Christ unto the birth of Antichrist i. e. till the middle of the fifth Century In this Period we have the Sun of Righteousness so Jesus Christ is called by the Prophets and Evangelists John c. 1. The Light which inlightens every man that comes into the world So by the Apostles The Father of Lights in whom is no shadow of change James 1. i. e. a Sun that hath no Tropicks The Parrallel of the Moon with the Church The Parrallel between Iesus Christ and the Sun is too manifest and easy to make to be long insisted on I will rather speak somewhat of the Moon which is an admirable Emblem of the Church 1. The Moon hath all her Light from the Sun The Church hath all her Beauty Holiness Vertue and Glory from I. Christ 2. The Moon retains some spots and those considerable ones in her borrowed Light the Church hath many great and plain defects in her vertues 3. The Moon hath no fixed Light she often changeth and is sometimes more and sometimes less inlightned The Church remains not long in one state she is always rising or falling she looseth some of her Light and then receiveth more she defiles herself and then is cleansed and hath Periods almost as regular as those of the Moon 4. The Moon besides her constant and periodical decrease suffers Ecclipses and sometimes total ones The Church besides her ordinary declensions is sometimes so Ecclipst as not to appear which is more or less according to the inundations of Herely or the corruption of manners 5. 'T is not the fault of the Sun but of the Moon it self that these Ecclipses happen she plungeth herself in the shadow of the Earth and so deprives herself of the Sun. The Ecclipses of the Church by the loss of Truth or vertue happen in like manner because she falls into sin and falshood which is shadow and darkness the product of Earth and Hell. Your sins have separated between God and you 6. When the Moon is Ecclipst she becomes black and puts on a frightfull Aspect when the Church suffers herself to lose the Light of the Sun her visage becomes deformed by her disorders and crimes Why doth not the Church appear but in this fourth Period since she was created from the beginning of the World so the Moon which was a figure of the Church should have been created on the first day I answer that the Church may also be found in the three preceding Periods but in the first and second day 't is a Land covered with waters The Church is mixt and confounded with the People of the World and even covered and hidden among 'em In the third she appears as a dry Land that is visible but as yet it is but Earth producing Plants and Fruits In our fourth Period she is advanc't from the quality of Earth to the dignity of the Stars she becomes a Moon a luminous body which may be seen afar off which spreads its rays throughout all the world Stars of six magnitudes images of the six orders of Teachers In the fourth day there were also Stars which are of six different magnitudes from the first to the sixth In our fourth Period we have several Teachers as shining Stars but they lessen by degrees The Apostles are the Stars of the first magnitude Apostolick Persons were Stars of the second magnitude their Disciples who lived in the second Century were Stars of the third the Doctors of the Church in the third Century were Stars of the fourth magnitude Those of the fourth Century were of the fifth magnitude Lastly in the fifth Century when the good days of the Church ended there were more Teachers more Stars in number but they were but of the sixth magnitude their Light began to be obscured by mixing with the darkness of Superstition and Heresy After them in the following Ages we see no Stars but under a Cloud the witnesses covered with sackcloth Christians concealed and hidden among the multitude of those who were sunk into error and Idolatry In this Period there is also another sort of Stars viz. Confessors and Martyrs who shined as Stars of the first magnitude and the common sort of the Faithful who are truly Stars though but of the sixth magnitude Lastly in the fourth Period we find Planets wandring Stars Apostates Iudas's and such as Hymenaeus and Philetus who concerning the Faith made shipwrack Mysteries of the 5th day We proceed to the fifth day of the Creation The fifth Period is that from the rise of Antichrist to his Completion from the fifth Century to the eleventh In the fifth day God said Let the waters bring forth Fishes abundantly or moving Creatures which have life and Fowl that may flie above the Earth in the open firmament of Heaven Behold two sorts of Creatures Birds and Fishes and they are to be Emblems of men who should rule in the fifth Period of the Church It may be the name of Bird may prove a good Omen to some one would think we should find something of good there because Birds are a kind of Coelestial Creatures but we must remember that in the two following Periods we shall meet with nothing that is good because they belong to Antichrist If there be any thing good in these two Periods 't is the remnant of the fourth for all is evil that belongs to their perticular Character So that by Birds we understand men of rash and daring spirits who would pierce beyond the Clouds attempting to reach unto God himself and have done violence to his Holy Mysteries by their bold Inquiries Such was Arrius who would dive into the mystery of the Eternal generation of the Son and was there stumbled Such was Macedonius who would fathom the Mysteries of the Procession of the Holy Spirit and not being able to effect it made him a Creature as Arius did the Son. Such was Eutyches who not being able to fathom the Mysteries of the union of the two natures in Christ did confound them Such was Nestorius who lost himself in searching into the manner of the Vnion of the humane Nature with the Divine Person and so establisht two Persons in Christ and I know not how many more such Birds there were men of bold and daring spirits who did great mischief to the Church We need but consult History to be informed 'T is true among those Birds there were some whose flight was happy enough The fourth and fifth Centuries produced some Eminent Doctors in comparison of the preceding The first Doctors of the Christian Church after the Apostles were but poor Divines they could flye but a little way There is more Divinity in one piece of St. Austin then in all the three first Centuries Origen excepted who was the Eagle of his Age. But those Birds who made some happy flights were yet guilty of great faults and often lost themselves by endeavouring to go too far The Fish of the fifth day are Antichrist
which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt where also our Lord was crucified V. 9. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three dayes and a half and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put into graves V. 10. And they that dwell upon the Earth shall rejoyce over them and make merry and send gifts one to another because these two Prophets tormented them that dwelt upon the Earth V. 11. And after three days and an half the spirit of life from God entred into them and they stood upon their feet and great fear fell upon them which saw them V. 12. And they heard a great voyce from heaven saying unto them Come up hither and they ascended up to heaven in a cloud and their enemies beheld them V. 13. And the same hour was there a great earthquake and the tenth part of the City fell and in the earth-quake were slain of men seven thousand and the remnant were affrighted and gave glory to God. The Witnesses who prophecy cloathed in sackcloth are the faithful who preach under the Cross As to what concerns these two witnesses i.e. what is signified by them I have not changed my opinion since I wrote the book intitled Lawfull prejudices against popery Though as to all the rest the studious attention which I have used in reading these Prophecies hath given me quite different apprehensions I do therefore still believe that these two Witnesses who must prophesy 1260 days cloathed in sackcloth are the small number of the faithfull who during the reign of Antichristianism must keep themselves from its corruption and condemn its idolatries and tyranny God calls them witnesses because these are they who bore witness to the Truth which but for them would have been forgotten They prophesy cloathed in sackcloth i. e. they preach under the Cross For we must well observe that these two Phrases one used in our language the other in that of the Holy Ghost to prophesy cloathed in sackcloth and to preach under the Cross are absolutely of the same signification He makes them onely two in number to express that those faithfull who shall preserve themselves from the corruption of Idolatry shall be but a very small number And indeed experience hath too much verified this prediction Nevertheless he makes them two in number to signify that however small the number of true Christians is it shall notwithstanding be great enough to support the Truth and keep it from falling for in the mouth of two witnesses every word shall be establisht How these witnesses have power to change water into blood and shut up heaven v. 6. God ascribes to these two witnesses power to shut Heaven that it rain not in the dayes of their prophesy and power over waters to turn them into blood and to smite the Earth with all plagues as often as they will. Joseph Mede gives a very ingenious reason of this which I believe is very solid viz. That the Holy Ghost borrows his Emblems from the histories of the Old Testament and alludes unto several Pairs of eminent witnesses which God raised up at several times as Aaron and Moses at the coming out of Egypt Joshua and Caleb at the conquering of the promised Land Elijah and Elisha at the time of the grand Schism of the ten tribes Zerubbabel and Jehoshua at the return from the captivity Among these witnesses Elijah and Elisha had power to shut Heaven to hinder rain for three years and to make fire come down from Heaven Moses and Aaron turn'd the waters of Egypt into blood Joshua and Caleb brought the people of Israel into the Land of Canaan and smote the ancient Inhabitants with a sore plague To this the Holy Ghost alludes But we must further add that God ascribes to these witnesses 1. The shutting of Heaven that rain no in the days of their prophecy to signify that during the 1260 years of their Prophecy and of the reign of Antichrist there should be a great drought of grace and a barreness of virtues and gifts in the Church 2. The turning of waters into blood and the smiting of the Earth with all plagues Because all the heavy judgements of God that during the course of these 1260 years came upon the Antichristian Church were sent on the account of these two witnesses and to punish oppression under which it held both the Truth and those who were willing to profess it Here is fore-told a last persecution that must happen before the end of Antichrists reign The seven verses which we even now have read concerning the persecution which these two witnesses must suffer and the consequent of that persecution contain a grand event which must come to pass before the last fall of the Antichristian Kingdom And 't is one of the principal circumstances of this fall First we must observe the circumstance of time and when they shall have finish their testimony Mark this testimony must last a thousand two hundred and sixty days My two witnesses shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days cloathed in sackcloth Now these thousand two hundred sixty days of the prophesying of the witnesses are the forty two moneths of the Antichristian reign for forty two moneths make exactly 1260 days All the World is agreed that these are the three years and a half of the reign of Antichrist and that Antichrist and these two witnesses are absolutely and exactly contempories 'T is therefore the very same as if the Holy Ghost had said And when the Beast or the man of sin shall have finisht his reign of 1260 years it shall make war against the two witnesses This is therefore a persecution of Antichrist against the faithfull and a persecution that must happen before the end of Antichrists reign These words when they shall have finisht must not be understood as if the Holy Ghost would say when the 1260 years shall be finisht For after the 1260 years are finisht there can be no persecution seeing the Beast shall have lost his power So that this persecution must begin and end within the 1260 years but yet at the end of them 't is the ordinary custome not only of Scripture but of all men to say that something comes to pass when this or that is finisht because it happens when that things is finishing and very near its end This is therefore the last persecution of Antichrist against the Church This persecution hath its Characters 1. It must continue a long time Characters of the last persecution for 't is compared to a war The Beast that comes up out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them 2. This war or persecution must end in a victory over the two witnesses and shall overcome them and kill them Mark that God does not reckon the death and martyrdom which the faithfull suffer for the Truth as a victory that the Devil gains over them on the
