the first day God said Let there be Light and there was Light. The first day answers to the first Period of the Church which lasted from Adam untill Abraham 1. By what did the first day begin by Light. Jesus Christ the Messiah is the Light which inlightens every man that comes into the World 'T is from him that the Creation of the intelligible World takes its beginning from the first moment that Light hath shined in that famous Oracle The seed of the woman shall bruise the Serpents head The first day hath two parts It was Evening and it was Morning the Light of the Evening was the first but the dimmer of the two the Light of the Morning was the second but the clearest The knowledge of Christ began by that Oracle The seed of the woman c. The Period ended in Abraham by the same Light viz. the knowledge of the same Messiah but proposed less obscurely in that prophecy And in thy seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blest This was the Morning for the Light began to increase 2. By whom was this Light produced By the Word of God His Eternal Word He said i. e. by this Eternal Word by his infinite Wisdom by the fruit of this understanding that God manifested to Adam and Abraham this Light to conduct and guide them 3. This Light preceded the Creation of the Sun. This knowledge of a Redeemer was given to the first World before the Messiah its Sun was produc't before the Word was incarnate 4. The Light which appeared on the first day is originally the same with that which was put into the Sun The seed of the woman revealed to Adam is the same with the word made flesh many ages after 5. The Light of the first day was doubtless obscure its seat in the illuminated Waters was not yet well prepared the Earthly parts were not separated and the Light could not have a very free passage through that thick matter In the first Period of the Church knowledge was but dim People were not yet well disposed to receive it it had not yet entred into them 6. After all to what purpose was the Light of the first day to enlighten a Chaos The Church before Abraham was without form and an unformed Mass To what end also was the Knowledge of the first Period from Adam untill Abraham to inlighten a Chaos and that Chaos was not only in the World but in the Church it self for then the Church had no form she had no Pastors no Priests no Flocks no Assemblies no Solemn days appointed no Sacraments no Holy Scripture no Discipline no Censures Every head of a family was both Prophet and Priest of his own house Here was an Idolatrous family there just by was another family where God was worshipt It was a true Chaos so the Iews say well that the Church was two thousand years be thohou in the Chaos and two thousand years under the Law. The Patriarchs made their Feasts as they thought fit on what day they pleased and invited whom they pleased 7. God made the distinction between the Night and the Day He separated the Light from the Darkness for he is the Author of that distinction that is between the World and the Church between the good and bad yet 't is not said that he made the night because God is not the Author of Evil. 8. He made this distinction from the first day because from the beginning of the World and in all ages there is a separation between those who are of God and those who are of the Devil 9. He made that separation of that Light and Darkness of the Night and the Day but he blessed it not he saith not and He saw that it was good In like manner God doth not bless and approve the separation of the World from the Church tho he hath made that distinction because it carries with it in respect of the World curses crimes and miseries 10. He began with the Evening which belongs to the Night and is apart of it because he draws light out of darkness begins the composition of the Church by some degrees of imperfection The Mysteries of the second days the first division of the People In the second day God made the Firmament or Expansum that it might separate the waters from the waters Here begins the second Period of the Church which lasted from Abraham untill Moses let it be remembered that Waters alway signify People 't is necessary it should be so that the Spirit of God may be uniform and like unto it self If the Waters are People the work of separating the Waters must signify the division of the People 1. In the first day the Waters were mixt and confounded both among themselves and with the Earth so in the first Period from Adam untill Abraham the People were confused and mixt one with another God had not yet made choice of any certain peculiar People Among all Nations there were some Holy and some who were Enemies of God were to be found every where 2. But in the second day God began the work of the separation of the Waters i. e. that in the second Period should begin the distinction of the People He took Abraham drew him out of his own Country set him apart and gave him the seal of his Covenant 3. But this work of the division of the waters was effected in two days this work of the division of the People is also accomplisht in two Periods from Abraham unto Moses from Moses unto Christ 4. The separation of the Waters made on the second day was but imperfect God only separated the Waters which were above i. e. the Clouds from the Waters which were beneath i. e. the Seas The distinction of People in the second Period from Abraham unto Moses was but imperfect for we must not imagine but that God did preserve some Elect from Abraham unto Moses besides those in the family of the Patriarchs to think he did not is injurious to the mercy and wisdom of God. There were then at that time some of the faithfull scattered in all places But as the family of Iacob became a great People so by little and little the Spirit of God withdrew from other Nations From the time of Moses there was yet some little remainder of that Spirit among other Nations as is evident by Balaam who was 't is true a very wicked man but yet was not a false Prophet But when the race of Abraham became a great People and had a Country apart to themselves then the Spirit of God withdrew altogether from the other Nations and then was made a perfect division of the People 5. In the separation of the Waters that was made on the second day the Waters which were above i. e. the Clouds were nothing in comparison with those beneath i. e. the Seas So in the second Period wherein was a division of the People the
of late have given it They say the Time of the Regeneration is the Time of the Church from Jesus Christ to the end of the World. That during all that time for 1600 years the Apostles have sat as it were on Thrones to judge the Church because we consult them and have recourse to their Oracles But 1. 'T is a strange abuse of words to call by the name of Regeneration such corrupted times as those of the Church for the last twelve hundred years 2. 'T is to take the words in a very figurative sense indeed to call that which the writings of the Apostles do at this day sitting upon Thrones and judging the twelve Tribes of Israel 3. Lastly I know not why the twelve Tribes of Israel should come into this promise and why they only since they are altogether excluded from the Covenant and are not governed by the writings of the Apostles I confess then that I find nothing therein but what is obscure But all is plain if by Regeneration I understand the happy Reign of Peace and Righteousness and Charity For the Church must be greatly renewed to reach that blessed state Then indeed the Son of man shall be sat on the Throne of his Glory He shall then have the full Dominion whereas now he reigns as it were but by halves and after the end of this World he shall reign no longer for then he shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God his Father If we suppose that then the raised Apostles shall be at the head of the twelve converted Tribes and shall govern them and send their orders by them to the rest of the World according to which all other Governours throughout the Earth shall manage themselves If I say this be supposed no Text can be plainer The word Thrones will then be taken in its natural signification and to Iudge will signify the same as it doth throughout the Scripture perticularly in the book of Iudges where we read that Iephta and Sampson and Samuel judged Israel so many years Lastly by this means we shall understand why the twelve Tribes of Israel are mentioned 't is because the Apostles are to have a perticular care and oversight of them as being their own People although their authority shall be universal I confess this seems to me most probable Nevertheless I determine nothing but suspend my judgement 4. Doubtfull Character Whether Jerusalem shall be rebuilt 4. I leave it also as doubtful whether Ierusalem shall be rebuilt to be the seat of Christ's Kingdom to say the truth as I believe that the Iews shall meet together in their own Country I see no reason why they should not rebuild the City of Jerusalem Which being rebuilt will doubtless be the most illustrious City in the World and if you will the seat of the universal Empire not of an Earthly Monarchy that hath its Armies Tributes Customes Forts