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A46361 A continuation of the accomplishment of the Scripture-prophesies, or, A large deduction of historical evidences proving that the papacy is the real antichristian kingdom to which is added A confirmation of the exposition of the sixteenth chapter of the Revelation concerning the pouring out of the vials / written in French by Peter Jurieu ... faithfully Englished.; Accomplissement des prophéties. Suite. English Jurieu, Pierre, 1637-1713. 1688 (1688) Wing J1200; ESTC R17274 212,359 335

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rejoyee in my own Light and Glory and of my Kingdom there shall be no end This is the stile of Rome of Mystical Babylon let us then discern the true Babylon in the language of Rome and hear the voice of Rome in the stile of Babylon The second fault to be found with this pretence of Infallibility and eternal Duration is the multitude of gross Absurdities contained in it which we are here to lay open Absurdities contain'd in the doctrine of Infallibility First 't is supposed without any show of Reason that God hath divided the Infallibility necessary to salvation into two parts and cut off one half of it There are two ways which lead to Heaven Faith and Charity sound Belief and Good Works First an Infallibility in matters of Faith and not of Charity 'T is in vain to pretend to be infallible in the one if without being so in the other a man may perish and fall short of Heaven The Church of Rome hath not the Impudence to say she is infallible in the point of Charity and yet she would be thought so in matters of Faith. But on what foundation doth she build this Pretence Where do we read that God hath divided Faith from Charity as if the latter were less necessary than the former as if men might be saved who sinn'd against the Laws of Charity but might not be so if they offended against the Rules of Faith As if these two ways were not equally certain to guide us to eternal Life as if God might dispense with Crimes against Charity but could not bear with Errors against the Truth All or nothing both or neither The Church must be infallible in both or it is so in neither Whence comes this extravagant Division why dae not the Roman Church pretend to be infallible in Charity as well as Faith but because she is convinc't of an abominable Defection and Disorder in Manners and Practice but ought she not to be equally convinc't that she is fallen into Error because she worships Images An Error in the Faith every whit as palpable and notorious as the Sodomies of the Popes is against Charity Infallibility in points of Right and not in matters of Fact is ridiculous Another division of Infallibility is with respect to matters of Fact and those of Right The Church of Rome dares not pretend to the former but challengeth the latter at this rate she will not be infallible in the most important Articles All the Christian Religion is founded on matters of Fact. 'T is a question of Fact to know whether Jesus Christ be risen from the Dead whether the Apostles wrought any true Miracles whether there have been any Prophets and inspired writers who were the penmen of such and such books or not 'T is concerning a matter of Fact to enquire whether such a Proposition be recorded in the H. Scriptures or not If the Church of Rome be not infallible in matters of Fact in general she cannot be so in these and if she may err in matters of Fact wherein lies her Infallibility Lastly there is yet another division of Infallibility viz. as to Discipline and Doctrines The Roman Church pretends not to Infallibility concerning the latter What is that Discipline wherein she saith she is infallible 'T is in every thing that concerns the Government of the Church The Roman Hierarchy the constituting of a Pope to be the Head of the Church is a point of Government she may err concerning that which is a Principal point and why then may she not err in other matters The seat of this Infallibility connot be found This Infallibility is no less absurd if we consider the subject of it in whom it resides Where and in whom is this Infallibility plac't they know not what reply to make If it be said in the Pope we can produce an hundred Popish Witnesses who depose the contrary and maintain that the Popes may err We can produce with them numberless Instances wherein several Popes have actually err'd we can bring undeniable proofs to manifest that neither the Scripture nor the ancient Christian Church did ever imagine the Bishops of Rome or any other Bishop to have been infallible One part of the Romanists assert that this Infallibility is seated in the Councills We confute this Party with the reasons of the other for those Gentlemen are Infallible when they confute one another but speak nothing to the purpose when they go about to establish their own opinion for when they oppose one another they argue for the Truth but when they endeavor to prove their own Opinion concerning the seat of Infallibility they maintain a falshood So that the Pope is not Infallible neither the Councills their infallibility then is no where for if it be said it is in the Pope and a Councill united together we shall make use of their Arguments who say it is not in the Pope and their Reasons who deny it is in a Councill and will therupon argue that if it be not in either separated it is not in both when joyn'd together for both united are the same they were in the time of their separation they act by the same spirit make use of the same Tricks to deceive the same Injustice and Violence as when