that hath mercy on them shall lead them even by the springs of water shall he guide them I will make all my Mountains a way c. 55.12 13. and my high ways shall be exalted ye shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace The Mountains and the Hills shall break forth before you into singing and all the Trees of the Field shall clap their hands Instead of the Thorn shall come up the Firr-tree and instead of the Bryer shall come up the Myrtle-tree and it shall be to the Lord for a Name and for an everlasting Sign that shall not be cut off The Sun shall be no more thy Light by day neither for brightness shall the Moon give Light unto thee Is 60.19 but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting Light and thy God thy Glory The Sun shall no more go down neither shall thy Moon withdraw it self for the Lord shall be thine everlasting Light and the days of thy mourning shall be ended Is 54.9.10 This shall be as the waters of Noah unto me for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more go over the Earth so have I sworn that I would not be wrath with thee nor rebuke thee for the Mountains shall depart and the Hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the Covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee What is meant by all these prophecies All these and the like Expressions which we read in the Prophets do import 1. A profound Peace which shall never be interrupted by war. 2. Plenty and Abundance of all sorts of Goods 3. An Exemption from all Evils 4. Such a Prosperity where are Riches and Plenty and Joy. 5. A Felicity that is not to be interrupted by the return of Calamities This must be fixt that all these Prophecies respect the State of the Church under the Messiah for as to those who endeavour to turn them to another sense and apply them to the Temporal blessings of the Iews I cannot consider them as Christians but reckon them enemies to Christianity These promises have not been accomplisht We must therefore search for the accomplishment of these Prophecies in the History of the Church that no such thing can be found there the Antimillenaries themselves confess For they constantly tell us that these thousand years of Rest are altogether inconsistent with the orders of Divine Providence and the condition of the Church which is appointed to be always calamitous and afflicted upon Earth that Sorrow and Suffering Persecution and the Cross do inseparably belong to it that we must judge of what is to come by the History of what is past 'T is true in the three first Ages the Church was under the Cross of the Pagans in the fourth under that of the Arrians in the fifth she began to sink into superstition and hath remain'd overwhelm'd with it during the whole reign of Antichrist Where then shall we place those happy days the Prophets promise 'T is trifling to apply those promises of Peace and Tranquillity to certain little intervals of Quiet which from time to time the Church hath had in some places for it would be a very ill use of Rhetorick and a strange force put upon figures to represent so imperfect a calm by such terms as give us an Idea of the greatest and most perfect Prosperity imaginable Moreover the Prophets speaking of an endless Peace to which no affliction shall succeed it must be such a one as is like the waters of Noah which shall never return to cover the Earth it must be a peace so firm that though the Mountains be overthrown shall never be changed These Prophecies not accomplisht by the spiritual graces which the Church hath received We may not say that all this hath respect only to spiritual Graces the stability of God's Covenant and the Joy of the Faithfull I will not deny but the Holy Spirit may have some reference thereto but it is false that those spiritual favours in that weak degree wherein we see them at this day can comprehend the full signification of such great Expressions which clearly import a peace in reference to Earth as well as Heaven Add to this that though these Promises should not be applied but to Spiritual Blessings there must yet be a new Kingdom and a new Age for the fulfilling of them for we have never yet seen any wherein Spiritual Peace and invisible Graces have been so abundantly poured out to satisfy in any measure the greatness of such Expressions CHAP. XIX The fourth Head of Arguments for the reign of a thousand years are the Types Four Types of this Period the Principal is the seventh day of the Creation which is not an immediate Type of Eternal Rest but of the Peace of the Church on Earth I Come now to the fourth Head of Arguments viz. the Types They as well as the Prophecies are Pictures and representations of future Events They are not vain speculations of Divines and the Great wits that look upon them to be so approach very near to Impiety 'T is very certain that God hath been pleased to shadow forth his Mysteries in certain dispensations of his Providence Saint Paul teacheth us that Hagar the servant of Sarah Sinai a Mountain in Arabia were Types of the legal Institution As Sarah and Sion were also Types of the Covenant of Grace That Melchisedeck was a Type of our Lord Jesus Christ and in general that the Law had shadows of which the substance is to be found in Christ The Types therefore are no false or deceitfull Light whereby to judge in case they be rightly used Now I pretend that all the Types make for the Reign of Christ before the end of the World. We may find a great number of them The Captivity of Israel in Egypt was certainly a Type of that bondage under which the Church should groan The deliverance of Israel out of Egypt figured that of the Church from under the bondage of Antichrist during the Reign of Antichrist The Antichristian Empire is therefore called Egypt Now after the Israelites were come out of Egypt they entred into Canaan the Land flowing with Milk and Honey which did certainly prefigure the happy State of the Church after all her enemies should be subdued 'T is supposed that the Land of Canaan was the Image of that great and Eternall Dwelling to which the faithfull should be transported after the last judgement I deny it not But you must know 1. Type the Rest in the Land of Canaan that in the Old Testament the descriptions of the future Blessedness of the Church by Emblems Types Figures and metaphorical resemblances have not their immediate relation to Eternal Blessedness St. Paul hath told us that eye hath not seen it nor ear heard it nor can it enter into the heart of man to conceive and consequently
prove our notion of the Reign of Christ for a thousand years and the Triumphant state of the Church upon Earth before its final glorious Triumph in Heaven we might be furnisht from these last Chapters For they are not as is commonly supposed a description of the Church in Heaven The Prophecy of the nine last Chapters of Ezekiel is the same with that of the last Chapt. of the Apocalypse They exactly answer to the nine last Chapters of the Prophecy of Ezekiel That Prophet in those nine last Chapters sets forth in a figurative manner the condition of the Church of Israel after its restoration their glorious Kingdom and the wonderful Peace they should injoy after their return which return or recalling was to be after the fall of Antichrist St. John gives an account what the Church shall be after with relation to that Fall after it shall have bin accomplisht so that both these Prophets describe the Church as to the same Period and the same condition This will easily appear if we briefly run over that which remains of the Apocalypse It cannot be questioned but that our Prophet concludes the 20th Chapter with a description of the last day of Judgement The war of Gog and Magog follows upon the reign of a thousand years to the revolt of Gog and Magog succeeds their defeat after their defeat there is nothing but the last day which shall come and surprize the World in the twinkling of an eye This is signified by those words V. 11. Chap. 20. Then I saw a great white Throne and him that sat on it from whose face the Earth and Heaven fled way and there was found no place for them White as well as Purple is a Royal colour and withal a Priestly for the Priests were clothed in white The Holy Priest's garments on the day of Expiation according to the tradition of the Iews were called Bigdei Lavan white garments In like manner he that sat upon the Throne is our King and Priest The Earth and the Heaven fled from his face for they shall be burnt that they may be renewed V. 12. And I saw the dead small and great stand before God c. 'T is a description of the last Judgement to the end of the Chapter all this is plain The 21. v. 1. Chapter begins with these words And I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth for the first Heaven and the first Earth were passed away The first Vision of 21 Chapt. to the 9th V. respects that which follows the end of the world These words do evidently allude to what he had said just before and the Heaven and the Earth fled away As that was interpreted of what should happen at the last day of Judgement it is clear that these new Heavens and this new Earth must be understood in a literal and not a figurative sense for the new World after it hath been refined by fire And so the description we read of here even to the ninth Verse is that of eternal Rewards and Punishments 'T is true that which is spoken of the H. City v. 3 4. of the new Ierusalem coming down from Heaven prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband of the Tabernacle of God with men of his dwelling with them and they with him and that God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and that there shall be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain All this I say might very well be applied to the Church as victorious upon Earth but this description is determin'd by what precedes and by what follows to Eternal Glory by that which precedes which is the description of the last day of Judgement and by that which follows which is the description of everlasting Punishment but the fearful and unbelieving c. v. 8. shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death The 9th v. begins a new Vision The ninth Verse begins a new Vision and a more perticular description of the blessed Reign of Christ upon Earth In the same manner as the H. Spirit after he had in the 13th Chapter given an enigmatical and general description of the Antichristian Empire under the image of the two Beasts gives a more ample account of it in the 17th Chapt. So having in the 20th Chapt. described the reign of Christ though in few words he set forth that reign more at length afterwards that state of the delivered Church under the image of a great City called Ierusalem as after having set out the Antichristian Church under the image of a Beast and of an Empire he represents it under the Emblem of a great City called Babylon V. 9. And there came unto me one of the seven Angels which had the seven Viols full of the seven last plagues and talked with me saying come hither I will show thee the Bride the Lambs wife 'T is in all likelyhood the last of those seven Angels who had poured out the Viols and the same who show'd unto the Prophet the great City the mother of Fornications Cha. 17.1 Then came one of the seven Angels unto me which had the seven Viols and talked with me saying Come hither I will show thee the Judgement of the great Whore that sitteth on many Waters As it was this seventh and last Angel who had the Viols by whom the ruin of Antichrist was effected it doth most properly belong to him to show Babylon faln and Ierusalem rebuilt V. 10. And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high Mountain and showed me that great City the Holy Jerusalem descending out of Heaven from God. This is somewhat like what the Devil did unto Jesus Christ when he carried him up into an high Mountain and shows him all the Kingdoms of the world what the Devil makes appear by illusion St. Iohn sees by vision That he was carried or seemed to be carried up into an high Mountain makes it plain that the Ierusalem he was to be made see from thence was here upon Earth and not the Triumphant Church in Heaven though it be called the Holy Jerusalem descending out of Heaven from God. She shall be descended from Heaven because she shall abound in Graces which come from thence she is called the great City and 't is the first time she is so called 'T is a detestable name which in all the preceding Prophecy is given only to Spiritual Babylon But 't is on this account that then the Church shall possess the multitude of the Nations as Antichristianism doth at present V. 11. Having the Glory of God and her Light wus like unto a stone most precious even like a Iasper stone clear as Cristal V. 12. And had a Wall great and high and had twelve Gates and at the Gates twelve Angels and names written thereon which are the names of the twelve Tribes of the children of Israel V. 13.
