the Holy Chair the Chair of St. Peter and of the Roman Chair They use to say that such a one doth now sit or that such a one possesseth the Holy Chair And indeed the Pope sitteth there as a Judg giving out Decrees and Oracles as an Infallible Iudg and as the Soveraign Iudg of Coutroversies So that the Pope as the Son of Perdition sitteth in the Temple of God. 5 St. Paul says further of the Son of Perdition that he sheweth himself that he is or as if he were God. Now the Pope behaveth himself as God not only because he dispenseth with the Law of God and as if he were God requireth obedience to his own Laws under pain of damnation and because he boasteth as a God to have the Keys of Hell and Paradise but because upon the day of his Election he is carried into the great Church and there placed upon the great Altar with the Bible under his feet and worshipped both by all the Cardinals and by all the people with an Adoration that is more than a Civil one 6 St. Paul says moreover of the Son of Perdition that his coming is with all Power and Signes and lying Wonders Which Character of Anti-christ is also as discernable in the Pope as the former are in that his Authority as well as his Doctrine is founded upon Miracles Nor is there amy thing else to be met with in their Legends and in the Lives of those Saints whom the Popes have Canonised But they are Lying Wonders and whose falsity is so
the beginning of it Thus 't is said 1 Sam. 23. 18. that David and Ionathan made a Covenant that is they renewed it for they had made it before So St. Iohn tells us in his first Epist chap 5. v. 13. that he wrote to those who believed that they might believe i. e. that they might increase in Faith. So that that which the Spirit of God would plainly say is that the wrath of the Dragon became inflamed and that he went to make a more dangerous war than he had made before But who are this Remnant of the Seed of the Woman which keep the Commandments of God and have the Testimony of Christ Is there any difference betwixt them and the Church Is not the Church made up of such as keep the Commandments of God and have the Testimony of Jesus Christ There is the same difference between the Woman and those who are her Seed as there is betwixt a Mother and a Daughter The Oriental or Greek Church that had been distressed for about 200 years by the Heresie of Arius is the Mother and the Western or Latine Church is the Daughter and the Remnant of the Seed of the Woman The Bishop of Bitonto used this Distinction in a Sermon which he made before the Council of Trent The Greek Church saith he is our Mother to whom the Latin is indebted for all that She hath And in truth the Terms Church Bishop Priest Deacon Baptism Eucharist and Christian it self are all Greek Terms and plainly shew that our Religion is derived from them from whom we have borrowed the Terms They then who are said to be the Seed of the Woman against whom the Serpent went to make War is the Latine or Western Church where the Dragon all along since that time hath been labouring to accompish the Mystery of Iniquity which was at work in St. Pauls days 2 Thes 2. 7. And this is nothing else save Antichristianism or the Papacy But since the time that a Church of God Separated it self from that which had received the Mystery of iniquity the Church that so withdrew is the remnant of the Seed of the Woman And particularly the Waldenses are this Seed and whose Separation is acknowledged both by Historians and Inquisitors of the Church of Rome who speak of the Waldenses as of Christians who have been Separated from the Roman Church from the time of Sylvester and of Constantine the great Claudius Sesselius Arch-Bishop of Turin tells us in a Book which he writ against the Waldenses that the Sect of the Waldenses took its rise from a most religious person called Leo that lived in the time of Constantine the great and who detesting the covetousness of Pope Sylvester and the immoderate bounty of Constantine chose rather to embrace poverty with the simplicity of the Christian Faith than with Sylvester to be defiled with a Fat and rich benefice and that all they who were seriously Religious joined themselves to him The famous Inquisitor Reynerus Sacco as he is quoted by the Jesuite Cretzer in his Bibliotheck of the Fathers speaks much to the same purpose Amongst all the sects sayth he that either are or have hitherto been there is none that hath been so pernicious to the Church of Rome as that of the Leonists and that for three Reasons 1 Because it is she most ancient and hath continued longest For some affirm that it begun in the time of Sylvester and others in the time of the Apostles 2 Because it hath spread it self farthest there being no place where it is not to be found 3 Because they who are of it have a great shew of piety live vertuously before men believe rightly of the Deity and observe all the Articles of the Creed The Frier Belvedoras in his Relation al consilio de propaganda fide de Extir pandis Hereticis printed at Turin anno 1636. pag. 37 being excusing himself and those Missionaries that were his companions why they could not convert so much as one of the Waldenses do's assign this reason for it namely that that Heresie is too firmly rooted there for any to be able to do good among them in that say's he le Valli