considered severally We know not where to stop as to the point of Infallibility Infallibility then is foolish and absurd whether we consider the subject about which it is imploy'd or the subject in whom it is thought to reside But let us view it a little in the general notion of it and in the general term of the Church which they make use of The Church is Infallible they say but how shall I be assured of this for should the Church be never so Infallible if I know it not and have no way to ascertain my self about it it can be of no use to me Is it a Principle so self-evident as needs no other proof to manifest and evince it Is it as plain that the Church is Infallible as that two and two make four or that the whole is greater than a part That is an Absurdity too gross and palpable to be affirm'd by any Romanist 'T is so far from being evident that the Church is infallible that on the contrary we must proceed against all appearances of reason to believe it For we see the Church of Rome doth judge by humane methods debate contest urge sollicit equivovate and deceive and imploy all the arts of Human Craft and Policy to overcome such or such an Opinion We see her oftentimes to change her sentiments and say that at one time which she did not and would not at another we see her contradict the H. Scriptures forbid that which is there commanded and command that which is there forbidden at least she seems to do so This appearance of opposing the H. Scripture will at least refute the evidence of her Infallibility and tell us
that it is not so plain but that 't is necessary it should be Prov'd Now from whence shall we fetch the Proofs of the Churches Infallability I must take them from her own mouth and believe her to be infallible because she tells me so and for that only reason because she saith it This is manifestly absurd for no man's bare word is to be taken in a business wherein he hath a particular Interest to be partial Hath a Turk right to oblige me to believe the Divinity of his Alchoran only because Mahomet hath said that the Angel Gabriel brought him the Alchoran from Heaven Must I then consult Tradition that is the Councils and the Writings of the Fathers this is another plain Absurdity because it is evident that this way cannot be made use of by three Quarters of the number of Christians and more who are ignorant of Greck and Latin and so cannot read the numberless volumns wherein this Tradition is to be found Or must every one believe his Curate or Pastor when he tells him that the Church is infallible This is another Absurdity for this Pastor must be infallible or I cannot build my Faith upon his Testimony He tells me there is an infallibility in the Church but how doth he Prove it which way soever I turn my self I fall into the former inconveniencies for if he saith I must believe it without proof he deals with me like a Brute and not as a Rational Creature If he gives me Tradition for Argument in this case I tell him I know nothing of it if he turns me over to the Church I ask where is this Church If he sends me to the Pope I tell him I cannot go thither and if I could I 'm told he is not Infallible If he send me to a Councill I say there is none now sitting If he send me to the Canons of former Councills I shall answer that I cannot understand 'em and if I could have no assurance that these Canons were really made by such a Councill If he proves that these Canons were not forged but really made by a Councill there remains another difficulty which I cannot get over viz. that several Good Catholicks maintain the fallibility of a Council There is then but one way left to satisfie my self concerning the infallibility of the Church and that is the Testimony of the H. Scriptures But how can any man make use of that according to the Principles of the Roman Church for I shall say that the Scriptures have no Authority without the Church I cannot believe the testimony of the Scripture till I know it to be divine and I cannot know it to be divine but by the testimony of the Church as we are often told The Scripture then hath no Authority as to me without the Testimony of the Church and yet you would have me believe the Infallibility of the Church upon the Testimony of the Scripture you must therefore in the first place convince me that the Church is infallible without dependance on the Scriptures and then I shall believe the divinity of the Scriptures on the Testimony of the Church and after that I may be able to believe the infallibility of the Church on the Testimonies of the Scripture The absurdities of blind obedience If the Church be infallible a blind Obedience is my Duty to obtain this submission to the Church is the reason of asserting her infallibility I must blindly believe all that the Church affirms But till then I am not obliged to credit any thing which the Scripture saith or seems to say for I am not capable to understand the meaning and sense of the Scriptures without the Church so that until the Church hath declar'd that Jesus Christ is the Eternal Son of God and equal with the Father I have leave to doubt of it There was a time when the Church had not deliver'd her opinion in this point there was then a time when I was permitted to be an Arrian Photinian or Socinian But on the other hand whenever it shall please the Church to determine that the Ark was of a square figure equal in length and breadth or that Aaron's Sandals were with or without latchets it will be necessary that I must believe this or be damn'd Can any man be unapprehensive of the absurdities of such a Doctrine according