and Governours spread throughout the Earth but it shall be the principal seat whence shall flow the Orders and Oracles of Iesus Christ whereby the whole World shall be governed 5. Doubtfull Character The duration of this Kingdom 5. Lastly I will not determine how long this Kingdom shall last A thousand years are exprest oftentimes determinate numbers are put for indefinite But I see no inconvenience will follow if we take that number in its natural signification and I am of that opinion After this Reign of a thousand years there is a great Event to be brought about set forth in these words V. 7. Chap. 20. And when the thousand years are expired Satan shall be loosed out of his prison V. 8. And shall go out to deceive the Nations which are in the four quarters of the Earth Gog and Magog to gather them together to battel the number of whom is as the sand of the Sea. V. 9. And they went up on the breadth of the Earth and compassed the Camp of the Saints about and the beloved City and fire came down from God out of Heaven and devoured them VVhat shal happen after the thousand years explained I see but one sense can be given to this that you may comprehend it you must know that we are not to take those promises of the conversion of all Nations and of all men in perticular in such a strict and rigid sense as to admit of no exception I have already told you that the Church shall then as far exceed the World and the Good the wicked as now the World and the Men of the World do the Good. Therefore there shall then be some remaining people not converted They shall be supprest and kept under during the thousand years and shall not molest either the Peace or Purity of the Church But at the end of this Period their numbers shall be increast and become very considerable And before the end of the World a cruel persecution against the Church shall arise from them and because the number of three and half is fatal for persecutions 't is not unlikely that this shall also last three years and half before the end of the World. During three natural years and half the Sanctuary was shut up and prophaned by Antiochus For three years and half Iesus Christ preacht in an afflicted state for three prophetical years and half the two witnesses prophecied clothed in sackcloth for three prophetical days and half i. e. three natural years and half these two witnesses should remain dead in the streets of the City So to me it seems probable that the last Persecution after the thousand years of Rest shall last three years and half and then may come the Antichrist of St. Irenaeus whom I will so far honour as to believe that he had learnt the Mystery of this last Persecution from some Apostolical Persons which he confounded with the reign of the Apocaliptical Beast for 1260 days Neither is it improbable but that the Ring-leader of this last Persecution may be a Iew for there is no mean to be found among that People they are all either very Good or very Bad. They who shall live when the Iews shall be converted shall be able to Divine something of it For if they then see a remnant of obstinate Iews cantonize themselves in some corner of the World and resist the general stream of Conversion there will be some ground to believe that this shall be the first bud of that Great Rebellion which the Providence of God reserves for the end of the World. And so it may be there shall arise a Iew as St. Irenaeus said pretending to be the Messiah who shall persecute the Church and reign for three years and half before the end of the World and be destroyed within a few days before the last Iudgement This shall be the Diminutive of the great Antichrist which should not be confounded with the Man of sin of whom Saint Paul speaks nor with the Beast in Revel 13. nor with the Woman chap.
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 ACCOMPLISHMENT Of the SCRIPTURE PROPHECIES OR THE Approaching Deliverance of the CHURCH Proving that the Papacy is the Antichristian Kingdom and that that Kingdom is not far from its Ruin. That the present Persecution may end in Three years and half after which the Destruction of Antichrist shall begin which shall be Finisht in the beginning of the next Age and then the Kingdom of Christ shall come upon Earth Written in French by Mr. PETER JURIEU one of the present Ministers of the French Church at Rotterdam In two Parts Faithfully Englished from the New French Edition Corrected and Enlarged by almost a third part with the explication of the Visions of Daniel and the Revelation LONDON Printed in the Year 1687. TO THE NATION OF THE JEWS I Desire of that People that they would please to read this book attentively and without prejudice especially from the middle of the second Part to the end they will find nothing there that can irritate ' em I confess the hopes they conceive of a Kingdom of the Messiah which shall be chiefly for them is built upon express and unquestionable Prophecies that even their Ierusà lem should be rebuilt and that they shall be again gathered together in their own Land. And if any thing be capable to recover them from their obstinacy for the establishment of the Law of Moses and against the Law of Christ this is certainly the most likely method which we make use of because it grants them almost all the Advantages which they expect Advice to all Christians concerning the approaching End of the ANTICHRISTIAN Empire of the PAPACY and of the coming of the Kingdom of Christ THE Afflicted Church seeks for consolation where can she find it but in the Promises of God when the present prospect is sad and dolefull we must search for it in what is future The promises of God are either General or Perticular The general Promises are such as assure us in the general that God will not cast off his children that this Grace shall never forsake his Church that he will be with them to the end of the World that though the mountains be overthrown he will not depart from them But afflicted persons would be glad of something more perticular they would be willing to see in some particular Promises near about what Time they may expect the Period of their Calamities Now the Promises and this insight into the future is no where to be had but in the Prophecies They doubtless contain the promises which respect the Deliverance of the Church yea they set forth the very Time and the circumstances of it But as God hath caused the Prophecies to be written more for his own glory than for our sakes 't is almost impossible to dive into the meaning of them till their accomplishment The depth of the Prophecies And experience teacheth us that even after the Things are come to pass we do not well understand the Prophecies which foretold ' em Insomuch that it may be said that God hath rather concealed Things in the Prophecies than thereby revealed ' em He hath reserved to himself the knowledge of Futurity 'T is his Prerogative Nevertheless this is not to be taken in that strict and rigid sense as if we were to reckon all the Prophecies to be unintelligible to all men and in every age to be so As his providence hath presided in a peculiar manner in composing the Prophecies so 't is certain it doth perticularly direct and govern as to what concerns the interpretation of them God will not that they should be understood in every age But from age to age from year to year his Spirit discovers to Interpreters what he thinks fit and leaves the rest under a vail of Ignorance till the fixed time which his wisdom hath appointed shall come for the full and perfect revelation of it They are not Impenetrable We are not therefore to be discouraged by reason of the difficulty we are not to look upon the Prophecies as absolutely impenetrable We must seek that we may find we must ask that we may receive we must humbly and devoutly knock at the Gate of Heaven that it may be open'd to us We are obliged to those Interpreters who have gone before us for if they had discovered nothing it may be no entrance being made we should never have attained the knowledge of these mysterious truths But we are not to stop at their labours and acquiesce in what they have done as if they had succeeded well in every thing This is so far from being true that the contrary is much more so For one Truth which they have hit upon they have miss't several The misforture of other Interpreters hath not disheartn'd me hoping that I have discovered many things which to them were concealed But I may say that I did not out of choice apply my self to the study of the Prophecies I found my self forced to it by a kind of violence which I could not resist Two things led me to it 1. The cruel and horrible Persecution which at this day makes such terrible ravage and desolation in the Church Endeavouring some consolation under the deepest sorrow I ever felt by searching into the grounds we may have to hope for a speedy deliverance of the Church and not finding them other where I inquired after them in the Prophecies which foretell the destiny of the Church and the most remarkable changes through which she is to pass 2. The next thing that made me resolve to dive into these sacred Oracles was the concurrence of so many Prophecies obscure indeed of an uncertain and doubtfull original which fore-tell a speedy and perfect Deliverance of the Church For Example The concurrence of modern Prophecies concerning the fall of Antichrist the famous Prophecy of Vsher Arch-bishop of Armagh who fore-tells a most terrible Persecution at hand the most dreadfull of any which the Church hath suffer'd hitherto but withal the shortest after which shall come the fall of the Antichristian Empire The Prophecies of Cotterus Christina Poniatouski and those of Drabitius and several other more obscure ones which I have heard and considered without giving much credit to 'em I compared these Prophecies so universally spread and coming from so many several places to the general rumours about the time of the birth of Christ that were every where divulged throughout the Roman Empire of a Great King that should be born in the East to whom all the World should pay obeysance I did not find my self much disposed to give credit to those modern Prophecies Credulity being the ordinary source of much delusion I always stood upon my guard in that perticular as much as possible Nevertheless I could not but be toucht with a secret opinion that in all this there might be something more then humane something of an hand of Providence therein As the Holy Virgin I kept these sayings in my heart without passing a judgement