of the future prosperity of the Church upon Earth The 21 and 22. Chap. of the Apocalypse interpreted that in those Chapters the Church is described as victorious upon Earth and not as Triumphant in Heaven Pag. 357 Chap. XXIV The Characters of the Kingdom of the Church Eight are certain and five doubtfull What shall happen after this Kingdom What is meant by Gog and Magog There shall probably be a lesser kind of Antichrist a little before the end of the World. Pag. 375 Chap. XXV An Answer to the reasons of the Anti-millinaries against the Reign of a thousand years Pag. 388 THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE PROPHECIES OR THE Approaching Deliverance of the CHURCH THE FIRST PART Of the Establishment of the Antichristian-Empire its Characters CHAP. I. Of the Seven Epistles to the Seven Churches That in all probability they are not Prophetical The Thoughts of Interpreters thereupon WHen I undertook this Work I had no Design to make a compleat Commentary on that which is Prophetical in the Revelations as did appear in the first Edition However when I observed that without designing it I had explained almost the whole Apocalypse I did believe that as for three or four chapters that remained to be explained I ought not to leave them behind tho they had no respect to the scope of this book which is to find out Antichrist learn when his Empire must end When one sees a system that is very perfect well attended with all the events foretold in this book this will give such a fair aspect of truth to all the parts of it as will be most easily perceived Moreover the publick may have observed that in the pourtraiture of Antichrist I have referred the Reader in many chapters as in the 13th the 17th to my Book of Prejudices Now us I have promised to epitomize the book of Prejudices I thought it would be more proper to bring out of that book into this present work all that respects the Prophecies their Explication on the subject of the description of Antichristianism than to refer a part of this to another Book So that in this second Edition there will be found an explication of all that is prophetical in the book of the Revelation We believe with the learned Joseph Mede that this book is divided into two parts The first is contained in the book sealed with seven seals which is to be seen in the beginning of the 5th Ch. And the second in the book which the Angel gave to St. John in the 10th Ch. The two little books move upon the same time the one the other reach even to the end of the World but they donot say the same thing have not the same object For the first little book that appeareth sealed with seven seals principally respects the affairs the adventures of the first Period of the fourth Monarchy viz. the temporal Roman Empire And the second book contains the destinies of the Church corrupted during the same ages the same duration of time this is what we call the Spiritual Roman Empire I say that the first book contains properly the destinies of the Empire not but that those of the Church are included in it too For that which God foretold should befall the Roman Empire was always with respect to the Church to its Persecutions the great Changes that befall it So that to speak properly the whole work respects the Church But the second little book which reaches from the 10th Chapter to the end respects the Church what was to befall it much more particularly yea more clearly The first thing that appears in the book of the Revelation is the seven Epistles to seven principal Churches of Asia Q. Whether the seven Epistles are Prophetical contained in the three first Chapters T is very much question'd whether these Epistles are Prophetical or not Some maintain that they are with a great deal of heat others deny it As for me I have nothing certain to say upon it So that I would not raise a prejudice against any person or any opinion by my own tho I am much more enclined to believe that there is nothing of prophecy in them but that all that is said in these Epistles refers to things that had happened in those seven Churches It is certain that the Revelation is nothing but an Epistle This is clear by its beginning end Now it was not usuall with the Apostles to direct their Epistles to the Universal Church in generall of all places all times as some would have St. John here to have done The Apostles were wont in their Epistles to rank in the first place what they had which was dogmatical Prophetical to write of afterward came that which respected what was moral This is the method of St. Paul. St. John on the contrary in this Epistle sets that which is moral therein before that which is Prophetical The reason is because he little design'd to stay upon that which is moral his principal aim was to relate the visions which God had given him Therefore he dispatcheth in the beginning that which was to make the least part of his Epistle which was less important that without diversion he might stick to that which he principally intended therein I see but one thing that seems mightily to favour the opinion of those that believe that the seven Epistles are Prophetical Why the H. Spirit wrote but to seven Churches 'T is the number of seven Why did the H. Spirit write to no more than seven Churches Were there not many more in Asia Were these the only ones in which there was any thing to be reproved or to whom the H. Spirit had something to say It seems therefore that the seven Churches are the Universal Church of all Ages divided into seven Periods But this reason doth not appear strong enough to me First because the number of seven is evidently consecrated in the Revelation The holy Spirit useth it in counting up all things the seven Spirits seven Lamps seven Angels c. Surely whatever we understand hereby 't is certain that the number of Spirits of Lamps of Angells is not reduced to the number of seven Not but that oftentimes the number of seven in the Revelation must be taken for a determinate number as in the seven Seals in the seven Trumpets the seven Vialls but that is when the division of time into Periods is treated of Now this is that which is doubtful that by these seven Churches are meant seven Periods And we shall also see hereafter that what is said to these seven Churches doth not at all agree with the events in what manner soever the times be divided So that this only thing that the H. Spirit maketh here seven Churches doth not prove that they are so many Period's of the duration of the Church 'T is probable that by these he means all
five things are co-temporary in the third Period Five things cotemporary in the Period of the reign of the thousand years I. The reign of the Saints for a 1000 Years Rev. 20.4 II. The Dragon that is bound whose power is broken Rev. 20.2 3. III. The New Jerusalem the description wherof we have Rev. 21. 22. Chapters IV. The company of Saints that are clothed in white garments who carry Palms in their hands singing this song Salvation to our God that sits upon the throne Rev. 7.10 Rev. 7.17 unto the Lamb and of whom it is said they shall hunger no more neither thirst any more neither shall the sun light on them nor any heat the Lamb shall feed them shall lead them unto living fountains of waters For these are not the 144 thousand Sealed persons spoken of in the beginning â—f the 7th Chap. St. John saith expressely After this v. 9. i. e. after these 144 thousand sealed persons I beheld lo a great multitude which no man could number of all nations kindreds people tongues stood before the throne before the Lamb c. This plainly shews that these are not the persons that were Sealed For they might easily be numbred because they were not above 144 thousand wheras these here spoken of are innumerable In truth these are the same that are spoken of in the 20th of the Revel who are there called the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Iesus for the word of God here they are called they which came out of great tribulation C. 7.14 have washed their robes made them white in the blood of the Lamb. They are therfore co-temporary with the reign of Christ for a 1000 Years as the 144 thousand that were sealed are co-temporary with the reign of Babylon for 1260 Days V. The fifth and last thing co-temporary is the duration of the seventh Trumpet And the seventh Angel sounded with a Trumpet there were great voices in heaven Rev. 11.15 saying the Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of the Lord. For at the sound of the Last Trumpet the last blow must be given to the Babylonish Empire at the same time shall begin the reign of Iesus Christ to which is assign'd a Period of 1000 Years And the influence of this seventh and last Trumpet must reach even to the end of the World. Thus you have the Chronology of the twelve last Chapters of the Revelation We proceed to consider the History CHAP. X. A short System of the Events foretold in the Revelation concerning the Church as to the Historical part A short explanation of the 11th Chap. IN the 11th Ch. where the Destinies of the Church do begin the H. Ghost in the first place gives us an abridgment of these Destinies Events nothing is more methodical than that First to give a general Idea of those things that are afterwards more particularly to be explained So this Chapter from the 2d. v. to the end contains a short History of the 1260 Years of Antichrist's reign of the 1000 Years of Christ's reign as in the first verse he had described the first Period of 360 Years as we just now observed in the foregoing Chapter This reign of Antichrist is here described by this Paganism that was to tread under foot the Holy City for 42 Months v. 2. The afflictions of the Church its perpetuall subsistence in the midst of those afflictions during this reign of Antichrist are signified by the two Witnesses clothed in sack-cloth A great persecution that must befall the Church at the end of these 1260 Years of Antichrist's reign v. 3. is there also predicted The total suppression of the profession of the truth by that persecution is signified by the death of these two Witnesses v. 7. who must remain dead in the territories of Babylon the great for three prophetical days and a half i. e. three Years a half We shall see afterwards what that means where we must place this great event At the end of three years a half these two Witnesses i. e. the publique profession of the truth shall rise again and be gloriously reestablisht For the H. Ghost saith that the two Witnesses shall ascend again up into Heaven i. e. shall be exalted glorified upon the Earth In the same time the tenth part of the City shall fall v. 13. i. e. one of those ten Kings that gave their power to the Beast shall revolt from him And a little after the seventh Trumpet shall sound which will give the last blow to the Babylonish Empire v. 15. After which the Reign of the Saints shall commence which shall continue to the end of the World. This is the Epitome of the whole History of the Church the sense of the 11th Chapter After this general idea of the History of the Church Ch. 12. its explication the Prophet enters upon the particulars In the 12th Ch. God shews him the vision of the Woman that was with child deliver'd of a Son persecuted by the Red Dragon who fain would devour the Child of the Woman Afterwards there is a battle fought by Michael his Angells against the Dragon The Dragon is overcome and cast to the Earth but as much overcome as he was he ceaseth not to persecute the Woman She is forced to escape into the Wilderness where she is nourisht 1260 Days The Dragon not being able to reach her vomited out a flood after her but the Earth open'd swallow'd up the flood saved the Woman This Woman is the Apostolical Church this Child of which she is deliver'd is pure holy Christianity The Dragon is the Devil who by the authority of the Roman Empire would devour extinguish Christianity in its birth Michael his Angells are Jesus Christ his Ministers celestial as well as terrestrial The combat of the Red Dragon Michael is the combat of 300 Years that was between God the Devil during the ten persecutions of the Roman Heathen Emperours The Devil endeavouring on one hand to destroy the Christian Church by the cruelty of the Emperours God on the other hand defending it by his Martyrs Teachers The victory gotten over the Red Dragon is the casting down of Heathenism which falls to the Earth is cast from Heaven i. e. 