to which at one time we may Blaspheme God without the least danger and at another time lie liable to Damnation for the least mistake about that which the Church hath decided to be the Truth These Gentlemen tell us that we must believe without examination all that the Church declares And by the same reason the Heathens were obliged to believe all that their Priests told'um and the Jews to receive all that was taught in their Synagogues No you will say they were false Teachers and so not to be credited very well But the Pagans and Jews say the same concerning my Pastors that they are false Guides And if the Jews and Heathens are bound to examin the truth of what is told them by their Guides why are not Christians obliged to know and examin what is told them by the Church at least they ought to examin the Church it self and her Authority and then we fall into the same Difficulties which were mention'd before After all this if a short and easy way could be found out to convince me that the Church is infallible this were not enough to quiet my mind because I know not where to find this infallible Church I see a multitude of differing Sects in the East and West in Europe and Asia who all say that they are the Church and that all other parties of Christians are guilty of Schism The Latins say this of the Greeks and the Greeks are even with 'em and say the same of the Latins the Protestants charge it on the Papists and the Papists on the Protestants I must know which of all these is in the right and to find out this I am plung'd into an abysse of difficulties and how shall I find my way out or extricate my self for there is no way left but by the Scriptures and that way is forbidden me till I am assured of the Infallibility and Authority of the Church without which I cannot be certain that the Scripture is divine It may possibly be said that I may believe the Divinity of the Scriptures before I know in what Sect of Christians is the Church because the Scripture is receiv'd by all the several Sects It matters not may it be said which of them is the infallible Church since they all bear restimony to the Scripture and there is one among them that is infallible viz. the true Church for her where-ever she be the Scripture hath an infallible testimony But this remedy will serve to little or no purpose because 't is necessary that I should know which of these Sects is the true Church before I can understand the
the Texts they bring for the proof of their fable of Purgatory Worship in an Vnknown Tongue Pilgrimages and a thousand other things There is nothing evident if this be not viz. that Popery hath no agreement at all with the H. Scripture But that this may be more apparent and manifest to all the World let me make these two Reflections and let the Reader therin follow me Christianity and Popery consider'd in the gross are directly contradictory First By a Comparison of the whole Scripture and all that we find there with the whole body of Popery by thus comparing it in the gross we shall see on the one hand the pompous show of the Roman Religion her High Priest seated on a stately Throne with his three Crowns calling himself the Supreme Judge of the Church a Vice-God the Leiutenant of J. Christ the King of Kings Magnificent Temples Altars Images and Worshippers who bow down before Wood and Stone Altars on which men offer Sacrifice with all the Equipage of those Religions which do most abound in Ceremonies Priests who are clothed in Mystical Habits who perform a thousand Actions that savour of Pride and are said to be full of Mysteries Spiritual Judges sitting in Chairs of Confession with Penitents at their feet repeating all their Crimes and craving Absolution A Worship wherein creatures are joyn'd in the Praises of the Creator over which especially they have drawn the vail of an unknown Language that the People and Fools may admire the more what they do not understand Processions wherin they carry either the Sacrament of the Altar or Reliques where several fraternities march in State and great Pomp where we see all the world bow down to the Earth and kiss the Dust in honour of the Ashes of some one deceased or of a Rag which they call the Girdle or Shift of the Virgin or her Slipper On the other hand let us cast our eyes upon the New Testament and observe the Simplicity of worship which is enjoyn'd there viz. Prayers that are the most plain and unadorned which have God alone for their Object The breaking a little piece of Bread in Honour and for the Remembrance of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ The sprinkling a little Water upon an Infant who is to be admitted into the society of Christians The publishing of the Mysteries of the Gospel with the greatest plainness and in such a manner as may be profitable to all If any seeth something else besides this in the New Testament he will do us a kindness to tell us of it And if this doth in the least resemble the magnificent and pompous Worship of Popery he will oblige us by letting us know it We ought not therefore only to compare the particular Doctrines and Services of Popery with particular passages of Scripture but 't is useful to make this Comparison between the whole body and mass of Popery and the whole body of true Christianity For these objects placed one against another make the deeper impression and more sensibly discover the prodigious difference between Popery and the Common Rule of Christians The Papacy is always on the defensive against the Scriptures The second Reflection which I would have made upon this subject respects