of the Antichristian Empire If it can be made very plain and certain that the three years and a half of the duration of this Empire must not be taken for natural years but for three prophetical years and a half it will also be very certain that all which the Papists say concerning Antichrist is false For if the Antichristian Empire must last 1260 years Antichrist can never be only one single man seeing there is no man that hath lived doth or can live 1260. years Nor will it be more true that Antichrist must not come but just at the end of the World For the duration of 1260. years and the end of the World are not one and the same thing Neither will it be more true that the Gospel must have been preached in all the Nations of the World before the coming of Antichrist For there is no prophesy that saith or doth so much as insinuate that the Gospel must be preached every where 1260. years before the last coming of our Lord Jesus Christ It will be as false that Antichrist is not to come till after the total ruin of the German Empire For although we do not exactly know the time the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ however this is held for certain that the World is not to endure yet two or 3000. years longer as it must do if Antichrist be not yet como and must reign 1260. years For besides these 1260. years we must find out a 1000. years of peace for the Church before the end of the World. Neither will it be true that Antichrist must be a false Messiah received by the Jews an enemy of God and of all Religion For God would not suffer that His wisdom would not permit it There is nothing in the Scripture that gives us any ground to presume that an Infidel an open enemy of Jesus Christ and of his Religion must remain master of all the World for 1260. years 'T is plain therefore this is the principal controversy on which all the rest do depend Let this be remembred We will handle this controversy in its proper place In the mean time we shall say something in this Chapter to lay open the falseness of the other pretended characters of Antichrist Antichrist is not only one single man. I. He must be onely one single person and not a series of men If this be so why did Saint Paul say that the mystery of iniquity began in his time Why did Saint John say in his first Epistle that Antichrist was already come into the World He was come in his fore-runners saith Bellarmin I acknowledge it But do the fore-runners use to go 2000. years before him whose fore-runners they are Types indeed are and may be two or 3000. years before those persons of which they are Types But 't is not so with fore-runners Why is Antichrist represented as a Beast if he be but one single man Is it not usual in Prophetical visions to represent an Empire i. e. all the successive Kings of that Empire by a Beast So the Monarchy of the Babylonians and Assyrians with all their Kings is represented to us by the first Beast in the seventh Chapter of Daniel which was like to a Lion The Empire and Emperors of Persia by only one Bear and so of the rest At least this makes it undeniably clear that there is no necessity that we should understand one single person by those two Beasts in the Revelation that represent Antichrist How can this be reconciled with that which these men have confessed that the fourth Beast of Daniel and the first Beast in the thirteenth of the Revelation all are the same beast Seeing the fourth Beast in Daniel by their own confession signifies an Empire and a series of men 't is necessary also that the first Beast in Saint John should signify a series of Kings and Tyrants 'T is true the Scripture often speaks of Antichrist as of a particular person It calls him the man of sin a King a Horn c. But it speaks of Empires also in the same manner They are Kings the ten Horns are ten Kings They are beasts and one Beast in the singular number The Empire of Persia is one Beast that of the Greeks is another the Empire of the Romans makes the fourth Beast The Spirit saith concerning the seven Heads of the Roman Empire the seven Heads are seven Kings i. e. they are seven sorts of Governours and Governments That Antichrist must not be a Jew II. Antichrist must be a Jew of the Tribe of Dan. of a mean birth and must style himself the Messiah of the Iews Where are the proofs of this He must be a Iew and of the Tribe of Dan because it is written Gen. 49.17 Jer. 8 16. Dan shall be a Serpent by the way and an Adder in the path that biteth the Horses heels The snorting of his Horses was heard from Dan. Doth this deserve a confutation And because some of the ancients have been taken with these visions must we therefore receive them as Oracles Among the things that are certain Bellarmin places this that Antichrist shall be a Iew but doth not give us any shew of proof for it besides the testimony of the Ancients But as to that we must take all or nothing Either the Authority of the Ancients must be wholly received in this matter or else be wholly weak If we must admit what the Ancients have said concerning Antichrist we must believe that it will be the Devil that shall incarnate himself in the bosom of a false Virgin as the Son of God did in the bosom of a chast one We must believe that Nero was Antichrist In a word we must admit of a hundred dreaming opinions about it which at this day are unanimously rejected If the Authority of the Fathers be not good in many places 't is good in none 't is doubtfull every where We must have proofs drawn from the Scriptures to shew us that Antichrist must be a Iew. But see Bellarmines great proof III. Antichrist must be received by the Jews as their Messiah Antichrist must not be received by the Jews as their Messiah And the Jews would never acknowledg any for their Messiah that was a stranger uncircumcised and one that was not of their own nation But where do they find this that the Jews must receive Antichrist for their Messiah These Gentlemen that have a more piercing sight than the Angells themselves find it in those words of our Saviour I am come in my Father's name and ye have not received me if another come in his own name him you will receive He that will come in his own name and whom the Jews will receive shall be Antichrist who will call himself the Messiah Have these men any shame left in them Bellarm. l. 3. de Rom. Pontif. Cap. 12. Sect. praeter to put this at the head of such a proof viz. Sunt alia
brought back the worship of Daemons The Heathens to render these Daemons or these Demi-Gods favourable to them erected their pictures and made Images of them all the world knows that They consecrated these Images and perswaded themselves that by vertue of that consecration the spiritual Gods came to dwell in that matter to which they had given a shape The makers of Images saith Tertullian give bodies to the Daemons One may see this Theology very distinctly expressed in a Dialogue entitled Asclepius attributed to Hermes Tresmegistus which at least is of some antiquity and was in some esteem among the Heathens seeing Apisleius took the pains to translate it into Latin. 