't is tumbled down from the throne by Constantine his successors to the reign of Theodosius The great flood which the Red Dragon casts after the Woman when he was thrown down on the Earth is those inundations of Heresies that Arrianism that cover'd the Christian World immediatly after the fall of Heathenism under Constantine The Earth swallowed up this flood in favour of the Woman these Heresies were destroyed swallowed up as in a moment the Church remained deliver'd from them by a kind of
dismembred pieces of the ancient Roman Empire as well as the other Kingdoms of Europe It retains the name of the Roman Empire its head is called the King of the Romans What of all this Is it necessary only to retain names and vain titles to be in possession to the thing and to exercise the rights belonging to it The Jews retain the name of the people of God of the chosen people of the Lords inheritance by way of exclusion of all the nations of the Earth but doth it follow that they are what they once were and what to this day they call themselves We therfore may justly say the Roman Empire is destroyed and was abolisht when the Goths the Vandals and the Huns rent it in pieces and divided it into so many parts took away the rule from the City of Rome and made it the chief City only of a part of that ancient Empire And indeed 't is then that the Antichristian Empire was born or at least began to be Revealed that is to say to become sensible and this was in the fifth Age. But this doth not agree with the other Prophecies for according to St. John and Daniel the fourth Monarchy which is that of the Romans must continue till the Kingdom be given to the Saints and all the Nations of the World be reduced to the obedience of Jesus Christ The Roman Empire according to the Prophecy of St. John and Daniel is not yet ended v. 17 18. This is in the seventh of Daniel There he makes four Beasts i. e. four Monarchies or four Empires These four Beasts are four Kings that shall arise out of the Earth But the Saints of the most high shall take the Kingdom and possess the Kingdom for ever even for ever and ever He places nothing at all between the end of the fourth Beast or the fourth Empire and the Kingdom given to the Saints Now if the fourth Monarchy did cease in the fifth Century then the fifth Monarchy which is the Kingdom of J. Christ being not begun there would be the space of 12. or 13. hundred Years between the fourth Monarchy and the reign of J. Christ upon the Earth One can't conceive why the H. Spirit should leave so wide a gap of time in the Prophecy This is yet more evident by what follows The Angell that explains the vision to Daniel saith to him v. 23. The fourth Beast shall be the fourth Kingdom upon Earth which shall be diverse from all Kingdoms and shall devour the whole Earth and shall tread it down v. 24. and break it in pieces And the ten horns out of this Kingdom are ten Kings that shall arise and another shall arise after them and he shall be diverse from the first and he shall subdue three Kings v. 25. 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 and they shall be given into his hand untill a time v. 26. and times and the dividing of time But the judgment shall sit and they shall take away his dominion to consume and to destroy it unto the end And the Kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the Saints of the most High c. He had said before on occasion of the fourth Beast and his little Horn I behold them v. 11. because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake I beheld even till the beast was slain and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame 'T is clear that the ten Horns or the ten Kingdoms together with the little Horn that subdues three Kings are a continuation of the fourth Beast and make but one Monarchy together with it which Monarchy must endure till the Kingdom be given to the people of God. The same thing plainly appears in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar Chap. 2. and the explication which Daniel gives of it Nebuchadnezzar saw in a dream a great Statue whose head was of Gold his shoulders and his arms of Silver v. 32. his belly of Brass his legs of Iron v. 33. and his feet divided into ten Toes were partly of Earth and partly of Iron v. 34. A Stone cut out of the mountain without hands breaks this statue in pieces mingles the Gold the Silver the Iron and the Brass and reduces them all to dust Daniel explaining this dream declares that the head signifies the Monarchy of the Assyrians of which Babylon was then the capital city since the ruin of Nineveh and Nebuchadnezzar the head That the shoulders of Silver signify a second Monarchy and the belly of Brass a third v. 40. And the fourth Kingdom shall be like Iron for as much as Iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things All the World is agreed that this is the Roman Monarchy After which follows not the destruction but the division of that Empire among ten Kings And wheras thou sawest the feet and toes v. 41. part of potters clay and part of iron the Kingdom shall be divided viz. into ten other Kingdoms as the feet into ten toes For the ten toes of the statue and the ten horns of the Beast are the same thing which all Interpreters have acknowledged Among these ten Kings must he come that must subdue three i. e. Antichrist As therefore the ten Toes make a part of the Statue and the ten horns a part of the Beast 't is plain that the ten Kings that must arise from the division of the Roman Empire and the reign of Antichrist that must establish himself by the ruin of three of those Kings are the continuation of the Roman Empire and the Roman Empire it self Now immediately after and without any thing happening between comes the reign of Jesus Christ and of the Holy people signified by the little stone cut without hands out of the mountain And in the days of these Kings shall the God of Heaven set up a Kingdom v. 44. which shall not be left to other people but it shall break in pieces and consume all these Kingdoms and it shall stand for ever The same thing is evident by the Revelations of Saint John. The first Beast in the 13th of the Revelation in certainly the same with the fourth Beast in the 7th Chapter of Daniel 't is the Roman Empire We have seen before that 't is agreed that the second Beast in the same Chapt. which had but two horns is the same with the fore-going Beast that had ten Now the foregoing Beast is the Roman Empire the second Beast is the Empire of Antichrist Whence it is plain that the reign of Antichrist must be the continuation of the Roman Empire Saint Iohn after having described the Roman Empire continued under Antichrist in the 13th Chap. carries on this continuation in the 14th Chap. to the total ruin of
the Schisme did shake off they yoke the City of Bolonia made a Law that the Benefices of that Church should be conferred upon none but of that City and Territory To conclude it cannot be expressed by how many ways that grand Schisme which divided the Sun of the Antichristian World did spoil it of its strength and lustre After this time the Authority which the Popes had so mischievously used to ruin the Kings and Kingdoms of Europe did scarce do any more mischief 'T is evident that then the Kingdom of the Beast was darkned because by this Eclipse it lost half of its beams i.e. of its Authority They grawed their tongues for pain History must be consulted to know how many calamities wars combats how much shedding of blood rage and fury did spring from this shameful Schisme Every one of these Popes gnasht his teeth and bit his tongue against the Antipope There were nothing but thunderbolts excommunications Croisades wars and combats of one against another Nay still to this day the slaves of the papal Seat are vext to the death when we prefs them with this thing But under all their sorrows they blasphemed the God of Heaven and repented not of their deeds In those Ages Idolatry was so far from loosing any thing that it encreased then was the reign of Monks of superstition of Fables of Legends and a thousand abominations In that age Simony was come to its height While the Court of Rome sate at Avignon is invented a thousand wayes of selling holy and prophane things Crimes Paradise Sacraments Minisâ—ry Marriages and in a word everything Then came abroad that famous book the Tax of the Roman Chancery and Penitentiary which at that time and yet every day forces to make the Kingdom of the Beast full of darkness This period lasted from 1305 untill 1440. CHAP. IX The sixth Plague are the Turks who pass aver the Bosphorus and invade the Greek and Latin Empires The three unclean spirits which come out from the mouth of the false Prophet are the papal Laws armed with Excommunications I Have carried on my conjectures untill I came hither and did somewhat content my self in what I had said about the five first Plagues The certainly of what hath been said ought to be encreased by that which follows but I confess that the remainder of this Chapter was thick darkness to me And understanding nothing of it I put it among those things that are to come according to the usual custome of them who Interpret