the manner how the Church of Rome defends herself against the Accusation which we have now brought against her We accuse her for want of conformity in any measure unto that Rule which is common to us both The natural Method of justifying herself would be to take this sacred Rule and apply it to her Religion to evidence their Agreement Indeed the Papacy pretends a willingness to try this Method But it makes itself ridiculous in a most palpable manner when it attempts to find its Doctrines and Services in the Scriptures as we have even now proved Accordingly it stayeth not here its strength lyes in weakning all those Testimonies of the Holy Writings by which we overthrow its Superstitions Idolatries and Errors You alwayes find it on its guard always on the defensive against the Scripture alwayes wrestling alwayes winding alwayes fighting in retreat always entrenching it self in a bulwark which is called Tradition If you object against it the express Law which forbids the making of Images and bowing down to them it distinguisheth between an Idol and an Image between the Images of false Gods and those of Saints If you attaque it with the often repeated Commandment of serving none besides God it saves it self in the mists which come forth from the pits of Superstition and Barbarity I mean the distinctions of Doulia Latria and Hyperdoulia If you charge it with the impudent wickedness of robbing the Laity of the use of the Cup against the express Command Drink ye all of it it retreats to the monstrous terms of Transubstantiation and Concomitance If you produce express passages of Scripture which say that Jesus Christ was sacrificed and dyed but once it distinguisheth between the Vnbloody and the Bloody Sacrifice If you prove that Christ hath fully satisfyed for our sins it distinguisheth between Eternal and Temporal Punishments If you undenyably make it out by Scripture that there is but one Head of the Church they run to a distinction between a Ministerial and Principal Head. If you show them that the forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats are characters of the Doctrines of Devils according to S. Paul they distinguish between an Abstinence which proceeds from aversion out of an Opinion that some Meats are unclean and an Abstinence out of a mere design to mortify ones self If you bring them plain Texts which say in express terms that divine Worship is not to be performed in an Vnknown Tongue they wrest them by saying that we must distinguish between Holy and Profane Languages In a word go quite thro Popery observe its combats you will see it every where defending itself by distinguishing and warding off the Rule of Christianity which attaques it If ever there was a Character of Antichristianism this is one Antichristian and Antiscriptural have a very great agreement There is no Sect which deserves the second Title more than the Papacy therefore it is the former If the Papacy only had the misfortune of not finding Supports in the Scriptures and that we could find nothing in them to bring against it we should stand almost on equal terms with it and ought to seek some other Judge But the Roman Religion finds nothing in the Scriptures to support itself nay it finds a thousand things to ruin and destroy it This is the reason why it treats the Scriptures as an Enemy whose Assaults it every where meets and every where feels its blows But 't will be objected Are we not obliged to answer the Heriticks who abuse the Holy Scriptures against the Truth Must we not on such occasions distinguish and explain the Rule To this I reply that we are obliged to answer But we are not constrain'd
that such a bright Light should shine forth in so dark a night to shame those of after-ages who should Idolize this Antichristian Power 'T is a great reproach to the Princes of our days that they see not that which was so plainly seen by their predecessors in an age of ignorance and of superstition After this Passage I shall mention no other because I can produce none so good That light was not extinguisht but continued and increast till it broke forth with a more than ordinary lustre in the beginning of the last Century This famous passage of Eberard is as the Text to which every thing ought to be referred that hath since or then been said by others for instance the remarkable passage of Honorius of Autun who in the same age passing thro all the orders and degrees of people in the Church Princes Judges Ecclesiasticks Priests Men Women c. discovers the marks of Babylon every where even in his time In the same Age William de St. Amour a Parisian Doctor disputing against the Mendicant Friars the creatures of the Pope and the Court of Rome makes no scruple to say and prove that they are the Ministers of Antichrist and serve the Beast which hath seven heads and ten horns In the fourteenth Century Marsilius of Padua who vindicated the Emperor Lowis of Bavaria against the Court of Rome and the famous Petrarque whose reputation is to this day so considerable in the Roman Church have plainly proved by the very same predictions which we make use of in our time and Eberard the Bishop of Saltsbourg did in his that the Court of Rome is the Kingdom of Antichrist An Historian of that age tells us that a certain Carmelite had the courage to paint the Court of Rome and its Cardinals with all the colours of the Beast and of the Whore in the Apocalypse it was written to the Pope himself and affixt on the most publick places of Rome and Avignon You may see these Testimonies cited in our Legall Exceptions with those of S. Brigit of