'T is a marvel saith he that surpasseth all other marvels that man hath found a way to make Gods. Our Ancestors were greatly deceived by their incredulity touching the Gods and had but little regard to religion and the purity of the Divine service They invented an art of marking Gods Because they could not make souls and join them to insensible bodies they called the souls of Daemons and of Angels to put them into their Images and in the holy mysteries by which means these Images obtain the power of helping or hurting See altogether pure popery They may say what they will that they believe not that there is any vertue in the Images yet however it is true First That in the Papism an Image that hath not been consecrated according to the Ritual cannot be exposed to the publick devotion of the people Secondly That Images not consecrated are reputed of no vertue whereas those that are consecrate do often work miracles or the he and she-Saints work miracles by them But if you would have any thing that is yet more like to the Doctrine of the Heathens touching the power of consecrations to draw the Gods into their Images you will find it in the Doctrine of Transsubstantiation and the real-presence As the Heathens believed they did by their invocations draw down their Gods into their brass and marble so the Papism by the vertue of consecration draws down its God into a morcel of bread and there encloses it fast The ancient Heathens defended themselves in this matter just as our new Heathens You deceive your selves said they we worship neither copper nor silver nor gold nor other matter of which the Images of the Gods are made c. But in these signs we adore and worship the Gods. Lastly the Heathens did adore and serve the Reliques of their dead men and of their Daemons 'T was to the honour of these dead men that the feasts were made that are called inferiae parentalia parentationes and novemdialia and a hundred other things whence we have elsewhere shew'd its perfect conformity with the services of the papism for the dead We have heard Plato quoted by Eusebius telling us we must worship the sepulchers of the Hero's Clemens Alexandrinus Arnobius Eusebius c. tell us the Temples of the false Gods were nothing else but the Tombs of the Heroes And this is exactly what the papism imitates its Temples and its Altars are garnisht with Reliques and it would believe that a Temple would not have all that it must have if there were not some bones of a Saint under the Altar Thus you have that which perswades me that the Apostle designs the worship of the papism by the doctrine of Daemons 'T is this exact conformity that is found between the ancient Doctrine of Daemons and the mew I think nothing can be objected but this viz. that the word Daemon in the H. Scriptures is never taken in a good sense It always signifies those wicked spirits that seduce men in this World and must torment them in the other Whereas the Heathens in their Theology by Daemons understood those kind spirits which are the mediatours of commerce between God and men Joseph Mede answers to this two things The word Daemon in the Scripture is not always taken in an ill sense First That the usage of this word Daemon in the sense of the Pagans for Gods of the second rank was not unknown to the writers of the new Testament Saint Luke in the 17th Chap. of the Acts introduceth the Athenians saying of Saint Paul that he is a setter forth of strange Daemons In the same Chap. Saint Paul saith that he found the Athenians too much addicted to the worship of Daemons In the 9th Chapter of the Revelation Saint John saith that the horrible plague that fell on men hindred them not from worshipping of Daemons The people there spoken of that came from above Euphrates horsemen to the number of twenty thousand times ten thousand are in all likelihood the Turks And those that are smitten with that plague are the Christians to whom the adoration of Daemons is attributed because they worshipped Saints and Angels The second thing that Joseph Mede answers which is very certain and very solid is that the Heathens sacrificed and render'd their homage to evil spirits and not as they pretended to Angels The Heathens the Papists in believing they worship good Genius's serve the wicked spirits and to the happy Spirits that are Administratours under God. Because these holy creatures are too much given to the service of God and too much in the interests of their great master to arrogate to themselves and receive any of that homage that men would render to them The Heathens therefore in their intention served good Genius's but indeed the wicked Daemons 'T is the same with the Heathens of the Antichristian Empire They intend to serve the Saints and Angels but those pure and happy Spirits have no mind to receive such worship It goes to them that refuse it it goes not to God who abominates it It goes therefore to the Devils that take it for themselves and rejoyce in it so the Antichristian Idolatry may justly be called by the same name as the Heathen Idolatry For they have the same model ' the same principles the same ceremonies and they go to the honour of the same Prince of darkness whose Empire they encrease 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 WE are much obliged to the H. Spirit speaking by the mouth of S. Paul that he would in this Text add the Character of the persons that were to cause Apostacy What must be the Characters of those that should teach Doctrines concerning Daemons and teach this doctrine of Daemons For at last these terms of Apostacy and the doctrine of Devils or of Daemons being general the Subjects of Antichrist would always have been able to have saved themselves by the help of the doubtfulness and ambiguity of them in saying that every heresy is apostacy and every lye is a doctrine of
had been either taken away or prophaned To do this no less than 45 days were necessary and these are the 45 days added to 1290 that make the number 1335 days of which the Prophet saith Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the 1335 days And 't is at the end of these 1335 days reckoning from the prophanation in the beginning of the year 148 that the dedication was made in the year 148. on the 25th day of the ninth month Therefore 't is the Prophet cries out Blessed is he c. because it was a great feast and great rejoycing in Israel See I say both the History and the Chronology and the duration of the cessation of the prophanation of the Temple and the interruption of the daily sacrifice made to agree with the Prophecy At present from the type we must in a few words make our conjectures touching that which must come to pass in the duration of the Antichristian Empire The prophanation of the Mosaical Sanctuary by Antiochus lasted three years and a half to the time that Judas Macchabaeus drove the Heathen out of Ierusalem and Paganism out of the Temple the cleansing of which he began To the end the truth may answer to the figure the Antichristian Empire must endure three years and a half consisting of 1260 days which are 1260 years during which the Sanctuary shall be prophaned by the Heathens i. e. the service of God shall be polluted by revived Paganism and the Temple of God possessed by a Tyrant At the end of 1260 day Judas Macchabaeus began the purification of the Temple and spent 30 days about it The cleansing of the Church must be begun the Idol must be cast out the Tyrant expelled after the 1260 years But as Judas Macchabaeus spent 30 days about purifying the Temple after he had taken away the Idol thence and had rescued it out of the hands of the Tyrant 't is propable that after the fall of the Papism of its tyranny and idolatry 30 years more will be spent in purifying the Church from all schisms heresies divisions and etrours Lastly as Judas Macchabaeus spent 45 other days to prepare all things for the consecration of the Temple in like manner after the Church shall have been cleansed from idolatry haeresy superstition schism and errours God will employ yet 45 years more to prepare all things for the consummation of the Church At the end of which time will be the dedication the solemn feast And 't is in my opinion in this last space of 45 years that God is to call the Gentiles and all the Nations of the Earth to the knowledge of himself this is that which the Apostle Saint Paul calls The fullness of the Gentiles For see as I believe the degrees by which the Church must arrive at it perfection 1. Babylon shall fall the Kingdom of Antichrist shall cease 2. The Church shall be reunited in the same opinion schisms and divisions shall be at an end 3. The Idolatrous and Infidel Nations especially the Turks who are at this day scandalized at the divisions manners and the false Doctrines of the Christians shall submit themselves at least the greatest part of them being prevailed upon by the purity of Doctrine and holiness of manners 4. Lastly The Jews overcome by so unanimous a consent and it may be by some glorious apparition of our Lord shall be converted and strongly labour to convert the rest of the Nations far distant and separated from us Then shall be the Dedication the consummation of the Church And blessed is he that shall wait and come to the 1335 days i. e. to seventy five years after the fall of the Popish Empire For he shall see the reign of J. Christ in all its Glory CHAP. III. What the Last time 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 THus much is enough to destroy that Chimaera of the duration of the Kingdom of Antichrist for three natural years and a half 'T is necessary only to answer a difficulty that may be raised from hence that the reign of Antichrist is called the last times which seems to mean the end of the World. And without doubt this is that which gave occasion to the ancient Writers to suppose that the end of this Empire was not to be above forty five days before the day of judgement But to fall