Prophecies who say of every thing which they understand not that it is not yet come to pass And this made me ready to think that my perswasion as to the five first plagues was but a meer opinion For in the framing of systems whether they be of Principles and conclusions or of Events contain'd in Prophecies we must pierce through them all that we may see them clearly and be assured of their truth Whilest I thought that the remainder of the Chapter concerned the time to come I was content to understand nothing of it but I was afflicted with the fear that the end of Antichristianism was not at hand But at last after I had knockt twice thrice four five yea six times with devout attention and deep humility I believe that the door is open'd to me I dare speak thus though I know that some have said that this savours of Enthusiasme to whom I answer that there is one Article at least more in my Creed then there is in theirs viz. I believe in the Holy Ghost and his operations I am in this matter a Disciple of the Author of the enquiry after Truth and am perswaded that we see no truths but in God and by the assistance of God we contribute nothing besides our attention our prayers and our desires However I think that I have found out the two plagues that follow in this Chapter and by this means that which was only a conjecture of mine concerning the five fore-going is risen to a real perswasion I am therefore perswaded that through the Divine assistance I have pierced into the Systeme of the seven periods a favour for which I will render to him immortal thanks as long as I live For I confess that I cannot express the ravishing consolation that my heart hath felt in seeing such evident reasons to perswade me of the approaching deliverance of the Church If these two plagues had been yet to come I felt my heart began to fà int at the prospect of the dismal calamities which now oppress the Church without reckoning those which do still threaten her Hope deferred maketh the heart sick saith the Wise man. Sixth plague v. 12. And the sixth Angel pour'd out his viol upon the great river Euphrates and the water there of was dryed up that the way of the Kings of the East might be prepared The Kings of the East and the river Euphrates do give light to this Text. As for the Kings of the East we cannot doubt but that they are the Turks for they are the only Kings of our East They possess exactly that part of the Roman Empire which is called the East and hath kept the name of Natolia in the Text they might have been translated the Kings of Anatolia for that is the word which is used Now all know that the Turks are the Kings of Natolia As for Euphrates we find it in the sixth Trumpet as it is here in the sixth plague v. 13. And the sixth Angel sounded and I heard a voyce from the four horns of the golden Altar Revel ch 9. which is before God. v. 14. Saying to the sixth Angel which had the Trumpet loose the four Angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates v. 15. And the four Angels were loosed which were prepared for an hour and a day and a moneth and a year for to slay the third pare of men v. 16. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand and I heard the number of them v. 17. And thus I saw the horses in the vision and them that sate on them having brest-plates of fire and of jacinct and brimstone and the heads of the horses were as the heads of Lions and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone The most skillful Interpreters have in this Metaphorical description discerned the Turkish Cavalry which was formerly so formidable The Turks and their invasions are foretold in the 9th chapt of the Revelation and after the reading of what Joseph Mede hath wrote upon this I think it cannot be doubted that the thing is so This barbarous Nation which came out of Tartary had carried on its conquests even to Euphrates nigh to which if formed four Dynasties or Governments and there it abode a long time these are the four Angels who were bound behind Euphrates This River for some time served as a boundary or barriere of the Empire of
the Revelation sets forth the Dragon as broken loose giving his power to the Beast and devouring the whole world Once again this is a blindness which I cannot conceive If there was no other argument against these two Hypotheses this alone would be enough to convince me of their falsity namely the terrible confusion into which these Authors do put the Visions of the Revelation To any one who hath studyed them it is evident that the Prophet hath observed the Order of History at least in the gross of events He had several visions concerning the same thing and in the order of these vision the order of all their circumstances does not alwayes in every thing agree with the order of events and this we have observed and cleared But I say it again the gross is alwayes according to the order of history this order is observed in the Revelation that the birth and progresses of Antichrists Kingdom are laid down before its fall Now the Authors we have spoken do make St Iohn guilty of a Parachronisme of two thousand years After he had finisht the narrative of the ruin of Antichrist and gone through a Period of 1260 years which if we add to them the space from the Incarnation of Christ unto the revelation of the son of perdition make almost two thousand years After this I say they make him on a sudden to go back as far as the beginning of the Christian Church Is there any other instance of such confusion in this book Let them shew it What mean those words After this so the French version which begin the 20 Chapter and denote always not only the succession of visions but of times This work is already large than I intended to make it but notwithstanding I cannot forbear to lay down a few of our arguments there are so many that one might crush the contrary opinion with number but I shall only urge the principal ones I shall open as it were four springs of arguments Four springs of arguments that demonstrate the trath of Christs reign upon earth which I shall leave every man liberty to sound and dive into contenting my self with producing them and drawing from them the principal evidences which clearly discover this future reign of our Lord Iesus Christ The firs spring is the fifth Monarchy promised to the Saints My first spring or source of arguments will be in the Prophecies that speak of a fifth Monarchy reserved for the Saints 'T is impossible to find a rational sense in them without supposing this thousand years reign There are two remarkable ones in the book of Daniel In the 2. Chapter Nebuchadnesar sees a statue whose head was of gold the shoulders of silver the belly of brass the leggs of iron the feet and toes partly of iron and partly of earth The Prophet interprets to him these four metals of the statue that they are four great Monarchies The iron leggs by consent of all signifie the fourth Monarchy which is the Roman The feet and the ten toes partly of iron and partly of earth signifie the ten kings or Kingdoms which were to divide the Roman Empire and weaken it at the same time And wheras thou sawest the feet and the toes Dan. 2. v. 41 42. part of potters clay and part of iron the kingdom shall be divided but there shall be in it of the strength of iron forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixt with miery clay And as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken These ten toes are the ten Kings which were to make up the Kingdom of Antichrist and reign together with him in the last Period of the Roman Empire during the 1260 years marked in the Revelation Now hat happens at the end of the reign of these ten Kings and of the fourth Monarchy v. 44. And in the dayes of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a Kingdom which shall never be destroyed and the Kingdom shall not be left to other people but it shall break in pieces and consume all these Kingdoms and it shall stand for ever Behold a fifth Monarchy different from the ten Kings The Monarchy promised to Christ cannot be placed in the Ages by past which must break them in pieces and must continue after them for ever i.e. untill the end of the world 'T is granted that this Kingdom that shall never be destroyed is that of Iesus Christ But is it not as clear as the day that this Kingdom must not appear untill after that the ten Kings and the ten Kingdoms shall have been broken ' in pieces by this fifth Monarchy I confess I have nothing to say to them who are incapable of beholding this evidence and I do not conceive how it can be said that we must go back beyond the ten Kings that we may place the Monarchy of Iesus Christ before them when the Prophet so plainly placeth it after the ten Kings Is it not expresly said that his fifth Monarchy must break in pieces and destroy these ten Kingdoms How therefore can it go before them or have its duration parallel to theirs In the seventh Chapter of the same Prophecy we have the same four Monarchies under the Images of four Beasts 'T is confessed that the fourth Beast that had ten horns is the Roman Empire all our writers grant that these ten horns that signifie ten Kings are the ten Kingdoms into which the Roman Empire was divided after the time of Valentinian the third and that those ten horns reign together with the little horn which is Antichrist When the Prophet had seen both the fourth Beast and the three first wholly destroyed and their bodies burnt with fire he adds And I saw in the might-visions Chap. 7. v. 13. and behold one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven and came unto the Ancient of dayes and they brought him near before him and there was given him dominion and a glory and a Kingdom that all people nations and languages should serve him his dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed And to the same purpose in the explication of the vision v. 24.25 And the tend horns out of this Kingdom are then Kings that shall arise and another shall arise after them and he shall be diverse from the first c. 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 lawes and they shall be given into his hand untill a time and times and the dividing of times c. All are agreed that Antichrist is here intended and all Protestants grant that this is the Papacy and that its reign is to last 1260 years Now what is to happen after this time and times and a dividing or half