Nicholas of Clemangis Gregory of Heymbourg and many others So that we may say this light hath from age to age been diffused in all places men have allways either foreseen or seen it that Rome is the seat of Antichrist and that the Bishop of Rome who calls himself the Prince of Priests is the Man of Sin and the Apocalyptical Beast I here conclude what I intended to say to prove the Papacy to be Antichristianism and I repeat what I have said in other places that they who endeavour to darken this Truth are criminal against Christianity it self and they who see it not are prodigiously blind and stupid No wonder if Grotius and such as he be of that number these Gentlemen seem to design to overturn the Holy Scriptures and the Christian Religion Ought we to think it strange that those men who can find the Prophet Jeremy instead of Jesus Christ in the 53 Chapter of Isaiah cannot find the Pope in the book of the Revelations or in the Prophesies of Daniel I have said it elsewhere and I say it again that they who cannot discern the Pope in the Prophesies of the New Testament will never be able to find our Messiah in the predictions of the Old. Experience confirms this for the same men who exclude the Papacy from being intended in the Apocalypse do exclude Jesus Christ from almost all the Prophesies and Types of the Old Testament I would fain know how any man can make it out to a Jew that Jesus is the Messiah if he yeilds to him that all that which is spoken of the Passion of Christ in the 53. Isaiah may be applied to the Persecutions and sufferings which the Prophet Jeremy endur'd Where are there any Prophecies that may not as easily be turned to another sense as those If it be granted that he saith nothing for our opinion in this point shall any wonder that we are offended at so learned a man Who can with any justice complain of it since we have so much reason to complain of him who hath as much as he could by his Commentaries taken from us the strongest Arguments we had to confute both the Jews and Socinians He is the Patriarch and the Master of those Literal Interpreters of our days who undervalue all the Mysteries of the Bible and destroy the very Spirit and Spirituality of the Holy Scriptures Because they have taken some pains to discover some parts of Jewish or Pagan learning that their labors may not be lost all the Sacred Texts of the Old or New Testament must be understood with a relation to some Pagan rites or some Customs of the Synagogue and have nothing in 'em of spirit Mystery or depth Every one of these Gentlemen hath his own Idol one of 'em finds that the Gnosticks began to discover themselves in the time of the Apostles and for that reason we must meet with the Gnosticks in all the Apostolical Writings Another hath studied the Egyptian Antiquities and to prove that his time was well imploy'd we must find some of the Egyptian Rites in all the Mosaick Institutions Another believes he hath good Skill in the Traditions of the Jews and therefore the most spiritual part of the New Testament must be interpreted with respect to some of the Dreams and Fancies of the modern Jews We know very well that this sort of Learning Jewish and Pagan is not unuseful for the understanding of some part of Scripture but 't is in such places where some Heathenish Customs are treated of or in Historical matters But by going too far this way much mischief is done to Religion we shall soon abolish all the Types and destroy the Spirituality of the Law and make nothing to be contained in it but a bare Superficies We nevertheless respect and honour the learning and merit of the men we speak of but it were to be wish't that they had better imployed their parts and learning and we hope that they themselves will at length be sensible of it and perceive that their writings are not at all to edification However far be it from us to impute the particular Errors and Fancies of some few to any of the Protestant Churches to which they join themselves we know of no Christian Church in the West except the Church of Rome that doth not discern the Papacy to be the Antichristianism that is Prophetically described in the New Testament Therefore let it not be said that such or such a Church is not of this opinion for the sentiments of a few particular men here and there are not the Sentiments of the Church in which they live We must seek for those in their Confessions of Faith and the Annotations of the Bible authoriz'd by the Laws Now among all the Reformed Churches there is none we are so much obliged to for the discovery of the Mystery of Iniquity as to that 〈◊〉 England The most
famous Lights of the Church of England have taught us almost every thing that we know concerning that Subject Bishop Vsher Mr. Mede and Dr. Bedle Bishop of Kilmore whose life Dr. Burnet hath given us an account of and an hundred others such as they will easily carry the day above a thousand late Writers if there be so many We ow'd to King James I. the understanding of the seven Heads of the Beast that it ought to be interpreted by those seven Governments of Rome We need but consult the English Bible printed by the Order and Approbation of Queen Elisabeth with the unanimous consent of the English Church and we shall see with how much exactness clearness and judgment the Church of England in their Notes upon the Apocalypse did find the Papacy in the Beast and the whore mentioned in the Book of the Revelations We are perswaded that their Divines at this day are too wise and intelligent to vary from that Doctrine and Opinion which is now more necessary than ever to