into this errour a man must be little used to the style of the Scripture One thousand two hundred and sixty years 't is said can't be called the last times the period is too long 'T is necessary the reign of Antichrist should be nearer the end of the World and the day of judgement than so But what will those Gentlemen say that make this objection St. John calls his time the last time 1 Ep. 2.18 what will they say of Saint John who speaking of Antichrist and precisely of that tradition according to which he was to come in the last times saith Little children it is the last time and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come even now are there many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time 'T is above sixteen hundred years ago that Saint John said so and then from that time he counted the last times With much more reason may we reckon those ages that came not till four or five hundred years after for the last times The last day the last times are not the same thing John. 6.54 â— Neither must we imagine that the last times signify a short space We must well distinguish the last day from the last time When the Holy Spirit speaks of the last day he always means a short time He that eateth my flesh saith our Lord I will raise up again at the last day But the last time and especially the last times in the plural number always signifieth a long period See the proofs of both these things First that the last times signify not the end of the World. The last times doth not always signify the last day The last time in the singular number sometimes doth St. Peter saith that we are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time 1. Pet. 1.5 But it doth not always so signify as appears by that passage of St. John which we quoted a little before 't is the last time As for that in the plural number the last time and the last days we find they always signify a time far enough off from the end of the World. Saint Paul in the second verse of the Epistle to the Hebrews saith 1 Ephes 1.20 that God hath spoken to us in these last days by his Son. The Apostle Saint Peter saith that Jesus Christ was fore-ordained before the foundation of
out the truth There is a particular Providence that presides over the the understanding of Prophecies as we have observed God would not have them understood in every age because this would hinder their accomplishment But when they are just ready to be fulfilled God permits them to be penetrated into and the things which we see come to pass from day to day open mens eyes The great point is to know where we must begin the 1260 years In this matter the whole depends on our knowing where we must begin the 1260 years that are assigned for the reign of the papism And there are as many opinions about that as there are men Some begin them with Boniface the third Successor to Gregory the great because they would be favourable to Gregory the first who seems to have had very good things in him And because his Successor was the first that assumed the name of Vniversal Bishop Others descend lower and begin the 1260 year at the time when Images were establisht Some come as far as to the 11th Age and to the reign of Gregory the seventh who was insolent to a higher degree than any of his Predecessors dared to advance themselves unto There are some also that come as far as to the 12th Age. The fountain of their errour that descend so low for the beginning of the 1260 years I shall not amuse my self with mentioning much less with confuting all these Opinions I shall only say this boldly that they who go so low to find out the beginning of the 1260 years are in an errour That which hath deceived them is this they imagine we must not begin the Antichristian Empire till the time that Idolatry and Tyranny were arrived to their height in the Church in which I am throughly perswaded they deceive themselves Another cause of their being deceived is this having this truth in mind that Rome must be the head of the Antichristian Empire they will not begin that Empire before the Roman Church was most notoriously remarkable for her pride among all the Churches When any make a history of an Empire they must begin it from its original Totally to remove these two mistakes it must be observed that in every country and in every language when any would make a History of an Empire and a Kingdom they begin it from its orginal They that make the History of the Franks or Frenchmen among the Gauls do not fix their beginning on that time when the French were masters of all the Gauls from the frontier of Flanders to the Alps and the Pyrenaean mountains For that happen'd very late But they begin with the first entry of the Franks into Gaul and their first establishment on this side the Rhine When any make a History of the Empire of Rome they begin the Roman History from the first foundation of that City so they reckon'd in Rome it self ab Vrbe Conditâ And this way of reckoning continued till the fifth age when the Christian account began to be in use and men reckon'd by the years of Jesus Christ Moreover 't is the custome of the Scripture and of the Holy Spirit as well as of the World 'T is said the sojourning of the Israelites in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years yet they were not in that slavery above 210 years But the Holy Spirit reckons from the time of the calling of Abraham and his passing into Canaan where he and his off-spring were strangers 'T is therefore all the time of the pilgrimage of the family of Abraham which God begins from its original Lastly 't is the stile of the Prophets and particularly in the Prophecy we are treating of The fourth Beast is the Roman Empire all the World agrees in that where doth the Holy Spirit begin the History of that Beast or of that Empire not at the point of its grandeur which happen'd not till above 400 years after its original but from the point of its birth and that is clear because he ascribes seven heads to that Beast Heads which signify so many Governments under which Rome hath passed Now the first of these Governments is that of Kings under whom Rome in the beginning was no more than a great Village and afterwards a very little City without dependencies This principle therefore must be supposed that the H. Spirit dates the Antichristian Empire from its original 'T is not necessary that the first seeds of Antichristiaenism should have been conceived at Rome The other mistake that we must get rid of is this that Rome is precisely the place where the Empire of Antichrist must have its birth 'T is not so Antichristianism is born every where and it might very well be born in the East before it came to fix its seat in the West That which makes men affix the birth of the Antichristian Empire precisely to Rome is because being struck with what Saint Paul saith that the man of sin must exalt himself above all that is called God they have confined Antichristianism principally and almost solely to tyranny and Pride and have imagined that the birth of Antichristianism was not to be found but in that City which had always been and which afresh was to be the Throne of Pride But herein they have been deceived Antichristianism consists no less in idolatry and corruption of manners than in tyranny in such a manner that in all places where we see the birth of Idolatry Superstition and Corruption there without doubt Antichristianism is born These principles being laid down the three Characters which we have affixed to the Antichristian Empire by reason of its three names must be remembred Idolatry because 't is called Babylon the mother of fornications and abominations corruption of manners because 't is called Sodom Pride and Tyranny The three Characters of Antichristianism began in the fourth Age and first of all superstition because 't is called Egypt When these three sins began to be establisht in the Church Antichristianism began to enter into it Now 't is certain it was towards the end of the fourth and in the whole fifth Age that these disorders received their birth The superstition of Reliques the veneration and worship of them and immediately after the invocation and intercession of the Saints were introduced about the year 360. or 380. Already before this time that superstition had begun among the people I do not at all doubt but that women and simple persons especially those that were but newly converted from Paganism were the first Authors of it Devout ignorant people easily fall into superstition It had been a very ancient custome to frequent the Martyrs tombs there to celebrate their memory to pray for them and there to pray for themselves For in Eusebius's time men were wont to assemble themselves at the sepulchers of the Martyrs to say their prayers upon their sepulchers and there to honour their most happy souls The Papists in this passage would