tear out the very heart of the sacred Scriptures in the Mysteries and Divine depths therein and leave it nothing but a bare superficies Let us give but two Examples of this Maxim of the Cabalists that God hath imprinted a seal of himself and of his Mysteries which reacheth to all matters The first is that of the Trinity of Persons in a unity of essence whereof we have a lively image in the World of Spirits by the essence intelligence and will which is found in every Spirit whether separate or united with matter and another lively image of it in the three dimensions of matter longitude latitude and profundity which are three distinct dimensions and yet make but one only and most simple extension The other instance is in the mystery of the Incarnation and the personal union of the Divine uncreated nature with the humane a mystery whereof we see a lively image in the Incarnation of those souls which God unites with matter These things deserve very well to be thought of Besides that the Holy Ghost hath sufficiently declared himself concerning these Mysteries He hath shown us one part that we may imagine the rest He saith that the light of the first day is the image of that Action whereby God causeth the light to shine in the darkness of our ignorance The Scripture calls our Lord the Sun of Righteousness by allusion to the Sun in the Heavens a second Adam with reference to the Creation of the first Adam the marriage of Adam and Eve an image of Christ and his Church Heaven is called Paradise by allusion to the Earthly Paradise In a word there are an hundred things in the work of Creation whereof no natural reason can be given there must be some therefore which are mysterious Why for instance did God create a Chaos before he put in order the several parts of the world why he rank't them all in six days time no more or less why he created not the Sun but on the fourth day why the Plants were created before the Sun and why the Fishes and Brids before the Beasts of the field 2. Principle the sensible World an image of the intelligible II. Our second Principle is this that the sensible World is the image of the Intelligible and this Intelligible World is not a World of Platonic Idea's 'T is in the Church where every thing is to be met with by analogy that is found in the sensible World. There is an Heaven there is an intelligible Sun which is God there are Spirits which are the intelligible Stars there is an Earth Plants Fruits and also wild Beasts enemies of this World. The Scripture leads us by the hand in these paths by the continual use of figures borrowed from the sensible World to signify those parts of the intelligible one From this principle we may conclude that the creation of the sensible World is the image and Type of the Creation of the intelligible World. And consequently that the Creation of the World is the Image of the different degrees by which God hath made his Church to pass through to bring it to perfection 3. Principle God divided the times into several periods III. Our third Principle is this that in every System composed of Events there are several Periods to be considered This is the Spirit of the Prophets God divided the times into seven Trumpets seven Seals and seven Viols Upon this Principle it cannot be doubted but the seven days of the Creation are as many Periods of this Intelligible World through which they are to pass to arrive a perfection 4. Principle the same images ought every where to signify the same mysteries IV. My fourth Principle is this that the H. Ghost ought constantly to fix the same Mysteries to the same Images in all the parts of the Creation For Example the Waters should every where be the same thing and signify the same Mystery which is a Principle that was not at all heeded by Placaeus In one place he makes the Waters to be Sin in another to be the Passions well ordered and gathered together in Christ In a third place 't is meant of the Heart sanctified and serving God 't is a fault that is most obvious and which alone is sufficient to prove that he had no System that they were only loose thoughts which shined separately but did not mutually illustrate each other The fifth Principle the mystery must not destroy the Letter V. I will add a fifth Principle that in this Mystery we should not as some do destroy the History There is nothing more dangerous if a man gives himself the liberty to deny matters of fact and to turn all into pure allegory there then remains nothing certain in the Scripture Libertins may then doubt of the whole and we shall no longer be able to distingnish those places where the relation must be taken according to the Letter from those where the Letter shall be false and where there is nothing but mystery We must suppose the Type to be in the matters of fact if the Events prove false the Type is null These Principles being laid down I thus form my System The Creation of the sensible World being an Image of the Creation of the intelligible World we must divide the time in which God hath formed the Church into seven Periods but those seven Periods are not precisely distinguisht each of them to contain a thousand years as hath been formerly supposed from those words of St. Peter a thousand years with the Lord are as one day There is some difficulty in the division of those Periods and after having well condered it I divide them thus 1. The first Period is from Adam to Abraham which is almost two thousand years 2. The second is from Abraham to Moses which is between four and five hundred years 3. The third Period is from Moses to Iesus Christ which it between fourteen and fifteen hundred years 4. The fourth is from Iesus Christ to the rise of Antichrist that is between four and five hundred years 5. The fifth is from the rise of Antichrist to his Completion that is between five and six hundred years 6. The sixth is from Antichrist compleat to his Destruction which is between seven and eight hundred years 7. The seventh and last is from the Ruin of Antichrist to the end of the World this will be about a thousand years The great inequality that there is between these several Periods as to their duration ought not to make any difficulty We must not reckon things according to the time but compute the time according to the things The time wherein nothing is done is reckon'd for nothing The Periods of the Church must be computed by the great changes which have therein happened Now 't is exactly in these six points that the Church hath changed its face From Adam untill Abraham there was no change in the face of the Church by
superior Waters which were the family of the Patriarchs were nothing in comparison with the rest of mankind And hereby we have the reason why in that great work of the Creation God would make so much account of so small a matter as the Clouds are in nature even to assign a perticular day for their creation 'T is because they were the Image of the families of the Patriarchs who were very inconsiderable for their number but yet were to make so great a figure in the History of the Church 6. The superior Waters were little or nothing as to their extension but had this advantage above the waters which were beneath that they were near Heaven so the families of the Patriarchs little in number had this advantage to be admitted to secret and special communion with God. He conversed with the Patriarchs as a man with his intimate friend 7. The Clouds are lifted up to so high a place by the rays of the Sun and the attraction of Heaven the families of the Patriarchs were advanc't to that glory of being distinguisht from all others by the mercy of God. 8. The Clouds are the fruitfull springs whence proceed the rain the fruitfullness and blessing of the Earth God would make the Patriarchs the springs of blessing to the Church In thy seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed Therefore the Iews did always in their prayers make mention of the Covenant made with Abraham Isaac and Iacob 9. God put the Firmament or Expansum between the upper and lower Waters 't is that large vacuity of Misery and sin which separates the World from the Church 10. From the Clouds 't is easy to fall into the lower Waters but the Waters which are beneath rise with difficulty to the Clouds The fall is easy from the Church to the world and sin but 't is difficult to pass from the world to the Church In the third day was made a perfect separation of the waters i. e. that work of the separation of the Waters was finisht and this is the reason why God blessed not the work of the second day We must not look for a Mystery in that or imagine that on that account the waters must needs signify sin God blessed not the work which he had not yet finisht We find no Benediction in the second day but to make amends we meet with two in the third for those words and God saw that it was good are repeated twice 't is because in that third day we find two works the compleating the separation of the waters is one and the Creation of Plants another and God said Let the waters that be under the Heavens be gathered together into one place and let the dry Land appear 'T is an image of a perfect separation of People into one place i. e. into the World which is a great and vast abyss full of darkness and impurity into that I say let the Waters run there let the reprobate People gather together 2. And let the dry Land appear the holy People who till now had appeared mixt with the men of the World let them appear seperate from all other People 3. The World is represented by the Sea the Church by the Earth and dry Land so since that time in the stile of the Prophets and of Preachers the Sea hath always been an image of the World. The Ark of Noah which floated on the waters of the Deluge is the Emblem of the Church beaten by the waters of this world Jesus Christ sleeping in the Ship which was tost by a Tempest is the Image of the Church where Christ seems to be asleep while she is beaten and afflicted by the World. 4. The Sea is the habitation of Monsters the world is the residence of the wicked where we may see Monsters of covetousness of Ambition of Impurity and violence The greatest Animals upon Earth are not to be compared with those which live in the waters There are disorders to be found in the Church 't is true but they are nothing in comparison with those which are in the world 5. The face of the Waters is barren and produceth nothing whereas the superficies of the Earth is fruitfull The World doth inwardly nourish Monsters and in its outside produceth no solid good or true vertue 6. The Earth is the Synagogue of the ancient Church she is incompast with waters on all sides the People and Nations of the World. 