preserve their People in a just and due distance from the Roman Religion to which the present Authority would be glad to bring 'em back The END A CONFIRMATION OF THE EXPOSITION Of the XVI CHAPTER Of the REVELATION In the second part of the Accomplishment of the Scripture Prophesies According to which the seven Vials are poured out and the seventh is at present running and drawing towards its end THE publick is not to think it strange that I am somewhat concerned for the interpretation that I have given of the Sixteenth chapter of the Revelation touching the seven Vials and seven Plagues For it is the ground of the hopes I have conceived of a speedy deliverance for the Church Most certainly these seven Vials are seven Periods of time if none of them be yet run out we are still many ages from the end of our calamities I confess then that that opinion is my Idol and whether it be Enthusiasm or not time perhaps will in some measure discover But be as it will I am fully persuaded that God hath inabled me to find out the true meaning of these wonderful Mysteries And that 's the reason I cannot condescend to flatter any man as to that point and such as entertain another opinion ought to give me leave to contradict and confute them far less for my own interest than the common consolation of the Church I have sought out objections against my self have made all those I could think on and in my Judgment I have given solid satisfaction to all the difficulties which I proposed to my self concerning the seven Vials and the seven Plagues And since I have seen the objections that have been started against me I have not found any thing in them so material as what I have objected against my self Perhaps it might not be very necessary to answer the difficulties that have been lately published For all who understand and relish my principles may easily satisfy themselves about the matter Nevertheless I am willing to take some pains to reclame if it be possible those honest people who have strayed into by-paths so wide of the true meaning of our Prophecy The chief of them is a nameless Divine who some months since published a book entituled An Explanation of the Revelation of St. John. In several things he is of the same mind with me as to the future for he interprets as I do the fourteenth chapter where the Vision of the harvest and vintage is of the two parts of the fall of Babylon the first of which was fulfilled in the last age by the preaching of Zwinglius and Luther and the other shall be accomplished about the end of this and the beginning of the next He gives the same explication exactly to the eleventh chapter as I do save that he is far more peremptory in defining the time of the resurrection of the Witnesses For he thinks that the beginning of the three years and a half from their death is to be reckoned from the suppression of the Edict of Nantes which was done in the month of October 1685. According to which he fixes the resurrection of the Witnesses to the year 1689. for my part I dare not affirm that the death of the Witnesses ought to be reckoned precisely from the suppression of the Edict of Nantes though I have inclination enough to be of that mind And therefore it is that I expect also some great thing in the year 1689. But that goes no farther than hope and conjecture and were it not that the place or Street of the great City seems to me to be France as I have expounded it and even in some manner proved it I should be very apprehensive that the death of the two Witnesses were not as yet come because in all appearance the miseries that are to befall the Protestant Religion are not as yet at their height Now it seems that they should be at that height before one begin to count the three years and a half However seeing the place of the great City seems to be France the Witnesses may very well rise again there exactly three years and a half after they have been put to death page 275. of the explanation In short that Anonymous Divine agrees likewise with me in the Hypothesis that the end of the Papacy draws nigh Nay he hastens it on more than I do for I fixt it betwixt the year 1710. and the year 1720. and he fixes it precisely to the year 1705. so that the only place where he differs much from me is that of the Vials pretending that not only those seven Vials are not all poured forth but that they are all still to be poured forth and that none of the seven Plagues hath as yet happened For this he brings some Arguments and then says What hath been now said proves the contrary in a manner that comes near to demonstration I confess I could not forbear being sursprised at the reading of these words They were like to have made me altogether a Pyrrhonist as to the interpretation of Prophesies and to renounce all my pretended evidences For thereby I found how far Authors may be transported with a fancyfull fondness for their own thoughts or the thoughts of others they have adopted These pretended demonstrations will he found for the most part so weak that they hardly deserve the name of difficulties In this point the Author hath followed the thoughts of Mr. de Launay who pretends as he does that none of the Vials are as yet poured out But he ought to perceive that this thought which may consist with the suppositions of Mr. de Launay is wholely inconsistent with his The Hypothesis of Mr. de Launay tends to the delaying the end of the Antichristian Empire till many Ages to come And so he may suppose that these Seven Vials which are so many Periods may have place in future Ages But as for him he puts the end of