it self and its own safety The enemies of France shal hinder the destroying of the Reformation Languages Tribes and Nations always signify several Peoples and never one only people Thus it is evident by this Prophecy that the people who are neighbours to France nay those who are distant from her shall stop her in this furious design of destroying the Reformed Religion But after what manner they shall hinder her this Prophecy speaks not perhaps it shall be by causing some trouble to France during which the persecuted faithful one shall have opportunity of breathing and of giving a new birth to the Truth We shall quickly know whether God is preparing this already all the Protestants every where have united their Interests and it cannot be doubted this good understanding between them which appears is owing unto the persecution in France The house of Austria it self begins to understand its true Interest There is ground to hope that the late Truce which gave opportunity for this persecution will not be calm enough to give the Persecutors leasure wholly to extinguish the Truth Perhaps if shall be by another Method that the several Nations shall hinder the ruin of the Reformation in France Without doubt they do something toward it by the shelters and succors which they afford to the fugitives and particularly to the Pastors whom God reserves that they may again kindle the torch of the Doctrine of Truth Yea in France it self which is the street of the great City God will preserve a number of the faithfull who shall hinder the burial of the two witnesses and the utter perishing of the Truth There have been persecutions in which the Truth hath been as it were quite sunk to the bottom and buried in certain places This must not happen in this last persecution The truth will be oppressed yea suppressed but it shall be most clearly discerned and those who shall hold it in their hearts shall be most evidently seen and known As in dead bodies unburied they are dead and yet men do see them as clearly as if they were alive This persecution shall not come as far as a final suppression of the Truth as happened in the time of the Albigenses when not only the Witnesses were killed but were buried and disappear'd for several Ages for tho some of them being dispersed did preserve and carry the Truth into several desert places nevertheless the body of them was buried and disappeared in the streets of the popish Kingdom which shall not happen in this last persecution And they that dwell upon the Earth shall rejoyce over them and shall send gifts one to another because these two Prophets tormented them that dwell upon the Earth Observe it well these are not the same with those who hindred the dead bodies of the two witnesses from being buried Those are called They of the people and kindred and tongues these are called They that dwell upon the Earth the former hindred the burial out of piety these rejoyce over their death out of impiety In this whole Prophesy the Earth always signifies the territories and extent of the papacy and Antichristian Kingdom They are the Inhabitants of these territories of the Antichristian Kingdom who rejoyce At this day we see this Prophecy fulfilled Popery triumphs every where yea they who live in Protestant States are full of hopes to see quickly their Religion uppermost and nothing is more arrogant and insulting than their carriage But in a few years they shall see their pride brought very low which we are about to shew in the following Chapter 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 THe bodies of the two Witnesses must remain dead only three days and a half and after these three days and a half the spirit of life from God shall enter into them and they shall stand upon their feet In my Prejud against Popery I fixed these three days and a half upon that space of time which lasted from the Council of Basil and destruction of the Taborites untill Luther during which time it seem'd as if the witnesses had been dead But I have wholly abandoned that conjecture after I had seriously considered it First because in that space of time the Witnesses were buried as well as slain 't is true there continued some remainders of Calixtins in Bohemia but they deserve not to be reckoned as a body Again 't is not usual in Scripture to take a broken number as this of three years and a half to denote an uncertain and indefinite number as I observed above so that I am perswaded that these three days and a half are three years and a half a day standing for a year as the three years and a half are 1260 years taking a year for a day 'T is therefore three years and a half during which the external profession of the Truth must be altogether suppressed and after which it shall be rais'd again to life And as I reject my own notions I would not that any should embrace those of Dr. More who hath lately wrote upon the Revelation He will have the three days and a half here to signify the same thing which the three years and a half do viz. 1260 years of the reign of Antichrist But truly he did not well consider this point when he wrote this First this would be an affected and very profound obscurity after he had reduced the 1260 years to 1260 days which make three years and a half then to reduce the same 1260 years to three days and a half We cannot find an example where the Holy Ghost sets forth the same space of time and in the same place after so different a manner But above all we must take notice that the Holy Ghost does here in a most exact manner distinguish these four things 1. The preaching of the Witnesses they shall prophesy cloathed in sackcloth 2. The death of the Witnesses and after this their bodies lye dead in the street of the great City 3. The duration of their Prophecy and testimony they shall prophesy cloathed in sackcloth 1260 days 4. And lastly the duration of their death they shall see their dead bodies in the streets of the City three days and a half He that will confound the two last of these viz. the 1260 years and the three days and a half must also confound the two first viz. the prophesying cloathed in sackcloth and the lying dead in the street of the City but certainly nothing is more different then to prophesy and to lye dead at least it must be supposed that the Witnesses prophesy while they are dead For their prophesying and their death being exactly fixed on the same period denoted by 1260 days and by three days and a half they must happen at the same time But
Maimbourg should publish one history upon another of the declining of the Empire Of the Croisades Of the Schism of the Greeks Of the great Schism of the West Of Lutheranism and Of Calvinism for this purpose to raise our attention unto these great events of the seven plagues which without this perhaps none would have thought of I earnestly beseech them I say seriously to consider this heap of circumstances and to tell me in their Consciences whether Chance can produce and agreement of above a hundred or two hundred points relating to the same subject None can ever make this reflection seriously but he must be convinced CHAP. XVI Of the thousand years reign That in all the past time there is not a time to be found wherin Satan hath been bound Four heads of arguments to prove this reign The first is the fifth Monarchy so plainly promised to the saints WE have done examining that which relates to the fall of the Antichristian Kingdom That we may keep our word that we gave in the Title of our second part we must now enquire what must happen to the Church after that great event This laid down in the 20 chapter of the Revelation in these terms v. 1. And I saw an Angel come down from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand v. 2. And he laid hold on the dragon that old serpent which is the devil and Satan and bound him a thousand years v. 3. And cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled and after that he must be loosed a little season v. 4. And I saw thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was given unto them and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Iesus and for the word of God and which had not worshipped the beast neither his image neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years v. 5. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished This is the first resurrection Behold the Text which is the subject to so many doubts and so many controversies Behold that which hath made the pretended Hereticks who are call'd Chiliasts and Millenaries I mean not those Chiliasts who have believed a thousand years reign of the Church during which time it must enjoy according to their opinion the carnal and sinful pleasures of the world these were filthy spirits which came out of the Dragons mouth A distinction between carnal and spiritual Millenaries But as for those who believe that after the ruin of Antichrist and before the end of the world God reserves to himself a period of a thousand years in which he must reign by himself and his people pour out upon them an abundance of his spirit bring al Nations to his knowledge govern them with a golden scepter and no longer with an iron one secure them from all evil and from all danger of corruption as for these I say the time is coming and that very shortly that men shall be ashamed that they have branded them with the names of Chiliasts of Millenaries and fifth Monarchymen I have former by observed that there is something that is surprizing and divine in the due understanding of Prophecies We wonder at the strange stupidity of the Jews who do not discern in their own Oracles our Jesus and their Messias We are Astonisht at the dismal blindness of the Papists who do not see the Beast and Antichrist in that which they call their Holy See and their Holy Church God hath had reasons why he hath given these men eyes that they should not see and a heart void of understanding Certainly here is the same thing There must be a blindness greater then can be imagined 'T is surprising that men have not seen in the Scripture the Reign of Jesus Christ on the earth in those who see not this Kingdom of Iesus Christ and the Church which must make the seventh Period of the world There is something supernaturall in this blindness I had this favour from God that I saw this Reign in the Scriptures ever since I was able to read and understand them without having read either any Commentaries upon the Revelation or writings of the Millenaries I hope to make out the truth of this Reign with such clearness that if shall be difficult to shake any doubt of it It is impossible to find in the time by-past room for the Period of a thousand years in which Satant must be bound First it is agreed on all hands that within the duration of the Church we must necessarily find a Period of a thousand years in which it may be said that Satan hath been bound i.e. hindred in his designs which are seduction and persecution This it too plain to be denyed But where shall we find this Period I am sorry to see so great so learned and so holy a person as Vsher Archbishop of Armagh to place this period of a thousand years within the time of Christs Incarnation and the eleventh Age. How can any one say that the Devil was bound during that space Is it with respect to seduction In the three first Ages did he not seduce men Were not the Pagans seduced Their Religion was it not the Ruling Religion There were Christians I grant but I am perswaded that they were not the fiftieth part of the whole Roman Empire In the succeeding Ages hath he not set on foot that grand seduction that is called the Beast the False Prophet the Kingdom of Antichrist Hath he not brought Idolatry into the Church the abomination into the sanctuary such tyranny pride and corruption of manners that there was never greater among the Pagans With respect to persecution hath he been bound how much blood hath shed how many Butcheries hath he acted how many Massacres what a great number of Martyrs Can it enter into any mans thoughts that this should be called the Period of Satans binding He was never so broken loose The falsity of their hypothesis who begin them at Constantin What do those gain who come three hundred years lower and hold that Santan began to be bound at the time of Constantin They must upon that principle place their ending at the year thirteen hundred and so include within their Period of the thousand years the rage of the Beast who hath fed upon the blood of the saints the seductions of the false Prophet who makes the Image of the Beast to be worshipped and the whole world to run after him who obligeth all men to bear his mark upon their foreheads who makes war against the Saints and overcometh them In one word they must take in into their Period of Santans binding that space of time in which
Abraham it began to assume a new form she had then Sacraments and the distinction of People began By Moses the Church took another form quite different from the Preceding By Christ she became incomparably more perfect By the rise and growth of Antichrist the Church was intirely changed By Antichrist's being at the Height the Corruption was also at the Highest and at length by the fall of Antichrist she must put on another face This being supposed that the seven Periods answer to the seven days we must observe in every of those Periods such Events and such things as answer to the several works of the Creation done on every day so that what was made on the first day may resemble that which happened in the first Period of the Church and that which was done on the second day be the image of what happened in the second Period and so of the following If we find a perfect correspondence between the Copies and the Original between the Types and the things which we pretend were represented by them we shal have reason to believe that 't is some what more than a sport of wit or the effect of Fancy and Imagination which is the next thing we are to consider 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 I Intend not to stay long upon what is well known and hath been said already and therefore shall speak but little of the Chaos We see plainly that this confused Mass without form and void which was properly nothing but a vast Abyss covered with darkness was the image of that sad estate to which sin had reduced the World. It was without form spoiled and defaced by sin for it had nothing at all of beauty It way confused for every thing there was in disorder that which should have been above was below God was blasphemed instead of being worshipt and self-love had placed the Creature on the Throne of God. It was empty and void for nothing that was good could be found in the World. It was covered with darkness for a stupid ignorance might be observed to reign there This was the state of the World out of which the Church was to be drawn as a new World God was doubtless the Creator of unshapen Mass and I doubt not but we have an account of its Creation in the first Verse In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth 'T is not as is commonly thought an abridgment of what is more amply and by particulars related afterwards 'T is the Creation of the Chaos called Heaven and Earth because it possessed that place which the Heaven and the Earth now do possess and because it contained the matter of them This is plain enough by the second Verse and the Earth was without form and void c. 'T is the description exactly of that Earth which he was speaking of in the first Verse Why 't is not said expresly that God created the Chaos Nevertheless though God created the Chaos 't is but implicitly said so for Moses saith not that God made the Earth without form and void Which may import that though God do govern that which we call the wicked World and that enormous Mass is not formed without his Providence nevertheless he will not be acknowledged the Author of it because he is not the Author of Evil. God appoints no certain day to this Chaos which is the Image of the corrupted World. 1. Because this Chaos hath its reign and extention during the whole six days of the spiritual Creation VVhy the Chaos hath no assigned day for 't is the perpetual fund whence God draws all the parts of the intelligible World which is his Church as the Chaos was the fund from whence by little and little God drew all the parts of the Vniverse 2. God assigns it no particular day because 't is the Empire or darkness into which the Light and the day cannot enter He produced not the Chaos by a Fiat saying let there be a Chaos as he created the Light because the Word of God doth not make the wicked World by its efficacy this World produceth it self by its own corruption Lastly he gives it not his Approbation he says not and God saw that it was good he blesseth it not as he did the works of the six days because God seeth nothing good in the carnal World instead of blessing it it is under his curse VVaters in all the Type of the Creation signify People In the mean time the Spirit of God moved upon the waters Waters in the Language of the Prophets and of the Types do signify People This we have observed before and is too well know to need to be proved This we must remember that Waters signify People in all the Type of the Creation The Spirit of God moved on the waters of the Chaos to prepare that matter to bruise and reduce it into little parts and to introduce the dispositions to receive that form which he intended to give it God intending to draw his Church out of the World and from among the Nations hath presided over them by a wise providence What is signified by the Spirits moving on the Waters If he had intirely abandon'd the World to it self after the entrance of sin it had been impossible to draw thence the intelligible World. It would have fallen into a total deprivation of Light Equity and Goodness and into that Spirit which the Scripture calls a spirit of slumber past feeling and a reprobate sense But the Spirit of God hath presided over these Waters he hath preserved and kept up in the World some fragments and remainders of Light Conviction Conscience the knowledge of God the distinction of right and wrong and the apprehension of future rewards and punishments We may see every where this motion this action of the Spirit of God on the Waters that is the People of the World even to the approach of the fourth Period which is that of our Lord Iesus Christ God was then about to give a Form to the Church to this intelligible World which properly speaking it never yet had Then he caused in the World such things as would dispose to this great work he prepared his matter by the study of Philosophy which drew men from that stupidity that before rendred them uncapable of receiving the Light of Truth He dispersed the Iews who carried every where the knowledge of the true God and made an infinite number of Proselites He caused the Bible to be turned into the Greek Tongue which then spread and prevailed in the World and guided the Heathen insensibly to a dislike of their Idols and their Religion This is the Mystery of the Chaos The Mysteries of â—he first day of the Creation In