d'Angrogna sempre ad in omni tempo hanno havuto Heretici i. e. they of the Valleys of Angrogna have been alway's and through all times accounted Hereticks So that this Woman is exactly the Church of the Valdenses which as Claudius Seysellius tells us did in the person of the forementioned Leo separate from the Church of Rome in the time of Pope Sylvester and of the Emperor Constantine There being two Wings of an Eagle given unto her to assist her in her flight into the Valleys of Piedmont which lye at the foot of the Alp's And from thence they were stiled Valdenses long before the time of Peter Valdo as John Leger hath sufficiently proved in his History These then are the Remnant of the Seed of the Woman who as in France they have been stiled Vaudois from the word Vaux that signifies a Valley so in the Low Countries they have been called Valons which is to say those of the Valleys XIV ILLUSTRATION Of Babylon the great the Mother of Harlots that Sitteth upon many Waters carrying upon her fore-head the name Mystery and having a Golden Cup in her hand REV. CHAP. 17. v. 1 4 5. HAving proved in our Fourth Illustration that Babylon can be nothing else but Rome as professing her self Christian we are now to consider the Description which the Holy Spirit hath given of Babylon and to see how that Picture of her doth agree to Rome There is such an affinity and so many exact Resemblances between Rome and Babylon of the Chaldees that we are not to think it strang that the Holy Spirit hath given unto Rome the name of Babylon They were both founded by persons that were Captains over Robbers and who were great Shedders of blood Babylon by Nimrod who is said to have been a mighty hunter before the Lord Gen. 10. 9. And Rome by Romulus who as another Cain murthered his Brother They were both of them the Seats of great Empires The one as well as the other have had Monarchs who have stiled themselves Kings of Kings For this Title the Pope doth no less claim than Nebuchadnezzar did Both the one and the other have been the Subject of the Visions in the Prophet Daniel As the Babylonish Empire was the first Beast and the Head of the Image so the Roman was the Fourth Beast and the Feet of the Image that were part of Clay and part Iron The one as well as the other hath kept the people of God in Bondage Babylon the Israelites and Rome the Christians The one and t' other have Killed and burnt such as would not worship their Gods. The one as well as the other have been overthrown and after their subversion have past from one Religion to another Babylon being become Mahometan and Rome Popish
Antichrist that the Papal Empire is the Portraiture of the Beast with two Horns that the Romish Church is the Picture of Babylon the Great that the spirit of persecution that reigneth in the Papacy is that of the Dragon and of Satan and that suffering has been the character of the true Christian Church for above these 1500. years Moreover this Dispute will influence many to Read and Study the Revelation who usually read no more of it but the three first Chapters being afraid to look into the rest Finally this Dispute will beget Emulation and give occasion for new discoveries and for the making of new Systemes I am not ignorant what the Illustrious Moros heretofore said in his Eloquent Panegyrick upon Calvin namely that that great man had Expounded all the Books of the Scripture except the Revelation which his not doing of was an excellent Commentary This is a piece of wit where we may see an ingenïous draught of the Eloquence of that admirable Orator but the Theologues of our time ought not to be discouraged by the Example of the incomparable Calvin We know that Doctor who had written so many other learned Commentaries was capable to have explained the Revelation as well as he had done other Prophesies And if he did it not 't was either because he thought he could employ his time better or because he had designed to do it before he should die which his dying so soon hindred the Execution of which hapned when he was but â—5 years old or a few day 's over 'T is to be hop'd that this Dispute will cause many through Emulation to lay out their labours upon this Divine Book For tho they who have preceded have for the most part been incomparable men both by reason of the profoundness of their Learning and the greatness of their wit except the Author of the Illustrations who is and will alway be unworthy to be named yet there is ground to hope that they who come after will see a great deal farther than the former have done as a Pygmee mounted on the shoulders of a Giant is able to see farther than the Giant himself And is not all this of more considerable advantage than all the Scandal can be of prejudice that some curious Spirits have taken at the Dispute between Mr. Jurieu and the Anonymous Author And as to the advantage which some sear this Dispute will afford the Papists both the Catholicks that expect benefit by it and the Reformed that fear it will find it to be only chymerical and not real Therefore I must again repeat that it is not about an Article of Faith that these disagreeing Authors contend To say the Vials Are poured out or that they are Not poured out do's equally leave the Reformed Doctrine in its perfection and integrity And how Learned soever he may be and how much