7. She is continually afflicted by them and if we regard the violence of the waves one would think she should be overwhelmed 8. Nevertheless she stands her ground and remains victorious 9. The waters of the Sea have no setled foundation they are always in motion but the Earth is fixt the People of the world are unstable always changing The Church is a Land that hath its roots in the foundation of the world in God's eternal decrees 10. The Sea makes a frightfull object especially in a Tempest but the Earth presents our eyes with an agreeable diversity of Mountains and Hills of Trees and Flowers of Fruits and Blossoms The world is a deformed spectacle by reason of its disorders and uniformity of its faults But the Church shows us an agreeable diversity of gifts greater and less of vertues of good works of good Fruits for the Plants and Fruits are to the Earth that which vertues and good works are to the Church The Plants have their roots in the bowels of the Earth they appear on the outside of it they serve for ornament and use and need the kind influences of Heaven to make them grow All this agrees well to the vertues and good works of the Church God said Let the Earth bring forth Grass as if the Earth produced Plants by its own vertues 't is because he will have us act as if our vertues proceeded from our selves as if we were the Authors of 'em that he might thence take occasion to reward us for ' em But among the Plants of the Earth which are thus good usefull there are some hurtfull ones some poisons among the good Fruits of the Church there are some wicked works 12. Lastly the nearer any Land is to the Sun the better its Fruits the nearer any Church to God the Sun of Righteousness the better its works CHAP. XXII Explication of the Mysteries of the four last days of the Creation THe fourth day answers to the fourth Period of the Church 1. In this fourth day God created the Sun the Moon and the Stars 'T is easy to take notice therein of Christ the Sun of Righteousness of the Church who derives all her Light from the Sun and the of Teachers of the Christian Church which are as the Stars of the Intelligible World. This alone should open all mens eyes and make it evident that we ought to search after the Church throughout the whole work of Creation for this is the Key of the whole Mystery This fourth Period is from Iesus
In the sixth Period near the end whereof we now are God will compleat his Church by the ruin of Antichrist and bring the Kingdom of Christ upon Earth to its perfection This should be well remembred that the Church in the Type of the Creation appears under four Emblems 1. As the Earth buried and covered under waters 2. As a dry Land above the waters and bearing fruit 3. As a Moon inlightened by the Sun. 4. And lastly as the Woman And our Lord Jesus appears there under three Emblems 1. As the Light of the first day without or before the Sun. 2. As the Sun. 3. Under the Emblem of the Man. The Church in her first state before the Law was as the Earth under water she was obscure and as it were buried among the Nations In her second state under the Law she was as a discovered Land distinguisht and known and bearing fruit but yet she was but Earth i. e. not very considerable In her third state under the Gospel she appears as a Moon a rival of the Sun imitating his Light and therein she is more glorious than the Earth This is the Apostolical Church so glorious and full of knowledge In the fourth state she appears as the woman taken out of the side of Adam closely united with him being one Body and one Flesh 'T is in the last Period that she shall be more united to Christ than before In the fourth Period she is as the Moon and notwithstanding the nearest approaches of the Sun there remain vast distances between them But towards the end of the sixth Period and throughout the seventh her union unto Christ shall be immediate and intimate as that of a Wife with her Husband therefore the Church in this seventh Period is represented as a Spouse which was to be brought to the Lamb. On the other hand Jesus Christ appears under three Emblems In the fourth Period as a Sun which scatters the darkness of Idolatry Paganism and Ignorance that covered the face of the Earth This Sun is plac't in the fourth point just in the middle of the seven to let us know that he is the Center of the Church the Sun which gives light before and behind to the preceding Ages and to those which follow him Towards the end of the sixth Period and throughout the seventh he is A man to whom God gives dominion over the Fowls of the Air the Fish of the Sea and creeping things and four-footed Beasts i. e. That Christ in this last Period shall be Lord and King who shall rule over the Birds tame the boldest and most aspiring spirits who mount even unto the Heavens he shall humble them and keep 'em within the bounds of their duty over the Fish of the Sea to deliver'em from their corruption over Creeping things to destroy the influence of their poison over wild Beasts to tame their fierceness and render them meek as Lambs In the first day Jesus Christ was figured but by a dim Light because in the first Period of the Church he vouchsaf't her but a very imperfect knowledge of himself This methinks is the Mystery of the six days which way well serve as a favourable omen in reference to the seventh day The mystery of the seventh day of the Creation because every thing therein seems to accord well what then is wanting to the World after the works of the six daye to render it perfect Holiness and Rest and these are the two Things which God added on the seventh day Holiness for he Sanctified the seventh day and thereby the rest of the World. Rest for till then God had been at work and the World in Motion Now God gave the World that Rest which it wanted in that he himself rested on the seventh day All this is an admirable Emblem of our seventh Period for the sake whereof all this explication of the Type of the Worlds Creation hath been given During the six days God made the Church to pass through several changes he will bring it to perfection at the end of the sixth by the ruin of the Antichristian Kingdom and by the Conversion of all Nations What then is wanting to it Rest and Holiness Rest for hitherto she hath always been in toyl and Travel Holiness for she hath alway been imperfect We must therefore look for a seventh Period which shall be a Kingdom of Rest and Holiness wherein the Church shall no more be persecuted either by Fire and Sword or by Heresy and Idolatry wherein also there shall be a plentiful effusion of the H. Spirit to produce a great degree of Holiness and Sanctification among men This mystery shall be accomplisht upon Earth We must not say that the accomplishment of this Type will be found in Heaven where is Rest and Holiness and that therein is the mystery of the seventh day I say again that cannot be meant because this seventh Period must be of the same kind and order with the other six We even now observed that the Sun was created on the fourth day there are three days before and three after exactly in the middle of the seven to signify that Christ the Son of Righteousness is the Center of the intelligible World. If he be the Center of the seven Periods he must certainly have an equal reference to all the points of that Circumference Now what relation can he have to the seventh day if Eternity be meant by it In that Eternal abode Christ shall have no more the relation of a Center a Sun and a King. For St. Paul tells us that then God shall be all in all and Christ shall deliver up the Kingdom again to his Father Moreover 't is certain there ought to be a proportion between the seventh Period and the six fore-going ones Now there is none between Eternity and the duration of the Church upon Earth And lastly I am bold to say that the ancient Types were not establisht by God immediately to figure Heavenly Things but only the Graces and Favors of God in this World under the Kingdom of the Messiah You cannot show me any one of the ancient Types which hath an immediate relation to the glories of the Heavenly Paradise The marriage of Adam and Eve was the immediate Type of the Vnion between Christ and his Church in the Kingdom of his Grace It did only mediately typify their Vnion in the Kingdom of Glory By consequence this seventh day which all acknowledge to be Typical must have its immediate relation not to the Sabbath of the Church in Heaven but to its State of Rest upon Earth CHAP. XXIII A farther Confirmation of the future prosperity of the Church upon Earth The 21 and 22. Chap. of the Apocalypse interpreted that in those Chapters the Church is described as victorious upon Earth and not as Triumphant in Heaven WE may not pass from the Apocalyps without saying somewhat concerning the last Chapters If we needed another Head of Arguments to
17. nor with Babylon chap. 18. The Fathers who lived near the Apostles time it may be heard some discourse of this and that probably gave occasion to the mistake This is the most that can be said with any pretence of reason to excuse St. Irenaeus and those of the Ancients who followed him in the description of Antichrist Gog and Magog are names borrowed from Ezekiel which in my opinion do not signify the same People in both places Here it denotes in general the Enemies of the Church Nevertheless I know nothing concerning it with any great certainty CHAP. XXV An Answer to the reasons of the Anti-millinaries against the Reign of a thousand years ACcording to the Method of a Regular Disputation I come now to answer the Reasons of the Anti-millinaries But most of them are so weak that they hardly deserve to be considered but that the mention of 'em will serve as a further proof to confirm the truth of our seventh Period For 't is a very good Argument for any opinion to be supported on the one hand by powerfull and weighty Reasons and to be opposed on the other by weak and slender ones Those Gentlemen have the plurality of voices on their side and are doubtless men of worth and learning 'T is nevertheless true that they have suffered themselves to be born down with the stream without much minding it First Objection Christ not to come but at the day of jugdment 1. First they say that the Scripture speaking of Christ's second coming never speaks of any other than that when he shall appear in the Clouds of Heaven attended with Angels and Archangels to raise mankind and judge the quick and dead Whereas we suppose a kind of a clandestine coming of Christ to settle a Kingdom upon Earth which the Scripture knows nothing of for it speaks of no future Kingdom of Christ that is yet to be save that which he shall have in Heaven after the distribution of Eternal Rewards and Punishments I answer 1. These men suppose by this Argument a Kingdom of Christ in Heaven after the last judgement but there is no such Kingdom neither shall there ever be any on the contrary St. Paul doth expresly tell us that he shall then cease to reign and give up the Kingdom into the hands of his Father 1 Cor. 17. So that since we are assured from Scripture of Christs coming to reign it must be before the end of the World for the Kingdom of Christ the Mediator shall then be finisht 2. 