in the preceding Chapters where I have shown that Empire and a Kingdom Peace and Prosperity are promised to the Church of Christ in such a manner as hath never hitherto been fulfilled Object VVhen Christ shal come the Church shall be most corrupt 4. After this they tell us that when God describes those Times which shall immediately precede the end of the World instead of representing them as a golden Age they are painted out as an Age of Iron and darkness Iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold false Prophets and false Christs shall arise they shall work signs and wonders to deceive if possible the very Elect. Math. 24. v. 12.24.37 The coming of the Son of man shall be as the days of Noah When the Son of man shall come Luke 18. c. 8. he shall not find faith upon Earth And 2 Ep. Thessal 2. chap. 't is said the Lord shall destroy the man of sin by the brightness of his coming But all this is grounded on a false supposition viz. that there shall be no other coming of Christ but for the last final Judgement which is not true the coming of Christ here spoken of is that to settle the Peace and Glory and Kingdom of his Church and we may be certain that this is meant in almost all the Passages where the coming of Christ is spoken of It is true that when Christ shall come to destroy the Antichristian Kingdom he shall not find true Faith upon Earth that is very little of it Experience confirms this for we are now in that very time Farther when Christ shall come the third and last time for the last Judgment it may well be that there shall be a great scarcity of faith piety in the World at that time for Gog and Magog shall be increas't there shall be a great seduction upon Earth and a great affliction upon the Church So that these Prophecies shall have their accomplishment whenever Christ comes They were fulfilled at his first coming when he came in the flesh for the Church was then exceedingly corrupted and so at his second coming when he shall come to destroy the Antichristian Kingdom For in our days there is a very great corruption and shall be at his third coming for at the end of the world there shall be an Insurrection against the Church and against the Son of God. 5. Object The day of Judgement would not then be unknown 5. It will farther follow say these Gentlemen that the Hour and the day of Iudgement would not then be unknown as our Lord J. Christ hath said it is For if just after the fall of the Antichristian Empire the reign of Christ for a thousand years must take place we likewise know that at the end of that Reign of a thousand years shall be the day of Judgment First you must know that our Lord J. Christ saith not that the day of the last Judgment shall be alway concealed he only saith that no man then knew it concerning that day saith he knoweth no man. That depends on the fixing the time of the 1260 years for the reign of Antichrist Now no man knew for certain at that time when the 1260 years should begin God did not permit that it should be well known till this last Age which is as also the last of the reign of Antichrist for 1260 years Moreover after having well fixt the Epocha of the birth of Antichrist that we may discover his end yet can we not thereby come to the exact knowledge of the day of Iudgement 1. Because we know not whether the thousand years of the reign of the Church must begin just at the end of the 1260 years of the reign of Antichrist We may say the contrary without saying any thing that is improbable that the thousand years are not to be computed but from the compleat establishment of the Kingdom of Christ 2. We cannot tell whether the Period of a thousand years is to be exactly so much neither more or less for the H. Ghost is not so critical and precise and often makes use of a round and certain number to signify one that is uncertain unless when he makes use of a broken number as three and half for then we cannot doubt but we are to reckon exactly so much So that these two things being always doubtfull we can never know the precise time of the Judgement day 6. Object The world would then last a long while 6. After this they say that if the Church must reign a thousand years on Earth the World is yet to last for a long time which is not likely it should because the Apostles even in their days spoke of the end of the world as a thing approaching and near at hand We are in the last times saith St. Paul. The coming of I. Christ is at hand saith St. James My littie children It is the last time saith St. John. They ought to confess that these passages make against them instead of being for them The Apostles called their Days the last times and the last hour and yet almost two thousand years have passed since Those Texts therefore must not be taken in too rigid a sense We have spent one Chapter on purpose in this Book to explain those Passages 7. Object The Scripture speaks but of one Resurrection 7. Lastly they tell us that according to the Scriptures at the coming of our Lord J. Christ All the Dead must be raised at once the Righteous and the Wicked which agrees not with the supposition of the Millenaries who would make one part of the Dead to rise at the beginning of the reign of a thousand years and the rest at the end of it But how can any one say that the Scripture saith that when it speaks the quite contrary that one part of the Dead must rise first which is the first Resurrection and that the Rest of the Dead are not to rise till the thousand years are fullfilled There are some passages 't is true wherein the Resurrection of the Good and Bad is spoken of as that which shall be at the same time and so it shall accordingly be for this first Resurrection will be but of a very few viz. of the Ancient Martyrs The remainder of the Faithful shall not be raised till the end of the World. Many Dead were risen with Christ when he rose and are certainly with him body and soul in Heaven Notwithstanding this the Scripture speaks of the Resurrection of all the Dead as a thing deferr'd and adjourn'd to the last Day because one little Exception destroys not a general Rule 'T is strange that these Gentlemen find so much difficulty in this first Resurrection Methinks they should remember the many Saints who were raised with Christ Why may not Christ raise some of the New Testament Saints at the coming of his Kingdom as well as raise some of the Ancient Patriarchs when he rose from the Grave However notwithstanding all that I have said on this subject of that first Resurrection I once again declare that I am not sollicitons to decide it Therefore I have and do again place it among those things which are doubtful I am informed that the learned and famous Prof. Mr. Witsius of Vtrecht hath thought fit to declare his mind on this subject in some publick Lectures I am told that he agrees with me concerning a great change which is to be in the Church before the end of the World with respect to Manners Union in Doctrine and the spreading of the Christian Faith as well among the Iews as among the Nations which as yet are Pagan He is also willing De X Tribubus Israelis c. 9. §. 1. cap 11. § 17 that the Iews should hope to return to their own Land and rebuild Ierusalem I would ask no more and am more rejoy't to meet with the concurrence of so great a man in that which is Essential than I can be troubled that he differs from me concerning that first Resurrection for I must acknowledge that I meet with very great difficulties about it But when I look upon it on that side and in that manner as I have represented it I find it to be very probable Nevertheless I am far from being fully perswaded of the Truth of it as I am concerning those Arâ—â—cles wherein we two agree These I think are all the Objections wherewith these Gentlemen oppose us For I regard not what they say when they tell us That this Reign of a thousand years is a Iewish vision a Fancy derived from the impure Fountain of their Traditions This is to declaim and not to prove 'T is not impossible but there may remain something that is good among the Traditions of the Iews at least St. Paul and St. Iude believed so The first learnt from their Tradition the names of the Magicians of Aegypt who opposed Moses and likewise those words of Moses I exceedingly quake and fear which we no where read in the Old Testament And St. Iude learnt from thence the combat of Michael the Arch-angel with the Devil for the body of Moses also the Prophecy of Enoch They urge likewise against us a multitude of ancient and modern Authors But I had rather give credit to Iustin Martyr and Papias who might have seen St. Iohn than to all those who have wrote since God hath his particular reasons why he will not that the Prophecies should be understood in every Age. FINIS