soever conversant in the Art of Sophistry that attacks the Reformation from thence he will not be able to make the least breach upon it Would it not be extreamly pleasant to see a Doctor carrying the Mark of the Beast libellously triumphing by reason of this Dispute betwixt two Protestants and in the mean time taking no Notice of all those Sections where both these Author's do unanimously and demonstratively prove that the Church of Rome is Babylon the great that the Papal Empire is the Beast with two horns that the Pope is the Son of Perdition the False Prophet and the seventh Head of the Dragon and that the City of Rome is the Seat of the Beast Herein both the Authors have just matter of glorying and as for that little difference between them concerning the Effusion of the Vials they have ground enough for Reprisals and a large field for recrimination upon the account of the difference betwixt the Jansenists and the Molinists and between the Theologues of Italy and of other places upon the one hand and those of France upon the other who have made a Sacrifice to Louis the great of the Infallibility of the Pope of his Supremacy over Councils and of his power over that Soveraigns Person Temporal Rights That I may not speak of an infinite number of differences amongst Papists in reference to other Subjects And these are all fundamental points in the Romish Religion and in reference to which they cannot differ without one side 's falling into Heresie But whether a Reformed Divine believe the Vials to be already poured out or believe that none of them are yet poured out he is in both cases equally Orthodox and the Reformed Religion is by reason of none of them lyable to be impeached So that I may conclude that this Dispute if it be rightly apprehended can do no prejudice and that it is of advantage upon many accounts that the Anonymous Author should defend his opinion about the Non-Effusion of the Vials which Mr. Jurieu hath attack'd in his Apology And this he intends to do as becomes a Reformed Divine and as a Lover of peace so that all who read his Defence shall have cause to be satisfied except it be such whom Interest and a false Zeal keep united to the Papal Religion He were neither an honest nor a Wise man who maintaining the Non-Effusion of the Vials should from thence take occasion to vent his passion against a Writer whose labours are of wonderful Edification to the whole Protestant Party So that if there occur any Expressions which may seem somewhat rude as 't is not true it is false and a few more of that Kind he doth declare that they are only intended against the matters in debate and that he would not have used them were they not customary Terms in all Polemical writings and did not the common usuage render them necessary and in a manner inevitable Mr. Beverly in his Scripture-Line of Time in Quarto printed at London 1684. speaking of the Vials page 187. says BUt that we may know they are not yet begun whenever they begin they move with so swift a Course that it is impossible there should be any delay in them after they are begun or that any of them should be enter'd and not all of them in their Order Swiftly pour'd out A DEFENCE OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS Upon the APOCALYPSE Of St. JOHN concerning the Effusion of the Vials MR. Iurieu having in his Accomplishment of the Scripture-Prophesies asserted the first Six Vials to be already poured out and that the seventh hath been pouring forth all along since Luther's Reformation he could not indure that the Anonymous Author of the Illustrations upon the Revelation should endeavour to prove that all the Vials are still full of the wrath of God and that all of them remain yet to be poured out tho he had therein no design of contradicting Mr. Iurieu more than he had several other Divines that before him had been of the same opinion However Mr. Iurieu thought fit to attacque that Author in his Apology in which he attempts two
Monarchy which is the Roman Empire and concerning the Kingdom of Iesus Christ which is his Church The 2d is that the Apocalypse predicteth three Changes that were to befall the Roman Empire By the first it was to pass from Paganism to Christianity By the second it was to pass from Christianity to Antichristianism and Mahometism And by the third it is to return from Mahometism and from Antichristianism to Christianity purified by a general Reformation The 3d is that the first change fell out under the Sixth Seal that the 2d came to pass under the Trumpets and that the third shall arrive under the Vials The 4th is that these three Visions to wit that of the Seals that of the Trumpets and that of the Vials are the three principal Visions and do comprehend the whole Prophetick History concerning the Roman Empire and the Church of God and that all the other Visions are but Commentaries upon these three The 5th is that none of the Vials are contemporary with any of the Trumpets except with the seventh Trumpet and that there is as much difference between the time of the Trumpets and that of the Vials as there is between the time of building and the time of destroying and that we are to see all that overthrown under the Vials which was established under the Trumpets This do's evidently appear in that the Trumpets and the Vials display themselves