'T is supposed in this objection that the Scripture speaks of no more than one coming of Christ which shall be accompanied with the voice of the Arch-angel to summon the Dead to judgement This is plainly to suppose the thing in Question and those who have read the fore-going Chapters with attention and without prejudice will still believe that there is a first coming of Christ and it may be a first Resurrection 3. Lastly who can be certain that this coming of Christ to establish his Kingdom upon Earth shall not be in that manner with the voice of an Arch-angel and in great magnificence and Glory Who can prove that at that first coming of Christ he shall not raise some of the dead as St. Iohn seems expresly to have fore-told all the little reasons pretended from Conveniency and Inconveniency which are here alledged will have much ado to resist the evidence of so express a Text and of that Matth. 19. Verily I say unto you that in the Regeneration when the Son of man shall be sat on the Throne of his Glory you shall also sit on twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel 2. Object Christ is to remain in Heaven till the end of the world 2. The next thing alledged is that the Heavens are to contain Jesus Christ till the restitution of all things The restitution of all things that they say is the End of the World and so Jesus Christ must be confined to Heaven till the end of the world and consequently shall not come to settle a Kingdom upon Earth for a thousand years If this were true that Christ must stay in Heaven till the end of the World might he not destroy his Enemies give Peace to his Church and govern it in Peace by his Prophets and Servants without coming in Person from Heaven Moreover in case our Lord should for a short space come down from Heaven to establish a Kingdom for a thousand years and to give his seal to the Conversion of all Nations by some glorious Apparition returning back to Heaven immediately after might it not be said notwithstanding this that the Heavens shall contain him till the end of Time So small an interruption of his abode in Heaven could not hinder but that the heavens may still be reckon'd the place of his abode Lastly how will they prove that by the Restitution of all Things the end of the World is to be understood on the contrary that end is represented as the Overturning and not the Restitution of all things The Heavens the Stars the Elements shall be burnt up and destroyed by fire 'T is true after this there shall be new Heavens and a new Earth but the Scripture doth more frequently describe the end of the world by an universal confusion and Overturning than by the new Heavens which shall follow And the new Heavens in most places of Scripture signify the Renovation of the Church in its last Period of a thousand years So that I hardly make any doubt but that by the Restitution of all things Chap. 8. Acts we are to understand the Establishment of the Church before the end of the World. 3. Argum. Peace and Prosperity are not to be the Lot of the Church 3. The third Argument of the Anti-millenaries is this that such a state of Peace and tranquillity as we promise to the Church doth not at all agree with what the H. Scripture speaks of the Persecution and afflictions that the Church and the Faithfull are always to meet with in this World. 1. Ought not this to be mutually granted that the whole is to be denominated from the major part for six thousand years the Church was to be persecuted and in a low Condition and in a seventh Period she shall have Rest And shall we count it strange that the Holy Ghost doth for the most part speaking of the state of the Church here below as a low and miserable condition and that he saith very little of her state of Glory since the difference between the first and second state is as six to one 2. I answer that they suppose that which is not true viz. that the Scripture speaks of the Church as being alway in a state of suffering On the contrary more places can be brought wherein her Prosperity and Peace are promised than of those where she is threatned with calamity and persecution We may see the truth of this
the H. Scripture uses such high words to describe the popish Idolatry and higher than those it makes use of to describe the Pagan Idolatry Pag. 183 Chap. XX. The deceiving Spirits which St. Paul speaks of are Evil Spirits The Doctrine of Daemons is that Doctrine that hath Daemons for its Objects and not that which hath Daemons for its Authors There is a perfect conformity between the Theology and the Religion of the Heathens about Daemons and that of the Papism about Saints and Angels mediatory Spirits Pag. 199 Chap. XXI What is the Character of those that were to establish Idolatry in the Christian Religion They are Priests and Monks Authors of the Laws of Celibacy and of Fasts How many fables and fictions have been invented by these men seared in their Consciences Pag. 215 Chap. XXII The Characters of Antichrist in the Papism confirm'd by the great type of Antichrist Antiochus Epiphanes That which is spoken literally of this Antiochus agrees mystically to the Pope and the Papism Pag. 228 Chap. XXIII A notable Prophecy of the Mahuzim that Antichrist was to worship The whole found admirably accomplisht in the Papism What is the literal sense of the Prophecy with respect to Antiochus An Explication of the beginning of the 12th Chap. of Daniel applied to Antiochus and the Papism Pag. 241 Chap. XXIV In which are gather'd together 35. Characters of Antichrist that perfectly agree to the Papism and cannot agree to any but it Pag. 255 Chap. XXV How Antichrist came to be mistaken being so well Characterised in the Prophecies A comparison of I. Christ and Antichrist in the accidental circumstances of their coming Pag. 263 The Table of Chapters of the Second Part. Chap. I. OF the duration of the Kingdom of Antichrist A refutation of that dream that it must last but three years and a half Ten Arguments which demonstrate that that supposition is false and impossible Pag. 3 Chap. II. The last Argument against the Chimaera of three years and half taken from the time during which the Temple was prophan'd by Antiochus Four quite different times set down for that in Daniels Prophecies An Explication and a reconciling of those four times An application of these four times to the Kingdom of Antichrist and the ruin of that Kingdom Pag. 17 Chap. III. What the last times are It doth not signify the end of the World. There are many times with reference to the Church and with reference to the World. If Antichrist must reign 1260 years he is come Mahometanism is not Antichristianism Pag. 29 Chap. IV. Some Principles to discover when the Antichristian Empire began and when it must end Three Characters of that Empire Idolatry Pride and corruption That these three Characters began to appear in the fourth Age and did infinitely encrease in the fifth Pag. 38 Chap. V. That we must look for the point of the birth of Antichristianism in the fifth Age. It must end about the year 1710 or 1715. Pag. 48 Chap. VI. The circumstances of the fall of Antichrist re-establisht in their order An Explication of the fifteenth Chapter Principles for the right understanding the sixteenth Chapter Divers interpretations given of it and their visible faults Pag. 62 Chap. VII An Explication of the three first VIOLS and the three first PLAGVES Pag. 78 Chap. VIII The fourth plague the encrease of the heat of the Sun denoting the encrease of the Papal Authority which had almost utterly ruin'd the World and the Church The fifth plague is the desolation of ROME when the Pope retreated to Avignon and the diminution of the Papal Authority by the grand Schism of the West Pag. 87 Chap. IX The sixth Plague are the Turks who pass over the Bosphorus and invade the Greek and Latin Empires The three unclean spirits which come out from the mouth of the false Prophet are the Papal Laws armed with Excommunications Pag. 97 Chap. X. The seventh Plague is the preaching of Luther and other Reformers by which the Latin Church was divided into three parts Papists Lutherans and Reformed Pag. 216 Chap. XI The Explication of the 14th Chapter The vision of the harvest and the vintage the harvest of the Reformation made in the age last past the vintage is the Reformation which shall be made this present age Pag. 224 Chap. XII The Explication of that part of the 11th Chapter where the last persecution made by Antichrist is fore-told which is the present persecution in France The death of the two witnesses who shall not be buried by means of the succour brought by the enemies of France Pag. 236 Chap. XIII The resurrection of the two Witnesses The Reformation shall within a few years rise again in FRANCE after that it shall be establisht by Royal Authority FRANCE shall renounce Popery and that Kingdom shall be converted Pag. 251 Chap. XIV Observations upon the 17 18 19. Chapt. of the Revelation concerning the fall of Antichrists Kingdom A brief Methodizing of the events which the H. Ghost had displaced in the Visions Pag. 270 Chap. XV. The Reason why in this work we speak of some things so positively The linking together of our Principles suffers us not to doubt that we now are at the end of the reign of the Papacy Pag. 277 Chap. XVI Of the thousand years reign That in all the past time there is not a time to be found wherein Satan hath been bound Four heads of arguments to prove this reign The first is the fifth Monarchy so plainly promised to the Saints Pag. 285 Chap. XVII The second spring of Arguments to prove the thousand years reign is the reign promised to the Iews The promises made to them have not been fulfilled but must be The conversion of St. Paul is a Type of that of the whole Nation Pag. 294 Chap. XVIII The third Head of Arguments for the future Kingdom of Christ and the Church So many Prophecies which concern the compleat Victories of I. Christ the Holiness of the Church and its perfect prosperity which have never yet been accomplisht Pag. 312 Chap. XIX The fourth Head of Arguments for the reign of a thousand years are the Types Four Types of this Period the Principal is the seventh day of the Creation which is not an immediate Type of Eternal Rest but of the Peace of the Church on Earth Pag. 321 Chap. XX. The Type of the Creation hath not been well explained We must make a System of it Principles to establish that System the division of the duration of the Church into seven Periods answering to the seven days of the Creation Pag. 326 Chap. XXI The Explication of the Mysteries signified by the Chaos by the Creation of Light by the separation of the Waters and by the Creation of the Plants The first days of the Creation and the three first Periods of the Church Pag. 334 Chap. XXII Explication of the Mysteries of the four last days of the Creation Pag. 345 Chap. XXIII A farther Confirmation