towards the same Subjects and that the effects of the Vials are different from those of the Trumpets And this difference is so great that whosoever considereth it carefully and without prejudice will be convinced that whatsoever was produced and raised under the Trumpets shall fall into decay and come to ruin under the Vials For whereas under the first Trumpet there fell upon the Earth hail mingled with fire and blood in the stead of this under the first Vial there falls upon the same Earth expressed by those who worship the Beast and who have his mark a noisome and grievous Sore And whereas under the second Trumpet there was a burning Mountain cast into the Sea so that the third part only of all that was in it died In like manner the second Vial is poured forth upon the same Sea so as to render it wholly and entirely blood and to cause every Soul that is in it to die The third Trumpet made the Fountains and the Rivers become bitter but the third Vial represents the Rivers and Fountains changed into blood The fourth Trumpet lay's before us the third part of the Sun and of the Moon and of the Stars Smitten i. e. the third part of the Roman Empire darkned by the Pestilential doctrine of Mahomet and invaded by the Arms of the Turks but the fourth Vial which is poured forth only upon the Sun seems to threaten both the Ottoman Empire and the Mahometan Religion with a disaster The fifth Trumpet fore-tells the fall of a great Star to whom were given the Keys of the Bottomless Pit out of which there arose Smoke and Locusts The Keys plainly shew Rome to be meant in that She challengeth to have the custody of the Key 's committed to her and pretends to be the Seat of St. Peter and this denoteth the growth of the Papal Empire But the fifth Vial that is poured out upon the Seat of the Beast i. e. upon Rome predicts her destruction and therefore represents his Kingdom become full of darkness and his Subjects gnawing their tongues through despair The sixth Trumpet as also the sixth Vial have the River Emphrates for their Subject But with this difference that the Sixth Trumpet loosed the four Angels that were bound in the River Euphrates which represents the growth of the Turkish Empire and of their Religion whereas the sixth Vial dries up the said River and produceth the End both of their Religion and Empire Finally the Seventh Trumpet denounceth the third and last Wo and under this the Vials of Gods wrath are to be poured forth upon all the Enemies of his Church in order thereby to manifest and fulfil the Mystery of God which is nothing else save the reuniting all Nations under the Scepter of Jesus Christ which will beget the Millennian Reign These are the principles upon which the Anonymous Author hath built the Systeme of his Explanations which as he judgeth to be beyond all possibility of being overthrown so it is from this source that he will both bring his Answers to those Reasons whereby Mr. Iurieu hath endeavoured to prove that all the Vials are already poured out and also the Defence of the Reasons by which he hath in his Illustrations proved that they are not yet poured forth The proof which Mr. Iurieu grounds upon the conformity of the first four Vials with the Events observable in the History of the Papal Empire is perfectly overthrown by considering the Nature of the Vials themselves For they are nothing but the Judgments of God upon the Papal Empire in order to destroy it But the Events which he will have to answer to the Vials produced a quite contrary effect they raised it they increased it and they brought the Papal Empire to its grandure The wonderful corruption of the tenth Age signified according to Mr. Iurieu by the noisome Sore of the first Vial served to diffuse the darkness of Error and Idolatry by which that Empire is supported The Croisado's which he will have to be signified by the Sea and Rivers under the second and third Vials being turned into Blood as likewise the Suns scorching men under the 4th Vial which he will have to prefigure the growth of the Papal Authority did all contribute to the rendring that Empire stronger and more terrible How then could these Vials which are the judgments of God upon the Papal Empire be poured out for the increasing and perfecting the grandure of that Empire Mr. Iurieu having foreseen this difficulty hath in the second part of his Accomplishment of Prophesies Edition second returned two Answers to it The first is that all the plagues do ' not fall upon the Head of the Antichristian Empire There are say's he some of the severe judgments of God whereof the Popes are not the subject but the Instruments These plagues fall upon those who worship the Beast and his Image and not upon the Beast himself and upon the false Prophet To which I reply that what he saith namely that all the Vials are not to be poured out upon the Head of the Antichristian Empire as well as upon his Kingdom hath no better foundation than his Principles have Because 't is impossible that an Empire should be smitten with the plagues and judgments of God in order to its being weakned and impaired and that its Head and Soveraign should in the mean time no way's suffer The near union that is between the Head and the members is wholly inconsistent with such a notion Whensoever the Body is very sick the Head is in a very